Pastor Stan Mons
Sermon Transcription:
Lord God, we come before you, and we bless your Holy Name. We thank you, Lord God, for all that you have given us. We thank you, Lord God, for all that you have provided richly in your son. We thank you, Lord God, for all that you provided for us in the blood of Jesus Christ. Lord God, we bless you. Lord God, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, and we ask you, Lord God, to go before us one more time. Lord God, you have promised that in the last days, your spirit will come and convict the world of sin, righteousness that can only be found in Christ, and judgment. Lord God, we cannot spend our lives after we've received your mercy on what we please, but we must stand before you, receiving a good report for eternity.
Lord God, I pray that you send forth your spirit as we've seen you do in the last weeks. Lord God, I pray that you send forth your spirit to do what only you can do. Lord God, I pray that one more time you glorify the cross in the name of Jesus Christ by the ministry of your spirit. Lord, I pray that the eyes of the hearts, both online and in person, may be opened, Lord God, by the Divine hand of God one more time. Lord, let true praise and worship be found in your house, and may your house be called a house of prayer, Lord God, a house of prayer that cannot be quiet, cannot be held back, because you have done, Lord God, what only you can do in your people. Lord, I pray that you glorify yourself, that you magnify yourself. Lord Jesus Christ, go before us. I pray by your Holy Spirit and do what only you can do. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen, amen, hallelujah.
I'm going to ask my wife to join me. For the last weeks, we've been traveling; we've been in four different countries. In four different countries, we've been very privileged to share the gospel of the Living God, and every single time, the Holy Spirit showed up in incredibly significant ways. We saw people physically healed in the services. We saw many hearts healed in very miraculous ways in the services, in ways that people broke out in praise and worship, as the old ones used to say in Jubilee. We saw so many people transformed, sometimes just during the word coming forth, many times during my wife praying over people or me praying over people. We saw many people filled with the baptism of the spirit of God, with the instant evidence of change, and in some cases, they also operated in various giftings instantly. But there was no one who felt they were missing out; every single person was being touched by the spirit, and in every single service, the Holy Spirit was moving in mighty ways.
I want to ask you if you would share one of your favorite moments of what the Holy Spirit did, what we got to be witnesses of. Well, I have a few, but I'll share one. I shared this last week actually; if you were here, you get to hear it again. But in our, I think our second meeting, it was a Saturday. Pastor was sharing about hindrances that are in the way for the Holy Spirit to enter and do his work. One of them was, you know, whatever is on the inside—anger, resentment, whatever it is—those things are a blockage for the Holy Spirit to come and enter into your heart and do his work. And as he was finished speaking, he just said, "Hey, partner up with people to pray for." I went to pray for this lady; she had a little girl. I just kind of went to her and started talking, and she said, "I just feel so angry. I feel so angry. I don't know how to explain it, but I just feel so angry, like I'm filled with anger, and I don't like that." Her English was very broken, but she did a great job explaining just the simplicity of what she was feeling on the inside. She said, "I don't want it. I don't want this in my heart. I don't want it. I really want to let it go. Can you pray for me?" I said, "Absolutely." I just put my hand around her and started crying for her, like I could feel her pain. That's how I can only explain it. I prayed for her, and I just, you know, covered her and said, "If you give it to Jesus, you know, he can do such a great thing in your heart." It was super simple; I didn't say any complicated words or anything. I just said, "If you give it to Jesus." She said, "I want to." The next day, she came back; her face was so bright, and she was just smiling ear to ear. She came to me and said, "I have to tell you something." I said, "What is it?" She said, "I had this rock fall off my chest. I feel so light. I don't know how to explain it to you, but all I can say is I feel so much different. I feel so much lighter. A rock has been lifted off my chest." I said, "That's Jesus. You let him into your heart; you gave him your anger and everything inside of you that you couldn't put a word to, but he took that all away because you were so willing." She was just so happy. The next day, I was sitting there, just crying, because I'm like, "There's no—you know, it's only the Holy Spirit who can do this overnight." She came back so changed, so happy, so rejoicing, hugging her little girl, and she said, "I'm just so happy today." I'm crying because only the Lord can do something like that. So that was my favorite story that took place in just one day. Amen.
