1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:04,880 Now, the prophet Ezekiel was a man of God that at age 30, the 2 00:00:04,880 --> 00:00:08,400 children of Israel were taken into captivity by a country 3 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:11,360 called Babylon. When the children of Israel came 4 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:14,440 out of Egypt and were LED into the Promised Land, Moses warned 5 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:17,040 them and said, you're going in the Promised land, you're going 6 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:20,080 to take possession of it. But if you're not careful, God 7 00:00:20,080 --> 00:00:23,480 will allow the enemy to come in and dispossess you from that 8 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:25,720 land if you're not willing to do what I tell you. 9 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:28,760 And unfortunately in history, that's what happened. 10 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:32,640 The Babylonians came in. They first of all took captive 11 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:34,640 many people, Ezekiel being one of them. 12 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:37,920 And with a short period of time after that, they literally 13 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:41,080 destroyed the holy city. They destroyed the temple and 14 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:43,080 everything that was contained there. 15 00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:46,520 Now, Ezekiel was of the lineage of the priesthood. 16 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:50,400 The sons of Aaron, of the tribe of Leboi were especially set 17 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,560 apart for the purposes of ministering as priests in the 18 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:56,520 temple. Now, this was a very prestigious 19 00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:00,280 position to have in those days. But unfortunately for Ezekiel, 20 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:03,720 just as he's reaching the age of 30, when he would have started 21 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:07,960 his job, the Babylonian armies come in and dispossessed him. 22 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:11,040 And of course, when he's in captivity, also finds out about 23 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:13,880 the fact that the temple and city eventually become 24 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:16,160 destroyed. What do you do if you're a 25 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,880 priest and there is no temple? Because the temple was the place 26 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:22,400 where God dwelt in the midst of his people. 27 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,880 Many of you remember the stories about how in the Old Testament 28 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:29,120 Moses led the children of Israel and there was a Tabernacle that 29 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:31,960 he had constructed. Later on, they built the temple, 30 00:01:31,960 --> 00:01:35,680 but the centerpiece of furniture in that place was what was 31 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,080 called the Ark of the Covenant. And on the Ark of the Covenant 32 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:42,680 was a mercy seat, and that was the throne of God, that God 33 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:46,200 would come down and speak to Moses in the times of the 34 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,320 Tabernacle. But yet everything in the days 35 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:51,960 of the temple were built around the fact that three times a year 36 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:55,000 everybody had to come to the temple, offer their sacrifices, 37 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,760 and worship God because that was the place in their mind where 38 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,120 God would dwell. What do you do when you have a 39 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:06,120 temple and an ark and God has dwelled there and all the sudden 40 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:08,120 the temple in the city and everything is gone? 41 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:12,360 Well, Ezekiel got a revelation that, well, God doesn't just 42 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:16,240 live in one place. God sits on a throne that is 43 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:19,920 over all of the earth. How many glad today our God sits 44 00:02:19,920 --> 00:02:21,800 on a throne that's over all the earth? 45 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:25,000 Amen. So this was going to be a time 46 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:29,920 of transition and change because Ezekiel as a prophet had to 47 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:32,960 paint this picture for the children of Israel in captivity. 48 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:35,760 And you can imagine how everybody felt and what 49 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,600 everybody thought and how hard it would have been to encourage 50 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:40,760 them. But God said to the prophets, 51 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,320 now I want you to speak my word and I want you to give to the 52 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:47,440 people a spiritual reality. Now the spiritual reality would 53 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:50,880 be very important because the Ark of the Covenant, where the 54 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:55,160 presence of the Lord reside in those days, would never come 55 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:58,880 back on the scene. Many years later, 70 years later 56 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:02,280 to be exact, they would reconstruct the temple and it 57 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:05,320 would last for several 100 years until the time of Jesus Christ 58 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:07,240 going through all kinds of remodeling or whatever. 59 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:10,600 But there never was a time after that where they knew anything 60 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:12,240 about where is the Ark of the Covenant. 61 00:03:12,640 --> 00:03:17,040 And people today, this day, are still saying, where's the Ark of 62 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:19,440 the Covenant? There's been movies made about 63 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:23,800 it and people have speculated about it, but I don't believe 64 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:26,840 anybody's going to ever find it because God's like, OK, that was 65 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:30,880 an old piece of furniture. We don't need it anymore because 66 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:34,480 my people need to know I'm the God who sits on the throne of 67 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:36,160 the heavens. Amen, Church. 68 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:40,920 So in the book of Ezekiel, God begins to tell his people that 69 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:44,360 wherever you are scattered, I'm going to be there if you open up 70 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,440 your life to me. And of course, that's true even 71 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:51,440 to this day. But as this scene opens, this is 72 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,400 the picture that he sees. And if you look in the 73 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:57,960 background, that is a picture of the temple. 74 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:01,160 And so I want to start by reading scriptures in Ezekiel 75 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:03,840 chapter 47, beginning with verses 1 and 2. 76 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,400 So then he brought me to the back door of the temple, and 77 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:10,440 there was water flowing from under the threshold of the 78 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:14,320 temple towards the east, for the front of the temple faced E. 79 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:17,279 The water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, 80 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:20,880 South of the altar, dropped me out by the way of the Northgate, 81 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:24,520 led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces 82 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:28,800 east, and there was water running out of the right side. 83 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,440 I put over this to the source and it doesn't talk a lot about 84 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:35,040 it, but he's talking first of all about the temple. 