Waters Church

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Finding the power to fulfill your purpose. Finding the power
to fulfill your purpose. And we've already read the text
and it ties so nicely to what we talked about
last week when we talked about finding your purpose in
the plan of God. And a lot of Christians get
excited about finding their purpose.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
And we take the.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Little test, you know, spiritual gift assessment test. We don't
do that at this church, but maybe you came from
a church where they did that. I've done that stuff,
or we you know, we do these things where we
try to find our personality, you know, the disk assessment
and all those different things, what kind of person in
my mind? I kind of laugh at those things because

(00:43):
here's the reality, and this is not even a Christian thing.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
This is not even a believing thing. This is just
a life thing.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Life is going to hand you environments that never checked
what your disc results were. Right. The world is going
to put you in places where they don't give a
rip about what spiritual gift assessment you took. And I
feel that it's more important to just live a life

(01:09):
of surrender to God, to say, God, it doesn't matter
what gifts that I have, because You've got all the
gifts I need, and you can empower me for wherever
you want to place me. Can I get a good amen?

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Right there?

Speaker 1 (01:24):
He's not concerned about you finding your identity outside of
the Church, outside of His plan and the chase for
our purpose to know what God has us on this planet.
For I said this last week, I want to re
up this week. It is not an individual enterprise. You
find your purpose through the Family of God, to the Church,

(01:49):
through the body of Christ. So we've been in Ephesians
and I've said this every week, and you should have
this memorized by now. Ephesians is six chapters long. It's
divided neatly into two sections, Ephesians one to three and
Ephesians four to six. Now, I am not going to
fill in these blanks for you today.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
You should know this by now.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
So let's see. Let's see her. If you know Ephesians
chapters one to three is about what ooh, there you go,
second service. You are the best at that response all
weekend long. And then Ephesians four to six is about yeah,
what we do? So who we are comes before what
we do. We love to go to Ephesians five and

(02:33):
talk about marriage. Ephesian six and talk about parenting Ephesian six,
and talk about spiritual warfare. But we don't pay attention
to what God has determined us to be. Because I
believe if you know who you are, you'll know what
God's called you to do and you'll be able to
do it. And today we talk about power, power, power

(02:54):
to do what God has called us to do. See,
because there's a difference, there's a distance between where we
are and what God and knowing what God has called
us to do. But how many know what I'm talking
about when he says, knowing what God has called you
to do is over here and you're over here, and
there's a differ. There's a difference. There's a distance between
those two realities, and sometimes that distance can feel so

(03:18):
hard to cross. And I remember when I was first
employed by our church up at our Nord location, and
I was the youth pastor to a to.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
A booming youth ministry of ten kids.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
And I was just recently graduated from Bible College, where
they don't teach you about how braddy teenagers can be.
You know what I'm talking about. You know who teaches
you that your own kids? Come on? Somebody? So I
was like, why don't these kids love Jesus? And I
was all frustrated, and it was just so overwhelming to
feel like I got a minister with these kids who
don't know Jesus.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Don't even want to be like, you know, following the Lord.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
And then I remember I was sitting in the church
because I knew on a Sunday morning, I knew that
the Lord did not have me long term for youth ministry.
I knew the Lord had me long term for what
I do now, which is pastoral ministry and planting churches.
That's something got put in my heart, the purpose that
I felt God put in my heart. And I was
sitting over on that side on the very end of
the row up at our Norward location, and Pastor Guyser

(04:19):
was preaching that day and the place was packed and
everything was awesome and just such a great experience. And
I had this little voice come into my head as
I was watching it, and I was watching Pastor guys
a preacher.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Little voice said, You'll never be able to do that.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
And I think that there's a lot of us in
this place that you feel that exact same way about
your life. You know where you're supposed to be, and
you know where you are, and the difference is a
distance that seems uncrossable. I want to tell you what
you need to get that distance shortened. Here it is,
are you ready? Power? The difference between where you are

(04:58):
and where you should be is God's power. How many
of you, if you're a believer in this place today,
how many of you would say, I know I need
to be a better follower of the Lord. Can you
put your hand up? I know I need to be
a better follower of the Lord? Yeah, yeah, yeah, put
your hands back down. All you did right there was
just confess that there's a distance between where you are
and where you should be. You know that you should

(05:19):
be there. You know you're not there. There's things you
do you don't want to do. There's thoughts you have,
you say things you shouldn't say, and all this kind
of thing, and you know you should be over here,
but you don't know how you're gonna get there. And
here's what it is. Here's what you need. Power. Somebody
say power? All right? So the Bible talks a lot
about us having power. Now in the world, power is
about controlling others. Please don't, please, don't think that That's