I think one of my favorite ones also has to do with unforgiveness. You may be here today and think you've been through some stuff. We saw people walk into freedom and receive the giftings of the Holy Spirit just after forgiving people. That was the only hindrance in their life. One lady, a single mom, her former husband had stolen the kids, taken them out of the house. Then later on, he had come back and shot her. She recovered, eventually got the kids back. We're talking about going through some stuff. He had spread gossip around her in the entire area, trying to destroy her reputation because he had so much hate towards this woman and such a desire to have all the influence over the kids. She was in the service, and she forgave, and instantly experienced the Holy Spirit, the filling with the spirit, and a changed life. The next day—I'm going to cry—the next day, her mother shows up in the service, and she says, "I need whatever my daughter got. I need to forgive. I need to be free, and I need to be changed the way my daughter has been changed." We prayed with her right there. Amen, amen. That's just a few of the stories of the things you've missed, church. But most of all, we have really missed you guys. We found such a renewed appreciation for what the Lord has given us here in one another, and the joy that you have, and the willingness you have to put all meekness aside and praise Jesus for what he's worthy to receive from our mouths and from the sounds of our joy. Amen. Let's give him a hand clap of glory. Glory to the name of Jesus Christ, glory to your name, Father.
We're going to get into the word today. It's been a while since I've had the privilege of sharing with you what the Lord has put on my heart, so I'm very happy to be home. I was homesick about day three into the trip, and I was so grateful because many of you, I probably told you that I'm going to visit home, going to the Netherlands. I'm here to tell you it's no longer home. The Lord really placed Portland, Oregon, in my heart in a greater way, a way that I've always asked him to do it. I knew that he'd been doing it a little bit, but after about two or three days, I began complaining to my wife—don't do that, husbands—but I did it, and I started telling her, "I miss home. I miss the people. I miss what God is doing in our church." And don't misunderstand, the Lord had sent us on a mandate; he had told us to go. Many moments it looked like things were not going to turn out. I didn't share with anyone other than my wife that the Lord had told us to go to especially minister in the conferences in Finland. Most moments, up until very, very short before the trip, it looked like nothing would turn out. I just waited and waited, and then eventually everything fell into place, and we saw the Holy Spirit do things you really wouldn't expect him to do. The people in Finland, again, are very calm, collected, distant, and put-together people. But because of the humility of their heart, the Holy Spirit was so free to move in every single way the Holy Spirit sought to move. I haven't seen that in many churches, and one of the greatest reasons is the pride of the heart.
We had elders, probably in their 60s or 70s, flee—literally flee—to the altar to go and pray, with Inna confessing all of the garbage in their life and asking for prayer. Every church we went to, the pastors, way older and more experienced than I am, would run to me and begin to confess everything that's in their life and ask for prayer. Every single place we went, it was the same attitude, the same heart, the same humility, and we saw the Holy Spirit freely give the baptism and freely give miracles everywhere we went. So often we see that missing in churches, and we wonder if God is not willing, what is going on, why is that not happening? I believe with all my heart that 90% of the time it is because of the pride in the heart. That's what the word says: God resists the proud and gives grace—undeserved gifts, that's the definition of grace—undeserved gifts to the humble. If you struggle and say, "I've never received the baptism with the spirit, or I've received some kind of baptism, but I don't know if it was of the Holy Spirit because I may speak in tongues but I don't see any of the giftings," any spirit can teach you to speak in tongues. That's why it's not proof; that's why it's only evidence. But the evidence that you have been filled with the spirit of the living God is change that you could never bring into your life, yet you put in zero effort. God did it inside of you and is now demonstrating through you what he's able to do with someone like you. That's proof that the spirit has filled someone like you. There will be giftings, sometimes one, sometimes two, sometimes many, sometimes you feel like there's none for a little bit, but there will always be change. It will never be absent; it will always be undeniable and powerful.
We're going to talk about something that only the Holy Spirit can show you, and it does a very powerful thing in the lives of the believer. The title of this word is "Standing When No One Can." I want to invite you, if you are with us online today, to receive that word and to let us know. Send us a message through the website if God has spoken to your heart. If you have a praise report to share, we'd love to rejoice with you. You are a valued part of this church. We have a very faithful online congregation, if you want to call it that, that is always a part of what the Lord is doing here, always following along with what the Lord is doing in this place. We pray for you, we love you, and we invite you to let us know what God is doing in your life. We'd love to give the Lord thanks together with you.
