Sunday Service | IHOPKC + Forerunner Church | September 27

[Applause] [Music] will bow down [Music] is [Music] now god is [Music] me open up the gates [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] every [Music] foreign [Music] when the world is shaking though we place our confidence in you you're in control [Music] who can stop the lord all night [Music] who can stop the lord all night who can stop the lord all night [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] who can stop the lord [Music] who can stop the [Music] who can lord the lord all night who can stop the [Music] our lord [Music] is [Music] everybody [Music] uh [Music] there [Music] lord there is none like you [Music] no matter what's going on on the outside we know you're up to something [Music] you're up to something [Music] we believe you're good lord we believe [Music] mercies [Music] no matter what's going on we praise your name no matter how we feel we praise your name on a sunday morning we will sing your praise [Music] fill your people with hope [Music] [Music] of your goodness i will sing of your love though the seasons come quickly you have always been a nurse and though the night may grow darker although the waiting seems long lord you have always been faithful to remind me of your love lord you are good [Music] you [Music] lord you have always been patient you've always been kind you're [Music] [Music] know cause i see what you can do [Music] me [Music] i'll evening [Music] [Music] the more i look at you or they keep on getting back you keep on getting back in [Music] revelations [Music] keep on getting better [Music] in the morning [Music] you are good to me [Music] in the morning [Music] you are good to me [Music] we oh spirit yeah grace of who you are [Music] you keep you keep on getting better you keep on getting ready [Music] in the morning [Music] you are good to me [Music] you are good to me [Music] i really feel like what abby was singing over you guys is the key this morning the breakthrough the spirit of praise breaks the spirit of heaviness as we declare his goodness things are breaking off of people even in this room this morning depression discouragement anxiety sickness that things are breaking off so maybe that was you and but you weren't singing that yet you weren't making that declaration i just want us to join in together as a spiritual family declaring god's goodness invite you into that and trust that as we worship god as we set our eyes on the right things lifting our eyes to where our help comes from he will give the breakthrough he will give the breakthrough just sing it you are good make this declaration let's join as one voice [Music] we declare this truth lord you're always [Music] you are good to me yes you are good [Music] i [Music] you are good to me [Music] you are good to me [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] you are good to me [Music] in the morning [Music] thank you god [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh oh lord keep me back oh lord keep me burning me [Music] is [Music] is [Music] lord [Music] lord [Music] oh keep me [Music] [Music] strength [Music] is [Music] is [Music] don't let my love [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] i just wanna [Music] i just wanna [Music] i just wanna [Music] i just wanna [Music] i just [Music] i just wanna [Music] jesus be lifted [Music] [Applause] i love jesus [Music] i am [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] you reign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we give hallelujah glory for the lord [Music] [Music] you stand alone you stand alone alone [Music] you stand [Music] is [Music] higher we lift your name up jesus [Music] is [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] is [Music] [Music] you ready [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] yes lord we thank you for your goodness and your faithfulness we bless your name this morning amen and thank you thank you thank you wow well let's stay standing for a moment just greet the folks around you for just a minute hello my name is tell them your first name tell them where you're from or what you do if you already know them tell them something about you that they don't know that might surprise them hey did you know i took ballet when i was 12 years old in sixth grade i believe it actually did no took i could still take it yeah okay let's go ahead and gather in if you would grab a seat we're just so grateful you're all here and those that are with us online we just say thank you for tuning in and being a part of this family we really appreciate that colin all right well as you notice uh we still do have registration for sunday mornings so want to give a little information and what does that mean registration so we we are at a certain capacity limitation due to what the city has asked us to do so we ask that you rsvp each week and how do they do that and you do that at foreignerchurch.com events registration opens at tuesdays at 7 00 p.m so we just asked that you would register ahead of time so you get five-day notice you get a five-day notice um have you registered um we gotta check on that um i'm sure diane has yeah i'm a little iffy um i have a key to the back door so i just peter what am i gonna say been using it for 30 years okay i'm going to quiz you when is gbf in october this is it is it this week monday to wednesday of october when is that what are the dates you know i mean don't pull that on me okay next monday it's next monday it's not this monday okay phew that's right okay so next monday october 5th 6th and 7th we have our global bridegroom fast i want to encourage you to jump in with us at whatever level you have grace see i intimidated him and he walked away questions they're getting heavier heavier how many days a year is that no nothing okay all right if you are wanting to get more connected in our spiritual family we have opportunities for you to plug in and we'd love to help you do that every sunday after church we have our next steps team over in the welcome center area so come find us we would love to connect with you we also have collective which is our young adult ministry here at the church they're having a evening burn uh non-stop prayer meeting together in with a gpr and one thing internship it's gonna be um i don't have the date on here is it on there october 1st this thursday six to midnight so come out and join with that and then we're gonna have glenn smithson and isaac come up to share a little bit with us all right good morning good morning everyone you should have received a packet on your way in it's a little uh a miniature booklet that's there if you didn't receive one go ahead and raise up your hand it's about preparedness and this is glenn smithson here just keep your hand raised until the ushers come and find you they'll hand you one of those packets and you can feel free to grab some on the way out if you'd like as well this is glenn smithson and he and his wife his family have been in the community for many many years and uh he has begun in concert with several other missions-based leaders a preparedness task force for our spiritual family and community this is not something new in terms of uh what i mean by that is there have been many that have been in our spiritual family over the years that have really emphasized this that are really