Kingdom City Service Overview

Welcome to Kingdom City. We are so happy that you tuned in today. We pray that today's service would mark a significant moment in your life where you encounter God and hopefully meet some family right where you are across the world. You know, we have online watch parties that are happening. you can join the link right now and be part of our online watch party which is a much more interactive experience of doing church together. If you are on our online watch party right now, why don't you post on the chat what you love about being part of this community so that we can see you. celebrate together as a one big global family. We also have church at home gatherings that are happening all across the globe. And I want to give a special shout out to our church at home gathering in Tecumac in Mexico. Look at these incredible people gathering together. Isn't it so cool that we get to do this? Wonderful. You know what? We are streaming live today from Perth, Australia. We've got Pastor Bill Johnson bringing the word. You know it's going to be powerful. Get your hearts ready. God is about to move. But for now, why don't we all stand up to our feet? Come on, let's go. praise and worship our God. Come on, let's go. Calgary City To all, come on, let's get out! That's how good you are That's how good you are I wish you the Lord could stop the game Listen to this, I'll sing. I had such a good yesterday. I'm living it. Praise the Lord. I've been born. I'm training my sorrow for something to sing. I'm dancing on the grave that I once lived in. Goodbye yesterday, I'm living in the light of a new day. There's another minute in my whole life. Oh Lord, I've been born again. Goodbye yesterday, the spirit of the new day. Resurrection in my veins, praise the Lord, I've been born again and again and again and again You rescued me out of the mess I was in, betrayed and messed up, this time that I sing Now I'm dancing on the grave, again and again and again I'm a sinner, betrayed in my sorrow for something I'm still not dancing on the ground I'm a sinner, decided to follow Jesus The world behind the cross before me, I'll turn to follow Jesus, the world behind me falls, I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. Behind the cross before And I won't turn again and again and again and again You're rescuing me out of the mess I was in You traded my sorrow for something to say I'm dancing on the grave but I won't stand You traded my sorrow for something to say I'm dancing on the grave but I won't stand Praise the Lord! I'm dancing on the grave that I once lived in, I'm dancing on the grave, I'm dancing on the grave And now I'm dancing on the grave that I once lived in, I'm dancing on the grave that I once lived in Praise the Lord, I'm born again Let the whole city know that He, Lord of all, King above all, we praise you God in this place. Well, good morning Kingdom City. Good to see everybody. Do we have anybody that came here from Butler today? How about Mandra? Candybell? Wangara and of course Central wherever you're from we hope that you will feel welcome my name is Jemima I'm on team here at Kingdom City and we're gonna worship the Lord in a minute but before we do that we want to pray for your needs just like we do every week at Kingdom City if you've come with something that's bothering you you Something that you need God to answer for you. We want to believe with you. So we're just going to do prayer in our seats today. So if you just want to raise your hands if you need prayer for something. And if someone has their hand up, why don't you begin to lay hands and pray. for them. Come on, we're the prayer team today in every row, and let's just begin to agree with whatever they need. Father God, we just lift up these hands before you. We don't know what it is, but you do. So God, we pray in Jesus'name that you will defend, that you will heal, that you will come through, that you will provide. We break every bondage, we break every curse in the name of Jesus, and we pray people will leave with their miracles today. That today, Lord God, there will be miracles over this. this whole auditorium, Lord God, and open heaven over this place, Lord, that those that don't know you will get to know you by the end, that those are far from you will come close to you, Lord God, that those that are sick will leave healed. In Jesus'name we pray, amen and amen. And right now we want to worship the Lord. We want to worship him. Come on, let's begin to adore him with our mouth. We need to tell him we love him. We love you, Jesus. We lift you up in this place. We glorify you in Jesus'name. Hello, you're with one of we were worth we give us this day. Thank you provider, you've not failed us yet You can come Let your kingdom come, and your will be done, till earth looks like heaven. Let your kingdom come, till your church is with, and your name is extorted. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. And it be done again. This is for you I say, as we forgive others, that He will be near. That's the way home, transition and try. Keep us, keep us from evil, our selfish days are gone. Let your kingdom come Let your kingdom come And your will be done Till earth looks like heaven Let your kingdom come Till your church is one And your name is a tall name Let your kingdom come Let your kingdom come And your will be done Till the books I've given, there's your kingdom come, till your church is one, and your name is exalted, Amen. Amen. Freedom never dies On earth as it is in heaven Yes God, yes God Let it be, let it be On earth as it is in heaven Let it be, let it be On earth as it is in heaven There's no sickness, there's no sickness in heaven, so let it be in this room, Lord. Amen, amen, amen. Yes, God. Yes, God. Let your kingdom come, and your will be done, till earth looks like heaven. Let your kingdom come, seal your churches with it, and your name is exalted. Yes, God. Yes, God. Yes, God. Let heaven come, let heaven come. Yes, God. Yes, God. Until we're in heaven They'll make your name known And then we'll join angels Surrounding your home And now till we meet you My life's final We will give you all glory, and we'll give you all praise. Oh, sing that again. Oh, to where in heaven we will make your name known. Yes, we will. And then we'll join angels that surround God. Oh yes, and that's how we meet, on that final day, we'll give you all glory, we'll give you all praise. Thank you for Lord. Do it again, do it again, do it again, do it again Thankful you have been, thankful you'll be, Lord What you've done before, come into it again, Lord Turn your way, turn your way And follow I love you Lord, for your mercy never fails me, and all my days I've been held in your hand. The moment that I wake up, I cheer up and I sing. Let's sing of the goodness of God you have been faithful. All my life you have been so, so good With every breath that I have made Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God I love your voice, amen You will hear me through the fire In darkest nights You are close like no other I know you Lord I know you as a father I know you Lord I know you as a friend And I have lived in the goodness of God All my life All my life If you have been faithful, it's all so good, with every breath that I am able. Oh, I will sing, I'm a good man, I've been all my life, all my life, you have been faithful, so, so I surrender now, I give you everything Your goodness is running after, it's running after me Oh you see it now Your goodness is running after me I feel it, I feel it, Lord. Your goodness is running after me. It's running after me. My heart lays out a surrender now. I'll forgive you everything Your goodness is running after It's running after me Your goodness is running after It's running after me. Your goodness is running after. It's running after me. When my life lay down, I surrender now. I give you my things. It's your goodness. It's running after. It's running after me. All my life. All my life you have been saved. Don't focus Stay, stay, stay On the good man Jesus, all hail the Jesus, Savior of Jesus. Jesus Come run for the King of kings, let every tongue, come on, confess that he is Lord. Lift up your staff, let us join with all the panthers singing, Holy, hold at every knee, King of kings. So we can stay Your sound, let us join with all the members, sing it, holy, let every need, come bow before the King of Peace, come, join with all the members. We're singing holy, we're singing holy, holy. I can't see it Oh, I can't see it He said Jesus Come on Kingdom City, all over this room, with one heart, with one voice, shift our voice and give God. the praise shout that He deserves, let everything that has breath praise the Lord. We praise You, we magnify You, we celebrate You, we elevate You. You're worthy of our praise, our adoration, our affection, our attention. We give You all our praise, we give You all the glory, we give You all of our worship. In this atmosphere of worship and as an extension of our worship, we're going to take a moment to pray over our tithes and our offerings. These are our regular tithes and offerings that we pray for each week. The giving options are appearing on the screen behind me now. You can also utilize the giving station at the information desk in the foyer before you go. Let's really take a moment to pray over this holy and sacred moment in our service today. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Father, we thank you for every person, every couple, every family. who is faithful and obedient to give. Lord, your word says in Deuteronomy that you have given us the ability to create wealth so we understand that the job we're sitting in now, you opened the door. The investment did well because you breathed over it. The business soared because your hand was on it. Now we return to you the tithe, which is rightfully yours. And we declare Amalekite 310, open heaven over every family that does this today. We declare protection, that you'd rebuke the devourer on our behalf. We declare provision and we declare supernatural peace. At the same time, we speak to what we're about to sow. We say to it, be fruitful, multiply, go where we cannot go, so that more people in Perth and throughout the earth could be reached with the gospel. We declare this. We decree this. We believe this. In Jesus'name and all of Kingdom City said, amen. Amen. Come on, one more time, Kingdom City family. Can we give God all the praise? All the glory, all the honor, we give you praise. We give you praise. Amen, amen. Well, it's amazing to see you in church today for our combined services in the Perth Convention and Exhibition Center. If we haven't met before, I'm Julian, part of the team here. And you can go ahead and take your seat. High five someone on the way down. We're going to take a few moments to welcome anyone who might be new. And you were visiting us this morning. So Connect team, you can take. your stations right now. If you're here today for the first time, your first time joining us at a Kingdom City service, we have a gift for you. That's what you'll see the team holding in their hands right now. In the bags are some information about our church. There's also a card for you to redeem, a free cup of coffee after the service. Now if you're here for the first time, one of these is for you. So in a moment the team out the front are going to move to the back. If you're for the first time, would you be so brave as to give us a wave? Maybe you brought someone to church, a family member, a friend. As the team moves through the aisles and moves through the rows, point them out. And as that happens, the whole room is going to make a whole lot of noise because we are glad that you joined us at church today. So team, you can go ahead and begin to walk. And if that is you, give us a big wave right there, over there, over there, over there, over there. Welcome right there. A whole couple of rows over there. Welcome to church, everyone. I dare say, Kingdom City, we can do a lot better than that. Let's make a whole lot of noise and welcome all of our first-time guests to church. On this side, there's bags going out. Over here, bags going out. Right there, bags going out. We might need to keep the applause going because we're only halfway through the auditorium, and still there's bags going out right there. Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. Now, after the service, we've got an area in our foyer that we call... the Connect Lounge. It's called the Connect Lounge because it's a great place to connect. And before you go, our team would love to get to know you, hear your story over the cup of coffee that you can redeem with the card that's in your bag. So if you don't need a rush off, please come through that Connect Lounge. If for any reason you do need to rush off, there's a code appearing on the screen right now. And if you'd like to connect with us more at Kingdom City, you can scan that, leave us your details, and our team will be in close proximity. contact with you during the week. One more time, can we give it up for everyone who joined us for the first time today? I know we just got you seated, but the Bible does say greet one another. So can we take 30 seconds to stand to our feet and would you find one person that is new to you and say hi before you sit down today. Awesome, awesome, awesome. You can find your seat. Kingdom City, who knows that this is the start of a significant eight days in the life of our church and from today. Today, we're declaring the Perth Convention and Exhibition Center to be the house of God, to be the gate of heaven, to be the tent of meeting, to be holy ground, to be His dwelling place, because who knows that starting on Thursday... is our Kingdom City Conference in Perth. Make some noise if you've already registered, you're pre-planned, you're ready to go. I come bearing good news this morning. It is not too late to register. You can join the 4,400 plus people that have already secured their ticket. Now, if for any reason you're saying, my situation doesn't allow it, are there night tickets? We come bearing more good news today. We are excited to announce the launch of night tickets for conference. So right there, it's appearing. Okay, okay, okay. So an adult night registration, 100, a youth 50, a kids 50. You can do that by heading to the conference booth in the foyer today. Or if you can't wait, you can get that phone out, scan that QR code. It'll take you where you need to go. Now, if you're here today, you're a mathematician, you're an actuary, or you're an ethnic, you've already done the math. in your head about this price point. Now of course, yes, if you're planning on joining us for at least two sessions, it makes complete sense to just get the whole registration. Make some noise if you believe that. It is the start of a significant eight days and we'd love to host you there church. I know most of our church in Perth is going to be there and we'd love to host you there. Now for those with young children in the... auditorium we have a fully equipped family worship auditorium on that side of our foyer that you can utilize at any point in the service we're going to watch this week's edition of kingdom city news and right after that pastor mark will introduce our speaker for today so let's watch Next year we have 12 incredible courses you can pick from. Each of them are world-class teaching and it will change your life. The question is not, are you doing Greenhouse next year? But what are you doing in the Greenhouse next year? And in 2025 we have four brand new, amazing, world-class courses for you to choose from. Faith built. Transform. Heal. Revive. Restore. Strengthen. Bless. Deliver. Hey church, we've been talking about it all year, but it is finally here. This week, Perth Conference 2024. Today, you can pick up your conference wristbands in the foyer. Our first session for conference is starting on Thursday at 1pm with doors open. opening at 12.15. For conference, we'll be in the pavilions downstairs. Adults will be in pavilions four and five, and our Kingdom City kids and the carnival will be in pavilions two and three. We have so much for your child and your teenager. at our conference this year. For our teenagers, we are running Saints Experience. That includes free dinners every night. We're running buses from the hubs. There is reserved seating. There's merch for them. There's a carnival. It's going to be incredible. If you didn't receive the information in an email, you can come and talk to us at the booth after the sessions. For our children, we just had an incredible kids conference in Malaysia, and we don't want your child to miss out. So make sure you come and ask us for the information as well. For those that have already registered their children, you would have gotten an email that gives you all the info. Make sure you come and check in your kids from 12, 15 p.m. at Pavilion 3. Our kids and our youth are going to have the best time ever. Additionally, church, next Sunday, the 6th of October, we have one combined 10 a.m. service with Dr. Michael Maiden. Can you imagine with all of the faith that is in the room what the Lord will do? This next seven days is going to be beyond belief and unforgettable. We'll see you there. And in case you missed it, this is what happened at conference in Malaysia. I'm a child of God. I am a creation of God. Jesus Christ is the answer! And you have a destiny and God has a plan for you! It's a break in the spirit, it'll break in the natural. Breakthrough will show up! We cannot limit the power of our God! When we assume that Christ has been at work in all people before they come, it changes our posture of love towards them. He's about to enlarge your territory! There's a sound of revival. It is a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit. He marked you. He called you. He called you out of darkness into the marvelous light. He called you and then He justified it. You're about to dispossess nations! You're about to kick giants out of your house! Get them out of my house! That's my house! I am gonna change the world! Let the hungry cry out, let the thirsty cry out Way beyond the song, way beyond the sermon, way beyond the conference For more of you, I'm......Joseph K. Thank you for joining us today. There is so much happening in the life of our church. To stay updated, download the Kingdom City app for Android and Apple. There you can join our 24-7 prayer movement, access our latest