Pastor Caitlyn Moore - Cut to the Heart

Hello, men and women. Such a blessing and an honor to be able to speak into your life again here from Life Fellowship Church in McKinney, Texas, onto your tablet in the correctional facilities that you're in. I've never ceased to be blown away by that miracle that we can actually reach hundreds of thousands of you. My name is Logan Williams. My TDC number is 1490218. I have four numbers after that. I've been round and round and round in the system. I just say that so I can relate. I did nine and a half years total in prison in Texas where it's hot and where it's always not the greatest environment to be in. And I know some of you are in worse places, some of you are in better places, but I just want to encourage you, man, God never wastes a tear. He never wastes a tragedy. He never wastes a disaster. It may seem to the world that you have totally wrecked your life, but God is the master of picking up those pieces and making something beautiful out of them. He's just looking for your yes. God, I just pray that you guys would get all in with him and watch what he can do. Tell your friends and family to download the same Pando app that you have. You can watch the same stuff. You can watch Life Fellowship. You can watch The Chosen. You can watch The Bible Recap. You can watch all kinds of stuff on there, as you know, but man, encourage them so you guys can do this walk together as much as you can. When you see each other in visitation or talk on the phone, you can talk about what you guys watched and looked at. What did the Holy Spirit speak to you? You can lead your family, man, from inside the wire. It's possible. Don't buy into the false narrative that it's all over just because you're there. Anything is possible with God. Again, he's just looking for your yes, and he's just looking for you to step out there in faith. I was reading in Philippians, and I just want to read a few verses that kind of sums up really in a short way a way of living that you can practice right where you're at. When I was incarcerated, I would go to church. I would do all the things, but I wasn't actually trying to change how I was living. I would still doing the hustles, the gambling, the hooch, the whatever, stealing out the kitchen, all that stuff, but I would go to church, and I knew that God really didn't want me doing those things, but I just would tell myself, man, I'm just, I'm incarcerated. This sucks. I'm going to get through this, but when I get out, that's when I'm going to change and start living right. I know what to do when I get out, and it just never works out that way because the enemy is slick. He's cunning. He's baffling. He's powerful,

and he deceived me every single time. I just had a radical experience with Christ in a hotel room in August of 2021, and he saved me from sin, death, and hell. He gave me a seat at the table. I had to give him my yes, and I had to get all in, and that was difficult because that means putting away things that I've been using for 45 years, ways of thinking, ways of living, ways of doing things. I had to learn it all over again, and that's not comfortable, and our flesh is going to fight against that, but I want to encourage you. Man, that is what God is waiting on. He's waiting on you to just say yes and take a step, and he will show up with power in that moment. That's how it's happened for me. So Philippians 4, starting in verse 4, says, always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again. Rejoice. Let everyone see that you're considerate in all that you do. Considerate in all that you do. You want to be an example for Christ in the facilities that you're at. Whether it's chaos around you, or maybe you're in a nice, calm, peaceful, faith-based dorm somewhere, you want to be light. He has called us to be light in the darkness, and I know that's hard in some of the places you're at to be considerate in all that you do, because you're surrounded by inconsiderate people. But man, I'm telling you, you've got to try to put these things to practice in your life now, so that when you hit that gate, you won't be as easily deceived like I was. You've got to start developing those spiritual muscles, as I like to call it. You need to get in the gym and start working out. Let everyone see that you are considerate in all that you do. Remember. The Lord is coming soon Remember that this kingdom mindset this this the Lord is near You know because then we get right into verse 6, which is a famous verse says don't worry about anything instead pray about everything Tell God what you need and thank him for all that he has done. Then you will experience God's peace which Exceeds anything we can understand and his peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus I know it's hard in some of the situations that you're in Whether you're in County Jail trying to figure out how much time you're about to get or whether you're sitting on a maximum Security in ad seg with a 50-piece. It's hard not to worry about anything But the first right before that says remember the Lord is near Therefore

Let's not be anxious about anything man. The Lord is near. Let's not worry about anything It says meant offer up your prayers to him and thank him for what he's done. And then you'll experience God's peace Then verse 8 it says now dear brothers and sisters one final thing Want you to watch this? Fix your thoughts on what is true. What is honorable what is right and pure and lovely and admirable Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise because we can't fill our minds with negativity. We can't fill our nines reminiscing about all the drugs we used to do and the crime used to do and that lick that we hit and those girls that We were with all that stuff. Okay, we need to be thinking on things that are admirable and pure and right Things that are excellent and worthy of praise It's important what we think about and we can choose what we think about So it's saying think about these things and then keep putting into practice all that you have learned and received from me In other words what you're seeing here in the word Put that into practice Do it Everything you've heard and seen me doing then the God of peace will be with you. So it's almost like a recipe It's like baking a cake, you know, you put this much flour this much sugar this many eggs You mix it up pour it in the pan bake it on this certain temperature and then you have an awesome cake Okay, so it's saying think on some things think on positive things Things that are praiseworthy Put into practice what you've learned Then the God of peace will be with you You got to have those steps in order to bake that cake to have that peace You got to think on the right things do what the word is telling us Then God will give us peace a lot of times like me. I just showed up at church Open call church. Yeah, I'd get baptized Yeah, I'd do the programs and all that stuff But I wasn't changing the way I was living and I had no peace and then I would blame it on this I mean this don't work But it does work. I just didn't work it. I didn't read it. I didn't put it into practice. It's important what you think about

