Central Christian Church Message Podcast

Passion Over Passive | From Now On... | Pastor Caleb Baker

May 02, 2021 Central Christian Church of Arizona
Central Christian Church Message Podcast
Passion Over Passive | From Now On... | Pastor Caleb Baker
Show Notes Transcript

We are never passive about the things we are passionate about. We love a football team so we show it by cheering when they score. We are excited about our hobbies so we invest time and devotion into them. These demonstrations of passion are not wrong by themselves, but do we devote the same amount of passion into our relationship with God? Or are we passive in our faith? Join us this weekend as Pastor Caleb Baker shares the importance of passion over passive when it comes to a relationship with God.  

Well, welcome to Central, in this room, wherever you're watching from, so glad that you're here. If you have a Bible with you, turn to Acts chapter 16, Acts 16 is where we're going to be reading from in our time today. Actually starting in verse 16. So Acts chapter 16, verse 16, we made it really easy for you.

[00:00:16] Just kidding. That's just where the story starts. So, um, hey, let me, let me pray for us again and ask that God speak powerfully to us, and then we'll, uh, we'll jump in. God, we are expectant now to hear from you God. For these next few moments, will you move powerfully by your Holy Spirit? Will you fill this place?

[00:00:39] God, give us the eyes to see, the ears to hear what you want us to hear today. How you want us to be encouraged and challenged and moved forward. Uh, both individually God, but then as a church, as a people. And we want to hear from you now. So we need you to show up. And speak powerfully to us. We love you.

[00:00:56] It's in Jesus' name that we pray and everybody said, Amen. Imagine you're sitting at a beautiful wedding and it's a gorgeous day, maybe just like today and you're dressed to the nines and every chair is taken by someone just beaming with excitement that they can't believe that they're at this wedding.

[00:01:15] And just for this hypothetical situation let's pretend there's no masks on at this wedding. And the wedding party is all made their formal walk down the aisle. And if you've ever been in wedding you know that it's like this, you're just walking as slowly as humanly possible, trying not to trip on each other.

[00:01:30] Right. And you're like, I will have a worn, a suit since prom. So here we go. Let's try our best. They, they, they make their walk down the aisle and anticipation's building. There's a live band playing this beautiful music and you look up and you see the preacher or the priest or someone's uncle who got ordained on the internet somehow.

[00:01:50] And the anticipation's building. You're like, man, the bride's about to come. Right. And this is incredible moment. As, as you're going to see this, this beautiful girl just glowing. Right? And then it starts, the bride emerges and everybody stands to their feet looking at her. And she's, it's the best day of her life.

[00:02:08] And maybe, maybe then you do what a lot of us do that you look at the bride and you see her like, wow, what a day for her. And then you want to look at the groom to see how he's responding. Right. Is he, is he nervous? Yes. Is the answer to that. Is he, is he crying? Is he scared? Like how is he responding to this moment in his life?

[00:02:29] And, and you look up and you see the groom and he looks bored. He's just kind of sitting there. And he's like, I don't really know. I mean, she's hot. I, why am I in a suit? This sucks. You know what I mean? Like he's just saying, Oh my gosh. And he's, he pulls out his phone, you know, it's the fourth quarter. He wants to check the score.

[00:02:48] Don't want to miss something. And it looks at his Apple watch, which is like, why would you have that on a wedding? But he's like, what time is it? Oh my goodness. These things are just dragging along. And he sees a funny text and he leans over and shows his friend and even his best man, I was like, what are you doing?

[00:03:04] This is your wedding. You're getting married today. Like what possibly could you be doing in this moment? That's not how you act at your own wedding. Or maybe you've seen this commercial. I want you to see this video and this makes the point for us to check this video out. Have you ever worked with Dr.

[00:03:22] Francis? Oh yeah. He's okay. Just okay? Guess who just got reinstated? Well, not officially. Nervous? Yeah. Yeah, me too. Don't worry about it. We'll figure it out. I'll see you in there. Just okay is not okay. Just okay. Is not okay at all. These situations seem ridiculous to us, right? Because why, what, what do we know?

