The Pursuit | 10.11.20. | Sunday Services

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey good morning pursue good morning listen we're going to get started let's stand to your feet if you're able come on stand to your feet we're going to worship the lord this morning i want to invite you to make your way out of your seat come find a place at the altar make yourself comfortable in the sanctuary as we seek the lord today here we go [Music] i am a holy nation i am a priestly king a chosen generation to bring my offering i'm calling out for mercy i'm crying out for praise oh god come heal the nations and come change everything let god [Music] our arise let god arise let god arise [Music] [Music] [Music] let god [Music] [Music] you [Music] let god [Music] [Music] as we feel the throat [Music] destroys our enemies you fight so valiantly as [Music] [Music] over is region [Music] uh come on [Music] [Music] where the spirit was [Music] come rest on us [Music] you're here [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] open up through the room [Music] i'm here holy spirit come and rest upon us [Music] is oh you're here [Music] fill the room [Music] [Music] is is is i'm i'll be ready [Music] holy spirit holy spirit [Music] [Applause] [Music] breath of god [Music] yes [Music] me [Music] oh do what you want to do do what you want to do what you want to do [Applause] yes [Applause] holy spirit [Music] here are we one more time [Music] you're all we want jesus [Music] i love you lord oh your mercy never fails me all my days i've been held in your hands [Music] from the moment that i wake up till i lay my head i will sing of the goodness of god come on if you know what's singing with us all my life you have been [Music] all my life you have been so so good with every breath that i am able i will sing of the goodness of god and i love your voice [Music] as a father i've known you as a friend and i have lived in the goodness of god all my life you have been so good with every breath that i am [Music] is [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] today [Music] [Music] of the goodness of god i will sing of the goodness of god the goodness of god [Music] renew us in this day just like you said you would [Music] heaven words [Music] come jesus comes [Music] brethren left us [Music] unleash a fresh [Music] [Music] fresh [Music] is [Music] in our eyes [Music] fresh [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] unless [Music] i [Applause] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] my is is is [Music] [Applause] our [Applause] today unleash the fresh outpourings across across our land across our city streets across the national with fresh outpouring of your [Music] i want you to run to this altar if you are dry and feeling dry and weary and you need a fresh outpouring from heaven i want to invite you run to this altar the spirit of god here he's igniting a fire in our hearts again a first love fire come on run to this altar if you need a miracle if you're standing here pretending come on the spirit of god is moving the same spirit that raised christ from the dead is here to raise your mortal body to hear you we declare cancer is healed we declare blood disease is healed every blood disorder is healed arthritis is healed wow [Music] who you are we remember who you are [Music] we need a grain is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] i [Music] is nothing else we'll do we've been wrecked for you nothing else will do my hearts have been wounded for you we've tasted and we've seen we must have more and more your presence is heaven to me tell us your presence is heaven to me to my thirsty soul your presence his head to me just to see your face but your presence [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] your presence [Music] to is your presence [Music] is [Music] i said just breathe in his presence this morning [Music] everything you need is there every fountain for your soul healing for your body healing for your heart healing for your mind to me go on one more time just lift up those holy hands tell him your presence is heaven to me you're the one thing of my life your presence [Music] is [Music] is that's it just let your worship rise [Music] me [Music] is [Music] and see your water [Music] [Music] your is [Music] foreign bringing us to life there's a fire stirring in our hearts shadows [Music] [Music] oh we hear you calling this one calling us deeper into intimacy i said just linger with your lover just for another moment just linger with him come on just before we move on let's just just enjoy his presence delight in him [Music] communion unbroken fellowship [Music] david says this in psalms 27 there's one thing i have desired of the lord this thing i would seek to dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life to gaze upon his beauty and to inquire in his temple that in my time of trouble he would hide me in his pavilion he goes on to say this for my god has set me on the rock when enemies surrounded me when people came against me it was god and his foundation that stood strong frank could i tell you this morning that maybe the most important spiritual attribute in your life is that you're still a person who is moved in the presence of god that is what gets me about the narrative of david all the time he's been a shepherd a poet and now now he's a king and he's overseeing the nation he's got military conquest and riches and gold and [Music] everything that that you could possibly have and yet when he writes to the lord he's still a priest who is moved by the presence and week after week we gather in the glory of god it fills this place it fills this house and my commitment as a pastor as a leader that i still want to come here and be moved by his presence like it's my very first time and as i dwell in his house and as i gaze upon his beauty and as i inquire in his temple that i'm hidden in his glory hidden in his pavilion and in doing so my life is transformed and this god who saves cities in a day and he raises kings on monday and he sets them low on tuesday and he rearranges principalities and powers that this god who oversees it all is intimately interested in the finite details of your life and today this god is here to meet you at the place of your need we know that scripture says in his presence there is fullness for life and so today we receive out of his presence fullness for every inadequacy that we sense every area of incompleteness every area of my life that doesn't speak to wholeness healing fullness prosperity we submit it to the lordship of jesus and in doing so we receive from him today and so in exchange for sickness we have healing in