Keith Kirkpatrick on Matthew 16 and Experiencing the Fullness of God

Hey friends, if we've not had the privilege to meet, my name is Keith. I'm the founding and lead pastor here at Journey Church. And I want to let you in on what God's doing at Journey Church. There is a movement of God right now at Journey. God is moving. And some people theologically may not agree with that because they would say, "Well, if God is God, then he's always moving." But let me just explain to you what I mean by God is moving. God is holy. He is perfect and he is righteous. And if God is completely holy, that mean he's set apart. He's never sinned. He's never failed. He's never made a mistake. God is completely perfect. Which means that God cannot tolerate rebellion against

him. God cannot tolerate sin. Therefore, when there is a rebellious people that are in sin, we cannot see the movement of God. And we see this throughout history. We see movements of God in different pockets and places around the world where God seems to do something unique. When a people fully surrender to the Lord, when a people trust God, when a people take God at his word and obey him, there seems to be a movement of God. All we have to do is look back in history and see this. God had a plan for his people. God chose a man named Abraham. Abraham was born into a pagan family and God looked to Abraham and said, "I I've got a great plan for your life." And the Bible says that Abraham

believed God and he was counted as righteous. Not because he was born into the right family, not because he lived the right way, but he believed God. And when God said something, Abraham did it. He was counted as righteous. Abraham had a son named Isaac. Isaac had a son named Jacob. Jacob wrestled with God. And God gave Jacob a new name called Israel. And Jacob's kids and thereafter would follow. They would be known as the Israelites. God's people. And you can watch God's people. They don't just prosper. They just don't have favor. If a godly leader would rise up and lead the people, they would turn to God. They would trust God. And they would do what God says. But when that leader dies and

there's a new generation and they would rebel against God, we see that God's favor seems to to to to leave his people. And instead of a a fruitful land and instead of being set free, we see that there's a people that are oppressed by the enemy, there are people that reap the consequences of sin. But something happens when you repent, which means you change your mind. You turn to the Lord. When you do that, it doesn't matter how great the enemy is, you will have victory because of the Lord God Almighty. And we see this throughout history. We see this in our day. And there's some people that say, "Listen, listen. If God is good, I don't want to believe in God if he's going to allow this evil in the world. Why would he just allow it to be good all the time?" No. God is going to give us the opportunity to experience the fullness of who he is. And I I want you to know that I was heading a certain direction for a sermon series. You know,

pastors, they they look at things in a practical way. What do you need to learn right now? What what are the Sundays and the dates and gates that we can, you know, practically fit in a book of the Bible and those sort of things. And I was heading a certain direction until the Holy Spirit just completely took me on a detour and said, "No, this is where we need to be right now." So, where we are right now is simply because I believe that God has a message for you today. And I mean this very literally. God has a message for you. He's got a message for me and he's confirmed it. Some of you wonder, "How does God speak? Does God speak to you audibly?" Let me just give you a practical way of how God actually works and and where we're going today, just so you understand what's happening at Journey Church. When you are open to God's ways, when you ask God to to speak to you, he will. So, how does God speak to you? Well, he will confirm it typically in three ways. And there's more than just three. Sometimes he'll speak through donkeys, but not usually.

Yeah. I mean, normally he'll do it through three ways. And you should look for these three ways. One is he'll he'll three speak through his word. God's word is so perfect and so good. It's infallible. And he will speak to you if you would just get in the word of God. He will speak to you through his word. Second is through his people. God will speak through people. And then third is through his spirit. God himself, the person of God will speak to you. And what you said, well, how does God speak to you? I want to hear from God. Well, here's what happened this week. I'm like, man, I really sense that God is going to take us a different direction at Journey right now in terms of what we should study and experience. And as I I did these things, I was I was studying the scriptures and I came to a particular chapter of the Bible. You know, there are 66 books in the Bible, which mean there are hundreds of chapters, thousands of verses. And I come to this chapter, and it's just like it's it's it's just like there's something happening as I'm reading this chapter. And later that night, I'm telling my wife with enthusiasm, babe, I read this chapter of the Bible. You won't I just this is what I spoke to me this particular verses that stuck me.

