 First off want to say happy Father's Day for all who are here in the house. Let's give a hand clap to the Father's We celebrate you today For those who are watching online on YouTube For those who are joining us on live stream if you are a father or if your father is next to you in the house Text your father call your dad real quick and just say hey dad. Thank you so much. I just thank you Why because even even if there was a struggle in the family You wouldn't be here if God didn't use somebody That's right. You wouldn't be here if God didn't use somebody So we honor the fathers and most of all Father God we honor you we honor you you're worthy of all the praise and all the glory everything and anything that we can give to you Lord this morning in Our praise and our worship. Let us be examples of Of a heart of gratitude coming to you father to give you a worship that is worthy an offering that is worthy Thank you God. Thank you God somebody say, thank you Father God Sweet honor you here Me boys is really bad. So all I can do is shout is such a wonderful presence of God here right now Hallelujah, we worship you Lord What a day to gather in our father's house To just give him a moment and pray for our fathers here in just a moment, but before then I want to read a testimony So lately we have a problem here at hungry Jen The problem is that there's too much Testimonies coming in with you guys for what God am I getting too much? We have to share it every moment that we have I don't share testimonies Normally, but I'm gonna read one because we can't fit them all for the person who's gonna do testimonies I have a testimony from Someone called you did I'm less on from Germany. I don't know if it's the one on zoom here If you did I'm less on if that's you on zoom just Put your camera on and wave to us I want to read her testimony here. Dear hungry Jen church Greetings to you in the name of Jesus. I have a testimony on the 9th of January 2022 I joined a zoom meeting of yours for the first time At this day pas of lad was ministering he was announcing the 21 days fasting at the end of the service pas of lad Was praying for everyone on zoom And youtube and told us to place our hands wherever we have pain So I put my hand on my head and that day I was having severe pain I was struggling for a week with benign parixos mild positional vertigo Basically, the person was dizzy all the time couldn't find their balance As soon as he finished praying Something left me And I felt free and healed and from that on day on I have never felt this type of pain again This is six months and counting Hallelujah, put your hands together. That is our god That is the father that we are here to honor today The one that can heal every sickness and set the captains free hallelujah Hallelujah. So if you are watching us online on youtube or zoom, we want to encourage you share your testimony Don't hold it. Don't hold it to yourself. You can go to hungrygen.com slash testimony and share it today Don't hallelujah in jesus name. So that's enough for testimony. Someone else is gonna take the rest But today we want to take a moment and just recognize and honor The fathers that we have in our house here If you're a father here today, can you just raise your hand Want to see all the fathers All the fathers here. Wow. Can we put our hands together for the fathers? Now i'm gonna do something really bold here This is not a salvation call but it's kind of similar if you raise your hand confidently I want you to come to the forward here real quick. Just run down. We want to say a prayer for all the fathers right now Just run down to the front here our fathers If not for our fathers, we wouldn't they be here today? If not for them standing in the gap for us when we have a vulnerable and fragile We wouldn't be here today They stand in the gap for their children and for their family and we just honor you guys today hallelujah the men of the house the fathers Church and if you are on zoom and you're a father Wave your hand rise now wave your hands If you're on zoom and you're a father if you're on youtube and you're a father Write it right now. I am a father. We want to say a prayer for you right now If you're a father on youtube, we want you to join as well Right now church. Can we just stretch your hands right now and say a prayer for these mighty men of god The men of valor who has to be brave when no one else will Who has to stand and face the giants when no one else can These are the men that stand and I know we live in a time and generation When everything has to do with manliness is being diluted is being confused But these are the people the men that stand in the gap For those who are fragile for those who can't stand for themselves Right now stretch your hands and let's pray for them right now in jesus mighty name. We pray We pray for every father present in the church auditorium right now Fathers on youtube on zoom and facebook Who are standing in the gap right now the challenges that they have No one asks the father if other if they are doing okay They just have to keep goals of faith These mighty men of and the church of god said if you're free to go back to your seats god bless you Thank you for who you are And for what you do Hallelujah. So without further ado Let's fix our eyes on the screen of our television This is pastor zack here I want to welcome everyone here if you're on zoom or online wave your hand We want to see you if you're here in person slap the neighbor next you tell him I'm prayed to be sitting next to you today But if your first time guests here, I want to say how honored we are that you chose to join us today I got some news and announcements for you guys august 24th. We have our super extra special Baptism service. We are taking baptisms to the park. You heard that also next week is our prayer line service If you want to be in the prayer line Pre-part counseling is no longer in the first service, but the second service at 11 a.m So make sure come at 11 a.m And prayer line service will be in the third service at 1 p.m. That's it on my end Ivan what you got for us hungry generation We want to let you know that our 40 hour prayer chain is beginning this Friday We're going to come here at 10 p.m For corporate prayer all the way to 12 and from 12 is when our prayer chain will be launched It's going to happen globally and locally Sign up today scan the QR code Now is the time to take back our city for jesus. Hello, this is elinette And I am so excited to invite you to financial peace university This year we're determined not only to help you in your spiritual growth Relationships, but also in your finances. We want to be able to create a community where you can feel comfortable learning and growing in your finances starting the life fed to September 13th If you're not on baby step seven or have no idea Where that is these classes are for you So you can sign up at the link below And I hope to see you there now. Please help me welcome the next person in stage Hey, man. Good morning church How's everyone doing today? come on Today church, I'm going to be