Online Revival with Zach Hammond

I pray that that is a statement that you can make with confidence this evening that it is well with my soul that I know where I stand with God thank you for joining us this evening by the way of the web we have declared Friday night as youth night for strong tower student ministries I pray that all of you that are watching could go with me into the scriptures here in just a few moments as I minister to our students I want to say to all of our students that we love and miss you all I know that for a lot of you that your whole way of living has been rearranged and changed but I come to you this evening to encourage you to let you know that that God is for you God's with you and that I know that maybe there's some seniors there's some juniors and high schoolers that that I know you're wondering oh we're gonna have a banquet or we're going to be able to even graduate how long is this thing going to go and are we going to go back to school and how are things going with my online classes but I I come to - maybe divert your attention and and maybe even divert the questions that you're asking yourself to not be those of of things that you can't control at all and that is whether or not we get to go back to school or whether or not you get to do certain things or go to certain places but rather one this evening that we can control no matter where we're at and no matter what the situation or season may be and that is what does my relationship with God look like is it well with my soul if I could rewind back to when we could gather and when we could come to school and we had a rush hour and we had chapter xxix and we had Friday Saturday night Youth nights and we were gathered together and you were frequently finding yourself in an altar with a over a hundred young people and and praying and worshiping together and talking to each other about the Word of God and having having just camaraderie and unity in the body of Christ what is your relationship with God look like this evening compared to those moments I know that that's one of those things where we're supposed to be able to do those things but ultimately what's your relationship look like with God when it's all up to you I want to bring to you the Word of God this evening but I have a special guest that asked I was cueing you ready to come over here and film our message for this evening and my son Beckham asked if he could come and help and he said that he was going to bring his Bible so I decided that I'm gonna preach and minister to you from his Bible this evening come here do you want to say something to everybody this evening maybe huh yeah do you want to say hello can you wave you wave do you have something you know maybe let's we have a scripture you want to say which one you want to say your favorite one all right let's say it here o Israel the Lord our God is one Lord is one Lord in that awesome all right well thank you I'm gonna preach and you stand over there and help me okay tell everybody bye we're gonna go to Matthew this evening chapter number 16 and if you'll turn in your Bibles with me I pray that you have your Bible right there close by Matthew chapter number 16 we'll go to a familiar just a few verses where he says if you want to be my disciple he says I want you to take up a cross and follow me he says deny yourself take up a cross and follow me now exactly that cross this evening just a week ago we celebrated the cross of Jesus Christ and this evening a week removed we still celebrate the cross of Jesus Christ why is that because they chose a symbol back in the Roman culture they chose a cross as a way of death a way of suffering a way of pain a way of putting somebody to an open shame not just Jesus but many other people even that evening on that heal called Calvary where he stretched his arms wide and he was put to an open shame we knew that he was fulfilling all kind of prophecies but on his right hand there was a thief and on his left hand there was a thief and many other people had been crucified by this terrible gruesome death of the cross and what once meant death and shame and suffering and pain and agony and was what would be considered still to this day probably one of the most painful ways to die now is put on top of church steeples it's put on the walls and cathedrals it's hung around mirrors to remind people it's the thing you put on the refrigerator it's the thing you put as a screensaver on your phone to remind you of what Jesus Christ did for you on Calvary so he tells us there in the gospel to take up that cross as a reminder not just of what he did for us but he says you got to deny yourself because it's not going to be natural young person right now when you're not around any of your friends when you're not around you three door that's reminding you how you need to pray hey you need to read the Word of God that he says take up that cross whether you're with the whole body or whether you're by yourself and so this evening I come to you to remind you of the cross of consecration don't abandon your prayer time in fact if ever before you ought to find a special place there in your home where every day you find a certain time and that special place to call upon the name of the Lord you have more time than ever before to read the Word of God today I'm in the scriptures to memorize scriptures to to get answers to questions that maybe you didn't know at the beginning of this time so don't deny the cross but rather deny yourself deny the distractions put away those things don't spend all this this time of you being a self quarantined at home on an Xbox don't spend all this time just just running around the neighborhood or doing things that don't matter but find you a cross to pick up and say I'm gonna read God's Word when this thing lifts and I'm able to go back with the body I'm gonna edify the body because I'm gonna be stronger than I was then I'm going to be more for God at the end of Kovan 19 the amazing thing about the cross is it had to be built for the specifications of who it was planning to kill it this evening if I was going to put a cross on Beckham I would have to build one his size in order for it to properly do what it was built to do it would have to be built to the specifications of me it would be built to the specifications of about six foot three about 190 or 95 pounds of so these were specifically built to be fit for those it was built to crucify but the thing that you got to know if you read the scriptures and see what happened to Jesus Christ that long before he got to a cross on Calvary's Hill and they plunged it into the ground we know that this this cross was really something that once he carried it