HCF - Sunday Morning - 9am - Riverside

he's crazy is is yes hmm [Music] is bye [Music] jesus we lift you jesus we [Music] jesus jesus yes jesus the weapon may be formed but it won't prosper knows my i'm victory there's power in the mighty name of jesus oh is foreign me [Music] [Music] gonna worship foreign you take is foreign [Music] is belongs to foreign me is [Music] [Music] again [Music] when the road runs dead you can [Music] good morning harvest family my name is robin and i'm giselle and we are so excited you're joining us this morning before we get started with service we just have a few quick updates to share with you harvest fest is upcoming on october 31st and we need your help we need candy donations and volunteers if you're interested in volunteering go to harvest.church forward slash events here at harvest we are all about making a big church feel small harvest groups are following along in pastor greg's study through the book of acts you can find a group that best suits your needs at harvest.church forward slash groups or you can stop by our groups table outside the sanctuary soca harvest is just one week away we've been praying we've been inviting and now it is time to bring gates open up at five so be sure to come early our harvest worship pre-show concert starts at 6 20 so be sure to bring a friend also we have our brand new line of socal merch available outside of sanctuary be sure to grab a t-shirt and be repping next sunday well that's everything that we have for you today we hope you have a blessed sunday and we're so glad you're here good morning harvest how you doing today all right hey i'm pastor paul eaton come on in and get seated i see a lot of you coming down the aisles i see the young adults ministry sitting i guess you guys had a great friday night of worship together wonderful hey that's what we're gonna do today we're going to worship the lord together we're going to learn from god's word together we have some great stories taking place that you're going to hear and we want you to be comfortable we want you to be part of this harvest family and we want you to be blessed with everything that happened so brittany what's our first song this morning our first song this morning is we praise you all right you ready let's do it you guys ready let's do it please stand and let's sing together [Music] anxiety [Music] it changes everything we sing with all we are and we claim your victory [Music] forever [Music] [Music] the raging sea let faith [Music] we praise you [Music] god [Music] we praise you we praise you [Music] you [Music] see this is what living looks like this is what living looks like this is what freedom feels like this is what heaven sounds like we praise you we praise you this is what living looks like this is what freedom feels like this is what heaven sounds like we praise you we praise you [Music] this is [Music] is [Music] we praise you [Music] we praise you [Music] release the sound [Music] [Music] yes i do [Music] i want everybody [Music] by jesus christ [Music] seen the praises [Music] is my testimonies [Music] [Music] we is almighty god i said we serve a mighty god if i'm not dead that's a truth it's a greater thing is [Music] is [Music] this is [Music] is my testimony [Music] is amen all right good morning everybody aren't you glad you're in church today yes me too let's pray together lord we're glad to be in your house like the psalmist said i was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the lord and lord as we're gathered together for worship and then to hear your word we ask your blessing on this time we're thinking also of the crusade that's next sunday night at angel stadium and even now we're praying together that you will pour out your spirit in a powerful way and we're praying that thousands of people will come to know jesus but not just a crowd we're thinking of people we know brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and moms and dads and grandparents and children and cousins and friends and neighbors and co-workers just people we know people that need you lord help us to be an instrument in your hand to reach these folks and bring them just like andrew brought his brother peter to jesus help us bring people to you as well so we ask your blessing on this service and we commit it to you now in jesus name we pray amen all right you can all be seated well here at harvest riverside uh when you came in you probably noticed a rather unusual car perked out friend how many of you saw the car right so that's a nascar an actual nascar not a replica and that is driven by driver jeffrey earnhardt who is here with us jeffrey where are you jeffrey stand up and say hello there he is jeffrey to have you jeffrey so i was talking in the back room with jeffrey trying to get some driving tips from him uh but i said jeffrey every time you get in the car you need to pray right and he says he does and we want to pray for him as well but um if you're watching from oc and maui we've got this this car out front this nascar now this car is sponsored by forever lot forever lon is a company that makes uh do we call it astroturf or is that an actual brand we don't call it astroturf i thought that might be the case uh what do you call what you make artificial turf they make artificial turf you know what i'm talking about and so this is a great family and they love the lord and they wanted to find a way to use their platform by sponsoring a nascar for the gospel so the result of that is on the car you see out there around the back of the car it says findhopeharvest.org right but there's more to the story than this other daughter mckenna used to attend here at harvest riverside and tragically she passed away from a heart attack and uh to say it was devastating is an understatement and i remember when i first met this family many of them were here and so i took a little time and we talked and we prayed and uh and now fast forward to today and they've taken this tragedy and sought to turn it into a triumph to bring glory to god and i appreciate that so we have a little video we put together that tells the story so turn your attention to the screen right now it stinks to lose a child i don't know how else to say it and it hurts mckenna was a joy she was fun she was filled with life and you feel cheated for the time you didn't get to spend with her [Music] a beautiful loving girl had a heart for christ but she had a heart for the what i call the unseen yes something very precious was taken from us just this amazing role she played in our family and then she was gone in 2016 her daughter moved out to california while she was out there she started attending harvest church so when she came back home she wanted to take us back to california to show us her life there and to take us to harvest and share that so we'd planned a trip for the summer of 2018 and