What is happening Rock
Church? Pastor Miles here and Pastor
Jason from San Marcos campus. As you know last week was Toys for Joy
and because of the fires we had to cancel the San Marcos event and move it for five or six days and didn't know what would happen and tell us
what happened, that's a huge undertaking. Yeah, it takes a lot to plan
and to pull it off in a week, but we have a huge God and too
many people that need to hear the hope of gospel and receive
tangible proof that God loves them, and we prayed that God would
deliver and Guajome Park opened up and it's happening, we have
thousands of people and they will get what God has in store
for them. Thank you for your faithfulness
and resources and not possible without you, and appreciate your
prayers big time. Shout out to those serving in
San Diego, and especially San Marcos campus, you did an
amazing job to pull this off in one week. God bless you. [Applause] Amen, come on now Rock
Church! What's up! Amazing.
Amazing. Can I have all of y'all stand
up. I hope all of y'all are blessed
by that. That is an amazing, amazing
event, over those two weeks. Especially the team in San
Marcos that pulled this off in one week, after having to cancel because
of the fires. And Mario and Jesse, give them a
hand, God bless y'all, amen. First lady in line she came
through and the first thing she asked, where are the clothes. The needs, the practical needs
that this event meets is way beyond a toy. I talked to one family, one guy,
whose wife recently died and he lost his business. He had a 30-year business and
now living in his car. You know to give him some food
and some stuff for his kids is a blessing. So you are meeting a very real
need in people's lives. And thank you for your giving
and time, any money you gave, toy you bought, it went a long
way. And again kudos to all the
people who served up there. And all the people from other
campuses that went and served, amen. Amen. [Applause] And we want to welcome all the
campuses, San Ysidro, City Heights and San Marcos and East
County, microsites, and the people in Coronado. Before I pray, a couple of
announcements. Next weekend is Christmas
weekend. We have Friday night is Floodgate,
our worship service and Saturday 4 o'clock, and then Sunday we
have regular service time but it is Christmas Eve. This is the time that people
don't usually go to church, go to church. This is the time that is easiest
to invite, make it your mission not invite. But bring.
You have to get someone to come. If anything for their sake, for
your sake for you to see God minister to someone in your
life. Amen. Lord thank you for your
faithfulness, thank you for what you are going to do, you are
going to set people free today in Jesus' name, amen. Turn to someone next to you, and
if a woman, mighty woman of valor, if a man, mighty man of
valor. Say that real quick. Also one more announcement,
sorry, I have do this quick. We got a serious sermon today. Listen up. Real quick. If you can take out your phone
real quick and take a picture of this slide. We have a 21-day fast in
January, I will have four weeks, four sermons on prayer. And between those four sermons
is 21 days. And for everyone of those 21
days I am going to have a 40-minute prayer meeting on
Facebook live every day. In the morning, tell you what
time. Every single day. And we are going to learn how to
pray. God put on my heart about a
month and a half ago, I want you to learn how to pray better. That's what I am doing, and God
is showing me powerful things now and writing notes to share
there. We will have sermons every
Sunday, and if you text 52525, and 21 days reminder tomorrow be
online and for 21 days and have guests and other pastors and
people from our church and outside of the church online to
help us pray. My goal is to teach you how to
pray fervent, effective prayers. That's my goal. Not just sit there in silence,
we are going to bring fire from heaven. Can I get amen. Amen.
God bless you. Get your Bibles out. On the count of three, say word. Word. Okay, if you are a visitor,
we have a lot of great qualities in this church but one of them
is not counting. We cannot count. I can count, y'all can't count. I will say one, two, three and
after that you say word. After. On the count of three say word
-- see I knew it was going to happen. You just don't follow
directions. I don't know if it's intentional
or you just dumb. Only kidding. Are you ready? One.
Two. Three.
