Loving Is Greater Than Winning | Pastor William McDowell

amen amen we're so excited uh to be with you today as always glad to be gathered as a family across the world and across the nation of course across the city uh it goes without saying of course that we miss gathering together but there are a number of very good reasons as to why we are unable to do that and one of those is the work that's going on in the new property uh we're not able to gather together just yet but we are so grateful for all that the lord is doing there and all that is being accomplished and all the people that are working very hard around the clock in order to prepare uh the building for the presence of the lord and for his people so we're so glad about that also uh once again uh happy about our brother chris lawson coming home and so we're excited about that as well i want to shout out a couple of things really quickly uh a few weeks back i was preaching and i made reference to uh pastor caleb uh eating at mcdonald's and a couple people kind of got on him and things like that but that's not a regular occurrence for him actually he takes good care of his body and puts good things in it and all that and yesterday i just want to shout out because i'm proud of him and nemsy martinez they ran a half marathon 13.1 miles i could run 13.1 feet but 13.1 miles and so we just want to shout them out we're so proud of them for doing that and uh if you've done that before and i didn't shout you out it's only because i didn't know uh so i know that it seems like i'm playing favorites although i do have favorites and i'm not gonna you know not gonna lie but it may seem like i'm playing favorites but i just want to shout them out because they did did that on their own uh their own training and training for a full marathon and so that's why he can't eat mcdonald's every once in a while but i figured i would at least repair the damage i did by making fun of him for eating mcdonald's because someone who can run 13.1 miles deserves to have mcdonald's and donuts and whatever else they want to have because they can run all of that off and so i just wanted to to fix it how about that um the second thing is i really want to thank all of you um for the incredible outpouring of love that you showed my birthday um i was really overwhelmed my wife um oh my goodness she she so even though it's 20 20 and we're semi-quarantined i say semi-quarantined those of us are taking it seriously are still quarantined and those are not are doing whatever they want but um even though we are semi-quarantined my wife made sure yeah i feel i feel the savage anointing on me but um my wife made sure uh that i that was actually my birthday this week um even at home was the best birthday i've ever had and she did such a phenomenal job and her and and chris martinez and clay they gathered together videos from people from around the world and literally uh it was two hours long of people um sharing their heart and things of that nature and i was a total mess a total wreck and it was just phenomenal but also pastor jason for organizing all of you unbeknownst to me to come down and give cards and gifts and people gave me gift cards to the cookie place and all sorts of stuff and so i'm so so grateful deeper family for the love that you've shown me i'm really overwhelmed um honestly overwhelmed so thank you so much and thank you to my wife for making that the best birthday i've ever had i'm so so grateful 35 plus some years uh some of y'all were so confused last week with pastor caleb was helping me feel better uh and so i'm so so grateful for that um if you're ready for the word uh let's let's stand together let's stand together we're gonna read one past the scripture just three verses here and then we will jump into the word i'm i'm dressed casually today but i feel i feel like i could have put on something else today and that'll be an inside joke for us but uh um matthew chapter 9 matthew chapter 9 verse 35 matthew chapter 9 verse 35 and uh we will read together as you know even though you are uh watching from somewhere else um we do stand as a custom for the reading of the word to acknowledge that the word of the lord is different than any other piece of literature ever written in the history of the earth and so we honor him when we read his word let's read it together it says jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area teaching in the synagogues and announcing the good news about the kingdom and he healed every kind of disease and illness when he saw the crowds he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless like sheep without a shepherd he said to his disciples the harvest is great but the workers are few next verse so pray to the lord who is in charge of the harvest ask him to send more workers into his fields let's pray together family father i thank you that you are speaking to us i thank you that you are not silent i thank you that by your holy spirit you continue to reveal to us your heart and your word for us as a people for us as a nation and for the nations of the earth i pray for divine authority and anointing to proclaim the truth of your word and i pray that all of us would be changed as a result of the proclamation and the declaration of your word i submit and surrender myself to you completely and totally do what you want to do move how you want to move and i pray lord that because of your mercy and your grace you would save those who are lost those who have yet to come to the full revelation of who jesus is i pray that by the power of your holy spirit you'd move upon their hearts and their minds and show them the reality of christ and their need for him and save them and as always i pray that the words in my mouth and the meditations of my heart will be acceptable in thy sight o lord my strength and my redeemer in jesus name amen you may be seated you may be seated i uh have been meditating on this uh for quite some time and really um there's multiple ways that i could share this and i just want to be sensitive to to all of us and at the same time recognizing that there are certain things that that the holy spirit invites us to say or embrace that at times can be confrontational and the reason why these things are confrontational is because jesus himself does not fit in a nice little box and so as a result when we are truly preaching his word it will confront how we think how we live how we walk how we talk and how we act and particularly for those of us who are believers in jesus or followers of jesus or disciples of christ and those who've submitted our lives to him uh we are identified as christians which means that our life is supposed to be patterned after formed and shaped look like christ that that is that is the meaning of being a christian is not a political ideology it's not just a way of thinking it's not a moral compass it is actually that our life is his life that his life is literally imprinted on us that we die to our old life and that his life is formed in us and we are made alive in christ not in us and so there is a reality of being a christian which is to say that we are to look like christ and talk like christ and act like christ and live like christ among other things i'm just taking the basics of it we are we are supposed to be like christ or christ like christian and and we have uh an interesting thing that's been going on because for us um for the last few months we've been talking about what it means to be a christian and one of the reasons why the holy spirit has taken us this way to talk about what it means to be a christian is simply because there seems to be some confusion about it and so because there seems to be some confusion about it it's important then for those of us who cling to his word and for those of us who have a prophetic sense to recognize that in a season of distinction a distinction must be made otherwise people are going to be awfully confused about what it is to be a christian so we've been endeavoring to do this for quite some time and this has been a painstaking process and the reason why it's been a painstaking process is not because it's hard to preach his word it's the reality is that we're preaching this word against the backdrop of seeing so many who have identified themselves as christians certainly not act like one uh-oh and so because of that we've had to go through this painstaking process that it's a painstaking process because the more you continue to read the scripture the more you continue to meditate the more you begin to realize the levels of incongruence that are in the earth the levels of incongruence are among those who self-identify themselves as being christians and you begin to see that there's a difference and that difference becomes somewhat painful at times because there are folks that at one point we allowed ourselves because of their confession and because of the things that they do and