1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,360 Again this week I want a reference from Ezekiel chapter 2 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:07,000 47, the vision that Ezekiel had here. 3 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,280 I'll read these verses first. It says, and it shall be that 4 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:13,680 every living thing that moves or wherever the river goes will 5 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:15,880 live. There will be a very great 6 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:20,000 multitude of fish, because these waters go there, for they will 7 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,160 be healed and everything will live wherever the river goes. 8 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:25,640 This would be that. Fishermen will stand back from 9 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:28,760 Engadi to Anglium. They will be places for 10 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:31,080 spreading their Nets. Their fish will be of the same 11 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:36,080 kinds as the fish of the great sea, exceedingly many, but it 12 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,200 swamps and marshes will be healed. 13 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:42,040 They will be will not be healed. They will be given to salt. 14 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:45,520 As I was sharing with you last week, this is a vision that was 15 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,760 given to the prophet Ezekiel. Now, I believe in being a person 16 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:51,720 of vision. I've shared the vision 17 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:53,600 throughout the years here at Mount Zion. 18 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,520 And having a vision is very, very important. 19 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:00,320 The Bible says without a vision, the people will go unrestrained. 20 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:03,840 So when you have a vision or you know where you're going, you're 21 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:05,920 going to stay on course if you would. 22 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:08,720 And that's what we have done as a local church. 23 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:12,280 We've stayed on the course that God spoke to us way back in the 24 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:15,840 beginning in 1978. Now this is a part of that 25 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:19,000 vision as it unfolded to us because it talks to us about 26 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,840 some very important principles that I've been talking about 27 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:24,840 since then. However, with God, the Bible 28 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:29,040 says that with God there is seasons and there are times. 29 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:32,520 There is a time for every purpose under the heavens. 30 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:36,320 And so some things are only possible at the appointed time. 31 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:39,760 So although I've been talking about this for a long time, it's 32 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:43,200 only in recent years that God said it's time to take another 33 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:47,000 step and again, to walk in the fullness of all things that 34 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,520 you've been sharing since the very beginning of the ministry. 35 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,320 So as you notice this same vision picture we shared last 36 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:58,800 week with a few changes here last week, you may have heard me 37 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:02,520 notice that on the trees that look like grapes, I'm like, you 38 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:06,160 should be something like apples. So I had them change it into 39 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,680 apples. We have a guy by the name of 40 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,920 Recess in El Salvador who is using AI to generate these 41 00:02:13,920 --> 00:02:16,120 images. And also last week there was 42 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:18,960 supposed to be a man in the middle of the river, but when 43 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:22,760 you blew it up to be big enough for this particular screen, his 44 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:28,600 face looked very scary. So I didn't remember to call him 45 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:30,560 till Friday. So rather than try to work on 46 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:32,680 the face, we just turned him around, put him back in the 47 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:37,800 picture. Anyway, if you notice the vision 48 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:42,560 here, speaking about 3 different dimensions of experience God 49 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,320 wants each and everyone of us to have, He sees. 50 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:49,240 First of all, the vision starts with the temple, and out of the 51 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,920 threshold of the temple, front of the temple, if you would, is 52 00:02:52,920 --> 00:02:56,800 flowing a river. Now from Ezekiel's perspective, 53 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:01,080 the temple was the place where God abided with His people. 54 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:05,400 In the temple, they had an innermost court where there was 55 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:08,040 what was called the Ark of the Covenant. 56 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:11,640 And on the Ark of the Covenant there was a mercy seat. 57 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:15,560 There were two cherubim as emblems on it. 58 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:19,760 But God was one who abided on the throne. 59 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:23,480 And So what he's talking about is, well, everything starts with 60 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,280 the throne of God. Now, in the Old Testament, they 61 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:29,080 saw it in the sense of it being in a temple. 62 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:32,680 But even when Solomon built this temple, he said God's too big 63 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:34,920 for a temple. But we're just kind of doing 64 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,000 this so we can show God's presence in our midst, because 65 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:41,760 how many know God sits on the throne of all the nations, Amen. 66 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:45,800 And he dwells over all the earth, and there's no place you 67 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:48,200 can go without the presence of God being there. 68 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:51,280 But it's a very important picture for us to see because 69 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:55,320 our walk with God should begin with us recognizing that God 70 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,360 sits on the throne and we've made a choice that we're going 71 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:01,440 to accept his call upon our lives. 72 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:05,000 And that's why in the early days of the Christian Church, their 73 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,280 confession was Jesus Christ is Lord. 74 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:11,040 And when they would make this confession would be at the 75 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:14,760 waters of baptism, because on the day of Pentecost, when they 76 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:17,320 said, men and brother, what must we do? 77 00:04:17,519 --> 00:04:22,000 He said, first of all, repent and then be baptized, everyone 78 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,800 of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your 79 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:28,080 sins, and then you will receive the Holy Spirit. 80 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:30,800 And as we were talking about last week, there's a natural 81 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:32,880 component. Jesus said unless you're born in 82 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:35,840 the water and the Spirit, you cannot see nor enter into the 83 00:04:35,840 --> 00:04:39,240 Kingdom of God. And so there is a natural water 84 00:04:39,280 --> 00:04:42,040 experience we have in the waters of baptism. 85 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:46,280 And there's also a spiritual baptism we go through, we call 86 00:04:46,280 --> 00:04:49,400 the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But the important thing to 87 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:53,560 understand is as the river comes out, on either side of the 88 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:57,200 river, there were trees. And those trees represent where 89 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:01,520 God wants the church to recognize he wants us to be even 90 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:05,240 in this day. Now for the last several years 91 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:08,880 now looking at church history, we've experienced what was first 92 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:12,600 called the charismatic movement. Before that it was called the 93 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:15,480 Pentecostal movement. Before that it was the holiness 94 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:17,920 movement. So it's been almost 200 years 95 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:21,120 that God's been moving by the power of the Holy Spirit. 