The Hills Church Live | September 26, 2021 | 8:30am

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hello church and good morning to you now you may notice we look the same and yet different this morning but i'm not going to tell you why just yet you're going to have to wait just a little bit more but i am going to tell you something else next week the acapella praise teams we've been working very hard for several weeks on a song that i'm saying is the most ambitious song we've ever led worship with we've ever sung and just real excited about it about how we respond when we come to see jesus face to face and it's it's a beautiful powerful song if you have some i want to invite you to be sure you're here next week and if you have some friends that would that would love that it's a great time to invite somebody to come next sunday for that but today is a great day to be here to worship our god let's stand up let's begin with this prayer and song lord we come [Music] do before our sooth disdain shall we seek thee lord in may lord on thee our souls depend in compassion [Music] fill our hearts with thy rich [Music] see grace praise grant that all may seek and find the god supremely kind let us all rejoice in thee let us all rejoice in thee precious cornerstone short foundation you are faithful to the end we are waiting on you jesus we believe you're wrong to us precious cornerstone sure foundation you are faithful to the end we are waiting on eugene we believe your all to us let the glory of your name be the passion of the church let the righteousness of god be a holy flame that burns let the saving love of christ be the measure of our lives we believe to us only son of god sent from heaven [Music] hope and mercy at the cross you are everything you're the promised jesus you are [Music] of your name be the passion of the church let the righteousness of god be a holy flame that burns love of christ be the measure of our lives the glory of your name be the passion of the church let the righteousness of god be a holy flame that burst let the saving love of christ be the measure of our lives we believe [Music] amen go ahead and be seated please so i've heard it said do for one what you wish you could do for many that's what we're going to do right now so um we're wearing these shirts because we love the center family little louise center is the daughter of randall and katie center and luis is six months old she spent um most the majority of her young life at cook's children's and um randall and katie before before luis was born knew that there was there was a good chance that she was going to have some significant challenges in her life and so their prayer has been before she was born through now that god will be glorified and that the power of god will be on display no matter what happens in her life and so little louise she is a fighter she is a sweet little girl and uh we love reynold katie now i know they're watching online so let's get let's all say a good morning or let's say hello to the central family one two three hey good good morning we love you guys uh now so they have these shirts that just say uh that support little uh little luis as a side note uh randall you may recognize he sang with the acapella praise teams for many years and this is his team it's changed some over the years but this is his team we have colors for teams the name of this team is the yellow team i don't know if he knew that when he chose these shirts but randall katie louise we love you all and let's pray let's pray for luis and for their request that they had mentioned too so god in heaven all powerful god we come to you now and just thank you for luis what a sweet little girl and we just pray for healing over her you'll strengthen her heart strengthen her lungs and just fill her with uh with your healing power god we thank you so much for katie and randall and just pray that they will know how much they are loved and supported you fill them with your peace with rest with your abiding presence god so thank you for the center family thank you god that you are with us in times such as these and we love you in jesus name we pray amen all right let's stand together again let's continue to worship our god be into your name [Music] lord of the ages god before time we are a vaper you are eternal holy holy lord god almighty [Music] honor and glory be unto your name be unto your name we are the broken you are the healer jesus redeemer mighty to say you are the love song we'll sing forever [Music] [Music] honor and glory be unto your name be unto your name holy holy lord god almighty worthy is the lamb who was slain highest praises honor and glory be unto your name be unto your name be unto your name [Music] salvation belongs to our god who sins [Music] and unto the lamb be praise and glory wisdom and thanks honor and power and strength be to our god forever [Music] amen [Music] you [Music] declaring the loud praise and glory wisdom and thanks honor and power and strength and ever be to our god forever [Music] amen be to our god forever [Music] to calvary where jesus bled and died for me i see his wounds his tents his feet my savior on that cursed tree his body bound and drenched in tears they laid him down in joseph's to the entrance sealed by heavy stone messiah still and all alone oh praise the name of the lord our god o praise his name forever foreign your praise [Music] [Laughter] where is singing the angel's roar for christ the king o praise god o praise his name forever [Music] your foreign o lord o lord our god he shall return in robes of white the blazing