City Central Church Podcast
When God Builds pt. 1
Adam Narciso
Every single one of you guys are incredible treasures of God. I love you guys, I love being around you, it's incredible. God's going to do amazing things. What I want to share real quick is going to take me two minutes. I'd like you to turn to Leviticus 6. Real quick, Leviticus in the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. The third one, go to the chapter 6, and then go to verse 8. And what I want to share with you tonight is that the Lord has placed on me a burden for prayer in the community of city central. And God has vision and a plan for the young adults in this community to rise up in an hour that He's ordained to violently lay hold of a lifestyle of prayer, a lifestyle of violently going after Christ and His heart to pursue things that will literally blow any kind of dream that you had out of the water. God is going to do something in your day and your generation that is going to far exceed anything you've ever dreamed. I'm telling you this by the spirit of the Lord tonight in Jesus' name, okay? And what I want to share with you is this, is God has been having me lead prayer times two mornings a week for the last five to six months here in this actual room, in what God's done in the last couple of weeks with city centrals, He's broken open a new level of prayer at city central, at the community that we're all involved in, okay? Those are the three nights a week, okay? And what the Lord, the Lord put, I believe this, it's a mandate on my heart on Thursday night to call this community to a lifestyle of prayer, of radical taking hold of God in His heart in this hour. So I'd like you to read Leviticus 6-8, I'm going to read it out loud, okay? The Lord, this is God giving instructions from Moses to Aaron as he's laying out the prescribed worship in the Old Testament. The Lord said to Moses, give Aaron and his sons this command, these are the regulations for the burn offerings. The burn offering is to remain on the altar, hearth throughout the night, till morning and the fire must be kept burning on the altar. Verse 10, the priest shall then put on his linen clothes with linen undergarments, neck to his body and shall remove the ashes of the burn offering that the fire is consumed on the altar and placed them beside the altar. Verse 11, then he's to take off these clothes and put on others and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean. Verse 12, the fire on the altar must be kept burning, it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burn offering and the fire on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offering on it. Verse 13, the fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously, it must not go out. So what I want to tell you guys is this, is God's put a mandate on my heart to boldly put out a call to this generation right now that God has placed, if you could see, you know, we understand that there's a physical realm, there's also a spiritual realm, you know, Adam's taught on that before, but if we could see that in the spiritual realm, I believe God has placed an altar in the heart of this community and at different times throughout the years, the fire has been hot, the fire's been down, the fire's been hot, the fire's been down. The mandate that God has put on my spirit is that from this point forward in this community, the fire must never go out from this point forward. You hear what I'm saying? The fire on the altar must never go out. I'm not calling you to 24, I'm not calling to quit your jobs or school, I'm telling you that it's a lane hold in your spirit violently of the things of God in this hour, that the fire on the altar must never go out from this point forward. And what that means is, God is calling this community to daily, if you cannot make a prayer meeting that you would violently press into the Lord into your prayer time with God, you know, in your door. That means that, and I'm telling you, day and night, day and night, God is calling, there's a mandate, I believe being laid out for us right now, that from this point forward, if we achieve our destiny in God and all the callings on your guys' life, that there will be day and night, prayer and worship towards almighty God in this community from this point forward. So I'm here tonight to call you, to call you, to call you, to call you to this kind of lifestyle, that the words of fire must never go out would be an anthem in your hearts, would be an anthem in your songs, would be anthems in your voice, the fire must never go out, the fire must never go out, the fire must never go out, it'd be an anthem that you carry in your spirits, the fire must never go out, okay? So I wanna, I'm saying that because on Tuesday and Thursday morning at 6.30, we meet here with the leaders from 6.30 to eight, and we violently go after Christ. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night, at least for the next two weeks, so there's a break at Christmas and New Year's, okay? But for the next two weeks, Tuesday, Thursday morning, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday night, we are pressing in, I'm telling you, it's just the beginning, okay? But this is the word that I want to tell you, that God is calling you out. He's calling you out, young adults, violently, He's calling loves you, He has so much for you, there's radical passion, fire that God's pouring out, and the fire and the alternates never come out, so I wanna invite you guys to come, and I hope to see you there, okay? I love you, bless you, amen. (audience applauds) - All right, hey, let's thank Jordan, come on. (audience applauds) He's a true man of passion, huh? Unless you want that kind of passion? That's why I hang out with him all the time, 'cause it rubs off on you, you know? That, and we're approximately the same height, okay. (audience laughs) Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord. P-T-L, Nick Brent, P-T-L. Y'all look good, turn to your neighbor and say you look good. Turn to your next neighbor and say, are you ready for this? So one of the cool things I get to do, you know, that the Lord's calling me, do we'll get to the Word in a moment here. In fact, you can turn in your Bible if you have a Bible to first chronicles, chapter 28, first chronicles, chapter 28. As you're doing that, one of the great things I get to do and one of the Jordan used the word mandate, it's kind of like the command that God's given my life is to preach the good news of Jesus Christ all over the city of Tacoma, wherever