Calling an Audible - Is this Revival? | Live Service, February 19th, 2023

Hey man, good morning. You guys doing well this morning?

How many of you know what an audible is in football? An audible is when the quarterback calls a different play at the line of scrimmage. I was on my way here this morning and decided to call an audible. I had a message prepared; in fact, you can watch that message. It aired online this morning. We recorded it on Thursday. I'm not going to give that message because there's something else that's been on my mind and my heart.

I have shared before, and I've shared it with a lot of people in one-on-one conversations, but I've also shared it here at the church a number of times. I don't think there is any hope for our culture, what you might call Western culture—North America, Western Europe—apart from a genuine move of the Spirit of God.

Now, in saying that, I think a lot of people who are churchgoers, Christians, would agree with that. However, there is also within many of our hearts and minds this residual thought that we may not even recognize; it's almost subconscious. We still have hope in politics or in other things. But I think the reality is that there is no hope apart from a genuine move of the Spirit of God.

I was with my friend David Guzik about eight or ten years ago. We were in Germany, and he was giving a message at a conference. The rise of Islam in Europe in the last 25 years has been huge, and David made a comment then that there is no hope in Western Europe as we see these things moving apart from a genuine move of the Spirit of God. I totally agree with that, and I think it's only spread. It's not because of Islam; it's just because of the move of the enemy in the world and the brokenness that has come from that.

So, I don't think there is any hope apart from a genuine move of the Spirit of God. How many of you watched the Super Bowl last week?

Last Sunday, my wife and I watched the Super Bowl at a friend's house, a new friend’s. My wife met this doctor and his wife, who is a nurse practitioner, through her work. They worked together in the ICU for a while, and we have become friends with them over the last six to eight months. They invited us over to their house for a Super Bowl party.

Now, this couple is not churchgoers. We've been trying to invite them to church, and I think they probably will come at some point. When we went over, there were this couple and four other couples, none of whom are churchgoers. As we were watching the Super Bowl, near the end, an advertisement popped up. A lot of people watch the Super Bowl for the game, but more people probably watch it for the advertisements, which are terrible most of the time.

However, this one was interesting, and I had a bit of an idea about what was coming. I was surprised by the response of the group of people I was with—ten other people, none of whom are churchgoers. When the ad started rolling, they all got quiet and began watching it.

I want to show you the ad, so we'll just play it real quick. Some of you probably saw it. The lyrics go: "Maybe I'm foolish, maybe I'm blind, thinking I can see through this and see what's behind. Got no way to prove it, so maybe I'm lying. Take a look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you see it clearer, or are you deceived in what you believe? Because I'm only human after all, I'm only human after all. Oh, some people got the real problem, some people out of luck, some people..."

Did anybody see that ad in the Super Bowl? Fascinatingly, it became the most controversial ad of the Super Bowl, drawing reactions from both people within the church and those outside of it. Some people made a big deal about why Christians were spending $10 million on an advertisement.

They could spend that money so much better, which is exactly what Judas said. You might want to be careful on that one. If you are mimicking Judas, you're in the wrong boat.

On the other side of it are Christians who are concerned about the group that put this out, claiming they are not theologically consistent or strong. I don't care about any of that stuff. My instant thought in all of that was, whether in pretense or truth, Christ is preached, and I'll rejoice in that. I was sitting in a room with a whole bunch of people who don't go to church. They all got quiet and started watching it. About 15 seconds into it, I heard a couple of guys say, "Whoa, what is this?" When it came up with the line, "Jesus loved the people we hate," they were like, "Oh, that was powerful." It was very interesting to be in a room with a bunch of nonbelievers who took notice of that.

The last three years have been really discouraging for me, and I think for a lot of people. As a Christian leader, it's been particularly hard to see the division, not just in our nation. The division in our nation has been there for a long time, but the division within the church is what troubles me most. I have watched some of my friends who are pastors sow seeds of division within the church, openly telling people to leave their church. These are good friends of mine whom I've known for decades, publicly telling people they should leave their church if their pastor doesn't meet certain criteria. That is nowhere in the Bible.

