Convergence Church 1.31.21

he's doing good i can't hear you are you guys doing good this morning come on it's good to see you it's good to be in the house of the lord together uh before we get started just find someone around you just uh love on them bless them encourage them it's how we do things here for family come on the front is also open if anyone would like to come to the front for worship please do so there is freedom as we say [Music] yeah come on fellowship is good fellowship is good yeah let's just get right into it if you guys just feel like just hold out your hands close your eyes let's just let's just focus our attention on on the lord this morning let's just posture our hearts as we enter into his presence jesus here we are today [Music] we come before you this morning we honor you we bring you all of our hearts all of our attention this morning no matter the season [Music] we just say yes to who you are we say yes to your plants we say yes to your will for our lives and we just say yes to your love again holy spirit would you come and fill this place with your love [Music] that never ceasing never-ending unfailing love would you just begin to flood this place this morning would you begin to flood every heart today [Music] would you begin to draw us deeper right now even now god right here in this moment [Music] we bring all of our cares all of our worries we cast them at your feet today we just declare ourselves that that worry is not our portion anxiety is not our portion stress is not our portion you are our portion jesus you are living hope you are our joy you are our hope we just thank you jesus we offer up thanks this morning thank you for your goodness for your faithfulness for who you are that you never fail that you never change he never changes our god never changes [Music] he's good he always has been good and he always will be good he is faithful he always has been faithful and he will always be faithful we just declare that the truth of who you are god for us never against us our living hope to just come and move in this place we stand in all of you today we come before you with hearts open hearts open mind open [Music] jesus yes jesus just let the fragrance of your name fill this place right now right now come come come jesus we give you our hearts we give you the room today we give you the room today come and have your way come and have your way in every way we surrender today we just want to see your glory we just want to look at your face we just want to adore you we just want to love you we just want to worship you you're worthy you're worthy you're worthy just begin to tell them right now you're worthy you're worthy i love you jesus i adore you you're amazing you're powerful you're mighty you're wonderful in all of your majesty you're so glorious you're so beautiful there's never been anyone like you in all the earth you stand alone you stand alone in glory you stand alone you stand alone you're beautiful you're beautiful you're beautiful jesus with eyes of fire burning with love for us you're a beautiful god let's just wrap us up in all that you are today just wrap us up today god we love you we love you we love you we love you we love you just let a fragrance arise in this place a fragrance of adoration [Music] oh we love you jesus we step right into your presence jesus oh there's something about that name jesus jesus jesus just entering with worship now just entering with thanksgiving now just entering with adoration oh jesus oh i thank you for all that you are oh we leave our chairs at the door today we leave our worries at the door today we leave our shame at the door today we enter into your praises cause you're all we really want you're all that really matters oh jesus jesus [Music] just begin to lift up a song of thanksgiving in this place let it bring you into his courts let it bring you into his temple thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus oh how you saved my soul thank you jesus for the cross thank you jesus for the blind thank you jesus oh thank you [Music] oh we thank you [Music] you deserve all my worship we give you all our worship today just entering with a worship today to center in with thanksgiving today just think about what he's done [Music] oh thank you thank you thank you [Music] [Music] i [Music] oh you lord you're always good oh i thank you lord you're always [Music] nothing to fear in your arms or we have nothing to fear in your presence yes [Music] [Music] cause you're always good i thank you i thank you lord no matter what you're always good you're always good yeah [Music] you're always good you're always good [Music] so [Music] all i was made clean oh how you safe your death was alive for me your love surrendered claiming victory i'm yours [Music] [Music] keeping life within the grave [Music] hallelujah [Music] who i remember all my chains falling in prison doors they opened wide for me when you came back [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] still as you speak keeping light within a dream oh we come alive in your presence you're making us come alive time and time and time again you never change you never change you never fail you never fail no no no you're the god you are god of empty graves you are the god who makes a way i'm coming out i'm going through in your victory you are the god who stays the same from fear of faith i'll bring you praise i'm coming out i'm going through in you come on you're the god you are the god of empty [Music] you are the god who stays the same [Music] you are the god of empty grace [Music] you are the god who stays the same [Music] i know [Music] oh [Music] hallelujah [Music] with you fall away [Music] oh [Music] he's claiming the victory even now right now right now he's playing your victory he's claiming your victory right now right now even now he's working he's moving he's moving he's working he's claiming that victory he's claiming that victory you've been praying for oh cause he's a god who stays the same he's a god who never changes never fades away [Music] so we worship him or we worship you oh [Music] jesus [Music] oh [Music] the atmosphere [Music] [Music] we stand on your promises [Music] [Music] this morning [Music] [Applause] [Music] i'm going through [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] you are the god of empty graves who makes a way i'm coming out i'm going through in your victory declare that you are the god who stays the same from fear of faith i'll bring you praise i'm coming out i'm going through in you makes i'm coming out i'm going through i'm coming out i'm going through in your victory i'm coming out i'm going through in your victory i'm coming out i'm going through in your victory i'm coming out i'm going through in your victory you're pulling us out of the grave thank you father thank you lord thank you lord you pull us out of the grave you give us joy you're giving us joy you're giving us joy we worship you we worship you we worship you you're so good you're so good you're so good [Music] yeah yeah yeah [Music] every song lay still as you speak i know i know every stone keeping life within the grave you've rolled away hallelujah [Music] hallelujah yeah we just praise you lord we thank you lord we thank you lord nothing is impossible there's nothing too hard for him there's nothing too hard for him jesus we love you we love you we worship you we stand on your promises yes you're parting every seat right now right now right now ever see be parted in the name of jesus every stone be rolled away in the name of jesus we say life life life in jesus name hope in jesus name joy in jesus name wrong things made right in his presence in jesus name in jesus name in jesus name chains fall away in this place let this place ring out with a sound of [Music] worthy worthy worthy [Music] [Music] a song of hope for eyes in our hearts today father give us your song of freedom give us your song of hope give us your song of joy we rest in you we rest in you we rest in [Music] you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] we love your presence jesus [Music] he's so close right now jesus jesus [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] the lord bless you keep you make his face shine upon and be gracious you and give you peace [Music] the lord bless you and keep you make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you the lord turn his face towards you and give you peace oath one voice reaching out on it [Music] and lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you the lord turn his face on you and give you peace [Music] man [Music] me foreign [Music] man [Music] [Music] we say yes again to you lord with one voice and one heart we say yes we say yes [Music] and your family and your children and their children and their children [Music] and your family and your children [Music] [Music] and your family and your children and their children and make their children [Music] [Music] is [Applause] ah [Music] um [Music] generations [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] um is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] um [Music] [Music] um [Music] man [Applause] i [Music] all your promises we say [Music] yes [Music] let's just sing this again just receive this maze favor may his favor be upon you in a thousand generations [Music] he's with you in the morning and you're coming and you're going [Music] for [Music] [Music] um [Music] i'm [Music] so he's right there he's right there he's gonna catch you when you fall and he'll be with you in your eyes he's right there he's right there he's never left your side i'll never leave your side he's faithful he's a faithful father he's a faithful father so drowning drawn here he [Music] he's says there [Music] um [Music] such a good good shepherd the only one faithful to my heart when all man's empty promises light broken at your feet you have never broken one you have never broken what no no no no you are faithful your faithful god [Music] your goodness it follows me [Music] you're faithful to the end you're faithful to my heart faithful to the end you'll come and marry me you're faithful to the end you're faithful to my heart faithful to the end you'll come and marry me faithful to the end you're faithful to my heart [Music] you're faith to the end you're faithful to my heart to the earth and glory to the righteous ones [Music] sing [Music] one [Music] is [Music] the yeah he is worthy he's the only one who is faithful the only one who is worthy glory to the [Music] [Music] is [Music] feel the is of your presence i feel the weight of your presence here i feel the weight of your presence to let it fall and let it fall i feel the weight of your presence i feel the weight of your presence here i feel the weight of your [Music] weight of presence presence i feel the weight of your presence here i feel the weight of your [Music] of your presence i feel the weight of your presence [Music] presence is let it fall [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so let it fall [Applause] [Music] everybody [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey [Music] [Applause] [Music] you feel the spirit of your presence [Music] feel the weight of your presence [Music] your father thank you man as we were worshiping i just saw a creative miracle starting to happen in the room i'll say it again not not for you but for me uh because i just started getting choked up sorry the presence of the lord is super sweet but i was just sitting there and i couldn't couldn't get away from seeing the lord start to form where there should be cartilage in joints i saw him forming that cartilage so thank you father [Applause] if you're in need of a miracle [Music] whether you're online or whether you're in the room would you put your hand in the air i know i saw the that vision [Music] i see you i see you thank you jesus but i believe it goes beyond that that's just a taste of what the lord wants to do i believe he'll do that but i believe he'll do much more we're going to pray in a second but i just wanted to read this scripture out of philippians [Music] philippians 4 verse 6 be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to god and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through jesus christ [Music] i just sense we're in such a sweet moment where the lord is here father we thank you we thank you that it's all about you it's not about a service it's not about it's not even about miracles signs and wonders it's not even just about people getting together in community it's not about anything but you it's all about you god but lord we thank you that when you're the center of attention that your goodness your mercy all those good things that you are they flow in our midst when you're with us so we recognize that you're here [Music] and father we believe in your word we believe that you heal we believe in miracles signs and wonders but lord would you help our unbelief lord would you help us [Music] if you have a need in your body i know i asked already if you're in need of a miracle i know we slipped our hands up i want us to step out in faith would you put your hands up again i'm gonna ask people to rally around you and we're gonna believe for miracles today go ahead look around don't be shy let's not be in fear either be anxious for nothing [Music] if we believe in miracles signs and wonders there's nothing to fear god is with us he's here [Music] lord would you help our unbelief we believe that you move we believe that you're a god of miracles you're a god of healing we believe god would you help us with our unbelief in the name of jesus christ of nazareth i plead his blood that speaks a better word over your body what the enemy has tried to steal to kill and destroy it has he has no grasp no hold on your body you have been bought with the blood of christ you have been purchased your restoration is for now in the name of jesus i ask lord would you heal the deepest places would you heal we ask for miracles today god [Music] whether it be blood issues whether it