City Central Church Podcast
A Royal Priesthood
Adam Narciso speaks on giving ourselves to the inner court ministry and keeping the First Commandment first.
I'm excited to give the word of the Lord this evening. You guys excited to worship the Lord this evening? Come on. Well, I'm also pleased to announce that we've had an amazing week here on the home front. I mean, Mark Anderson here last week just given us the goods and then we've had a break through a couple of different campuses get another club started on one of the local high school campuses. Come on. This is a campus where we've seen, I think it's like 80 kids come to the Lord without an official ministry at the campus, it's pretty tight. Come on. And so Pete Williams is heading that team up and Pete and Deborah, they're amazing. And then some of my good friends as well, Shane, Rolly and Elizabeth Pice are plugging away at Keith Lee Middle School and they're dating and so, so sweet, Shane got to preach at the campus live club there this Thursday and there was 16 kids that came to the Lord on campus. Come on. Come on. He said one of the kids that was mocking him the whole afternoon talking about you need to dye your hair and get a haircut, this and that is encounters the love of God for the first time. He's bawling in the library where they did the little outreach and he gives us life to Jesus and they pray him into the kingdom, isn't that amazing? So that is so sweet. So good things happening all the way around. My baby Nina, baby Nina, she's six months old this week, so can you believe that, six months old? And the day after her birthday, I got to, I got to, can I just share something here? So we have Parkland prayer meeting, you know, every week on Wednesday nights out at the Thomas' House, 15 to 30 people come every week, two hours of prayer and worship and it's amazing time. I said, "Hey babe, I can't, I can't leave this and I got to be with the Lord, I got to stay home." I called Amber, Amber and Jenny were going to tag team on the gig, you know, and so, so I'm spending time with the Lord, which basically meant for a while I turn on the TV, honestly, I turn on the TV for a little while and I start zoning out, you know, and then all of a sudden my phone rings and it's a pastor friend of mine that I love dearly and I pick the phone up and we start talking and he starts conveying, he's going through this terrible, terrible time, you know. So my heart goes out to him, you know, and so I said, "Brother, I'm going to come pick you up right now, we're going to go and get some coffee together." So I get in the truck, drive off, I'm hanging out with him, we're having this deep conversation, you know, just the depths of his soul kind of thing and like two, two hours later I get a phone call and it's Jenny and I had text her, I said, "Hey, I'm going to go to Starbucks with my friend," you know, and et cetera, et cetera. She calls me back, first thing she says, she says, "Well, did Nina wake up?" And did you take her with you? So in that moment, I literally did this. It was like half smile because it was shockingly hilarious and half like, I literally said out loud, "I'm the most terrible father on the planet." And she says frantically, "What?" And she hangs up, hearts beating, I'm thinking surely someone abducted her, surely someone broke, surely Shane or Tyler left the door unlocked. And they just, do you know what I'm saying, like maybe she suffocated in her crib all by herself. She's had two hours alone, you know? So I'm going to evangelist for two hours and so I'm calling her left and right and she's red buttoning me, you know, ignore, ignore button, I'm like, "Oh, I'm going to hell." Bottom line, I'm going to hell. She gets there and she calls me back and Nina's fast asleep, oh praise God. My pastor friends across, he's like, "Oh, it's okay, bro, it's okay." She's like, "Man, you don't even have kids!" Tell me it's okay. So she calls me back and she's laughed, she's like, "Oh, I'm so glad she wasn't crying because she was, I would have been really angry with you." Well, then I come home and you know what my wife told me. She said, "You know what, I'm just glad this happened to you." I said, "Did I hear you correctly? Because that's totally not Christian, you know?" And so I said, "What do you mean by that?" And she said, she said, literally, she said, "Because the next time something bad happens with me and Nina, all I have to do is remind you of this moment and you won't have anything on me. I thought to myself, "That's the most ungodly thing I've ever heard you say in my life." You know, like, love doesn't keep record of wrongs kind of deal. Remember that? Anyway, happy birthday, half birthday Nina, your dad left you at home. Whoa. Anyway, I literally had to share that from the platform because when I came home and Shane was there, I said, "Shane, Jenny, please don't ever make fun of me about this." I'm thinking, "I'll cry, I'll punch you," or something. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, if you know it's a sore subject, you're like, "Please don't ever make, don't ever tell anyone about this until I come through." So I figured if I can just say it from the platform, grace of bounds, come on. Praise God. Thank you, Jesus, for the blood. Thank you, Jesus, for the resurrection power. 