Called to Gather

♪ ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see? ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I see lightning, I hear thunder ♪ ♪ Something stir at six feet under ♪ ♪ Dead things coming back to life again ♪ ♪ I believe there's a fact of being another resurrection ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I see signs in, I see wonder ♪ ♪ I see birds, so clearly colors ♪ ♪ Dead things coming back to life again ♪ ♪ I believe there's a fact of being another resurrection ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Come up light, wake up, sleeper ♪ ♪ He is risen ♪ ♪ We are risen with this ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, it is fitting ♪ ♪ See a green nobody in it ♪ ♪ Dead things coming back to life again ♪ ♪ I believe there's a fact of being another resurrection ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Come up light, wake up, sleeper ♪ ♪ He is risen ♪ ♪ We are risen with this paradise ♪ ♪ The wide open ♪ ♪ He is risen ♪ ♪ We are risen with this ♪ ♪ Come up light, wake up, sleeper ♪

♪ He is risen ♪ ♪ We are risen with this paradise ♪ ♪ The wide open ♪ ♪ He is risen ♪ ♪ We are risen with this ♪ ♪ How many of us believe he's risen today ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ You see what I see ♪ ♪ That the grave is empty ♪ ♪ That you know what I know ♪ ♪ Anything is possible ♪ ♪ You see what I see ♪ ♪ That the grave is empty ♪ ♪ That you know what I know ♪ ♪ Anything is possible ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see ♪ ♪ I see signs and I see wonders ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see ♪ ♪ I hear lightning, I hear thunder ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see ♪ ♪ Something's there, it's 16 under ♪ ♪ Come alive ♪ ♪ Wake up, sleeper ♪ ♪ He is risen ♪ ♪ We are risen with him paradise ♪ ♪ Full of quiet overhead ♪ ♪ He is risen ♪

♪ We are risen with him ♪ (audience applauding) - Can you lift up the name of Jesus one more time? Can you lift our praise to Jesus He is risen? And you're risen with him? That's why no matter where you're going through, all you need to do is reach out to him. No matter where you are in your life, just know that God is here. He's waiting for you. Don't wait anymore, just reach out to him. (gentle music) ♪ And now I draw a boundary ♪ # The thief and his plans will pass over # # And he sees the red under the door # # You say, I plead the blood # # Come and let me Jesus # # I plead the blood of Jesus # # I plead the blood of Jesus # # I plead the blood of Jesus # # Can we shout to him tonight? # # Can't we hear no more? Is it in our prayer? # # The enemy can't take my family # # 'Cause this won't belong to the Lord # # It's right. # # Oh, so I'm not afraid to remind you # # That he has no claim in his voice # # I plead the blood # # I say, I plead the blood of Jesus # # I plead the blood #

# I plead the blood of Jesus # # To the eyes where I can't live tough to him # # I say, God Jesus, I'm here # # I'm making that decision today # # 'Cause I know he's with me # # And he's with me # # There's no more weight # # No more running around # # 'Cause I see God that your future will be his answer # # But my future is glory to glory # # So I'm free to have to be purchased before # # Well, I'm the word of this suffering # # The land where we're streaming is we know # # Well, I plead the blood # # I plead the blood of Jesus # # 'Cause my thing is over # # I plead the blood of Jesus # # My sure, my shout # # It's my return # # But can it over and over again? # # I plead the blood # # I plead the blood of Jesus # # For the Lord # # For everything I need # # I plead the blood of Jesus # # Nothing else will satisfy # # Nothing else will give a peace # # Will give a freedom # # All ages is for kids # # What can it look #

# What should we my see? # # Nothing but the blood # # Nothing but the blood # # What can it make me whole again? # # Nothing but the blood # # Nothing but the blood # # Nothing can for a senator # # Nothing but the blood # # Nothing but the blood # # Nothing good that I have done # # Nothing but the blood # # Nothing but the blood # # The world can wash away my sin # # Nothing but the blood # # Nothing but the blood # # What can it make me whole again? # # Nothing but the blood # # Nothing but the blood # # Nothing can for a senator # # Nothing but the blood # # Nothing but the blood # # Nothing can for a senator # # Nothing but the blood # # Nothing but the blood # # You took the courage to write yourself # # What can it make me whole again? # # Nothing but the blood # # Nothing but the blood # ♪ Of our future, this I breathe ♪ (upbeat music)

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (applause) - Hey, man. You know, while you're still standing, I wanted to share something. I shared it in the last service. I was listening to this song.

And it just reminded me of a month or two ago, there was a hearing that was on national television. And as this individual was questioned multiple times, he continued to say that I plead the fifth. I plead the fifth. Every time a question was asked him, I plead the fifth and it got annoying into me. It's like he's not answering the question. But today, here's what I was thinking of. Every time that Satan tries to accuse me, listen to me, any time that I fell and he says, you're not worthy, you're not a son, you know what I do? I say, I plead the blood of Jesus. Over and over and over again, I plead. Come on, somebody. I plead the blood of Jesus. Amen. (applause) And I know it annoys him. I know that he wants me to stand up for myself, but we can't stand up for ourselves. Amen, we plead the blood of Jesus. Come on, praise the Lord again this morning. (applause) Come on, somebody, welcome them today to Revolution Church. You guys can be seated afterwards. While they're doing that, I want to welcome everyone online. All of you guys that are joining us today, the jails, the prisons, all of you, the incarcerated.

