Back To The Basics (Part 2 ): Love People

Welcome to the Harvest Chapel PA podcast.

We're so glad you joined us.

Each week, you'll hear powerful messages, testimonies,

and conversations designed to help you grow in your faith

and encounter Jesus in a fresh way.

Let's dive into today's episode.

Good morning.

It's good to see you all.

Guys excited to be in the house of the Lord this morning.

Super thankful for the body of Christ.

And I'm gonna try my best to articulate some of the things

that I'm feeling and I'm processing.

This was a heavy week, for sure.

And as I'm having conversations with other pastor friends

and just other friends and just, honestly,

just people that are willing to have the conversation,

you can't explain the heaviness

that maybe you felt this past week.

And what we witnessed,

I believe what we witnessed was something

that none of us were created to see something like that.

And the graphic nature of what we saw.

But how many know that that is the world

we are currently in.

There's things like that that are taking place

and we have to choose how we are going to respond.

We cannot partner with reaction.

We cannot let our feelings and our emotions

dictate what we truly believe to be true.

And the truth is, most of us,

maybe we knew of Charlie Kirk, maybe we followed him.

I saw a lot of his videos,

but I wasn't one that watched them

week after week after week.

But as this happened, as this transpired,

it gave us an opportunity to see

what this young man stood for.

31 years old.

31 years old with a wife and two beautiful kids.

You can't even debate the fact

that he was bold about his faith.

That he made it a part of his mission

to even as he's having conversations

and he was willing to have conversations with people

that believed the opposite of what he believed.

And have a healthy dialogue

without action, without violence.

And we see what evil can truly do.

But we can also see what good can do as well.

Because I'm here to say that

God did not cause this to happen.

This was not an act of God to waken up a generation,

but this is how the Lord can work

all things together for our good.

He did not cause this to happen,

but he can use it.

And I'm seeing story after story after story

of people that wanted nothing to do

with Jesus coming to Christ.

We see millions of people across the world

marching in the streets.

All eyes are being turned to this moment

and then you see his wife address the nation

and say, if anything,

you don't realize what you just woke up.

And isn't that how the enemy works?

He thinks he takes out the one and wins.

He's so foolish.

All this did was just wake up a generation to say,

wow, it's so important for me to live out

what I truly believe is to be true.

Let this be a moment in time where we say,

God, I can't sit on my beliefs any longer.

I have to be bold about what I believe

and let my heart break for what breaks yours.

And church, we just can't be a people in Christ

and wonder where we stand on these issues.

I'm gonna say some things,

because they need to be said.

We can't wonder where we stand on gender.

We can't wonder where we stand on faith.

And the hard things that are hard to talk about,

the things that Charlie was willing to talk about.

Charlie was on podcast after podcast after podcast,

encouraging pastors to be more bold.

One of the things he said was,

I'll go to the college campuses so you don't have to.

Well, he did his part.

And I believe that his turning point,

I mean, this is a turning point.

This is a moment in time where it's a turning point

for us to truly be what we know we're called to be.

And we're in the middle of this series

and my heart's probably gonna go

a bunch of different places

and I'm gonna try to stick to notes,

but it's gonna be difficult at times

because this is what the Lord is just encouraging us

in this moment in time.

And I just feel like there's a supernatural wake up call.

I feel like the enemy during COVID

tried to put us to sleep as the body of Christ.

And when I say the church,

I'm not referring to Harvest Chapel,

I'm referring to the church as a whole.

But I believe it's time to wake up.

We can't afford not to wake up.

You can't afford to continue to play games with Jesus.

If any things this shows you,

you're not promised tomorrow.

Charlie Kirk did not go to that meeting in Utah

thinking that that was gonna be his last meeting.

He was on a schedule because he was going somewhere else

and then going somewhere else

and then going somewhere else.

We're not promised tomorrow.

What are we doing with our lives?

Your life is no longer yours

if you gave your life to Jesus Christ.

We must be bold.

We must be confident about who Christ is.

We must experience his love

because love is what makes everything different.

Because I look across the nation

and what do you see?

People gathering to pray.

People gathering to bring a spotlight on the good things

and believe that we still believe that there's hope

because our hope isn't found in politics.

Our hope isn't found in people.

Our hope is found in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the only way.

He's not away, church.

He's the only way.

If you weren't with us last week,

we laid a foundation of what does it look like

to truly receive the love of God in your life

because can you remember the moment in time

where you received God's love into your life?

You received the beautiful gift of salvation

and you became a new creation.

Do you remember that moment?

It's moments like that

that make you be able to be bold in a dark world

because you realize the gift that you've been given

and you realize who you are in him

and you realize that this life is not about me

just having a comfortable life

and everything working out.

Sometimes my ducks are never in a row.

Sometimes they're scattered

and I'm trying to round them up.

But it doesn't mean that God isn't good.

You hear Charlie's wife declare like, God, you're good

as she's addressing this days

after the assassination of her husband.

God, you're good.

That's, if you wanna have a hero,

it's people like that that should be your heroes

that can go through things and situations

and yes, we need to mourn.

We need to mourn.

We need to get these feelings and emotions out

and not allow these emotions and feelings to have us.

I talk to a lot of individuals

and there's a lot of different people in the room

that have seen so many different things

throughout your lifetime

but you have to understand, me as a 35-year-old man,

I was in fifth grade when 9-11 happened.