be malfunctions with joints with things that are missing god we ask that you would bring restoration in jesus name for your glory lord we ask for your glory would you make yourself known today go ahead people pray [Music] pray pray over your brothers and your sisters he wants to use you he has he anointed you for this moment for this life his presence is here it's not about our strength or even fancy words or the right prayer it's about our stepping out in faith and asking for help [Music] all we need to do is be a vessel [Music] keep engaging in prayer don't give up we're gonna we're gonna sit here for a few more minutes i got a little bit more time i'm gonna use it all we're not in a rush we got plenty of time [Music] once you get finished praying would you pray a prayer of thanksgiving over your brothers and sisters that you've been praying for father i thank you that your promises are yes and amen i thank you lord that you are faithful to complete the work that you started that you're not a god of halfway but you're all in father i thank you lord that where we are short and where we fall short that you are the one who makes it all up god i thank you that it is in your strength god that we pray for one another not on ours god but we depend on you i thank you for your faithfulness yes jesus yes god thank you father we believe in you jesus make yourself known [Music] heaven come in jesus name [Music] jesus okay amen let's wrap up real quick but i just want everyone to go kind of back to their seat to say yes in jesus name we believe in the faithful work of the cross yes god now i want to release something over the entire congregation for those who are joining digital digitally our digital family and also those that are in the room there's a promise with this scripture that the peace that passes all understanding will guard our hearts so would you just stretch your hands out like you're going to receive a big how much peace do you want i'll just say it like that how much peace do you want i want it all father i thank you that your promise is peace lord we want to live in that place so we receive your peace today that is promised in philippians god we receive your peace yes lord we have made our requests known and we thank you for your faithful work but lord we receive in this moment right now your peace that passes all understanding we choose god to walk in peace to process in peace to view our life through the lens of peace we thank you god that you do not promise us a life of chaos but in the midst of chaos you have called us to live in peace [Music] thank you lord thank you that you're with us we thank you that you're here that you have huge plans for our lives that you're not finished with us lord but you've anointed us for today you have gifted us for today [Music] so lord would we see your glory in every way we love you jesus we love you amen give the lord a clap he's worthy you're worthy jesus thank you worship team thank you guys it leads so well oh go ahead and uh you guys know the drill go ahead and say hello to everybody it's a great day to be alive god is doing so much good morning everybody hello to our convergence online family we love you guys so much we're so happy that you're here joining us we love you we love you thank you for joining us well good morning god is so good oh man i'm just overwhelmed with his presence man he's doing a good thing he is so good oh well if this is your first time here or joining us on our online family i just wanted to welcome you my name is pastor andrew it is so nice to meet you and see you now we as a convergence family would love to get to know you more there's an online form if you're online with us or a card that's in the seat in front of you you could fill it out and drop it in an offering bucket that would be fantastic we would love to get connected with you um we're seeing so so much goodness right in front of us the lord is doing so much and if um if you need some testimonies go ahead and just meet up with me later if you need encouragement i've got a meeting after this and that's okay but i'll see you after that meeting it i'll be done around 1 15 if you want to hang out i know it's it's a good place to hang out anyway so well god bless you all god is moving he he's i can't even go to my next thought i'm trying try okay well we we're gonna do our tithes and offerings okay so would you stand with me while we do our tithes and offerings and we're gonna declare this over our lives if this is an area in your life i just ask that you would say this with purpose if you need financial breakthrough it is it is more selfish to be poor than it is to have plenty because when we're poor we only think about ourselves and what we need but when we have plenty we can now think of others so i just wanted to encourage you it's jesus was the carpenter of nazareth he wasn't a carpenter of nazareth he was the carpenter of nazareth he had so much wealth that it made another king afraid of this new king three kings were not just bringing a basketball size of gold three kings kings traveling caravans they have they don't leave and sleep in a three-man tent like you and i when we go camping they are still kings when they camp their kingdom is brought with them we have to recognize who jesus was even when he was on the earth not just now when he's ruling and reigning with christ but even then he was still a king he lived a life of humility of course but humility does not define wealth wealth does not make us people who are jealous and greedy and no the devil does that he corrupts the heart we can still live holy and have wealth it's possible the biggest lie that he wants us to believe the devil is that we're to live in poverty i'm not preaching a name and claim it thing it's just facts yes be diligent yes pay our bills yes be very mindful of what's going in and what's going out but also when we're making these declarations and when we're sowing these things we do this because we believe not just because we have to sometimes we build habits but we do believe that's why we give we give because we believe that when we give there's an open heaven that is full of abundant blessings that rebukes the devourer for our sake so i just want to encourage you like it's not to get the ties up or something like that believe me it's the last thing on my mind and in the mind of our staff here how can we make more money i'm sorry but if it was money that we were concerned about this is silicon valley there's plenty of ways to make money we're not here to make money but we're here to advance the kingdom so that's why we give because we believe in what the lord is doing here so i just want to clarify a little bit give a little vision beyond ourselves let's stop thinking about ourselves and let's start thinking about what the lord wants to do with our portion okay all right say this together as i bring my tithes and offerings to god's storehouse he is opening the windows of heaven and pouring out abundant blessings he rebukes the devourer for my