Keep Your Eyes On Jesus | Pastor Havilah Cunnington | Sunday Service

right jean jacket light jean jacket dark jean jacket leather coat yeah it's it's three different uniforms i think i can sing this song every sunday for like i know the rest of the year i am who you amen i love not preaching today because i can just worship with uh everything i got and just lose my voice it's so good all right you may be seated you may be seated come on so good so good so good so good we got double pulpits here today yes it's a double anointing from havilah and anyways javila uh i have um man just the privilege of introducing her she is an incredible preacher a prophet teacher book writer pick up her books they're in the lobby uh she's uh one of those people where you want to read her books a lot of people write a lot of books which are always good i love books get books be readers with all the screens that we live in got to get back to get some reading going i think is good um but but just when someone pours their life into a book and and someone comes to your church you owe it to them to or me to get their book because you've met them you can get them to sign it it can be a moment we don't put moments on anything everything's become journey everything's become i can miss that sunday i'll just catch it online the devil is a liar there's nothing like being in the room no offense online we love you i forgot we stream this service amen i love you so good that you're at home in a room amen and we're connected by ethernets and stuff but but i'm saying you know what i mean when you're in a room there's just in the room and so you're in the room with the writer of the books and so get the books and uh she's she's just incredible her and ben their family their ministry uh it oozes authenticity i've known her since we were we were young we did some wyoming and king's kids stuff together and uh i think the first time she got slain in the holy spirit was i took my dirty missionary sock and i put it in her face i did do that and so we're just going to pray for healing today and some of those things i did in my younger years but um she uh it just just served god faithfully in her dad's church uh the rock the rock of of roseville church rock in roseville and pastor francis sanfuso just incredible legend so she's got heritage in her family and so does ben from this area which is really cool just to see the way god kind of does everything and just to see her honestly just god just um now it didn't nothing overnight man 17 years of preaching and teaching and writing and pouring into young people and eventually pouring into the church just to see god take that gift and that life poured out she does i think represent what it means to genuinely own your call and gifting whether anyone ever sees it or doesn't see it you're doing it for you you're not in competition with someone else you're in competition with yourself in a way with the call of god on your life i just felt like i lost everybody i don't know if that's scriptural i felt the anointing just leave anyways um you're not in competition with yourself you are fulfilling the call of god are we back okay um there we go we're back in the river um but you know what i mean it's not about that but got me she just served god just writing books and and she ended up at bethel and uh just hanging out with some of the obviously some of the coolest just just just awesome people at that church and what that stream represents and uh now she's all over the world it's almost like just too much and then it's a different season for her but she happens to be here with us just depositing into our church as we are in renewal and revival and just believing for our friends and our family in this region to come to jesus and and bring it into church in a very practical way amen and so um yeah we're so excited we're so excited but she just is she she is is gifted she's anointed and she brings a word and just value that man just take this is a special moment today okay and i love stadium moments i love special this is a special one i declare the special button pushed it's special right here it's a little mini stadium okay okay here we are and uh this is this is this is your moment it's a life-changing moment i believe it's a divine moment to have this incredible woman of god in our church it is a blessing and it is a gift amen can we stand to our feet and thank havola for being in our church this morning amen amen thank you no it's good thanks guys well hello you guys made it this is the first service which means you're gonna get to heaven next service i'm not so sure but this service you're gonna get to heaven so take a deep breath um it's such an honor to be here and you know isaac it's it's true i have seen the the truth about isaac in ways that i can i really went to counseling for trying to get rid of uh but it's uh we grew up together my cousin is his best friend and you know it's uh we i it's amazing to watch friends of yours that said yes and have done like i was in that first building you guys were in and the lord told me to come over and give him a word and i remember just being there and going something special is happening and then to be back here eight years right you're in it it's amazing to see what god has done and if you weren't here on friday night and you're not a woman you would have wished you were it was awesome we had a phenomenal time and uh it's been uh obviously isaac and carrie are as good as they get and you know it is no small thing i think anybody who made it through 2020 as a pastor deserves like they're they're good they can retire because what they had to figure out was very complex in a season right you guys understand that and so encourage them this takes an enormous amount of courage for them to stand up and open their doors and pour out and be available when everybody kind of wants to hibernate and figure out what's next they're they're championing you guys and so take a minute to thank them and acknowledge it and you might be like i'm new they they deserve it this is they are on the front lines of this generation and honestly living in the on the west coast is no small thing can i get it amen so i am my husband and i do live in northern california it's called reading california and it's the armpit of california