The Pursuit | 09.13.20 | Sunday Services

[Music] [Music] cause we need to cry is [Music] is for you come and do what you do we are here for you come and [Music] [Music] cause we [Music] we need [Music] you know the earth will our hearts will cry these bones our hearts will cry these our hearts will cry these bones our hearts will cry we are here for you [Music] [Music] this is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] yes miracles are happening in this room right now oh the presence of the lord is in this place [Music] bro come on drink deep this morning drink deep of the joy drink deep from the healing waters drink deep from the fountain of love and life hey hey hey there's joy in the house [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and we are here forever [Music] [Music] cause need [Music] [Music] is [Music] we set our hearts on yours [Music] to [Music] most beautiful [Music] there's one thing i desire yes laying out your feet [Music] is [Music] [Music] this will be my posture [Music] is laying dearest father [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] yes [Music] there's another [Music] [Music] oh [Music] beautiful so beautiful yes jesus i fix my eyes on you your [Music] your beauty [Music] your beauty so beautiful day [Music] [Music] oh [Music] i'm captivated [Music] everything changes [Music] [Music] just [Music] just one case [Music] i now can see [Music] i'll never [Music] never the same just one look everything changes i'm captivated again and again and again and again i'm captivated again and again and again and again when i gaze into your eyes when i gaze into your heart when i sit at your feet i'll never be the same no i'll never be the same because of your love because of your blood because of your sacrifice i'll never be the same never be the same [Music] follow me on me [Music] it's what i was made for what i was designed for [Music] now [Music] my [Music] is oh [Music] [Music] just you just you just you just [Music] jesus [Music] to you [Music] [Music] foreign you have been so so good [Music] before i took a breath you [Music] know [Music] [Music] [Music] oh reckless love [Music] when i was still your love fought for me [Music] you have been so so kind [Music] oh it [Music] till you give yourself love of god [Music] oh [Music] [Music] there's no shadow you won't light up mountain you won't climb coming after me [Music] [Music] coming down [Music] oh it chases me [Music] yourself away oh [Music] please [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] coming out tonight i [Music] oh [Music] [Music] give is away [Music] now that's what jesus says 11. he said come to me all you who are weary and burdened and i will give you rest he said take my yoke upon you and learn from me for i am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light freddie it means this morning that if you came in heavy you can leave light if you came in with anxiety you can leave with peace if you came in with sickness you can leave with healing because this jesus is our portion through the power of the holy spirit and so as we're singing and as we're confessing and believing this morning what we're declaring is that we dare to believe that god is as good as scripture says he is and i can promise you this morning that this god is at work not just in this building in a corporate sense but in your life and in your family in an individual sense as we add our faith one to another and together as we agree on the priorities of heaven we pray your kingdom come your will be done in the northwest even as it's being done in heaven the great physician is here this morning the lifter of our heavy head is here this morning the great i am is here this morning the provider is here this morning the lord our banner who gives us victory is here this morning he's not a far off he's not on a throne by removed from his people he is alive and active in the church today and as we call on his day the mountains they melt like wax the low waves are made high and the highways are made alone the crooked ways are made straight so let god arise and let his enemies be scattered and less let's in this place together agree that in his presence i've got fullness for my life so god this morning we just invite you to do your best work we say sickness bows its knee in the name of jesus we say anxiety and stress and depression bows its knee at the name of jesus we say every other inferior spirit it bows its knee at the name of jesus and we say where the spirit of the lord is there is freedom and there is liberty for those who are in captivity we say that where the anointing of god is it breaks the yoke of bondage we say for this reason the son of god was made manifest to dismantle the works of darkness and we say in this place in this region in this city in this house today there is freedom found under the name of jesus come on friend let's lift us out listen to praise come on let's lift a shout to sporting our god is on the throne who can stand against him this is the god we worship come on let's sing it [Music] again [Music] [Music] oh [Music] recklessly oh our powerful power come on in any environment where the name of jesus is lifted high come on things begin to change you might not feel at this morning i feel it but you might not feel it this morning but don't allow your feelings to lie to you about what god is doing in this moment come on jesus is in the house and the bible says there is healing in his wings and when he begins to rise all of those who are on his wings begin to rise as well and friend we're going up in the northwest we're rising in the northwest why because god is on the throne he wasn't voted in he can't be voted out his kingdom is unshakable his word is sure and this jesus is worthy of all honor and all worship and all praise in every generation in every tribe and every tongue in every nation come on all across this region the lamb is to receive the reward of his suffering come on one more