How to Have Breakthrough in Prayer | Persistent Faith | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Sean Thomas
How to Have Breakthrough in Prayer | Persistent Faith | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Sean Thomas
Transcript
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Hey, everyone. Pastor Sean here, and I wanna thank you for subscribing to our podcast. I'm excited to get into today's message. And remember this, God is a good God. He loves you, and he wants to bless you.
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I want you to turn with me to Philippians chapter four.
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I'm gonna be as pointed as I can. I wanna teach today a little bit.
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I got a I got a well of information that I that I wanna push out because we're at the point right now in this prayer series. And real quick, how many of y'all been with us throughout this teaching that we've been on prayed up? Come on. Hasn't it been good?
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Hasn't this been good? My heart and my prayer is that it has begin to give you the tools to know how to approach God in your prayer life.
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The Bible has much when it comes to the subject of prayer.
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And I and I find it interesting that it's the least or or the thing that we do the least in the body of Christ. When we've got a worship night, hundreds will turn out. If we're gonna have, you know, some type of miracle or healing service, hundreds and thousands will turn out. But when we call for a prayer meeting, why is it that it is only like a handful of 20 people that show up for a prayer meeting?
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Most of the time that it, you know, it's it's the wonderful elderly lady that that come into the room and they begin to shake on heaven and earth and call those things that be not as though they are. Thank you, Lord, for the elderly ladies that are willing to call on heaven.
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I don't take that lightly, but the prayer that God is is made available is for everyone to walk in. For everyone to activate.
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And it's important to understand, I know I've said this every week, but it's important to understand that the disciples asked to learn one thing.
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One thing in Luke 11.
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It said Jesus, can you teach us how to pray?
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And Jesus followed up by saying, when you pray, say.
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Tell your neighbor, when you pray When you pray. Say. Say. Tell your other neighbor, when you pray When you pray. Say. Say. So prayer is activated in what you say.
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Now, I know that I have shared an overview every week, but I always think it's important. If nothing else, it helps me to stay on point, to stay on task for where we're going. But when we started off this series on prayer, we identified the fact that the definition of prayer is to advance in the will of God. To advance in the will of God. To move forward in God's will for your life.
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So when you don't know what God's will is for your life, I want you to stop, breathe, and think about what are you challenged with? What area do you feel like that you have not stepped into that you know is in your heart? Because whatever that is, that's the purpose of God. And God's saying, I want you to advance in that. And so, when I don't know what the will of God is, I take a moment and I begin to evaluate where is it that I know in my heart I have not accessed or stepped into this thing.
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Whatever that is, that's what I begin to pray into.
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And so prayer is advancing in God's will.
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God's will is for you to access things.
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Somebody say things. Things. Now, I know a lot of people don't wanna hear me say things because our mind immediately goes to tangible things, material things. But I'm here to tell you that things comes from the word pragmatic, which is anything that is realistic.
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The very air that you breathe is a thing.
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You can't take the next breath until you give up the one that you got. Breath is a thing. Air is a thing.
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No difference than salvation is a thing. Anybody thankful for your salvation?
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Anybody in here thankful that you're the redeemed?
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Anybody thankful that God picked you up out of your mess and allowed you to have new life again? Anybody thankful that His mercies are made new every single day? Anybody thankful for the grace of the Lord that is upon your life? You shouldn't have had it. You didn't deserve it. You definitely disqualified yourself from it, but God looked at you in His love, and He said, I love you, so my grace is gonna be released upon you. Okay. You can't get that grace though until you receive what?
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Salvation. Salvation is a thing. So things is anything that pertains to my purpose in Christ Jesus.
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Anybody believing for some things?
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Man, this is a great recap right now. Anybody believing for some things? So prayer is to advance in the will of God. I'm advancing in the will of God as I'm praying and receiving things by faith.
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For Jesus says, have faith in God in in the gospel of Mark. He says, have faith in God.
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And then he goes on and he says, in these things that you ask, believe that you receive it. So when I go to God in prayer, I gotta go in faith. Somebody say faith. Faith. Faith is not somewhere in the distance. My Bible says in Hebrews 11, faith is now. Faith was not yesterday. Faith is not tomorrow. Faith is present tense. And my faith is my confidence that God will fulfill every single thing that he has spoken over my life. I wanna encourage you for a moment that God has got things for your life. God has got a purpose and a destiny and a future for your life. God has got great favorable outcomes for your life. God has got things that he has prepared for you for the Bible says that I hasn't seen. And your ear hasn't even heard. It hasn't even crossed your mind. The things, the good things that God's prepared for those that love him. Anybody love him today? Anybody love Jesus today? Anybody believing for things today?
