It Starts With Power | Not A Familiar Church

Welcome to Reach KC, everybody, it's so great to have you with us, I just want to invite you all to stand up and join in with us. I know one day there can't silence your embrace I know one day there can't empty out a grave I know one day it's the only name that stays and it's worthy of all praise I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you He's the risen and reigning and power Something comes out of the grave Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you Savior Worthy of glory forever Something comes out of the grave Every time I call your name There's a deal with dominion over death Holds the key in His holy nails like hands There's a deal that has crushed the serpent's head Oh, there's a way, I pray, I ask I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you He's the risen and reigning and power Something comes out of the grave Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you Savior Worthy of glory forever Something comes out of the grave Every time I call your name Chains break, dry bones break Every time I call your name The gates of hell shake Every time I call your name Chains break, dry bones break Every time I call your name The gates of hell shake Every time I call your name Where, O death, is now your sting? And where, O grave, your victory?

Where, O death, is now your sting? And where, O grave, your victory? Where, O death, is now your sting? And where, O grave, your victory? Dead things come alive In the name of Jesus Dead things come alive In the name of Jesus I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you Jesus. Risen and reigning in power, something comes out of the grave. Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you Savior. Worthy of glory forever, something comes out of the grave. Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you Jesus. Risen and reigning in power, something comes out of the grave. Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you Savior. Worthy of glory forever, something comes out of the grave. Every time I call you again. Yeah! You call the sun to rise. You lay it down to rest. You hold this heart of mine. You hold my every breath. Such an awesome God. So mighty. So holy. So wonderful. Such an awesome God. So selfless. So generous. So faithful you are.

Seated in majesty. You're reigning in holiness. The table is set for me. For you are the living grace. Such an awesome God. So mighty. So holy. So wonderful. Such an awesome God. So selfless. So generous. So faithful you are. Seated in majesty. You're reigning in holiness. The table is set for me. For you are the living grace. Such an awesome God. And nothing comes close to the Lord Almighty. Nothing as sweet as His love and mercy. Nothing comes close to the Lord Almighty. Nothing as sweet as His love and mercy. Nothing comes close to the Lord Almighty. Nothing as sweet as His love and mercy. Yeah. Nothing comes close to Jesus. Nothing. No. Jesus, the Son of God Will you come on the cross to die? For not even death itself can hold you down Will you rise?

Such an awesome God, so mighty You're so holy, so wonderful Such an awesome God, so selfless You're so generous, so faithful Such an awesome God, so mighty You're so holy, so wonderful Such an awesome God, so selfless You're so generous, so faithful Such an awesome God, so mighty You're so holy, so wonderful Such an awesome God, so mighty You're so holy, so wonderful I could sing your name for all my life And still find more to love each time Jesus, hear the name that's on my lips It's sweeter every time that I call on it There's just something about your name There's just something about your name There's just something about your name That makes me cry holy There is no other name There is no other name There is no other name Jesus, you're worthy You have been the friend who never left I won't forget your faithfulness Jesus, be the name ever on my lips It's sweeter every time that I call on it There's just something about your name There's just something about your name

There's just something about your name That makes me cry holy There is no other name There is no other name There is no other name Jesus, you're worthy There's just something about your name There's just something about your name There's just something about your name That makes me cry holy There is no other name There is no other name There is no other name Jesus, you're worthy You're worthy of it all No other name like yours You're worthy of it all You're worthy of it all Jesus, your name is like the morning light The one the darkness can't deny The resurrection and the light Jesus, Jesus, your name You save, you make, you heal You make, you make the storm ensue We never fail, we never will, Jesus, Jesus The bread of life prepared for us The wounded and the worthy one The first, the last, and still to come Jesus, Jesus The King who overwhelmed the grave

The Lord who will forever reign The name above all other names Jesus Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name That gets all the glory Jesus, be the name Oooh Jesus Ooooof Jesus Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name The gifts all the glory Jesus, be the name The gifts all the glory Ahhhhh Know that I am yours Jesus Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name The gifts all the glory Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name The gifts all the glory There's healing in your name right now There's healing in your name right here There's healing in your name It makes me cry holy There's freedom in your name

Yes there is There's freedom in your name There's freedom in your name It makes me cry holy There's salvation in your name Salvation in your name Salvation in your name It makes me cry holy So Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name The gifts all the glory I just want you Nothing else All we want is you Nothing else will do I just want you I only want you Nothing else I only want you Nothing else Nothing else will do I just want you Nothing else Nothing else Nothing else will do I just want you I just want you I just want you I just want you

We only want you We only want you We only want you You're all we need, Jesus You're all we need, You're all we need You're all we need, You're all we need, You're all we need You're all we need, You're all we need, You're all we need You're all we need, You're all we need, You're all we need I just want You, I just want You, I just want You, I just want You I just want You Jesus, nothing else. We just want more of You. Here in this place today we thank You for Your presence. We thank You for the Word that is going to be given. We thank You for the change that is going to happen in our hearts. Lord, we thank You for convicting us when we need us. We thank You Lord that You don't let us stay in one place but You move us to the next thing God. You meet us right where we are but You're not willing to let us stay there. So God, we thank You and we praise You. Lord, we worship You in this place today. We love You Jesus. It's all in Your mighty and glorious and wonderful name that we cry out and say in Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, good morning Reach KC. It is so good to see you in the house of the Lord this morning. It's good to see your faces. I'm so glad that you joined us. Make sure to turn to your neighbor and say, man, I'm glad you made it today. Well, once again, welcome to Reach KC. If you are new around here this morning, we just want to say welcome home. Welcome home. We are so glad that you're here.

