Developing Spiritual Disciplines - Part 2 - Eli Lopez - May 19, 2021

hallelujah it's good to be here with you together worshiping the lord together to give honor and glory to god amen i'm so grateful for life today that we're gathered together i was thinking today about our service about the word of god that we're going to hear tonight i don't know what's going to be spoken tonight i don't quite know what god is going to do but so much about receiving from god and receiving a blessing from god i've learned is about putting ourselves in position to receive a blessing and a word from him that's one of the special things about coming together and worshiping god before the word of god is brought forth because it allows us to gather together in the same heart in the same mind in the same spirit and that is to give honor and glory to god and that is to put ourselves in position to receive the glory of our god so before we begin our service tonight why don't we just pray pray together with me and let's just allow god to have his way today let's worship him let's recognize his glory let's call on his spirit and and demonstrate a hunger and a thirsty and a thirst for his presence today can we pray lord father we come before you lord jesus tonight we give you all the honor and the glory lord god we praise you jesus in this place lord god we praise you in this building god your people praises you lord god we praise you in our homes god at every corner of stockton and every corner of this county god and wherever anyone may be listening god we just lift up our voice lord to you we lift up our voice of praise to your name god today we desire to put ourselves in position god with the holy ghost god have your way god in us tonight put our hearts and put our minds in position to you we humble ourselves before you god and worship recognizing that it is your presence god that we desire it is your power lord god that we're hungry for we hunger for righteousness today lord god and an outpouring of your spirit lord jesus we thank you god for what you're doing in our midst we thank you god for what you're going to do tonight god we thank you for your word god that's going to be sent forth lord god and i pray god you would just make a sensitive god sensitive god every family god every person that's listening to this right now god make them sensitive god to the power of the holy ghost god and we will be sure to give you all the honor all the glory and all the praise tonight in jesus name god bless you as you worship with the worship team [Music] i love jesus he's my savior when storms are raging he's [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes i do here's is [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] so very good [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] everybody [Music] [Music] there's jesus in the name of jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] come on let's do it tomorrow [Applause] [Music] do you have it yesterday [Music] jesus jesus jesus [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] hallelujah hallelujah thank you jesus [Music] oh [Music] seek your face come and make your throne upon our praise here in this place have your way the moment that we see you we are changed [Music] show us your glory [Music] um [Music] but only by [Applause] [Music] show us your [Music] we glory down [Music] sure [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus you change everything in lives [Music] jesus you change everything [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus here i am [Music] change everything [Music] [Applause] jesus [Music] jesus you change everything jesus you change everything [Music] hallelujah thank you jesus hallelujah thank you jesus glory to god do you feel it do you feel it tonight hallelujah do you feel the holy ghost moving in your midst amen i don't know about you but i feel the power of god in this place and i do believe it's extending forth out to you tonight hallelujah i do believe the power of the holy ghost is extending forward to you why don't you try him tonight hallelujah why don't you try the lord tonight and just taste his glory the word of god says taste and see that the lord is good hallelujah the power of god is not just for me it's not just for for individuals who have lived a long time a long time in the church it's for anyone and whosoever will hallelujah why don't you taste and see that the lord is good tonight do you feel the glory of god amen friend you who are listening perhaps this is your first time tuning in to a service here at christian life center and perhaps you you're feeling something warm inside you're feeling maybe some goosebumps come up in your head or something happening in you hallelujah can i tell you that's the glory of god that we're singing about today hallelujah that's the power of god that's reaching into your life even right now and if you call on him you're going to see that he is real you're going to see that he shows up you're going to see that his power is real tonight hallelujah oh i just feel like praising him today can we just lift our hands wherever you're at right now and worship the lord thank you god thank you for what we feel here tonight god thank you god for visiting your people tonight god we feel your glory with your presence today [Music] can i tell you that if you lay your need before the lord tonight the lord is going to respond there is an activation of the power of god in this place tonight there is an activation of the power of god in his people and it doesn't matter what need you might have tonight whether it be sickness whether it be spiritual whether it be financial i believe if you give it to the lord tonight he's going to respond because that power that glory that we feel in our spirits that glory that you feel in your home it's gonna extend forward towards your need and god's gonna touch it tonight if you just give it to him if you have a sickness if you have a need if you know somebody who needs something from the lord tonight let's just give it over to god right now and i believe god is going to respond in a special way let's lift our hands to heaven father we come before you jesus today there are many people god in this body god of believers lord jesus that need a touch from you god so many need a healing god or restoration in their spirit and in their soul father i pray tonight god you was just descend down father wherever they're at right now god by your power god come down upon them and begin to touch lord god their ailments today begin to touch god their sickness lord jesus begin to touch their disease lord father right now restore by your glory and by your power god restore their soul tonight god give them their right mind father today give them a sound mind god in a sound spirit heal their i feel god doing it tonight lord father do it god in the midst of your people and every individual that's listening tonight lord father i pray that you would move on them god every individual that's listening perhaps it's their first time lord tuning in lord father i pray that you would touch their hearts and their minds to continue to work by the power of your holy ghost in their lives in jesus name we pray let's just give a hand praise to the lord wherever you're at it's all right let's just glorify god tonight hallelujah we praise you we exalt you god we lift our voice to you tonight in jesus name in jesus name in jesus name well we've prayed for our needs and those of you if you would like to receive prayer tonight and just give a call to the church our prayer lines are open you are welcome to call throughout this service and we'll pray with you but there is something else that also requires our prayer and that is our community it is our nation it is our city it is without a doubt that we all know our city is hurting right now our city is in need of the peace and the encouragement of god but can i tell you church that even in the darkest hour of any situation it is in that moment that the church needs to shine the brightest and we need to move forward sharing about the message of jesus christ in the gospel of jesus christ but tonight let's pray over our city especially stockton right now let's pray over our law enforcement that god would protect them and encourage them tonight and more than anything that all men would seek the lord now more than ever from every government official all the way down to every citizen every