Winter Haven Worship Center LIVE

uh [Music] well good morning everyone how are we feeling as you're making your way in we are going to be doing some t-shirts we also have a nice t-shirt [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] my [Music] [Music] welcome to whwc my name is brooke and i serve on the worship team we are so glad that you decided to join us today you can expect about an hour and 15 minutes service with worship a message and a time to respond our praise team is making their way out to the platform now to lead us in worship as we lift up the name of jesus so stand up on your feet clap your hands because the best part of your weekend starts now [Music] so [Music] good morning heaven come on let's worship today good to see you guys [Music] come on [Music] [Music] let it rise [Music] let it rise [Music] survive when we break calms [Music] forever this is what living looks like this is what freedom feels like this is what heaven sounds like we praise you we come on [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is this is what freedom feels like this is what heaven sounds like we praise you we pray this is what freedom feels this is [Music] sing that is [Music] is come on if you believe it shout it out [Music] [Music] come on if you've ever moved in your life with the shadow praise this morning come on come on how good is that god [Music] all right come on we're gonna go back into it you ready [Music] i gotta let it out [Music] [Music] i can't hold back [Music] [Music] this oh [Music] oh is [Music] [Music] through all the lies with the truth hear the sound of the wind let the roar of heaven begin can't stay still feel the fire feel the ground shake heavens is [Music] hearts [Music] run away stay [Music] heaven is [Music] [Music] my heart starts to raise and i can't contain the feeling of joy being in your presence can't help a dance can't help but sing and i don't really care what anyone thinks my heart is oh oh [Music] is is [Music] [Applause] praise the lord in this place [Music] yes the world will bow down [Music] so let's start right now [Music] i [Music] i just wanna be with you [Music] is [Music] will be [Music] [Music] so let's start right now wanna is with you i just wanna be with you is [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] dancing [Music] is me [Music] just one [Music] feeling [Music] oh i just want you i just want you to do [Music] jesus it's in your presence that we find joy it's in your presence that depression and anxiety and sickness and cancer and everything else going on in this world fades away [Music] we ask that your presence not only fill the room god but that you fill our hearts this morning fill each and every body that's here god [Music] [Applause] [Music] one [Music] we'd hear cries [Music] is [Music] be can we magnify the lord in this room together come on let's sing together [Music] [Music] when every creature [Music] oh we'll see christ be back [Music] [Music] is [Music] me [Music] and i won't buy the idols stand strong and worship you if it puts me in the fire i'll rejoice [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] glory for all the angels and the saints my heart will still be singing my song will be the same christ being magnified [Music] come on oh oh [Music] amino is worthy to be magnified today can you lift your hands with me everybody let's give him a pray let's give him glory let's give him honor today how many of you know he's worthy of all of our best praise i think of that verse this morning the psalmist david said this old magnify the lord with me let us exalt his name together i saw the lord and he delivered me from all of my fears how do you know that's a pretty good bargain i tell you what when you seek the lord he comes and he makes himself known to you i just believe that let me anticipating some cooler air coming in i tell you what they say in a couple weeks that things are going to change and i love it when the atmosphere changes and here at whwc we're all about atmospheres i love it when seasons change and we go from some summer to fall and we feel that refreshing we're believing that today before you leave it's going to be like a season has changed in your life it's you're going to whatever is going on we believe you're gonna leave with hope and you're gonna leave that knowing that god is on your side and he's for you and if he's for you then who can be against you amen amen we're thrilled you're here today hey we want to say hi to all of our online audience let's give our online audience a hand everybody watching from all over the world we're so thrilled that you have tuned in you are part of what god is doing here at whwc i also want to welcome all of our guests who are here today welcome to back to church sunday let's give them a hand so excited that you have carved out part of your weekend and you came and maybe for your first time experiencing whwc we're thrilled you're here i'll let you know that if you are a guest pull out your phone really quickly if you can do that you can scan the qr code on the back of your chair or out in our lobby or in just a few moments on our church live video you'll be able to scan it there it pulls up our connection card where you can actually click on a link there fill out that card and then on the way out today as our guest we want to bless you and we want to give you a free gift that you'll find in our connect center right through the double doors on the left so fill out that card let them know you did that and you will receive that free gift we want to bless you today we're thrilled once again that you are here with us at whwc hey before and by the way i'm pastor tim i'm the campus pastor here at whwc let me tell you what's going to happen in a few minutes some of you probably thinking wonder what's next just a few moments