'Cause Lord, I know you forgave me when I left my baby girl at home. Oh, man, praise the Lord. I ain't never been to prison, Lord. I used to smoke weed, Lord, forgive me for abandoning my child. Wow, okay. In all seriousness, I do believe I've got the word of the Lord this evening and I'm excited to share. Are you excited to receive? Come on. Okay. We're going to start straight away in first Peter chapter two, first Peter chapter two. I actually want to do it on the screen right now, and so just throw that up there, Jason. Let's read this together, first Peter chapter two, verses four through ten, follow me. As you come to him, the living stone rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus. So, let's go. But you are a chosen people. A royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. This New Testament doctrine, it's the priesthood of all the saints. Raise your hand at me if you are a saint in the house, if your blood blot, resurrection power lives inside of you, you are going to heaven, Jesus forgiven you, given you new life. The New Testament teaches this famous doctrine central to all of Christianity is that when Jesus literally atoned for our sins on the cross, rose from the grave, just demonstrating power over sin and over death, He destroyed the old structure that included priests, men of God who mediated, stood in the gap between sinful man and a holy God. He said that's all being torn apart now because my son killed it, nailed it to the tree. And when Jesus rose from the grave, a new order was established, and that is that anyone who believes on Him, to them that received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God. And if you're a child of God, the Bible also teaches that you are also a priest or a priestess before the Lord created to minister before the Lord. Does that make sense? Now I want to throw that passage back up there, Jason. I want to say something here, is that if you notice, yes, look at verse 9, the Bible says, but you are chosen people, a royal priest, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. That indicates purpose so that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful life. I want you to know something, when Jesus went to the cross, when He died the tormenting death of the hill of Calvary, when He rose from the grave, I want you to hear this. He did not die on the cross. So you would come in, and I would come into a building once or twice a week, sing songs for the goosebumps. Do you know what I'm saying? Go through the motions of church, hear the word, and then criticize every point. How can I apply this to my life? I don't know if that worship ministered to me. He did not suffer the agonizing death of nails in his hands and in his feet, just so that we would write a 10% check from our income and deliver it into the offering bucket each week. Do you see what I'm saying? I guarantee he didn't even go to the cross so that once a month we would raise funds to send all of our young people to Mexico to build a house and to feel bad about being American. And he surely didn't die on the cross, so we would all gather in the gorge, Washington, in 110 degree weather, sitting down, going from stage to stage, dehydrated, sun-burnt, listening for the, do you know what I'm saying, listening to newsboys sing. Do you know what I'm saying? I want you to know that this passage says you are a holy priesthood, a royal priesthood, a holy nation of people belonging God, so that you would declare, say declare, the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. I want you to know something that you're calling in Christ goes far beyond your original design or anything you've ever heard in a prophetic prayer time. But you're ultimate calling in Christ, your original, original design in Jesus is centered around worship, around praise, around that of ministry unto the Lord. In other words, if God was to dial you up right now with the little pad in his hand and say, "Lord, Father, myself, how many ways did you create this person?" One of the first things he would write down is what was already written so that you may declare the praises, you realize you were ordained from the foundations of the universe to operate as a priest or a priest, a priest before God, ministering to him in the inner court, and then moving to the outer court and ministering to mankind. Do you see what I'm saying? This is my introduction here. Tonight, really what I want to understand and identify is there's something about going back into the Old Testament and understanding the Old Testament priesthood. There's something there for us as a mission-based, as a city-central community that if we came into understanding of some key things concerning the priesthood, we would begin to operate more fully in our unique original design before the Lord Jesus. Do you see what I'm saying? This evening, I want to talk to you, kind of a theme would be the great commandment lifestyle, the great commandment lifestyle, the Deuteronomy 6, Matthew 22 verse 37 where Jesus said, "This is the great commandment that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and your strength." He said, "The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself." And even as our brother Jordan said in the training time this afternoon, he said, "It's so interesting that Jesus, the Son of God, ordered the great commandments like that. Love God with all that you are and the secondly, the second priority is love man as you would love yourself." He said, "But so often in teaching, just in church community and what we do is we emphasize the second commandment and we tend to neglect the first commandment. And we tend to view church and worship as that which fills us up so that we can be more effective with the second commandment." Do you know what I'm saying? So we say things like, "Oh, we need a prayer and why so we don't burn out." I'd tell you, we need a prayer room because our original design as New Testament saints is that we're blood bought, resurrection power lives inside and we are created to declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and do you see what I'm saying? We don't need a prayer room simply because we don't want to get burnt out. That's a byproduct. That's going to happen. Praise God for that. But we need it and we need to establish a house of prayer in the city where there's consistent