Convergence Church // Pastor Greg SImas

[Music] of is and it [Music] he is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] a victory [Music] as i sing gods [Music] oh [Music] a victory [Music] [Applause] [Music] anything is possible [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] good morning everyone how's everyone doing this morning good good good to see you all good morning to our online family if you're with us yet yeah this morning i just feel um the nearness of the holy spirit and i feel like there's an invitation into a realignment with who he is and remembering his goodness remembering his faithfulness and i just want to enter in this morning like psalm 100 says enter in with thankful hearts and just really remembering um the lord remembering all his benefits forgetting not what he's done and as we do that um i just believe the holy spirit's going to come and he's going to touch hearts this morning and he's going to free people and he's going to give wisdom and revelation and insight on who he is and so i'm excited for this morning i'm expectant for what god's gonna do and yeah so let's just all stand together and i just wanna just sing your own song just sing in tongues invite the lord and just get your heart in that place of worship and focus on him so holy spirit we just invite you in this room this morning holy spirit we welcome you we see that you are good and you're holy and you are worthy we fix our eyes upon you jesus the one and only living god the one who reigns above it all jesus we remember what you've done for us god we remember the testimonies of your goodness and your faithfulness in our lives god i thank you that you have not left us and you will not leave us god that you do not forsake the righteous that you do not leave the ones who love you who are seeking your face god as we draw near to you we know that you will draw near to us so this morning holy spirit we draw near to your heart we fix our eyes on you jesus you alone you alone are worthy you alone are holy you alone reign above it all jesus we exalt you in this place jesus we exalt you in this place jesus we exalt you in this place this morning come holy spirit come holy spirit increase your presence [Applause] [Applause] [Music] we will see the goodness [Music] my we thank you [Music] [Music] own voice [Music] yes thank you jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] we are [Music] be exalted [Music] i give you praise [Music] an open heart i'm waking up to heaven [Music] i'm waking up i'm waking up [Music] i give you praise [Music] [Music] i'm waking up to you [Music] [Music] [Applause] always been good [Music] [Music] thank you i'm telling you thank you [Music] your faithfulness like the sun the arrives i'm waking up i'm waking up to heaven i'm waking up foreign thank you thank you for your mercies that are new thank you thank you [Music] my soul today it's my joy to thank you today [Music] fingers oh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] thank you i'm telling you thank you [Music] it's my joy to thank you [Music] to thank it's my joy to thank you thank [Music] it's my joy to thank you to thank [Music] it's my joy to thank you [Music] we say thank you we say thank you we say thank you for all you've done and all you'll do we say thank you we say thank you we say thank you do we say thank you we say thank you we say thank you for all you've done all you do we say thank you we say thank you we say thank you for all you've done we say thank you we say thank you we say thank you we say thank you we say thank you we say thank you [Music] is [Music] [Music] today today for always being good thank you for your mercies that are new thank you [Music] thank you i'm [Music] is [Music] i'm telling you thank you i'm telling you thank you i'm telling you thank you i'm telling you thank you i'm telling you thank you for always for always being good thank you for your mercies that are new thank you in spirit and in truth thank you i'm telling you thank you for calling me your friend thank you you stand in my defense thank you for your love it has nowhere thank you i'm telling you thank you [Music] streams yes jesus we thank you we thank you jesus for all you've done we forget not who you are jesus you are faithful and you are good we thank you jesus thank you jesus we come into your courts with thanksgiving jesus we love you and we exalt you so [Music] so [Music] one thing i decided [Music] this will be my [Music] [Music] here forever dearest father closest friend most beautiful most beautiful dearest father closest friend most beautiful most beautiful one thing one thing i desire only this is [Music] forever dearest father [Music] most beautiful most beautiful dearest father closest friend most beautiful most closest friend most beautiful you are you are [Music] [Music] most beautiful [Music] there's nothing left all of it sings to you [Music] there's nothing left all of you see [Music] our love is easy [Music] see jesus [Music] is [Music] [Music] dearest father closest friend most beautiful you are you are your most beautiful dearest father [Music] closest friend most beautiful most beautiful [Music] [Music] [Music] you've always been you'll always be right here right here [Music] [Music] [Applause] everything changes [Music] changes [Music] changes changes changes all it takes is the beauty of jesus at the beauty of jesus and everything changes oh everything changes [Music] changes everything changes i'm captivated i'll never be [Music] everything changes i'm captivated i'll never [Music] you'll never be the same after looking in his eyes after looking at his face cause he's all consuming he's all consuming but his love his love is [Music] i'll never be the same i'll never [Music] jesus a new creation in christ jesus we've been redeemed we've been renewed oh oh everything changes [Music] everything changes [Music] everything changes [Music] look everything changed everything changed oh i've been captivated [Music] yeah just thinking if you feel like you just want to shout and lift his name up just go ahead your freedom to do that [Applause] [Music] let's just keep [Music] oh there's freedom thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you you thank you thank you [Music] we lift you up [Music] thank