1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,960 I want to open with the Scripture I ended with last week 2 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:06,440 and Isaiah 59. It says the Redeemer will come 3 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:10,240 to Zion and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, 4 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:13,360 says the Lord. As for me, says the Lord, this 5 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:17,000 is my covenant with them. My Spirit, who is upon you, and 6 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:20,680 my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from 7 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:24,400 your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from 8 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:28,360 the mouths of your descendants. Descendants, says the Lord, from 9 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:33,840 this time and forever more. This is a prophecy given by the 10 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:37,360 prophet Isaiah during a time in the history of the people of 11 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:39,160 God. They were called the children of 12 00:00:39,160 --> 00:00:43,640 Israel in those days where God had done so much for them and 13 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:48,680 wanted them to kind of show that they appreciated it by obeying 14 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:53,000 His word and walking in His ways and letting the work that He had 15 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:55,960 performed in them demonstrate in their lives. 16 00:00:56,400 --> 00:01:01,640 And he said to them, if you will listen to my word and keep it, 17 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:04,760 I'll be your Redeemer. Last week I shared with you what 18 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,000 a Redeemer is. In the Old Testament, they had a 19 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:09,320 term called the near kinsman Redeemer. 20 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,920 If someone in the family, through righteous living is what 21 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,840 the Bible calls it, lost their inheritance or their possession, 22 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:21,440 it was also possible for a near kinsman Redeemer. 23 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:23,960 Someone in the family could always have the opportunity to 24 00:01:23,960 --> 00:01:27,200 buy that back because God had it set up that no one could in the 25 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:30,920 end lose their inheritance, whether it was for their tribe 26 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:34,760 or their position, if they were willing to turn to God and let 27 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:38,480 him become their Redeemer. That's what God speaks to us 28 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,560 today in the New Testament, if we will repent of our sins and 29 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:45,320 be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the 30 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:48,280 remission of our sins. The Bible says that we can be 31 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:51,640 filled with the Holy Spirit, and after the Holy Ghost has come 32 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:55,200 upon you, the Bible says you will receive divine power. 33 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:57,400 I'm glad for the covenant God has for us. 34 00:01:57,400 --> 00:01:59,960 Amen. And he said to them, you have to 35 00:01:59,960 --> 00:02:02,200 understand that it is a covenant of faith. 36 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:06,280 And so he says, when I put my word in your mouth, you have to 37 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:08,600 make sure you keep that word in your mouth. 38 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:11,400 And what he's talking about is in the book of Romans, chapter 39 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:15,000 10, it says that with the heart man believes, but with the 40 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,440 mouth, confession is made unto salvation. 41 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:20,280 So after the Lord has done something for us, we need to 42 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:22,360 confess it. And then of course, as I 43 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:26,440 mentioned, act upon it. But always remember it is a 44 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,960 covenant of faith and we must, must be a people of faith. 45 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:34,000 Now he says if you're willing to do this, I'm not only going to 46 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:37,080 have it be in your mouth, but it's going to be in the mouth of 47 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:40,080 your descendants, your descendants descendants, and 48 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:43,280 your descendants of theirs. So he's talking about the fact 49 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,120 that God's blessing will come to even the third and 4th 50 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:48,320 generation of those that love him. 51 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:51,440 And this is a very important promise for us always to 52 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:56,080 understand that God is at work in our seed as we put our trust 53 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:58,720 in Him and our faith in Him. He says you need to know 54 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:01,000 something. It might not look possible to 55 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:02,960 you, but I'm going to put my word in their mouth. 56 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,120 You keep it in your mouth and you're going to see that I'm 57 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:08,040 going to put it in there, says the Lord. 58 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:11,840 And that's such an amazing thing that God is such a faithful God. 59 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:16,080 Now he talks about this being 1/3 generational blessing, and 60 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:18,000 there's something significant about that. 61 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,520 If you study in social sciences, they'll often tell you that the 62 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:24,400 third generation is the generation that loses it, so to 63 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:26,200 speak. For instance, if you have 64 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:30,200 somebody who is an entrepreneur and starts a business, they not 65 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:34,320 only understand they got to have a vision, but they have to work 66 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:36,040 hard. And if you want blessings in 67 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:38,880 life, you're going to have to make a sacrifice to get them. 68 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:41,520 And so that first generation will do that. 69 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:44,680 And often times the second generation, maybe they won't 70 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,480 appreciate the sacrifice their parents made because it 71 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:50,920 sometimes impacted them, but they'll understand how important 72 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:53,600 it is. And so they will usually in the 73 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:56,160 second generation follow on along long, maybe not in the 74 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:59,280 same specific work of the parent, but understand how the 75 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:01,880 principles work. But they say oftentimes in the 76 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,640 third generation, the second generation will not want to put 77 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:09,400 the responsibility part upon the third generation. 78 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:11,840 So that's often when the generation is lost. 79 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,200 That happens in churches, when churches are founded. 80 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:17,560 That's what happens in denominations. 81 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:20,720 There's a lot of amazing denominations in the world that 82 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:23,880 were founded by somebody who saw something in the Scriptures, 83 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,560 stood for the Word, preach the Word, and got a lot of people 84 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:30,160 excited, forgot. And yet after the 3rd 85 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,680 generation, you have people who have what the Bible calls a form 86 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:36,680 of godliness, but deny the power thereof. 