(05:43):
what God's power is about. God's power is not power
to control others. Listen. God's power is power to control you. Yeah,
that is good, Thank you, sister. I need some amens
in this house because I gotta tell you, I'm a
little shocked at how little that was amen. Because that

(06:03):
was good preaching right there. I want to tell you
are the problem in your life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You
think it's them, You think it's the husband, you think
it's the wife for the kids, it's you. You need
God's power to control that spirit that rebels against him
and hates them, that old flesh, that old cardinal nature
that came with you into the new life. And that's

(06:24):
why Paul says, I keep doing the things that I
want to do, and the things that I want to
do I don't do. And so Paul knows what he's
talking about, and you know what I'm talking about. And
we're all in that same boat together. And the power
that God wants to give us is the power to
overcome that old flesh, that old devil inside and say
enough of you, Christ, be exalted in my life. I

(06:45):
get so fed up with the world telling us to
look inside, look inside, reach down deep I have it
stinks in there. I'm terrible in there. I know what's inside.
I need something else. Right, So this is this is
why we've got to have power, not to control the
world or others to control us, so.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
That we can be ready to do what God wants
us to do.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
So if he actual Chapter one right, Act chapter one eight,
when Jesus rises from the dead, he said, your received
power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. The Kingdom
of God is about power. Power in the Holy Spirit
or Romans fifteen thirteen. Made the God of Hope fill
you with joy in believing, so that by the power
of the Holy Spirit you will abound in hope. Somebody,

(07:33):
you don't have any hope anymore, No hope for your marriage,
no hope for your life, no hope for your future.
And the reason why is because the power the Holy
Spirit has been pulled. The plug is pulled in your
mind and you and your thoughts you haven't You haven't
plugged in to the power source of the Holy Spirit,
so that God's hope can come into your life through
the Holy Spirit. Or for one Corinthias four to twenty,

(07:56):
the Kingdom of God is not consistent talk but in power.
There's so many people here, so many churches. All they
do is talk. All they do is talk about the
good old days, or all they do is talk about
what we should do, or all they do is talk
about how bad the world is. Yeah, we get it,
the world's bad. We should we should admit the world's bad.
But we're bad, and I don't. I don't even know

(08:17):
how bad it is. I don't even know. Is there
a solution to it. The solution is Jesus. The solution
is the Holy Spirit. And we don't come into this
church because there's great music or great speaking. We come
into this church because there's a great savior named Jesus
on the throne. You could touch your life and one
word from him, one word from Jesus can totally renovate

(08:40):
everything in your life. James, Chapter five sixteen. You don't
even you don't even need to come to church necessarily,
because it says the power of a righteous person, the
prayers of a righteous person have great power as they
are working. There's power to your prayers. As a person
who believes in Jesus. You say, well, I'm not a
righteous person. And pastors, so that first kind of like

(09:02):
deflates me. I don't have righteousness, and I want to
tell you something. You don't have righteousness. I don't have
righteousness because this Kingdom of God is not about our righteousness.
The Kingdom of God is about his righteousness. And here's
what the Christian movement is about. The Christian movement is
not about good people getting more better people. The Kingdom
of God is about dead people becoming live people and

(09:24):
receiving a righteousness that comes from God Romans one, verse
sixteen and seventeen. A righteousness that comes from God. Philippians
chapter three, verse nine. That God gives a righteousness that
he has, and he imputes it the theological phrase. He imputes righteousness.
He counts it according to your record that when God

(09:45):
sees you, he sees the righteousness of Jesus all over you.
So when you pray, you don't pray in your righteousness,
you pray in His righteousness. This is why Matthew chapter
five thirty three says, seek first the Kingdom of God
six thirty three. Seek first the Kingdom of God and
his righteousness, not yours, because yours isn't nothing, Yours isn't

(10:08):
good enough. He gives you his righteousness. Anybody tracking with that?
What if you praised your prayers as if you were
credited the righteousness of Jesus. When God looks at you,
he said, Jesus' record, not yours. That changed your confidence
a little bit, wouldn't it? Power? Second Peter one to
three says, his divine power has granted it all things
pertaining to life and godliness, that through our knowledge.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
Of him, we can grow because of his divine power.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
And then my favorite verse on power comes from two
Timothy one seventeen. God has not given us a spirit
of fear, but of what power? And love?

Speaker 2 (10:43):
And self control or another version and says, so sound mind.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
And I just love that verse because that'll get you
through COVID, that'll get you through vaccination, crazy, that that'll
get you through the flight that suddenly experiences incredible turbulce.
That'll get you through the cancer treatment, that'll get you
through the chemotherapy, that'll get you through the divorce, that'll
get you through the child who's wayward for a few years.