pastor jessica to come and he's going to share the words with us it's going to be a powerful powerful day so i encourage you get ready for that but before we do that can you just shake hands with the folks around you in just a moment we're going to watch our church live video but make yourself friendly to the folks around you this morning can you do that god bless you [Music] uh [Music] good morning whwc family my name is james and i serve on our production team a special shout out goes to all that are joining us online today thanks for spending your sunday with us if it's your first time in person or online we would love to connect with you all you have to do is open up your camera and point it towards a qr code on the seat in front of you or you can go to whwcc.org and click on connect then fill out our connect form for prayer or to find your next steps on how to get involved we'd also love to meet you in person and give you a gift so come say hi at the connect center located in the main lobby registration for our next steps classes are always open these classes are designed to give you an opportunity to understand our history and our vision this is also your gateway to get involved and serve just go to whwc.org next steps to find a time and a date that works for you hey what's up everyone listen i have something so exciting i want to tell you about this friday night at seven o'clock our worship team haven worship will be hosting a night of worship and you're invited now if you've been to one of our knights of worship before then you know it's going to be fire we're also super excited because aside from just haven worship we're also going to be joined by some of our favorite worship leaders like charles anderson and our good friend avery damage doors open at 6 30 this friday we cannot wait to worship with you we believe that god created us to thrive together that's why we are a church of connect groups just last week we launched our fall semester with over 70 different groups to choose from in these groups you will find meaningful community and authentic relationships it's not too late to join just go to whwc.org connect groups a huge thank you goes to our dream teamers who put together 1800 care bags for our healthcare workers at winterhaven hospital you faithfully give not just of your time but of your ties as well this has given us countless opportunities to bless our community if you want to give take a look at the screen right now and you can see all the different ways you can give your ties and offerings you can also give cash or check by placing it in the black boxes by the exit doors after service now get ready for an amazing message and make sure to grab tony's italian ice on us before you go today [Music] good morning first service it's good to see you guys and welcome to back to church sunday my name is jeff connor if this is the first time you're here and i happen to serve as the lead pastor here at the church my wife and i kim have been doing this for 30 years can you believe that where is the time going and we're so honored to be able to be here with you today before we do anything today i want to welcome we have guests that are actually missionaries to india correct pakistan i'm sorry i don't know why i said india pakistan stand to your feet because you guys they're go i'm going to visit with them [Music] [Applause] your wife where's your wife stan stands dancing where's she oh there she is i didn't see her i was i'm just misunderstood there these guys are freshest folks i have met them before we have blessed them as a congregation and guess what today before they leave something's going to be put in their hand to bless the work in pakistan pakistan it's actually pakistan right is that the better the right way to say it get it right pakistan but they are also helping to get people out of afghanistan i have heard so we appreciate that and honor you for doing that we need to be there for those folks that are in afghanistan that especially those that helped us as a nation you understand with intel and all those different things and so it's good folks like that that are really people we want to sow seed into their lives so we again we honor you we thank you so much for everything that you do again i'll be meeting with them after the service today well i'm excited about today i have a feeling it's going to really be the next two services that we see all the guests coming because probably when people invited folks they said i'm not going to 8 o'clock but i'll go to 9 45 or 11 30. all week long i just want to be free in this service today i know i'm going to kind of hit some things in the next two services because of the crowd will be different than it is right now but this is kind of the homegrown group that is here at eight o'clock and you guys disperse yourselves to be a part of the dream team and the other services and we appreciate that very very much but something is happening in this church it really is there there is just i i would uh say that it's a revival it's a revival of souls people coming to the lord and coming back to the lord we see that in our water baptism i'll talk about that in a moment we already have 28 signed up for the next one i mean it's just every month it's just 30 people you know it's a it's it's wonderful and i have a feeling after today there will be a lot more because of what i have to share but we run into people all the time that are visiting and i don't want to name names we don't want to embarrass people or put things out but there was one couple that we ran into on friday night they ended up paying for our dinner we went to scarpos which is the italian restaurant in lakeland and uh this couple came in and they were not shy about telling us that they had been to the church and and that the background that they came