content, and so much more. You can also subscribe to our YouTube and Spotify accounts to access all the latest sermons and worship from Kingdom City. We pray this service today blesses you and your family. Good morning, Church. Wow. Well, welcome to Church. If you're new, we're especially grateful to have your company. Can you do me a favor? Everybody in Perth, can we welcome everybody online and around the world, all our cities, all our campuses, all our locations, Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and wherever this is landing. Just have faith in your room because he's present everywhere. He's present everywhere. And today it is a delight. It is a joy. It's an honor. We've got an amazing eight days here for all of us in Perth. You saw that snippet of KL. That was a snippet of what happened. And we were all praying in Malaysia for what's about to happen here. And so it's just come with expectation. We're not coming to watch a show. We're not coming to just listen to some speakers. We're here to encounter the living God. So it's not too late if you want to be in the room in Perth. If you're around the world, you want to fly, I'd book you. your ticket now because it's uh it's going to be an incredible week and next sunday for all of us in perth one service everyone say 10 a.m so if you come at 11 you're going to be in the message if you come at nine you'll be just in time for the prayer meeting and uh but 10 a.m in the room but everywhere else around the world i'm glad you're standing with us because today we got the joy and the honor of hearing from the senior pastor senior leader of bethel church in redding pastor bill johnson Wilson. Now, it's been an honor to have him because it's been a bit of a journey to get him here, but we're so grateful to him for all that God has done through Bethel, all that God has done through his life and his pursuit, God, his teaching, his books, some of the healings, the miracles, and just the overflow of what God has done for us. has done that has genuinely, I believe, flavored the wider body of Christ. We're all the beneficiaries, and today it's our honor kingdom city to host him. So let's have hearts wide open, and can we welcome to the platform one of the generals of our generation, Pastor Bill Johnson. Please be seated. I love you too. Thank you. I'd do a group hug, but we'd have injuries and I don't want to cause that problem. Oh, so good to be here. I've been looking forward to this for a long time. We actually, we were working on this B.C. before COVID. And in fact, I was scheduled, I think, right at the beginning of COVID. Then some stupid disease came up and had to cancel everything. But I've been looking forward to it for a long time. I love Pastors Mark and Jemima. I'm so glad for this team, this family. And I've admired them as friends for a long time. See what God's doing all over the world. It's amazing. So good. You guys should be the most encouraged people on the planet. So don't miss your chance. Come on, don't miss your chance. I have always important things to read. A kid came to his dad. He said, that spider bit me. Am I going to be Spider-Man? He said, no, this is Australia. You're going to die. You know, I read that other places people don't laugh, but you guys live with the reality. Actually, I go to Brazil this next week, and I was there, I don't remember, six, eight months ago, something like that, and there was the most deadly scorpion in my hotel room in all of Brazil. And it was, I saw some little thing on, I was back, it was about that big, saw it on the floor at night when I got up to use the restroom, and I thought, what is that? So I just took my shoe and whacked it one. I sent it to meet Jesus. He's receiving his eternal reward. That's on the eighth floor of a hotel. Eighth floor of a hotel. I didn't know scorpions climbed up stairs, but this one did. So anyway, let's see. I have more things that are important to read. It's my wife's birthday tomorrow. She's been leaving jewelry catalogs all over the house. So I bought her a magazine rack. My wife said the other day, you weren't even listening, were you? And I thought, what a strange way to start a conversation. The pastor had dinner at the home of a couple in his church. After he left, the wife said to the husband, I think he stole our spoon. This bothered her for a whole year. A year later, the couple had the pastor for dinner again. Unable to resist, the wife asked, Did you steal our spoon last year? The pastor replied, No, I put it inside your Bible. All right, all right. I love that one. I just love tormenting people, you know. Oh, goodness. I honestly am so encouraged and so thrilled to be here. As a pastor and as one who has been, you know, working with people for a bunch of years, the two biggest concerns I have for the church, I have just gobs of hope and anticipation for great things. I also see people just stumbling over a couple things that really they don't need to stumble over. And one is offense. Not knowing how to handle offense. In fact, I'm offended at how easily you are offended. That was a joke. You should have responded better than that, but it's all right. The whole issue of offense has become so easy. It's almost like a pastime in culture and how easy it is for people to be offended. And it leads to resentment and those kinds of things just contaminate us and affect us so deeply. And living free of that kind of a contamination, that kind of an infection, is really huge. And it's... It's significant that we learn how to monitor on a heart. I don't like being introspective. It doesn't help me at all. I don't know if anybody else. Has anyone ever gone inward and come out encouraged? It's never happened in the history of the earth. So I don't like doing that. But I do like to acknowledge what God is putting his finger on. And so this area is significant for me. I'm not going to talk about it today, but just to throw it out. The other one is... learning how to deal with disappointment. And it's such a significant part of life that I watch people, you know, they just try hard. We just, we try hard, we do our best, and sometimes we actually carry things around. with us that are just unnecessary. Things that just have nagging influences in our life, in our way of thinking, our values, our anticipation. You know, as soon as you have somebody who loses a loved one to a disease, they're not as likely to lay hands on somebody to pray for healing that have that same disease. There's something about it just kind of withdrawing, and it's just not healthy. There are ways that we have to go out at this thing a little bit better. And so that's That's kind of what I want to poke at a little bit here this morning. And so if you would take your Bibles and open to Isaiah chapter 60. We're going to read just one verse out of there. And I'll just kind of give you a little bit of a backdrop. You know, when you serve God, you just have so many different kinds of encounters with the Lord. And every one of them is just, really, is just amazing. Most of them are very, very subtle. You know, it was when Moses saw a burning bush, it says, when he turned aside, the Lord spoke. So oftentimes we walk by things that are phenomenons, but we keep going. We acknowledge, but we don't turn aside. We don't adjust our focus, don't adjust our lifestyle to a... accommodate that which is unusual that God is doing. And it's in the stepping aside that we attract the voice of the Lord. And we're just needing a fresh word today. We're needing, you know, we live because he speaks. And so being able to navigate our life in a way that anticipates and attracts the voice of the Lord is just very, very significant. Many people, I remember... I remember sitting in my home in my recliner and my late wife would be going into the kitchen. She'd say, honey, you want something to eat? I go, yeah, I'm starving. I wasn't starving enough to get out of my recliner, but since she's going to bring it to me, yeah, yeah, I'm just pitiful. I'm just starving. She'd bring me, of course, some food, and we'd laugh. But sometimes our approach to what God has available for us is much like the one sitting in the recliner. God, if you bring it to me, I'll eat and give you thanks. But we don't always. Always have the whatever it is to get up and pursue. And most of what you need in life will be brought to you. That's the way the kingdom works. But most of what you want, you'll have to go get. There's a fight involved in the pursuit. And it's like the baby chick that's in that egg. If you help it and crack the egg, it will actually die because it's in the fight that blood is released to the limbs where it can develop a healthy life. That's the way we are. We are just, it's in the fight. that we actually develop and mature into a next level believer that really has extraordinary impact. So anyway, that's kind of what I want to talk to you about today. I've had, you know, wonderful times where Jesus has touched me. One was rather extreme. I'm not going to talk about that today, but a rather extreme encounter that was a bit terrifying. It was in the middle of the night, lasted all night. And actually, I don't always tell this part of the story, but actually went on. for the next two nights. It was three nights long, this encounter with the Lord. And really what he wanted to know was, because I told him I wanted more of him at any cost, and he showed me what it would cost. He wanted to know if I was serious. And so I, yeah, it was a very, very sobering experience. Sorry, I'm getting drawn. I almost fell into the black hole. You don't ever get out of there. So I'm... I've got to pull out and think of a joke or something. The second was, it was actually in May. It was a Thursday afternoon. It was in May of 1979. I was walking around in the back of the church just praying. And I happened to be reading in Isaiah that particular season of my life, that particular week. And I came to Isaiah 60. And he just began to speak to me out of the chapter. Well, you know, I love the Word of God. I love, I love, I love the Word of God. People tell me, I love Jesus, I just don't love the Bible. I just say, you're stupid. This is Jesus in print. Well, I don't remember what I read. Well, I don't remember what I had for breakfast last Thursday, but it still nourished me. You know what, I fall asleep when I read. Yeah, I never did get mad at my kids when they fell asleep in my arms. So Isaiah 60, I began to read, and the Lord just began to speak to me about what He was doing in the earth and what He's doing in the body of Christ. And it starts with the well-known passage, Arise, shine, for your light has come. The glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Darkness covers the earth, deep darkness the peoples, but his light will appear upon you. His glory will be seen upon you. Imagine that for Kingdom City. His glory will be seen upon you. Kings will come to your light. Nations to the brightness of your rising. It's a very significant portion of... scripture it unfolds even more so throughout the chapter and the lord really really touched my heart and gave me just just kind of a burden and a vision for what he was doing in the earth through through god's people but when i came to verse 18 something just really leapt out at me i i my dad i remember my dad was a a profound worshiper he he taught us what it was to lay our lives down in worship under the lord and and i was so deeply marked by him i remember he did a series out of Ezekiel, ministry of the inner court and the outer court. And I remember, I was, goodness, I must have been 19 years old, maybe 20, and he was teaching this many-week series. And I remember at the end of it, at that time we had two sections in the sanctuary that we were in. And I remember sitting back probably five or six rows right on the outside edge. And I remember right at the end of that message, I just bowed my head and I said, God, I give you the rest of my life to teach me this one thing. what it is to minister to you, to grab hold of that privilege, be one who attends to you at your feet, ministers to you. And it was a personal private covenant that I made. There was no altar call. It was my response to having heard what I believed to be the word of a lifetime. And so anyway, I remember reading through this chapter and having the Lord just speak to me verse after verse. And you know, when he speaks, it's... His presence was released. There's something about the Spirit of God that is released. This is the only book you read that the author shows up while you're reading it. And it's such a glorious experience to have this fellowship with the one who wrote this thing, inspired each word. And so I got to verse 18. It says, violence will no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting or destruction within your borders. And here's the part that really hit me. But you will call your walls salvation. and your gates praise. You will call your walls salvation and your gates praise. The Lord gives us natural illustrations to reveal spiritual truths. He will teach us all kinds of natural things, sowing and reaping, and then he'll teach us about giving. He does, you know, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it can't bear fruit. And so he gives us these natural illustrations to reveal the base level of the nature of the kingdom of God. desire, sorry, I'm going to open a can of worms here, but his desire is to build on the foundation of how his kingdom mirrors natural realities and build upon it until we can understand the parts of his kingdom that have no earthly parallels. His desire is to teach us the natures of his world that has nothing on planet earth to parallel how his world functions. And that's what he's doing with this. He builds us into levels of understanding. Anyway. So here's this passage. He says, your walls will be called salvation and your gates praise. I had done studies in my early years, especially on books of Nehemiah, Ezra, the rebuilding of the walls of the city of Jerusalem. And so I was pondering that when I read this, your walls will be called salvation. And here's what hit me is Your walls will be called salvation. Salvation is what God gives to us. The gates. Praise is what we give to him. That's more significant than you might realize because his focus from day one has been to raise up co-laborers. It's always easier for him to do everything himself. He does everything better than any of us. He can preach better, teach better, heal better. Everything is better. But his heart has been to raise up those who worship by choice, those who are created in his image, to rise up and to take responsibility. in the kingdom to represent him well and to co-labor with him. He actually looks to work through your dream, through your gifting, through your abilities that you yield to him. No progress ever happens in the kingdom without first surrender. We surrender our way into progress. In fact, great faith does not come from striving. It comes from surrender. It comes from yieldedness. Great faith is in your nature as a believer. great faith is in your born again nature we can't create it we can yield to it I can't speed up his process of working in my life I can only slow it down or cooperate so he's designed us to be co-laborers with him and he's glorified in how he delights even in you know how a child will take their first steps and walk across the floor and everybody's cheering because they just took five steps. That's the Father. He doesn't measure us against, you could have walked 20 steps. He measures us with... with the fact we worked hard to walk five. And he celebrates that as a good father. So here we are, co-laborers, we're learning how to surrender. We're learning how to cooperate. We're learning how to hear. We're learning how to respond. So here we've got this verse that emphasizes something that I think is extremely significant from Genesis to Revelation, and that is the issue of co-laboring, that God designed us. Genesis 1, be fruitful, multiply, subdue the earth. He gave... the assignment to Adam and Eve and he's never changed the subject. He's restoring us to that place of fruitful service. So now I said all that just to set up the fact I had this experience with the Lord in December, the first week of December, Saturday night in December of 2020. And I awoke and then I've had him, I've had him wake me up twice by speaking. His voice woke me. So understand I'm not young. So it doesn't happen every week. It's happened twice in my life. But he woke me up with his voice. But this time, it wasn't a voice that I heard. It was a thought that rose up within me, which is very, very unusual for me to have a thought. Very unusual to have a thought that woke me up. And it was a phrase. It was actually a phrase that I woke up. It was going through my mind. So I believe it was the Lord inspiring a thought. So let me just put it. it there. The phrase was this, a walled city without gates is not entirely safe. I mean, that's kind of a strange thought to have in the middle of, I'm sleeping good, doing really well. It's kind of an oddball thought to have come to your mind at any time of the day, but especially in the middle of the night. A walled city without gates is not not entirely safe. So I started pondering all the verses I can remember, just laying in bed, all the verses I can remember about gates. I remember the study I had done years ago on the book of Nehemiah where in In Ezra, they rebuilt the temple, and then they rebuilt the walls and the gates to the city. It's a profound, wonderful, wonderful study. What I remember was that Israel had tried for 72 years to rebuild the walls of the city. And remember, the walls of a city actually represent the safety. The safety, the integrity of the city is held intact by not allowing enemies to come in and plunder and steal and kill. Walls actually represent something that is very, very significant, especially in biblical days. And so I'm just thinking through this. I remembered that Israel had tried for 72 years to rebuild those walls, and they failed. They'd get part of it built during the day, and the enemy would come in and tear it down at night. You've got to imagine 72 years of that constant frustration, and yet they had enough vision and hope. that they would get up again and try again, even though it wasn't working, you know? And so Nehemiah comes along. He's the cupbearer to the king, and he's a Jew himself. He asks about the well-being