[00:03:49] We know that when you're in a high stakes situation, you can't be passive. When you're in a high stakes situation, you cannot be passive. This is your wedding day. You're the surgeon, like, what are you doing? You can't be passive. You can't be flippant. You can't just kind of autopilot through this. It's too big of a deal.

[00:04:09] It's too high stakes. And we know that to be true. But then we do this thing that when it comes to church, when it comes to following Jesus, when it comes to our faith, we can be really, really passive. When it comes to following Jesus we're just kind of, I don't know, I don't know. You'll figure it out in there, you know. I'll serve in that ministry later.

[00:04:32] I'll come when I can. I'll give later, I'll pray later. I'll get baptized some. Who knows. Right. We'll figure it out. And we're just checking our phone. We have been called and purposed and commissioned to go into all nations to make disciples we've been invited and to the most important mission in human history.

[00:04:51] To go into dark hopeless places with the light and the hope that comes from Jesus that will change the entire world. We've been invited to be the hands and the feet of Jesus. As we go out full of the Holy Spirit to literally save people's souls. To tell them how loved they are to model forgiveness and grace and life in a way that changes everything for everybody for all time.

[00:05:16] And we're passive about it. God help us. We're just kinda going through the motions. We're just checking our phone. When you're in a high stakes situation, you can't be passive. And I want to try to raise the stakes today. I want to talk about a story from Acts 16. It's a high stakes story. And the more you dig into the story, the higher the stakes,

[00:05:40] seem to get. And we're going to see how our passion for our calling, how our faith in a really big God can get us through any moment. Not that darkness won't be there. Not this stuff. Won't get hard, but that if we can hold on to our faith in God, we can get through anything. I don't just want to sing about being consumed by God's Holy Spirit fire.

[00:05:59] I want that to be true.  I want this room to be filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit. I don't just want to sing about it. So as we work through these verses, as we work through this story, we're going to, we're going to focus on three very clear scenes, like scenes from a movie, and we're going to be intentional about each scene.

[00:06:22] We're even going to name each scene and say action at the beginning of it. Because I'm kind of corny and a preacher. And I like movies leave me alone. But more importantly, more importantly, I want you to see how big of a deal this is. I want this to feel cinematic. I want us to, I feel the weight of what we're being called into. Because I just think this matters. This matters more than a wedding.

[00:06:47] This matters more than surgery. This matters more than anything you could give your life to. This as the ultimate calling that God has made you for. And we can't be passive. So scene number one, are you ready? If you're taking notes? See number one is called A Python Spirit and the Most High God. A Python Spirit and the Most High God.

[00:07:10] Action. Let's start reading Acts 16 and verse 16 says this once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners, by fortune telling this girl followed Paul and the rest of us shouting.

[00:07:27] These men are servants of the most high God who are telling you the way to be saved. Verse 18. She kept this up for many days. Finally, Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit in the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her. And at that moment, the spirit left her.

[00:07:45] So this is an intense scene, right? Paul and these guys are walking through this town of Philippi. We'll talk more about Philippi a little bit later. They're on their way to pray. And then the slave girl that's possessed by a spirit. Who's able to predict the future. Is following them around. And her slave owners are making a pretty good profit off of her.

[00:08:04] And immediately as Paul in the name of Jesus invokes the spirit to come out of this girl, the spirit comes out of this girl. You talk about high stakes. We got a demon possessed, a girl in the first verse, welcome to church. Like so glad I brought a friend today. I was worried that it was going to be weird, but this is awesome.

[00:08:28] I want to, in this first scene, I want to double click on something that just doesn't really show up in our English translation in these verses. And it's a big deal. It raises the stakes even more. In your Bible in verse 16, it might say what mine says that there was a slave girl. I lost my spot. There was a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.

[00:08:46] Some other English translations say a spirit of divination that she had spirit of divination. But none of the translations in English get to the specific name of this spirit, because it just wouldn't mean much to our 21st century Western ears. But if you went back to the original book of Acts, which was just a letter from a guy, Luke to another guy, if you would've went back to that letter, this spirit that was possessing, this girl had a specific name.