85 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:37,600 And like I said, it's important to understand to them that was 86 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,480 the place of God's throne. Now when you read the Scriptures 87 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:43,600 and I talk about this in my book, the Descending New 88 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:47,680 Jerusalem, and you go the very last chapter of the Bible in the 89 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:52,400 Book of Revelation 22, it shows the same picture which literally 90 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,680 becomes a picture of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. 91 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:58,480 And that's why I'm sharing it with you today because I want 92 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:02,000 you to see how we as a local church have endeavoured to fully 93 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,360 be obedient to all things. God speaks concerning his 94 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:07,720 Church. Jesus said concerning his 95 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:09,640 church. I will build my church, and the 96 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:12,000 gates of hell will not prevail against it. 97 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,560 And when God spoke to Abraham, who is the father of our faith, 98 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:18,080 he said something to him very, very important. 99 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:22,560 He said that through your seed every nation of the earth is 100 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:25,320 going to be blessed. Now we know that's not happened 101 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:28,040 to the natural seed. It happens to the spiritual 102 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:32,040 seed, which is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, also called 103 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:36,680 the sons of God in the earth. We have been called to be that 104 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:38,760 place of blessing for our community. 105 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:41,520 And as you know, as we talk about it, we reach out to our 106 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:43,640 communities and also to the world. 107 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:47,360 But it's important to understand where the source of life comes. 108 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:51,160 In Revelation 22, he specifically talks about the 109 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:55,280 throne, and it's important for us to see that everything that 110 00:05:55,280 --> 00:05:58,480 pertains to life comes from the throne of God. 111 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:03,360 True life comes only from God. In church, we need to understand 112 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:06,760 that if you want to be alive, God is going to be the source of 113 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:07,480 that. Amen. 114 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:11,200 And it's always come from Him. And it's very important that 115 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:13,720 I've shared a lot about this recently because God said to me, 116 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:17,640 my people have to know that I sit on the throne of heaven and 117 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:21,240 that no matter what you see happening, I'm always on the 118 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:23,800 throne. And God does allow things that 119 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:26,720 happen going all the way back to the Garden of Eden, because God 120 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:30,080 gives mankind choice and sometimes that choice has some 121 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:32,000 consequences that aren't too good. 122 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:36,320 But God always sets over all these things as a manager in 123 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:39,960 order that in the end, all things can work together for 124 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:43,720 good to those who love God and are what called according to his 125 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:46,000 purpose. And that includes every single 126 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,280 one of us church that's so important for us to know. 127 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:52,560 And so the temple or the throne, how everyone to look at it, that 128 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:55,040 becomes the source of everything. 129 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:59,720 Now going to the description now of the river, it says, And that 130 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:04,120 shall be that every living thing that moves wherever the river 131 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:07,800 goes, I will live. There would be a very great 132 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:10,320 multitude of fish because of these waters. 133 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:14,160 Go there, for they will be healed and everything will live. 134 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:17,880 Wherever the river goes, it should be that fisherman will 135 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:20,960 stand by it. From Engadi to Angleium there 136 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:22,800 will be places for spreading their Nets. 137 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:25,880 Their fish shall be of the same kinds as the fish of the great 138 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:31,040 sea, Exceedingly many. But it's swamps and marshes will 139 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:34,600 not be healed. They will be given over to salt. 140 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:37,640 Now, it's important for us to understand that this river, and 141 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:40,680 we'll talk more about it as it unfolds in the Scriptures here, 142 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:46,240 represents the moving of the Holy Spirit because from the 143 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:51,040 throne, God sends forth his Spirit to do his bidding in the 144 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:53,080 air. And so when we think about this 145 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:56,520 river, we think about the power of the Holy Spirit, and it says 146 00:07:56,520 --> 00:08:00,560 wherever you allow this river to go, there's going to be life. 147 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:01,920 Things are going to come to light. 148 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:05,920 But it also says that in the marshy places, and if you're 149 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:09,120 familiar at all with wetlands, where the marsh is, it's where 150 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:11,920 the water's there, but it's stagnant because it can't move. 151 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,400 It's being held back. It says wherever the marshy 152 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:17,200 places are, there's not going to be any life there. 153 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:21,040 But wherever the river goes, even when it goes to, he calls 154 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:24,280 it the Great Sea, and he's talking about the Dead Sea is 155 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:27,280 what we call it today. It was a salty sea. 156 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:31,000 But according to the prophet, even this salty sea will be 157 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:35,320 transformed into a life giving see no longer dead. 158 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:40,039 When the spirit of the living God flows, everything that's 159 00:08:40,039 --> 00:08:44,200 alive shall live. But I wanted to point out here 160 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:48,040 that God wasn't just happy with people coming alive. 161 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,320 He wants his people to be made well. 162 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:55,080 If you notice in that scripture, when we first come to the Lord, 163 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:59,240 the Bible says that we are dead in our trespasses and sins. 164 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:02,520 But then God does what? He makes us alive. 165 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:05,680 Anybody out there alive today? Let me hear you Fear alive today 166 00:09:05,680 --> 00:09:10,760 may give him praise. It is so good to be alive, but 167 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:13,640 Jesus said I didn't come just to make you alive. 