Cheryl/Singing

1M views · 42K reactions | This is such an ingenious mash-up! I love how the two songs complement each other both in meaning and music. Great job @8eyes! We love it so much. CTTO: 8eyestheband on TikT0k | Nephi Acaling

Midweek at Hope Chapel | Midweek at Hope Chapel | By HOPE CHAPEL UPC | Good evening, everyone. Good to see you here on a Wednesday night. Um let's go ahead and all stand across the room. Hope you're doing good. Turn to someone. Tell em it's good to see em on a Wednesday night At church. It's a great place to be. Amen? Amen. Amen. Amen. We're going to take some needs to to the lord here this evening. Let's pray for sister Tims, brother Mori, brother Muchmore, baby Rhett needs our prayers. Bill Buckner, Colton Beld, brother Terry Black, Joanne Sims, Deborah Smith, Jonathan Jenkins, Judy Lewis, and Rachelle Gravel, need our prayers and we got some more needs connected with our church that need god to do something there. If you got a need, why don't you lift your hand right now? Someone's close by you there that's got a needless connect with them and believe with them and let faith rise in the room. Lord, we love you tonight. We thank you lord for a chance to be in your house. Lord, to to to be here and worship you, lift you up in spirit and in truth, lord and experience your presence, a move of the Holy Ghost, Lord. Lord, but we take these knees before you this evening, Lord, and we trust you with it first, Lord, and we believe, Lord, and we know that there's nothing that's too hard for you. There's nothing that is impossible for you, Lord. So every name has been mentioned, Lord, every need that, that has been with a raised hand across the room right now. Lord, there was a host of needs across the room right now. You know, every detail, you know every part of the situation that is represented lord. Lord and we know that when we ask in your name that it will be done lord. So, we trust you right now. Lord, we pray that healing would take place where healing needs to take place lord. We pray that restoration would take place where it needs to take place right now, lord. We pray strength, lord. We pray wholeness, lord. We pray direction, lord, would take place right now and you would have your way in these needs. Lord, we love you. We praise you. Can you put your hands together and say thank you Jesus for touching these needs. If you have one of those needs, go ahead and say I thank you for doing it for me, lord. Amen. Oh, we serve a faithful god, faithful god. Let's pray over let's pray over the revival, the the the city that god's planted us in and the doors that god is opening. There's so many things that are going on that that god's hand is just evident in. I and I believe that his timetable is going to be sped up. Amen? Amen. I believe we're going to a host of a harvest of souls and revival coming within this church and every apostolic church across this region is going to experience revival because we we live in a world that needs Jesus. Amen? Amen. It doesn't just have to be a Hope Chapel Revival but I believe god can do things in all of our churches in the surrounding area. So, let's just pray right now. There's things that god is working in. There's things that god is going to do and I believe that sooner than later, we're going to see those things happen. Amen? Amen. Pray and let's believe right now. Lord. Lord, you see the church you planted here several years ago. You see what you call pastor and sister Vandiver and his family here to do lord. Lord and we've already seen mighty things. We've already seen seen great things happen. This church is evidence of that. This group of believers is evidence of that lord. Lord, but I believe lord that we have not even scratched the surface of what you desire to do in Hope Chapel in Olive Branch in DeSoto County. Lord. Lord, I lord that you're going to open doors lord for this group of believers to have conversations lord. Lord, there are hungry people that we come in contact with every single day that are searching, that are hungry, that need us, lord. Lord, and we have to be willing vessels, lord. We have to be willing to open our mouths, lord. We have to trust, lord, that you are going to use us for your glory to build your kingdom, lord. So, I pray lord that over this group of believers, lord right now, lord, that you let start hearts be stirred right now. You let there be hunger and you let there be desire lord to do things for you lord and to reach those that are around us, lord. Lord, and you know the next phase, lord. You know the next building, the next whatever it is, lord. Lord, and I believe lord that we're going to see it in the days to come. Lord, I believe you are already working. I believe lord that you're going to perform a miracle just like you did for this building for but you did for us in this lord. I believe you for it lord. Come on somebody lift your hands and say, lord, I believe you for the great revival. I believe you for the next phase. I believe you're going to amaze us. I believe you're going to make a way for the finances. We trust you, lord. Now, all across the room right now, why don't you lift your hands and just say, lord, I'm here for you tonight. Yes. Come on, lift your voice one more time across the room. Lord, he inhabits the praises of his people and when we lift him up, that's when he comes into the room and he meets us here and he will meet and he will strengthen and he will restore. He will guide. He will he will help us. Lord, we love you. Lord and we thank you for what you're about to do but before we sing a song, Lord, we just want to lift our hands and lift our voice lord and we want to lift you up because you are worthy. Lord, you've kept me through this week already, lord. You bless me more than I deserve this week, lord and I thank you for it. Thank you. Let's worship with the praise team. When you speak everything becomes clear you see over me I can hear you say you don't have to be afraid you don't have to be afraid has she no ending me here something's breaking something's changing atmosphere something's breaking something's changing I've lost count I don't have to be afraid so something's breaking something's changing something's breaking something's changing because you're I see impossible you see potential when I see you move oh you see a miracle when I see impossible you see potential I see a mover or you see a miracle for who something's I don't have to be afraid Jesus. So, come on. Why don't we worship him in this place? He is here right now. What you're going through, what you're facing, the storm that you're in, he's here right now. So, what are you going to do? Are you going to walk by faith and trust him? That's what I encourage you tonight. Of your goodness I will sing of your love though the seasons come quickly you have always been enough though the night may seem darker though the waiting seems long you have always been faithful to remind me of your love in the morning I'll sing and in the evening girl you are good too you have always been patient you have always been mine you're consistent through the ages oh what a friend of mine so I'll remind myself to bless you, standing firm upon your truth, knowing you cannot be shaken, because I've seen what you can do, and in the morning I say you and in the evening you are good to me yes he's been so good in the morning I rise and I'll say you are good lord you keep on getting better you keep on getting he keeps on getting and keep on getting keep on getting better and keep on getting better lord I love you lord you keep on help me sing it keep on getting better you keep on Can you sing that out tonight? You keep on getting better. You keep on getting mad. Keep on getting better and better. Keep on the situation lord you're good you keep on you keep on Yes, he does. Keep on getting better. You keep on getting you keep on getting better you keep on getting good and in the morning I he keeps on on getting better you keep on getting better is that your testimony tonight happy through every situation We declare that he has been good. He has been faithful. His word is true. You're so keep on you keep on getting keep on you keep in bed you keep on getting keep on getting better keep on getting Can we lift our hands together Lord, we love you tonight and we praise you. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your mercy. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for your loving kindness. We thank you for your tender mercies. We thank you that you're everything that we need and so much more. Thank you for never leaving us. Thank you for never forsaking us. Thank you for being our present help in time of trouble. Thank you for being our healer and our provider and our refuge and our peace Thank you for being our calm. Thank you for being our direction. Thank you for being our shield and our fortress and our strong tower and thank you that every day that we wake up. God, there's just more that you're wanting to do in our life. It keeps on getting better Thankful for the goodness of the lord. I don't know about you but there are days that my mind rolls back. You just kind of have that testimony time in your mind and you think about things that the Lord has done for you and sometimes in spite of you. And things that God just keeps amazing and I I just social media has a lot of negatives. But the positive is those memories. Yeah. Yeah. And those moments and there are times that I just I just look back and go God you just you just been good. You just good. And whether it's a physical picture or a mental one, god has been nothing in our lives and I'm thankful. Thankful for that. Thankful for this holiday season and all that it means and all the all the extra I love. It takes a lot of extra coffee during this time of year but I I love the time together and what god is doing. Our youth and kids tonight are having their gatherings and just thankful for what god's doing in every every generation. Sunday is our candlelight service at 11 o'clock and then next Wednesday Uh be with your family, be with your and enjoy Christmas day and then we'll be back here. Uh the following Sunday is the last Sunday of 20 twenty-four. It's the Sunday after Christmas. And that's hard to even say out loud. And then New Year's Eve were is on a Tuesday and so instead of having Wednesday, we're going to do a New Year's Eve gathering. We're going to take communion and pray and get in the word together and hear testimony and then, if you'll bring food, we're going to have food and if you don't, we'll look at each other and be hungry, and wish we had food. We may have five loaves and two fishes that night but we'll break it and just see if we can reenact that. If it'll multiply but if not, you can bring something, bring a game. We're just going to spend time together as long as you want to. Uh we've got security cameras. So, if I give up before you do, just turn the lights on when you off when you leave, you know. But we're going to spend some time together New Year's Eve. So, a lot of great things at the remain of this year and lot of needs in our church body right now. Brother Barnes was mentioned to me beforehand. Just the prayer list. Lot of things going on right now either in our church connected with our church. And just be mindful of that on our if you have not connected with our online bulletin. Uh you can keep up with the prayer list. You can submit prayer needs. There's a QR code on the announcement screen. It's a great resource to help us pray during this season. And just a encourage you to be checking on folks during this holiday, Christmas, New Years, all of it season. We're going to dismiss our young adults to their Bible study. If you got your Bibles, John chapter eight. It's always good when the kids are gone, the youth are gone, the young adults are gone, and there's still people in the sanctuary. Makes me feel good, you So, thank you for being here in the house of the lord tonight. John chapter eight verse 56 and 59, your father, Abraham, rejoice to see my day and he saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, thou, thou art not yet 50 years old and hast thou seen Abraham. Jesus saith unto them, verily, verily I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. And they took up stones to cast in him but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple going through the midst of them and so passed by. God, I thank you for your presence. I thank you for your word. I thank you for those that are here tonight. I pray that you would meet with us, strengthen us, heal us, deliver us, direct us, encourage us, and take us where we need to be in you. In Jesus name and let everybody say, amen. Amen. Amen be seated. We've been looking at the last couple of Wednesdays. Brother Barnes kicked us off about the mighty god in Christ and working our way through the scriptures of looking at who he really is and we're going to kind of continue in that vain tonight but before I jump too far ahead, I this morning opened up my devotion and just kind of had a an extra thought. Maybe it's for one person or maybe it's for for everybody. But the angel showed up before all this Christmas story and spoke to another daddy and mama. And this angelic proclamation was all about John the Baptist. He was going to be the forerunner of Jesus. Zechariah the scripture tells us doubted he received this great promise. There was this great word. There was this great announcement And he doubted. And because of his doubt this Bible says that he was not able to speak until the day that these things were going to be performed. The Bible says he walked out of that area and he went out to the waiting worshippers in the temples outer courts. And he was unable to speak the customary blessing to them because he doubted. On day one, his life was affected because of doubt and I just kind of thought I'd throw into your thinking during this holiday season, this Christmas season as we celebrate his arrival. We better be careful what we doubt. And we better be careful what we speak. Because god may silence us and we just have to watch it unfold and we don't get to be a part of it. I don't want to be a doubter. I want to be a man of faith. I want to receive what he has for me and and everything that unfold. Can you imagine just observing for 9 months? But not being able to add your celebration or input or viewpoint or he wasn't able to say nothing. Was he was unable to speak into what was happening and I I want to be able to be a part of what's happening. That's just extra. You know, just you know, just throw that out there. Her name was Kathleen Grimes. She was the wife of bishop Samuel Joshua Grimes, the longest presiding bishop of the oneness Pentecostal Group, the Pentecostal's Assembly of the World. She was also a songwriter who pinned many apostolic hymns including the great I am. Her songs were published in countless song books in 19 forty-8 and apostolic churches through the ages have sung her songs, celebrating the beautiful truth and revelation of one god and the attributes that only he can possess. Grime successfully etched truth from god's word into hearts through her song. And there is no doubt who the great AM is after you hear her song. Her song unapologetically included several names of God reflecting her familiarity with God's word and pointed to the truth that Jesus was the I am. Jesus confirmed he was god manifest in the flesh when he stated in John chapter eight before Abraham was I am. And this was one of boldest claims to deity that Jesus ever made it as he walked the Earth and it may have been one of the most provoking statements that sealed his death with the unbelievers who crucified him because the great I am came to Earth as a little baby and when the time was fulfilled, he paid for our sins through his amazing redemption plan. God came in the flesh and dwelt among and we believe this wonderful truth to this day that Jesus Christ is the great I am. Last week to set the tone for the song that we used for for the the basis of our discussion. I played the video for those that were here and remember brother Hugh Rose and singing down from his glory and the song that we're using tonight. I could not find but luckily brother Barnes sang this song during service in September and so I knew he had it on his heart. I'm asking him to come. And That's it. But the song that brother Barnes sang a portion of in the medley on Generation Sunday, it we've got the lyrics to put on the screen. He's the great I am, the everlasting father. He's the prince of peace, the great eternal wonder. He's the holy counselor and Zion's righteous governor. He's the great I am. God is Elohim of all the prophets, the El Shaddai of all the seers and sages. He's the mighty one of all the sacred pages. He's the great I am. He's Jehovah God, the coming king of glory. He's the true Nissi, the lord of grace and favor. He's Jesus Christ, redeemer, friend, and savior. He's the great. He's the great. I am. This statement that stirred controversy from the mouth of Jesus Christ was pulling from revelation that people knew what he was talking about. You go all the way back to the pages of the Old Testament and Moses was taking care of the sheep for his father-in-law in the desert and far from distractions when a bush caught on fire and caught his attention, he moved closer to look at it because it was not being consumed. It looked like the bush was burning but it wasn't being burned up and at that moment, as his full attention was on this burning bush, the voice of god. Called Moses by name. Now, I don't know how you would have been in that scenario. But a bush that's burning and not being burned up is something enough to cause Moses to stop but a voice coming from the bush. That would have taken a moment I I don't know about you but 30 minutes later, when I got up off the ground, I probably would been finding the closest place to hide because you have to remember up to this point. There was not a conversation but as if he was responding to a teacher taking attendance, Moses said, I'm here. Just process how you'd have been in that moment and a voice comes from a bush and Moses goes, here I am ready for the conversation because Moses realized he was conversing with god but when god warned Moses to come no closer and to remove his shoes because he was on holy ground what did Moses do? He did exactly what god was asking. There's no president for this. This is not happen in Moses's life before. It's not like you coming to church tonight where we know someone's going to lead prayer and then there's going to be two songs and pastors going to come up and we know when to stand and we know when to sit. We know there's an altar call. We can come to the altar and pray because we done it before. Moses is his first encounter to this magnitude and every time god says something, Moses is going. Okay. I'm ready and god introduced himself to Moses and to make sure he knew exactly who was speaking. God said, I am the god of thy father, the god of Abraham, the god of Isaac, and the god of Jacob and of Moses immediately buried his face. Afraid to even look up and he had no doubt he was talking to Yahweh, god almighty. Just let that settle for a moment. How would you be in that scenario? If you heard the audible voice of god calling your name in a desert There's instructions. God continues and we find out that he had seen the affliction of his children and he had a plan to rescue them from Egypt and god wanted to partner with Moses to deliver the Israelites out of bondage and when Moses realized what god was talking about and proposing to him. There was all kind of emotions that was you know, can you imagine? Not only is there a bush burden that's not, you know, being burned up and not only is god speaking from the bush, god is declaring. There's about to be a mass deliverance. Wow. You know. And then God wanted Moses to be a part of it. Matter of fact, not just be a part of it. He wanted him to be the voice of all of it. Meaning, he was about to have skin in the game. His face was going to be, this was not something he's like, well, I'm going to go to my prayer room. God, I hear what you're saying. I believe it with all my heart and I'm going to go find you know, on that side of the desert and I'm going, I will pray, I believe you can. No. Moses, I need you to go. The emotions, the things that were going through his mind as god wanted Moses to go back to the place where Pharaoh wanted to kill him. Moses was seemingly frantic wondering how god thought he was capable of going before Pharaoh and asking or demanding, declaring that millions of people who work for him were leaving. Moses saw problems but god didn't. He assured Moses that he would go with him And Moses is like, yeah, I I hear you but this voice coming from the bush just kept going and Moses was reluctant So, when Moses couldn't have anything to say about god, he started talking about himself because many times the way that we get out of being a part of what god wants to do is we know we can't deny the power of god but we can minimize ourselves. I mean, we know this happened later as they explored the land and walked into the promised land. We are grasshoppers in their sight. We know this from the interaction of of David and Goliath. There was a whole army there. That was afraid and dismayed and not dealing with Goliath. God never told them they weren't going to have to deal with giants. They, David dealt with it. It wasn't a big deal. So, we know that many times that god is inviting us in to be a part of big things and you know, we know we doubt god, he's god but we can doubt ourselves and Moses begins to chase this rabbit trail down of, well, I don't know. I I I don't know if I'm able to. I don't know if I can speak. I don't know what I would tell em. Who who would I even say? And god said to tell them that the god of their fathers had sinner and Moses was going, well, that that that's good. What should I say god's name is? And perhaps Moses is going, oh I got him now. God will reveal his name and Moses would be the only one that knew it. And god did a god thing and he responded to Moses and said, I am that I am. Anybody else ever had a prayer meeting like that? Where god did a god thing when you were praying for one thing? You know, he just did the god move. You know, where you're asking for this. And what he gives you, you're like, what? Huh? But that revelation that was given there that day was not some vague random thing. He said, thus shall thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you and to be very clear with Moses, god confirmed his name was I am. In Exodus 3fifteen, this is my name forever and this is my memorial unto all generations and perhaps Moses is you know, probably like you and I would be in that interaction. Uh okay. I am. And this man of many questions still had more and after showing Moses several miraculous signs, he could use to convince Pharaoh to let his people go. Moses still had excuses. He felt unqualified because of his slow speech to to you know and and when he got through all of these excuses, god told Moses that his brother Aaron could go and be a spokesman. No more excuses, Moses. Anybody else had interactions like that with god before? Where you gave the list of excuses and then god erased them all? Well, god, if this was this, if this door was there, if this opportunity, I would so do that god if I would and then god does all those things and you're like, God rained down ten plagues on Egypt. The first few affected Israel but soon God divided Israel from Egypt. Separation And only Egypt bore the brunt of God's judgement. And when Pharaoh finally gave in and let him go, God guided them through the desert with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. God had packed a picnic basket full of miracles for the journey. He had everything covered, everything that they would need. God would provide. They would know that he was the I am. All he was everything that they needed. Anything that they face. Moses led all of these people right up to the shores of the Red Sea. What are we going to do now? That Pharaoh's behind me. Uh there everybody's we're trapped. What what are they going to do now? God had a plan. He cloaked his children with the cloud and moved it behind them and then he simply parted the waters and made the muddy floor, the Red Sea dry. For Moses and the children of Israel to pass. Sometimes we miss that miracle and all of it. He didn't just roll the water back. But he dried up where they were walking Anybody ever had to walk in mud? It slows things down. But what god was doing, he was taking care of everything. It was a completed miracle and then he simply parted them. They walked through. Why? Because god always has a plan and not only did he save all of his children but god magnified the miracle, the only way that he can, dry land. Okay, I got that. I am the I am. All in all and when all of his people got to the other side, the waters crashed back into place, rushing with such force that the Egyptian soldiers that were chasing after them were drowned The children of Israel had front row seats to their miracle. God apparently left an impressionable sign for Pharaoh also because god is the protector for those who serve him and he is the avenger of those who torment his children. He is the I am. He is the all in all and it was time to celebrate and Moses and Israel got together, composed a worship song right on the spot in Exodus fifteen. I will sing unto the lord for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The lord is my strength and my he is my salvation and Moses was so overcome with awe for what god had done that he broke out in song and he's worshiping this almighty god that's brought him to the Red Sea because worship is our expression of reverence or value or adoration for who god is and what he is capable of and Moses is feeling all of these things as he's leading god's children into this next season and he's worshiping because now he knew What this great I am was all about. Moses sung his own song about the all in all And there are a lot of religious leaders that made quite the entrance when they barged in while Jesus was teaching and threw a woman at his feet. They charged her with sin of adultery and were ready to stone her. They were setting Jesus up. They had rocks in their hands and he stooped down, ignoring them all and wrote something in the dirt. I wish we knew exactly what he wrote. And then he looked up and said, he that is without sin, cast the first stone. Jesus forgave a woman, caught in the very act of adultery. Never mind the fact that only god can forgive sins. And the religious leaders who were trying to trap him, their plans were all to no good. And Jesus turned back to those he had been teaching. And he continued on. See this day was challenging for the religious leaders. They were desperately trying to discredit him and minimize him and ruin his ministry but with every accusation they threw at him, Jesus had a comeback. That they couldn't respond to. They had a heated discussion about Jesus's origin and authority. He claimed to be from heaven equal with god. He made statements like, I go my way and you shall seek me and shall die in your sins. Whether I go, you cannot come and they took it in a front when they told when he told them that they couldn't go to heaven. He accused them of being from below because they were of this world but he was from above and did not belong to this world. They knew what he was saying. Then he further offended them by saying, if you believe not that I am he, you're going to die in your sins and they demanded, well, who are you? And Jesus confirmed what he had been saying all along in John eight twenty-eight, when he said, when you have lifted up the son of man, then, you shall know I am. And the Jews said, well, Abraham is our father and Jesus responded, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham and they were certainly descendants of Abraham but they were not behaving as his children. Jesus raised it even further when he declared in John 8 fifty-six, your father Abraham rejoice. To see my day. And he saw it and was how could Jesus who was not even 50 years old claimed to have seen Abraham? Everything that they brought against him. He had something to respond. Because in John eight fifty-eight, he said, before Abraham was, I am. Here's what I don't understand why people have complex views or misunderstandings on the oneness of god. Because if you just read the words of Jesus before Abraham was I am. He was constantly declaring his deity. This declaration ultimately was the last straw and the Jews picked up stones intending to kill him on the spot but Jesus disappeared through the midst of the temple because Jesus revealed himself as the I am. It was a bold statement to make to the Jews of generational monotheism, the worshipers of one god. They had worshiped god as Yahweh for years for for a man, one that they could see, touch, and hear, to claim, to be That god was difficult for them to process. Jesus claimed to be the I am. The very god who revealed himself to Moses from a burning bush. So, did the Jewish leaders, his claim was blasphemy but it was truth. And Jesus had yet to fulfill his purpose on Earth but some of those listening that day would look back and see that Jesus was truly the son of god. He would sacrifice his body on a cross but his it. The I am would live on to fulfill everything Jesus promised while walking on earth because Jesus is god who came in flesh and such a concept is hard for many people to believe but it is a wonderful and true revelation. The disciples saw the miracles that Jesus did in his father's name. They witnessed him raised the dead to life and noone had ever demonstrated that kind of power and Jesus was quick to explain the power did not come from his humanity but from the spirit that dwelt inside of him. He could do nothing in the flesh that god had not already ordained and eventually his followers finally understood what he was saying and they acknowledge that Jesus Christ was the manifestation of god, the great I am because first Timothy chapter three verse sixteen, they said, without controversy, great is the of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preaching to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up in the glory and if you read that so fast, you miss everything that's happening there. So, let me slow it down. God was manifest in the flesh He was justified in the spirit. This god that was manifest in the flesh was justified in the spirit. He was also seen of angels. He was also the one that preached under the Gentiles. He was the one that was believed on in the world and he was the one that was received up in the glory. Who? God manifest in the flesh. Yeah. And we have every opportunity to worship Jesus in spirit and in truth because true worshipers come as we engage him in spirit and in truth. We worship in spirit. Our adoration comes from our core of our sincere and our genuine heart for the goodness and greatness of god but our worship of him must come from a firm foundation of truth because if it's just how we feel. And it's not about what we know There are going to be times we don't feel it Worship him in spirit and in. truth. That's why revelation is important. That's why our this word is important because when you understand who the I am is, god declared he was the I am from the beginning of time and he will be the I am. To Revelation has gotta be settled. That we know who he is and so as we celebrate the Christmas season and we talk about this baby that's in a manger and we celebrate what that's all about. Remember, he didn't stay in the manger. And remember when he got to Calvary's cross, he didn't stay on the cross and he didn't stay in the tomb and he wasn't just a prophet and he wasn't just a good man and he wasn't some substitute for god because god couldn't take care of it himself. We beheld his glory The only begotten We got to see that. And so it matters that we believe. We know who we're believing on. It matters who we're worshiping. We have to understand who the I am is. Cuz ultimately it will affect everything in our life. It's a foundational If you don't know who he is, it affects how you pray to him If you don't know who he is, it affects how you worship You really don't know who he is. It does affect how you live your life. He loved me so much that he came. He was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. It matters how we see him. God, I thank you for your word, your powerful, unchanging, forever settled word. I thank you for the revelation of who you are and I pray during this Christmas season that our eyes and our attention and our heart would be set on you. I pray god that we would fall in love with you in this revelation, a fresh and anew again in our life. I pray that we would study the scriptures, search the scriptures, find what they speak about you because I found in your word that the more I study their word, the more I know about I find you in your word because the word was made flesh and god I pray lord that you would help us during this Christmas season not be so busy that we forget about you that we devalue you that we forget that you are lord of all and king of kings and that we would settle our life on that foundation that hero Israel the lord our god is one. I pray your hand would be upon us the remainder of this week. I pray for those that are home sick, recovering, facing procedures in the next few weeks. I pray god healing wholeness would come into their life. We pray for our community tonight. There are people hurting in our community and I pray god peace, strength, and protection. I pray for those that are serving and protecting our city and our county during the season that your hand would be upon them and you would bless them as they protect us as we go out tonight. Help us to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Open up doors for us that no man can shut. And we give you praise and glory and honor. In Jesus name and let everybody say, amen. Thank you for being faithful. On this Wednesday night, if you got tithes and offering, you put those in the giving stations around the building. Remember, this weekend's candlelight service at 11 o'clock and have a great great time of worship. You're dismissed in Jesus name. You've got children. I believe sister Amy was giving em chocolate and cupcakes and chocolate milk. So, you may want to go. There is just one

Bracelets

Sunday at Hope Chapel | Sunday at Hope Chapel | By HOPE CHAPEL UPC | Praise the Lord everybody. Praise the lord. It's a good day to be in the house of the lord and we're so thankful that each of you are here. Why don't you stand and turn around to someone. I know this is dangerous but turn around to someone close to you and tell em good morning and merry Christmas. Merry Christmas Today kicks off Christmas season here at Hope Chapel. We're excited about today and the weeks ahead as we're getting ready and everybody's getting in their places. Remind you this Wednesday, Bible study at seven o'clock next Sunday 11 o'clock only and next Sunday night is our Christmas banquet. If you have not got your tickets to the banquet, I believe today, you need to do that today to make sure we have food for you. It's going to be a great time and Holly Springs this year and they're all joining me. Don't they look so good? Like good? Lose my train of thought with all these. Amazing kids. Everybody needs a mic, don't they? Everybody needs a mic. It's going to be a great day to our guests that are with us today. Thank you for being with us and this hand is for you. Thank you for worshiping. We're Hope Chapel today. And if you were invited to a concert today, I'm sorry. You were not invited to a concert but you have been invited to a worship service today and our kids and our choir is going to lead us and help us remember what the reason for the season is all about. It's going to be an incredible day and so in just a moment, we're going to take our Sunday morning tithes and offering our ushers are coming now to give you a chance to give and our little kids, then, our big kids and then our choir is going to lead us today and I'm excited So, how about let's lift our voice and pray today over this service. Lord, thank you for the day. Thank you for your mercy that met us this morning. Thank you for the opportunity to be in your house today. Bless our time together. Bless the choir, the musicians. God, our children today as they lead us in worship today. God, I pray you'd bless this offering today in Jesus name and let everybody say amen. Amen. And as you're seated, can we give our kids a hand as they kick today's celebration. Whoo Mary had a and she named Jesus her baby twinkle twinkle diamonds in the up. Twinkle twinkle what you are above like a in the sky twinkle twink is cold and child us on earth us on earth us on is blessed. Heaven's living here with us hallelujah we can't Jesus the greatest Jesus Christ the the lord lifted higher creation he played over stand and worship with us. He's worthy holy night when Jesus it was a wonder we give you the Come on, we came into this place to lift up the king of kings and the lord of lords. Scripture says that every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that he is lord. So, today, we came into this place to lift him up and give him the praise that he is worthy. So, why don't you lift your and give him some praise Hosanna. Yeah. Oh, come on. Can we do that so that we can live himself in flesh so that we can live. He's worthy of your praise today. Desires today is your praise today You are worthy today every nation you are we lift you up all god's people to the king lord be lifted of the lord holy one holy lord you're so to the king of king one beside you noone before you you are holy Hallelujah. There's none like you. There's none beside you, lord. God, you're worthy no matter what I go through or what I face, god. Thank you lord for what you've done in my life. Hallelujah. Idol he speaks and darkness goes running call the our face all our faith our praise Jehovah easy fight your battle see fight your battle easy but your battle say fight your battle Jehovah Shalom be your rock let it go Jehovah. Know the one that fights my battles. I know the one that heals my body. I know the one that meets every need. I know the one that's in this house today. And we call him Jesus. And if you walked in here today with a need, a situation, a circumstance, an obstacle, a door that's closed, a sickness in your body, a pain, or a discomfort of financial situation, a family situation. We believe that there's nothing too big or too hard or too complex for him. And we believe that your need can be met in this house today. Yes sir. We believe that you walk out of these doors today meeting Jehovah and he can change your life in one single service. Deliverance can happen today and joy can happen in this house today. We want to go to the lord in prayer today. We want to continue to pray for mister Joe Jones. We're going to pray for sister Tims. Wanna continue to pray for Brian Maynard's family, sister Wanda Dunson, Brentley Tedley, sister Beth Kelly, Brother Tom Morey, Sister Kim there are needs on the screen. There are needs all over this house today and if you've got a need, why don't you just lift your hand and let's just as a sign as I give it over to you. Lord, you know every need and every situation, every circumstance, those that are dealing with sickness or pain or difficulties. God, we believe that you're our healer and our provider and our deliverer and so god, we put everything in your hand today. We pray god that you touch brother Mori today and you'd give him a swift healing and recovery. Sister Kelly and Kim Kelly and Brentley Tedley. Sister Dunson today. Continue to work in her body. We pray for the Maynard family. We pray god for mister Joe Jones. We just pray for sister Tims today. God, we believe that you're our healer and our provider and you're meeting needs today in this building. God, those needs connected with our church family. Nothing is too big or too hard for you and we turn it all over to you and we trust you as our healer today and our provider today. In Jesus name, can we take 30 seconds right now and just put hands together. Let's lift our voice and let's thank him in advance. God, I praise you. Come on, if you believe he's working a miracle out in your life, I thank you. You can be seated this morning as we continue in worship. My god my god enter just see wonder my god my god to you worship you almighty seated on the throne glory entrance for a entered into nation to see the grace that you would need a light that never sees when time give your the king his throne he has all the wonder he made a making all things new to the lay your bone joyful receive mercies our Come on, give what you can to the king right now. Come on, he's worthy of Yes. Anybody been busy? It's December 8. That means the list is longer than the days that you have on the calendar. And as busy as our Christmases are, have you ever thought about the first Christmas? They weren't preparing for it for 12 months really it was a little over nine. They didn't have traditions and they didn't have things they had done before. Everything was all new. Mary hadn't talked to an angel before. Joseph had neither shepherds and the wise men had not wise men had never experienced the star before somehow last-minute preparations all worked out. I know it doesn't feel like it did because when Joseph and Mary all of the busyness. There was no room for them in the end. I understand in the darkness of the night, in the middle of nowhere, there was no band, there was no army, There really was no important people there to make this first Christmas over the top. There's no decorations There wasn't even a big meal. But there they made it out there in the darkness not in the spotlight of town no fanfare They made it to the manger. Joseph and Mary made it there and then Jesus arrived I don't know when it was but pursuing shepherds finally arrived. Animals were there We make it so beautiful today, the manger scene. Picturesque but