January 28, 2025 • 42 mins
Join Chris Schlotterbeck as he discusses the importance of having a mustard seed size faith inside of you.
To get connected or to give online, you can go to connect.hcv.church or give.hcv.church. If at anytime during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text "change me" to 970-00.
Come As You Are ...
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Episode Transcript
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Welcome to Hub City Vineyard.
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To get connected or to give online go to connect.hcv.church or give.hcv.church.
If at any point during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text
change me to 970-00.
Thank you and enjoy the message.
Hey good morning everyone.
So as you can tell I have a little bit of a sinus infection.
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Please bear with me today as I share.
We had a large celebration of life yesterday that kind of hit me in the, like I was hitting
a brick wall so, but that's okay.
We're going to work through this and I believe and know that God has put a word in my heart
that I want to get out to you and I know who used my voice to make a difference.
If you're joining us from home, thank you for welcoming us into your space.
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Shout out to HHC.
We love you guys, miss you and we'll see you soon.
So just like you heard Steven say, our youth retreat is coming up at the end of February.
Last year you saw the image.
We sent 16 teenagers to upper northern Pennsylvania to a retreat center where many of them were
changed by the presence of God.
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This year we want to send 20 plus.
If you feel like you can give to sponsor a youth to go, please do.
It's $160 registration fee.
Our goal is 20 plus kids because we know that their lives will be changed.
Real quick announcement about our soup and chili cookoff winners.
Last week we had our growth group kickoff.
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Our second place winner was the HCV writers, Lisa Zimmerman and her soup or chili.
And first place was the inner garden, which is led by Lisa Reese.
So they were our two big winners.
They received their beautiful aprons during our first gathering and a really unique high
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five and a big shout out to all you Redskins fans in here.
I've never seen so many Redskins commander's jerseys in my life.
It's like you came out from an 18 year playoff absence or something.
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Sorry about that.
I'm rooting for you.
I am.
So in his classic book, the knowledge of the holy, A.W. Tozer writes this, what comes into
our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
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The most important thing about us.
So my question to you this morning is, what do you think of when you think about God?
What do you see?
What do you imagine?
Do you think of an old guy with a long white beard wearing a robe and sitting in a large
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chair removed and distant from the rest of us?
Or maybe you think of God as a close friend or a distant ruler.
Some of you may picture eight ounce, six pound baby Jesus wrapped in a manger for you.
There just really is no hope, but that's okay.
That's a whole different story.
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Maybe you think of Jesus as a close friend.
See the reality is whatever we think about when we think about God, it's extremely important
because it impacts every area of our life.
It impacts our beliefs, our thoughts, our feelings, our actions.
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Some people think about God again as a distant ruler.
He's up there somewhere in majesty and splendor.
He has all this power, but he's uninterested in his creation.
He's not really concerned about you and me or our everyday lives.
And if this is your view of God, then you would live your spiritual life as a practicing
atheist because if there is a God, it really doesn't matter because he may have all the
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power in the world, but he is interested in me personally.
So why should I trust him with my life?
If you view God as a close friend, which remember Jesus does call us friends, that's a correct
interpretation.
But if you view God as only your friend that is concerned about us, but doesn't have the
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power to change anything, then every time we go to him in prayer, we're going to become
frustrated with the reality that yes, he cares about us, but he can't impact or change my
current reality because of my doubt.
I personally took some time to reflect this week on how I viewed God, what image came
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to my mind, and for me, it's Gandalf in Lord of the Rings.
And if you've ever seen Gandalf, yes, he has a long white beard, yes, he wears a robe,
but there was at one point in the first movie where he took his staff when he was being
faced with a demon and he shoved it into the ground and he says, you shall not pass.
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And that's the power and the authority that God has for every single one of us.
And this morning, Jesus wants to remind us and encourage us of the correct view of God
because again, it impacts everything, our thoughts, our feelings, our emotions, our
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actions.
We're going to be reading from the Gospel of Matthew chapter seven as we close out our
21 days of prayer and fasting, which ends tomorrow, but becoming Mount Movers, I believe
is going to last all year.
And with this discussion this morning, we're going to learn what it means to ask, seek,
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and knock.
So let's open in prayer, Holy Spirit come.
God, we're just thankful that you are here.
We're just thankful that you make your presence known to us.
May you open our hearts and our minds to receive all that you have for us, God.
We're just thankful for the life change that we experience each and every day.
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In Jesus' name, amen.
So our first thought this morning is God is a good father.
Jesus assures us of this in Matthew chapter seven verse 11 where he writes, so if you
sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your
heavenly father give good gifts to those who ask him?
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God is a good father and a good father loves his children, has compassion for his children,
extends grace to his children, desires to bring his children close.
But notice Jesus doesn't just call God our father, he is our heavenly father, which means
not only does he love us, care for us, and long to be near us, but he has the power to
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meet our needs, to listen to our requests, to act in our best interests.
Church, our view of God matters.
First John chapter three verse one, see how very much our father loves us for he calls
us his children and that is what we are, exclamation point.
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You are a child of God.
But the people who belong to this world don't recognize that we are God's children because
they don't know him.
And friends, that's where we have to be careful.
Just because others in this world don't believe in God, just because others may not recognize
his love and his power, we can't allow that to create doubt in our minds and in our hearts.
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Yes, we serve them, we love them, we encourage them, we pray for them.
But if we have friends that are negatively impacting our faith and our hope in Jesus,
in God's love for us, then we need to create distance from them.
We need to separate ourselves and remove ourselves because it's not speaking life to us.
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See God is not distant and removed.
I mean for those in a relationship with Jesus, he dwells or lives inside of us.
Romans 8 15, so you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.
Instead, you received God's spirit when he adopted you as his own children and now we
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call him Abba, father.
So maybe you're here this morning and you're in need of a job or you're in need of a raise
to survive and pay your bills.
Or maybe you're here this morning and you're desire in your marriage to thrive, not dissolve.
Or maybe you brought an addiction here this morning, whether it be alcohol or drugs.
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Friends, we all have mountains that need moved.
How do I know that?
Well, just look at these four crosses in our auditorium.
Last week we all wrote down on post-its our mountains, our prayer requests and put them
on the crosses.
And we've been praying for several weeks now for God to break into our lives and for God
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to bring about a breakthrough.
And we have to realize this all starts with how we view God.
So just pause for a moment and reflect on your current view of God.
Is he your heavenly father?
Does he desire and long to be with you?
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Does he desire abundance for your life or is he distant, far off, judging and interpreting
your every move?
See, your view impacts how you pray, how you respond, which leads us to our next all.
Jesus invites us to ask, seek and knock.
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Matthew 7, 7, keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for.
Keep on seeking and you will find.
Keep on knocking and the door will be open to you.
See Jesus gives us a remarkable invitation that we can experience every single day.
He desires that we see God as our heavenly father who sees us, cares for us and loves
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us.