you jesus you thank you you thank you jesus [Music] thank you thank you jesus we thank you jesus thank you for your freedom thank you for your power thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus exalt the lord thank you jesus [Music] but your love came crashing in so strong i never thought i would ever feel it but your love gave me all that i needed this heart of mine [Music] i never thought [Music] but your love gave me all that i needed [Music] and now i'm in love i cannot remember what i was doing before i met you i've been captivated by this learn to take me now i'm in love i cannot remember what i was doing before i met you i'm incaptivated by this love that saved me now i'm in love i cannot remember what i was doing before i met you i've been captivated by the slime that saved me before i made you i've been calculated [Music] [Music] i never thought [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do it before [Music] you save me [Music] [Music] [Music] you save me you save me [Music] [Music] [Music] me [Music] baby [Music] thank you [Music] me so [Music] never be the same cause the way you love me love on me all of my days your mercies follow me follow me and you love me so so well all of my days are mercies follow me follow me never [Music] follow me follow me follow me follow me [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] follow me follow me follow me [Music] [Music] now i'm in love i cannot remember what i was doing before i met you i'll be captivated by this love to save me you save me you save me from my sin oh he saved me and i don't remember my past no more he redeemed me he renewed me he knew my mind it gave me the mind of christ gave me the peace of mind he saved me he saved me [Music] what my past said i was gonna be what my past said i was gonna be the blood of jesus spoke a better word the blood of jesus spoke a better way his love is love it's his love is love you won't believe where i came from you won't believe where i came from believe in the mercy of jesus [Music] jesus [Music] your love is your love is like water to my soul your love your love is your love is like [Music] [Music] to my soul if you need a refreshing touch from god you sing this out he's here to refresh you to renew your bones the word of the lord says his word is like honey so sweet piercing down to the bone even down to the bone marrow so i i pray brothers and sisters that the refreshing ruach of god would resonate in your being refreshing restoring renewing reviving is is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] one more time let's just bring it down [Music] your breath is bringing [Music] he's so sufficient [Music] is back to my beak [Music] strengthening my inner man [Music] very source of life mercy is before and behind [Music] thank you for your life jesus thank you for the breath in my bones thank you jesus for your refreshing fire for your breath of life we receive you this morning jesus [Music] so [Music] let me thank you jesus [Music] you carried the cross upon your back bleeding until your final breath tears [Music] there is no greater love there is no greater love [Music] what you've done the power of your blood was more than enough [Music] the sacrifice that changed history the nails in your hands the hands that saved me the grave was lost [Music] the sacrifice that huge history the nails in your hands [Music] [Music] [Music] it was [Music] [Music] is [Music] thank you [Music] thank [Music] it was more foreign [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] for breaking the bread of your body [Music] thank you for breaking the bread of your body thank you forever [Music] thank will you forever is [Music] [Music] it was [Music] what you've done [Music] [Music] he's more than enough he's more than enough his blood is more than enough it's finished it's done that was a powerful declaration it is finished it is done lailuya let's say that together it is finished it is done hallelujah let's declare it together it is finished it is done hallelujah lift up your voice lift up a shout thank you lord yes [Applause] his blood is enough it's enough his blood is enough for you his blood is enough for me his blood is enough for everybody out there everybody in the bay area his blood is enough his name is enough we thank you jesus we thank you we thank you for your blood we thank you for all that you have done and all that you are going to do we've sung about it all morning long all morning long that we're changed we're rearranged we're changed because of his love because of his presence come on saints arise shine arise shine we're changed in his presence it's time to shine to shine in the midst of adversity it's time to shine like moses have you been in his presence are you changed are you changed am i changed we've got to be changed we've got to be changed into his image giving his heart getting his heart yes lord we need you we want your heart god thank you for your love just begin thanking him thank him for his love thank you thank him for changing your life thank him for rearranging your your history and making it his story your history is his story amen thank him i'm saying come on use your voices use your voices thank him for delivering you thank him for setting you free thank him for life i thank you i thank you god i thank you thank you father thank you thank you for your blood all right let's live let's get our shot [Music] all together yeah yeah yeah yes [Applause] [Music] he's here to change us so that we can be changed [Music] arise shine for your light is come arise shine isaiah 60 says deep darkness will cover the earth but come on but the lord will arise the lord will arise what happens in a dark room when you turn the light on darkness cannot fight the light [Music] come on darkness cannot argue with the light [Music] [Applause] so i give you permission permission shine shine shine shine turn the dark places into light amen amen yeah for he is in you come on let us be changed like moses in his presence his face was different we just spent an hour in his presence our face should be different amen because he's enough all right you gotta believe it it's either true or it's not come on all right we're gonna thank you guys thanks team and they do great yes always