it wasn't. Everything didn't look right. Nothing smelt right that manger that we beautify with hay, that little crib that we put baby Jesus in in our pictures, in our play was probably a little concrete rock carved out place. That a baby was laid. You see, it wasn't about us looking at it and seeing perfection No. It was about that perfect baby laying there. It wasn't about the sights or the smell or who was there or who should have been there, who could have been there. It was about who pursued. To be there. Because the shepherds didn't journey there just so thousands of years later. We could portray them that they weren't thinking about you They were thinking about him. Right. I know the wise men didn't make it there that day. I know it was a few years later. But they made it because when Jesus, it don't even matter if you show up a little late as long as you find what you're looking for and in this service today, I know there's a lot going on in your mind. I know there's probably a lot going on in your home, in your family, and there could be a list of mile long of things that you don't feel like is just right this holiday season. Maybe you feel like this whole spiritual thing and Bible thing and all this stuff. You just haven't got just right. Maybe you feel like you're a few steps late. It doesn't matter. As long as you get all through scripture You find people from all different backgrounds, all different circumstances. If you can get to him, everything's going to be alright. And in this service today, there's some folks probably more than one that you need to get to him today but here's what I found out about him. His name is Emmanuel. That's right. Amen. Which means god and what that means for us, if we feel like we're coming up short and we keep trying to get to him and what we're doing is not enough. He robed himself in flesh and he came to us So if you feel like you're just a little bit out of reach today, it's alright He's reaching for you. He came looking for loved you so much that he came for and if you're in this house and you came up short, it's alright. Just lift your hands on one more Sunday morning and say, lord, I I need you. Come on. Precious lamb behold born into sin precious precious lamb why you love me lamb of god born into sand that I when I always and he told me so I'm standing right it's in the you for the love the standing right here in the midst of my tears claim you to be when you you washed away precious lamb born into love me so but I'm thankful for you and your mercy love me Thank you for coming to this earth, Jesus. Why you love me I shall dear lord Jesus. We worship father spirit, one gather around for the one I saw one seated on the throne creation proclaims the one king of kings his will belong is one lord of lords for the one name I can say proclaims the one day it all alone god and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. There is only one god and noone before not to say get all alone is one. Let me tell you about the one true god that we serve. Here now the lord our god, his one lord. Isaiah chapter sixty-six says, the heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool. It says in Philippians, that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is lord. There is none other that beside him not like him. He is father one Come on, why do we worship him in this place? The one true god, the living god that we serve who reigns from all he is the author of creation his glory fills the lands and seas is for his glory roof on the dirt into his makes him more unique holy is for your calling the cross to bring our place the holy Thank you Lord. Hallelujah is the the grave cannot contend he is the way and the answer the king of kings will come holy holy holy holy you sing holy falling down in worship to sing a song of ages to the and all who gone before us. And all who will believe sing a song of ages to the your name and dominion and the angels cry all creation you are lifted forgiven if you can sing the song if you walk in freedom sing the song forever and amen and the all you are lifted to the king of we cry out above all is your name is the greatest your and more and dominion else cry Can you lift your hands to the king worthy of the praise. We've come to magnify the lord. You will always many shall bow exalt you in this place above the heaven I will see it oh god is the greatest and the angels cry we sing holy you will always able to stand with me all over this house you're worthy. Come on every eye closed for a moment. Could you just turn your attention to him right now? Come on, it's what Christmas is all about. It's about him. He was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Anybody ever have this question during this time of year. I don't know what to get them. I'm having a hard time figuring out. I've just come to let you know in this Christmas season that it's easy to know what he wants. I just don't know. I don't know. I don't know if I can. Yeah, I, Jesus is having an interaction with an imperfect woman and gives her the revelation of worship. And he says this, the father seeketh such. Amen. To worship him in spirit. Right. And in truth. I just don't know what god's looking for. You Yeah. Amen. He's just looking for you to worship you. And worship is not how loud I get. Worship is not how high I jump. Worship is not how high I can stretch my hand but truly worship comes from that word worth. And when you value something you begin to express to the degree of how valuable it is and if god is just another thing in your life you can cruise through worship in 10 or 15 seconds A hand clap will justify your worship. But when you realize he's the one that came because he loved you and he died because he loved you and he rose again because he loved you and he sent his spirit back for you because he loved you and then he's been faithful to you and he's been there with you time and time and time again and his mercy showed up again this morning. Even though you didn't deserve that word, worship that comes from the word worth. It can't be done in 10 seconds. And I wonder at the close of this service if you could just close your eyes one more time and lift your hands towards heaven and I wonder if we could just take a minute or two. And we can fill this house with the greatest gift for a king. And you can use your words and you can express your words to him right now. Come on, the seniors have done it. The musicians have helped us but he deserves all the glory and all the all the praise. Oh, come on somebody. You may be broken today but you can worship. You may be hurting today but you can worship You may be struggling today but you can worship. Oh, come on from the front to the back. from the left, to the right. Oh he's holy forever god's people sing. We magnify you. And I believe as we begin to worship him, he inhabits the praises of his people and I believe where the presence of the lord, he is there is liberty If you've got a need in this house, would you just lift your hand right now? I know sister Kim Kelly is in our bed right now in need of a miracle. You've got a need. Why don't you lift your hands? If you're close to somebody with their hands raised, would you just stretch your hands toward them or put your hands on their shoulder? Come on, let's pray for miracles in this house. God, we believe you're still moving. You're still working. You're still blessing. You're still anointing. You touch the to Kim right now. You touch every need under the sound of my voice. Deliverance, healing, direction, blessing, provision, joy, and freedom, peace that passes all understanding. You're the miracle worker. Lord, we believe in lord that nothing is impossible with you. By your stripes, we are healed. I pray over every believer under the sound of my voice. You know what they need. You know where they are but I know who you are and what you're able to do in this place today. Oh, come on. Let's give thanks. Give thanks to the lord Thank you for your word. Lord, I thank you for what you've done in this house. Thank you for what you're going to do out of this house. God, we know during this Christmas season that you're with us. Amen. God, that you're working. God, that there are miracles that are in store for us. I pray for those that are here and those that are home right now. Uh god, I know that you're working god for their good and your glory, lord. I pray that you'd help us to be the light in the darkness and the salt of the earth, god. I god that you'd use us to build your kingdom. God, during this season, we pray in Jesus name. Come on, one more time. Can we put our hands together and let's thank the lord. Hallelujah. God has been doing some incredible things Over the last 11 months and we still got some remaining days in this month and he's not done. What all god wants to do can't even be confined to this building. That means, we've gotta take what we've experienced today and we've gotta carry it with us because it maybe a waiter, a waitress today that you pray with or that you encourage. Maybe a classmate or a coworker or a family member throughout this week and we see his power put on display in a mighty way and I challenge you today, don't let church stay at church. He came. So that we would walk in purpose and we can share his good tidings in the world that we live in. I'm so thankful today for what we felt today. If you've been blessed today, can you put your hands together? Thank to our toddlers and our kids. You did a fantastic job and we love you. I think we had three or four sound men today. One media man and we want to give them honor today for all of their hard work, Making things work today. I needed something with two in there so I could go three sound men, two turtle doves to our amazing musicians that put in a lot of work. There was a lot of movement here today. And to this amazing choir that anointed and singing soloist in front line. Can we give them a hand today for leading us? Brother Tyler, come on up here, man. Don't hide out down there. Whoo. Sister Felicia, don't hide. Hide. Come on up here with your husband Brother Reed and sister Reed have been working on today's program Basically, since last December. Getting everything together and I want publicly say how thankful I am for this couple, this family. They lead, they love, they work, they invest, and I am thankful for them and can we give the reeds a hand today? Express our gratitude. For them today. To our church family. We love you. Thank you for worshiping today. Choir, can you give the worshipers a hand? Everybody's going to get celebrated today If your sound, media, choirs, band, I know they want you all up here to get a quick picture and so if you are a part of that, could you join up here? Remember, Wednesday night, if you have Christmas cards, you want the the delivery Hope postal service to deliver. Those need to be in the day. If you forgot today, I'm sure they can squeeze em in on Wednesday. We love you to our guest. Thank you for being here today. We invite you to join us again. Candlelight service

4.9K views · 100K reactions | Jaukeem Fortson KILLS IT singing “God Only Knows” on the Voice and it turns into a worship set! #church #thevoice #godonlyknows #praise #worship #jesus #singing | Best Of Pentecost

Sunday at Hope Chapel

Midweek at Hope Chapel | Midweek at Hope Chapel | By HOPE CHAPEL UPC | Praise the lord everybody. Thank you for being here on this beautiful Wednesday night. The lord has made. If you're able to, why don't you stand? We're going to go to the lord in prayer before we step into worship. Wanna continue to pray for brother Matt Rogers and his recovery. He's doing well. They're supposed to get on the road tomorrow and drive halfway home and then the rest of the way on Friday. So, we want to pray for them. Wanna pray for sister Gan, sister Brenda Easter, that the lord would continue to touch sister Gan and touch her body. Uh we pray for sister Jackson and her recovery. It's good to see brother in church tonight. We certainly want to pray for him as he's here tonight. Wanna pray for Maggie. We're thankful she's back doing well. Wanna pray for Cody Davis, brother James Jones, sister Deborah Young, Donna Hopper, and Brother Morgan needs our prayers tonight. I know there's others around the sanctuary and if you've got a need, you want to just lift your hand and we're going to turn it over to him tonight. Lord, we love you. We thank you for the privilege and the honor of being in your house. The opportunity we have. God to Experience you and I pray tonight that you would meet with us. That you would strengthen us. That you would challenge us. That you would encourage us. That you would bless us tonight. God, I pray as we step into a time of worship and in the word. God that you would meet us right where we are. That you would touch those that are in the hospital. Those that are kneeling dealing with sickness or pains in their body. We know that you are more than enough. And by your stripes we are healed. God we pray for those tonight that are needing blessings. Strength, peace, joy, physical, emotional, spiritual needs. God, we believe nothing is impossible with you and we turn everything over to you tonight. We pray over our city, our county, and this region for revival and harvest and increase. We pray for pray for those that are leading and serving and protecting our community that your hand would be upon their lives. God, we pray for peace in our nation. We pray for peace in Israel. God, we pray tonight you would open eyes to what time it is right now. We would see the need for getting close to you. God, during this time. God, we pray tonight in this house that you would meet with us, that you would strengthen us. God, that you would refresh us in your presence tonight. Take us where we need to be in you In Jesus name. Now, can we turn our prayer into praise right now as we come into his gates with Thanksgiving into his courts with praise tonight. Yes, lord. We give you glory and honor tonight. Lord has given us a new song to sing. He has blessed us. He has delivered us. We thank you Jesus for your goodness. I want to sing a new song shout it out is we can see by his is a people crying is a song never the same he's taking my chances there's freedom Jesus the power to save oh there is a day like no other shout it out loud before let the it's a song of live a shouting out louder than people let the and the whole it's a song of praise a song for all of the redeemed let the whole earth sing the whole earth Let there be glory. To hands and sing that hymn right now. Let there be glory glory let there be glory and Right now. Of your week. Can you just focus your attention on him? Oh, come on. Use your words right now. Can we do that all over this house? You deserve the glory. You deserve the honor. There is none like you, lord. There is none like you, lord. We lift you up and we magnify your holy and righteous name. Let there be a lot of the things that got my attention this week. Focus on the one who is the lamb slain from the foundation of the Lord we love you tonight. We praise you. We're thankful for who you are. We're thankful that you never change. That you're the same yesterday, today, and forever. Yes thankful for his presence. I'm thankful. I know it's something that we say often but scripture teaches us this very important principle that he abides in the praises of his people. So, we don't just sing to sing trying to make sure he shows up in the middle of what we're doing and I'm thankful that that he is here. He's as close as the mention of his name. Thankful for what God is doing. Thankful for what God is going to do this weekend. Brother Chris Turner is going to be with us. And helping with the praise team and testifying and looking forward to what God has in store for us over the weekend. We're going to dismiss students and our young adults to their Bible studies and we're in the book of Colossians. You got your Bibles. You can turn with me to Colossians chapter one I made it through nine nine verses last week we're going to work our way through. I I told you I got to sing the Sunday before that solo but it's all in hymn. So, I just picked up and we going to go through Colossians with the title. It's All In Him. And there's a lot of the word all. In the book of Colossians and so in your studies, you kind of just take what we're talking about, dig a little deeper. Colossians chapter one, beginning with verse nine from last week for this cause, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will, and spiritual understanding, the reason you need to be filled is found in verse ten, that you might walk worthy of the Lord, a all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of god, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the father. We're going to skip down to verse sixteen for by him were all things created that are in heaven that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him. Amen. And for him and he is before all things and by him, all things consist. He is the head of the body, the church who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things, he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the father that in him should all the fullness dwell. Having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven and just one last verse verse twenty-one and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your own mind by wicked works yet now hath been reconciled lord I thank you for your word and the chance we have to grow in your word I pray that you would challenge our thinking tonight. I pray you would equip us. God to walk out his door as not just a believer but a mighty believer. In Jesus name and let everybody say amen. Amen. You may be seated. We talked last week that these words were being written to the church that was dealing with false doctrine and Paul is writing all of this encouragement from prison. But Paul said, verse nine. I haven't stopped praying for you. I've been praying for you ever since I heard the church was growing, that you were believing, and I am praying that you would be filled with the knowledge of his will. That's what he's praying to be filled, to stay full. That word literally means to be controlled by him. When you are filled by the spirit, you are controlled by the spirit. And Paul said, I'm that you would be filled. It was not a feeling to be, you know, have goosebumps and doodads and you know, just feel good because you're filled but there was a divine purpose. Just need to be filled so that you can live out this thing that you believe. I don't want you to just be filled with enough spirit just to keep you from things but I want you to be filled enough to be drawn in to some things and so, what we have to Understand that god wants us to be filled. It's not just to keep us out of things but it's also to help us get in to things. Sometimes, there are people that come into the church and they're worried their whole life about what they can't do and they forget about what god wants them to do and sometimes we are so vocal about what is wrong and we're not vocal about what is right. Alright. I know I'm meddling there but it's good meddling. Somebody told me four church. They were doing fair to Medlin. So, I'm going to do a little meddling tonight, you know but sometimes as believers, we are so concerned. I can't do this, I can't do that and I can't go there and I've kept myself. Other people hadn't you know, they're doing all that but I'm not doing all that. Bless god but my question is, after you said no to some things, when we've been filled with this power and this spirit and this wisdom, we're also supposed to be saying yes to somethings. Right. So, Paul even from prison, he's saying, I'm praying that you are filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and all spiritual understanding. That's what I'm praying for but then, we pick up in Verse ten, he said, that you might walk worthy of the lord. Unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work. This this verse is not about the things that you're not doing. It's about the things we're supposed to be doing. Increasing in the knowledge of god. So, there is no separation in god's mind between learning the word of god and living the word of god. Right. Meaning, we're not supposed to be hearers only but we're supposed to be doers there's still not a supposed to be a separation of studying this thing and living this thing. It is supposed to come to life in our life. His word has got to find good ground and when we come to Bible study, we come to church and we learn the word of god and we get into the word of god that it it it's great when it's a good message and it's great when it's a good thought and it's a great. I'm sure, you know, there's three or four people that are amen. Anyway, it's great one. It's a quick. Amen Good message. You know, I mean, there's a but what we do with that is what makes it great. God's word is forever settled. So, it doesn't have higher low. It doesn't return void. Right. His word is powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. So, regardless of what we think about the word or not, it's good. What makes it great is what we do with it. Alright. And so when we say, well, that was a really good message or that was a really good service. In the Bible, there is no distinction between learning, hearing, absorbing, and living. It's supposed to go hand in hand. So, when we've heard a good message on prayer, on worship, it's great that we heard a good message. But the purpose is that we start praying and we start worshiping. Right. If we've heard a good thought or a good sermon or a good lesson on something, it it's great that we've heard it. What we do with it is what matters. Yes. In the word of god, there's no difference and so when the word convicts us and the word challenges us, we need to go and do the word. So, when we hear a message and we're stirred or we're prompted, great. Yes. Now, let's go do it. I've I've found myself if you'll listen when we dismiss service lately because it's really just kind of where god has me reminding me now this is not the pinnacle of our week. This is the launching pad. This is not the fruition of everything that's supposed to happen today. The altar call is not settled here. The altar calls when we walk out the doors and so what we do with the word matters. So, Paul is praying not just that you're filled but that the filling would cause you to walk worthy. He said, I am praying for it to affect you so that you are fruitful in every good work. Then, he continues. He said, this is, you know, he's still praying from prison. I don't want us forget that, you know? He's not having like a great day. It's not like perfect, you know, that he didn't have the coffee pot there that morning and let, you know, I mean, it was not the perfect it was it was prison. And he's writing and encouraging and then verse eleven, he said, strengthen with all might according to his glory power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness from prison. He's writing someone else that they would experience his glorious power unto all patients and long suffering with joyfulness and a lot of people have patience and long suffering because they have to. Well, I gotta do this. I gotta be patient right now but he said, you want to be full of patience and long suffering with joyfulness. Now, it's going to wreck us right there. It's going to step. Well, bless god. I've been patient. I haven't lost my cool yet. You know. Right. With all joyfulness. As we're praying while we're going through things to be patient and to be long suffering, we need to jump in there and add a little prayer for joyfulness in the process. You know, I sometimes we can do something because we know to do it but everybody knows we don't want to do it. Now, we can, we're all, the kids are all out right now. So, we can say it's only them but we probably do the same thing. You know, that list that you've been putting off and you finally gotta get it done or that, you know, it, You know, we we do it but it's not full of joy and sometimes when we're going through things spiritually and walk in this walk of faith, we kind of, well, I got long suffering and impatient. With joyfulness. It there is a difference. Someone comes into the house of god and their mind and they think, well, I'm toughen it out but on their face, they're saying, I'm here to worship. I'm here to pray. I'm here to speak faith. That's having patience and long suffering with It always blesses me when I look out across the sanctuary knowing people that are going through probably the toughest time they ever have and their hands slips up and a tear rolls down their face or they're in the altar celebrating worshiping or I look out and they're praying with someone else or encouraging someone else. It really just brings this verse to life that as they're dealing with long suffering and patience as they're going through something, it's with joyfulness. It makes a difference. Joyful. Joyfulness. Verse twelve, giving thanks unto the father which has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saint and light. I don't know what you think about you know, where you are in life and in your faith journey but let me just remind you, there's not one of us that deserve to be where we are or what we have. We don't deserve what we have. It's by the grace and the mercy of god but. Amen. We also are partakers in an inheritance of the saints. Meaning, there have been people that have gone before us, that have paved the way for what we get to enjoy now. The way that we get to live out our faith, the way that even Pentecost is viewed in our culture. Right now, there are people, I I've heard the stories. I didn't live in the day but there were tomatoes thrown at preachers and the people outside services, shooting guns off at Pentecostal Churches out trying to scare people. They just all of things have happened that people thrown in preachers, thrown into jail in here in Mississippi, Pentecostal. Preachers thrown into jail back in the thirties and the forties for preaching this oneness matches. We are blessed because we get to take advantage of an inheritance that we didn't have anything to do with but there were people praying and believing and living faithful and we got to be a part of it. And so in light of verse thirteen, he has delivered us from the power of darkness and this is pretty neat phrase or statement when you start digging digging into it. He says, you're delivered us from the power of darkness and to the kingdom of his dear son and when you look up that phrase right there, it it comes from a word that describes from moving from one country to another country. Your your translated from one place where you were now to an entirely different place. You're not moving down the block. You're not stepping the door. You woke up in Mississippi this morning and then you blinked and you were in Madagascar. You that that's what he's saying. You you delivered us from the power of not it. You didn't get there on your own. It wasn't this slow process. God took you there. It it we don't say things like they're using here in the King James and and and that trans. We wouldn't say it that way anymore but that's the meaning. You are moved or transported from one country to another. You're translated. And this is an exciting thing for you and me because in Bible times when they took to really understand what's happening and what it means for our life in Bible times when they took prisoners and they wanted to to make them slaves in a different country. They would take the slaves. They would load them into a ship. The Romans did this and they would take those slaves over land and into their new home. They would take them by sea in a boat and the reason that they did it was very important. They didn't want them to know the route to get back home if they ever escaped. So, they would take them some long adventurous way so they would just be confused where they were at. So, they would actually load the slaves on the ship. They would take them to a different country by the way of water and and it's a horrible image for us to imagine because we're we're thinking of all that they're going through but Paul was using this word or this term that was used in those days to describe something incredible because he's actually referencing baptism there. That's when we're when we're baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, we are translated in the water. Something happens from one country to another. We arrive at a destination and there's no going that's the the picture that he is painting for them. He's drawing into their culture to let them know from what there's a translation that takes place and so when you and I are baptized in Jesus name, we are translated from one country, this world to another, god's kingdom and there's no going back to our old life. You are forever marked by that event of baptism in Jesus name. Can you backslide? Yes. Can you decide you don't want it anymore? Yes, that's your choice. You want to make it but there's this decision place. There is this water place where we there's no turning back from that moment. The devil cannot cross there. He can't pull us back to what we used to be. If we choose to walk away, that is the choice that we make but you will never be the same after you've entered into a covenant with the name of Jesus Christ. When you and I go down in that name, we are translated from one kingdom to another. Everyone that is baptized in Jesus name, we experience that translation. We are no longer, we we say things like this, the old man is gone and now there's new, old things pass away and all things become new. We we talk about baptism when we talk about the children of Israel coming out and passing through the Red Sea. It wasn't just about them getting over on dry ground but that water was going to cover their adversary that was chasing after them and so when we experience that event, there is a translation from the world to the kingdom and when we acknowledge the name of Jesus and we begin to worship him where and when we're in a place with a bunch of other people that have also entered into that covenant in their life and had that marker. There isn't is an amazing experience. That's why even tonight, in the middle of our week, when there's a lot of things going on and even before service, I talk to people that are dealing with things in their health or their family or their life and we in here and together, we lift up that name and we celebrate that name. What happens is we are partaking of this spiritual kingdom we have been brought into. So, once we're baptized, it's not just some show to the church but it's that translation from the world into the kingdom. He literally translate transported us from the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of god over water. That's the sense of the word. Verse fourteen, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Redemption refers to paying a price. Now, Jesus didn't buy us from the devil. He didn't give, you know, the devil, just pull out a wad and start, you know, counting out how much is it? Yeah. But here's how Jesus bought us. We could fulfill the law and so, we were failures but Jesus paid the debt that we owed to the law because he lived a perfect life. He never made one mistake. He never sinned one time and so what Jesus did in payment for us is he met the demands above law and that's the first word redemption refers to the repayment or the payment of a ransom. He bought us out of sin but then forgiveness in verse fourteen, forgiveness means not just paying a debt, it means canceling a debt. So, redemption is what was paid and forgiveness is cancellation and so we have redemption which he paid for a ransom to get us out of sin but we have forgiveness which is cancelling the way what we have. Oh, so when the devil comes to us and tries to, you know, kind of start speaking up and try to, you know, get us off track and says, well, you're a sinner and you're a failure and and and you can't do anything and when the devil turns around, he can't even find any record of what we've done because not only did Jesus pay the price, he cancelled it, he washed it, he removed our sins as far as the east is from the west, his blood watch this white as snow and so the devil anytime he gets in your mind and tries to get in your spirit and tell you where you were this and you were that. It's just the bluff. There's no evidence there because there was redemption and there was forgiveness. So, when you are baptized in Jesus name, there was a washing away. So, when you got up out of that water, the devil has no evidence anymore of who you used to be. Right. Yes. Now, you got a memory and you got a brain and sometimes we'll listen to the devil and we'll start going, oh you're right. I do remember when I did this and I remember but but heaven don't remember it. Right. And the devil don't have no evidence. So, there's nothing to prosecute you that that is who you are or who you'll ever be again. It's been covered by the blood of Jesus. He's just bluffing. He's trying to use some old memory to try to keep you under a current condemnation and we've got to let the devil know when those thoughts show up, that's not real, that's not who I am, there's no evidence of that, there's no right to that, the devil has no right to bring that because it's under the blood. We have redemption and we have forgiveness of our sins and we have it according to scripture through Jesus and verse fourteen says, in that it's in him and so this is Jesus that Paul is describing. This is the Jesus that Paul is preaching about. This is the Jesus that Paul worshiped. So, in verse fifteen, he says, who in the image of the invisible god? If you want to know who god is, you take a look at Jesus. If you want to know who Jehovah of the Old Testament is, then, you study Jesus of the New Testament. If you want to know how this great god who created the universe will react to you, watch how Jesus reacted to the woman taking in adultery. Watch how he reacted to the crowds and the needs. Watch how he reacted to the children. Watch how he reacted to those that everyone else didn't want anything to do with. Watch how Jesus reacted to cripples and the lame and the halt and the blind and you'll see his compassion. You've seen the compassion of an almighty god because he is the image of the invisible god, the firstborn of every creature and when we use this scripture, it uses image. It means an exact representation and a revelation. That's what it means. The image means an exact representation and an exact revelation. That's who Jesus is. He is the exact representation and the exact revelation of who God is. And that's the Jesus that we've come to worship tonight and lift up. And if you'll look up that word image in the Greek it comes from a word that we get our word icon from. You know pull up. You you know if I mean some of you already on your phone. But your phone and sorry, that just slipped in there. Um your phone, I'm getting older. It just slides out sometimes. Um you you pull up your phone and there's all these icons. Those icons do nothing til you touch them and then it opens up the fullness of where that icon is. So, this word image is from the word that we get our word icon. He is the icon of god. If you look at Jesus, you've seen god. If you look at Jesus, he's not sort of like god. He is god. He is the exact representation and the revelation of god. So, Paul said that's who he's preaching. That's who he's focused on and Paul's a theologian and and you know, he's writing this letter and and for most of us, this would be, you know, dear so and so, you know, and we have our little things and then we conclude our letter but he can't stop. You know, it just happens to preachers sometimes. You know, they just get going and they can't stop and and and he's already gone 16 verses. He he's you know, he's he's preached through lunch by this point. You know? And and he said a lot of things and he's used the word all quite a few times and and we get to verse sixteen and he says, for by him were all things created. Things in heaven, things in earth, visible, and invisible, whether there be thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers, all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him, all things consist. Paul said, first of all, he is the image of the invisible god. He's like an icon that you open up, open up Jesus up and you'll see who god is. When you look at Jesus, you you you've seen god. Right. I mean, did we hear that before? Yes. From Jesus's own mouth when he said, when you've seen me, you've seen the father. So, you get Paul has the same revelation that Jesus shared with everybody. This was not some new doctrine. That man came up with. This is, okay. Right. Now, that he he says, this is the firstborn of every creature. Now, firstborn there is not referring to the fact that he was born first before any baby on Earth was born. He's not talking firstborn as in time. He's talking firstborn as in status. Hebrews chapter one verse three says, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. Here's that word image. Jesus is the express image of god. He upholds all things by the word of his power. That's who we worship. In John 414 verse nine, Jesus looked at his disciples and he said, have I been so long with you? And you haven't known me. Philip said, he that has seen me, he said, Philip, he that seen me has seen the father. I'm the image. I'm the icon of god. I'm the exact representation and revelation of god. He said, it even plainer in John ten verse thirty. He said, I am my father are one. We're we're the same thing. You seen me, you've seen the father, you talk to me, you talk to the father. If I do a miracle, that's the father's power in a miracle and then Paul said, he's not only that image, he's the firstborn of every creature and he's not saying he's the first baby that was ever born. That's not what he's saying. What he's saying is that he was the first and the most important and the most preeminent and the most predominant baby that was ever born. He's not just the first one who was created. He's before that. He's the creator of everyone who was ever created. So, firstborn isn't his time of birth. That was Bethlehem. That was 4, 000 years after human history started. Thousands and thousands of babies were born by that time. He's not the first born as in time. He's the first born as in status. He's the first rank. Jesus is the most important. In verse eighteen, he'll say that he is the first born from the dead. He's the first born from the dead. He wasn't the first person to be raised from the dead. There were people during Jesus's ministry that were raised from the dead. Right. There were people in the Old Testament that were raised from the dead by the prophets. So, Jesus isn't the firstborn as in time and he's not the first born from the dead because he was the first person ever to be raised from the dead but what Paul was saying is that he is the most important person that was ever raised from the dead because every miracle that was ever done raised anybody now or back then before Jesus or after, it was all because of resurrection power. So, he is the most important person that ever came out of a tomb and he was the most important baby that was ever born. So, in verse seventeen, he says, and he is before all things and by him, all things consist. Literally, god holds us together. That's what Paul saying. Don't you don't exist without him. You don't function without him. Everything you think you are, it's because of him. Everything you'll think you'll be, it's because of him. Everything you look around and think, look what I've done. You didn't do it. It's because of him. He is involved in all things. By him, all things consist. Now, Paul, he he isn't given a science lesson here but in verse seventeen, he says, something pretty incredible that Jesus is before all things and by him, all things consist, all things are held together. All things are together because of Jesus. By him, all things consist and the doesn't hold together unless he said so. All things consist because of him. Your house doesn't hold together unless god allows those things, those materials to hold together. He created the molecules So, everything that we look around and go, we figured that out and we figure, no, you didn't figure that out You've just been allowed into part of the process and when Paul said this, he didn't really know, you know, he hadn't studied science yet. He hadn't gone through all all of those things but he said, everything that we have is held together because of him. It's all for him. Then, Paul said, he's the head of the body. He's the church. He's the beginning. He's the first born from the dead. Why that in all things, all things that he might have preeminence and when Paul says preeminent, it's a word in the Greek and it means he's first in rank. He's first in influence So, you kind of get the gist from last week to this week that Paul's kind of on this tangent that if he's not lord of all, he's nothing at all. If he's not first, if he's not, you're all in all. Then, then, you think, then, things are going to get out of whack. He he just keeps kind of coming back to Jesus to be the number one influence in your life on your choices. He's the preeminent one. He's the first in the rank and rank of your life. He's the first in the influence of your life and there's another word that we see in the New Testament and we see it in third John. In third John verse one verse down to verse nine, Paul said, I wrote to the church but theotrophies who loves to have the preeminence among them, he respect us not and the preeminence is from the word protos which means first, it means the most influential. It means the highest in rank and in third John, it's put together with the word philosophy and John talked about this man that is fond of being first. He wants to be first. He's kind of caught up in preeminence. He thinks he's number one but Paul talks to the church in Colossians and he says, Jesus is first. Not anybody not any pastor, not any saint, not any deacon. He's first. Jesus