from or that i guess is their religion so to speak this is not at all what they thought it was going to be coming back to church but they said it has been amazing we when we can't come and we're out of town because they're business people in our community they said we make sure that we are watching it online and the wife said to me she said i love the sex talk you gave the other i thought i didn't give a sex talk i did when did i give a you know but anyways you know but we're just excited we could be in lakeland we can be in lake wales we can be in haines city of course here in winter haven and we just run into people and we counted a privilege we don't get upset because people want to talk to us or get with us that's a part of our lifestyle and the calling that god has given us so we're we're just really really excited today i just kind of want to bring about a clarity for some of you it's really going to really help you to understand what our church is all about you're going to understand that what the foundation of our church is really built on of course that would be the word of god and every church has a doctrine every church is exciting maybe has great praise and worship and programs and different things but you got to be careful because not every church has the right doctrine and you've got to build your life on the truth of god's word and a lot of places can preach about wonderful things that encourage you but if they're not telling you to live a certain way to walk righteously before god you might think about going to another place so i just want to go i won't say that in the other services but i think it's really important so i want to give you this morning what i consider to be a clear expectation about the journey that god wants for your life how many of you know it's a journey when we used to ride motorcycles i rode with a group of guys and they were the kind that were all about the destination it was all about point a to point b get there as fast as you can get there i'm not that way i'd always lag behind and i'd be the last one pulling up because i want to enjoy the journey on the way i want to see the sights i want to smell the smells and all of those different things we are on a journey when we give our lives come on now to the lord jesus christ and one of the things that i do believe is that god wants to bring change to your life every person in here no matter how long you've been serving god has a next step in your life now i believe god has laid out about four or five very specific next steps that need to be taken in your life but you can go back over those steps and see that there are different levels to those steps so even though you may have taken the elementary steps in receiving christ and those types of things god also wants you to go deeper you may have learned how to pray a little bit but you know there are levels of prayer that god wants to take us in levels of worship levels in understanding the word of god to have revelation brought to you about the time in which we live in in second corinthians chapter 5 verse 17 i'm going to start with this verse of scripture you come to christ you surrender your heart to the lord jesus the bible says this means that if anyone belongs to christ he number one becomes a new person aren't you glad you're a new person then it goes on to say that the old life is gone so if we're not really growing in god maybe we really don't know god because the old way of doing things whether it's thinking or acting or saying all of that god wants to bring a change because he says a new life has begun but it's only one step at a time it's not from here to there it's taking these individual steps that are laid out in the word of god that god wants us to go on now listen to this god loves you no matter what he loves you in the present condition that you're in but he loves you too much to let you stay there and i do believe that with all my heart he wants us to change in that process of changing though there's what we will call predictable resistance it's something you can count on you can predict the fact that as you start to grow in christ the enemy's going to come to steal the seed he's going to come to try to distract he's going to come to take away in our lives as a matter of fact the bible tells it this way in john 10 10 it's the thief the devil who comes to do what to steal steal excuse me to kill and to destroy but i love this jesus said i've come that you might have life and have it to the full so the goal is to live life to the full we have to define that what does that mean what does that look like that's why it's important to have a church that's preaching the word of god to define life to the full but also to define what these predictable resistance what the predictable resistance is going to be and actually how to fight against the predictable resistance are you with me one of the things that i have found is that the thief as he said here tries to do three things he steals steals kills and destroys and the first thing that he does is trying to steal your identity with shame in your life hmm the bible says we're a new creature in christ we have a new identity we're we're we're children of the most high god wherever you go god said i'm going to follow you and bless you and your and my blessings are going to be seen upon your life my goodness is going to be displayed on your behalf but so many times we don't really have that kind of identity and see the enemy uses shame to bring another kind of identity to me it's a sort of type of pride that exists in our lives because shame causes us to hide sometimes we can be in church and we can worship and we can enjoy the life of the church and being involved in the church but we certainly have stuff in our life that we don't want anybody to know because we have this shame