- Come on up.
(audience applauds and cheers) Come on up here. He needs no introduction,
but I'll say this, I enjoy you, you are fun and inspiring. I got one phrase I think of
with you, I think of you, you are a fragrance of Christ
in the presence of God. You are a fragrance when you come, and I love you in Jesus name, Lord release your heart through him, amen. (smooch)
- Thank you, brother. I love Mike. I don't allow a lot of people
to kiss me on the head, Mike, it's okay. I want to read a passage
of scripture to you. I just feel like I'm supposed
to just read this first. It's a little bit long, but I think it's, I love this book, and I
hope it doesn't bore you. We live in a time where
Christians will flock to hear certain speakers, and sometimes we can be so
in love with the delivery, and not actually love the Word itself, where someone just reads it, and you just soak it in, and go no way, because there's something about
just reading the scriptures where it's not my opinion,
it's not my interpretation, it's just the very words of God. And we live in a time where everyone wants to
throw their thoughts out, and everyone thinks their
thoughts are so profound, and everyone's writing this, writing that, and wants to be heard. And what if we were just different, and we just said don't
worry about my opinion, let me just read you some things? There's a passage in Revelation that has ministered to me for years and it hit me again just
about two weeks ago. The Lord showed me a
couple things about it. But I just want to read it,
it's Revelation 4 and 5. So I want to read a
couple of chapters to you, and if you have your
Bibles, you can read along, or you may wanna just close your eyes and just listen to this and soak it in because there's so much imagery,
and it's describing Heaven. So I don't know what you have in your mind of what Heaven is like, like if you could be taken
up into Heaven right now, I don't know what you would
imagine it to be like, but just erase those thoughts, and let's listen to what
the Word of God says, 'cause Revelation 4 talks about John, who's actually taken up into
Heaven and actually sees it. So let's just worship God by listening to the words of Revelation 4 and 5. After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in Heaven. And the first voice, which
I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, "and I will show you what
must take place after this." At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in Heaven,
with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were 24 thrones, and seated on the thrones were 24 elders, clothed in white garments with
golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder, and before the throne were
burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass, like crystal. Around the throne, on
each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full
of eyes in front and behind. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature was like an ox, the third living creature
with the face of a man, the fourth living creature
like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures,
each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within. And day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is
the Lord God Almighty, "who was, and is, and is to come!" And whenever the living
creatures give glory, and honor, and thanks to him
who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who
lives forever and ever. They cast down their crowns
before the throne, saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, "to receive glory and honor and power, "for you created all things, "and by your will they
existed and were created." Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel
proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the
scroll and break its seals?" And no one in Heaven, or on
Earth, or under the Earth was able to open the
scroll or look into it, and I began to weep loudly
because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, "Weep no more; behold, the
Lion of the tribe of Judah, "the Root of David, has conquered, "so that he can open the
scroll and its seven seals." And between the throne and
the four living creatures and among the elders
I saw a lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and seven eyes,
which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the Earth. And he went and took the
scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll,
the four living creatures, the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and
golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the
scroll and to open its seals, "for you were slain, and by your blood, "you ransomed people for God "from every tribe, and language,
and people, and nation, "and you have made them a
kingdom and priests to our God, "and they shall reign on the Earth." Then I looked, and I
heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads
and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,
"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain "to receive power, and
wealth, and wisdom, and might, "and honor, and glory, and blessing!" And I heard every creature
in Heaven, and on Earth, and under the Earth, and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the
throne and to the Lamb "be blessing, and honor, and glory, "and might forever and ever!" Can you imagine seeing that? Man, can you imagine?
