City Central Church Podcast
Darrin Miller
Darrin Miller speaks on Esau selling his birthright and how we can avoid falling into his error in our own lives.
So I just want to, Matt, Matt's going to grab the lights in a minute, we were a little bit early. Thanks Matt. I just want to start off, I had a couple of jokes and a couple of funny things, but I just feel, I don't know if that's always my style to be able to do. So I just have an urgency in my heart, and I want to be able to communicate that urgency in my heart with you guys. So I'm dispensing of any of that, but I, the one thing that's just sitting right on my heart is that we, we have somehow in, in our midst and we, I just want to always know when I say we, it's me, we, us together, have somehow, we make Christianity too complicated at times. And I know I do this, but if you think about the gospels and you think about the word as we're reading and just seeing the life of Jesus and how simple even his life, but then the life of the early church and how simple it was, and I wonder somehow today how we get so complicated, because it was very simple. And I love like the power of simple words, like, like even in revelations when they overcame the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. And I remember like even looking at, and, and John chapter nine, I love when the man was healed, the boy may was healed, right, and, and they could start questioning like a religion immediately started questioning, well, who is this and how did it happen? And what, what do you know about him and what do you, and it's like after the grilling and all the pressure and everything, the simplicity came back to, I don't know, I was blind and now I see, go ask him. And it's so simple about, he didn't have to have all the answers. He didn't have to have it figured out. And, and somehow along our, the course of our way in Christianity and growing, we've made it way more complicated than the, the simplicity of the Gospel and the Bible, amen. And so tonight I, I have a urgency in my heart to really come after, and I was hit throughout the day saying, you know, this is something that we've heard before, but I'm telling you, this is, I feel like it's, it's consistent is, if we hear it and we're not living it, then it doesn't, we don't know it. And so the urgency is to continue to plead with us that all of us, that friends, like we're together as a body, that we would begin to move into the things that God has called us to move into, amen. And so tonight I'm, we're going to come after the issue of religion. And the issue of the way that religion begins to choke out the truth of the Word of God, it begins to choke out the life that is brought in the Word and it's so easy and we, we come after it, but it's we, all of us, me, we can slip into it if we're not careful. When I was getting out of the army, I had my nose has been broken probably seven, seven times. I kind of lost count. You just keep, don't keep tracking that. So, but I, it had been broken several times and I had trouble breathing out of the right side of my nose. And so I was getting out of the army and I said, it'd be nice. I mean, while I'm still got my insurance and everything with the army that I would get my nose fixed because I don't care what it looks like, but I'd like to be able to breathe. And so, and my wife would appreciate the fact that I snore really loud and that might help a little bit. So I decided to take a step and she knows now that it still didn't help all the way, but it did help a little at the time. The reason I bring out the nose is because one day I was sitting in there and it's kind of funny when you're in a doctor or a dentist appointment and you got to worry when the guy kind of looks and goes, whoa. And then he runs out of the office and he comes back with like four other doctors and he goes, look at that. And he goes, whoa. And then, so they're up inside looking at my nose and it's like an S shape. And they said, wow, I don't know that we've seen it that crunched up inside before. And I said, well, great, I'm glad to entertain you. And so what are you going to do? But the reason I bring up the issue of the nose is that what happens in your nose is there's a lot of cartilage in there and it's going somewhere, trust me. But there's a lot of cartilage in there. And so they said when they would try to fix it and work on put some splints, do all those things inside is that they said the cartilage has memory. And so even though we'll straighten it, over time it will begin to go back the way that it is right now. So we can fix it for a period of time, but because it always kind of remembers that shape that it was broken into, it's going to go back there eventually. So the reason that I bring that up and relating to here is that no matter what we do in the spirit or how we break off religion, there's something that always brings us back and it's called our flesh. And it brings us back to that memory of the comfortable or the other way that maybe it was. Does that make sense? So there's, it's always pulling us back. So we're in a lifelong journey, we're in a lifelong journey of overcoming our flesh and resisting religion because the way that, the way that it works and I never even teaching freedom classes and doing all the things, I never can't, biblically, I don't know how to separate the flesh, the enemy and the world system. They're all working together to keep me away from intimacy with Christ, to keep me away from the mission that God's called me to, it works over time. And whether it's my flesh, whether it's a devil, whether it's the world system, I don't know sometimes, it's confusing, but I know that it's keeping me away from intimacy and the mission that God has given me, amen. And so that's why, so what we're talking about tonight is we're talking about a journey because we've had a message before on saying, well, you know, how to ruin your life by 40, not to be normal, all those