The first verse we're going to go into is Psalms 144:1, a Psalm of David "Blessed be the Lord my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle." This is an incredibly important statement of blessing God: "Blessed be the Lord my rock." This is someone who has gotten to know God for himself, someone who has decided, "I am from here on out going to use my voice to bless my Lord, to be a voice in this generation that becomes loud and sounds forth for the devil to hear, for every demon to hear, and every person to hear that has known me or still has yet to know me, that I am a man, I am a woman who blesses the Lord because he has become my rock. My life is founded on him. He has given stability, if you will, to my life. He has given a foundation to my life that nothing else could give to me. He is the Lord my rock, and I choose to bless him."
That's not the only thing that David does right here. He makes a statement of understanding who this God actually is: "Yes, my God, my rock," but then he says, "This is the God who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle." David is saying, "The God who made all things, the God who has all victory, the God who has never lost a battle is the God who trains me. My God is my personal trainer, and by the way, he's the God that never lost a battle, that has all power, all authority. He trains me in his ways; he trains me in his wisdom; he prepares me for war so that I am going to stand when no one else can stand. That's who my God is. That's what he's doing in my life—training my hands for war and my fingers for battle."
I've dabbled in boxing for quite a while in my life. I did it way more intensely before I got saved. David in the back, he tries to keep me in shape; we try to box once a week. I only dabbled in it a little bit, but I know a bit about boxing. There are great names—I won't give them any advertisement today—but there are great names in boxing that will be remembered or that are being remembered by history because of their ability to win a battle in the boxing ring, their ability to knock out very quickly or their ability to make boxing into a dancing sport but still take out their opponent time and time again. Now, I don't want you to think that I necessarily support people getting paid for beating other people to a pulp, but I do learn a very important lesson from the sport of boxing: You do not ever step into the ring with someone who has a great trainer. You never step into the ring with someone who has a trainer that is greater than yours.
We often remember, or history often remembers, the names of these boxers, but if you are in their circle, everybody knows who is whose trainer. Everybody knows who is willing to train them. They have to ask if a certain famous trainer with great ability is willing to train them. If a boxer finds that great trainer or favor with that great trainer who is willing to teach them everything they know and train them into, if you will, a weapon that will pay out, you're not that eager to step into the ring with that person. Really, that is the kind of attitude, that is the kind of message that David brings right there in that verse. He says, "God Almighty is my trainer. Who's yours? Who's going to step into the ring with someone like me? Everybody be afraid because I know who trains my hands for battle, my fingers to fight."
The question for you and me today is, do you, do I, have the blessing and the declaration in our voices from day to day like David did, but towards our enemy, towards the armies of darkness, towards the kingdom of darkness? Do we have that understanding, that confidence, that attitude towards our enemy today, and all of his resources, all of his power that says, "Listen, I know who trains my hands. I know who prepares my fingers to battle. I know who my trainer is. Listen, this fight is set. There is no way anyone else has a trainer that comes anywhere close to the one who takes time to teach me and get me ready for my battles."
Church, we see so many places of worship that are terrified of the enemy and his abilities. So many people are afraid to attack the enemy in their prayer life, to address him, and to let him know, "I'm coming for you. I'm coming for every person you've deceived. I'm coming for every person that you have kept stuck in their sins. I know who my trainer is. I know who's getting me ready. I know who gave me the authority. I know who gave me his name to pray in. Enemy, you are over because you have no training compared to mine. You have no resources compared to mine." So many churches and so many people have been so broken down by the enemy, by his lies, by what he claims to be able to do. So many people have a broken spirit; the fight is out of their heart, the confidence is out of their life. They won't say it, but if you watch their life, you can clearly see there was a time they were eager to go to prayer, eager to go into the word because they knew someone is training me, someone is getting me ready, and there's going to be a victory I'm going to see that is going to take place today. It may be in someone else's life, but I'm going to be used in it. The enemy is going to be put away out of someone's life. I know who's getting me ready, and I'm anticipating the next battle.
