APC, What Do You See? (Part 4) - Pastor Brad DeLong

Before that time, we're going to turn to the word of the Lord. We're going to lean into our core value of truth to Mark chapter 6 and verse one. Mark 6 and verse one. Jesus himself is traveling and teaching. He lands in his own hometown hoping that they of all people would receive him and his teaching with unhindered faith. I believe he's come here today with the same intention and we want to respond with faith. Right? Fortunately, that's the opposite response of his hometown of Nazareth.

Verse one says, "He went out from there and came to his own home country and his disciples followed him. And when the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing him were astonished, saying, "Uh, where where did this man get these things? What wisdom is this which is given to him that such mighty works are performed by his hands?" I want you to notice they acknowledge his words, and they acknowledge his works. They can see and hear, "Wow, there's something here.

There's something real, something powerful." But doubt comes in right behind that acknowledgement. They say, "Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" So they were offended at him. Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, in his own house." And verse five is tragic. Now he could do no mighty work there except he laid his hand on a few sick people and healed them.

and he marveled because of their unbelief. And then he went about the other villages in a circuit teaching. Hebrews 11 later tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things that you really can't see. This morning, our faith is going to be tested, stirred, challenged, and stretched. As I started this message in Mark 6, I did that to show us that your faith and my faith can and will be the determining factor in what the Lord does both here today and in our church's future.

I believe that God is powerful enough that he can work around our faith or the lack thereof. But he always likes to work with our faith. And I feel that faith in the room right now. With that in mind, I want to share with you what my faith has been allowing me to see. faith that is admittedly imperfect, but one that I hope is contagious and maybe A FAITH THAT'S OUTMATCHED by your faith. With Hebrews 11 and the evidence of things not seen in mine, I'm going to preach to you from a repeat title.

APC, what do you see? Part four. If you don't know the other three parts, you can go back and find them. But part four, I couldn't come up with a better title. All right, but the Lord is challenging our faith. He did it last week in that service. He's doing it here today. We're going to see some things by the power of the spirit of God that we have never seen before. Things we couldn't have imagined. Things that we didn't even think of that the Lord is wanting to do.

And I feel your faith in the room. Would you combine it right now and pray that God would help us today uh to see through the lens of faith what only he can do. Lord, we're looking to you a great big God. A God who's able TO DO ANYTHING. A GOD WHO'S ALREADY been working in this room today, touching hearts and minds and lives and families. We look to you right now and we ask for your help and we ask for your direction that you would enlarge our faith and expand it today in the mighty name of Jesus we pray.

Everyone said amen. You may be seated. Thank you, Christina. I find a a correlary in a danger in Mark 6 in Jesus's hometown that could even surface in this great church and among the people that I love in serve even in my own heart as well. And on that note, I want to say I walked out the office today. My dad was with me and I said, "Dad, just look. Just look at the people of God. This is one of the most beautiful sites you'll see on planet earth.

the people of God, the bride of Christ, that we get to be a part of this thing. Come on, it's amazing. And because I love you, I want to expose something that a mindset that happened in Nazareth and one that could happen even here. I don't believe that any of us would prefer uh to mirror the unbelief of Nazareth to doubt or distrust or question Jesus in any way, shape, or form. But like his own friends and his own family, it might be that our familiarity over time with Jesus and with his presence and with his glory and power that our familiarity with these wonderful blessings could end up undercutting and eroding the faith that we have in this God and the one that we've celebrated and the one that we've worshiped for over 90 years as a church.

In fact, if you look back at the text, you see they plainly acknowledge Jesus had authority. He's able to do powerful and miraculous works. They they believed and saw he could heal the sick. He did heal some sick people that he could speak words of life that they had never known before. They they acknowledged that and he did heal a couple of them in the aftermath of their skepticism. But what seemed to undo their faith was not that they couldn't fathom his words and couldn't fathom his works.