and it is uh if you've heard of the fires we had the fires in running and so we had a couple friends lose their home and it was wild and so that's kind of where we live and then we do get to travel every once in a while but i sometimes travel by myself and then sometimes i get to travel with my family and so ben is the love of my life been married for 15 years and i might have a photo of the of the family but him and i they're oh there we are this is as good as we're ever gonna look right here this was right before the punching and the hitting and the dog running off and humping something so this is um ben and i've been married for 15 years i am four and four years younger than ben so i always say if you haven't met the love of your life it could be that god wants them to be legal and so uh we got married and uh immediately got pregnant with our eldest son judah who judah happens to be in the room as well he's 14 and a half do you want to wave everybody there's judah and then hudson is our second son who's in the room as well hudson's here and he's 13 grayson is ten and beckham is eight and bear is four and bear cunnington is basically my favorite child and so i love him uh but so we this is our our family and um i also i know that isaac talked about books but i want to make sure i give them away i love to give away books and so um i want to tell you what they are because it matters and as i'm telling you what it is open up your bibles and turn in your bible i'm going to open this up i did not think this through for a minute um my for those of you that don't know my husband does all of our filming editing recording we reach about um we reach over a hundred thousand people a month with teachings and and educating and word-based bible teaching so he does all the filming and editing and managing and all the things so he's the brains i'm the face and that's how it works but turn in your bible to the book of hebrews chapter 12 the book of hebrews chapter 12 and i'll just give you guys a quick quick um note on this so this is called the i do hard things book and it's breaking free of fear and pain so if you are dealing with fear and pain right now and you're like why is god doing this and i need a breakthrough this book is really a 20-day journey to breaking free of fear and pain because when we're in pain we don't dream and the voice of pain says do whatever you need to do to make it stop the voice of pain will make you do crazy things and so if we don't understand how to navigate pain and how to climb out of pits of pain then we won't dream we will be in survival mode how many of you have ever understand that you just get into every day is the same thing trying to get through and the problem is is that that's not a life a life isn't about surviving and life is learning to dream big dreams and living for beyond the next paycheck and so that's what this book is about um anybody want this book do you slip your hand okay right here i'll give that to her you guys judy you want to come give him okay never mind he's like i'm a teen just knock it off um this is called the leap into love uh living presentation purpose on the planet this is about radical love and self acceptance loving yourself not just your spirit and soul which we major a lot on but also your physical body learning to love the way god created you and to not reject that part and not to dismiss it or divorce but to actually look at the way that you were created tells the story of god so your hair color your skin color i mean this is not my real hair color but i would imagine um but the way that you think the way you talk the way you you you are interested in the world that tells the story of god god doesn't want you to change and become the person next to you he wants you to communicate the story of god in your everyday life as you are so that's that um and then this book is about dream chasing god's way eat pray hustle how do we chase dreams there's a lot of dream chasing usually i think the world has kind of stopped dreaming but if you're at a place where you feel like your dream was put on hold in the middle of covent and you're like how do i how do i go from here this book is all about that i talk about the four elements to figuring out your god dream there's four distinct ways to know what's on your life and so one of them is your gifts and talents another one of them is the story of pain is really important because when we walk out of pain we help a lot of people and so god takes that moment and that you become an expert in your pain i had postpartum depression three times i'm now an expert in postpartum depression you want to know how to get through it i got all my steps because i've lived through it right and then also your moments of encounter are very clear to knowing what god's called you to and then lastly those that you are in relationship when ben and i got married the very first thing i did was went to the bank to get on his bank account so that all five dollars would be mine and and so we become co-signers when we're in relationship this is really important because the world doesn't talk about this but this is important if i go to activate and carry i'm under carrie and carrie's teaching pastor carey's teaching whatever she has access to i now have access to because she is giving me a way to it and so this is why the churches we picked the people were under it's look like i'm flipping you off i'm sorry the people that you um you're around it matters so that way i don't have to beat everything to everybody as long as i'm married to ben anything that he has access to i now have access to so if he has hope faith clarity prophetic whatever i now have access and i don't have to be all things so we get overwhelmed when we have to be everything to everybody in our life and that helps and then lastly i did a series called i do boundaries and this is about did you know there are three distinct areas that god holds you entirely responsible for and no one is responsible for those areas and when you get to heaven he will ask you how you stewarded those areas and boundaries are not just about i can't do that and stay away from me and know boundaries are about knowing what we're responsible for and being able to steward that so your attitudes your choices and your feelings are within your