I've lost some friends through this, and I don't know if those relationships will be restored. I hope they will, because these are guys I genuinely respected until recently. It has been hard to watch. This captures the division we see in the faces of the people there. That division is something you expect from people who don't know Christ, but it is deeply discouraging when you see it happening within the church, including your own church. I've watched it happen. We've seen people leave our church because we weren't political enough, or because we didn't open at the right time, or because we didn't make a big deal about not wearing masks, or we didn't make a big deal about getting the vaccine or not getting the vaccine.

It didn't matter what you said; you'd piss off 50% of the people. So, it was like you were in the worst catch-22 as a leader. You might think, "I'm just not going to say anything." But then, people would say, "Well, you didn't say anything about this." And you'd have to admit, "You're right, I didn't." The truth is, they were already angry, and you didn't want to make them more mad.

However, I don't see the heart of Jesus at all, and it's broken my heart. To be honest, I went through a very long season of discouragement in the last half of last year. My prayer was, "God, you need to do a work." We have no hope apart from you doing a work.

I wrote down in my journal back in September, while reading through Galatians, I came to a passage that I know very well. It was September 20th when Paul says in Galatians chapter 4, "I fear for you that somehow I have wasted my efforts." In another translation, it says, "I've labored in vain."

What does it look like to labor in vain? Just before this, we had a big heat wave. My parents have a small vineyard at their house, and the heat wave killed all their grapes. In looking at that, I realized that's laboring in vain. You work very hard to plant something, tend to it, and take care of it. Then, an external force that you can't do anything about comes in and totally undoes everything you did.

And you feel like I've labored in vain. What's really fascinating is that in the book of Isaiah, specifically around chapters 48 to 52, Isaiah, who came 700 years before Jesus, prophesies a word about the Messiah. The Messiah is depicted by Isaiah as saying, "I have labored in vain." One might wonder how the Messiah could express such a sentiment. The context reveals that this is in reference to Him being rejected by His own people.

In this portrayal, the Father speaks to the Messiah, the Son, and essentially says that there is something much bigger than just bringing Israel back; He is to go to all the Gentiles. It is a larger work. In that, there is encouragement, as sometimes it seems like labor is in vain. However, we must step back and realize that God is doing something bigger. I believe this has been the case over the last several years.

My message this morning was going to be from Numbers chapter 20. As I mentioned, you can watch it online, and I hope you will. The message was meant to answer the question: Why was Moses not able to enter the Promised Land? Why could Moses not go? This question arises from Numbers 20, where a very interesting situation occurs with the children of Israel. It seems like a complete repeat of something that happened almost 40 years prior, which I briefly discussed a few weeks ago when I talked about the children of Israel battling against the armies of Amalek in Exodus chapter 17.

In that account, God brought about a victory through Joshua and Moses. Just before that, the children of Israel were in their earliest days in the wilderness, and they had no water. They cried out to God for water. Moses went to God, and God instructed him to take the rod in his hand and strike the rock. When Moses struck the rock, water came forth, providing for them. It's an amazing story.

There is a rock in the desert of Saudi Arabia that stands about 60 to 80 feet tall. It is located next to a mountain that the local people refer to as the Mountain of Moses, which they believe to be Mount Sinai. We have a picture of the rock that you can show.

It's believed by some archaeologists that that's the Rock of Horeb that was split. I have the unique privilege to go there next month with Pastor David Guzik and the Board of Enduring Word. We'll be going to the top of Mount Sinai next month. This is a crazy story. Moses strikes the rock, and water comes forth.

Then, you fast forward almost 40 years later. The children of Israel have no water. They cry out against Moses, and Moses goes to God. God says, "OK, Moses, go speak to the rock, not that rock, a different rock. Speak to the rock, and water will come forth."

Moses, it seems, in a moment where he was a little in the flesh, chastised the people, saying, "You bunch of rebels," and he strikes the rock twice. Water came forth, but he did not do what God had called him to do. He responded in frustration or anger; we can use our imagination. Immediately, God says, "Moses, it's not what I told you to do. You're not going to go into the promised land because of unbelief, and you did not honor me before the people." He misrepresented God.

It may seem to us like, "Wow, really? That seems like such a small thing." But it's a big deal to God when you misrepresent Him. I'll share in a little bit about why that is, because of what that rock represents.

Here's the thing I was thinking about when I was driving here this morning: God shows up in powerful, miraculous ways only when people are thirsty to the point that they cry out to Him because they cannot find satisfaction anywhere else. They have no hope but God.

