YouTube video 0FCSafufZVg

[music] We love you tonight. [music] We love you, Lord. [music] How we [music] love you tonight. [singing] [music] We love you tonight. [singing] >> [music] >> I love you tonight, Lord. I've [music] come to honor you tonight. Not just with our lips, but with [music] our hearts. >> [music] >> I will love you tonight, Lord. [music] >> [music] >> Jesus, help us to see tonight. [music] Help us to see you tonight. Help us to see tonight. [music] >> [music] >> and open the [singing] eyes of my heart, Lord. [music] Open the eyes of my heart. I want to [music] see you. I want to see you. [music] Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. [music] Open the [singing] eyes of my [music] heart. I want to see you. I [music and singing] want to see you. Open [music and singing] the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open [singing] the eyes in [music] my heart. I want to see. Oh, I want to see. [music] We're [music] here for you. >> [music] >> would you open [singing] the eyes [music] of my heart? Lord, open [singing] the eyes of my heart. I want to see. [music] I want to see. [music] Open [singing] the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open [snorts and music] the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. [music] I want to see. [music] Open [singing and music] the eyes of my heart, Lord. [music] Open the eyes of my [singing] heart. I want [music] to see you.

>> [singing] >> And I want [music] to see to see [singing] you high [music] and lifted up. Shined [music] in the light [singing] of your glory. Pour out [music and singing] your power and love as we [music] sing. Holy, [singing] holy, holy [music] to see you high and lifted [singing] up. Shining [music and singing] in the light of your glory. Pour out your [music and singing] power in love. As we sing, holy, holy, [singing] [music] holy to see you high and lifted up, [music] shining in the light of [music and singing] your glory. Pour [music and singing] out your power and love as we sing. [music and singing] Holy, holy, holy. Oh, [music] how we to see rightly, Jesus. [singing] how [music] we need to see rightly tonight. Lord, would [music] you open the eyes of our hearts tonight? [music] Would you of [music] our hearts tonight? [music] >> [music] >> And open the eyes of my heart, Lord. [music] And open [singing] the eyes of my heart. [music] I want [singing] to see you. See you rightly. [music] [singing] I want to see you. [music] Make this your prayer tonight. Open the eyes of my [music] heart, Lord. Open the eyes [singing] of my [music] heart. I want to see you. Oh, to see you [music] rightly. I want to see you. Open. [singing and music] Open the eyes of my [music and singing] Lord. Open the [singing] eyes of my heart. I want to see [music] you. [music] I want to see you. [music] to see you. I love [music] shining the light of your glory. [music] Heat. [music] for you. You're [music] shining in the [music and singing] light of your glory. Pour out [music and singing] your power and love as we sing. Holy, holy, holy. [music and singing] >> [music] >> The angels and the saint sing. [music] When we behold, we have no choice but to respond. To respond to the grace [music] of you, Jesus. [singing] >> [music] >> is to see. Oh, we want to see. [music] You are king. [music] >> You are great in all the earth, Lord. [music] >> [music] >> Holy, [music and singing] holy, holy, holy, [singing] holy, holy, holy, [music and singing] holy, holy. I [music] want to see you. Holy, [music] holy, [singing] holy, holy, [singing] holy, [music] holy, holy, [singing] holy, [music] holy. I want to see [music] you. Yeah. Make this little song tonight. [singing] Holy, holy, [music] holy. Oh, we join in with heaven tonight. [music] With the elders we lay our crowns. [music] >> I want [music] to see you. [music] >> There is nobody else. >> [music] [singing] >> I want to see [music] you are you are holy, [music] holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, [music] holy, holy, holy. >> [music] >> I want to see you. [music] Heat. [singing] [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Open your eyes to see [music] [singing] [music] shining in the light of your glory. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Yes, you [music] are. [music] >> [music] >> Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] You are holy, holy, holy. [music] I want to see you singing. Holy, [singing] holy, holy, holy, [singing] holy, holy, holy, [music] holy, holy. Love [music] to see you. We want to see rightly tonight. [music] So, we just open the eyes of our hearts. Halleluer of my soul [music] and all [music] with all of [singing] heaven we are singing [music] in hallelujah. [singing] Lover of my soul. [music] Hallelujah. [singing] [music] With all [singing] of heaven we are singing. [music] With all of [singing] heaven we are singing. We are singing. [music] [music and singing] [music] >> [singing] >> We're [music] here for you [singing] tonight, Lord. [music] We're here for you. [music] Father, we [music and singing] have come to bow down in worship. [music] Lifted up [singing] our hearts, we bow [music] down in prayer. Father, Father, [singing] [music] we have come to bow down [music] in worship. Lifting [singing] up our hearts, we bow down in praise. Hallelujah. [singing] [music] cover [singing] of my soul [music] and hallelujah [singing] with all of heaven [music] we are singing [music] and hallelujah lover [music] of my soul [music] and hallelujah joining all of heaven [music] we are singing we are singing oh we lift our voices [music] to sing Tonight, bright and [music] morning star, bright and morning star, your [music and singing] eyes blaze like fire, [music] shining [singing] like the You're [music and singing] our one desire. You're the bright [music] and morning star. Your eyes blaz [music] [singing] shining [music] like the sun. [singing] You're our [music] one. Oh, bright and morning. Bright [music] and morning star. [music] Your [singing] eyes praise like [music and singing] you tonight. Shining like a sun. You're our [music and singing] desire. [music] You're the Lord [music] of my soul. [music] We are [music] my soul [music] with all Heaven. Oh, we are singing. [music] Join all. Oh, we are singing. [music] Join all. Oh, we [music] are singing. Join all. We are singing. [music] >> [music] >> We're joining with tonight. You're so [music] worthy of this. [music] >> [music] >> And all the angels [music] cry out, "Holy is God." All the earth. Holy are you. [music] All the angels cry. Holy [music] is the Lord God and all the earth. [music] Holy angels [music] cry. Holy God. [music] >> [music] >> All the angels cry. [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] >> All the angels cry [music] in all the earth. [music] We join you with heaven. [music] We join you with heaven tonight. >> [music] >> Heat. [music] Yeah. Heat. [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Holy angels and all the angels cry. [music] Holy, holy, holy and all the earth [music] are all the angels cry. [music] Oh my god. All the earth [music] angels cry. Holy God. Holy. [music] We join in with tonight. [music] Hallelu. Hallelu. Hallelujah. [music] Hallelujah. Hallelu. Hallelu. [music] Holy is the Lord. Holy is the Lord. Holy is the Lord. Holy [music] is the Lord. Holy is the Lord. Holy is the Lord. God allight. Holy [music] is the Lord. Holy is the Lord. Holy is the Lord. [music] Is the Lord all mighty. Holy is the Lord. Holy is the Lord. Holy [music] is the Lord. The God Almighty, [music] who is the Lord, is the Lord. Holy is [music] the Lord. Holy [music] is the Lord. Holy is the Lord. Holy is the Lord. [music] God mighty. [music] Who is [music] God? [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Jesus Christ. [music] Heat. [music] The [music] angels [music] are the earth. [music] Holy Christ. [music] Holy are you. Holy, holy, [music] holy. Just look at him tonight [music] and see that he's holy. See that he's beautiful. Oh, there's nobody else in all the [music] earth. There's nobody else like Jesus. All [music] the fullness of him. All the earth responds. All the earth, the universe responds in worship. [music] >> Holy is the Lord. >> Holy is the [singing] Lord. Holy is the Lord. Who [music] is the Lord? [singing] >> God Almighty. [singing] Who is the Lord? [music] Holy [singing] Lord. Holy is the [music] Lord. God Almighty. Holy is the Lord. Holy [music and singing] is the Lord. Holy God of [music] Hol is holy. [singing] [music] Holy is the Lord God Almighty. [music] Holy is the Lord. [music] Oh, holy is the Lord. Holy, holy, >> holy, holy, holy >> holy, [music] holy, Holy, [music] holy. [music] You are holy. Oh, you are. [singing] Oh, you [music] are to [music] the one who crown of thorns. [music] To the one who took the lash and [singing] scorch [music] for the hands and feet that were [singing] pierced by nails [music] for the sacrifice that has torn [singing] the lip. >> [music] >> Holy, holy, [music] [singing] [music] hol you are holy. >> [music] >> You are [music] to the one who a crown of [singing] thorns [music] to the one who took [music] the lash and Scorch for the [singing] hands and feet that were pierced [singing and music] by nails for the sacrifice [music] that has [singing] torn the veil. We [music and singing] crown you. We fall face down and we [singing] worship. We all [music] cry out, "You're worthy, God. You're worthy, [music] God." Oh, we crown you. We fall face down and we worship. We all cry out. You're [music] worthy, God. You are worthy God. [music and singing] Oh [music] worthy. [music and singing] Oh worthy. [music] worthy. [music] to the one [music and singing] who gave his very life [music and singing] away. who took upon himself all [music and singing] our guilt and shame. Hanging on a cross [music] for the world he loved [music] with his precious blood. [music] purchase [singing] men for God to the one who gave [music] his very life away. who [music] took upon himself all our [music and singing] guilt and shame hanging on a cross [singing] [music] for the world he loved with his precious [music] [singing] blood purchase man for [music] heart and we crown you. We fall face down and we worship. We all cry [music] out, "You are worthy, God. You are worthy [music] God." Oh, we crown you. We fall [music] face down and we worship. We all cry out, [music] "You are worthy, God. You're worthy, God." [music] Yes, we crown you. We fall face [singing] down and we worship. We all [music] cry out, "You're worthy, God. You're so worthy, God. [music] Yes. We crown you. We fall face down and [music] we worship. We all cry out. You're [music] worthy, God. You're so worthy, God. [music] [singing] You're so worth >> You're so worthy. >> Oh, you're so worthy. You're [music] so worthy. [music] And to the one who endured all the shame of the cross. To the [music] lamb who was slain as atonement for us. To the son who overcame all the power of death. [music] We praise. And for the [music] stripes, for the wounds, for the beating [singing] you pour, for the tears, [music] for the blood that you willingly pour, for the merciful, wonderful majesty [singing] of your [music] love. To the [music] one who endure all the shame of the cross. To the lamb [music] who was laid as atonement for us. To the son who [music] overcame all the power of death. We pray [music] for the strives, for the wounds, for the beating you pour, for the tears, for the blood that [music] you willingly pour. for the merciful, wonderful [singing] majesty of your love. [music] And to the one who endured [music] all the shame of the cross, to the lamb who was slain as atonement for us. [music] To the son [singing] overcame all the power of death we praise. [music] And for the stripes, for the loss, for the beating you bore, [music] for the tears, for the blood that you willingly pour, for the merciful, [music] wonderful majesty of your love. [music] To the one who enjoy all the shame of the cross. To the lamb who was [music] slain as atonement for us. to the sun overcame all the power of death. [music] We praise for the strength [music] for the world. For the be for the tears and the blood that you will reward. [music] For the merciful [singing] majesty of your we [music] face [singing] down and we worship. We all [music] cry out. You are worthy, [singing] God. [music] You're so worthy, God. We crown you. We fall face [music] down and we worship. We all cry out. [music] You're worthy, God. [music] You're worthy, God. To the one [music] who endured all the shame on the cross. To the lamb who was saved [music] as atonement for us. To the son who overcame all the power [singing] of death [music] we pray. [music] For the for the for the you [music] for the tears, for the blood that you for the [music] mercy of your [music] cross to the [music] There's a time for us to the power of we [music] for the world for the for the [music] tears of the you for the mercesty [music] of Heat. [music] >> [music] >> And to the one who endured all the shame of the To the [music] lamb who was slain as atonement for us. To [music] the son who overcame. All the power of death we pray. And for the stripes, [music] for the wounds, for the beating [singing] you pour, for the tears [music] and the blood that you willing, for the merciful, wonderful majesty of your love. Oh, we [singing] cry. [music] We fall face down. We worship. [singing] [music] We all cry out. You're [singing] worthy, [music] God. You're worthy, [singing] God. Yes. We cry. [music] We fall face down. And we worship. We all cry. You worthy [singing] God. You worthy [music] God. [singing] [music] Worthy. [music] [singing] Worthy. Oh, [singing] [music] you are so [music] you >> [music] >> worthy. [music] Oh, just worship the world Lord. Oh, worship. [music] Thank [singing] you. Oh, praise him. [music] Heat. [music] God. [music] Hallelujah. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Heat. [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat [music] up Heat [music] up here. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Holy, [music] holy, holy [music] angels Say [music] you [music] Oh. Oh. Holy. Holy. [music] [singing] Jesus. Jesus. >> [music] >> I need you More than I need you more [singing] than words. [music] I need you. [singing] I need you. I need you more. I need you more. [singing] [music] [singing] I need you more words. I need you more. [singing] [singing] I need [music] you, Lord. I need you. I need you. More. [singing] [music] I need you more words. I need you more. [singing] I need [music] you more. I need you more. And more [singing] than the air I breathe. And more than [singing] the song I sing. More than my next heartbeat. More than [music and singing] I'll be [singing] by your side. I want [singing] to go back to my old life. And more [singing] than the air I breathe and more than the song I sing and more than my next [singing] [music] time I'll be by your side. [singing] I never I need you more. [music] [singing] I need you more [singing] words. [music] I need you more than [music] ever before. I need [singing] you, Lord. I need you [music and singing] more. I need you. I need you more. More than [music and singing] yesterday. I need you more. more [music] than words could say. I need you [singing] more than ever before. I need [music] you, Lord. I need you, Lord. I need you more. More [music] than yesterday. I need [singing] you more. more [music and singing] than words can say. I need you more [music and singing] than ever before. I need you more. I need you. Lord, tonight we healed ourselves. elves over to you and [snorts] and we recognize our need for you. We recognize our need for your broken body and your spilled out blood, the cross and your testimony. And I pray Lord that areas of our lives, our hearts we where we have grown numb to our need for you. Would you wake us up in that area, Lord? Would you would you tremble us and shake everything that can be shaken that we would be awakened to our great need of a savior. >> And tonight as we look to you, we want to know your heart, Lord. We want to know the things that you love and the things that you're excited for, the things you're anticipating, the things you're looking forward to. And we want to know the things that you hate and despise, the things that break your heart, the things that you can't stand. We want to know you in your in your suffering, in your agony, in your pain that we may also know you in your glorious resurrection. We don't want a watered down version of the gospel. We're not looking, Lord, to be catered to. We want to learn to die to ourselves and live in the fullness of your resurrection. Holy Spirit, I pray I ask that tonight you would work through each one of our hearts, sifting through, separating, uprooting things that don't belong there. And I pray that tonight, there'd be face-toface meetings with with you in the room. that for such a time as this. Thank you for being with us, Lord. We're constantly we are an on wonder that you never have to come and yet you always do. What great love is this that the Lord you took on flesh being and bruised. You were torn apart, nailed to a tree. and looking upon the ones who were mocking you with borrowed breath, you declared mercy. That today in in moments like these, we can behold the lamb of God. The one with holes in his hands. The one with the pierced side. The one who never leaves us nor forsakes us, the one we're after. So I ask God, meet us here tonight individually and corporately. Lord, meet us. We're ready to receive. Whatever it is you have to deposit and whatever it is you want to do, wherever it is you want to go, we will follow you, Lord. Have your way in us. We love you, Jesus. We give you all of the glory, all of the honor. And in your most holy name we pray. Amen. Amen. Can we thank the Lord? [applause] You may find your seats. Ushers, please help me. Uh, we're so glad you're here with us tonight. It really is a gift and a privilege to um it's a gift and privilege to be able to gather in settings like this to to love Jesus together. And so we're we're so glad you're here. Is there anyone who's here for the very first time? Like you've never been to a finding service before? Can you just raise your hand? Awesome. Welcome. >> [applause] >> We're excited to have you and um hopefully you know, you can sense by now that our really our our heart is to love Jesus and to learn to love him more. And um everything else kind of submits to whatever it is that he asks for and he desires. And so we uh we just we just want more of him. And so we're it's always a gift when when others come to join and and seek his presence with us. So, um I don't want to take up too much time. Uh I want to receive tonight's offering really quickly. Um and then we will and then I want to hand it off to Pastor Michael here in just a little bit. I'll introduce him. Um so I want to read in Exodus chapter 25 for our church. This is going to be a very familiar portion of scripture um when it comes to our generosity and to tithes and offerings. In Exodus 25:1 it says, "The Lord said to Moses, speak to the people of Israel that they that they take for me a contribution from every man whose heart moves him. You shall receive the contribution for me. And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them. gold, silver, bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. Goat's hair, tammed rams, rams skins, goat skins, acacia wood, oil for the lamp, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onx stones and stones for setting for the ephod and for the breastplate. And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, of all its furniture, you shall make it. The purpose of a church is to build a dwelling place for the presence of Jesus. It's to build a place where people gather whom Jesus will inhabit and rest with. In the scriptures, what we find is that when those who wanted to build God a home, a home for his presence, the responsibility of the responsibility of provision and offerings was upon the people who wanted to give in their generosity and the responsibility was upon the people. I, you know, I I've shared this here before is when you read about Moses building the tabernacle and David getting the blueprints for the temple that Solomon eventually built, there was not one moment in the scripture where God asked for the opinion of Moses or David or Solomon. God gave instruction for what he desired his house to look like. And we either build it the in the scriptures, they would either build it according to the way that God designed it and the blueprints that he gave and he would live there or they if they wanted to they could build it according to their own plan and God wouldn't live there. It's why he says exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and all its furniture you shall make it. Generosity isn't God's uh barometer. It's not a it's not a standard that you measure up to to see if money has a hold on on your life or not. Generosity is the way of the life and the heart of Jesus. And the scriptures what we know the ultimate goal of our Christianity is to look like Jesus. And the reason the scriptures teach that God loves a cheerful giver is because there is nothing that God ever gave to you and he didn't have a smile on his face when doing it. And when he draws when he calls you and I when our when our responsibility as Christians as believers is to give of our tithes and offerings to the Lord with joy is not because God is testing to see if money has a hold on us or not. If if that is the purpose