yard and no one is responsible for that someone might say you make me angry no i'm not that powerful i'm not powerful enough to go inside of you and choose anger you did that and so when you get really clear on what's yours and what's theirs life gets so much easier and so you go that's my feeling that's your feeling that's your attitude that's my attitude that's your choice this is my choice and then when we get into steward those three areas life gets really uncomplicated when you are married and the spouse you're with holds you responsible for their happiness come on you're not even that powerful so to give somebody that power is a mirage it's not even true the reason i'm happy is because i have chosen to be happy and i'm stewarding that joy without anybody i believe and not to preach this you can live the abundant life without anyone else participating that's what this book's about okay so i was going to preach it but i'm not so is anybody have a birthday today is it anyone's birthday does anybody want to be born right now is there a pregnant woman that i could actually give birth no i'm kidding okay maybe just give those there's extra one there i don't know what that's about okay let's go to hebrews let's read this hebrews chapter 12 and then we'll pray this is out of the message version so it's the amplified version but i love how it's communicated it says do you see what this means all these pioneers who blaze the way all these veterans cheering you on it means we'd better get on with it scripture says to strip down that's not literal okay guys don't take your clothes off start running and never quit no extra spiritual fat no parasitic paras parasitic sins that's not how you say it i'm getting it wrong parasite for sense yes keep your eyes on jesus who both began and finished this race we're in keep your eyes on jesus who began it and is gonna finish it study how he did it because he never lost sight of where he was headed that exhilarating finish line and with god he could put up with anything along the way the cross the shame whatever and now he's there in the place of honor right alongside god where you find yourself flagging in the faith go over the story again item by item and i just i love this thought because what it's saying is is jesus could handle everything because he had his eyes on the finish line and here's the thing if you do not have a compelling future you will not live happy in the present when we don't know where we're going or why we're going there or what's next then we will literally live day to day without understanding why we're building if i don't have a heart to go i want a healthy vibrant marriage then if i don't have that heart to do that and i don't that finish line is it we are going to be best friends we're going to be we're going to be happy and we're going to be faithful to each other if i don't have that finish line then whatever comes my way i'm going to be vulnerable because i'm not sure where i'm going and i don't know where we're going as a relationship same with parenting if i don't have a an idea that i want to raise healthy godly kids right which i have very little control over but i can at least create an atmosphere that they can thrive in if i have a finished lineup i want my kids to be able to look him in the eyes not to hate me when they grow up did you hear me judah but to but to at least be able to be a a contributing person in society and in a way that helps people if that's not my finish line then every day i'm going to be like just watch whatever you want read whatever listen get out of my face i'm busy i'm not going to have a heart to cultivate it because i don't know what i'm doing and where i'm going and so it's really important that we have to figure out where are we going and jesus he could endure the cross he can endure the shame he can endure whatever trial and tribulation were coming his way because it says he kept his eyes on the finish line and now the bible says he's standing at the right hand of the father and every day he's praying that you'll be able to get it together he's praying every day that you're going to make it he's ready and you know i love he says we do not have a god that doesn't understand what we are going through jesus lived on the earth he knew what it was like to battle he knew what it was like to face hardship and so i love that we have a god that doesn't sympathize that doesn't doesn't know how to uh he doesn't he knows how to sympathize with the things that we've been through you know i just love that phrase god knew what he got when he got you he has no ideas about you that isn't true and sometimes we're busy trying to get god to believe that we are and god's like i already know who you are stop it don't don't you're not fooling anybody and i'm okay with it i want you and i need and i want you to come in a relationship so i love this idea and i don't know about you guys but this year specifically it has been really hard to keep my eye on the finish line i mean it feels like every month there's a different finish line is the finish line the vaccines is the finish line racial reconciliation is the finish line a specific political uh leader is the is the finish line when the world opens up is the finish line when taxes go down i don't know what the finish line is and i don't know about you but i have felt this kind of sobriety in my spiritual life that's like you know why don't you stop waiting for everything to go back to normal and why don't you see where the finish line is and be willing to realize you're gonna be able to walk through all of this because i didn't begin this and i don't end this you didn't begin your journey and you're not going to end your journey god has got you along the way so what i want to show you today for a few minutes is i want to show you a man in the bible that got distracted and i want to show you the different distractions that he faced are very similar to the distractions that we personally have faced this year and i want to show you how he got his power back and what it's going to take for you to be able to walk out of here today knowing you're going to be safe and you're going to be stronger than ever before with your focus so we're going to look at the life of peter today so there was a man named peter and he was a