We know that if you walked in the doors today that it is not by chance. It is not a coincidence. You were meant to be here. And we believe that the Lord is going to speak to your heart. He is going to touch you this morning. But we're so glad that you decided to join us here at Reach this morning. So welcome home to anybody who is new with us today. You know, over the past couple of few weeks, we have been getting ready for our missions trip to the LA Dream Center. We're leaving tomorrow morning. And so we do six weeks of training before we go on a missions trip. And we have just built a really awesome team. And we've gotten to grow together in the word and in prayer and in accountability. And we have weekly discussions where we talk about different topics. And a couple weeks back, we were talking about tithing. And as we were talking, we had a few people in the room who were talking about how when they first started attending church, they were a little wary to come to church because they felt like every time they walked through the church doors, all the church ever talked about was money, right? Because every week, somebody is going to get up and they're going to talk about tithing. And they're going to talk about offering. They're going to do that. And so they felt a little wary coming into the church and seeing that that's one of the first things the church does, is they start talking about tithing. But as this person started to grow in their relationship, with Christ they continued to come to church but they realized that the Lord the church was not after them their money the Lord was after their heart the Lord wanted to captivate them the Lord wanted to help them to grow in their walk with Christ and one of those ways that we grow in Christ is through our offering through our giving through our time see when we give we give from a place of the heart we don't give begrudgingly we don't give because we feel like we're forced to we don't give because the church asked us to we give

because we love the Lord and the Lord wants more of our heart in Matthew 6 21 it says for where your treasure is there your heart will be also my question for you to this morning is where is your treasure found are you laying up treasures here on earth are you looking to the world to be your treasure are you gathering things that you can store up are you gathering treasure in heaven God wants your heart more than anything no treasure of this world will ever satisfy us only the Lord will and so as you grow in your walk with Christ as you grow closer to him you realize it's not the church asking for your money it's that the Lord wants to captivate you and he wants everything that you have to offer he wants you fully surrendered to him and the way we surrender and show that we trust God one of the ways is by giving of our tithe bringing our first fruit our first 10% saying God I love you you have my whole heart and I want to give you everything that I can because you gave it all for me so this morning again it's not about the church of course the church uses our finances we were able to bless over 400 people last week at the Memorial Day barbecue because we have the finances to do so we're being blessed by building a bigger building so that we can reach more of the lost people here in Kansas City we are blessed because we get to go and bless others in other countries we get to go to the LA Dream Center and bless the people there we get to go to Burundi and far-reaching places of the world the money does help us do that but we don't ask you to give so that we can do more we do it because God wants your heart so I'm gonna have the ushers come forward this morning there are multiple ways that you can give today you can give online you can give through the app or you can drop it into the buckets when the ushers come around let's pray father God I just thank you I thank you Lord that you want so much more for us God you're not satisfied with just the bare minimum you want our whole heart dedicated to you and you want to be the treasure of our heart so God as we give today Lord we say we don't do this out of obligation we do this because we love you because we trust you because you have been faithful and you are our provider and so we know that we can give to you because you have given it all for

us God I pray over this offering today over this tithe today Lord that you would bless it you would multiply it and you would bless the hands that give it Lord we love you and we praise you in Jesus name amen anyways there is something special about being invited to a table right how many you know you there are times where you get invited to dinner and you're like yeah there are times you get invited to dinner and you're like yeah you know but there are times that you are invited to dinner to sit at a table and most of us have experienced what it feels like to be left out what it feels like to be rejected or overlooked and told that we don't belong right told that we might not fit into a certain category but communion is something that reminds us of a beautiful truth that we have a seat at God's table not because we have earned it but because Jesus purchased it amen like we've got a seat at a table no matter what because Jesus purchased it and when Jesus gathered his disciples at the Last Supper which is what happened right before the book of Acts came into play and whenever he gathered them at the Last Supper guess what he knew exactly what was coming he knew Judas was about to betray him come on somebody how many y'all been seeing signs and some friends that you know don't raise your hand don't look beside you don't you know you've been showing signs you know but the interesting thing is is he knew exactly who was gonna betray him he knew that Peter was gonna deny him just a few days later right he knew that others were going to scatter and fear and and they was gonna not be at the presence of where he was and yet he still broke bread and passed the cup up with each one of them. Think about that for just a moment, right? The table wasn't filled with perfect people. The table was filled with broken people. And yet Jesus sat down with them and said, hey, let's break bread. Let's break bread with one another. Let's break bread.