kind of passed in june of 2018 and we decided as a family we were still going to go on the trip we went out to california we visited my niece and they took us to harvest i just met a family after first service a big family their last name they're the karmi family there's so many of them they call them the karmi army here's this family from ohio and he took the time to meet with us and talk with us and shared with us the story of christopher that moment cemented a personal connection with pastor greg because we were four weeks removed from our daughter's death and he worded us and helped the grieving family deal with what they were going through because christians can grieve and christians should grieve they should mourn but we don't mourn hopelessly we mourn hopefully because we know we'll see our loved ones again who've gone to heaven how amazing that we have our hope eternal we have christ's perspective of what we've been given what we've been blessed with and now the ability to use mckenna's life and her death to impact others for christ so if we fast forward to nascar we had the opportunity to sponsor jeffrey earnhardt the number zero camaro i'm praying all these prayers and it just struck me what if you ask how could this impact christ how could this impact god's kingdom and as i was thinking about that pastor gregory it was in my heart for the past three years just came right up to the surface and was harvest ministries so i actually texted jeffrey earnhardt i said jeffrey if we did this thing are you okay if we put a verse or something about harvest on your car and he said absolutely as we made this commitment everything felt right and this it was a leap of faith and we talked about faith this was a big one for us and i just think god you know i think god has this he's really creative and he has a sense of humor and i think he's like okay jeffrey you're not gonna want this one to throw up in the wall and okay the bumper dislodge maybe not like i expected it too so you thought putting it on the bumper was gonna be the really cool thing like oh no that was that three year burden that was on my heart to just let pastor greg know the impact he had in our family we want to honor god with our business with our lives with our investment and i would hope that christ's kingdom has expanded as a result of our tragedy i just want to spend time showing people that in the midst of tragedy god is real and he is good and he is for us and he hears our cries and he lifts us out of that pit and we can walk through the fire and we can walk through the waters so it's not that there's not pain it's not that we don't grieve but we don't grieve without hope and of course we have the you know the eternal hope we know where she is we'll be with her one day [Music] wow that's a powerful story isn't it so the family's with us let's bring the lights up a little bit in the house and we've got what they call the karmi army here why don't you guys all stand up all the carmy family look at that lots of them welcome you guys would you all just remain standing for the rest of the service no i'm joking no i'm joking dale i'm kidding not really nuts that would be very uncomfortable i'll have to stand for the whole service but uh thank you all for being here and they've taken their story and they've used it to honor god and i'm thankful for that and it's touching many lives already so right now we're going to continue our worship and we're going to receive our morning tithes and offerings and this is an opportunity for us to just say thanks to the lord lord thank you for all that you've done through this ministry for almost 50 years now this church has been able to be here i started preaching when i was five years old i had a little tiny pulpit and i was wearing a diaper and i'm still wearing one now but no not really i'm not i'm not no it's not the worst i did no i'm kidding i'm not i was little i stood behind the little pulpit and my message was we shall be changed now i'm kidding recycle jugs anyway so that's why we're here we're here to build you up the church exists for three purposes the exultation of god the edification of the saints and the evangelization of the world that's why harvest is here that's why harvest is in orange county that's why harvest is in maui aloha to you guys there that's why we exist we're here for the exaltation of god but then the edification of the saints that's where we build each other up spiritually that's what we're doing right now and the evangelization of the world well we do that every week but we're also going to do it next level at angel stadium so if you believe if if you believe in our mission invest in it and no matter what you give a lot a little somewhere in between just give what you can give and we'll use it to continue on with this work that god has called us to do let's pray father bless this time of giving now use every gift for the extension of your kingdom and for your glory we ask this now in jesus name amen [Music] the powerful name of jesus [Music] out of the wilderness into your deliverance look where i'm standing now [Music] these hands that once were changed [Music] look where i'm standing now [Music] uh [Music] [Applause] me [Music] [Music] look where i'm standing [Music] i'm [Music] [Applause] [Music] on [Music] is [Music] is [Music] hallelujah i'm free come on if you're free in this place jesus my savior [Music] hallelujah [Music] she is [Music] oh [Music] hallelujah [Music] come on and lift your [Music] lift your voice amen let's pray lord fill us with the holy spirit right now as we open up the book of acts the stories of ordinary people that did an extraordinary thing or extraordinary things not in their own strength because it's not by might nor by power but by your spirit says the lord and we need to know more about your holy spirit and how he wants to work in and through us so we invite your holy spirit to touch our hearts right now and we ask your blessing on this time of bible study in jesus name we pray amen you can all be seated uh grab your bibles if you would please and turn to the book of acts chapter 2 and also turn to romans 12. okay while you're turning of course the crusade is this coming sunday not tonight next sunday night angel stadium so we've got brand new t-shirts brand new t-shirts and you know i like to give stuff away for free because i'm a generous guy okay so who would like a free t-shirt okay well you get one because you ran all the way to the front and sir please put that t-shirt on immediately not here but that hawaiian shirt i don't know about that no i'm kidding so here comes one watch out there it goes there it goes looks like it almost hit the karmy army okay here goes another one oh there okay she got it okay who is here at church for the first time you've never been here both okay ma'am i'm in the aisle come on up here you