thinking that if they were to know that then they wouldn't let me do something ouch come on it's real and that's what the enemy does he tries to give you the identity of shame he tries to distract you with your past come on now and that's that's how satan works actually scripture puts it this way he is the accuser of the brethren [Music] so now we're talking about the body of christ because see you could take a step to get saved but what happens to us sometimes is we never go past certain steps to really discover the purpose that god has for our life and really step into a ministry where we can make a difference for god oh goodness are you with me on that it's powerful he tries to give you this identity of shame listen the enemy really looks at sin and wants you to pay attention to sin in your life where god says i want you to look to my son who paid the price for that sin and i think this is an important thing because this is an element of grace that gets mixed up sometimes is that we'll think well you know we look to jesus the son he covers it and we don't have to make a change the point is this when we understand what jesus did it removes shame so we can step out of something into the newness of what god has for us the second thing is he tries to kill our potential and he does that through guilt in our lives every time you try to take a step into something that you know god's put in your heart he begins to remind you of your past does anybody have a past in here come on now i have a past tries to remind you of what you've done tries to remind you that how could you even be qualified we're qualified because of what jesus did all of us have incredible potential i love that geico commercial they haven't had it on for a while you know where pinocchio's in this conference you know and it's uh he's saying and you have potential and you have potential and this nose starts growing you know when he says that to you but you know what we all have potential you say how do you know that we all have potential the bible tells us over in ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 this is not a part of your notes today if you want to follow with the notes all you have to do is go to the church app there's a place called fill it and these notes will appear there for you today but in ephesians 2 10 i love this scripture it says for we are god's masterpiece listen if i'm god's masterpiece that means god's crazy about me god's crazy about you and it goes on to say it this way he has created us anew in christ jesus just like we were talking about earlier in corinthians he says so we can do the good things that he planned long ago before the first heartbeat god had a plan for your life come on now he had a plan there's a purpose and we've got to discover and that's a part of our next steps and then he tries to do a third thing and that is to destroy our hope with fear now fear is a big thing right now and how we know it's a big thing is that people have lost hope they've lost hope in church they've lost hope with ministers and i know why they've lost hope even with god you understand because of fear now fear comes in all shapes and sizes but one of the biggest reasons for fear i think in our society today is really it comes from the fact that we feel like we have to please other people and if we don't feel like we're pleasing other people then somehow we're not successful just look at how advertising even though things are done differently you don't have a macy's to go to anymore you can't buy cologne how do you bike alone online you know what i mean it's just but anyways you just let your wife do it but um we wear what we wear we say what we say we do all the things that we do a lot of times more out of trying to please other people which is rooted in fear come on somebody say amen this stuff is rooted in fear god offers hope god's the alternative for fear god's the alternative when a person is lost hope not only does he offer hope in heaven he offers hope here on earth as we live in the midst of the stuff that we're going through come on now listen the bible says about the lord is that he even has numbered every hair on your head and i've noticed every year it's easier for god to count my hair but the point is that he cares about us the more we know that and understand that about who god is that's why it's so important to go to a church give us one year in your life and we will help you to understand who god is and it will restore hope and destroy fear in your life that's why we need each other come on now devil really tried to do a number but it's backfired on him in the name of the lord jesus christ come on now so think about that he's stealing he's killing he's destroying how is he doing that by trying to change your identity by trying to really lie to you to tell you that you have no potential in him and that you might as well just give up on life maybe that's where you're at maybe even as a believer and as a christian that's where you're at because i say that knowing that in the past 18 months this is what's been happening to some christians they've let the world and what's going on in the world affect them so badly that it has caused them to lose hope but they're coming back you're coming back today so what are some of the first steps i think this in ephesians it puts it this way it says we were taught with regard to our formal way of life to put off your old self you ready to do that today which is being corrupted by the deceitful desires we've talked a little bit about that to be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new self created to be like god in true righteousness and holiness righteousness is what god does holiness is what you seek after it's very important that you understand that god wants to change you but it's in steps it's not all at once