The Church Can Change The World

In chapter number three someone tell you this I had this happen yesterday and I thought what a great testimony to the power of of the church and the people of God we were in the city of Indianapolis and ended up meeting a lady who attends Calvary and she said I had something posted for sale on marketplace and she said believe it or not the individual who who inquired and ended up purchasing that item lived in in Terre Haute and so when they were meeting together to work out this deal a conversation was developing and the lady begins to tell her she inquired or mentioned the lady from Calvary made mention of new life she was familiar with the Harp holes she made mention of this church and the the lady said oh yes I think I I think I I know someone who attends there she said her name is is Rosalie and she's always trying out new

recipes and dropping them off at my house turn out it was Bishop and sister Harp holes neighbor and so this is just what God does to get the attention of people he would orchestrate a sale an hour away so a conversation could happen to confirm the testimony of a saint of God this is how God works to let people know that he is reaching for them and I'm thankful to be part of the church amen amen verse 8 Paul says unto me who in less than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hidden God who created all things by Jesus Christ verse 10 he said to the intent that now unto the principalities

and powers and heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him wherefore I desire that you faint not at my tribulations for you which is your glory for this reason I bow my knees before the Father our Lord Jesus Christ want to preach to today on this subject the church can change the world the church can change the world before you're seated I want to tell you a quick story I read recently today Apple is one of the four most valuable companies in the world assessed somewhere in the vicinity of 1.4 1.6 trillion dollars but in the early to mid 80s they fell into hard times and their young chairman his name was Steve Jobs traveled to New York City to convince the then

president of PepsiCo John Scully to move to California and run that small struggling computer company sitting in his penthouse overlooking the Manhattan skyline Scully persistently declined the offer Steve Jobs persisted finally he said the only way I'll do this is you would have to offer me an astronomical salary and benefits package Jobs said he was flabbergasted but decided to consent offered him an annual salary of one million dollars a lump sum payment signing bonus of one million dollars and a substantial benefits package including significant stock option then Scully responded and said fine but the only way I'll accept the offer is if you will allow me to be a consultant from my home in New York City finally Steve Jobs reaching the the end of his patience asked this question do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want to change the world Scully said that question knocked

the wind out of me I'd never thought of it that way he accepted the offer moved to California and assumed the leadership of Apple Computer we have an opportunity to change the world father I thank you for the people of God that made an effort to be here today as we've already heard this is different but I believe you're gonna honor it and I'm asking that you would confirm your word with the demonstration of your spirit God I'm hungry to see the power of God change lives and heal bodies and minds and families and I'm asking that you would do that today in the only name that has any power would you say it with me in Jesus name in Jesus name the Lord bless you you can be seated I've been drawn as of late even here in in my travel to expository manner of

preaching which is to take the scripture verse by verse and that's what I'll do this morning with our text the Bible said that God was going to allow all men to see what was the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world had been hid in God he is speaking to us of the church what Paul is saying is the church was not God's plan B what we are a part of today was God's intention from the very beginning it was hidden yes but hidden does not mean unplanned and Ephesians 1 he would say that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world perhaps you have heard mention of a doctrine called predestination the Bible does not say that we as individuals are predestined but that those who are in Christ are predestined meaning the church and so it was in Matthew 16 Jesus is standing at a

place called Caesarea Philippi in that ancient world it is known as the gates of Hades or the gates of hell and he lives up his voice and a dialogue with Simon Peter verse 18 he said I say also unto thee thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it it's important we understand that at that moment the church as we know it did not yet exist he speaks in the future tense I will it is to say the destiny of the church had already been determined it will be a victorious church a glorious church without spot or without wrinkle it will be a triumphant church which means nothing and no one can stop it it's important though we understand where this church comes from you find its origin and acts to on the

day of Pentecost the Bible said they were all gathered in one place and one accord and there the Spirit was poured out and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them the ability it spilled out into the streets and it provoked the question from the onlookers what meaneth this Peter the one who was given the keys to the kingdom in Matthew 16 stands up with the authority and the support of the 11 and answers that question and he said this is that the question is what's this and what's that this is the experience of speaking in other tongues that is the prophecy from Joel chapter 2 what Peter was saying was this experience of speaking in other tongues is the fulfillment of that biblical prophecy when God spoke through the prophet Joel and said in the last day sayeth God I will pour out of my spirit upon all

