Three Fruits of Discipleship | Larry Stockstill

was that awesome or what amazing amazing you know I travel so much and was in California twice the last two weeks he ain't got nothing on Bethany I'm telling you right now it is good to be home that was just fantastic man felt like we had 10 worship leaders up here or something just golly we welcome everybody welcome to Baker campus and everybody who's joining us tonight we've been studying through this Sermon on the Mount for the last 16 years here actually this is a tenth time I've spoken to you on the Sermon on the Mount how many have you been blessed by this just going through it you know so it's getting as the guy said tweeter and tweeter it's getting is getting good ER and gooder and I'm marinating in it and I'm just all I'm taking is just about six or seven verses each time and you walk into it we have three more sessions and as we get into this last part of the Sermon on the Mount it's really gonna turn toward discipleship you know first of it Jesus talked about blessed are the meek and blessed of the lowly and bless the other suite and all that my brother when he gets to the last three it's like get your neck broke or something you know I mean so we're going into the area of discipleship which I love I think that's what he was getting us toward he's been dealing with our attitudes and our relationships and you know judge not that you be not judged the last time we and we talked about that and so tonight if you will open your Bible to the book of Matthew chapter 7 and we're gonna read a little bit right there in Matthew chapter 7 and and just just trust in the Lord for a a great breakthrough in your life tonight in the area of maturity and the area of growth father we thank you tonight for your word we thank you Lord that you wrote this holy spirit and it's a it's evident that you know exactly what every person sitting in this room and then our other campuses needs tonight and so I pray that you would just take six or seven verses and just get down deep inside of our hearts Lord and father we're gonna give you the glory and the praise and the honor in Jesus name and everybody said amen okay now in Matthew chapter 7 the Lord and I'm just gonna put those those verses up a little bit because in Matthew chapter 7 he said ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you let's read just a few more for everyone who asks by the way that's a continual president you ask and don't stop asking receives and the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks it will be opened keep going for which one of you if his son ask him for bread will give him a stone or if he asks for a fish will he give him a serpent if you then who are evil how many of you know that really basically we are evil compared to God in that right know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things everybody say good things good things you know not not bad things good things to those who ask him keep going so whatever you wish so he just goes so in other words since the father's so generous and he gives and he loves and he and he supplies so whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets I'm going to talk about that in just a minute keep going enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction we all know that and those who enter by it are many one more verse for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few so what we've got in these three verses are sort of like three big circles three big areas of discipleship and fruitfulness that the Lord really wants to grow me in wants to grow you in and the first one of course has to do with prevailing prayer that your prayer life would grow up you know our prayer life can be real baby-fat if we're not careful so we're gonna grow in how we know God as a loving father and then the second thing he moved right into it was so seamless she didn't even notice he moved into the Golden Rule and that means we're gonna mature brothers and sisters we got to in America today we got a mature in our relationship to other people can you say amen to that I mean Christians are acting as baby five as the world in their relationships to other people they cannot be that one and then the last thing he just went right into it he says and by the way this whole deal of discipleship is really a narrow gate and it's got to do with courageous choices that you're gonna have to make as you come to wise in the road and you're gonna have to choose not the direction the crowd is going because the world is going this way what's trending on Twitter I don't care what's trending I know what's trending is the Word of God is what's trending amen so here we go let's just talk first about about prevailing period I'm gonna mention some blanks they'll be up there and you'll be able to see them and hopefully you can write them in you got your little outline so here we go first is your relationship to God singing your relationship to others and third is your relationship to the world now I like to start with prayer because I have been growing in prayer now for many many years someone taught me years ago how to pray the Lord's Prayer Larry Lee did back in the 80s when I was pastor and I prayed the Lord's Prayer for eight or ten years topically and then in 1994 I joined dr. Joe's board and he taught me how to pray tabernacle prayer and I've been praying to a burn Akal prayer for 20 years just about every day and then two three years ago I had went through a real crisis you know one time had to go in the hospital for a few days and praise God I'm all well everything's good but I learned something else and that's Trinity prayer the love of God the Father the grace of Jesus and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit and so God gives me you know various ways of praying but what I'm noticing about a lot of Christians is they stay in the very baby kittypoo waiting of Prayer they never get out even waist-deep as Ezekiel saw they surely never go in waters to swim in so if you are a new Christian the first part of this verse is for you and that's ask if you're a new Christian I have never understood this why new Christians can ask for anything and they get it you know I was with the pastor this week he said is his little nine-year-old boy hurt his foot really bad couldn't walk on it for several days and they were gonna take him to the hospitai broken his foot maybe is that they could not even put any weight on it so on the way to church front he's in the back seat he said dad I want to ask God to heal my foot he said he's driving he said go ahead son ask him so he said Lord healed my foot when he opened the door at church he saw the little boy go running off with absolutely no pain he ran in guys - hold on what are you doing what about your foot he said jesus healed me completely healed well that ain't fair is it well you know what that is the father is teaching you the power of asking and there's nothing wrong with asking you know James said you have not because you ask not now but I don't want you to stay there but I do want you to get the fact that the Lord is saying that asking is an important thing many Christians that are just born again they they're very casual where they're asking god I need you know $195 I need my rent lord I need and they just they just get it I mean I don't I think the Lord is is filling them up with that level but at some point in Christian life you're gonna be ready to move past just asking God for everything that's your whole prayer life like a wish list and you're gonna move to a stage of seeking and seeking to me has to do when I'm I'm looking for something that I can't find I don't know where it is I don't sometimes even know what it is I remember the Osteen was seeking the baptism in the Holy Spirit and he he kept telling his people I'm hungry I'm hungry for the baptism of the Holy Spirit I'm hungry well they were Baptist and on Wednesday night he'd say pray for me that I receive what out when I'm hungry for he didn't even know 1963 and one night a deacon stood up he asked him a closing prayer and he said over he said Lord he said thank you I pray that you would give brother Osteen whatever that is that he's seeking you for he didn't know either but you know Steve was seeking and seeking and my dad was seeking they were saved they were believers they knew the power of prayer but they had they were seeking the prayer language they were seeking the baptism in the Holy Spirit now I can promise you you're not gonna be filled with the Holy Spirit until you first ask Jesus said you have to ask and then sometime you're gonna have to seek after the baptism in the Holy Spirit you're gonna have to go to church maybe more than once a month come on say amen you're gonna have to read the Bible until you quit pronouncing Psalms plasm yeah you're gonna have to start seeking some scripture and I learned in prayer the second most powerful phase of prayer was when I learned verses about what I needed because the Bible teaches that promises sometime can go a long time you know Abraham 24 years for his baby had a promise but it was 24 years so you don't have to have something to hang on to if your ask doesn't produce an instant miracle because there's gonna come that point how many of you agree with me that's gonna come so you're gonna have just learn how to seek that means word fasting fasting thankful do without food well if you you get hungry enough for God and get desperate enough for God for deliverance from some habit or some addiction or or a miracle in your marriage or your health you will begin to seek after the Lord I love what it says in Hosea so do yourselves in righteousness reap in mercy for it is to seek the Lord if it's ever been time in America to get out of the asking stage I want an iPhone 10 that's cool I love that but you know how about seeking God for the nation to come back to some sensibility as morality years that's what we need I mean and we used to have prayer meetings a lot thank God Bethany has a Wednesday morning prayer meeting and it ain't noontime when you just rolling out a bit it says six o'clock in the morning while they do it at six o'clock and I'm alright nobody awake then I know cuz we're gonna seek the Lord seek the Lord I guarantee you and you get ready to go fishing you don't get up at noon you get up at the break of dawn you gone you boats hitting the water before the Sun comes up come on right so there's a seeking part yes the seeking part and then we come to this third thing knocking and I do believe this is related to spiritual warfare because when you not there's some type of a barrier there's some type of a door that's locked there's some type of a gate that won't budge and the little asking thing is awesome I love it it's great and you first gets a that's all you do you don't know anymore but then come seeking an hour oh wow I can seek God in the word I can seek God in fasting I can seek God in morning prayer I can seek God like really seek after him and he said he that seeks me will find me then comes that knocking thing and knocking is when you go knock the devil upside his head until his toenails go up and down like piano keys right you're gonna have to knock and knocking is like Luke chapter 11 and verse 5 in fact this same passage is quoted in Luke 11 with a parable stuck alongside it and it tells us then what it means he says that there was a guy who had a friend and he this friend had visited in the