Unseen Realm Pt 6 // Gates of Hell

Discover the cosmic purpose behind the church and why Jesus chose the darkest spiritual location to announce his revolutionary plan. At Caesarea Philippi, an ancient pagan worship center, Jesus declared that his church would storm the gates of hell itself. This powerful message explores what it really means to be the church - not just attending services, but living as God's cosmic message to spiritual powers and authorities. Learn how supernatural unity, sacrificial service, and strategic positioning in dark places demonstrates God's kingdom power to a watching world. Understand why the church thrives best in spiritually contested environments and how every believer is equipped with divine armor to stand firm where God has placed them. Explore the deeper meaning of ecclesia as called out ones living under God's jurisdiction, and discover how genuine Christian community sends shockwaves through the spiritual realm. This teaching addresses common church hurts while revealing the redemptive purpose of Christian community. Find practical application for organizing your life around God's people and identifying where you're called to demonstrate kingdom power. Whether you're struggling with church disappointment, seeking deeper purpose, or wanting to understand your role in God's cosmic plan, this message provides biblical insight into the church's true mission.

This sermon was recorded at a Sunday morning gathering at Church of the Lookout in Longmont, Colorado.

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Transcript

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Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast. The Church of the Lookout is a bold color of a vision. Is Jesus abiding in his presence, growing in his family and living on his mission to transform the world with awe-inspiring love? Visit us online at thelookout.church. Hey, if you have your Bibles open up to Matthew chapter 16, that's where we're going to be today. Matthew chapter 16. And we're going to start in verse 13. If you're new with us today, we've been in this teaching series called Unseen Realm. And we're trying to give language and walk through the scriptures, walk through the Bible on some of the passages that are harder to understand about the things that are unseen in our world. We believe in life in the Spirit. And we believe that when God created the world, he didn't just create what we could see, but he created a whole host of unseen things. And part of the Christian life is learning to live, learning to live not only relating to what we see, but what we cannot see and understanding how all those things work together. You can go back and listen to a lot of those messages online on our website. All the messages are on YouTube and on podcasts, the whole thing. But I'm going to read a passage to get us started today. We're going to read a lot of scripture today. Sometimes it's just good to bask in the scriptures. There's something about, it's almost like when we hear the word of God, there's a passage in Ephesians that talks about being washed in the water of the word. And when we give ourselves to the scripture, it's like God, He cleanses us and purifies us from the inside out. You guys know that? Just reading the Word for us is transformative. So we're going to do a lot of that today. And I'm going to try to give some language to the beauty of the church today, but let's enter into this together. This is Matthew chapter 16, starting in verse 13. Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say the Son of Man is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. And he said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter. And on this rock I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Come on. What a passage. So Jesus is with his disciples, and they're coming into an area called Caesarea Philippi, and he he starts off this scene by asking them a question, who do you say that I am? And they tell Jesus about what the people are saying, and so but Jesus turns it personally. He looks back at Peter. He says, I that's great that that's what they say that I am, but I want to know who do you say that I am? What is your confession of who I am? And he said, You are the Christ. And we see this beautiful exchange where Jesus declares back to Peter, and you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. Now, this passage, if you read this before, there's a lot of kind of takes on what Jesus is talking about here. What is the church? Is he talking about Peter being the rock on which he was built his church? Our Catholic brothers and friends would go that direction, right? That Peter would become the first Pope. But some say, no, it's not Peter, it's his confession. Anybody who confesses Jesus, that's what he builds his church on. So it's Peter's confession. Others say that. And still others say, no, no, no, no. It's not any of that. Jesus is saying, this rock, it's me. I'm the rock. I'm going to build the church on myself. I'm the cornerstone of the church, right? Upon this rock, I will build my church. There's so many lays to that, and truthfully, they're probably all true. But bottom line is this Jesus builds his church, and it is his church. Can I get an