worship and prayer going before the throne because that's our original design as believers. We're going to come back to that, we're going to come back to that. But this evening I want to look at the priesthood of the Old Testament order, the Levitical priesthood and how that relates to our New Testament experience and specifically our experience here in Tacoma at City Central. So Numbers 1 verses 47 through 54, I made slides for y'all. Actually Jason Bradley did. Let's give it up for Jason. So it's like one of those churches where it's like everything's done for you. I'm just playing. So we've got the slide there. So this is the priesthood. Say priesthood. Numbers chapter 1 verses 47 through 54. This is the account where Moses, the Lord instructs Moses to take a census, to number all of the tribes. The Bible says when he came upon the tribe of Levi, this is what occurred. But the Levites were not listed along with them by their ancestral tribe. Or the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "Only the tribe of Levi, you shall not list, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel. But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony," remember the little tent that they pitched. And over, it's all of its furnishings, over everything that belongs to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings and they shall take care of it and shall camp around the tabernacle, verse 51. And the tabernacle is to set out the Levites shall take it down. When the tabernacle is to be pitched, they shall set it up. If any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death. God's holy. Wow. 52, "The people of Israel shall pitch their tents by their companies, each man in his own camp, and each man by his own standard. But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the people of Israel. And the Levites shall keep guard over the tabernacle of the testimony. Thus, the people did the people of Israel. They did according to all the Lord commanded Moses." So the priest, we know right from the very beginning, just from this text alone, not even thinking about Leviticus or any of the other Old Testament texts that tell us about the priesthood, is that God set them apart for very simple purposes. He said, "They are to be the ones that move my tent, that move my house, my house of prayer for the nations, from place to place." Remember when Moses led the people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt and into the wilderness, they were guided by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And the Lord said, "Whenever the cloud goes, you have to take the tent down and walk with it." Makes sense. I'd like to, you know, simple. I can see the cloud. The fire's hot. You just go wherever he goes. And we worship him. Wherever God wants to take us. We did this 40 years. God commanded them to take charge over all the vessels, all the different cups and tables and ornaments in the tabernacle, in the tent. And whenever it moved, they were alone or the ones to touch it. We also know from the Scriptures that they were designed, they were called to be mediators between God and man. In other words, they were to stand before God, a holy God, on behalf of a sinful people. It's that God forgive us, God extend mercy to us, and they offered the sacrifices before the Lord day and night. They offered sacrifices of praise and of worship and of prayer as well. This was the ministry of the priests. Essentially they were employed to do two things, two things and two things alone, two categories. They were employed by God to minister in the inner court, the holy place. That is the ministry that's only unto the Lord. Do you see what I'm saying? Ministry of worship, ministry of prayer, ministry of intercession, serving before God day and night, singing before Him day and night, praying before Him, crying out, offering sacrifices daily and then annually in the holy place. And then their second responsibility in priority, in sequence of priority was that they were to walk into the outer court of the tabernacle area and minister to man and give teaching and lead in song and choruses and lead sacrifices and receive the offerings of the nation. And it's interesting that in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 44 or something like that, God begins to rebuke the priests years later because they had a pattern of neglecting the inner court ministry unto the Lord and spending all of their time in the outer court. Does that sound familiar? They got so caught up with the offerings and the way the music sounded and the setup, oh, the show bread, that goes actually right there, you know, and we can just have this light, like a late, do you know what I'm talking about? And it sounds so church-like, you know, to get so caught up in the presentation of things that we lose the priority of ministry in the inner court. So this is the priest's role, are you following me? So when I'm talking about the priesthood tonight, I'm talking, it's a synonym for like inner court ministry, okay, like ministry unto God, worship, prayer, intercessions, those kinds of things. It also can be a synonym tonight for fulfilling the great commandments, okay, loving God with all of our heart, all of our soul, our mind, and all of our strength. Does that sound good? So I'm using these terms synonymously, thank you Lord for the public school. I know Mark doesn't like it so much, but hey, public school made me who I am today. In Numbers chapter 2, we see God specifically arranging. This is a teaching here. Can you hand a little teaching tonight? Yeah. Okay, I don't want to just preach into frenzy, okay, I want to give you some meat that you can walk away with, and then maybe tickle you into frenzy too, okay? So Numbers chapter 2, God begins to articulate to Moses, and as a result to the whole nation, how