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Any faith filled people in the room today? Come on. Any faith filled people in the room today?
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Anybody ready to tackle this week with so much faith that you know I don't care what the devil tries to throw my way. My faith in God says that I'll prevail.
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Calm down preacher. Calm down preacher. Calm down
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I gotta keep a little gas in the tank.
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No.
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Keep going. I'm a I'm a I'm be rounding third and I'll be like, no.
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Don't wear me out yet.
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You at Philippians?
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Okay.
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I want to take a few moments, and if we can in our time today, I I I want to teach Philippians, and I wanna go to, chapter four.
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And we're gonna start in verse four. And I wanna comb through a few scriptures here.
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Because I believe that if we don't get this portion of text in our spirit, when it comes to our prayer life, we really won't be able to advance in God's will. Let me let me take it a step further. If you would like a title for today, how to have breakthrough in prayer. Anybody wanna have breakthrough in your prayer life? Yes. I wanna have breakthrough in my prayer life. Amen. And God is not this, you know, individual that is trying to make prayer complicated.
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Prayer has a formula.
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No difference that anything in life that you go to study or to major, you give yourself to it, you learn the ins and outs. It's got a formula, And that formula is to produce a result.
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God's not trying to complicate prayer. We complicate prayer.
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Hear me. God's not trying to complicate the power of prayer, the formula, the program, whatever you want to call it. God God has a prayer playbook that if we just simply follow the rules.
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Hear me. If you just simply follow the rules, then you will have the things that you're praying for. Again, it is the prayers in motion, the fervent prayers of the righteous that avail much. So powerful prayers of the righteous produce results. In fact, I believe the last that we had an opportunity to be together, I talked about the thing that gets in the way of your prayers is your flesh.
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And the Bible says that the things that we're believing for, the things that you desire, the things that you're trusting God for that are in the kingdom, the only thing that gets in the way of the kingdom is the flesh.
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I'm not gonna go back and reteach, but Galatians five says, it's the the works of the flesh are evident, and those that practice such things will not have access to the kingdom of God, where your things are. So we learn to put down the flesh, but there is some some other things here that we got to look at in Philippians four that you got to get in your spirit. I'm just gonna say it. You got to get this in your spirit.
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You gotta let this really just rest in your heart, and you gotta walk in this. Okay. So the Bible says this. You there? Philippians four? Philippians four verse four says this. Rejoice in the Lord always, And again, I'll say rejoice.
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Let your gentleness be made known to all men.
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The Lord is at hand.
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Verse six says, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.
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In the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
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Now, I want to approach this line upon line today, starting with the first verse that I just read.
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The Bible says, rejoice in the Lord always.
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Paul is so emphatic about this that he says, and again, I say rejoice.
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Anytime you read multiples of something, you better lean in, you better pay attention, and you better take action for he says, rejoice in the Lord always.
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Not some of the time, not when it feels good, not when everything's going your way, not when everything's on point. Paul says, rejoice in the Lord always. Somebody say, always. Always. And again, I say rejoice.
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Now it's important to understand what the word rejoice means.
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The word rejoice is a compound word. It's re enjoice.
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Re means to return. Joice means joy. Paul says return to joy, and again, I say return to joy. But he don't just return to joy anywhere.
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He's specific. He says, rejoice in the, oh, let's try that again. He says, rejoice in the, Lord. He says, rejoice in the, he says, rejoice in the Lord, and again I say rejoice, so the true joy that you're looking for is only in the Lord. And this is why the Bible says that the joy of the Lord is your strength. It's only when I return to the joy found in Jesus Christ that I have the strength to continue and to carry on. But until I get back to the place of joy that is found in Jesus, I'm not gonna be able to have what I need to live another day. But when I recognize that my strength is in Christ, my joy is in Christ, my fullness is in Jesus, it doesn't matter what comes my way, I know I'm gonna be able to say to the mountain, you gotta move.
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So he says rejoice, return to joy. Now, joy is a place of being full. It's a place of of of not just being full, but also expect tation.