amen? It's nobody else's church. So no matter what way you take this passage, what is Jesus building? Who's the rock? Jesus is building his own church. All right? And that's you and I. And on the first read, what's what's really interesting in this passage is on the first reading, I've always read this as more of a poetic thing on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And all good Pentecostal charismatic Christians, we get riled up about this one because it's so true that hell itself cannot prevail against Jesus. But but there's so much more to this, even in the geography, the context of what he's saying. See, they were in Caesarea Philippi. And he chose at Caesarea Philippi to talk about his church and to talk about, to use this phrase gates of hell. You have to understand that in Caesarea Philippi, from Old Testament to New Testament, this was the site of an ancient pagan worship to Baal, to Pan, to Zeus, right? And there was this belief that there's a cave here in Caesarea Philippi called the gates of Hades, the underworld, the realm of the dead. And this is what it looked like. And it was kind of a larger area, and there was a grotto here that said that the spirits would come up through the waters and through the cave, and there was kind of this portal to the underworld, to the place of Hades. So he's standing on this rock with his disciples, the center of pagan worship and fascination with death, which was a focus of a lot of demonic activity. And at this actual location, he was claiming that the church he was building would be built in places such as this, that despite the pressure to conform to the ways of the world, Jesus is saying that no matter where his church would be, his church would thrive. That the church itself can be built on the gates of hell, and the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. That's a good one, guys. There's a lot of good scriptures. That's a really good one. And some of you have maybe heard this analogy before that when we talk about the gates of hell not prevailing, gates are not an offensive material. They're defensive, they're about keeping you out, which basically means that Jesus is uh Jesus' invitation, his hope, his desire, his vision for his church would not be that we are ones who are always on the defense trying to keep the bad out, but we'd be the one on the offense, finding anywhere where there are gates to hell, and we go there to open them up to release the prisoners from captivity, to release the prisoners from darkness, because that is the nature of the church, not to be on defense, but to be on offense all the days of our life. Come on. So this is Jesus inviting his disciples into a new vision of if you want to know where I'm at work, go find my church. And I'm gonna be sending my church to the most unlikely places all around the world. In the place where darkness reigns, what is God's plan? His plan is to raise up a people, a church, strategically in contested spiritual places all around the world. Do you understand that's where we're at our best? So when I say the word church, just to clarify, just to make sure that we're all on the same page, Jesus did not say, I will build my 501c3, and the gates of hell will not prevail against that nonprofit entity, right? Jesus didn't stand on this rock and say, I'm gonna build a sick facility right here. And that's gonna be proof to the world that man, this is we got the goods, right? He didn't say that. He didn't he didn't stand on this rock and say, and upon this rock, I'm gonna make America great again. Some of you are nervous on that one. Should I laugh at that one? No, you could say, but but it's truth. Um, all of those things, maybe they're important, but listen, he said, he had a singular focus. He said, Upon this rock, I will build my church. This word church is this word ecclesia, which actually means called out ones. Upon this rock, I will build my called out ones. And it was this word ecclesia, it's really important to know that in Greek governance, it was a it was like a quorum. It was like a it was an assembly of people that met to set policy, to determine governments. Not to say that the church is a political movement, but a people who live to bring the jurisdiction of the kingdom of God to the earth on which we live. That the kingdom of God has its own king, the kingdom of God has its own government, and he establishes his government on Christ, the Son of God, and then he invites us as emissaries of this kingdom to live under the jurisdiction of an unseen realm and the kingdom of God. Are you guys with me? So this whole idea of upon this rock I will build my ecclesia, this is the this is the, I believe, the sole obsession of the Apostle Paul. Well, maybe to put more clearly, his the Apostle Paul, as he would write, he was obsessed with Jesus, but along with his obsession and passion and zeal for the gospel was this vision of what it means to be the people of God and to live into this new reality on mission with Jesus for his purposes in the world. And so this whole one of the letters that Paul writes is a letter to a church in Ephesus. And I and when you read the letter to the Ephesians, it's Apostle Paul's best attempt to persuade his readers of the cosmic purpose of the