Then Jesus encourages us to talk to God, to pray, to connect and to share our requests
with him.
But notice these verses are much more than just an invitation.
Jesus says, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.
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In other words, this is a command that Jesus gives us to keep doing that activity, to keep
on praying, to keep communicating with your father.
Always be asking, always be seeking, always be knocking.
But notice, I presented this as an invitation because we all have a choice to go to God
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and ask, seek and knock.
Every day we're presented with that choice, but the question is, do you do it?
Is it a priority or are you so easily distracted?
Just look at that first word, ask, to ask is a sign of humility.
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It's an omission that we need something from God.
And for some of you, you can't even get over that.
You're not able to humble yourselves enough just to ask.
You may have a question that needs answered.
You may have a need that needs met.
You may need direction from God in your life.
Jesus says, ask.
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James 1.5, if you need wisdom, ask our generous God and he will give it to you.
He will not rebuke you for asking.
He won't scold you.
He won't point fingers or make fun of you.
When it comes to our relationship with God in prayer, there's no stupid question.
Now some of you are nodding, but we heard that statement from teachers the whole time
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we went through school.
That we routinely, what, didn't ask any questions.
Why?
Because we're too embarrassed.
We're too proud.
We're overconfident.
And this morning God is screaming at us, just ask.
I'm here and I want to listen.
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James 4.2, you want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it.
You're jealous of what others have, but you can't get it so you fight and wage war to
take it away from them.
Yet you don't have what you want, purpose, meaning, direction, abundance, because you
don't ask God for it.
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See we have to stop relying on our strength.
We have to stop relying on our wisdom, on our intellect, on our talents and our abilities.
And yes, I believe God gave all of that to us, but imagine partnering all that he gave
to us with the one who created the heavens and the earth.
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Friends, that's how you make a difference in this world.
Remember James wrote, you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it.
It all starts with the ask.
And I want to challenge you.
Ask God this week.
Then we move to the word seek.
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Seek is a sign of commitment.
I'm not going to just ask God and then drop it and walk away from it.
No, I'm going to seek and search for the answer.
I'm going to seek and search for that request.
I'm going to seek and search that God makes a difference.
And this happens when we read the Bible, when we're seeking God, when we have these answers
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or these questions to life, we go to the book that directs us.
Or maybe for some of you, you need to get into a growth group and you need to have others
encourage you.
Maybe for some of you, you're in a marriage or financial crisis and you need to get into
a course that helps you find the answers.
To seek means we take action.
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We pray, we ask God for a job.
Oh, and then we write a resume.
And we send it out with applications to employers because that's how we seek a job.
It's a responsible activity in seeking God's will for our lives.
For example, I've been praying for marriages this week in our community of faith.
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You want to know why?
Because every day I walked by these crosses and on all the post-its on every cross, there's
at least one.
Pray for my marriage.
Pray for my marriage.
Pray for my marriage.
Pray for my marriage.
So as the leader of this community of faith, I've been praying for marriages.
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I've been desiring to see them live and move in abundance and restoration and healing and
forgiveness, whatever was needed.
To which I say to all of you that put those post-its on those crosses, we have eight spots
open in our upcoming winter marriage course.
And if you are in a situation where your marriage needs change and restored, yes, you ask for
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it.
You put it on the cross.
And then you jump into the marriage course where you learn and change and grow.
So husbands, sign up at the Welcome Hub.
Believe me, your wife won't be upset with you.
They want you to.
To seek God is to be determined.
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It means to search for something.
I don't have because I don't know, but I'm going to keep on searching until it's found.
Jesus uses this parable and challenges us to keep seeking in Luke 15, 8.
Suppose a woman has 10 silver coins and loses one.
Won't she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds
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it?
Of course she will.
But please understand there's a big difference between seeking and striving.
To strive indicates a struggle, like we're wrestling with something.
Striving means it's all up to us.
While seeking means we're walking through life depending on God to lead and guide us.
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Jeremiah 29, 13, if you look for me wholeheartedly with all your heart, you will find me.
If we seek him with our whole heart, we'll find what we're looking for.
And it's a reminder that we need to be all in.
We can't have one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom.
We have to be all in as we seek for God's purpose, for God's answers, for God's meeting
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our needs in our lives, which then leads us to knock.
Knock is a persistent desire for more.
It's physical.
When we knock on a door, right, we don't just knock once.
Whoever does that?
Right?
When you go to a door and knock on it, well, a lot of them have ring doorbells now so they
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can see you and make sure you're not a burglar or anything else.
But if you go old school to my house, it doesn't have a doorbell or a ring doorbell.
Guess what?
You got to beat on that door for a hear us.
You got to beat on it.
You got to knock.
And to knock is an unwillingness to give up.
It's an asking and a seeking.
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Revelation 320 says, look, I stand at the door and knock.
And that's Jesus speaking to his church.
He's not speaking to those that are in a relationship with him.
He's speaking to his church.
He says, if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will share a meal
together as friends.
See, Jesus knocks on the door of our hearts and we have to decide if we're going to open
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that door or not.
It's a step of faith because quite often when Jesus knocks on the door of our hearts, it
means we need to change.
It means something isn't right.
And here we use our spouse, our kids, our coworkers, our classmates.
Here we use a celebration of life, a movie we're watching or a song we're listening
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to.
But the question remains when Jesus knocks and he reveals this truth to our lives, will
you choose to change?
And it's crazy, but notice the increased intensity in Jesus's instructions to us.
It's a sense of urgency in each word.
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First, first we ask, but more than that, we are to seek.
But even more than that, we're to knock and we're to keep knocking.
In Luke chapter 11, Jesus tells us a story about a man who had a friend come and visit
him.
But the man, he had no bread to welcome the friend and be hospitable.
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So the man quickly goes to his neighbor's house in the middle of the night, say like
one in the morning, and he begins to pound on the door of his neighbor's house.
Wake up, wake up.
I'm a visitor and I have no bread.
The man in the house responds by, get out of here.
I'm sleeping.
My whole family's sleeping.
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Get away.
But the man keeps knocking and knocking and pounding on the door until the man of the
house gets up out of bed and gives him the bread.
And in verse eight, we read this, but I tell you this, that we won't do it for friendship's
sake.
If you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because
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of your shameless persistence.
Shameless persistence or audacity is the same persistence that my five-year-old Phoenix
has when he needs something from dad.
I have this little guy named Phoenix.
He's five years old and guess what?
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Everything's a crisis.
If he can't find his Lego, dad!
Can't find his jersey, dad!
I mean it's just, dad!
I mean just this squeal.
I come running, I'm like, what?
What's wrong?
I can't find my Lego to finish the airplane.
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I'm like, bro, it sounded like you're dying.
It's not that big of a deal.
Yeah, it is.
It's a big deal.
I need your help.
I need it now.
