In the book of Matthew Chapter 11 verses 28 and 30, it says
come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
from me. For I'm gentle lowling heart you
will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my
burden is light. And I want to share again this
important picture here to demonstrate what is Jesus
talking about when he talks about a yoke.
Some of us growing up in church or maybe in the country, you
understand right away what that is.
But a lot of people don't know what it is.
And this is important for us to be able to visualize it.
A yoke is something that you would put upon 2 animals to help
them work together. It's kind of like a doubling of
the strength. So in this picture, we have the
person in the back who's directing with a plow, if you
would, and then we have the animals here in the front who
are pulling the plow to make it possible for the work to be
accomplished. And I said last week, I kind of
like this picture because the Bible speaks about us being
yoked to Jesus Christ. And the fact is, in this
particular Scripture or picture, if you would, you can see that
somebody's carrying a little bit heavier load or doing a better
job at it. But we have to understand, just
like the Scripture says, when we are yoked with Jesus Christ,
he's able to supply what we lack.
How many glad for that walk with Jesus Christ, Amen.
Amen. And when it talks about being
yoked with him, that means you're connected with him.
That Christianity is not a mere religion or a religious belief,
but it is about having a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ. And then having that personal
relationship with Jesus Christ, we're able to walk in the
fullness of the blessings that God has for us.
And one of those blessings is he walks with us in life and when
we he walks with us in life, when we need strength, he can
give us strength and he's able to do all kinds of good things.
But it's so important that we would realize that when we're
yoked with Christ, he says my yoke is easy and my burden is
light. That's because even when he
gives us a burden and puts responsibility upon it, he
shares with us in the responsibility and the works is
going to be involved. And I can testify as many of
you, again, I've been serving the Lord since I was a little
child, and it's an amazing thing when Jesus Christ is walking
through life with you. Amen.
We're not walking alone. Now I wanted to put up here,
learn from me in the quotes here because I want you to see it's
important for us to realize if we're going to have a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ, it isn't enough just to learn
about Him. And we have to understand that
when we're walking with Christ, he wants to teach us along the
way. Now, this is an important
conversation to have when we think about the Holy Spirit
because when Jesus Christ was getting ready to leave his
disciples, he said, I don't want you to think I'm going to leave
you like your orphans. It would be an amazing thing to
have Jesus Christ walking with you personally and being able to
answer your question. You're hearing from a preacher
and teacher that obviously was the greatest in the world and in
history. And then afterward to be able to
sit down and talk with him and get greater understanding and
know that when you had a need, He was always there.
Well, when Jesus talked about the fact He was leaving, He
said, but I want you to understand, I'm going to come
again and He's going to come through the power of the Holy
Spirit, the Spirit of Christ coming back to the earth as we
celebrate on the day of Pentecost so that each and every
one of us can have the power of the Holy Spirit in us.
He said after that the Holy Ghost has come, He will lead you
into all truth. He will bring to your
remembrance all the things that I've talked to you about.
He will instruct you because the Holy Spirit is the teacher.
And so it's important for us to realize it is a very important
thing for us to come to the House of God to hear sermons, to
take Bible classes, to get instruction.
But we also have to understand that God is with us in our
everyday life. God is involved in every
circumstance and situation, and He can get involved in that
situation, but He's not just going to push His way in.
We've have to invite Him in. Amen.
And so when we are yoked together with Christ, we say,
Lord, I want you to be in every part of my life.
I want you to be in every situation so I can receive all
the things that you have for me. Another scripture that I shared
last week that I want to reference here again is
Ephesians 4 where it says, But you have not so learned Christ,
if indeed you have what heard Him and have been taught by Him.
As the truth is in Jesus that you put off concern to your
former conduct. The old man which grows corrupt
according to deceitful life plus and be renewed in the spirit of
your mind that you may put on the new man which was created
according to God in true righteousness and holiness.
When we come to the Lord we have to understand that God wants us
to become a new creation. That's why Jesus said you must
be born again. We come into this world in the
natural realm of life, but when we're born again, there's a
whole other side to us that's become a part of who we are.