sun shall pierce the night and i will rise among the sins my gaze transfixed on jesus peace oh praise the name god o praise his name forever foreign o lord r everyone says amen to that go and be saved please well good morning brothers and sisters it's good to see you family it is good to be together with you we have a very special moment that we want to celebrate and participate in together this morning we're going to have the opportunity to commission one of our very own alicia snead into the mission field alicia is leaving tomorrow to join the work that god is doing around the world and we have the opportunity now to commission her and pray over her as she gets ready to follow god what she what he is doing in the world this is a vision season for us we we are in the middle of of of grabbing hold of what god has for us as a church and one of those such an important part of that is being able to pursue the nations that god has made in his image that don't know him yet and we are so serious about making growing followers of jesus that we're going to send our very own to find those who don't know who they are yet or who their god is and so that's why today matters alicia is a very important part of our church she has a special connection to uh to all of our campuses she grew up at the south lake campus she's worshiped at the west fort worth campus she's deeply connected here and what i want you to know about alicia is that she is a person of deep faith she's a person of perseverance this has not been an easy journey to get to the field you can imagine trying to get to the field in the middle of a pandemic where nations are closing their borders where they're saying we don't want you to come but she has persevered in that over many years and many trials to say god i'm still going to follow you into the nations because there are people there who need to know who you are alicia is a humble person depending on the faith uh the faith that has been instilled in her by her family and by her church and it is an honor alicia to get to partner with you in what god is doing in the world she is going to europe i can't tell you exactly where she's going just because it's difficult to get into some of those countries and it's it's safer for us not to announce where that is but she is going to be a part of a disciple making and church planting team there in europe working with people who are coming from all over the world who are open to jesus for perhaps the first time and she is going to be a part of a team that is going to to share the love of jesus there she also has skills and a background in counseling so that she can help walk people who have experienced tremendous trauma uh towards wholeness because that's what god's picture is for the earth it is for kingdom of heaven to come to the earth right and so alicia is going to participate in the restoration with jesus of peoples and so today elisha we commission you to go and to abide in jesus let his life be your life we commission you to go and to listen to what he has to say to you and we commission you to obey those things so that the people and the place where he is sending you can have life and can have it to the full this is jesus's moment and so we want jesus to have the words here and so this comes from matthew 28 and this is the commission for you this morning starting in verse 18 jesus came and told his disciples i have been given all authority in heaven and on earth therefore go and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit teach these new disciples to obey all the commands that i have given you and be sure of this elisha be sure of this i am with you always even to the end of the age we commission you in the name of jesus to go to the nations to make disciples and bring jesus's life there let's pray together church if you would like to raise a hand towards elisha this morning just as we pray blessing over her father in the name of your son jesus we come to you and we commission our friend our sister alicia into your care and into your presence as you pursue the nations we pray that your hand will be on her all the days of her life that you will lead her to the peoples that you have prepared for her to meet that you will make straight the paths that you have for her that you will take care of all of the logistics the place where she will live the neighbors that she will have the the language school that she will participate in all of the details that go with mission father we pray that you will work those out a father above in everything we pray that alicia will abide in you that she will hear your voice regularly and that she will obey the things that you tell her and father that she will be a living testimony to the goodness of a father who comes looking for us i pray that people that she will meet that you are sending her to will have life and will have life to the full because elisha has gone to them father i pray that you will fill her with the holy spirit may she know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are with her always even to the end of the age and jesus we pray together as a church amen let's uh let's show our love and appreciation for alicia this morning thank you we're going to move into our time of communion uh together this morning so if you have your communion should receive that when you came in you can pull that out there's a little wafer under the top wrapper and then there's juice under the second one but symbols are important uh for us the the what we're doing today is a reminder that we are having jesus's life so intimately and so deeply