Man, thank you so much for picking up your tablets and joining us today. We pray that this service is a blessing for all of you. Praise the Lord. How many of you glad to be in God's house today? Oh, come on, you're really glad to be here. (applause) Man, I can't think of a better place I'd rather be, and I've met a ton of first-time guests today. Let's give it up for all of our first-time visitors of Revolution Church. (applause) By the way, talking about first-time guests, we have a Connect card. I would love for you to grab one. There'll be in the seat back right in front of you. Just pick up one of those cards, fill it out, drop it off out in the foyer. We have some folks out there that would love to take that. We would also love to pray. If you have any prayer requests, write those on there as well. But we're just grateful that you're here and we want to connect with you. How many of you saw the 10 outside today? You guys see it? Man, it was packed full. As a matter of fact, I was out there mingling and I asked somebody, I said, "What time is it?"

And it was 1137. And I said, "Uh-oh," and I ran through the door because I knew I was supposed to be in here. And so if I'm out of breath, you know why. But we're trying to connect with people. We want everybody here to feel like this is family. And so today we're gonna be talking about life groups. We're having our life groups launch. Pastor Chris is gonna talk a lot more about that later on in the sermon. You don't want to miss it. It's a great message today. So I'm excited about what the Lord's gonna do. And then another thing I would say is if today you make the best decision you'll ever make in your life and that's inviting Jesus Christ in, accepting Him, being saved, being born again. We have a beautiful Bible here on the front of it. It says revolution church, but we want to give this Bible to you to start your journey. We'll talk about water baptism. By the way, next weekend, we're having a water baptism at the river in Townsend. So if you're not signed up yet, sign up. We have room, uh, there's room for one more. Amen. Or two more or 10 more or however many. Um, so, so grateful for, we do that at the place in Townsend called. It's not the coffee and we started baptizing there in the river right, uh, during COVID and we announced it on our live stream and Brian, people started coming in

from out of state. There's families here here today, uh, that I met up there for the first time that had came from out of state to be baptized in the river, uh, but since then, I think last time I heard there's over 600 people that 700 now. Come on, 700 people have been baptized at that one spot. That's God. Amen. I mean, one is great. 700 is incredible and so, um, we would like to invite you to do that. You can sign up online. Uh, that, that's, uh, or go to our church app and, uh, or just show up. You can show up as well. But today, uh, we're going to move on into the next part of our, our service. I wanted to talk about what we're doing here now. We gather on Sunday mornings as the body of Christ to worship. And, uh, you know, David, he told us he explained in, in the book of Psalms, how to enter the house of the Lord. Do you know, there's a correct way to enter, enter God's house? And here's what David said, David said in Psalms 104, he said, first of all, he said, I'm going to enter his gates with Thanksgiving. So what does that look like today? That means when I pull off East Lamar Alexander Parkway, 321, and I come into the parking lot, I'm going to just start thanking God. This is the day the Lord has made. I'm going to rejoice and be glad in it. Come on, somebody. I'm going to thank the Lord for this day, for the opportunity to worship. But then David said, now next I've come through the gates. Now I'm going to enter his courts. That's where we're at right now.

And he said, when I enter his courts, I'm going to enter his courts with praise. And this is our praise and how many of you appreciate our worship team leading us every Sunday? We appreciate you guys. You're amazing. You're awesome. You work hard, you do a great job and we're grateful for all of you. But we, we gather to praise. But when it comes to worship, we know that worship, there's a lot of aspects to worship. It's not just the songs. It's not just the word. It's also giving. It's sacrificial giving. It's coming and bringing our gifts to the Lord. And as I was thinking about that, it reminds me of sowing seeds. You realize that God has a principle in the Bible when it comes to seed sowing. It's seed time and harvest. He talks about sowing and reaping as a matter of fact, the principle is so important that was, it was instituted on day three in the book of Genesis. And we can, we can see it when he talked about the trees and the plants. And then he, he specifically talked about the fruit and he said, inside the fruit, are these things that we call seed, say seed. There are seeds and, and, and so the seeds are where it's at. It's planting seeds. When we plant seeds, we can expect why. A harvest. And so as I was thinking about this, I was, my, my thoughts was my wife, Connie, loves a nice yard. She always has.

She got it from her father and, and her dad, Mayford, he used to really annoy me because when I would pull, if I would just barely get off the driveway into the grass, he knew it. He, he would, he would go out and investigate. And he would like know whose car tracks it was. And, and it was always mine because I didn't have any tread on my tires. It was probably bald, you know, pulling in, but it was like pastures pulled in my yard. And so Connie would relay the message from Mayford to me that I needed to stay on the driveway. Don't get in the yard. You couldn't throw your gum in his yard. He was very particular, wasn't he? He was, well, my wife has taken from him. Okay. And so she likes a nice yard and, and I appreciate that. But what I found out is if you want a nice yard, if you want fescue and you want, you want grass growing, you have to plant some seeds. And, and so there's certain months that you plant, there's other months that you don't, uh, in East Tennessee, they say any month that ends in an hour, you can plant your grass seed. And I don't know about you. But if you've been out to buy grass seed lately, it is expensive. A 50 pound bag of grass seed is crazy. It's like, does it really make sense to spend $50, $60, $70 for a 50 pound bag of grass seed? My wife would say, absolutely. Yes, it makes sense. Go buy it and spread it because we're, we're going to have a nice yard. Here's, here's what I'm saying is that you invest in that seed. It's the same way in the kingdom of God.