skilled in these various areas but what's new is that we are beginning to emphasize it here to our spiritual family just in a real introductory way and there's kind of three points i want to mention to you and then glenn's going to share here a little bit number one is we are encouraging our spiritual family to have some sort of emergency preparedness plan that at the most basic level we're asking this spiritual family to just have a plan for your household so that might be you just by yourself if you live alone or with other housemates or your family excuse me or whatever it is that you just begin to think about in terms of growing emergencies or crisis-like situations that could touch our city or region in the days ahead that you would have just a basic introductory plan for that and then secondly i want to encourage you to ask if that plan positions you with confidence to be able to help other people that's a really big point that we want to emphasize over and over and over again is that the preparedness that we have as individuals and as a spiritual family really positions us to serve others in times of crisis we don't know when those may be but if those are to arise that we have the strength and the confidence to actually serve other people so we're going to begin developing this more and more in the weeks and coming months or whatever but i want glenn to share with us this morning just glenn talk us through some of these points and then we're going to be offering some more in-depth training kind of information meetings and things like that which you'll mention at the end but i just wanted to highlight that as well that this is just a brief introduction into emergency preparedness great thanks isaac how many of you know that it's that the threat level or the crisis level or the trouble is increasing hands up and i mean we've gone from like a one percent to a two or a three percent um how many of you as well were in costco or caught up in the lines i was how many hands up okay a few of you i was caught out and i've been preparing for a long time but i was the one that was in costco trying to get toilet paper come on come on i know there's others off you it's like so you were the one i was in line with everybody else that isn't being honest here i want to ask you a question what would a support structure or plan do for you in a time of crisis how do you think it would strengthen our community by having a plan i would say this so many people in the general kansas city area do not have a plan and in times of crisis how much more effective would it be for us to have a plan and that's what i want to talk about just for a little bit here is so many people right now are just completely caught off guard and if we have a plan it's going to make us so much more effective and so um what we want to do is talk about that and offer some opportunities where we can um train together where we can uh move together because i think if we have a plan for our community it's going to strengthen us and for so long right now um we haven't had a plan so in our community there's been hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people over the years that have been involved with crisis response international and that's a group that have helped with haiti help with hurricane katrina um there's been lots of people that have done ham radio training um and i think what it is right now it's time to activate that again where we can gather together um so i don't want to be caught off guard but i think now is a really good time because i think as trouble is looming and is increasing it's a good time to plan and there is no shortage of food and i think if we can start thinking through that as individuals and have a family plan or a corporate plan we're going to be so much more effective just for instance if you're in a small group or a home group i want you to just consider it do you have a plan and how much more effective we would be as a community if we had a plan so this little booklet there's nothing special about it but what it is it's meant to be a catalyst where you can go back to your family and talk and say hey do we need a plan is this something for us because if trouble comes and all of a sudden you're in the line with everybody else we're not going to be a resource to the community i want to be the one serving in the line i don't want to be the one that's worried about my son does he have the medication i want to make sure that i'm thinking through that beforehand i want to make sure that i've got enough food and resources for 30 days so i'm not panicking and if a little bit of trouble comes like disruption is going to come there's there's everything from fires to earthquakes to tornadoes trouble is going to come we're not preparing for trumpet seals and bowls but there's going to be small disruptions how many what i'm talking about and when these small disruptions come having a plan is going to greatly increase our effectiveness as a community so what we want to do is create some resources so in a couple of weeks on october 10 10 we're going to do a short seminar for just two hours we don't want to overwhelm you because some people have been larry we've been there and we've done that but i think things are changing times are changing so in october at 10 10 we're gonna do a seminar for two hours on saturday morning we're going to bring some experts in on the subject matter of preparedness and how to strengthen us as individuals and as home groups so as you talk about it with a with your family does your family have a plan does your home group have a plan do you know who to respond to where to go if there's a crisis and what to do so we're going to help you with that with food with water with energy with communication we're going to cover subjects of medical so this is a light introduct introduction we're going to do a preliminary introduction so you can sort of just dive in a little bit but we're encouraging you to come as a small group and what that means is as you look around in your small groups some people have strengths some have limitations you've fought together you've been in the community for a long time you have strengths and weaknesses but as a group it's like a body some people are good with medical some people are good with logistics some people are good with security some people are good with planning and food and things like that so you can look to each other and go hey i'm not very good at this but you're really good at that so you're utilizing the strengths from others so what we want you to do is come along to this if you can make it and then for others that want to dig in deeper we've got a course it's called the preparedness piece we're going to be offering that it's a six-week course we're looking at that coming up shortly this is a fantastic course many people have done it as well so the bottom line here is we want to strengthen the community in times of emergency or crisis so that we can keep the prayer room going so that we can be a resource to our neighbor so we can have some extra food so that we can give to others in times of crisis one of the things i so appreciate about glenn and these other ones that have been working on this task force is that they understand the limitations of where we're each at and that it's not a one-size-fits-all response sometimes when we hear crisis