Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to the World Changers Church Gold Coast Podcast. Join us as we listen to today's message.
[00:00:07] Father. I thank you, Lord, for every person that's here.
[00:00:10] Lord, I ask that you help me to give this that you've given to me in a manner.
[00:00:24] Not so that's comfortable for people to receive, but in a way that brings power and the fire of God into this room.
[00:00:33] Lord, I pray that you speed me up or slow me down as you see fit. You control the volume as I feed these your precious sheep. It's in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Good morning, guys.
[00:00:45] You guys glad to be in the house of the Lord, yet?
[00:00:49] Good worship, Right?
[00:00:51] We've already had five or six good words.
[00:00:55] Everybody taking notes?
[00:00:56] Yeah.
[00:00:59] So here's the thing.
[00:01:02] This is what I want to paint a picture for you. And I love the fact that I can hear the kids playing because there's something that reminds me of in Africa, during a service, they had their children's ministry right around our feet. Basically, I was preaching. I'd preached three or four days of a meeting, and we were finally getting into the. Everybody's heart is pliable. Finally. Everybody has laid down their burdens. Everybody is willing to pick up what God has for them next. We started walking this out together. We started seeing salvations, we started seeing healings. We started seeing all these things inside this church. And. And I kept seeing this one young child that had down syndrome running back and forth.
[00:01:56] And I was like, well, I have horrible add, by the way.
[00:02:01] And I'm sitting there, and every time that I get to a point, shoom, and Dashie goes that way, and shoom and Dashie goes that way. Praise God.
[00:02:14] The saying, when you are in the Holy Spirit, you are in the Holy Spirit.
[00:02:19] So I reached down and I grabbed this kid.
[00:02:24] I didn't know his name at the time. His name was Endoshi.
[00:02:31] And I was holding Ndashi, and his mother came and got him. And when his mother was trying to take him away from me, he started crying and he started pulling on me. So I preached the next hour and 45 minutes, and y' all thought, this is gonna be a short service today with this little man in my arms. I did altar ministry with this little man in my arms.
[00:02:55] I had this constant roll of slobber going down, but every time I went to go put him down, he came back to my arms. Listen, I wanna tell you something. If you are too, too busy trying to do things the way that you are wanting them done, if you want to hear something, the way you want it to be heard.
[00:03:15] If you want to hear the worship you want to hear, by the way, it's not your worship. You shouldn't want to anytime particular kind of worship. It's not your worship, it's his worship. But if you want to hear a word giving in a certain way, if it's all about you, you're going to miss out. Because here's the thing. The one person that wouldn't move was Ndashi's dad.
[00:03:35] And Dashie's dad sat on the outskirts, embarrassed about his son.
[00:03:41] He had removed himself from the home. He had been gone for the last seven months. He was way out there. And finally it just hit me. I said, can I see this children's parents?
[00:03:52] She came up and she said, the father's not here. I said, yes, he is. I feel the father's here. I said, I want Endashi's dad up here.
[00:04:02] And suddenly the crowd parted. He comes down and this man who has been vexed with demons makes his way through the crowd.
[00:04:12] And I see him when he's. He's on the very outskirts of the crowd. We had probably 1100 people there, if y' all can imagine that, that number. And he was on the outskirts and. And he kept going like this.
[00:04:23] I said, no, sir, we're not going on until you come down here.
[00:04:27] He gets a little bit further, he stops, he shakes his hand. I said, no, sir, we're not going any further until you come down here. You are the reason we're here. You're the reason I'm in this country. You come down here right now.
[00:04:39] By the time that he gets to about midway, he is crying.
[00:04:44] By the time that he gets to the front row, he's on his knees.
[00:04:49] By the time that I get to him, he's crying out, God, I just need you.
[00:04:57] By the time the service was over, he was a born again son of the living God.
[00:05:06] Now here's the thing.
[00:05:09] That whole, entire story wouldn't have happened if I would have went with my first initial thought.
