Going Beyond Ministries with Priscilla Shirer - Passion Conference 2018

[Applause] I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am to be here thrilled finally to be a passion this is my first time being at passion I I'm the new kid on the block thank you for making the new kid feel welcome it is a privilege to be a part of what God has already been doing through this movement for these years these decades that God has been sowing seed into the lives of of you I was being a bit nostalgic as I was here last night listening to Bishop Louie bringing the word to us but I was nostalgic because it was about two decades plus ago that I was in Atlanta and I was sitting in a conference that was about the size of just this one section right here on the floor for a group that at the time was called the impact movement and is a little arm of Campus Crusade for Christ that would gather together a group of young people in Atlanta high school and college age the last years of high school and the beginning of my college years I would come to the impact movement in Atlanta and sit just like you are and someone that had walked the road a little bit longer than I had would stand on the platform and tell me that I was going to be an arrow that the Lord would shoot out that the impact that my life could have if I would just follow Jesus would be an impact the likes of which I could never imagine I came to echo what it is that that Louie has said y'all don't even know what it is that the Lord has in store for you can't even imagine I'm trying to tell you that whatever is in your mind right now about what God might do with your life it is too small for what he's actually planning to do too small you cannot fathom what God has in mind for you the reason why I can say that with that much boldness it's because while there are 30-plus thousand of us that are gathered together in these three arenas and then those that are on the other side of the screen in their homes 30,000 sounds like a big number unless you consider the fact that was seven plus billion people on the planet the fact that he'd let us be the ones that are recipients of what he's done over these last few weekends really it's just or last few days really it's just a drop in the bucket 30,000 sounds like a lot but in the grand scheme of all the people that could have been here y'all he chose us that means he intended for you to know you're an arrow that your expectation is that you're getting ready to go places the likes of which you could never imagine I've asked the Lord to put an exclamation point on our conference together in this last session to just feel what it is whatever it is he's been doing in your heart that he wants to continue to do and I'm gonna ask him to do that in Jesus name would you bow your heads with me Lord I thank you so much for this privilege I thank you that you speak and that we your daughters and sons have the privilege to hear I thank you Lord for the great gift that it is to know that you have allowed us to be arrows in your hands and we say right now collectively wherever you send us we will go whatever mission you send us on Lord we're we're game for it father we surrender to you and now Lord do what you always do open up the windows of heaven and come in here and speak to us father we're so glad each other is here but we didn't come to see each other we came to see you and so father speak somebody say sweet Lord say speak Lord we are your sons we're your daughters and we came to hear a word take this simple message would you divide it about 35,000 different ways so that every person the sound of my voice will know that today they have been in the presence of God in Jesus name everybody agreed when they said amen amen oh I like y'all y'all talk back to me I go to that kind of a church where they talk but you know I go to the kind of church where if the preaching gets really good to us we might throw something at the pastor a shoe a baby anything might go flying up there y'all are my people y'all came to have church so I have three boys it's a little bit scary to me that they are nearly and will be very soon in the next few years will be about your age three sons the distinguishing characteristic about my boys is that they are giants they are huge voice my 15 year old is 6 foot 2 inches tall he wears a size 14 men's shoe my 13 year old is about 6 1 he was a 13 men's shoe and they towered over me I have a 9 year old who's coming up in the ranks with his brothers they are tall boys somebody come help me feed these people and one of the distinguishing characteristics about or what makes their size work for them rather is that they do love sports so whatever sport is sort of in season that's what we're playing at the time my second son for a lot of years he's in a basketball now but for a lot of years baseball was this thing and I enjoyed that I enjoyed baseball season I liked going out there for spring ball I liked spring ball cuz you go sit in the cool of the evening while your kid is practicing I remember all those years of Little League when he was just coming up and we'd sit out there and the cool of the spring evening under the lights of the bleachers watching him practice and enjoying just that that whole atmosphere I like spring ball so much the only problem with spring ball is that it is going to become summer ball and I don't know what happens where you live wherever you're coming from but I can't tell you in Dallas Texas which is where I still live and where I was born and raised in Dallas Texas in the summer time it doesn't warm up slightly it gets hot I'm talking about slap your mama hot that kind of hot the kind of hot where you feel like the Sun must be mad at you about something like you did something to the Sun and the Sun is trying to get you back all summer long that's what it feels like and you're sitting out there