he takes me. And so this is a mandate for me. And so I get invited to different ministries and schools and churches sometimes to preach the gospel and it was so fun, you know, we have a ministry through city central church here, our mission to Jason Lee Middle School and where there's a club there of a bunch of unsaved kids that come together, they have food, they play games, there's about 80 and from 80 to 120 kids depending on the day that come to the club and it's right after school and it's just a crazy manhouse. Think about six, seventh and eighth graders, you know, they just drive you nuts, you know, they do need Jesus and they just got energy like crazy, they're awesome, you know. And so here, I got invited this Friday to speak preach the gospel at Jason Lee Middle School through our ministry there and it was awesome. You know, some of you guys know Kyle Nelson but he was there helping out and there's probably about 80 kids in the room, you know, and Tyler Connell and I are there sitting on the bleachers watching all of them kick each other, throw balls around and, you know, getting fights and this kind of stuff, you know. And then someone at Trent announced from the microphone, he said, whoever wants to play soccer, we're gonna start a soccer game right outside. And then all of a sudden, balls all over the place just got thrown in the air, you know. Backpacks got thrown against the wall and we saw about 60 kids run from one side of the gym out to the other, screaming like (screaming) and through the double doors and out into the soccer field, it was the most crazy thing I think I've ever seen. And I just look, I like, oh my gosh, well this is a junior high ministry, you know. So they all run out and then Kyle Nelson like, just kind of flippantly says, well, maybe, hey, maybe that's what happens and we say, who wants to come to Jesus and they all start running, you know, but it was so cool because literally what happened is we've got to, I got to share my testimony and preach the gospel how Jesus Christ has power to transform lives and we give an opportunity for kids to come to salvation in Christ, come to be saved in Christ and you know, the deal, hey, for those of you who want to give your whole heart to Jesus today, you know, today, right now you want your life to be changed today, I want you to wave your hand in the air and literally from about 80 kids in the room, there was 60 to 70 kids that just were waving their hands in the air, powerful, powerful. We realized we only had like six workers there, you know, six adults and so we're like, okay, so I just said, hey, since there's so many of you who are raising your hand, I just want you to all stand right now, we'll pray and receive Christ together. So you know, literally 90% of the room, you know, stands up, comes to the Lord Jesus and there was probably another 10 kids that were there that were just crying, crying their pain as God was radically touching their healing their hearts and we said, if you want to receive continued prayer today, come forward, you know, everyone else went to root beer floats and there's still about 10 or 12 kids that sat down, tears in their eyes saying, I want more help, we took them in the other room and a bunch of us just laid hands on them, prayed for them, told them how God sees them and they walked out transformed by Jesus, it was awesome. So, hey, here's the deal, I do this, I do stuff like, I get to do stuff like this every week, preaching the gospel on the street or in meetings and if you ever want to be a part of that, I just kind of always throw this out there. If you email me or you find me on Facebook and message me, I'll send out a list every week where I'm gonna be each day and then you can just join and you can be there to learn, you can be there to step out in faith, you can be there to pray for people who come to Christ and that kind of stuff. So, you're always welcome, I always love a team, sound good? Are we ready for this? All right, why don't you do this? I know, this is kind of like Catholic church today, we're standing up and sitting down a lot, why don't you stand up, we're gonna pray? (laughs) I just need to pray before I get this word out, okay? Father God, we pray that you just move in our hearts this evening. We pray Lord, we're not trying to work up energy or passion, we're just trying to pursue you. And we know that when we pursue you with all of our hearts, God, you give us passion and excitement and fierce drive to love you even more. So, Holy Spirit, come anoint your word in the name of Jesus, amen, have a seat. So, we're in, did I say first chronicles 28, is that what I said? We're gonna be in there in a moment, but on Thursday night, I wasn't planning to do this, but I'm gonna share a little bit about this. On Thursday night, it was such a monumental night for City Central, for the young adult service, specifically for young adult movement. If you don't know already, what fundamentally, one of the reasons City Central, our church, our mission exists is because we believe with all our hearts that God has promised a movement of his spirit among young people that starts into coma. And we believe with all of our hearts that it's gonna hit major cities around the United States and the world, we believe that God's gonna begin to transform young adults. And it's gonna erupt like a wave of his spirit over our nation, we really believe that's why we exist as a mission, as a church, does that make sense? And so, many, many people receive words and dreams and visions about this. There's more and more and more, you may not believe this, but there's been angelic visitations announcing a move of God into coma, okay? Don't argue with me about angels, they're really real, okay? 