leading us to the end of the throne we're gonna have about i don't know three minutes i guess of visiting time so we're gonna have some music on meet somebody shine on each other amen prophesy give a word of encouragement say hi to your neighbors [Music] [Applause] here with you [Music] [Applause] [Music] out of control what's up [Music] [Music] [Music] this is [Applause] [Music] [Music] out of control holding my heart to the very end [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] staring into your eyes makes my heart come alive [Music] [Applause] this is [Music] this is [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] this is [Music] [Applause] [Music] good morning good morning good morning good morning how are you guys doing praise god amen it's so good to be in the presence of the lord this morning who here felt like something shifted for them this morning during worship amen i got people like jumping up in the air in the back that's awesome awesome well victor has an amazing testimony that he wants to share with you guys so if you guys can just cheer for him for a second because that's awesome yay okay here victor [Applause] well hello family good morning good to see all your faces from up here um yeah i just uh wanted to share a quick testimony uh for those who don't know uh god has really put a burden on my heart to evangelize and to preach the gospel um in the bay area and so we've been doing that for the last year we've been we started last year doing the pandemic and god's been doing amazing awesome things in the whole bay area and uh like two weeks ago we had a couple of the the team here from convergence joined us for the first time it was really awesome um and we saw the lord do amazing things in downtown san jose by city hall we were able to you know witness and share the gospel with a lot of different individuals there and um one of the stories that i remember there was this man walking he had um he was selling like balloons and some other stuff and uh he was a hispanic guy and we approached him and you know i know spanish and english so i took the opportunity to share in spanish to him and i began to tell him about jesus and i asked him if you have ever heard about jesus he said he never heard the gospel before so i began to talk to him about the gospel i gave it to him pretty plain and simple and told them about what jesus came to do and i asked him if he wanted to receive christ and he said yeah i want to receive jesus and he gave his life to jesus right there and then i was able to give him some information for a church in spanish so that he can follow up to as well and uh just recently last thursday we went again uh here in san jose at a shopping center by curtner and monterey road and uh we were just sitting there and we just started playing a guitar and worshipping the lore then the shopping center and this homeless lady walks up where we're at and i don't know if the music or something but the presence of god was felt in that atmosphere and she just started walking towards where we were at and she sat there on a table next to us and she just put her head on her shoulders and she just began to weep and to weep and to weep uncontrollably nobody ministered to her nobody prayed for anything but i felt it was the presence of god that was being released through worship that drew her and brought her and she had an encounter with the lord without having anybody laying hands or ministering to her you know so we're seeing amazing things guys and i'm excited we're getting ready to have another one here in fremont i know they already announced it and stuff they spill out um so we're excited guys for what god's gonna do in the bay area and to see the gospel of jesus christ be proclaiming our generation that's exciting so this thursday they're gonna be doing that stuff um from five to seven so if you're available please come and join we're gonna start here in the sanctuary fill up worship and then go out and spill it all out on the city so if you're here you will be able to see the lord work through you which is exciting okay awesome um let me do the actual announcement welcome thing now um welcome online family we're excited that you're here to join us we love you we miss you um and welcome to everybody else in the room who's here for the very first time got a couple people awesome welcome guys thank you for joining us today um we love having you here if you would like to get to know us better please fill out the welcome card and the seat back in front of you and just pop it in the offering or bring it to the front desk and they'll get you connected because we'd like to get to know you better um yeah and that's everything so let's worship god with our tithes and offerings if i can just have everyone stand with me nah i think the ushers come forward yeah that's what we do still okay sorry guys we've changed the game so many times this year okay awesome let's declare some truth as we come to the lord wait nope let's start over sorry everyone okay as we come to honor the lord with our tithes and offerings we proclaim these promises from his word the lord delights in the prosperity of his servants our gifts rise up before god and he remembers them we will be made rich in every way so that we can be generous on every occasion as we prove ourselves faithful with little we will be entrusted with much as we delight in the lord whatever we do will prosper when we give we will receive a good measure pressed down shaken together running over and poured into our laps he will throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that we will not have room enough to receive it now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us to him be glory in the church and in christ jesus throughout all generations forever and ever amen father we just come before you today with thanksgiving on our hearts we thank you lord for all the blessings you've poured out on us and the ways that you've used us and we just give you another opportunity to use us lord we give you our tithes and offerings and faith and we ask you lord to use it to multiply your kingdom we love you we trust you and we praise you in jesus name amen awesome um we have some video announcements hey guys i'm pastor joe but i'm bringing you