96 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:25,920 It's especially relevant to take note of the fact that when the 97 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:30,240 charismatic movement began, which is in the early to late 98 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:34,600 50s to early 60s, there was a spreading forth of the presence 99 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:36,280 of God. The favorite scripture often 100 00:05:36,280 --> 00:05:39,600 quoted was in Joel where God says I'm going to pour out my 101 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:43,520 spirit upon all flesh. Now when I was a kid growing up 102 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:47,000 in church, we had this idea that well, you had to know exactly 103 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:49,800 how to get to heaven. So most churches had their 104 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,640 prescription for going to heaven or how to add more to it, which 105 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:56,920 is the baptism of Holy Spirit. And typically most people 106 00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:59,320 thought if you didn't believe the way they did, you were going 107 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:01,760 to hell. So we stayed friends even though 108 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:03,560 we were always sending each other to hell. 109 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:08,320 But anyway, when the charismatic movement came, all of a sudden 110 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,440 the Spirit of God is falling on churches that there's no way 111 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:15,520 we've been thought these people were saved fell upon Catholics 112 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:18,560 and priests and nuns would be shown lifting their hands and 113 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,560 speaking in other tongues and that would be the group 114 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:25,560 especially that Protestants were thinking we're not going to be 115 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:28,200 the children of God. As a matter of fact, most of the 116 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,240 Eschataldi or teach in the last time in those days was the 117 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:33,760 Catholic Church would be the horror of Babylon and all of a 118 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:36,360 sudden the horror Babylon speaking in other tongues. 119 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:40,520 It's like God you're doing something and what he did is he 120 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:44,440 indeed poured his spirit upon all the church and there's been 121 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:48,880 a tremendous, tremendous a pouring of God and also people 122 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:53,120 receiving the power of the Holy Spirit that now today almost a 123 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:57,200 half a billion people are charismatic or spirit filled 124 00:06:57,200 --> 00:06:58,720 Christian. How many know that's an awesome 125 00:06:58,720 --> 00:06:59,840 move of God. Amen. 126 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:05,440 And most of that percentage happened in the last 70 years or 127 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:08,040 so. So it's just been an incredible 128 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:12,360 thing that God has done. Now, in the Scriptures that we 129 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:16,120 read here today, it says wherever the river goes or the 130 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:17,960 water goes, there's going to be life. 131 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:21,680 And it's interesting to me because that book of Ezekiel was 132 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:27,760 written about 2500 years ago. And in those days, scientists, 133 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:30,840 they actually didn't have them back then, but people who 134 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:34,960 studied the solar system, the world and life, they would have 135 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:39,680 had no idea that the source of life was water. 136 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:44,240 But nowadays, if you ever watch anything that's going on in TV 137 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:48,240 as it pertains to scientists studying the galaxies and what's 138 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:51,760 happening in other planets, they want to find life on other 139 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:53,560 planets. And what they always say is, 140 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:55,680 well, if there's water, there's going to be life. 141 00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:58,280 And recently they said, hell, there's a planet. 142 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:00,640 We think there might be ice. And if there's ice, there might 143 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:02,040 be water. And if there's water, there's 144 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:05,400 life. Because way back then God was 145 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,480 able to say water is the source of life. 146 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:12,080 It's interesting even in the book of Genesis, chapter one, 147 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:16,280 that when the creation story starts, the Bible says that the 148 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:20,120 Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 149 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:24,480 And so Waters has always been, from the biblical perspective, 150 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:28,160 the source of life. But we also have to understand 151 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:31,800 the spiritual analogy of the power of the Holy Spirit, 152 00:08:32,039 --> 00:08:35,960 because it is the Holy Spirit that is the source of life for 153 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:38,320 us. Can I hear an event on that so 154 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:41,360 important for us to know? I also think it's funny because 155 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,680 being a person who's always read history and studied history and 156 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:47,640 church history in the time of what was called the 157 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:50,960 Enlightenment, the Renaissance, people are siding that. 158 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:53,320 Well, Christians don't know what they're talking about. 159 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:56,080 And everybody said, yeah, Christians believe the Earth is 160 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:59,600 the center of everything. And when we discovered the solar 161 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:03,680 system and realized that we all go around the sun, guess what? 162 00:09:03,680 --> 00:09:05,160 They had admitted they were wrong. 163 00:09:05,560 --> 00:09:08,920 Well, as science has moved forward over the years, how we 164 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:11,000 know? They, we know now there's many 165 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:15,320 solar systems and they tell us that they can see millions of 166 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:17,200 light years away. Which light? 167 00:09:17,560 --> 00:09:21,560 I think it's 182,000 miles a second, something like that. 168 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:24,320 I'm, you know, that's a lot of distance. 169 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:26,040 They look out there and guess what? 170 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:29,600 There's no life. So guess when God said it's the 171 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:32,000 center, it's the center, All right. 172 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:34,600 Why? Because it's where there's light 173 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:40,080 is a planet that God has had an eternal purpose for. 174 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:42,840 And to me, it's very, very exciting to think about the fact 175 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:46,080 that we get to live in the unfolding of the eternal 176 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:49,640 purposes of God. And what's even more exciting is 177 00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:52,040 we get to be a part of it. Is anybody glad you get to be a 178 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:56,120 part of God's eternal purpose? And so it's very important that 179 00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:59,200 we allow the river to go everywhere it wants to go. 180 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:02,680 And it's important in our lives as individual Christians that we 181 00:10:02,680 --> 00:10:05,600 let the Holy Spirit have way in our life. 182 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:08,960 Because it's not just about receiving the Holy Spirit and 183 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:10,880 saying, oh, I'm baptizing the Spirit. 