It's important what you do if you get those two things, right? You're gonna have the peace of God which passes all understanding and this is my hope for you guys This is my prayer for you guys. This is my dream that man people will grab a hold of this and Their lives will be completely transformed because God has a plan and a purpose for your life whether you believe it or not It doesn't matter Romans 11 29 says that the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable They can't be taken away or omitted or changed or edited. It's not like he's gonna change his mind There's a calling on your life. That's irrevocable. Now. You can choose not to step into that calling You're the one that can revoke it Because we have free will you can walk out of that gate and you can go Step into your calling or you can go the dope house. You can do what God has called you to do Or you can go holler at that chick. It's your choice But he says it in Romans that the calling that's on you is irrevocable man I want that to be in somebody's heart. And if you don't know what that is If you've gotten all in with him and you're experiencing the peace But you don't know what that thing is that he's called you to be asking cry out to him Get some fire about something and and and and get going. He wants to use you right here right now You know, I used to listen to volunteers come into the jails and the prisons I was at and say Man, God has an amazing plan for your life and I would kind of subconsciously think yeah, that sounds good But that's gonna be out there somewhere way down in the distant future once I get out and once I stay clean and once I get a job and get my Own place and get my life to get get all my stuff together then He'll use me. No, no. No, he wants to use you right now today He has a he has something for you And I want you guys to get that not as information in your head, but revelation in your heart because it'll change things.

Ask him what it is. Father, I just thank you for these men and women who are watching today. I thank you for all that you're doing in their lives. God, we thank you for the Pando app. We thank you for the tablets. We thank you that we have the ability to speak into the lives of forgotten people, people who don't even have names according to the various institutions that they're in. They just have numbers. God, we know that they are never just a number to you, that they were worthy of dying for even on their worst day. God, I pray that you would meet them right where they're at and let them know how much you love them and that you desire more than anything, just a relationship with them. You just want their attention. You just want them to turn to you. And God, I just pray, man, that if somebody doesn't know you that's watching, that they would cry out to you right now. And Romans 10 says that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, that they might call upon your name right now, God, and that you would just radically change and transform them, God. I thank you for the callings that we all have on our lives. Man, God, you're so awesome. We just give you praise. God, you're just amazing. And I just pray, God, that you would just continue to reveal yourself and continue to reveal yourself and that you would just meet them right where they're at and let them know, man, that you have something for them. And so, God, we love you and we praise your name in Jesus' name. Amen. Hope you guys enjoy the message. You know, I just got one more question. Whose house? God's house. Let's give him some praise. All that you're going to do, we invite you, Holy Spirit, we invite you to come and fill our praise and fill this room with your holy presence. Come on, let's sing this together to Jesus. Praise, you deserve more. We have come to love you in this place With everything we have We have come to give you our ears To hear your highest praise To love you We have come to love you in this place And we have come to love you with our hearts For you

For you Are the one we want to be The only one Jesus shine through All our praise We come here to meet you Jesus We come here to meet you face to face For you Are the one we want to be No one else, nothing else Jesus shine through All the praises that we sing It's all for you Here we are, here we are We present our bodies before you It's all for you We surrender everything we have Everything we are It's all for you Here we are, here we are Here we are Lord It's all for you Here we are, here we are And we have come We have come to give you highest praise Highest praise We have come to love you Our King deserves the highest praise We have come Our King deserves the highest praise

We have come We have come to give you highest praise Highest praise We have come to love you In this place We have come to give you highest praise Highest praise We have come to love you In this place For you Are the one we want to be Would Jesus shine through All the praises that we see Come on, let's declare this to Jesus For you For you You're the only one we want to be Are the one we want to be And the reason we came here today Would Jesus shine through All the praises that we see And we sing for you today Jesus This is all for you, Jesus Lord, today we make room for your presence to come To come and dwell and to rest here, Lord Lord, we are here for you, Jesus We are here for you and you alone How we need your presence We need your presence