of his own people and finds out that they've been struggling to rebuild this wall. And he goes to the king, and he asks for permission to lead a company of people back and to actually help rebuild the walls. Well, Nehemiah's name actually means comforter. Holy Spirit actually means comforter. And Nehemiah helped Israel to rebuild these walls in 52 days. They actually succeeded in 52 days. What they couldn't do in a lifetime, they succeeded. at in a season, in one particular season. And for me, that's incredible hope and promise that, you know what, sometimes we just, we try hard because we're sincere. We really want to honor God with it. with whatever we have and we work hard, we try hard. But when the Holy Spirit's not involved, our labor is really in vain. And so Nehemiah comes along and he becomes the strength of the nation. And it's a profound lesson all in itself. I'll let you study it on your own. But I love the story. And I remember the walls of that city being rebuilt. And so now I'm thinking about this concept of the gates and what is the significance. Here it says the gates are praise. I remembered. Again, I'm trying to describe to you, you know, a couple hours of laying in bed in the middle of the night, December of 2020. And I remember thinking about Psalms 24. Psalms 24 says, lift up your heads, O you gates, that the King of glory might enter in. So that helped me to be conscious of the fact that gates are actually about welcoming presence. There's something about the presence of God that is attracted, if you will. to this figurative, this language of a walled city and gates, that the Spirit of God is actually attracted to gates. And here we see that gates are praise. And then I remember Psalms 87, verse 2, is a very unusual verse to me. I remember when I first read it. It says, The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwelling places of Jacob. First of all, he loves the gates, that's important, more than all the other dwelling places. So he actually compares gates with houses. He's comparing gates with a temple. So, I mean, you know, when you think different than he does, we're the ones who have to change, right? And so he's letting us see something about how he views gates that he considers them actually to be dwelling places. And then I remembered that the Bible says that he inhabits our praise. All right, so are you with me? So the gates are praise. Gates attract presence. He calls them dwelling places. And then the Scripture says he actually is. actually inhabits the praises of his people. So it's starting to make sense. It's a thread that goes all the way through Scripture that is starting to connect the dots for me of how this works. Back to the original statement. A walled city without gates is not entirely safe. I just pushed a button. I don't think I'm supposed to push it. So I hope the end of the world doesn't happen, you know. If it does, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. All right. It wasn't on purpose. A walled city without gates is not entirely safe. Obviously, we're not talking about a safety as in, you know, heaven and hell. We're talking about, we were designed to live a certain kind of a lifestyle. And sometimes, sometimes we face things we were never designed to face. We were never supposed to face. Sometimes we make poor decisions. You know, one clear example is David. You know, it says he was on the rooftop and he was looking at Bathsheba. But the Bible says specifically, at a time when kings were out to war, David was home. So when David... didn't go into the war he was designed for. He ended up facing a war he had no grace for. And so it's a great example of what happens when we are misplaced, when we have a better idea. Sometimes we just make decisions. Sometimes they're not immoral decisions as that one was. Sometimes they're just stubborn decisions. I just would rather do this than this opportunity that he's open for me. And what it does is it puts us into a place where we face certain pressures and difficulties that we actually weren't designed for. It doesn't mean that we fall apart. It just means there's a pressure there that I didn't have to face. Does that make any sense to you? There's a pressure there that wasn't designed for me. I forgive me if I'm crossing the line here but I don't, I just don't believe that everything that happens was the will of God you know I hear people say well God's in control really? so he raised up Hitler? I mean, he's in control of whatever he wants to be in control of. He's God. But I'd rather say he's in charge. And every parent should know the difference between being in charge of your household and in control of everything your kids do. And every parent said, Amen. All right. Anyway, I'm off subject. I started to think about this, again, this concept, because there's a, he's describing the co-laboring role of salvation that he provides for me and my responsibility to respond to who he is. So Thanksgiving is my response to the works of God, the acts of God. He heals my body. I respond with thankfulness. He provides for me. I respond with thankfulness. He gives me loyal friends. I respond with thankfulness. Praise is my response to his nature. The works of God point to who he is. And so it's not just, God, I'm giving you thanks for healing my body. I'm honoring you as the healer. You are the healer. It says of Israel, they were acquainted with the works, the acts of God, but Moses was acquainted with his ways. There was a higher level of perception of the nature of God, and he responded to who he was, not just what he did. So, and in thinking and pondering, again I'm trying to take you into the middle of a Saturday night, in pondering this I began to remember this passage out of the book of Revelation, and it's chapter 21, and... in Revelation chapter 21, he gives us this most unusual description of gates. And he says, he's talking about the new Jerusalem. And he says the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each. individual gate was of one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass. So I love Bible language. I love how God describes stuff because he just doesn't always bother to stop and explain himself. He just sometimes just throws it out and he just likes to see what we're going to do with what he just said, you know. And Jesus did that in his most famous sermon, you know, in John chapter 6 when he said, you know, you have to eat my flesh. And people started praying. gagging, you know. And it was like he said, all right, I'll just turn it up a notch. You also have to drink my blood. And he just kept going. And he didn't bother explaining. You know, a good explanation would have helped, you know. Most of us pastors would have made sure everybody's at peace. But Jesus just kind of threw it out and let people deal with it. Because sometimes in our reaction to things we don't like, we discover things about us that we didn't know were in there. And the Lord in his mercy The Lord in his mercy will even delay an answer. Do you remember when Moses was on a mountain and he's with God and he didn't come down at the appointed time and so Israel came to Aaron and said, make a calf? They didn't know idolatry was still in them until there was a delay, and the delay caused something to come to the surface. So the Lord will oftentimes cause a delay to bring to the surface things that we don't know are in us that He knows is in us. never to shame us. It's not to lock me into some horrible lifestyle. It's to help me to see what's there that I didn't know was there, because then it gives me a chance to confess, repent, turn. So in his mercy, he does this stuff for us. And so here's this language that is used in Revelation 21. Your gates, the 12 gates of the city of Jerusalem, each gate is one pearl. Well, that's the most unusual description of a gate ever. And he doesn't bother to explain it, which I like. I like it because in the last, I don't know how many years, at least 10 years, in the last 10 years or so. Mystery has become one of my best friends. Mystery has become one of my best friends. And I'll tell you why. What mystery does, the things for which you have no answer, that's where trust gets proven. And the Lord trusts those who trust him. In the measure, I trust God in the middle of mystery. In that measure, he trusts me with revelation. If I have to have answers for everything before I obey, then I am holding God hostage. to my action. It's illegal. I owe him. He doesn't owe me anything. He never owes me an explanation. He doesn't owe me anything. I am obligated to respond to his voice when he speaks. It doesn't have to make sense to me. It just requires my all. And so here's this unusual description of a city, of the city. is straight all by itself. It's a cube, 1500 by 1500 by 1500. And it's described as a bride coming down out of heaven. I don't know, I've never seen a bride look like that. And if you can picture it, it's perfect structure. It's absolute perfect structure. Which tells me, in the kingdom, structure is supposed to come out of romance. She's a bride. You'll learn more about divine structure when your heart burns for him than any other time. One of the greatest tragedies in the earth right now is the Bible is being taught week after week by people who are not in love. So here's this statement that each gate is a pearl. All right, so let's be practical. We're talking about a city, a walled city without gates is not entirely safe. So there's something that we provide. in this kingdom lifestyle that enhances the safety of not only our individual lives, but our corporate life. There's actually, you can actually step into this family as you've done and step. into a place of blessing and safety just because others have already fought wars on your behalf. Others have already paid a price. And living with the realization of that kind of an inheritance is just profoundly wise for us to acknowledge and to recognize God has actually set the stage for me to succeed by the yes of other people. Now I've got to make sure I add my yes so that others are benefited as well. So here we have this concept. How are pearls formed? We're talking about the gate of praise. How are pearls formed? They're formed out of irritation. They are only formed where there's conflict. And describing the gate of praise as something that is formed in difficulty or conflict is profoundly relevant for us because it helps us to realize the moments that God actually allows to come into our life. And there are moments where I have a choice to make. I can be discouraged, depressed. I can lash out. I can react. I can confess, oh, God never hears me. I can do all kinds of stupid things to a moment that could have been the creating of a gate, a place that actually attracts the glory, actually attracts the presence. It's the daily decisions we do with the challenges, the difficulties that come our way. I enjoy sports. I have my favorite teams. You have yours. I make it a practice to never watch cricket. It's confusing. And I know you don't believe it, but I think you're confused too. I'm teasing. But I enjoy watching sports. And one of the things that happens, I don't know if it happens here often, but it's been happening a lot of late in the U.S., is an athlete, after they win a match or they win a championship, whatever it might be, there seems to always be athletes in the locker room that when they are interviewed about their victory, that they will give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ. They will say, you know, we are of the privileged few that get paid well. to play a sport and I just want to give thanks to the Lord and they and they give him glory and I I love the fact they do that because when I grew up some uh baseball was my my main sport and I knew of one Christian baseball player growing up and one Christian a manager and it was like you know if they were Christians in baseball they were hiding I don't know or they they they they kept it secret but um but I I'm told by a a friend who's a former NFL quarterback that that up to 70% of the National Football League, up to 70% of the players are born again. Extraordinary. It's wonderful what's happening in the world of sports. We've seen it in basketball. We've seen it in baseball. I've got a good friend that was a pitcher, a World Series champion for San Francisco Giants. And there's just so many believers. Very encouraging. So when the interview takes place in the locker room, for them to give thanks to Jesus, I'm happy. Because you've got to do it. to it then. But it's in the loser's locker room who is giving thanks that's actually building a gate. See, it's in disappointment. It doesn't mean there has to be failure and all. It just means in challenging moments and times when we give response to give honor. glory to God, that's actually what is forming something in us that attracts the glory. There isn't anything greater than having just that glory of the Lord attracted to our lives. And it's actually, that thing's formed in loss, in difficulty, in disappointment. I don't think... If I can't trust him in loss, I can't be trusted with gain. If I can't trust him in disappointment, I can't be trusted with fulfilled dreams. If I can't trust him in criticism. I can't be trusted with praise. If I can't trust him in betrayal, I can't be trusted with a measure of loyal friends, covenant friends he wants to put around me. So the point is, is those moments are measurements for us. They're not measurements of success, failure. They're measurements of what measure of glory can this son, can this daughter live under? Because we were designed to live in and to carry the glory of the Lord. We're designed for this. For all have sinned and fallen short of the... glory. We were designed to have this seamless connection between the yielded heart of the believer and the manifest presence, the glory of God resting on the life. So we're being measured every day of our life. What can we carry? Because if it's too much, it will bring fracture to the cracks in my foundation. And the Lord wants those healed before he increases that measure of glory. So he's measuring us constantly. So here is this. Here's this challenge. My wife died in July of 2022, July 13th, 6.58 p.m. to be exact. My kids, many of my grandkids, family members were in her room that evening. We had been there, you know, for a while because she had just slowly was going downhill so fast. I remember we'd each take turns, you know, sitting on the bed next to her, holding her hand, and we're just praying, we're worshiping, we're praying, we're singing, we're just being with her and with the Lord. And I... I actually had spent like 15 months just at her side, almost day and night. I would just make sure that I was always with her. And my staff is so kind. They worked hard to cover my bases so I could be with her, and I would work from home and just take care of her. And she breathed her last. Never forget it. And in that moment, I said, see, here's a moment. that you only have once. So I put my hands up and just began to give God thanks and give him honor and praise for always being the healer. See, his identity didn't change when my wife wife died. His promises weren't removed when my wife died. He didn't somehow change personality or change his covenant with me. You say, well, why did she die then? I don't know, but I actually don't need to know. I have no need to know. I don't need an explanation. He doesn't owe me an explanation. If he gives me one, that's awesome, because I love when he talks to me. I love when he reveals things to me. I love it so much. It's one of my favorite things in life, is when he opens up mystery, and I get to see things I never saw before. I love that, but he doesn't owe that to me. I owe him a response to his nature that remains the same. The scripture says he is good. Therefore, he is good. He is not good. He is not good because he fits my definition of goodness. He's good because the Bible says he is. And what I have found, see, I'm unwilling to sacrifice what I know about the goodness of God on the altar of human reasoning so that I have an explanation for an unanswered prayer. I don't need an explanation. All I need to know, he's with me, and what do you want me to do next? Is this the continued season for mourning? Then I'm going to mourn well. If you mourn with hope, it takes you to the comforter. If you mourn without hope, it takes you to unbelief. We don't get to choose whether or not we mourn. in life. All of us face loss and grief. We get to choose on whether or not it's going to be with hope. Hope takes me to the comfort. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. The Holy Spirit comes to comfort to soothe. soothe the heart of the one who is mourning with hope. Without hope, though, you're like the disciples who heard Jesus was resurrected from the dead, and they did not believe all the reports that came to them. They didn't believe one of them. Because they were mourning, but they were mourning without hope. So my wife died, and the response is to give him honor, to give him praise, regardless of how I feel. I don't want to minimize the need for weeping, the need for grief, the need for all that stuff. I didn't treat it lightly in my personal life. I don't want to create that picture for you, because it was a very serious matter. But I'll tell you, there's healing. There's healing in community. There's healing in the word. There's healing in the presence. And there's healing in the awareness of heaven. The consciousness of eternity does more to heal a fractured heart and loss than just about anything else I can think of. Jesus lived conscious of heaven. Actually, John 3 tells us how he lived from heaven towards earth. He said, if I talk to you about earthly things, you don't get it. How are you going to ever understand if I talk to you about heavenly things? And then it says, the Son of Man who is in heaven. It describes him as dwelling in heaven. Paul called it being seated in Christ. The theological term is seated in heavenly places. Excuse me. I'm sorry. I'm moving way ahead of the story. Let me back up. I need to. I need to land this plane, so sometimes I just fly into the side of a mountain. I just let you find your way home. You'll live. My favorite restaurant in the world is, I tell people, and it's only half joking, I tell people when I travel, I say, listen, I'm here to eat. If you want to have meetings in between the meals, that's fine, but I'm here to eat. Had a great meal last night, it was so fun. But my favorite restaurant in the world is a restaurant called French Laundry in Napa Valley. And I remember, I've had the privilege of going there a number of times through the years, and I remember my first time. My wife and I were with another couple, and this is a really hard table to get. It's a very expensive meal, and I had only heard about it. So anyway, we sat down to eat, the four of us. And the second course, it's like nine courses. And they're all small, and you think it's impossible to get full, but it's not. You know, you get that many layers to a meal boy. So anyway, they bring out this dish. And there's a sauce, and in the sauce are two things that I, I can't say the word hate. I don't like. I no like. And I look, and so forgive me if these are your favorite things, but caviar and oysters with the sauce. And I'm looking at those two things. I turned to my wife and said, honey, I'm paying too much money for this meal to not at least try this. So I felt like I had an obligation, you know. And so I took my spoon. and I took some caviar, oyster, some of the sauce. I put it in my mouth. Do you remember in the Bible where Jonathan ate the honey and it says his eyes brightened? That's what happened to me. It was like, I have seen Jesus. It was ridiculously good. And I turned to my wife, I said, honey, I want a chili bowl full of this stuff. This is so good. Now it's like one of my favorite things to eat ever. It's amazing when God takes the parts of your life that you hate, that you wish never happened, And the master chef starts working his gift to put it together. See, it's the reason you can give him praise ahead of time. Because he said... All things. The good, the bad, the ugly. The embarrassing parts. The shameful parts. All the parts. He takes all things worked together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. puts it together. It's hard to imagine, I know, but he puts it together in such a way that you would not trade a thing. Because of God's redemptive power to take this broken situation, this broken relationship, this broken whatever, and when he begins to work with it, so now there's these verses that mean absolutely the world to me. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks. I remember as a young pastor thinking, I could spend every day the rest of my life on those three verses and no others and I would still have a full-time job. Rejoice always. See, rejoicing always is the key to emotional health. Prayer without ceasing. That's the key to spiritual health, staying connected to the presence. And everything give thanks. That's the key to mental health. Those verses are not even necessary if everything works the way we think it should. When he says, he gives us the promise, all things work together for good. That verse is the most useless verse in the Bible. If every prayer I pray gets answered the way I think it should be answered. It's only necessary because sometimes there's extraordinary breakthrough and I give him praise. And sometimes I have the responsibility of enduring. Faith brings answers, but enduring faith brings answers with character. Let's stand. I believe that, um... I've shared this, oh goodness, so many times in the last year. I have almost been embarrassed for how many times it comes, this message comes to mind, these concepts come to mind. But I have, I do carry a heart for just the well-being of the people of God, and I love to see, I love to see, even in the middle of difficulty, that bottom line trust, you know. I don't know. how it's going to work out. I just know it will. He's so faithful. He's so good. And having that response to him is just vital for every one of us. But I also am aware just by the law of averages don't even have to be be prophetic to pick this up, just by the law of averages, how many people in this room have gone through what I described as loss or grieving, mourning, maybe a broken marriage, could be a death of a loved one, could be a business that went bankrupt. I mean, we've all experienced stuff. But for some of you, it's been almost like you've got this corpse, you know, tethered, tied to your leg. And everywhere you go, you drag this thing along. And I just believe the Lord wants to sever it. I just feel like the Lord is going to make it possible today for a lot of people that thought you were just stuck with that way of life. That's just your lot in life. And you've served him faithful. You've loved him well. But I'm here to tell you it's not necessary. to drag the corpse of that failed whatever with you throughout life. It's not necessary. It's not needed to keep you humble. We become humble as we yield ourselves to him and see his goodness and his greatness. So here's what I want to do. We're going to pray for each other. And I just want to ask the question. When I talk today, did it occur to you that you may be dragging one of those corpses along throughout your life and you'd like for it to end today? because I believe today it can end. That way of thinking, that way of living can actually end it. So it's what I'm asking. If that's you, if that makes sense to you and you really want this to be the end of that part of your life, that there'd be a fresh, fresh start today, then I'm gonna ask you to put a hand up because we're gonna pray for you. And don't be shy, don't be shy. This is the moment where we stand in front of our brothers and sisters and we just say, you know what? I need help and I want this. to end today. Look around you. You've got people with their hands up all around you. I want you to go to them. I want you to go to them. I want you to lay hands on them and I want you to pray. And I want you to pray out loud. Don't do this quiet in the heart stuff. I want you to pray out loud and pray, Lord, let this be the last day where they carry this thing throughout their life. I want to hear you pray aggressively, declare the promises of the Lord over these friends. These are family members now. The promise of the Lord that a spirit spirit of breakthrough would come upon them. I want you to make these decrees. A spirit of breakthrough would come upon them, that the Lord would sever the attachment to any unhealthy mourning that they've had in their life, regardless of how sincere their attempts are to honor the Lord. We just declare it is unnecessary, and this ends today. Yep, just declare that this ends today. In the mercy of God. God, this cycle of carrying unnecessary grief and burden, this ends today. We declare this in Jesus'mighty name. In Jesus'mighty name. Now, I want someone, as you're praying for these people, it's a prophetic act, it's a symbolic act, but I want you to, it's like there's something on their shoulder. I want someone in the group to lift it off and just, as you do, just declare, this ends today. release you in the name of the Lord. This ends today in Jesus'name. Now, can we just lift our voices together and let's honor the Lord. Let's honor the Lord. We bless your name. We exalt your name. We boast in you, God. Praise to the Lord, to the King, to the King of Heaven, praise for He rose. Now hear what He says, oh we will sing forever, now we sing praise to the Lord, to the Lord. To the King of heaven rest. For He holds now the earth. A traditional praise. We will sing for them. We sing praise. In every season, good as that. To the Lord. To the King. A thousand hearts beat, just a one beat, this song is forever yours Even as we pray, even as there's weights lifting off people's lives, all things work together for good to them that love the Lord. You've seen that verse, you've led me through the fire, in darkest times you are close like no other. You know, I want us to... Give worship to the Lord in every location right now, right here in Perth. Aware that even if you're in the middle of the fire, even if you're in the middle of a storm, your God is with you. The Lord is your shepherd. You shall not want. And He's walking you through. All things truly work together for good. Today, we sever... any other attachment that would hold you back. For God is able. He's able to do exceedingly abundantly above. So even as the team begin to lead us in this song, as we sing this, I want you to begin to worship Him. Let tears roll down your face. Let hands be raised to heaven. Right across Australia, Asia, wherever you are, in Africa, Europe, Asia, He's led you through the fire. You've known Him as a Father. You've known Him as a friend. He's been faithful from the day He began to work in you. Oh, I love your voice. You have led me through the fire. In darkest nights, you are close like no other. I know you as a Father. What's up, man? What's up? And the good in it is so, so good. What's up? He's running after me, in every auditorium, he's running after me. He's a good God and he does the change. Your goodness is running after me. He's running after me. When my life fades down, I surrender now. I give you hell. You're doing this and running out, running out of me All my life you have been faithful Come on and be speaking All that you have So, so good, with every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God. I will sing of the goodness of God. Over this place, would you bow your heads and close your eyes, the presence of God is here. The Word of God says that there is no foundation other than that which has already been laid, which is Jesus Christ. Giving your life to Him, making a decision to follow Jesus Christ, is the first foundational building block. in these walls of salvation and these gates of praise. And across this room, if you know today that you need to get your life right with God, this is that moment. Speaking to people who might be here for the first time, might have walked into church for the first time in a long time. If you're in our service today, and if you were to pass from this life to the next, You don't know with certainty where you'll spend eternity. This moment is for you. God loves you. He's got a plan for your life. He wants to know you. Making a decision to follow Jesus, this is the greatest decision that you could ever make. And so in a moment, we're going to lead us all in a prayer. Simple prayer, but a powerful prayer. A prayer that confesses our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 10 9 it says confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved this is our confident hope this is our confident assurance. In a moment we'll pray, but so I know who I'm praying for, here's what we'll do. All over this room, every head bowed, every eye closed, every believer praying. If you're here today and you don't know with certainty where you'll spend eternity, if you were to move from this life to the next, this moment is for you. So in a moment we'll count down from three, and this is so I know who I'm praying for. We'll count down from three. As we get to one, if you'd like to be included in this prayer, that we're going to pray in a moment anyway. As we get to one, would you be so bold and brave as to do these two things? Open up your eyes and throw a hand up nice and high in the air so I can see it. Boldly and confidently, throw a hand in the air. I'll acknowledge your hand. I'll invite you to put it right back down again. Just want to know who I'm praying for today. But believers, would you fill the atmosphere with faith this morning? Because the lost are coming home. The prodigals are coming home. The people of God are coming. And if you're here today. And you don't know with certainty where you'll spend eternity. This moment is for you. God loves you. He's got a plan for your life. He wants to know you. He wants to set you free from that fear, from that shame, from that insecurity. He wants to hold you and hold your life in the palm of His hand. If you're here today, you don't know God, but you're ready to give your life to Him. You're ready to follow Him. Maybe there's prodigals coming home today. This is for you. I'm going to count down now. If you know God is speaking to you, as we get to one, would you raise a hand in three, two, one. Go ahead all over this room. God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there. There, there, there. God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there. Who else today? You're coming home. You're coming home. You're ready to get your life right with God. Who else today? Give me a wave where you are. Right there in the middle. God bless you there. God bless you there. sister towards this side. My friend, I see you there. God bless you. You don't need to wait for another countdown right there. God bless you. Just give me a wave where you are. God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there. Oh, come on. All of heaven rejoices this morning because what was lost has now been found. Amen. You know, we're going to do something special this morning and, you know, sometimes we have services where a large number of people respond. And so this is what we're going to do this morning on this significant day when all of our... This is in Perth, they're gathered in one place with one accord. In a moment, I'd love to invite those that raised their hand to do something really brave. And that is to, in a moment, slip out of your seat and make your way to the front of this auditorium, which we call the altar. I'm going to explain why we're about to do what we're about to do because a large number of people have responded we're going to do this but let me explain why number one here at Kingdom City we believe this is the greatest decision that anyone could ever make and so more than leading in a prayer, which is the most powerful thing. We want to introduce you to some great people that are going to help you on this journey of faith. And we want to equip you by putting a Bible in your hands right now this morning. And number two, and this is really the most important reason, is before you ever walked for God, Jesus Christ, He walked for you. He walked up a hill called Calvary, carrying a cross on His back. And I believe as you walk, you're going to experience the manifest presence of God. The presence of God is everywhere, but I believe you're going to experience the manifest presence of God. manifest presence of God is going to touch your life. Different things that bound you will be broken off. The fear of man will be broken off. So there's already people coming. So church family, can we give it up for these amazing people who are coming down now? They're coming down. God bless you, God bless you, God bless you. You know, as people walk, there's something wonderful happening at this altar. We don't want you to do this alone either, so we're going to activate the church family right now. There are a number of people... out there that raised their hand. Could you do me a favor, church, and just turn to the person on the left of you and the right of you and ask them, do you need to make this decision today? Did you raise your hand today? Because if you did or if you do, I'll walk to the front with you. Can you go ahead and ask them on all sides? did you raise your hand? did you want to raise your hand? because if you did or if you do I'll walk to the front with you and once they've said yes just grab their hand just begin to come come on there's people coming down the rows and down the aisles come on all of heaven rejoices this morning this family here right here God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you there right from the back God bless you all. You know, we're going to lead you in this prayer now. The one that we talked about, there's people coming. God bless you, young man. God bless you, young ladies. Congratulations. Welcome to the family of God. We've got a gift for you. We're putting that in your hand right now. You can still come. You can come guys. You can come if this is you. You know you need to get your life right with God. Just come right here. I'm seeing people walking in the middle section right here. God bless you guys. Let's make some space for them as well as they come. God bless you guys. You can come straight through. Come straight through. You can feel this front area here. God bless you. God bless you. Right there. If there's anyone else, you can just come. Just grab the hand of the person next to you and begin to walk to the front of the altar. Right here, if you can come. Congratulations, guys. Welcome to the family of God. We're so proud of you. And I'm going to lead you in that prayer now, that prayer that we talked about. So I'm going to invite every person that is out the front, alongside our team. Would you place a hand on your heart? And church, would you stretch your hands out? to these amazing people as we pray for them and just say these words as one family let's pray this prayer together say dear Lord Jesus I thank you for your love I thank you for your mercy I thank you for your kindness for me forgive me of my sin turn my life around I want to be in relationship with you I welcome you into my heart to be my Lord, to be my Savior, to be my friend. I want to live for you all the days of my life. I believe that you're the Son of God. I believe that you died. I believe that you rose again. And today I confess that you are Lord of my life. In Jesus'name. And the church said, Amen. Amen. Come on. Kingdom City, can we give Him glory? screen. We want to get resources to you. One of our team members will call you and just do this journey of life together with you. In fact, we have connect groups happening this week as well. And you've never tried being part of a closer community of people. Why don't you give it a shot? We have a connect group in every time zone and there is a connect group that is perfect for you. You know, before you log in, Log off today. We also want to be a part of blessing Pastor Bill Johnson's ministry. We hope that you were blessed by the word, but we want to actually sow into his ministry, into all that God is doing through him. So if you want to be a part of that, there is a link on your screen and we would love for you... to give as you feel led so that we can see the kingdom of God spread out across the earth. We hope you enjoyed the service today. Our Perth conference is happening this week. So hey, if you want to make a last minute decision to jump on a plane and get to our Perth conference, I believe there are tickets still available. We would love to see you there. Otherwise, have an incredible week, church. We can't wait to see you soon. God bless.