[00:05:17] This kid, somebody's mom or dad needs to come get them.
[00:05:26] I love God.
[00:05:28] I do.
[00:05:30] I love God so much.
[00:05:32] But here's the thing.
[00:05:35] I started imagining something. And this is before I went to Israel, so I didn't know. But I started imagining Capernaum.
[00:05:44] I started imagining what it must have been like on the Mount of Olives.
[00:05:48] I started wondering what it must have been like because all we hear about is how many men were fed. But those men represented families and those families had children. And Christ was always saying, forsake not the children. I think what we get to a place of is we take all of our issues out in a hope that God can fix what's in us. But then in that moment where God wants to fix what's in us, he wants to use something you don't want in the room.
[00:06:17] Listen, who in here wishes they could have their breakthrough?
[00:06:22] I mean, whoever's in here right now and you're going through a mess or you're going through a. I know a lot of you guys are trying to get residency and stuff here in this country.
[00:06:30] Good job doing that here.
[00:06:37] Australia, out here in the middle of nowhere in the Pacific or wherever we are.
[00:06:42] I don't know where we are. I just got on an airplane. I flew here. I just landed. Are we even in Australia? I don't know. Maybe you guys all just have weird accents.
[00:06:50] I don't have one.
[00:06:58] Here we are in this room together, ordained of God to be in this moment with a power that's magnified from the one moment at Pentecost.
[00:07:17] When the power of God stopped just landing on people and started living in people.
[00:07:29] Church.
[00:07:31] I thank you.
[00:07:33] And I and every Christian in the Western world have gotten to a place where we prefer ourselves so much that we forget we have God in us.
[00:07:45] If you're in here this morning and you're saved, if you've been born again, if you've received the blood of Jesus, if you have the baptism of the Holy Spirit, what's on your life is so much bigger than what you've made it out to be. If you want breakthrough in your life, I've got good news and bad news. Breakthrough is here.
[00:08:04] But the bad news is every breakthrough comes with a messy mess attached to it.
[00:08:13] Some of us just aren't willing to let the mess happen in order to have breakthrough.
[00:08:18] And here's the truth. You ready? The reason why Australia is not seeing revival is because it contends with our calendars.
[00:08:28] You're too busy for God to have a move in this country.
[00:08:32] That's my observation, and I'm sticking to it.
[00:08:36] I have watched one of the most busy generations in my country and in yours.
[00:08:45] We're going to fly over somebody from America and bring American anointing over.
[00:08:51] You don't need American anointing.
[00:08:54] You need God's anointing. And you're going to bypass it if you're too busy for it.
[00:09:02] I heard three times in the span of 15 minutes this morning what people expect out of church.
[00:09:08] How about you stop expecting Something out of church, and you start being the church and allow God to expect something out of you.
[00:09:22] I've got. Not touched my notes.
[00:09:25] Praise God. Go ahead and put my notes up.
[00:09:30] All right. Y' all want to take a picture? Because it was good. It really was. Go ahead and go to point two.
[00:09:37] Boy, that's good.
[00:09:39] That's some good preaching right there.
[00:09:42] It's all alliterated and beautiful. So glad I worked so long on that. Point three.
[00:09:47] Look at that.
[00:09:49] Beautiful.
[00:09:52] All right.
[00:09:54] The power that Marty, him. I want to talk about a situation where Peter and John went together to the temple for an hour to pray. And then in the ninth hour, they went out and a certain man from his mother's womb was paralyzed. Everybody, I think, knows that story. If you don't, I beseech you, therefore, my brethren, read your Bibles.
[00:10:20] And as they were walking, and this man called out to them, and he said, will you please give alms? Alms was a certain percentage of what you might have in your pocket to give to the homeless or to the sick or just something that religious people were expected to do because they were religious.
[00:10:35] And he said, will you please give me some alms? Will you please do this for me? And Peter and John walked up and they said the most spectacular thing that a broke Christian can say, silver and gold have I none.
