The Danger of Transactional Faith: Why Buildings Are Not the Temple

• Building a Heritage [01:15:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor distinguishes between transferring inheritance (finances/experience) and building a heritage (how we think, live, and behave), emphasizing the need for a 'container' for the next generation.
• Stewardship and Pruning [01:16:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that the church is in a season of pruning and stewardship, making difficult decisions to consolidate resources and sell buildings to focus on the new construction project.
• Faith and Vision [01:16:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a vision for the building to be ready in three years, citing a word from Michael Miller about a compass that cuts off extra things to refine focus.
• Permanence vs. Unsettledness [01:19:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the cultural belief in God's 'unsettledness' with the theological need for 'habitation,' arguing that God is teaching the church to build something that lasts beyond the moment.
• Financial Readiness [01:21:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor announces that $65.4 million has been raised, allowing the church to break ground, while noting the need for prayer regarding permits and water district costs.
• Cleansing of the Temple [01:27:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor reads Matthew 21 and explains Jesus' cleansing of the temple as evidence that God values buildings dedicated to Him, countering the idea that buildings are unimportant.
• Facilities and Ministry [01:30:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses the prophetic warning that 'facilities facilitate' and the responsibility to build for future ministry needs.
• House of Prayer for All Nations [01:31:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor interprets Isaiah 56, explaining that the temple was built to attract nations to find joy in prayer, contrasting this with the church's current location in Reading.
• The House of God in Scripture [01:34:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor traces the biblical concept of the 'house of God' from Genesis 28 (Jacob's ladder) through the Tabernacle of Moses, Tabernacle of David, Solomon's Temple, and Herod's Temple.
• The Gate of Heaven [01:36:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines the 'gate of heaven' as a transition place where heaven's reality is released into the earth through acts of healing, encouragement, and surrender.
• Church Building and Expansion [01:40:48 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses the history of temple building, the need for expansion due to growth, and the specific mandate to build a new facility to host the nations.
• Divine Confirmation and Provision [01:41:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares how God confirmed the building project through a specific verse in Psalm 68 and subsequent financial miracles, including million-dollar checks.
• Stewardship and Giving [01:48:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor instructs the congregation to give out of the cheerfulness of their hearts, without compulsion or manipulation, and to be honest about their capacity.
• Revival and Personal Transformation [01:49:57 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor and other speakers emphasize that revival starts with personal surrender and the flow of God's presence into individual lives and families.
• Building Project and Giving [01:53:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces the 'Rise and Build' project, explaining the two methods for giving: immediate sowing via QR code/bucket or long-term commitment via cards, emphasizing prayerful decision-making.
• Faith and Risk in Giving [02:00:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines faith as 'R-I-S-K' and encourages the congregation to give sacrificially with the expectation that God will reward their investment in the next generation and the global gospel.

• Sermon Illustration [01:15:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a story from his grandfather's passing where his oldest cousin used a pitcher of water and an empty glass to illustrate the difference between inheritance (the water) and heritage (the glass/container needed to hold it).
• Sermon Illustration [01:19:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references a word from Cindy Jacobs stating that while money is put in people, buildings offer a permanence that generations can add to and bless.
• Sermon Illustration [01:26:04 ▶️ 📄]
  > A woman who waved at a man thinking he was waving at her, kept her hand up to avoid awkwardness, and was driven to the airport by a taxi, leading her to start a new life in Poland.
• Sermon Illustration [01:25:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about being out of shape and joking that if someone yelled 'run for your life,' he would tell them to go ahead while he meets Jesus.
• Sermon Illustration [01:29:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the history of the temple, noting that Solomon's temple was destroyed due to Israel's rebellion, and Herod rebuilt it to gain favor with the Jews, which Jesus later cleansed.
• Sermon Illustration [01:35:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes Jacob's experience in Genesis 28, where he slept on a rock, saw a ladder with angels ascending and descending, and declared the place 'the house of God' and 'the gate of heaven.'
• Sermon Illustration [01:41:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a personal story from 35-40 years ago in Weaverville where he felt God highlight Psalm 68, promising that kings would bring gifts for the house being built in Jerusalem, which he felt applied to his church's future building project.
• Sermon Illustration [01:43:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes receiving a series of million-dollar checks at critical times in the church's history, which served as confirmation for the building project and enabled the purchase of land.
• Sermon Illustration [01:44:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells the story of George Mueller, who received a penny from a child for his orphanage building project, which Mueller viewed as divine confirmation from God.
• Sermon Illustration [01:51:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares an anecdote about a man who experienced a radical spiritual transformation during a Zoom home group, describing it as a 'holy Pentecost-like moment' where torment and darkness left his heart.
• Sermon Illustration [01:57:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a story from 1998 where, despite seven years of not making budget, God provided enough in one Sunday to pay for a new building project plus $9.56, demonstrating His faithfulness in seasons of lack.
• Sermon Illustration [01:59:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > A young woman from Australia shared how she was led to Bethel, found a community of like-hearted believers, and subsequently saw her New Age friends and their husbands come to faith, illustrating the global impact of the church's witness.

• Pastoral Charge [01:22:08 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray for the approval of building permits.
• Pastoral Charge [01:22:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray for favorable relations with the water district to reduce infrastructure costs.
• Pastoral Charge [01:23:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray and consider financial giving (sowing) for the building project.
• Pastoral Charge [01:54:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > Raise hand to request a commitment card for future giving.
• Pastoral Charge [01:54:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > Raise hand to receive a commitment card, with the understanding that the actual giving will occur in two weeks.
• Pastoral Charge [01:54:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > Raise hand high to receive a commitment card.
• Pastoral Charge [01:54:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > Allow ushers to pass offering buckets.
• Pastoral Charge [01:55:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > Stand while the offering is passed.
• Pastoral Charge [01:55:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > Physically connect with neighbors by holding hands or placing hands on shoulders.
• Pastoral Charge [01:56:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray aloud over oneself and neighbors.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:00:00] Hello, how are you? You got us right in there. We're so happy to have you with us this morning. Good morning, good afternoon, or good night, depending on where you're tuning in from. We had a banger of a week last week. Yes, we did. Open Heavens 2026 was unbelievable. I mean, we had a waterfall. We still have a waterfall. You're going to see it today for service. Guys, I came in on Friday and we got a text
[00:00:30] message through our like one of our text threads for open heavens and deborah coombs if you don't know her she leads our guest services um brought a rubber duck inflatable and put it in the
[00:00:41] waterfall so funny unbelievable guys i told her to do it no surprise i literally told her on

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:00:49] wednesday go deborah you know what you should do you know your rubber ducks she goes yeah i go you should put it in the waterfall fountain she goes i have a better idea she's like i'm gonna get a

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:01:00] big one well it was there on friday and people were unbelievably touched in the presence of god it was people drunk in the spirit all over i could not believe they had the opening worship i'm like
[00:01:13] people i mean i was too it was a great morning it was a great morning but you're gonna see that live in service today if you're wondering what that is it's actually our um they created this

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:01:24] like waterfall that ruth didn't think it was a actual water she thought it was a screen i said I promise you it was water.
[00:01:29] No, it's water.

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:01:29] No, it was not.
[00:01:30] Yeah.

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:01:31] I was like, yes, it's water.
[00:01:32] Yeah.
[00:01:33] Chain mail sheet that goes down tube.
[00:01:37] If you're wondering how it works.

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:01:37] Our teams are so creative.
[00:01:39] They're so creative.

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:01:40] We bought it from China.
[00:01:42] I can't, please.

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:01:43] Okay.
[00:01:44] We did.
[00:01:44] Thank you.
[00:01:45] It is to remind us of the river that flows from the throne, and it comes all the way through.
[00:01:52] And that was the reason we had that for Open Heavens this year.
[00:01:54] But if you see it this morning.

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:01:55] Yeah, so technically it's a river, not a waterfall.
[00:01:58] It's a river from heaven.
[00:02:00] Like a prophetic picture, right?

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:02:04] Either way, you're going to see it today.

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:02:06] It's going to be glorious.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:02:08] I apologize already, guys.
[00:02:09] My filter is going to be non-existent.
[00:02:11] I had a very late night because good friends were in town that moved away.
[00:02:16] And so our kids were best friends.
[00:02:18] I didn't sleep till like 1230.
[00:02:20] That is like, that might as well be an all-nighter for me.
[00:02:24] All night.
[00:02:24] I got a canker sore on my lip.
[00:02:26] It's just brutal right now.
[00:02:28] So we're in it with the coffee here.
[00:02:30] Oh, can't show the label.
[00:02:32] But we're just, we're trying our best.
[00:02:33] But we are so glad you're here.
[00:02:35] And it's going to be a good one.
[00:02:36] We got Bill bringing the word.
[00:02:38] We got Brian Johnson.
[00:02:40] Not Jen.
[00:02:40] She didn't want to have anything to do with it this morning.
[00:02:42] No, she just is not leading today.
[00:02:44] But Aubrey, leading worship.
[00:02:45] It's going to be a powerful, amazing time.
[00:02:47] We got communion on the agenda.
[00:02:49] So if you want some fake cardboard to partake with the bread, you know, and the very sweet juice, you can get that.
[00:02:55] Someone cut his mic.
[00:02:56] That will help the canker sore right there, right?

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:02:59] Honestly, the blood of Jesus can heal anything.
[00:03:01] So if you came in today and you need healing in your body, God, we are believing for miracles, signs, and wonders today in the presence of the Lord.
[00:03:10] Maybe you should take communion now.
[00:03:12] Thank you for bringing us back, Cassie.
[00:03:14] Yes, Holy Spirit, we are back, guys.
[00:03:17] We see you on there today.
[00:03:19] Today is week four of Vision Sunday.
[00:03:22] We've got this cool little handout.
[00:03:23] You're going to get a digital version of this today.
[00:03:25] It says, the future is waiting.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:03:29] Whoa.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:03:29] I'm going to cover your face.

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:03:31] No way.

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:03:31] The future is waiting.
[00:03:33] We're inviting our entire community to actually be a part of what God is doing here and where we're going.
[00:03:43] And so we're expected for that today.
[00:03:45] Yes.
[00:03:45] This weekend was amazing, though.
[00:03:47] We saw so many people get healed.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:03:50] Yes.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:03:51] Every night, Bill went after Words of Knowledge the first night, and people who had jaw pain for years, people who had unbelievable pain healed as the Word of Knowledge was released.
[00:04:04] Haley went after Words of Knowledge.
[00:04:07] On Friday, Richard Gordon just basically had a glory meeting, and 66 people just in the presence of God without anyone touching them were healed by the power of God.
[00:04:19] It was so powerful.
[00:04:20] Then once people prayed, another 10 people were healed.
[00:04:23] 10 people were healed online.
[00:04:24] And then right after that, Steve and Ruth hosted a session on how to actually activate people in healing.
[00:04:31] And people got healed again.