church. When you read these six chapters, everything in it is loaded with, do you guys see what's happening? This is Apostle Paul. He's like, Do you guys, I'm gonna pray, I'm gonna use all of the energy that God has given me, all of the language he's given me to try to open this thing up for you, to shake you and try to convince you this is insane, what God is doing. And if you would just get it, it will change everything. It'll change every day of your life if you can see what God is building and what he's done in you and through us together. All right? So we're gonna read some of these passages. These are a little bit longer. I just want to invite you to meditate on these passages with me, and we're gonna talk through them and what that means for us here today. Okay. So, God, open your word today as we read through these passages. I thank you to convince us of what you're convinced of, which is your love for us and our part in your plan, God. So let's read Ephesians chapter 1, verse 17. I'm coming in part way through a prayer here. So it's gonna start here in verse 17. Paul's praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of the glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. According to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. Listen to this far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. That's interesting. And he put all things under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. I can't I can't imagine a reason we're not all on our feet right now, shouting and screaming. Don't do it because I just told you to. But this is one of those passages like Paul's like, I what I'm talking about is so beyond comprehension. Paul has to start with, like, listen, I just actually need to pray that you you would actually have eyes, wisdom, and revelation to even see what's happening here. That Jesus is enthroned above all the powers, not only of this age, the powers, the rulers, kings and presidents and kingdoms and whoever. But also in this age and the one to come, meaning there's rulers and powers in heavenly places. We've talked about that in other weeks. The Elohim of the gods of the age. That he's seated above all of them. The Elohim of Elohims. He's like, I pray that you have eyes to see that. You have strength to comprehend with all the saints the power towards you, right? And in a in a passage like this, it makes it just unbelievable that we've settled for this idea that church is a place we go to make our lives a little bit better for the week ahead. Now, now listen, if that's what happens to all of us, awesome. Okay? Fantastic. Some of us think that church is a place we come so we can be nicer people on earth, right? But Paul's saying, this is so much more than that. That God has seated us with him, that his power is working towards us and with us, and all things are now under his feet, and he has given himself as the head of the church, which is the body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. So we are the people of God abiding in the presence of God, living on the mission of God, in the power of God, all for the glory of God. Come on. It is not a place we come to get a little nicer for the week. This is the church. He's lit us on fire, given us his very spirit, he's given himself as the head, his mind, he has given us, so that we can live as a different kind of people on the earth. So when we see each other, listen to me, church, if you're if you're a thoroughbred church person like I am, when we see each other, when we walk in, the right response, we should be full of awe and wonder when we see each other. We should be full of awe and wonder that God would take a group like us and actually knit us together into a family that actually loves each other. This is a supernatural work of God. That that could actually happen. That was his plan from the beginning. I'm gonna do something so absurd. I'm gonna bring together the most unlikely people. You guys even know his disciples? These guys do not belong together. These 12 dudes do not belong together. I mean, they they couldn't be more opposite politically, socioeconomically. I mean, just everything. I mean, every and Jesus' like, listen, I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do something so absurd that it's gonna send a clear message that the power of God must work. I'm gonna pull these guys together, and then I'm gonna keep doing that, running that same play for all of time until everybody gets everybody pays attention and says, wow, the work of Jesus must be real. All right, and yet we have to acknowledge and even lament the fact that the church has become known for so many other things other than the fullness of Christ who lives all, who fills all in all. When people think about the church, do they think about wow, what a group of people, the fullness of Christ, he's filling them all in all completely. So we have to kind of own that historically, and even in this moment, and even for us, let's just be honest, this isn't about them out there, this is for us. We still have to deal with um, we have to own a history where the church of Jesus Christ globally and even here has been marked by scandal, abuse, lack of integrity, chasing political power and worldly influence, celebrity