things, but we're asking for greater revelation and greater understanding of what it looks like because we can't afford, there's an urgency that says we can't afford to continue to kind of play with the gradual, we can't play with the gradual change when I love Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the I Have a Dream speech. He uses a word like, people don't talk like that anymore, you read the speech or listen to it, it's like so eloquently put together. But he talks about the tranquilizing drug of gradualism because it's not acceptable, so he was talking obviously about the civil rights movement, it's not okay just to graduate get a little better. But I was thinking about that when I heard I shared with a couple guys, but I said, man, isn't that true that we as believers would succumb to that same thing, a tranquilizing drug of gradualism, well I'm getting better, well I'm getting better, but in the process of that we're not allowing the Holy Spirit to come and change us radically that we wouldn't, so it's like the surgery that would change it and they were continually pressing into God to stay that way versus being drawn back to that amen. And so I had a bunch of notes, but I figure I'm just going to allow the Lord to move tonight. And so one of the scriptures of just talking about reminding ourselves of how simple the early church was and how simple the gospel was, is an Acts chapter four. And you can turn with me or you can follow along, I'm going to read, but Acts chapter four, it's like in Acts chapter three Peter and John came and they remember the guy was at the beautiful gate and he was begging and asking for money looked up and they made eye contact, he got excited, he was going to get some money, they said, look I don't have any money, but what I do have in the name of Jesus get up and walk and he was healed, right? So in Acts chapter four they start to get some pushback from religion and here's what just, I want us to get our trail a little bit salted just in the simplicity of the early church. So Acts chapter four, verse eight, because they started to grill him on what happened. Then Peter, verse eight says, then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers and elders of the people, if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple, because religion was questioning why did you do that, how did that happen? If we are being called to account kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead that this man stands before you healed. So simple, they said, if you really want to know, this is what happened. And then he continues on, salvation is found in no one else in verse 12, that there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be stayed, very simple to gospel. I love verse 13, when they saw the courage of Peter and John and realize that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished, and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. So that sounds pretty simple, it doesn't sound very complicated, any big systems needed is very simple, filled with the Holy Spirit. They were simple ordinary men that weren't trained, but they were bold, and that boldness got the attention, but whoa, they really believe what they're saying. Those men are bold, there's no fear in there, and they're directly saying, the Holy Spirit is filled, they're saying it, and then the simplicity of the gospel. He was healed by the miracle, and it was through Jesus Christ, and that's the only way to be saved, period, early church gets started, amen. Somehow it seems like we as the church universal have gotten off track and gotten a lot more complicated to that, amen. So I just wanted to look at the simplicity of that, and so each of us, that was kind of the intro, that was the bonus, as worship, that was put in my heart that we needed to just clear up some things basically to get started and know how simple our mission can be, amen. And we're going to go after tonight that issue of religion, and so the person that we're going to look at biblically and find out just a little bit about, and Sean has some scripture up on the wall, we're going to talk about Esau, and just the simplicity of some of the things that Esau did in Genesis chapter 25, verse 29, there it is, can you guys see that okay? A little bit light. Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in open country, famished. He said to Jacob, quick, let me have some of the red stew on famished. That is why he was also called eat him. Jacob replied, first, sell me your birthright, look I'm about to die, Esau said, what good is a birthright to me? But Jacob said swear to me first, so he sworn oath selling his birthright to Jacob, then Jacob gave Esau some bread, and some lentil stew, he ate and drank, and then he got up and left, and then the last part says, so Esau despised his birthright, say birthright. So Esau despised his birthright, I want to go over to chapter 27 and verse 34, this is all given the background of just what I want to talk about with Esau and some of the characteristics of Esau that we can seek to avoid, so verse 34 and verse 38, because here's the reaction, so after he sold his birthright, then later, Jacob comes and gets a blessing from his father Isaac, and here is Esau's reaction, verse 34, when Esau heard his father's words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, bless me, me too father, okay, and then verse 38 says Esau, so does his father, do you have only one blessing my father, bless me too my father, then Esau wept aloud, and so we see that, so Esau willingly gave up his birthright, sold it, because he was so hungry, so consumed, would be a representation of his flesh, being the fact that he sees with his senses, he didn't understand, he didn't discern and understand that the spiritual birthright and the significance of that birthright that was going to take through his whole life, he didn't understand that, he said look, I'm hungry, I've been out, I need my need