Now I want to refresh a little bit going back to last week in
Genesis chapter 4 where I talked about Cain and Abel and
emotional thinking. So the Lord said to Cain, why
are you angry and why he has your countenance fallen?
If you do well, will you not be accepted?
And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door.
It's desire is for you, but you should rule over it.
Now King talked with Abel, his brother, and it came to pass
when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his
brother, and killed him. Now this is a very important
story and I want to repeat what I shared last week because I
want you to see that God is a God who always interferes in the
affairs of men. The reason we need to know that
is because of the Bible says that God has an eternal purpose.
And if God has a purpose, how do you know it cannot be withheld
from him? So he intervenes in the affairs
of men in order that he might course correct, if you would,
whenever we're getting off course.
And sometimes that seems to delay the program.
But as we'll share in Scriptures today, it's important for us to
know God's not only doing something, He's doing it right.
David Now in the story of Adam and Eve, we know that God
created them, put them in a garden that he had planted in
Eden. He told them they should guard
and protect the garden, that there was a tree of life there
they could eat of, that they could enjoy all the other trees
of the garden, with the exception of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil. He said In the day you eat
thereof you will surely die. Unfortunately they did not obey
God. The Bible tells us one day Eve
is standing next to the tree observing it.
If you would, how do you know if you're not supposed to eat from
a tree? Should not even stand by it.
Hey, man. So she was tempting herself in a
way, but at the same time, the Bible says the tempter came to
her, is said to be a serpent in the story.
But we know as the Scriptures unfold, it was actually the
devil who is the accuser of the brethren and also called Satan,
which is our adversary. And as she was looking at the
tree, he convinced her that she should not trust that God's
going to be doing the right thing.
Don't listen to God. He's telling you not to eat at
that tree because he knows when you eat there you're going to be
just like him. And then you're going to be able
to take your place as you should.
The book of Ezekiel chapter 28 defines it, that Adam looked at
the stars of heaven and the heavens, and he said, I will
ascend to heaven. In other words, he was saying,
I'm going to be up there with God.
Well, you can't cross God, Amen. Because of that, they were taken
out of the garden so they could no longer eat of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil. They had lost their stewardship.
And we've learned in that story how our minds are very important
in our decision making process. There's always going to be
alternatives to God's view, but how many know we need to be
establishing God's word, Amen, so that we can understand what
it is that God has for us. And He not only has something
for us as Christians, generally speaking, but all of us should
know that God has a call upon our life individually, and we
should get to know that call. Well, the next story is the one
we shared last week. It's just the story of Cain and
Abel. And in this story, it's a whole
different thing that God's dealing with because rather than
dealing with the mind, it was about dealing with emotions.
And the Bible tells us that Cain and Abel brought sacrifices to
the Lord. He did not receive Cain and his
offering, but he did receive Abel's.
That made Cain very upset. And like I said last week, we
always want to know, well, why get didn't God accept them?
Well, Cain knew because he said, now Cain, let's think about
this. If you do what you're supposed
to do, you're going to be accepted, right?
But if you don't, what's going to happen is you're going to get
caught up in your feelings and it's going to rule over you when
you should be ruling over it. And so we were talking about the
fact that feelings, emotions can overrule our sense of
accountability and we can make a mistake.
Now, I'd like to say something here very important because in
the world in which we Live Today, a lot of things that are
happening, the news media will tell us it's because of the
political divide of our nation. Well, our nation has always been
divided politically, if you would, and sometimes intensely
so. Wendy, I was watching the news
and the guy says we've never been this divided in our whole
history. And I'm thinking, does he know
we had a civil war? Maybe he should go to school and
learn about the fact we've had a civil war.
I want to propose to you that our problem in our country is
not a political one, but it's a social one.
In our society today, we've taught the exultation of
personal feelings and we've told people that you can hold other
people accountable for your feelings and justice is when
somebody does you wrong. Now obviously the Bible says
that God gave government is for our good, and so there are times
when we have to make an adjustment and really expect
other people to make one as well.
But in a sense, we have made feelings as a right that we
have, and sometimes it destroys people's life, just like in the
story of Cain and Abel. So our problem is not political,
it's society. And there's only one cure for
our society and that's the word of God.
