Lisa Bevere | What Leaders Need to Know | Grace City Church

Pasteur was telling me that you're in a season of declarations you're in a season of strength and so I'm so excited about this message because I believe it's gonna add to what you guys are already building here in this house I'm gonna talk to you about a couple things that I think we need to understand as a church at large first I'm gonna talk to you about when you are you got to know when you are a lot of times people are like hey she said six shots of expressed so I think she meant to say we're nope I meant to say win because there are places and times and life we're knowing when you are is more important than knowing where you are I live in Colorado Springs which means if I'm gonna go anywhere big I have to either connect through Chicago or Dallas and whenever I connect through Chicago or Dallas I experience something called a time zone change and do you remember the days of stupid folks stupid phones did not change time zones they were always trapped in your time zone of origin and I was taking my boys with me on a trip I actually was doing a youth conference I know that's hilarious I did nine youth conferences last year I think they're kind of like we don't want to hear from our parents we like our grandparents so they invite me to that did some stuff with jet Jesus culture I think I'm due Bethel's young Saints this year I'm like the old Saint with young st. anyway but I was taking my boys with me to youth conference and I said when we land in Dallas we are going to run from one gate to the other which really translated to everybody pee on the plane we are not stopping in a bathroom so basically we landed and my stupid phone did not change time zones I looked and I said oh my gosh guys we've got time to do barbecue see my husband is a purist he will not eat pork but when my boys travel with me they're gonna get pork barbecue because I believe that the Word of God sanctifies pork because it tastes good so anyway I took five into the barbecue and one of my sons she was a little smarter than my phone said mom didn't you say it was gonna be a tight connection I said yeah we got plenty of time and when I wandered up to the gate that no longer had the name of my destination on it and said hey where's the flight they said are you the Platinum miss connected yes because I knew where I was but I didn't know when I was and I believe that acts 2:17 is a window of the win we are right now acts 2:17 this is God talking it says this is what I will do in the last day so it's not something we have to do it's something God is going to do I'm gonna pour out my spirit on everybody and cause your sons and daughters to prophesy and your young men will see visions and your old men will experience dreams from God the Holy Spirit will come upon all my servants men and women alike and they will prophesy now this is interesting God opens it up with saying I'm gonna pour out my spirit on everybody that means that God is gonna pour his spirit on people you don't think he should pour it out on I don't want you to pour it out on those people I don't want you to bless them I don't like them but see in the last days God is going to have his say and he is saying that he wants a generation that will prophesy he says your young men will see visions you know recently I read a very disturbing article about the young men that the young men are more taken with their virtual reality than their actual reality and here's what I think you were not made for the mundane but if you are going to see that shift you're gonna need to prophesy because we have a generation that is instead of prophesying they're criticizing you see all of their words on Twitter you see all the things on Instagram and Facebook but it takes no anointing to criticize but it takes a whole lot of faith and anointing to besides order into our chaos hope into despair we are people who do not stand on this earth and echo our culture we pull down the Word of God and release the words of heaven we are anointed prophesied but you will never have a vision if you're just playing a game we are alive in a very perilous dark time and there's a lot of smoke and mirrors or maybe you don't actually really know what's going on but I need you to wake up and prophesize and that also says menservants and maidservants maybe some of you are saying well I don't believe women can preach well I didn't either but in the last days God begins to do something new and he says menservants and maidservants because it's going to take all hands on deck he also says old and young visions and dreams this is when we are we are in the last days now I don't know if I say days season not day so I want to do something can I get all the men to stand up don't be afraid don't be afraid I just want to I just want to say something I have I have found that we're in a time period right now we're just being a man is under attack and I want to celebrate you as men of God that you are here on a Sunday morning leaning in on how to be a better father a better husband a better man and I am sorry that our culture has things like toxic masculinity you know that anything that is male right now is being undermined and and you are here because I believe that God wants you to ship that culture and so what it really looks like to be a man of God in Jesus name so you can sit down and then women stand up because I believe that God created woman as the answer to the very