In the book of Numbers chapter 13, it says this.
These are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the
land, and Moses called Hosea the son of Nun Joshua.
Now, this is a very important scripture because we've been
talking about people from the Old Testament.
The Bible says that our stories are written for our example and
also for our admonition. So we can look at their lives
and say, well, I want to do that.
And in some cases there are examples that we'd say, I don't
want to do that. But Joshua is one of those with
a pretty skeller stellar report if you would.
And he had this amazing responsibility that God gave to
him to lead the children of Israel into the promised land.
And I talked about that last week when God instructed him,
but also encouraged him, Joshua, be strong and very courageous
because it was going to be a challenging thing to lead the
people into the Promised land. But today I want to back up the
story just a little bit and talk about a time when they were
first facing the enemy and Joshua's pardon, that Moses is
still the leader. But it's a time when they've
decided, as they've come up to the Promised land, we need to
send some spies into the Promised land so we can kind of
check out what's there. And the Bible tells us in the
opening of chapter 13 that this is where Moses gave this name
change, if you would, to Joshua. Now we are talking about the
fact that we have to understand this also illustrates to us what
the Bible calls the new creation.
How do you know what? When we're born again, the Bible
says we are new creatures in Christ.
And it was always traditional in the early charts for people when
they were baptizing or dedicating their children to
give them a christening name, if you would, which would be a name
that would be different from the natural name if you would,
because there was that always this recognition.
We wanted to keep in mind that when we're a Christian, we're a
new creature in Christ. But here Moses is singling out
this man by the name of Hoshea, and his name literally means the
deliverer. And as I shared last week, his
job wasn't to deliver the children from Egypt.
That was Moses's job, but his job would to be complete the
delivery to take them into the promised land.
And he just had that kind of a character and that kind of
personality that you could say, wow, this is a guy that's going
to be strong, He's going to be courageous and he's going to
lead the people in. But Moses gave him a name
change, if you would, and they changed his name from Hosea to
Joshua. Now the one means the deliverer,
but this means Jehovah, our deliverer.
And this is a very important concept for us to understand as
Christians because when we come into this world, we have our
natural person that we're born in.
In the natural world, we have our genetics, we have our
experiences to make us into the person that we're called to be.
And the Bible tells us in the book of Psalms chapter 139, Gods
involved in those things. He was in our mother's womb.
He fashioned the days for us when we were yet unborn with the
idea that because His call was upon us before we were born,
there would come in time when we would respond to Him and be born
again. So that we wouldn't just be that
natural person. We could be what I'd call a
supernatural person. Because once we're born again,
we have a spiritual side to us and a natural side.
And this is what this name represents.
You're a deliverer, you're a strong person.
But when you have gone to your side, wow, that's going to
exponentially increase what you're able to do.
And that's why it's important for us to understand.
And I like to talk about this a lot these days because I really
believe we're living in a time when God wants to do something
that according to the Scriptures, is exceedingly and
abundantly above all that we could ask or think.
But it's only going to be possible for us as we let God
work in us and we come to that new creature in Christ, that
reality that God has for us that we're talking about in this time
as we're thinking about Joshua and the children of Israel going
into the promised land. Now we have our own Joshua, if
you would. And I spoke about this last
week, how that when Mary became pregnant, Joseph was going to
put her away privately. The Bible says we're familiar
with that story from the Christmas season because he was
a kind and a just man. He wasn't going to marry her
because she was already pregnant.
She had committed a sin according to the law of Moses.
But the Angel Lord comes to him and begins to speak to him and
give him a clarity on the situation.
And when he does, he says this, she shall bring forth a son, and
you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from
their sins. So all this was done that it
might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the
prophet saying, behold, the virgin shall be with child and
bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is
translated God with us. And the name Jesus, as I
mentioned last week, is a special name to us.
But that's the Greek version of the name Joshua.
So when Joseph was given the name, it wasn't significant in
the sense that it was a special name.