87 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:39,840 And so when this talks about God doing something in the third 88 00:04:39,840 --> 00:04:41,960 generation, it's very significant. 89 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:45,440 Today I'm going to talk about the history of Mountain Zion 90 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:48,400 because when we first started our church, God told me two 91 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:50,720 things that were very important to our journey. 92 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:53,440 Number 1, he said, if you'll go the way of spirit, you'll 93 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:57,240 possess things that others not have not possessed before, which 94 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:00,680 to me was that way that would walk by faith, which is what 95 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:03,280 we're talking about here. And of course, our first 96 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:06,200 challenge that we face is we were a small group of people 97 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:09,320 without very much money. We needed the building to 98 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:13,720 worship in, but by trusting and believing in God, God He met the 99 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:17,040 need and we were able to build. By your first building, which is 100 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:19,720 down on Clintonville Rd. We still own that building. 101 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,920 We actually made a couple of remodeling additions to it, if 102 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:26,520 you would. And the rest of the history we 103 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:29,400 have seen as we walked by the way of Spirit, how God has done 104 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:33,120 these very powerful things. But he also said he wanted our 105 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:36,400 church to be a symbol. And part of that is because we 106 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:41,400 have buildings and also because we have ministries of how the 107 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:45,440 walk of faith works, because we have to be a people that learn 108 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:47,720 about the principles to walk by faith. 109 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,840 And so it's important for us to review these things because 110 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:53,440 they're very important. So when I talk about the third 111 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,200 generation, my grandchildren are quite young. 112 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,080 I don't know how much I'll be able to see their life when they 113 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:01,920 get older. But in a local church setting 114 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:06,760 here, we can honestly say that we have seen 1/3 generational 115 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:09,600 success. Our newest staff members that 116 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:13,240 are part of our ministry here are literally a third generation 117 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:16,120 because that's how long we've been in ministry now, close to 118 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:20,400 50 years. And it's exciting because 119 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:21,920 they've been raised in the House of God. 120 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:24,240 They understand the vision, they understand the principles. 121 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:27,760 And so they're able to step up there having learned about the 122 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:31,480 things that we've been through and can actually apply them so 123 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:34,440 that as the third generation, they can even make a fourth 124 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,960 generation and a fifth generation that can continue the 125 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:42,640 blessing of prosperity that we have seen God perform here. 126 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:45,760 When you come to one of the buildings at Mount Zion, you can 127 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:47,920 just say, oh, that's Mount Zion, the church. 128 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:50,920 For those of us who were there in the beginning when we started 129 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:54,600 in the unfinished basement of my mom and dad's house, we can look 130 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:59,120 at every building and every ministry and say, wow, God is so 131 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:02,640 faithful. And when you walk by his word, 132 00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:06,760 you'll see that God will give you the capacity to do something 133 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:09,040 that's above your human capacity. 134 00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:11,600 And that's so important for us to understand. 135 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:15,160 That's what God wants to do. Now this next verse of Scripture 136 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:18,280 I've actually shared for a few weeks now from Ephesians chapter 137 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:21,800 two, it says for by grace you have been saved through faith, 138 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:25,840 that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works. 139 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:30,800 This anyone should boast, for we are his what workmanship created 140 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:35,480 in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand, 141 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:38,880 that we should walk in them. So important for us to know that 142 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:41,000 everything with God starts with grace. 143 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:44,480 God's unmerited favor. He chooses us. 144 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:47,960 When God chooses us and we're aware of the fact that we need 145 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:50,720 to be a Christian, we have to rejoice on the fact that, well, 146 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:54,680 that means God has chosen me. Sometimes it happens because 147 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:58,160 we're in a certain circumstance or situation that we need help. 148 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:00,960 But the fact that you know that you can get it from God, well, 149 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:04,000 that's just God at work behind the scenes so that you'll come 150 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,400 to Him. Now, His grace makes that 151 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:09,920 possible. And then with that, He gives us 152 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:12,360 faith. When faith comes, that's the 153 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:17,360 capacity that God gives to us to believe above the natural realm. 154 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:20,480 So you can believe a lot of things, but when you have faith, 155 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:22,880 how many know that amplifies what you can believe? 156 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,720 And so just like the scripture says, we can walk in the Word, 157 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:28,160 we can walk in the power of faith. 