fulfilled, I want it fulfilled, I want it now, yeah whatever, give it to me now, here you can have my birthright, bam, and then the last part of that verse says, and Esau despised his birthright, so there was something in there again spiritually, he was not able to see the value of the birthright that he had, because he was the firstborn, so he had a right to that promise and that blessing that was going to come through his father but it was from God, makes sense, so he despised it, so I love looking, I love to go from the Old Testament to the New Testament, so let's look in Hebrews, it's going to be up there on the screen again, but Hebrews chapter 12, because it's talking about Esau again, and I love because it brings clarity, it's almost like an interpretation from what happened, and this is telling us, reading again to the church, to believers, to us today, make every effort, this is verse 14, chapter 12 verse 14, make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy, without holiness no one will see the Lord, without holiness no one will see the Lord, see to it that no one misses the grace of God, and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and to file many, see that no one is sexually immoral or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights to the oldest son, or as the oldest son, afterward as you know when he wanted to inherit this blessing he was rejected, he could bring about no change of mind though he sought the blessing with tears, so that was the NIVI, we got the message to that same verse, but I just before you switch that over Sean, is I just, some of the phrases that popped out at me that I found revelation in opening my eyes is as we looked at the Old Testament, see what happened and then we look over here, this is a powerful, this is powerful scripture on what happened to Esau that day, and then it's a warning to the church, now it's a warning in the New Testament, see to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root, those are two things I want to talk about in a minute, that no bitter root, the grace of God, that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and to file many, see to it that no one is sexually or is godless like Esau, so there was something, the description of that spirit that Esau had when he despised his birthright, in here the writer of Hebrew says Esau was godless for despising his birthright and for rejecting and in selling it so easily, and then the other thing that struck out is when, is afterward as you know when he wanted to inherit this blessing, you know we just read remember when he went back to his dad said dad, me too, what about me, cause at that point he started to understand what he had given up, but it was too late, cause he couldn't bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears, so not even crying, not even it's like in Corinthians when it talks about sorrow that brings repentance and man sorrow, and he was operating in man sorrow and no matter crying and resisting and say yeah but I don't want that to happen and all that doesn't, none of that had any effect on changing a situation. My kids, this is something I teach my kids at home, we talk about you know if you just say sorry even if you say please forgive me but if there's not a heart connection to that and even there's tears because a consequence is coming, either I'm going to lose Samantha and Allie right close by can tell you that this is true, is that even though, so there might be tears because now all of a sudden either I'm missing out on a blessing that I was going to get, or there's a consequence or a punishment that's coming, so tears come, but there's a difference between tears of consequence and tears of real repentance, and they know the difference and I know when we're talking and I know when the point comes when it turns from the consequence or the punishment to real repentance, and so that never happened for Esau, but even with the tears and even with that action, the crying out afterwards, nothing changed, there was no change of mind, amen? So the point being, let's see the way it's written in the message real quick. Work at getting along with each other and with God, otherwise you'll never get so much as a glimpse of God, make sure no one gets left out of God's generosity, keep a sharp eye out for the weeds of bitter discontent, a thistle or two gone to seed can ruin a whole garden in no time, say whole garden in no time. Watch out for the Esau syndrome, trading away God's lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short term appetite. You well know how Esau later regretted that impulsive act and wanted God's blessing, but by then it was too late. Tears are no tears. I love the simplicity of the message and how it brings the clear, tears are no tears, it didn't matter, at that point it wasn't going to change anything. So what does that mean for us? I mean it was nice word, nice understanding, we get a little bit of Esau's story, but what I want us to understand hopefully tonight is that what happened is the flesh Esau saw by his five senses and he, it wasn't about understanding the birthright. And you saw we, city central, sorry pastor, city central, we as a body have a birthright. There's stuff that God has spoken over us as a body that we will come into that he is going to do. We've been hearing over the last few weeks about the three little ends and the way that prayer and restoration and mission are coming together for one of the first times coming together and it's going to usher in what God is going to do around the world and it is amazing to see what is being put into place that God is doing and speaking to hearts around the world. It's not just us, but as Brian and others have been connecting around the world, it's like the same message is being spoken. Get ready, get prepared, get in line, do these things, seek the Lord with all of your heart, be ready, be ready, it's coming, it's coming, get yourself in