(11:08):
That'll get you through whatever you go through because you
don't you might have to walk through it, but you
know that God is with you in it, and you
know that he'll never abandon you, and you know that
he's not giving you a spirit of fear. If you've
got fear, I just want to tell you, it don't
come from God, comes from all the other people around you.
Let this world freak out about COVID nineteen. Let the

(11:29):
church stand up and say, you know what, I don't
understand why everybody else is freaking out, because I know
who holds me in the palm of his hand, and
I know who's got me right where he wants me.
And I know even if I die, I'll see Jesus.
I don't have to freak out. It's not denial, friend,
that's not living in denial. I think that's living in

(11:49):
the absolute truth. So then we go to Ephesians chapter three.
We talk about this the power that God wants to
give us. These verses that we've read and think about
Ephesians chapters one to three like a fireworks show of theology.
Ephesians chapters one to three is a fireworks show. Anybody

(12:09):
like you some fireworks. I don't know if they're gonna
let us have fireworks this year. I don't know These
lame mayors and governors who don't want us to have
any fun, just live scared for the rest of our lives.
I don't know, but anyway, we'll see. Remember fireworks. For
those of you under the age of two, we used
to have fireworks. Yeah, the fireworks show would start. Everybody

(12:30):
get quiet, and it would be like one single fireworks.
It would be like it's starting, it's starting. Then another one.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
They're like different ones, like shoot, you know what I'm
talking about.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
Then they do that fake you out like this is
the grand finale, fake you up, s not over, It's
not over. Then the grand finale. He goes right, You're like, yeah,
I'm proud of me in America. And I think about

(13:09):
Ephesians one and three is like God's theological fireworks show. Jesus.
You know chapters one verse three. He has blessed us
with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Right Jesus one seven,
you were forgiven, redeemed through the precious blood of Jesus. Show.

(13:31):
If he just two five, you've been made alive with Christ.
If he's just too late, you are saved by great
two face. If he is too tim you are God's
workmanship created Christ Jesus for great things. And there are
Phesians three. If Esus three, he goes on and says
that we have boldness and access with confidence to reach
the throne room of God. But when I read this

(13:53):
verse three, verse twenty to twenty one, to him who
is able to do exceeding the abundantly of all we
can ask, damn me glory the Church and in Christ,
Jesus rute all that? Right? You right? Run amen? And
this is a last verse of chapter three. It's like
the grand finale. It's like fireworks. Whoa yeah yeah. So

(14:29):
you're like, man, he's getting really pumped up about this.
Where's this going? And so when you go when when
somebody says what did you what did you do this week?
You say, I saw fireworks in church? Amen? All right, anyway,
this is the this is the grand finale. Like, this
is how you experience power. Here's what I want you
to write down. Believers are designed to live in the

(14:50):
exceeding power of God.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
Here's why. Because you don't have the power.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
If you overwhelmed, if you're depressed, if you're anxious today,
you need God's power. I don't want you to feel
guilty about feeling those things. Those are normal human experiences.
But let me be very clear in that God wants
nothing normal about your life anymore. We are not natural

(15:21):
people in Christ. We are super natural people in Christ.
Yeah s, he said, well that sounds good. How do
I get this power? Well, that's what Paul unpacks here
in verses three to fourteen, fourteen in verses fourteen to
twenty one in chapter three. Let's go through with this guy,
five points pray for me because you usually have three

(15:42):
right number one. The Christian's power is received through sincere prayer.
If you want if you want power, you must ask
God for it.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Well why well.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
Because that's what Paul does here in Ephesians three. So
we've only got taking six weeks for us to go
through three chapters.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
By the way, that's good Bible teaching.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
Some people get so frustrated in the pastor bears down
deep into the Word and takes.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
You verse by verse. Can I just tell you don't
get frustrated with that.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
The depth of God's Word is what brings life and
peace and joy.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
And that's why I say I encourage you to bring
your bibles.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
Let's be a church that enjoys receiving the Word, because
this is what we came here for so in three chapters,
the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul actually writes in
the letter two prayers that he's praying for the Ephesian.
We talked about the first one in week two, we're
talking about the second one in week six, the last week,
and here he is praying again and he's writing it down.

(16:45):
You know what a sincere prayer is. I'll tell you.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
Number one is you write it down.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
Who's here? And don't raise your hand, but who here?
You write down your prayers like your journal. Why Because
I think it's important to record what God does in
your life.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
So that you can go back and look at it
and say, oh.