168 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:18,600 I have give come to give you life and that more abundantly. 169 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:21,480 So a lot of people are happy just to be made alive, but they 170 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:25,120 don't realize there's so much more that God wants to do for 171 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:27,840 us. He also wants to make us well. 172 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:31,440 He wants the river. He's refreshing to wash in every 173 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:34,920 part of our being so we can truly experience the abundant 174 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:37,200 life. That's why I often talk about 175 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:40,120 the fact that so many times people have a mistaken 176 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:43,000 understanding of the gospel because to them, the gospel is, 177 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:45,800 I'm going to believe this, I'm going to receive this, and one 178 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:47,400 of these days, I'm going to go to heaven. 179 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:50,520 And then with that mindset, people all decide how much of 180 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:53,440 God they want in their life. Well, the gospel was not 181 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:55,520 preached to give people access to heaven. 182 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:58,360 It was preached to give people access to God. 183 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:02,880 And when we received God, he comes and lives inside of our 184 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:05,080 life. And this is so important for us 185 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:08,080 to understand. I'm glad I have eternal life and 186 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:11,240 I'm glad when I have a funeral for somebody, as we did this 187 00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:13,120 past week. I could say, you know what? 188 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:15,440 They didn't die. They just transitioned to 189 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:16,880 another dimension. Amen. 190 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:20,800 But I also want people to understand how important it is 191 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:24,400 that we can experience the Kingdom of God in a present 192 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:28,440 tense reality and that we can also experience God's life in a 193 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,320 present tense reality. And when we see this picture the 194 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:34,760 God was presenting to the prophet Ezekiel and wants us to 195 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:39,360 understand, He wants you to know He wants to make you alive and 196 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:41,960 well. And that's what the river of God 197 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:44,240 is going to do as it goes forward. 198 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:47,240 It says that when the man went out to the east with the line in 199 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:49,960 his hand, he measured 1000 cubits. 200 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:52,560 He brought me through the waters and the water came up to my 201 00:10:52,560 --> 00:10:55,160 ankle. Again he measured 1000 and 202 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:58,120 brought me through the waters of the water, came up to my knees. 203 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:01,240 Again he measured 1000 and brought me through the water, 204 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:04,520 came up to my waist. Again he measured 1000. 205 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:08,840 It was a river that I could not cross, for the water was too 206 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:12,840 deep. Water in which one must swim, a 207 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:17,440 river that could not be crossed. So I talked about how God wants 208 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:20,400 to make us alive and well, and I put over this well. 209 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:22,440 How well does He want to make us? 210 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:24,640 Well? He wants to make us well. 211 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:29,320 How deep we get is how well we can become come if you would, 212 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:33,840 because he talks about this and this was a common scripture I 213 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:36,400 heard growing up in the Pentecostal charismatic 214 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:39,080 movement. And I references because it's 215 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:42,160 important for people to understand that as God began to 216 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:45,480 give life to the church during the time of the Reformation, 217 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:48,640 there was a people that believed in getting saved or receiving 218 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:51,680 Christ as their savior. But then in American history, 219 00:11:51,680 --> 00:11:54,080 there came a time when there was what was called the holiness 220 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:55,840 movement. People again to realize, hey, 221 00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:58,080 there's more to this than just getting saved. 222 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:00,880 They called it the second work of grace, which led to the 223 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:03,680 Pentecostal movement, which led to the charismatic movement. 224 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:06,680 And they often talked about the river again, because that 225 00:12:06,680 --> 00:12:08,720 represents the power of the Holy Spirit. 226 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:11,280 And when we think about the power of the Holy Spirit, God 227 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:13,720 says, well, how deep are you willing to go? 228 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:17,960 And he talks about the fact that he goes in and after he goes in 229 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:20,760 1000 cubits, it's only up to his ankles. 230 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:24,080 Now, cubit in those days basically is from your elbow to 231 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:27,200 the end of your fingers. It's not an exact measurement by 232 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,880 any means, but it gets you an idea how far you would have to 233 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:33,680 go in order for that water just even get up to your ankles. 234 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:36,440 But if you notice, he didn't stop at the ankles. 235 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:40,080 He kept on going till it went up to his knees, kept on going till 236 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:42,960 it went up to his waist. And all of a sudden he realized, 237 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:46,160 wait, this is getting so deep, I'm going to have to swim. 238 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:49,320 And then he said, wait a minute, I can't swim enough because I 239 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:50,800 can't even get to the other side. 240 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:53,880 There's so much water here. Church, we have to understand 241 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:58,440 that God's saying to us today, just need to get deeper into the 242 00:12:58,440 --> 00:12:59,480 well. Amen. 243 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:02,440 If you're missing something, go deeper into the well. 244 00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:06,720 Give him a praise on that Church because we need to understand we 245 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:10,000 can stop whenever we want. That's why I often say to 246 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,200 people, don't have your stopping point. 247 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:15,160 Some people say I'm saved and I know that I am. 248 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:18,480 Other people say, well, I've been saved and sanctified and 249 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:21,840 filled with the Holy Ghost. Don't let that be your stopping 250 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:24,040 point. Say I want to go on to maturity. 251 00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:26,840 I want to go into my fullness. I want to be made completely 252 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:29,320 whole. I want God to do everything in 253 00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:32,520 me that he said he was willing to do Amen Church. 