up the hill and he had been by the whipping post that he had been beat with a cat of nine tails and and he had been been forced to to wear a crown of thorns and all these things had happened to his body his body though the scripture says that he fulfilled the prophecy and it wasn't broken there was all these things that had happened where his body was simply just just being held together by now what was a symbol of death this cross held that marred body with chunks of ligaments and skin and blood and all the things they put him on this cross and it literally held his body together so now he could be an open shame and he would even maybe live a little bit longer because that would hold his body there so that people can make fun of him and they could they could spit on him and they could they could stick a spear in his side and they could they could take it even a step further but this cross now holds the body together and as Jesus hangs there and he breathes his last breath and he says it is finished at that moment he went to work and he conquered death hell and the grave for you and I and he got up on that third day so that he could get inside of our hearts but when he got inside of our hearts he said remember to go back to the cross because the cross ultimately when everything else is falling apart when everything looks like it's it's never going to get better and we're never going to get to to do the things that we once did and things are so uncertain and troubles come to your life and this situations gone bad and I thought I was going to get to graduate just like everybody else has ever has ever graduated I've got all these things planned and I was going to go on spring break and I had all these plans and all these great things that now have crumbled down to just me stuck in my house in my room with nothing to do nobody to talk to and it just seems like it's the end he says when all things are falling apart and all things seem uncertain there's something that can hold you together there's something that can hold your life together so I bring you the cross of Calvary this evening you know the scripture says that he's shaped and he formed you before anybody ever knew you God knew you that he made you he formed you in your mother's womb that he numbered the hairs on your head that he loves you and he cares about you in fact no matter what it feels like you may feel like the world's falling apart and you may feel like you're falling but you're not falling through because the hands of God and the cross of Calvary is there to hold us together in fact I want you to do some research this evening after this is over I want you to go to Google on your phone on your computer and look up the adhesion protein molecule called laminate one of the neatest researches you'll ever do it's it's it's a it's a protein molecule called lamb and it's actually considered the network of the fibers of which holds every single cell in your body together and that little bitty piece of laminate this protein adhesion molecule if you could ever see anything so great as when he was forming you in your mother's womb when he was numbering the hairs on your head when he knew you before anybody else knew you that limb and it's in the perfect outline the perfect shape of a cross so the infrastructure of your entire body of one of the tightest pictures we can get on the microscope to your very smallest fiber of your being that holds every every cell together is in the shape of that cross so he literally from the very moment he began to shape and form you he knew the thing that would hold you together when all seems broken it all seems shattered and it all seems to fall apart the one thing that we know we can go to is the cross of Calvary it literally holds the body together this evening I want to show you just a little bit of how that the cross holds the body together that's for the Jacob to come help me for a moment what you see this with me this evening the beautiful thing about though we're disconnected we're not able to gather together this evening when to cross Garrett a carriers come together and we go from carrying the cross perhaps like this as one we can take a group of cross carriers and lay them down and as we pick up our cross together it's an amazing thing to see that how heavy the cross seems when I'm all by myself but the cross holds us together the Cross holds the body together and I want to just show you in just a simple analogy of what can happen when to cross carriers come together though we can't come to church we can come together by the way of the web this evening and watch what happens by the chase help me look at what all we could carry look at all the weights and the things he said I'll never put more on you than you can bear but look at what I can do when I to put on the I've put a bunch of cross carriers together look we become basically like a cargo ship we've become like a pallet that you would put put as much weight as you as much as I can go and he said uh one could put a thousand to flight two could put 10,000 we could pile this up as high as we wanted to this evening because the cross brings the body together and this evening I want to let you know that though you sit there on the other side of a camera and you sit in your bedroom and you feel like that you're all alone then I want to tell you that there's a cross of Calvary that connects you and I that though we may be miles apart and you may even be on the other side of the world watching this evening but I want you to know that that cross is connecting us because suffering unites and pain you nice I know what you're going through I know that things that that maybe you say what brother Zack you've never faced this but the Zack you got to graduate but exact you got to know how things were going to be and you never faced what I'm facing I know there's some young people that though home may be a good place for some their home right now for you may be a bad place you may be living in a broken home you may be living in the home of an alcoholic you may be living in a home that's full of bickering and fighting and divorce and in all these things I'm here to tell you that I you know I may not have went through that as a young person but there's nothing that the screams that says hey just just just hold it together like two crossed us there's nothing that you're going through that wasn't nailed to this cross there's nothing you're going through that he hasn't already carried and covered so I bring to you an encouraging word this evening that let the cross unify us let that pain unify us that no matter what we're going through the cross is already overcoming let it overcome right now you