It doesn't matter what your past is. It doesn't matter what your future is. Come on, somebody. Sometimes, you know, we're only concerned about what somebody can offer our future of advancement. But it wasn't that. It was filled with broken people. And I believe that it still rings true today. The reason that we can come to this table isn't because we've had a perfect week. It's not because we prayed enough and we've served enough and we've gotten everything right. It's because we've come because Jesus willingly gave his body and shed his blood on the cross for every single one of us. And Paul writes this in 1 Corinthians 11. He said, this is my body, which is for you. This is, he's speaking in Jesus. He's quoting Jesus. And it says, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Notice these words. These words, for you. His body was broken for you. Amen. It wasn't broken just for me. It wasn't broken for the other person. It wasn't broken for the Holy Saint. His blood was shed for you, for your forgiveness,

for your mercy, for your freedom, for your restoration, for your salvation. Come on, somebody. Amen. We are able to have a walking relationship with Jesus because of what he did on that cross. And this morning, before we take communion, if you don't have one of these nice little cups of what looks like fermented grape juice, come on, somebody. There are some in here wishing it was fermented. If you didn't have, if you don't have one of those, raise your hand. I'll have an usher bring one to you. But if you don't have one, do that. Raise your hand. But it wasn't because of something that we've done, but this was because of the price that was paid. Here's the truth, is that the cross was not an accident. The cross was on purpose. It was, yeah, yeah, he should work at Lambert's, amen? Over there throwing bread at everybody, you know? But anyways, that went so well, and I couldn't resist. I couldn't resist, but anyways, some of us need to be hitting the head with bread, amen? But the cross wasn't an accident. The cross was love. And even if you're in here this morning, I felt the tension in the room in first service when I was talking about this,

because you can walk into a room where people are talking about blood was shed for you, and all of a sudden, it gets weird. It's like, what kind of cult did I walk into? I don't wanna be washed in blood, that's sick. But it's the very thing that allows us to have a personal relationship with God, and it's a figure of speech, because the blood that was shed 2,000 years ago on that cross was the very perfect sacrifice that had to be made for every single one of us out of love. The nails weren't weakness, they were mercy. The blood wasn't defeat, it was victory, and because of Jesus, every single one of us are invited to the Father's table. Every single one of us have the opportunity to sit at the Father's table and break bread in remembrance of everything that he did for us. And so today, when we receive this bread and the cup today, let's do more than just remember a historical event. It's more than just what happened 2,000 years ago, it's what happened yesterday. It's what happened this morning. Come on, some of us needed a little bit of more Jesus this morning before we ever even got here, amen? There are some of us that are like, my kids tested my relationship with God this morning. That was not my kids, baby, so just so you know. But let's remember a Savior who loved us enough to give everything so that we could belong to him.

Amen, and so as we get ready to do this, let me pray, and then we will figure out this Rubik's Cube. And so, Father, we just thank you, Lord, for everything that you are doing. We thank you for the salvation that you have provided us. We thank you for the sacrifice that you have made on the cross that your body was broken for us, and that's what this bread represents today is your flesh, Lord, that was given for every single one of us. And so, God, we just thank you for that, Lord, and we are just blessed to be able to have that relationship with you because of everything that you have done, that you loved us so much that you made a way for us to be reconciled with the Father today, Lord God. And so may we remember your sacrifice, may we honor your goodness, may we honor who you are, and think of you as we sit at your table today. In Jesus' name, amen. Hey, if you have figured this thing out, there is two layers to this, so you have to peel the top layer back, and you get this cardboard-like cracker. And this represents, although it tastes completely different than what you think it would taste like, this represents the flesh that was broken for us so that we would be able to have a relationship with Jesus. Let's do this in remembrance of him. Let's take,

and as you do that, there is another layer here that you have to find, and not spill all over your white blouse. Come on, somebody. I'm doing this with a microphone in my hand, so there ain't no way that you can't do it, so. I got it. I wore all black on purpose. Just in case the blood of Jesus was washed over me, I would be good. But this represents the blood that was shed on the cross, the perfect sacrifice so that every one of us could have a relationship with Jesus, and so in remembrance of what he has done for us in our life, let's take. Now stick that in your pocket so it'll stay in your shorts. You know that I love just what the Lord has done for us, and just all that he has done in our lives, and just everything that he has done in every single one of us, that we are all here because of what he has done, and if any single one of us is in this room today, we are here because Jesus paid that sacrifice, and we have an opportunity to have a personal relationship with him today, and so we are just thankful for all that he's done, and we are in this series that is titled, It Starts With Power, and we're going through the book of Acts, and I thought, man, what more appropriate time to do communion than right now when they're talking

about the breaking of bread, when they're talking about being in remembrance of him, when they're talking about what all of this means, when we're getting ready to celebrate almost 30 baptisms today. Come on, somebody. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I mean, what an awesome thing. Right after service, we'll have them in the fellowship hall downstairs, and so we invite you to join us, but I wanna talk from a title that I have messaged, or titled this message today, Not a Familiar Church. Not a familiar church, because you have familiar churches, and you have churches that aren't familiar, and there are literally places around the world that people would travel thousands of miles just to see. You got places like the Grand Canyon, right? People will drive from all over just to go and see the Grand Canyon. You got places like Niagara Falls. I mean, that people can go and see this beauty of earth, and just what is happening in the world from something that God created.

