Hear Me Roar

ANNOUNCEMENT: 30 Days of Prayer, text “PRAYER” to 918.400.0419

Where my people who have IG at?

Have you ever gotten one of those weird DMs about being a brand ambassador?

It sounds tempting because they give you this long spill about how you will earn some money back from what you sell and how you get to rep their brand. Even though you probably know it is a scam and you know that they’re motives are really just to try to get something from you, it sounds really cool to be wanted. Like you had something that stuck out to them that made them want to randomly DM you.

What if I told you that somebody legit, somebody with powerful influence, and somebody with all the resources at His disposal has already called upon you to be His ambassador, but you have been sleeping on His call? Its time to answer the call tonight!

2 Corinthians 5:11–13 “Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit.”

Where your glory is is where your story is.

PRAYER BREAK

So Paul is coming to the Corinthian church and telling them about how him and his team of Silas and Timothy had this reverent responsibility to God to share with them about Him. He goes on to say “are we commending ourselves to you again?”, which means “Do you really think we are just presenting ourselves to you again to talk about ourselves boastfully?”

See the church at Corinth got easily distracted by those who “appeared” to be living in a spectacular way instead of those who lived with sincerity. See, the issue is that those who boasted about their spectacular ministries were giving glory to their life and accomplishments instead of the King who is over all life and above all accomplishments.

Paul makes it pretty clear here: upon the revelation of Jesus in your life, there is a reverent responsibility to persuade others about who He is. Persuasion requires the use of your voice. However, its not just the use of your voice God wants, its the heart of your voice.

What do I mean by that?

A lot of people talk, but few mean what they say

There is a chatter in the world, but few words make impacts

We can spend a lot of time talking, even mentioning God in our conversations with our friends and fellow students, but it is the HEART of what we say that speaks louder than words.

God doesn’t just want your voice. He wants the heart WITHIN your voice.

2 Corinthians 5:12 “Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart.”

The heart of those boasting in their spectacular ministries wasn’t about God. It was about self, self-achievement.

Self-achievement was not going to alter eternities, set people free from sin and bondage, and heal people. The only thing that could was the sincere heart behind the voice.

Students, if you’ve been in Generations Youth long enough (especially since P.Micah has been covering for me), you have heard how God wants you to use your voice to reach your generation. He wants to take back ground from the enemy this year in your local schools. He wants to hear you roar, but the one question you need to answer is WHAT DO I GLORY IN?

Glory (Greek): god, deity (basically nothing comes close to)

Glory (English): high renowned and beautiful, take great pride/pleasure in

What do you glory in?

Do you glory in over your appearance to others instead of speaking the Truth in sincerity?

Do you glory in the likes, the followers, the comments, the praise, and the popularity status over sincerity in who God called and created you to be?

The first song we sung tonight was called New Ground written by our worship pastor here. The chorus says,

“We bind on earth every demonic spirit.

We loose your church with power so all can hear it.

We move with authority, we ask for annointing.

Your church prevails, in Jesus Name we will not fail”

DO WE MEAN WHAT WE SAY?

Matthew 18:18–19 ““I tell you the truth, whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven. “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.”

Forbid: restrict and tie up

Release: set free and loosen

In context, Jesus was talking about dealing with someone in the church sinning and how to handle someone who continues to sin again and again with no sign of repentance. However, Jesus doesn’t just leave it with dealing with sinners. He opened it up to “anything that you ask” and not only did He allow you to ask, He said the Father would do it! This only happens when what we glory gets back in alignment with His heart.

Where your glory is is where your story is.

Proverbs 18:21 “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.”

What if your world is the way it is because you cursed it with your words?

What if your friend group is toxic because you are spewing the poison? Or tolerating the poison?

What if your school is consistently bad because you don’t take pride in the territory God gave you?

What if your spiritual life is stagnant, dead, broken, and bleeding because you keep tolerating the garbage that is in your mouth?

Luke 6:43–45 ““A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.”

And what is in your heart is what you give the most glory

Your words will follow what you give the most glory

And how can we roar the way God wants us to (that will change our spiritual lives, home lives, friend groups, schools, locker rooms, fields, band rooms, choir rooms, drama departments, youth groups, churches, and more..) if we are spewing junk from a heart that is full of junk

Where your glory is is where your story is.

Your heart was only made to give glory to the One who is above all things, made all things, and sees all things.

Jesus is where your glory needs to be directed to and your story will become a part of another chapter in a beautiful book He is writing concerning all His followers

And if its directed to anything else, it will write your story for you and it will be your book filled with separation, desperation, and eventually, your termination from what God desired for you. Your story won’t end well. It will end up with you being separated from Him forever after this life is over.

However, are you willing to just be a chapter in somebody elses story or are you selfish and want your own book?

We have to be willing to lay our lives down for His purposes and plans on how He wants to use us where we are instead of pursuing our plans. He will teach you how to live this way, but will you humble yourself to roar for Him or exalt yourself to roar for you?