That affected me, of course.

And as I got older, I saw what it meant

and my heart could grieve

but you have to understand

if there's people in your lives and they're younger,

maybe they're millennial generation

and they're explaining, my heart is so heavy.

I don't know why this is hitting me

the way that it's hitting me.

Remember how your heart felt on 9-11.

There's this grieving in the spirit.

And there's this heaviness that only God can take away.

And when I say heaviness,

I want this unction to be more bold for the gospel.

I'm bold for the gospel

but I wanna be even more bold for the gospel.

I want the way that I love people to freak people out,

the way that I pray for people,

I want it to freak them out,

people that don't agree with me.

Church, and I may say some things

that are gonna challenge you

but it's true that there's a family and a nation

mourning the death of a bold man of Christ

but there's also a family

that doesn't know what's gonna happen to their son.

How many know that God's heart breaks

for the one that got shot

and God's heart breaks for the one

that pulled the trigger?

And that's the gospel.

And if we have believers can't see that

and we can't believe that and know that

and allow what breaks God's heart

to break ours, we're part of the problem.

Yes, there's consequences to your actions

but my heart has gotta cry out

over these next few days, these next few weeks.

God, would you encounter your son

that doesn't know you,

that's lost and confused

and if he's not here tomorrow,

he's not gonna be with you

and God, that breaks my heart,

that breaks God's heart.

The gospel's scandalous.

We get what we didn't deserve, church.

By the grace of God, I'm found.

I'm not lost.

My mind isn't confused.

My mind is in Christ

but we can't get mad at a lost world

for acting lost.

We can get righteous anger

and we can say God, this is enough is enough.

What can I do to be a part of the solution?

How can I use my voice

to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ

but I refuse to partner with any wicked agenda

that tries to turn this one against this one.

A divided nation isn't gonna solve anything.

Jesus Christ is the only one that can unify us.

My heart breaks seeing people

that publicly debated Charlie Kirk

and would say that they hate him

but they're tearful and they're bawling

and they're like, this is not the answer

and they're saying things on their Instagrams

and their TikToks

and they're saying, if you think that this is good,

unfollow me please

because we're not on the same team.

This is not how you handle disagreement.

In no way, no one deserves this.

No one deserves what this man had happened to him

but us as the body of Christ,

we have to look different.

We have to pray different.

We have to show up different.

We have to believe that it's possible

for God to truly make this place

a better and different place.

And sometimes the prayers that we pray,

I believe that God looks back at us and be like,

I'm so glad you're passionate about that

because I actually wanna use you

to be a part of the solution.

If your heart is grieved or you feel so compelled,

instead of just spending time in your prayer closet

praying for God to do something,

look in the mirror and ask him,

God, what can I do?

What can I do?

Practically, what can I do?

If you have young people in your life,

bring them in closer.

Tell them how you felt

when you experienced things like this in your lifetime

because you've experienced things in your lifetime

that my generation hasn't.

Let them know that it's okay to process,

it's okay to mourn.

This was a hero for a generation.

This was somebody that was willing to go

behind the enemy lines and challenge

and debate and even lead people to Christ in different ways.

He was having conversations with pastors,

reaching out to them saying,

could you help me?

Could you mentor me?

Because I didn't realize what I'm doing.

I'm just a Christian that's passionate

about all these different things,

but I'm realizing that God is trying to use me

to lead people to Christ.

I wanna be more informed.

I wanna have more verses to give them.

I wanna be able to know where to point them.

Would you mentor me?

Would you help me?

And I believe a generation is seeing this

and they saw what he was willing to die for

because he's saying things days before,

weeks before, months before saying,

if something like this happens to me,

he's literally asked in an interview,

what do you wanna be remembered?

And he goes, if I die?

He's like, yeah, if you die,

if you're no longer here,

how do you wanna be remembered?

I wanna be a man that's bold of my faith.

I want people to think of me

and think of I was bold

and nothing allowed me to step down

in what I believe to be true,

that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.

This must inspire us.

It's sad that it takes things like this to wake us up,

but we need to wake up

because I believe that God wants to do something big

in our nation.

I believe that God wants to do something big

in the nations.

But my heart just,

my heart specifically breaks for this region.

I'm like, God, I want this region to look like you.

I want us to only say what you're saying.

I want us to only do what you're doing.

I've reached out to other pastor friends

and I'm like, guys, we have such an opportunity

on this Sunday to be bold about Jesus Christ.

I only wanna say what he's saying.

I only wanna do what he's doing.

I'm not here to just preach a message

to tickle your ears.

I wanna point you to Jesus Christ

because he's the only one that can transform your life.

If there's anything about your life that isn't in place,

he's the way to get it in place.

He's the one that you need.

He's your source.

He's the one, if you go to him to drink,

you'll never be thirsty again.

He'll satisfy every need.

It's my job to point you to him.

And I want you to receive the love of God in your life

like never before.

First John 4.19 says we love each other

because he loved us first.

Have you received that love into your life?

Have you received the beautiful gift of salvation,

the gift that only he can give?

Because I truly believe

before you can do anything for God,

you must first receive his love into your life.

How many of you have tried to work for that love

if you're just being honest?

You tried to strive for a love that was freely given.