Word! Very good, that's what I am
talking about, turn to Judges chapter 6. It's amazing how much we don't
pay attention. Like some of you still don't
realize I have a bat in my hand. Judges 6. That's the sixth -- seventh book
of the Bible. If you are in revelations, you
are in the wrong -- neighborhood. There is a term in sociology
called the band wagon effect. And the band wagon effect says
there is a tendency of people to follow someone else because of
what they did. You know some people volunteer
for Toys for Joys, and say, hey, I will volunteer. Okay, I will volunteer. I am going to start wearing
skinny jeans. I am going to wear skinny jeans. I went two years ago and tried
on a pair of skinny jeans. It wasn't going to happen. I got to flow -- anyway, certain
haircuts and teams and certain music and clothes. When someone does something, I
will do it, and especially true when we see people overcome
obstacles in their life and inspires us to overcome
obstacles. If you want to be inspired,
watch ESPN and have specials of professionals or amateurs, just
kids who play in high school or someone who overcame something. But incredible stories that they
overcame odds that people say they couldn't overcome. When you see that, you are
inspired and overcome my obstacle. God is the same way, and band
wagon effect and in chronicles it says... Someone says, I will trust you
and when God finds that person and on the band wagon, you get
the point. I am going to encourage you, I
am going to empower you. And by the way, say it a
different way, the Bible says I will show myself strong on your
behalf when you are loyal to me. And God is looking around
saying, who can I give power to? How many of you want the power
in your life. And the power is there for you. Let me ask the question again,
how many want power. And where can I find someone
loyal and the band wagon he wants you to jump is for you. And God is looking around for
people to confront their issues. In the story we will look at a
guy who was a mighty man of valor but he didn't know it. And the only thing he had to do
was to tear down an altar. And when he tore down the altar
all these people got courage and said, we will now fight with
you. Four weeks ago we started this
series, who are you. And say, who are you. And the purpose is to help us
identity and clarify who we are in Christ. And we broke it down to three
phases. Say I am. Say, I have. Say, I will. Do it again, say I am, say I
have, and say I will. And the identity is based on
three things, what are you called? Child of God, resurrected in
Christ and ambassador in Christ. You have a title. Everyone of those titles that
God gives you, which there are many. Then you have resources and
possessions. Last week we talked about, I am
the gate of heaven. I have access to an open heaven. If weren't here, you need to get
the message. It was awesome. Especially most awesome the
effects of having an open heaven. And open heaven coming out of
your body, out of your heart. God wants to express the kingdom
of God through your life. I am a gate of heaven, and gate
is a transition from one place to other. I am a the gate of heaven and I
stand in an open heaven and because the kingdom of God is in
me, I will release the power of God. And two weeks ago, I am the
throne of God and renew my mind in Christ. Say, I am. Say I have. Say, I will. Today we will learn how to be a
mighty man or woman of valor. In this story, in the book of
Judges, chapter 6, Israel are in the Promised Land but haven't
received the promise, because the enemies or inhabitants still
live there and became their enemies and. Have no king. They were fighting against the
Canaanites and had no king and when they cried out to God, God
would give the Holy Spirit to somebody called a judge. They weren't kings but judges
and ruled. And when the Philistines were
oppressing Israelites he anointed Samson and he got the
spirit of God and ruled. And when the Canaanites
oppressed them and gave it to Deborah. And in this story the Midianites
are oppressing the Jews and Gideon -- say Gideon, is hiding,
because he's scared. And God comes to in an angel,
why are you hiding? You are a mighty man of valor. And he doesn't know it. And says in order to be a mighty
man of valor, you have to destroy an altar. Everyone of you are called to be
a mighty man or woman of valor. You need to know that, this is
an identity of Christ you have. You are a mighty man or mighty
woman of valor. And if you do not that, you are
not going to know the resources that you have and not doing what
you are called to do. Tear down the altars in your
life. An altar is a place to worship. In this case an altar is for a
false God. Show me an addiction and I will
show you an altar. Those that watch pornography? One out of two guys and two out
of six women. And Sunday is the most watched
of any day of the week. For all of you that are greedy
