Jim Bakker Show - Ricky Bakker World Changers Sermon March 17, 2024
Aired: 2024-03-18
Duration: 52:14


=== Why We Wear Green (07:59) ===

[00:00:00]  You know, Brother Frank was sharing a scripture that I love.
[00:00:02]  He says, We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.
[00:00:06]  And the end of that says, and we love our lives not unto death.
[00:00:12]  Believer, that is for us.
[00:00:13]  We need to love our lives not unto death.
[00:00:15]  That is absolutely vital.
[00:00:16]  I see a lot of people wearing green today.
[00:00:18]  I was trying to figure out why everyone wearing so much green.
[00:00:20]  It's St. Patrick's Day.
[00:00:21]  You know, I know a lot of people who don't, they say, quote unquote, I don't believe in the holiday.
[00:00:25]  That's fine.
[00:00:26]  But this is something St. Patrick said, I want to share with you.
[00:00:28]  He said, I pray to God to give me perseverance and to design that I be a faithful witness to him to the end of my life.
[00:00:35]  That was St. Patrick.
[00:00:36]  So as you wear your green today, just know St. Patrick was a mighty man of God.
[00:00:41]  Not a perfect man of God, but a mighty man of God.
[00:00:46]  I want to open up in prayer.
[00:00:48]  Jesus, thank you for allowing the Holy Spirit to speak through me.
[00:00:52]  Thank you that this is a timely message for somebody to hear, that whether they are watching online or they are in person, Lord, let this touch them in a way.
[00:01:00]  Let them experience a new fullness of the gospel, Lord God.
[00:01:03]  We understand that you are the only way to heaven, and we do not mince our words about it.
[00:01:08]  We understand that you are the king of kings and the Lord of lords.
[00:01:12]  There is no other God except you.
[00:01:14]  We fully accept the Holy Spirit's presence amongst us, Lord God, as a very good gift in which you have given us.
[00:01:21]  You know, Steve Jobs, he was the founder of Apple.
[00:01:24]  He once said to John Schooley in 1983, he said, John, do you want to continue to sell sugar water for the rest of your life?
[00:01:31]  And John Schooley was the, at that point, CEO of Pepsi-Cola.
[00:01:37]  And so he simply asked them, Do you want to continue to sell sugar water for the rest of your life?
[00:01:41]  Or would you like to make a difference in the world?
[00:01:44]  See, Steve Jobs knew he needed his expertise in order to make Apple what it is today.
[00:01:48]  And I would beg that most people probably have some sort of Apple device, whether it be in their companies and their homes.
[00:01:54]  So clearly it worked.
[00:01:55]  But even more importantly than that, we see someone who made an offer to three men on a boat one time, and that's Jesus.
[00:02:03]  Jesus saw these three men and he said, How about you come and I will make you fishers of men?
[00:02:10]  He's issuing that same challenge to us.
[00:02:11]  We see that in Mark 1.
[00:02:12]  That's where we're going to be reading out of today.
[00:02:14]  So if you have a Bible, I would open up to Mark the first chapter.
[00:02:19]  I'm going to read a portion of it and then we're going to dive into it more.
[00:02:22]  It says, In those days, Jesus came.
[00:02:24]  This is verse 9.
[00:02:25]  Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John, John the Baptist.
[00:02:31]  As soon as he came out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
[00:02:38]  And a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son.
[00:02:44]  With you I am well pleased.
[00:02:46]  That is the father speaking to the son.
[00:02:49]  Immediately, the spirit drove him into the wilderness and he was in the wilderness for 40 days being tempted by Satan.
[00:02:56]  He was there with the wild animals and the angels were serving him.
[00:02:59]  After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.
[00:03:05]  The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near.
[00:03:09]  Repent and believe the good news.
[00:03:13]  Verse 16, as he passed along the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, Simon's brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
[00:03:22]  And he said these famous words, follow me, and I will make you fish for people, as my translation says, but other translations, and I will make you fishers of men.
[00:03:32]  And I love this.
[00:03:33]  It says, immediately they left their nets and followed him.
[00:03:37]  And they did with what a handful of other ordinary men.
[00:03:41]  They truly did change the world.
[00:03:43]  We see in Acts chapter 2, the fruition of this as they go in to walking with the Holy Spirit intimately.
[00:03:49]  We see that over 3,000 were saved when the Holy Spirit entered into the premises.
[00:03:54]  You don't have to flip there, but Acts chapter 2 says this.
[00:03:56]  When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place.
[00:04:01]  I want to pause there and say, It is important as the church that we have unity.
[00:04:06]  I don't think it was by accident that they made us aware that they were all in one place.
[00:04:13]  There was unity amongst the brothers and sisters.
[00:04:16]  Suddenly, a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven and it filled the whole house where they were staying.
[00:04:24]  They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them.
[00:04:29]  And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
[00:04:36]  We'll see that eventually later on in Acts chapter 17, critics would start to come against them and say, These are the men who are turning the world upside down.
[00:04:45]  So if you go to Acts chapter 17, verse 6, it says and it tells us they couldn't find the disciples, so they pulled in Jason and some of his brothers before the city official shouting, These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too.
[00:05:02]  As believers, we should all strive for that.
[00:05:04]  We should all strive to be known as people who turn the world upside down for Christ Jesus.
[00:05:10]  You know, our world is upside down.
[00:05:11]  We are governed by ideologies that are demetically opposed to what Jesus Christ taught.
[00:05:16]  And you don't have to look very far to find that.
[00:05:18]  Simply turn on your TV and they can see that they are attempting to indoctrinate children.
[00:05:22]  Turn on your TV and they're trying to tell you that no, your identity comes from you, not from a higher power, which is Christ Jesus.
[00:05:28]  They are diametrically opposed to what Jesus taught.
[00:05:31]  Believers, we have a call upon our lives that either we accept the call of Jesus Christ to be a world changer, to follow him, to become fishers of men, or we adhere to dead-end ideologies that the world is teaching.
[00:05:46]  There is no middle ground.
[00:05:49]  There is either A or B, there is nothing in the middle.
[00:05:52]  You know, I got the honor of preaching this past summer at Campbell, and I shared a story with them.
[00:05:57]  I said, there was a man who once was sitting in the middle of a fence, and he saw on the left side was angels and beautiful things, and on the right side, there was hell and demons and torment happening.
[00:06:07]  And he was sitting on the fence, and the left side, the angels, they said, Come, it's time to go.
[00:06:12]  And so the people departed.
[00:06:13]  And the right side, they said, come, it's time to go.
[00:06:14]  So the people departed as well.
[00:06:17]  And he was sitting there on the fence.
[00:06:18]  And the devil and the story comes up and he says, Oh, brother, I almost forgot you.
[00:06:22]  And he says, I don't know what you're talking about.
[00:06:24]  I don't belong to either side.
[00:06:25]  I'm right in the middle.
[00:06:26]  And the devil said, well, the fence belongs to me.
[00:06:29]  Believer, I would beckon you right now to know that the fence belongs to him.
[00:06:33]  You are either hot or you are cold.
[00:06:36]  Dr. Vernon C. Grounds once said, Let's serve God together in our little corner today by giving, praying, and witnessing.
[00:06:44]  The world will be completely changed by the return of the king of kings one day.
[00:06:50]  And believer, I believe that return is soon and very soon as a song we used to sing here at church.
[00:06:56]  Now let's look at the marks of a true world changer in Mark chapter 1, God's holy scripture.