talking and just briefly on giving and generosity and The verse that I'm going to be speaking from is the story from math Matthew chapter 25 the parable of the talents And we know in this story and we see that there is a master and there's three servants And he gives three servants each different amount of talents according to their own ability One he gives five one he gives two and another he gives just one And we see that and my my personal one of my favorite verses in in verse 21 It says this After the the master comes back He comes back to the first servant that was given five talents And he sees that that servant was able to give and invest those five talents and be able to Double what he had what he was given And the master says this he says his lord said to him well done good and faithful servant You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things Enter into the joy of the lord amen And the reason why I love this verse church is because it says this you were faithful Over a a few things Now a lot of times we may look at our lives and we may see that Whether we have a little or whether we have a lot in abundance But the import there's an importance and there's an emphasis on Investing what god has placed in your life And we see that when we serve him and when we sow into his kingdom That when it's done for a good purpose that the servant was able to double what he was given And not only was he just did he just double what he was given The master said the great affirmation. I like to call he says well done good and faithful servant You were faithful over a few things now. I will make you a ruler over many things And we know that this is our lord and our king and our god saying to us when when that day comes He says son daughter you were faithful with what you were given Now I shall make you a ruler over many things And when it comes to our fan of our finances church When we sow into the kingdom of god and I love saying this and I have I fully believe in this that this is good soil here a hungry generation God is on the move and he is flowing through this ministry and I love being able to take part Even if it's just 10 of my income I'm able to sow into the things that god is doing through the things like internship the three Through programs like free indeed where we we are seeing lives transformed We are seeing young people from across the nation come and be a part of what god's doing getting raised up Discipled and sent back out to the nations to change this world for the glory of god. Can somebody say amen Now with that being said Take your seeds in your hands and whatever it is that you're sowing today Now i'm going to pray over it and just really quick I want to mention the five ways to give you can text any amount to eight four three two one You can scan the qr code on cash up or venmo or other other apps My personal favorite way is the church center app and Also hungry gen.com slash give and last but not least there's an envelope in front of you if you want to give in person So with that being said i'm just going to pray over the offerings today in jesus name father god I lift up every seed that is being sown today lord. I pray lord god that you bless these seeds lord May they go on To to sow into your kingdom lord god and may something amazing sprout into life lord god May they may there be an abundance lord god of seeds being sown today lord So that we will see a major harvest like never before I pray over every hand that is sowing seeds today and every family every house god that you bless each household That you bless each person lord god that you multiply their finances lord god that you provide for them Whether it's in a good season or maybe a tough season god You are the jojoba gyra. You are our provider and you are the god that is more than enough for us In jesus mighty name. We pray and everybody says Amen And if you're given in person the baskets are gonna are gonna go around and if you could please fix your eyes on the screen I was doing chakras and energy healings and tarot cards and dousing rods And I was so deceived in thinking that like the voice that I was hearing was god's voice and that he wanted me to do this But it wasn't him. It was the voice of the devil and so from that I had a spirit in me And when I got here today this morning god said I am going to free you It is for your freedom that I have set you free And then I came for the impartation And I just lifted my hands up and I just started to manifest the The spirit and I started to shake and I went on the ground and I was just screaming out Holy spirit. I need you god. I need you. I surrender this to you I don't want this god take it from me and I felt it leave me And then I felt his fire come upon me his peace come upon me his joy come upon me because he is so good Praise the lord jesus christ. Come on. Come on church. Let's give god some prayer Amen hungry generation. How are we doing this morning? Come on. You can do better than that. How are we doing this morning? Everybody are watching online everybody on youtube and zoom drop a comment there so we know that you're watching Wherever you are from church It is a good morning to be here in the house of god to every father happy father's day Don't aren't you happy that you get to be in a church that has good soil That we don't have a problem of no testimonies, but we have a problem of too many testimonies Amen, that's good for you. That's good for your family for your finances because that means god is moving in this place And we're gonna just take another moment And share the reason we share so many testimonies from prayer to the finances now to we have actual testimony time Is because we believe if god when we bring and we mention a testimony our story of somebody There is people in the pews in the crowd that if you're going through something like that you can say Hey, if god did it for them God can do it for me. Amen. Amen. Amen. And so I'm gonna have Share one testimony and this was from online They submitted a testimony. Her name is Marie and it says I received prayer on a deliverance podcast A lady was getting delivered from new age spirits and her deliverance was taken a long time and Her they said her spirits were taken a long time and I started to I started praying for her to receive her freedom And the person that was praying for her saw me then later he selected me that I was manifesting during the ladies During the ladies deliverance He prayed for me to be free from the from new age spirit The next day I saw my period without pain seven years ago when I opened the door to new age I I never saw pain in my period But once I opened the doors to new age the pain started to come in but after that deliverance I had no more pain. Thank you Jesus for his mercy and Jesus name. Amen Don't we aren't you thankful for a god that still moves? If you're here you're watching online I want to tell you distance is not a barrier for god to touch you where you are And if you're here, I want to really encourage you guys If something if god has done something online in your life, whether