he wants his camp set up, and he begins to order the people, and Jason, why don't you put that slide up there, brother? He begins to order the people, and you see this in Numbers chapter 2, it's coming. He says, "I want tribes of Israel in the north, and in the south, and in the east, and in the west," and he specifically places them all around the tabernacle, all around the place where the manifest glory of God dwelt, all around the place of worship and in prayer, and continual offerings unto the Lord. And then he said this, he said, "I want every tribe to not just be placed around the tabernacle." It's the image, Jason, the image we're looking for. There's the tabernacle in the middle, then you have the tribe of Benjamin, Ephraim, Manasseh, God, Reuben, Simeon, et cetera, et cetera, all the way around the tabernacle where the glory of God dwelt, where the place of worship was. And then he said this, and I think it's chapter 1, I don't recall what verse it is, anyway, then he said this, he said, "I want them all to pitch their tents, facing the tabernacle of testimony." So how is that so that every morning when the family would wake up and open the tent doors, go and put the next slide up, brother? Above every other house, above every other tent that was pitched, they would see the place of worship, the dwelling place of God standing before them. And not only that, but they would gaze upon the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night that was resting upon the dwelling place of God, an abiding manifest presence of the glory of God. Every day they stepped out of their tent, they came face to face with the reality that God was present, He was alive, He was supernatural, and He was with them. There's something here. When God orders community, check this out, God's original design for community has to do with a company of believers who are determined to order and to build and to craft their lives around the glory and the presence of God. We like that, we clap for that, but I'm telling you, that's un-American. It's un-American to build your life around anything else other than yourself. Even in the church, do you see what I'm saying? It's un-American to give yourself to consistent, persistent prayer. Is there child care? I have 18 kids, do you know what I'm saying? And they're not used to praying, do you know what I'm saying? It's un-American, but instead what we see is God's wanting to raise up a model where just like in YWAM, just like in KC, is where parents, families are giving themselves in wholehearted devotion to that first place of ministry, the inner court, worshipping the Lord consistently, daily, again and again and again, and kids are at their feet. Coloring, playing their DS, whatever it is, worshipping at times, but learning what it is to obey the great commandment. Do you see what I'm saying? I mean, we're so sunk into American culture that that sounds foreign to us, but Jesus, God was saying, "This is actually the core part of why I called you." So that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous life. You know, all the prayer room is, it's not because we want to be like so and so ministry, we want to do what they do, but what a prayer room does is it helps us, gives us a venue for operating in a way that helps us to fulfill the great commandment. And I'm telling you, if we have a mission base or a community of believers, we build things around recreation, we build things around fellowship, right? We build things around just training alone, but we don't build order our lives around the glory and the presence in that first place of ministry. We're falling short of God's design. Do you know what I'm saying? And you know something. We might not attract many people, but we probably will because we'll have the glory. It's so on American, people will still leave because it'll offend the compromised lifestyle. When God first established a community on the earth, He commanded them, facing the manifest presence, all the way around everything, the whole community life revolved around, centered on the glory and the presence and the ministry unto the Lord. In other words, worship wasn't just the 15 minutes that set up the preacher. It wasn't like, or the 30 minutes that, remember the last song, I really got goosebumps on that one. Thank you, Lord. You do know what I'm saying? But it was that which God commanded, that the whole reason why He called us out of darkness and into His marvelous life, understand that the Bible doesn't say you're a holy priesthood, a royal priesthood, a holy nation of people belonging in God, so that you may preach the gospel in all the world and signs and wonders will follow you out of court. So that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous life. When God was setting this up, you know, let me say this, you know, there's implications for us today. If this is really how God sets up community, we are foolish if we don't obey. We're foolish if we don't throw everything in and say, "That doesn't fit in my lifestyle. We're foolish if we don't sign on." We're foolish if we say, "Well, I don't have any prophetic words about a prayer room, about a worship leader. I'm more of an evangelist. I'm an evangelist, okay? Man, I'm just giving me the microphone any stage, you know, kind of deal, like that kind of burning desire to see souls saved. Understand something. I've aligned myself with the Word of God where I've given myself to that first priority of ministry in the inner court adoring God day and night. That's been the, I'm pursuing that. Amen? All right. So we're still talking about the priesthood. I want to, I want to challenge you now with the blessings of the priesthood. Say blessings. Psalm 103 verses 1 through 6, just go and throw that up there, Jason. Psalm 103, 1 through 6, the Bible says, "Bless the Lord, all my