(audience applauding lightly) You know, what hit me about
this passage the other day was where we come into the picture. Okay, so you've got the throne of God, you've got the lightning, the
thunder, the fire, the throne, you've got those four living creatures with eyes all over their
wings, and six wings each, and all over their bodies, and they're screaming, "Holy, holy, holy." You have these 24 elders
and they're just staring at the throne, and
they're just bowing down, casting all their, no one's taking it, everyone's just looking at the throne, that's what holy, holy, holy is all about, it's like it's all about
the one on the throne. Everyone's worshiping the lamb, who you've got all of this
scene, myriads of angels. But then in chapter five
verse eight, it says when they had taken the scroll,
the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell
down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and
golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. See this is our part in this picture that's going on in Heaven. This is where I am, I'm looking like is that
the first we're mentioned? So you've got this, okay
so what's going on up there is everyone's crowded around this throne, these amazing beings go holy, holy, holy. You got these elders,
they're just you know, flat on their faces,
dropping their crowns, like oh it's all about you. You've got all of these
angels worshiping Him, and you've got these 24 elders
or the four living creatures, they're holding these bowls of incense, and this smoke is rising up,
this incense is rising up. That incense, those are
the prayers of the saints. So wait, you're telling me
there's a scene in Heaven, and my part in it, I mean the
way I understand it right now is my prayers are just
a part of that incense, which is the collective of all the prayers of all the saints? Man, this is amazing. I hope you look at that
and you think wow God, am I adding to the scene
in Heaven right now? Like God, are you sitting on the throne, and can I just be just one
little tiny flicker of smoke? Can we all create one
tiny flicker of smoke so we can join that scene in Heaven where everyone's looking at the throne, and going man I want to be a part of it? Let us all just make one little
wisp of smoke, of incense, to be that fragrance to Him. I look at that and I think man, we pray God thy will be done
on Earth as it is in Heaven, and my fear is the things
on Earth in the church are so different than it is in Heaven. When we have people every week
go to our worship services and they walk out and
they start evaluating, like hey how was church today, they go eh, it wasn't that good, I didn't
really like the worship, did you like the worship, hey did you guys like that last guy, hey did you, these are like
normal things that we say, and I'm just going how did we get here? Did you ever stop and realize what a stupid thing that is to say? I didn't like the worship. Just, just sit down someday
and think about that. How did we get here, to
the point where it's normal in every single church service,
there's someone to walk out going I didn't really like the worship? I mean did it ever occur to us that we weren't worshiping you, and this has nothing to do with you? (audience cheers and applauds)
Seriously. Man, I get excited about this,
'cause I go you know what, we could be the generation
that kills this mentality. Can we bring people back to man, I get to be maybe a wisp of smoke, maybe if we all work
hard enough that maybe, you know, that we can just
add to that scene in Heaven? That's why we gather, it's
because of the throne. The four living creatures,
can you imagine any of 'em at the end of the day going,
yeah I didn't really like it? (audience laughing) And one guy playing the
harp, what was that? None of that. How did we get to a point as a church to where we're critiquing
what goes on and evaluating? When did it become about us? I don't know where this started. I've fallen into it, and as a pastor sometimes I'm thinking of what the people want
rather than what He wants, and rather than going
gosh, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. And so if I'm gonna have
a gathering of people, I want to make it here on
Earth like it is in Heaven, and in Heaven it's not about
hey angel number six billion, what do you want? What would you like to
see in a worship service? Hey lion head with eyes,
what would you like? What do you want to do today? What kind of music do you like? It's just none of that, but
can we get back to this point where it's like oh, I
just, I can't believe I get to be a part of that worship service? I get to add something to this. I get to come into the presence of God because Jesus died for
me, what an amazing thing. Man, I dream of a day, and I believe it can happen,
and it can happen soon, in our country right here, where people actually gather just to pray, and it doesn't matter who's
leading, we just get so excited, 'cause we're coming into
the presence of God. I really believe there's
gonna come a time, and it's starting to happen, I'm starting to see pockets of it, I'm experiencing it in our church where people can't wait to
take Communion together. There's no solo, there's no video, it's just a few people in a room, breaking a piece of bread
and going are you kidding me, this is amazing, this
is the body of Christ, this is a profound mystery. Ephesians 5 says this
is a profound mystery, I'm talking about the
Christ and the church, and how we are members of His body. When's the last time you freaked out over the fact that you're
a member of His body, and He nourishes and cherishes you, just like you would nourish
and care for your own arm, that you're connected to God? My son-in-law was sharing with a guy, my daughter, my oldest