'Cause if God's real, angels are real too, do you see what I'm saying? And all through the Bible, they came to deliver important messages, and I'll just tell you, I might look like a fool, but it's because you might be filled with unbelief. But we have received a message from heaven that says God is on the move, and he's about ready to do something significant among young people. So, how many of you know the Lord speaks through dreams? Dreams in the night, you know? Sometimes they could be bad pizza, you know? Like one time when he was a little kid, one of the greatest dreams I remember is that one time I went in my backyard, in my dream, went in my backyard, I went on the picnic table and I saw this worm that had hair on it, and I picked it up and I ate it and it was crunchy. And it was the most disgusting memory I've ever had in my life. And I think the night before I just had some bad pizza, you know, and so that dream obviously wasn't from God. (laughs) Praise the Lord. (audience laughs) PTL. But you know, all through the scriptures, you see a history of God speaking to men and women through dreams. Joseph had a dream that all of his brothers went one day bowed down to him, and he later became prince over Egypt. And they literally did bow down to him. He spent time in a pit, he spent time in prison, he spent time as a servant. But God promoted him into a place of authority to fulfill the dream over his life. Many, many people had dream all throughout the scriptures and God spoke through all of them. And so, you know, long story short, in September the Lord gave, I woke up in a cold sweat with my hand shaking and I was literally convinced that I needed to ask God for Lord help our nation, have mercy on us, we're in trouble. Something's got to change, we're in trouble. And I won't show you the whole dream, but in the dream what happened is I was on this beach that was situated at the bottom of this hill, and there was many, many people on this beach that was crowded. The long story short is I looked out on the water, I saw on the water, I saw begin to see seals jumping out of the water. And in my mind I thought, wow, that's a beautiful sight, I don't know if you've ever seen seals jumping out of water simultaneously, it was amazing. And then right after that I began to see several whales jumping out of the water and it terrified me. And then as I looked from left to right, from north to south, as far as I could see there were seals and whales jumping out of the water, all over the water. And I instantly had the thought, well, isn't it true that before a tsunami, big wave comes, that animals do freakish things, like they run out of the water and they jump out of the water and that kind of stuff. So all of a sudden urgency filled my heart and I turned with, and I began yelling, I ran up the hill and I began making my way up this hill, I was running for a long time for several, it felt like many, many seconds, 45, 45 seconds, I was running, sprinting up this hill and I heard thousands of people following me. And at the end of the dream, all I remember is as I'm running up this hill, someone yells out, 60 seconds, 60 seconds and I woke up and my heart was being, I had sweated my palms, I was filled with the fear of God and I was saying, God, if calamity is coming upon our nation, help us, God, help us, do you know what I'm saying? I began to say, God help us, if something's gonna hit our nation, help us. And I began to email the dream to some people I trusted that really are wise and know how to interpret things, what God's saying and they put some ease at me because remember the part of the dream, the seals came out and they look beautiful. And this woman who has been in ministry for a long time, she said, Adam, this wave represents a move of God on the earth. She said, in fact, people for the last 30 years who are prophetic people all around our nation have been saying that the next great move of God in salvation is gonna come like a big tsunami on the earth. It's like the picture of it, you know? Not a literal tsunami but like a picture of a wave of his spirit hitting the earth. And she said, but the seals and the wells are important, the seals represent the love of God. And she quoted Song of Solomon passage, "You've set me as a seal upon your heart." She said, so this movement is gonna carry, the love of God's gonna be manifested in a powerful way. But she said, the rails represent God's judgment. She said, just ask Jonah about that one. Remember the story of Jonah gets caught up in a big fish 'cause he didn't wanna obey God. And so the next move of God she says is gonna come simultaneously, you see horrendous things on the earth, people suffering, the economy dropping, you do what I'm saying, terrorist attacks, things hitting the nation that break the pride of the nation. Retirement funds emptying out, people losing jobs, losing homes, she said, but in the same breath, God's gonna pour out his love in such a way that people's hearts are gonna be changed to Christ all over the world. And so it's a powerful promise of God for those who fear him, you know? And a fearful thing for those who don't fear him. And so when I woke up that morning as I like to type out my dreams and I typed out the date September 11th, 2008. So God decided to give a dream about something that would hit the earth on the very day that seven years prior to that, or eight years prior to that, however it was. Seven years prior to that, that it was like the beginning of like a gong resounded on the earth that said, wake up America. You see what I'm saying? And so I've been sitting on this dream for a few weeks, you know, and then this week on Thursday night, the Lord allowed me the freedom to preach a message on Thursday at the prayer meeting about the move of God from the Scriptures, 'cause the Bible prophesies itself what God's gonna do in the last days. In the last days, the Lord gave me this revelation this week is how that the final move of God on the earth before Jesus returns is gonna be a move of God. And the Scriptures declared this, I did not see this until this week. I've never heard it taught until I saw it this week. That the final move of God would be primarily characterized by a youth movement on the earth. And we got to show that from the Scriptures, the prophetic passages in the Scriptures. So if you weren't there, you gotta find someone else's notes 'cause it's critical that you get the theology for what God wants to do on the earth. You know what I'm saying? 