individual in this city and throughout the land we're praying for revival in jesus name can we pray for it tonight lord father we come before you jesus we thank you god that you revealed yourself to us god i thank you god that we know who you are and we know the power of your name that there is saving power in your name there is restoring power in your name there is healing power in your name lord father and tonight god we call upon your name for our city we call upon your name god for our nation we paul call upon your name for our country that is in desperate need of you god we are in desperate need of revival i know you're already doing it god you're already working in our midst you're working in our neighborhoods god you're working in the hearts and the minds god of the people of this city and this nation god would continue forward god to do a mighty work among us lord i pray god tonight lord jesus i continue to pray for the north and the south and the east and the west that you would continue to draw god all sinners to you father and you would push back god the darkness and you would push back the plan of the enemy god tonight in the name of jesus christ that your name may be exalted god above all things in jesus name we pray amen if you know that god is doing something why don't you just worship him right now give him a hand praise wherever you're at just glorify god it's all right to have church in your home amen it's all right to praise him for what he's doing wherever you're at tonight amen it is now time for our wednesday evening tithing offering hallelujah it is a good thing to give to the lord tonight it's a good thing to give to him and for his kingdom we know that it is a form of worship and it's given to him so that he could do what he wills in his kingdom let's present it before the lord tonight father we love you god we praise you we thank you for all your provisions all that you've given to us your people god we are blessed god beyond measure lord jesus and you have god blessed us with abundance lord god lord and i pray god that you would receive the offering from our hands lord jesus many individuals tonight they're gonna be giving lord father bless them and increase them god that your kingdom would be blessed lord father in always jesus and receive this worship for you god for your honor and your glory tonight in jesus name we pray amen god bless you as you give [Music] do [Music] so praise the lord everybody and we are here again on a wednesday evening and we are going to continue our series on spiritual formation and if you have one of the workbooks we are in module two lesson number two we're right in the middle of lesson number two and let's pray tonight that god would help us and always as we go to the word of the lord this is such a sacred thing that we do we always want to pray that our hearts are prepared to receive the word the bible likens the word unto seed and seed that is sown and and our hearts are likened unto the soil in which the seed is sown and i want to have my heart prepared so that when the seed is sown it will bring forth a great harvest in my life lord we love you we love you thank you for all of your blessings for all of your goodness for how kind and merciful and faithful and good and gracious that you are you are our benevolent loving father and we look to you today feed us nourish us by your word and by the the refreshing of your spirit thank you god for your goodness in jesus name amen so we are going to pick this up right where we left off nope that's not correct we're gonna back up just a little bit and we're going to review some slides and then go right to where we left off so uh this is something i like to do whenever i end a lesson kind of in the middle or thereabouts i like to back up just a few steps so we can kind of get a walking start into uh the current week's material so we looked at this last week we looked at two truths right two truths and we spent a lot of time last week talking about the flesh and the spirit and the unregenerated life and these are our two truths that we looked at truth number one is that regeneration empowers a believer to live a spiritually focused life we learn that okay so when you get the holy ghost you now have access to power to live a spiritually focused life but the second truth is this that regeneration does not guarantee that a believer will live a spiritually focused life just because you have access to this power does not mean that you're going to tap into it and live the life that god wants you to live there are some things you need to do to activate this power to live an overcoming life and so we came to this conclusion we we came to the conclusion the next slide says believers must choose you must make the choice to put to death that's the language of romans 8 13. you must choose to put to death the natural behavior of their human natures and allow themselves to be directed by the spirit of god because that's what that verse says as many as are led by the spirit of god these are the sons of god how do i do that i first put to death the deeds the actions the desires the appetites of my fleshly nature okay i have to make that choice it's not just gonna happen on its own so another conclusion that we we came to is that it is through the development of spiritual disciplines that a believer can lead a spiritually focused life so if i want to live a spiritually focused life and i now have the holy ghost i'm regenerated i'm born again well how do i do that how do i tap into the source of power how do i tap into that empowerment i do it by developing spiritual disciplines right and so which leads us to the very next question is is is does it really matter does it really matter you know okay i'm saved i'm born again does it really matter if i develop these spiritual disciplines does it really matter if i do these things that yes i see them in the bible but but they're kind of hard to do sometimes does it really matter if i do them and and the question i'm really asking here is there a difference between those who live consecrated lives and those who don't now that question is going to hang over this entire lesson as it did last week it will do so again so we're gonna just hold on to that question does it really matter if we develop these spiritual disciplines or not and that that also brings about the second question is well what are spiritual disciplines what are they right we need to define them if we are to live them out if we are to practice them okay and in matthew chapter 6 verses 1 through 18 we see jesus giving us three spiritual disciplines for his followers and they are the discipline of giving the discipline of prayer and the discipline of fasting and we noted last week that jesus did not say if but he said when thou doest thine alms and when ye pray and when ye fast so in other words the expectation is not that his followers would question whether these things were essential the expectation is that his followers would do these things when you give when you pray when you fast okay and so that that's where we were at last week and and we asked this question well if these disciplines are normative for the christian life if this is what jesus expects well what are the benefits of practicing these disciplines what do i get out of it right as a follower of jesus christ he said when you give when you pray when you fast he gave gave us these spiritual disciplines and we recognize that if i'm going to live a spiritually focused life i need to engage in spiritual disciplines i need to make sure i'm not following the ways of the flesh but i am tapping into that source of power that source of life that i have in the holy ghost and i do that by developing spiritual disciplines and and jesus chapter six well what are the benefits and we talked about the benefit benefits that come with giving and and the killing of greed and the killing of covetousness when i give and i do what is contrary to my human nature we talked about the benefit of prayer how many times and and and we talk about many times prayer its greatest impact is not on what's around us but what happens within us many times when i pray i don't see a change to my circumstances i see a change to me and when i change then my circumstances change and we talked about that last week the benefits of prayer and then we ended or we kind of drew a line and said okay it's time to quit talking when we were in the middle of our discussion