254 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:36,640 So we should say to ourselves, where am I going to stop? 255 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:39,120 Well, I'm not going to stop because I'm going to go and tell 256 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:42,560 I can treat swimming and when I'm swimming, I'm just going to 257 00:13:42,560 --> 00:13:47,160 enjoy these waters because there's life in the river of God 258 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:50,040 and there's always more that He can do for us. 259 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:52,480 I've been serving the Lord all these years in full time 260 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:54,400 ministry. Before that, just serving the 261 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:56,000 Lord as a little kid in Sunday school. 262 00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:59,960 And guess what, Church, I found out there's always something new 263 00:13:59,960 --> 00:14:02,400 and refreshing that God has for me. 264 00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:05,000 Don't live in yesterday's experience. 265 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:08,200 God says it's a new day. There's something He has for 266 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:10,440 you. You've never tasted something 267 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:13,640 you've never experienced. Don't live on yesterday's 268 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:15,160 experience. Go deeper. 269 00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:17,520 Can I hear any men on that? How deep? 270 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:20,960 Well, keep on going till you have to swim in this thing 271 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:24,760 because that's what's necessary for us to experience the 272 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:29,480 fullness of what God has for us. Now having said that, I want to 273 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:31,640 share this scripture. And this is on the day of 274 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:34,000 Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit came. 275 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:37,680 The people said, well, how can we get this Holy Spirit that we 276 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:40,600 see all these people have? And Peter said, repent, let 277 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:44,280 everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the 278 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:48,320 remission of your sin, and you shall receive the gift of the 279 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:53,240 Holy Spirit for the promises to you, to your children, and all 280 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:58,520 who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call. 281 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:02,120 Now this is important to understand because for Ezekiel 282 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:05,200 and all the people, the Old Testament, which covers 2000 283 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:08,120 years of history, they never talked about getting saved. 284 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:11,200 What did they talk about? They talked about going to the 285 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:14,720 place where God's presence was in the day when the Holy Spirit 286 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:17,600 came. And they said, well, what must 287 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:19,600 we do? They weren't saying, what must I 288 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:22,880 do to go to heaven. They were saying, what must I do 289 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:26,000 to get the Holy Spirit? These people are getting because 290 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,720 they understood something as the juice of the old covenant. 291 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:33,640 It's the presence of God that makes the difference. 292 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:36,400 Amen. And so he told them, well, you 293 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:40,240 need to go to the waters of baptism after you've submitted 294 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:43,880 to the throne, if you would. Then you go to the waters of 295 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,840 baptism and then you need another baptism, which is the 296 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:50,960 Holy Spirit baptism. Why do we call it the Holy 297 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:53,040 Spirit Spirit baptism? Well, it's scriptural. 298 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:56,560 When Jesus Christ himself went to be baptized, John the 299 00:15:56,560 --> 00:15:59,800 Baptist, who was his cousin, had this ministry where he was 300 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:02,240 preaching everybody. You need to repent and be 301 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:04,880 baptized. Jesus Christ shows up on the 302 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:07,480 scene and John the Baptist is like, I'm not baptizing you. 303 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:09,360 This should be the other way around. 304 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:11,640 He said, no, I'm going to fulfill all righteousness. 305 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:15,280 This is what the gospel says, and I'm going to do that too. 306 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:19,040 I'm going to follow the plan of action that God has for me. 307 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:20,240 How many? You know, we should be willing 308 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:24,600 to follow the plan of action. But when John saw him afar off, 309 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:27,680 he said, well, I baptize you in water, but Yonder comes a man 310 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:31,520 who will baptize you in the Holy Ghost and with fire. 311 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:34,000 And so that was the minister of Jesus Christ. 312 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:38,120 So when we see the water, we see our first experience is the 313 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:40,640 natural water. Just like we saw someone today, 314 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:43,840 they said, well, goodbye old life going down. 315 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:46,600 I'm going to bear the old and I'm going to come up and rise to 316 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:49,560 walk in newness life. Everybody who gets water 317 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:53,200 baptism, Mount Zion, after they leave the baptismal tank, we 318 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:56,120 take them to another room and we pray over him and say it's time 319 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,800 to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost and be filled with 320 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:04,079 that river, if you would, because this is such a powerful 321 00:17:04,079 --> 00:17:07,960 experience for us to have. But I've been sharing for a few 322 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:11,200 years now that this is a time of transition in the body of 323 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:13,680 Christ. And this image that I'm sharing 324 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:18,040 with you here, it is a good demonstration of what this third 325 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:20,280 day is about. If you hear we talk about a new 326 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,160 day, 1/3 day, well, what exactly does that mean? 327 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:26,000 Well, that's why I'm sharing with you this visual today. 328 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:30,320 It said that on the Bank of the river and on this side and that 329 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:33,800 will grow all kinds of trees used for food. 330 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:37,680 Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. 331 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:42,640 They will bear fruit every month because their water flows from 332 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:46,200 the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and 333 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:50,160 their leaves for medicine. You see, there's a transition in 334 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:52,880 this picture. As much as we love the river, 335 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,600 want to swim in the river, the source of life is so that we can 336 00:17:56,600 --> 00:18:02,080 become trees that God will be able to use as a source of life 337 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:05,200 to the world. You see, God wants to give you 338 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:07,960 life, but he wants you to give life to other people. 