'Cause it's one thing for someone to have a dream, oh, pastor had a dream, big waves come in, so now we're praying all the time. And it's even cooler if an angel comes and announces it. But how many of you know that when the Bible, God's word itself, the prophetic word, says it? That's the most solid evidence there is. Do you see what I'm saying? And so that's that teaching is for another day. But this evening, I wanna speak to you as young adults who I believe we are preparing to really walk in in this movement of God's Holy Spirit on the earth. Does that sound good? We have the whole month of December in this place. I don't think that these are like evangelistic nights, the whole month of December, but these are nights where the people of God come together and we wrap our hearts around what He wants to do this December so that come the next season, we're ready for whatever God calls us to. I think in the 50 days that we're praying, several nights a week, all day, that kind of stuff, that God's gonna really speak to us as a ministry and He's gonna give us a whole new direction. He's gonna tell us what to do. He's gonna tell us exactly what to do. It's gonna be amazing. But sometimes God likes to give us dreams to support what His Scripture already says, to convince our hearts. And in fact, when I walked into stadium high school just last night, young lady handed me a dream. She said, I want you to read this and help me. Tell me to determine what it means. I opened it up and I read it. She said, I was walking down a hill and I came upon a beach. And I saw animals, seals, fishes, lines, these different things jumping out of the water. And she said she was in the water and as she said, she saw the waves gaining in size rapidly. And she said, oh no, a big wave, a tsunami's coming. And as her friends turned around to run up the hill, she was caught in the water, fear fell to her heart. She was sucked up to the top of the way, the peak of the wave, up the face, thrown down into the water. And then when she was in the water, she saw animals, things like the head of the Statue of Liberty, swimming next to her. And as she was filled with fear, she heard a voice from heaven say, do not be afraid. You will be okay. And it gave her peace in her heart that she began to breathe underwater. She said, what does this mean? (audience laughing) I'm not a good dream interpreter, but I know what God said to me. And He pretty much gave you the same dream. And that people have been having for the last, apparently people have been saying this for 30 years, I didn't know this. And the scriptures testify the same thing. So this evening, I think I'm speaking to people, young adults who are being prepared for a real move of God on the earth. It's interesting when you study what God does on the earth, like what we're gonna do tonight is, is there's always principles you can learn from the Bible about a move of God. And what I want you to look at in first Chronicles chapter 28 is this move of God where David, where in first Chronicles 28, David wants to build the temple, say temple. He wants to build the house that God's gonna be worshipped in. This is Old Testament before Jesus came. He wanted to build a house like this where God, Yahweh was worshiped day and night, the fire on the altar never departed. The problem was David, the king over Israel, God said, you cannot build the temple. Instead, you can only collect the materials, but your son, the next king of Israel, Solomon, he's gonna be the one who's gonna build the temple. How many of you know when God wants a movement, He's gonna do it his way? So he said, David, I love you, but you can't do it. Solomon, your son is gonna do it. And so David honored that, and now we see in first Chronicles 28 that David is in front of the whole nation of Israel, and his son Solomon is there. In first Chronicles chapter 28, verse one. David, I'm reading out of the NIV tonight, normally I don't, but I like how it sounded this week. Little giggles. Bible says, David summoned all the officials of Israel to assemble at Jerusalem. The officers, the tribes, the commanders, divisions, the service in the service of the king. The commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, officials in charge of all the property and livestock, belonging to the king and his sons, together with the palace officials, the mighty men and all the brave warriors. King David rose to his feet and said, listen to me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord. If you've seen Indiana Jones, you know what that is. And for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it, but God said to me, you're not to build a house for my name because you're a warrior, you've shed blood. So verse four, God chose my whole family to be king over all of Israel, et cetera, et cetera. Verse eight, verse eight. Says, Bible says, so now I charge you inside of all of Israel and the assembly of the Lord and the hearing of our God. Be careful to follow all the commands of the Lord your God that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever. So he's calling the nation. Follow God with all your hearts. Follow God with all your hearts. Let's go to verse nine. And then he says to his son Solomon, you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father and serve him with whole-hearted devotion. Repeated after me, whole-hearted devotion. And with a willing mind for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Consider now for the Lord has chosen you to build a temple as a sanctuary. Be strong and do the work. So here in this passage, David, the king is publicly commissioning, deputizing his son Solomon to build the temple. And he says, remember God, follow him. And then he says, serve him with whole-hearted devotion. Serve him with whole-hearted devotion. Check this out. Whenever God is looking to build something on the earth, whenever God is looking to build something on the earth, like a youth movement, he looks for those who will follow and serve him with whole-hearted devotion, whole-hearted devotion. So the heart, if you're taking notes, you can write the word heart. And then you can say the heart in the Bible is the place where the Bible says it seats, it's the seat of emotions and passion. Emotions and passion, like Jordan. He's just this fiery, passionate man. You know, everything he says is just like, well, that guy just really believes what he's saying. He's really intense. He's got lots of emotions about what he's saying right now. Heart is the seat of emotions and passion. The word devotion has to do with the will, right? Your ability to choose. It has to do with commitment. And it has to do with discipline, the will, commitment and discipline. So what God is looking for, whenever he wants to do a work on the earth, he's looking for people whose heart burn with emotion for the things that are in his heart. And he looks for people whose not only hearts burn, but who are willing to live, to make the decision to live, discipline lives. They channel their emotion, their fire, into discipline, into decisions that are even hard to make. And what God looks for a person who would serve him with whole hearted devotion when he finds them, amazing things happen on the earth. We're gonna keep going here. Let's go to chapter 29, chapter 29, verse one. This is, you can read the rest