You know, it's that shameless persistence, it's that audacity that when I'm on the phone
with someone praying for someone, he's just crawling all over me.
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Play with me.
Play with me.
Phoenix, I'm praying for you.
It's okay.
Play with me.
That is audacity.
That's shameless.
And you're like, I can go to God like that?
Yeah.
That's what God wants for us.
He wants for us to go to Him that way so that we continue to ask and seek and knock until
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that mountain moves, which leads us to our next thought.
You see, Jesus promises to listen and respond.
And what an incredible news Matthew 7, 8 for everyone who asks, receives.
Everyone who seeks finds and to everyone who knocks, the door will be open.
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This is Jesus' promise to us.
God hears, God listens, and He responds to our prayers and to our needs.
That's our heavenly Father.
He doesn't just care about us.
He doesn't just see us and love us.
He breaks in and He releases His power in our lives to answer our prayers, to break
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our addictions, to provide a job or the resources that we need for life.
And this is a response to our persistence in prayer as we ask, seek, and knock.
But please understand, God is not no gene in a bottle.
He doesn't just grant us our three wishes.
See, our will and our desires, they need to line up with God's plan and what God's best
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is for our life.
Look at 1 John 5, 14 to 15, and we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything
that pleases Him.
And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know He will give us
what we ask for.
See, our motives and our desires have to be pure.
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Our wants have to be in our best interest, not in selfish desires.
James 4, 3, and even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong.
You want only what will give you pleasure.
See, our asking has to line up with God's will and our motives have to be right and
pure otherwise.
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It's just sin and pleasure.
But there can also be unforgiveness that hinders our prayer life.
Jesus says this in Matthew 5, so if you're presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the
temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice
at the altar, go and be reconciled to that person, then comment off your sacrifice to
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God.
See, this is a call to remove our masks, to get honest with God about our heart issues,
the negativity, the judgment of others, the doubt, the frustration, so that our prayer
life is a real life connection with God.
I want to challenge you, don't matter how hard it is, forgive your mom, forgive your
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dad, forgive your brother or your sister, forgive your friend at church that hurt you.
Forgive, forgive, forgive, so that our hearts can be right and we can see God as our father.
But Chris, it's too hard.
I was abused.
I was forgotten.
I was adopted.
Listen, I get it.
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There's pain.
I'm not saying you got to go be best friends with anyone, but I'm saying you got to forgive
so you can be forgiven.
I mean, Jesus went at all cost, right?
God sent Jesus to die for us in the midst of our brokenness and our sin and just all
the negativity that we're living in.
We can extend forgiveness to others.
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Jesus continues in Matthew 7, 9 through 10, you parents, if your children ask for a loaf
of bread, do you give them a stone instead?
Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake?
Of course not.
And Jesus is encouraging us to see God as the father and he will answer our prayers
based on what is best for us.
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Because we have to realize in Jesus' day, a loaf of bread looked very similar, right,
to a stone.
Both were round, both were oval.
And a fish, you say, well, a fish, how's a fish look like a snake?
Well, they ate eels and eels can look like snakes.
And quite often what happens in our prayer life is, hey, God, I know what's best for
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me.
This is what I need.
When in reality, those prayers, if answered, could become a rock or a snake in our life
and pull us away.
We think we know what's best for our lives, but only God knows.
You see, God is gonna give us what is best.
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And we also must realize that bread and fish, they were the basic needs that God met, right?
They weren't the Mercedes that we were praying for or they weren't the lottery that we wanna
win.
It was the basic needs.
But unfortunately within our culture, so often we compare ourselves to others and that allows
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our prayer life to be taken over by these wants rather than these needs.
And that's just not how God works.
We're His children.
We don't have the complete picture.
And quite often we don't even know what tomorrow's gonna bring.
And if we know anything about children, and I've raised six of them and raised several
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right now, they're always gonna choose what is not best for them.
Oh, just eat whatever you want.
I'll have ice cream.
What would you like for lunch?
Um, I'll have nerds.
But as parents, we have to give them what is best for them.
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Same thing happens with God.
He's gonna give us what is best for us.
He's gonna answer our prayers in what is best for us.
Which leads us to our final thought.
Jesus challenges us to live on assignment.
And so interesting, as I was reading through Matthew 7 here, I am focused on ask, seek,
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knock, and I'm focused on the persistence of prayer and wanting to share that.
And then all of a sudden these words jump off the pages directly after ask, seek, knock.
Oh, do to others whatever you would like them to do for you.
This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.
And I began to pray, I'm like, God, why are these words here?
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Like, why all of a sudden is the golden rule thrown in to my prayer life?
I mean, we're just discussing prayer, how I should ask, seek, and knock, and now you're
telling me to go and live the golden rule.
But we have to realize doing to others what we would want them to do for us is actually
the natural outflow of our prayer life.
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It's how it works.
C.S. Lewis says it best this way.
I pray because I can't help myself.
I pray because I'm helpless.
I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping.
It doesn't change God, it changes me.
Prayer changes us.
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So Jesus gives us this command as a means of living in abundant life as we pray through
life.
How do you want others to treat you?
Do you want others to be kind to you?
Yes or no?
Do you want people to be kind to you?
Do you want people to be honest with you?
Do you want people to forgive you?
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You do it first.
See the difference?
You go and do it first because we're living in this outflow of our prayer life.
And when we start living this way, then our community has changed.
I mean, there's just too many people.
They're pointing fingers, they're complaining.
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It's the government's fault.
It's this person's fault.
I mean, just look at social media since the election.
The world's ending.
Have you heard?
The world's imploding because someone, there's a new president.
I'm just like, stop pointing fingers and judging and do something with your life.
Do something with your life.
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And it doesn't matter how you voted.
I don't care if you're Republican or Democrat.
I'm neither.
Don't want to be.
I just want to make a difference in other people's lives.
Jesus is my president.
I pray for our president.
Don't get me wrong.
I'm thankful to live in a free country.
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But that doesn't succumb and take priority over living the kingdom life.
The kingdom life is the upside down life and it goes against everything our culture tells
us to do.
And as we're living that way, listen, it's not us.
It's Jesus living in us.
And then that's how we point others to him.
And then those others begin to ask, seek, and knock.
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That's how it all works, which leads us to our action steps.
Daily living as a child of God, three simple steps.
And daily living as a child of God.
First, we have to admit we are evil.
Yeah, you're evil.
You're sinful.
So am I.
Matthew 7-11, so if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how
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much more will the heavenly father give good gifts to those who ask them?
I mean, look in the mirror.
We're sinful, we're selfish, we're born into it.
And it's a battle that you're going to be in for your life.
It's never going to end.
We're never going to be Jesus.
We want to be more like Jesus, but we're never going to be Jesus.
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And that's why it's so important.
That's why Jesus is telling us, no, daily, hourly, admit your sin.
Because guess what?
