1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,080 Well, I want to open with the Scripture we've been talking 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:06,440 about for a few weeks around here, Ephesians 514 Therefore he 3 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:11,520 says, awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will 4 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:15,160 give you light. We've been talking about how 5 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:18,400 important it is for us to understand about an awakening. 6 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:23,160 the United States of America as a country has had four great 7 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:25,960 awakenings and one of the reasons our country is so 8 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:27,400 blessed. I would say certainly the 9 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,840 primary reason is it because spiritual awakenings that 10 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:34,320 happened in the church began to impact the nation. 11 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:37,240 I believe it's so important that we would understand about 12 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:38,720 awakenings. That's why I've been talking 13 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:41,240 about it, because I believe what Jesus said. 14 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:45,560 He said you are the light of the world, and if you have a light, 15 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:50,240 don't hide it under a bushel basket, but put it on a hill so 16 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:53,240 that everybody can see it. You are the light of the world, 17 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:57,040 so let them see your light by seeing your good works. 18 00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:59,440 And also he said, you are the salt of the earth. 19 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:02,520 At Mount Zion, we have especially taken this to heart 20 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,360 as God has called us over the years as a part of our vision to 21 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,000 understand this is Christ's vision for the church. 22 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:10,480 It has to be ours. So an awakening is when the 23 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:13,400 church does arise and shine so the glory of the Lord can be 24 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:17,120 seen upon us and then impacting the world in which we live. 25 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:20,720 And so it's important for us to understand about awakenings. 26 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:23,480 Now this verse tells us something very important. 27 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:25,840 It talks about awakening and arising. 28 00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:29,400 Now the Bible tells us in the book of Ephesians chapter 2 that 29 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:33,360 you were once dead in your trespasses and sins and then 30 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:35,400 what happened is Christ died for you. 31 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:39,640 And when you became a Christian, literally you rose from the dead 32 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:41,640 just like Jesus rose from the dead. 33 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,640 And that's why we repeat the scriptures baptism. 34 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:47,440 How do you know that when you're alive you have risen from the 35 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:49,040 dead? You are spiritually alive. 36 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:51,360 How many can say today you're spiritually alive? 37 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,600 Give the Lord a praise. If you're alive, you will clap. 38 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:57,680 If you're alive, you will clap. Come on, let me see you clap 39 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:00,520 your hands. O you people shouting to God 40 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:04,880 with the voice of triumph. We are a lot now. 41 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,360 Not only is it important for us to be alive, we have to 42 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:10,520 understand when you're dead, you really can't do anything for 43 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:12,600 yourself. So that's God's choice. 44 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,440 And then we have to just respond to God's choice. 45 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:20,320 Now, an awakening is a little different than that because an 46 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:24,400 awakening is when you are sleeping, it says, because 47 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:27,520 you're already made alive, but you're not fully conscious of 48 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:30,840 everything that God wants to do in your life or fully conscious 49 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,200 of how you can respond to what God has for you. 50 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:39,120 And that's when we have to realize this part Race, in order 51 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:43,040 to come to pass, requires us to respond to it. 52 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:46,680 So an awakening comes because people have responded. 53 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,120 Now, again, in American history, we've had four great awakenings. 54 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:52,800 And the first one was when they preached about being born again. 55 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:55,000 It really led to the birth of our nation. 56 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,880 Good outcome, Born again, Birth of a nation. 57 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:02,320 The Second Great Awakening happened in the 1800s and the 58 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:06,440 emphasis then was on a Christian lifestyle and how important it 59 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:11,000 was to let God stir you to the point where you would say I'm 60 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:13,920 going to not only believe in God, I'm not only made alive, 61 00:03:13,920 --> 00:03:16,360 I'm going to respond and my life's going to show it. 62 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,600 There was a guy by the name of Charles Finney who was what they 63 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:23,000 called a revivalist at the time, who went around the country 64 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:27,400 speaking about revivals. He believed very strongly that 65 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:31,080 we have to recognize our responsibility. 66 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:34,240 And so we actually said to people, you know what, You can 67 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:36,720 create a revival. You don't need to wait around 68 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:40,360 for God to revive you. Recently in the news, there was 69 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:46,760 about a rumor or reports about a revival in a school in Florida. 70 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,440 And you hear about these revival reports from time to time. 71 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:51,320 People want to run to the revival. 72 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:53,920 And if you're dead, you need to be revived. 73 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:56,600 Amen. But an awakening is different 74 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,680 than that because that has something to do with us making 75 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:04,720 ourselves available to God and just responding to what he has 76 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:06,760 for us. And so although what Charles 77 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:10,400 Finney did was called revival, it actually was awakening people 78 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:13,440 because his message is you are a Christian, what are you going to 79 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:16,360 do about it? And so he created the atmosphere 80 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:19,560 for a great change to come to pass and that's what I believe 81 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:21,760 God is saying to us as a people today. 82 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:24,720 Two weeks ago when I was preaching last, I talked about 83 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:28,280 my generation, the Baby Boomer generation, because that was a 84 00:04:28,280 --> 00:04:31,240 part of what was called the 4th Great Awakening in our country 85 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:36,760 that started in the 1960s. Now that revival and awakening, 86 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:39,800 if you would, did not really have the greatest impact on our 87 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:40,760 nation. In many ways. 88 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:44,040 It seems like our nation has got it worse in many different ways, 89 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:48,880 but God showed me how well what happened in that time is there 90 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:51,880 was an awakening and people began to realize how important 91 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:55,320 it was to make a choice to follow God fully, even if it 92 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:58,440 meant changing churches. And that's what really happened. 