because of possibly the way that god uses them to say oh they must be a christian but when we get biblical about it we begin to read what the scripture says about it certain things begin to come out and you begin to say well maybe we shouldn't be so quick to put that title on people perhaps we need to to continue to preach this gospel so that all of us because i want to be very clear here when i say this the scripture first reads us so the things that we're preaching we're not preaching them at people nor are we preaching shade on people nor are we accusing people or finger pointing the first thing it does is it causes us to take a self-examination and say does my life line up with this because i refuse to be a hypocrite by preaching one thing and living another i don't i i feel like paul i don't want to preach to others and then myself be disqualified and so i do want you to understand and that is the posture of every one of the pastors that is preaching to you we're preaching to you having first allowed the word to read us to examine our own heart let the holy spirit do a deep excavation in our own hearts first if that's not happening you're not preaching with any levels of authority and it's interesting because we we find ourselves uh in in in somewhat uh uh uh we've heard this term quite a bit a bubble but i wanna i wanna expand our thinking on that just a little bit uh into uh an echo chamber we we find ourselves in an echo chamber and and it's important that we are careful that the way to get out of the echo chamber is the word of god this is very important for us family because uh the time when the lord first spoke these words to me it was at a time that was very uncomfortable for me now i'm just going to go ahead and tell you what it was but it just so happened to be that pastor caleb and i uh were participating in a conversation that was going on among prophets across the nations of the earth at the beginning of the pandemic and everybody was speaking and saying these things it was an ironic uncomfortable tension that was existing because some of the things that the lord was saying to us we were not necessarily hearing but every one of them was saying the same thing so i'm thinking well either we are way off or or something's not right and so the holy spirit kept saying to me while watching this group uh that that you are watching an echo chamber now the interesting thing was at the time because i'm a musician i understand what an echo chamber is in a musical sense and so i was thinking i don't understand lord i i don't really get it he said you are you're watching an echo chamber and and he kept saying that and it kept getting louder and i kept thinking but no i want to wait and see what the next one has to say and wait and see what the next one has to say but everybody was saying the same thing now the irony the reason why i can stand here with confidence now and tell you about this story right now is because it just so happens to be that the predictions that all of them were given uh giving particularly about the timeline of the virus all of that has now come to pass and none of it was true i'm just gonna be honest with you the time has passed so the predictions that every one of them was giving about the pandemic and when it was going to end and everything else is still here that's the only reason why i'm even telling you about it right now otherwise i would keep my mouth shut because i don't want to speak against the word of the lord you understand okay so the reason why i'm telling you that is because all of those predictions didn't happen okay let's just deal with truth okay people can miss it sometimes all right so he said you are watching an echo chamber and i thought to myself well since it keeps saying this to me and i don't quite understand because i understand in a musical term let me then go and look it up and i discovered that the alternative definition of an echo chamber in an alliterative sense is an echo chamber is an environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own so that their existing views are reinforced in alternative ideas are not considered now if prophetic people can be in a prophetic echo chamber then what does that have to say with those who don't fancy themselves to be prophetic people in other words many of us who who self-identify to be christians can also find ourselves in media induced echo chambers we can find ourselves in conversational echo chambers we can find ourselves in familiar echo chambers uh what that means is essentially unless you are reading the word of god your idea is being reinforced by somebody else and so because of that what is happening is there is something that is happening in the body of christ now let me understand that there are people who are watching from different nations and because i don't live in your nation while i can get a prophetic sense let me just speak to the nation that i live in because this is the one that has the largest loudest echo chamber the largest loudest echo chamber is causing believers to believe things that are not bible and so and so as a result of that as we begin to talk about what it means to be a christian it's it should not be revelatory uh and it shouldn't even necessarily be as confrontational as it has sounded except for the fact that the prophetic side of this teaching is to actually bust up the echo chamber that you listen to monday through saturday because our talk radio does it our television does it our social media does it and so because of that because of of the moral relativism that goes on because of all the things that surround us we can begin to believe that we're right and i want to tell you that there is something that is subtle that the enemy is trying to use that today we must expose it is important that we expose it because if we don't expose it we're going to go down a path that we don't need to be on the interesting thing is pastor caleb said something last week and and and again this is how you know you're in an echo chamber some people got offended by it and there was nothing to be offended by unless you're on the wrong side of truth i sorry but that's just true he made the statement that the church will be the greatest contributor to justice or injustice in the earth and begin to to really layer the reality of the gospel and as he relayed the reality of the gospel one thing becomes clear how dare we be the people who have received the grace of god now determine that other people don't deserve it and so the truth of the matter is the silence of those who have received grace perpetuates injustice in the earth the truth is that righteousness is expressed it's not just something that happens to us it's something that we desire to see happen in other words the righteous want to see righteousness that's the reality of the gospel is that it's not just something that happens in us and to us but it's something that's expressed from us that's how others come to know him the mission of jesus let's be clear the mission of jesus is to reveal the kingdom and to seek and save that which is lost the mission of jesus is to reveal the kingdom and to seek and save that which is lost here's the problem with the mission of jesus it offends people it offends both those who don't know him and it offends the religious but this is the mission of jesus and it's amazing because the thing that we understand and about christ and lord about his nature and his character is the very thing that we don't want to do the thing that we say this is this is what makes jesus stand out from everybody else this is what makes him above everybody else it's also the very thing that we ourselves don't want to do the thing that we appreciate about him is the thing that we offends us the most and we want to stay in our comfort zone and we don't want to do it we don't want to actually live like him we are comfortable knowing that we are going to heaven but we don't actually want to do what he does jesus was here on a mission and people's opinions of him did not matter to him or affect his mission at all they it didn't stop him it didn't deter him he didn't stop to consider what do they think about what i'm here to do he just did it and in fact not only did he do it but when he recognized this is the thing about jesus when he recognized that it really offended them he doubled down on it he didn't back up from it he didn't back away from it he didn't try to sugarcoat it he didn't try to put chocolate on it he didn't try to do anything in the nature in other words what he would do was when he under when he saw when he perceived when he knew that was offending them he would actually double down on it and take that thing and offend them even more to offend them out of their comfort zone this is what jesus did for some of us we spend way too much time trying to dumb this thing down trying to sugarcoat it trying to take off the edges so that