Christianity. And even for us, just we've it's so easy in the American Christianity to be to be known for a casual, comfortable, consumer lifestyle that we just bring into the church and adapt it and stick a little scripture on top of it. And there's so many things that I believe should be grievous to us that we should be like, oh my gosh, if this is your vision for the church, God, where have we come? The church has been known for ineffective, powerless preaching. Leonard Ravenhill said this. He said, the tragedy of this late hour is that we have too many dead men in the pulpits giving out too many dead sermons to too many dead people. And he wrote that in 1959, arguing that the real crisis of the church is not the hardness of the world, but the lifelessness of men who are preaching to it. So can we just let that settle for a second? We have to own that piece. Jesus has a vision for his church. And God help us. God help us, Holy Spirit, lead us into repentance for the what we've made the church to become, so many other things besides the fullness of God who fills all in all. But we also rejoice in the mercy of God, because even when we screw it up, he says, just come back in. Just come back in. I forgive you, just get back on track and just come back into what I'm doing. So that's why we're still here. If we were to, if this is about getting everything perfect, what we don't even have a reason to meet. But we're here because we're saying, God, we're we are imperfect, but we're gonna keep allowing you to raise the bar and raise our vision, elevate your vision to what he's doing on earth. And so in the book of Ephesians, he keeps going and he would go chapter by chapter, building on this theme. So in 1 Ephesians chapter 1, talking about the work of Christ and this cosmic purpose of him being head of the church and over all dominions and forces of darkness, but then he keeps going from there. In Ephesians chapter 2, starting in verse 13, I'll just read a small portion of a larger chapter, but he says, Now in Christ, you who are once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. And so in Ephesians 2, he starts, he starts really unpacking like, hey, listen, I'm doing something. Christ has done something, he's taking Jew and Gentile, he's broken down this dividing wall that separated the people of God from the world, and he's saying, No, no, no, that wall is now done. You guys are all coming in now, and this is part of what I'm doing to reconcile all of you together, and not just Jew and Gentile, but male and female, slave and servant, children and parents, poor and rich, every ethnicity, every skin color and race that no, no, all these things that historically divide us, those things are going crashing to the ground. They cannot stand in the presence of Christ because he's broken down in his flesh. That's why he died. He broke it down in his flesh, the dividing wall of hostility. And so the fruit of being a church is this un just the mark of a reconciling people. The fruit of the church is freedom and deliverance that lead to forgiveness and unity of the spirit as in itself a chief message of what he's doing. And it's so powerful and potent according to Paul that it's a message in and of itself. Alright? So here's where he goes in Ephesians chapter 3. Starting in verse 8. Chakatis. This one's a good one. Feel free to get excited. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this is Paul talking, by the way. To me, though I'm the very least of all the saints, the grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, check this out, so that through the church, everybody say, the church. Through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places. The manifold wisdom of God. Manifold is a kind of a weird word. It's just like this many. It's like a textile, it's like a fabric that is just layered, multifaceted, vibrant, robust. That the wisdom of God through this ragtabb group of people who don't belong together, but because of what I've done, now they're together and they're living a completely different life. Because of that, that in itself is a message, apparently, to rulers and authorities in heavenly places that the cross actually worked. It actually worked. How do we know it worked? Because see them together? See what's happening? We can't stop this. So all these rulers and authorities, these false gods, the gods of the age, the gods of the world that exist to draw attention, to draw worship, to lead us into destructive patterns, the whole thing. God's from from the moment where he called Abraham to himself, I'm calling to myself a people who will be marked by my name. And they're gonna give themselves faithfully to me. And even when they're not faithful, I'm gonna call them back anyways, I'm gonna make a way. And then forevermore, they will always be my people, and they at themselves as a people will be the message. Alright? So here's what we get from this the church is a living sign to the powers that their reign is ending. The church, this should be a living sign to powers and unseen forces that they've been given notice. They've been given an eviction notice. Their reign has an expiration date. And how do they know? Because they can see what God has done in us. The church is to be the