Hebrews chapter 4 scripture I've been sharing for a few weeks
now. I added one verse to this from
last week. It says For if Joshua had given
them rest, then he would not afterward has spoken of another
day. There remains therefore rest for
the people of God, For he who has entered his rest has himself
also ceased from his works, as God did from his.
Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone
fall according to the same example of disobedience.
I've been talking about how important it is to come to a
place of rest in the Lord. In the Old Testament, Joshua was
the leader of the children of Israel.
After Moses had brought them out of Egypt and they came to the
Promised Land, Joshua was commissioned to take them into
the land and make it a land of their possession.
Now the name Joshua in the New Testament is translated to the
word Jesus. And so the name Jesus and Joshua
really are synonymous words. And it's important to understand
that because just like Joshua of the Old Testament took them
literally into a land, the Bible tells us that when we are born
again and we receive Christ in our life, we become conveyed
from the world to the Kingdom of God.
So there's literally a taking us into a new land.
And when we get into that new land called the Kingdom of God,
we have to learn how to live in that land.
And we also have to know how to tackle any problems that are in
that land. Because the truth is, it's just
like when the children of Israel went and took possession of the
promised land, it took them a while to take full possession of
the land. There were some conflicts they
had to learn how to deal with. And as Christians, how, you
know, we experience the new birth.
God does something awesome in our life, but we have to
understand also there's experiences we need to go
through. And also we have to learn how to
have those experiences according to the word of God, if we want
to experience the Kingdom of God.
And the Bible says the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace
and joy in the Holy Spirit. And so those are wonderful
things that God says we can have.
And so we want to fully enter into the Kingdom of God.
And in these particular references of Scripture, it
talks about how Joshua did not give them rest.
They took possession of the promised land.
But because they didn't have internal rest, the Bible tells
us that in the end they literally lost the promised
land. Why?
Because of the conflicts that were on the inside.
Not because of the conflicts they faced on the outside, but
because of the conflicts they had in the inside.
They eventually lost possession of the land.
And so God wants us all to understand how to come to that
place of rest. It's where we have peace on the
inside. And so we're dealing with the
conflicts on the outside from a perspective of peace, or in this
case, we're using the term rest. Now, if you'll notice, and This
is why I've talked about this a few times, the verse I added in
that chapter, verse 17, says that we should be diligent, that
we would enter into that rest. I learned that in the King James
Version, which says we should labor to enter into that rest,
which seems like an oxymoron. Why do you labor to enter into
rest? Doesn't make any sense.
Well, the Bible teaches us we have to understand, of course,
the difference between labor and what I call toil.
Labor's when we're active, involved in our purpose in life,
active in the things that we do in this life.
And that could be seen as a labor because we have
responsibility to go to work. We have responsibility for our
children, for our house, all kinds of responsibilities in
life. And so we certainly don't pull
out of Labor if you would. But what God wants to do is
remove the sense of toil where we get all wore out because of
what we're doing. It's funny, in our human nature,
we always think I need to get out of this situation so I can
have some rest. So then people go on vacation
and they make so many plans for themselves that they're working
harder on vacation than they were at home.
You might know what I'm talking about because you're chuckling
when I say that, because it's true.
We like to stay busy, in fact, and we're always thinking about
more things to make us busy, whether we realize it or not.
And So what God says to us is, I'm not trying to make you
inactive, but I want you to enjoy life and have the energy
to do whatever life offers to you.
But you can only do that when you're diligent, when you make a
choice that you're going to enter into the rest of God so
that life is not a labor in the sense that you're toiling
through life, but you find it from a position of rest.
In the curse of the Garden, God spoke to Adam after they were
kicked out of the garden. He's basically said, now you're
going to have toil in your life. You always had something to do
because when they were put in the garden, they were told they
were supposed to guard and cultivate the garden, but now
their life would be dreadful because there would be a toil
involved. And God says, I want to bring
you to a place of rest. Now in order for that to happen,
we have to understand some very important biblical principles.
And this is 1 Again, we need to repay because it says for by
grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works. At least anyone should boast.
For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good
works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk
in them. Now, this is a very important
observation to make because when we come to the Lord is through
grace and we know that we're not saved through works, we're saved
through faith. But then it goes on to talk
about the fact that we do have works, we do have things that we
do as a part of our purpose for the Lord, as we do for all the
different purposes that we have in our life.
But it all starts with God's choice, or what the Bible terms
the word God's election. You were chosen of God.
There was an election held. Only God voted and he voted in
your favor. How many?