I spent so many years of my life trying to do that.

And when I finally gave up and just let God,

that's when I stepped into things.

That's when I fully was awakened to who I am in him.

When you receive his love,

it transforms how you see yourself.

It transforms how you see other situations.

It transforms how you see enemies,

how you see the world around you.

It changes everything.

And I truly believe once you receive God's love

into your life, and I had a really hard time

with loving myself as a teenager, as a young adult.

I struggled with falling in love

with who God's created me to be.

If I'm just being really honest,

and I spent a long time of my life

just receiving God's love,

even when I tried to do things,

he's like, just receive, just receive, just receive.

And I spent a long time just saying,

God, I thank you for your love.

I thank you that I'm a loved son of God.

I thank you that that's who I am.

Before anything, that's who you call me.

I'm a loved son.

Because once then and only then,

can you take the next step

and you begin to see yourself the way that God sees you.

And you can healthily, in a spirit-led way,

begin to fall in love with who God's created you to be.

You start to fall in love with that uniqueness

that sometimes maybe you grew up and you're like,

man, that's a quirkiness about yourself.

God explains, that's how I created you.

I gave you that personality.

I gave you that way about you,

that little thing that you say you can't stand.

I love that about you.

We can't afford to spend our lives

trying to look like someone else.

Because we're robbing the world of experiencing

the uniqueness of Christ that only we can produce.

Amen?

So today, I wanna take some time looking at scripture

and focus on what does the scriptures tell us

about loving people.

Not just people we agree with.

Not just people who treat us well,

but all people, even our enemies.

We'll get there.

But we have some ground to cover before we get there.

So open up to Matthew chapter 22, verse 36.

I got a lot of scriptures to go through this morning.

I'll try my best to cover them all.

Matthew chapter 22.

We're gonna start at 36.

Teacher, which is the most important commandment

in the law of Moses?

Jesus replied, you must love the Lord your God

with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment.

A second is equally important.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

The entire law and all the demands of the prophets

are based on these two commandments.

I want you to see these scriptures.

I want us to get used to reading these scriptures

because it's important for you to know where they are

so you can go home and you can continue to study.

I want you to see this in front of you

because it's beautiful that Jesus tied loving God

directly to loving people.

You can't separate the two.

Let's look at 1 John 4.20.

We'll have them on the screen if you can't flip

super fast.

If someone says, I love God,

but hates a Christian brother or sister,

that person is a liar.

For if we don't love people, we can see.

How can we love God whom we cannot see?

And he has given us this command.

Those who love God must also love

their Christian brothers and sisters.

You have to understand that we're not even getting

to the enemy part yet.

How many know that there's people in the body of Christ

that spend so much time debating on what we don't

believe in instead of just celebrating

who Jesus Christ is?

Yes, I'm a pastor that believes in healings

and signs and wonders and miracles,

but that doesn't mean I can't have a close relationship

with another pastor friend that maybe doesn't believe

that healing isn't for today.

It's okay, we can agree to disagree on some things

and we can focus on Jesus Christ

being the centerpiece of the gospel,

that without him we are nothing

and we need him for salvation.

We need him to be able to get back to the father.

But that's a question only you can really ask yourself

and I know we don't really go around a lot of times

saying, man, I hate that person or I hate that person

but the people that really do challenge you

welcome the Holy Spirit into your life

and say, God, would you help me to see that person

from your perspective?

Because that's a brother or a sister in Christ.

And God, I don't believe that they're called

to agitate me, God.

I'm not called to try to avoid those people

in the parking lot or the grocery store.

This wouldn't be in the Bible

if it wasn't something that was meant to have to be said.

It wouldn't be in the Bible

if it's not something that people struggle with.

But we haven't even gotten to the love your enemy part

because we're trying to make it clear

that we need to start here first.

My heart is for other churches in our region.

I want every church in our region to be full, why?

Because that means more people

are encountering Jesus Christ.

More people are giving their lives to Jesus Christ.

If I can't pray for the church down the street

to step into revival, why do I think we would here?

And revival isn't something that we step into

and we step out of.

I believe revival is possible

by you believing who you're called to be

and you living it out on a daily basis

and revival breaking out at Walmart,

revival breaking out at the gas station,

revival breaking out in downtown Hanover, why?

Because you're there and because you're there,

the spirit of God is there.

And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

There is liberty.

Because you're there,

not because we're having a special time

this time of the year

and we're gonna block off three dates

and just say we're having a revival.

I'm not against those things, those things are good.

There's nothing wrong with the body of Christ

coming together, worshiping him,

declaring that he is Lord

and then seeing him move in our midst.

That's beautiful.

But we can't make it about an event,

it's about a person.

It's about Jesus Christ.

All of our events must be about Jesus Christ.

The proof of loving God is found in how you love others.

Ask yourself, man, how do I love others?

Is it so obvious that I'm a believer

because the way that I treat

my brothers and sisters in Christ?

And again, we haven't even gotten to the enemy part.

That's a doozy, we're gonna get there.

Because I believe that love is truly the mark of a disciple.

We're gonna look at John chapter 13, verse 34.

So now, I am giving you a new commandment.

Love each other just as I have loved you.

I don't know about you, but that's kicking it up a notch.

Come on, that's right.

Okay, this is red-letter stuff.