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:04:34] Wow.

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:04:35] God's healing people, guys.
[00:04:37] Do you remember what people got healed of?

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:04:39] Oh, man.
[00:04:39] There was a lot of different things.
[00:04:43] Knees.
[00:04:43] Back pains.
[00:04:44] Knees, some necks.
[00:04:45] One guy, he had issues.
[00:04:47] I can't remember for how many years.
[00:04:48] It was basically his whole right side of his body, even headaches.
[00:04:52] And, yeah, it was just an amazing, wonderful time.
[00:04:55] Jesus is really good at his job.
[00:04:57] He's really good at it.
[00:04:57] So if you need a miracle in your body or you're believing for, you know, some sort of breakthrough, we would love to know your prayer request.
[00:05:04] So if you could actually put them in the chat, let us know what they are.
[00:05:06] We would love to pray for you.
[00:05:08] And so go ahead and take a moment.
[00:05:09] Go ahead and put it right there, and then we'll pray.
[00:05:11] But, yeah, so many miracles that happened this past.
[00:05:14] So we're still gathering them.
[00:05:15] We had over 400 people in our healing rooms yesterday, and Chuck Perry said that it was an amazing time.
[00:05:21] People were really encountering God, so testimony's still flowing in, so we'll let you know next week once we get a full reckoning of what happened, but it was amazing.

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:05:32] And so many people got touched by the fire of God.
[00:05:34] It felt like, oh, every day, it was just a moment to get drenched in the presence of the Lord.
[00:05:41] And so if you came today because you are hungry for more, if you just want more of the Lord, oh, you're in the right company.
[00:05:48] We're hungry for God.
[00:05:49] We want to see Jesus get his full reward.
[00:05:52] And we're so hungry to get filled by him.
[00:05:55] And so I see some of you putting things in.
[00:05:58] Alessandro has had intestinal problems for years, problem with breathing.
[00:06:04] We're going to pray for you.
[00:06:06] Someone is struggling with cancer.
[00:06:09] So we're going to pray for cancer.
[00:06:10] Tumors and dissolves.

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:06:10] Absolve, healing in the left hip, both knees.

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:06:14] Someone wants a new job.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:06:15] Right knee, yep, right knee.

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:06:18] Okay, well, you want to pray?

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:06:20] Let's pray.
[00:06:21] So go ahead and hold out your hands like you're about to receive a gift.
[00:06:26] Nothing magical about this, but when I pray, I really want you to know that your job is just to receive, not achieve, okay?
[00:06:33] You don't have to work something up.
[00:06:35] You don't have to try to focus and say the right thing or partner with the right thing.
[00:06:39] Jesus is the faith one.
[00:06:40] it's not in our ability to pray it's in his ability to answer so I just want you to be at peace and at rest you know oftentimes when we talk about healing there can be so many things
[00:06:49] that you know are illicit emotion wise when it comes to healing maybe sometimes you've been carrying a sickness or you know a physical condition for a very long time maybe you've had many people pray for you it can also almost become discouraging anytime we go after prayer
[00:07:06] So I just want to give you permission just to relax, to rest in Jesus's goodness.
[00:07:11] And then I'm going to pray.
[00:07:12] We're going to have you test out your bodies, check it out and see what happens.
[00:07:15] But I just want you just to receive, okay?
[00:07:18] And so, Father, I just thank you for coming right now.
[00:07:21] We command all pain to leave people's bodies right now.
[00:07:26] Father, I thank you for that left hip to be loosened and healed right now, for knees to have all their pain leave, for strength to return.
[00:07:35] God, I thank you for cancer being eradicated.
[00:07:37] Father, we thank you for tumors dissolving.
[00:07:39] God, for neck pain going, a bruised tailbone being healed.
[00:07:43] God, I thank you for, even right now, just migraine headaches lifting off of people.
[00:07:48] We thank you for tension in people's bodies, arthritis to go.
[00:07:51] In Jesus' name, but Holy Spirit, come right now.
[00:07:56] And wherever you are, I just want you to become aware of your body and what's happening around you.
[00:08:02] And Holy Spirit, I thank you for just making yourself known.
[00:08:06] Father, I thank you for increasing right now around them that peace would flood their whole body, strength would come in, pain would leave, mobility would be restored.
[00:08:16] In Jesus' name, thank you, God.

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:08:18] Come on, even as Steve was praying, I just saw these pictures of like bubbles and I saw these bubbles popping.
[00:08:24] And so if you've been struggling with any tumors, any like things that have been building up in your body that aren't supposed to be building up, whether it's cancer cells, whether it's something like a growth.
[00:08:36] God, we just pop those right now in Jesus' name.
[00:08:38] It's my little childlike way of partnering with the Holy Spirit.
[00:08:40] I don't know what I'm doing here, but that's the picture I saw.
[00:08:43] And so, God, we just speak a dissolving God to anything that's been growing, anything that has been like adding or building up right now, and that they would be popped in Jesus' name.
[00:08:54] Even little things on things that are uncomfortable.
[00:08:57] Lips. We can zoom in.
[00:08:58] Oh, God. Oh, gosh. Please don't zoom in.
[00:09:00] And, um, but God, even though we were zooming in earlier with, uh, even the things that, that are uncomfortable, God, right now that you've been healing, that you would take away all pain in Jesus name.

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:09:14] I just felt, uh, just even, I felt a sensation actually come into my lower back right now.
[00:09:19] So if you have lower back pain, I want to ask you to actually try to stand up if you're able.
[00:09:24] And I just want you to slowly bend down and try to touch your toes.
[00:09:27] And I actually feel like you're going to feel something loosen right there.
[00:09:30] And so, Father, we just release peace into people's backs, full healing in Jesus' name.
[00:09:34] Father, we thank you for ankles being healed, a couple people, full mobility and strength, no more pain, no more pressure right now.
[00:09:41] Father, we thank you for calves getting healed, knees getting healed in Jesus' name.
[00:09:45] Thank you, Father.
[00:09:46] Go ahead, start testing out your body.
[00:09:48] If you notice any change, anything going on, put in the chat what percentage difference you're noticing.
[00:09:54] If it's 100%, 80% better, put in the condition of what actually is feeling better.
[00:09:59] put it in the chat. We want to celebrate what God is doing and we want to see what he is doing so we can actually partner with him. We have many people on the prayer chats too. We want to continue
[00:10:07] to pray throughout the morning, but please put your testimonies in the chat. Yeah, we're going

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:10:12] to get ready to worship. We'll see you guys after service. We bless you. See ya. Hello, hello, hello

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]
[00:10:23] everybody. Hey, let's all stand together. We're going to enter into worship this morning. How's everyone doing this morning? You feeling good? Excited about the morning? I like this. Excited.
[00:10:47] We might ask you a few times today, but how many of you are kind of holdovers from Open Heavens Conference? A few of you? Leftovers. Is that how they call it? Leftover. No, never leftover. All right. Here's what I want to do. I know we're all getting settled. I know
[00:11:11] we're coming in. If it's okay with you, we hardly ever open this way, but we're going to take a little bit of a risk and we're going to try it. Is that right? So we just had an amazing three days
[00:11:23] and we hosted Open Heavens. And for those of you that are here that came to Open Heavens, thank you so much for being here with us. If you're part of our local community and you didn't
[00:11:36] get a chance to come to Open Heavens. It was amazing and incredible. I can't even talk. It was really good. The Lord did something really, really special. But we feel like, gosh, what He did at Open Heavens, we're going to, it's a bit like surfing. We're going to ride the wave this
[00:11:53] morning. Is that all right? So I just want to show you really quickly. We typically do this during announcements, but I want to just take a moment. This will be like kind of my grand opener.
[00:12:03] But can we just, I want to show you the recap video from Open Heavens.
[00:12:07] One, I want you to see if you didn't come what you should have come to.
[00:12:10] That's one.
[00:12:12] But two, that something would stir up in your heart to go, Lord, what you did, can we do it again?
[00:12:18] Can we do that?
[00:12:19] Let's just play this.
[00:12:19] Let's watch this together.

[00:12:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_20]
[00:12:23] So I had a surgery where my jaw was broken and my chin was realigned.
[00:12:27] And because of it, I lost nerve endings and damage in my mouth.
[00:12:31] I couldn't feel my lip or anything here if I pinched and touched couldn't feel a single thing but I could feel the metal inside of my jaw I can completely feel all the nerve endings again

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:12:43] like double the size completely inflamed and pain all through my whole jaw right now I feel absolutely no pain at all why does he want you and me to have answers to prayer because he wants

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:13:01] his Father glorified. He wants the entire spirit realm to recognize the plan that started at the beginning was a good plan, and it worked, and took broken, evil, corrupted humanity, redeemed them, born again, and now they have a place before the Father to pray and watch things released
[00:13:22] into the earth simply because one believer, not just thousands, one believer prayed.

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_23]
[00:13:28] The longing in God's heart is to find you and I in the place of prayer.
[00:13:35] He says that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.
[00:13:37] That tells me prayer equals not losing heart.
[00:13:41] Apathy in the faith is not normal.
[00:13:43] When I get in the place of prayer, all of a sudden, the little coals on my heart that feel like they're losing their flame, the Lord comes and He begins to breathe upon them.

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_24]
[00:13:54] How do we know that we're in love with Jesus?
[00:13:56] We adore Him.
[00:13:57] because all the works we do are nothing unless we adore Him.
[00:14:05] We are able to ask and you are able to fulfill and come with great power and revive things and simplify things and bring us back to what it means to be truly a Christian, to have a soft, merciful heart,
[00:14:21] a broken heart for love, for people.
[00:14:24] We came here because we need to be moved in our hearts by you.
[00:14:28] We need to see our Father more clearly.

[00:14:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:14:33] I just have this sense that He wants us to have a greater understanding of repentance.
[00:14:37] He wants us to have a greater understanding of waiting.
[00:14:41] He wants us to have a greater understanding of abiding.
[00:14:43] He is calling the church to advance so that the next generation doesn't come into what we came into, but they come into more.

[00:14:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:14:52] The Lord is searching for a pure people whose hands are open and clean.
[00:14:58] and he's searching across the earth.
[00:15:00] Who can I share my glory with?
[00:15:03] Use the door that's been opened to you to bring his presence and then I'll trust you with more doors.
[00:15:10] There must be more.

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]
[00:15:21] Isn't that so good?
[00:15:22] So good.
[00:15:23] Listen, that's just not a recap video for us.
[00:15:25] There must be more.
[00:15:26] This is why we're here this morning.
[00:15:27] Listen, if you came to the conference, that's amazing.
[00:15:29] And hopefully you hear my heart.
[00:15:31] The church isn't a conference.
[00:15:34] The church might come to a conference, but it's not the conference.
[00:15:37] this morning we get to be the church and we get to worship him as the church together, engage with what he's doing. So Lord, would you come? Would you come again and then come again?
[00:15:49] We're going to enter in in just a moment and we're going to enter in with some amazing people that you're next to. We do this almost every Sunday and we do it with purpose. You're with
[00:15:56] some amazing people who are the church. So what you take, we're going to enter in just a moment, but take 30 seconds, find someone next to you, give them a hug, love them, meet them, greet them,
[00:16:08] and be the church for just a moment, and then we enter into worship.