flesh I want you to know that's the kind of church you're in today we still believe it is the desire of God to pour out his spirit upon all flesh I thank God for that experience as an 18 year old boy the baptism of the Holy Ghost changed my life Peter stood up and he preached Christ and him crucified he said this Jesus whom you have crucified God if raised up he's ascended into the heaven poured out the promise of the Father which you now see and hear when they heard the preaching of Jesus Christ and him crucified which is the gospel according to 1st Corinthians 15 they asked the question what shall we do and Peter said repent and be baptized every one of you for the remission of sin and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promises unto you and your children and all that are afar off even as many as

the Lord our God shall call this is the church and this was not God's plan B the Bible said he was the land slain from the foundation of the world God knew to create man for the sake of relationship man would fall and man would fail and man would struggle and stumble in their spiritual pursuit but God said I would rather let you fall and fail and redeem you for the sake of a real relationship this is the church and it was hid to the prophets of old it was hid to Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the prophets didn't see it and David couldn't know it but to us it has been revealed Paul said and of this church that Jesus said he would build he said the gates of hell will not prevail I know you have probably heard this pastor has spoken at many times in this pulpit

but gates in the ancient world are not gates as they are to us if you were to walk through the gate of an ancient city you would find cutouts in the walls of the gate the city wall where kings and magistrates rulers would sit we find record of it in the text Ruth for elders are sitting at the gate Deuteronomy 21 legal decisions were made at the gate 2nd Samuel 19 kings exercise their rules at the gate simply put in that ancient world gates were the center of authority it was the place of government and what Jesus is saying is the government or the authority of hell will not stop the church so I want to lift my voice today and declare that there is no place too powerful there is no place too dark there is no place too evil for the church this church will

work for anyone and it will work anywhere if you could make your way to China today and you could sneak behind that bamboo curtain here's what you discover God is pouring out his spirit and even in China people are being filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost and if you could sneak your way behind the iron curtain in the borders of Russia you know what you discover Vladimir Putin can write all the rules he wants to write but even in the borders of communist Russia the Holy Ghost is being poured out and the church is being triumphant today on this very weekend in Muslim majority countries that missionaries can't get to and the gospel can't be preached and where conversion is illegal in those places the church is triumphantly marching forward as Muslims receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost right now in war torn

countries I've got friends that pastor in them where comfort cannot be found and where the temperatures are cold and they've got no power it's an unpleasant scenario but in that environment the church is growing and multiplying and excelling all around the world in affluent cities where riches have deceived the hearts of men and politically and racially divided cities on college campuses that are bound up in liberal ideologies and yes right here in Tera Hode Indiana God has is and forever will be establishing his triumphant and victorious church we must understand what precisely he meant when he said church Jesus did not invent a new word in Matthew 16 he reached into the political cultural and governing language of the Greek world and chose a word that was already filled with much cultural relevance the word for church in your New Testament is the Greek word ecclesia 114 times in the pages of the

New Testament scripture it means the called out ones or the assembly historically the ecclesia was the level of Greek government referred to as the gathering of the summon it was not a casual or disorganized gathering it was not happenstance it was purposeful it was intentional the ecclesia was the gathering place of those who were called to forsake their regular routines because they had been chosen for the service of the metropolis their responsibility was to allow all other duties to become secondary in order that they may come and assemble for the benefit and the good of the entire polis they are a people summoned with authority they would gather at minimum 40 times per year and they were quite literally the engine of Greek civilization they were anything but insignificant and Jesus reaches into that cultural context to speak of the church that he is establishing and calls it by

