More Than You Can See

Who's glad to be in church today?

I'm glad to be here with you.

The NFL is in season, and the Seahawks won their first game.

That's all I have to say.

And they're going to win their second one today.

We'll just get back into the Word, though.

So, hey, today is a great day.

If you were here at the beginning of the service, my wife mentioned one of the reasons why it's great.

Of course, we celebrated water baptisms.

Congratulations to every one of you who went down in water baptism in obedience and following Jesus in that act of faith scripturally.

But we are one church in multiple locations.

We have our Department of Corrections campus.

We have our online campus.

And we also have our Pendleton campus that meets every week at a Pendleton High School meeting.

in Pendleton, Oregon, but today, it's Roundup weekend over there, and so many of them are either busy and doing things, and so what we do is we, one weekend a year, we say, how about y'all who aren't busy with the Pendleton Roundup, come on over and be a part of us, and so if you're a part of the Pendleton campus normally, would you stand up right now?

Just stand up, our Pendleton campus people.

Look at that!

Come on now!

Welcome home!

Love you guys.

You guys are doing such an incredible, incredible work of the Lord over there.

We rejoice all the time of what God is doing.

Well, today, I get the great opportunity to continue in our series that we are titling, There Is More, as we continue through the book of Acts, verse by verse and chapter by

by chapter, you may wonder why would we do something like that?

We believe it takes the whole Bible to make a whole Christian.

And there's things in here where I might just miss, I might just skip it and not preach it.

Now I'm forced to preach it, figure it out, find out what God wants to emphasize through that.

I've been having the time of my life, I hope that you are learning and growing as well.

Even though I've read the book of Acts dozens of times, I'm drawing down truths that I'm super excited to be able to share with you as well.

Y'all been enjoying the series, there is more.

Good, because there's more.

It's going to be about a year long that we're going to be going through this.

We got a question as we get started today.

Have you ever wondered really what's going on behind the scenes?

I do.

You know, like movie sets have an entire world happening behind the scenes, what you don't see on the screen.

There's cameras and directors and props and lighting and people moving around and people changing costumes and dozens of people doing things that we never see on the screen.

But then I begin to wonder other things.

I think,

What's really going on behind the scenes in our government?

And I'm not sure I really want to know, but I do wonder.

And every now and then I put on my tinfoil hat with the best of you, and I wonder, what about UFOs?

Come on, I want to know what's going on behind the scenes.

There has to be more than what we know or what...

we can see.

And sometimes life feels that way.

Something happens at work.

Something happens in your finances.

Something happens in your family.

And you begin to wonder, there's got to be more going on than what I see.

Why all these layoffs right now when everything last I saw, companies seem to be doing good.

There's got to be more going on than what I can see.

That's exactly what we find in Acts chapter 12.

where we're picking up the story today.

There is more going on behind the scenes.

Peter's in prison.

He's chained between two soldiers.

There are guards outside the prison.

Herod's already killed James.

And Peter is waiting for what appears to be the same fate.

From Peter's perspective, things don't look good.

But Peter couldn't see everything that was happening.

Because while Peter was in prison...

The church was praying.

While the church was praying, God was working.

And while God was working, an angel was on the way.

There was more going on than Peter could see.

So let's check out these verses today and see what God has to teach us.

Let's stand up for the reading of God's word.

Acts chapter 12, verses 5 through 11.

But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.

The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers.

Others stood guard at the prison gate.

Suddenly, say suddenly.

Suddenly.

Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell.

How cool is this?

And an angel of the Lord stood before Peter.

I don't know about you, but, man, I would have woke up right there.

Like, man, what's going on?

The angel of the Lord strikes him on the side to awaken him and says, quick.

Get up.

And the chains fell off his wrists.

Then the angel told him, get dressed and put on your sandals.

And he did.

Now put on your coat and follow me, the angel ordered.

So Peter left the cell following the angel.

But all the time, he thought he was seeing a vision.

Now look at this.

He didn't realize it was actually happening.

He didn't realize there was more going on.

that he could see.

He didn't realize it was actually happening.

They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate leading to the city.

And this opened for them all by itself.