you're here Whether you're on zoom online if god did something No, uh last this saturday. We had digital deliverance God did something in your life healed you delivered you encountered you go ahead There's a graphic behind me. There's a qr code or you can go to hungry generation Dot com slash testimony and we believe it's going to touch not only our lives but other people's that hear about amen Amen, and with that being said we have one more testimony. It's a live testimony Let's put our hands together as he makes his way to the to the front amen Go ahead. Let us know your name and where you're from. So my name is Jose Segura I grew I was born in Mexico grew up in Yakima and moved to tri cities in 2006 come on come on come on and Go ahead. Let us know. I'll start your testimony. How was your life? Before christ or before now coming here to hungry gen? So I actually grew up in the church. I was raised in church from the age of two We we went to a church for many many years I was a part of the youth ministry a youth leader I was a worship member as well growing up um Eventually my dad became a pastor. So I was a pastor's son. So, um, you know, I I lived through all the phases of you know growing up in church and uh Just growing up being in church my entire life. I reached a certain age where Curiosity got the best of me. I let my guard down and the enemy kind of slid in right And uh, so I I still had a relationship with god, but it was getting colder and colder. Um, as I as I grew uh, eventually, um This was after I got married to my wife Our relationship was so cold that uh, we we just stopped going to church and, um Uh My brother, uh, david segura and and my sister-in-law Bianca Segura You guys know them they come here and they've given their testimony They they were having marital issues when they lived in texas And we were we were inviting them come up come up come up to come up to washington come up to washington Um, we'll help you out. You can live with us for a while. We'll we'll we'll make it work. Um, because when they were having issues The conviction of the lord was still in us, right? We we weren't going to church But we would still give them sound advice. We would we would tell them go to church, you know We weren't going to church, but we were telling them to go to church. Finally they came up they lived with us for a little while and uh, the uh The lord put it in his heart to find find the church and Believe it or not everything that they've been saying so far this service is 100 true because Um, this place is special. Um I had never been here never stepped foot in this place And I told my brother hey go check out hungry jen. Um Um I've seen some testimonies online Um, I've heard some I've heard some testimonies for some people that I know I hear it's a great place. You should go check them out, but I had never been here. Um, so the lord works in mysterious ways right, so they started coming to church and uh While they're coming here, they get involved in the church. They they dig deep into the church. Um Their children actually started inviting my kids to church Um, and my wife to church Uh, nobody ever said anything to me but that was that was the way that the lord was working right because uh, I had grown so cold and um While while all this was going on, um, I ended up having a Kind of a separation a disagreement with a family member a sister that I that I have that lives in Missouri and um, it got so bad that uh That I had to choose between having a relationship with my sister being able to communicate and and uh, um, You know have have a have a relationship with her or or with my wife, right? Because there was just so many disagreements so many, uh, um clash clash of personalities and um Offenses from both sides, um that uh, we ended up not talking for nine years and uh It hurt it hurt really bad because um Family is really important to me and I couldn't see my nephews um I have a nephew that's serving in the military down in southern california. I couldn't see him off to boot camp um, I couldn't be there for his boot camp graduation and uh You know, so it really hurt. Um, my son was old enough to remember my sister every time he brought her up I would go into a room and I would cry even though I knew Of the lord and I was away from the lord that lord kept telling me something's missing, right? You need to come back to me You need to keep make things right with your sister. So, um while david was living with with me, um He invited my wife all it took was one service for her to come back to the fold, right? That's how that's how special this place is um She started playing for me She wasn't pushing me to come to church or anything Finally, I came and all it took was one service as well, right? Come on. Come on god god knows when he gets you here. That's it amen so Once I uh, I rededicated my life to the lord um I was I was trying to move on I was trying to grow but there was still something holding me back And I know exactly what that was right. It was that that uh that separation between the family my sister So I was praying and praying and the lord, um, I was asking the lord for for strength, right? Because there was a lot of hurt there. There was a lot of pain And it was real hard for me to reach out. So finally the lord put it in my heart. Hey gave me the strength. I reached out and uh With without knowing my my sister had made a promise to god as well. Hey, I'm not gonna forgive him unless he reaches out first um But when I reached out it caught her by surprise so much because she thought I would never do that She she she didn't think we were ever gonna have a relationship again So when I reached out it caught her by surprise that she came back with complete another rejection She rejected my my plea for forgiveness. I asked her for forgiveness I I forgave her for everything that she did but it was complete another rejection but how many of you know that um, you can trust in the lord and you can Come up to a wall, but it's not your time It's god's time because god's time is perfect right Your timing might not coincide with god's time, but god's time is perfect So you got to trust in him and that's what I did. I trusted in him um And uh about three months later When I was at work sitting at my desk I got a text and I look at my phone and the first thing I saw was my sister's name And basically everything that I had asked for three months prior. She was asking of me, you know, please forgive me I forgive you and uh I sent her a message back. I said, I really don't want to do this via text Can you wait until I get home from work and then we I can call you and talk And she responded. Yes, and as soon as she she responded. Yes I went to my computer and I started finding flights to go see her because I knew that god had Had healed our relationship so God got healed our relationship to the point where this past christmas every single member of the family was at my house um For christmas uh her kids My nephew that's in the military was able to have leave come down We were all joined together happy as a family um