for money or anger problem. For these guys caught with
sexual harassment, and so many more that we won't hear about
because they are not famous. When you show me an addiction,
show me anger, show me fear, and I will show you a false altar of
a false God. What does that mean? The devil got in your head and
tell you how to be fulfilled. And the devil said to Jesus, bow
down to me and worship me and I will give you the kingdoms of
the world. That's what he tells you, but
what he promises to bless you but his desire is to enslave
you. When you do what the devil says,
whether sex or chase money or power. All it does is enslave you. It binds you up. It brings death in your life. That's how you know it's not
from God. God brings life. Satan brings death. God tells you what are and can
do. And the devil tells you what are
you not and can't do. Two opposites. For you to be a mighty man of
valor, you have to tear down your altar. Because if you are worshiping an
altar, you are in bondage to that. And does it make sense. See what your altar is, things
or power or money. I have to have more things. I don't about a woman and shoe
and how you buy a shoe and wear one time. And dress. I don't get that, I wear stuff
for years, until the holes are coming out of the bottom. Can I get amen, fellas. I am not saying every guy like
that or woman like that, I am generalizing from the thousands
of women I have seen buy thousands of shoes. But there is something in your
head that tells you have to have a different shoe for every
outfit. There is something that tells
you that you can't wear a shoe more than twice. Ladies, say amen if you know
what I am talking about. It's in your DNA. And I am going to challenge you,
I am joking but I am not. I am cracking but facting, I am
cracking a joke but telling a fact. We have false beliefs of what is
satisfied. For the ladies that wear
make-up, not saying anything wrong with make-up, but try to
go outside of the house without it. Go -- go, I am not picking on
you. But go to Von's looking jacked. [Laughter] You might be surprised what
happened by the fruit department, you know what I am
saying. I am only joking. Don't get offense. But we have these things. Let's read the story, let's read
the story. Judges chapter 6. I can't coming back to this -- not wearing make-up. Don't get your panties in a
bunch, not that big of a deal. Not that big of a deal. Chapter 6, verse 12... Everyone say, I am a mighty man
of valor. Ladies, sorry, say I am a mighty
woman of valor. Ladies say I am a mighty man of
valor. Men say mighty man of valor. One, two, three. Very good. And it says... I don't know if you ever felt
like you have seen miracles happen in other people's lives
and not yours. And your prayers are not
answered and appears that their prayers answered. Say amen if you felt that
before. Amen. You are saying, God, I heard
about the miracles you did for our forefathers and not doing it
for us. And some say, God you are doing
miracles for them and why not for me. Well maybe you are not
fulfilling your identity. Maybe you are the one hiding. I wonder how many of y'all come
here, raise your hand if this is your church. Some are like -- I don't know,
he just got on my make-up. Don't raise your hand on this. But I wonder how many of you,
this is your church and you don't bring a Bible here. Why not? Don't tell me you got one, there
is one in everyone hotel room of the United States of America. You why? A little voice said you don't
need that, it weighs two pounds. You may hurt your shoulder. They put it on the screen, and
you become lazy. How many of you in R-group and
we talk about serving and you don't do any of that. And not on your radar. You come and give me something,
and don't tithe, just come. And when you have a crisis, God
where you are? Hey, hey, hey, where you been? Where you been? You are worshiping a different
altar, you are worshiping the altar of cultural Christianity,
of laziness, and pitiful Christianity. Serve me God, Burger King
Christianity. Have it my way. In America, people go to church
less than twice a month. Don't get on that band wagon,
get on this band wagon, the Bible. And that's the decision you
make, and he is saying, where is my miracle? Brother you are hiding in the
wine press, what kind of miracle hiding over there and in verse
15... Sorry, look at verse 14... Number 1 in your notes, I am a
mighty man/woman of valor. I am a mighty man/woman of
valor. The might you have is not your
might. This bat is a might, it's my
strength but it's not mine, it's God. Ephesians 6:10... Say his might. Say his might. Second Corinthians 4, Say mighty in God. Say mighty in God. Your weapons are mighty; say,
my weapons are mighty. A stronghold is incorrect
thinking pattern. Here's an incorrect thinking
pattern. I need to have a lot of sex in
my life to be happy. That's an incorrect thinking