that it's something that goes inside of us god says i don't want to just be with you i want to be in you and so i'm going to give you my spirit so that you and i can be one and so this what we are doing today reminds us of that but this is a missional moment too this is a moment that we remember that god's family is big and that there are people out there in the world that don't know who he is yet and so we do send people like elisha to be that living testimony of we have a god who comes looking for us i don't know how you're doing today as you walk into this space if you're lonely if you're broken if you're sad if you're feeling on on top of the world you need to know that you have a god that comes looking for you as he goes and looks for people in nations you need to know that he is coming to look for you this morning too and he wants you to know that you are his beloved child and we celebrate that today through the power of what jesus has done for us through the death on the cross and to the shedding of his blood and forgiving us his very self let's pray together as we remember that this morning jesus thank you for giving your life to us on the cross father thank you for sending yourself into the world for pursuing us so that we would know what you're like that you're a father who comes after his children and i thank you that you have given us this moment that we get to reorient ourselves in your story that we find ourselves here thank you for giving us jesus and we celebrate him and we celebrate his life together as a family this morning in jesus we pray amen [Music] gentlemen [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] his words we are [Music] of god [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] beautiful [Music] amen what a beautiful song and a beautiful time communion together church want to let you know that our students on wednesdays are starting a new study together and it's going to be called gold mine we want you to learn a little bit about it check this out [Music] so [Music] good morning church oh we could do better than that good morning church [Applause] yes if you're watching online we love you good morning good afternoon good evening wherever you are thanks for joining us y'all look good y'all look good so we are like oh thanks you all look good i thank god for you hey anytime you hear a pretty sick beat at the 8 30 service it's probably because student ministry is cooking something up isn't it i'm super excited because student ministry is launching as ryan said a brand new series called gold mine and we're looking at the book of proverbs together uh pastor rick and his sermon yesterday or yesterday yesterday last week mentioned that we have a creative journal and so let me just set the scene real quick okay we're starting this wednesday with this series and it's on wisdom and if you have any teenager in your life you know that our teenagers are looking everywhere else for wisdom and advice that's not the scriptures we want to change that we want them to understand that the best wisdom and the best advice is found in god's word so we went as far as as you saw in that video going to colorado while it was snowing and you saw my little in the video because we went to an active gold mine i wish it was active it's not active anymore but we went to an actual gold mine and we filmed video recordings on location to help illustrate the fact that oh man the wisdom of god is more precious than gold or any advice that you can hear from the world so if you have a teenager in your life we're selling these gold mine creative journals okay they're seven bucks but honestly don't even let the cost get in the way just go grab one outside in the lobby on your way out get it to a teenager here's why we're reading the book of proverbs every day in the month of october we want them to get into god's word and interact with this creative journal every single day can we do that church awesome well students are not the only ones being holy okay uh we also have kids ministry crushing it so if you have a kid in your life okay we have these activity books we want our kids to be involved in this new vision and i was looking through it and it's so well done and there's a page i want to highlight because i started laughing also probably crying because this is so funny so there's this page i don't know if you can see it on the camera it's the connect the dots page you guys know where i'm going with this i was that kid that could never do this well i mean squiggly anytime i got one of these i was real nervous but i'm grateful that this is such a cool way for our kids to say oh even if i don't draw a straight line god still loves me so there you go this is our kids activity book uh it has scriptures in it we want your kids in god's word and this is a super compelling fun way to get your kids and to god's word so kids we love you if you're in the room it is your time to go to uh your bible study groups first to fifth graders we have our our what i call the green team in green shirts ready to take you there now as they go family i want to invite you to continue worship through our time of offering if you are like my wife and i we give online we don't even prepare a gift anymore it's just auto pay baby i mean it's just it just does it every single week but if you are in person giver we have generosity boxes all over the room in the back of the room i want to tell you something before i tell you this next announcement uh the reason why we give of our time is because we believe that god has called us to be the hands and feet of jesus the