Instead, it was the simple fact that they had known little Jesus all of his life and all of their life. They could explain his origins in great detail. They they'd known him as a man longer than anybody else on planet Earth in their proximity to him ended up limiting their faith as opposed to fanning their faith and maximizing it. I know it's a small sample size, but as I reviewed this text in recent times, I wonder if it could be that those who have been around a while, or to use the expression we have here in the Midwest, maybe those who have been around the block a time or two, those who have been through the trials and have had both answered and unanswered prayers, those who have been in the services and have seen the glory of of God regularly, those who have tasted and seen that he is good and able, but maybe have had their senses and taste buds dulled over time.

Those who know him most. That we who have walked with God, myself included, could be prone to doubt him simply because we think we know him and have seen him at his fullest and at his greatest. Is that fair? All right. What if we have a Jesus box? The one that the Lord is trying to break and shatter this morning. the one that he has thoroughly shattered in my heart and my life over just the last several months. I say we because I am susceptible to the same doubt and skepticism and even cynicism that the people of Nazareth fell into.

It's the same one that that they used to to try to box Jesus in in his own hometown and country. It's the same one that brother Adam Hunley, our global missions director, spoke about here at APC at this pool pit in February when he was led by THE SPIRIT OF GOD TO CHALLENGE our faith. And it's the same one that was confronted a few weeks after that. And and a month later in another sermon in our services, and it's the same doubt and skepticism that I have faced in my own heart in recent weeks as the Lord's been showing me some things that he wants to do at APC.

It may even be the one that I I believe the best about you, but might even be rising in your heart as I talk today. To be clear, doubt, skepticism, cynicism are not the same. They're varying degrees of unbelief in their simplest definitions. Most of us have doubt. Skepticism is just another level. Cynicism usually is a a choice. It's the most deliberate and dire of them all. But I want you to know all of them, no matter their degree, limit the work of an almighty God in our lives.

Even doubt as such, they're all worthy of exploration today. And they're worthy of deportation from our hearts and from our lives. And as I read this text in Mark 6, the this text that that acts like a mirror in my own life, I I see a people who knew Jesus all of his life. And they knew him all their life. of people who should have known and believed him more than any other on this planet. But their familiarity, their proximity, their exclusive knowledge of Jesus, their understandings of his life and his origins, their connection uh continual connection with him and communion with him rather than leading them to faith and his obvious authority and what he's able to do, they dissuaded them of the same.

They were offended at him. A word meaning that they stumbled over him and their familiarity with Jesus. Their proximity, closeness with him should have allowed them to see him like no others in Israel. Instead, they couldn't see past their own limited understanding of Jesus, which they thought was definitive. As a result, Jesus reiterates a principle that leaders and prophets from Moses to Jeremiah understood in Israel. He said, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.

It was a stumbling block for the people of Israel for centuries. One that Jesus encountered in his own kindred, in his own house." And and maybe today, maybe you've got all the faith in the world, and you've never won battled one ounce of doubt or skepticism or cynicism. Maybe I'm just talking to myself. But I've come to address it anyway. Even if I am just preaching TO MYSELF BECAUSE GOD FORBID I GROW UP IN THE house of the Lord or I spend at least one service in the house of the Lord and I BECOME SO FAMILIAR WITH HIS GLORY AND MIGHTY ACTS ONLY TO DOUBT HIM IN HIS OWN HOUSE.

Jesus claimed no honor in his own house in Nazareth. But I rise to say that will NOT BE THE CASE IN THIS HOUSE. NOT IN THIS CHURCH. OUT AMONG THESE WONDERFUL PEOPLE. WE'RE GOING TO BELIEVE LIKE ABRAHAM, WHO STAGGERED NOT AT THE PROMISE OF GOD through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And he was fully persuaded that his wife, who should have been barren, was going to have a son, and they were going to be the father of many nations. And he WAS FULLY PERSUADED THAT after he was called to sacrifice his own son, and his own son could RISE UP OFF OF that altar, things never seen before.

