Online Revival with Zach Hammond
by Zach Hammond
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Romans 12:2, Jeremiah 50:2

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/zach-hammond--online-revival-with-zach-hammond-3
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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good evening FAC church family and strong tower students I hope that this evening you are doing well as you tune in from your home or wherever you may be I know that our president and governor have shown us a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel throughout this week that maybe we're getting closer day-by-day through this uncertain time and koban 19 of us being able to gather back together but until then we're gonna continue to come to unite lis and give you an encouraging word from our pastoral team tonight is considered a youth night and so I appreciate everybody logging on but I specifically want to greet our strong tower students this evening I want to take you to Romans chapter 12 verse number two very familiar says and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove that with what is good acceptable and the perfect will of God as I read this familiar scripture this week I thought back to my childhood where I used to play a lot of sports and I played the game of basketball a good bit growing up and I was fairly short I know now a lot of people think of me as a taller guy but I for a long time I was the shortest guy on the team the shortest guy on the court and I loved that time where after I had gotten my shots up at practice and practice was over we would lower the goals down to eight foot and we would play what's called dunk ball I would go home and practice and my dad would had put a nice girl out in the yard and he was always encouraging me to raise the goal but it was so much fun to be able to go down on that eight foot goal and play like them it was amazing to see I could look like Mike when it came to the 8 foot goal we could do things they were doing on TV in the NBA you could windmill and go through the legs behind the back but it came a time where they would raise the standard or raise the level when you raise the level and limited who could participate in dumb ball is limited people that couldn't dunk on the nine-foot goal we would raise it up as we got older we got taller we slowly tried to move it up but even at that when you get to the standard of which everyone plays that which is ten foot everything becomes more difficult but everybody's playing at the same standard we see that it's it's easy to look really good on that eight foot goal and for some people it's even easy to look good on the 9 foot goal but when you set the standard of which we have to play at everything becomes real what the tragedy it is to have lived weeks months years and find out that you're not even living in reality that you've been living your life at the wrong standard now today with social media Instagram Facebook and all these apps filters you can now even take that 8-foot goal and make yourself look like that you're really living at the standard we could change the angle of the lens and make it look like brother Dakota was really going to town on that 8 foot goal but reality is is it's not the standard so I warn you today that although you have that personality on Facebook or Instagram or any social media outlet that it doesn't become a lens of false reality because I know plenty of people I've met people and it's so easy to fall into being conformed by the pattern of this world that says I would rather lower morals my character my consecration and live at a false a false sense of confidence in a and and a false sense of reality rather than face the true reality of the standard that you're living by we see that we've got many things that happen when we set a standard because when we set this standard a 10-foot we now have to put in work and effort whereas I didn't have to work quite as hard to get above the rim here but to get above the rim on the 10-foot I've got to put in some work I've got to put in some sacrifice you've got to submit to the standard if you're going to play high school basketball if you're going to play really at any level of competitive basketball they're not going to let you play on the egg football out in the yard it doesn't matter how many points you score on on 2k it doesn't happen matter how many points that you put up on that nine-foot goal or how good you look you've got to play at the true level of the standing we see that standards come with submission when we set a standard we are submitting ourself to some sort of authority standards are set by someone in authority we see in the scripture that our authority is not only God but our pastor we see in the scripture that he tells us that we should have a Watchmen on the wall in other words what good is a watchman if we have no wall if we've not set a standard upon the Word of God you you find yourself sometimes maybe looking at different things and saying is that a sin can I do this can I go there I will not get more by doing less you are not going to get to where God wants you to be until you truly decide to live at the standard of the word of God I want to start at a standard instead of questioning that standard and working in the opposite direction the standard should be my foundation before I start learning to do anything I need to know what the standard is what I'm trying to play out so I want to start at the standard instead of questioning the standard you can't get stronger at a lower standard some of us during this time are looking at all the different things and we feel like that this covin 19and and being ordered to stay at home and and and all these things are going wrong and you feel burdened with all kinds of fear and anxiety and and different things are coming against you and you feel the burden and the weight when the burden and the weight gets strong gets gets heavier or get stronger upon you it's not a time for you to lay down and and and just say that that I am weak and gods going to carry the load no it's a time for you to push against that and get stronger in your faith and get stronger in your consecration because you're not going to get stronger at a lower standard so I ask you this evening what is your standard what is your standard for school what is your standard for dating what's your standard for prayer what is your standard of what you look like what is your standard of what you watch on Netflix and on Hulu and on all these different apps and avenues what's the standard of what you say and what you don't say what's the standard you said on what you listen to what is your standard on public display of affection what is it that you have set your standard in your life - young person adult do we conform ourselves to the pattern of this world without even realizing it and we failed to realize that we're playing the game of life on an eight-foot goal that it's not reality that I have painted myself up to be someone I'm not what makes you feel like that you've crossed the line what makes you feel like the two failed in a moment in a day in a week it all is based upon what you have set your standard and I'm here to tell you as a child of God that you were created from the beginning of time when God spoke you into existence so if God spoke to you in this existence you must submit yourself to the ultimate standard of God's Word the only thing that can answer all the questions that I just asked you is the Word of God you may feel like that there are some things in the pattern of this world that could answer those questions but ultimately it cannot answer them all because it's not your Creator the Creator who spoke you into existence gave you the scripture gave you his word that that we would say is the plan of life it gives you how to live your life to answer the questions of what should I say how should I react what should i watch who should I hang out with all the answers to life's questions are in the Word of God therefore that is our standard