How many of you know it didn't open all by itself?

God had a little something to do with that.

So they passed through and started walking down the street, and then the angel suddenly left him.

Peter finally came to his senses.

It's really true, he said.

The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me.

Today I want to talk on this subject more than you can see.

Tell three people more than you can see, and you may be seated.

Thank you.

There's more than you can see.

I want to sum up my entire sermon in one sentence.

I wanna say, here's the big idea for everything I wanna say today, and it's this.

There is more going on than you and I can see.

So trust the unseen, pray with passion, and obey what God tells you to do.

Let me say it again.

This is my sermon in a nutshell.

There's more going on than you can see, so trust the unseen.

Pray with passion and obey what God tells you to do.

There's a couple of truths I want to draw from these verses of Scripture that we just read.

And then I want to give you three takeaways that we can apply to our life so that we can begin to live what the Bible is teaching us through these verses.

Number one thing I want you to see about there's more than you can see is this.

It's this.

Angels are real.

Angels are real.

You may not see them, but there's more than you can see going on.

Culture is filled with myths concerning angels.

Angels are often portrayed as cute, winged toddlers wearing diapers and floating around on pink clouds playing miniature harps.

not what the Bible teaches.

Or we imagine that when a good person dies, they somehow automatically grow their wings, get a halo, and become an angel watching over their family, think it's a wonderful life.

I am grateful that that is not true.

I don't want grandma watching over every part of my life.

Thankfully, it's not what the Bible teaches.

Yes.

Humans don't become angels when they die.

Angels are God's created servants, and they are distinct from human beings.

The only reliable place to learn and understand the role of angels is the Bible.

Angels are real, supernatural beings created by God and for God's purposes.

And the book of Acts gives us several examples.

Angels are mentioned 20 times in the book of Acts covering six distinct physical or visionary appearances in the book of Acts alone.

This is what the Bible teaches us.

Angels, they worship God.

They deliver messages from God.

They give direction from God, and they sometimes carry out God's judgment.

Angels, do not take orders from you and I.

Angels take orders from God, and they make sure that they obey whatever he says.

In Scripture, angels are terrifying, fierce warriors.

Whenever an angel appears in the Bible, the very first thing the angel has to say is, don't be afraid.

You know why?

Because the people who are seeing them are petrified with fear by what they are seeing.

Yet the Bible also teaches this, that angels can take on the form of a human being and disguise themselves among us without us even knowing it.

Poof!

Read the book of Hebrews.

That blows my mind.

My dad and I went fishing on the Columbia River in my late teens, early 20s.

We went down onto the Columbia River in Wallula, Washington.

Is Wallula an actual town?

I don't know.

But anyway, that's where it was.

Halfway to the way from Walla Walla to the Tri-Cities.

We went down this bank, crossed the railroad tracks, and started to fish.

When we were done fishing, we had to come back up, cross a railroad track, go up and over a rock hill to get to the truck.

When we turned around to come, we come up to the railroad tracks and we saw this gentleman walking down the railroad tracks, almost just meeting us exactly at our point of contact on the railroad track.

He had this perfect little stick that looked brand new hanging over his shoulder.

On the end of it, it looked like a brand new red bandana tied at the end of it.

He was the picture perfect, looked like a caricature of a turn of the century man

Hobo.

He walks on by, looked like a nice gentleman.

We didn't say anything.

No one said a word.

We crossed the railroad tracks, went up and over the hill.

My dad and I looked at one another and said,

I think we were supposed to talk to that man.

We both said the same thing at the same time.

It's like, I think we were too.

I turn around to go look back over where you could see the railroad tracks for miles.

No man to be seen.

And I sometimes wonder, what would that gentleman have had to say to us that day?

Angels are not the gospel though.

Jesus is.

Angels aren't the object of our worship.

They point us toward the one who is worthy of our worship.

And it's important, whenever we talk about the supernatural, we have to keep Jesus at the center.

The Bible does not introduce us to angels to make us fascinated with angels.

It introduces us to a God who is working behind the scenes and letting us know there's more going on than you can see.

Angels are real.

There's more going on.

These are a couple of truths I want us to draw from this passage.