don't get discouraged because you're looking at other people and you're saying there they seem to be a giant they seem to have a real command of god's word or when they pray it just shakes the rafters you know what i'm saying but it's a process that takes place it begins by giving your heart to christ but i want to say something that growing up or starting this church we did not emphasize this and the holy spirit has really been dealing with me and i think it's more or less because of where we are in the timeline of of history or the timeline as far as what the bible says concerning the last days and i think very clearly that when it comes to our steps we need to declare our salvation see you can get saved anywhere you can give your heart to christ believe in your heart confess you with your mouth in a barn come on but there needs to be a declaring of your salvation and how we declare our salvation is through water baptism i really believe that's a big big deal peter put it this way let me read it to you from the living bible he said in baptism we show that we have been saved from death in other words he's saying you're showing something this baptism is not salvation being baptized in water is not salvation being sprinkled in the catholic church is not salvation i'm sorry friends that's just the truth we got to lay it out there we're attracting a lot of people from catholicism that are coming into the church and they'll ask me well i will sprinkle so i know that i'm saved no you have a you can have a relationship with jesus not just insurance fire insurance you can have a relationship with jesus come on now stay with me here he goes on and says uh no because our bodies were washed clean by the water but because in being baptized we are turning to god and asking him to cleanse our hearts from sin see when you make a public declaration of your salvation through water baptism it says something to you to your family and to people around you that whenever there is a time when someone has to do your funeral which is morbid i understand but that the person can say i know they gave their heart to christ because they made a declaration now there are levels of this because it's not just hey i made a declaration now i go do whatever i want we've got to understand that every day of our life we're going to be declaring whether or not we're really saved or not and that's for the christians and for the believers that are here next steps have levels do you understand what i'm saying in that he said well why should i be baptized because jesus said so in matthew 28 he said to do it there's a reason to fulfill righteousness it's so important now the next step is going to cover everybody here because this is key and this is where i want all of us to think about this this morning when we talk about a next step the next one is this we need to learn to cultivate god's presence in our lives cultivate is really an agricultural term and if you're any if you're a part of anything like that you probably have an understanding when we talk a little bit about agriculture and we talk about the presence of god because in james it says here come near to god and he will do what so god doesn't want i think sometimes we think god is going to come to us because he knows we need him no he's waiting for you to come to him first and you have to cultivate the presence of god you have to take the steps that are necessary in your life matter of fact in the book of acts in acts 2 28 i use this scripture a lot it says you have made known to me the paths of life and you fill me with joy in your presence how many of you want real joy in your life real joy is not based on possessions it's not based on status or a title come on now or even success it's something that happens internally down on the inside but it's because of the presence that you are cultivating in your life so we've got a little lanai off of the kitchen and then we have a pool and so we one day i'm looking out we've got a table set up where you can eat breakfast and then you can look out to that particular area and i don't know if something came into me i thought i want to put some flowers out there i want to i want a rack like a like an outside baker's rack that's made out of iron so i'm driving down winter haven one day and i'm over here by mr donut and uh i didn't go to mr donut i just was over there and i didn't but there's an antique place there it caught my eye i went in there and there was the perfect rack i haggled got the guy down to 50 i really didn't get him down to anything i tried to get him below 50. he wouldn't take it so i bought it anyways i brought it home it's got the patina you know it just really it was perfect set it up so then i went to lowe's and i bought flowers i love flowers and so i bought flowers to put in the middle and then i'm at lowe's and i'm looking and i'm thinking there's a tomato plant pepper plant all these different vegetable plants i'm thinking hey now kathy bentley she tried to set me up one time with this uh this i don't know what you call this tower that grows plants and i was not very successful but i'm thinking i'm gonna try this again these plants are already potted and i stuck them on there i bought new pots i matched them because i'm like that you know and it was just like this looks really good the kids would come over they're like wow dad you're growing tomatoes this is awesome two three weeks go by nothing's changed there's no well i mean i know tomatoes aren't going to be there but i mean it doesn't look like the plants grow matter of fact it's starting to turn brown i'm keeping it watered i'm doing everything you you should do that i thought you should do but what i didn't realize is they needed a different environment so many times christians are nothing but potted plants and they're dying