And my wife says, well, guess what? I read that chapter of the Bible today as well. I'm reading the study and this scripture stuck out to me. That's a scripture that stood out to me. Now, of all the books in the Bible and of all the chapters to read and of all the scriptures to read, we read the exact same thing. I would say there's a confirmation here. There's a confirmation of his word. There's a confirmation of people and there's a confirmation of the Holy Spirit in my heart. And so, what we're going to do is spend some time talking about fullness. And here's what I mean by fullness. I'm afraid that many people, no it's actually most people, most people, the majority of people will never experience the fullness of God in their lives. And that is not God's plan

for you. He has destined you to experience the fullness of who he is in your life, in your family, in the church, in the world that we live in. It's not some other day. It's not for some other people. God wants you to experience the fullness of who he is. And I've discovered that you can be a Christian. You can know who Jesus is. That he loves you. That he died for your sins. He rose from the grave. You can know about the Holy Spirit. You can go to church. You can have the biggest Bible. You could read the Bible. You can go to conferences. You could read books. You could buy the journals and still not experience the fullness of God. It's not enough to do things because that's not what what what counts you as righteousness. You've got to believe God. You've got to believe that what God

says is worthy of you surrendering your whole life to go after. So, we don't want some of God. We want the fullness of God. I am tired of people being defeated. I have been there where you just don't know what else to do. You're defeated spiritually. Like, really, are you God? Because I don't seem to see you working in my life. I'm tired of people being defeated emotionally like what am I going to do next? I'm I'm so tired of of marriages that are ending in divorce. I'm tired of the devil defining families for this generations. I'm here to tell you that it's not the government's role to tell us about gender and sexuality and what marriage is. I am tired of a world where kids are committing suicide in our city

and nobody's talking about it. I'm tired of overdoses being normal. I'm tired of this city that celebrates marijuana more than the Lord God. I'm telling you, you drive down Third Street, you see all those pot shops that have a green cross. That's demonic because there's a cross of Jesus Christ that's going to heal you. Let me just tell you today that what this city is seeking, if you're smoking marijuana and you're going to these pot shops, I'm telling you, you're seeking something that God put inside of you. You are supposed to sleep well. You are supposed to have peace and contentment. You are supposed to have joy. But you don't need no substance to make it happen. You need the Holy Spirit. It's

just not pot shop. So before you just say, "Oh, the pastor condemns all those that smoke pot." Let me just tell you, I am so tired of a powerless Christianity where the whole world has no clue that God is alive today. Oh, I'm so tired of mass shootings that have become normal. I'm tired of politicians that say they're praying only when a tragedy strikes. I'm tired of the government thinking they could legislate good versus evil. We've got to understand where goodness comes from. We've got to understand morality. And it's not the job of the government to do that. It's God's people. I'm so tired of watching this world live a defeated life because I've been there. And if you feel defeated in your life today, I'm here to tell you, you don't need to be defeated. It stops right now

in Jesus' name. You don't need to live a life of mediocrity. You don't need to live a life where you go to church, you read the Bible, and you pray, but you see no miracles. We have the power of the living God inside of us. And it's time for us to experience the fullness of God. And I got to a place in my life where I was so defeated day after day. And I just couldn't understand it. And it's not because I didn't read the Bible. I'm a preacher. I read the Bible every day. It's not because I wasn't praying. I was praying every day. It's not because I wasn't going to church. I practically live at the church. I just was not walking in the authority of what God's already given me in Jesus Christ. And that is God himself, the

Holy Spirit. And I got to a place with my family where whereas we we got away and we got to have a sober mind and and we studied the scriptures that I came to the realization in my heart and in my life, I want the God of the Bible. I don't want the God of cultural Christianity. I I don't need the God of the the American Christianity. I actually want the God of the Bible because the Bible says he's an eternal God. So therefore, he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. There is no Old Testament God. There is no New Testament God. There is one God. And when I read about that God, I discover this is the God that I want in my life. I want the God that in the beginning created. I I want the God that is for his people. And if he's for his people, there will always be victory, even if it

doesn't make sense. I want the God that is so righteous, he will not tolerate evil that he'll actually open up the earth and swallow evil people. I want the God that is so for us that he will actually shut the mouths of lions when you pray. I want the God that even if you're thrown into a fiery furnace, he goes in there with you. Oh, I want the God that when I read about the stories of old, this is a living God that will do anything to capture the attention of his people, even giving us his word so that if we would just get in this book, we see that he's for you. And if he's for you, who could be against you? You are meant to be more than conquerors in Jesus Christ. You're not meant to live a defeated life. I want this God that tells us that when you pray, he hears it and collects

them in a bowl. that at just the right time they're going to be poured out. We're not to be living by sight. Some of you don't see the answer to prayer, so you give up on God. God is eternal. Don't give up too early. He's about to do something greater than you can ever imagine. He is the God of possibilities, for there's nothing that our God can't do. This is the God that I want, and I want it for you. I want you to experience the fullness of God. So, I just want to ask you a few questions today. Do you want this? If so, shout amen. Amen. If you really want it, would you just say three words? I want it. I want it. Well, to get it, you've got to go to God's word. You've got to hear God's word. It's not enough just to desire it in your heart. You have to hear from God. You have to be obedient to God's word. Jesus said that we ought to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And he says, teaching them to obey all that I've

commanded. It's not enough to know about Jesus. Today, I'm here to tell you, it's not enough to go to church. This may not have been on the forefront of your mind what we're about to study today, but I'm here to tell you I believe that God wants you to know this. He wants you to know this. He wants your family to know this. I believe God wants this church to know this. And I'm telling you, the devil does not want you to know this. So, you got to pray right now. The Bible says that you can have the helmet of salvation. This is a metaphor. Protect your mind with salvation in Jesus Christ. Don't you let the devil deceive you by the lies that are speaking of your past. Your past is in the past. God wants to do a new thing today. And he can do more than you could have dreamed of. You You woke up today just thinking you can live an ordinary life.