people can somehow accept jesus because we want to to take down the sharp edges but there are some things that need to cut away the belief systems that we have jesus was on mission he was on mission i i'll show you a few things about the mission of jesus we we we've talked about this uh we we've read this before i want you to look at luke chapter 19 verse one luke chapter 19 verse one this is talking about zacchaeus and it says jesus entered jericho and made his way through the town there was a man there named zacchaeus he was a chief tax collector in the region and he had become very rich he tried to get a look at jesus but he was too short to see over the crowd so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree beside the road for jesus was going to pass that way when jesus came by he looked at zacchaeus and called him by name zacchaeus he said quick come down i must be a guest in your home today zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took jesus to his house in great excitement and joy but the people were displeased he has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner they grumbled keep that in mind meanwhile zacchaeus stood before the lord and said i will give half my wealth to the poor lord if and if i have cheated people on their taxes i will give them back four times as much jesus responded salvation has come to his home today for this man has shown himself to be a true son of abraham here's the mission for the son of man came to seek and save those who are lost people had a problem with jesus going to zacchaeus house because he was in their words a notorious center but there is a pattern there is a pattern with jesus he was a notorious sinner the woman who washed his feet in luke chapter 7 this is what the bible says about that one of the pharisees asked jesus to have dinner with him so jesus went to his home and sat down to eat when a certain immoral woman from that city heard that he was eating there she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume and then she knelt behind him at his feet wiping weeping her tears fell on his feet and she wiped them off with her hair then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them when the pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself if this man were a prophet he would know what kind of woman is touching him she's a sinner zacchaeus a notorious sinner this woman what kind of woman is she she's a sinner but he was on mission matthew chapter 9 verse 10 through 13 and as jesus reclined at the table in the house behold many tax collectors and sinners came and were rejoicing reclining with jesus and his disciples i'm in matthew chapter 9 verse 10 to 13 right here and if when the pharisees saw this they said to his disciples why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners are you are you seeing this pattern here but when he heard it he said those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick go and learn what this means i desire mercy and not sacrifice for i came not to call the righteous but sinners i want to read that to you in a new living translation really quickly here he says healthy people don't need a doctor sick people do then he added now go and learn the meaning of this scripture i want to i want you to show mercy not offer sacrifices for i have come to call not those who think they are righteous but those who know they are sinners jesus was on mission there was a woman who was caught in the act of adultery in john chapter 8 verse 3 it says this as he was speaking the teachers of the religious law and the pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery they put her in front of the crowd teacher they said to jesus this woman was caught in the act of adultery the law of moses says to stone her what do you say they were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him but jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger they kept demanding an answer so he stood up again and said all right but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust what what am i what am i trying to show you here there there is a pattern that exists here there is a pattern that exists here jesus came to seek and save that which was lost why does he do this because jesus doesn't see people like we do i want to say it again i i the the issue with what i'm preaching right now is it's really easy to put that on jesus and say yeah that's jesus that's who he is let me just be clear that's who we're supposed to be that that's the part when we begin to read the scripture we say oh he was so amazing he was so perfect i want you to know he has the same expectation of you and i he does not see people as we do people like to identify as a christian until following christ makes them uncomfortable until following christ takes them places they don't want to go says things they don't like and ask them to do things they don't want to do then it's not as popular to be a christian this is one of the things about the western world right now we we live in a society where it's still relatively okay and popular to identify as a christian without ramifications but in a season of distinction it's not the world that is calling us up in a season of distinction it is the lord himself that is saying if you're gonna bear my name i need to separate those who bear my name and so here we find ourselves in a nation in a society in which we are not persecuted for our beliefs there are people who are persecuted for their beliefs but we are not being persecuted right now now i understand that that's not very popular to say but i'm just kind of wondering what some of the believers in the 10 40 window and some of the other places would think about our definition of persecution right now that we are being persecuted because we are doing church online that's not true i recognize that that's not going to be popular with a whole lot of people and maybe some people are going to say pastor you're missing it persecution's on its way and that kind of stuff perhaps it's on its way but it's not here now i was just on instagram this morning for a brief moment and when i was on instagram for a brief moment i i ran across a page of a person that was a young person in the church that i used to serve in and they happened to be in the youth and and they were ostracized back then because of how passionate for god they were and they still are and so now they still live here in the city um but they are from russia and and and do missionary work right now and i happen to come across a post that he made i i haven't talked to him in a number of years but in this post that he made he was talking about how he had a layover in india and when he had a layover in india he and his friend decided they would just escort a city during the layover and so when they were exploring the city they actually saw a man who was limping and so when they saw the man who was limping being christian missionaries they didn't even go into india for that purpose they were on their way somewhere else but when they saw the man who was limping they decided you know what we're gonna pray for the man and the man got healed and when the man got healed an entire crowd began to come up around them and they said miracles broke out everywhere and here they are on the street and now they're talking about jesus and miracles are breaking out and then they said there was a man who began to look at them in such a way where they knew it was time for them to leave and they literally had to to scramble for their lives because they were about to be killed for healing people in the name of jesus on the streets that is persecution i just want to make it plain to you not where we are not what we are not what we are there there are people in china right now who are being persecuted there are people in iran right now who are being persecuted there are people in iraq right now who are being persecuted there are people in egypt right now who are being persecuted there are people in afghanistan right now who are being persecuted there are people in pakistan right now who are being persecuted and they wish they had the freedom to take a microphone and look in a camera and reach whoever they wanted that's not my message jesus does not fit in our comfort he doesn't fit in our comfort let me make it plain to you we say that we are followers of jesus followers don't get to choose or control where they're going let me make that plain it may seem really simple to you followers don't get to choose or control where they're going to do so means to stop following when you decide where you are going you are no longer following you stop being a follower the moment you decide where you're going a follower does not get to choose or control where they are going if you choose to control where you are going you stop becoming a follower is this not what happened to people those who are identified as disciples when