339 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:11,920 He said to Abraham, who is the father of our faith, he said, 340 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:14,640 I'm going to bless you. Not only am I going to bless 341 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:16,280 you, I'm going to bless those who bless you. 342 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:17,880 I'm going to curse those who curse you. 343 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:21,840 And through your seed, every nation of the earth is going to 344 00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:24,200 be blessed. So we're on the Threshold Church 345 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:26,600 right now of God doing something worldwide. 346 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:30,000 This quite amazing. We always think of things from 347 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:33,720 our local level and even as Americans we think about America 348 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:35,840 today. But I've been watching the the 349 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:40,240 news and CBN has a lot of real good news about what's happening 350 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:41,920 in the world. And they talk about this 351 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:45,600 regularly, how just like we go, we have went to El Salvador and 352 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:48,560 have a church there. 50 years ago, there wasn't hardly 353 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:52,280 evangelical Christian, somebody who was even a Protestant in the 354 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:55,360 country in those days. And now it's a majority in many 355 00:18:55,360 --> 00:18:58,240 of Central American countries. Brazil, which is one of the 356 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:01,040 biggest countries of the world, they're moving to the point of 357 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:04,240 50% of the people being charismatic Christians. 358 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:06,360 Can you imagine that church what God is doing? 359 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,520 You need to understand it's so far reaching, but now about 360 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:13,360 saying to the church, I don't want you just get excited about 361 00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:16,040 the river. I want you to begin to realize 362 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:20,280 that I want you to be in the life of that river, but I want 363 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:24,440 you to become a tree because from your branch is going to 364 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:27,360 come food and medicine for the world. 365 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:33,160 Our world is becoming more bankrupt, more and more falling 366 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:37,840 into things like anxiety and depression and all these things 367 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:41,120 that, well, you would think in a modern world where all the 368 00:19:41,120 --> 00:19:44,160 scientific things that have been discovered and created, 369 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:47,960 especially all the affluence that is being experienced in our 370 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:50,120 country and throughout the nation, the world, you think 371 00:19:50,120 --> 00:19:52,520 somebody would say, wow, I'm happy now. 372 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:54,640 No, the world does not make you happy. 373 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:59,040 Church, there is a satisfaction that's temporary, but you need 374 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:01,200 something deep inside of your spirit. 375 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:05,280 And God wants us to have food and medicine so the world can 376 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:08,280 know what he wants to use us for. 377 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,400 Now, I wanted to emphasize the fact that he says there's all 378 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:14,760 kinds of trees because how many, you know with the God's work, it 379 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,520 takes all kinds. How many you know that we're all 380 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:20,840 different kinds. How many know you're different? 381 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:24,120 Most of you didn't say Amen to that. 382 00:20:24,120 --> 00:20:27,080 You're different. We don't want to be different. 383 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:29,840 In psychology, they call the affiliation needs. 384 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:32,880 We like to feel like we belong to something and in a 385 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,840 superficial way, our sense of belonging is we're around people 386 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:38,200 that are like us. And that's why even on Sunday 387 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:41,760 morning, the body of Christ is divided up into people go to the 388 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:44,720 same economic, same, ethnic, same, same, same. 389 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:48,160 Because they don't realize God doesn't want us to be the same 390 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:51,080 in the natural because he wants us to be able to reach all kinds 391 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:55,240 of people. But he wants us to be same in 392 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:59,400 that we are all the children of the most high God becoming sons 393 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:01,800 of God. And every single one of us has 394 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:05,200 something that God wants us to give to our world. 395 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:09,160 So we find it certainly our affiliation because God created 396 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:12,720 us and he wants us to feel ourselves as part of the body of 397 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:16,160 Christ, as members in particular the Bible says. 398 00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:18,960 But he also wants us to feel comfortable. 399 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:21,600 And this is something the church has to feel comfortable with, 400 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:26,280 that we're all different and it's our unique differences that 401 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:30,120 give us the capacity to reach the World in which we live. 402 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:34,000 That's why when he talks about us becoming those trees that are 403 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:38,120 next to the river, he says it takes all kinds of trees and 404 00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:41,800 it's their fruit that's going to be food and medicine for the 405 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:45,160 world in which we live. Now from our picture that we 406 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:48,520 drew up had someone and in our El Salvador ministry, I'll pull 407 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:51,680 this together for me today. It looks like all the fruits the 408 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:52,960 same. As a matter of fact, it looks 409 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:55,400 like grapes coming off the tree. That's a little different. 410 00:21:55,400 --> 00:22:02,360 But anyway, it's all different kinds of trees, all different 411 00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:05,480 kinds of fruit and all of us are a little bit fruity. 412 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:10,040 Can you say Amen, God's going to give us the right kind of fruit 413 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:13,080 that's going to be life to the world in which we live. 414 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:14,640 Now. Having understood that, I want 415 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:16,960 to share a little bit about our church vision. 416 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:20,680 When I was a kid, I heard the word of God in Sunday school and 417 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:22,000 I'm like, I want to be a Christian. 