93 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:01,760 And I shared how that in the 1960s, fifty percent of 94 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:04,320 Americans who went to church went to what was called mainline 95 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:06,960 denominations. But what happened to a lot of 96 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:09,760 the mainline denominations? Many of them were influenced 97 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:13,360 what was called the social Gospel in the early 1900s. 98 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:17,200 And a lot of them got more into social gospel than they did the 99 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:20,080 gospel. And what happens is they left 100 00:05:20,280 --> 00:05:22,440 the word. Well, guess what happened? 101 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:25,480 The baby junior generation left those churches. 102 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:30,120 And so now they represent only 10% of our church attenders, if 103 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:32,360 you would. And it's important to understand 104 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:34,640 that sometimes you just gotta make a choice. 105 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:38,760 I'm gonna follow God, Amen. And so the awakening was 106 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:41,760 actually something that happened among Christians to realize 107 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:44,400 we're not gonna let our church go in the direction, we're not 108 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:48,520 gonna preach the word anymore. Big impact in that time was the 109 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:51,680 charismatic movement. Literally 500 million people, 110 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,280 they say, have been baptized in the Holy Spirit in the last 111 00:05:54,280 --> 00:05:56,600 generation. So that was an awakening where 112 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:59,840 people out of many different denominations realize, hey, we 113 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:01,640 need to have an experience with the Holy Spirit. 114 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:05,480 So it was an amazing awakening, A little bit different, but I 115 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:08,680 believe that God used all of those years to prepare us for 116 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:12,320 such a time as this. Now it's time for an awakening 117 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:14,040 that's going to impact our world church. 118 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:17,640 And God is calling it say man. And I believe this is such an 119 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:21,000 important time for us as a local church and for each and everyone 120 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:25,400 of us Christians to realize God saying it's time to wake up and 121 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:28,840 it's time to let yourself be woken if you would, so that you 122 00:06:28,840 --> 00:06:32,280 can awaken to the power of God in a whole new way. 123 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:36,720 He said awake, arise, and Christ will give you light. 124 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:39,640 And so receiving the light is when you receive what God is 125 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:41,600 speaking. That's what happened in the last 126 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:43,800 generation. People were willing to follow 127 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:47,400 God for more of the Holy Spirit, follow God if it meant I have to 128 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:49,880 do this if I'm gonna go to church that preaches the Word. 129 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:52,800 And now God has the church set up. 130 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:56,080 A lot of people look at those statistics and say, oh, the 131 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:57,640 country is losing their spirituality. 132 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:00,320 No, we haven't. We just the serious ones know 133 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:01,360 who they are. Amen. 134 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,400 And it's so important for us to know that because God's saying 135 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:08,440 this awakening time is upon us and we need to respond as never 136 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:11,040 before to that which God is doing in the earth. 137 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:14,240 Now I have shared this many times and I want to repeat it 138 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:16,480 again. From Hosea chapter 6, it says, 139 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:20,000 come, let us return to the Lord, for He is torn, but He will heal 140 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:21,800 us. He has stricken, but He will 141 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:24,880 bind us up after two days. What will He do? 142 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:27,680 Revive us. So that's the revival. 143 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:31,600 But this is the third day, this is the new day, and on the third 144 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:35,760 day He will what, raise you up, that you may live in His sight? 145 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:39,120 Let us know. Let us pursue the knowledge of 146 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:41,360 the Lord. His going forth is established 147 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:44,280 as the morning. He will come to us like rain, 148 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:47,360 like the latter and former rain to the earth. 149 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,080 I believe that I've been prophesying this for a long time 150 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:53,960 so that we would be prepared for such a time as this. 151 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:56,360 And that's why I have up there. Let's do this. 152 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:58,880 Let's be a people of the third day. 153 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:02,520 Let's be a people that say, God, I'm alive, but I want to be 154 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:04,880 awakened. I want you to give me light. 155 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:05,480 Amen. Lord. 156 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:08,280 I want to see something new that I haven't seen before. 157 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,400 It's what the Bible calls being established in the present truth 158 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,800 so I can move fully into all the things that you have for me. 159 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:20,800 Now this move of God is about growing in the knowledge of God. 160 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:23,680 He said, I'm going to come to you like the rain, the former 161 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:25,560 rain and the latter rain together. 162 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:29,080 What's going to rain upon us is a greater understanding of who 163 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:31,840 our God is. And this is so important that we 164 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:34,600 would see this because there's something that you don't know 165 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:36,679 about God yet that God's going to show you. 166 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:41,679 I remember and I was just a kid hearing them say in church, you 167 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:44,720 need to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 168 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:47,000 So I'm like, Amen, I want to do that. 169 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:49,960 Well, in time I found out there were a whole lot of people who 170 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:54,280 responded to that by having a personal experience, but they 171 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:58,400 never built a relationship. Well, for me, the relationship 172 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:00,800 was everything and partly was out of need. 173 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:04,000 I needed God and I wanted every bit of him that I could. 174 00:09:04,560 --> 00:09:09,560 And truthfully, I've been on a journey all these many years and 175 00:09:09,560 --> 00:09:13,640 even to this day, I can say it's a growing relationship. 176 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:16,600 And I really believe there's something happening today that 177 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:19,280 wasn't possible for me or or anybody else. 178 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:24,040 But now God saying it's the day, it's the time, it's the season. 179 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:29,760 Stir yourself to respond to God and let Him raise up this next 180 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:33,560 generation that's going to be awakened and have an impact on 181 00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:36,480 our country and our community and our families as never 182 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:38,360 before. It's the time church. 183 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,480 Amen. Growing in the knowledge of the 184 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:43,400 Lord, that's so vitally important. 185 00:09:43,680 --> 00:09:46,600 In First Corinthians chapter 13 it says when I was a child, I 186 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:50,440 spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a 187 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:54,560 child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 188 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:58,000 Right now we see in the mirror dimly, but then what? 189 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:02,040 Face to face now I know in part and then I shall know just I 190 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:05,760 also am known and now abide faith, hope, love these three. 