middle of the night so he ran next door to his friend's house and knocked on the door at Jesus said midnight now the other night I was in bed I was out helping a church somewhere and I mean I was so tired I've done a 15-hour day that day working with that church I was but you know they caught whoa Wow you ever been a roll out and at at 12 o'clock my phone rang and it was somebody that said brother Larry do you have a word for me I said yes I do go back to bed not really that's not what they said it was a part of the situation I was dealing with and it had turned sort of back in in the middle of the night and they had to call me and that was okay but man I didn't even know where I was now here's the guy he's in bed he's got all his kids and in those houses they didn't have bedrooms they had everybody was in one room so you finally get all your kids asleep and the guy comes knocking and banging on the door and he's wanting you to loan him three pieces of bread or three loaves of bread so you could take he could take care of his buddy that just showed up at midnight some of you would throw a cherry bomb out there Andy right he said trouble me not the door is shut in other words there's no chance he's not even a prayer but I'm getting out of bed and going to find you some bread and light the candles and all of that no way Jose leave it get out of here and he said finally the guy kept knocking and kept knocking and kept knocking and then he said to him trouble me not for though I will not rise and give you because you're my friend yet because of your shameless persistence he will rise to give you as many as he needs in other words there's three enough I'll give you four I'll give you ten just leave me alone that's knocking and the Lord quoted the same exact verse in Luke 11 he said so ask and you'll receive seek and you'll find knocking it will be over what that tells me is that spiritual warfare does not move immediately please hear what I'm saying to you to grow up as a Christian and to grow up in discipleship and to grow up as a warrior you're gonna have to be in Ephesians 6:18 warrior you're gonna have to be a praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance you see that it's gonna come to a persevering prayer and some things I know personally I've been praying for for over twenty years and the devil tells me every day God doesn't love you God doesn't care about you God doesn't hear you it ain't nothing but the devil he's on the run I'm telling you he's on the move he's out he's getting out of here and I'm gonna keep knocking on that door every day every day you said well that's crazy we don't have to do that what about the walls of Jericho did they just walk up to him say be thou removed and cast into the sea or did they walk around him every day for seven days what about the Canaanite woman who came to the Lord says my daughter's grievously vexed for the demon and he says he said let the children's bread go to the go to the children but not to the dogs he called her a dog and she says whatever you know what I want a crumb I'm a dog that's right I want a crumb she would not be denied what what about Jacob when the angel was wrestling with him and all night they wrestled we're talking about knocking now and he said please let me go he said I will not let you go Jacob said until you bless me you know the problem is we're not desperate enough we've not demonstrated to God like that guy that came to see a man in a business and he any Whitney man said he'll be back a little while he wasn't back all day but the man sat right there and is his secretary said when he came in the back end there's a guy out there they came this morning and he has not left all day he's been waiting on you he says Cindy man he was an important man because when people sense that you are desperate and you are you are effective that's what Elijah it says the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much he got on his face with his face between his knees and told his servant go look again over the Mediterranean and he said he came back said nothing in ain't rained in three years no clouds no clouds and six times nothing he kept saying go back again I'm talking about knocking somebody I'm talking about knocking come on knock a little bit or something yeah you don't have to you gonna have to get desperate you're gonna have to say I will not let you go until you bless me whoo come on give the Lord a shout and and that's not just the little ask or even secrets knock and then here's a wonderful promise he said for the Lord said for if you're evil and you give good things to your children what about a good father he will give you what you need a wee more generous than God are we more sensitive to need than God of course not so he loves you he's a good father he cares for you so reassure yourself that if I keep knocking one day that door is gonna open I'm gonna get some some tests back medical tests that they say you are completely healed of that condition now i'ma look up and my backslidden child is gonna be coming up the street and with a big smile on their face and a Bible under their arms saying glory to his name it's gonna happen I better move to number 2 until I can stop right here on persevering prayer this is I believe the Holy Ghost wanted you to hear that first part right there so just if kind of hurry along here I don't want to go too long but it's second thing he talked about was loving honor maturity in your relationships now here's the second thing that I know we all have room to grow in prayer we have room to grow how many of you would say amen to that but relationships we think that tolerance is the level of relationship tolerance is not the level of relationship I don't tolerate