preparation we think of solar panels goats digging for wells within the grandview city limits i mean we go to the most extreme you know i gotta have a hundred acre organic farm and the thing is is that that doesn't work for every single individual but what i love about glenn and these other guys is that they're so level-headed and that there's a reasonable approach and if everyone in our spiritual family at least begins to engage more intentionally one in community and friendships and then secondly begins engaging with having a plan and talking about it with those people i think brenton said it really well at the end of last year brenton dowdy our worship leader he said don't wait for a time of crisis to have deep friendship because that's where you're gonna fall back on when crisis touches your life now there's big crisis that may come in terms of civil unrest or you know natural disasters like glenn is highlighting but there's also crisis that we face in our life you get laid off from work you're isolated because of the pandemic and a lockdown i mean our church office was getting emails from people saying hey you know can someone come check on me i need some help in these areas because they didn't have a core group of friends they're pursuing the lord together and living life together week to week to week and so we want to just start again at that most introductory level how can we equip our spiritual family whether you're 25 years old or 55 years old how can you lean into this conversation so that you have strength and clarity that if crisis should come you'll be able to serve others like glenn is highlighting i just so appreciate you thank you so much the last thought as well as you're thinking about this this is just one thing that you can do take stock of what you have in the way of food and water we're asking everybody to get like 30 days of food and water and we're asking people to store what you use and simply use what you store so you're being a wise steward you're just front loading that way you've got a little bit of resources and food and secondly if those of you out there that are in denial and you think this isn't going to affect me we have a plan for you you can go to isaac's house his number is 8675 309. thank you thank you glenn all right at this time we want to invite our ushers forward take our offering we have instructions on the screen if you want to give electronically and following up on the theme of preparing for crisis one of the ways we practically prepare our hearts is by the practice of trusting god with our finances psalm 118 verse 8 says it's better to take refuge in the lord than to trust in princes as we daily choose to trust god with a portion of our finances we're really saying to the lord we trust you with all of it we look to you and it builds the muscle in our life of generosity so whether big crisis comes or personal crisis we have a history of trusting god with our finances trusting god to give with a generous heart and so lord as we give today lord we ask that you would help us lord to trust in you with our finances lord to entrust our lives and take refuge in you you are the one that cares for our soul maker of heaven and earth lord we ask that you would help us or to be a generous people to grow in this grace of generosity lord that we would be your gift to our neighborhoods lord to our church family to our city that there would be a company of people who know how to lay hold of your provision and how to give generously to those in need so we come today and we say we love you we trust you and you are worthy of this jesus [Music] i'll trust you [Music] [Music] the birds of [Music] faithful in your goodness and i know you love me more so i'll be anxious [Music] but i'll trust you i will be anxious [Music] i know that my life is a vapor and these troubles soon will pass but you are eternal and your kingdom is the only thing that lasts so i will be anxious before nothing whatever's in front of me lord i'll trust you i will be anxious [Music] all these other things will be added if we seek you first and your righteousness all these [Music] of me lord i trust you i will be anxious for nothing i put my eyes on [Music] amen thank you brenton really appreciate you well if you'd like the teaching notes this morning you can download them on our website we had some computer glitches this morning and weren't able to get them printed off the hard copies but goodnight everyone awakey you sleep on the website at 400church.com notes we can put up the address for you you can have those on your phone right now or tablet or computer if you have that with you and follow along with those teaching notes we're going to look at matthew chapter 11 so go ahead and turn there in your bible matthew chapter 11. we're going to look at the last segment of verses this morning i'm going to read beginning in verse 25 matthew 11 25 and then then we'll pray and look at jesus matthew 11 verse 25 at that time jesus answered and said i thank you father lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes even so father for it is it seemed good in your sight all things have been delivered to me by my father and no one knows the son except the father nor does anyone know the father except the son and the one to whom the son wills to reveal him verse 28 come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and i'll give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for i am gentle and lowly in heart another translation says i am meek and humble you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light father we come before you as your people as the ones that you so love and treasure and delight in that's who we are in your eyes your children the bride of jesus and lord we look to you and we ask for your spirit we ask for the spirit of revelation that gives us insight into the heart of the lord that we would see jesus that we would experience his heart for us that you would set us before you in confidence in these days and in the days ahead that we would be confident in the lord and confident in your word that we would not be swayed by fear nor confusion nor doubt and that you would make us like a rock in the midst of the storm father we love you in jesus name we pray amen paragraph a the spirit is waking up the church the body of christ to pursue and lean into wholehearted love for him in a unique way matter of fact the everything that's happening within our culture within the nations the turmoil the increase of trouble is the scenario it is the environment in which god is alerting the church to lean into him so that wholehearted love is produced within the heart of his people it's the main thing that he wants it's the main thing that he's after in your life all the trials of your life all the pressures all the setbacks all the victories all the joys all of it is unto you standing before jesus at the end of your days and looking into his eyes and knowing him and loving him and standing before him without fear or shame and the way that we do that is to agree with that first and great commandment that you would love the lord your god with all your heart soul strength and mind that's what he's after and so when we look out at what's happening within the culture within society what needs to come to our mind is is that the lord is alerting his people he has his hand on them and he's