daughter got married last year, it was the craziest thing. Some of you may have heard this story, but I had this guy in my ministry
last year where I go man, this is like the godliest
young man I've ever met. When he would talk about
his time with the Lord, I'd be like I love this
guy, I love this guy. And I just came into the presence of God the more I got to know this guy. I'd come home and tell my
wife, and she'd be like wow, you've got like a crush
on him or something. I go, I kinda do, like
when he talks about being in the presence of God,
I get him, we're like, I don't know anyone like
him, and yet he's so young. And then one day I just took a chance, I go you know what Lord,
I don't know if it's okay to pray what I'm about to
pray, seriously I don't know, but could you have him meet my daughter and have them fall in love,
'cause I want him in my family. (audience laughing) Seriously, this is an honest prayer. This was almost two years ago,
a year and nine months ago, and I was like Lord, you know
best, you know what's best for your kingdom, I'm just
saying this is what I would like. And nothing happens, a few months later, and I tried to make things happen too, you know, a little bit in the flesh. Like he had to borrow a saw from my house, so I call my daughter, I'm like
honey someone's coming over, pretend you just woke
up, but look good, okay. So I did some little
plotting here and there too, but nothing's happening. And then last June, June,
July, I was like ah, Lord. Didn't you ever wake up in the morning and sometimes feel
almost distant from God, or just feel like God, I
don't feel close to you today for some reason, I don't
know what it is, I'm trying, and I know it's me or whatever else, and I'd never prayed this, I go God could you just show me some love, that's a weird thing to
ask, but I'm like God, could you just show me some, I don't even know why I said that, I go I just feel a little
insecure right now. And two hours later, that
kid Justin comes up to me, and he's like hey, can
I ask your daughter out. And I'm like whoa, can I pay
for it, you know, can I just. (audience laughing) And I didn't hold anything back, I'm like I love you, I want you. I mean it was just like okay, but. So they went out in July
and got married in December. (audience cheers)
I know. And then on Christmas Eve
this year, I became a grandpa. You know, so it's like man. But anyways that's a tangent. But glory to God. People said man that's amazing, and I go gosh I don't know
what I'm more excited about, the fact that my daughter's being led by this amazing man of God,
or that God hears my prayers. You know, where you just get the chills, going God are you kidding me right now, did you really just do that
again, and again, and again. This is the way He hears, and you just have this love of prayer because you go gosh,
things happen when we pray. Anyways, what I was saying was Justin, this awesome guy that I
love, he's in my family, and he's sharing the gospel
with this guy in San Francisco, and the guy kinda casually
goes, "I saw God." Justin, I don't know what you would say in that situation, but
Justin just looks at him and said, "No you didn't." And the guy goes, "How can you say, "how do you know if I saw God or not?" And Justin goes, "Are you talking about
the God of the Bible?" And the guy's like yes, the
God of the Bible, I saw him. And Justin's like no, you didn't. And the guy's like why would you say that, you don't even know me. How do you know I didn't see God? He goes, "Because if you saw God, "your skin would have
melted off your skull." He says, "The Bible says that God dwells "in unapproachable light." That's like saying you stood
on the sun this morning. I'd say no you didn't. It's a much more terrifying thing to come into the presence
of God, to see Him. See that's what the Bible
talks about about this God that it's like you can't
just enter into His presence. When Moses said, "Can I see you?" God said, "You can't see my
face and live through it." That's why when John is taken up, it says that he was in the
Spirit taken up into Heaven. I don't believe his flesh
literally went there. So you've got this God
who created the sun, and who dwells in unapproachable light, and then Ephesians 5 says but
there's a profound mystery that we are members of His body. So how in the world, right now, could there be this Almighty God, who all the angels are just
screaming holy, holy, holy, all that's going on, and
he says and I'm a member of His body, and He
nourishes and cherishes me. And then when we break bread, we're reminding ourselves
this is the body of Christ that was broken for you, and you're going wait a second,
so that God on that throne, in all His holiness became flesh, and had His body torn apart,
and then now I'm His body. We are His body, and
somehow we're attached to all of that glory because
of the body and blood of Jesus and now I'm gonna take
His body and His blood and He wanted me to take such
an intimate act of eating, and eating of this flesh and this blood, and being one with Him,
and us just staring, going are you kidding me right now, I'm a part of the body of Christ. You guys, there is no
greater honor on Earth than for you to go I'm a member of the literal body of Him, Yahweh God. See, I dream of a day when
people will break bread and just stare at that mystery and go you've gotta be kidding me. And that's why that early church would get together house to house, not because someone was preaching that was a great communicator, or not because there was a
great band at that house, it's because they wanted
to break bread together and remember the body and blood
of Jesus, that was enough. They loved praying, yeah.