We're both natural and also spiritual.
Now God doesn't want those two sides of us to stay separate.
And unfortunately, often times people do.
And sometimes it's just because of a lack of knowledge.
They don't realize that God wants to be involved in our
natural life and God's involved in who we are in our natural
form, if you would. So we have to understand that's
part of the plan. And that starts with being born
again. How are you born again?
Well, the Bible says faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word
of God, so that when a person believes in their heart, the
Lord Jesus, the Bible says we become born again.
We have the ability to walk in the dimension of faith that God
has called us to. So obviously that tells us one
of the most important things we have to do is hear from Him.
And again, we need to hear it through instruction.
Bible study is very important. I'm excited about all the
different classes we have available, how many people are
taking part in these things and we can learn of Him when you
hear a sermon. But you have to also understand
that even in the context of those two settings, that the
word can come to us in a very personal way.
That's the purpose of the Holy Spirit.
So all of a sudden you're not just sitting there getting a
lesson about the Bible. If we allow the Holy Spirit, he
can pull something out of that sermon, out of that lesson that
can give us faith or give us a sense that there's a personal
connection that that word has for us, a personal connection
that instruction has for us. And then we should carry it
farther than that where we understand.
Jesus said my sheep know my voice, and another they will not
follow. Some people think it's a hard
thing to hear from God, or only certain people have that gift.
But Jesus said My sheep know my voice.
How could we know that we know his voice?
Well, you're a Christian today because somewhere along the line
you heard something from Him. You might not have figured it
out that way, but that's exactly what happens because we don't
choose him, He chooses us. And when the Word comes to us,
it opens the mind of our understanding so we can receive
the fullness of God's Word in our life again.
He says we have heard from Him and we are also taught by Him
because with hearing that voice of God, God is able to instruct
us and teach us a long life's journey.
And that's why why it's important to visualize this.
And that's why I wanted to share this picture with you so you can
see yourself as being yoked with Christ and everything that
you're not. He is.
That's why the Bible says I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me. Amen, Church.
It's a wonderful thing to be yoked together with Christ and
understand how He wants to work in our lives.
Now this scripture says trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Lean not unto your own understanding and all your ways
acknowledge Him. He shall direct your steps.
Do not be wise in your own eyes, but fear the Lord and depart
from evil. I put over this scripture, we
can find a place of confidence and that is when we come to the
place where we can trust in God. Now, this is the same as in our
personal relationships, our trust that we have with a person
we're married to or friend we have, or just somebody who's a
very close in relationship and life together with us.
That comes through a process of getting to know that person.
And after a while, after you get to know a person, how do you
know you can pretty well predict their behaviors?
Most of us don't want to think that we're predictable, but we
really are. And when we walk with somebody
over a period of time and take the time to get to know them,
then it isn't long before we know what they're like and we
can have a confidence in that person because, well, we know
who they are. That's why we need to be yoked
together with Christ, why we need to have a personal
relationship with Him. That's why we have to hear from
Him and be instructed by Him so that we can build our trust in
Him. Because when we first come to
Him and we believe in Him, that's faith.
And as we hear about prayer and knowing that God can answer
prayer, God can heal, and we go through the different aspects of
life, we're recalling him and He gives us faith and we've
received something from him. That faith dimension is
wonderful. But I think we all know that
sometimes we go through situations and circumstances
where we're like, well, what exactly is going on here?
I prayed and that doesn't seem to work.
I thought God said something and it doesn't seem to be coming to
pass. And that's why the Bible says
trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not in your own
understanding. Because when you trust, you
don't lean on your own understanding.
You put your confidence in the person.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Lean not into your own understanding in all your ways.
Acknowledge Him and He will direct your steps.
See, I believe God speaks to me and I believe God wants to speak
to you. Now, again, I don't believe I
can make mistakes with that because why?
I'm always listening to Him and I'm acknowledging Him.
