I want to open with the scripture I've been sharing for
a few weeks now. In John 14, Jesus is speaking,
he said A little while longer and the world will see me no
more. But you will see me because I
live. You will live also.
And on that day you will know that I'm in my Father, you and
me and I and you. He who has my commandments and
keeps them. It is He who loves me, and He
who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and
manifest myself to Him. This is so important for us to
understand. I read the scriptures today from
Acts chapter 2 because this is actually on the church calendar,
the day of Pentecost where we celebrate the day of Pentecost
as we read here today when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon
the church and such an amazing thing happened.
And most people see that as the birth of the church, the
beginning of the new covenant, and all that God is doing for
us. In the reading of John's Gospel,
chapter 14, Jesus Christ himself is getting ready to leave the
disciples, and so he's preparing them by instructing them so they
would know what would happen. Of course, in the coming days,
as Jesus Christ was taken to the cross and the crucifixion,
everything was going on. They got so emotionally
disconnected from what was happening that they did not even
understand what it is that was going on, even though Jesus had
told them ahead of time. And so Jesus wants us to know,
as he did his disciples, what it means to receive the baptism of
Holy Spirit, what the Day of Pentecost is all about, and what
that can mean to us Now. When Jesus Christ was here on
the earth, he made it very clear he was the visible image of the
invisible God. He said to his disciples, when
you see me, you've seen the Father.
So Jesus Christ was God manifested in the flesh.
God become banned so that he could live among his people, so
that we could interact with God in a whole new fashion.
But for most of us, it means we can read the Gospels and see
what God would be like as a person.
And it's an amazing life and certainly an example for all of
us. And that's why it's important to
see that he was indeed the in the visible image of the
invisible God and to understand that he wants to manifest
himself to us. And so as he's talking to them
about the coming of the Holy Spirit, he said, I'm going to
come back and I'm going to manifest myself or make myself
known to you. Now again, they knew him
according to the flesh as a human being, but now he would
come through the power of the Holy Spirit, just like he comes
to us. And just like he came to them in
a fresh way and manifested himself to them.
How many know God wants to manifest himself to us as well.
Now of course, for the disciples that brought all kinds of
questions. Judas, not Iscariot, said to
him, Well Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us
and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him,
if anyone he loves me, He will keep my word.
My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our
home with Him. He who does not love me and does
not keep my words, the word which you hear is not mine, but
my Father's who sent me. And so He's making them
understand there's going to be a difference between those who
believe and those who don't believe, that's for sure.
And that's why he was asking the question, Well, I don't
understand. You'll manifest yourself to us,
but you won't be manifesting yourself to the world.
Well, what Jesus was basically telling them is I'm going to
come and I'm going to manifest myself to you because you know
who I am. And after I manifest myself to
you, you're going to begin to manifest me to the world in
which you live. Because even though I'm going
away, if you follow the things that I have spoken to you, the
Father and I are going to come back, and we're going to make
our home our abiding place with you.
I began this series actually in the month of April, before
Easter, talking about the purpose of the Holy Spirit and
culminating this week with the Day of Pentecost.
It's very important for us to understand how this all works
and how God uses His things to perform His perfect work in the
earth. And I shared from John chapter
14 where Jesus said I'm going away.
And he said when I go away I'm going to prepare a place for
you, that where I am, you may be also.
Now as a part of that, He said in my Father's house there are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would not
have told you so. Now, as I've mentioned, often
times the word mansion there is huge.
And because of that, sometimes people think he's talking about,
well, he's going away to heaven and he's going to build each and
every one of us our own personal mansion.
And then when we get to heaven, we'll be able to invite him over
to dinner to our mansion. And that's not exactly what he
was saying. He said in my Father's house are
many abiding places, or mansions if you would, because why?
It's the places where God himself is going to live and
when we understand that we can realize, hey, all of this
happens so that where I am God could be how many know that when
you receive Christ in your heart and receiving the power of God
through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, wherever you go, that's
where God goes. Why?
Because he is in you. Amen.
Because we are literally give the Lord a praise on that.
That should make you excited. To me.
That's awesome. Now I want to share a couple of
visuals with you. Because on the day of Pentecost,
when the Holy Spirit came, it was primarily Jews there who had
a history, if you would, going through the Old Testament,
because God has revealed himself to mankind over the years.
