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I’m really excited Something I’ve noticed in my own life is that sometimes habits are ingrained So there’s many times where I was driving down 29 with the intention not to come to the church

Speaker#1:
00:00:15.75 – 00:00:23.159
and then realized oh my gosh I went past where I was supposed to go because in my programming I meant to go to church

Speaker#1:
00:00:23.86 – 00:00:49.4
And so now I love what we’re doing with communion But it is definitely I was really enjoying watching Pastor David do it because I had the same problem Oh that’s right It’s changed and I love change But I do find that change sometimes is challenging but it is really exciting what the Lord is doing here And again I just want to before we get into the message just thank everybody that has been a part of the church relaunch especially

Speaker#1:
00:00:49.56 – 00:01:18.319
Mel for his really taking the lead on a lot of that It really is exciting to me to see how many people really showed up from the moment that that was initiated or inaugurated You could really see that the Lord was at work in our body and among our members because the amount of people that participated was very impressive And the people who couldn’t make the times that we did it

Speaker#1:
00:01:18.94 – 00:01:35.169
many of them said I am still part of this and they are actually active in doing things We can thank Bill and Lauda but especially Lauda for the bulletins just amazing the amount of people that have stepped up And I just want to say thank you thank you everybody

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So father we just come

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before you and we just

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00:01:39.699 – 00:01:43.72
pray God that you would just pour out your Holy Spirit upon us this morning

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00:01:43.83 – 00:01:45.639
Lord that the wind of your spirit would

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blow that we would be changed that we would be transformed and that we would go out into this world and bring the light and the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ We just pray that your word would be quickened in our spirit today in Jesus name

Speaker#2:
00:02:01.98 – 00:02:04.04
So the title of today’s message is the

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00:02:04.05 – 00:02:06.199
Wind of Christianity Past

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00:02:06.809 – 00:02:07.69
And the last thing I

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00:02:07.699 – 00:02:10.309
did this morning was change the name of the message

Speaker#1:
00:02:11.179 – 00:02:13.199
And the and the reason why is

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00:02:13.21 – 00:02:14.11
originally

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I I was talking about the memory of Christianity past

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00:02:20.74 – 00:02:21.839
And even when I just say

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that name it just it just moves me so deeply

Speaker#1:
00:02:27.82 – 00:02:44.57
but it’s the wind of Christianity past because the wind of the spirit has been blowing since the day of Pentecost and we can set up ourselves get hold of that wind and we can see what Jesus Christ can do in our generation and do in our nation and do right where we live

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00:02:45.25 – 00:02:46.669
And that’s exciting to me

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00:02:47.44 – 00:02:55.74
One of the ways that we have called the gospel of Jesus Christ in our church in recent years is the worldwide liberation movement

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00:02:56.509 – 00:02:58.41
in talking about change

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00:02:58.47 – 00:02:59.25
Part of the

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idea is that thinking about the

Speaker#2:
00:03:01.3 – 00:03:10.1
gospel in a different term actually changes the whole way that we see it the whole way that we interact with it The whole level of

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expectation that we have If we say the gospel of Jesus

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Christ it often brings certain

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00:03:17.74 – 00:03:21.77
ideas into the forefront of our memory

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00:03:22.55 – 00:03:23.619
And when we reit

Speaker#1:
00:03:23.679 – 00:03:29.369
it the worldwide liberation movement it brings a whole different set of ideas that the

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00:03:29.38 – 00:03:40.44
gospel of Jesus Christ is saving the world that the gospel of Jesus Christ is setting the captives free that the gospel of Jesus Christ is transforming lives today

Speaker#1:
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And I think that

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00:03:41.539 – 00:03:43.539
that’s very exciting and I’m so

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00:03:43.55 – 00:03:47.27
grateful to be a part of the worldwide liberation movement

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00:03:47.809 – 00:03:53.899
In other words to be part of the gospel of Jesus Christ in his kingdom because he is awesome

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00:03:57.55 – 00:04:01.72
I wanna read Second Corinthians 10 4 through six to you

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00:04:02.74 – 00:04:07.07
It says for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh

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00:04:08.52 – 00:04:19.82
I think this is so amazing because we’re talking about the worldwide Liberation Movement There are strongholds of darkness in the nations and in communities and in families and in people’s lives

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00:04:20.829 – 00:04:38.47
And a lot of times people look at these strongholds and they think it’s impossible to go free And a lot of times people are looking about in their own lives and looking at the things that have held them back and robbed them of life or beat them down and they think there’s no way to break through

Speaker#2:
00:04:39.989 – 00:04:52.1
And so Paul comes and he just starts with the weapons of our warfare because we’re not to give in We’re not to give up We’re meant to stand against them We’re meant to fight we’re not meant to cower

Speaker#2:
00:04:52.989 – 00:05:08.589
and he wants to even that one little word There has so much power the weapons with which we fight this battle against every form of Brokenness and hurt and injustice and in pain and bondage the weapons that we fight against it are not

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fleshly

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but they are mighty in God mighty in God And they have divine power to destroy strongholds

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we destroy

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And now it’s so interesting to me here

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00:05:23.32 – 00:05:26.839
and you say I keep pausing in the middle of the scripture and I apologize for that but

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00:05:27.709 – 00:05:28.829
it’s worth pausing

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We’re talking about strong holds that we need to liberate people from And then his next word is we destroy arguments in every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God

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00:05:45.44 – 00:05:57.45
that the first place of warfare The first place of bondage is in the world view or in the opinions or in the mindsets or in the vision or how we perceive What

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do you see This is nothing but a carpenter So

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where you are the Christ the son of the living God

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00:06:05.399 – 00:06:07.329
there’s no hope for the future

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00:06:08.0 – 00:06:17.22
Jesus has power to heal and to save What is it to God to say your sins are forgiven or to say to a dead nation rise and live again

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What do you see Strongholds mindsets opinions contrary to the knowledge of God taking every thought captive to obey Christ

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00:06:30.48 – 00:06:35.75
every thought captive to King Jesus He is lord over all

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Mm

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And then it has this is the funniest English translation of a Greek passage Not maybe in all of scripture but it’s pretty darn funny

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00:06:48.04 – 00:06:52.369
Being ready to punish every disobedience Once your obedience is complete

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that is so

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00:06:54.489 – 00:06:57.47
one of the hardest things about translating

Speaker#1:
00:06:57.48 – 00:07:00.45
language is that it is not easy

Speaker#1:
00:07:01.1 – 00:07:02.299
So that word

Speaker#2:
00:07:02.309 – 00:07:05.2
there that it’s talking about could be to give

Speaker#1:
00:07:05.209 – 00:07:11.57
justice if you look in the lexicons But if you really look at the word it’s connected to righteousness

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00:07:12.089 – 00:07:19.399
right So put the idea this way being ready to bring forth justice or righteousness

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00:07:19.41 – 00:07:21.17
Once ours is complete

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00:07:22.279 – 00:07:42.029
the whole imagery here is bringing every thought into the obedience of Christ to transform the world and liberate people from strongholds And we are only able to do that once we can see things truly as they are Once our perceptions have been set free to see who God is

Speaker#2:
00:07:42.619 – 00:07:46.45
and how glorious and powerful the blood of Jesus

Speaker#1:
00:07:46.459 – 00:07:53.54
Christ is to break every yoke and every bondage to set people free And once we start to see that and believe

