A.R. Bernard | “Understanding Power” | Christian Cultural Center

today we celebrate pentecost sunday and as we celebrate pentecostally we're going to pray and i pray that the spirit falls down on you right where you are i pray that the anointing just overflows in your life right now i pray that god will touch you in your ears and hear so many answers for so many questions i pray that god will touch you in your mind to understand your life where you are what's going on what's the next step where should i go from here i pray that god will bless you with clarity of mine i pray to god well his spirit will fall upon your heart to to mend it to mold it to soften it so that he can penetrate and plant a seed and seize it through the word that's going to be preached today i pray that god will fall upon your heart that it will mend it hallelujah heal it break the chains that bind you to pass experience that is holding you back i pray that god will just touch your eyes to see him so let his spirit fall upon you i pray that god will just touch your mouth to be a beacon of light a beacon of hope to speak words in season even if it's a high that god will anoint that high to help change a person's life i pray that god's spirit will fall upon you as you're watching this to settle you in your spirit i pray that god will his spirit will fall upon you and you wherever you are [Music] so that he will anoint you or fresh to do the very thing he has called you to do [Music] so lord i ask that you continue having your way throughout the rest of this service anoint the man of god to speak a word and season we pray for our atmosphere to stay in a peaceful environment so that we can receive what you have called us to receive today so that we can hear what you have called us to hear [Music] so lord here we are naked and unashamed holy spirit fall upon us in jesus precious precious name amen and amen [Music] amen welcome back oh it's good to be back good to be back so uh last week and welcome uh to our sunday morning service or gathering really it's becoming more and more of a gathering to learn to grow to worship to experience god uh so you last week you were out yes i was out ministering what church i had uh barack baptist church over in brooklyn on flatlands avenue we went baptist last week yeah went back this last week it was come back to pentecostal sunday okay yes i know right it was it was a nice experience enjoyed it you know really encourage them to to set the expectations correctly uh by knowing the nature of god who god is uh and it was very very good time an exciting time you know so i really enjoyed it so i'm thinking about the fact because it was um you had to work with a translator yes yes it was a haitian church okay yeah so that was that was that was difficult oh your haitians out there yes hey all the haters out there i want to give a shout out i was hanging out with your people on sunday it was i love to enter in different cultures it's amazing just to see their expression uh and that's the uniqueness about christianity some people say you know christianity is supposed to be a state religion no if christianity was a state religion it would have hindered itself in order to penetrate certain cultures that's right right there's certain freedoms within the culture of the uh that christianity is entering into an expression of god based on a theological biblical foundational um lens has led them to be able to express god within their within their culture identity and not lose that identity yes uh just make adjustments to some of the maybe cultural practices and traditions that were inconsistent with yahweh and and scripture yes and what i got out of that is how significant identity is to man that god will design a system that still allows for the person to thrive within their identity that's good and it's brilliant because uh when you think about i'm just looking for the text when you think about him sending the disciples sending us into all the world into all nations he understood that they would encounter different traditions different national structures different cultures uh different belief systems so obviously the gospel was able to penetrate that wow that's good stuff thank you so i was ministered to uh myself as i was ministering so it was and that's what you see is a good relationship all right all right well any uh housekeeping you know before we get into the word yes yes we have uh what we've been looking at how things are going with opening up and there's a survey that's going to be sent out so please look out for the survey from our member relations community and the question is how does it look for sunday school right not everybody's going to come out and we want to start being able to open sunday school so now this is going to cause our teachers to uh have to be creative and a part of that is we need some more teachers to help us out because we want to say you know be able to respond to the online community right and then as well as the in-person community right and what does that look like so we're looking for uh teachers sunday school teachers you don't have to have a background a teacher but you do have to have a good background so we're going to be doing a background check working with our kids you've got to have your your act together there yeah yeah so we did we need check id background check and everything like that to make sure uh they're above board but if you have a heart for kids and you have a heart to learn how to train kids up and um i asked one individual i said what's the criteria and he started singing sorry i i am a ch i am a christ yeah so look at the base you know fundamentally we need you to have a love for christ and a love for the individuals because this is an impressionable age and for a lot of us especially the older generation the sunday school has created such a strong foundation and our biblical world view yeah so we take it seriously but we need help and it's just that sunday school yes it's an environment to have fun but it's also to educate to disciple essentially to disciple yes to make them followers of christ to help them understand at their level the life the death the resurrection of christ and what it means what the implications are and it also teaches them how to be discipled you know because if you look at kids that were in sunday school you see the discipleship pattern for them differently than kids who entered christianity that's true after sunday school age that's true and last week i was sharing some uh information that some of it went back to 2005 in terms of biblical illiteracy yes amongst our youth at the time and figure in 2005 they were the youth yes so this is now what 16 years later and they're no longer the youth no they are the adults yes who are in the social institution in places of leadership in the marketplace uh and and the question is wow how did that those stats change or influence them and how does it influence what they do oh you could but you can see it as you look at okay we got to be good no no you can see it you know because look look at this there was a a statement that came out