It would have been because he would have remembered the story
of Joshua and he would have known what the name meant
because it translates from the Hebrew language as a person who
is able to do that, delivering power.
And that's why he says His name shall be called Joshua.
Again, we call Jesus because He will save the people from their
sin. And I was like to point that out
because a lot of people think God only saves us from the guilt
and penalty of sin, but God wants us to know He can
literally save us from our sin. How do we know that's a big
difference and how do you know that takes a step of faith?
Amen. And that's what I believe that
God is saying to us today. We've got to take that step of
faith where we believe that God is able to not only forgive us
of our sin, but deliver us from our sin.
Most of the sin that we have in our life is self-destructive.
And Jesus said I didn't just come to make you alive.
I have come to give you the abundant life.
Anybody out there want an abundant life, God can give it
to us. Amen.
And that's important for us to understand.
But the second part is in this particular case, that his name
wouldn't be just Joshua, if you would, but his name would be
Emmanuel, which literally translates God is with us.
And of course, as Christians, we should understand, according to
our theology as Christians, Jesus Christ was truly man, but
he was also truly God. There was the God part and there
was the man part. And that's true of all of us.
When we're born again, we aren't truly God like Jesus was, of
course. But when we're born again, how
many know we have our natural part and we have our God part as
we receive God into our heart and into our life.
And Jesus Christ lived a very normal life for the 1st 30 years
of his life, if you could call it normal when you go to Isaiah
chapter 53 and see some of the things that he went through.
But at that time he talked about the anointing coming upon him
and then he began a supernatural ministry.
A lot of times people say I wonder what kind of miracles
were Jesus work be when he was just a child.
And there's some books out there that supposedly talk about it
that were not received as a church Canon because they were
mostly recognized right away that they weren't written
inspired of the Holy Spirit. Because truly the beginning of
his ministry was supposed to start when he was in the temple.
And he said the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.
And he was quoting Isaiah chapter 61 because the Lord hath
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, the opening of
prison to them that are bound, and also to proclaim the
acceptable year of our Lord. He had a three-year earthly
ministry, but we like to emphasize how important it is
for us to understand. He also has a resurrected
ministry, if you would, because the Bible says he ever lives to
make intercession for us and he told his disciples and I will
build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against
it. Isn't that an awesome thing,
church, that we're a part of something Jesus Christ is
billing and it is a spiritual habitation.
And the Bible says that we are the living stones that truly are
a part of that. Now as the children of Israel,
we're getting ready to go into the promised land.
The Bible tells us that they sent spies into the land, just
like in that scripture that I said.
But when they sent the spies into the land, the idea was to
get a strategy of war. But unfortunately, when they
sent the 12 spies in, 10 of the spies had a bad report about the
land. And that's what this next verse
of Scripture is about, it says. But the men who had gone up with
him said, we are not able to go up against the people, for they
are stronger than we. And they gave the children of
Israel bad report for the land which they had spied out,
saying, the land which you have gone as spies is a land that
devours its inhabitants, and all the people with whom it is are
men of great stature. There we saw the giants, the
descendants of Anik. They came from the giants, and
we are like grasshoppers in our own sight.
And so we were in their sight. Now I put up here the promised
land, or you could call it the land of Struggle.
Now that's very important to understand because we have to
recognize that struggle is a part of life.
How do you know when you were born?
You were born with a struggle. If you don't know that, call Mom
and ask her about it. It's important to understand
that it's quite a process to be in travail and have a child.
And as a pastor for all these years, we've seen a lot of
people, especially our family members who have passed over to
the other side and typically they're suffering that's
involved in that. I remember an elderly pastor,
Mom Bill from the church office, trained at, She was doing a
service for the elderly people in the church, and she was quite
elderly at that time. She says.
I don't know why we have to suffer so to get to the other
side, but there often times is a struggle getting to the other
side. And if you want to be honest,
there's a struggle from the beginning to the end.