He was persuaded what God has promised he was able to perform. And we're going to root out doubt and cynicism and skepticism in every heart and life, including my own. We will invite the Lord to search us and cleanse us. See if there's any wicked way or false belief in us. One that would would hinder our faith and hinder our trust in God. We'll tear down every false belief and we'll cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. will bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

We will not sit with arms crossed and our brow furrowed and our minds made up in the presence of Jesus of Nazareth. Oh, I've seen him do this before. He can do NO FUR. OUR GOD CAN DO ANYTHING. OUR GOD IS ABLE TO. I FEEL YOUR FAITH. OUR GOD CAN DO ALL OF IT. We will not be counted among those he called, oh ye of little faith. But I wonder if you just start to stir up your faith with me right now and lay aside some preconceived ideas and belief systems and limited understandings of who we think Jesus is.

Ones that clash with this word. Those false beliefs and voices of doubt. Any that includes any thought that says God's not able. That's one of them. Any thought that says, "I've heard this before, but I haven't seen it yet." That may be true, but if you couple that with doubt, that's a dangerous thought. Any belief that God can do it for others, but he won't do it for me and he won't he can't do it for me or he just won't do it for me. Any notion that we'll hear the word of the Lord and we'll hear it out, but we're not going to buy in wholesale.

We're not going to get too worked UP BECAUSE WE WE DON'T know if we're going to see it happen. any loopholes, any prior experiences that came to your mind as I preached TODAY WHEN MAYBE GOD DIDN'T SEEM to answer. ANY THOUGHT THAT I I I DON'T WANT TO GET MY HOPES UP AGAIN JUST IN CASE IT DOESN'T HAPPEN. ANY THOUGHT THAT concludes that I've seen it all and I KNOW IT ALL AND I KNOW THAT God and he could do it elsewhere but not here. We defy doubt and skepticism in light of the authority and the power of the word of God and the God who inspired it.

I wonder if you would right now in the presence of the Lord align yourself with Abraham and with that faithfilled centurion of Luke 7 and with that Syrphenician woman who had all the faith in the world and would you break a box and TAKE THE LID OFF WHAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW ABOUT JESUS and what he can do. THE SAME GOD WHO PAUL WORSHIPED WHEN HE SAID, "NOW UNTO HIM WHO IS ABLE TO DO EXCEEDINGLY, ABUNDANTLY, above all, we could ask or THINK ACCORDING TO THE POWER THAT WORKS IN US.

TO HIM be glory. To him be glory and trust." THAT'S THE GOD WHO SHOWED UP TO Nazareth to change lives and perform the miraculous. That's the God who's in this room right now looking for hearts full of faith. The substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. If you've seen it, it doesn't require your faith. If you haven't seen it, but you still see it, that's faith. The currency of the kingdom. It is the means by which God is able to do all things and more that we could ask or think of.

That's the God we serve. That being the case, I wonder if you just do some battle with me right now against every contrary thought, every little bit of doubt, every skepticism, and stir up every ounce of faith you've got over the next several minutes and beyond. In fact, I'm going to pause here and I want you to lift your hands with me and invite the Lord. Maybe you pray the prayer that that desperate father did. Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. Oh God, ah I've got this lingering situation in my mind where I don't think that you answered me or you didn't show up on time.

SO I'M HAVING A HARD TIME right now. Oh Jesus, would you help uh me cast aside doubt and cast down every thought, Lord, that's contrary to your word, which is HAS ALL AUTHORITY AND ALL POWER. I pray that you'd help your wonderful church and bride uh to fully trust in you and believe in you right now. You're the God of all miracles. And you're able. You're able. You're able. Would you just give the Lord glory right now? Just start to exalt the Lord in your heart and in your mind.

Not because I ask, but because it inspires faith. Jesus, we magnify you. We glorify you. Hebrews says faith. It says this about faith that without faith it's impossible to please God. He who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. That's why we see Jesus bristling at unbelief, rebuking the naysayers and even subconscious doubters. Even sincere but wavering saints were helped and they were corrected and challenged in in a loving manner to bring them in alignment with Jesus.

And and while he was merciful and kind, notice Jesus responded swiftly and consistently when he's confronted with doubt and skepticism and especially cynicism. In the same vein, he would marvel. He'd be moved by faith and trust. Abraham's counted righteous because of it. That centurion I talked about is marked for eternity in the word because of his trust in God. His servant is healed. Moments later, the Syrofenician woman, Jesus, marveled at her. When God marvels, we pay attention. She's marked for eternity. And Jesus himself speaks blessings over those who have not seen yet still believe.