This is all the inspired word of God,

but this is Jesus Christ speaking, you guys ready?

So now I am giving you a new commandment.

Love each other just as I have loved you.

You should love each other.

Your love for one another will prove to the world

that you are my disciple.

Not the way that you give.

Not the way that you serve.

The way that you love will prove to the world

that you are my disciple, that you follow me.

The world will know that you follow me

by the way that you love.

The way that you love your family,

the way that you love your children,

the way that you love your grandchildren,

the way that you love your neighbor,

even the one that tried to fight you

on the property line.

You see so many videos about that.

I don't know if that rings true

to someone in the congregation,

but it's in moments like that

you see videos all over the internet

where people are freaking out, losing their minds.

Over offense.

Over offense.

Offense.

We can't let a physical offense

or a spiritual offense separate us

from loving the people around us.

Because we're not called to have dividers

between us and them.

We're actually supposed to go behind the enemy lines.

It's funny, I got a text from Pastor Tyler.

He texted me, I'm behind the enemy lines today

because he went to a Maryland college football game

yesterday as a Penn State fan.

I don't know, I didn't even watch the game

to be honest with you.

They did.

So did Penn State.

But we're called to go into those places

that aren't popular.

We can't just go to places that are light.

You can't just show up to church and shine

and think that you're okay.

How is that proving that you're actually shining

when you're around other light?

We need to place ourselves in situations

and rooms and groups of people

that don't believe like we believe

and be willing to engage and have a conversation

and actually preach what we say we believe.

So that God can move in the hearts of people.

This isn't in my message but I just really feel strong

that I need to share it.

Like I'm not gonna go in depth about it

but in Acts around chapters seven and eight

we see the martyr of Stephen.

Seven.

And he's the first martyr.

And we see so many, there's so many parallels.

The things that stand out to me is after Stephen's death

when he's actually being stoned

he's praying for the one stoning him.

This is the first example of what it looks like

to lose your life for the gospel.

And what is he doing?

He's looking at his example.

Father forgive them, they know not what they do.

What is Jesus praying?

Father don't hold this against them.

Look at them as if they're not crucifying me.

That's what that prayer is

if you really practically break it down.

And now here we are Stephen.

He's just preaching the gospel.

He's trying to lead people to Christ.

He actually preaches the entire history

pointing to Jesus Christ and kind of rebuking them

for not partnering with the Holy Spirit.

And they begin to, they take him out of the city limits

and they begin to stone him.

And then his spirit as it's leaving his body

he begins to pray and intercede

for the people around him.

And after Stephen's death, you know what happens?

People begin to scatter and they operate in boldness

like never before.

That's what I'm believing that we are stepping

into an opportunity of boldness being proclaimed

like never before.

Because one man was taken out in front of the entire world

and we go enough is enough.

I have to get this, not just for me

but for the generations coming behind me.

I don't wanna be so rapture focused

that I miss out on being sent and used here

on planet earth.

And I will say this to the day that I die.

My focus is bringing heaven to earth.

If I get sucked up in the process, so be it.

Beam me up Scotty, I'm not gonna be kicking and screaming.

But all I know is that Jesus said,

this is how you pray on earth as it is in heaven.

The last time I checked earth doesn't look like heaven.

So I'm gonna spend every breath,

every bit of energy that I have

bringing heaven to earth.

Not looking for an escape route,

not looking for God, this is Jesus Christ.

It's so scary, what if it's gonna be me?

What if I'm next?

Bring it on.

Cause I'm gonna bring as many people with me as possible.

It's the only thing you can take with you.

I'm not focused on blood moons and this and that

and we shouldn't be ignorant to the signs.

Open your eyes, it's pretty dark.

But are you shining bright?

It's okay to be, and I said this on Facebook

and I'll say it here.

If you're listening to people

that are giving you exact days and exact times

and those exact days and times come and go

and there's no public apology,

stop following that person.

Cause biblically that person deserves to repent

and say, I missed it.

You know what happens?

Generations behind us see that

and they go, this is a joke.

They need to see humility.

Turn from your wicked ways, humble yourself

and say, I missed it.

Because in that moment, man missed it, not God.

We need to keep our eyes so fixed on him

and I'm excited for that day.

But if anything, my eyes are open

that there's a lot of people

that still need to be awakened.

That if the trumpet sounded this afternoon,

I'm ready, but there's a lot of people who aren't.

And I want God to use me to help open up their eyes.

God, I repent from thinking selfishly of God,

just get me out of here.

I don't want to deal with this.

When for God so loved the world that he sowed his son,

that whoever believes in him will not perish

but have eternal life and that eternal life

is not just getting to heaven.

That eternal life is knowing God here and now.

Because when you know God here and now,

you can see the things transpiring

and you can go into your prayer closet and go,

God, obviously my heart is breaking

for the Kirk family and our nation

but my heart is also breaking for a young man

that's lost, for a father and a mother and a family

that just saw their son publicly do what he did

and now is gonna face trials,

face consequences to his actions.

And I pray that he knows him.

I pray that Jesus Christ encounters him.

Find him in his dreams, Lord.

The man in white, would you go to him

because you love him?

Because you know what else I think about

when I think of Stephen?

Saul.

Saul was just as guilty as all those men throwing rocks.

He was on a mission to see this thing die

and yet, look what God can do with a Saul.