158 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:31,640 Now I use those scriptures to talk about something God wants 159 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:34,240 us all to experience and that is His rest. 160 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:37,960 Because when we understand what God has done and then that 161 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:42,520 second part says we understand that we were created by God and 162 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:45,840 that not only we were created by God, we were created by God for 163 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:49,360 a purpose in this life. It uses the terms good works, 164 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:53,040 which He has prepared ahead of time for us. 165 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:56,360 Well, that helps us rest because we're not struggling to make 166 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,200 life happening. It should be a matter of 167 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:02,560 struggling to find out, well, Lord, who am I in you? 168 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:06,280 And when I began to find out who I am in you, I can begin to look 169 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:10,080 at the path that you have prepared for me ahead of time. 170 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,640 And so walking with God is quite an amazing life. 171 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:17,440 It gives us the ability, again to live above the natural. 172 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:21,920 But when we understand how it works, it's not a hard way to 173 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:26,000 walk, but it is a way that requires us sometimes to make 174 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:30,440 some hard decisions to say I'm going to choose to go God's way 175 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:35,160 and not my own. It is a prepared life that God 176 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:38,080 has given to us. In first Peter chapter one verse 177 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:42,480 22, it says since you have purified your souls and obeying 178 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:45,920 the truth through the spirit and sincere love of the brother and 179 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:49,960 love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born 180 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:53,840 again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible through the 181 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:57,480 word of God, which lives and abides forever because all flesh 182 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:01,440 is as grass, all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. 183 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:07,000 The grass Withers and its flower falls away, but the word of the 184 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:10,920 Lord endures forever. Now if you notice I put over 185 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:14,000 here guarding the seed because this is such an important 186 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:18,760 concept for us to understand because when we receive the seed 187 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:23,600 of God by faith, the Bible says that when we obey that word 188 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:27,080 through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can have an 189 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:31,120 expectation of some powerful things happening in our life. 190 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:35,960 That's why the first step is repent of your sins, be baptized 191 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:39,440 in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you 192 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:41,960 shall receive the gift of, of the Holy Spirit. 193 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:45,000 And so whether it's in our initial experience that we have 194 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:49,040 to obey the gospel or whether it's as God is speaking to us 195 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:52,920 and he says something to us and we obey him, it's through that 196 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:57,760 obedience that we open the door for the opportunity that God has 197 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:01,400 for us. Now it is so important for us to 198 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:04,880 understand the power of the seed. 199 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:09,800 When we first started the church, I was graduating in 1978 200 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:13,760 from ministry candidate School at Bethesda Missionary Temple in 201 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:17,040 Detroit, and they'd asked me to be the speaker at the 202 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:19,560 graduation. So I was quite excited about 203 00:11:19,560 --> 00:11:22,920 that, quite nervous about that as well, because it was a much 204 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:26,640 bigger church than I'd ever actually been a part of, let 205 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:31,200 alone speak in front of. And as I was preparing the word, 206 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:35,120 the Lord spoke to me. He said guard the sea and he was 207 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:38,800 speaking to me about a word to preach, but also he was telling 208 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:41,000 me something about the direction of my life. 209 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:44,640 We had started the Bible study in the base of my mom's house. 210 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:47,760 We have taken like 40 some people to Detroit to be water 211 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:49,680 baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. 212 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:53,360 And so it seemed obvious we should start a church so that 213 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:55,600 these people can grow in the Lord. 214 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:58,040 But I didn't want to do that just because it seemed like a 215 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:00,200 good idea. I wanted to follow the word, the 216 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:02,720 Lord and that's when the Lord spoke to me. 217 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:06,880 Guard the seed, for in the seed you will see the power of life. 218 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:11,040 And so Mount Zion is a local church, is a ministry. 219 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:16,120 Whereas ministry leaders, our goal is to guard the seed that 220 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:20,640 God has put inside of you and then to nurture that seed and 221 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:24,080 help develop that seed and so that you can go on to the 222 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:26,880 maturity and the place that God has for you. 223 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:30,520 Guarding the seed is an essential thing for us to 224 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:33,520 understand. As we began to walk with God, we 225 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:38,080 began to see the potential that God has as we walk in the power 226 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:40,520 of the seed. Now this is a very interesting 227 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:43,880 scripture because it says for the earth yields crops by 228 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:46,880 itself. First the blade, then the head 229 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:49,320 and after that the full grain in the head. 230 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:53,760 But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the 231 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:56,680 sickle because what, the harvest has come. 232 00:12:57,400 --> 00:12:59,960 And this is just showing us the power of the seed, that if you 233 00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:02,960 put a seed in the ground, it's gonna begin to grow. 234 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:06,440 I remember and I put a pure bean sprouts because as part of that 235 00:13:06,440 --> 00:13:10,680 first sermon I shared when I was in fifth grade, we had a 236 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:14,200 experiment in our class where the teacher was trying to teach 237 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:17,400 us about seeds. And she gave each and everyone 238 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:20,960 of us a bean seed. And we put it on a green piece 239 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:23,920 of felt, put some water on it, covered it with a glass so we 240 00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:26,960 could watch it grow. And it became a bean sprout. 241 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:29,440 If you would. Well, bean sprouts can be used 242 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:33,640 in a salad, but it can actually, if you plant in the ground, grow 243 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:36,440 into a plant and provide all kinds of beans. 244 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:39,880 And so we were encouraged after that to take the seed home, 245 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:43,240 planted in the ground so they could bring forth more fruit. 