you know pentecost sunday right talking about the power of god uh falling upon individuals speaking in tongues and one of the questions that came up and somebody asked me to ask you say pastor can pass the addresses real quick there was a a post that went out and um and basically it talks about being a christian and speaking in tongues and do you have to be a cr do you have to speak in tongues or be a christian because when i read john 3 16 yeah come on you know that creates the premise and the the foundation of my lens on what it means to be a christian right the introductory of the christian walk yeah yeah we we add a lot of stuff to identify with specific doctrines or experiences and then all of a sudden we build a denomination or a movement around it and we say well this is how it has to happen uh in order for you to be legitimately christian yes uh but we have to go back to the scripture and the scripture does not say he that believeth is baptized and speaks in tongues will be saved no it is it is your faith and and even when we talk about uh believing all right what do we mean to have faith in christ it means to believe that his his life yes his death and his resurrection are true yes and based upon it being true i now respond to that knowledge to that revelation and i surrender my life to him that's essentially what's saying okay you have to repeat that because you just helped so many christians watching this you really freed a lot of christians you freed a lot of christians to be able to evangelize because that statement right there has really struck a chord and so many individuals just now wow okay so because it's so simple but profound yeah it's because faith talk a little bit about that today but but faith is essentially uh believing in the validity of something saying that that's true so when i say that i believe in jesus christ all right as a christian right what i'm saying is that i hold the life the death and the resurrection and its implications of jesus right as true so once i believe it's true i now have to respond to that truth i either accept it or i reject it and if i embrace it then now i have to live out i have to live according to that truth your lifestyle has to resemble your belief system exactly exactly right so if somebody says i say you want to see what somebody believes watch your lifestyle yeah yeah that's that's it so people who are still wrestling whether whether there was a resurrection whether there was you know you may have questions about the resurrection how can that happen all right you may have questions about the the virgin birth how could that happen all right but that doesn't stop you from believing in it all right so i believe it i believe that that's true i'm wrestling through the the mystery of it and we do wrestle through the mysteries of our faith but i have to accept it it's true and once i accept it it's true all right that's it yep that's like i tell people i say you believe your car is going to work right you have to say how it works do you understand right do you understand the fuel injection system and the pistons moving and you know the mixture of a little bit of gas a little bit oil in order to have it punctured no you don't understand all of that but yet you believe it's going to work that's it and you you either remotely or push the button or stick the key and now everything you get in they're not even thinking about it well it's the same thing with your faith in jesus christ you you once you make that decision to accept that is true now you begin to live that out and i think that's important because i want to touch on some things we're bringing our objective is to bring clarity to bring understanding i think that's what's lacking in a world where we have so much information so many voices uh that that we we we are wisdom poor i've said this again and again we are information rich but wisdom poor and we have so many angles of approach even within christianity so many voices you know spinning so many different things you you say well what do i believe which one is true so we want to bring clarity we want to bring understanding we don't want to hype you all right we may get excited about it because this is a great message this is a great life all right we're excited we want you to be excited about it but we're not going to hype you into this we want you to understand and and remember if i may i'm going to go over this this is important and as you're saying that what came over mind is that at one point we felt a lot of people were arguing against social media you know being on social media and stuff like that but i believe that social media uh this is amazing how god works he it has become a a a vehicle that has caused people to need church even more now why why because it's so play your role right i was on tick tock the other day right and i'm looking scrolling through and i'm listening to these different individuals with their theological view and how it has some truth in it but the overall archer's statement was not true just because it has some truth in it doesn't mean it's overall true and what has happened is the local church needs to be uh biblically sound so they can respond to a lot of these questions that are going to be out there so they're going to look for somewhere to have answer those questions and that's what's been happening people asking questions for example you said you know you had did air quotes about uh uh america being a christian nation oh yeah right yeah and the air of course i know you were being a little facetious or sarcastic america is not a christian nation right it's a nation that built on christian principles christian you know biblical foundation stuff like that but it says uh religious uh freedom for religion it didn't say it didn't mean freedom to practice christianity yeah right so plural society we are a christian nation in that christianity has had the greatest influence on american culture it's not that way we are a christian nation but we're not the kingdom of god no and that's another comment okay but let me let me touch on this and i'm gonna come right back because i i just want to go over this to for people to think all right and thinking how you think is critical right romans 12 what does it say you'll be transformed by the renewing of your mind so evidently that's foundationally important to the christian life how you think remember the quality of your thinking determines the quality of your life that's not just secularly but spiritually the quality of your thinking spiritually will determine the quality of your spiritual life and if you're struggling in your spiritual life it's because your thinking needs to be straightened out your thinking needs to grow and develop so in our world and we've got all of the all the information right so it begins with with oops let me see what this is here aha well why do you get that we want to give a shout out to june frazier from trinidad tobago well gosh welcome welcome welcome first time visitor thank you beautiful beautiful so we begin with data what is data data is information and there's a whole lot of