191 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:08,320 But what the greatest of these is love. 192 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:11,880 How do you know God is love? And that's important for us to 193 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:14,080 understand. And we have to know what Jesus 194 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,400 said. The whole sum of the law and the 195 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:19,640 prophets was love the Lord your God with all of your heart and 196 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:22,400 your neighbor as yourself. So there's a new dimension of 197 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:25,920 love that we're going to walk in, in our relationship with God 198 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:29,040 and also in our walk with each other. 199 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:33,040 Now, in order to get there, we have to lay aside immature 200 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:35,560 perception. Now, this is very important 201 00:10:35,560 --> 00:10:38,880 because when you are born and you're just a little child 202 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:42,640 having no knowledge, no real experiences, your perception of 203 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:46,080 your world is certainly not exactly as it should be. 204 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:50,200 And often times that's why you're more motivated by things 205 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:54,760 like fear and security needs because, well, what do you know 206 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:57,320 about life? You just know that you need your 207 00:10:57,320 --> 00:10:59,800 parents and you need somebody to take care of you. 208 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:03,840 But as you mature and you begin to grow in the natural, so you 209 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:07,320 become aware of the fact that life isn't like you once 210 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:11,280 perceived it, but as you grow and develop, it changes your 211 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:14,400 perception. Now, the same thing is true or 212 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:17,240 should be true as Christians. If you're growing in your 213 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:20,920 relationship, what is going to change is your perception. 214 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:24,640 The way you look at the world, the way you look at God and the 215 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:27,520 way you look at yourself. And this is very important 216 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:31,160 because what it says there, it says right now, and this is the 217 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:33,560 apostle Paul speaking about this a very long time ago. 218 00:11:33,560 --> 00:11:36,600 He said, well right now you're looking in a mirror and it's 219 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:40,160 kind of like dim. One day you'll come to the point 220 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:43,360 where you'll see God face to face and not only will you see 221 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:47,760 him as he is, but you'll be known as you are. 222 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:49,240 Now. This is so important to 223 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:53,000 understand because when you're moving in God and your knowledge 224 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:55,600 of him begins to grow and you begin to see him more clearly, 225 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:59,920 guess what happens? You become more the person that 226 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:03,160 you were called to be, the person that you were known to 227 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:05,000 be. And so there's something that's 228 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:09,000 transformative in our walk with God, that's transformative in 229 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:12,280 our life, and that's what God is calling us to today. 230 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:15,240 And just like the scripture in Hosea talks about seeing God 231 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:18,880 face to face, something that you'll know of him, something 232 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:22,920 that you'll experience of him that you never knew before. 233 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:27,080 And that's why this verse in Daniel Chapter 11 is so vital, 234 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:29,960 important because it talks the top about a time of great 235 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:33,440 persecution and struggle for the children of Israel in this 236 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:36,440 particular case. And then he says those who do 237 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:39,880 wickedly against the covenant, he will corrupt with flattery. 238 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:42,840 In other words, there will be a king that's going to use his 239 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:45,440 influence to get the people to turn from God. 240 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:49,600 But the people who what know their God, this is very 241 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:52,280 important. Those who know their God shall 242 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:55,640 be strong and they will carry out exploits. 243 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:58,600 That means they're going to do amazing things, supernatural 244 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:00,400 things, church. That's where we're called right 245 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:03,080 now. Those are the people who 246 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:06,640 understand, shall instruct many, yet for many days they shall 247 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:10,560 fireball the sword and flame by captivity and by plundering. 248 00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:13,600 In other words, it's going to be a desperate time. 249 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:17,360 But if you turn yourself to the Lord, you're going to be able to 250 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:19,680 know Him in a way that you've never known Him. 251 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:23,280 It's not only going to make you strong, but it's give you 252 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:25,600 understanding so much so that you're going to help other 253 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:28,920 people get through those times. And that's why I said in many 254 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:31,360 ways that the darkness of this time is quite dark. 255 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:34,920 But most importantly is we're in such a transformative time. 256 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:37,560 There's so many changes going on in the world. 257 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:41,440 And I believe that God is behind them because he'd said to me 258 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:43,720 many years ago, get ready because I'm going to shake 259 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:45,560 everything that's going to be shaken. 260 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:49,360 It can be shaken and it's not going to be the way it used to 261 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:51,160 be. So be prepared because I'm at 262 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:54,160 work, says the Lord. Maybe even in your own personal 263 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:57,120 life, there's a time of shaking. God wants you to know he is 264 00:13:57,120 --> 00:13:59,080 still the Lord of your life. Amen. 265 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:02,240 And So what we have to do is look to him. 266 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:05,680 Now what I put up here is 2 words and that is knowledge 267 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:08,920 versus acquaintance. Now this is where the maturity 268 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:11,880 level comes in. You can have an acquaintance for 269 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:16,680 net many, many years and never really get to know them because 270 00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:19,240 you might see their life, you might see their actions. 271 00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:24,160 But if you're basing everything you see upon your perception, 272 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:26,560 you're not really going to get to know the person. 273 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:29,680 You're going to see them as you see them. 274 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:33,240 You'll see them based on your life experiences, based upon 275 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:36,280 your knowledge, and so they will be an acquaintance, but 276 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:39,520 everything you know about them will be from your observation, 277 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:42,200 and you might not even know the person at all. 278 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:45,920 That's just like when two people get married and they begin to 279 00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:48,400 develop a relationship. How do you know? 280 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:53,320 You get to know each other over time and it's more than just an 281 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:56,680 acquaintance, although some people just stay distant from 282 00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:59,000 other people. But God says don't just be an 283 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:01,320 acquaintance, get to know each other. 