at a game trying to enjoy your kids game and it really still is okay when there's just one game the problem is that at the end of every season there's a tournament so you got to be out there on a Thursday at 8 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. and noon and 2:00 p.m. and then depending upon how your kids team did you're gonna have to come back on Friday at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. and then they give you a little lunch break but you got to come back for the 2 p.m. game the 4 p.m. game and then if your kids team had the nerve to do well you got to come back again on Saturday for the 8 a.m. game in 10 a.m. and noon and 2:00 and man you're sitting out there under the Blazing Sun trying to be happy that your kid is doing well really you're wondering if it's ever okay to preyde lose so you can go home I will never confirm nor deny that I have ever done that but I will tell you that we were sitting out there at a tournament so several years ago Sun was blazing we were so excited for the lunch break just because that meant we would be able to go to a restaurant where there would be air conditioned and ice water that actually had ice in it we got refreshed we came back we drove our SUV up into the parking lot opened up the back of the SUV so that we could pull out all the gear that we needed to go to the next game in the tournament we were three days into the tournament hot sweaty they were doing well we were trying to be excited about it ready for the next game I was walking behind my son to get from where we had parked the car over toward the dugout where the next game was going to be played and so I gathered up all the stuff you know the ice chests that you have and the umbrella that you might have to go over your head and you know the water bottles the the backpacks the the baseballs the mitts all that stuff and I was following behind my son my second son Jerry jr. is a fairly Gregory personality he's outgoing he's excited for a challenge so I could see that in his step as I followed behind him I could see a skip and his step his chin was up his shoulders were back he was excited about the next game and I gotta tell you he's pretty good in baseball he has a natural knack for it I remember at 10 years old was the first time he got a good hit and sent it sailing over the fence line at 10 years old and I think it's partly because of his size just a lot of power behind his swing a great as a first baseman so we were really excited about his success in baseball and and I watched him as he kind of hopped and skipped over to the next game just excited about the next challenge in the tournament but because I was following behind him I had my eyes glued on him and I could see when something changed I could see that as we took the short walk from where we parked the car over to the dugout I could see that his shoulders started to hunched over and his head hung down I could see that that that skip that had been in his step at changed he was kind of walking like he was nervous he was wringing his hands a little bit I saw that he was looking around his eyes darting and looking a little bit sketchy I was trying to figure out what happened to my boy it was a short walk from where we packed a car over to the dugout and all of a sudden his countenance had completely changed so I started looking around trying to figure out what was going on why did he look so insecure and fearful all of a sudden I realized that as we were going toward the dugout we were walking past some kids from another team they were all laying on the grass underneath the shade of an oak tree getting ready for the next game as I passed them I could see this was the team we were about to play next kept walking and I kept getting a look at these boys and when I looked at them I realized what my son's problem was we had faced this team before we had faced them earlier in the season and when this team had played my son's team earlier in the season they had annihilated us it had been a complete embarrassment a complete upset this team right here y'all they were serious baseball players you know the kind of players that had the serious parents ain't nobody got time for all that these are kind of parents you know when they gave birth to their son they put a mint on one hand a baseball in the other they've been waiting for this their whole lives and these boys weren't good they've been playing since they were toddlers I mean really little this was one of those elite teams they were amazing and so my boy saw this was the team he was about to play and the closer he got to the dugout the more he passed them and realized that they were the players I watched his countenance change in response to that but we had to walk right by them to get to the dugout as we walked past there were two players they were talking to each other one was whispering to the other I think he thought he was whispering but we could hear him he leaned over to the other one and he said there goes that big kid from the Red Sox team is he the one that hit the ball and it went over the fence yeah he was the one at first base the one that caught any of the outs that we got in the game that was him so that's Gerry Shire when my boy I heard his name crossed the lips of the opposing team members those shoulders that had been hanging down all of a sudden I watched him pop back again I watched his chin go up I watched him get a little swag back in his step as he headed over toward the dugout in fact we had to bring him down a few notches before the game started it's amazing really how your countenance changes when you're really over here and understand what the enemy thinks about you when he sees you coming it doesn't mean that the challenge goes away it means that in the face of it you're different your stance is different because you recognize that when the enemy