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]
[00:16:11] We're going to worship the Lamb of God, His work, His sacrifice, and taking communion.

[00:44:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_19]
[00:44:33] We're going to worship some more in just a moment as well, but go ahead and take your communion cup out with me. Please stay standing. The Lamb of God has triumphed over all.
[00:44:48] Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, God. Just stay where you are. Stay where you are.
[00:44:57] thank you god thank you jesus that you are the lamb of god last week pastor bill talked about entering the promised land and how many know the promised land is available because there was a lamb
[00:45:11] at passover the promised land is not even available without the passover lamb amen i want you to turn with me if you can or just listen to luke 22 and jesus is about to declare
[00:45:25] himself at his final Passover with his disciples as the very Passover lamb that then they would not realize this till later that they would no longer need another lamb sacrificed because he would once and for all take away the sin of the whole world he delivered us not out of just a
[00:45:48] an external exodus but he delivered us out of an internal exodus amen into an internal promised land and an external promised land. Amen. So read with me in Luke 22, it says when the hour had come
[00:46:03] and he reclined at the table and the apostles were with him, he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I shall never again
[00:46:20] eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God and when they had taken a cup and given thanks he said take this and share it among yourselves for I say to you I will not drink of the fruit
[00:46:33] of the vine now until the kingdom of God has come and when he had taken some bread and given thanks he broke it go ahead and open with me the body of the Lord in this communion wafer I want you
[00:46:51] to think about the disciples in this moment. They are just now having a fuller revelation that Jesus is declaring himself as the Passover lamb. And then he says this, he broke it and he gave it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance for me.
[00:47:13] And they shared that Passover meal, understanding that him as the lamb of God was about to take away the sin of the whole world. Maybe you're here today and you need healing in your body. It's
[00:47:27] available because he is the Passover lamb. Maybe you're in this place and you've never known the Lord Jesus as the one who takes away your sin. You can look to him right now. And as
[00:47:38] we take this, give your whole heart to Jesus. Let him wash you clean. If you've been entangled in sin or guilt or shame go ahead and take this body today and thank Jesus for the suffering
[00:47:53] that he bore so that you could be set free not just from what is external but what is internal amen so lift up together as one family Jesus we thank you for your body that was broken that
[00:48:07] brings wholeness we honor you as the lamb of God for once and for all you satisfied all that is required for us to come to God and we thank you Jesus for your body we thank you for your healing
[00:48:24] made available we thank you for every area of brokenness in our lives is made whole because of your body in Jesus name we receive the body of Christ together as a family go ahead and do that
[00:48:38] church thank you Jesus and then in the same way he took the cup after they had eaten saying this is the cup which is poured out for you and it is a new covenant in my blood we don't uphold the
[00:49:03] covenant perfectly but he upholds his covenant towards us perfectly every time we just declared the faithfulness of God and his, he cannot not fulfill his promises. He cannot break a covenant.
[00:49:17] He cannot break a promise. He would not be who he says he is if he did, but he is absolutely determined to fulfill his covenant towards us. We are the absolute treasured one of the father.
[00:49:34] And we do so much honor when we receive all that has been paid for by the son. Amen.
[00:49:40] so right now just go ahead and open your cup I always like to hold it up I don't know why I just do Jesus we thank you for your blood that makes all things new we thank you that your new covenant
[00:49:59] has been poured and spilled out because of your blood and we just step into the new covenant reality today as a church and as a family we just thank you that the blood of Jesus gives strength
[00:50:12] today to every home. We thank you that the blood of Jesus makes all things new, that the past cannot define us, but the blood defines us. And Jesus, today we say yes and amen to your covenant promise
[00:50:25] towards us. And we receive everything that you paid for by your blood. In Jesus' name, let's take this together. I want you to do one last thing. I want you to put your hand on that beautiful neighbor
[00:50:41] because communion, the Lord's Supper is meant to be taken as a family, amen?
[00:50:47] As one body.
[00:50:50] And I want you to just begin to bless them as we're gonna worship some more together.
[00:50:53] I want you to just begin to bless them that the body and the blood of Jesus that was sacrificed for them and their family will become more and more real.
[00:51:04] Just go ahead and bless, bless their family, bless their lives.
[00:51:10] Let's worship together.

[00:51:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]
[00:51:12] this is our cry your presence is all that we ask for your presence Lord is all that we need

[01:03:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_19]
[01:03:25] your presence is all that we're after John Jesus we love you Jesus we need you Jesus we thank we thank you for your body we thank you for your blood we thank you for who you are there's none
[01:03:44] like you God there is none like you amen amen beautiful beautiful beautiful beautiful why don't you turn and love on those beautiful people around you. There's some beautiful church members around you. Thank you, worship team. Welcome back, Brian Johnson. Brian's leading

[01:04:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_21]
[01:04:07] with us this morning. God bless you. As you're making your way to your seats, Junior High, you can head to the dining room. It's your turn to go and enjoy our discipleship class we have happening right now in the dining room. If you guys want to make your way there,
[01:04:31] junior high. They're excited for you to join them this morning. Wow, what a privilege to worship with you guys this morning. What a privilege. If you are trying to find a seat, could you just raise
[01:04:45] your hand if you have any open seats? One, two seats. We're not going to auction them off, but could you just raise your hand there? We have some up here, and we have our overflow room open with
[01:04:58] one of our pastors there if you can't find some, but we have some up here in the front as you make your way to your seats. Beautiful. Well, welcome guys to church. What a sweet morning
[01:05:10] we've had. I know that there's some of you that have traveled very far to get here. And if you are joining us this morning for the very first time on a Sunday, would you raise your hand?
[01:05:21] Look around church. Can you welcome our guests? I see you guys here. Thank you so much for being with us. It's an honor to have you in our house this morning. We're so glad you came. If you would
[01:05:33] like to keep your hand raised, our ushers are going to come forward. And if you're a first-time guest, keep your hand raised. Yes, I see you. And we have ushers that are going to hand you a card
[01:05:43] to just connect and say thank you. And if you would love to join us in our South Lobby right out these doors back here, our South Lobby after the service, we have a team ready to connect and
[01:05:53] pray and prophesy over you. We want you to leave filled, refreshed, encouraged. And if you are in writing, we'd love for you to connect with us and be a part of what God's doing here. We're so glad
[01:06:03] you're here. Okay, you guys ready for a few announcements before church news? I have a few announcements this morning. The first announcement is it's Baptism Sunday. Yes, excited. My son's favorite verse is Acts 2.38. He's seven and he walks around and it's the one he says the fastest.
[01:06:19] is repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins.
[01:06:23] And he goes on and on.
[01:06:24] He's like, so you are filled with the Holy Spirit.
[01:06:25] And he loves it.
[01:06:26] It's so beautiful.
[01:06:27] But we are going to do baptisms tonight.
[01:06:29] And if you would love to join us, we have a class that we'd love for you to come to.
[01:06:33] It's at 5 p.m. in the East West Room.
[01:06:36] Please bring dark clothes to wear, a towel, and a change of clothes so that you can participate with us.
[01:06:42] We are so excited for Baptism Sunday.
[01:06:45] Okay, my next announcement.
[01:06:48] we have a treat in the house.
[01:06:49] After you get baptized and submerged and enjoy worship, tonight's service, our guest speaker is Ben Fitzgerald.
[01:06:58] I think I just saw him walking in somewhere.
[01:07:00] How many of you were here for Open Heavens?
[01:07:03] Yes.
[01:07:04] So you've all been marked this week by this man, the word he's carrying for us tonight.
[01:07:09] Please join us at 6 p.m. for this evening's service.
[01:07:12] Ben Fitzgerald, our whole family, my kids included, have been marked this week by what this man's carrying in our house. And we would love for you to be there tonight. And then if you still want more guys, Monday night, tomorrow, the 28th in
[01:07:27] the great room at 630, we are gathering our evangelism and outreach team. And Ben is going to share with that team as well to equip us to actually share the gospel in our city. Please
[01:07:38] come and join us. We would love for you to be there. Okay. You guys ready now for church news.

[01:07:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_15]
[01:07:42] Hi Bethel Church, I'm Tori Baker and can you believe it?
[01:07:57] Fall is officially here and we are so ready for it Have you had your pumpkin spice latte yet?
[01:08:02] Oh, I actually despise this stuff No, actually, me too

[01:08:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]
[01:08:04] Oh, oh, we're the same team, okay Well, I'm Jenna Zint and I'm a deacon here at church And I was very surprised to hear that But we are excited that you are here And we're going to keep you in the loop for this new season
[01:08:14] Here's what's coming up this week and beyond in this week's church news

[01:08:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_15]
[01:08:18] Bethel Home Groups are launching this fall Home groups are a great way to grow in Christ, build authentic relationships, discover your God-given purpose, and be equipped to make disciples.
[01:08:29] If you're looking to get connected, come to our home group meet and greet where we'll have new vision and new leadership.
[01:08:34] It's happening Sunday, October 4th, immediately following the 1030 service.
[01:08:39] Find your people and get plugged in this fall.

[01:08:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]
[01:08:41] I'm actually so excited.
[01:08:42] My husband and I are gonna lead a young married one.
[01:08:45] So there's a lot of fresh stuff that I feel like is happening.
[01:08:47] People are excited about it.
[01:08:48] Christmas is almost here.
[01:08:50] Is that true?
[01:08:51] I mean, it's fall. It's fall. It's practically Christmas already. And one of our favorite annual events is Bethel's Christmas Market. And it's on Saturday, December 5th. If you want to share some of your creative talents or even your culinary talents, I'm not going to lie. I want to
[01:09:05] see them. Yes. I like eat my way around the Bethel Market is how I feel. So we are looking for 140 vendors at this year's market. And we'd love for you to apply soon. Applications are actually open,
[01:09:15] but they're going to be closing soon on September 30th. So you got to hustle and get your app in.

[01:09:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_15]
[01:09:19] And with the holidays just around the corner, we wanted to invite you to think about how you and your loved ones are planning to volunteer and make this season one to remember. Every year, we come together and serve our local body and community from opportunities with outreach and
[01:09:34] decorating Bethel Church and more. There's plenty of room for you to get connected and volunteer

[01:09:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]
[01:09:39] this holiday season. Our family has actually volunteered the last couple of years at the holiday feast, and it's gotten to the point where my kids look forward to it. And it's like just such a sweet moment. I think so much of the holidays are us focused. So to have a moment
[01:09:50] that's already planned for you that's others' focus is great. So look for opportunities. There's so many family-friendly slots in there as well. Yeah. So keep your eye out for more information

[01:09:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_15]
[01:09:59] coming your way. If you've missed any of these announcements, don't worry. We've got you covered at Bethel.com slash church news. I want the t-shirt. Thanks for joining us, Bethel family.