[00:07:00]  We just read that.
[00:07:02]  It says immediately they left their nets and followed him.
[00:07:05]  I believe that is the first mark of a true world changer.
[00:07:09]  They didn't take the time to say, hey, you know what, Jesus?
[00:07:12]  I got to talk to my father.
[00:07:13]  They were in the boat with their father.
[00:07:14]  There was their family business.
[00:07:15]  They didn't say, I need to take a few moments to talk this through.
[00:07:18]  Immediately, they left and they followed Jesus.
[00:07:21]  So I say, upon hearing the term world changer, what immediately springs to your mind?
[00:07:25]  When Pastor Joe said, hey, the theme of the week is world changer, I immediately was like, okay, what springs to my mind?
[00:07:31]  It is when Jesus said, go and make disciples.
[00:07:37]  If you want to be a world changer, that is exactly how you do it, believer.
[00:07:41]  Go and make disciples.
[00:07:43]  Christ gave the disciples this instruction to go and change the world.

=== Apostles' Sacrifices (05:13) ===

[00:07:46]  And their task was to go make Christ disciples, not their disciples, Christ's disciples.
[00:07:52]  They were to preach the freeing gospel of Jesus Christ and point people to him, to point people back to the cross.
[00:07:59]  And without hesitation, I would say that these 12 disciples were truly the beginning start of what we can call world changers.
[00:08:07]  These men loved their life not even unto death.
[00:08:13]  It seems that they had upended the entire world to honor God, and they had to make sacrifices and give their lives in order to change the world for Christ.
[00:08:20]  Now, I have a question.
[00:08:21]  I've often thought this: who would like to be like the apostles?
[00:08:25]  And I raise my hand.
[00:08:26]  We see a lot of people raising their hand.
[00:08:27]  Of course, we would like to be like the apostles.
[00:08:29]  One-on-one interaction with Jesus Christ.
[00:08:31]  Absolutely, I'd like to be like an apostle working in signs and wonders in the name of Jesus Christ.
[00:08:35]  Of course, I would like to be like the apostles.
[00:08:39]  But I think it's important I'm going to share with you how each of the apostles died.
[00:08:44]  Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.
[00:08:48]  Mark died in Alexandria, Egypt, after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead.
[00:08:53]  Luke was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
[00:08:58]  John faced martyrdom, where he was boiled in a huge basin of oil during a persecution wave in Rome, yet he survived that.
[00:09:07]  And then he was sentenced to the mines on the isle of Patnas, where we get the prophetic book, the book of Revelation.
[00:09:14]  The Apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as a bishop in Esodia.
[00:09:18]  That's modern-day Turkey.
[00:09:19]  He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
[00:09:24]  Now, the term peacefully is definitely subjective there.
[00:09:28]  The man was boiled, beaten.
[00:09:29]  He was bruised.
[00:09:30]  He was attacked constantly, subject to prison, where he got the book of Revelation, yet he got to die not by the hands of another man.
[00:09:38]  That's why we say he died peacefully.
[00:09:40]  Peter was crucified on an upside-down X-shaped cross according to church tradition.
[00:09:44]  It was because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same manner that Christ Jesus died.
[00:09:53]  James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over 100 feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the temple when he refused to deny his faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:10:03]  Upon going down to confirm that he had passed away, they found that he was still living, so they beat him to death with clubs.
[00:10:11]  This was the same pinnacle where Jesus, or excuse me, yeah, where Jesus and Satan were talking to each other during the temptation, by the way.
[00:10:18]  James, the son of Zebedee, we were just reading about him, was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry.
[00:10:26]  As a strong leader of the church, James was beheaded at Jerusalem.
[00:10:30]  The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial.
[00:10:35]  Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution.
[00:10:38]  Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt down beside his brother in Christ to be executed as well.
[00:10:49]  Bartholomew, also known as Nathaniel, was a missionary to Asia.
[00:10:52]  He witnessed for our Lord in present-day Turkey.
[00:10:55]  Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching to the Armenia, where he was flayed to death by a whip.
[00:11:00]  Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross in Greece.
[00:11:04]  After being whipped severely by seven soldiers, they tied his body to a cross with cords to prolong his agony.
[00:11:10]  His followers reported this, and we have documents even in the book of Josephus that say when he was led towards the cross, Andrew saluted in these words.
[00:11:19]  And believe this is powerful.
[00:11:20]  I want you to hear this.
[00:11:22]  I have long desired and expected this happy hour.
[00:11:26]  The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it.
[00:11:31]  And he continued to preach to his tormentors.
[00:11:34]  And you can look this historical document up for an additional three hours until he passed away.
[00:11:40]  Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church on the subcontinent of India.
[00:11:47]  Jude was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
[00:11:50]  Matthias, this is the apostle who was chosen to replace the traitor Judas, was stoned and beheaded.
[00:11:56]  And this isn't one of the 12, but I think it's important that we added in our brother Paul.
[00:12:00]  He was tortured and beheaded by the evil emperor Nero in Rome AD 67.
[00:12:05]  Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment, which allowed him to write many of the epistles in which we get the honor of preaching out of today.
[00:12:12]  It was because of his imprisonment, his imprisonments, that he had the time to write the Pauline doctrine, which many churches follow and adhere to today.
[00:12:22]  These letters taught many foundational doctrines of Christianity, and they form a large portion of the New Testament.
[00:12:30]  One common normality between all of these men is they understood that it was his gospel and they understood that they were expanding his kingdom.
[00:12:42]  Brothers and sisters, we must also have the same common ground as these disciples, understanding that it is Christ's gospel and that it is Christ's kingdom.

=== Embrace the Hard Call (15:17) ===

[00:12:52]  For all of us, they merely set the example of what it means to be a true follower of Christ.
[00:12:58]  And I believe that it is time that the modern-day church pick up where they left off and continue to walk boldly, not loving our lives even until the death.
[00:13:10]  So, which marks distinguished a world changer?
[00:13:12]  This is point number one.
[00:13:13]  If you're taking notes, you can write this down: embrace and live the hard call.
[00:13:19]  Follow me, Jesus told them, and I will make you fish for people.
[00:13:21]  I will make you fishers of men.
[00:13:23]  Immediately, they left their nets and followed him.
[00:13:25]  We must, as believers, embrace the hard calls which God has called us to.
[00:13:32]  We have a sacred and honorable mission.
[00:13:34]  This is an honorable mission in which we are serving, believer.
[00:13:38]  Our purpose on earth was to contribute.
[00:13:41]  We were not simply put on earth to sit around, to eat, to take up air, to occupy space.
[00:13:48]  No, believer, you have a calling, a purpose, and a mission.
[00:13:53]  You, the believer, have importance.
[00:13:56]  Why?
[00:13:56]  Because the body of Christ needs every single facet.
[00:14:00]  I was once listening to a man, and he said, Well, sometimes I feel like the foot on the body.
[00:14:05]  And do you know what?
[00:14:06]  That's okay.
[00:14:08]  That's perfectly fine.
[00:14:09]  Why?
[00:14:10]  Because without that foot, the body would stumble.
[00:14:13]  Without that foot, the body would not be able to travel from point A to point B easily.
[00:14:18]  Every single aspect of the body of Christ is wildly important, believer.
[00:14:24]  God intended us to use our lives to change the world.
[00:14:27]  You were created to serve God, the Bible says.