Speaker 1 (17:09):
I remember that he did that.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
I didn't even realize he answered the prayer.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
Some of us think God never hears our prayers because
we never record it. And let's be honest, we are
a moment in my moment, second by second, social media
driven generation. The only things about right now, and if
you only just talked a thought about like prayer journal,
what are you praying for? And maybe it needs to
be written now so you remind yourself what you're praying for,

(17:34):
and then when you see it answered, you see God's faithfulness.
So here's sincere prayer too. Paul models it in verse fourteen.
He says, for this reason, I bow on my knees
before the Father. This is the posture of a powerful
Christian right here. See I heard old preachers say like this.

(17:59):
You won't be able to stand for Christ publicly until
you kneel before Christ privately. You want, you want to
stand out there, kneel in here. Jesu said, you gotta
get into your prayer clause when nobody's looking, and you
gotta get down on your knees to gother, say, God,
help me to be filled with your power today. Some

(18:21):
of you don't have packeras. You never ask. Some of
you stopped asking, like I said, you pulled the plug
on your power source. Interesting thing today at church today
in the building, we had a power outage from like
seven I think there was like seven am until like nine,
like we're gonna have service today, and then the power

(18:42):
came on just in time. You know, when you don't
have power, you notice it. Some of you are wondering,
what's going on? Why is all these things happening in
my life? Why am I always so angry? Why am
I always so mad. What's going on? You pulled the plug?
You stop getting on your knees. Before the Lord you
used to do it, but now you do owned. And
so I even I do this because I got out

(19:04):
of the habit and as I was studying.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
This word, I said, I'm gonna get on my knees
this week.

Speaker 1 (19:07):
And so on Wednesday afternoon morning, I actually got down.
When he's in my clock, I literally went into my closet,
got on my knees. I just the Lord, just pour
at your power in me today. I need your power
for this week. I need your power for this message.
I need your power for the word of God. I'll
tell you I had the best day. Nothing was different
on the outside. Everything was different on the insign walking

(19:28):
in the power and the authority of jess which Jesus
died to make sure I could have. Right before you
read the last seven chapters of the Book of John,
it's all about Jesus spending time with the disciples, and
the number one topic of conversation is not about predestination,
is not about the end times, is not about the rapture.

(19:49):
The number one topic of conversation for the last seven
chapters of John is you will receive the Holy Spirit.
That's all he talks about for seven chapters. Just way
to the gift. Come. This is what the gift is.
He's just like me. He's a comforter, he's an encourager.
He's gonna tell you what I told you. He's gonna
bring to remembrance what you learn. He's gonna give you
what you need to say at the right time. And

(20:11):
if you have the power the Holy Spirit, you will
be able to do more things than I ever did.
I mean that that's powerful, and I think that we've
got to get on our knees. It's God's people and say, God,
give me that power. James chapter four talks about drawing
near to God. You draw near to God, He'll draw
near to you. Look at who goes first in this passage.

(20:34):
Look at who goes first? You go first. I love
that passage because it reminds me of this one fact.
You are as close to God as you choose to be.
I don't feel so close to God. We'll get close.
If you start, He'll respond, draw near to God, and

(20:55):
then he will draw near to you.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
How do I draw near to God?

Speaker 1 (20:58):
Well, it says it. There your hands, you sinners, purify
your hearts double minded, And this is some pretty tough words.
Be wretched, morn weep. Let your laugh to be turned
to morning and your joy to gloom.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
What is that?

Speaker 1 (21:11):
That's repentance. That's you coming to God and say, God,
I I've just got all this junk in my heart,
I got all this nasty. I'm sorry, Lord, I know
it's I know it's against you. I have sin, I'm
not holy. I'm asking God, would you come and cleanse me?
And then it says this, humble yourselves before the Lord
and he will exalt you again. Get on your knees

(21:35):
privately so that you can stand publicly.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
Some of you are going through that job situation right now.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
Someone is driving you nuts, and then you know how
to push your buttons. They just push them all day.
Some of you going through a sickness right now, you
just say, why am I going through this? What's going on?
Where's God? I'll tell you where God is. He's in
the same place he's always been. He's waiting for you
to come and ask for power to overcome and be

(22:02):
strong in him. Secondly, the Christian's power is experienced inwardly
before he's experienced externally. Inner strength precedes external solutions. It
doesn't mean that everything's gonna go humpty dory for you
after you pray. It's not like God just solves all

(22:24):
the problems. What he does is it gives you the
power to face them. It gives you the wisdom you
need to address them. See scription says that in Christ
are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In Christ.
Christ can give you wisdom for the moment. Christ can