jesus began to preach in john chapter 6 and to begin to talk about things like unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you're not worthy of me and people begin to say you know what that's my stop right there you're saying some stuff that's too controversial and the bible says not the crowds his disciples begin to desert him and what what happened they stopped following followers don't get to choose disciples don't get to choose the lesson followers don't get to choose the destination disciples don't get to choose the lesson in other words family christianity is not a vegas buffet where you get to choose what you want and what you don't want it's either all or nothing it's not a buffet i like this and i like that and i'll take this part of jesus and i'll take that part of jesus and i'm not a fan of this part and i'm not a fan of that part and i've never had that part and i don't want to read this part that's not the way that christianity works if you are going to be a follower and a disciple you follow where he leads and you get the lesson he teaches to be a follower of christ is to deny yourself take up your cross deadly and follow him jesus does not fit in a cultural box jesus does not fit in a religious box jesus does not fit in a political box and no man-made system can contain him the only way you find comfort in his mission is submission the only way you find comfort in his mission is submission he will go where we don't want to go but we go there anyway because we're submitted to him the comfort in his mission is in our submission which leads me to bring up john chapter 4 john chapter 4. when we read john chapter 4 all of this reality of the mission of jesus is swirling around him and as the reality of the mission of jesus is swirling around him he says let me stir it apart a little bit more i love this about jesus because he just was not afraid of anything because he knew who he was and he was on mission to please his father and so as a result what he wanted to do is he wanted to stir the pot even more by by saying some things he he he he says this in john chapter four verse one um i recognize it that when we preach john chapter 4 a lot we focus a lot on worship and that we rightfully should because that's the overall focus but but it also deals with the harvest it also deals with where he is willing to go in order to reach people it deals with a number of different things and all these verses but the bible says this it says now when jesus learned that the pharisees had heard that jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than john although jesus himself did not baptize but only his disciples he left judea and parted again for galilee and he had to pass through samaria so he came to the town of samaria called psycho near the field that jacob had given to his son joseph jacob's well was there so jesus wearied as he was as he as he was from his journey was sitting beside the well it was about the sixth hour a woman from samaria came to draw water jesus said to her give me a drink for the disciples that gone away into the city to buy food the samaritan woman said to him how is it that you a jew asked for a drink from me a woman of samaria for jews have no dealings with samaritans now you recognize that we can essentially read this entire chapter here but i want to point out some things that are vitally important for us to grab in this scripture jesus says these words in verse 4 i need to go through samaria i need to go he had to pass through samaria he had to pass through samaria he had to pass through an area that would stir up controversy by him going through an area that was despised listen to this because of religious and political differences he according to the way that this is rendered was not just saying i'm going here because it's a faster way he was compelled to go this this this this rendering of this word speaks to a level of compulsion he was compelled to go through samaria in order to meet with the woman who was also rejected to reveal who he was and that all are welcome in the place of worship not by external form but by internal posture in other words he will go where we are unwilling to go in order to reach who we want this is the nature of christ he had to go through samaria under a level of compulsion and not just convenience in order to confront he was compelled to confront a mindset stay with me he was compelled to confront a mindset this is this is the jews as you know the scripture says that they're plainly if you were to do a deeper dive what you would discover is that the shortest route from jerusalem to galilee lay on the high road straight through samaritan territory many jews would not travel by that road for they regarded any contact with samaritans as defiling when the descendants of the southern captivity returned from babylon in 539 bc to renew their worship under the law they found a complete rift between themselves and the inhabitants of samaria both religiously and politically they had a divide in other words they were on the right and they were on the left and they did not want to deal with each other stay with me they did not want to deal with each other so jesus now goes through samaria in order to confront a mindset the bible says jumping down and of course he has this entire dialogue with the woman about her life about her past about who he is about what he has and about worship he's doing all this dialogue with this woman one who we and who they would say what are you doing why are you talking in fact we see this dialogue happening in verse 27 just then the disciples came back they marveled and he was talking with the woman can you put this one in the nlt for me put this on the nlt just then his disciples came back they were shocked to find him talking to a woman but none of them had the nerve to ask what do you want with her or why are you talking to her the woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village telling everyone come see a man who told me everything i ever did could he possibly be the messiah so the people came streaming from the village to see him the disciples come back family shocked to find him talking to a woman and specifically to a samaritan woman they did not have the nerve to ask him why but internally they were thinking what are you doing talking to enemies what are you doing talking to enemies jesus is saying by doing this by his very action alone i'm going to the people you refuse to go to i'm going to the places you refuse to go to i'm dealing with the things you refuse to deal with in order to show you the harvest that you're missing i'ma say it again i'm going to the people you refuse to go to i'm going to the places you refuse to go to i'm dealing with the things you refuse to deal with in order to show you the harvest that you're missing in order to show you the harvest that you're missing and it goes along with this dialogue here and he says you know the saying four months between planting and harvest but i say wake up and look around the fields are already ripe for harvest the harvesters are paid good wages in the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life what joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike let me make it plain harvest its people it's right there in john chapter 4 verse 36 the harvest is people the harvest is people jesus is saying you keep talking about a harvest but you think it's far off but i say wake up and look around the fields are already ripe he was always on mission jesus was always on mission and if we are not careful to hear the word of the lord and sense the beckoning of the spirit we can find ourselves in danger of being pulled off mission i know i keep repeating some things but i want you to get it if we are not careful to hear the word of the lord and sense the beckoning of the holy spirit we can find ourselves in danger of being pulled off mission the enemy has lulled many to sleep by means of deception we are in a polarized time especially in this nation but the church must not be drawn into it uh i i know that makes some of you uncomfortable and i'm about to bust down the wall of your echo chamber by the spirit of god we don't get to avoid samaria we don't get to avoid samaria we don't get to decide who's worthy of god's love we don't get to decide who's worthy of salvation we don't have the right to avoid those we don't agree with true followers of christ have to go through samaria so that means that there's a question that must be confronted there is a question that must be confronted some of you don't even know that this is an area of issue for you because you've been living in an echo chamber so i want to confront something here here's the question are you ready somebody said let's go deeper if you're ready so let's go deeper since when since when did the world become the enemy and not the harvest since when did the world become the enemy and not