So the Bible says because I acknowledge Him and because I've
learned about Him, who He is, I can have the confidence He's
going to direct my steps. So I might hear something from
God and it's not going the way I think it should, but he's
directing my steps. Amen, church.
And so sooner or later you can find out why it is you heard
something and what it actually meant.
Because sometimes we're in the process of learning how things
actually are. But when we're acknowledging the
Lord and asking his direction in something church, we should have
the confidence. Just like the Bible says.
If anybody needs wisdom, let him ask of God and God we'll give
liberally an not hold anything back.
Amen. So when we trust in Him, our
life takes on a whole new level of confidence that again, is not
based just on the circumstances and situations and certainly not
human wisdom and understanding. The prophet Isaiah declared
God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our
thoughts as far as the heavens are from the earth.
That's how far God's ways are from us.
Now we have the mind of Christ when we receive the Holy Spirit
because of our natural understanding.
Sometimes there's a little mixture in the connection, if
you would. But as long as we keep putting
our trust in the Lord and don't lean on our own understanding
and wisdom, then we can have the confidence.
Wait, this is about God, It's not about me.
And that's what I love about serving the Lord as you can have
this confidence throughout your life knowing that well, it's
more about Him than about you. All he's asking for from us is
that we would acknowledge him and seek him and seek for his
way in our life. In the book of Philippians, the
apostle Paul says, not that I speak in regard to need, for I
have learned in whatever state I am to be condemned.
I know how to be a based. I know how to abound everywhere
and in all things. I have learned both to be full
and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Now, in this particular reference, the apostle Paul is
writing to the Philippian church, and he explained to them
some of the needs that he's had. And I said, I want you to
understand something. When I'm sharing these with you,
it doesn't mean that my feelings or how I look at life is going
to be impacted by your response because he said I've learned
something along the way and I've learned how to be content in
every situation. Now, this is a very important
thing because of the apostle Paul was a man who was a fighter
against Christianity, consented to people being thrown into
prison. And one day the Lord speaks to
him from heaven. There's a a light from heaven
that shines upon him. He falls to the ground and Jesus
speaks to him from heaven. Wow, that's amazing.
After that the Bible says he was baptized in the name of the Lord
and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and then for three
years he went to the backside of the desert so that God could
teach him the word by revelation.
And what that means is all they had in those days is the Old
Testament. So the Holy Spirit had to take
him through all the scriptures he knew as a Jew and began to
show him that Christ when was in all those scriptures.
That's what Jesus said when he said meant when he said I read
you read the scriptures and in them you think have eternal
life, but they all speak about me.
So he had all this revelation. But how do you know with all of
that beginning, if you would, He still had some learning to do.
And what he found out is he could learn how to abound
because God did some amazing things in his life.
But he also had to learn what it meant to be debased, if you
would. That were literally means to go
through a period of humiliation. Because sometimes we have to
face things in life where, well, we can be humbled by them.
We think we could do it and we find out we can't.
Or we might even think that God had told us something and then
we're in a situation where we think, well, maybe he didn't say
that at all. As people, we have crises in
life. Amen.
Now what the apostle Paul said is because I'm in a learning
process, I've learned in the time when I'm in need that I can
find a contentment in the Lord. Now one of the things we all
have to learn is our satisfaction has to come from
the Lord. Amen.
Once he becomes our satisfaction, life becomes easy
for us a man, because once he becomes our satisfaction, we're
not need motivated. We're not always trying to make
things work out a certain way, but we can find out that, wow, I
can be content in every situation.
So we went through this process where he had some good things in
life, he had some bad things in life, but since he was being
instructed along the way, he found out how he could receive
from God a contentment in every space of life.
And that's what God wants each and everyone of us.
Now put up here strengthens me because then I quoted earlier
because it's one of my favorite scriptures.
But when I used to quote it when I was first servant Lord filled
with the Holy Spirit walking in the word of God by faith, I
always realized that well, God could get me through any
situation, but I didn't look at it at all that it was my
strength. I would just felt like, well, I
had to depend on him to kind of lift him up and get me through.
Well, one time I was going through a difficult time in the
1990s. I went through a series of
physical problems, one of them being seizures.