Angels are real, and there's more going on than you can see.

Now, Peter is asleep in a prison cell.

Think about it.

He's chained between two soldiers waiting for trial, probably expecting to die, and yet he's fast asleep.

I don't know about you, but I'm not sure how well I would sleep that night knowing what awaits me in the morning.

Peter's sleeping.

Why?

Because true rest isn't found in comfortable circumstances.

True rest is found in trust in God.

So Peter must have trusted God and must have known there's more going on than he could see.

Peter couldn't see the answer yet.

He couldn't believe he was seeing an angel.

He couldn't see how God was going to get him out.

How many of you realize you're in situations sometimes too where you're like, I don't know how I'm going to get out of this.

But God was already working.

And that's something that God wants us to remember today.

Your inability to see what God is doing is not evidence that God isn't doing anything.

Allow me to repeat myself.

Our inability to see what God is doing is not evidence that God is not doing anything.

You may not see it, but that doesn't mean God isn't working.

You may look at your circumstances and you see a dead end.

And God goes, I see a doorway.

You may see chains, but God may already be preparing your freedom.

I want to show you a story in the Old Testament.

Where somebody could see more that was going on, and somebody couldn't.

And then God opened the eyes of this guy that was a servant of a great prophet, Elijah.

And he got to see for a moment that there actually is more going on than we can see.

Check it out.

They're surrounded by an enemy army in the natural.

Look at the story.

When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning,

And when outside, there were troops, horses, chariots everywhere.

Oh, sir, what will we do now?

The young man cried to Elijah.

Here's Elijah's response.

Don't be afraid.

Go ahead and tell your neighbor, don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid, Elijah told him.

For there are more on our side than on theirs.

There are more on our side than on theirs.

The last time I checked,

It was only a third of heaven's angels that fell, which means there's two thirds that didn't.

And by the way, God's a whole lot stronger than the devil.

There are more on our side than on theirs.

Then Elijah prayed, oh Lord, open his eyes and let him see.

Now this is one of my prayers for us as a congregation this week.

is that God would open our spiritual eyes to see what God is doing rather than an emphasis on everything the devil is doing in your life.

Oh, Lord, open his eyes and let him see.

The Lord opened the young man's eyes.

And when he looked up, when he looked up,

Do you see a principle?

You gotta look up.

When he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elijah was filled with horses and chariots.

By the way, not just normal ones.

These ones were filled with horses and chariots of fire.

I love the Bible.

The servant's problem wasn't that God wasn't there.

His problem was he couldn't see that there was more going on than what he could see with the natural.

Has God ever opened your eyes at moments and let you know there's more going on than you can see?

There have been times in my life that I have been absolutely aware of the presence of heaven in the room.

I've been aware of the Holy Spirit's presence.

I have been aware of the presence of angels.

I do not know how I know.

I cannot describe it to you.

I just know.

I just know angels are here.

I had always grown up believing in God.

And my mom and I were talking about this this week.

I'm thankful for babysitters.

A babysitter, back when I was really young, had asked my mom.

She was a Christian.

She said, can I share the gospel with your sons?

And she did.

And I don't even remember praying that prayer.

But I think God took it serious.

He's like, all right, I got you.

You don't even know what you just prayed, but you said yes.

And I said, that's it.

I'm going to take care of it.

So at 12 years old, I'd always believed in God.

Now, even before I was born again, I just always just believed that God existed.

But one day when I was 12, I woke up and my faith was gone.

I didn't know why it was gone.

Nothing that had necessarily transpired the night before or the day before.

It wasn't conversations that people were having with me and challenging my faith.

It was nothing like that.

It just woke up and I felt like the foundation of my life disappeared.

It was like everything I had stood my life on felt like it was gone.

I remember I must have talked to my mom about it because she set an appointment right away with an assembly of God pastor who was very strategic in the discipleship of my mom and also the salvation of our father.

So she set up an appointment, went over to his house.

And I remember he left my mom in the living room and he took me into his study.

When he took me into his study, shut the door behind.

I do not remember what he said to me, but I will forever remember what I sensed when he prayed.

The moment he prayed, my faith was instantaneously restored.