the harvest the world is not the enemy the world is the harvest we're going to go deeper in a second the world is not the enemy the world is the harvest field you are not a disciple when you define the harvest as an enemy you're a hypocrite you're religious and you're just like the pharisees when you decide that these people don't deserve to hear the gospel when you decide that these people don't deserve the grace of god when you decide that these people don't deserve salvation you are not a disciple or a follower of christ you are a hypocrite and you are like the pharisees jesus came for those folks we need to understand that we are in a moment right now of polarization where the other side of our belief is being demonized as an enemy and we've gotten off mission and we no longer look at them as the harvest and somehow or another we just want to close our ranks together and be around each other and nobody wants to evangelize and nobody wants to talk about jesus anymore and nobody actually believed that he can change and save the world instead what we want to do is we want to stay in our own little christian bubble and i need to bust out the echo chamber that you've been living in the media influence echo chamber that you've been living in which defines everybody else as an enemy they are not the enemy they are the harvest it gets better but worse let's go deeper you have somehow decided that the grace that we receive they don't deserve you are off mission when you see the lost as an enemy and not the harvest here's the problem we're gonna go all the way there we need to and it makes some people so uncomfortable and the reason why you're uncomfortable is because your echo chamber has been lying to you that's why you're uncomfortable to the point where when the word of the lord is preached you get offended because somehow or another you just don't agree we don't have that right we have believers who are obsessed with winning stay with me we have believers who are obsessed with winning not winning the loss just winning obsessed with winning now we have self-professed believers who look at anyone in the way of winning as an enemy if you are a believer and a follower of christ let's say you define them as an enemy if you define them as an enemy the scripture says we're to love our enemies that's what we're called to do love them not vanquish them eviscerate them and disparage them that's not the call of a believer and if that's what you are doing your echo chamber is deceiving you so obsessed with winning not winning the loss just winning that is not the call of a believer let me define this for you if winning to you means defeating and humiliating and shaming the loss you've been deceived if winning to you means maintaining power over those you disagree with at all costs you've been deceived now let me redefine what winning is winning is reaching the loss and truthfully the goal of the christian life is not winning it's loving loving jesus and loving your neighbor i have a news class for you i have a newish life for everybody i'm just going to go all the way there who has put your faith and your trust in politics and in winning let me just help you in the end when you stand before jesus he's not going to judge you on if you want he's not going to judge you on if you were winning he's going to judge you on if you were loving you will be judged not on if you won you will be judged on how well you loved that's how you will be judged we are addicted to winning let me help you when you are more committed to winning than you are to loving something is wrong somehow we think this is this is this is i just need to give you biblical thinking somehow or another we think that if we win we have the power to impose the kingdom on the lost the kingdom is not imposed it's revealed i want to say it again the kingdom is not imposed it's revealed this is very important for us because the only true way to have a kingdom perspective is to be born again in other words if you are trying to impose the kingdom on someone who's not born again of course they're going to resist it because they can't even see it and so we have a group of people right now who have raised up for an entire generation that has another generation deceived into thinking that somehow we can legislate the kingdom on earth the kingdom is not legislated it's proclaimed okay y'all in our desire to win we are trampling the harvest and our desire to control we are trampling the harvest the harvest is not the enemy if you are looking at the loss of the enemy and not the harvest something's wrong this is why it's important in a season of distinction to draw a distinction it's important that we proclaim a distinction in the season of distinction because i want you to know this is this is how the echo chamber gets really messy right here are you ready just because you're in the same field doesn't mean we're planted by the same one i need us to understand this because when we begin to talk about enmeshment i need you to understand it just because we're in the same field doesn't mean we're planted by the same one that's why we must be careful the voices that we listen to if the voices that you are listening to are causing you to see lost people as enemies and not the harvest that voice has been planted by the devil i i i want to wake up your sensibilities because some of you need to turn off the news and open up your bible some of you need to turn off talk radio and begin to listen to the scripture being poured over your life you say well that sounds like a religious activity and are you asking us to not pay attention to what's happening in the world no i'm not asking to not pay attention what i'm asking you to do is pay attention to the voices that you're listening to because not everybody who identifies themselves as christians was planted by the lord just because we're in the same field there are people who have been planted by the devil i need you to understand i'm about to show you in matthew chapter 13 that the parable of the wheat and the weeds the weeds are people okay let's go there let's go there let's go there matthew chapter 13 verse 24 matthew chapter 13 verse 24. we talked about this a couple of months ago let's go back to it here's another story jesus told the kingdom of heaven is like a farmer who planted a good seed in the field but that night as the worker slept his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat and then slipped away when the crop began to grow and produced grain the weeds also grew the farmers workers went to him and said sir the field where you planted that good seed it's full of weeds where did they come from verse 28 an enemy an enemy an enemy has done this ex the farmer exclaimed should we pull out all the weeds they asked no he replied you'll uproot the weed if you do let both grow together until the harvest then i will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds tie them into bundles and burn them and be and put the wheat in the barn this is what it means to be entangled this is what we were talking about as it relates to being enmeshed and being entangled just to give it to you real quick weeds right next to you alongside of you in your facebook feed in your instagram feed in your twitter feed some of them are named ministries but yet they're weeds ah they're sending you emails telling you what to do telling you you're a christian if you don't vote you're not a christian if you don't vote this way you're not a christian if you don't think this you're not a christian if you don't think that leaving out every other part of the bible weeds called ministries ah i understand that for some of you you need to this needs to wake you up because they've caused you to actually believe that people who need the messages in your mouth are actually enemies that need to be conquered and not a harvest that needs to be saved and the problem is you have the church who is being deceived by the enemy in this season and everybody wants to win but nobody wants to win the lost [Music] they're sent they're in your facebook feed they're in your instagram feed they're in your twitter feed they're in some of the emails that you receive they're on television they're on radio they're in newsletters and everything else and you need to recognize it apart from this word apart from loving jesus and loving others if they're talking about domination that is not the lord okay let's keep going they're trying to convince you that winning is better than loving they're sent to deceive you and get you entangled and to get you off mission they're trying to convince you that the loss of the enemy and not the harvest and i hear the words of jesus in john 4 echoing out in my spirit wake up wake up don't miss it the harvest is right in front of you so the disciples after the crowds left let's keep going john chapter 13 jump down to verse 36 this is what happens then leaving the