[00:10:49] But what I do have, I will give you.
[00:10:54] Now, an unbroke Christian will say, I have silver and gold, but I won't give during offering because I don't know how to do that in faith.
[00:11:05] But what I will give you is my opinion.
[00:11:08] And I will give you a hard time.
[00:11:12] Y'. All. Y' all just. I just got some ugly looks.
[00:11:15] Australian ugly is ugly.
[00:11:20] Let's move back into the spirit. I like this side of the room better.
[00:11:24] I glanced over there. They're mad at me, y'. All. If they jump up, y' all gotta help.
[00:11:34] Silver and gold have I none.
[00:11:38] But what I do have, I will give you. See, this is reminiscent to a time where Jesus came by a pool as well, and Jesus came in. And this is big stuff. So I really want you to know this is the before and after pentecost of Peter's life. And I so hope that you'll grab the after part of Peter's life, because I want you to hear some of the phraseologies the bystanders say this morning.
[00:12:05] I want you to get ahold of this notion that the man you're about to see in action is the same man that you saw in action the last Time we spoke that was heartbroken by the lake as he was being fed by God.
[00:12:22] Peter says, I don't have much, but how about you get healed?
[00:12:29] Because I don't have silver or gold, but I've got the power of the living God in me now.
[00:12:37] Guys, this man got up, he stood up and walked and entered into the temple with them, walking, leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Then they knew that he who sat begging alms at the beautiful gate at the temple as they were filled with wonder and amazement at what happened to him.
[00:13:00] Now, here's the thing.
[00:13:04] What was your leaping and dancing season?
[00:13:11] What was your leaping and dancing season?
[00:13:15] Can you recall it? Did God do something so big in your life where during worship you weren't embarrassed to raise your hands?
[00:13:24] Did God do something in your life that was so transformative that you dropped your personal attitude problem and started representing the kingdom of God the way you're supposed to?
[00:13:34] Because I'm gonna tell you, some of the most wicked people I've ever met called themselves Christians.
[00:13:42] I'm gonna say that one more time just in case somebody missed it, okay?
[00:13:47] I know this is a huge room, and you may have missed that because you were too far back.
[00:13:53] Some of the most wicked people I know claim the blood of the risen Savior. That is not right. We have to kill it. We have to stop it.
[00:14:03] But here's the thing. I also don't believe they have the blood.
[00:14:10] This man was healed and he worshiped.
[00:14:13] Maybe the problem is that you were just so godly before you got saved. There was no real change, because we know that's possible.
[00:14:23] See, here's the thing.
[00:14:26] Peter was in a different place because there was a power that marked him.
[00:14:33] How much of your life are you still wearing that? The power of God that's in you doesn't mark you anymore.
[00:14:42] How busy are you about all of the burdensome things of your life, that the power of God does not get revealed to every single person that you meet.
[00:14:51] And I don't want anybody to feel condemned in here. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. I want you to say that in your mind. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. I'm not gonna make you turn to your friends, so don't worry about that.
[00:15:02] There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. So I've got news for you this morning, if you're feeling condemned, maybe you're not in Christ Jesus.
[00:15:10] Well, the Holy Spirit doesn't do this. No, I'm not talking about the Holy Spirit. I'm talking about you.
[00:15:15] You need to take some credit for what's going on in your life and what you are or are doing for the kingdom of God. You may have the biggest house, the nicest car. You may have the best clothes and the best outfits. You may have gorgeous array of colors.
[00:15:32] But if you claim Christ, the question is, what have you done in the kingdom?
[00:15:39] What did Peter do? They just flipped the world upside down over there on the top of his head.
[00:15:43] Peter shook the world so bad with the other apostles that the whole entire. That you all sit in this place and claim Jesus, that's how much they changed the world. How many people are gonna sit in churches over the next three or four generations because of you?
[00:16:01] They were apostles with the same God, the power that marked him.