There are so many people whose spirit has been broken. They still love Jesus; they still believe in him, but they're not living as if they're being trained and being trained by the greatest trainer of all time so that any time he sends you into a battle, you come out with somebody that was set free out of their shackles, out of their darkness, out of their pain, and you come running back to him with the victory of Christ over another person's life. There are so many people who have lost that. The enemy seeks to rob that confidence.
1 Timothy 1:18-19 says this: "This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck."
Paul allows us to see something very important here, something that allows us to understand a little bit better what the attack of the enemy on our life really looks like. He exposes, in measure, the way that the enemy seeks to attack. He explains that faith is kind of like a ship, like a boat that has been designed and built to float and to withstand the waves and the sea. It has the ability to sink, but it was made to conquer; it was made to float. The enemy's waves will come down on that ship of faith in our life, but the enemy's waves don't come to shipwreck it in your reputation. The enemy is not trying to shipwreck your reputation. Those waves don't come down on your life to shipwreck your holiness and the way you're able to maintain holiness in your life. He's not trying to shipwreck your faithfulness or your prayer life, the way you're able to be consistent in prayer. The enemy is not trying to shipwreck it. The enemy is not even trying to shipwreck the way you go into this word. The enemy is not trying to beat on your life with waves to make you and form you and shape you slowly but surely into an exceedingly sinful man or sinful woman. The enemy is seeking to shipwreck your faith. The enemy is seeking to beat on the ship of your life so hard and so long that you would no longer believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that by His blood all sins have been washed away. He seeks to move your faith. He seeks to make you skeptical about how God views you now that you've struggled for so long with this one specific sin. He seeks to challenge you and challenge you to believe that God is growing tired of forgiving you for the same thing over and over and over again. He seeks to make you believe that God is growing skeptical of your repentance. If your repentance was real, wouldn't you have changed your ways by now? God is going to see you come again for the same thing. He seeks to convince you that the blood of Jesus Christ has not washed away all sin when He was crucified on Calvary Hill. He seeks to convince you, the devil seeks to convince you, that God still sees your sin and that you should see it too and acknowledge it before God and acknowledge it before people.
1 Peter 5:8-10 reads this: "Be sober," that means be self-controlled. That's what Peter says: be self-controlled, be in control over your life. Give God all control, but don't let life run you. Have self-control. Don't allow anything to make you busy. Take control, because you've been set free, you've been delivered, you're no longer in bondage. Take control, apply self-control so that you're never too busy. Your attention can be on the things of God. Your focus can be on what God is seeking to do in you and through you. Take control of all of those things that are seeking to come against you. Peter's saying this: be sober. And then he says, "Be vigilant," which means be watchful. In other words, pay attention, keep your attention in the right place. Stay watchful, don't allow anything to become a distraction to you. Stay sober, stay vigilant, because your adversary, your enemy, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Now, many of you, you may have heard or even read this verse many times before in your life. It's a very famous verse. The enemy goes around as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. I want you to pay attention. It is Peter who wrote this. It is incredibly important that we understand that Peter wrote this. In a very short moment, you're going to understand why it is so important that it was Peter. Now, verse 9: "Resist him," resist the devil. "Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world." Resist him. How do we resist him? Be steadfast in what you believe about the cross. Every single time the enemy comes knocking on your door, in whatever shape, in whatever way, he's always challenging what you believe about the cross. Is it really finished? Is it really forgiven? Are you really favored? Are you really, really perfected? Are you really beautiful in the sight of God? Does God really dance over you with singing? Is God really pleased with you? Is He really for you? Is He really going to speak to you? Does He really have a plan for you? Is He proud of you as a father? Has the cross paid for it all? That is what the enemy will put on trial time and time again. Peter says this is how you resist him: be steadfast in what you believe about the cross. Don't let anything shake it, don't let anything waver it: your own sin, your mistakes, your shortcomings, whatever comes your way. Make up your mind and believe that the cross is always taller than your sin, always more finite than your sin. It is final. Whatever the cross has done is final.