246 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:46,720 And that's what God has been speaking to us from the very 247 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:49,240 beginning. Make sure that seed doesn't just 248 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:52,000 come alive. Make sure it's planted. 249 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:56,520 And if it's planted in good ground, all the better is going 250 00:13:56,520 --> 00:14:00,480 to be the fruit of the ground, a seed, If you put in the ground, 251 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:03,840 it'll just grow. But if it's a cultivated seed, 252 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:06,640 it's going to bring forth something even better than that. 253 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:10,760 And I put up here wild grapes. Because if you'll notice in the 254 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:14,360 reference that I had in the opening, the prophet Isaiah 255 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:18,800 said, and he was speaking as God to his people, I've done 256 00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:21,040 everything I possibly can for you. 257 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:25,080 And then he uses the analogy of a garden, in this particular 258 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,440 case a vineyard. He says, I took my piece of 259 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:33,200 land, cultivated it, put the plants in the ground, Then I put 260 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:37,000 a fence around it to protect it. I even built a tower in the 261 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:40,400 middle of it so that I could keep my eye open to protect from 262 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:42,880 any attackers who might come because I was a comet. 263 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:46,000 In those days, anytime you had anything worth stealing, 264 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,440 somebody was going to steal it, so you had to protect it. 265 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:52,680 And he talks about all the effort he put into it. 266 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:57,720 And he says, when I look out at what has been produced by this, 267 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:01,800 all I get is wild grapes. Now, This is why it's important 268 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:05,200 to understand that every seed planted in the earth can grow, 269 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:10,800 but if it's cultivated, then it can produce proper fruit. 270 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:14,120 That's very helpful and has a lot of potential. 271 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:18,160 When I grew up in this area, we moved here when in the 50s when 272 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:21,880 I was just a small boy and this was mostly country then. 273 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:27,040 And before that, in earlier days of the area, there were a lot of 274 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,440 farms around here, apple orchards and such. 275 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:32,880 Most of them have become dormant. 276 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:36,840 And so all we had is a bunch of fields to play in mostly. 277 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:40,360 But when you go into the woods, there would be old apple trees. 278 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:43,520 And we used to love riding our bikes and going out there and 279 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:45,960 picking the apples off the trees and eating them. 280 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:51,360 They were no longer well cultivated or tended to trees. 281 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:54,760 And so the apples would always be a little bit sour and you had 282 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:57,840 to eat them real quick because you had to compete with the 283 00:15:57,840 --> 00:15:59,920 worms in order to get to them in time. 284 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:03,360 So they were very tired. And yet we like them as kids 285 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:06,640 because we just need to be able to find an apple tree that had 286 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:09,120 apples on it. And then there would also be 287 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:12,600 different kinds of berries that you'd go out there, There'd be 288 00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:16,040 wild strawberries, there were wild blackberries, just about 289 00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:19,320 every kind of plant you could think of because in the old days 290 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:21,680 when people had planted them, they just let them go and they 291 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:25,600 were still growing. Now next to us was a man by the 292 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:28,000 name of Mr. Hamilton. He had a well tended garden. 293 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:30,400 He had well kept fruit trees and everything. 294 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:33,520 So I always looked at what he did and I'm like, wow, I want to 295 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:36,560 be able to do that. And I've always shared the story 296 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:40,000 that I thought I wanted to be a farmer and I really only wanted 297 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:42,480 to be a harvester because being a farmer takes a lot of work. 298 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:46,520 And I found that out. And so you had a choice. 299 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:49,840 You could go out and get the wild things that would be tart 300 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:51,920 and you'd be glad you had something to eat because it was 301 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:53,800 kind of a fun and interesting thing. 302 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:58,840 Or you could have a well cultivated garden where not only 303 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:02,040 would there be something to eat, but actually tastes good, be 304 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:04,520 nutritional. You could get seeds for the next 305 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:06,280 year. And so there was a whole process 306 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:08,800 that's different here. And that's basically what God's 307 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,319 saying. I just got a bunch of wild 308 00:17:11,319 --> 00:17:13,839 grapes. I cultivated this garden. 309 00:17:13,839 --> 00:17:16,880 I put a lot of effort into it and what am I getting out of it? 310 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:20,400 Just wild grapes. Now if you notice, he said when 311 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:23,800 the true harvest has come, that's when the harvester is 312 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:27,560 going to cast in his sickle and perform the harvest. 313 00:17:28,079 --> 00:17:30,040 Now this is important for us to understand. 314 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:33,400 Right now on my call from the Mountain website, I'm sharing 315 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,080 about eschatology or study the last days. 316 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:39,560 And a lot of people don't understand the last days because 317 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:41,840 they don't understand what God's plan is. 318 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:45,160 So oftentimes when people talk about the last days, they talk 319 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:47,800 about the Antichrist, they talk about the beast, they talk about 320 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:50,080 the darkness. Hardly anybody talks about what 321 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:53,440 God's looking for. And God's looking for a harvest. 322 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:58,680 And he's not just looking for a big harvest, he's looking for a 323 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:03,000 well cultivated harvest. In other words, he doesn't want 324 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,440 just wild grapes, he wants cultivated grapes. 325 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:09,800 He wants that which has taken a little bit of work. 326 00:18:10,360 --> 00:18:13,960 And so we're oftentimes people talk about harvest as getting as 327 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:15,680 many people as saved as possible. 