Speaker 1: 0:04

Good morning Free Church. Good morning Free Church. My name is Angel and I've been given the honor and the privilege to speak God's word in this house this morning. And before I begin, I want to thank Witness Youth and just Free Church in general for giving me this opportunity to speak. And also, before I begin, I want to give another moment to show appreciation for our worship team and our prayer partners as well, and I want to really emphasize the importance of both prayer and worship, because and I don't mean in prayer like where we ask God for things, but I mean like having that intimate time with God and having that building that relationship with him. And did you know, when we worship God and we lift our hands, it's a sign of surrender. It's a sign of surrendering to God's plans, while he has a store for us and putting his will above our own.

Speaker 1: 1:09

And I want to introduce you guys to two types of individuals that pray and worship. The first one is the one who ignores God when their life is going good and, all of a sudden, when things start going bad and when they face struggle, they, they pray to god and ask for deliverance and saving. And the second one is the person who who praises god during good times and when their life is working out in every way, they are just in a great mood and they have a great relationship with god. But all of a sudden, when, when things start going wrong, they, they question god and ask God why is this happening to me? And I was going to tell a story about how. This Monday me, I was driving my friend, but this morning something happened. I was supposed to have tryouts for college baseball and I was going to leave church early and then I got an email 20 minutes before before service started, saying that there was going to be rescheduled because I was worried. I was worried that I had to do this and then leave early for that. But I said no, I'm going to trust in God's plan, and ended up working out because they got rescheduled.

Speaker 1: 2:27

So the point, the point I'm trying to make, is that prayer and worship should not be attached to our emotions or how we feel or our circumstance. No, under any circumstance, we should pray and worship God because he is deserving of it and he is worthy. And I want to introduce a theme called midnight hour and that's the whole theme of our students. Take over this year, midnight hour, and I've been challenged with the question what does prayer and worship do for the believer and, more importantly, for the follower? And there's two things one, it strengthens our faith and two, it shows our faith in the Lord's plan over our own and gives us the ability to surrender to whatever he has in store for us. And before I move on, I want to give a brief overview of the chapter where this theme stemmed from, and it's Acts, chapter 16.

Speaker 1: 3:16

In Acts, chapter 16, basically what is happening is Paul and Silas are currently on a journey where they're evangelizing and healing people in the name of Jesus and one day, when they were walking to a place of prayer, they stumble upon a slave girl who has a spirit of divination and if you don't know what that is, it is a demonic spirit that fortune tells and tells people their secrets. And this girl was bothering Paul and his group, and Paul was greatly annoyed by this where he turned around and told the girl. And he turned around and told the girl for the spirit to come out of her. And that's Acts 16, 18. And the demonic spirit was taken out of the girl. And this is amazing. That happened right Like he just healed this person in the name of Jesus. But the slave owners were upset. They were mad that they lost their way of profiting and, out of greed, they had Paul and Silas be ended in prison. And now we're in Acts 16.25.

Speaker 1: 4:14

If I could get that, about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them. Before I make my main point, have you ever heard the term? You are the only Bible people will read. We are living testimonies of God's word, and whatever we say and whatever we do really matters, because you never know who's watching. We know the one who is watching, but you never know who may be watching, and that's why it's important Moving on verse 26. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened, not just Paul and Silas' bonds, but every prisoner in that prison were set free. So, yes, it was by the power of the Lord that they were set free, but it was also the faith of Paul and Silas that made them well as well. It was by faith that they were set free, but it was also the faith of Paul and Silas that made them well as well. It was by faith that they were set free, and not just them, but the prisoners also. And, mind you, these two men were just beaten and were just put in prison and despite that, they sung hymns to God, they prayed to God and they gave him that praise and worship that he deserves. And they were placed in this circumstance.

Speaker 1: 5:25

And moving on to the next couple of verses, just a brief overview. The jailer saw all the prisoners escape and he was going to take his own life, but Paul stopped them. And the jailer asked, in verse 30, sirs, what must I do to be saved? In verse 31, 32, paul answered him and said believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him in all, to those who were in his house.