And then he shifts. He shifts his language at this point and begins to talk about God, just like David did. Verse 10: "But may the God of all grace," the God that gives undeserved gifts, that is what grace means, "may the God of all undeserved gifts, may the God of all grace, who called us to eternal glory in Christ, by Christ, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you." Peter says, listen, may the God, by the way, He's the God of all grace. He's the God that gives undeserved gifts. If you don't deserve God's move today, you qualify for His giftings. He's the God of all grace who called us to His eternal glory. Just like David, Peter says this is what God is doing in my life. He called me to be a part of His eternal glory in Christ Jesus. This is what God is doing in my life. He's calling me to be part of His glory. He's not calling me to be defeated. He's not calling me to be overcome. He's not calling me to barely make it into the kingdom. He's not calling me to be a Sunday Christian and have no fruit for eternity. No, by Christ, after you've suffered for a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. Everything is going to play out. God is going to do it all.
Why could Peter say that? The Peter who wrote those words, "The devil goes around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." He said there's going to be suffering, but God will perfect you, establish you, strengthen you, and settle you. You're going to stand when no one else can stand. How could Peter say this? Let me read to you Matthew 16:15-18. Jesus speaking, He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." Who do you say I am? And are you saying it? Who do you say that Christ is in your life? And are you ever saying it? Do you ever bless Him the way David did and call God by the name of who He is in your life? God is my healer. When was the last time that you said in prayer, in public, with people, without people, "God, You are my healer. God, You are my Savior. God, You are my deliverer. God, You provide for me. I bless Your holy name. God, You train my hands and my fingers for war and battle. God, You prepare me. God, You deliver me. God, You made promises to me." Are you saying these things? Are you telling God who He is?
Who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And then Jesus says, "You are blessed. You have received undeserved gifts because nobody can know this unless my Father has shown it to their heart, revealed it to them." And then verse 18, Jesus speaking, "And I also say to you that you are Peter." That means a broken-off small piece of a rock. That's what, in the original text, the name Peter means. It is the kind of rock that, in the time of the Bible, as you were wearing sandals, it would be small enough to slip into your sandal and give you some very uncomfortable pain. This word is even used for anger sometimes, frustration, in the original language, because it refers to that small, annoying stone that is really good for nothing but can ruin your day. He says, "You are Peter, but on this rock," and that word rock means a massive stone, a mass of rock, "on this rock, this rock that the Father will reveal to people, that Jesus Christ has come, that the Messiah has come, that forgiveness has been given by Heaven, that a way has been made by the Father, that God does not require any work of humankind anymore, but that Jesus fulfilled all that the Father had put before Him, and then He Himself, Christ the Lord, declared openly to all the world, 'It is finished.' All that needed to be done is now finished. It is going to be freely given by the God who gives undeserved gifts to all who come to Him." And then He continues and says this: "On this I will build my church. On this rock that the Father reveals that the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, has come, He was the Messiah, He is alive." Says, "On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades, or the gates of Hell, shall not prevail against it."
Jesus told this to Peter. Jesus told Peter, "Peter, what God has shown to your heart, all of Hell is going to be poured out over your life. The gates of Hell will come against you. Whatever Hell has, it will throw it at you. It will open the gates to release whatever it can throw at your life. But Peter, what God has shown to your heart undeservingly, what God is giving to you because of the cross of Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter what you struggle with. It doesn't matter what the enemy throws at you. It doesn't matter what you go through in life. None of the gates, nothing the enemy has to offer, none of what he has, will ever be victorious over you. It will not prosper. It will not prevail against you, against my church." This church that God has been building ever since the beginning, on the Father showing to the heart, "Jesus has suffered and died in your place so that you would be forgiven. The Messiah has come." Ever since the beginning, God has built His church on that rock, that foundational truth that only God shows to the heart.
And His message to you and I today is: if that is what I've done in your heart, don't be afraid. Don't worry. Don't look at your own actions. Don't look at what Hell is offering you or raining down on you. It's not going to be victorious. It's not going to sweep you away. It's not going to overcome you and ruin you. Christ has always sought to instill confidence in His children. We see it in David's life. Somehow the Spirit had revealed to him, "It doesn't matter who comes to stand before you, because I'm training you. I'm getting you ready for the next battle. I see the battle ahead of you, and I'm preparing you." Peter said, "I know the devil's going around like a roaring lion, but hold on, church, because you're going to suffer for a while, but it's not going to get out of hand. God will establish you. He'll settle you. He'll give you peace. He is in control. It's not going to overcome you." Peter knew. Jesus had told him all of the gates of Hell will come, but it will not prevail. And later on in his life, as he writes these letters, he's telling the church, "Yes, the gates will be open. The devil goes around like a roaring lion, but God will establish you. He will keep you. He will protect you, and He will bring you home safely."