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It's that at every moment, I have expectation, God's gonna show up.
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God's gonna show out.
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God's gonna show up.
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God's gonna show out. Specifically, the word joist, j o I c e. The word joist, in Greek it means chiro.
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Chiro means a time of opportunity.
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It means the opportune time. So when I return to joy, I'm returning to the place that I know opportunity is coming my way. I'm returning knowing that opportunity is getting ready to peek its head up above the ground. I'm returning knowing I know I planted that yesterday, but I got expectation that a harvest is about to come up out of this dirt. I've got the expectation.
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I've got the joy because I know the opportunity is at hand. And that's why Paul says to rejoice in the Lord always.
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Again, I say rejoice.
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Make your gentleness be made known to all men for the Lord is at hand. Baby, God's got you.
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I say God's got you. I say God's got you. Let your gentleness Gentleness doesn't mean, oh, hey, brother. How you doing today?
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You been working out, Kevin? Yeah.
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I'm a go to this side.
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Put my jacket back on.
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Gentleness is a posture that you're cool, you're calm. What's the third word? Collect. Cool, calm, collect. Let your gentleness be made known to all because the Lord has got this thing. So I return to joy.
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I'm rejoicing at the opportunity that's at hand.
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Mary rejoice highly favored one.
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Rejoice.
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You are favored and blessed are you among women. Well pastor, it's really hard to rejoice when everything right now doesn't look like it's working. Now, when Gabriel showed up to Mary, she did not have things happening on the outside.
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He was saying rejoice, the opportunity to give birth to something, oh, it's at hand. And there are some of you that you are pregnant with a dream, you're pregnant with a purpose, you're pregnant with a future, and you need to rejoice at the opportunity of what God's placed inside of you because you are highly favored, and blessed are you amongst all people.
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So rejoice.
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It speaks to a kairos moment. Can I talk to you about the difference of kairos and kronos?
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Kronos speaks to time calculated in minutes. You can measure it like your wristwatch or the clock.
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You can count it. You know sixty minutes is an hour. You can count down those minutes. You can cut count up those minutes. But those minutes eventually is going to be the equivalent of an hour. You know how to calculate one after the next.
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But kairos is not calculated in minutes, it's calculated by moments.
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It's a divine moment that God shows up.
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When when in some ways, we would say when you least expect it. But when I've got joy, I'm fully expecting God to show up. I might not see it yet. It might not be in the physical, but in my spirit, I've already called that thing that be not as though that it is. And so, I am walking by faith, not by sight and expectation for a I don't know about you, but I want a kairos moment.
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I want anybody believing for a kairos moment speaks to an opportunity that you are going down a certain path, and all of a sudden there was a divine interruption.
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And God begin to show up in a way, maybe it came through a person, maybe it came through a a situation, but God showed up in a way that changed your entire circumstance.
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Changed your whole situation.
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I'm telling you, you are one kairos moment away from stepping into your next season.
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One kairos moment away.
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But here's the thing, this is what I've learned, and I've heard anybody talk about this, so I can take the credit. What creates a kairos moment is a Kronos time.
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Kronos moment isn't me just sitting back waiting for God to show up. Because if a Kronos time is based upon now, and now faith is, it's my now faith that allows my steps to carry out what God has ordered for me, so that along the way, God will show up with a Kairos opportunity.
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But God's not looking for the casual.
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The kingdom does not go to the sitter. The kingdom goes to the seeker.
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Some of y'all gotta get your faith activated again. You better get on that Kronos time. It'd be like this. If I want to experience joy in just having fun with my children, I can't just expect for them to come into the room, start playing a bunch of games, doing a bunch of different things, and me to be able to have this opportunity of feeling just satisfied and delighted because my children are in the room and they and they're making me happy and things are happening.
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No. I have to say, hey kids, do you wanna go play a game? Do you wanna go outside and play? What am I doing? I'm initiating a crow knows time, and while we're playing, they're having so much fun that when they just happen to turn and I catch that smile, that kairos opportunity of joy begin to fill me. Beautiful.
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Amen. So you can't get the opportune time until you're willing to establish your faith. And that's why Jesus says that you need to have faith.
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And not only have faith, don't walk around looking like someone took your candy.
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Let your gentleness be made known to all for the Lord is at hand.
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Rejoice in the Lord always.