Speaker#2:
00:07:53.549 – 00:07:55.66
it we start to experience it

Speaker#2:
00:07:57.13 – 00:08:00.89
Be it done to you According to your faith the greatest

Speaker#1:
00:08:00.899 – 00:08:01.899
limitation on the

Speaker#2:
00:08:01.91 – 00:08:05.109
power of God is unbelief

Speaker#2:
00:08:06.26 – 00:08:12.22
unbelief Be it done to you according to your faith And you have to believe

Speaker#1:
00:08:12.23 – 00:08:15.239
that God exists and He rewards those that diligently seek

Speaker#2:
00:08:15.25 – 00:08:30.029
Him You have to believe that if you call on His name you will be saved You have to believe that there’s no bondage there’s no trial there’s no tribulation There is no situation that you’re going through that If you don’t call upon his name you will be saved

Speaker#2:
00:08:30.66 – 00:08:31.63
Two members of

Speaker#1:
00:08:31.64 – 00:08:47.669
our congregation this week said to me the Lord was speaking to him about James You don’t have because you don’t ask And they said it was just that simple You don’t have because you don’t ask And I would dare to say and we don’t ask because we don’t think we’ll get anything from Him We don’t believe that

Speaker#2:
00:08:47.679 – 00:08:56.75
He’ll answer prayer We don’t believe that God will break the yoke that God will do what He says He will do Oh Lord deliver us from

Speaker#1:
00:08:56.76 – 00:08:57.75
our unbelief

Speaker#1:
00:08:58.559 – 00:08:59.5
deliver us

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00:08:59.51 – 00:09:03.489
from our own belief and show the world once again

Speaker#1:
00:09:04.049 – 00:09:07.01
that you are mighty to save mighty to heal

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00:09:07.02 – 00:09:11.229
mighty to deliver mighty to redeem able to show yourself

Speaker#1:
00:09:11.239 – 00:09:15.52
to the person in the darkest bondage and to bring them out of captivity

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00:09:16.52 – 00:09:18.78
Because that’s the Jesus that we serve

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00:09:21.69 – 00:09:22.95
Ideas dreams

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and perceptions

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the way we see the world has the power to create the world

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00:09:32.179 – 00:09:35.869
the way we see the world has the power to create the world

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00:09:36.84 – 00:09:39.869
Because ideas and dreams are infectious

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00:09:40.59 – 00:09:44.94
and that’s how strongholds are created and it’s how strongholds are broken

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00:09:49.96 – 00:09:51.349
Some questions

Speaker#1:
00:09:53.15 – 00:09:54.53
what is worth living for

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00:09:55.969 – 00:09:57.909
What an important question isn’t it

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00:09:59.619 – 00:10:01.059
What is God like

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00:10:01.82 – 00:10:02.63
What is normal

Speaker#1:
00:10:02.64 – 00:10:06.19
Christianity can or should we trust people

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00:10:06.789 – 00:10:08.619
Is there hope for the future

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00:10:09.909 – 00:10:12.9
as we’ve been talking about in recent weeks Who are you

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00:10:13.14 – 00:10:13.95
Why are you

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00:10:13.96 – 00:10:16.57
here And I added in where are you going

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00:10:19.179 – 00:10:30.95
These kind of questions are answered out of how we see the world how we see reality what we believe to be true and our answers to these questions change the world They really do

Speaker#1:
00:10:31.869 – 00:10:35.0
Last week due brought an awesome message

Speaker#2:
00:10:35.549 – 00:10:47.25
focusing on Romans 12 2 And I’m going to read just the first part of that Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind

Speaker#2:
00:10:48.65 – 00:11:00.429
Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world The pattern of this world is a pattern of selfishness of bondage of hopelessness of despair of fear

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00:11:01.679 – 00:11:04.409
The pattern of this world is dead

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00:11:06.02 – 00:11:14.619
and here it tells us that we can break out of the pattern of this world by being transformed through the renewing of our minds

Speaker#2:
00:11:16.34 – 00:11:28.63
So many people believe that they are stuck in this pattern and don’t believe that there’s any way to break that pattern But the patterns of this world are broken when our minds are transformed when they’re renewed

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00:11:30.63 – 00:11:45.239
And that’s exciting to me and it connected to Second Timothy 3 16 through 17 all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching rebuking correcting and training in righteousness

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00:11:45.859 – 00:11:48.679
once your righteousness is fulfilled

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00:11:49.95 – 00:11:55.909
so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good

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00:11:55.919 – 00:11:56.84
work

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00:12:00.059 – 00:12:11.75
It’s amazing when you read scripture and you let it actually speak to you You can be thoroughly equipped for every good work And it says that scripture has the power to do it

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00:12:12.489 – 00:12:17.88
But do we really believe that scripture has the power to equip us for every good work

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00:12:19.15 – 00:12:34.219
Well how could scripture equip us for every good work Because as we read it we are hearing the voice of God speak He’s painting pictures and changing the way we see He’s changing the way we perceive He’s changing the dreams that we

Speaker#1:
00:12:34.229 – 00:12:39.26
have And all of the sudden our lives start to come into obedience to it

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00:12:39.71 – 00:12:41.07
Isn’t that pretty cool

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00:12:41.969 – 00:12:54.409
The word of God changes your life when you come to it by faith and say Lord I need to see you Lord I need to encounter you I need to have your mind I need to have your heart

Speaker#2:
00:12:55.01 – 00:13:12.049
and it breaks bondage it breaks yokes in your life I have seen it with my own eyes where people were struggling under bondage And then they heard the word of God and it was not just reading the Bible I’ve seen times when the word was being preached and somebody had a revelation and that

Speaker#2:
00:13:12.059 – 00:13:29.109
next thing you know their whole life is transformed where I’ve heard testimonies of people who were suffering under bondage and they heard the word of God spoken in such a way that the spirit of God quickened it to them And they walked out of incredible bondage

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00:13:30.25 – 00:13:44.15
And it really is possible any time we gather and the word of God is being preached or any time we go and read the word it’s possible that you could have an encounter with Jesus Christ that would change your life forever

Speaker#1:
00:13:46.14 – 00:13:47.419
Ask Him for it

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00:13:48.34 – 00:13:51.219
You don’t have because you don’t ask

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00:13:51.859 – 00:13:59.15
but ask and you’ll see that the Lord is faithful and he keeps his promises and he will do what he says he will do

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00:14:00.0 – 00:14:01.01
He is good

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00:14:04.4 – 00:14:08.7
But one of the challenges that we have is that sometimes

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00:14:09.469 – 00:14:13.58
we become so familiar with the way scripture

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00:14:13.59 – 00:14:16.15
is understood in modern times

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00:14:17.19 – 00:14:19.289
that it becomes robbed of its power

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00:14:23.049 – 00:14:26.989
I would say that the current state of the world can be attributed

Speaker#1:
00:14:27.26 – 00:14:30.63
to a lack of revelation concerning God’s word

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00:14:33.619 – 00:14:37.2
I I love The historian who said that

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00:14:38.26 – 00:14:42.76
Western Europe was about to fall to Machiavellian values

Speaker#1:
00:14:46.179 – 00:14:49.479
And then a monk named Martin Luther wrote a book

Speaker#1:
00:14:50.599 – 00:14:53.599
that changed the whole direction of Western civilization

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00:14:55.0 – 00:15:10.809
that got them to see Jesus in servant leadership as the way forward It’s what to aspire to be rather than the will to power very relevant for our day isn’t it But if we think about it there was a real