Places like the Rocky Mountains. I mean, just something that just can captivate you. If you're my wife, it's the Smoky Mountains, amen? There is not a time in life that she would not wanna go to the Smoky Mountains. She's, let's go to the Smoky Mountains right now. I mean, she's trying to talk me into it right now in her mind, I can feel it. The way she's looking at me, she's like, I want to go to the Smoky Mountains, baby. You said you loved me just a few minutes ago. The kids aren't on kid's camp yet. Maybe we'll go to the Smoky Mountains then. But, broken promises. But, no, people will travel, literally, tourists travel all around the world to go to some of these different places, and when they get there, it's amazing because you will see them stand speechless. Before the beauty of what God has created, you see phones begin to come out, people taking pictures, people taking selfies, right? And eyes all of the sudden get captivated. You can see people just get big. I mean, when we're driving through the mountains, our kids get excited. They see bears and it's just really cool and just all this different stuff. They are captivated. And you can even see people begin to cry

when they begin to see the beauty of everything that God has created. Why? Because all has a way of silencing people. It has a way of doing something in us that we didn't know. And is what's fascinating is this, that the locals of those areas that often drive right past those same wonders every day, do it without even looking up. They do it without even noticing the wonder that is outside of their window. And what once stunned them before became normal to them today. Why? Because familiarity slowly robbed them of wonder. Familiarity. And I wonder if that is what has happened specifically in the American church, but in the church as a whole, that is all across the world, it's easy to just sing about the cross without trembling about the cross. If you have ever lost your wonder of the cross, go back and watch Passion of the Christ and don't turn your head. Don't turn your head. Because I can't even watch it without doing it because of the brutality that was given to Jesus on that day that he bore that cross. And yet we sing about the name of Jesus

without having a holy fear in our lives. We talk about grace without ever being overwhelmed. We hear about scripture, but don't even have conviction in our spirit. We gather in the presence of a holy God while thinking about lunch plans and checking our phone notifications. I wonder if they messaged me back, I wonder if they got my message. And not because God became less glorious, but because familiarity has a way of making holy things feel ordinary. Being familiar has a way of making holy things just feel natural, just feel ordinary, just feel like this is what we do at Reach KC on a Sunday morning. It is what we do at Reach KC on a Sunday morning. But what is happening at Reach KC on a Sunday morning is not ordinary, church. It's supernatural and we are in the presence, not because I'm here, not because my wife's team is here, but because the presence of God is ushered in by the welcoming of him because of a hungry people, that want the presence of God in the room, usher him in. Don't become familiar with the holiness of God because see Acts 2 describes a church that never got over the reality that Jesus was alive. They witnessed it firsthand in their own life. They remembered after Jesus was gone, you know they sat around and told the stories,

man, you remember that time that we was on the Sea of Galilee and man, the winds picked up in the storm, man, and it felt like life was getting ready to take us over and man, I swore we was gonna dip below. Remember Peter, you was tripping, bro. And then all of a sudden, Jesus, we see him, he woke up and he just calmed the storm and we didn't even know what happened. Remember that time also when we was on the sea, Peter, whenever you actually got out of the boat, bro, and you walked on water until you took your eyes off of him. You remember that? And he's like, man, don't remind me of that, bro. Why you always gotta remind me of the bad stuff that I did? I remember that and yes, I remember Jesus rescued me and I wonder if we could sit around and just talk about the goodness of God and the stories of where he saved me from a prison cell and he saved you from whatever addiction that you had, whether you was chasing money, whether you was chasing women, whether you were chasing drugs, whether you've been a workaholic your whole life and you have been committed to chasing and building something for yourself. What if, what if we remembered that Jesus was alive because that's what, they couldn't get over the reality that Jesus, man, you remember that time that Jesus went up to the grave and we all thought he was trippin',

but he stands in front of the rock and he says, Lazarus! He walked out! I was like, what the heck? But all of a sudden, mommy walks out like Brendan Frischer and he just came out and he's like, what? Lazarus, what up? And I mean, dude stank, bro, like he needed to take a shower and then all of a sudden, like, come on, man. Like this is, I mean, this is how it would have been if it was me and my boys, you know what I'm saying? Like, we'd have been. Clowning, you know, but we would have been talking about the goodness of God and remembering everything that God had done in our life and not only that but just a few days ago the Holy Spirit came and Everybody in Jerusalem witnessed the Holy Spirit fall down and come into the lives of the people and now they had literally Witnessed that God was among them This was not just something that we talked about on a Sunday morning This was not just something see all became in every single one of their souls and everything about their lives began to change Because they were captured see one of the most dangerous things that can happen to a believer is becoming familiar with things That should always leave us in all Becoming familiar with the stuff that has happened in our lives. That should always keep us captivated Don't ever forget What God has rescued you from I don't care what your background is from Don't ever forget what God has rescued you from what he has saved you from the testimony of your life And so today I want to look at three things that the all of God should produce in your life That the all of God should produce in every single one of our lives And the first thing is this is all should produce and you can take out the should but all produces reverence all produces