I have a feeling that God has orchestrated this, and it is fascinating. The whole event in both of those situations where they had no water was totally orchestrated by God. He led them into the wilderness. He led them into that situation where they had a lack that they could not fill on their own. He allowed them to be in a place where they had no other hope but to cry out to Him.

I think that God sometimes orchestrates and allows us to find ourselves in a place, in a wilderness, where there's no other hope but God. I think that's what God has allowed for our culture in the West, because our culture has been wholesale departing from the truth of who God is and what He has done in times past, and what He has promised to do for decades, for a very long time.

We are seeing the results of that in every area of Western culture. Until we come to the point where we cry out to God because there is no hope in anything else, I'm not sure that we will see God move mightily. Even within the church, there is still this hope that if we just get the right team in office, that will fix things. I know you understand this, but I'm here to tell you that it's not true. It won't fix it. If your hope is in the next political cycle, you're going to be really upset the day after the elections. I promise you, there is no hope for our culture apart from a genuine move of the Spirit of God.

In between the services last week, I went on Twitter. I go on there way too much. While scrolling through, I saw a post from a friend of mine whom I haven't talked to in a very long time. He actually came here for a while and stayed with me before. I think he also stayed with the Kirsteds. His name is Greg Gordon. He's about 6'6", a big, tall, skinny, kind of goofy-looking guy, to be honest, with a big beard. Greg started a website back in the late 90s. He is about a year older or younger than me; he is right around the same age. He was one of the early Internet adopters and started this website called sermonindex.net, which has tens of thousands of sermons on it.

Throughout the entire time that I've known him, Greg has always been looking for, praying for, and seeking revival. He posted something on Twitter that caught my attention. It had the hashtag #AsburyRevival, and I clicked on it. I thought, "Wow, what's going on here?" I shared briefly last week in the second service, and some of you who were here may remember. I said I wasn't really sure what was going on there, but we would see.

I've been watching it over the last week and interacting with our staff about it. I have had an ongoing, constant conversation with the Board of Enduring Word, including my friend David Guzik, Lance Ralston, who shared here last year, and my friend Chuck Musselwhite, who pastors a church in Lompoc. Our conversation has been a constant text stream, just like our pastors here and the staff do, going back and forth all week long about what's happening at Asbury.

As a result, David Guzik, some of you might follow him on YouTube, did a video on Thursday during his question-and-answer session. He talked about what is happening in Asbury and looked at it. Normally, when David does a YouTube video, it gets maybe 1,000 views.

That video has had just under 10,000 views in the last few days. Because we were talking yesterday, he jumped on YouTube mid-morning and said, "I've got a flight to make in 20 minutes, but I've got some things I want to share." That video has had 8,900 views in the last 24 hours on this whole Asbury thing. Something is happening.

You may wonder, what's going on at Asbury Seminary? We have a picture here, the first picture we received. This is the assembly room on Asbury University's campus. They had a normal chapel service on Wednesday, the 8th of this month. After the service, about 20 or so people stuck around to spend time in worship and prayer, and it started growing and growing. It went on nonstop, 24 hours a day, until last Sunday when I shared about it. You can show the next picture if you want, a different angle. It has been going on ever since for the last couple of weeks, about a week and a half.

Now, this is not something that's totally unique to that school, nor is it unique to Christianity. Some people are calling it a revival, which begs the question: what is a revival? I really appreciated what David said in his video. This is taken from a man who spent much of his life studying Christian revivals, a man by the name of J. Edwin Orr. He says a revival is a remarkable sense of the presence of God. This is sensed by both the converted and the unconverted, along with an unusual interest in the things of God to the neglect of otherwise normal activities and duties.

People have been coming from all around, both students and residents of the area, and now people are coming from all over, from regions nearby and from across the nation. They are leaving their normal duties of work and school to see what's going on because they want to witness the happenings. There is an evident urgency to get right with God, with sinners seeking the evangelist more than the evangelist seeking sinners. I really like that: sinners seeking the evangelist rather than the evangelist seeking sinners.

There is a great work of conviction of sin and cleansing among God's people, along with a high level of experience and participation from laypeople, not just the leaders. This seems to be a spontaneous move of the Spirit of God. Some people will call it emotionalism. Others may get upset because they feel the gospel is not being preached. Some may be frustrated by the various strange things being said about this. At this moment, we just don't know.