get the sweatshirt because you're here for the first time enjoy and if you don't like it you can go back to the table and exchange it for whatever you like and i have one left and you can't even see what's on it but i'm gonna go for the balcony ready don't lean over do not lean over that rail get ready there you go okay that's it see i did that because you were too greedy that's why and i'm also trying to preserve your lives and the girl who was in the front who wasn't even looking she was in prayer it landed literally in her lap you missed it because the last will be first you see it was all a sermon illustration that's all this was all right so as you know i need counselors still i need more counselors now this is so simple you won't believe it uh i'm gonna from the platform explain to the people what they've just done after we prayed with him literally your job should you decide to accept it is to walk up and say hello i have something for you it's called a new believer's bible you get their information that way we can stay in contact with the folks so i have 1500 people signed up to do this i still need a lot more i need you guys to help me you guys at harvest oc uh you guys and maui if you want to fly over we'll use you too but uh i need your help so i'm gonna ask you to pray about this and just say lord would you like me to do that and if the lord says do it look on the screen you see this qr code just hold your phone up to that code it takes you to the website it of course is serve.harvest.org okay so i hope we can get a few more i hope we can get a lot more counselors today and then we'll see you all next sunday at angel stadium and that's all goodbye no okay acts chapter 2 romans 12. the title of my message is the gift that keeps on giving excuse me the gifts that keep on giving christmas is coming can you believe it we just cleared summer but we're already seeing the halloween stuff aren't we and you know christmas they like to just forget about thanksgiving now they go from halloween straight to christmas and i even read an article that said you should be actually buying things now because there's shortages and and supply and demand problems etc so already the pressure is on to buy gifts for people okay so thinking about gifts for just a moment how many of you have ever received a gift for christmas you did not like raise your hand a gift you did not like but some of you like every gift you've ever received not even in your childhood you received a gift you did not like raise your hand okay now here's the challenge what do you do with it first of all you have to fake it and act like you like it when you don't so really people are pressuring us to lie aren't they oh i got this for you open it up oh wow thank you so much all right you're already thinking what am i going to do with this and and your notice is there a receipt where did they buy this you know you want to return it that's why when i give a gift to someone i said i didn't know what to get you and here's the receipt if you want to return it please do so and tell me what you got in its place and i'm fine with that but no there are some people they give it to you and they expect you to wear that ugly shirt so i'm not talking about your shirt but i got you this shirt you look i don't want to wear that shirt and then they have the audacity a week later two weeks later to say when are you gonna wear that shirt i bought you like inside of your brain you're saying never oh well i just yeah i'll get around to it yeah so then you decide i'm gonna re-gift it right so re-gift it someone's birthday comes up hey happy birthday that's cool just don't re-gift it to the person who gave it to you in the first place and then there's weird gifts like fruitcakes is there anybody here that actually think fruitcake tastes good you like it get out no don't don't get up but you probably have a cat and you drive a prius am i right no i i don't know i think those things are all fine if you want to do that but uh they're horrible they don't taste good i don't even know if they'd be good right after they're made and i have a theory of course there's only one fruitcake on earth today there's only one we just keep recirculating it let me ask you a question have you ever seen two fruitcakes next to each other no you have not so i make she says she has i okay well maybe that's not true but you know gifts well god has gifts for you we call them spiritual gifts or gifts of the holy spirit and that's what the book of acts is about it's about the work of the holy spirit ordinary people that did extraordinary thing and god has a gift or more likely gifts plural for you to discover in your own life and you'll never want to return it and you certainly cannot re-gift it it's always appropriate he chooses the gifts he gives to each one of us so here's the real question what are we going to do with these gifts of the spirit now some would say well you know the gifts of the spirit are not for today well why would you say that there is no verse whatsoever in the bible that would support that theory because the bible tells us to not come behind in any gift literal translation charismatic endowment of the holy spirit as we wait for the return of the lord jesus christ the gifts of the spirit are for today the gift of tongues is for today the gift of prophecy is for today the gift of the words of wisdom and the words of knowledge is for today the gifts of teaching and evangelism are for today they're here today for us that's important the gifts are not toys to play with they're tools to build with and they're weapons to fight with and i suggest to you that some of you actually are using your gift of the spirit but you didn't know what it was see this neil was the lord working through you but it's a specific gift or gifts that he has given you this is something we need to know about because paul says in first corinthians 12 1 concerning spiritual gifts i don't want you to be ignorant now why are we resistant to these things i think the answer is because there is excess we see them applied inappropriately you turn on television and you see some preacher and they usually talk like this i don't know why they just do and they'll say right now the holy spirit is falling receive you know you see people fall over roll around on the ground bark like dogs you know if that's a holy spirit i don't want that at all that's not the holy spirit that's weird people doing weird things okay so let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater by the way where did that expression even come from i looked it up so back in the days of the old west you know they didn't have hot and cold running water they'd heat up the old tub and every member of the family would use it and you know after about eight family members you get in there i think you're gonna get dirtier in the tub and maybe