"Intentional Encounters." -Johnny Asevedo

Pastor Johnny shares a refreshing word on intentionally encountering the Lord. Enjoy!

Transcript

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Welcome to the Destiny Church and Throne podcast. We pray that stirs you into a deeper relationship with Jesus and equips you to live a heaven-on-earth lifestyle daily. Enjoy. Speaking of worship tonight, uh every summer for the past five years, I think, um, we've had our habitation school of worship. And we've had just such a beautiful time with that. And we've kicked we kicked it off last Sunday. It's gonna happen again tonight. Um, if you want to come in person, you can, but it's gonna be online. It's like one of the only things that we stream ever. Um and use that beautiful camera that somebody donated to us back there on is uh when when we do our school of worship. And I'm really excited. Last week there was so much confirmation from it. David taught on Pastor David taught on the foundations of worship, and tonight him and Marissa are gonna talk about the enemies of worship, and so that's beautiful. Um, I'm gonna share a little bit of heart this morning on encountering the Lord, and I'm not gonna be long, I'll be very brief because I feel like it's just gonna be straight to the point. And I just want to encourage you guys. Um, but how many know that like what good is it to like be taught something if we we don't plan on putting it to action? You know what I mean? Uh you can hit those lights, David. Like, um, you see in the Old Testament, in the book of Acts, they came together and and uh they listened to the apostles' teaching and there was change and they went out and they you know they began to walk and live in it. And so like what is released today, um it's not it's it's very simple, but it's something for us to put into action every day as we encounter the Lord. Now, the beautiful thing about Jesus, there's the there's the most beautiful thing that I've learned. If somebody was to ask me, like, what's one of the most like there's a there's a ton of things, but one of the things that I love to say about Jesus is that he's personal. And I can meet and encounter him every day. See, faith goes beyond just the things that we feel in front of us. Faith goes beyond those. And so one of the things that I love about relationship with the Lord, outside of like just what who he is and the testimonies, we could pass this mic around about the testimonies of who God is, what he's done, how he saved us, how he's delivered us, all these amazing things. But I love that he is a God that is personal. Okay, that's what I love. And and to encounter him, to to meet with him, to be with him, is so needed and necessary as a believer. Like it's so needed and it's so necessary to encounter him, to meet with him. Outside of doing that, we're missing the big picture of what we're called to be as sons and daughters. You're not called to be a church goer. I know a lot of people that go to church that don't even know Jesus. They know how to do church. They don't know how to, they don't know how to live in the kingdom. You know what I'm saying? Like, and it's like, man, like, and so my hope is that when you leave here, that you we we we not that saying that we don't know, because I know all of you know, but that we are called to encounter him on a daily basis. Okay, so this is gonna be not only a reminder, this is gonna be a refresher, this is gonna be something I want to sow into your life that when you leave here, you're like, okay, he's calling me to do that. If you go to work and your manager tells you, hey, when you clock in, I want you to do A, B, and C. If you don't do A, B, and C, guess what happens? You get reprimanded, you potentially get fired, all these types of things. But yet when it comes to things with the Lord and his teachings, we're like, well, I know he says do A, B, C, but I'm gonna do X, Y, Z. Right? I'm gonna do this. So I want to just encourage and equip you with this thing. Um, he he is so personal, he's called us to encounter. Uh, can I share what happened a moment ago over there? I don't like sure all, but I went up to go pray with Nicole, and um, and as we're praying, I see uh this vision. And it's this vision of this candle, but it's not just an old school type of candle, it's one of those candles in a tin can that has three wicks, and you know, you light all three of them. And I was like, the first thing I was like, okay, Lord, like what's on your heart for Nicole in this? Um, this is nothing that Nicole came to me and told me about. This is, you know, you could talk to her about it. Um, it wasn't anything she gave off. I uh we were just praying, I think I was just praying for joyful praise and worship. Just that was just on it, it's been on my heart this morning. So I was just praying for joyful praise and worship. And uh it's just been on my heart. And and and so, but as I'm praying, I see this vision of this three-wick candle. And I'm like, I just see this candle, and she breaks, and God just does some awesome things and that. And then she opens up and she tells me afterwards and said, Okay, well, tell me what happened with this candle thing. Because clearly it was the Lord. And she was saying that last night, a three-wick candle, she was laying with this candle before the Lord and just examining the fire. And even so from the prophetic word, uh putting the cap on it, all this stuff. Like it was so like