You know, the Bible says whatsoever a man soeth, that shall he what? Also reap. And so this principle of sown and reaping is throughout the Bible and I'm grateful for a church that gets it, that sows, that plants, that ties, that brings their offering into the house of the Lord because that allows us to do the things that God's called us to do as a church and as a ministry. And so grateful for all of you. But there's always new people that need to learn the principle or be taught the principle and I want to encourage you today, if you've not become a giver, that you would try God. The Bible says in the Book of Malachi, try me. Pest me when version says, he says bring the whole tithe into the storehouse of the Lord and see. If I want to open the floodgates of heaven or the windows of heaven and pour out so much blessing on you that you can't contain it. Amen, can anybody relate to that? I want to share a quick testimony between the last service and now a young couple came up to the altar for prayer. And they shared with us there 24, 25 years old. And their struggle was financial, was a financial struggle, having financial struggles. And I asked them a couple questions. I said, do you have kids? And they said, yes.

And I said, about everybody I know that's in their mid 20s that have children have financial struggles. Can I hear any men? Have you ever been there? Can I hear any men if you've been there? I said, my wife and I, we were there and I didn't, I couldn't see light at the end of the tunnel. But what I'm so grateful for and I shared with them, I said, honestly, I didn't make a lot of money and we had to stay at home. Mother, I made a little over $5 an hour when we were in our mid 20s. Now that's probably equivalent to $15 or $16 'cause that's been so long ago. It's probably equivalent to $15 or $16 now, but it's still not a lot. But what Connie did and what we were able to do is she always tied on that $5 an hour to the Townsend Church of God 'cause Don, you guys taught us. And so we tied. Here's what I told them and I said, I'm gonna share this with you guys today before we pray. And this is not a guess. This is not, I feel like this is gonna happen. I want you to listen closely to me. They look me in the eye and they're struggling. They're moving out of a house into a camp. I said, I want you to look at me.

You're not always gonna be here. This season's gonna pass. I know you can't see it now because I was in your same shoes. When I went out there, Connie, we bought that repoed trailer, had the floors and the roof off. I could relate to them. Do you guys win me now? And I couldn't see a lot at the end of the day, but here's what I said. You be faithful to God. You trust the Lord and God will honor his word. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. Can I hear a name into that? (congregation applauding) It's in God's timing. But here's the last thing I said, and I said, I want you to listen closely to this. Here's the other thing that Connie and I did is every single night before we went to bed, we'd kneel down by our bed in that rundown place that we were living and we'd hold hands. And we'd say, God, we trust you. I've got two little boys over here, but we can't go out and eat. I'm not complaining though. I'm not saying it that way. I'm saying it 'cause I'm emotional today.

But I want you to know something. When my older son left out for college, majored in creative writing, he wrote a letter and I read it. Here's what he said. And this is not credit to us. It's credit to the principles of God's word. He said, I know we grew up not having a lot. But he said, I don't know many kids that can say they never saw their parents argue and always had love. I'm gonna tell you what we did. We both sit down and cry as he pulled off to go to college and we framed that letter. And I still have it to this day because that means more to me than any monetary thing that you, does that make sense to you today? I hope that relates to somebody because when we talk about giving, it's not. So the church can have more or so this, it's so the kingdom can advance. And so you and I can learn from those principles that it actually, Are you guys with me? All right, let's stand. We're gonna pray over our friends now. I know there's multiple ways that we give. You can give them the buckets as you're leaving. We don't pass the plate. You can give online.

There's tap tags on the back of the seats. If you have a smartphone, you can do it that way. But however you choose to do it, what I would like for you to do right now is just visualize you bringing your offering to the feet of Jesus, to the feet of Jesus and saying, Lord, here's what I got. Here's what I give, take it and use it. And bless it, would you do that? Let's pray. Father, today we wanna worship you with our giving. We wanna take this moment to recognize you and show our gratitude. Lord, toward you, about the seats that we sow this morning, the gifts that we give, Lord, it's not much, it's not a lot. But God, you didn't ask for that. You asked for our heart. You asked for our obedience. You just ask us to come before you and test you and prove you. And today, God, I wanna pray a special prayer to everyone listening, even those incarcerated in the jails. God, that there would be a supernatural release. God, I wanna pray a supernatural financial release in this house. For anyone today, God, who may have a financial struggle. I pray today it's lifted in Jesus' name. I plead the blood of Jesus. And we're just gonna say thank you for the blessings to come in Jesus' name.