We just know that it appears that something is happening, and now it seems to be happening at some other campuses. This age group of people, let's say 18 to 22 years old in university and college, is a culture at this moment that is desperately hopeless, more so than maybe any of you. They are pretty much convinced that they have no opportunity or future. They are being told all kinds of crazy things, and they are thirsty. They have looked for water elsewhere and can't find it. So, it seems like maybe something is happening. Is it a genuine revival? I have no idea. I just know that it seems like something is happening. My prayer is that it would be genuine and that it would spread. That's my hope and prayer because I don't think there's any hope for our culture apart from a genuine move of the Spirit of God.

Some of you came to faith at a time similar to that decades ago through what is called the Jesus Movement. This week on Wednesday, a movie is coming out called "Jesus Revolution," which tells the story of Early Calvary Chapel and Pastor Chuck Smith. That is our heritage here at Cross Connection Church. Lonnie Frisbee and Greg Laurie are names some of you may know. I talked to people after the first service. I was at the tent, and I saw all those sorts of things. Awesome! Good! Praise the Lord! It's great.

I grew up in Calvary Chapel. We started attending this church when I was 11 years old. I thought this was the only Calvary Chapel. This used to be called Calvary Chapel of Escondido. I had no idea there were other Calvary Chapels. Then we went to youth camp. Tony took us to youth camp when I was in ninth grade, I think. I realized, wow, there are more Calvary Chapels.

On the first day of Monday, this somewhat overweight, bald guy, who looked ancient to us high schoolers—I mean, I don't know, he was probably in his 60s at the time—got up, Chuck Smith. He spoke out of Ephesians chapter 1. I remember it so clearly. Four hundred high schoolers were completely quiet for two hour-long messages from Chuck as he talked about following the Lord. I remember in that message having this thought.

I want to do what he's saying, but I had this turmoil because I had this fear that if I do that, God will make me do something weird. I wrestled with that for the next several years, to be honest with you. Ultimately, I realized through that that God was calling me to follow Him. So, I came into ministry as an intern at 19 years old here at this church.

For years, I heard those who were over me in leadership at this church and at every Calvary Chapel conference I attended talk with a smile on their face nostalgically about what God did decades ago in the 1960s and 1970s. I constantly found myself thinking and talking with people my age, wondering why we couldn't see God do something in our day instead of just hearing about what God did all those years ago. That's been my prayer for a long time: God, would You move in that sort of way? That's my hope, that You would move.

It's actually gotten me into trouble because, as some of you know, I'm kind of a loudmouth. Mark and others call me a grenade thrower. I got myself into some trouble back in 2011. At that time, I had a website with a group of people, and I was saying the same thing that a lot of people were saying quietly behind closed doors. I said it publicly: we have some problems within Calvary Chapel. We're divided and defensive towards all the people outside. We think we're the only ones who have the whole Jesus thing because we had this great Jesus movement and revival—the Jesus People, talked about in Time Magazine, with books written about it.

I mean, it is a verifiable fact. There's a sociologist at USC who did the research in the 1990s. He wrote a book called The Reinventing of American Protestantism, which shows that Calvary Chapel is a major significant movement that transformed Protestantism in America. Basically, every Protestant church in America adopted the Calvary Chapel model in the 1990s. That's why they all look the same; it came from Calvary Chapel.

Calvary Chapel was really arrogant and prideful about that, to the point that we became very insular. Looking from the outside, we believed we were the only ones that were truly right. I called it out and got fired from the Bible College at the time by Pastor Chuck Smith. I ended up in his office apologizing to him. I've never talked about this publicly. I sat across from Chuck Smith a year before he died, and he said, "If you feel this way, why don't you just leave the movement? Call it something different."

I didn't tell him that we had already changed our name to Cross Connection Church, but I told Chuck, "I don't want to leave Calvary Chapel. I love Calvary Chapel. I want to see what happened in your day happen in my day." To be honest with you, that situation that happened in 2011 and 2012 kind of ruined my reputation with Calvary Chapel. I still have really good friends within Calvary. I still get to teach at Calvary Chapel events and all those sorts of things, but I kind of got blacklisted. I'm okay with that because I want to see God move. That's what I want to see.