And we came to the service that sunday the whole family took up like three or four pews So I mean uh, the lord is doing great things in our family. Amen. Come on. Let's put our hands together for a good god God is after good families God is after good marriages no separation and unity in jesus' name Wow, that is powerful to see the Unforgiveness just being let go and unity coming back and joy and um They just give us a piece of advice to someone that might be here I know it's father's day and and there's much there's a lot of family issues a lot of family problems Unforgiveness held in their hearts and someone that might be struggling with that What what is a word of advice that you would give? So I would just advise everybody that trust in the lord, right? We had a teaching this past wednesday at men's group at brother paul's house that uh You can't be forgiven unless you forgive, right? So trust in the lord and like I said he will do great things It's not on your time or on your schedule It's on god's time. You might be confronted with rejection when you reach out to that family member Um, but the lord is working right and he does his he does his miracles at the perfect time Amen. Amen. Let's put our hands together for god. Thank you brother Amen, we serve a good god someone say we serve a good god Amen. Amen. That's so powerful. I believe this testimony See hosay just shared his testimony to a group of men on wednesday But because of the testimony was so powerful It blessed you guys today and if you have a testimony, we believe that it can bless so many people We want to hear about it. We believe god is moving in our meds. Amen. Amen. Without further ado I want us to put our hands together as pastor brison comes up and shares the word with us this morning Good morning church. How are we doing? It is a packed house this morning. Thank you jesus Thank you jesus I just want to say again to all the fathers happy father's day Glad to be that I could be a part of that too now that I got kids myself. It's exciting I also want to take a moment before we get started As you know last week some of you know that we had our interns come in So can I just have our interns rise right now? This is our teen internship. Let's put our hands together for them We've got 24 boys and 17 girls They came from all over the united states just to be here just to grow and get closer to god So, uh, let you guys can go ahead and take your seats guys. We just want to honor you guys We're so excited for this season of internship what god is going to do in your life So just buckle up and get ready Other than that, I want to jump right into the sermon today Being father's day. I felt it necessary For us to talk Not just for the sake of the theme of the father, but really something that was on my heart that's been on my heart for years Which is the father's heart Amen, how many guys know our god is a good god? Not only is he a good god, but he's a good father the father Is it it's the the epitome of the relate our relationship with god how many guys know that? I want to read to you this uh this quote and uh, I think it's just so so Articulately said I just want to read it to you. It says this If you want to judge how well a person understands christianity Find out how much he makes of the thought of being god's child And having god is his father If this is not the prompt if if this is not the thought that prompts and controls His worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life Then it means that he does not understand christianity very well. I'm going to repeat that again He does not understand christianity very well For everything that christ taught everything that makes the new testament new and better than the old Everything that is distinctly christian is summed up and the knowledge of the fatherhood of god That's pretty deep right there Those of you who weren't able to follow what I just read there In other words someone who doesn't give much attention to the fact that they're god's child Recognizing that he's the father Then that's a good indication that you really don't understand The depth of what christianity is about Because if you just kind of take seeing god as the father as a passing glance Oh, yeah, I know he's my he's my father, but you know, there's other things here on earth, you know And yeah, kind of that's kind of basic christianity. I know it's elementary christianity god's my father If you just skim past that part And you move on to everything else in christianity then you've actually missed What christianity is about You've missed a vital piece Of your walk with god you know It's something there's there's an interesting thing where you can know a topic or you can know something to death And by all means Be completely ignorant of it Did you guys hear me this morning sometimes you can know something So well in and out. I know it by detail But completely be ignorant ignorant of it in your daily walk In your life the way that you live the way that you think breathe and have your being You can miss it You can miss the whole point for a majority of christians today their theology of god the father Is greater than their actual experience of him Did you catch that Oftentimes Our understanding of that god is our father our understanding our theological Framework that we have within our mind. I know that the bible says god is love I know that I am adopted into the son and sonship of god I know that I'm no longer a slave. I know all these things. I know I know I know But my experience of the father Is very little My experience of that relationship Is is almost non-existent for many people There's a huge discrepancy And I can't count on my fingers how many times Christians and even not just new christians but mature leaders Who don't have not just the knowledge of the father but the revelation of the father They walk around and honestly With a orphan type spirit Simply because they lack revelation of who their father is not just for everybody else But truly for them that that real encounter that experiential Moment knowing that god is your father where you truly felt like The father was your father Because how many of you guys know even in the in in the physical world You can be adopted and never feel like your adopted dad is your real dad Some of us are here and never had that relationship with our heavenly father That is real that is tangible that is something that is Is giving life to us and giving purpose When you have a weak revelation of the father It affects your relationship with the son and the holy spirit You treat the son as a get out of get out of jail free card Every time you fall into sin Every time that you need to pick me up because i'm sad Jesus is more of just a Get me out of my mess And when you have a weak revelation the father you see the holy spirit as a means to a goal I want power I want to just know him as a as a force that I can use But when you have a revelation of the father and the reason why this is so important because the father He's the one that establishes the family hood of god He establishes the family