418 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:23,880 I want to be everything Christian's supposed to be. 419 00:22:24,120 --> 00:22:26,800 When I became a pastor, I was like, Lord, I want to be 420 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:29,400 everything your word says the pastor is supposed to be. 421 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:31,320 And Lord, if we're going to have a church, I want to be 422 00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:33,960 everything that you said church is supposed to be. 423 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:36,320 And so he's been giving us this vision. 424 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:39,680 So everything we do as a local church is built not on just a 425 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,720 random ideas or thinking, wow, this would be cool to do this. 426 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:45,920 It's like fulfilling the vision that God has given to us. 427 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:50,040 Now, if you think in terms of this picture, you realize why we 428 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:54,600 have Oasis Ministry, Life Enrichment, and also we have 429 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:57,760 what we call our healthy living center at one of our community 430 00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:00,160 centers. The reason for that is because 431 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:04,600 these are ways we can become healing and food for the people 432 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:07,160 that are around us. And so it's important for us 433 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:11,480 also to see that it's for us, our Oasis ministry is a support 434 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:15,200 ministry, partly that's for people that have perhaps 435 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,560 problems with alcohol or drug addiction or whatever, because 436 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:22,280 it's been proven that support group ministries is very helpful 437 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,480 in people getting with other people to support each other and 438 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:28,680 finding success. But our wasteless ministry also 439 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:32,520 is deal with issues of emotions that people go through because 440 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:36,440 sometimes we go through very intense situations and we just 441 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:40,000 need somebody to talk about it with and also people who can 442 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:41,800 support us. Important it's in the right 443 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:44,000 direction. Might be because I'm going 444 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,400 through something. It might be because somebody I 445 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:50,960 love is going through something. But Oasis is a means by support, 446 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:54,240 first of all to the church, second of all to the world. 447 00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:57,880 Life Enrichment classes are written by my sister, Jeannie 448 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:00,640 Cagle, because she went and got her degree. 449 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:03,720 And I always joke about that because there was a time she had 450 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:06,120 two years of college. She says, well, what should I do 451 00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:08,840 now for college? And I go, we'll get your degree, 452 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:11,240 become a teacher, we're going to start a school. 453 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,480 And she said, well, it's time for me to get a master's degree. 454 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:17,840 What should I do? Well, get 1 so that we can have 455 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:21,040 a social interaction, psychology. 456 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:23,240 So she went and got her psychology and her master's 457 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:24,560 degree. Then she eventually got her 458 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:28,160 doctors agree, and I've kept her very busy over the years. 459 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:33,880 But we have our counseling ministry that is a part of our 460 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:37,800 counselor training program, a two year program that people can 461 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:41,000 go through that is very helpful to people in their individual 462 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,600 lives. But also from that group we have 463 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:47,080 people that are a part of our life enrichment classes. 464 00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:50,120 If you have any questions about that, go to our information 465 00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:53,040 counter after the service. We want to tell you about them 466 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:57,000 or go to our website because when I talk about becoming alive 467 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:00,680 and being made well, sometimes we need a course that we can 468 00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:02,720 take. And so we have boundaries of 469 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:04,680 relationship. We have a marriage class for 470 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:08,920 people that need marriage help. We have classes about anxiety 471 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,280 and different life controlling emotions, whatever you can see, 472 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:14,320 all kinds of things. But the purpose of that is 473 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:18,120 number one, life enrichment. How can I get to that place of 474 00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:20,920 being totally well? Well, sometimes it requires 475 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:22,600 that. And I put in here the healthy 476 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:25,880 living center at our Community Center, we have Momma Jean 477 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:29,040 healthy living center that we dedicated for the purpose of 478 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:33,000 giving people opportunity to take nutrition classes and also 479 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,240 to learn about healthy living through exercise and lifting 480 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:39,600 weights. And I, I've shared that many 481 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:42,920 times that my mom and dad both exercise my whole life. 482 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:46,480 My mom used to watch a guy named Jacqueline on TV and she'd get 483 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:48,600 her chair out and do all these exercises. 484 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:52,080 They lived till they were eight, just to have 88, both of them, 485 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:56,360 which is about pretty normal life span these days it seems. 486 00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:59,680 But the important thing that I like to point out is I have a 487 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:02,760 video of my mom a month before she passed away on the bowling 488 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:05,280 league. And Papa Bill was the same. 489 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:07,120 He's still active till the very end. 490 00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:10,520 And so we like to teach some of the practical things as well. 491 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:13,360 Because when God created, how many know he created his body, 492 00:26:13,360 --> 00:26:17,000 soul and spirit. And I've lived long enough to 493 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,360 know that. Well, if you take care of your 494 00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:22,640 body and if you follow the right path of nutrition stuff, it can 495 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:25,600 be very helpful. Either way, these are things 496 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:28,960 that we have available, but again, we have them in our 497 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:32,080 outreaches so that we can reach our community. 498 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:35,880 This is a picture of our coffee house ministry, Mount Zion 499 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:39,360 Community House. The older looking building is 500 00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:41,720 really a historical building from our area. 501 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:43,640 It used to be a school, proper school. 