There's not an hour that goes by that our thoughts aren't on something we shouldn't
be on.
You say, how'd you know that?
Because that's the way my thoughts work.
It's called sinful.
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But I know 1 John 1-9, if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness.
He's going to forgive us because he's a good father and he desires to give us good gifts.
Most importantly, he desires to give us himself.
And if you're here and you're not in a relationship with Jesus, my question to you is, why not?
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Why not?
I mean, just listen to this promise that Jesus gives us.
For everyone who asks, receives, everyone who seeks finds, and everyone who knocks,
the door will be open.
And if you simply admit your need and invite him in, abundance awaits.
That's the purpose you've been searching for.
It begins right now.
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Amen?
All right, let's pray.
We pray a simple prayer every time we gather as a community of faith because we believe
that God brings people into our midst that are distant, far from God, or never started
a relationship with him.
So we're going to pray a simple prayer right now and we're all going to join in on it.
Jesus, I'm broken.
I'm full of doubt, shame, regret, sin.
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Change me.
I believe you're God's son.
I believe you died for me.
Make me new.
Set me free.
Fill me with your spirit.
Help me, God, to serve others.
In Jesus' name, amen.
So if you prayed that prayer for the first time today or recommitted your life, let me
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know when you leave.
Give me a high five.
Hug me.
Say, hey, I prayed that prayer and I'm going to tell you some next steps that you need
to take.
Amen?
Which leads us to our next step.
Receive the good gifts.
So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will
your heavenly father give good gifts?
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And please understand, these good gifts that God desires to give to us starts with him.
He is the gift.
He fills us with his presence, with the Holy Spirit.
Again he said, peace be with you.
And it's so cool here in John 20, this is after Jesus rose from the grave, right?
The disciples, they locked themselves in this room.
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They're fearful for their lives.
They have no idea what's going to happen.
Jesus just, hey, what's up, guys?
Peace be with you.
They're like, what in the world?
He has to show them his hands and his side.
It's me, guys.
Peace be with you.
And then he says, as the Father sent me, so I'm sending you.
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Then he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven.
If you not forgive them, they are not forgiven.
See when we receive the Holy Spirit, when we're full of the Holy Spirit, we have the
ability to walk in abundance.
We have the ability to believe in the miraculous, to live with purpose and meaning, for God
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to meet our needs, to bless us with the gifts of the kingdom.
And it's my desire that our community of faith is full of the Holy Spirit, that he blows
through us, that he breathes on us so that we as a church are living in abundance, which
leads us to our final step.
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Go and do.
Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.
So here's part two of our crosses.
So last week, if you weren't here, I know it was snowing, I get it.
I challenged our community of faith.
You got a mountain that needs move, if you got a prayer request, I want you to write
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it on a post-it and put it on these crosses, right?
As a means of saying, God, I'm giving this to you.
I'm praying, I'm believing.
Well now it's part two.
So today, what I want to challenge you to do, okay, if you weren't here last week, you
can write your post-it, put it on the cross, that's good.
But for those of you that were here, I want you to take a prayer request that's not yours.
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So if you go to this cross and you see your prayer request, go to that cross.
I want you to take a request that's not yours and I want you to pray for it.
And I want you to pray for it this week, next month, and for the rest of this year.
I want you to pray for it until you hear a testimony that God moved that mountain.
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And it may be two years, it may be four years, I don't care.
I want you to keep praying for that mountain to move.
You know why?
Because quite often, when we pray for others and we pray for God to meet other people's
needs, guess what happens to our needs?
They're met and our mountains are moved.
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When we get our focus off that mountain that's not really a mountain for God and we're praying
for others, then all of a sudden our needs are met and our mountains move.
That's our challenge to go and do.
But it's also a practice that we're going to do for the rest of this year.
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Because God put on my heart this week that these crosses are going to be out for the
rest of this year.
Because it's called moving mountains.
For the rest of this year there will be post-its and pens on these crosses for you to write
requests, needs that you have and put them on the cross.
And every week, guess what you can do?
You can take another need and start praying for it.
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As long as it's not your need, because then you're being selfish.
You're praying for someone else's need.
And it's a simple, practical practice that all of us begin to learn and all of us begin
to grow in our faith and our relationship with Jesus.
Man, isn't it amazing how simple God is?
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He's elementary.
But here's something else I need from you.
I want to hear the testimonies.
So many people, they have their mountains moved and I don't hear about it or know about
it.
I want to start sharing what God is doing with our community of faith because when we
start sharing our testimonies, you know what it does?
It raises the faith of everyone so that everyone is asking more, seeking more and knocking
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more.
And that's the point of a church, that we challenge one another to grow.
Will you stand with me?
Here's how we're going to close.
I'm going to ask for some of you to be vulnerable and honest.
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By a show of hands, if you've been praying for a mountain to move in your life and it's
not moving and you've become frustrated and doubt, full of doubt, put your hand up.
We want to pray for you.
That's you.
Hand up, Rohat.
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You've been praying for a mountain to move.
Nothing's changed.
The addiction's still there.
The marriage is falling apart.
The finances are in shambles.
The kids aren't listening.
Put them up, Rohat.
All right, keep them up.
Now here's what I need you to do.
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Men with men, women with women.
Keep your hand up until someone introduces themselves and starts praying for you.
Go.
Real quick, let's go.
All right.
If someone's praying for you, put your hand down.
Otherwise you're going to confuse me.
Got it, got it.
Put your hand down.
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I need a guy over here.
I need a guy over here.
Need a lady on my left.
Good.
Hands.
I need a couple people over here.
There we go.
There we go.
I need Ron.
Ronnie needs prayed for up here.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, pray for him.
Go.
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Holy Spirit, come.
God, we speak against doubt.
We speak against frustration, against negativity.
We speak against the lies of the enemy that be coming into their minds and into the thoughts.
We pray that they are silenced in Jesus' name.
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We pray, God, whatever their request is, whatever their need is, that you would meet it right
now in Jesus' name.
You would release your kingdom.
You would release your good gifts.
And we're just thankful, God, for life change, for hope.
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Just build hope, release hope into this community of faith.
So not only do we see mountains move, God, but we see the miraculous come.
We see healings happen.
In Jesus' name.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Before you go, no one leave and we're not done.
I had two words of knowledge that we want to pray for.
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If this is you, you have a skin or a muscle condition on the left side of your face and
you need healing.
You have pain in your big toe and your left foot.
That's an easy one.
If that's you, go get your foot prayed for.
If you have any other need, wait, wait, people are leaving.
If you have any other need, our prayer team will pray for you.
Now on your way out, I bought for you some mustard seeds.
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Now don't eat them, but just use them as a reminder that as you pray, pray big, bold
prayers.
Because God wants to move the mountains in your life.
Amen?
All right, we kick off Under Armour next week.
We're going to be talking about the armor of God.
You may or may not see a suit of armor on stage.