that very same word ecclesia he is telling them just as they have been summoned to forsake their regular routine and assemble for the sake of the good of the people and the good of the city so I'm calling you out of comfort out of familiarity out of routine and tradition I'm calling you out of sin and out of worldliness to follow me and assemble yourselves as my followers and my disciples the ecclesia the church never meant building it always meant the people whether it was made up of two as spoken in Matthew 18 and 20 or 2000 as it would at times of feasts in celebration the church whether there are two people or there are 2000 people the church is never small and the church is never insignificant I know today we've gathered at 78 49 Wabash Avenue but when you're closed behind that warm door buried behind the snow tomorrow and

it's just you and a few family members you are just as much the church in your home as you are this house this is what we must understand the ecclesia or the church is only the church if they assemble to not be present and I'm not putting shame on nobody who couldn't be here because the last minute change of schedule or the impending weather but I'm speaking to the construct and the discipline of our lives to forsake the assembly was not just a personal decision it was to forsake your responsibility to those whom you had been called to serve as significant as the ecclesia was an ancient Greece the church is quite literally the engine of God's work in the world this is how he has chosen to accomplish his will in the earth and so by myself I'm not the church you by yourself are not the church but when we come together now we

have assumed the posture of the ecclesia now we are the church now we have given God's space to work through us to impact the world just as the ecclesia did in Greece it's this understanding we missed it because to us this is the church I know we say we know it but our vocabulary our language confuses our own minds but to the early church they understood it well that's why the writer of Hebrews said let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works hear this not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching don't forsake the assembling because that is those who have been summoned by the authority of God together in order that they may be the church you see what happens when a saint rejects the body when they wander off

into isolation and buy in to the worldly value of individualism they rob themselves of the opportunity of power but when we come together whether it be two or two thousand we press into the plurality more than one and that plurality qualifies us to now be the ecclesia or the church and by way of our gathering we simultaneously press our way into a dimension of power that cannot be obtained by yourself and then verse 10 of our text he said to the intent that now somebody say now that's right now that is a present tense word to the intent that right now on Saturday January the 24th now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God this is the verse that's arrested my attention the past couple weeks God is saying through the church the gathering of my people I

will reveal my wisdom and my glory in such a way that every principality and every power in a heavenly place sees me and what I'm doing so my question today is this what is it that happens in the church so that through the church this happens now I'm gonna answer changed lives that's what happens when we gather lives are changed deliverance starts happen baptism happens and sin is washed away conversion is experienced salvation is experienced repentance happens in these altars baptism happens in this house people get the Holy Ghost when we assemble it is the lives that are changed when the church gathers together that's what happens in the church that through the church God declares to every principality and power you might have reigned in this city for a while but you're not reigning any longer I've come today to do war on behalf of some people in this house and in this city

for 61 years there has been a truth preaching church that we represent that has contested the powers of hell for the souls of men and women in this city and I'm not sure if we really realize what happens when we gather do you know every time you inconvenience yourself to come into the house of God and take part of the summoning of the saints of God to gather under the umbrella of authority that we heard about last week do you know what happens God starts working through the church to let every power of darkness that's warring against your life and reckon havoc in your marriage and destroying your family God says no not to my children not to my people and not in this city every time the increase of the influence of God starts working its way through somebody's life it is God telling those unseen forces those

powers of evil you don't rule here this is the church it's not steel and it's not sheetrock it's not lights and it's not screams it's us this is what the Lord spoke to me this week he said when you stand before my people you tell them it is time that we stand guard against the de-spiritualization of the church I'm well aware I'm speaking to you some things that require faith to apprehend because your eye can't see it and your hands can't always feel it I'm talking to you how about an unseen reality but if I have to convince you today that the devil is real I'm sorry you're already in a bad place so my question for us today is do we want to sell sugar water or do we want to change the world are we content with the little program and a little performance

