Are You Living? | The Extreme Life | Part 1

hey this weekend church i am so excited because we are kicking off a brand new series that we have been praying about for a quite a while it's called the extreme life god wants you to live an extreme life he doesn't want you to live in an ordinary average barely making it by holding on for dear life kind of like no he wants you living an extreme over the top and ephesians 3 20 more than you could even imagine or dream kind of life that's what he has for you a key verse for our series is found in ephesians chapter 1 uh verse 18. let me let's read it together look what it says here it says i pray that your hearts would be flooded with light i pray that you understand he says so that you can understand the confident hope that he has given god has given to those he has called i also pray that you will understand here we go the incredible greatness of god's power for us who believe in him i'm praying that you get it that this is the same mighty power that raised christ up from the dead so paul is saying here i want you to understand like i'm praying that your eyes will open up and that you will begin to see that the same power that raised jesus christ from the dead is available for you so why would you settle for anything less why would we settle for average or normal or just getting by when we have that kind of power available to us spirit filled you think red bull or some monster energy drink is the power you need to get through your day no no no god's got something so much more in store for you so the question is then why are people living so far below what god intended for them to live i'm going to look today at an extreme story about an extreme encounter in the word of god our story actually revolves around the extreme life of the prophet ezekiel and his adventure doesn't begin on a rocky mountain or high in the clouds somewhere it actually starts in a valley where god gives him a vision the spirit of the lord leads ezekiel into the middle of a desolate valley all along the ground and scattered with piles and piles of dry bones and in this valley god asks the prophet this question ezekiel can these bones live can these bones live what a strange question how do you even begin to answer a question like that ezekiel gazing out at this pile of skeletons responds to the lord and says sovereign lord you alone know so god commands ezekiel prophesy to the bones and say to them dry bones hear the word of the lord i will make breath enter you and you will come to life and i will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin and i will put my breath in you and you will come to life though a wild request ezekiel does exactly as he is commanded and he begins to prophesy and his words begin to fill the empty space and there's a trembling that is felt in the valley a noise a rattling as as bones begin to move and come together skeleton units are formed and tendons and flesh take shape around the bones i bet it is a sight unlike anything ezekiel has ever seen both mesmerizing and mortifying all at the same time but these bones were still lifeless they laid there without breath in their lungs no longer just bones but still with lot life so god instructs ezekiel further prophesy to the breath and say to it come breath from the four winds and breathe into these slain that they may live so ezekiel prophesies as the spirit commands and suddenly amass inhale breath enters the lungs as this fleet of flesh stand to their feet a vast and mighty army and then god tells ezekiel son of man these bones are my people they say our bones are dried up and our hope is gone and we are cut off therefore prophesy to them my people and say i'm gonna open up your graves and i'm gonna bring you up from them and then you my people will know that i am the lord i will put my spirit in you and you [Music] will live okay that had to be the coolest reading of any bible story we've ever done here can we do this every week i mean smoke and lights and wow now you might be thinking todd that is really a weird story in the bible right you might also be wondering what in the world would a valley full of dry bones have to do with me today i would venture to say that it has everything to do with you and with me because what is embedded in the vision that ezekiel gets in this valley is the very thing god wants to give to you and me something unexpected something that is supernatural god has that for us you see there's nothing more lifeless than a pile of dry bones nothing more hopeless and dead than some dry bones and yet if i were to be honest there are times in our lives when parts of our lives look like these bones all dried up hope is gone could be a relationship where trust dried up a marriage where the love dried up a dream that is dead a prayer that hasn't been prayed a business that that dried up long before your intended time a doctor's report that has sapped you of all hope and all life and it's into those very things that that god wants to prophesy a new word in you that word prophecy or to prophesy just means to declare the word of the lord to say and to speak what the lord says so i just want to stop in the middle of this sermon and talk to anybody who might be facing an impossible situation in your life i want to prophesy what the word of the lord says and the word of the lord says that nothing is impossible for god that if you're facing an impossible hopeless situation like this that that's exactly where god likes to get started in fact before it looks like this you don't even need god you can do it yourself but when it's impossible that's where god shows up in fact it says in luke 1 37 once you say this with me out loud at all of our campuses nothing is impossible with god say it again nothing is impossible with god so i don't care how dried up it looks how hopeless it may feel today we're going to speak life new beginnings new hope fresh starts in the word of god and for those of you that you're not in a valley of dry bones today everything's looking good in your life can i just tell you this word that god wants to speak is for you too he wants to show you something in here so there's a few things that jump out to me in this story the first is we don't know how these bones got here like we don't we we can't read what led to this pile of bones did they get themselves in this situation did they drag themselves out to this valley or did somebody bring them here uh by by hurting them and