Glad God chose you. Amen.
And that's literally what grace means is God gives his favor to
you. And grace is not just unmerited
favor in the sense that, well, doesn't matter.
Now what you do, it says by grace you have been saved
through faith. So God gives you a gift of faith
that's not of yourself. So it's still about God.
But when you receive the gift of faith, you have the capacity to
live in the God realm. The Bible says the just shall
live by faith in another place. That says we go from faith to
faith. By faith we believe that God is
God, and that's a good place to start.
But we also need to know it says he's the rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him. I have found out that serving
the Lord has many rewards to it. It's a blessing.
Being a Christian, can you say Amen to that church?
And that's why at the end of every service, we sing the
blessing song, which is what the Bible tells us in the book of
Numbers we should do when we gather together.
We should end with the blessing because we need to know we are a
blessed people. And the Bible says that blessing
not is only just for us, it's for our children and for our
children's children. And so we have to appreciate
God's blessing, and then we have to know that God has prepared
the works for us. Now again, sometimes we read a
scripture like this and we think it's only pertaining to our
Christian life or our church life if you would, but that's
not what it's talking about. We have to understand that God
knows everything about us intimately.
And as Christians, just like it was with Adam and Eve again in
the garden, God put him there and it gave them an area of
stewardship or responsibility. And in this life we have a lot
of different responsibilities. And God says, I want to be a
part of every single one of them.
And again, you may look at it and think, well, I know that
God's aware of so and so, but who?
Who is a little old me? Well, Jesus used it this way
when he was talking to the disciples and to the multitudes
who are following him. He said, do you realize that God
even has the hairs on your head numbered?
I mean, you know, with God that takes a lot of work for some of
us because he has to keep that count going.
Amen. Subtracting whatever, he knows
us all personally, Amen. And he's very aware of what's
going on in our lives. And we need to sit here today
and say, wow, the God who is the God of all things, the God who's
the God of the universe notices me here today in church.
He's aware of my life. And he wants me to know that
there is a prepared walk that I can walk in.
Now when you know that it's a prepared walk, that means you
don't have to struggle to make things happen.
It means means you just have to be aware of what it is that God
has provided for you for there is a divine provision that God
says is available for each and every one of us.
That's why we have to keep reminding ourselves of these
things and be very diligent to say, you know what, I want to
have that peace. I want to have that place of
rest that God says I can have in every area of my life so I'm not
overwhelmed with the issues of life.
That brings me to the opening scriptures I read from the book
of Isaiah chapter 59. He saw that there was no man in
wonder, that there was no intercessor.
Therefore his own arm brought salvation for him, and his own
righteousness it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a
breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head, and he
put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with
the zeal as a cloak. If you can remember the opening
scriptures from chapter 59, it's tell the story.
There's this time in the history of the children of Israel when
Isaiah the prophet is observing what's going on and things are
pretty bad. There's a lot of conflict going
on and people are even saying, wow, good people are suffering
unjustly. There's a lot of injustice going
on. There's a lot of problems we're
all facing. And in the midst of all that,
the Bible says God wondered while there was no intercessor.
Now I love the word wonder. For me, it's kind of like a
special word because I'm a person that wonders a lot.
What does the word wonder mean? Well, the word wonder doesn't
just mean to think about something.
It means to think about it with a sense of awe or even a sense
of astonishment. There is indeed emotional
connection to it. And in that sense, it's a visual
kind of thing. So when you're looking at it,
you're looking at the whole thing and you're wondering
what's going on. The reason why I said it is
special to me because I use that word wonder a lot when I'm in
conversation, especially when I'm talking to myself.
How many out there talk to yourself?
Sometimes I have to talk to myself because I'm the only one
that can understand what I'm thinking.
Anybody else relate to that? And so I often say, well, I
wonder what's going on here because I'm always thinking
about this broader pitch here. I'm always thinking about
things. And I really do think about God,
the Kingdom in the world in which we live with a awesome
perspective about what's going on.
My sister Gina used to say, well, when you're talking to
Lauren, sometimes you have to say Earth the Lauren, Earth, the
Lauren. Well, it seems like I'm
wandering away, but I'm not wandering.
I'm wondering, does that help? It helps me because I know I'm
focused on what's going on. And sometimes I got to have a
lot of room for all this going on in my head.
And I like the fact that God was looking at these things in the
world and he's wondering about what's happening.
And first of all, he's wondering, why isn't there an
intercessor? Why isn't there somebody in this
situation that's doing something about what's happening here?