time i don't [Music] come on let's oh shout to the lord hey would you take a minute say hi to a friend all the way back to your seat man thanks so much for joining us for pursuit [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] hey pursue family thanks so much for joining us here at church today for joining us here in person online welcome back here are your morning announcements hey we just want to remind you guys if you are a guest here at pursuit you want to learn more about the church you haven't met any of the pastors here on staff yet we have a special vip experience for you coming up on september 20th after the 9 a.m or 11 am service if you want more information head to connection center after service you can figure out how you can be a part of that also on september 20th we have special guest sam dude coming up from southern california to be with us here on sunday so make sure to mark your calendars be here for the 9am or 11am service hey if you are a sophomore older in high school pursuit youth internship is now open for sign ups if you want to learn how to grow more in your spirituality you want to meet some new friends or figure out a way you can serve in the local church make sure to head to the foyer in the back we have a table set up for pursuit youth so you can find more information about how you can be involved we wanted to remind you guys that at our 9 a.m service we have a special room set aside for members of our community who are high risk to cobin 19. we've sanitized the room it's all good to go nice and clean for you guys so if you want more information you want to be part of that room during our 9 a.m service head to the connection center after service for more info hey that's all the analysis we have for you today thank you so much again for joining us if you haven't already done so make sure to follow us on social media we're on instagram facebook and youtube you can find us by searching at the pursuit in w or head to pursuit nw.com or you can text pursuit guest to 94090 thanks again for joining us we'll see you guys next weekend hey friends pastor russell here coming to you on announcement video again this sunday as we're letting you know about our new process by which we receive the tithe and offering here on sunday morning now normally i do this announcement in person but we're doing this in a digital format going forward just to help people out there are a couple ways that you can give in this community obviously we've got our text to give program people give in person here on sunday morning others give online or through our app we just encourage people to continue to be generous with the house of god especially in this season we view generosity not as an emotional moment on a sunday but as the discipline of the christian life and so i just want to say thank you for partnering thank you for believing with us as we stand to see the goodness of god in the land of the living we believe what the apostle paul says to the church in philippi my god will supply according to his resources in heaven so we believe that for us we believe that for you and together we're going to add our faith and continue to invest in god's house in this season in just a moment the band is going to play and that will signify an opportunity for you at this time to come forward and engage in giving with the buckets on stage here at the pursuit thank you so much god bless you as you give thank you for your generosity [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] my [Music] awesome hey well i don't know how many of you had apocalyptic smoke on your bingo card for 2020 but here we are uh on this sunday in september so thanks so much for braving the weather uh and being out here this morning i heard on the news they said being outside for an hour is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes and so for some of you you're smoking two an hour and uh anyways uh thanks for being here god is on the throne we're gonna be okay uh and uh he is working things out together for those who love him and so we just believe that we serve a god who has who is as faithful now as he's ever been uh which means that he wrote the beginning of my story from the end of my story and every season is literally marked by his faithfulness and his goodness and so we believe together we add our faith together in this environment and we believe that my god who is able will do exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever ask think or imagine friend you don't want what you deserve you want what christ has earned on your behalf sometimes as christians we get a little entitled i just wish god would give me what i deserve no you deserve hell i deserve judgment but what we have gotten through the shed blood of jesus entered in through the torn veil of his flesh is eternal life that doesn't begin when i get to heaven but begins right now in this moment when i confess jesus as lord and savior of my life and so you're the right place at the right time you could have been born anywhere but you were born in this season and you live in this region which is proof positive of a couple of things number one god's got a sense of humor number two you got enough resource in your life not just to make it through but to thrive and develop and see the goodness of god in the land of the living david says it this way of the old testament i was young and now i'm old but god's people are never forsaken the righteous never go hungry and so we're just going to dare ourselves to believe that god is as good as the bible says he is and then build our lives off of an unshakable king and an unshakable kingdom our hope our joy our peace is not connected to the stock market is not connected to political outcomes is not connected to different sociological movements our hope our peace our joy is grooted grounded and rooted in a place where moth and rust cannot destroy and if you find yourself invested in any lesser thing in this season