Boldness Pleases the Lord | Landon Schott | Mercy Culture Church

If you have your Bibles you can turn to the book of Esther Esther chapter 4 Beginning in verse 1 Says when Mordecai learned all that had happened or the plan to kill the Jews he tore his clothes He put on sackcloth and ashes and he went in the middle of the city wailing loudly and bitterly Jump down to verse 8 Mordecai also gave Hathak a copy of the written decree issued in Susa For the destruction of the Jews to show and explain to Esther urging her to approach the king To implore his favor and plead before him for her people verse 9 But Hathak went ahead of in Relayed the Mordecai's response to Esther then Esther spoke to Hathak and instructed him to tell Mordecai All the royal officials the people of the king the providences know Even the law applies to every man woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned that they will be put to death Only if the king appears before the king Or excuse me I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the last 30 days verse 12 when Esther's words were replayed to Mordecai He sent back this reply Do not imagine because you are in the king's palace You alone will escape the fate of all the Jews for if you remain silent at this time relief and deliverance Will arise from another place but you in your father's house will perish someone say perish and Who knows it if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this first? 15 then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai go assemble of the Jews That can be found in Susa fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days or three nights Me and my maidens will do the same after that I will go to the king even though it is against the law and if I perish I will perish So Mordecai went and did all that Esther instructed him to do. I Came here to tell you today that boldness Pleases the Lord Let's pray so father. I declare right now. I declare your word is true. Let every man be a liar

I declare your word is a lamp unto our feet in a light unto our path Holy Spirit we hide your word in our heart that we will not sin against you I pray Holy Spirit you would give us ears to hear hearts to receive minds to understand what your spirit is saying I pray you breathe upon that logos word that written word. I pray it becomes Rhema personal revelation to us today I pray right now no spirit, but the Holy Spirit is welcome in this place I say spirit of fear Intimidation religion you must go we say Holy Spirit come rule in reign father. I thank you No one came to hear me. We all came to hear you so together. We declare speak Lord Your servants are listening and all God's people said amen And amen strengthen my voice in Jesus name the title this message is favor forever Boldness pleases the Lord we've been stewarding a prophetic word found in my pleasure Ephesians 5 says this find out what pleases the Lord and so all the rest this year We are talking about teaching about what are the things that please the Lord that will find his favor? And I came to tell you today that boldness Pleases the Lord someone shout boldness I This is this is a very spiritual message today I I wrote this message much differently than a lot of sermons I write I I wrote this through many different visions or encounters that I had with the Lord and a couple weeks ago I was sitting in a boardroom, and I I had a vision or a picture of when Sean Foyt was back here in early 2021 and he came and he planted a seed of boldness in our church And When I was in this board meeting all of a sudden I heard the Lord say that seed will bear fruit of boldness in this season We are walking into a season of bearing the fruit of boldness someone say boldness Now as we steward prophetic words. It's important that you understand that As we steward prophetic words wisely as we steward them with all of our hearts. We will see The fruition or we will see the pleasure of the Lord Let me read you some scripture Hebrews 1038 says this my righteous shall live by faith someone say faith

but if he shrinks back I Have no pleasure in him That word shrink back in the Greek is the word who passed hello Which means to withhold or bring out of sight to conceal or to withdraw? Church do you know that when you withdraw when you shrink back or give you another word? When you are cowardice, it does not please the Lord. In fact, let me show you how much cowards don't please the Lord. Put that scripture, Revelations chapter 21 up. When we talk about hell and the sins of hell, a lot of people don't realize in Revelations chapter 21 verse 8, the first person mentioned that will be going to the lake of fire is the cowardly. This is usually not on the top of our list of people that find themselves away from God, but God's word says the cowardly find themselves far away from me. Church, I want to caution you today. You cannot sit this one out. We're in a season where there could be no sideline Christianity. At our church, we have a sports league for our members, and we have this division of four and five-year-olds. I think they call it the herding cat division, and it's supposed to be five on five, and I was watching my son play, and all of a sudden, I looked out on the field, and it wasn't five on five anymore. It was three on five, and I said, what happened? And all of a sudden, I realized that one of the players on the other team decided that he didn't want to play anymore and ran to the sidelines, and Pastor Matt's daughter, Joy, decided that she didn't want to play, so she just sat down. And she spent half the game just sitting right next to the hiking stand, just sitting there in the middle of the game, had her pretty little uniform on, but she was not playing. And it's cute when you watch little kids do it, but it's not cute when you

watch the church do it. Turn to your neighbor and say, it's not that cute. It's not that cute when you are cowardly. It's not that cute when you're afraid to step up. It's not that cute when you expect a fight is going to come from someone else or something else. Church, boldness pleases the Lord. Let's define boldness together. Boldness is the trait of being willing to undertake activities that involve risk, danger, especially involved with being honest and straightforward in attitude and speech. Boldness in the Hebrew is the word batar. It means to trust or to be confidence. In the Greek, we get the word parasezume, which means to have confidence, to be fearless or freedom of speech. This is interesting because that word in the Greek, boldness, is used in the New Testament by free citizens that could say anything in the city, state, and public assembly. That word boldness actually means a freedom of speech. Now, there's a lot of people that don't understand church history, world history, United States history. And so every time you start talking about being bold in the church, usually someone pipes up and they're like, no, separation between church and street. And that's usually by an ignorant person that doesn't know their history. So if you look at world history, whatever power was ruling the world chose the religion. For thousands of years, whoever was in charge in Rome or whatever civilization was at power, they would choose the religion. And so everybody was bound by the religion of the state.

So a group of people went to go and pioneer a new world. And one of the number one requirements for this was we wanted freedom of religion. We want to be able to choose to worship God that we love and that we serve. And we don't want the state telling us what to do. This is important. So separation between church and state was not to keep the church out of the state. It was to keep the state out of the church. Someone say boldness. Boldness pleases the Lord. My definition of boldness is this. Boldness is confidence in approaching God and courage in addressing people. There's two primary reasons for boldness in the Bible. The first is evangelism or declaring the truth of the gospel. We see this in Acts chapter one, verse eight, you will receive power when the Holy spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. The number one purpose of boldness is for you to share your faith. So I would say this, if you have not shared your faith recently, there's probably a good chance you need boldness. Number two primary reason is your relationship with God. Hebrews 4 16 says, let us therefore come boldly. Someone say boldly to the throne of grace that we might receive mercy. So boldness has two primary responsibilities or purposes. The first is for you to be bold and sharing your faith. The second is you stewarding your faith or your relationship with God. So your boldness allows you to freely come into the presence of God. Now this is important because remember Adam and Eve sinned. happened when they said they realized they were naked and afraid so they left the presence of God so God went looking for them so he created an opportunity