is the preeminent one. And you've got to choose whether you're going to be fond of being first? or you want him to be first? There's really you you can't have them both. There's not two first. And we live out our life like we're number one or he's number one the order of those things literally affects everything else in our life. Jesus even said, seek you first the kingdom of god and his righteousness. Let everything else follow. All that stuff you're worrying about if you'll just keep me first, then, all of that stuff will be in order and be taken care of but when we're walking around wanting to be first and our decisions are based off of us wanting to be first and our our life is just about what I'm number one. I want this. I want that, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, then things are going to get all out of whack but when we put him back in his proper place and Jesus is the preeminent one. All things he might have preeminent sin. You jump down to verse nineteen. It says, for it pleased the father that in him should all the fullness dwell. It pleased the father that Jesus would have all fullness. The sum total of all the power and all the attributes. Everything was in Jesus. So, the song that we sing was right. It is all in him. Verse twenty, having made peace to the blood of his cross by him. Meaning, you didn't do this. You didn't earn this. We don't do anything. We're not so great that we can figure it all out. It's because of the blood of his cross by him. This happened because of Jesus and he goes on to say, by him to reconcile all things to himself. By him, I say whether the things in Earth or things in heaven because Jesus was both god and man. He could grab heaven in one hand and earth in the other. All things were in him. He can mediate. He can bring us together. He makes peace through his blood of his cross. And then in verse twenty-one, he makes it personal. He said, you were sometimes alienated. You were enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled. He said, you don't have the right to be here. You don't really belong here. You are alienated. If if it was left up to you, you you couldn't fit into this thing. You couldn't figure your way into the church or out of the world. You couldn't do it but Jesus did something. He took a people who were alienated sometimes and he made them into something great. He took some people that were enemies in their own mind by wicked works and he reconciled them. He figured out a way to bring people that couldn't earn it, couldn't figure it out, couldn't fix it, couldn't make anything of themselves, and he reconciled them unto himself and he made them into something great. Meaning, he took something worthless and made it valuable and even in this room tonight, There are people that have testimon of who you used to be and who you are now is two different things and it didn't happen because of who you are happen because of the blood of the cross. That word alienated there literally means we would use another word in our language today called estranged. They're estranged from one another They were disconnected. They're not talking anymore They're not friendly toward each other. They're estranged. That's what the word means. When Paul said alienated, he was saying, they weren't connected. They weren't talking. They were estranged from god. There was no communication. There was no friendliness. There was no relationship and and he then he goes on and he says, some of you were even worse than that. You were enemies in your mind and the word enemies, that means that they were like actively hostile towards god because of their sin, their Words, their attitude, their actions He's like painting this picture to remind them, you didn't get where you are by yourself. Remember, he's not writing to the world. He's writing to the church. He's not preaching to the lost He's preaching to the church that's dealing with false doctrine and everything that he's doing is not beating them down and he's not he's not even getting on to the false doctrine that's there. He just keeps reminding them what truth is. He keeps talking about the truth of who god is. He keeps coming back to how much god loves them. He keeps coming back to, you didn't get here by yourself. Don't forget that. If you ever start thinking, you got here by yourself, then, you're probably getting yourself into where you're thinking you're number one and he's no longer number one. But god cleaned you up. God brought you in. He didn't get here on your own but now, you've been bought with a precious price. Verse twenty-two, it says, here's How we did it in the body of his flesh through death. It cost god something to bring us into the church. He presents us now because of his death. It took his death to do it and now he presents us holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight and that's a really important concept that we that we can't miss and it's found in the Bible and I believe in the teaching of Jesus. I believe in his miracles. I believe in his life and there there there's even doctrine that floats around in there and I believe in all all of the of scripture and and if we we just teach on the the teachings of the sermon on the mount and we love people like Jesus and and we're kind and and all of those things all of that stuff is great and we need to mark it down. But we're saved because of him We're saved because of him but his life was holy and blameless and sinless. And that brings a conviction into our life. Meaning, I am saved because of him but there's supposed to be a change in me. We lived an imperfect life. He lived a perfect life. We live a life that was tempted and messed up by the world. He lived a life that was divine and inspired. He lived a life that was above reproach and above sin. So, Jesus's life made a way for what we can be a part of but it doesn't mean that we just keep going on. Without that thought or influence in our life. He brought us out of darkness into this marvelous light. He didn't just save me to pull me out. He saved me for a purpose. Verse twenty-two, he said it happened. This reconciliation happened in the body of his flesh through death. Why? To present you not as you are but to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. The purpose of god doing everything that he did, everything that he said. All of it was great. The purpose of it is so that he could have a people that was holy, that was living after him. God didn't forgive our sins so that we would keep sinning. What? Right. What sense does that make? Well, I accepted him good I it's really not about me accepting him. He accepted me. Yeah. But then I have to believe that he accepted me and then I have to obey the things that he said when he accepted me and then I I have to start understanding that there is a way out of Egypt but there's also a way into the promised land. I I have to understand that he's got a purpose for my life but he did it all to present me as what I could be and so, all of the false doctrine that's in the world and was dealing with in Colossians. It's it's the same fleshly compromise of spiritual things. So, what Colossians was dealing with is it is still being dealt with today Why Paul is teaching this to the churches? Cuz it's it's what they were dealing with. And it's you can have god in this. You can lift your hands to a holy god here but you can do unholy things in this hand. You can sing praises of god and then you can also, you know, just find the balance and Paul is dealing, I mean, he does a good job. I mean, I know he's pretty lengthy but I mean, he does a good job kind of but what does he do to get him back? He doesn't spend time wasting time beating down culture. He spends all of his time lifting up Jesus He spends all of his time reminding them what he wants for their life. God didn't clean us up so we would go back to the things of the world. He did it so that we would be holy, unreprovable, and unblameable in his sight and it only happens in verse twenty-three. He said, if you continue in faith, grounded, and settled, don't be moved away from the hope of the gospel which you've heard which was preached to every creature which is under heaven and Paul said, I was one of those ministers that preached to this year and he said, don't don't move away and that phrase, don't move away literally means don't be shaken. Because Colossians, they they were dealing in an area where there there was a lot of things going on. Matter of fact, if you'll even study it in in the natural, there was a fault line there and they were prone to earthquakes and they had dealt with damages and and later just a few years after Paul writes to the Colossians church, they would be completely destroyed by an earthquake. It was prone to earthquakes and when Paul says, don't be moved away from your faith. He was saying, don't be shaken. Don't let whatever pressure comes, whatever trial comes, don't let it shake you. Don't let it move you away from your faith and he said, I'm minister of this. I'm the one that preached to you and Paul didn't preach to them directly but he preached in a meeting in Ephesians that resulted in a young man being converted and going back and starting the Colossians Church. In verse twenty-four, he said, who now rejoice in my suffering for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ and in my flesh for his body's sake which is the church. He said, you know what? I can rejoice even though I'm in prison. I can rejoice even in trials because what I've gone through has resulted in the gospel being preached. I've been made a minister according to dispensation of god which is given to me for you. God didn't just give this to me for me. He gave this to me, for you. He gave me this for you to fulfill his word. Even the mystery which has been hid from the ages from generations but now is made manifest to the saints to whom the glory would make known which is the riches of the glory of the mystery among the Gentiles and here's the mystery. Here is what was hidden from the Old Testament prophets. They saw of it. They got a little bit of it. They kind of foresaw some glimpses of it but Paul said, now we know the mystery. Now, we understand the riches of what god was up to when he gave him the tabernacle plan. When he gave them the sacrifice and the priesthood and he gave the prophets and all those things were pointing ahead, it was the riches of his glory of this mystery among the Gentiles and here's the mystery. The mystery is Christ in you. The hope of glory. All the things that the Old Testament kind of saw a little bit of. It was Christ in you Not behind the veil. Not just in an earthly ministry on on some street Nazareth somewhere. Christ in you. That was what the whole thing was all about. And when you and I receive the Holy Ghost, it's not an emotional thing. It's not just some little goosebump feeling. It's not just to make you feel better in your bad day. When you receive the Holy Ghost, that's Christ in you, the hope of glory. Isaiah said with stammering lips and another tongue. He never knew all the fulfillness of that. Joel said it's going to come to pass afterwards in the last days. I'm going to pour out my spirit on all flesh. He pointed ahead but he never got the experience for himself but you and I get to experience it. We get to have it and it's Christ in us the hope of glory. That's what we get to celebrate. We we don't preach religion. We're not just up here going through some denominational things. It's Christ in you the hope of glory. Paul said, god works in me mightily. He wasn't bragging. He was just stating a fact. I can't do this on my own. We can't do this on our own but he can work mightily in us. Paul, when he preached that service and those meetings in Ephesus, he never dreamed that it was not just going to impact the city but not just a group of people but it was going to impact a whole region and it was going to move to colossal. There was going to be a church there and there was going to be a church in Laodicea and there was going to all these churches throughout all the region and Paul said, we gotta defend the truth. We gotta defend the truth. We gotta hold on to the truth. We're not going to argue with anybody. We're not going to beat anybody down but the way that we're going to defend truth is lift up Jesus so high that he's going to show up and he's going to radically change lives and when we lift up Jesus, that's everything in our life. That's number one that he's preeminent, that he's everything, that he's filling all of us. Paul was standing there and he he was teaching and he preaching and he's going on a little bit. He's not even got to chapter two yet. Was going on but it was all about lifting him up. So, I know we live in a world right now where there's a lot of different belief and a lot of different things and there's a lot of just confusion out there but the way that we do it is the way that Paul did it when there was a, we just gotta lift him up. How do we lift him up? Well, we talk about what he's doing in our life. We talk about what he's done in our life. We talk about what we've experienced in our life. We open up the word to people and say, look what the lord showed me. That's how we defeat every false thing in our life is by celebrating the real thing. When you work at the bank and you work with money that you don't spend a lot of time studying counterfeit. I just want you to touch the real thing so much that you'll know the false thing when it shows up. And in our world today, the way that we reveal what's wrong and what is right is by making sure we're focusing on what's right. We're magnifying what's right And as we walk out of this house in just a few few minutes, we're going back into a world that's crazy right now. And the way that we find peace and the way that we find joy and the way that we find truth and and that that's going to win all of the every ever false thing is by lifting him up through our life, through our words, through our needs, that we understand he brought us out and we're not of this even though we're in this world right now and we live a life that lifts him up. Our words should lift him up. Our attitude should be fixated on him being preeminence. Our priorities and our lifestyle. All those things should be pointing to him and if we'll just keep doing everything we can in our life to point to him as the author and the finisher of our faith and he's in charge and he's the one in control. He's the one that I'm worshiping. He's the one that I'm praying to. He's the one I'm walking with and he's the one I'm talking to. If we'll just keep doing that in this world, we're going see the difference that can be made when we lift him up. Come on, can we lift our hands all over this house and say, lord, this week, would you help me lift you up? This week, would you remind me that it's just all in you? That I can't make it without you. I can't do this without you. I don't want to and god, if there, there's anything of this world that's battling our mind, our heart, our spirit, our priorities. God, would you help us just to get back, fixated on you as you, it's all in you. Lord, I you for what you have done, what you're doing, and what you're going to do and I pray that you would use us the remainder of this week to be the light in the darkness and the salt of the earth and we'll give you the praise and the glory and the honor in Jesus name and let everybody say, amen. If you got tithes and offering, you can put those in the giving stations before you leave. Why don't you greet someone, invite them to join you on Sunday for Sunday school at 1030. It's going to be a great time. We love you. You're dismissed in Jesus name. If only you then you know that's why I dance

MIDWEEK @ HOPE | MIDWEEK @ HOPE | By HOPE CHAPEL UPC | Praise the lord. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. Aren't you glad to be in the house of the lord this evening? Amen. Hallelujah. I want to open in prayer this this evening to talking about one thing and that is we sometimes come before the Lord in in prayer and we start saying some words but we need we need to come with a heart and a spirit that's prepared with faith. Amen. And you know sort of like when you have something to send in the mail, you have to have a stamp. You have to have preparation when you send it out into the mail. And it goes on its way. Well, when you come in Prayer. Prepare your heart to send off what your request will be. So it can arrive in the presence of God. And so think about that as we start pray for these needs here. Why don't we all stand this evening? Hallelujah. Uh we have sort of a list here. So we want to remember Sam Stone, Jojo Jordan, James Jones, Barbara Kidd, and Brother Glawson Deval family also Henry Thornson, and Tiffany Smitherman. So, there's a lot of names there but let's just bring our minds and our hearts into the presence of the lord as we pray right now. Lord, thank you for your presence. Thank you lord that we can come before you for every need that is here in this house, lord. Lord, you know hearts. You know our lives Lord. We're praying the anointing of your power and your spirit to be upon each one that is in this house. We're asking Lord that this evening Lord your special blessing would be upon this house Lord. We pray Lord for these needs Lord that we bring before you Lord. We pray for Sam Stone. Lord we pray for Jojo Jordan. Lord Jesus. We ask you Lord to touch James Jones Lord and Barbara Ki Thank you lord for your power and your spirit to be with them. We pray for brother Glawson, lord Jesus. Uh and we pray for the Devao family, Lord Jesus, that you would comfort them, Lord Jesus. We pray Lord the hand that you would touch Henry Thornson, Lord. And help them, oh Lord Jesus, in recovering, Lord, from this procedure. We pray Lord for Tiffany Smitherman, Lord Jesus. Lord, we thank you for keeping your hand upon their lives. Lord we're going to praise you lord right now with all our heart. Thank you lord. Thank you lord for your presence. Hallelujah. Clap your hands unto the lord. Give him praise for all I was lost in shame could not get past my blame until he caught my I'm so glad he changed me darkness help me down but Jesus pulled me so glad he changed me see in Christ the oldest gone as you lie and live by faith not by sight heavy smile may the author of my story yes he's sin had left me lie but Jesus opened my eyes now I see the light change me now I'm walking free I got the victory see it's all over me now a new I live by faith I live and doubting glory and it's that the author of my story tells me who I am because the iron tells me who I am I am who I am because the I am tells me who I am I am who I am because the I am tells me who I am I am who I am there is a new name it down in and he's mine Thank you Jesus. Can't go back to the beginning can't control what tomorrow will bring. God, but I know it's in your hands. But I know is the place where you promise to be unless you will you hear me here is all you will you be here again like the sun shaping the shadow I'm not unless you is all you not for the lord is the lord is dry bones away Hello, just right where you are. Would you lift your voice? Somebody reach out for him right now I'm not unless you go because all I is all you Lord, use your voice right now and cry out to the lord. Come on, don't just conclude it. Cry out to the lord. Come on, let that song ignite your prayer right now. Come on, the lord is in this place Yeah, you hear that? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Needs your own. Need you right back I know there are needs represented in this room right now and I believe that there's an atmosphere of faith in this moment right now. And Sister Amy was telling me just before service that baby Noah needs a touch from God tonight. Brother Victor is fiance, her dad was tragically killed today. And we want to pray for him, Sister Susanna is still in need of a miracle on her body. I know there are others just around this room and I believe we're in an atmosphere of faith right now that god can just show up and provide what's needed. Amen. I know we've already had prayer request but if you've got something, you just need god to show up for you. Would you just lift both your hands right now toward heaven and would you open up your mouth and say, god. I believe that you can meet with me tonight. Absolutely. I believe everything can change. I believe that you can cover the Davao family in peace right now. I believe god miracles can be done for those that are sick and body tonight. God, those that are dealing with weariness or weakness or frustration or fear. Those that are dealing with financial difficulties. God, those that are dealing with family situations. Lord, nothing is too big or too hard for you. Believe god that you can meet with us right here, right now I believe it lord. I believe it. It's by your stripes. We are healed. Now, could you use that same voice that you asked the lord for something and could you use it just to thank the lord for who he is and what he is able and willing to do. Before the presence of the lord that meets with us. It doesn't matter who you are, doesn't matter what's going on, he knows right where you are, he knows right what you need, and in this atmosphere of faith, I think it's also good to celebrate things that god's been doing. Yes. And on the fifth of May, Brandon Turner was baptized in Jesus name for the remission of his sins I want want him to come, get his baptismal certificate tonight. We want his church family just to celebrate with him tonight. We love you, man. So thankful for what god is doing we've already got a baptism scheduled for a few weeks from now in June and there's plenty of opportunities between now and then. If you've not been baptized. Amen. To be baptized in that lovely name and I am so thankful for what god is doing. This weekend is Friend Sunday and it's just a great opportunity to get a friend here and if you come friendless, The Bible says, it's because you haven't been showing yourself freely. Just what the word says. That's right. I don't have friends. Well, go be friendly. All of the invitations. That was a little strong one. Let me say it again. The back two tables in the sanctuary have all of the remainder invitations to Friend Sunday giving out some gift cards for travel this summer to visitors. We got gift card for a new pair of Nike's. It's going to be given out. It just going to be a lot of fun. The ice mister softies, the ice cream truck is going to be here for everybody. Everybody gets one thing from that. And one thing from that bounce houses, sides. We'll have the grill going. It's just it's going to be a day. So, It's casual Sunday. So, come casual. You know, have a great time and don't rush off. Spend time with your church family Sunday. spend time with your friends, and it's going to just an incredible day. So, get somebody here. So. Yes. Amen. Uh if if we turn the lights off tonight, there's still invitations here. That means they do no good. That's right. That's right. We only got a couple of days till Friend Sunday. Use your social media. Use your phone. Use your mouth. It's going to be a going to be a great time. Gonna dismiss our students, our young adults to their Bible studies. If you've got your Bibles, we're going to continue Acts chapter one. Acts chapter one. Gonna be looking at verse nine through eleven tonight. And I've been trying to kind of get a gauge as I've told you as we're journeying through the book of Acts of how we were going to do this and some of you were like well we're on week three and we're still in Acts chapter one. Yes. Amen. Yes but I feel like Acts chapter one sets a tone for a lot of things And so we're just kind of taking our time to Acts chapter one and then we may pick up pick up pace. But Acts chapter one verse nine through eleven. Picks up as Jesus is speaking to his disciples after the resurrection. And this is after his ascension. When he had spoken these things while they beheld. He was taken up. And a cloud him out of their sight and while they look steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel which also said you men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into the heavens, just translation, they looked and said, what are you looking at? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall come in like manner as you've seen him go Lord, I thank you for the opportunity to grow in your word and I pray that you would speak to us tonight. Open our eyes, our ears, our hearts to understand more about you and your word. Take us where we need to be and you. Continue to help us be the church that you've called us to be in these last days. We'll give you praise in Jesus name and let everybody say, amen. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. So, if Jesus had not ascended, we would not have anything really to talk about tonight. We would not have something that is precious to us. Something that is empowering us and that is the Holy Ghost. Because he ascended John chapter sixteen verse seven, Jesus said to the disciples, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It's expedient for you. That word doesn't just mean it's necessary, expedient means it's advantageous for you. It's for your advantage that I go away and that was probably hard for the disciples to understand or comprehe what he was saying but Jesus was saying, if I don't go away, the comforter will not come to you but if I depart, I will send him to you. But if I stay here, then it's it's not good for you. But if I will leave, it's it's going to be advantageous for you. Something is about to happen. In that same section of the gospel of John, Jesus, said to his disciples, but the comforter What is that? The Holy Ghost. The comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the father will send in my name. Jesus said, he will teach you all things. He will bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. So, the Holy Ghost in you is not something different than Jesus. It's supposed to teach you to observe and keep honor all the things that Jesus taught and some people get mixed up in all of this. Right. And they're thinking in a physical view, they're thinking in a human view and they're thinking one dimensionally and god is not one dimensional. He is in every dimension. Amen. And so they think, well, if Jesus went away and the Holy Ghost could come and that means Jesus and the Holy Ghost must be two different kind of things or two different people or because he went away and said, I'll send the Holy Ghost but he did not say that because here's what he explained to the disciples in John fourteeneighteen, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. Yes. Yes. So the Holy Ghost is not different than Jesus. That's right. It's not a part from Jesus. It's not a different person or a different personality than Jesus. The Holy Ghost was Jesus because he said, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. Alright. Jesus is the one speaking. I'm not going to leave you alone. I will come to you. Now, that word comfortless. We don't always use that word. It's a Greek word that comes from the word Orfanos or from what we know as orphan or fatherless or bereaved. He said, I will not leave you like an orphan. I will not leave you fatherless. I'm going to come to you. I will not leave you bereaved. I will send you a comforter. I will send you that word comes from a word that gives us this definition definition. I'm going to come alongside of you. I'm going to assist you. I'm going to help you. I will not you orphans, I will send you something to come alongside you. The comforter that is going to come is going to come alongside and assist you and that's why we need the Holy Ghost because he didn't lead us to be orphans. He said, I'm not going to leave you in that state. I'm going to show up with you and assist you in your life. It's it, we didn't get the holy ghost so we could be Pentecostal or to a denomination or belong to a certain church. The reason we need the Holy Ghost is not just so that we'll speak with other tongues and amaze other people. We need the Holy Ghost because the Holy Ghost is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is the power of god until salvation. It's the same power that raised Christ from the dead. That's what dwells in you. It's that same spirit that's going to quicken your mortal body. That's why we need the holy ghost. It's going to come alongside us and assist us in life. It's the comforter and it's going to be the assistance that shows up in our life. Yeah. Hallelu That's why we need it. So good. So if Jesus had not ascended Here's what would have not happened. His earthly work would have not been multiplied. Amen. But because he ascended, now it made room for his earthly work to be multiplied because Jesus said, in the same passage of the Gospel of John, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do, he shall do also. You see, the church isn't supposed to be just some institution that gathers together for some memorial service once a week of a dead savior. The church is supposed to be engaged like we've been talking about the last two weeks in doing and saying the things that Jesus did and said, he said, he that believeth on me, the works that I do, he shall do also and greater works than thee shall he do because I go unto my father. So, how is it possible that the church could do greater works than god manifest in the flesh. Right. I mean, just have we thought about that or do we just say it? It sounds good. How how are we able to do greater things than god manifest in the flesh? Well, number one, I think that we do greater works because when Jesus was here on Earth, the Holy Ghost was not yet given yet. Jesus said that and so now, we've received the Holy Ghost and every time that you've had the privilege of praying with someone else and til they receive the Holy Ghost speaking with other tongues and every time that that happened, that that's something that never happened on Earth while Jesus was here physically on this planet but now, it happens thousands of times every day, in every time zone, in every continent because Jesus left us to do greater work. Amen. I think the other reason that we do greater things is simply because there's more of us because while Jesus was on Earth, if he's, if he was in Galilee, he could only be in Galilee. He couldn't be in Galilee and Jerusalem. If he was in Jerusalem, he couldn't also be in Jericho and if he is in Jericho, he couldn't also be and then, if he wasn't there, how could he be in Capernaum because guess what? He walked, rode on donkeys. He could only be in one place at one time. And when he ascended, and the Holy Ghost was poured out and now we have that power working in us. Now, there are hundreds of thousands of Holy Ghost-filled believers around the world. There are millions of spirit-filled believers around the world that are not only carrying the message, but carrying the power of Jesus Christ to this world. That's why I believe that the gospel of Mark ends with this verse and they went forth and preached everywhere. They didn't just talk but the lord went and worked with them and confirmed the word with signs following. They did and they talked. They did and they talked. The ministry of Jesus was replicated in the New Testament church because doing and teaching is a pattern. Uh huh. Jesus was trying to get copied and pasted into every believer's life in the modern day church. Alright. Meaning, that's what he did and he was hoping we'd catch on. Right. Because god needs to confirm his word with signs following. So, if Jesus hadn't ascended, his earthly work couldn't have been multiplied. But also it's not his earthly work that was affected only because if we'll go on in scripture when Jesus ascended, if he hadn't ascended, he could never begun his heavenly work. Right. Because when Jesus ascended, he didn't just leave behind the church that was going to grow into multiple thousands of believers. He went to heaven for a purpose too because Hebrews tells us in chapter four verses fourteen through sixteen, seeing then that we have a great high priest that is path into the heavens, Jesus, the son of god, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our affirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So, now, because he ascended, we have a high priest on duty in heaven today working for each of us. He's interceding for us. He's making a sacrifice if you will for us in sins. Every time we fall, every time we mess up, every time we sin, every time we get off course, there's a high priest that we can boldly approach and just like they brought a sacrifice to a priest in the Old Testament and said, I need cleansing. I need to offer a sacrifice today. We don't need to bring a ram or a lamb or a turtle dove or an offering a flower into the sanctuary. All we have to do is bring ourselves and say, I've brought myself as a living sacrifice to you and the high priest goes to where he lives and makes intercession on our behalf. That's why John wrote in first John chapter two, my little children, these things I write unto you, that you sin not and if any man sin, seeing because our aim is to not sin, our purpose is to not sin, our desire is to sin. Alright. Yeah. Do I need to stay there? No. It's not our goal to sin. It's not our purpose to sin. It's not shouldn't be our motive to sin. It shouldn't be like, oh, I got a grace card in my back pocket and I'm going to live like I want to and swipe it when I need it. But if we do sin, I mean, I just, yeah, that's there. If we do sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus, the righteousness, and that word advocate, it translates him in what we would know as a lawyer, a counselor, a defense attorney because that's what we need sometimes when we mess up because that word advocate comes from that same word that that comforter said that he was going to send to be a help to us was going to come alongside to assist. Yeah. John is the only person that uses that word multiple times in the whole Bible. He uses it four times in the gospel of John and once in his epistle and he said, when we sin, if we sin, if we fall, the same Holy Ghost that would be a comforter that we were praying for to help us to live a holy and righteous life. The one that we've been praying that would come alongside us and help us stay away from sin. If we've been in the Bible we've been worshiping, praying, and doing what we want to that same ghost that should keep us from sin. If we mess up, it's the same Holy Ghost that will pick us back up, pull us back up to where we need to be, reaches for us, defends our case, shows up for us. We have an advocate with the father. Yeah. That comforter comes alongside to assist. Now, if you go back to the scripture in Acts chapter one that we're reading, this is what Jesus went away for, to Leave us the wonderful gift of the Holy Ghost. That's why I did it. The Bible said when he had spoken these things, while they have beheld him, he was taken up. A cloud received him out of their sight. And they were looking steadfastly into heaven and two men stood by them in white apparel. These were angelic beings and they talked to these men. They gave them a little bit of rebuke. And the aim and we know that angels appear, you know, parotic, you know, different times through scripture and even in the book of Acts and when they do in the book of Acts, you know, they're working the saints. You know, they're unlocking prison doors and they're delivering the church but the Holy Ghost is stronger than an angel. Yeah. Because even though we do see angels mentioned a few times in the book of Acts, if you're praying for an angel, you're you're really missing what the book of Acts is all about. Where we should be praying to be full of the Holy Ghost because there's a power with it. Yeah. Because even though angels do appear and work for the saints, it's the Holy Ghost that is constantly working through the saints. Yeah. Angels did show up and work here, there, and yonder but it was the Holy Ghost working in the believer's life that was happening every day. That's the pattern. Hebrews says this about angels, about these ministering spirits, are they not all ministering spirits that are sent forth by god, the minister for them, who are, who shall be the heirs of salvation. That's us, that's the church. The angels are dispatched by god. So, you don't have to pray for an angel. You don't have to commission angels. You don't have to reach up into the heavens and boss an angel around. Angels are are fine all by themselves. Matter of fact, if you saw one, you probably realize you weren't their boss. Maybe you've seen an angel. It was a cute little cherub but I that's not what I read about in scripture. Boring angels and angels that were jerking folks out of prison and yeah, I I probably wouldn't be bossing angels around if we saw one. But they are sent forth by god to minister to those that are the heirs of salvation. That's us and Peter said this about angels in first Peter chapter one. Under whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the holy ghost sent down from heaven. So, the pries that were anointed by the holy ghost preaching the word of god and they preached to you. They did it with the holy ghost. They did it through the Holy Ghost and those things, angels desired to look into. Yes. You see, angels are powerful and they're strong and they're mighty and they're magnificent but angels don't even begin to compare to the spirit of the almighty god that is resident in the life of believers and so when we begin to speak under anointing or testify or pray under the anointing or preach the word of god and obey word of god or launching the intercession or prayer and worship and we begin to operate in the Holy Ghost that is inside of us. There are angels sitting up in heaven jealous of you. Right. They're envious of you. They're looking into what you have and so these two angels are standing there and they say to the disciples, the same Jesus shall come unto you in like manner. He's coming back. He'll be back the same way he left. And they're saying the very same thing that John said in the book of Revelation. Chapter one. Verse seven and eight. Behold, he cometh with clouds. And every eye shall see him. And they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the lord, which is and which was and which is to come, the almighty and when John gets to the end of our Bible, he's got this opening shot into this grand vision of the end times and he's not worried about the the hooves and the horns and the signs and the seals because the next thing on the agenda as he's looking at this time is not the antichrist, it's Jesus Christ. Yeah. The next thing on the agenda as he's moving into Revelation chapter one is not the devil or the false prophet. The next thing on the agenda for the church is when you see these things begin to come to pass. Lift up your head and rejoice for your redemption draweth nigh and so the angels are looking at the disciples and you know, I don't know if you've ever maybe you've you can tell me after church. If you've been face to face with an angel before They look at the disciples and they're going, what are you looking at? Why are you standing here looking into the heaven? Because Jesus had just given them a commission to go and tarry in Jerusalem until you be endured with power from on high until you receive the holy ghost and if you only knew that we, the angels, we desire to look into this covenant and this promise, that the god has given for his people. So, why are you standing here? Why are you caught up in this moment when he told you to go? Why are you staying here? When he's told you to go somewhere. That Jesus is coming again And you've only got a limited time frame to do your job. There's only a a limited time frame to do what he has called you to do. Why are you standing here? Gazing at the heavens. Waiting for Jesus to come back. When there's a world that's waiting on you to make a move. Can I can I just pause and us the same question that the angels were asking them, why is it sometimes that we are paralyzed by these big moments when he's given us a word to do something. Alright. And we are supposed to be doing something with what he's given us. We're not supposed to be standing here gazing into the heavens. When there's work to be done, why stand you here waiting because he's coming back in like Verse twelve of chapter one, They returned on Jerusalem from the Mount and by the Sabbath day's journey, a very short distance. When they were coming in, they went into the upper room where both Peter, and James, and John, Andrew, and Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, and James, the son of Altheus, and Simon, and Judas, and the brother of James, and all these continued with one accord of prayer and supplication, with the woman and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brother. This is, the upper room where they held the last supper most likely and in this group, you got the eleven apostles because Jesus isn't there and you've got the woman who followed Jesus and his apostles. You've got Mary, the mother of Jesus. You've got Jesus's brethren who didn't even believe in him before the resurrection. And if you are you know, aware of religion in our world today, there are some that honor like Peter and Mary, the mother of Jesus, above other disciples for certain reasons. We need to understand whereas we look at Acts chapter one, the scripture doesn't honor them above anybody else. The scripture doesn't lift Peter or the mother of Jesus above any other disciple. Also, we need to pay attention that both Peter and Mary are in the upper room One chapter later, that means both Peter and Mary, the mother of Jesus, repented of their sins. That means both Peter and Mary, the mother of Jesus, were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins. That means that both Peter and Mary, the mother of Jesus, received the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Yeah. That's right. So, if we want to honor Peter and Mary, the mother of Jesus, then, we probably should honor them by making sure we have the same experience that they had. Now, they're in one accord. Verse fourteen says and I mean, just we read through this so many times. For anybody that's been around, you know, Pentecost or just been around church. Sometimes, we cruise through verses and we just, you know, we'll one accord, one place, and it just sounds like that natural thing to happen When's the last time you've walked into a room after a busy week and traumatic things happening and you walked in and everybody in the room was on the same page? When's the last time you walked into Walmart and everybody in Walmart was on the same page? When's the last time you walked in to McDonald's and everybody was on the same page? Now, I know this was a spiritual moment. I know it was an orchestrated moment but they had a heavy week. There was a lot going on and when they got to the upper room, they were not just in one place but they were in one accord Let's just think for a moment before we cruise through and this is kind of where we're going kind of end tonight but how easy would it would have been? Arriving in the upper room and disunity and division being present. The members of his family could have stood up and said, well, we're, you know, we're we're his family. We should be over what's happening here. His his brothers could've stood up and said, I'm I'm his brother and I should be leading what's happening here. They how easy would it been for certain of the disciples to to stand up and try to prove their case for, you know, what they wanted to do in the upper room. Right. What their idea for the plan was They could have demanded or expected special attention or some of the disciples could have lifted their hand and said, hey, I've got some things to say and Peter, I got some things I want to say about you and I mean, that's never happened before Well, you denied the lord three times. Why are you here? But nobody did that John could have stood up and said, don't you all know how faithful I am? I stood at the cross to the very end So much that Jesus said to Mary, woman, your son, and to John, behold your mother. He could've got up and said, look at me. But there's none of that in Acts chapter one. Right. The Bible just says they were in one accord There was not criticism, grumbling, or complaining. There was an attacks and there wasn't pride. They had been sent on a mission to an upper room and they were waiting on the promise of the father and they were in one accord and that little two-word phrase occurs six times in the book of Acts. They were in one accord. It literally means they were in one passion. It didn't matter that some of them were more wealthy, some of them were more educated. It didn't matter that some of them had more connection or had more friends or social influence. None of that mattered in the upper room because the church when it was born, they got together in one accord or one passion. Yes. Yes. And what would happen in 20 twenty-four if one passion was our goal. Yes. One passion to pray and one passion to worship, one passion to give, and one passion to serve, and one passion to get involved, and one pastor to see miracles and signs, and wonders, one passion to reach the lost, one passion to make sure that this gospel is spread around the world, One, The early church had it and Psalms talks about it in 1 hundred and thirty-third Psalm. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is to dwell together in unity. It's like the precious ointment that got poured on the head that ran down the beard even on Aaron's beard. It went down. His garments. It was like the dew of Herman. As in the mountains of the north of Israel that contain all the waters of all the entire country and the dew, the springs of Mount Herman. They flew, they flown down to the Sea of Galilee, then to the Jordan River, then to the Dead Sea, and one mountain, and the dew in the spring on the mountain water in the whole country. God said, it's like all of that coming together and when my people get in one mind and one accord with one passion, When they start praying with that kind of focus, they won't be distracted. They won't be divided. When they get in one accord and one passion, there's something that's going to happen and it's enough holy ghost anointing to run all the way from the head of the body to the foot of the body. It's enough water to water an entire land, an entire life, an entire church, an entire city, and the entire world. When the church gets in one accord and one passion. Yeah. In one mind and and unity. It's like the dew of Herman that descended upon the mountains of Zion. For there where unity is, there is one mind and there is one accord and there is one passion and that's where the lord commanded the blessings even life forevermore and if we want the blessings on this church and if we want god to do what needs to be done in this city, in this county, in this region, in it, we have to come together in one passion We're not comparing one another. We're not criticizing one another. We're not lowering people or let we're just coming together. Yes. Thank because the church is only powerful when it's together in one passion. There's nothing hell can do about a unified church. Right. That's why Jesus prayed in his last night on Earth. I pray that they may be one. He wasn't talking about bringing down denominational walls and bringing all people. He was talking about the people that he had paid a price for. The church that he had bought with his own blood. He said, I want my church to be one, one mind, one accord, one heart, one passion because he said, I'm going to build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And if we are going to see what god wants to do here then one accord has to be a goal. He doesn't just, it doesn't just happen has to be the goal It's not easy It has to be the goal Meaning, I have to get over myself. Brother be one accord. Cuz sometimes we think one accord is when just people get on board with us. We think unity is when people do it just like us. That's alright. Nobody's going to run the aisles or shout right now. But unity is when we come together one passion We get our eyes on the right thing and we try to get rid of the things that are disconnecting us from others. Right That's why when we walk into here on a Sunday or Wednesday, we're not, we're not looking around and comparing. We're trying to figure out how to get together. We're now wondering why they're worshiping because we seen what was on their Facebook this week. We're trying to come together in one accord because that's where he's going to show up. I'm going to let god take care of what was on. Alright. Somebody, some of y'all trying to figure out what I'm talking about. I ain't talking about nothing I know what they did. I know what they said. I know where they been. I know they've fallen a million times. I know they did it. Now, when we get here, we gotta figure out how to come together so he can Cuz where the spirit of the lord is, there is liberty. Amen. God can take care of a whole lot of things if we can just get. There wasn't perfect people in the upper room. But there was people in one accord in the upper room and something happened in the upper room. That's right. That anointed humanity. That's right because when they got out of the upper room, there was somebody that had cursed, that's now preaching There's somebody who had denied him. That's now drawing people unto him. Yeah. Right there was somebody that tried to minimize their his relationship with him that I don't know him who's now boldly proclaiming the gospel message and the salvation message and the spirit is being poured out upon hundreds of thousands throughout from that moment on because he was in the upper room what would happen if every Sunday we showed up said I'm not going to look my left or right try to figure out why they here what they're doing or why they're doing or why they're we're just I just need an upper room Experience today because preachers maybe born today and prayer warriors may be born today and worshipers are going to be born today and if we can just come together in one accord. I'm not saying we don't need believe things. I don't know what I'm saying. We don't need to stand on things. I'm not saying we don't need to be growing in the word. I'm not saying we need to stay the same and just get the, no, no, no. That spirit needs to be working in us and through us but what I'm saying, when we come together in one accord, we gotta get our eyes off of each other, get our eyes back on him, and figure out how we can get together. I I need to stop so I will. But sometimes one accord is you making the effort to bring someone Sometimes we're always waiting on someone else to be the peacemaker. And if everybody's waiting on everybody then, we're not going to be one. But we gotta walk into the house of god and look around and go, I wonder who maybe disconnected today. I wonder who maybe distracted today that I could help bring in as I can imagine that 120 when they made it to the upper room. Some of them, their minds were other places for a moment but they begin to pray. They got together on one passion and the atmosphere changed. Yeah. And their lives changed. And their future changed. And their world changed. Yes. I don't want to miss an opportunity in the house of god especially. That's right. Not to be together. Lord, I thank you for our church family. Thank you for this local body. And I pray as we strive to emulate the the beginnings of the church to try to replicate the the principles of the formation of the church. I pray that we would understand that we've gotta not just look up but we gotta get to where you're wanting us to be. Do what you want us to do and we've gotta come together with your people. And I pray that we would be one. I pray God that we would become one passion. One mind, one accord. Bring us together more than ever before. God, help us to get over ourselves and help us to get over our differences and bring us together as one voice. We believe that you gotta work for us to do and you want to pour out your spirit on all flesh and I pray that you would help us be what you've called us to be. God, we're going to strive to invite some folks to church over the next few days. Lead us to the hungry, the hurting, the broken, the wounded, the lost but god help us just to step on out and do what you've called us to do. Give us those divine moments but help us also make some of those moments with somebody in our life. Help us to be people of influence as we are the light and the darkness and the salt of the earth. We give you the praise and the glory and the honor In Jesus name and let everybody say amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you for being faithful to the house of the lord tonight. If you got tithes and offering, you put those into the giving station, invitations for Sunday service on the back to tables in the back. We'll see you Sunday morning for Sunday school, 1030, worship at eleven. We love you. You're dismissed in Jesus name. Peace nothing but the blood of Jesus is of Jesus of I will go a lot of praise today like we've gone astray turn to our think we need really see from misconception of the goodness of

SUNDAY AT HOPE | SUNDAY AT HOPE | By HOPE CHAPEL UPC | Know that our god is a healer of If you have a need today, lift it up to the Lord as we sing. Somebody believe right now. Sing no matter how Good morning, everyone. It's so good to see each and everyone of you. Welcome to Hope Chapel. I hope that each of you had a fantastic holiday week as we celebrated Thanksgiving hopefully with friends and family. Um I do have several announcements. I just want to make you aware of. Uh the first one this week, midweek fundraiser will be a dinner for the Bible Quizzers and that will be Wednesday. Right. At 6 o'clock to seven o'clock before service. and then also Thursday, the Olive Branch Tree Lighting and we're celebrating between five and 8 PM. Hope Chapel will be serving hot chocolate and handing out in our community. That's a great event and then on Friday, our youth Christmas party, you can see brother and sister Barnes today for tickets and more information on that and then also December 6th, as a Christmas card exchange, that is the deadline, December 6th. If you would like to participate, please bring your cards. For any more details, you can see Christy Maynard. I believe she's in the connect booth right now. And then also today, you probably have seen a Thanksgiving piece of paper there and you will have an opportunity to participate in that. We'll talk about that a little bit later on in the service. If you do not have one, there are plenty at the tables on your way out so you can grab one of those as well. And so right now, if you're able, I'm going to ask you to stand with me as we enter into this service. Thank you Jesus. I already feel the presence of god here today. You're in the right place at the right time If you're hungry and you're willing, the lord will bless you today. Yes, he will. The lord is transforming lives in this congregation, in this community. I'm so thankful to be a part of what god is doing here. So, we're going to take up an offering during the first song and we're going to pray right now for the lord just to have his way in each and everyone of us. He knows everything you need. Yes, lord. All you gotta do is worship him. So, right now, heaven father we come before you with Thanksgiving. We come before you with praise and honor for who you are mighty god. Lord, I believe that you're going to bless those that have to give and those that don't have to give. So, bless the tithe and the offering lord as we give it back to you which you've already given to us, lord. But lord, right now, we want to bless you for who you are. Lord, I thank you for what you're going to do in this service, lord. We're here to worship you because you are holy and worthy. There's noone it can compare to you mighty god. So, regardless of what we may be going through, we look to you to bless you for who you are, mighty god. We love you, Jesus. We bless your name, mighty king. You're worthy to be hallelujah worthy to be sing hallelu you're worthy to be praised I praise you lord and I bow my you're worthy to be worthy to be you're worthy to you lord and I about my worthy to be hallelujah hallelujah We thank you Jesus lord we lift you will lift you up in this place from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same god. You are good. You are worthy to be praised. He is holy and he is righteous. Hallelujah. He deserves our worship today. Your holy and we lift you up no holding your holy and magnify the words that your hands have of you and how your love will never can't describe your glory to find but as a token of my love this is what lift you up and magnify holy your holy that I can sing to tell you how appreciate all the wonderful your loving kindness your tender desire to praise you because you're worthy lord you're worthy you would love me how you would give me so much mercy you didn't have to die and suffer way back on I just want to thank you, I thank you righteous ado omnipresence who coming alpha omega lord of everything Lord, if you believe that he is, would you lift your voice Come on, open up your mouth right now. Make his praise worship you lord. There is nobody like you There is nobody like you lord there is nobody like you oh oh we lift you up and magnify your name today glorify you Jesus Since we know there's nobody like him. We believe that he is able to move in this house today and meet every need and touch every situation and every circumstance today. If you've got a need in just a moment, if you want to come forth and ministry team will pray with you. We're believing for miracles and signs and wonders. There are needs on the screen. We also want to pray for Joe Beck. Praying for brother Billy Smitherman. He's got a procedure this week. Sister Joanna Waldriff need to touch a god in her body. Stafford families dealing with loss this week. We want to pray for their extended family. The Lord would be their week. Brother Morgan had a procedure and still recovering. Needs a touch of God and his body. I know there are others around this room. If you need prayer today, we serve a God who is able. And willing to do exceeding, abundant, and above all that we ask or think. And just right where you are, believe you can reach out to him right now with your need and let's just put it in his hands. Lord, we trust you. We depend on you. We believe in you, Lord. We pray right now. For brother Billy's that you touch his body from the top of his head to the sole of his feet. We pray for sister Joanna Waldrop today that you would minister to her. Let there be healing and wholeness today. We pray for brother Morgan today for continued strength and healing and wholeness Lord. We pray for Lord the Stafford family. Lord that you'd wrap your loving arms around them. We pray God for Tuesday for that funeral. Lord that you would be with them. Strengthen them. Uphold them. Be their peace from you. God every that's represented in this room. You are more than enough. God, we trust you with all things, for all things. God, we turn it all over to you. God, we trust you with it today. We believe that you are our healer and our provider and our deliverer and we put it in your hands today. In Jesus name. Heaven's door and fighting on us to stop inside come behold the jealousy as we kneel before the throne we bow our hearts to you you shall reign for more say as we kneel as we kneel before once again. You are so worthy your idea glorious reign forever you're worthy of it all for from you can testify that he's also because you're worthy Come on, every eye closed right now. Can you proclaim it? Forth from you Come on, use your voice. You worthy of it all. Use your voice right now in the waiting I will worship while I'm wounded I will worship because he is worthy I will bless the lord at I will bless the lord I will bless the lord. Come on, I feel like somebody just needs to do that right now. You walked in tired or weary, or frustrated, or overwhelmed? Why don't you go ahead and bless the lord at all times? Come on, say anybody lift your voice one more time and say, I may be in the middle of the valley but I will bless the lord. She is worthy of it all worthy of it all he is worthy of it all you deserve the with a heart of thanksgiving Oh, we worship you today, lord. Lord, we lift you, lord. Magnify you today you Lord Jesus. I just feel like we need to to scare our adversity for a moment right now and if you believe that god just got you, I wonder if you just find not a quiet praise, not just I can hear it but I I wonder if you could just let the enemy of your soul hear your voice raise right now. If you believe that god's taking care of you, Come on. If he's worthy of it all. If you're going to bless the lord at all times and his praise shall continually be in your mouth. My waiting I will worship I will sing of the goodness of god. Presence of the lord is in this house today. I know there are needs in the house but the presence of the lord is in the house today where he is anything anything is possible anything is possible Sick can be healed and the weak can be strengthened. The bound can be delivered. Blinded eyes can be opened. Ears can be unstopped. Cancer can go. Back pain can go today. Migraines can go today and I'm going to find you in a minute. There's a miracle in the house today. There's a miracle in the house today where he is anything is possible. Yes. I'm going to be turning your attention to Genesis the twenty-second chapter while you're turning there. Let me say today, we're going, if you'd not seen paper on your row, look around, you'll find one. If not, they're in the back Today, we are going to be giving or committing to a thanks thanksgiving offering and what that is for our church was started over 9 years ago before we had our first service. We got a call and a commitment from the North American Missions Department that we were going to receive our first first year at least at Christmas for Christ offering that was going to in year one help our family make a move to launch a church and then year two and 3, it helped our church We bought this building. We got a grant from Christmas for Christ and she's for Christ in the fall, those are both missions, offerings that we give back. Sometimes, I feel impressed to let you be a part of that. We stop and give and sometimes, god's just been good to us in the year. We always give back and this year, I would love for us to to give $6000 back to help other champs, churches being started and I'm just speak out and and we are also just going to make a commitment to monthly missions giving next year. You can do that on the paper or there's a QR code on the screen and you can do it digitally. Our Christmas for Christ offering. If the Lord hasn't given you a number yet, just wait. We're just going to bring those to the altar. At the close of service. You you know me. We don't we don't take a lot of extra offerings. God just takes care of us when we take care of god's business but I do feel prompted every once in a while to pause and make a little extra push to see what god will do because I believe god honors sacrifice. And he honors our commitment to him and for our reader text. I'm so thankful for our church family. Each and everyone of you and I'm not going to do it today but maybe next Sunday. We've had so many new folks that have made a commitment either verbally or with their feet. To make Hope Chapel a part of their life and a part of their family and today, I honor all the new folks that have joined us this fall. Thank you for and you may be saying, pastor, I haven't made that decision yet. Well, I feel like you have with your feet and until you're ready with your mouth, welcome. Welcome. Thank you for making Hope Chapel home and what a great week. I told we were talking earlier. I think next year instead of Thanksgiving service, we're going to do like a a March or a fiveK after Thanksgiving fundraiser, you know, be dual purpose, you know, we work off the turkey and raise money. Now, what an incredible week and sister Alicia this week called us and she had said she had fixed us some food and asked me to come pick it up and when I went and got it, I didn't know I was picking up a feast and on the day before Thanksgiving, we had a Jamaican feast and we ate off of it for days, you know, and I felt bad because I was eating big the next day again and I just, it was a full week and it's just been just a blessed weekend. We're so thankful for our church family Genesis twenty-two, I'm going to be reading from the NIV. Sometime later, god tested Abraham. He said unto him, Abraham, here I am. He and Abraham said, here I am. He replied and god said, take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering. Don't you think sacrificing is enough? But a burnt offering on a mountain that I will show you. Early the next morning, Abraham got up and loaded his donkey, took him two of his servants and his son, Isaac, and when he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place god had told them about. On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, stay here with the donkey while I and the boy, go over there and we will worship and then we will come back to you. Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son, Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife and as the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father, father, Abraham said, yes, my son, the fire and the wood are here. Where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham answering, god himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son, and the two of them went on together and when they reached the place, god had told them about Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it, bound his son, Isaac, laid him on the altar on top of the wood and he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son but the angel, the lord called out to him from heaven, Abraham, Abraham, Abraham said here, am I, do not lay a hand on the boy, do not do anything to him. Now, I know that you fear god because you have not withheld from me, your son, your only son and Abraham looked up and there in the thicket, he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son and Abraham called that place. Jehovah Jireh or the lord will provide. Lord will provide. The place is what he called it and to this day, it is said, on the mountain of the lord, it will be provided With the help of the lord, I just want to preach on this thought, thanks plus giver. Lord, I thank you for the opportunity that we have to be in your house and to be in your presence. I pray that you would help me to communicate your word, anoint our ears to hear, our hearts to receive. I pray that you would prepare our faith for not just a season of receiving but a season of giving. I pray that you'd prepare us for what you want to do in us and through us and for us, I pray. Speak to our heart today. Stretch our faith today and we'll give you praise and glory and honor in Jesus name and let everybody say amen and you may be seated. Somewhere in each of our lives, god will give you something to see if you will give it back. To see if along the way you and I have fallen in love with the gift more than the giver on this journey of faith, there are tests and trials that are brought our way to reveal what it is we're in love with. Whether it's him or his blessings. Our faith will be tested to prove if we are following God for the sole purpose of us trying to get him to orchestrate every one of our heart's desires to get what we want out of him. Or we're just truly following him because we are in love with him. Yeah. God will bring each of us to a place where he will ask us for something that we love for evidence that we love him more than we love it. I find it interesting in our scripture text as we look at this great man of god that god chose to start something new. He's chose to start a new people out of old people. Right. He goes among the Gentiles into a place called Er which was in Mesopotamia and he goes there and he pulls out a Gentile. He goes into covenant with him. He circumcises him to start the Jewish nation from a Gentile bloodline. Anybody ever let that hit you for a minute? He was starting something new. Yes sir. Out of some mold. Come on. If that doesn't remind you how great our god is, then I don't know what will. The fact that the god that we serve can start something new out of something old and it doesn't matter the current conditions. That god could start your life over in the middle of your life that you could be 40 or 50 years old and god could say, oh, today is the day you're going to be born again. Hallelujah. Something new. Yes sir. Out of something old He told Abraham to to get out of the country that you're from, get away from your kindred, and follow me. I am going to start a new nationality out of you. I'm going to start a new nation and god is talking to a childless man about a nation coming out of him. You see, most of us can't handle conversations with god like that. Because god says things that don't make any sense to Abraham. Right. Sometimes, when god starts talking to us about what he wants to do, we're too bought into walking in our senses even though we're told to walk by faith and not by sight and even though we're challenged to walk in the spirit, we're still walking in our senses and many times, we don't even understand the conversation when god is talking to us. Alright. Amen. Because it don't make a lick of sense. Uh us and god says to Abraham, I'm going to start a new people in the Earth and they're going to be as the stars of the heaven and the sands of the earth and so shall thy seed be. Wait, wait, wait, Abraham is like, whoa, what is going on? My wife. Is barren. And there's no way that we can have a child and and I'm getting a little old too and I could see how when we were young, this could've happened and god talked to Abraham about having a child and he wanted a child. In fact, he would have had to have had a child because you cannot have a nation come out of you. Yeah. Before you have a child. Right. All that god had promised Abraham was predicated upon a son, a child, or an heir coming out of Abraham. Right. Come on. You see, god had given him the land to possess. He didn't have anything to want for. Everywhere that he went. The Bible actually says, every place the soul of his foot was going to be put on. That was going to be given to him. I'm going to give it to you. Can you imagine god telling you in the service today? Everywhere you go this week, rare that your feet are going to touch. That is going to be yours. Wouldn't you want to just want the pastor to get done preaching so you could get out and walk some places today. Yeah. Alright Some of you be headed to the bank just to see Some of you got property that you're dreaming of and house that you want and a car that you want and you'd be putting your footprint on everything that you could. Whoo. God said, on all that stuff, I'm just waiting on your footprint. Yes, sir. When I see your footprint on it, that's what's going to be the seal that authenticates the deed of trust where I'm going to transfer all of the blessings over to you. It's all predicated on Abraham's footprint. I'm not going to give it to you while you stay apart from it. I'm not going to allow you to have it when you're separated from it but you're going to have to involved in it, you're going to have to put your feet on it and I am going to make it yours and god gave Abraham a nation, a land, a country. God gave it all to him because he walked on it. Alright. But as you get older you learn what good is it to have stuff If you don't have anybody to pass it on to. Come on. And so Abraham has anything that he can imagine but he has no child He's worked hard. No child. He's been faithful. No child. He's possessed the land but no child. He even tried to operate in the flesh with his wife's idea to have a child with his maid and god said, that's not the one. That is not the child of promise. I'll I'll bless him. I'll take care of him. He's your kid but he is not the heir of the promise. I don't know. Is there anybody else in the room that's found yourself like Abraham? Sometimes, where you tried something and god said, that's not it. That's not what I wanted for you. Abraham waits 100 years and when his body is well past prime He's done rolled down the hill. Sarah is barren. Yeah. It is the most ridiculous time and god said, now. I'm going to do it. If it wasn't impossible enough when god first started talking to him, nowadays. He might have bragged about himself when the conversation first started but god wanted it to be so impossible. Yeah. That you would know that if it had not been for the lord who was on my side. Yeah. That means that Isaac is now the heir of the property. Yeah. Because in order to have this nation of people, he has to succeed with his son. In order to leave the property to somebody, the son couldn't just be born but the son has to stay alive. Yeah. Yeah. And the Bible has gone so far to say through thy seed Not just because you have a seed but through your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. So, this has to be bigger than just Israel. All of the world is going to be blessed through this seed. So, what I need is to understand today is everything was hinging not just on the birth of this promised child but the survival of this one kid. Yeah. And then god showed up 1 day and said to Abraham, take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom thou love? The one you've waited for. Come on. The one you walk, you walked in, you believe for, you, you waited 100 years for. The one that's going to inherit the property that I gave you. The one who will kick off this nation that I promised you. The one that will be a blessing to the nations of the earth. Take him. And kill him. Put him on the altar. Yup. Take him to the place that I will show you. Don't just give in to me as an offering because that, you know, possibly wouldn't have been so bad but I want it to be a burnt offering. Abraham is having the process killing his son and then burning the sacrifice because if I just killed him, maybe the lord will raise him up but if I burn him, even if the lord raises him up, he won't be able to have children and if I burn him, nobody's going to want him to marry him. If I burn him, he won't be able to physically possess the land if I burn him. It seems to limit the future or the possibilities and yet, without argument or protest, Abraham said, okay, lord and he got the donkeys and he got his servants and he went in and kissed his wife on the forehead and just that anybody, any other husband done a quick conversation like this where you run in and you run out and you say a lot in a short amount of time hoping that none of it is processed and said, hey, we're headed off to worship, to sacrifice. I'm going to take our child that we've waited for, that you waited so long for, and I'm going to kill him, I'm going to sacrifice him unto the lord and just runs right out the door. Come on. But here's what we also missed God said, take take him somewhere in Moriah. Y'all ever caught that? No GPS coordinates. Not not the exact place You know, I don't know about you but I I don't mind obeying directions but I I really love direct instructions and directions if I was Abraham, I'd be like, alright, lord, could you could you tell me where and and when and and the exact spot and could you tell me that all the possible outcomes so I can be prepared for this journey. Uh this is seems vague. Go to the mountain that I will show you. Take your son and go to the region of Mariah. Mariah was a string of mountains. Yeah. And he didn't tell him which one. He just said, get to the region. To accomplish what needed to be accomplished in and through Abraham's life, he just had to get to the region. He didn't have to know all the details. He didn't have to have exact destruction, instruction. Everything wasn't going to be made plain. He did, he didn't know where everything was coming. He just had to get to the region. He had to be willing to obey the voice of the lord and make a move from where he was at and just get to the general area where god was wanting. God was going to take care of the rest. You see, you and I, we function in our natural senses that we are constantly needing all the details We're needing the exact instructions. We need to know where the next job is coming and where the money is coming from and and who is going to fill the position and and how we're going to get the house and how we're going to do this and when it's going to happen and all god tells Abraham is just get to the region. Yeah. Yeah. Abraham would have been scared but he just had to get to the region. Abraham would've been confused but he just had to get to the region. Abraham was dealing with some mental turmoil about taking this promised child and sacrifice him but he just had to get to the reed. He didn't understand everything but he just had to get to the right region. He doesn't ask god, how will I know which one to go to? Because god promised him, if you'll get to the region, I will show you where to go. If you'll just to where I'm calling you out to, I will lead you And what I have come on this Sunday morning to preach to this great church is there are some folks that came today going, god I need to know when and I need to know where and I need to know how and I need to know all the exact thing that god said, if you'll just take the journey with me and if you'll just walk by faith and not by sight and if you'll just get to the region of trust and the region of faith and if you'll just depend on me, I will show you You see, that's why the enemy of our soul doesn't want us to get close to the promises of god That's why he wants us to stand in between constantly needing the details instead of walking out our walk of faith because he knows if we'll ever just get to the region, get in vicinity of the promises of god that god's going to take care of the rest and that's where our faith comes in. When we walk by faith and not by sight because you and I have got to be able to walk out this journey of faith without all the details and be satisfied with a general direction and know that when the time is right, god will make our next step clear and the thing that's been holding some folks up for so long is we're waiting for the storm to clear and the fog to rise and the pathway to be made clear and you can't walk with god. If you're waiting for everything to be clear and plain all the time. Sometimes, you just gotta put your hand in his and just trust that he knows the way that I should if he is the great shepherd, then he is going before me and I've gotta trust the pathway to him. I don't know about you but I just gotta get to the region. I just got to get in the general direction. I've gotta trust god with the unknown and believe that he will show me the rest. He may not tell me at all in advance. Right. But if I can just walk it out and get in the region. Alright. So, I'm preaching to somebody here today that you've been sitting down and you've been waiting and going, god, I just need to know everything. Lord, I need to know exactly when we're going because I gotta be able to tell Sarah where I'm taking this kid. God, I need you to tell me this is going to work out so I can tell my wife that that mother, this promised child, we're going to come back here in just a few days. Could you tell me some more? No. You just gotta walk this thing out because I couldn't imagine that conversation as he rushed in trying to tell everything that was happened but he just takes it and he follows god because following god is the most amazing mission of our entire life because he will take us to unexpected places. And do unexpected things. He will lead us to people that we never thought we had met. Open doors that no man can shut and show us things we've never seen before. But we gotta trust him with the unknown. That's right. And just get to the region all of this, I don't want to scare you but all this introduction to the sermon all of this introduction is trying to get us to remember that Isaac is all Abraham's got. Right. That's his ticket to the rest of the promises. Yeah. Yeah. It was the blessing. Come on. But it was giving access to the promises and the dreams and the destiny. Isaac is to Abraham. His access to everything else that god was going to do. He has an heir now to possess the land. He has to have a son so they can procreate in this new nationality. Uh on the Earth that's going to spread. He has to have Isaac because god will become the god of Abraham, Isaac, and the god of Jacob. There won't be a Jacob there's not an Isaac. He has to have an Isaac because god has promised him through that seed. Shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. The world was even counting on Isaac living and him taking him to a mountain. Now, to kill him, Isaac is the promise. This is the contingent factor. That's right So, I've come to preach to some folks that that god some things that god has promised you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That you haven't seen yet. Come on. But my question is, what are you willing to sacrifice to see it come to pass? Because Isaac was the promise, the heir of the promise. He can't possess the rest of it without the air. It would have been illegal to try to control it without an air and now god says, kill your ticket. To the rest. He says, go. I'll tell you about the place later. I just want you to head in the right direction but the place was important because it was god that was going to show him the place. He didn't get to choose it. God said, that's the direction. If you'll get there, I'll show you the place and I have found that finding the right place is important. Over and over and over again in our text, you read these words. Go to the place that I will show you and when you get there, I will show you the place and when Abraham was a great ways off, he looked up and the scripture says, he saw the place. About four or five times, it's mentioned the place. It is important and we get caught up on the ram that was in the thicket but we should be focused on the place because the place is a critical thing because I can't just worship and sacrifice anywhere. I've gotta get to the right place. I have to worship god in the place. If he could've done this, why didn't he just stay at home with his wife and done it there but god said, I've got a place that I'm going to show you that you need to get to. Meaning, there's a journey from where you are to where god wants you to be and if you're going to get to the place of worship and sacrifice and see the supernatural release in your life, there is a place. Why couldn't he? We're just worshiped along the road somewhere. Why couldn't even worship at the bottom of the mountain because god said, I want you to move and I've got a place that I want. The release of the supernatural cannot happen out of the right place. Some of us are wanting god to amaze us but we're not willing to take a journey to the place that god has for us. Yeah. Have to find the place. It won't work out of place. He had the right son. He had the right wood. He had the right fire. He had the right knife. But if I don't have the right place and he won't tell me ahead of time, the place, he gave him no GPS, no address, no map. He doesn't even describe it to Abraham. He just said, I will show it to you. Yeah. Yeah. Because the place of worship is important. Abraham knows that worship, real worship includes sacrifice. Yes, lord. Real worship is not just an emotional roller coaster. It's not how loud I can get and it's not how long I can do it. Real worship is about sacrifice. It has always been and will always be and he says, I don't want to make the right sacrifice in the wrong place. That's why the enemy is always trying to move you or keep you from the right place. That's why when the Bible says, put on the whole armor of god that you might be able to stand. Not so you could travel but so you could