fisherman and he got his focus wrong and when the focus got wrong he i don't know if you say that that's right english way of saying it but when his focus got off he began to get distracted and he he could not he was not clear on where he was going there's a moment in the bible where the first kind of moment we we stumble upon peter's life is jesus comes to him and he says come follow me and peter drops everything and he begins to follow jesus let me just say something to you if you don't know when you dropped everything you've been doing to follow jesus you may not be following him that's okay but you have to know a moment in your life when you go jesus called me and i dropped everything i had my shame my fear my anxiety my wonderings i dropped my religiosity all the things i was propping up i was i dropped the idea that my wife was going to get me into heaven or i dropped the idea that somehow my parents were going to get me into heaven and now i'm i'm following jesus and this is what peter does he sees jesus he drops everything he follows jesus then we see another we kind of flash to a next moment in his life and jesus heals his mother-in-law now i don't know if that was a blessing or that was a warning but he will heal his mother-in-law and that's the next moment we see and then we kind of keep going in the life of jesus and we land at a place in matthew 14 and because i don't have a ton of time i'm going to kind of give you more of a synopsis of what these things are but in matthew chapter 14 verse 22 jesus tells his disciples he says guys i just got news that my cousin was beheaded john the baptist which would affect john the baptist greatly right because he was beheaded you'll get it later and jesus has to go grieve how many of you love the fact that even jesus got bad news and was like i'm out i gotta go be by myself and so he gets this terrible news he's grieving he doesn't understand exactly why it's all happening he knows his finish line and all of a sudden he says to his disciples you guys get out in the boat you go across the water and i'll meet you there so we kind of go through this moment where we see jesus goes off the disciples get into the boat and these guys begin to be in this boat for hours in fact the theologians will tell you they believe it was about nine hours and these guys are not wimpy fishermen these aren't like vocational like you know on saturdays i take my fishing rod out and i catch some fish and you know me no no these guys were vocational which meant their family lineage was fishermen it meant that their grandfather was a fisherman and their uncles were fishermen and they had a fleet of boats and they were the kids that when they went to school they smelled like fish they were the fishermen family okay and so when they go across the boat and they hit a storm in the middle of what jesus had told them do the storm begins to terrify them now let me ask you something and this is not a trick question who told them to go into the water jesus so you're telling me sometimes jesus will tell you to do something and you face the storm because you obeyed him so maybe the trials and things we're facing isn't a sign of disobedience sometimes the trials and tribulations that we're facing is a sign of obedience and so now we're beginning to see why is god doing this why did jesus say go into the water they face the storm they think they're going to die and i would suggest because sometimes the god of the shore is not the same god of the storm and we can know god a certain way on the shore when our feet are nice and toasty and you know we've got our you know virgin pina colada in our hands and we are ready to do life and how many of you felt like this year i don't know if you guys saw it was like jesus was like go walk in the water and we're like okay we get into the boat and we get out there and a storm happens and we're like god what are you doing 2020 it's like we've been in storms we've done hard things but man this is unbelievable i've never been a storm in fact the storm was so bad for the disciples it said they thought they were going to die these disciples are not wimps when they think they're going to die we're talking about the worst storm of their lives of their career they think they're going to die and they start to cry out and then all of a sudden it says in verse 25 shortly before dawn jesus went out to them walking on the lake when the disciples saw him walking on the on the lake they were terrified they yelled it's a ghost and jesus immediately said to them take courage it is i do not be afraid and then peter says lord if it's you tell me to come out on the water this is where peter sounds deranged like why i'd be like if it's you shut the waves down he's like if it's you tell me to come on out and then it says peter got down out of the boat walked on the water and came towards jesus but when he saw the wind he was afraid and began to sink crying out lord save me immediately jesus reached out his hand and caught him he said you have little faith why did you doubt and when they climbed in the boat the wind died down you see jesus told peter to come out on the water yes it's me come out and all of a sudden peter gets out there and then he starts to look around and he sees the wind and the waves and the moment he starts to look around at all the facts that are happening around him he begins to sink you see jesus was teaching peter a critical a critical truth that he would need for the rest of his journey in his life he was teaching peter about focus you see he wasn't teaching peter how to walk on water the disciples weren't like hey those are jesus followers they walk on water that's the next like today after we get baptized we're going to take you out we're going to have you walk on the water because that's a sign of a faith follower no not at all you never see it again walking on water wasn't the main point at that moment the point was that jesus was teaching peter about focus and he was saying if you will lock eyes on me then you will be able to walk across any storm that you can face but if you focus on the wind and the waves you will sink and what he was teaching him is to keep his eyes on jesus at the face of the storm in fact i would suggest he was saying keep your eyes on my face peter you're going to need