328 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:18,720 Very few people understand that from God's perspective, a 329 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:22,520 harvest is not just a lot, but it's something that's good. 330 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:26,600 It's not the volume, it's the quality that God is looking for. 331 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:31,120 Obviously volume is nice too, but sometimes we as Christians 332 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:34,600 forget about what God's plan is and don't realize what is it 333 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:38,960 he's looking for in our life. He's looking for us to allow him 334 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:42,240 to cult fade our lives so that we can bring forth good things. 335 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:45,000 And I just wanted to show that because this is basically what 336 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:47,640 they're describing. If you don't understand wheat, I 337 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:50,680 want you to see what that's like because he said when you plant 338 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:53,800 the wheat, the first thing it does is it grows a stem. 339 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:56,720 Then at the top it gets these heads. 340 00:18:56,720 --> 00:19:00,280 It's called, but ultimately it gets grain in the head. 341 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:03,480 So if you cut that down before there's grain in the heads, 342 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:07,480 you're just going to have a bunch of empty heads if you 343 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:10,920 would with nothing good for making into bread. 344 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:14,920 And so you have to understand the purposes of God and how they 345 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:17,600 work. And so you have to visualize he 346 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:22,440 wants a fruitful people, but he who who received seed on the 347 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:26,520 good ground is he who hears the word and what understands it, 348 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:31,560 who indeed bears fruit and produces some a hundredfold, 349 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:35,840 some 60 and some 30. Now, I've quoted this Scripture 350 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,760 often through the years. And because I'm a person who 351 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:41,240 wants the best that the world has to offer. 352 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:44,000 If I'm going to do something, I want to do it well. 353 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:47,320 If I'm going to be a Christian, I want to do it well because 354 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:49,320 that's just the personality God has given me. 355 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:53,160 So I've often said over the years, I don't want just a 30 356 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:55,200 fold blessing. I don't just want a 60. 357 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:57,440 How many of us say I want a hundredfold blessing? 358 00:19:57,440 --> 00:19:59,680 Amen. I want the whole thing. 359 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:04,520 Well, I'm in this special time of the presence of the Lord 360 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,920 these days, and God's just communicating with me, trying to 361 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:10,960 prepare me for this next season that we're moving into. 362 00:20:11,360 --> 00:20:15,240 And yesterday I was thinking about this scripture and 363 00:20:15,360 --> 00:20:17,560 thinking about the hundredfold blessing. 364 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:21,600 And I thought about the fact that I've often taught there's a 365 00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:24,840 whole chapter that talks about this in the discipleship book, 366 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:29,320 and that is, if you want to have good fruit, you have to have a 367 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:32,680 good ground. Now in the Bible, the ground 368 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,240 that the seed is sown in is our heart. 369 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:39,600 And so if we want to allow that seed to have its best 370 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:42,720 opportunity in us, we have to cultivate our heart. 371 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:46,360 That's why Mount Zion, we have all their calls and respond to 372 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:49,720 the word and the Lord's Supper, etcetera, because we're giving 373 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:52,000 God our heart. We're dealing with some areas so 374 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:55,760 that we can say, OK, God, I want the best that you have to offer. 375 00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:59,320 And so it's necessary that we would have a good ground. 376 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:02,280 But yesterday the Lord kind of changed my thinking more than 377 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:04,840 kind of quite a bit as I was thinking about that because he 378 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:08,440 said, now remember I told you to tell people when you first 379 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:11,480 started basically that Mount Simon was going to be an 380 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:16,200 example, visible example for people to see how the walk of 381 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:20,000 faith would work. And he said, yes, we want a 382 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:25,120 hundredfold return, but look at how I've LED Mount Zion and we 383 00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:29,280 started in 1978 on our location on Clintonville Rd. 384 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:34,960 In 1990 is when we purchased 52 acres here and build our first 385 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,880 building over there. We call now Auditory May and 386 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:41,640 then building this building in 2010. 387 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:44,840 But he said now watch and see how it's worked. 388 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:50,000 So for the 1st 12 years I would say yes, that was our thirty 389 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:54,640 fold blessing. Then we came over here in 1990 390 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:59,280 and built the building here and we began to experience a whole 391 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:02,800 different level in God. And I would say those years were 392 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:06,640 the 60 fold blessing. When we first moved here, the 393 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:09,600 Township was resisting us getting this land because they 394 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:13,400 thought it was too valuable for a church and so they limited the 395 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:16,200 size of our building. So we actually had to hold on to 396 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:18,640 our old church. On Wednesday nights we would 397 00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:21,320 have our children's ministry down at the other location so 398 00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:23,760 people would drop their kids off, come here for church, then 399 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:27,440 go pick up their kids. And I see now and looking back 400 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:30,240 that really God wanted us to keep that building so we could 401 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:33,640 remember the pattern and the process that we would go 402 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:36,280 through. So anyway, as we got here, we 403 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:40,520 began to experience the blessing of God, went to two services 404 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:44,840 within the first year. Second year we built a balcony 405 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:47,280 over there. Third year we were building a 406 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:50,080 addition on. And so we've seen the blessing 407 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:52,840 of God. And I would say that the 60 fold 408 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:56,960 blessing lasted from 1990 to the year 2020. 