stand because once you get in the right place, you can't let the devil move you out of your place. I know we've made this story about a lot of things but this story is about the right place. Right. Yes. Amen. And he has no direction. Right. All he has is the instinct that he will know it when he sees it. Yeah. That's what god promised him. Amen. When you get there, you'll know. I'll tell you and he had to walk in the dark or the fog or walk blind, walk by faith, not by sight, walking without an understanding, walking while you're still confused. When you get there, I will show you. He had to walk when he was weary, walk when he was frustrated, Walk when he was overwhelmed when you get there. I will show you and the Bible said on the third day, Abraham looked up and he said, there it is. Yeah. He didn't explain how he knew it. He didn't describe how he knew it and the ability to discern when you're in the right place is an important gift that you only get by walking by faith. Yeah. Amen. The gift of discernment is something that we're losing in the last days. Yes. Yes. Because we're plagued by our natural senses and we're plagued by instant things happening and if it doesn't happen, we don't know how to walk in the unknown and discern the times and trust the leading of the spirit ha but Abraham got there and said, there it is. God said, I would know it when I got here and there's where I need to be. There's the right place. This is the right time and I can worship right there but it can only happen when you find the right place. You can have the right god and the right wood and the right and the right fire and the right knife but if you don't have the right place, it's not going to come together. So, the devil's constantly trying to keep you. From the right place. Right. He'll try to stir gossip up and lies up. He'll try to make you feel lonely. He'll try to get you pointing out things about others. So, you will stay out of the right place. Anything that he can say to get us to move out and not be in the right place because the power was in the place. It wasn't in the knife. It wasn't in the wood. It's not in the sun. The power of this text is finding the right place, being in the right place because Abraham was 3 days off, looked up, saw it, and said, I'm not there yet but I see it. Yeah. That's kind of where I feel like some folks in Hope Chapel either are or need to get to. We need some folks who walk around and say, I'm not there yet but I see it. Amen I've been walking long enough to know that it's on the way. I've been trusting him when I couldn't see anything at all but now, I'm stepping out and I I kind of it's not in fruition yet but I see it afar off and I'm just going to keep on keeping on. It reminded me this morning of another exchange in scripture when Jesus met the Samaritan woman and they got into a debate and they were not debating about god. They were not debating about sacrifice. They were debating about the place. She said, my people worship in the mountain and he said, your your people worship in the mountain. You know not how your what you're doing in the mountain. My people worship in Jerusalem for Jerusalem is the place and guess what? Jerusalem was in. But then he says, but the hour cometh and now is that neither that shall they worship in Jerusalem nor in the mountain. They that worship god must worship god, him in spirit, and in truth. She had defined it as this place but she had the wrong place and Jesus showed up to correct. There is a right place that you need to get to. You got to worship him in spirit and in truth and so every day and every service, I've got to worship in spirit and in truth, if I'm be in the right place. It ain't about them and it ain't about the singers. I have to get in the right place and Well, if they just sing what I know or seeing what I like, then I get to the right. Oh, no, no, no. We worship in spirit and in truth to get in the right place. Amen. And I believe there's a place in the spirit where crutches are laid down and wheelchairs are left behind and drugs are left in the altar and blinded eyes are open and lives and families aren't restored. I believe there is a place that we can get to where we don't have to struggle for provision. There is a place in the spirit where there is no confusion. There is a place. And I believe somebody needs to hear me today. There's a place in the spirit where wellness and strength can come to your mind. There's a place in the spirit where that pain is going to leave your body. There's a place in that spirit where that fatigue is going to get behind you and you're going to find the strength that you need. There's a place in the spirit where no weapon formed against you shall prosper. I want to get to that place. Amen. Y'all are worried about my introduction but here, get ready. I'm almost done. The closer he got to the place. Yeah. The more he separated from some people. He turned to the servants and said, hey, you were good for a season but you can't go with me where I'm going. No, no. Me and the lad are going yonder to worship. Worship. And when you find the place, sometimes you have to disconnect from people that are keeping you out of the place or distracted from the place or may not understand what god's about to do in that place. The glory of god was about to release and in order for it to be released, some folks had to go. The place where the miracle was going to happen. Everybody couldn't go and then he says to it says that both of them went on together. They went on together. Isaac and Abraham went on together three times. It mentions that there was a partnership between father and son as they were going up to worship. They both went on together where Abraham and Isaac were going. The servants couldn't watch. They both went on together. Isaac was complicit, not a victim. In the march up the mountain Isaac was not being victimized by his father. He wasn't being pushed up the hill. When he didn't understand what was happening, he wasn't being shoved into an occupation that he wasn't willing to walk in. He may have not understood everything but he understood enough to look around and said, we've got the fire. We've got the wood and we've got the knife, the where is the sacrifice? He understood enough to keep on walking together Can I just say he wasn't given an assignment by his father that he didn't want. This was a grown boy. This was not a toddler who didn't have a care in the world and not know what was going on. This was a boy that was able to resist, make up his own mind, go a different direction. Tell his father he could go and worship and see the see the miracle provided for himself and stay at the foot of the mountain. This was a boy who could have fought when he was being tied up of the four horns of the altar. This was a boy has the nails would have been pushed out to tie him down. He could've fought, shoved away but he didn't. He realized there wasn't a sacrifice when he was headed up the mountain but they still went up together ha. I want you to visualize on this Sunday morning wood being put under him but he didn't get up. The pan that would eventually catch the blood that was going to flow out of Isaac being shoved up by him but he didn't walk away and when Abraham raised his hand to slay his son and the pan that would catch the blood and the fire that was burning that would eventually burn him up. A voice spoke from heaven and said, Abraham. Stay your hand. Stay your if I could translate today god said, stop what you're doing. Here's what I want us to realize. This was the point that god knew that he could give Abraham a gift and it wouldn't become an idol. He wasn't so tied to the gift that he wasn't willing to give it back to the giver. And my question for everybody in this house young and old. Have you got to the point where god can give you a gift and he knows that it won't become an idol in your life. There are people in this room that have been praying for things but my question for us today, can god give you a car? And you won't stay home on church days to clean it and god give you that new house and it not be so relaxing to you that you won't leave it for kingdom business can god give you the dream job And you not spend all of your time and energy and talent worshiping it. Can god give you a gift? That won't become an idol in your life Abraham took the gift on a journey to the unknown and was willing to give it back to the giver. It was at this point said, now I know that you have finally come to the place that it's not about the gift It's about the giver. You see, when god knows how bad you want the gift, he knows sometimes the gift can become an idol in our life. And it and he needs to know that he can give you something that won't replace him. Amen. I'll give you what you want. If you won't let it take over your life. God desires to give us gifts that can only come from above but he doesn't desire for it to become our god. God desires to give us what we want, our heart's desires. If it doesn't, take his place. and every now and then, this journey of faith, there's a test. It comes down between the gift, giver. Think of the prodigal son. He loved the gift more than the giver. Father, give me my portion now. And he left the father's house with the gift and wasted it and his life fell apart because he wasn't with the giver what came back together How was life different when he took the journey back to the somebody on this Sunday morning needs to hear the reason that there are things falling apart in your life sometimes is god's given you a gift and you've got too busy for the giver. The giver has been forgotten. Sometimes, things wither a little way in our life because we've been worshiping the gift not the giver. Because god said, I'll let nothing He doesn't want anything to come between us. Every time I willingly offer up the gift back to the giver, what I'm saying is that he is worth. Than anything in my life because worship is about what's valuable There he is with a knife up in his hand and his son tied in the wood ready to be burned. And right in the middle, god said, stay your hand. Behold, a ram. It was a way of escape. And the scripture says, it's already tied up in the thicket. You see, if Abraham would have gone to the wrong mountain he would have missed the ram and then the provision was in the right place and when you're in the right place, the provision will already be tied up in the thicket and what I want to tell some folks on this Sunday morning is that god's got some rams tied up for you and your family. But it's in the right place. And if you'll go deeper in worship, you'll find everything you need tied up in the thicket. And if you'll surrender the gift to the giver, you'll find everything you need tied up in the thicket I keep mentioning that it was tied up in the thicket because it wasn't wandering around in the thicket because if it would have been wandering around, it could've left at any time. God tied it up in the thicket. Let's do what god has for you Nobody else is going to get and as soon as god knows that the giver comes first, every blessing that you've been praying for is tied up in the thicket. Suppose Abraham had gone up the wrong mountain, another mountain. Any other mountain would have killed his son. This was the only mountain where the ram was provided. The ram is waiting on you getting in the right place. It's waiting on you to find the place for vision. When everything was done Abraham stepped back and he named the place Jehovah Jireh. He did not call god Jehovah Jireh. Oh, he was. Yeah. He named the place. Yes, he when he got to the right place. That's when he saw the god that provided There is a place where there is no weapon formed against you that shall prosper. There there is a place with that anointing cannot be lost. There is a place where everything you've been praying for. God's got wrapped up and tied in the thicket. You are not waiting on the ram, the ram. Is waiting on you to get to the right place Don't hear me talking about it a lot. But my question what's in your pocket What god has blessed you with It is has it become the idol? Are you willing to give it back to the giver? On this Sunday morning, my altar call is simple What are you willing to put on the altar today as a sacrifice I don't want to be like the Samaritan woman who worships in the mountain and she knows not what I don't want to be like the Jews who were worshiping where god used to be. They were missing where he was. Wasn't a GM, wasn't a GPS location. It was a place in the spirit that they must worship god in spirit and in truth. It was a place of deeper worship and understanding. That's where I want to be. I can't have my old-time consecration and get my new-time blessing. I've gotta labor today for where he wants me to be. So today, I am not praying for the miracle to get in its place I'm praying for Ryan to get in the right place. Yes. I'm not praying for the ram to get in its place I'm praying that god will help me. Be in the right place. Abraham didn't go by accident. He went on purpose. He packed everything he needed. He had the wood and the fire and the knife and he walked side by side with what he was willing to give back to god. It didn't surprise him Days of walking, days of trusting. Not knowing the unknown but walking with what he knew He was willing to sacrifice for it he found his ram but more importantly, he found the place and he called the place Jehovah Jireh. On this Sunday morning. As I close, could you stand with me all over this house there is a place for each of us today I don't care if you're a child or an elder today. I I'm calling us all just to a place of sacrifice What would you do to make sure that the gospel goes somewhere else with the gift that god's given you? Not knowing if where the rams coming from. What is the gift that you'll make sure another church is planted in North America? But also today, is there anybody that have just get your worship back to a place of sacrifice Not just emotion, not just because you feel good, not just because everything's good in your life but just simply because who he is, you're willing to give the gift back to the giver. You're willing to use your strength and your energy and your power, your talent, your time, your treasure, and give it back to the giver of all gifts. I wonder right now, just write where you're standing. Would you pray that god would speak to you right now whether it's a sacrifice for this offering or a sacrifice in your would you just lift your voice and let you let somebody around you just hear your voice crying out to the lord. Lord, I surrender myself to you and the leading and the guiding of your spirit. I will not walk by sight but I will walk by faith. God, I may have walked in here with questions but god, I'm going to walk out with an assurance that I know that you're going to reveal the way that I should take. You are the great shepherd. You've never abandoned me. You've never forsaken me, you're with me wherever I go, and I know that you're going before me and making a way. God, there's men and women in this room that are praying for direction for their family, praying for things at work, praying for things financially, praying for what doctor to go and talk to. God, I pray right now that revelation would come about the region that they need to head to, and they just begin to make that journey of faith, trusting you with all things that you're going to reveal their pathway Make it plain and clear but god I pray right now that there would be a sacrifice that's birthed into the heart of this church right now. God, everything you've given us as a church. It's been a gift. God, there have been people all over the world that gave so we could have what we have and today, we're just pausing for a moment and god, we want to make sure that the gift hasn't become an idol. God, next year, we'll focus on expanding this local church but god, right now, before this year is done, we want to make a commitment to say it's kingdom first. And we trust you with all things. Come on, would you just pray right now? If you're, if you're not, god, would you speak to me about what I should give There are pins in this altar. In just a moment, I'm going to pray one more prayer in just a moment and whether you've done it digitally or whether you want to put on paper, would you just step if you're making a commitment for sacrifice? Would you just, it it can be a dollar. It don't matter. You're just making a commitment for for missions, giving, monthly, next year, and a one-time offering to make sure churches are planted in North America next year. Would you bring it down to the altar? There are pins to my left and right. There are more of these scattered all around. There's some back to tables but would you lift your voice and pray with me one more time. Lord, here we stand in your presence right now and god we thank you for every good and perfect gift that you have given us but god, it's the giver. It's you that is our source of life. It's you that we turn to today and you that we cling to. It's you that we want in our life and god we return to you today and I pray that you would speak to every heart and every life right now. We have been faithful with tithes and offering throughout this year but before this year comes to a close, we make a commitment for kingdom to be first, for your kingdom to be expanded. I pray that you would speak to us about what sacrifice looks like in our life right now. God, you revealed it to Abraham and I believe that you can reveal it to us and I pray right now that we would commitment up in our spirit. Come on, if there's anybody that you just step out from where you are, come down around the front with your hands raised. Come on, if you feel paper, just lay it down on the altar and say, god, I trust you for the ram and the thicket. God, I believe you're going to take care of me. There are people that need physical needs, emotional needs, relational needs, financial needs. Come on, just linger with us in the altar with hands raised and begin to worship him in spirit and in truth. Come on, they're going to begin to sing in just a moment but lift up your voice to the lord right now. Come on, bring your gift back to the giver. Come on, lift up your hands and lift up your voice Come on, bring your gift back to the giver. Come on, just linger with us in the altar with hands raised and say, god, I lean on you for everything I need in my life. It's in you that I live and breathe I want to get to the right place. I want to get to the right place. I want to worship you in spirit and in truth. Come on. I believe god can fill somebody with the holy ghost right now. Come on, I believe god can restore your ministry right now. I believe god can restore your dreams right now. I'm going to return my gift to the giver. Come on, some of you are going to go home and and the deacons. Some of you are to walk to Tied the ram, tied up in the thicken. Your voice all around the sanctuary. Lift your hands. Returned the gifts to the giver right now. From you are you deserve the wrong. Begin to rise all over this house of it all Come on, make a commitment. We're going to expand the kingdom around this nation and around the world visions coming to your life. Singing together one more time and night night and day visit we offer it up to you all to you our lives, our future, our dreams, our desires. It belongs to you but by your spirit saith the lord and voices begin to rise so he says my future is in your hands, lord. You are going to get to the right place. You deserve the So, stop, stop looking for the ramp. Look for the place. The place that god's calling you to. The place in the spirit that god's beckoning you to. Because god said, I'll I'll show you the place. And it was Abraham walking up the mountain after he'd seen the place. He looked at his son, not god. He looked at his son. God showed him the place and Abraham looked at his son and said, god. Yeah. Will provide. Come on. The sacrifice. Yes, you will Cuz when you know you're in the right place, there's no doubt what god's going to do. I don't know what all came in. I don't know what'll come in this week. I don't know what commitments are being made online right now. What you don't know is 2 weeks ago or week ago, I can't remember what service. Somebody's never been to church here, walked into the service with friends of ours and after service, she grabbed my wife and I just said, I don't know nothing about this church. I don't know what y'all are needing to do. I don't know what but I just felt, I kept feeling over and over in this service to prophesy to you that god's about to and resources for you to expand this church. We're going to take care. None of this is going to be an idol. We're going to keep giving back to the giver. Yes. But I've come to tell you today, there's a ram in the thicket. And I speak that over every person here today you keep giving the gift back to the giver. And you'll always find the ram in the thicket. God will always do his job. Somebody one more time, offer him a sacrifice of There's a release. There's a release coming. God I thank you for what you've done in this house. I thank you for what you're going to do out of today. God, I believe it's bigger than we could ever dream and god, we trust you with every detail of our life, our home, our family, our church, and god, we we want to be a part of your kingdom. God, not just in this city, not just in this county, not just in this region but worldwide. We want to see your kingdom grow and expand and we want to be a part of what you're doing on the Earth. We want to be aches, givers. We want to live a life where we give back to the giver of every good and perfect gift. Hallelujah. God, I pray that you would keep us, lead us, guide us, direct us, open doors that no man can shut, use us to build your kingdom as we are the light in the darkness and the salt of the earth. In Jesus name, one more time, can we just thank him for what he's done in this house today? However, you feel Thank you lord Jesus. Thank you lord Jesus. Thank you lord Jesus. Please be in prayer this week for the Stafford family. Wanna cover them in our prayers. Wednesday night in in the building. Thursday night. Meet us down at Weston House City Hall. Be a great time of just loving on our community. We love you. We're dismissed in Jesus name. Read some folks around you.

Jacelyn Foster

MIDWEEK @ HOPE | MIDWEEK @ HOPE | By HOPE CHAPEL UPC | Good evening, everyone. Good to see you on a Wednesday night. It's just a tad cool outside. I know some people are loving it and I see some jackets and sweaters across the room. Some people are hating it. So, I had to light the fire last night and Jeric is like, I love that smell of propane burning and I said, I don't. She said, why not? I said, it smells like money burning. So, anyway, So, young people, you'll get that one day when you have to pay for propane, you know. Just remember that. Okay. Anyway, tough crowd over here tonight. So, They don't know anything about that. That's right. So, anyways, good to see you all in the house of the lord tonight. Thank you for being here on a cool Wednesday night. Let's go ahead and stand. Got some needs we're going to take to the lord in prayer. Let's continue to pray for Kim Kelly, sister Ruby Hardy, sister Jackson, brother Abernathy, Gwen, Ear. I don't know if I said that right and Michelle Berger needs our prayers. If you got a need across the room, why don't you lift your hands and just make that known. Somebody close to you. He's got a need. Why don't you reach over and unite with him in prayer? Lord, we love you tonight, Lord, you see every lord that we've made known by the mentioning of their names lord. Every need that's been raising their hand across the room. Lord, lord, you see every circumstance, you see every situation. Lord, you know every detail, lord. So, right now, lord, we we put it in your hands, lord and we activate our faith. Lord, and we lift you up right now. Lord, in every name, lord, and every person across the sanctuary, lord, that that that lifted their hand, lord, you know, lord. Lord, we believe in you to perform a miracle lord. You see, where healing needs to take place. You see, where direction needs to take place, lord. Lord, and we trust you and we know lord and we believe and we thank you for doing a great work, lord. We believe you for miracles tonight. We believe you for healing tonight. We believe you for direction and leading. Lord, a strength tonight. Lord, we believe that you're going to speak into these needs, lord. Thank you. We thank you for it, lord. We thank you for working and I believe can do something in our midst, right? Don't you agree with that god can do something in our midst tonight. So, why don't we go ahead and lift our hands and let's pray over this service tonight. Come on, lift your voice across the room, lord. Come on and raise your voice, raise your hearts, lift your, just let god know what you that you're thankful, lord. Lord, we're thankful that you let us see another day. Yes, lord. We're thankful lord for another opportunity to walk into your house, lord. We're thankful lord for another opportunity to lift our hands and lift our voices and lift our hearts, lord and worship you, lord because today, been nothing but good to me lord. You've been faithful to me, oh god, and I'm going to worship you tonight because you are worthy, lord. Lord, we praise you for what you're about to do. We praise you for the worship that's about to take place in this room. We praise you lord for the word that's going to challenge our heart. Lord, and we thank you for what you're about to do. Let's worship with the praise team. The splinter just see let all the and beginning and the end beginning and is one the spirit the lion and the lion is our god how great how great he's so great sing with me lift your voice and let proclaim our god is great. Our god is wonderful. Thank you, Jesus Yes, Jesus. Behold Jeho the god who shall be forevermore and I've been behold truth and the perfect savior the blood that washes white the Victory has a name and it's Jesus as an aim You're everything. Healer and provider and my deliverer, you're my redeemer, you're my peace, you're my joy. Everything Hallelujah. When you begin to sing that word, amen. What you're saying is lord, I believe that you are that and I believe that you can be that in my life. It's a reception word and if you need something from him tonight, I want if you just lift your hands right now. Say, amen. I stand on your word and I come into agreement with your word. I believe that your word will not return void but it will prosper where you send it. I believe it's going to come to pass in my life. Home, my family, my body it shall come to pass I wonder with your eyes closed right now if you just took whatever you've been carrying this week, whatever need that's consumed your prayers. I wonder if you just kind of take your hands right now and just lift it up and say, Lord, it's yours. I trust you with it. I surrender it to you. Come on, if you need a healing in your body, just say, Lord, I trust you for the healing. I I surrender that over to you. Come on, if you need provision, if you need peace, if you need restoration, just kind of. Jesus. Lift your hands and say, lord, here it is. I boldly approach your throne right now and I. Yes. I cast my cares upon you. I surrender it over to you. Cuz I know who you are and what you're capable of, lord surrender it over to you Surrender it over to you lord. What sweet, wonderful presence of the lord that's in this house tonight. I believe the lord has already taken care of things and when you connect with his presence, you connect with his power and when you connect with his power, anything is possible and we come in here, just focus ever have to in it. You didn't just walk in, fired up. Oh, I'm the only one. Yeah Been in a microscope before, a telescope before. You got to twist and turn until you just see it just just right I don't, when I'm focusing, I'm not focusing on my problems. I'm not focusing on how I feel. I'm focusing on how great he is and how mighty he is and that right there begins to affect my vision Now, I see my need gets smaller when I look at him. My situation becomes. Amen. Much smaller when I look at him. Cuz I know what he's capable of. And I'm thankful for what god is doing in this house What he's doing in our church. So many amazing things. It been happening over the last couple of weeks. Six have been baptized in Jesus name. We're thankful for Bible studies have been taught, life groups have been going. It just god connections here had a call this morning or text. I couldn't get to the call, called back my daughter, London the other night, she called it candy shopping. We took her candy shopping that just about five houses and we stopped and turned into a 30-minute conversation with some people in our neighborhood that we had never met and I got a phone call this morning and somebody in the church was on the phone with him this morning. Made that connection. They, you know, that met the pastor last night and you know, just there's just all kind of stuff like that happening right now that's not accident, it's not coincidence. God just ordering our steps, giving us, giving us favor. This weekend is our celebrate or thankful for community and we're going to have a host of guests with us. We're going to be giving back to some community organizations in our city. We're going to honor several of them this weekend and going to experience worship. They're going to experience a little bit of preaching and prayer and faith and I believe god is just going to a a seed in their heart and in their life. So, if you know someone that leads, serves, protects, invest in the next generation school systems all over DeSoto County. Invite them to be with you on Sunday. It's just be a special special day and I hope you can bare with me tonight. Two hours ago, I was still in the dentist chair with needles in my mouth and poking and prying and you know, not to just, that was like two hours ago and I asked him, I said, is all this going to wear off? That because I don't feel my face They assured me that I would be ready. So, if you see me drooling in the next few moments or my words are slurring, just say bless them, Lord Thank the lord. Thankful for Dennis trips on Wednesday. I give god praise for that. I knew it was a bad idea but it was the only day he could see me. So, I had to make it work. I want to give honor to my father-in-law tonight. It's his birthday today and his investment in our family and and this local church and so much to us. We love and appreciate him. And my wife is home with sick baby tonight. So, I I want to I believe you get what you feed feed the flesh all week long is going to grow Eat the spirit all week, then spirituality is going to grow. Also believe if you feed doubt all week doubt groves. Amen. I have found that if I'll feed faith faith will grow. I can operate with a mustard seed but I don't have to. There is the gift of faith and I feel like I've just kind of been in this almost felt apologetic before open my message tonight but that's just kind of what hit me. You get what you feed and I feel like we're in a dimension. In a couple weeks, we're going to have a little testimony service and I feel like there's some testimonies in the making. If we'll just keep feeding faith. Yeah. And if if it's anything I feel right now, I feel like there's an explosion of faith that's trying to happen. Amen. And I feel like there's some people that have been battling, speaking faith, and praying with faith and believing for the impossible. Some of us have been praying for the possible things that's just a little beyond our reach. That's not necessarily what I'm trying to feed tonight I'm trying to feed those things that are well beyond our reach. That when it's done for you, you won't get to get the glory, your banker won't get the glory, your family won't get the glory, your doctor's not going to get the glory. Only god is going to get the glory because it's beyond our reach I believe if we're going to have that kind of faith, we need to feed that faith. Hebrews eleven, very familiar portion of scripture and try not to be now faith not tomorrow's faith not yesterday's faith not this morning's faith now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it, the the elders obtained a good report through faith. We understand that the worlds were framed by the word of god. So that the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear now faith and through faith and I just want to preach for a few moments tonight about faith. Empty and filled. Empty and filled. Lord, I thank you for what we feel. Thank you lord. Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for the faith that is rising in this church and I'm believing for a season where the gift of faith is going to be an operation and we are going to see the impossible I believe that we are going to see believers lay hands on the sick and they are going to recover. I believe we're going to see wheelchairs and crutches laid down and cigarettes and drugs laid down and miracles and open doors and favor and god just things that only you can do. So, god help us to build our faith tonight. Increase our faith tonight. Through your word in Jesus name. Let everybody say, amen. Amen. May be seated. Faith coming comes by hearing, hearing by the word of the lord. So, we're just going Thomas Aquinas said to to one who has faith, no explanation is necessary To one without faith, no explanation is possible. When you have faith, and walk by faith, and speak faith, you don't have to understand it. It don't have to make sense. It don't have to operate in what you can and we know through scripture it's faith is the currency of the kingdom Faith is what moves god into doing the unexpected and the miraculous and the supernatural and we know through the word of god that god when god is moved, faith rises in a believer and changes what he hoped for into worship and Thanksgiving. I mean, there is a transition from the needs and the situations and the circumstance and when we walk by faith and we speak faith and we operate in faith that there is a transition. You know, anybody ever been carrying a need, carrying a situation, burdened by it, prayer closets, altars, I mean, I'm not, I know I'm not the only one that's gone to the altar 152 times with the same thing and just trotting the but there's just something that happens when you let your faith begin to grow that you get to that place through faith, that you don't see it yet, you don't know how it's going to come yet, you don't know how god going to do it. You don't know when god's going to do it and you've accepted the fact that it's okay. If you don't know and you start worshiping a little different. It doesn't mean you're not. You quit praying over it but you just start worshiping with the freedom because you know god's got this. Uh I know god's got this. When you start operating in that level of faith, it changes the way that you talk. You speak to others. It's it's not done yet but I know he's working. Uh I know he's at work my life because faith doesn't see the supernatural. It doesn't see the divine presence of god but it believes that it exist and therefore, we've got something to hope for, to get up for, to believe for, and the writer in the book of Hebrews let's us know that it is a witness to god that we believe and that we trust in him. When we have faith, we are saying, god, I know you got this. I know who you are. I know what you're cap beloved. I don't know the if or the when or the how. I don't know any of those things but I know that you've got this. It goes on in verse four and says, by by faith, Abel offered unto god a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. By which he obtained witness. That he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts and by it, he being dead yet speaketh. Faith causes god to be our witness and what greater witness to have than god himself. God witnesses through our sacrifice that we have put our full trust in him. Cain held back and offered his least and Abel gave god his best and it pleased god. You see, here is one of the examples of faith that made Jesus marvel in scripture. We read it many times but in Luke chapter seven, a soldier with a sick servant who was near to death and and and he came to Jesus and you listen to his faith and his testimony as a soldier, as he comes to Jesus Christ in full assurance that he is able to do the miraculous and he said, and and Luke chapter seven verse one, when he had ended sayings in the audience of the people. He entered into Capernaum and a certain servant servant who was dear unto him, was sick and ready to die. When he heard of Jesus, he said in the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant and when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly saying that he was worthy for whom he should do this, for he loves our nation, has built us a synagogue, and Jesus went with him and he and when he was not far from the the centurion sent friends to him saying unto him, lord, trouble not thyself, for I'm not worthy that thou should enter under my roof, wherefore, neither that thought I, myself, worthy to come unto thee, he didn't even come himself, didn't count himself worthy to even ask. He, he didn't even think he was worthy to be in his present, and too many people think that god owes us something, but we are the debtors, not, not the and here's the word of faith or the transition of faith but just say the word and my servant shall be healed. He said in verse eight, for I also am a man under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, go and he go within another, come and he cometh and to my servants do this, and he doeth it, and here is the testimony of Christ, that faith has moved him to do the miraculous. When Jesus heard these things. Yeah. Not what he saw just what he heard. He marveled at him and turned him about and said unto unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith. No, not all in all of Israel. This is the kind of faith that god expects us to have. This is the faith that causes god to marvel. That that word marvel is a verb and it has two senses to be amazed or express astonishment or surprise. Christ was amazed at the faith of a man wasn't a part of the tribe of Israel. It moved Jesus so much that he granted him what? He asked. In Luke chapter seven verse ten, it says and they were sent returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick. When they got back, they found him not just feeling a little better but wholeness had come to the house. Faith came empty but it left full. He up saying, I am nothing but you are everything. I am nothing but I believe you can do anything and everything. I am not worthy. You don't even have to come to my house. If you will just speak the word, It's not about who I am. It's about who you are and I believe that if you'll speak the word, I understand authority. I haven't come demanding what you should do and when you should do it or how you should do it but I know you don't even have to show up. You can just speak and things are going to be put in motion. I understand authority. So, I trust your authority. That's faith that puts him in motion. Yeah. Right. So, he didn't come full of himself He came empty. He came understanding who he was coming to. Faith says, according to Psalms thirty-four and four, I sought the lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears and too many people come to god full but were full of unbelief and distrust in his ability and his timing and we doubt that his promises are true or true for us or if it can happen, we we we have built up so many things in our mind, our focus, our mentality that sometimes we restrict him from being able to operate because our faith is diminished by all the you know I know nobody's ever done this in this house it's another church somewhere else. But we've asked god for something while We didn't believe that he would ever do it. Nobody here has ever done it but there are people in other churches. Somewhere north, south, east, west of here. That have prayed prayers out loud but inside have been so full of unbelief. They don't actually believe that it can happen. It gives them a moment of lifting because they said it. But if we're going to see things happen, you've gotta deal with the inside. Yeah. Before you start speaking things. If we're going to pray with faith and we're going to speak to mountains and we're going to see miracles, signs, and wonders, the inside. the heart and the mind has got to get back to the place where faith is rising and we believe god's word is true and we believe that it can come to pass in our life. When we come to him, we have to come empty saying, god, I can't do this but you can. I'm not worthy but you are. I'm not a healer but you are. Uh I'm not a provider but you are the provider. I'm not the creator. You you are the creator. You are in all. You are above all and I come to you. So, we come empty but we can leave. filled. Genesis chapter twenty-two tells us of a very familiar portion of scripture speaking of Abraham that and it came to pass that god did tempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham and he said, behold, here I am and he said, take now thy son, thy only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, get thee into the land of Moriah, offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of, and Abraham rose up early in the morning and he saddled his ass and he took two of his young men with him and Isaac and his son and clave the wood for the burnt offering and rose up and went into the place of which god had told them and on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes, saw the place afar off and Abraham said unto his young men, abide you here with the ass and I in the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you and Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid upon Isaac his son and he took the fire and his hand and a knife and they went both of them together and Isaac spake unto Abraham, his father, and said, my father and he