Unstoppable Spirit

Unstoppable Spirit

•   The bible declares that there was an unstoppable Spirit upon Joseph, Daniel, David, Paul, upon many of the disciples and of course upon Jesus.

•   I believe it can be upon us as Christ followers as well.

•   Joseph stayed the course by being connected to God's purpose and dream for his life.

•   By being committed to every detail, every disappointment, every tragedy, learning purity and patience in all things along the way.

•   Finally by staying correct in spirit no matter the betrayal he would face, the let downs he would incur, the lies he would encounter, or the abandonment he would ever feel.

•   He stayed in an unstoppable spirit.

1.      Stay connected.

Acts 2:42-47 NLT "[42] All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord's Supper), and to prayer. [43] A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. [44] And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had."

1.      Very powerful. Scripture says that “All the believers,” what were they?

1.      They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, they devoted themselves to fellowship, connection, concern one for another.

2.      They devoted themselves to sharing meals, sharing in communion staying committed.

3.      Then they devoted themselves to prayer, staying correct.

1.      This made them unstoppable.

1.      The Spirit of God overshadowed them, filled them, connected them, committed them, and kept them correct in spirit.

4.      Some Christians need to say this, "I already know what giving up feels like. I want to see what happens if I don't."

Acts 2:45 "They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need."

2.      They had a commitment to seeing each other blessed, favored, encouraged, and built up.

Acts 2:46 "They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity- [47] all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved."

3.      Very small church; very large impact.

1.      Today, we have very large Christian churches around the world, much smaller impact.

2.      What’s the difference?

1.      The early church, were tremendously blessed because they were operating in extreme unity.

2.      Believing that scripture was very, very important, so they studied it together.

3.      Believing that relationships were incredibly important, so they did life together.

4.      They believed in being generous, and so they were generous, together.

3.      And because they were so unified, you could criticize them, but that wouldn’t stop them.

4.      You could threaten to hurt them, but that would only make them more passionate.

5.      You could persecute them, and they would become more united.

6.      You could even kill some of them, and that would just make the remainder of them more focused and intent on doing what Jesus called them to do.

1.      Unity. Agreement. Vision. Unstoppable.

4.      What does God want?

1.      God wants us united, to be in agreement, to be together.

2.      Functioning as one body globally.

5.      How bout the Devil, what does our spiritual enemy want?

1.      He wants us divided.

2.      What is division? Not one vision, but two visions.

1.      Division: the action of separating something into parts.

6.      So when we become believers we are in agreement by default.

1.      It takes real work and effort to create 2 visions.

2.      It takes so much more effort, money, work, and sacrifice when you're divided.   

7.      Many people for whatever reason choose to live divided, divided in heart, divided in spirit, divided in every situation they could possibly see themselves in.

1.      It must break the heart of God.

2.      If we're not careful it can sound and look as if all the believers are divided.

1.      No one has anything in common, they hoard their possessions and goods,  keeping as much as they can for themselves. 

2.      Every now and then, if it's not football season and they're not too tired, they’d come to church for an hour and leave early to beat the traffic.

3.      They loved Jesus when it was convenient for them; yet, they were despised by people for their hypocrisy, and very few people got saved.

1.      Why is that?

2.      All sorts of different reasons.

1.      One could be that church becomes about me.

2.      “What can I get? I’m going to find a church that meets all my needs. I’m church shopping. If I can’t find a church that meets my needs, I’ll look somewhere else.”

3.      While others say, “I can’t find a church I like anywhere. None of them meet my needs, and so I’m just not going to go. Cause it’s about me.”

1.      Then one day they decide to finally go again and wonder why they can't get their children to connect, commit or get correct.

8.      When studying the New Testament church it always seems to be more about we, Christianity seems to be centered around others and not ourselves.

1.      It’s about us doing our part in the family of Christ.

2.      You hear this me-centered philosophy, in our culture, and it's imperative that you have a personal relationship with Jesus, because no one else can do that for you.

1.      No one else can know Him for you, get connected to Him for you, get committed to Him for you or get correct in Him but you.

2.      I believe it’s even more Biblical to say we need to have a shared relationship with Jesus, where we know Him intimately in community, where we experience Him wherever and whenever two or three are gathered in His name.  

2.      Stay committed.

1.      We believe that we are the church, we exist for the world, there's a huge difference between that mindset and the alternative.

1 Corinthians 9:19,22-23 NLT "[19] Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. [22] When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. [23] I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings."