And so they knew and understood some things about what Jesus
said that you and I wouldn't immediately know.
And so it's good for us to refresh ourselves in what they
knew. Now, in the Old Testament, God
did appear to different folks, and Moses was one of them.
Most of us know the story how the Angel of the Lord came to
Moses in a burning Bush. But the Bible also tells us that
one day God told Moses to go up into the mountain.
And we learned from the book of Hebrews that when he was
literally on the mountain that God showed him a pattern of what
is going on in heaven. So whether it was by a vision or
literally something was there that he could see, but like an
object lesson, we don't know. But we know that when he saw
this pattern, when he came down, he gave them what we call the
law of Moses. And also he told them that they
should build a Tabernacle where God could come and have a home
among them if you would. And so the Tabernacle of Moses
was that place. Now, this is a visual of what
that was, and if you'll notice, it was just a rectangular
situation, not very big actually, but it had three
specific courts to it. And it not only was a pattern
for them to have a Tabernacle or a place of worshipping their God
in the Old Covenant, but it actually speaks to us of New
Testament realities. In the outer court there was a
golden altar. And on that altar the people
come and bring their sacrifices, because back then you had to
make an animal sacrifice so that that blood could be the covering
of your sin or bring your forgiveness to put you in right
standing with God. Now the priest had a specific
function that was above the average person who could only go
to the outer court. After the altar came the labor,
and they would wash their hands and feet so that they could go
into the next room, which is what we would call the inner
court. And in this inner court there
was a golden Candlestick. There was an altar of incense
and also a table of showbread, also called the table of His
presence. Now again, only the priests
could go into that room, but how do you know?
That is a pattern for us? Because God has made us kings
and priests unto our God. And so in that room there was
this golden Candlestick that lit up the room.
There was an altar of incense where they literally all offer
incense. So the the smell, that incense
would fill that room and also go through a curtain to the
ultimate place of God's presence, which was the most
holy place. The table of showbread literally
had 12 pieces of bread representing the 12 tribes of
Israel. They would keep it there and it
was called the table of his presence or the bread of his
presence as well, because being close to the presence of God, it
would be assumed that it would pick up some of that presence.
So the priest would eat that bread and replace it once a
week. Now that's a picture of when we
come to church because the candle or the light represents
when we hear the preaching of the Word.
And we should not just see it as something that comes to our
head, but something that comes to our heart and our spirit
because we get illuminated by the Word of God.
The psalmist said, thy word is a lamp unto my feed, a light unto
my path, The table of showbread. Of course, we commemorate as we
receive the Lord's Supper. It shows us the death, burial,
and resurrection, but it also has the presence of God.
That's why we call it a sacrament, and the altar of
incense represents the prayers and praises that we offer to God
because we want everyone to know that we're not just singing,
we're offering praise to our God.
And how many know? The Bible says that goes up into
the presence of God and he receives it.
Amen. Now only once a year, the high
priest could go into the Most Holy place, and thereupon that
Ark of the Covenant was what they called the mercy seat,
which would have been the place of God's resting place.
And he would sprinkle blood there on the Day of Atonement,
which would ultimately bring the atonement or the price for sin
for the whole nation being paid on that day.
So that was an awesome day. Now the Bible teaches us that
Jesus as our High Priest looking at this heavenly pattern, when
he died he offered his blood on the mercy seat and that veil was
literally ripped open. Bible account tells us that in
the natural it literally happened in the temple that they
had in those days. But we know that what it
provided for us is access into the very presence of the living
God. How many glad we can experience
God's presence. Amen.
Now a few weeks back I also shared this because of the Ark
of the Covenant, which was in that place was the ark where God
rested upon the mercy seat, and it had to have a way you could
carry it around because they were traveling through the
wilderness. That's why it was the Tabernacle
or the tent of Moses eventually become the temple that Solomon
built because it had a permanent structure at a certain time in
their history. But they had to carry it around
in these poles because that was the present presence of God.
You couldn't touch the presence or you could literally die.
And there's stories about how that happened in the Bible.
And so they used to carry it on these poles.
Only the priest could carry it, but that arc of his covenant was
the place where God dwelt. So when they set up this house
or Tabernacle, later a temple, it was all built to house the
Tabernacle of God's presence. Now as a Pentecostal,
charismatic, spirit filled Christian, how many know we
believe in the reality of the presence of God?