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I promise you anything, but I look forward to it.
God bless you guys.
I'm going there, so they're going to wait for me to open the door.
Have a great week.
Welcome to Hub City Vineyard.
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To get connected or to give online go to connect.hcv.church or give.hcv.church.
If at any point during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text
change me to 970-00.
Thank you and enjoy the message.
Hey good morning everyone.
So as you can tell I have a little bit of a sinus infection.
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Please bear with me today as I share.
We had a large celebration of life yesterday that kind of hit me in the, like I was hitting
a brick wall so, but that's okay.
We're going to work through this and I believe and know that God has put a word in my heart
that I want to get out to you and I know who used my voice to make a difference.
If you're joining us from home, thank you for welcoming us into your space.
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Shout out to HHC.
We love you guys, miss you and we'll see you soon.
So just like you heard Steven say, our youth retreat is coming up at the end of February.
Last year you saw the image.
We sent 16 teenagers to upper northern Pennsylvania to a retreat center where many of them were
changed by the presence of God.
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This year we want to send 20 plus.
If you feel like you can give to sponsor a youth to go, please do.
It's $160 registration fee.
Our goal is 20 plus kids because we know that their lives will be changed.
Real quick announcement about our soup and chili cookoff winners.
Last week we had our growth group kickoff.
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Our second place winner was the HCV writers, Lisa Zimmerman and her soup or chili.
And first place was the inner garden, which is led by Lisa Reese.
So they were our two big winners.
They received their beautiful aprons during our first gathering and a really unique high
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five and a big shout out to all you Redskins fans in here.
I've never seen so many Redskins commander's jerseys in my life.
It's like you came out from an 18 year playoff absence or something.
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Sorry about that.
I'm rooting for you.
I am.
So in his classic book, the knowledge of the holy, A.W. Tozer writes this, what comes into
our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
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The most important thing about us.
So my question to you this morning is, what do you think of when you think about God?
What do you see?
What do you imagine?
Do you think of an old guy with a long white beard wearing a robe and sitting in a large
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chair removed and distant from the rest of us?
Or maybe you think of God as a close friend or a distant ruler.
Some of you may picture eight ounce, six pound baby Jesus wrapped in a manger for you.
There just really is no hope, but that's okay.
That's a whole different story.
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Maybe you think of Jesus as a close friend.
See the reality is whatever we think about when we think about God, it's extremely important
because it impacts every area of our life.
It impacts our beliefs, our thoughts, our feelings, our actions.
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Some people think about God again as a distant ruler.
He's up there somewhere in majesty and splendor.
He has all this power, but he's uninterested in his creation.
He's not really concerned about you and me or our everyday lives.
And if this is your view of God, then you would live your spiritual life as a practicing
atheist because if there is a God, it really doesn't matter because he may have all the
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power in the world, but he is interested in me personally.
So why should I trust him with my life?
If you view God as a close friend, which remember Jesus does call us friends, that's a correct
interpretation.
But if you view God as only your friend that is concerned about us, but doesn't have the
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power to change anything, then every time we go to him in prayer, we're going to become
frustrated with the reality that yes, he cares about us, but he can't impact or change my
current reality because of my doubt.
I personally took some time to reflect this week on how I viewed God, what image came
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to my mind, and for me, it's Gandalf in Lord of the Rings.
And if you've ever seen Gandalf, yes, he has a long white beard, yes, he wears a robe,
but there was at one point in the first movie where he took his staff when he was being
faced with a demon and he shoved it into the ground and he says, you shall not pass.
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And that's the power and the authority that God has for every single one of us.
And this morning, Jesus wants to remind us and encourage us of the correct view of God
because again, it impacts everything, our thoughts, our feelings, our emotions, our
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actions.
We're going to be reading from the Gospel of Matthew chapter seven as we close out our
21 days of prayer and fasting, which ends tomorrow, but becoming Mount Movers, I believe
is going to last all year.
And with this discussion this morning, we're going to learn what it means to ask, seek,
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and knock.
So let's open in prayer, Holy Spirit come.
God, we're just thankful that you are here.
We're just thankful that you make your presence known to us.
May you open our hearts and our minds to receive all that you have for us, God.
We're just thankful for the life change that we experience each and every day.
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In Jesus' name, amen.
So our first thought this morning is God is a good father.
Jesus assures us of this in Matthew chapter seven verse 11 where he writes, so if you
sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your
heavenly father give good gifts to those who ask him?
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God is a good father and a good father loves his children, has compassion for his children,
extends grace to his children, desires to bring his children close.
But notice Jesus doesn't just call God our father, he is our heavenly father, which means
not only does he love us, care for us, and long to be near us, but he has the power to
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meet our needs, to listen to our requests, to act in our best interests.
Church, our view of God matters.
First John chapter three verse one, see how very much our father loves us for he calls
us his children and that is what we are, exclamation point.
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You are a child of God.
But the people who belong to this world don't recognize that we are God's children because
they don't know him.
And friends, that's where we have to be careful.
Just because others in this world don't believe in God, just because others may not recognize
his love and his power, we can't allow that to create doubt in our minds and in our hearts.
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Yes, we serve them, we love them, we encourage them, we pray for them.
But if we have friends that are negatively impacting our faith and our hope in Jesus,
in God's love for us, then we need to create distance from them.
We need to separate ourselves and remove ourselves because it's not speaking life to us.
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See God is not distant and removed.
I mean for those in a relationship with Jesus, he dwells or lives inside of us.
Romans 8 15, so you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.
Instead, you received God's spirit when he adopted you as his own children and now we
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call him Abba, father.
So maybe you're here this morning and you're in need of a job or you're in need of a raise
to survive and pay your bills.
Or maybe you're here this morning and you're desire in your marriage to thrive, not dissolve.
Or maybe you brought an addiction here this morning, whether it be alcohol or drugs.
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Friends, we all have mountains that need moved.
How do I know that?
Well, just look at these four crosses in our auditorium.
Last week we all wrote down on post-its our mountains, our prayer requests and put them
on the crosses.
And we've been praying for several weeks now for God to break into our lives and for God
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to bring about a breakthrough.
And we have to realize this all starts with how we view God.
So just pause for a moment and reflect on your current view of God.
Is he your heavenly father?
Does he desire and long to be with you?
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Does he desire abundance for your life or is he distant, far off, judging and interpreting
your every move?
See, your view impacts how you pray, how you respond, which leads us to our next all.
Jesus invites us to ask, seek and knock.
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Matthew 7, 7, keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for.
Keep on seeking and you will find.
Keep on knocking and the door will be open to you.
See Jesus gives us a remarkable invitation that we can experience every single day.
He desires that we see God as our heavenly father who sees us, cares for us and loves
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us.
Then Jesus encourages us to talk to God, to pray, to connect and to share our requests
with him.
But notice these verses are much more than just an invitation.