(22:45):
give you words to say when you don't know what
to say. So, I mean, you're like, I wish I
need the Bible because I want to talk to this
person about Christ. But I'm afraid they're gonna ask me
a question I'm not gonna be able to answer. Okay, wait, wait, wait,
But the Bible says that when you are dragging before
people and they ask questions of you, don't worry beforehand
what you're gonna say, because in that moment, the Holy
Spirit will give you the worst of say. Some of

(23:07):
you say, oh, how do I get that? You ask God,
give me the Holy Spirit so that when that guy comes.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
And asks me, I'll know what to say.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
Because a lot of people's rejection of Christ has nothing
to do with theology. It has everything to do with
their experience with some Christian or some church in their past.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
Need to be able to speak to them and love
and grace that God can give you. So what is
Paul write? He writes in verse sixteen.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
He says in verse sixteen that according to the riches
of his glod, I'm praying that according to the riches
of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened
with power. That's the prayer. I'm praying for power for
you through the Holy Spirit. So where does power come
from through the Holy Spirit? And where does it come
to in your what inner being? Underlying circle? Inner being? Why?

(23:58):
Because we live in a world that is obsessed with
the outer being. We live in a country and a
culture that just defines everything by how you look. And
I thought about about this question for you. How much
time do you spend in the morning on your outer being?

(24:23):
By the looks of you?

Speaker 2 (24:25):
A lot?

Speaker 1 (24:27):
Not many ugly people here, a few, I won't point
them out, but how many of how many of you?
You know? You get up in the morning and first thing, shower,
shave here, just look in the mirror, spend all this
time on your outer being.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
And by the way, thank you for that. I'm not
saying that's bad.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
That's good. You're gonna spend time in the morning tomorrow
before you go to work making sure the outward looks good.
Here's a scripture says, God doesn't look at the outside,
He looks something inside.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
And how is that part of you? How much time
have you spent on the inward person?

Speaker 1 (25:06):
Have you prayed that the inner person is strengthened with
power through the Holy Spirit? Words matter in the text.
Not just God give me the Holy Spirit, Not just
God give me power. No, God strengthen me with power
through the Holy Spirit inside. And then he says, so
that Christ may dwell, somebody say, dwell, dwell in your

(25:27):
hearts through faith. By the way, that's the proof text
for asking Jesus into your heart. That's actually where it
comes from. That's the only verse that talks about that.
But this is where it says, you know, we want
Christ to dwell. And the word dwell in Greek is
a rich word. It means that someone comes in. They
don't just come and live in the house, they take
ownership of the house.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
And so there was this theologian in the last century.
His name was Robert Munger.

Speaker 1 (25:49):
He wrote a very short book called My Heart Christ's Home.
It's a book written for men. Because it's only six
pages long. I kid you not six pages. Don't buy it.
You can find it for free. It's a pdf online.
Don't search now, do it later. Robert Munger My Heart Christ.
And he unpacks how when when you ask God to

(26:09):
dwelt Jesus to dwell here, here's what it is like.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
It's like a house with different rooms.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
And he comes into your kitchen and he says, okay,
what are you cooking up today?

Speaker 2 (26:18):
What are you what are you preparing yourself to eat today?
And he kind of reorients your diet around holy things.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
He gets rid of the lucky charms and the reces pieces,
and he puts in some wheat grass. You know what
I'm talking about. You know, some chiesa seeds. Come on somebody, right,
And he changes your appetite. And then he goes into
the living room and he starts to address your entertainment options.
And and and I love how Robert Mongers he's he

(26:47):
comes in, he says, no, don't turn the TV off,
Let's watch it together. What are you watching? Can you watch?

Speaker 2 (26:52):
Can you watch?

Speaker 1 (26:53):
What you watch? With Jesus there, start to let him
tell you what to watch. Yeah, I remember when I
was young in college and I was in a Bible college.
So we had heard about this church that was having
revival across the country. So we all pulled our money together,
these broke college students. We rented a fifteen passenger van
and we drove across the country to go see this revival.

(27:15):
And I'm telling you, God really just did a renovation
work in all of our inner beings. It was one
of the best decisions we ever made. So we drove
back to college and every night we used to tune
in in the dorm to this one particular TV show.
When I came back from that, when I came back
from that revival, got it done such a work in
my spirit? They put the TV show on that next night,
and literally I felt ill when it came on and

(27:39):
I could not watch. I say, guys, you gotta turn
this off, and I just walked out the room. Can
I tell you it's been twenty two years. I haven't
been able to watch that show since, even to this day.
If I see that show on TV. I get ill
what happened. Jesus took ownership of that portion of my life.
He said, this is not good for you anymore. What's
the show?