184 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:13,240 I speak in other tongues. That's it for me. 185 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:19,640 The Spirit comes and continues to move inside of us because 186 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:23,840 God's doing something. There's more life He wants for 187 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:27,440 all of us to have. And I really believe that it's 188 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:29,760 important for us to understand even in this day. 189 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:35,240 God says, I have more life for you and I've tasted the life of 190 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:37,200 God and guess what? I want more of that. 191 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:40,360 It's good, just like the Scripture said. 192 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:43,560 I've tasted of the Lord and it is good. 193 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:46,600 Amen, Church. Now as you go forward, it says 194 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,720 again along the banks of the river, and on the side of that 195 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:52,680 we'll grow all kinds of trees used for food. 196 00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:55,600 Their leaves will not wither. Their fruit will not fail. 197 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:59,680 They will bear fruit every month because their water flows from 198 00:10:59,680 --> 00:11:03,440 the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and 199 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:08,920 their leaves are for medicine. When we think about water as the 200 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:11,680 source of life, even if you think about a river like that 201 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:14,880 there, there's something about our human experience that we 202 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,560 love water. That's why people love to buy 203 00:11:17,560 --> 00:11:20,520 lakefront homes, go on vacation next to the ocean. 204 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:23,080 There's something about the water that's exciting. 205 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:27,440 And if you notice in the chapter about that, it says the river 206 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:29,840 was flowing. And first of all, he headed in 207 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:32,760 to his ankles and his knees and his waves and said, man, you 208 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:36,000 could swim in this river. So he was enjoying it how you 209 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,760 know we can enjoy the presence of God church I do that's why 210 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:42,320 the psalmist said in his presence is fullness of joy and 211 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:45,600 I found it is true when I sense the presence of God, I'm like 212 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:50,800 God This is wonderful. It really is an Ave. whereby we 213 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:54,520 can have fullness of joy, but the trees represent not just 214 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:59,080 swimming around and enjoying the river, it's allowing yourself to 215 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:04,720 soak up the river and to allow God to do something in you that 216 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:10,200 produces life for other people. It says these trees are going to 217 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:14,240 be food and medicine Church. We're living in a world today 218 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:17,640 where the church needs to be the food and it's medicine. 219 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:20,840 Amen. The world is sick and God has a 220 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:23,240 prescription. The church. 221 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:28,120 There's something about the church, His eternal purpose that 222 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:31,280 He's working in the church and in each and every one of us. 223 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:34,200 That would be food or medicine. And that's why I explained to 224 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,440 you last week how a part of our church vision involves our 225 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:40,880 community centers. Because as a local church, we've 226 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:43,920 never been church that spends all of our money on ourselves, 227 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:45,880 not just our buildings or ministries. 228 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:48,400 We've always reached out to the community. 229 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:52,600 In this case we do through our coffee house and community house 230 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:55,160 that we have a Malden Rd. Also, our Community Center 231 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:58,320 that's on Crescent Lake Rd., so that we can reach out to the 232 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:01,280 community as well. Again, these are available for 233 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:05,280 us, but it's an endeavour to reach out to the world in order 234 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:08,640 to give them life. And we do that also through the 235 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:14,080 churches we've established in San Salvador and Maravatia, 236 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:17,120 Mexico, and also in Havana, Cuba. 237 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:19,840 And we support the work in Havana. 238 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:22,640 And I always like to see what's happening in the world church 239 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:26,440 because, you know, our church there in Havana, they say it 240 00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:29,360 doesn't even matter if you have money because there's nothing to 241 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:32,960 buy. Communism is such a failed 242 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:37,600 system that even with money, you don't have anything you can buy. 243 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:39,720 And so that's how desperate it is. 244 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,600 And we've literally provided them with food. 245 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:45,880 But also, we believe the message is food and medicine for the 246 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:46,720 island. Amen. 247 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:50,280 Church, we are extending ourselves in all these different 248 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:52,720 ways. But today I want to share the 249 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:56,120 same thing, but talk about how it applies to us individually 250 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:59,680 because this is so important that we'd understand that God 251 00:13:59,680 --> 00:14:02,480 has something he's doing in each and every one of us. 252 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:06,840 That is that God is doing something for you, but also for 253 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:11,320 others as well. I share this a couple years ago 254 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:13,760 and reference that every once in a while, but we have our first 255 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:17,800 fruits offering to reach out to the community and to these other 256 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:21,400 nations because God wants us to be a people that reach out. 257 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:25,640 But Abraham was a man of faith and one day the word of the Lord 258 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:28,440 came to him and he said, Abraham, he said, I want you to 259 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:31,120 leave your country, your kindred and all you know, and go to a 260 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:32,960 land that afterward I will show you. 261 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:36,640 I will bless you. Matter of fact, I'll, I will 262 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:39,480 even bless people that bless you and I will curse people who 263 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:42,880 curse you. But in the third level of the 264 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:46,960 promise, he says, and through your seed, all the nations of 265 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:50,400 the earth shall be blessed. And that's why in this picture, 266 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:54,000 when it comes to the trees, it isn't what you're taking in for 267 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:56,560 yourself. It's what you are making 268 00:14:56,560 --> 00:15:00,320 available for other people. And this is so important in the 269 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:04,800 story I read to in the Gospel of John, it's an incredible chapter 270 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:07,280 to read from start to finish. And I could just pick out 271 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:09,680 certain verses because it's one of the longest chapters in the 272 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:13,280 New Testament. And it starts out with Jesus 273 00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:18,040 ministering to 5000 people and after he's done, they're all 274 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:20,440 hungry, but there's no food service available. 