[00:16:10] We know that Peter walked with the power of God on him.
[00:16:14] But I want you to bring this one thing into your mind so it makes you maybe feel a bit more categorically okay about this.
[00:16:25] If you were to see Peter in the street, he would still look just like the fisherman that was in the last story.
[00:16:35] You know why? Because he was.
[00:16:39] He was still the guy who cussed at the fire.
[00:16:43] So that's good news for all of you Australians, man, y' all be cussing. Wow.
[00:16:48] Y' all have got all kinds of, like, very colorful, strong language.
[00:16:55] Yeah.
[00:16:56] Just walking through surfers.
[00:17:00] Bless the Lord. Maybe caught it in Burley, too.
[00:17:06] But here's the thing.
[00:17:08] The same man that denied Christ is now walking in the power and the presence of a holy God.
[00:17:20] He knew him.
[00:17:21] He followed him. Now he has him in him.
[00:17:26] This morning, I pray that you have the power of God on you.
[00:17:31] We saw a crippled man.
[00:17:34] We saw him healed. We saw him delivered.
[00:17:39] But this is what I give to you this morning, if you would allow me.
[00:17:45] I think we play this church game like it's, follow these 10 steps, and you'll be able to manifest the glory of God.
[00:17:56] I'm gonna tell a story about me and Kyle real quick.
[00:17:59] Kyle was preaching a revival somewhere in the country. I don't remember where this was.
[00:18:04] We drove an hour to get there. I don't remember where it was at.
[00:18:08] I just, like. I don't know where I'm at in Australia. Kyle called me in the middle of country out in the US And I didn't know where I was.
[00:18:19] We were sitting there. We had a number of powerful nights.
[00:18:23] Kyle preached, and Kyle called in a number of his friends, and he said, hey, guys, I want you to do the altar ministry for me. We were all young Ministers.
[00:18:32] And here's some big news for you guys. I went from a secessionist church. I was an independent Baptist, if anybody knows King James. Only I was that guy.
[00:18:44] Radically transformed by the Holy Spirit of God.
[00:18:49] Actually baptized in the Spirit in the middle of a Baptist service while I was conducting the choir. I was a choir director.
[00:18:59] My suit, my tie on, next thing I know, I'm under an altar.
[00:19:06] Just went so well that day at church.
[00:19:12] So here I am. I'm pretty new to this. I've known Kyle now for about a year. And I'm working with him inside. And I'm functioning in the gifts of the Spirit now. Brand new to me. And I am hyped. I don't know how many of you have ever prayed for somebody and they've been healed. I don't know how many of you have been bold enough to go up to somebody and say, I know that there is there pain in your body. Where is that pain at? And pray. Pray that God heal them. And they get healed by God. I think that's amazing. But back then, I was new to it. And so this is what I did. And I wanna give you guys a little bit of a flagrant foul possibility. I was praying in the altar on one night, and I was seeing. We actually had this kid with ears that were deaf come back.
[00:19:53] He could hear again. And I was like, praise God. Look what God did with me. I did so good. I put my hands on his head and I declared the glory. And the glory came down and the glory.
[00:20:05] And his ears went, pop, pop.
[00:20:08] Can you hear me? He was like, yes. And I was like, praise God.
[00:20:13] Look at what I did, y'. All. I'm just confessing this to you. This was 16, 17 years ago. And I was so hyped that next day. Cause I knew Kyle was calling me back to do it again. He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm gonna put my hands. Everybody's getting healed tonight. I'm just gonna run with my jacket and start smacking people. And I'm just gonna.
[00:20:37] By the fire of God.
[00:20:41] I had plans.
[00:20:43] I got there that night. The altar, he preached. The altar's filled up. We probably had 200 in the altar that night.
[00:20:50] And I went to the first one and I went. I wanted to make sure my hands were hot and not cold.
[00:20:55] I put oil on it. I was ready to go.
[00:20:59] You know, I was short of just doing this. Come on. Yeah.