this week's announcements hey guys this week on thursday at 5 00 p.m we're having our fill and spill at convergence come and receive and then get ready to pour out it's going to be a great time we can't wait to see you there [Music] hey guys this saturday we're having prophetic ministry on zoom from 10 a.m to 12 p.m sign up right now to reserve your spot [Music] hey guys we have been having youth services every single wednesday at 6 30 p.m to 9 00 pm if you are new and you have youth between the ages of 12 to 17 i want to personally invite you to come get signed up shoot us a text which will be right after this video and we can't wait to see you there [Music] that's all the announcements i have for you now please stand and let's welcome pastor greg [Applause] well good morning you guys i love a rowdy group man ain't nothing better ain't ain't nothing better than a rowdy group well good morning online family i i never know what camera to go into you know some some sundays it's like there's a crystal clear focus and some sundays i'm just like all over the place and uh has anyone ever been like all over the place lately and uh i don't know how to define that except that can you guys hear me okay with this i haven't spoke with this in a long time all right so um but there's a lot of there's so many so many things i want to say and then you know you you want to you want to make it clear you want to give clear um you know direction and truth and and so hopefully that's where you just trust god and you just say okay lord i i think i know where the i know the passages i want to hit today help me land the plane right so um that's what i that's what i'm endeavoring to do so right out of the gate if you can turn to psalm 37 and i want to look at the first i have like 700 verses i want to cover today and i know that makes some of you nervous um but i'll try and get you out by two so we'll be good all right i want to title the message today courageous kingdom living courageous kingdom living and the church around the world is the standard for righteousness we cannot leave it up to those who don't know jesus to set the standard for righteousness religion is a version of god that's man-made and so what defines goodness what defines righteousness is actually found in the word of god this is why the word of god is is being attacked in the last i would say it's always being attacked has been for centuries been attacked but lately over the last i would say year or two it's severely being under attack and i love what billy graham said that the bible is the anvil that a lot of hammers are broken on and the the word of god will always remain true and will endure throughout eternity because god is truth jesus says i am the true the way the truth and the life and so the word of god is going to continue to stand can we say amen and if you do if you're if you're a student of church history you will see that much of what's happening today is just a different version of things that have been rooted in times past whether it's deism whether it's it's just a number of things where they just kind of pop their head up at different points in in church history and world history we are in a moment again this is something that i just trusted in the lord with uh in other words i'm telling myself greg you're not you didn't even plan this that's right that's why i just told myself but i said it differently to you we're we're in a moment in world history where that we call it humanism is humanism is when man becomes central and not god that man in and of itself defines what righteousness is and not the scriptures we're in a season where the church needs to be a voice for righteousness this is why it's imperative that we are we stand up as the word of the lord came to jeremiah to be strong and courageous courageous being courageous doesn't mean that we're not afraid it just means that there's the presence of faith in our life that actually supersedes the fear that's in front of us david was courageous israel was looking at goliath and that's all they saw was goliath the spirit of fear entered the camp of the israelites because they had a narrative that was actually defined by the giant that was standing in front of them as you know david was with the lord as a shepherd he killed the lion and he killed the bear and he had a different narrative we need people in this hour who have a different narrative who have god's narrative and psalm 37 verses 1 through 10 just gives us a sense of not just hope but a but a fight in our spirit and let me just go ahead and read it to you because i want i want to encourage you with this i have mark chapter 8 psalm 37 i mean i have so many things and that's why i'm glad i'm up here at least two or three times a month all right here it is i'm ready now the new king jimmy do not fret because of evil doers nor be envious of the workers of iniquity for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb that's pretty strong language and this is coming from king david verse 3 trust in the lord and do good everyone say trust in the lord that that means to be reliant upon the lord so trust in the lord and do good goodness is what is right in god's eyes not what's right or or how the culture defines what's right goodness is what's right in god's eyes now i know i'm speaking to the choir i'm not trying to convince people but it's important for us to keep this in front of us in the season that we're in because people will try and define goodness in the light of their own desires their own passions things that are not godly they are they are defining as good i pulled back right there intentionally gray go to verse 4 all right verse 3. so trust in the lord and do good dwell in the land and feed on his faithfulness take a moment about 30 seconds and just give just take time to reflect on the faithfulness of god in your life can we do that for about 30 seconds and then when you think about how the lord's been faithful just give him thanks for that go ahead i'm just going to be quiet for 30 seconds it's kind of weird isn't it now the scripture says feed eat feed yourself nourish yourself on the faithfulness of god in your life that'll position your heart in a place of faith and not fear relying on the lord doing good and we need a we need