hood nature of the relationship that we have with god almighty It's when you understand that he is the father That you don't treat jesus as just a Get me get me by kind of thing But you realize not only is jesus my savior, but he's my lord because I understand the fatherhood Nature that's within jesus that allows me to see jesus not as just a lord who to be afraid of if I do wrong But I see jesus and his strength. I see him in his power. I see him with an authority and discipline And if I see the father correctly about the holy spirit What happens Is I'm no longer looking at the holy spirit as a wind I'm not looking at him as an object or a way for me to feel comforted when I'm sad I'm not looking at him as a feeling because I understand there's more to the holy spirit than just a wind or a feeling I understand there's a relationship there and I understand because of the family hood of god that was established by the father I can receive the holy spirit in a relationship Amen Jesus becomes closer than a brother the holy spirit comforts me like a mother But I'm establishing the fatherhood of god You following me this morning. I know I'm kind of going a little bit abstract here this morning But it's important for us and I want to make the point That the father of god is so important to our christian walk if you don't fully understand it You're missing out on so much on so much And the last thing we want is the people to walk around Who are getting filled with power? Who are excited about you know just testimonies, but don't understand that it's more about god's Heart than it is about his acts. It's more about his ways than it is about the things that he can do in your life God wants to bring it a lot more personal than some of us are ready to go So you might be here and like, okay, okay. I'm following you How do I experience the father because I'm not sure if I know I've experienced the father Well, I want to talk about some of the hindrances real quick that can Hinder us from experiencing the father because here's the reality all of us would agree That the father god is perfect right Everything that we need is found in him. We know that god is love We know that he gave we even know that he gave his only son the greatest sacrifice just for you and I So it's not oftentimes The the the hiccup is not in the fact that god is not a good father The hang up often is with us The hang up is within ourselves And I want to I want to talk about those different Behaviors or attitudes or views that we can have towards god that would hang up Us from experiencing god truly is a father The first one is being flippant with the father. You're gonna notice. I'm gonna use a lot of f words today I'm gonna use a lot of f words But he was flippant with the father in other words flippant is another way of saying unserious or Disrespectful and all of us know the story of the prodigal son, right? We're all familiar luke 15 He says To his father give me what is my inheritance? I want to go do what I want to do with it. He went into the world he did his thing and Along the way he began to realize Oh man I actually had it really good in my dad's house There's the first behavior that you can have but the father is being flippant being Unserious about what god has given you most of us. That's how we first start right in christianity Most of us are unserious about god. We're disrespectful towards the lord before salvation Most of us are in that place because we can't even acknowledge the fact that god has given us the very breath in our lungs And most of us start there and we refuse to believe that the father actually should play a role in our lives But when we get saved we begin to when we get into the deep dark place. We begin to realize Man, I I really could use a father right now You know, and that's where many of us start In our relationship is being flippant with the father and maybe you're here today And you have found yourself being flippant unserious disrespectful towards the father Even though the lord whether you like it or not and somebody here today who maybe is coming for the first time And you're hearing what i'm saying and know this whole idea of the god god being a father to you is Maybe even offensive or just religious to you. Let me tell you you need a father in your life Not just a physical father. They're great But you need a heavenly father in your life You need him because he's the one that's provided the breath in your lungs He's the one that you didn't even know when you were gonna die You didn't know when he protected you from the car crash that he had your back the whole time You've been unserious about the lord, but the whole time god has had you on his mind He's been looking out for you And it's about time somebody comes to the lord this morning and says I didn't realize how good I had it And let me tell you if you come to the father in that way in a manner of saying lord, I need you He will embrace you He will embrace you with love He will embrace you with With with joy in his heart And not a single ounce of judgment the second type Of behavior that we can have that can hinder us is being familiar with the father Being familiar. I want to read to you john 14 verses eight through nine This is uh, philip one of the disciples. He says philip said lord show us the father And that will be enough for us Jesus answered Don't you know me philip Even after I have been among you for such a long time Anyone who has seen me Has seen the father. How can you say show us the father? Now what's interesting about this is that philip a disciple Of jesus is saying if you just show us the father that'll be good enough for us Yet he was standing in the presence of a man who was carrying the very essence of god the father with inside of him He had been doing miracles this man that he had seen in person that he was in such close proximity to Was giving him power to cast out demons and heal the sick and yet he had the audacity to not realize What was before him Now what's funny is I think that all of us can kind of relate to to philip at some point in our christianity Where we become familiar I imagine this and I can I can say this because I've been there Where god is using you maybe you're in a place with god That that you've been used and you've seen power. You've seen god move in mighty ways But you've become familiar you've become so close that he's become regular to you And I want to tell you this That proximity does not equal intimacy Proximity does not equal intimacy with god You can be 10 feet from jesus and not realize that he's carrying the essence of the father inside of him You can be so close you can be in this house And totally miss out on intimacy with god some of us are here are are Slowly starving to death Because our emotional spiritual mental needs are not being met in the place of prayer In the place with intimacy with god. I'm not saying that you're not praying I'm just saying that your familiar familiarity has killed your fire Your familiarity has caused you to lose intimacy with the father To recognize him in all his greatness To