Speaker 1: 5:53

So my last point I want to make is not only that God set them free.

Speaker 1: 5:56

No, god used this circumstance as an opportunity to introduce others to him.

Speaker 1: 6:02

My last point I want to make is that the Lord will use your circumstance to glorify him in order to draw others around you closer to him, and that is why faith is so important.

Speaker 1: 6:15

It's so important because not only are we putting our trust and faith in God, but we're showing others around you closer to him, and that is why faith is so important. It's so important because not only are we putting our trust and faith in God, but we're showing others around us. We're showing others around us how that faith in God brings us peace and that, under any circumstance, we are calm because he gives us that peace and that draws them closer to him and that plants that seed. And I just want to close out on a prayer, and can we just bow our heads for a second? I'll close on prayer. I pray for everyone in this room that, no matter what circumstance we may be in, that we give to God the praise and the worship that he deserves and that we build that relationship with him and strengthen our faith, and that our prayer and our worship is not tied to our emotions or tied to whatever circumstance we may be in. In Jesus' name, amen, amen.

Speaker 2: 7:16

Come on, angel. Come on, angel. Good morning Free Church. Can we give another round of applause for Angel? My name is Rachelle and I have the honor and the privilege of being one of our young adult leaders for Witness, sorry. As you heard Angel say, our theme this year for student takeover is midnight hour and our tagline has been worship breaks chains.

Speaker 2: 8:00

And so today I want to take us through a little story in 2 Chronicles I've been saying Corinthians, it's Chronicles and it's 2 Corinthians 20, if you all want to turn with me and we're going to meet a king named Jehoshaphat. And King Jehoshaphat was the fourth king for the kingdom of Judah and he was described in second Chronicles 17 as doing what was right in the Lord's sight. And so as we open second Chronicles 20, king Jehoshaphat is faced with a problem. He finds out that three territories the Ammites, the Moabites and the Menunites are basically going to gang up on him and he's like oh, but King Jehoshaphat, he like, he's like I said, he does what's right in the Lord's sight. So he immediately turns to the Lord. So we're going to start in verse three and we're going to walk through it. So verse three says Jehoshaphat was afraid and he resolved to seek the Lord, and then he proclaimed a fast for all of Judah. So not only did he like he heard it and he was like I'm telling dad, so he immediately goes and he proclaims the fast and he falls down in worship. And I was, you know, shout out. He was, he was taking notes from PC. He said prayer is my first response, not my last resort, and so the way he starts off his prayer is from PC. He said prayer is my first response, not my last resort, and so the way he starts off his prayer is very interesting. He starts off by reminding himself of who God is.

Speaker 2: 9:22

So we jump down to verse six and seven and it says Lord, god of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven, and do you not rule over all of the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in your hand and no one can stand against you. Are you not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before the people Israel and who gave it forever to the descendants of Abraham? He started off off the gate with worship. He started off singing God praises, but then he has a moment of humanity where he explains when we left Egypt. We left them alone. We didn't bother them, they didn't bother us. He was cool. So why? All of a sudden we got beef? And so we drop down to verse 11.

Speaker 2: 10:03

It says he says, our god, will you not judge them? Sorry, first 12 our god, will you not judge them? For we are powerless before this great number that comes to fight against us. We do not know what to do. But we look to you. He's like we don't know what to do, but God probably has the answer.

Speaker 2: 10:22

And so the next thing that happens is the Lord answers him. Like it's all about the Old Testament God immediately answers people. And so it's like right away. And you know, he's like God. We're about to get into a fight.

Speaker 2: 10:34

I don't know what to do, and god gives him some very godlike like advice. Because it's not, it's not human like he's. So he tells him first, he comforts him in verse 15. He says do not be afraid or discouraged, because this vast number for the battle is not yours, but it's god. So he's like I got this.