Whatever the battle was, this 12-year-old boy was like, I don't know if God exists.

It was immediate, and it was stronger than it had ever been before, and there's something I knew.

I don't know why I knew it.

I knew there were angels in that man's office.

I go, there are angels in this room.

You can't talk me out of it.

Someday I'm going to meet them.

I'm going to go, you were there when I was 12.

Yes, I was.

And I was there when you were an idiot at 18 too, and I was there.

So there's times when God will open our spiritual eyes and let us know things that you just don't know how to describe.

You don't know how to tell somebody.

You just go, I just know it.

There's been services that I have been in with you that I have known angels are worshiping with us.

Doesn't happen all the time.

And I'm not saying they're not here all the time.

There's just, I don't know it all the time.

But there have been moments, probably a handful, that I go, angels are in this room.

And I think if we listen close enough, you'd be hearing some harmony parts from them singing with us.

It's that real to me.

Anybody know what I'm talking about?

Don't leave me up here like a crazy man.

Thank you.

All right.

I want to give you three takeaways from these truths.

That angels are real.

There's more than you can see.

Okay, here we go.

Here they are.

I want to give you three takeaways from this passage of scripture that we can apply to our life.

And it's this.

Number one is this.

We have to learn to trust the unseen more than the seen.

At some point in everyone's walk with Jesus, you will need to trust what you cannot see more than what you can.

It's a part of everyone's spiritual journey.

Now, I trust I have a heart beating on the inside of my chest right now.

I've never seen it.

But they've told me it's in all of us.

And they say, if it stops beating, you're done.

So I've never seen it, but I believe it.

But here's the thing for a Christian.

I believe it, therefore I see it.

The Holy Spirit is not seen with your natural eyes, but his handiwork is.

We just listened to testimonies in both services today about somebody's life being radically changed from the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is the handiwork of the Holy Spirit.

I can't see him, but I can see his work.

You cannot see the wind, but you can see the effects of the wind.

Paul the apostle wrote to the Corinthians.

He says, we walk by faith, not by sight.

Faith doesn't mean pretending that the prison isn't real.

Peter wasn't in the prison going, I'm not chained.

I'm not chained.

This is not a prison.

I'm not in a prison.

No, that's foolishness.

He didn't do that.

But faith means knowing that the prison isn't all there is.

So Peter's fast asleep, having a great night's sleep.

And the angel has to strike him on the side to awaken him.

Peter was trusting in the unseen more than what he could see.

Now, there is no detour.

I don't care who you are and a follower of Jesus.

There is no detour for any believer at this part of your journey of faith with Jesus.

At some point, he will bring you to a place where you cannot see the outcome, but you must trust the one who does.

Peter's in prison, but the church is praying for him.

The church doesn't see Peter out of prison yet.

They don't see how this is even possible.

But they keep praying, trusting in the unseen more.

Now here's an important part of this story that we should not miss.

Peter gets out, but James was martyred already.

When things don't turn out the way we want them, guess what you do?

You trust in the unseen more than the seen.

And when you do, when you trust in the unseen more than the seen, you will pray with passion.

Remember, God can do what we cannot.

Look at Peter's situation again.

He can't break the chains.

He can't do it.

He can't get past the guards.

He can't open the iron gate.

He cannot rescue himself.

And then God intervenes.

The angel comes into the prison.

A bright light.

Chains fall off.

The guards do not stop him.

The gates open.

Peter walks out.

And there are some things in your life that you simply cannot do in your own strength.

And God designs it that way.

And sometimes God allows us to get to the place where we realize,

I can't do this.

Because that's where we discover God can.

When I'm weak, then he is strong.

The church could not physically get Peter out of prison, but they could pray with passion.

And while they prayed, God moved.

Peter was in prison.

The church prayed very earnestly for him.

Church, never underestimate what God can do when his people are praying with passion.

Peter was sleeping.

The church was praying.

And this is an important call for all of us in the church.

This is something that shows, this verse shows me something.

This home group that was praying for Peter, they knew Peter by name and they knew his situation and they lifted him up by name.

Every Christian's name is supposed to be known by another Christian's name.