Not because Saul was making all the right choices.

Not because Saul was on this beautiful pursuit

of the Lord and he had this beautiful testimony.

No, Jesus said, that's my son

and I'm gonna prove it to him.

I love him so much, I'm gonna come to him.

I'm gonna strike him blind

and I'm gonna open up his eyes,

physically and spiritually.

I'm believing for that to happen all across the nation.

People that are lost, people whose eyes are shut,

they're spiritually shut.

They can't see what you see.

They don't understand you're Christianese.

They don't understand peace that passes all understanding.

They don't get it.

What do you mean you have peace?

What do you mean you can see something like that

and still be at peace?

Because the prince of peace lives inside of me.

It's no longer I that lives

but Christ that lives in and through me.

We gotta look different.

Our heart has to break.

Doesn't mean we can't be upset.

The Bible says, be angry and do not sin.

Just make sure that that anger doesn't turn to bitterness.

Doesn't turn to hopelessness.

Well, now you're looking at the nation going,

well, surely we're lost.

We're never gonna get out of this.

I wanna have a heavenly perspective of our nation.

I wanna believe that God can bring a revival

like we've never seen.

Where our biggest problem on a Sunday

is that we don't have enough chairs

and we need to figure it out.

If you wanna worry with God,

that's the kind of stuff I wanna worry with God about.

Lord, what do we do?

Open up the doors, set some chairs up in the cafe.

We'll figure it out.

Have an overflow room

because people are hungry for the gospel

but our heart has got to break

for what breaks God's heart.

The world is watching.

I'm here to tell you that the world

is watching how you respond.

The world is watching how you treat people.

What does your love say about your discipleship?

I want the way that I treat people

to show people that he follows Christ.

He's a follower of Christ because how he loves.

And now let's go into the hard territory

that love does extend to our enemies.

I want you to go to Matthew chapter five.

Verse 43.

You have heard the law that says love your neighbor

and hate your enemy

but I say love your enemies.

Pray for those who persecute you.

In that way, you will be acting

as a true child of your father in heaven

for he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good

and he sends rain to the just and to the unjust alike.

If you love only those who love you,

what reward is there for that?

Even tax collectors do that much.

If you are kind only to your friends,

how are you different from anyone else?

Even pagans do that

but you are to be perfect

even as your father in heaven is perfect.

You know how we do this?

Dying to ourself.

Dying to our feelings.

Dying to emotions.

I wanna live a life that is informed but not consumed.

I watched the news more this week

than I have in the last 10 years.

And that's true.

I wanna be informed so I know how to pray

but I do not wanna be consumed

and how do you know you're being consumed

if you turn it off and then you become hopeless?

You turn it off and you allow yourself

to be so riddled with fear

that you don't realize you're actually

part of the solution

because God is teaching us in this scripture

that we're called to love our enemies.

Pray for those who persecute us.

I referenced this a few weeks ago

but the Western Church sadly

doesn't really understand persecution.

I wanna know that with a shadow of a doubt

I'm willing to lay my life down for this thing

because Jesus laid his life down for me.

I can't be in tension of that.

I can't wonder what I would do

in a situation like that.

Someone's in front of you and says,

are you a Christian?

If you say yes, I'm taking your life.

You go, well you can't take my life

because I already gave my life to Jesus Christ.

My life is no longer mine

and you begin to pray for that person.

What would happen if you're in that situation?

The person has a choice.

They're gonna pull the trigger

or they're not gonna pull the trigger.

If they pull the trigger,

you know where you're gonna be

if you're in Christ and not crisis

because that's a pretty hectic situation to be in.

But for you to go,

you don't have the ability to take my life.

I've already given my life to Jesus

and right now I just thank you God for this son

because this is a son of God

who doesn't realize it right now.

And God, I ask right now

that your presence would fall on him right now

in Jesus' name.

What happens if things shift then in that moment?

The weapon drops.

We don't know or the trigger is pulled

and you're with Jesus Christ.

There's no losing.

But we have to understand that this is reality.

This is no longer just talk.

This is action.

We just saw this play out in front of our eyes.

Just before he was shot,

who was he talking about?

Jesus Christ.

It was the last conversation he had

was about Jesus Christ being the only way

and it's all about him.

And if you get anything from this,

it's all about Jesus.

Give your life to Jesus Christ.

Oh my goodness, help us Lord.

Wake us up.

Wake us up God to the core.

No longer can we be continuing to live in compromise

and think that it's okay.

Holiness looks like something.

Purity looks like something.

A dark world should be able to look at the church

and see what holiness looks like.

Not compromise.

Not people that are debating on leaving their wives.

Not people that are struggling with sin after sin

after sin after sin and continuing to go back

to the bottle and continuing to go back to the bottle

and continuing to go back to this drug or this drug

or this addiction or this addiction.

A lost world deserves a church that's saved.

A lost world deserves a church that is found

that looks like Jesus Christ

so that if they walk into these rooms,

they see something different.

They experience forgiveness.

They experience hope.

It's like hopelessness and as soon as you come in,

oh my gosh, why does this place feel so hopeful?

Because there's a lot of hope-filled people in here.

I wanna have that kind of kingdom,

heavenly perspective church.

It can't just be me.

It's if my people pray.

It's not about just your pastor.