[00:14:29]  Ephesians 2, verse 10 says this, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared ahead of time for us to do.
[00:14:38]  God's already prepared these good works.
[00:14:40]  God has created a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.
[00:14:43]  We see this in Colossians, and we also see this in Matthew.
[00:14:46]  Colossians 3, 23 through 24 says, Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord you serve, Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:15:03]  Matthew 25:34 says, Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
[00:15:19]  Before the earth had a foundation, before Genesis 1:1, before God decided to breathe into the abyss and create what this was, there was a place created for you, believer.
[00:15:31]  And if that doesn't encourage you on your lowest day, I don't know what will.
[00:15:35]  A God so large that we cannot exaggerate who he is.
[00:15:40]  A God so big and powerful that there is no capability in our human minds of exaggerating his capabilities.
[00:15:50]  I heard a man say that one time, and I laid in bed and I began to try my best.
[00:15:54]  I did.
[00:15:55]  I tried my best.
[00:15:56]  I'm going to exaggerate something about God.
[00:16:00]  And every time I realized, my goodness, I am not even scratching the surface of what God is capable of.
[00:16:07]  Believer, that same God rallies for you.
[00:16:10]  That same God thought you were absolutely worth it and sent his son to die on a cross.
[00:16:15]  You were saved to serve, the Bible says.
[00:16:17]  It says, he.
[00:16:19]  It is he who saved us and chose us for his holy work, not because we deserved it, but that because it was according to his plan.
[00:16:24]  That's 2 Timothy 1, 9.
[00:16:26]  So God redeemed us so that we could do his holy work.
[00:16:29]  Now, believer, I want to clarify this.
[00:16:31]  We were not saved by service, believer, but we are definitely saved for service.
[00:16:38]  We absolutely are.
[00:16:39]  In God's kingdom, you have a place.
[00:16:40]  You have a purpose.
[00:16:42]  You have a role.
[00:16:42]  You have a function to fulfill.
[00:16:45]  Your life has great significance and great value.
[00:16:50]  Now, anytime you absolutely know the truth that my life has great significance and it has great value, the devil will always creep in.
[00:16:58]  Anytime you come to the fullness of understanding, I have value and I'm significant, not because of anything that I've done, but simply because Christ Jesus has allowed me to identify myself with him.
[00:17:08]  The devil will always try to come and disrupt that truth.
[00:17:12]  Gordon Lindsay, he was the founder of Christ for the Nations.
[00:17:15]  He said, you must pray one violent prayer a day.
[00:17:20]  Now, I didn't understand that concept for a long time, and I attended the school for two years.
[00:17:23]  It's where I met my beautiful wife.
[00:17:25]  She's sitting over there with our four-week-old baby.
[00:17:29]  Praise God.
[00:17:32]  That's a woman of God, by the way.
[00:17:33]  She keeps me on the straight and narrow.
[00:17:35]  Even when I veer to the left and the right, I really thank God for her.
[00:17:39]  You must pray one violent prayer every single day.
[00:17:42]  I didn't understand the concept.
[00:17:43]  I said, what does that mean?
[00:17:44]  So I didn't practice or I didn't live it.
[00:17:47]  Then one day something had happened that was dramatic in my life and then it clicked inside of me.
[00:17:51]  I now fully understand.
[00:17:52]  It is okay to have a righteous anger at the enemy.
[00:17:56]  It is absolutely okay as a believer to get upset and sin not with the enemy.
[00:18:03]  See, sometimes I believe it is important, Pastor Joe, that we remind the devil and we remind the enemy as believers who God is.
[00:18:12]  So, you know, how did Jesus defeat Satan when he was being tempted?
[00:18:16]  He said, it is written in the scripture.
[00:18:18]  It is written.
[00:18:20]  And he simply quoted the Bible.
[00:18:21]  You may be saying, well, believer, I don't understand enough scripture.
[00:18:25]  I don't have enough of it memorized.
[00:18:26]  Well, I promise you this.
[00:18:27]  You know Bible stories.
[00:18:29]  I promise you this.
[00:18:30]  You know, some of us grew up in church.
[00:18:32]  Even if you are a new believer, we know the simple Bible story.
[00:18:34]  Sometimes it is important to remind God, say, devil, must I remind you that the same God who was a pillar of fire by night and who was a cloud of protection during the day is the same God who looks for me and provides for me.
[00:18:48]  Devil, must I remind you that the stone that was slung from the sling of David to kill Goliath was the, it was thrown by the same God who prepares the weapons of my warfare.
[00:18:59]  I believe it is wildly important, believer, that we continuously remind the devil, say, hey, devil, do you not remember the same God that was that fourth man in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who was there with them because they would not bow down to a false God is the same God within me that protects me from worldly persecution.
[00:19:20]  Now, this is the same God.
[00:19:21]  I told Pastor Theron this when I am right here, I'm going to follow my notes.
[00:19:24]  When I'm out here, I'm on my soapbox.
[00:19:25]  I'm going to tell you right now, this is the same God who in Luke chapter 21 tells us when they bring you up to the courthouses to persecute you and to condemn you, do not prepare your argument.
[00:19:39]  Don't prepare what you're going to say advanced and ahead of time.
[00:19:42]  This is the same God who says, I will fill you with the words to overcome in those moments.
[00:19:47]  This is the same God.
[00:19:47]  And you have to tell the devil, you know, devil, must I remind you that the same God who cast you out of heaven is the same God who cast you before my feet as a footstool.
[00:20:00]  Sometimes it is okay to pray that violent prayer.
[00:20:04]  Our God is a God who calls people.
[00:20:07]  I want to see a raise.
[00:20:08]  Everyone's going to get, I'm telling you, this interactive service, you're going to raise some hands.
[00:20:11]  You're going to talk to people.
[00:20:12]  I want to see a true, honest opinion.
[00:20:15]  Who here identifies with Christ and they are a believer in Jesus Christ?
[00:20:19]  Absolutely every hand raised up.
[00:20:20]  And that is wildly encouraging.
[00:20:22]  But I'm going to tell you right now, this fact is essential with his dealings with us, that God calls people.
[00:20:27]  Even after Adam and Eve sinned, we see this in Genesis 3:9.
[00:20:30]  It says they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden.
[00:20:33]  They were close enough they could hear his feet rustle.
[00:20:37]  And the Lord God called out to them, Where are you?
[00:20:42]  Could it be that God is seeking you, believer?
[00:20:46]  Could it be that in the cool of our garden, our day-to-day life, that God is seeking you?
[00:20:52]  That he's close enough we can hear his feet rustle.
[00:20:56]  That he's within proximity that we can hear him move.
[00:20:59]  God knows where Adam and Eve are in this.
[00:21:03]  He's all-knowing.
[00:21:05]  He called them.
[00:21:06]  Where are you?
[00:21:07]  Why?
[00:21:08]  Because even in the very first book of the Bible, we see that God is dealing with our free will to choose to answer the call.
[00:21:17]  Believer, it is absolutely a choice we answer this call.
[00:21:22]  The sound of his voice is disquieting, and you may think, oh no, it can't be that he's calling me.
[00:21:28]  But allow me to clarify my meaning of God's will.
[00:21:30]  I'm referring to God calling attention to himself.
[00:21:33]  He calls us that conversion, for instance.
[00:21:35]  Everyone here has been converted.
[00:21:36]  That's why we're all able to raise our hands and say we're believers in Jesus Christ.
[00:21:41]  The beautiful example of this is Saul to Paul.