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And again, I say rejoice. Is there anybody in the room today that says, I'm just gonna rejoice?
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God, I hadn't seen it, but I know that you're in it. I haven't possessed it, but I know that you're on it. See, grew up playing baseball, and when when we were when we were playing ball, I played in the outfield.
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And so, always taught us ready position.
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And so, ready position was not in case if if the ball is hit and comes your way. It was ready position that you played that every play, the ball is coming at me. Not in case. See, some of you are not seeing the opportunities because you're saying, well, I'm just gonna do it in my own strength. And just in case if God loves me, He'll show up. No way, baby. I am in a ready position twenty four seven because I know that it's coming. Your breakthrough, it is coming. Your deliverance, it is coming.
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I'm telling you, your blessing, it is coming. Zacchaeus, get down from that tree.
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Salvation is coming to your house today. You gotta be in ready position, church.
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Feeling this today.
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Some boost, David.
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I like this section between Kevin's broad shoulders and David's boots. I'm feeling confident.
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Stuart, take your hat off, man. Come on. Ball brothers in this thing together.
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Is this helping you all? I'm telling you, when you start rejoicing and knowing that the opportune time of what God's ordained for your life is at hand, you're gonna approach a prayer life different.
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You're moving from hope to faith. Amen? So rejoice in the Lord always.
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And again, I say rejoice.
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Let your gentleness be made known to all for the Lord is at hand. Okay? So let's go on. Let's see what what what's the next part of this line say? In verse six, be anxious for nothing. Whoo. Feel like we gotta park it on that for a second.
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Anxious or anxiety.
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It deals with worry.
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Now, let's be scriptural first.
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Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, don't worry about what you should eat, what you should drink, and what you should wear. Don't worry about these these things. You get so worked up on things.
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And then he goes on in in at the end of the passage is where he says seek the kingdom, and all the things will be added. So just get to the kingdom where the things are, and you're good. But if you're trying to seek the things to get into the kingdom, then we've got it back where you're worrying too much.
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So Jesus, don't worry about what you eat. Don't worry about what you drink. Don't worry about what you You are so worked up. Now, can I can I unpack this for a moment for you? I gotta I gotta help you.
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Stop going to God in your prayer life with these nine one one prayers.
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Oh, God. If you would just answer it by 02:00 this afternoon.
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Oh, and nothing changed. You go to God in your worry, and you don't give Him anything to work with. Because God doesn't work with worry. God works with faith.
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I'm telling you, some of y'all, you go into the prayer room or you go to the Lord in all this worry and all this angst, and that's not gonna get you there.
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It's fear.
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What it does is this, is it moves you from walking by faith to now walking by sight.
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Let me teach you.
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Hebrews 11 says this, without faith it's impossible to please God.
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But if you come to Him and believe that He exists, He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.
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So, the rewards is back into the seeking, but the seeking must be in faith. Okay?
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But without faith, you're not gonna please Him. So if I don't come to God in faith, I'm actually putting God in a place that He's displeased.
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So when I come to Him constantly in worry, He's saying I can't do anything about it because the prerequisite to access the things is faith. Tell somebody next to you, it's faith.
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Well then, how can I ever go to God in my worry? You can. The Bible says in first Peter chapter five that when you come to God in your anxiety, in your cares, cast them on Him.
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Don't bring it to Him and then bring it out.
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Last time I checked, when I told my kids bring your dirty laundry downstairs and put it into the laundry room, They brought it downstairs, they put it in the room, they didn't put it in the room and then walked that same exact dirty clothes back up. Let they casted it. They let it go.
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It's the casting of your anxiety.
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It's the casting of your worry.
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Casting of your fear. It's the casting of those things. That's why the Bible says to cast off every weight and the sin that easily entangles.
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Anxiety might not be a sin, but it is a weight and it is holding you down. Cast it off. Get it out of the way. Have faith and know that the opportune time's at hand. This is how you're going to God in your prayer life. Stop the nine one one prayers. Stop the worry prayers. Stop being anxious.
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You know, a generation in the Bible completely missed the opportunity and the purpose of God because they did not mix the word of God and faith together.
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The Bible says that the children of Israel, though they had the word of God, did not mix it with faith. And because they did not mix it with faith, they could not enter into the land of rest.
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So, what's gonna keep you from entering into your next season is when you don't mix the word of God with faith.