for a mercy seat to be created that Jesus would pay the greatest penalty of all time to bring us back into relationship with God so now the children of God could come boldly be back in relationship with their father the purpose of boldness is for you to have a beautiful relationship with God I'll put it like this how many have kids that boldly come into your room you know I'm talking about like the little terrorists that don't ask they just come in just whenever they want just all the time to be at 2 in the morning yeah what are you doing we have a five-year-old that likes to wake up in the morning and get himself locked out and so we'll just be minor business we'll be in the shower and all of a sudden we hear the doorbell he won't hit it once this kid will hit 3,000 times until somebody shows up and let him in and then soon as you open the door you're like what he's like I'm locked out he was saying I want to be let in see we need some children of God that have that kind of boldness Lord I just want to be with you I just want to be in your presence I can't wait for another conference I can't wait for another service I need a daily encounter I need to meet with you every day I need to be in your presence see boldness was a necessity in a qualification of the New Testament Church they were not only subject to violent persecutions but also constant subject of ridicule and contempt starting to look like Christians today let me teach you about boldness boldness comes from your relationship with Jesus I love this Acts chapter 4 it says this when they saw people saw the boldness of Peter and John look at this they realized that they were unschooled ordinary men and they marveled and took note look at this that these men had been with Jesus do you realize after you spend time with Jesus the product or the fruit should be you should be bold I'd say it like this you cannot spend time with Jesus and not come out starting to look like him see a lot of people think that boldness is some kind of personality trait it's some sort of character all they're just a bold person no no it is a reflection of the intimacy that you have with God see the disciples were not bold men they were troubles they had issues they weren't confident they were argumentative they had all

sorts of issues Peter denied him but watch after all of these things they spent time with Jesus and the response of spending time with Jesus as they started to act like him so the disciples became bold because they spent time with Jesus watch and the church today becomes bold because we spend time with the Spirit of Jesus if you do not have relationship with the Holy Spirit you will not have boldness see when you have bold encounters with God it creates bold encounters with men look at Exodus chapter 3 where you have Moses in the burning bush he's out on the backside of the desert God decided to reveal himself an angel of the Lord in a fire that's not burning the bush and begins to speak to Moses watch he has a bold God encounter I had a cool God encounter a couple of nights ago where I felt I was laying at the altar at conference and I felt a hand being laid on my head and and and pastor Sean and pastor Isaac was were next to me and I asked both of them afterwards I said did you put your hand on my head and both of them said no I said the whole time as the altar I felt a hand that was on my head I believe it was an angelic hand because after that I started seeing some other angelic visions it was just this powerful vision watch when you have these bold encounters with God the result is you then have bold encounters with men you got to hear me mercy culture because if you don't realize this if you don't understand this as good theology what will happen is you will start having encounters with God that are solely just about you you'll start being addicted to the presence of God to receive but you stop giving and you don't realize that receiving doesn't please the Lord giving pleases the Lord and you don't realize watch the purpose of you coming in here and having a bold encounter with God is that you go outside of here and go have a bold encounter with somebody else put Exodus 3 back up there look at so he has this encounter with the burning bush and look at verse 10 God says this now I'm sending you to Pharaoh Whoa, this burning bush was it for you just to come take your shoes off of being holy ground I wanted you to encounter me in this bold moment So you'll take those same feet and go stand in that unholy ground and tell people tell Pharaoh to let my people go

somebody shout boldness God is looking for a church to be bold. The Bible says the righteous are bold as a lion See when you know God, when you seek him first and his righteousness, boldness, is there an after-effect of your relationship with God? So it leads us to a question that a lot of people are thinking right now Pastor, how do I become bold? I'm glad you asked and it's not something that you come to this altar and we lay hands on you and all of a sudden you are bold Watch, you don't become bold, you grow in boldness I'm going to say this again, you do not become bold, you grow in boldness I'm going to give you five ways to grow in boldness this morning Number one is through your daily encounters Daily encounters are the greatest way to spiritually grow and the greatest way to grow in boldness Ephesians 6.18 says, praying in the spirit at all times with prayer and supplication Verse 19 says, that the words be given to me, may opening my mouth and boldly proclaim the mysteries of the gospel See, when you have daily encounters and then you begin to talk about your encounters You begin to share what God is speaking to you and doing to you and through you, a boldness will become in you Number two, you grow in boldness by fearless preaching We see this in Acts chapter 9 where Barnabas finds Paul Paul had this radical encounter with God and then after this encounter with God He comes out and begins to boldly preach the name of Jesus Verse 28 says, so he went among from them in Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of Jesus Bold preaching will help get a church to be bold Now I know a lot of people in this house, you like the bold preaching And when I was on my prayer run this morning praying for you, I felt the Lord speak to me and say, not everybody does And I saw in the spirit, there's some people that you're here because you like the worship and then you tolerate the preaching It offends you It bothers you, but you like the worship so much, you stick around But what you don't realize is the same encounters that birth the worship is the same encounters that birth the messages So you're trying to participate and unify in a worship that will cause everybody to have an action of boldness but you're resisting it Some of you cringe, some of you are like, ah what's he gonna say, what's he gonna do, what are they gonna post, ah I don't like it And here's the thing is you've been rejecting it instead of growing in it

Turn to your neighbor and say, you gotta grow Or you gotta go Number three, bold preaching creates a bold community Do you know that boldness is contagious? When you start getting around bold people that are on fire for God, a boldness inside you begins to spark Philippians 1.14 says because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence Look at this, and boldly speak God's message without fear Watch, Paul didn't say because I'm so popular people are bold He didn't say because I'm so famous people are bold He said no, when they put me in jail, all of a sudden people start getting bold When they start persecuting me, people start getting bold Watch, when they realize that you can take it on the chin and you're not made of glass Listen, when you can watch people troll me on social media every day And you can say, hey look it, we're not made of glass around here, we can take it A boldness starts coming up in your spirit I got a call recently from one of my friends, his name is Jeremy Standover Bull He's on the Crow Indian Reservation He said, Pastor Landon, I just needed to encourage you He said, you don't realize what the boldness of mercy culture is doing in my people He said, we watch you be bold with abortion, we watch you be bold with perversion We watch you be bold from the pulpit And it's causing us to want to be bold with our people He said, the Lord's been speaking to us about taking a stand against the powwows Now, if there's any liberal white people in here, you're probably like, oh We love the powwows It's their culture What happens when your culture's demonic? Oh, what you mean is in the body of Christ we've been more loyal to a culture Than we've been loyal to a kingdom We've been more loyal to a color

