Embracing Authority and Power: A Call to Bold Witness

Thank you. Babe, you’re so great. You got a pretty good guy here.

I think he deserves way more than that, though.

I send my notes. Got really, really small. I was like, whoa, can’t see that. Okay. Awesome, man. thank you, Pastor Liz. and God is so faithful when we come.

When we come into his house to meet us, he’s so faithful to meet us where we’re at. You know, each one of us comes in into this room, bringing all sorts of things. We come here and we can be met and transformed by the power and the presence of God. Pastor Liz encouraged us at the beginning of worship, and I know not everybody was here, so I just wanted to reiterate a little bit praise.

When we really understand praise, it changes everything. Because when we when we really understand, it’s when we come and honor him and magnify him and make him big. Everything else fades away because we come in with a lot of stuff and they’re real and they’re difficult, and there’s battles that we have to face and we will have to face.

But when we come face to face with God and in his presence, everything else fades away and he infuses us with strength, and he infuses us with joy and peace and love and everything that we need for the season that we’re in, everything that we need to walk through, what we are walking through. He’s here today to meet us.

Amen. So thank you Pastor Liz and team. I love that song stood today Holy forever. It’s been on repeat in my playlist for many months now, and it just wrecks me every time. Amen. Well, before I start my message, tomorrow is Memorial Day, and I wanted to just take a minute as we’re gathering today to remember what we are celebrating tomorrow.

It’s not about barbecues and parades. It’s not about the unofficial start of summer. It’s a sacred time to reflect on the courage and the dedication and the ultimate sacrifice of those who laid down their lives for the ideals of this country that we hold dear. It’s a time that we come to remember and to honor the men and women who gave their lives and service for our country.

The sacrifice which is the foundation of our freedom. The sacrifice that calls for our deepest respect and remembrance. So I want to encourage us as we celebrate tomorrow, not having to go to work, but we take a minute to actually remember what it is. We’re celebrating the freedom that we have in this country and how we got it, because it was because of the lives that were shed for us, that we can be in this room lifting up the name of Jesus in the middle of California, declaring Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of Lords.

We have the freedom to serve the King in the way that he’s called us to, because men and women gave their lives so that we could have this freedom, so we could have a country that is founded on the principles of God. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but I know what I have today, and I’m going to be grateful to the Lord and grateful for the men and women who gave their lives.

I’m grateful for the men and women who served in the military. I’m grateful for the ones that still serve. But this weekend and tomorrow, we remember the ones that we lost and the families of those ones that were lost. And we thank them and we honor them.

I wanted to share a couple quotes from Billy Graham about Memorial Day. Billy Graham says, the freedoms we enjoy, the freedoms we take so much for granted, the freedoms we so often trifle with were brought not by the gold of our millionaires, nor altogether the genius of our scientists, nor the sacrifices of the people at home, but primarily by the blood, sweat, and agony of those whose names we honor today, those who died that we might live.

They found that there, that there are principles well worth dying for. Their noble, unselfish sacrifice in a silent, eloquent rebuke, is a silent, eloquent rebuke to the self-centredness of this generation. I’m going to say that again. Their noble, unselfish sacrifice is a silent, eloquent rebuke to the self-centeredness of this generation as we think of the self, selflessness and heroism of such fellows.

We are reminded of the words of Jesus Christ, who said, greater love has no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friend. Even though the sacrifices of our war dead have been great. Yet the greatest sacrifice of all time was made by a man on a cross who died not only physically, but spiritually, that men might live.

You see, we can best keep faith with those who have gone before, by keeping faith with ourselves, with our highest ideals, and with God. Only Christ can meet the deepest needs of our world and our hearts. Christ alone can bring lasting peace. Peace with God. Peace among men and nations, and peace within our hearts. He transcends the political and social boundaries of our world with peace, men.

Last week, Pastor David brought us a word challenging us. If you guys weren’t here, you should go back and listen to it.