[01:10:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]
[01:10:09] We will see you all around this week.

[01:10:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:10:12] Hey, y'all, it is offering time.
[01:10:15] I'm John Taylor.
[01:10:17] I help oversee Bethel Missions here.
[01:10:19] Would you please stand up?
[01:10:21] You know, we love to, as we take the offering here at Bethel, we love to attach faith to this offering.
[01:10:27] We do that through our declarations.
[01:10:29] So, you know, Hebrews 11, 6 says, without faith, it is impossible to please God.
[01:10:35] So as we take the offering this morning, we're going to declare offering reading number two.
[01:10:40] I'm going to have to look this way because I can't see through the river of life.
[01:10:45] But anyway, would you declare with me?
[01:10:47] Let's say it all together.
[01:10:48] As we receive today's offering, we are believing you for heaven open, earth invaded, storehouses unlocked, and miracles created, dreams and visions, angelic visitations, declarations, impartations, and divine manifestations.
[01:11:10] anointings, giftings, and calls, positions and promotions, provisions and resources to go to the nations, souls and more souls from every generation saved and set free carrying kingdom revelation.
[01:11:28] Thank you, Father, that as I join my value system to yours, you will shower favor, blessing, and increase upon me so I have more than enough to co-labor with heaven and see Jesus get his full reward.
[01:11:46] Hallelujah.
[01:11:47] Amen.
[01:11:48] You may be seated.
[01:11:50] As our ushers are coming forward, if you need a giving envelope, please just put up your hand and you'll see the giving slide here where you can direct your tithes.
[01:12:00] We have many visitors in the house today.
[01:12:02] Our encouragement to you would be your tithe belongs in your local church, But if God leads you to sow into what he's doing here through an offering over and above the tithe, we believe this is great soil to sow into.
[01:12:16] Amen?
[01:12:17] And now, would you please welcome Haley Braun.

[01:12:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:12:19] Thank you so much.
[01:12:28] You can be seated.
[01:12:29] Thank you so much.
[01:12:31] Wow.
[01:12:31] Hello, everyone.
[01:12:33] It is so good to be with you this morning.
[01:12:35] Amen.
[01:12:37] Today, I'm not going to be the preacher.
[01:12:39] Bill Johnson is preaching, which we are very excited for.
[01:12:42] how many of you are so excited how many of you enjoyed last Sunday with Bill I so did this is the last of our four weeks of Vision Sunday all in the river someone did ask are we allowed to
[01:12:55] swim in the river I do not recommend it there was a duck that at one point that got snuck on the stage that we had to sneak off the stage but not a real duck an inflatable one we just had a
[01:13:07] wonderful time. Do we have any Open Heavens guests in this room today? Welcome. We had a wonderful time with them and what Ben brought the final night. Just, I'm still experiencing waves of God's presence of what He did from Friday night. So I'm so thankful. This week is our building
[01:13:28] portion of Vision Sunday. And so it is my job to do some of the practical updates and then Bill's going to inspire you all. But we are so excited to be sharing this with you today. We know,
[01:13:40] I remember when this vision originally arose, I was still a pastor in the school of ministry, and we are feeling very excited for what God is doing. We know that we've been in a season,
[01:13:51] the Lord spoke to us as a community, as a staff, as leaders, to really build and invest in our body.
[01:13:58] we believe that the light that shines the furthest shines brightest at home.
[01:14:02] And so as we are investing, I'm so excited for home groups that are starting in just a couple of weeks, investing in our local community.
[01:14:10] You know, I know I preached this a few weeks ago, but for those of you that weren't here, when I came to School of Ministry, I didn't just come here to sit under a teaching
[01:14:17] or a worship leader or to sit under someone.
[01:14:21] I came because I saw that in Redding, California, of all places. There wasn't just one person burning with the message of heaven on earth, but there was a community that said, I believe that when the Holy Spirit filled all believers,
[01:14:37] that I became grafted into this call to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to cast out demons, to hear the voice of God, to strengthen, encourage and comfort people by the Holy Spirit. And it was
[01:14:48] in this community that I received transformation. And, you know, we believe that, well, my grandfather recently passed away. And as a family, we got together and had different ones of my cousins sharing. And my oldest cousin got up and he came, got up with a pitcher of water and an empty glass.
[01:15:10] And he said, he said, in my mind, when I think of inheritance, I think of this pitcher of water.
[01:15:16] but when I think of heritage it is this glass and he said heritage is how we think it's how we live it's how we behave it's what we believe and you can have abundance of finances you can have
[01:15:30] abundance of breakthrough you can have abundance of experience with the Lord but if the next generation doesn't have a container in which to pour that out into that it will actually just spill out on the ground. And so we believe that the Lord hasn't just called us to transfer an
[01:15:49] inheritance, but to build a heritage, not just in the next generation, but in many generations.
[01:15:56] And we understand that we've been in a season where the Lord in John 15, He says that He prunes that which is fruitful unto more fruitfulness. And we know that we have been in that season.
[01:16:07] we as a team have been in a season of stewardship of looking at what we have and how best to to use these resources for what God has given us and there has been a pruning in many areas and we
[01:16:20] got before the Lord and we're like Lord are you asking us to advance in this season with the building or are you asking us to wait Lord we want to move where you're moving we want to do what
[01:16:30] you're doing and the Lord spoke to us and he said that you can build responsibly and still believe extravagantly. That even though you're making difficult stewardship decisions, there are still things that He's asking us to move forward in faith for. And we felt the Lord say that it is
[01:16:46] time to move forward in faith to see this building built. And many of us on the leadership team in our hearts have a vision of we want to see that building up and ready to go in the next three
[01:16:57] years. That we believe, and we're making decisions unto that. And so right now, as we look to a three year horizon, we are making some of those decisions. Michael Miller from Upper Room gave me
[01:17:10] a word about a compass. And he said that I see the Lord giving you a compass, which was congruent with the previous words that we had been given. And he said, and as it points, as the needle points
[01:17:21] north, it becomes a sword and it cuts off extra things to refine and focus the vision on where the Lord is leading you as a house. And so in that we have, we've just recently sold the Caterpillar
[01:17:34] building. Prior to that, we sold the Park Marina building. And we are starting to consolidate some of our footprint in Redding in order to aim our resources and our focus on occupation of this new
[01:17:47] building. And that's going to help us obviously steward the day-to-day resources. There's overheads and costs that come with managing various buildings. And we're making room so that when that building is built, we're able to steward what God has given us there on the property.
[01:18:01] How many of you guys have ever been on the property?
[01:18:05] Would you raise your hand?
[01:18:06] I think it's on the books for us to go and do a prayer time on the property soon.
[01:18:11] I think that that's coming through permitting and different ordinances.
[01:18:15] We have to kind of get special permission, but I think that's coming for us.
[01:18:19] This week, as the Lord really honestly and personally marked me, I was reading The Shepherd's Rod by Bobby Conner.
[01:18:28] And this is Bobby Conner's 31st volume.
[01:18:30] him. How many of you know about the shepherd's rod? Bobby Connor has for the last 31 years on the day of atonement, set aside the day to have a visitation with Jesus. And he will write what
[01:18:43] Jesus tells him to. And this year, the Lord met him in April, surprised him. And in the shepherd's rod, one of the main themes that the Lord gave Bobby Connor was the Lord is giving the church
[01:18:55] God's new way for God's new day. And I don't believe the new day is coming. I really feel like we crossed the threshold this week, that God's new day is here, and the Lord is giving us
[01:19:05] His new way. And as we look to that building, we aren't looking just to build a building for this generation. In fact, I believe God is not asking us just to build a building for the next generation.
[01:19:17] I believe the Lord is asking us to build a building with multiple generations in mind.
[01:19:22] Cindy Jacobs gave us a word. I need to slow down, sorry. I'm like an auctioneer.
[01:19:31] ask my husband what it's like to argue with me. We don't argue, we love each other.
[01:19:40] Cindy Jacobs in 2009, she said, it's true, we don't put money in buildings, we put money in people. But there is something about a building that generations can add to and bless and be a
[01:19:53] part of. There is something of permanence that we haven't understood in our culture.
[01:19:59] You know, we as people, we as a people, we believe in the unsettledness of God.
[01:20:04] We are the people that say God can do anything at any moment and we will never change that message.
[01:20:10] And yet I do believe the Lord is teaching us that some things are about habitation.
[01:20:16] I love the visitation of God, but the Lord, I believe, is teaching us as a body what it is to build something that lasts beyond the moment that we're in and facilitate something for generations to come.
[01:20:29] And so we're even thinking as we're in the process of the plans of the building, we're even looking and praying to the Lord, what is this next generation and the generations to come?
[01:20:38] What kind of culture are they gonna be steeped in?
[01:20:40] What kind of experiences are they gonna be having?
[01:20:43] And how do we build and architect a building that will facilitate what they will need in order to gather, to be built and to encounter the presence of the Lord?
[01:20:53] Okay, I've got some practical updates.
[01:20:55] Hip, hip, hooray. I think I did my job with everything else. So, so far in cold, hard cash, we have raised $57.9 million as a community. And we currently have in commitments that are coming
[01:21:16] in and will come in over this next year. And these are solid commitments, $7.5 million to come in, in the next 12 months, which brings us to a total of 65.4 million currently given to this building.
[01:21:31] That is incredible. I don't even understand those numbers, to be honest. With that, we are ready to break ground. We are ready. We have the finances to break ground and to start seeing building a
[01:21:45] built. We have the money for the steel, to have the whole, to have all the steel come in for the framing and we're believing for four million more dollars in order to see the complete shell
[01:21:56] erected over this next season. What we need from you is one, we need prayer over the permits. So right now we're at the final stage of getting our permits approved. We have a date with the city
[01:22:10] where we'll have a final hearing and we need prayer for favour for all of those plans to go through so that we can break ground. We also need prayer for our water district, for healthy
[01:22:22] relationship. There are some amazing opportunities for us to actually reduce some of the cost of our infrastructure. How many of you know, up until this point, other than Building C, most of the finances have gone to traffic improvements and underground. And I'm very thankful because those
[01:22:39] underground pipes are going to carry things away that we don't want to remain. But I'm ready to see that building go up. I'm ready to see the shell of that go up. And so we need prayer right now
[01:22:53] because with our water district, there's an opportunity to significantly reduce a portion of what we're supposed to be putting towards the project. And so we are praying through a way that it would bless them and bless us, that there would be favour on both sides.
[01:23:08] but we do need favour with them that nothing would hinder this moving forward because as soon as those two things are done, we are ready to start building.
[01:23:17] Yes, we should hip hip hooray for that.
[01:23:22] And then we need you to pray about if the Lord is asking you to sow in for the season.
[01:23:26] And I do wanna just make mention that $65.4 million is coming from not just contributions from people around the world and many have contributed.
[01:23:38] But when we looked at this project with other, I can't think of the word, smart people that usually do these kinds of things.
[01:23:48] They were really amazed by the level of giving that has come from this house.
[01:23:53] And we know that you have sacrificed much, that you have believed with us in faith.
[01:23:56] And so in that, we wanna thank you.
[01:23:59] And we just wanna ask, if God is calling you to continue to sow and invest, we believe that this isn't something we're doing alone.
[01:24:04] We're doing together as a community and we're gonna celebrate together as a community, amen.
[01:24:10] Towards the end of the service, we are gonna pray.
[01:24:12] We're gonna take some time to pray.
[01:24:13] We have a cool video as well that our creative team has put together.
[01:24:17] But before we do that, we wanna hear from someone very special to us.
[01:24:21] And so why don't we just take a minute and just thank the Lord for this time.
[01:24:24] Lord, we do thank you.
[01:24:26] We thank you, Lord, for how you have blessed, how faithful you have been to us.
[01:24:31] Lord, we thank you, Lord, that in this season, God, where two things are being navigated as one, that you are giving us wisdom.
[01:24:37] We are asking, Lord, for your wisdom to build.
[01:24:40] We're asking for your wisdom to steward.
[01:24:42] We are asking for your faith.
[01:24:44] Lord, would you author faith in us for what you are doing.
[01:24:47] We thank you, Jesus.
[01:24:48] You are the author and the perfecter.
[01:24:50] And we welcome you to author and perfect faith for what you are seeing for this next generation and the generations to come.
[01:24:58] In Jesus' name, amen.
[01:25:01] Will you please stand with me and welcome up Pastor Bill.