crowds outside jesus went into the house the disciples said please explain to us the story of the weeds in the field jesus replied the son of man is the farmer who plants the good seed look at this the field is the world you need to stop right there for a second the field is the world we've been sent into the world the field is the world and the good seed represents the people of the kingdom the weeds are the people who belong to the evil one there are two types of people in the field but there's a harvest there too there are those who have been planted by god sent into the world and then the enemy sends into the world people that grow alongside of the weeds the wheat to choke out the harvest and get you so tangled up that you're off mission the enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil let's be clear the harvest is the end of the world and the harvesters are the angels just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire so it will be at the end of the world the son of man will send his angels and they will remove from his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil and the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth then the righteous will shine like the sun and their fathers in their father's kingdom anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand the intent of the enemy family is to get you off mission weeds are people who belong to the evil one and his goal is to get you off mission part of getting you off mission is to try to get you to advance the kingdom by natural means i need you to hear it i i don't have too much more to go because i i told myself i wouldn't go too long on you today but this is what he tries to do a misunderstanding of how the kingdom works will cause you to attempt to advance the kingdom by natural means trying to win in a natural i'm about to get in rig big big big trouble but a misunderstanding of how the kingdom works will cause you to try to advance the kingdom at the ballot box i understand saying something like that i'm like no cause jesus he's in the ballot box watching how you vote but is he watching how you live is he watching how you love is he watching how you treat people is he watching how you think how does the kingdom operate how does it operate because misunderstanding this is how you get off mission you get off mission when you try to advance the kingdom through natural means let me just help you i'm gonna give you a top-line thing i'ma help you it's kind of deep but i'm not gonna unpack it today i'm so sorry but but let me just let me just help you on how the kingdom advances the kingdom i'm just gonna give you the simplicity of it then i'm going to give you a couple of things that i can't even unpack today but you just might want to write it down so you can ask the lord show me the kingdom advances by declaration and demonstration okay that's the simple part the kingdom advances by declaration and demonstration declaration and demonstration you proclaim the kingdom the revelation of the kingdom comes when the revelation of the kingdom comes the kingdom breaks out in the midst of those who cannot see to confirm the declaration the kingdom advances by declaration and demonstration but let me be a little bit more specific for those of you who might think well it does more than that well let me help you all right more specifically this is how the kingdom operates it begins with repentance it's carried by submission it's advanced by declaration and revealed by demonstration the kingdom begins with repentance that's the inauguration of the kingdom repent for the kingdom is at hand the inauguration of the kingdom you can't even see it without repentance so the kingdom begins with repentance it begins in every heart with repentance you cannot see it or move in it without it so the kingdom this is how it operates it begins with repentance it's carried by submission it's advanced by declaration it's revealed by demonstration now i'm gonna say it again for those of you who are writing it down this is how the kingdom operates and the reason why we need to understand this is because if we don't understand this we will try to advance the kingdom by natural means and the kingdom is not advanced by natural means that's not how the kingdom operates i'm going somewhere and i'm about to land this plane but you need to get this i'ma say it again for those of you who are trying to write it down the kingdom more specifically begins with repentance is carried by submission it's been advanced by declaration and is revealed by demonstration you are off mission when you attempt to advance the kingdom by natural means proximity does not guarantee that you understand the kingdom i i need to help you but but it will help you when you understand this because going to church attending church checking off the box of church does not guarantee that you understand how the kingdom operates that's that doesn't guarantee it that should free some of you who are so confused why so many churchgoers seem to be off right now how let me let me show you let me show you how proximity doesn't guarantee that you understand how the kingdom works one of the ways that you know the proximity doesn't guarantee that you understand how the kingdom works is because uh when jesus was at the last supper and he was talking about what was going to happen to him uh a couple of things happen they began to argue with each other about who was going to be the greatest which is to say they still didn't understand the kingdom they were still expecting a natural manifestation of a spiritual thing then when he goes to the garden of gethsemane to pray when he goes to the garden of gethsemane to pray he asked them to stay up and pray with them for one hour and they couldn't do it but when the betrayal came and judas showed up luke chapter 22 tells us something it says when the other disciples saw was about to happen they exclaimed lord should we fight we brought the swords are you hearing this and one of them struck we know according to matthew it was peter one of them struck at the high priest slave slashing off his right ear they they didn't understand how the kingdom worked they were still trying to advance it and even protect it with natural means you can't protect this invisible kingdom with swords you can't protect it with guns you can't protect it by natural means so jesus said no more of this and he touched the man's ear and healed him then jesus spoke to the leading priests the captains of the temple guard the elders who had come for him am i some dangerous revolutionary he asked that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me what jesus said to pilate in john chapter 18 was simply this my kingdom is not of this world if it were my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the jewish leaders but my kingdom is not of this world peter trying to protect the kingdom with a sword jesus is like this is not how this works takes the man's ear and heals him on the spot and says no more of this no more of this idea that somehow or another their enemies you're about to miss the harvest the thing that happened in john chapter 4 was that they were so offended by the fact that jesus went there to samaria went to people who they considered to be enemies was talking to the samaritan woman that they failed to even notice that they were coming out of the village of saikar to him in the droves to hear him because they wanted to be saved but the disciples couldn't even see it because they couldn't see how the kingdom operates they couldn't see the harvest all they could see was enemies and we have a church by those who identify themselves as believers who look at the lost and i'm gonna come all the way down your street not metaphorically look at the left and say their enemies let me help you just in case my metaphor was not clear enough for you if you are watching your tv screen and all you want to do is own the libs and all you want to do is vanquish the left and call yourself the real people you've been deceived you are missing the harvest since when did the church define that harvest as an enemy well since i'm all the way there how can you be an evangelical if you don't evangelize all you want to do is crush the other side that's devil talk he's not interested in you winning he's interested in you loving christ our example i began with the scripture christ our example the one who we are supposed to be like the one whose image we are being formed and shaped and fashioned into the one who paul said i labor that christ be formed in you the one who the scripture says it does not yet appear what we shall be but when he appears we shall be like him the standard bearer the one whose image we are molded into the bible says in matthew 9. it says jesus traveled through all the towns in the villages of that area teaching in the synagogues and announcing the good news about the kingdom and