Amen, Church. That's why the apostle Paul
said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the
power of God unto salvation. The world we live in today needs
God's salvation. Amen.
That's the problem. And if we get off base and
listen to what the world's telling us, we'll think that
there's something more important than what we've learned here in
church. Can I hear an Amen on that one?
Because how many know? We have to know that God's Word
will supersede over all things and in the end, God wins.
Amen. But He has given us a
responsibility. And that responsibility is to
help people understand there is salvation in God.
And again, because of our society's thinking, often times
people get carried away with feelings and they don't accept
accountability for their actions.
Even the assassinations, the gun and that go into these
buildings. You could say they're
politically motivated. And sometimes in the notes they
write, it seems like it. But one thing that's common to
everyone, whether it's an assassin from the left or from
the right, is they're very angry.
And they use the motivation of their feelings to do terrible
things and also even terrible things for themselves because
it's very typical that they're going to kill themselves at the
end. No wonder the Bible says there's
a way that seemeth right on to men, but the end thereof is a
way of death, even self-inflicted, when God has
given us an opportunity to change those things.
And that has to be the message that we take as a church to the
world in which we live. Amen.
And it is a difficult thing for people to think about
accountability, but in the end we're going to be responsible
both for how we feel our feelings and most importantly,
the outcome of those things. That's why God said Cain.
You have a responsibility here, and that's to rule over your
feelings, because your feelings in the end are going to destroy
you. And This is why this particular
scripture is very important. It says whoever loves
instruction, loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is
what? I want to hear everybody say
that. What is that?
Now he who hates correction is what?
That's a very important word to learn.
You might feel uncomfortable saying it because if you had a
mom like me, you would have been told don't say anything unless
you can say something nice. And if you can't say something
nice, don't say anything at all. They sound familiar to anybody.
Stupid is a word you weren't supposed to use at all.
But it's important for us to see that word because it means more
than not being smart. That's very usually not the kind
of definition we think about it. Stupid is when you allow your
feelings, your desires, all kinds of things that are
involved in your life rather than your thinking process to
make your choices. And the other aspect of this,
what the Bible says about it is how that we need to understand
that sometimes we need to be what corrected and what happens
when correction comes? The blessing of God comes to us.
And so we need to know what it means to be stupid.
So we choose not to be stupid. Can I hear an event on that?
I like the word because sometimes I say it to myself.
Now, Lauren, don't be stupid to give a reminder that all of us
need to understand. But again, it has to do with
people who don't want to be corrected in the situation,
whether it's by the word of God or whether it's by the logic of
life or whether it's by our society norms.
So we have to be very much engaged in the idea that we're
going to do what is right. Amen.
Now, the word stupid in the original translation, I bring
this out every once in a while because it's important for us to
know. Typically the Old Testament is
Hebrew. New Testament that we read is
typically from the Greek language.
So the word stupid is not translated stupid in every
occasion. Matter of fact, in most
occasions it's not. One of the chapters I've used a
lot over the years is you're my chapter 10 because it talks
about a people that are brutish and literally it's the word
stupid. And what it says is you got to
be careful that you're not brutish.
And he talks about the behaviors that the people have that are
brutish. And then he says, and in the
end, you'll hear the noise of the brewett because after a
while, what happens is stupidity becomes personalized or becomes
real. And in the end, we become
destroyed again by what irresponsible behavior.
There's also important to understand when it says
consumers, because that's really what the word means more than
anything. It means you got to consume
things in life, whether something that fulfills your
desire, makes you happy, whatever, And so you're oriented
to consuming things. This is important in America
because we're a very affluent nation.
And because we're a very affluent nation, literally 75%
of the spending in our country, this is something they'll talk
about all the time on the news, is consumer spending.
We're buying things we want just because we want them.
Now, the problem with that is because the government uses
that. Federal Reserve uses that to
manipulate us. Sometimes they do it through the
interest rate, sometimes they do it through the money supply.
It's important to understand that we become very easily
susceptible to being, if you would, manipulated and
controlled because of our desires.
And that's very important to understand because we have to be
a people that are standing outside of those things.