come on or they're not producing so i took them and i went over on the other side of the pool cage and there's this area where i have mulch and there's a tree there so the soil is really dark and different things i'm thinking this has got to be good you know i'll test the soil no i i didn't do that but it it just looked like it was right so i stick those things in the ground two three weeks ago by all of a sudden one day i'm out there and something's growing there's there's actual vegetables that are starting to grow and it looks a different color green because it's healthy come on now and it's gotten bigger god wants us to cultivate the presence so that we grow how do we do that how do we cultivate god's presence in our life number one we do it through god's word you've got to know the word it's the word that'll set you free come on now listen grace attracts but truth brings freedom and thank god that when we talk about the grace of god that accepts us but remember he loves you too much to leave you the way that you are grace invites us come on now into a place where god can do something but it's only the truth that can set a person free that's why it's important for you to not just go to a church that speaks the word but that you are reading the word of god yourself number two you cultivate his presence through worship now worship really means worth worth ship and it's not just a slow song that you sing worship is what you do in your life to show that god is the top priority of your life and so the lifting of the hands and the singing of the songs is just an outward expression of what is taking place on the inside of your heart i am convinced through my studies in the word of god that if you're not a person of worship he's not doing anything on the inside now listen i know walking into a place like this with the loud music that we have is probably intimidating at first especially for men i was listening to a man who used to be the place kicker for alabama can you believe that the gators lost by two points i can't believe it i was praying and everything it didn't work i really was goodness i wanted to come in here and really just mess all the alabama fans up bad but i just good game we'll get you next time but i was listening to a guy that used to be the place kicker for the university of alabama and was actually on one of their championship teams and he was talking about the first time that he had grown up in church but the first time that he came to a church like ours he said i was in shock and he said most people who knew me because he said i was an investment banker knew that probably i wouldn't last in that church matter of fact there was a bet he said that i wouldn't last in that church today he's a minister in that church he's on staff at that church but he said what happened to me he said was when i came in and even though i didn't participate first in it i knew something was different because of the way that they worshipped than the last place that i was in because see worship creates an atmosphere you may not always understand it but just try it just start here then you can get yourself here and then you can get yourself here and then you get yourself it doesn't matter you know pentecostals pride on the fact that they're they're like this that's why they tuck their shirts in so that nothing comes up that you won't see anything i'm just kidding i are a pentecostal but we've got to understand and give grace here and lastly is prayer you cultivate the presence of god through your prayer life listen don't just pray when there's a problem in your life learn to develop the habit of prayer so that when something arises you've gone into the levels of oh my goodness praying in the spirit i'm trying you understand i have a dilemma in a church this size and with what's been happening in this place i've got the guy and the lady that are they've just barely taken their first step and then i've got people over here that have been 150 steps you know what i mean and we got to minister to both because church is for both but the point that i want to make is this what i just shared with you about the word about worship and about prayer is something you need to do every day of your life i did it this morning before i came here i did it yesterday morning on a day off is that i take that time to get into his word to worship the lord and then to talk to him we call that the first 15 minutes just take 15 minutes five minutes in the word five minutes worshiping god put on a good song and learn to do it in the privacy of your home and five minutes just talking to the lord now listen those levels of prayer are being taught in this church so that if you're new and you want to hook up with us over a period of a year we'll teach you those levels of prayer and worship and the word of god that you will grow deeper but you've got to start and take that step because it cultivates something that creates growth how many of you want to grow in the lord that's why in the book of acts it says i you will show me the way of life and you will fill me with joy in your presence i shared that earlier the presence of god is what brings joy now number three you say how what is the next step are you connected with god's people you have to connect with god's people we do that through small groups here at the church listen you can't do life all by yourself and most of the time when someone is trying to do life all by themselves they don't want people to get to know the real them and that's a real problem all of us face it i face that i sometimes can do better up here than i can do one-on-one with people because i struggle sometimes in in really communicating on a one-on-one level with people that after i'm done i'll have these thoughts i wonder what they thought about me i had a struggle with that this