Spirits out, rushing wind Fire of God, fall within Holy Ghost, breathe on us, we pray As we repent and turn from sin Revival lamp of smoldering Breath of God, fan us into heaven Cause we need a fresh wind The fragrance of heaven Pour your Spirit out Pour your Spirit out ♪ Yes, we're for you now ♪ ♪ Come and bless me now, yes ♪ ♪ From hearts that burn with holy fear ♪ ♪ Purify faith in deep ♪ ♪ Refine us by strength in what we need, babe ♪ ♪ So be the church, be the church, repair your life ♪ ♪ Lamp of flame, city bright, king and king ♪ ♪ Come is what we pray ♪ ♪ Cause we need a fresh wind ♪ ♪ We need the fragrance of heaven ♪ ♪ Come and pour your spirit out, oh pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out, oh holy anointing ♪ ♪ The power of your presence, pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Come and pour your spirit out, we need a fresh wind ♪ ♪ We need a fresh wind, we need the fragrance of heaven ♪ ♪ Come and pour your spirit out on us, pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ We need a holy anointing in the power of your presence ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out, oh pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Come and pour your spirit out, pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out, pour your spirit out ♪

♪ Pour your spirit out, oh pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out, pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out, pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out, pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ We make room for you, we make space for you to come in ♪ ♪ We make room, we make room for you, oh oh oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ God of the redeemed, prophesied and seen ♪ ♪ We can hear the wind blowing, blowing ♪ ♪ And move upon our praise, as the daughters sing ♪ ♪ Oh we can hear the wind blowing, blowing ♪ ♪ God of the redeemed, prophesied and seen ♪ ♪ We can hear the wind blowing, blowing ♪ ♪ And move upon our praise, as the daughters sing ♪ ♪ Oh we can hear the wind blowing, blowing ♪ ♪ God of the redeemed, prophesied and seen ♪ ♪ And we can hear the wind blowing, blowing ♪ ♪ And move upon our praise, as the daughters sing ♪ ♪ And we can hear the wind blowing, blowing ♪ ♪ God of the redeemed, prophesied and seen ♪ ♪ And we can hear the wind blowing, blowing ♪ ♪ And move upon our praise, as the daughters sing ♪ ♪ We can hear the wind blowing, blowing ♪ ♪ Cause we need a question, the promise of heaven ♪ ♪ For your spirit, I'm coming for your spirit, I'm ♪ ♪ We need a holy and nice thing ♪ ♪ All in the power of your presence, for your spirit, I'm ♪ I will blow your spirit out Light up the redeemed Light up the redeemed Come prophesy and sing

Oh, we can hear the wind blowin', blowin' Oh, move upon our praise Oh, shine the dawn and sing Oh, we can hear the wind blowin' Let all the redeemed Let all the redeemed Come prophesy and sing Oh, we can hear the wind blowin' Oh, move upon our praise Oh, yes Lord, we can hear the wind blowin' Cause we need a fresh wind We need the fragrance of heaven Pour your spirit out Pour your spirit out A holy anointing It's the power of your presence Pour your spirit out Pour your spirit out Come on, sing it again And we need a fresh wind A fragrance of heaven Pour your spirit out Pour your spirit out We need a holy anointing And the power of your presence Pour your spirit out Pour your spirit out Lord, let your spirit out Father, we have come

To bow down in worship Lifting up our hearts We bow down in worship Father, we have come To bow down in worship Lifting up our hearts We bow down in praise And hallelujah I'm lovin' on my soul And hallelujah We're all lovin' And we are singin' Oh, oh, oh We're singin' to the one Brighter morning star You're a blaze like fire You're shining like the sun You're a one Let's sing this verse again Brighter morning star When you look in your eyes this morning Your eyes are fire That burn inside of us Come and shine like the sun Oh, you're a one You're a one in desire Alleluia, to the Lord where all my soul is, Lover of my soul. Alleluia, with all the pain, we are singing. Alleluia, we lift our voices and our hands to the Lover of our souls, to the Lord of our lives. Alleluia, with all of heaven, we are singing.

Alleluia, with all of heaven, we are singing. Alleluia, with all of heaven, we are singing. Alleluia, we lift our voices in praise. I want to shout, I want to shout, to the King of Heaven, to the Lord of His heaven. And all the angels cry out, Holy is the Lord God. All the earth replies. And all the angels cry out, Holy is the Lord God. All the earth replies. You deserve our praise. You deserve our worship. And all the angels cry out, Holy is the Lord God. All the earth replies. And all the angels cry out, Holy is the Lord God. All the earth replies. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Holy are You. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. Holy are You. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Holy are You. Thank You, Lord. We thank You, Father, for the opportunity to come and worship You this morning. Lord, to join with the elders, to join with the angels, the song that they're singing to You. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, all blessing and honor and glory and power. We worship You, Jesus. We worship You. You know, this morning I was reading Acts chapter 9. It's the story of Saul and his encounter with Jesus. And he was on the road to Damascus. And scripture tells us that he had an encounter with a light that blinded him. And it actually says that he fell. We don't know if that was off of his horse. We don't know if he was standing. But we do know that he fell. And Jesus appears out of this light and asks Saul, Why are you perishing? persecuting me and Saul asks Jesus who are you who are you and Jesus said I am the one you are persecuting I am Jesus and then you know the story of Saul's conversion and how God gave him a new name and as we're worshiping this