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The word mixing is talking about that when you're chewing on food and your saliva mixes with that food, it becomes one. You can't separate the two once the food's entered into your mouth. It's a mixture.
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It's the Word of God being chopped down on your choppers getting all mixed up with the faith of your saliva that says you can't separate the two. It is so good. I'm digesting this thing because I know it was meant for me.
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I'm really enjoying this today. I'm not gonna lie.
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The word of God mixed with faith. My grandfather made this statement, one of his teachings.
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He says, the word of God mixed with faith brings about the impossible.
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It's the word of God mixed with faith that brings about the impossible. The word of God mixed get that etched in your heart right now. The word of God, not mixed with worry, mixed with faith brings about the impossible.
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Now, let me go a little bit further on this thing with anxiety and worry and things that that bother you to the point that you try to tackle it in your own strength.
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What I have found is this. Anytime you get so worked up in your fear, in your worry, in your angst, you say things, you do things, you buy things, you participate in things that is outside of what God's ordained for your life.
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Because what you think is by me trying to take care of it now, I'm gonna be able to deal with the problem.
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And you didn't deal with the problem, you only suppressed it. And by suppressing it, you only made matters worse until another moment that is gonna not be a time of opportunity, but potentially be a time of calamity because you got yourself in a situation that God's never asked you to be in. So, you get into the wrong relationships, you get into the wrong businesses, you get into the wrong decisions that you're making because I just gotta feel this thing right now. I start looking online, and I see everybody else that's on the social platforms and how far they've measured up, and all the things that they have. Can I help all the young people in the room? You're not a social influencer. Knock it off.
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Knock it off. You are a child of God, and if God's given you a purpose and a dream and a plan and He happens to open up a social platform, great.
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Then pursue it.
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But stop looking at what other people are throwing down and expecting you gotta pick it up.
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Because you're gonna pick up a problem, you're gonna pick up anxiety, you're gonna pick comparison, you're going to pick up a spirit of competition that is not a healthy one, and you're going to find yourself getting involved in crap that you don't need to be in.
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Pastor Chazback, I'm gonna bring it down to a two.
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Appreciate you, brother. Anxiety caused an entire generation to miss the promised land.
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An entire generation of people that were frustrated and anxious. Well, Moses, you know what would've been better if we just went back to Egypt.
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You know Moses, we were better fed when we were back in Egypt. Yeah, but there was still quail and manna and an entire generation because of their anxiety and worry missed what God had ordained for them. Now, why is that important?
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Here's why.
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This is what worry and anxiety does.
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It pulls you out of faith, puts you in the flesh. God can only work with faith. Yeah. God can only work with faith.
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I said God can only work with faith. So when I am now stepping outside of the realm of faith and I'm walking by sight, God will say this, I guess there's no room for me to be involved anymore.
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Look at it like this. God said, hey, I'm gonna take you out to dinner, A fancy dinner. I'm gonna pay the bill. Whoo. Alright Jesus, where we going? You show up to dinner but the entire time you're wondering, is he actually gonna pay for the dinner? You start reaching for your pockets. You start wondering, man, do I got enough money? You start checking your cash app, your Apple cash, your Venmo, your Zelle, everything that you got in the tank. And oh my goodness, I don't know. Lord, you took me out to a pretty fancy dinner and you start getting all anxious and all worried and God's saying, I told you I've already covered the bill.
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Now, why would it benefit you to get all worked up over a bill that's already been paid? And not only has it been paid, but He's already placed the tip down on the table. All you gotta do is get back into your vehicle and go home and be satisfied with the meal that's been paid for. When I go to God in faith, when I go to God in prayer, it's me knowing that the bill has already been settled. So, stop going to God in your worry.
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It's already been settled. It's already been covered. It's already been done. There's I don't need to be anxious.
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I don't need to cast my cares on things because God's got everything under control. Do you not remember what I opened up with? It's gonna be alright. I said it's gonna be alright. I said it's gonna be alright.
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It's gonna be alright.
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So good, tell your neighbor it's gonna be alright. It's gonna be alright, guys. It's gonna be alright.
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You can't get anxious. Now look.
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Here's what I I wanna I wanna put an emphasis on this portion.
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When I get anxious, what I do is I disempower God's ability to get involved.
