I want to start by reading the scripture in the book of Matthew
that actually quotes the scriptures from the Psalms.
It says with the while the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them saying, What do you think about
the Christ? Whose son is he?
He said in the son of David. He said them How then does David
in the spear call him Lord, saying the Lord said to my Lord,
sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
If David then calls him Lord, how is he his son now?
This is a very important scripture.
A few months back I was talking about Davidde life and David was
amazing man of the scriptures. The Bible says it was because he
was a man after God's own heart. He truly loved the Lord and he
truly endeavored to follow God in all of his ways.
So in that sense he was a great example.
And one day the Lord came to him and said that through his seed
would come a son who would inherit the Kingdom.
Now there was a natural sense to that because Solomon, his son
took over the Kingdom and also built the temple, which actually
was in his heart to do. But God said it wasn't for him
to do, it would be for his Son to do that instead.
But according to the scripture says it begins to unfold.
We go to a lot of Old Testament scriptures and we've called them
messianic prophecies because in fact, they tell us about Jesus
who was to come. And though there was a natural
application, there's a spiritual application.
So in time, the Jews recognize this, that when the Messiah
would come, the anointed one who had delivered them from their
oppressors, that he would be of the lineage of David.
That's why at Christmas when we tell the Christmas story, you'll
notice in the genealogies of the Gospels that it traces Jesus
lineage back to David, because that was very important
concerning the prophecy that had been given to him.
David not only would have his natural son become something
that would be really a great blessing to the world of his
time, but that son also would build the temple.
Dave would actually bring forth another son in time, not just in
the natural, but he would also build a spiritual temple, if you
would, because the Bible says that we are a spiritual temple
that God is raising up in the earth.
And so there's a natural implication and a spiritual
implication. The Jews were looking for a
natural person like David, who like Dave would be a man of war,
who like David would be able to challenge their enemies and like
David would give them power over all their enemies.
Because when David became the king, literally, he secured all
the borders of the country. And for the first time in their
history, when his son Solomon came to the throne, literally
the country was at peace because David was this man of war.
But in the understanding of the Scriptures, when Jesus Christ
came, he actually was the son of David, but he was also the Son
of God. Jesus was truly man, but he was
also truly God. And so when he's was speaking in
his ministry on the earth and he's talking about who He is,
sometimes they'd use references about himself, just like these
ones in Psalm. That would confuse the people.
And they didn't want to understand really, because they
had in their mind what they thought God should do.
And if God wasn't going to do that way, they weren't going to
receive it at all. And so that's why Jesus
challenged them in the Scripture.
I just read to you, Well, in Psalm 110, it says the Lord says
to my Lord, sit while I make your enemies your footstool.
Now, if it's the Lord talking to the Lord, how could David's son
be just a man? The Lord was the Old Testament
word for Jehovah, Yahweh. It's translated different ways,
but it was the name of God, and so it was the Lord name of God,
saying to the Lord, the Son of God in this case, who would be
able to fulfill the purposes of God and come to this place of
victory. Again, the children of Israel
did not receive this. The religious establishment,
which was the Pharisees, they really stood against it,
actually consenting to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in
time. So he had a challenge to be able
to break the mindsets of the people, but it was hard for
those mindsets to be broken because their hearts weren't
exactly right towards the Lord. That's why this scripture here
is a very good example of what describes their attitude.
It's from the book of Exodus chapter 20.
It says that they, Speaking of the children of Israel, said to
Moses, Speak with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with
us, unless we die. And Moses said to the people, Do
not fear, for God has come to test you, and that is fear may
be before you, so that you may not sin.
So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick
darkness where God was. So as Moses brought the children
of Israel out of the land of Egypt, where they were slaves,
they experienced a great deliverance and God told Moses
to take them to Mount Sinai, and there he would meet with them
there. Now, when God came to them on
Mount Sinai, it was a horrible sight in one sense, because
there was Thunder, there was lightning, there were thick
clouds, there was literally an earthquake.
The whole earth was shaking from the very presence of the living
God. Now Moses explained that God
wanted to come so they could understand about the fear of the
Lord. Now the fear of the Lord is
different than being afraid of God.
The fear of the Lord is having such an awesome respect for who
He is that in fact it doesn't give you fear.
It takes away your natural fears, because when you know
that God is for you, who can be against you?