Melanie I trust Melanie Melanie and I deal in truth together we are honest with each other we are loving toward each other we are sensitive to each other's needs we don't we're not tolerating each other living in the same home are you joking and I mean I'd have if I have to I would but thank God I didn't marry the wrong person by the way if you're not married yet praise God you ain't married the wrong one yet that's grounds for shouting right there because but but you know love is not just tolerance yes it is I tolerate you and I can tolerate your ill behavior I can tolerate this problem in your life or whatever but it's not that it's it moves to a completely different level and I believe this Golden Rule is the secret of the United States of America it really is the golden rule could change every business all the politics everything in the Old Testament so filled by these few little words do unto others as you would have them do unto you the Lord said this is the law and the commandments now in order to just heighten the fact that that's that that's true let me just make this one statement the golden rule is God's witness in every human heart that's what it is the golden rule is an inward witness from God whether the way you're treating another person is right or wrong you don't have to wonder you asked yourself the question how would I feel if this was happening to me and they were doing that to be turned the shoe to the other foot and immediately you'll know now I wouldn't like that so it becomes like Polaris it's the tree north in every situation you don't have to find the Old Testament commandment that tells you what to do like help your neighbor get his donkey out of the ditch that's a verse in the Old Testament well if I love my neighbor as myself which is the commandment I'm thinking about my own donkey in the ditch I wouldn't I would need some help and of course I'm gonna get down in there to help that guy because that's what I would want him to do for me so that means that I look at another person here in the United States they might be a Muslim they might be a Buddhist they might might be a different race different denomination and all the differences that we have but the first thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna swap places with them concerning their rights I remember years ago when nobody was standing up for the unborn I remember that and I saw a video of a little child in Atlanta that had his skin burned off in a saline abortion they laid him on a pillow and I mean I remember looking at that and I thought that ain't right that ain't right and I've spent a lot of the years of my life in my ministry my time helping to bring the rights of those children up in front of people because they cannot stand up for their own rights where you see I have to swap places with people as a Christian if you're a baby Christian or or something like that you read the Golden Rule and it goes right over your head you don't apply it it just it just you know what that's all cool but when you're growing up to discipleship you swap places with people you you put yourself in their position and with their money for instance you may be very strict in demanding money and payment from those who owe you money but if we look at how you pay your bills your slack in meeting the dues of all your creditor seats so so it's it put yourself in the position of someone that owes you money and and if you just crack that whip say I'm jerking you backwards I don't well how would you like it if you needed a little bit of extra time well you say you know what I'm gonna do that for you this time I had a guy coming in the gas station this morning he needs some money and I know those guys a lot of Murrell drugs a lot of this and I had talked with him about that and all that but the Lord just told me put yourself in his position and so I blessed him little bit you know what I can live without what I gave him but he's my brother and I can help him because I'm thinking of the situation he's in in fact I invited him to church tonight now he may be sitting in this room right now and dear brother if you are I want you to know that I love you I love you that's right but that's what's wrong how about their reputation we may be hotly resent being slandered yet care nothing for other meaning other men's names I remember once a pastor in our city a dear friend of mine was accused in the paper of helping a gambling casino to come to Baton Rouge well I thought that that is absurd now try to get in touch even he's out of town and I knew him so well I knew that was alive so the front page at the Baton Rouge paper and I got it in front of our church that morning and I said I know that brother that is a lie that is not true well would he he was on a cruise or something he he called me and said brother Larry by five o'clock that day that whole thing was gone but what had happened is he was he was trying to stop one boat from coming to Baton Rouge and the other one accused him of trying to stop them because they were giving him money an accusation well as absurd thank God we me and several other pastors stood up in his finger see that was wrong and he never suffered anything for it you know I didn't have to do that but that's my neighbor that's my brother we don't tolerate each other we trust each other are you listening to me and the world does not get this how about their troubles he said well at least I don't have any troubles right now I hate to see you going through all your troubles but their troubles become my troubles because we're not tolerating each other we trust each other we love each other and this is this is so real at Bethany it's so it has been real for me for so many years of my life