Touré Roberts - Modern Church

Father, thank you so much for your Word. It is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path. We thank you; in the beginning was your Word, and the Word was with you, and the Word was you. Everything that has been produced, everything that is being produced, and everything that shall be produced is produced by your Word. We are grateful for your Word; it nourishes us and strengthens us. We do not live by bread alone, but by the words that proceed out of your mouth. So fill us up with your Word; prepare a table for us even now in the presence of our enemies, in the presence of confusion, in the presence of insecurity, in the presence of warfare, and in the presence of doubt. Put a table out there, spread it out, God, and feed us to the full. Nourish us, nurture us; may we be so full of your Word when we leave this place that the very gates of hell will get nervous because we showed up. God, may you put such Word in our mouths that we will begin to speak to mountains in our lives, that we will begin to speak to giants in our lives, and to the circumstances in our lives. We will decree, «Who are you, great mountain, that you will not bow low?» I pray, God, that you would raise your sons and daughters up today like never before. And, Father, I thank you for the spirit of wisdom and revelation, insight, knowledge, and all of heaven’s resources to minister in power and clarity—words that will change lives in Denver, in L.A., and in the uttermost parts of the earth. We claim it done in Jesus' name. Amen.

If you received that prayer, come on, before you take your seat, give God a big shout! Come on, you’ve got a big old fill of the Holy Ghost! As I mentioned, when I say «modern church,» I’m not using that term to signify a new church; it’s not new. I’m talking about God’s original church, his original, ever-fresh, and culturally relevant vision—the Kingdom. The Kingdom is not dated; the Kingdom is and has always been actually ahead of the times. Think about Jesus; he said, «Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand!» It was something that was ahead of where they were, drawing near. So in his never-outdated church, it should have never been an old thing; it should have always been something that was relevant and fresh. You know why? Because the Spirit of God is always relevant and fresh. The Spirit has all knowledge; the Spirit knows all things. The Spirit knows what was, the Spirit knows what is, and the Spirit knows what is to come. So the Spirit is always fresh; the Spirit always has a Word. Don’t be trying to say, «I wish I could go back to the good old days.» No, no! You are right now in the good days; these are the best days the world has ever seen. We just have to get back to who we are and what we are about.

What I hope to address and help us walk away with at the end of this series is a truthful understanding of who we are, what we have, and what it means to be a child of God—to be a son or daughter of God. What did Jesus come to do? Did he come to start a religion, to start an organization, or is it something so much bigger? I believe that when we wrap our minds around who God is, what God did, and who we are as a result, it’s going to change the quality of our lives. I think some of you are majoring in the minors. Once we truly get a revelation of who we are, there are certain things we won’t be worried about. That’s what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6: first of all, stop worrying about what you’re going to eat, what you’re going to drink, and what you’re going to wear. He said, «Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all those other things will be added unto you.» He basically says, «Is not life more than that?» In other words, if that is what you are pursuing—trying to figure out if you’re going to have some money, if you’re going to get married, or if this door is going to open for you—if that is the sum total of your life, what Jesus is saying in Matthew 6 is that you have absolutely missed it. He says what you ought to do instead is seek first the Kingdom, because if you do that, all those other things will be added unto you. I have a counter for all those things that you desire; in one place, I am a one-stop shop. If you get me, you get it all. Are you tracking with me? In the scripture, it has always fascinated me when the children of Israel were led by Moses and then later by Joshua as they were led into the Promised Land. The land was divided by tribes.