a whole army of people to rise up in the church and continue to do good okay greg don't get ahead of yourself continue to do good but it's important in the morning when you're driving it's important that you when you're talking with your spouse that you actually nourish each other and nourish your soul on the faithfulness of god and the longer you live this life this journey of faith and i'm one of the older ones in the congregation you just you come to know over and over and over again you can look back even in the times when you had questions even the times when we've wrestled it out with god even the times when we did not understand why this happened and why that happened it's kind of like you know that person who is who is actually creating a is it is it a tapestry or something where it looks beautiful on this side but on the other side it's a mess and sometimes what is that is tapestry yeah i'm so good uh tapestry okay so but sometimes i'm looking at the mess and i'm not seeing what god's doing on the other side so we trust him with all of our heart we lean not on our own understanding in all of our ways we acknowledge who he is and he'll make our past straight that's his promise so feed on his faithfulness verse 4 says delight yourself also in the lord that word means to refresh yourself in the lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart verse 5 commit your way to the lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass he shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the new noon day righteousness and justice the scripture says are the pillars of his throne we must take a stand for kingdom righteousness anywhere and everywhere the lord takes us where the lord puts our feet or the social media platform that we're on we must be a voice for righteousness i'm not here to please man i'm here to please god but i take a stand for righteousness because i love humanity the bible says god is love and everything that's actually written in the word of god is is a result of and motivated by love the laws of god are not restrictive the laws of god are not racist the laws of god are not hateful the laws of god are life and liberty for humanity but the world will try and tell you that it's not that it's either racist hateful and what we're seeing in the movements today is not so much i'm not concerned about as much at i'm not concerned about dealing with the issues that face our culture i'm not i'm not so concerned about even the the uh the non-profits or the profit the profits not not profits you know p r o p h e okay non-profits that's why i want to make sure i'm clear in a you know a church like ours when i talk about prophetic you know i'm not talking about all right it's not so much what they the existence of the corporation it's really where is it going and where is it rooted is it's super important as we look even my my simple analogy always throughout life is the story of abraham or abram in lot remember the story when abraham talked a lot and he said okay what what territory do you want and he gave lot the option and so lot looked around he saw the green fields he saw the pastures and all this and he said that's this is the the lot i want this is the this is the uh whatever i want the territory i want and abram was like okay abram had the pro anyway abraham took this and then lot to this but here's what the scripture says that in the area that lot chose and gomorrah was in that area and in one verse lot plants a tent and in the next verse he's actually living in sodom and gomorrah it's not so much what it is as much as where it might take you when we look at the culture it's really important to not just define the outside of what's the organization is it's important to have a firm understanding of the root system of that organization and where it is taking people super critical and super important so maybe in the coming weeks i'm going to tackle that because i really want to hit what is biblical justice because that seems to be a seems to be a word that's traveling around our culture over the last year social justice and biblical justice the way they're defined are two different things so just because you use the word justice doesn't mean you're defining it properly just like any other word you could say you can use the word love and have it completely defined wrong wrongly that's not even a word then what love is so it's not just the word it's actually how are you using the word in the context of what you're trying the goal you're trying to achieve the church the ecclesia of god has to have discernment and wisdom on how to look at these things the best way they can and not overreact but actually think not so much what it is but where is it taking people you guys catching my heart so it talks about verse 3 trust in the lord everyone say it verse 4 delight yourself in the lord everyone say it and then the other verse is verse 5 commit your way to the lord you guys can yeah go ahead since i already got you on a roll right commit your way to the lord one one definition of that is giving god the right to direct your life the word in the hebrew means to roll over isn't that funny so i mean it's funny when you're trying to put rollover in that you know roll over to the lord what it means what it means is to roll it on the lord means give it to the lord he says trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass verse 6 and he shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noon day verse 7 rest in the lord everyone say rest in the lord it means to quiet your heart it means turn the noise down now he's writing this in the context of a wicked generation but he was facing in an evil generation in in what's happening in our culture everything that's surrounding us over the last two years is crazy right trust in the lord delight yourself in the lord commit your way to the lord rest in the lord and wait patiently for him do not fret because of him who prospers in his way because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass listen to this cease from anger and forsake wrath man i've been angry and wrath means to be in a rage now i haven't been in a rage because this i'm not juiced like that rage is coming you're just like you're in a rage you ever like cut in front of somebody