And God is like, "Would you just get ready? I want to do so much more. I I want to do so much more." You are not defined by your past. So whatever you did last night, would you just forget about and start thinking about tonight? Would you start thinking about the reality of what God wants to say to you right now? Now, so here's what we're going to do. I believe we're just going to camp out on this for a little bit. I'm not much of a camper. Uh, but we're just going to camp out on this for a little bit. We're going to sit on this. We're going to study this and together we're going to better understand what is the fullness of God. So, we're going to take our time. I'm going to hopefully share with you some of the things that I've learned in my life. And I'll tell you this, I've been a Christian now for three decades. That's a long time. And the one thing I continue to learn even

as a pastor is there's so much more to know of God. And there's things I wish I would have known 25 years ago that I'm learning right now. And so I'm just hopefully going to fast forward your faith so that you don't have to wait three decades to be like, "Oh, that's it. God did not make it complicated. So let's not make it complicated. Let's go to God's word." If you're taking notes, which you should take notes because I believe God wants to speak to you. And if you don't take notes, you're going to forget it. So, so somewhere take notes if it's got to be on a piece of paper or in your Bible or uh it's one thing to take mental notes, but we all have spiritual amnesia or some of us have ADHD de uh so uh we have a hard time focusing. So, I'm asking you with me right now today, would would you would you work? Would you focus? This is not school. We don't want information today.

We want transformation. So, we got to work for this. We got to fight for this. The title of today's sermon is the keys of the kingdom. Keys of the kingdom. Would you say that with me? Keys of the kingdom. I believe God wants you to know this. And and I want you to know this. I'm gonna just ask right now for the remainder of our time that you just pay careful attention that you would ask God even in your heart. Say, "God, I just want a revelation of this. I want to understand this. I want this to be practical because I don't want you to settle in your faith today. I want you to believe that God's able to do this in your life." I want to turn our attention right now to the book of Matthew, chapter 16. Matthew, chapter 16. Jesus is on a journey. He's a rabbi, which means teacher, and he's got these students that are known as disciples. And we read in Matthew chapter 16, starting with verse 13, Jesus asked his students, his disciples, he said, "Who

do people say that I am?" And what a relevant question as Jesus asked this, "Who do people say that I am?" 2,000 years later, that question is still discussed today, even in universities. Who do people say that Jesus is? Many people have come up with different conclusions of who Jesus is. There's not a united thought around the world that this is who Jesus is. Like we can say Joe Biden, he is the president of the United States. You can claim one thing, you can claim another, but the reality is he is in that position. He has authority in that position. That's his role. Who do people say that Jesus is? What authority do people think that Jesus has? Who do people say that Jesus is? I want to warn you today. There are many very intelligent academic people

that are atheists that don't believe Jesus is savior or lord or king or eternal and they are influencing million even tens of millions of lives. So if we can't answer the question of who do people say that Jesus is you won't know who Jesus is. So you've got to know that some people do not think that Jesus is the son of God. There are many people that don't There are many people today that are coming to the conclusion in history that he didn't even exist which is flat out a lie of history. He changed history. So they're no longer even questioning his his humanity. They're actually questioning his existence. So who do people say that Jesus is? Now, at this time when Jesus asked his students, they said in verse 14, "Some say you're John the Baptist, some say Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

So, at the time of Jesus, he was doing enough in his life where people were thinking he's a spiritual person. He's a prophet of God. He he's doing things that need the help of God. And so, people, they were coming up with their own conclusions of who Jesus is. And then Jesus said in verse 15, Jesus said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" So it's critical that you understand what other people say of Jesus. It's even more important or we could say this most important who do you say that Jesus is. You do not allow others their opinions of Jesus to dictate who Jesus is. Because if you do, you may come to the wrong conclusions. You need the revelation of God, the understanding of who God is. And Simon Peter, he said in verse 16, he replied, "You are the Christ." Let me stop there for a moment.