We've been loyal to a kingdom. So we look at people culturally instead of looking at them spiritually I'm reminded of when jesus said who are my brothers who are my sisters? It's those that are doing the wheel of the god He said pastor landon we're going to take a stand against the witchcraft in our culture Against the worship and the prayer to our ancestors. We're going to believe that there's one god in one His name is jesus and jesus alone We're going to go into the powwows and see revival come and we're going to take a stand for boldness in our community Are you willing to take a stand of boldness in your family What about the demonic cultures in your family? What about the things that you were raised in? What about the the christian cult they talked about jesus, but had nothing to do with jesus Come on, someone say boldness Let me give you some practical advice when you find bold people ask them to pray for you When you see someone with the spirit of boldness Get that impartation on you number four growing in boldness pray in the holy spirit or to be clear pray in tongues Acts 1 7 for you receive power when the holy spirit comes on you Jude 1 20 says now strengthen yourself by praying in the holy spirit build yourself up by praying in the holy spirit It's up on the screen constantly and there's such a bad theology that it's adopted in the body of christ because I believe the enemy Had a strategic assignment to weaken the church and he weakens the church by removing the gifts of the holy spirit So we're taught a bad theology. So people throw the baby out with the bath water They don't want prophecy and they don't want tongues and they don't want healing in their church But they want wisdom and knowledge and the other ones and so they lose out on the power of the holy spirit There's no boldness without him And when you pray in the holy spirit his boldness comes upon you someone say boldness number five radically loving god See when you fear god you stop fearing people When you radically love god you stop caring about what people think about you I do this every day i'm I I go run on the trail and And and there's always some place on the trail that i'm kneeling and lifting my hands And it always crosses my mind at some point where people are walking by and I just feel weird And there's always someone that comes up to me it's usually a senior citizen they're like young man, are you okay?

Do you need some of my water? I'm like, no, ma'am. You can keep your water. I'm fine. I'm just praying But this this moment I radically care more about what he thinks than anyone else thinks In fact, I've seen some of these bike riders and pastor steve where when they're on the trail I don't care what they think Where you just genuinely Love god so much You desire to obey him and please him above all or anything else See your love for god is determined by your willingness to obey him John 14 15 says if you love me, you will obey my commands Church, we're in a year of reformation and I want to let you know that if you want to be a reformer then reformation requires boldness It's quiet in this spirit-filled church I said reformation requires boldness. You're going to be just hearing other people talk about reformation You're going to just see other people participate in reformation But if you're going to partner with the word of reformation over this house Then you need to understand that reformation will always require boldness and all throughout the bible We see bold reformers that confronted things of the world We see elijah who boldly confronted the prophets of baal We see john the baptist that boldly confronted kings of his land and called them out We see how daniel boldly confronted evil laws and prayed despite laws that were ungodly and unwicked We see how jehu boldly confronted a spirit of jezebel and cast her out of a tower We see how david boldly confronted a goliath when he said who is this uncircumcised philistine? That would defy the armies of a living god We see the shadrach meshach and abednego that boldly confronted defiant laws that were cast in the land that were ungodly We see stephen boldly confronting religious leaders who says you're just like your forefathers Wherever you see a reformer you see boldness And that's the thing in the church is people see boldness and they don't know what to do with it And they get intimidated by it and they get confused by it So when someone sees someone being bold, there's all of this spiritual confusion around it Do you know why because god loves boldness and the devil hates your boldness

So if god loves it and the devil What does the author of confusion try to do? He tries to confuse people in it. You're just trying to take attention on yourself. You're just drawing people to you. This morning I'm going to give you five confusions around boldness that people just don't seem to understand. Five confusions around boldness. Number one, people confuse boldness with arrogance. They see a bold person and the moment they start speaking out they say, ah, they're arrogant. And the only reason they think they're arrogant is because their voice is quiet and the bold person's voice is loud. Let me show you in the word of God, 1 Samuel chapter 17. It's the story of David and Goliath. But before it was David and Goliath, it was David and his brothers. Verse 26, it says, David asked the men who were standing with him, what will be done when the man who kills the Philistine and removes his disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine anyway that would defy the armies of the living God? The people around him told him what they were saying and what will happen to the man who kills him. And when David's older brother Eliab heard him speaking, his anger burned against David. Why have you come down here? Look at this. And where did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how pride and wickedness is in your heart. David responds and said, can I not just ask a question? Watch this, watch this, watch this. Day after day after day, Goliath is coming and cursing the God of Israel.

And David's brothers led him every day. And David is on assignment to bring some bread and cheese to his brother. And he overhears a giant cursing his God. And he looks around and says, why are you guys allowing this giant to curse our God? It reminds me of people that say, why are you allowing them to murder babies in the womb? Why are you allowing them for men to dress up like women and dance in front of children? Why are you allowing this perversion? Why are you allowing laws to be passed to cut off the private parts of children? Why are you allowing this evil to be done? And David starts asking, who's going to do something about this giant? And his brothers turned to him and said, you're arrogant. You're wicked. Let me give you the translation. You're bold. And because you're bold, it reveals my cowardness. Because you're bold, it reveals that I'm afraid. Because you're bold, it reveals what's in my heart. So now I have to pretend like I know your heart because of what's in my heart. What did his brother say? Put on the screen. He goes, we know how wicked your heart is. Wow, that's interesting. Because David had a prophetic word. And when David had a prophetic word is through Samuel, where Samuel took one look at Eliab. And God said to Samuel, no, no, no. I don't look at the outward appearance. I look at the heart.

So God already looked at David's heart and said he was pure. But when God looked at Eliab's heart, he saw something wicked in his heart. Now a man with a wicked heart is judging David's heart. Just because he wasn't afraid of the giant. See, when you're bold, coward leaders will think you're arrogant. If you haven't noticed, I'm a little bold on social media. I get in a firestorm here and there. And I had a pastor recently reach out to me and said, I don't appreciate your rhetoric on social media. And I said, well, why don't you unpack that a little bit for me? He said, I don't like how you use the word coward. I don't like the rhetoric. I don't think it's helpful. I said, hey friend, how, why do you identify with a coward? I said, I feel like David calling out a giant and my brothers just don't like it. He said, are you comparing me to David's brothers? I said, I'm going to say it again for you. I feel like I'm calling out a giant and my brothers just don't like it. Church, it doesn't matter how nice you are. It doesn't matter how kind you are. It doesn't matter how sweet you are. When you have the boldness of the Lord on you and you're calling out wickedness and you're calling out sin and you're calling out evils and you're calling out perversion, watch the cowards will not like it. Do not let the enemy convince you that you're arrogant because you're bold. Number two, there's confusion where people think boldness is troublemaking. Bold people get labeled troublemakers. When you're bold, the people that are doing wicked do think you're troublemakers. I reminded the story in first Kings with Ahab and Elijah. Now Ahab married Jezebel, the witch, who was mentored by her father, Ethbaal, who mentored

her in Baal worship, Ishtar worship, and Moloch worship. Their gods were the false god of money, of sex, of transgenderism, and child sacrifice, the originators of abortion. This is their gods. And Ahab aligned God's people with God's enemies. Then he meets the prophet, and he says to the prophet, there you are, you troubler of Israel. Now mind you, he aligns God's people with abortion, with homosexuality, and transgenderism, and then he meets a pastor and says, there you are, you troublemaker. Sounds a little like America today. And I love what Elijah responds. He said, I didn't make trouble for Israel. You've made trouble for Israel. His boldness just came in the room and started shaking stuff up. So you need to understand this. When you are bold, you're making trouble for hell. You're making trouble for compromise. You're making trouble for perversion. You're making trouble for religion. They're going to confuse you with the troublemaker. And you need to understand what you really are. You're not a troublemaker. You're a disruptor. See bold people are holy disruptors. See bold people are agitators. Bold people are going against the grain. Bold people are like bulls in China shops. They don't fit in. They're not going to sit quiet. And I know everybody's going to try to condition you just to be quiet, just to be nice, just