Speaker#2:
00:15:10.88 – 00:15:13.14
totalitarian form of dead

Speaker#1:
00:15:13.15 – 00:15:16.359
Christianity that governed over western civilization

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00:15:18.289 – 00:15:24.01
And Martin Luther wrestled and wrestled with the bondage of not being good enough

Speaker#1:
00:15:25.28 – 00:15:30.07
And then he’s reading scripture one day and it was like lightning struck him

Speaker#1:
00:15:31.309 – 00:15:35.38
I am saved by grace through faith apart from works

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00:15:36.729 – 00:15:43.71
And it was like he passed from death to life It was like he was groping in darkness and suddenly a glorious light shined

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00:15:44.489 – 00:15:45.57
and it lit a fire

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00:15:45.58 – 00:15:47.789
in him that set a whole trajectory

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00:15:49.809 – 00:15:59.27
because he had an encounter with God through God’s word It happened with Augustine It happened with so many great people throughout the ages

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00:16:00.429 – 00:16:05.359
that God’s word was quickened by the power of the Holy Spirit and their whole lives were

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00:16:05.369 – 00:16:06.429
changed forever

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00:16:09.539 – 00:16:18.309
But when there’s little revelation in the church when people aren’t encountering this daily bread daily going from faith to faith and glory to

Speaker#1:
00:16:18.32 – 00:16:20.07
glory we’re being robbed

Speaker#1:
00:16:20.95 – 00:16:23.489
of our inheritance and our heritage

Speaker#1:
00:16:24.739 – 00:16:26.559
but we can we can awaken

Speaker#1:
00:16:28.7 – 00:16:51.849
I’ll say it again Ideas and dreams are infectious because it’s not just bad dreams false dreams like Machiavellian politics but it’s also the dream of the Kingdom of God and Jesus Christ That is also infectious Ideas and dreams are infectious We need to break out and see differently infect the whole world with a better dream

Speaker#1:
00:16:53.789 – 00:16:57.239
We need to break out of mindsets so that we can liberate others

Speaker#1:
00:16:58.739 – 00:17:00.0
CS Lewis

Speaker#1:
00:17:00.559 – 00:17:02.099
talks about this

Speaker#2:
00:17:02.7 – 00:17:15.56
He wrote every age has its own outlook It is especially good at seeing certain truths and especially liable to make certain mistakes We all therefore need books that will correct the

Speaker#1:
00:17:15.569 – 00:17:17.5
characteristic mistakes of our own

Speaker#2:
00:17:17.51 – 00:17:18.18
period

Speaker#2:
00:17:18.708 – 00:17:23.848
None of us can fully escape this blindness but we shall certainly increase

Speaker#1:
00:17:23.859 – 00:17:26.609
it and weaken our guard against it If we read

Speaker#2:
00:17:26.619 – 00:17:34.609
only modern books where they are true they will give us truth which we have knew already where they are false they will aggravate the error

Speaker#1:
00:17:34.619 – 00:17:35.818
with which we already

Speaker#2:
00:17:35.828 – 00:17:44.718
are dangerously ill The only palliative to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds is to keep that

Speaker#1:
00:17:44.739 – 00:17:48.699
blowing through our minds And this can only be done by reading old books

Speaker#2:
00:17:49.969 – 00:18:02.05
In other words Lewis was understanding that there are ideas or mindsets that are part of a generation and part of a culture that people need to break out of

Speaker#2:
00:18:02.979 – 00:18:12.949
And he talked about well if you could get your hands on the books of the future they would really help but we can’t get our hands on the books of the Future but we can get our hands on the books of the past

Speaker#2:
00:18:13.56 – 00:18:22.719
and that those books of the past can be become a corrective to help us find our way out of the things that are robbing

Speaker#1:
00:18:22.729 – 00:18:24.56
people of life today Isn’t

Speaker#2:
00:18:24.569 – 00:18:26.339
that an interesting perspective

Speaker#2:
00:18:28.56 – 00:18:29.619
So please bear with

Speaker#1:
00:18:29.63 – 00:18:30.349
me as we

Speaker#2:
00:18:30.359 – 00:18:32.319
explore the wind of

Speaker#1:
00:18:32.329 – 00:18:37.199
centuries to connect with a great tradition and the inheritance of our faith

Speaker#2:
00:18:39.199 – 00:18:45.78
Chesterton wrote tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes

Speaker#1:
00:18:46.9 – 00:18:48.27
our ancestors

Speaker#2:
00:18:48.989 – 00:18:51.329
It is the democracy of the dead

Speaker#2:
00:18:53.43 – 00:19:01.589
tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about

Speaker#2:
00:19:02.219 – 00:19:09.0
All Democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth tradition

Speaker#1:
00:19:09.01 – 00:19:13.26
objects to their being disqualified by the accident of their death

Speaker#1:
00:19:15.38 – 00:19:16.27
Beautiful

Speaker#2:
00:19:16.53 – 00:19:20.42
thought I wonder if Lewis didn’t

Speaker#1:
00:19:20.43 – 00:19:21.63
get his idea

Speaker#2:
00:19:22.15 – 00:19:25.459
about reading old books from his friend Chesterton

Speaker#1:
00:19:26.859 – 00:19:29.28
thinking about things like that that he said

Speaker#1:
00:19:31.16 – 00:19:41.219
because Lewis wrote that book that that quote from Lewis came in the introduction to Athena book on the incarnation of Jesus Christ

Speaker#1:
00:19:44.56 – 00:19:51.819
And that’s what I want I want to read a passage out of that and then a passage out of a Presbyterian Minister from the 18 hundreds

Speaker#1:
00:19:52.609 – 00:19:55.739
to give us a picture of how they saw Christianity

Speaker#1:
00:19:56.43 – 00:19:57.4
in their day

Speaker#1:
00:19:58.42 – 00:20:02.15
to see how it might challenge how we see Christianity in our day

Speaker#1:
00:20:07.04 – 00:20:18.069
Athanasius was giving giving proof on the resurrection of Jesus Christ And he talked pretty in depth about the cross of Jesus Christ and why he had to die on a cross And then he writes

Speaker#2:
00:20:18.079 – 00:20:23.199
this if this proof of his resurrection is not sufficient for anyone

Speaker#2:
00:20:23.979 – 00:20:30.4
then let him believe what is said from what takes place before his eyes

Speaker#2:
00:20:31.319 – 00:20:46.369
at is saying if you don’t believe everything I just said then at least believe your own eyes think about the boldness that he can make this statement with confidence in his generation Believe your own eyes

Speaker#2:
00:20:49.979 – 00:21:06.92
let him who will see and judge confessing the truth from the visible facts for since the savior works so many things among human beings and daily and every place invisibly persuades such a great multitude both from those who dwell

Speaker#2:
00:21:06.93 – 00:21:23.88
in Greece and in foreign lands to turn to his faith and to obey his teaching Would anyone still doubt in their minds whether the resurrection has been accomplished by the savior And whether Christ is alive or rather is himself the life

Speaker#2:
00:21:24.949 – 00:21:34.89
It is like a is it like a dead man to prick the minds of human beings so that they deny their father’s laws and revere the teaching of Christ

Speaker#2:
00:21:35.66 – 00:22:04.589
Or how if he is not acting for this is a property of one dead Does he stop those active and alive so that the adult no longer commits adultery and the murderer no longer commits murders and the unjust no longer grasps greedily and the impious is henceforth pious How if he has not risen from the dead Does he stop and drive out and cast down those false gods said by unbelievers to be alive in the demons they worship