And so that picture shows us how that we go through this process
even when we come to church. Now we are born again because of
the blood of Jesus Christ. That's what the altar
represents. Then we should go to the waters
of baptism stage 2 and then celebrate the sacraments in the
inner court, if you would, through communion and the
illumination of the word of God and offering those praises, but
recognize God has something more because he wants to take us into
his presence. But on the day of Pentecost,
they saw this different because although we celebrate the
presence, talk about the presence, and love the presence.
I can share my testimony that when I was baptized in the Holy
Ghost, there was something about the presence of God that took on
a whole new meaning to me. But seeing these pictures, you
must recognize this isn't just about experiencing God's
presence based on the scriptures I read to you.
Is you literally becoming that ark, you becoming that
Tabernacle? And that's the way the Jews
would have saw it. When Jesus said I'm going to
come and make my home with you, they're like, what do you mean?
I'm going to be a temple, I'm going to be a Tabernacle, I'm
going to be an art. Yep.
How many know you are the body of Christ, Amen.
And so when you have that revelation, it should give you a
great deal of excitement to think God actually has chosen to
live inside of me. And this is what it says in
Second Corinthians. Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, you are a new creation. All things have passed away and
behold, all things have become new because we should look at
everything from a different perspective now.
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself
through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of
reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling
the world to Himself, not imputing their tresses to them,
as He has committed to us that same word of reconciliation.
So as we saw that the presence traveled, it also took on
different forms, came in the form of a man, Jesus Christ.
But now God wants us to know that He lives inside of each and
every one of us when we're born again, when we've been to that
altar and received the blood of Jesus Christ in our life, and
when we went to the waters of baptism, we began to walk in a
whole new dimension of living. And we have to understand, we
have to get that new perspective, maintain that
perspective, but also develop that, protect that perspective
so that we can realize, wow, look what God has done in my
life now, just like when Jesus Christ was here in the earth,
the Bible says that God was in him what?
Reconciling the world unto himself.
And he has given us that same ministry of reconciliation.
We have the very presence of the living God in US.
And we have to realize that that puts a whole new dimension or
perspective to our lives. And we have to make sure that we
let that perspective grow because there's a purpose for
our life beyond just the natural living.
When we are born of the flesh, we are born after Adam, the
Bible says, and we come alive. But when we are born again, we
have received a life giving spirit.
So now that we have the life giving spirit, we're not just
alive, we have the potential to literally change our world and
church. There's a revelation in that.
If you would a perspective enlightenment where you begin to
realize, wow, my life has a whole new meaning now I got to
explore the potential of what God has given to me.
So as Jesus is getting ready to leave his disciples, he gives
them instruction. Then after his resurrection, he
comes back for 40 days. We talked about that in the
month of April, because when he came back for 40 days it was
say, it was to say, now remember when I told you This is why
these things happen? And so He enlightened their
understanding to know these things.
And then after those 40 days, it's time for Him to go again.
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him saying,
Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?
He said that it is not for you to know the times or seasons
which the Father's put in His own authority, but you shall
receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and
Samaria, and also to the ends of the earth.
Now I want to focus on this fact, because the disciples,
having seen all that they saw, all they can think about is when
is the end going to come? And it's so common within
Christianity as Christians for us to think only about the end
game #1 when is the Lord going to return?
In the middle 1800s, there began to be a movement of the
Christian Church to try to figure out when Jesus Christ was
going to come. Dispensational premillennialism
is a big part of that. And since that time, people have
been looking at the Scriptures to try to figure out when Jesus
is going to come. And since that time, they've
been telling us when he's going to come.
So for 175 years people have said Jesus is coming, Jesus is
coming, Jesus is coming. When I was a part of the Jesus
People movement, you got to get ready.
Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming.
A lot of people look out at the world today, Jesus is coming.
And if they're not telling you Jesus is coming, they're telling
you the beast is a rising, the Antichrist is coming.
You know, that's the focus. Now you think after 175 years,
people say, well, maybe we're missing something here.
That's the way I look at it. Maybe there's something more
that God wants to do. And that's why I always
emphasize that it's not the end game that's most important to
God or to us. It should be our process.