exchange for anxiety and stress and depression we've got a peace that passes our understanding in exchange for dysfunction we receive function in exchange for chaos we receive order and in this environment god we say do what you do best if you will be our god we will be your people and we dare ourselves to believe this morning that god is as good as scripture says he is and we say god this morning we avail ourselves unto you come and do what only you can do not not by our mind or by our power but by your spirit alone the same spirit that opened the grave the same spirit that moves on the hearts of kings and queens and nations and cities god we thank you that that spirit is here and as jesus is high and lifted up in this place he receives the glory and the honor of his people and in doing so we magnify his presence and we multiply his benefit and so now god we say come and do what you must come and do what you will on the interior of who we are we say resurrection in exchange for death we say healing insanity in exchange for demonic entities and god we say in this temple be glorified and honored and magnified both now and forever receive our praise father we say you are worthy there is none like you there is nothing beside you and with your mighty outstretched right hand you resurrect us one more time it [Music] [Applause] why not yesterday's it's not yesteryears come on it's not what your parents had or your grandparents had it's not what you saw that somebody else had at one point in your life i've got good news for you church there is enough oil in the house for you today it's the oil of encounter it's the oil of intimacy it's the oil of experience and as we draw near to the one who is worthy his anointing it comes upon us and it's fresh for you today come on we receive the newness of life the living water the living breath hunger doesn't make sense to people who don't sense it but those who are hungry and thirsty they press past the filter of comfort they press past the membrane of comfort they press past the peripheral issues around them why because they're desperate those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be felt god our huggers set up god we just set our full gaze and full attention on you come on church wherever you're at in this place we just lift your hands straight to heaven god we just lift our our gaze we set our eyes on you jesus and lord we declare today that we are hungry people god we thank you lord that we're the the hungry are always fed god we thank you that the hungry are always fit so god right now i thank you that you're feeding people god with healing with more than enough god with whatever need they have god and i thank you lord that you are always there when we ask lord lord i thank you lord that you are here in our midst god and you are worthy god of our attention we love you and we praise you come on wherever you're at we just give the lord a shout of praise come on he is worthy he is holy he is good he is mighty we love you lord love you lord love you lord thank you jesus thank you jesus say hello to one or two friends on your way back to your seat thank you so much for joining us today for pursuit [Music] do [Music] hey good morning pursuit family thank you so much for joining us here in church today or joining us online here are your morning announcements hey we just wanted to give you guys a little bit of a programming change involving our room that we have set aside for those in our community who are high risk to cover 19 or nursing mothers right now we are only having that available at the 9am service the kids ministry is growing so we need that back room but if you want to still be a part of our services in person but can't be in the main sanctuary make sure to join us at our 9am service if you need more information just head to the connection center after service hey we just want to let you guys know that we are still hiring for pursuit preschool so if you have experience with working with kids or you'd like to apply you can go to pursuitpreschool.com or you can email preschool at thepursuitnw.com if you're new to our community and you'd like to get more involved find out more about the church or meet our pastors we have a vip experience coming up next weekend after the 9am and 11am services this is exclusive for anyone in our community who wants to become a member here at the pursuit if you want more information stay tuned for more details or head to the connection center after service hey youth and students we just want to remind you that we meet here every single wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m this coming wednesday the 14th we've got laser tag happening right here in the sanctuary so make sure to come out and hang out and we'll see you guys this week make sure to mark your calendars for sunday november 1st at 6 00 pm we are going to be holding an event here called hope for america where to gather to pray and worship have food and hang out it's fun for the whole family so make sure to come out on a sunday november 1st at 6 pm hey kids parents we wanted to remind you that we use text messaging to communicate with you throughout service if you could please be making sure to be checking your phone throughout service that would be really great and helpful for us just in case we need to reach out to you during service about your child and that's all the announcements that we have for you here at pursuit today again thank you so much for joining us here at church make sure to stay connected with us on social media and follow us there if you haven't done so yet you can find us by searching at the pursuit in w on instagram or facebook or you can head to pursuitnw.com also text pursuit guys to 94090 if you want to stay connected or get more updates on what's happening here at the church thank you guys so much hey pursue as you guys know we have switched from doing our offering in person to this online format and man we just want to thank all of our donors for continuing to support what the lord is doing here in our house if you want to partner with us today there's going to be a few options here on the screen for ways that you can give and contribute in a few seconds the band is going to start playing and when that happens that will signify your opportunity to come to the front and give if you're giving with an envelope this morning but again we just want to say thank you to everyone for continuing to support our house and we just love you guys and we're so thankful that you're a part of what god's doing here in the [Music] northwest [Music] all right pursue friends and family today is one of the most important days of the entire church calendar year does