getting them to lean into him into the place of wholehearted love and devotion that they would love him with all that they are that's what he wants and that's what he wants for your life and that's what he wants of this spiritual family and if we get this right meaning insincerity if we as a spiritual family we lean into this reality and we lean in in our lives and in our during our jobs and in our family and in our homes and in our private life if we lean into this invitation from the lord to be wholehearted for god i mean to really love him with everything that we are if we lean into this everything is going to work out okay you're going to stand before him and you're gonna stand without fear or shame or regret or doubt if this is the main conversation of our heart as a spiritual family before the lord we'll stand before him in victory if this is not the main conversation in our heart before the lord we will we have no guarantee of what that conversation at the judgment seat is going to look like there is no guarantee because there are so many good things that we could emphasize there are so many conversations that are meaningful and helpful and important there's issues that relate to our culture and our society there's things that relate to you know our families and our jobs and our marriages there are so many conversations that are valid but there is one conversation and one dialogue that the lord wants us to have with him in the secret place of our heart and leaning into him and it's this issue of wholehearted love before him god's people paragraph b they don't wake up one day walking in wholehearted love it doesn't happen immediately you know your sin is forgiven and you're washed are instantly forgiven at the moment of the new birth when you get saved your life is transformed you're you're made clean and righteous before the living god hallelujah but that doesn't mean that you're walking in this first and great commandment that is the beginning of the journey into wholehearted love paragraph c and this is kind of the theme of the message the theme of the message is entitled the yoke of wholehearted love and it's kind of around this principle right here in paragraph c the pursuit of wholehearted love for jesus is the only true place of rest for the soul as we're gonna see here in this passage it's the only safe place and when i talk about rest and when the scripture talks about rest rest doesn't mean kicking back and doing nothing it's not because we're so when we speak of rest biblical rest it's not that we're so broken down physically and worn out and maxed emotionally and everything that hey it's time for rest and there is a place where we need to have that type of rest because our bodies are weak and frail and the older we get you know the more in tune we are with that however that's not necessarily the rest that i'm talking about right here the rest that i'm talking about is having an inner peace and delight in god regardless of our exterior circumstances how do we know that because when god rested on the seventh day after creation he didn't rest because he was physically tired and emotionally spent think about that i mean when god rests on the seventh day after creation he's not just like i am so overwhelmed by the amount of creatures right now the monkeys are chattering you know the the lions are roaring they won't shut up the crows are calling i i just it's just everybody get out of here shut up i just need to kick back i i'm kind of missing eternity pass before i just made all you weirdos you know and i mean that's kind of the place that we get to emotionally and physically in our life and we're like okay i need a break i need a vacation but that's not the type of rest that i'm talking about here because when god rests like he rested on the seventh day it wasn't because he was emotionally or physically tired he rested so that he could enjoy and delight the goodness of his divine nature and his creative uh purposes his creation he rests to delight in god and the only place that the christian can rest is when they delight themselves fully in god why does that matter it matters because there's a very powerful lie that the enemy wants to sow into believers and into their into their understanding and the the powerful lie is it's impossible for you to love god with all of your heart soul strength and mind that is impossible and the enemy wants you when you read that or when you hear the call to wholehearted love or when you hear the call to just i mean really giving all the affections of your heart to the lord the enemy wants you to hear a lie that there's no way that you personally could do that and he might come the enemy might come and lie to you and say well so and so could do that well you know mike bickle could do that well bill johnson could do that but there's no way that you could do that because you're different than them and the enemy tries to get us to believe that wholehearted devotion to the lord is connected to some personality type it's the real you know it's the guy who's just so devoted to the lord it's the girl who's so devoted they just came out of the womb so devoted to jesus so fixated on the word of god and prayer and humility they're just so naturally humble and the enemy tries to get you think that everyone else is like that but there's no way that you could be like that he wants to get you to believe that you can't love god in a way that touches the heart of god and that moves his heart and if he gets you to believe that which many many believers do then we just kind of give up on this pursuit of whole heart hearted devotion before the lord we just go that's not really worth it it's not really for me because i'm not like that guy i'm not like those girls i'm not like you know the famous men and women of history i'm not king david and i'm not paul the apo the lord had a sovereign call in their life but that doesn't apply to me and so we settle into this rut in this routine of just contentment to just kind of be along with the ride and just we have our head down and we're just like well i know that he loves me and i just hope i get in at the end and the lord wants to absolutely destroy that lie in the body of christ he wants to destroy that lie even this morning that you cannot love god with all of your heart in the way that he's called you to because jesus in his kindness in his compassion in his mercy which is what this passage is about when he calls us to wholeheartedness i mean when he calls us to love him with all of our hearts soul strength and mind i'm sure many of you have uh wrestled with you know that invitation that command that's hard right and when he calls us to that command he goes i want you to love me with everything that you are there is a commensurate grace and which is an empowerment of the holy spirit that is released through the commands of the lord he doesn't leave us alone and this is what this passage is highlighting that we'll get into he yokes us to him he doesn't say get out there go out into the workplace go out to the marketplace and just go love me with all you are good luck i'll see you at the judgment seat i hope you get it right that's really not the way that he leads us it's really not the way and he releases a commensurate grace and empowerment by the holy spirit in us when we posture our hearts when we say i'm going all the