sees a door or a son of God coming his way he's shaking in his boots not because of you but because of the Holy Spirit of God that lives on the inside of me can't to tell somebody the day but even if you don't believe what it is that the Word of God declares to be true about you you need to know that the enemy does he knows that every single thing that God's Word declares to be true about you every word that has been declared over you in these last few days of this conference even if you're not convinced about it the enemy is he knows that you have been forgiven he knows that there is therefore now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus he knows that you have been given the victory he knows that you have been made competent by the Spirit of God he knows that there is therefore now no condemnation for you or for me no shame no guilt he knows that you have not been given a spirit of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind and y'all he knows that in the end we win and I'm saying what ashamed it would be for the enemy to believe more about your potential than you do what ashamed it would be for us to go out of here with all of this inspiration that we have been given this investment of God's Word that he has gathered us together over the course of these days to worship in spirit and in truth and to hear his word declared true over our lives what a tragedy it would be for us to walk out of here and still live like we were before we came through these doors so what the enemy will do is scatter challenge in front of your life because listen you're going back home to challenge y'all do know we going back home in a little while right and don't we wish we can wake up to this every single day don't we wish that we could have God's Word spoken over our lives with this much authority and power every single day and be in the presence of leaders who can lead us into the presence of God in worship every single day like this but the reality is we going back home the challenges of your university campus the challenges of your home relationships your friendships on your job those challenges will be sprawled out in front of you when you get home and let me tell you something what the enemy hopes is that the sight of them will cause you to shrink back in so much fear and insecurity that you'll never step up to the plate of being who God has called you to be listen if you've placed faith in Jesus Christ I hope you know that the enemy understands he cannot destroy you he knows his chances are over of destroying you so he is going to spend the rest of his time and the rest of his energy just trying to discourage you trying to distract you so that you'll shrink back in fear and insecurity and not step up to the plate and be who God has called you to be it is at least in part to this end that the Apostle Paul gives us a passage of scripture that has become a lifeline for me in fact I was talking with Christine yesterday Chris and I have known each other for a very long time very close friends and she was asking me what I was gonna speak on and I had several thoughts of directions that I was leaning toward but in the end we as we were talking the question came up if there was only one thing you could say to them if there's only one message that you ever have the opportunity to tell these students these young people that will be gathered together on this occasion what would that message be and there was one thing that immediately popped into my heart and my mind for you at the end of this year's passions passion conference the words of the Apostle Paul he writes them in the book of Ephesians listen let me just tell you quickly before I read this passage you got if you've not read the book of Ephesians you don't have to read the book of Ephesians yeah listen it's it's like for real the Apostle Paul y'all know he was a bad boy he gave us most of what would become the New Testament letters written to first century believers that now disciple us and help us to mature as believers and as the body of Christ and scholars say that of all of Paul's writing really the cream of the crop the cherry on top of the cake is Ephesians because in the book of Ephesians y'all he just spends the first half of the book just rehearsing who you are as a daughter or a son he wants to make sure you step up to the plate rise to the occasion of who you've been recreated in Christ to become those of you who place faith in Jesus Christ last night who stood to your feet at the end of pastor Louie's message and you placed faith in Jesus listen the old has gone in the newest car Bob you're a daughter you were silent and you have full rights and privileges that have been granted to you the Apostle Paul wants you to know what is the hope of his calling and choosing you he writes in the 1st and 2nd and 3rd chapter about the treasure that you have he wants you to know about the mercy that has been lavished upon you the grace that has been given to you he wants you to know that if you've been rejected by everybody else you've been hand-picked chosen and adopted by the one true God he wants you to know that if you've dug a pit of sin for yourself that is so deep you can't find your way out of it that the mercy of God is so great and so grand that it can reach down into any pit and snatch you up out of it once and for all in fact Paul gets so worked up that by the time he gets to the middle of the first chapter he bursts out in a prayer and he says I'm praying that the eyes of your heart would be open so that you would just know what is the hope of his calling and choosing you and after going over and over and on and on about the lavishness the richness the grace the mercy the goodness the adoption that has been poured out over us the forgiveness that has been granted to us he's trying to figure out how do I close this letter to make sure they