The word Christ is a very important one. It's a Greek word. It means Messiah. Now, the word Messiah, the the root of Messiah, it means anointed one. It's the anointed one. Now, anointing in the scriptures is what you receive with Jesus Christ. Anointing is a word that you should never be afraid of. You should long for this. You should ask God for this. Anointing means the power of the Holy Spirit. John says in first John that you have an anointing and you receive knowledge because of this anointing. So through the power of the Holy Spirit, you have a knowledge you would otherwise not have on your own. The word Christ means anointed one, Messiah. So Peter looks to Jesus and says, "You're not just a prophet. You're not just a man. You are the Christ. You are

the chosen anointed one of God that will do what no one else can do. So you are the Christ and he says you are the son of the living God. Now son of is a title that we see throughout the scriptures. It means you're the first. You're the greatest. That's what son of means in the scriptures. So when you see someone as the son of is not just their lineage, it's not just their heritage. It's not just their identity. It means they're the greatest. They're the first. You're the son of the living God. You are great. And Jesus responds in verse 17. Jesus answered Peter and said, "Blessed are you." May I just declare today, we have a God of blessing. He wants to bless you today. Some of you don't believe that, but I just want to tell you Jesus blesses. He loves to bless. Go read Matthew chapter 5. He starts off a whole sermon saying, "Bless, bless, bless, bless." I want you to know today, Jesus wants to bless your

life. Some of you have bought into some lie that you've missed the blessing. You can't get the blessing. You've done too much. Let me tell you Jesus just as he blessed Simon at Peter, he also wants to bless you today. Blessed are you. Simon Barjonah. Is his name Simon or is it Peter? Is both. Simon means a pebble. Peter means a rock. Jesus sees who you were and he sees who you are. Bar means son of. Blessed are you son of Jonah. So he he is the son of Jonah. And then he goes on to say, "For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. This is not natural. This isn't what the academics are saying about me. This is not just something you would come to your own conclusion of.

This is not just something that you came up with." But he goes on to say this, "But my father," that's God who is in heaven. That's who's revealed this. We have one God and three persons. One God perfectly united in three persons. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. One God. And when you have the revelation of who God is, God's revealed it to you. You see God accurately for who he is. And Jesus says, "The reason you can call me the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ, is because that's exactly who I am." Jesus goes on to say this, and I need you to pay attention here. He says, "And I tell you, you are Peter. You are the rock. You're not just Simon. You're you're the rock. your Petra and on this rock Jesus said what rock? Well, I'll tell you there's been many discussions over the years about what this rock is.

The Catholic Church might say it was Peter in the form of leadership. And so they say the church needs to be led by a pope, by a leader. That's what the rock is. It's someone that will lead the church. I I would disagree with that theologically. I believe the rock is the revelation that God gave Peter that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one. He is the son of the living God. That's the rock. The Bible says that Jesus is the chief cornerstone on which you should you should build your life. In Matthew chapter 7, he says, "Anyone who hears my teaching and hears these words and obeys them builds his life on the rock." So, so the rock is the word of God. John says in John chapter 1 verse one, he says, "In the beginning was the word and the word was God and the word was with God." Jesus is the word. So when we take him at his word and we obey his word, we have the rock and Jesus

says on this rock I will build my church. This is so important that you understand this. Church is not man's idea. Church is not a religion. Church is not made up of ministries where you go to a building and you go and do things. Jesus said, "I will build my church." The Greek word here is eklesia. Eklesia means the assembly, the gathering. So wherever people who believe in Jesus go, wherever you go and you believe in Jesus, you are the church. You're meant to be the church. I'm meant to be the church. We're meant to be the church. At your work, at your home, everywhere we go is the church. And Jesus said, "I will

build my church." We can try to do all sorts of fancy things to to build and grow the church. But Jesus says,"I will build my church." And then he made a declaration and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Not even hell itself. The devil himself cannot destroy the church. Now, there's times through history that it appears like, "Is the church really doing anything great?" Well, there are times in history if we're not obeying the Lord, we cannot see the favor of God. We cannot see God move through us when we're allowing sin in us. Jesus has forgiven your sin. He doesn't want you to keep going back to what you were doing. He wants you to see who you are that he would build something greater in you than you could ever do on your own. Now, this is where I really need you to pay attention. Now

he he says in verse 19, "And I," Jesus said, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." This is absolutely incredible. Over the last few years when I came to a point where I felt defeated and I don't need to go into those details. I just knew something was missing in my life. I couldn't put my finger on it. Have you ever been to a place where like you know something's missing but you can't put your finger on it? Usually someone will say, "Well, read this book. It helped me.

Go to this church. It helped me." I just couldn't put my finger on it. what was missing. It's like I knew Jesus. I knew he would build his church. I I could preach that message, but but I wasn't understanding something deeper. And it's a terrible place to know that you you have something, but it's missing. I often hear today, there's something missing from the church. Something missing where the government or the media wants to try to dictate whether the church is growing or not growing. And the church gets so upset that they think they have some voice on social media that if they say something other people will listen. I we something's missing today.