first problem and that very first problem was it it's not good for man to be alone but when women choose to act like men the men are left alone and when women act like men men act like boys and so we have to be those women that are going to act like women and lean in to the Spirit of God rather than echo our culture our culture doesn't know what it is to be a powerful woman of God but God has woven you to be a powerful woman of God to be an answer in this season and not to use your voice to denounce the men but to add your voice to the men so that together we are stronger all right this is when we are we're in a day of division and divisive nough smen against women black against white young against old Republicans against Democrat and we know what's really going on because houses that are divided fall it's not that either side is right it is about we worship a king we worship a king and that is who we need so we need to do what is honorable and what it's respectful we need to drop the stones and hit our knees we need to be people who prophesied cuz that is when we are second thing you got to know who you are you got to know who you are who you are this idea of identity is absolutely crucial do I have any Millennials in here wave at me don't be afraid I love Millennials I birth four of them okay Millennials are some of the most well educated well-connected people on the face of the earth but they're also some of the most confused it's because they have so many options so much information coming at them that they have a hard time figuring certain things out it was easy for me when I was getting ready to get married it was like do you wanna marry the Christian guy with a job or the Christian guy without a job and the correct answer is always the Christian guy with a job it wasn't hard for me I was like two choices but now there'd be 850 thousand different options for me on Instagram and everybody would be showing me their best thing I would I would just freak and Millennials are unique because see I I questioned my purpose when I got born again I questioned my purpose Millennials they do think they're legends they're like I am a hero I am a legend I've done nothing but I am that so they have an awareness that God's hand is on their life for something significant they just have no idea what it is and I believe I believe this is your godmother talking I believe that it's because they're called to do something that has never been done before and when you're a generation that is called to do a new thing not remake an old thing but you're called to do a new thing you cannot look at what everybody else is doing you gotta leave and what husband is doing you gotta do the new thing not compete with the now thing you have to know what God is saying that you are anointed to do and then you also need to know how you find out who you are so you don't find out who you are on Facebook you don't find out who you are on Instagram or Twitter definitely not Twitter you find out who you are in the presence of God not in the presence of people when there is an atmosphere for the presence of God God will begin to tell you who you are Matthew 16 I'm gonna read verses 13 through 19 this is a conversation about identity Jesus was in the in a conversation with disciples in Suez when Jesus arrived in the villages of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples what are people saying about who the son of man is they replied some think he is John the Baptizer on Facebook some say Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the other prophets on Twitter he pressed them and said how about you who do you say I am see God will always engage you in a conversation I understand what's happening out there but I need to know what is happening in here who do you say I am and Simon had a moment Simon said you're the Christ the Messiah the Son of the Living God Jesus came back and said god bless you Simon son of Jonah you didn't get that answer out of a John Bevere book or a Steven Furtick podcast My Father in Heaven God Himself let you in on this secret of who I really am and now I'm going to tell you who you are really are see we all know who we have been but only God knows who we really are and God has a name he's gonna call you that has nothing to do with your history and everything to do with your destiny God will you forced by the strength of your new name but you won't know that name if you don't have a revelation of who he really is see Jesus is not just Savior and he's not just good teacher he is the Son of the Living God he is the Messiah he is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except by him when you know who he really is then you have a revelation of who you really are he says your Peter a rock this is the rock on which I'll put together my church a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of Hell will be able to keep it out and then I think this is where late night marketing got their ideas from and if you call in the next five minutes because it says and that's not all you will have complete and free access to God's kingdom keys to open any and every door no more barriers between heaven and earth earth and heaven a yes in heaven is a yes in Earth and a no on earth is a no in heaven who has complete and free access we do you do you don't have to go to Pastor Andrew pastor Cristina you have complete and free access but you won't know what to ask if you don't understand who you are and you