Amen. But that's only when you know
who He actually is. He was this awesome God.
As a matter of fact, in the Old Testament, as the children
reservoir were getting ready to take the promised land, the Lord
said to them, now remember the Lord your God is an awesome God.
Now that's the word we use from the newer translation, the new
King James. But the original says the Lord
your God is a terrible God. Well, you read that today and
you think, well, why would God say he's terrible?
Well, the word has a double meaning.
It's terrible to be against that God, but it actually is
wonderful if you're with that God.
Amen, church. That's why, of course, the
translation was changed, because we understand God is an awesome
God, but you have to be careful that we have the fear of the
Lord because the Bible says that's the beginning of wisdom.
It's the beginning of knowledge. But when the children of Israel
saw God, they decided we're going to keep our distance and
we're going to be over here. And Moses, we'll let you go talk
to God. We want to hear what He has to
say, but you go talk to him, and you come to us and tell us what
He has to say. We don't want to get too close
to that mountain. Now Moses was different than
them. The Bible says that Moses talked
to God face to face as a man would his friend when he first
meets the Lord at the burning Bush.
The Bible says he has God. Well, what's your name?
I want to know who you are. Basically, he had this
motivation. I want to get to know who you
are, God. And that's such a powerful
thing. And every single one of us need
to understand we have the opportunity to get to know God.
I started going to church when I was very young.
In Sunday school. They would talk about Jesus
Christ and they would say you can have a personal relationship
with God. Well, to me, that was awesome.
I wanted to have a personal relationship with God.
Everybody in church talked about.
But I found out in time that most people didn't have a
personal relationship with God. They had personal experiences
from time to time, but they didn't build it into a
relationship. But for myself, I always wanted
that relationship and so I adhered to it.
I walked in it and I have all the days of my life and I've
become an advocate at all times. You can have a personal
relationship with God. Now, when I say I was different,
it wasn't like I was more holy or anything than other people.
Actually, it was because God chose me for a specific purpose
of sharing with people about having a personal relationship.
Most people have a difficult relationship with God because He
is invisible. Amen.
I mean, you know, it isn't easy to have a relationship with
somebody who's invisible. Come on.
It's hard enough to have one with one who is visible.
A man who can talk. Well, I was uniquely chosen
because, well, I could get along with invisible people.
As a matter of fact, all my friends when I was a kid were
invisible. I was kind of like an introvert,
a very shy person, had a big family, so that was big enough
for me as far as having people around me.
But when I played, I usually had friends who were invisible.
It was easier to work with people that were invisible in my
mind. So I'd go out and I used to love
to play cowboy and Indians when I was a kid, which was quite
shocking for me. I talked to one of my grandkids
about Cowboys and Indians, and they didn't know what I was
talking about. I'm like, oh Lord, what's
happened to this world? But anyway, I always like to be
the Indian chief. And so I had to have all my
Braves that were behind me be, well, pretend Braves.
And all the Cowboys were pretend.
So when I would get Christmas presents, birthday presents,
often it'd be some kind of Indian headdress that I could
wear so that I could be the chief because my mom always
encouraged me and my fantasy world in that.
And so when I didn't have a Indian headdress, I would sneak
in my sister Jeannie's room, get her cane can and put it on my
head. I don't know if the can cans are
still used nowadays or not, but if you can imagine seeing me run
around the backyard with a can can on my head, telling my
soldiers to follow me and fighting against the other ones.
My next door neighbor, Mr. Hamilton, he called me the
Sheik. And I'm like, I'm not a Sheik,
I'm a chief. I didn't understand what he was
saying, but he certainly didn't understand what I was doing.
In the winter time, I go inside and I play with my marbles.
I had a thousands of marbles. Some were red, some were blue.
And so when I put them out on the bed, the red ones were the
Indians. The blue ones don't tell anybody
that, but the red ones were the Indians and the blue ones were
the Cowboys. And I'd be sitting on my bed and
I'd be making Indian noises as I'm pushing the red ones and
cowboy fighting. When I was doing the blue ones,
I remember one day my dad standing at the door kind of
looking at me, kind of strange. And I know he was thinking, I
wonder if this kid will be normal one of these days then.
Anyway, although it was comfortable me to have Jesus as
my individual invisible friend, I also understood that I had to
not make him up, so to speak, formulate my own Jesus.