decades and decades of my life I can't savvy what's going on around the around the nation right now people being so angry at each other over over the religion over their color or over I cannot not me I'm telling you there people in this room that I would literally take a bullet for and I ain't just saying it if I had to I'd step in front of them because they would do the same for me we are one in Christ Jesus am I talking to some mature people here but the world don't get this that's what we have to show each other love you know I just have to tell you what I do I may be in the mall and a brother from another mother may call out to me hey pastor and people look at me well you know what I don't I don't just wave at him I'm gonna go over and hug them come on now I'm gonna hug them and we may hug for a long time they brother how you doing I've been missing you man what's going on people looking at you like they can't stop me from the golden rule they can stay in the bronze rule if they want I'm in the golden rule amen I'm going to anybody's house I'm going anywhere this is my brother this is my sister this is who I love this is who I trust this is who I'm truthful with this is who I'm in covenant with this is the this is the thing the Lord was saying he's talking about discipleship and he even said in the book of Romans and I'll just read that before I moved to that last one in the book of Romans he said show honor to whom honor is due for the commandments you shall not commit adultery you should not murder you should not steal you should not covet and any other commandment or summed up in this word you shall love your neighbor as yourself therefore love is the fulfilling of the law that whole Old Testament you can stamp across it love thy neighbor as thyself so if your garbage blows in his yard then you can't just say well it's no big deal but how would you like it if somebody's garbage blew in your yard so it solves every problem every municipal problem it solves if nobody would be in the penitentiary if we loved our neighbor as ourselves and ghola would be empty tonight maybe nobody there they'd be loving it he says right there if I love my neighbor I'll not commit adultery if I love a man enough I would never touch his wife for anything in the world because that wouldn't want him sneaking in and touching my wife I mean all of the everything if sin and relationships just goes away you remember the little etch-a-sketch things that you could draw this line then you shake it and it's all gone everything goes away with one verse and James called it the Royal law he said if if a brother comes in that's rich you bring him to the front row but he said if a poor man comes in you make him stand in the back he said these things ought not to be so that's what James the pastor said he said for he's in the image of God he said for if you keep the royal law that's what he called it the royal law and that royal law is gonna treat everybody the same exactly the same you know matter if they smell bad look bad horrible he doesn't know you gonna say come on in brother hears you he got you a great seat right down here on the front row I remember one time I went to preach in a church out of town another state and a guy showed up that that church was not accustomed to having in their church I could tell because the moment I started preaching he jumped up and started shouting and he shouted and he clapped and he praised God and it just got me fired up man I've just fired up like everything well you know what he had a second service he stayed for the second surface and in East there was the third service he stayed for the serve service he was right down on the front and I thought yeah yeah I and they said we hope that guy didn't disturb you I said oh no I brought him from Bethany with me he's after well I said he didn't disturb me at all see we should honor each other honor is when I look at you as royalty the royal law I look at you as royalty a girl was shearing me the other day all of her issues she's been through and everything you know she's messed her life up morally and all that and I I said you know you need to see yourself different as a princess for God because royalty if I treat you like royalty you know how they you know they do we I just saw on the news the president and his wife are in Las Vegas out there visiting people do you know a guy that was shot Monday when he heard the president coming too close to the door he got up out of the bed he was in the bed shot I thought man what are you doing but he wanted to stand up with when a president walked in that's the way you and I should treat each other when you walk in I'm gonna stand up hey man how you doing you see that royal law will change everything wave at me of you getting what I'm saying to you just just those six words five words love your neighbor as yourself now we come to the third thing is courageous choices so we're talking about first of all a prayer life persevering prayer okay Lord I got that I'm not just gonna ask I'm gonna seek and I'm not just gonna seek if I have to I'm gonna knock and Lord I'm all in my relationships that I'm having a problem with this person at work or a neighbor or a aunt Brunhilde or whoever it is I'm gonna love her as I love myself and then the third thing he said is narrow is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find and I want it I want to correct a wrong presumption right here and that is if you are following the crowd you're following them straight to heaven because that is not what Jesus Christ said you say the bigger the better I know if this big it's got to be good but no wait a minute this is not described to be a wide gate full of all these people and all you got to do