Not every day is a struggle, but how, you know, life has its
struggles. And I'm kind of an optimistic
person, and I kind of look at the good side of life, if you
would. So I remember talking to Pastor
Joe Milosek one day, and I said, you know, I've never really had
any struggles in life. He looks at me.
He said, Lauren, you had muscular dystrophy, You had
seizures. Those are struggles.
I'm like, yeah, I guess I did have struggles because I didn't
ever look at it that way, because that's just kind of my
personality, the way I look at life.
But the truth is we all have struggles, and sometimes we have
struggles that seem like they're just not going to go away.
Sometimes we look back at our life and we look at struggles
we've been through, and we can't figure out, well, what was that
all about? But we have to understand that
struggle is a normal part of the human experience.
I think that's very important in the day in which we Live Today.
Last week being Independence Day celebration, we talked about the
fact that as a country we were born in a struggle called the
Revolutionary War, and it took many years to really be free.
Indeed, that brought on the War of 1812.
But they talk a lot on the news these days.
And it seems obvious that we are very divided nation, that
there's people on this side saying this, people on this side
saying this, people on one side are saying the people on other
side are not telling the truth. And I remember one day here and
somebody saying there's never been such a divided country as
we have today. And I thought this must this
person must not remember we had a civil war church.
Our country has always had struggles and there's always
been different sides, and I really believe it's the
struggles that have made us such a great nation.
And I say that not just because I'm a patriotic American.
If you look at the world and you understand why millions of
people are trying to get across the borders to be a part of our
country, it's because we are a very blessed nation.
God is a part of that, no question about it, because the
church certainly has been a part of the struggle and has been a
very good influence. But a lot of that is is we have
had struggles along the way, and struggle is how you get to the
place where you're supposed to be.
Remember a couple weeks ago I talked about Jacob one day.
He's wrestling with the Angel of the Lord, and the Bible tells us
that the Angel of the Lord said to him, let me go, the day's
breaking. Jacob said, I'm not going to let
you go until you bless me. And of course the Angel of the
Lord said, well, what's your name?
Well, my name is Jacob. Well, it's not going to be Jacob
anymore. It's going to be Israel.
And the Bible says he got the blessing, probably not the
blessing he wanted, but the blessing that we all need to
understand is what God does in our life, and that's given us
that new name. But when he gave him the new
name, he said your name will be called Israel because you have
struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.
A part of the new creation is recognizing that life has its
struggles, but God wants to use those struggles apart as a part
of the life transformation that we are supposed to go through.
Now, when it uses the word struggle there, it's could be
implied that you're talking about a war or a real violent
upheaval, but that's really not what it's talking about.
He was wrestling with the Angel of the Lord.
And how do you know when the Angel Lord said, let me go?
And he said, I'm not going to let you go.
How do you know? The Angel Lord could have said,
Oh yeah, you're going to let me go?
Come on. That's true.
The Bible says even touch the thigh of his hip and he was
limping the rest of his life. The Angel Lord could have got
free anytime he wanted to. But the point of this is, is he
was willing to hold on for the blessing that life would have to
offer and cherish. God has called us to hold on and
I've been believing God to do some things for the 47 years
I've been in ministry and I've seen him don't do so much.
But I'm still looking for the end result, if you would.
That's why I love that song, that new song we sing because it
talks about having a vision, talks about yielding to God, but
it talks about how God is going to bring to pass his wisdom for
the church. And that's the day and hour in
which we live right now. Church.
I'm excited. I believe with everything within
me, it's like the church has come to the promised land and
God's saying to us it's time to crossover.
There's going to be a level of promise we've never experienced
before, but we have to understand there's going to be a
struggle. When the children of Israel got
to the promised land and they found out they were giants,
they're like, I don't want to do that.
I don't want to do that. It's a land flowing with milk
and honey. It's the promised land.
They were slaves in Egypt for 400 years.
They didn't really have much of A formal religion.