reason why we give of our treasure there's so many but one is because where your treasure is there your heart is also and we believe that we're a community where our heart is in the things of god we had a missionary here last week uh chris uh chris shelby's is you just saw him handsome handsome guy uh we had the actors here i think they're still in town for another week or two but they're in north africa and one thing that michael ichter said to me last week was god told him as a teenager wherever i go i want you to go and whatever i do i want you to do and i'm like what if we as followers of jesus actually did that prayed that every morning god will you go i want to go what you do i want to do so this is why we get involved and as a church we believe in making and growing followers of jesus one of the ways we do that is by having conferences do we have any women of god in the house tonight today this morning good well for all of you i want you to know we have our women's conference this weekend if you are on the fence about going we want you to know registration is still open and we want you here okay maybe you're like maybe i can't be in the room well we're giving you the option to host a watch party from wherever you are and that goes for everybody watching online as well we want you to be a part of this massive reunion of women that are coming together to say god wherever you go i want to go whatever you do i want to do and so you can find more information on that at thehills.org forward slash women's con okay before rick gets up here to bring the word uh if you've been with us the last two weeks you know that we've been rolling out this big vision ask for nations and generations and the last two weeks we heard about nations and we heard about generations and today we're going to hear about the ask part i have an ask to make of you maybe you've been hearing the vision and you're like oh my word this is amazing a little bit overwhelming i don't know what to do here's my ask at 5 00 pm tonight today in a few hours we're going to be asking god to to come through prayer and worship so i'm asking you will you be here in this room at 5 00 p.m today if it's about an hour long we're gonna pray and worship together and believe god together that's my ask of you can we do that pray we can i pray we can cool take out your technology take out your bibles do whatever you do to get ready to hear god's word and check out this video that's an overview of the vision that god has given us check it out god's love is deep and wide his heart beats for every generation his mercy extends to every nation and for the next five years we're going to ask god to make reality the desires of his heart we're going to ask for nations and generations the vision is due but the dream is as old as abraham this is who god has always been god has always been a refuge so we will give refuge to asylum seekers in our midst god is ever our liberator so we seek freedom for all in the chains of sin and the bondage of addiction jesus picked up the servant towel so we will serve kids and students in our community jesus lives as our intercessor so we pray for and support students at livingstone international university jesus said to go and make disciples so we will seek to baptize daily launch new campuses locally plant new churches nationally and reach the unreached globally but don't be mistaken change won't just be out there it will happen in each of us this is more than what god wants us to do it's who he wants us to become see we believe god is using this vision to change how we see his world we don't just see an indigenous tribe with a different language we see a beloved community in need of the gospel in their language we don't see a young adult we see a kingdom worker we don't see a new church program we see a powerful nine week experience we don't see an older couple we see a marriage that has stood the test of time and a wealth of knowledge to pass on we do not see a foster system we see children worthy of attention because they are cherished and loved by god we don't just see increased diversity we see a church who reflects the multi-ethnic family of heaven we don't see a list of goals we see heaven coming to earth by the holy spirit's power so for the next five years we will pray to the god who already wants these things we will cry out to the god whose heart beats for the young and old the near and the far we will ask god for nations and generations [Music] welcome to the hills i especially want to greet our online audience literally around the world and all of you in person at west fort worth south lake and the nrh campus so a young man enters a candy store and says to the man behind the counter i would like to buy three boxes of candy a 10 box a 20 box and a 50 box of candy and the man says why do you need three boxes of candy he said oh i've got a first date tonight with a girl it could be very special and when i take her home if she shakes my hand i'm gonna give her the ten dollar box of candy if she gives me a hug i'm gonna give her the 20 box of candy and if she gives me a kiss she gets the 50 box of candy so we bought all three put them in his car that night he went to pick her up and he was invited to have a meal with the family before the day he sat at the table and the father said it's our practice to say grace before meals would you pray that young man bowed his head he prayed the longest the most fervent the most passionate prayer you've ever heard at a meal when he was finally through his date leaned over and she whispered i had no idea you were so spiritual