accidentally person behind you might be thrown into a rage it's it's being so emotionally connected to it now i understand there's a righteous anger that we're as believers are that is to me legit because you're defending the lord and righteousness because cease from anger forsake wrath do not fret so do not be worried everyone say i'm not worried come on for evil doers shall be cut off but those who wait on the lord shall inherit the earth that word there means the weight means to be in readiness be filled with expectation did i say it right expectation of what god's going to do listen in the middle of a crisis believers listen to me psalm 37 trust in the lord delight yourself this is crazy this is almost like having a banquet in the middle of a valley in psalm 23 when the enemy comes in like a flood the lord raises up a standard and those all these things are happening the world is panicking but believers have hope [Applause] for evil doers will be cut off but those who wait on the lord shall inherit the earth for yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more indeed you will look carefully for this for his place but it shall be no more you know why because god's in control god's in control [Music] [Applause] are senate's not in control our current president is not in control governors of states aren't in control mayors aren't in control dictators and rulers around the world are not in control ultimately god is in control we have to believe this yet a little while and the wicked will be no more verse 11 jesus quoted this but the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace can i encourage you this week to read psalm 37 1-11 you can read the whole chapter if you want at least once a day as a reminder that he is in control who governs your finances the lord does jesus now i'm going to flip to mark chapter 8. shall i read it yes pastor greg please read it okay verse 13. i've been thinking about this this week the lord kind of you know how the lord can tweak you a little bit like he lovingly points you in a different direction and says okay that's enough you need to you need to really refocus over here and so he did that with me you know sometimes it's a nudge and sometimes it's a it's a complete 180. and it's well i'm going to get ahead of myself verse 13. and he being jesus left them and getting into the boat again departed to the other side now the disciples had forgotten to take bread this is always think this is so funny when i get this picture so these disciples they forgot to take bread what man forgets food but they did and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat so that was maybe their assignment hey man pick up the scrap make sure hey get the bread get in the boat that's you know one other job descriptions you know verse 15. then he charged them saying take heed beware of the leaven of the pharisees and the leaven of herod very interesting all very familiar portion of scripture and they reasoned among themselves saying wow man is it because we have no bread like why did jesus say that we don't have any bread john that was your job peter no that was your job okay you can just see like they're like reasoning but jesus being aware of it because he's god said to them why do you reason because you have no bread jesus already knows what's going down he knows there's no bread in the boat or there's very little bread in the boat do you not yet perceive nor understand is your heart still hardened jesus asks you a question sometimes it's just good to listen having eyes do you not see having ears do you not hear like four questions bam bam rapid fire five questions and do you not remember wow when i broke the five lows for the 5 000 how many baskets full of fragments did you take up they said to him 12. also when i broke the seven for the four thousand how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up and they said seven so he said to them how is it that you do not understand so there's so many i mean there's millions of sermons preached on this i have really two thoughts in a very mini devotional ish setting okay first of all when jesus is with you there's no shortage they actually forgot who was in the boat so he reminds them he says hey when i fed the 5 000 how many there was leftovers i take care of us i feed 5 000 people but i still have enough for you i got you covered there is no shortage in the kingdom it's where we put our investment it's where we put our trust yes the kingdoms are being shaken but his kingdom isn't our provision is not set on our employer our provision is in god if you take a stand for righteousness and the way the culture is going well don't even get me started the way the culture's going they're actually forcing people to make these kinds of decisions which i think is absolutely wrong in this context but i'm telling you when you stand for righteousness god might have seven other jobs waiting for you our seven did i say 700 oh my gosh i bet seven [Music] no shortage that's why it's important to invest in the kingdom especially in this season it's not right at this it's never right especially not now it's not right to hold back in fear it's important to invest in the kingdom [Applause] another interesting portion of scripture is found in matthew 13. and jesus also used this illustration verse 33 i'm reading another new living translation right here the kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour it permeated every part of the dough in other words when she worked the yeast because sometimes his work she worked the yeast into the dough it filled the whole lung so you have three things you have the yeast of the kingdom you have i would call a religious spirit which is the yeast of the pharisees and then you have a political spirit which is the yeast of herod you have the kingdom a religious spirit and a political spirit right now we need the spirit of god to give us discernment like we've never known before courage is not the absence of fear it's the presence of faith my time up what we're facing today what we're running into and this is what the lord kind of tweaked me this week is make sure you keep focused on the kingdom and do not cave in to a religious spirit or the political spirit it's hard to manage it because of how it's impacting