And everybody said, come on, no louder, amen. Come on, let's say it like you mean it. Amen, Christ the Lord, let's go. (congregation applauds) (upbeat music) - Hi, welcome to Revelation Church. I'm Whitney, and this is Amanda. And we're so happy that you're with us today. If this is your first time visiting us, we would love to meet you and give you a free gift. Please stop by the connect table and the foyer. Also, if you're a new believer and you have made the best decision of your life, we would love to talk with you and give you a free Bible. And we would also love to talk about your next steps. So please stop by the new believer table and the foyer. - Yeah. And if you miss anything that we've talked about today, 'cause there's a lot going on at the church, you can always check the church center app or the QR code to see the information there. - I wanna talk about the group launches today. It's in the parking lot, the tent is out there. I'm sure you saw it. It is so exciting. You can go out, please do. Go out and browse the tables, get to talk to the leaders. It's very exciting. And if you see where you fit and where you wanna go,

where the Lord is leading you, sign up for a group. It's very exciting. - Yeah. - Yes. And we also have worship team open audition next month, October 29th. So please go to the church center app to sign up for that and to get more information. You will have to sign up by September 30th. So make sure you do that as well. - Yes. And on September 26th, fan ministries is hosting a community kickoff for the Tennessee belonging. Tennessee kids belong. And so you can go to their website. It starts at 930 on September 26th. And you can go to their website and get all the information about that. - Yes, that's awesome. Also we have baptisms at the river, 330 next Sunday. Go to the church center app to sign up and get more information. And also just come out and support. We would love to see you there. - Yes. And if you need prayer at the end of the service, we will have a prayer team available for you. Thank you so much for coming to church today. (upbeat music)

- Are you guys excited to be here? (cheering) Well, I'm excited to be here. God has been in the house today, the last two services and I don't expect anything different. Also, this was the only service that somebody didn't say, "Go Vols" to me as they were bringing the table out. So, (cheering) I asked for that one, didn't I? Hey, I just wanna say, man, didn't Pastor Markwell do an incredible job last week? Talking about forgiveness, forgiving those people that hurt you and wrong you. And what I loved about all of it was saying, saving a seat for that person. Incredible, man. Great job, Pastor Markwell. Also, we are, as you guys see, it's group's launch. We got a 10 out front, places that you can sign up to be a part of a group. It'll be part of our sermon series. And so you guys don't want to miss it. Also, what's really awesome is that we have a video from Jamba Veer to our church. So let's turn to the screens and watch that together. Hey everybody at Rio Revolution. My family and Pastor Pacer, I just have so much respect for you. It is so great to at least be able to come to you by video. So excited that on September 20th, we're starting a seven week series on you are called. I want to say this to every one of you right off the bat. You have a call of God on your life. I know a lot of times when we hear he's called, she's called, we go to ministry. No, no, no, no. God has called people to the

marketplace, to education, to health care, to government positions, to professional sports. There are all kinds of callings that God places honest people to reach the lost and to make disciples in the nations of the world. And so I'm so delighted you'll be going through this message. And I pray that God solidifies what he's called you to do on this earth for the glory of Jesus Christ. I love you. God bless you. Have a great Sunday. Isn't that awesome? Hey, was that AI? Does anybody know if that was AI? I'm just kidding. It's not. Hey, you know, it's incredible. Today's message is called, called to gather, called to gather. You know, we have to gather first before we can talk about you are called. And so I think it's very fitting how this all kind of worked out. We're going to start today and mark chapter five verses 24 through 34. And it says this, "A large crowd followed and pressed around him, and a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak because she thought, "If I touch his clothes, I will be healed." Immediately, her bleeding stopped and she fell in her body that she had been freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized the power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked who touched my clothes. You see the people, you see the people crowding against you. His disciples answered and yet you can ask who touched me, but Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman knowing what had happened to her came and fell at his feet and trembling with fear told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." Isn't that an incredible portion of Scripture? Doesn't it just display Jesus exactly how he is? Number one, this woman was freed from long suffering, but number two, she got a new name, his daughter. Did you guys notice that? An incredible man. So my first point today is your pain demands real connection, not a crowded room. Your pain demands real connection, not a crowded room. There's many of you here today that may be in a lot of pain, physically, spiritually, relationally. It could be anything. You guys may be in a situation where it has been years of the push and pull scenario where it just feels like, man, this is a struggle. But here's what I know about the Lord. There is nothing too hard for him. There is nothing too big for him. There is no suffering too long that he can't immediately heal it. And what I notice about the woman with the issue of blood is that she had tried everything. Everybody say everything.

She had tried everything. She tried every doctor. She probably tried every medicine. She tried it all to the point that she loses all of her income, everything that she had. She spent it all trying to find a cure. How many of us have spent money, maybe even all we have on doctors, maybe houses or situational stuff that has pulled our money out of our pocket and our bank accounts, all trying to heal what only Jesus can? noticed about her is that she pushes through a crowd that is so tight that the disciples are saying ain't no way you just felt somebody touch you because everybody's touching you right and and and so Jesus I think it's kind of funny and maybe I read the Bible different but I kind of think it's funny that Jesus just ignores them and he's like it says but Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it like after they had said something and so we see Jesus sit here saying some someone touched me well what Jesus felt was real connection somebody said that with me real connection it wasn't just another touch from the crowd come on somebody it was an intimate moment between Jesus and the woman with the issue of blood you know what he felt from her he felt desperation but not only did he feel desperation he felt faith I love this story because it says that that that the woman knew if she could just touch a sliver of his clothing think about that faith this the crazy thing about this story is they didn't have the New Testament like we do see we wouldn't think that's weird because we've read about it this woman had such great faith she didn't have a bunch of stories to about Jesus to go off of maybe a couple testimonies but she didn't have a Bible of years time of us reading about these stories she just knew there was something about this man that could change her for good and and I know that that obviously you know she she saw this as her opportunity to go before Jesus because she was in a situation where she was ceremonial like unclean right because she had this issue the sickness this disease a bleeding and so one of the reasons that that she went in the crowd and she she didn't want Jesus to know it is because honestly that that was her lifeline number one she was gonna die without Jesus okay that the sickness would have taken her over eventually but she also knew that if she did