502 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:47,040 We still have the sign up there and we have a place where you 503 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:51,160 can take Bible classes, just meet with somebody because 504 00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:54,560 affiliation needs and spending time with other people is very 505 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:56,960 important. And so we like to have that. 506 00:26:57,120 --> 00:27:00,160 But if you notice on the right it says the Oasis because we 507 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:04,640 have life enrichment classes there, Bible classes, Oasis 508 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:07,720 ministry. And again, if you could see this 509 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:11,480 as the river where we come on Sunday and we get our source of 510 00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:13,960 life, then you look at our community centers. 511 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:18,680 These are trees that we do in reaching out to the community 512 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:21,760 because well, this is what the word of God teaches us. 513 00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:25,560 Most of you have never been to our Community Center. 514 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:29,400 And so we've had it since 1994 and I still meet people who've 515 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:34,160 never been there before. But we have there are gym or 516 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:37,200 healthy living center. We have a skate Park Place for 517 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:40,800 basketball, pickleball, skate park, all kinds of physical 518 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:44,520 activities. But again, all of what we do 519 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:47,640 reach out to the community as well. 520 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:51,360 Mount Zion has never been a church that just did things for 521 00:27:51,360 --> 00:27:53,920 ourselves. We've always been a church that 522 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:57,400 reached out to our community. And as you know, of course as 523 00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:00,320 well, we've reached out to the world and that we have a church 524 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:04,320 in Havana, church in San Salvador, and a church in 525 00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:08,240 Maravatia, Mexico. Having said that, this is the 526 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:11,320 proclamation and the ministry of Jesus Christ. 527 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:15,520 He said the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord 528 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:19,400 has united me to preach good tidings to the poor. 529 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:24,280 He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim 530 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:28,120 liberty to the captives, the open end of prison to them that 531 00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:31,200 are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, 532 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:35,560 that they have vengeance of our God, and ultimately to comfort 533 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,200 all who mourn. Those are the ministries that we 534 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,960 have here at Mount Zion. But I want you to understand 535 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:43,240 this is a prophecy given to Isaiah. 536 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:47,280 That's why it's in Isaiah 61. But in the New Testament, Jesus 537 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:51,240 in the beginning of his ministry was in the synagogue or the 538 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:55,040 temple, and he opened the Bible and read this and said this day, 539 00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:59,240 this Scripture is fulfilled. The ministry of Jesus Christ is 540 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:03,320 a ministry to give people fullness of life. 541 00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:06,480 He comes to heal. He comes to give liberty. 542 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:09,240 He comes to release you. Hallelujah. 543 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:13,080 Thank you, Jesus, for all that you're willing to do for us. 544 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:17,600 So the message is much bigger than just getting people to 545 00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:21,520 heaven, this message and some people say, oh, why do you need 546 00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:22,560 all that? Isn't it? 547 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:25,920 I heard somebody say this, isn't it enough that Jesus died for 548 00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:28,880 you to go to heaven? Well, not if he didn't say it 549 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:32,480 was enough. He said, I have a ministry and 550 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:36,320 that's to proclaim liberty to the captives to open the prison 551 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:39,560 to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of 552 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:44,200 my God, The Avengers of my God. He pronounced judgement upon 553 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:46,560 everything that that holds us back. 554 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:49,320 He wants you to have the abundant life. 555 00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:52,000 Amen. And he wants you to experience 556 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:56,960 the fullness of everything that God said He wants to do for all 557 00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:59,760 of us. How do you become a planted 558 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:02,680 tree? And this is where it is more 559 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:04,920 than just the flow of the Holy Spirit. 560 00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:09,240 It says Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the 561 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:14,480 ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat 562 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:19,160 of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and 563 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:21,040 his law he meditates day and night. 564 00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:22,680 What's going to happen that person? 565 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:27,520 Well, he's going to be like a tree planted by rivers of water 566 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:31,880 that bring forth this fruit in season, whose leave also shall 567 00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:35,920 not wither. And church, whatever he does, 568 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:40,640 shall what prosper the poor? Prosper in the Scripture doesn't 569 00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:45,560 just mean make you rich. It means to make you outperform 570 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:49,680 your natural abilities that you can go into the supernatural 571 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:51,720 abilities. So if you want to be one of 572 00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:54,200 those trees, you can't sit in the council of the ungodly. 573 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:57,600 We live in a time when there's all kinds of information through 574 00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:01,320 social media, YouTube and all the television programs. 575 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:04,640 There's a whole lot of opinions out there and you can listen to 576 00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:07,800 any opinion you want, but just remember, if they're not a 577 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:11,320 Christian and they're not basing that message on the word of God, 578 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:15,160 you need to stand back and say, now I'm going to only listen to 579 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:21,160 as much of this. Come on, that is not contrary to 580 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:24,760 the word of God, because God's Word should be the direction for 581 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:26,920 our life. And that's why I like to share 582 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:28,320 this. I've been a Christian long 583 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:32,120 enough to say what I preach to you isn't just experimental 584 00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:35,240 information. I have lived it and I know it to 585 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:36,360 be true. Amen. 586 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:40,960 And we have a multitudes of elders in our church who can say 587 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:43,560 Amen 'cause they can say the same thing. 