What is the purpose of the local church?
Not entertainment—but training.

Church attendance is the door. But once you step inside, there is training that must take place. In this message, Chad Everett clearly defines the biblical mission of the church: Training Warrior Disciples, not producing spectators or casual attenders. The church exists to enter people into the fullness of Christ and equip them to live out their faith with spiritual authority.

This sermon confronts a common misunderstanding in modern Christianity—that gathering is the goal. Instead, Chad reminds us that gathering is only the beginning. Discipleship is what happens after you walk through the door. The call of the church is formation, maturity, and preparation for spiritual responsibility.

Luke 4: A Masterclass in Training Warrior Disciples

Using Luke 4 as a masterclass example from the life of Jesus, this message unpacks how spiritual authority is trained, strengthened, and activated. Jesus did not walk in authority by accident. He was filled with the Holy Spirit, led by the Holy Spirit, and anchored in the Word of God.

This pattern matters because Training Warrior Disciples requires more than inspiration. It requires formation. Jesus models what it looks like to follow the Spirit instead of the flesh and to respond to pressure with obedience rather than compromise. His time in the wilderness reveals that authority is forged before it is exercised.

Why Biblical Fasting Is Part of Discipleship Training

One of the clearest markers of Training Warrior Disciples is discipline over the flesh. This message explains why biblical fasting is not religious hype, legalism, or church tradition—but normal discipleship. Fasting is a time of consecration where physical food is temporarily replaced with spiritual food: prayer and the Word of God.

Fasting trains believers to say no to the flesh so they can say yes to God. It teaches that authority flows from surrender, not strength. When the flesh is crucified, the spirit is free to lead. This is essential for anyone who wants to walk in spiritual authority rather than spiritual cycles.

Identity, Deception, and Spiritual Authority

This message also exposes the enemy’s primary strategy. The enemy does not overpower believers—he deceives them. His first attack is always identity. If he can confuse who you are in Christ, he can limit your authority.

Training Warrior Disciples means grounding believers in truth: who Christ is in us and who we are in Him. Jesus shows us how to respond when identity is questioned, when counterfeit shortcuts are offered, and when offense tries to trap us and stop forward movement. Authority is not activated by arguing with the enemy, but by responding with truth and obedience.

A Call to Become, Not Just Attend

This sermon is a call to move beyond attendance into transformation. The church is not meant to be a show to watch, but a training ground that equips believers to live on mission every day. Training Warrior Disciples requires intentional discipleship, spiritual discipline, and a willingness to follow Jesus fully—not partially.

If you are ready to move forward in your faith, this message will challenge you to examine what is shaping your decisions, what voices you are following, and where God is calling you to grow. The goal is not simply to come—but to become.

Key Scriptures
Luke 4: 1–8, Galatians 5: 24, 1 John 2: 16, John 12: 31–32, Philippians 3: 13–14

2026 – Year of the Turning Point
God is turning the tables on the enemy.

What if 2026 isn’t just another year on the calendar — but a turning point?

In this powerful message, Pastor Chad Everett declares that what the enemy meant for evil, God can turn for good (Genesis 50: 20). This is an invitation to step into the new year with clarity, renewed hunger for God, and confidence that the Lord still turns tables — in our homes, our minds, our families, our health, and our future.

Spiritual Authority Through Prayer and Fasting

As The Roads Church begins the year with prayer and fasting, attention is drawn to why spiritual authority through prayer and fasting is not an extreme practice or a religious tradition, but normal discipleship. Jesus didn’t say if you fast — He said when you fast.

Biblical fasting is not about impressing people or proving devotion. It is about consecration. It is about replacing physical food with spiritual food — prayer and the Word of God — so our spirit can lead instead of our flesh. Fasting becomes a way to make room for God’s voice and direction rather than allowing appetite or comfort to lead.

Led by the Spirit, Not Driven by the Flesh

Using Luke 4, Pastor Chad walks through Jesus’ time in the wilderness and shows how being filled with the Holy Spirit leads to being led by the Spirit. As long as we insist on calling the shots, we won’t experience the leadership of God.

And when you start pursuing God seriously, don’t be surprised if resistance shows up. Often, the enemy gets louder right before breakthrough. Resistance doesn’t always mean you’re in the wrong place — sometimes it means you’re exactly where God intends you to be.

Answering the Enemy with Truth

One of the most practical and freeing moments in this message is the insight into how spiritual warfare often works in our thought life. The enemy’s strategy has not changed since Genesis. He plants doubt, fear, and unbelief — especially right after God speaks.