of your generosity, it's so far removed from who Jesus actually is. God didn't send his one and only son to see if Jesus had the capacity to die for humanity. Jesus was God's response of an expression of love towards humanity. And Jesus fulfilled every detail of his life with the intention to redeem you and I because you and I were the joy that were set before him. The I hope you hear what I'm saying. Um, and so when God asks when we come to an assignment uh to build a home for his presence, when we gather in rooms like this and and call on the presence of Jesus to come rest with us, part of our diligence is that we give over to him what's rightfully his. And whether it's adoration, praise, worship, declaration, proclamation, and our giving, everything is so that Jesus feels at home when he walks into this room. And so may we be a house, certainly if the finding is your home church, may we be a house where we are a people whose heart moves, whose heart is moved to give a contribution onto the Lord. and that he uses the the the finances, the the instruments, the resources that we have to offer to build a home for his presence, one that he will dwell with his people in this room. And I've shared this, you know, I've shared this before is we we believe that one day people from all over the world will fly in to Seattle, Washington to experience what God is doing with a people who have not held anything back from him. And so may he find that in this room here with us. Amen. Amen. All right. Well, I want to give you a couple minutes to do that. Uh we have every regular way of giving up on the screen. If you need an envelope, please raise your hand. Our ushers are more than happy to get you one of those. Um otherwise, we want to I want to give you a couple minutes to do that. We'll play a short video and um and then I'll come back, pray, introduce Pastor Michael, and uh we'll see all that God has in store for us tonight. So, we will be right back. [music] [singing] Yeah. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Heat. [music] Heat. Yeah. Heat. [music] Yeah. Heat. [music] Yeah. [music] Heat. [singing] [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Hosanana. Hosana [music] in the highest [music] forever. Hosanana. [music] Hosanana. Hallelujah. Forever. [music] Hallelujah. Forever. [music] [singing] Hallelujah. Forever [music] we sing. Hallelujah. [music] Forever. Hallelujah. [music] >> [music] >> Heat. >> [music] >> forever. Hallelujah. [music] All right, let's pray. So Jesus, uh we love you and we thank you for every dollar that was sown and we ask Lord that you would breathe upon it and that in and through it every dollar, every penny would go to destroy the kingdom of hell and establish your kingdom here in in our city and in our state. And we pray, Lord, that that the needs of every person in this room, whether they gave or not, that that they would find an answer and provision in you and you alone. And so we give our needs over to you. We thank you for your faithfulness, your kindness, Lord. All the ways that you provide, all the ways that you take care of us, the ways that you love us. Thank you for your faithfulness. And we ask Lord that you would have your way in tonight. Whatever it is you want to do, wherever it is you want to go. This is your meeting and we are your people serving your heart. Have your way in the room tonight. We love you, Lord. And in your name we pray. Amen. Awesome. All right. Well, uh, I just briefly want to take a couple minutes and, yeah, let's find our seats. Uh, I want to honor Pastor Michael here before I hand it over to him. Uh, for those of you who I think most of you probably do know, but for those of you who don't know, uh, I served Pastor Michael as his assistant for two years before the Lord pulled me back to Seattle here, uh, where where I grew up. And the finding is is the expression of a dream that that certainly God by God's mercy and grace he opened up and he really began to lead the way. But the way the Lord I'm learning the way the Lord operates is that he never lets us uh run at something as individuals. He always has a heart for unity and community and fellowship and to operate as the body of Christ. And as much as just about every day I I think about how much of my dreams I'm living in, I I always recognize and I always remember that uh I would have never gotten here if it wasn't for the the the love, the support, the encouragement, and really the fathering of of of Pastor Michael and Jessica, both of them. The finding, well, hold on. I'll we'll we'll get there. [laughter] The finding uh the finding is a result because of people like Pastor Michael who have gone before us and fought battles and and fights in the spirit and pursued Jesus in secret when nobody was watching. so that somebody like me could sit under and watch what God is doing in a man who's devoted fully to him and then watch and take an example from that, learn from it, and then begin to run a race that God has has set out for us here in Seattle, Washington. And I say this uh to to make a point that in many ways in very many ways that what's happening here and what God is doing in our church and within our midst is because Pastor Michael believed in what what God wants to do within our city. And I've watched him live his life uh when nobody else was watching in secret be behind closed doors in rooms where it was just his family. And through and through what I've seen is a representation of the love of Jesus in public and in private. And I always tell like the our our church members, I I tell the people I I intentionally grow and disciple is make sure that when you're being discipled by someone, you find fruit in a person's life that you want in your own life. Cuz whoever it is you follow, you are going to you're going to you're going to learn to grow the fruit that they have in their life. And there's absolutely nobody else on planet Earth that I'd rather see that I no other fruit on planet Earth that I'm aware of that I would want in my life than the fruit that I see in Pastor Michael where his family, his children love and serve Jesus, where the church is thriving and full of the presence of Jesus. I always tell people when I go to Orlando, one of the things that I that I'm always aware of is I don't know of another place where the presence of God shows up as consistently as it does at Jesus image. Except now for here because of the fruit that I saw that I've seen in his life. [laughter] Um, and so when God sends his friends to pour into into a house, into our our environment, um, it's because God sends his friends with intention. And so what I want to ask from all of us tonight is that we're diligent to receive whatever God wants to deposit and we honor his friends that come through here. We honor Pastor Michael and that so much of our DNA here at the finding is rooted in what's happening at Jesus image. is rooted in what's happening in Pastor Michael and Jessica as a family. And so much of we what we get to experience here at the finding in Seattle is because of what they've deposited in us. They were the very first people when I had the dream when God spoke to me about the finding. Pastor Michael was the first person that said, "Hey, this is God and I want you to know that myself and Jess will support you. Go do what God's telling you to do." And to this day, they are they [music] are our strongest uh arm of support. And so, Michael, I am like I'm so anytime you come, it is the greatest gift to have you. You're always welcome. And um I just I thank you for making the time, even in the midst of your vacation, making the time to come up here and and sew on to us. So, can we all please stand and welcome Pastor Michael All >> [applause] >> right, let's let's lift our hands to the Lord. And uh as R said, I'll get to what he said in just a minute. We'll get there. Your mom is the biggest supporter other than Jesus. Your mom and dad, then us. Let's lift our hands to the Lord and love him. Oh Jesus, we worship you tonight and we give you glory. Glory and honor. >> All power belongs to you, oh Lord. Lord, with our hands lifted tonight, our our bodies yielded the best we know how, our thoughts set upon you. We ask for your wonderful kingdom, your wonderful kingdom to fill this place so that we can say it's in you we live, move, and have our being. And blessed is the kingdom of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. And wonderful holy spirit, you are the lord and the giver of life. Fill this room, Lord. Fill our hearts, fill our minds, fill our bodies, fill our thoughts, and turn them to the risen and crucified Lord. And so we enter by the blood of Jesus tonight, not in our own merit, not in our own strength, but we all, we plead the blood tonight. We plead the precious holy blood of Jesus that speaks a better word. Lord, break our heart in the most beautiful way. A broken and contrite heart you will not despise. [music] And we love you. We love you. We give you glory and honor. Would you just begin to bless him all over the room with your mouth? Come on, lift your voices. Let's just take a few more minutes. Come on, just bless his holy name. [music] >> Blessed be the name of the Lord. >> Holy is the Lord. >> Worthy are you, Lord. >> Blessed be your name. Just lift your voices all over the room. [music] Hallelujah. [singing] >> Worthy are you Lord. >> Hallelujah. [singing] For the Lord God Almighty [singing] reigns. Let's all bless him now. every voice, every heart. Hallelujah. [singing] Hallelujah. For the Lord God Almighty reigns. Hallelujah. Holy, holy [music] are you, Lord God Almighty. Who worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb for you [music and singing] are holy. Holy are you Lord God Almighty. Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. Amen. We sing hallelu. Hallelu for the Lord God Almighty reigns. Hallelu. Hallelujah. For the Lord God Almighty reigns. [music] Hallelujah. [singing] Holy, holy are you, Lord God [screaming] Almighty. [music] Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb for you are holy. Holy [music] are you Lord God Almighty. Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. [music] For you are holy, holy are you, Lord God Almighty. [music] Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. Amen. Praise God from [singing] whom all blessings flow. [music] Praise him all creatures [music] here below. Praise him above the heavenly host. Praise father, [music] son, and holy ghost. Praise God from whom all [music] blessings flow. Praise [music] him all creatures hear me below. Praise him above [music] ye heavenly [singing] host. Praise father, [music] son, and holy go. [singing] Yes. Praise God [music] the father who's the source. Praise God the Son who is [music] the course. Praise [music] God the Spirit who's the [music] flow. Praise God our portion here be [singing] [music] we sing amen singing amen. Amen. Amen. [music] We sing. [music] Amen. Amen. [music] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. [music] Yeah. Amen. Amen. Every voice we sing. [music] Amen. >> [music] >> Amen. Yeah. Amen. [music] >> Lord, we've come tonight to give you all the glory. And we do. every fiber of our being. [music] >> We give you all the glory. Come on, just begin to bless him. >> We give you all the glory. You are wonderful. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. [music] >> We worship you, Lord. We adore you and bless you. We thank you, Jesus, [music] for the power of your holy cross. Blessed be your name. [music] >> Blessed be your name. >> Blessed be your name. [music and singing] >> Blessed be your name. >> Worthy is the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. >> Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. [music] Hallelujah. Have your way [music] tonight for your name's sake in Jesus name. Amen. Can we bless the Lord just one more time? [applause] Blessed be your precious name. [music and applause] Blessed be your precious name. Amen. Then you can be seated. Thank you, David. Wasn't that wonderful? >> We can go home. This is wonderful. Um, I want to thank Pastor Raul for having me and >> [applause] >> u such an honor to be here. I'm so proud of you and everything Raul said about me is a is only by the grace of God. It's partially true. And um the Lord is so merciful, isn't he? And he he carries us when we're weak. and speaks to us when we need to hear. Sometimes we glory in our own obedience, but without his word, we'd have nothing to obey. Not much to glory in. And I I want to thank Raul for having me. It's an honor to be here. And from the moment he shared his vision for the finding, I I felt that it was the Lord. I remember the meeting when the Lord spoke to him. It was at a Randy Clark event that I I love Randy, but I didn't want to go. It was in Oklahoma City in August. And August and Oklahoma City, they're not it's not like Orange County in July, you know, but I felt from the Lord to go and felt that I was going for a bigger reason than the meetings and and um then the Lord spoke to Ro I think in that meeting. I'm so thankful and so proud of him. I'm going to invite you to stand with him and um and learn and be humble and receive what the Lord has uh for you through him. I'm going to get to that in a moment, but thank you for having me. It's a privilege. And he served Jesus image so beautifully. He still does. He still flies in for probably [snorts] a couple times a year. came in to Jesus 25 um and rode in the car and helped me with everything. And I told a young man the other day who's just a real generous young man and he actually reminds me of Raul. I said, "You're almost impossible for God not to bless, but that humble heart is a magnet for the favor of God." And so I'm proud of you. It's beautiful to see. Let's thank the Lord for what he's done. And and Pastor [applause] Also want to thank Pavle and Tanya. They're wonderful. It touches my heart to see a family in the house of the Lord together. Thank you. Thank you for who you are. Thank you for being our friends. What a [applause] beautiful, beautiful example you are. This is my brother-in-law, David. He is the pas he is a pastor on staff and helping lead the local church community there in Orlando. And still finds a way to travel with me. And he's amazing. And as you can see, I'm not too bad at leading worship as well. He's kind of a unicorn. He's got hair like a unicorn. No, he doesn't. [laughter] He's a precious gift to my life and to the life of our family. He's married to Jessica's youngest sister, Alicia, who's our worship director. She runs the entire worship community. Gina's somewhere, the new uh sourdough baker. There she is. And Gina went to Jesus school and it's so wonderful. It warms my heart to see former students part of what God is doing around the world. And uh yeah, and she's been a [cheering] [applause] dear friend to uh my daughter Sophia. And Sophia said, "Baba, that's in Greek. Baba, Gina has sourdough. You have to fly it back." I said, "I already have a personal item in a carry-on, and I don't have an extra bag for sourdough, but David does. [laughter] Well, all right. You ready? Let's see where the Lord leads us. Let's pray. Wonderful father, tonight we have come to sit at your feet and worship you. And we declare you to be the Lord God Almighty. And we ask you, Lord, to send your lifegiving good spirit, the Holy Spirit upon this meeting and upon our hearts. And as your servant said, Lord, that the Holy Spirit is the Lord and the giver of life, we ask you to breathe life into us and to let our hearts burn so that our eyes would shine with the reality of Jesus and that you would heal us of our blindness. For all of us see through a glass darkly and we want that glass to be less dark when we leave tonight. Amen. I ask you, Lord, to heal your people, to fill them with your spirit, to deliver them from sin, and to raise up true lovers of Jesus, true disciples from this group, in this church in Jesus name. >> Amen. >> Um, Pastor, how long have you guys been meeting? Three years. >> As a as a church, we've been meeting since September. So, nine months. nine month. But I mean on Sunday night, >> oh well, okay. Time doesn't fly. My son Benny told me yesterday, he goes, "Baby, you you have grays popping all over your head now." I said, "The time flies, buddy." Um, time flies unless you're in the ministry. Um, this is a very young group, and that's not a bad thing. It's a good thing. And I think probably now for the second time since that I've come here, I've been here more than twice, but for the second time, I felt a real strong prophetic word to strengthen the house. And these lights are fantastic because I can't see any of your faces. It's the way I like it. It's actually a good thing. even if they were facing another direction. One of the good things about being 48 and a half is that you can't see past the fourth row. So, it's much easier to not fear man [laughter] cuz as far as I'm concerned, you all love me and you're all smiling. This is really going to be a wonderful word, I believe, because it's the Lord's word. So, tonight I want to talk to you about beginning with Jesus. beginning with Jesus or Jesus I should say it differently Jesus comma our beginning take your Bibles to Genesis not Genesis John the two are actually very connected those two books and I'm going to read from the New King James. I'll just begin reading in verse one. I have a challenge for everyone here that you would memorize at least John 1 through 18. And you can do that. You should be able to do that in a couple weeks. We recently had uh brother Yun with us and his pastor Peter Shu. Yes, brother Yun has a pastor. So if he has one, you you should have one, too. His pastor is 85 years old. They were both tortured daily in the communist prison in China. And at the pastor's conference that we just held, I asked brother Yun about some of his disciplehip foundations as it pertains to qualifying to be in his pastoral track. And you have to memorize to be in his pastoral track. I think he's got about 1,800 pastors just right now that he's raising up. 1,800. You have to memorize a chapter of the Bible a day. >> A day. So, we need to up our game. And um you say, "Well, gosh, that's just too intense. There's no way the church could grow under such controlling leadership." Well, he has 30 million people in his church. 30 million. So, the next time you hear somebody post, "We had a great launch day. 800 showed up." Just remember that this man has 30 million in his church and he expects his pastors to memorize a chapter a day. So I I have a challenge for you. By the time I see you next, which I think will be at the conference, you can memorize John 1-18. It's not even a chapter. Let's read. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. I want you to underline that verse six or highlight it whatever device you have. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This man came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. He was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. But as received him to them he gave the right to become children of God. Thank you, Lord. To those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. And the word became flesh, and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of him and cried out, saying, listen carefully now, this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. I want to point you to two different verses here. Number one would be what the scripture says of John in verse 6. There was a man sent from God. I'm going to say that again. There was a man sent, listen to the language, sent from God, whose name was John. The word John in Greek, Yuani, means the grace of God. It's pretty interesting to me because I I I think that John the Baptist is probably the last personality or face that pops up in our mind when we think of the word grace. When we think of Bible characters, he's got to be last, one of the last on the list of Bible prophets. But his very name is grace of God. So the next time you think of the grace of God, you must think of God's power, reality, and ministry flowing through John the Baptist. So if John the Baptist comes teaching a message of repentance, we must see it as grace. >> His name means grace. But I want you to notice whom John is sent from and who does the sending. There is a man sent from God whose name was John. No church, no person has a blessed impact in the kingdom unless they have been sent from God. Now when we look back at verse uh 14 sorry verse 15. Now we hear John's witness of the Lord. John bore witness of him and cried out, saying, "This was he of whom I said," listen, "He who comes after me is preferred before me, for he was before me." Every true servant of God realizes that they are not the point. >> Amen. When Jesus himself, who is the point, received a compliment, he was humble enough to turn the attention to the father. And when the father is wanting to be known by humanity, he is humble enough to point us to the son. And when we ask the father or the son how this is even possible that we turn a fly, let alone a person toward the goodness of the Lord, the father and son both tell us it is by the spirit. Earlier you heard your pastor talk about giving. I told him, "We're in a fiveweek uh journey into giving right now at Jesus Image. I'm actually on vacation. I must love this church if I came here on vacation. And my family must love you if they let me come here." But um yeah, here I am. It's wonderful to be here, but I I'm shocked Jess was like, "Yeah, go do it." either that or she just wanted some