and throwing them in this place of despair and discouragement and they've just been left here we don't know how they got there but regardless we don't read in the scriptures any judgment for the bones nowhere do we see god say to ezekiel ezekiel tell those bones how pathetic they are what what in the world you sorry bones how did you get here what did you do didn't you know better how could you get yourself in a valley no no no nowhere in the scripture do we read judgment for the bones all we read is hope and life and new beginnings and so i want to tell you something today that if you find yourself in a place that's a little dry today if there's an area in your life that's a little bit you're overwhelmed with the situation you're not going to get judgment from me today but i am going to ask you the same question that god asked ezekiel can those dry bones live those dry bones in your life can they can they live again can that marriage live again can can that relationship breathe again can that prayer that you stop praying can you start praying again can you start dreaming can these bones live now by the way we god asks ezekiel that question it's not because god didn't know what the bones could do what he could do with the bones it wasn't like he was trying to figure something out he was actually trying to help ezekiel figure something out to understand what he could do with a pile of dry bones can these bones live it is a question that will challenge your faith it'll it'll force you to make a choice am i going to go by what i feel and what i sense and what what i hear other people saying or am i going to go by what what god is saying so i ask you again in your life in the things in your life that might feel a little dried up today can those bones live in this story i believe there are two powerful truths of revelation that help you answer the question the first is the power of prophecy the power of prophecy to prophesy means to boldly declare the word of the lord and can i just tell you you do not need to be an old testament prophet to prophesy you can speak and declare the word of the lord over any problem any situation over your family over your children any and every situation you can declare the words of god your words matter what you say what you speak matters do you know that proverbs 18 21 a verse we've shared many times words kill words give life they're either poison or fruit look at those last two words what does that say yeah you choose you choose what word you're going to speak over your life your words have power but can i tell you the word of god is a superpower if our words have power to bring life to bring life or death how much more than how much more power than does god's word have speaking the word of god over the circumstances look look what prophecy looks like in the story god says it then ezekiel says it then god makes it happen it's not confusing god says it then ezekiel says it yes then god makes it happen can i tell you what we're talking about right now when it comes to the the power of the prophetic it is not some name it and claim it blab it and grab it theology that is not what it is it is about you aligning your life with the word of god and literally aligning your words with god's word and when you align your word with god's words let me tell you you can in sync with the creator you're going to step with heaven you're going to go some places you never thought you'd go do some things you never thought you do live a life you never thought you could live i can't tell you i could spend the rest of my time talking about all the times where i began to change my circumstance by changing my words especially in this last year i don't have to go back very far i was saying oh i don't know how we're going to make it oh it's never been this bad oh it's bad oh it's whole oh now now that happened oh and i was actually declaring something very negative over my situation and over the circumstances and i had to stop myself and say wait a minute todd what does god's word say god's word says that i am more than a conqueror that means i'm going to conquer through this and he's going to be with me god's word says that no weapon formed against you is going to prosper so you can stand in confidence and faith when you declare that god will supply all of my needs so i can look to him and not look to the circumstances and as i began to change what i was saying my circumstances didn't immediately change but man my spirit changed i went from fear to faith i went from oh dear to expectation god how are you going to show up there is power in the prophetic but for the rest of the time today i want to focus on the second revelation that i see in this scripture in fact we are going to spend the next several weeks unpacking this one foundational truth because it is foundational to you living the extreme life that god wants you to live in fact without this you cannot and will not live the extreme life god has for you it starts to reveal itself in verse four the lord speaks to ezekiel and says prophesy to these bones and say to them dry bones hear the word of the lord i will make breath enter you and you will come to life i will attach tendons and make flesh come to you and cover you with skin and i will put breath in you and you will come to life that word breath in the hebrew is ruach which is the same word for holy spirit i will put ruach my spirit in you and you will come to life it was the ruach of god in genesis chapter 1 in chapter 1 verse 2 when god was forming the heavens and the earth at creation it says and the spirit of god the ruach of god was hovering over the waters of the deep in exodus 15 it was the ruach of god that blew the red sea and parted it so that the israelites could cross over onto dry ground i could go on and on in the new testament it is the wind and the breath of god that actually blows in the upper room in acts chapter 2 and fills the people with the presence and the power of god we need the breath of god here's what i want you to understand when the wind begins to blow everything begins to change when the wind begins to blow every time i read it in the scripture everything begins to change even in this valley of dry bones yes before the wind of the spirit blew there was some rattling some coming together some skin and muscles starting to look better but they were still dead right look at verse seven so i prophesied as i was commanded and as i was prophesying there was a noise