step up to the plate how do I put an exclamation point on passion 20-18 to make sure that what God has given them they don't hand over to the enemy as soon as they walk out the door and the Apostle Paul writes these words to us in Ephesians chapter 6 beginning in verse 2 he says finally you be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might he says put on the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the scheme somebody say schemes against the schemes of the devil he says we wrestle not we struggle not against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the powers against the world Force's of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness that are in the heavenly places he says so therefore you might as well just go ahead and put down all the weapons of this world that aren't working for you anyway and take up some weapons that actually have some power he says take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to resist in the evil day and having done everything to stand firm he says you ought to just stand firm therefore in these few verses of Scripture the Apostle Paul begins to introduce to us a concept that has not been at least in the context of thus far in church development at that time had not been as overtly described as it is right now in Paul's letter he brings up the topic of spiritual warfare he says you have an enemy he says I want to make sure that it's loud and clear there are other places in the Old Testament and throughout throughout the new y'all where we can infer that we have a spiritual unseen battle going on but this is the first time that an author comes right out and says you have an enemy and he is scheming against you that when you leave this place and just go in a while when I leave this place in just a little while you need to know that there is an enemy he is against you he is not for you he plans to do anything and everything in his power to stir up challenge in your life enough to cause you to shrink back and not rise up and stand firm and the victory that you have been given in Christ Jesus that's why the Apostle Paul says and firm cuz you have an enemy an enemy that wants you to think that just because he is invisible he is also fictional he wants to be chalked up to nothing more than a caricature a cartoon picture a myth a character for a kids Nursery Rhyme he doesn't want you to recognize the influence that he has over your life possibly to to cause you to never walk into the full expression of God's grace and goodness in your life he is sinister he is a master illusionist and he is a deceiver and he hopes to cleverly disguise himself behind life's most pressing problems to where you will forget he is even there he wants you to point fingers at him or at her at your boss at your parent at that particular professor or your RA in your dorm he wants you to think it's that advisor it's that financial problem anything flesh-and-blood because he knows as long as we're looking at the flesh-and-blood we will direct all the wrong weapons at the wrong culprit will sink her money will work we'll think our rationale and logic will actually work we think that the Diploma we're about to to achieve and receive will think the diploma will be work worth it we'll think that the connections will work anything natural cannot take care of the supernatural when your problem is unseen and spiritual you need weapons that work in that realm so the Apostle Paul says you got to know first of all that your enemy is not the person you were sitting next to today that your enemy is not your parent at home your enemy is not that professor that is difficult to work with your real enemy is not your boss on your part-time job your real enemy is unseen he is hoping y'all that we will forget he's there he is the master deceiver so there's a little church around the corner from my house in Dallas I've been taking my kids there since they were little to Harvest Festival that's basically this church's answer to Halloween so we will go there for Harvest Festival and this church has a good old-fashioned trunk-or-treat does anybody know what I mean when I say trunk-or-treat okay all right so trunk-or-treat for those of you who are not clear on what that is that's what members of the congregation volunteer they volunteer to bring their cars into the parking lot on Harvest Festival night so that they can open up the trunk of their car so you go into the parking lot all the trunks are open and each person has basically crafted a carnival game or some sort of fair game out of the trunk of the car so kids line up one trunk after the other they play whatever the game is and then most of the time whether they win or lose the person that owns that car gives them a whole bunch of candy and sends them home we're always so grateful so we stand in line one car after the other waiting on bags the candy and we play one game after the other a few years ago the biggest line the longest line that the carnival wasn't behind the car it was behind the bed of a truck it was really clever a huge truck had been parked in the parking lot and they put a stepladder right at the bed of the truck so that a kid could walk into the bed of the truck they had attached a table top which was about the same size as the bed of the truck they had attached it to the side of the truck cut six holes into it put some fabric some drapery over it and out from those holes every few seconds a puppet would pop through they gave the kid a huge plastic mallet and the job of the kid was to run up and down the inside of the bed of the truck as he tried to hit the puppets on top of the head it was a homemade whack-a-mole game as what it was and it was the longest line me and Jude at the time he was like four Jude is my youngest me and Jude are standing in line were waiting on our turn behind us there's another kid he's with