275 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:23,800 So he says to his disciples, well, what can we do about this? 276 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:26,720 And they said, well, all we have is just these few loaves and 277 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:29,160 fishes. Jesus said, start giving it 278 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:32,360 away. And the Bible tells us that a 279 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:36,320 miracle occurred so that everybody got enough food and 280 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:38,720 there was even food leftover. How many God will you serve a 281 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:40,320 miracle? Word in God, Amen. 282 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:44,880 Amen. What's interesting is the story 283 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:48,920 I picked up in verse 26. Jesus has found out that the 284 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:51,920 crowds had followed him. He actually tried to get away 285 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:54,600 from the crowds, even got in a boat and went across the river 286 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:57,160 or the lake to do that because he's like, we, we need to get 287 00:15:57,160 --> 00:16:00,200 away from this crowd. It, it was just so pressing and 288 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:04,840 yet they still followed him. And so they start talking to him 289 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:08,280 and asking questions and Jesus had a word of knowledge and a 290 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:11,440 discernment in the situation. He said, now you guys aren't 291 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:13,680 following me because you want to see miracles. 292 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:18,440 You're, you're following me because you ate the bread and 293 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:21,400 was satisfied. And he was pointing out 294 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:25,440 something very important. And that is well, you are just 295 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:27,880 really looking for something for yourself. 296 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:31,160 You're not even looking for miracles because of what it can 297 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:33,280 do for the message and what's happening. 298 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:35,480 You're just so focused on yourself. 299 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:38,600 Now, this is an important observation that he had with 300 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,040 them because how you know, God doesn't want us to be 301 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:43,520 self-centered, He wants us to be God centered. 302 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:45,920 And so we have to get out of ourselves. 303 00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:49,680 Now, when we first come to the Lord, it's a whole lot about us 304 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:53,320 because when you first come to the Lord, the offer is if you 305 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:55,680 receive Christ, you can have eternal life. 306 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:58,200 How we know eternal life is awesome, Amen. 307 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:01,800 When we die and we know that we have another life that we're 308 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:04,359 going to live in a whole nother dimension, that's great. 309 00:17:05,079 --> 00:17:08,040 When I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and like I was 310 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:10,880 talking about experience the presence of God and the joy 311 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:13,800 abroad begin to manifest spiritual gifts. 312 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:15,359 I'm like, wow, this is wonderful. 313 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:19,000 And so there's so much about the Holy Spirit that is again 314 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,400 awesome. So God has plenty for us. 315 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:24,520 Just like he had a land for Abraham and he also had 316 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:27,000 blessings for Abraham. But he said you got to 317 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:30,480 understand something, Abraham. In the end, it's about you 318 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:34,640 becoming a blessing. It isn't about what's in this 319 00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:39,840 for you, but what's in it for me, says the Lord, basically. 320 00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:44,480 And then what will be in it for the other people, The crowd that 321 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:49,280 Jesus was ministering to in the end of the story, they walk away 322 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:53,880 because they never understood. They had to go outside the ME 323 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:57,560 department and get into I'm a servant of the Most High God 324 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,120 department. And when you get to that level, 325 00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:04,160 you find the fullness of the treasure that God has available 326 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:07,720 for you. I feel within myself that as 327 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:10,480 long as I've been serving the Lord, I can say he's a good God. 328 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:12,440 He's a faithful God, He's a God, a blessing. 329 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:16,600 He's done so many wonderful things, but I I honestly believe 330 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:19,320 that he's going to do something today that's exceedingly and 331 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:21,560 abundantly above all that we could ask or think. 332 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:29,520 Give him a praise on that, but there's a level whereby we have 333 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:33,040 to reach out and expose ourselves to him in a whole new 334 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:35,120 level. And when we do that, we'll truly 335 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:39,600 become like Jesus in the world, Sons of God manifested again. 336 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:42,240 I also shared this scripture last week and want to reference 337 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:45,800 again because it talks about the fact this is the ministry of 338 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:48,600 Jesus Christ. It starts out with Jesus saying 339 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:51,040 the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because of the Lord hath 340 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:53,640 anointed me. To preach the gospel to the 341 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:56,960 poor, the opening of prison to them that are bound to proclaim 342 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:00,600 the acceptable year of our God. The day of vengeance of our God. 343 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:05,200 To comfort those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for 344 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:08,680 ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise 345 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:12,080 for what? The spirit of heaviness that 346 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:14,880 they might be called the trees of righteousness. 347 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:17,920 The plan of the Lord that he may be glorified. 348 00:19:18,360 --> 00:19:21,960 And the truth of the matter is, is God's greatest glory comes 349 00:19:22,120 --> 00:19:26,360 when we let him do something inside of us that manifests for 350 00:19:26,360 --> 00:19:28,120 the world and there's blessing in that. 351 00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:29,560 How many know that's a good exchange. 352 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:34,400 Get beauty for ashes. Get oil of joy for mourning. 353 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:37,360 Get a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. 354 00:19:37,360 --> 00:19:41,480 God, you want to do something awesome for us, and the more you 355 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:46,120 let God do in your life, the more God is glorified and the 356 00:19:46,120 --> 00:19:49,160 more you become that tree of righteousness, the planning of 357 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:51,440 the Lord. And I mentioned this last week, 358 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:53,320 and I want us to understand something. 359 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:55,920 There's more in God than just comfort. 360 00:19:56,200 --> 00:20:00,680 He wants to truly complete a work in us so that we're not 361 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:04,920 just comforted in our distress. Where we delivered from our 362 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:09,280 distress that we're experiencing this exchange that God says He's 363 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:12,160 going to do. And this is time for us to walk 364 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:16,440 in this in a whole new level so we can see the tangible 365 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:21,960 expression of the glory of God in the earth and also in our 366 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:23,960 lives. And that's what the trees of 367 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:28,080 righteousness, the planet of the Lord that he might be glorified, 368 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:31,640 is going to do in the earth. There's going to be a tangible 369 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:35,600 expression of God's glory in the earth, and it's going to be 370 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:38,360 through his people. And I really believe, like I 371 00:20:38,360 --> 00:20:42,000 said, this is a time and this is a season that things are 372 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:45,280 possible today, that we're not possible before. 