It's not about just Pastor Don.

It's not about your favorite podcaster.

It's about you getting on your knees

and saying, God, enough is enough, help me.

I don't know how to pray.

Speaking tongues.

I don't know how to speak in tongues.

Get filled.

Get filled.

It's a lot easier than we think.

It's about dying to yourself

and saying, God, I give you my whole life.

I just want you to fill every part of my being.

I want no part of me that doesn't look like you.

God, help.

You're the only one who can set me free.

He's the only one.

He's the only one that can set you free.

He's the only one that can set your son free,

your daughter free.

Your parents free.

The person you're thinking about right now,

he's the only one that can set them free.

This is counter-cultural, church.

This doesn't make sense.

Everything in our flesh says fight back, cancel,

or avoid.

Jesus says love and pray.

Love and pray.

Your Facebook feed may be the only smidget of a gospel

that your lost friend sees.

And I promise you, they see it more than they say.

Right now, we have an opportunity to shine bright, church.

You have an opportunity to represent Christ in this moment

and be open to letting people cry on your shoulder.

And as they cry and as they get these feelings

and emotions out, you can ask them

the most beautiful question, like,

would you love to have a relationship

with love himself?

Would you love to have a relationship with hope?

Because I serve the God of hope

that fills me with all joy and all peace.

So as I go through situations like this,

and as we go through situations like this,

we can look out and go, God, I don't understand it,

but I need you.

I want your perspective.

God, I wanna be able to pray for that young man.

If you're sitting here listening to me like,

wow, that's really stretching.

That's challenging, Matt.

I don't know if I could pray for that young man.

You should.

We should.

God, help us.

Help us to wanna have a heart for that.

Help us to break our heart for what breaks yours.

Go to Romans chapter 12.

Five out of nine scriptures right now,

so we're tracking, okay.

Got a lot of tabs in this Bible today.

Let's look at verse 17.

Romans chapter 12, verse 17.

Never, that's a big word.

Never.

Never pay back evil with more evil.

Do things in such a way that everyone can see you

and see you are honorable.

Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

Dear friends, never take revenge.

Leave that to the righteous anger of God

for the scriptures say, I will take revenge.

I will pay them back, says the Lord.

God, how do you want me to pray in these next few days?

How do you want me to pray in the next few weeks, guys?

And hear my heart.

It's not about just praying the next few days

and the next few weeks.

We need to be a church that prays.

Not when things get dark.

Not when things get stirred up.

We need to just be a house of prayer

that prays consistently so that when things

like this happen, we're already prayed up.

We're already ready.

We already realize that we're on the victorious side

of history.

You need to realize that you're victorious in Christ.

The enemy cannot take away how this finishes.

It is finished.

Jesus already declared that it is finished.

And I promise you, yes, he came and humbled himself

and he was a carpenter.

He ain't coming back as a carpenter

when he does come back.

We need to pray that if there's anyone

who doesn't have eyes to see,

God, would you give them eyes to see?

God, would you give them ears to hear?

Let your heart be heavy for the lost

and that God, you would awaken up

this intercession thing in me like never before.

It's not just for intercessors to pray.

You're called to pray.

Husbands, you're called to lead your households.

You're called to be the spiritual authority in your home.

Well, Pastor Matt, that's hard for me

because I've never done it.

Start today, figure it out.

Read the Bible.

I don't know where to start.

Read the Gospel of John.

Fall in love with Jesus.

Fall in love with who he is.

And just read it.

I don't know where to start.

Pick it up.

Open it.

Open it.

Get a translation that you understand.

Use the internet for good things.

Google search, Lord, what does this mean?

Don't say Lord, what does this mean?

Google is not Lord.

The Lord is Lord, but we can use things like Google

to help us.

What does this verse mean?

Could you give me different parallels?

Could you show me what this verse means

in this translation and compare the two?

Get hungry.

Our nation right now, it's not optional.

This is essential for you to be the one

that carries the hope.

Because we can't look to outside circumstances for hope.

Hope is an internal work.

Hope found you.

Hope lives within you.

You go to a situation in a place that feels hopeless.

Begin to just pray and say, God, I just,

man, I can't deny the hopelessness

that I feel right now.

I can feel the heaviness of what's going on,

but Lord, I thank you that you are the God of hope

and that you live inside of me

and I have access to your hope, God,

so would you show me the things to say?

Would you teach me the things to pray?

Would you wake me up?

How many of you have been woken up

these last couple nights?

You just woke up, you don't know why you're up.

Pray.

Pray, look at it as an opportunity.

Don't just quickly hit that snooze button

or look at your clock and go, wow, thank God,

I have a few more hours of sleep.

Maybe God is trying to wake your soul

to partner with him in prayer in that moment

and shift something that's going on in the atmosphere.

Amen?

I believe that love is sacrificial.

First John, chapter three, verse 16.

We know what real love is because Jesus

gave up his life for us.

So we also ought to give up our lives

for our brothers and sisters.

Guys, mourn, but celebrate.

Charlie Kirk is more alive today than he's ever been.

There's no question about that.

There's no question of where he's at.

You can see the message that his life preached.

What message is your life preaching?

The last thing I want as a pastor

is to be asked to do a funeral

and not know where that person stood with the Lord

because I refuse to just say things that are comfortable.