2.      I become a slave to all people, for I want to bring them to Christ, I find common ground, doing everything I can, to save some.

1.      That’s why we exist, to exalt God and to reach out to people who don't know Him.

2.      Many of us, have people that we love who do not know Christ.

1.      Maybe your mom or dad, son or daughter, brother or sister or even a person that you work with, someone that you go to school with, people that you love that do not know Christ.

1.      When you connect with them and they decide to connect to the church we're committed to love them, encourage them, disciple them and build up their faith in Christ.

3.      We are very passionate about doing more ministry with fewer resources to honor Jesus. 

1.      In fact, as you read His words and His teaching, you see just how important wise stewardship was to Him.

1.      He said this in Matthew 25:23, "The master said, Well done my good and faithful servant, “You have been faithful in handling this small amount,” what? Say it aloud. He said, “You have been faithful with a few things. So now I will give you many more responsibilities."

4.      My commitment to you is to be aggressive and passionate about being wise.

1.      When you give, we want to maximize resources for God’s purposes.

2.      We commit to do anything to reach people who don’t know Christ.

5.      Christianity is not about a denomination.

1.      It’s about the Kingdom of God, and it is about Jesus, that means that we are called to connect with other churches, commit to other ministries around the world to make a difference, that keeps us correct and unstoppable in Spirit.

Mark 16:15 NLT "And then He told them, "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone."

2.      Not just to your community or neighborhood, but to all creation.

1.      If we think that the church exists only for you or only for us, we are sadly and sorely mistaken.  

6.      Think about what God must be calling us to do. 

1.      This church. This body.

2.      “To whom much is given, much is expected, and God expects something out of us." 

7.      I believe that this church will make the difference.

1.      Make the difference in our homes, in our careers, in this community, and in this culture.

8.      May Jesus get all the glory as He works in you and through you as a church of people to do more than you could ever imagine.

1.      The vision of this church is that you would be so generous, so Godly and so different that even people in your community that don’t agree with Christianity say, “We don’t know about that Jesus thing,” they would say, “Well, at least these people take their faith seriously, they are generous, they are committed, and they are making a difference in the community.”

2.      When you show people love, care, concern and when you serve them, it’s nearly impossible to hate someone who is serving you.

3.      And so, as we show them the love of Jesus, it brings credibility to the message of Jesus.

1.      And that makes all the difference as we #reachUkiah.   

3.      Stay correct.

1.      Pastor Mike why, why are you so passionate about the lost, about how to #reachUkiah?

2.      You show me something that’s more important, and I’ll quit tomorrow.

1.      I’m done.

3.      You show me something more important and I will quit this tonight.

1.      You can’t.

2.      There’s nothing more important on planet earth. 

4.      Some of you will say, “I’m in. Let’s go.”

1.      Let me warn you, before you say you want an unstoppable Spirit. 

2.      If you connect, commit, and stay correct in the cause of Christ, you need to understand, you will be persecuted. 

1.      You will be rejected.

2.      You will be misunderstood. 

3.      You will hurt deeply, because your heart will burn for people who are in need and people who are without Christ, and it’ll affect you.

1.      It’ll bother you so much that you can’t live in this consumeristic, self-centered, me-is-tic economy, because it’ll make you miserable until you decide to make a difference. 

2.      And then, you will make a difference.

1.      When all this is done, you’ll stand before God, and He will look at you, and He will say, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”

5.      It’s a new day; it’s a new moment; it’s a new time, God's mercy new daily, and it’s time to sell out for Jesus.

1.      We will be a church that honors God, and we will make the difference.  

2.      These men and women of God stayed connected, stayed committed, and stayed correct in Spirit to accomplish His impossible.

1.      Joseph encountered the prophetic dreams, into the perfidy of jealousy, abandonment and ridicule.

2.      He was then thrown into the pit of death, and later sold by his brothers into the persecution of slavery.

3.      Next, he is propelled into the promotion of Potifar's palace and then daily encounters pursuance of his employers wife.

4.      He's falsely pointed out, imprisoned for a crime he never committed.

1.      Finally, he prayerfully, passionately, and purposefully rescues his generation from starvation, pestilence, and annihilation.

2.      Forgivingly, receives all that his family, his enemies, his friends, his employers, his culture and his God had allowed him to encounter, therefore delivering nations.

1.      Stay connected.

2.      Stay committed.

3.      Stay correct.