Church, the devil always seeks to make the church afraid, and he seeks to break the spirit of God's people, the heart, the desire to put up a fight, the desire to go out of your house and do some damage to the kingdom of darkness today. He always seeks to break that out of the people of God. And the devil has a message to the church. He's been whispering it. You may not be able to put it into words, but he's made you feel it. And the enemy has been trying to whisper over churches, "Listen, don't you see that you're losing the favor of government? Don't you see you're losing the favor of the people? Don't you see, as a Christian, you're beginning to lose the favor of the people on your job? You're beginning to lose the favor of your community? You're beginning to lose the favor of your generation? It's becoming an offensive thing to be saved by almighty God. Don't you see I am prevailing against you? You're going to survive maybe, but you will not be victorious. Your God is not ruling and reigning in this generation. I am. I'm prevailing against you. The sins that I prepare for you, you love them. You've fallen in love with those sins. The pride that is in your heart, it's growing, and you know it. You're terrified of it overtaking you because I'm prevailing over you. You're in love with money, and it's growing, and you don't know a way out, and you've fallen in love with it. You don't even want a way out anymore. I'm prevailing over you."
But Christ Jesus always has a message for His children, and it is as simple today as it was for Peter, who was about to head into every mistake he would ever make in life. This is what Christ says: "The gates of Hades, or Hell, will not prevail. The gates of Hell will not prevail in your life, in my life, because God has shown us that Messiah has come." God has shown that the battle has been set, the battle has been won, and He has given you the name of Jesus as a guarantee so that any time you run into anything that is impossible, you get to pray to God in the name of Jesus so that you may know that you have your request. You've been trained. You're being trained by the Spirit of the living God so that you may become a man or a woman that is full of confidence, a man or a woman that knows how that day is going to end because they know who's training them. They know who's on their side. They know, "I may suffer for a while, but God is going to keep His word. None of this hell stuff will prevail over my life. None of it will be victorious."
This is what Romans 8:38-39 says, Paul speaking again: "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come." In other words, things that still have to be invented. It doesn't matter what it is. It doesn't matter what kind of technology it is. It doesn't matter what it has to offer in the future. No, no matter what it is, "things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able, nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Do you see what the Spirit of God is willing to show to every child of God in every generation? David knew it. He said he wasn't arrogant, he was confident. He said, "I know who's training me. Good luck getting into a fight with me. I know who my trainer is." Peter said, "I know that the enemy's gates open and that he goes around, but I know who has the last say and who will bring us home."
Paul says, "I'm persuaded. Nothing exists, and will ever exist in the history of time, that is able to break away the love that God has for his people. There's no sin invented that will break the love of God away from his people. There's no weakness, no brokenness, no confusion that will ever be invented that will break away what the cross has done over the people of God. He says, 'I'm persuaded there's nothing that can do it.' I'm rejoicing, no matter the situation. That's what Paul taught us. No matter what comes, I can always rejoice because there's nothing, not in me, not in my actions, not in this world, that can undo what the cross has done for my life and is willing to do for the lives that I encounter today. I'm persuaded I'm going to stand when no one else can.
Church, the cross has brought you close to God. He's already done it. I hear people say it in every country we go, every time: 'I just need to get closer to the Lord.' Listen, you've believed something the devil's been whispering into your mind. The cross has brought you near to God. God has already done what you feel you are missing. And the enemy tries to convince you and I of things that he could still prevail in. The enemy tries to convince you that he can prevail in making you a sinner again. He tries to convince you that he can prevail in making you a failure again in the eyes of God, even though the cross says it is finished. It is all taken care of. 'I knew every mistake you would make. I purchased you anyway.' He loves you with an everlasting love. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I'm persuaded, church.