won't know what to ask if you don't understand when you are my husband and I made a well my husband he makes me crazy sometimes he is the reason we have given away 221b 24 million books this this July but it started with a crazy prayer that makes absolutely no sense in the downturn economy my husband said I want to give away more books every single year than we sell I took my hand out of his hand it's like that is a stupid prayer that is an economic disaster I am NOT praying that kind of prayer but when you understand when and when you understand who and you understand what God has entrusted your life with and you will pray the kind of prayers that if God answers it it will astound you and I am yet astounded by the faithfulness of God I cannot have you creig's small prayers I have to have you pray prayers that a son and a daughter of the Most High God would ask because they understand they have complete and free access and the next you got to know what you are you got to know what you are now to set this up I have a confession I have a danger gene I don't know if it's a real thing it's just is just true my husband golf's and occasionally plays tennis I hunt I ski i surf I have a 16-point buck over our fireplace that lives as a constant reminder that if John Bevere ever commits adultery there will just be a sniper attack there will not will not be a scandal and I'll be a scandal I had a ninja motorcycle until my third son wrecked it who also has a danger gene I love to wreck create on the edge of death if it can't kill me it's not fun I think God was like you know what they're gonna have four boys John plays tennis John plays golf we're gonna have to put the danger gene in the mom so I love things that are scary I just think it's amazing that's why I put my grandson on the dinosaur right so anyway by danger gene can sometimes get me in trouble mention the distribution of the books sometimes we actually get to go and see that happen and last year we went to Chiang Mai and distributed 5,000 books to leaders gathered there but before that we were in Singapore my husband actually FaceTime me this morning as I watched walk to Starbucks he FaceTime you from Singapore and we're like I will see you tomorrow at 2:00 that's how long it takes to get back he was at the airport and so we had gone to Singapore and then we were going to be in Chiang Mai and we had two days break in between so one of our partners said I've always wanted to go see James Bond's island that like in Thailand and Pattaya and so he said I'll pay and you guys want to go we're like absolutely so we went to this incredible resort area where it looks like God just said have a lake and I'm gonna drop boulders in it that's what it looks like just islands are just like boulders and we went to James Bond Island we just kind of circled around I have to be honest with you it's not worth your time don't do it so tourist traps but then we kept like kind of kind of driving around we saw some monkeys we went in a cave but I was starting to get bored because it's only fun to sit in a bone for just so long and they pulled up into a little sandy area and they said this is where we'll let the tourists get out and swim but I noticed as I was climbing out of the boat that there were two Thai guys free diving near the other Island and they were like tattooed and snorkeling and I was like and our driver saw me notice and he said those guys are idiots there is a dangerous current between these two islands they should not be swimming between these islands when I heard the word dangerous and idiots I made eye contact with my youngest son and I said we need to do this we dove off the boat and started heading for the other Island now I didn't mention that my son who is a gentleman said mom I'll go first because there were jellyfish in the water I think we have a picture of how big these jellyfish were they were maroon colored like blood sucking jellyfish they were massive I've never seen jellyfish that big in my entire life but I felt like that made them easy to miss right it's the little ones that will get you so anyway my son was like I'll go first and navigate the field of jellyfish and I was like yes my fourth born son go ahead you go first what in the world was I thinking anyway so Arden goes first and I'm having like a moment in my mind I'm like I am so buff I used to be on this swimming team I don't know why they said I wouldn't be able to do this current and I'm swimming along and then I remembered that was 40 years ago that was 40 years ago yeah I'm 58 in that moment in the water I hit the current and I remember my son saying mom I'm going sideways and I was like I'm going sideways too and he's like what are we going to do and I'm like I'm gonna kill my and then Arden remembered he's 6 foot 3 and he thought perhaps I might be able to stand on the bottom here and he stood up and he has had cleared so what did he do he grabbed his 58 year old mother by the arm and pulled me out of the current we come up on the other shore like we're so out of breath and I mean Arden was shaking and we yelled to John bring the boat and he just looks at me and turns his back like you almost killed our son and you're an idiot and then we realize the boat couldn't come because of the current and we had to swim back through it it's my favorite thing I did on the trip because I almost died I thought it was amazing and sometimes ministry wise these things can get me in trouble with my