reverence every single time acts 2 43 it says this a deep sense of all not just a little you didn't have a little anxiety They didn't have a little feel-good feeling in their spine when they sang Jesus be the name They didn't have that. No, no. No, they had a deep sense of all come over all of them Not some of them but all of them the whole church the ones that was there and the Apostles Performed miraculous signs and wonders. This verse is not just describing an emotion Church That's not what it's talking about. It's describing the atmosphere of the early church It's describing what was happening in the in the atmosphere in the room You have to remember that it just described that they were devoted Devoted is a heavy word. If you're devoted to something you're devoted to your wife. You're devoted to your sin You're devoted to something that is going it's a heavy commitment. They were devoted to the Apostles teaching Come on, they believed what was said they applied it it changed their life. They begin to walk in newness of spirit They they were devoted to fellowship to the breaking of the bread to prayer. Could you imagine being devoted to prayer? You Want breakthrough be devoted to prayer begin to fast and in your flesh and and deny your flesh food and begin to pray in the spiritual realm until something happens And begin to see what God will do in your life, but see before Luke ever even tells us about generosity Before he ever tells us about unity before he ever tells us about miracles and growth and and all these other things or or even Favor with people he tells us this he says a deep sense of all overcame them Overcame them all because everything else in this passage flows from this reality not strategy not structure Not crowd hype. Come on somebody. I I'm a firm believer in structure. I'm a firm believer in strategy. We do it all week long We have one-on-one meetings all of the time around this stuff, but it wasn't it wasn't strategy or structure It wasn't that it was the all of God from the people That all of the sudden it began to other people It was contagious and people begin to see what was happening in other people's lives and they wanted some of it

See Luke uses this word that all that carries this connotation of holy wonder Or reverence this holy wonder or reverence, which is this trembling? Amazement and deep awareness of the goodness of God. This was not shallow excitement This wasn't something that we got on a Sunday morning when we were singing I know a name and and we felt good, but we were wondering why whenever we left church. We didn't feel the same feeling Because we're seeking an experience instead of an encounter We don't need an experience with God We need an encounter with the Holy Spirit that could come in and wreck your life and you say God come in Change me have me make me a new person do everything in me that you want to do And if there is something that is in me that is not of you God show me Reveal it to my spirit God because I can't be the same I don't want to leave your presence and be the same person that I walked into with because that is not what it is. I don't want to walk into a manufactured presence of God. I want to walk into a holy moment where the Spirit of God, this isn't just emotionalism, this is not just crowd energy. You can walk into a room and people are jumping and hooting and dancing and they've got praise dancing going on and they've got all this other stuff going on and I'm not against that stuff but what happens when you walk out? What happens when you walk out? Because a moment can seem manufactured if the presence seemed there when nothing else is happening. You get into this moment but when you walk out if that presence, now do you always feel the tingly feelings? No. But you don't ever forget that God is real either. You don't ever forget the moments that he rescued you from the lion and the bear. You don't ever forget the moments where he did something and so this giant that you're facing right now shouldn't be anything because you know that in the presence of God that God is real. This is not just crowd energy. I need something that's going to shift a room, that's going to shift a presence. This was the overwhelming realization that God is truly among us church. He is truly here and you got to think about these men and women that were that were together in the upper room when all of this happened and they're like what is happening? I don't know but God is real. I know we just was we were struggling thinking about it 40 days ago whenever Jesus had been crucified but I'm telling you right now that when I'm in this upper room and when that Holy Spirit fell something shifted within me and I don't know what that fire was that I seen but I seen something and even though I don't

believe or I don't understand it I'm going to believe it because it happened and God said that it would and so I'm going to believe that whatever it is this is biblical awe. Not terror that pushes you from God but reverence that humbles you before God that brings you into the holy presence. See it's this tension of he is infinite holy and yet somehow he has still drawn near to each and every single one of us. See nobody ever encounters God deeply in scripture and just remains casual. I ain't never seen it. If I go all the way back I can see Moses going on Mount Sinai had had spent time with God and whenever he noticed that his presence was there he kicked his shoes off. He said I can't even stand on this holy ground right now with having shoes on my feet. I got to I got to humble myself before God and he was changed. He walked down off that mountain and it said that he had to have a veil over him because he he glued so bright that that people couldn't even look upon him. When was the last time that we spent the presence in God or spent time in God's presence so much that you came out physically altered? People said man what's what's different about you? What is what is where have you been? I've been in the presence of God. Are you kidding me? Yeah because you can go back and look at Jacob. Jacob wrestled with God and said I'm not letting go until you bless me. He said okay I'm gonna bless you but you're gonna walk like a pimp the rest of your life. So he he he he this was him and then he gave him his street name Israel. They called him Izzy. You know what I'm saying? Dude has some swag now but everybody could tell. Why? Because he was physically altered. How come you walk like that? Listen man this this physical ailment that you see is because I was wrestling with God. Let me tell you don't ever wrestle with God because you don't want to have to walk with this. It may look cool when I stride now but but you don't want to have to deal with the ailment that I have. Paul had a thorn in his side after he seen Jesus. There is always a physical thing. See Peter saw the power of Jesus and fell and said depart from me for I am a sinful man. Why? Because when all happens it happens when the holiness of God becomes real. When the presence of God becomes tangible in our lives and the greatness of God overwhelms human perspective. You want to know what? Nobody has to teach reverence to a person who has truly encountered the holiness of God. We have manufactured something. I remember being in prison one time and one of the chaplains came in and and this was before I was even saved and I remember standing there one time and they was over it was in and diagnostic and I remember they were standing over by the desk because you