data out there we begin with data we collect data we do surveys we we do investigations all of that all right so we collect data data is tons of information tons of data is out there we have access to but then the question is how do we interpret that data the interpretation of data leads to [Music] knowledge so just having data doesn't mean you have knowledge just having information doesn't mean you have knowledge how you interpret that information how you understand that information that's what translates into knowledge got it and then knowledge the next step how you apply that data that knowledge rather leads to wisdom so you're saying that the bible for some can be just data for some people it's just data i mean that's why you can have people think that the bible is the greatest piece of literature in the world it is still the number one selling book on the planet people read it all right but as it is it's information remember jesus said except you're born again you can't see the kingdom yes not alone enter the kingdom but you can't see it you don't have the eyes you have eyes to see but you can't see you have ears to hear but you can't hear you have a heart to understand but you can't understand so there's something that has to happen i read the bible before i got saved and but it was not through the lens of life in the holy spirit in a relationship with god i still had a secular lens to it so there are there are people who study the bible they think it's a great piece of literature it's a great book they read it to gain inspiration from it they they read it to to uh to ascertain a set of moral values that you know they may want to uh submit to or they read it because they want to refute christians yeah that's another thing right christian atheists read the bible just to refuse muslims you know the nation of islam hebrew yeah i mean look i'm i'm guilty of that i i i read the quran i want to understand i read others just writing i won't understand but so we start with data we information that's that's all it is folks just because you got a bunch of information doesn't mean you have understanding doesn't mean that you have knowledge it's how you interpret that data that leads to knowledge and then how you apply that knowledge is what leads to wisdom so those things work together so just because you have access to data doesn't mean you've got wisdom it doesn't mean you have knowledge how are you interpreting that data how are you understanding it when when the man came to see i i know you're getting fired up here right so when the man comes to jesus right and he says uh uh teacher what must i do to inherit eternal life jesus knew that the man had he was an expert in the law so he had the data but how was he interpreting it so jesus asked him he said well you know the law but then he asked how do you read it yes and how jesus was asking all right you've got the data you you know the the the scripture but how are you interpreting that because that determines the knowledge you have and that determines how you apply it because that man is who is what le who and what led to the story of the good samaritan where jesus showed him that he had the data but his interpretation was wrong because he was alienated people that he didn't like yes and we do that today yeah we have denominations and groups of people who identify themselves as christians they got the data but how they interpret it they they apply it uh uh with superiority complex erroneously with with racism in their mind to marginalize thinking that they're better than someone i mean look that's the thing that's people say well how can you believe the bible right and and be racist how do you believe the bible and be classist how can you believe the bible and do this and do that it all goes back to we we got the data all right we got the book but how we're interpreting that is what gives us knowledge and then how we apply it determines wisdom yes and and and if i may add to it based on how you interpret just because you have some form of knowledge if you can't apply it you have to go back to your interpretation so the process is data interpretation knowledge application and if if there's a problem with your application you have to go back to your interpretation what you interpreted about the data knowledge let me put that down here that's what you just said it's so important application that's where wisdom is demonstrated yep it's in the application all right so information interpretation application data knowledge wisdom and this is understanding the knowledge is the interpretation is how do you understand that data you know and even when they do surveys and polls you know there are those who get another poll to refute the polls they go back and forth because how you interpreting that information will determine how you apply it yeah and i i think the the part of interpretation has been our biggest struggle as humans and and in life as long as we've been living yeah yeah right because all information is based on the person's interpretation uh and it's a inception of contact right and then you go through the processes with theory you know proofing and things like that but interpretation tends to be a place where we always have a struggle yeah yeah even even the conversations we don't always hear what you're saying we're interpreting what you're saying in conversation sometimes you know they say men and women i'm not going to speak the same language but interpret things differently you hear that men and women speak the same language but they interpret things differently so you may communicate using the same language but the way you're interpreting determines how you understand it and how you apply it and that's where the conflict so in communication part of the art of communication is not only listening that is foundational to it but it's also making sure that you're on the same page in definitions of terms etc so i i will say so what you're saying is and then i'll repeat it just to make sure that that's what they're saying that's what they want to communicate to me and sometimes it's not it's different you know that's the way it is i hope you're helping will help you with your communication skills so last week yes yes wait is there anything else no this is we just jump right into it yes i know this is good yeah it's good because we we need to know how to think you know we all think but doesn't mean we think correctly yep that's something we have to be taught norman geyser said that he said everyone thinks but not everyone thinks correctly yeah yeah that's very very very important so last week i talked about um wars on two fronts yes there is the visible war which is amongst the kingdoms of men there the is the invisible war between yahweh mostly christ all right and the collective kingdoms of men under the influence of dark forces or the forces of darkness yes led by satan all right because jesus identifies him as the prince of this world so you have war going on physically and matthew 24 7 jesus says for kingdom will rise against kingdom and nation against kingdom there'll be wars and rumors of