this in the days to come keep looking at me as you walk on many waters one of the greatest distractions that we can face in life is fear and unbelief the distractions that many of you are facing right now is fear what does tomorrow look like what's gonna happen what's gonna happen in our city or our town what's gonna happen with my family and what jesus is saying is if you focus on the facts right now you will sink life is it's not gonna be okay you're right there are wind and waves you're not making it up you're not being you're not exaggerating the the severity of the moment guys we don't as christ followers we don't dismiss the facts we just don't let them define the truth that's it so we don't go oh it's not happening it's not happening it's not happening we go that's delusional we're not asking you to be ignorant but we're asking you to not stop at the facts but to look for the truth the truth is that god knew what he's doing he's gonna he's gonna carry you through and so what can you do right now my question to you is what wind and waves are distracting you and where do you need to lock your eyes in on jesus again so that you could walk on the waves that are coming and i love it because once he locked his eyes on jesus jesus carried him he put him back in the boat he stopped the wind and the waves some of you are crying that god would stop the wind in the waves and he's saying not until you look at me not until you look at me because i need you to understand how to look at me and focus in on me because you i want to teach you strategy for the next seasons to come and if your strategy is only that i would stop the turmoil that's not going to be a strategy that you can pass down to your kids and your grandkids and the next generations that's not a strategy and what i want to do is teach you how to get your eyes on me so that whenever we face things will be okay so one of the biggest distractions is fear and doubt i remember one time i really dealt with anxiety and fear because i have learning disabilities i guess you would call it i am i have comprehension issues and i'm dyslexic and i never would get up in front of people ever in high school i took a zero on classes because i was i was afraid people would make fun of me because i wasn't good at reading i could not read out loud in high school you could not read my handwriting in high school it was very serious i was very illiterate in that way and i remember when god began to touch my life and call me i i was asked to share a testimony and i said yes i'll get up and share a testimony because i was excited well have you ever said yes to something and then you realize i should never have said yes to it it's kind of like getting pregnant you're like whoops like this is gonna take a while and it's gonna end very poorly and then it's gonna be good but it's it's a thing and so um so i'm like oh yeah it's fine and then my anxiety began to hit how am i going to get up and it was in front of 6 000 people so i wouldn't even get up in front of 30 friends at school and now i'm going to get up and start this way so during worship that night i begin to have a panic attack i can feel my anxiety i run out of the building and i go around to the back of the building and i'm hyperventilation i'm overwhelmed i'm i'm i'm 17 18 years old and i'm overwhelmed 17 years old and all of a sudden my dad who happened to be there comes around the building and he sees me hyperventilating bent over crying like i can't do this and he grabs my shoulders and he begins to hit me no i'm kidding he doesn't he grabs my shoulders and he looks at me and he says havilla if you don't look at fear as your enemy it will one day destroy you and i knew at that moment i had to choose am i going to be a fearful person or am i going to be a faithful person and for many of you right now god is grabbing you by the spiritual shoulders and he's saying look at me look at me who are you going to serve fear or faith who are you going to be who are you going to be and i know that sounds like exciting but i'm telling you i feel like every day i have to make a choice fear of faith fear or faith every single day and so that's what he is saying to many of us the second kind of season we see peter get into is now he's been following jesus he's a disciple he's a little crazy if you follow his story he's a little bit out there but all of a sudden we see that jesus is going to the cross and they go to pray in the garden of gethsemane and he jesus goes to pray and he leaves the disciples and the three of them begin to sleep or the disciples and he goes off and prays when he comes back he wakes them up and then all the sudden judas who is one of the 12 walks into the garden and all of a sudden peter knows this is judas he's betraying us he's been following with us he's been doing all this stuff and now he's going to betray and i love peter because he gets angry which i'm like that's how we would all feel like you traitor you rat like who are you and he walks in and peter grabs his sword and i love peter because he cuts the guy's ear off one of the guard which i didn't understand this i was raised in a very female home i have a twin identical twin sister and i have a mom and i have a full italian dad who's almost a girl and so we lived in a very female home and so i didn't understand boys i didn't understand weapons i didn't understand the desire to hurt each other i didn't understand any of this and so uh i didn't when i would have read this i'd have been like peter's so violent like calm down i didn't understand it now that i live with four five boys and and i l men and i live with a craziness i'm like oh peter was just warning him he was like i could kick your head out i took your ear off just to let you know i'm with you like just to warn you and i love it because i think all of us feel this way do you guys know what one of the number one distractions are right now not just fear and unbelief but injustice and peter sees something that is completely unjust and jesus i love him he grabs the ear and he puts it back on the soldier and he looks at peter like come on dude what are you doing and then he says this is not how i'm gonna win the war this is not what i'm doing right now and what i think right now is some of us are battling battles that he did not