people's lives and not only am i a pastor i'm a friend and when i see these things taking place there's a massive justice side to me always been there's a warfare side to me always been even when i was 20 years old i i named our youth group when i went to eugene oregon it's a funny story around it but like anyway don't have time for it i named my first youth group i named rock and there was and there's this like this is high school youth group it wasn't like we didn't have like shave the balloon and you know all these games and all that which is totally great no no we were like we had i had a picture of two ch chains breaking off this r these wrists like this rock and really embarrassing name radical overcomers in christ's kingdom r-o-c-k we were like we were rock all right so we had like rock discipleship right and i wanted to raise up warriors for god that's just the way i'm juiced now some guys they do it differently and we have guys in full-time ministry that came out of our youth group because we had a no compromise message kingdom message do you know kingdom so then the lord calls us to eugene oregon and we go to eugene oregon and then we came back thank you jesus i had grace for oregon for five years and then i ran out god changed it so anyway so what do i do former youth group i become the like the the senior youth pastor big church senior youth pastor university of oregon's there crazy mini berkeley you know tie-dye shirts everything it's like i was i felt like i went right back into 1960 1965 and there was like that's university of oregon i'm like oh good lord why are we here we didn't even check it out we just said yes we're going to go to oregon i should have went to eugene might have changed my mind anyway so formed a youth group called it frontline strong and courageous i look back at my life and it's like when do you put up with all that like front line baby like we had this we had and even hannah like she goes that's a great design because 90s is kind of kind of coming back so like the design was like front line we she i still have the t-shirt and so my brother-in-law was starting to church and he back in i don't know 1990 whatever it was in 19 whatever it was he's like dude i'm starting to church he goes he goes i'm not going to tell you the name man because if you do i want you to steal it i said i said his bob bob i'm not going to steal the name of your church he goes what i go what are you going to call your church and he goes oh you're going to steal it i'll tell you if you're going to steal it and i said what is it he goes front line i just started laughing on the phone bob seriously that's in my youth group front line so i'm courageous right out of jeremiah or whatever always had it in my heart listen i only have one shot at this life we don't know how long we're going to live jesus purchased my life on a cross i gave it to him and i never looked back never look back [Applause] it's almost like it's unworthy to look back that's how i'm juiced i mean you know what i'm saying that's how i'm wired let's make sure there's clarity i have good talks with the lord early in the morning i know some of you some people were complaining somebody was complaining i don't know i get up at four o'clock every morning can't handle that i'm like that's my life if i sleep in until four that's good news for me i told wendy today she goes what time do you wake up that's her first question good morning i'm already up what time do you wake up i said i woke up at 5 15 today she's like wow you slept in [Applause] some people are going to sleep at 2 o'clock 3 o'clock and when they can't they just they're night owls [Laughter] the political spirit i'm gonna end with this and maybe i'll pick it up next week because i didn't even get to what i wanted to get to but i did a little bit the political spirit one of the the [Applause] the one of the things about the political spirit that i've observed it always seeks to divide first it was you're essential and you're not then it moved to masks then it moved now we have divisions over race which i read recently is a man-made word the bible calls it ethnicity not race there's only one race the human race divide and conquer it doesn't mean that we don't deal with the issues but it should never separate especially those in the body of christ now moral things we could agree on abortion 100 illegal in the kingdom homosexuality 100 illegal in the kingdom why because it is written in the word can i help all of us just for a moment the bible says that we're ambassadors that means that we represent the government that has sent us an ambassador that leads the united states is planted in a country say egypt in an embassy that is actually owned by the united states and the land thereof his job is to represent the government at all times his personal opinion doesn't even count the scripture says that we are ambassadors for christ so some things we might not understand scripturally does it i'll say this there are some things that are written that we might not be able to explain but it's nonetheless written so if i don't have an answer i can't let's say i can't explain it i can simply say well my government says this take it up with the king of my government but i do know that the laws of god are good for us and that the lord would never put anything in the word that is contrary to a life of goodness there's something about the things that he says in the word of god that tell us not to do things because of two things he wants to protect us and he wants to provide for us always [Applause] it's not hate it's actually love so now the war is this the war is between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated the fight has been picked by our president what do we do with that i'm not opposed to someone who gets vaccinated i'm not opposed to someone who doesn't but that should never divide us but the world hang on but the political spirit will seek to divide the church i'll hug you whether you're vaccinated or not vaccinated i'll hug you whether you're wearing a mask and i'm not if you'll let me we need discernment because when a fight is picked it doesn't mean we jump in it means we delight ourselves in the lord we love our brothers and sisters [Music] we're of the world we're not