soul, all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Inner court." Right? You see this pattern all throughout the Psalms, inner court ministry. Bless the Lord. With everything that's in me, great commandment, right? All my heart, mind, soul, and strength, love God. Bless the Lord, all my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Say benefits. Say it like benefits. There are blessings and benefits associated with the life of the one who's fully given in a wholehearted way to blessing God with everything they are. And there's so many blessings and God's so serious about those benefits that He's commands us. Forget what those are. And then He goes on and he lists a seven-fold blessing. He's verse 2. He says, "Forget all of his benefits," verse 3, "Forgives all your sin, heals all your diseases, redeems your life from the pit, crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, satisfies you with good that your youth is renewed like the eagles." The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. So He forgives, heals, redeems, crowns us, satisfies us, renews our youth, and works righteousness in us. The blessings of loving God, the benefits of giving ourself in a wholehearted way to God. It's all right there in Psalm 1 and 3, and there's many more. Psalm 96, I love this one, I want to park on this one for a little bit, Psalm 96, the Bible says, "O sing to the Lord a new song, say new song, sing to the Lord all the earth, sing to the Lord bless His name, tell of His salvation day to day, declare among the nations His marvelous works among all the peoples. For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, He's to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens, splendor and majesty are before Him. Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory, do His name, bring an offering and come into His courts, worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness, tremble before Him all the earth, say among the nations the Lord reigns, yes the world is established, it shall never be moved, He will judge the peoples with equity." So there's three things I want to point out from this Psalm. This is more of a teaching flow here. The first thing, and you can write this down if you choose, based on Psalm 96, the first thing we want to receive from this Psalm is that it articulates for us the clear priority of ministry, the clear priority of the priesthood, the clear priority of the kingdom and of the church. And that is this, in verses 1 through 2, the Bible, Psalm 96 clearly speaks of the inner court ministry, sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth, sing to the Lord and bless His name, tell of His salvation from day to day. And then verse 3 clearly articulates the ministry of the outer court, which is the second priority of the priesthood, declare His glory among the nations of angelism. His marvelous works to all the peoples, the great commission, every tribe, every tongue, every nation, every people group. Do you see that? Are you awake? So Psalm 96 clearly articulates for us the priority in the sequence of ministry, first and foremost, a ministry unto God, sing to the Lord a new song. And then secondly, in verse 3, declare among the nations of angelism. These are priorities that God wants to, you know, just graft into our hearts, carve into our hearts. Do you see what I'm saying? And I think He wants to sow these things at the center of our mission. He wants to sow these things into the center of our community, that we would be a people who are fully given to the correct order, the priority of ministry, God, we love you. We worship you, we're so fascinated by you, out of court, declare among the nations, the junior highs, the high schools, the colleges, all over Tacoma, but we don't compromise the order. Okay, we're going to keep going here. The second thing we want to realize is that in this Psalm, the Psalmist carried, you can write this down, the Psalmist carried powerful inner court revelations of God. He carried powerful inner court revelations of God. Verse 6, throw verse 6 up there. The Psalmist said, God's splendor, beauty, and majesty, overwhelming victory are before you. Strength and beauty are in your sanctuary. You probably don't get it yet, but understand what he's saying. He's responding to something God showed him about himself and penning it into the scriptures. He had a revelation of the splendor and the majesty that's before God. That's an inner court revelation. You don't get that kind of thing from a sermon. You don't get that kind of thing hanging out in the outer court. Do you know what I'm saying? He's saying they're before you, God. That means the veil has been removed. You could see they're before you. Then he said, strength and beauty are in your sanctuary, in your holy place. He had a revelation. Let me understand this. One of the blessings, profound blessings of loving God in the great commandant lifestyle is that you begin to cultivate a fountain of revelation, a knowledge of God, and a revelation of what he says about himself. That you could never get spending all your time in the outer court. Revelation is a fruit of divine encounter that only occurs in the inner court place. And the third thing we want to say is this okay, is this okay? This is teaching. Then I'm going to drive home some points. Okay. The third thing is this. These inner court revelations released profound anointing for the work of the ministry. I'm going to say it again. These inner court revelations released profound anointing for the work of the ministry. We see this in verse 7-9, where the Psalmist all of a sudden, based on that revelation, has a call to worship that rises within. He says this, ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord, glory and strength. Can you picture him shouting it out? Describe to