anyone know what it is it's officially clergy day or pastor appreciation day [Applause] [Music] [Applause] paul instructs the church in first timothy he says that those who are in preaching and teaching are deserving of double honor and to be held in high regard within our church so if i could have every pastor pastor adam pastor katie pastor russ and kim pastor mike pastor brenna and alex pastor brian and anna pastor judson and christina pastor hillary hearst if i can have you all come forward please and pastor maria there we are if we could get the buckets out we're gonna do a foot washing ceremony and um so just kidding just kidding kill you if we could bring the gift baskets we just want to say thank you so much and yes yes yes and i think we had a special something for pastor russell i thought it was a nicholas cage pillowcase or something he really likes uh national treasure just so you know it's his favorite movie fun fact about your pastor it's true but i just want to say this though you may ask yourself well how do i honor our how can i you know sitting out here how can i honor my pastor i'm going to tell you there's there's a few things you can do number three things three simple things number one come to church number two bring a friend and number three jump in and get involved wholeheartedly with this organization and with this church body just throw yourself into the fire and say god i'm ready just burn it all up burn me up for this because those who set themselves on fire for the lord people will come just to watch you burn it's the truth so i just want to everyone if we could give a standing ovation to our pastors and let's give a big pursuit thank you for our pastors for laying their lives down for this organization thank you thank you guys awesome awesome thank you awesome sit down sit down awesome hey welcome to church well i get the sense uh on sunday mornings that this uh this ought to be what church feels like it is it just ought to be ought to be a place of expectation anticipation where god shows up and in in and does things that that you don't have language for that confound your mind exceedingly abundantly more than we could ask or think that's the god we serve you don't have to come to church you get to come to church in the book of psalms david says this i was glad when they said unto me come to the house of the lord and sometimes for us we i think get a little casual with the house of the lord and i just want to remind us together me and you alike it's a privilege to be in the new testament spirit-filled local church you could be anywhere but you're here and we thank you for being here we think god is up to good work in the northwest i know 2020 is a little crazy and uh if all you ever do is watch the news or scroll social media you might feel depressed this morning but i'm telling you god is still on the throne he was on the throne yesterday he'd be on the throne today i've got it on good authority he'll probably be on the throne tomorrow we serve a good god who is doing good work in the earth he is still the desire of the nations whether the nations know it or not he is their desire and uh we uh as the church our mission our job is to bring glory and honor to jesus and as we do his presence becomes the transformative force in our lives and also in our communities now you know uh that we're in the middle of an election season and over the next number of weeks we've got different voter registration forms and things like that that we provide for people in the back we don't pretend to try to tell people that uh uh you know uh this is you've got to vote this certain way or that certain way i actually trust you to be an adult and hear from the lord and vote in accordance with your values and and things of that nature but we do encourage people to be civically engaged i think there is a responsibility that we have to be engaged and here's the reality no matter who wins everybody's going to complain about it anyways and so if you're going to complain about it at least have the integrity to vote okay if you go complain about the results at least have the integrity to be a part of the process and it's actually one of the great benefits we have there's a lot of people living in a lot of nations who don't have the opportunity to be a voice into the leadership and so i know it's not perfect here but uh you know a lot of people make a lot of comments about democracy and it's messy and it's imperfect but i tell you what travel around the world it's the best thing afloat okay so anyways be a part vote do your business and uh and and most of all be a faithful witness to the lord in this season this morning i'm gonna share with you a message i've entitled some assembly required some assembly required you know what it's like retrofitting a house buying something on black friday bringing home a big box the picture looks awesome but you open it up and the contents are messy and it's got three words on an instruction sheet in seven different languages that strike fear in the heart of every man or every woman some assembly required and you know what it means when you buy something from ikea and it says some assembly required it means you're going to build that entire thing from start to finish it's going to take so long that you wish you would have bought something that was a finished product and when we look at the church when we look at the assembly of god the assembling of god's people we recognize that we are being built together on purpose for purpose you know when we gather we get his glory but when we are assembled we get his authority where two or three are gathered he is there but where two or three agree whatever they command is done it's not just about glory we got that now we're moving into authority we need that we need authority in this region you know when i get in here on sundays we're praying with the team before the start of service i'm binding every witch i'm binding every ounce of witchcraft i'm binding every false spirit i'm binding every lying tongue why because we got people who are going to gather here on sunday morning and they've lived their entire lives under the assault of the father of lies and now on this sunday they got the opportunity to freedom not praying these like nice little prayers god i hope we have a good day maybe everyone gets here safe hopefully nobody's feathers are ruffled when people gather here on sunday morning it's for the express purpose to see the son of god made manifest in such a way that it destroys the works of darkness that have been against their life can i tell you friend there's been works of darkness against people in this region if you don't have a word