and a rattling sound the bones came together bone to bone i looked tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them but there was no breath in them outwardly things were looking good hourly things were starting to look a little bit better but inside they were dead i'm afraid too many of us are looking good on the outside we got things kind of put together in our life on the outside but on the inside we're dead on the inside we're lifeless on the inside we're trying to to figure things out we may know we may know the right scriptures to quote we may know all the all the words to the songs we might be able to to sing them with our eyes closed but without the spirit of god there is no life without the spirit of god is just religion and emotions god wants to breathe life in us today in a fresh new way when the wind begins to blow things are going to begin to change look what it says in verse 9 then he said to me because they were dead prophesy to the breath prophesy son of man and say to it come breath come spirit from the four winds and breathe on these slain that they may live so i prophesied as he commanded and ruach spirit entered them and they came to life and they stood on their feet a vast army now let me just say this there is nothing like the word of god nothing like the word of god it is the authority for our lives it gives us direction it is sharper than any two-edged sword it speaks to us it is alive god will use this every day that you open it he will speak to you through it but can i tell you in this story the word was not enough in this story the spoken prophetic word just read it yourself was it got things in order it got bone to bone it got things ready but it wasn't the full story there was more that god wanted to do for his people remember he said these bones are my people there's more i want to do for you i want to breathe on you i want to fill you with my breath i want to fill you with my spirit so don't settle for just being put together and looking good and sitting in a row so man let my spirit fill you up see i don't think i don't think that the devil is scared with how much scripture i can quote i don't think the devil is scared with how many songs i know i know the latest maverick city hill song i don't think the devil is scared about how many people we have sitting in our church or how many programs we have helping people out in the hurricane but you know what i think scares the devil what gets him running is a body of believers that is filled with the power and the presence of god moving in the spirit praying in the spirit living in the spirit moment by moment by moment that's what making them run man we're talking today about this whole series is about helping you live the extreme life the anything but ordinary kind of life but the only way that you and i are going to live that is through the extraordinary person and power and presence of the holy spirit see the holy spirit he is like the x factor that if you don't have that you're not going to get the life he wants you to live he is like he's like without the spirit you're going to miss out can i just tell you without the holy spirit reigning in your life you're going to lose out you may make it to heaven like if you've got jesus in your life and you've given your you'll you've got grace you're going to make it to heaven you're just going to be crawling and scraping to get there like oh god doesn't want you doing that he wants you living victorious he wants you living on top of it not underage fighting for it in jesus name and i know that for many christians when it comes to the person of the holy spirit it's easy to get confused because maybe um even for people that went to church because a lot of times people go to church and the church doesn't talk much about the holy spirit i mean maybe you grew up and they tacked them on to the end of a prayer you know about all you know about the holy spirit i don't even know which way you're supposed to go left right right left i don't know maybe he was added into a song or he was uh he got an honorable mention in a sermon one time right but but who is he and what does he want to do in my in my life and a lot of times i think people have a tendency to avoid the holy spirit because they they they're afraid like they've seen weird things they've seen something on tv that was weird i went to this one church one time and you scared they were right and i've said it before the holy spirit is not weird people are weird but the holy spirit's not weird people do strange things and they blame the holy spirit but the holy spirit is not strange and i think part of the problem is we know how to imagine maybe what jesus is like like we've seen the chosen so we like no oh okay right we've seen the movies dark complexion 30 years old brown hair got it heavenly father okay older guy on a throne white beard got it but spirit ruach breath wind what is force like star wars what are we what are we talking about and i grew up and the only version of the bible that our pastor read when i was growing up was king james and it was like holy ghost holy ghost i was freaking out as a seven-year-old i'm like i don't know why but can i tell you the holy spirit is not someone to be afraid of he's our comforter he's our helper he's a friend that sticks close with us the holy spirit is not someone to be ignorant enough because he's actually the one that will give you wisdom and discernment and direction he is the spirit of truth and he's not to be avoided just because you didn't know him growing up and by the way you notice i'm using the pronoun him and not it he he isn't he is he is fully god he says fully god is god the father god son god holy spirit and when you read the bible and study the scriptures he plays a critical role in the creation of new of the birthing of new like i said in genesis 1 he is the first of the trinity that's even mentioned in in the gospel in the in the word of god holy spirit the rock of god right there at the creation of the earth at the beginning of the gospels he was there at the immaculate conception of jesus in acts chapters one and two it was the holy spirit who was responsible for the birthing of the church see he he's the one that creates new he's the one that births new life he's the one that goes into valleys of dry bones and breathes life into them so that they can live again that no situation is hopeless no person is hopeless no problem is hopeless because when the