the climate of the hour will expose the foundation of your life and when the storms come and they will and they have those who are built on the rock it reveals that they are not shaken if you have a bible open the gospel of mark chapter 5 mark 5 preaching part 2 of a two-part sermon that i began last week talking about principalities and powers in the region i believe that we are engaged in spiritual conflict whether or not we're aware of it i think as a function of being in the west oftentimes we take spiritual things and we reduce them to natural things we've got a diagnosis for everything an explanation for everything we've become too enlightened for our own good and removed this supernatural element from our world view and there's a lot of other places around the world many of those that i've i've had the privilege of going to and ministering in and preaching in and and their cultures have a greater appreciation for spiritual things sometimes in in our part of the world we say things like well why don't i see the miracles here that they see over there or why don't we see some of the things that we're hearing about around the world of god doing and miracles happening and supernatural signs why don't we see those here and i think oftentimes it's because we've developed theological constructs that explain away everything that god's trying to do and instead of letting god be god we've replaced him with the wisdom of man and we've called it intellectualism and frank can i tell you there is there is nothing more important in this season to be an individual who is grounded and rooted on the word of god dwelling in the house of god inviting god's presence to do its best work in your life in mark 5 jesus is traveling to a region called the gatherings and for those of you who may be familiar with this story often times it's referred to as jesus's interaction with the demoniac at the gatherings jesus here is having an interaction with a regional spirit and i think it helps reveal some important things that i want to communicate to you this morning about what it looks like to operate in the god-given authority that you have i think the tragedy of our christianity today is that we live so far below what christ died to give us and so you know sometimes people think well you're preaching extreme christianity fred this is normal christianity if we can just get to normal christianity the world will change and so for me my conviction is to be a person who reads scripture more importantly allows scripture to read me and then inform the way that i interact with the world around me i don't want to reach heaven and find out that i live below 80 or 90 of what christ died to give me you walk today in a supernatural authority that gives you the ability to be an agent of change in your sphere of influence and the only question that you ought to ask yourself this morning is am i using the authority that christ died to give me and mark 5 the bible records a story about an interaction that jesus has and i'm going to read part of it for you this morning starting in verse 1 of mark 5 the bible says this they went across the lake to the region of garrison and when jesus got out of the boat a man with an impure spirit or a demonic spirit came out of the tombs to meet him and a man lived in tombs and no one could bind him anymore not even with a chain for he had often been shamed hand and foot but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet in fact no one watched no one was strong enough to subdue him i said this last week let me say it again when you walk in the spirit you don't have to look for demons they'll find you when we bought this building two years ago i've been empty for a number of years obviously as many of you know as a former jcpenney jc petty had a national restructuring went bankrupt and there was one store in all of washington that became available at that time and it happened to be this store right here it wasn't for sale it was police but we contacted the owner he agreed to a sales price and not too many months later we moved in and began a massive overhaul remodel of this thing from top to bottom in fact you're sitting in a mostly finished there's always some work being done but a mostly finished building that about a year and a half ago didn't have bathrooms didn't have hot water on the inside it was missing walls missing insulation all sorts of things and it has been a miracle an act of god to get this place suitable for our services today i remember i would have this interaction as i was working here in the remodel we'd be having cruise all day all night working around the clock trying to get this thing up and ready to go and it happened about three or four times before i recognized what was happening but i would go outside on a break get some fresh air and i would notice that there would be one or two individuals who had pulled up in a car or walking around this building and cursing the church and i thought to myself out of all the things that you could be upset about a church taking over an abandoned building drawing hundreds of new people into the city to spend money at restaurants to populate parks to buy houses to be a part of the community out of all of the things that you could be outraged about in the world around us this is what you choose to be upset about finally about the third or fourth time it happened it's like the lord finally hit me over the head and said russell you're dealing with a spirit and all of a sudden it clued me into this idea that as the church advances we're taking territory out of the kingdom of darkness translating it into the kingdom of light as a believer in this region you are a part of a kingdom that is in conflict against the gates of hell and just jesus as he's talking about the church says the church will be founded on the rock of revelation that jesus is the son of god and the gates of hell will not prevail against the offensive advancement of the church which