And I’m going to we’re going to launch a new series today. We’re going to be launching something that’s going to take us through the summer, because God is moving on us to push into a new season in a new way. And Pastor David gave us powerful, powerful world word start again. Pastor David gave us a powerful word last week that challenged us to engage and to rethink, engage in to what God has called us to specifically to engage and to reengage in our community.

He was prodding us and activating us in evangelism and our lives. He said we need a total mindset shift. As Christians. We are not those that get ready for the seekers. We are the seekers themselves. So we are going to be launching a new series, which I believe God is challenging us into a new mindset, into a new focus, and into a new mandate for what he has ahead of not just this church, but I believe the church at large in our community and in our nation.

We are going to be talking about church on Mission.

Church on mission. We have been given an assignment from God. We have been given a mission from the Lord. And we are going to refocus into outreach, into evangelism, into inviting, because those are components of a healthy church, because we are called by God to reproduce. We are called by God to reproduce. This house specifically has so many prophecies about reproducing.

And you know what? Reproduce is. It’s the process of sowing, of carrying, of reaping and repeating, sowing, carrying, reaping and repeating. And he has been pressing on our leadership team that it is time we felt this press for the last several months, pastor Jonathan, for even further, that God is pressing us into something new, and it’s going to require us to start thinking differently.

It’s going to require us to stop just expecting the same old, same old. Thank you. Hey, Liana. Hello for giving that word today, because we all have been in the middle of the day to day, the grind, everything we do, we’re used to this. We’re used to that. But God is saying, if you want to do something new, you’re going to have to step out of what you’re used to.

So that I can do something new, because I’m not going to be able to do something new. If you’re stuck in the old.

And we’re all guilty of it. We’re all guilty of being in our comfortable places. And our comfortable church environment and our comfortable homes. But God is saying that is not what is going to take you into the next. If you are going to be the reproducing church that is going to produce a church that is strong and powerful and manifest the very power and presence of God, you have got to get out from behind your own self.

You have to stop looking down and begin to look up and see what God has ahead of us, so that we can be the church of God, that the gates of hell will not prevail against.

And to do that, we have to reproduce. We have to reproduce. The beginning of the year. And going into this, these last few months, we, our team has been in prayer. We’ve asked for some of our prayer teams to be praying about direction for this House for this next season. And there were several words that were given to us from the community of prophets.

And one was given. It was a scripture. John 435 says, do not say there is still four months. And then comes the harvest. Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready for harvest. They are ready for harvest. There was other prophetic words challenging us to the harvest, challenging us to see.

Now, I love this scripture because it says lift up your eyes so often we as Christians, I believe we walk looking down. On us.

We’re looking down. Or we’re so worried that we’re going to make a wrong step. I gotta, I gotta make sure. I mean, these heels are a little iffy today. You know how to make sure I’m watching where I’m going. Pay attention to the places that I’m walking. And we miss so much stuff around us. And God says, Will you lift up your head and trust me with your feet?

He will guide your steps. He will be the lamp that goes before you. Will we lift up? But lifting up your head requires trusting in the God who will guide and lead. And if we will lift up our heads, he’s like, there is so much out there. There is harvest out there. There are people that do not know me.

There are people who’ve known me but have walked away from me. There are people that have just met me but don’t have a home. They don’t have people that will walk with them. They don’t have people that will decipher them and partner with them and love them, and walk through the dirty stuff and walk through the ugly stuff and walk through the hard stuff.

You know, everybody’s really great to say, oh, it’s so good to see you, but what about when the stuff hits the fan? Are we willing to walk through the hard places with people? This is what he’s saying. The harvest is ready. It’s all of those things. It’s not just about the unsaved. It’s about all of the lost and all of the people that have not been gathered who are not being discipled.

And he says, go listen to what I’m saying. Get your focus off of your feet. Get your focus off of yourself and see what I have in front of you, because I will do exceedingly abundantly above what you will ask or think. You know, sometimes we think so small. Sometimes we think so small. And God’s like, just look up, just see it.