us his mom he's probably four or five as well and y'all he was hysterical because he was annoyed at this whole situation and he was making sure she knew it he was first of all in the way cuz mom I don't understand why I gotta stand in this long line didn't we come to the carnival to have fun this ain't fun standing in line ain't fun I have an idea mom how about this how about I go play all these other games while you stand in line and hold our place and then when it's our turn I'll come back and join you in life but he was not only annoyed about the line the four-year-old was so annoyed because mom I don't even understand this game why in the world would I waste all my energy running up and down the inside of that truck to hit the puppets on the top of the head if when I hit them on the head they're gonna disappear with them they're just gonna come back as soon as I hit them on the head what's the point of this game so everybody in the line is laughing hysterically because this four-year-old this five-year-old is talking so much about all of his frustrations finally he gets so frustrated that he works himself into a frenzy to where all I saw out of my peripheral vision was a four year old flash running past me as he ran forward and he grabbed the drapery off of the tabletop and pulled it clean off underneath there were three adults with puppets on each hand that day we all got a good laugh but we also got a good lesson there is always something you can't see influencing what you can and if you spend all of your time your energy your effort trying to hit at what you see pumping up in your life you're gonna be so frustrated and by the way exhausted because as soon as you take care of one thing another one is coming back unless you do what the Apostle Paul says pull back the curtain and let the enemy know we got our eyes on you and we're gonna use some weapons that actually work back there behind the curtain y'all I wish I had learned this when I was 18 19 20 21 years old that that person that physical problem isn't really where you need to invest your energy pull back the curtain use the weapons that actually have power the Apostle Paul wants you to know that the tactics of the enemy are serious business and so he uses a specific word to describe them he says schemes somebody say schemes come on y'all say schemes I think that the people who know me would echo this I think but I'm a pretty easygoing personality it's just my nature I'm kind of bent that way I'm just kind of like it'll be okay if somebody offends me or does something ill towards me hurts my feelings it's kind of easy for me to get over like I don't harbor offence as long somebody asks for forgiveness you're forgiven no big deal let's move on I'm easy to forgive but if I find out that somebody has been planning to do me wrong like you know what in a mistake you thought about it this was premeditated you've been sitting back studying me trying to figure out what my weaknesses are trying to determine where you can take best advantage you've been watching to see when I come and when I go you've been trying to figure out what tender issues I have in my heart when maybe what past abuses I suffered in my history so that you can push those hot buttons and make me erupt and anger or frustration or take advantage of specific things when I find out that you've been studying me looking into my presence and into my history so that you can take full advantage inand I find out you've not just been doing it with me but you've also had your eyes on this man that the Lord has given me to be married to for the past 18 19 years now you've been studying him so that you can figure out how to take advantage of him how to lead him astray so that he will not be who you've called him to be in our home as a husband and as a father and when I find out that not only have you been scheming against me and my spouse but you had the nerve to have your eyes on these three boys that the Lord has given us to rear into mighty men of valor and they will be men of valor or I will spank them when I find out you enemy have had the nerve to be watching my kids barely old enough to know what's going on you've already been studying them to find out what their fears and insecurities are what their weaknesses are so that you can trip them up so that you can find out how to cause them to become emotionally or physically entangled so that they cannot walk the road of victory that the Lord has for them when I find out you've been scheming against me and the family and the people that I love well if it's you want it's a war you go have because I don't know about y'all but I'm not just gonna sit back and let the enemy run roughshod over me over my family over the people that I lost over the destiny that he has for you do you understand that the enemy is scheming against you he's watching you he has a plan that is specific to you of course the enemy can oftentimes plan against entities nations churches communities but he's also personally targeted in his assaults listen to me he knows your weaknesses he knows how to dangle what carrot at the right time in the right way to make sure you are snagged in particular have you ever wondered or found curious as that particular carrot is always dangled in front of you when you are most tired when you are most vulnerable when you happen to be most hungry most alone most weak that particular carrot the one that wouldn't mess with your friend because it's not her deal it's not his deal he's not enticed by that but the one that entices you always shows up at the right time y'all that's not coincidence that's a scheme the enemy is trying to derail you he's trying to make sure that you don't walk in a manner worthy pleasing of the Lord that you come in here but that you don't go out of here did not purpose to live for the glory of God he's trying to trip you up