That being the case this morning, it begs the question again. APC, what do you see? What do you see? What do you believe despite not yet seeing it? What do you see through the eyes of your faith? the evidence of things not seen. I'm going to tell you that my faith has been challenged and stirred and broadened, shattered, broadened again recently. In fact, we were on a recent trip to the mountains and I looked up at those incredible mountains and I felt the Lord speak to me plainly as a pastor and as a shepherd of this wonderful family.

He said, "Bradley, I want you to dream again. I want you to dream again." Like some of you, I had laid aside some dreams and some corresponding faith for the practical, for the achievable, for the temporal, for the reasonable. Sometimes when you're in the thick of life and struggle and distraction, dreams feel like a luxury. Faith just feels like a luxury. They're an indulgence in light of all the other matters we've got to attend to. They're they're beyond us at time, or so it seems. And again, maybe you don't ever PLAN TO BE DOUBTFUL or skeptical or certainly not cynical.

I don't believe anyone wants those things. But the cares of life and distractions and enemies and storms can strip you of hopes and dreams and faith. And you start to just accept your lot in life to I'm just going to survive. If I can just make it. If I could just eek by. If the Lord will just bring me through this storm, I'LL JUST RIDE IT OUT FROM THERE. This is not a new problem. Jesus was preaching to people in the first century who were just they were just doing good to have food and these towns in to have faith.

We think that that that WE'LL JUST RIDE IT OUT UNTIL WE SEE JESUS for who he really is when he comes walking by on the water to remind you that he's bigger and he's greater than that storm and all of it and he's worthy of your faith and then so this is what he's been doing for me of late and he's in this room and he's in your storm right now to do the very same thing. And maybe we get fixated on the waves and right in front of us.

And God's calling us to look up and to lay aside every weight and the sin that easily ens snares us and holds us back and run uh the race with patience and endurance. The race that's set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. He's the perfector of our faith. He's the one who inspires it, the one who calls for it, the one who shapes it, the one who deserves it. And along with helping us overcome doubt and skepticism, he's here to stir up and broaden our faith.

As I said, he's been working mine over. And I I've had the advantage of six weeks since he started to move on me for this day. And I'll say, even still, despite my my head start, some of the things I can see today through that lens of faith, they still challenge me. Some of the things the Lord wants you to see today for your family, your neighborhood, your co-workers, your school, your field will challenge you. Maybe you just see them dimly. Maybe you can't see them fully like that man in Mark 8.

And the Lord will come by and he'll refine your faith. I know you might be wrestling and straining to see what the Lord's doing right now. Especially if you've got a storm around you, but I want to help inspire your faith today and call you to see what the Lord has been allowing me to see. And I'm not exclusive to faith. It's not just me, but I have a vantage point uh that the Lord's allowed me to have. I I I want you to see with me what the Lord wants to do at APC and in our community and beyond in your home and your life as well.

This is not for the person behind you with great faith. This is for you. Acts 2 says they were all in one mind and one accord. And that's when the church was born and that's when the miraculous HAPPENED. IF WE COULD ALL GET OUR FAITH FOCUSED ON THE SAME THING. UH WHO KNOWS WHAT GOD CAN DO at APC. What do you see? What do you see for your children, your home, your future, your marriage, your relationship, your neighbors, your workplace, your unsaved loved ones? What do you see beyond that?

Do you see anything? Do you do you see your local schools being shaped? Do you see beyond your municipality, your suburb, your street, your home, your living room, your life? Can you see anything beyond your own storm and your own sickness and your own circumstance at the moment? If not, I call you to awaken your faith through prayer as I tell you some of the things the Lord's been pressing me to see. Would you see with me today a vision of healthy homes here at APC?