373 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:49,320 When I look out at the world and I see its condition, I say, wow, 374 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:53,960 perfect conditions for what God wants to do through the church. 375 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:57,200 I'm not looking for God to Take Me Out of this situation. 376 00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:59,960 I'm expecting God to use me in this situation. 377 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:03,120 Church, we can have any influence on our world. 378 00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:09,160 Give him a praise to become That tangible expression is what God 379 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:11,240 is looking for us to do. Now I want to point out 380 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:13,400 something very important here and this isn't John. 381 00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:17,400 Again, Jesus said it is the Spirit who gives life. 382 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:21,760 The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to are 383 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:25,360 Spirit and they are life. But there are some of you who do 384 00:21:25,360 --> 00:21:28,400 not believe or Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who 385 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:31,280 did not believe and also who would betray Him. 386 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:34,680 Now I want to point out something that Jesus said. 387 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:40,040 My words are spirit. He didn't say I have the Word 388 00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:44,240 and I have the Spirit, but He speaks about something that's 389 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:47,800 united here, the word in the Spirit coming together. 390 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:52,000 I use the scripture last week from Psalm chapter one that says 391 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:55,240 if we want to be the trees of righteousness, good place to 392 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,920 look at Psalms chapter 1. Blessed is the man who says, not 393 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:02,600 in the seat of the scornful, nor walks in the paths of sinners, 394 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:05,960 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he 395 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,320 meditates both day and night. He will be like a tree planted 396 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:13,800 by rivers of living water. So we need the Spirit and we 397 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:16,000 need the Word. Can I hear it about all that? 398 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,560 But I want you to understand something, how these things have 399 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:23,440 to come together because sometimes people have a word 400 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:27,520 side and they have a spirit side and they don't come together. 401 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,600 If you would, I want to explain how you bring them together so 402 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:35,200 that we can take this dimensional walk in God and 403 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,360 walk, begin to walk in a higher level into Him than we've ever 404 00:22:38,360 --> 00:22:40,720 walked before. Now, I've mentioned this from 405 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:44,400 time to time because in our human experience, we usually 406 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:48,040 live in the world of two camps. If you're studying about the 407 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:50,680 markets in Wall Street, you'll hear about the bulls and the 408 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:54,280 bears, the positives and the negative type people. 409 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:57,440 Some how many know, some people see the glass half empty, some 410 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:00,160 see it half full. It's about perspective, Amian, 411 00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:03,560 when you get into the political realm, it's the left or the 412 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:07,240 right, liberal, conservative, and there's always this, this 413 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:10,560 pull from the two sides. And obviously it's the pull of 414 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:14,400 the different sides that brings truth together ultimately. 415 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:18,320 And so we have to understand how this is going to work as it 416 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:21,960 pertains to God. We have some people who love 417 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:25,480 subjective experiences that has to do with their emotions and 418 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:30,040 their feelings, and others who like objective intellectual 419 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:33,840 thought processes. That's their happy place if you 420 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,160 would. But God says when it comes to 421 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:39,880 the Word in the Spirit, they have to be joined together. 422 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:44,200 They can't be separated. And this is where God brings all 423 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:47,120 of us together in order to experience that. 424 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:51,120 And how is he going to do that? Well, what he says here is my 425 00:23:51,120 --> 00:23:53,320 words are spirit and they are life. 426 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:56,080 But I look out there and I'm looking at you guys and guess 427 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:57,360 what? You don't believe? 428 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:01,760 As a matter of fact, I know someone in this myths is going 429 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:04,480 to betray me. And of course, he also knew some 430 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:07,480 who had joined the crowd with those who would say crucify Him, 431 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:10,480 crucify him. So how do you bring these things 432 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:12,680 together? Well, it's in the faith 433 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:15,920 dimension. I've often shared the story that 434 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:18,760 when we were facing our first crisis as a church because we 435 00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:21,920 were looking for a building to buy that, well, we couldn't find 436 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:24,480 one that was affordable and met all of our needs. 437 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:27,200 And then we found the building we eventually purchased on 438 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:30,080 Clintonville Rd., but it was more expensive than we could 439 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:32,120 afford. God spoke to me. 440 00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:35,240 He said if you will go the way of Spirit, you'll possess things 441 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:37,240 that others have not possessed before. 442 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:40,360 Which to me that was a word that inspired faith. 443 00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:44,040 And all of a sudden I realized we may not have the money in 444 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:46,960 hand, but we have God with us. Amen. 445 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:50,880 So all things are possible. And so we have been going this 446 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:55,080 way of spirit ever since then. Because the way of Spirit is a 447 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:59,600 way of faith. The faith dimensions lifts you 448 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:03,360 above the natural experience. And that's how the Word and the 449 00:25:03,360 --> 00:25:06,400 Spirit come together. And that's why we can have a 450 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:10,160 much broader and increased perspective, if you would, 451 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:14,320 because it is through faith that we will experience this 452 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:18,080 dimension whereby God can fulfill His purposes in our 453 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:20,400 life. In Hebrews Chapter 11, it says 454 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:24,320 now faith is the substance of things hoped for. 455 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:28,600 It is the evidence of things not seen for by if the elders 456 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:32,280 obtained a good testimony by faith, we understand the world's 457 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:35,080 are refrained by the word of God, so that the things which 458 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:38,960 are seen were not made of things which are visible. 459 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:43,000 You see, in the faith dimension, we have to know that when God 460 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:45,760 speaks, we have to make a choice to follow Him. 461 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:48,920 I'm sharing this because I believe God's saying to every 462 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,760 single one of us as He's saying to Mount Zion as a church. 463 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,000 It's time for a new dimension of faith. 