spirit of god shows up everything can change you need the holy spirit in your life i mean jesus needed the holy spirit think about this before jesus started his public ministry what did he do he went down to the jordan river and was baptized by john the baptist and it says that he did that and the heavens opened up and the voice of god said this is my son in whom i'm well pleased and then the spirit descended upon him as he began his public ministry and then i read that jesus before he ascends to heaven tells his disciples his followers to go wait in jerusalem don't try to do anything don't try to start anything don't try to start the church don't try to don't do anything until you get the power of the holy spirit on your life because you need the power of the holy spirit and then i read in the book of acts where the apostles when they would encounter people who had just received the truth of jesus they would say have you received the holy spirit since you believed so if jesus needed the holy spirit and the disciples needed the holy spirit in the early church needed the holy spirit can i tell you you need the holy spirit you need him in your life and over the next few weeks we're going to be talking about the function of the holy spirit in your life in my life in our church about the fruit of the spirit that he produces about the gifts of the spirit that he wants to give to his church so his church can be powerful and dynamic on the earth today but today as we get started on this because there's so much i wanted to say like i have been praying about this sermon for so long i could preach for the next two hours but i know you don't want to stay that long so we're going to break it up over the next couple weeks today i want you to get this one thing that there is a power of the spirit that is available for you if you get nothing else today from this message i want you to know you don't have to go on your own power you don't have to rely on your own strength there is a power of the holy spirit the same power that raised christ up from the dead through the holy spirit is available for you today now i just mentioned that in acts chapter 1 when jesus before he was going to ascend he told his disciples go wait in jerusalem and wait for the the promise of the holy spirit and then he says in verse 8 that he says this he says and then you will receive power when the holy spirit comes on you that word power in the greek is dunamis which is where we get the word dynamite from so that's the kind of power we're talking about it's not like a little 110 volts i mean we're talking like think about what dynamites use for why would jesus use this word dynamite is used to blow something up man dynamite is used to to bust up a mountain so you can make your way through it dynamite is used to change the landscape or the topography of an area that's what dynamite does it it it moves the unmovable it changes the unchangeable can i tell you that's what the spirit of god wants to do in our lives in your life in my life in our church in our community he wants to to move something he wants to breathe some life into some dead bones but don't miss this this power is for you the holy spirit is for you but he's not gonna force himself on you no he's gonna if you don't if you like oh then he's gonna say okay well good luck no no you've got to you've got to invite him in you've got to give him permission to come into every area of your life and fill you with his presence see on our own we end up right here like this pile of dry bones and a valley of discouragement and and defeat we come to the end of our own resource our own own power but we remember even if you're here today you can pause and remember wait a minute i don't have to stay here today i actually can rely i don't have to rely on my own power on my own abilities there is a there's a power source an eternal power source a supernatural power source that will forever supply me with everything that i need so how do you do it how do you access this power well a couple weeks back we met with all of our dream team our volunteer teams at all of our campuses and we met here and up in port st lucie it was a great night and one of the scriptures i shared was out of ephesians chapter five poor st lucie those of you that gathered up there you missed it sorry the feed dropped out the enemy will attack the feed the fiber feed but i got it for you today here's what it says ephesians 5 18 don't be drunk with wine because that will ruin your life i could stop there but i won't but instead say the rest with me out loud be filled with the holy spirit don't be drunk with wine because if you're filled up with wine that will ruin your life but paul says instead be filled with the holy spirit in the same way that a person who is inebriated is filled with a substance that overrides their natural ability it overrides their natural way of doing life it overrides their natural way of talking of thinking it overrides the normal pattern of how they move paul says that's the picture that's what i want you to see today is that when you are under the influence of the spirit of god he will actually change the way you think he will actually change what you see you will no longer just see with human eyes you'll begin to see with spirit eyes because you are under the influence of the holy spirit of god he'll change the way you talk he'll change the way you walk you know what we're going to be talking about being spirit-filled and what it means to be spirit-filled and what that looks like in a believer's life but let me tell you it'll change you he will change you his presence will change you be filled with the holy spirit this is an instruction to believers you must be filled with the holy spirit you cannot not be filled with the holy spirit to be a follower this is what paul's saying and don't miss this it's in the present tense which means it's an ongoing daily moment by moment throughout the day continually being filled with the presence of god and we're going to talk about why it's continual uh maybe next week but but get right now that it is a continual a better translation would be keep on being filled with keep on being filled with the holy spirit and you may say todd will how do i do that well in just a minute i'm going to lead you in a very simple prayer it's not complicated but it's powerful it's a prayer that i not only try to pray every day but multiple times throughout the day come holy spirit come