is high-five him all the way to heaven that is not what he said he said this is a narrow gate you know in the Greek you know what this is actually implying a turnstile you know what that is in the movies they get you ticket you have to go through this thing and it flips only one person at a time can go through it that's what this is talking that's a narrow gate discipleship is not the direction the world is going they do not make the cultural choices necessary to bring them down the narrow road which ultimately is going to end in eternal life he said for few there be that find it he said that way is hard now I'm the type of person I love everybody to be safe I want everybody to be safe but I think we do them in justice when we just act like didn't they're right with God you know when I came home Monday I saw that art the news about Las Vegas and in Houston I sat down at a table brother Carl Everett and I with this employee from an airline and there was no room we asked him could he sit with him said sure so as we got going the spirit said witness to this guy so I asked him what's going on in Las Vegas and the man said to me oh it's terrible it's 58 people now and it's over 500 people I said that is unbelievable didn't that what happened so I stopped for a minute and just prayed under my breath and then I asked him if you had been on that field last night and those weapons started opening up on the people and they started running thousands of them running over each other and all and a bullet would have hit you in the head and you were instantly gone from this earth are you ready for eternity can I tell you the truth big tears came up in his eyes that's all I said big tears came up in his eyes he said I am not ready and we ministered to him and he had to go of course the devil always has a reason for something I'd have to go but can I tell you what we're living in the greatest moment in American history I know it's horrible but people are scared spitless you know what that is they're scared they don't know when is the next goofball gonna do something crazy and so the every little thing is making people nervous have you seen that YouTube where a guy walks up he has a turban on like a like a Middle Eastern and he sets down a black bag by people on a bench and they run jump in a lake and suddenly does he he walks up to a elevator and he sets a black bag down and I saw 10 men come out of that elevator on top of each other just how many people so scared right there they don't know what I tell you what I've got peace like a river how about you you got peace tonight I got peace but I came to that why in the road when I was 16 I was not serving God I really wasn't I was drifted away from the Lord and when I was 16 God got ahold of me and I remember the day he told me to bring my New Testament to school and I had to go back and get it I walked off without it because I didn't want to do it then I went back my pocket kept it there the whole day next day I did the same thing and I remember the 10th our class a math class sitting in a tea building I could go to the spot on planet earth where it happened he said pull that Bible out and read and I thought oh no oh no not so because I knew somebody would see me doing that but the next thing I knew I pulled it out I don't I think I would turned it to the genealogies is what I turn to am random MD begat BAM Bellamy on the side and I just started looking at it I don't even remember what I was reading and a guy leaned across the aisle as sure as I knew and he said what is that you're reading I'm really literally lost my breath and I heard something like come out ain't that interesting when you come to the Y in the road and the broad road is full of everybody this cool and hip and they got it all together they own Instagram with all their fun how many of you know it all in pictures on Instagram is not the way their life really goes did you know that they all them smiles they do it at all that brought about five minutes later they slapping somebody upside the head but see that broad road that day in math class I just turn right and I hit in a different direction and about two hours later I pulled it out again in the freezie stand another guy asked us I'm reading right here you want to read some of it you know within one month God called me to preach that boldness came on me that courage a courageous choice you know a dead fish can float with a string and look like he's alive but only a living one can swim against that string you really don't know right now with a bunch of fish going down the river who's dead and who's alive but let them try to swim upstream now I'm telling you they're filth the stream of ungodly wicked mess that's coming out of the Hollywood and of the pornography and the whole thing if you and I don't make a choice that you know what y'all go ahead we all go on partying tonight you're going with us y'all go here come on say that out loud tonight when I get up north I will pass a bar that will have a thousand people in it from Southern University I pass it every Wednesday they're packed in here they can't even get any more people in there and you know what I say when I pass by y'all go ahead I'm not going there that Broadway Danny I saw it as a young man he saw that river of people go over a cliff into a lake of fire he was never the same and I decided that I've been a nut and now in 2019 I would have been preaching 50 years can you believe that 50 years and I'm not perfect I'm talking about discipleship tonight I made a right turn in Albuquerque right there and I started moving I went through the turnstile you can't even bring your old man with you through that turnstile it's a narrow narrow way and then it's rough Jesus said it