THE RESURRECTION OF TODAY'S BELIEVER

all right sharon just get on our feet i don't think it's hot enough in here i think we need to try and get a little hotter come on do you see what i see ((music playing)) do you see what i see ((music playing)) something stunning six feet a day things coming back to life again ((music playing)) ((music playing)) again i believe there's about to be another resurrection ((music playing)) it ((music playing)) is ((music playing)) is ((music playing)) ((music playing)) is ((music playing)) is ((music playing)) ((music playing)) is ((music playing)) ((music playing)) well if you see what i see that the grave is empty the grave is empty ((music playing)) do you see what i see ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) we ((music playing)) ((music playing)) thank you jesus ((music playing)) we worship you in this place ((music playing)) ((music playing)) you can raise against what is lifeless you'll breathe life within what seems over to you it's not the end there's nothing that you cannot do i've already got to see you move come on ((music playing)) right here things come to ((music playing)) ((music playing)) dead life come to life ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) and out of darkness you promised ((music playing)) ((applause)) staring at an empty there's nothing that you cannot do ((music playing)) the one who empties me ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) come on put your hands together ((music playing)) i'm running out of the grave sickness get ((music playing)) ((music playing)) there's ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) let's drop off ((music playing)) yes ((music playing)) ((music playing)) come on all over this place are you ready to run out of the grave today ((music playing)) get out of the way there's healing there's healing here i'm running out of the bread i'm running out of the grave stronghold it's time that you break cause there's freedom there's freedom here ((music playing)) ((music playing)) is ((music playing)) freedom ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) one of my favorite things ((music playing)) amen ((music playing)) wait i want to meet him i'm getting my picture with that rascal he's not getting away but i'm excited we have brother jesse jones bringing the word tonight i'm excited about that amen ((applause)) awesome awesome awesome well i want to share real quick a little something an example before we take communion because communion is important amen bear with me when i start out with this all right so i remember going over a friend's house we're going to play some basketball and i'm showing my age here but this is right when those basketball goals came out that you can adjust the different heights you used to be just stationary back in the in the 80s but then they came up with this basketball goal you can change the height well the standard height of a of a basketball goal was 10 feet and when i went over to my friend's house they had lowered it down to six feet and they were all dunking on it and having fun and all this kind of stuff i just shook my head and walked away and one of my buddies came running up to me as i was getting in my car he's like hey man what's going on i was man i'm not into this put it back up to 10 feet let's play some ball because now we're doing this is we're having fun with it i said bro that's cheating it's taking a shortcut a basketball goal is supposed to be at 10 feet low in the basketball takes the all out of awesome it's uncommon to dunk a ball that's what makes the event so great i'm not impressed with common i'm impressed by the uncommon and i serve an uncommon god amen there's nothing common about our god see my friends wanted a 10-foot validation from me by giving me a six-foot effort they wanted a 10-foot affirmation with a six-foot shortcut so you can't be a 10-foot contender when you're just cruising by as a six-foot pretender ((music playing)) it's the same thing when we take on the title of being a christian there's no room for mediocrity god has no patience for lukewarmness so tonight we're taking up i mean we're doing a communion we're approaching the lord's table we should never approach the lord's table with ten foot expectation and six foot faith ((music playing)) don't approach the lord's table with 10-foot needs and six-foot obedience you see where i'm going with this taken communion is a holy intimate event it's sacred communion is not for everybody if you are in in any kind of knowing sin then you are in rebellion and not worthy to participate i know that sounds harsh but it's what scripture says this includes the guy holding the microphone too many of us chased after chase after a 10-foot jesus with six foot effort and that's unacceptable there's no shortcut there's no shortcut i don't take communion lightly nor should you amen i'm not saying this uh to be mean and i'm not saying we have to be perfect to be a christian nobody but jesus can wear that title what i'm saying is we need to strive for purity holiness righteousness and a heart that sets us apart from the world amen all right well i just wanted to put that on your heart if for any reason you need to do business with the lord right now before we jump into communion now would be a good time so as they play the piano just like pastor greg says anybody on this side can come over here everybody on this side can go over here but as you approach the the lord's table do it with character integrity amen so go ahead and make your way life ((music playing)) before