invite us into and i think right now the enemy is not wearing us out with apathy he's wearing us out with caring about things that aren't our business to care about now i'm not saying we don't need to rise up and fight and and champion you know healthy justice that's not what i'm saying but i think for many of us we can't battle every battle we can't fight every war we have to choose the ones that god's calling us into and my question to you is did he invite you into the battle this specific battle that you're facing whether it's relational whether it's it's a cultural thing or a generational whatever battle and and i love it because jesus said i know in your head this is the way you're supposed to fight and win but i'm not going to do it i'm going to do it in the opposite spirit and and for many of us you have you have gotten into wars and and injustice that you're like i don't know i guess i just think for many of us and the unjust part of it is really understanding what did god call you into and for some of you you are in a a lawsuit that you shouldn't be in you're in a battle a custody battle that you should not be in there are things that he's not invited you into and i'm asking you to take a minute and say okay what has he invited me into and when you know jesus will do the opposite of what you think you should be doing for many of you you're like i can you know i'm going to be a keyboard warrior i'm going to get in there and tell everybody and jesus is like don't say anything and you're like but it's unjust and he's like nope don't do it leave it alone don't say it and i'm telling you the bible says even a man who who is unwise if he stays silent he looks wise and for many of us right now now there are times when we need to stand up for truth and i get it but if there was ever a moment in scripture where it was so unjust it would have been the moment the disciple betrayed jesus and jesus said i'm not doing this just a minute and i just love that fact of what he did and then lastly we kind of fast forward so not only was peter distracted by the wind and the waves and the fear and unbelief then we see him distracted by the unjust part of life wait that doesn't seem right what are we going to do and then we get to the last part of him and we find the third distraction is very clear we see at the at the cross when jesus is being crucified jesus had warned him he said you're going to deny me three times before the rooster crows and he's like i'm not gonna deny you i'm gonna follow you i don't know what you're talking about and then we kind of fast forward and we see that that peter keeps saying i'm not with him i'm not with him that's not mine because all of a sudden it was gonna cost peter his life and for many of us the distraction of self-preservation is going to be the last distraction that we face which is you know if they can argue with activate church no i you know i went there a couple times i hate it anyway like i'm not no you know or are you with are you a believer well you know i'm i'm a person of faith but i wouldn't call myself a bully and all of a sudden when it's going to cost us to stand up for truth when we have to stand up and say i'm with them and the the opposition and the things that are coming we are gonna we're gonna have to fight for that and so i i love this because peter gets into self-preservation so he's distracted by the wind and the waves fear and unbelief he's distracted by unjust unjustice uh in just injustice and then he's distracted by self-preservation and then we see peter it says he breaks and he's crazed like i have been so distracted jesus has been trying to get my eyes on him and i've been so distracted and then we fast forward to the final moment of scripture when jesus has died and he's resurrected and he's gone to heaven and the disciples are believing for a move of god and a fire from heaven and they're praying and the presence of god fills the room and it's a tangible experience and then all of a sudden we see that a crowd has gathered because they're like what is going on something is happening and 3 000 people have gathered around and the disciples are praying in the presence of god and one of the disciples says i'll go out there and tell them who jesus is and peter the one who had sunk in the wind in the waves had been distracted by injustice the one that had denied him at the cross in self-preservation he finally has a moment where he stands up in front of all his generation and he says i'm with him and i could just imagine in the spirit i could imagine peter was looking at all the things in his life and then all of a sudden he got his eyes on jesus the author and the finisher of his faith and he was walking toward the finish line of what he had been called to and the bible says that peter led the first and one of the greatest revivals in history the man that denied jesus and was cutting ears off and was sinking in the wind in the waves the guy who had no story that you would want to write about the guy who you were like fail fail fail fail and this is what i think is that jesus was telling peter if you get your eyes on me you can do anything and here's what i think for you guys and for myself like me as well maybe this speaks to you but it definitely speaks to me is this season there's so many things that are demanding my attention and focus important things critical things i'm not dismissing any of it and there are times i've i'm reading the books i'm praying the prayers i'm i'm more curious than ever before i'm not dismissing the cultural topics i want in on it i want to learn i want to stay curious but no matter what the topic is the bible says you're never going to get where you need to go if your eyes are not on jesus because the battles that you face if it's not this battle it'll be this battle and if it's not this battle will be this battle and what we have to understand is that when we keep our eyes on jesus then we also point everybody to him and so if we're busy trying to fight other people's battles then people focus on us you're the savior you're the redeemer you're the one but if we say oh no no i got nothing i mean it's him i'm looking at his face and the bible says we will pass away our bodies will die we will it'll all go away but the bible says we will be resurrected in heaven