[00:21:05] Me and Jesus.
[00:21:06] People are gonna walk out of here knowing my name.
[00:21:10] I went to the first one. I Was praying, and nothing came out.
[00:21:15] Like, I literally didn't have a word.
[00:21:17] Something I never run out of is words.
[00:21:20] I'm a preacher.
[00:21:22] I get up there, I put my hands on their hands, and my buddy Daniel's behind me. I'm like, here, this one's yours. Evidently, I think they're demon possessed.
[00:21:31] Grab the next hands. And I can't. I am dumb in the biblical sense. I can't find the words.
[00:21:40] I'm sitting there going, God, why are you failing?
[00:21:47] And all I heard God say was, son, you never invited me into this situation.
[00:21:55] See, the truth is, is that you do have power in your hands. Listen, there are such cardboard garbage prophecies given in the church nowadays. You're sent to the nations. Everybody's sent to the nations. Come on.
[00:22:07] Your hands are going to heal people. If you get past yourself and put down your calendar, every hand in here could put your hands on somebody and heal people.
[00:22:14] Well, God's going to use you. Yes, God will use you. If you get past yourself, God will use you.
[00:22:22] And here's the best one. Ready? There's a river running through here.
[00:22:25] No, there isn't. It's carpet.
[00:22:30] I have spiritual eyes, and my spiritual eyes see. You are a false prophet.
[00:22:35] I know. I just hurt somebody's feelings. Sorry.
[00:22:39] But here's the thing. Y' all want a word? Here's your word.
[00:22:45] You can have your own word every single day.
[00:22:49] You don't have to chase down a prophetic voice because the prophetic voice lives inside you already.
[00:22:58] That's the kind of power we're talking about. So we're going to go on to Acts 4.
[00:23:04] Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, they perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men. They marveled and they realized that they had been with Jesus.
[00:23:14] Listen, y' all need to get to the place where you realize that you're not as big as you are and how big God is.
[00:23:22] They look to Peter and John and they realize these are uneducated men. There is no way that they could be doing what they're doing without Jesus.
[00:23:32] Listen, I proclaim that from mountaintops. I am not a smart man. I'm actually racked with anxiety before I get up into the pulpit every single time. But this is what I give to you right now. In every essence. If there is anything good about me, it has come from heaven. Because God is the only way that anything good is coming out of this.
[00:23:59] I think I'm supposed to be wrapping up right now, aren't I?
[00:24:02] Y' all give me a few more minutes, okay?
[00:24:07] Those of you who need to leave, don't sit down right where you are.
[00:24:12] I'm an American, and we're violent.
[00:24:16] According to the news, here we are.
[00:24:20] Acts 5, 14, 16. First, I want to run through this real quick with you. The first point, the power that marked him, it was Jesus. The proclamation that moved the man was that I don't have anything, but what I do have, I'll give you. And third, the presence that followed him. I want you to see the shift real quick.
[00:24:41] I want to take you back to a moment in scripture. You ready? God?
[00:24:46] Well, it wasn't at the time, they weren't calling him God. They were calling him Jesus. Jesus.
[00:24:51] This demon is giving us some problems. It did not come out by your name.
[00:24:57] And Jesus looked at him, y' all remember this?
[00:25:00] And said, this one only comes out by fasting and prayer.
[00:25:07] That's profound.
[00:25:08] But it was before the blood.
[00:25:12] I want to shake some of your theologies real quick. Okay?
[00:25:14] I'm not saying that you're not supposed to fast. I'm saying that nowadays we do it for the wrong reason.
[00:25:19] And some of y' all just got mad at me. I'm not listening anymore.
[00:25:25] See, the truth is, is that when you have God in you, that means God is around you.
[00:25:32] That means when y'. All.
[00:25:34] I don't really mind the way you guys came in today. Whether you came in with an attitude or not. I'm not gonna see you again for a while, probably unless you come to America.