i spoke ((music playing)) you've been so kind is ((music playing)) is ((music playing)) reckless ((music playing)) ((music playing)) now is your hope still ((music playing)) you have been so so good to me ((music playing)) always been so kind all right let's pray lord father god we thankful for this moment this intimate moment we don't take it for granted lord father god you gave your all you gave us everything that you had father god we thank you lord bless this moment bless this time may we reflect on the events that took place at the cross you paid for it all you did it all on the cross for us father god you owe us nothing you already paid it all and we thankful lord so we ask you to bless this time and bless this communion in jesus name amen for i have received of the lord that which also i delivered unto you that the lord jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me thank you father thank you father and after the same matter also he took the cup and when he had sucked saying this cup is the new testament in my blood this do ye as oft as you drink it in remembrance of me let's drink hallelujah we thank you lord we thank you lord again we ask you to bless tonight bless brother jesse as he brings the word bless this worship team in jesus name amen ((music playing)) come on let's continue worshiping together ((music playing)) i throw ((music playing)) and receive my inheritance i won't live in the past cause you hold my future your kingdom here at last and everything is changing now everything is changing now the spirit of the lord is here the spirit of the lord is here and miracles are breaking off ((music playing)) the spirit of the lord is here ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) you bring resurrection heaven is coming down this is revival your kingdom taking ((music playing)) the spirit of the lord is here ((music playing)) the spirit of the lord is here there's freedom here in your presence there's hope and fullness of joy there's freedom here in your presence here in your presence here in your presence and i'm trading sorrow for dancing and i'm trading sorrow for joy and there's freedom here in your presence here in your presence here in your presence there's freedom here in your presence there's hope and fullness of joy there's freedom ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((applause)) there's hope ((music playing)) i'm ((music playing)) is ((music playing)) ((applause)) your presence is ((music playing)) the spirit of the lord is here everything is changing now everything is changing ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) your presence is among ((music playing)) ((music playing)) lord he is here come on can you fill him in the house oh he's here oh he's here oh he's here ((music playing)) is ((music playing)) is ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) there's freedom here everything is changing now yes everything is changing the spirit of the lord hears it the spirit of the lord your presence is ((music playing)) cause everything ((music playing)) is here the spirit of the lord is here and miracles are breaking now your presence is ((music playing)) ((music playing)) come on can you feel them tonight his sweet mercy ((music playing)) when come on how many of you know that to be true ((music playing)) ((music playing)) when he walks into the room ((music playing)) ((music playing)) yes everything it's changed cause the spirit of the lord he's here the spirit of the lord is here his miracles are breaking up your presence is ((music playing)) ((music playing)) is changing now the spirit of the lord is here come on the spirit of the lord is here and miracles are breaking now your presence is among us now the spirit of the lord is the spirit of the lord ((music playing)) come on let's give him some praise this evening because he's in the room today hallelujah let's give this praise band a round of applause man they're anointed they are gifted hallelujah they usher in the holy spirit like no other hallelujah well i'm excited i hope you're excited we're about to bring up a buddy of mine his name is jesse jones he runs the youth here at global vision bible church and he knocks it out of the park he is doing such a great job we're all so very proud of him he also uh helps fill in for me at iron man when i'm unavailable or i need somebody to fill in he's always there and he never disappoints let me tell you i i love jesse because he's he's authentic you won't meet somebody who loves the lord like he does he's in the word he prays he's just doing it right he inspires me all the time so i'm i'm extra excited tonight so jesse come on up give him a round of applause this is one of my favorite people on the planet and so i'm happy to hand this microphone over to him and and see what god's going to do through him amen all right brother amen amen well when the holy spirit has a message that message is going to get out to everyone tonight monica and the worship team they sing a few songs and in the beginning in the line right up with the message tonight's message is titled the resurrection of today's believer so there's a couple lyrics wake up sleeper we need to wake up that's what tonight's message is about we are risen with him it's another one so if you would turn over to john chapter 11. we're going to cover a lot of ground but um it's a familiar passage so let's open up in prayer and we'll get right into the word father thank you for your word thank you for this congregation thank you for everything you're doing here thank