from god there ain't no other reason you should live in the northwest we got nine months of rain crazy things happening in the street church work is hard unless you got a word from god i don't even know what you're doing here but when you've got a word from god after you've done everything to stand you better make sure to stand because something good is coming and that's what we prophesy in this region something good is coming you know on the bible belt you can sneeze somebody says god bless you you've got to make a church in the northwest it's a little tough you'd be pioneering preaching worshiping doing everything that you know how to do you got seven people show up six don't want to be there one is a critic and you're thinking where is the god of elijah but i tell you what man when you're in the center of god's will when you've got an ear to hear what the master is saying in this season you remain unrattled why because everything that can be shaken will be shaken to reveal things that can't be shaken and we have the opportunity in this season to be the church that is unshaken and friend the church that is unshaken is the church that is unstoppable well unstoppable we'll be a force for good in this region inviting his kingdom to come to earth and be manifest in supernatural ways now i'm going to read to you a list of verses here in a moment we're going to end in the book of matthew in chapter 18. and i want you to sense a theme that we see all throughout scripture both old testament and new i know sometimes when reading the bible it can seem like god was in a bad mood in the old testament and a good mood in the new testament and sometimes it's easy in our theology to divorce those gods from each other and can i tell you friend god's opinion hasn't changed god's character hasn't changed what has changed is that we now approach him through the veil of the torn flesh of his son jesus covered by the propitiation covered by his blood covered by his ransom sacrifice now made wholly acceptable unto him god hasn't changed we have god hasn't changed the covenant has and so i'm going to read you some verses some out of the old testament and others in the new testament and what i'm trying to create for you this morning is is a prophetic connection by which you can see the heart of god for his people now watch this amos three and verse three how can two walk together unless they agree john 17 verses 20 through 21 my prayer is not for them alone i pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that they may be one i have given them the glory that you gave me that they may be one i in them and you and me so that they may be brought to complete unity deuteronomy 19 by the mouth of two or three witnesses a testimony will be confirmed it's actually the reason why jesus on the mount of transfiguration appears with both elijah and moses both the law and the prophets it's the mouth of two that confirm the third watch matthew 21 and verse 22 and whatever you ask in prayer you will receive if you have faith john 15 7 if you abide in me and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you matthew 7 verses 7 through 8 ask and it will be given seek and you will find knock and it will be opened unto you for everyone who asks receives the one who seeks finds into the one who knocks it will be open first corinthians 1 and verse 10 i appeal to you brothers by the name of our lord jesus christ that all of you agree and finally in matthew 18 verses 19 through 20 again i tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for it will be done for you by my father in heaven for where two or three come together in my name there am i with them now watch the word agree that jesus uses in matthew 18 comes from this greek word somfonio it means harmonious to agree together to agree with it forms the english word symphony in in the original language greek this word had five primary meanings number one to be in agreement with in unison in one accord number two to speak together with agreement harmonious and united number three to agree with and declare statements agreed upon number four to champion with the same view or vision agreed upon to regard something as settled or to reach agreement watch what jesus is saying he's saying this when christians agree in accordance with his character it creates a symphony of petition that ushers in heaven's reality to earth's circumstance by the way in church that's why when we pray and when the preachers shout and we say things like this amen you know what that word means i agree and so when i at the end of a prayer say something like this in jesus name amen it's not just the tagline by which we close out prayers what we're literally saying is in jesus name we agree with this god to do this work and why is that important because when the church gathers in agreement heaven comes to earth fred is not just about being gathered it's about coming into agreement you know mom and dad can be gathered mom and dad can be married but if there's not an agreement between the couple there's chaos in the house sometimes we get all impressed with the fact that we've gathered look at how many people we've gathered look at all the people that are coming we've gathered god what more do you want the trick in our culture isn't to gather people it's to get more than two or three to agree on any one thing you know in our culture we value so much our opinions we value so much our preferences we value so much our personal identities and can i tell you fred when i use the word agree i don't mean it from man's perspective i mean it from god's perspective i know in this room today there are people who think different eat different act different speak different talk different they've got different family systems different family values believe it or not there are actually people here who vote different as well and it's going to be okay i promise you but here's what i'm communicating to you this morning when we talk about agreement with god what we're not talking about is all of our preferences have to align in order for us to go anywhere can i tell you something you don't even agree with you all the time you ever wake up in the morning with one opinion by the time you go to bed you got another one you ever stand in the mirror stare at yourself and have an argument with yourself about yourself we don't even agree with us all the time so if we make agreement on every little issue the paramount feature for relationship then what we will do is live lonely lives in echo chambers agreement doesn't look like we all have to think exactly the same about every issue in life and like all the same stuff and hate all the same stuff agreement