588 00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:46,280 He opens the prison doors. He heals the sick. 589 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:51,800 My God can do all things. Give him a praise church. 590 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:58,920 Make sure the council that you're listening to is the right 591 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:01,000 council. And we have counsel. 592 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:03,280 That's why we have our counselors training program 593 00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:06,440 here, because we believe in following Christian counsel. 594 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:08,440 Amen. That's so important. 595 00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:11,800 Now, a scornful person is somebody who mocks other people, 596 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:14,880 has contempt, and there's a whole lot of people out there 597 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:19,080 who might even agree with you in what your philosophy is 598 00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:21,720 concerning politics or whatever is going on in the world. 599 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:27,920 But be very careful that you're not mocking like them and 600 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:31,480 picking up the spirit of the age because the spirit of the ages, 601 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:36,680 anger, hostility, and God says I've called you to be a people 602 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:39,320 of peace. I've called my house to be a 603 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:42,000 House of rest. And I want you to know your 604 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:46,600 power comes from the power of the Word of God, anointed by the 605 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:50,120 Holy Spirit. Everything is possible through 606 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:53,160 the Word of God. This is why the apostle Paul 607 00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:56,560 said I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is 608 00:32:56,560 --> 00:33:00,280 God's power of salvation. And again, the word salvation 609 00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:03,080 means to rescue. It means to open the prison 610 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:05,280 doors, it means to set the captives free. 611 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:07,800 He says this is the power of this gospel. 612 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:11,720 I preach for everyone who believes it, for the Jew first, 613 00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:16,040 also to the Greek, for it is in it the righteousness of God is 614 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:21,320 revealed from faith to faith. As is written, the Josh shall 615 00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:25,440 live by faith. And again, salvation that Paul 616 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:30,080 had was a complete deliverance. He was a man who was so bound in 617 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:33,400 his religion he thought it was okay for people to kill other 618 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:34,760 people who didn't agree with him. 619 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:38,840 And one day he had a revelation of grace and he realized I 620 00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:42,120 should have been that person. And he realized he was a Sinner. 621 00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:44,560 But he found out God can forgive every sin. 622 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:47,800 Aren't you glad the Lord can forgive us of every sin and 623 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:50,240 cleanse us from all unrighteousness? 624 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:54,880 And he said, when you walk in this gospel, you go from faith 625 00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:57,360 to faith. You got this much, but you need 626 00:33:57,360 --> 00:33:59,320 to go deeper. But you need faith. 627 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:01,640 By grace you have been saved through faith. 628 00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:04,480 That's not from you. It's a gift from God. 629 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:08,440 Let God give you more faith in this hour. 630 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:13,480 Second of all, as a part of this, he says to console those 631 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:20,400 who mourn in Zion, to give them what beauty for ashes, what the 632 00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:24,120 joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of 633 00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:27,560 heaviness, why, that we might be called the trees of 634 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:30,760 righteousness, the plan of the Lord that he may be glorified. 635 00:34:31,199 --> 00:34:33,400 God wants to comfort you if you're mourning. 636 00:34:33,639 --> 00:34:35,600 God wants to take away your ashes. 637 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:39,000 If you're carrying things from the past and you just have not 638 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:41,719 let go of them. He wants you to have joy. 639 00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:45,440 He doesn't want you mourning, and He wants you to have that 640 00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:50,159 praise that you can say, wow, this is a good day because this 641 00:34:50,159 --> 00:34:55,199 is the day that the Lord hath made, and I will rejoice and be 642 00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:57,840 exceedingly glad in it. Amen. 643 00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:00,920 Can we all please bow our heads and close our eyes for just a 644 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:03,440 moment? Church, I tell you, this is the 645 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:07,120 beginning of a whole new season in God. 646 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:16,320 Don't stay where you are, move with God. 647 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:24,360 Thus, saith the Lord, it's time to move. 648 00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:30,560 And the Old Testament, when God got ready to move, he just 649 00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:32,760 started moving. They had to pull up camp and say 650 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:36,360 I'm going with the cloud, I'm going with the presence. 651 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:44,000 I'm following God because wherever the presence was, there 652 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:48,000 was life. I was the Lord gave this to me 653 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:51,160 and they gave me that last verse to put on there. 654 00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:55,080 He said, tell my people, be sure that they'll give up the old. 655 00:35:55,760 --> 00:36:00,920 Sometimes we get so comfortable with our sadness, comfortable 656 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:05,640 with talking about the past, comfortable with our bondage 657 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:07,560 that we just say, well, this is me. 658 00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:12,240 God says that's not you whom the sun sets. 659 00:36:12,240 --> 00:36:16,360 Free is free indeed. Today make a choice. 660 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:20,480 I'm letting go of yesterday to walk in the new day that God has 661 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:25,720 for me. For God so loved the world that 662 00:36:25,720 --> 00:36:29,000 he gave his only begotten Son. Church. 663 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:34,160 We got to love the world. God did, and he gave his only 664 00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:39,800 begotten Son. But if he loved the world, how 665 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:43,600 much more his people that he has called and set his love upon for 666 00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:46,640 His purpose. Father, in the name of Jesus, 667 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:54,440 today give us the strength to take a step into a deeper level, 668 00:36:55,240 --> 00:37:00,880 a new day, a new experience in Jesus mighty name, Amen. 669 00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:04,680 This is Pastor Lorne Coverbius from Mount Zion Church. 670 00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:07,680 We thank you for joining us today and invite you to connect 671 00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:11,280 with our church family by visiting mountzion.org and 672 00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:13,880 following us on social media. God bless you.