(audience cheers) Man, could we be the generation
that gets back to that, where we just love the
mystery of Communion, we're just overwhelmed that
there's just a few of us in a house, coming into
the presence of God, and He's allowing us into the presence of all of that smoke, and glory, and angels, and everything else, and He actually listens
to us and responds to us, and gives us son-in-laws? I mean it's just what in the world, how does this all happen? It's such a mystery, but I hope
it's still an honor to you. In fact, can we just, I really wanna be led by
Him with what I want to say, with whatever I'm supposed to
say with the rest of my time, can we just come into
His presence right now? Can you just picture that scene in Heaven best you can right now? Imagine the throne, the being, the lightning, the thunder, the fire, the four living creatures
screaming out His holiness, the 24 elders dropping
their crowns at the throne, the Lamb of God, the
hundred million angels, all worshiping the throne. Picture those bowls of incense
to the prayers of the saints. God, we just wanna join
with everyone in Heaven and go you're so worthy of all the honor, all the glory tonight,
every single bit of it, we don't wanna think about anyone else. Who else would we look at? You're worthy, you're
worthy, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who
was, and is, and is to come. Holy are you, holy are you, holy are you, worthy are you, you're so good, so good. God, please guide the words of my mouth that everything would bring
you glory, everything. If you've called me to
teach, Lord help me to teach as though I were in Heaven right now and you were watching me and
your presence in this room, right now, Lord, not
wanting any glory Lord, for you to have it all, all to you Jesus, everything, everything we lay
down to you, you are so good. In Jesus name we pray, amen. I was in Brazil about, I
don't know, a month ago. And we just started
saying holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who
was, and is, and is to come, in Portuguese, and we were
just saying it over and over. I go can we just say this
for the rest of the service, I mean the angels have
been doing it non-stop since we woke up and day and night, they never stop saying it. So we just started saying it. We ended up going like 25 minutes, like that's just all we did,
was just stare at the throne, we just did it over and over and over, and we got louder and louder, just picture 10,000 Brazilians
just jumping and screaming, you know, just with all of their might. Yeah, I've got some Brazilians out here. (speaking in foreign language) And just louder and
louder, man we just left, and it was just a rush,
and I just encourage them, I go man, every morning, if you woke up, maybe if we all did this, if you wake up and the first thing that
comes out of your mouth, right when you wake up,
is to join the angels and just say holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God Almighty who was, and is, and is to come. You know, I said what if
we did that every morning, just so when we wake up, because usually we wake
up and we think about us. What if you woke up and you just said I just
wanna join the chorus? I just wanna offer up
some incense right now. I just wanna join the angels and agree that this is not about me,
this day is not about me, it's about you, 'cause
everyone up there gets it, no one's saying no, no,
no, look at me, look at me, hey I'm gonna Tweet something. It's just everyone's looking at that, and what if we woke up and joined them, and we said you know what
God, we understand our place on this Earth, we understand who we are, and it is an honor, it's an
honor, to be lost in this crowd, and to be able to be in that crowd, and just add a little bit to
the worship, just a little bit. In fact I just want to do that, I just want that praise to come out. We wanna be like that woman in Luke 7, where she's crying at the feet of Jesus. Remember that scene? She's crying at the feet of Jesus, and then using her hair to scrub his feet, you know, just crying at his
feet, scrubbing his hair, pouring perfume on his feet, and meanwhile everyone's
looking and going do you know who that is, do you, do you, and this woman, she just didn't even care. She's like I'm not here
to please everyone else. I don't care if you're looking at me. I have a chance to come
to the presence of Jesus and wash his feet with my
tears, I'm gonna take it. You know, she just understood her place. What an honor to wash
his feet with your tears. What an honor to scrub
his feet with your hair. What an honor, so how dare
we come into worship services and act like it's about us, and want people to cater to our needs? You guys, we have a chance to
change it in our generation, and I'm excited to die trying, seriously. This is something where I
go God, I just wanna live a little bit longer, I'm
not afraid to go up there, whatever else, but can I
live a little bit longer, man, because I wanna see the
church, here in our country, in love with being with
you again, just you, like you're enough.