Speaker 2 (27:59):
I'm sure you're all one. I won't tell you.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
And this is why I won't tell you, because God
wants to change your diet according to his plan for you.
And by the way, it's a show that's not really
even that sexual at all. It's not. It's actually just
a show where kids are constantly disrespecting authority constantly. I
think sometimes those shows are more dangerous than the sex
stup shows. Seriously, anyway, Jesus wants to move into your bedroom.

(28:23):
He wants to address your sex life, and then Jesus
wants to Then he talks about. The last thing that
Jesus does before he takes ownership of the house is
he goes into the dirty closet in the hallway, you
know the cause. And I'm talking about the closet where
you stuff.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
All your crap right before friends come over.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
And he comes and he says, there's a stench coming
from this closet.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
We got to clean it out. Here's what Christians are.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
Christians don't come out of the closet and be proud
of the stench. Christians are people who let Jesus go
into the closet and wipe out the stench. Come on, somebody,
that's good preaching right there. Jesus take authority over that area. Can't.
I can't fix it. I can't. She take authority over
that area. See, this is what Christians are. Christians are
people who are constantly surrendering new areas of their internal

(29:05):
being to Jesus. Christians don't come and say no, no, this
is who I am. It's unchangeable. I cannot do anything
about it. No, this is what Christians are. Christians is like,
this is who I am when I came to christ
But Jesus is working on me. Jesus is changing me.
Jesus is transforming me into his image. And it's a process.

(29:26):
It's a process. You don't get dynamically changed in every
single way. I mean, seriously, know one when they first
come to Jesus is suddenly holy. In practice, we all
know that anybody who's met a Christian knows that they
could be some of the most awful people on the planet.
But like I said, one part of this serves you
gotta thank God for what you aren't anymore. Amen.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
So he said, I pray that Christ may dwell in
your hearts.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
And then when Christ dwells inside, it doesn't matter what
hits you on the outside. So write this down. When
God's power is working inside, what ever is working outside
does not devastate you. You're You're You're in person is
able to withstand the storms of life.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
Because Christ dwells there.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
And when he dwells in here, remember he's always ruling
over what happens out here. So you got you got part,
you got harmony. And funny how the world talks about
being being in harmony with their.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
Environment and the funny how they talk about that.

Speaker 1 (30:30):
They talk I finally feel like I'm at peace with
my environment. Where does that? Where does that need to
feel at peace with your environment come from? It comes
to the fact that we don't have it. And the
only way to get it is to is to know
the one who made the environment.

Speaker 2 (30:45):
You know the one who made it, and he's living
inside of you. You can have peace inside of you
with what's outside of you.

Speaker 1 (30:51):
So Paul will say this in Second Corinthians chapter four,
he says, we are pressed, we are hard pressed, on
every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We
are perplexed, but not drive into despair. We are hunted down,
but not abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but
we are not destroyed. Notice Christian that we are not exempt.
We are not exempt from being pressed, from being perplexed,

(31:11):
from being hunted down, and from being knocked down. If
you've ever been knocked down, feel like you're hunted downfield perplexed,
and feel impressed. Welcome to the club that's called life.
But here's what happened. We don't fall apart, We don't
give up. We don't throw up our hands. Oh what's
gonna No, no, no, because we know that greater is

(31:31):
He that is in us than he that is in
the world. When we receive the power of God through
the Holy Spirit, he gives us the strength to face
whatever is on the outside. Romans Chapter eight, verse thirty five.
By the way, Romans eight another chapter that's all about
the Holy Spirit. Roman seven ends with Paul saying, wretched

(31:53):
man that I am, who will save me from this
body of death? That's Roman seven. That's the last verse.
Then he says, thanks me to God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. And then he goes on this long theological
treaty on the power of the Holy Spirit at work
in the life of the believer Romans, chapter eight, and
he gets to the end of that chapter and he says,
who's just separate us from the love of God in Christ?

(32:13):
Jesus shall tribulation or distress, or persecution or famine naked
as danger or storm. As is written, we were being
killed all day long. We were as regarded as sheep
to be slaughtered. But no, no, no, no, no. In
all these things we have more than conquerors through Him
who loved us. That we have the Holy Spirit in
enabling our bodies and our minds and our hearts to change.

(32:34):
Even if it looks like we're dying on the outside,
we're living on the inside. Isaiah chapter fifty four says,
no weapon formed against you was gonna succeed. Do you
believe that today?