you for showing up here with us and and being with us father i pray right now that you embolden me speak through me get me out of the way father show up be with us speak to all of us including myself give us here's to here we love you and we praise you and we pray these things in jesus name amen first of all i just want to say that i'm very very excited i was nervous but when god's with you there's no reason to be nervous it's a blessing and it's an honor it's humbling to be able to be up here on this platform behind this pulpit uh standing here in in in pastor greg's place for for this wednesday night and and i i hope him and his family are having a great time i know they're watching right now so we let's all give pastor greg a hand he's he's done this church an amazing amazing justice so we love him and we're praying for you so in john chapter 11 we see the death of lazarus and it says in verse 1 now a certain man was sick lazarus of bethany the town of mary and her sister martha it was that mary who anointed the lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother lazarus was sick therefore the sisters sent to him saying lord behold he whom you love is sick when jesus heard that he said this sickness is not unto death but for the glory of god that the son of god may be glorified through it see jesus gets the glory right we're here to we're that's the thing all the miracles that happen jesus should get the glory quit taking credit for what jesus is doing whatever your what whatever ministry you're in whether it's deliverance ministry whether it's worship ministry whether it's healing ministry whether it's just just preaching ministry don't take any of the glory jesus gets the glory he is the risen king he is the one that performs miracles we don't do anything we are a tool we are an instrument that god uses so keep that in mind to god be the glory for great things he hath done jesus gets all the glory because it's all done in his name not ours in verse 5 it says now jesus loved martha and her sister and lazarus now let me stop right there for a second jesus really really loved them it wouldn't have been in their words mean something pastor greg says that all the time words mean something in the bible and it says that jesus loved martha her sister and lazarus that's amazing jesus loved them so much that it was written here in god's word think about that i want jesus to love me that much so when he heard that he was sick he stayed two more days in the place where he was then after this he said to the disciples let us go to judea again the disciples said to him rabbi lately the jews sought to stone you and are you going there again jesus answered are there not 12 hours in a day if anyone walks in the day he does not stumble because he sees the light of the world but if one walks in the night he stumbles because the light is not in him if you do what god tells you your path will be lit up if you don't you'll fall flat on your face that's because when you live in the world you're living in darkness you're living in sin you're not living for god you're not living for what his word says for what his will is for your life you're not walking down the path that he wants you to walk down you're trying to walk through life with no sense of direction god gives us direction but we have to ask him one thing i tell my students all the time is have a relationship with god how do we have a relationship what's the key to every healthy relationship communication how do we communicate with god well we have a direct line of communication to god through prayer pray if you if your prayer life is weak then your salvation is probably pretty weak we should we should be constantly praying first thessalonians tells us that to pray without ceasing that means pray all the time i'm always praying i'm always constantly praying just little short prayers father i love you father thank you that's another thing we should quit asking him for so much quit asking god for everything start thanking him for things start praising him for what he's already done in your life quit quit asking him for everything every time we go and ask him for something it's it's like we we go hey father call him on the phone hey i need some money click wait for an answer be patient it's on god's time not ours we face obstacles in life and if you're not listening to god he's not gonna light the way for you and you're gonna fall constantly so remember when you're praying listen listen to his voice listen and you'll know when he's talking to you you know when he answers your prayers we all do we've all had answered prayers listen if you haven't had an answer prayer then you're not listening you're not paying attention to what god's saying to you listen these things he said and after that he said to them our friend lazarus sleeps but i go that i may wake him up if your friends and your family are sleeping and dead in their sin give them the gospel and pray that jesus will wake them up we need to wake up we need to wake up wake up sleeper what the what the disciples didn't understand is jesus wasn't literally talking about sleeping and we'll get to that here in a second but we need to wake up not only the american church but every single believer needs to wake up we need to wake up because if we're awake and our friends and our family are awake to what the gospel says we're a unified front we're a unified force that has to be reckoned with we're not fighting for victory we're fighting from victory jesus already won he already won the battle for us at the cross we