didn't get to go to a chapel or none of that and he was over there trying to teach a brother how to speak in tongues. Do this after me. Bro, you cannot manufacture the presence of God. When you are encountered by the one true God, you walk away different. You're gonna walk away and something is going to shift. We can't manufacture this is how you do this. Yes we can disciple but we can't manufacture. Manufacturing is something different than discipling. Manufacturing is trying to make something that isn't really authentically there. Discipleship is saying hey get yourself out of the way so that you can make room for God. So that you can get everything out. See these believers lives were forever impacted by physically walking with Jesus. They had witnessed the miracles that he had performed. They remember the stuff that had happened and now because of that ordinary people were carrying the presence of God all around with them. Unlikely people from overlooked places was doing extraordinary things. See you said where did you get that from? Right here. I got it from the Bible because that's what happened. See all swept throughout their community not because church became entertaining but because God became undeniable to them. Their story began to write their mind. What they went through began to write. You could no longer doubt the goodness of God because I know the greatness of him and what he delivered me from. It doesn't matter that five years down the road my situation looks different. That doesn't change the goodness of who God is. No God is still God in your life whether you like it or not. Sometimes we just remove the wonder of who he is. See Acts says this it says that the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. See the miracles mattered but the miracles were not the sinner. God was and so often we get stuck looking for miracles that we miss the miracle worker but when you get into

the presence of the miracle worker miracles happen. You've just got to get there. See the signs were not spiritual entertainment they were evidence of divine activity. Manufacturing the presence of God makes it look like it's holy when it's really human. And see you can't get into the presence of humans and be altered like the holiness of God will do you. And people can look holy but if they don't have the fruit of the holy spirit I don't care what evidence of the baptism of the spirit they've got because I've seen I've seen some people that say they're baptized in the spirit that speak in tongues in church but will gossip behind your back. I've seen some people that say that they've that they've got a word of prophecy but yet they're slandering everybody else on a Wednesday. I've seen some people say that they've got some manufactured gifts but that isn't what was happening here. When you get into the evidence of a divine reality when you get into the evidence of what God is actually doing it pointed themselves back to the reality that we know that Jesus is alive. We know that the holy spirit is here and God is moving amongst his people. Come on church when God moves all follows. When God moves all follows and that's why I personally believe that our church out of all churches not that any other church is bad but out of all churches we should be enamored with the awe of God because we got a room full of broken people that have been saved from hell that has looked the devil in the face and said you are a liar and a fat mouth I'm giving my life to Jesus I'm surrendering it all and I may not look like I got it all together I may not sound like I got it all together but I know that I was rescued because you can't tell me where I was at on my 21st birthday when I was at the Red Roof Inn smoking crack. I know where I was at I know who I used to be

I know what God delivered me from and that right there is the proof that the awe of God should captivate my life because every day I wake up and especially now today I get to roll over and see my beautiful wife I get to see my kids uh in in the other room and and fighting and yelling at each other and and being thankful that they're alive amen come on somebody and I can be thankful that I'm there because you know what I wasn't there for the first six years of my son's life because I was out hustling I was out in the joint I was out doing things that didn't honor God and so I know just by the marksman of my fatherhood and my husbandry, that God has rescued my life, saved me, redeemed me, sanctified me, filled me with the Holy Spirit, and I'm walking in newness of him because of what he did. See, but here's what happens when all disappears, holy things become common again. Don't ever let something holy become common to you. Because if we allow the holiness of God to become common to us, we are in very dangerous territory, church. Very, when worship becomes just routine, it's just something we do on three songs before we preach. No, it's not. No, it's not. It's how you lived out what you sang about on Sunday on Wednesday. It's about what you do on Friday when your friends that, you know, you just got saved and now your friends all of a sudden

is inviting you back out and you're tempted to do it because you've been bored, you've been lonely, you ain't got no people at this church that's just been growing and you can't even fit in on a Sunday morning because you don't look like them and you don't talk like them and you don't act like them, but what if you got connected to a growth group where all of a sudden you got eight people in a living room now? You ain't got no excuse. You ain't got no excuse. All of a sudden it ain't 500 people no more, it's eight that you gotta be vulnerable with and you gotta tell all of your dirty mess and how God cleaned you up and how he found you and how you're still struggling today with addiction and how you're still struggling with trying to overcome these things that have been attacking your mind and attacking your marriage and attacking, and man, my marriage is split up right now and I'm trying to figure this thing all out, but I don't know what to do. Hey, let's stop the group for a minute, guys. Can we just pray for a minute? Come on, I need everybody to circle this couple right now and let's just lay hands on them right now and then all of a sudden the evidence, the evidence of the Holy Spirit falls in that living room

and people are praying over them and people are looking around with one eye open and they don't even know what to do. Because the evidence of divine reality is actually there. See, what happens if prayer becomes mechanical? Scripture just becomes informational in our life instead of transformational. What happens when church becomes just transactional? Because we live in a consumeristic world. I'm just gonna go to church because I know there's some people there that could benefit my business. I know there's some people there and then we begin to hustle on people's downfall, selling them things that nobody else would be able to sell them because they can't get it. Then people wonder, why, I'm gonna stop. Because it's true. We will use people's downfall to benefit and we will use church as a transactional hustle when it was never meant there, it was meant to be something holy. It was meant to be something that we come and encounter the one true God, one of the greatest dangers of familiarity is that you can be surrounded by holy things long enough that you actually stop trembling at them, becoming familiar with the things. See, familiarity with the things of God can quietly rob us of the wonders of God

because we just get familiar. It's just a routine. Been coming to second service and second service was second service. And when you find out that we're changing the service times when we move to the new building, you're gonna be all jacked up. See, there went the spirit. There went the spirit right there. Spirit's gone. Bring him back. Come here, Lord. You're not manufacturing around a service time, you're manufacturing around our lives. I'm just here for an hour and 15 minutes. It's gonna be a little longer today because I'm still on point one, I think. And as what has happened is we have become overstimulated by the world and underwhelmed by the presence of God. We have become overstimulated by the things of God. So many distractions. Turn the radio up. I'm tired of hearing my thoughts. I don't wanna hear them anymore. Turn them up. Here, take this. This'll help. It's legal now, you're good. Oh. That don't violate the things of God.