of fasting and i began to tell a story last week and as soon as i stepped off the platform somebody met me that was familiar with the story that that a relative of theirs of theirs was actually present when that story took place so what i'm going to do is i'm going to pick this up so we have done a quick review and walked into uh this current week's material so remember the question that i was dealing with when i was in bible college there were some voices that were saying that things like prayer and extensive prayer things like fasting things like like consecration things like sacrificial giving there were these voices that were saying these things are not important that you don't have to do these things that it's all about grace and if you'll just have faith and trust in god's grace he'll use you he'll bless you he'll anoint you and it really doesn't matter you don't have to pray all day you don't have to fast for days and weeks at a time you don't have to do these sacrificial giving giving to the church or to missions you don't have to do all that stuff it's just it's grace grace grace and there were these voices that were beginning to speak into my life during those years and i began attending christian life center of and i was so shy i began attending back goodness i go back i was 13 years old but i was so incredibly shy that for two years i just sat next to my mom and dad the the typical introvert sat next to my mom and dad didn't go to any youth events didn't go to youth service then finally after about two years i began to attend a small group in manteca sheepfold in manteca some of the old-timers remember that word sheepfolds and i attended a sheepfold in manteca and they started inviting me why don't you come to youth service why don't you come to you service and i lived in manteca so that's why i attended that that sheepfold come to you service and i'd never been to a youth service i was real shy i was real um you know uh nervous about being in a large crowded setting with a bunch of people i didn't know and so i decided to go i'll never forget it was the in the summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school um i finally broke down uh i mean i've been at christian life center for a good little while now but i finally broke down and went to my first youth service and i walk in and i sit in the back and i am all by myself i i talk to no one i really don't greet anyone i'm all in the back all by myself and god does this great work the holy ghost falls on me at the end of that service i end up getting drunk in the holy ghost that night god changed my life right and so amazingly though is that when i came into the youth ministry there had been a youth pastor by the name of nathaniel haney and two weeks prior was his last youth service so nathaniel haney pastor haney now to us was never my youth pastor i started going to the youth ministry two weeks after he stepped out of being the youth pastor and so i missed that time of sinning under his leadership as the youth pastor but as i got involved in the youth ministry i began to hear stories about this individual and i didn't know him personally i i didn't know him but i began to hear these stories about nathaniel haney about nathaniel haney praying and fasting and soul winning and just being sold out and being zealous and not being afraid of anyone or anything and taking on every demon in hell and praying all day and fasting for weeks and weeks in fact fasting until his body would give out i would hear these stories and and so i had these stories in my mind and and so to me nathaniel haney came to epitomize prayer and fasting and consecration so i had these stories in my mind right of this individual that thankfully later in life i i was able to get to know quite well and now i'm able to serve him he is my pastor but i didn't know him at the time i just knew the stories and and so i knew the stories of nathaniel haney and his lifestyle of prayer and fasting and consecration and then i had these voices just just bombarding me prayer is not important fasting's not important consecration and dedication and sacrifice none of that stuff's important and so i told you last week what did i do i just put it on the balance scale and i just said you know what i'm going to do here's how i'm going to decide who's right and who's wrong i am going to study i am going to make a judgment call i am going to use whatever little discernment i have and i'm going to look at the lives and the ministries of those who pray and fast and sacrifice and consecrate and i'm going to compare that against the ministries of those who don't and which one do i want to have and in the middle of this season this story took place uh my youth pastor called me it was a wednesday he said eli there's a young lady who called says she wants deliverance will you go with me to pick her up she is at the denny's on charter way sound a little sketchy but i'm down for an adventure right so i had a little red honda civic and and i drove and the youth my youth pastor got in the front seat and we drove down to charter way to the denny's on charter way here in stockton and we met a young lady in the parking lot her name was shelley we met her and you know we just you know we we drove up and we saw her standing there and she looked very uh just kind of rough in appearance and uh uh probably at that state she was homeless or had been homeless for a little bit and we just we invited her she got in the backseat we said we're gonna take you to the church we're gonna pray for you and she said that's what i want i want to go to the church so we're driving and it's very quiet just kind of awkward we don't know her and we don't really know if her story is is going to pan out but someone wants deliverance and and we just we went to bring her to the church to pray for her we knew it would be a great place to do it uh you know the spiritual environment that would be there and as we drive and i'll never forget we drove into the west lane campus and we used to have these big palm trees that used to line uh the driveway into the parking lot and again the old timers will remember remember those those big palm trees and and and all of a sudden from the back seat she says wow wow she says i can see angelic beans as tall as the palm trees that are lining this entire property she said i see it there are angels all around this church you know i'm like okay you know she could just be making that up right so we pull into the circle and uh we take her now this story has multiple parts to it i'm going to jump ahead because we took her into the chapel we prayed with her and and there was a measure of deliverance but not not fully so it's a wednesday so we're having youth service that night and back then the chapel was totally turned around opposite the way that it is now so where the platform is now that was the back of the chapel and there used to be an extra set of doors that went out into the hallway area and so what is now the back of the chapel there's a sound booth now that used to be the area of the platform and some of you again you'll remember that in the big painting of jesus that was on the wall of the chapel and so that this is where this story takes place and so it it's you service you service starts and shelly comes in and she sits in the very back on the far left on the side that typically the young ladies would sit on and she said she's in the very back pew the very last row uh and we're having you service and we're worshiping and praying and doing our thing and the demons begin to act up inside of her and and and all of a sudden i have no idea how it happened i i still don't know it's like but she went from the back row the last pew to the platform she ended up on the platform and you hear those stories about people slithering around like snakes i've seen it and it's real and what shelley did she didn't slither around on her belly she slithered around on her back it was the most most odd thing to see but on her back she would just slither back and forth across across the platform like like a snake and then these guttural voices these voices would speak out of her these demonic voices and then they would go away and then it would be shelly again it'd be a much softer voice and anyone that's ever engaged demonic possession you've ever been a part of cast out a devil you you know what i'm talking about you've seen this you experience where it's it's the