Speaker 2 (32:48):
How many how many might be saying, oh, just this
is like the end, This is the end.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
Stop, get on your knees, ask for us power, and
stand in the power of the Holy Spirit. He says,
every tongue that rises against you, you shall This is the
heritage of the servants of the Lord. Gotta get our
heritage back. How about Philippius four thirteen, I can do
all things through Christ, who gives me shrink by the
way he was writing Philippius four from the same place

(33:14):
he was writing Ephesians three in a prison cell. Paul's
change to a Roman centurion. He can't travel, he can't
go anywhere. It doesn't stop him from doing what God
wants him to do. He writes Ephesians, he writes Philippians,
he writes Colossians, he writes collations. We call them the
prison epistles because they all come from a guy who
was chained up in a prison. And in a prison,
he says, I can get through this because Christ gives

(33:37):
me strength for whatever environment I find myself. In number three,
the Christian's power is fueled by God's immeasurable love. Your
power to live is fueled by God's immeasurable love for you.
Here's what I believe. You might want to write this
in the margin of your knows there's no place to

(33:57):
fill in the blanks. Believe that people who know they
are loved can do almost anything. What we do, why
we hedge our bets, why we don't take risks. Why
we don't put ourselves out there? Do you know why?
Because we care so much about feeling loved and accepted.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
By the people in our world.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
If you know you're loved by God and that love
deeply abides in you through the Holy Spirit, you don't
need people to like you anymore.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
You don't need people to approve of you anymore.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
Look, it's a basic human need to feel to feel
validated and to feel significant. That's a basic human need.
Even the young lady in the video and the baptism.
But did you hear she was talking about it. I
needed validation from my friends. I need validation from the
people in my life. Yes, we all do. Guess what,

(34:56):
it's a fool's errand because people will love you one day,
you another the young ladies, You'll be like texting your
friends what you doing tonight? Nothing? Just hanging in okay,
love you smooch smiley face emoji. Then you log on Facebook.
Three hours later she's at the club or at the
party with her friends. They didn't invite you. Oh my gosh,

(35:19):
why don't they like me? I don't understand. I guess
I'm a loser. Validation listen. If you don't find your
validation in Jesus, you will be forever begging for it
from people who are stingy to give it. Find your
validation in the immeasurable love of God. How I do it?

(35:43):
Get a you? Please ask God for it, Ask for
the Holy Spirit to strengthen your heart to receive. And
then look, words matter on the text. So let's get
into the text. Verse seventeen, that you being rooted and grounded.
Somebody say rooted and grounded, rooted and grounded in love. Okay,
Now two terms rooted, grounded, rooted, biological, organic, grounded, industrial, architectural.

(36:04):
And Paul has already talked about the fact that the
Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is kind of like the
biological organic channel through which we receive the love of God.
But then there's this structural architectural, the grounded, the grounded area. Well,
he's already talked about that earlier in chapter two. Remember,
you are being built up on the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Christ being the cornerstone as the church,

(36:29):
and so the Church is the is the structural component
that roots me in the love of God, and the
spirit is the biological organic component that roots me in love.
Of these two, these two channels work together to remind
you you are loved by God, rooted and grounded and love.
Then you will have strength. Somebody says strength. Now look

(36:51):
at what he says, because words matter. Strength to comprehend,
you need the Holy Spirit to give you strength to
know the height, the breath, and length and depth of
the love of Christ, which surpassed this knowledge. Which is
so funny. He's saying, I pray that you know the
love of Christ, which you can't fully know. It's fully

(37:14):
it's an ironic prayer, but it's just driving the point home.
No matter how much of christ love you experienced, there's
always more to experience. And you've got this vast, limitless
well available to you of Christ abounding love. And here's
how you experience it. Write this down. The Spirit and
the Church ground me and the love of God. What

(37:38):
am I doing right now? I am reminding you that
you are loved by God. I'm reminding the person you
did naughty things last night, You're loved by God.

Speaker 2 (37:51):
You're like, oh, that just made me feel worse.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
Good, Stop doing it right. It's the love of God,
the kindness of God. Scripture says in Romans too, the
kindness of the Lord leads us to repent us. We
don't want to let him down because we know how
much he loves us. The church reminds you the Spirit

(38:14):
organically produces in you a sense that you're loved. And
when you know you're loved, you can do almost anything.
You can take that risk in business or in relationships.
You can go for the college degree. You can challenge
yourself for better things because you know you're loved, and

(38:34):
even if you fail, you're still loved.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
Number four. The last two points are quick, so relax.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
The Christian's power is beyond our desires and our expectations.
Whatever you think God can do, think more. I said
in it earlier. This is the fuel behind all that
we do at Water's Church. Why do we go to
Guatemala and plant a church in a different country. Oh,
by the way, about to open up a second Guatemala

(39:02):
location on the other side of the country in Antigua.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
We had a wonderful couple.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
They're coming from Brandon's Church and they're gonna go out
there and start a watersh church in their home and
their backyard in Antigua. Guatemala. And by the way, that's
a great vacation destination. So you want to go visit,
but we want to. We want to go for it
because He is able Verse twenty. Let's read again, to
him who is able to do far more abund only

(39:27):
than we ask or think.