I know from practical experience and this is not something new. It's not even new for our generation. There's something missing in marriages. PE people they make these great vows. They look so good-looking. They wear the best clothes and they say I just want to grow old with you because I love you. And growing old with a sinner is actually not as exciting as people think. Something's missing. Something's missing. You made vows, but you're unwilling to often keep them. What's missing? What's missing in marriages? It's not just marriages. It's happening with kids. I have never heard of so many estranged relationships with parents and their kids. Parents that love their kids. They've poured into them. They've done everything they can.

They're they're just sinners trying to raise a human being. And at some point when those human beings are adults, they cut off all ties and relationships, saying, "For whatever reason, we're going to stay distant. I'm not going to communicate with you. I'm cutting you off. We're divorcing from this family." What's missing here? What's missing with addictions that we keep going back to the things that aren't giving us life, but they're destroying? Why can't you just stop the very thing that you shouldn't be doing? The list will go on. Health. There are so many chronic health problems in our day and age. Should we just blame the food industry? Should should should we blame lifestyle? What's missing? And today I want to tell you what's missing. I've actually got the answer. So pay very close attention

because I've been there and now I figured it out. Here it is. I want you to understand this point. This there's one point today and it's a very important one. Here's the point. You should write this down. Everything is easy for Jesus. Let me just say that again because it didn't really sit well with you. Everything is easy for Jesus. Some of y'all are preaching your mind that's not true. I don't believe that. And you have the right to say that because you have not seen it. And since you don't see it, you don't believe it. If you don't know this, you won't walk in the authority that everything is easy for Jesus. You'll actually think that you have a role to play in this.

And so you'll you'll bear the burden of unforgiveness, of bitterness. You'll bear the burden of the outcome that you want to see God do, but you don't see God doing it. So, you just go ahead and take it back into your hands. Do you know what I mean by that? You're not really satisfied with the pace at which God's answering your prayer, so you just go ahead and take it back. I'm not happy with my marriage. I'm not happy with my money. I'm not happy with my health. I'm not happy with those things. So, you do it. But let me just hear me out here. If everything is easy for Jesus, he's either God or he's not. It cannot be both. We cannot have a God where we claim he's God but live like he's not. So, either Jesus is God and we give him full authority over every area of our life, or he's not. And I think one of

the biggest problems in our lives, what's really missing is we want Jesus, but we also want our lives too. So we play the role of God while claiming that he is God. And that just doesn't work. At some point, you will fail physically, emotionally, spiritually. And for some of us, we've even deflected it back on God and said, "God, you let me down. I'm here to tell you he's perfect." And he didn't. He's the same God that's always been God. He is so good. He cannot not be good. So if something is wrong here, we've got to actually come back to the reality and the foundation of who he is and say there's no in between. So you've got to determine this day. Am I going to take Jesus serious or not? I've got a really great news for you. He's got a plan.

And according to Jesus, his plans cannot fail. Let's go back to Matthew 16:18. I will build my church. The church is his plan, which is you. You are his plan. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. But some of y'all are waking up and hell is prevailing against your life. It's okay to get real in church. Let's just get relentlessly real. Hell is prevailing over that relationship. Hell is prevailing over your your bank account right now. Hell is prevailing over the stock market. I don't know what it is for you. Where do you not see victory? Because I have the God of victory that if he's with you, you're always going to see victory. So, so where have we missed this? Well, I believe in verse 19, we've got to so take seriously what Jesus says, not some, but completely full surrender.

Jesus says, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom." Now, I need to explain this because this might be new for some of us here today. keys. Just just think about this in natural terms. Keys represent access. If something is locked, you need that key to get in. You need the right key. So key gives you access to that which is locked. Keys give you authorization. You you have permission. You know, if if you go away on vacation, but you want your plants watered so that they have life, you hide the key under the mat or the rock, however you do it, and you tell your neighbor, "Hey, listen. My house is locked, but I'm giving you access. I'm giving you permission to go and get the key and go

into my home. I'm giving you permission." Finally, keys represent power. You you have an authority with the power with the keys to get that which you couldn't get without the keys. Are you tracking with me? So you need to see that God says, "I'm going to give you the keys." Jesus said, "I'm going to give you the keys. I'm going to give you authority. I'm going to give you access. I'm going to give you permission. I'm going to give you power to to what?" To the kingdom. Not to the kingdom. of the kingdom because when you believe in Jesus, you've already now got access to the kingdom, but now you get the keys of the kingdom. I want you to live in this. I want you to operate in this. I I want you to experience this. God says to the

fullness in every area of your life. So, so what are the keys spiritually? Practically, we know it gives us access, authorization, permission, and power. Spiritually speaking, keys are are the promises of God. It's the laws of God. Now, the law is never meant to hold us back. Some of us read the Old Testament scriptures and we see the most bizarre laws and say, "Man, the Bible is weird." Yep, it is weird because God had to create some laws because people on their own will do bad things. Do you all know what I mean? We have speed limits for a reason. Did you notice over the pandemic like cops weren't really enforcing them? They're enforcing them again.