Sometimes an intercessor is someone who just takes that
burden and carries it in prayer. Sometimes that intercessor is
like Jesus Christ. He came and made intercession
for us, but he also got involved in world history for the
purposes of his father. And so indeed there was an
intercessor, but then it says after God wondered about these
things, His arm brought salvation.
So I wanted to point out how God took the initiative here and how
his arm brought salvation. Now it's important to look at
the details of this and wonder about the Scripture even,
because when you see how it flows, there's a lot more to it
than sees evident. At first when God said I'm going
to do something about this, then it says His arm brought
salvation and deliverance. The right arm of God is none
other than His word, whom we call Jesus Christ.
In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. So God speaks.
And guess what happens when God speaks?
His word comes to pass. In the beginning God said, let
there be light, and guess what, there was light.
And so God spoke into the situation.
In that sense, His arm brought salvation.
I want to point out how God's initiative was involved in this
because we have to understand, and this is so important in the
hour in which we presently live, that God is God all the time.
And the Bible says that on the 7th day God seized from his
labor. And that's just saying that he
set everything in motion. It doesn't mean he's detached
from creation. He's watching, he's wondering,
and he's involved and he has to speak from time to time.
But you need to know that God is never an absent father.
He's an ever present Father. Amen, Church.
Now, that's important to understand because a lot of
people don't understand that, even though they think they do,
because you can even hear it from preachers who throughout
the week, they watch the news, get all upset, and then on
Sunday they're preaching about what they saw in the news.
Well, they'll package it with the Bible in the Scriptures, but
they're taking the upset they got during the week, and then
they bring it to church and get everybody else upset.
Now that's the truth. And then afterward, they'll go
on social media and they'll say to people, if your pastor's not
talking about the Charlie Kirk funeral, you should change
churches. Or from the other perspective,
if your pastor's not talking about George Lloyd, you should
change churches. Because they're trying to get
everybody to think that the church is the place for
addressing conflict. The church is the place to hear
from God. Can I hear that?
Amen again, church. My job is not to watch the news
and preach on it on Sunday. My news, my need is on Saturday
to wait in the presence of God and say, Lord, what are you
speaking? Because the truth is, there's
always going to be conflict in the world.
There's always going to be sin in the world.
There's always going to be injustice in the world.
Darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness of the
people. That's nothing new, but what God
says to us is we're supposed to arise and shine and the glory of
the Lord will be seen upon us. So what happens with that is
when we hear the voice of God and we are equipped with His
Word, that's when we can begin to operate in the faith realm
where we can be like Father Abraham.
He believed in the God who called the things that were not
as though they were. It's kind of like the faith
realm that God is wanting each and everyone of us to walk in so
that when we're facing the conflicts of what's happening in
the world or our own individual life, church, we have to
understand at all times God is wondering what's going on.
Amen. He's thinking about it, but more
than that, he has an awesome plan.
He has something that's very marvelous that he wants to do,
and I'm prophesying. He's going to do something
that's exceedingly and abundantly above all that we
could ask or think, Amen. Church because God is going to
release his arm and He's always going to take the initiative.
He never just releases everything.
Why? Because God has an eternal
purpose, and the Bible says because of that His purpose
cannot be withheld from it. And because it can't be withheld
from Him, it can't be withheld from us.
And so we have to take those same principles and then apply
them to our individual life and say, wait a second, God is at
work in my life. Look what it goes on to say
according to their needs. Accordingly, He will repay fury
to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies.
The coastlines he will fully repray, so shall they fear.
The name of the Lord from the West is glory from the rising of
the sun. When the enemy comes in like a
flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against
him. You need to know that when
necessary, God is on the offense.
Amen. He is indeed the God of
judgement. And this goes back to what I was
sharing a few weeks back when I said we got to know what Mount
Zion is in Hebrews chapter 12. When you come to Mount Zion, you
come to God who is the judge, and then you also come to Jesus
Christ, who's the mediator of the New Covenant.
God, who is the judge, will always deal with unrighteousness
and evil in the world. That's one of the reasons why I
love that. I've studied history because I
could look at back at history and there's been some pretty
wicked people in the world, but guess what?
Their judgement always comes. And even a system like
communism, for instance, that existed for 70 years in the
Soviet Union, it looked like they had a desire to take that
to the nations of the world and take over the world, really.
And I remember when I was a kid studying these things and
thinking the basic philosophy of the times was once a country
becomes a communist, it's never going to change.
That's why they called it in Europe the Iron Curtain.