husband so a couple years ago I was invited to speak in Dubai now Dubai is not dangerous unless you like shopping which I don't or golf which you already know I don't and so it wasn't gonna be dangerous in Dubai but I've decided to add something in that might make it a teeny bit dangerous so it was Thursday I was Gary to leave the next day and my husband said now you're leaving Friday to go to Dallas to speak up for pal I said yeah and he said and then you're leaving Sunday to go to Dubai and I said yeah and he said well when you actually start speaking in Dubai and then I knew I was in trouble I said oh dad forget me to tell you I'm gonna go to Iraq first my husband just looked at me he was like what I said yeah I'm just gonna go to Iraq for a couple days just just a few days to Iraq John was like no you're actually not you're actually not going to a wreckless I can't believe you tried to sneak a trip to Iraq into this while were you thinking and he's like ok so wait who are you going with I was going by myself he's like you cannot go by yourself to Iraq I said yeah I was just just you know just just there's people once I get there and he's like how do you know the people I said well I direct message them on Instagram my husband just was like oh my gosh so he called her office tried to cancel my outbound reroute me to actually when I needed to be Dubai but whenever you cancel your outbound it costs you a fortune it was to be like ten thousand dollars so then he sat down with me he's like so where are you going indirect honest I can't say the name I don't know I haven't written and he was like okay I I can't even believe this and so I said look at me look at me I am them I can go to Iraq I look like them I'll just wear flowy clothes and not talk so I went to Iraq and I found out pretty fast that I was useless I don't speak Arabic I don't speak Yazidi I don't speak Kurdish but everywhere I went I was in the company of people that did I was over there with Jessica and Jeremy Courtney of pre-emptive love and everywhere I watch the same scene play out the young children would come running when they saw them and when I say young children I probably need to clarify that the young girls because Isis had come through and they would have all the children that were male take off their shirts and if they had underarm hair they shot them and if they didn't they enlisted them so they took the younger women into sex slavery and left just the grandmothers a few mothers that were able to hide and some young girls and so everywhere we went we heard horrible stories there was a family that had been making $500,000 a year the year before and Mosel and now they were living in an empty shipping container the last place I went on the last night I was there the young girls came running out except for one girl she lagged behind and when we all sat in the back of an abandoned semi-trailer that was now home to 14 people this little girl was in the corner while all the other little girls were sitting around Jessica so when Jessica got done talking to them about their microloans their stop making business and their sheep I pointed to the little girl and I said what was going on with her and they said Oh her name is Sarah and I said okay what's her story and they said Oh Isis killed her dad and he said it's her mom alive when they said actually her mom is alive but she's not here right now I said why is she by herself and they said oh she lost an eye to a cancer tumor when she was five and we were not able to get a child sized prosthetic eye so she has an adult-sized prosthetic eye and she can't close her eye and it's covered in dirt and so I said you bring that baby girl over to me right now and they put her on my lap because what they did not know was that I too had lost my eye to the exact same cancer tumor at the exact same age my right eye was removed when I was five so look at her she's like what in the world this is the crazy American talking to me in a language I don't understand so I had to have an interpreter but I said said to her Sarah I said you need to feel my eyes so I closed my eyes she felt one with squishy one was hard y'all can check it out between services but anyway so she knew I had a artificial eye and she like looked at everybody like wait there is somebody to understand what I am going through and then I showed her pictures of my family and I said Sarah you can be loved you can have a family you can dream you can be whatever God calls you to be and when I left that night she held my hand as I walked out to the car and as I laid in their basement sleeping she was the only person I could think of because I knew I couldn't bring back her dad but it did know I could go back to the United States of America and get her a child-size prosthetic eye so we have a picture of her afterwards sweet little serum there she is with her new and that's awesome but we didn't think that was enough so messenger international partner with pre-emptive love and go ahead go to the next picture we moved all of these little girls and their mothers into housing where they could all get an education but you know what I always thought having a false I was the problem the people will connect with you and I based on our problems and our vulnerabilities and then they allow us to lead them with our strengths God is not interested in anointing the areas where you think you are strong he will anoint the areas where you are weak so he can show