And for nine months I was suffering from seizures in some
capacity of the other. And it was a very, very
difficult time. And what I learned and then the
Lord spoke that Scripture to me. He said, Lauren, I'm
strengthening you. I'm not just going to be your
strength, but God's involved in our person church.
And that's a part of what God wants us to see in this day is
sometimes God wants us to be strengthened as an individual.
And that's the Spirit strengthening the natural side
of who you are. And that's when I began to see
myself in a whole different level concerning God and
concerning my walk with God and really who I was as an
individual. It's funny because one day I was
praying because I was kind of feeling like Lord.
Seems like most of my life you spoiled me, but you're not
spoiling me anymore. What's the problem?
I have all these testimonies, all these great stories, and
right now I don't seem to have a story.
I'm just going through something.
And that's when he spoke that to me.
I'm going to strengthen you, Lauren.
You're going to find out in these circumstances and
situations who you really are. And I've often shared that
testimony, how that when I was having the seizures, I really
couldn't read the Bible, couldn't look at a computer,
couldn't do the things you would normally do to preach or teach
or get prepared for anything. But during that time, I just
felt LED of the Lord that I should continue doing everything
that I always did. And so I was still preaching, I
was still teaching, I was still doing radio, still doing
television, and I was able to do all of that by what God had
already put in me as an individual in my life.
But also in this time of accepting the challenge to
believe that I can do all things and that God could strengthen me
to do the work that was necessary.
And that's so important that we would understand God wants to
work in our lives from that purpose and in that capacity as
well. Now I want to share this
scripture from the book of Job because most of us know the
story of Job. Can you raise your hand and say,
Yep, I know that story. And how many know when we think
about Job, we think about suffering.
And he had to go through great loss.
And this is where I pick up in verse 14 and 16 of chapter 13.
He said, why do I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in
my hands? Though he slay me speaking about
God, yet will I what trust Him. Even so I will defend my own
ways before he him He also shall be my salvation, for hypocrite
could not come before him. Now Job went through some
terrible situations. First of all, he was afflicted
physically and he had boils. He had all kinds of physical
afflictions where he would have been in pain constantly.
And then after that, he started experiencing great financial
loss. He experienced personal loss and
the loss of family members. I mean, it was a bad time.
And he made a commitment of trust at that point because he
said, well, God, even if you slay me, I'm still going to put
my trust in you. Amen.
How do you know that was a choice that he had to make?
And sometimes when it comes to trust, because we have walked
with God for a long period of time, We've seen when he's in
our life, sometimes when we go through things, we just got to
say, OK, God, I'm going to put my trust in you.
I don't feel like I trust in you.
I don't feel like anything's going to come out of this
situation. I'm going to still make a
commitment. I'm going to trust in you.
But one of the other things Job said.
But I'm still going to tell him how I feel about the situation.
Because when Job started going through a situation, he had some
friends that showed up and they wanted to tell him why he was
suffering. It was because he did something
wrong. And then when he started
defending himself, they said, well, look at you, you're
defending yourself. See, you're, you're not a good
person. Well, we know he was a good
person because the Bible tells us in Job chapter one that one
day the Lord said to Satan himself, have you ever seen my
servant Job that there's none perfect in their generation like
him? And that's the opening story,
unfortunately for Job at that time, because the devil, Satan
said, well, let me test him because he's only serving you
because everything goes his way. And the Bible tells us that God
did give that permission. That's why I wrote my book Wise
of the Devil in Your Garden, because, you know, we have to
understand how these things work.
And so he went through this terrible time of testing and
affliction, not because he had did anything wrong, but there
was a witness that he was going to make to the heavenly realm, a
witness he was going to make to Satan himself, that he was a man
that God had chosen. And he was a man who chose to
follow God fully in that amazing story church.
And that's why I said, even though he slay me, I'm going to
serve him, but I'm going to tell him how I feel.
And I believe that's very appropriate in our time of
prayer. We don't have to just take it
and and and just leave it the way it is.