way for this thing i'm going all the way for love i'm going all the way for him i'm committing in my life and i'm going to use my resources my time my energy to love jesus with all that i am because when i stand at the judgment seat i want to know him i want to have a deep history in him and we have confidence that whatever he calls us to he will give us grace and provision to actually walk it out can you imagine how cruel he would be if he did it if he called you to something if he put a calling on your life and then didn't help you in any way to get there i mean how cruel and unusual that would be that would make him a bail which means a task master a harsh master over your life and that is not who he is this quote from augustine he said this thou hast made us for thyself bear with me on the new king james old king james translation here thou has made us for thyself o lord and our heart is restless until it finds rest in thee my argument this morning that's not really an argument but my point this morning is that i don't think we find that rest and that delight in god until we make the determination on the inside i'm going all the way for you i'm not content to live on the fence i'm not content to live half-hearted i'm not content to just be a part of a community that has a reputation for emphasizing the first commandment but i me i want to go all the way in god i want to know him i want to enjoy him i want to commit my ways to the lord i want to walk in a hundred fold obedience before him i want to go all the way because uh my thought is is that there is not a grace released to us by the spirit to walk in wholehearted love until we determine on the inside to commit to it i am going to walk in wholehearted love there's a commensurate grace that the lord would release to us and he's emphasized this to our spiritual family over and over and over again and i'm just so blessed at the kindness and the gentleness of the lord in the midst of this well this is what he wants from us as forerunner church paragraph e he wants us to be wholehearted for him he wants to take the same love that he has for the father and the same love that the father has for the son he wants to put that love inside of you and inside of me so that when we love god we're not just loving him in accordance with our own strength and ability we're loving god with a divine love a powerful love the very love and affection and delight that is shared within the trinity that's the same love we're giving back to god because he wants to be loved in a very particular way and when you fall in love with someone and you start dating them and you know courting them and you know what you begin to find out is there's a particular way in which in which they want to be loved and when you don't love them in that way they let you know right in a marriage if you don't love your spouse and the way that they want to be loved they let you know there's conflict there's whatever jesus wants to be loved in a particular way and his demands are very high all he wants is for you to love him with everything that you are that's it right and so here we are but john 17 he's praying to the father i mean this great powerful prayer before he goes to the cross and he goes the same love that the father has that the son has look at this in john 17 26 the love with which you loved me that the father loved the son he said may it be in them and when he went to the cross he was going on a mission to accomplish the release of a divine love from the father that would be imparted to us so that we could love god in the same way that he loves us i mean this is remarkable what's it what's remarkable remarkable about this is that so few people throughout church history have walked in this type of love with consistency i mean there's highlights there's you know one guy from the 1500s and another gal from the 1600s but imagine this i mean imagine this imagine this whole spiritual family i mean everyone that's here and our kids and you know our friendship groups and our bible studies and imagine all of us postured before the lord going we want to love jesus with this holy and divine love we're leaning in and we're not gonna rest until that same love flows in us and flows out of us towards gut towards god and towards one another i mean before the day of the lord before he returns to the earth he's going to have a bride that is wholehearted for him i mean all across the nations of the earth you know let's say it's a billion believers you compare that to church history where there's you know a few hundred or thousand that have really made this the goal and the aim of their life before the coming of the lord there's gonna be hundreds of millions of believers that are leading in to this conversation and going i am wholehearted for jesus i've made it my goal i've made it my aim and nothing is going to take it from me the floods of pressure of life finances riches glory fame lust envy greed they're not gonna extinguish the flame of love that's in my heart i'm not gonna let it and i'm gonna continually put myself before that flame of whole-hearted devotion before the lord again and again and again it's gonna happen i mean it's truly remarkable it's gotta be one of the great eschatological promises and and miracles is that a church a people would love god more than anything else beautiful so jesus in verse 25 he says i thank you lord that you have revealed or excuse me that you have hidden these things from babes and or i'm messing it up here that you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and you've revealed them to babes and this passage is really important because in matthew 11 we don't have time to develop much of it right now but matthew 11 i just want you to make a mental note is one of the key passages in the scripture that highlights the call to wholehearted love before the lord it doesn't seem like that at a casual reading because he's talking about john the baptist and the elijah and reed shaking in the wind and you know he's using these bizarre statements he uses this crazy you know terminology in verse 12 the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and but what he's talking about in this passage is the call and the invitation in the wholehearted love and he's highlighting john the baptist and he's telling the people about john's commitment to wholehearted love what made john so unique was in the fact that he's out in the wilderness and that he's wearing camel skin and that he's eating bugs and honey and all this kind of stuff that's what we think of when we think of the uniqueness of john the baptist but the truly unique thing about him and the gift of john the baptist to that generation was that there was a man who is so devoted in his heart to wholehearted love for jesus he goes i will go all the way with christ i don't care what it costs me i don't care who my enemies are i don't care who my friends are i am set before the lord i must have him i'm about the lamb that takes away the sin of the world and nothing's going to dissuade me nothing is going to you know throw me at prison whatever it is he goes i am going to go all the way for the sake of love i'm a friend of the bridegroom i've seen the bridegroom i've felt his affection for me and all i want to do is return that same affection to christ that he has so lovingly given to me well when jesus