sneak peek, the trailer for life in heaven. I love watching uh, you know, trying to find a movie as a family on Netflix or whatever. And we're always like, oh, let's watch the trailer. It's like a two-minute version of the full thing, and then we find out whether it's worth watching or not. It's all the best parts, all the highlight reels of that movie. Right? And they they found a way to get all the sweet spots of that movie into like two minutes so they can hook you. The church is meant to be a sneak peek. It's a trailer for a life in heaven. The life that we live together is meant to represent what's possible when we live into the kingdom of God together. Reconciliation, forgiveness, healing, sacrificial love, service, radical generosity, honoring each other, being hurt, and then being healed from the hurt. The so on and so forth. And that's, I think, a really important to know that God has given us a mission of things to do, but even more powerful than that is who we are. It's not that we are to go find something to resist, but we are in ourselves, the church is in itself a resistance against the powers of darkness in the world. So, how do we live into this though? Well, Paul keeps going. He tells us how do you actually do that? Okay, so if that's what's going on in the church, and apparently the church is supposed to be the giant bullhorn to the entire world, both thing it's seen and unseen about what God is doing for all of eternity. Okay, that's no small task. How do we actually live that out? Well, he keeps going. Ephesians chapter 4. If it's starting in verse 1, he says, I therefore a prisoner for the Lord. Okay, can I, a little break. The last passage he says, I, the least of all the saints. This is Paul talking, I'm the least of all the saints. Now he starts chapter 4. I'm a prisoner for the Lord. Like, wow, okay. That's a lot. He would regard himself a prisoner for the Lord. He says, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call. So what he's saying here, I'm sorry, let me keep going. I didn't I didn't finish. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father in all, who is over all and through all and in all. Come on. So he said, Listen, if you want to walk in a call worthy of the church, here's what I want you to do. I want to invite you to live in a unity that's actually substantial. It's marked by humility and gentleness with each other. It's patient and bearing with one another, each other and love. Eager to maintain unity. Eager, like motivated by a kind of unity that is not a surface level unity. How many of you guys know? There's a lot of surface level unity. You can get any 100 Yahoos in a room. Doesn't make them unified. Right? Just us being in a room doesn't make us unified. Do you guys you guys know that? There's a lot of unity movements around the world. There's even unity movements of the church. Let's just get everybody together. Unity is not just about getting people together to kind of surface level agree. Unity is about something happening in the spirit as we turn our attention to the Spirit of God. A.W. Tozer set out like this. He said, if you have a hundred pianos in a room that all try to tune to each other, it doesn't work. But when you get a tuning fork out, and each one of those a hundred start tuning to that fork, all of a sudden, not only are they tuned in unison to the fork, but now they're tuned together. You guys see that? It's a really good picture. So many of us try to get unity by just agreeing with each other on surface-level things about things. That's not actually profound. That's not supernatural. What's supernatural is when we're all tuning into the same spirit, and then out of that spirit, as we draw close to God, God draws us close together. That's unity. And that's what he's doing across the board, all around the world. That's what he does in this church. We are at our best when we're all listening to Jesus, the head of his church. Then out of obedience to him, now we're relating to each other because now we have the resources of heaven to do something supernatural in community. Come on, guys, this is good. It's when we all look to Jesus together. And that's why part of the way that we live powerfully as a church, as a message to the world, is to live in unity. That's why divisions in the world, political, ethnic, social, must die in the church. They should not be allowed to live here. The divisions that divide the world should not mark the people of God. Can you let that cut you for a second? Your call is so much higher than that. And if we stand a chance to actually say anything to the world about the love and power of God, we don't, we cannot be the kind of people who divide on super love, superficial things. Come on. That's good, Luke. When we draw near to God, we draw near to each other, and that's what proclaims Christ's victory in all of the world. So we're eager to maintain the spirit, the unity of the spirit. Okay? How do we do that? How do we actually do that? How do you maintain the unity of the spirit? Paul just talked about that a little bit, bearing with one another in love, serving each other. This is why we, as a, as an organizing principle in the church, we're always talking about serving. We're always talking about