not only for his own benefit but because he does not want you having access to everything that you are privy to as a rightful heir to the king of kings and the Lord of lords it's a scheme so if he's got tactics we need tactics the Apostle Paul outlines them for us I'm just gonna read them to you because he says in verse 13 you need the full armor and here's what they are verse 14 he says make sure that your loins are girded with truth then he says you need a breastplate and the breastplate is called righteousness and then he says in verse 15 you gotta have something for your feet if you want any hope of being able to move forward successfully so your feet need to be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace and then not only that but he says there are some flaming missiles of the evil one that he fully intends to send sailing into your path you gonna need a shield and the shield is your faith and then you know there are lies there are strongholds that he's going to try to erect in your mind you're gonna need something to protect your mind he says you need a helmet and the helmet is your salvation but not only that he says that you were going to need a sword really a dagger of the Spirit it was about 18 inches long or so the one the Apostle Paul is referring to you need a dagger so that when the enemy is all up in your space you've got something close at hand to make sure that he stays at bay you need a dagger of the Spirit and the dagger is called the what the Word of God but y'all he doesn't stop it those six can I just say that there is one more in 18 verse 18 traditionally it's taught as 6 I really believe there are seven pieces of armor because in verse 18 he says pray he says pray not like you know a prayer a day to keep the devil away not like a prayer over your meal just because that's what your momma did in your grandmama did and that's what you're supposed to do not something quick and casual fervent prioritised prayer y'all you can't have victory if you don't pray do you hear what I'm saying to you prayer is the key that unlocks the resources of heaven so that they can be unleashed on planet Earth prayer is the key he's actually giving you to get all the good stuff down here cuz I don't know about you but I don't want to wait to get to heaven to experience all that God has for me any bits of heaven he plans to give me on earth I want it right now prayer accesses the bits of heaven he intends to give you now and prayer listen prayer is what pushes the kingdom of darkness back it's what pushes it back that's why Jesus said my house shall be called not a house of good preaching not a house of good singing not a house of great spotlights and production not a house of great cafes I hope you have all of that enjoy it but jesus said at the end of the day my house better be called a house of prayer because smoke lights and fog machines and great singing and great preaching that won't necessarily push the kingdom of darkness back but win my people who are called by my name when they will humble themselves and when they'll pray he says that I will hear from heaven I'm gonna heal the land the enemy will have to bend the knee at the name of Jesus in prayer so pray there's one other piece of armor I couldn't get by without talking to you about it for a few moments y'all still awake everybody gain [Applause] its in verse 14 he says put on a breastplate called what righteousness Jerry and I live in a fairly rural part of Dallas Fort Worth we like it that way close enough to the city we can get there quick but it's quiet and lazy we live on a little two-lane sleepy Road somebody's got some horses over there there's some cows over there and one of my closest friends lives across the street that's why we like it because she's got a pond in the front of her property so I'll get the boys and the two fishing poles I bought on sale at the local Walmart I have a tackle box too that I got on sale there cuz you know we need things we need extra hooks cuz the boys always lose the hooks extra bobber thingies you know cuz we need extras of those I also have gloves in the tackle box because y'all know I don't mind going fishing but I ain't gonna actually touch no fish so we walked across the street with whatever hot dog meat we've got left from the week cuz you know we're professional fishermen so our hot dog meat is our bait we walk across the street we stand in this little cove underneath some trees and we fished just right there most of the time just little sun perch stuff like that we can catch quick in an hour we can catch like ten or twelve fish just a little quick easy little fishing trip every now and then though I'm feeling adventurous what that means is is that we will get into my friend's little rowboat they bought on Craigslist it's metal it's not a big deal it's just a little it's seaworthy it can hold us up that's all we need I'll swim we'll go out into the middle and we'll fish from there every now and then but I always think twice before I do it and here's the reason because in order to get in it we first have to turn it over they leave it upside down as they should to drain water while nobody's using it so I got to turn it over to get in it and what I do know for sure is that when I turn this thing over something is either gonna hop out from underneath it someone's gonna waddle out from underneath it or worst of all oh something's gonna slither out from underneath that boat because the environment under there is moist and damp and perfect for critters do you know what I've noticed every single time we turn it over something comes out and never once have I had to write a golden sealed invitation and send it into the brush nearby to invite the critters to come and join us at one o'clock today you're welcome never once have I had to invite them because the environment created by the upside-down boat