Paul, in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, tells us about the rock that Moses struck and that he was supposed to speak to. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul says that rock was Christ. Not physically, not actually, but it pointed to Christ. It is Christ in type. It followed them in the wilderness and provided for them living water. There are some beautiful scenes in the Gospel of John that speak to that and reveal it in an awesome way. Most notably, probably, is the story of the woman at the well in John's Gospel, chapter 4.

How many of you know what The Chosen is and have been watching The Chosen? Actually, let me ask it this way: How many of you don't know what The Chosen is but have watched any of the episodes? If you don't know what it is, just lift your hand up and say, "I don't know what you're talking about." Several years ago, the guy who wrote the Left Behind series, which was big in Calvary Chapel when I was in high school, his son, Dallas Jenkins, who is my age,

Dallas put together this team to make a series of movies on the Gospels about Jesus. When they first started talking about it and crowdfunding it, I thought, "Oh great, here we go. Another, pardon my language, another crap Christian movie about Jesus that's going to make people laugh at us." I have to apologize for even thinking that at this point. I didn't watch it for several years for that reason. Everybody talked about it like, "Okay, whatever, The Chosen."

Then, about eight months ago, I was on YouTube and saw a clip recommended to me. It was a scene from The Chosen, and I want to show it to you because it is powerful.

"Would you give me a drink?"

"Did you hear me? That's bad, huh? What? You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan, and a woman."

"I'm sorry. I should have said please. You know, it's not safe for you to be alone out here."

"Nor you. Why haven't you come with others? Why so late in the day? Don't women come to the wells in the cool of the morning?"

"Yeah, well, none of them will be seen with me, so I have to come at noon in the heat, as you have so kindly reminded me."

"Why won't they be seen with you?"

"Long story. I'd still like a drink of water, if you can spare it. Amazing what a parched throat will do."

"Aren't I unclean to you? Won't you be defiled by this vessel?"

"Maybe some of my people say that about your women, but I don't."

"Yeah? And what do you say?"

"I say if you knew who I am, you'd be asking me for a drink."

"Really? And I would give you living water."

"Would? Except that you have nothing to draw water with, and this is a deep well. Besides, what do you need from me if you have your own supply of living water?"

Long story. But Jewish water is better than Samaritan water. That's not what I said. Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well? Your water is better than his? I know Jacob.

Everyone who drinks this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. Wouldn't that be nice? The water I give will become in a person a spring of water, welling up to eternal life.

Really? Yes, really. Prove it. First, go and call your husband, then come back. I will show you both.

I don't have a husband. You are right. You've had five husbands, and the man you're living with now is not your husband.

I see. You're a prophet. You're here to preach at me.

No. Usually, the one good thing about coming here alone is I can escape being condemned. I'm not here to condemn you. I've made mistakes—too many. But it's men like you who have made it impossible for me to do anything about it.

How? Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews insist Jerusalem is the only place for true worship. They say that because the temple is there.

Yeah. Exactly where we're not allowed. I'm here to break those barriers. The time is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

So, where am I supposed to go when I need God? I've never received anything from God, but I couldn't thank Him, even if I did.

Anywhere. God is spirit. The time is coming and is now here that it won't matter where you worship, but only that you do it in spirit and truth, heart and mind. That is the kind of worshipper He's looking for. It won't matter where you're from or what you've done.

Do you believe what I'm telling you?

Until the Messiah comes and explains everything and sorts this mess out, including me, I don't trust in anyone. You're wrong when you say that you've never received anything from God. This Messiah you speak of, I am He. The first one was named Ramin. You were a woman of purity who was excited to be married, but he wasn't a good man. He hurt you, and it made you question marriage and even the practice of your faith.

The second was Farzad. On your wedding night, his skin smelled like oranges, and to this day, you feel guilty for leaving him because he was the only truly godly man you've been with. But you felt unworthy. Why are you doing this? I have not revealed myself to the public as the Messiah. You are the first. It would be good if you believed me. I am the Messiah. It would be good if you believed me. You picked the wrong person. I came to Samaria just to meet you. Do you think it's an accident that I'm here in the middle of the day? I am rejected by others. I know. But not by the Messiah.

