I want to open with this scripture from Romans chapter 1
where it says for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who
believes, for the Jew 1st and also for the Greek.
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed.
From faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by
faith. How many know we need to live by
faith? Amen.
And he talks here about God's salvation.
It's so good to know that we have a God of a great salvation.
Amen. Church, it's important for us to
understand that that's the message of the Scriptures.
It is part of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ that
God has made a way for us that we would experience his great
salvation. And it's a very important part
of our walk with him that we would understand our salvation
and also understand what the the Scripture says when it says that
the just shall live by faith because we need to understand
I'm hitting the button. But it's got going forward, if
we could help from the backroom, that we would understand how
important it is to walk fully in the faith dimension that God has
for us, because it's only possible when we understand that
it comes through faith. Now, I believe that we live in
what I'll call ominous times because there are some
difficulties that we're going to be facing in the days which are
hit. I believe with all my heart that
God himself is shaking everything that can be shaken.
And so we're living in what we would call tumultuous times,
which means there's a lot of change.
It's happening very fast and in many ways unexpected.
And yet we have to understand that God is involved in all
those things. I use the word ominous because
it speaks about some darkness that's involved in it because we
know that darkness will cover the earth and gross darkness the
people. But in the midst of that, we
need to understand they got us saying to us, it's important
that we would arise and shine so that our light can come.
Now, typically, if someone's talking about the future in a
prophetic sense, especially biblical prophecy, people
usually think that's talking about something bad that's going
to happen in the sense of an economic collapse, a war
perhaps, or some type of social event that's going to cause a
great crisis. And we certainly have enough of
that going around. However, what I want you to
understand is there's something more ominous than those things,
and that is that we are living in a time when we are facing a
crisis of faith. This is very important.
On Wednesday night, I was talking a little bit about the
cradle of American civilization, which is what we call Western
civilization, and I'll be continuing to talk about that
because it's so vital that we have spiritual perception of
what exactly is going on in these days.
Now, the cradle of Western civilization actually started in
the Middle East, was developed in Greece, and became a part of
Latin culture. And so when we think about
Western culture, we think about those different civilizations
and the contributions that they have made.
Of course, the European continent is most important as
the cradle of our acclamation, or being a part of Western
culture, if you would. And often through our history,
we've been tied in some way or another with Europe.
Now, that's a good thing for us to observe, because if you were
to go to Europe today and do an examination of the spiritual
condition of the continent, you would find out that only 3% of
the people go to church, have any active faith in their lives.
They are secular society, by and large, secular people.
And since we share a cultural heritage, in one sense, it's
important for us to realize, well, if they could lose their
religion, if you would, or lose their spiritual walk, should
there be some things we need to be mindful of?
There's actually some crisis in our relationships with Europe
today. And I don't think they're all
that bad because we got to realize who we are because God
has done something special in the United States of America as
it pertains to His move upon us. Even secular history will tell
you that we've had three major religious awakenings that have
impacted our nation and impacted our culture.
And I believe that God's wanting to do that all over again.
How many want to be a part of that awakening in the land
today? Amen.
But it's very important for us to understand how ominous the
horizon offers to us a time that would be 1 without faith if
we're not careful. To understand that, we have to
see faith as something that we live by, not something that
we've exercised just in the past or something that we exercise
when we're facing a crisis and we need God to do something
special for us. What does that Scripture say?
The just shall live by faith. Hebrews Chapter 11 says that
faith is the substance of things hoped for.
It is the evidence of things not seen.
If I fell faith, the elders have obtained a good testimony and
from Hebrews Chapter 11, it'll talk about all the patriarchs
that we know of the major names throughout the Old Testament and
history of God working among the people, how that they were
always people of faith and how important it is for us to
realize we need to be people of faith and we need to have a good
testimony because in the world we live in today, the world
needs to lead, see a light that they can look to.
They need salt that helps preserve them if you would.