to be, you know, get, get, get, get in the back corner. Just, just, can you just behave yourself with the bold people make trouble for the things of the world. Heather stand up. Heather is one of the biggest, the greatest, boldest people I've ever met in my entire life. You inspire me. You motivate me. You are a bull in a China shop. You are a troublemaker for the gates of hell. You are a holy disruptor. I've learned from you. I've grown from you. I celebrate you and I acknowledge you today. Some of you need some trouble making friends around. I heard this pastor tell me one time when we were talking about perversion that was entering the land, he said, well, I'm just going to wait for the fight to come to me. I've said, sir, you've already lost. See those that are bold, bring the fight to the enemy. They don't wait for the enemy to bring the fight to them. Number three, people confuse kindness with weakness. I just want to teach on kindness for a second because kindness is a fruit of the spirit. It is the result of having relationship with the holy spirit. The Bible instructs us to be kind, but I came to tell you today, you could be kind and also kind of savage. It was kind of savage when Jesus made whips and started chasing the money changers out of the table. It was kind of savage when David cut off the head of Goliath and just walked around with the head all day long. It was kind of savage when they're mocking Jesus and striking Jesus and he just stands

there silent and lets God defend them. It was kind of savage when he tells a rich young ruler, go sell everything you have and give it to the poor and he wouldn't do it. And Jesus just savagely walks away. It was kind of savage when everybody was getting offended with Jesus and leaving his ministry and he turns to his disciples and said, Hey, are you guys going to leave too? It's kind of savage when Paul talks about honoring the government authorities and gets arrested three times for disobeying the government authorities by honoring a preferred authority. It's kind of savage when Paul tells us to be at peace with all men, but then causes riots and revivals everywhere he goes. And it was really kind of savage when Jesus looks at Judas in the face and says, come kiss me, friend came, come and do what you came to do. see you can be kind but kind of savage at the same time you say well you don't act like a pastor that's fine cuz I'm a spiritual father and spiritual fathers correct and spiritual fathers instruct and spiritual fathers encourage and spiritual fathers invest and spiritual fathers fight on behalf of their spiritual family I think we got enough tickling ears preachers out there that will tell people what they want to hear we need some preachers and people of God that will declare the truth of God boldly will be kind and kind of savage I'm all about turning the other cheeks but eventually you run out of them when scripture tells us in Matthew 5 to turn the other cheek it's talking about personal response or vendettas and we forgive over and over and over and over and over but then Jesus also tells us in Ephesians chapter 6 after we've done all we can do that's when we stand and the church has coming to a place where we cannot be a pushover church any longer I know the church folded like a cheap suit during COVID but we are not going to respond the same way in the next season of testing it's time for the church to find its backbone it's time for the church to find its voice it's time for the church to find its boldness number four people confuse public confrontation with private reconciliation see there's this immaturity in the Bible but the body of

Christ and people do it one of two ways improperly is they think you can't call out anything ever and everything has to be private or you have the Facebook renegades that want to call out everybody but you can publicly call out heresy wickedness and sin without private responses give you example Luke chapter 3 John the baptizer publicly criticized or rebuked King Herod for marrying his brother's wife look at this and many other wrongdoings John the Baptist was on IG a bro you can't be doing this you can't be doing this hey can't be living like this this is sin this is not right this isn't okay he was publicly calling him out recently I did a post on calling people fake Christians oh people got upset about that they must really love their fake Christianity and I made a comment about one of the greatest basketball players on the planet Steph Curry amazing basketball player who gets on a newscast and says I'm voting for Kamala Harris and the number one reason is I want to participate in child sacrifice he calls it a woman's right to choose but what he means is is I want to worship another God named Moloch it's the God of child sacrifice it's the God of abortion and if you're confused right now it's because you're spiritually immature and you don't realize that you're in a spiritual battle you don't realize this is not about a woman's right to choose it's a deceptive language to get you to worship a false God called Moloch that was the inventor of child sacrifice this is not a political thing this is not left first right this is up versus down this is good versus evil this is making the crooked way straight I said Steph I love your three-pointer but you're a fake Christian and you wrote it on your shoes and you tap your chest and point to the sky but it's not in your heart because you're more loyal to a culture you're more loyal to a theology of your people I got women that I love I thought you had a God that you loved I thought the greatest commandment was to love him with all of your heart but some of you are so blinded by the fame you're blinded by the Olympics you're blinded by the rings you're blinded by the fame that you can't see through it father's this is important my son comes to me all the time he's like hey dad is this athlete a Christian I said no sir

well he wears a cross it means nothing son well I thought I thought if they wore a cross no no how are we saved will be confessed with our mouth and believe in our heart there's good fruit to our actions. That guy's not saved. Have you seen him on hard knocks? You see him in interviews, you see him cussing on the sidelines, every time they pan to him they're bleeping out his mouth. There's not righteousness in him, there's not holiness in him, nothing in him looks like Jesus except for the cross that he's got around his neck. Are you judging? We're supposed to judge those that claim Christianity. Scripture says to judge those that are inside the church, we don't judge those outside the church. Notice that I'm not talking about Taylor Swift because she could worship demons on her own, that's fine. I'm talking about the people that claim Christ. So Matthew 18 says, if you have aught with your brother, go to him. But that doesn't stop us from publicly calling out wickedness, evil, and heresy. If there's public embracing of sin, it requires a public rebuke. So before some of you bold people go and start rebuking everybody on social media, can your pastor just give you some advice? Confront through questions. So instead of firing at them with immaturity, just say, where does the Bible say that? It's a great scripture. But two people are like, oh yeah, you could just, you know, as long as you love someone, you can marry whatever gender you want. Ah, where does the Bible say that? And then you'll wait forever because it's not in there. When someone says, oh no, no, you know, when someone says, oh no, no, you know, you, you, you know, you, you, if someone shames on you, you know, does your wrong, shame on you once, shame on you twice, and then have nothing to do with them. What scripture says that? When people talk about it's okay to love someone with brotherly love that's your skin color, but then you can treat someone else that's a different skin color like Malcolm X, then you say, what does the Bible say about that? If you follow me on social media, you know what I'm talking about. Got a pastor down the street, heard him from the pulpit say, hey black people in our church, you got to be loving to your black brother and sister, but with white people, treat them as any means necessary. Literally from the pulpit. Let me help you here. You feel that tension right now? You feel that tension? You know what that is? That's a leaning into wickedness. That's wickedness that's in our culture. It's wickedness that's in the pulpit. It's wickedness that's in the church, and it's