(audience applauds) Like I was sharing, I brought
my 13 year old daughter, or she was in our house gathering, and I was thinking like honey,
if I had a party for you, you know for your birthday,
and I said invite your friends, and there'll be a cake,
and well that's it, I'm just gonna bake a cake, and they can just bring
presents, pretty boring party. How many people would show up? She said, "Probably two, to be honest." I'm like okay, I go, "What
if I rented out an arcade, "like Dave and Buster's, and
it was just, you can just, "all the food, all the
games, everything was free, "everything, just as long as they want. "How many people would show up?" And she said, "Probably
the whole school, Dad." And I go, "And how stupid
would it be if I put my arm "around you and said honey,
look at all these people, "they're here to celebrate your birthday? "Would you fall for that?" No, 'cause they wouldn't
come if it was just a room. And then maybe next year,
that wouldn't even be enough, Dave and Buster's would be enough, and so you know what, I'll rent Maui, and I'll get a bunch
of dolphins, you know, and again go look at
all your friends, honey. You guys, we gotta be
careful in our creativity that suddenly it's like
if the right speaker, the right band, if I told you that, I don't know who you guys love. Who do you love? Who's a speaker, big? - [Audience Member] We love you. - Ah thank you, thank you, okay, okay, all right, all right,
(audience laughs) Francis Chan, you know. And Hillsong, or Bethel,
or whatever, all of us, like great, we're all coming
to your church building on Sunday mornings for
the next six months. Can you imagine the
crowds that would come? But if you say hey,
for the next six months we're just gonna pray, who would show up? Seriously, who would
go are you kidding me, like we're seriously just gonna come and try to just come into the
presence of God, I'm there. See we've gotta change this. At what point is it insulting to God, that just coming into your
presence isn't enough? As I was telling my daughter, I go honey, I would come wherever you
are for your birthday party, and I would bring my
gift because I love you. I don't need all that other stuff, I'd just look at you, you're so awesome, I love everything about you. If you're in the middle of the desert, I'll find you and I'll
bring that gift to you. And what if our worship
services became like that, where God was enough of a draw? Isn't that what He desires? And I just get excited
because we're a generation that can change this. I was reading in, gosh a
passage that's really been so encouraging to me, and this is just something
I wanna share with you. He says in Ephesians
1, Paul says, verse 16, "I do not cease to give thanks for you, "remembering you in my prayers, "that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the father of glory, "may give you the spirit
of wisdom and of revelation "in the knowledge of Him, "having the eyes of
your hearts enlightened, "that you may know what is the hope "to which He has called you, "what are the riches of
his glorious inheritance "in the saints, and what is
the immeasurable greatness "of His power toward us who believe." I think sometimes we don't
get excited to come worship because maybe we just don't really get it. Like maybe we just don't really get what we've received from Him,
or maybe we've forgotten, and that's why Paul says man,
I keep thanking God for you, but here's my prayer, I'm praying that God would just give you this spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of Him so that the eyes of your
heart may be enlightened. Okay, what are the eyes of your heart? Have you ever thought about that? Did you know your eyes,
your heart had eyes? What's he talking about there? He says there's a certain way that suddenly the inside of
you it's like the lights go on. It's a miracle, it's not
something I can communicate to you today, I can't explain it, that I go hey do this, do
this, hey there's this new app, Heart Enlightener, and just,
there's nothing like that. There's something mysterious
that has to happen, that's why Paul's praying,
goes I just want you to have this spirit of
wisdom and revelation, and that's what I'm
praying for you right now, God just give it to 'em,
just open their eyes. You remember when Elijah's
servant, you know, he's like man open his eyes, and suddenly he saw all those
chariots of fire and soldiers? It was like something miraculous happened. And my prayer is, God,
would you enlighten, give 'em, give 'em that, give 'em that, have suddenly the lights go on, and they would understand,
they would know, like know from the core of their being, not know like okay I can
get it right on a test, I know that I'm going to Heaven, that's not what he's talking about, he's saying enlighten their
hearts so that they may know what is the hope to
which He has called you. Like, do you know the hope
to which He has called us? Can you see the glories of Heaven, and somehow just know,
like to where you're going? Man, I don't even care about this Earth, I so believe in the future, I
know where He's saving me to, and I can't wait for that. See that's something that
has to happen inside of here. And it's interesting, I think he's talking about the same thing in 1 Corinthians 3 when he says, "No eye has
seen, no ear has heard, "no mind has conceived, "what God has prepared
for those who love him." But then it says but God has revealed this to us by His Spirit. So somehow there's this