something that was against the law what can happen she can die she was in desperation mode and the only way in her mind to get away with all of this and to come out living was to touch Jesus without him knowing or without anybody else knowing honestly but what I love about this is Jesus says stop crowd who touched me see Jesus called her out from the crowd and and you know what's interesting is is that sometimes we expect to be shamed for our problems or our suffering but instead we find mercy grace understanding and healing when we come to Jesus we get what we don't deserve and and I what I love about all of this and talking about small groups you know small groups are designed to get down to the root of issues among people and not not just talk about the problem but to solve it you know how many times I've been in a small group or a discipleship group or a small setting and God has given me an epiphany that I have lived by for years now like I've lived live by that for years and it didn't come from a sermon you guys hearing me today it didn't come from a sermon it came from real small connection and I think it's vitally important today that that we realize that all of us in this room we got issues everybody say I got issues I know you do and honestly if if you guys were to see me in certain scenarios like listen if you catch me with my kids and somebody is doing something against my kids that I don't like I'm probably not gonna look like a pastor now that's not an excuse but I'm working on it okay I'm working on it but but the reality is all of us have something all of us in this room have What a small group does, what discipleship does in this church especially, is we get to connect with other people, listen to me, that get to pray for you, that get to pour in to you as an individual. And there's something special about that small atmosphere that can completely change your reality. Hey, I came to preach to somebody today to tell you that your pain isn't the end of your story but it's rather a setup for a miracle. This woman with the issue of blood, she had had pain and suffering for years and years and years and years and years, come on, and years and years and years and years.

I mean that's literally what I just repeated myself, that's how she felt. It's over every day, every day, nothing's changing, every treatment, nothing's changing. But the reality is, is that Jesus had in mind for her something incredible if she would be willing enough to reach out first. I wonder how many people in this room is willing to reach out first. Before your healing comes, it takes an action from yourself. This woman, do you think Jesus knew about this woman? She was created by him. She wasn't some random person. She was created by the Creator God and there was a purpose and a plan in her life. This story is no accident. This story is something we've read for thousands of years by the way. One of the greatest miracles that we can reference, like man that is an incredible story, right? What miracle is waiting on your small little bit of obedience? I'm talking about a great miracle. I'm not talking about small potatoes. I'm talking about something that you thought was immovable or unbreakable and Jesus does it at the touch as soon as you touch Him. And you know another thing that's crazy, Jesus didn't say a word. Have you guys ever asked for healing? And I love laying on of hands. I love anointing with oil. That's biblical. We do it. And God works through that sometimes. Did you guys know that sometimes nobody even has to touch you? I forgot to heal you. This is not Christ's principle. This is the story. It wasn't Jesus' faith that healed her, right?

Whose faith was it? Her faith. And the minute that she reached out, that wasn't a reach out, that was faith. And that faith instantly made her will. Two today. Commitment to something small can bring huge breakthrough. Commitment to something small can bring huge breakthrough. As I was sitting on this sermon for today and just asking God, what do you want me to say? Something I woke up one morning, wasn't even finished with my sermon, and this just like I couldn't get out of my head, I told timber about it. As soon as I woke up, I'm like, "I had this in my head, this is crazy." Why is God one of the only things we expect to return with but never focus on our investment with Him? We expect God to give us increase even when we don't spend time with Him, when we don't invest with Him. If some of you guys may be business people in the room, if you invest it in something and got no return, it wouldn't be a good day, would it? If you spent your hard-earned money and got no return, you're probably not going back to that will, right? You're going to go a different route. Me and my wife watch Shark Tank all the time, and it's cool because these people come on the show and they have these business ideas, and these people, they decide whether or not they're going to invest in their company, and so many times, there will be people on there, listen, that have been going to the same well and going broke, and they just keep going back to it. And the Sharks, the people investing the money they say to them, they're like, "What are you doing? This is already proven to be fruitless, like what are we doing?" I love that because some of you guys have been going to the same well with God the same

Come on And it's not worked And you're like man, I just don't why don't I hear you God why don't I hear you here's what I want to tell you a story about my daughter The other night wait, so we we read a scripture each night before we go to bed We're trying to go through the New Testament and after we got done reading through a chapter Zalee my daughter says something to me and and I just love it like when you get these unprompted questions from your kids They're unexpected, you know, and she goes Daddy I got a question It's like okay. She said you know, I don't really understand it, but like I I don't hear God like I used to I don't hear his voice as much and Instantly everybody say instantly The Holy Spirit dropped on me something teller Instantly I said Zalee I want you to I want you to get up right now I said can you hear my voice where you're standing? She said yeah, I said I want you to walk down the hallway Go to the middle of the hallway and as she's standing there at the same level of my voice I said, can you still hear me? She said yeah look a little less, but I can still hear you I said I want you to go back to our our bedroom and our bedrooms on the other end of the house and at the same level of voice I said Zalee can you still hear me and she said yeah a little and Then I said going to our closet, which is a little bit further away and and I said Zalee can you hear me? She's like what so I know at that point she was far enough away that she could barely hear what I was saying You know, it was crazy is that As she was walking on the hallway all the lights were turned off It said not only was she walking away from the father, but she was walking further into darkness The furthest she got away from the father's voice the darker it became and And I had her come back in the room and I said Zalee I Said did you notice that the father never moved? That the father never stopped talking