284 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:04,320 This is such an important word in the Old Testament. 285 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:08,480 The Bible says that Adam knew Eve and Shubar Cain because the 286 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:12,560 word know and knowledge in the Old Testament certainly should 287 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:15,560 be seen in the New Testament has to do with something that's more 288 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:19,400 about intimate experience. And with that comes 289 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:22,760 understanding. So we can have understanding of 290 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:25,000 God. We can have understanding of 291 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,160 ourselves, we can have understanding of other people, 292 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:32,040 but we have to be willing to allow ourselves to be taken to a 293 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:35,720 place that really is above where we are right now. 294 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:40,160 And the world needs you to be who God has called you to be. 295 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:44,560 The world needs Mount Zion to be everything that God has called 296 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:47,520 us to be. And I know we will because He is 297 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:50,280 faithful who has called us. Amen, Church. 298 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:55,280 And I know that just as God's working in Cuba right now, and 299 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:58,240 he certainly did in El Salvador, he has planted us in those 300 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,760 countries as well as Mexico. Because I tell you, there is 301 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:04,000 something going to happen in the whole world. 302 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:06,680 The greatest harvest we've ever seen is going to begin to come 303 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:11,000 forth. Amen, Church, But it's a people 304 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:14,960 who are strong and who have understanding that are going to 305 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:19,560 do the exploits that are so vitally important in this great 306 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:22,720 day of the visitation. Now look what it says here in 307 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:26,240 Genesis 1. Then God said, let us make man 308 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:29,040 in our image and according to our likeness. 309 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:32,120 Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds 310 00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:35,040 of the air and over the cattle, over all the earth and over 311 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:37,360 every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 312 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:40,120 So God created man in His own image. 313 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:43,440 In the image of God. He created Him, male and female. 314 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:47,080 He created them. I put over here, we are called 315 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:51,280 to be God's partners and we are, believe it or not, a perfect 316 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:53,520 match. Why is that? 317 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:57,840 We were created in His image and in His likeness. 318 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:03,080 God decided He wanted to have some partners and He created us 319 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:07,640 with a specific purpose so that we could be His partners. 320 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:10,760 To me, that's such an awesome thing to think about. 321 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:15,400 If you really do believe in God and recognize that He has called 322 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:19,119 us to be His partners and that we are a perfect match if we'll 323 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:22,800 let ourselves grow into it, God says we're going to see some 324 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:25,280 awesome things. Now it is important to note in 325 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:28,280 Genesis 1 it says in the day that He created them, He created 326 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:32,000 them male and female. Now the reason that's important 327 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:34,840 to understand is because both male and female attributes 328 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:38,080 represent to us certain aspects of who God is. 329 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:41,360 We don't have a lot of time today to go into it, but of 330 00:17:41,360 --> 00:17:46,480 course, chapter 2 of Genesis says that God created Adam and 331 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:49,880 he was alone and God said I'm going to create a helper for 332 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:52,600 him. And so he gave him a helpmate by 333 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,120 the name of Eve. Now, when you go into the New 334 00:17:55,120 --> 00:17:58,080 Testament in the book of Ephesians chapter 5, it tells us 335 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:01,720 that's a picture of a natural thing that can teach us a lot, 336 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:08,200 but it's also representing to us about how God wants to have a 337 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:13,400 people in relationship with him. It's a picture of the bride of 338 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:16,200 Christ. So as partners with God, there's 339 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:19,920 something that we do together, but there's also the aspect of 340 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:24,000 it that's relationship. I remember a few years back I 341 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:26,600 was reading a book because I tried to be informed with what's 342 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:28,960 happening, all the different moves of God in the world or 343 00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:30,800 whatever. In the Church of Growth 344 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:34,600 movement, they said if you want your church to grow, don't talk 345 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:37,720 about relationships. Men don't like to hear about 346 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:42,760 relationships. Just talk about what you're 347 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:44,680 going to do. Don't talk about relationship. 348 00:18:44,680 --> 00:18:47,400 Well, I hate to tell you, we're going to preach the Bible here 349 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:52,320 at Mount Zion and we're going to tell all Christians we're called 350 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:55,040 to be the sons of God. That's a male role if you would. 351 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:57,520 But we're also called to be the bride of Christ. 352 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:01,080 We're supposed to be lovers of God and partners of God. 353 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:03,520 So how, you know, we need the whole thing. 354 00:19:04,120 --> 00:19:07,520 And so in order for us to walk in the fullness of what God has 355 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:11,400 for us, certainly we need to know God and who he is and need 356 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:16,480 to know he has made us as a perfect match if we will let 357 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:19,480 ourselves to fulfill his purposes in the earth. 358 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:22,920 Sometimes people think, well, I, I, that Christian thing don't 359 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:25,600 work for me. If you give it some time, it 360 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:27,960 will. If you let God show you who you 361 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:31,720 really are, it will. And if you let God show you who 362 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:35,400 he really is, it will. We have to make the choice. 363 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:37,680 Amen. Now having said all that, I want 364 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:41,280 to go to the opening scriptures from Genesis chapter 1 to share 365 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:43,440 with you something very important about God. 366 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:46,840 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 367 00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:50,120 The earth was without form, avoiding darkness was on the 368 00:19:50,120 --> 00:19:53,600 face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the 369 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:57,840 face of the waters. Now one of the things, and I 370 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:00,080 talked about this one time last year, I don't even remember the 371 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:02,600 context of the sermon. I talked about the gap theory, 372 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:06,200 which is a part of that verse. In the beginning God created the 373 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:09,080 heavens and the earth, and then it says and. 374 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:12,920 There was it was filled with emptiness and void and darkness 375 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:15,920 was upon the face of the deep and God was hovering over that 376 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:18,680 situation. Now this was called the gap 377 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:21,960 theory and it's something I was taught when I took Understanding 378 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:26,280 God when I was 12 years old. It was a part of our book and it 379 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:30,120 was very common to be taught the school filled Bible, which most 380 00:20:30,120 --> 00:20:32,880 everybody I knew as a kid who went to a Baptist Church had a 381 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,920 school filled reference Bible. And in the Pentecostal church we 382 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:38,160 often times had a date reference Bible. 