reality of the future that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love Him, but it
says but God has revealed it to us through His Spirit. So somehow God, and I
pray this for myself, because Paul's talking
about believers here, so I've been praying this for myself, saying God help me, because I wanna know, I wanna be so excited about Heaven, 'cause I'm not good at hoping. I've been let down so many times, and I'm better at just keeping my guard up and going it's probably gonna be boring, it's probably gonna be lay. Wherever I go, I just
kinda expect the worst, this way I'm never let down. And then I start doing
that with God's Word. And I'm not a good hoper, and so I have to pray this for myself, saying God, okay, open
the eyes of my heart, okay, so that I could just know the hope to which you've called me. Because if I really knew
that hope, then it's weird, like that old hymn says the things of Earth grow strangely dim, and then some of the sin
that you're involved in, you just start going gosh, that's stupid, compared to this hope to
which I've been called to, 'cause I get it, I just have to resist, let me just get this junk out of my life because I can't wait for this. I want you to know it. And then he says, this is
difficult for some of us, and that you may know what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints. Man, we sang a song
about that earlier today. That's the first time I've heard a song about His inheritance, not our
inheritance, His inheritance. His, the riches of His
glorious inheritance in the saints, that's us. It's not our inheritance in
Him, it's His inheritance in us. Guys, did you understand this? I mean for some of you
it's gonna take a miracle for you to really believe
this in your heart. It takes a miracle for all of us, but I'm saying for some of you,
you've got so much garbage, to think that God looks
at me as His inheritance. Wait, the God I just described
in Revelation 4 and 5, He's got the angels,
He's got the, you know, the smoke, the everything's going on, are you telling me that
God is looking at me on this stage and going I can't wait, I can't wait for Francis, I love him, he's such a glorious,
rich inheritance of mine? Are you kidding me? Did Jesus do something
that beautiful in us that that being looks and He desires us? And he says, "I want you
to know from your heart. "I want God to enlighten
your heart so that you would "know the riches of His glorious
inheritance in the saints." See, for some of us, who our whole lives have been about rejection, I went through and I've
gone through my whole life, just really believing my dad
never wanted me to be born. My mom died giving birth to me, so I feel like my dad
always resented that, always resented me ever being born. He treated me different than
the other kids, you know. And I remember when he died when I was 12, when we never had a conversation, not the tiniest bit of affection, nothing. I remember being that weird kid at school that was just trying to get
acceptance from somewhere, Mom and Dad are dead, step-mom's dead. You spend your life just going man, my own dad didn't even want me, and now you're telling me
there's this God in Heaven who sits on a throne, who's got a hundred million
angels all focused on Him, and He's looking at me as His inheritance? (woman screams) Man, are you kidding me right now? (audience applauds) See, when you get these
things from your heart, then it's a rush to just
come into His presence. Oh God, I can't believe
you love this right now. Shut up, you're in Heaven
and you love this right now, that I am in your presence,
you just wanted to be with me, you wanted to commune with me, you wanted me to eat
of the flesh and blood, and you wanted me to be reminded that mysteriously I'm a part of your body. This is insane, this is insane. I'm praying that for you. And then here's the hardest part. It's awesome, he said, "I want you to know what is
the immeasurable greatness "of His power toward us who believe." What is the immeasurable
greatness of power toward us who believe? Are you telling me right now
that you can't even measure the amount of power right here? Are you kidding me? Do you look in the mirror and go gosh, there is immeasurable
greatness of power right here that God has given me access to and He gives to me
through His Holy Spirit? Immeasurable, think about that adjective. All our lives we've
had limitations, right? Like I have physical limitations, I'm not gonna make it into the NBA, no matter how much I work out. Okay, I'm not gonna be in the Olympics, except maybe curling, or bobsled,
or something I don't know. But you know what I mean, there's like, I'm only gonna jump so high, I'm only gonna run so
fast, I've got limitations. My mind, man I remember
when we were tested as kids and they had those GATE programs, back then they called it
MGM, mentally-gifted minors, and they would do these
IQ tests and stuff, so you could be one of those kids that goes in that special class. I just remember seeing all
of my buddies go there, I mean just assuming
of course I'll make it, but I didn't make it. And I remember just being in school, and people trying to explain things, and I'm just nodding my head, pretending I get it, and I don't. Limitations, and I'm not as
good of a leader as that guy, I'm not as intelligent as that guy, I don't look as good as that guy. There's just all these comparisons,