[01:25:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:25:09] Thank you.
[01:25:13] Thanks, thanks, thanks, friends.
[01:25:15] Thank you.
[01:25:16] Two weeks in a row.
[01:25:18] That's the new record.
[01:25:24] The other record was no weeks in a row.
[01:25:26] A lot of them.
[01:25:29] Cupcakes are muffins that believed in miracles.
[01:25:37] There was no reason to tailgate me when I'm doing 50 in a 35.
[01:25:41] And those flashing lights at the top of your car look ridiculous.
[01:25:45] This guy said I'm so out of shape that if someone yells, run for your life, I'll be like, you guys go ahead. I'm going to meet Jesus.
[01:25:58] One more. This woman writes, I waved to a man because I thought he waved at me.
[01:26:04] Apparently he waved to another woman. So to get out of the awkward situation I kept my hand up. A taxi pulled over and drove me to the airport.
[01:26:12] I'm now in Poland starting a new life.
[01:26:24] Why don't you open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 21. I'm just going to read one scripture and then I'm mostly just going to take you through stories in the Bible and then just personal stories
[01:26:35] for us. This is, for all of our guests, we're so thrilled to have you guys come. We love having friends from around the city and around the world to come and join us on these days.
[01:26:49] This week's conference was just you know, we benefit from every one of them, but it felt like this one was just for us and so all of you guests thanks for coming we're willing to share with you
[01:27:04] but it was our party time so it really was a significant time for me and for everyone i i know i'm going to read a passage of scripture and verse 12 matthew 21 verse 12 then jesus went to the
[01:27:20] temple of god and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves and he said to them it is written my house
[01:27:33] shall be called the house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves historically these money changes this is by the way the second time jesus did this the first time is in john 2 he did it at
[01:27:47] the beginning of his ministry and then at the end and what was happening is the money changers were were people that were taking advantage of people who had traveled a great distance and instead of bringing sheep to sacrifice,
[01:28:01] they would sell the sheep at home, bring the money, expecting to be able to buy a sheep here at the temple and the prices would be hiked up because supply and demand and taking advantage of the people that were there.
[01:28:13] Anyway, Jesus turned the tables over and cleansed the temple.
[01:28:18] I want you to look at it again.
[01:28:21] Jesus went into the temple of God, drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. Strange verse to read for a building project.
[01:28:36] It really, I never would have thought, I felt like the Lord impressed on me, so I'll just, it's subjective, but I felt like the Lord impressed it on me last night.
[01:28:47] And here was the thought, if buildings aren't important, Jesus never would have cleansed the temple. If God cares nothing about buildings, he wouldn't have bothered cleansing the temple.
[01:29:02] This particular temple was one that Herod built, which was the rebuilt one of Solomon. Solomon's was destroyed. I'll go through a list here in a quick moment, but that temple was destroyed.
[01:29:14] Solomon's temple was destroyed because of Israel's rebellion, and it was destroyed.
[01:29:20] Sometime later, a temple was rebuilt, much smaller. There's no sign that I know of where the glory reappeared. May have, I don't know. But when Herod became king, he wanted favor with the Jews. And so he constructed or added to the temple until it was twice the size of Solomon's.
[01:29:39] I don't want to ever call this temple evil, but if there were one that was less spiritual than any of the others, it would be Herod, what he built to try to obtain favor from Jews.
[01:29:51] and yet jesus claim came and cleansed that house because he values buildings that are dedicated to god we've never turned our attention towards facilities above people never ever ever and we never will but we have and i use this um i use this term uh with a certain affection and zeal
[01:30:19] we prophetically have been warned if you don't build now you won't be ready for what's coming One prophet, Stacey Campbell, told us, facilities facilitate.
[01:30:32] I love that phrase, facilities facilitate.
[01:30:35] And there's just a responsibility that we have.
[01:30:39] This passage here, Jesus quotes, my house shall be called the house of prayer.
[01:30:47] It's quotation out of Isaiah 56.
[01:30:51] And in Isaiah 56, the Lord says, first of all, he starts with this phrase.
[01:30:56] He says, and they will come, and he's referring to multiple nations if you look at the context, they will come and find joy in this place of prayer.
[01:31:09] There will be this joyful engagement with God that they discover in prayer.
[01:31:13] So the nations will find joy in this place of prayer.
[01:31:17] And then he goes on and he says, and this nation, excuse me, and this house is a house of prayer for all nations.
[01:31:27] Now, when I was growing up, just not thinking about it, I thought it's a house, it's a place where you pray for the nations, but that's not it.
[01:31:37] You can find that elsewhere.
[01:31:38] But in this particular context, it's literally a building built to attract nations to come and have joyful encounters with God.
[01:31:48] Well, guess what, Bethel?
[01:31:51] I don't know if you've noticed, but Reading is not the easiest place to find.
[01:31:59] I remind you, God chooses the foolish things to confound the wise. And he's been known to do this. He took a John the Baptist, put him in the wilderness and made people look for him. Because then only the hungry find him. We've not made it
[01:32:16] easy. Forgive me if I'm overemphasizing this comparison, but we've not made it extremely easy for people to come even to our school because we want the hungriest to make it, the most desperate.
[01:32:34] And in 27 years of our school of ministry, we've had somewhere around 17,000 graduates from 110 nations who have come to find this a joyful place of prayer.
[01:32:55] I'd like to suggest to you that the pruning that the Lord is doing in us is this.
[01:33:04] It is getting the house of prayer ready for the increase of the nations that will come.
[01:33:10] We've already had more than we ever could have earned.
[01:33:13] There was no advertising campaign that ever could have brought that many people.
[01:33:16] We advertised nothing.
[01:33:18] All we did was invite God to come.
[01:33:21] He did as he pleased.
[01:33:22] And the stories of his redemptive touch in your life and in mine has literally attracted 110 nations to come and encounter the joyful presence of Jesus and be forever transformed.
[01:33:34] That's your history.
[01:33:39] You as a church family have lost your parking place.
[01:33:48] You have somebody else who was hungrier than you or got to church earlier than you and sat in your chair.
[01:33:55] Oh, it's devastating, the things that we've lost.
[01:34:00] I say it humorously, but you know what I mean.
[01:34:02] You've given place, and many of you have had people from the nations, from our school, in conferences, our leaders gatherings. You've hosted them in your home. Some of you year after year after year have hosted people in your home just to show your
[01:34:18] affection, your love for the nation. What have you done? You're a part of what God is building and bringing nations that will come and find a joyful place of divine encounter.
[01:34:30] The house of God in scripture takes on so many different flavors. And perhaps you've heard the statement, the first mention of any subject sets a precedent. It sets kind of like boundaries for a subject that continues to be expanded on throughout scripture. And the first mention of
[01:34:50] the house of God is actually in Genesis 28. And we don't have a lot of time today, so I'm just going to run through some things. And this is kind of a hybrid mini teaching and talk about
[01:35:03] our building and about us as a family and all you guests have to watch. And I'm so sorry, but you are here to join with us. Here's this house of God. The first mention is in Genesis 28.
[01:35:17] And it's a strange story because Jacob's on the side of a hill, finds a rock for a pillow, goes to sleep. He sees a vision of an open heaven and angels ascending and descending on a ladder.
[01:35:30] So the first mention of the house of God has angels ascending and descending.
[01:35:35] It's a place of angelic activity.
[01:35:38] Do you understand the house of God that we are is a place of angelic activity?
[01:35:44] We don't worship angels, but it's equally foolish to ignore them.
[01:35:51] Amen.
[01:35:53] So here's this initial revelation of the house of God in Genesis 28.
[01:36:00] Angels ascending, descending, and open heaven and Jacob makes this statement this is the house of God there's no building there it was just him and God this is the house of God and this is what gets me his next phrase
[01:36:16] the gate of heaven this is the house of God the gate of heaven we've studied this more extensively in the past and I'm tempted but I don't have time to try to do it today so just study it yourself
[01:36:35] what's a gate a gate is where you go maybe from your front yard through a gate to the public sidewalk or maybe from your driveway through a gate into your backyard a gate is a transition
[01:36:50] place it's where you go from one reality to another and the scripture calls the house of god which is people not buildings calls the house of god the gate of heaven so every time you lay
[01:37:06] hands on the sick and they are healed, the gate of heaven opened and what exists in heaven was released into their body and that infirmity was destroyed. The gate of heaven. Every time you give
[01:37:20] an encouraging word that brings supernatural strength into somebody's life, guess what? The breath of God came from one world through the gate into another world, into a heart, into a person.
[01:37:32] It's the gate of heaven.
[01:37:34] Surrender, yieldedness to the Lord is what allows heaven on earth, his reality coming through your touch, your words, what you host in your own personal being, your homes, carrying that reality into this world.
[01:37:50] It's a beautiful picture.
[01:37:52] The next picture we have of the house of God is the tabernacle of Moses.
[01:37:57] It was not a picture of the church.
[01:38:00] There are prophetic symbolism in the Old Testament that point to different things.
[01:38:05] The tabernacle of Moses that he built in the wilderness pointed to Jesus.
[01:38:09] Everything about the tabernacle was actually about Jesus, the bread of life, the great intercessor, the sacrifice, the living word, the water that washes.
[01:38:18] All of this was portrayed in this tabernacle.
[01:38:21] It pointed to the Messiah, to Christ.
[01:38:26] Following him was the tabernacle of David.
[01:38:28] And this one, the tabernacle of Moses, had extreme detail down to what threads were made out of, goat hair.
[01:38:37] I mean, just the detail was just so precise.
[01:38:41] And yet in the next tabernacle, the tabernacle of David, there is no description given on size.
[01:38:48] All we know is where the Ark of the Covenant was, the presence of God, and the priests of the Lord gathered around the presence of God and worshiped him 24 hours a day, seven days a week
[01:39:02] for something like 30 to 40 years.
[01:39:05] Talk about a well that needs to be redone, a well of revival.
[01:39:11] Here's this encounter of the priests ministering to the Lord.
[01:39:15] They were not performing for people.
[01:39:17] And so this tabernacle of David is spoken about in 1 Samuel.
[01:39:19] kings it's also prophesied about amos chapter 9 and it was prophetically tied into the nature of the new testament church in acts 15 tabernacle the next building was solomon's temple the most extravagant building ever built billions of dollars because of israel's rebellion they lost
[01:39:42] the right to that abiding place of god if you will and it was nebuchadnezzar came in and destroyed it and stole the gold and all the stuff. Some years later, the temple was rebuilt. It was rebuilt
[01:39:57] smaller than Solomon's and not nearly as extravagant. In fact, people who saw the previous one wept when they saw the new one because it was such a shadow of what the previous was.
[01:40:12] Interestingly, those who had not seen the previous one rejoiced at the new one. Nice contrast.
[01:40:19] we don't have that i know of i can't find any record i've not seen any record where the glory filled that temple again it may have but i don't know what we do know is that many
[01:40:32] years later herod comes along and he wants jews he wants favor from the jews and so he adds to their temple and he makes it twice as big as solomon's temple herod built the one that jesus
[01:40:48] cleansed that he wanted to make sure remained the house of prayer for all nations if buildings weren't important jesus wouldn't have bothered to cleanse perhaps can i say the most inferior of all the old testament houses of god it's not that buildings are to be worshiped or served
[01:41:16] but the lord really has given us a specific mandate let me tell you where this started but I'm running over, I can already see it.
[01:41:27] Okay, I will talk faster.
[01:41:32] About 40 years ago, it may have been 35, but it was in Weaverville.
[01:41:36] I was reading, I was praying, and you know how the Lord highlights Scripture to you, and I just had one of those moments about 35 to 40 years ago where the Lord spoke very, very clearly to me
[01:41:50] out of Psalm 68, and the verse says this.
[01:41:53] that says, I'll give you a paraphrase.
[01:41:56] He said, because of the house you're building in Jerusalem, kings will bring gifts to you.
[01:42:04] That jumped up at me 40 years ago.
[01:42:09] And I didn't know what it meant, but I knew it was mine.
[01:42:13] And so I literally, I camped on it for many, many years.
[01:42:17] Fast forward, we have what's going on here that's been going on for many years.
[01:42:23] The first few years we had a church this size grow to this size.
[01:42:31] Church growth at its finest.
[01:42:34] All pastors have experienced that.
[01:42:36] Take comfort in Gideon's story.
[01:42:39] So anyway, but it began to build.
[01:42:42] And as it began to build, we had to go to more services.
[01:42:46] And very thankful for all of that, knowing that we didn't earn any of it.
[01:42:50] It was just a grace and a gift, a gift of God's mercy and kindness to us.
[01:42:55] But in that period of time, we started getting prophetic words that we needed to build, we needed to build, And if we've done anything, we've been slow in responding to what God has been saying.
[01:43:12] One day, I think it was maybe 20 years ago, I don't know now, we received a million dollar check.
[01:43:21] Bethel has never, not we, not my wife and me, I say we, as in we, we.
[01:43:27] Bethel received a million dollar check.
[01:43:29] we had never gotten anything anywhere close to that before.
[01:43:34] It was amazing counting all those zeros.
[01:43:37] It came at such a critical time for us because we had such a loss in previous months.
[01:43:43] And it just helped to fill a need.
[01:43:47] And like a week or two later, we got another one.
[01:43:52] And then a month later, we got another one.
[01:44:01] And then like a month later, we got another one.
[01:44:09] George E. Mueller is one of my favorite guys in church history.
[01:44:11] He had 10,000 recorded answers to prayer.
[01:44:16] A newspaper man interviewed him and said, do you have any unanswered prayers?
[01:44:19] And he said, no.
[01:44:20] He said, well, there's one.
[01:44:22] He said, the salvation of a friend of mine, the salvation of his son, that's not happened yet.
[01:44:26] He said, but it will because I'm still praying.
[01:44:29] He said, how can it be any other way?
[01:44:30] I'm still praying.
[01:44:34] And that young man was converted at George Mueller's funeral.
[01:44:39] Wow, wow, wow, wow.
[01:44:41] Anyway, George Mueller's praying and he has orphanage.
[01:44:43] he feeds all these children and he's praying and the Lord gives him this picture of a building he's supposed to build. He hasn't told anyone. He leaves the prayer room, walks across the playground where the children are playing and a child comes up to him, a young boy comes up to him
[01:44:58] and gives him a penny and said, here, this is for the new building. George Mueller raises the penny before the Lord and says, thank you for the confirmation. Now, I have to confess to you,
[01:45:19] I needed million dollar checks to confirm to me what we were supposed to do. Thank you for Lord for the confirmation. Those million dollar checks before it was all over, I think this is accurate. Dan, you might remember better than me. I think
[01:45:36] it was $7 million that actually came in in those gifts and we don't know who they came from.
[01:45:42] But it's what enabled us to buy the land.
[01:45:48] Since then, since then, I mean, we've had people from overseas who have never been here, never been to Bethel, write a million dollar check, because they believe in the call of God on this unusual place, in this unusual house,
[01:46:06] believing that God is doing, well, he chooses the foolish things to confound the wise.
[01:46:10] He's doing something significant.
[01:46:13] You and I as a church family have said amen to this.
[01:46:16] and we've embraced this privilege to build a building literally for the nations we've already started dreaming on what else we're going to do there we bought extra land some of you have been around a while remember we bought an additional 20 acres here a few years ago because we felt
[01:46:32] like we needed to provide more land for future generations to build on and one of the things that we will be building is called the house of generals and it's a place where i've been
[01:46:43] collecting revivalist historic things for years and we've got like 12,000 volumes of books we've got like Catherine Kuhlman's gown that she would the white gown that she would minister in and her organ and I mean we have all kinds of stuff full gospel businessmen's original pulpit
[01:47:04] John Alexander Dowie's pulpit chair and we got so much stuff that we've been collecting for the years, because we're going to build a museum. Because I felt like the Lord years ago said, if you'll honor those who have gone before you, even those whose lives ended in failure,
[01:47:20] if you'll honor their yes, I'll release their anointing once again. I'll release their anointing.
[01:47:25] And so we've been working to do that. So there's so many pieces to this puzzle, but it's so that we can host the nations. And you've done it already. You've done it already.
[01:47:37] You've hosted the nations in your homes.
[01:47:39] We've done it here week after week for years and years and years.
[01:47:44] But I believe now is the time.
[01:47:46] And I think Haley's right.
[01:47:48] I think this three-year time span is perfect for us.
[01:47:54] That I believe that God's going to anoint us to build the building.
[01:47:56] We have kings bringing gifts, but that includes the kings that are in this room.
[01:48:01] Those of you, it's not just the million dollar checks.
[01:48:05] Please don't rely on the million dollar checks.
[01:48:07] I have to do what I'm capable of doing knowing that God will anoint the others and one of the things that I've taken on my own heart is I've talked with some people have such a generous
[01:48:19] heart and such a deep deep commitment to this house but but they've suffered crisis and various things that have really affected what they're able to do and so we have felt to really pray for safety and protection not just for the money but for them to fulfill what God's put in their
[01:48:35] heart. The giving issue is talked about in scripture that you don't do it out of compulsion.
[01:48:40] You do it out of according to what you carry in your heart, what you carry in your heart.
[01:48:44] Be honest with what you carry in your heart and don't let anybody manipulate or persuade you.
[01:48:49] Do what you carry in your heart. And that's really the mandate on this house. And so we are thrilled to be able to build this together. And all of you, we have so many people around the
[01:48:59] world that have added to our strength by enabling us to do what we what haven't been able to do by ourselves but then again what you've done as a house what's a church family is extraordinary
[01:49:11] so we're grateful we're thankful and i just say let's get this thing built because we have things to do and i'm you know what i'm excited about we have places where you can hang out after the
[01:49:24] meeting's over and the next group's coming in. We actually, we have, we have places that are so cool. We do. We, we, yeah, I want to talk about it, but we don't have time. So I'm not going to
[01:49:39] talk anymore. Bless you. It's nice seeing you. Why don't you put the video up here and let's