They just had a right called the circumcision of the flesh to
remind them that their ancestor from the past, Abraham, had
received a promise from God, had sealed it with a covenant of
circumcision and said one day you're going to get with the
land of Canaan as your inheritance.
It was the promised land, a land they had heard was going to flow
with milk and honey. So when they come to the
promised land, they have to fight with the giants.
And they're like, you didn't tell me there was going to be a
struggle involved in this. Well, that's the way it is when
we become a Christian. When you give your life to God,
your life struggles don't end. They just take a whole new
dimension as God can become involved in those.
And when we look at how God has introduced struggle, it's
important for us to understand that.
I've often heard over the years people say, you know, Christians
have to be united. We have to kind of get together.
And part of the thinking of that is we have to figure out how to
get along. So if we're going to get along,
well, you can't believe that. I can't believe this.
You can't talk about the truth. Well, I can't quit talking about
the truth because you will know the truth and the truth will
make you free. Amen, Charge.
But the point I have is that if we all do what God wants us to
do, how you know we will be united?
We might look at it and not understand how we're united
because we don't always know everything that God is doing.
But it the struggle and our differences are good because we
bring life to each other. Sometimes we bring a little bit
of a evening out to each other, but the church is alive.
Christians are God's people and God uses everyone for his
purpose. But we've got to fully follow
the purpose God has for us. Amen.
Because God introduced his struggle in the very beginning
of time. He created the natural order and
then he put mankind in the garden, said be proofful
multiple. He fill up the earth and take
dominion, and so he introduced struggle right away.
The Bible says that he created woman who was taken out a man
and she was the opposite of him. How do you know that meant a
struggle? Come on, if you're married, say
Amen. Just kind of consent to what I'm
saying. It doesn't mean you're supposed
to have a war with each other. It means that it takes a
struggle to get to the best marriage, takes a struggle to
get to the best of what God has for us.
And that's what God wants us to understand their individual
lives. There's a struggle right now to
get where God wants us. I believe that God's creating a
stirring in the land. Part of that story might be you
might be just thinking, well, I'm just not satisfied right
now. What's going on?
God says it's time to go into the promised land.
It's time to take full possession of everything that I
said I called you to, says the mighty God.
When they came to this land, they only looked at it, a
natural observation. And So what happened is they had
a natural convention. We looked at those giants and
the Scripture says, and I think this is interesting, we saw
ourself as grasshoppers before them.
And so that's how they saw us. Church, if you see your obstacle
as something that you can overcome, it's going to overcome
you. But when you see your obstacle
from God's point of view, you know that I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me.
Amen, Church. You know that no weapon that's
formed against you can prosper. And even every tongue that rises
up against you in judgment, the Bible says God will condemn
because this is the urges of the Saints and their righteousness
is of me. And so the children of Israel
missed the opportunity. And unfortunately what happened
is God said, well, you guys don't want the land, you won't
get the land. And so they wandered in the
wilderness for 40 years. God says, don't be one of those
people that says, I don't want the best that life has to offer.
Be one of those people who says, you know what, I'm going to take
the land in Jesus name, Amen. Well, that's what Joshua and
Caleb were like, it says. But Joshua the son of Non and
Caleb the son of Jephena, who were among those who had spied
out the land, tore their clothes.
They spoke to all the congregation of Israel saying
the land we passed through to spy out, it's an exceedingly
good land. If the Lord delights in us, He
will bring us into this landing, give it to us, a land which
flows with milk and honey only. Do not rebel against the Lord,
nor fear the people, the land, for they are our bread.
Their protection has departed from them and the Lord is with
us. Do not fear them.
Now it's important to understand because He says that we have to
be a people that see the potential not.
The potential of destruction. When Jesus Christ came to the
earth, he said you must be born again.
If you're born again, you can both see and enter into the
Kingdom of God. That's our promised land.
God will give you the ability to see things from his perspective.
God will give you the strength to take the land that God has
before you, Jesus said to his followers.