said, here I am, my son and he said, behold the fire and the wood but where is the lamb for a burnt offering and Abraham's said, my son, god will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering so they went both of them together. What really is faith? Well, Philip Yancey defines faith as believing in advance in something that will only seem logical when you see it in reverse Faith is simply believing not just in god's ability but in also his willingness to help us. Meaning, faith is going. God, when I get there, I'll understand it but right now, I just know you got it. When I get there and look back, I'll see your hand and your fingerprints and the details and how you were opening doors and closing doors and doing this and doing that. I don't see any of that right now but faith is saying, I believe you're doing it. I believe you're working for my good. I believe you're moving in ways that I cannot see or that I can understand. Faith is literally standing in the day and saying, I I may not see my miracle til tomorrow. Yeah. But god is working today. That's right. God is working things out for my good and his glory. I preached it on Sunday about tomorrow believing that god is on but that means god is operating in today. That's right. God does not abandon us today. He does not forsake us today. He is working for our good and faith is walking in today going. I don't see you working but I know you're working. I don't hear you're working but I know you're working. I don't know what you're doing right now but I believe that you are working. There is a now faith. You are doing things that I do not understand. So, faith believing. Not just in what he's able to do but that he wants to do it in our life. Yeah. If we're going to see mountains move, we've gotta believe that today, god's taking care of things maybe on the other side of the mountain we don't see yet. Right. God is not limited by what we see through the natural eye. Whether it's mountains or valleys, there is nothing that god can't just level out. And it is a struggle to have faith in this generation that we're living in right now. The enemy tries to fight our flesh and tries to get us so busy. Sometimes, we're too weary to have sometimes the enemy tries to get in our ear and and convince us that we're never going to see it come to pass and we get weary in well doing. It's possible to be a good person and be doing the right things but the enemy tells you, give up. You're tired. You're weary. It's never going to happen. It's going to be a long way down the road but faith is putting one foot in front of the other and just believing that there nothing he's saying is true that god is working now for my good. The enemy will fight our sacrifice. Things will not always be just a walk in the park when it comes to accomplishing what god wants to do. Meaning, there going to be some tough days and rainy days and stormy days and valley days and mountain climbing days but faith is putting one foot in front of the other and going, god, you order my steps and if I'm here, it's because you've been ordering them here and this is a part of the miracle. If I'm standing here in this, this is a part of the miracle. If I'm facing this frustration, this is a part of the miracle because god can take all things to and work them together for our good. God can equalize the mountain and the valley. He can take the perfect day and the stormy day. Nothing can he don't take the day off. He's not limited by what we are facing. He's not weary by what we're weary with. When you go in and get that bad doctor's report, god's going not going. Whoo. That's it. That threw me off. What am I going to do with that? Let me go back to the drawing board and figure out what to do. He can take all things together and work them for our good. Your child may have talked to you and said they never coming back to the lord today but god, that doesn't mean that god's not still working in the background of their life That doesn't mean dreams are not going to come to them tonight where god's working on their heart. There may be a situation at work. You've been believing for and speaking for and the door closed tighter than you've ever seen it close before today but that doesn't mean that god's not working because when god opens a door, no man can shut it. Amen. That means if it's shut today, that god hadn't got a hold of things just yet because when god opens the door, no man's going to be able to shut it. What I'm trying to say is there's always going to be a test of our faith Abraham looked at his servants and said, stay here. We're going up to worship. He didn't know what was going to happen yet. Right. Yeah His son looked at him and was like, wood and fire? We got that. Where's the sacrifice? Daddy didn't look at him and say, well, Hey. Actually, while we're walking up the rest of this mountain, I got a story to tell you. A couple of days ago, god told me to go to a mountain and when I got there, he would tell me, did y'all catch that just a minute ago? God told him what the sacrifice was but he didn't tell him which mountain. He said he'd tell him when he got there. But as he's walking up the mountain, he's looking at his son. Hey, don't worry about that. God's got that. That's how he spoke with faith. He didn't understand how will all work out. He didn't know there was a ram in the thicket he didn't know how god was going to work it out. He just knew god was going to take care of him Faith is operating in a dimension where you just know that even in the tough days god is working for me. God is on the job. He's clocked in and when I speak faith, that's what I'm speaking. Sometimes, I've gotta be walking up knowing that sacrifice is happening right now but calling it worship and I've gotta be looking around saying, god's going to provide. God is going to provide. I don't understand it all right now but god is going to provide but when he heard the noise in the thicket and god showed up on the top of mountain, he understood. God provided. God brought me to this place. He didn't see how it was all going to work out. It was in retrospect but he was speaking at why he walked up. Some of us are waiting to see the ram in the thicket to start saying, oh god, I see what you're doing. I'll keep walking. God, I hear what you're doing. I'll keep trusting. God, I believe. If you'll let me see a little bit of the doctor report change in the ram and the thicket even if I'm not close to it yet, I will go to a place of sacrifice. I will speak to my faith. I will encourage others around me. If I can see how it's all going to work out, then, I will speak it. That's not faith. Why? Faith is the evidence. Of things hoped for, not what we see. So, faith is what he was speaking. Faith was what the disciples looked when they were out of the fishermen were standing there going, hey, yeah. I I've been out all night fishing but nevertheless, at that word, we're we're going to do what you say. Faith is operating not by sight but it stand on a revelation that you know who he is. Matthew chapter nine are bringing our attention to another element of faith when Jesus departed fence two blind men follow him, crying, said, thou son of David, have mercy on us, and when he was coming to the house, the blind man came to him and said, Jesus, and Jesus said unto him, believe you that I am able to do this, and they said unto him, yes Lord, and then he touched their eyes, saying according to your faith, be it unto you, and their eyes were open, not complicated, not frustrated, not some long thing it wasn't, you know, 27 people doing this, that, and under. Do you believe that I am able to do it? Yes, lord. I believe you're able to do it and their eyes were open and Jesus straightly charged them saying, see that no man know it but they when they departed, spread up rod, his fame and all the country. They didn't even obey Jesus after the miracle. How did the miracle happen? Them saying, I believe you're able to do it. Right. They expressed the need. They followed after him and when he asked him if they believed, they just said yes and his response was according to your faith and eyes were open. Matthew 21 and twenty-1, Jesus answered and said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, if you have faith and doubt not, you shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree but also if you shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be cast into the sea. It shall be done. Unbelief puts our circumstance between god and us but faith puts god between us and our circumstance. So, what are you feeding? What are you feeding? And you're like, who are you listening to? What are you meditating on? I I spoke with with someone today that we have we prayed for over the over the last few months and she just kind of I I was over at the school doing the caffeine cart and the the nurse that we prayed for and I put her away. She she just started talking to me about how she'd been getting in the car and she's been listening to worship music all the time. She didn't even think about it. Here here with somebody basically on life support about six weeks ago. And she seen God's hand and she was just kind of I I don't know how we got there. She just started talking about her journey and she's talking about I've just I I've started realizing if you want to feed your faith it matters what you listen to. And if you're going through a fight right now, it maybe time to start amplifying what you're feeding yourself. Yeah. Amen it it maybe time to get in and and find every every song you can, every preaching you can, every book you can, every podcast you can, every everything you can to feed your faith. Why? Because until you get to the point where you can speak it or you can say it, you need to feed the right thing because Jesus said, if if you have faith and doubt not, there can be things that are done that you can speak to the mountain, be thou removed and be cast in the sea and it shall be done. So, I've to get rid of doubt and how do we get rid of doubt? We gotta starve it I know I'm teaching, preaching, preaching. I don't know what I'm doing tonight Hopefully, I'm not slurring but some of us, the reason we can't speak it yet is because we ain't been feeding the right thing. We want it. We want god to do a miracle. We want god to fix it. We want god to open the door. We have our heart's desire. Why? Because it's a need but we're not feeding our faith to the point to get that spot where we can actually speak it. What? What did Joshua tell the people after he'd see the angel, the lord with the sword drawn and god said, you know, the city is yours and just go compass about it. He just went to the people and he did tell them everything that he had seen. He just said, hey, I need you to listen to me. You get in line and you march and you your mouth shut. Yeah. Until you get to the place where I tell you, I bid you to shout. Why? Because they had talked their way out of it before. 40 years earlier and they had wandered in the wilderness and people had to die off and doubt had to die off and get and he didn't want doubt to creep back in and walk around and talk about the walls and how big the walls were and talk about how the army was in the city and what weapons they woulda had and talked about how they were not in. You just be quiet until you can get to the place to shout because you have to starve some things sometimes to and feed the right things and as they walk in obedience, they were walking in faith. Because in their mind, they were probably saying, why are we marching? Why are we walking? Why are we? But that had to be starved out Some of us are not able to speak things or pray. I mean, you don't have to raise your hand. I'll raise mine. Anybody ever been a place where you literally have been afraid to pray big things because you don't want to be let down and it seems like it's a big thing. You know, like, god probably doesn't really care about you for that. Yeah. We get to that place and if we're not careful, we let the enemy talk us out of things that god is able and willing to do. What we make big is not big to god and there are mountains that need to move in the month of November and it matters what you feed but you gotta come to him empty and you gotta leave filled. Unbelief puts our circumstance between God. But faith. Gets things back in the proper order. Jesus said in Mark chapter nine verse twenty-three, Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believe it. Because it's through faith, all things become possible. On October eighteenth, I'm almost done. 18 79, a young inventor by the name of Thomas Edison, set in his laboratory. He was weary from 13 months of repeated failure. In his search for something that would stand the stress of an electric current. To add to his problems, the men who had backed him financially were now refusing to put up any additional funds. Having tried every medal in his experience, experiment, edit was adamantly baffled. He casually picked up a bit of lamp black. He mixed it in with tar, rolled it into a thin thread, and suddenly, the thought struck him. Why not try a carbonized cotton fiber? And for 5 hours, he worked on the first filament. But it broke before he could remove the mold. Two entire spools of thread were used in similar efforts that brought nothing. At last a perfect strand emerged. only to be ruined when he tried to place it inside of a glass tube. But Edison refused to admit defeat. He continued to work without sleep for two more days and nights. Eventually, he managed to insert one of the crude, carbonized threads into the vacuum-sealed bulb. When when we turned on the current, he said, the sight we had so long desired to see finally met our eyes. His persistence in the face of the most discouraging odds gave the world one of its greatest inventions. The electric light. And he said when it turned on the sight we had so long desired to see. Finally met our eyes. What was he saying? I seen this before I seen this The reason I've been working and the reason I've been sacrificing and the reason I've been persistent and the reason I didn't give up and the reason I didn't listen to the doubters is because I I I seen this before I seen it. And the reason when people try to talk me out of it and when people walked away from me and when discouragement was there and when hopelessness was there, the reason I kept going is because even though I had never seen this in reality, I had been looking for it. This is what I had hoped to see and faith operates just like that. You're going to get up tomorrow with a need or a situation that you've been praying over but if you can ever start seeing it through the lens of faith. It's going to be worth every worship service, every prayer meeting, every meal that you fast, every time when someone's trying to sow doubt into your spirit and you refuse it and you just keep on building faith and speaking faith and believing for faith. When you finally see it all come to pass. You'll say, this is what I've been looking for. This is what I've been ready for. This is why I trusted him. This is why I believe but until we get there, we've gotta make sure we're emptying ourselves of doubt. Emptying our self of fear, emptying ourselves of who we are and filling ourselves up with the word, filling ourselves up saying, god, increase my faith. Amen. Second Kings chapter four, he said about this season according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace the sun and said nay my lord, thou man of god, do not lie under thy handmaid and the woman conceived and bear a son at the season that Elisha had said unto her according to time of life and when the child was grown, it fell on a day that when he went out with his father to the reapers and he said unto his father, my head, my head, and he said, to a lad, carry him to his mother when he had taken him. He brought him to his mother and sat on her knees till noon and then died and she went up and laid upon the bed of the man of god and shut the door upon him and went out and she called unto her husband and said, send me, I pray thee one of the young men and one of the asses that I may run to the man of god and come again and he said, wherefore wilt thou go to him today. It is neither new moon nor Sabbath and she said, it shall be well and she saddled an ass and said to her servant, drive and go forward, slack not thy riding for me except I bid thee and she went and came into the man of god at Mount Carmel and it came to pass when the man of god saw her afar off, she said unto Gehazi, his servant, behold, yonder is the Shonamite woman. Run now. I pray thee to meet her and say unto her, is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? It is it well with thy child and when he had done this, she answered, it is well. She understood that what was back home was dead. She understood what the natural was but when she got to the man of god, she understood how to operate in the realm of faith. She had already prayed. She had already trusted and she believed if she get to the man of god, everything was going to be okay. She didn't wait til she got back home. She didn't wait til she saw everything in reality. She just responded back. Everything is well with me. Everything is well with my husband and everything is well with my child. She knew it was a promise child. She knew it was a miracle child and whether or not the present revealed that or not, she knew the future was going to be well. We have to get back to that place where we're faith to that same level where we can look at things that look dead right now in reality but we're saying, it's alright. Everything is alright. God's got this. God's in control. It is well. Your finances may not look good in reality right now but it is well. I believe it. It is well. My children may not be where they are. Need to be right now but it is well. My marriage may not be where it needs to be but it is well. Faith is operating in a well I am speaking what is coming to pass in my life. I am not talking about what I can do. I am talking about what he is going to do Abraham had no idea how god was going to take care of his problem but he knew it would and that was faith. You just have to learn to use your faith and I close with Mark sixteen. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned and these signs shall follow them that believe in my name shall they cast out devils. They shall speak with new tongues. Thou shalt take up servants. If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Never were there signs or gifts intended for just a few to use but rather for every believer to utilize in their life. If you have faith, miracles can happen. If you have faith, you can see miracles not only in your life but in others. You don't have to be a faith healer or some guy that runs around that's known for having great anybody can have great faith. Jesus stopped and was marveled and said, look at this person or look at I have never seen such great faith. It it's not about who you are. It's about the faith that you have in him. You just have to use it. Yes. If you want the supernatural to take place, you've gotta have faith while you're walking in the natural. Yes. That's what the supernatural is. It's you believing that god is able to show up in your natural situation, in your circumstance, and do something that is beyond what you can do and I believe that the working of the spirit is trying to explode in these last days. Amen. Matthew Henry said in his commentary, spiritual grips, spiritual gifts were extraordinary powers bestowed upon ordinary people To convince unbelievers and to spread the gospel to the lost. So, not only do we need faith that will move mountains, we need to walk by faith and practice faith. We need to every day build our faith. Yes. Because when we are operating in that level of faith It's going to build the kingdom there's a byproduct to this thing. What what was Jesus doing in the New Testament when he was performing miracles? He was drawing a crowd. So that the gospel could be preached, that the message of the kingdom could be preached, so that he could share principles of the kingdom with with the crowd that would show up and I believe in the last days, god's going to put his church on parade. Hallelujah. There's going to be be people drawn because of miracles, signs, and wonders. Right. It's not just so that they can get a miracle. It's so that they can experience salvation. That's right. Amen. That's why every morning you get up. You need to say, lord, increase my faith and if you're going through something right now, I spoke this to somebody yesterday and I feel just there's some others in this room right now. Uh I've been reading a lot lately and just listening to some things and just something stood out to me. If you're going through something right now that you feel like is the fight of your life or you're dealing with something and and you haven't seen the miracle come to pass. Maybe it's time to start operating in faith and looking around you and say, what are the needs that I see right now? I believe god's working things out me. I don't believe he's abandoned me. I believe that he's doing but why don't you just take that faith that you're believing for your miracle and turn around and find somebody in need and start believing for theirs. It may be the key to the timetable. God maybe trying to use your faith that is building in the season that you're going through. So, maybe it's time to cross the aisle even when you're in crisis or maybe it's time to come to the altar and lay your hands on somebody even though your miracle has it. Why? Because we've gotta operate in faith. We can't wait til your miracle comes to pass so you feel like now, I can lay hands. No, just start operating in faith where you are. Yeah. If god is working for you now, even though you haven't seen it come to completion, he can work in somebody else's life right now. I I'm done My mouth is tired. I appreciate. We've got, if you're not a part of the prayer group, the little group meet thing. We're need people can share needs like that and just get it out there and people can start praying all over. That that's great but what would happen when somebody at work or somebody at school or your neighbor, your coworker, family gave you a need and you just stopped and said, can I pray right now? Yes. I mean, pass it on to the church. We're going to pray but what would start happening if we just had enough faith here, oh god. We don't understand this right now. God, we don't have answers right now. Well, pastor, I don't know how to pray one. So, here's how you pray when someone gives you a need. God, we not able to do this but you are and I believe and if it's somebody dealing with sickness or someone dealing with a bad doctor's report, god, in your word, it said that by your stripes, we are healed and this person, whatever their name is right now, god, I bind together with them and I pray your word would come to pass. If someone's talking to you about their troubled in their mind, or they're dealing with this, or they're restless, or is it? God, you said that you could give us peace that passes all understanding. You don't have to pray a fancy you don't have to go into a war chant. You don't have to lay your hands on them and shake their head three times and speak it. You you it don't even have to be very long. Because I remember going up interstate and losing control of my car and I didn't have time to pray a fancy prayer or declare and decree to the surrounding cars and the guard rail that you shall not be moved and this and that and order the angels to be here and there but you know what I did have? Jesus? Jesus. And I believe that the angels of the lord were encamping round about me because that EMT that showed up on the scene said, if you'd have gone off the road just a few inches earlier, you'd have crossed in the oncoming traffic. You wouldn't have been here. You shouldn't be here now the way that that car flipped but I believe in the power of prayer and I believe when we're walking by faith that we have instant access to the presence and the power of god. Amen. So, pastor, what are you saying? Let's get faith out the building. Let's get faith in the streets. Let's get faith at work. Let's get faith in the car. Let's get faith in the neighborhood. Lay your hand on the shoulder. Grab their hand. Speak a word of faith. Pray with faith. Believe with faith. Encourage somebody. Tell em you believe there's a miracle with their name on it. Share something with them that god's done for you. Or if we will, if we really going to get real, share what you're going through right now and say, you know what? I haven't seen it come to pass yet but I'm believing it's any moment. Yes. Amen. And that's why I'm worshiping more than I ever had and praying more. If you really want to get real, get transparent. Say, this is what I'm trusting god for and I'm believing it. Now, faith is the substance of him. That way, when you see it, you say, hey, I've seen this before. This is what I've been hoping for. Would you stand with me all over this house and would you just lift your hands? We don't need a song right now. You don't need anybody praying for you right now. If you've got a need or you don't have a need, lift both your hands and say, Lord, increase my faith. I empty myself and I ask that you would fill me. Lord, right now with your power and your spirit and god, you would renew me right now. Amen. There are mountains represented in this room and we speak to those mountains. Be thou removed. There are walls that I believe that are about to fall down flat. There are doctors reports changing right now. Why? Because you're working, lord. You're working for our good, working relationships, working in homes, working in situations. God, you're going before us and you're making, you're leveling the playing field. You're working things out. You're ordering our steps. You're you're moving in situations that only you can do. You're giving us favor right now that we don't even know how we're going to get it when we get to it. Why? Because you've gone before us as the great shepherd and you are taking us in the right place, at the right because you are our great shepherd and we trust you. Renew our faith. Strengthen our faith. Increase our faith. God help a believer right now. Get to the place where they say, nevertheless, at thy word. If there's somebody dealing with something that they cannot see, god, we believe that you can open eyes. We believe it can happen right now. We speak over every home right now for healing and wholeness. We speak over every for healing and wholeness, deliverance, direction, blessing, and provision. Now, I want everybody listen to me right now. That's all it takes for faith to begin to rise. Yes. Emptying and letting god fill us. Yeah. That's all it takes and the Bible says that believers can lay hands on the sick and they can recover. Yes. That means right now, we can operate in faith because we have emptied ourselves. Oh yeah. I want you to turn and find just one or two people and if you've got a need, I want you to speak it to him right now if you feel comfortable. If you've got a situation, something you need to pray for, something in your family. If you don't want to speak it, just say, I need god to do something in my life. Just go ahead and make a little circle or grab hands and face each other right now and I'm going to lead us right now in just a moment. I'm going to give you just a sec. You got something you want to share. Nobody's standing alone. We've got, there's enough faith in this room right now that doctors reports can change in a moment and mountains can move right now. Job offer can open right now. Peace can show up at work right now. Bodies can be healed. I believe someone's blood can be touched right now. I believe someone's back pain can be. Now, begin to lift your voice and pray with faith. You don't have to yell and you don't have to scream but pray. Come on. Let me let let be led by the spirit right now. In the name of Jesus Christ. We stand on your word right now. We declare miracles, signs, and wonders. We declare there's a testimony that's being made in this room right now. We thank you lord. We declare right now peace of mind. Joy to overwhelm your spirit. favor, and direction. God, we pray right now for brother Abernathy that's dealing with the situation in his body that only you can take care of and we pray by your stripes, we are healed. We pray for sister Jackson. Right now, my grandmother. We pray for her heart right now that there would be a miracle. You that you would touch her heart. Hallelujah. That you would bring it into rhythm. That you would take away the pain and the sickness that associated with her body right now. That you would give a rest round about. That that attacks with ease right now. There would be peace and overwhelm her home right now. By your stripes, we are We pray over sister Deronda right now for a completed work. You started something and we believe you're going to finish it. You are the alpha and the omega. You are the author and the finisher of her miracle and we believe

SUNDAY AT HOPE | SUNDAY AT HOPE | By HOPE CHAPEL UPC | Be too loud Praise the lord everybody. Why don't you stand on this beautiful Sunday morning and turn around and welcome somebody into the house of the lord. Shake somebody's hand. Fist bump somebody. High five somebody. Welcome him into the house of the lord on this beautiful Sunday morning. I just I just asked somebody if they were enjoying fall and then I started remembering the weather report that winters this week. So. Yes. You better enjoy fall today. The seasons of change quick. But we're glad that you are here in the house of the Lord. And it's going to be an incredible day. I want to remind you of a couple announcements as we begin today. November is quickly chick. It'll be here Wednesday. Yes. Yeah. And next Sunday is our thankful for community service. We're looking forward to that. We're going to have several guests from the community leaders and civil servants and teachers and staff and just all kind of stuff here with us. We're going to celebrate them. A part of that is we're going to be making contribution to the food pantry and last year, we just gave em a check but this I want to fill a trailer. I'm going to pick up a U Haul trailer this week and somebody just got nervous because you seen that little box out back where we've been emptying that box and hiding it away but peanut butter and mac and cheese and jiffy cornbread are the greatest needs in this season and so Wednesday night, how many will help me? Bring something with you and we're we're looking forward to that. We've got some other organizations that will be with us next week and we're going to be investing back into our community and the next weekend is we're going to celebrate our church that weekend. We got leadership and brother Donovan, sister Valerie Hill are going to be with us and we're just thankful for what god is doing and then the following week is going to be Thanksgiving week and we're going to be hearing some testimonies about what god's done in the year 2023 and miracles and it's just going to be incredible day and the last Sunday of November is going to be Thanksgiving Sunday after you've ate everything that you can that week. We're going to come in that final Sunday and we're going to make our commitment to Christmas for Christ which is an offering that we give in the month of December by latest January to help plant churches like ours and it was because of this offering that we are here. We were blessed because of it. And we want to give back. I have a goal this year of us giving over 6000. And so we've got the month of November to pray about it and think about it. But what you're willing to commit to. Help another church get started. Yeah. And then that last Sunday of November, we're going to take that commitment and that's a thirty-day commitment and so, it gives you time to get it in. So, month of November is here and I wanted to make you aware of all of those things. We're blessed all of our guests are here today. Can we have all of our guests a hand today? Thank you for worshiping with us. Couple weeks ago, someone reach out to me and and was planning on being with us today and I want to give him just a moment to greet you but we're glad to have mister Marcus Turner and his wife, Dina, worshiping with us today. They are in the campaign trail right now for the an independent candidate for supervisor for district one here in DeSoto County and I want him to come just greet you for a moment before we step into worship. Can we give mister Marcus Turner a hand as he comes to greet us today? Very much. Thank you, sir. Good morning. You all look so amazing out here on this beautiful, blessed Sunday morning. I want to give you all a round of applause and first and foremost, I would like to give honor to god. Amen without god, we can do nothing. That's right. Without god, we are nothing. With god, we can do all things. Amen. Through Christ. Yeah. Who strengthen us. Yeah. So, I want us to just make sure that we thanking god on this morning for even the smallest things that we take soul much for granted because always the big things we ask god for once we get a bit more. We start asking god for something and it's human nature sometimes steps in. Lord, just thank you. I did receive a call in the middle of the night. Yeah. Of someone being in a dangerous situation. That's right. And brother Vanderfort, thank you very much too for this opportunity. I did not know he was a pastor we first met but I knew of something very special about him. Yes. My wife and I. So, let's give pastor brother Vander for a round of applause. You are an amazing man of god and it's a blessing for you to be in our lives. Again, my name is Marcus Turner and I'm running for district one county supervisor as an independent candidate and the reason why I run as an independent candidate is because I want to focus on the people of Olive Branch instead of the parties. That's right. I've been in the insurance industry for almost 25 years. I'm forty-four. So, over half my life and business owner for 15 years and I'm also in the name of my business, Marcus C Turner and Associate which is a financial firm. I'm also co-owner of the Cairo Place. That's my beautiful wife, Doctor Turner back. Hey, baby. Hi, thank you. And my transferable skill set that make me the best candidate for this position is financial management, financial budgeting, and also working well with others and problem solving. We live in a beautiful city, in our beloved city of Olive Branch. It's inevitable not to have change. What change has to be progress and we'll have progress if we also have to put new leadership in places at sometimes. Yeah. My background is as far as my platform is economic growth. I want to have different incentives within our city that increases the value of our homes. Yes. Not decreases like landfills and gas station. I think we got enough fried chicken food places here with gas stations. Amen. Secondly, if you are in school, if you are in Head Start or up to 12th grade, raise your hand for me. Raise your hand. Okay. These are the true leaders of our community. Alright. So, we have to start investing into our school systems. Our children have to have a fair shot at life and a platform to build on to become future leaders and we should not put a cap on their capability and abilities to be whatever they want to be in life by not providing them with the resources and the technology that they need not to be good in life but to be great to be children of god, to be children of excellence and also when it comes to staff members, faculties, and teachers, if we pay them peanuts, we're going to get a circus education. Amen. Alright. We must have compared to pay for our instructors. These people are without kids over a quarter of their day. Amen. We have to. And I would like to take a three-second moment of silence. For the people in Israel and also Maine, which coward with the salt came and killed 18 people. Let's just have a three-second moment of silence for them. The last thing on my platform is public safety. We want our families to sleep well, to sleep at peace. Yeah. Knowing that nothing's going to happen to us in the middle of the night. We want our children to continue to play in the streets and feel safe. Without a coward coming to our neighborhoods and destroying our family. Right. Amen. We cannot spare on finances when it comes to public safety or safety within our school systems. Yeah. Right. A lot of parents walk their children to a bus station and that child never came home. A lot of men, males, kissed their wives and their wife never came home. A lot of women kissed their husband. They never came home because of violence in the school systems. We must invest into public safety and safety into school. Amen. We must have our officers with the latest technology, the greatest resources, and also competitive pay. So, we can keep our officers here instead of sending them to other places where we feel is so dangerous. And we also want our officers to come home safe. They have wives. They have husbands. They have childrens. They have sons. They're daughters. They're grandparents. So, when I say I want this to be a brighter, better olive branch, I'm independent but I'm not fighting alone. I'm fighting for everyone that want a better quality of life here and also a brighter future for our children. I'm Marcus Turner. I can promise you a few things. I promise you that I'm doing this for the betterment of our community. I promise you that I have the experience. I promise you that I'm led by god and I promise you that I'll fight for you like you've never been fought for before. On November 7th, vote Marcus Turn as your next district 1 county supervisor. I'll continue to pray for you and your family and I ask that you continue to pray for mine as well. God bless you all and I love each and everyone of you all. Thank you. Thankful today for all those that are willing to serve. Next weekend, we'll be praying for those. Also, always thankful for those that are putting their time and family and everything out to serve and so we're thankful for those today and praying god's perfect will in our community. We all walked in this house, different directions, different things on our mind. If we gave everybody the mic right now, you probably could tell us some things walked in here was something that we need god to take care of. Yes. It maybe it may seem small when you think of other people. Anybody ever come in going, I don't even know if I want to ask god for that because I know other people have big problems. Anybody ever let your faith kind of drizzle down because you started comparing your knee? Some of us walked in here with big things that's weighed on us all week long. Here's the deal. God is not too busy. Alright that he can't take care of your need and your need and your need and your need and your need and your need and your need and your Not only is he not too busy, he is not incapable. Of take care in your need and your need and your need and your need all at the same time. I believe in this service today. It doesn't matter if it's something that's kept you up all week long or if it's something that's just small that you know you need god. It can all be taken care of in the presence of god and if you've got a need right now, why don't you just take it visibly and lift your hands and say, god, this is your house. This is your day. I'm in your presence, and I surrender it over to you. I speak your name now. In the name of Jesus, touch every need, every situation, every circumstance Heal everybody. Touch every mind. Turn every situation around. Open every door. Change every doctor report. Let it be a day to tell of all your kindness when I think of your goodness oh I sing for joy and I speak for when the night is falling trouble rise and I can't hear you calling I don't have to worry and I won't be afraid because I speak the name speak the name speak the name that has power speak the name speak the name of my hope and Jesus does not speak the name and every hour I know that you're moving even when I can't see what you're doing I give you all the glory I give you all the praise and I speak the name, speak the name speak the name that has power speak the spirit speak the name my hope and speak thy name speak thy name that has power Speak the name. Speak the name. Above all others. My savior redeemer my my healer I speak the name and that the name of Jesus very name of Jesus tongues confess and knees will be chains will break when I speak the name healing in the name speak the name speak the name speak the name power in the name healing in the name salvation in the Speak the name. Speak the my savior my healer speak the name speak the name. Whose name is no other name your redeemer my hope Jesus I speak the name we speak the name hallelujah, Thank you Jesus. We trust you. We know that there's freedom in this place, god. Have your way approved right now in Jesus name. Lord, the chains are broken out of the grave break into the and don't be afraid running to wide open spaces braces can't like the way it has been lifted graces is freedom where the spirit of the lord is come out of the this freedom in his bring all of your come back to graces just as you are into the chains will fall prisons shake at the sound of Jesus name lives need whole hearts awake at the sound of Jesus name Jesus class made Jesus you heard me worship you Jesus morning there is freedom there is just as you are into the dance like the weight has been lifted graces waiting dance like the weight has been lifted graces waiting shout shout like the he did it he He did it. He did it. He did it he did it you did it for me he can do it for you he did it. He did it. He did it. He hallelujah spirit of the lord is there is freedom. Come on somebody. Why don't you get your praise on right now? Oh, he did. Oh, I don't know what you walk into this place, Karen but he He can do it for you. Why don't you go ahead and dance like the chains I've been broken and say it's done. And say, can I trust you where where the spirit