The Federal Reserve, that is a part of our money system here in
the United States, most every other country of the world has a
mandate, they say, to keep inflation low, keep unemployment
low. And those are two contrary
things from time to time. But one of the things they'll do
is they'll build on the idea that, well, we will want to
spend. So like, for instance, in the
Great Recession, they called it, they gave a whole lot of money
out, thereby expanding the money supply, helping businesses get
out of their distresses. And because of that, they didn't
have the correction we would have had.
It would have been more severe, they say.
And the head of the Federal Reserve at the time said, oh,
we've learned a lesson. The Great Depression would have
never happened if they were basically as smart as we are
today. Well, we're finding ourselves as
a nation, as a being manipulated in my mind by people who are
saying, well, none of us want correction.
One of the way you can look at that is in the stock market.
And So what we see is this continuing process where we're
building up something, we're building up something.
What happens is when you don't have regular corrections, you
have catastrophic corrections. The same is true in our everyday
lives. And that's why I want to use
that just simply as an example that if we don't allow
correction from time to time, what happens is we continue in a
course that's going to eventually lead us to a severe
correction. And we should have a long term
plan for our lives where we say, I don't want a severe
correction. I want to be corrected on a
regular basis so I can walk in the wisdom of God's Word as I
continue to walk with him. Now having said that, it says,
and it came to pass as they journeyed east from, as they
journeyed from east, that they found a plane in the land of
Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to wonder, Come,
let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly.
They had brick for stone, they had Asheville for mortar.
And they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city, a tower
whose top is in the heavens, and let us make a name for
ourselves, lest we what be scattered abroad over the face
of the whole earth. Now put over the scripture,
corporate confidence, because sometimes it's logic that leads
to a bad outcome. Sometimes it's emotional
disposition. But we also have to be aware of
the fact that there's what we would call corporate or group
thought. We are made as human beings to
be a part of something that's bigger than ourselves.
That's why it's important for us not just to have a personal
experience with Christ and be born again.
How many know that After that we need to see ourselves as part of
the body of Christ? The Bible says that we we are
members of the body of Christ, members individually, and then
each and every one of us has something to give, but we also
have things that we need to receive.
And so it's important that we realize God actually created us
to be connected to something bigger than ourselves.
Well, with that in mind, we have to be very careful because if we
follow the natural route rather than the spiritual route, we'll
be caught up in a group thought process that's separated from
God's Word, separated from the Holy Spirit.
We have to always understand the highest level of decision making
process is through the Word of God.
Can I hear an Amen on that? We've got to be convinced of
that church, and we have to realize that because we're in
the world, we're going to be influenced by group thinking of
other people. And that's why it's so important
that we are conscious at all times of how susceptible we are
to group thought. Because if we're not careful,
then we will get caught up in the ways of the world and we'll
make choices that are not correct.
In the city of Babylon or Babel, at the point there it says they
want to build a tower. Somebody said, let's get
together who that let's was. I don't know if it was the main
leader, a group of leaders, whatever, but it became a
community effort to build something that would be a tower
that would reach out to the heavens.
And really that goes back to the same thing that the Bible says
about Adam and Eve. They wanted to ascend into
heaven and take God's place. When you follow the pattern of
the word of God, it's not us trying to make a way to heaven.
It's about God bringing heaven down to us.
How many know Jesus was God bringing heaven down to us and
that God wants us to realize there is a reality here that He
wants us to have. That's more powerful day than
we've ever had before. Now it says that they had now
brick for stone. And that's talking about a time
in human history when inventions begin to increase.
And one of those was the ability to make bricks.
If you know anything about pyramids in Egypt, they
literally would cut the stone out of rock, and they would make
them into a brick if you would, but it actually was a stone or a
rock that they used. But there came a time when
people began to learn how to make bricks out of mud.
That's a much easier thing than trying to cut something out of a
mountain, a stone or that is something that God makes.
It's natural, if you would. The brick represents something
that man builds. And so with this new sense of
invention, this new sense of advancement, they're like, hey,
we're not going to do it that way anymore.
We have our own plan of action. So we're going to build a tower
that's now going to reach up the heavens.
We're going to make a name for ourselves.
And so it was a desire to do something outside of God and
church. Any group that we join outside
of God's church is going to have some type of a group thought
process, a vision. And again, because we're in this
world, we're going to be involved in these things.
In the United States of America, we are a democracy.
So we should vote, we should participate, and all of us have
areas in the economic world we're part of perhaps.