It’s all in front of you. You don’t even have to look that far. Just get your eyes up and see the people that have already surrounded you with. See the people that are in your life.

See the people that have already put there that I’m drawing.

But are we so worried? But our own lives, our own time and we don’t notice the people right in front of us? Lift up your eyes. It’s not four months from now, you guys. It’s not a year from now. It’s not six months, nine months, two years, whatever time frame you want to put on it. It’s not that it is now.

And God is challenging us to step out now.

Matthew 9:35 says, Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. Preaching the gospel of the Kingdom more than just salvation. The gospel of the kingdom. Righteousness. Peace, joy. Now here, walking in life and in freedom. Walking and overcoming liberated life that is empowered by Holy Spirit. That is the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

You know, when Jesus went out, he brought solutions to the problems in which he was facing. Jesus came and said, you’re living in this life. Let me tell you a better way. You’re living in a life that is full of despair. Let me bring you life. You’re living a life full of anxiety. Let me bring you peace. You’re like.

You’re living your life here. Let me bring you something better. You’re living a life and death. Let me bring you life in sickness. Let me bring you wholeness and torment. Let me bring you freedom. This is what Jesus went out doing, preaching the kingdom of God. Healing every sickness and every disease. And it says, when he saw the multitude, he was moved with compassion.

He looked up from even the good things, the great things he was doing. And he saw them both altitudes out there, the sea of people that were trying to get to him. And it says he was moved with compassion because they were weary and scattered like sheep with no shepherd. And he said to the disciples, the harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest. This is the season that we’re in. Will we lift our eyes to be gripped with compassion? To see the weariness. To see those that are scattered.

We willing to go out. To be laborers in the harvest. Matthew 28:18 through 20 says, Then Jesus came to them and said, this is after he was resurrected. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. This is our assignment.

It always has been. It always will be. But God is challenging us and refocusing us into this place I love with the Passion Translation how it says. It says Jesus came close to them and said, all authority of the universe has been given to me. Now go in my authority and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, son, and Holy Spirit, and teach them to faithfully follow all the commands.

And never forget that I am with you. You see, Jesus, he is connecting these principles and we’re going to spend these next, the next about ten weeks talking about this mission that God is putting us in. He is the assignment that he is giving us to be on mission wherever we go, and he’s connecting it with his authority.

I think sometimes we like to read this scripture and we don’t like to read the beginning part. He says, go into all the world and preach the gospel, right? We tend to do that. And it’s not that we don’t like it. Maybe we just forget about it or we just don’t read it in the whole context. But he said, wait.

All authority is given to me, says Jesus. So go. Therefore go. Those are connecting words. That’s why I like how the Passion Translation connects it. Specifically. Now go in my authority. Because even when you go back to the King James in the original, it’s a connecting word. Therefore go because of this. Now do this because of the authority that is in Christ.

Now go in my authority and preach the gospel to all men. Making disciples. Like I said, discipleship is not just about sharing Jesus. That’s the first step. It’s a necessity. But then we have to walk.

That’s what we have to do. Gather and walk with them. I really believe when we get a real revelation of the authority of God, which I’m not going to talk about today, that it will change how we walk. Because when we truly understand the authority of God, we will then truly understand the authority that we walk in.

That we can walk in the authority and in the power. Go in my power and do what I’ve got you to do. Greater works will you do? Jesus said, go. I did all this stuff. I healed the sick. I raised the dead. I brought deliverance to the oppressed. But I got to go to the father. So greater works you can do.

Greater works? Yeah. Greater works. Go, go. Bring Jesus! Yes. Bring the power of Christ. Bring the presence of Christ. Be. Bring the transforming power of God. Go!

See this great commission that we read at the end of Matthew? Mark and Luke is the last thing recorded in those gospels of each of those gospels. Then we go to acts, the continuation, the continuation of what God’s doing. And in acts one it tells us that Jesus appeared to his disciples from time to time. Over the course of these 40 days.

After he was resurrected, before he ascended to the father, and he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise. He said, wait, because I’m going to send the promise from the father. In Acts 1:6, it says, so when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking, Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore your kingdom?