But I had to, through the Word of God, get to know who He was.
And of course, when your kid in Sunday school, you have all
kinds of visuals that people show you.
My favorite, of course, was Jesus with the lamb in his arms
looking for the lost sheep of the House of Israel.
And that was the picture I built on and I grew in.
And so it's so important for us to recognize that we need to
make a choice. God is going to be a personal
part of my life. I want to be like Moses.
I want to be like all these other people of the Old
Testament. That's why I'm writing my class
that I'm teaching on Thursday nights.
It's about having this personal relationship, really about
walking with Jesus to become everything we're supposed to be.
Because I really believe that's what happens when we follow him
and it's an amazing thing to know like Moses, God face to
face as a man with a friend, not that we will visibly see him,
but our perception becomes that as we walk in the word with the
help of the Holy Spirit. Now in Psalm 110, going back to
the original Scripture, it says the Lord said to my Lord, sit at
my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
The Lord shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion rule
in the midst of your enemies. Now this is beautiful because
basically when Jesus Christ was on the earth for three years, he
ministered in obedience to the call on his life to preach the
gospel to the poor, the opening of prison to them that were
bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and bring
deliverance to so many people. But of also, most of us know
that in the end that meant he was willing to be obedient even
unto his death. And the Bible says that when
Jesus Christ died on the cross. That's why I love to show the
picture when people are baptized, because there's an
identification we can have with that experience that when Jesus
Christ died on the cross, because he was obedience, the
Bible says through the spirit of holiness that he even rose from
the dead. And the Bible says that when he
rose from the dead, he sits at the right hand of authority on
high. And we know from other
scriptures that the Bible teaches us that all the
principalities and powers of the enemy have been broken.
So basically after Jesus did his job, he goes to heaven, sits
down and says OK, what next? Well from that point in time
everything would happen. Not through him personally, but
the strength would come from Zion.
The Bible says. Now in the Old Testament, Zion
referred to the Jews to Mount Zion where the temple was.
But we know in the New Testament, the Bible says in
Hebrews chapter 12, but you have come to Mount Zion.
It is the city of the living God, a heavenly Jerusalem.
That's what happens when we come to church.
We are those people that God has chosen, that through us the
strength of the Christ would come.
So all that He accomplished, He accomplished not just for us,
but he wants to do something through us.
And a lot of Christians want him to do something for them, but He
also wants to do something through you.
And that isn't just a ministry, that isn't just something that
you're doing specifically for God.
As a Christian, we should see that all of our life is an
opportunity for us to invite God to come in and be a part of what
we're doing, and He's able to do something for us that we can do
for ourselves. And so that's what God wants us
to understand. He wants us to grow in the
knowledge of Him through an ongoing relationship with Him
that really we practice in everyday life as we allow Him to
come into our circumstances and situations.
It goes on to say here in this Psalm, your people will be
volunteers of the day of your power in the beauties of
holiness from the womb of the morning.
You have the dew of your youth. And this is a key factor here.
And something I really believe is God saying to the church
today with me, everything has a season and it has a time, says
the Lord, and this is a day of visitation.
This is the day of my power, says the Lord your God.
And in order for this day of power to be manifested, the
people have to be volunteers. The word volunteer there
actually means to have a willing heart.
And so God's saying we've got to be willing to allow God into our
life so we can make our life a habitation for God's willing,
and throughout a partnership with him, bring glory and honor
and praise to our Lord. And I truly believe this is a
time when God's going to have volunteers as never before.
So I'll be talking about it even more and more as the days unfold
because I really believe that God wants us to push out into
the community, offering more programs and more opportunities
for people to come to the Lord. So this is a time when God is
saying the call is going. Now, will there be volunteers in
the House of God? Now again, often times people
think, well, I don't have any attributes that I could use to
volunteer for the things of the Kingdom of God, But it's
obviously true with our community centers how that
there's a lot of different jobs that you could do in order to
facilitate the operations of the buildings and all the things.
While one of the ladies in the church was probably 20 years ago
said I'll, I'll come every once a week and clean the bathrooms.
And as far as I know, she's still doing that and it's been a
help to what we're doing doing. And so there's all kinds of
different ways that we'll be talking to you about in the
future. But just remember, God wants to
do something awesome. And it's going to start with the
people that say I'm a volunteer, I'm ready.