Speaker#2:
00:22:04.81 – 00:22:19.839
for where Christ and his faith are named They all idolatry is purged away Every deceit of demons is refuted and no demon endures the name but fleeing only hearing it disappears This is not the work of

Speaker#1:
00:22:19.849 – 00:22:22.56
one dead but one alive

Speaker#1:
00:22:23.109 – 00:22:23.91
and especially

Speaker#2:
00:22:23.92 – 00:22:24.579
God

Speaker#2:
00:22:26.55 – 00:22:29.29
what a picture of normal

Speaker#1:
00:22:29.3 – 00:22:31.29
Christianity He just painted before our

Speaker#2:
00:22:31.329 – 00:22:32.06
eyes

Speaker#2:
00:22:32.849 – 00:23:01.53
If you don’t believe all of the arguments that I’m giving you then open up your eyes and look look at how many lives are being transformed A dead person can’t do this He’s alive He has risen He is resurrected from the dead And wherever Christ is proclaimed every bondage is broken and the captives go free It really is a worldwide liberation movement And when the church saw it this way that’s when they changed the whole world

Speaker#2:
00:23:02.069 – 00:23:06.979
But when they quit seeing it this way then the assault has lost its saltiness

Speaker#2:
00:23:07.89 – 00:23:17.02
When we do not see the gospel of Jesus Christ as having this much power then we don’t see that power acting anymore

Speaker#2:
00:23:19.739 – 00:23:39.63
But when we dare to renew our mind and expect more we will see more And when we wrestle with God and say Lord God I believe help my unbelief he will help our unbelief and transform us And we will see what He says is normal because his promises never fail

Speaker#2:
00:23:41.28 – 00:23:50.13
But we need to wrestle with God and wrestle with these kind of things until we realize that we have fallen short But

Speaker#1:
00:23:50.14 – 00:23:51.31
we can

Speaker#1:
00:23:52.42 – 00:23:55.069
we can see revival

Speaker#2:
00:23:57.229 – 00:24:04.06
Here’s something written by a Presbyterian minister in 18 96 to see that it’s not even that far back

Speaker#1:
00:24:06.03 – 00:24:07.42
that we have to go

Speaker#1:
00:24:09.319 – 00:24:11.52
to catch a glimpse of something different

Speaker#2:
00:24:12.619 – 00:24:22.849
A noted scoffer was once arrested and is noisy and v against Christianity by two simple questions to which a direct and candid answer was challenged

Speaker#2:
00:24:23.54 – 00:24:28.069
What would be the effect upon the world if all men were sincere Christians

Speaker#2:
00:24:29.17 – 00:24:35.18
And on the other hand what would be the effect upon the world if all men were consistent infidels

Speaker#2:
00:24:36.739 – 00:24:50.04
and the silence which followed these questions was manifested the skeptics defeat for you observe that he could not return a truthful answer to one or the other without abandoning his own case

Speaker#2:
00:24:50.42 – 00:25:11.05
The argument is a valid one founded upon the moral effect of the two systems as compared one with the other If Christianity is found to be a system whose principles heartily adopted will relieve the world of most of the evils by which it is oppressed and convert this earth into a paradise

Speaker#2:
00:25:12.689 – 00:25:13.75
Rewind

Speaker#2:
00:25:14.91 – 00:25:20.15
A minister of the gospel believed that it would have this much impact on the world

Speaker#2:
00:25:21.91 – 00:25:31.609
That one clause there is so revolutionary it’s a voice from the past a wind from the past It’s a cloud of witnesses saying wake up

Speaker#2:
00:25:34.449 – 00:25:35.589
I’ll read it again

Speaker#2:
00:25:36.16 – 00:25:42.27
The argument is a valid one founded upon the moral effect of the two systems as compared one with

Speaker#1:
00:25:42.28 – 00:25:42.9
the other

Speaker#2:
00:25:43.329 – 00:25:56.16
If Christianity is found to be a system whose principles hardily adopted will relieve the world of most of the evils by which it is oppressed and convert

Speaker#1:
00:25:56.449 – 00:25:59.42
this earth into a paradise

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00:26:01.93 – 00:26:05.91
People would strike you down as a heretic for preaching that in

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00:26:05.92 – 00:26:07.18
many churches today

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00:26:09.339 – 00:26:10.4
I’m not joking

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00:26:11.63 – 00:26:13.77
It’s a completely different

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00:26:13.78 – 00:26:15.56
way of seeing

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00:26:16.819 – 00:26:20.689
that can correct the errors of our present time

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00:26:23.93 – 00:26:31.819
Convert this earth into a paradise Then surely it is the last of all systems that men ought to decry If on the

Speaker#2:
00:26:31.829 – 00:26:44.5
other hand infidelity overturning Christianity destroys the foundations on which all virtue and morality are based then it is the last of all systems that ought to be upheld

Speaker#2:
00:26:46.88 – 00:26:48.39
Isn’t that incredible

Speaker#2:
00:26:49.27 – 00:26:59.579
to think that he would say to an unbeliever who is going off against Jesus Christ against Christianity and against the gospel Let me ask you questions

Speaker#2:
00:27:00.219 – 00:27:05.14
and those questions stopped him in his tracks because he couldn’t

Speaker#1:
00:27:05.15 – 00:27:06.05
deny

Speaker#1:
00:27:08.43 – 00:27:09.75
the answer to that

Speaker#2:
00:27:13.78 – 00:27:17.75
But what that tells me is that the Christianity that he was

Speaker#1:
00:27:17.76 – 00:27:18.93
accustomed to

Speaker#2:
00:27:19.589 – 00:27:21.979
saw things a certain way

Speaker#2:
00:27:22.63 – 00:27:24.609
that it got into his mindset

Speaker#1:
00:27:24.619 – 00:27:27.4
or got into a mindset of a generation or of a

Speaker#2:
00:27:27.41 – 00:27:34.589
culture that they spread the word of God abroad into the culture in such a way that even the unbelievers couldn’t

Speaker#1:
00:27:34.599 – 00:27:35.199
deny it

Speaker#2:
00:27:36.489 – 00:27:37.93
Do you see what I’m saying

Speaker#2:
00:27:39.609 – 00:27:41.329
But here’s the shocking

Speaker#1:
00:27:41.339 – 00:27:42.05
part

Speaker#1:
00:27:42.8 – 00:27:46.25
I’m going to get into it later Hopefully by God’s grace

Speaker#1:
00:27:47.189 – 00:27:49.599
is that God has never changed

Speaker#1:
00:27:50.599 – 00:27:53.14
His gospel has never changed

Speaker#1:
00:27:53.76 – 00:27:57.15
The power of his holy spirit has never changed

Speaker#2:
00:27:57.91 – 00:27:59.02
Jesus walked

Speaker#1:
00:27:59.03 – 00:28:07.26
on this earth and miracles signs and wonders healing and deliverance happened all over But many people were blind and couldn’t see it

Speaker#1:
00:28:08.319 – 00:28:13.099
A lot of people are saying where are signs and wonders and miracles and they happen every single day

Speaker#1:
00:28:13.9 – 00:28:17.609
because nothing has changed But what has changed is a blindness

Speaker#1:
00:28:18.209 – 00:28:19.8
to not see reality

Speaker#1:
00:28:21.67 – 00:28:26.41
Miracle signs and wonders have never ceased and they have never stopped