If you are on our online watch party right now, why don't you post on the chat what you love about being part of this community so that we can see you. celebrate together as a one big global family. We also have church at home gatherings that are happening all across the globe.

And I want to give a special shout out to our church at home gathering in Tecumac in Mexico. Look at these incredible people gathering together. Isn't it so cool that we get to do this? Wonderful.

You know what? We are streaming live today from Perth, Australia. We've got Pastor Bill Johnson bringing the word. You know it's going to be powerful.

Get your hearts ready. God is about to move. But for now, why don't we all stand up to our feet? Come on, let's go.

praise and worship our God. Come on, let's go. Calgary City To all, come on, let's get out! That's how good you are That's how good you are I wish you the Lord could stop the game Listen to this, I'll sing. I had such a good yesterday.

I'm living it. Praise the Lord. I've been born. I'm training my sorrow for something to sing. I'm dancing on the grave that I once lived in.

Goodbye yesterday, I'm living in the light of a new day. There's another minute in my whole life. Oh Lord, I've been born again. Goodbye yesterday, the spirit of the new day. Resurrection in my veins, praise the Lord, I've been born again and again and again and again You rescued me out of the mess I was in, betrayed and messed up, this time that I sing Now I'm dancing on the grave, again and again and again I'm a sinner, betrayed in my sorrow for something I'm still not dancing on the ground I'm a sinner, decided to follow Jesus The world behind the cross before me, I'll turn to follow Jesus, the world behind me falls, I have decided to follow Jesus.

I have decided to follow Jesus. Behind the cross before And I won't turn again and again and again and again You're rescuing me out of the mess I was in You traded my sorrow for something to say I'm dancing on the grave but I won't stand You traded my sorrow for something to say I'm dancing on the grave but I won't stand Praise the Lord! I'm dancing on the grave that I once lived in, I'm dancing on the grave, I'm dancing on the grave And now I'm dancing on the grave that I once lived in, I'm dancing on the grave that I once lived in Praise the Lord, I'm born again Let the whole city know that He, Lord of all, King above all, we praise you God in this place. Well, good morning Kingdom City.

Good to see everybody. Do we have anybody that came here from Butler today? How about Mandra?

Candybell? Wangara and of course Central wherever you're from we hope that you will feel welcome my name is Jemima I'm on team here at Kingdom City and we're gonna worship the Lord in a minute but before we do that we want to pray for your needs just like we do every week at Kingdom City if you've come with something that's bothering you you Something that you need God to answer for you. We want to believe with you. So we're just going to do prayer in our seats today.

So if you just want to raise your hands if you need prayer for something. And if someone has their hand up, why don't you begin to lay hands and pray. for them. Come on, we're the prayer team today in every row, and let's just begin to agree with whatever they need. Father God, we just lift up these hands before you.

We don't know what it is, but you do. So God, we pray in Jesus'name that you will defend, that you will heal, that you will come through, that you will provide. We break every bondage, we break every curse in the name of Jesus, and we pray people will leave with their miracles today. That today, Lord God, there will be miracles over this.

this whole auditorium, Lord God, and open heaven over this place, Lord, that those that don't know you will get to know you by the end, that those are far from you will come close to you, Lord God, that those that are sick will leave healed. In Jesus'name we pray, amen and amen. And right now we want to worship the Lord.

We want to worship him. Come on, let's begin to adore him with our mouth. We need to tell him we love him. We love you, Jesus.

We lift you up in this place. We glorify you in Jesus'name. Hello, you're with one of we were worth we give us this day. Thank you provider, you've not failed us yet You can come Let your kingdom come, and your will be done, till earth looks like heaven. Let your kingdom come, till your church is with, and your name is extorted.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

And it be done again. This is for you I say, as we forgive others, that He will be near. That's the way home, transition and try.

Keep us, keep us from evil, our selfish days are gone. Let your kingdom come Let your kingdom come And your will be done Till earth looks like heaven Let your kingdom come Till your church is one And your name is a tall name Let your kingdom come Let your kingdom come And your will be done Till the books I've given, there's your kingdom come, till your church is one, and your name is exalted, Amen. Amen.

Freedom never dies On earth as it is in heaven Yes God, yes God Let it be, let it be On earth as it is in heaven Let it be, let it be On earth as it is in heaven There's no sickness, there's no sickness in heaven, so let it be in this room, Lord. Amen, amen, amen. Yes, God.

Yes, God. Let your kingdom come, and your will be done, till earth looks like heaven. Let your kingdom come, seal your churches with it, and your name is exalted. Yes, God.

Yes, God. Yes, God. Let heaven come, let heaven come.

Yes, God. Yes, God. Until we're in heaven They'll make your name known And then we'll join angels Surrounding your home And now till we meet you My life's final We will give you all glory, and we'll give you all praise.

Oh, sing that again. Oh, to where in heaven we will make your name known. Yes, we will.

And then we'll join angels that surround God. Oh yes, and that's how we meet, on that final day, we'll give you all glory, we'll give you all praise. Thank you for Lord.

Do it again, do it again, do it again, do it again Thankful you have been, thankful you'll be, Lord What you've done before, come into it again, Lord Turn your way, turn your way And follow I love you Lord, for your mercy never fails me, and all my days I've been held in your hand. The moment that I wake up, I cheer up and I sing. Let's sing of the goodness of God you have been faithful.

All my life you have been so, so good With every breath that I have made Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God I love your voice, amen You will hear me through the fire In darkest nights You are close like no other I know you Lord I know you as a father I know you Lord I know you as a friend And I have lived in the goodness of God All my life All my life If you have been faithful, it's all so good, with every breath that I am able. Oh, I will sing, I'm a good man, I've been all my life, all my life, you have been faithful, so, so I surrender now, I give you everything Your goodness is running after, it's running after me Oh you see it now Your goodness is running after me I feel it, I feel it, Lord. Your goodness is running after me.

It's running after me. My heart lays out a surrender now. I'll forgive you everything Your goodness is running after It's running after me Your goodness is running after It's running after me.

Your goodness is running after. It's running after me. When my life lay down, I surrender now.

I give you my things. It's your goodness. It's running after.

It's running after me. All my life. All my life you have been saved.

Don't focus Stay, stay, stay On the good man Jesus, all hail the Jesus, Savior of Jesus. Jesus Come run for the King of kings, let every tongue, come on, confess that he is Lord. Lift up your staff, let us join with all the panthers singing, Holy, hold at every knee, King of kings. So we can stay Your sound, let us join with all the members, sing it, holy, let every need, come bow before the King of Peace, come, join with all the members. We're singing holy, we're singing holy, holy.

I can't see it Oh, I can't see it He said Jesus Come on Kingdom City, all over this room, with one heart, with one voice, shift our voice and give God. the praise shout that He deserves, let everything that has breath praise the Lord. We praise You, we magnify You, we celebrate You, we elevate You. You're worthy of our praise, our adoration, our affection, our attention.

We give You all our praise, we give You all the glory, we give You all of our worship. In this atmosphere of worship and as an extension of our worship, we're going to take a moment to pray over our tithes and our offerings. These are our regular tithes and offerings that we pray for each week. The giving options are appearing on the screen behind me now.

You can also utilize the giving station at the information desk in the foyer before you go. Let's really take a moment to pray over this holy and sacred moment in our service today. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Father, we thank you for every person, every couple, every family. who is faithful and obedient to give.

Lord, your word says in Deuteronomy that you have given us the ability to create wealth so we understand that the job we're sitting in now, you opened the door. The investment did well because you breathed over it. The business soared because your hand was on it. Now we return to you the tithe, which is rightfully yours. And we declare Amalekite 310, open heaven over every family that does this today.

We declare protection, that you'd rebuke the devourer on our behalf. We declare provision and we declare supernatural peace. At the same time, we speak to what we're about to sow.

We say to it, be fruitful, multiply, go where we cannot go, so that more people in Perth and throughout the earth could be reached with the gospel. We declare this. We decree this. We believe this. In Jesus'name and all of Kingdom City said, amen.

Amen. Come on, one more time, Kingdom City family. Can we give God all the praise? All the glory, all the honor, we give you praise. We give you praise.

Amen, amen. Well, it's amazing to see you in church today for our combined services in the Perth Convention and Exhibition Center. If we haven't met before, I'm Julian, part of the team here. And you can go ahead and take your seat. High five someone on the way down.

We're going to take a few moments to welcome anyone who might be new. And you were visiting us this morning. So Connect team, you can take.

your stations right now. If you're here today for the first time, your first time joining us at a Kingdom City service, we have a gift for you. That's what you'll see the team holding in their hands right now.

In the bags are some information about our church. There's also a card for you to redeem, a free cup of coffee after the service. Now if you're here for the first time, one of these is for you. So in a moment the team out the front are going to move to the back. If you're for the first time, would you be so brave as to give us a wave?

Maybe you brought someone to church, a family member, a friend. As the team moves through the aisles and moves through the rows, point them out. And as that happens, the whole room is going to make a whole lot of noise because we are glad that you joined us at church today. So team, you can go ahead and begin to walk. And if that is you, give us a big wave right there, over there, over there, over there, over there.

Welcome right there. A whole couple of rows over there. Welcome to church, everyone.

I dare say, Kingdom City, we can do a lot better than that. Let's make a whole lot of noise and welcome all of our first-time guests to church. On this side, there's bags going out. Over here, bags going out. Right there, bags going out.

We might need to keep the applause going because we're only halfway through the auditorium, and still there's bags going out right there. Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. Now, after the service, we've got an area in our foyer that we call... the Connect Lounge. It's called the Connect Lounge because it's a great place to connect.

And before you go, our team would love to get to know you, hear your story over the cup of coffee that you can redeem with the card that's in your bag. So if you don't need a rush off, please come through that Connect Lounge. If for any reason you do need to rush off, there's a code appearing on the screen right now.

And if you'd like to connect with us more at Kingdom City, you can scan that, leave us your details, and our team will be in close proximity. contact with you during the week. One more time, can we give it up for everyone who joined us for the first time today?

I know we just got you seated, but the Bible does say greet one another. So can we take 30 seconds to stand to our feet and would you find one person that is new to you and say hi before you sit down today. Awesome, awesome, awesome. You can find your seat. Kingdom City, who knows that this is the start of a significant eight days in the life of our church and from today.

Today, we're declaring the Perth Convention and Exhibition Center to be the house of God, to be the gate of heaven, to be the tent of meeting, to be holy ground, to be His dwelling place, because who knows that starting on Thursday... is our Kingdom City Conference in Perth. Make some noise if you've already registered, you're pre-planned, you're ready to go. I come bearing good news this morning.

It is not too late to register. You can join the 4,400 plus people that have already secured their ticket. Now, if for any reason you're saying, my situation doesn't allow it, are there night tickets? We come bearing more good news today. We are excited to announce the launch of night tickets for conference.

So right there, it's appearing. Okay, okay, okay. So an adult night registration, 100, a youth 50, a kids 50. You can do that by heading to the conference booth in the foyer today.

Or if you can't wait, you can get that phone out, scan that QR code. It'll take you where you need to go. Now, if you're here today, you're a mathematician, you're an actuary, or you're an ethnic, you've already done the math.

in your head about this price point. Now of course, yes, if you're planning on joining us for at least two sessions, it makes complete sense to just get the whole registration. Make some noise if you believe that. It is the start of a significant eight days and we'd love to host you there church. I know most of our church in Perth is going to be there and we'd love to host you there.

Now for those with young children in the... auditorium we have a fully equipped family worship auditorium on that side of our foyer that you can utilize at any point in the service we're going to watch this week's edition of kingdom city news and right after that pastor mark will introduce our speaker for today so let's watch Next year we have 12 incredible courses you can pick from. Each of them are world-class teaching and it will change your life. The question is not, are you doing Greenhouse next year?

But what are you doing in the Greenhouse next year? And in 2025 we have four brand new, amazing, world-class courses for you to choose from. Faith built. Transform.

Heal. Revive. Restore.

Strengthen. Bless. Deliver.

Hey church, we've been talking about it all year, but it is finally here. This week, Perth Conference 2024. Today, you can pick up your conference wristbands in the foyer. Our first session for conference is starting on Thursday at 1pm with doors open.

opening at 12.15. For conference, we'll be in the pavilions downstairs. Adults will be in pavilions four and five, and our Kingdom City kids and the carnival will be in pavilions two and three.

We have so much for your child and your teenager. at our conference this year. For our teenagers, we are running Saints Experience.

That includes free dinners every night. We're running buses from the hubs. There is reserved seating. There's merch for them. There's a carnival.

It's going to be incredible. If you didn't receive the information in an email, you can come and talk to us at the booth after the sessions. For our children, we just had an incredible kids conference in Malaysia, and we don't want your child to miss out.

So make sure you come and ask us for the information as well. For those that have already registered their children, you would have gotten an email that gives you all the info. Make sure you come and check in your kids from 12, 15 p.m.

at Pavilion 3. Our kids and our youth are going to have the best time ever. Additionally, church, next Sunday, the 6th of October, we have one combined 10 a.m. service with Dr. Michael Maiden. Can you imagine with all of the faith that is in the room what the Lord will do?

This next seven days is going to be beyond belief and unforgettable. We'll see you there. And in case you missed it, this is what happened at conference in Malaysia. I'm a child of God. I am a creation of God.

Jesus Christ is the answer! And you have a destiny and God has a plan for you! It's a break in the spirit, it'll break in the natural.

Breakthrough will show up! We cannot limit the power of our God! When we assume that Christ has been at work in all people before they come, it changes our posture of love towards them. He's about to enlarge your territory! There's a sound of revival.

It is a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit. He marked you. He called you.

He called you out of darkness into the marvelous light. He called you and then He justified it. You're about to dispossess nations!

You're about to kick giants out of your house! Get them out of my house! That's my house!

I am gonna change the world! Let the hungry cry out, let the thirsty cry out Way beyond the song, way beyond the sermon, way beyond the conference For more of you, I'm......Joseph K. Thank you for joining us today. There is so much happening in the life of our church. To stay updated, download the Kingdom City app for Android and Apple.

There you can join our 24-7 prayer movement, access our latest content, and so much more. You can also subscribe to our YouTube and Spotify accounts to access all the latest sermons and worship from Kingdom City. We pray this service today blesses you and your family.

Good morning, Church. Wow. Well, welcome to Church.

If you're new, we're especially grateful to have your company. Can you do me a favor? Everybody in Perth, can we welcome everybody online and around the world, all our cities, all our campuses, all our locations, Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and wherever this is landing.