wars earthquakes and all that other stuff but essentially all right we will we will see in the earth realm until the consummation of this age of human history the return of jesus we will see war we will see we will hear rumors of war and why rumors of war because that creates anxiety and and fear and can actually lead to war you know how many wars happen because of a rumor and and and individuals or nations engaged out of a rumor if there is really wasn't conflict but conflict came or was feared or suspected out of rumors that were spreading around that's so powerful you look at how many how many rumors even just in corona has really stirred the masses right between nations as well you know america blaming china and you know china blaming america you know we we we see all that but this is all the result of the fallen human condition and it has to do with power yes that's what it's about we're and two things uh political power and economic poverty someone said well what about religious power well i will tell you um historically when it comes to wars and conflicts religious power or the desire for religious power was really a a cloak for the underlying desire for political power which is territorial all right or economic power so when you say religion is bad because so many wars have been fought over religion that's not true it really wasn't fought over religion it was fought over political power territory dominion all right and economic power those are the two powers and and let's see if we get to it but in revelation with the the mark of the beast you know some have misunderstood that and inserted there you see political power and economic power but they've inserted religious power as though there's going to be this global one-world religion that's going to be the result of the beast but that's not true the scriptures speak of the world regionally even during and leading up to the time of this final conflict east west north south regionally we are too diverse religiously all right so the whole idea of a one-world religion no that's not what it was saying we're saying something else we'll get to it and but your statement goes back to that data interpretation knowledge because they were used in the name of god you know as reasons to start war but they were using some data from the bible and they interpreted to help justify their means the crusades yeah crusades christians you know i mean slaughtering of thousands and thousands of people you know in the name of god the muslims you know look yeah but it's political power and it's economic power and we'll see how that's played out so let's let's let's lay some foundational work this is going to take some time to go over this but i think it's it's so important that we take the next several weeks uh to to to reflect on this all right so we begin with the fallen human condition and the following human condition um which is original sin the doctrine of original sin adam and eve uh acted personally we're not being punished for their personal choices of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil we are experiencing a condition created by their personal choice so personal choices can be made that create a condition that affect the innocent those who did not make that same choice but now are experiencing a condition as a result of that choice so original sin is a condition created upon which all humanity came upon all humanity for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god and we see that reality in every human person throughout history all right so it left us wounded it left us broken it left us dysfunctional and dysfunctional meaning that we're not functioning the way we were designed to by god when god said at the end of creation you know it is very good all right even after created man it meant that this being was not perfect only god is perfect but this being was perfect complete in what it was designed to do and the moment sin entered all right we became dysfunctional because we were no longer functioning the way we were designed to there was now a conflict between the spirit and the flesh all right so we're wounded uh the falling condition left us broken dysfunctional disordered so we we don't subscribe to god's divine order we push back again and we're trying to legislate changes in god's divine order which is best for human society it also left us limited to the power of our will without divine enablement so you know the fall is a privation yes all right you've learned that it's a privation we we became deprived of the holiness and justice of god that which separated us which made us different from every other specie all right so the fall is a deprivation we're privation rather all right we're deprived of holiness and and justice so it begins to affect the way we think the way we live the way we apply the way we love the way we do everything so it left us limited to the power of the will but we can't go us over it it affects everything we do everything we do everything everything the totality of the human experience and and the crazy thing is that there's still good in us and even it affects our pursuit to live a life that will please god absolutely everything absolutely that's why he said you know our our righteousness is this filthy rag yes so there's nothing we could do in this condition all right that could satisfy the perfection of god and that's why all roads can't lead to god that's why we need jesus christ why he came yes all right so we become limited to the power of our will without divine enablement that's why jesus said the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak there is a conflict there all right so if we are left weak and and what was adam and eve's reaction to the fall they hid themselves they were afraid fear and hiding took over that is powerlessness because when you feel powerful you don't hide nope there's no fear you're out there you're feeling strong you're walking a certain way yeah you carry yourself you're talking about come on come on but when you feel powerless you act differently right and we often feel this powerlessness to respond to the fallen world the fallen human existence so the big issue of the fall is a loss of power so if a loss of power power to live right power to live justly power to live holy power to love you know if it is a loss of power what will be the number one thing that man would want power and throughout human history it's been a struggle for power and all relationships were power play notice immediately after the fall not right in the same chapter three what does god say there's going to be a power play between the man and woman he says in in in in genesis 3 16 that that uh concerning the woman that her desire is going to be to rule her husband and he must lead her he must provide the leadership and covering that that rule that that that passion desire to challenge him all right will be kept in place so already there's a power dynamic in the marriage relationship in human relationships there's friction father and son relationship there's friction and daughter and mother and father every human relationship