Speaker 2: 10:50

But then he tells him to do three things that are very unhuman, like, if we're being honest. He says to go down against them, position yourselves, stand still and see the glory of lord, salvation of the lord, which I don't know if y'all have ever been in a fight or seen a fight, but if you stand still, it's not gonna work out that great for you, it's not. It's it's not gonna. But God says I got this, you can stand still, I got this. And Jehoshaphat knows God's got this. So in the next verse verse 18, he says then Jehoshaphat knelt low with his face to the ground and all of Judah and its inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord and worshiped him.

Speaker 2: 11:30

He knew God, he knew he would come through for him and he had no problem saying all right, lord. And he surrendered. And so that's kind of the key point that we're going to talk about today is how surrender is a form of worship and how surrender can break chains. So as he goes to fight or stand still against the enemy, he does something very interesting that God didn't tell him to do, and he goes and he places worshipers at the front of his army, like if anything kicked off. They were the first ones to go, but he placed them in the front line because he had total faith in what the Lord had said in him. And so it says in second Chronicles 21,.

Speaker 2: 12:09

I said Chronicles, yay, it's 21 and 23. It says he appointed some to sing for the Lord, for the praises and splendor of his holiness, and when they went in front of the armed forces they kept singing give thanks to the Lord, for his faithful love endures forever. And the text says the moment, the moment their shouts and praises began, the Lord set an ambush against the Ammites and the Moabites and the inheritance of Mount Zerah who came to fight against Judah, and they were defeated. It's almost like worship breaks chains. That's what we've been saying. It's almost like and I want to briefly point us to another story that we all know very well, of another individual who was faced with a circumstance that was scary, that they were terrified and they prayed to the Lord, and it was not only victory for us and for them. And that's the story of Jesus and his crucifixion. And Matthew 33, 26, sorry. 38, 39. Jesus says I'm deeply grieved, to the point of death, but he prays to the Lord. He says he fell face down and prayed my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass for me, yet not as I will, but yours be done. Jesus surrendered to the point of the cross. And you know we all say Friday's good because Sunday's coming.

Speaker 2: 13:27

We go to another chapter in Luke 24, where he says they're looking for Jesus on Sunday morning and they came. They did not find the body. Where he says they're looking for Jesus on Sunday morning and they came, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And then the angel says to them why are you looking for the living amongst the dead? He asked them. He is not here, but he is risen. He said do you remember how he spoke these things to you? Do you remember how he promised these things to you? And they remembered them.

Speaker 2: 13:55

And I want to remind each and every single one of us that we have a promise from the Lord, that we have a promise, like when we accepted him into our lives, that he gave us an eternal promise that no matter what we go through, no matter what we face, he will always be with us, he would always stand with us, and that he will never leave us. We can stand still and know that he's got our backs, that he will never leave us. We can stand still and know that he's got our backs. And so we're gonna come back to Jehoshaphat and wrap up in 2 Chronicles at the very end, and this is my favorite part of the story because it hits a little close to home. So 2 Chronicles 28, it says so.

Speaker 2: 14:28

They came into Jerusalem and to the Lord's temple with harps and lyres and trumpets. The terror of God was on all the kingdoms of the land. When they had heard the Lord had fought against the enemies in Israel, then Jehoshaphat's kingdom was quiet, but the Lord gave him rest. Everybody say rest On every side. And we're human right. We can only do so much through our own strength. We can only do like, we can only fix things so much, but God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly and give us the rest and the peace that surpasses anything we could ever create for ourselves.

Speaker 2: 15:06

And so I want to finish up with this last verse from Matthew 11. And I found this verse before we left for Puerto Rico, and I was, you know, life is hard, life be life. And I was like broken hearted. And I, rico, and I was, you know, life is hard, life be lifen. And I was like brokenhearted and I was like I don't know what to do. And this verse it says come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me and learn from me, for I am lowly and humble in heart and you will. You will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And, like I said, he gave us a promise.