Restore our kingdom? Actually, that’s what I said. Restore our kingdom. And Jesus replied, The Father alone has the authority to set these dates and times, and they’re not for you to know. I can just hear this. Jesus gets done saying like, go into all the world, preach the gospel, make disciples power and authority. And he’s teaching them and he’s reminding them of all he did.

He just raised from the dead. And he’s appearing to them, reminding them of what he did. He’s coming to them, proving to them that he who was dead is now alive, and he’s doing all they go, this is what I’m commanding you. This is what I’m pressing you to do. And therefore their question is, Lord, when are you going to restore Israel?

And I could just see Jesus like, oh my gosh, you still don’t get it right? you still don’t get it. Okay, cool. Yes. Let me answer your question. God alone knows he’s alone has the authority to set that date and time. And you’re not going to know. But let me tell you what you need to focus on.

Don’t worry about that too much. Let’s focus over here. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, through Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Sometimes we are so worried about things that we don’t need to worry about, and we need to worry about the things that God is telling us to do and to be.

This is one thing I love about this scripture. He says, Jesus says, and you will be my witnesses. So often we relegate witness as something that we do. Instead of somebody that we are.Be my witness. Every part of you. Be someone who is a witness of me. Live your life as a witness. Shout it out as a witness. Share what I’ve given you. Bring the power of God, which is who is resides inside of you and has transformed your life. Bring that. Be the witness. Be something that people want to be.

Pastor David said it last week. When we start focusing on what is around us and seeing people, how God sees them and seeing them in a way that God, that the love that God has for them, it changes how we how we think. And it’s like, okay, God’s press me to this. I better figure out this holiness thing because I don’t want to be a hypocrite.

Be a witness. Be my witness. Don’t just do be. Because out of our being comes our doing.

That’s where we run into trouble. When we start, try to do things that are outside of who we are to be. My witness. And it will flow. It’ll come out and God will give you the boldness, and he will give you what you need. Be my witness. It’s so important. The scripture. He’s tying these two things together. He’s saying, wait.

Wait for the gift from the father. Because when you receive power from the Holy Spirit, you’re going to receive power from the Holy Spirit. And you will be my witness. I think so often we separate those things. We think that power of the Holy Spirit belongs in this church building, and we can jump up and down and we can prophesy and we can, you know, be on our face in the presence of God, that the power of the Holy Spirit is here.

And then we’re going to go witness.

And that they’re separate things, but they’re not. It’s the same thing. The power of the Holy Spirit will transform your life, and the witness will transform the lives around us. And it has to be the end in both. I also think sometimes we go into to two camps. I’m in the power of the Holy Spirit camp, and I’m in the witness camp.

No, it’s. And in both you have been given power from the Holy Spirit to be my witness. We must bring the power of the Holy Spirit into that place of witness, where God is calling us. Continues in acts two says, when the day of Pentecost fully came, they were in one accord in one place, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind.

And it filled the whole house that they were sitting in. Then there appeared to them divided tongues. As of fire, and one sat upon each of them, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the spirit gave them utterance. And there was dwelling in Jerusalem Jews and devout men from every nation under heaven.

And when this sound occurred, when the sound occurred, the multitude came together, and they were confused because everyone heard them speaking in their own language. They were accusing them of being drunk. They didn’t know what was going on. There was a sound that happened when the Holy Spirit showed up on the day of Pentecost that launch them into one of the greatest examples of evangelism in the Bible, where 3000 souls were saved.

And you know, what that came from? Came from the overflow of the Holy Spirit, came from the overflow of the sound. You know, the crowd wasn’t drawn by something familiar to them. The crowd was drawn by something. They had no idea what to make of it. They didn’t know about it. It was totally unknown. It was foreign, it was unexplainable.

But they were drawn to the supernatural power of God that was happening. The sound in which they could not make sense of what’s drawing them out of the places that they were in to come and find out what is this. And although they didn’t understand it, they were curious. And they said, what is happening here? What is this sound?