And you know these things because you are the Christ. I'm going to tell everyone. I was counting on it. Spirit and truth. It won't be all about magic. It won't be all about mountains or temples. Soon, just the heart. You promise? I promise. This man told me everything I've done.

Oh, he must be the Christ! Hey, wait! Your water! You forgot your... This man told me everything I've done!

I would rather because they were sick and dying, because there was a fable that at a certain time an angel would come and disrupt the water. Whoever was the first person into the water would be healed. It's like the most pitiful thing you could imagine: a whole bunch of sick people surrounding this pool, all waiting for the moving of the water. Then it was a mad dash to the water every time the water would move.

Jesus comes and talks to a man who had been there for many, many years. He was lame, and He asks him if he'd like to be made well. The guy says, "Well, I have no one to take me to the water. I have no one to help me." Jesus then says, "Would you like to be made well?" He tells the man to rise, take up his bed, and walk. The man is healed.

That story has always stuck out to me because it's amazing that you have all these people waiting for the moving of the water. Here’s what I’ve seen in Carver Chapel for the entire time that I’ve been a part of it: a whole bunch of old people—sorry—who were a part of that wave of what God did decades ago, waiting for the moving of the water. They are watching it constantly, not realizing that God is doing a work in other places.

The third story of water in John's Gospel comes in John chapter 7 when Jesus, on the great day of the Feast of Tabernacles, stands up and says, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me, and I will give him water. From his innermost being will flow torrents of living water." He is the ultimate source. That’s what Paul is talking about when he says that the rock that followed him is Christ. He’s the source. Until we are so dry and parched, we should no longer try to draw water from...

Other wells, other sources. We cry out to God for Him to satisfy. That's the only time that we'll receive it.

So, what is happening in Asbury? Is it a revival? I don't know. I hope so. I genuinely hope that it is a true move of the Spirit of God. How will we know? What will be the evidence when God moves? The evidence, I believe, is very clear. I've said this before, and I'm getting ready to do a pretty significant body of work on this.

Galatians chapter 5 says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. There are some other virtues of the Spirit that are mentioned in other places, but those nine things in that passage are the evidence that God is moving. It's not tongues, prophecy, healing, or words of knowledge. Those are gifts that accompany the mission to bring the gospel to other places. But the evidence that God is moving by His Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. That's what we should be looking for. That's what we should be hoping for: a move of God's love.

Jesus loved the people that you hate. That is a powerful statement. You can argue about whether or not they should have spent $10 million to do that. You can argue about whether or not the group that did it is theologically pure and part of your camp. All of that is a total distraction from the point. We who argue about those things are distracting ourselves from the point.

Jesus loved the people you hate. You might say, "Well, I don't hate anybody." Yes, you do. They probably vote differently than you and watch a different news channel than you. You might wish they would be gone. You might even cross to the other side of the street to stay away from those people.

Jesus loved the people that you hate. It's a challenging thing to consider. I am hoping and praying that what is happening at Asbury University, Lee University, and several other universities continues to unfold.

I am genuinely hoping that this is a move of God's grace. Here is one of the things I do think, and this was a point from my message that I was supposed to give today: God rarely works in the same way twice. The first time He said, "Strike the rock." The second time He said, "Speak to the rock." Both times, water came forth. Even when Moses disobeyed, water still came forth. Why? Because God is good. He works in spite of us.

There is a big argument right now that David Guzik was speaking to yesterday. Some people are saying there are women preachers at Asbury University and that there are sinners leading worship up there. It is like, have you not noticed we are all sinners? That distracts from the point. May God do a new work, because there is no hope for the United States of America apart from it. I do not believe that we can be one nation under God. This means that unless there is a move of the Spirit, what you will witness over the rest of your life is the continued fracturing of our culture. You can try to escape it by going to a red state, but it isn't going to fix it. The brokenness will find you wherever you go. It is only Christ Jesus that can fix it, and we need Him to move in us first, transforming our hearts.

The Apostle Peter says judgment begins at the house of the Lord. It starts with the people of God. We are going to partake of communion together, which we did plan to do this Sunday. You will notice that some of you received white grape juice. You might be scared. The companies we buy from are having a hard time supplying all the churches with communion elements, which is great; it is wonderful. We have all changed the way we do things post-COVID.