and there will be we will have our bodies back we'll be living in eternity i want you guys to know that heaven is a real place that god is up there right now with the host of heaven and they are cheering us on and everybody who's gone before us is saying you can do this you were created for this it's only a whisper in time it's gonna matter come on you gotta populate heaven and i think there's this reality when we see the face of jesus it's it gives us courage like pastor isaac said it gives us identity we begin to say i am who you say i am i can do what you said i can do what about this what about this oh no no i don't have time to fight battles i wasn't invited into and let me say and i'll finish with this thought in the church right now you guys there are so many things that we are good at we are good at fighting battles that's what we're created to do we're serving we're loving we're caring and we want to fight those battles but if we don't keep our eyes on jesus then we will just be a a movement of people that are just trying to do good things but you know what you just being a good person and doing good things doesn't change lives it doesn't change the spirit and the soul the things that will last forever and you have the secret sauce you have the cure for cancer you're not you didn't just join the peace corps you've joined a reality that says i've got a god that cures the cancer of the soul that can can build your life and so for many of you and i feel it in my own heart for myself i gotta get my eyes back on jesus i gotta stop focusing on what my spouse is doing what my kids are doing what my pastor's doing what my community's doing my city leaders are doing i got to get my eyes back on him to focus so that when i face the wind and the waves and the unjustice parts of life or injustice parts of life or the self-preservation part of my heart i know none of that is gonna that all of that can go away because i want to be on a platform not like this i'm talking about a heavenly platform that leads people to christ your life matters yes we've had a crazy 2020 as a season but guys you are part of the army of god your life matters you went through this year and you went through hell but keep walking right you're gonna make it and you are called to be a light in this city in this area and for some of you you've been distracted i got distracted on all three of those areas this year don't think well you're a minister you're a ode minister i mean do you have that yes the enemy is a liar he comes to kill steal and destroy it doesn't matter what you have what title you have how old you are how long you've been in god we are in a battle and so when we face battles instead of being offended we get we get we get uh confident that if my eyes are on him i'm gonna be okay and for some of you right now don't think about your spouse sitting next to you don't think about what you're going to eat for breakfast because you forgot to eat don't think about all the things i want you to i want you just to close your eyes for a minute just settle in for a minute this is the moment where we we activate the word this is where we get to engage with all the things we've heard and now we're going okay how do i make this real in my life i want you to ask yourself right now out of the three areas fear and unbelief injustice or self-preservation what is the most distracting focus right now in my life i want you just to look at those three and just identify it what is that one area that tends to just dominate my life i feel it i'm afraid i'm gonna do the wrong thing i'm afraid it's not gonna work out uh it's unjust i'm i'm i'm thinking about all the things that need to be right that are wrong and i'm focused on the on the on the battle or maybe i'm focused on self-preservation i'm afraid my co-workers are going to find out that i believe this i'm afraid that my my family is going to know that i i'm doing this or i'm doing that and right now it's a distraction from keeping your eyes on jesus and the word over your life right now is fix your eyes on jesus get your eyes up get your head up lock eyes with the creator of the universe lock eyes with the creator of you in your mother's womb before anybody knew you or saw you he put a destiny in you and a calling in you to reach your generation so that your life would matter that you would not just live and die but your life would be a tangible reality of his kingdom on earth and i feel it i feel like god says get your eyes on me i'm full of love i'm going to teach you how to feel worthy i'm going to teach you how to know who you are i'm going to teach you how to go to the next place in your life and so i want you just to take a minute and i want you to surrender that part i want you to confess to him that distraction god i've been i've been distracted by fear god i've been distracted by injustice god i've been distracted by self-preservation and i'm choosing to put my eyes back on you [Music] i want to give one last opportunity if you have never followed jesus you've never dropped what you were doing and said i'm gonna follow him and you have never gone public with your faith you may have been brought here your spouse might attend here your your parents might be dragging you to church or maybe you just kind of felt like you got adopted into the kingdom but you've never said i'm gonna follow jesus and this moment you said i've got to have a moment where i'm acknowledging that if you've never done that and you would like to give your life to jesus christ you would like to get your eyes wholehearted on him and you've never fully done that i want you to slip your hand up at me and say that's me i would like to do that today good anybody else you've never done that good anybody else excellent and maybe for some of you you would say have a lot i have followed jesus in the past i've been i have i have dropped everything and followed him but honestly i have taken the reins of my life i am now leading my life jesus is in the passenger seat but i want to get him back in the driver's seat i i need to come home i need to to get right with him i i feel him drawing me and the truth if i was to die tonight i don't know if i would even make it to heaven because he is not lord and savior if he is not lord of all he is not lord at all and so if