alone time at the mall. It's probably the latter. But um when we talk about giving, Raul touched on something and I I wanted to encourage him when he sat down. I said because he's getting somewhere that we all need to realize. Giving is who the Lord is. And so when as I've been teaching on giving now and this is not the sermon but giving is a matter of the nature of God. In other words, each member of the trinity fully gives themselves to one another. One God, three persons, father, son, and spirit fully giving themselves freely to one another. And so giving when we give it is a declaration of the identity of God. It's the only way he knows to be. But the same principle applies to giving the Lord glory. None of us here are the point. Now I'm going to say something that maybe you've never heard before. You are not the point of your journey with Jesus. Our opinions are not the point. Uh, side note, this one's for free. You should not be getting your theological perspectives off podcast. >> I'm going to stop there. there is a a hyperindividualism that's attacking the body. And so so churches don't exist to launch my gift. >> So we should never look for a church that sees me for who I am giftwise. >> We should look for churches that see the Lord Jesus for who he is. and then trust the gift to just make room >> because this is not our house. >> This is the Lord's house. >> I said this is the Lord's house. >> So beginnings are a big deal. And you hear these beginnings. You see John say of the Lord, he who comes after me is preferred before me because he was before me. And then you hear about John that John himself is sent from God. We see the same pattern in Moses. Moses goes to a burning bush, encounters the Lord's presence, and is sent from the fiery presence of God. This is the same light that John is talking about in John chapter 1, the holy light of God. It's the same light that led Israel through the wilderness. It's the same light that parted the Red Sea. It's the same light that was in the burning bush. It's the same light in Genesis 1. The light being referred to there is not the sun because the sun comes afterward is the light that predates the sun. It is the glory of the sun. S O N, not the su n. >> So the light that's being spoken of here that John is touching on is this eternal light that is the Lord Jesus himself. >> Amen. Beginnings are vital. And right now you are establishing your beginnings as a church family. And there are hills that you are going to have to choose to die on or not. If you choose to die on the wrong hills, you will exert too much energy to fight the proper battles. There's a story I I can't remember the details of it. I shared it with some of our students. A friend of mine uh shared this with me. I I don't remember the exact name of the battle. I think it was a French battle. And the there was a a warship that came in and they saw uh I think statues of saints surrounding like this uh fortress. And so they began to shoot at the saints, cannons at the saints to blow them up just to get rid of them. You know how invading armies love to get rid of pieces of culture. So they began to shoot these cannons at these statues of saints. The problem is is the enemy then began to fire back, but they had wasted all of their ammunition on taking out the saints. And that is a lesson for every Christian. We should not be using our ammunition on each other >> because when the enemy comes for a war, we're going to be out of weaponry. >> You need strength when the devil comes knocking. Yes. >> So, you don't have to choose as a church community which hills you're willing to die on and which hills you are not willing to die on. So, it's really time as a church community to burrow into Jesus and each other. I said to burrow into Jesus into the heart of Jesus and each other. >> Amen. and to establish here what the ancient church has always been. A place of honor. >> Amen. >> A place of humility, a place of loneliness, a place of gentleness, a place of longsuffering and love and meekness. There is so much that is placed before this generation that looks like Christian success and it is Christian failure. It's not worth celebrating. It's not even worth looking at. >> We must place our eyes on Jesus again. Have the proper definition of the faith. We must understand what it actually means to be a Christian. And our only definition is the person of the Lord Jesus alone. If something happens, you know, I I've been processing it with my family. Um, God has been good to me and I I I think I've spoken to Raul about this and certainly David. The older you get, the more confused you are as to why the Lord would ever use you. when you're young, you you are confused as to why he hasn't. [laughter] It's really true. And you're just like, "Oh my god, when are you going to use me?" And he's like, "Because you're not that great and you're not ready." When you're young, you think you're the only one with that re with that revelation. And uh if I could have written a you know a just a little dissertation as to why I was ready for God to use me when I was young, it would have been I could have given him 40 pages as to why I was the right candidate. Now I'm not sure I could fill a paragraph or two sentences because you become much more aware of God's mercy as you get older rather than your qualifications. See, I grew up in the in the Greek Orthodox Church, which I my cousin is the Archbishop of England, of the UK. My other cousin was the Archbishop of Asia. Uh, so there are only, I think, 12 seats of archbishops in the entire Greek Orthodox Church in the Greek Orthodox setting. And we've already had in our family two two and there's only 12 occupied. So, which is funny. People love to talk to me about Orthodoxy and they're like two weeks in. Anyways, so so I'm I'm very proud of my heritage and and and and love the way I grew up. But one of the things I miss, just to give you an example, is when you grow up in a in a Anglican or an Orthodox or a Catholic or even a Lutheran setting, there's no confusion as to when people ask you certain questions like, "Who's in charge here?" the guy in the collar. It's just really I mean, you don't even think about that. If somebody says, "Well, who's your spiritual father?" The guy in the collar, the guy who teaches me the word and feeds me the body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist. In in these types of circles, some of you think your spiritual father is like four rows behind you. Oh, my spiritual mother's on the other side of the building. Everyone here thinks they're a prophet. [laughter] We all think we are leaders here. You're not. >> I'm just saying you're not. >> It's wonderful. And you know what confuses me after being a leader in the body of Christ? It is so hard. I'm confused as to why so many people want to do it. like come do it for a month >> and tell me if you want your old job back. But this isn't like oldtime Christianity. This is just Christianity. Like we are the people who love to be led. And we are the people historically who listen to God's servants. You say, "Well, what if they mess up?" Have you ever read first and 2 Corinthians? That church was buck wild. But God did not change the rules or the government or the structure of the church. I mean, you have a guy sleeping with his stepmother and Paul's having to confront it. And it's the same church he writes 1 Corinthians 12 to on how to operate in the gifts. And so the church has never the moment Jesus left we had problems and he had problems. Did he not have to squash arguments regarding who is the greatest? When you have your disciples mother coming to you asking I mean gosh talk about being like attached to your mother. Their mother comes to Jesus and says can my kids have the best seat in your kingdom. All the ethnic moms are like I would have done the same thing. My mom would have done that. I'm serious. She would have gone to the Lord and said can you give Michael the closest seat? He's the best boy. You don't know. He's such a good boy. He's such a good boy. When I first met Tanya, Raul is such a good boy. He's a good boy. He's a good boy. I said, I know. I don't know. No, you don't know. He's such a good boy. In America, it's not as common, but you come from like our part of the world, it's normal. The mom wants the whole world to know that their child is just under the Apostle Paul. [laughter] But Jesus was dealing with this stuff. And then you have Paul arguing with Peter, right? >> That's an issue. You have Paul and John Mark. You have Paul and Barnabas. So this stuff is not new. It's not new. But as Joy Dawson, my mentor in the Lord, used to say, God changes the rules for no one. What I'm dreaming about for the finding is that you would not allow what seems to be successful on social media to be your definition of success. I've been off social for like almost a year. It's phenomenal. I'm not joking. It's phenomenal. Somebody sent me a video of me preaching yesterday. This is They said, "This is so good. I listened to two seconds, got an anxiety attack, and turned it off." People are like, "I love your new song." I'm like, "I can't wait to hear it. I haven't heard it." It's what they're like, "Wait, you haven't heard it?" Well, I wrote some of them and I'm just off. And I'm not saying it's bad, but there is something wonderful about finding simplicity. I'm not saying you have to do it. I'm just saying you do need to do whatever you have to do to guard your heart >> for from it flows the issues of life. >> Super good. >> So right now this community is in its beginnings and beginnings are vital. Beginnings are vital. The DNA is formed in the beginning and Jesus himself is the beginning. >> And how you choose to interact with the Lord and each other right now, please hear me, will determine whether or not you are for sale in 5 years. It will, and I'm going to get to, you're probably going, "What does that have to do? I don't understand. Give me a minute." It'll also determine what you need to uproot in 3, 5, 10 years and what you don't have to uproot. When you start the right way, how do I say it right? When you start the right way, you don't need to make as many major changes in the future. For example, you can choose to sing songs that are filled with the presence of God or songs that everyone sings. And if you choose songs that everyone just sings, then you're going to learn that those songs get a reaction from the public. And then you're going to choose all your songs based on what people like to sing. But God may not want to hear those. And so when you start with songs that God wants to hear, you can do that forever. and you're free in your heart. I think the song that Jesus Image has ever released that has the most anointing on it has like the least amount of views. It's from