means we're not just here to hold a service i'm not just here to do a food drive i'm not just here to provide clothing at the clothing bank i'm not against any of those things but we can't reduce the level of spiritual warfare that god has called us to and just reduce it to a community cause no we're here to plunder hell and populate heaven and that is putting every demon in hell on notice that there's a church that has found her voice and when this church gathers on sunday morning i want the devil to shake at his boots i want him to be a little shook i want him to be a little scared those people know what it looks like to pull on heaven in such a way that what is happening above begins to happen below we are here in advancement doing the work of the kingdom and with everywhere the soul of our foot treads god has given us the authority in this region and demons are part of the fall they have been disempowered by the cross but they are still at work in the lives of people today through the principle of agreement oftentimes i think when christians think about demons they have one of two extremes the first extreme is that there are demons everywhere and for some reason they are always out to get me everything wrong in my life can be attributed to demonic activity and frankly i think oftentimes those people are dealing with a spirit it's the spirit of stupid not necessarily demonic but they're individuals who've kind of developed a conspiracy theory that all of hell is solely focused on them having a bad day there's demons everywhere and then there's this other extreme and that other extreme just looks at the world and sees a natural world with no spiritual components at all and anytime there's a problem you just gotta try harder or use more strength or spend more money because really that's how the world operates can i challenge you to have a scriptural view of the interplay between the spiritual world and the physical world in our lives in this moment in second corinthians 4 and verse 4 paul tells the church the god of this age satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of christ who is the image of god paul says this in ephesians 2 as for you you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient so paulier is constructing a narrative helping the church understand the role of the spiritual world in their spiritual lives what he's saying to them is yes the enemy has been disempowered publicly embarrassed and shamed by the cross however spiritual entities work through the principle of agreement which is essentially this what i will agree with in my spirit i will release through my life this is why it's so important to agree with what god says about who you are where you're going and what you ought to do because if you don't agree with him eventually what you'll find yourself doing is agreeing with demonic forces that cause you to be pointed in the wrong direction paul says this in second corinthians 2 do not be ignorant of the devil's devices i want you to see what's happening here in mark 5 jesus is walking into a region the gatherings that previously has not had a gospel witness before and because of that there is a battle for the region that's about to unfold friend you cannot medicate a demon away you cannot imprison a demon away you cannot can't counsel a demon away you can't negotiate a demon away watch what jesus says or mark says of jesus interaction in mark 5 it says and no one was strong enough to subdue him friend let me tell you this this morning the issue isn't strength it's authority no one was strong enough to subdue him they already put him in the tombs he was already breaking the chains the bible says he was taking the rocks and cutting himself and bleeding he was already possessed they already didn't know what to do with him they already tried to lock him up best they could and nobody had the strength to subdue him until jesus shows up that's why scripture says it's not by might nor by power but by his spirit alone sometimes we try to fight these battles in our own strength with our own wisdom with our own resources and we wonder why we leave whooped up more tired than we were before and friend can i tell you you're not engaged in a physical conflict but a spiritual one in fact paul says it this way to the church our battle is not against people it's not against flesh and blood but principalities and powers where in heavenly places so you ought to have a heavenly worldview a heavenly outlook on the world around you else you'll find yourself engaged in a lot of fights that you end up losing because you don't recognize what you're actually opposing it's a spirit now that's what the bible says in mark 3 and verse 27 no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man and then he will plunder his house watch you could have the biggest muscles in the world but when you get pulled over on the way home from the gym for speeding the issue isn't who has more strength the issue is who has more authority see i can gain strength through my knowledge of the word i could gain strength through the development of theological ideas i could gain strength through an academic pursuit but authority in god comes from intimacy with god and you either have it or you don't and you can fake a lot of things but you can't fake history with god you confront on a lot of stuff but either you've been with him or you haven't the bible says this to the disciples that they weren't elegant eloquent in speech but even those who are not believers recognize these men have been with god and we've been a lot of other places and we've been up in everybody else's business and we've been online with all of our opinions and we've been everywhere else but the presence of god and frank can i tell you when you spend time with him you don't even have to tell people they just no oh man them people been with god wow and those people they don't get it right all the time but those people they've been with god it's not