Embracing the Transformative Power of Counter-Cultural Faith

"jesus spoke with authority john 7 45 and 46 then the officers came to the chief priests and pharisees and said to them why have you brought him to us why haven't you and the officers answered and said no man ever spoke like this man so you see jesus ran countercultural i'm gonna get to that in a minute but things that are different there's there's gonna be an authority of god's word that nobody ever spoke like this man so get used to different the difference is the authority of god's word and a church that's on fire for god is filled with the spirit of god there's an authority there's anointing there's an unction and a lot of people aren't used to that brings in a lot of conviction and like rahim said when pastor abram was preaching he felt the conviction he had to leave early because there's an authority in god's word get used to different" [00:06:31]

"jesus was counter-cultural luke 16 15 what people value highly is detestable in god's sight a guy by the name of pastor joe whitware said the culture allowed for divorce for any reason jesus said that's not the case the culture devalued children and thought them unworthy of adult attention jesus said that's not the case the culture thought wealth was a sign of god's blessing jesus said that's not the case they had to get used to different the culture valued power and authority over others and jesus said just the opposite he valued humility and the culture considered a blind beggar unworthy of jesus's attention and he actually gave that person more attention than even the pharisees and the sadducees jesus was different in all these areas the authority of god's word going against the standards" [00:07:23]

"jesus was not religious matthew 15 9 and in vain they worshipped me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men there was vain worship because they were teaching as doctrines the commandments of men and jesus wasn't religious because religion is about following rules and doing certain things relationship is about a br embracing faith and belief in jesus christ and get used to different it can lead to division number four jesus cause division did you know that matthew 10 34 do not think that i came to bring peace on the earth wait a minute he's a peacemaker i did not come to bring peace but a sword" [00:08:18]

"the reason is because the truth of god's word is the dividing line it will it will bring conflict in the family when you when you when you're in the light and others are in the darkness there's it's hard to fellowship you have to be quiet you don't talk about religion and politics that's what's coming up on thanksgiving be careful who you talk to when god is moving there will be division you don't see it but i have to deal with it a lot at this church they're dividing and people are down talking and they don't they don't understand what god is doing and they get they they don't understand the supernatural moving of god and they there's too much worship or there's too much at the altar people are crying out and calling out it causes division those who want it will seek it those who don't will run for the exit" [00:09:00]

"and then again what we just read jesus releases supernatural power on the believer in my name they will cast out demons they will speak with new tongues they will take up serpents everything we just read in a nutshell what is what is considered normal christianity to most people is actually abnormal if you look at the bible i talked about this in the video idea when you're really following new testament christianity which is which is normal you're going to look abnormal to your friends can you imagine some of your conservative friends or other churches if they saw what god does here and sometimes me and morgan it's our heart but we kind of worry sometimes like i wonder what they're going to think the whole altar is full people are back this way and everybody's just crying out to god" [00:11:03]

"so when you're alive with the power of god you might be fiery you might be passionate you're fervent you're you're emotional you're demonstrative you're charged up you're burning you're blazing you're intense because the spirit of god is moving within you changing lives crushing idols repairing marriages breaking hearts bringing joy bringing freedom bringing contentment bringing marriages back together and families restored why isn't there an excitement or a burning for that so get used to different and i believe here's how we experience that different calling here and what you might be searching for what they would call the marching orders and raheem just about every one of these is is in what you talked about" [00:13:09]

"number one the bible talks about if you keep my commandments now that word keep is like steering a ship through uncharted territory through through windy territory on the sea and on the ocean keep you know it's blowing off core and you keep that course the work that's or keep and and if you keep my commandments in other words if there's obedience on this side of heaven i don't know if there's anything such as a hundred percent perfect full surrender we're all holding on to a few little things right that we have to we have to give up i don't know if i'm fully surrendering you have any of those issues or just me well there's not too much honest honesty in this building but some people get to that point and they give up everything but then other things creep in and and and we we we want to keep god's commandment but we disobey and we disobey and we disobey until we lay that down there will not be that mighty feeling of the holy spirit" [00:14:05]