And even when it comes to going to heaven, when we get to
heaven, that's going to be an awesome and glorious thing.
But we can't just focus on the end game.
That's the end game. There is a process we have to
know about, so Jesus said, and you shall receive power after
that. The Holy Ghost has come upon
you, and you must understand that power God gives to us is
for a very powerful purpose in the earth.
As I often mentioned, the scriptures that we read were
originally written in Greek, so sometimes you can go the
original Greek word and get a little amplification of the
meaning and the word power there.
If you read it in the Greek says dunamis, which is where we get
the word dynamite. How many know you?
You've received dynamite. When you receive the Holy Ghost,
you need to know that there's supernatural power in that.
Amen. And I like the idea that when
I'm facing an impossible situation, I have the dynamite
to blow it up and move on through.
But just like it is with dynamite in the natural, so it
is in the spiritual church. It's time for us to grow up and
realize there can be problems playing with dynamite.
I've shared before a story how once I was going to a meeting,
somebody encouraged me to go to, they were having a special
meeting in the charismatic, a group of people that were
meeting and they wanted me to hear the special speaker.
And of course, I got there, found out it was a part of a, of
a fundraising event. And so I'm just trying to be
nice and go and show myself that, hey, Lord, Pastor Lawrence
tries to get along when he can. Anyway, so the preacher's up
there preaching and he tells the story.
He says that he was sending in his private jet.
He's even said the cost. He said it's a $45 million jet.
He was telling how wonderful and everything was, and he was just
enjoying his jet because he likes airplanes.
And then he was saying that all of a sudden God spoke to me and
said, what's the matter with you?
You're supposed to live from faith to faith.
Why are you happy with this jet? You should be exercising your
faith to get a bigger jet. And everybody was all excited.
Yay, we got power, get a bigger jet.
Now myself, I wanted to go up in front of the crowd and say, now
please tell me you're not believing this story that you're
being told right now. Now, I have no problem with
affluence or blessing. I'm 100% capitalist.
And the emphasis these days of a lot of people in socialism and
say that's bad news. Matter of fact, I heard this
week the Elon Musk, if he starts this IPO that is involved in now
with his spacecraft industry, a business he has, he could be the
world's first trillionaire. And I think if I was a
businessman, I think that'd be a lot of fun to be the first
trillionaire. And he won't just have a private
jet, He'll have a private spacecraft, his own Millennial
Falcon. I think, wow, I want to have my
own jet. But the point of this is just
the focus on what we do with what God has given to us.
What? What is this first?
How many know we need to take it seriously and we need to realize
that. And of course, as a pastor, my
ministry, as was this person's ministry, is about asking people
to help you accomplish God's purposes.
And so if I have greater faith one day and I can wake up, I'm
going to believe for some things that God's going to do that are
miraculous to help people help my world.
That's what I think it's all about.
Now, I do know God blesses his people, so I'm all into that as
well. But again, I'm wanting to
understand. God has given us power, but he
wants us to know, well, why and how do we use this thing Now?
When Jesus Christ was on the earth, the religious
establishment hated him, but the people who were the average
people, they said, well, you know, there's something
different about this guy because he has authority.
In other words, he didn't just have power and there seemed to
be great demonstration of power. He had authority because of his
level of maturity, if you would, as the Son of God, he had the
demonstration of great power, but how many know he also had
wisdom and understanding that went with it?
And that's what God, of course, wants us to understand, that we
have to take more seriously the things that He's given to us
because I know a lot of people that have needs that only God
can care. How about you?
And I want to be a source of that.
But what he also told them about this power, he said so that you
could be my witnesses. And again, in this case, it's
also good to look up the original Greek word because it
literally is martyr or martyr. So he's basically saying I'm
going to give you the power to become a martyr for my Kingdom.
Now for the 12 apostles of the Lamb Jesus Christ, that was very
important to understand because they all became literal martyrs
except for the John, the beloved Disciple, whom the Bible tells
us that they tried to kill him by putting him in, I shouldn't
say the Bible, but church tradition tells us they tried to
kill him by throwing him in a boiling a pot of oil and it did
not faze him. I'd like to be a part of a
miracle like that, but unfortunately that means I'd
have to be thrown into oil and oil and I don't want to do that.
So let me write my own program, Lord.