By another Christian.

Everybody, in order to fulfill the plan and purpose of God in your life, needs someone else to also pray for them.

The church knew Peter.

They're praying for Peter.

They're interceding for Peter.

They're praying in this home group for Peter in their home.

Come on.

Come on, Jesus.

Move on Peter's behalf.

That's why we have Life Group Sunday like this.

I love Rose.

I preach to Rose.

This is what I do with my life.

I preach to Rose.

But you know what?

I also live in circles.

And circles are just as important as rows.

Circles are where you look across the circle, somebody else's name, you know their name.

You know their story.

They know your name.

They know your story.

So that when you're in a tough situation, where you're in a situation where you cannot see your way out, they will pray for you.

you.

And when they're in a situation and they cannot see their way out, you will pray for them in order to fulfill everything God has in your life.

It's not about just you praying and fasting for 21 days, reading your Bible for an hour a day.

You need someone else to pray for you.

And it makes me wonder, would we even know the rest of Peter's story that happened?

Would we have the book of 1 and 2 Peter if that church did not pray?

I don't know.

I don't know.

All I know is this.

God has chosen to move on earth in response to his church prayers.

I believe with all my heart that when we get on our knees and we pray and it looks like I'm doing nothing right now.

I'm not training my children, even though you are.

I'm not going to work right now.

I'm not doing a hobby.

I'm not reading.

I am on my knees in prayer.

I believe with everything in me that when we do this,

Heaven moves.

Something happens.

I get pictures in my mind.

I just see it.

I'm like, I get down on my knees before God in the morning, and I'm like, I start praying.

I pray for you.

I pray for the church.

I pray for my family.

I pray for situations.

Pray for my brother.

There's something in me that I just start seeing activity.

I'm like, I don't know.

Maybe I'm just a little bit crazy, but I'm okay with it if you are.

Actually, I'm okay with it even if you're not.

But I just...

I think heaven waits for people to wait.

And when they pray, heaven goes, time to dispatch some angels.

Time to get, and it's like, all of a sudden, the father, Jesus goes, okay, move that angel, get that angel, send him over there, go to the prison cell, shine a bright light, keep those people asleep, get those guards so they go into a deep sleep, wake in Peter, get him out.

All this stuff, I just, there have been moments when I've been praying on my knees, I am sure an angel has touched my back.

I'm not saying I feel it.

Something shifts just like that, and I go, I'm like,

I just, I don't know why I feel so stinking encouraged right now.

I was just, all of a sudden, the Bible says this, that angels ministered to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

What does that mean?

I don't know, but I feel like I felt it at times.

Where it's like, anybody crazy with your pastor today?

Just like, you believe that God hears your prayers.

He does.

Heaven responds when we stop

But if we're just busy little beasts, I'm going to do something for God today.

And I'm not going to stop and pray or read my Bible or do anything.

I'm just going to do it in my own strength.

Heaven waits.

Heaven stops.

When you stop, heaven moves.

When you move, heaven stops.

If you're like relying on your own strength, your own wisdom, your own gifting, heaven goes, all right, good luck.

I have seen things with my natural eyes that are supernatural.

But what I have seen in faith inside has been far stronger than the things I've literally seen, supernatural things with my eyes.

I've seen it, but it didn't move me.

It was like, okay, that was cool.

Move on.

But the stuff I sense a lot just in here that I never see, I go, that moved me.

Y'all know what I'm talking about?

You got to trust at some point in the unseen more than the seen.

And when you do, you'll pray with passion.

You'll go, God's going to move on behalf of my prayers.

I know it's just little old me, little Hicktown, Walla Walla, Washington, even more Hicktown, Pendleton, Oregon.

Come on, somebody.

Or up on Tollgate Mountain.

You're a little bit closer to the Lord because you're a little elevation.

Lord, help Jason pray for me today.

He's up there closer to you.

But I just believe it.

I just believe it.

I just believe that when we pray, our simple, non-King James, I just, oh, thee thou, heavenly, this, thou, this.

No, no, no.

Just God Almighty.

God, you talk to Moses.

You talk to Isaiah.

You talk to Ezekiel and Jeremiah.