I haven't been pulled over in a long time. So, I had to really go to the bathroom the other day. It was just Friday. I was heading home and I just I saw that state trooper coming towards me and that's when I did what all y'all would do. I just slammed on the brakes, you know. And then he flipped that UI. My little girl was with me. I'm like, "Oh, sweetie. We're gonna get pulled over." I brought her into the mess. You know, we're going to get pulled over. She said, "No, daddy. He doesn't have his lights." I'm like, "We're getting pulled over." And then those lights flickered. She says, "Yep, we are getting pulled over." And lo and behold, my wife was driving behind me. So, I pulled over and I just waved at her through the window as she passed.

But you know why I got pulled over? I didn't obey the law. I could justify my behavior. I had to go to the bathroom and my house is like way out there. So, I'm like I was just I thought I had permission to break the law. The keys are the law. God set some boundaries not because we we always want to obey them, but God actually knows what's best for you. So, the keys are the law. It's the promises. It's the precepts. Precepts means like the truth of God. So if God has given us his truth, his promises, the the precepts, if if he's given that to you, it doesn't mean anything unless you use it. Let me just give you a really practical example. I go to the gym and at my gym, they give you access to the lockers for free. You put your stuff in it and then

you get a set of code on the lock and then when you come back, you use your code and you get access to your stuff. Now, on occasion, you go to get access into your stuff and and it doesn't work. Sometimes it's because I've forgotten the code. It's been a long day and I'm tired. On occasion, I've actually gone to the wrong locker. But when something's not working, sometimes I'm pretty sure it's the lock. When it's not working, what I have to do is go to the employee. And the employee has one key. It guess what it is? the master key that has access to all the lockers. Now, when we go in there, he says, "Which locker is yours?" And I say, "This is my locker. Can I have my stuff?" And they always look at me and they go like this. Well, describe your stuff. As if I'm going to steal someone else's gym clothes or something. Right?

Like they they look at me and say, "You look like you're going to steal something. Describe your stuff." And so I explain there's my jeans with my wallet and my jacket because it's still freezing out there and it's April and there's this is what's in there. All right. My car keys. I can't go anywhere without those things. Now listen, all they do is less than 30 seconds, take the key, open it up. One key opens it up. Now I could go to that locker and moan and groan and say, "Why won't it open? I know my stuff's in there. I know my wallet's in there, which will give me groceries that will give me gas for my car. I know my keys are in there, which will get me from this place to that place. I know my jacket's in there, which will keep me warm. But I can go and say, "It's locked. H, I'm so mad. I'm going to just go do things on my own. And I could leave and say, "That's my stuff." But I don't have access to it without

the key. Sometimes I got to humble myself and say, "I need the key to what's already mine." Listen. Listen. The Bible says in the book of Ephesians that God has actually given you access to all of his inheritance, but you need the eyes of your heart open to the hope that he's given you in this inheritance. Everything is yours. Everything is yours. Jesus has given you powers over all demons. You have authority over the devil. Some of you are still afraid of it because you've allowed Hollywood to actually influence your theology on what is demonic and of the devil. Listen, when someone has a demon in them, their heads don't spin.

Nor do you need someone in a fancy robe with a cross and water flickering on someone who's who's demonpossessed. You need the authority of Jesus Christ. You need the keys to understand that God has given it to you already. I'm so grateful someone believes it today. He's given you access over sickness and disease. We don't like to talk about this because we look at doctors that are much smarter than we are and we say, "I guess that's just the answer." No, Jesus says that's not the final answer. He's even greater than the doctor. You have authority. You have authority over unforgiveness. You have authority over righteous. God has given you all that he he's given you the authority, the power to reconcile.

Do you know that you should not have a right relationship with God? Because the Bible says you're an enemy of God. He loves you so much that he says, "We're going to have a right relationship. I love you." In fact, one day we're going to be married forever. It's going to be so good. Not like earthly marriage. It's going to be so much better. He reconciles. Now, he did not do that with you so that you can be mad at everybody else. He wants you to reconcile. You say, "But you don't know what that person does." That's the power of Jesus. You reconcile with your enemy. Now, let me just tell you, you cannot do that on your own. So it is with the kingdom. He gives you full authority. Now the reason why he gives us full authority is he has it. The gates of hell shall not prevail. Now when I looked at my life, it felt like hell was prevailing. Why was I doing that? I wasn't allowing Jesus to take his rightful place. I've got great news for you today. Jesus is alive. May I just say that again? Jesus is alive.