the baby was last to throw out the bathwater by the way where's the baby oh there he is yeah so i the idea is just because there's success and abuse that does not mean we should be closed to the gifts of the spirit because the bible tells us in first timothy 4 14 don't neglect the gift that is in you whereas another translation quotes it keep your gift dust it off and in you so we want to talk about our place in the church and where we can use these gifts i'm just sort of touching on this in this message i'll talk about it more in the messages to come but here's the thing we want to think about this early church they came together acts 2 42-47 says they continued daily with one accord worshiping the lord with gladness of hearts uh meeting in the temple and from house to house praising god and having favor with all the people they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and the lord added to the church daily those that were being saved if there's one word we could use to sum up the early church i would choose the word together they did things together listen a unified church is a powerful witness to a divided world let me say that again a unified church is a powerful witness to a divided world and our world is so divided right now we're divided over so many things and some of these divisions even find their way into the church and we're arguing pro and against getting in the vaccine uh prone against wearing a mask prone against this prone against that and these divisions come in unnecessary divisions and we need to be together we need to work together we're all going to do that next sunday not only our church but probably 150 other churches in the southern california area working together worshiping together sharing the gospel together there's a story told about a visitor who came to visit the city of sparta and the king of sparta was boasting about the walls of this famous city and the visitor looked around and noticed there actually were no walls around sparta and then the man said well i don't see any walls and then the king said you see in sparta every man is a brick and then he pointed to his army and he said these are the walls of sparta and in the same way in the church it's not about a building it's about us it's about people you are the walls of harvest we're reached the walls of the kingdom of god as we stand together and we all have an important part to play so romans 12 tells us the first thing we want to look at about the gifts of the spirit i'm going to read just verse 3. i give each of you this warning don't think you're better than you really are be honest in your evaluation of yourselves measuring yourself by the faith god has given us here's my first point you're not all that in a bag of chips yes that's an actual sermon point you've heard that expression before but you are not all that in a bag of chips my point is simply this the most gifted people that i've met are also the most humble people i've met i've met some extraordinarily gifted people i've met some very famous and powerful people and i have found that in many cases if not most they tend to be more humble i think about darryl strawberry uh we're working on a film right now a second film along the lines of a rush of hope and the title of this film is fame and we're exploring fame uh kind of getting behind it a little bit because uh studies show that most young people want to be rich and famous and everybody wants to be known why is that and is fame really the answer well of course it isn't is it so we sort of explored that so i i interviewed darryl strawberry because he's a he's an icon and uh so i was in angel stadium every place was empty except for staff working there so we shot this little interview and i'm walking around with daryl and when you walk around with dale you feel very small because very daryl is very tall and he's very distinct you see him there's daryl strawberry and people would approach him i mean here's a living legend walking through a baseball stadium people are coming of oh daryl daryl hello he's so gracious he's so kind he's so humble he'll take the time for each person very impressive to me i mean other people who are so arrogant and demanding and i feel like saying dude you're not even talented enough to be that arrogant i mean at least if you're really gifted i can say they're arrogant but they're gifted but when you're not even that good at what you're doing you're still prideful that's even worse so here's what paul is saying don't think that you're so important listen to this cemeteries are full of indispensable people god can get the job done with you or without you so we need an honest evaluation of ourselves this is what paul is saying you're not better than you think you are you're not necessarily worse than you think you are think realistically and if god has given you a gift develop that gift well i don't want to draw attention to myself developing a gift is not drawing attention to yourself developing and using a gift god has given you is called obedience and then see if he's giving you that gift then you need to use that gift number two whatever gift you have is just that a gift from god whatever gift you have it's just that a gift from god romans 12 verse 5 we being many are one body in christ everyone members one of another having then gifts differing according to the grace it has given to us let us use them listen if the lord has given you a certain ability or gift it's irresponsible to not use it let me take it a step further it can be actually sinful to not use it because we're told over in james 4 17 to him that knows to do good and does not do it to him at this end let me illustrate let's say god called you to speak publicly but you never thought of yourself as a public speaker but he gave you this gift to teach or to evangelize or do something else she said i'm not going to do that that's disobedience to god now god doesn't call everyone to get up in front of people and speak he has others working behind the scenes one gift is not more important than another gift every gift matters every person matters you matter i matter we matter but if he's giving you that gift you need to use it we're not all the same some are visionary types some are detailed types uh some see the big picture some see the smaller picture and the things that you need to give your attention to so let's explore just a few of the gifts of the spirit now here in romans 12 verse 6. paul says in his grace god has given us different gifts for doing certain things well so if god has given you the ability to prophesy speak out with as much faith as god has given you now do we have prophets today i i'm not sure perhaps i've seen some people say they're prophets i'm a prophet of the lord okay lay your prophecy on me and they lay it on me and it doesn't happen my conclusion you're not a prophet of the