[01:49:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:49:45] see that then Haley will come and wrap it up. Bless you guys. Thanks. Revival starts with us.
[01:49:57] it has to be deeply personal. My life, my family, my city, and over every part of our lives, heaven invites us to believe there is, can you see it? There's a river that flows from the throne
[01:50:35] of our God that flows into us and through us to bring life wholeness and

[01:50:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_26]
[01:50:42] heaven to earth it's an incredible time to be alive the miracles people being healed during worship without even getting prayed for and you know you see one person crying and one person laughing and I see people their eyes

[01:50:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_22]
[01:50:56] being opened their screens people getting healed like life on screen these

[01:51:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[01:51:01] These two women were leading, and they said that they felt the unbelievable presence of the Lord.
[01:51:07] All they were doing was praying and connecting with each other.
[01:51:10] And they said that it was like a holy Pentecost-like moment.
[01:51:14] And I thought, in a home group on Zoom?
[01:51:17] Like, this is how God's moving?

[01:51:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:51:19] I watched torment and darkness leave and light and grace fill his heart.
[01:51:25] I asked him, what are you feeling?
[01:51:27] He starts laughing.
[01:51:27] I feel as light as a feather.
[01:51:29] He got radically touched by God.
[01:51:31] The next day, I walked over to his house and said, how are you doing, man?
[01:51:33] He goes, man, I'm not going to lie, that was wild.
[01:51:37] He said, then I got to my room, and I said, most of those voices are gone.

[01:51:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_27]
[01:51:42] There was this little boy.
[01:51:43] He gets taken into a vision with God, and they start looking out at the ocean.
[01:51:49] And God starts talking to him about how the waves are going in and out.
[01:51:52] And he was completely healed.
[01:51:54] The teachers and I, we all looked at each other, and we said, this is it.
[01:51:57] This is what we've been going after.