part of it whatever that scripture versus whatever it is first john somewhere i'm in the world not of the world that's it something like that what does that mean that means we're in a sense aliens we're in the world but we're not of it we're a new creation the word of god says the oldest past behold the all is new that means that that there's a new i was going to say race but new cr yes a new kingdom ethnicity right and the lord just gently shifted me to like son make sure you keep the kingdom as top priority and don't drown yourself in the political spirit that seeks to divide the church [Applause] [Music] i want to deal with these kinds of things because i think it's on god's heart you see how the political spirit comes in so now we have woke churches and non-woke churches there's only one church are we going to divide on political i wasn't going to say i'm trying to think of the right word political thought that's not the right word but that's what i'm saying ideology maybe is a better word never in the kingdom should we talk about it seek to understand [Music] never walk away from the word never compromise on the word represent christ well love people serve people don't come don't come across haughty arrogant you can hold a position and love well people are looking for hope they're looking for a standard the church has been around a long time it's been under a lot of attacks and she's still standing [Applause] [Music] some people say well we need revival so let's let's let's have america fall into communism that's stupid [Music] we have blood that was shed and given us freedom [Applause] to assemble now can god use tyrannical governments absolutely iran is experiencing massive revival china the underground church in china is exploding and has been exploding [Applause] people are still flooding into our country something good has to be about this country that people are wanting to come into it [Applause] it's complicated but then it's not so for me i just try and keep it clear i i know i've said this a hundred times i just want to make it simple live for jesus love jesus live for jesus believe in his word stand on his word trust the lord delight in the lord commit your way to the lord rest in the lord and he'll take care of business listen he's in the boat of your life there is never a shortage but please stand up for righteousness because the scripture says this and i'm done you guys will still love me after this the scripture does say that you are the salt of the earth so not only do you bring flavor but you preserve believers those who love god those who are committed to the word they're the ones who hold the righteous standard in any nation could good people who don't know jesus hold a righteous standard well yes if they if their thinking falls in line with the word of course [Music] the scripture says this when there's a wicked king everyone groans [Music] when there's righteous king everyone rejoices and if you look at the old testament it's true when a wicked king came up through israel everyone moaned when hezekiah comes through when josiah comes through when people come through everyone rejoices [Music] righteousness and justice we need discernment i would encourage you this week read psalm 37 ask the lord to give you a kingdom mindset can you just do the simple things serve people well love people well even those who despise you [Music] do something really radical like can i give you a hug i don't [Music] know do what i'm saying wendy's mom i don't know if that came from her or not but i know wendy says this she says kill with kindness wow that's interesting thought [Music] you could still hold the standard and be kind and i'll end with this like the apostle paul you know there's he always says and in and then he writes three more chapters [Music] people are looking for hope [Music] it's tense [Music] god has assigned you where you work it's worship bring light security joy hope into your environment be mindful that we could talk about certain issues just be mindful we point everything back to jesus it says fix your eyes on jesus the author and finisher of our faith your kingdom people say it i'm a kingdom person you have the love of god inside of you your sons and daughters are the living god you represent your dad have hope represent him well love people serve people amen let's stand [Applause] so lord this afternoon i pray god that uh that there be an impartation of this like a spirit of of courage in the hearts of your people that they would stand for righteousness they would live righteously sure that might cut against the grain of the culture all we have to do is look at the life of christ and see how that looks like [Music] last night wendy and i were watching what was it the chosen guys ever watched that so last night's we watched two episodes were all caught up so so jesus is preparing for the sermon on the mount tell me guys you guys all caught up oh i can't tell you that okay anyway jesus is i know what's the word i could tell you but anyway so yeah i know i know i know i know i know i know it's in the word okay god so he's but it's interesting that they actually show jesus preparing for the sermon on the mount like two episodes he's like hmm he's like so he brings matthew along with him and matthew's that little guy he's always right so he brings matthew along with him and he's preparing for the sermon and at the very end he says he says once you read back a little bit of what i said so matthew says it goes are you okay with what i wrote or what i said and matthew goes he goes well if you look at another woman with lust in your heart you've committed adultery jesus and in the film jesus is like it's kind of a tough one matthew said he goes and jesus said this uh i just didn't say it like this but he said it but i don't i can't give it like a total quote just this i'm here to tell truth [Music] matthew good said another one out of the sermon on the mount and here's the point jesus came as truth to give truth that's the point if it rubs against the culture doesn't change truth we're called to do the same did jesus

Channel: Convergence Church

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Id: KHPVPr5k114

Length: 129min 10sec (7750 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021