464 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:56,400 There's a step I want you to take. 465 00:25:57,080 --> 00:25:58,960 Perhaps in your life you can be aware of it. 466 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:01,720 Something's going on. You're facing a circumstance and 467 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:04,720 situation. And just like that song we sang 468 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:07,760 today, sometimes we're going through the fire, but God can 469 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:09,120 use the fire. Amen. 470 00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:12,560 Sometimes we're looking at a situation that seems impossible, 471 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:14,880 but with God all things are possible. 472 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:18,680 So what we have to do is say, I'm going to ask God to speak a 473 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:23,160 Word of Faith to me so that I can walk according to the word, 474 00:26:23,360 --> 00:26:27,480 but have faith to believe that with God something good is going 475 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:32,080 to come out of the situation. See, faith substitutes the 476 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:35,640 missing part, and that's important because all of us have 477 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:40,800 certain sets of skills, certain sets of abilities, but God gives 478 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:43,120 us through faith the missing part. 479 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:45,800 Now if you're out there and say, well, I don't have any missing 480 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:47,480 parts. I can do anything I want to do. 481 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:50,720 You may not want to hear even the rest of this. 482 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:55,520 Some people are happy living a life that glorifies their self 483 00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:58,720 because they're like look what I can do and world look what I can 484 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:01,880 do. Well I found out that when I go 485 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:05,120 God's way I can do things that I couldn't have done without his 486 00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:07,800 help. And I have had a very 487 00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:11,400 supernatural life from that day till this day. 488 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:15,040 I could say, wow God, you have led me the way of the 489 00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:18,000 supernatural, which is the way above myself. 490 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:20,960 And to me it's the most exciting life you could possibly live. 491 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:24,400 I can't think of a better life than the life of faith because 492 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:29,560 you can always, every day say God is real and God is at work 493 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:32,320 in my life. He supplies the missing power. 494 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:34,880 That's why from time to time I've shared with you how that 495 00:27:35,360 --> 00:27:38,440 now that I'm a little bit older than I used to be, when we 496 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:41,440 started the church, I was 23 going on 24. 497 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:45,800 When we actually started having services, I felt in some ways I 498 00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:49,720 was too young to be a pastor and in some ways I was. 499 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:53,880 But guess what? By offering myself to God in 500 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:57,840 obedience to His Word, He did for me. 501 00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:02,120 He filled in the missing part. And so I was able to do 502 00:28:02,120 --> 00:28:04,280 everything that He asked me to do. 503 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:07,520 And I always was amazed how the people twice my age would come 504 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:11,000 to me for encouragement or counsel, whatever. 505 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:13,800 Because when you're following God, that's what happens. 506 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:16,600 And I say it's been good training for me because now I'm 507 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:19,800 not quite done with my work. And now I'm not young anymore. 508 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:24,880 I'm older, not old, older. That's what my wife Bonnie 509 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:29,680 always says anyway. I find out, well, there's some 510 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:33,520 great assets in being young, but there's also things that are 511 00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:35,400 missing. But you know, there's also a 512 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:39,120 great blessing in being older. I've had some very good 513 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:42,680 experiences with God and I've learned some things along the 514 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:44,440 way. So I have something to offer. 515 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,720 And I know that God's been leading me this way for such a 516 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:52,640 long time that now I say, Lord, yes, God, whatever you ask me, 517 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:55,520 I'm going to do it. I'm going to take a nap and go 518 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:57,240 to bed at 10, but I'm going to do it. 519 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:02,240 I have scriptures for that. Because the Bible says that when 520 00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:05,800 He pours out His Spirit upon all flesh, your young men will have 521 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:07,920 visions, your old men will have dreams. 522 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:11,640 I need a lot of sleep to dream those dreams. 523 00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:16,880 Anyway, whatever it is that God has for us in life, we have to 524 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:19,600 look at it from the right perspective and understand that 525 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:22,920 He can supply the missing part. Now this is very important too, 526 00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:25,400 because it says, What shall we say then? 527 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:28,000 Shall we continue in sin that grace may about? 528 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,400 Well, certainly not. How shall we who died to sin 529 00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:34,680 live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many 530 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,560 as us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into His 531 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:41,640 death, therefore we were buried with Him through baptism unto 532 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:43,880 death. That just as Christ was raised 533 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:47,760 from the dead by the by the glory of the Father, Even so we 534 00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:49,720 also should walk in newness of life. 535 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:52,600 Somebody's thinking, Pastor Lauren, that must be an old 536 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:54,120 serving. Why is that Scripture up there? 537 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:56,640 It doesn't quite fit in. Well, it actually does. 538 00:29:56,640 --> 00:30:00,720 And this is a Scripture we often have a least partly on the board 539 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,240 when we do a baptism and talk about it, because I want to use 540 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:06,720 this as an example. Now in water baptism, this 541 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:09,640 Scripture says, why do we get baptized? 542 00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:12,960 Well, some people just say, I'll continue in sin, that grace may 543 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:15,560 abound. And the apostle said, no, wait, 544 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:19,320 look at what happened when you went into the waters of baptism. 545 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:22,320 Didn't you also experience his death? 546 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:26,360 Didn't something happen inside of you that if you have 547 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:29,720 experienced his death, you can also walk in the power of his 548 00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:30,680 resurrection? How many know? 549 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:32,280 That's the Scripture I just read to you. 550 00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:35,080 Amen. Amen. 551 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:36,360 Amen. Amen, Amen. 552 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:43,200 The point of that is whenever God asks us to do something, if 553 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:48,800 we obey by faith and have an expectation, something good is 554 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:52,160 going to come out of it. Now, when I talk about two 555 00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:56,160 perspectives and just about every Christian doctrine, 556 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:58,520 there's two perspectives that people walk in. 557 00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:01,560 And I always say to people, well, at Mount Zion, we don't 558 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:03,400 have either one of those perspectives. 