[01:51:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_26]
[01:51:59] God's idea is the church that we would gather together to worship, to hear the word, to pray for each other, to live in community.
[01:52:06] Knowing that you're running after everything Jesus paid for, knowing that the things that you read in the Bible are for today.

[01:52:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_27]
[01:52:13] To have families changed and to have kids changed and then to have generations changed.

[01:52:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_22]
[01:52:19] It's the prayer that I had when I was 18.
[01:52:21] I don't want my preaching to just be about wisdom of words of men, but I want them to have the establishment of power.
[01:52:27] and then come in here realizing, oh, I can't be used by God.
[01:52:31] It's about what happens in your family.

[01:52:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:52:33] It's about what happens where people are taking the river of God out into the community to take risk and demonstrate who Christ is.
[01:52:40] Nothing's more powerful than the love of God.

[01:52:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[01:52:44] This is how heaven comes to earth.
[01:52:48] Through you, through me, through His church.
[01:52:53] and our part is to surrender where He wants to take us and let His river flow through every part of our lives.
[01:53:04] We will serve.
[01:53:06] We will worship.

[01:53:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:53:08] We will build.
[01:53:11] We are all in.

[01:53:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:53:21] Hallelujah.
[01:53:22] We are all in to build what He is building.
[01:53:29] We are wanting to give an opportunity.
[01:53:32] So today we have two kind of ways that you can give.
[01:53:35] One is if you want to sow a seed today, you just feel cold.
[01:53:38] I want to sow something in.
[01:53:39] I feel the Lord says, put seed in the ground now.
[01:53:42] There's a QR code that's going to come on the screen.
[01:53:45] And our ushers also have buckets.
[01:53:47] Another way is that we have commitment cards that we would love to hand out.
[01:53:53] If you would like a commitment card.
[01:53:55] I know that sometimes I need to actually take time.
[01:53:57] What I'm sensing to give, I actually need to get with the Lord.
[01:54:00] I need to pray about it.
[01:54:01] I need Him to author faith in my heart for what He wants to do.
[01:54:04] And so we often will take a card home and we'll go pray together.
[01:54:07] If you would like a commitment card today, will you just raise your hand?
[01:54:10] And in two weeks time, we'll give an opportunity to give those commitment cards back.
[01:54:14] Will you just raise your hand up high?
[01:54:15] We'd love to hand those out.
[01:54:17] Even if you just wanna look at it and you wanna just pray through it, welcome to do that as well.
[01:54:22] There's no pressure.
[01:54:23] We give out of the cheerfulness of what Lord has put on our heart.
[01:54:27] As they hand those out, we do have our Rise and Build team here.
[01:54:32] They're actually handing out commitment cards.
[01:54:33] We have Emily here in the front row.
[01:54:35] They'll be out in the Hebrews lobby today.
[01:54:37] If you have questions, if you wanna ask questions about the building, about the numbers, about the progress, they'll be out there to chat with you, out there to pray with you.
[01:54:45] They would love for you to ask any questions that you have.
[01:54:48] We can hand the buckets now.
[01:54:49] We can start passing the buckets.
[01:54:51] We're gonna just take a few minutes to pray as we pass those buckets.
[01:54:56] And so we feel like the Lord is just saying, it is God's new way for God's new day.
[01:55:03] So if you're able, as they pass those buckets, will you stand with us?
[01:55:06] And I'm gonna ask Benny Fitz, if you'll join me up here.
[01:55:09] Dan Fairley is also gonna pray.
[01:55:11] He has hurt his knee, so he won't be traversing the stairs.
[01:55:16] But Dan's gonna come up here and pray.
[01:55:19] And together, we're just gonna believe.
[01:55:21] Would you all stand with me?
[01:55:23] Thank you, Lord Jesus.
[01:55:24] Will you grab a hand or put a hand on neighbour's shoulder if you feel comfortable?
[01:55:27] Maybe just check into the person.
[01:55:32] And just before we pray, I just would ask, just take a minute just to pray over your own heart. Lord, author faith in me for what You want to do with this generation. Author faith in me, Lord, for what You are saying
[01:55:44] and doing. Increase my capacity to believe, Lord, for the more, for this harvest of souls, a billion soul harvest in this generation. Just pray out loud right now, just over your neighbour, over yourself. Just, the Lord just bubbles up in your heart what He is asking, what He's authoring

[01:56:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_25]
[01:56:03] in you. Lord Jesus, we're so grateful for those that have already pledged over the years and have been faithful in that. And we find ourselves really grateful for all that you've accomplished in their lives, that they've been enabled to sow into this project. We have reaped a harvest.
[01:56:43] And so we are grateful for your provision and the way it flowed into this. You are a faithful God.
[01:56:50] And we stand here, you know, looking forward to our 75th anniversary. You have brought this this congregation through many building projects time and time again. The prayer house across the parking lot, you told us to build it in a time of lack, seven years of not making budget. And yet
[01:57:11] in one Sunday, the offering came forward and it was in pledges and in gifts. That Sunday you paid for all of it plus $9.56 back in 1998. You are faithful and you have called us to this task
[01:57:28] again. And in it, like, as I, as I said, in a season of lack, you were faithful to us when it made no sense. And yet just what you said, uh, that there were needed to be a place of prayer
[01:57:39] for all the nations. You built a place of prayer for all the nations. And then you called the nations here. You called us to build. And then the people came. And so again, we just stand in this
[01:57:52] moment and we've done annually and say, would you bless our congregation, both, uh, here in this city in this county and across the nation and across the globe would you bless the people of god who have said i have found life i have found strength i have found family i my drum uh my heart
[01:58:10] beats with the drum of that house the way the gospel is preached in power and in joy and integrity of scripture and so would you bless our congregation all across the globe that they might be blessed to
[01:58:23] be a blessing that this house would continue to be a blessing as it has been for 75 years and we look for another 75 years if you delay in coming that our children to be raised in this
[01:58:34] house they would know your ways that our city would be impacted that the that there would be a many you know millions of souls that come to know you because of people that have been touched by
[01:58:48] this place we are grateful and my eyes are closed i just can tell you a quick story just a a young woman from australia she just talked to me and said hey i came here was was led by the lord told
[01:59:00] to come to bethel didn't know about this place i've gone back to my small town in in australia and i have seen uh many many of my new age friends 11 of my closest new age friends and their
[01:59:13] husbands come to faith we are all sitting in the church because you guys were ablaze and there was a place God could bring me from across the globe to find people of like-hearted spirit and passion
[01:59:25] and I saw my city turn I'm seeing my friends and their marriages turn and so we say do it again Lord do it again for decades and decades should you delay in coming decades of salvation would be

[01:59:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_24]
[01:59:39] our portion yes father just keep your eyes on the Lord that's a great point Dan perhaps you're watching at home online and you're like that's their house over there that's Bethel that's amazing and that's about the place in Bethel but I don't believe it's just a place where the nations come
[01:59:56] to it's where they go from and what Dan just shared is true we've seen 35,000 people in Europe saved and that would not have happened unless the building blocks of my spirit would change in this
[02:00:07] room we've all been changed here I really feel we must respond in the way just like Zacchaeus when Jesus came to the house, He's like, four times as much, I'll pay back. The overflow of being
[02:00:17] touched by God. Sometimes we eat so many meals for free and sometimes it's time to go, God, You've just given me so much. I must be sacrificial in this season. And to give with great risk and
[02:00:28] give with faith that God will reward you because we are investing in the next generation. So Father, I pray, speak to us, Lord. We learn in this house, faith is spelt R-I-S-K. Father, we pray that as we
[02:00:40] give we would give in faith that we are not just sowing into bricks and mortar we are sowing into the legacy of generations sharing the gospel across the earth your name being greatly praised greatly exalted from this little town like Nazareth but God from here the world can hear
[02:00:57] the gospel and Jesus you can touch nations so Father God bless this project sanctify it let it be so pure so filled with your Spirit so filled with your glory and I pray Father God all of us
[02:01:10] would bring a brick all of us would bring a sacrificial peace we bless it and we dedicate it to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and everybody said church amen would you give the
[02:01:21] Lord thanks and praise for all He's done in this house and in the one to come if you just hold your

[02:01:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[02:01:31] places um if you're in this room today and you do not know the freedom that Jesus Christ brings Leslie led in communion so powerfully with the Lord's Supper the blood of Jesus and His body
[02:01:45] if you have not given your heart to Jesus, if you're online as well and you are like, I am living, I've run away from the Lord, I've lived in rebellion to Him, but I need a Saviour.
[02:01:55] I wanna be free of shame.
[02:01:57] I wanna be free of guilt.
[02:01:58] I wanna live under His covering and under the banner of His love today.
[02:02:03] Jesus Christ died so that you could live for eternity with the Father, so that you could be reconciled to the love of God.
[02:02:11] If you're in this room and you're like, I need freedom today.
[02:02:14] I need to be reconciled to God's love.
[02:02:16] I want to invite you just to raise your hand in this room.
[02:02:19] Everyone, just bow your heads real quick.
[02:02:20] Let's just bow our heads.
[02:02:21] If you're in this room and you're saying, I need to be made right with God.
[02:02:26] I need to come under the Lordship of Jesus.
[02:02:28] You may not even fully know what that means, but your heart is being stirred.
[02:02:32] You can feel the quickening in your spirit.
[02:02:35] The Lord is calling you.
[02:02:36] We have people that would want to pray for you.
[02:02:38] If that is you, would you just raise your hand in this room?
[02:02:40] And I want to pray with you today.
[02:02:42] I see that hand in this room.
[02:02:44] me. Is there anyone else? Thank you, Lord. You can put on the chair as well. I need Jesus. Is there anyone else? There's something stirring in your heart. Do not leave today with not knowing if you
[02:02:53] are right with the Lord. God wants to heal you. He wants to restore you. He wants to set you free.
[02:02:58] Thank you, Lord, for this one hand. Is there anyone else? Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. We're going to pray together, church. Just pray with me. All together, if you raise your
[02:03:10] hand especially just put your hand on your heart and just receive today Lord Jesus I recognize on my own I do not have what I need that I have failed Lord God that I have lived in rebellion
[02:03:26] to you Lord Jesus but your blood has been shed that I may be set free that I may be redeemed that I may be restored to the love of the Father. Jesus, today I declare that I make you my Lord.
[02:03:48] I call you my Saviour. I say that you alone can save me. You alone have the power to save me.
[02:04:00] And I put my life in your hands and I receive you today. I confess that Jesus is Lord, that He has been raised from the dead.
[02:04:12] I can live eternally.
[02:04:18] Thank You, God.
[02:04:19] Holy Spirit, come.
[02:04:20] Holy Spirit, fill us.
[02:04:21] Holy Spirit, come and kick out all of the things, Lord, that have distracted us and deterred us and fill us with the love of God.
[02:04:30] In the name of Jesus.
[02:04:32] Amen.
[02:04:34] If you're on the ministry team, we can give the Lord a hand.
[02:04:37] Ministry team, come forward as we honour the Lord today.
[02:04:42] As our ministry team comes forward, if you raised your hand today and maybe there's some people around you that could just come with you to the front.
[02:04:49] We have a team here.
[02:04:50] There's a banner.
[02:04:51] They can come with you.
[02:04:52] They want to pray with you.
[02:04:53] They want to bless you.
[02:04:55] If you need prayer today, if you need healing in your body, if you need hope, if you need the Lord just to fill you afresh, our team is here to pray for you.
[02:05:05] They want to pour into you.
[02:05:07] Otherwise, please hug someone and bless them as you go to have lunch and to fellowship with one another.