[00:21:43]  There was a conversion moment he called.
[00:21:45]  In Acts chapter 8, we see he's on his road to Damascus to kill Christians after he got permission to murder more Christians.
[00:21:53]  And he had a face-to-face encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:21:57]  He went through his temporary blindness with scales on his eyes.
[00:22:00]  Those fell off in the very next scripture.
[00:22:01]  He says that he's preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ inside of the synagogues.
[00:22:05]  That is the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:22:07]  I want you to ask your neighbor this: Is there a potential cost when you arrive at the core of God's will?
[00:22:12]  You can look at your neighbor and ask him that.
[00:22:14]  Is there a potential cost when you arrive at the core of God's will?
[00:22:19]  And is there a possibility you're being called to a deeper spirituality than you have realized?
[00:22:25]  Imagine that when everything's going well for you in your life, right in the middle of it, you have financial security, your time management's on point, everything's going good.
[00:22:32]  God walks into the room and he says, okay, plan B, I have something.
[00:22:35]  We're going to change things up.
[00:22:36]  This was my plan A the whole time.
[00:22:38]  You were on your plan B. You thought it was good.
[00:22:39]  We're going to switch over to the correct plan.
[00:22:41]  But you're like, God, everything's going good in my life.
[00:22:43]  Everything seems to be figured out.
[00:22:45]  But believer, I'll tell you, it's important to go with God's plan.
[00:22:48]  Why?
[00:22:48]  Because the pain of change can be great, but the reward will be greater.
[00:22:53]  See, there's a common saying that Satan is sure to find some work for idle hands to do.
[00:22:57]  We've all heard this as kids, as teenagers, adults growing up.
[00:23:02]  So if Satan loves idle hands, then believer, I would encourage us to look at the other side and say, God loves hands that are constantly working for the kingdom.
[00:23:10]  Moses was busy with his flock at Horeb.
[00:23:13]  Gideon was busy threshing wheat by the wine press when God called him.
[00:23:16]  David was busy caring for his father's sheep when God called him.
[00:23:19]  Elijah was busy plowing the 12 oaks of oxen when God called him.
[00:23:24]  Peter and Andrew were busy casting nets into the sea when God called them.
[00:23:28]  James and John were busy mending their nets when God called them.
[00:23:31]  Martin Luther, John Wesley, William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Billy Graham, Jim Baker, Pastor Joe, Campbell, Pastor Theron, Pastor Paz, Pastor Frank, Pastor Alex, they were all busy men when the Lord called them to do the work of the Lord.
[00:23:47]  See, many people mixed up.
[00:23:48]  Thank you, but he said you too, Ricky.
[00:23:50]  Praise God.
[00:23:50]  Many people mixed up and think that their job is their calling, believer.
[00:23:53]  I want to break that stronghold, that bondage off you.
[00:23:55]  Your job is not your calling, believer.
[00:23:58]  Your job is simply a tool that is effective to get you to the place where you can minister your true calling.
[00:24:05]  Your job is not your calling, believer.
[00:24:07]  You know, one person who's helped me truly understand that's Brooke.
[00:24:10]  She has helped me break down the fundamentals of understanding that my job is not my calling.
[00:24:15]  My calling is intimacy with the Holy Spirit.
[00:24:20]  My calling is intimacy with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
[00:24:24]  That's my first and true calling.
[00:24:26]  Everything else flows from that.
[00:24:28]  And if I'm doing this work in my calling, I'm afraid one day I'll get to heaven.
[00:24:31]  I'll stand before Jesus and I'll say, Look at all the wonderful things I did in your name.
[00:24:36]  Look at the demons I cast out in your name, Jesus.
[00:24:39]  Look at all the miracles I did in your name.
[00:24:41]  And Jesus would look at me and say, Get away from me.
[00:24:43]  I never knew you.
[00:24:44]  My first calling, your first calling, believer, is intimacy with the Holy Spirit.
[00:24:53]  Man accepts the call by obeying the commands of the gospel that are part of our new birth.
[00:24:56]  This is faith.
[00:24:57]  This is repentance of sins.
[00:24:58]  This is confession of faith in Christ and immersion in water.
[00:25:01]  Mark 16:15 says, He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
[00:25:06]  Whoever believes and baptized will be saved, but who does not believe will be condemned.
[00:25:10]  Believer, that's what the Bible says.
[00:25:13]  Acts 2:38 says, Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, each of you in the name of Jesus Christ for your forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
[00:25:24]  Romans 1:6 says, Having answered the call of the gospel, we are known as the called of Jesus Christ.
[00:25:29]  You can look at your neighbor and say, I am the called of Jesus Christ, including you who are also called by Jesus Christ.
[00:25:35]  That's Romans 1:6.
[00:25:36]  Ephesians 4, verse 1 says, We are then to walk worthy of the vocation wherein we are called, believer.
[00:25:44]  Therefore, I, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the call which you have received.
[00:25:48]  That's Ephesians 4, verse 1.
[00:25:50]  And 2 Peter 1:10 says, We are exhorted to make the calling sure.
[00:25:56]  Now, believers, this is something that's wildly important.
[00:25:58]  How many people here with a true show of hands are tired of stumbling?
[00:26:02]  Truly, me, I'm tired of it every single day.
[00:26:05]  I'm tired of it.
[00:26:06]  Say, God, please keep me from stumbling.
[00:26:08]  I was reading this, and you know, my generation, I'm a young man, 26 years old.
[00:26:11]  I grew up playing video games.
[00:26:12]  Don't let my dad know that.
[00:26:13]  He's watching right now.
[00:26:14]  I grew up playing video games.
[00:26:15]  We had these things called cheat codes.
[00:26:16]  You'd hold the Joy-Con, the controller of Xbox places, whatever it was.
[00:26:19]  And there were cheat codes in the game.
[00:26:20]  It would give you an unfair advantage.
[00:26:22]  You know, you would take it and you'd press up three times and left six times, and then you'd press the X button four times.
[00:26:27]  It would give you an unfair advantage in the game.
[00:26:29]  The game developer put it there so that you would actually find it.
[00:26:33]  It was important.
[00:26:34]  And I believe right here, I'm going to read 2 Peter 1, verse 10.
[00:26:37]  This, I believe, is a cheat code for life.
[00:26:40]  It says, Therefore, brothers and sisters, I urge you to take every opportunity you can to ensure your calling, because if you do this, you will never stumble.
[00:26:51]  Look it up: 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 10.
[00:26:54]  If you do this, you will never stumble.
[00:26:56]  That is wildly important, believer.
[00:27:00]  I have a question for you.
[00:27:01]  Have you responded to God's call in the gospel in its fullness?
[00:27:07]  And are you staying faithful to your calling?
[00:27:11]  You know, someone asked Bill Bright, he's the founder of Campus Crusade, which we know campus grew.
[00:27:15]  We love Campus Crusade.
[00:27:16]  And they asked him, How did he know God's call was upon his life?
[00:27:20]  And he said it came out of 100 complete surrender, 100% complete surrender to God.
[00:27:26]  Oswald Chambers said to fulfill the perfect design for you requires total surrender, complete abandonment of yourself to him.
[00:27:35]  Believer, this is point number two.
[00:27:37]  He said, Man, he's just getting to point number two.
[00:27:39]  This is point number two.
[00:27:41]  Deny yourself and take up your cross.
[00:27:44]  Having a cross moment.