559 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:05,800 We like to walk in the full counsel of God. 560 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:09,040 And sometimes that means you have two things that don't seem 561 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:12,320 to fit together. So in the body of Christ there's 562 00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,440 a whole multitude of people to say, oh, you know, water baptism 563 00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:18,040 is just the outward sign of an inward work. 564 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:22,120 And that gives them an excuse not to go to the waters by 565 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:25,000 faith. They don't realize that's what's 566 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:27,760 happening. But you know, the Bible says the 567 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:32,400 just shall live by faith says that both in the Old Testament 568 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:35,680 book of Habakkuk, New Testament book of Romans and in Romans it 569 00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:37,840 says, and we go from faith to faith. 570 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:42,160 So most people are happy to have what they call the Christian 571 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:43,520 faith. Oh, I'm a Christian. 572 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:46,400 God says, I didn't come to give you the Christian faith. 573 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:49,920 I've come to give you an opportunity to walk by faith. 574 00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:53,880 There's a difference because the walk by faith says, ah, there's 575 00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:56,640 another faith, there's another faith, there's another 576 00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,760 circumstance, another faith, There's another level God wants 577 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:01,560 to take me, another level of faith. 578 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:05,680 Can you say Amen to that church? Now other people will say, well, 579 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:09,880 water baptism is very powerful, something happens there, but 580 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:13,280 they say baptism itself is what makes it happened. 581 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:16,560 It's called baptismal regeneration and the theological 582 00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:20,480 text. But basically it's two classes 583 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:25,600 of people, 2 camps if you would, who do not have to exercise 584 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:28,920 faith. And I say, let's hear what God 585 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:33,880 says and say let's get the faith to receive it, faith for the 586 00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:38,480 water, faith to become a tree. Because this is a choice you're 587 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:41,160 going to have to make to let God do because you're not going to 588 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,800 do it just because it seems like something pastor was talking 589 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:46,800 about. There's a new life he wants to 590 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:50,600 take us to. So it's all about faith, isn't 591 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:52,200 it? That's why he said by faith 592 00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:56,440 Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death and was not 593 00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:57,080 found. Why? 594 00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:00,200 Because God had taken him for because he was taken, he had 595 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:03,280 this testimony that he what he pleased God. 596 00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:06,120 But without faith, it is impossible to please him. 597 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:09,960 For he who comes to God must believe that he is he is also a 598 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:12,520 rewarder of those who diligently seek him. 599 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:16,120 Enoch was an amazing Old Testament story recorded in the 600 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:19,400 book of Genesis chapter 5. It says, and it was talking 601 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:23,880 about his his relatives, who his father was and whose family was 602 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:26,520 and they actually go through and trace it to Noah. 603 00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:29,800 But whatever it is, when talking about Enoch, it says, and all of 604 00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:32,520 a sudden he's gone. He's gone. 605 00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:37,480 Well, the Bible says here that he was taken up into heaven that 606 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:43,240 one day God said, you know what, you're pleasing to me, come up 607 00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:44,480 here. I want to share some time with 608 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:45,200 you. Amen. 609 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:48,080 Hallelujah. That's where it was with Enoch 610 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:52,360 because he grew in his relationship with God. 611 00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:55,640 Are you growing in your relationship with God? 612 00:33:55,640 --> 00:34:00,840 You will not do that unless you take a step of faith and it's 613 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:05,200 another step and another step. And then it says, and I have God 614 00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:07,600 is dot, dot, dot. Because what is God? 615 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:11,920 Well, God is God and because he's God, he sits on the throne. 616 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,880 It all comes from him. And because he sits on the 617 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:20,280 throne, we also need to know that he's a rewarder of those 618 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:24,040 who diligently seek him. See, when you live by faith 619 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:26,440 again, when you're going through a difficult circumstance, you 620 00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:28,120 know that's not the end of the world. 621 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:31,880 You know, there's there's something that's good can come 622 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:35,960 out of this. There's another dimension of 623 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,719 life that's possible. Even if it seems like you've 624 00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:41,239 lost something. God says I'll have something so 625 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:45,600 much better if you believe that I am God and also I'm a rewarder 626 00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:49,719 of those who diligently seek me. Going back to the story here, 627 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:53,239 Jesus said to them, most the sure life say to you, Moses did 628 00:34:53,239 --> 00:34:56,560 not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you 629 00:34:56,560 --> 00:34:59,920 the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who 630 00:34:59,920 --> 00:35:02,480 comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. 631 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:06,800 Then they said to him, Lord give us this bread always And Jesus 632 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,040 said to them, I am the bread of life. 633 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:13,360 He who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me 634 00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:16,440 will never thirst. Well after he had worked the 635 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:20,880 miracles feeding 5000 with just a few loaves of bread and fish. 636 00:35:21,240 --> 00:35:25,320 It was important as he's ministering to these people to 637 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:29,920 continue to lead them into the things of the Spirit. 638 00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:34,800 And, and so he says to them, well, what are you looking for? 639 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:37,920 And they said, well, Moses in the Old Testament when we were 640 00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:41,720 hungry, because remember they were wanting the food to be 641 00:35:41,720 --> 00:35:44,680 satisfied. And Jesus said, you're not 642 00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:46,680 falling for the miracles, but for the satisfaction. 643 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:53,080 Moses, when we were hungry, he called down bread from heaven 644 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:58,400 and we were able to eat. Jesus said, well, I have bread 645 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:01,640 for you, that when you eat it you'll never hunger again. 646 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:06,120 And when you have thirst, there's a water that you can 647 00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:08,960 drink that you'll never thirst again. 648 00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:13,080 And they're like, oh Lord, we want that, we want that, we want 649 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:17,000 that. But then he says, I'm the bread, 650 00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:21,160 I'm the water. And all of a sudden they look at 651 00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:25,800 him and say what? We were looking for bread, like 652 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:27,880 Moses gave. Matter of fact, if you're the 653 00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:29,640 Messiah, you're going to give us bread. 