[00:25:44] But that's not really the reason. You ready?
[00:25:46] Because when you came in here, even if at the door you decided to bring in a demon, when I hit my knees and I proclaimed the goodness of God in this room, your demon had to stay outside.
[00:25:54] You came in here a vessel ready to receive, because you weren't allowed to bring your demons in this room. Why? Because I'm in here.
[00:26:03] That means where I stand.
[00:26:05] Because I have the living God in me.
[00:26:09] This is holy ground.
[00:26:12] You all need to walk around your house. All your neighbors need to think you're that crazy neighbor. Some of y' all already got that. I know, but some of y' all need to walk around your house and start, number one, repenting God. I am sorry I didn't take this presence in the first place, but. But by an act of my own free will. Devil, get out of my home.
[00:26:34] Some of y' all don't wanna be crazy yet. I understand. Let's work a little bit smaller then. So here you go. You can whisper it, because volume isn't where the power is.
[00:26:43] The power's in the blood. So y' all can be a little bit less scary, especially if you live in a flat that's right beside somebody else and you already got two sound ordinances against you anyway.
[00:26:54] You can walk around your house like this.
[00:26:56] Father, by an act of my own free will, I repent.
[00:27:00] I am sorry that I allowed this garbage in my home.
[00:27:05] But from this day forward, God, it's all about you.
[00:27:10] I consecrate my home for you, God.
[00:27:14] I know I allowed people in here without declaring this place consecrated for God.
[00:27:21] As I was standing walking through here this morning, Patty was on one side of the door and I was on the other. And the door just slid open for me, kind of a. Hmm.
[00:27:33] And then Patty heard my spirit. He went, use the force.
[00:27:41] Acts 5, 14, 16. And this is where we're going to wrap up.
[00:27:46] And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.
[00:28:10] Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by the unclean spirits. And they hear me on this. Okay. These unclean spirits that were tormenting people were the same ones that Jesus said, you have to fast and pray in order for those to come out.
[00:28:33] And now people are lined up on the street so that a shadow can heal them.
[00:28:38] Y', all, I know that we live in a society that tries its best to give you a 12 step program, to have higher holiness than everybody else. But everybody in this room has got the same measure of grace given to them by the God who loves them, died for them.
[00:28:51] Listen, I don't care how. I don't know any of your popular pastors in Australia. I don't. I try not to know the ones in America. I don't know the ones in Australia. You know, what I know is that there is not a single man standing in a pulpit that can do anything that anyone sitting down out in the church can do.
[00:29:09] The fact that somebody pastors you and mentors you and disciples you, that's a gift to the church.
[00:29:15] It's not because they can do more than you. It's because they've been willing to walk you through your process.
[00:29:23] So here's the thing. You ready?
[00:29:26] The Before Pentecost, Peter was standing there by the lake with a God who he knew who he was because he saw all that he did.
[00:29:39] And he was so shook by the idea that God still wanted him after he failed.
[00:29:47] I know that in Australia, you guys don't fail.
[00:29:50] You guys are the perfect of all the western nations.
[00:29:55] You save your trees and your koala bears.
[00:30:00] You don't even let people accost kangaroos. I mean, although I think I saw a lot more of them last time than I have this time. Y' all must have herded them up and scooted them off somewhere.
[00:30:12] See, here's the truth. You ready? You are 100% at all times when you are saved.
[00:30:20] You are the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus.
[00:30:26] But some of y' all need to stop acting like you are him now. I'm not speaking. Any particular one. I don't know you personally. I don't.
[00:30:36] I do not know you personally. All I know is what the Holy Spirit is telling me right now.
[00:30:40] And what do you mean?
[00:30:42] What do you mean by we're acting like we are him? You know, like your calendar matters.
[00:30:51] But my calendar does matter. I matter.
[00:30:56] I'm gonna go in a route. If it's okay with you. Can I have freedom?
[00:31:01] We go on a route as I would do in my church. Will you please stand?