with god looks like this it looks like when jesus had a conversation with his disciples and he says who do you say that i am peter responds he says you're the son of the living god jesus responds flesh and blood hasn't revealed that to you but my father above and upon that agreement that rock that revelation i will build my church yeah sometimes people come to church to go i don't like that song and worship that sermon i've heard it before that pastor he wears weird clothes it's too dark in here i don't like the lights that's smoke that's weird i don't like the smoke and they're looking for something to disagree with can i tell you friend you go find what you're looking for and if you don't disagree with something now just come back next week you'll find something else the goal is not that we have to have all of the same likes or all of the same preferences it's that we have to agree on the reality of his kingdom coming to this earth his kingdom come his will be done in the northwest even as it's being done in heaven that's why scripture says fight for unity because relationships don't presuppose it the theory of church the theory of marriage the theory of life the theory of relationship is a lot nicer and neater than the actual practice because when you practice it what you find is that you've got to sit next to people who disappoint you you've got to go to church with people who take you off you've got to interact with people who think differently and act differently and sound differently and you've got to make a decision in that moment is there something that's going to stop my agreement and so fred for you and i my encouragement for you is that you look past the filter you look past the filter of common disagreement and into god's environment of supernatural agreement you know one of the most profound things in life is to be prayed for by somebody that you don't like and receive a miracle i don't like their style and god just does it just to mess with you just to prove to you that it's not a question of style it's a question of substance you know when i need a miracle you know it's sometimes easy in our environment you know we kind of look at some of the word of faith guys and the healing guys and they're kind of wild and they kind of do you know that type of stuff it's not really my style i tell you what when you need a miracle it don't matter you watch in every serving series on miracles from every preacher that you made fun of why because you're desperate for god to do something in your life and what i've found is that if i will instead of bowing at the altar of my preference instead bow at the altar of his kingdom authority i can come into agreement with people from every tribe every tongue every nation around the idea that jesus is worthy and he wants to do something in this place my encouragement for you this morning fred when you think about the word symphony i don't know if you've ever been to a symphony before but symphonies find their power and find their strength not because everybody is playing the same note at exactly the same time but because there is a chorus of instruments all in the same key but playing different parts of that key in such a way that it creates a fullness to that sound when jesus is using the word agreement we get our word symphony from that word what he's not saying is everybody's got to look exactly like me you know what i love about jesus is as he works with the disciples he's taken people from all sorts of backgrounds he's got sons of thunder like john and james he's got peter who's always sticking his foot in his mouth he's got other guys who are tax collectors some who are fishermen he's got white color he's got blue color he's got people on all sides of the issues on all sides of the aisles and he's not trying to make them all look the same why because there's actually beauty and diversity there's beauty in this idea that we all don't come from the same background some got a lot of money some don't got any some are in the retirement season of life some are in the going to school trying to find a job season of life some are married some are widows some are single ready to mingle everybody's coming from a different place but we're all gathered under the jehovah neasy banner of him being worthy and him wanting to do something in the northwest see that's what a revival culture does it brings people from tribes tongues and nations you might look different but when i preach there's a sound that comes from my voice that resonates in your spirit this is what i've been looking for oh i'm hungry for this i love when new people come to the church and they say i didn't know a place like this was in the northwest and i go yeah but it's been in god's heart longer than it's been in ours and we built a house where our simple theological belief was that if we will come into agreement with him he'll do exceedingly abundantly more than we could ask or think and when you agree with heaven it doesn't matter who disagrees with you god's about to do something significant oh it's one thing to come into agreement with man but it's a whole nother thing to come into agreement with god when you come into agreement with god all of a sudden nations shift leaders change cities move all of a sudden when you come into agreement with god it's like the spiritual tectonic plates begin to move when you come in agreement with god let me illustrate for you this morning what i think of when when i hear the word symphony when i hear the word symphony and i don't think about it as as as everybody being the same or or everybody sounding the same or everybody looking the same but everybody playing their part see this is paul's instruction to the to the new testament church he says if if if everybody's uh uh trying to battle for attention and and if everybody's trying to try to run to the stage and and and if everybody's trying to operate in chaos then there is no order but where there is order anointing flow see david says this in psalms 133 he says when brothers dwell in unity a blessing flows from the head to the feet they say sometimes you get into a house or get to church it just feels disordered it feels like what's going on it feels like there's no clear direction there's no apostolic authority what's happening here in this environment but when you come into a house that is ordered even if it's spiritual supernatural and spontaneous you sense that there is a direction that it's being driven in and when you think about the word symphony or you think about that greek word agreement i want you to think about the idea of i am here at this church not to watch but to play my part and when you play your part and i play mine