he healed every kind of disease and illness when he saw the crowds he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless like sheep without a shepherd look at this he said to his disciples the harvest is great but the workers are few so pray so pray to the lord who is in charge of the harvest ask him to send more workers into his fields [Music] some of you in this season you have felt [Music] the burden of intercession [Music] it has weighed on you i know it's weight on me i know because i talk to him every day it's weighed on pastor caleb and several of you [Music] and we pray with a burden and we pray with tears and we look around and we're heartbroken disappointed almost disillusioned and the weight it sits on us and so we pray [Music] perhaps as we began to talk about the remnant and the season of distinction it was like okay there's a remnant this but the more this thing is gone within our generation the more the burden increases and we recognize it first it was like oh man are there other people who are committed are there other people who understand are there other people with prophetic insight or the other people who understand what god is saying and the other people who take it seriously are there and so you start to ask all these questions and you begin to feel alone or like the group is so much smaller and then you begin to recognize that's it the harvest is great but the workers are few and when people begin to value winning over loving you recognize as less workers when people begin to demonize other belief systems and political ideologies as irredeemably lost people the workers [Music] get smaller and so the task that jesus lays out you would think he would be so get to work but the reality of it is the harvest is bigger than the number of workers so what he says do is pray family i've been sensing in the spirit of god a turn in the realm of the spirit towards prayer an intercession jesus says pray that's your assignment prayer that recognizes that the harvest is bigger than the workers and every generation needs workers because the harvest is greater than the laborers so christ is saying pray that god will raise up enough laborers to reach your generation the generation which you are immediately responsible for now let me make this clear prayer doesn't absolve us from the work of reaping it's a recognition that the work is greater than our ability i want to say it again prayer does not absolve us from the work of reaping it's a recognition that the work is greater than our ability one of the reasons we know that we need to pray for more laborers is because not enough see the world is right for harvest instead they see it as an enemy to be conquered pray to the lord of the harvest pray [Music] pray you see what's going on in the world come out of your echo chamber and pray stop listening to the voices that the devil has sown into the field to get you off mission and somehow believe that you can advance the kingdom through natural means the kingdom will not be advanced without prayer [Music] the prayer that we pray in this season the prayer that we pray in this time will ignite passion it will awaken us it will birth ministry and it will spark revival that's why we pray for the harvest we pray for more laborers because when we pray for more laborers it ignites our passion it awakens us it births ministry it sparks revival prayerless believers contribute to spoiled harvest so i'm finished here i don't know where pastor caleb went but we are being compelled by the spirit to enter into a season of prayer so it's important that we pray biblically so many are focused on winning instead of loving they see the loss as enemies to be conquered instead of a harvest to be reaped so we must pray to the lord of the harvest for more harvesters that's what we are to do that's what we are to do in a moment we're gonna offer you an opportunity to surrender to god would you take a moment here would you take a moment here to pray would you take a moment here to pray this is your moment this is your moment would you take just a moment in your home wherever you're watching to pray take a moment this coming wednesday we pray at 6 a.m eastern i know wherever you're watching across the world it may be a different time but among the things we'll be praying about this is one of them there's a need for more laborers there's a need for more laborers this generation this harvest cannot be lost because a group of people refused to look at the lost as a potential harvest let's pray father thank you for speaking to us thank you for inviting us to love like jesus to live like jesus to think like jesus to walk like jesus and to talk like jesus thank you for giving us a heart to see the world as lost in the opportunity for a great harvest forgive us forever talking about revival without thinking about the harvest for we know that you are raising up a people distinguishing a people setting a part of people for this great work to seek and save that which is lost and yet at the same time we are fully aware that there is a great need for more laborers more workers and so father i pray for those who are watching those who are hearing either now or at some point in the future that you've called would you place that spark on the inside of them which you caused them to say yes to the assignment that you've given them would you stir ministries [Music] in fact there's a young man watching me right now you've been questioning whether or not the lord has called you into ministry and so you've been looking for a confirmation because you're not sure if you hear him or not and so because of that there's a fear that you have on the inside to say is this me making it up but i want you to know that this serves as your confirmation the lord has called you to be a laborer to be a worker and for you specifically in ministry so young man i encourage you to say yes to the lord say yes to the lord as you say yes your confirmation will get louder and louder but this serves as your first external confirmation of the thing that you've been asking the lord for you've been saying god is that you speaking to me the answer is yes this is your external confirmation it's time to prepare to go to get the harvest amen family we've received a received a strong invitation from the lord to get back on mission to do what he's called us to do to share the gospel and not to see the world as an enemy but as harvest the scripture tells us in that specific passage that we're to pray that the lord of the harvest would send laborers the implication is that you yourself are already a laborer that you yourself are already laboring in the field and now you're asking the lord to send more laborers to come and win and reap a harvest if you're watching this afternoon and you've been seeing everything that's been taking place you probably heard the story that our pastor shared from the book of jaw in john chapter 4 where jesus said i must go through samaria and it's in that moment he ministers to a woman that not only was immoral she had multiple relational issues she was known for her sin but he also ministers to a woman that even racially and even with prejudice people in that day thought that jesus shouldn't go to but jesus went there anyway showing that he had come to seek and to save those who were lost and he illustrated to us a greater principle that we're always to go through samaria that we must go through samaria i love the intentionality of jesus i love the fact that he intentionally makes a decision to go to the places that everyone else avoids the reason why i share this with you you are watching is because you're not watching this by accident if you're lost and you don't know jesus i want you to know that you didn't just tune in because you saw a youtube link or you saw your friend just post about it online while that may have been what you thought you were engaging in the reality is is that this is your jesus must go through samaria moment jesus has come directly to you to give you an invitation into the kingdom that by believing in what he has done upon the cross and raising again to life that by believing in that you would receive the freedom from sin forgiveness of your sin abundant life here on the earth and eternal life forevermore jesus has come to you right where you are he's not left you out maybe this entire year maybe for years no one has shared with you the gospel but here is the moment where you get to receive mercy that which you do not deserve by placing your faith in jesus the reason why you need mercy the reason why you need grace is because the scripture says that all of us have sinned and fallen short of god's glorious standard you have fallen short the reality is i don't even need to tell you what you have done wrong your conscience your inner man knows the things that you've done wrong and you know when you've done wrong there's that pricking that conviction