lord but the word prophecy means to speak for another so if by prophecy we mean that god can speak through you about something that is happening or something that is coming or he gives you a unique spiritual insight into something then that to me would be a use of the gift of prophecy though it is possible god could give someone a glimpse into the future but we must test the prophets the bible says if he's given you a gift of prophecy with as much faith as you have do it if you have the gift of serving others well serve them well if you're a teacher teach well if your gift is to encourage others the gift of exhortation be encouraging if your gift is giving then give generously if god has given you leadership ability take the responsibility seriously if you have a gift for showing kindness to others do it gladly we'll stop there certain terms bubble it up bubble up do it well be generous do it gladly take this responsibility seriously that brings us to the spiritual gift of serving if you're called to serve serve them well it's right next to the gift of prophecy see we might look at the person that maybe has a prophecy or a message and we say that's more important i'm just behind the scenes no it's not more important it's just different that's all so if you're more comfortable behind the scenes doing those things your gift matters as well so that's something we all want to do what is the gift of serving it's just someone that sees a need and meets it you know i think some people think they have the spiritual gift of criticism that is not a gift of the spirit it's easy to find fault it's easy to see something that isn't right but a person with a gift of service says i see a need over here and i was wondering how i can meet that need what can i do oh you need counselors down in the field i don't even know if i'm good at that what does it matter i'll do it i volunteer here's one of the best ways to find out what your gifts are volunteer for everything and then when you discover that you're not good at something mark that one off the list i think i might be called a children's ministry so you go to children's ministry and you teach a class we come at the end of the class and the kids have you tied up and they're beating you maybe that's such a gift well maybe i can help out in the parking lot cars are running into each other maybe you're not that organized oh look now we found out which are good at her or maybe you have a musical ability some people think they have a musical ability when they don't right they sing loudly usually the ones well i don't want to say the one that sings i was going to see the one that the ones that sing the loudest never mind let's forget that clearly i don't have the gift of speaking whatever it is i'm doing here it's not working but uh here's something i've discovered through process of elimination i may discover my gift and it's possible that someone else may see your gift before you see it it was chuck smith that came to me and said craig and this says i'm like 19 years old greg he said i believe god has called you to be an evangelist now i never really preached evangelistically at that point i i didn't see that gift to myself but he saw you see someone else might say you have a real ability here i think you're a leader i'm not a leader no you're a leader you're influential when you say things people listen you need to use that gift for god's glory oh man you're really gifted over in this other area so basically paul is saying do it well others are called to teach the word of god verse 7 if you're a teacher teach well it's an awesome responsibility to teach the word of god something i take very seriously the bible says in second timothy 2 15 we need to learn how to handle the word of god correctly it means we need a good working knowledge of theology it means we need to learn how to exegete unfold a scripture in its original context and then interpret it and then of course apply it you know people have asked me what is it like to stand in that crusade stage and speak to all those people that must be the ultimate ego trip no it's actually maybe the opposite i feel a lot of pressure i feel a lot of responsibility i know that i'm representing god to people i know there are certain people that may be present they may never come back again to an event like that or a church so i want to get it right and accurate and it's a time of intense spiritual warfare leading up to the event and definitely in the event i can guarantee that it's not as much fun as you would think but it is something i feel the lord has called me to do but there's a great responsibility but the bible also warns us don't desire to be a teacher james 3 1 dear brothers and sisters many of you want to become teachers but be careful because we'll be judged more strictly you will be held accountable for what you say when you're teaching the word of god now some people think they're called to be teachers but they somehow take the amazing action-packed word of god and they make it dull and uninteresting even the way they read verses is there's something boring about it listening to them is like watching paint dry i take that back watching paint dry is more entertaining and they don't understand why i have this gift maybe you don't have that gift you think you have maybe you have a different gift and you need to find that gift and start using it for god's glory also when i and i when i think about me as a teacher it's almost laughable because i was the worst student in school literally i hate to admit this but my grades were like d's some were f's and occasional c a c was a win for me but i got a's in art that's it a c d d d f d c c c d you know i wasn't a good student i didn't pay attention in class uh some of my teachers didn't like me when i was in elementary school a teacher got up and said to the entire class it wasn't my teacher she was in the classroom next door but she heard how mean i was to my teacher and she said i would like to take greg laurie and bury him up to his neck in the sand in the blazing sun and watch ants eat him alive all the kids told me after class and sadly i thought that was kind of cool they tried to expel me from school and my mom called him and said i'll sue you so i stayed in school so for me to be a teacher is almost laughable but sometimes the gift that god gives you will not be something you thought he would give you it's a gift so you might have a natural talent in an area but he might then give you a gift i love this one the gift of encouraging others also known as the gift of exhortation verse 8 if your gift to us encourage others be encouraging some people even when they say they want to encourage you end up discouraging you you know what i'm talking about learn how to be an encourager are you gifted everyone should be encouraging but there are certain people that have this