our first pastor's conference. It's called the what is it? Welcome the King. It's just this moment where God came in. I mean, there are some songs with like hundreds of millions more views, but this song, I'm telling you, if you talk to anybody who was in the room, their description would be, "We were caught up to heaven." So, this is a vital, vital time as a church community. Who will the finding be? Choices are massive right now. Take your Bibles to First Kings 17 verse 1. When I was first starting, I don't know if I told you this Ro, but we were at a uh a breakfast to raise money for the ministry, and we just started. A lady walked up to me that I had known. I knew who she was. And she pulled me to the side. She said, "Hey, I want to talk to you." She said, "I get people booked to preach." And she said, "I will guarantee you." And she gave me the amount of these honorariums. I was shocked. We didn't have much then. And she goes, "I will guarantee you these amounts. they'll be deposited into your account and I'll just take a percentage and I'll get you booked everywhere. And she goes, "And this is who I work with." And she gave these like this list of people like worshiped artists and all this stuff. And I thought, "What?" Cuz I came out of the golf world, athletics. I'm like, "You're like an agent. Like, this is wild. I didn't know this happened in the church." And I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit. This is what he said to me. She was standing right there. He said, "Do you want her fingerprint on your tombstone or mine?" >> I said, "Ma'am, thank you. I'm not interested." To this day, Ro will tell you in David, "Never have I asked to preach anywhere." You know why? I want my beginnings to be clean. >> When something starts clean, it has the best chance to remain clean. First Kings 17:1. This is a very simple portion that most people just read over. Let me actually read it from this version here. First Kings. [snorts] I'm still in the New King James. And Elijah Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead. I'm going to stop there. Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead. This is Elijah's introduction right here. It doesn't sound super grand. It just tells us where he's from. But Tish, to be a Tishbite means to be from Tish, which is to be from the high places. So Elijah comes from the mountaintops, the high places. I submit to you that all of God's true servants find their origin in the high places, not the high places of human effort. The high places in the spirit. The lower I go as a man, the higher God lifts my heart. If I'm drawn to the feet of Jesus, he lifts my heart to the high places. Here, the Lord is teaching us where his servants come from. They come from the mountaintops. I don't mean the mountain tops of victories. I mean the mountaintops of prayer. >> The high places in the spirit. They have victory after victory after victory in their arsenal that they have discovered while being alone with Jesus. >> And this is where Elijah comes from. And it is very similar to John the Baptist. John the Baptist, a man sent from who? From God. And notice that John the Baptist comes in the spirit and power of Elijah. That same anointing. They both lived an aesthetic life, loved solitude, and renounced the world. Simplicity is powerful. And may nothing may nothing have a hold on us. >> May the only hold on us be the grip of Jesus. >> May money not have a hold on us. >> May fame never have a hold on us. >> May the desire to be noticed never have a hold on us. May my decisions that I am convinced of never have a hold on us. May the will of the Lord have a hold on us. >> It's very interesting that Tish is from the region of Gilead. And the word Gilead means worship. So what does this say about Elijah? His origins are in the high places of worship. And I don't mean just corporate worship. Remember, he's alone from the high places and he has discovered the power of worship. This is the same as John the Baptist. The Bible says who walked before his the face of God. Origin is everything. And unless you as individuals learn to commune with the Lord in private, you will learn to parrot what is said in this room, but it'll never get into your bone marrow. I'm going to say that again. Unless you become a true disciple and give the Lord your time in private, you will learn to repeat what is said in this room, but it will never become part of you. And nothing breaks my heart more as the leader of Jesus school, and this happens far too often to be honest, to see students come through, leave, be able to say all the right things while they're there, but it never became part of them. It never got in. So, we've seen that. We have to be honest. We've seen that with revival culture. We can say, "Wow, so good. Ho, whoa, all the stuff. All the stuff." But when it comes to giving to the Lord, >> where's that? If God opened the ledger on our on our financial faithfulness, where's that? How are we on forgiveness? Not so great. But I can squint my eyes and look like I am spiritually high. >> It's bizarre stuff. Yeah, >> it's not Christian. >> We've got to become Christians in a sense. >> I'll never forget I think maybe Raul was with me. We were at this conference, a big one, couple thousand people there, and there were painters on the platform, which I don't have a problem with as long as they're not horrible. Sometimes I'm like, "Dude, put your brush down and get a vacuum. You're the worst vacuum. Don't paint." It's >> so so I'm watching these two people paint and one is paint one painted the most beautiful beautiful image of the Lord Jesus and the painter next to the the one painting the Lord Jesus painted a unicorn jumping through a star. Now how on earth can those two things be together in a Christian environment? We're talking about the Lord of the universe next to a unicorn yet we call it prophetic. It's not prophetic. It's weird. It's just weird. It's not Christian. And that's why droves droves of young people are leaving settings like that and running into traditional settings. They want Jesus. Yes. >> They want the gospel. >> They want communion. They want to learn how to pray. They want to learn how to resist temptation. Uh Dylan called me a while ago. He said, "Do you have any teachings on resisting temptation?" I said, "Sure, of course." But when is the last time you heard a teaching to Gen Z on the ability to defeat the devil when he comes with temptation? It's a real thing. It's a real war. There's an enemy of our souls that we're not supposed to be noviceses to. The Bible teaches us not to be fools or to be unaware of his devices. These are real things. But when I grew up, we were taught to use the name of Jesus. Not the name of a unicorn or the latest spirit that's attacked America. I don't give a rip. Some of the names of these spirits aren't even in the Bible. People are making them up now. Soon there's going to be one called like Doug and Quincy. I don't It's just bizarre. We We have gotten We're almost like aliens, like Martians. We're believing in everything but the gospel. >> That cross is more powerful than you know. >> I I don't go anywhere without a cross in my back. >> Cuz I grew up around true saintly people whose face is glowed. And if you've ever been around a saintly person, I mean a true saint, it's not just what comes out of their mouth. There's something on their face. They sit a certain way. They walk a certain way. They their tone they they talk a certain way. Their mannerisms are convicting. They walk with a confidence but it's gentle. They make you nervous in the best way. They sit there. Do you know the early saints were taught when you walk uh just the the early fathers would teach just when you walk keep your head down look down never exalt yourself. Now you might think that's religious and I'm sure it can get like that but that's not the point. The point is look at the motive. I want to go low >> today. If you were to go to to my homeland and uh two monks were to walk by each other they would both bow to each other on the way when they walked by. You might say that sounds weird and extreme. Do you know why? Because they believe the Lord walks in their midst. So they're not bowing to the person. They're bowing to the presence of the Lord on the person. >> How does somebody become that way? Which is the goal of the Christian life? The goal of the Christian life is holiness. Amen. >> It's formation into the image of Jesus. Ro quoted earlier Romans 8 that we be formed into the image of Jesus. How do these things happen? How does God do such a work in me that when no one's watching my mannerisms naturally reflect his beauty? You say, "How long does that take?" Uh an elder once said like 86 years. In other words, my whole life. How does God permeate my mind, my actions, but not just my actions, how how I execute my actions, not just my words, but how I say them to you, how I look at you, how I act when I receive good news or bad news, whether it's a health dilemma. And all of a sudden, we're faced with challenges and we're we're confronted with how far we need to go before we are truly carrying that measure of his glory. My culture is passionate. You know, like when Greeks sit at a table, if an American person sits at our table, they're like, "Why are you guys arguing?" We're like, "Arguing? This is opening prayer. This is just talking." But I I I have to be careful with my own passion at times. Even with zeal, I've said, "Lord, Lord, I want righteous indignation, but I also I also want your tenderness. If I'm going to call out sin, I need to weep over it as well. I don't just want to call out sin. I want I want your heart for the person. Lord, you've got to do a work in me. And so this community has the just the most wonderful opportunity to choose rightly. I drove by a building the other day that I preached in like when I was like 30. Everyone preached in there. You would all know it. I mean, everyone preached there and they touched the world. And I drove by just a little while back and it was knocked down. And this thought hit me. This building that the Lord's building in Jesus image, what keeps that from being knocked down? All the faith and the scars and the battle scars and the price that a family has to pay to see God move and use them. There's no member of our family who hasn't paid a price. At least in my immediate family and and that goes it's across the board. I can't ask people to support that building if I'm not supporting it. Right? So it's financial, it's emotional, it's and this place that I preached in was much much more influential and bigger and all the great preached through there. It's gone. I mean gone. Knocked down to the ground, leveled with bulldozers. Here we put the stained glass in two weeks ago. What a tragedy it would