recognize him In the very nature of who he is the loving nature that he is I want you to reflect for a moment. When was the last time that you felt intimate with god? Are you watching others experience god and for some reason your desire is just not there Have you been doing miracles in jesus name and not realize that your intimacy with god was dead I believe the lord is saying to you this morning to rekindle your fire Rekindle the flame inside of your heart the fascination within you to recognize that who i'm standing in front of who i am Coming to every morning and prayer is not just this miracle working power this force, but he is my father my friend The one who created inform me in my mother's womb The third the third behavior the third behavior or hindrance Is forfeiting Sonship for servanthood Many don't realize and I shared a little bit about the prodigal already But many don't realize that the prodigal actually talks about two estranged sons The prodigal story is not just about the prodigal son If you read it again, you might recognize there's another son in there that's just as estranged As his brother who ran away I want to read this to you luke 15 verse 29 through 31 This is the older brother talking to the father. He says this, but he answered the father look All these years i've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders Yet you never even gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends But when this son of yours who squandered your property with prostitutes comes home you kill a fatted calf for him The father says to him my son You're always with me and everything I have is yours Imagine Your younger brother a total screw up Comes home Dad's throwing a huge party for him and you've done nothing but work your butt off for this guy You've done nothing But be obedient to this guy and you never got anything that your brother's getting your dad's playing favorites. It seems like but It's so interesting to me the father says You've been by my side this whole time and everything I have is yours He doesn't respond to him and say Anything to comfort him. He just says you've been right next to me and everything I have is yours It's possible To forfeit Your sonship for servanthood notice what was concerning to the brother I have been slaving for you I have been taking care of your things and I've never disobeyed you He was playing a game of of looking at his disciplines and duties Whereas the other son Not to say that he was doing anything right But what he did do was recognize Who was in front of him? It's possible In your relationship With god, it's possible to be in the house of god And then miss the miss the embrace of god Simply because you refuse to act like a son I'm gonna take the silence this morning as people are being reflective but it's possible to be in his house And completely miss his embrace Simply because you're so focused on what you're doing for him Rather than who you are before him And because now everything in your relationship if I want to get close to him That means I have to do this that and the other if I want to gain favor with him I have to do this that and the other and all in that process You're working so hard For something that you were never supposed to work hard for Intimacy does not come by service It comes through surrender Your service to god Some of us have been in church for a really long time And this is what I mean by you can know that the that god is your father And yet completely be ignorant of it because the way that you have chosen service over Surrender to his goodness You've missed out on the very thing that he wants to bless you with the very thing that he wants to fill you with Which is his love his purpose his identity Inside of you, but you miss it because you want to go into service Galatians 5 4 says this you have become estranged from christ You who attempt to be justified by the law you have fallen from grace It's funny paul is saying to the galatians Those of you who are trying to be justified by the law You have estranged yourself from god If you're feeling like a stranger to god In your own house And the house of the lord you feel like a stranger It may be that your view of the father is incorrect You're looking through the long wrong lens this morning Because if you knew who he was The kind of father he was you wouldn't have to be on his payroll You would get to be on his payroll because how many of you guys know Fathers who are also really blessed oftentimes give their business to their sons God's a good god. He's a blessed god. I mean he creates all things. He's got a you know the cattle on a thousand hills You can be you can be on his payroll if you want But you don't have to be in the sense of you're not working for your salvation You're not working for your relationship with him It's freely given I want to ask you this thing because I I really believe that You know, uh, this is actually one of the biggest things that we struggle with in christianity is Sun it's choosing servanthood over sonship and You know, I really believe that even when you've gone through deliverance when you've gone through healing and inner healing You've gone through all these things Um, let me put it this way. I had a student of mine Um in this last quarter he he comes to me. He's like man. I've already been through all deliverances I've got all these demons cast out on me. I got uh, I've been through back at home through Throws through so many inner healing things, but yet I'm still finding myself being like a prodigal Every now and then it just takes one thing to slip me up and I'm back into my mess And it's not that he wasn't getting the demons cast out of him. It wasn't because he um, you know didn't start dealing with some of the The wounds that he had in his heart But the big thing that was holding him back and it became apparent In conversations and asking questions to him was that he had he had this deep-seated belief or notion That he was self-made Because growing up he had gone through so much stuff so much horrible things That he had nobody had his back So he had to be there for himself. He had to pull himself up by his bootstraps And sometimes that's what's happened to us, especially if we've gone through some really tough stuff We don't realize it. We can we can we can kick it with Jesus because he's like he's closer than a brother, right? We can kick it with the Holy Spirit because when we're sad he lifts up. He comforts us But there are people in this house that if until you reconcile with the father Fully You will find yourself being in cycles of either seeing God As a bad father or seeing God is not really God in your back or providing for you or protecting you um, so on and so forth Or you'll go back into cycles of sin simply because You can't reconcile in your brain That God Is a father and he disciplines those whom he loves and discipline looks like to you like punishment But discipline is an act of love And until you reconcile that relationship with the father You go back and forth back and forth You'll be in the pews and constantly be fighting