I'm thankful for the theater seats they're awful comfortable but this is not a theater this is not a stage for human performance and this church is not built on personality it's the forever settled word of God I'm not interested in sugar water there's something stirring in my heart that's hungry for a real deep genuine life changing move of his spirit I'm talking about I'm talking about tumors disappearing I'm talking about organs being rearranged I'm talking about you not needing sleeping pills anymore I'm talking about you not needing anxiety medication depression medication I'm talking about God's ability to step into your world and tell every principality and every power not in my people and not in my city come on lift up your voice lift up your voice ha yes Paul's letter to the Ephesian church ended with a description and instruction concerning the church's conflict with the unseen

forces of evil Ephesians 6 and 12 for we wrestle is a conflict we plural the church we are wrestling we're not wrestling political figures we're not wrestling faces of men we're not wrestling politicians and you're not gonna fix this I hate to be the bearer bad news but you keep casting your ballot to the Lord returns your ballot ain't gonna get the job done you can share your opinion on Facebook all you want it ain't gonna get the job done cuz we are wrestling but not against flesh and blood against principalities and powers the rulers of darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness that's in high places I know it may seem it may seem a stretch if you've been living in the materialistic naturalistic caught up in all this earth stuff kind of world but I come to shake you today and let you know we new life fellowship the

church of the living God our warring in an unseen realm oh I know this ain't sugar water spirituality I didn't come to bring you sugar water today I came to tell you we have an opportunity to change the world I don't know about you but I got a couple houses in around where I live I know they're drug houses I see the people coming in and out of them I see the state of life they live and every time I drive by us and just rises up in me that wonders why does that have such a hold in this city I've been picking something up at a local business this has been several months ago talking to a couple detectives who were there at the same time for the terror hope police department he says you know if you could trace all the crime in this city you could take it back to

maybe 10 or 12 families and I'm thinking man what would have happened two or three generations ago if that grandfather would have got the Holy Ghost what would have happened if that on here that uncle that mother that father would have heard the gospel and God would have stepped into their world and said no that principality and that power will not rule in that family I've not come today to play church I've come to tell us today it is high time for war this 52 days isn't about your little morning devotion for 60 seconds and a cup of coffee it's high time the church awakened to the mandate in the mission we have been summoned by the authority of God for a significant work in this city I tell you today the church can change the world some very dark in some very expressive spirits in this city but God said by the church I will make my

manifold wisdom known to all those principalities and powers what happens every time somebody who's been an alcoholic for the last 20 years who's used to waking up every morning and getting high comes to the church and starts weeping in the presence of God and starts speaking in other tongues as the spirit gives them the ability I'll tell you what happens you can't see with your natural eye but it's as if God knocks on the door of addiction and says not anymore when the church is the church God said I'll do something through it that'll let every power of evil know who I am how I'm working what I can do so I say it's time for the church to be the church I think the church we have the ability to subdue the influence of addiction in this city I think we have the ability to subdue the influence of poverty and mammon in this city and

you know what's beneath all that a little hopelessness because that place of business I was in this week that lady she referred to this great city as terrible hope she said you've never heard that I said no I haven't oh yeah people who've been born and raised here that's what we call it well I happen to have a different perspective because I am part of the ecclesia that's been summoned by the authority of God to serve on behalf of the metropolis in which he has placed me I'm on an assignment as an ambassador of Jesus Christ to be a part of the church through which God works to let all those powers evil know you might have had this city for a little while but your day is done the Bible said that the son of God was manifested that he could destroy the works of the devil and now we by the spirit the Bible says our that body the

mandate and the mission is unchanged we have an assignment to destroy every work of the devil to subdue every power of evil and order that people can be set free and be healed and be made whole Jesus called those 12 and Luke 9 they gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure all diseases he sent them out in mark 16 he said you preach the gospel you baptize believers you cast out devils they'll speak with new tongues you're gonna lay hands on the sick and you're gonna see them recover that's the mission of the church that's what we're doing but we're only the church if we gather we're only the church if we assemble if we forsake the assembly then we also forsake the authority he said this was the eternal purpose he purposed it in Christ Jesus in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him

simply put the only reason this works is because it was God's eternal plan this was not the idea of man this wasn't conjured up at a round table with the minds of human beings this wasn't an idea spurred by an amazon bestseller or a tiktok or instagram real no this is the mind of God God said I have my eyes on terror I have my eyes on Indiana I have my eyes on the world so I'm gonna raise up a church in the middle of the cornfields I'm gonna call my people I'm gonna summon them by my authority so I can establish my government where hell has rained and then Paul said in verse 13 and 14 our keys can come wherefore I desire that you faint not at my tribulations for you Paul is writing this letter from a prison cell the church and rightfully so because Jesus

