Parkway Podcast

Rhythm is important to a life of worship. We have to be the catalysts to allow the Holy Spirit to come and shock us back into rhythm.

From Acts 2:40-47, Pastor Jay pulls out 4 points for getting back to the Rhythm.

1. Gladness was front door of their rhythm

2. Had a together lifestyle with Jesus at the Center Rhythm

3. Rhythm of miracles

4. Rhythm based on the concept of an open circle

Haggai 2:6-9

Shake the Nations is about understanding that the church has to get back to not just pursuing the questions of the day, but standing and abiding in the answer that is found in God's Word.

Before the Lord shakes the nations, God shakes the church. He challenges us on what we're standing upon. Because when God begins the desire to shake a nation again, he looks to the house of God and says, "I gotta shake the men and women of God because it's through the men and women of God that nations are changing and transformed."

Our country is only going to get saved when sons and daughters of the King take their rightful place in the local church, on bended knee, in repentance.

Did you know we are the sent people of God? Then why do we drift? Mission Drift unfolds slowly. Like a current, it carries organizations away from their core purpose and identity. In Matthew 9:35-38, Jesus gives us four timeless truths to keep us on course for Mission.

1. Evangelism and discipleship were Jesus' priority (v35)

2. Compassion was Jesus impulse (v35)

3. A lack of workers was His concern (v37)

4. Prayers were the remedy (v38)

We can declare Open Heaven wherever our feet touch. We are to actively walk in the authority that changes atmospheres and cultures.

In Luke 10:1-7, Jesus outlines instructions to the 70 he sent out.

1. Your intimacy with Jesus will determine the outcome. (v1 Before His Face)

2. People are the chosen vehicle for the advancement of the gospel. (v2 Send forth laborers)

3. Lay down any weight that entangles you. (v4 Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes)

4. Whatever house you enter, declare peace or shalom over the house. (v5)

Pastor Jay outlines 3 beliefs we should have about the spiritual formation for the future generation.

1. Parents need to be actively involved in the leading of their students spiritual lives.

2. We need to be a Church that believes that investing in the next generation is the greatest mission field.

3. Need to know is that the power of God is actively at work in all ages of the church

Pastor Jay walks us through Ecclesiastes 11:1-8 and outlined 4 things that this proverb teaches us about Heaven.

1. Take the Risk

2. Expect the Return

3. Divide the Risk

4. Hedge Against Disaster

In Part 9 of Open Heaven, Pastor Jay drew parallels between the church of Samson and the church of Stephen in Acts 2.

Judges 16:6 (ESV), Delilah is asking Samson:

Tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one can subdue you.

Samson was:

1. Seduced: The allure of the world took Samson's eyes off his source.

2. Sourced: A sensual spirit found Samson's strength was tied to his holiness. Holiness is less about what we are not touching as much as it is about what we are allowing to touch us.

3. Separated: Samson didn't even know the Lord's spirit had left him. Being separated from God never happens in one step.

Compare this with Stephen's Church.

In Acts 2:42-47 (MEV), we read of an alive church; Stephen's Church.

And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued steadfastly (they were devoted) in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

Stephen's church was:

1. Alive and growing

2. Devoted

3. Together

4. Walking in the Miraculous

Our Prayer: Let Stephen's Church Be My Church

Stephen was fed up with up with religion, not because he was fed up with the religious, but because he was fed up with the enemy holding the religious in the stronghold of religion. Religion is the greatest enemy for revival. And it won't be until we are fed up, and filled up that we get fired up!

Stephen did 3 important things that united Heaven and Earth.

1. Declared God is good, even when life is bad

2. His eternal perspective, allowed him to forgive those who did the unforgivable

3. His enemies became his mission field

Independence was only a dream until it was declared, fought for and stood on.

In Acts 7:49, Stephen quotes a direct question from Isaiah, "what house will you build for me?" Stephen opens a new season of decision to the church. No longer will the priests be mediators, we now have Jesus, and because of this direct connection: we are provided a clear question. "What house will you build?"

Looking at the scripture in Isaiah, the Lord identifies the kind of people the God looks for so that he might have a relationship with His people. "But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My Word."

Listen as Pastor Jay walks through three elements to the kind of relationship God wants us to build with Him in this new house or season of Open Heaven.