says in verse 25 he says you've hidden these things from the wise and the prudent the these things that jesus is talking about are these principles of wholehearted love before the lord and what jesus is talking about in verse 25 is that he's saying that god has hidden the way of wholehearted love from the so-called wise and the so-called prudent of this age it's those that are so skilled and wrapped up you know in the secular narrative about making sense of everything and they've got worldly ideas with worldly solutions and they're very worldly and it's those that are in the body of christ and outside the body of christ he says you've hidden the principles and the way into wholehearted love you've hidden it from those that are spiritually prideful whose hearts are spiritually dull and he says you've revealed them to babes you've revealed them to infants and i love this look at paragraph c on page two god has chosen he's ordained that everyone throughout history is invited into wholehearted love and fellowship with the trinity i mean this is an incredible invitation that we have when i think of my life the weakness of it the brokenness of it how finite i am and the lord the trinity the triune god father son holy spirit says i want to make a way for him to be in on the joy and the delight and the fellowship that we have in the trinity i mean this is a staggering idea that's here and the lord says i'm not just going to make it available to those throughout history that are so valiant and bold and courageous and have that certain charisma about them because i'm gonna make it available to anyone he calls them babes or infants and what that language emphasizes is a spiritual hunger and a sincerity of anyone that calls upon the name of jesus that would say yes to pursuing wholehearted love that's how he defines the babes and the infants it's not about being naive it's not about you know having a being not as smart as someone else or or not as gifted as another individual when jesus talks about the infants and the babes he's talking about the posture of the heart do you have faith that when god says you can love me with all your heart that we would actually respond to it that we'd be able to do it he's talking about an internal sincerity and a spiritual hunger on the inside jesus he used these terms he throughout his teaching his parables he makes truth simple and he makes it difficult at the exact same time when he would speak to the masses the poor those that were spiritually poor that were hungry for the things of the lord they would understand his parables but those that were wise in accordance with the spirit of the age the so-called prudent the so-called gifted and discerning and just so intellectually you know adept they would stumble over the most basic teaching in the kingdom and the lord is showing us he goes i want you to lean into this conversation of all hearted love and the way that you do it is in sincerity and humility like a child carries that's what gets you into the conversation go down to paragraph three wholehearted love is ignited through the revelation of jesus in verse 27 matthew 11 jesus says that all things had been delivered to him by the father and that no one knew the son except the father nor does anyone know the father except the son and this is the key phrase and the one to whom the son wills to reveal him so in this conversation of all hearted love we have to see that god is after fellowship with people wholehearted love is not just following all the rules and being a hundred percent obedience there were religious leaders and pharisees that were really really good at following the rules in jesus day jesus says i'm not talking about them he goes i'm talking about the revelation of my person i'm talking about an invitation into wholehearted fellowship with me and knowing me in a deeper way page three the lord is looking for more than the spiritually committed he's looking for more than those that would come to every single meeting and know all the bible verses and memorize the 150 chapters of the end times and get those down and real clear he's looking for more than that the invitation and a wholehearted love is the invitation into fellowship with him to know him and be known by him and like i mentioned the beginning if you get that you get everything but if we don't get that i mean like paul says in first corinthians 13 he goes if i have the tongue of angels and i understand all wisdom and mysteries but i don't have love i don't have fellowship with the godhead i'm not leaning in to wholehearted love and devotion but i want to sit at the feet of jesus he goes i have paul says in 1st corinthians 13 he says i have nothing i stand before nothing my life will amount to nothing if that's not the main conversation that i'm having with the lord paragraph four let's look at this the yoke of rest well jesus has been building on this call throughout the whole chapter into wholehearted love and then he begins to show us how to actually move forward in it how do we actually move forward into wholehearted love and devotion before the lord look at this verse 28 i love this he says come to me come to me if you want to be wholehearted come to me it's not about showing up to the meeting it's not about showing up to this or that it's not about the outward expression it's about coming to me coming to the sun is your life about coming to the sun appearing before him talking with him hearing his words and fellowshipping with him he says come to me all you who labor and heavy laden he says i will give you rest remember that rest that we're talking about is that inner delight and peace with god you know you can be in the midst of the storm i mean jesus is in a boat in the midst of the storm and he's asleep what a bizarre time to be at peace and rest in the midst of the storm and i think that's a prophetic picture of where the church is going to be both now and in the days ahead when there's greater crisis that there would be an inner peace and an inner rest with god because our life and our emotions aren't connected to the up and down of our circumstances and our comforts and there are many that are very fixated on getting all their circumstances right there are many uh that are fixated on getting their comforts back that they lost their opportunities that they lost through covid you know all of the different things that we missed out on and people are so troubled and there's so much angst on the inside and the lord says i have a place of rest for you that's so much more powerful and real than your circumstances your circumstances may not change we want them to change but they may not change but if you lean into this conversation with wholeheartedness in me you're going to get the yoke of christ which we'll look at he goes you will find peace and rest and delight for your very soul when i look out and i just i see so many that are in such fear and confusion and chaos they're swept up into debates and arguments i'm talking about everywhere you just get on the internet you listen to the news for one minute i mean people are so embroiled in the i mean just it's i mean it's it's alarming it's it's like there is no wind you know we've kind of run out of words to insult one another at this point it's like well what's next i mean i don't know i guess we just you know society is going to get violent