individual one moment then the demon will come to the forefront in the next moment and so we begin to pray and i want to tell you that night was amazing because we had you know every youth group has them right the the the cold hard-hearted backslidden young people right we'll just call it like it is the young people that are i everybody prayed through that night every i saw young people praying that i had never seen praying they were they were speaking in tongues because everybody knew everybody knows this now we don't talk about this anymore but everybody knows jesus taught that when a demon or when a devil leaves a human residence it seeks another vessel in which to dwell and everybody knew knows that the devil is going to look for an unclean vessel so if you're not right with god if you don't have the holy ghost if you're not right when that devil gets cast out it's going to look for a body to dwell and it's going to look for somebody to possess and nobody wanted to be that person so everybody was praying through that night we had we had youth revival it was awesome but she's up there slithering around and word got out about what was happening so one of the ministers from the church came in now i'm not being overly judgmental but i'm going to just tell you the story this individual was not a disciplined individual was not a disciplined individual uh his habits his lifestyle we those of us who knew him knew he's not a disciplined individual he prayed sometimes he he fasted probably never i mean he just he was not a but he did have a call of god in his life and and he he was called to preach the gospel but he had never learned to develop spiritual disciplines and and he was not as privileged as i was and i'm going to say this not to not to be judgmental against him i grew up in an intensely spiritual environment with leaders that were in my life that that taught me the importance of prayer and fasting and this individual i'm convinced did not have that because in his in his developmental uh years of his ministry he did not develop consistent spiritual disciplines but he's a good guy he loves god and but he just doesn't have that lifestyle of spiritual disciplines and i'm not being judgmental i'm just telling you the reality of the situation and he came in he saw what was happening and he ran to the front and he begins yelling at the devil yelling and the devil doesn't respond to him like doesn't even act like he's there and and what happened was the devil would take shelley and and would cause her hands to begin choking her and and it would and were like really strangling self-strangulation was going on it was that the devil was driving her and this guy was yelling and the devils would pay no mind and i would watch my youth pastor he was there and he would speak and there would be a measure of relief that would happen that she would let go and finally my youth pastor i'm just watching i'm taking notes right i'm like you know i i i want to see something i've never seen before and i'm watching and i'm checking out everything that's going on and my youth pastor looks up at me and he says go get nathan you'll never get those words he said go get nathaniel now i'm not being disrespectful he's pastor haney to me today but in the telling of the story he said go get nathaniel and so i turned and it just so happened that night uh pastor haney had taught a lesson that taught the message in wednesday night at the uh in the main sanctuary so i go into the main sanctuary and he's standing in the back but i'll never forget his brother and he's talking to brother foster and uh some of you remember brother tim foster uh the late member of our church they're talking in the back of the sanctuary and i'll never forget pastor haney is holding a hard shell briefcase it's just one of those details that stands out to me he's holding this this hard shell uh briefcase and he's talking to brother foster and i didn't really know him right so i'm a little intimidated and i just stand and i wait and then he looks over at me he realizes i'm waiting and i and i and i said the the youth pastor uh has has asked you to come into the chapel and help us pray and he was brother haney was so calm he looked at me and he looked at brother foster and he said there's a witch with the devil got to go cast out the devil and it was it was the calmest thing he had his hand in his pocket holding his briefcase in his other hand and it was just like another day at the office right this is the biggest thing that's ever happened to to the youth ministry that i've ever been a part of all the kids are praying through we got someone slithering around on the platform we got people yelling and screaming at the devil and he just puts his hand in his pocket yeah i'm gonna go cast out a devil out of a witch and uh so i turn and he follows me and we go in and now i just step again i'm stepping off to the side and i watch and he just saunters up pastor haney the old gunslinger right he just saunters up and he just kind of plants himself and he doesn't say anything like i thought he was going to come in and rebuke and like take authority he just kind of watches he just kind of watches you know and he looks at us he says you know it's not one devil she's filled with multiple devils and he begins to explain kind of what's going on and and and he starts watching and he's just watching and the strangling things happens again and he just speaks and he doesn't yell he doesn't scream and right and i know this is the guy right this is the guy that prays and fast and sacrifices this is the guy that these other voices they're telling me i don't need to be like him they're telling me i don't need to do what he does and i'm watching and he just speaks and the devil lets go and then he said this i've told this story before he tells us he leans down and he says you're not a strong devil you're a little weenie devil i did not know that you could call the devil a weenie i had no idea you could call the devil a weenie i wrote that down oh that's that's pretty good and he speaks and the devils one after another it's like you could it was like as she would almost exhale them out of her as this man of god took authority and began to speak and the devils begin to leave and i'll never get at one point the devil screamed at one of the devils ah why did you call him in here why did you call him in here and and that was it that sealed the deal for me the devil didn't say that when i was in the room the devil didn't say that when this other minister was in the room the devil said it when that man who had lived the life of prayer and fasting and sacrificial giving and consecration when that man walked in the room the devil said why did you call him in here and i said it last week you know you can you can fool me i i'm not very bright many times you can fool the church you can fool the people around you one you're never gonna fool god but unto this you ain't gonna fool the devil either he knows who has it who doesn't have it and what does the bible say this kind does not come forth except by prayer and fasting one day the disciples they they hit one of those strong demons that didn't want to leave and they said why could we not cast them out and jesus said this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting your lifestyle matters and later that night after the devils were cast out we took shelly up to the baptistry baptized her in jesus name she began to speak in tongues in the water it was a beautiful beautiful story of deliverance i got to see it with my own eyes but it did something to me i was branded from that day forward these voices they they lost their power they lost their influence because the the balance beam had tipped the scale had tipped and i i made up my mind that's what i when i walk in a room i want the devil to know who i am when i stand in the pulpit and preach i want there to be a move of god i want there to be deliverance and freedom and liberty in the atmosphere because i want god to back me up when i stand in his pulpit and stand on his word and proclaim his word and i made up my mind there is absolutely a difference and it absolutely does matter and these spiritual disciplines if you will give yourself to a lifestyle of prayer and fasting and giving and consecration i want to tell you there is absolutely a difference to those who practice spiritual disciplines who live this consecrated lifestyle so don't even bother