sake and he surrounds me with his favor as a shield he blesses the work of my hands the lord's plan is to prosper me to give me a hope and a future i am the lender not the borrower the head and not the tail i give from my heart because god loves a cheerful giver as i seek first his kingdom he supplies all my needs according to his riches and glory in christ jesus every good and perfect gift comes from above so i will continually thank the lord for his blessings that overflow in my life amen lord we thank you we praise you for every good thing that you have given us and everything that is right in our midst even the breath that we breathe we thank you for your provision we thank you that it is your promise to give bread for today and we choose not to live a life and worry about tomorrow we know that you are a supplier and we thank you we thank you jesus amen we have a couple more announcements go ahead and check it out on the screen how's it going converges family kenny here fasten your seat belts because i got some more announcements headed your way today marks the last day of the fast we've had some incredible times of encounter and breakthrough during these last 21 days and we are believing that you have too and we would love to hear your testimony from the fast make sure to tell one of our leaders if you are in person today and for our online family go ahead and drop that testimony in the chat right now we can't wait to hear how the lord moved in your life [Music] are you wanting to learn more about convergence or get plugged into our family we would love to invite you to our intro series week one is happening next sunday after service and you'll meet with pastor greg and wendy learn about convergence and we'll get to know you a little more too sign up for intro out in the lobby at connections desk online or on our church center app [Music] all right and that's all the announcements i have for you today and i'll see you next week now get about your seats and give pastor greg a welcoming round of applause as he brings us today's message that that's hilarious boy i'm gonna get kenny for that one snuck that in on me wow it's a good day today one person thinks so you know there's so much on my my mind and in my spirit you know when i when i get out get up here it's like how do i get it all in and um and we're going to have communion together we're we're we're breaking our fast we're ending our fast breaking is so we pray for breakthrough right but uh we're going to be ending our fast and we're going to do we always do that with communion so communion is going to be part of the message today so what we're going to do is we're going to i'll share for a few minutes maybe longer than a few minutes and then i'm going to have uh then we'll have the worship team come back up and i feel like we're going to do two songs but we never know um one of them we didn't get to called you're worthy of it all i think that's super fitting for communion and then i want to revisit the blessing which is a very powerful and anointed song you guys maybe you don't know the type i mean it's a second song we did all right so you know it's the hallelujah okay that one uh oh man so when i did this it reminded me when we used to have old church when the worship leader would do this i'm so glad we're a part of the family all right so you guys remember those the worship leader would always do it with one two three four one two three four all right so i'm glad ryan doesn't do that that our worship team doesn't do that i'm glad we're past those days when we had that and all the pastors sat up front yes how many guys are old enough to remember those days not us we never did that at convergence but back in the day all the pastors would be up front and you know then the worship leader so there are still worship leaders who do that actually in the silicon valley believe it or not so um anyway yes we bless them in the name of jesus thank you honey so uh during worship i was you know i feel like uh i i feel like what we need to do is we just the word that came out uh kind of jumped in my heart outside of the presence of the lord the presence of the lord is here so powerfully and um and to all to our online family i pray that the presence of the lord is right with you too and um you're feeling what we're feeling in the room in the living room or in your car or wherever wherever you're having a chance to view today and so um so i i just feel like the lord just kind of dropped this this word just a simple word and it was it was forward forward it's time it's time to move forward it's time to we have been moving forward but it's time to to really set our our heart and our focus forward in terms of advancing the kingdom of god regardless of the state of our our nation or you know the governments and state of california or the restrictions or all those things obviously we want to be we want to be sensitive to those things but that should never slow down the advancing of the kingdom and that the lord has called us to a place of re revival regardless and i feel like what we're going to do and i don't want to be premature in saying this because it can change next week is really to kind of jump back into the book of acts and really begin a study there um i don't know how we're going to do that but but hopefully next week we'll hit acts chapter 1 and just really dive into how god advanced how the kingdom of god was advanced through not a church paradigm but through an ecclesia paradigm because the apostles never knew a church paradigm they only had one paradigm and that was government so it's the it was the government of god that was advancing on the earth we call it the kingdom of god um it's the government of god and they legislated from heaven to earth but they had to be endued with power right and that's the baptism of the holy spirit and if we need if anything we need now is we need to be saturated with the presence of the lord the spirit of god on his people and and we need to contend for that but we also need there's a contending and there's a resting in it and so i just felt like for some of you i just want to encourage you maybe it's maybe it's for me too you know it's like it's just illegal to strive so so let's just quit striving and and let's come into this place of rest before the lord and as we walk with him and so um i i felt i felt compelled to read this this story when we talk about moving forward that uh that i actually um use at the end of our our ecclesia foundation message uh that we usually do and like i've had a chance to actually do this online in a lot of churches but recently but um so i just want to share it with you and and so i think it kind of sets the tone for i feel like where we're where we're headed and where we need to go all right you guys say amen all right so let me just go ahead and and just basically read it to you and then hopefully you'll grab a hold of my heart on this in his book um the barbarian way irwin mcmanus recounts a compelling insight he received into the