It's it's appropriate for us to seek the Lord and it's also
appropriate for him to us to ask him questions, tell him how we
feel. I mean, that's part of
communication in every relationship that's going to
lead to a healthy relationship. And so it's very common for me
when I'm in prayer and say, now Lord, you said such and such and
I don't see it going that way. What's going on here?
And shouldn't you be doing this and shouldn't you be doing that?
I mean, most of our prayer sessions are counseling God and
how we should do things. Amen.
We not only want Him to answer prayers, we have a very specific
way we've got it all figured out.
Surely it's going to work. God just needs to listen to our
wisdom, right? No, he doesn't always do that
because he knows more than we do.
But in the process of his suffering, Job was open to God,
talking to him about the situation.
And certainly he did come out on the other side.
And the Bible says he had a double blessing in every area of
his life because he continued to walk with God.
And the Bible also says that in that experience he had a greater
revelation of who God was. He said to God, God, I used to
know you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes have seen
you. I know something I've never
known before. I really believe that God's
saying to the body of Christ today, this is a time when we're
going to get to know him as never before.
Amen, Church. And it's in the difficult times
we are living in, in this day that these things are going to
be made known to us and we need to understand what it is that
God is speaking. Now I want to talk to you about
loss, and specifically I'm going to share 2 scriptures about
people going through things and how to handle that loss.
In this prophecy of Isaiah, he says the righteous perishes and
no man takes it to heart. Merciful men are taken away
while no one considers that the righteousness is taken away from
evil. He shall enter into peace.
They shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his
uprightness. Now, of course, one of the
greatest struggles we face as human beings is when we suffer
loss of loved ones, loss of people that we know.
And sometimes these losses make no sense whatsoever.
Now, I've often heard people complain about this.
They say, yeah, you'll be at the funeral and somebody will say,
but they're in heaven. That doesn't make me feel any
better. And we're like, what are you
talking about? Don't make you feel any better.
Well, we should recognize that when we're crying at a funeral,
it's not so much we feel sorry for the person.
How do you know we feel sorry for ourselves?
When God created Adam, one day he said it's not good that men
should be alone. I will create a helper and a
companion suitable for him. He didn't say, oh, it's not good
that Adam should be alone. I'm going to find somebody
who'll be with him and complain all the time and frustrate
everything he's doing. Somebody said, well, that's what
I know anyway. The truth is we need people in
our life and going through life with our parents, our support
group of our families, our church community.
These are all things that are very important to us.
It's one thing I always share with people is that I love
stories. Obviously I like to tell the
stories of the church and I always remember stories of my
life. But when people die, how do you
know part of your story dies? Because and I was thinking about
this one day, you know, my parents had passed away and all
my aunts and uncles had passed away.
So how do you know when that happens?
It's like a whole part of your life has passed away.
My kids aren't interested in me telling them stories about that
situation because they can't even relate to what that's all
about. And so when you have friends and
people, there's stories that you also only can share with that
friend or that family member. And so when you lose somebody,
how many you know, all along the way, part of you is being lost
as well. But there is a place, obviously,
where we stand back and we have to say, well, we do know that as
Christians, we have an eternal purpose.
We have an eternal God. And how do you know when we're
born again, we're going to live forever, Amen.
That's an awesome thing, Amen. Something we need to know, and
that's why we have to also remind ourselves that sometimes
when people are passing to eternity, that's the best thing
for them. That's what the scripture says.
Some people time somebody dies and people aren't thinking,
well, this is better for them. Actually.
Now, it's easy for us to say that when we know that they're
been through a time of suffering, maybe with an illness
or as they're getting older, certain organs begin to fail.
And so we can say, well, surely they're better off in heaven.
But sometimes it's not like that.
Sometimes we just think, Lord, please let this person stay with
me. You can't think about the
consequences of their life or how God actually could say,
well, this person has lived this amount of time, but now it's
time for them to go to the heavenly realm and that's
actually going to be better for them.
I know when my brother passed away, he was our baby brother.
He died at age 38. He had a liver disease.