But we have to understand that above all these things is God of
all these things is the word. And so we don't want to think
that whatever the world thinks they have that we give us the
ability to ignore God and build our own tower.
We should say, wait a second, we're going to put our trust in
the living God. And this is a time like never
before church when we have to understand this challenge is
ever before us because of the social media Internet.
We have information coming our way all the time, the
multiplicity of channels all the time.
We can feed ourselves all kinds of different things.
And we always have to recognize that whatever we're listening to
or watching, we should not accept it as the truth.
Because Jesus said my word is truth, Amen.
That's the only truth, the word of God.
And so out there in the world, we're going to have all
different kinds of opinions, philosophies, and all kinds of
things. And there's a level by which we
participate. But always remember, in the end,
God wants us to build with stones, Amen.
And he says that we are living stones in the house that he's
building in there. Now it goes on to say that God
said, come, let us go down there and confuse their language that
they may not understand one another's speech.
So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face
of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.
Therefore its name is called Babel.
Why? Because they are the Lord
confused the language of all the earth.
And from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the
face of all the earth. I put over this scripture
confusion as judgement. This is a very important thing
for us to understand because one of the first things that we're
seeing God uses in His judgments upon the nation's is confusion.
The word Babel means confusion, and when you carry this theme
throughout the Bible, it goes all the way to the last book of
the Bible. This is why I wrote about the
book in the descending New Jerusalem, so you'd understand.
When the Book of Revelation talks about Babylon, it's
talking about the system outside the Kingdom of God.
That's not built on the truth, but it's built upon human ideas.
And the end result of that is going to be deaf if that's the
only realm we live in. But we got to know that we're
planted in the Kingdom of God. Amen.
And I think it would be an obvious thing for us to look out
at the world today and say, wow, there's a whole lot of confusion
out there. But God wants us to know that
there's something he wants us to know about that confusion so
that we're not a confused people, but we're oriented by
the word of God and walking in the things that he has for us.
Now, in this particular story, it says that their languages
were confused, so they began to spread out because they couldn't
communicate anymore. Now there has to be more of this
story than that, else today that would no longer be true.
That communication is messed up, but it is because we have to
understand something. Now with technology, how do you
know we can translate languages? Like on the spot?
I have a language translator and I can listen to somebody in
other language and it translates immediately.
You go on YouTube and watch a site and if the language is
different than your own, you can put down where it has the
subtitles, if you would, and you can pick the language.
How many know that human language is not a problem
anymore in our modern age, So we could have the idea.
Well, that's an old fashioned story, except for it's a story
that's just as true today because there is communication
problem in the world we live in today.
There's so many different languages going on and the lack
of communication is bringing great stress to the world.
It is bringing confusion. Now, as Christians, we have to
understand that when the world's talking about certain problems,
we got to look sometimes and say, well, maybe God's doing
something in the midst of this. Maybe God is sending the
confusion for a different reason than what we think, and so he's
going to use it for his purpose. That's why this Scripture is
important, because I want you to know that God uses confusion
even as a strategy. I will send my fear before you.
I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and
I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
And I will send Hornets before you, which shall drive out the
Hivite, the Canaanite, the Hittite from before you.
I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the
land become desolate, the beasts of the field become too numerous
for you. But little by little I will
drive them out from before you until you have increased and you
inherit the land. Now this is something that God
spoke to them as they're getting ready to go into the promised
Land. We should remember from the
story that they sent spies in the promised land and found out
there were giants in the land. The people were afraid to go
into the land because of the obstacles there.
Why? They did not know they served
the Almighty God. Amen, Church.
How many know? We don't have to be afraid of
anything. We have to know our God has a
strategy. God interferes in the affairs of
men, but what He's looking for is His people to participate in
what He's doing. So He says to the children of
Israel, Now, when you go into the promised land, this is what
I'm going to do. I'm going to send confusion
among them. And while they're confused,
you're not going to be confused. Just like in the first story, as
they came to the city of Jericho, it had these great
walls that you couldn't get over getting through.
They thought they were the safest city in the world, but
then God made the walls fall down.
Do you know that caused confusion in Jericho?
And that's the reason the children of Israel were able to
run over those walls and go in and defeat that city, because
they understood God has a strategy.