409 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:01,480 Now why do I say that? Well in 2020 in March, I 410 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:05,440 preached a message and I quoted the scripture where Jesus said 411 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:10,640 it is the time, it is the acceptable time says the Lord. 412 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:14,440 And as I read that to the congregation, I actually 413 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:17,440 preached on it. The word time there means in the 414 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:21,080 original Greek Kairos moment or a time of opportunity. 415 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:24,720 And God said, now this is our time of change. 416 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:27,720 This is a time when we're going to see everything go into a 417 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:29,840 whole new level, a whole new dimension. 418 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:33,280 And so I said this is our time of opportunity. 419 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,600 The next week we didn't even have church because that's when 420 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:38,480 they locked down the churches for Covad. 421 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:41,600 I'd never dreamed I'd see a day when the government say you 422 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:44,320 can't have church. And I have to admit that I was 423 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:47,040 not quite sure I was going to do what they said at first because 424 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:50,560 I know the Bible says it's better to obey God rather than 425 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:53,600 man. But as I prayed, as is typical 426 00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:56,240 throughout the journey we've had at a church, he says, you know, 427 00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:59,480 government's very good. Just submit and see how I can 428 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:02,480 make all things work together for good to those who love me. 429 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:06,520 Now, even though it didn't look like we were moving into a time 430 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:10,400 of opportunity, especially that year, and you look at what 431 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:14,320 happened to the world, the conflict in our nation began to 432 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:17,160 intensify. Everybody had opinions, 433 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:20,200 everybody was angry. There were all kinds of 434 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:21,960 problems. So when you look at it from a 435 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:26,920 natural perspective, it wasn't all good for sure, but I knew 436 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:31,000 what God had spoken, so I looked for undercurrents of what God 437 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,520 was speaking. And so whenever I look and 438 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:36,920 research what's happening, I can see some undercurrents, if you 439 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:39,520 would. And there has been a tremendous 440 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:43,280 change for the good in just these five years since that 441 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:45,480 time. I've talked about a little bit, 442 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:49,240 but one of the reports they came out with about a month ago is 443 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:51,920 Gallup polling. They do surveys of the country 444 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:55,880 on a regular basis about many different issues, and they do 445 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,920 one on alcohol consumption in our country. 446 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:01,160 What percentage of the people drink alcohol? 447 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:03,840 Which part don't? Now during COVID, it actually 448 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:06,800 went up because people were at home and didn't have anything to 449 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,320 do, getting very depressed I guess. 450 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:14,720 But literally since that time, they said now it's the lowest 451 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:18,280 percentage of people than all their history since they've been 452 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:21,440 keeping track. And they said that one of the 453 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:25,280 big reasons is because among the younger generation, there's a 454 00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:28,160 choice for a more healthy lifestyle. 455 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:31,120 And even though Hollywood promotes on a regular basis what 456 00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:34,800 they call coming of age stories that often center around wild 457 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:39,320 parties, etcetera, that there is a generation that's saying, wait 458 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:41,960 a minute, this isn't what we want to do. 459 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:45,640 And there was a funny part to it because they said, we've also 460 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:51,760 noticed there's a 20% turned down among Republican border 461 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:55,880 voters, literally 20% less drinks than they used to, which 462 00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:57,920 maybe it's because they were happy with the turn out of the 463 00:25:57,920 --> 00:25:59,040 election. I don't know. 464 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:02,720 But they were even asking the same question, like what's going 465 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:04,400 on here? Well, they knew Trump didn't 466 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:07,120 drink because he always said he wanted to have a clear mind in 467 00:26:07,120 --> 00:26:09,000 his business decisions or whatever. 468 00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:13,040 But it was an indicator that people are taking life more 469 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:15,840 seriously. And it was one of the first 470 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:19,960 things, a sign that I would say that there's something happening 471 00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:23,680 that God's moving among the you. Then since that time, there's 472 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:27,920 been all kinds of reports that, wow, the younger generation's 473 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:31,560 not turning away from God as we used to hear so often time in 474 00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:34,480 the media, Religion is losing its importance. 475 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:35,920 People are turned away from church. 476 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:39,760 No, the younger generation, there's an increase in interest 477 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:42,280 in the church and there's a big turn around. 478 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:50,280 And even when Charlie Kirk was assassinated, that brought to 479 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:53,240 light something very important because then people start taking 480 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:56,120 a closer look at even what he did on college campuses. 481 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:58,680 Now, the politicians all recognize what he was doing 482 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:00,040 because they were all at his funeral. 483 00:27:00,360 --> 00:27:04,600 But research began to make people understand there's 484 00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:07,480 something happening there. And that was just a part of it, 485 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:10,520 certainly not the whole thing that God is moving in college 486 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:12,920 campuses with God's moving among young people. 487 00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:15,560 Because guess what? People are taking things 488 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:18,520 seriously now in a level they never were before. 489 00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:22,080 Church. God is on the move right now. 490 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:24,280 This is the new day, says the mighty God. 491 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:27,880 Amen. This is that third dimension. 