There was never the idea that one day it would all come
tumbling down. I'm so glad I saw that church
because I can report in history false systems will fail.
Can you say Amen to that? There's only one thing that can
stand forever and that's the Kingdom of God.
And in your life you need to know something.
God is a God of justice all the time.
The day of judgement will come. But there's something very
important in the second part of the Scripture because it says
when the enemy comes in like a flood, and I'm sure we could see
that happening in our day, God is going to raise up a standard
against him in church. We need to know where that
standard. I feel such a renewed power and
anointing in my life to say we're not giving up on our
community, we're not giving up on our world.
I'm not giving up on any person that I know because it doesn't
matter how dark or how great the bondage seems, I know that my
God can do what all things Hallelujah.
And so I'm ready to be that standard that when the enemy
comes in like a flood, I can lift up my hands and say, not
here, devil, you're gone. Did you hear what I said?
Church and your family? Sometimes you just need to lift
up your hands and say, not here devil, Hallelujah.
My God is God at all times, Amen.
And he will raise up that standard.
And we have to be prepared and understand how we're to do those
things. And that's why I'm sharing these
scriptures today. Now notice here in Ephesians
chapter 6 we talked about God's arm, and we have to understand
Jesus was the first born among many brethren.
So the same thing that's true of Him.
Ultimately we become that standard when we fulfill that
same position. Finally, brethren, be strong in
the Lord and in the power of His might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand
against the Wiles of the devil. Why?
Well, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but we wrestle
against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
wickedness of this age, against spiritual host of wickedness in
heavenly places. And so we, who are the arm of
God, need to be armed, Amen. And we have to know, first of
all, that we should be cold with His might, Amen.
How many know? If you have His might, nothing
can stop you. Is there anything too difficult
for your God? The Bible says I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me, is what the
apostle Paul said. And it's in the word of God.
So I know it's true for every single one of us.
Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
We need a strong people in the House of God these days, church.
We need a people who say, I know there's a lot of things going on
in the world, but God's called us to be a standard and we're
going to stop it. We're going to put a halt to
those things because we're going to be strong in the Lord and in
the power of his mind. And you have to understand it is
a spiritual battle. Now, when you're not in the
spiritual realm, it's very easy to understand because the Bible
talks about the works of the flesh.
You know the works of the flesh are anger, conflict, fighting,
being upset, being jealous, being on defensive.
When you're spiritually motivated, you have Lovejoy,
peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, kindness,
self-control. A lot of people say they're in
spiritual warfare, but they just take, again, spiritual
principles, but they apply them from a carnal perspective.
I know people who get involved in intercession and they're
always upset and angry. Church, if you're an
intercession, you got to keep praying till you get the word,
Amen. When I pray on Saturday, I'm
praying for a word from God. But often times I'll think about
things that are happening in the world, things that are happening
in the church. People in our church are facing
conflict and I'm praying and I'm always saying, God, I don't want
to just carry the burden. I want to get the word because
when the word comes, I know that we are bigger than the problem,
Amen. And I know that when the word
comes, I'm not going to be operating in the flesh.
I'm going to be operating in the peace that passes all under
understanding. He goes on to say, stand,
therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on
what the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod
your feet with the preparation of the gospel of what above all,
taking what I'm going to make you work today, I'll do it twice
if I have to get to you, get to work and Amen.
With which you were able to quench what all all the fiery
darts of the wicked. 1 So our armor is an essential thing,
which tells me, just like in Isaiah 59 when it uses the same
term analogy, speaking about Jesus Christ, who's the arm of
God, the same thing is true about us.
Jesus came with salvation, he came with truth, he came with
peace, and God says you got to carry those same things.
Amen. It isn't about your enemy, it's
about you. It's about you letting God do
what he wants to do in you. That's why I love the one song
we sang today because sometimes God uses situations to refine
us. Sometimes they use the
situations to train us. But at all times, the end result
is that we would know when God is done with us.
Lookout world, we're coming. Amen, church.
And that's why God says, if you're in the process or you've
been through a process and God has been working in your life,
don't get caught up in that. Even your failures in that.
Look at it, that God, when he's done with this work, it's going
to be powerful in your life. Now, this is a very common
phrase you'll hear out there in the world.
George Washington said it, a good offense is the best
defense. And I know I've heard a lot.
So I kind of Googled it to see, well, who all said that?
Well, all kinds of sports people did, but I cannot remember any
of their names because they're not too familiar with me, as you
know. But it is very common thinking
in the world to say a good offense is the best defense.