coming to me and telling me it doesn't matter it matters and i looked at all my heroes of faith i looked at the great men and women of god who when they would minister or they would have these great revival stories to tell and i found in all of the lifestyles of these great heroes of the faith these great men and women of god these these apostolic forefathers i found in them the same truth that in their prayers in their lifestyle of prayers and their fasting their lifestyle of fasting in their sacrificial giving i found something was birthed inside of them that money cannot buy that you cannot replicate by by just just putting together a the good mechanics of a sermon by by just making it louder or making it brighter or making the show a little bit better it's not about the show it's not about the light it's not about how you craft the words if you've got it in the holy ghost you've got it and when you step on the scene the atmosphere changes and i looked at my heroes of the faith i looked at those that had great ministries and there was this truth behind all of them a lifestyle of consecration so yes it absolutely does matter how you live and these spiritual disciplines when you begin to practice them there will be a change in you and when god changes you he will change everything around you giving praying fasting let me share with you a few more disciplines tonight colossians 1 verse 9 says for this reason we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding verse 10 that you may walk worthy of the lord that's that's a wow what a charge that you may walk worthy of the lord fully pleasing him i want to i don't want to partially please god i want to fully please god fully pleasing him being fruitful in every good work and look at this and increasing in the knowledge of god i have that underlined increasing in the knowledge of god so here's the question right how do we do that how do we increase in the knowledge of god because if i will do this this will position me to be fully pleasing to god this will position me to to do what god wants me to do and to live the life that god wants me to live this will position me to walk worthy of him to increase in the knowledge of god so how do i do that how do i increase in the knowledge of god well i'm so glad you asked in second timothy chapter 3 verse 14 we get our answer for how we increase in the knowledge of god but you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of knowing from whom you have learned them and that from childhood verse 15 you have known the holy scriptures the bible the word of god you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in christ jesus you want spiritual wisdom spiritual understanding spiritual knowledge it's going to be found in the bible verse 16. all scripture all scripture is given by inspiration of god in other words it's breathed by god it's god breathed that's what the word inspiration means god breathed all scripture is given by inspiration of god and is profitable it works when something is profitable it works it produces it is profitable for doctrine you know for what you believe for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness you want to know how to live get in the word of god verse 17 that the man of god may be complete that the woman of god that the christian that the child of god may be complete thoroughly equipped for every good work you want to be equipped to live the life that god wants you to live get in this book get in this book you see it's not enough to be around the bible it's not enough to be around the bible i'm going to tell you an indictment upon the young people of the united pentecostal church which i'm a part of an indictment among the young people of the apostolic movement is our young people don't know their word how do you know that brother lopez because i teach at a bible college and every year i am giving given two freshmen classes uh in in for our first year students to take two freshman classes in the fall semester so the first semester of their first um you know entrance in the bible college i'm teaching these freshmen and i every year i am disheartened by how little by how little bible knowledge how little our young people know they come to bible college ignorance of the word of god and it's heartbreaking and we made up in our mind and the lopez family our kids are going to know the bible we're not going to be a family where our kids are around the world we're going to make sure and so that's one reason why we're a bible quizzing family and all three of my children have done bible quizzing and and two of them are still actively involved in bible quizzing because we want to do whatever it takes to get the word into them and i've noticed a difference in these first-year students there is an immediate difference with the bible quizzers in those classes and and and the rest because the bible quizzers have spent years many times memorizing and studying the bible they have minds that are disciplined to learn and they're very familiar with this bible and i'll see other students i'll tell them to turn to a book of the bible and they don't even know where it's at they're so unfamiliar with the bible and what is sad i'm going to say this what is sad is now that we all have iphones and android phones and we have bible apps that our young people no longer memorize scripture my parents taught me to memorize the bible i was this was part of my upbringing we memorized the bible and now young people they don't there's no need to memorize scripture because it's on an app and they'll just do a quick search and find whatever they're looking for and i used to be in my hermeneutics class when i was in bible college let me go back right now i sound like an old guy when i was in bible college and dinosaurs roamed the earth you know when i was in bible college in prehistoric days we used to i remember in hermeneutics we used to have to memorize seven sets of scripture not seven verses seven sets of scriptures sometimes these were three and four verses per set seven sets of scripture for every quiz and then at the day of the quiz the teacher would pick two out of those seven and he would pick them at random he would not have them picked ahead of time so that no one no one would know no one could find some key or some master somewhere that would tell you which two out of the seven to memorize he would have seven the day of the quiz he'd pick two and you had you had to write those from memory down i started doing that when i taught hermeneutics i thought it worked for me it'll work for them and you know what i found the students all left it blank they would not even put the effort into memorizing even if it meant getting a bad grade they refused to memorize scripture and the response is they don't have to because it's on an app somewhere and so i i'm not i'm not very pro bible apps i use i use a good bible app on my phone i use obviously bible software on my computer to study and to put lessons like this together but i still i maybe i'm just old and i i'm tactile i like to touch i i i still tell people you need to get a bible and you need to get a prayer bible and you need to have a bible that that you can open up its pages and let god speak to you out of the bible there's just something about interacting with it in that way and again maybe i'm aging and dating myself perhaps but i know what i experience in the classroom i know what i'm dealing with in these young people who don't know the bible and don't know their way around the bible and and these apps have really been i feel like a disservice to the the the discipline of memorizing scripture and and i tell people the bible does not say this app i have hidden in my heart the bible says your word i've hidden in my heart you've got to get the word in your heart you gotta it's got to get out of that app one day you've got to get it inside of you how do you get it inside of you you need to memorize it i i have so many scriptures memorized that when i'm preaching they just flow out of me i don't even have to you know think about them many times i'll get inspired to go a certain direction and the word is just there because i've been memorizing scripture from my teenage years when i got in church that's immediately what i began to do and psalm 91 is the first passage i memorized and i could quote it to this day and i began memorizing entire psalms my mom taught me that my mom would stand up in church