against each other because nobody has any words left to express their anger and their angst towards whoever made their life hard and miserable out there the lord is going there is a better way he goes in your heart he goes church church in america in your heart he goes lean into me in the midst of this crisis lean into me devote your way to the lord come and talk to me come and yoke yourself to me come and be wholehearted for me he goes on in verse 29 take my yoke on you for i'm gentle and i'm lowly in heart and you'll find rest for your souls and my yoke is easy and my burden is light see we don't believe that we don't believe that the yoke of christ and that the ways of the gospel are easy and light we don't believe that how do we how do i know that well i've lived with me for a long time and i know that when i'm weary when i'm heavy laden when the angst of my soul i just want to scream on the inside because so many circumstances i imagine that they need to change to bring peace i imagine that eight people in my life need to change the way they are and be completely different humans in order for me to have peace hello i imagine that you know friends and family members and co-workers in the body of christ and we all kind of live this way we all imagine that the problem is the person next to us and that if they were to change that we would finally have the peace that we so long for and it's just really not true the reason that our souls are unsettled is because they are not yoked to the lord and many have not crossed that threshold of going i'm going to live actually fully for the lord and i want to urge us right now this is kind of a solemn call but i want to urge us if you in your heart have not made and that that determination before the lord i'm really gonna go all the way for him regardless of what happens in my uh ministry experience in my life experience at my work my job my family regardless of what happens i'm really in this thing for the bridegroom i'm willing to go all the way for him because he's my only safety and i mean if he goes down i go down but i mean he's not going down he was raised from the dead but i mean this is a serious hour that we're in and as the pressure increases the angst the anger the turmoil of the soul is going to increase and the lord has a way out but it's about posturing our heart for wholehearted love and going i'm going all the way with you jesus paragraph a a great lie i mentioned this earlier that christians believe is that god's ways are too hard they're too hard i can't i can't be a hundred fold obedient it's too hard my heart is greedy my heart is lustful my heart is angry my life isn't chaos my circumstances i'm not getting paid the amount of money i need i'm not getting promoted in the way that i need no one recognizes my gifting i'm all alone my family misunderstands me and we imagine that if we were to just set our face before the lord that that would be a burden that would be too hard to bear and that's exactly where the enemy is winning in this conversation he's convinced us that the way of the gospel and the way of christ is the hardest way and he didn't say it's the hardest way he said it's the least traveled way very different and i am postulating i am positioning that if we set ourself all the way for god i mean we declare war on the areas of sin in our life we look at our finances we look at our affection we look at our time we look at all of it and we purpose we just say i'm gonna give this to god in my life as a vile beforehand that alabaster flask like mary bethany i'm gonna spill it all on him i'm not gonna do it perfectly and when i mess up i'm going to hit delete i'm going to move on with my life but i am purposed in my heart to go all the way for jesus i want to promise you because i see it clearly in the word that god will release such a great grace and power on your life that you would have peace and rest even in the midst of the storm first john 5 3 says that god's commandments are not burdensome ooh i love this verse why does he tell us that he tells us that because we imagine that his commands are burdensome let's go down to paragraph uh d it's on page three towards the bottom he calls us come to me come to me you who labor and you're heavy laden why does he call us when we're heavy and heavy laden wearied it's because he knows that our natural propensity is to run away from him and to seek inner satisfaction and rest and delight from a hundred different areas besides the word of god the clearest example to me about this is when i go on vacation with the kids and my wife we need a vacation when we get back because the rest and the relaxation that i'm imagining is kicking back on the beach you know a little andy griffith in the evenings sipping on some lemonade and that is physical rest to my body but it's not necessarily rest to my soul and often when we find ourself weary heavy laden worn out stressed out we go to a hundred different things besides fellowshipping with christ and he knows that and he's so kind and generous in that but why is that why do we go to those things and we imagine that a little bit more rest and you know some recreation and some movies on netflix and shopping on amazon for a long time is gonna somehow heal the woundedness and the longing of our soul and yet it doesn't but here we are again in the rut and the routine again and again and again going to those things and imagining and that's why he's going i want you to come to me come to me when you're weary come to me when you're heavy laden your circumstances may not change though god has the power to change them and often they do change he says but i want to change something else i want to change your soul and the conversation between you and i i want to remind you and refresh you so that you lean into this thing paragraph e we're about to wrap up here paragraph e take my yoke upon you and learn from me for my yoke is easy now the yolk is the wooden bar that was placed over the neck of two animals and the idea was was that the two animals they would labor together i love this picture because jesus doesn't put himself at the end of a gauntlet and say come to me be wholehearted good luck getting there as we're running towards god and just getting beat down okay that's not the picture he says when you say yes and wholehearted love to me it's yoking yourself to me that's the grace i was talking about earlier that's the power of the holy spirit that comes to actually walk out the thing he's called us to he goes yoke yourself to me and the idea is that this yoke the two animals the ox or whatever they were would walk together that they would labor together and when that one felt a little weak the other one would pull well there's also another uh dynamic in this it's that the yoke to yoke ourselves to the lord means it's a sign or a symbol of submitting to him of actually relenting and going you know what your way is really good and it's right i'm gonna try it because i've been trying my way for 25 years or 30 years or 50 60 years i've been trying my way and all it's produced is weariness and a heavy laden soul in my life that's what i feel like i have on the inside but the yoke is it's a submission to him it's a submission to his lordship and his kindness and his mercy it's going you know what i'm just a goofy sheep you're the good shepherd i'm gonna actually