Just have faith in your room because he's present everywhere. He's present everywhere. And today it is a delight. It is a joy.

It's an honor. We've got an amazing eight days here for all of us in Perth. You saw that snippet of KL.

That was a snippet of what happened. And we were all praying in Malaysia for what's about to happen here. And so it's just come with expectation. We're not coming to watch a show. We're not coming to just listen to some speakers.

We're here to encounter the living God. So it's not too late if you want to be in the room in Perth. If you're around the world, you want to fly, I'd book you. your ticket now because it's uh it's going to be an incredible week and next sunday for all of us in perth one service everyone say 10 a.m so if you come at 11 you're going to be in the message if you come at nine you'll be just in time for the prayer meeting and uh but 10 a.m in the room but everywhere else around the world i'm glad you're standing with us because today we got the joy and the honor of hearing from the senior pastor senior leader of bethel church in redding pastor bill johnson Wilson.

Now, it's been an honor to have him because it's been a bit of a journey to get him here, but we're so grateful to him for all that God has done through Bethel, all that God has done through his life and his pursuit, God, his teaching, his books, some of the healings, the miracles, and just the overflow of what God has done for us. has done that has genuinely, I believe, flavored the wider body of Christ. We're all the beneficiaries, and today it's our honor kingdom city to host him. So let's have hearts wide open, and can we welcome to the platform one of the generals of our generation, Pastor Bill Johnson.

Please be seated. I love you too. Thank you.

I'd do a group hug, but we'd have injuries and I don't want to cause that problem. Oh, so good to be here. I've been looking forward to this for a long time.

We actually, we were working on this B.C. before COVID. And in fact, I was scheduled, I think, right at the beginning of COVID.

Then some stupid disease came up and had to cancel everything. But I've been looking forward to it for a long time. I love Pastors Mark and Jemima. I'm so glad for this team, this family.

And I've admired them as friends for a long time. See what God's doing all over the world. It's amazing.

So good. You guys should be the most encouraged people on the planet. So don't miss your chance. Come on, don't miss your chance.

I have always important things to read. A kid came to his dad. He said, that spider bit me. Am I going to be Spider-Man?

He said, no, this is Australia. You're going to die. You know, I read that other places people don't laugh, but you guys live with the reality.

Actually, I go to Brazil this next week, and I was there, I don't remember, six, eight months ago, something like that, and there was the most deadly scorpion in my hotel room in all of Brazil. And it was, I saw some little thing on, I was back, it was about that big, saw it on the floor at night when I got up to use the restroom, and I thought, what is that? So I just took my shoe and whacked it one. I sent it to meet Jesus.

He's receiving his eternal reward. That's on the eighth floor of a hotel. Eighth floor of a hotel. I didn't know scorpions climbed up stairs, but this one did.

So anyway, let's see. I have more things that are important to read. It's my wife's birthday tomorrow.

She's been leaving jewelry catalogs all over the house. So I bought her a magazine rack. My wife said the other day, you weren't even listening, were you?

And I thought, what a strange way to start a conversation. The pastor had dinner at the home of a couple in his church. After he left, the wife said to the husband, I think he stole our spoon. This bothered her for a whole year.

A year later, the couple had the pastor for dinner again. Unable to resist, the wife asked, Did you steal our spoon last year? The pastor replied, No, I put it inside your Bible.

All right, all right. I love that one. I just love tormenting people, you know. Oh, goodness.

I honestly am so encouraged and so thrilled to be here. As a pastor and as one who has been, you know, working with people for a bunch of years, the two biggest concerns I have for the church, I have just gobs of hope and anticipation for great things. I also see people just stumbling over a couple things that really they don't need to stumble over. And one is offense.

Not knowing how to handle offense. In fact, I'm offended at how easily you are offended. That was a joke.

You should have responded better than that, but it's all right. The whole issue of offense has become so easy. It's almost like a pastime in culture and how easy it is for people to be offended. And it leads to resentment and those kinds of things just contaminate us and affect us so deeply. And living free of that kind of a contamination, that kind of an infection, is really huge.

And it's... It's significant that we learn how to monitor on a heart. I don't like being introspective.

It doesn't help me at all. I don't know if anybody else. Has anyone ever gone inward and come out encouraged? It's never happened in the history of the earth. So I don't like doing that.

But I do like to acknowledge what God is putting his finger on. And so this area is significant for me. I'm not going to talk about it today, but just to throw it out. The other one is...

learning how to deal with disappointment. And it's such a significant part of life that I watch people, you know, they just try hard. We just, we try hard, we do our best, and sometimes we actually carry things around.

with us that are just unnecessary. Things that just have nagging influences in our life, in our way of thinking, our values, our anticipation. You know, as soon as you have somebody who loses a loved one to a disease, they're not as likely to lay hands on somebody to pray for healing that have that same disease.

There's something about it just kind of withdrawing, and it's just not healthy. There are ways that we have to go out at this thing a little bit better. And so that's That's kind of what I want to poke at a little bit here this morning. And so if you would take your Bibles and open to Isaiah chapter 60. We're going to read just one verse out of there.

And I'll just kind of give you a little bit of a backdrop. You know, when you serve God, you just have so many different kinds of encounters with the Lord. And every one of them is just, really, is just amazing. Most of them are very, very subtle.

You know, it was when Moses saw a burning bush, it says, when he turned aside, the Lord spoke. So oftentimes we walk by things that are phenomenons, but we keep going. We acknowledge, but we don't turn aside. We don't adjust our focus, don't adjust our lifestyle to a...

accommodate that which is unusual that God is doing. And it's in the stepping aside that we attract the voice of the Lord. And we're just needing a fresh word today. We're needing, you know, we live because he speaks. And so being able to navigate our life in a way that anticipates and attracts the voice of the Lord is just very, very significant.

Many people, I remember... I remember sitting in my home in my recliner and my late wife would be going into the kitchen. She'd say, honey, you want something to eat?

I go, yeah, I'm starving. I wasn't starving enough to get out of my recliner, but since she's going to bring it to me, yeah, yeah, I'm just pitiful. I'm just starving.

She'd bring me, of course, some food, and we'd laugh. But sometimes our approach to what God has available for us is much like the one sitting in the recliner. God, if you bring it to me, I'll eat and give you thanks. But we don't always. Always have the whatever it is to get up and pursue.

And most of what you need in life will be brought to you. That's the way the kingdom works. But most of what you want, you'll have to go get.

There's a fight involved in the pursuit. And it's like the baby chick that's in that egg. If you help it and crack the egg, it will actually die because it's in the fight that blood is released to the limbs where it can develop a healthy life.

That's the way we are. We are just, it's in the fight. that we actually develop and mature into a next level believer that really has extraordinary impact. So anyway, that's kind of what I want to talk to you about today.

I've had, you know, wonderful times where Jesus has touched me. One was rather extreme. I'm not going to talk about that today, but a rather extreme encounter that was a bit terrifying.

It was in the middle of the night, lasted all night. And actually, I don't always tell this part of the story, but actually went on. for the next two nights.

It was three nights long, this encounter with the Lord. And really what he wanted to know was, because I told him I wanted more of him at any cost, and he showed me what it would cost. He wanted to know if I was serious. And so I, yeah, it was a very, very sobering experience. Sorry, I'm getting drawn.

I almost fell into the black hole. You don't ever get out of there. So I'm... I've got to pull out and think of a joke or something. The second was, it was actually in May.

It was a Thursday afternoon. It was in May of 1979. I was walking around in the back of the church just praying. And I happened to be reading in Isaiah that particular season of my life, that particular week.

And I came to Isaiah 60. And he just began to speak to me out of the chapter. Well, you know, I love the Word of God. I love, I love, I love the Word of God. People tell me, I love Jesus, I just don't love the Bible. I just say, you're stupid.

This is Jesus in print. Well, I don't remember what I read. Well, I don't remember what I had for breakfast last Thursday, but it still nourished me.

You know what, I fall asleep when I read. Yeah, I never did get mad at my kids when they fell asleep in my arms. So Isaiah 60, I began to read, and the Lord just began to speak to me about what He was doing in the earth and what He's doing in the body of Christ.

And it starts with the well-known passage, Arise, shine, for your light has come. The glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Darkness covers the earth, deep darkness the peoples, but his light will appear upon you.

His glory will be seen upon you. Imagine that for Kingdom City. His glory will be seen upon you.

Kings will come to your light. Nations to the brightness of your rising. It's a very significant portion of...

scripture it unfolds even more so throughout the chapter and the lord really really touched my heart and gave me just just kind of a burden and a vision for what he was doing in the earth through through god's people but when i came to verse 18 something just really leapt out at me i i my dad i remember my dad was a a profound worshiper he he taught us what it was to lay our lives down in worship under the lord and and i was so deeply marked by him i remember he did a series out of Ezekiel, ministry of the inner court and the outer court. And I remember, I was, goodness, I must have been 19 years old, maybe 20, and he was teaching this many-week series. And I remember at the end of it, at that time we had two sections in the sanctuary that we were in.

And I remember sitting back probably five or six rows right on the outside edge. And I remember right at the end of that message, I just bowed my head and I said, God, I give you the rest of my life to teach me this one thing. what it is to minister to you, to grab hold of that privilege, be one who attends to you at your feet, ministers to you. And it was a personal private covenant that I made.

There was no altar call. It was my response to having heard what I believed to be the word of a lifetime. And so anyway, I remember reading through this chapter and having the Lord just speak to me verse after verse. And you know, when he speaks, it's...

His presence was released. There's something about the Spirit of God that is released. This is the only book you read that the author shows up while you're reading it.

And it's such a glorious experience to have this fellowship with the one who wrote this thing, inspired each word. And so I got to verse 18. It says, violence will no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting or destruction within your borders. And here's the part that really hit me.

But you will call your walls salvation. and your gates praise. You will call your walls salvation and your gates praise. The Lord gives us natural illustrations to reveal spiritual truths.

He will teach us all kinds of natural things, sowing and reaping, and then he'll teach us about giving. He does, you know, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it can't bear fruit. And so he gives us these natural illustrations to reveal the base level of the nature of the kingdom of God. desire, sorry, I'm going to open a can of worms here, but his desire is to build on the foundation of how his kingdom mirrors natural realities and build upon it until we can understand the parts of his kingdom that have no earthly parallels.

His desire is to teach us the natures of his world that has nothing on planet earth to parallel how his world functions. And that's what he's doing with this. He builds us into levels of understanding.

Anyway. So here's this passage. He says, your walls will be called salvation and your gates praise.

I had done studies in my early years, especially on books of Nehemiah, Ezra, the rebuilding of the walls of the city of Jerusalem. And so I was pondering that when I read this, your walls will be called salvation. And here's what hit me is Your walls will be called salvation. Salvation is what God gives to us.

The gates. Praise is what we give to him. That's more significant than you might realize because his focus from day one has been to raise up co-laborers.

It's always easier for him to do everything himself. He does everything better than any of us. He can preach better, teach better, heal better. Everything is better. But his heart has been to raise up those who worship by choice, those who are created in his image, to rise up and to take responsibility.

in the kingdom to represent him well and to co-labor with him. He actually looks to work through your dream, through your gifting, through your abilities that you yield to him. No progress ever happens in the kingdom without first surrender. We surrender our way into progress.

In fact, great faith does not come from striving. It comes from surrender. It comes from yieldedness. Great faith is in your nature as a believer. great faith is in your born again nature we can't create it we can yield to it I can't speed up his process of working in my life I can only slow it down or cooperate so he's designed us to be co-laborers with him and he's glorified in how he delights even in you know how a child will take their first steps and walk across the floor and everybody's cheering because they just took five steps.

That's the Father. He doesn't measure us against, you could have walked 20 steps. He measures us with...

with the fact we worked hard to walk five. And he celebrates that as a good father. So here we are, co-laborers, we're learning how to surrender. We're learning how to cooperate.

We're learning how to hear. We're learning how to respond. So here we've got this verse that emphasizes something that I think is extremely significant from Genesis to Revelation, and that is the issue of co-laboring, that God designed us. Genesis 1, be fruitful, multiply, subdue the earth.

He gave... the assignment to Adam and Eve and he's never changed the subject. He's restoring us to that place of fruitful service.

So now I said all that just to set up the fact I had this experience with the Lord in December, the first week of December, Saturday night in December of 2020. And I awoke and then I've had him, I've had him wake me up twice by speaking. His voice woke me. So understand I'm not young. So it doesn't happen every week. It's happened twice in my life.

But he woke me up with his voice. But this time, it wasn't a voice that I heard. It was a thought that rose up within me, which is very, very unusual for me to have a thought.

Very unusual to have a thought that woke me up. And it was a phrase. It was actually a phrase that I woke up. It was going through my mind. So I believe it was the Lord inspiring a thought.

So let me just put it. it there. The phrase was this, a walled city without gates is not entirely safe. I mean, that's kind of a strange thought to have in the middle of, I'm sleeping good, doing really well. It's kind of an oddball thought to have come to your mind at any time of the day, but especially in the middle of the night.

A walled city without gates is not not entirely safe. So I started pondering all the verses I can remember, just laying in bed, all the verses I can remember about gates. I remember the study I had done years ago on the book of Nehemiah where in In Ezra, they rebuilt the temple, and then they rebuilt the walls and the gates to the city. It's a profound, wonderful, wonderful study.

What I remember was that Israel had tried for 72 years to rebuild the walls of the city. And remember, the walls of a city actually represent the safety. The safety, the integrity of the city is held intact by not allowing enemies to come in and plunder and steal and kill. Walls actually represent something that is very, very significant, especially in biblical days.

And so I'm just thinking through this. I remembered that Israel had tried for 72 years to rebuild those walls, and they failed. They'd get part of it built during the day, and the enemy would come in and tear it down at night.

You've got to imagine 72 years of that constant frustration, and yet they had enough vision and hope. that they would get up again and try again, even though it wasn't working, you know? And so Nehemiah comes along. He's the cupbearer to the king, and he's a Jew himself.