and for testimony service she would memorize she would quote an entire passage of the bible that was her testimony and i remember the holy ghost would fall upon her so my parents taught me the value of memorizing scripture and now when i preach i get to to have the benefit the word just flows out of me so many times and other preachers they'll tell you the same thing our own pastor he has the word in his heart how many times is he up here and the word is just flowing out of him you see it's not enough to be around the bible you've got to open this up and you've got to start putting it inside of you you've got to start putting it and memorizing it and thinking about it and meditating on it and and reading it and going back and reading it again and going back and reading it again i have read the bible through cover to cover i don't know how many times i've lost track i just read it through and when i end i just go back and do it all over again and this word is it's never boring it's never dull this word is alive i love the bible and so many people tell me for lopez i want to know the will of god i want i want to know the will of god are you reading your bible no then how are you supposed to know the will of god if you're not reading the very book that tells you his will for your life well i want god to speak well this is the number one way that god speaks to his children and this is what i found out all if you want to become sensitive to the voice of the spirit because what what does what did jesus say jesus said he that has ears to hear let him hear right and in the book of revelation he that hath in here let him hear what the spirit says to the church if you want to develop spiritually sensitive ears to hear what the spirit speaks get in this word because the voice of god is always in alignment with the word of god always and if you want to develop spiritually sensitive ears get in this word know this word love this word ingest this word partake of this word i have a question why is the discipline of scripture reading so beneficial why is it so beneficial i have this in one of the slides why is the discipline of scripture reading so beneficial for me it all comes down to influence what am i going to be influenced by the media the news media or social media my friends or peers other christians well maybe some of those influences aren't that bad i would hope other people in the church would be a good influence i would hope my friends would would be godly influences but you know what i found the greatest influence of all god and his word i want to be influenced i want to think right i want to have a right perspective and i can't tell you how many times i've been had a certain opinion about something and then i get in the word and my perspective changes because i realize what i was thinking did not align with what was in the bible and i i want this word to mold and shape my thinking i want my thought patterns my thought processes i want them to be influenced absolutely affected and changed by the word of god and so why is bible reading so beneficial because if you'll allow it god will speak to you every single day out of his word and he will mold you he will shape your thinking he will shape your even your desires and your longings will change as you align your life with the word of god and you will learn that as you apply this word in other words as you do what it says you will find out that it works i don't have to understand everything that's in here i don't and and so many people well why well why well why you know there are some things in the bible it doesn't tell you why it just says to do do this but why it does the bible never gave you a why it gave you a command didn't give you an explanation but you will find that as you begin to do the word as you begin to live out the principles of this word you will find that it absolutely works so bible reading you need to for me this is what i do and i i i share this and i've shared this with my small group you find what works for you this is what works for eli lopez okay as i'm i'm telling this because i need a pattern this is how my brain works this is how my personality works i need a pattern okay so when i wake up in the morning i have in every day of the week i have in the front sheet of bulls and then my home uh the bible that i read at home as well i have a front sheet of paper and on that front sheet of paper it says monday tuesday wednesday thursday every day of the week all seven days and i have select verses that i read for each day i have select versus i read every monday it's like verses i read every tuesday select versus i read every wednesday and these are things that pertain to my character there are things that pertain to maybe areas of weaknesses areas of vulnerability in my life things that i know that i need to work on and i have scriptures that i read that speak to those things matters of my character matters of my personal conduct matters of of of issues of my heart and i have i have the word that speaks to those things and i and so i'm consistent and every now and then i'll come across another verse in the bible and i'll add it to the collection i'll put it on thursday i'll put it on saturday and so and so i have several verses that i read and then i continue my daily bible reading right genesis through revelation right now i've just finished the book of galatians oh it was awesome it was incredible i just and i've read it who knows how many times but i read galatians again and now i'm about to start reading ephesians and i'm excited that's next that's tomorrow morning i open up the book of ephesians and i'm going to read that and i'm going to go through it in a few short weeks i'll be at the book of revelation then i'm going to start over and read start at genesis 1 and just read it through cover to cover again then at night before i go to to sleep i have seven sets of scriptures that i quote out loud over my family over me and my wife and over my three children and i speak these into the atmosphere of my home because i am sowing seed into the atmosphere and i s these seven scriptures every night the same seven some of you say well brother lopez that sounds like a ritual brother lopez that sounds like it's just routine well it's a good ritual it's a good routine it's a good tradition for me i started doing this many years ago when my children were young and there are blessings i speak over my children over my family i quote these verses so when i wake up in the morning i turn to the word first thing before i go to sleep at night it is the word that i am speaking and so i try to fill my life with the word of god then when i get in prayer i'm obviously i take my bible with me and many times in prayer i'll i'll have that time where i'm just me god and his word and so that's the pattern that works for me i'm not telling you to do that pattern but maybe you could take something out of that and say okay i i have an idea for what i can do because i found if we don't set patterns then we don't do it it just becomes something nebulous for me i have to make it concrete i have to lock it down that's my personality maybe you can be inspired and every day just just open the bible and god will inspire you to read a different passage nothing wrong with that you need to find what works best for you but the key is to open this book every single day and read the word okay second timothy four five let me give you one more discipline i've given you four so far right i've given you giving praying fasting and bible reading now i'm gonna give you a fifth one but you be watchful in all things endure afflictions do the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry so here's what's interesting in this verse timothy is not an evangelist timothy is a pastor so why is paul telling a pastor he's really an overseer what we would today might call a bishop why would paul tell this bishop this overseer to do the work of an evangelist okay this is what i have found an evangelist is someone who shares the gospel with those who don't know the gospel that's that is the new testament definition of an evangelist someone who's ministry they share the gospel with those who don't know the gospel or they shared the gospel and there's a modern word we used i really don't like it but i'll use it right now they share the gospel with the pre-church right the pre-church i've heard that term lately well it it they we're sharing the gospel