If Jesus did not defeat death, I would still be dead. Jesus did defeat death. He did defeat the devil. And as a result, I get the same authority he has because he is alive. Let me tell you, Revelation 1, John, who was a student of Jesus, walked with Jesus, talked with Jesus, realized there's so much more to know of Jesus. He gets this revelation of Jesus. And in chapter 1:1 17, he says, "When I saw him, John said, I fell at his feet as though dead, he recognized that compared to me, I I have to die in his presence." That's the greatness of Jesus. He fell down as though dead. But Jesus in his grace, he laid his right hand on John and he said, "Fear not." That's the message of Jesus to you today. Fear not.

Fear does not come from God. Fear is of the devil. And God wants to tell you today, "Do not be afraid. I don't care what you're facing. Fear not." Jesus said, "Fear not. I am the first. That means he's always been God. And I am the last." Which means he'll always be God. And Jesus says, "I am in verse 18, the living one. I died. I did what all y'all are going to do. You're gonna die. By the way, some of you get to a certain age and you say this, I don't know if I could face this. Well, you're going to die. We should tell kids early that you're going to die. Statistically speaking, unless Jesus returns, 100% of us are going to die. But Jesus says, "I died and look what happens. And behold, I am alive for how long? Forever more. Jesus did what no

other person has done before. God became a man. He lived a perfect life. And when he died, he did it to pay the penalty of your sin. So that when you die, it's not the end of your story. It's the entry point to life. So in Jesus Christ, you actually don't die. You live. This is the message of Jesus. This is why you surrender your life to him. He has all authority over death. And he says, "I have the keys, the truth. I have the promise. I have the keys of death and Hades. The word Hades here is the same word used for hell in Matthew 16. All hell is is separation from God. God is life. Hell is eternity. It's death forever. That apart from Jesus, you will die. You will not experience access to the living God. Now, many people say, "I have a problem with God sending people to hell." God does not send anyone to hell. He provided a way for everyone to go to heaven. And it's through Jesus.

You must reject the free gift that God's given you in Jesus Christ. Now, the devil right now, I don't I can't go into all this right now. The devil right now has permission and authority to rule in this world. He's the prince of this world. He's not the king, the prince of this world. The Bible says that one day, because Jesus has the keys, he's going to be locked up for eternity. But you don't have to live like the devil has victory in your life because you know who has authority over his life. You have access and authority even over the devil. Some of you are spiritually dead right now. You need to come to Jesus and he's going to make you alive. Some of you have lost the vision in your life. You need to come to Jesus and he's going to give it back to you. But you're going to need the keys. What do the keys mean? Jesus told us. He said in Matthew 16, he says, "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.

Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." A few chapters later, he says the exact same thing. I think Jesus is trying to tell us something. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Do you know what that means? You start praying right now like things should be in heaven. He taught us to pray, Lord, let your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So what Jesus is telling us, don't wait to get to heaven to start experiencing the ways of heaven. So if something is not the way it should be right now in your life, do you know in heaven there'll be no more sickness, no more disease. So you start binding on earth, God, I want health, I want life. You start loosening the things that shouldn't be there. You start removing right now. There's strongholds in your life. There's something demonic. And I I know the word demonic is it's it's going to feel a little creepy to some of you, but you

don't need to be creeped out. This is a spiritual world. We'll talk more about this in the weeks to come. So, don't miss a Sunday. You come, I promise you, I'll keep teaching you about the authority that you have over the devil over the next two weeks. What the the devil wants to hold you back. And so sometimes he'll pass on generation generationally in your life what shouldn't be there because it won't be like that in heaven. You need to loose it in your life. And if you loosen it now, it'll be loosed in heaven. That means one day you're going to get into heaven. Be like, "Man, that was so good. You gave me a glimpse of this God because heaven's going to be good." You should start to experience the goodness of God right now. What does that look like? This is what Jesus said in John 14. Truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes in me, everyone say believes. Believes. Not everyone who's good enough, not everyone who's born of the right family. Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do. And

greater works than these, Jesus said, will he do because I'm going to the Father. Jesus told us his plan. I'm going to ascend up to heaven. I'm going to be with the Father, but I I'm going to give you the promise of the person of the Holy Spirit, and you're going to do the exact same things I did, but you're going to do even more. Why are you going to do more? Because we're his church. Wherever we go, we're going to do this together. Look at verse 13. Whatever you ask in my name, Jesus said, "This I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son." If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. Now, some of you hear these words and you do not believe them. If you do not believe Jesus, you will not have access to the keys of the kingdom. If you do not do not believe it, you will not believe that everything is possible in Jesus Christ. So, you won't ask him for everything. Jesus said, "Ask and it'll be done." He didn't say how many times to ask. Sometimes you got to keep knocking. Sometimes you got