And my mom, of course, was a person of prayer.
Those of you who don't know, she had a prayer and healing
ministry here at the church. So if anybody's sick, she
believed they were going to get well.
You can call her anytime of the night and she'd say, I'm
believing God for you. And that was her ministry.
So when my brother's health kept on failing, obviously she would
start praying all the more. We'd all be praying all the
more. And my brother had such a
spiritual experience through all this that he really began to see
heaven as a great alternative for him.
And I remember when they talked to him about, but but Matt,
we're praying for your healing. He's kind of like, what's better
with you guys? Don't you believe in heaven?
I'm like, what do you mean? Well, I will be going to a
better place. All right.
Oh yes, of course you will. But after he passed away and my
mom was in prayer, she felt like the Lord spoke that scripture to
her and said he found a great place in me.
It was a place of rejoicing. But if he would have stuck
around, he would not have necessarily had the strength to
continue that. So I'm letting him basically
continue that in heaven. There's, there's a time for
that. And sometimes we don't realize
there's a lot of tragedies people face in life and
sometimes they're kind of working in this direction.
But the Lord's kind of like, I'm not going to let that person go
through that. I'm going to take them home.
That's what that scripture says. I used to always think of it
this way because I love history and think about things from a
historical perspective. That if I was a Jew living in
Poland in 1940 and I lost one of my loved ones, I would have been
devastated. But in 1941, when they were
putting all the Jews on kettle cars and they were so squeezed
together they couldn't even move, and they would be 15 days
in those cars and nowhere to go to the bathroom, no food to eat,
and then taken to the Holocaust place, the concentration camps.
How do you know that? Maybe about 1941 or so somebody
might say, well, I'm glad my kids not here now or I'm glad
this isn't happening because, you know, we never know what the
future is all about. But we do know who holds the
future. Amen, Church.
And sometimes God has a plan, and we always have to realize
that plan is for our good and that plan is for the good of the
person because again, we don't always understand all the
consequences of what earth is going on.
This next verse of Scripture talks about that in Acts Chapter
7. It's telling us a story about a
man named Steven who is a firebrand of his day, if you
would. It says when they heard these
things, they were cut to their heart.
Stephen was preaching a message to the Jews and they didn't like
what he had to say. And so they gnashed at him with
their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy
Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus
standing at the right hand of God, and said, Look, I see the
heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand
of God. Then he cried out with a loud
voice, stopped their ears, and ran to him with 1 accord.
And they cast him out of the city, stoned him to death.
And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a
young man named Saul, which of course we know as the apostle
Paul. Well, this past week I heard the
news about Charlie Kirk being assassinated.
Now myself, I did not actually know him by name.
I as soon as I saw the picture, I recognized him as being
somebody who was on the news, et cetera.
But as you begin to hear all the news, he was a boy, young man, I
should say 32 years of age, who loved God with all of his heart.
And one thing he always said is the number one thing is I want
people to know who Jesus is. But his spiritual fervor was
lived out in the political realm.
And so he tried to take his involvement in the political
realm as a way of bringing the principles of the word of God to
the world in which he lived. And he did so very boldly on
college campuses because when he started doing this, he was like
18 years old, maybe 14 years ago.
And the college campuses were the last place you would go to
set up a organization that would start talking about moral
principles and living if you would.
And he loved being a debater. So he debated people.
But his organization grew, and thousands of people were part of
it. All kinds of chapters were
involved in it. And this past week, he was
assassinated. And of course, I always think
about the broader picture, wife, children, moms and dads,
grandpas, and think about all the sorrow that's contained in
that. And the first thing I thought
about is this story of Steven, because Stephen, when the early
church started, was chosen to be one of the first deacons.
The apostles were facing all kinds of natural things,
especially the caring of the widows.
And they said, well, we can't do all this work.
We got to have some servants in the church, people who can do
this. So let's pick out deacons who
were good people, have wisdom, we can depend upon them.