later, but the Bible says, "Then King David said "to the whole assembly, my son Solomon, "the one whom God has chosen is young, "say young, and inexperienced." Go and say inexperienced. Wave your hand at me if you feel like you're young and inexperienced. Come on, keep it in the air. I want you to just keep it in the air right now, 'cause one of the primary things that people, just keep your hand now, this is for a learning moment. One of the primary things that people believe, why people believe they can't share Christ with others, is they don't have enough experience or knowledge of God's Word, or they're too young in their faith. Put your hand down. I want you to know right now that when God chose to ignite a movement on the earth, to build his house of worship, it was a worship movement, when he chose to build a movement on the earth, he chose someone who was young and inexperienced. Oh, you think God would show someone with a degree, you think he chose someone with some real good looks, you think he'd choose someone that had a lot of influence. Instead, he chose the son of a great leader, a son who had lived in the shadows of his father all of his life, a son who undoubtedly probably compared himself to his father and his brother said, "How do I measure up to the king over all of Israel?" Do you know what's like to live under that kind of pressure? God chose that kind of a young man, young and inexperienced to lead a worship and prayer movement that would touch the nations and build his house of prayers, it's fascinating. So I'm telling you, when God wants to ignite a youth movement on the earth, when he wants to bring a wave on the earth, he's not interested so much in people who know everything there is to know about the Bible, all the great answers, who know every mechanism of prayer on the earth. Do you know what I'm saying? He's not looking for people necessarily who attend church. But they probably will because he's looking for someone, and let me tell you, when God looks for someone, he's bound to find them. He's looking for those who have wholehearted devotion unto him, who are willing to follow him with wholehearted devotion. Let's keep going, the next verse and to chapter 29, this is not my Bible, verse two. You're not used to your Bible. It's kind of like playing with someone else's pet. It's like, what really gets him going? When I scratch my dog here, his leg kicks, but I have to scratch your dog on another place to get his leg to kick. It's like when you drive someone else's car. There you go. (audience laughing) (audience laughing) You got that? We're right there? (audience laughing) We're right there? (audience laughing) I remember I was driving my buddy's car. Going down the freeway, highway 68 in Salinas, California, and all of a sudden I started sweating. And I was like, man, my butt feels uncomfortable. I'm like, I'm driving in Alexis. What the heck is going on? They had these butt warmers, turned up high. Sweat balls rolling down my forehead and my cheek. What the heck? It's the butt warmer. I drove a beat up 1990 red Camaro RS. I got in a car accident. I had a Mexican blanket in the back. And I used to go down Main Street, you know? Roll down the windows and I had a blonde wig in the back and I put on a blonde wig with my Mexican blanket in the back and I used to bump Mariachi music. And I pull my seat down like this so I could just see underneath the steering wheel as I'm driving in my red Camaro. It's totally a thug ride, you know? Mexican gangster car. With my Mariachi music butt blaring, it's like (sings) (screams) So naturally, when you get in someone else's ride, it's just not, it's just not. It's just weird, you know? It's like, you never think about wearing someone else's underwear, you know? Do you know what I'm saying? It's like, you'd never think about doing that. It doesn't fit, say it doesn't fit. So I got someone else's Bible here. Okay, here we go. Next part of verse one, praise the Lord. P-T-L. The Bible says, the task is great because this palatial structure is not for man but for the Lord God. I want you to know that what God wants to do on the earth, the task is great. The task is great. When God talks about blowing up a city, stepping into a school through a group of young adults whose hearts are fully given to him, who live with whole-hearted devotion to him, and they step onto a school of 2,000 high school students. They step onto a university of 4,000 university students. They look to their left and to their right and everyone else thinks Christ is a joke, thinks the Bible's ridiculous, thinks church, it convinced church is boring. God's not relevant. The task is great. Do you see what I'm saying? The task is great but we can take comfort in the fact that what God wants to do is not for man but it's for God. So if you're trying to start an underwater basket weaving on your campus, this is our club, underwater basket weaving, we do it every week, come, meet with us afterwards, be crochet and have pizza. It's like the most random thing ever, we have a vision to see 2,000 sold out underwater basket weavers who like to crochet and eat pizza. In this campus alone, we wanna see 2,000, a club of 2,000. You get the money for the ASB, you announce it over the PA system, you put notes on every dorm room wall. It would be, it's just stupid. It's a great task. Do you know what I'm saying? But I'm telling you something, when the God of the universe says, this is what I wanna do on the earth for my glory, I'm not doing it for your sake, I'm doing it for me. And then he finds the group. He doesn't need ASB's approval. He doesn't need money from no one. He doesn't need to pin flyers on dorm room walls 'cause when God wants to do something for his own purposes, you better sure that it's gonna be accomplished. So the task might be great but we can be assured that if this is God's heart, he's gonna do it. You see what I'm saying? Okay. People sell out for stupid things on the earth. They sell out for stupid things on the earth. I'm gonna study bears for the rest of my life. (audience laughing) I've given my life to the study of the footprints of the grizzlies. (audience laughing) I've given my life to the study of Bigfoot, Sasquatch. You see those ochis that put that dude in the freezer with a mask on, put a bunch of blood on him? Said we found Sasquatch, put it all over CNN. For four days, there's an, oh, but you can't go in there. We only give you pictures. And it's on CNN. It's like, what kind of reporting is that? Check your facts, the guy's