an issue of strength it's an issue of authority the bible says this in matthew 7 when jesus finished saying these things the crowds were amazed at his teaching because he taught as one who had authority and not as the teachers of the law you ever been in a conversation or a situation and all of a sudden it hits you like a ton of bricks i'm not dealing with a person i'm dealing with a spirit see a spirit doesn't make any sense it only exists to cause confusion and chaos and lawlessness and what you need in your life to deal with those types of spirits is this type of authority the scribes the teachers of the law the pharisees the sadducees the bible says they were amazed not because jesus had the best illustrations but they were amazed when he simply unrolled the scroll and read out of the prophet isaiah because they said no one speaks with this type of authority okay i tell you fred if there is one thing the church needs in this hour maybe more than anything else is an authority that comes from being with him and if we'll have an authority it'll give us a voice to speak into culture instead of just reacting to whatever culture does see for too long the church has been the echo of culture instead of the voice in the culture and when we get our authority back it gives us the ability to come up higher i'm not speaking from an earthly place i'm speaking from a heavenly place i know you've got your opinions and your ideas and your positions and all those types of things but when you've got the voice in the authority of heaven it shifts something in the region we're not just going to preach into a vacuum and hope people listen we're going to use our god-given authority to shift the narrative of the northwest and i believe and i hope you can too that the northwest ultimately will not be known as kind of this pagan place that's resistant to the gospel but instead a hotbed of revival and reformation but what it will take is the church to find her voice and her position once again we got to be a voice of authority oh watch what the scripture tells us here matthew 16 jesus says i will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven whatever you bind on earth watch will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven which means this what i agree with on earth will be released in heaven okay fred what does the subtle agreement with the enemy look like in your life i'm always going to be sick i'm always going to be broke nothing will ever change for me i guess my family is just cursed i guess my marriage is just cursed i guess my finances will just never turn around see some of you have called it pessimism and it's actually spiritual agreement with regional principalities and powers see that's why scripture talks about confessing the good confession of faith why because what you confess with your tongue remember the power of life and death is where and the power of the tongue in your tongue and so what you confess with your mouth becomes the reality of your life sometimes christians develop this over overly negative worldview and they just come into subtle agreement with what the enemy says about their future and then they walk into negative self-fulfilling prophecies and have the goal to get mad at god can i challenge you this morning you got to stir yourself to change your interior dialogue because if your interior dialogue looks like what the enemy says about your life not only are you not walking in your authority but you're coming into agreement with what hell says not what heaven says do you know that you will get exactly what you have faith for jesus in matthew 9 heals a blind man the bible says this he touched their eyes and said according to your faith let it be done unto you you know when you recognize that you're dealing with the father of lies you understand the need or the importance to continually confess the truth i have to remind my flesh continually whose authority i'm under i've got to remind my spirit continually whose authority i'm under i'd love at the moment of salvation just to be able to confess once and be good for life i think oftentimes when we think about confession in a religious context we think about confessing to a priest in kind of a catholic environment but i want you to think about confession today as the prophetic things that you declare over your life and over your future and you know sometimes we say well if it was really a confession we just say it once and it'd be all good you ever forgive somebody and then have to keep reminding yourself that you've forgiven them because those old feelings like to come back can i tell you man the same thing works for your healing the same thing works for your provision the same thing works for your family we confess the good confession of faith until what is true on the interior is manifest on the exterior so we're going to confess the good confession of faith my god will supply my god will heal my god will bring it all back my god will work it out my god will do this my god will be as good as scripture says here i might not see it today but my confession is set on what scripture tells me should be the reality for my life i'm gonna confess it inside until i see it outside it's the good confession of faith now watch what happens the bible says this verse five night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones night and day among the tombs he would cry out and cut himself with stones see i think we live in a region where people whether they know it or not are crying out for a church that has power may not know it but i tell you what they're looking for a people that has been with jesus and that actually has power behind the things that they say it's weird in kind of these demonic interactions there's always a connection with blood or cutting we saw it with the prophets of baal in the old testament as they're walking around hoping their god is going to answer by fire they're cutting themselves they're crying out they're