But communion is a reminder to us that our only hope is in the broken body of Jesus Christ and His resurrecting power. Some of the ushers are coming to hand out cups if you don't have them. I just want to take a moment to thank our worship team. I texted Anthony in the first service right before they finished worship. I said, "Hey, did you learn that song that I mentioned to you a few weeks ago?"

And these guys went and learned it during the service and came and played it. I'm blessed. Thank you, Anthony.

Another audible: we're going to come back tonight at 6. You don't have to come. If you have something else going on, don't come. I don't know what we'll do; we'll probably worship and pray. But we'll be here at 6. We just ask the Lord to move because we need Him to move.

Father God, I pray that you would do a work in our day. A work that we would not believe if it were just told to us. A work that cannot be said to be a work of us, but only a work that you have done. God, you know my heart. You know I've been discouraged, and I know that is what we see from you, even in the Garden of Gethsemane. As you wept over Jerusalem, you were discouraged as well. That fear that I've labored in vain is something that apparently you tasted of.

But God, you are the one who works in ways that we can't even imagine. You do the impossible. So, Lord, we pray for this church and for all the churches in our community. It would be my greatest joy to see every one of the churches that preach the truth here in this area be completely filled to the point that we have no ability to contain the people that come in. I'm not in this just to see this church be the only church that's growing. I want to see Emanuel Faith grow, Maranatha Chapel, and North Coast Church.

I know all the pastors of these churches, and they're good men who love you and want to see you move. They might do things a little bit differently, but Lord, I pray that you'd move. We know that our only hope is in you. We praise you, Jesus. Do work in our hearts, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.

It was Jesus on the night that he was...

Betrayed as He was gathered with His disciples, He took bread, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, "Take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Let's partake together. Amen.

Lord, we thank You for Your body that was broken for us. Jesus, You who knew no sin became sin for us in righteousness. Our only hope is in You. The book of Hebrews says that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.

In the same way, after they had eaten, Jesus took the cup and said, "This is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." Let's partake together. Amen.

Just before Jesus ascended into heaven after His resurrection, He was with His disciples. Acts chapter 1 records that He said to them, "Being assembled together with them, Jesus commanded His disciples that they not depart from Jerusalem, but that they wait for the promise of the Father, which He said, 'You have heard from me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.'"

He had given them a commission to go and preach the gospel, and He said, "But before you go, you're going to need the Spirit of God. So wait until you receive the promise."

And here's the thing that has amazed me for so many years: Jesus says, "Wait for the promise of the Spirit," and their response is this.

They then asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?" What were they focused on? They were distracted by the end times. It's nothing new. I love Calvary Chapel, but we've been distracted by the end times for a long time.

Some people have wondered why I don't ever do prophecy updates or talk about the rapture. I think it's just a total distraction. Jesus gave us a commission, a mission to go do, and we get so distracted by prophecy updates and all these sorts of things. Do I not believe in the second coming of Jesus? I believe in the second coming of Jesus. And you know what He said? "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in His own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Stop being distracted. You have a mission, and I'm giving you the empowering grace of the Holy Spirit to go and do that. Acts chapter 2 is the story where God poured out upon them, and ever since that point, the church has been going out to carry the gospel. May God do it again. May He pour out again.

I want to show you a video from Asbury. My friend Greg Gordon has been posting these on Twitter. Do you want to show the first video we have there? "Are You Lord? In our lungs, so we pour out our grace." Good call. There are a lot of people from all over the country going there, and I think that's perfectly fine and good, because hopefully whatever they see, they take back to their churches. May God do a great work.

Show that last video from outside. You don't have to play the audio. This was from two days ago, I believe. Outside, people were waiting hours to go into the group.

I don't know what God is doing. Is it genuine? I sure hope so. Look for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. That's what we will see, and that's what our culture needs to see from the church: joy, peace, self-control, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and love. They shall know that you are my followers by the love that you have for one another. Jesus loved the people we hate. Ouch.

May the Lord bless and keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

If you need prayer today, some of our prayer team leaders will be here to pray with and for you. If you have some questions for me, I'll stick around for a while. If you are so inclined, we'll be here tonight at six o'clock to pray and worship. I'm not trying to manufacture anything; I just simply believe that God wants us to respond to Him. God bless you guys. We'll see you next Sunday or tonight.