It has to be something different. That is what drew them. You know, the disciples, he didn’t get upset that they were being accused of something they didn’t do. They were being accused of being drunk, didn’t get upset by it, didn’t get their feelings hurt. You know what they did? Peter got up and he explained what had happened in their own language and something they could relate to.

You know, he was talking. He said these were Jews. So he brings in scriptures from the Old Testament to explain what was happening, to tell them about Jesus and how he was the fulfillment of everything that they believed in. He spoke a language that they knew so that they could come to know God.

Out of the overflow, out of the overflow. You know, I don’t want to be someone who just appeals to people and their interests. I want to be so different that people are attracted to it. And I believe as God is pressing us in to this season, and he’s saying it is now, it’s not four months from now. It is now that we’re going to embark, all of us church wide.

Not just David, not just jazz, not just Jerusalem, not just Sean, but he’s pressing all of us to be on a mission to bring Jesus out of the overflow, out of the overflow.

We need to bring the kingdom of God, the transforming power, the life giving message, the solutions we need to be the peace bringers, the bringers of joy and life to every area. God is challenging us not just to be ready, but to seek after those who God is drawing.

So we’re going to spend some time over these next weeks breaking down this mandate from God to be the Church on mission, to see and understand the harvest and what it is in front of us. To speak into the mindset shift that we have to have to see the lost and broken around us, and to reach out, to break down the barriers that keep us from sharing.

To break down the misconceptions of what evangelism has to look like. To challenge us to put our passion on display.

To live it. To challenge us. To invite. To invite people into relationship with us. To invite people to know Jesus. To invite people to come into this fellowship and family of God.

To understand what we are inviting people to not just salvation from hell, but into the kingdom, into relationship, into transformation. We’re going to talk about understanding the barriers that keep people from coming to church, how we can remove them. We’re going to talk about what it is to disciple and walk with people, and we’re going to be commissioned and empowered for this season and this mission.

Let me tell you what we’re not going to do. We’re not watering down the message. We are not changing who we are to appeal to people’s interests. We are not putting Holy Spirit on a clock to make someone more comfortable.

Because people want real. People are looking for truth. People aren’t looking for the same old thing they have.

They want something different. They’re attracted to the presence of God. They may not understand it. They might even be scared of it. That’s our job to help guide them, to walk with them. But people need the power of God. People need the prophetic word of God, the presence of God that brings change in our lives, not just a feel good moment on a Sunday, but something that changes your life and how you walk and how you live and how you think.

You know, there’s a lot of really good music out there that’s not going to be what draws people. There’s a lot of good speakers out there. Having the best speakers, the

best music, it’s not going to be what draws people. It has to be like an Acts 2. From the overflow of the Holy Spirit and the mighty power of God on display, that we can boldly share what God is doing.

And we can boldly share the message a full life through Jesus, a full victory through him, a life worth living in the Kingdom of God, his plan for his Church, not just a gathering on a Sunday to feel good about ourselves. But an overcoming, victorious church. We have to be willing. To put it out there. One of my favorite quotes from William McDowell says is the risk of embarrassment is the price of breakthrough.

And God is challenging us today. Are we willing to see beyond ourselves to lift our eyes up? We really are willing to risk embarrassment. There’s been times in my life where I’ve not been willing to risk embarrassment.

But ten years ago, the Lord showed me. That I wasn’t willing to say that I was even a Christian, because I didn’t want to have the conversation that might follow. We all bring things right. We all have things that have happened in our lives. We all have have lenses in which we view things with. But God is challenging us.

Will we risk the embarrassment to see the breakthrough in our community? There are people who need the transforming life and power of God that you possess. They need it. Will we be it? Will we be his witnesses? Amen.

Amen. Before we go, I wanted to invite Gene, Greg up, and any of the Haiti team.