exactly what just happened less than 24 hours ago through a word of knowledge, through a prophetic word. Okay. That word that was released to Nicole was not to glorify a gifting within me. That word of knowledge that was given to her was so God can remind her, not that she forgot, of just how personal and how much he knows her. She encountered the Lord in that moment through this word of knowledge. Let me read this to you. To encounter can be defined as unexpectingly experience or being faced with something. It's an unexpected or casual meeting with someone. That's what you hear, that's what an encounter is. I didn't go up to Nicole and tell her in that moment, you know, hey, can you tell me what God's doing in your life and I'm gonna pray into that? Not that there's anything wrong with that. But unexpectedly, she encountered the Lord in that moment through this word. And beloved, I'm telling you, every day of your life, there is something that is fighting your attention for you to meet with Jesus. Amen. There is something always fighting for your attention and your gaze to go do or be with someone else rather than him. You couldn't even stay awake for one hour and pray with me. Jesus, like I told you to pray. You couldn't even do that. Not that he's, yes, he's rebuking, but what he's showing them is I'm calling you to partner with what I'm telling you to do. And I'm not asking for much. Like he's not asking for a lot out of us in these moments. So you go to be with him for an hour. What do you lose? An hour of YouTube and Facebook? So he calls you to be away in your in your secret place with him and forget about everything else. What do you lose? A distraction that was going to be on something else? He is calling you to encounter him, beloved. He wants to meet with you. All right, a few more things. Um, I think that encounters with Jesus are very intentional. I think that we need to be intentional about doing those things. Going back to church culture. We're intentional about setting our alarms and being at church Sunday after Sunday, you know, church culture wide, all these things. But we're not intentional about meeting with him at 6 a.m. when he calls us to. We're not intentional about waking up at 3 o'clock in the morning and going to pray because he's calling us to. We're not intentional about opening up our Bible and studying the Word of God, allowing it to dwell and transform and transform us, right? We're not intentional with these things. Intentionality goes a long way when you're called to encounter Jesus. You guys follow me on this? Right? We're intentional with things that we think are the big things, the church things. We're really intentional with that. But what about the intentionality of the things where he just tells us to go and meet with him, shut everything off, go to our bedroom, go to our secret place, read our word, and just worship him. That doesn't happen as often because that requires us to get rid of every other distraction that's in front of us. Integrity and character is best built in those moments and known in the moments where only God is watching. And if we are to encounter him, we have to be intentional about going away to meet with him. Intentionality. You guys follow me on this. There's something the Lord's been showing me over these past few months is that Jesus didn't just speak sermons. Okay? He didn't just, you know, Ben Jesus didn't just go to the temple mount and just talk and just share a 30-minute sermon of what he studied the night before or the week before. Okay? Like, like, no. He spoke with authority. You guys feel me on this? Jesus didn't talk just to talk. He talked with an authority that broke things wide open. As you spend with an intentional time of encountering with Jesus, being with him daily, there is an authority that is built up within you so that when you go and you tell the world about who he is, oh we'll baby. Such a beautiful noise. When you go and you tell someone with an intentionality, because you have sat with him and been with him, something changes. It goes beyond conversation. I don't just want to have conversation about Jesus. I want people to encounter Jesus and eat of the fruit of my encounters with him. Because at the end of it all, I want there to be a crown, jewels to be placed at his feet. That goes beyond me just talking and doing church. Let me keep going a little bit. I need you guys to follow me. Like we're gonna be without excuse that we're called to meet with him. Okay? Like when you when you when you walk through those doors, and for those of here, you you're gonna be without excuse. I didn't, I didn't know that I had to I didn't know that I had to be with Jesus. He's calling you to be with him, beloved. And there is nothing standing in the way. That's the other crazy thing about it. Like we're without excuse. Well, I didn't go because of this. God has a plan for that. Well, I didn't go because I was feeling like this, God has a plan for that. Anything that, any excuse you could ever get him about intentionally encountering him is thrown out the window when we look at the cross. Amen. The foundations of encounter can be found in what Christ accomplished on that cross. And this is where I just want to simply just like tie everything up with the simplest words is Jesus. Your encounter, your walking with him, your being with him, your intentionality, you're able to walk and run away from sin and not live a life of things that have