and then you read this, and it's saying there's this immeasurable
greatness of power though. Wait, so there's no limits
to what I could do right now? Because Francis in the flesh
would walk on this stage and go what am I gonna say
to thousands of people. What do I have to say to you? Some of your minds are so far beyond mine. Some of your faith is beyond mine. What kind of power do I? And then I have to go no, no, no, those are my thoughts, and God says, "Francis, my thoughts are
not like your thoughts. "My ways are not like your ways. "See the heavens, how they're
so much higher than the Earth, "that's the way I think
compared to how you think." See, and that's why I need
to shut myself up sometimes, because Francis will not believe, Francis naturally won't believe
that He's God's inheritance. Francis won't believe that he's
got this immeasurable power. Francis doesn't wanna,
wouldn't naturally believe in this hope to which he's been called. And that's why we've gotta learn to not value our thoughts so much, because God would say Francis,
you have such low thoughts of you but your thoughts of
you are not my thoughts of you, and my thoughts are so much higher. And I learned something about myself, is that I'm very good at
taking His commands seriously, and sometimes I'm not good at
taking His promises seriously. And yet God says, "This is
the one whom I will look, "to whom I will look, the one who's humble "and contrite in spirit, and
who trembles at my word." And I realize God, you know what, sometimes I tremble at your commands, but I don't tremble at your promises. God, you say this is true about me, that there's an immeasurable
greatness of power towards me. You said it, I need to
just surrender to it. You're gonna tell that God on the throne, eh I don't believe that part. Am I gonna dare stare
at that throne at go, I don't think I'm really your inheritance? No, you tremble and go, you promised that. So God, somehow we are your inheritance, your glorious inheritance. Somehow you have given us this immeasurable greatness of power. And that's why he says in Ephesians 3:20, you guys know that verse,
now to him who is able to do immeasurably more
than all that you could ask or imagine according to his power that's at work within us. We know He can do it, but
did you know He does it through the power in us? There's this immeasurable greatness, and if you don't believe that, he continues and he says,
"The immeasurable greatness "of his power toward us who believe, "according to the working
of His great might, "that He worked in Christ when
He raised Him from the dead "and ceded Him at the right
hand in the heavenly places, "far above all rule, and
authority, and power, and dominion, "and above every name that is named, "not only in this age, but
also in the one to come. "And He put all things under His feet, "and gave Him as head over
all things to the church, "which is His body, "the fullness of Him
who fills all in all." He says, "You know the power
that's available to you?" He goes, "Let me illustrate
the type of power, "the immeasurable power that's in you, "let me just give you a
little glimpse of it." He goes, "Remember when
Jesus was crucified? "Picture that body laying
right here, mutilated, "you don't even recognize him
as a man, it's just lifeless, "it's just a piece of flesh,
and blood everywhere." He says, "It's like the power He used "when He took Christ and He raised Him." Imagine that power, but
He didn't just raise Him to where He stood up, he
says, "Then He exalted Him, "and took Him to the highest place, "far above all rule and authority." That means it's not
like okay here's Satan, and here's Jesus, no, it's
like just far above everything. So you took a dead body, God,
this is His power toward us, He took a dead body, and raised
Him far above everything, and said, "Now He's got
the name above every name, "and it's not just for this age, "it's forever, and ever, and ever." He says that type of power
is what extends to us. And don't you love that
imagery, again, where He says "And He put all things under
His feet, and gave Him as head "over all things to the
church, which is His body." Somehow I am seated with Christ in the highest place, positionally. He's the head and I'm
a member of His body, and we are far above
all rule, and authority, and everything else, forever and ever. Paul's saying I'm praying
that you would get this, because if you got this,
you wouldn't need Hillsong. Believe me, I love Hillsong. You wouldn't need Piper,
you wouldn't need Keller, you would just come
with such an excitement to come into my presence. And so when people came to worship and you saw that scene in Heaven and said I could join
that, I wanna be there. And if I can break bread with some people who really believe in it, and stare at that mystery that
I'm a member of that body, I want that, I want that,
I'll stare at that all day, I'll stare at that all day. I loved hearing the testimony of the gal that was at the internship here, just saying gosh just hours a
day, just communing with God, learning to hear from
Him, and to speak to Him, and that was plenty. You guys, we could do this. Like we could be the generation that kills this whole consumer mindset
of worship and church. I mean, you guys, when you think about it, and you read this book,
does it even make sense to say I go to church? I mean do you think
Paul ever asked Timothy, hey did you go to church today? Church wasn't somewhere you