But you got further away to the point where you couldn't hear him anymore I Want to tell you got something today if you keep going back to the same patterns to the same Investment that you made last year in the year before and you keep going back to the same well Do not expect to hear living water come into your mind or your soul or your heart Because honestly, it's not that God's not speaking. It's not that the father has moved. It's that you have And and and and really one of the reasons we move away from the father is he requires us to do something different Some of us like comfort way more than change You guys get that and that comfort Will cause you to walk away from the father's leading God God's leading over your life will always challenge you Are you hearing me today? It will always challenge you When I there was a time in my life and sometimes it's still like this, but I'll be preaching. I'll be like I'll tell Tamara. I was like man that word was like super challenging It's like why I'm always bringing these challenging words and then God spoke to me and said my word is challenging Every single moment that I read the word of God I see something that I need to do better or or or get in line in alignment with him Because listen to me. We are broken people There are parts of our lives that are not perfect. We are not perfection But I know the one who is and as long as I walk close to him I will never stop hearing his leading or his voice So I'm going to challenge you today One of the ways that you can get out of your rut is by doing something different and doing something biblical One of those biblical things is getting in a small group of people and Allowing the Lord to speak to you in ways that you've never let him speak to you before Listen to this first Samuel 16 11 through 12 says so we asked Jesse are these all the sons you have there is still? until he arrives. So he sent for him and I had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Some of y'all said I used to be like that too. I'm just kidding. David was the one that the Lord selected. But the crazy thing about this

is, as David was the youngest in his family, he wasn't the biggest in his family. He was the smallest, right? The youngest. And he was doing the loneliest job. I often read this story. I'm like, what were the other brothers doing the whole time? Like they're just hanging out in the house, eating Oreos, like what? You know, and he's out here working. Maybe that's why God chosen. But listen, this, this youngest lowly job, God chose him to be what? What? Chose him to be king. The least, the least likely to sit in the seat is who God chose. Listen to this, Micah 5-2. But you, Bethlehem, if Ratha, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come from Me, one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times. This is talking about Jesus. You know, Bethlehem was one of the smallest clans in Judah and Israel. And this small, from this small place, which by the way, Israel itself is super small. Did you guys know that? It's, it's one of the smallest countries in the world, actually. I think it's like a hundredth smallest or something like that in the world. And so we, we have this, not only is Israel small, but now we have small of the small, right? Bethlehem. And from that place came the Savior of the world. Phew, there's something about small that God loves to use, right? And so, first Corinthians, chapter 1, verses 26 to 27, says, "Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth, but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." You know what I, what I hear when I read this, is God doesn't care how much you know. He doesn't care how impressive you are. He doesn't care about those things because our strengths are actually weaknesses in comparison to Him. And, and, and honestly, as weak as we are, we're like ants, y'all. You guys ever seen an ant, seeing them running around? Well, I've seen plenty of them here recently. I gotta, I gotta stop procrastinating and spray my house. So, I've seen these ants and, and they're so small, and I am just crushing them with ease, crushing them, dead. And, and when I look at that, I think about the fact that the creator of the universe, we did injustice to Him in His creation. And yet, with that being said, He came and made a way to have a personal relationship with this small, little insignificant creature. In comparison to the universe, we're pretty small. I don't know, if you guys have been up to the top of these mountains over here,

but when you go up there, you see how little you are. You know what I mean? We think we got these big buildings. Let me tell you something. You go up on top of a mountain, you see that, that thing's not very big. And, and, and honestly, why would God continue? Why would God make us the size that we are? He could have made us giants. He could have made us huge. He made us small. Let me tell you something. From the small things come great. It comes great fruit. There's a thing Pastor Pacer was talking about earlier, seeds. Everything that you see out there started as a seed. Whether it's a business or plant, it started with a seed. matter, small starts, small groups matter? I believe he is. Think about this. The Lord shows twelve disciples, twelve people to spend most of his time with. He had, he spoke to the crowds. He spoke to the, the, the multitudes. Okay. We, we, we just read a story about the woman with the issue of blood. He's all up in the crowd. But, but Jesus spent most of his time with twelve. And then one of his, one of the, the, the people that started following him as a result of his twelve, as a result of his influence, the apostle Paul. Do you guys know the apostle Paul? Incredible man. I love reading that guy's letters and all, the things. But, but check this out. It's estimated that the apostle Paul traveled fifteen thousand five hundred miles in his journeys for the gospel. Eight thousand, seven hundred miles of that were on foot. Can you guys imagine going so hard for the kingdom that you're traveling eight thousand seven hundred miles on your feet? That's crazy. And I know, I know this very well, probably more than most people in this room currently is because I just drove from Texas. You know, that trip was only nine hundred and, uh, nine hundred and eighty something miles. Eight thousand seven hundred miles on foot. I mean, that's insane. When I think about how sore my back was from sitting in that seat for so long and I think about this guy was walking that, more than that, right? And, and, but, but Paul was so convinced that the gospel needed to be spread, that he abandoned everything that made him comfortable and he embraced everything that didn't. And I know that being in a small group can make you uncomfortable. I know that sometimes going into people's living rooms or, or meeting people that you don't know can make you feel awkward. But let me tell you something. The awkward is worth the healing that's on the way. God chooses those unqualified to show that he doesn't need mighty warriors, but rather mighty obedience. That's all he needs. And listen, this is, I'm about to tell you some good news today. Every single person