He asks about the well-being of his own people and finds out that they've been struggling to rebuild this wall. And he goes to the king, and he asks for permission to lead a company of people back and to actually help rebuild the walls. Well, Nehemiah's name actually means comforter. Holy Spirit actually means comforter.

And Nehemiah helped Israel to rebuild these walls in 52 days. They actually succeeded in 52 days. What they couldn't do in a lifetime, they succeeded. at in a season, in one particular season. And for me, that's incredible hope and promise that, you know what, sometimes we just, we try hard because we're sincere.

We really want to honor God with it. with whatever we have and we work hard, we try hard. But when the Holy Spirit's not involved, our labor is really in vain.

And so Nehemiah comes along and he becomes the strength of the nation. And it's a profound lesson all in itself. I'll let you study it on your own.

But I love the story. And I remember the walls of that city being rebuilt. And so now I'm thinking about this concept of the gates and what is the significance. Here it says the gates are praise.

I remembered. Again, I'm trying to describe to you, you know, a couple hours of laying in bed in the middle of the night, December of 2020. And I remember thinking about Psalms 24. Psalms 24 says, lift up your heads, O you gates, that the King of glory might enter in. So that helped me to be conscious of the fact that gates are actually about welcoming presence.

There's something about the presence of God that is attracted, if you will. to this figurative, this language of a walled city and gates, that the Spirit of God is actually attracted to gates. And here we see that gates are praise. And then I remember Psalms 87, verse 2, is a very unusual verse to me.

I remember when I first read it. It says, The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwelling places of Jacob. First of all, he loves the gates, that's important, more than all the other dwelling places.

So he actually compares gates with houses. He's comparing gates with a temple. So, I mean, you know, when you think different than he does, we're the ones who have to change, right? And so he's letting us see something about how he views gates that he considers them actually to be dwelling places. And then I remembered that the Bible says that he inhabits our praise.

All right, so are you with me? So the gates are praise. Gates attract presence.

He calls them dwelling places. And then the Scripture says he actually is. actually inhabits the praises of his people. So it's starting to make sense.

It's a thread that goes all the way through Scripture that is starting to connect the dots for me of how this works. Back to the original statement. A walled city without gates is not entirely safe. I just pushed a button.

I don't think I'm supposed to push it. So I hope the end of the world doesn't happen, you know. If it does, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. All right.

It wasn't on purpose. A walled city without gates is not entirely safe. Obviously, we're not talking about a safety as in, you know, heaven and hell. We're talking about, we were designed to live a certain kind of a lifestyle. And sometimes, sometimes we face things we were never designed to face.

We were never supposed to face. Sometimes we make poor decisions. You know, one clear example is David.

You know, it says he was on the rooftop and he was looking at Bathsheba. But the Bible says specifically, at a time when kings were out to war, David was home. So when David... didn't go into the war he was designed for.

He ended up facing a war he had no grace for. And so it's a great example of what happens when we are misplaced, when we have a better idea. Sometimes we just make decisions.

Sometimes they're not immoral decisions as that one was. Sometimes they're just stubborn decisions. I just would rather do this than this opportunity that he's open for me. And what it does is it puts us into a place where we face certain pressures and difficulties that we actually weren't designed for. It doesn't mean that we fall apart.

It just means there's a pressure there that I didn't have to face. Does that make any sense to you? There's a pressure there that wasn't designed for me. I forgive me if I'm crossing the line here but I don't, I just don't believe that everything that happens was the will of God you know I hear people say well God's in control really?

so he raised up Hitler? I mean, he's in control of whatever he wants to be in control of. He's God. But I'd rather say he's in charge.

And every parent should know the difference between being in charge of your household and in control of everything your kids do. And every parent said, Amen. All right. Anyway, I'm off subject. I started to think about this, again, this concept, because there's a, he's describing the co-laboring role of salvation that he provides for me and my responsibility to respond to who he is.

So Thanksgiving is my response to the works of God, the acts of God. He heals my body. I respond with thankfulness. He provides for me.

I respond with thankfulness. He gives me loyal friends. I respond with thankfulness. Praise is my response to his nature. The works of God point to who he is.

And so it's not just, God, I'm giving you thanks for healing my body. I'm honoring you as the healer. You are the healer.

It says of Israel, they were acquainted with the works, the acts of God, but Moses was acquainted with his ways. There was a higher level of perception of the nature of God, and he responded to who he was, not just what he did. So, and in thinking and pondering, again I'm trying to take you into the middle of a Saturday night, in pondering this I began to remember this passage out of the book of Revelation, and it's chapter 21, and... in Revelation chapter 21, he gives us this most unusual description of gates. And he says, he's talking about the new Jerusalem.

And he says the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each. individual gate was of one pearl.

The street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass. So I love Bible language. I love how God describes stuff because he just doesn't always bother to stop and explain himself. He just sometimes just throws it out and he just likes to see what we're going to do with what he just said, you know. And Jesus did that in his most famous sermon, you know, in John chapter 6 when he said, you know, you have to eat my flesh.

And people started praying. gagging, you know. And it was like he said, all right, I'll just turn it up a notch. You also have to drink my blood.

And he just kept going. And he didn't bother explaining. You know, a good explanation would have helped, you know. Most of us pastors would have made sure everybody's at peace. But Jesus just kind of threw it out and let people deal with it.

Because sometimes in our reaction to things we don't like, we discover things about us that we didn't know were in there. And the Lord in his mercy The Lord in his mercy will even delay an answer. Do you remember when Moses was on a mountain and he's with God and he didn't come down at the appointed time and so Israel came to Aaron and said, make a calf? They didn't know idolatry was still in them until there was a delay, and the delay caused something to come to the surface.

So the Lord will oftentimes cause a delay to bring to the surface things that we don't know are in us that He knows is in us. never to shame us. It's not to lock me into some horrible lifestyle. It's to help me to see what's there that I didn't know was there, because then it gives me a chance to confess, repent, turn.

So in his mercy, he does this stuff for us. And so here's this language that is used in Revelation 21. Your gates, the 12 gates of the city of Jerusalem, each gate is one pearl. Well, that's the most unusual description of a gate ever. And he doesn't bother to explain it, which I like. I like it because in the last, I don't know how many years, at least 10 years, in the last 10 years or so.

Mystery has become one of my best friends. Mystery has become one of my best friends. And I'll tell you why. What mystery does, the things for which you have no answer, that's where trust gets proven.

And the Lord trusts those who trust him. In the measure, I trust God in the middle of mystery. In that measure, he trusts me with revelation.

If I have to have answers for everything before I obey, then I am holding God hostage. to my action. It's illegal.

I owe him. He doesn't owe me anything. He never owes me an explanation.

He doesn't owe me anything. I am obligated to respond to his voice when he speaks. It doesn't have to make sense to me. It just requires my all. And so here's this unusual description of a city, of the city.

is straight all by itself. It's a cube, 1500 by 1500 by 1500. And it's described as a bride coming down out of heaven. I don't know, I've never seen a bride look like that. And if you can picture it, it's perfect structure.

It's absolute perfect structure. Which tells me, in the kingdom, structure is supposed to come out of romance. She's a bride. You'll learn more about divine structure when your heart burns for him than any other time.

One of the greatest tragedies in the earth right now is the Bible is being taught week after week by people who are not in love. So here's this statement that each gate is a pearl. All right, so let's be practical.

We're talking about a city, a walled city without gates is not entirely safe. So there's something that we provide. in this kingdom lifestyle that enhances the safety of not only our individual lives, but our corporate life. There's actually, you can actually step into this family as you've done and step. into a place of blessing and safety just because others have already fought wars on your behalf.

Others have already paid a price. And living with the realization of that kind of an inheritance is just profoundly wise for us to acknowledge and to recognize God has actually set the stage for me to succeed by the yes of other people. Now I've got to make sure I add my yes so that others are benefited as well.

So here we have this concept. How are pearls formed? We're talking about the gate of praise. How are pearls formed?

They're formed out of irritation. They are only formed where there's conflict. And describing the gate of praise as something that is formed in difficulty or conflict is profoundly relevant for us because it helps us to realize the moments that God actually allows to come into our life. And there are moments where I have a choice to make.

I can be discouraged, depressed. I can lash out. I can react.

I can confess, oh, God never hears me. I can do all kinds of stupid things to a moment that could have been the creating of a gate, a place that actually attracts the glory, actually attracts the presence. It's the daily decisions we do with the challenges, the difficulties that come our way. I enjoy sports. I have my favorite teams.

You have yours. I make it a practice to never watch cricket. It's confusing. And I know you don't believe it, but I think you're confused too.

I'm teasing. But I enjoy watching sports. And one of the things that happens, I don't know if it happens here often, but it's been happening a lot of late in the U.S., is an athlete, after they win a match or they win a championship, whatever it might be, there seems to always be athletes in the locker room that when they are interviewed about their victory, that they will give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ. They will say, you know, we are of the privileged few that get paid well. to play a sport and I just want to give thanks to the Lord and they and they give him glory and I I love the fact they do that because when I grew up some uh baseball was my my main sport and I knew of one Christian baseball player growing up and one Christian a manager and it was like you know if they were Christians in baseball they were hiding I don't know or they they they they kept it secret but um but I I'm told by a a friend who's a former NFL quarterback that that up to 70% of the National Football League, up to 70% of the players are born again.

Extraordinary. It's wonderful what's happening in the world of sports. We've seen it in basketball.

We've seen it in baseball. I've got a good friend that was a pitcher, a World Series champion for San Francisco Giants. And there's just so many believers.

Very encouraging. So when the interview takes place in the locker room, for them to give thanks to Jesus, I'm happy. Because you've got to do it.

to it then. But it's in the loser's locker room who is giving thanks that's actually building a gate. See, it's in disappointment. It doesn't mean there has to be failure and all.

It just means in challenging moments and times when we give response to give honor. glory to God, that's actually what is forming something in us that attracts the glory. There isn't anything greater than having just that glory of the Lord attracted to our lives. And it's actually, that thing's formed in loss, in difficulty, in disappointment.

I don't think... If I can't trust him in loss, I can't be trusted with gain. If I can't trust him in disappointment, I can't be trusted with fulfilled dreams.

If I can't trust him in criticism. I can't be trusted with praise. If I can't trust him in betrayal, I can't be trusted with a measure of loyal friends, covenant friends he wants to put around me.

So the point is, is those moments are measurements for us. They're not measurements of success, failure. They're measurements of what measure of glory can this son, can this daughter live under?

Because we were designed to live in and to carry the glory of the Lord. We're designed for this. For all have sinned and fallen short of the...

glory. We were designed to have this seamless connection between the yielded heart of the believer and the manifest presence, the glory of God resting on the life. So we're being measured every day of our life.

What can we carry? Because if it's too much, it will bring fracture to the cracks in my foundation. And the Lord wants those healed before he increases that measure of glory.

So he's measuring us constantly. So here is this. Here's this challenge. My wife died in July of 2022, July 13th, 6.58 p.m. to be exact.

My kids, many of my grandkids, family members were in her room that evening. We had been there, you know, for a while because she had just slowly was going downhill so fast. I remember we'd each take turns, you know, sitting on the bed next to her, holding her hand, and we're just praying, we're worshiping, we're praying, we're singing, we're just being with her and with the Lord. And I... I actually had spent like 15 months just at her side, almost day and night. I would just make sure that I was always with her.

And my staff is so kind. They worked hard to cover my bases so I could be with her, and I would work from home and just take care of her. And she breathed her last. Never forget it.

And in that moment, I said, see, here's a moment. that you only have once. So I put my hands up and just began to give God thanks and give him honor and praise for always being the healer.

See, his identity didn't change when my wife wife died. His promises weren't removed when my wife died. He didn't somehow change personality or change his covenant with me. You say, well, why did she die then? I don't know, but I actually don't need to know.

I have no need to know. I don't need an explanation. He doesn't owe me an explanation.

If he gives me one, that's awesome, because I love when he talks to me. I love when he reveals things to me. I love it so much.

It's one of my favorite things in life, is when he opens up mystery, and I get to see things I never saw before. I love that, but he doesn't owe that to me. I owe him a response to his nature that remains the same.

The scripture says he is good. Therefore, he is good. He is not good.

He is not good because he fits my definition of goodness. He's good because the Bible says he is. And what I have found, see, I'm unwilling to sacrifice what I know about the goodness of God on the altar of human reasoning so that I have an explanation for an unanswered prayer.

I don't need an explanation. All I need to know, he's with me, and what do you want me to do next? Is this the continued season for mourning? Then I'm going to mourn well. If you mourn with hope, it takes you to the comforter.

If you mourn without hope, it takes you to unbelief. We don't get to choose whether or not we mourn. in life. All of us face loss and grief. We get to choose on whether or not it's going to be with hope.

Hope takes me to the comfort. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. The Holy Spirit comes to comfort to soothe. soothe the heart of the one who is mourning with hope.

Without hope, though, you're like the disciples who heard Jesus was resurrected from the dead, and they did not believe all the reports that came to them. They didn't believe one of them. Because they were mourning, but they were mourning without hope. So my wife died, and the response is to give him honor, to give him praise, regardless of how I feel. I don't want to minimize the need for weeping, the need for grief, the need for all that stuff.

I didn't treat it lightly in my personal life. I don't want to create that picture for you, because it was a very serious matter. But I'll tell you, there's healing. There's healing in community. There's healing in the word.

There's healing in the presence. And there's healing in the awareness of heaven. The consciousness of eternity does more to heal a fractured heart and loss than just about anything else I can think of. Jesus lived conscious of heaven. Actually, John 3 tells us how he lived from heaven towards earth.

He said, if I talk to you about earthly things, you don't get it. How are you going to ever understand if I talk to you about heavenly things? And then it says, the Son of Man who is in heaven. It describes him as dwelling in heaven. Paul called it being seated in Christ.

The theological term is seated in heavenly places. Excuse me. I'm sorry. I'm moving way ahead of the story.

Let me back up. I need to. I need to land this plane, so sometimes I just fly into the side of a mountain.

I just let you find your way home. You'll live. My favorite restaurant in the world is, I tell people, and it's only half joking, I tell people when I travel, I say, listen, I'm here to eat.