taught us as goes the shepherd so go the sheep and so it's an order that we cover the pastor of this house and our lives our under shepherd in prayer that God would bless him that we might be blessed Paul recognizes the concern of the church and said I desire that you faint not at my tribulations for you it's actually for your glory for this cause I bow my knees under the father that word faint it means to be utterly spiritless to be wearied out to be exhausted Paul was concerned how the tribulations of his life were affecting the mentality of the believers but the truth is today any tribulation that affects one affects us all Paul said when one member suffers we all suffer how debated whether or not to say this but I know where she else private I probably only ever talked to her husband a handful of times but after

that tragic accident I remember sitting right there and asking pastor I'm supposed to leave tomorrow but I could feel the grief in the body I said do you think I should stay he said no I think you should go but he said I'm thankful you asked this is how the body supposed to work he said well I don't know them that well you don't have to you know my big toe and my ear don't spend a lot of fellowship together Paul said when one hurts we all hurt and when there's affliction in one part of the body we all feel we may not realize what we're feeling or where it's coming from I've come today to let you know that Paul said I don't want you to faint as what you're a part of do you realize what's been happening here for 61 years can you see what God's done in the

last 26 years this is the church the church triumphant the church that's washed by the water of his word week after week that's without spa the church that he's established and he is adding to and the church that he said I will present to myself sometimes when the battle's raging and the day's been long it seems like there's affliction at every side Paul knew there's a danger of getting weary and another place he said be not weary and well-doing for in due season there is a due season the question is not will it come it's will you be here when it does the winds of false doctrine are blowing the enemy is afflicting minds and bodies and attacking finances and marriages and families if we're not careful we can get weary and lose step with the spirit and not receive what God has for us Paul said for this cause I bow my knee to the

father what cause the weariness of the body the needs of its members the diagnosis the bill the mental battle the marriage trauma the broken family all that stuff that is the result of some old principalities and powers some spiritual darkness that's been destroying lives for a long time Paul said for this cause mobile my knee to the father you know what this is right it's prayer he was saying the way in which we deal with the problem of our adversary bow my knee I yield my voice to prayer it's probably one of my favorite stories in the New Testament Herod a wicked man driven by dark spirits no doubt demonic we would liken him to somebody like a Hitler to extinguish the fire of the church but it's not working and so he decides I can't ban their gatherings I can't stop the outpouring of the spirit they'll baptize any place there's

water here is water what the fiender so you know what he decided I'll go for the leader who shake a la bossata la maha because as goes the shepherd so go the sheep so he gets James takes his life when he sees how it pleases the people he was vexing the church the Bible said he decides they thought that was good to take James a wait till I take the head of the one who preached on the day of Pentagon wait till I take the one whose hands held the keys to the king tomorrow we're gonna kill Peter too I don't know who it was probably the wisdom of God that it's unnamed because perhaps God was trying to show us the power that the saints have doesn't always have to be the preacher doesn't have to be the five-foot ministry maybe held her out I don't know maybe maybe it was the the

soon-to-be father little girl right congratulations of the problem and the pain in the body and said you know what would you would you want to come with me come with me we're gonna we're gonna where we're going we're going road his house oh what are we gonna do who's just playing tonight no that venus watch the weather forecast no it's gonna snow what we do we're going to pray what are we praying about well here it took Peter he's gonna take his head in the morning some saints got together they pressed into a dimension of power that is only accessed through the plurality where two or three but if one can put a thousand two what ten thousand it was the exponential increase of dominion and power it was pressing in to a dimension of authority that may only be accessed when the ecclesia is what it's supposed to be and they