[00:31:05] I just think people pay attention better after they wake up from that sitting down spot. The standing up spot.
[00:31:14] This is Christian aerobics. It's calisthenics.
[00:31:18] The blood has now rushed back to your brain. Hear me on this, please. You ready?
[00:31:26] The sickness in the Western church is that in some way, shape or form, you think everything else is more important than what's going on here.
[00:31:36] Well, there's a lot of stuff going on wherever I am. Pastor, you just said that wherever you are is holy ground. Yeah, but where does it all begin?
[00:31:45] It begins with the touching and agreeing on any one thing.
[00:31:50] You can't agree if you're in a disagreement all the time.
[00:31:54] I think we just landed on where God wants us to be. By the way, I am not saying that the Holy Spirit is bringing in.
[00:32:04] Oh, you guys just all have to be cookie cutter Christians and agree on all. Anyone? You gotta agree on everything. No, no, no, no, no. Just stop disagreeing on everything.
[00:32:17] I'm gonna give myself an honorary doctorate real quick.
[00:32:22] I am Dr. James Kenneth Brown II and I am diagnosing this church.
[00:32:28] Some of y' all went. What Kyle said. We did not talk about this.
[00:32:35] No. If I could. I'm a missionary evangelist. This is what. After I leave here, I'll do this. I'll do a write up and how to pray for all of you. And the same way I do Africa, India, and all the other third world nations I've been in.
[00:32:50] Some of y' all will get that later, but here's the truth. You ready?
[00:32:57] There have been so many garbage words come through this nation. Y' all are having a hard time deciding to follow even the truth.
[00:33:08] Let me guess. You found your presence and your solitude in hyper worship, hyper spiritualization, and trying to find your identity in anything other than actually dedicating yourself to a local body to exercise your gifts.
[00:33:26] Why? Because there's so much hurt wrapped up in that.
[00:33:32] So I'm going to give you one of the most profound statements that you could have biblically.
[00:33:36] You ready?
[00:33:38] Who in here wants to receive the full love of God?
[00:33:43] Of course you do. Right?
[00:33:46] Do you know unwillingness to be hurt is going to hold back from you actually being able to receive the love that you desire?
[00:33:57] Let me put it another way that seems less like psychological gobbledygook.
[00:34:04] The walls that you have put up to keep yourself safe in a space like this is gonna keep you from moving in the giftings that God has given you to be expressed in a space like this.
[00:34:19] Why? Because if you are wanting to be loved, I'll speak from my point of view. You ready? My wife and I, I had a problem telling her that I loved her in the very beginning. Why? Because I grew up in a household where my mom and dad didn't make it.
[00:34:37] My dad beat my mother. I come from an abusive background. My mother and I, we, along with my sister, got in a car one day and we were homeless for a year and a half after that, running from a father who was beating us. I didn't know how to express love. But here's the thing. It took me years to realize that the very things I was putting up to protect myself was keeping me from being able to express myself.
[00:35:03] So this morning, if you'll let me, this is what I desire.
[00:35:08] I felt it last week when I came in. I feel it again this week. I feel like there are those in here who are carrying around such.
[00:35:18] And it feels good.
[00:35:20] So you don't label it this, but it's unforgiveness.
[00:35:26] You have not issued forgiveness, and you're not walking in healing.
[00:35:30] And I know that it's not gonna be this just incredible, super moment for you that's going to just relieve you from being able to do all things. But there's a start. There's a moment. There's a moment where you go, I forgive that's the action. Healing is the process. I forgive is the action. Healing is the process.
[00:35:49] But here's what else I need you to do. I need you to stop labeling stuff that happens in church and as church, something like church hurt, but it was church hurt. No, it was hurt. And you got hurt by a person in a place.
[00:36:06] It's not church hurt. It's not church abuse. No, you were abused in a place. And the way that that gets healed is by the power and the glory of the blood of God.