[00:09:11] It's really, really cool. So we've translated it kind of to get more broad and generalized because we don't know about Greek gods, but the original translation, they name the spirit that was thought to possess this girl. And in the original translation, it was these two words, two Greek words, pneuma  puthon. The spirit that this girl had. A spirit pneuma is the Greek word for spirit.

[00:09:33] The spirit of puthon is the Greek word for Python. And it's not like a general Python, like my junior high mascot, which was true. And I don't know why that matters. I shouldn't have said that. But this is, this is Parkside Python stand up. So this is focus, focus, stop. Don't don't distract me. This is referring to something specific capital P Python.

[00:09:56] And if you study, you can look this up. If you study Greek mythology, Python was a Greek God in this worldview, in this mythos and Python, wasn't just some throwaway Greek god, that didn't matter. He was a really big deal. The Greek people thought that Python was strong and powerful and incredibly important.

[00:10:13] As a matter of fact, there was a town called Delphi. You can still go visit some ancient ruins there. And there was an altar in the town of Delphi that the Greek people thought this altar was the center of the earth. Like the heartbeat of our planet, everything here pointed back to this altar and you guessed it, it's guarded by this Greek god Python.

[00:10:34] That was their thinking. So you need, I tell you that to say, like when this slave girls walking around telling people's futures and predicting what's going to happen and they're like, wow, she's possessed by Python. This was a big deal. He's the great protector of this altar that's at the center of the earth.

[00:10:48] He's the great, he's incredibly important in Greek mythology. So, if you start to piece this together that this, this really important Greek overseer deity was following these men around going their God is the most high God. Their God is big, like bigger than you could imagine. Like as far as God's go their God is in charge.

[00:11:14] Now we obviously don't believe in lowercase g gods, but the original audience to this story would have just had all this context right away, as they're seeing this happen or hearing about this happen or reading about this happening, they would have had all this context. This was their culture. This was how they viewed the world.

[00:11:31] And so the fact that apparently this girl that's possessed by the great protector Python, even that spirit is declaring who our God is. This would have been mind blowing to the first century Greek person going Python said what? Their God is the most high God. It's this term of ultimate authority, complete superiority.

[00:11:57] We actually don't see this name for God that often in the New Testament. Every time it shows up, it was a really big deal. We see it right here in Acts 16. There's another story in the gospels where Jesus is interacting with a demon possessed person. And that demon says, we know who you are. You're Jesus, the son of the Most High. They know clearly what type of God they're dealing with.

[00:12:17] And then there's another story where there's an angel that shows up to this girl named Mary and says, hey, I know that even, even though you're a virgin, you're going to give birth to the son of the living. God, the most high God, the only other time we see it as the prophecy about John, the Baptist, making the way for our savior.

[00:12:34] And so every time we read about the most high God in the New Testament, it's always high stakes. It communicates that our God is the God, he wasn't just on this like revolving conveyor belt of gods that they're like, yeah, pick and choose. We got a bunch of Greek gods. This is just another one. No, this was the most high God. He was at,

[00:12:54] he was in charge. He had the power. And the fact that pneuma Python, the spirit of Python would even declare that would have just been staggering to a Greek person in that day. Even more than that, the fact that simply a man, a human like me, and like you could invoke the name of Jesus and tell that spirit what to do would have been headline news for days and days and days to come.

[00:13:19] Just a person like us. It's like in the name of Jesus. I know Python's a big deal in your mind. Get outta here, shut up. And he listened. This is insane. So, how do we apply this to our lives? What does this mean for us? I think the first thing is that this, this idea begs the question, how would we ever be passive about this?

[00:13:43] If we're following the most high God that even the demons tremble in front of. This means that our God is the God. And he's come to shake the foundations of the earthly powers and lowercase g gods that seem to have a hold on us. This means that our God won't be denied. He has no match. He has no equal.

[00:14:07] There's nothing as powerful as him. This means that even in the spiritual warfare, that's going on all around us, that we don't really like to think about very much in the Western church. It's not this good versus evil heavyweight fight. That goes 15 rounds. I know that makes a better movie. But that's just not the case.