I refuse to say things like, well,

it's better that they're in a better place.

Are they?

Heaven and hell are real.

We can't debate that.

That's not up for debate.

There's consequences to our actions.

And Jesus is saying, I love you.

Would you receive my love into your life?

Those of you that are in this church

that are listening to me right here, right now,

watching online, stop playing games with Jesus.

Surrender your life to him.

When we read, depart from me, I never knew you,

these weren't atheists.

These are people that are healing the sick,

raising the dead, casting out demons.

But yet, depart from me, I never knew you.

I am such a good God that I can work who and through

whoever I want, but that was not you doing that,

that was me.

And we never knew each other.

So if that's how we read that verse,

we better know God.

We better know without a shadow of a doubt

that he knows us.

So that the only thing we hear on that day is well done.

Good and faithful servant.

Come, receive your inheritance.

But we can't be in habitual sin

and think we're in a good place with the Lord.

We can't be in constant sin cycles

where we keep finding ourselves back at the same thing,

at the same thing, at the same thing,

at the same thing, only you can look in the mirror

and deal with those things.

Humble yourself, it says turn from your wicked ways,

it doesn't say the nations turn from their wicked ways.

Turn from your wicked ways.

It says if my people would humble themselves

and turn away from their wicked ways,

I will hear their prayers and heal their land.

That tells me that it's possible to be in the church,

have a relationship with Jesus,

and still be doing wicked things.

So humility looks like I'm not Jesus Christ,

I mess up from time to time, I'm not perfect,

I'm being perfected in Christ,

I'm being sanctified, I'm on the potter's wheel,

I'm never gonna be the potter, I'm always the clay.

Sanctify me Lord, smooth out areas of my life

that I don't even realize are there.

Why am I getting offended when that person says this?

Why am I getting offended when that person says that?

I don't want that in my life, God.

What is that?

Turning from wicked ways.

And what does it look like if all of us do that?

He hears our prayers and he heals our land.

We can do this, you can do this.

Sometimes the Lord allows me to see different perspectives,

I feel like there's husbands in the room that are like,

I wanna be the man of God to lead my family,

I don't know what that looks like and I'm scared.

Humble yourself, have that conversation

with your heavenly Father that says,

look, I wanna do this but I don't know how,

where do I begin, where do I start?

I want to do this Lord, you can do this.

You can be the husband that you wanna be.

You can be the father that you wanna be.

Mother, you can be the mother you wanna be.

You can be the wife you wanna be.

You can be the parent you wanna be.

But it's all about you dying to yourself and going low.

Parents, if you've missed it before,

humble yourselves and come back to your children

and say, I missed it, forgive me.

Forgive me, I've allowed you to do

whatever you wanna do for the last 10 years

but guess what, enough's enough.

We can't live like that anymore.

We're not gonna have this much screen time anymore.

Oh, we don't know what my kid would do, I don't care.

I love you.

I do, I love you but are your kids ruling your home

or are you?

I don't wanna go to church, I don't care.

But for your kids to be in church, guess what,

you need to be in church.

I love you.

I love you so much that I want you to become

all that you're called to be in Christ.

And this is a wake up call for the bride.

I want the Lord to come back for a spotless bride,

for a church that looks like a bride.

For a church that looks holy,

for a church that looks pure,

for a church that sounds holy,

for worship to sound holy.

That we're coming to church to worship him,

not for a certain set.

And if the set doesn't look a certain way

or sound a certain way,

I'm not gonna be interested and I'm gonna remove myself

from the congregation.

That's not biblical.

It's not about preference, it's about the prince.

I love you.

But if we wanna go where we're called to go in Christ,

it's gonna cost us.

Salvation's free, discipleship will cost you everything.

If you wanna be like Jesus,

if you wanna be a man of God,

if you wanna be a woman of God, salvation's free.

But if you wanna live this out day by day by day by day,

it's gonna cost you looking in the mirror

and dying to yourself on a daily basis,

picking up your cross and following him.

God, I'm willing to die to myself.

I'm willing to say the hard things.

I'm saying some hard things,

but this isn't as hard as it can get.

We have the answer.

Jesus is the answer, church.

Can we get excited and know that Jesus is the answer

to our nation's problem?

Can you get excited about that?

Can we celebrate right now that Jesus is the answer?

This is a wake-up call, and it's such an honor.

The Lord looked at history and said,

I trust the Ebys to be alive for such a time as this.

I trust Tyler Wagner to be alive

for such a time as this.

I trust Bella Hartlob to be alive for such a time as this.

I trust Uriah Smith to be alive for such a time as this.

And if you believe that,

you look at this circumstance differently

and know God that are online saying crazy stuff.

And guess what?

Every decision, we can't be preached to them.

Faith comes by hearing the word of God.

So if they're here and the word of God is being preached,

faith is increasing.

We're giving God an opportunity

to move in that person's heart.

Love you so much.

And I know that I'm not the only one

that's felt heavy these last few days.

The best thing you can do

is give your life fully to Jesus.

Oh, I'll do it tomorrow.

I'll do it next week.

You're not promised that, unfortunately.

I'm gonna ask us to just stand.

Holy Spirit, I thank you for your presence

that's in this room.

I want us to just kind of bow our heads.

Get with Jesus.

I don't think you have to close your eyes.