Now the second part of that verse, it kind of seems funny
because it talks about the dew of your youth that comes in the
morning. There's trying to paint a
picture here because when do we see dew?
Well, it's in the morning, and what happens, especially this
time of year, might be warm during the day, but as it cools
in the night, the cooler air isn't able to hold its moisture.
So what happens is that moisture starts falling to the ground.
And that's why in the fall, you'll often go outside and see
that there's a dew on the ground.
And So what it is symbolizing is what's happening in the
beginning of the day. You're gonna see the dew and
what this scripture says, the dew of your youth.
And one of the things I was feeling God was speaking to me
about is that we need to recognize this is a day of
visitation and power, especially among the youth.
And so we'll be calibrating our Community Center.
And that's why we really appreciate the extra funds that
we can have at this time. And I was talking to the leaders
yesterday that we're going to have a level of faith.
We're going to make a difference in the world today as never
before. Amen Church.
And I'm excited about what God is able to do and people giving
their part and their share to be a part of this.
But the key factor is there's something happened with young
people today and it's I've seen it reported in secular reports
as well as Christian ones. George Bonner, who's a Christian
pollster, I guess, is the word to describe it, and he's been
polling the generations and he's saying there's something
happening in the younger generation right now, and
literally young adults have the highest level of church
attendance of all the different generations.
Believe it or not, it didn't used to be that way.
And one of the things that they were saying is that there is a
movement even among young men because in the past, whenever
God did something new, truthfully, women were almost
always on the forefront of what was happening.
And that's why, especially when you start a new work or God's
doing something new, it usually doesn't what quite work this
way. But in this new harvest is
coming right now, everybody's saying something's happening.
So church, we're getting ready for the harvest.
We're going to make a difference in our world.
Amen. Not just for the world's
children, but for ours, because we're going to believe this
blessing is going to go to our children, to our children's
children, Amen. I want to be proactive to
believe that no matter what's happening in the world, I can
have a confidence that God is able to keep what I've committed
on to him against that day, Amen.
And so this is a time that youthful harvest is going to
arise. And as you often hear me
testify, I became a part of that in the Jesus people movement in
the early 70s. And I believe that something
just as dramatics happening today.
That's why we have to have an ear to hear and we have to
willing heart to be a part of all that God is doing.
Now going to the book of Hebrews chapter 2, we see another
illustration and amplification again of Psalm 110.
In this particular verse it says, For He has not put the
world to come of which we speak in subjection to angels, but one
testified in a certain place, saying, What is man, that you
are mindful of him, or the Son of man, that you take care of
him? You have made him a little lower
than angels, and yet you have crowned him with glory and honor
and set him over the works of your hands.
Now this of course is quoting a scripture from the book of
Genesis. In the very beginning of time
when God created man, the Bible says he created him from the
dust of the earth, breathed in his nostrils the best breath of
life, and man became a living being.
Now when God started this, he said, now let us make man in our
image and in our likeness. Not only that, let them have
dominion over all the creation that I have.
And then after they were created, He gave them that
dominion mandate. It's time to take your place.
That's why Hebrews chapter 2 is quoting another Psalm.
In that Psalm chapter 8 where he's saying, well, why would God
use people? If God had a great plan for
planet earth, why wouldn't he just use the angels?
They would be much easier to work with.
They have so much more power. Who is man that you are mindful
of him are the Son of man. You would visit him.
Well, God said the angels were not created in my image and
likeness. Since the time of the
Reformation, people began to realize that Christianity should
not be a mere religion, but it should be a people that
understand they were created for a unique purpose that only God
could come up with. And that's why we have to not
only receive Christ in our life, but we need to say, OK, what
purpose do you want to add to my life so that I can be that image
bearer to my generation? And it's so sad that in the
story of the children of Israel, how they chose religious
tradition over having that personal encounter with God.
And we see the same thing happening in church history.
There came a time really when the dynamic church that was so
powerful that literally the whole Roman Empire, which was
guilty of crucifying the Christ, literally turned to Christianity
in 320AD. How did how did that happen?
Well, it was a powerful group of people, but once the church
became accepted, unfortunately people began to follow the old
patterns of having priests and intermediaries between them and
God. And God was put more at a
distance. And the Lord says, don't you
know that I created you in my image and likeness?