morning I'm reminded of the power of being in the presence of God I'm reminded of what happens when we get into a room with God and we worship him and we humble ourselves when we bring ourselves to our knees and we say God you are holy you are holy we worship you God you are above all else we worship you you are holy there's something special that happens there's a transformation that happens in our heart and so I want to pray with you this morning before we continue into the message I believe that the presence of God is in this place and he's here he wants to transform you he wants to change you he wants to pull things out of you that he hates and put things in you that he loves and so Jesus we thank you for your presence Lord what a privilege it is that we get to gather together as a church and worship you we get to gather together and love you God we thank you for what you're going to do today Lord we thank you for the Word of God that it is alive and active Lord and I pray that you would speak to us you would speak to every person uniquely Lord we love you Jesus and it's in your name we pray everyone say with me amen amen yeah give God some praise hey well you can go ahead and take your seat if I haven't had the chance to meet you yet my name is Nash and maybe you haven't heard this yet today but I'm so glad you're here I'm so glad that you chose to be at Life Fellowship this weekend I know God has something special planned for you and so we have a great message today I want to invite you to turn your attention to the screens welcome to Life Fellowship Church we're so glad you're here with us today if this is the first time here text new to 51010 we'd love to help get you connected and show you everything happening around Life Fellowship and what's coming next youth camp is coming up and honestly this is the week students talk about all year we see lives change friendships formed and faith come alive in a real way don't miss it get your students signed up before the spots fill up pursuit night is coming up and these nights are special no rush no agenda just extended worship prayer in a space to really see God if you've never been this is your moment make plans to be there in

Proverbs 3 we're told to honor God with the first of what we have giving is one of the ways we do that it's putting God first in a tangible way and when we live like that it reshapes how we see everything at Life Fellowship your generosity is making a real difference reaching people strengthening families and building faith in the next generation so as you give today we are simply putting God first again thank you for responding as God leads you before you grab your seat turn to someone next to you and give them a high-five and let's prepare our hearts for all that God wants to do today enjoy the service good morning Life Fellowship how are you guys this morning a few of us are blessed anybody else good this morning praise God hey I am so excited to bring the word this morning if I have not met you my name is Caitlin I'm the youth pastor here any youth any youth leaders come on make some noise we have the best team in the world and before I say anything before I get into the message I just want to give honor where honors do I want to honor just our leadership and our staff we have the best staff ever and so it's never something I take lightly or take for granted when I get to bring the word so I'm excited um hey I've been told to give you the new service times and we tend to change service times around here so I've got them on a little sticky note so turn to your neighbor and say 845 turn to your other neighbor and say 1015 turn to your first pick neighbor and say 1145 those are gonna be our new service times beginning next week so we are really excited about this it's gonna be awesome so we're in a series called built on the rock if you've got your notes you can just go ahead and title your notes page built on the rock the title of my message is to the heart. I think God's gonna really speak to you this morning. But I love this series, Built on the Rock, because I just believe that in a culture that tries to convince you to be spiritual but not religious, it takes a church that's built on the rock to live for Jesus. In a culture that tries to tell you to live your truth, it takes a church that's built on the rock to believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And in a culture that tries to get you to

compromise your conviction, it takes a church that's built on the rock to believe the words of Jesus when he said, what does it profit a man or a woman to gain the whole world but lose his soul? So this morning I have a word on my heart that I'm feeling stirred about that I want to share with you. This has been a passage of scripture that the Lord's been speaking to me about for a while now. So if you've got your Bibles, you can go ahead and turn to Acts chapter 2. Anybody got a physical Bible? Come on, there's nothing like the smell of a Bible, the feel of a Bible. At LF Youth, we say that if you read your Bible, it'll talk to you. And I believe that's so true because the Word of God is alive and active. It's sharper than any double-edged sword. And I believe that if you can't hear God, you need to read God and he'll speak to you. So let's jump right in to Acts chapter 2 verse 36. Before we start reading, I just want to give you a little bit of context because where we jump in, we land at kind of the middle of a very interesting text here. So Peter, he's preaching to a large crowd of a diverse group of people, okay? These people had gathered together from many nations to be together for Pentecost. We celebrated Pentecost Sunday last week. Pentecost really just means the 50th year. So many of these people were Israelites and some were skeptical observers because remember, just earlier in the chapter, we see that the Holy Spirit came upon the upper room and everyone that was sitting in the upper room was baptized with the Holy Spirit through the evidence of speaking in tongues. And so even as the Spirit of God is moving, there are skeptics that are in the room saying, oh, God's not moving. They're just drunk. So Peter's preaching to this crowd and he's explaining that what's actually happening is a prophecy fulfilled from Joel chapter 2. If I could give you any homework this week, it would be to go study the correlation of Joel chapter 2 and Acts chapter 2. So in the middle of his message is where we'll land today and at our core text. We're going to look at Acts chapter 2 verse 36 through 47 and we'll break it up throughout this morning. It's a big chunk of scripture. Can you handle it? I believe you can. I'm going to be reading from the ESV starting at verse 36. It says this, let all the house of Israel