handing you a picture of a dude in a monkey costume with some watermelon juice on him. But people sell out for the stupidest causes on the earth. But you know something. Jesus Christ is the greatest cause on the earth. His mission is the greatest mission on the earth. I'm telling you, the Bible says he who seeks to lose his life for my sake will find his life. But the one who seeks to keep his life will lose it. I was with a group of students yesterday evening and I love saying this line. I say, Jesus Christ did not die on the cross in agonizing death. Blood poured out of his hands and his feet and then raised from the dead by the power of God so that you would be a good person and to go to church. (audience chattering) (audience chattering) Jesus Christ did not die the most gruesome death there was. Step down from glory. Out of heaven, born into a poor family in a manger. Late in a manger. Stepping away from glory. Coming into a world that didn't even have plumbing. (audience chattering) Think about that. God left glory. (audience chattering) And came into Bethlehem, a town that had no plumbing. (audience chattering) The level of sanitation instantly plummets. God who is perfectly clean, perfectly pure, perfectly holy. (audience chattering) Born as a baby. (audience chattering) He did not come to the earth, die on a cross so that we would be nice people. (audience chattering) Brother? Brother Travis? That was some great hand drum in there. (audience chattering) He didn't die on the cross so that we'd put money in the tithe bucket. He didn't die, he didn't go to the cross so that you would go to Mexico mission trip once a year to feel better about yourself or being a rich American. (audience chattering) He didn't die on the cross so you'd be sitting in Bible camp and when the guy from up front and the keyboard's playing says now with every eye bow closed and every head bowed. If you want to go to heaven tonight, no one's looking right now, I promise. (audience chattering) I don't want to force you to do anything you don't want to do but with every eye closed. Did I remind you that no one's looking? Did I remind you that you can have a bunch of fear and still follow God? Did I remind you that it doesn't cost you anything right now? You can just go to heaven, raise one pinky right now. I'm the only one looking with one eye 'cause I want to pray for you brother. (audience chattering) You know what I say? A life for a life. A life for a life. He died for us so that we would live for him. There's no other option. There's no other option. You've probably heard me say it before but I love saying this. I'm not asking you to attend my church. God's not asking you to attend my church. He doesn't want your church attendance. He wants your whole life. He's got your life. He's probably got your church attendance too. P-T-L, P-T-L, praise the Lord. He didn't even die for cheesy Christian sayings. Praise the Lord. Come on, I'm calling us to whole-heartedness tonight. Man, I'm calling us to more radical living tonight. Do you know, oh, here's a secret. Church is boring. (audience clapping) St. P-T-L. - P-T-L! - Man, the pastor's honest. Church is boring. You know why? 'Cause it's filled with a bunch of bored people. And when bored Christians come together, it's a boring existence. And if you're bored with God, you're probably a boring Christian. - Yeah, that's right. - I'm calling you. I'm calling you to begin the ditch boredom. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Boredom, the ingredients for boredom are this. Half-hearted living for Christ. (audience chattering) Half-hearted living for Christ. Boredom every time. Boredom every time. You might have goosebumps for three weeks when they sing. ♪ Father I adore you ♪ Oh, yeah, this part. Oh, I feel it. Yeah. (audience laughing) God, you're still with me. But there's gonna come a week when that won't cut it anymore. - That's right. - And you'll be living the same way you did before you raise your pinky. - That's right. (audience laughing) - But God's looking for those who would sign their names and say, "I want my whole heart after God. I'm not gonna be perfect. I'm not looking to become a Bible scholar, but I want God to have every area of my life full surrender. I'm looking to find my life by losing it in Jesus' name. And then if you went on, you continued reading in first Chronicles chapter 29 and then second Chronicles, and you see how the temple was built. You see how the temple was built. And how many of you know that when God built something, He's pretty detailed in the way He wants it. He said, "I want this much gold. I want this much silver. I want the cherubim to be made of this. I want the pillars to be yay tall. I want these types of granite pillars, this dimension." And He gave the dimensions. And they built it exactly the way He wanted it. Let me take you back to what God wants to build on the earth right now. He's looking to build a wave of His spirit that crashes into coma, soaks young people to head to toe. There's probably gonna be danger associated with it. There will be profound loss associated with it. But in the midst of that, God's glory's gonna shine on His people. And there's gonna be power release that we've never seen before. We're gonna see miracles like Moses. We're gonna see miracles like the Book of Acts all over again, 'cause God's hungry to win souls. He's hungry to turn people to Him. I'm telling you, He's hungry to do something radical on the earth. So when God's interested in building something, He looks for people who wholeheartedly devote themselves to Him, and then He looks for people who are willing to follow His direction step-by-step-by-step-by-step-by-step. Not someone who's saying, you know what? This temple, I'm really thinking those granite slabs would look way better over there. And we really need a window in here, get some natural light in the holy of holies. And God's not interested in interior design when He's wanting to build. He's not looking for someone who has expertise in temple building. He's not looking for someone with opinions. I think this is the music that we need to be playing in the temple. These are the songs that we need to be singing in the temple. 'Cause this worked in the Muslim temple down the street. 