and hope and love and joy and a peace that passes all understanding I know you don't understand it right now I know you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel right now I know some of you and right now spoke to certain parents I've spoke to some of you in confidence and you're struggling with things that you thought you had overcome but now you've been sitting at home in a bedroom and yet everything's got all doormen you didn't have the encouragement of another cross carrier and all of a sudden you you you four you forgot to put your hope lines you forgot where your strength lies and you started to dabble back in some of those things and you started to look at things you shouldn't be looking at and listen to things and listen to people and be influenced by certain things I encourage you this evening to get back to the cross of Calvary pick back up your consecration pick back up your Bible go back to that place of Prayer find you a place of consecration set it up make it a reminder on your phone get it out do not forsake the cross of consecration I know this evening I plead with parents I plead with young people if there's one fear that I have is that this this dormant season and that that idle mind is the devil's playground I know that the devil is fighting some of you with suicidal thoughts I know the devil's come at you with depression I know the devil is coming at you with all kind of things to distract you to keep you from picking up the cross of consecration but young people don't be deceived or what the devil's trying to do please parents don't leave that gun person at home all day with access to the internet don't leave that young person at home all day with a phone and nothing else to do God knows that the devil is gonna sneak in and have a young man scrolling through things he shouldn't be scrolling through but rather leave them at the house take the internet offline take the phone with them give them some way of getting in contact with whoever they need to but the best thing you do is leave them with the word of God leave them with a reading plan leave it with something to do give them some chores but young person don't find yourself idle don't find yourself forsaking the things that's got you to where you were just a few months ago I pray that more than ever before that you're stronger at the end of Cova night teen than you've ever been in your relationship with God because you picked up a cross daily it's what holds you together it's what tells you that God loves you when everything else is screaming that the world's falling apart nobody loves nobody cares I can't see anybody I can't do anything pick up the cross because God's love it's greater than anything you'll ever feel everything seems hopeless pick up the cross because it's the greatest hope you'll find in this world I challenge you this evening young person pick up the cross of consecration because from the very beginning when he created you in your mother's womb that's the thing he chose it's the shape he chose to put in the very smallest molecule that would neck work Network your entire body together where he would die on a cross and be able to transcend through time and get inside of your body and lead you and guide you to a place where he said I'd go away to prepare a place I go away but I'm coming again but until the end just daily pick up that cross where I purchased you with my blood I pray this evening young people that you've been encouraged by the word of the Lord and I pray that more than ever before healing on our land if there's nothing else you can think of to pray for pray that God will heal our land so that we could gather back together so that the body of Christ can be be brought back and we can do what God's got for us to do during this time but I believe that his hand is in order his hand is moving and guiding us each and every step of the way and I believe that there's a great revival not just at the end but in the middle that there's unprecedented revile miracle signs and wonders that God wants to do in the midst of covin night team but God's not gonna use you with a remote controller in your hand God's not gonna use you if you're not willing to take up a cross and follow him you've got more time than ever before to pray to read his word I believe that young people could be called during this time I believe that there's an anointing that could come upon you during this time so don't don't don't misuse this time don't waste this time I want to pray for you in closing but before I do I want to make you aware I know it's been put on social media but tonight at 9 o'clock p.m. we're going to be having an after-party zoom meeting and that Ivy's been texts out through the church system and if you message us on Instagram and FAC students we can send you that zoom ID so you can join in I'm gonna be on there along with a youth staff and many of our leaders and we just want to talk with you we want to encourage you we want to hear some things that you have to say and we're just kind of have a great time of fellowship even though it's on the other side of the web why don't you grab the hand of somebody next to you if you're not with anybody wants you to lift your hands to heaven and let's just ask God that he would touch us this evening God we love you God most of all we know it's been just coming through the death of burial and resurrection through that cross and the tomb and you getting up on the third day we celebrated Easter just a week of go God but you told us over and over again in your word to take up that cross that it's the reminder of redemption it's the reminder of our consecration of our our prayer life it's a reminder of what you did for us that it seems so small that if you died on a cross that we could simply just bow a knee then we could open up your word and and hear your word and let it enter our hearts that we may act like you that we may talk like you that we would hear with your ears God that we would order our steps after the path that you would have Oh God that we would do everything to be as christ-like as possible god I pray that you would touch our students tonight God touched this generation God who who maybe has not been through something like kovin night teen who's never seen anything and the world's never been shaken like this before but this this evening God we cling to that cross God we cling to you God we we lean on you when everything else is falling apart we can lean on the cross of Calvary and know that it's going to stand firm when all else is crumbling god we love you God we praise you and we exalt that holy wonderful name this evening in Jesus name we pray amen and amen god bless you this evening