we need to wake up revival is here revival is here in this place and if you don't see it then you're not awake you need to wake up open your eyes quit sleeping wake up sleeper then his disciples said lord if he sleeps he will get well however jesus spoke of his death but they thought that he was speaking about taking rest and sleep then jesus said to them plainly lazarus is dead and i'm glad for your sakes that i was not there that you may believe nevertheless let us go to him sometimes we just need to hit be hit between the eyes with solid truth to get the point jesus had to blatantly put it out there he had to literally tell him he's dead he's he's not really sleeping he's dead sometimes jesus just has to smack us in the back of the head and say wake up when when jesus was talking to the disciples and he and he had to blatantly put it out there he had he told him that their friend was dead i couldn't even imagine what they whoa it's a big deal i know it hurts all of us when when a friend dies so i could only imagine what what they went through so now they know lazarus is dead but they still have no clue that jesus is going to resurrect him right we do because we know that we we're familiar with the passage we understand but further down we we see then thomas who is called the twin said to his fellow disciples let us also go that we may die with him so first of all they're afraid that you know that jesus is going to get stoned they're all probably going to get stoned if they go back to judea so thomas still thinks they're going there and they're going to be stoned so he says let's go die with our friend he now he thinks okay i get it we're going to die with our friend no no they have no idea what's about to happen they have no clue what's about to happen jesus is about to perform a miracle this is why it's so important for us to listen to what god has in store for us because when we start to listen we start to understand that there's something more in store for us jesus said jesus said we're gonna go wake him up he blatantly told them that he was gonna resurrect him but they still didn't understand sometimes we still don't get it sometimes he's gotta hit us right right between the eyes right smack right in the head and say hey wake up listen listen to what he he's saying to you because he's got something more for you he's got something more for you there's a miracle coming to you remember that there is a miracle coming to you there is a miracle coming to your life to your family to your financial situation it doesn't matter what the what the circumstances are jesus has a miracle for you sometimes we just got to be patient and wait so when jesus came he found that he had already been in the tomb four days now bethany was near jerusalem about two miles away and many of the jews had joined the women around martha and mary to comfort them concerning their brother now martha as soon as she heard that jesus was coming went and met him but mary was sitting in the house now martha said to jesus lord if you had been here my brother would not have died but even now i know that whatever you ask of god god will give you jesus said to her your brother will rise again martha said to him i know that he will rise again in the resurrection in the last day jesus said to her i am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me though he may die he shall live without christ in our lives we are dead in the world we are dead in our sins when we submit our lives fully to him and believe in him we will be resurrected because he is the resurrection he is the life and even though we die we shall live because to be absent from the body is to be present with the lord it does not matter we will die in in on this earth but we will live forever with our king at the right hand of god we will cast our crowns at his feet and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die right there we shall never die we're immortal we're immortal but we have to have christ when you're dead in the world you're already dead that's it we don't you know one of the one of the best things see jesus jesus preached more about hell than he did heaven and we should we should strive to tell our families and our friends hey there's a place called hell that you don't want to go to instead of saying there's a place called heaven that you you really heaven sells itself we should tell people hell is not a party hell is not a place you want to go we should tell them hey i know a guy that can get you out of that situation i know a guy that can send you down a different path that can help you with your finances that can help you with all of your problems i know that he can he can see you through situations it's not going to be easy i can tell you right now it's not going to be easy but he will help you do you believe this do you believe it i believe it i believe it she said to him yes lord i believe that you are the christ the son of god who is to come into the world and when she said when she had said these things she went her way and secretly called mary her sister saying the teacher has come and is calling for you as soon as she heard that she arose quickly and came to him now jesus had not yet come into the town but was in the place where martha met him then the jews who were with her in the house and comforting her when they saw that mary rose up quickly and went out followed her saying she is going to the tomb to weep there then when mary came where jesus was and saw him she fell down at his feet saying to him lord if you had been here my brother