It's the Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
That's why if you notice in that verse, Joshua said them now if
we do what God wants us to do, he will give us the land.
You see, the struggle isn't something that we accomplished
something the struggles within ourselves to be obedient to what
God has for us and the struggle to say, I want everything that
God has for me. And the if God is well, if God
speaks, you can be sure he's going to do what he says he's
going to do Amen, Church. And so we have to be a people
that understand that God is calling us right now and this is
such a special time in God. Now.
I like what he said here. He said, and these giants are
just going to be bread for us to eat.
What what are you talking about? Well, the giants are the
breakfast of champions, as it used to say on the Wheaties box
because if you're willing to accept the challenge that God
sets in front of you, it literally becomes bread for you
to eat. It nourishes you, it strengthens
you, it has a supernatural impact on you.
Now that means you do it with God's help.
That's why when Jesus is was in the wilderness himself and the
devil came to tempt him, he had been fasting for 40 days and the
devil come to him and said, well here, why don't you turn that
bread in that stone into some bread so you can eat.
He said man does not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceeds from the mouth of God.
I'm not just going to pray that that becomes satisfying to me.
I'm going to pray that God will give me a word of instruction so
I'll know what to do. Anybody following this right
now, how we know it's time to get some real bread right now,
The world we live in today, there's so much bread to eat
because there's a whole lot of giants in this land.
But now God's saying to the people of God, it's time to be
like Joshua and get your nourishment because this is a
day when God is going to do that great and powerful work that he
promised. Hey man, give him a praise on
that. Now this next verse of Scripture
is kind of sad because it's basically God lament.
If you would preach this on a Wednesday night a few weeks back
that we have to understand that well, we're creating the image
and likeness of God. He created us with emotions.
He has emotions, He wants us to express love to Him, and when we
don't, it can feel bad for him. In that sense it says, then the
Lord said, I have pardoned according to your word.
But truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the
glory of the Lord, because all these men who have seen my glory
in the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and
I've put me to the test now these 10 times, and I've not
heeded my voice. They certainly shall not see the
land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those
who rejected me see it. What is He talking about here?
Well, after they had rejected the opportunity that God had,
God was upset and the Bible says he said to Moses, OK, Moses,
I've had my fill. Let's kind of just get rid of
this group and I'll raise up another seed after you to take
the promised land. Now, how do you know if the Lord
did that? It would still be Abraham's
seed, so he wouldn't be breaking his covenant with the people.
It'd just be a longer process if you would.
Well, Moses had this great opportunity, but he's like, no,
God, don't do that If you're not going to take them in the
promised line. I don't want to go in the
promised line. Forgive this people.
And that's when God said, OK, I'll forgive them.
I'll give them mercy, but they won't go into the land.
Now that's a very important Scripture church, because a lot
of people want God's mercy, but they don't want his empowerment.
And it seems like that's the easiest way out.
Oh, let God's grace come and forgive me.
Yes, but you're missing on the promised land.
You're missing out on the inheritance.
You're missing out on the things that God has for you.
And God's missing out on a people.
And that's what's so very important because God goes on to
say, well, one of these days the glory of the Lord is going to be
revealed in all flesh, is going to see it together.
What did he mean? One of these days there's going
to be a people who say, God, I'm going to take that land.
God, I'm going to go in and do what you have told me I can do
with your help. And what does that do?
That reveals the glory of God. Church, I want to do something
in my life that brings glory to God.
That means ask me something more than Lauren Corubius can do
himself, but something that with God, I can know that all things
are possible. And I hear that lament when I
pray because I've been for 47 years.
And Lord, I want to be that person that doesn't let you
down. I don't want you to say, OK, you
can just have my mercy. No, Lord, I want to be like
Joshua and Caleb. I want to go in and take the
land that you promised me. Amen Church.