went for an hour a week, and evaluated it, it was their identity. You know, one of the elders in my church, I love this elder to death, oh I love him, he loves Jesus so much, I just love him, every time I see him, I just light up. But he was a part of a
pretty notorious gang, spent years in prison, in fact he thought he was gonna be killed, so he has tattooed on his eyelids, F you, and not a lot of elders have that. (audience laughs) Because he just knew that
he was gonna be killed, and he wanted his last message
to the world is F you all. Okay, Jesus Christ gets
a hold of his life, and man, you have not seen
someone that just loves, loves, loves the person of
Jesus like my buddy Rob, like my elder Rob. But I was talking to him about
the gang life just last week. I go, "Tell me about it." And he was just telling me about just the camaraderie they had. And how, you know like
friends that took the rap for someone else and now
were doing life in prison for crimes they didn't even do, but you just never rat someone else out. That picture of the gang
is a much better picture of the unity that God wants in the church. He would never think to
look at another gang member and go hey, did you go to gang this week. Yeah, I didn't really like it. It's like where did we
come up with this stuff? You don't go to gang, you don't go to church,
it's your identity. It's this group of people
where you're going man, this is the greatest honor,
I'm a part of this body, and we look out for each other 24/7, and we get together and we talk about the scriptures everyday. It was a lifestyle, man, when
I heard about all the stories of what he and his gang went through, I'm like man, that's what
He wanted of the church, not the killing part,
(audience laughs) like it was not, we've gotta
get rid of this mindset because you know that's not
how they spoke in scripture. Peter never left and said I
didn't like the singing today. It was about man, this is my identity. Peter says, "You used
to be this individual, "you used to not be a people,
but now you're a people." He says, "Now we become a body." He says, "We're like living
stones, like were all stones, "that's all we are, like
a stone in this wall, "and together we connect
ourselves together "to form one temple, which
is a dwelling place for God." And that's the way that early church was. They didn't go to church,
they were the church. They lived it out 24/7. And we've gotta kill it,
we've gotta kill this mindset. And you guys, I used to have my doubts, but I'm looking at
scripture and going man, there's immeasurable
greatness of power in us, and we can be the generation that kills the consumerism in the church, and we can be the people where
God so enlightens the eyes of our hearts that we're just thrilled to come and worship Him, and we'll go any, we don't need all the frills, we just want to be with other people to celebrate the body and blood of Jesus, 'cause we realize the hope
to which He's called us, and we recognize that He looks at us as His glorious inheritance and there's immeasurable
greatness of power and I want to tap into that, pray to Him. I know that's an overwhelming thought, but can you picture it with me? Can you picture just groups of people that are just committed to one another, and they're known for
their love for each other, and they're known for this irresistible, like 1 Peter says this, this
joy that's inexpressible, and as Paul says in Philippians, a peace that surpasses comprehension, think about these words, peace
that surpasses comprehension, a joy that's inexpressible,
power that's immeasurable, groups of people like
that celebrating that? Will you pray with me right now? First things first, I
believe there's some of you in this room that you're
having such a hard time believing that God wants you, and I don't want you to do a
bunch of stuff in the flesh to try to prove yourself
to Him or something. God, I pray that you give
those people in this room, right now Lord, they have
a hard time believing that you would want them. Help them to look to the cross. Help them to see that you did
that while we were sinners. The cross should be
proof that you want us. God, I pray supernaturally that
you enlighten their hearts, and somehow just miraculously, they just believe that you love them, and that we are your glorious inheritance. And God, I pray for those who just don't have hope for Heaven, that you enlighten the
eyes of their hearts. God, get rid of the insecurity,
all the lies from the enemy, the lies we tell ourselves, God may we just shut him up right now. May we shut ourselves up and our own thoughts of inadequacy out, because your thoughts
are higher than that. And God, for all of us who
think we're gonna amount to nothing on this Earth 'cause
people have told us that, or we've told ourselves that,
and Satan has told us that, and the world has told us that, Lord you say something different. There's an immeasurable
greatness of power, Lord, enlighten the eyes of our heart so we can know that, believe that, and that we can change the church in our country, in our generation, to where people just
swarm just to pray to you, just to add incense to
the worship in Heaven. Open our eyes, help us to see your worth. Please Lord, protect
my brothers and sisters in this room right now. Holy Spirit, please fall on us. Please explain these truths to us. Please enlighten us. (peaceful music) (audience applauds)