going to take an eradication of the church to get it out by being bold, by saying, what does God's word say? Let every man be a liar. We want the word of God to be true. We want to hide it in our hearts. We want to please him and live like him in every way with everything we do. Someone shout boldness. Number five, people confuse peace with people with appeasing demons. Now I want to pastor you today because too many of you are too soft. And I love you, and I'm for you, but you're soft. And let me tell you why you're soft, because you don't spend time with God, and you don't know his word. So the only words you know is what I tell you from the pulpit or what you hear on a podcast or a social media post. But you haven't been intimate with him yourself, that you don't know for a fact that it's true, that you could say yes and amen to what I preach from the pulpit, but you go back to the same word and you hear his voice telling it to you himself because you have relationship with God. Remember the bible says many will say I prophesied in your name, I cast out devils in your name, I had a social media ministry in your name, but he'll say away from me you doers of iniquity, I never knew you church. The church has gotten too soft because they don't know God. So people confuse the peace it surpasses all understanding. It confuses the boots of peace, which are made for war by the way. They confuse with blessed are the peacemakers versus the peace tolerators. They confuse peace with people in appeasing demons. And then we have this bad theology in the church like we just we need everybody to be unified, but there's a problem, I'm not going to be unified with the united methodist church. I'm not going to be unified with any denomination that's become an abomination as it abandoned the word of God. I'm not going to be unified with demons, I'm not going to be unified with demonic forces, I'm not going to be unified with cowards. Well we just need peace, no no you need peace that surpasses all understanding, that comes from being right with God. I'm going to show you how soft you are, I would do this lovingly, I'm trying to be soft as I tell you how soft. you are. So I don't want to offend you, but can I just show you in God's Word how soft you are? Can I show you? Okay, Matthew chapter 16. Put it up on the screen. Matthew chapter 16. This is Jesus who's teaching his disciples who he's friends with that he's got to go and suffer. As he's teaching them that he's going to go and die on the cross, Peter decides that he's going to rebuke Jesus. Not a great idea, but he's one of the bold ones on social media that just had an anointing to make trouble, okay? So he decides to rebuke Jesus and says, no Lord, not your will be done,

my will be done. And what does Jesus do? Jesus turned to him and here's what he said. He said, get behind me. I told you you're too soft. Imagine you coming and you say, hey pastor, I need a counseling session. And we're in the middle of the counseling session. I said, get behind me, Satan. He would never come back. Watch, watch, watch, watch. Cause the average person cannot discern the difference when we're dealing with demons. Jesus looked at his friend Peter in the eyes and said, I'm not talking to Peter anymore. I'm talking to the devil that you've been entertaining. I'm talking to that demonic spirit that you gave permission to, that you submitted to. He said that spirit of offense, get behind me. So you, you, you let it in Peter and you got to get it out right now. Listen, he had to go through a process of deliverance to get that thing out. But Jesus understood there's a difference between talking to a person and talking to a demon. And a lot of people have a hard time handling this because they're spiritually immature and they're undiscerned. So you just think that your pastor is being mean and you don't realize that we're not kind with demons. We cast them out. Let me give you an example. We have a, a pastor that's in our church and you have, have a ministry called belong and belong has led 17, I think 17 or 1800 people to the Lord outside of church services this year alone, face to face. It's amazing. Amazing. Someone put your hands together. Just thank God. It's amazing. And through some cool prophetic moments and words, we felt like that this ministry was supposed to have a hub on the TCU campus and then other college campuses all around Texas. So it's what we're stewarding right now. And so one of our pastors goes and he goes to TCU to meet with the leader of the whole religious department and sat down with this lady. And when he sat, when he goes to the office to sit down, there's rainbow panerophenalia all over the religious hall and he walks in and he sits down and this lady says to him, well, Jesus is a way to God. And the pastor of this church says, no ma'am, he is the way he is the truth and he is the life. And he said, and if Jesus was sitting here right now, would you tell him he's a way or would you fall on your face and say, he's the way what she turned to him and said, I don't want you on this campus. And he said, ma'am, I'm not going to tell you one thing to your face and then do it behind your back. So I'm going to be here. And if I have to just be on the sidewalks, we're going to be leading college kids to the Lord from the sidewalks, but we're going to see this school

turn to Jesus. No matter what we're not leaving, we're not backing down. We're going to see the Christian be put back in Texas Christian university. He leaves the meeting and she calls the police. She warns campus police about a troublemaking pastor. We're not dealing with people church. No, no, no, no, no. It's the same people in the neighborhood that are trying to stop the justice residents from being built. It's the same people that don't want spirit filled pastors on Texas Christian university. It's the same people that don't want representative Nate shots line involved in government. They don't want godly people in government. It's the same spirit. It is an anti-Christ anti-Jesus anti Holy spirit spirit that does not want the Holy spirit involved in anything. Church, you have to discern it. Scripture says, as far as it could be with you, be at peace with men does not tell you to be at peace with demons. And the bold understand the difference of having peace. with people in appeasing demons. Let me practically tell you how to be bold. Number one, love God privately. Your daily encounter, I said it over and over today, it'll be the greatest place where you find boldness. Number two, stand up for righteousness publicly. Start using your voice. Start declaring what's right in God's eyes. You could do this on social media. You could do it in your workplace. You could do it with your friends. Begin to raise your voice and get bold for righteousness. And then number three, encourage others to be bold and do the same. Meet with God privately, speak, declare it publicly, and begin to encourage other people to be bold and do it the same.

Church, I came to tell you today, it's time to be bold. I have heard so many people over the years say, Pastor Landon, I just want to thank you. We love having a bold pastor. And I've heard it over and over and over over the last few years. And I came to tell you, I'm tired of hearing it. It's my turn. I don't want people to say, I have a bold pastor. I want to be the one to say, I have a bold church. I have a bold community. I got bold reformers. They're unafraid. We are an army for God and we are bold. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. Kelly, come and join me on the keys. Let's close with our story in Esther, chapter five. We've been dancing around this for the last year now. We're getting very familiar with it. We're singing songs about it. But I had an encounter with the Lord in the beginning of September.

And I heard the Lord say, now it's time that we enter into this. Story of Esther, I want to encourage everyone to read the book of Esther this week. It's a few chapters. It's an easy read. It's a story of boldness and it's a story of favor. The Jewish people were 100 years into their exile. The main characters of our story are Queen Esther, her uncle Mordecai, a king named Xerxes and an evil ruler named Haman. The story starts out where the king was having 187 day feast of celebration. He ended the feast by inviting his beauty queen wife, Vashti, to come and display her beauty, but she refused the king. When she refused the king, she lost his favor. He dethroned her from being queen and because he was kind of a chauvinist, he decided to do a beauty pageant for every woman in the kingdom to participate in so that he can marry the most beautiful woman in the kingdom. There was a Jewish girl who hid her identity as a Jew. She joined the beauty pageant. Her name was Esther and she was the one chosen as the most beautiful woman in the entire land. At this time, she had a uncle named Mordecai. Mordecai overheard that there was an assassination attempt on the king's life.