you would like to come back in your relationship with jesus and make him lord of your life i want you to lift your hand say that's me i need to come back good lots of hands lots of hands yep lots of hands yup you're not alone there's many of you and i just want to give you let's all stand for a minute if you would like if you're saying i want to recommit my life to jesus and i want to follow i know there's a about two of you that have never done that and you're doing that today let's just lift our hands for a minute and let's say this together because it is our creed we believe this let's just say jesus i want you to be lord of my life i'm tired of living my own way i'm trying to i'm tired of trying to figure it out i've let fear and doubt lead me i've let in i've let uh injustice distract me [Music] i've let self-preservation be my guide but right now i give you my life become be lord of my life take my sin and shame and give me new life in jesus mighty name in jesus mighty name if you did if you prayed that for the first time come and find a leader and tell them they will pray for you but let's take a minute and let's worship him getting our eyes on jesus the author and the finisher of our faith let's sing this together [Music] this is this is this is how [Music] this is your moment this is your moment the time is now come on mix some faith god says i've given you a measure of faith the time is now don't don't you don't need to think about it you don't even make a plan today is the day today is the day i'm telling you the time is now the time is now if you need some confidence today i just want to invite you up here for some prayer if you gave your life to jesus if you rededicated you need some prayer our prayer team's up here come on get out of your seat come up if you need some identity you need some confidence you need someone to agree with you to say i'm sick and tired of insecurity and fear today is the day today is the day that i sell out for jesus christ i felt self-reservation that last battle for peter being broken today come on get some prayer come thing in jesus on break that thing in jesus name is this come on is up here jesus loneliness loneliness there's some loneliness that needs to be broken come on get up here break that fear break that fear you're not with insecurity you're not with peer pressure you're not with fear you're not with your past you're stepping forward today saying god i trust in you i trust in your word i trust god and what you're doing in my life right now there's some faith there's some holy spirit coming to you saying today is the day the enemy is going to come and lie to you and say you did this before you tried before i'm telling you you have never been to this point in your life with this much faith with this much spirit with this much word today is the day of salvation there's a couple more step out of your chair today today today the devil is a liar we break off fear in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus every fear depression loneliness broken is [Music] thank you ghost thank you holy ghost thank you holy spirit just receive by faith tell me right now this is going to be your moment this is going to be your moment where the holy spirit becomes real because it is the word of god it is the word of god faith is the response to the word of god peter didn't walk on the water he walked on the word jesus said come here peter come here pete this is your paw moment right now step out some of you right now even young even young people right now just receive the holy spirit just receive the holy spirit there's a wind there's a wind just filling you you can't see it but you can feel it you can sense it just receive the holy spirit i'm telling you right now right now right now right now if you need a point of contact of faith here it comes in the name of jesus on the count of three just receive the holy spirit one call just get ready receive it by faith by faith by faith not by works not by testimony not by what you can do but by faith on the count of three one two three just receive it just take it take it take it take it take it take it he's with you he's for you he's going before you he's a god that'll [Music] we receive it now we receive it now it's personal lord we thank you we thank you for what you're doing we thank you for what you've done we thank you for what you're about to do in jesus name and we thank you god for having can we just give her a big thank you there was so much word that that was like three series in one um i'm telling you i i love her i'm i'm a big fan i'm a big fan of the word of god and i couldn't stop saying amen i have two pages of notes there was so much word in that i'm telling you self-preservation how many of you that i mean that's me because i love people i want to be cool and i want to make people feel bad about you know who i am and [Music] but i'm telling that that today is my day that some of that needs my life needs to break and i want to walk free i want to walk free i want i just want to walk free no matter what people think about me and i'm tired of being you know against something while because of that one spaz revival christian right i'm a christian i'm tired of being i want to be four i got to let that go i got to let what i'm against go today and let what i'm for really begin to take root amen come on what a day what a day whoa this is how i fight my battle i'm ready to fight some battles this week whoa gary you ready god loves you man this is a blessing on your life i wish we could keep going we're going to reload if you want to stick around for a second service you can um we just want to thank you for coming if you need some prayer come on up here guys still moving amen we're going to get ready for second service we love you so much i'm gonna continue my series next week come back it's been a few sundays we're gonna roll the dice with jesus invite a friend bring somebody along amen hey if you need some prayer come on up here come on up here thank you jesus we'll see you guys next [Music] sunday [Music] [Music] [Music] in your presence in my spirit i hear

Channel: Activate Church

Views: 362

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: PGOs49WcDW8

Length: 57min 58sec (3478 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 26 2021