there is a power dynamic that's involved do you think that stems from the original uh cosmic sin of satan trying to get power oh yeah it was power satan disagreed fundamentally he questioned the justice of god in assigning that kind of power to this new human species he uh he he uh resented and questioned the justice of god all right towards the incarnation because remember the incarnation was planned before adam sinned before adam and eve did that there was already this plan that would work out so satan uh we he he resented he he questioned and he calls eve the question did god really say will you really die is god fair is god just in what he presents to you yeah so since then we've been questioning the justice of god right so so power is what it's all about and that's that's what the struggle is in human society on a daily basis issues between police and those they're policing what is it a question it's a power play right there the police officer having state authority all right state given power uh the citizen having personal rights within the society as a whole and and both interacting and then when you bring into play issues of of of cultural superiority uh uh you know racism you know all of this other stuff through misunderstanding yeah culturally induce ignorance i mean on and on and on what is that it's a power play so power it affects and influences every aspect of our lives every aspect of our existence so what is power all right let's let's give a definition let me go back to the board here i think that's important all right what is power our working definition of power because we're going to talk about political power we're going to talk about economic power and how that works all right what is power simple definition and look there are whole books written about power so i it's not my objective to oversimplify but remember i said something last week you weren't here i said that theology is brought to the marketplace not by me not by you not by the intellectual not by the theologian but by the lay person how the layperson lives out their faith that's where theology really hits the marketplace that's where it healed really hits the world so my passion is to empower the layperson so i don't want to speak in highfalutin terms that i lose y'all no i want to speak in terms that are pedestrian so that you can take it and run with it and live it out on a daily basis very very important so when we think of power we think of the ability to influence people events and outcomes and we say well what about circumstances and situations those are events believe me events so when we think of power our working definition when we think of power we're thinking of what the ability to influence people events and outcomes and we think about think about this word outcome i can't tell you how i've had to minister to people who have lost a loved one and somehow felt that they were connected to that loss had i been there had i done something different maybe if this maybe of that what are they trying to influence an outcome the outcome was the loss the death of this person this loved one and you start thinking and people wrestle through but what are you really talking about power the ability to what influence people influence events to influence outcome and and this is this is big here because if we could make people do what we want we think we'd be happy but no we'd have a terrible world it would be terrible but we look people go to to witchcraft and engage in these other things what are they trying to do influence people influence events influence outcome tell me my future huh tell me about it yeah tell me my future yeah and they they want they want to change from prophetic all right into fortune telling all right who am i going to marry where am i going to be what job what yeah so power is about the ability to influence people events and outcomes why because we are subject to people we are subject to events we are subject to outcomes that we can't control the fall left us in a place where we could not control things and and when we look around whether it's weather whether it's it's people no matter what it is so when we think of power you know and people say well what about spiritual power you know right you know that's okay you know but when we think about spiritual power all right even if we say we want spiritual power i want to pray so so i can see god work in my life you have to be careful there what are you really saying you want power well no i don't want power i i just want the presence of god working in my life well what is the presence of god what did jesus do with the presence of god he healed people he cast out devils right he exercised power and when they were in the boat they were so amazed at his power his influence over the elements that they what kind of man what manner of man is this the king james language you know what did they what what they're witnessing when he when he turned the little boy's lunch into enough food to feed 5 000 people they were witnessing power you know so he came with power and we even in our faith pentecostal and charismatic roots all right what is it about it's about spiritual power the question is always to what end do you want that spiritual power do you want it to make you look spiritual so that people can admire you because then you want it for the sake of glory you want to shine all right you want people to see how you speak in tongues how you prophesy how you do this cast our demons yeah you want to shine you want you you really you want the glory of that power see and that's a dangerous thing you know but but it's true because even jesus at the end of it said oh glory be to god yeah always always to th thine is a kingdom thine is the power diet is the glory yes you know that's very very important so but we want spiritual power because he see what did jesus say behold i give you power authority right to influence spiritual things in that spiritual realm of of reality uh this is what he said in the book of acts he said you will receive power after the holy spirit comes upon you and you shall be witnesses acts chapter 1 verses 7 through 8 and you shall be witnesses of me all right beginning in jerusalem and then spreading out to the to the rest of the world so christians were to receive divine power and and and understand that spiritual power that jesus was talking about all right because power is usually associated with with organization but this power was not political the power that the holy spirit brought on the day of pentecost this was pentecost sunday all right that birthed the church it was not political power it was not economic power it was not military power it was spiritual power however it would have social political and economic impact yes so that's the reality he he didn't give us political power he gave us spiritual power that does have social political economic impact that's real you take faith faith is is a spiritual force it works in the realm of the invisible what we see is the effects of faith right yes and the affects of faith so faith is an invisible spiritual force that manifests in the