know therefore for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, Christos, the anointed one, this Jesus whom you've crucified. Now when they, all the people listening to this sermon, the skeptics, the observers, everybody, when they heard this they were cut to the heart. Somebody turn to your neighbor and say cut to the heart. And they said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles, brothers what shall we do? And Peter said, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. I want to pause right here and just tell you God's Spirit is a gift. Sometimes we can come into the presence of the Lord and treat him so casually. We can treat the presence of God as normal but the Bible actually teaches us that we are not to treat what is holy as common. So it's holy that we get to gather here. It's holy that you get to read the Bible. It's holy when we pray for each other. We're to treat the presence of the living God as a holy thing. Verse 39, for the present, for the promise is for you and for your children and all who are far off. Everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. Verse 40, and with many other words, meaning he preached a really long sermon, he bore witness and continued to exhort or encourage them saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation. I want to pause right here and just echo the words of Peter to you. Save yourselves from this crooked generation. A crooked generation says craft your image. Jesus says die to yourself. A crooked generation says I'm gonna live my truth. Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life. A crooked generation says hey do what makes you happy. Jesus says do what makes you holy. A crooked generation says build your brand. Jesus says take up your cross. Verse 41 so those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about 3,000 souls. Could you imagine if 3,000 new believers were added to the church next week at Life Fellowship? Could you imagine? I'm not talking about church hoppers that go to a new church every week. I'm talking about new believers added to the body of Christ. This tells me, this passage of scripture shows us that if we are to follow Jesus with everything we have,

repent, get baptized, and just go after God, he built his church. The Bible says that. God builds the church. Those who labor build it in vain. I want to tell you the story of this young man in Africa. You guys like stories? I'm gonna need y'all to bear with me for this okay. There was this evangelist by the name of Reinhard Bonnke and he dedicated his life to seeing a blood-washed Africa, an Africa covered in the blood of Jesus. That was his mission and his heart was to see the people of Africa saved. So he put on these huge gospel events. I think we have a picture of thousands and thousands of people, thousands of people, and he would gather all these people and work with the churches and just preach the gospel. And so there was one day that Reinhard Bonnke was in this field with 50,000 people and he did these, he put on these things called crusades, which are just huge gospel events. So the crusade had ended and he's just walking the field. Imagine this huge football field. He's just walking the field, praying, spending time with the Lord after this event. And as he finishes up, he walks to his car and gets ready to go home and he starts driving. And as he's driving, this teenager runs into the middle of the field and says, Maruti Bonnke, Maruti Bonnke, which is just a very honoring way of saying, Pastor Bonnke, Pastor Bonnke. He said, I want you to lay hands on me and pray for me. And so Pastor Bonnke, he was tired from the night. He had just got done praying for the sick and casting out demons and all the things. But nonetheless, he said, how old are you? And this young boy said, I'm 17. So Reinhard asked him, okay, well, why do you want me to pray for you? And this young boy said, I just got saved at your event. I repented and Jesus has forgiven me of all of my sin. And I want you to pray that I would receive the Holy Spirit before I return to my village. I live really far away. So he asked him, okay, well, what's your name? And this boy says, David. So Pastor Bonnke begins to pray that David would receive the Holy Spirit. And he quotes it like, he says it was like a bolt of lightning that shot through David. And he began to cry and praise God and thank God. And so of course, Pastor Bonnke had seen this happen many times. He had seen people encounter God's presence and he'd seen emotion and all the things. So he's like,

awesome. This is great. But he had no idea the extent of what God had done in David's life in that moment. So they go their separate ways. A few months later, Pastor Bonnke was in Johannesburg and he began to hear reports of this revival that had broken out in the tribal region of the Transvaal Basin. And so he was asking people like, who's the preacher of this revival? And he found out that this man was no preacher at all. It was just a boy whom God was using greatly. So a year later, Pastor Bonnke is still in Africa, still hosting gospel crusades, doing his thing. And one day. He gets a knock on his door after preaching. He opens the door and to his surprise, there is David standing there, smiling ear to ear. So Pastor Bonke invites him in, come on in David, let's chat, let's catch up. And David began to tell him all that had happened in his life through that year and a half. So he tells Pastor Bonke that he walked home to his village the night that he prayed for him. And he actually didn't arrive to his village until the next morning because it was so far. But he said that walking with the Holy Spirit felt like walking on air. So he arrived at his village and he noticed this young woman leaving the area and she was carrying this child. Now David recognized this woman because just a few years before she had lost her son to black fever. So it turns out this child was also battling a really high fever. And it was against tribal rules, but David felt so much love for this kid that he decided to risk it all and ask her if he could pray for her and the child. So she allowed him. And you might be hearing me talk about like tribal rules. In Africa, I've been a few times, that's just how it is. You have tribes, you have chiefs of tribes, it's just very different. So this is a pretty normal occurrence in the sense that David is trying to follow tribal rules. So he asked if he could pray for them and she says yes. So he asked God, take the fever away from this child. He begins to pray for healing. And suddenly the child sat up as he's praying and said, mommy, I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. And the fever was gone. The fever was gone. And so long story short, she went to the tribe's chief and told him what happened. You're not going to believe this. I just lost my other child a few years ago and this child was completely healed. You will not believe what happened. She begins to tell him the story. As she's telling the tribe, the tribe's chief, David goes home because remember, this is all the night after he just got prayed for. So he goes home and he's telling his family all that