is not easy and there's no no people that's why you have to find friends to walk that narrow way with you that's what small groups is all about brothers and sisters it is not just something cool to do it's narrow way fellowship it's narrow way survival but you've got others that you can be open and transparent and talk to them and they can talk back to you you see it's like joining the military let me close with this they call it the marine way and when you join the Marines there's a covenant there's a contract there's a signature there's a date you are in the Marines and they cut your hair completely off you lose all rights to yourself you ride it oh you wrote on paper a covenant I will defend the flag of the United States and you are in the Marines this is what Christianity is it's not a party it's not a social club it's not a country club it's not a little deal that we kind of do every now and then you know the average person today is attending church one out three times run out of three Sundays if they're a great Christian pastors are telling me it's one out of six times don't be that kind of person when the door is open and has it I'm preaching to Wednesday night people sitting here I mean you don't even need to be told this but peep what are people thinking that they're walking with God and going to these games and these bars and all drinking and all that yeah glory I was I saw a guy today he's seen him in church in years and years he's shouting hallelujah ain't in church anywhere he's going down the easy way and why is the Lord you wait away til we get to next month where the Lord says beware of false prophets where do we get to that one and then way to the last week y'all gonna survive through December that's what I'm checking out where he said unless your house is built on a rock you ain't gonna make it stand up with me man I love you this is an awesome awesome group of people pastor Jonathan this is the core of the core of the core right here what I would love for you to do is just bow your head and close your eyes and ask the Holy Spirit to search your prayer maturity I did preparing this message I asked the Lord am i back in the asking stage or give me this roar give me that have I stopped seeking you Lord consistently have I given up on things I've been knocking on for a long time and then I said Lord is here anyone in a relationship with me that I know or don't know that I have not loved them as I love myself please lord please help me to forgive them help me to love them help me to honor them then I asked myself Florida if I give a mixed in with the world where I'm obsessed with things of the world and I'm not following that narrow little path up the side of the mountain instead of the four-lane interstate headed to hell now if you're here tonight and you would say to me you know what as you were talking I realized that's the crowd I'm in I've not gone through the turnstile let God deal with you that God loved you that let him let him knock on the door of your heart and let him say to you please please before you would be standing out on a field in Las Vegas like that innocently hearing music or an airplane or anyway we don't know none of us know we know God knows and God has a purpose for our lives and we're not afraid but who in here would be honest and say that's me I need forgiveness I need to come back to the Lord I need to get right with the Lord and I need to grow up in the Lord at Baker campus or here or wherever you were listening to this if you would say to me now that's me you're talking to me and I would love to change directions here's what I want you to do don't even hesitate slip up your hand toward heaven hold it up high right now that's it they're there they're there I've asked the Lord for about 30 people 35 people in these in this service tonight and out there Baker just to get right with God that's right he's hands still going up I'm in the wrong crowd I'm marching down the wrong way I need to get right with God and I need me some Christian friends and I need me some people or help me walk to heaven and it might be because you came to church tonight you can put your hand down everybody just turn your hands over okay turn your hands over and this is how we're gonna close now normally we we meet with our small group leaders I had a witness that tonight what we're gonna do just closed with about five minutes of Prayer we're gonna lead these people to the Lord and then we're gonna go into a time of just of just interceding before the Lord we're gonna seek the Lord here for about four or five minutes you small group leaders you're in the middle of your semester and you know what you're just you're gonna begin to seek the Lord so everybody out loud to pray this prayer say Heavenly Father thank you that you're a good father you give me what I need thank you that what I ask I receive tonight Lord forgive my past wash me in the blood of Jesus turn me to the narrow road help me through the narrow gate if I've become discouraged send me some Christian friends who will walk with me on this journey I thank you Lord God for my Bible for my prayer closet for my church for a stable place in an unstable world tonight Lord Jesus I got my eyes on you I want to seek you and I want to knock on things that need to open I praise you Lord that all my relationships follow the golden rule the honor rule I praise you Lord God and I'm on my way to heaven now would you just do this for me I want everybody lift up your hands

Channel: Bethany

Views: 1,120

Rating: 4.52 out of 5

Keywords: Jesus, Christianity, Church, Bethany, Bethany Church, Larry Stockstill, Speak

Id: MoNZ74JWK50

Length: 47min 39sec (2859 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 23 2017