Don't tell me any of the things you told them.

I don't want to do any of that stuff.

Cook your food on your side naked off dung.

And it's like, dear Lord, I don't want to hear any of the instructions you told them.

Prophets of old.

But Joshua, David in battle, a lion and a bear, supernatural anointing of God.

The same God who parted waters.

The same God who healed boys.

That a prophet had made a woman pregnant and was like, okay, the Lord's going to answer your heart's crying.

You're going to have a baby this time next year.

And then that baby dies when he's a young boy.

And then he raises him from the dead.

The same God that heard Elijah.

The same God that heard King David.

The same God that heard Paul and Peter in the church, in the early church, in the book of Acts.

is the same God that you and I pray to today.

He still hears our prayers.

We honor the name of Jesus in this place.

Oh, church, as long as I'm the lead pastor here, we will pray.

We will seek the face of God.

We will pray together.

That's why we have something called First Wednesday.

On First Wednesday of every month, we gather the youth together.

We gather every dream teamer together.

Everyone who serves on Sunday.

We gather all of our life group leaders.

We come into this room.

What are we going to do?

We're going to worship.

We're going to pray.

And we're getting an impartation from the word of God.

We will always pray as long as I have any say in this church.

Because I'm absolutely convinced I don't care how gifted you are.

I don't care how anointed you are without wore out knees saying, God, if you don't come through, we're toast.

We need God.

Last but not least out of this is I got to learn to obey the leading of the Lord.

Look at this.

Look what the angel said.

Quick, get up.

Just ordered him.

Quick, get up.

Now, if you want to go down rabbit trails like your pastor does at times when you just stare at verses, I just go, why?

Why are we in a hurry?

Why are we in a hurry?

And a couple of rabbit trails I went down.

This is almost like post-sermon discussion.

I know it's in the middle of the sermon, but I'm just throwing some stuff out.

Like I think, okay, angels want to obey God.

And they're like, I got a job to do, so quick, get up.

Quit wasting my time.

The second thing I think about is I go, I don't know what kind of spiritual warfare is going on and how many angels are keeping other angels away, demonic ones, from waking up the guards.

And they're like, listen, we only got so much time.

There's warfare going on on the outside.

That's the kind of stuff my mind goes down.

That was free.

Here we go.

Why don't you think of some others and share with me?

It'll be kind of fun.

Quick, get up.

And the angel, chains fell off his wrist.

Then the angel told him, get dressed, put on your sandals.

And he did it.

And then he goes, all right, now put on your coat and follow me.

He's like, just order, order, order, command, command, command.

Here's what I want you to see.

Peter's chains fell off, but Peter still had to get up.

The gate opened, but Peter had to walk through it.

God made a way, but Peter still had to follow.

And I wonder how many times we ask God to do something miraculous when God is just waiting for us to simply obey what he's already told us.

Some of you have not been able to get free and stay free because you're too slow to respond to God.

Quick, get up.

Well, I was having a really great dream right there and

I mean, I just, could we wait until the morning?

I mean, they got some pretty good meals in here.

I'd like to eat one more time before I leave.

Talk to these guards a little bit more.

Just getting to know them before I fell asleep.

And you rationalize when God says, forgive them.

You go, they don't deserve it.

And you wonder why you're not free.

God says, I want you to get up 15 minutes early.

I want you to spend time in prayer and the reading of the Bible before you go to work.

I don't have time.

Look at how busy my schedule is.

The Lord's like, okay, then you will react your whole life rather than respond.

Because you will walk in the flesh rather than walking in the spirit.

And the Lord is telling us to do some stuff and our lives would turn around and we would get free and stay free when we would quickly get up.

That addiction no longer has power over your life.

Get up.

The Lord's been dealing with you and saying, Harry, I want you to, you're a brother, I want you to find another brother and I want you to confess that issue, that sin with them and you'll pray for one another, you'll be healed.

Eh, I don't know if I can really trust another human being with the stuff that's down in there.

The Lord's like, okay, so you're smarter than me?

Because I put it in the Bible so you could get free and stay free.

Woo!

God starts talking to you about prioritizing your spiritual life over everything else.