history of the douglas clan in the 1300s while visiting scotland the story begins with robert the bruce everyone say robert the bruce the scottish noble who famously betrayed william wallace in the immortalized immortalized by mel gibson in the movie braveheart later robert the bruce rose up to lead scotland to freedom after wallace's execution and here's the quote before his death in 1329 robert requested that when he died his heart would be removed and travel into battle with a worthy night during the crusades one of his closest friends james douglas honored the request the heart of robert the bruce don't get grossed out here but the heart of robert the bruce was embalmed placed in a small container and carried around douglas douglas's neck in every battle he fought douglas literally carried the heart of his king into the fight in the early spring of 1330 douglas sailed from scotland to granada spain and engaged in a campaign against the moors in an ill-fated battle douglas found himself surrounded and in this situation and in this situation deaths with both certain and imminent in that moment douglas reached for the heart that was strapped around his neck he flung the heart into the enemy's midst and he cried out fight for the heart of your king all of us have been summoned by our king jesus christ to contend at the gates of hades as christ ecclesia the question is will we fight for the heart of our king will his government govern will we embrace our functional identity as chrysalisia and arise i do believe that's happening one more thing about the story one historian quoted douglas as shouting forward braveheart as ever thou will do and douglas will follow his king's heart or die the motto of the douglas clan to which the present duke belongs is even to this day quote forward i believe it's time to move forward it's time to fully embrace christ's mission and become and enlist and move forward as the ecclesia of god to move through the gates of hades fighting and legislating for the heart of her king and i felt like the lord just dropped that story back into my heart during worship it's not that we're not moving forward i just feel like there's a level of intensity that the lord wants us to move forward in and as we as we have come through and i'll just maybe um possibly just personalize this as we've walked through now we're almost at 11 months right 11 months of the our current situation with covid and and and i've wrestled both ways between all the restrictions and all the things that are in front of us and so many different uh so many different narratives that are out there so many different and i have to i have to make sure i stay focused on advancing the kingdom of god in spite of all the things and i could be like many of you we can be distracted and what we could do is and we could we can actually you know if the holy spirit tells us to take this position we should take it but but i don't want to be so distracted that i lose my focus my primary focus in advancing the kingdom of god regardless of what's going on are people being saved is the gospel being preached are people being healed are people being free from addiction are we are we talking more about the current state of affairs or are we prioritizing the kingdom of god in spite of what's interesting is that as we look in the book of acts as we as you know they were under a tyrannical government an emperor who thought he was who was uh actually i self-declared god and and was worshipped it was it wasn't it wasn't the kind of government that we're in it was it was a an emperor who who not only wanted to be worshipped but was worshipped in spite of the the heavy restrictions and then we also on top of that you had the religious system that was completely corrupted bent on the tradition of the of the fathers the oral tradition passed on from the fathers from the from the religious fathers to that day but twisted and tweaked in such a way that they were actually they're actually in it for their own self-gain and jesus has some pretty strong words to the religious tyrannical community you whitewashed tombs like he was the thing i appreciate about jesus straight up and he called it like it was and so i think there's a place for that but you got to understand that the ecclesia or the church was born in that kind of culture that kind of environment those kinds of restrictions and in the middle of of all that it happened in an upper room of 120 people and that's where it all started it wasn't christ christ setting his kingdom up on earth at that point which is what they expected is the holy spirit coming down on people that wanted the kingdom of god to be advanced without even understanding who the holy spirit was really and the spirit of god fell and the rest is history like we're sitting here today as a result of what took place in about 33 a.d isn't that a crazy thought so i just want to encourage you as we move forward we don't know what the future holds we know who holds the future we don't we don't rest on the there's so many different narratives out there we have to make sure that we're super diligent in staying in this one right here and i think that as we stay in this one and we don't get swept away in all the other narratives that we could actually come in line with what pastor andrew read don't be anxious for anything but by prayer and supplication so anxiety is really the absence of faith and it's it's it's the belief in the inferior not the supernatural so i can't be anxious for anything and i just want to make sure that we're we are as a family staying focused on advancing the kingdom of god yes we need to establish some beachheads we need to i think there's a place of contending but but never at the expense of resting in the presence of god knowing that jesus is in full control that the lord is not shocked by this one if anything it's just a nuisance that he's actually he's actually was the lord when the egyptians were chasing his kids at the red sea he was the lord when you know other catastrophic events were taking place in world history and i just want you to know he's got this he's got this and so i just want to encourage all of us in this room as we're positioning ourselves moving into 2021 that we keep this in the forefront that i'm a son and a daughter i'm not a i'm not a i'm not orphaned i've been purchased with a price i'm in and part of god's family and i move to advance the kingdom not out of an orphan heart but out of a a heart that is truly a son and a daughter knowing that he's a good dad and he has his arms around me he has his arms around you he has his arms around your family he has his arms around your your finance he has his arms around you know those who call on the name of the lord you know the lord jealousy looks at his people and guards them just like any dad would over his own kids so i just want to encourage you in the middle of all the stuff that's happening that we keep the main thing the plain thing and that is who jesus is advancing the kingdom of god in spite of