That's why I believe we need to be listening to the voice of
God. Amen, Church.
God has a strategy. And sometimes we can look at our
world and think it's out of control.
But God says, don't ever look at the world as something that's
out of control. Look at the world as something
I've called you to conquer, says the mighty God.
And when there's confusion in the land, you don't have to be
confused, says the Lord. You can know exactly what's
going on and you can walk in the power of that word.
Now, I also wanted to point out something here about God's
character because he said I'm going to send confusion in the
land and literally I'm going to send Hornets after them if you
would. So they're going to be in terror
all the time. But as much as I want you to
know I'm a powerful God and I can do all things, you have to
understand I do move slow. Anybody have that revelation
yet? It's funny because when I was 24
years old, when we first started the church, I was always in a
hurry. It's like when you're 24, you've
got a whole life ahead of you. What are you in a hurry for?
It took me 60 years to slow down, and I don't have that much
time anymore. But I do still have a vision and
a confidence that my God can do all things.
He knows what he's doing and he always does it right.
He builds a line upon line, precept upon precept.
He when he's moving slow. It's a reason God had given a
man named Joseph a vision. He said there will come a time
when your whole family is going to be kneeling before you.
You're going to be in a position of great authority.
They hated him for it. They sold him into slavery.
But you know what happened? The Bible says that through that
situation, God tested him. God tried him and prepared him
so that when the day when the word would come to pass, he
would also be prepared for the purpose that God had for him.
And so we have to understand God can use all things for good.
God can use situations that are absolutely against us to advance
His purpose, because after all, he's God.
Amen. And when he does things, he
always operates according to character.
And that's why when we read the scriptures, we sometimes can
look at scriptures and say, oh, you got an idea what God's going
to do? Always measure it in
relationship to his character because he does not operate
outside his character, but he's a God who is always going to
fulfill his purposes in the earth.
Now, this Scripture here is very important and I've been bringing
it out from time to time because it's such an amazing part of
what God's doing in the church today.
Speaking about the anointing that was upon Jesus Christ and
what I'm calling a fresh anointing to come upon us is the
Spirit of God. The Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him. What will it be?
It will be the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, the spirit of
counsel and might. It will be the spirit of
knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
His delight is in the fear of the Lord.
He should not judge by the sight of his eyes, nor decide by the
hearing of ears. When Jesus came into the world,
it was a very difficult time. The religious system had really
went a long way from God's original intent.
The country was totally under the control of a foreign
government, the Roman Empire. And there was again in his day a
whole lot of confusion, a whole lot of anger, all kinds of
upset. But the Bible says because he
had the spirit upon him of wisdom and knowledge and
understanding, because he had an anointing, he didn't look at the
world the way everybody else looked at the world church.
We shouldn't be looking at the world the same way everybody
else is outside the church. We should be looking at the
world and saying, wow, what's God going to do next?
You should look at your own individual life and if it feels
like you're being overcome, remember that he that walks with
God will be an overcomer and inherit all things.
Amen church. And this is the anointing that
God wants us to have today. It is a 19 and I put knowledge
comprehension application because the word understanding
is about having a comprehension and wisdom is about how to apply
that word. Now this is a very important
thing for us to understand. The world is increasing in
knowledge. AI is an amazing tool.
I love AI because when we want some type of a picture that I
put up on the screens, maybe in the survey, maybe it's the one
you see when we first start the service of the descending New
Jerusalem, we have AI do that for us.
It's a real simple thing. Of course, once you know what to
do, I have people that know what to do.
But anyway. And the other day I was taught
my Salah Mark Garza, who works in our tech.
And he, he was sharing how that you can real quickly have AI
write songs for you. And he said, what do you mind me
write a song on? He said, well, make it about
psalms, one about trees planted by rivers of living water.
He gave it a few other prompts. I guess he called it in in just
a few minutes. It's this amazing song and you
can have any style you want. So I made it hip hop and R&B.
So I had it two different ways. I love hip hop and R&B.
Anyway, I'm listening to this song.
I'm like, that's amazing. I really like the song.
It's amazing what those kind of things can do.
But we have to understand something that the increase of
knowledge can be a detriment if you don't how know how to
comprehend the knowledge and then know how to apply it.