654 00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:31,800 That's even more so. And you're telling us you're 655 00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:33,320 bread. You're not bread. 656 00:36:35,720 --> 00:36:38,920 We know your father Joseph, and we know your mother Mary. 657 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:41,920 We know your family. Don't tell us you're bread. 658 00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:44,040 You're a person, you're a human being. 659 00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:46,120 You aren't able to do these things. 660 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,480 Why were they saying this? Well, because when you're not in 661 00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:52,120 the faith dimension, there's only one dimension you can be in 662 00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:54,080 that's a natural one. And guess what? 663 00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:58,120 It's going to be your lack of understanding and you're going 664 00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:02,040 to have natural understanding rather than what spiritual 665 00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:04,480 understanding. And then Jesus said something 666 00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:08,120 that really got to him. He said, unless you eat my flesh 667 00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:10,960 and drink my blood, you can have no life in you. 668 00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:13,640 How many know that would sound gross to a natural person? 669 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:17,080 If you're looking at this from a natural perspective and you're 670 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:20,320 listening for natural errors. Jesus said if you want life you 671 00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:22,560 got to eat me. It's like we're not cannibals, 672 00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:28,440 what are you talking about? But Jesus was trying to get them 673 00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:31,600 to give up on the self-centered life, to take a step into the 674 00:37:31,600 --> 00:37:34,560 faith life. And that's why in closing, it 675 00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:38,520 says, therefore many of the disciples when they heard this, 676 00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:42,760 and these are the disciples, not just the crowd, they said this 677 00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:45,560 is a hard saying. Who can understand it? 678 00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:49,840 When Jesus doing himself that his disciples complained about 679 00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:52,320 this, he said to them, does this offend you? 680 00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:56,400 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where he was 681 00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:59,000 before? It is the Spirit who gives life, 682 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:01,800 the flesh prophets nothing. The words that I speak to you 683 00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:06,360 are spirit and they are life. You see, Jesus is warning them 684 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:09,200 about the fact that he's going to be crucified and he's going 685 00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:12,560 to go back to heaven. He says I'm, I'm basically, I'm 686 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:15,680 giving you this lesson so that you're prepared for what's going 687 00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:19,960 to come because it's going to be a earth shattering situation. 688 00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:22,280 So he's ministering to his disciples. 689 00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:28,160 You don't understand. We live in a day when the 690 00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:31,680 Christian Church by and large tells pastors and churches. 691 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:36,120 Now, remember, a lot of people, they're basically superficial. 692 00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:38,440 They don't like to spend too much time studying. 693 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:43,280 So make sure you keep your messages very simple and easy to 694 00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:46,000 understand. After all, you don't want to 695 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:48,040 chase people off. And if you want to have a big 696 00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:54,160 church, keep it simple. Then others say, well, make sure 697 00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:57,280 whatever you do, you don't offend people because if you 698 00:38:57,280 --> 00:38:59,680 offend them, not only will they leave, they're going to talk 699 00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:01,960 about you. How many know we live in a world 700 00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:06,760 when people get offended, they talk about you, social media and 701 00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:10,920 everything. Jesus wasn't worried about that. 702 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:14,600 Your problem isn't that I'm going to explain this to you 703 00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:18,080 more. And the problem isn't that I'm 704 00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:21,640 offensive to you. The problem is you have to make 705 00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:26,520 a choice. Will you decide to live by faith 706 00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:30,240 or will you just live in your natural understanding? 707 00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:33,400 Can we all please bow our heads and close our eyes before the 708 00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:38,040 Lord because church, God is challenging us? 709 00:39:38,880 --> 00:39:49,480 This is a time when never before has the world faced the issues 710 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:53,560 and situations it faces today. And actually, that's just common 711 00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:56,920 sense. The world changes, but there's 712 00:39:56,920 --> 00:40:02,520 going to be some trying things. A lot of people are being shaken 713 00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:06,200 by the events of now, and a lot of people are experiencing the 714 00:40:06,720 --> 00:40:15,240 sense of distress. But God said I've called you, I 715 00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:20,440 want to take you. To the faith dimension, some 716 00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:22,680 have been struggling with your understanding, struggling with 717 00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:25,960 your understanding. This isn't supposed to be 718 00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:29,320 understood. It's to be believed by faith. 719 00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:33,600 And that isn't just say, OK, I'll accept that. 720 00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:35,160 It's God. Give me faith. 721 00:40:37,720 --> 00:40:40,680 I know I may not understand it all, but I need faith. 722 00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:47,000 By grace you have been saved through faith that not of 723 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:49,480 yourself. It is the gift of God. 724 00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:55,160 Sometimes people even get offended by God and sometimes 725 00:40:55,160 --> 00:40:57,400 they'll just leave church, but other times they'll just stuff 726 00:40:57,400 --> 00:41:00,720 it down that you're carrying it with you. 727 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:06,440 Jesus said now's the time I'm calling you not to carry 728 00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:10,120 anything. I'm telling you I want to get 729 00:41:10,120 --> 00:41:13,040 rid of your ashes. I want to get rid of your 730 00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:18,120 heaviness. This isn't a time to mourn. 731 00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:22,360 This is a time to have expectations, says the mighty 732 00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:26,800 God. And this is Scripture. 733 00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:33,360 If you're willing, he is able. Father, in the name of Jesus, I 734 00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:36,920 pray even that as we take communion today that the eyes of 735 00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:44,360 our understanding would be open, that we will begin to receive 736 00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:50,320 faith to believe. Jesus said unless you become 737 00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:54,480 like little children, you can no wise enter into the Kingdom of 738 00:41:54,480 --> 00:42:00,040 heaven. Let him do something. 739 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:05,480 Simply open up your heart to him. 740 00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:10,520 Hallelujah Jesus. Thank you. 741 00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:15,600 Thank you, Father. This is Pastor Lorne Corbubius 742 00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:18,160 from Mount Zion Church. We thank you for joining us 743 00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:21,160 today and invite you to connect with our church family by 744 00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:24,920 visiting mountzion.org and following us on social media. 745 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:25,920 God bless you.