He exposed it. After he exposed it, all of a sudden, the shift started happening in the spirit of the land. This time, a wicked man named Haman came on the scene. He was also rising to power at the same time. He demanded to be worshiped. He demanded to be honored. But Mordecai feared God more than anyone else. So the Bible says, as Haman was coming through the town, Mordecai, in Esther chapter 5, 9, refused to bow down and pay him homage or worship and because Mordecai would not worship Haman, he was furious. The Bible says he was enraged. So he made a decision that he was not only gonna kill Mordecai, but every Jew because all throughout history, over and over and over and over and over, demons have tried to kill the Jewish people. So God speaks, prompts Mordecai to go to Esther and said, you're in the king's palace. You have the opportunity. You have the location, the proximity to reach the king. And Esther said, I can't go do it. I'm afraid. You don't understand. If the king doesn't invite me, then I can be killed. I could be murdered on the spot. And then Mordecai tells her, he said, I think that you're confused about why God put you there.

I think you're confused that God put you there for such a time as this. And you think that you could be saved if you stay quiet. You think you could be saved if you're on the sideline. But he said, if you're not bold in this season, deliverance is gonna come from somebody else because God always protects his people, but you and your father's house will perish. So Esther said, let's pray. She called the three day, no food, no water fast, like we're doing here at Mercy Culture. She said, let's petition heaven. Let's go before heaven. And here's what she did. Even though she was afraid, ha. She said this, if I perish, I perish. Church, do you realize that you could be bold and be afraid at the same time? Do you realize that you could be afraid? That spirit of intimidation, that fear that comes on you, that demonic spirit that tries to keep you bound. You could be afraid and be bold at the same time. Watch, you don't have to feel bold. You just have to feel his presence. You just have to feel his favor. Look, I want you to shift your mind right now. You don't have to be this bold, strong person. You just have to be this person that is obsessed with pleasing the Lord. Because if you feel the pleasure of the Lord, you don't need to feel any boldness at all. You just need to know that your king is with you. Watch this. She said, I'm going to go stand before the king. And if I perish, I perish. Do you know what it means? If you perish, you perish. It means this, that you have nothing else to lose because the only thing that you need is him. It's when you have nothing else to lose because the only thing that you need is him. It's your relationship with him is more important than anything else. It's when Philippians says to die is to gain because everything I need is just in him. It's when you value your relationship with God more than anything else.

It doesn't matter what they take from you. Watch, your reputation doesn't matter anymore. Your friendship circles doesn't matter anymore. Your wealth doesn't matter anymore. Your life doesn't matter anymore. The only thing that you care about is pleasing the one you love the most. She went into the presence of the king. Watch. And as soon as the king saw her boldness, he began to lift his scepter. The moment the king saw her boldness, watch, his scepter, his hand, or his favor came. There's some of you that you are waiting for God to bless you. You're waiting to feel the favor of God. And I came to tell you today that favor will follow your boldness because boldness finds the pleasure of the Lord. You will find the favor of God when you please your king. And just like Esther walked in the royal robes, her king saw her. He saw her boldness and his heart was pleased. Watch. And his favor followed his pleasure. The favor of the Lord follows his pleasure. And he is pleased when his people are bold. I came to commission you today. I came to wake you up today. The sideline season is over. The participating in worship services alone at Mercy Culture are over. I'll go once or twice a month for the worship and then I'll sit on the sideline. Season is over. The Lord is calling his people into a place of boldness. He's calling them into a place of a fight. He's calling them to make trouble for the gates of hell. He's calling them to call out giants. He's calling them right now. What would happen if the entire church stood up? What would the gates of hell do when it couldn't even pinpoint where it's coming from? Because there were so many reformers. There were so many wild ones. There were so many bold leaders. There were so many ones that were sold out.

There were so many that were radically in love with him. There were so many that were on fire for him. There were so many that were sold out to him that the enemy could not stop it because it was coming from so many directions. Church, I'm telling you. That boldness pleases the Lord. I came to tell you today. God is inviting you into a place of boldness. I told you that I had this sermon with visions. Pastor Jazz, would you come just stand right here for a moment? On Labor Day, I went on a prayer run. And I was just loving on the Lord. I came to this place and I'm worshiping. sudden I have a vision of Pastor Jasmine and in my vision she's standing right there and then I see written over her if I perish I perish and I texted her in that moment and I heard the Lord say that she has saying about it but now I'm inviting her and to the revelation of it I'm inviting her to live in it then the next picture I saw was our church this sanctuary and written over you was if I perish I perish and I felt in my spirit that the worship leaders that judah went first the psalmist went first and begin to lead begin to sing begin to prophesy begin to declare if I perish I perish and then I heard the Lord say I'm inviting mercy culture into the revelation of if I perish I perish I heard the Lord say I want you to preach son boldness pleases me and I want you to invite them into the revelation of if I perish I perish and so if you're in this room today if you're listening online if you're in this moment with me right now and you say I want to enter the revelation of if I perish I perish I want you to stand to your feet and lift your hands as high as they come if you want to kneel you can kneel if you want to bow you can bow but I want you to prepare yourself to receive right now if I perish I perish is the place that you have nothing to lose and the only thing you need is him all over this place lift your voices and ask the Lord what

pleases you right now ask him what pleases you ask him what pleases you petition him right now petition the Father right now what pleases you this is the moment you need to know it this is the moment you can't guess this is the moment you need to know what moves his heart what ministers to his heart what pleases your king what pleases the Father right now because boldness is about to follow and it comes with those that have a heart's desire to please him please don't pray at one time please just start petitioning heaven all over this place tell the Lord I want to please you I want to please you I want to please you I want to please you tell him I want to know your heart come on in the balcony I want to know your mind in the communities we want to know you God we want to know your heart for Austin we want to know your heart for San Antonio we want to know your heart in Florida in California wherever you are wherever you're watching Lord I want to know you I want to know what moves you I want to know what you care about I want to know what you're passionate about I want to know what injustice you want made right I heard the Lord say they need to be baptized in boldness all throughout acts they received the Holy Ghost they spoke in tongues and their mouths changed they became bold we need a baptism of boldness I'm not prophesying in tongues this is my prayer language right now if you have a prayer language loose it right now loose it right now loose it right now loose it right now would you boldly pray in the Holy Ghost baptize your church in boldness Lord I pray fear begins to break off your people I pray that fear of man begins to break off your people I pray that spirit of intimidation of Goliath breaks off your people I pray the intimidation of the fiery furnace breaks off your people I pray right now in Jesus' name the lies from the pit of hell I pray break off your people right now I pray a baptism of boldness before you pray break off your people right now I pray a baptism of boldness pray in the Holy Ghost 10 times louder I pray a baptism of boldness I pray a baptism of boldness I pray right now let the fire of the Holy Ghost fill your heart I pray let the fire of the Holy Ghost fill their lips I pray for a fresh fire I pray for a fresh fire I pray for a fresh fire I pray