and he leaned back and whispered i had no idea that your daddy owns a candy store now here's the point if you have some big plans you better pray some big prayers and if you have been at our church the last two weeks watching online or checking our sermons through us the media platforms we have you know we have some big plans for the next five years we want to impact nations and generations we have seven huge goals for the nations and seven audacious dreams for generations and what i want to do this fall is continue to help us own this vision and i'm starting a series today called building a future we're going to be using the book of nehemiah to understand that god is willing to give us a future no matter how big it is if we are willing to pursue it years ago i was driving through east texas and i came to a spot in the road i'd never been to before there's a little town called little hope not much more than a gas station and a convenience store and i saw a sign with a red arrow pointing down a dirt road and the sign said this way to little hope baptist church and i thought to myself there may be some of god's best people but they need to change the name of their church do you want to go to the church of little hope every week and yet so many christians and churches do little more than just moan about the way things are people of vision pursue and commit to the way things ought to be they believe in building the future they want instead of just accepting the future they would otherwise get and the first step to building a future is to lay a foundation of prayer so i invite you to turn with me to nehemiah chapter 1. we're going to read the whole first chapter and then i'll go back and set some context the words of nehemiah son of hecolia in the month of kins live in the 20th year while i was in the citadel de souza han and i one of my brothers came from judah with some other men and i questioned them about the jewish remnant that had survived the exile and also about jerusalem they said to me those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace the wall of jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been burned with fire and when i heard these things i sat down and wept for some days i mourned and fasted and prayed before the god of heaven and then i said lord the god of heaven the great and awesome god who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments let your ear be attentive and your ears open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you today and night for your servants the people of israel i confess the sins we israelites including myself and my father's family have committed against you we have acted very wickedly toward you we have not obeyed the commands decrees and laws you gave your servant moses remember the instruction you gave your servant moses saying if you are faithful i will if you are unfaithful i will scatter you among the nations but if you return to me and obey my commands then even if your exile people are at the farthest horizon i will gather them from there and bring them to the place i've chosen as a dwelling for my name they are your servants and your people whom you redeem by your great strength in your mighty hand lord let your ear be attended to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name give your servant success today by granting them favor in the presence of this man i was cupbearer to the king now in the old testament god calls this man named abraham and through him he starts this redemptive agenda to bless all the nations by building a nation through this man abraham that is going to be known as the nation of israel now israel's history with god was pretty iraqi there's a lot of rebellion a lot of idolatry there's a division of the kingdom the northern kingdom was taken into captivity for their sins by the assyrian empire they never come back the southern kingdom was taken captive by an empire called babylon by king called nebuchadnezzar and god had warned because of their sin this was going to come but god had said through prophets like jeremiah if you'll seek me with your heart and repent after 70 years i will let you go back to your home sometimes this is called the second exodus you can read about it in the old testament there's a book called ezra the first wave went back under a man named zerubbabel and the second wave went back under the priest ezra now because nehemiah follows the book of ezra you might think well this happened at the same time actually these people went back 70 to 100 years before the book of nehemiah and not everybody went back a lot of people they had lived now in babylon for several generations they had homes there they had children they had jobs nehemiah has never been to the land of canaan he didn't know anything about how things were there he was born in what was now called persia he he'd lived there all his life he had a really good job a position of prominence in the empire and yet his mama and daddy must have built some kind of spiritual heritage in this guy because his heart burns for a city he has never seen so when his brother who had gone back came to visit him first question how are the exiles do we how is jerusalem and when he got the report his heart broke why why was it such a big deal that this city a thousand miles away wasn't in very good shape well i think there's at least two reasons one was his concern for the glory of god you've got to understand that that day everyone in the world knew the god of israel is named yahweh and his home is jerusalem in in psalm 76 god is honored in judah his name is great