the Lord, glory, do his name. Bring an offering, come into his courts, worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. He's calling live a holy life before God, a set-apart life before God. And then he said, tremble before him all the earth. This worship leader, this psalmist, his calling as a worship leader was completely made by the revelation of God he got in verse 6 in the inner court. Splendor and majesty are before him, strength and beauty are in his thinking. He was so overcome by that revelation that all that he could do, all that welded up within him was this radical call to call anyone around him, the families, the peoples. Worship him. He's amazing. Give him the glory, do his name, walk before him in a holy life. Do you see that? Let me tell you something, the greatest worship leaders on the planet today probably are not the best musicians or the people of the greatest vocal talent. Instead, they're the people who have the most significant revelation of who God is in his sanctuary. And that revelation, seated in their heart, explodes within them until they have an anointing and an authority to call a whole room or a whole people or a whole nation, a scribe, glory to him. Praise him. Worship him. Do you see that? Some speaking to aspiring worship leaders in this place who are excited about playing in a prayer room and all the rest, I'm telling you, you need to give yourself in a whole hearted way to the inner court ministry. You'll come out, I guarantee you, with some kind of a voice, some kind of a message, some kind of an unction to call people into true worship. The second thing we see as the fruit of this inner court times is evangelism in the nations. How many of you have excited about? It's evangelism in the nations. Verse 10, the Bible says, "Say among the nations the Lord reigns." Yes, the world is established, it shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity. Say the Lord reigns, that's God is king. He will judge, that's God is judge, critical elements in evangelism. But he's saying, "Say among the nations the Lord reigns." So not only did this revelation of verse six of who God was in the inner court, compelled this psalmist to call people around him to profound worship and praise, but it compelled him to go into the, to say among the nations, "God reigns, he's coming as king, he's coming as judge, he reigns." So I speak now to aspiring evangelists, those who want to be used in leading others into salvation in Jesus. You need to know that you may not need a training program, you may not need a Bible degree, but really your greatest need is that you spend time in inner court ministry connecting with God, having a revelation of who he is in his sanctuary, and then having something cultivate in you that's so compelling and moving that you have to say among the nations, the Lord reigns. You see it, it's a consistent pattern in all the psalms and the scriptures, inner court and outer court ministry. And this is what God's calling us to, establish in this house in a greater way. Sound good? How are we doing? Are we, we're tracking, we're tracking. We got some time here, we're going to worship the Lord, we're going to respond to the Lord after this. Does that sound good and bring a true offering before the Lord? Does that sound good? We're going to give our tithes and our offering to the Lord, we're going to give unto the Lord Jesus as an act of worship, does that sound good? We're going to stay before him, we're going to say, God bring us as you promised to the holy place and let us serve you right now and minister unto you in song. Does that sound good? Okay, check this out. So we see worship and evangelism, all these things in the nations are just fruits, ultimately they're fruit. And they're released on the earth in a profound way, it's only because they're fruit of those who've spent time in the inner court, have a revelation of the splendor, the majesty of God, and as a result are compelled by that revelation to do something. But what I want to say is this, so we talk, I've been talking about the blessings that come and are associated with inner court ministry, but I want to tell you this and I said this a little bit earlier, you know blessings are just a byproduct, but the prime product is the one on the throne. And while it's true that if we give ourselves to an inner court ministry, we heal renew our youth, renew our strength like the youth and all that and we won't burn out in ministry and we'll have fresh bread and revelation to feed the people and all the rest. Now all those things are true and those are benefits and God doesn't want us to forget them. That's just the byproduct. The prime product is the one on the throne. Why do we want to establish consistent prayer and worship in this community? Because he's worthy, because the one on the throne deserves nothing less than everything that we are and can give in. Christianity is real simple, a.w.tozer, one of my favorite authors, he said this, when we look at God, and I'm paraphrasing him, it's kind of like the bonyx paraphrase, you know, when we look at God and understand all that he is, only then can we see all that we are in a sober light and our only logical or reasonable response is that we strive to the end of our days to give everything that is in us back to him. He said all of our frustrations on earth derive from the fact that we in our sin and our flesh are unable to give everything that we are back to him. We want to establish prayer and worship in this house, consistently rising before God's not, I don't care what the style is, I don't care who plays what, but we need to do it because he's worthy. My house should be called a house of prayer for all the nations. Mark Anderson says, or it should not be called my house. You might say I'm not an anon, I'm not one whose God has a