I can see it. Every home. Every single home. Even yours. Yes. Even yours. That person. Not mine. Yes. Yours. Yes. YOURS. NOT MY SAID, YES, YOURS. Now unto him who IS ABLE TO DO EXCEEDINGLY. I feel like I'm fighting for somebody right now and FOR YOUR FAITH. HE IS ABLE. Don't take my take this word for it. Our God IS ABLE. OUR GOD CAN TAKE A MAN OUT OF HIS MIND FOR DECADES, that demoniac, and deliver him in moments. Please don't conclude that he can't do it for you.

He can. He can. Can you see homes and families and hearts and individuals who are healthy, growing, and full of love? Can you see families thriving and apostolic? It's promised and it's possible. CAN YOU SEE WITH ME YOUR HOME being the focal point for the spirit OF GOD AND THE PEACE of God and the joy of the Lord uh for rest and refreshing for you and for others around you. Maybe your home's embattled right now, but I wonder if you could just believe with me that your home and the relationships within it will be healthy, growing, and full of love.

I need some parents and grandparents and hyphen youth, single adults, young married to help me see what the Lord wants for your home right now. And with those parents in mind, let me just talk to some parents about what this looks like for a moment. I talked with one of our precious little ones two weeks ago. She was seeking the Lord in the altar and was refilled with the gift of the Holy Ghost. She told me, she said, "I GOT THE HOLY Ghost three times." When's the last time you got the Holy Ghost?

She said, "I got it at church and then I got it again today." And she said, "The second time I got it was at home." Can you see that little one with their hands lifted in your living room speaking with other tongues and the glory of God falling on? Mr. [name redacted] was by my office a couple weeks ago or months ago. I said [name redacted] said, "But how many gods are there?" He said, "Just one. It's Jesus." He said, "My daddy tells me at home." Peter and Tres will tell you he's blooming recently.

is talking a lot more. But when I talked to him, he knew about 12 words, but he knew enough. He was being taught at home. I see disciples, over a hundred of them, being trained in a healthy home. We've got 94 children here at APC. I see their neighbors and friends being changed in healthy homes. I see this sticker that I found last week in that back chair over there being realized. It says, "Raising tiny disciples." If this is your sticker, you can come find me later.

I need one of those. All right. What do you see, APC? Can you see with me? Those healthy homes, those little disciples, can you help me take the steps forward? I declare to somebody in the Holy Ghost that you will be healthy, GROWING, AND FULL OF LOVE. YOUR HOME WILL BE A place of peace and rest and safety. It'll be filled with the spirit. Lift your hands right now. If you want that in your home, would you just receive it right now? Oh, in the name of Jesus, we believe it, oh God, we can see it.

Even the even the home that's in the middle of a STORM RIGHT NOW, WE CAN SEE IT IN OUR HOME. WE can see your PRESENCE AND GLORY FILLING OUR OUR living room, OH GOD, WE CAN SEE IT SPILLING OUT INTO OUR NEIGHBORS, OH GOD. OH, we claim it in the name of Jesus. our home filled with the peace of God, filled with the joy of the Lord. I pray joy in every home right now. I pray that birthright, that fruit OF THE SPIRIT, WE CLAIM THE JOY OF THE LORD, A JOY THAT'S UNSPEAKABLE.

WE CLAIM IT, OH GOD, NOT JUST TODAY. I CLAIM IT TOMORROW AND THE NEXT DAY. I CLAIM A BAPTISM OF JOY OVER every heart, over every life in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus, I see miracles that cannot be explained happen in those homes and right here at APC. This one's not hard to see. We've been seeing it here already. Blood clots disappearing, bodies being healed. Just last Sunday, Lorenzo had an ongoing pain for over a month in his body. We prayed for him and a couple days later that pain was gone.

I got a text from Sister Jory Renderer. We've been praying for [name redacted], her son. [name redacted]. He had a lethal dose of chemo about a week and a half ago. So lethal that they had to they had to give him stem cells to keep his system upright. She said he's not had one mouth sore. He's not had a sore on his body. He hasn't had a single pain med. She said HE'S BEEN HIS NORMAL HAPPY SELF. The doctors are baffled. They don't understand. What can you see right now?