pleading a few weeks ago i was at a worship event in seattle and a couple churches gathered a couple people gathered we're just worshiping in the streets and i figured if they could do everything else in the streets we can worship and so he was worshiping in the streets and i got a text on my phone they said hey there's some counter protesters people upset at worship it just amazes me what people are outraged about in this season they go mad at everything else and now they're mad at people worshiping their protesters will come they want to protest the people worship it okay well anyways we saw these protesters coming down the streets and they was holding these balls balls just big old something you bought from costco a big old bowl of something i couldn't see what it was they had gloves on carrying these bowls what we found out later was that it was blood in the bowls and four or five of them they were coming as a sign to protest they're going to try to dump blood people who are worshiping i want you to see something in the demonic world they are always trying to counterfeit what we know to be true in the kingdom see we are covered by his blood empowered by his blood forgiven by his blood and but the enemy that's why he loves to work through things like self-harm and suicide and cutting and the shedding of blood because it's a counterfeit trying to mock the authentic and in verse 5 there's a man in the tubes he's cutting himself crying out day and night now watch what happens when he saw jesus from a distance he ran and fell on his knees in front of him and he shouted at the top of his voice what do you want from me jesus son of the most high god in god's name don't torture me now watch this see the parallel between this passage of scripture and the passage i preached on last week acts 16 paul and silas in the city of philippi paul and silas are walking into the city a demoniac comes out to greet them and says the same language that this man says to jesus in the tombs he identifies them as being son of the most high god an individual with a demon correctly identifies a person walking under the authority of the father james 2 19 the bible says this even the demons believe and they tremble and watch what they call him jesus son of the most high god friend when i'm engaged in spiritual conflict what is most evident in my life is my god-given level of authority i am recognized by who i am under and in order for you to have authority over you have to be submitted under in fact your level of submission determines your level of authority watch what david says in psalms 91 he who dwells in the secret place of the most high he shall abide under the shadow of the almighty i will save the lord he is my refuge and my fortress my god and him i will trust surely he'll deliver me surely he'll cover me with his feathers i will not be afraid a thousand may fall at my side ten thousand at my right but it will not come near me no evil will befall me no plague will come near my dwelling his angels will have charge over me i'll tread on the lion and the cobra i'll be delivered he'll set me on high i will call on him he will answer me with long life he will satisfy me why because i am under the shadow and what i am under determines what i am over i am under his shadow so i am over the sickness i am under his authority which means i am over principalities and powers i am under the mighty hand of the lord and so he will promote me in due time come on don't you see the interplay of scripture what i am under he has given me authority over right what are we under today submission has become a dirty word because of its misuse in church marriage society and other places but godly submission is one of the most powerful weapons of your spiritual warfare see in the past authority might have been abused by people who need to feel as if they are in control of other people's lives but to me godly submission looks like a commitment to engage in spiritual community and not act as if you are above being challenged in your life so we got free agents today not submitted anywhere acting like they have authority everywhere creating problems that they aren't willing to stick around and clean up see submission leads to authority and authority leads to victory and that's why paul says fight the good fight and you know what a good fight is it's one you win a good fight is not one you lose god doesn't hand out participation trophies there's a little trophy glad you tried better luck next time no paul says you are engaged in conflict therefore fight the good fight a good fight is one in which you win but you don't win with your strength you win with your authority so i've got authority in this region and so do you and it manifests in the way that his kingdom comes to earth in our sphere of influence when you don't have authority it doesn't matter what else you have because it won't ever be enough let me give you a biblical picture of what it looks like to operate without authority acts 19 and god was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick and their diseases left him and the evil spirits came out of them and some of the itinerant jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the lord jesus over those who had evil spirits saying i adjure you by the jesus whom paul proclaims seven sons of a jewish high priest named skeva were doing this but the evil spirit answered them jesus i know and paul i recognize but who are you and the man in whom was the evil spirit leapt on them mastered all of them overpowered them so they fled out of the house naked and wounded watch what happens here in verse 8. mark 5 for jesus had said to him come out of this man you in pure spirit and jesus asked what is his name the man responds my name is legion he replied for we are many watch and he begged jesus again and again not to send them out of the region watch there was a legion in a region jesus is addressing an individual but really he is taking