Jesus says, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.
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In other words, this is a command that Jesus gives us to keep doing that activity, to keep
on praying, to keep communicating with your father.
Always be asking, always be seeking, always be knocking.
But notice, I presented this as an invitation because we all have a choice to go to God
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and ask, seek and knock.
Every day we're presented with that choice, but the question is, do you do it?
Is it a priority or are you so easily distracted?
Just look at that first word, ask, to ask is a sign of humility.
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It's an omission that we need something from God.
And for some of you, you can't even get over that.
You're not able to humble yourselves enough just to ask.
You may have a question that needs answered.
You may have a need that needs met.
You may need direction from God in your life.
Jesus says, ask.
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James 1.5, if you need wisdom, ask our generous God and he will give it to you.
He will not rebuke you for asking.
He won't scold you.
He won't point fingers or make fun of you.
When it comes to our relationship with God in prayer, there's no stupid question.
Now some of you are nodding, but we heard that statement from teachers the whole time
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we went through school.
That we routinely, what, didn't ask any questions.
Why?
Because we're too embarrassed.
We're too proud.
We're overconfident.
And this morning God is screaming at us, just ask.
I'm here and I want to listen.
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James 4.2, you want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it.
You're jealous of what others have, but you can't get it so you fight and wage war to
take it away from them.
Yet you don't have what you want, purpose, meaning, direction, abundance, because you
don't ask God for it.
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See we have to stop relying on our strength.
We have to stop relying on our wisdom, on our intellect, on our talents and our abilities.
And yes, I believe God gave all of that to us, but imagine partnering all that he gave
to us with the one who created the heavens and the earth.
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Friends, that's how you make a difference in this world.
Remember James wrote, you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it.
It all starts with the ask.
And I want to challenge you.
Ask God this week.
Then we move to the word seek.
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Seek is a sign of commitment.
I'm not going to just ask God and then drop it and walk away from it.
No, I'm going to seek and search for the answer.
I'm going to seek and search for that request.
I'm going to seek and search that God makes a difference.
And this happens when we read the Bible, when we're seeking God, when we have these answers
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or these questions to life, we go to the book that directs us.
Or maybe for some of you, you need to get into a growth group and you need to have others
encourage you.
Maybe for some of you, you're in a marriage or financial crisis and you need to get into
a course that helps you find the answers.
To seek means we take action.
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We pray, we ask God for a job.
Oh, and then we write a resume.
And we send it out with applications to employers because that's how we seek a job.
It's a responsible activity in seeking God's will for our lives.
For example, I've been praying for marriages this week in our community of faith.
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You want to know why?
Because every day I walked by these crosses and on all the post-its on every cross, there's
at least one.
Pray for my marriage.
Pray for my marriage.
Pray for my marriage.
Pray for my marriage.
So as the leader of this community of faith, I've been praying for marriages.
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I've been desiring to see them live and move in abundance and restoration and healing and
forgiveness, whatever was needed.
To which I say to all of you that put those post-its on those crosses, we have eight spots
open in our upcoming winter marriage course.
And if you are in a situation where your marriage needs change and restored, yes, you ask for
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it.
You put it on the cross.
And then you jump into the marriage course where you learn and change and grow.
So husbands, sign up at the Welcome Hub.
Believe me, your wife won't be upset with you.
They want you to.
To seek God is to be determined.
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It means to search for something.
I don't have because I don't know, but I'm going to keep on searching until it's found.
Jesus uses this parable and challenges us to keep seeking in Luke 15, 8.
Suppose a woman has 10 silver coins and loses one.
Won't she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds
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it?
Of course she will.
But please understand there's a big difference between seeking and striving.
To strive indicates a struggle, like we're wrestling with something.
Striving means it's all up to us.
While seeking means we're walking through life depending on God to lead and guide us.
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Jeremiah 29, 13, if you look for me wholeheartedly with all your heart, you will find me.
If we seek him with our whole heart, we'll find what we're looking for.
And it's a reminder that we need to be all in.
We can't have one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom.
We have to be all in as we seek for God's purpose, for God's answers, for God's meeting
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our needs in our lives, which then leads us to knock.
Knock is a persistent desire for more.
It's physical.
When we knock on a door, right, we don't just knock once.
Whoever does that?
Right?
When you go to a door and knock on it, well, a lot of them have ring doorbells now so they
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can see you and make sure you're not a burglar or anything else.
But if you go old school to my house, it doesn't have a doorbell or a ring doorbell.
Guess what?
You got to beat on that door for a hear us.
You got to beat on it.
You got to knock.
And to knock is an unwillingness to give up.
It's an asking and a seeking.
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Revelation 320 says, look, I stand at the door and knock.
And that's Jesus speaking to his church.
He's not speaking to those that are in a relationship with him.
He's speaking to his church.
He says, if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will share a meal
together as friends.
See, Jesus knocks on the door of our hearts and we have to decide if we're going to open
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that door or not.
It's a step of faith because quite often when Jesus knocks on the door of our hearts, it
means we need to change.
It means something isn't right.
And here we use our spouse, our kids, our coworkers, our classmates.
Here we use a celebration of life, a movie we're watching or a song we're listening
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to.
But the question remains when Jesus knocks and he reveals this truth to our lives, will
you choose to change?
And it's crazy, but notice the increased intensity in Jesus's instructions to us.
It's a sense of urgency in each word.
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First, first we ask, but more than that, we are to seek.
But even more than that, we're to knock and we're to keep knocking.
In Luke chapter 11, Jesus tells us a story about a man who had a friend come and visit
him.
But the man, he had no bread to welcome the friend and be hospitable.
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So the man quickly goes to his neighbor's house in the middle of the night, say like
one in the morning, and he begins to pound on the door of his neighbor's house.
Wake up, wake up.
I'm a visitor and I have no bread.
The man in the house responds by, get out of here.
I'm sleeping.
My whole family's sleeping.
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Get away.
But the man keeps knocking and knocking and pounding on the door until the man of the
house gets up out of bed and gives him the bread.
And in verse eight, we read this, but I tell you this, that we won't do it for friendship's
sake.
If you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because
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of your shameless persistence.
Shameless persistence or audacity is the same persistence that my five-year-old Phoenix
has when he needs something from dad.
I have this little guy named Phoenix.
He's five years old and guess what?
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Everything's a crisis.
If he can't find his Lego, dad!
Can't find his jersey, dad!
I mean it's just, dad!
I mean just this squeal.
I come running, I'm like, what?
What's wrong?
I can't find my Lego to finish the airplane.
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I'm like, bro, it sounded like you're dying.
It's not that big of a deal.
Yeah, it is.
It's a big deal.
I need your help.
I need it now.
You know, it's that shameless persistence, it's that audacity that when I'm on the phone
with someone praying for someone, he's just crawling all over me.
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Play with me.
Play with me.