He's calling us there. Now this is an interesting
scripture because he says, but my servant Caleb, because he has
a different what speared in him and has what followed me fully,
I will bring into the land where he went and his descendant shall
inherit it. Now this is where it's good to
see what the definition for Caleb is in the original Hebrew.
It basically says he was like an attack dog.
So here's courageous Joshua and his sidekick the attack dog
come. You know, they were quite a
team. I want to be a Joshua.
I want to be a Caleb. I prefer Joshua.
But anyway, this is what Caleb was like.
And why was he like this? Well, the same reason Joshua
was. He didn't have the same spirit
in its demonstration. It was he had the spirit that
says I want everything that God says is mine.
I want my life to fully represent everything that God
can do. That's number one, but it talks
about having a different spirit. Now this is important to
understand because when God created us from the earth, he
created his body and then he breathed in our nostrils the
breath of life and then we became a living being.
That breath of life is the human spirit, the candle of the Lord.
What makes us aware there's a God makes us aware there's an
us. And that human spirit of is a
very big part of what God wants to do in working in us to make
it possible for us to do something awesome in this life.
And so it's so very important for us to recognize the work
that God can do. Look what it says in Ezekiel 36
and I will give you a new heart. I will put a new spirit within
you, and I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and
give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within
you and cause you to walk in my statues and will keep my
judgments and do them. This is the Jesus plan, give you
a new heart. But I want you also know that
it's a new spirit which is separate from Him giving us his
spirit. Now that's very important
because of the first Joshua. All he could do is exhort the
children of residents like, come on you guys, let's do it.
But Jesus, our Joshua says I can do this through you if you'll
let me. He's not just exhorting us to
take the challenge. He's saying I will give you a
new heart, I will give you a new spirit.
I will cause you to fully walking if you're willing, I'm
able to do that. But you got to give me your
heart and your spirit says the Lord.
And that's why I put up here separate.
I will put my spirit in you. I will put because he gives us a
new heart, He gives us a new spirit, and then he puts his
Spirit in us. That's a beautiful experience
being born again. Amen.
Church. If we're born of the water and
of the Spirit and then open up our spirit, God will come and
inhabit us fully that we can be the demonstration of his glory
in the earth. Wow, what a plan our Joshua will
do in US. What's necessary for us to face
the life that we're facing Church.
Now this is a very important scripture because it says for we
have become partakers of Christ. If we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast to the end. While it is said today, if you
will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the
rebellion. For who having heard, rebelled?
Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
The reason we need a new heart is because in our old heart
that's been damaged by our life experiences.
For the children visible was in the wilderness.
What they did when they were going through these distresses,
they kept hardening their heart, hardening their heart.
And what happened is after a while they couldn't hear the
voice of God because it's with the heart man believes the Bible
says, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. So today, if you want to hear
God's word, hey, give him your heart.
If you've hardened your heart because of circumstances of your
life, today God can give you a new heart.
And if you've never given your life fully to the Lord, you can
surrender that today. Go to the waters of baptism and
receive the Spirit as a living God in your life.
Church, God has such a great plan for us.
Amen. Today if we will hear His voice
and let Him do with our heart. Wow, God has some awesome
things, but I also want to talk about the human spirit because
this is important. Furthermore, we have had a human
Father who corrected us, and we paid them respect.
Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father
of what spirits, and live? And remember, the divine breast
came from the Father. He's not talking about other
spheres, angels, He's talking about the spirit that's in us.
For they indeed for a few days chastened us, as seemed best to
them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His
Holiness. Now, no chastening seems to be
joyful for the present, but painful nevertheless afterward.
What does it do? It yields the peaceable fruit of
righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
How does God give us a new spirit?
Well, it's just like when He gives us a new heart.
I mean, you get a new heart, but you got to keep giving Him back
your heart. In church, the same thing is
true. The human spirit.
The human spirit is basically our subconscious self and that's
why we can't always be aware of what God is doing.
But he says the Father works in our spirit.