dragged you down, and all these other things can be found in what Christ accomplished on the cross. Your encounter and the access you have to encounter him daily comes from the cross. So the question becomes am I encountering and am I bearing fruit from that encounter? That's a question you ask yourself. That's a question that you know in your heart. Are you bearing fruit that comes from this access of encounters that you have with Jesus? When something goes crazy, a trial, whatever it may be, where does your heart go? Where does your mind go? Where does your acts go? Where does your life go? What happens when you find yourself in the valley? Right? What's your response when the ship sinks? What's your response when the house topples over? When we intentionally encounter him daily, there is fruit that is bared from that because we know him. Right? And when you know him, know him, not just know of him. When you find yourself in the valley, you know everything's gonna be alright. When you find yourself on a ship that is wrecked, you're gonna find yourself alright. Because you know him, because you've allowed yourself to encounter him, to have meetings with him. There's a reason he says, Depart, I never knew you. Not to people who were unbelievers, but to the Christians who said, Jesus, we had a party in your name. We did everything right in your name. The reason they never knew him is because there was no meeting, there was no encounters, there was no relationship that was built. Beloved, like more and more and more each and every day of our lives, as we approach the things that God is calling us into as we approach his return and everything else, you're going to see an amplification of the enemy trying to do all that he can to wreck your life. And the more that you say yes, the harder the enemy will come to try to derail you from that yes. You ever been around somebody who's like, I'm giving it all to Jesus, glory, I'm done with it, I'm burning all my CDs, yes. And then two days later, they're like, Oh, I'm right back where I was. Oh yeah, you know. Y'all remember that back in the day? I was just talking about CDs the other day. Just out of nowhere. But you know what I'm talking about. You know that experience, you know what I'm saying? Like back in youth camp, I'm burning all my shades, like I'm getting rid of it. You're on this, like, this, this glory high, and you're like, I'm saying yes. And then I know where the enemy comes in one moment, and everything is taken away because there's no roots, there's no foundation, and we're just living from one encounter with him. One moment with him. Husbands and wives don't just base their entire life on meeting once every week, and their marriages are fulfilled. And that's in the natural. Every piece of access we have to encountering him, being with him, and being known by him comes through what Christ accomplished on the cross. He's not wanting a flash in the pan relationship. He's not wanting a yippee, I'm good, now everything's bad. Like, he is wanting us to steward these encounters on a daily basis. Steward what he's showing us, steward the fruit that's being buried, stewarding our life and our intimacy with him. We're not just called to be better church people. We are called to be sons and daughters who know him and are bearing fruit of knowing him. So that others that don't know him can eat of the fruit of our relationship with him, not just hear about church, not just hear about the things that somebody told us last week. There's people that they they're they're they're they're wondering, well, why am I spiritually sick? Why am I spiritually not growing? Because you've been eating manna from three, four, five months ago. There's people that I talk to and I'm like, what's God showing you? And it's just recycled stuff. And then when you ask them about, well, tell me more about that, I'll get back to you. I'll share. It's like, wait. And not that that's bad, because sometimes you can be in one place and God's walking you through it for years and years and years, but you can tell when there's fruit or an anointing on something. There was this one time I just want to share this. This is a side note. This is this is how good God is. Like, cinnamon is one of my favorite scents. It's prophetic. There's a lot of stuff that goes into the history with me and God when it comes to cinnamon, just a bunch of stuff. Anyway, it's me and the Lord. Well, one time I was just uh I was at this, uh, we were at this like worship night, and um, people were getting prayed for, and I'm just you know, worshiping the Lord, and I'm already wrecked. I'm like, oh Jesus, you're so good. And the Lord says, I want you to go and get prayer from this this specific person. And I was like, okay. I didn't really know the person, but I was I just went up to him and was like, Lord, I trust you. And this is how just personal and beautiful God is. That's how much he knows us. Even whenever we don't choose to know him, he still knows us. And I went over to this person and I was like, Hey, can you pray for me? And they were like, Yeah, absolutely. And right before they prayed for me, they popped, they popped in a piece of chewing gum. And it was dentine cinnamon chewing gum. And it's and like, this is gonna sound weird, don't make it sound weird. As they were praying for me, like the the breath, the smell, the fragrance of that cinnamon, it just wrecked me. And every word they spoke was so on point, so