would not have died jesus always has a plan even when it feels like there there isn't a plan or isn't there with us he always has a plan we like to blame jesus for the things that don't go our way we like to blame jesus for for unanswered prayers we like to because we're so impatient we're so spoiled we are so spoiled we don't deserve the we don't deserve anything that we have we don't deserve we don't deserve salvation we don't deserve the things that jesus has in store for us but he gave it to us he loved us so much that he gave it to us sometimes we cry out in prayer for for help and and we're so impatient that we jump straight to the conclusion that he's not listening and it's too late faith is the number one thing that we need to have faith in christ and the timing of god rather than impatience will get you a lot further in life see god's timing's different than ours but faith faith is something that i think a lot of people lack i think i think people underestimate faith they don't understand it we have more faith in the chairs that you're sitting on than than a lot of people have in jesus we sit down on a chair and we we we have faith that it's not going to fall out from underneath us i've heard this analogy a hundred times and i'm sure you have but faith goes a lot more it goes a lot further than just just what meets the eye faith goes beyond our thought process god's thinking is unlimited it's limitless our thinking is limited start understanding what faith means we walk by we walk by faith we don't walk by sight so really i don't think any any that's a message for another time but faith faith is is everything in our in our relationship with christ verse 33 therefore when jesus saw her weeping and the jews who came with her weeping he groaned in the spirit and was troubled and he said where have you laid him they said to him lord come and see here's the longest verse in the bible jesus wept i want you to think about that for a second this is the longest verse in the bible i know i know it's the shortest verse on paper but really think deeply about that this is the longest verse in the bible i'm about to tell you why there's three reasons why this is the longest verse in the bible number one jesus wept for the pain of his friends and the loss that he was experiencing as well they all experienced a great loss of a great friend we've all felt that that grief for the loss of a loved one he saw the suffering of the people and the pain death causes although he knew he was about to raise lazarus he felt their pain and was empathetic to their loss he felt pain remember even though he was god in the flesh he still had emotions god still has emotions god still weeps for us jesus wept for their lack of faith here goes that word again faith this is your second point jesus wept for their lack of faith the disciples operated in fear not faith they were afraid of going back to judea and getting stoned to death we live in a world that is afraid to face the threats of the world and it breaks jesus's heart breaks god's heart when we go out in the world and we and we we get so scared we live in fear i mean i mean we're i praise god that we're out of the the mask mandate and all that all that craziness that that's nonsense but but still people still today are going out and they're fearing the world they're fearing what the the world is setting in front of them high gas prices inflation there's things going on but you need not fear quit fearing the world because we have somebody on our side that has already conquered the world that has already conquered death who has already seen it through he has already gone down defeated the devil and brought back the key of life live by faith not fear thank god i go to a church full of believers who operate in faith and not fear amen ((applause)) number three jesus wept for his coming suffering jesus wept because lazarus death and the resurrection reflected his he knew he would die and resurrect just like lazarus and that he would ultimately overcome death and defeat the devil but he also knew it wasn't going to be easy he had to suffer so that his father would be well pleased and we would be set free from the bondage of sin what a blessing it is that we we are seeing this happen on a daily basis here not just a weekly basis on this campus we see people set free from the bondage of sin on a daily basis that is revival that is beautiful that is amazing praise god for that hallelujah it's amazing what god's doing in this place it's amazing what we're seeing here on a daily basis i've seen miracles happen every single day and it's so beautiful i'm so blessed but we need to we need to guard that we need to guard what god's doing here pastor greg said it a thousand times to all of us we need to guard what is happening here but one thing you need to guard is your own relationship with christ if you take it for granted it won't be the same things won't always be good and things aren't always going to be easy anyways but guard guard what god's given you guard the gift that he's given you it doesn't matter what that gift is we all have a gift god has given us all a gift we need to guard it we need to guard what god's doing in this place as well but we need to guard the relationship that we have with christ this is about the individual tonight this message is about the individual when i wrote when i when i sat down and i asked god i said god what do you want me to preach on he said the resurrection of the american believer i said okay but i was missing the point it wasn't just the american