And the Holy Spirit is seeking to bring you to a place. He's seeking to do a work in your heart, a very simple work. You may not have that persuasion today. You may say, 'I don't have that confidence. I don't feel when I wake up in the morning I'm ready to take on the day because all of my heart simply sees, I know who's training me. I'm basically cheating. There is no trainer that ever comes close. I didn't even have to ask him; he picked me. It doesn't matter. I know all the dirty tricks and I know all the power and I know all the resources. No one stands a chance.' I'm kind of chuckling at the Devil because he can try whatever he wants. He can open the gates, come with all that may. Jesus already told me it's a fixed fight. He'll never prevail.
What I've deposited in your heart, it's over and he knows it. He's so upset, obsessed with you because he's so angry with you. He's so obsessed with what you received for free. You never had to work for it; you never have to do anything to keep it. And he is trying to just despise at you, to try and attack your faith. He's not trying to make you a sinner. So often we fight the sin. So often we fight to be more holy. So often we fight to keep our reputation as a good Christian. Listen, the devil's not trying to shipwreck any of those things. He's trying to shipwreck your faith, what you believe about the cross today for your own life. I am perfect before God. I could never be more perfect because of the Cross, not because my walk is perfect, not because I'm always able to live a sinless life like Jesus did. No, my Lord laid down his life, and he covered me with it so that I would always be perfect in the eyes of the Father as I learn to grow up as a child in the Kingdom. My Jesus gave me his name so I never ever have to bring with me any of my failures, any of my mistakes when I go to prayer. I bring his name, and I know the Father hears me when I pray because my Jesus gave me his name. Because of the cross, I will make it. Because of the cross, I am persuaded. If it is in your heart to say, 'Lord, I believe that your Holy Spirit wants me to be persuaded as well. Lord, I saw it in David's life. Lord, I saw it in Peter's life. Lord, I saw it in Paul's life. They all had quite a lot of famous mistakes. But I believe if you're willing to give it to them, I believe that your spirit is willing to make me into a man or woman that is fully persuaded.' If that is you, the Holy Spirit wants to give that to you today. I want to invite you to come and join me at the altar, and we can pray and worship together right here.
And if you are with us online and that is you, I want to invite you to pray with us, to bless the Lord as David did, to allow the Holy Spirit to give to you what these men had, fully persuaded, convinced, full of confidence because God is showing to their heart who He is, what He is doing. If that is you, if you are willing, please join me here at the altar so we can pray together. Whoever is willing for the Holy Spirit to do this work, hallelujah, hallelujah. Lord, we come before you, Lord, with those that are willing to let the Holy Spirit work in their heart. Lord, I pray that you reveal to the hearts, Lord, that you are the one who gives all blessing, authority, and power, all resources, Lord, for us to be a people that cannot be conquered by anything that hell can throw at it. Lord, I pray that we would be a people, Lord, as you provide, that never feel like a failure, that never feel defeated, Lord, but that feels and understands that God is training my hands for war, my hands and my fingers to battle, Lord God. I pray, Lord God, that every single person that is opening their heart to you, Lord God, online, Lord, may receive from you what Peter was able to see. Yes, the enemy goes around. Yes, we will suffer for a while, but God will establish, settle, and confirm you in the name of Jesus Christ. It will not get out of hand. We are going to make it. We are going to be kept. We are going to be delivered. We are going to have a song, and we are going to see a fruitful life produce everything that only God could do, for He has given us all things in Christ Jesus.
Lord God, you see every heart here, Lord, and every heart online that has said, 'I am willing for the Holy Spirit to do this in me. I'm willing to become persuaded.' By the Spirit of God, Father, I know, Lord God, that you honor the hearts that have decided to come forward. Lord, I know, Lord God, that you freely give of your Holy Spirit, as we've seen you do throughout the last weeks. Lord, every person that desires to receive the baptism with your Spirit, Lord God, I pray that you give them of your Spirit. I pray, Lord God, that you give them of your giftings. I pray, Lord God, that you glorify yourself and honor what the cross has accomplished. Lord God, as we simply make room in our lives and we say, "Lord, I am willing for your will to be done," in Jesus' name, we pray.
-Pastor Stan Mons