=== Jesus As Our Sherpa (05:15) ===

[00:27:46]  And we're going to go into what that means.
[00:27:48]  Jesus says, give me everything.
[00:27:49]  Give me your time, your money, your attention, all of it.
[00:27:54]  He wants 100% of who you are.
[00:27:57]  Your old identity must be given in its fullness.
[00:28:00]  Why?
[00:28:00]  Because if not, we walk around, we call ourselves a new creation, yet we wear old chains, believer.
[00:28:06]  We call ourselves a new creation, yet we, in our verbiage, still identify with the old man.
[00:28:12]  Believer, if you are truly a new creation and you absolutely believe you are a new creation, because that's what the gospel of Jesus Christ says, then we must walk in its fullness.
[00:28:22]  Denying ourself requires to give up anything we would want or seek that hinders us doing the will of God.
[00:28:28]  Now, this doesn't mean if we want something, believer, that it's necessarily wrong.
[00:28:32]  Not at all.
[00:28:33]  We've heard the dramatic, you know, if there's ever anywhere in the middle where you should be, there's always a stark left and a stark right.
[00:28:39]  They say you shouldn't actually have anything, absolutely should want nothing.
[00:28:43]  And then there's the other gospel that says you should have everything, you should need for nothing.
[00:28:47]  If not, you don't have enough faith, believer.
[00:28:49]  There is nothing wrong with wanting things, but if they hinder the will of God in your life, remove them.
[00:28:56]  It means we take our wants and desires down from the throne and place Jesus and his will as the governing power in our lives.
[00:29:04]  See, Matthew 6, 24 says there's only room for one master.
[00:29:06]  It says, no one can serve two masters since he'll either hate one or love the other, and he'll be devoted to one and despise the other, for you can't serve God and money.
[00:29:17]  My blue eye came out there.
[00:29:18]  I said, you can't serve.
[00:29:18]  Okay, my little blue eye came out.
[00:29:21]  Now, see, if God's to rule in our lives, then our will, believer, must be made subservient to his.
[00:29:28]  It must be.
[00:29:29]  It has to be.
[00:29:30]  In every aspect, our will must be made subservient to his.
[00:29:33]  We must be willing to give up anything in order to please him.
[00:29:37]  We read how the 12 disciples and our brother Paul passed away.
[00:29:42]  They were willing to give up anything in order to please him.
[00:29:46]  Many thinks this means that burdens and sufferings and hardships for the Lord, and that we have to carry all that.
[00:29:50]  And surely hardships are going to come, believer.
[00:29:52]  Tough times will come.
[00:29:54]  Life's not going to be easy.
[00:29:55]  It's not going to be perfect.
[00:29:56]  But we understand the fullness of what it means.
[00:30:00]  Then it makes the burden a little less light.
[00:30:03]  Taking up your cross refers as giving your life to God as Jesus was about to give his life for us.
[00:30:09]  Luke 9:23 says, then he said to all, if anyone wishes to come after me, they must deny himself, take up their cross, and follow me.
[00:30:20]  This is the standard.
[00:30:22]  Pick up your cross and find friends around you.
[00:30:28]  Find a community of people around you that when you are not picking up your cross daily, they will gently remind you.
[00:30:35]  Sometimes a gentle reminder is a slap on the back of the head.
[00:30:37]  Come on, Pastor there.
[00:30:38]  And he had to give me many times as a kid, pick up your cross.
[00:30:41]  Follow the will of God in your life.
[00:30:43]  It's important.
[00:30:44]  And you need to surround yourself with a community of believers who are not afraid to tell you, brother, you are not on the straight and narrow anymore.
[00:30:51]  Get back to the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:30:53]  It's wildly important.
[00:30:55]  You know, if you go climb Mount Everest, there are these men called Sherpas.
[00:30:58]  You ever heard of a Sherpa before?
[00:31:00]  A Sherpa is going to be the man who carries pretty much everything for you except what you want to carry.
[00:31:04]  And he's going to guide you to the top of the mountain so that you can go up there and take your pictures and your selfies and say, I climbed Mount Everest.
[00:31:12]  And while you did, you had to carry none of your weight.
[00:31:16]  You had to do none of the hardship of it.
[00:31:18]  Sure, you prepared yourself physically.
[00:31:20]  You still had to climb a mountain.
[00:31:21]  It is a wonderful feat to be done, but the Sherpa is the one carrying all the weight.
[00:31:25]  Friends, Jesus Christ does the same thing for us.
[00:31:28]  He takes our burdens.
[00:31:30]  He takes our hardships.
[00:31:31]  He takes the weight.
[00:31:32]  He takes everything that we don't need on us.
[00:31:35]  And he guides us up the mountaintop so that we can identify with his salvation, so that we can identify with his goodness, so that we can identify with his holiness at the top of the mountain, so that we can say, look at what was accomplished.
[00:31:47]  Except we won't say, by myself, we'll say, through the power of Jesus Christ on the cross.
[00:31:53]  His yoke is easy and his burden is light.
[00:31:55]  And believer, I'll tell you right now that your yoke is unbearable and your burden is crushing.
[00:32:00]  It absolutely is.
[00:32:02]  Jesus wants to carry all of it for you.
[00:32:05]  He wants to.
[00:32:06]  Unlike a Sherpa, they're getting paid to do it.
[00:32:07]  They probably don't want to do that.
[00:32:09]  Jesus wants to take it from you.
[00:32:10]  And I have two words, simple words, let him.
[00:32:13]  Let him, believer.
[00:32:15]  Let him take that.
[00:32:17]  Jesus will grow the good and kill the bad.
[00:32:19]  So if things are being removed from your life and you're saying, well, God, I'm just getting to a point of comfortability.
[00:32:23]  I'm just getting to a point where I feel like everything's sitting right.
[00:32:26]  Things are being removed from my life.
[00:32:28]  God will only take the bad from you, but he will grow that good.
[00:32:32]  The things that you say, well, that's not important.
[00:32:34]  I don't know why it was left, but you will realize one day the significance that Jesus has for it.
[00:32:40]  What is picking up your cross?
[00:32:41]  I'm going to read this to you and I want you to really understand what I'm saying.
[00:32:45]  I'm going to read this fairly quickly.

=== Crucifixion Mockery (03:00) ===

[00:32:48]  At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to death by crucifixion.
[00:32:52]  At the time, crucifixion was the worst death, believer.
[00:32:55]  Only the worst of the worst were condemned to this crucifixion.
[00:32:58]  So where was Jesus right before this event?
[00:33:01]  He was in the garden of Gethsemane, seeking his father's face.
[00:33:06]  This is where he cried out, sweat blood, and Jesus knew his fate.
[00:33:09]  The Roman guards found Jesus and arrested him.
[00:33:11]  Jesus was taken.
[00:33:12]  And this is where the crucifixion part begins.
[00:33:15]  Jesus is horrifically whipped and beaten in front of a laughing and mocking crowd.
[00:33:19]  Now, this is the same community who was just praising him, throwing their coats at his feet just shortly before.
[00:33:26]  The whipping was so bad that it tore the flesh from his body.
[00:33:29]  His face was torn and his beard was ripped from his face.
[00:33:32]  A whip with glass shards and other metal objects attached to the end of it going into his body, pulling out rips of flesh every time it was removed.
[00:33:40]  Then a Roman guard pierced his side with a spear and more Roman guards mocked him as they shoved a crown of thorns deeply into his scalp.