confirming, it was beautiful. Beloved, even if we don't choose to know him, he knows us. This is why he is a righteous judge. But even more so, beloved, even more so every day. And we see it in the life of Christ, he often withdrew to the wilderness to be with his father. He's calling you away to encounter him. Steward those encounters. When you go away with him and he deals with things in your heart, steward it. Don't pick it back up. Let it lay where it's laying and just walk with him through that healing process or walk with him through laying it down, whatever it may be. But steward that encounter. If he's working in your heart with anger or for peace or for whatever it may be, steward that. Know that there's gonna be areas you're gonna be tested in it for sure, but steward those encounters. That's why we meet with him, so we build a foundation so that when the enemy comes and tries to choke out or whatever he tries to do, he's unable to do so. Because there's roots. We've allowed our roots to grow down deep. How do we allow our roots to grow down deep in Jesus? Not just coming to him once a week or saying, My roots are growing down. It's meeting with him, it's knowing him, it's him knowing us. It's us not having those things that are like, oh Lord, don't touch this. I'm gonna do and continue to do what I want, but also I'm gonna say yes to you, and I'm just gonna be this like halfway, halfway person. No. It's being intentional about encountering him, meeting with him, and bearing the fruit of that. And this is what I wanted to encourage us with, guys. I wanted to encourage us with, and this is the last thing I'm gonna say. This is it. Glory to God. Hebrews tells us, so then, since we have a great high priest who has entered heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, it says, Let us hold firmly to what we believe. This high priest of ours, Jesus, he understands our weaknesses, for he faced all the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us now come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. Glory, glory, glory. We are without excuse to run to him. Why didn't you run to me? Oh, I don't know, I just did too much bad stuff, and I didn't I didn't think that you wanted. No, that's that's not the case. Because the word tells us our high priest understands our weaknesses and he faced all the same testings we did, yet he did not sin, so now we can come boldly, we can approach with a boldness. We can go to that place because of Jesus. Meaning what? Meaning no more telling him that he doesn't want us. Meaning, oh I didn't go because of this or because of that. Like, no, like that's not there anymore because he says, I know what you've gone through, I know what you've done. Jesus was faced with the exact same. Now we can come boldly because of our high priest Jesus. Intentionally meet with him. Just go be with him, encounter him. Don't let the things that so easily distract you or get in your way, don't let those things withhold you or stop you from going into his presence. Don't let the problems, the trials, the circumstances, the what-ifs, the I don't have enough of. Don't let any of those things stop you from going to meet with him daily. Oh, he doesn't want me there. I've messed up too much, I've done this, I'm too far gone. There is no excuse that we'll be able to give him to say, I'm sorry I didn't go. Because he's saying the door has always been open and it will always be open to you to come and find me. May we find him now while he still is able to be found. Let's be intentional with our encounters, beloved. Go to him. Be intentional with encountering him. As believers, as sons and daughters. That's what I'm saying. Like, if you read the scripture, most of most of the scripture is talking to the church, to sons and daughters. We hold people who don't even believe in God to the standard that we don't even hold Christians to. Like, like, what are we doing? Like, like, we're judging sinners when we should be judging the church. And where where is this authority come from? It comes not from a person that's saying, man, man, me, me, me, meh. It comes from knowing him. It comes from saying, I know my father's heart, I've been with him. Can I help to correct and bring healing to that area where you think differently of him? I'm able to share with someone in the marketplace about his redeeming love because I was once someone who did not think could be redeemed. I remember thinking it was a waste of time going to church or trying church or anything like that before I met him because I thought I was such a lost cause and I was unredeemable and unlovable. And that's why I became an atheist. That's why I became a non-believer before I knew Jesus. Because I thought there is absolutely no way that if this guy knows what I've done that nobody else knows, that he still loves me. There's no way. So then when I encountered that, not through works, now I'm able to tell people about this love. Because I've encountered that love. I remember my thoughts. I remember how deep in bottles and pill bottles and everything else that I was. I remember all the things that I partook in, all that stuff where I said there's absolutely no way. Now I'm without excuse to be able to tell somebody about his love. Even when something bad happens to me, or even when a trial comes or somebody backstabs or gossips or whatever it may be. I'm without excuse because I've encountered that love. And beloved, he is wanting