You don't have to put me in the distance.
You don't have to have another person between me and you.
I want you, says the mighty God, and I want to have a
relationship with you that you were created as my image bear,
and you can be everything that I have called you to be, says the
mighty God, Amen. And with that will be a people
of influence, will be a people that will be able to subdue and
have authority in this life that goes beyond our natural
authority, but something very powerful that only the Lord
himself can do. As the Hebrew writer goes on, it
says you have put all things in subjection under his feet.
That speaks the first of Christ, but then also for us, in that He
put all in subjection under His feet.
He left nothing that is not put under His feet.
But now we do not yet see all these things put under him.
But what do we see? Well, we see Jesus, who was also
made a little lower than the angels, as a man for the
suffering address, crowned with glory and honor that He, by the
grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
So Jesus Christ had to become a man in order that he could show
us what it was to be one of those image bearers, if you
would, and a person who could be an overcomer in this life.
Jesus had a life of a lot of opposition.
Opposition is a normal part of life.
Even when we get in a relationship, there's opposition
because we're different. Amen.
When we go out for our vacation or job, everywhere we go there's
a certain level of opposition that comes our way.
But God can give us power over every circumstance of our life.
Church. Isn't he amazing?
Don't you want to walk in the fullness of all that he has?
But what that scripture says is Jesus has already won.
We don't see it yet because when we see it, it's going to be
happening under our feet. God says, I have called you to
be a people of authority. I've called you to be a people
that overcome, says the mighty God.
It isn't just what Jesus did for you.
Now it's what you're going to do for him, but also he's going to
do it through you. Give him a praise on that.
That's a good one. Amen.
It goes on to say here in Hebrews chapter 2.
For it was fitting for him whom are all things, and by whom are
all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the
captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
For Rothy, who sanctifies, and those who are being sanctified
are all one speaking about Jesus who started it now us who are in
process. For which reason he's not
ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare your name
to my brethren in the midst of this symbol.
I will sing to you. And again I will put my trust in
him. And again, here am I and the
children whom God has given me. I put over this that Jesus
becomes our Big Brother. But it starts by recognizing
that Jesus was a son of glory and he's called us to be the
sons of glory. Isn't that amazing church to
think about that If I want to emphasize the fact that he talks
about us being his children. When you're first born again,
how you know you become a son of God.
But God doesn't want us to be children.
He wants us to grow into maturity so that we can be the
sons of God, not just the children of God.
And I put here how important a Big Brother was because I know
in the natural life about having a Big Brother.
As most of you know, my Big Brother passed away recently and
I did his funeral. That's the 4th member of my
family I've done funerals for. And it's not a easy task, but
there's one thing I'd want to do it give honor to the people who
have blessed me in my life. And so I would always want to
take that opportunity to be a blessing for them in return.
And I sure appreciate it, having a Big Brother.
I grew up in a family that I had eight brothers and sisters.
There were nine kids. And you might think that was
crazy, but seemed like most of our relatives were in a
competition because I had an Aunt Alice who had 10 kids, you
know, So there were a lot of us back then had Big Van.
Now, in a big family, there's a whole lot of work that's
involved. I heard somebody talked about
the other day about how hard it is to have two or three kids.
Well, when my mom had #8 my brother had been born at seven
months, so she had her 8th kid, and five of them had not reached
4-5 yet. How many know that's a whole lot
of work. So what happens in a big family
situation like this? If you can't afford help, you
got to have the help in the household.
So my sister Jeannie became the assistant to the mother and my
brother Bill is the assistant to the father.
And so my dad used to work a lot to take care of the family.
I remember hearing people say, yo, my dad's not around.
You don't come to my games. I'm like, my dad's working for
money and I like the money so he can go wherever he needs to go.
Besides that, I had a Big Brother and my Big Brother gave
me that feeling like my dad did. He could take care of me.
He's pretty tough guy and I knew he could take care of me.
But as a Big Brother, he also challenged me on things and so
lots of times in life when because I was an introvert and
very easily being willing to draw back rather than to push
in, he would be always there. Come on, Lauren, you can do it.