position. The blessing, the birthright, what God is going to do that we would even get a chance to be a part of that as a body, as individuals that we would get a chance, not because we deserve it, not because we've done anything right, but because of God's grace and because of what He's doing in our midst, but that we would have an opportunity to miss or reject our birthright. And so to me as I was reading and studying and listening I was like wow, that truth sunk into my heart in a way that brought conviction, in a way that brought a fear of God, in a way that brought an understanding and said God I don't want that to happen and I don't want to be at a point where afterwards or something I missed out, now God's grace, we're not talking about salvation, we're talking about God moving in our midst, we're talking about the kingdom being advanced, we're talking about the world being reached with the gospel, we're talking about joining in on what God's doing, I'm not talking about salvation, that's guaranteed, but we're talking about a birthright of bending to walk into what God has for us as individuals and as a body, amen, that we would have the opportunity if we're not careful to miss or to say no or to trade away our birthright by becoming normal, by allowing ourselves to slip back into the tranquilizing drug of religion or gradual change, that we could fit back into that and we could become normal so quickly, amen, that we've got to fight, this is our journey, is to fight for the things that God has been laying out, since I haven't been following my notes I better look back and see that I didn't miss anything, but what we're looking at is I want to, there's one truth that we can't get away from that in the simplicity of where we're going, if we are unwilling as Christians, it's throughout the gospels, if we are unwilling to die to ourselves, if we're unwilling to die to ourselves to be crucified, Galatians 2.20 I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, if we're unwilling fundamentally at our core to die to ourselves, when we want to partially die, or I want to have a knowledge of the cross, or I want to know about the cross, I know some information about the cross, I can tell you the details about the cross, I can tell you the details about Jesus's life that He rose from the dead and I can give you all the facts, but if we're unwilling at our core to be crucified with Christ, then there is no way for us to truly experience full life, to truly experience all that God has for us. And we'd say this is a simple message, we've heard it before, but I'm saying how have we, that's questions we need to ask earnestly, how have I been saying, now what is it that's been happening that's allowing me to not do what God has called me to do, amen? I'm going to give you a couple examples, can I say that one of the things that religion does is it keeps us, I want to make sure there's clarity in this that I said, so no misunderstanding, is that we can continue believing for one another so much that we will endlessly, endlessly discuss and talk and be with somebody and say it's in the name of love that will do that forever and we will never press them to truly change and be different. And I want to share that is not true love, that's not, it's a deception, it's a religious deception that wants us to say endlessly, my job as a person in the church is to endlessly, endlessly, endlessly spend time, that is not true love, that is not true love because I want to love someone and I want to love someone so much that I'd say Jesus wants to fill your life, he wants to be a part of your life, he wants to make you different, he wants to give you that full and complete life that he promises and the way that you're living currently and the way that you're living away from him is not going to get you their brother sister, come with me, let's repent together, let's go after, let's seek the word, let's seek God come, I want to be different, God come, I want to be different, seek the Lord with all of your heart, with all of your soul, seek the Lord and God brings change and transformation and that's real love. Sitting with someone six, seven, eight, ten years later and they're still dealing with the same issues and there's not been really in a desire other than the kind of repentance that brings sorrow for man but does not bring sorrow for repentance, that's not love, religion would say we have to stay in that system and that's been part of what we've been coming out of in the last few months as we've been being awakened and awakened and awakened but that we would not slip back and call that love, amen, that we're breaking out, that we're breaking out, we are not going to be normal, the form is not going to go back to the way it was, by the Holy Spirit, by His mercy, by His guiding us, amen, please Lord help it be. So here's the thing, religion and comfort feed the flesh and so that was Esau's problem, he could only see with his eyes and he gratified that need and that physical need above what he could because he couldn't see in the spirit. So we're asking constantly, God I want to be able to see in the spirit, I want to be able to see and hear what you're doing, God even Jordan and Adam crying out tonight, God we need more revelation, we need revelation of your love, we need revelation of what you're doing in our midst, we need revelation to see what is standing in our way, we need revelation, we need more of you so that we can get those things out of the way so that we could be more intimate with you Lord, that those things wouldn't stand against us, that we don't want to be stiff or rigid, which is what the flesh and religion does and we're constantly and consistently asking and I want to share a few ways of how this plays out because some of us might be going, I don't know, maybe I'm not making the connection for my own personal life because that's what it is, if anybody comes up and says, hey Darren, thanks for your messages, good