holy spirit fill my mind with your thoughts fill my soul with your presence when i'm feeling weak would you be my strength when i don't know which way to go would you give me direction and wisdom and discernment help me to see with spirit eyes when i'm feeling tempted would you be my fortress against the attack of the enemy would you build a shelter around me i run and i i hide behind you spirit of the living god come holy spirit let me ask you a question how often do you pray to the holy spirit many people pray to god i grew up learning how to pray to jesus but no one really taught me how to pray to the holy spirit yet if jesus promises that he's the one that will be our comforter and our helper and he's the one that jesus said in john 16 13 that when the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth don't you think you better talk to him have a conversation see one of the secrets i've learned of staying continually filled with the spirit of god is keeping a continual conversation with the spirit of god all through the day just constantly communicating with the spirit he is my closest companion even beyond julie sorry julie he's one that is constantly there for you wants to be guiding you helping you protecting you giving you discernment speaking to you guiding you convicting you it's all his work in our lives but you've got to say come holy spirit i give you freedom to do that i want you to have your way in me so i want to pray a prayer today and i want to pray that the rock of god the breath of god would fall and on you today blow over your heart today that if there are any dead places in you i'm going to ask you again can those dry bones live in your life those those dried up places maybe where faith has dried up a little bit where where hope has dried up a little bit where you've stopped praying for something you've stopped dreaming are you ready to say come holy spirit fill me today put my heart on fire for you today fill me with your hope and your life today now some of you as we pray that prayer maybe you've never prayed that before and you're going to pray for the very first time come holy spirit fill me with your presence todd what's going to happen i don't know many things different things happen for different people but you accepted by faith in the same way when you prayed to ask christ in your life you accepted his grace by faith spirit i accept you by faith fill me some of you have prayed that prayer before but if you were honest there are areas of your life that you have not given over to the holy spirit areas of your thought life certain attitudes you're holding on to could be even in your finances you just kind of areas you just go time and you're just going to say come holy spirit fill every place every area and the second prayer that we're going to pray today is actually the most important prayer if you've never given your life to jesus the only way that you'll ever experience the spirit of god and the power of god is first through accepting what jesus did for you on the cross and the only way of coming to god is through what he did on the cross and so i'm going to lead you in a prayer to start that relationship with jesus and if you've never started that relationship or it's not where it you wanted it to be today then then you're going to follow me in that prayer and say yes jesus be lord of my life today and then after we pray i've asked our team at all of our locations to come and sing this song over you it's a song that is going to be the anthem through the series so when we're done praying we're not done i want you to let the words settle on you and as you begin to pick it up i want you to begin to sing along with him all right begin to declare this over your life as a prayer i want you to know julie and i love you so much and we are praying for you this season praying that this month you will experience the breath of god over your life like never before let's pray together father god we thank you for your word that brings us to you and helps us see and understand your word is a lamp unto our feet it's a light unto our pathway to help us know what we need and today you've revealed to us that we need your spirit more than anything we need your spirit to breathe on us we need to be filled with constantly your holy spirit right where you're seated if you just open your hands up in a receiving posture as we pray this next prayer would you just pray after me come holy spirit just say that out loud come holy spirit lord i pray that you would fill each person here today with your presence and your power for those for the first time that are opening them up opening themselves up to your spirit spirit of god moving their life for those who've been holding back an area i pray that god today you would speak to them about that area holy spirit that you want to to speak to them about and if he shows you an area just surrender that to him and say holy spirit you get to come in that place you could have authority there my thoughts in my attitudes my mouth my words if they ever had bowel will continue to pray if you're here today and you say todd i need that second prayer that prayer of making my life right with jesus if that's you today i'm going to pray this prayer if you would say todd include me in this prayer that i make my life right with christ today right where you are would you just raise your hand up let me know let me know letting god know that you're inviting jesus into to your heart right now you hold them up high all over the rooms today we're going to pray this together all of us out loud say dear lord jesus come into my life forgive me of my sins make me a new person from the inside out and i will follow you the best i know how [Music] in jesus name i pray amen [Applause] [Music] holy [Music] the fragrance of heaven pour your spirit out pour your spirit out [Music] [Applause] [Music] for hearts that burn with holy fear [Music] so we the church prepare your life lamp a flame city bright king and king calm is what we pray [Music] oh [Music] [Music] pour your spirit out [Music] pour your spirit out [Music] [Music] we can hear the wind blowing glowing glowing blue upon our praise we can hear [Music] we can hear [Music] we can hear the wind [Music] the of your holy [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Christ Fellowship Church

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Length: 41min 9sec (2469 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021