giving. We're always talking about gathering together, praying together, stirring one another up to love and good works, opening our homes as much as possible. This is the work of the church, creating environments that cultivate forgiveness and reconciliation and healing, praying for the sick, believing for the signs and wonders, believing for God to break through, laying down our lives for one another. This is why we always invite you to go serve in the kids' machine, go serve at the coffee shop, go be a host, join the worship team, go drive food for wellspring. It's not because we have things to do and we need you guys to run the show here. That's not why. The reason we ask you to do that is because it is a countercultural move to organize your life around serving others and giving the best of your time, talent, and treasure to love others that God has given you to. It is supernatural. That's why you do it. It's not because we need one more worker in the children's ministry. That's not why we do it. Ultimately, why we do it is because movements like this on a day-to-day level, it's how we send a message that God has done something great that I couldn't do on my own, and I have nothing else but to live as a prisoner for him, and that's not even a bad thing because now I'm chained to mercy and goodness and righteousness and freedom all the days of my life. Come on. Come on. What else are you gonna do with your life? Tell me. What? No, this is where freedom is. So, no, we don't apologize when we call you guys up to service and to sacrifice and to giving. I I will not I'm not we're not gonna apologize for that because this is what we're made for. Yeah? And this is our joy. This is our joy because I I don't know. I just think the church is pretty awesome. And that's also why some of our greatest hurt is rooted in church wounds. The call of God on the church is so great that so many of us, and probably you're listening to me, like, oh man, I want to believe that about the church, but man, I just I've had too many experiences. Maybe maybe you think that, maybe you've been under really difficult or even abusive leadership. Maybe others in the name of Christ have betrayed you, said hurtful things to you. And maybe you're sitting here today and it's like, man, I I don't know. I don't know. The church can be one of the most beautiful communities we give ourselves to, and it can be one of the most painful places we give ourselves to. But I think it's it what it should be. I I don't think it's possible actually to be part of a church and not get hurt on some level. Not because the church hurts you, because people hurt you. People hurt people. Okay, but I will say this. So if your expectation is I'm gonna find a church that doesn't hurt me, you're gonna be looking a long time. See you in heaven, right? You're not gonna find it. Okay. Go find that church. Let me know. I will quit my job and go join. Okay? Be done here. If you can find that, you're you're probably not going to find it. But I think the redemptive purpose of the church is it should be a place that not only you can get hurt in, but you can be healed from. You can be healed. It's the same people that hurt you, are the same people who are going to heal you in the power of Christ. That's what I believe. No, I'm not talking about condoning hurt and abuse and that. I'm not saying that. I'm saying at a lot of different degrees, it's a vulnerable thing to walk with people. But I want to call you, if you if you've been hurt in this kind of context before, I just want to say it's just keep going. Keep going, keep going. God's vision of the church is be just be healed in Jesus' name and call the church up into a new level of transformation. And so, kind of the last passage I want to read here, and then we're gonna do something together. The purpose of the church is to stand at the gates of hell and not retreat. Ephesians chapter 6. This is how Paul ends this whole chapter, and this is kind of the quintessential spiritual warfare passage, we'll call it. If you want to talk about the realm of the seen and the unseen, this is what Paul says, okay? This is Ephesians chapter six. Read this together, starting in verse 10. He says, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against authorities, and against the causal powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as choose for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace, and all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication, to that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. Thank you, Jesus. Come on, the word of God, everybody. So God has given us his armor in order to stand. So much of the life we've been given is just staying put. Just stand with what you've been given, stand where I've sent you. Don't retreat. You don't even always have to like move forward and take over. It's like it's not about taking, just stand where I've put you with the full armor of God. Every piece in the armor relates to Christ's finished work, salvation, righteousness, truth, peace, faith, the word, prayer. Our calling is to know what God has given us. Where has he called us to stand? See, the reality is all of us have things that we're trying to stand in. We are here, we're all living in the