We’re going to pray for a family who is, Well, let them share. Yeah, that has suffered deep loss. in 2019, this church sent a, missionary team to Haiti. Dental team Jewish. Joe McEntee was among those. Team Greg. And, That’s when, the violence started in Haiti. Extremely bad. it was kind of uprising starting then.

And. This team was, you know, we were trying to get to the airport. I called Ginny this church, prayed to help us get to the airport without, any, violence. Anyway, we hit a roadblock on the way to the airport. They tormented us, stole some of our luggage, and, we got through that roadblock. We got down.

Another roadblock was ahead of us, and I just said, we’re not going to do this again. So we’re looking for a place to go. And there’s this friend of ours named David Lloyd. He’s been a missionary in Haiti for over 20, 25 years. He used to work for James Redfield, used to run a school there, and he started a family in Haiti, him and his wife, and they’ve been there ever since.

And so we were destitute and we knew of the orphanage. We went there 30 kids that he raised up teaches. He becomes your father, actually, David Lloyd and his wife. Anyway, we got there. We didn’t know what to do. So he goes, if you need to get to the airport, I’ll get you the airport. Big guy. And, he had his friend with them, and we’re about five miles away from the airport, just out of port au Prince.

And he loaded us in the truck and was able to weave through the streets of debris and other roadblocks. And he got us to the airport. And this guy was like a hero to us. And we just greatly appreciated what we did. He he basically saved our lives and got us home this last week, his son, who took over, I think it was taken over his ministry is David Lloyd and his wife were murdered by gangs.

last Thursday. And, also a lot of person with him who kind of helped run the orphanage also was killed. So I just thought that Greg and I would like to this church pray because it’s part of us. It’s a ministry that you guys sent us to do is this ministry that we were doing. This was the first ministry that, missionary ministry that was started by this church, by one of our dear friends, sister Pat grew it, who was a main pillar to help start this church.

And so this outreach is part of us. And so I we just thought we should pray for David Lloyd and his wife for comfort.

Hallelujah, Lord, in the name of Jesus, we just come before you and we thank you. Oh God, we thank you for for your servants that go out and reach other people and places that are dark, Lord, and risking their lives. Oh God, we just thank and praise you for their son. You’ve given David and his wife in this orphanage.

We thank you. Oh God, for them, for being heroes. Lord. And I just lift up David Lloyd and his wife and I just ask for comfort for him. Oh, God. For, you know, all things. Oh, God. And we just depend and rely on your Holy Spirit. What to do to guide us and direct us. Lord, just refresh your lives.

No. Or just keep discouragement away from them. Lord, we just thank you for all they’ve done in this country. Lord, I just praise and honor you for this little orphanage. Lord, we don’t know exactly what happened to the rest of the people in an orphanage, but we just pray for them. Now that your hand of protection would be upon them, that you would send people in that or take care of these children.

Lord, the name of Jesus, that your Holy Spirit would be around this place and protect it. Oh God, in the name of Jesus. Oh God, we just depend to rely on you. You know all things. Oh God Lord, and we claim, oh God, your power and authority over this place. And we just thank you so much for these people are willing to go out and give their lives so that people may be saved, just like we were talking about today.

Oh, God. So your salvation will go forth in this country that are overwhelming. Oh God, Lord, in the name of Jesus the Lord, touch all the ministries, touch our hospital in Boca, Zel and Trey Threadgill. Oh God and his church. Oh God, these people who love you. Oh Lord, touch them. Oh God, strengthen him. Oh Lord, be with this country.

Oh Lord, intervene in it. Oh God, in the name of Jesus. Oh God, we depend to rely on you in Jesus name, Amen.

Yeah, yeah, these people were real warriors for God. So it’s fitting that Memorial Day, we memorialize them to. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you guys.

Thank you, Word of life, for being willing to embrace this call. It will have sorrow, but this is what the world needs. And, you know, we’re going to see this. This couple bring forth grapefruit and that nation. So Amen.

Father, we just pray your your guiding hand as we exit this building. Father, lead us, strengthen us, walk with us. We thank you and praise you in Jesus name. Amen.