you to intentionally encounter that love. So that we can build one another up. I need you to grow to help me grow. That's the body. We're not one without the other, right? Like we need each other. And how much more so with a body of believers that intentionally seeks him daily to encounter him and throw everything else away. I just want to know him. Temptations will be easier to get through. You won't look at things the way that you once looked. The enemy won't be able to throw shame and condemnation and guilt at you anymore. Because your eyes are no longer on you. The closer that you get with him, me and Ben were talking about this earlier. The closer that you get to him, you start to look and sound more like him. But the beautiful thing is the more and the closer you get to him, you start to reproduce the fruit of heaven. That's when we start to see on earth as it is in heaven. That's when we start to see on earth as it is in heaven. Stand with me, beloved. Let's pray. Glory, glory, glory. I want to say a few things really, really quick. First off, I love you guys to the moon and back. You guys are amazing. Carry this with you. Be intentional. Write it on your mirror. Intentional. I want to meet with him. I want to be with him. Like I just want to go and just like encounter Jesus. I have access to do that. I'm without excuse. I'm not worse enough. I didn't sin enough. I'm not too bad. I'm not too far gone. I can go meet with him because Jesus made that way to do that. Thank you, Lord. A few quick announcements for some things that are coming up. So the back to school drive has been moved up. Hair and Company is really carrying the load on that this time, which is really awesome. A lot of cool things happening behind the scenes on that. But it's going to be August the 8th. And just really, man, it's a long story. I might share it Thursday just about how good God is. But anyway, so that's going to be August 8th. Haircuts, the backpack stuff. So we'll have a time for people to be here. And I think it's going to be a little bit smaller. Like I said, Heron Company is driving and pushing and carrying that more this year than you know with us doing it year in and year out. Awesome story from that God thing. Anyway, so that's going to be then. Then next Saturday, there's a prayer walk at 10 a.m. in Port Arthur because on July the 26th, I'm going to be ministering at this tent revival that they're having in Port Arthur. And this was such a Holy Spirit thing. The Lord put me on the pastor's heart. Never, I think we've said two words to each other. Don't talk on social media, nothing like that. But she was in prayer for people who needed to come and speak for what God's doing in the city of Port Arthur. And she said that I was one of the people that God had put on her heart. So I'll be out there July 26th that night. We're just going to go out there, worship Jesus, and just talk about loving Jesus. But those are some of the things that are coming up. August 8th for the back to school thing. And then, oh, also one more thing. August 8th in De Quincy, there's like a night of worship. It's like 40 minutes away from here. Philip Babano, David Clark, they're going to be doing that. And so just a couple of things that are coming within the next two, uh, three weeks. And so we're just very thankful for those opportunities. Uh, and as always, there's a red bucket in the back back there for you to give. Everything you give goes towards this building, goes towards making sure that the electrical gets paid and everything else. Uh, and so that red bucket is back there for each and every one of y'all. All right, so let's pray. Everybody, hold your hands out to receive. If you are new here, we do this as a prophetic act because a lot of times, like, we just hear stuff on Sundays and like that's it. Like, what good is a car sitting in our driveway if we don't have the key to it? And then what good is the key and the car if we don't put it in drive, right? So uh we're just gonna receive and activate this word. So, Lord, I thank you. Holy Spirit, I thank you for the truth that has just been released over this body of believers for these sons and these daughters. And we just receive right now every word that was released of meeting with you daily. Lord, I pray over every son and daughter that's in this place, that God, that there would be this mindset change within them about this intentionality of meeting with you, regardless of what our day looks like or how tired we are, how long we worked, whatever it may be, that we would say yes to meeting with you, allowing you to deal with the things in our hearts. Lord, I also uh want to pray that we receive the knowledge and the understanding that there's no excuse that we could give you as to why you don't want to be with us. You want to be with us. You made every every way possible for us to be with you. So we thank you for that. We receive that truth. Come on, receive that truth and come out of every lie that says God doesn't want you around. Because he does. So we just thank you for that truth, and we receive that truth. And God, I just pray a blessing on every family member that's here, Lord. May this week be a week in which doors are open for them to preach the gospel to the lost and to the broken, and for one person to know who you are. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Woohoo! Glory to God. I love you guys. Be intentional, go meet within, hug somebody's neck, tell