And so that's the call of God that's upon each and every one
of us. Faith is something that we
believe is that which God gives to us.
It is a gift that enables us to believe when things don't look
like they're possible. That's why faith becomes our
substance and our hope and our evidence.
As I've often shared throughout our history of Mount Zion, we
have certainly been a people who live by faith and facing
circumstances and situations and accomplishment in all the things
that God has had for us as a local church.
And I share that so that we can all know how important faith is.
But it takes it a step further when it says that all of us need
to live by faith. That means faith must be a part
of our full experience every single day.
Now I'm speaking about those who have obtained a good testimony.
I wanted to share with you some story about Moses, some stories
I should say. And Moses's relationship with
God is recorded also in Hebrews Chapter 11.
It says that by faith Moses, when he became of age, refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, assuming the
reproach of Christ greater than riches and treasures in Egypt,
for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king, for endured has seen him who is
invisible. By faith he kept the Passover
and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the first
born should touch them. By faith they passed through the
Red Sea as by dry land, whereas when the Egyptians were
attempting to do so, they were drowned.
Now, Moses was certainly a man of faith, and because he was a
man of faith, he did some very powerful supernatural things
that benefited his life and benefited the life of others,
namely the children of Israel. Now, it's important to remember
his story, one that most people are familiar with.
There was a time in Israelite history when the Egyptian rulers
over them thought they were becoming a threat.
And so they decided that they were going to start killing off
their children because they were afraid that they would populate
and become more numerous than the Egyptians of themselves.
And so they were killing the children.
But Moses's mother had faith, the Bible says.
And because of that, she wasn't going to just let the same fate
come upon her son, that was going to come upon all the other
children. So the Bible says that she made
a little ark, putting him in a basket and set him up the now
river by faith, believing that some way he'd be found and would
be preserved. I don't know if it was her
intentional thought, but just so happened that the Pharaoh's
daughter was out bathing in the Nile River.
She saw the child, had them fetch him, and she took him into
her house, and he became a part of the House of Pharaoh.
I mean, oh, that's an amazing thing.
And so he was raised in the House of Pharaoh.
But what this Scripture says is when he came to the age of
choice, he made a decision. I'm not an Egyptian, I'm a Jew,
I'm a Hebrew. I'm of the seed of Abraham who
is the father of our faith. And so the Bible says he made
the choice that he wasn't going to be an Egyptian, even though
he was in the highest family of the land.
He was going to accept his true identity now.
His family, the Hebrew family, had always been a part of his
life. So he, in a sense lived a double
life, always knowing his true family but understanding that he
was living in his adopted family.
But the Bible says when he came of age, he decided, wait a
second, I'm going to be who I really am supposed to be.
And so he chose to reject the life he had to follow the new
life. Now how we know that's what
happens to us when we're born again, when we hear the gospel
message and we make a choice to follow God.
The Bible says that we become born again.
The old things have passed away. God says all things have become
new. Now some people only see that as
getting save. So I'm saved now, and one of
these days I'm going to go to heaven and I'm going to have a
pass. I'm not going to go to hell
because I've been saved. But we need to expand our
understanding of this salvation that we're talking about here
today to understand that the first step of our salvation
isn't just making a choice to go to heaven.
It's a choice for a new identity, and that identity is
that you're not just a son of your family.
Your heritage isn't just in the natural, but you've made a
choice and now you recognize God is my father.
I'm a child of the most high God.
I mean, you know, that's a good thing, Church.
Give him a praise on it if you're glad today you're a child
of the Most High God. And of course, just like any
child, we should understand that our Father wants us to grow,
develop and become mature. But that was the first step and
it was a step of faith. If you can think about it,
you're living in the Pharaoh's house.
The Pharaoh was probably the most powerful person on planet
Earth at the time, certainly had all the wealth one could
experience. His true family were slaves and
did not have any freedom. And he made a choice.