gift you know a teacher tells you how to do it someone with the gift of exhortation makes you want to do it right so you've heard certain sermons that was very helpful well i never understood that area i got a lot of insight into that then you're another preacher and you say man i can't wait to get out of here and put this into practice i want to pray more i want to preach more i want to love more i want to forgive more so those are both very important gifts ones not more important than the other they both are important and so i think when we do correct and the gift of exhortation involves correction sometimes we have to correct a fellow christian but here's what the bible says speak the truth and love ephesians 4 15. so say it but say it lovingly that's an important thing jesus modeled this for us perfectly in his correction of the church of ephesus in revelation 2 first he began with compliments he says hey lose paraphrase you guys are hard working you're discerning i appreciate that but i have this against you you have left your first love so from mem remember therefore from where you have fallen repent and do the first works quickly so he begins with commendation and then he comes to correction but there's never condemnation and that's something to remember try to deposit a compliment before you make the withdrawal of a criticism see if you're always criticizing people to stop listening to you see if you compliment compliment compliment little christmas there little observation there but if it's always negativity married couples listen to me if it's always negativity that's going to have a reaction and then a person will start turning the other person out so compliment when you can and you can and you should and criticize when you must that's called productive criticism not destructive criticism which is far too much of but one of the purposes of the church is for us to get together and exhort one another hebrews 10 24 says let's consider one another to provoke each other to love in the good works not for seeking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much more as we see the day of the lord approaching so exhorting encouraging at times correcting but also motivating and stimulating one another then there's a spiritual gift of giving romans 12 8 if your gift is giving then give generously every christian should give of their finances if the very fact that me talking about this makes you uncomfortable this may be an area you need to give more attention to in your life every one of us should give freely of our finances because everything we have has been given to us by god and the god even says he tests me on this one says the lord bring your tithe into the storehouse tithe means tenth see if i will not the lord says open up the windows of heaven and pour out on you a blessing so great you won't even be able to receive it listen to this you can never out give god so be a faithful giver as i've often said do your given while you're living then you're knowing where you're going where it's going right so it's good but then this is a specific gift of the spirit this is not just a christian giving as we all should this is someone who has the gift of giving and it's not just money it might be time it might be a meal it might be attention it might be something else they're just giving people and by the way you don't have to be wealthy to have the gift of giving there's people i know they don't make that much money but they're always giving always sharing always helping people that's a beautiful gift if you have it the bible says do it generously now here's another gift the spiritual gift of showing kindness and mercy the spiritual gift of showing kindness and mercy look at romans 12 8 if you have a gift for showing kindness to others do it gladly there are people who have an extraordinary supernatural ability from god to show mercy and compassion and kindness to those who are in need you might be showing compassion to the agent or to the hurting or someone in a hospital bed there are people who are in care facilities and others that care for these folks that takes a lot of patience and i have so much admiration for people that do this it's a super natural gift a gift of mercy you know if you're laying in a hospital bed i don't know that you necessarily need someone with the gift of teaching or evangelism maybe you do but really someone with the gift of mercy can do a lot for you someone to just sit down with you and take you by the hand say i'm here for you if you cry they cry they offer just the right amount of comforting words they don't try to say too much i think my wife kathy has this gift a very special gift you know if you want comfort go to kathy you want a sermon come to me you want a bad joke again come to me now these are just some of the gifts of the spirit we all need to take some bold steps of faith to find out what the lord has called us to do we have to leave our comfort zone you will never discover your gift until you start taking some risks you know back in the days of the jesus movement all these bands were forming every day there would be a new christian band for me names like love song the children of the day blessed hope country faith gentle faith mustard seed faith lots of faith back in those days so i was attending a little home bible study there was a guy who's saying and could play guitar he's quite talented and another guy who was like a very gifted flautist played incredibly on the flute and so my friend wrote a song he was singing in the guy in the flu was playing the flute and i'm kind of keeping rhythm on the coffee table right and so they said let's start a band before you knew it we had a name and we got ourselves booked to perform so we're in front of the church at calvary chapel they've been hearing some pretty good bands and here's the lead singer here's the flautas and they gave me a conga drum okay so i'm up there and i'm realizing i'm not good at this at all in fact this may be one of the worst moments of my entire life and i want it to end now okay process of elimination i'm not called to be a conga player i'm not called into worship and music and things of that nature but i have great appreciation for those that are gifted in that area but you might have a gift of crunching numbers what kind of gift is that a very important one when you're trying to balance the budget you have to give for attention to detail that doesn't matter it's the big stuff no no it's all the stuff it's everyone finding their place developing their gift using their gift so we can all collectively bring glory to god we all have a role to play listen to this we cannot they like that over here that point resonated with this section and the rest of you just kind of joined in okay let's be honest but it's okay it's all right but we all have a part to play and we cannot rest on