How does he do that? Well, when we're going through
the issues of life, when we're going through struggles, if you
would, if we give Him our heart and our spirit, then the Father
is able to work in US and produce His true holiness to
make us more like He has called us to be.
As we surrender ourselves to Him, that's when we know God as
our Father, the Father of spirits and the very breath that
He has put inside of us, our human spirit.
He begins to fashion and form into something strong like you
can and be like Joshua and the natural have a lot of hoods fit
if you would and just like wow, I'm going to be able to do this.
God can give you that. He can give you a new heart and
also a new spirit. And I love how it says if we're
trained by it now in the original new King James version
or excuse me in the King James Version, it says that, but in
the original translation it says who are exercised be it by it.
And I always like to point this out because sometimes when we go
both situations in our life and we look back at them, we can't
say, oh, that's what good came out of that.
Does anybody have a part of life you've been through?
Maybe you're going through right now and you're like, what's God
going to do with this? You might never know, but if you
give him your heart and your spirit, one day you'll realize,
wow, God gave me a new heart and a new sphere.
He made me available for him. And that brings forth the fruit
of the Spirit, which is what the fruit of spirit is.
Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and ultimately self-control.
Against such there is no law. Those who are Christ have
crucified the flesh with its own passions and desires.
So if we're going to live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the
Spirit. God says I made you alive and
now I can make you the walk the path as you surrender yourself
to me. When I first received the
baptism of the Holy Spirit as during the Jesus People
movement, and I was a part of a Pentecostal church at the time,
and we always thought that after you received the Holy Spirit,
the goal was give up control. They just say things like let go
and let God. Well, the ultimate work of the
Holy Spirit isn't that we let go just say, oh, I'm totally
surrendered. It means God gives you
self-control. He gives you the ability to make
the right choices, to walk with strength and be everything that
he has called you to be. And that's such an awesome thing
in church. I really believe with all my
heart we're living in that time. In Hebrews chapter 12 it says
this, but you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable company of angels,
to the General Assembly and Church of the first born who are
registered in heaven, to God the judged of all, to the spirits of
just men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of the new
Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling.
That speaks better things than that of Abel.
When Jesus said He was building His church.
You know, he started way back when, when He called Abraham in
the very beginning. And there's this process that
he's been building. I wrote a whole book on this
called The Descending New Jerusalem because a lot of
people think this is talking about heaven.
But when you read it and it talks about the church and talks
about the spirits of just men made perfect it, it lets you
know that this is the whole plan of God.
We have God who is our Father. We have Jesus Christ who gave
his life for us. The new covenant is forgiveness.
But then we have our heavenly Father can perfect us in our
spirit. And I really believe that we're
going to see the fulfilment of this vision.
That's why I showed the picture before church starts of the
descending New Jerusalem concerns.
I believe this is the day when God's putting on the final
touches, and a part of that is a people who are going to let God
truly give them not just a new heart, but a new spirit to walk
with power in this day. I'm going to ask everyone to bow
their heads and close your eyes for just a moment because I
believe with all my heart this is a very special time in God.
God's word to the church, God's Word to you as it's time to take
hold of the promise, take a step outside of yourself into God's
dimension to have power in your life.
Not to have a life that's out of control, but a life that's in
control that you can offer to God and let His glory be
revealed. This is an important time when
the glory of the Lord's going to be revealed and people are going
to do it many different areas of life.
It's going to be an amazing time for the glory of the Lord shall
be revealed in all flesh, shall see it together.
Why do I know that? Well, the mouth of the Lord has
spoken it, and you're chosen to reveal the glory of the Lord to
your generation. Father, as we present ourselves
fully to you, I pray Lord, that we would fully yield our heart,
fully yield our spirit, that you can complete the work in us.
We ask it in Jesus mighty name as we give you the glory.
Amen. This is Pastor Lauren Coverbius
from Mount Zion Church. We thank you for joining us
today and invite you to connect with our church family by
visiting mountzion.org and following us on social media.
God bless you.