I'm going to find out who I am. I'm going to follow my true
identity. Now the Bible then says having
made that choice, he first took the life of the Pharaoh's family
and he chose to follow the reproach.
In this case, it says a following after Christ by faith,
he said. I see that there's so much that
this life has to offer, but I really have chosen by faith that
this is the life. And I'm going to believe that
although there's going to be some disappointments, and
although it's going to cost me something by faith, I know this
is going to be the best choice I can have.
Now, as Christians, we have to understand that that
sanctification is something that the church has learned in church
history and something that should be a part of all of our
understanding. That once we make a choice to
follow God, we have to make a choice to not follow the ways of
the world, but to make the choice that we're going to
reject that life and say, I'm going to go the way God has
called me to go. Sanctification means I've been
set apart from my old life. I've been set apart from the
world and I'm going to be a follower of God.
Now the Bible says also that by faith Moses observed the
Passover. And so I want to call this the
faith of observation or observing faith.
What happened then is Moses was called to go and confront the
Pharaoh so that he would let the children of Israel go.
In order for God to do that, he had to send plagues upon the
House of the Egyptians because certainly they didn't want to
let their slaves go. And so the Lord sent these
different plagues. And the final plague would be,
and the Lord had spoken this to Moses and said there's going to
be a death Angel that's going to pass through the land, the first
born of every family, even of the animals.
It's going to be killed by the death Angel.
But if your people will take a lamb offered as a sacrifice,
then have a dinner together, take the blood from that
sacrificial lamb and put it on the doorposts of their house.
When the death Angel comes, it's going to Passover, the house,
hence the term Passover. The Bible says that having
observed the Passover, they experience something
supernatural and that was that the death Angel passed over
them. Now this is important for us to
understand as Christians because there's a very important aspect
of obtaining our full salvation in this, not simply being an
observing Christian. What does it mean to observe the
well? That means that you understand
that the Bible says forsake not the assembling of yourself
together as is the matter of some.
In other words, you realize you need to go to church.
When you come to church, you need to realize that as we
observe the things that we experience here, there's
something that we can have as we experience them by faith.
So we're not just singing, we're praising the Lord and knowing
Jesus is among us. And as we're hearing the sermon,
we understand there's a word going forth to give us faith and
impartation. As we take of the sacrament of
communion and as we observe the sacrament of water Raptors, as
we're part of all these things, we should realize there's a
power that's it's released in an observing faith.
And so we need to understand how important that was.
It certainly was essential for the children of Israel.
And that's why after that Passover, they would receive the
instructions to follow that order time and time again.
And for us as Christians, we should remember that it was at
the Last Supper where Jesus was actually celebrating A Passover.
He said, now do this in remembrance of me.
And so we also understand there's something very powerful
when we have faith that observes the things that God says are
necessary for us. Now, the last thing that
happened was Moses experienced the incredible miracle of the
crossing over of the Red Sea after the death Angel had passed
through the land. The Pharaoh said, get out of
here. I want you guys to go away.
You're nothing but trouble. They're taking off and they're
going to worship the Lord in the desert, the Bible says.
And all of a sudden they come up to a spot where they can't
crossover because they're facing a sea, the Red Sea.
And then they happen to look behind them and realize that the
pharaoh's armies are coming after them.
And so they were caught between what we would call a hard place,
a rock, and a hard place. And they didn't know, well, what
are we going to do? But how many go?
God speaks, So Moses said. God, what are we going to do?
He said, we'll take the staff that's in your hand, lift it up,
and the waters will part and your people will go over on dry
land. They did just that when Pharaoh
and his armies sought to pursue them.
The Bible says that the waters close up and destroyed the power
that Pharaoh and his armies could have usurped over them.
Now, this was the faith of full deliverance.
And I really believe this is where God wants the church to
understand. He's called us at this day
because with all the pressures of the times, God says to his
church, you need to know this is a time when I want you to
experience the complete deliverance.
There is no weapon that's formed against you.