He goes, I want you to start prioritizing first Wednesdays.

I want you here.

I want you to pray.

I want you to start prioritizing a life group.

I want you to be in one every week.

I want you to start prioritizing Sunday morning.

You're going to get in church and you're going to be here.

Yeah, but I got a pretty good golf game.

He's like, yeah, you're going to have it on Sunday afternoon and not Sunday morning anymore.

He's like, yeah, but it's hotter then.

Good.

That's fine.

Get a suntan.

Sweat.

You'll lose some weight.

It'll be good for you.

We rationalize.

And we give excuses.

And God's like, I know exactly what you need.

God opens the door.

We have to walk through it.

Freedom's found when we quickly obey.

My whole sermon, here it is, and I'm done.

This is what I've told you.

You may not see it.

Trust God.

You may not be able to change it.

Pray.

You may not understand it.

Obey.

Obey.

Because there is more going on than you can see.

I want to pray.

And I want to ask, like Elijah did his servant, that the Lord would help us see there's more on our side than are against us.

Will you bow your heads?

Let's pray together.

Holy Spirit, I thank you for your anointing in this room.

I thank you for new sight.

We walk by faith, not by sight.

Flood this place with your presence.

Every home, every marriage, every miracle need, where the enemy has magnified the mountain, right now, put your hand under the chin of every follower of yours and help them look up.

them to look up open their eyes there's more for you than are against you God we can't do it we can't break the chains we can't open an iron gate we can't set ourselves free but you can

So right now, we lift up every miracle need before you, every mountain that has tried to get our attention off of your greatness.

We lift it all before you, and it pales in comparison to your greatness.

How amazing you are.

Open our eyes.

Dear Lord, flood people with hope.

Flood people with faith.

Flood people with courage.

Flood the church with trust.

We trust you.

I can't see it yet, but I trust you.

Would you stand with me?

Let's all in this room just stand with me.

If you can, physically stand.

Spirit of the living God,

Spirit of the living God, we worship the name of Jesus.

We worship you.

We worship you.

God can do what we cannot.

God can do what we cannot.

Here's what we're going to do.

30 seconds.

I want you to say to the Lord something great about himself.

I want you to let your own ears hear your voice say something of praise to God.

You are almighty.

You are from everlasting to everlasting.

Join me as I continue.

Father, I thank you that you are eternal.

I thank you that you are so much greater.

That you are not a man that you should lie.

You are God Almighty.

Sovereign King of the universe.

Thank you, Almighty God.

We honor you.

We worship you in this place.

We magnify the name of Jesus.

The name of Jesus that is above every other name.

Jesus, we honor you in this place.

We honor you in this place.

God of breakthrough, God of breakthrough, breakthrough in every situation represented in this room.

Fresh of it, fresh faith.

Every head bowed and every eye closed, if you are in the sound of my voice in this room and you are not sure you are right with God, you're pretty sure that you're not,

You are one sincere prayer of repentance away from getting your life right with Jesus.

Jesus himself said you must be born again.

If you're not sure you are that, you're pretty sure you're far away from him.

But I'm not going to call you out in any way or embarrass you in any way, but I do want to know who wants to pray this next.

sincere prayer of repentance to get their life right with Jesus.

I want you to look up at me and wave your hand and catch eyes with me.

Will you do that on the count of three?

One, two, three.

Come on, those of you who say, Bob, I want to pray this prayer with you right now.

Will you lift your hand up high?

Thank you so very much.

Thank you.

Who else is here today?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jesus loves you so very much.

Don't hesitate.

He's working on your heart right now.

There's somebody that the Spirit of God is saying, today's your day.

This is your day of turnaround.

Thank you.

You're it.

You're it.

Yeah.

The Lord was waiting for you.

Come on, church.

Let's help out our friends.

Everybody repeat this prayer after me.

Dear Lord Jesus, I come to you today in need of forgiveness.

Forgive me of all my sins.

Come into my heart.

I want to be born again.

Fill me with your Spirit that I'll live for you.

all the days of my life.

I pray this now in Jesus' name.

Everybody shout amen.

Come on, let's give God praise today.