for a fresh boldness I pray the boldness of God would come into your spirit right now whatever you're doing right now for 10 seconds longer do it 10 times louder 10 times louder Come on, let your spirit begin to roar right now, let your spirit begin to roar right now. Don't worry about what to pray. Just let your spirit right now pray. Just let your spirit make utterances right now. We don't need wise and persuasive words. We need the spirit of power. There's a fire in the room. There's a fire in the room. There's a boldness in the room. There's a boldness in the room. I see a scepter being raised. I see a scepter being raised. Shake the heavens balcony, rend the heavens. He's baptizing you in a holy boldness. He's baptizing you in a holy boldness. Don't stop. He's here. Don't stop. He's here. Don't stop. He's here. Don't stop. He's here. Don't be here. Don't stop. He's here. Don't stop. He's here.

Don't stop. He's here. Don't stop. He's here. Don't stop. He's here. The fire is going to go in you and then the fire is going to come out of you. The fire is going to go in you and then the fire is going to come out of you. The fire is going to go in you. And then boldness is coming out of you. Just a little longer. Just a little longer. You're telling the ground of your heart. Let your hands as high as they go and breathe in the presence of God. Breathe in. You don't have to do anything right now. This is where you just received. He's giving it to you. Breathe in the presence of God. That Rua. I had a vision of Sean Foy. Keep your eyes closed. Focus on the king planting a seed. Then I saw it beginning to bear fruit of boldness. I asked the Lord on a prayer run this week. I said, Lord, how do we produce this fruit? And then I had a vision of the boldest person I know. Praying an impartation of boldness. As you were just worshiping the Lord. I had a vision of your heart being tilled to ground.

Stay focused on the Lord. Keep your eyes tight. I saw him. Telling the heart of your ground. I saw hard hearts becoming soft soil. And I had that vision. The boldest person I know. Is my wife, Heather. Saw her praying a prayer of impartation of boldness. Come on breathe in the presence of God all over this place So with your heart ready to receive Receive this impartation God I thank you that boldness is not an emotion. It's not a feeling and it's not a personality. I Thank you that it's the characteristic and it is the nature of our Almighty God and Today we decree as a people That we will not serve the spirit of fear We will not bow to intimidation Intimidation we will not surrender to anxiety But we submit ourselves to you King Jesus They gave your all to die for us and to raise Again from the dead that you conquered the grave. That is the one that lives within us Lord I pray this morning That there will be an awakening to the boldness there would be an awakening to the authority that lies already within your sons and daughters in this room and listening online Lord I ask Like when you ascended you said I am giving my spirit and you shall do even greater Works you shall do even greater signs and wonders even than our King Jesus Oh God right now. I asked for that axe Chapter 4 boldness where they looked at Peter and they said these are unschooled Ordinary men. Oh, it doesn't make sense except that they have been with Jesus Lord, I pray that the boldness would be so great in the fathers and the mothers the sons and the daughters the teenagers

and the children in this house That they would not see a people that are bold but they would see a bold God Radiating on your people like the people saw when Moses came down the mountain a man that had been with their King I pray Oh God the city of Fort Worth I pray Oh God the state of Texas the nation of America and the nations when they look in mercy culture Oh that they would see a people on fire for Jesus Oh God, I pray that you would make us like a Peter Bold not to fear man nor leaders that even would oppose you God. Would you make us like a Paul? Bold to preach the gospel and to cast out demons and to heal the sick Would you make us like a Deborah bold in battle? Would you make us Oh God bold like David to face and take down Giants and to praise Wildly in the public. Oh God, would you make us bold? Ha like an Esther that would decree to save a nation if I perish I perish Oh Would you make us in the foremost bold like you the lion of Judah Lord I pray all that you would fill us With the boldness of heaven the boldness of your throne room the boldness of the cross the boldness of the lion I pray a roar is going to begin to spiritually Develop out of your people this morning that confronts intimidation That confronts the fear of man that confronts

Anxiety that confronts tormenting demons Church right now. I want you to begin to stir yourself up in the spirit again Begin to speak in tongues If you don't have your prayer language you're about to get it just ask him and the bold God Haha, he's gonna fill you Instantaneously Holy Spirit fill those that don't have their prayer language. Come on louder Louder Come on, let your spirit man. Let your spirit woman lead you right now Put your flesh in your back seat Come on, look at that spirit of fear Come on louder church Press it Come on, press in, press in, louder, let the demons in hell, let them hear. Oh, here it comes, here it comes, keep going. Oh, I can feel his glory, I can feel the presence of the Lord. I can feel the presence of the lion. Louder, louder. Oh, hear, now roar. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! I keep hearing birthing sounds this weekend. Or sounds like women in labor. I believe our church is birthing something in the spirit right now. Connor, if you're in the room, lay hands on your wife. Lift your hands as high as you can all over this place. Breathe in the presence of God. Now just tell the King, I receive it. Tell Him, I receive it. I feel like you're supposed to declare it over yourself now. Declare, I am bold. Do it about ten times over yourself right now, just however it sounds to you. Just do it right now. Somebody just boldly put your hands together and praise your King. Church, we're not just preaching about boldness today. But it's time to live it. I'm going to ask everybody to stand with me just for another moment. We need to share something that's important on our hearts. We've been battling behind the scenes. And now it's time for the church to unite and battle together. We had a word over our church a few years ago that we would have two years of unprecedented resistance. And your church has been resisted by the city of Fort Worth, by governmental leaders, and by agitators in this city. And today is a new day. Today is a day that the church will be bold. Heather, tell them what happened. So we have been quiet the last couple of years publicly from a platform regarding the justice residents. Because we have been doing the best that we can to work with the city and with the neighborhood to appease, to honor. And now enough is enough. So this morning I'm sharing with you the update and the timeline of what we have been through. For those of you in the room that don't know what the justice residence is, years ago the Lord spoke to the leadership of Mercy Culture to build what we call the justice residence. The justice residence is a ministry that will be a place of restoration and discipleship for survivors of sex trafficking.

will be in Jesus' name the largest restoration home in America, come on, housing up to 100 women. We desperately need this place because there is an estimated 40.3 million victims of sex trafficking worldwide each year and only 897 beds nationwide for these victims when they are rescued. In 2021, we reached out to the neighbors of Oakhurst neighborhood behind the church to host them at Mercy Culture to share the vision of this beautiful ministry and to address any concerns that they may have. A group of agitators that hate Christian values and what we stand for attended the meeting bringing false accusations and continued the last couple of years to try to stir up others against this project. They have been resisting us since the beginning. Their friends in the media have now written to date 13 different negative articles against the justice residents hoping to stir up more against us. They have used harassment, intimidation to try to stop us and now they are trying to use their friends in the Fort Worth government to try to illegally stop us. The Fort Worth Zoning Commission led by Lashondra Stringfellow has lied and manipulated by trying to strong arm us into rezoning our property. Why would she do this? Because in a 2004 city ordinance, our 17 acre property was zoned to be used for all church related activities and the city of Fort Worth and the zoning committee, let me make this clear, does not determine what those activities are, the Bible does. Because our property was zoned to be used for all church related activities, it expressly covers all of the mercy culture ministries, including the justice reform ministry that is seeking to redeem victims out of sex trafficking. The neighbors in the Oakhurst neighborhood who opposed the church told us that they have members in the zoning commission, quote unquote, in their back pocket. Our MC members heard them say this at a meeting that they showed up to that they had called regarding the justice reform. Hear me this morning, mercy culture.