our laurels or live in our past i don't want to live in the past i thank god for all that he's done up to this point but you know i'm always thinking about the future i barely live in the present for some people it's all about the past 20 years ago 30 years ago 50 years ago that's the way we used to do it why are we doing it differently we want to do it the way we've always done it no we need to keep innovating we need to keep keep flexing we need to stay open to the moving and the leading of the holy spirit to reach each successive generation that's the way you do it all the old people said i'm not clapping for that no but we should all want to see new people reached you are the walls of sparta you're the walls of harvest you have gifts to use again don't neglect the gift that is in you that god has given you just be faithful in the little things listen you're never too small for god to use only too big does that make sense see if you think you're big if you think you're important if you think you're all that in the bag of chips nothing's going to happen but if you'll say you know i'm pretty flawed i'm messed up i don't know how anyone how god could ever use anyone like me but i'll tell you what lord i'll say this here i am send me oh you watch what the lord will do he can do a lot with a little if you don't believe me as a little boy with the fish and the loaves he gave everything that he had to jesus and the lord multiplied it and used it the church needs you you need the church we need each other the church is a family and you have a seat at the table are we a perfect family now we're a flawed family we're a dysfunctional family listen i came from a dysfunctional family now i'm the head of a dysfunctional family but i like to put the word fun in this function right okay let me just relax a little bit you're looking for the perfect church to stop we are the church you know it's funny when i was a kid i always wanted a family and my mom was always out every night working and and so she would give me money to go buy what i wanted to eat for dinner so there was a little place it was actually called the snack shop later to become cocos later to become rubies but they they had great burgers and fries and malts and stuff so i literally went to this little place walking distance from my house and ordered the same thing every night hamburger french fries vanilla shake next night hamburger french fries vanilla shake never deviated not a cheeseburger not a chocolate shake hamburger french fries vanilla shake so i'd see my friends in high school and i would tell them what i eat because you're so lucky we have to sit home with our family around the table and eat food we wish we could eat what you eat and i said yeah you should be able to eat what i eat but you know what i wanted their life because they had a family so i had this one friend who invited me over for dinner and then i kept going over all the time and i didn't even like the food because they had peas i hate peas but i would sit there at this table with this family and i would eat their weird food even though i really still wanted the hamburger french fries and the vanilla shake i eat there because it was a family and i'd never seen anything like that before a mother a father family talking about the day talking to each other i thought that was awesome some of you don't have a family at least a physical family but you have a spiritual family and you're seated around them right now it's called the church welcome to the family this is the family [Applause] and there's a place at the table for you whereas the old song says there's broom at the cross for you though many have come there's still room for one there's room at the cross for you maybe there's someone i'm talking to right now that feels unloved unappreciated unnoticed i want you to know that god loves you god appreciates you god notices you listen to this god is not mad at you god is mad about you there's a difference we think god's always mad he's mad why do you think that he's a god of love oh sure he doesn't like it when we sin and he wants us to repent of that sin but he poured his judgment already on his son jesus christ on the cross 2000 years ago so i don't have to face that judgment and i don't have to beat myself up every day when i fall short you see that's not an excuse for sinful living but it's simply an explanation that god loves you and cares about you i love that blessing the priests would pronounce over the israelites it's in numbers where they would say the lord bless you the lord keep you the lord make his face shine upon you and lift up his countenance on you and give you peace that's so beautiful right just tells me at the outset he wants to bless me god wants to bless me even more than i want to be blessed how many of you want to be blessed raise your hand oh great god wants to bless you we have a deal the lord bless you the lord keep you we worry what if this happens to me what if that happens to me what if i fall away no the lord bless you the lord keep you he'll keep you the lord make his face shine upon you and that means that god's face sort of lights up when you walk in the room and the lift of his countenance means you have his full attention sometimes you see little kids trying to get mom's attention dad's attention maybe they're on a cell phone maybe they're doing something else and they grab them pull on them and sometimes the little kids will take that the face of the parent in their little hands like look at me right that's not god he's looking at you already he's giving his attention to you yes what do you want i love you what can i do for you that's god and he wants a relationship with you and there might be somebody here that has joined us that doesn't have this relationship with god you think god's mad at you god's out to get you the very opposite of that god loves you and he wants a relationship with you and that's why jesus died on the cross for your sin and rose again from the dead and he stands at the door of your life and he knocks and he says if you'll hear his voice and open the door he'll come in so i'm going to close now with the prayer a prayer where you can ask jesus christ to come into your life if you've not done that yet don't let this opportunity slip by let's pray father i pray for everybody here everybody that's watching if they don't know jesus yet let this be the moment they believe let this be the moment they come to you let this be the moment they're forgiven of all of their sins now while our heads are bound our eyes are closed if you want jesus to come into your life if you want him to forgive you of your sin if you want to know that you will go to heaven when you die if you want to fill that big hole in your heart right now wherever you're seated would you just lift your hand up and i'll pray for you just raise your hand up