[00:33:48]  Jesus had no more blood to bleed out, only water poured from his wounds.
[00:33:52]  3.5 liters of blood removed from his body, believer.
[00:33:57]  A crown of thorns on his head, and beyond that, a Roman soldier stabbed a spear into his chest.
[00:34:01]  All of this without mentioning the humiliation that he suffered.
[00:34:05]  After carrying his own cross, a cross that was 66 pounds, he carried this for 1.5 miles.
[00:34:10]  The crowd laughed and mocked at him.
[00:34:12]  They threw stones at him while he was at his lowest.
[00:34:15]  Jesus was nailed to a cross by his hands and feet.
[00:34:17]  Each nail was driven into his wrist, and there's a tendon that extends from the wrist to the shoulder.
[00:34:21]  And the Roman guards knew this, and they knew that he would not be able to experience this pain without experience this experience without excruciating pain.
[00:34:30]  There's a tendon that extends from that wrist to that shoulder, and the Roman guards knew it would tear and rip.
[00:34:35]  Forcing Jesus to use his back muscles to support himself so that he could barely breathe.
[00:34:40]  Both of his feet were nailed together, and he was forced to support himself on the single nail that impaled his feet to the cross.
[00:34:46]  Jesus could not support himself with his legs because of the pain.
[00:34:49]  So he was forced to alternate between pain and pain.
[00:34:54]  He was forced to alternate between arching his back and letting his weight drop onto his feet, believer.
[00:35:00]  Imagine this struggle.
[00:35:02]  I really want you to.
[00:35:04]  Imagine this pain.
[00:35:05]  Imagine this suffering.
[00:35:07]  Imagine the courage.
[00:35:09]  Jesus endured this reality for over three hours.
[00:35:13]  Jesus went through this barbaric and horrific torture while getting mocked and laughed at by a crowd and died the most brutal death in history up until that point.
[00:35:22]  But why did he do this, believer?
[00:35:25]  Well, he did it because of me.
[00:35:28]  And he did it because of you.

=== Authority and Relationship (15:33) ===

[00:35:31]  See, Jesus, that entire time, and I say this, and believer, it's not a cliche.
[00:35:36]  You were on his mind on the cross.
[00:35:40]  And I say this, if Jesus, I believe, if he had to do it again, he would absolutely do it again.
[00:35:46]  But praise God that the sacrifice is good once and for all for us, believer.
[00:35:52]  That he only had to endure it one time, believer.
[00:35:55]  That it is still good and righteous and holy to this day.
[00:35:59]  Our whole life is given to his service in anything he says.
[00:36:03]  This realization of what he had went through on our behalf, believer, truly will bring us to the point of willingly denying ourselves.
[00:36:14]  Why?
[00:36:14]  Because, believer, it should have been me on that cross.
[00:36:18]  And it should have been you on that cross.
[00:36:21]  There's no getting around that.
[00:36:24]  Believer, I know I love it because there are men and women of God who are called to simply the extortion, the uplifting of the body of Christ.
[00:36:32]  I believe that's a calling.
[00:36:33]  And I believe, you know, there's people who don't like that.
[00:36:35]  All they do is preach a good message.
[00:36:36]  But I believe that there is a calling from Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:36:39]  Every one of us serve a different facet in the body of Christ.
[00:36:43]  So, you know, people might get on them for only preaching good news, but I will tell you right now, I believe that the Lord gave me a good common ground that, yes, I'm preaching the good news.
[00:36:51]  Brothers and sisters, we have been given a good, free gift that all we have to do is accept, but I will preach the other side of it, that this was torment we deserved.
[00:37:00]  This was something that you and I should have experienced, but it was taken from us.
[00:37:06]  And praise God, it was, because I know the majority of us would not have been able to even make it to the cross.
[00:37:13]  Following him then requires us to live as he lived.
[00:37:16]  The determination to give our lives to God in this service is called repentance.
[00:37:23]  In repenting, we determine to turn away from our own will and live our lives pleasing to God.
[00:37:28]  We can't be saved without this.
[00:37:30]  Believer, you can't be saved without repentance.
[00:37:33]  You absolutely can't.
[00:37:34]  I don't care what anyone tells you.
[00:37:35]  That's not the truth.
[00:37:36]  You must repent and believe the gospel.
[00:37:38]  You must repent and believe the gospel, believer.
[00:37:43]  It also explains why many people are not truly Jesus' disciples.
[00:37:46]  And like I said, I would never want to hear the words get away from me, for I never knew you.
[00:37:53]  Never.
[00:37:54]  And we want to make sure as men and women of God that our families never hear that either.
[00:37:58]  Preach the fullness of the gospel, believer.
[00:38:00]  Share the fullness of the gospel, that there is a hell and it does exist and it is real, but there was a free gift given to us that all we have to do is accept it.
[00:38:09]  And all we have to do, and it sounds so silly, Pastor Joe, all we have to do is give up our burdens.
[00:38:14]  All we have to do is give up our hardships.
[00:38:17]  Give up all the bad in our lives.
[00:38:19]  But believer, the enemy has somehow twisted to make us think that these negative things are good.
[00:38:26]  That's why we must have an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit.
[00:38:29]  That is why you must walk intimately with the Holy Spirit day in and day out.
[00:38:33]  Why, believer?
[00:38:34]  Because that will keep you on the straight and narrow.
[00:38:38]  Now, I need someone to, I need someone out here.
[00:38:40]  I don't know who it is.
[00:38:40]  I need someone to give me a wallet, a wallet with everything in it.
[00:38:43]  I'm talking all their money, all their cards, everything.
[00:38:45]  Come on, brother.
[00:38:47]  I'm going to keep that too.
[00:38:48]  And I need someone, I need something gold.
[00:38:51]  Anyone has anything gold?
[00:38:52]  Anything gold?
[00:38:53]  I'll take it.
[00:38:53]  Anything gold.
[00:38:54]  Come on, brother.
[00:38:54]  He got a pocket watch, too.
[00:38:55]  I'm going to take that.
[00:38:56]  Can I have that?
[00:38:56]  This belongs to me now.
[00:38:58]  I'm going to keep this.
[00:38:59]  I will tell you right now, believer, imagine yourselves living in a house.
[00:39:01]  This is kind of nice.
[00:39:02]  Imagine yourselves living in a house.
[00:39:04]  And Jesus comes one day and he walks in the room.
[00:39:08]  And, you know, there's some things that need to be fixed.
[00:39:09]  We all know there's things that need to be fixed.
[00:39:11]  There's some pipes that they're leaking.
[00:39:12]  There's a washer and dryer that maybe move a little bit too much whenever I'm washing and drying, wakes the kids up.
[00:39:18]  I know there's a wall where my kid ran through it and there's a drywall patch that needs to be fixed.
[00:39:22]  Obviously, there's things that need to be fixed.
[00:39:24]  I'm willing to let him do those things.
[00:39:25]  But what happens, believer, whenever he starts knocking down walls?
[00:39:30]  Whenever he starts adding a new wing here, whenever he starts building a courtyard over here, and you're saying, well, Jesus, this was my home.
[00:39:37]  This is where I was comfortable living.
[00:39:39]  But he says, you know what, believer, I plan and I intend on living here.
[00:39:42]  I'm not going to live the way you live.
[00:39:44]  Why?
[00:39:44]  Because I'm calling you higher.
[00:39:46]  Believer, that's what the Lord is doing for us.