We will not, and we are not rezoning our property. This is their way of trying to steal our religious rights and to stop the building of the justice residences. Can I ask you this morning, what kind of people will fight against a group that is trying to heal, trying to restore, trying to redeem the most abused women in our society? We're talking about people that want to stop us from restoring women from the worst reality of being sold for sex multiple times every day. This is modern day slavery at its absolute worst. No human being, let me make this clear, should ever be living in sex slavery and every human being outside of this slavery should be using whatever position, title, or resources they have to set them free and restore them. Yet we see people in our city and in our local government fighting against it. Despite the intense opposition, we followed up with the Oakhurst neighborhood with multiple solutions to the concerns that they shared. Listen to this, on August 5th, 2024 of this year, after we had completed all of the plans, the designs, the studies, and completed all of the city's requirements, mercy culture church submitted its site plan to zoning for approval, which at that point should have been a simple process because the zoning thing was the only condition that was imposed on our property. 19 days before mercy culture submitted its site plan, the city informed members of the media that the use of the property for this. ministry was not a church-related activity and that the property would have to be rezoned or aka they leaked gossip. On July 17th the Star-Telegram published an article relaying what the city had said claiming that the current zoning rules don't allow for the uses and that the church will need to apply to have the land rezoned. Then on August 29th the Star-Telegram published another article based on information it received from the city claiming that Mercy Culture had already applied for a zoning change. Church, this is a lie. We never applied for a zoning change because we do not need a zoning change. Not this time that the article was being published Mercy Culture was responding

to the city that it would not be applying for a zoning change because the law does not require it. The city was not responding to Mercy Culture in which their job is to serve all of the people of this city but they were in communication with the Star-Telegram. The Zoning Commission refused to set our site plan which was in on time the application was in on time for the public hearing on September 11th. They denied us. We also reached out with numerous requests for a meeting with both Zoning Commission employees and our City Councilwoman Jeanette Martinez and they have refused to meet with us nor respond to us since our application. On September 5th we submitted a formal request and demand letter that the Zoning Commission put us back on the docket for the October public hearing. Yet we still have not received a response on this request. On September 13th a sign was put on our property saying quote-unquote zoning change requested for information called the City Hall. All the while the Zoning Commission is not responding to our answers that we gave them to their questions nor confirming when we can be on the docket for a public hearing. Mercy Culture hear me this morning. Your church is being harassed. Your church is being bullied. Your church is being discriminated against and evil people are trying to stop God's justice for the most abused daughters in our society. It is time right now to stand up and to fight. It is time right now to stand up and to be bold. It's time to be bold. Almost every elected official campaigned that they were committed to fight against human trafficking in our city, in our county, in our state. We've seen our mayor Maddie Parker in cities speak at events saying they're committed to fighting human trafficking in Fort Worth. So Mrs. Mayor it's time to prove it. The time for speeches are over. The time for action is now. While our state and county leaders are standing in support, our city stands in silent opposition. The time to reform is now. There's no room for cowardice when Texas has now become the number one state in the nation for human trafficking. Mayor Parker, we will be meeting with us in the next few weeks but she needs to know that this community is more committed to making

the crooked path straight than appeasing a few cranky neighbors and some evil people. Someone say no more politics, no more delays. We're calling on Maddie, Mayor Maddie Parker to give us more than rhetoric or speeches against human trafficking and to push the Zoning Commission to approve our plans because it's time to rescue our lost daughters and heal our land. Anyone who opposes the justice residences in long-term restoration and those that have been rescued from sex slavery are not fit to run for office and we intend to get loud and expose who is with us and who is not. Hear me today, we will expose every member of City Council and the Fort Worth leadership that continues to resist, harass, and discriminate against us for our faith. We will not be silent. We will not be bullied and hear me today. We will not be stopped We will exercise our First Amendment rights and freedom of speech. We will exercise our constitutional rights of freedom of religion Mercy culture has the legal rights whether it's under the Constitution or the Texas Constitution Or even under the Fort Worth City Ordinances that specifically governs our 17 acres of property to build This residence and we are prepared to exercise and defend our rights Even if it means seeking justice through the court system Church the time to act is now So this is what I'm asking every member of mercy culture Every friend of ours every person who's watching online. I'm asking you right now grab your phone and text bold to 590 90 Text bold to 590 90 and this is what I'm asking you to do. I'm asking you to use your voice When you text bold to 590 90 you will send a link with information I'm asking every single one of you today to email Mayor Maddie Parker Demanding that Mercy culture's justice residents goes before the Zoning Commission Letting them know that this is something that you stand by in your fort. I want to encourage you Tell them tell her what God's done in your life here at mercy culture. What's happened in your family? Let them know the good that has taken place if you serve in the food bank or whatever ministry that you serve in What's happened in your children's life?

I'm asking every single member of our church today to email the mayor Then you're also going to see phone numbers of City Council member call them all This week call every City Council member and let them know that justice residents will be built and you Support it being built. The third thing I'm asking you to do is sign the petition We're gonna get thousands and thousands of petitions and we're gonna let the entire city Know how many people are behind this and we are tired of human trafficking in our city and we're gonna do something about it And then the fourth thing the last thing I'm gonna ask you to do is we're gonna post today a Short video about this and I'm ask everybody to share it tag the mayor tag your City Council member We're gonna let this city know that Mercy culture is kind And Kind of savage Can I see your hand who will support us who will do this today Who's ready to be bold lift your other hand to the Lord father. I pray right now that the boldness of God Come on this house for your heart, I Pray that we would not just be people of faith But we would be people of faith and deeds. I Pray our boldness would please you I bless your people in Jesus mighty name all God's people said amen and amen Amen amen, I would love to invite our altar workers up to the front And if anybody in this room needs prayer for anything come we would love to pray with you And thank you mercy culture for being a generous and obedient church the ways to give are on the screen behind me And if you wouldn't mind just stopping where you are at. I would love to pray our benediction over you You could just foster your hearts to receive with your hands open Lord would you teach us your ways that we may know you and find your favor? Amen, mercy culture. Have a wonderful week and don't forget to be bold You