it creates a fullness in the sound and in our worship pastor ladies go demonstrate that this morning [Music] this is unison we're all singing the same note i [Music] oh lord now we bring in the harmonies singing [Music] apart [Music] is [Music] amazing come on let's show our appreciation powerful watch what happened the sound went from monotone to fullness it went from one voice one echo to all of a sudden a chorus of voices they're all singing different parts see we have thought that agreement means sameness no friend agreement means fruitfulness with otherness think about it in the context of marriage moses says it this way and jesus repeats it in the new testament he says for this reason a man leaves his father's house and a woman leaves her father's house that they would be united in covenant it's not an agreement with sameness it's an agreement with other it's male joining female for this purpose to reproduce and and and replensify the earth coming into agreement see your agreement doesn't have to mean we're all the same what it means is that we play complementary roles in this church and this is of course paul's instruction to the church in corinth he goes i know you can all prophesy i know you can all pray in tongues i know you can all do these extraordinary things but in this context we ought to ask ourselves what part am i willing to play now if you've had kids or or or or if you had this growing up as a child you're gonna be familiar with what's in this box this morning these legos and you know that when you go to to to buy a box of legos at the store what they show you on the front cover of the box is not actually what you find when you open the box you don't find it assembled you find it gathered and you know with with my six-year-old i've had this experience we're shopping in the store and he sees an image that he likes he goes that would be a cool spaceship or an awesome tower or a cool race car dad let's buy that i always have to tell him i go matthew what you see on the outside is not what you will find on the inside what you will find is the ingredients to make this happen but it's going to take a lot of work a lot of time a lot of attention and so you get home what's the first thing they do dump them all out my son looks at me he goes dad now what i go this is your problem not mine [Applause] you start building you start putting all the pieces together about halfway through you swear that there are pieces missing from the factory they messed us up this piece does not exist i don't know how this can happen it takes a lot of work sometimes when people get to church it's like well pastor i'm here what more do you want well friend i'm telling you there is not as much power in gathering as there is in agreement when you become assembled then all of a sudden you get to build in accordance with what you saw you know six years ago when he was planting this church it was the result of a prayer journey that my wife and i went on and really just sensing the call towards full-time ministry and it would look different in this season and you know what god's really good at god is really good at showing you the picture on the box to get you to sign up for the mess of the ingredients [Applause] plant to church it'll be fun they said but if he showed you this you would have never signed up for that but he shows you the picture of the finished product and he says look if if you put in the time and the effort and the energy not just in gathering god's people but assembling god's people and putting them into agreement i mean this is what the apostle peter says to the church he says you are living stones being built together and that agreement thing that unity thing it's a discipline it takes time it takes being willing to lay down preferences and proclivities it takes being willing to submit one to another and in doing so to see the mighty hand of the lord promote you in due time sometimes it looks like compromise other times it looks like gold you know what that's not the way that i would have done it but it worked and i'm not sure why but i'm here to be a part of the team and some people feel like well i'm just a john the baptist i'm just a voice crying in the wilderness oh you're an old testament prophet oh you're an old covenant individual interesting not me i was created for community i was created for ecclesia i was created for church i was created to be one of many why because you're not the church alone you're the church together everybody running around on facebook like now facebook is ordaining people i'm pastor so and so bishop so and so apostles so who said so zuckerberg facebook we got people got self-appointed submitted to nobody feeling like they got authority everywhere what they are is emperor with no clothes you're not the church alone you're the church together it's when we gather and when we get assembled and when we come into agreement can i expose a proclivity of humanity that we all feel we see these singers get up here we're like man i wish i was up there singing i got the voice of an angel i mean it's a fallen angel but yeah you got you know yeah [Applause] you do have a voice that is true [Applause] but here's the problem man everybody who plays a different part than us we automatically have a modicum of envy in our life because that's just who we are you do one thing you see somebody else do another thing and you think man what i would trade to do what they do but they're thinking the same thing when they see you excelling at what you do can i tell you the anointing of god doesn't rest on who you wish to be want to be dream to be and rest on who you actually are and who you actually are is really pleasing to the father because that's how he made you so you might not ever have the loudest voice or the best singing or the most classy rhythm but when you become authentically you you become one who brings his kingdom to this region all i do is crunch numbers all i do is design all i do is create all i do is administer all i do is teach all i do is stay home with the kids friend all you do is all you need to bring his kingdom to this region well we live half our lives trying to pretend or wish or daydream that we had somebody else's calling gifting an anointing friend somebody else's calling gifting and anointing would totally exasperate you exhaust you because god didn't design you to fit in their clothes he designed you to fit in yours and when you become authentically you man you become powerful you become unstoppable when you come into agreement with a church i've said this before you've heard this analogy but i think so often we treat church like an emergency room we show up when there's a crisis