Give the Lord a praise. There's no weapon that's formed
against you. The Bible says that can prosper.
And even every tongue that rises up against you in judgment, you
will condemn it because that's the heritage of the Saints.
Their righteousness is of me, says the Lord.
But for Moses, each and every step was a step that he had to
take by faith, seeking the voice of God and walking into
agreement with God's word. In Hebrews chapter 2 it says
this. Therefore we must give the more
earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest we drift
away. For if the Word spoken through
angels prove steadfast in every transgression, and disobedience
received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so
greatest salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the
Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him?
You see, we have to have a maintenance program is what I
put over that. And he said we have to be
careful because if not, we can drift away.
That's why I can talk about Europe, which used to be a
Christian continent. They're the ones that exported
Christianity to the New World, both North and South America,
and then to Asia and Africa. They were spreading Christianity
and now what's happened to their continent that doesn't even
believe in God anymore and even the established churches,
they're taking stands. They're literally anti
Christian. What happened?
Well, they drifted away. Now in American history, again,
there's times when we've drifted away, but that's when God raises
up a voice among his people. And they began to stir revival.
They began to stir the people and began to 'cause this great
awakening that God is saying to us, it's time for even today.
Not only are we called to hold on, but we're called to believe
that God has something for us that can change the world in
which we live. Can you say Amen to that church?
Such an amazing time and opportunity, although it doesn't
look like it. That's why he said, how will we
escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
We have to be very careful not to neglect our salvation because
salvation is God's full deliverance for our life.
It's the freedom that He has for each and every one of us.
But if we're not careful, we can drift away, we can lose our
power, we can lose the thing that we used to have in God.
And unfortunately, that's why I love history because when you
love history and learn from history, you're not going to
make histories mistakes. And that's what's happened.
So oftentimes in church history with moves of God, hold
denominations of God who after a while they become careless and
before you know it, they're drifting away from their true
identity. And that's why we have to always
recognize how important it is that we are people who know what
it means to walk by faith. For the message of the cross is
foolishness to those who are perishing.
But to us who are, notice it says being saved.
It is the power of God. For it is written out will
destroy the wisdom and the wise and bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent. That's why I have over the
Scripture. It is a salvation process
because we shouldn't be speaking about being saved in the sense
of only a past tense and we shouldn't think about it only
having an opportunity of benefit in the future, which is so often
times true. If you ask Christians, are you
saved? Yeah, I'm saved.
That's what makes me a Christian.
Well, what are you saved from? Well that would be a hard
question for people to ask answer, but truth of the matter
is most people think of it only as being saved from hell.
And having eternal life now, that's a part of it.
But we should not have a walk in our salvation that talks about a
past tense experience with only a future hope.
We should have a now salvation in God.
Can I hear you say Amen on that, church?
Because the message of the cross is that we pick up our cross and
follow Him. And as we follow him, that cross
ever works life in each and every one of us.
And through this process we are being saved.
And that word save, there means to be delivered.
It means to be set free. It means to become everything
that God has called us to be and everything in life that we were
meant to be. You see, there's something in
each and every one of us that wants to be who we are called to
be. And that's why we have such a
difficult time in this world today because of the world says,
well, who are you? Just be who you are.
And we understand that God says, no, don't just be who you are in
the natural. Understand that when you were
born again, you accepted a new identity.
And so to know who you are, you have to know who you are in God.
Amen. And so that salvation process is
this process of making that natural person walk in the full
reality of the spiritual life that God has given to us so that
we can become the person that God himself has called us to be.
In Matthew chapter 1, speaking about Jesus Christ, it says, but
while he thought this is speaking about Joseph, about
these things, which is when he found out his wife was pregnant.
Behold, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream,
saying, Joseph, son of David, Do not be afraid to take your wife
Mary, for your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of
the Holy Spirit, and she will bring forth the Son.
You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from
their sins. Now, this scripture and the next
two are scriptures that I spoke on last year.