Come on. Sometimes they'd use some names
that I would repeat here. But anyway, he's like you got to
challenge yourself. I've often shared the story how
that when I was 17, I had a good job, so I bought a new car and
it was a 1971 Camaro and I knew I had to have a girlfriend in
the other book at seat if I life is going to be fulfilling and
I'll share with you how I prayed for a girlfriend and it was a
beautiful prayer I presented to the Lord.
Well, my brother Bill, he's kind of like you don't pray for a
girlfriend. You just go get a girlfriend.
I'm like, well, that's easy for you because he was pretty good
at it. I just watched from the
sidelines, you know, kind of thing.
So one day he says, hey, calls me.
He said, Lauren, I want to go to my friend's house.
We're going to go work on the race car.
And I said, he said, well, you come pick me up.
So I picked him up and we went over there and we're looking at
things. And all of a sudden he stops and
he says, hey, he said, Ron, Lauren just bought a new car and
he wants your sister to go for a ride in it so he can show her.
I'm like I had never met the girl before, let alone I get the
nerve to ask her to go in my car.
So I'm just in panic mode. What am I going to say?
What am I going to do? How am I going to think?
Anyway, through spraying in tongues I got through it.
But anyway, not really. I wasn't filled with the Holy
Spirit yet, but I was praying. I can tell you that right now.
And it was that girl who a couple weeks later came into the
Wolves Den, which was the store Clarkson High School had.
And I was a part of being in that as a Co-op.
And she came in and she also told me that she was going to a
place called the Prayer House, which was a part of the Jesus
People movement. And she asked me if I want to go
to the prayer house. And I'm like, here's the answer
to prayer right in front of me. Of course, I'm going to go to a
prayer house. But anyway, it was a beautiful
experience. I would all work, but it was
through that that I received the Holy Spirit and got involved in
the ministry and everything happened.
So I can say it was prayer, but it was also my brother Bill that
got me filled with the Holy Ghost.
Say mentored because God can use our Big Brothers to push us
along the way. It's funny because I was reading
the article and they were all excited the person that was
writing the article how that now that the boys outnumber the
girls, I'm like I kind of like the olden days when the girls
outnumber the guys. It's not more fun for me anyway.
Might sound selfish, whatever having a Big Brother is
something that Jesus has been to me as well because as I've
shared with you my many testimonies of faith that I've
had. I'm not a daring person at all
in my natural personality. And so I'm just the kind of
person is kind of like OK, whatever you know what you do
don't matter to me. I'll just enjoy my own little
pretend world if you would. But God challenged me to take
big steps, whether it was the buying of our first church that
was way more than we could afford, buying this 52 acres
next to I-75, which it really didn't seem at all feasible at
the time. But again, God was always there
pushing me and always saying to me, come on Lauren, you can do
it. Just get going.
And through the encouragement of Christ, through the Holy Spirit,
I've been able to step out beyond myself.
And that's what happens when you have a relationship with God.
It changes along the way because God is always bringing us
forward. And I think this is a good case
of no, because somebody was telling me before the 1st that,
well, the faith they used to have doesn't seem to be working
the same and they were wondering if they were losing their faith.
And I want to repeat that story because I want to tell you a lot
of people are being challenged by your faith right now because
God wants to take you to a new level of faith.
Yesterday was good, but today is better, says the mighty God.
I have a place I want to take you.
You've never been before. So it goes on to say it in
Romans 2, and we know that all things work together for good to
those who love God, to those who are what a called according to
his purpose, for whom he for knew, He also predestined to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he, Jesus would be the
first born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined,
these He also called, whom he called, these he also justified,
and whom He justified these He also what glorified.
Now it's using it in the past tense sense, but we have to
understand that God does stuff and it's already accomplished,
but we have to make the choice to walk in it.
Amen. So when it says being conformed
to the image of Christ, it means to be jointly formed.
So as you're walking with him and it is very true, you begin
to pick up the habits and the thoughts of the people that are
around you. That's why it's important to
figure out who you're letting be around you.
But also you have to understand that when we walk closely to
Christ and we are with him to a strong sense of joining, then
your walk with him will form you because as you're walking
together and that's where this picture begins to come in.
Because when we become joined with him, something happens that
begins to change us in our life. It says Jesus was the first born
among many brother. He was the only begotten Son of
God. Now we know concerning Jesus
Christ that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. So Jesus wasn't born on the day
that he was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the same sense we are.