But did you notice in the Skechers it's just the opposite.
God says a good defense is the best offense.
Wow, that's so different. That's why we often times start
in the spirit and end up in the flesh.
That's why we're all excited and then it drains out of us because
God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our
thoughts. That's what I said a couple
weeks ago. Amen.
And I put up here 911 on speed dial because most of us go
through life with 9911-ON speed dial.
If you would, there's only three letter numbers there.
So it shouldn't be even need to be on your speed dial.
But the point of that is you have to understand something.
Most people operate in life in crisis mode rather than in
prepared mode. God says get in prepared mode
and I do want to throw in a little bit about our church,
Mount Zion, because Mount Zion is a church that operates
according to the Scriptures. Everything about my life I try
to line up with the Word and that's the way it is in our
church. Now, it's very common for
churches to follow a corporate structure or a business plan,
whatever. And often times people are even
telling people like that, wow, you got to hire the marketing,
you got to do this, you got to do that.
No, that's not what God said to do.
He said follow my word. Now, one of the burdens I've had
since we first started the church is that we as the people
of God need to know how important it is to have a
pastor. One day Jesus was looking at the
multitudes of people and it says he was moved by compassion
because he looked and he saw they were a people without
having their true pastor. Or he said they're sheep having
no shepherd. And so it's always been my
desire. Number one, when we started to
be a good pastor. But as the church grew, we've
always had a staff of pastors in a structural sense.
I'm now the Bishop of the pastors of the church because I
oversee and I meet with them everywhere.
But we've almost always had, as far back as I can remember, many
years. We've always had like a dozen
pastors. That's very unusual for
churches. Sometimes they'll hire directors
over the youth, the children's mess or whatever.
But I want you to understand something.
We have pastors here at Mount Zion to help with the children,
help with the teenagers, to help with the young adults, to help
with the pillars, which is our senior program, everything in
between. And we have pastors that work in
our life enrichment program to teach and to train and to deal.
We have a class for marriage. We have all these things that
are available. And I would encourage you to get
connected in such a way. Don't wait till the problem
comes and you have to call 911 if you would.
We're not like the fire department where your house is
on fire and that's when you dial for us.
Amen. It shouldn't be.
Or somebody broke into my home. Get here as soon as you can.
Now, we know that sometimes life takes people by surprise, so
obviously we are there in emergencies and always will be.
But my encouragement to you is to get connected and get to meet
one of our pastors, whether it's in volunteer work with them or
just set up a meeting. Let people know who you are so
that you have somebody you can call and talk to when you have a
problem, so you have someone that you can reach out to
because that's the way the church is supposed to be.
Can I hear any men on that? And we want to be a church that
has pastoral oversight and care. And that's exactly what we are.
But you have to be willing to take advantage of it.
Let yourself be known and get to know someone so that you can
have that connection that's going to help you.
And if you face a crisis situation that you'll know it's
not just a person who's doing it professionally, but someone who
has a concern for your life. Amen.
Now this is where Ephesians 6 comes in.
It says and take the helmet of salvation, continuing that first
part. But then what does it say?
The sword of the Spirit, which is what?
So what is the sword of the Spirit?
The word of God. Now I want to point out how
important it is for us to understand there's only one
offensive aspect of our armor, if you would.
And of course, they're using the analogies that would have been
common in those days where a soldier would be like good
picture in a movie about a Roman who has all this armor on, but
they also have a sword, maybe sometimes a spear.
And the Lord says defensive weapon that you have is the
sword of the spirit. Now when it talks about the
sword of the Spirit and it be it's being the word of God, it's
important to at that point look at the original translation of
Scripture because the word word there as Rhema.
There is a word called Logos, which is talking about the
Bible. And I love the Bible.
It's a big part of my life and I'm spending more time in the
Bible now than I ever have my whole life.
It's just amazing how much God has been speaking to me in this
Word these days. I love the Bible, but that's not
what it's talking about here. Because you can take the Bible
and you can find a scripture to back up your own thinking.
But when you hear from God, which is the Rhema side, when
you let God speak to you and he will don't say, well, I don't
hear the voice of God, He'll let you know inside your spirit
right from wrong. The Bible says you'll hear a
voice behind you say this is the way walk you in it.
You can get comfortable with that.
But it's important for us to understand God wants us to get
personally engaged with people and personally engaged with him
so that we can walk in the power of the sword of the spear, which
is the word of God. And once we have that in our
mind, we can have this twofold aspect to our life.