job, I never want to hear that anymore, I used to want to hear that when I was gratifying my flesh, now is all I want to hear or I want to know is how is your life going to be different, what is God speaking you now today that's going to make you different tomorrow than you are today, what did God speak to you tonight because if we just say that was good, that was good information, well I learned about Esau then nothing happened but we're asking, I'm asking, I prayed today all day long asking, God please come, please we want to have a transformation, something to make us different so that we will not slip back to the same old way, amen, so that's where we're going, there's a difference, I want to keep getting more clarity, I've always looked at looking at Saul and David and I said man because it sure seemed like David did a whole lot more things wrong than Saul did according to the Bible right, it seemed like Saul, if you're looking at again from the flesh, Saul had a lot of things going on, looked good, taller than everybody, great shape, everything looking good on the outside but God wasn't interested in that because God was looking to the heart, like God is looking to the heart of every one of us, it's not about what we do on the outside because the religion says what I do on the outside is what makes it right but God saying I'm concerned about the heart, I'm concerned about the heart, I'm concerned about a heart that is fully sold out for me, I'm concerned not just about the actions but I want to see a heart that is quick to repent, a heart that lives and breathes humility, a heart that says God I don't have all the answers, I need your help, a dependent heart that says I'm dependent upon you God, I can't figure it out, amen? So one of the things is when we get to a point of desperation, it's like when we get to that point where we realize we've come to the end of ourselves and this is one thing I wanted to make sure that we talked about is when we come to the end of ourselves you know that point when circumstances get on us, God's using circumstances to break us because apart from true brokenness there's no way that we want to step on the cross, there's no way that we would want to step into humility so God uses circumstances, he uses people, imperfect people that make mistakes but he uses them in our lives to make us different, amen? So he uses, so here's the thing at that point of desperation there are two things that we can do, maybe there's more, there's two that I came up with that we can do, one of them is we accept that humility and that brokenness and we turn and we say God I repent, I know I've been trying to do it my own way, I can't do it anymore, God, I come to you I'm at the end, Lord help me and the dangerous thing is the second one is that we take that hurt and that desperate circumstance and we begin to blame other people and we begin to blame other, that's what religion begins to do, it starts to put that and I start to look around why I wouldn't have lost that job if it wasn't for him, I mean look at the way they treated me, that wasn't right and you can point to all the lists and you start to get mad and remember how you're looking at the bitter root when you're talking about Hebrews chapter 12, that bitter root, that bitterness all of a sudden starts to take over and the whole garden begins to get in our garden of our lives, even we begin to spoil others and things start to happen and all of a sudden that bitter root takes over because we wouldn't accept brokenness, we wouldn't accept the cross, we wouldn't accept the fact that the road of humility and I want to share that in the last ten years there would be no, there would be no way to have victory that God has given me by His grace in these years if it wouldn't have been from those tough circumstances and some of you have known and heard my story, I worked for Vision where a lot of the guys worked, we started that and got going and I got fired from there and that was hard because I had done things, I was in the arm, I was successful in the army and everything had gone right but I was so hard-headed and unteachable that it took that event that I lashed out in my heart against people until at that point of crying out, literally desperation, crying literally on my bathroom floor when God met me at that time and said it's you and it was, that was a hard moment and there's three of those hard moments that have happened in the last few years that really got my attention, that I look back and say it didn't have to happen that way but it was my hard-headedness that caused it and I began instead of looking out to that guy who did this or this guy who did that, I started to look at myself and begin to embrace by God's grace because I was really ready to call it quits but by God's grace, I was desperate enough to say is that if it was me, Lord, I want to know that so that I can change and by His grace the change began to occur. And some of us are having hard circumstances, some of us are in the midst of it, but God is going to use that in your life to make you new and come out the other side even in the midst when it doesn't feel like it. Religion resists that because pride wants to rise back up and blame but humility, so what is it for me to learn, Lord? Remember when Shimi I was throwing at David and throwing the insults and attacking David? What is it about me, Lord? What is it? David in the Psalms, God, search my heart, search my heart, O God, I want to know, I want to know, I want to know because I don't want to slip back into being normal, I don't want, I want to be close to you, I don't want to be pushed away from your presence. Amen? Everybody doing good? Okay, so one of the couple things I want to just as we're finishing up a little bit is that I want us to understand some real and practical ways because this is something that we, again, we've got to continue to fight in our lives. I don't want to give up my birthright, I don't