If you want to have meetings in between the meals, that's fine, but I'm here to eat. Had a great meal last night, it was so fun. But my favorite restaurant in the world is a restaurant called French Laundry in Napa Valley. And I remember, I've had the privilege of going there a number of times through the years, and I remember my first time.

My wife and I were with another couple, and this is a really hard table to get. It's a very expensive meal, and I had only heard about it. So anyway, we sat down to eat, the four of us.

And the second course, it's like nine courses. And they're all small, and you think it's impossible to get full, but it's not. You know, you get that many layers to a meal boy. So anyway, they bring out this dish. And there's a sauce, and in the sauce are two things that I, I can't say the word hate.

I don't like. I no like. And I look, and so forgive me if these are your favorite things, but caviar and oysters with the sauce.

And I'm looking at those two things. I turned to my wife and said, honey, I'm paying too much money for this meal to not at least try this. So I felt like I had an obligation, you know.

And so I took my spoon. and I took some caviar, oyster, some of the sauce. I put it in my mouth. Do you remember in the Bible where Jonathan ate the honey and it says his eyes brightened?

That's what happened to me. It was like, I have seen Jesus. It was ridiculously good. And I turned to my wife, I said, honey, I want a chili bowl full of this stuff. This is so good.

Now it's like one of my favorite things to eat ever. It's amazing when God takes the parts of your life that you hate, that you wish never happened, And the master chef starts working his gift to put it together. See, it's the reason you can give him praise ahead of time. Because he said...

All things. The good, the bad, the ugly. The embarrassing parts. The shameful parts. All the parts.

He takes all things worked together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. puts it together. It's hard to imagine, I know, but he puts it together in such a way that you would not trade a thing.

Because of God's redemptive power to take this broken situation, this broken relationship, this broken whatever, and when he begins to work with it, so now there's these verses that mean absolutely the world to me. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks.

I remember as a young pastor thinking, I could spend every day the rest of my life on those three verses and no others and I would still have a full-time job. Rejoice always. See, rejoicing always is the key to emotional health.

Prayer without ceasing. That's the key to spiritual health, staying connected to the presence. And everything give thanks.

That's the key to mental health. Those verses are not even necessary if everything works the way we think it should. When he says, he gives us the promise, all things work together for good.

That verse is the most useless verse in the Bible. If every prayer I pray gets answered the way I think it should be answered. It's only necessary because sometimes there's extraordinary breakthrough and I give him praise. And sometimes I have the responsibility of enduring.

Faith brings answers, but enduring faith brings answers with character. Let's stand. I believe that, um... I've shared this, oh goodness, so many times in the last year.

I have almost been embarrassed for how many times it comes, this message comes to mind, these concepts come to mind. But I have, I do carry a heart for just the well-being of the people of God, and I love to see, I love to see, even in the middle of difficulty, that bottom line trust, you know. I don't know. how it's going to work out. I just know it will.

He's so faithful. He's so good. And having that response to him is just vital for every one of us. But I also am aware just by the law of averages don't even have to be be prophetic to pick this up, just by the law of averages, how many people in this room have gone through what I described as loss or grieving, mourning, maybe a broken marriage, could be a death of a loved one, could be a business that went bankrupt. I mean, we've all experienced stuff.

But for some of you, it's been almost like you've got this corpse, you know, tethered, tied to your leg. And everywhere you go, you drag this thing along. And I just believe the Lord wants to sever it.

I just feel like the Lord is going to make it possible today for a lot of people that thought you were just stuck with that way of life. That's just your lot in life. And you've served him faithful.

You've loved him well. But I'm here to tell you it's not necessary. to drag the corpse of that failed whatever with you throughout life.

It's not necessary. It's not needed to keep you humble. We become humble as we yield ourselves to him and see his goodness and his greatness. So here's what I want to do. We're going to pray for each other.

And I just want to ask the question. When I talk today, did it occur to you that you may be dragging one of those corpses along throughout your life and you'd like for it to end today? because I believe today it can end. That way of thinking, that way of living can actually end it. So it's what I'm asking.

If that's you, if that makes sense to you and you really want this to be the end of that part of your life, that there'd be a fresh, fresh start today, then I'm gonna ask you to put a hand up because we're gonna pray for you. And don't be shy, don't be shy. This is the moment where we stand in front of our brothers and sisters and we just say, you know what? I need help and I want this.

to end today. Look around you. You've got people with their hands up all around you.

I want you to go to them. I want you to go to them. I want you to lay hands on them and I want you to pray.

And I want you to pray out loud. Don't do this quiet in the heart stuff. I want you to pray out loud and pray, Lord, let this be the last day where they carry this thing throughout their life. I want to hear you pray aggressively, declare the promises of the Lord over these friends. These are family members now.

The promise of the Lord that a spirit spirit of breakthrough would come upon them. I want you to make these decrees. A spirit of breakthrough would come upon them, that the Lord would sever the attachment to any unhealthy mourning that they've had in their life, regardless of how sincere their attempts are to honor the Lord. We just declare it is unnecessary, and this ends today. Yep, just declare that this ends today.

In the mercy of God. God, this cycle of carrying unnecessary grief and burden, this ends today. We declare this in Jesus'mighty name. In Jesus'mighty name. Now, I want someone, as you're praying for these people, it's a prophetic act, it's a symbolic act, but I want you to, it's like there's something on their shoulder.

I want someone in the group to lift it off and just, as you do, just declare, this ends today. release you in the name of the Lord. This ends today in Jesus'name.

Now, can we just lift our voices together and let's honor the Lord. Let's honor the Lord. We bless your name.

We exalt your name. We boast in you, God. Praise to the Lord, to the King, to the King of Heaven, praise for He rose.

Now hear what He says, oh we will sing forever, now we sing praise to the Lord, to the Lord. To the King of heaven rest. For He holds now the earth. A traditional praise.

We will sing for them. We sing praise. In every season, good as that. To the Lord.

To the King. A thousand hearts beat, just a one beat, this song is forever yours Even as we pray, even as there's weights lifting off people's lives, all things work together for good to them that love the Lord. You've seen that verse, you've led me through the fire, in darkest times you are close like no other.

You know, I want us to... Give worship to the Lord in every location right now, right here in Perth. Aware that even if you're in the middle of the fire, even if you're in the middle of a storm, your God is with you. The Lord is your shepherd.

You shall not want. And He's walking you through. All things truly work together for good.

Today, we sever... any other attachment that would hold you back. For God is able.

He's able to do exceedingly abundantly above. So even as the team begin to lead us in this song, as we sing this, I want you to begin to worship Him. Let tears roll down your face.

Let hands be raised to heaven. Right across Australia, Asia, wherever you are, in Africa, Europe, Asia, He's led you through the fire. You've known Him as a Father. You've known Him as a friend. He's been faithful from the day He began to work in you.

Oh, I love your voice. You have led me through the fire. In darkest nights, you are close like no other.

I know you as a Father. What's up, man? What's up? And the good in it is so, so good. What's up?

He's running after me, in every auditorium, he's running after me. He's a good God and he does the change. Your goodness is running after me. He's running after me. When my life fades down, I surrender now.

I give you hell. You're doing this and running out, running out of me All my life you have been faithful Come on and be speaking All that you have So, so good, with every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God. I will sing of the goodness of God. Over this place, would you bow your heads and close your eyes, the presence of God is here. The Word of God says that there is no foundation other than that which has already been laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Giving your life to Him, making a decision to follow Jesus Christ, is the first foundational building block. in these walls of salvation and these gates of praise. And across this room, if you know today that you need to get your life right with God, this is that moment. Speaking to people who might be here for the first time, might have walked into church for the first time in a long time.

If you're in our service today, and if you were to pass from this life to the next, You don't know with certainty where you'll spend eternity. This moment is for you. God loves you.

He's got a plan for your life. He wants to know you. Making a decision to follow Jesus, this is the greatest decision that you could ever make.

And so in a moment, we're going to lead us all in a prayer. Simple prayer, but a powerful prayer. A prayer that confesses our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 10 9 it says confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved this is our confident hope this is our confident assurance. In a moment we'll pray, but so I know who I'm praying for, here's what we'll do. All over this room, every head bowed, every eye closed, every believer praying.

If you're here today and you don't know with certainty where you'll spend eternity, if you were to move from this life to the next, this moment is for you. So in a moment we'll count down from three, and this is so I know who I'm praying for. We'll count down from three.

As we get to one, if you'd like to be included in this prayer, that we're going to pray in a moment anyway. As we get to one, would you be so bold and brave as to do these two things? Open up your eyes and throw a hand up nice and high in the air so I can see it. Boldly and confidently, throw a hand in the air.

I'll acknowledge your hand. I'll invite you to put it right back down again. Just want to know who I'm praying for today.

But believers, would you fill the atmosphere with faith this morning? Because the lost are coming home. The prodigals are coming home.

The people of God are coming. And if you're here today. And you don't know with certainty where you'll spend eternity.

This moment is for you. God loves you. He's got a plan for your life. He wants to know you. He wants to set you free from that fear, from that shame, from that insecurity.

He wants to hold you and hold your life in the palm of His hand. If you're here today, you don't know God, but you're ready to give your life to Him. You're ready to follow Him.

Maybe there's prodigals coming home today. This is for you. I'm going to count down now.

If you know God is speaking to you, as we get to one, would you raise a hand in three, two, one. Go ahead all over this room. God bless you there.

God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there.

God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there.

There, there, there. God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there. Who else today?

You're coming home. You're coming home. You're ready to get your life right with God. Who else today? Give me a wave where you are.

Right there in the middle. God bless you there. God bless you there. sister towards this side.

My friend, I see you there. God bless you. You don't need to wait for another countdown right there.

God bless you. Just give me a wave where you are. God bless you there. God bless you there. God bless you there.

God bless you there. Oh, come on. All of heaven rejoices this morning because what was lost has now been found.

Amen. You know, we're going to do something special this morning and, you know, sometimes we have services where a large number of people respond. And so this is what we're going to do this morning on this significant day when all of our...

This is in Perth, they're gathered in one place with one accord. In a moment, I'd love to invite those that raised their hand to do something really brave. And that is to, in a moment, slip out of your seat and make your way to the front of this auditorium, which we call the altar. I'm going to explain why we're about to do what we're about to do because a large number of people have responded we're going to do this but let me explain why number one here at Kingdom City we believe this is the greatest decision that anyone could ever make and so more than leading in a prayer, which is the most powerful thing. We want to introduce you to some great people that are going to help you on this journey of faith.

And we want to equip you by putting a Bible in your hands right now this morning. And number two, and this is really the most important reason, is before you ever walked for God, Jesus Christ, He walked for you. He walked up a hill called Calvary, carrying a cross on His back. And I believe as you walk, you're going to experience the manifest presence of God. The presence of God is everywhere, but I believe you're going to experience the manifest presence of God.

manifest presence of God is going to touch your life. Different things that bound you will be broken off. The fear of man will be broken off.

So there's already people coming. So church family, can we give it up for these amazing people who are coming down now? They're coming down. God bless you, God bless you, God bless you. You know, as people walk, there's something wonderful happening at this altar.

We don't want you to do this alone either, so we're going to activate the church family right now. There are a number of people... out there that raised their hand. Could you do me a favor, church, and just turn to the person on the left of you and the right of you and ask them, do you need to make this decision today?

Did you raise your hand today? Because if you did or if you do, I'll walk to the front with you. Can you go ahead and ask them on all sides? did you raise your hand?

did you want to raise your hand? because if you did or if you do I'll walk to the front with you and once they've said yes just grab their hand just begin to come come on there's people coming down the rows and down the aisles come on all of heaven rejoices this morning this family here right here God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you there right from the back God bless you all. You know, we're going to lead you in this prayer now. The one that we talked about, there's people coming. God bless you, young man.

God bless you, young ladies. Congratulations. Welcome to the family of God.

We've got a gift for you. We're putting that in your hand right now. You can still come. You can come guys.

You can come if this is you. You know you need to get your life right with God. Just come right here. I'm seeing people walking in the middle section right here. God bless you guys.

Let's make some space for them as well as they come. God bless you guys. You can come straight through.

Come straight through. You can feel this front area here. God bless you.

God bless you. Right there. If there's anyone else, you can just come.

Just grab the hand of the person next to you and begin to walk to the front of the altar. Right here, if you can come. Congratulations, guys.

Welcome to the family of God. We're so proud of you. And I'm going to lead you in that prayer now, that prayer that we talked about. So I'm going to invite every person that is out the front, alongside our team. Would you place a hand on your heart?

And church, would you stretch your hands out? to these amazing people as we pray for them and just say these words as one family let's pray this prayer together say dear Lord Jesus I thank you for your love I thank you for your mercy I thank you for your kindness for me forgive me of my sin turn my life around I want to be in relationship with you I welcome you into my heart to be my Lord, to be my Savior, to be my friend. I want to live for you all the days of my life. I believe that you're the Son of God. I believe that you died.

I believe that you rose again. And today I confess that you are Lord of my life. In Jesus'name. And the church said, Amen. Amen.

Come on. Kingdom City, can we give Him glory? screen. We want to get resources to you.

One of our team members will call you and just do this journey of life together with you. In fact, we have connect groups happening this week as well. And you've never tried being part of a closer community of people. Why don't you give it a shot? We have a connect group in every time zone and there is a connect group that is perfect for you.

You know, before you log in, Log off today. We also want to be a part of blessing Pastor Bill Johnson's ministry. We hope that you were blessed by the word, but we want to actually sow into his ministry, into all that God is doing through him.

So if you want to be a part of that, there is a link on your screen and we would love for you... to give as you feel led so that we can see the kingdom of God spread out across the earth. We hope you enjoyed the service today.

Our Perth conference is happening this week. So hey, if you want to make a last minute decision to jump on a plane and get to our Perth conference, I believe there are tickets still available. We would love to see you there. Otherwise, have an incredible week, church.

We can't wait to see you soon. God bless.

Transcript for:Kingdom City Service Overview

Transcript for:
Kingdom City Service Overview