[00:14:25] Anytime in scripture, when God shows up every other evil spirit knows exactly where they go, they run and hide. They're like, we're going to possess this girl, she could tell some fortunes, this is gonna be awesome. We're gonna stir up Philippi. God shows up. They're like, we're going to head out. See you guys later.

[00:14:38] Like they know exactly where they stand. It's not a close match. God didn't win on a buzzer beater. He shows up and it's done. And as we look around and in our world, and we see the darkness and the pain and the violence and the evil and the disorder and disunity all around us. Man, it can be so overwhelming

[00:15:01] can't it? It can feel like it's going to win, but we know if we have the most high God that, that darkness and that violence and that evil it's hard now, but we can know that it's not going to last. We can know that the clock is ticking on that darkness, that it won't have the final word. My favorite lines in all the scriptures, when Jesus is up on that cross, he says it is finished.

[00:15:26] Even Python knows what's what the deal is. It's finished. And our God is the type of God that gives to his people, serves his people, loves and forgives his people. Our God is the type of God that takes a bunch of people like us and all of our mess and makes a way for us to be sons and daughters and this Python spirit and all of its contextual glory and mythos and power could not hold a candle to the most high God.

[00:15:54] How could we be passive about this?

[00:16:00] I don't want to be dismissive. I don't know the darkness that you're living in right now. The stuff that you're struggling with right now, the stuff that's overwhelming for you right now, I would never try to make light of that. We see you. We care about you. We're here for you, but more importantly, God sees you the most high God has made a way for that darkness to not win. For that pain, to not get the final word.

[00:16:24] I think that's why Jesus says in Matthew 16:18, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it. And I was thinking about that verse. Like, I can't think of a scarier place than the gates of hell. According to the word Jesus says, no, no, no. That can't, that can't, that's no match for you.

[00:16:43] You're my church. You're my son. You're my daughter. The gates of hell can't stand up to you. It's scary on your own. David didn't beat Goliath because he was a menace with the slingshot. He beat Goliath because he had a big God. The gates of hell are scary, but if God shows up, the gates of hell are not scary because we serve the most high God.

[00:17:05] There is no darkness, too big for us. Scene one, A Python Spirit and the Most High God. Okay. Scene two. Let's keep working through this story. Scene two is called Troublemakers. Troublemakers. Action. Let's pick it up in verse 19. Okay. Okay. When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and drag them into the marketplace to face the authorities.

[00:17:31] They brought them before the magistrates and said, these men are Jews and are throwing our  city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice. The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.

[00:17:55] Look at verse 24. Upon receiving such orders. He put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. Paul and Silas human beings like me and you with the same pain and the same baggage and the same fear, get dragged in front of the authorities. They get charged. They're throwing our city into an uproar.

[00:18:16] Essentially, they get charged as troublemakers and they get stripped in public and severely flogged. I don't know how bad it was for them. I wasn't there, but I do know that Roman law didn't have any limit as how bad you could beat a prisoner. There was no compassion built into the law, like only this many hits or for this long. Roman law

[00:18:39] said that if as a prisoner, you can beat him as much, or as long as you want. And they're severely flogged. They get thrown in jail and the jailers commanded to put them under maximum security, put them as far into the prison, as you can go.

[00:18:55] They're completely bound their hands, their feet. They're beaten up. They might have internal bleeding. They might have some broken bones. These troublemakers were taught a lesson. This is what happens when you cause an uproar in this city. See this city Philippa was a big deal. Philippa was an incredibly popular town.

[00:19:13] It was right off the coast. It was full of a bunch of valuable resources that were mined. There was a transition city between Europe and Asia. So there'd have been a ton of tourists and visitors and travelers all over, from all over the world. Coming through Philippi. Philippi completely bought into the vision of the Roman empire.

[00:19:31] It was even called little Rome in these times. A commentary that I was reading said that Phillippi was the second most Roman city in the world, after only Rome itself. It was wealthy. It was dedicated to greek god worship and Roman empire worship. So these Jews wandering through town, talking about a Jewish carpenter,

[00:19:56] that was actually the Lord of Lords and King of Kings would have been disruptive. It wouldn't have been taken lightly. It would have been looked down on, we see how Phillippi responded to their message. There's no room for that here. You don't get to talk like that here. We're going to make an example out of you.