authority over a territory now watch what's happening here in mark 5. we'll go anywhere just don't make us leave this region we'll do anything that you want just don't make us leave this region and friend i feel like sometimes in our faith we are put to sleep by an enemy who allows us to operate on a leash gather on sunday morning you'll be all right just don't disrupt the region yeah do your little christian gathering but just don't cancel any demons and just give me the region yeah you just do your little christian thing week after week service after service but whatever you do don't take territory in this region and can i tell you friend that's not what i've signed up to do i'm putting hell and every demon on notice we're coming for the region see when you don't have heaven's authority you'll operate off of his watch hey yeah and you could serve the lord in ministry but your kids won't follow jesus right now you can serve the lord in ministry but you're going to be broke your entire life right how you can do these types of things but you know there will be a cost enemy is going to come after you all these things are going to happen you can go after healing but you're going to be sick all your life come on fred we don't believe that we don't confess that we're not going to receive that as every good and perfect gift that comes from the father above the father of light in him there is no shadow of turkey we don't receive or believe those types of things because i'm not operating on the devil's mandate but instead on the fathers i think sometimes christians believe like man the enemy is going to work overtime just to kill me friend i don't think the enemy has to kill you to make you not a threat i think he just has to put you to sleep in comfortable christianity oh you don't have to blow out your candle he just has to keep you contained and that's why our prayer for this church and for these people is that god would set such a fire inside of us that the entire region would catch with revival and reformation we cannot be contained you want to play church show up every eight weeks tie three percent that devil doesn't care you want to sign up to plunder hell and populate heaven all of a sudden the chemo of darkness begins to shake now watch what happens i want you to notice something they begged jesus do not send us out from this region why because they were on assignment in a locality and received their power from the agreement of people in that region friend until you address the territorial strongman or the regional spirit you won't have authority to conduct spiritual business jesus is greeted by a spirit and prior to doing the father's business he exposes and takes authority over the region now watch what the bible says of jesus very interesting matthew 13 and he could not do many miracles in his hometown because of their lack of faith if jesus couldn't do many miracles in a region because of the spirit of unbelief what happens when he finds a people who will agree on the priorities of heaven did you know that unbelief is a regional territorial spirit in the northwest that restricts and blinds people from receiving [Music] in hebrews 3 and verse 19 the author of hebrew says this about the hebrew children in the wilderness so we see that they were not able to enter the promised land because of their unbelief regions and territories have spirits and a spirit of unbelief kept an entire generation from entering their promised land watch there was a generation of israelites who would not agree with what god said about where they were going so god in turn agreed about where they would be staying and the wilderness represented a spirit of unbelief that kept them out of their rest [Music] we're doing regional business here and what i love about this interaction in mark 5 is that jesus is demonstrating both the concern for the one and a concern for the many see jesus can't reach the many until he deals with the one but jesus the good shepherd is demonstrating a concern for both and in doing so unlocks a region for a gospel witness and all of a sudden the spiritual climate begins to shift over the gatherings it's so interesting with this smoke coming over the region and the lord spoke to me on the way to church said even as this smoke and this fog looks like a lid on the northwest by my spirit i am blowing and we will see a spiritual lid come off of this region unbelief it bows its knee at the name of jesus now watch let me end here let me end here [Music] when you get delivered but you fail to develop your house gets swept clean only in order for more spirits to come back and watch what jesus says in luke 11 when an impure spirit comes out of a person it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it and then it says i will return to the house that i left and when it arrives it finds the house swept clean and put in order and then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself and they go in and they live there and the final condition of that person is worse than the first that's what jesus says in luke 11 meaning this it's not enough for me to get delivered i've got to get developed because if i get delivered but i don't guard the house then what happens is eventually i find myself seven times more afflicted than i was before and here's the problem see some of us get delivered on sunday but we don't marry it to development on monday and then we wonder why we don't have victory in our lives and frank can i tell you today i believe god by his spirit is using scripture to expose sometimes things that operate as deficiencies in our spiritual diet god deliver me god deliver me god deliver me and he does but then he invites you to development and unless you respond in these moments with a developmental spirituality i promise you you'll end up worse than you were before but when a person gets developed and a family gets developed and an individual gets matured and a group of people gets stirred up in the