Satan’s first words to Jesus were, “If you are the Son of God…” — an attempt to undermine identity. In the same way, the enemy still tries to talk us out of who God says we are and what God has promised.

But Jesus didn’t stay silent. He answered.

His response gives us a clear blueprint for spiritual authority through prayer and fasting: “It is written.” Lies aren’t defeated by ignoring them. They are defeated by answering them with truth. This message helps listeners recognize those moments and respond with God’s Word instead of being worn down by accusation.

Hunger That Makes Room for God

Hunger is reframed — not just as discomfort, but as invitation. Hunger can be a sign that something is being emptied so God can fill it. It can awaken spiritual awareness and restore desire for God’s presence.

This message challenges a simple but powerful question: When was the last time you were hungry for God? And it offers practical, attainable steps to begin again — starting with giving God your first and your best.

If you’re ready to step into 2026 with clarity, silence the voice of the enemy, and grow in spiritual authority through prayer and fasting, this message is for you.

Watch now, lean in, and let God turn the tables.

Key Scriptures
Genesis 50: 20, Luke 4: 1–4, Matthew 6: 17–18, Matthew 5: 6, John 8: 44

“What spirit we are full of is what will lead us.” — Pastor Chad Everett

In this message from Spiritual Authority – Restored In Christ, Pastor Chad Everett teaches a foundational truth for every believer: spiritual authority flows from Living By The Spirit, not from effort, emotion, or religious habit. Drawing from Ephesians, Luke, and the book of Acts, this teaching calls the church back to maturity, discipleship, and a life empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The Purpose of the Church: More Than Attendance

Scripture clearly shows that the church exists for more than weekly services. In Ephesians 4: 11–13, Jesus gave gifts to the church to equip the saints—not to perform for them.

Living By The Spirit means the church enters people into the fullness of Christ and trains them to live as disciples every day of the week.

When believers fail to live out their faith beyond Sunday, spiritual growth stalls. God designed the church for transformation, not consumption.

Spiritual Authority Requires Cooperation With God

God remains the source of all power, authority, and life. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. At the same time, Scripture shows that God entrusts responsibility to His people.

From the beginning, God gave humanity dominion. Spiritual authority operates through cooperation—what we agree with, align with, and yield to. Living By The Spirit calls believers to cooperate daily with God’s will rather than follow personal reasoning or emotions.

The direction of our lives often reflects how willingly we cooperate with God’s leading.

Why Being Filled With the Holy Spirit Matters

Jesus modeled Living By The Spirit. Luke 4: 1 shows that Jesus lived filled with the Holy Spirit and followed the Spirit’s leading.

If Jesus, the Son of God, relied on the Holy Spirit to walk in authority, believers need the Spirit even more.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit does not describe a one-time event. It describes an ongoing relationship with a Person. Scripture repeatedly shows believers receiving fresh filling as they walked with God.

Living By The Spirit requires continual filling.

The Difference Between the Spirit in You and the Spirit Upon You

The Bible reveals a clear distinction between the Holy Spirit working in us and coming upon us.

The Holy Spirit in us brings regeneration and new life.
The Holy Spirit upon us brings power, boldness, and authority.

Throughout the book of Acts, believers who already followed Jesus received fresh empowerment through the Holy Spirit. Living By The Spirit welcomes both salvation and empowerment.

What Fills You Will Lead You

One of the most practical truths in this message remains simple and powerful: what fills us leads us.

When bitterness, fear, lust, or unforgiveness fill the heart, those influences guide decisions. When the Spirit of God fills a believer, the Spirit directs thoughts, responses, and actions.

Living By The Spirit does not depend on resisting sin through effort. It depends on allowing God’s Spirit to fill every space until no room remains for competing influences.

Spiritual Maturity Means Being Led by the Spirit

Romans 8: 14 teaches that those led by the Spirit of God live as sons and daughters of God. Scripture points to maturity, not position.

Living By The Spirit moves believers from spiritual infancy toward spiritual maturity. As faith grows, believers surrender control and trust the Spirit’s leading more fully.

Maturity shows itself not by church attendance but by consistent obedience to the Spirit of God.

Making Room for God’s Presence

This message also challenges a culture that rushes out as soon as the sermon ends. God often works beyond preaching through prayer, response, and reverence.

Living By The Spirit honors God’s presence and creates space for Him to move in hearts and lives, both personally and corporately.

God’s work does not end when the sermon ends.