Speaker 2: 15:43

When I read this verse, the thing that stuck out to me the most was will. Will means I looked it up, it's inevitable, it's going to happen. You say it will rain, the water is going to fall out of the sky. It's not a might, it's not a maybe, it's a will, it's going to happen. He says he will give you rest when you come to him, and so I know we all face situations where it's hard, where it seems like there's no light at the end of the tunnel, where it seems like it just keeps getting worse and worse. There's a promise for each and every single person in this room. There's a promise that he will give you rest if you come to him. There's a promise that he will see you through it if you come to him. And so I want to wrap up and say come to him, be still, see the glory of the Lord, and he will give you rest. Amen, church, amen, amen. And now I'm going to turn it over to our last speaker, eli.

Speaker 3: 17:01

All right, all right, hello everybody. My name is Eli Kogrove. I've been a Witness Youth student since the beginning. I was a student leader there for all four years and Pastor Chuck and Ashana's youngest son. I'm not Evan, I'm Eli. Evan's got the longer hair. But yeah, shout out, evan, I miss you, bro.

Speaker 3: 17:25

Anyways, I just want to start out and just honor some one guy. I just want to honor Pastor Matthew. I wouldn't be here without him. He's done so much and I'm forever grateful for him, and I know I'm not the only one to say that, like everyone else here agrees with me. All right, are you ready? I'm ready to preach this word. Are you ready to receive it? Come on, all right, let's go.

Speaker 3: 17:52

So Angel talks about Paul and Silas Rochelle was talking about Jehoshaphat and I'm going to be talking about Daniel and the lines in Daniel 6. So if you turn your Bibles to Daniel 6, please, all right. So I'm just going to give you some context while you're turning there. So in verses 3 through 4, it says Daniel distinguished himself above the administrators and sat upps because he had an extraordinary spirit. So the king planned to set him over the whole realm. The administrators and satraps therefore kept trying to find a charge against daniel regarding the kingdom, but they could not find. But they could find no charge or corruption, for he was trustworthy and no deglance or corruption was found in him. So Daniel's fellow governors disliked Daniel. They didn't like the fact that the king favored him over everybody else. So the governors, the fellow governors of Daniel, were jealous and they wanted to do anything they could to get the king to dislike Daniel. All right, let's keep reading.

Speaker 3: 18:54

So in Daniel 6, verse 7, it says all the administrators of the kingdom the prefects, satraps, advisors and governors have agreed that the king should establish an ordinance, enforce and addict that for 30 days, anyone who petitions any god or man except you, the king, will be thrown into the lion's den. So that's the only way the fellow ministers of Daniel could get him like on the bad side of the king, because they knew Daniel was a worshiper. They knew he was a servant of God. All right. So what does Daniel do when he hears this? All right, let's find out. So verse 10, this should be on the screen. When Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house. The windows in its upstairs room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before. Then these men went as a group and found Daniel petitioning and imploring his God. So, just like Rochelle said earlier, his first response was not go straight to the people that his fellow governors that made the rule. He didn't go straight to them saying why would you make this rule? He didn't go straight to the king saying like. What does this mean? Why are you trying to do this? He went straight to god and gave thanks to him in that moment and it wasn't a last resort, like he didn't wait till that moment that rule was set. It says he's been worshiping and praying to god three times every day, and then some more context later in verse 13 it says then they replied to the king daniel, one of the judean exiles, has ignored you, the king, and the dict you sign for. He prays three times a day. So now the governor snitched on daniel and the king found out. So let's see what. Let's keep going, let's see what happens, all right.

Speaker 3: 20:48

So verse 16 says so. The king gave the order and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lion's den. The king said to Daniel may your God, whom you continually serve, rescue you. So through all of this, through all of Daniel finding out the rule, through all of Daniel knowing he's going to be thrown into the lion's den if he prays to God, he still does it and there's no sign of fear from him. He's not asking God why is this happening? There's no sign of fear or worriness from God. All this trust is in God in this hard moment and this trouble for Daniel, where he just has all this faith in God and knows he will provide for him. Let's keep going, all right, so so, verse 19,.