And throughout the year the Lord has talked, had me talk about
the church because I believe that in the world in which we
Live Today, God wants his full salvation to work in US.
And it's only possible when we are connected to the church,
connected to the House of God. And that's a part of our refuge
that we need to understand. Now at Christmas time is when I
told this particular story about Jesus, because when Mary became
pregnant and Joseph found out, he's like, oh, no, what am I
going to do? Well, he was a just man, so he's
going to put her away privately. And that's when the word of the
Lord came to him. And I'm, you know, it's the word
of the Lord that's going to produce faith that child in her
has been conceived by the Holy Spirit.
You will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from
their sin. Now, the New Testament name
Jesus is actually a translation of the Old Testament word
Joshua, which means Jehovah is our salvation.
So Joseph would have known right away what he was implying here
when he says you will call his name Joshua in his hearing
because he will deliver his people from their sin.
Because Joshua was the one who in the Old Testament followed up
on Moses responsibility and took the children of Israel into the
promised land. He was the commander of the
people of God, and Jesus Christ is our commander.
The Bible pictures him as one sitting on a White Horse
marching forth in victory. And God says you need to
understand something. He didn't just die for the
forgiveness of your sin. He died so that you can be
delivered from your sin. Most people when they think
about the cross, think about the blood of Jesus Christ and about
it being for forgiveness, and that's certainly a very
important part of what it is. But you have to understand that
blood from the cross was much more than that.
That's why Isaiah the prophet said he was wounded for our
transgressions, yes, but he's also bruised for our iniquities
or our weaknesses, chastised for our peace.
Because God wants us to have the peace of the past is all
understanding. And by his stripes we are
healed. How many know we serve a God, a
healing church, so we have to understand that when He died to
save us from our sin, He came to deliver us from the consequences
of sin and all the things that that brings to us in the world.
Another scripture that I shared this year as I was talking about
this just a few weeks ago was in Acts chapter 2.
And with many words he testified the exert and saying be saved
from this perverse generation. This of course is taken out of
the book of Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost.
Peter is preaching to the people and he's letting them know you
have crucified the Christ. But he didn't just die and get
buried. He rose again from the dead.
And that day the Holy Spirit had come to confirm that fact.
And people are looking at this amazing things of people being
baptized in the Holy Ghost. They're like, what in the
world's going on here? And that's when he said to them,
you need to be saved from this generation because that's the
generation that rejected Christ. And how do you know God wants to
save us from our generation, the world we're living in today?
It's a generation, and there's a lot of things in it that could
take us down. So we need to be understanding
of the fact that God's salvation gives us power over the present
world so that we don't just live in the world in which we live,
listening to the voices of the land, but we're listening to God
and walking in agreement with his power in our life.
Now this next verse of Scripture I shared in part of last year as
well. And from time to time, this is
such a very important scripture. It says, And you be made alive,
who were dead in trespasses and sins, which He once walked
according to the course of the world, according to the Prince
of the power of the air, the Spirit who now works in the sons
of disobedience, Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves
and the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind. And we're by nature children of
wrath, just as others. How many know He came to save us
from our past? Now this is amazing to
understand because before we come to the Lord, the Bible says
that we are dead in our trespasses and sins.
In other words, we're not conscious of God and the life He
has for us, but when He resurrects us from that dead
place, now we're alive and we're aware of God.
And God, He says, you got to build on that.
But it also tells us we experience a deliverance.
And this is important to understand because when we were
dead in our trespasses and sins, we were literally under the
influence of the God of this world and the spirit of the age.
It's not just culture from human behavior.
That's the power that holds people back.
It's the power of the enemy. It's the God of this world.
It is the spirit of darkness that's upon the earth.
Now what you see in that verse is what it says is when you were
under that influence, what did you do?
Well, you lived according to your natural inclinations, the
lust of your flesh, the desires of your mind, and you were by
anger, children of wrath. We live in a very angry world
today, and you can see it on the news all the time.