that you feel that says i am not right with god and in this moment you can be made right with god forever if you will simply place your faith in jesus why jesus well jesus was the one who paid the punishment or the wages for your sin for the scripture says that the wages of sin is death and so in order for the wages that needed to be paid for the sin that you committed god sent his son jesus and he took on the full wrath of god upon the cross he stood in your place taking what you deserve so that you could receive mercy that which you don't deserve if you place your faith in jesus not only will you have a guilty conscience wipe clean not only will that inner inner conviction that comes every single time you sin won't that will also that will leave but what will also happen is you will receive the freedom from sin because if you are honest with yourself some of the things most of the things if not all the things that you that you do in sin against the lord you don't want to do them you do them and immediately after you regret them you cry about them you you you get down because you know you've done something to dishonor the lord you don't want to do them but yet you find yourself doing them day by day and you try to be better and you try to be more disciplined and you try to read books and you try to get accountability partners and you try all these things but yet you still fall back into the same sin there is only freedom through one person and one name alone and that that is the person in the name of jesus christ and if you will place your faith in him you can have a new life that is not some preacher promise that is meant to to make you feel better emotionally that is the truth of the gospel that that when i come to him as i am i do not stay the same as i am for there is no hope in a gospel where i continue to live the same way but there is hope in a gospel that says i come to him as i am he changes me and now i live different because of the power of jesus working on the inside of me this is all available to you if you simply believe i know right sounds too easy pastor i feel like i you know i got to stop doing some things and stop going some places and i got to get some things right and gotta make a phone call after the service because you know i cussed out my mama because she told me something i didn't want to do listen do those things but don't do those things before you do this thing we don't get good to get god we get god and he makes us good you don't have the power to clean yourself up you don't have the power to try hard you don't have the power to live righteously you only receive that ability that power when you place your faith in the righteous one jesus he who knew no sin became sin so that we could become the righteousness of god what does that mean he took all of your sin in a single moment past present future forgave it all took the punishment of it all rose again to new life so you could live a new life in christ this is the gospel of jesus christ it is available to you all you must do is simply believe you're saying my way my thoughts my plans my life i lay it down i am acknowledging that jesus is the way and every other way that is not him i lay it down i'm laying down my life i'm repenting of my sins i'm turning away from what i'm doing and i'm placing my faith in jesus he will save me now on the count of three if you're watching and you want to place your faith in jesus you know you need it your inner man is telling you right now i need jesus on the count of three i want you just to say these these words i surrender to jesus i surrender to jesus i surrender to jesus i just want you to say that it's an outward declaration what is taking place in your inner man right now you know you need him now is your time to place your faith in him so on the count of three i just want you to say i surrender to jesus one two three i surrender to jesus i believe in jesus i surrender to jesus yeah do it right where you are could be in your car it could be in your bedroom could be at your house you could be around a bunch of people you could be by yourself now is not the time to be ashamed of jesus now is the time to say i need him i know i do i want to be free from my sin i want to be forgiven of my sin and i want a living new i want to live a new life and i want to know i want there to be a guarantee that when this life on this earth is over that i will live for him forever if that is you place your faith in jesus today i can't see your hands i can't see your tears i can't see i can't even hear you making the declaration from your mouth i don't need to see it's he who sees it and when he sees it he receives it and you can have full confidence that when you place your faith in jesus you're saved if you made that commitment you chose to surrender to jesus chose to give everything to him to repent and trust him as the lord and savior of your life i want to congratulate you i want to say welcome into the family you've now just been given your labor papers you've just joined the group of laborers that have been changed by jesus who say i have a testimony i know that pastor by by the spirit called out that word of knowledge there's some young man that the lord is confirming you're called into ministry but i just want you to know you don't need to be called into vocational ministry to be a laborer you just need to be a believer with a testimony and you just need to share and live the gospel of jesus christ to love others well if you do that you're a laborer and so if you've been saved by jesus christ you who just made the commitment today you've joined in to the group of laborers look how fast god answers prayer look how quickly he's adding to the laborers if we will live and share the gospel and we will pray that the lord of the harvest sends laborers we will be joined by those who desire to see the world saved now if you if you made this decision i want you to pray this prayer with me made this commitment to follow jesus i want you to pray this prayer with me it's not the prayer that saves you it's your faith that saves you we're giving you language for this moment to just begin to describe what is taking place in release so would you repeat after me wherever you are just repeat after me say father in the name of jesus i come to you just as i am i repent of my sin and i placed my faith in your son jesus today i confess jesus as my lord and as my savior and with your help i will live for you for the rest of my life in jesus name amen family we are so excited that you've joined the family of god listen if you've made this commitment you prayed the prayer again it's not the prayer that saves you but you prayed that prayer in faith we want you just to type in the chat bar in the comments just put hashtag imetjesus and we want our moderators to be able to communicate with you give you some next steps to show you how to live out this christian walk you don't have to do this life alone but today is an amazing day family we are stirred we've been challenged and uh let's for any of us who have been in the echo chamber i'm so thankful for for the spirit of god using our pastor to break us out of the echo chamber and to get us back on mission back on focus back on point that we would see the world not as enemies but as a harvest and we have an assignment family we have an assignment to live the gospel we have an assignment to reach the loss but we also have an assignment to pray that the lord would send more laborers into the harvest again the assumption is if you're praying for laborers you're already a laborer so don't be praying while not laboring you're if you're a laborer you have responsibility to pray but don't pray if you're not laboring labor and pray amen uh listen this week we're so excited we're so excited to come together on wednesday at 6 00 am for prayer we got our marching orders we got our our our labor papers we're ready to go in the place of prayer to tell everybody you know six a.m get all the rest you need i don't know about you i got to start sleeping on sunday to be ready for wednesday i was tired last week for for this week's prayer so uh we're gonna get our sleeping we're gonna get our rest in um you know eat whatever meal you gotta eat do whatever you gotta do but let's be up let's be ready to go after it in the place of prayer family we love you so much we're praying for you constantly and we pray that the lord will continue to bless and keep you may his favor shine upon you may may the the light of his countenance shine upon you and give you peace both now and forevermore we love you so much we hope that you have an amazing sunday

Channel: Deeper Fellowship Church

Views: 9,174

Rating: 4.9143729 out of 5

Keywords: william mcdowell, caleb grant, trinity anderson, deeper fellowship church, orlando, florida

Id: H4x3OmmlLvg

Length: 89min 31sec (5371 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 06 2020