[00:20:14] I want us to feel the weight of the assignment that Paul and his team had going into Philippi. They were in enemy territory. They were called into the front lines, into the teeth of the Roman empire with a news that was disruptive to everything that everybody in this town believed. It's insane. This is incredibly high stakes.

[00:20:39] I think for us this most high God sends us into high stakes situations and it can be scary. It's not going to be easy. It's going to cost you some something probably. But Paul and his team are on mission. They're not here to be comfortable. They're not in Philippi to see the sites. They're not there to be safe or passive.

[00:20:59] They're there to be the hands and the feet and the mouthpiece of Jesus. They're here to cause some trouble. And then I got to look at us. I got to look at me and go, what about us? Are we here to cause trouble? So much of my life. I just feel like I'm walking through seeing the sites. Setting my little life up to be as comfortable as it can be as secure as it can be as safe as it can be.

[00:21:24] I don't want any drama. I just want to do my thing thing day in and day out. Leave me alone. Let me just write like w we don't want to cause trouble. Are we even in the fight? Are we getting involved at all? Can I ask you, are you doing anything that anyone could even remotely classify as an uproar or are you like just playing it safe?

[00:21:45] And I'm not talking about throwing church grenades at our culture, or making sure that we're shouting at people how wrong and left out they are for their sin. We've gotten pretty good at that part. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about causing trouble.

[00:22:02] Congressmen and in civil rights hero, John Lewis said a really beautiful thing a few years before he passed. I want to read it to you. He said this. Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year. It's the struggle of a lifetime.

[00:22:19] Never, ever be afraid to make some noise  and getting good trouble, necessary trouble. I don't mean in any way to try to steal the context of, of this quote or minimize the fight that John Lewis gave his life work to. Fighting for equality and liberty for black people in this country. And I won't pretend for a second to understand his specific struggle of being black in America.

[00:22:42] But I think that this illustration is really powerful for how we can be as sons and daughters of Jesus to cause good trouble, to be willing, to get involved with people in their stories, to be willing, to make some noise, even if it costs you something. Can we out of this passive faith and into the redemptive work that God has called us to. Are you causing any trouble?

[00:23:02] Would the enemy even try to get in your way, if you were walking through Philippi? Are you a threat to him at all? Are you stirring the pot at all? Are you serving people in a way that disrupts the natural order of things? Are you disruptive with how much you love your neighbors? Are you on hell's radar at all?

[00:23:23] Are you on their most wanted list? Do they have an office with your picture tacked to the thing that we got to watch out for this person. They will not shut up about Jesus. Or are they just going, you know what? Let's just let's gauge the situation, but we'll give it a few weeks. They're doing fine.

[00:23:37] They're really worried about their 401k. Let's keep them there. They're so worried about their kid getting into the perfect college. Cause that's going to make everything happen perfectly. Are they worried about you down there at all? Are you getting to know people in their stories, to where you're able to love them and stand up for them and witness to them.

[00:24:00] You can only answer this for yourself, but please today, be honest in your heart. Are you even in the fight? Wait, are you causing any trouble? For our last scene of the day, we're going to move through this story. Scene number three is called Take No Prisoners. Take No Prisoners. Action. Let's pick it up in verse 25, about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening to them.

[00:24:28] Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open and everybody's chains came loose, the jailer woke up and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.

[00:24:45] But Paul shouted, don't harm yourself we are all here. The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas, he brought them out and asked sirs what must I do to be saved? They replied believe in the Lord, Jesus, and you will be saved. You and your household. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.

[00:25:06] At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. Then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them. He was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God, he and his whole family. Take no prisoners. Can you imagine how this story would have unfolded if they were just in that jail cell pouting?

[00:25:32] I mean, you'd be able to understand why that's, what I would have been doing. They had been through it. I think if I was in that jail cell I'd be like, what a terrible day. Today. This was awful. You're just bound up. You just got just the absolute crap kicked out of you. I mean, this was a terrible day. I think I would have been in there like, God, are you serious?