is invitation enough righteousness is right side up living that invites the sunlight of God's favor and blessing upon your life unrighteousness is upside down behavior that is out of alignment with the truth of God that you've been sitting underneath for the last few days it's behavior that is out of alignment with the truth of God to where you have to invite the enemy and come and make himself at home in your life you just keep living upside down and the environment created by upside down behavior is invitation enough listen to me you can pray against the enemy till you're blue in the face but if you and I leave passion and we do not walk in holiness we do not live in a lifestyle that is in alignment with the truth of God we will have wasted our breath in prayer Pal says somebody's got to live right it's flat-out straight-up holiness it's a word that our grandmothers and our grandfathers back in the good old days when you went to church and you sat on a wooden Pew it's before some churches became so pretty seeker-sensitive I remember y'all I wouldn't listen I'm off the track listen I went to a church and they said we are a priest seeker-sensitive Church and so we actually want to sort of in a way they said dull down the actual literal name of Jesus just so we can get people in first then we will we will be more direct later on I said oh you have invited the wrong person because there used to be a day in time where it was just black and white where there were fewer gray areas and tolerance yes come as you are but don't stay as you are holiness brothers and sisters I implore you by the mercies of God to walk in a manner worthy of this calling by which you have been called then every bit of truth that you have received this weekend to align your lifestyle to it to not determine that you will still dip your heels into the ground and live immorally or speak immorally or do the things habits and lifestyles and choices and relationships that you know are outside of alignment with the truth of God turn the boat right-side up so that you can invite the favor of God on your life the Apostle Paul says righteousness is your breastplate the roman army in the first century they had many pieces of armor as you know but the breastplate would have been one of the most critical the reason why was because it obviously protected the most vital organ they had their heart the heart is the lifeline for your physical well-being all of the blood flow the vitality the energy that you need to function in every level of your life comes from the vitality of your physical heart what the physical heart is to the physical life your spiritual heart is to your spiritual life all of the vitality the energy that you need to be who God has created you to be to have fervency in your prayer life to follow him with passion and with fire to read the Bible and and not just be ink on a page but you hear his voice speaking to you to have clear reception between you and the Holy Spirit you need a vital spiritual heart that's why if I were your enemy more than all else I'd be after your heart because one shot to the spiritual heart will wipe you out your spiritual heart is comprised of four things your mind the way you think your emotions the way you feel your ambitions what you purpose to do and your conscience your conscience is not the voice of God but your conscience is like this wiring that helps this microphone amplify my voice the the conscience is the microphone that the Holy Spirit uses to help you hear the voice of God so if I were your enemy be after your heart because if I could get to your heart that would mean I would have automatic access to your mind now I could tinker with your thinking I'd have automatic access to your emotions I can mess with the way you feel and make sure they're out of alignment with the truth of God I can mess with your ambitions to where what you want to do is totally out of alignment with what God wants you to do and more than all else I don't want to make it sure I have a shot to your heart so that I can short-circuit the wires between you and the Holy Spirit now you can't even hear God speak to you cuz you didn't have a breastplate on the Apostle Paul says holiness is your breastplate holiness blocks you from a full frontal attack of the enemy holiness keeps the enemy had made to wear when he comes looking around for some people that he can infiltrate some upside down environments that he can fester him he can't find that with me or with you because we've chosen right-side up living aligning ourselves with the truth of God breastplates in place securing us against the schemes of the enemy holiness is your breastplate I came to tell you to live right I came to tell you not to just have heard all of this to go home and live in accordance with it be ye not by your power not by your might but by the Spirit of God there is no relationship you're in that if it is out of alignment with the truth of God that the Holy Spirit Himself won't help you to sever so that you can walk in holiness there is no lifestyle you are living that is - I bet you're too wound up in that you can't break free from no matter how you feel in this moment you can walk in holiness there is no way you have been speaking no addiction that you have no habit that you have been festering in your life that you have been harboring in your life that the holy spirit won't empower you to break free from so that you can walk underneath the banner the favor of holiness and your life be ye holy y'all listen listen back in our grandmama and our grandparents days great-grandparents they wanted to honor God more than they wanted to impress people see the problem with Instagram and Twitter and social media if there's a problem y'all the problem is we want this we want to be impressive and if I'm worried for our generation it is that we are impressive but we don't