'Cause this sound was used on the stage over here the AC/DC concert, and everyone loved it. So let's just bring that sound into the church because it'll really reach people. I'm not here to talk about music. I'm here to talk about, man always tries to bring their opinion to God and say, God bless this. Instead of hearing from God, He gives you the plan that's detailed all the way. This is how I want my youth movement to be built. This is what I want it to look like. Will you just be wholeheartedly devoted to me? Do you know what I'm saying? Come on, do you know what I'm saying? Where your heart, the place that seats your passion and your fire is partnered with the word devotion, your decisions of the will and discipline. They meet together, somewhere in the middle. You say, God, I want to give you my whole life. Nothing less, all the days of my life. Couple things about wholeheartedness. I just want to read a couple of notes here and then I'll be done. You don't stumble into wholeheartedness. Oh, youth movement. You don't accidentally come into wholeheartedness with God. Oh, here I am, healing power all around. Everywhere I preach the gospel, people get saved. You don't accidentally come into fullness of the Holy Spirit. You don't accidentally come to a place of peace and join your heart, anxiety free. You don't accidentally overcome jealousy and gossip and deception. You don't accidentally, you see what I'm saying? So wholeheartedness has to do with an issue of the will. So I'm not here to give you goosebumps. I'm not here to play three songs and, oh, that really minister to me. I'm here to talk to people who have a fire in their heart and who are willing to make decisions of the will to say, I will follow God when I want to and when I do, when I don't want to, 'cause I've made a decision. Come on. Okay, it's not developed overnight or in one prayer time. So coming to church a couple times, you know, it doesn't mean you're wholehearted. I don't even know the church can be filled with people. My house, my own bed, on my side, can be filled with the person that still has a half heart after God. Oftentimes, Jordan said this, it requires regular, violent acts of will, of your will, to get into a lifestyle of wholeheartedness. Say it after me, regular. - Regular. - Violent. - Violent. - Acts. - Acts. - Of your will. - Of your will. - What does that look like? Well, for me, I know sometimes it's look like attending more, you know, attending prayer meetings. I don't, I feel comfortable in a prayer, I feel uncomfortable in a prayer meeting, I don't know how to pray very long, but I'm gonna put my buns in that room because I want a whole heart after God. For me, it's look like fasting. Jesus said in Matthew chapter six, when you fast, say the word when? Dan preached on this a few weeks ago, he assumed his disciples would fast. That means going without a meal, going without food. Why? Because sometimes that's, when you take that away, all of a sudden, that's like the worst thing that can happen in American's life, you know. I miss the meal, I'm shaking. Headache, no caffeine today, don't talk to me. Don't call me before 10.30 'cause I haven't had my coffee yet, my Starbucks. Do you know what I'm saying? You take away the comforts of an American, all of a sudden they're broke down, you know, it's like, they feel like they're stripped down, just they're tidy wides. They're like. And so fasting breaks you down from comforts and it sticks you in a place where you connect with God, feed your spirit by neglecting your flesh. Say that again, neglect your flesh and feed your spirit and your spirit grows stronger than the desires for your comfort. And if you don't eat for a day, you're not gonna die, you know. It's probably good for some of you. (congregation laughing) I know it's good for me. It's true, it's healthy. Ask a doctor. Yeah, just have vegetables for three weeks, Daniel fast. Cleanse your business right out. (congregation laughing) But let me tell you this. Coming into a wholehearted devotion in Christ requires, demands, regular, violent acts of your will. I don't feel like fasting. I never feel like fasting. Someone said once, you know, when you talk about fasting, it's like, well, how do I know for sure I'm supposed to fast, Lord? Well, maybe it's my flesh giving me this idea. Your flesh would never tell you not to fast or to fast. Your flesh tells you, eat, drink, now, again. (congregation laughing) Now. (congregation laughing) The devil would never tell you to fast. You know what, Dan, I want you to begin to fast and pray 'cause that's the worst thing you can do. (congregation laughing) So coming into wholeheartedness requires regular, the violent decisions of the will, attending consistent meetings where believers are there, resisting other gatherings that there's traps waiting for you there. At a friend in high school would say this, man, I want, he wanted nothing to do with partying after he came to Christ. You know, it's like the big sin, you know, in high school. It's like, deep party, you know, in the church and whatever. So it's like, so he said, I wanna go so far from, so you know what, I will not even attend a party 'cause I don't wanna drink. He said, if the devil wants to get me to drink, he loved that he said this, he was like 16, if the devil wants to get me to drink, he's got to do two things, he's got to get me to a party, and then he's got to get me to drink. He said, I'm gonna cut him off at the first one. I'm not even gonna go to your little demonic parties, devil. He said, bam, he won, but he made regular, violent decisions of the will to live wholeheartedly after God. Do you see what I'm saying? And so this evening, I'm calling you into a wholehearted devotion. I'm calling you, I'm telling you, will you need to be before God asking him, God, what is the decision I need to make tonight? This week, that's gonna challenge my will. It's gonna bring me to a place at the end of the week where I said, I did my job and God, I'm growing closer to you. It wasn't easy, I didn't wanna do it every day. You gave me strength, but it caused me to pray to you more. Fasting of nothing else when you're missing me. It's like, oh God, help me, help these hunger pains go away. Help these hunger pains go away, help these hunger pains go away. And guess what, you prayed more than you did the day before. (laughing) And then you learned desperation and true hunger for God. Amen? - Amen. - So I wanna call you, what is God asking you to do this week? It's coming to a wholehearted devotion. For some of you, it's like Thursday night, eight to 11, young adult prayer meeting at the Marriott. It's just like, man, if God's really doing a youth movement, I understand if you can't stay out that later, what if you have homework, that kind of stuff, but