492 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:31,320 And again, sometimes to really see what's happening, you can't 493 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:35,040 just read the news and nor can you even say, oh, I go to social 494 00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:36,720 media for mine. Because when you go to social 495 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:39,360 media, you're usually looking for people who share your 496 00:27:39,360 --> 00:27:41,840 opinion. Sometimes it's good to just say, 497 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:45,240 well, what's people that doesn't have an agenda saying, well, 498 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:46,560 they're all saying the same thing. 499 00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:50,840 This is a time of big change. There's an awakening happening 500 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:54,440 in our country today. Church and people are looking at 501 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,560 their lives and saying we got to do things differently. 502 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:00,160 Therefore hear the parable, the sower. 503 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:02,760 When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom and does not 504 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:07,360 understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what 505 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:10,440 was sown as the heart. This is he who received the seed 506 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:13,640 by the wayside. Phase one is you got to be 507 00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:17,480 willing to receive the seed. Again, it has to do with the 508 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,920 ground of your heart, and it says if you don't understand, 509 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:24,080 then the enemy, the wicked one, can come and snatch away that 510 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:27,000 word. Now I put up your understanding 511 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,200 heart because that scripture does not say you got to get 512 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:32,280 smart so you can fight against the devil. 513 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,960 It says you got to prepare your heart because you are still 514 00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:39,680 going to go through things that you won't be able to figure out. 515 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:42,360 Sometimes you'll look at the world and not know what's 516 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:45,160 happening and you'll hear all these different opinions and 517 00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:49,000 everybody have something to say. And the Lord says, all you have 518 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:52,120 to do is recognize. You got to say, well, stop it 519 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:56,320 everybody, because I'm going to make sure I just keep my heart 520 00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:59,640 open to God. I'm going to guard and cultivate 521 00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:02,120 what the Lord has done inside of me. 522 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,680 And then in the appropriate time, He will give me the 523 00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:08,920 understanding heart now. So I teach people, you can hear 524 00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:12,200 the voice of God and you can know there's a change going 525 00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:15,120 before the world recognizes there's a change. 526 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:16,640 And I want you to know something. 527 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:18,880 The world hasn't seen anything yet. 528 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:21,000 The best is yet to come. Amen, Church. 529 00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:25,200 So the second phase is But he who received the seed on Stony 530 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:27,880 places. This is he who hears the word 531 00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:30,320 and immediately receives it with joy. 532 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:34,720 Yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. 533 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:38,480 When tribulation or persecution arises because of the Word 534 00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:43,320 immediately he stumbles. Now our phase two at least I can 535 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,680 share this is a big part of those sermons I preached in the 536 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:50,360 90s is God began to show me how that when you walk by the way of 537 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:53,000 Spirit because God is your Father. 538 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:56,160 Sometimes he's working on your character. 539 00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:59,800 He actually is working on yourself improvement. 540 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:02,880 We always talk about self help and there's a whole section in 541 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:05,640 the bookstore on self help, but you have to understand 542 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:07,680 something. You have a heavenly Father who's 543 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:09,160 always at work. Amen. 544 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:12,600 And you have to know He's concerned about your personal 545 00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:16,120 development, and when you begin to realize that, you'll go to 546 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:19,560 that 60%. But he received the seat among 547 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:23,320 the thorns as he who hears the word and the cares of this world 548 00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:26,640 and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word. 549 00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:29,840 And what happens again, you become unfruitful. 550 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:33,040 Now, this is important because the cares of this life literally 551 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:36,200 means distractions. And then it talks about 552 00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:38,960 distractions you might have because you're anxious and 553 00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:41,480 fearful about what's going on in the world and what's going to 554 00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:43,880 happen in your life. Or on the other hand, it can 555 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:47,560 actually be riches and blessing. Whatever it is, if it's a 556 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:51,080 distraction keeping you from your course of action, how do 557 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:55,200 you know it becomes a bad thing? And so God says be careful of 558 00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:58,720 distractions because when you're a person with a goal and you 559 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:02,480 have an expectation for that goal, you have to make sure you 560 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:06,840 maintain your focus. He said you did not choose me, 561 00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:11,480 but I chose you and appointed you that what you would go and 562 00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:16,440 bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, that whatever you 563 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:20,520 ask the Father in my name, he may give you. 564 00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:25,000 And we have to understand that God wants us to have power in 565 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:27,640 our prayer. And we have to understand that 566 00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:31,360 there's a prayer power we can have when we let God work in our 567 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:36,200 heart, bring forth our place of faith and our belief in the 568 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:38,840 power of God. I keep saying this because I 569 00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:40,880 believe this with everything within me, that God's bringing 570 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:43,760 the church to a place of prayer power we haven't ever seen 571 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:47,000 before. And it's going to be possible 572 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:52,200 because we've become mature. Now, I also want to talk about 573 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,080 the tipping point. And what is a tipping point? 