have breastplates on it is that we have the applause of people and our selfies are perfectly lit and we have a whole bunch of friends and a whole bunch of Instagram likes and people are following us and the enemy is thrilled because we have sacrificed holiness on the altar of impressing people you gotta live for the applause of heaven you got to decide I will not be politically correct before I will choose to be holy I will not be impressive before I will choose to be holy I may not be the the person that everybody wants to be around I may not be the most impressive but what I will be is holy because of time is coming y'all where we are gonna see our Savior face to face and when we see him he will not ask us how many Instagram followers we had he will not ask us how many friends liked our post he will not want to see the selfies that we took when we see him face to face he's gonna ask us did we do business with His Son Jesus Christ and then and then we're gonna give an account and I don't know about y'all but I'm looking for I want a well done I want Jesus to look at me and say you did the thing girl not because they bought the books they bought the Bible study they saw the movie no you did the thing because you honored me whether it was an audience of one or an audience of 30,000 you honor to me I came to tell you brothers and sisters walk with integrity be in the dark who you are in the light everything that your God has entrusted to you over these last few days the enemy does not mind he doesn't like but he doesn't mind that you heard him he didn't mind you came here what he Minds is if you leave here and live by what you are crazy father if you're here if you're in this room stay standing if you're in this room or one of the other arenas that are at home and you know you were living in a way that is out of alignment with the truth of God your breastplate is not in place you are open to full frontal attack by the enemy because you haven't girded yourself with holy living and maybe you're in a situation where you've been trying to live right but by your own strength and power you just can't seem to pull it off and you need the Holy Spirit to do what he does to set you free to empower you to rise up in victory to step up to the plate and hit a homerun for the kingdom of God if you're tired of being shackled you're tired of being breastplate less and you want to get that thing in place once and for all so you can walk out of here and have some victory in Jesus name if you need victory and you need freedom even while you're standing or wherever you are listen just raise your hand because we're gonna pray right now that the chains will be broken we're gonna walk out of here free there's gonna be breastplates in place pray for some accountability in your life gonna pray that you would walk Galatians 5:1 says it is for freedom that you've been set free therefore stand firm and don't be subject again to any yoke of slavery so Lord right now in the matchless name of Jesus Christ I pray over every hand that is raised every heart that is raised to you and I pray right now in Jesus name that if there is any assignment that the enemy has against these young brothers and these young sisters I pray that that assignment would be canceled in Jesus name I pray that by your blood that has been shed on Calvary you would loosen thee the assaults the attack of the enemy on their lives father and then I'm playing you would get some breastplates refit it over the lives of your people Lord I'm praying if there's any relationship that is holding my brothers and sisters back from living holy you would loosen their the balance of the relationship on their life Lord I'm praying that you would taste take the taste for the drug or the alcohol out of somebody's mouth in Jesus name I'm playing Lord that the habit would not be a habit that they have a taste for any longer father I'm playing that you would replace their will with your will Lord I'm praying that you would change our want to so that I want to wants to do what you want it to do change I want to father put your desires in our heart lord help us to walk in victory Lord I pray you would not let these people who have their hands raised in specific God I'm asking you would not let them walk in on holiness I'm and let your spirit soak on victim so challenge them that they cannot sleep well at night if they are out of alignment with you Father I'm asking Lord that they can't eat well in the day I'm asking that the relationships would be on dis Eve or that things just won't be right until they are in alignment with you get the breastplate on Lord send the Hound of heaven after them father so that we have no choice but to walk in alignment with your word Lord that I'm praying that when the enemy comes looking for some folks to mess with he won't see anybody that came to passion 2018 because we got breastplates on we are fortified by the Spirit of God to walk in holiness and strength and power in Jesus name y'all remember y'all remember in the Lion King Simba's messing with the hyenas and he's like rare and they're like seriously he does it again Wow and they're like you gotta be kiddin he does it again and they're like no you'll never take us down you're too weak you're too small you're too puny by yourself he tries it one more time he lets out his best roar but it sounds like something big and giant and it echoes off of the mountains nearby and the enemy enemies go running away not because he was the roar but because his daddy [Applause] the roar of the father is behind you walk in victory in Jesus name Amen [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Going Beyond Ministries

Views: 2,273,266

Rating: 4.8789177 out of 5

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Id: yOtQ0MSH0vc

Length: 53min 7sec (3187 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 05 2018