"the reason i talk about this so much is because you have to remove self-will in order to experience god's will if i came in here and said okay lord here's what i'm going to do tonight here's what i'm going to do this week this is my plan i'm not going to be open to anything i just removed god's will in my life or i just moved him moving in a powerful way because of my self-will i think it was andrew murray who said pride must die in you or nothing of heaven can live in you and many times those who start out humble do not finish well i've seen many people they start out good god's using them but they get a little notoriety the little gifting begins to put them on the stage and and and that humility begins to fade away and they begin to use lose that anointing they begin to lose that unction of the holy spirit because what got them there is going to keep them there what's humility your gift will take you somewhere but it's your character that keeps you there a lack of humility extinguishes revival and fire falls when there is something to burn" [00:15:16]

"and then also to experience this fire of god we must align ourselves with the father's will we must align ourselves with god's will and it of course that lines up with obedience and then finally if we burn with the fire of faith if you do a word study faith is so important faith is believing that something is true and then committing our lives to it let your faith roar so loud that you can't be heard so so you can't hear what doubt is saying to you i'm going to say that again i saw that a picture of this let your faith roar so loud that you can't hear what doubt is saying to you we have to burn with the fire faith" [00:16:30]

"and the holy spirit he is full of faith full of love full of fire and so i just want to piggy back on back of of the testimony and and remind us we need to get used to different we need to get used to different and understand that god isn't going to do things the way we want to do things god isn't going to orchestrate things we want how we want to orchestrate things of course the word of god has guidelines and principles and it is interesting people think they know exactly what the bible talks about for church all it says is is they sang psalms they took of the lord's supper and they they fellowshipped and they looked at god's word but then we take that and we make it okay this is exactly how you have to have church so i just encourage us as we're closing this out this weekend is to get used to different" [00:18:18]

"i believe it was around probably eight years ago i don't know exactly eight or nine years ago i was sitting in a chair i remember the chair i remember the room and i was praying for this whole topic of revival it felt as if god just poured into my heart and i couldn't stop writing have you ever done that just like i don't know if you have you're just writing and writing and it's just then you're done it's like wow that was incredible i've only had that happen a few other times one was the very first sermon i preached that just just the way it came to me but i wrote this down as almost as god was giving me this thought you don't want revival it will ruin your schedule your dignity your image and your reputation as a person who is well balanced men will weep throughout the congregation woman women will travail because of i'm sorry women will well because of the travail of their own souls young adults will cry out like children at the magnitude of their sin with the strength of my presence the worship team will cease playing time will seem to stand still you won't be able to preach because of the emotions flooding your own soul you'll struggle to find words but only find tears even the most dignified and reserved among you will be broken and humble as little children the proud and self-righteous will not be able to stand in my presence the doubter and unbeliever will either run for fear or fall on their knees and worship me there can be no middle ground the church will never be the same again do you really want revival" [00:19:55]

"and then there's a conference here in 2018 you can probably find that sermon on youtube the cost of revival when i spoke about that and i just publicly declared and said lord we're ready i'm ready for that and then there was groundwork the groundwork that had to be laid because a lot of maybe you see in your own personal life but when god does things like this what he's been doing the last two weeks incredible i think most of us can testify to that when i see correctional officers next to felons on the altar and people loving each other that were that were fighting and you god is doing incredible things but at the height of this that's why there's no highlight the most high i mean there's a their experience of god there's no hangover there's no headaches there's no regret there's no depression there's no what did i do last night we are saying though can you believe what happened last night sounds like quite it used to say 25 years ago but the meaning is a lot different now but when you're doing that those tremendous highs there is tremendous valleys and demonic attacks like we haven't seen before it it the the spiritual realm is being shaken up god is moving powerfully here the enemy's moving powerfully over there this is happening gloriously that's happening out there something else and it's just it's just tremendous amount of spiritual upheaval and sometimes it makes you want to quit and give up but i think as a as a church this will be a defining moment these last two weeks get used to different" [00:21:38]