in israel jerusalem is where he lives mount zion is his home even in this prayer nehemiah quotes the lord i will bring them to the place i have chosen as a dwelling for my name so nehemiah knows that the whole world thinks if jerusalem is in disgrace so is the god of the people of israel and so we praise let your ear be attentive to all those who delight in revering your name this is important nehemiah wasn't interested in building a future for the glory of nehemiah any godly vision whether it's for your life for your family for our church the goal of any godly vision should be hallowed be your name and the second reason he was so heartbroken was that nehemiah knew the condition of the walls reflected the spiritual condition of the people that if the walls were weak it was because their hopes for the future were weaker now nehemiah could easily have said and no one would have blamed him he could have said that is so sad that is really tragic but a person just has to accept what he can't change i've got a good life here in persia and persia is my future he could have just shrugged his shoulders and instead he bent his knees he says for some days i mourned and i fasted and i prayed before the god of heaven and actually that some days was about four months of fasting and praying one thing i've learned there's a lot of people that can pray that will never lead nobody should lead if they never pray and here's why vision is fueled by prayer when it comes to building a future prayer is not the last resort prayer is the first priority and here's why the sore sovereign god often makes the sovereign choice to accomplish his will only when he's asked to do it that's a very important thing to know that our sovereign god that can do whatever he wants makes the sovereign choice to accomplish his will only when he's been asked to do it there's so much that's going on in the world today that is nothing about the will of god just because god wants something to happen doesn't mean that it is going to happen that is why jesus taught us to pray in matthew 6 your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven now we see a lot that's wrong with this world and we can moan and moan and moan all we want but is it possible that the greatest obstacle to a thriving future is not the wickedness in the world it is the prayerlessness in the church that the church has not been faithful to ask for god's will to be done james says you don't have what you want because you don't ask god for it and so i would remind you again while we have some big goals for nations and generations the next five years the first word god gave me was ask ask for nations and generations the future is built on a foundation of prayer and so that's why we've created these children's books that every campus our kids are going to get these neat really cool books because we want you if you have small children each day teaching them how to pray for the future god wants that's why we've created this awesome prayer guide we have some print copies if that's what you prefer at the welcome centers if you'll go to our website or nationsgeneration.org we've got it where you can download it or you can listen to it by audio so what's your best way to pray is it in the quiet of a commute on the way to work then download the audio and stream it and pray do you like to have something on your phone or your mobile device then download the pdf file do you like something in your hands then pick up a copy i'm telling you for the next 40 days as a church we need to come together because the future is built on a foundation of prayer and that's why tonight at five o'clock my big ask everyone that can listen to me it's in the distance to our campuses at five o'clock we're gonna show up and we're gonna launch the vision with prayer i'll tell you how important this is to me i'm gonna be at every campus he said how are you gonna physically get at every campus i've called the cowboys i'm gonna borrow jerry jones helicopter if he'll let me if he won't i'm just probably going to drive a little fast and ask god to cover me but that's how important it is to me that we launch the vision saying hallowed be your name let me explain again why prayer is so critical first thing prayer does prayer fuels our awareness of the problem you see privilege and position allow a person to isolate themselves from the problems of other people and so nehemiah could have easily thought you know that's really too bad but it's not my fault so it's not my problem now you've heard that before it's too bad about all those people having to flee their country but i didn't make that mess it's not my problem it's too bad about all those kids that have no good home to live in but i didn't make that mess it's not my problem i hate all the racial injustice and inequity and strife in the country but i'm not the reason it exists so it's not my problem listen to me church it wasn't nehemiah's fault the walls were down but what wasn't his problem became his burden people who build a better future are people who allow their hearts to be broken over the things that are breaking the heart of god and this is one of the outcomes of persistent prayer you will start to see and care what god sees and cares about so think about our goals you start praying that we can reach the goal of helping 25 refugee families your heart will start to get soft toward people who have to leave their country you start praying that we become a multi-ethnic church you will begin to grow in greater passion and burden for reconciliation you start to pray for foster kids and you will