Speaker 3 (39:29):
Whatever you're praying for, believe for more. Whatever you think
God can do, think bigger. This is our heritage as Christians.
And then don't miss that next line. According to the
power at work.

Speaker 1 (39:41):
Within us, it's not external, it's internal. He wants to
do greater things than you think, but in you and
through you, and then to him be glory in the church.
So this is the last point. The Christian's power is
intended for the glory of God. God doesn't give you

(40:01):
powers just so that you can celebrate and show off.
It's not power since you get out of the perfect
Christian family, perfect Christian marriage, perfect Christian business, and so
that God can get glory out of your life. Some
of you need to learn to pray. God get glory
from this story. God get glory from whenever I'm going

(40:23):
through whatever I'm experiencing. I don't understand it all, but
you do. You know me You know my inward being,
You know my outward being. You stitch me together in
my mother's womb. All the days that were before me
were mapped out before one of them came to be.
You created me. You know me, You love me. Get
glory from me Verse twenty one. To him be glory

(40:44):
in the church and in Christ's see. Some of you
gotta let go of whatever you think is for your glory.
That job is not for your glory.

Speaker 2 (40:53):
It's for God's glory.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
That marriage is not for your glory, is for God's glory.
And listen real carefully. Parents, listen, listen, listen. That child
is not for your glory, It's for God's glory. So
many mothers always depressed their kids are not turning out
the way they wanted them to be. They're not yours,
they're God's. Don't make them, God, give them to God.

(41:21):
Somebody in Paris, somebody want moms crying. You know, Oh,
I want to do it. You know, when I came
home at thirteen years old and I walked through the door,
I that mom, Jesus has just called me to be
a pastor. Isn't that wonderful? She said, no, you're gonna
be an engineer. You're gonna make lots of money. And

(41:41):
I said what? And she came from a pastor's family,
so she understood, I don't want that for you. You're
not gonna do she You know, she fought me all
through high school against being a pastor. Aren't you glad?
Jesus won and she lost. Come on, somebody, you better
be glad. I see something. You're not clapping, You better

(42:01):
be glad. I'm not coming back, just kidding. So, parents,
you need to stop thinking that your children's success validates
who you are. I know who you are because you're
the ones at the cookout this weekend. You're the ones
that are not gonna be able to shut up about
your kids. That's what that's the ones. Oh, Johnny just

(42:24):
graduated Magna cum Laudy. He just got his MBA. He's
just so amazing. He's like the best kid ever. I
don't know. He was so easy. You know, he potty
trained himself. He was just such a brilliant child. I
can't talk Shohnny this and Johnny shut up about Shohanny.
No one cares except you. What is that? It's overcompensating.
You know some people they just brag about the thing

(42:45):
in their life, whatever it is they're marriage, their stuff,
their business, they're always talking about because they're always trying
to overcompensate. I think that's what it is. They're looking
for validation from the outside because they're missing it on
the inside. You don't need to brag if you know
God loves you, you.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
Don't need to show off. By the way, you don't
need the stage.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
If you know God's love you, God's loves you, you
don't need people to celebrate you. If you know God
loves you. What is Hollywood? What is celebrity culture? What
is all that? A bunch of people who never knew
God love them, And so they go after fans, they
go after celebrity, they go after fame. They're begging the
world to tell them they matter. And what they need

(43:29):
is not our attacks. They don't need our viciousness, you know.
What they need. They need the Gospel of Jesus Christ
to know that they are loved beyond what they could
possibly imagine. And if they repent, they'll see Jesus come
alive in their spirits. That's the hope that we have
in Christ. If we're in Christ. And that's not just
a Hollywood problem. That's an American problem. That's your problem,

(43:51):
that's my problem. We don't need the validation this world
when we have the love of God. Sermon in the sentence,
there's more power to be experienced than me through the Spirit,
the Church.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
And the love of God, so that I no matter where.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
I am, I can showcase His glory. God get glory
from my story. So here's what you need to start doing.
You need to start getting on your knees and asking
God give me that power power to comprehend how much

(44:25):
you love me, so that my story can bring you glory.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
And you stand up and you just start

Speaker 1 (44:33):
Living life knowing that God is with you and he's
able