of the is freedom. There's freedom in the house Hallelujah. Why don't we take 30 seconds and just give him praise? Hallelujah. Oh, come on. I think we can do a little more than that. There's a freedom in the house today He did it. Aren't you thankful for the presence of the lord that we feel in this place today? Yes. We're going to take some names to the lord in prayer. We're going to believe that he is doing it. Amen? Amen. Amen. Let's pray for Angela Ladner. Yes. Kim, Kelly, and Ruby Hardy needs our prayers today. There's a list on the screen as well. Yeah. Excuse me. If you've got a need in the room and you want the ministry of the church to pray with you over that, make your way down at this time and the ministry team is available and we're believing god to do something great in your situation. Amen. Amen. Excuse me but let's take these needs before the lord right now. Lord, we love you, lord. Lord, and your spirit is in this place and then and we've already just sang about for where the spirit is. There is freedom. Lord, so whatever situation, whatever circumstances were carried into this place this morning, lord. We know that there's about to be a freedom. There's about to be a peace that saturates this place right now. Every mind, every heart, lord right now that is struggling Lord, let your peace and your freedom rain down on it. Every miracle that needs to transform right now. Let your freedom lord and let your spirit flow in that situation lord. Lord across the room right now. You see every need. You see every hand that was lifted. You see those that have made their way for prayer lord. Lord and we believe lord that you are working. Lord we believe lord that your hand is evident lord and we're believing you for great things lord. Jesus. Open right now no matter how hard it seems, no matter what the, what the journey looks like, no matter what the struggle we may be going through, lord. we're just going to be still and know that you are god. We're going to be still know that you are god. Oh, whatever you're going through right now. Whatever your situation is, just speak still and know that god is working in your situation He's never going to leave you. He's never going to forsake you. Just trust him. Let's continue to worship with the praise team. He's our refuge and strength able though the earth gives way to not fear he is our help in trouble and he will adore he will he will hear your father say still that be still still he is our refuge and strength he is more than able though the earth gives way do not fear he is our help in trouble and he will overall he will be take courage in his word be still stand still his glory stand still and see his stand still and see his glory come stand still his still and see his glory come stand still and see his glory stand still and see his glory land salvation stand and see him come The Bible says that they that wait upon the lord What brother Kelly? Shall. Shall. Yes. They that wait upon the if I'll trust him. Yes. Enough to wait. Yes. Now, we don't know about that word wait. Cuz here's how we wait Oh, doctor's late. Oh, the food delivery is late. We're already complaining and yelping and Google review and Facebook review That's not what he means. It's waiting with anticipation and waiting with worship and waiting with prayer and waiting with faith. It doesn't mean I'm not doing anything. It means I'm trusting him with everything. They that wait If you need a healing, wait. If you need deliverance, wait. If you need a blessing, but they that wait Sir. While I wait. I'm going to worship. I'm going to believe. I'm going to pray because I'm going to see his power So, quit worrying about god's clock. Amen. He don't have one. That's just man trying to confine what he created. He's got it. And they that just wait upon him. Does good in the house of the lord today? Yes. Yes. And I can preach for, I preach, preach while I preach, and preach after I preach the way it feels today but I'm thankful for what god is doing. Amen. Just a few moments when I get done preaching, we've got several that are getting baptized in Jesus name. So, don't run baptized in his name for the remission of your sins. The water is warm and ready up to see what god has for your life. If you got your Bible, second Kings chapter seven, thank you. Worship team, singers, musicians, sound, for making it easy for us to worship today Last Sunday, I preached to you about getting taking the mask off the enemy but I said a couple of words beforehand that that whole thought came out of and that was just expose the lie feel like that god has appointed me today just to do that again for somebody. I we buy into so much that's not truth. We live below our privileges sometimes as a believer because we've bought in to what the enemy has sown in our heart and our and music and conversation and drama, and the news, and everybody's opinion of what's happening in the world, and if we're not careful, we stop, we start living below our privilege as a child of the king. And I just, want to remind somebody that, that's, never the way you were intended to live, even though the enemy came to steal, kill, and destroy, it doesn't just stop there with doom and gloom. He said, I've come. Yes. That you may have life and that life more abundantly. So, it doesn't matter the tactics of the enemy. We have a promise. That's right that I can live an abundant life. Yes. Yes. Then Elisha said, hear you the word of the lord, thus saith the lord, tomorrow. Everybody say tomorrow. Tomorrow. About this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel and the gate of Samaria and a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of god and said, behold, if the lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? What he had forgotten is there's already windows in heaven. He don't, god don't have to make. Come We already find that in scripture. Amen. And he said, behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes but shalt not eat or the help of the lord, I just want to preach this thought. I I saw a little girl the other night with red curly hair dressed up with somebody and it just sparked my title today and I just want to preach tomorrow tomorrow Alright, some of you still too saved. You don't know what I'm saying but it's alright tomorrow Lord, thank you for your presence. Thank you for what you've already done and thank you for what you're about to do as your word. Ignites faith and I pray god that you would show up in demonstration in the next few moments and power. We believe that the sick can be healed, the weak can be strengthened, the bound can be delivered, that eyes can be opened, hearts can be touched, nothing is too big or hard for you and we pray that your word would find good ground in our hearts and lives today In Jesus name and let everybody say amen. Amen. You may be seated. Some people are permanently fixated on yesterday. What I mean by yesterday is not the twenty-four hours ago that would make it yesterday but there's just a lot of folks that think more about the past than their present. There are a lot of people that let everything that's behind them define the outcome of what today is going to look like. There are a lot of people that won't even try for anything new today because they are so bogged down with what yesterday look like. Right. I've met other people that are so consumed with today. That they do not believe. For anything beyond this moment. Nor am I talking about the twenty-four hours that makes today, today, but people that are constantly defined by present circumstances. Alright. People that make decisions that affect eternity. Their families, their finances, and their future because of how bad today but I am never afraid to be around people that have their eyes on tomorrow. Come on. I'm not talking about twenty-four hours from now and we will call it Monday. Yeah. But I am talking about people that are not caught up in what's behind them. They are not constrained by what they're facing but they are dreaming and believing for a better day. Yes. And whether that day is in twenty-four hours or whether it's just a change of seasons. Love to get around people that are excited about where they're going. Some people like to surround themselves with people that are constantly complaining about what happened a year ago or five years ago or a century ago. Some people love the drama of the discussion of today. But I am at this place in my faith walk where I want to be around people that are dreaming and believing that a tomorrow is coming. Because I believe that God's is not behind us nor are we living in it but the best is still. Yet to come. Yeah. I don't know when it was when two men of god were locked up and had been beaten down and were surrounded by all kinds of others that were bound in their cell. When they decided somewhere near near midnight to pray and begin to worship. I don't know what had gone through their mind before but something shifted where they stopped thinking about yesterday. Stopped consumed by the prison bars and the chains and the bruises that were on em and the Bible says that they begin to pray and they begin to praise and at midnight. When do you leave today and get into tomorrow? Midnight. At midnight, the prison begin to shake and the thing that define them in yesterday was an open door in their tomorrow. Yeah. So, I have come to preach to someone that feels locked up and bound and weighed down by the regrets of yesterday or the pain or the frustration of today. I have come to remind you that the sun, the SON, is coming out tomorrow. Yes. Is a better day Uh there are probably some people that are captivated by their misery that will walk out the doors in the next few moments not encouraged. Come on. Cuz you're shackled to yesterday and today. I may not can help everybody but if you want to get out of the valley and you want to get through the storm and say goodbye and you don't want to be defined by your dilemma. That's why I'm here this morning. And when we look at scripture, the first thing that I see is there's something more certain in your life than your circumstances of today. At times and life we feel encircled by situations or the attack of the enemy but I have come to remind you that no matter what it looks like or feels like or what you hear from your situation, there is something more certain than your circumstances. I have come to expose the lie of the enemy that has told you that that doctor's report is final, that the final sense the financial situation is final, that your past is is going to define you, it's a lie and I have come to mess up the attack of the enemy in your life. Your destiny is greater than your dilemma. I don't care what it looks like or what it feels like. There is a tomorrow. Second Kings You look at verse twenty-five of chapter six tells us that their current was a great famine in Samaria. Their present was that they were besieged. And they were besieged to the point nothing was going in. Nothing was going out. And it gotten to the point where a donkey's head was sold for 80 shekels of silver. And one fourth cup of dove droppings. Now when you look through scripture in second Kings we find that they're in a desperate situation. They are a desperate nation. It is desperate times. Samaria was about 1400 square miles. It was an agriculturally rich area. But in this time of history, their agriculture was failing them and they were facing tragic events. Anything that could go wrong had gone wrong. And in the midst of all their struggle, the Bible says that they were besieged by the Samaritans or by the Syrians. And when you are besieged, it's when you define that word, it means under assault. Bound, distressed, cramped, confined, imprisoned. There are people in this room today that you feel like yesterday and even today, you have been besieged, bound, distressed, cramped, confined, enclosed, in prison. You feel it. You've seen it. You've sensed it. It's become your present reality but I have come with a word for somebody on this Sunday morning that god is about to shift the thing that has bound you or confined you and god is about to bring you out of your dilemma and into your destiny. Doubt and fear may have been ruling and reigning in your mind. Causing you to want to compromise, to give up, to not wait upon the lord. It seems like you've gone through seasons that have been traumatic and the attack of the enemy has been relentless and the pressure has been constant and here are these people that have gone through that time and they are literally paralyzed because of what they're facing. Yeah. They are besieged by the enemy to the point that they're in a horrible famine so much that a donkey's hit. Which was considered unclean The Jewish people would have deemed it unclean and now they're giving eighty pieces of silver just to have it. Now, bear in mind just for a moment, Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver. Right. And David bought the threshing floor for fifty pieces of silver. Entire cities were bought for not much more than that and now, they're paying that for a donkey's head. Something that was unclean and when they ate it, they would have become unclean. You know you're in bondage when stuff that used to look bad starts looking good and you start sacrificing over it. You know you're in bondage to your present when stuff you used to wouldn't have touched with a ten-foot pole. Starts looking good to you. These people were in trouble. They were in so much trouble that they had resorted to to cannibalizing of their own children. Things had become so bad. And the king is furious at the end of chapter six that he called for the death of Elijah. Can you imagine? Here he is calling for the death of the prophet. Why didn't he say, let's let's tear down all of the enemy. Why didn't he say, let's go from Dan to Bethsheba and tear down all the false gods. Why not? Let's run to all the prophets of Baal and get them out of town and get back to god but when things started getting bad, he blamed god. Yeah. Amazing how that hasn't changed in twenty twenty-three. When we should be evaluating every false thing that's rose up in our situation and tearing it down but we start blaming the one good thing that we have. The one good thing they had going for him is that they did still have a prophet from the lord. They still had a voice of the Lord in their life. And when the nation gets in trouble, it wasn't time to blame god when we get in trouble. It's not time to blame god and it's not time to disconnect from the word of god. Right. Amen. It's time to elevate his voice in our life. I I know don't raise hands and certainly don't point because I know they're not here today but if you ever known people that created their own drama It may been in the last, you know, 21 plus years of ministry that I've met a few folks that just love to live in drama. Amen. I've met a few folks that have caused their own drama. Yes. And when we're going through something, I I heard, oh, I preached about him last week. I think, oh, brother Dewey Craft, that man that got me straighten out of many of times. He grew up in a different generation and he said, when he was raised, when anybody got sick, they went to the church and repented. We can laugh but sometimes when we're going through things, we point our fingers at everybody instead of dealing with our own things and getting things right. Sometimes, the reason we can't see god move is we haven't made room for god. Alright. We're worried about why he hadn't done this and why he hadn't done that and he's been there. He never left us. He never forsook us. He's been our present help in time of trouble. He's just been waiting for what you're going to bring down and what you're going to bring up. Amen. I need to move on. That's not my message today. Come on. One thing I love about god is he has an incredible capacity for compassion and grace. Yes, he does. He has so much capacity for compassion and grace that I will never understand it. That even when we mess up, even when we're struggling, even when it's our own fault, fault, god is still good to us and he still gives us a chance to be restored. So, as I ease into this message this morning, I want you to understand that there are something more certain than your circumstance. Yes. What is it? It's a word from the lord. Yeah. Because your circumstances do not have the final word. Your circumstances do not have the final say. They don't have the final say about your body, about your healing, about your finances, about your marriage, about your family, about your children. The word of god has the final word. I mean, watch this for a moment in scripture. They're hungry. They're eating a donkey and Elisha said, hear the word the lord. Thus, saith the lord, tomorrow, about this time, the cost of living is going down. What you couldn't afford today is going to be easy for you to buy tomorrow. What he was saying is, tomorrow, tomorrow is going to be different. Just about this time, a measure of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel unto measures of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria. The prophet said, get ready Tomorrow is going to look different than today because in today, they were huddled somewhere in the kingdom but he said, tomorrow, you're going to be at the gate. Why were they not at the gate today? Because they were besieged. Why were they not hanging out there today? Because there was an army that was surrounded. There was more of a prophetic word there than they even understood because he didn't just say that the economy is about to change. He was telling them that their dilemma is about to change. You've had the gate shut up and locked up but tomorrow. Tomorrow, there is deliverance. He said, the cost of living is going down and he said, you're going to see god move in such a way that everything changes Yeah. But if we can go just a little bit deeper, he said, hear the word of the lord. When you look up the Hebrew, you find that word, it means a declaration or action. God said, when I say a thing. Yes, sir. Yes. I do a thing. I'm not just talking out into nothing but that same prophetic word that said tomorrow what came from the same voice that said, let there be when there was nothing. It was an action word. It was a word that when it went forth, stuff started being created ha. Likeness and dark. Things started to be formed. Fish showed up in the sea. Birds showed up in the sky. Something that had never been seen before started happening. It didn't take a moment. It didn't take a physical twenty-four hours but when the went forth. Everybody else's tomorrow begin to change. That same word was the same word that was going forth in second Kings. When the prophet said, hear the word of the lord. It is a declaration or action. God said, I'm about to do something that when I say something, there is so much power in what I say that everything is going to change. Circumstances are changing. Situations are changing. Hear the of the lord. Yes. Yes Some of us need to walk home today and go ahead and speak to your house. Hear the word. Of the lord and you need to go ahead and find that scripture about your home being blessed or your home being whole or your children being restored or your marriage being healed or your body being being healed or your mind peace overtaking and joy flooding your spirit ha. Some of you need to look at your physical or mental or spiritual condition and say, hey, hear the word of the lord because this is what god said because when god speaks, god moves and I don't know if there's anybody under the sound of my voice that is ready to get that kind of word. That kind of word from heaven that denotes action or movement and here's what I need to tell you this morning. There are things more certain than your circumstances and it is a word from the lord. That's a word for somebody tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. About this time. Hear the word of the lord. I feel a little prophecy in the house today. What was hard yesterday day is about to get easy tomorrow. What you couldn't do yesterday is going to be well able to do tomorrow. What the enemy kept impossible from you is about to be possible in your tomorrow. Amen. What looked like the worst of times is about to be the best of times. But it's not going to happen tomorrow if your only words are doubt and fear and negativity because words bring forth action and words put things into motion and you wonder why you walk around feeling bad and talking bad and seeing everything through the lens of bad and looking around the corner expecting the worst to happen in your life because what you speak puts things in motion it affects your vision and it affects your thinking so stop saying words of doubt ha stop saying what all the doubters and all the negative folks are saying stop quoting all of the drama that's found in our world today. Start saying, that's not what the word says. That's not what the word says about my life. That's not what the word says about my home. That's not what the word says about my future. And the doctor may have said that the worst is yet to come but his report says, I am healed and the world may say that my children will never come home because of their addiction but there is deliverance that I have found in this word. And the doctor said, I'll never get through this. I'll never find peace. I'll never find joy but there is a joy that is unspeakable, that is found in his word. So, I've come to expose your lie. You're not defeated. Yes. You're not bound. Your worst is not yet to come. Tomorrow, to your tomorrow, your tomorrow's going to look better than today ha. Weeping may endure for the night but joy is coming. In the morning, they that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength and I have found that when I start speaking the word that I am more than a conqueror, I am the head. I am not the tail. I I can't walk bold. I am mighty through god the pulling down of strongholds. I am more than a conqueror. I am an overcomer. I've been set free by the blood of the lamb. I am redeemed by his stripes. I am healed by his sacrifice. I am above all and not beneath. I am blessed and highly favored. I'm blessed when I go in and I'm blessed when I go out. I'm blessed in the city. I'm blessed in the field and I'm blessed when I lay down Here's a word for somebody. The enemy came in one way but he's going to leave seven different ways according to the word. Stop listening to the lie about your children or grandchildren. Get the word. My children are blessed. My house is blessed. My family is blessed. I am blessed. Everything I put my hands to is but here's the word of the lord. I don't care what Washington's saying and Wall Street saying and the world report is saying and CNN is saying and Fox is saying and Facebook saying and Twitter's saying and Instagram saying and everybody else is saying I don't care what your neighbors saying I don't care what your coworkers are saying I don't care what those that walked away from truth they're saying I don't care about those that don't believe anymore what they're saying what I what matters in my life is what the word says and if ever in any generation, we need to get our ears checked. It's right now. It's time to tune out the noise and hear the word of the lord because the only thing more certain than my circumstance. Is the word of the lord. Amen. Prophet said, get ready. Come on. Tomorrow is shifting. Yeah. I could take a little liberty. What he was saying is, hey, I I checked the menu for tomorrow and donkey's head ain't on it Uh I know you've been searching for how to survive today but you don't have to search how to survive tomorrow. I know you've been locked up and bound up here as you've been besieged but tomorrow you're going to be at the gate and there's going to be commerce going in and out. There's going to be activity at the gate and that's where you're going to be tomorrow getting your substance. The prophet said, get ready. Things are about to change. Get ready. Yes. Then the Bible said after the prophetic word went out that an officer on whose hand, the king leaned. The man of god said, look, you're right. If the lord would make windows in and could this thing be? And the prophet said, listen, you're going to see it with your eyes but you're not going to eat thereof. Your doubt is about to cost you. You're going to see it. Preach. But not taste it. Preach. It doesn't change the blessing. It doesn't change the miracle. You're just not going to get to heaven in your life. Alright I'm thankful for what I've seen. I'm thankful for what I've got to see but I want to make sure I'm getting it for myself. I'm glad I've seen god move here today and I've seen him move in the past but I don't want to just see it. I want it in my life. I'm thankful for the nations of the world that have experienced unprecedented revival. I'm thankful for the videos I've seen on the mission field of of limbs being healed and eyes being open and and the deaf and the mute being healed and wheelchairs being left and crutches being left but I don't want to just it. I want it in this church. I want to be a participator in the tomorrow I want to be a part of a miracle church. I want to be a part that in the last days, say it god. He's going to pour out his spirit on all flesh and the sons and the daughters are going to prophesy. I want to be a part of an end-time prophetic church. I don't want to see it. I want to consume it. And maybe you're okay in your recliner watching folks getting blessed, watching folks getting favored, and watching folks having breakthrough and watching folks being used under the anointing but I don't want to watch folks. I want to be the folks that are walking in the favor of god. Yes. Because the man, the only man, the only man not to survive but today was the one that doubted the prophet's word. That's right. You'll see it but you won't taste it. Yeah. And someone better hear me on this Sunday morning. You better be careful about speaking doubt over what god's word has already blessed. You better be careful about speaking doubt over what god has already said. My entire life I've heard them. I've seen them. I've been a part of em. People that's always got a negative word. Always trying to sow it into your ear. Always looking for doom and gloom. People declaring and decreeing things that god never spoke but I want you to know today, if god said it, ha, it's going to come to pass because when god speaks, it's action and it's motion. Amen. There's a lot of folks who can't even enjoy the fruit of what god is doing in their life because they spoke doubt over you. Wow. Oh, they'll never be blessed. They'll never be used. They'll never be this. They'll never be that. They'll never be all that. Their mama this and their daddy that and their family this and that and they can't be of even a part of the season you stepped into. They're still staying in your past and didn't move with you in your tomorrow because of the doubt. They spoke doubt over you but that doesn't stop your breakthrough. It doesn't matter what the haters say and the doubters say. It only matters what god said and if god said, it shall come to pass, it shall come to pass. So, some of you just need to say bye. I'm headed in my tomorrow. You can stay here if you want to. You can hold on to my past if you want to but I'm not. You can talk about what I used to do and who I used to be and what should have never happened in my life but I'm going to live in my tomorrow because god's got something in store for me. Cuz it doesn't matter what people said because god has the final say. I'm almost done. Don't get, don't get nervous. And said that the wise guy said, if there were not windows in heaven, man, that man was way off because there are windows in heaven because we find the scripture that he'll pour out, open up the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing that you can't contain. I don't know who I'm talking to on this Sunday morning but I hear the word of the lord telling them that god's opening those windows in this new season. Your today is about to be gone and your tomorrow is coming. Oh, I got too many issues. I got too many problems. The doctor said this. The lawyer said this. my children said this, my parents have said this but you can't allow what you see to stop you from believing what god said. God is opening the windows of heaven over your life and guess what? They're not just windows of heaven open over your life. They're windows of Heaven are open to another dimension over your life because you're not even going to be able to contain everything that god is wanting to do in your tomorrow because I believe when those windows open, there is healing and wholeness coming. I believe there is power and deliverance coming. I believe there are resources and favor coming. I believe there's open doors and strength coming. You can't. You can't just run around going. The worst is yet to come. I don't know if this will happen. You've gotta start walking in the power and authority that god has allowed us to be as being child of the king Let me just speak to somebody else. Yeah, you're not just here today because this is a church or this is a building. There's a lot of buildings here. There's a lot of churches here. You're not just here today because the denomination that we may be a part of. You're not here today just because this was the closest church to to you today. I believe that your steps are ordered of the lord. Amen. And I don't believe it's accident and you're here today. So, will you hear me? The windows of heaven are trying to open in your life but you've gotta start believing for what god has for your tomorrow. Well, pastor, what if I wake up tomorrow and it's not there. I'm not talking about your twenty-four hours. I'm talking about trusting god with your tomorrow and when god, when you start believing for that, you'll start seeing the windows of heaven open. I believe the windows of heaven are opening over this church. I don't think this building can contain it. I don't think one service can contain it. I don't think just being on this side of town can contain it. What god is about to do in the tomorrow of Hope Chapel is something that we cannot even contain. The missionaries and and the church planters that we support right now is nothing compared to what we're going to do in our tomorrow because what god is about to do is open up something where we're able to see him do things that we've never seen before. So, here's where the adjustments got to be. You gotta get your your mind lined up with the word. Right. Romans 4seventeen, call those things which do not exist as though they were. Yes. If that don't get a hold of you this morning, there ain't nothing else I can say. Meaning, you've gotta start speaking to what is. And telling it what it will be. Because all the enemy can do is bring up our past. Yeah and we're always walking around going, well, the enemy kept me from my future. No, no, no. No, no. The enemy can only remind you of your past. Preach. And god can only speak to you about where he's trying to take you. But it's up to you. Yeah. Yeah. To stand in your today. Yeah. Yes. No matter what it looks like. And speak to it as though it was. I may be sick today. But his word says I am healed. And I may be weak today. But his word says I am strong. And I may feel locked up today. But I am free. My children may be lost today. But I'm looking into my tomorrow and I'm standing on the foundation of the word. And tomorrow looks a whole lot different than today. You see, it's the word that causes us to rise up in today. Well, I can't, I can't see beyond what I'm dealing with right now. Come on. Then, get up on something. Come on. I don't see victory. Well then stand on victory. I don't see healing. Well then stand on your healing. I don't see revival. He said in the last day of saith, god, I will pour out my. Almost nine years ago, I didn't see what we see right now. But I did see the word. And nine years ago today, there was nothing here. Look around, baby. And I'm going to go ahead and tell you, I've been standing on his word lately trying to look God, what is your word? Say for our future? Yeah. And it's nothing like where we are right now. There's a tomorrow. I wrote a few things down and I don't want to get passed it because I don't believe it's just notes today but I believe it's a prophetic word. Somebody in this house that's got a son that's bound and addicted to drugs and alcohol. Go ahead and call it, name it, delivered. Go ahead and speak their word. Go ahead and speak over that daughter or daughter-in-law that's dealing with things in their mind, their spirit, and habits in their life. Go ahead and call em free and delivered. Those that carried heaviness in here because of financial situations and work frustration. Go speak to it. Speak those things as though they were. I dare somebody to get something down in your spirit that has nothing to do with your present, what you feel, or what you see, but what you know. I speak revival and harvest over DeSoto County. I speak miracles and signs and wonders over DeSoto County. I speak a great outpouring of the spirit of god in this mid-South region. You gotta get it in your spirit. It's gotta get in your mind and then it's gotta get out of your mouth. I don't care who it is. I don't care what's going on. Grab your spouse's hand and say, we are going to see strength in our marriage. Speak over your family. We are going to see the blessings of god. I got a word. I got a word. I got a word. I got a word. I got a word. I got a word. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. I got a word. That old wise guy. Thought he knew everything. Got trampled by the people at the gate. Just as the man of god said. Yes. Just as the man of god had spoken. The Bible says and so it happened and the people trampled him at the gate. Why did that happen? Because god had moved supernaturally and god had caused a breakthrough to come and I want you to understand that this tomorrow that we're moving into, you better start expecting the unexpected. That's right. Yeah Why did the the guy get trampled? Why were people in a hurry? Here's why. Second Kings chapter seven chapter seven verse three. You look go down. There were four lepers men at the entering end of the gate. Yeah. And they said one to another why sit you here until we die? Yeah. They didn't have a word that they knew of. They didn't have Sunday morning church to get excited. When the prophet was saying, hear the word of the lord. They were just sitting out on an ordinary day. Yeah. Yeah. Outside of the city, the outcast of town and they looked at the famine that was behind them and the enemy that was in front of them and said, well, we're going to die. We'd rather be a quick death than a slow one. Yeah let's just not stay here and the Bible says that when they came to the outskirts of the Syrian camp to their surprise, nobody was there and they go, huh? What's happening here? They saw a little bit of Chick fil A over here and they scooped it up real quick. It's a little subway over here and it scooped it up just a little bit. And the further they got into town, they realized nobody's here. There's gold here. There's raiment here. There's livestock here. They were getting enough just for the day as they eased in and to the point that they realized nobody's here. Because at the same time that they're getting up, god starts speaking up. Yeah. And all four-week lepers. Some of them didn't even have any toes or ears or noses and scarred and it was just them hobbling, looking like nothing. Yeah. They probably had to lean on each other just to make it to the enemies camp. That's right. They probably didn't even hear their own selves moving. Yeah. But god. Drop the microphone of heaven. Yes. And made four weak, insignificant lepers. Sound like a great multitude. Yes. A great host. Oh yes. Where the Syrians started looking one to another and said, they have hired mercenaries against us. Yes. Yes. We are overwhelmed. Because if they would have gotten out and looked They wouldn't have seen what they heard. But the enemy. Yes. God provoked fear into their spirit. Because of what they heard. Oh, you're still not missing it. Yeah The enemy ran because of what they heard. Not what they saw. Oh, hold on. I still feel like there's only three. Let me rewind to the opening chapter. The prophet said, hear the word of the lord. Alright. And the man inside the city that said, I want you to prove it. I want to see it. Didn't get to experience it. But everybody that was okay with the hearing. Yeah. Got to see it put in the motion. That's right. And brought to pass. Yeah. And it was hearing not seeing that provoked fear Never underestimate who and what god can use to bring your breakthrough. Because it was the least of these that came back with food for the famine. Yes. Because they were willing to move despite their today They didn't get to physically hear the word but there was a word that they were walking in. I wasn't here when the old prophets got up and were moved on by the holy ghost and begin to pin the word of the lord. I wasn't here when Jesus walked the street. But you know what I can do? I can walk in this word. And I believe of over this over 7000 promises of god that are in this scripture that I can see them come to pass in my life. Yes, amen. That there is no weapon that is formed against me that shall prosper. I know where the end of 2023 but god's not done. And you better start expecting the unexpected because the supernatural is not natural nor is it going to be conventional but god said, I'm about to move in your situation in such a way that you're going to know that I did it. It's not your talent. It's not your bank account. It's not your connections. It's not your favor. It's not your skill. It's going to be me. Tomorrow, about this time, things are going to change and the man who knew everything died and didn't get to see it before we tired lepers who thought that the best of their day was dying but not staying became the key to the miracle. The miracle was unleashed by the ones who got up. Some of you today, you went ahead and put the miracle in motion because your mind was telling you, you don't come to church today and your body was telling you ain't worth it to get out and go today and the enemy was saying, your past is this and you've done this and you're never going to do greater and god's never going to do anything but despite your past and despite your present, you gotta said, you know what? I believe there's a tomorrow and you got here and just the act of getting here is going to be the thing that puts you in the motion of god's tomorrow being released in your life. Yes. It ain't fancy. Faithfulness is not fancy. Sometimes, it feels like you're just one of the four lepers. Oh, it's just a Sunday morning. I'm just going to get there. Some of you, it's a Wednesday night and you just come in and go, I'm tired. I'm weary but I'm just going to get there and then when you get here, it's not fancy. It don't look like much but you slip up your hands. I've seen some of you that been going through things that the rest of the church don't understand but you walk in here and you don't feel like running and you don't feel like shouting but you'll just lift up your hand and I see that sacrifice of praise happening and it don't look like much but the enemy is starting to hear you. Yes and what they hear is not what they hear is a great noise, a great sound. Some of you when you come down to this altar and you kneel down and you just begin to lift your voice and you begin to pray, it don't sound like much. Your neighbor may not even can hear you but there's a microphone from heaven that's being dropped and what doesn't sound like much here, the enemy hears that opposition hears you because god is magnifying what you will. Come on, could you stand with me all over this house today? Come on with every eye closed right now. There are some of you that have hidden needs in your life that you've not even, you may not even told your spouse or your kids or your parents about. Come on, let this pastor sow something into your spirit right now. Tomorrow Yesterday is over and today does not define you. Jesus. But if you will believe. He is able and willing to do exceeding and abundant and above all that we If you'll start believing for it, god will drop the microphone from heaven and you'll start seeing it in supernatural ways If you'll speak to the mountain, be thou removed. It it it's going back up. Yeah. Uh I'm not I'm not preaching, name it, and claim it and blab it and grab it and what. No, no, no. You gotta start walking like you're a child of god. Yes. This ain't some thirty-2nd self-help thing. You gotta start acting like who you are. You're favored. You're chosen. You're anointed. God brought you out of darkness into this marvelous light. No weapon that is formed against me shall prosper and god's got windows in heaven for me and I've got a word from god and it may look like a famine now but my tomorrow is coming. Yes because as soon as the SON comes out in my situation, everything is going to change. So, with eyes closed right now and hands raised. Yes. God, forgive us of doubt. Forgive us of negativity. Because it's in that doubt and that negativity that the enemy tries to get in our mind and then through our mouth that we put things in motion and now we're dealing with fear and anxiety and worry and distress. Now, we're on the verge of throwing in the towel and quitting, deliver us of that mentality right now in the name of Jesus Christ. God, we ask forgiveness right now. If we've been living below our privilege, lord, we we ask forgiveness right now. We are your child. You've been given you've given us the spirit of adoption whereby we might create out abba father. We are a child of a king. And I pray right now that someone would grab hold of a mustard seed of faith and start speaking some things as though they were. Let the weak say, I am strong. Let the redeemed of the lord say so. So, I feel like Joshua right now, he got out in front of the people and he said, hey, there's a big thing we're facing. It's in our face. But if you'll consecrate yourself, tomorrow, the lord will do wonders among you. What did he say? Get yourself ready for today, for tomorrow. You can't wait Get ready today for what god's going to do tomorrow and I wonder if there's anybody right now, you'd step out of your seat. Come down around front with hands raised. Say, I'm not giving up. I'm not slowing down. I'm not throwing in the towel. I'm going to keep on worshiping. I'm going to keep on believing. I'm going to speak faith. I'm going to prepare for my, come on, push in close right now and lay your hand on someone's shoulder next to you and start speaking some things as though they were. Healing, wholeness, deliverance, direction God, we speak against every doctor's report. Every test, every specialist, You know what they've said? You know what they put in her file? But we speak your word. By your stripes, we are. In the name of Jesus Christ. Come on somebody lift your voice and speak it. Come on if you're by someone praying. Pray with them right now. Come on believe with them right now. Believe with them right now. Believe with them right now. Believe with them right now. Believe with them right now. Believe with them right now. Come on, you can leave this house healed. You can leave this household. You can leave this place blessed. You can leave this place with faith. Come on, pray with someone else right now. Watch him work it for your he's not done with what he started he's not done until it's good him work it for your favor watch him work it for the here, commitment, and obedience to the word of the lord. He's doing today is a day of new beginnings and a fresh start. We believe god that today will define. God, everything that is happening today. We thank you for it today. Thank you for it today. Joy, We thank you for it tonight. Hello Somebody lift your voice. It's a new it's a new it's a new horizon it's a new hori it's a new it's a new it's a new is not my future you are sickness not heartbreaks not my heart you are you are you are sick is not my story heartbreaks not my this not the end you strength Lord, we thank you lord Jesus. We thank you god for what you're doing. I believe you'll get me to it I believe you lead me through it yes lord I believe that you will do it right now something has to break I believe you leave me through I believe you gave me to it I believe that you will do it right something has to be I believe you give me to it I believe that you will something hurts to break I believe I believe you get me I believe it right now something has to break I believe that you will something else I believe you'll get me I believe that something else to break something the praise today. Thank you lord. We thank you god for what it means god. Uh we believe something something has Come on, why don't we celebrate right now? So, we just had three little kids baptized in Jesus name