[00:39:48]  While it may be uncomfortable, he's calling us higher.
[00:39:51]  Now, you may be saying, what made these men so willing to give me these items?
[00:39:56]  This is money right here.
[00:39:57]  He's got some money in here, just a little bit, not a lot.
[00:39:59]  And this is a nice watch.
[00:40:00]  Come on, brother.
[00:40:01]  What made these men so willing to give me these items?
[00:40:04]  Well, it's because I gave them to them before the service.
[00:40:07]  I did.
[00:40:07]  These belong to me.
[00:40:08]  I gave them to this before the service.
[00:40:10]  And believer, the reason it was so easy for them to give them to me is because they understand they never actually belong to them.
[00:40:20]  Believer, do you see where I'm going with this?
[00:40:22]  When you come to the fullness of understanding that this actually never belonged to you, that this actually never belonged to you, believer, it's easy to give it back.
[00:40:32]  Believer, it's easy for Theron to give me this back.
[00:40:34]  It's easy for Pastor Alex to give me this back.
[00:40:38]  Why?
[00:40:38]  Because they understand the fullness that this was simply a gift I gave them for a moment and that I would need it back.
[00:40:44]  I told Alex, I'm going to make sure everything's in there.
[00:40:46]  I had three crisp $1 bills in there.
[00:40:48]  They're all still in there.
[00:40:48]  They're all still in there.
[00:40:49]  This is a good man.
[00:40:50]  Come on.
[00:40:51]  Alex said, I don't need you $3.
[00:40:52]  Come on.
[00:40:55]  And I'm finally at point number three: teaching with authority and power.
[00:40:57]  I'll go quick on this one.
[00:40:59]  There was something about the way that Jesus taught that was different from the others.
[00:41:02]  Mark 1:22 says that they were amazed and astonished at his teaching because he was teaching as someone who had authority, not like the scribes.
[00:41:11]  Jesus' teaching not only impressed the people of Capernaum, but it amazed the people of Capernaum is because he taught with authority.
[00:41:17]  So whatever authority is, if it caused Jesus' teaching to be so effective and so powerful, believer, you and I should want the same authority when we teach and preach.
[00:41:27]  Leadership expert John Maxwell defined leadership as influence.
[00:41:33]  So ultimately, if authority is influence and leadership is influence, then demonstrating authority is showing leadership.
[00:41:39]  And demonstrating leadership is showing authority.
[00:41:42]  The two are inseparable, believer.
[00:41:45]  Also, there are two types of authority generally, encentric and delegated.
[00:41:50]  In plain language, it either means you have authority because of who you are or you have authority because of who you represent.
[00:41:56]  Believer, the best way I can put this is my father, Pastor Jim Baker.
[00:42:00]  He's watching right now.
[00:42:01]  By the way, I'm going to give a quick health update in the middle of my sermon.
[00:42:03]  Pastor Jim Baker is doing good.
[00:42:04]  He's strong.
[00:42:05]  He's going to come back.
[00:42:06]  He's going to preach the gospel in its fullness again.
[00:42:08]  He's going to be back.
[00:42:10]  Thank you for continuously praying with him.
[00:42:11]  Thank you for praying for Pastor Lori as she goes through this.
[00:42:14]  Why?
[00:42:14]  Because it's hard.
[00:42:15]  24 hours a day.
[00:42:17]  She is there to ensure he has everything he needs.
[00:42:20]  So please continue to pray for Pastor Lori as well.
[00:42:24]  You know, Pastor Jim Baker built this place.
[00:42:26]  This was a dream in his head.
[00:42:28]  The foundation was laid because he said, pour the concrete here.
[00:42:31]  That is in centric authority.
[00:42:33]  When he walks into this building, we all have the fullness of understanding that he is the man who God used to build this.
[00:42:41]  Now, I understand in my fullness that I have delegated authority.
[00:42:46]  Believer, I didn't build this.
[00:42:48]  This was Pastor Jim's vision, which luckily the Lord has given me the honor to help carry on.
[00:42:53]  But believer, I just have delegated authority.
[00:42:56]  I don't have authority because of who I am.
[00:42:58]  I have authority because of who I represent.
[00:42:59]  And I remind myself that every day.
[00:43:01]  I represent Pastor Jim Baker.
[00:43:04]  And I will do everything I can to represent him well.
[00:43:06]  But he has the encentric authority.
[00:43:08]  Believer, in the same capacity, God has the eccentric authority.
[00:43:11]  We simply represent him through Jesus Christ.
[00:43:14]  We must remind ourselves that every single day.
[00:43:18]  That I only have authority because Christ has given me authority.
[00:43:22]  And if there's ever a moment where I am sat back down to remain humble, then I will absolutely accept it with gladness.
[00:43:30]  Jesus had authority because he was the son of God.
[00:43:32]  Christians have authority because our relationship with Jesus.
[00:43:35]  Now, if you regularly teach others, you can write these down.
[00:43:37]  Here's some things that you should do.
[00:43:39]  Teach from personal experience.
[00:43:41]  Teach practically, which I love Pastor Joe for that.
[00:43:44]  Pastor Theron, Pastor Pause, Pastor Alex, Pastor Frank, they teach practically, and they teach biblically.
[00:43:49]  Ask guided questions.
[00:43:51]  That makes a believer think.
[00:43:53]  Make Jesus the center of your teaching and importantly, have a relationship with the Holy Spirit.
[00:43:58]  See, the Pharisees were ritualistic and philosophical leaders, but Jesus taught with authority and power from heaven.
[00:44:04]  That is what made him so much different.
[00:44:10]  In a world that seems to be increasingly persuaded that spiritual truth is subjective, teaching with authority will likely set you apart from many other teachers and preachers.
[00:44:21]  The keys to doing this effectively are maintaining humility, believer, and remembering where our authority ultimately comes from.
[00:44:31]  See, believer, a world changer isn't known for what he gives up, but for what he takes up.
[00:44:38]  Jesus gave up a lot.
[00:44:41]  The Son of God took on human flesh.
[00:44:44]  He gave up a lot, but he took up a lot more.
[00:44:46]  The sins of the entire world, known to that day and on.
[00:44:52]  Every single sin he took on.
[00:44:55]  So remember this, if you're wanting to be a world changer, I want you to write these things down.
[00:44:58]  Point one was we are called to embrace and live the hard calls.
[00:45:05]  Two, we must deny ourselves and pick up our cross daily, every single day.
[00:45:13]  And point three was we must teach with authority and with power, constantly remembering where we get that authority and power, because that is how we will remain in humility, believer.
[00:45:28]  I want to read this to you that I wrote and let this resonate with you.
[00:45:32]  Boldly step forth in faith, fueled by the divine calling to be a beacon of light in a world shrouded in darkness.
[00:45:40]  With unwavering conviction in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, embark on a journey of a Christian world changer, fearlessly spreading love, compassion, and the transformative message of Christ, knowing that through him, all things are possible, believer, to those who believe.
[00:45:58]  That is you and that is I.
[00:46:00]  Now, I want everyone here to understand this.
[00:46:03]  Authority comes from God.
[00:46:04]  There is only one way to heaven.
[00:46:07]  That is through Jesus Christ.
[00:46:09]  And believer, you're sitting here.
[00:46:10]  You are regular churchgoers.
[00:46:11]  You know this, but there may be someone who's watching and thinks there are multiple ways to heaven.
[00:46:14]  Believe it, that's not true.