all those things that we're facing we're living in a unique time in history in our country it's not a severe time not like it was you know many many years ago or through all the crisis that the world has faced but nonetheless we could be in a a difficult time but it doesn't mean the kingdom of god stops advancing it doesn't mean that the peace of god you know in some way shape or form eludes your heart somehow escapes so so my focus remember our focus determines our reality where i choose to place my focus actually determines the steps i'll take or the issues that will surface in my heart and so i want us to continue to keep our focus squarely on who jesus is he's lord on the kingdom of god and on the presence of the holy spirit so make your time with the lord as we kind of come to the to the end of our 21 days make your make your time create time even maybe create more time where you can just find time with the lord and i know that there's a place for petition and supplication i just want you to know that there's a place also for resting and receiving and it's important that we we spend our time resting and receiving from the lord let the waves of the presence of god overwhelm us to the place that we could actually enter into battle with the mind of christ with the leading of the holy spirit and in spite of that are we seeing results of the kingdom of god being advanced that responsibility is on me and it's on all of us and those are some of the things that it's not wrong for us to look over the last you know 11 months to say okay how has the body of christ grown how have i thrived in the middle of this i'm not talking maybe you know it could be the physical side or the financial side all that all those kinds of things and those are things that we can but how's my prayer life increased you know how so so this is this could be obviously there's a negative part of all this that's happening right because of all the different things that have taken place but there's also we also have to find god's presence in the middle of all of it and and you know i say it all the time but i want to squeeze i want to squeeze every every nutrient out of every problem that i face because there's a lesson in it and so that's why i don't really i don't know why this is in the bible but it is count it all joy when you go through various trials and tests you know i was like those are one of the portions of scripture it's like lord really i mean was there something wrong right there in when james wrote that like really but but it talks not just there but also talks about that in the book of romans it talks so there are a lot of places where it talks about these kinds of things and if you read in ii corinthians if you read what you know paul's writings it's like you know he was he was whipped uh four or five times with 39 lashes on his back uh he was thrown in prison he was arrested thrown in prison you know we see that with peter and john we see that we see prisons didn't have air conditioning they didn't have there were dungeons uh they you know they were chained up they had so i'm just saying where we're at in that perspective is that god brought them through that and he's gonna bring you through it and so and he's going to bring us through it and he's going to bring us through it so i think it'd be good to for us to dive into it dive into at least kind of like doing an aerial flyby over the book of acts and and and really get some revelation especially in our current season of where they they were at and be encouraged that god's going to continue to move in spite of and because he's that good and he's going to keep his arms around you as we move through it all right so that's all introduction um so anyway that was kind of introduction sort of i'm debating i should probably invite the worship team to come back you guys just all sat down right you guys are all rested and everything should i wait a few minutes no okay you guys let's want you guys just come on up and um uh yeah give those guys a hand so where's ryan is ryan here ryan's there there he is all right so i just want you guys have uh worthy of it all kind of in your arsenal ready to go okay so all right don't you love worship you know anyway i don't want to get started on that so because i'll talk about worship for another 20 minutes um so as we kind of recap this i want to i want to um just draw attention to the things we fasted over and i just want to ask you some questions um the first week we talked about and we prayed through that the lord would refine our hearts and and really uh an amazing portion of scripture is found in malachi chapter three but who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears for he is like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap he will sit as a refiner in a purifier of silver he will purify the sons of levi which is the priesthood and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer that they may offer to the lord so remember it's important that because in revival seasons we really cry out for the holy spirit to come on us and we seldom cry out for the holy spirit to come under us and when i talk about coming under us i'm talking about the fire of god that actually purges out sin in our lives and i'm all about the fire of god i'm all about acts chapter two i'm all about the fire of god coming on us and continuing to come on us but it's inconsistent for the fire of god to come on us and not have the purging fire of the holy spirit under us so that we could actually carry the anointing he wants to give us it's it's really important that our character is in such a place that we could actually carry the anointing and be trusted by the father with the anointing i'm not going to give my keys to a 16 year old son or daughter if i feel like they don't have the character to actually handle the car they don't i can't trust them because they're not ready yet i i want to give them the keys to the car that's a step of faith regardless i'm just saying i want to give them the keys of the car i want them to drive so i don't have to drive them everywhere and pick them up everywhere i want them but if there's if there's character issues in their life where i don't feel like i could fully trust them i'm not going to hand the keys over and and a lot and that's just being a good dad that's not being cruel that's not being dead but you just the fact that they argue against that tells me they're not ready so the lord wants to in some ways i feel like the lord shares that same heart that the he wants to deposit the anointing in our life he wants us to be filled and saturated with the presence of the lord for ministry but if there's levels of character issues in our life that would compromise that anointing that actually the anointing that comes on our life would actually serve at injustice to us he's going to hold back the keys and i just want to encourage you guys i mean he's a good dad right and he knows every single heart but if there are character issues in our life if there's