God had done in his life. And as he's telling them, there's a runner that comes to David's house to summon him to an audience with the chief. It's like being called to the principal's office. David's like, okay, you can't decline an audience with the chief. So he goes to the chief's house and the chief requested that he pray for his daughter. The daughter was born with twisted limbs and the chief had taken her to the finest doctors in Cape town. He had taken her to the witch doctors in the rural communities and no one could help her. So the chief asked David, would you please pray for her? So he goes to pray for the child. And again, he feels the love of Jesus for this girl. He's compelled by the love of Christ. And he tells her about Jesus and the encounter he had. And he says, listen, I can't do a miracle for you, but Jesus can do what's impossible. So he begins to pray and he lays hands on her and praise that she'd be healed. And as he's praying, he hears a popping and a cracking sound. And he looks down in her legs, straightened out before his eyes, the miraculous wonder working power of Jesus. And so he's telling this story and pastor Bonnke is putting the pieces together in his mind. And he says, Oh my word, you're the one they've been telling me about. I've been hearing about this revival happening in these tribal regions and you're the preacher. And David said, yeah, it's crazy. People are accepting Jesus everywhere I go. But pastor Bonnke said, well, wait a minute. What do you preach? You just accepted Jesus in my crusade, you know, a year and a half ago, and you haven't gone to Bible school. What are you preaching? Reinhard was worried that he had begun to preach a mixed gospel and a mixed gospel, honestly, is a lot more common than you'd think. This is the kind of preaching that we as a church must be aware of. A church that's built on the rock understands that we're built on one name, and that is the name of Jesus. A mixed gospel would say, there's many ways to heaven, not just Jesus. If you're a good person, you can go to heaven. And a church that's built on the rock would say, there's many ways to heaven. And a church that's built on the rock understands that we're built No, no, no, it is by grace that you have been saved through faith. It's not by your own doing. It is the gift of God, lest any man should boast. A mixed gospel would say, no, no, no,

you can go to the psychic and dabble in astrology and still love Jesus. And a church that's built on the rock would know that Jesus is the only source of peace. And our future is in his hands, not in the hands of man. So Reinhardt's worried. He's like, are you sure you haven't been preaching a little bit of witchcraft, a little bit of Jesus? And David said, no, no, no, no, no, I can assure you. I'm just preaching everything I've heard you preach. And Reinhardt said, well, that's great. If you preach what I preach, by all means, keep going, because that means you've preached the gospel. And he asked him, what are you doing with the new converts? And David said, pastors are coming all over and they are baptizing people after these events. The churches are growing fast, all because of one boy's encounter with God. This kid was cut to the heart with conviction. He was compelled by the love of God for people. And this move of God started with David, but it came with repentance, with humility, and with a deep hunger, not just to be used by God, but to be close to God. Every revival, every great awakening, every move of God has one thing in common. From Acts to Africa, every move of God has started with a man or a woman on their knees. There's a consistent theme of someone that was cut to the heart, convicted of sin,

sick of the ways of their crooked generation, contending in the secret place of prayer, boldly sharing their faith, not for clicks or likes, but out of a love for people. Let me just say, you can start with a man or a woman Let me just say, you can start a cool event, you can start a new ministry, you can host a giant gathering, but every revival that has lasted has been one that is bathed in prayer and repentance. My fear is that we have so many cultural Christians that believe they're following Jesus because of their church attendance. And I just want to tell you that church attendance doesn't make you a Christian, Jesus does. And I'm telling you this because I'm just saying, I work with students every day, a bunch of sixth through 12th graders, and I'm seeing this cultural lie creep in that's like, oh, I'm good because I go to church. But do you spend time with God on your own? That's the question. We need more teenagers, more young adults, we need more teenagers, more young adults, more parents, more grandparents that would contend in the secret place of prayer and say, God, I just want you. We can do things in the name of God without really knowing God. And honestly, that's what I want to warn us of today.