383 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:40,840 And both of these taught the gap theory. 384 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:44,120 Now the gap theory is OK, God started creating. 385 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:47,920 There was a gap where he came and he's looking at the earth 386 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:50,520 and it's covered with water and darkness is upon the face of the 387 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:52,520 deep. And that's when God begins to 388 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:55,120 say, hey, I'm going to do something about this. 389 00:20:55,120 --> 00:20:58,000 And that's when the rest of the situation takes place. 390 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:02,320 So the gap theory allows for the fact that the earth could be 391 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:05,680 very, very old. We don't know how old, but all 392 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:09,360 we know is, well, it's been around a long time and the Bible 393 00:21:09,360 --> 00:21:12,600 doesn't tell us where in the beginning was. 394 00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:17,360 Now, I was in the early 60s, I guess you would call it. 395 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:21,160 The time frame when it most happened is a guy wrote a book 396 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:24,240 on the Genesis flood, talking about the flood of Noah. 397 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:27,880 And he was a person who had scientific background, science 398 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:32,760 background, and he saw a lot of people being swayed by 399 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:35,760 evolution. So in his mind, we had to have a 400 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:40,560 scientific perspective of creation, and he developed what 401 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,800 was called the young earth understanding of creation. 402 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:48,320 Now, a lot of people believe this today, and they promote the 403 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:50,840 concept and they almost make it sound like if you're really 404 00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:52,920 spiritual, you're going to believe in the young earth 405 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:55,760 theory because they think you believe in the old earth simply 406 00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:58,640 because you have been swayed by evolution. 407 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:01,760 You want to be able to have the allowances for what the 408 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:03,560 scientists are saying about evolution. 409 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:07,080 That's not true whatsoever. The gap theory was the 410 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:12,160 predominant theory, I should say or understand of the Bible until 411 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:17,600 the 1960s when the young earth became a bigger of presentation 412 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:21,240 out there in the body of Christ. Like I said, I I learned about 413 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:22,880 the gap theory and understanding God. 414 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:27,600 I've lived through 4 trends late or editings or re issuance of 415 00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:29,960 the book if you would, and the most recent actually has the 416 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:33,720 young earth description in it. And when we first got I thought, 417 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:35,520 well, it doesn't matter. You know, it's kind of like a 418 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,560 theory either way. But now I feel like God said, 419 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:40,600 no, wait a second. You got to understand something. 420 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:45,880 Because if you try to respond to science, to come up with an idea 421 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:50,720 to satisfy them, you might miss out on who your God is because 422 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,160 you need to know something about God. 423 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:55,400 And I'll explain why this is important to us. 424 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:58,720 And so I believe it's very important that we'd understand 425 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:01,720 there is an old earth. You want to disagree with me, 426 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:03,720 that's OK too. But there's something you need 427 00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:06,120 to learn about God in which I'm going to share with you today 428 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:08,400 that I believe is very important. 429 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:12,440 But either way, the Bible tells us that the Spirit of God was 430 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:17,280 hovering over the waters. What was he doing while he was 431 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:22,040 contemplating, if you would, what exactly He was going to do? 432 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:25,520 As these verses unfolded, we understood what He did. 433 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:29,240 But I want you to know that God is a God of contemplation. 434 00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:33,720 You could say that he's a thinking God, and we are created 435 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:35,480 in the image and likeness of God. 436 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:37,680 But how, you know, we also think too. 437 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:41,600 And I think it's important for us to understand how God does 438 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:44,120 indeed give us the capacity to think. 439 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:49,680 And he wants us to be a people who have a contemplation side to 440 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:51,600 who we are. So we're just really thinking 441 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:55,320 about things, but more than just thinking, using the word 442 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:59,720 contemplation as a dimension to it because it's not just about 443 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,000 out the mind, it's about the Spirit. 444 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:04,800 And that's where this next verse the Scripture comes in and 445 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,680 explains it more fully. First Corinthians chapter 3 446 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:11,840 says, For God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. 447 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,880 For what the Spirit Speaking of the Holy Spirit searches all 448 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:17,640 things, just the deep things of God. 449 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:20,800 So what's the Divas part of God's thought process and 450 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,080 contemplation? It is the Holy Spirit. 451 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:26,320 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the 452 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:29,240 man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things 453 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:32,080 of God except the Spirit of God. That's why it talks about the 454 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:34,520 Spirit of Lord hovering upon the face of the waters. 455 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,840 Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the 456 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:41,760 Spirit who is from God, that we might what know the things that 457 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:45,440 have been freely given to us by God and how are we going to know 458 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:47,280 them? The beginning says, well, 459 00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:49,560 they're going to be revealed to us by the Spirit. 460 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:51,600 How many know? We need the Spirit to guide us. 461 00:24:52,120 --> 00:24:55,800 We have the Word and we have the Spirit and we need to see them 462 00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:58,280 both. Now this verse is telling us the 463 00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:02,360 deepest part of God's contemplation is His spirit. 464 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:05,040 And we were created in His image and likeness. 465 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:10,440 We are bodies, soul in spirit. So we are triune in who we are 466 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:13,120 as well because we are body, soul in spirit. 