[00:46:15]  As we end the sermon today, I want everybody to find somebody to look at.
[00:46:19]  We're going to ask one last question.
[00:46:21]  I want this camera right here to lock eyes with me as we ask this question.
[00:46:24]  And this is what we will leave the sermon today with.
[00:46:28]  Are you ready to be a world changer?
[00:46:32]  Believer, if you follow these steps and believe and have an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, that is exactly what you'll be.
[00:46:37]  Praise God.
[00:46:38]  Thank you guys for today.
[00:46:40]  Thanks, Pastor.
[00:46:43]  Love you.
[00:46:43]  Yeah.
[00:46:44]  Jesus, thank you that you have given us the, and I want to say bye to the TV audience.
[00:46:47]  That's why we did that.
[00:46:48]  Jesus, I want to thank you that you are holy.
[00:46:51]  You are righteous.
[00:46:52]  You are pure.
[00:46:53]  You are a good judge, a good judge.
[00:46:56]  I know for a fact that when I pray, I sound like a broken record, God, but I thank you that you simply love the prayers of your people.
[00:47:04]  I will continuously always bring up, God, that you are good.
[00:47:08]  You are righteous.
[00:47:10]  You are holy.
[00:47:11]  You are pure.
[00:47:12]  You are a good judge.
[00:47:13]  You are faithful.
[00:47:14]  You are good to bring to fruition the calling in which you have on our lives, Lord God.
[00:47:19]  If there is someone here who is wondering, how can I be a world changer, Lord God?
[00:47:24]  Bring them into a relationship with more intimacy, Lord God.
[00:47:28]  Allow them to understand that they need more intimacy from the Holy Spirit.
[00:47:31]  They need more intimacy with the Word of God, Lord God.
[00:47:35]  Allow the Word of God, the physical text of God, to not be overlooked, Jesus, in these times coming.
[00:47:41]  Why?
[00:47:41]  Because you will have to absolutely understand why you believe what you believe.
[00:47:47]  God, give them divine understanding.
[00:47:50]  But above all that, Lord God, allow them to understand who you are and allow them to be opened up enough for you to understand who we are.
[00:48:01]  Lord God, we want to look you face to face one day and for you to say, Well done, my good and my faithful servant.
[00:48:10]  I want every single person in this room to hear that, Lord God.
[00:48:12]  So if you're saying, Hey, you know what?
[00:48:13]  I don't know if I'm going to heaven.
[00:48:14]  Let's pray this prayer as we continue to pray.
[00:48:17]  Lord God, I understand that I'm a sinner in need of a savior, but I understand that your sacrifice was good yesterday, today, and forever.
[00:48:27]  I want to be a part of the family of Christ.
[00:48:30]  I renounce all of my sins.
[00:48:32]  I reject my ways of the world, and I proclaim that Christ is Lord and that I want to be in the fullness.
[00:48:38]  Lord God, I want to remove myself, my agendas, my ideas, my opinions off the throne of my heart.
[00:48:45]  And I want you and your will alone to sit there.
[00:48:51]  Lord God, thank you for the sacrifice.
[00:48:54]  I fully accept it and I believe in the Holy Spirit.
[00:48:57]  And believer, I believe if you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of Jesus Christ.
[00:49:01]  The walk will not always be easy, but I promise you, the walk will always be worth it.
[00:49:06]  Believer, we are called to higher and higher things.
[00:49:10]  We are called to elevate the condition of the world around us.
[00:49:14]  Believer, we are a beacon of light.
[00:49:18]  You know, they tried to do a scientific study one time, Pastor, that showed that darkness doesn't actually exist.
[00:49:24]  It's simply the absent of light.
[00:49:25]  We are the light and the salt of the earth.
[00:49:28]  Now, my wife's a pastry chef.
[00:49:29]  Come on, praise God.
[00:49:30]  She went to school for that.
[00:49:32]  I was horrible at salting my food.
[00:49:33]  I'd undersalted it or I'd oversalted.
[00:49:35]  But when you have the formula just right and you know how to just salt it, it enhances the flavor around it.
[00:49:40]  Believer, the Lord has given us the ability to enhance everything around us because that's who we are because we get to identify with Christ.
[00:49:49]  What a powerful thing, believer.
[00:49:50]  And as you go about your Sunday, I want you, I'm going to go take a Sunday nap.
[00:49:54]  I can't even lie.
[00:49:55]  Three children.
[00:49:56]  First sermon I ever wrote with three children.
[00:49:57]  It was a feat.
[00:49:58]  Praise God.
[00:49:58]  Three children.
[00:49:59]  I'm going to take a Sunday nap.
[00:50:00]  But as we rest, I encourage you to embellish yourself in the Lord and say, God, as I rest, I invite the Holy Spirit to minister to me as I sleep.
[00:50:09]  And I guarantee you, when you open the door to the Holy Spirit, your life will be forever changed.
[00:50:15]  We had to cut the service off right at that time because that's when the PTL television network cuts off.
[00:50:19]  So that's why I was quick to make sure that final point was made.
[00:50:22]  I wanted them to understand the fullness of the message.
[00:50:24]  But believer, to us here, we get to share more intimate moments.
[00:50:27]  It is vital for us as believers in these end times to be in unity.
[00:50:33]  Believer, I luckily, I look around the room and I don't see a lot of it, which I'm thankful for.
[00:50:38]  But believer, we must cut all gossip out of our church.
[00:50:42]  We must cut all witchcraft out of our church.
[00:50:45]  We must cut anything that doesn't fully line up with this right here.

=== Believers Unite for Revival (01:25) ===

[00:50:49]  If it doesn't line up with this, believer, we must reject it.
[00:50:53]  And if it lines up with this, we must, as a unified body of Christ, press into it.
[00:51:00]  Believer, I'll tell you right now, Morningside Church is going to be a beacon of revival in the last days.
[00:51:05]  We have ministers of the gospel, strong, powerful men and women of God fly over this area and say, this is where the next great revival is going to come from.
[00:51:14]  And believer, Wendy shared a word that she said, it may not have worked one time, but it will work.
[00:51:19]  Believer, God's timing is always perfect.
[00:51:21]  I believe that's a word from the Lord Wendy.
[00:51:23]  She was hearing from God.
[00:51:25]  This is absolutely going to be a beacon of hope.
[00:51:27]  You guys are here for a divine purpose, a divine calling, a divine reason.
[00:51:32]  There are no coincidences in the kingdom.
[00:51:35]  You meet who you meet for a reason.
[00:51:37]  You interact with who you interact with for a reason.
[00:51:40]  Believer, you and I are called to elevate the world around us.
[00:51:45]  And I believe Morningside Church is going to be a massive part of that in Day's harvest.
[00:51:49]  Praise God.
[00:51:50]  Amen.
[00:51:51]  Come on.
[00:51:52]  Give the Lord a great big praise.
[00:51:54]  Would you?
[00:51:54]  I want to say one thing.
[00:51:55]  Yeah.
[00:51:55]  I want to say this.
[00:51:56]  I want to thank Pastor Joe.
[00:51:58]  You guys don't understand.
[00:51:59]  Maybe you do, but you guys do not understand what you have in this pastor right here.
[00:52:03]  A mighty man of God who will drop anything and everything to go serve the people.
[00:52:07]  This is truly an example of a man who walks and talks the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:52:12]  So I want to thank you, Pastor.
[00:52:13]  Thanks for the opportunity to minister.