past week i met a guy and his wife and they are uh very well educated and and serving in a christian university that is close to us and they started attending our church and you can just tell they've been educated really well and you start talking to them and they just see this polk county boy you know and they start wondering what rock did he come climbing out on i really work to present myself a certain way when i'm up here but sometimes you get in situations and maybe you've used the wrong grammar or you've said something or whatever and you you walk away and the enemy starts lying well they think you're as dumb as a hog they're not coming back they're not i'm just trying to be open and real with you about some things come on now but i have to go away and i have to remind myself of who i am in christ but see the point is that for me that sometimes holds me back from connecting on a certain level and we need connections with people oh my goodness listen the bible says something in ephesians that's powerful says we are members of god's very own family how many of you believe you're a part of a family here and that you belong to god's household with every other christian so this is a family our church is are you looking for a family this is a family it's a family see i believe the church is the hope of the world how many of you would agree with that i mean think about i think it's 30 a little over 30 scriptures that taught in the new testament that talk about the church and the importance of the church you connect with god's people that's why we ask you to go through next steps because the next steps we show you what your next step is in connecting with people it might be to go to a live free class hey guess what i gave up my office here at the church i had a a big room big office really nice office some of you've been in that i gave it up to create a new next steps room so that we could have next steps on sunday morning did you know the first round is full and the second round is already full six weeks if you're bound by anything you're struggling with anything you're wondering how you can get to the next level of your life this is what you need to go through it's only six weeks long you graduate at the end we pray over you i get to pray over you it's an awesome thing but we also want you to go through next steps which is just two classes you get to learn about the church but it's more about you see here's the thing i have been accused of this lately that all i'm trying to do is grow this church and and people have said that to me you're just trying to grow the church let me i can say this with a pure heart no i'm just trying to grow you that's really what is inside of kim and i we want you to grow and we're growing alongside of you oh thank you jesus come on now he said well how in the world do i connect with people well first of all you've got to find a church that you can join and you go through next steps that's a part of joining winter haven worship center but you've got to be a part why you're just going to be like one of my flowers or one of my vegetable plants on the back porch on a shelf that's never going to grow past the pot it's in you've got to get in a soil that changes you and you need to be a part of a connect group connect group is a small ministry of our church where we just started the semester so you can sign up right now this is the largest semester we have ever had you ready for this 781 people are in connect groups and i'm never satisfied i'm always like no it's got to get bigger it's got to get bigger and that's why we need more room to get bigger because people don't like doing it in their homes so we've got to find facility space somehow and i believe god's working on our behalf to i just do i believe it's working out in jesus mighty name hallelujah he's working some stuff out listen connect groups connecting with people has to be a part of our lifestyle it's not an option because it's what the word of god teaches that we have to do the third thing is that we and this is the last thing and i'm going to wrap things up is that we've got to discover god's purpose for our life you can't just come and sit in church because here's what's going to happen you can come here with the wonderful music and all of the friday night worship nights and youth groups and children and all of that but it'll get old to you anything will get old and we we live in a society where things do get old that's why we change things up but it's really we've learned it's not about changing up here it's about motivating you to get involved because see you will connect where you are a part of something but you're not going to be a part of something then unless you know what your purpose is in other words where do i fit that's why next steps again is so important that you go through that we all have a purpose in life look at somebody say you have a purpose and it has to be discovered you look at certain people in this congregation and you'll say they have a passion for this or they have a passion and it's really their purpose it's their passion i love doing what i'm doing i really genuinely love doing what i'm doing and how i know i have to stay out of other things is that the things that don't bring me joy i realize that's not my lane but that's your lane you might organize it better you may even speak better in those areas oh my goodness come on now we listen our church has done some changing because it's not about one person no big eyes and little use we're all the same in the body of christ listen ephesians puts it this way it's in christ that we find out that we are and what we're living for did you catch that long before we first heard of christ and got our hopes up he had his eye on us he designed listen this he had uh or had design on us for glorious living listen