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And when I continue to stay in a place of anxiety, God's saying, I guess there's no more room for me to be involved. So I'm just gonna step away and I'm gonna go to somebody else that wants me to be involved.
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And so you will put yourself in a position that you'll say, man, I've just been struggling for worry for years because you haven't cast that worry down and picked up your faith.
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It's not that God's disregarded you, but you've shut God out. So God says that I'll just go around you to somebody else.
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God came, listen, God came to three other pastors or ministers to start a church in Margate. Those other pastors, those other ministers, they said what is Margate? If you didn't know what Margate is, it's the name of an ugly fish. Margate was nothing at the time.
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And they said no, no, no, no. What's this, this, this, worry, angst, lack of trust, lack of faith. But then all of a sudden the Lord came and knocked on the heart of a 59 year old white haired gentleman who was absolutely out of the ministry, done with everything and said, Woody, will you be willing to trust me one more time? Now many of you know his story, but for the purpose of what I want to communicate, he said yes to the call and as a result, abundant life church was planted in Margate forty nine years ago, and here we are forty nine years later celebrating the goodness of God in the land of the living because one gentleman was willing to mix the word of God and faith to bring about the impossible.
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Well, pastor, I've been given a word. Yeah. But if your word doesn't have faith, God will go right around you. Who makes you think that you're so bad that God can't choose somebody else because you're all worked up in anxiousness?
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God will move right around a Saul and call out a David.
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God buried Moses because he didn't speak to the rock but struck and he said, you're all worked up. You're cursing at the Israelites.
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Angels bury his body. I'm moving on to Joshua. God is looking for a generation who is willing to mix the word of God with faith and be anxious for nothing.
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So be anxious for nothing, no thing.
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Yeah, but pastor didn't you say that we are to be praying for things?
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Yes.
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But don't get worried and anxious about the things.
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There is a formula that we now step into.
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And the Bible says be anxious for no thing but ready for this? Everything.
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Can you say everything? Everything.
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Everything deals with everything that is in the spirit. Everything in the soul mentally and emotionally. Everything in your body physically.
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Pray for everything. Not just some things. Pray for everything.
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Pray for everything.
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Say that one more time. Everything. Everything. Okay. So be anxious for no thing, nothing, but in everything through prayer, we've talked about that advancing in God's will.
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Supplication, that is to entreat God with an with an a request and ask as if you're approaching your Heavenly Father like a child approaches their parent. You're going to ask them because you know that they will provide. It's not a matter do they have the means. It's not a matter do they have what, what, what, what is needed. They do, it's just simply based upon your request. That's the word supplication.
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It's you asking God. God wants you to actually ask Him for things so that you can know that He loves you and that He wants to bless you because it's your Father's good pleasure to give good gifts to those that love Him. Okay? So, supplication is me asking, but He says it's through prayer, through supplication.
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What's that next word? Somebody help me out. Through
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prayer, through supplication, and through? Thanksgiving.
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Thanksgiving.
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Okay. So, thanksgiving.
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Can I borrow your phone? Thank you.
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Here you go.
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Can I borrow it again? Yes. Thank you.
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Give me your phone. You're back. Can I have your phone? Can I keep it? Would you can I keep oh, thank you?
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Thank
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you.
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How did Brett know that I received his phone in my hand?
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Yeah. Yeah. How did he know that I received what he handed out and it was in my hand? Because I said, thank you.
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We have come up in a generation that we have forgotten to say thank you.
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Hold on. Hold on. I know you're excited and I'm excited too. But here's what I'll need you to see.
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The problem is this, that you are praying for things and the Bible says, yes believe that you've received them, but the only way that God knows that you've actually received what He's given is when you respond with a thank you. And some of us have forgotten that thanksgiving and praise is what completes the transaction.
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So there is many of you that's receiving a word, but it's not fully completed because you have forgotten to say thank you. There's many of you that have only gotten a partiality of the word, but you haven't fully gotten it. It hasn't fully taken place because you've forgotten to say thank you. Thanksgiving and praise is what completes the deal. Listen, when a word is ministered and you receive it in your spirit, you better start saying thank you. Not because pastor needs gratitude, but because God has got a word that He wants to impregnate into your spirit so that you can walk in purpose and destiny.
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But a lot of us, we don't have time to simply say thank you. So, we show up everywhere that we go to make a transaction. We don't even lock eyes with the clerk on the other side of the counter as we're getting our Starbucks cup of coffee after they spent the time to write their name, put a little heart on next to it, and say have a nice day. You just take it and you go. You did not complete the transaction.