467 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:15,440 But a lot of people don't understand how important the 468 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:18,760 spirit of man is. Most people are not aware of 469 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:21,240 their human spirit. But the Bible tells us in the 470 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:26,520 book of Job there is a spirit in man, the God Brother inspiration 471 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:29,640 of God gives him understanding. According to the Bible, the 472 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:33,320 deepest part of your thought processes should not be your 473 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:37,040 mind, but it should also include your human spirit. 474 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,560 And of course, that's a whole nother lesson altogether, but it 475 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:43,920 also should be with communion to the Holy Spirit. 476 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:47,480 That's why the Bible speaks in the book of Psalms, deep calling 477 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:51,680 to deep, because that's the level of communication that God 478 00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:55,040 wants to have with us. It is a spiritual level. 479 00:25:55,200 --> 00:26:00,120 It is a contemplation that God has given us the capacity for 480 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:04,240 that we need to really begin to tune into in this day. 481 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:10,640 So God is a contemplation, contemplating God, and we should 482 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:13,320 be that kind of a people because we are created in His image. 483 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:17,480 Now look what it says here. Then God said, let there be 484 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:21,720 light, and there was light, and God saw the light, that it was 485 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,280 good. God divided the light from the 486 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:27,400 darkness. God called the light day and the 487 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:31,280 darkness He called night. So the evening and the morning 488 00:26:31,360 --> 00:26:34,160 were the first day. Now first thing I want to 489 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:38,360 mention about this is that God is a proactive God. 490 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:43,320 So after he's contemplating, he becomes a God of action and he 491 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:46,960 speaks, let there be light. Now I also want to point out 492 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:50,640 verse 5 because this is a very important understanding of God 493 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:55,880 because it says that God called the light day and he called the 494 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:58,440 darkness a night. Now this is a very important 495 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:03,440 observation because God is a God of decisive action. 496 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:06,880 But as we're interpreting the Scripture, how many know we 497 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:09,280 should see it through God's perspective and not our own? 498 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:13,840 Again, when it comes to young earth theories, a lot of people 499 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:17,800 get all tied up on the idea. Where were those six days of 500 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:21,440 creation literal days, or were they eras or whatever? 501 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:25,200 Well, there's one thing that that Scripture tells us is when 502 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:29,840 God decided what was the evening and the morning the first day. 503 00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:33,160 His interpretation is a little different than ours because He 504 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:36,000 called the night or the darkness. 505 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:40,840 He called that night and He called the light day. 506 00:27:41,360 --> 00:27:46,320 Now, of course we know about night and daylight, but that's a 507 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:49,200 different than our interpretation of this. 508 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:52,080 And that's why I want to point out this next verse of Scripture 509 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:55,920 because it says, and God said, let there be lights in the 510 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:58,880 firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night. 511 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:02,400 Let them be for signs and seasons for days and years, and 512 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:05,160 let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give 513 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:08,880 light on the earth. And it was so then God made two 514 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,920 lights, the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light 515 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,640 to rule the night. He made the stars also. 516 00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:17,880 So again, the evening in the morning were the 4th day. 517 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,000 But what was defined as the evening in the morning? 518 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:24,160 Well, if you'll notice here and you're reading this, how you 519 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:28,640 know, this is describing our solar system and it was created 520 00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:33,000 and set in order on the 4th day. Now this is important to 521 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:37,120 understand because it gives us a deeper understanding about God 522 00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:40,960 because God's sense of time is different than ours. 523 00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:46,120 For you, a day is the earth rotates in a 24 hour cycle and 524 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:50,520 that's a day to us, it goes around the sun in a year's time. 525 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:54,000 So that sets our seasons and all the different kinds of seasons 526 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:56,840 that we have depending on where you're living. 527 00:28:57,200 --> 00:28:59,160 But how? Let me understand that it wasn't 528 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:03,240 until the 4th day that our concept of time was even put 529 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:04,640 together. Can you say many of that? 530 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:10,080 I'm just reading the Bible because you need to understand 531 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:13,520 something that God's sense of time is so different ours. 532 00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:16,080 And if you really want to know God, you'll let yourself learn 533 00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:19,760 this. Think about Eve in the garden of 534 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:21,440 Eden. God told me not to be the true 535 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:25,080 of knowledge of good and evil. They disobey God, God kicked 536 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:27,640 them out of the garden. Then he began to speak judgments 537 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:31,360 but also hope because he prophesied even he said the seed 538 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:35,120 of the woman is going to put Satan under her feet basically 539 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:38,040 now how many know if you were even you heard that prophecy 540 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:40,400 you're like I'm going to have a kid. 541 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:42,480 I'm ready to put my feet on serpent. 542 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:46,080 So the very next chapter, her and her husband have a kid. 543 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:48,960 But guess what? Those twins were not the ones 544 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:51,600 who are going to be the seed that would put Satan under their 545 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:53,640 feet. As a matter of fact, that 546 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:58,960 prophecy wouldn't come to pass for 4000 years. 547 00:29:59,960 --> 00:30:02,320 How do you know if he would have said thus? 548 00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:04,520 Saith the Lord. You're going to have a seed 549 00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:07,560 that's going to crush Satan under her feet 4000 years from 550 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:10,640 now. She's like, who cares what's 551 00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:14,640 going to happen in 4000 years when Jesus Christ was on the 552 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:19,680 earth when he left, he left in a cloud and he said the Angel said 553 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:21,480 he's going to come back just the way he left. 554 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:24,520 And before that even happened, the disciples were saying, when 555 00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:25,640 are all these things going to happen? 