But the point of this is, is that God wants us to realize the
purpose of the Holy Spirit is so we can become His witness.
Part of witnessing is telling people something, but a more
powerful thing is when we demonstrate by our life that God
is everything that He says He is, so that we can receive the
life of God inside of each and every one of us, so that we can
fully become everything that God has called us for you.
Isn't that awesome, church? I believe this is a time you can
give the Lord of praise on that for a time of transition in our
understanding, but also in our maturity.
Because I believe that God's going to do some very powerful
things in the earth today, and He wants His people to be a part
of it, not just in the church, but also in what's going on in
the world. I believe God wants to use this
and as people of influence, but we just have to understand how
to walk that way. Now in Matthew chapter 3 it says
this, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He
was coming after me as mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not
worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the
Holy Spirit and what? He will baptize you with the
Holy Spirit and what? His winnowing fan is in his
hand. He will thoroughly clean out his
threshing floor and gathers weed into the barn, but he will burn
up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
It's a 2 fold baptism. I get baptized in water, then I
get baptized in the Holy Spirit, and it's called the Holy Ghost
and Fire. Now, the Bible says our God is a
consuming fire. Sometimes people in the
Pentecostal charismatic circles, when they talk about the Holy
Ghost and fire, they think about how the Holy Spirit does give us
a powerful sense of God. And I love what I sense when I'm
in worship and praise and in the presence of God.
And when they're talking about the fire, they just think it's
another level of goosebumps to enjoy God.
Now the fire has a purpose and that's to consume things that
need to be consumed to deal with things that need to be dealt
with in order for us to walk fully in the things that God
has. It's all about purging and since
the origin of our movement, if you would, going back to the
charismatic Pentecostal holiness movement to the second work of
Gray all the way back to John Wesley who taught Christian
perfection. He's it's always been this
thought that the Holy Spirit comes to do a a work on each and
every one of us. And I know that God is changing
my perspective. Last week I used the same
scripture. If you were in the service last
week, you'll know there was a little bit of a glitch in our
system because I read that scripture and I pushed my little
clicker here and the green button that means go forward.
And it was the scripture all over again.
I thought, did I hit the wrong thing?
So I hit the backward and it was the same scripture hit the
forward and say kind of threw me off because I if there wasn't a
scripture there, as you know, I don't preach from notes.
So it'd be very easy for me to stop myself and say, oh, there's
a scripture missing. And I could stop for a minute.
I could picture it and I could actually tell you that scripture
and continue. But that kind of threw me off
because I couldn't figure out if it was forward, backward, what
am I doing wrong? And that's when I said it's not
me, it's the people in the back. Now, the reason I want to bring
that out is because I absolutely believe that when there's a
problem, you deal with it in a practical sense because I'm a
leader. I'm like, OK, there's a glitch
here. How can we fix this?
It don't happen again. But as a follower of Christ and
as a minister, I absolutely believe that when I am in the
work of the Lord, all things work together for good to those
who love God and are called a corner of his purpose.
Can I hear the event on that? So when there's a glitch like
that, I get confused and I say now, Lord, I have to believe
that some way you were speaking to me through all this.
Some of you'll think that's a little bit of super spiritual if
you would, but I believe that because I don't believe the
devil can interfere. I don't believe people can
interfere. I don't even think I could
interfere. If my heart is doing what God
wants me to do, it's going to work out.
Amen. I believe that.
So as it turned out, I used that same scripture in my ministers
meeting this week because I'm trying to set all of our
thoughts in order about what is God doing?
How does this all work together? And I realized then what God was
doing because there was an emphasis of point because I
really believe we're kind of like in a new era.
And so so some mindsets I have to get rid of or change my
perspective on. And that's what he showed me
through this event. So anyway, I told the person who
made the mistake last week you were the devil, but this week
you're the Angel of the Lord made them feel a little better.
But anyway, I really believe with all my heart that God's
doing so, so many amazing things in the world.
And so like I'm, I don't want to miss anything God's doing.
And I really believe that it adds a whole new dimension to my
life that if I let God show me what I think is happening, maybe
not what's happening at all, but I can put my trust in the Lord.
So on the day of Pentecost, when they had fully come, the people
were all in one accord in one place, as Jesus giving them
instruction. And suddenly there came a sound
from heaven as our rushing mighty wind, and it filled the
whole house where they were sitting.