that's the purpose the overall purpose that he is working out in everything and everyone god created us for him god was not created for us so we have to find his purpose and fulfill it without it there's no joy we've not cultivated those things when you don't discover your purpose you just float through life you'll do your duty you'll do the things you need to do you'll make some money some good things will happen but there's no satisfaction and i don't think we have to wait to go to heaven because hope is for heaven but it's also for earth too amen give us a year and we'll help you find your purpose the key to spiritual growth is taking your next step [Music] and taking it right now some of you need to go through next steps class do it some of you need to go to through live three class go ahead and sign up listen if you sign up we'll make we'll figure out we'll make a way we'll figure it out we'll figure it out we'll figure it out you need to be baptized in water and one of the things when you go through livery you're going to find out how important it is you receive the baptism in the holy spirit and we teach on that that's for another subject in itself that's why i say you have to stay with something and you'll hear things and hear things then we'll have special nights to bless those that have been around for a while that have been given and there's just so much so much but what's happened in the body of christ is we've just we have our little clubs and we keep it to ourselves and we've got to share it with the rest of the world oh glory it's going to be good day listen i don't know where you are right now with every head about every eye closed as far as your spiritual condition is concerned but jesus paid a price with his his death his body to ensure our salvation i'd hate for you to leave today if you don't know jesus when i'm going to give you an opportunity to know him it's about relationship and i want you to ask yourself this question if jesus were to come back sometime this week do you feel like you'd go with him and if you can't answer yes right away you need to surrender maybe you need to rededicate your life back to the lord i'd love to give you that opportunity no one looking around won't embarrass you i'm not going to make you come forward but if you're ready to receive christ you're ready to rededicate your life to the lord would you just lift your hand right up in the air right now and say that's me yes thank you so much yes thank you so much yes thank you so much yes thank you yes thank you that's why i wait that's so powerful thank you lord that's why i wait like this it's amazing to me what god is doing it really is truly amazing you can put your hands down this is what we're going to do we're going to pray a prayer and we're going to invite jesus into our heart you're going to have to trust me and i'm going to pray out loud and then i'm going to ask you to repeat the prayer and that's everybody because that helps us and even if you didn't lift your hand but you're ready to surrender pray this prayer with me say dear heavenly father i believe in my heart that jesus christ of nazareth is the son of god so with my mouth i confess you as my lord and my savior come live in me heavenly father i've missed it but i come home today i surrender to you forgive me of my sin tell him what it is confess it forgive me of that today restore our relationship in jesus name i pray amen come on let's give them a hand for praying that prayer oh glory to god heaven is proud of you if you prayed that prayer today just take out your phone and open up the camera and just point it to the qr code on the screen or on the back of your chair we have refreshed all of those on the back of the chair some of them have been peeled off but you just point it up there fill out what comes up because we want to do three things we want to rejoice we want to pray for you and we're going to send you a free booklet and so you've got to give us your email address that we can do that that's all that is we're not going to come at you for anything else we just want to help you on this journey in taking your next steps if you've never been baptized in water you've surrendered today or maybe you'd like to do it again as a declaration of your salvation all you have to do is go to the website whwc.org and there's a place there where you can sign up we'll we got you covered we're getting ready to do it here on the first wednesday of october so uh we want to include you in that it's going to be a great day i just have a feeling the next two services are the ones where a lot more guests are going to be coming aren't you glad to be a part of a church like ours i'm so honored to be a part of what god's doing in this place connect yourself with the connect groups there are bible study groups there's oh gosh there's groups of all kinds of interests and the element of praying and the word is involved in all of them and they'll be there for you we heard a story of one of our groups that were meeting and someone was having a bad day and the moment that they walked into that group all of the people rallied around that individual and prayed them through that bad day i won't share any more than that but that's what this is all about that not only do we share together and fellowship together but we can struggle together meaning that we can go through life it's ups and downs having someone there to encourage us in the lord amen stand your feet i was gonna pronounce a benedictine prayer over you today but instead i'm just going to give you free tony's italian ice amen god bless you we'll see you next sunday [Music]

Channel: Winter Haven Worship Center

Views: 370

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Id: k7nsWaWiY8g

Length: 76min 57sec (4617 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021