And God says to the church, as knowledge begins to increase,
I'm going to give my people the capacity of greater
comprehension, and I'm going to give my people the ability to
apply these things. And I believe that will bless
the church and make the church become that glorious church
without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
But I also believe that God can help you prosper in every area
of life because when you have knowledge with understanding the
Wisdom Church, there is no end to what you can do.
It's like when I was looking up the word stupid on my computer
was talking about how important it is to understand how it
works. And how many have ever heard of
Albert Einstein? He was considered a genius in
this time, most of you have heard about him.
He said, well, one of the things I can tell you about genius is
there's limits to it. That's the problem with genius.
He's a genius, he said, but the problem with stupid is there's
no limits to it. I thought, now that's a genius
talking there. And this is one of the things we
have to understand is what will very easily happen in the world
today is people will think that thinking is not important.
If you have access to computer information, you go to the
doctor, you tell him what's wrong with you.
He said, I'll be right back. And you know he's Googling it.
You could Google why he's gone, right?
So we have to understand that it becomes easy because in our
human thinking, and I read this once about the brain, because
the brain has so much work to do, it tries to minimize its
function. That's why people can do magic
tricks and make you think that it's something mystical because
they know how to work outside of how your brain operates.
So you become your brain shuts certain things out so it looks
like magic and it's just the fact that's how your brain
works. Well, all of us are like that.
We don't want to overwork our brain.
That's why we sometimes rely on other people to give us our
opinions. Again, a normal part of the
process. But what we have to understand
today is there is an increase of knowledge.
And that's what the Bible says will happen in the latter days
of time. Knowledge will increase, but
increase of knowledge is not a blessing if you don't have an
increase in understanding and application.
And that's what God says I'm going to give to my church.
Again, this is another scripture I've used from time to time.
It talks about here. Blessed is the man who does not
walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path
of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight
is where in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day
and night. He shall be like a tree planted
by rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in season, whose
leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does will prosper.
I truly believe that the trees of righteousness, the plane of
the Lord, is a theme that God wants us to understand.
He's bringing every one of us to in this time, but he says, if
you're going to be those trees, you can't sit in the seat of the
scornful, You can't walk in the path of sinners, but your
delight has to be in the law of God.
That's why I'm preaching this today, how important it is for
us to understand. And then it says we should
meditate upon that word day and night.
Now, if you were to think about meditating on something, you
might assume right away that means as well.
Don't think fast and give it some time for a deep thought.
No, that's not what meditation is.
Meditation is much more than that.
When I was young, the hippie movement, Jesus People movement
were running simultaneously and is why those are nuts and the
Jesus people movement, we're getting more of God, the hippies
and them are getting into gurus and things like that.
And some of the famous people at the time, The Beatles were very
world famous. If you would, they would take
these trips over to India and they would talk about their
gurus and they would meditate and they go.
Now the reason I brought that out is because of the word
meditate actually does speak about making sounds at the same
time, which is interesting because our meditation has to be
more than just making any sounds.
Because the Bible says this precept must be upon precept,
precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line.
Here little, there little. But notice what this says.
For with a stammering lip and another tongue, he will speak to
this people, to whom he said, this is the rest with which you
may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing, yet you
would not hear. When we think about speaking in
tongues, we have to understand that what does it say?
It's a Ave. by which we can have God speak to us.
And I like to talk about the history of the Christian Church
because I believe that Jesus has been building his church, and
the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
And I believe we're going somewhere.
And you can see how God has used the United States of America in
a very special way. In the 1700s, we had a great
awakening in this country. We weren't even a country yet,
but it is what made us a country because preachers were preaching
about the new birth. In Europe they had state
churches, but in the United States we had a country where
people were here in the gospel and understanding how to be born
again. There was a guy named Whitfield
who preached about getting saved and going to heaven.
That was one stream, if you would, and the other stream was
John Wesley who talked about Christian perfection.
He said you not only need to be a Christian, but you need to
grow up and be what God has called you to be.
Sound like a familiar message, Church?
Well, in the next visitation or awakening the second one, there
was a move of God which led to what's called the Holiness
movement. And that was a part of John
Wesley's ongoing legacy because the Holiness movement taught
there's a second work of grace going beyond just getting saved.
It eventually became the Pentecostal movement.
What was the Pentecostal movement?