in this room today is capable of mighty obedience. It's not about special talent. It's not about having special gift things. That obedience is something every single person here today can accomplish. Point three, as we end today, your living room was always intended to foster living truth. Your living room was always intended to foster living truth. Listen, I was thinking about this whole principle of a living room. We know that Jesus loves to give things life. And is it possible that our living rooms were always intended to bring the living truth, the living truth of the gospel into our homes? Let's just talk about this for a second. This is great. Meeting, together, a large group, it's great. But can I get real up here with y'all? I mean, I can, right? But honestly, you guys are just going to go judge me after we leave here. Whereas in a small group, we get to discuss the details of the matter. And then we get to get prayed for it. We get to talk about God's truth. And honestly, those small groups are places in my life. I've taken more from small groups than I have sermons, honestly, for the stuff in my life and how I operate. Most of that's come from either small group with God or small group with people. And from that place, God has given me great wisdom, not from me, from Him. So check this out. Acts chapter 2 verses 44 through 47 says, "All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need." Every day, every day, every day That's what we, right here, that's this today, they broke bread in their homes. Everybody say homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. Praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people and the Lord added to their number daily, those who were being saved. Maybe the reason that people don't know the gospel is because we've been doing church the wrong way. Not showing up and gathering together, that's part of it. But maybe we've been missing something. Maybe we've been missing being vulnerable before our brothers and our sisters. Maybe we've missed the family part of church, so you can come in here and you can sit down and you can leave. But in a small group, there's accountability. You know when Pastor Pacer misses a group because he's not there.

There's accountability in a group. Can I ask you today, will you stop running from accountability? You come in here sometimes. Some of you come in here because it's easy to fade into the crowd. Let me tell you something, fading into the crowd does not produce healing. Reaching out from it does. You guys remember that story you read at the beginning? Reaching out from the crowd will institute healing. Maybe some of you guys showed up today and it's physical healing for you that you need. I actually know several people in our church that need physical healing. Let me tell you something, we prayed this week for you. Our elders, our pastor, our staff, we prayed for you because we realized that the enemies on the attack. We also realized that his attacks are futile. They don't have actual strength behind them when you know the one that holds tomorrow. So I just want to say to you today, the Lord is calling you out of the crowd. You bumped him today. He felt you and he knows your name. And right now today, he's asking you, will you step out and acknowledge me? Who touched me? Who touched me? What if that was you? What if Jesus was using my mouth right now to ask you a question that he asked thousands of years ago, who touched me? Listen to me, her healing came as soon as she touched him. But what happened after was just as important. There was a reinstatement of her position. And today some of you have allowed your suffering to diminish your position with God. But here's the reality, God isn't ashamed of you. God is not ashamed of you.

Some of you all felt that because that's how you felt as a kid, maybe your parents made you feel that way. It's something that just is in the back of your head. But God looks at you, he sees your circumstance, he sees your suffering, he sees your status in the community, he sees it all, and he still says, who touched me? And he brings you out before the crowd, and he acknowledges what you did and what he did, and then calls you daughter, calls you son. That's the God we serve. So as we close the day, I know that at some point we have confused large numbers with effectiveness. But God has shown me over and over, and I'm talking about in my ministry, God has shown me over and over, literally my ministry has been like big, small, big, small, big, small. And I believe God has done that to make sure that I know who's really behind all of this. See the moves that I've made make no sense in the corporate world. [BLANK_AUDIO] sense to anybody around you but it makes sense to God and it's perfect Matthew 18 20 says for where two or three gather in my name there I am with them that's a promise does it say where big crowds are gathered there I am why would God choose to use this language think about it why would he choose to say two or three why didn't he say four or five why didn't he say 20 or 30 he could use any language he wanted to but he used two or three I believe with all my heart that God sees the necessity in intimate connection and I believe that it's from those places that are healing and life change happen so will you allow God to do that with you today seriously as our prayer team comes up I'm serious like think about it well you step out today and reach out and touch Jesus every Sunday you come in here and you sit in the seat and maybe some of y'all have come here for the first time and and maybe you were expecting something different than this I don't know but what I do know is that the Lord is calling you out from the crowd today and he's asking you to be obedient will you take a small step for big change in your life will you take a small step for big