with the lost is what we're doing that that's what an evangelist does and paul tells timothy who's not an evangelist because an evangelist is actually an office of the church apostles prophets right uh evangelist pastors and teachers the fivefold ministry from the book of ephesians and he tells him you as a pastor need to do the work of an evangelist and i've asked i've wrestled why would paul tell this pastor to do the things that an evangelist does and this is this is what i've noticed that soul winning takes willful effort this is the next slide it takes willful effort we must work to be active soul winners throughout our lives and if we're not careful even those of us in the ministry we can get so caught up in doing the mechanics of ministry that we lose touch with the lost world all around us and this is an especially dangerous for me as a staff member at christian life ministry because i live on this campus not this one i live on the wesleyan campus i i'm there practically every single day of the week and i'm there and i'm surrounded by people who are saved or who are allegedly saved i'm wondering about some of them no uh terrible joke bad joke everyone i work with is saved in jesus name all right so um but i'm surrounded by christians i'm surrounded by people that are already in this and i remember when i worked at dillard's when i worked at walmart when i worked these secular jobs soul winning was was just what i did because i was surrounded and i would invite people to church and i was inviting people to bible studies and i was driving here and teaching this search for truth with this friend of a co-worker and i was going there and then when i got full time in the ministry i noticed that dried up on me because my life morning noon and night was at the church in church and i'm with church people and church church church and so i did something i said you know what i'm going to be a soul winner still i i'm yes i'm a staff pastor and at that time i was a youth pastor but you know what i'm going to be a soul winner so my wife she'll remember this we were new in our marriage i said i'm i'm i got to teach bible studies i'm not i'm not just made to exist and not win souls and take souls to heaven with me i in the past when i was in high school and and just out of high school i brought friends to church and got baptized got the holy ghost and and now that i'm in the ministry i don't want to lose that that that that that soul winning part of my life this is what we're supposed to do as believers so i started going out to cya california youth authority every saturday morning i was a newlywed i would get out of my warm comfortable cozy bed i'd leave my wife behind and i would go to teach bible studies at cya and i thought you know they can't get away from me there i've got a captive audience and i would go teach and i learned real quick if you don't have something good to say they tune you out after five minutes so it really honed my my teaching skills there and some of you are like well obviously need to go back um but i really learned how to teach there and get to the point because if you didn't have something to say and they didn't want your cliches they wanted the cold hard facts give me the word and i never forget one of the greatest days of my life was i was in the lobby of the church in the glass windowed area of our lobby area of their church and i was there with some of the other pastors this was i was the youth pastor this was many years before i've gotten involved with the bible college i was the youth pastor and i look up across the lobby and there's a young man that looks familiar to me right he looks for me and i'm looking at him and he looks at me and he comes across the lobby to where i'm at and i step out of that little inner office area and i meet him and we shake hands and we hug his name was james james was one of those young men in the bible study on saturday morning at cya he heard the bibles as i taught he got out of the cya he found an apostolic church he started living for god and he came to bible college to be trained to be a minister a preacher of the gospel and i said god thank you for every saturday morning i woke up to teach a bible study i didn't know if it was going to be effective i didn't know if it was going to keep after they got out of incarceration but there was one young man that said brother lopez it kept you sowed the seed of the word in a bible study and it found ruta in his heart and he got out and found an apostolic church and said i'm going to go to that bible college where some young guy from christian life center came and taught me that's where i want to go to be trained to be a man of god but you know what that bible said he didn't teach itself i had to set the alarm clock i had to get out of a warm cozy bed i had to say goodbye to my wife i had to drive all the way out to arch road i had to get in in the processing center and go through all that to get clearance to get inside the building i had to sit there and wait until they were brought in from the different dormitories the different units and they were brought in they were sat before me i had to have been prepared i'd teach those bible studies and i had to stay there and answer questions and pray with them and and help some of them and counsel them and lay hands on them it didn't just happen on its own but there was effort that was involved and i've learned this why do you list soul winning as a discipline i'm going to go back to the last slide i listed as a discipline because soul winning takes willful effort we must work to be active soul winners throughout our lives you're not going to be a soul winner by accident but when you say you know what i'm going to share what i have i'm going to share my testimony i'm going to let my light shine i will teach that bible story i will knock on that door i will drive that bus it's a discipline because it's something you have to make the decision to do it will not just happen on its own so five disciplines giving praying fasting scripture reading and evangelism outreach these are things that we have to do none of us are exempt from doing these five disciplines we are all of us to engage in these five disciplines and i make this point these disciplines will not develop on their own but you must be intentional you must be intentional about developing these right patterns of behavior none of these will happen on the you will not pray on your own you have to make up your mind i'm going to wake up and go to prayer i'm going to go to the church in prayer fasting will not happen on its own you're going to have to make your decision to push the plate away giving will not the money will not jump out of your wallet and get in the offering plate you're going to have to reach in there and make a willful choice to give to support the work of god bible reading will not happen on its own you're going to have to crack open this book you're just sleeping on the bible using it as a pillow does not mean the word is gonna somehow infiltrate your brain cells at night you're gonna have to open this word and read it and put the effort in and soul winning will not happen on its own you're gonna have to get out there and be intentional about sharing your witness about what god has done for you with others let me give you the dictionary definition of a discipline okay the dictionary definition says this behavior this is what discipline is according to the dictionary behavior in accord with rules of conduct behavior and order maintained by training and control okay that's a good definition behavior in accord with rules of conduct behavior and order maintained by training and control let me give you my definition okay this is the eli lopez definition of discipline doing what i know i'm supposed to do even when i don't feel like doing it that's that's how i define discipline doing what i that's when i'm disciplined with doing what i know i'm supposed to do even when i don't feel like doing it so i was youth pastor and i had the greatest music ministry in the world because laird silliman was my music minister when i was the youth pastor we rocked the gym on wednesday nights it was it was amazing i remember one night before you service brother someone was sitting on a bench in front of the gym and i walked up behind them and you know sometimes you'll do with your friends you put your hands on their shoulders kind of give them a little fake massage and