People are responding in anger, and then there was their
surprise when other people respond by anger.
How many do we live in an angry world?
We got to understand there's no only one way out of it, and
that's getting out of that world and getting into his world.
Amen. Because Jesus is the Prince of
Peace and that's the real solution for the world in which
we live. So as people are getting caught
up in their angry debates, they need to recognize something.
You need to get out of your world, not just try to get the
upper hand in your debate. Because of the Prince of the
power of the air is at work. And God says, I've delivered you
from that. And that's why I wrote my book,
Why Is the Devil in Your Garden? Which I encourage everyone to
learn because a lot of people have this idea and it's even
promoted in popular culture that the devil's trying to get us on
his side. And they've been talking about
selling your soul, the devil, and he'll give you this or that.
The devil's not trying to get you on his side.
He wants you on your side because when you're on your
side, you're not on God's side and you're not any help to the
world in which you live. And so we have to understand
what it means to be delivered and how that can impact our
life. That's why the salvation we have
is so great, because it gives us power over our flesh.
Now it says here in Romans 10, which was our opening
scriptures. But what does the Scripture say?
Well, this is what the Bible says.
It says the word is near you. It's in your mouth and in your
heart. That is what the Word of Faith
which we preach that if you confess with your mouth the Lord
Jesus, and this is a key, believe in your heart that God
has raised him from the dead, you will be saved that they have
not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah says Lord, who has
believed our report. So faith comes by hearing,
hearing by the word of God. And so in order for us to walk
by faith, we have to hear a Word of Faith.
And this is so important to understand because where does
the Word of Faith have to come to our heart?
With the heart. Man believes Christianity is not
a religion of the head, is a religion of the heart.
It means opening up the innermost part of your person,
your desires, your motivation, the source of all your life to
God. Because when you do that, God is
able to put his word inside of you.
And as you begin to confess that word and make it a part of your
conversation, guess what happens?
You become a new person. That's why he says, now don't
say we've got to go up here and bring God down or go down there
and bring him up. He's inside of you.
How many glad gods inside of you today, Church, Amen.
You got to trust and believe that by faith, and it comes by
receiving the Word into our heart and also in our spirit.
Now having said that, I want to emphasize this part of that
chapter. It says, How then shall they
call on Him and whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in Him in whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach unless they are sent as this is
written? How beautiful are the feet of
those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of
good things. Now, this is such a very
important thing because the world needs some preachers.
They need preachers from the platform, and they need
preachers wherever they go. Because how many know we have
all been called to preach the gospel in the sense that if it's
in your heart, it should be in your mouth.
You should be able to tell other people and that helps advance
your own development as you share what God has done in your
life to other people. Now the word preacher in the
original tense, you'll see it means to herald or proclaim
something. Then the example often used is a
town crier. In the old days, before anybody
could read or write, there was only one way you could really
communicate news and that was by having a town crier.
The town crier would typically wear certain clothes.
Often times they would make an announcement by saying hear ye,
hear ye. Other times they would ring a
bell, blow a trumpet, whatever. But they tried to get attention
to what they had to say and then they would make an announcement
proclaiming what is the news? Now we live in a time, of
course, today where people get all kinds of news and you don't
even have to read. You can just watch it online,
but in the day where there was no media and no printing presses
to speak of, and most people couldn't read and write anyway,
this was. The only way you could do it is
to have someone make a proclamation and say this is
exactly what's going on in American history.
There was a guy named Paul Revere who went through the
towns and the British are coming.
The British are coming and it alerted the town to be aware
what's going on. So they will to raise up a
defense. And so the town crier was very
essential for their protection, very important for them to know
what's going on. And that's what God says.
We need a preacher. Now, when I was in prayer the
other day, the Lord spoke this to me about the preacher.
And as he did, I've often shared these scriptures that we need a
preacher, a teacher, someone who's instruct.
A preacher is somebody who inspires.