Speaker#1:
00:28:26.979 – 00:28:30.56
and transform lives has never stopped either

Speaker#1:
00:28:31.65 – 00:28:37.089
but the eyes no longer see it And because our eyes don’t see it because we don’t highlight it

Speaker#1:
00:28:37.709 – 00:28:43.17
We don’t spread these ideas into the culture in such a way that people can see it too

Speaker#1:
00:28:44.469 – 00:28:54.099
Opening the eyes of the blind causing the death to hear causing the sick to be healed causing the dead to be raised

Speaker#1:
00:28:54.67 – 00:28:56.319
It’s awesome isn’t it

Speaker#1:
00:28:57.18 – 00:29:07.53
And the reason I say that we heard it last week with Roy we heard it with Due talking about what they were like before Jesus Christ came into their lives

Speaker#1:
00:29:09.319 – 00:29:11.29
in the total transformation

Speaker#1:
00:29:11.819 – 00:29:18.739
Many multitudes of believers throughout the ages could give that same testimony

Speaker#1:
00:29:19.63 – 00:29:23.55
Multitudes today can give that same testimony

Speaker#1:
00:29:24.079 – 00:29:26.869
But we are so quick to forget

Speaker#1:
00:29:28.41 – 00:29:30.16
We are so slow to see

Speaker#1:
00:29:31.03 – 00:29:33.189
and proclaim and help people to see

Speaker#1:
00:29:40.479 – 00:29:44.569
the journey home to normal Christianity I I really

Speaker#2:
00:29:44.979 – 00:29:46.16
wanted to read those

Speaker#1:
00:29:46.17 – 00:29:53.03
passages because I do believe what I just said that there are signs and wonders and miracles they never stopped

Speaker#1:
00:29:55.56 – 00:30:02.89
But I would say that we are not at a point today in our culture where we can say with Athanasius to the unbeliever

Speaker#1:
00:30:05.42 – 00:30:08.63
If you don’t believe everything I’m saying then believe your eyes

Speaker#1:
00:30:09.55 – 00:30:10.949
does that make sense

Speaker#1:
00:30:11.81 – 00:30:24.619
But I believe when we start to expect that and hold that to be normal Christianity or when we start to dare to believe again what that pastor was speaking about that it will

Speaker#1:
00:30:25.339 – 00:30:35.0
what was the exact words relieve the world of most of the evils by which it is oppressed and convert this earth into a paradise that the gospel has that power

Speaker#1:
00:30:35.719 – 00:30:47.27
Then we will start to see that power manifested in a greater measure It has never stopped God has never let us be without a witness in the earth but the light can be turned on a lot brighter

Speaker#1:
00:30:47.979 – 00:31:01.18
Things can be turned on a whole lot brighter And that’s what we want to do That’s what we want to seek as a people as a community That’s how we want to renew our minds and start to infect the world with these kind of ideas

Speaker#1:
00:31:01.949 – 00:31:09.4
because that’s how we break the yoke That’s how we storm the gates of hell That’s how we prevail And to me it’s exciting

Speaker#1:
00:31:10.63 – 00:31:15.609
Well part of this message was in response to a discussion we were having a Wednesday night at our life group

Speaker#1:
00:31:16.66 – 00:31:22.55
and this was a discussion that had been ironically had with the pastor about a week previously that

Speaker#2:
00:31:22.56 – 00:31:25.719
so many people in our culture are saying I don’t

Speaker#1:
00:31:25.729 – 00:31:29.63
believe because I was hurt by Christians or I was hurt by the church

Speaker#1:
00:31:30.719 – 00:31:31.329
right

Speaker#2:
00:31:32.599 – 00:31:38.849
And and and that and that testimony is is something to be wrestled with right

Speaker#2:
00:31:39.66 – 00:31:46.469
The kind of Christianity But it comes from this idea that the type of Christianity that we’re talking

Speaker#1:
00:31:46.479 – 00:31:47.38
about

Speaker#2:
00:31:47.91 – 00:31:50.709
creates life and love in a

Speaker#1:
00:31:50.719 – 00:31:52.03
culture

Speaker#2:
00:31:52.39 – 00:31:58.969
that’s transformative right And a lot of people do go to a lot of churches where if you don’t conform to the external

Speaker#1:
00:31:58.979 – 00:32:02.0
expectations you get beaten to a pulp

Speaker#1:
00:32:02.849 – 00:32:03.449
right

Speaker#2:
00:32:03.63 – 00:32:10.349
there We’ve seen many big Christian ministers fall the the the the litany of

Speaker#1:
00:32:10.359 – 00:32:12.839
failures is there

Speaker#1:
00:32:13.869 – 00:32:18.599
But I was saying but so if we had eyes to see among the people

Speaker#1:
00:32:19.42 – 00:32:23.54
there’s the litany and cloud of witnesses of transformed lives

Speaker#1:
00:32:24.4 – 00:32:27.109
And we’ve got to take the rise from there to there

Speaker#1:
00:32:28.13 – 00:32:34.67
and we need to fix our eyes from you can’t judge Jesus Christ by the false church

Speaker#1:
00:32:35.619 – 00:32:53.949
Number one the devil understands listen this gospel of Jesus Christ will set people free and cause paradise on earth It will heal most of the ills of this world We have to undermine what God is doing in the world How are we going to do it What is your strategy We are going to raise up a false church

Speaker#1:
00:32:54.55 – 00:32:58.77
to defame the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ

Speaker#1:
00:32:59.42 – 00:33:03.329
And so if we’re looking to the false church as our measure

Speaker#1:
00:33:04.699 – 00:33:06.42
we’re letting the devil win

Speaker#1:
00:33:07.66 – 00:33:25.14
But the world has never been without the true church But it’s time for the true church to grow and multiply and fill the earth Does that make sense It’s exciting to me But number two and this is why like Mary Lou had to say about her mom

Speaker#1:
00:33:26.52 – 00:33:44.209
because the other aspect is that is one of the strongholds that we are fighting today I don’t go to church because all the bad people in church or how church hurt me And I’m not undermining the reality of that experience But it’s really I’m using that tone to get at us

Speaker#1:
00:33:44.89 – 00:33:56.89
because what that is is it’s like it’s a warfare it’s a wrestling and the fault is with us that it’s highlighting a mistake that we have let there be

Speaker#1:
00:33:57.8 – 00:33:59.75
a weak point in our wall

Speaker#1:
00:34:00.43 – 00:34:17.148
And that weak point in our wall is we’ve made Christianity too much about us about me and my experience about me and how people treat me and me and what I got out of it And Mary Lou was like growing up my mom was always about one thing we’re going I don’t care about any of that

Speaker#1:
00:34:17.888 – 00:34:19.699
Why Because he’s worthy

Speaker#1:
00:34:20.628 – 00:34:36.81
and we go because he’s worthy and we go to honor him and no matter what happens among the people he is good and he’s worthy to be trusted and he’s worthy to be followed And if we would set that foundation right from the beginning very few would fall away

Speaker#1:
00:34:38.57 – 00:34:43.53
You see what I’m saying It’s highlighting our failures to set people a right

Speaker#2:
00:34:44.06 – 00:34:45.889
It’s true We want to love one

Speaker#1:
00:34:45.899 – 00:34:54.26
another the heart of the gospel beloved love one another Yes it’s true that we want this kind of Christianity that’s full of transformed lives