Listen, just because you high don't mean you're gonna think about the most high. Amen. I've been high. And I was not thinking about the most high, okay, I was high when I was acting like I was thinking about the most high It did not intrigue me After a couple of weeks of getting high I was looking at things I shouldn't be looking at Why cuz when you open the door to the devil he comes in and cleans house Every single time you will open the door. It says that he cannot Plunder the home unless he first binds the strongman when he can get your hold when he can bind you when he can hold you Guess what? He coming in and cleaning house Well, it's just weed. Yeah. Okay. My mama told me when I was 12, it was a gateway drug. I wish I would have listened Well, no, it's not well then how come I did ecstasy coke crack everything else we don't even need to get into that list Hallelujah praise the Lord But imagine what would happen if the awe of God would come back Here's what here's the second thing that would happen is all loosens our grip on earthly things You want to let go of some stuff Getting enamored by God Acts 240 or 44 says this acts 244 and All the believers met together. This is after they had just been Enamored with all all the believers had met together in one place and shared everything they had I rebuke the devil in Jesus name What's your amen if they sold their problems good They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need my god my god At first glance this passage can sound so radical Like why that doesn't even make sense people selling possessions and given Sacrificially and they was selling their homes and and doing this but Luke is showing us something deeper than just generosity Church He's showing us what happens when the all of God actually dethrones the idols of our heart See the Apostles didn't have to convince people to loosen their grip on earthly things Nowhere, does it even say that Peter told him? Hey you guys need to go tithe

They Didn't have a five-minute segment carved out into their message every Sunday to make sure that people understood tithing No People were enamored by the all of God and they radically begin to give why because when people truly Encounter the greatness of God their relationship with earthly things begin to shift What what if we became a radically generous Church What if I mean one that was consumed that wasn't consumed by our possessions but rather ones who gave Sacrificially to see his kingdom built because it's just a small cost of everything that I got It's just a small and we blame our irresponsibility of our finances on our irresponsibility to our relationship with God Because we don't spend all we got how can we tithe How can we give how could we actually do something and I believe personally that the real issue is worship Because every generation is shaped by whatever it stands in all of That's what the real issue is and whatever captures your all eventually shapes your life Whatever you stand in all of that's why I can say that idols are not just merely carved statues Idols are anything that we look to for security anything that we look to for identity or worth or peace or Significance or control apart from God an idol is not simply something you possess. It's something that possesses you and If we're honest our culture is filled with idols Some people worship money because money promises security. What would we do if we were broke? I don't know be broke and find out Jesus told the one guy cuz he was so held on to it go sell all your belongings and give it to the poor That wasn't a principle for everybody. That was for that guy I've done everything else I've done it all what else can I do and he said? You're caught up. I See right into your heart of where you're caught up go sell it all and give it away Because you're hanging on to something see some worship money some worship comfort because comfort promises peace If I can just get it if I could just do see some worship image Because image promises worth why do you think society paints this pissage picture that you can do anything to your body? That you want to do if you don't like it

Why would you want to keep doing something to a body that God created and called beautiful? We are so irresponsible with things that we get ourselves into into a situation and then are mad and want to do everything else to shortcut the irresponsibility that we allowed. See some worship control, some worship success, some worship anything and far too many people cling tightly to earthly things because they are terrified of what happens if those things are removed from them because of what we worship. See modern culture disciples us into self-preservation it says protect yourself, promote yourself, take pictures of you, post them on there so that everybody can buy you, wear less stuff so that it attracts more people to look at the stuff. Don't worry about what morals say, don't worry about what Christian relationship says, don't worry about any of that, preserve your comfort, do you, do what you think. See this is why a generation that we have now is offended by generosity in the church because we've become so accustomed to the things that we have. See we say we don't trust church but in reality we've lost the wonder of God. It's not about that because the awe of God produces radical generosity so if I've been enamored by the awe of God and I'm not a generous person I would question if I've been enamored by the awe of God or if I just had an encounter or an experience. See God didn't call us to trust the church he called us to trust him so why does it matter who you trust because radical generosity is produced from something that when we get see we have literally learned how to admire Jesus while still organizing our lives around self-preservation while still organizing but see the early church looked different not because they were forced to sacrifice but because the awe of God had convinced them that there was something greater than just protecting themselves. When the awe of God fills your heart every lesser God begins shrinking. Everything that stands in position to try to take it because suddenly you realize money cannot save you. You can't buy your way into heaven. Comfort cannot sustain you. Success cannot sustain you. Control is just an imaginary of your imagination. The authentic presence of