We don't need more bandwagon Christians that repost every reel that seems godly, but won't love their neighbor. We don't need more bandwagon Christians that show up for the hype of an event, but refuse to live wholly afterwards. Can I just say that's confusing to the world? When we show up and say, yeah, I'm a Christian, and then go live crazy after, it's just confusing. It's confusing to non-believers. Step off my soapbox, back to my notes. We need people that will walk into their workplace, and where most people are drained, where most people are depressed, where most people are tired, we need people that will walk in with the joy of the Lord and bring hope and healing into their jobs. We need people that are filled with the power and the presence of God that just can't contain the joy of their salvation. I'm not saying you gotta be weird, but act like Jesus really did something for you. That's when I believe that we're gonna see a revival like Acts 2. Peter says, save yourself from this crooked generation, and after his sermon, 3,000 people are added to their number. But the chapter doesn't end there. If you could go to verse 42, this is about the fellowship of the believers.

It says this, and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And fear, and awe, which is a fear or reverence for God, came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together, and they had all things in common, meaning they weren't greedy, they shared. Selling, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together, meaning they were going to church together, and breaking bread, they were grubbing after service. In their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all people. And the Lord added to their number day by day, those that were being saved. This tells me that every great move of God is sustained by the house of God. I said it earlier that church attendance doesn't make you a Christian, but it helps you stay one. I've seen people try to live out their faith on their own, and they get church hurt, and I don't need church, I don't need, can I just tell you,

none of them are still Christians. This walk was meant to be walked out together as a church family. And if I could leave you with a couple of points I would give you what I call the core four. And this is really just every move of God is upheld by these four things. It's not upheld by a man or woman, but it's upheld by the community of believers that would devote themselves to four things. Number one, sound teaching. Peter said, don't listen to the mixed gospel of this age. The formula is just, the formula is Jesus plus nothing equals everything. Peter was warning us like, hey, don't listen to the people that say you can buy your way in, you can work your way in. No, no, no, listen to the people that preach Christ and Him crucified. Number one, sound teaching. Number two, fellowship. Can I just say, we all need each other. We all have our problems, we all have our issues, but we're in this together. In tough seasons of life for me, in tough seasons of ministry, this has been the most sustaining habit that I've built into my life is just fellowship with strong believers. People that can encourage you, that can speak life into you,

that can call things out of you, that can rebuke you, that can be your strength. Number three, breaking bread. This is probably the most underrated one, but I love it. And I think honestly, as a church, we need to be better. We need to be better about going out to brunch or lunch after service. It's biblical to share a meal together. It's biblical to have community and laugh and just enjoy food together. Jesus did it all the time. A lot of his ministry was done at the table. I think we need to be better about breaking bread as a church family. Number four, prayer. Prayer is the hidden discipline that's unseen, but it is crucial in your intimacy with God. As I land the plane here, I just wanna share what happened to this young man, David. Honestly, I feel like it's only right for the integrity of this story to tell you that Pastor Bonke was very disappointed to hear that David walked away from the Lord. He walked away from the faith. And I could preach this word and I could leave that out and just tell you all the great things that David did, but that wouldn't be right. That wouldn't be honest.

David walked away from the faith after seeing all these incredible things that God did. And I think it's a sobering reminder for us to stay close to Jesus. Pastor Bonke actually went back to David's village to look for him, and he would say that it was like looking for a needle in a haystack because it was such a congested area. There were so many people. He looked and looked and looked and looked and looked, and he never found David. And honestly, we might never know the full reason why David walked away, but if I could take a guess, my assumption would be that David got off of his knees. Maybe he got away from a place of prayer and repentance and thought, I can do this on my own. What was one of the core four? Prayer. Or maybe he got discouraged by maybe seeing some moral failures of great Christian leaders. Maybe he got discouraged by seeing people live a double life. I don't know, but maybe he neglected fellowship, fellowship with strong Christ followers. Or maybe he gave up sound teaching and got mixed up in all of the spirituality that not only comes with Africa, but really comes with this day and age. Maybe he neglected sound teaching. Or maybe he simply just got isolated. Maybe he got away from communing with other believers. This is why every Wednesday after youth, we go to Cain's together. Crazy. I know. After a long Wednesday night service, we make it a point, myself and all of our leaders, to go to Cain's, to go to In-N-Out, to just share a meal. There's just something that's powerful about getting out of the four walls of a church and just talking, getting to see people where they're at. For me, getting to see students where they're at, getting to hear leaders where they're