front range of Colorado, unless you're a visitor here today. We're all here. And so you might think that you moved here for a job or you moved here for family. Listen, I believe in the sovereignty of God. God's placed you here because He said there's certain gates of hell in this area. I'm gonna place you right there, I'm gonna build my church there, and hell will not prevail against it, but I need you to stand firm where I've given you to announce my power and authority just in the life that you lead. Boulder, we know, is a place that a lot of churches don't even want to go. I talk to pastors all the time. I lead, I gather with pastors all the time across the front range just to see what God is doing and to pray for each other. A lot of people joke about Boulder. Oh, Boulder, oh my gosh. Not going there. That's a dark place, people. It's hard there. That's what everybody says. I'm like, no, like, and listen, I know a lot of us don't live in Boulder, but as far as kind of the influence of Boulder over all of our towns, Erie, Long, Mont, Frederick, Firestone, Lafayette, whatever. Boulder is a place, Boulder Valley is a place that is within our jurisdiction, okay? I believe it's a place created for worship. And what everybody says, this is a dark place, this is the gates of hell. I'm like, well, bring it on because that apparently God loves to build his church at the gates of hell. So show me the gates of hell. Now, listen, that could be bolder, bolder, bolder in itself. We know that it's like a witchcraft capital of the world. Colorado in general is, do you guys understand that Colorado is the second highest state of mental illness in the United States? Like a 2024 survey. Like Colorado, the Rocky Mountains, have the most mentally unhealthy people in the United States. What why has God placed us here? What has he given us to? Where are the gates of hell in our state, in our region, even in your life, maybe in your heart, that God is saying, I want you to stand firm in the face of these things. And I have not given you into this place empty-handed. I've given you everything you need to thrive, to survive, to flourish. And he wants to call you into that. I just want to speak that over you today. You are called, your best life is when you're standing at the gates of hell and resourced by God to live as a son and daughter, equipped by him as a person of life. This is what he's called us to do as a church. So let me just ask a couple questions there, and we're gonna do something together. For you. Let's just talk about you for a second. Have you been tempted to retreat from the church? Do you have a high view of the church? Do you gather when it's convenient? Do you serve when it when it works for your schedule, or do you organize your life around the flourishing of the people of God? Because it's what Jesus does. He lays down his life for the church. So do you organize yourself around that? Or as it become complacent? You can be honest with yourself, nobody needs to raise your hand, but that's one you gotta wrestle with. Because if you want to be a part of what God's doing, lean in. Have you been tempted to retreat from the church? Maybe there's a wounding there that's kept you at a safe distance. And listen, I get that. And if you're here and you're just needing to heal up from a bad church experience, you have the space to do that here. But ultimately, we believe that we want to agree that the healing actually happens and you can get back in the game. You're not meant to be benched, you're not meant to watch on the sideline, you're meant to be an active participant. I believe that. And I hope you hear that with grace today. There's so much grace here. But where is God calling you to stand firm? Where do you need strength to stand? Where do you need to choose forgiveness in the face of wounding? Where do you need to serve rather than being served? Where do you need to draw near to others rather than walking in judgment? All of us can reconcile those questions. And then collectively, again, what are the gates of hell in our city or family and neighborhoods? How maybe Christ calling us to stand there as we come into a new year? Maybe start praying. God, show us where you want to send us as a church so that we can go with you boldly. Okay, so here's what we're gonna do. Right at the end of Ephesians 6, Paul talks about this whole thing about the armor of God. And he said, Listen, I want you to stand firm. In order to stand firm, you're gonna need certain armor. And just put this on the screen, Blaze, if you have it. You're gonna need the belt of truth. Do you need truth in the face of lies? You're gonna need a breastplate of righteousness. Do you need to know that you were in right standing with God? You're gonna need the shoes of the gospel of peace. Do you need peace in any area of your life? You need a shield of faith. Do you need faith in the face of fear? You need a helmet of salvation. You know where you are safe, secure, and complete in Christ. You're gonna need the sword of the Spirit, do you know the Word of God inside and out? And I just want you to think for a second out of these different pieces of armor: truth, faith, righteousness, salvation. What do you need right now? What do you need right now? And