If you hear about church being Pentecostal, what does that
mean? Well, they believe that in the
second work of grace, when you received the baptism of Holy
Spirit, the evidence would be that you speak in tongues.
Pentecostal church is going to teach you that if they're
teaching their doctrine that they believe, because we live in
a time when not all churches follow the doctrines of which
they believe. But we need to understand how
important it is. They will tell you, you need the
baptism of the Holy Ghost, and the evidence is you're going to
speak in tongues. Now, some of them will leave you
and say, if you don't speak in tongues, you're going to go to
hell. I mean, that's a little
incentive there. It's not true.
But anyway, I want you to understand how important it is
because this is a very valid experience.
Unfortunately, most Pentecostals stop there.
Hey, I got it. I used to go to Pentecostal
church and one of my favorite songs was a song we sang.
I got it. I got it.
Something about the Holy Ghost I don't understand, but I got it.
We're just happy to got it, get it, have it, whatever.
But then the charismatic movement come and people began
to realize, hey, there's more than just saying I got it.
There's all kinds of things available.
Fivefold ministry, gifts of the Spirit, healing power.
What a wonderful move. The charismatic movement has
been literally affecting hundreds of millions of people
in planet earth. But church, I want you
understand in this day of the new anointing, God wants us to
understand that the Holy Spirit comes to give us wisdom,
knowledge and understanding. And the first step is when
you're praying in tongues, understand this is your
opportunity to hear from God. How many know God speaks today
and how many know Jesus said My sheep know my voice in another
they will not follow. We need to believe that God
speaks to us. I believe everybody here needs
to know today you can hear the voice of God and it's through
the power of the Holy Spirit that door opens more wide to
you. That's why on Saturdays I always
share. This is my prayer day.
I pray in tongues and I pray Lord speak a word to me because
when I get up there tomorrow, I want to have a word from heaven.
I don't just want to have any old sermon.
I want to hear a word from you Lord, because that's what your
people need. Amen.
And that's so important for us to know and to understand, but
it becomes an Ave. for God to speak to you and then it takes
another step because he said and this is the rest and yet they
don't want to hear it. Church, if God has a rest for
you, you should want to hear it. You need the baptism of the Holy
Ghost. You need the fullness of God's
Spirit in your life, because we're in a world of turmoil and
you're never going to think properly unless you're thinking
from a position of rest. See, whenever I hear the voice
of God, I'm fully confident my God is the God of all things.
He's the King of kings and Lord of Lords.
And I'm also convinced that everything about my life, all
things work together for good to those who love God.
And I also know that in that place of the Spirit, sometimes I
need that assurance. And the Holy Ghost gives me
assurance. And I know I serve the God who
gets the peace that passes all understanding.
The Hebrew writer writes there remains a rest for the people of
God. The children of Israel went into
a promised land, but it was just a physical land.
Our land is the Kingdom of God. Church, where there is
righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
How many want everything that God has for you?
Man understand the purpose of your anointing.
And in closing, it says therefore thus says the Lord,
Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation.
It is a Tri stone, a precious cornerstone.
It is a sure foundation. Whoever believes will not act
hastily. Also I will give.
Make justice the measure line and righteousness the plummet.
The hell will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters
will overflow the hiding place. Can we all please bow our heads
and close our eyes for just a moment?
Because I believe with everything within me.
This is a day for a fresh anointing from heaven for all of
His people. It's a time to refresh that
anointing that you have and realize it is the opportunity to
hear His voice to come to that place of rest.
So in the world of confusion, you're not confused.
In a world of conflict, you have peace.
In a world where people find no rest, you have rest because
you're a child of the Most High God and there's provision for
you if we will receive it. Father, I pray in the name of
Jesus that at Mount Zion we be a people that take the next step
in you and say, Lord, prepare me for this day.
I want to be a testimony. I want the world to be able to
look at me and say why do they have rest?
Why do they have peace? Why do they still have
confidence? Those that know their God, we'll
do exploits in the anointing of the Holy Spirit, says the word
of Godfather. We want to know you more today
than we've ever known you before.
I ask it in Jesus name, Amen. This is Pastor Lauren Coverbius
from Mount Zion church. We thank you for joining us
today and invite you to connect with our church family by
visiting mountzion.org and following us on social media.
God bless you.