at. That's church. This is how the Church of Acts did it, and sometimes I think we've lost the art of gathering in that same way. So I would even challenge you today, go say hi to someone that maybe you never talk to, or maybe grab lunch with a friend and invite them out to lunch. Just hang out with each other as church family. So maybe David neglected the last of the core for the breaking of bread. We can all stand to our feet. This morning, the call is real simple. I just want to give us some time, I want to give us a moment to repent. I think stories like David's is just powerful and it's really sobering to think about how God can do incredible things and we can still sometimes miss it. So maybe some of us this morning need to repent, not for some wild sin, but maybe we haven't obeyed God. Maybe you're holding on to some anxiety or some control and you need to surrender it to the Lord. Alter, in Hebrew, actually means surrender. So the call this morning is simply that. We're going to have some time where the worship team is going to lead us, but I want to encourage you to do what you've got to do to get right with God. Some of you, maybe you do have a giant sin that you need to repent of. The best part is I'm saying giant, but it's all covered under the blood of Jesus. Maybe you need to do a life 180 and you were going this way and you need to turn around because repentance isn't just an apology, it is a change. It is a change of heart, a change of action. So I'm going to pray and as I pray, I want to invite you, some of you feel in your heart, you need to come to the altar and prophetically just like surrender, whatever it is. Some of you might need to receive prayer and the prayer teams will be here on the sides. I don't know what it is for you this morning, but I believe the Lord really wants to speak

to you. Some of you have not heard from God in a long time and he wants to whisper in your ear his truth this morning. So as I pray, you're welcome to start making your way to the front. Lord, I thank you so much for what you're doing in this place. I thank you for every person here. God, I ask that you would begin to move in our hearts, move in our lives, move in our spirits. I pray that you would bring conviction to us, Lord. I pray that you would give us eyes to see things the way that you see them. I pray that you'd give us ears to hear your voice. And I pray even for some people here this morning that you would give them greater discernment, Lord, as they're navigating different struggles, I pray that you would give them discernment to know what to do, to know what you're speaking. Lord, help us surrender everything this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. ♪ We turn our attention, we focus on you, we focus on you ♪ ♪ We focus on you, our focus is on you, Lord, our eyes are on you ♪ ♪ We turn back to you, we turn back to you ♪ ♪ I open up my heart to you, I open up my heart to you ♪ ♪ I open up my heart to you now, to do what only you can ♪ ♪ Jesus, have your way in me now, I open up my heart to you, only to you ♪ ♪ I open up my heart to you now, to do what only you can ♪ ♪ Jesus, have your way in me now, I open up my heart to you, only to you ♪ ♪ My mind, my face, I open up my heart to you now, to do what only you can do ♪ ♪ To do the work that you have to do in my heart, Lord ♪ ♪ Jesus, have your way in me now, I open up my heart to you, only to you ♪

♪ I open up my heart to you now, to do what only you can ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus, come on, there's an invitation for you this morning, to give everything to the Lord, to give your heart to Him, come on ♪ ♪ I open up my heart, I surrender my will, I surrender my ways, everything to you, Lord ♪ ♪ Have your way in me, have your way, have your will be done in my life, God, in my family, Lord, to do what only you can, Lord ♪ ♪ We surrender this morning our lives, our future, everything that we have before you, come on, sing this with faith and conviction in your heart ♪ ♪ I open up my heart to you, I open up my heart to you now, to do what only you can ♪ ♪ I open up my heart to you now, to do what only you can, oh Jesus have your way in me now, oh ♪ ♪ We open up our hearts only you can, that you have determined our lives through the way, we open up, we open up to you today ♪ ♪ We open up our hearts only, we open up, we open up to you today, I open And I open up, I open up my heart and say I open up everything I'm, everything I am to you. ♪ ♪ I say I open, and I open to you all day. Oh, I open up to you back back back. All day again. Every time, as long as I say I, I open up. I say I open up my heart and say I open it up, to you every time, as long as I say I, I open it up today. Respect for you, I open it up today. Come, one more, from the bottom of my heart. Go Lord. I open up my heart and sing. I open up my heart and sing. tot To do what only You can. Lord Jesus have Your way. And all I want is to live within Your love. Being done by who You are. My desire is to know You deeper. Lord, I will open up again. And throw my fears into the wind. I'm desperate for the touch of heaven. Jesus, we thank You for moments where we get to come before You and lay down our lives. Lay down our junk. Lay down the moments in our life when we've messed up. Lord, when we get to repent before You. Lord, we thank You that it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. Lord, we thank You that while we were still sinners, You died for us. Lord, that You saw us in the pit. You saw us in the midst of our sin and our shame and our guilt and You picked us up. And just like it says in Psalms, You picked us up out of the muck and the mud and the miry clay and You placed our feet on solid ground. So we thank You, Jesus, for what You're doing in this place. We thank You, Lord. It's Your name we pray. Amen. Well, I don't want to move past this moment so quickly because I know many of you are still praying and receiving from the Lord. And so I just want to pray a blessing over you and then we'll be dismissed. So, Jesus, I pray that Your favor would go before them. Your presence would be with them.

Jesus, remind them, Lord, that even in the midst of the enemy, Lord, You prepare a table for them. Like it says in Psalms 23, You are there with them. Your goodness and Your mercy follow them all the days of their life. I bless this church in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You're dismissed. Thank you.