grace on me where I can just endlessly fast and pray, and neither am I. I'm an evangelist, preacher, want to do miracles, signs and wonders guy to the bone, do you know what I'm saying? That's me, my heart of hearts, I just want to call to all, yeah, let's do it now, you know? Kind of deal, you don't understand what it's like to be a man, Adam, you only have a six month old, but they're just objections in their valid, I want to sympathize with all those objections, but ultimately what I want to do is I want to call less into obedience, and it only sounds radical because we're so compromised. It only sounds radical because we want to build our lives around ourselves like those around us in our nation do, because our nation is the leading voice for secular humanism and all the planet, and we're more influenced by that than we are by God's original design for community. It only sounds radical because we're so far gone. I'll say this, you know, I just, in the whole full time job deal, you know, in 2007 my wife and I, we stepped into a fire, a trial and pain and suffering for us, which was so difficult. Everything we moved, we resigned from ministry, and we got fired on the way out and suffer different, different kinds of things that were just unjust, do you know what I'm saying? We were divinely isolated, moved back to Parkland at the call of God, and when we did that, it was like, "Oh, hell broke loose." And I'm not, I don't have emotion because of how painful it was, but what I, what happened in that moment of pain was the most amazing year, I mean, where I just be so filled with rage and unforgiveness in my heart, and Lord, well, how could they say that? How could they do that? Does anyone see that we're in pain? Does anyone know that we're lonely? And I just remember, and you got to know the story, you know, broke both legs, Jenny had surgery, I had surgery, it was just a horrific year, friends, not talking to us anymore, you know, young people scattering, you know, and, and I remember going in my office day after day because the pain meter was off the charts, and I didn't know what else to do in a 4-hour prayer, God bless, it didn't work, and the no prophetic prayer time could help me in that moment, do you know what I'm saying? I was brought to the end of myself all the tricks in the bag, nothing worked, God cornered us, and, and he called me, it was like his voice was resounding from the inner court, saying, come and be with me, come and worship me, come and pray your pain out of your heart, and I remember just falling on the floor of my office day after day, and worshiping God, and say, God, I love you, it hurts so bad, but I love you, I know you're here. I'm so confused, but I know you love me, and day after day, giving myself to that kind of ministry, and God met me, and he came, and he visited me day after day, just through the whole year visiting me, day after day, in the place of loneliness, he cornered me, and he took away every out, and I say that because I think there are some in this room. It's like God's just taken every out, and you're burnt out, tired, broke, lonely, angry, full of blame, and God's trying to corner you, to bring you to the inner court place where he is, the only place that true revelation can come forth, and healing, true healing can come forth. Do you know what I'm saying? And many people, when they go through pain, they end up, instead of becoming better, they become bitter, and they're given to bitterness, and we know this, it's 101. But if that's you, and I just, I want to say this, you know, it wasn't planned on this, that's you, you need to realize that God's, it's like he's cutting out all your escapes, and you're banging your head against the wall, and even what you think you've heard from him is not working out. You need to know that he's cornered you, so that you would give yourself to the, the inner court place where he wants to meet with you. I remember, it was in that season that I got a job at LCA, Bob Aspen, hired me, praise the Lord for that man, and got some income, you know, working, first year teaching, foreign language, just, it was crazy, don't have a teaching cert, he hired me, it was a miracle, it was incredible. So those of you who know, even when you have a teaching degree, your first year in teaching, it's like 80 hours a week. So here's me with no degree, how do I do this? Teaching four different classes, Spanish one, two, three, and four, a total of six classes, one of them was a combo class, so four different levels with one prep period, and I started the year in a wheelchair. So I went into those, you know, 70, 80, whatever it was, just get out my desk in pain, my feet up, all the rest, and it was in that season that God had met me, and he had dunked me in the inner court, and I was ruined, I said, God, if you, I don't care if you ever send me back into full-time ministry, because I know the real ministry takes place right here. I said that, I used to think, well, maybe I'll just do this, and I can worship the Lord day after day, and I would think this way. Maybe God just gave me a job so that he could, I could live, and now I can just worship him. I never again thought about preaching on his stage, I'm telling you, honestly, just maybe this is what God's path for me is, why did that happen? He took someone who was so like given to ministry and addicted to ministry and said, I'm going to corner you, and then one revelation of God in the inner court went, oh, my word. That was way better. And I remember when this was turned on, you know, and it was like any moment I had in passing period, I just like go in the corner, walk the halls, and begin praying in the spirit, and worshiping God in his presence would overcome me, and I remember doing all my work as quick as I could, you know, because I had a plan, an hour plan period, I