[00:25:54] Why would you do this to me? Why would you let this happen to me? I'm trying to help you God. You got me in prison. Hello. I'm down here trying to help. And you got me locked up. Do you even see what's happening down here? I think that's what I would have been doing, but they weren't, they were singing. They were worshiping.

[00:26:12] I wonder if they were singing, I'll sing in the morning. I'll sing in the evening. You are good. The same song we just sang. In the morning, I'll sing. In the evening, I'll sing. At church, I'll sing. In a prison cell, I'll sing. In a shipwreck, I'll sing God you are good. Because your goodness is not dependent on my location.

[00:26:30] Your goodness is because you love me that much to pull me out of the grave and into eternal life. And that fact cannot change based on where you are or aren't. That fact does not change whether or not things are going well for you or not, or financially you're set up or your kids are perfect. God, you are good. In the evening,

[00:26:48] I'll sing. In the morning, I'll sing. In the sunshine, I'll sing. In the storm, I will sing God because your goodness is not dependent on how good my life is going. If you're the most high God, if you're the Jesus that paid the price for all the sins and pain of the world than what prison cell could hold me down.

[00:27:08] What chains are too big for me, if the chains of my sin have been broken? What debt is too big? What cancer is too scary? What past is too messed up for God to go, no, I'm kicking the door down. I'm breaking the chains off because you are freer than you think you are. We will take no prisoners. We'll take no prisoners.

[00:27:28] How could we be passive about this? I'm up here preaching into a microphone and I'm still like, man in my life I'm so passive about this. I wave on my neighbors like, hello, don't talk to me please, garage down. And I'm preaching. How can we be passive about this? Paul and Silas knew that when you serve the most high God, even a prison cell, it's just a place of worship.

[00:27:56] With the most high God on their side. As inmates, they knew of a freedom that even the jailer couldn't understand. You could put me all the way into the prison as deep as it gets, cause my freedom has been bought on the cross. You can't take that from me. We see when the earthquake happens, the foundations of the prison shake and the shackles fall off the jailers about to kill himself because he knows then under Roman law, he's going to be publicly executed because he let prisoners escape.

[00:28:28] But with the most high God, even as prisoners, we can teach a jailer what true freedom looks like.

[00:28:38] Even a prison cell is just Holy ground. Paul and Silas put their trust in God in this incredibly difficult time, even though everything was going wrong and look what happened. God turned a prison into a sanctuary. God turned these prisoners into preachers. God turned this condemned jailer into a redeemed son of the most high God.

[00:29:03] The phrase take no prisoners means to be ruthlessly aggressive or uncompromising. But I don't necessarily mean it like that. I mean, it literally, as we go full of passion and full of power and full of trouble, we will take no prisoners as we go into the prisons of people's brokenness and pain and their past and their insecurities we'll take no prisoners.

[00:29:24] We'll leave no one left in that prison. We'll break every chain by how we model freedom by how we sing about a Jesus that paid the price will go everywhere. Whether it's to work neighborhood, family, your kid's soccer game, we will go everywhere going. You don't know how free you are. Those chains that are holding.

[00:29:42] You don't have to hold you you're freer than you think you are. Take no prisoners as we go. We're going to sing no matter what happens. God, you're good. I know this is terrible right now, God, but you're good in the evening. In the morning when it's dark, when it's light, you are good. We can cause some trouble.

[00:30:03] We can surpass kind of the rules and the regulations and how things have always been. We can lead people into fullness and to being healed from their pain. We don't leave anybody in their chains. We'll take no prisoners. How could we be passive about this, but the power of this good news makes the demons run and hide when the power of this good news turns prisons into sanctuaries.

[00:30:34] How in the world could we be passive about this? Let me pray for us.

[00:30:49] God. We're so thankful for this news.

[00:30:55] We're thankful that you made a way for us. We're thankful that God, the pain and the darkness that seems to be all around us, God will not win, will not have the last word. That you've given us access to a freedom that can't be taken from us. You've given us access to a power that can't be taken from us and that can't be matched.

[00:31:19] And so what I pray for everybody listening right now, God, that you will open our eyes to this truth, light a fire in us, God. We don't want to be passive anymore. We've played it safe long enough. You're good. You're the most high and you've made a way for us or we love you. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.