[00:36:23] But it begins with you saying the church. I'm going to tell you, when you say the church hurt me, you're saying that the bride of Christ hurt you. The bride of Christ didn't hurt you.
[00:36:35] Because if you're saved, you're part of the bride of Christ.
[00:36:40] But if you label it that way, and that's all I'm asking you today, is to take on that same post Pentecost mentality.
[00:36:53] There are some of you in here that have been so hurt that you've changed your whole entire personality. You know, you were a different person before you were hurt.
[00:37:02] There is healing for you, but it begins in a moment. A moment where you say, the blood is enough.
[00:37:10] If you all would please just bow your head for a moment.
[00:37:14] Nobody's looking. It's just going to be me. The leadership in the church is not looking either.
[00:37:22] If you're in here and you can say my personality, I can attest my personality has been changed by her. Just put your hand up.
[00:37:31] Thank you for being honest.
[00:37:35] I'm not asking if you haven't been forgiven. I'm asking you.
[00:37:39] I know something in me has been challenged and hurt.
[00:37:43] I know that exists.
[00:37:46] Who in here would say my heart, I have guarded it because I've seen things and been through things in church to the point to where I feel like I know what's gonna happen next. Be honest. Nobody's looking. Just raise your hands. I know what's gonna happen next. Thank you.
[00:38:02] You can put your hands down.
[00:38:07] Someone in my life has neglected or hurt me, Whether it be a boyfriend or a girlfriend, a mother or a father.
[00:38:18] I know that I still to this day carry wounds because of that moment. Will you raise your hand?
[00:38:25] All right, Hands down.
[00:38:28] So this is the news that I have for you today.
[00:38:31] I would say about 95 to 99% of you have raised your hand during this service.
[00:38:36] So none of you are alone. So whoever was in here going, oh, I'm by myself in this. Guess what?
[00:38:42] Nobody knows what I'm going through.
[00:38:44] You're wrong.
[00:38:46] It's a trick of the enemy. As a matter of fact, I will tell you this. The real trick of the enemy is to hurt every Christian so Christians are powerless.
[00:38:55] So this is what I ask this morning. As you've heard the kids playing upstairs, I want to draw this into your mind real quick. How quick do friends happen within kids?
[00:39:12] Within 30 seconds, they're best friends.
[00:39:15] They walk up to each other. They're like, they don't even introduce their self. They're like, got a truck?
[00:39:19] Want to play the truck? Got a block and they play.
[00:39:24] Why? Because they don't yet have all the brokenness that we all carry around.
[00:39:29] Well, they said this. That means they are probably going to be this way. Stop placing the blame of your past hurt on future relationships.
[00:39:37] But here's what I pray this morning. I'm going to pray simply this.
[00:39:41] I'm going to pray for each of you that today you will have ears to hear and hearts to receive on the first step God. And some of you may be on step 10.
[00:39:54] You may be in the middle of a whole process, but this is what I ask. I ask that you just at least name this first step. Number one. This is where I consciously say these words.
[00:40:04] So if you would repeat after me. Lord, by an act of my own free will, I forgive.
[00:40:18] Lord, by an act of my own free will, I receive healing.
[00:40:27] And Lord, by an act of my own free will, I say use me.
[00:40:40] Now. If you prayed that and you feel like you really needed to pray that, I hope that you prayed it and you meant it.
[00:40:47] But this is what I also want to tell you, that over the next seven days, until you come back to this place, I want you to keep your eyes open for what God does use you in.
[00:40:58] I challenge you. Don't walk away quickly from somebody who God's pointing out to you.
[00:41:04] Allow someone to speak love into you and if someone does hurt you, look at them immediately and say, I love you.
[00:41:16] By this, the world will know that you are my followers.
[00:41:32] Thank you for tuning in to today's message. To connect or find out more, you can reach us online at worldchangers Life.
[00:41:39] Remember to subscribe for more uplifting messages from our pastoral team and may you continue to walk in faith and transformation until we meet again.