Speaker#1:
00:34:55.55 – 00:35:07.51
But Paul says even if people preach Christ for selfish ambition and wrong reasons I rejoice that he’s being proclaimed Why Because he still has the power to save and to heal and to set free And what

Speaker#2:
00:35:07.52 – 00:35:08.61
if the whole world

Speaker#1:
00:35:08.62 – 00:35:11.37
had fallen into darkness and the whole world was gone

Speaker#2:
00:35:11.379 – 00:35:20.29
astray What if the only thing that believing in Jesus Christ was to bring you was trials tribulations and persecutions in this life

Speaker#2:
00:35:21.469 – 00:35:22.419
and you are the only

Speaker#1:
00:35:22.429 – 00:35:26.699
one left He is still worthy for you to bend your knee and say Lord I want to live for you

Speaker#1:
00:35:28.03 – 00:35:31.37
You are worth my life You are worth everything

Speaker#1:
00:35:32.08 – 00:35:38.929
You are that treasure you are that pearl and to walk away from you is to walk away from my very life

Speaker#1:
00:35:40.86 – 00:35:44.719
We need to create a stronger breed of Christians in this earth

Speaker#1:
00:35:45.28 – 00:35:49.5
that are not so easily offended that are not so easily

Speaker#2:
00:35:49.51 – 00:35:49.959
blow

Speaker#1:
00:35:49.969 – 00:35:54.81
tossed to and fro like the waves of the sea of people who follow Jesus

Speaker#2:
00:35:55.31 – 00:36:04.3
Lord Though if the if they fall all around me Lord I’m still gonna say blessed be the name of the Lord That’s the kind of Christians we need

Speaker#1:
00:36:04.31 – 00:36:05.26
to raise up

Speaker#2:
00:36:05.699 – 00:36:09.81
that follow him and serve him That can say like Elijah

Speaker#2:
00:36:11.85 – 00:36:18.709
what have you been doing Elijah I’ve been very zealous for the Lord my God but I’m the only one left

Speaker#2:
00:36:19.56 – 00:36:29.709
Well that’s how it can feel in an hour of darkness But God says you’re wrong Elijah you don’t see reality because I have hidden my own and they’re still there

Speaker#2:
00:36:33.03 – 00:36:40.949
But he burned with holy fire because the altar of the Lord was in ruins and the people were worshiping bail

Speaker#2:
00:36:41.489 – 00:36:44.979
and tyranny and oppression and injustice reign

Speaker#2:
00:36:48.26 – 00:36:51.469
But Almighty God has the power to turn the tide

Speaker#2:
00:36:52.189 – 00:36:58.669
Almighty God has the power to break every yoke almighty God has the power to glorify his name

Speaker#1:
00:37:01.61 – 00:37:03.409
if we only dare to believe and

Speaker#2:
00:37:03.419 – 00:37:04.62
call on his name

Speaker#2:
00:37:05.78 – 00:37:10.689
One of my favorite passage is simply this in those days men began to call

Speaker#1:
00:37:10.699 – 00:37:12.239
upon the name of the Lord

Speaker#1:
00:37:14.52 – 00:37:16.459
call upon him and he will

Speaker#2:
00:37:16.5 – 00:37:17.149
answer

Speaker#2:
00:37:18.01 – 00:37:18.899
and he will show you

Speaker#1:
00:37:18.909 – 00:37:23.959
great and mighty things He is the God of miracles He is the God of answered

Speaker#2:
00:37:23.969 – 00:37:29.83
prayer He is the God that breaks the yoke You do not have because you do not ask

Speaker#2:
00:37:30.469 – 00:37:31.53
And sometimes we don’t

Speaker#1:
00:37:31.54 – 00:37:33.52
ask because we don’t believe

Speaker#1:
00:37:34.639 – 00:37:36.899
that God can turn things around

Speaker#1:
00:37:37.929 – 00:37:44.28
at the level that some of these people this cloud of witnesses this wind of Christianity passed

Speaker#1:
00:37:45.209 – 00:37:46.429
once believed

Speaker#1:
00:38:01.27 – 00:38:04.75
I was also talking with Doctor Christie this week

Speaker#1:
00:38:05.409 – 00:38:07.76
because there’s another part of

Speaker#1:
00:38:08.37 – 00:38:11.639
what I read that really captures my imagination

Speaker#1:
00:38:13.239 – 00:38:20.34
that the gospel of Jesus Christ will heal most of the ills facing the world today and turn it into a paradise

Speaker#1:
00:38:22.26 – 00:38:24.83
And that’s why I added that

Speaker#1:
00:38:25.35 – 00:38:28.739
Who are you Why are you here And where are you going

Speaker#1:
00:38:29.56 – 00:38:48.399
And a lot of times our answer to that is I’m going to heaven and that is an important part of that answer But where are you going I’m going to storm the gates of hell and set the captives free and see transform lives Where are you going We’re going to go from the darkness to the light from the power of the devil to the power of God Where are you going

Speaker#2:
00:38:48.909 – 00:38:50.86
And Him And I were talking a lot about

Speaker#1:
00:38:50.87 – 00:38:54.729
what we’re seeing today in America And one of the things that we’re

Speaker#2:
00:38:54.739 – 00:38:57.489
seeing is fear

Speaker#2:
00:38:58.399 – 00:38:59.179
and

Speaker#1:
00:38:59.29 – 00:39:01.62
division coming

Speaker#1:
00:39:02.189 – 00:39:03.229
for profit

Speaker#1:
00:39:04.129 – 00:39:05.209
We may not realize

Speaker#2:
00:39:05.219 – 00:39:22.229
it but that’s what’s happening The news or the media which was originally a prophetic calling like John the Baptist It’s not right for you to have your brother Philip’s wife It was a calling to call truth truth or call power

Speaker#1:
00:39:22.239 – 00:39:29.07
to accountable to truth and standards of righteousness And so you know he’s considerably older than me

Speaker#2:
00:39:29.179 – 00:39:30.87
And he said I remember

Speaker#1:
00:39:30.879 – 00:39:31.489
when

Speaker#1:
00:39:32.449 – 00:39:33.389
the people who

Speaker#2:
00:39:33.399 – 00:39:36.07
had you know national

Speaker#1:
00:39:36.08 – 00:39:41.32
platforms they would call people that this is who we’re supposed to be

Speaker#1:
00:39:41.84 – 00:39:49.739
This is the character we’re supposed to live out This is what we’re supposed to be like This is the right thing This is the

Speaker#2:
00:39:49.75 – 00:39:54.62
right way to go This is where we should be going You see what I’m saying

Speaker#2:
00:39:55.51 – 00:39:59.379
But what happens is when you lose this vision of where we’re supposed to be

Speaker#1:
00:39:59.389 – 00:40:00.459
going and you’ve

Speaker#2:
00:40:00.469 – 00:40:05.209
got all these voices that are making profit because it gets

Speaker#1:
00:40:05.219 – 00:40:10.649
viewership by sowing fear on any side It doesn’t matter which side whether it’s right

Speaker#2:
00:40:10.659 – 00:40:14.34
or wrong It gets people focused on

Speaker#2:
00:40:14.87 – 00:40:15.739
the sea

Speaker#1:
00:40:16.729 – 00:40:19.54
gets it focused on the problems on the

Speaker#2:
00:40:19.55 – 00:40:37.57
troubles on the trials It starts to rob people of mercy and grace and hope it starts to rob people of an expectation of transformation It starts to even create roots of bitterness where they are the enemy and they are destroying the future and it’s all their fault