God though it has a way of exposing how powerless idols really are in your life because if you spend a moment in the authentic presence of God you ain't even thinking about what you own. Who cares? I want to spend time in the presence of God when we reflect on all that God has done temporary things begin to lose their grip and that's how it's supposed to be. Nobody had to pry open the hands of those that once captured were once captured by God's heart. Nobody had to. Imagine a church where generosity just flows naturally. One where sacrifice becomes worship. One where people held positions loosely where where love becomes visible not because somebody manipulated people emotionally but because people encountered God deeply. Imagine that. Like revival always changes how people hold earthly things. That's how you know you've been in revival. Not because this fluff. A church overwhelmed by God becomes dangerous to the idols of its culture. That's why I don't want to be a familiar church. I want to be a church that when we go to meet on Sunday morning the enemy is afraid on Saturday night because he knows what's gonna happen when people walk into the presence of God. He knows what's gonna happen when things get in there because things begin to shift. Lives begin to change and all produces wholehearted commitment. See devotion stops being occasional and starts becoming daily whenever you get enamored by the presence of God. Here's the third thing is that all produces wholehearted commitment. When you get into the awe of God, when you get into the presence of who he is and you hold him to the standard of who he is in your life and we don't reduce him to something that is not of him, when we hold him it will produce wholehearted commitment. Look at Acts 2 46 it says in day by day. It wasn't something that just happened one day. You know what I'm talking about. Know where you came to church last Sunday and something happened and you thought something shifted but as soon as you walked out you got slapped with the problem that you had before you walked into church and you thought that when you gave your life to Jesus and went back into this room wherever they took you in this big building and prayed with you.

That something all of a sudden was just going to change everything and a new job was coming and all your problems were gone and your physical healing was on its way and addiction would be removed and all of these things because this is just, no, it says and day by day attending the temple together, breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with gladness and generous hearts praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to their number day by day. Those four words matter deeply by day by day and day by day and day by day because they reveal that this wasn't just a momentary emotional experience. This wasn't just something the awe of God had reshaped the rhythm of their lives. Day by day they were gathering, they were fellowshipping, they were doing all of these. Nobody had to force devotion. This was not an occasional Christianity church. That's not what it was. This was something that was actually happening because they were enamored by God. It was something that they will reorganize their life around and stand in awe of because people naturally move towards whatever captivates them. And so naturally their schedules change, their priorities change, their relationships change, their commitments change. All had literally reoriented and reordered their entire lives. But modern Christianity struggles with this commitment because people are trying to fit God into lives that are so centered around ourselves. It's like, God, you can be here, but know your role and stay there. And God, it all moves God from being a part of your life to becoming the very center of it. Commitment day by day was actually the evidence of all. That's what told them, see Acts 2 was not a church growth strategy, although it is today. It wasn't. It was the overflow of transformed people. The church had became healthy because people were reverent. People were surrendered. People were devoted. People were authentic and centered around the presence of God. And because of that, the Lord added people to them day by day. It wasn't a growth strategy of a marketing campaign. It wasn't this. It wasn't that. It was because people were reverent, understood the assignment, treated God as who he was. Why? Because when all fills the church, shallow Christianity struggles to survive. Imagine a church fully surrendered, deeply devoted. I mean, just genuinely connected, spiritually alive. A church committed to prayer. A church committed to fellowship. A church committed to generosity. A church committed to the presence of God. Not because people are pressured, but because God or the awe of God has captured our hearts.

I can't help but wonder this morning, if one of the greatest things that has hit us, one of the greatest dangers of modern Christianity is not rebellion, but familiarity. Not rebellion. Not something that we thought, that's not what we're talking about. But familiarity. Why? Because familiarity can make us sit in rooms filled with the presence of God and remain unmoved. We can sit in the room full of miracles, and yet somehow be completely unmoved. We can hear sermons without conviction in our spirits. We can sing songs without surrender. We can pray without expectation. And we can read scripture without awe. And somewhere along the way, God, the God that made mountains bow, the God that split the seas apart, the God that brings dead things back to life, has actually just became very ordinary to us. And maybe today, God isn't asking you for better church attendance. Maybe today, God isn't asking you for better behavior. Maybe God isn't asking you to just do some of that. But maybe He's simply asking us to actually consider, have you lost your awe? Have you lost the awe that is in your life of God and who He is? Have you lost it? of these things that that should be captivating you because when the all of God returns everything changes it can bring broken lives back into the presence of a holy God and it can make things that we don't even understand begin to to bring it back in what if what if God was asking us today to just surrender our hearts in this moment surrender our lives in this moment and say hey if all you had was me would it be enough would that be enough for you if all you had or do we have to continue to chase these things I'm not saying things are bad but what has the position of our all what has the position of wonder what captures our attention the most is it God or is it everything else because even if it's money it should be so that we can build his kingdom and then be blessed after that may God just get us back to where he is Stalder Reach Homes director we just wanted to thank you for taking the time

to watch today's sermon and we hope that the message spoke to your heart we understand that people who are in your situation often feel overlooked and pushed aside and we just want to let you know that we do consider you as a part of our church family upon your release we look forward to you paying a visit to us while you're incarcerated take the time to reach out and write to us if you're looking for safe stable housing reach out to Reach Homes your IPO or your caseworker can help you navigate that process we look forward to seeing you again next week and have a great day