when i did that i did not feel a human body stone i felt chiseled marbled it and and i felt something right here i can't explain it right here i felt a muscle that i did not know what was in the human body in fact i'm convinced like you know when you can you can buy cars with different packages right and you get the base package that has nothing doesn't even come with the radio sometimes it doesn't even have a bumper right you get the bit no air conditioning you get the base package and then you can go all the way up and get like the the ex package like the luxurious patch it has all the bells and whistles and gps and even a bumper right it has everything everything you could want when i felt that little piece of chiseled granite on the side of laird silman's neck and shoulder i realized that god gave me the base package i was not born i did not have that muscle in my body and i i quickly removed my hands because it was so demoralizing here's the difference here here's the here's the truth number one brother suleiman and i were born with the exact same number of muscles in our body i have the same number of muscles that he had but while i was on the krispy kreme diet he was power lifting in the gym even on the days he didn't feel like doing it discipline yeah i knew i should get in shape yeah i knew i should start doing some push-ups and sit-ups but i wasn't doing it but he was doing it even on those days he didn't feel like doing it and he had the results and you're not always going to feel like praying because i don't you're not always going to feel like fasting oh my goodness you're not always going to feel like reading your bible you're not always going to feel like giving you know what happens when a spirit of greed comes over me when i have some money in my pocket and i don't want to give it i make myself give it i just make myself do it you're not always going to feel like being a soul winner but you have to make discipline is doing what you know you're supposed to do even when you don't feel like doing it that's developing spiritual disciplines i'm gonna pray not based on my feeling because it's right i'm gonna fast not based on my feelings none of us ever want to push away from the table we don't want to do that but we do it because it's right because jesus expects that we would be spiritually consecrated none of us wants to give away our money but we give who wants to make a fool of yourself in front of someone who doesn't know you and and say can i tell you about jesus and then shut you down none of us want to experience rejection how many of us want to spend time in this world when there's so many other entertaining things to fill our time with but you know what discipline discipline is doing what you know you're supposed to do even when you don't feel like doing it that is how you develop spiritual disciplines consistency is the key with all spiritual disciplines the greatest effect is achieved through consistent application you want to have the greatest results do it every single day and the example of physical fitness who are the people that get in shape it's not the weekend warriors a weekend warrior will not do any exercise all week long then on saturday they'll try to run eight hours they'll try to try to run eight miles excuse me they'll try to bike all day long they'll try to do all this crazy activity because they're going to make up for everything they didn't do in the week and these are the people that pull muscles that tear their acls or the mcl's they end up in emergency rooms because they over stress their body and i've met some preachers like that i've met some christians like that that they'll be carnal all week long then on saturday night before they have to preach all of a sudden they'll find the prayer room or sunday morning before they go to church they'll crack open their bible to feel like they've done something spiritual that week that's not how it's supposed to be and and people that are weak and warriors they don't develop physically they don't ever get in shape it's the people that wake up every day and go for that run go for that jog go to the gym do the sit-ups do the push-ups even when they don't feel like doing it consistency is the key to developing spiritual disciplines you do it even when you don't feel like doing it the last verse i i i owe a major apology to the media team everybody's tired today we hosted a funeral here today and they've been working overtime we had district conference at our church and i told them i would not go long today and i've already hit the hour mark and i apologize to all of you and i owe all of you just don't all come collect at once uh luke chapter 9 verse 23 i really am sorry i do apologize i i hate to go this long when i know how tired our media team is luke chapter 9 and verse 23 this is my last verse that i'm going to look at tonight then he said to them all if anyone desires to come after me let him deny himself that's the first step of developing spiritual discipline you tell yourself no let him deny himself i i'm going to give up that extra hour of sleep i'm going to give up that free time i'm going to give up that hour on my phone on just swiping through i'm going to give up food for a day or a week or a month i'm going to give up that thing that i wanted to buy for so long i'm going to take that money and give it to missions let him deny himself and take up his cross look at this daily see to take up the cross that's radical discipleship that's being sold out to the point that you are willing to lay your life down for jesus and you just don't do it once a week you are to take up your cross daily that is how you develop spiritual disciplines let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me i'm going to invite the music team to come back and we're going to close tonight you can tell i'm very um i'm convinced maybe that's the best way to say i'm convinced that when you will begin to practice spiritual disciplines you will see your life absolutely change absolutely change when you say god i'm going to do what i know i'm supposed to do even when i don't feel like doing it because every every christian i've ever met they know they should pray they know they should give they know they should fast they know they should be reading their bibles i haven't told you anything that you don't know they know that they're supposed to be soul winners every christian i've ever met knows these things the key is not about knowing the key is doing it's doing and discipline is no is doing what i know i'm supposed to do even when i don't feel like doing it and when you are born again you now are empowered to live a spiritually focused life to live an overcoming life but it it just being born again does not guarantee that happens if you want to live a spiritually focused life you want to live an overcoming life develop spiritual disciplines and be consistent and you will be amazed at what god does inside of you and what god does through you lord jesus tonight thank you oh god i feel the holy ghost even now thank you for how wonderful and faithful and merciful you are thank you god that we could take time in your word i pray a special blessing upon all of our media team members who have given themselves above and beyond not just in this service and not just this week but continuously regularly they serve this church give them a special blessing god i pray for all of us today who have heard your word god let our hearts receive your word and let our lives align to the word of god let our lives god let us be disciples let us be disciplined christians who will live out these spiritual practices consistently day in and day out we love you and we give ourselves to you today thank you for your goodness to us in jesus name we pray in jesus name god bless you please join us we are going to sing a song of dedication a song of consecration we invite you as you're in your homes if you have this time of reflection this time of prayer would you sing with us and pray with us god bless [Music] you [Music] me try and true thanksgiving [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] pure and holy [Music] me [Music] you're [Music] true [Music] me [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] tried and tried and true i'll be [Music] hallelujah [Music] thank you [Music] sanctuary you

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Length: 103min 33sec (6213 seconds)

Published: Wed May 19 2021