start to become more aware of the systems that are broken that are hurting kids you start to pray for a celebrate recovery ministry and all of a sudden you'll start having much more compassion for people you know that have problems with addiction this is what happens when you pray about the things that god cares about your heart starts to care about them more and prayer will do something else it'll help you realize that even if you aren't guilty for the creation of the problem you just might be responsible for the solution to it prayer will help you own the sins of the past generations for the sake of the welfare of future generations you know what nehemiah said in his prayer i confess the sins i've committed what sins have you committed nehemiah you had nothing to do with the problem in jerusalem you see when you start to pray and you start to lead into the heart of god you start to see that every generation is broken that every generation is stained by the sins of other generations that every generation needs grace and that our hope for the future depends on god's goodness and not our own but think about it if our future depends on who god is then nothing has to stay the way it is when god told abraham and sarah in their old days you're going to have a baby and they laughed here's what god said is anything too hard for the lord and what prayer will do it won't just help you see the problem prayer will fuel the boldness of your goals you see nehemiah worked for the most powerful man on the earth but nehemiah didn't believe that his boss controlled the future nehemiah went over his head to the ruler of the universe lord the god of heaven the great and awesome god who keeps his covenant of love how did he start his vision prayer the same way you teach your kids god is great and god is good it is the character of god that keeps us from being crushed by the burdens of the world you see at its heart prayer is a way to rebuke and deny the authority that the world claims for itself you remember in acts chapter 4 when the first christians are being persecuted for their new faith in christ and told not to preach jesus anymore they get together to pray it says when they heard this they raised their voices together in prayer to god sovereign lord they said you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them you spoke by the holy spirit through the mouth of your servant our father david why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain they went to god and said you are the ruler of the universe we're not going to be intimidated by the feeble plots of other authorities because we answer only to the god of heaven history is not written in stone prayer is asking god to enter history and do what he wants to do and if you really believe that that god is sovereign that he's over all authority and he's just waiting to get asked to do what he wants to do you will pray big i know it sounds like a lot 1825 baptism in five years do you think god wants that do you think god wants that many people to find christ and get saved let's ask him for it do you think god wants to see churches planted around the world do you think god wants to see stronger marriages do you think god wants to see future leaders what goal do we have that is too big for god there is nothing that should be considered extraordinary in the kingdom of god years ago way before cell phones and fobs i read a book on prayer by a man who said he went to a church to do a teaching on prayer and he got a unique testimony from home and said i want to tell you my story said i just put a pie in the oven for supper that night for the family and i got a call from the school nurse your son doesn't feel good you better come pick him up i went to pick him up she said he's running a fever you better take him to the doctor i took him to the doctor the doctor said you better get him on this medicine right away i took him home i put him in bed i went to get the medicine i went inside i got the medicine i came back i have locked my keys in the car that's when i remember i got a pie in the oven who's about to explode i got a sick boy at home and i can't get in my car i went back in i called home what do i do my son said get a coat hanger and see if you can get the lock open so she went she got one she went to that car she spent several minutes absolutely no sense she began to cry she began to sob she began to pray god i need someone to get me into this car about that time a squirrely scruffy guy walks by what's the matter lady i need someone to break into my car he said give me that he took that coat hanger within a couple of seconds he had that lock popped up she said oh praise the lord you must be a christian he said i'm not a christian i'm not even a good man i just got out of prison she said praise god he sent me a professional you see nothing lies outside the reach of prayer except what lies outside the will of god and god proved at easter that no door is sealed too tight for him and some of the doors he opens he's going to expect you to walk through and that's the last thing prayer does it fuels our willingness to engage so nehemiah for four months he prays and he prays and he prays and what does he say at the end of that prayer give your servant today success grant granting favor in the presence of this man nehemiah wasn't just offering prayers to god he was offering himself to god and that's what consistent prayer will do it will take you out of your comfort zone the more you start to pray for the future that god wants the more you want god to use you to build it so again start praying for