And so it was a really fine attributes if you were picked as
one of these deacons. And so he was chosen as a
Deacon. He was set in, but he also was a
preacher. And just like in the scriptures,
he was willing to tell anybody the truth because he believed in
the truth. How you know the Bible says if
you know the truth, the truth will make it free.
Amen. So when you when you know truth,
you certainly want to stand on truth and believe and share that
truth with other people, just as this young man Charlie Kirk this
week as Steven was. But when he shared with people
the good news, they looked at his bad news and so they stoned
him to death. And so his family, sometimes
when we read Bible stories, we don't get into my, I always like
to do that about stories. I like to look at him and kind
of get in that place in time. He was a young man.
He was probably around 32. All the apostles were around
this age of Jesus who was crucified at age 33.
And so they were all about that young.
They all had parents. They all had family members.
A few of them had wives. Stevens could have had a wife,
could have had a young family, just like the guy this week.
And when he goes out and he does something really good for God,
he is stoned to death now. I mean, that's a hard thing to
understand. And a lot of times, you know,
when things happen like that, you encourage Christians to see
that God is in it. It is something that we resist
in our thinking because obviously the Bible says God
doesn't make bad things happen. The Bible says every good and
perfect gift comes down from God, who is the father of
lights, and in him there is no shadow of journey.
But although we know that God doesn't make bad things happen,
how do you know he could stop bad things from happening?
And that certainly is a hurt that often times I know in
dealing with people, whatever the tragedy of their life is,
why did God let this happen? And even if the person who
suffers or goes through a difficult time or circumstance,
if they even brought it on themselves, people will still
wonder, well, why get didn't God do his part?
Well, I want you to know, and this is so important to
understand, God is always involved.
It isn't like he's sleeping. It isn't like he's distant.
God is always involved, but God always understands that He has
an eternal purpose. And the Bible says that no
purpose of His can be withheld from Him.
And He also gives to each and every one of us a purpose.
And sometimes that purpose can be fulfilled at an early age.
Sometimes that purpose that we think is going to go in One
Direction, it comes to an abrupt halt.
And well, that's the end of the matter because that's exactly
what happened to Stephen. Now, it's very important to
understand this because I put up here, seeds die because when
Jesus Christ was getting ready to go to the cross, his
disciples always saying that can happen to you, that can happen
to you. I'm sure they would have said
you're only 33 years old, your ministry is only three years
old. You've done so much, don't go
anywhere, don't go anywhere. And Jesus said unless a Colonel
of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it divides alone.
Jesus was letting them know that in his death, there would
literally be a multiplication of what he was going to be and do
in the earth. And really, in watching the news
this week, that's what Charlie Kirk's wife said.
They're Christians. And she said, well, people don't
understand what's been unleashed here and take talking about the
fact that we don't know what's going to happen next.
Amen. But that's important to
understand. But I also want to share with
you how important it is for us to get and see everything in its
context. This past week, I had a stack of
newspapers on my desk. What newspapers were they?
Well, I've often shared how when I was a kid, nine years old, I'm
watching the news, seeing the news or whatever.
And so one of the things I did is I used to actually cut news
events out of the newspaper, but back in those days, you couldn't
save things on your computer or whatever.
You just had to cut out the articles from the newspaper and
I would glue them into the scrapbooks.
So in my newspaper articles, 1963, The Assassination of
President Kennedy, I have all those articles.
I don't think anybody's going to ever want them because I
actually use Elmer's glue to put them in my scrapbook so they
don't look too good anymore. So I'm looking at kind of thing,
and should I just throw this away now so my kids don't have
to when I'm older? That's the kind of things I was
thinking about when you get here over years.
But anyway, as I was thinking about that, but I had that
article, I had the articles where Martin Luther King was
killed in 1968, Robert F Kennedy killed 1968, George Wallace, one
of the presidential candidates shot and become a crippled 1971.
And I was thinking about all the events that happened in the 60s
and especially in 1968 when Martin Luther King, who was very
big on rights for blacks, especially in the South, because
of all the Jim Crow laws that were down there separating the
races, etcetera. And, and there was a lot of
controversy in that. Matter of fact, one of my life
stories is my brother Bill, and I was 14, he would have been 18.