And there appeared to them divided tongues again as of
fire, and one set upon each of them, and they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit began to speak with other tongues as the
Spirit gave them utterance. Now, again, the word Pentecost,
if you go to the original, it simply means 50th because 50
days in the Old Testament, after they had celebrated the
Passover, they would celebrate the day of Pentecost on the
church calendar that the traditional church has always
held to, we celebrate on Sunday. So it's not always exactly the
50th day, but it's measured that way.
So we've realized that fifty days after the resurrection, we
got to celebrate the fact that there is a Pentecostal
experience that God wants us to have.
And when it's talking about tongues of fire, it's talking
about speaking in tongues, as you notice in the Scripture
there. And it was a supernatural sign.
But again, today I'm emphasizing how important it is for us to
realize there's more than just the speaking in tongues, more
than just the gifts of the Spirit.
God wants us to realize there's something that He can do in each
and every one of us to change our lives when we will let Him
do that. And this is a key verse here in
verses 22 and 24. It says men of Israel, he hear
these words, Jesus of Nazis, a man attested by God to you by
miracles, wonders and signs which God did through him in
your midst as you yourselves know him, being delivered by the
determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.
You have taken by lawless hands and have crucified and put to
death whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death,
because it was not possible that he would be held by it.
Now this is such an important thing to know because there's
two things he's saying. First of all, he's saying now
you know how Jesus Christ was arrested, killed on the cross?
He rose again from the third day because this was all God's
predetermined purpose. But then he said, now you guys
are guilty because you're the ones that crucified him.
And so basically, there's two things going on here.
Just like I was sharing in that earlier example, there was a
people who are not doing what they're supposed to do, but
never does it stop God from doing what he wants to do.
And so when we are aware what's going on, how many know we have
to line yourself up and say, OK, God, I didn't see what you were
doing, but I want to be a part of what you're doing.
Amen. And that's what he was telling
them. You have to understand something
that you killed Jesus Christ, but you couldn't hold him down.
I want you to know something that in your life you need to
know that sometimes things go wrong.
Sometimes it seems like the devil's against you, people are
against you, or it seems like you made a mistake that can't be
corrected. But God says thus saith the
Lord, that's not going to hold you down.
Amen. You got to know that in the
Father's plan for our lives that there are many glitches along
the way, but if we will put our trust in Him, we could know that
all things do work together for good.
We just have to say, okay, God, open my eyes, let me see.
I want to know what it is that you're doing because I have an
expectation that you're going to do something that's exceedingly
and abundantly above all that I could ask or think.
This is why, Peter, most of us know how Peter was the one who
said, Jesus, I'll never betray you.
Jesus, if somebody tries to do anything, I'll be your defender.
And Jesus said before the morning comes, you're going to
deny even that. You know me.
Beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fire
trial that has come to try you. This is that Saint Peter, as
though some strange thing has happened to you.
But what? Rejoice to the extent that you
partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed,
you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
We have to understand how that God uses suffering and how He
uses pain, and in the process of our problems, we can't be shaken
and say, How did this happen to me?
When people go through times of suffering and pain, our
immediate response is always that's well, that's just bad.
But God says is impossible, as it seems to you.
Will you let me show you how I can make this into something
good? Because God can turn it around
if we're willing to let him move in our lives.
Now, this is vital because sometimes when we make a mistake
or something happens, we almost get embarrassed because we made
a mistake or what people going to think, God let this happen to
me. What, what's wrong with me?
So even if you can't think you were guilty, you're going to
think people are going to think you're guilty.
I'm, you know, we get, we get all upset because we're always
trying to figure out what did we do wrong?
What other people do wrong? What is it that God is doing
right is the question we have to always ask ourselves in the
midst of every situation. Amen.
Nobody made a bigger mistake than Peter, but it became clear
in the end that God was able to do something that was
exceedingly abundantly. If you allow the situation to be
your furnace, if you would kind of intensifies the fire when
you're in your situation and say, well, I don't know what's
going on, but I'm going to let God's Word have a perfect place
in my life so that when this fire is burning, it can purge
me, it can cleanse me, and it can make God's Word come to pass
in my life. In this you greatly rejoice.