saying i need jesus today god bless you god bless you anybody else raise your hand up high god bless you too god bless you and you and you you all over the room hands are going up god bless you how about up in the balcony there you need jesus in your life today god bless you there i see you up there i see all of you how about in the courtyard of course i can't see you guys out there but would you raise your hand if you need jesus in your life how about there at harvest oc i can't see you either but do you need jesus raise your hand up right now how about over there in maui you need christ in your life today raise your hand up all right step number two for everyone that just raised their hand i want you to stand to your feet and i'm gonna lead you in a prayer if you raise your hand even if you did not you want jesus christ to come into your life today you want to be forgiven of your sins stand up and i'm going to lead you in a prayer wherever you are right here at harvest riverside up in the balcony out in the courtyard harvest orange county you shouldn't be clapping you're supposed to be praying you're cheating it's okay uh harvest maui stand up and we're all gonna pray anybody else you want christ to come into your life this is your moment let me lead you in this prayer i'll wait one more moment god bless you guys up there in the balcony wherever you are harvest oc maui come on let's do this god bless all of you standing i'm going to pray a simple prayer and i'm going to ask you to pray this prayer out loud after me again as i pray pray this prayer out loud after me okay pray these words lord jesus i know that i'm a sinner but i know that you're the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead i turn from my sin now and i choose to follow you from this moment forward in jesus name i pray amen god bless every one of you that stood and prayed that prayer god bless you all god bless you guys god bless you yes so glad you did that so listen all of you that just stood here at harvest riverside i'm gonna give you all a copy of the new believer's bible and if you can see where i'm pointing back in the corner there's some folks holding up a sign in a bible i want all of you that just prayed their prayer with me to get up out of your seat right now and go over there so get up out of your seat right now if you prayed their prayer with me and go right over there in the corner and right over there a few in the balcony come on down the stairs head over to this room at harvest orange county you guys go to the left excuse me you go to your right and there's someone holding the same sign and harvest maui they'll tell you guys what to do specifically so isn't this great praise god for all these folks [Applause] so let's all find our gifts let's use our gifts and let's do it next sunday night especially let's pray father i pray that you will help every one of us discover the gifts you have for us fill us again with the holy spirit we need all the power you have we need all the gifting you give we need all the boldness afforded to us and we receive it from you now in jesus name we pray amen pastor paul amen amen thank you pastor greg isn't it amazing to see people transformed in a moment by god's mercy from darkness into his marvelous light that's what we get to see that's what we've experienced and again we cannot under or over emphasize this that we need to participate in this crusade next sunday night we're gonna have church services in the morning so uh be ready to fill up your tank at that service and then come on out and we have all kinds of stuff that we've been telling you about for a month now we have these little invite cards that you can put together and use just as people pass by or you do transactions or go to eat or drive through a drive-through or whatever we have a bumper sticker still available to put on your car if you haven't done so we have little flyers we also have a bumper sticker that's diamond shaped you can put on your car and i want to tell you something there is a date on these things so they are going to expire so what we don't use we're going to throw away don't let that happen let's use these products let's use this information let's get it out there and let's pray pray pray that god will do an amazing thing you know this is a venture of faith this coveted thing has changed everything but we're planting a flag for the gospel because the need is greater than ever amen so don't be passive about this don't be ho-hum about this don't think 31 years of history what's the big deal this year this is the first crusade postcovid when everything changed this is the moment we've been waiting for this may be the revival we've been praying for do you believe that i do and we're seeing we're seeing hunger like we've never seen it before in our nation so that's my only announcement is let's mobilize church like never before let's all plan on being in seats at anaheim stadium next sunday night it's going to be an amazing event pray for the setup pray for the preparation pray for all this as a matter of fact let's pray right now lord we ask you to bless this crusade upcoming we pray that you'd fill that stadium we pray that the word would get out and we pray lord that we wouldn't look to others but to ourselves to participate we would be part of god's army recognizing that we've been enlisted to do a work because we are a chosen people we're a holy nation we are god's holy priesthood and we have been saved that we might share the gospel with the world so i pray that we would use this opportunity we pray lord that you'd bless harvest and bless this crusade we pray now in jesus name amen god bless you stop by get the product stop by and see the car bye-bye oh i need you oh i need you is is [Music] take me [Music] is i don't want to abuse your grace i don't want to abuse your grace i don't wanna abuse is [Music] [Music] is [Music] peace be still come [Music] i've been comes to take fears [Music] no darkness hallelujah [Music] and who can stand against your [Music] is [Music] perfect love what can take away no darkness nothing can take my hallelujah nothing can take my hallelujah your shadows will fade darkness will break i'll keep on singing your praises darkness will break i'll keep on singing your praise nothing can take your shadows will fade darkness will break hallelujah hallelujah when darkness tries to roll over my bones when sorrow comes to steal the joy i own when brokenness and pain is all i know i won't be shaken no i [Music] she no longer has a place no i won't be shaking is is there's resurrection my oh yes [Music] people come together strangers our blood is thought your eyes on this one is uh oh remember i got a feeling it's gonna get rowdy oh

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Length: 102min 3sec (6123 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021