be to see that shatter one day if that building got knocked down. You say, "Well, that's impossible." No, it's not impossible. That could happen. We need the mercy of the Lord, don't we? Yeah. >> So, I've seen I've seen what can happen to churches. We all have. What can happen to movements when they take their eyes off of Jesus. And it's not just a weakness. It's a death wish to take your eyes off of Jesus as a death sentence. And so you have this opportunity now to plant rightly. When I think of [snorts] my most David will tell you when I think of my most challenging valleys, what keeps me is the beginning, the origin. It's this. I know this is God's house. I know this is God's idea. I know the beginnings of this place. And if I'm yielded to you, Lord, no devil in hell can uproot it. You've got to have that conviction here. >> Amen. >> Deep in your souls. And you have the divine luxury to choose. Now, it's a blessing to not be further down the road. Some people have to fire half of their staff just to purify it. You're not there. That's a good thing. Some people have to upend their theology and repent and get it right. You're not there. That's a good thing. You can start now. You get to choose to let the biatitudes be the constitution of this church. You can choose it now. And then you have something to hold on to in the future. It's a blessing. I said it's a blessing. >> Paul, I'll leave you with this and then we'll pray. Go to Romans 11. Is this okay tonight? >> You got to fight for the right stuff. And I'm going to define that in a moment. Romans 11 is speaking of Israel and the church and the church's relationship with Israel and vice versa. But the principle remains true. Verse 16. For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. In other words, if the first is holy, the whole lump is holy, your beginnings have the capability of helping to sanctify your future. You missed that. Okay, I'll say it again. >> Your beginnings now, they have the capability to help safeguard. I added that and sanctify your future. When you begin well, you can end well. And so what the way you need to be thinking now is my children's children's children will be will be living according to the way of life that we are fighting for here now. >> Amen. >> Now, here's the good news. You don't have to create your own version. It's in the scriptures. So, what should you be fighting for? What mountain should you die on? Okay, you ready? Who is Jesus Christ? Number one, everything hinges upon who is the Lord Jesus. Do not forget what I'm telling you. In 15, in 20, in a year, people in this community will come up with their own perspectives on the Lord Jesus. I want you to hear me, church. Unless it is the Jesus of the Bible and the Jesus of the fathers of the church, don't believe them. Okay? Listen to me. Don't believe them. Jesus is fully God, fully man, and the only savior of the world for Jew and Gentile. >> There is one savior. >> There is one gospel. That is a hill you die on. perfectly God, perfectly man, bled and died on a cross, was buried three days later, raised from the dead, ascended to the highest place, poured out his spirit, and is coming back again. You die on you die for every bit of that. >> Amen. >> Okay? >> That's why the creed is so vital. We don't just recite the creed at church because it's cool. It's because we have to hand the faith down once and for all. And if somebody can say, "I will live my life according to that revelation of who God is," we have to look at each other and say, "That's my brother and sister." Because division is eating us up. I just was in a barn uh in the last October with um a Catholic group invited me in. Me, Francis Chan, Andy Bird, and a few other young guys. Uh you may you young guys probably know them, Elijah Lamb, and David Latt. We were the only non-atholics there. We were I was there at my table was Jesus from the chosen and he was one of my prayer partners for it was so wild saying in Jesus name and I'm like oh dude I cannot look at you like it's just like [laughter] and he actually said like at one point he's like dude it's so hard going to the store I have to they're like Jesus he's like no Jonathan like no [laughter] not Jesus just Jonathan But here we are and I'm I I I'm in this room with these people that most people would say, "Oh, they don't know Jesus." These people were burning in love with Jesus. Burning in love with Jesus, praying for the sick, flowing in the gifts of the spirit. My dream is to see the church united one day. If we're going to do that, we have to discover which hills we're willing to die on and which ones we're not. We die on the hill of the gospel. >> Amen. >> Here at the finding, you're going to be really good at forgiving >> in the name of protecting you. You're not going to forsake the gift of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a gift. And at the finding, I'm trying to speak to your beginnings now. You're recording this, right? Good. You're going to need it. Amen. >> You're going to go back when there's stupid arguments and the devil comes to divide something through repentance and forgiveness. You're going to get in the way of his ambition and discover that true greatness is found in the lowest one. >> So the first to forgive is the best. The first to say sorry is the most advanced. Hallelujah. >> The scriptures are a hill worth dying on. All of them, even the ones you don't understand. And let me help you. That will forever be the case. In eternity, the scriptures will be unfolded to us. The Bible says, "Forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven." The scriptures, >> I said, the scriptures, >> the word of God, not our opinions, >> not our opinions. So, if somebody said, if you have a perspective, trust me, this will come. Something will happen. Your pastor will say, "Okay, tell me what happened." And you're going to say, "So and so said this." And your pastor is going to say, "Did you talk to them?" And you're going to say, "No." Why not? Well, because my spiritual mentor, you know, eight rows back who sells soap, uh, who's my spiritual mentor, told me I shouldn't do that. And and Ro's going to go, "Yeah, but the Bible says." The moment he says but the Bible says your perspective bows. >> Yes. >> There's no like modern perspective that is more healthy than the scriptures. >> None. So that's a hill you're going to die on. Unconditional love is a hill you're going to die on. Holy living is a hill you're gonna die on. And so is restoring people. I said so is restoring people in a culture. Listen, the the you guys don't realize, some of you don't realize what you're actually empowering when you give your ear to unbiblical versions of criticism and perspective constantly and you decide to call everything out in the body of Christ, you're actually keeping people from confessing their sin because they feel like it's it's going to go everywhere. >> The church needs to be a safe place for sinners to confess and get well. >> And if they don't believe that it's going to be private, they're probably not going to do it. So when the sinner comes to you or somebody hurts you and they confess to you, you keep it quiet. Unless it's horrific crime or abuse, of course. But if you have an issue with someone and you don't deal with them rightly, you begin to build a reputation. You don't know you're building one. I want this house to be a hospital. A hospital for the broken >> without exchanging holiness. Prayer. You die on that hill. you die on that hill. Today I walked out of the room. Don't they have an earlier flight out typically? I don't know. Anyways, I I thought I thought the other day I was like or today I was like, why don't why don't we just take early flights? And then the Lord brought back to my memory, the reason you don't do early flights is because you like to spend the mornings with me. And then I thought I thought it was even as recent as today. I thought, Lord, you're right. When we started, you taught me to schedule my day around you. >> Amen. >> So, some of you are like, "That's why I don't have a job. I I I am with Jesus all day." Nope. Nope. It's not what I said. No, that just means you just became a morning person. Prayer is non-negotiable. >> Non-negotiable. David, would you help me? I I got saved with like 40 people. This big Greek uh group would drive to Pastor Benny's. The Greek priest would drive us to his meetings. out of that group. Let's see. One, two, three, four, like seven are as on fire as they were back then. The rest, some are back in the world, some are still confused. Some are in and out. Some are say that they're just in a new season. They're not in the season. They're in quicksand because they're not praying. But the ones who have the ones who have been bearing fruit are the ones who spend time with Jesus. >> Amen. Would you bow your heads? We have a wonderful opportunity here tonight to determine our beginnings. And I would say this, holy communion is a hill you die on. The body and blood of Jesus. Who will the finding be? What has God called her to be? >> [snorts] >> Father, you are taking your church to your heart. You're wanting your church to look like your son. And we've been stubborn at times, Lord. We've been hard-hearted and opinionated, but like Raul said, our hearts, they numb at times. They do, Lord. Mine does. We We forget the beauty of the cross and we want to think of you more. And Lord, you told the church to repent and return to the things done at first, the first things. Father, open our ears tonight and soften our hearts and open our eyes. bring back to our remembrance. Your voice. Your voice. Your instruction. Would everyone just gently stand and as you stand just softly begin ministering to the Lord in the spirit without anyone leaving or moving just just minister to the Lord with absolute focus. meek and lowly. Humble. Keep singing. Gently singing meek and lowly humble people. I pray Lord. Teachable people. True disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't want to do our own will, Lord. Not our will, but thine be done. Blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed be your holy name. Holy, holy, holy. There are so many voices and the world wants to disciple you, Jesus. You are our master. You are the Lord, our master. >> [music] >> You are the Lord our master, >> our master, holy teacher. [music] Father, keep praying. Keep praying. My house shall be called a house of prayer. Father, >> burn the chaff away here, [music] >> burn the chaff away. Protect this work, Lord. [music] >> Fill this house with humble vessels. And may Jesus be considered wisdom here, >> not perspective. Jesus. Every high and lofty argument and thought, if it's not about Jesus, we don't want to hear it. I want to open the altars. Keep praying. [music] Keep