Can you see it with me? THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN PEOPLE OF GOD. AH, BUT BY HIS SPIRIT AND BY HIS POWER, IT'S ABLE. It's It's able to He can do greater than that. You see, sins washed away in the NAME OF JESUS. WHAT GREATER MIRACLE do we need? People being filled with the Holy Ghost. DOCTORS DANCING IN EXCITEMENT. DOCTORS WRITING IN OFFICIAL hospital records that there has been a notable miracle. The spirit of God being poured out. Here's one that hits home for me. I've talked about it a lot.

A woman being thrown 120 ft from her car and landing right in front of my house. She shouldn't be alive. She's not only alive, she's walking. She's working. We met with her a couple weeks ago. WE WERE TALKING ABOUT THE THINGS OF GOD THAT SHOULDN'T HAPPEN. What do you see? I wonder if your faith is being stirred right now like mine is. I've seen too much to allow any bit of doubt to stifle my faith. If those have already happened here in just the last couple months, what could happen in your life?

What could happen in your faith? What do you see? I've seen too much to be cynical. There are too many people in these pews that are breathing the breath of life by the grace of God. There's a little one down in Texas right now with her mama. That is just a statistical anomaly. And she's breathing. Her name's Anna. She's alive today because of the help of the Lord. Heart conditions, fixed moments after prayer, provisions, protections, answers to desperation of faith. If you need a miracle, you ought to stand right now and lift your hands and just start to see it.

If you need something from God, OH, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT for me. Just lift those hands right now and begin to call. AND IF YOU'VE GOT FAITH THAT THE LORD CAN DO IT, WHY DON'T you reach over and find that person and pray with them right now in Jesus name. You are able, Lord. We combat every BIT OF DOUBT. WE COMBAT SKEPTICISM. AH, you are able. All those stories, all those miracles in the book, they're real and they can happen even today. We trust in you, Lord, for the miraculous.

We trust in you for what you're able to do. Ah, in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Lift that voice right now. There is nothing stopping the Lord from intervening right here and now. God can touch your life. God can TOUCH YOUR BODY. GOD CAN TOUCH YOUR FAMILY. God can provide. You're able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. Thank you. I want you to see what God can do for you. Yes. And some of you are praying for situations beyond your home.

But we got to get our eyes beyond those even. The Lord can do it for you and he can do it for your neighbor next door. We're just We're already in the altar service. That's all right. You just keep praying. I'm going to tell you what else I see. We went down to the arch, me and Pastor Aaron Bachelor from New Life about 10 days ago. He said, "Let's just pray and let's meet. Let's let's walk that that property there and let's just dream. Let's do it."

went down there and we began to pray and the Lord is dealing with me and I felt such a burden for prodigals and people who are on their way back. I believe they're on their way back. We prayed together. We dreamed together. We left downtown. We went back to get lunch at a spot I had never been to before. And I was walking the restaurant. I hear my name yell Brad Dong. Turn around. someone I had grown up with here who's on several prayer lists in this room.

I could I would almost ran straight into him. The Lord couldn't have made it more obvious. Started to talk to him and share life with him. Brings our food over the table and then we're sitting there eating. Me and Pastor Bachelor thought, "Wow, that was coincidental." Couple minutes later, Pastor Bachelor guy walks over. He's shaking his hand. Someone I went to school with at New Life, which is where he pastors. He looks at me, he says, "Hey, I'm Brad." Yeah. The pastor told me, he said, "I prayed for him yesterday."

We came back to the church. I came over here. I met with some of our leaders. I told them I was full of faith. Told them, "I believe God's bringing them. I believe God's reaching for them." They said, 'You know, we got this family that we've been burdened for. We've been burdened for them for a long time, and we're hoping that they're going to come back within 24 hours. They had run into that same family. And that the lady, the mom said, "Where do you go to church again?

I need to get back. I got to get to the house of God. I believe they're coming, people of God." Ah, WHY DON'T YOU CALL OUT ONE of their names right now? Just lift your hands with me and begin to call out one of those names. OH, GOD. EVERY PRODIGAL UH THAT'S been stirred right now, even the ones who haven't. Lord, I believe that the spirit can reach them wherever they are. I'm believing, Lord, that there's been some seeds planted in their lives and that there will be some seeds.