innermost and all of a sudden what they find is their freedom match to structural development in their spirituality friend that's when entire regions begin to shift that's where entire families come into the kingdom in one moment that's when entire key players those who've got keys to ancient gates and old doors begin to resonate with the sound of heaven that's when the business of the kingdom begins to be conducted by the church so for us come on we believe that god has given me authority to do more than just complain about the world around me i'm gonna get delivered and then i'm gonna get developed and then almost see my household changed my city changed my community changed and my region forever impacted by a jesus who is worthy of all worship all praise and all adoration come on would you stand all across this room [Music] and i want to end praying for you adding my faith to yours i believe god today is giving you keys to the kingdom he's given you keys of authority in your family he's given you keys of authority in your workplace come on he's giving you keys of authority in your neighborhood we're not just here to play church or to occupy space until christ returns well we're here to make a dent in the region and that's why we're going after regional things we're going after sickness we're going after depression we're going after unbelief because this wilderness is not where we're gonna stay when god has given us a promised land in the northwest and so we declare from snohomish to seattle jesus is lord we declare all up and down the west coast that the spiritual lid is coming off that the atmosphere is shifting that what god is doing in this moment is going to mark people for eternity that the church is gonna find her voice christians are gonna find their authority and we're gonna see a move of god like never before come on frey would you raise your hands all across this place father we pray your power and your fire into the heart of every believer gathered under the sound of my voice and god we ask for a stirring we ask for a stirring in the deep places of who we are god we pray that in this moment there would be a response to the invitation of heaven to rule and reign to co-labor and coheir with god in christ jesus seated in heavenly places in god we declare over this region which nahomash will be saved the northwest will be impacted the kingdom of heaven will come to earth the church will arise christians will find their authority and god we say for your glory for your kingdom for your fame for your advancement in jesus name come on freya let's see what a song is for every wall comes crashing down i have the authority jesus has given me when i open up my mouth miracles start breaking out i have the authority jesus has given when i lift my voice when i lift my voice and shout every wall comes crashing down [Music] miracles when i lift my voice and shout everyone comes crashing down i have the earth come on let's lift up our voices here we go listen i feel like we need to release a shout that's gonna break some walls down over family systems and structures some of you are believing for sons and daughters to come home to get right with god some of you are believing for miracles to break out in your body in the body of your families i feel like to this morning as we lift our voice and shout god has given us the authority just like the children of israel they walked around jericho they marched around seven times and the bible says they lifted up a shout and the walls came down how many of you believe it this morning come on come on shout for the victory shout shout for the victory freedom [Music] one more time come on if this message if this is for you this morning come out of your seat come on respond to the altar come out of your seat respond to the altar if you're believing for a breakthrough financially you're believing for a breakthrough in your body you're believing for a breakthrough emotionally or relationally come on the god of miracles is here this morning come on let's come into agreement with heaven come on out of your seat come down to the altar this morning we're gonna believe together we're gonna agree together that god is able to do what he said hey [Music] when i lift my voice and shout sing it when i lift my voice and shout every wall comes crashing down i have the authority jesus has given me when i opened up i have the authority comes crashing down one more time come on shout shout for the victory [Music] come on fred all across this room best raise our hands it's an act of surrender it's a sign of faith god in this moment we receive back our authority to be everything that you sent jesus to pay such a high price for us to be we take back authority in our community come on frank we take back authority in our family come on fred we take authority back in our schools we take authority back in our places of business we take authority back in this generation we say this will be a generation that knows the lord we say this to be a region that honors the lord and we say from this moment forward there's a shift in the northwest there's a shift in snohomish there's a shift all up and down this region we say for his kingdom and his glory the church will advance by force come on again let's see it one more time come on pursue when i lift my voice and shout every wall comes crashing down i have the earth miracle start breaking out i have the authority jesus day come on pursue let's live to shout to the lord this morning [Music] now that's what church should be like we're going to be back here next week 9 a.m 11 a.m invite a friend a family member let them know about what god is doing in the northwest revival in our day reformation in our lifetime thanks so much for joining us for pursuing god bless you

Channel: The Pursuit NW

Views: 505

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Id: 76JqPEcrp1A

Length: 93min 35sec (5615 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 13 2020