We can have this confidence. Number one, God is the God of
justice. Number 2, when it's time to bear
the sword, He'll speak a word which will be the sword.
But also in the process of that we can maintain our rest and
also our peace. That's why, and I have over this
our role. It says repay no one evil for
evil. Have regard for good things in
the sight of all men if it is possible, and it's not always
possible, but if it is possible, as much as it depends on you,
and that's the part you have to understand.
Live peaceably with all men. Beloved, Do not avenge
yourselves, but rather give place to wrath.
For it is written, vengeance is mine.
I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy is
hungry, feed him. Yeah, because you don't have to
worry about fighting. Amen.
So therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.
If he is thirsty, give him a drink.
Now I think that scriptures are apropos for our time because the
truth is there's a lot of people don't want you to dwell
peaceably with them. You know, we're living in a very
angry time. And so people say you're my
friend or my enemy, no in between.
But as much as peaceable for us, we should walk in that and not
be what reactionary, not responding in our reaction of
our emotions. But being a child of the most
high God who says, wait a second, God's going to take care
of any problem. And if I need to, he'll give me
a word and it'll slay the wickman right before me.
But in the meantime, I'm going to show as much love as I
possibly can to the world in which I live.
That's the proactive aspect of our faith.
And this is so beautiful because in Jesus speaking here, he says,
if then you being evil, of course, he's not talking to any
of us right here. Know how to give good gifts to
your children. How much more will your Father
who is in heaven good, give good, Give good things to those
who ask him. Therefore, whatever you want men
to do to you, do also to them, because this is the sum of the
love of the prophets. That's why this is called the
Golden Rule. The Golden Rule is love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all
your mind and your strength and your neighbor as yourself.
And what Jesus is saying there is that you become a prototype,
like He was in this world, even all the way to the cross.
He didn't have to fight back because when the time came, the
Father fought back for him, Amen.
But he just had to walk it out and be faithful to the end.
And then he experienced the most powerful work of God in his life
because though he was dead, he lived again.
He rose from the dead church. That's resurrection power is
what God's wanting to release in our day as never before.
In Isaiah 59, it goes on to say the Redeemer will come to Zion
to those who turn from transgression in Jacob says the
Lord. As for me, says the Lord, now
this is my covenant, that's a contract, this is his agreement
with us, this is my covenant with them.
My Spirit, who is upon you, and my words which I have put in
your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, Isn't that
powerful, Church, nor from the mouth of your what?
Descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants.
Descendants, says the Lord from this time and forevermore the
Redeemer will come to Zion. And I won't point this out even
though this is the last verse. It's so important to know what a
Redeemer is and the Old Testament, they have what was
called the near Redeemer or the near kinsman Redeemer.
And that was the designated person in the family that if
anybody in the family, through what the Bible calls riotous
living, lost their inheritance or whatever, the near kinsman
Redeemer always had the authority from the law to go
back and buy it back. Now this is such a beautiful
story for us because Jesus Christ is in our our near
kinsman Redeemer. So that means even when we make
mistakes, he can turn it around for good.
Isn't that amazing Church? That's what the Redeemer does
and he says, I want you to understand something that spirit
that I put upon you in that word that I put in your mouth.
You see the Bible says with a heart man believes, but with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Keep that in your conversation church, because if it's in your
mouth, it's going to be in your kids mouth, it's going to be in
your grandkids, your great grandkids.
Wow, isn't God a good God generational blessing?
You can look at the world today and say, oh God, what's going to
happen to my children? Well, I'm a God of covenant.
There might be some things that are going to happen you're not
going to like because I work in people's lives, says the Lord.
But in the end, you'll know something.
God is the Redeemer for you, for your children, your children's
children, says the Lord. Can we all please bow our heads
for just a moment? Because I believe with all my
heart that everybody needs to have a revelation concerning our
near kinsman Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
Because the Bible says that if we confess our sin, He is
faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. He could even buy back our
mistakes. That's the most incredible part.
He doesn't want us living in the past.
He don't want anybody throwing up the past in our face, and he
don't want us doing it for ourselves because sometimes
we're just as good at it as anybody else.
God says, I have a covenant I want to make with you.
When you hear that word and you let it come to your mouth and
you follow on to know the Lord and covenant with him.
Church, you lose the very power of the living Godfather.
I just thank you today and pray that each and everyone of us
would see you as our near kinsman.
Redeemer. The Redeemer lives in Zion.
Thank you Father, in Jesus name, Amen.
This is Pastor Lorne 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.