want to, but I know that God is moving around this world, he is going to accomplish his work with or without City Central in Tacoma, he is going to accomplish his work, he is going to and we collectively as a body, whether it's every one of us in this room or it's a portion of whatever would be, we're seeking the Lord and we want to say yes and I believe everyone in here wants to say yes and we wouldn't be here because I look around and as I was praying for us today and looking in the last couple of days and really seeking, I said, man, there are so many faithful people that have sacrificed, faithful people that have lost friends but have stayed the course and said, no God, I know that you're doing something, faithful people that have given their life in a lot of ways. There are faithful people who have stuck through hard things and experienced that in the last few years but faithful alone is not enough. I don't want to offend anybody but I'd love for the Holy Spirit to move in your hearts. Just being faithful, meaning faithful to stick around and not leave is not enough because God's calling us to greater things, God's calling us to victory, God's calling us to intimacy, God's calling us into the prayer room. So we say how we resisted the prayer room is getting established, are you on board with being established in the prayer room for hours throughout the week because out of prayer and out of intimacy, God has spoken out of that prayer and that intimacy, that passion, that fire, that's what's going to feed what we're doing, prayer, restoration, mission. We had a saying in the army night, I love this saying and I think it relates to tonight because it's admission first and people always and I love that. Think about it more. Now mission, I'm not talking about the little admission as in going out. I'm talking about the mission that the Bible has given us. Love God with all your heart, soul and mind, love others as yourself. Our mission, the great go and make disciples hard, that's our big mission, right? So one of the ways that we do that love God with all our hearts, soul and mind is through the prayer room and intimacy and getting closer to God. We're always, guys we're one and we love one another and as we walk with one another, we care for one another, we look to the right and left and we say, come on, we need you, we need you. Can I pray for you? Are you doing okay? And we're working and walking together. That's how we build community. We don't build community just by sitting around. It never has in new song history and city central. We never have. We don't build community by sitting and looking at each other and just reading the Bible together. We build community by doing and loving and praying for each other and fellowshiping and growing. So intimacy, the prayer room being established. Maybe we've said no in the areas of evangelism or impact teams or getting out and evolve. So intimacy in prayer rooms is one of our priorities right now. Being able to go out into the community and reach others here in the city is one of our priorities in the colleges and the junior highs in the middle schools and the high schools. With kids we're going out and that doesn't mean I want this to be clear. It doesn't mean you have to be the youth evangelist. But if I had an ideal team at a school four or five of them would be prayer warriors. They would be praying for hours a week for that school. The leader would be saying, hey I need help will you please pray for me? Will you please do these things I need intercessors that will pray not oh yes I'll say a prayer for two minutes one time but prayer and interceding for kids to get saved at that school. We need people that would help set up events and help help run the event for that school that help with food and purchasing and coming there and serving with a smile. You don't even have to say anything more than you're welcome and smile and then we need people that will go out and engage the youth. But that's all of us in this room. So if you think in the past you've been disqualified from being involved because you're not the cool college youth guy then you're wrong because we need every one of us. So if you've said no to jumping in to mission you said no to jumping in to evangelism and to impact teams and to making a difference in the community then maybe you're saying no to what your birthright is because God's called us to youth and called us to change the city here and then around the world. Amen? So those are areas where you might have said no God has said one of our priorities this is the last one of our priorities that that our mission this summer and starting is to birth a school a training school for 18 to 24 year olds and college students so that they would be trained in in prayer restoration and mission and deployed around the world. So we're moving taking steps as a body to do that and so if you've resisted saying I don't know if that's not me I don't know if I can help that's another way we can say God might be calling you to say yes because we are the ones as a body that will own that it won't be Brian alone it won't be a couple people it'll be us as a body coming around to say I want my birthright I want that birthright in the spirit that God has promised over city central and promised over my life. The last time or a couple times ago when I shared is that and Chrissy and Amy Johnson and other shared those who are joining in and beginning to give their life away are the ones who are finding breakthrough if you've been struggling with the same issues over and over I would say give your life away as you give your life away your problems become less and the problems of a broken world become much more evident to your eyes are open and you cry out and you prayer your prayer life is energized because you say that broken kid that drug addict and they can't be changed I need you God and all of a sudden that little thing that was bothering you or plaguing you then keeping