Living By The Spirit Every Day

Jesus restored spiritual authority so believers could live transformed lives. Living By The Spirit equips followers of Christ to walk in freedom, resist the flesh, and partner with God’s purposes wherever they go.

This life does not grow from religious effort. It grows from relationship, filling, and obedience.

When believers live filled with the Spirit, they walk led by the Spirit. When they follow the Spirit’s leading, they walk in the authority Christ restored.

Key Scriptures
Ephesians 4: 11–13 • Luke 4: 1 • Acts 1: 8 • Acts 2: 4 • Acts 4: 31

Christmas is more than a familiar story—it is the moment God stepped into human history to restore what was lost through sin. In this message, Pastor Chad Everett traces God’s redemptive plan from Genesis to the manger, revealing why Jesus had to be born and how spiritual authority is restored through Him.

Rooted in Scripture, this sermon walks through God’s original design for humanity, the consequence of sin, and the promise of redemption first spoken in Genesis. From the fall of man to the prophetic declarations of Isaiah and Micah, we see that Christmas was never an afterthought—it was God’s plan from the beginning.

Pastor Chad reminds us that Jesus was not merely a baby in a manger, but God with us. The incarnation was necessary for salvation, because authority in the earth requires a physical body. Through the birth of Christ, God entered our broken world to redeem, restore, and bring humanity back into right relationship with Him.

This message also challenges listeners to examine how they respond to God’s promises. Through the faith of Mary and Joseph, we are encouraged to hold near what God has spoken, even when circumstances and logic say otherwise. Salvation, Pastor Chad explains, is not something we do—it is a person we receive. His name is Jesus

Key Scriptures
Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5:2, Matthew 1:21, Romans 6:23

Spiritual Authority Restored in Christ

What does spiritual authority look like in everyday life? In this message, Pastor Chad Everett continues the teaching on God’s original intent by showing how spiritual authority was given, lost, and fully restored in Christ. As a result, this sermon invites believers to move beyond passive faith and rediscover how God designed humanity to live in partnership with Him.

Spiritual authority restored in Christ is not just a theological idea. Instead, it is a lived reality that shapes how we think, pray, respond, and make decisions. Throughout the message, Chad walks through Scripture to show how authority works in both the spiritual and physical realms. Because of this, listeners gain clarity on why this understanding leads to real transformation.

God’s Original Design for Authority

From the beginning, Genesis shows God creating humanity in His image and entrusting them with authority over the earth. However, this authority was never symbolic or distant. Rather, God gave it with purpose and intention, rooted in relationship with Himself.

Authority begins with God alone. Therefore, He holds the right to give it. From the start, He entrusted humanity with responsibility. This calling was not about selfish control. Instead, it was about stewardship that reflects heaven’s will on earth. When we return to this original design, we can clearly see how expectations drift when culture shapes authority instead of Scripture.

How Authority Works in the Spiritual and Physical Realms

One key truth runs throughout this message: spiritual realm influence requires physical realm cooperation to produce real results. For example, Chad points to Scripture to show this pattern clearly, from the fall in Genesis to the life and ministry of Jesus.

Because of this, the teaching challenges the idea that believers live as powerless victims of circumstance. While spiritual forces exist, they do not remove human responsibility. Instead, what we yield to spiritually often shapes what appears in our lives physically. In this way, the message reframes how we approach prayer, temptation, discipline, and daily choices.

Why Jesus Had to Come in the Flesh

A central focus of the sermon explains why spiritual authority restored in Christ required Jesus to be born of a woman. In other words, authority on earth must operate through a physical body. For that reason, redemption could not happen from a distance.

Jesus did not come to regain authority for Himself. Rather, He came to redeem it for humanity. By living a sinless life, resisting temptation, and destroying the works of the devil, Christ restored what was lost. As a result, He showed how obedience and truth release authority.

Living from Authority, Not Victimhood

Ultimately, this message offers a clear and personal invitation. Believers are encouraged to stop seeing themselves as victims and begin living as sons and daughters who carry authority through Christ. At the same time, Chad reminds us that God does not make decisions for us. Instead, He empowers the decisions we make when we align with Him.

So spiritual authority restored in Christ becomes practical when we resist wrong influences and submit to God’s truth. In doing so, this sermon calls listeners to realign their thinking, take responsibility, and walk in the freedom Christ has already provided.

If you are ready to grow in your understanding of spiritual authority and live from God’s original design, then this message will challenge, equip, and encourage you to step forward in faith.

Key Scriptures

Genesis 1:26–28, Matthew 6:9–10, Genesis 3:15, I John 3:8, Matthew 2:13–23