Sometimes people think, well, the difference between a
preacher and a teacher is how excited they get.
So if somebody's real excited and maybe spitting a little bit,
wow, that's a preacher. They're kind of just slow and
talking like this. Maybe point to the board.
Well, that's just a teacher. I know that because I used to
attend a Pentecostal church and sometimes people would say to
me, you know, you're more a teacher than a preacher.
And I know what they're actually saying is you're kind of boring,
but I understand you're got something to say.
But the truth of the matter is it can seem very instructional
and always should have some instruction to it.
But it also should inspire you in order that you might have
faith. And so that's where the preacher
comes in as one speaking the word of the Lord.
But this is the key that God was speaking to me about because it
says how can you preach unless you are somebody who sent?
See in the old days that have town criers that had the
specific responsibility of working for the king.
And so when they came through the town, people know, hey,
that's the King's messenger and they're sharing and telling what
the king wants us to hear. Now, this is important to
understand because we live in a day when a lot of people are
mixing up the message and not hearing just a word that they've
been sent to share. You see, this is so important
for us to understand because the preacher is called to hear from
the king and then share what the king is saying to you.
I've often seen it these days, and unfortunately it's true that
a lot of preachers are not going first to the king.
They're first of all looking at what's going around them,
watching the news, hearing what people have to say, and maybe
from there going to the king if you would.
But they're going with their opinion and bias based on what's
down here rather than starting what's up there.
That's why the Lord has been sharing and I've been
prophesying it, preaching, teaching.
God is the one who sits on the throne.
He's the Lord of all the earth. Amen.
And the Bible says he rod only rules in heaven, but he rules in
the affairs of men. So if you're not careful, you'll
see what's happening in the world.
Do you think, well, that's what's happening?
God says, no, that's not what's happening.
That's what you see happening. If you want to know what's
happening, you got to go to Heaven's throne.
If you would, you got to hear from the King of Kings and
recognize it starts first with him.
And so that's what it means when it says they have to be somebody
who's sent because they're not looking at the world and trying
to apply God to the world. They're going to God and hearing
what he has to say in church. That's so important for all of
us to understand, not just the preacher up on the platform.
Every single one of you need to spend time in the presence of
the Lord and say, well God, what is it that you are doing in the
world? You see, when I read the news
and I hear what's happening and what's going on, I always filter
it from what I feel. God has spoken to me first.
And sometimes in services, you'll hear me talk about
current events, but I don't share it from a political
perspective, even though some people will think I do.
But I look at, well, God, what are you saying to me and what
are you doing and how we're using people and how are you
using this? Because I believe that God can
use everybody and all things for his purpose because, because
what does the Bible say? All things work together for
good to those who love God and are called according to his
purpose. So I don't want to look at
what's happening because that could confuse me.
But if I hear what's happening, it's going to give me faith.
Amen. Church, how many say it's
important to be a people of faith?
Amen. And to hear a message that's
sent from heaven first, so that can define the circumstances and
situations of our life. Going back to the very beginning
of time when God created mankind, He put him in the
Garden of Eden, and there the Lord planted a garden, and he
put man in there whom he had formed.
And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is
pleasant to the sight, good for food.
The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden.
And the tree of what? Knowledge of good and evil.
I said that so that we could see this picture over here.
God speaking. That's the tree of life and what
comes off of history. I mean, oh, it's good fruit.
But then the tree of the world, which is what that represents,
it has some good things. And sometimes people will eat
off of that tree with a good motivation.
Eve went to that tree and the devil convinced her that if she
did that tree, she'd actually be helping her husband out the
church. That's the tree of mixture.
God says don't eat from that tree no matter how good it is or
how good it sounds. Now I often sure this is part of
our class on discipleship. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter
52, how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of them
who preach good news and know what the good news is.
Our God reigns. When you think about good news,
you think in a natural sense, oh that must be something good.