you down is not even there anymore you don't even worry about it because you're breaking through amen so when we say no to those things we're saying no to our birthright we're saying yes to comfort we're saying yes to religion but we're denying we're we're operating I love the way the message says the Esau syndrome right so the Esau syndrome is taking over and becoming our guiding principle and I don't know about you guys but I don't want to live like that I don't want to miss out I don't want to cry later and say geez god I wish I would have I don't want to do that and I'm not doing it out of duty I'm doing it out of God's called us to and not my life will be filled and the intimacy will grow and overflow in my life when I give it away and I don't want to bounce back to being normal I don't want my nose to go back to the old way I don't want my spirit to go back to the old way amen so here here's here's the last couple things if everybody's still doing okay is that business as usual has to change so that it can't be just words or motivation to change like there has to be an action step in the spirit so here here's the thing that God put on my heart during worship is that in the past you know those of you who've been around for a while in the past we we line people up around the room of all the different ministries we say line up hey if you want to get involved go over and talk to them and get involved go sign up let's do that but I'm saying we've graduated past that and if you want to take action and do something then you have to take action and do something and you have to be convicted by the Holy Spirit because here's what happens we get everyone signed up and lined up on there and if you've been one of those it's okay because God's not mad at you we're simply bringing if God would bring conviction on your heart then as all we have to do is repent in line with the Lord and act that's it it's simple so no one's in trouble but we get people who would sign up and three to four weeks later they'd quit or never came because there wasn't a conviction it was a nice time and hey I better go sign up for something I mean I'd like to do that and I'm sure we had right intentions that's not the point but there if there was a conviction that says I am in I'm stepping over the line I'm in I'm gonna find that person I'm gonna call you could call Alyssa you could call me I'll find you whoever you're trying to get ahold of if God's put something on your heart there's teams in in 15 different places right now that you could be a part of and this isn't a mission call there's the prayer room that needs to be birthed right now there's the school that needs to be have more people helping get it up and running right now there's plenty to do to be a part of saying yes to what God is doing saying yes to our birthright and it's gonna be us it can't be any longer two or three or four or ten people it has to be all of us and when you think that you don't have what it takes you'll be the one who has the most fruit of anyone if you will say yes because that's who God can use because those who think we got it all going on realize really quickly that we don't and we really need Jesus and that gets us closer to him amen because we don't have it figured out and the quicker we realize we don't the quicker God comes and fills us up and uses us so I think that so sometimes we resist that conviction we see that um the conviction was hard or painful or I don't know what to do but we're gonna it's gonna be simple tonight I think and and uh Brian or Bruce if you have anything different um let me know but is all what I was saying is that we get to this point where I don't want to be one to reject my birthright and I I agree I feel like you guys don't either and so what we're gonna do I think it takes an action in the spirit to allow God to move and make us different if we've been one of the other things if you've constantly been well I heard from the Lord and I'm gonna do my own thing and I got this and I got this plan if that's one of your deals too I wouldn't say that was always the Lord if you were not willing to submit it to people that you love that love you that will speak truth to you that will hold you accountable then maybe you're just kind of doing your own thing and so I just I just want to say it as it was there so God brought it to mind but that we would humbly come alongside one another and push the mission forward and our birthright and we care for one another as we go mission first people always we love each other I love everyone in this room but we'd be a part of that so what I asked Sean if we can do we're gonna have a just a time of response if you want to come forward and pray if you want to just commit to before the Lord that something like I'm leaving religion behind that I'm leaving the saying no the resistance the constant reason reasoning and why I can't do something I'm leaving that behind and I'm ready because the humble heart says God anything when Isaiah was finally broken in chapter six he said send me Lord send me can I just go the humble heart says can I go the humble heart doesn't say well I'm gonna do this can I go Lord can I just play can I just play I want my birthright I want I want to be involved with what you're doing and you're moving around the world Lord can I be a part of it please Lord so God I pray right now if you'd come to your feet and just stand and pray with me Lord I pray right now God I thank you for your word I thank you for your truth I thank you Lord for your spirit that moves in us God I thank you for every heart here that I can tell Lord I know our desire Lord is to please you so I stand right now in agreement over every lie that we're hearing or wondering about but can I do it we break those lies right now in Jesus name every lie this saying I don't have what it takes I've tried before and I didn't fall through we say no to that lie right now in Jesus name today is a new day [BLANK_AUDIO]