believer it was the believer first i thought he was saying the american church now it starts with the believer it starts with the individual we need to be resurrected we need to be woke up wake up wake up that's the longest verse in the bible it's a long it's one of the longest verses in the bible because we can sit here and we can meditate on it for hours it's amazing it's beautiful verse 30 36 then the jews said see now he loved him and some of them said could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying then jesus again groaning in himself came to the tomb it was a cave and a stone lay against it jesus said take away the stone martha the sister of him who was dead said to him lord by this time there is a stench for he has been dead for four days jesus said to her did i not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of god in reality it really wasn't lazarus's body that stunk it was martha's lack of faith ((applause)) not only does it break the heart of jesus when we lack faith but it starts to make life stink stop relying on the world and yourself to fix your problems and start living in faith that god has you covered when we when we begin to lack faith when we begin to fall behind on our faith and our prayer life and our reading see these these are important keys to maintaining a healthy relationship with christ reading your word reading god's word reading your bible and praying those are the three those are the two things that you need to do on a daily basis also you need to worship him you need to start learning how to worship him i'm not talking about singing praise songs yes you can worship through that but start learning how to worship him through his word once i found out what that meant once i found out what that looked like man it was so awesome it was it just it took me to a whole other level but i was missing something i was missing the worship in prayer once i learned what it meant to pray in the spirit man man come on now man holy spirit come on now that right there that that right there is amazing it's beautiful now i know how now i know what it feels like to actually walk with god and talk with him i laugh with god i cry with god i have a whole different relationship with god because of my prayer life i learned how to worship through prayer if you don't know how to worship in prayer ask god ask god if you don't know how to worship through his word you need to you need to start there worship in his word worship in the word of god it's a beautiful thing then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying and jesus lifted up his eyes and said father i thank you that you have heard me and i know that you always hear me but because of the people who are standing by i said this and they may believe that you sent me now when he had said these things he cried with a loud voice lazarus come forth lazarus come forth wake up wake up just as jesus cried out to lazarus he's crying out to all of us to come up out of the grave and follow him and live according to his word walk in obedience walk in obedience if you go out and you live like the world and you come to church and as pastor greg likes to say put on a jimmy carter smile you're doing it wrong you're doing it wrong the christian lifestyle to be a follower of christ isn't boring it's not boring at all it's a beautiful beautiful relationship i lived for the world for so long it god knocked me literally knocked me on my knees every time i i started living for the world more and more and more life got worse and worse i owned a business at one point i had a successful business but god wasn't the center of that business so i failed i failed because god was not in the center of that business it was a successful business but i lost everything i lost everything some of you know the story but it crushed me i didn't know what was going on earlier in my life i worked in the oil field i worked on the pipeline i made lots and lots of money but i have nothing to show for it i made lots of money and i was putting it in the wrong places i look back and i think man what i could have done for the kingdom with that money what i could have done for a local church with that money and i wasted it i wasted it on the world but now i'm here i'm living proof that he can turn your life around i think we all are at one point in our life we were dead in our sin that's why we get baptized right we're dead in our sin buried with christ and raised to walk i was dead in my sin i walked around literally a zombie i walked around just coasting through life but jesus delivered me from that bondage he brought me up he woke me up and he resurrected me and he brought me out of that grave and i came running boy did i come running man i came running out of that grave and i said jesus i want to live for you i want to do everything for you i want to live in obedience i want to live according to your word and he honored that he honored everything i started doing immediately i became a new creature in christ i quit using tobacco i quit drinking i quit everything i quit everything that was of the world because i didn't want it anymore and god changed my heart he changed my life he softened my heart i started seeing things differently i started looking around and looking looking at the world in a different way looking at how dark the world is and i said man i don't want to live there i don't want to live there it's so dark and i keep falling down i keep stumbling around there's so many obstacles in life that i can't i can't see anything you can't see anything in