Maybe a text message, LORD, MAYBE ANOTHER PRAYER, MAYBE ANOTHER MOMENT OF FAITH, OH GOD, maybe a family event, maybe a birthday party. Who knows? Lord, you can lead us to them. And I pray that when you do, give us the boldness to be able to speak into them and speak into their lives and share the words of LIFE WITH THEM. INVITE THEM TO COME BACK. INVITE THEM, LORD. Back into your safety, BACK INTO YOUR PEACE, AND back into your presence. Oh God, we're believing, Lord. I'm believing, oh God.

Oh, in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. See those prodigals. And I see I see the nations at APC and beyond. Two Sundays ago, we worshiped with 13 nations in the building. Spanish added about a dozen more. The following Monday night at prayer, the Lord spoke to us in a message in tongues. He said, "I have opened the door to the nations." He said, "I've called you to reach them. All of us." Easter, I was standing over there by where brother Christian is.

I looked across this wonderful congregation and the Lord said, "I've trusted these wonderful people to you. I thank God for every nationality represented at APC. I celebrate every one of you. Thank you for coming. Thank you for being here. Every tribe, every tongue, every culture, every beautiful family, every background, every calling, every lesson that you have taught me and they have been many. Thank the Lord for every nationality, every ethnicity. And I see more. I see more through the eyes of faith. I see Christine Pyouong is her Korean name.

Her husband Juan, their kids, they own the restaurant Shaking Bowl down Telegraph. They hosted a Korean speaking church there every Sunday. Play worship music every time you go in. If you like good food and you want to try something new, go see Christine. Okay, it's good. Shaking bowl right over there. Find them on Yelp. I got to talk to her recently several times. They attend a Korean church I've been praying for. The Lord just cracked the door open. It was a God moment, multiple ones. I told her, said, "Christine, I need you to know in the States, we call what you're serving us soul food."

Said, "You're from Korea, so it's actually soul food." Soul Korea. She was like, "Oh, I'm gonna use that." And I said, "You should. If you need any marketing tips, just let me know. I'm believing for the Korean church." I wonder if you can see them with me. The Holy Ghost being poured out in their meetings. I see my Russian neighbor who we had over the house recently. I was trying to help him sell an Xbox yesterday. He already sold it. Okay. Can't have it. I see the Afghani community who Mariah got involved to connect with a few weeks ago.

She was at a a home warming or housewarming party a couple months ago with a missionary down the road near Feed My People. They welcomed her in as a guest of honor. They even told her she could spend the night. It was a Saturday night. She may not have been here on time for service and I wouldn't have been with the kids. But I see that community receiving the revelation of who Jesus really is. That he's more than a prophet. He's the one in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells.

Ah, I see it happening. I see the Bosians in St. Louis and beyond. I shared the gospel with my friend recently. The Lord spoke to me as I began to share with him who I believe Jesus is. He told me in that moment, he said, "I'm going to reveal myself to him." I was there for hours and into the night and I'm working on a time to go with him. He wants me to meet his family in Bosnia. We don't have a missionary in Bosnia right now.

I believe the Lord told me we were going to send one from here. I know at least 30 wonderful Azians at this point. They love their nation. They're looking for hope for their nation. We've got it. We've got what they need. I wonder if you could help me pray for nations right now. Whatever comes to your mind, would you lift your voices with me to the glory of the Lord in this room? Oh God, ah, we feel your power. We feel your glory. We feel you moving.

We feel you working right now. We don't know, Lord. We can't see all the things that you're doing, but we see enough. Oh God, we see you moving into these communities. Lord, we see you revealing yourself to them. WE SEE, OH GOD, THAT you're able, you're able to reach them, Lord. Uh you're able to lead them. You're able to give them dreams that we can't give them. Oh God, uh there's a hunger in them that you ARE ABLE TO SATISFY. ONLY YOU, OH GOD. Only your power, ONLY YOUR SPIRIT.