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God says, I want a thanksgiving.
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I want a praise.
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I want you to cut loose, not like you're stuck in last year, but like you're in position to see God show up and show up like never before.
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God is looking for some people that are willing to give a crazy praise.
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Yay!
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There is something about completing the transaction.
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Now I don't have time to get into my next passage because minutes are expiring.
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Oh, I'd love to keep going.
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Thank you, Lord.
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Pray for everything.
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Pray for everything.
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How I pray for everything is not with anxiety, is in faith.
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I'm praying, making a request, and I'm thanking God for completing the transaction.
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K?
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But I'm praying for everything.
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It was always in the heart. I'm gonna use some historical touch points. It was always in the heart that God had ordained this church to be a place to bring help to the hurting, hope to the lost, salvation to those that didn't know God, to see God move with miracle working power, that people would know that God's a good God. He loves them, and he wants to bless them. And so God raised up my grandfather who was willing to mix the word of God and faith.
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Then the next generation came along, and my parents, they carried on that legacy. They carried on that mission.
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But it was in their heart that not only would we be able to have a message that would reach the world with life, but we want to be in a place that is a point of strength to minister that. What do you mean by point of strength?
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One of the main prayer points for my parents in their season of leadership was that we would truly have a house of worship that we could come together. Many of you look around, see this building. It's beautiful.
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I'm thankful. I'm honored.
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I weep over and over when many of you are not in here or nobody's in here. I'm just my time saying God, look at what you've done. Look at what you've done to be able to reach people online, to be able to to to reach people not just locally but nationally and internationally, people for watching from all over the nations. Thank you.
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Thank you for believing in and being a part of what God's doing here. And I believe that the Lord is ministering and reaching you right where you're at. God is doing something powerful in this place.
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God is doing something powerful in you and in your families.
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That's why this prayer series is so important because the way that we move God's agenda, His kingdom forward is when we start to get so fired up in our faith that we're willing to pray for everything.
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Now, everything moves outside the realm of just myself.
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And the thing that my parents that they had prayed for was that not only would we have a facility to worship, but that we would that we would have a place that was debt free. That we wouldn't have to pay a dime.
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Now I'm going somewhere with this. The Lord really dropped this in my spirit a couple weeks ago. I had the opportunity to attend a conference and in the conference the pastor shared a testimony about the fact how the Lord in his prayer time had given him a word and said, don't worry about the needs of the conference. Someone's gonna write a check that's gonna pay for the whole conference.
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That conference was a quarter of $1,000,000.
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No
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different than having the opportunity to celebrate and honor what God's doing through four kids. To be in a room and to see hundreds of thousands of dollars raised in minutes. People went crazy when they saw that.
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When I was at this conference though and that check came in and the pastor celebrated what God had done. For thirty minutes the place erupted in praise and in thanksgiving.
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Just went wild.
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And all of a sudden the Lord began to speak to my heart and said, Sean I'm grieved.
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And I said, Lord why why are you grieved? He said, because we had an opportunity like that three years ago.
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And when three years ago we came into an auditorium like this, some of you were here, some of you were not here and that's okay. This is not about any one person.
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This is about understanding the power of thanksgiving.
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And so, the Lord said three years ago you came before the congregation with your father and you shared about the fact that we were able to pay the debt that was on this building some $10,000,000 causing this entire property, this church, this building to be debt free.
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I went back and I rolled the tape. I rolled the video on that
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and the Lord I knew was grieved for this reason. When I watched it, when that announcement was made that this church was debt free for eight seconds.
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Eight seconds was the celebration.
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And the Lord began to put in my spirit, Sean, if we are gonna begin to see breakthrough, we better start becoming a church that is willing to praise and thank God for his goodness, for his faithfulness, for his favor, for his love, for his outpouring.
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Now, I'm not saying this to emotionally guilt or I'm saying this to to so that you know because I was in that same moment.
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And I went back and like Nehemiah, I begin to repent and I begin to say, God, how could I have missed that moment?
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How could I have not just stopped, taken off my shoes, did a Jericho march, a lap around this auditorium, and celebrate all that you have done?