cracks in our foundation if there's things that are taking place in the secret place with you and with me that aren't honoring the lord and you can impress somebody with your charisma or impress somebody with your gifts but their character issues that only he knows he's not going to go ahead and give you the greater portion until the issues of our character are settled it'd be irresponsible for the lord to do that so we have to ask the holy spirit i'm not talking about purging ourselves and not talking about like any of those kinds of things it's just a gentle lord if there's anything in my heart that's wayward that's not right with you if there's a thought if there's an attitude if there's something there that needs to be corrected i'm asking you to correct it in my own life to serve the greater purpose of being true sons and daughters of the living god in in right relationship with the lord but also being able to carry the measure of the the anointing that he's purposed for my life so let's continue to ask the spirit of god always search my heart and know me if there's any anything wrong in my life show me and it doesn't mean we're striving for we have to live a perfect life for god's presence to come on us that's not true that's not true but we als we certainly have to live a sincere life before the lord do you understand what i'm with humility right so have i allowed the holy spirit permission to refine my heart what has he shown you what adjustments have you made to obey his voice any time there's levels of obedience it'll always require an adjustment well it'll require repentance and then it'll require an adjustment so there's levels that there's things that he might ask you he might say hey i don't want i mean simple things like you're spending way too much time on social media you're spending way too much time with all forms of media need to be spend less time looking at the newspapers and seek my face that's going to require an adjustment so so ask the lord he's kind and he'll show you the second thing we talked about second thing we looked at was not only the refining fire of god but reverence for god fearing god means to be in awe of his holiness and his goodness and his mercy and his glory and his power and his majesty and it's loving god enough in our heart loving god fully to where we would never want those things disrupted in our own lives we obey his commands not out of fear of punishment but rather out of experiential revelation of his great love revelation 15 4 says who will not fear you lord and bring glory to your name for you alone are holy all nations will come and worship before you for your righteous acts have been revealed psalm 130 verse 4 but with you there is forgiveness so that we can reverence with reverence serve you psalm 112 verse 1 praise the lord blessed is the man who fears the lord who delights greatly in his commandments do you delight greatly in the commands of the lord are those seen as restrictions hebrews chapter 12 28-29 therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken we can say amen to that let us have grace by which we may serve god acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our god is a consuming fire i don't ever want us to forget to fear the lord that word there is to respect the lord respect his goodness respect his kindness respect and so when the lord asks us to live righteously we don't say well that's kind of nice it's actually this deep ah i mean just revisit the book of revelation would you john just he can't even stand up before the who jesus is not who jesus was jesus was on the cross but he's glorified he saw jesus as he is well how is he he has fire in his eyes he's he's the resurrected lord and when he stood before the lord he actually fell down as a dead man just because of the presence of god that's the lord we serve some religions still have jesus on the cross i'm going to tell you something he's not on the cross he's defeated death hell in the grave and then lastly the third week we talked about revival come and so in order to have a revival we have to become revival know i said that i don't know if that was last week or the week before i can't remember in order to have revival we have to become revival i want you to write that down somewhere put on your phone and just revisit it for the next week because so many of us are praying we can get tricked into thinking that we're just we have to pray revival in and we do but i feel like we have to we have to take personal responsibility for revival first of all it's actually birthed and born out of the presence of the holy spirit i mean god's the one who sends revival but we have to be able we have to position ourselves to say in with humility lord i want to become revival it's not wendy's responsibility to keep my heart in revival she can help and she she can encourage it's not my kid's responsibility to keep my heart in revival it's not my stash responsibility to keep my heart in revival it's my responsibility to keep my heart in revival and it's your responsibility to keep your heart and revive it's dependency it's it's john 15 over and over again right it's being it's the branch and the vine being intimately connected where the nutrients of heaven flow into our life and actually produce fruit i don't know anywhere i've ever read where where fruit has to work in order to be produced it's a natural outcome of the nutrients of the vine to the branch and that's what we pray for lord fill me lord may i stay connected may i have this intimate walk with you may i be hearing the voice of the holy spirit throughout my day i want to become revival i want to see revival in the bay area i want to see revival in the silicon valley i want to see revival in homes and street i want to see revival i want to see revival but we've got to make sure we don't worship revival revival for not careful becomes a catchword it has to be squarely centered on who jesus is and let's be asking holy spirit what is your will for the region what are you doing right now remember responding to the father instead of reacting to the devil we give the devil way too much credit god is superior god is omnipotent he's all-knowing he's all powerful we need to be impressed with the presence of god we need to be impressed with the lord and not be so impressed with the devil and his tactics so hebrews chapter 12 therefore we also since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight say amen and this sin which so easily en ensnares us and let us run with endurance everyone say endurance the race that is set before us there's a race set before you i like what bill said he said he didn't say it like this but i'll say it like this he says it's it's a it's not a road it's like a he says it's a railroad track you just go forward so there's a purpose for us there's a purpose for you to move forward and verse two fixing our eyes on jesus the author and the finisher of our faith fixing our eyes on jesus everyone say it fixing our eyes you all know what fixing is fixing