change as every head is bowed every eyes closed today I want to ask to do different questions the first question is this maybe you were here and you were listening to this sermon and and and the Holy Spirit was drawing you to be saved you've never accepted Jesus as your Savior it's if that's you today today is the day to call him Lord today is the day to pick up your cross and to follow him and if that's you with nobody looking around I want you to raise your hand up right now if you need to accept Jesus as your Savior amen thank you for that hand is there anybody else amen thank you for that hand anybody else here's what I want you to do if you raise your hand today if you want to accept Jesus as your Savior I want you to come down here the Bible says to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord but believe in your heart you've got to do two things right there it's not just a prayer it's an honest discussion with the Lord of you asking him to save you and if that's you today I want you to take a step of faith right now step out come pray with somebody we've been talking about it this whole sermon I want you to step out of your seat right now nobody's looking around we're not trying to embarrass you if we just want you to receive freedom today will you do it right now the second question as they come the second question I have for you today is what issue is facing you today that that you need to reach out in faith for that you need to take a step forward if that's you today and you need something from the Lord you need healing you need mental healing you need physical healing whatever it is that you're facing today God has called you out of the crowd and he's asked you to come forward he's asked you to be in community would you start the Bible verse that we just read where two or three are gathered would you start that with walking forward and praying with somebody and you become two or three or four would you do that today in obedience to God we're gonna we're gonna have a one more song and honestly it's a miracle God's saving people right now in these altars there's a miracles happening in the room and God is saying I've got my miracle for you as well so we're gonna we're gonna sing a song together we're gonna praise God and we're gonna pray and then I want you guys

to just flood these altars with obedience to God let's pray heavenly Father we love you God we thank you for your word we thank you that your truth is always truth we thank you that from the small things you bring great outcomes and Lord we we ask that today Lord that you remind us that that you're the the God of the little things that you care about the details, you care. And God, we ask you, Lord Jesus, to give boldness and clarity to everyone in this room, to accept you, to walk with you. It's in your name, we say all these things, Jesus. Amen. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ Narrow is the world that you see ♪ ♪ Of from the way your spirit leads ♪ ♪ Broken as my love, baby ♪ ♪ I will give you every piece ♪ ♪ I hear you call ♪ ♪ I hear, O they love you ♪ ♪ I say, yes, Lord ♪ ♪ I hear, O they love you ♪ ♪ Here I am with open heads ♪ ♪ Counting on your grace again ♪ ♪ Listen to me and more of you ♪ ♪ I just wanna see you move ♪ ♪ I hear you call ♪ ♪ I hear, O they love you ♪ ♪ And I say, yes, Lord ♪ ♪ I am the name of all that I hear ♪ ♪ You call ♪

♪ I am the name of all that I say ♪ ♪ Yes, Lord ♪ ♪ I am the name of all ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, Jesus ♪ ♪ Let every heart so land ♪ ♪ To you, yes, to you ♪ ♪ Here I am ♪ ♪ Here I am ♪ ♪ You can have it all ♪ ♪ You can have it all ♪ ♪ Here I am ♪ ♪ Here I am ♪ ♪ You can have it all ♪ ♪ You can have it all ♪ ♪ Here I am ♪ ♪ Here I am ♪ ♪ You can have it all ♪ ♪ You can have it all ♪ ♪ Here I am ♪ ♪ Here I am ♪ ♪ You can have it all ♪ ♪ You can have it all ♪ ♪ Here I am ♪ ♪ Here I am, Jesus ♪ ♪ You can have it all ♪ ♪ You can have it all ♪ ♪ Here I am ♪ ♪ Here I am ♪ ♪ You can have it all ♪ ♪ You can have it all ♪

♪ You can have it all ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm having fun ♪ ♪ Without you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Without you ♪ ♪ Without you ♪ ♪ Without you ♪ [MUSIC PLAYING] I love your throne within my heart. I hear you, I hear you call again, I'll be in the bowl. I say, yes Lord, I can. I love you in the bowl. There was a need you know, I'm not enough to thank you, Jesus. I'm not enough unless you come, but you may be here again because all I want is all you are, but you may be here again. I'm not enough unless you come, but you may be here again because all I want is all you are, but you may be here again. I'm not enough for every event, but I'm forsaken. The Lord is in this place. The Lord is in this place. Come hold me spirit. The Lord is in this place. The Lord is in this place. He's here today. I'm awake in this Jesus, awake in our hearts, to know the times we're in, to see what you're doing in the space. All I need you, Jesus. Every moment, every moment we need you, Jesus. We are nothing without you. So come closer, come closer to our hearts more than ever before. If Father God, I pray we would see you daily, that we would hear your voice so clearly so when you ask us to do something, we say yes, because we can hear it with such clarity. If Father God, I pray you would give us wisdom today, to be the places that we need to be, and not to be distracted by the things that we are just choosing to do because we possibly think that's what you want us to do. I pray you would give us such clarity that we would know the places that you've called us to, the places and the groups that you want us to be a part of, or even leave more, of pray that you would just impress them on our hearts today, even if it's volunteering somewhere more, or even doing something new in your family, we just pray, Father God, that He would just come here and be so clear, because we want to follow you. And we don't want to waste time, or we don't want to waste life away on the wrong things. We want to align ourselves with you to build this kingdom, to bear fruit, and to walk in holiness. So we thank you Lord for today. We just thank you for the worship that was lifted today. And we just pray that you'd go with us this week and continue to just pour into our hearts as we see you. [applause] Thank you so much for joining us today, the service. We just pray that this message has been a blessing for you and encourage you. This week, just let the words speak to you. Let it become alive, and please join us next weekend. We'll be back here again, 8.30, 10 o'clock at 11.30, Eastern Time. God bless and have a wonderful rest of the day. [music]