Phoenix, I'm praying for you.
It's okay.
Play with me.
That is audacity.
That's shameless.
And you're like, I can go to God like that?
Yeah.
That's what God wants for us.
He wants for us to go to Him that way so that we continue to ask and seek and knock until
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that mountain moves, which leads us to our next thought.
You see, Jesus promises to listen and respond.
And what an incredible news Matthew 7, 8 for everyone who asks, receives.
Everyone who seeks finds and to everyone who knocks, the door will be open.
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This is Jesus' promise to us.
God hears, God listens, and He responds to our prayers and to our needs.
That's our heavenly Father.
He doesn't just care about us.
He doesn't just see us and love us.
He breaks in and He releases His power in our lives to answer our prayers, to break
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our addictions, to provide a job or the resources that we need for life.
And this is a response to our persistence in prayer as we ask, seek, and knock.
But please understand, God is not no gene in a bottle.
He doesn't just grant us our three wishes.
See, our will and our desires, they need to line up with God's plan and what God's best
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is for our life.
Look at 1 John 5, 14 to 15, and we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything
that pleases Him.
And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know He will give us
what we ask for.
See, our motives and our desires have to be pure.
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Our wants have to be in our best interest, not in selfish desires.
James 4, 3, and even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong.
You want only what will give you pleasure.
See, our asking has to line up with God's will and our motives have to be right and
pure otherwise.
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It's just sin and pleasure.
But there can also be unforgiveness that hinders our prayer life.
Jesus says this in Matthew 5, so if you're presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the
temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice
at the altar, go and be reconciled to that person, then comment off your sacrifice to
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God.
See, this is a call to remove our masks, to get honest with God about our heart issues,
the negativity, the judgment of others, the doubt, the frustration, so that our prayer
life is a real life connection with God.
I want to challenge you, don't matter how hard it is, forgive your mom, forgive your
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dad, forgive your brother or your sister, forgive your friend at church that hurt you.
Forgive, forgive, forgive, so that our hearts can be right and we can see God as our father.
But Chris, it's too hard.
I was abused.
I was forgotten.
I was adopted.
Listen, I get it.
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There's pain.
I'm not saying you got to go be best friends with anyone, but I'm saying you got to forgive
so you can be forgiven.
I mean, Jesus went at all cost, right?
God sent Jesus to die for us in the midst of our brokenness and our sin and just all
the negativity that we're living in.
We can extend forgiveness to others.
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Jesus continues in Matthew 7, 9 through 10, you parents, if your children ask for a loaf
of bread, do you give them a stone instead?
Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake?
Of course not.
And Jesus is encouraging us to see God as the father and he will answer our prayers
based on what is best for us.
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Because we have to realize in Jesus' day, a loaf of bread looked very similar, right,
to a stone.
Both were round, both were oval.
And a fish, you say, well, a fish, how's a fish look like a snake?
Well, they ate eels and eels can look like snakes.
And quite often what happens in our prayer life is, hey, God, I know what's best for
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me.
This is what I need.
When in reality, those prayers, if answered, could become a rock or a snake in our life
and pull us away.
We think we know what's best for our lives, but only God knows.
You see, God is gonna give us what is best.
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And we also must realize that bread and fish, they were the basic needs that God met, right?
They weren't the Mercedes that we were praying for or they weren't the lottery that we wanna
win.
It was the basic needs.
But unfortunately within our culture, so often we compare ourselves to others and that allows
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our prayer life to be taken over by these wants rather than these needs.
And that's just not how God works.
We're His children.
We don't have the complete picture.
And quite often we don't even know what tomorrow's gonna bring.
And if we know anything about children, and I've raised six of them and raised several
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right now, they're always gonna choose what is not best for them.
Oh, just eat whatever you want.
I'll have ice cream.
What would you like for lunch?
Um, I'll have nerds.
But as parents, we have to give them what is best for them.
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Same thing happens with God.
He's gonna give us what is best for us.
He's gonna answer our prayers in what is best for us.
Which leads us to our final thought.
Jesus challenges us to live on assignment.
And so interesting, as I was reading through Matthew 7 here, I am focused on ask, seek,
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knock, and I'm focused on the persistence of prayer and wanting to share that.
And then all of a sudden these words jump off the pages directly after ask, seek, knock.
Oh, do to others whatever you would like them to do for you.
This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.
And I began to pray, I'm like, God, why are these words here?
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Like, why all of a sudden is the golden rule thrown in to my prayer life?
I mean, we're just discussing prayer, how I should ask, seek, and knock, and now you're
telling me to go and live the golden rule.
But we have to realize doing to others what we would want them to do for us is actually
the natural outflow of our prayer life.
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It's how it works.
C.S. Lewis says it best this way.
I pray because I can't help myself.
I pray because I'm helpless.
I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping.
It doesn't change God, it changes me.
Prayer changes us.
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So Jesus gives us this command as a means of living in abundant life as we pray through
life.
How do you want others to treat you?
Do you want others to be kind to you?
Yes or no?
Do you want people to be kind to you?
Do you want people to be honest with you?
Do you want people to forgive you?
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You do it first.
See the difference?
You go and do it first because we're living in this outflow of our prayer life.
And when we start living this way, then our community has changed.
I mean, there's just too many people.
They're pointing fingers, they're complaining.
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It's the government's fault.
It's this person's fault.
I mean, just look at social media since the election.
The world's ending.
Have you heard?
The world's imploding because someone, there's a new president.
I'm just like, stop pointing fingers and judging and do something with your life.
Do something with your life.
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And it doesn't matter how you voted.
I don't care if you're Republican or Democrat.
I'm neither.
Don't want to be.
I just want to make a difference in other people's lives.
Jesus is my president.
I pray for our president.
Don't get me wrong.
I'm thankful to live in a free country.
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But that doesn't succumb and take priority over living the kingdom life.
The kingdom life is the upside down life and it goes against everything our culture tells
us to do.
And as we're living that way, listen, it's not us.
It's Jesus living in us.
And then that's how we point others to him.
And then those others begin to ask, seek, and knock.
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That's how it all works, which leads us to our action steps.
Daily living as a child of God, three simple steps.
And daily living as a child of God.
First, we have to admit we are evil.
Yeah, you're evil.
You're sinful.
So am I.
Matthew 7-11, so if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how
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much more will the heavenly father give good gifts to those who ask them?
I mean, look in the mirror.
We're sinful, we're selfish, we're born into it.
And it's a battle that you're going to be in for your life.
It's never going to end.
We're never going to be Jesus.
We want to be more like Jesus, but we're never going to be Jesus.
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And that's why it's so important.
That's why Jesus is telling us, no, daily, hourly, admit your sin.
Because guess what?
There's not an hour that goes by that our thoughts aren't on something we shouldn't
be on.
You say, how'd you know that?
Because that's the way my thoughts work.
It's called sinful.