try and do it your way for a while and then see what happens in that conversation of the soul he says to learn from me because the yoke that was put on the animals was also a learning tool it would take the less experience you know the yum young dumb ox like me and it would yoke it to the wiser stronger more seasoned ox and so when we take on the yoke of the lord we're submitting ourselves to jesus and we're going you know what i actually need you to lead i want to learn from you i want to take on your value system i want to take on your posture and your relationship before the lord i want to take on the way jesus that you do time and that you do energy and that you do money i want to learn from you because that's part of our christian transformation is becoming more and more and more like christ amen look at this he says i am gentle and lowly in heart now the meekness of jesus as we're yoked to him he's the meek one thank god he's meek i mean can you imagine being yoked to like a wild hyena you know he's going hey come to me i'm gonna yoke you to me and we're kind of like a little you know trepidatious okay like here we go and then he's like this crazed hyena like ah you know and he takes off and you're under the yoke you're already tied in you're just dragging along for the ride and you know sometimes that's how we feel like our life is you know and but he goes i want you to know something about my yoke in my ways he goes i am meek in my heart and what meekness is it's the use of his divine strength under control he purposefully he restrains his strength and his glory and his beauty so that when he moves forward we're able to actually keep up with him i mean he's so kind and we've got to get this idea out of our minds that the call to wholehearted love and radical christianity and john the baptist is this burden that no one can bear jesus goes i'm bearing this burden with you and there is no one that is more willing to restrain their strength than i am there is no one more humble than i am and if you want to join yourself to anyone or anything the lord says come and join yourself to me he goes i will give you rest i promise you rest even though we're wearing the yoke of labor and there's effort that is involved in pursuing wholehearted obedience to the lord he goes i will you will find rest even in the midst of that labor and this is my final point we'll invite brenton and the worship team go ahead and come out guys as we're yoked to the meek one as we're yoked to christ we learn to demonstrate power and opinion without harshness because that's the way christ is he goes when you're yoked to me when you learn from me and we're going after wholehearted love together and i'm helping you and i'm teaching you and instructing you he goes you're going to take on the same demeanor that i have that's what happened when they would yoke two animals together is that the young you know stallion that's kind of out of control he begins to take on the demeanor of the other one of the other animal to become more gentle to become uh more able to be led and more calm and more humble and that's what christ calls us into is that our tone and our our words and and the things that come out of us more and more begin to look like and sound like christ meekness accelerates our heart into wholehearted love for him let's uh stand we're going to pray father we love you god we love you we love the meekness the humility of your son that you've called us into this fellowship with you you're so kind you're so gentle you're so committed and determined at the same time to see wholehearted love produced within us i want to pray for those in the room that are feeling that sense of heaviness that are feeling that sense of of being laden and weighed down right now maybe that's where you are because of a new uh you know a number of reasons this morning you find yourself heavy-laden it could be because of spiritual things you know you see the gap between what christ uh invites us to and in our own devotion we see how weak our devotion is that that can be burdensome and that can cause us to quit maybe it's emotional and you're going through emotional angst or turmoil maybe it's something related to your family or your marriage or things back home whatever's going on but you feel weary and heavy-laden and you're going the last thing i want to do is go wholehearted for jesus right now i can't even think about that maybe it's because of your circumstances you lost your job there's not as much income coming in the the business opportunity you had it fell through the ministry opportunity you had it fell through you're feeling worn out you feel heavy the lord wants us to hear this this morning take my yoke upon you really he's he's inviting us really come and do it my way come and do it my way come to the waters isaiah 55 anyone who thirsts anyone who's weary anyone who's laden come to the waters drink from the fountain that is christ lean into the conversation lean in to the pursuit of wholehearted love lord says i will give you rest i will bring peace to your soul i will bring an inner satisfaction and a delight that you cannot get anywhere else he says in isaiah 55 he says why do you labor for what is not bread why do you spend your time and your affections on what does not satisfy your own soul he says come to me come to me this morning if that is touching you you fall into one of those categories and you just say you know what i just i need to be reminded again of the meekness and the humility of christ as i seek to follow him because my life is hard i'm stressed out i'm worn out i'm heavy laden in my soul i want to invite you to come to the front come and stand up on these lines right here we're going to go into it just a time of worship of just expressing our love to the lord and brenton and the team going to lead us and we have a ministry team that's here to come and pray with you and stand with you scripture calls us to bear one another's burdens christ bears our burdens whatever your burden may be he's willing to bear it with you for you carry you and give you rest in the midst of it the holy spirit we thank you for this spiritual family lord those that are here our children's ministry the teenagers those that are joining us online our spiritual family that's out there we ask you lord for the revelation of jesus as the meek one as the humble one that leads us into wholehearted love we ask you that you would touch lives that you would touch hearts even right now that you would remind us again of your tenderness and the humility in which you relate to us and call us into radical devotion before you come holy spirit we love you in jesus how about i give you my sickness [Music] the ministry team to come forward to pray [Music] if you're a friendship group leader or zone pastor in our midst you're a missions-based leader please come up we want help during this ministry time together how about i give you my depression [Music] how about i give you my [Music] weaknesses [Music] how about i give you my [Music] sickness how about i give you my [Music] lord weakness to you bring refreshing to us watch this [Music] washes [Music] oh [Music] wash me day you

Channel: International House of Prayer

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Length: 105min 55sec (6355 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 27 2020