the dark but when jesus comes into your life man he'll light it up he will light it up it's amazing it's a beautiful beautiful sight when you can actually see and he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave cloths and his face wrapped with a cloth jesus said to them loose him and let him go when you come up from the grave you're going to need some help so you don't trip and fall i know i did my lovely wife helped me so much when i came up out of the grave when i was raised to walk with christ she stood behind me the entire time she stood behind me and she she said you can do it it's okay everything's gonna be okay god's got this and boy was she right a blessing she was what a blessing she's been i needed that help i was covered in cloth it's wrapped up like a mummy and when you're wrapped up you just start running around like a drunk person you trip you stumble you fall you know i always tell i always tell people there's two paths in life and i like to say this to my students because they're young they're impressionable but they're the they're the ones carrying on the torch so i teach them this there's two paths ahead of us there's the narrow way and there's the broadway there's a reason there's a reason why every large city broadway is where the bars are remember that broadway is where the sin is because broad is the way of the world right and narrow is the way of the righteous so when we split when we have this fork in the road when we come to this fork in the road we can either go the narrow path or we can go the broad path once you go to broadway now there's ways back to the narrow way there's there's always a pathway in between that kind of leads back to that point but it's the long way around the barn you know i like to hunt and a lot of times we don't have a trail to walk down we have to make our own trail so when you take the broadway and you start to come back to the narrow path you have to cut out that brush you have to knock some things down in order to get there you're going to fall you're going to stumble you're going to fail things are going to happen you're going to think that god's not there you're going to think sometimes is god even real it's part of the walk it's part of the process it's it's not an easy process it's a painful one it's a very painful process but it's not impossible it is not impossible nothing is impossible for my god nothing is impossible for my god my god moves mountains my god parts sees where there is no way he will make a way you have to rely on him to clear that pathway to cut that brush out to help you but surround yourself with good solid believers surround yourself with like-minded christians with like-minded people because if you don't surround yourself with people who are living in obedience to god were god's word then you're going to fall again and you're going to fail and you're just going to go right back down that broadway and you're not going to walk in according in accordance to god's word you're not going to go according in accordance to his plan rely don't solely rely on other people but ask for help when you need it don't be ashamed to ask for help when you need it sometimes we all need help at one point in our life we all need help and with this it's important that you ask for help a lot of new believers have come to me a lot of my students will come to me and they'll say hey i listen to this preacher is he okay well if it's if it's not pastor greg then don't listen to him i'm kidding there are a lot of great preachers out there but they they rely on they rely on my knowledge of the word of god to guide them in the right direction they say hey i don't know about this i don't know about this preacher what do you think of him huh it's an honor to be able to to to speak into these young people it's an honor to be able to speak into others but i also get adults that come to me hey what's your what's your thought on this it's a beautiful beautiful thing it's a beautiful road that god's brought me down and you know a few years ago you would have looked at me and you wouldn't have been asking me those questions you would have said hmm yeah that's probably not the guy i want to go talk to but god brought me out of that bondage he resurrected me and he brought me up and it was because i started surrounding myself with like-minded people i started as pastor danny likes to say pruning i let god prune i started i started letting god prune people out of my life and it was hurtful it was so hurtful a lot of people started disappearing they don't want to hang out with me anymore i don't i don't drink i don't i don't do the things that they like to do that they call fun i i don't want to live like the world and they do i look back and i'm like man i really wish they would have came with me i planted the seed i planted the seed and out of all my friends one of them came with me and what a blessing he's been what a blessing he's been to all of us he works on the production team and i'm not going to call him out but just know that we uh he was he was one of those people and we and we we relied on each other we relied on each other because we had to we had nobody else we had nobody else that came with us and wanted to study god's word wanted to pray wanted to do the things that god needed us to do in order to get us to where we're at now he woke us up he woke us up from our sleep he brought us out of the bondage of sin he brought us from a place that was going to keep dragging us down keep pulling us down i moved to nashville because i uh because of