OH, ONLY YOUR WORD. Oh God, you're able. You're able, Jesus. You're able, Jesus. You're able. You're able. See the denominations, we had six of them here for a pastor's meeting a couple months ago. Told you the story. We're at my friend's church down the road. He did a devotion from Acts chapter 2 and I got all excited. That's our chapter. Pentecost. It's their chapter, too. Tells us all we've been praying that the spirit of God would break into our church. said in Jesus name. In Jesus name, he can do it.

He can do it. And I see a city. I see a city. I walked that arch ground, had my sunglasses on, trying to hide my bloodshot eyes. Helped a couple tourists. Take a picture of them in the arch. Dodge some carts. Prayed under my breath, trying not to cause a scene. I could feel the Lord dealing with me. He's making inroads into this city. He told Paul in the book of Acts, he said, "Don't be afraid. Keep teaching the truth. I have much people in this city.

They've been calling out to him and he's been hearing them. and he's sending families like the Dales to go reach him. I see a city, an embattled city, a city embroiled with darkness, but a city in which the glory of God is going to rain. One of those people I met on Friday, his name is Nore. You know, this just keeps happening. I think it's I don't think it's because there's more of them out there. I think it's just because I I see them now that the Lord opened my eyes.

I got a new tailor. He's great. I'll give you his information. We'll send everybody over there. Find stuff in your house that needs to be tailored. Unless we got some great people here are good tailor, too. So, don't take business from them. But I walk in a shop. I didn't know what was going to happen. He starts asking me why I need stuff tailored and what do I do and what I do is he said, "How many times you go to church a week?" I said, "I go twice."

He said, "That's too much." I said, "Well, I work there." And he's like, "Oh, okay. All right." He's from Pakistan. Started telling me about a family that he's seen struggle. He's not a Christian. I started to tell him what the Bible says about our sufferings and getting close to the Lord. He looked at me. He said, "You believe this." Said, "You have a passion for this? I can tell. I wonder if we really believe it." And every person we come into contact with that the Lord loves, he's ready to reach them said, "Yeah, absolutely.

I believe it." We begin to talk a little further. And this man again, he's Pakistan. He's a Muslim man. He tells me, he said, "You are speaking the truth to people." He said, "Stories are great. You can tell stories. I'm telling one now." He said, "But you are speaking the truth to them, and the truth will set them free." You want to know if God is reaching people? He asked me, "What time's your church starting?" I believe you're going to see him walking in on a Sunday and you ought to shake his hand and you might be next to him when he lifts those hands and receives the gift of the Holy.

I see a city ah full of disciples full of norths, full of nations, full of denominations who are ready for the truth of God's word. And you've got it, child of God. You've got it. Oh, if you see it, stand with me right now and lift those hands to heaven. Ah, would you begin uh to just claim it in the name of Jesus? Claim your neighborhood. Claim your municipality. Ah, claim your family. Claim your unsaved loved ones. Claim your home right now in the name of Jesus.

Claim that marriage right now in the name of Jesus. Claim it that you will be healthy, growing, and full of love. and you're going to help someone else to be healthy, growing, and full of love. Ah, you can see any of it and you want to respond in faith, here's how we do that. We express our faith here at APC by stepping out of where we are and coming to this altar. If you're comfortable doing that, I want you to come right now and just start claiming some things in faith.

Uh, start naming some people that the Lord's going to use you to reach. Start claiming them in the name of Jesus. Uh if your home needs help, bring your spouse. Bring a family member. Come and claim it right now. If you're a single adult, claim that you're going to be healthy, growing, and full of love. Why don't you come and claim some prodigals right now in the name of Jesus? I see them coming back. I'm making I'm clearing the way for them. Oh God, I'm saving a seat for them in my home, at my table, and here at APC.

We're going to see some things that we've never seen before. Oh, we see the nations. We see them coming, Lord. Teaching us, teaching us how to be like you, oh God. Oh, Lord. We see the denominations. We see them, oh Lord. I see my neighbors finding out who you really are. Oh, if you need some faith, if you're battling some doubt, just link up with someone right now. Tell them, I need you to help me pray. One will put to flight a th00and, two, 10,000. Believe with me in the name of Jesus. And we're going to see it.