if God's really gonna bring a youth movement, sound the alarm, let's pray, good Lord. Especially when the most profound revelation is coming forward, you know, in 50 days. God says, I'm gonna talk to you in my word about the youth movement, and I want you to announce it. Okay. Pat McFall, once you come up here, bro, he had a great story this week and then we'll be done, we're gonna respond to the Lord, some worship, some prayer, sound good? - Yes. - Is everyone okay? Look at your neighbor and ask him, are you okay? Hey, bro, Pat and I, we went to get a Christmas tree today, right? About to cut our Christmas tree down, two cats from California, ain't never seen a tree farm with a Chuchu train. - And I have those in Orange County. - You know, we don't have those in Pasadena and Anaheim, you go to Home Depot and get your tree. You go to the little guy on the Pancha de Dirt, a little Mexican dude that has 18 trees out there, and you pay, he's driving his van, you pay him right there and you take your tree home. See, yeah, see, you'll get all the rooms, okay. Felizidales, amigos, okay. It's true, that's where we got, that's where I, that's where we would get, we'd go to Home Depot, we'd never been to a little tree farm, using a freaking saw, doing this. I am sore, I think I pulled muscles all up in this region. It's like, I'm just, so anyway, we're in church here. Why don't you tell me the story about just what God's done in you and the whole deal with the prayer meeting and that kind of stuff, and give that exhortative word. - Okay. - Sweet dude. So, we were in the car and we were just talking about Thursday night, and it was sick, dude, like, and the context of why I think it was so awesome is that, like, really my wife and I's desire has been to be, like, we know God is calling us to be part of a significant move of God, and that can be so general to say, yeah, I mean, anybody can just say that, but we just have felt that so strongly that that's what we want to be a part of. I don't even care what it is. If it's clean in toilets in the midst of this movement, like, I will do it because God's glory will be demonstrated. But what I was telling Adam is that when we did ministry in Salinas, California, back in the day, and after Adam had started this college group, it was called Upper Room, and he took off, went to Bible College, then he moved up here, then I took it on, and, dude, we would pray, like, we would do our power hour from, like, six to seven, and then we would do our meetings. Sometimes we would have young adults. As many young adults, there's, like, right here. You know, we would have big events, we'd do crazy concerts, we'd do all these things, and we had all these youth that were so pumped and passionate about a move of God in Salinas, but I tell you in the prayer meetings that we would do for years, like, three years, Friday night, seven to 10. Dude, it was, like, pulling teeth, man. And I don't know if you've ever been to a prayer meeting that sucks. (audience laughs) Dude, maybe you, yeah, maybe you're, like, Dan, and have led those. Dude, when a prayer meeting blows, it blows, dude. Like, like, you don't even know why you're there. You're just like, it's like, it's like, the prayer meeting's gonna be for an hour, and there's, like, 50 minutes of total silence and awkward whispering. (audience laughs) ♪ I swear, I swear, I swear, I swear, I swear ♪ ♪ Yes, yes, yes ♪ And the guy in the corner, he's getting real pumped up. He's like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. But he doesn't want to vocalize because he's too afraid to disrupt the silence, you know? ♪ Yes, fool, yes, fool, yes, oh ♪ ♪ Yes, good, yes ♪ You know, we would lead these dudes. Sometimes it'd be me and my homeboy, Pete Williams, dude, hours. We would be the only ones taught, it was like, why don't we just talk to each other? Why do we have to lay on the ground? Look at it, the floor! It's just us! You know, it's like maybe 10 people there, if we were lucky, dude. That was like, let's go to Applebee's. There's 10 people at the prayer meeting! Dude, there's something disheartening when you can fill a room of this many people and four people show up to pray. - Yes. - Dude, that's just a straight up honest truth. - Yeah, that's not true, dude. - It's just disheartening. God, I know you want to do a youth movement. I know what he's praying. And when I came on Thursday night, it was like the Lord, my wife and I were talking about, we were like, finally. We were at a prayer meeting. We're at a prayer meeting, dude! We're praying! It's not like we got to be bouncing off the wall, swinging off these chandeliers, being all like, yeah! Crazy! God, oh! You know, I mean, maybe that's going to happen. Maybe there's going to be profound moments of dead silence because God wants to sink a truth into our heart. And that's fine, but we are at a prayer meeting. Thank you, Jesus. - Yes. - That's what it felt like. It felt like finally we're home, finally we're at a place that prays. Romans 12 once says, "Therefore, I urge you, "because of the mercy of God, "offer yourselves as living sacrifices, "holy, devoted, for this, "this is the very least of your act of worship." And why is that? It's because an entire generation of God's people missed it. They missed it. Paul says, before that verse, we all know that so well, he says before, "If by their rejection, God brought life, "there was life, how much more by their acceptance? "How much more, compounded in the spirit? "Well, we see a move of God by our acceptance." - Yes. - Yes. - Right? - Yes. - Right? We want to do everything, but no sacrifice. If you want to be transformed in your mind and not be conformed to this world, dude, let's go counterculture in the church. Let's not just show up to things that don't cost us something. Isn't that just a hard cry of our youth? Yeah, we want it all, but no sacrifice? Dude, no more. A life for a life. I agree. Amen to that. And so just, let's be at home. Like if Thursday nights at the time, you got to do it, then do it. Make it happen. Sacrifice. And let's watch God, the God of God bring life in Jesus' name. Amen. (audience applauds) Oh, we got some preachers in the house. Come on, annoying things heavy in this place. So news to say we had a good car ride. So we got Pat sitting next to you, you know? So, man, welcome to church. Let this be the place where our anthem is a life for a life and nothing less. Amen, amen. Jason, why don't you come grab the guitar? Soph, why don't you come up here? We're gonna pray.