[02:05:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_28]
[02:05:22] Incredible, incredible.
[02:05:23] Well, our ministry team is ready to minister to people and pray for you.
[02:05:27] They will have their hands raised.
[02:05:29] And if you are needing prayer, this is a perfect opportunity to come down and find one of our approved ministry team just to pray for you, release heaven over you, to see miracles, all the stuff.
[02:05:46] So wonderful.

[02:05:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[02:05:57] Wow.

[02:05:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[02:05:57] Wow, wow, wow.
[02:05:58] What a powerful video at the end.
[02:06:00] Who was that lady in there?
[02:06:01] That was just so anointed.

[02:06:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[02:06:04] Guys, we're so grateful that you're with us and that you're part of this community.
[02:06:10] Honestly, it's an honor to get to, I think, represent you guys, to be a voice for you, to get to make spaces for you to gather, to be known, and to host the Lord.
[02:06:20] I'm so grateful.

[02:06:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[02:06:22] Yeah.
[02:06:22] I'm emotional.
[02:06:24] So thankful for your support, your belief, your buy-in.
[02:06:28] We're so excited that we get to do this with you.
[02:06:30] and just so thankful to see what Jesus is doing in the earth, what he's doing around the nations, what he's doing through you and your communities.
[02:06:38] It's such a gift and such a special time.

[02:06:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[02:06:40] It's such a gift.
[02:06:40] If you guys don't know, our online home group sign-ups launched today.
[02:06:46] We're going to launch in, we're going to open up home groups.
[02:06:49] They're going to start the week of October 13th, but you can start signing up for those.
[02:06:54] We'll throw little links in the chat.
[02:06:56] We want you to get plugged in.
[02:06:58] We want you guys to find places to belong, to be amongst hungry ones who are just so ready to be in community.
[02:07:06] Yeah, with other people who are running after the Lord, we're gonna do a discipleship study called The Ways of Jesus.
[02:07:11] It's gonna be powerful.
[02:07:12] It's gonna be wonderful.
[02:07:14] We're just so grateful.
[02:07:17] I'm teary.
[02:07:21] I'm just, I'm excited for what God's doing and what we get to be a part of.

[02:07:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[02:07:25] Yeah, absolutely.
[02:07:26] And, you know, Haley gave an altar call earlier.
[02:07:29] if that's you and you're online and you're watching like I want to give my life to Jesus put in the chat I need Jesus it just helps us know that you're actually making a decision with
[02:07:38] Christ also later we'll have a link that is in the chat that we want you to click on fill out a little form it'll help us connect with you plug in and you can kind of get steps of what's next
[02:07:48] what does this life look like Jesus with Jesus and so if that's you put in the chat we would love to pray with you be with you and then also want to encourage you join the home groups it's
[02:07:57] so powerful we've been doing um you know local ones recently where we've been launching just this new wave of home groups and the testimony has been absolutely amazing but also we've been hearing so many testimonies with our small groups and our groups online too yeah so really want to

[02:08:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[02:08:12] encourage you to sign up yep it's going to be wonderful um we have ministry rooms that we're going to open up in just a couple minutes we want to pray for you um i know god was doing so much
[02:08:23] even before service started.
[02:08:25] Some of you were actually doing the prophetic act that Steve had mentioned of even just bending down, touching your toes, and you were finding relief in your bodies.
[02:08:34] If that's you and the pain is completely gone, we want to hear about it.
[02:08:38] We'd love to just pray for you.
[02:08:39] I saw, Carolina, that your dad has some tests this week.
[02:08:43] We're praying for it tomorrow.
[02:08:44] I know it's been a journey, but we are still standing with you.
[02:08:48] If there are any other prayer requests that you guys have, we'd love to pray.
[02:08:52] and our teams will pray for you once we open up the ministry room.
[02:08:55] So if you want to throw that in the chat, we'd love to just celebrate what God's doing, pray with you, pray for you, anything you're seeing.

[02:09:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[02:09:03] Well, I just want to give a shout out to Dr. Bert or Burton, whatever your name is, Bertrand.
[02:09:11] You're saying, I need Jesus.
[02:09:13] Yes, thank you God.
[02:09:13] And I just want to celebrate with you.
[02:09:15] We want to come around you and I actually want to encourage you.
[02:09:17] If that's you, you want to give your life to Jesus.
[02:09:20] I just want you to bow your head and repeat after me.
[02:09:22] And there's nothing magical about this prayer, but it's just this declaration of surrender unto Christ.
[02:09:29] And so if that's you, just repeat after me.
[02:09:31] Just say, Jesus, I need you.
[02:09:36] I acknowledge I can't do this on my own.
[02:09:39] Would you come into my life?
[02:09:41] Would you be the savior of my life?
[02:09:42] Father, would you take away all of my sin?
[02:09:46] God, I recognize that you are Lord, that you did come, you did die, and you were raised again.
[02:09:52] And Holy Spirit, I ask, would you come and take residence in my heart?
[02:09:56] Jesus, would you be Lord of my life?
[02:09:59] And then in your own words, I just want you to start praying, just inviting God to come and then become aware of what's happening around you because I really believe that the Holy Spirit is gonna descend upon you, envelop you.
[02:10:10] And then after you're done, I really wanna encourage you to click on those links because we wanna connect with you, pray with you more, walk you through this beautiful journey of what it looks like to be with Christ.

[02:10:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[02:10:19] Yeah, come on. I see in the chat, Kelly on our Bethel Doll online said, I need a miracle in my back. She's had surgeries and she lives in severe pain. We're going to pray for you in just
[02:10:29] a second. I saw E-Hope said, please pray complete healing for my brother who has lymphoma. I hate blood cancers. I want to see blood cancers healed in Jesus name. We're going to pray for Jimmy. I
[02:10:42] also saw Nadine asking for prayer for her daughter and son to be healed from sickle cell disease.
[02:10:47] Oh, wow, that thing just jumped.
[02:10:50] Restoration and healing and deliverance.
[02:10:52] Someone has SI joint stabilization.
[02:10:55] It needs restoration in their spine.
[02:10:58] God, right now, anyone who's crying out for a healing or miracle in their body, God, why don't you just put your hand on the body part that is having issues, whether it's your lower back, I see you, Jay, whether it's your heart,
[02:11:10] maybe it's an emotional thing that you need.
[02:11:13] I know someone said a motor disorder.
[02:11:15] whatever that area is, why don't you just put your hand on that body part. And Holy Spirit, right now, we just command all organs, all body parts, all bones to come into alignment with heaven. God, right now that we command any and all pain to leave in Jesus' name. God, right now that
[02:11:33] they would see a lifting off of any pain that they would see, even just like a pulling off. I even felt like some of you, it's going to feel like pain was just lifted off of your shoulders. And
[02:11:42] to God, we just bless their bodies. We bless their, their like nervous systems, their immune systems.
[02:11:48] We rebuke any cancer that is remaining in cells. We just say no more reproduction of the cancer cells. No more, no more, no more. God, where it feels like it's spreading, we say no more spread

[02:12:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[02:12:00] in Jesus name. Yes. And Avalyn on Beth online, we see you and we're just even praying for grace and breakthrough and community of just close relationships of people that just love the Lord and want to run together.
[02:12:13] And so, Father, we just thank you for just, that you love to set us in family and community.
[02:12:18] And God, I ask that you just surround people in this time that are just even feeling like they just need support and just added strength into their life.
[02:12:27] We just release grace over people right now.
[02:12:30] In Jesus' name, thank you, Jesus.

[02:12:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[02:12:33] Thank you, God.
[02:12:33] And I just saw someone, I don't know who it is.
[02:12:35] You've got like severe neck pain and I felt like a lifting off of pain.
[02:12:39] And so, God, right now, I even felt like where it felt like there had been like affliction, like pain coming into your neck or in your shoulder.
[02:12:45] I actually saw the father's hand putting his hand on your neck.
[02:12:49] So right now, God, in any places where pain was, God, that they would experience the embrace of the father God, where they would, I actually felt like some of you would feel like a warmth, right?
[02:12:58] Even on your neck, right here where your shoulder is.
[02:13:02] So God, I just bless those areas.
[02:13:03] I don't know who that's for, but I bless whatever the Lord's doing in you and that any and all pain would be lifted out, pulled out in Jesus' name.

[02:13:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[02:13:11] Amen.
[02:13:12] Come on.

[02:13:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[02:13:12] Amen.
[02:13:13] Guys, we're going to open our ministry rooms.

[02:13:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[02:13:15] They're right there.
[02:13:16] The online ministry prayers below me.
[02:13:18] Commit to Jesus below her.
[02:13:20] Makes sense.
[02:13:20] Not below you.
[02:13:21] I'm talking about in the screen.
[02:13:22] I'm pointing it out right there.
[02:13:23] You can see it right there.
[02:13:25] Wasn't pointing down.
[02:13:26] Yeah.
[02:13:26] Anyway, click on those links.
[02:13:28] If you want to commit to Jesus, if you want to receive more ministry and prayer, click on those links.
[02:13:34] We would love to pray with you.
[02:13:35] We love that you joined us.
[02:13:36] We hope you have an amazing week.
[02:13:38] Also, tonight, Ben fits.
[02:13:40] so you don't want to miss it.
[02:13:41] It's going to be powerful.
[02:13:42] It's going to be amazing.
[02:13:42] Or it might be the morning for you.
[02:13:44] But whatever it is.

[02:13:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[02:13:45] Join us.

[02:13:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[02:13:46] It's going to be a powerful time.
[02:13:47] Yeah.

[02:13:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[02:13:47] We bless you.
[02:13:48] Oh, pain in neck and back.
[02:13:50] Come on.

[02:13:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[02:13:51] We bless it.
[02:13:52] It's for somebody.
[02:13:53] God's doing something.
[02:13:53] Get healed, Jim.
[02:13:55] Yes.

[02:13:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[02:13:55] Heal him, Lord.
[02:13:56] All right, guys.
[02:13:57] We love you.
[02:13:57] We bless you.
[02:13:58] We'll see you later.
[02:13:59] Bye.