pattern. I need to have a lot of money. That's incorrect thinking
pattern. I need to have the biggest
house. That's an incorrect thinking
pattern. I don't need to pray every day,
I don't need to read my Bible every day or church to be happy. That's an incorrect thinking
pattern. I am not saying if you don't do
those things, that you are won't be happy but if you do those
things you will have the joy of the Lord. Here's my incorrect thinking
patterns and those are the parameters of my relationship
with God and relationship with myself. When this needs to be the
parameters of your relationship with God. Right here. And you may have incorrect
thinking pattern that says I don't need to follow that old
way. I will have this, that's
incorrect thinking pattern. As long as you are enslaved and
bondage and served and that incorrect thinking pattern is
saying, God I know better than you. Faulty theology. Number 2 in the notes, I have
the promise of victory that comes from God's presence. God said, the only thing you
need for victory is I am going to be with you. You know what God told Moses, I
want you to confront Pharaoh, and said, God I am 80 years old
and have a stick and you want me to confront the most powerful
man at the time. And God said, I will be with
you, I will be with you, and if I am with you, who can be
against you. Me and you make majority -- as a
matter of fact I make the majority, tag along. And said to Gideon, I will be
with you, that's all you need to know. Say, God is with me. Say, God is with me. Say, I am a man/woman of valor. Say it.
Say it again. Say it loud. Say it again! You need to say it every single
day. Why? Because you know what the devil
is telling you every day? You are stupid. You are stupid. You are ugly. You are ugly. You are a failure, you are
failure. You are fat. Every day drilling in your head,
drilling in your head, and you know what? You end up believing it. You need to renew your mind, I
am mighty man of valor and you need to quote scripture all day
long. All day long. Look at 3 in the notes, I will
establish biblical altars in my life. Look at what it says in verse
25. This is cool.
I love this. It says, it came to pass at the
same night that the Lord said to him, take your father's young
bull, the second bull of seven years and tear down the altar of
Baal, which is a pagan God and cut down the wooden image beside
it and build an altar to your Lord, your God on top of this
rock in the proper arrangement and take the second bull and
offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image that you shall
cut down and Gideon took 10 men and did as the Lord said. Because he feared his father's
household and the men of the city were too much, he did it by
night instead of by day. Here's your altar. Greed.
Lust. Racism.
Hate. Adultery.
All this goes on forever. And until you identify the
stronghold, the wrong thinking, the incorrect thought pattern,
until you name it. And say, I am believing this lie
from the devil. Because if you have been told
you are fat and you say, yeah I am. You just agreed, versus no, I am
losing weight. I am just big boned. I am just beautiful times two. Because the devil is going -- whatever you look like, whatever
you have, the devil is going to twist it around to poison
anyway, because that's what he does. And you say no, I have to
identify and I have to say, devil I denounce your truth in
my life, it's not true to me, maybe true to you. And I am going to destroy,
because I have authority in Jesus' name, and I destroy that
idol in my mind and have my mind renewed to what God says. Amen. You have to take the mighty
power of God and destroy the idols in your life, and beat
them down, and claim what God says about your life. Claim the truth of God in your
life. [Applause] I have been wanting to carry a
bat in church for a year. For one year. God has given me a vision to
carry a bat and beat somebody, I didn't know what it was. No, this is a true story. I didn't know what it was but I
had this -- rage, that I wanted to express in a sermon and it
was with a bat. And we decided we would have the
altar Wednesday or Tuesday, and I said, what am I going to
destroy the altar with, they said a bat. Oh, yeah, that's from God,
that's from God. But when you destroy one altar,
you have to build another. And there is only one altar that
we bow down to. It's right here. [Applause] This is the million dollar
question for some of y'all. Because we live in a so-called
Christian country that is no where close to Christianity that
the Bible talks about. You need to know that. And I would say that most people
that say they are a Christian don't know what it means. They have their own version
because it's based on incorrect thought pattern. Until you learn to bow every
day, and submit everything about your life. What you watch on TV, the music
you listen to, the conversations you are in. The food you put in your body. How you take care of your body. The rest you have. Until you submit all of that to