himself strong and God loves to make you and I face what we fear this was what I feared more than anything else the idea of a young woman with one eye ever getting up in front of more than two people was the most terrifying thing but I have found it is not about me it is about him and we are going to be people who understand what we are we are answers looking for problems to solve and what God has done in our life we declare his faithfulness and other people's life too many people are trying to study and get a message as they have forgotten that we are living epistles we are messages that declare the transforming power of Jesus Christ we got to know him we got to know who we got to know what and then next we got to write it down we got to write it down how many of you have ever woken up in the middle of the night and God just dropped something into your spirit and it's so profound that you think I will never forget that but if you don't write it down you forget it so here's the what's happening and this is really fascinating according to science when you and I are sleeping our brain is not asleep our brain is actually collating all the information that we take in during the day that is why a lot of times if I have a hard decision and something sounds good but maybe doesn't feel good have you ever had that where it sounds good doesn't feel good I always say I'm gonna sleep on it and the next morning I usually no nope that's not good or yes that's a good decision because when I'm sleeping on it I'm taking information in my brain collates that plus the Holy Spirit gives me insight so during the night God will often talk to you about a relational dynamic or an insight or an invention or creativity so you know what I do I sleep with my iPad in my bed because I have it on the night thing and I can just type something out I don't have to turn on the light and wake up my husband now sometimes I will say I'll get up in the morning I'm like that was menopause talking goddess doesn't make any sense whatsoever but more often than not it's God talking do you know that visions and dreams is the language of the Spirit and so we need to make room for God to speak to us in the night watches and then we got to write it down do you know every book I have ever written was the whisper that God spoke to me either as I was waking up or falling asleep and I just dared to write it down that is how we believe one generation marks pathways for the next generation Habakkuk 2:1 says I will take my stand my watch post and station myself on the tower and look out to see what he will say to me and what answer I will give concerning my complaining do you know that you have a post and you have a station and you have a watch tower what does that mean it means that we have an elevated view it means that we are seated in heavenly places and we actually get jesus' perspective and Habakkuk had a little bit of a frustration I know a lot of us are like hey I have a little bit of frustration you can put it out on Twitter or you can lift it up on the watchtower and you can see what God will say to you and I think it's interesting he doesn't say I will listen to hear what God will say he says I will see what God will say God wants to show you answers and sometimes we're so busy listening and straining when he's like open your eyes do you see your brother in need do you see your nation's torn do you see what is going on open up my word and there is an answer we have to be seers we have to be people who are farsighted and forward-thinking opening our eyes to see what God would say it's what I talked about the prophesied thing in the best we declare order in in the hatred we declare kindness we have to reconcile with the fact that you and I are not put here to curse people but to bless them and to do good and not be those people that make Christians look bad okay so you knew stop it if you are okay and then he goes on to say right the vision and make it plain on tablets so he may run who reads it for still the vision awaits its appointed time it hastens to the end it will not lie if it seems slow I'm just gonna tell you I'm almost 60 it always seems slow if it seems slow wait for it it will surely come it will not delay God is saying I need you to write so the next generation can run there are things that God has on your life there are stories that need to be captured I'm not just talking about being an author I'm talking about the creativity that is woven into your life I need you to write so others can run we got a no win who what then we write it down and then we do the last thing we have the right conversations with the right people notice I didn't say conversations with the same people see we have to have the right conversations with the right people which means we have different people at the table which means we have male and female we have old and young we have wealthy and we have financially challenged people we have people that are black people that are white people that are Asian people that are Hispanic we have everybody at the table because we need to have more than just same at the table because same at the table means I'm just talking to myself and when people talk to themselves they go crazy okay so we are not going to be those people who just talk to ourselves we are going to have conversations conversations doesn't mean we're always going to agree but it means that everybody needs to feel hurt who's Mary didn't hear wave at me okay all