Speaker 3: 21:32

It says at the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lion's den. When he reached the den, he cried out anguish to Daniel. Daniel, servant of the living God. The king said has your God, whom you can only serve, been able to rescue you from the lions? What do you think, daniel? It says. Verse 21,. Daniel spoke with the king. May the king live forever. My God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouth, and they haven't harmed me, for I was found innocent before him and I also before you, your majesty. I have not done harm. Therefore, wait, not yet. Not yet All right. So we see, daniel was protect, protected through the lion's den as the angel shut the lion's mouth, and he was delivered through that trouble and so later.

Speaker 3: 22:25

That just brings me to my first point is invest time in prayer and worship daily. This is what Daniel did, and who knows, if he hasn't been, if he wasn't worshiping and worship daily? This is what Daniel did, and who knows if he hasn't been, if he wasn't worshiping and praying daily before that, like there's no sign of where, like Paul and Silas were worshiping in the prison. There's no sign of or verse that says Daniel was worshiping and praying in the lion's den, but he was taking that time out of his day daily to worship and pray to God time out of his day daily to worship and pray to God. And it doesn't have to be a crazy prayer daily, it could just be a thank you. It could be a thank you. Just be vulnerable to him and just give thanks to him. And it could be anywhere. You could do it in your car, driving to work, driving to school, or before bed, when you're about to go to sleep, or right when you wake up, or before a meal, anytime. Anytime you just give thanks to him.

Speaker 3: 23:17

My second point is keep your trust in god and stay patient. There's again I say daniel was not fearful, he knew god would protect him and all his trust was in him and he'd stay patient, willing, faithfully, knowing he, the lord, will provide. And matthew 6, 34 is. It's a really good story in matthew 6. But it says therefore, don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. So why should we bring all this worryness from us when we could all lay it down to god and he will protect us and we we didn't know. Faithful, he will provide. And then my last and final point is prayer and worship can deliver you through your troubles. If you invest time daily, if you stay patient and trust God, he will deliver you through your troubles. And I speak that Daniel was delivered because of his prayer daily and his faithfulness and patience.

Speaker 3: 24:16

There was a time, my senior year of high school, where I had some. I was worried. I had so much worriness about my future. I didn't know what to do for college. When people would ask me, what like what are you doing next year? What are you doing for school? I would be like I'd make up an answer. I'd be like I'm just doing that. I think maybe this because I didn't know what to do and I was. I was looking, I was. I was ashamed of that and I didn't want anybody to judge me for that. And I saw all these people around me, all my classmates just know what they want to do already. They had everything figured out. It was like they had a list of everything they wanted to do and my list was empty and I had no idea what to do.

Speaker 3: 24:53

So one night I had a prayer to God during worship and I was just like Lord. I lay all my worriness to you today. God, let it be your will to what happens and you use me in every single way you can. God, I don't want to be worried about my future no more, because, lord, I know you will provide for me, and since then I've had a peace, a stillness in my heart, knowing my Lord will provide for me. And then in John 15, 16, it says let me pull it up. Sorry, all right, should have made a sticky note. Almost there, almost there, all right, john 15, 16. You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain. So, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.

Speaker 3: 25:59

So I just wanna close with this what can you do to grow your consistency in daily prayer? What can you do, whether it's starting with once, like three times a week, you don't have to start three times a day. Like Daniel, you can do 10 times a day if you wanted to. Why not? It's the God we're talking about. Just take the like why can't we just take a little bit of our time out of our day just to give thanks to him? He does so much for us that we can't, we don't even, we can't even do enough for him. So I just want to remind you just invest that time and stay patient and God will deliver you through your troubles. Will you see that message today?