and as soon as the crisis fades we're back to just kind of doing life on our own and can i tell you frank god god has given you the body as a gift some people say pastor i'm a gift to the body no the body is a gift to you i was glad when they said i could come to the house of the lord why because i'm gonna come in heavy and leave light i'm gonna come in sick and leave healed i'm gonna come in downtrodden and depressed and leave with peace in my life about coming one way believe the other way when you gather with god's people what happens somebody add their mustard seed to yours and you add yours to somebody else's and they had theirs to somebody sent behind them and together collectively we don't just uproot one mountain we take a whole mountain range we don't just uproot one mulberry tree we take a whole forest when we collectively gather we exponentially magnify and increase his benefit in and through our life now we know jesus is everywhere he's omnipresent i i don't need my theology corrected i understand that he's everywhere he is with you just as much when you're alone as he is with you when you're in community and you need times of being alone and recharge and refresh and soulless and rest and shalom and you need those types of things but as jesus is describing the church the community kingdom authority it is almost always exclusively described in the context of two or three harmony creates fullness it helps capture the heart of god for the church agreement doesn't mean you have to sound exactly like me it means we're deciding to sing the same song at the same time hopefully in the same key see i operate as a conductor in this environment it's my job to make sure we are staying in rhythm so that what we offer god is in alignment and agreement with heaven we are not the church alone friend we're the church together jesus says it this way a house divided against itself can not stand friend agreement is something you grow into it's a discipline you know it's charismatic we love acts chapter two the outpouring of the holy ghost the day of pentecost all the disciples were there and the heaven the fire from heaven fell and peter preaches and 3 000 are saved and you know that's kind of we we love those stories but we forget acts 1. jesus said go and wait in jerusalem between the time jesus said go and wait and the fire falling on the day of pentecost the disciples had been gathered for 10 days 10 days in an upper room some of us can't go 10 minutes with somebody who we disagree with and for 10 days they're gathered in the upper room and scripture says this finally when they were gathered and in one accord the spirit was poured out well they were gathered but it took him 10 days to get on the same page once they were on the same page they received life-changing power that shook the entire city see the goal is to come into relational unity with god and each other not legalistic unity you know i'm i'm friends with a lot of people who think differently than me and and i hope you are as well the goal is not that we all think the same or even all have the same likes versus dislikes but instead we're in relational unity with the father friend once we are assembled appropriately we become unstoppable paul in ephesians 4 he gives his outline to the church on what necessary gifts need to be functioning in the church in order for the church to be healthy and growing and heaven focused and and and and and and and in ephesians 4 he lists five characteristics he talks about apostles prophets teachers pastors and evangelists you know why you need apostles because they help align they bring order you know why you need prophets because they help inspire they capture the heart of god you know why you need teachers because they help guide you know why you need pastors because they help care you know why you need evangelists because they help recruit and when these five elements are present in any new testament church what you have is the recipe for revival and transformation and what is the purpose of five-fold ministry paul mentions it in ephesians 4 and verse 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ that's the goal sometimes you gotta stick around long enough submit yourself in one house long enough be able to get on the same page my wife and i've been married 11 years now and you know there are still times where it takes us a minute to get on the same page there's a reason the apostle paul and christ use marriage analogies to describe the church but what i've found is that when we're in the presence of god it causes a cohesion in the relationship and that's why we ask his presence to show up show off do what he does best because when he does all of a sudden he's high and lifted up some of the other peripheral issues begin to fade away i did this at the first service and i'll do it in closing in this service but i want everybody here just for a moment to think of or imagine don't say it yet but just think of or imagine your favorite animal the elephant crocodile bear tiger unicorn dragon you name it think of it [Music] be creative just think of it in a moment i'ma count to three and i'm gonna ask you to loudly declare your favorite animal altogether okay everybody got an animal everybody got an animal in their head thinking okay you got one okay here we go one two three okay sounds like you all got spirit filled which is awesome here's the problem i can't pick out one thing that you said everybody said it it was real loud we were all real creative i can't tell you one thing that you said now let's pretend for a moment that our favorite animal in this room just for the sake of illustration is an alligator let's just say just for the sake of argument that your favorite animal today is an alligator now when i count to three i want you to say it but i don't want you to yell it i don't want it to be loud i want it to be barely a whisper watch one two three [Music] watch what happened all of a sudden we came into agreement and unity on a message it wasn't the volume of our speech it was the agreement of our speech that delivered a clarifying communication and sometimes in the church we are so busy talking about what our favorite animal is talking about what our favorite song is talk about what our favorite conference is our favorite preacher is i follow paul and you follow apollos and i got this denomination and this preference and at my own church they did things this way we are so enamored with our own likes and dislikes and if we could just all get on the same page and have the same communication we wouldn't have to be loud because we would be clear it's not our volume it's our unity in this house i want you to agree on the