Though now for a little while, if need be, you have been greed
by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being
much more precious than gold that perishes, that is tested by
fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the
revelation of Jesus Christ. Who having not seen you love,
though now you do not see him yet, believing you've rejoiced
with joy, inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of
your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Now again, the word salvation means we get to go to heaven for
sure, but we have to understand it means also God's work in us
to do His trials and His purposes.
And when it says various trials, that means there's all kinds of
different trials. You have trials that are going
to be you, unique to you because of who you are, what you're
doing in life, whatever, but you have to understand that the
Lord's in every trial. You have to understand because
you're the arc of his presence walking around the God is in the
situation. Why?
Because you're in the situation and we have to keep ourselves
open to say God, I believe that you're able to do something
that's so powerful in my life. And I know God because you're in
me. You're in every circumstance and
you're in every situation. So I'm not going to say God's
not in that. God's in everything because he's
in you. Amen.
How powerful is that to know and that the process, again, of
salvation is not just an end event.
It's something that goes along in the process of what it is
that God is doing in your life. I like the joke that, well, all
of us suffer as you get older because getting older is can be
a pain. I remember reading once where it
said it really takes a strong person to get through old age
because things don't work as well.
I remember talking to somebody about this and I like to say,
yeah, I have as much energy now as I did when I was 24.
Problem is, is it stops at 1:00 in the afternoon now, where it
used to last the whole day. I mean, life itself can be a
trial. And somebody was saying me the
other day, they they sent me a text.
Don't you hate it when people are dying and you're seeing how
people are getting old and all these things going on?
I said, well, there's one thing I know I don't mind getting
older because it means I'm not dying.
People say, well, Pastor Lauren, don't you believe in going to
heaven? Yeah, I want to go to heaven
when I die. Asked me of the sermon joke I
told before how that there was a preacher preaching in the church
service and he said, who wants to go to heaven?
And everybody's saying, yeah, yeah, yeah.
There was a young man in the very front row and he didn't do
nothing, just sit there. Preacher looked at him and said,
you don't want to go to heaven when you die.
He goes, oh, when I die. I thought you were taking up a
load today. How?
You know, God wants us to understand we have a purpose to
this life. Amen.
And that the salvation is an everyday experience, that He
wants us to be able to walk in the Spirit himself.
The Holy Spirit bears witness with our Spirit that we are
children of God. And if children then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
And we did we suffer with Him that we what may also be
glorified together. For I consider that the
sufferings of this present time, I'm not worthy to be compared
with the glory which will be revealed in us.
For the earnest expectation of creation eagerly waits for the
revealing of the sons of God in the earth.
When I was a young man, age 21, I want to go be trained for
ministry and the program I want to be a part of.
They said, well, you're a little too young.
We like people to be young, already married so that we know
there's kind of settled in life. And I was praying about it and
the scripture came to me. So I want the person in charge
of the training program. I said, well, God told me that I
had to get ready because if I was willing to suffer with
Christ, the glory of the Lord, it's going to be revealed in my
life and it through my ministry. And so the person said, OK, I'm
going to let you in. And I found out there's some
suffering along the way. There's some difficulties along
the way. There's trials you go through,
you think, well, how did this happen to me?
What is happening here? But I can testify that in
everything I have found is as I put my trust in the Lord, His
glory ultimately is being revealed.
I often share my testimonies of miraculous healings, but I've
also found out that God can give me miraculous strength when I'm
going through a trial as well. And when it seems like how are
you going to make through the day?
Well, I can make through the day.
Nothing holds me back from doing what God has told me to do
because I know I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me. And so I'm going to ask everyone
to bow your heads and close your eyes before we partake of the
table of showbread. If you would, the table of His
presence, our communion, that we would recognize you.
Each and everyone of you have been chosen of God.
Amazing. You've been called to be that
ark of the covenant. You carry the very presence of
the living God wherever you go. That's what happened to you on
your Pentecost. And God says, would you let me
show you how that I am with you everywhere and in all things,
and I have chose you for my purpose?
Will you let me teach you of my ways, that you might walk fully
in all these things? Hallelujah Jesus, God is going
to do something powerful and he says I want you to be a part of
it. Father, we just commit ourselves
to you. Thank you for making us the
Tabernacle of your dwelling 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.