feelings of rejection and fighting emotions of people not belonging Because for some reason you've got this deep deep seated thing that Nobody's got my back. I got to hold myself up I'm always had to be the one to pull myself up by my own bootstraps But let me tell you this morning. You are not self-made You are not self-made. He formed you and your mother's womb You are not self-made. You cannot turn your life around except through the father Jesus Wants to be your father if you would just allow him to be So reflect do you find yourself complaining in prayer? Are you filled with I do this I said this I do that I I I in your prayer that might be a good indicator That you are sacrificing Sonship for servant servant hood Number four is being fearful of the father and I won't take too much on this one because I think we all understand This this this concept well, we're not talking about the fear of the lord that rack that lacks Reverence right that kind of fears the that's the fear that the prodigal was missing We're talking about the fear of the lord. That's like i'm scared of him You know, it's ironic that when you don't have a fear of the lord you begin to fear the lord When you don't have a holy reverence before the lord you begin to fear him because the lifestyle that you're living So if you don't fear the lord you're gonna fear the lord But one way you're gonna fear the lord. Just make sure it's the right one You know adam and eve they became embarrassed of their nakedness through their sin And they immediately became fearful of the father The moment that they sinned guilt and shame just overtook them and they were fearful of him And uh, we're all familiar with this old ball and chain, so i'm not gonna take too much time But i want to read to you romans 8 15 For you did not receive a spirit of bondage again to fear But you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out Abba father First john 4 18 there is no fear in love But perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment, but he who fears has not been made perfect in love You see when you begin to realize your sonship It prepares you to be perfect perfected in his love When you understand that you're a son or that you're a daughter It prepares your heart To be made perfect in him perfect in his love Perfect in his In his presence but if you if you Don't see him as your father Or there's a sphere of him Understand that's a lie of the enemy The bible very clearly makes us to know That we have not received a spirit of bondage. We've received a spirit of adoption The key to getting rid of fear of the father is to realize that you're his son So if you have a hard time connecting with the father because of guilt and shame The revelation that you're his son should be the very thing that breaks you out of that Amen Now chances are we've all experienced all four of these f's that I talked about We've all been at some point flippant or familiar or forfeiting or fearful, but I want to talk about how do we get out of this? And there's just three keys I want to talk about in the last little bit. I have Keys to open your heart to intimacy Number one Become aware of your need for intimacy In order to open your heart to intimacy you have to realize that you need it The world desperately needs you To know that you're a son or a daughter of god Romans 8 19 says for the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of god Literally the world creation the universe is waiting for you to figure out this thing That you were a son or a daughter of god They're waiting on you because in romans the chapter 8 paul is saying that Literally the the all of creation was put under the same curse The atom was under and they're suffering as a byproduct because of the suffering That man is going under so until man understands Until jesus comes back the The whole creation is groaning waiting for the sons of god To be revealed to have revelation To be made manifest in other words To recognize who they are When we begin to recognize we're ushering in God's kingdom here on earth And even creation is waiting for you to do that the world Is waiting for you to do that when we catch the revelation that we're the sons of god And we can realize that we need intimacy with our father Something shifts in the way that you that you approach the world You don't approach the world Through this lens of me myself and i you begin to realize there's a greater purpose in god's house You begin to realize the greater purpose on your life because your daddy gave you a purpose Your father gave you something to live for So the whole world is waiting for us to realize That we are sons and daughters of god number two Is embrace your responsibility for intimacy At your salvation Intimacy is made available But it's not made automatic Let me say that again intimacy is made available, but it's not made automatic Some of times we get bummed out because we hear about the goodness of god the love of the father and all these things and Then we try to go pray and maybe we don't feel or experience that But understand just like in any relationship intimacy is not something that just Happens it's developed intimacy With your spouse is developed with time It's made available to you when you became a son when you were adopted into the household of god Relationship with your father was made available, but it does not mean that you automatically have it You have to take time you have to spend time You got to get to know your father and i want to just give you an illustration and if we can put the picture up on the screen This is president jfk and his son under his desk And uh, I just want to show this picture because there's a good dynamic. I want to show here is that Uh, it said that jfk He had this rule in the oval office that his children could interrupt him at any time He had this rule that regardless of what's going on and all the busy things that he's doing His children could have access to him Now This is a great representation Of the dynamic that we should have with our father There is no excuse for us to not have relationship with him. Yes. He is the god of the universe He's got a lot of things going on, but for you and for me. He's made time. He's made access He's ready for you. You are not an interruption. You are not an inconvenience to him He is ready for that, but you carry the responsibility to show up in his office You carry the responsibility to say hey dad, can I have a moment of your time? Hey dad, I want to be with you and you know what god doesn't look at you and say oh get out of my sight He says come on in. Yeah, you can play under my desk. Yeah, you can be in my house Yes, you can be right next to me. It doesn't bother a month big if you are here this morning and you need a touch from the lord Just reach out Reach out Let him touch you let him feel you you have access to the father It's that simple It's that simple It's that simple And you got responsibilities that means you're gonna have to remove some of the lies in your mind I'm not saying that you have to fix the problems You just got to be