I don't like to get too systematic,

but I just want your eyes on Jesus in this moment.

And I'm just gonna pray, I'm gonna ask the Holy Spirit

to reveal himself to you like never before.

If you're here and fear has gripped your heart

over the last few days,

I'm here to tell you that perfect love

casts out all fear.

So right now, I release perfect love into this room,

onto our online audience.

And God, I thank you for fear being removed in Jesus' name.

God, I thank you for everyone here

hearing my voice this morning.

And if their heart is thumping out of their chest

right now, and they're asking themselves,

man, have I been playing games with Jesus?

Or am I a son of God?

Am I a daughter of the Lord

that maybe just got a little sidetracked?

It's two different scenarios.

If you've been in a season

where you've back slid and slide back,

just as easy it was to slide away,

it's just as easy to slide back.

But if your heart is just thumping out of your chest

and you don't know what to do,

the best thing for you to do is give your life to Jesus.

If there's anyone in the room right now that feels that,

I'm gonna ask you just to look at me,

just wave your hand at me, just man,

I don't know, something's shifting in my heart.

I don't know what's going on.

If there's anyone in here, I see that hand, sir.

Right now, this is a moment for you

not to just repeat a religious prayer,

but between you and the Lord right now,

just say, God, I give you my life.

God, I know I'm not promised tomorrow.

Jesus, I believe that you came, you died for me.

You were buried for me, and then you rose again.

I wanna give you my life today.

I surrender my life to you.

And Holy Spirit, I invite you into my life.

Amen.

You know what just happened?

You became a new creation.

The old is past, the new is come.

I celebrate that.

I celebrate that.

I have amazing volunteers

that are at that Freedom Banner every week,

and if that was you and you gave your life to Jesus,

I'm gonna encourage you to make your way

to that Freedom Banner before you leave,

because those gentlemen will pray for you,

they'll make sure you have a Bible,

they'll encourage you.

But if you're in this room and you're like,

something has awakened in me,

I feel more bold than I was last week,

and I wanna continue to live this life bold,

I want you to put your hand up right where you are.

Put your hand up high, don't be ashamed about it.

And I want you to come forward.

I want you to actually come forward,

do something that's not comfortable,

because that's not comfortable.

Staying where you are is.

I love this, some of my prayer team,

you're already up here, you're responding,

that's fine, you can respond, staff can respond.

Every son or daughter can respond to boldness,

because I don't know about you,

but I wanna be more bold.

I wanna preach more bold,

I wanna preach to more people in the grocery store,

I wanna love on people more at the gas stations.

Lord, I see this, and I see, look at this,

the Lord can 100% transform our region with all of you.

I want you to look to him, whatever that means to you.

If you wanna look up, look up,

if you just wanna close your eyes, close your eyes.

But God, I thank you for this army that is rising up.

God, I thank you that we have a heart that says,

send me, I'll go, send me,

I'll say the uncomfortable thing.

God, send me, send me into the dark areas, God.

Give me the words to speak.

God, I only wanna say what you're saying,

I only wanna do what you're doing,

but God, I just thank you for boldness, God.

Let me be inspired by what is taking place, God.

Let me be a part of making this work together

for your good, God.

So Lord, I just thank you for supernatural boldness.

I think one of the best things you can do

when you yourself is receiving prayer

is immediately give it away.

So I want you to find somebody,

I want you to put your hand on their shoulder,

and as much boldness as you want,

I want you to release boldness on the person next to you,

the person to your left, the person to your right.

God, would you make them bold?

God, would you use them?

God, would you fill their mouth with your words, God?

Would they say what you're saying?

Would they do what you are doing?

God, we just thank you for a supernatural boldness

to arise like never before, God.

We would pray for our enemies

and those who persecute us, Lord,

that you would open up the eyes of our enemies

to who they are and their created value.

Lord, I just, I thank you

for every individual in this room, Lord.

And God, we just say have your way, have your way.

I just hear the Lord saying, you can trust me.

You can trust me.

Make that personal, whatever you're going through right now,

you can trust me.

I know what I'm doing.

So God, I ask that you would bless this church,

that you would bless this congregation.

God, you would begin to work on the hearts

of individuals that aren't even here yet.

People that you are wooing into the kingdom of God,

the lost of Hanover, the lost of New Oxford,

the lost of East Berlin, the lost of Littlestown,

the lost of McSherrystown, God,

the lost of Spring Grove.

You would woo them in,

you begin to speak to their hearts, God.

You would draw them to yourself, God.

And God, let us be your hands and feet.

But he can't use our hands and feet

if he doesn't have our hearts.

So God, would you have our hearts?

Don't give us a better heart, give us a brand new one.

He doesn't make old things better.

He makes old things new.

So God, have your way in Jesus' name, amen.

Let's just celebrate the Lord one more time,

just together, just because we can.

I love you guys so much.

Please hug a few people on your way out.

If you wanna stay for our second service,

you're more than welcome to hug a few people.

God is moving in our midst, I promise you.

Keep your eyes on him, amen.

Thanks for listening to the Harvest Chapel PA podcast.

We hope this message encouraged you

and drew you closer to Jesus.

To stay connected, visit us at HarvestChapelPA.com

or follow us on social media at Harvest Chapel PA.

We can't wait to be with you again next week.