assemble and you know what happens when they're there at road his house praying and this location where they could not go and where they could not see an angel shows up in a prison cell and says I come on Peter and he gets up and the shackles fall off and he starts walking out before he even realizes this isn't a vision this isn't a dream over here the church was prevailing in prayer and over here God was working do you know who we are the church of the living God would you come to this altar would you lift up your hands and lift up your voice the church of listen listen here's what we're gonna do because I know inevitably there are some there are some like Peter in this house and I don't claim today to know why God works the way he does Isaiah said his ways are

above our ways his thoughts are above our thoughts this is what trust is it's relinquishing my desire to know to make sense to try to squeeze God into my finite mind so I'll tell you sometimes we pray and God doesn't do what I want him to do sometimes we pray and the circumstance doesn't change the way I want it to and in those moments when he doesn't change my problem he just usually changes me when my circumstance doesn't change there's this grace that shows up to comfort me to keep on walking even though I'm weary to keep on pressing forward even though I failed but I want you to hear me because this is what I've come for today sometimes we pray and things do change sometimes we pray and God says I hear and now I'll do I told my wife but probably several

weeks couple months ago now I said I think this about so-and-so I think they may be struggling with this she said well why do why do you think that's why I just kind of kind of caught a calm comment just the kind of grief the uncertainty I could feel in their words she told me last weekend while I was away she said remember that thing yeah she said well that's correct they they told me this is this is what's happening and I already had this word stirred in my spirit I thought wouldn't this be a great Sunday wouldn't this be a great Saturday wouldn't this be a great weekend for the church to pray and God to show up in some Peter's worlds and say yes sometimes you don't understand what I do yes sometimes I just give you grace and strength and comfort but

sometimes I change the circumstance sometimes I heal your body sometimes I deliver your mind so I want us to make a little room there was already a great witness of the Spirit when we were at this moment in worship if you're here today and you're the Peter and you need the church to pray because you know that we are those who have been summoned by the authority of God to serve on behalf of the people and you want some people that God has vested his authority in to pray that you might be healed and you might be free and you might be mended and you might be blessed I want you to step forward there ain't no shame in this this is the church when one suffers we all suffer you which are spiritual restore one another in the spirit of weakness got a bear one

another's burden that church we're gonna go to prayer they're gonna sing in a moment but before we sing I want the sound of prayer to fill this sanctuary let let the people who have need hear the voices of their family praying on their behalf let the people who have need hear the voices of the Ecclesia petitioning God to step into their situation to step into their circumstance and work on their behalf would you lift up your hands lift up your voice Lord right now with a revelation and understanding of who we are and the power in the authority that you have vested in your church in that is in your people we pray right now on the authority of your word that says by your stripes we are healed your word that says you have not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and a sound mind you said if

any man lack wisdom let him ask and you would get it liberally if we would preach your word you would confirm it working with us showing signs and wonders I pray for miracles in this room right now miracles of the mind miracles of the body miracles and marriages miracles and families break the back of addiction I won't give us some prayer direction God's working among us and he will continue to but the Bible said that the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends there's a blessing that we partake of when we're not looking to receive but we're looking to give they're all around my wife had surgery a week and a half ago and she decided well if I have to do this I might as well make the most of it so her goal was to witness to the nurse in the hospital I had to leave for a little bit that Wednesday

evening when I came back she was uncomfortably happy she said that nurse was here I got to witness to her talked to her with the Lord hear her life story both parents drug addicts one's a meth addict born and raised in this city siblings meth addict she saw how how did you end up different she said I just made up in my mind that's not what I want there she is in union hospital talking to a nurse whose life looks so put together and she stands there in tears because beneath the surface of the paycheck and the home and all that looks well her life has been ravaged by the addiction that has defined terrible hope I want you to know today as an ambassador of Jesus Christ I reject it and I know the little community club in the businesses downtown don't have the

power to change the definition of this city but I want you to know what we are a part of guys so I want us to lift up our hands lift up our voice and when you join me in prayer for a revival in this city that changes the face of the land I pray Lord you would drive on every spirit of addiction drive on every spirit of division every infirmity shut down every house of distribution I pray that you would use the law but I pray you would also use the gospel let drug dealers get the Holy Ghost and drug dealers be baptized this city for the city for the people the church can change the world speaking in Jesus name in Jesus name