willing to be honest and vulnerable before god to give him to say hey dad I'm struggling with these thoughts. I feel like I can't come to you Simply by saying that boom it's already fixed It's fixed that simple you have access But we're walking around like our like our father is the president that has no time for anybody But if the president if an earthly father can do that how much more can our heavenly father do that for you And the third thing is redefine yourself image before god redefine yourself image before god Romans 12 to and do not be conformed to the To this world But be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of god Proverbs 23 7 says for as he thinks in his heart so he is We all know that our thought life has power to determine our reality right oftentimes in this life Just by having good thinking or our stinking thinking you can cause a lot of mess And There's a domino effect that takes place when we view ourselves Through the wrong lens Follow me on this If I think That he thinks i'm no good Then I will think less of myself than what he actually thinks of me And if I think less of what he thinks of me Then I will think intimacy is not available for me And that was a lot of thinks in there Let me just put it simply for you A wife who thinks she's just a girlfriend Will never feel secure Regardless of how much her husband shows her how much he loves her No matter how much he proves it If a wife Think she's just a girlfriend She'll never be secure in her relationship Even though they're married You're married You're the bride of christ You're married to the father or you're married to the god You're in covenant relationship with him But if you think that you're just A girlfriend Following this if you think you're just a girlfriend If you just think that this could pass if Time goes by and well, maybe he won't like me anymore That's not how this works You're a bride of christ if you think That you're just a girlfriend not the bride Of christ Then you will always act a certain way Around him no matter how much no matter how much you read this book And read that god loves you and all the things that he's done to pursue you. You'll always be insecure That god actually loves you Not because the bible doesn't not because the bible leaves it unclear for you But because within your own heart you have a hard time dealing with What's going on here the hang up redefine yourself image before god redefine yourself as who god says you are If you're a son Don't think like a servant Don't think like a slave These things will stop you from experiencing intimacy with the father 100 percent I want us to rise for a moment And uh, I just want to make a prayer Before we do another prayer I just want us to Close our eyes for a moment And I want you to just Talk to the father for a moment Maybe you're here and your relationship with him Is not doing so well You're realizing man my revelation of him is Kind of weak and I recognize it's affecting everything else I just want to pray a prayer over you And allow the holy spirit to do the work that he needs to do So holy spirit. I just pray right now With every every person in this room That as they surrender to you as a father They begin to encounter you That throughout this week Throughout the next the upcoming days and weeks that go by god that a revelation Of this truth begin to hit not just on their head knowledge, but on heart knowledge I pray holy spirit that there would be A sense of security in your presence a sense of security knowing your love A sense of security of knowing where we stand with you father And I pray that anybody who's struggling this morning With those thoughts that you would begin to touch them right now That you would begin to speak to their heart right now And I want to make one more call If you're here this morning and You've never known god as your father You've never given god a chance You're like the prodigal son Who honestly didn't think that a relationship with god is necessary But you're here in this room and you're recognizing man This life is hard The reason why it's like that is because god created you And he created you for a relationship with him And if you're struggling through life right now, I can tell you this one thing You're struggling because you don't have god in your life Not to say that you won't have struggles in life But you're struggling you're grinding through Because you have you have no foundation You have nothing to hold on to And I just want to make an opportunity The prodigal son he was afraid to come to the lord because all the things that he had done all the sins But one thing he did say he's like He came what he did do is he came with a heart of humility Saying lord if you'll have me Then I would like to come back to you I would like to give myself To your house again And before he could even finish the words that he was saying the father embraced him Loved on him Accepted him into the house So if there's anybody here is I want to uh heads bowed eyes closed If you're here in this room right now and you need to give your life to the lord I just want to ask you to Just slip up your hand If you need to get right with the lord maybe rededicate Because you've been going through cycles of being the prodigal son I want to give you an opportunity to rededicate the lord is ready to receive you with open arms Jesus loves you The father loves you. I want us to pray this prayer say lord jesus I come to you as a sinner I recognize that I need a father And I'm asking you lord To be my father I'm asking you to come live in my heart Wash me And cleanse me from my sin And be the lord of my life In jesus mighty name Amen Amen, if you prayed that prayer, we just want to ask you as you're walking out meet somebody at On our lobby we have leaders in the lobby And they will reach out to you How many of you how many of you received something this morning such an encouraging revelatory word I want to remind you that this weekend we are starting something we haven't had before it's called 40 hour of prayer So on friday at 10 p.m. We're launching it here And then it's going to be you can sign up for that prayer right behind me And so you can pray from home So it's not going to be here after the two hour launch and then we're going to pray through saturday saturday night friday night Why we do that because we're expecting miracle signs and wonders Next weekend. It's our prayer line sunday. We're believing for deaf years to be open for blind eyes to be open For lame to walk for dead to rise and the demon eyes to be set free. Amen And a praying church is a powerful church and we are a powerful church And that's why we're praying church So make sure you check that out on the way out our youth is also raising some funds for summer camp And so if you have it in your generous heart or you have some extra money And you want to buy some cookies or you just want to donate make sure you do that God bless you guys for that better. It's not good enough The best is yet to come greet your neighbor on your right and then your left make somebody feel special today