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But I know 1 John 1-9, if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness.
He's going to forgive us because he's a good father and he desires to give us good gifts.
Most importantly, he desires to give us himself.
And if you're here and you're not in a relationship with Jesus, my question to you is, why not?
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Why not?
I mean, just listen to this promise that Jesus gives us.
For everyone who asks, receives, everyone who seeks finds, and everyone who knocks,
the door will be open.
And if you simply admit your need and invite him in, abundance awaits.
That's the purpose you've been searching for.
It begins right now.
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Amen?
All right, let's pray.
We pray a simple prayer every time we gather as a community of faith because we believe
that God brings people into our midst that are distant, far from God, or never started
a relationship with him.
So we're going to pray a simple prayer right now and we're all going to join in on it.
Jesus, I'm broken.
I'm full of doubt, shame, regret, sin.
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Change me.
I believe you're God's son.
I believe you died for me.
Make me new.
Set me free.
Fill me with your spirit.
Help me, God, to serve others.
In Jesus' name, amen.
So if you prayed that prayer for the first time today or recommitted your life, let me
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know when you leave.
Give me a high five.
Hug me.
Say, hey, I prayed that prayer and I'm going to tell you some next steps that you need
to take.
Amen?
Which leads us to our next step.
Receive the good gifts.
So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will
your heavenly father give good gifts?
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And please understand, these good gifts that God desires to give to us starts with him.
He is the gift.
He fills us with his presence, with the Holy Spirit.
Again he said, peace be with you.
And it's so cool here in John 20, this is after Jesus rose from the grave, right?
The disciples, they locked themselves in this room.
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They're fearful for their lives.
They have no idea what's going to happen.
Jesus just, hey, what's up, guys?
Peace be with you.
They're like, what in the world?
He has to show them his hands and his side.
It's me, guys.
Peace be with you.
And then he says, as the Father sent me, so I'm sending you.
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Then he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven.
If you not forgive them, they are not forgiven.
See when we receive the Holy Spirit, when we're full of the Holy Spirit, we have the
ability to walk in abundance.
We have the ability to believe in the miraculous, to live with purpose and meaning, for God
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to meet our needs, to bless us with the gifts of the kingdom.
And it's my desire that our community of faith is full of the Holy Spirit, that he blows
through us, that he breathes on us so that we as a church are living in abundance, which
leads us to our final step.
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Go and do.
Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.
So here's part two of our crosses.
So last week, if you weren't here, I know it was snowing, I get it.
I challenged our community of faith.
You got a mountain that needs move, if you got a prayer request, I want you to write
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it on a post-it and put it on these crosses, right?
As a means of saying, God, I'm giving this to you.
I'm praying, I'm believing.
Well now it's part two.
So today, what I want to challenge you to do, okay, if you weren't here last week, you
can write your post-it, put it on the cross, that's good.
But for those of you that were here, I want you to take a prayer request that's not yours.
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So if you go to this cross and you see your prayer request, go to that cross.
I want you to take a request that's not yours and I want you to pray for it.
And I want you to pray for it this week, next month, and for the rest of this year.
I want you to pray for it until you hear a testimony that God moved that mountain.
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And it may be two years, it may be four years, I don't care.
I want you to keep praying for that mountain to move.
You know why?
Because quite often, when we pray for others and we pray for God to meet other people's
needs, guess what happens to our needs?
They're met and our mountains are moved.
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When we get our focus off that mountain that's not really a mountain for God and we're praying
for others, then all of a sudden our needs are met and our mountains move.
That's our challenge to go and do.
But it's also a practice that we're going to do for the rest of this year.
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Because God put on my heart this week that these crosses are going to be out for the
rest of this year.
Because it's called moving mountains.
For the rest of this year there will be post-its and pens on these crosses for you to write
requests, needs that you have and put them on the cross.
And every week, guess what you can do?
You can take another need and start praying for it.
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As long as it's not your need, because then you're being selfish.
You're praying for someone else's need.
And it's a simple, practical practice that all of us begin to learn and all of us begin
to grow in our faith and our relationship with Jesus.
Man, isn't it amazing how simple God is?
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He's elementary.
But here's something else I need from you.
I want to hear the testimonies.
So many people, they have their mountains moved and I don't hear about it or know about
it.
I want to start sharing what God is doing with our community of faith because when we
start sharing our testimonies, you know what it does?
It raises the faith of everyone so that everyone is asking more, seeking more and knocking
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more.
And that's the point of a church, that we challenge one another to grow.
Will you stand with me?
Here's how we're going to close.
I'm going to ask for some of you to be vulnerable and honest.
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By a show of hands, if you've been praying for a mountain to move in your life and it's
not moving and you've become frustrated and doubt, full of doubt, put your hand up.
We want to pray for you.
That's you.
Hand up, Rohat.
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You've been praying for a mountain to move.
Nothing's changed.
The addiction's still there.
The marriage is falling apart.
The finances are in shambles.
The kids aren't listening.
Put them up, Rohat.
All right, keep them up.
Now here's what I need you to do.
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Men with men, women with women.
Keep your hand up until someone introduces themselves and starts praying for you.
Go.
Real quick, let's go.
All right.
If someone's praying for you, put your hand down.
Otherwise you're going to confuse me.
Got it, got it.
Put your hand down.
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I need a guy over here.
I need a guy over here.
Need a lady on my left.
Good.
Hands.
I need a couple people over here.
There we go.
There we go.
I need Ron.
Ronnie needs prayed for up here.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, pray for him.
Go.
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Holy Spirit, come.
God, we speak against doubt.
We speak against frustration, against negativity.
We speak against the lies of the enemy that be coming into their minds and into the thoughts.
We pray that they are silenced in Jesus' name.
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We pray, God, whatever their request is, whatever their need is, that you would meet it right
now in Jesus' name.
You would release your kingdom.
You would release your good gifts.
And we're just thankful, God, for life change, for hope.
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Just build hope, release hope into this community of faith.
So not only do we see mountains move, God, but we see the miraculous come.
We see healings happen.
In Jesus' name.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Before you go, no one leave and we're not done.
I had two words of knowledge that we want to pray for.
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If this is you, you have a skin or a muscle condition on the left side of your face and
you need healing.
You have pain in your big toe and your left foot.
That's an easy one.
If that's you, go get your foot prayed for.
If you have any other need, wait, wait, people are leaving.
If you have any other need, our prayer team will pray for you.
Now on your way out, I bought for you some mustard seeds.
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Now don't eat them, but just use them as a reminder that as you pray, pray big, bold
prayers.
Because God wants to move the mountains in your life.
Amen?
All right, we kick off Under Armour next week.
We're going to be talking about the armor of God.
You may or may not see a suit of armor on stage.
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I promise you anything, but I look forward to it.
God bless you guys.
I'm going there, so they're going to wait for me to open the door.
Have a great week.
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