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We stand today in a facility strategically located around other cities where we are debt free, able to proclaim the good news of the gospel, able to reach souls, able to be a witness, able to see lives transformed and changed, able to see people truly encounter the message and the goodness of God. I say, God, I repent, but God, here I am, and I'm going to tell you, Lord, with all that is within me, I bless your name, and I thank you, and I praise you because you're good, and you're faithful, and you're wonderful, and there's none like you, God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus.
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Hallelujah, Lord.
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Bless your name. We bless the name of the Lord. Thank you, God, that your promises truly come to pass. Hallelujah, Lord.
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Father, we bless you, and we thank you. God, I thank you for what's to come for this church.
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I thank you for what's to come for this ministry.
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Lord, I thank you for what you put in the heart of the men and women of God. Lord, I thank you for what you're doing in the generations.
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Father, I thank you lord. You withhold no good thing from those that love you. Here we are, god. We love you. Here we are, god. We serve you. Here we are, god. We celebrate you. Oh, I would have faithed if I hadn't believed to see the goodness of the lord but I see it. We're in it and so god, I rejoice.
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Oh god, we rejoice.
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We rejoice in the lord always and again, I will rejoice.
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Hallelujah.
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Come on. Give God a hallelujah.
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He is the God of the breakthrough.
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I said He's the God of the breakthrough.
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My mom wrote this song called, You Praise Your Way to a Miracle.
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And for years, they praised their way to this miracle so that future generations,
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that we could be here today and know that God's not done yet.
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Forty nine years.
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We've been here.
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Next year is fifty.
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Next year is fifty years.
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Next year is a jubilee year.
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Next year is a year
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that we are stepping into
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the greatest season.
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I declare for this house, for this church, for our families.
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But to get to that season,
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it starts in this season.
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This is a shifting moment in the fabric of this church that from here on out, we are a church that moves with expectation.
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Don't you come back ever into a service without expectation.
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Don't ever come into a service not knowing that the Lord is at hand.
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Don't ever come into a service thinking that God is not about bringing you into a new season of opportunity and breakthrough and blessing.
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God sees where you are.
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He knows where you are. He knows your heart.
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He knows your prayers.
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Maybe you've been dealing with worry. Maybe you've been dealing with angst. Maybe you've been dealing with things as I've already declared and as I've already mentioned. You cast those cares on Him. And the Bible says cast all cares. Cast all anxiety on Him because He cares for you.
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This is a shifting moment in this ministry.
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We will only come with praise and expectation and thanksgiving as we worship and encounter the Lord.
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I refuse to ever go back to a quieted moment.
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Not doing it. I shared this a couple weeks ago.
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The Lord gave me just this prophetic picture and and I just the the words that I put around it was I just see like a bursting forth. It's a bursting forth.
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It's a bursting forth. I don't know about you, but there's some things that I wanna see burst forth.
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There's things in your prayer life that I know that you wanna see burst forth. So be anxious for nothing.
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Rejoice in the Lord with prayer, with request, with thanksgiving.
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And know this, that the Bible says it's the peace of God that guards your heart and mine in Christ Jesus.
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It's his peace. It surpasses all understanding.
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Peace in Jesus name.
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My wife preached this last week. She talked about when Jesus said, peace I give to you. Not the way that the world does, but peace that's in Christ Jesus.
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Father, I thank you, Lord, today.
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I thank you, Lord, for what you're doing in the people of God. Yeah. Oh, God. I'm excited. We're just getting started.
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We're fired up. We're half we're almost halfway into the year. Not quite yet, but we're almost halfway into the year. But, God, we're just getting started.
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And so Lord, I thank you for filling our hearts today, Lord, with joy and expectation because you're a good God. God, again, I thank you, Lord, that we celebrate your goodness and all that you have done in this ministry, in this church. Lord, I thank you.
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Father, for those that came before us that laid the foundation that now we could stand here and declare.
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God, thank you for what you're doing in the people today. Stir their hearts.
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Awaken their hearts. Father, as they continue to activate this this life of prayer.
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That father you would strengthen them with your joy and you would give them the faith to believe and know that you are at hand.
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So Lord, we rejoice today.
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And we give you all the glory and the praise. In your wonderful name we pray. Amen. Thanks again for listening to today's podcast. We trust that it has touched your heart and blessed your life. Listen to support the ministry. You can go to our website, abundantlife.tv.
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And remember, we are better together.