right you'll understand when I say sometimes I'm having a conversation with my husband and I can see he is not he is thinking what he is going to say and I say to him stop it stop it stop it right now I need you to just hear me and sometimes I don't even need them to agree or anything else I just need to know that I am hurt there is something so honoring when people feel hurt they can use they get up from the table and begin to move forward let's have the right conversations with the right people now don't be afraid of what I'm gonna say there's only probably one or two lessons you can take from the Godfather and this is one I'm just gonna bring forward here one of the things that the Godfather says that said you never go against the family now I'm not saying that we don't tell the family what we're thinking we need to tell the family what we're thinking what I'm saying is you don't attack the church on social media you have the right conversations with the right people the people that can actually change something that's not a gag order and if it's something illegal the right people are the police but I'm talking about out we as a family need to have the right constructive conversations because in the family is where we're going to have to do life and family is messy and people need to confront certain areas of the family and people need to comfort certain areas of the family and we need to do this better rather than just saying well I'm not I'm a Christian but I'm not I'm not then I'm sorry Jesus made us all one body and if I attack the leg I'm attacking my son so I want to sit down with other parts of the body that I don't understand or I don't agree with and have the conversation so the whole body can grow and that we won't look stupid in front of everybody I'm too tired of the church being known for what she's against I want us to be known for what we are for we are family we are [Applause] the crazy people that they act like we are I don't even know those people do you know those crazy people the hateful mean people because I don't know those people so the world is out there and we're trying to feed them fodder and I remember I I couldn't find out a young girl that I I love her and she had put something on there that you know talking about how the church mistreats women or whatever and so many people jumped in on the conversation and they said to her I love your heart for God's daughters but when you put this out in front of everybody you made the church like a name and she said well it went viral and I said well sometimes when things go viral people are being infected not influenced and we have to understand we need to influence for good rather than infect with our offenses and our disagreements and our life petition and because it would be wrong for me to quote the Godfather is a closing one I'm going to quote CS Lewis I kind of as a godfather okay Steve Lewis said if we consider the unblushing promises of reward promised in the gospel it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak we are half hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea we are far too easily pleased I don't know about you but what I see here it's not what I see here and I am going to speak and I am going to prophesy and I am going to believe and I'm gonna cede my children I'm gonna cede my grandchildren with something more so can you stand to your feet and I'm gonna pray over you like I pray it over my sons I'm a first-generation Christian I have to be honest with you I came from crazy people crazy thin filled people and when I heard that the Word of God was life when I heard that the Word of God could change and that I didn't have to live by my natural inheritance but that I had a holy legacy when I understood that my children are gonna inherit one of two things either God's promises or my fears I decided that I would speak God's promises over my children so I like my boys up every night and I would say to them you are for signs and wonders and miracles you are not for death and destruction you are disciples ton of the Lord and great is your peace and undisturbed composure people are like where's that from it's from the Book of Isaiah my children were like what's composure I'm like it doesn't even matter when you need it it will be there for you we have to prophesize something over our children larger than what was fokn over us so I'm gonna pray for you what I prayed for them father I thank you that they will see up close what others only saw in the distance father I thank you that they will speak out loud what previous generations only dared to whisper father I thank you that lay holder with their hands what other generations only touched in prayer that they are for signs wonders and miracles that we are not for division and destruction - father let us be a people young and old male and female who prophesied that you would perform signs and wonders and miracles in Jesus name Amen and amen

Channel: Grace City

Views: 34,279

Rating: 4.8733029 out of 5

Keywords: Grace City, Grace City Church, Andrew Gard, Christina Gard, Vous Church, Vous, Zoe, Chad Veach, Rich Wilkerson, Carl Lentz, Lakeland, Hillsong Family, GraceCity, GraceCityFL, Grace City Music, Grace City Worship, Chase Wagner, SEU Worship, Southeastern University, Southeastern University Worship, Florida, Lisa Bevere, Messenger International

Id: af6f85ervdM

Length: 38min 28sec (2308 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 20 2019