Midweek at Hope | HOPE CHAPEL UPC was live. | By HOPE CHAPEL UPC | Praise the Lord everybody. Praise the lord. It’s good to be in the house of the lord. So thankful that you’re here on this midweek for prayer and worship and Bible study. and if you’re able to, why don’t you stand with me? We’re going to pray. Wanna continue to pray for Randy and Barry, Crump, Elaine, Hardy. We got a good report. Uh yesterday, the Lord’s working in her life. Uh Joni Clark, Mark Vincent, Sister Jackson, the family, the Morgan family, my dad needs prayer. He fell Sunday night and broke a bone and needs the Lord to touch him. And then Reagan Jenkins needs a touch from God. I know there’s other needs around this sanctuary. And God know God knows God is able. But something happens when we surrender that need to him. So your need may be physical or financial or relational or spiritual. Maybe something just big or small. It does not matter. It matters who we give it to. God cares about the details of our life as much as he does the emergencies. The small, the small things, the unexpected, and god’s able when we surrender it to him and so as we pray right now for these needs, if you’ve got a need, why don’t you just lift your hand and surrender it to him tonight. Lord, thank you for being so good, so mighty, so powerful. Thank you for being so available and so we run to you tonight. We cast our cares upon you because god we know that you care for us and you know where we are tonight. We pray. God, continue to pray for Randy and Barry tonight. We continue to pray for Elaine Hardy and Joni Clark and Mark Vincent that you would strengthen, heal, and deliver. God, we pray for sister Jackson tonight. You continue to touch her body and give her swift recovery. We pray for peace and comfort for drunk in the Morgan family. Pray for Doug Doug Vanderford tonight. You touch his body from the top of his head to the sole of his feet. We pray for Reagan Jenkins tonight for healing and wholeness. God and her body tonight. God we trust you tonight with everything in our life. God, we pray for our community tonight that there would be an awakening and a stirring that would sweep through our city. God, they’d realize where they are and what they need from you. I pray for those that are dealing with addictions and fear and anxiety. God, that you would remind them that there’s still there is hope that can be found and you lord. Those that are searching for more. I pray for every prodigal in our region that there would be an awakening and a coming to themselves. God, they’d realize where they are and where they need to be and you, lord, Jesus. I pray over our congregation that you would lead us to the hungry, the hurting, the broken, the wounded. God, help us to be the light in the darkness and the salt of the earth. I pray that you would use us to build your kingdom in this city, I pray. In Jesus name, in Jesus name, Jesus name. We’ve prayed for others. We’ve prayed for the needs and now I want us to just take a moment and pray for ourself. And before we just jump into that, I had several conversations this week just about the reality of life and I know that life, it just happens sometimes and here, I I just want to lead us in a prayer that sometimes I just have to pray over my own self. Sometimes, you just gotta pray for your mind. It’s not, you’re not struggling in spirit but you’re just heavy in mind. And I that we can pray the word over our mind that our thoughts would be brought into captivity. If you’re anxious, if there’s just heaviness, I believe god can give you rest just and peace in your in your mind tonight and then, if you’re carrying something in here that god doesn’t want you to carry. Sometimes, we’re carrying things. He never intended for us to carry. We can say, lord, we want to trade in the spirit of heaviness and we’re we want to put on the garment of praise. And then you can pray for your heart because sometimes we allow things into our heart. We listen to things things, heard things, entertain things that’s not pleasing to him and that’s when we pray that prayer. Lord, create in me a clean heart, oh god. Renew in me a right spirit and I believe tonight that we can experience refreshing and renewal and reviving. Everything we need can be found in the presence of the lord. So, would you just join me just for a moment? Would you pray for yourself right now? Lord, I need you. I don’t want to leave this house until I’ve been touched by your presence, your power. I want your word to do a work in me and god, if I Brought things in here. I’m weary in mind tonight. I pray that you bring my thoughts into captivity. That you give me rest in my mind. Lord. I pray god for my heart tonight. Lord that you created me a clean heart oh god. Renew in me a right spirit. I pray that you would help me trade in the spirit of heaviness for the garment of praise tonight. I pray that you would open my ears to hear your word, open my eyes, to see your ways. God, touch my heart to receive from you tonight Lord, I don’t want to leave in the same condition that I walked in here with. I want to leave changed and empowered and impacted. In Jesus name. Now, can we lift our voice to the lord? Let’s just thank him for his goodness and his mercy tonight. Lord, I love you. I praise you, lord. I glorify you. I exalt you, lord. your grace Christ in weakness more than enough can’t stop singing the lord say so don’t say so that the lord say because my heart about your goodness in this place tonight lord Jesus. Hallelu or lift you up, Jesus. You’re so good you are so good to me you are because I give you because I will lift my voice and say lord, I worship you because lord I worship you because of who you are Jehovah in victory and I worship you because of who you are I give you glory because of who you because of who you worship you lord I worship because of who fighter yes you are lord Jehova in victory and I worship you and I worship you worship you yeah yeah should be because you’re you you because you’re I worship you because you’re worthy I worship you I worship you because you’re mighty because you’re holy I worship you because you’re my I worship you because Has he been done for you? lord you lord and I’ll worship you and I worship you Jesus in this place. Hallelujah. God, we give you glory and honor and praise. Come on with hands raised right now. Could you use your voice and let the song of your heart go forth right now? Lord, I worship you because of who you are. I praise and magnify you lord. There is none like you lord Jesus. Praise and magnify you lord. thankful for the feeling and the emotion that comes in the midst of worship but worship remains a choice Something we decide to do. That decision comes out of revelation. When we understand who he is, we can’t help. But to praise him. I’m thankful for the opportunity to be in God’s house and worship him because of who he is. and he’s done a lot of things for me but if he never does another thing for me, he’s already done enough but he’s still good and he’s still great and he’s still mighty and he’s still holy and he’s still worthy of all of our praise and honor and glory. Thank you for being at Midweek Bible study. We’re going to dismiss our students, our kids are already in their Bible study. If you got your Bibles, turn to Acts chapter two and be looking to Acts chapter four Tonight, we have been taking a few weeks and looking at the foundation of the church from the Book of Acts, principles. Last Wednesday, we talked about getting involved, finding your place, understanding that’s the church is a daily thing, not just an address thing we’re called to be the church. We before that, we looked at the gospel and the salvation plan that is found in the book of Acts and it is foundational and tonight, I want us to look at another key ingredient to the book of Acts Church. It was foundational. It’s gotta be foundational on our lives. Sunday, we have what a time we had here and as far as a it was just every Sunday special but it wasn’t a special advertised service and we had one sixty-two in the house Sunday and I’m thankful for that. and believe our best days are ahead of us. This Sunday is Generation Sunday which is one of my favorite times of the year. We’ve got young and old involved in the service and got special songs for different generations. Gonna have some testimonies and it’s just going to be a great day. So, invite somebody to be with you. Uh Sunday school, 1030, Sunday at eleven. Acts chapter two verse thirty-eight, then, Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts chapter four verse ten says, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom god raised from the dead, even by him, doth this man stand, hear before you whole whether it’s in salvation or whether it’s in a miracle, we find that there’s power in the name of Jesus Christ. I I’ve just come to remind us that a part of the foundation of who we are is we are believers in the name of Jesus Christ. And I just want to talk to us about that name and remind us just some important things tonight. Lord, we thank you for your presence. We thank you God for showing up in our midst tonight and I pray that you would strengthen us and challenge us in the word tonight. Increase our faith tonight. Give us revelation tonight. Help us to walk out of this house with authority. In Jesus name. And let everybody say amen. You may be seated. names important. I think everybody here tonight has one We’ve got first names and middle names and last names and we have nicknames and sometimes we have multiple nicknames. We have people that know us by a certain name. Sometimes our name or what we’re known by is tied to something that we’ve done or maybe something funny, maybe a great accomplishment but our names tied with it have meaning. We also know in the world we live in that our name sometime is tied to our reputation. We say things like, well, he made a name for himself or he’s got a good name or he’s made a bad name for himself. It’s it’s amazing. We can introduce ourselves to somebody and if that person has had a bad experience with somebody that has the same name as you sometimes people just they’ve already judged you based off of the experience they had with somebody else’s all tied in a name I’ve introduced people before and given them a name of of somebody and you could just tell like they just automatically connected it with some experience they had with somebody with that same name. Uh I’ll prove it to you even this room. There are names that that hold meaning. Whether or not I’m talking about the particular person or or not. I you you say the name Elvis in our mind. We’ve already filled in the blanks. We know what I’m talking about and I may not even be talking about that Elvis. But that name just with it has some kind of meaning even during this time right now. It’s you know, filled the news but Queen Elizabeth, that name in itself has all kinds of meanings and emotions. I throw out the name gates. We don’t have to wonder which one I’m talking about. We we already know and you know, it don’t matter if it’s a name in sports or if it’s a name in politics or music or actors or actors is it. When somebody makes a name for themselves, that name now holds a meaning with it. It’s a reputation tied to it. We know it because of that. Our name is also tied to our character. You can’t be separated from what your name is once they’re identified together. In in the Bible, when somebody change their character, oftentimes, god gave them a new name because something had so deeply changed that their name beforehand had been so wrapped up into their character. They were known by that. That god gave them a new name, Abraham and Jacob, and Sarah, and Simon, and Saul became Paul, and so many others. Their name was all wrapped up into their character, their identity. The next thing we know about a name is that names have authority with it. There are certain names that are tied to the authority whether it’s a king or queen or president or governor or police officer or something that is tied into the authority that they’re associated with and when they speak, now they they have authority not us in who they are but the title that they serve in and when we have to understand foundational in the church is that we have a name, that we have access to, it’s not my name, my name has no power at all. It’s just Ryan. There’s nothing. There’s no power or authority just in that name but in the church, it’s not about who your name is. It’s not about who you are. It’s about the name that we have access to and when we start understanding the the power of that name, it literally can transform our life. There is salvation in that name. There’s miracles in that name, direction, and healing can be found in that name. Literally, whoever you are, whatever you’ve been before you experience Jesus Christ can be changed when you an experience with that name that is above every name. Yes. Cuz we believe that Jesus Christ was god in the flesh. We believe that he wrapped himself in flesh and dwelt among us. We believe that when he was walking on this Earth, he he identified himself with the father. I and the father are one. When you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the father. That is the name that was given to us, Jesus and that name has power and authority with it. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you’ve gone through, what you experience, that name can bring a change in your life. There are many compound names of god in the Old Testament. It, man, it would get complicated at times. You had Jehovah Elohim, the Lord our creator, you had Jehovah El Yan, the Lord most high, God, the owner, Jehovah Adonai, which meant the Lord, our master, Jehovah El Olem, the Lord everlasting Jehovah Jireh our provider, Jehovah Rapha, the god that heals, Jehovah Nissi, the Lord that’s our banner, Jehovah the Lord our sanctification, Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace, Jehovah Shatha, the Lord, the judge, Jehovah Sabbath, the Lord of hosts, and Jehovah Rah, the Lord, the shepherd, and the list just keeps going. Uh, terms, or names that were used to describe him, and what he was able to do. All of them were tied to an attribute of god. Yeah. Yes. So, in the Old Testament, god used several names to refer to himself. Let’s mention the the most important ones. God first revealed his name to Moses at Mount Horeb when he called him to be Israel’s deliverer from Egypt and he just said, I am that I am and this was the original form spoken to Moses and it refers to god being the eternal and self existent one, the omnipotent one. The omnipresent one, omniscent one, and it was also a Hebrew idiom, meaning when you get there, I will be there. So, no matter where you are, that I am that I am, whatever you need, I am that I am. God encouraged Moses that I will always be what you need me to be. I will always be there wherever there is before you even get there. One one preacher said one time that I am means god ain’t ain’t ever short and he ain’t ever Another preacher said, god meant I am everything that you need. Another important Old Testament name for god was Yahweh which comes from four consonants, Yadhe, Vahe in Hebrew, and was thus called and it actually translates this name into English and we would probably just say the eternal one. The closest we could come in pronouncing this name would be Yahweh or in its English form, Jehovah and the had such reverence for the name of god that they would not pronounce it as it was written. Instead, they call him Shemab or the infallible name and would substitute the word Adonai or Hashem, the name when referring to it. So, the Jews after returning from the Babylonian captivity in 450 BC begin to reverence the name Yahweh so greatly that they outlawed the very use of it first for the common people and later even for the and finally, only the high priest was allowed to say it and they were only able to say it on the day of atonement. Wow. You know, just Remember all that? And when Simon, who was the last high priest, he was permitted to use it, died in 2seventy BC, a total prohibition against saying the name came into force among the Jews. Adonai became the substitute word. But God’s commandment was not against pronouncing his name. It was just you, it was just a prohibition against misusing his name. So, if you’re going to use it, you better use it the right way. You better use it. Uh, don’t be using it in vain. Don’t be tying it to to other things. So, by the time of Jesus’s earthly ministry, the Jews had not heard the proper name Yahweh of of the god that they were serving for over 300 years. So, that settle in for a moment. They they weren’t even able to speak his that his name for over 300 years. So, then you get to the New Testament. God accompanied the revelation of himself in the flesh with a new name and that name was Jesus which included and superseded Yahweh and all the Old Testament names. Jesus came the redemptive name of god in the New Testament. It is the name of supreme power and authority and it is the only saving name and that name is given for remission of sins and it is the highest name ever revealed according to scripture. Colossians said in chapter one verses fourteen through nineteen in whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sin. Who is in the image of the invisible god, the firstborn of every creature by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him, all things consist and he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things, he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the father that in him should all the fullness dwell. Colossians two nine says, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the god head bodily. So, all of the things that were unfolding in the Old Testament and you get to New Testament, god was now revealing a name that this church was going to have access to. He was going to be touched by him as he lived on Earth for those 33 years as he walked. There were miracle signs and wonders. There was now a name that was associated with who he was and name that could be called out. There was only one compound name revealed in the New Testament in Hebrew and it was Jehovah Yashua, Messiah. In Greek, it was Kairos Eos Cristos and in English, it meant Lord Jesus Christ. So, Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua or Yasha which means Yahweh is salvation. Yahweh goes back to Isaiah chapter 4-5 when it said, look into me and be saved. All the ends of the earth for I am god and there is none else. I have sworn by myself The word of god is out of my mouth and righteousness and shall not return. That unto me, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear. Then, go to Philippians. That was speaking of Yahweh. You go to Philippians chapter two and it speaks of Jesus when it says that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. Sound familiar of things in and things in earth and things under the earth that every tongue should confess. Does that sound familiar? That Jesus Christ is lord to the glory of god, the father. If you’ve been with me in Sunday school, you’ll find that we find something mentioned time and time again about types and shadows, things that were mentioned in the Old Testament that were fulfilled in the New Testament to the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. So, when you go back to Isaiah, he is saying, that every knee is going to bow and tongue is going to swear speaking of Yahweh and then you get to Philippians speaking of Jesus and says, every tongue is going to confess and every knee is going to bow and so suddenly, there is a carpenter from Nazareth who is casually using the unutterable name of god to describe himself. But Jesus had the right to use god’s name because he was god. He wasn’t out of order. He wasn’t doing it wrong. He wasn’t going against anything that had been said. So, the Jewish leaders were outraged and they understood who he was claiming to be. That’s why they were outraged. They were not outraged because he was saying the wrong thing. They were outraged because he was claiming to be god. The phrase, I am appearing to to us as just another pronoun and verb identified him to them as Yahweh John chapter six verse thirty-five, he said, I am the bread of life. It wasn’t just, it it was something deeper that he was speaking. John eight and twelve, he said, I am the light of the world. It’s not coincidence that he used this phrase again. John ten and nine, he said, I am the door. John 10 and eleven, he said, I am the good shepherd. John 112five, he said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. John fourteen and six, he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me. There’s something deeper that he was speaking. It was not just tying saying, this is who I am. There was something just saying, I am. That was tying the deep revelation. John eight and twenty-four, he said, if you believe not that I am, you shall die in your sins. John 8 and 58, before Abraham was, I am. John eighteen verse five and six, he was talking to the soldiers that were arresting him and Jesus say it unto them, I am and as soon as as he said unto them, I am. They went backwards and fell to the ground. When he spoke the revelation of who he was, the soldiers could not contain themselves with the revelation that was spoken before them. In Mark chapter fourteen verse 62, he talked to the priest at trial and Jesus said, I am and you shall see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven and they got upset. got furious and the Sanhedrin rushed their prisoner to Pilate and forced him to carry out an execution through political pressure. Pilate was powerless to save the Nazarene even though he wanted to but in an unusual move, Pilate himself writes an inscription, places it on the cross. John chapter nineteen verse 19 to 22, Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross and the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews. This title then read many of the Jews for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city and it was written in Hebrew and in Greek and in Latin and then said the chief priest of the Jews to Pilate, write not the king of the Jews but that he said, I am king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. In three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, it said, Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews. Just another epitaph of the Greeks and to the Romans but as many of the Jews begin to gather and read the inscription, the chiefs priests see that they have a problem because literally, Pilate says, what I have written, I will not change. What was the problem with all of this? That upset all of the scholars of the law because much of the Old Testa poetic literature was written in acrostic form and this made it easier to memorize. You see, in Psalms one nineteen, each of the 22 sections is labeled by one letter of the Hebrew alphabet and each of the eight verses in that section start with that letter. In the book of Lamentations, each of the chapters are a poem that follow the same pattern and written over Jesus’s head was Yashia, has Nazariah, and all and all of the Jew Jewish leaders could see was a condemning acrostic as the first letter of each word was Yahe Vahe spelling out Yahweh. For all to see. It was not carpenter’s blood that was being shed that day but what Pilate was literally writing is that Yahweh’s blood was shed. God’s name is Jesus. We worship the name of Jesus. When you get the revelation of who he is, it is foundational of everything that the church was put on. If you don’t have a revelation of that name. That’s right Just bear with me. You are not building yourself in the church that Jesus shed blood for. When you get a revelation of that name, you are a part of that church because he purchased the church with his own blood. So, you better have an understanding of the name and the power of that name and I just briefly run through. There are so many other scriptures that that that would tie to the revelation that he was god in the flesh and we’ve been given the access of that name and the power of that name but if we’re going to spirits, the blessing, and the favor and walk in the dominion and authority that comes to the access of that name, we better treasure that name, celebrate that name, understand that name, pray in that name, cast out devils in that name, be baptized in that name, plead that name over our life and over our family, and we’ve got to reverence that name. We’ve gotta live our life in such a manner that we reverence god’s name continually. We’ve gotta treat his name with the utmost respect using it carefully and lovingly because remember, we can speak that name but don’t don’t don’t casually throw out that name and and certainly don’t speak that name in vain but that name needs to be a part of an act of worship. The Psalm has said in the 29th Psalm, the second verse, honor the wonderful name of the lord and the lord most holy and glorious. So, we can’t just sit by and let the lord’s name be blasphemed in what we listen, what we watch, and what we participate in because we’ve got to reverence. Yes. That name. What we’ve also gotta do with that name is we need to represent his name. Alright Sometimes we say we won’t blaspheme it but we live out our life in such a manner that we are not shining a light to that name or bringing glory to his name. You know, we won’t, you know, say that name casually but we’ll live our life casually. You see, our life can either lift up his name or drag it down. Cuz there’s a reputation. That we live out tied to his When people see us coming, do they think, oh, he’s a part of the church or she’s a part of the church. She she’s a worshiper or he’s a believer or what is it that’s tied? Are we drawing attention to his name? Are we lifting up his name in the way that we live, the way that we walk, the way that we talk, does it all match? If we are a believer, if we are a Christian, we represent him and it’s not just about what we say, it’s about what we do and so, are we his name in the way that we live. Second Timothy said, the New Living Translation, a person who calls himself a Christian should not be doing things that are wrong. I mean, I don’t know if I need to translate that one anymore. That’s. there there are just I’m going to move on just just a moment because if you’re here Sunday, I think I’ve I think I preached this pretty clear on Sunday. So, I want to re preach it but that, you know, there are sometimes reasons why some people never come into the church or become a believer or or or even search after that and sometimes it’s sometimes it’s tied to what they’ve seen other people that they are but not live that they are. Right So, I want to make sure I’m drawing people’s attention to that name so that when they need deliverance, when they need direction, when they need healing, when they start understanding there is more in the word of god for them, they think, you know what? I know a representative of the name. Alright. and if we want to lead other people or be a disciple maker or help somebody make their on their faith journey, then, we need to be a representative of that name. I’m going to move on. You know, the other thing about that name besides just speaking it, you know, sometimes we know, I’m going to pray in Jesus name right now. Well, it’s bigger than just praying in Jesus name. It’s about living in Jesus name but but thirdly, it’s about relying on his name. Alright. Why why do we pray in Jesus name? Because we don’t have right to pray in our own merit. Why do we baptize in Jesus name? Because there is salvation in no other name. That’s right. Colossians says and whatsoever you do in word or deed, deed, do all in the name of the lord Jesus, giving thanks to god and the father by him. Acts says, neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. so not only do we speak that name, baptized in that name, we’ve gotta start leaning and depending completely on that name. Yes. So, we don’t have to wait til Sunday to pray. That’s right Amen. We don’t have to wait til Sunday to get somebody else to pray with us, to speak over our home. You can walk in your house tonight and say, in Jesus name, I plead the blood over my house, over my home, over my body, over my family, over my children. I believe if you would walk into your home tonight, walk in your kid’s bedroom, or walk into your living room, or or whatever it is that you’re facing and just go ahead and say, you know what? I’m going to rely on that name. I’ve been, I I’ve been weary. I’ve been wounded, I’ve been weak. I’ve been discouraged. There’s been fear and anxiety in my home. There’s been discouragement many in my home. Just walk up in it. Say, you know what? I’m relying on the name that is above. Every name. I’m not going to walk into this house by myself but I’m going to speak the name that’s above every name and what we’re doing is we are are connecting with that power that we believe in and we are speaking it over whatever it is that showed up in our home, our body, our family, and we’re active evading and relying on that name and you don’t have to be, it’s not once a year and it’s not just the preacher that can speak that name. We don’t have the list of rule. You have access to that name that’s above every name and you can connect to the provider, the deliverer, the one that’s your banner, the one that’s your strong. Everything that he was in the Old Testament, he still is. You can just use one name. you can speak it over your life. There is nothing that you are facing or nothing that you are dealing dealing with That getting a revelation of who he is and then speaking that over your life that it cannot change. Acts chapter two, he gets up and preaches the salvation message and he says, repent everyone and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ. It is tied into our salvation experience but it wasn’t meant to be left there. was supposed to be a part of what what we do. So, you move to Acts chapter four and and and there is a crisis, there is an need of a miracle and and a miracle takes place and Acts four and twelve says, there is salvation and noone else for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. So, when we call on his name for salvation because there’s there’s nobody else to call on that has the power to save. That’s why we do it but in John four Jesus tells us to ask anything in his name because he has the power to do anything. All power in heaven and on earth has been given to him. So, he’s our savior. He’s our lord. He’s on our side. He’s got the power to keep us, save us, protect us, guide us, and direct us. If we call on that name. So, you go, you go back to the scripture. We open up with tonight in Acts chapter four verse ten and there’s a crisis in need and he gets and he preaches and he says, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom god raised from the dead, even by him that this man stand here before you whole. So, in Acts chapter two, the name was tied into our salvation experience. In Acts chapter four, that name was tied into a complete miracle. Right So, it is foundational in the church that his name is active in our life. So, that name, if you’ve, if you’ve been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, it was at that moment that your sins were washed away and your obedience and submission to the word of the lord and your confession of your faith when you went down, that name was called over you. So, it wasn’t just the water that did anything. There was no power in the water. There was power in your obedience to the word and the name that was called over you. So, there was a spiritual experience that happens, something supernatural that took place. All of that took place when the name was called over you and you. So, if you’ve not been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, the water is ready and we can baptize you tonight. We we can go back right now and and get that accomplished for you tonight but in Acts chapter four, not only was salvation tied in that name, miracles were tied in that name. So, what we’ve got to understand is the name is not tied to this building. It’s not just something we pray when we’re other. It’s not just something that the preacher gets to pray and there’s authority because the preacher prayed and he had a microphone and he spoke the name real loud. You can be quiet, you can be in your bedside, you can be with your children, you can be weary and wounded, you can be discouraged, you can be going through a trial, you can just got a bad doctor’s report, you can be out of money, you can be out of time, your family could be in a mess, your children could be addicted to drugs, and alcohol, and I believe, according to the word of God, that and wholeness, deliverance, and direction, blessing and provision. All power in heaven is given unto him and when we speak that name, something’s gotta change. So, we don’t leave the name here if we’re a part of the church. We don’t pray just when we’re at church. We don’t just believe when we’re just at church. It is foundational for us to understand. It’s gotta get out of the church. Building and we got to be the church of the living god. I believe before this week is over that there’s somebody that just catches this revelation that I’ve got access to power and authority that you can walk out of this building and be in a situation before Sunday and you could just pray a simple prayer. And there’s going to be a miracle and a testimony that you hear about either in your life, your home, your family, your body, your finances, your coworker, somebody you go to school with, somebody that lives down the road, you can grab their hand and pray with faith, believe it, and lord is going to show up in the midst and do a work. Why? Because there’s power in that name. We’re not just speaking a name to speak a name, there’s power in that name because of the revelation in that name. We are asking god to intervene and show up right where we are. So, we are speaking the name that we are Putting our faith and belief in and bringing him into our midst. Yes. It’s got to be foundational. So, my challenge to us, the remainder this week is don’t just pray here. Don’t just believe here. Don’t just worship his name here. Don’t just glorify his name here. When we walk out those doors, what kind of ambassador of his name are you being? Sometimes, we’re so stressed making sure we don’t use the lord’s name in vain but we’ve been living our life in vain. So, make we go out and we’re exalting his name with the way that we live, the way that we talk, what we entertain, and that we’re leading others to experience who he is. Amen. But then also that we start believing, we can have alter calls outside of church and we can have prayer services outside of church and we can see miracles outside of this building and people can be born again. outside this building. People can repent of their sins outside this building when we connect them with who he is. If you think about your faith journey, there’s something powerful about when you got a revelation of who he was. When you understand, I I I was talking with somebody today. We were talk talking through some things, things in their life and I I I told them when when you start understanding who he is, you start understanding who you are. because when you know him, you experience grace and mercy and peace and joy in the holy, when you start knowing him, you start seeing your life just a little bit differently. You start seeing a little different perspective. Why? Because when he radically change, just think about everybody in scripture who got a name change. It’s because they started knowing him. Yes. Jacob wouldn’t let go of the the angel wrestled to the to the daybreak and he he left with the limp but he left with the name change. There was an experience that radically changed his life. Saul was on the road trying to persecute more Christians and a light shine down from heaven and the angel of the lord spoke down and there was a divine encounter but he went and found the preacher. He experienced a change in his life. Yeah. Why? When they found out who god was. They started living their life a little different and if we’ll get a revelation and I I didn’t have time tonight to do some in-depth Bible study. I hope I shared some things maybe you’ve heard before and some things you need to hear again and some things maybe you never heard. But if you’ve not gone through a Bible study about who god is, let me know. I’d love to go through a Bible study on the on the oneness of god and the power of the name of Jesus. You know, when you catch that man, it’s life changing when you understand who he is but my challenge to us, don’t leave it here the Apostolic Church, it was foundational. That it was every day, house to house. Everything they believed, it it it wasn’t just, it was everything that they believed. It was every day. Miracles happened on just random days. revival and harvest happened just on random days, countryside, in the city, to the multitude, to influential people, to people in jail. It was just a why? Because what they believed became what they did every day. I know we’ve gotta work. I know we’ve got hobbies. I know we’ve got things on our schedule. I know we got things to do. I I I know we live life. We all live different places, work different places, but remember, you can take church with you everywhere that you go. So, what you believe has gotta get integrated in who we are and if the church is going to be the church, we gotta act like the church have church every day. What do we do at church? We pray at church. We worship at church. We we dig in the word at church. We connect with others at church. We speak faith at church. We believe again at church. We pray through at church. We pray for miracles at church. The list what do we do at church? And then start figuring out how am I going to do that every day of my life. If we’ll start doing that, we will see that the lord will not only add to the church daily like he did in the book of Acts but we’ll also start seeing the multiplying that the book of Acts experience because they became the church Lord, help us to have a fresh revelation of who you are and what you want to do in our hearts and our lives. I pray god that we leave this house, we would be the church. I pray that we would understand who we are and what you’ve called us to do in these last days and who you are and I pray we would see miracles, signs, and wonders before this week is even over. So, use us this week. Lead us to the hungry, the hurting, the broken, the prodigal. God, I pray god that you would give us words to say to speak it as we are the salt of the earth and the light in the darkness. Keep your hand on us. Lead us, guide us, and direct us and open doors that no man can shut. In Jesus name. And let everybody say amen. If you got tithes and offering, you can put those in the giving stations. Make sure you greet somebody before you leave tonight. Encourage somebody. We’ll see you Sunday morning at 1030 for Sunday school. Worship at eleven. For Generation Sunday. It’s going to be a great time in the Lord. I have over and over we see prison hopeless heart man sees a miracle every song. we can ever bring Jesus the only one