to keep seeking. Sometimes you got to keep asking until he does it. And it's not because he's slow or late. He's always on time. But you're going to need the keys. You're going to need the authority. You're going to need the help of God in your life so that you fulfill what his plan is your life. So what did Jesus do? Let me just close with this. He did a lot of awesome things. I I don't even need to explain to you. You can go read it in the book of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. All four of those books are testaments to who Jesus is. Go read about Jesus life. And he says, "What I did, you can do." I'll just give you two brief examples. Matthew chapter 4, Jesus is just getting started. It says his fame spread throughout all Syria. They brought to Jesus all the sick. Everyone say all. All the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures and paralytics, and he healed them. That's not the only time. Matthew 8:16, that evening they

brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed. Say all. All who were sick. He healed all. Now Jesus says you'll do the things I do. Why aren't we doing it? Why don't you wake up and say I want to do what you do, Jesus. So if there's something not right, I'm going to operate with the keys of the authority of the kingdom. Maybe it's not right in your head. Maybe it's not right in your home. Maybe it's not right in your relationship. Maybe it's not right in your health. Maybe it's not right in the church. Let me just tell you, Jesus says, "Here's what I want you to do. I want you to do what I would do." You know how loving God is? He's so loving and full of grace. He wants you to experience the fullness of who he is. Jesus constantly wherever he went preached the gospel. He said repent. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent means change your thinking. You can have

heaven right now. Don't wait for another day. Don't wait for someday. Some of you think that you promised decades to come. You're not promised another day. You just don't know. You don't know. Children die, teenagers die. Sometimes the Lord lets some live a long time. My wife has a grandmother just turned 104 yesterday. She's happy and healthy. Let me just tell you, some of you will live that long. Some of you will not. Don't you determine your destiny. Start living like it right now. Some of you think, "Well, one day I'm going to grow into this." No, no. Don't grow into it. Start putting it into practice. You say, "I don't know enough Bible." You don't need to know enough Bible. You need to know Jesus Christ. You need to believe in him. And when you believe in him, you got to take his take him at his word.

Let me close with this scripture. We're going to talk about this a lot the next few weeks. Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." These were his final words before you ascended into heaven. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. And behold, Jesus says, "I I am with you always to the end of the age." My friends, it's time to take Jesus serious. If there's something missing in your life, I'm here to tell you it's Jesus. It sounds cliche. It sounds simple, but I I I literally mean this. It's Jesus. Now, with Jesus comes the power of the Holy Spirit. Everything is easy with Jesus.

Which means you have to surrender it all to Jesus. I'm going to ask you right now, some of you have never done that with your life. Maybe you've even gone to church. Maybe you've known of Jesus. That's not enough. The Bible says you need to believe in Jesus. I'm going to ask you today if you want to do that, you can. I'm going to pray with you. And it's not the prayer that's going to save you. It's Jesus. And from this point forward, you need to keep coming back to Jesus. If you don't have a Bible today, we would love to give one to you as a gift so that you would get into God's word so God's word would get into you. And then you have to obey it. That's what a disciple is. A student of Jesus. Doesn't just learn about it, but obeys Jesus. I want to ask you, is that you today?

If if your heart stopped today, I don't mean to scare you in this. It's just the reality. If you got in a car crash today, if you got in a heart if you had a heart attack, God forbid some evil that's happening all over the world. If you were to die today, can you be certain that you'd sp spend forever with Jesus? Because the scriptures say to be absent from the body with Jesus is to be present with the Lord. that is your heart stops. You don't die at all. You're instantly with God. It's a wonderful place. God doesn't want you to fear that. He doesn't want you to question that. He wants you to know this with confidence that you want to live it in your life. So, I'm just I'm going to ask right now that you just take take this so serious that if you want this, it's yours. Just with every eye closed right now, just close your eyes. I want you to focus on

Jesus. If you want to surrender, you want to believe in Jesus today. You're saying yes to him. You came in not even realizing the entire destiny of your life is changing right now in this moment. God's given you the gift of eternal life. If that's you, would you just raise your hand up high? Praise God. Praise God. Amen. Praise God. So proud of you. Yes. Praise God. Someone's here today. You're saying, "I just want to be confident. I'm I'm sure of this that I believe in Jesus." Praise God. God is raising up a new generation. He's going to take all your past. He's going to redeem it. He's going to restore it. He's going to do more in your life than you could dream. He loves you that much. Anyone else is just going to throw your hand up. Your heart's beating and you're saying yes to Jesus. Amen. Praise God. It is never too late with God. He loves you. He's so glad that you surrendered it all. Anyone else?

There's no sin so great he won't forgive. Praise God. Amen. Mother and a daughter, generations being changed right now. So proud of you. Anyone else here? Just throw your hand up right where you are. You can put your hands down. Would you just pray this prayer with me? Anyone that's ever believed in Jesus, we're going to pray it together. Even if you're watching online, wherever you are, God is with you. Jesus said, "I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you." Just out loud with your lips. Would you confess this right now? Lord Jesus, I believe in you. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life. I receive the Holy Spirit. I receive the keys of the kingdom. and I will walk in your ways in Jesus name. Amen. And amen.