556 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:29,040 And Jesus like it's not for you. The times in the season, how do 557 00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:31,240 you know if he would have answered that and said, well, 558 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:33,560 I'm going away. It's going to be at least 2000 559 00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:35,480 years before I come back. They would have been a little 560 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:40,040 discouraged. Come on, even today people are 561 00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:42,320 saying Jesus is going to come, Look how bad the earth is, Jesus 562 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:43,720 is going to come. How many know? 563 00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:45,160 Everybody's wanting to get out of here. 564 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:51,080 And I was like, I have a job for you do is the job done? 565 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:53,520 But the important thing I'm going to point out that this is 566 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:56,280 God's time frame. I received the baptism of the 567 00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:59,080 Holy Spirit when I was 17. Immediately I began operating 568 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:01,440 gifts of the Spirit, prophecy, etcetera. 569 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:04,360 And I knew I had a call in my life and I was really looking 570 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:07,120 forward and God was speaking to me some things he was going to 571 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:08,160 do. I was getting prophecies about 572 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:09,920 what he was going to do. And I'm so excited about it. 573 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:12,600 And I remember once hearing a sermon about Joseph. 574 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:16,000 He was 17 when he was sold into slavery. 575 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:19,560 He wasn't. It wasn't till he was 30 that he 576 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:22,920 became the second to the Pharaoh and the dreams that he had came 577 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:25,120 to pass. Now think about that. 578 00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:30,200 So I was thinking about that. I'm thinking, OK, God, this 579 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:35,360 might take 13 years. I might be 30 before I see all 580 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:38,840 these things come to pass. I'll be an old man is what I was 581 00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:40,520 pretty well thinking at the time. 582 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:43,400 Now, 30 is a kind of a funny year because when you turn 30, 583 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:46,120 all the sudden you look at your life and think, I'm not a kid 584 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:50,640 anymore, I'm a grown up. And so it's a kind of funny 585 00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:51,920 time. And then of course, you're 586 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:55,240 moving through the 30s, so you're turn going to turn 40. 587 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:57,840 And usually when you turn 40, you think, Oh no, I'm going to 588 00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:01,520 be over the hill. I had a 40th birthday party to 589 00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:03,200 celebrate the passing of my life. 590 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,680 Hallelujah. A couple years ago, I had the 591 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:11,320 30th anniversary of my 40th birthday party and I'm still 592 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:12,200 here. Amen. 593 00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:17,120 Hallelujah. But I want to tell you 594 00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:19,280 something. When you're a Christian, you're 595 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:21,200 not going over a hill, you're climbing a mountain. 596 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:25,600 Can you say Amen to that church? And I'm still climbing that 597 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:29,320 mountain. And I remember when I was a kid 598 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:32,480 how God gave me promises and God spoke to me things in church. 599 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:34,160 Some of those things I'm still looking for. 600 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:37,360 But the most important motivation in my life has always 601 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:41,560 been I want to have everything in God that I can possibly have. 602 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:44,560 And so I'm going to climb. And I'm going to climb because 603 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:46,800 guess what? I know I'm still here. 604 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:48,600 So there's something more for me. 605 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:52,080 I'll be turning 72 in April and believe it or not I've been 606 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:55,760 excited about it lately thinking about wow just think I'm going 607 00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:59,000 to be 72. I used to always hear people 608 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:00,960 talk about getting old, how they didn't like getting old. 609 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:04,200 And I always use the joke and say well you shouldn't mind 610 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:06,920 getting old when you concerned, consider the alternative. 611 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:09,760 Amen. I don't like to tell that so 612 00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:13,000 much anymore because I know some people that have passed along so 613 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:15,120 I don't think it was funny as I used to anyway. 614 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:18,680 But I do feel with everything within me that God has me here 615 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:21,600 for a purpose. And I'm pressing on to the mark 616 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:24,520 of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 617 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:26,760 And this Wednesday, and I'm going to be talking about a 618 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:29,280 mountaintop experience. I really believe that God says, 619 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:31,880 Zion, you're ready for this mountaintop experience. 620 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:33,880 And so I'm going to believe that God's going to do something 621 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:38,040 supernatural in our lives if we're willing to let ourselves 622 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:41,000 be awakened and move into a new level in God Church. 623 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,480 There's something happening and available right now that's never 624 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:46,200 been available before. Amen. 625 00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:51,520 And that's why we've got to realize my time and his time are 626 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:54,320 not the same. But what I do need to do is I 627 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:57,200 need to keep pressing up and going up the mountain. 628 00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:00,480 I remember years ago going to Yosemite National Park, and it's 629 00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:03,120 amazing because you kind of go like through a tunnel as you're 630 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:07,000 going into the valley and all of a sudden you see El Capitan. 631 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:09,840 It's this amazing mountain that's solid rock. 632 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:13,120 And I'm like, Oh my gosh, that's a crazy, amazing thing. 633 00:34:13,639 --> 00:34:16,000 Every year after that, when I'd go to the church to minister 634 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:18,000 that, I'd always take somebody with me because I'd said, you 635 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,920 got to go see Yosemite. It's an amazing place. 636 00:34:21,159 --> 00:34:23,239 And you can look up there and there'd be little specks because 637 00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:26,239 there's people that are climbing this mountain, getting all the 638 00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:29,600 way to the top in church. Sometimes I feel like I'm at the 639 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:31,719 top of that mountain because guess what? 640 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:33,679 How do you know when you're at the top of the mountain, you're 641 00:34:33,679 --> 00:34:36,639 going to be kind of wore out. You're going to be running out 642 00:34:36,639 --> 00:34:39,560 of strength. But when you look back and say, 643 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:42,719 wow, look how far I've come and you look at the time to say, 644 00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:44,920 wow, look where I'm going to keeps you moving. 645 00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:48,280 Amen, church, because God's calling us to the mountain and 646 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:50,760 there's something on the mountain that God has for each 647 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:53,520 and every one of us. And on Wednesday I'll talk about 648 00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:55,080 different people that make out the mountain. 649 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:59,320 It's time for us, church, to understand there's something in 650 00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:01,760 God that we've never experienced before. 