singing and worshiping and praying. [music] Tonight, I want to invite I felt the Lord was going to baptize many of you in the spirit. Keep praying. But there needed to be a repentance first. a repentance from your own >> pride, your own opinions, your own judgments that are not in line with the word of God. [music] Tonight, the altars are open. If you realize, I've been holding to thoughts and patterns and voices. It is not the voice of my shepherd. I want to step out of that tonight. I want it to go and I want to give give my life again my heart to this humble Christ who is Lord the Lord of glory. Come forward. [music] You just get down on your knees right here. You can get on your face. And as you come and empty out, I believe the Holy Spirit will begin to fill you. You come all the way to the altar. [music] This morning, I was awake praying. I said, "Lord, do this work in me. Please do this deep work in me." I woke up today joyful, yes, but convicted in the spirit, saying, "Lord, what is this conviction? I can't think of anything. What is it? What are you? What did I What did I do? Did I grieve you? What is it? And I felt in my heart. There were portions of my being that I've not given over tonight. Let's do that. Give you glory, Lord. Give you glory, Lord. Give you glory. [music] >> Whatever you feel, David, I want you to minister. Lay your ideas, your thoughts, your judgments, your opinions. Lay them down. The Bible says, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." Ask the Lord to make you more aware of his mercy over you, not your greatness. His mercy over you. Father, I pray this over the finding team. May they be aware of your mercy over them. Not their resume or accomplishments. Your mercy. >> [music] >> to be a singer, pure [singing] and holy, [music] >> tried and true, >> tried [singing] and true. And with [singing] thanksgiving [music] I'll be early. [singing] [music] [singing] >> Oh, don't resist him tonight. [music and singing] He is a good Lord, a good God, >> a loving Lord. >> Oh [singing] Lord, prepare me. [music] >> Make this your prayer. Sing that [singing] >> pure and holy. >> Pure [singing] and holy. Try it. [singing] >> Sing it from your heart. Your heart. [singing] [music] [singing] >> [music] >> Saint [music and singing] you all [music and singing] for you. Lord prepare me [music] and Lord prepare me [music] to [singing] be a sanctuary. [music] Father, Father, with your spirit, pure and [singing] holy, with your spirit, it's tried [music and singing] and true. And with thanksgiving [singing and music] I'll be [singing] a living [music] sanctuary [singing] for you. >> Sing that softly. Lord prepare me. Oh Lord, [singing] prepare me to be a sanuary, [music and singing] >> pure love, >> pure [singing] and holy. [music] >> Tried and true. >> Tried and true. And with [singing] how we [singing] [music] >> sanctuary sanctuary. Let's lift our hands to the Lord. I want us to pray this and I'm going to pray that the Lord I I felt it when I was standing there as Raul was receiving offering. I believe I felt the Lord say that he wanted to fill many of us with his spirit tonight. He's so wonderful. >> I want us to pray this though. Say, "Heavenly Father, >> Father, >> you're glorious >> and holy. >> Receive my life, Lord. >> Make me a true disciple. >> Holding nothing back >> forgive me. Forgive me >> for my perspectives >> for my perspectives >> that are not yours >> that are not yours. >> Forgive my judgments >> forive my judgement. >> Forgive my words that have grieved you. >> I thank you for your blood. >> I thank you for your blood >> that washes me clean. My heart >> My heart >> is bound >> to your holy word. >> And I declare tonight >> that Jesus is wisdom. >> My perspectives are not wisdom. >> My perspectives are not >> Jesus himself is wisdom. >> Jesus himself is wisdom. >> And so I bow before you tonight. Because you are the Lord God Almighty. >> Lord God Almighty. >> Now just lift your hands and receive from our good Lord. Holy Father, I pray that you would stretch forth your hand and fill these these hungry ones with your blessed Holy Spirit. your blessed Holy Spirit for your word says Lord that we will receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon us and your children need power they need the power of your spirit your literal energy Lord so that we can live the Christian life and Lord they've come forward tonight they've come forward Lord the best they know about offering their literal bodies here at the altar, offering their will, offering their thoughts to you. Now, Master, I pray according to your word that when we come, Lord, for bread, you do not give us a stone, but when we ask for fish, you do not give us a serpent. How much more will your heavenly father Give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. And your children are here asking. I'm asking, Lord, to be filled with the spirit once again tonight. Not for our own glory. Not for the glory of Jesus image. Not for the glory of the finding, not for my glory or David's or Raul's or none, Lord, but for your glory. fill us to overflowing >> so that the life of Jesus would flow from us >> so that we would be like you. Lord, that we would talk like you and love like you. Fill your inheritance tonight. Fill them. I pray with your hands lifted. With your hands lifted, ask him. Ask him like a little child. Heavenly Father, fill me Aresh tonight with the Holy Spirit. [music] >> Ask him, fill me Aresh with the Holy Spirit tonight. >> Surrender to Jesus. [music] Oh, sing this out loud from the depths of your heart. Sing it out loud. >> I surrender. >> Lord, I surrender [singing] [chanting] the blessed spirit. Oh, I surrender [singing] [music] to Jesus. [music and singing] >> Everyone sing it as a prayer from your heart. >> I surrender everything I have. Lord, I surrender. [singing] [music] Oh, I surrender to [singing] Jesus [music] >> again as a prayer. Sing it. >> I surrender. [singing] >> Bless his spirit. >> We bless >> Lord. I surrender. Blessings. >> Oh, I surrender [music] to Jesus. And I surrender. Blessed be your name, Lord. >> Lord, I surrender. >> Fill them with your spirit [music] tonight. >> Oh, I surrender to [singing] Jesus. [music] >> [music] >> Just sing in the spirit for a while. Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Fill your people, Lord. [music] >> Strengthen your people, Father. Strengthen them with your good glory or your mighty glory. [music] Oh, [music] Christ. [music] >> [music] >> Lord, release your blessed gifts of the spirit to this congregation. [music] Keep them as the apple of your eye. Lord, keep singing. Just keep singing. Keep them as the apple of your eye. Hide them under the shadow of your [music] Stop. [music] Keep this place. [music] I have decided to follow Jesus. I have >> to follow Jesus. >> I have [singing and music] >> hear them Lord >> to follow. I have >> They don't mean it. Help them, Lord. Help us all. [music] >> We mean it the best we can. No turning back. >> No turning back. >> Sing that again. I have decided [music] to follow Jesus. >> I have [singing] decided to follow Jesus. [music] I have decided [singing] to follow Jesus. >> No turning back. >> Everyone, >> no turn. >> I've decided. >> I have decided to follow Jesus. [music] I have decided [singing] to follow Jesus. [singing and music] I have decided to follow Jesus. [singing] No turning back. No turn back. >> Though none go with me, [music] >> no [singing] none go with me. Still I will fall. >> [singing] [music] >> Fill them Lord with your spirit. Strengthen them. >> Carry their crosses. [singing and music] >> Strengthen them. >> Still I will follow. [music] No turning back. No turn. [singing] >> Again. Louder. Though none go [singing] with me, [music] still I will follow. Though none [singing and music] go with me, still I will follow. [music] Though none [singing] go with me, still I will follow. [singing] No turning back. No turning back. >> Cross before me. >> The cross before [singing] me. The world behind me. >> Amen. >> The cross before [singing and music] me. The world behind me. The cross before [singing] me. [music] The world behind me. No turning back >> again. >> No turning back. >> The cross before me. >> The cross [music] before me. [singing] The world behind me. Amen. [music] >> Fill your circle. >> Your blessed spirit. [music] >> The cross before [singing] me. the world behind me. [music] No [singing] turning back. No sir. >> I have decided. >> I have decided [singing and music] to follow Jesus. I have [singing] decided to follow Jesus. [music] I have [singing] decided [music] to follow Jesus. No turning [singing] back. No turning back. I have [singing] decided [music] to follow Jesus. I have decided [singing] to glory and power. [music] Jesus glory. >> I have decided [singing and music] to follow Jesus. No turning back. [singing] No turning back. No [singing] turning back. No turning back. No [singing] turning back. No. >> May the Lord fill you and clothe you. May his beautiful face and the light from his face shine upon you. May Jesus be your obsession. >> May his heart be your home. [music] and may his wounds be your vision. >> We give you glory and honor. >> We thank you Jesus. [music] >> We declare your worth and your majesty tonight. We thank you for the privilege in Jesus precious and holy name. Ro, [snorts] thank you father. Um, maybe if our worship team can come please. Lord, we thank you for your faithfulness, Lord. And that is that it is in your mercies and your compassion towards us, your grace and your faithfulness, Lord, that you that you lead us and you direct us and you confront us. And we as a house, Lord, we ask would you give us a grace? Would you give us a grace to be diligent in our pursuit of you? That just like just like Pastor Michael prayed that your wounds would be our vision and your heart would be our desire. Your presence would be our longing. Your word would be our passion. and communion with you would be our our dwelling place. Give us a greater hunger, Lord, for your word. And we pray may there be a seed that's sown. The seed that was sown tonight. We ask, Lord, that you would give us grace and wisdom. to bring forth the fruit that you intended from tonight. Help us Lord. [music] We yield ourselves over to you [music] once again and we ask breathe your breath of life into us. >> [music] >> May every lesser thing, every lesser lover, Lord, [music] may it grow strangely dim. May all the cares of life grow strangely [music] dim in the light of your glory and grace. [music] We love you, Jesus. We give you all of the glory, all of the honor, [music] Jesus. and in your name we pray. Amen. Um, I want to invite our prayer team if you can kind of find your way up somewhere here at the front. And I'm going to have Arteimo continue to minister.