is not like making dinner you know like it's it's this gaze it's this gaze focused gaze on jesus who's the author and the finisher of my faith and the greatest of these is this faith hope and love the author of all those is christ and i would encourage you don't be distracted so much with what's going on around us that we neglect to fix our eyes on the author and the finisher of our faith i've never walked away from a time with the lord a prayer meeting with god where i've truly encountered the lord or i'm worried about everything else around me there's something about looking unto jesus the author and the finisher of my faith that really profoundly makes god really big and makes everything else small so don't be swept away by the narratives without closely fixing your eyes on christ let that be the priority fixing our eyes on jesus who for the joy that was set before him he endured everyone say endured that's a word for us despising the shame and has set down at the right hand of the throne of god jesus won just once you know jesus won and will win and then acts chapter 2 verse 4 they're all in one chord and suddenly a sound came from heaven and they were filled with the holy spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit of god gave them utterance so what we need to do we need to be filled with the presence of the lord and actually be praying in our spiritual language so it begins with refining it moves to reverence so that we could actually become revival with that said we're going to move into a time of communion and um i want us to all i think yeah oh wait how are we going to do this we have four stations we have four stations okay all right all right so once you guys get in your position and uh i love billy uh anyway not a side note i love you all but that's fun you know that anyway i gotta share testimony see look at this all right okay for you y'all who don't know this this is 30 seconds billy was actually in my youth group when i was a youth pastor so if you know how old i am that's a long time and uh him and judy have been so faithful we just love those guys uh and so i don't know how many 30 he knows 30 something years this is kind of wild so anyway i could i have he's earned the right for me to take by five minutes or 30 seconds and just bless him and his family so um okay so let's all stand together [Music] and i just [Music] you are worthy yeah okay and we're going to say you are worthy of it all and i just want to invite you into that course it's a very simple chorus and why don't you come and receive the elements um this morning and if you're viewing from home and maybe you have you can grab some of those elements uh at home at home and then and then join us because we'd love for have to have you join us today as we serve communion so you might want to scatter into the kitchen uh to find something so that we could all do it together as a family so why don't you guys go ahead uh let these guys lead we see the el but let's just do it with reverence before the lord and just receive amen [Music] is worthy of you deserve the glory [Music] oh [Music] well let's sing that together you're worthy of it all [Music] [Music] you deserve the glory [Music] yes [Music] day and night night and day latest day and night night [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh let's go ahead and bless the name of the lord come on we thank you jesus we thank you jesus if you're at home just rest lift your hands up and bless the name of the lord [Music] all right we're going to go ahead and for i've received from the lord that which i also delivered to you that the lord jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed he took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me now you guys have some weird-looking cups in front of you and you you have to take the plastic off the top when i was reading that scripture all i heard was plastic coming off the top i just hear a rip rip rip rip so i think all you all got it right so it looks a little bit interesting but it's gonna be the lord's gonna turn it like honey so father thank you for sending jesus jesus thank you that you came and thank you for your broken body [Music] which was done for me and everybody in this room those who are joining us online thank you let's take and let's eat and still remember the lord well i was like honey in the same manner he also took the cup after supper saying this cup is a new covenant in my blood [Music] this do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you drink this bread but eat this bread drink this cup you proclaim the lord's death until he comes let's take the cup take a moment some of you are guzzling it down already stop take a moment and let's thank the lord for the atoning work of jesus toning just means the covering so jesus we thank you for the great sacrifice of the cross thank you lord that it was the joy set before you [Music] that you hung on the cross for me and the blood of jesus continues to work it will never lose its power and that when the father sees me he sees me through the blood the tony work of christ and we're eternally grateful so let's take the cup let's drink it and so remember the lord now let me conclude with that verse for as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the lord's death until he comes we're just going to revisit that so i want you guys to go back to the chorus you are worthy of it all i was going to do another song but we only have time for one so let's just go ahead and let's do it and then let's just offer praise from hearts that are filled with thanksgiving and gratefulness to the lord let's do that [Music] all of together glory is yours yes [Music] is [Music] who you are [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] all of the glory is yours is yours is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] we are [Music] who you [Music] amen yes jesus you're so worthy of praise god we thank you for everything you're doing here lord we thank you we praise you would you give the lord a hand [Applause] you're so good amen well thank you all for joining us this morning pastor greg thank you for your word god is so good before you leave if you need prayer we have a ministry team that will be here to minister specifically to your need whatever you need miracles healing someone to walk through a prayer time with you we're here for you we want to pray and minister to you so i just encourage you guys to get prayer i also encourage you to get some coffee and hang out in the lobby 30 minutes they'll be open for 30 minutes connect with one another don't leave without getting a prayer request how about that go out there and ask somebody how you can pray for them we're gonna start seeing our whole world change watch all right we love you convergence online family you guys are amazing see you guys later

Channel: Convergence Church

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Id: vXQUc36V2l4

Length: 117min 20sec (7040 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 31 2021