he's given us to each other to equip us for this kind of life. So here's what we're gonna do. We don't do this often, and I'm gonna set this up carefully, but we are gonna break up into groups, okay? Now that's if you're new here, that's the last thing you want to hear coming to church. But this isn't this isn't gonna be awkward or weird. Here's here's what it's gonna be. I want I want to in a second break up into groups of three and four. Please don't just please don't bow out, okay? Don't don't just head for the doors, alright? This is gonna be really good. This is you actually need this if you're here for the first time. We love you. We want to get a chance to pray for you, really. But we're gonna uh break up into groups of three and four. Um, and here's what I want to do. If you're getting get gonna get with somebody that you don't know, just introduce yourself, tell tell each other your names, just start there. And then the second question is Is there a piece on this list, an armor of God? I need truth in my life, I need righteousness, I need peace, salvation, faith, the word of God, the sword of the spirit. Maybe there's uh something on this list that today you need to be equipped with. Okay? So all you have to do in your group just say, I feel like I need the shoes of peace to go with me everywhere I go. You don't have to explain why, you don't have to give your whole life story, okay? You don't need to share all your deepest, darkest secrets. Please don't right now. Um, but you can share there if that's all you want to share. You can also say, Hey man, I'm gonna pass this round, but I'm happy to be a part. Good to meet you guys. You can do That too. But I would encourage you to share something from this list. Say, Man, as you're talking, I just I need faith. I need the shield of faith in my life. And then as you each share, take a then take a moment. Maybe one of you, hopefully, one of you actually like is is willing on behalf of the group to pray and just to lead out in prayer. Not all of you have to pray. If you don't want to pray, just say, Hey, I'm gonna pass on that too, but I'm willing to receive prayer. That's fine. Maybe you all want to pray. But I believe that God has given each of us around the inheritance of the saints means that in this room, there's people packing some juice. All right? There's people packing power. When you pray that God wants to release something, He didn't send you here empty-handed. You are the saints, you are the church. He's given you gifts, he's given you faith, he's given you the ability and capacity to hold others into your heart and to pray. So this is what we're gonna do, okay? And again, if you're if you don't know anybody, that's fine. Uh we'll we'll we'll gather. We're just gonna get in groups of three or four. So let's all stand up together. And again, this, if nothing else, this is a chance to just make yourself known here. Church is best when we're not anonymous, when we're known in the room. So all you do is just share your name. And we're gonna spend some time here, and then after about you know several minutes, I'll come up and close. But let's do this together. Find a group of three or four around you. Um, if you are a long time lookouter, find somebody that you don't know as well, and uh and then introduce yourself, pick something from this list, and and if you can, pray for each other for a few minutes.

unknown 45:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 45:42

Just whoever's praying, feel free to wrap up and don't want to cut you off if you are in the middle of prayer. You can always return back to your group afterwards. Maybe as you were praying, you sensed something for somebody in your group and you want to share with them or you want to talk further. Hopefully, you guys met each other for the first time. Some of that. But let's all let's all stand just across the room. Let's stand together. Was that good? Hey, and let that be a lesson. You don't need a specialized group of people to pray to do all the praying. You don't need people with the microphone and a badge to do all the praying. Okay? God has given us as a church to each other. So, hey, listen. I if anything, I hope, I hope that today as we examine the scriptures together, you can see that God's plan for us and for this is a beautiful, good, expansive thing. And we're just scratching the surface, guys. We're just scratching the surface. Upon this rock, Jesus will build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Come on. Come on, give it to Jesus. So I want to bless you as we go. And as you go into Thanksgiving week, it's gonna be a big week. And I hope that it's an amazing week for you, for everybody here. I hope it's full of a lot of love and family, friends, and uh, and you know, if you need food at all, go to our Wellspring food bank. We want to get you loaded up with some food if that's what you need. But I want to bless us as we go. If you're a guest with us, we want to meet you in the back. You're gonna see it connect with the sign. But I'm gonna pray over us. May the Lord bless you and keep you, may He make his face to shine upon you. May He be gracious to you and lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Go in the name of Jesus. Love you guys.