He was incarnated, but in that incarnation he becomes the first
born of the family of God. He becomes our Big Brother, He
becomes our protector, He becomes our instructor, He
becomes all things that we have need of, because that's how the
power of God works in our lives in the individual sins.
That's why it says this in Hebrews Ephesians chapter 4.
But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard
Him and what been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus, that
you put off concerning your former conduct the old man,
which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed,
in the spirit of your mind you may put on the new man, which
was a created according to God, and true righteousness, and also
holiness. So there is this walking
together with Christ, where we learn more about Him.
And how do you know when you find a new friend or somebody
who comes to your life, As you get to interact with them, you
get to know them. You don't know them the first
time you meet them. It's a process where people kind
of let their walls down and you become friends.
And of course, God's walls are always down.
But we let down our walls. And guess what?
When we do that, we'll get to know Jesus like we've never
known Him before. I love this walk I have with Him
because for all these years I can still learn something, I can
still see something, and I can still allow God to take me
beyond myself to a dimension I've never walked in before.
And this is so important because when you walk with Christ, you
have to recognize He wants to teach you along the way.
So when we have a crisis relationship with God and just
call Him in for help when we need help, we're never going to
be able to learn and hear from Him the way we're supposed to.
Most of you know that when we got this 52 acres here on I-75,
there were miraculous means by which the Lord did that.
Don't want to share that story again, but when God performed
the miracle of giving him this property, when we went to the
Township with our plans, I thought for sure they would give
us a yes. They gave us a no.
They said things like a church shouldn't have that property,
it's so visible, blah, blah, blah.
And so it seemed like it was just going to be a no.
And so we started fighting against them.
We were getting petitions. We had crowds of people who were
protesting. We're doing everything we could.
And then when I was in prayer, the Lord said, Romans 13 to me,
and government is for your good. It's not a tool against good
people. It's a tool against evil people.
And basically in the context of that, the Lord said, shouldn't
you be submitting to the government?
So I'm like, OK, I like the fighting in part better.
You work this miracle when you gave us the land.
Surely we can move in there as the people of God take dominion.
He said no, submit, find out what I can do for you.
And so we went in there and we submitted to the plan and
purposes as they gave us the commandment, if you would.
And I saw God's wisdom in it. See, I was able to be instructed
how I didn't even see God's full plan.
Sometimes God uses the people around you to work the plan out.
And it was because we did that we were able to move slowly and
add on to our building twice in just a couple years.
But then also we had the opportunity to open our
Community Center, one in Clarkson and one in Waterford.
And it was just, when I look back, I'm like, Lord, you're so
smart. Sometimes we just got to stop
and we got to listen. Amen, church.
And this is where this scripture comes in, because it's so
important for the day and hour in which we presently live.
And this is the invitation Jesus says to all of us, Come to me,
all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I'm gentle and
lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Why? For my yoke is easy and my
burden is light. And I want you to see what a
yoke was. Because it was something they
would use to put 2 animals together in order to double the
power as they were, for instance, like this palm of
field. But I like this picture because
Jesus is carrying the Hever load and we're kind of over here like
this, but stay in yoke to him. He's able to do something in US
and strengthen us. And we also understand, or we
should, that if we allow ourselves to be yoked with
Christ, and if we have that personal relationship with him
where we let him teach us, speak to us, grow in our lives.
Church, you're going to find rest for your weary soul.
And you know, we live in a world today where the world needs to
find the rest, find the peace. And we have to understand too,
there's things happening today that can shake you at your very
core, but when you're yoked together with Christ, He's able
to strengthen you, to teach you, and to make you everything you
need to be for whatever life He has called you to.
Can we all bow our heads for just a moment?
Because before we take communion, the Bible says we
should examine ourselves. And the Lord is saying to us
today, come to me, come you that are weary or heavy laden, and
find out I can give you rest. Come to me.
You that are confused, I can give you answers, I can give you
wisdom, I can give you understanding.
Put your life in my hands and find out that with me all things
are possible, says the mighty Godfather.
I pray for all of us as a people today.
We're living in a unusual time, but we know it's your time.
We know it's your season, and we know that we are your chosen
ones in the earth. So Father, let us bring glory
and honor and praise your name by finding your strength and
life in every situation. We ask it in Jesus name, Amen.
This is Pastor Lauren Coburbius 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.