visible world i'm trying to i was going to write that down write that down faith break that down faith is an invisible spiritual force so now we're talking about visible war invisible war there are there are visible forces which is physical military might there are invisible forces because when you see and this is deep this goes beyond it when we say that when we read in the scripture there was war in heaven all right uh between michael and and and his angels and the devil and his what does that look like all right are they physically they're spiritual beings right are they physically at work or is there a different kind of war a different way in which war is ways that we're not privy to yeah we know how war is waged down here you know in the visible realm through military all right and force all right but how is war ra waged in in the spirit well and even paul says the weapons of our warfare which is spiritual are not carnal but mighty through god so and we don't have all the understanding scripture doesn't reveal all the ad it doesn't give us all the answers to this so we we operate by faith so think about it faith is a again it's an invisible spiritual force that manifests in the visible world if you go to mark let's take a look at mark chapter two let's go to mark chapter two and it's so good because when you look at it if somebody's giving a job a task to do they need to be empowered to do it yeah right and so if god is putting certain demands on us as christians to do it he will empower us to do it right and and i think how we are empowered is based on the influence we will have and when god gives us power not for ourselves but for what he's called us to do yes this jesus said the spirit of the lord is upon me because the lord right yes he has anointed me to do what to preach to god to set captives free yeah there's a reason and the power that god gives us is never for ourselves it's for the people it's for those that he wants us to minister to he's empowering us to minister to so in mark chapter 2 verse 1 all right when he jesus returned to capernaum reading in the nrc after some days it was reported that he was at home so many gathered around there gather around that there so many gathered around that there was no longer room for them not even in front of in front of the door and he was speaking the word to them then some people came bringing to him a paralyzed man this is interesting because he's at home right and even at home he can't be peaceful he can't be people know that you've got power and that's why people want the same power of jesus right you have no idea what you're asking for you know how many sick people how many people are indeed their children and if they know that you've got this special power they don't care they will like these guys rip the roof off your house ripping your roof off when he returned to capernaum after some days it was reported that he was at home so at his house and his feet walk in no peace so many gathered around that there was no longer room for them not even in front of the door and he was speaking the word to them as he converts his home right into uh and that's why well i'm gonna go there that then some people came bringing to him a paralyzed man carried by four of them all right so his friends are carrying him and when they could not bring him to jesus because of the crowd they removed the roof above him and after having dug through it they let down the mat on which the paralytic now this is a this is a man's body so this is not a small hole it has to be big enough for a stretcher to be lowered down through the roof into the presence of jesus right so again after having dug through it they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay first five critical remember it's a spiritual force when jesus saw them lowering the mat upon which the paralytic lay it doesn't say that it says when jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic son your sins are forgiven he healed him what did he see he saw their faith to him and his ability to discern and to look into the realm of the spirit he could see that force at work and it was manifesting in how these individuals were acting on behalf of their friend that's powerful that's powerful he because he didn't like most of us who's watching this as homeowners see our roof get here ripped up they're not seeing faith they're seeing bills they're saying who's going to repair this who's going to be you know why would these people do this they saw everything else but faith you know that's what that that would have been our normal look on this situation what he saw was their fate yes so let me add additionally to the the whole definition of faith faith moves people to act on something they believe to be true i'm gonna say it again faith moves people to act on something they believe to be true you will not act on it you will not act in faith you will not be moved by faith unless you believe it to be true and this is why truth matters come on come on i'm a christian because i believe the claims of christianity are true yeah that's that's why i'm a christian so these are two wars on two fronts there are spiritual forces at work there are invisible forces at work there are visible forces at work but two fronts the visible war being played out on earth the stage of human history right that's a visible war the invisible war being played out uh behind the scenes by unseen forces and paul says we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principality and power and this is why it's so important to understand that jesus was given authority over things in heaven that invisible realm things on earth the visible realm and things under the earth which speaks of though the dead the realm of the dead those that have that have so even those who have died already are still under his authority and their future lies with him because death is not the end of life that's that's profound he he he's got it all covered he's got it all covered yeah so the invisible war again is is is between i'm sorry the visible war is between the kingdoms of men again nation against nation kingdom against kingdom uh and that's what jesus talked about the invisible war is between the kingdom of god and as i said the collective kingdoms of men influenced by the forces of darkness primarily their leader saint who is is somewhat hidden in the old testament and not fully revealed in his antagonism against the kingdom of god and when we think about the kingdom of god please understand we're not talking territory we're not talking a realm we're talking about a rule yes the rule of god in the earth and we live out the kingdom when we live out or should i say we declare the kingdom of god is here when we live out the values of the kingdom all right very very important yes we declare that the kingdom of god is here when we live out the valleys of the kingdom the kingdom the value is what's most important to you seek first the kingdom and his righteousness right what do you stand for what are you willing to give your life for die for right so the authentic christian life is the visible expression