Jesus, at least commit to submitting all that to Jesus. Versus saying I will do a little
over here and here, and God says I don't want that relationship. And like getting married to
someone and propose and they say yes, hold up I have a woman on
the side. He rather you do your thing and
come back when you are ready for 100%. This is the only idol and told
Gideon, I want you to tear down your father's idol and you can
read the story, and want to tear down the idol and the father
backed the son. And Gideon defeated the
Midianites why? Because he was a mighty man of
God. And we will tear down an altar
and do an altar call on campuses. And a lot of you have altars you
need to tear down, and one of those altars that you need to
tear down, your own simple pride that it's all about me. And then I will do an altar call
and a lot of y'all need to come down in all campuses. You get in routine and go
through the motion and I go to The Rock, all the time. I talk to people, hey what
service, I meet them in the mall and what service you go. Yeah, I go to San Diego state. We haven't been at San Diego
state in 12 years. Oh, I go to the 7 o'clock
service, we haven't had the 7 o'clock service in five years. What are you talking about? You can't fool God, no, no, no. You have to get on your knees. And say, Lord, I bow to you
only. I know there are so many
influences in this world. That are vying for my attention
and my devotion. And my faith. The devil is stirring up pride
and anger and lust and selfishness. And all day long I have
conversations with these thoughts. And I have to decide all day
long which thought I will entertain and take captive and
make it obedient to Christ and shut it down in Jesus' name. With all of our eyes closed and
heads bowed, on all campuses eyes closed and heads bowed,
time to tear down the altar and take down the stronghold,
incorrect thinking, incorrect perception of who God is and
incorrect perception of who you are. Forget what the United States
has created Christianity to be, nothing to do with politics or
going to church now and then, 100% to be subjected to Jesus
Christ, irrespective of what man says or thinks. Until we tear down the altars in
our life, the incorrect thinking patterns and strongholds, we
will always be enslaved to them. If you would like to tear down
the altars, pray this prayer with me in the privacy of your
heart. Dear God, I need You, I need to
bow to You only. In Jesus' name I submit to Jesus
as my Savior. Holy Spirit I ask You to fill
me. As a child of God I have all
authority in Heaven. I am seated at the right hand of
the Father. I am in Christ. So Satan, I speak to you
directly, I rebuke you out of my life. I denounce all agreements I have
with you. To believe your lies. That I am less than what God
called me to be. I denounce any relationship I
have with you. Of agreeing with those lies. I break all incorrect thinking
patterns. Any thinking pattern
inconsistent with the Bible I denounce. Lord, reveal them to me. Set me free from a wrong view of
who I am. Set me free from a wrong
unbiblical view of who You are. I submit my life to You. I am a mighty man/woman of
valor. I am a child of God. I am the gate of heaven. I am resurrected in Christ. I am in Christ. I am a new creature. I am a member of a royal
priesthood. I am forgiven. I am sanctified. I am saved. Those are not guesses, those are
not something that is going on happen. It has already happened and I
receive it, and I will walk in it. And I will have my mind renewed. Because I am bowing at one Idol,
that is the cross of my Savior who died and rose. If God spoke to you during that sermon and you feel like you want to ask Christ to be your savior, it's as simple as A-B-C. Admit and accept that you are a sinner. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He died for your sin and rose from the dead. Then, confess yourself a sinner and say, "Jesus, please forgive me of my sin." If you would like to ask Jesus Christ to be your savior, just look at me right now, and pray this prayer with me in the privacy of your heart knowing that God knows you and loves you very much. Say, "Dear God, I believe that I am a sinner. I know the penalty of my sin is death. I don't want to die and go to Hell. I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He died and rose from the dead for my sin. I confess myself a sinner and ask Him to forgive me of my sin. Jesus, please forgive me of my sin. and fill me with the spirit of God. In Jesus name, amen. If you prayed that prayer, if you just asked Christ to be your savior, we want to know. We want to email you some resources. So if you just prayed that prayer with me to accept Jesus as your savior, Click on the link that just appeared and we want to send you some free resources. God bless you and we will see you in Heaven.