651 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:06,320 And that's why we have to know about God's time versus our 652 00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:08,720 time. Can you say Amen and why We have 653 00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:11,680 to realize that we serve a timeless God. 654 00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:15,880 And because he's a timeless God, we do have to understand that 655 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:20,440 concerning him, but also realize that we just got to keep moving 656 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:23,480 up the mountain because awesome things are going to come to pass 657 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:25,880 as we do. And that's why I put up here his 658 00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:30,520 Kingdom versus our world. When I was a young preacher, 659 00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:33,520 really, I used to always share my testimony and say my great 660 00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:38,160 testimony isn't not how big God is, but how that big old God 661 00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:41,080 that we serve became small enough to come into my life 662 00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:43,880 because I was a little introverted kid. 663 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:47,440 I was an anxious kid. I had a large family. 664 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:49,480 So to me that was the biggest world I needed. 665 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:53,200 I was just that kind of a person, small world thinking 666 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:55,760 whatever, until I received the Holy Ghost and God decided me 667 00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:58,320 taking out of my small world into something different. 668 00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:01,920 But that was always my testimony until one day somebody gave me a 669 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:04,920 word and they said, now remember your testimony. 670 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:07,400 It's a good testimony. But remember God came into your 671 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:10,320 little world to take you into his big world. 672 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:13,720 And how many know when Jesus came in, preached the gospel, he 673 00:36:13,720 --> 00:36:16,360 said repent for the Kingdom of heaven was at hand. 674 00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:18,720 He was saying to people, God has a world. 675 00:36:18,720 --> 00:36:21,320 Do you want to get in his world or do you want to stay in your 676 00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:23,880 world? Your world might be comfortable 677 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:27,480 and you might like some things about it, but God's inviting you 678 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:32,440 into his world church and it's time to move into a whole new 679 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:35,000 dimension in God. And that's why I say I'm still 680 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:38,280 on this journey because it gets better and it gets better. 681 00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:42,000 And I see something on the horizon that's I've never been 682 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:45,160 able to see before. And I tell you, I'm filled with 683 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:47,400 excitement. Last night I woke up and I was 684 00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:50,040 literally awake for three hours just thinking about the good 685 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:52,760 things of God and what he has for us to do. 686 00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:56,240 And all I can think about is it's time. 687 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:59,160 It's time. And I actually did think about 688 00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:01,240 the people that have passed on before me. 689 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:04,120 And as I was there contemplating that, the Lord says, may now 690 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:06,920 remember what it says in the book of Hebrews chapter 10. 691 00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:10,560 The earth is a theater that God has all the heavens looking at. 692 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:15,680 And when people die, they don't disappear. 693 00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:19,120 They go from the stage to the audience. 694 00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:22,320 It's what the Bible calls the COD of witnesses. 695 00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:25,160 And I know that everybody that's been a part of this ministry 696 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:27,480 that has been here before me, they're in the cloud of 697 00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:30,720 witnesses and they're saying, keep on going, Mount Zion, keep 698 00:37:30,720 --> 00:37:33,840 on going, Lauren, go, Rubius, keep on going because God has 699 00:37:33,840 --> 00:37:38,160 something for you that is so awesome. 700 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:41,000 And the cloud of witnesses is cheering us on. 701 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:42,880 Are we going to move on? I hope we are. 702 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:45,440 I said all that to say this simple thing. 703 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:49,160 Believe it or not, Ephesians chapter 1 says this. 704 00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:52,760 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has 705 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:55,880 blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in 706 00:37:55,880 --> 00:38:00,080 Christ, just as He chose us in Him. 707 00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:06,160 Now when did He choose you before the foundation of the 708 00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:10,440 world, that we should be holy without blame before him in 709 00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:14,640 love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ 710 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:17,600 to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to 711 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:20,480 praise, of the glory of his grace by which he made us 712 00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:23,800 accepted in the beloved. And I put over this the first 713 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:25,920 council. And This is why I wanted to 714 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:29,200 point this out about the gap theory, because the Lord spoke 715 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:30,720 the Scripture to me and it was so awesome. 716 00:38:30,720 --> 00:38:33,640 And he said, now remember, you have in the record of the 717 00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:36,520 Scriptures the first council. And that's when my spirit was 718 00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:39,600 hovering over the face of the deep, wondering how can I put 719 00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:42,360 this world together and how can I put man on it. 720 00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:45,440 They said, I want you to know there was a council before that. 721 00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:50,480 It was when I was counseling, contemplating and thinking about 722 00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:53,560 the future and looking through the telescope of time. 723 00:38:53,720 --> 00:38:55,640 And I was seeing you, Lauren Corvubius. 724 00:38:55,640 --> 00:38:57,280 And I said, that one's going to be mine. 725 00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:59,480 I'm going to use him in a powerful way. 726 00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:04,320 And he chose you, Church. And just as I said, God chose 727 00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:06,400 Lauren Corvubius. You should be able to say the 728 00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:08,280 same thing with your name inserted. 729 00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:15,440 Come on, Can you imagine this? God's contemplating. 730 00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:19,320 He's meditating, and he's thinking about the future, and 731 00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:20,960 all of a sudden he's thinking of you. 732 00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:27,760 Oh my Lord, that's amazing. You know what He was also 733 00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:29,800 thinking? That you would be born during 734 00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:33,160 this time when He began to do the most amazing thing he's ever 735 00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:38,320 done on planet earth. What a privilege to know that 736 00:39:38,360 --> 00:39:43,240 you were on his mind. But God has chosen you. 737 00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:46,120 Can we all please bow our heads and close our eyes for just a 738 00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:51,840 moment because I want you to let this go deep into your spirit. 739 00:39:52,720 --> 00:39:55,760 I said this first service I'm going a little over today, but 740 00:39:55,760 --> 00:40:00,440 remember, we serve a timeless God because this is such an 741 00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:10,280 important time for you to know He chose you in Him before the 742 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:15,040 foundation of the world. This is Pastor Lorne Coverbius 743 00:40:15,040 --> 00:40:17,600 from Mount Zion Church. We thank you for joining us 744 00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:20,600 today and invite you to connect with our church family by 745 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:24,360 visiting mountzion.org and following us on social media. 746 00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:25,360 God bless you.