of the rule of god of god in their life absolutely and and that's that's a tough thing that's that is when you're struggling all right to when you're caught between the the the ideal of god's law and the reality of your own existence here in the fallen world and your inattention that's not bad that's good it means that you're sensitized if you weren't struggling and you were just going one way yeah i mean no it is a tension it is a struggle to embrace what jesus said and then how do i live this out yeah you know there there's a story that that is told about um that that uh a teacher he's a sage spiritual leader uh teaching his students so he says to his students he said so you you you come on the sidewalk and you find a wallet and the wallet's filled with money what do you do so one student steps up and he says well i would i would take it because my family at home probably needs the money all right so he's justifying taking the wallet not me it's my family yeah i got it so so the the the sage says no that's not the answer i'm looking for the next student says well uh i would i would leave it there because and and this is on the sabbath by the way so it's a jewish sage all right he says well i won't pick it up because it's a sabbath and i don't want to violate the sabbath right so the the the rabbi says that's not the answer i'm looking for so the third student he steps up and he says well i would be conflicted i i wouldn't know whether i should pick it up or whether i should leave it there i i would be caught in this tension the rabbi says that's the answer i'm looking for because that's what spiritual life is really about we are caught in attention you know the good that we know to do paul said the good that i that i want to do i don't do and the evening that i don't want to do i i i i i do you know and i i find a law that when i would do good evil is present and he says who's going to deliver me from the body of the sin and then it says he realized through christ the holy spirit the the enablement of god is what allows me to now work through this tension but the tension is what's real so these people who claim to be at a spiritual level where they don't deal with attention pray for them okay because they're in denial there's there are actually some studies that say tension is good absolutely absolutely and you know it's it even god creates tension sometimes when jesus said every branch in me that bears fruit i'm the vine you're the branches every branch of me that bears fruit i will prune it i'll purge it all right that creates attention when you start cutting away stuff that's unproductive from someone's life that creates attention that's real so it's when we embrace the tension of the christian life that we really begin to live out the values of the kingdom we we we want power and we're going to talk about political power what that looks like but i want to give a background a quick overview all right of the invisible war all right that's important because it manifests in the visible realm it's invisible but it manifests in the visible realm when i look around and see what's happening within society i know that there are forces behind this that are influencing and shaping what's going on all right and why is that important teaching you how to think let me tell you why all right okay let me see so i'm going to make a statement and write a statement here no let me put this way sorry we hear so much now in our politically charged american society we the people all right let me put that down here we the people and we get that from our founding documents right we the people that's us because american democracy supposedly says that government is from the people that's so far from the truth it's so far from the truth and here's why the voice of the people is not the mind of the people i'll say it again the voice what people are saying what the masses are saying is not coming from their own mind it is coming from all of the influences that they're exposed to that are telling them what to think and how to think there are these forces at work media is at work telling people what to think and that's what they say special interest groups political party associations right your your your family upbringing your attitudes your values all of these things are being shaped and influenced by all of these outside forces so when we talk about well the people said the people what the people are saying is really not what the people themselves are thinking yeah so we have all of these influences that are coming at us so not only is that true of these elements of media and everything else all right but there's spiritual forces behind that that are using these influences to shape the overall voice of the people politicians respond to what the voice of the people but is it really the mind of the people no it is whatever is influencing the way people think and for the most part because they don't take the time to read up on and and study the legislations at hand the conflict that's at hand what it means all right so this this is this is so important you got to understand that when you talk about data right how you interpret the data leads to knowledge and knowledge determines how you apply it not only are they giving you data they whoever they are i'm going to t-shirt who is they not only are they giving you data but they're also interpreting the data for you so that that could be your knowledge and determine how you apply it yeah that's very very important folks and when you're watching the the news all right please understand that you're being influenced no matter what news channel you're looking like looking at right left center if there is such a center and you see it because mtv years ago used to do this show called what teens want and throughout the show they're trying to get the kids to say what they want and by the end of the show you see the switch subtle switch where they start telling the teens what they want so here it is mtv corporate america is doing this whole thing making it seem like we're worried about the kids and suddenly they turn the conversation around and say no this is what you want and they start influencing the minds of these kids to start i say yeah that's what we want and they really didn't think about if that's really what they want and that is just shows that and it got pulled off uh they stopped doing it because people started complaining and that's where the whole idea of brainwashing comes you know that they say mtv was one of those brainwashing uh organizations but yeah they came out of that how many times in the bible do we see satan influencing someone to do something king david yes numbering the people right after god told them not to you have ananias and sapphira all right who lied about the the property that they sold and how much they got for it and they didn't have to these are the some remember he was a liar jesus said satan was a liar so when someone engages in lying what's going on and and and we think of lying on an individual basis no mass manipulation yes by forces you know such as mass media public officials yes