did as fast as I could so that I could shut the blinds and lock the door and just worship God on my face in my room. And I remember when lunch would come, I'd say, I don't want to eat, God, I just want to go on a walk and worship you, I want to spend time in that inner court place. It really happened, and then I'd go home and Jenny tell you, I'd go straight into my office for hours upon hour, and she'd come out, I'd come out, she said, are you going to spend any time with me? And it was just so glorious, God was establishing a whole new lifestyle in me. Do you know what I'm saying? And I think what God's up to in our midst right now is whether you've been cornered or not, it doesn't matter. Is he seeking to establish a whole new order among us? Because right now you hear consistent prayer, prayer meetings, worship, intercession, and all you hear is, oh man, the schedule conflict, oh man, kids to bed, oh man, the cost, oh man, the sacrifice, and that's all you hear. But when you have had one glimpse of his glory in the inner court, I want to tell you this, all those costs seem so insignificant. When your eyes are open to see who he is in a relationship to who you are, you're only correct responses, I must give everything I can for all of my days to love him with all that I am, and I must train my children in this kind of lifestyle. Yeah, I'll say one last thing. I didn't know if I was going to share this as kind of one of those, just Exodus 32, don't turn there, you can write this down on Exodus 32, you see, this is now how the priesthood emerged, how did the Levites get chosen to be priests, you ever wondered that? Good question, wave your hand at me if you're still alive, okay. How did the Levites get chosen, like a whole tribe get chosen to get to do that day and night? Because in my mind, they had the greatest capacity to actually live out the great commandment, because they were paid to do it, and they were commanded by God to do it, and so it's important that we look at their life to see what went on so we can find our identity as the priesthood of the saints. So in Exodus 32, Moses on the mountain, 40 days and nights, he comes down the mountain and right Aaron and her, they chucked all the gold into the fire and out came this calf, right? And they worshiped it. And people are dancing and singing and making sacrifices to this idol that they made, because they thought God killed Moses on the mountain. And in that moment, Moses comes down the mountain with the wrath and the jealousy of God's heart, feeling him, and he says, "Now I'm telling you, whoever wants to stand with the Lord, come and get behind me." Because he made that statement in front of the whole nation, "Whoever really wants to follow God, come and stand behind me, stand with me." And so it was the tribe of Levi that came and stood with Moses. They said, "We will serve the Lord," and so Moses commanded them what God told them. He said, "So then, I tell you, right now, take your sword and go and slay your brother in your companion and your neighbor, referring to those who would not serve the Lord and who would endlessly live in idolatry." So the Bible says that those men went out and at the end of their killing spree, 3,000 men, about 3,000 men had fell. And then Moses said this in Exodus chapter 32, Jason, you can put that up there, I forget what verse it is. He said this. "Today, you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing on you this day." God looked on their loyalty and their willingness to obey even at the measures of just so radical, so violent. He said, "Today," God says, "because you've done this, I've ordained you to serve before the Lord and to worship before me all the days of your life." And then it's interesting to note that Hebrew word, to serve, to worship also can be translated to warfare. Today you've been ordained to warfare before me. Did you know that one of the most powerful, profound aspects of warfare is in our worship? Check this out. In the Old Testament, when God wanted the priesthood of the Levitical priesthood to emerge onto the scene, the thing that preceded it was a violent death, 3,000 fell. In the New Testament, when God wanted to raise up the priesthood of the saints, he violently bruised his son, vengeance on sin, and the priesthood of the saints emerged. Do you see that? In all sanctification is, all restoration is, we apply all these words to it, is that same killing of the flesh and of sin, forsaking it and running unto Jesus. So what you and I have endured here in this house, submitting ourselves to this process of freedom and restoration, it's been a violent daily death, a death to sin, a death to the flesh, a death to the old nature, again and again and again and again. And I think that God is saying, out of that violence, I am emerging a priesthood of saints in this house who will give themselves in a wholehearted way to minister before me in the inner court. And then and only then will they have any kind of voice on the earth before man. Let's just stand. The team wants you to come up here. We're going to pray here and then Daniel and the team is going to lead us in worship, right? Sound good? And we got a half hour before anyone's got to get their kids. Praise the Lord for the children's workers. What I'd like to do right now is that before the Lord we just begin to recognize and thank the Lord for this journey that He's brought us on, so many of you have been with us for a long time, many of you have only been with us for a short time, regardless of how long it's been, how long you've been in the Lord, it's been a journey of daily deaths. And He's given you a grace to die again and it's a good thing. And the reason is so that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light, a violent death out of a violent death, a priesthood emerges. [BLANK_AUDIO]