livystone international university and you just might hear god say it's time for you to go start praying that 1825 people get baptized the next five years and you'll start one asking the question who's my one who am i going to share my faith with start praying that 2 000 people in our church a year will serve children and you'll start thinking well who am i going to serve am i going to go through rooted is god calling me to be trained as a respite worker the more you pray for the future god wants the more you will start to want to be a part of the team that builds it you see prayer is not how we get god to do our will prayer is how god gets us to want to do his will and what god wants is a future even more awesome than we can imagine that's why paul said now all glory to god who was able through his mighty power at work within us to accomplish infinitely more that we might ask or think let that verse sink in a second ponder that verse god is able to do more than we ask no matter how big the ask is i want you to imagine a library in heaven and i'm walking down the aisle and i see on the shelf a big thick volume the life and ministry of rick ashley well i can't help i pull it down i start flipping through the pages it is an amazing read the problem is i don't remember most of stuff in the book so i asked jesus what's up it's my life i don't remember all this and jesus says oh no that's that's the book of all the dreams and plans i had for you over there on the table is a little pamphlet of what you asked for now imagine there's a shelf two of volumes the history of the hills church and again it is a stunning read but i'm confused lord i i preached at that church for over 30 years i don't remember most of these things i don't know that's all i was willing to do through that church but you can go read the magazine of the things they asked me to do i do not want to learn in heaven of all we could have seen if only we had asked for it god will do more than we ask if we ask more and so we ask for nations and generations for the next 40 days we're going gonna pray as a church every day tonight at five o'clock thousands of us who care about the future of this church are gonna come to our campuses we're gonna launch this vision with prayer we are going to sustain this vision for the next five years by praying and we will accomplish our vision because we prayed and god will get the glory because only he can do what we are asking for here's the thing god still moves mountains and prayer still moves god bow your heads i got a strange way for you to start your prayer i want you to pray i bet some of you have never prayed this before i want you to pray that god will inspire you to pray more i want you to take a moment just say lord please increase in me a burden to pray for my family and my church oh god so many churches have gotten used to subnormal that if normal ever showed up it would feel abnormal what we're asking god is that extraordinary become ordinary again what we're asking god is that you would give us a bigger and bolder heart to ask for your name's sake and through jesus we ask this amen let me ask you all to stand now i want our church to become a church of prayer so much that prayer is just the air we breathe it's not a small thing that every time we meet we offer the gift of prayer i'm looking forward to the day when that never happens without a line of people coming to get prayed for that it's just normal for our church we pray first about everything so we're gonna offer the gift of prayer we've got people to my right in our prayer room ready to receive you to pray about anything to pray about everything we're gonna receive anyone this morning that wants to be baptized into jesus and to start their walk with him so please come probably worship you are beautiful beyond description to marvelous [Music] like nothing ever seen you are beautiful beyond description just [Music] in all of you [Music] i stand i stand in all of you holy god [Music] the splendor [Music] let all the earth rejoice all your rejoice he wraps himself in light and darkness tries to hide it trembles at his voice trembles at his voice with me how great is [Music] and time is in his hands beginning and the end beginning at the end the gods [Music] [Music] the lion and the lamb great is our god sing with me how grace how great is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] did you arrange that hey are you grateful for ryan christian and his gift of arranging that is so good i didn't grow up saying acapella but every time i'm like oh my word it's just so good oh thank you god hey we serve a great great god we really do do you believe that this morning i know i do these are the prayer guys i wanted you to see one they're available at the welcome centers like pastor rick said but here's the deal uh if you are more of a pdf person or an audio person like rick was referring to do not grab one leave that for the people that prefer this and just go to nationsgenerations.org to grab your preferred way of praying we're all gonna pray if it's in your car on your way to work if it's in the morning when you wake up in the evening before you go to bed we're all gonna pray for the next 40 days or we're going to start today at 5 00 p.m we love you and we'll see you at 5. peace [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] you're the only one you care [Music] [Music] [Applause]

Channel: The Hills Church

Views: 900

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Id: dT6LQu0OuVY

Length: 75min 37sec (4537 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021