preeminence of jesus on the glory of god on his kingdom imperative to come to earth in genesis 11 and verse 6 the lord said if has one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them do you know friend that our common language breeds an uncommon power and that's why scripture instructs us to fight for unity because when we agree we are unstoppable that's why i've been going after healing every sunday i'm looking for people to come into agreement with so i'm going after restoration renewal every sunday just looking for a few people that i cut gotta come into agreement with have you ever noticed man you don't need the buy-in of the entire crowd you just need two or three who you ought to come into agreement with and that's what we do in church that's why we got the words on the screen when we sing that's why we encourage people to say things like amen that's why we encourage people to stand at certain times and sit at certain times and raise their hands at certain times what we're trying to project in the natural is a spiritual principle of agreement [Music] and instead of coming to do each our own thing let's gather in and do god's thing [Music] and together you and i will see his his kingdom come his will be done in the northwest even as it's being done in heaven come on would you stay with me as we close this service [Music] in a moment i'm going to pray and as we end this time of preaching ministering and worship and this morning i'm going to invite you if you need prayer in your life to come forward in just a moment to this all time i want to come into agreement with you it's not because i have anything special it's because the god that we serve is really kind and really good and if an evil father know how to give good gifts to his children how much more does the heavenly father know to give unto us father we love you that we honor you this morning that we thank you that as the church gathers an expectation in agreement that god responds with impartation so god this morning it's our desire to receive from you and we admit that we only got a mustard seed of faith but we know it's enough to receive an answer from heaven and god in this environment we ask you to do what you do best we're not just here to be individuals we're not just here to be impressed by the size of our gathering god we desire to be assembled and in agreement with what you desire to do in this region so father now in the name of jesus we agree that healing comes in the room father now in the name of jesus we agree that breakthrough comes in the room so father now in the name of jesus we declare miracles signs wonders come into the room so father now in the name of jesus we agree for restoration renewal and resurrection that it comes into the room father now in the name of jesus we agree with an outbreak of prosperity we come against the spirit of poverty we rebuke the devourer and we lose financial prosperity in jesus name [Music] father in the name of jesus we come against every lying spirit we come against every false idol we come against every spirit of anxiety depression disorder we send it back to the pit in the name of jesus we say in your life god has not given you a spirit of fear but power love and a sound mind we say today peace comes to your home peace comes to your marriage peace comes to your life resolution comes to your family we say now in jesus name healing comes to your body we say now in jesus name function is replacing dysfunction order is replacing disorder agreement is replacing disagreement now in the name of jesus here's how we go in we bought this building two years ago we came in and the ceilings were actually about seven eight feet lower than they are today [Music] made the room feel smaller than it was it's a big room but it it felt a little cramped because the ceilings were low so we made a decision we're gonna rent some scissor lifts we're gonna tear out this ceiling we tore out this false ceiling and you know what was above it another false ceiling by the time we were done maybe three four five 40 yard dumpsters just filled with debris from the ceiling but we knew that our capacity was higher than we saw and now we've got the beautiful ceilings and the wood and the natural look that we have today some of you in this room have operated under a lie from the enemy that has put a false ceiling on your capacity you believe your best days are behind you you believe you can never overcome you believe you're always going to be a victim of your circumstance you've operated in shame so long it's even hard for you to carry your head high and i'm telling you today jesus is dismantling the work of darkness against your life and what has seemed like a low ceiling is being broken off to expose your true potential and today i want to come into agreement come on i want to pray with you i want to believe god's best for your life when i count to three if you need prayer for any reason come join me at the altar prayer team pastors help me come on let's pray let's believe let's see god do a miracle in your life if that's you come to the altar one two three just come to the altar now step out of your seat if that's you come on let's pray come on let's believe come on listen to claire come on let's see god do a miracle in your life [Applause] oh oh [Music] oh oh [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] so [Music] jesus oh [Music] miracles happen when we fix our eyes on jesus christ miracles happen when we face our eyes on jesus [Music] miracles miracles happen when we fix our eyes on jesus miracles happen when we fix our eyes on jesus on jesus [Music] if you still need someone to come into agreement with you there's time come to the altar this morning come on if you're believing for a miracle maybe you need a miracle in your family maybe a miracle in your finances maybe a work situation maybe you're believing for a prodigal son or daughter to come home come on there's power and agreement we learned this morning let's come into alignment let's come into agreement come down to the altar we'll come into agreement with you we have our prayer team here [Music] let's take another moment and just come into agreement with what god's doing what he's saying [Music] why don't you grab the hand of somebody next to you you're standing next to your spouse you're a friend grab the hand of somebody come into agreement with them right there in your seat come on agree with them grab that hand begin to release blessing over them release the heart and mind you

Channel: The Pursuit NW

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Id: WbR5mrKZWi0

Length: 110min 20sec (6620 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 11 2020