574 00:31:55,080 --> 00:32:00,200 Well, that's when small changes make a big impact over time and 575 00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:04,920 continuous commitment. And I know that term because 576 00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:08,200 when Obama became president, they were talking about there 577 00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:11,280 was a man who wrote books who was very influential with his 578 00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:14,800 inner circle. His name was Malcolm Gladwell, 579 00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:17,720 and he wrote several books that I have, and one of them was 580 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,840 Turning Point. And in Turning Point, he talks 581 00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:24,240 about the fact that, well, you do small things if you want to 582 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:26,840 change your country, which is the way they were looking at it 583 00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:30,440 from a political perspective. You just got to do something. 584 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,640 And then you keep pressing and you keep moving in the right 585 00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:37,920 direction because if you keep in that right direction, eventually 586 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:41,600 there comes a tipping point where everything begins to turn 587 00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:44,600 around. Now for me, when God was 588 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:49,040 speaking to me tipping point, he was telling me about the message 589 00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:52,640 I shared with you today, which is the power of the seeds that 590 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:55,680 are sown in my heart. And I want to prophesize to you 591 00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:57,920 today because I say thus saith the Lord. 592 00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:02,200 God says this is a time, it's going to be a tipping point, 593 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:05,200 says the Lord. And there's going to be a great 594 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:08,560 evidence of change. It's not just going to be under 595 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:12,200 the undercurrent, if you would. It's not going to be just 596 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,160 reported here a little there. You're going to find out that 597 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:18,560 God's word is going to begin to come to pass because this is 598 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:21,000 tipping point time, says the mighty God. 599 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,320 Amen. And there's a lot of people that 600 00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:27,000 have been trying to push our country in One Direction, and 601 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:30,160 everybody has their agendas. But I want you to know who's got 602 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:33,640 the highest agenda because that's God and his people are 603 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:36,880 going to see His word is going to come to pass. 604 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:39,600 And I believe this is tipping point time. 605 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:42,240 There's a lot of things that the world is doing that's also going 606 00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:45,680 to be a tipping point, if you would, because bad behavior 607 00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:49,760 produces A tipping point as well, and it's the fruit of the 608 00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:51,880 bad behavior. I think that's going to cause 609 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:55,000 people to look in the other direction and say, what are we 610 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:58,080 going to do? Where are we going to turn? 611 00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:00,400 How are we going to work this out? 612 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:06,080 Well, that's why I often speak the word from Isaiah chapter 2 613 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:10,159 that says in the latter days of time, the mountain of the Lord's 614 00:34:10,159 --> 00:34:12,560 house shall be established on top of the mountains. 615 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:14,880 It will be exalted above the hills. 616 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:17,440 What's going to happen is people are going to say, come and let 617 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:19,760 us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of 618 00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:22,440 Jacob. He will teach us of his ways, 619 00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:25,600 and we will walk in his bath. For out of Mount Zion she'll go 620 00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:28,719 the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 621 00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:32,719 Jesus said it this way in the Gospel of Matthew. 622 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:36,800 He said another parable he put forth, saying the Kingdom of 623 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:42,040 heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in 624 00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:46,679 his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds from a 625 00:34:46,679 --> 00:34:50,760 natural perspective. But when it is sown, it is 626 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:55,159 greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the 627 00:34:55,159 --> 00:34:59,720 birds of the air come and nest on its branches. 628 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:02,720 Can we all bow our heads and close our eyes for just a 629 00:35:02,720 --> 00:35:06,560 moment? Because we need to know It's 630 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:11,400 tipping point time. The changes are going to be more 631 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:15,320 rapid, more evident. The world is going to become 632 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:21,000 more confused, more disconcerted, if you would, 633 00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:27,120 because God's preparing a season of twice. 634 00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:34,040 And so we have to be all ready, knowing that we're in God's 635 00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:40,640 hands and knowing that doesn't matter how small our seed may 636 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:49,360 seem, God says it becomes the biggest in the end, that even 637 00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:52,960 the birds will come and land on the branches. 638 00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:58,560 The worst enemy of a seed is the birds, because if they see a 639 00:35:58,560 --> 00:35:59,960 seed, they're going to go eat it. 640 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:06,200 But when that seed is planted and becomes a tree, then they 641 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:09,560 rest on its branches. Some of the people that tried to 642 00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:12,040 steal your seed are going to come and rest on your branches, 643 00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:16,480 says the Lord, because you're going to see that God is 644 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:20,920 faithful and his word works and the power of his covenant shall 645 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:24,280 be established. So Father today, today in the 646 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:28,840 name of Jesus, we give you our hearts and ask, O Lord, that you 647 00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:33,520 would cause our hearts to be ground for the good seed that 648 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:38,920 Lord we might bring forth not just 30, not just 60, but to be 649 00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:42,800 that hundredfold blessing. Father, we ask it in Jesus 650 00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:47,560 mighty name, Amen. This is Pastor Lauren Coburbius 651 00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:50,120 from Mount Zion Church. We thank you for joining us 652 00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:53,120 today and invite you to connect with our church family by 653 00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:56,880 visiting mountzion.org and following us on social media. 654 00:36:57,160 --> 00:36:57,880 God bless you.