What's in it for me? Or I don't want to watch the
news on TV? There's all these bad things
happen. Why don't somebody just share
some good news? No, that isn't what it means
when you watch news these days. It's certainly true that, well,
there's a lot of bias in the news these days and sometimes
it's commentary and we don't even know it's commentary, but
they're talking as if it's news, but it's commentary.
The other day I was looking at a Christian website where they
have Christian news, and there was an article there about Bruce
Willis, who I had read before he had some kind of dimension, was
losing his ability to function. So it mentioned something about
him and how he was recovering. So I thought, oh, I got to find
out about. So in this video that pops up,
there's famous news people, the doctor from CNN who was talking
about this miracle of how he was cured by this great thing.
And all of a sudden I'm looking at this doctor.
I'm like, for some reason that doesn't look like a real person.
By the end, I realized it was an AI generated video and nothing
out of his roads. I was like, said a fellator.
I Googled it. Hey, did Doctor Gupta say this
is a miracle drug? And he said, yeah, I have a
problem. I'm suing those people basically
because they're acting like it's me and it's not me.
How many know there's a lot of fake news these days.
There's fake news, there's vice news, but God has some good
news. What's the good news?
Our God reign search Hallelujah. And that's what makes it
absolutely wonderful good news. No mixture, just truth.
And in closing, in Philippians, it says this finally, brother,
whatever things are true. Whatever things are noble,
whatever things are just, whatever things are pure,
whatever things are holy, whatever things are of a what a
good report. My mom's favorite verse of the
Bible. If there's any virtue or if
there's anything praiseworthy, what should we do?
Meditate on these things. Can we all bow our heads for
just a moment? Because I believe this is such a
pivotal time, if you would, in both the plans and purposes of
God and also in human history. And it's such an important time
to incline our ears so that we can hear and say, I have a ear
to hear, so I'm going to hear what is God speaking so we can
tune into the best news, which is the good news of God.
Now, you have to know that the God of this world, the spirit of
the age, is always trying to bring confusion, try to get you
to drift away. And sometimes it just happens in
a very small and subtle way. God says, remember who you are.
Remember what you came out of. Make sure you're observing your
Christian faith and know that whatever enemies behind you, I
can drown it in the waters that I have for you, says the Lord.
If you'll put your trust in me. This word is very apropos
because there's people here today you've just been going
through that process of confusion and God says, I'm not
the author of confusion, I'm the author of peace.
And I will give you clarity as you put your trust in me and
give me your heart, says the Lord.
I just know about the Spirit. There's somebody here today
you've just been wrestling, wrestling with a choice.
What am I do? What I'm going to do?
Ask God, He will direct you. The Bible says if we'll trust in
Him, He will direct our path. It's a heart thing.
You might say, well, it's hard for me to trust.
Well, you can trust God. Don't let the excuses of human
failure, 'cause you're not to trust God.
Good news, you can trust Him. Good news, you can rely on Him.
Good news, somebody in just you've been so nervous and upset
and anxious, What's going on? What's going on?
God says get yourself focused, Get yourself focused.
Get yourself on the rock. I'm here, I'm here.
Be careful who you're listening to.
Meditate upon me. My word and a good report.
Whose report will you believe? I read the Scripture.
Even Isaiah said, Lord, who's believing my report?
Who's believing this report? Well, there's only one way they
can believe it, Isaiah. If they have faith, they can
believe it. Father, I pray for our house
today because we are living in those times where we need faith
as never before. And so I'm believing that every
person that's here and watching online because of the weather
that you will touch them right where they at that they would
know, Father, that you have them in your hands.
They can relax, they can trust, they can believe if they'll just
meditate on you right now. Father, I just thank you because
you can give us what we have need of.
In Jesus name I pray and I thank you.
Amen. This is Pastor Lauren Coverbius
from Mount Zion Church. We thank you for joining us
today and invite you to connect with our church family by
visiting mountzion.org and following us on social media.
God bless you.