Speaker#2:
00:40:38.699 – 00:40:41.0
this woman that you gave me God

Speaker#2:
00:40:42.379 – 00:40:44.11
you see how that’s working

Speaker#2:
00:40:44.81 – 00:40:51.35
and it’s because we’re not lifting our eyes to a vision of where we should be going

Speaker#2:
00:40:51.939 – 00:40:55.84
so that we can lead the people This is the way walking it

Speaker#2:
00:40:56.36 – 00:40:59.3
This is the way of life This is the way of healing

Speaker#1:
00:40:59.31 – 00:41:00.979
This is the way of division

Speaker#1:
00:41:01.56 – 00:41:06.62
or or to bring unity from division Excuse me got it backwards But in

Speaker#2:
00:41:06.629 – 00:41:15.59
some of these conversations have been really interesting because we keep looking to the government to be the savior When only Jesus can be the savior

Speaker#2:
00:41:16.77 – 00:41:33.54
the only you see they understood the only one that can cause the murderer to murder no more is Jesus Christ The only one who can cause these people to be set free is Jesus Christ But what bondage is he unable to set people free from

Speaker#2:
00:41:34.419 – 00:41:41.879
so much fear today about child molesters and human trafficking and drug lords right

Speaker#2:
00:41:43.709 – 00:41:48.929
Government can’t save us from that heck some of them are probably profiting from it

Speaker#2:
00:41:49.669 – 00:41:53.709
But if you were to attack the problem what would you attack the problem with

Speaker#2:
00:41:55.03 – 00:41:55.889
the gospel of

Speaker#1:
00:41:55.899 – 00:42:15.919
Jesus Christ It has the power to set the people free the power to break the yoke Lord send missionaries into these places of bondage and degradation and set the people free people like David Wilkerson did The gospel has never changed The power of his grace has never changed His power to set

Speaker#2:
00:42:15.929 – 00:42:17.35
free has never changed

Speaker#2:
00:42:18.02 – 00:42:18.929
but nothing else

Speaker#1:
00:42:18.939 – 00:42:21.05
has the power to do it except the gospel

Speaker#1:
00:42:22.919 – 00:42:23.81
So

Speaker#1:
00:42:24.689 – 00:42:27.11
who do we Where where is the problem

Speaker#1:
00:42:28.879 – 00:42:30.0
It’s the gospel

Speaker#1:
00:42:31.03 – 00:42:32.8
The church doesn’t believe

Speaker#1:
00:42:33.77 – 00:42:36.699
that what he has entrusted us has the power

Speaker#1:
00:42:38.02 – 00:42:42.959
to set capitalist free and to heal nations and to deliver people from bondage that

Speaker#2:
00:42:42.969 – 00:42:50.02
it is the hope we are the only ones that have been entrusted with what actually can make the difference

Speaker#1:
00:42:50.709 – 00:42:51.709
It’s pretty awesome

Speaker#2:
00:42:51.719 – 00:43:04.729
isn’t it Lord awake in your church to see you know you want to change You know like we believe when we went into Iraq that you know we’re bringing democracy to Iraq And I remember telling people it’s going to fail miserably Why that people

Speaker#1:
00:43:04.739 – 00:43:07.649
aren’t ready for liberty They’re not ready for freedom

Speaker#2:
00:43:08.429 – 00:43:10.76
In the old days you’d have to send missionaries to

Speaker#1:
00:43:10.77 – 00:43:12.375
transform cultures

Speaker#2:
00:43:12.385 – 00:43:17.225
Why Because you got to change people from the inside out and nothing has the power to change

Speaker#1:
00:43:17.235 – 00:43:19.574
people like the gospel of Jesus Christ

Speaker#2:
00:43:19.584 – 00:43:26.405
But the same principle that work to transform pagan lands is the same principles that will work

Speaker#1:
00:43:26.415 – 00:43:29.51
to transform a rep pagan America

Speaker#2:
00:43:30.899 – 00:43:41.05
missionaries didn’t go on to the mission field believing it was hopeless Missionaries didn’t go not believing that Jesus had the power to do it They went with the full expectation

Speaker#1:
00:43:41.879 – 00:43:42.75
that what they were

Speaker#2:
00:43:42.76 – 00:43:52.01
carrying and what they were doing and what they were involved in was going to succeed They nobody I mean what a worthless missionary that thought I’m going

Speaker#1:
00:43:52.02 – 00:43:56.51
because I’m supposed to go But I don’t really think it would do any good That would be a worthless

Speaker#2:
00:43:56.52 – 00:44:03.709
missionary But they actually dared to believe that what they had had the power to change old pagan lands

Speaker#2:
00:44:05.0 – 00:44:06.07
and we need to get

Speaker#1:
00:44:06.08 – 00:44:07.169
that kind of faith

Speaker#2:
00:44:07.179 – 00:44:10.919
to re Christianize a rep ionized America

Speaker#2:
00:44:11.959 – 00:44:14.6
It it really is no different

Speaker#2:
00:44:15.79 – 00:44:22.3
it really is no different Oh Lord send missionaries raise up missionaries awaken missionaries in America

Speaker#2:
00:44:22.949 – 00:44:31.429
I mean we’ve heard people come here and say America you need to wake up Why Because as America goes the world goes and if you fall many will suffer

Speaker#2:
00:44:33.189 – 00:44:40.209
So God has put us in such a place for such a time as this But there has to be a revival there has to be

Speaker#1:
00:44:40.219 – 00:44:43.239
an awakening and it has to begin with us

Speaker#1:
00:44:45.199 – 00:44:47.27
We need the Holy Spirit

Speaker#1:
00:44:48.219 – 00:44:50.179
That’s really where I wanted to get with This

Speaker#2:
00:44:50.189 – 00:44:53.149
is the greatest connection with

Speaker#1:
00:44:53.159 – 00:44:58.05
the wind of Christianity passed as a revelation by the word of God As I was saying

Speaker#2:
00:44:59.01 – 00:45:27.239
Hebrews 12 1 through two Therefore we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance The race that has set us before us Looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God

Speaker#2:
00:45:28.05 – 00:45:48.504
We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses That’s why I read Chesterton It’s not just a cloud of witnesses in our day It’s a great cloud of witnesses from the day that blood was shed and he said it was finished but it’s a great cloud of witnesses that went back to Genesis 3 15 when that first

Speaker#2:
00:45:48.514 – 00:46:08.979
promise of the gospel was given a great cloud of witnesses throughout the ages who believed that God will do what he said he will do And they just counted it their whole life to believe in him and to follow him and to serve him and to worship Him no matter what was going on in the world

Speaker#2:
00:46:09.909 – 00:46:12.459
We have that cloud of witnesses

Speaker#2:
00:46:13.6 – 00:46:17.979
and they all did it by fixing their eyes upon the Lord

Speaker#2:
00:46:18.59 – 00:46:22.55
And when we fix our eyes on the Lord being transformed to the renewing of our

Speaker#1:
00:46:22.57 – 00:46:23.27
mind

Speaker#1:
00:46:25.01 – 00:46:28.729
transform lives to transform the world

Speaker#1:
00:46:29.489 – 00:46:30.37
It’s awesome

Speaker#2:
00:46:30.379 – 00:46:31.06
isn’t it

Speaker#2:
00:46:32.31 – 00:46:33.439
Second Corinthians

Speaker#1:
00:46:33.449 – 00:46:35.33
to tie this all together

Speaker#2:
00:46:36.35 – 00:46:37.209
He was talking

Speaker#1:
00:46:37.219 – 00:46:39.81
about the Jews

Speaker#1:
00:46:40.78 – 00:46:43.07
who read God’s Word every single day

Speaker#1:
00:46:43.889 – 00:46:51.03
and they read it in their synagogues every single day And it’s really what we have in the church in this hour in America