of living we see that Jeremiah chapter 50 tells us declare yeaaaaaah nations and publish and set up a standard published it and conceal it not say Babylon is taken Bell is confounded mera dock is broken in pieces her idols are confounded her images are broken into pieces I don't know about you but that somewhat sounds like our world today the sports world is put on pause all the things that you once did are broken down into pieces everything has been moved to the side and God is saying set a new standard I am never going to get more by doing less I'm never going to find myself beyond a previous generation by questioning the standards of a previous generation I cannot be a new level of anointing a new level of prayer and Bible reading without exceeding the standard so I challenge you young people I challenge our culture I challenge this generation who wants to question and move the old landmarks of the previous generation to say no that's going to be the foundation of that which I build my life I'm going to start on the foundation I'm going to start on the wall of the previous generation sacrifice is consistently in the Bible so a stronger standard requires sacrifice I hear young people all the time I talked with some just over the past couple weeks who've fallen away we would consider them to have back slid and they know that they've said that to me themselves we see they make statements like this whole living for god thing just doesn't work for me you know it's it's hard for it to work for you and it gets frustrating and it's convicting when you come in to the church and everybody's playing on a ten foot goal and you've been practicing on an eight foot goal you think that everything's fine you feel okay but all of a sudden you feel convicted you feel like that you're not enough because you are not enough and you will not be enough knowing in no arena of life and no workplace and in no culture are you going to walk in and be comfortable without Christ inside of you because you you put yourself in a place where you're like a fish out of water if you don't have the Spirit of God inside of you so many instead of feeling convicted and challenged by the standard they would rather go the easy road and have control and live in condemnation some people would rather deal with the fear and fight through the consecration of faith getting stronger by God's standard only only you could say it with me only comes through sacrifice God has asked us in his word to sacrifice three things you could see it all throughout the scripture the things that he's given us that none of us deserve and that is time treasure and talent time treasure and what in those three things can you sacrifice to raise the standard what in those three things of time talent and treasure can you raise are you just young person just giving 10% have you maybe forgot about giving ties and offering well don't beat a seed because the scripture says that and that you are cursed with a curse if you don't give God what's his so we are living in a deceived false reality to think that Christ has a hundred percent of our heart if he doesn't have ten percent of what's in our hand it is a false reality that our world lives in that all these people proclaim to be Christians but yet the percentage of Christians that tithe how can God be cursed he can't Christ can't live inside of us and him be cursed it's a false reality that's a perfect example of our treasure what about our talent we want our talent to be used everywhere but we don't want to we don't want to meet the standards it takes to get on a platform and use that talent for God we want to use our talent in all these different fields to be able to make some money but because God's God's time and then God's talent requires maybe there's not as much money in it then I don't want to put as much time into it so we've got time treasure and talent what is it that you're sacrificing to make sure that those things that God gave you as the Creator are being used for his glory so we must sacrifice these things to meet the standard in order to see success in our life we must set up strategies in our life we must each as we talked about last week take up a cross our own personal cross you know what you struggle with you know what your problems are you know if it's time management you know if it's money management you know if it's prioritizing talents and and how it is that God has called you and what he's pulling and tugging on your heart so pick up that cross it's a perfect strategy that crosses a perfect compass of north south east and west it points in all directions it tells you where you need to go it gives you as our opening text says it's the the perfect good pleasing will of God when we don't conform to the pattern of this world in other words we all live at the standard of this world but we're transformed by the renewing of our mind because God's not gonna change what it looks like around you until he changed your minds your mind he can't change the situation he can't change them what it looks like around you until he changes your mind I tell you these three two points to find success in the kingdom of God as a summary we must submit to the standard we must surrender to sacrifice and we must sell out to the strategies set goals at the standard of which we play and do not do not compromise because it's hard I challenge you young people do hard things don't sit by during this Kovan night team this stay at home order and get weaker and weaker and weaker because the easy thing to do when you weaken is to go back to a lower standard I pray for you this evening and pray that God's Word has encouraged you but also challenged you not to live at a lower standard but God has called us to press toward the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus we know that he's called us every day to get stronger and raise the standard I want to pray for you in closing and pray that God challenges you where you sit there wherever it may be this evening not just strong to our students but all fathers mother grandparents are trendsetters to see me be challenged that even you no matter what your age may be I believe that from infant all the way to our trendsetters that God still calling us to raise the standard God we love you this evening I thank you so much for giving us your word because you created us by your word and it's no coincidence God that you spoke your word into existence and gave us the Bible that we can now have this this plan of action of that tells us how to speak and and how that we ought to go about our lives and how we should walk and how we should talk and God we don't ever want to live by the the form of the pattern of this world God but we want to be transformed by your word that we may live at the standard of which you've given us God I pray that you would challenge each one of our young people this evening God that as their being God's shaken and their being God tried by the devil and the adversary and the pride of life and everything around them right now god I pray that you would anoint our young people God I pray that there would be power that would rest upon each one of them god I pray that you would go into the home God where where they sit today maybe that a mother and a father are not saved and you would use them to speak life you would use them to help set the standard of their home as the Word of God you would use God this evening a young person to cause revival and wherever it is that they have access to whether it be on social media that they could influence somebody that they could use God's social media as a platform to be a window to the Word of God for somebody god I pray that you would anoint us that you would use this for such a time as this to raise the standard for whom much is given much is required and we take that on God we know that you put this on us because the church can carry what the world cannot God we take it to see me and we accept the challenge to be greater because you are greater within us in Jesus mighty name we pray amen and amen live at a higher standard