because we look to them and we believe that you know they have our best interest they know better than us they know the facts they know the idea they won't trick us so they'll tell us and how many times do they manipulate us one statement and everybody has to say that one statement completely repeated to inculcate into our mind and say okay yes that's it over and over again clergy the reason why politicians come to the clergy and say well you know we want you to say something about it because they know the influence that clergy have on the minds of the people you know political associations uh special interest groups you know all of that so so so the voice of the public the voice of the people or the public is not the mind of the public um a small portion takes the time to think and understand when you go to vote right there are names of people on there all right in different positions that you don't even know who they are you never heard of them yep and what do you do you vote according to your political party well i'm a democrat so i'm just going i know this person i know that is true but the rest of these names i don't know i'll just i'll just go down the line democratic line i'll go down the republican line we are so shaped in fact and what is true in just in in the world a secular world is true spiritually yes you have all of these voices you've got to make sure that your understanding of god the voice that that you are voicing with regard to your spiritual beliefs are well founded you have to make sure it does matter who your pastor is it does matter who you sit under that's teaching you it does matter what church you go do it does matter who you follow what books you read all of those things matter because they are influencing and shaping you that's why i always say read two books and then make up your own mind yes all right you you want to lose weight okay read a few books yep don't just take one read a few books and see what they have in common at least you know that that's safe something all right that's safe we've got to be smarter than that believers god's called us to be sharp he said we're in we're he he's released us as what sheep in the midst of our world be therefore wise as serpents and harmless has done we're going to get into political power economic power invisible war visible war we're going to keep going with this so thank you for being with us today and i think we did a whole hour of teaching today man wow all of you complaining you want two hours of teaching you got an hour and ten minutes today you got some young individuals like no no we don't no no just give me a word grab and go yes all right let me grab box box my word here's the word uh here's a phrase for today be mindful of who you follow even on social media wow that's right so so important well let's wrap it up yes right well no we are we have a minister okay okay i share with the individuals who are watching that uh especially when we start talking about the cross the life death resurrection of jesus christ the validity of that uh setting the foundation uh that's what we believe and we have a minister here that uh wants to share with you and take you to a process of walking and becoming a part of the family of believers amen if you have never accepted jesus christ as your lord and savior we want to give you an opportunity today to make him your lord and savior if you would follow me in this prayer father i thank you for the privilege and an honor to come before you i ask you to forgive me my sin to cleanse me to wash me purge me i believe that jesus christ died for my sins was buried and on the third day he rose again today i accept him into my heart as my lord and savior i believe it and i accept it in jesus name amen if you have accepted jesus christ as your lord and savior for the first time we want you to call the number at the bottom of the screen we want to journey with you we want to walk with you through this process of having a personal relationship with the lord jesus christ please give us a call we want to welcome you into the family of god into god's kingdom [Music] welcome congratulations congratulations if that's you and you join the ministry the body i believe is the family uh i'm excited for you i'm excited for you this journey is it's a fun journey it's not an easy journey but it's a possible journey and we are here to assist so once again there's a number on the bottom of the screen and if you participated in that prayer participated in that prayer with roger minister roger for shay we ask that you read look call the number read call the number on the bottom of the screen or text them on the bottom of the screen we have individuals that want to encourage you and talk to you about this journey you just entered in absolutely amen and again uh i think yeah i it comes to mind that you know being a christian is believing that the life death and resurrection of jesus is true with all of its implications yes and surrendering to the rule of what he said and what he did over our lives so he becomes lord we have to talk about what those implications okay yeah amen yes amen well we hope you've been blessed today we enjoy ministering to you whether it's me doing a solo flight whether it's us working together or whether it's pj doing solo which will happen you know uh we enjoy what we do and we want you to not only have the information but understand that information go back and check us on it there are different views of so many things and so many spins on all this stuff we want you to be an informed christian an educated christian so you could live out a life of victory god wants the best for you in every way your relationships your finances every aspect of your life your health wants the best for you yes amen amen amen leave us out and pray father god we thank you so much for who you are what you are lord you're an awesome guy we first let me say thank you for the things that you have done that we don't even know you did the protection the provision the love that you have done behind the scenes that we are benefiting from and we take it for granted so i say thank you for it lord i pray and ask that you continue watching over us let this message marinate let this message bear fruit 100 fold back into the kingdom back to glorify you lord lord we say thank you so much for this week we stay in anticipation to hear the voice of god to see the movement of god to receive the words that you save for us lord if you say go we go if you say stop we stop so we ask for discernment to move under the power of the holy spirit though you are such a good god a wonderful god an amazing god so we ask that you have your way in our lives in jesus precious precious name amen amen well until next time as we leave this place with another god's presence jesus jesus is lord period we believe it we proclaim it and we're seeing it come to pass god bless enjoy the rest of your sunday

Channel: Christian Cultural Center - Brooklyn Campus

Views: 16,463

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Id: 2odPT8jBv0w

Length: 66min 42sec (4002 seconds)

Published: Tue May 25 2021