Speaker#1:
00:46:51.679 – 00:47:08.33
The word of God is being proclaimed in pulpits all across America It’s the word of God is going out through radio through TV through the internet but it’s having very little impact It doesn’t look like what we see with Athena

Speaker#1:
00:47:10.25 – 00:47:18.0
in Paul when he so the connection between the Jews that Paul was dealing with and Christianity that we’re seeing today but their

Speaker#2:
00:47:18.01 – 00:47:30.709
minds were blinded for until this day the same veil remains un lifted in the reading of the Old Testament But that’s the only scripture that they had when they wrote this Do you see what I’m saying

Speaker#2:
00:47:32.53 – 00:47:52.949
Because the veil is taken away in Christ But even to this day when Moses is read a veil lies on their hearts Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord the veil is taken away Now the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty Do you hear the great liberation movement here

Speaker#2:
00:47:53.939 – 00:48:03.969
But we all with unveiled face beholding us in a mirror The glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just

Speaker#1:
00:48:03.979 – 00:48:05.989
as by the spirit of the Lord

Speaker#2:
00:48:06.77 – 00:48:15.31
As we see him we become like him As we receive revelation we become like him be transformed through the renewing of your mind

Speaker#2:
00:48:16.06 – 00:48:35.78
So I can’t bring it home enough revelation precedes revival It’s when we have a new fresh revelation of the Lord things start to change things start to transform And without that revelation there’s no breakthrough You are the Christ the Son of the living God I see it Lord I see it

Speaker#2:
00:48:37.389 – 00:48:43.179
I will build my church upon people receiving revelation by the Holy Spirit of God

Speaker#2:
00:48:43.53 – 00:49:10.36
And that is the daily bread that we need to experience It’s not a one time experience because you can never quit searching the unsearchable riches of Christ There’s always more of him to see There’s always more of him to know There’s always more of him to experience and you can receive revelation after revelation and you’ll go from faith to faith and glory to glory And that should be the normal Christian walk

Speaker#2:
00:49:11.05 – 00:49:23.11
And when we quit receiving revelation we quit changing We start stagnating We need revival when we are not receiving regular revelation about who he is

Speaker#2:
00:49:23.729 – 00:49:30.34
and what he is like and what he’s doing when we’re not receiving fresh revelation we are stagnating

Speaker#2:
00:49:31.61 – 00:49:34.11
But you don’t have because you don’t ask

Speaker#1:
00:49:35.679 – 00:49:37.02
there is nothing

Speaker#2:
00:49:37.719 – 00:49:38.659
that will change

Speaker#1:
00:49:38.669 – 00:49:42.81
your life more than a fresh revelation of Jesus Christ And

Speaker#2:
00:49:42.82 – 00:49:57.26
so many people say well how do I get it Do I just do I just pray Yes you can God can give you a revelation through a dream through a vision through life circumstances through an encounter with the Holy Spirit He can give you a revelation through his body

Speaker#2:
00:49:59.82 – 00:50:01.87
But we all have access to His word

Speaker#1:
00:50:03.05 – 00:50:09.53
And the most basic way he can change your life is by having a conversation with Him

Speaker#1:
00:50:10.629 – 00:50:15.739
Yes prayer is one conversation but the word of God is a conversation with God

Speaker#1:
00:50:16.919 – 00:50:19.959
But when that you see but not when the veil is up

Speaker#1:
00:50:21.37 – 00:50:25.469
When the veil is up we don’t receive revelation It just becomes a religious duty

Speaker#1:
00:50:26.379 – 00:50:31.419
When the veil is up it’s a religious duty that makes us feel self righteous because we did it

Speaker#1:
00:50:32.04 – 00:50:34.469
or makes us feel guilty because we didn’t

Speaker#1:
00:50:35.27 – 00:50:38.54
that’s not the quality of authentic Christianity

Speaker#1:
00:50:39.139 – 00:50:44.179
But when that veil is lifted we start reading scripture and it’s like God starts leaping

Speaker#2:
00:50:44.189 – 00:50:45.75
off the pages of scripture

Speaker#1:
00:50:46.419 – 00:50:51.02
and and it changes us it touches us it transforms us it answers our

Speaker#2:
00:50:51.03 – 00:50:56.27
questions It starts when we wrestle with things and we don’t know the way out as we read

Speaker#1:
00:50:56.28 – 00:50:58.469
earlier the word of God so that you may

Speaker#2:
00:50:58.479 – 00:51:01.56
be fully equipped This is its own testimony

Speaker#1:
00:51:01.57 – 00:51:02.57
and it’s true

Speaker#1:
00:51:03.37 – 00:51:10.52
And when we dare to believe that and we go asking and seeking for God to reveal Himself to us He does

Speaker#1:
00:51:11.29 – 00:51:17.219
and it changes our lives so that we can go change other people’s lives I just want to

Speaker#2:
00:51:17.229 – 00:51:19.459
finish it with There is no bondage

Speaker#1:
00:51:19.75 – 00:51:23.79
that any human being is experiencing that wasn’t dealt with at the cross

Speaker#2:
00:51:24.33 – 00:51:25.489
There is no sin

Speaker#1:
00:51:25.5 – 00:51:26.979
there is no evil there is no

Speaker#2:
00:51:26.989 – 00:51:29.489
injustice There is absolutely

Speaker#1:
00:51:29.5 – 00:51:30.3
nothing

Speaker#1:
00:51:31.57 – 00:51:33.78
that has not been dealt with at the cross

Speaker#1:
00:51:34.419 – 00:51:51.53
but God has given us the ministry of Reconciliation He has entrusted us with taking his work and proclaiming it to the nations and making it real That is the ministry and mission of the church of Jesus Christ It’s what we are called to do

Speaker#1:
00:51:52.29 – 00:51:53.51
And it’s exciting

Speaker#1:
00:51:54.669 – 00:51:59.85
lives can be transformed People can have an encounter with God People

Speaker#2:
00:51:59.86 – 00:52:00.899
can go free

Speaker#1:
00:52:00.909 – 00:52:16.85
and we need to keep proclaiming that until people start experiencing it and start testifying he is alive For all you have to do is open up your eyes to see Look how many lives have been transformed by this gospel of Jesus Christ

Speaker#1:
00:52:17.479 – 00:52:33.449
That is normal Christianity That is our inheritance That is the wind of Christianity past that we can open up our sails and catch and it’s what we need to do to deal with the strongholds we are facing today

Speaker#1:
00:52:34.03 – 00:52:37.51
They will fall before the word of the Lord

Speaker#1:
00:52:38.25 – 00:52:55.62
Every stronghold will fall before the gospel of Jesus Christ That was the promise Jesus made upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail Now go and storm the gates of hell

Speaker#1:
00:52:56.719 – 00:53:00.409
Who are you Why are you here Where are you going

Speaker#1:
00:53:00.969 – 00:53:22.27
What I want to be doing is I want to be going and storming the gates of hell Proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ I want to be part of a worldwide liberation movement I want to see these things that are robbing people of life and humanity and dignity broken so that people can know the goodness of the Lord in the land of