music i moved here to be a country singer obviously that didn't work out too well i am now a youth leader so amen um but praise jesus that he showed me the the darkness of that world i looked and i and i met a lot of famous people and very nice people a lot of them very nice people but i also saw the the darkness that followed them around the dark cloud that kind of hovered over a lot of them not all of them but there's a lot of them a lot of them i didn't want that for my life that darkness will always make you stumble it doesn't matter how much money you have it doesn't matter how how much fame you have it does not matter what you have if you're living in darkness you're living in bondage you're going to fall every single time let jesus light your path wake up the believer today the professing christian today needs to wake up and understand what it means to be a follower of christ too many professing christians go out and live like the world and come to church on sunday and act like a christian they need to get out of that if you're living that lifestyle you need to get away from it you need to start living living christ like we're called to live like christ are we going to be like christ probably not but we can strive to be we can we can strive to be sinless should make us cry it should make us weep it should make us hit our knees in our prayer closet and weep we're not hurting ourselves we're hurting god it's hurting you but it's hurting him more stop living in sin stop justifying sin every time we justify sin and try to justify it through his word it just it it makes me sick and it makes him sick it angers god we shouldn't live like that quit living like the world and start living like a christian wake up it is due time that we wake up and come out of the bondage of sin the world has influenced the church so much that professing christians all over accepting all forms of sin instead of calling for biblical repentance it's time for change global vision is in revival and what a wonderful wonderful revival we are in ((music playing)) and if there's people here living for the world and they don't change they'll miss it you're gonna miss it that should break your heart if you're living in sin and you don't see the revival we're in or you're just here for the show you're going to miss it you're going to miss a movement in in god of god in the individual you're going to miss the movement that god can make in you that the holy spirit can make in you let the holy spirit move in you wake up wake up if you don't see the change and you're living in the world it's because you're sleeping wake up come forth believer wake up time is running short and tomorrow is not promised now is the time now is the time for a great awakening god is going to pour out his spirit on all flesh all flesh let him pour his spirit out why wait why wait to allow god to pour his spirit out on you let him pour his spirit upon you let him fill you up with the holy spirit let him fill you up to overflowing with the holy spirit let him move in your life like he's never moved before let him start moving in your life so that you can start showing others what it looks like when they look at you and they say i want that i want that i want to be like that i want to be like that we should weep at that thought we should weep that he even loves us enough that we are able to have the holy spirit indwelt within us let the holy spirit fill you up so that others can see the holy spirit moving through you and you can spread the gospel of christ because he died for all all not just us not just you he died for all of us now let his spirit fill you up so that others can see what he's doing in your life and that you can say this is why this is why i have a light this is why the i i can walk so so straight because jesus lights my path and let me tell you let me tell you about jesus let me tell you what he's done in my life that's that's the goal heaven isn't the goal quit thinking that heaven is the goal if heaven is your goal then you're doing it wrong spreading the gospel is the goal that should be the goal when we start spreading the gospel and we understand that that's the goal you'll get it you'll see it the holy spirit will move so mightily in you that you won't even be able to stand it sometimes i just can't stand it i can't sit still all over the place i just want to go out and cry out jesus from the rooftop i just want to i just want to cry his name from the rooftop that's how we should feel that's how we should feel all the time we should always be filled with the holy spirit now is the time for resurrection wake up wake up father thank you for this time father i pray that you fill this place with the holy spirit not just tonight but always let your spirit dwell within this place let your spirit dwell with all of these and within all these people father continue to work continue to move in this place continue to allow us to see miracles continue to just fill us up give us the boldness that we need to go out and spread the gospel give us the the boldness that we need to go out and talk about you may others see your light in us father and may we be resurrected may we wake up awaken your people awaken your prophets awaken your people awaken everyone awaken the lost bring them back to you father father we love you we praise you and we worship you we thank you for your word tonight we thank you for everything you're doing here we love you we praise you we worship you and we pray these things in jesus name amen ((applause)) you are dismissed ((applause)) you