And we were driving up Montcalm in Pontiac, and all the sudden
bombs start going off on our right hand.
We're passing the bus garage in this for the city of Pontiac
schools. And 10 buses were literally
blown up with bombs. And we saw the whole thing.
Now, because of our age, all we can think about is getting by a
phone because we didn't have a cell phone, because we wanted to
call CKLW, the Motor City, because if you called with the
right news event for the year, you would get 1000 bucks.
We're like we want that 1000 bucks.
We weren't thinking about the consequences on our nation.
We knew my Aunt Alice lived around the corner in Hampton Rd.
right by signals and we're like let's get the analysis and use
her phone so we can call that in.
We never won that year. I don't remember that part of
the story, but that's how desperate things were in those
days. And then when JFK was killed and
these big assassinations are taking place, I remember a guy
in church saying we all need to go to the corner of our
properties and plead the blood of Jesus.
This country's falling apart. I'm like, Oh my God, Jesus.
But I found out that God was doing something totally
different. And if you study history, you'll
find out history is all about the headline people, the famous
people, the kings, etcetera, which is what history is to a
greater extent. But often times what's really
happening in the world, taking God out of it is not what's
happening in the headlines and the famous people, but it's
happening in the everyday people.
And we have to understand that church and then add the context
of what God is doing because where everybody was saying the
world's falling apart, what's happening to our nation now if
one person kills another person, that's not what's happening to
our nation, no matter how famous that person is or how much
controversy surrounds it. We have to understand that we
have to take everything in its context.
And I found out that, well, people have a tendency to just
take things and oftentimes make them much bigger than their
context. But more importantly, I'm
sharing with you what God has spoken to me.
And I saw how God used the environment of the times to stir
great revival. And there was what we called the
Jesus People movement. It was a counterculture to the
counterculture, and yet it reached a whole multitude of
young people and church. This is a time when God's
reaching young people. I shared with you last week all
the things indicate something powerful is happening.
And of course, Charlie Kirk, I didn't really like, I said no at
first, but he seemed to be really involved in the the
college love of this. But I know God's going to do
some other things too. Great things are happening.
And then the charismatic movements that came from the
heels of that and and how powerful God moved over the next
whole generation Church. We are in a time of supernatural
happenings from God, and although we will have our
political decisions and find interest and all these things,
what you have to understand is God's doing something
supernatural. Joel prophesied it.
He said multitudes, multitudes are in the valley of Decision
for the day of the Lord is near in the Valley of Decision
church. We are in the valley of decision
and everything is going to focus on people needing to make a
choice. So what we have to do is we need
to be speaking the truth. Amen.
But not from the idea that the world is falling apart, but from
the idea that God is doing something so powerful.
The sun and moon will grow dark. The stars will diminish their
brightness. These are not literal events.
These are prophetic terms often used when a time of great change
is taking place. And we are in one of those times
right now. The stars are falling, being
diminished in brightness. But what is God going to do?
The Lord also will what roar from Zion, utter his voice from
Drews from the heavens, and the earth will shake.
But the Lord will be a shelter for his people, and the
strength, Hallelujah, of His people as well.
Can we all bow our heads and close our eyes for just a
moment? Because I believe with
everything within me, this is a momentous time in the history of
planet Earth, United States of America, Mount Zion Temple, the
people of God. And we got to make sure we're
tuning in to what it is that God is speaking and understanding
that we all have to take our place.
And it seems like somebody's fallen.
We got to stand up all the more. There's always somebody else and
God saying, will you respond? Will you make yourself ready?
My people shall be volunteers in the day of my visitation, says
the Lord. And this is the day when the
volunteer call is going out to the body of Christ and to the
nations. It's time for the roar to come
from Zion. It's time for the Holy Mountain
to begin to speak and declare. And time for God's people to
know we have a refuge. We don't have to be afraid.
He will give us strength. He is able.
He is calling. He is calling.
Father, in the name of Jesus and the seriousness of the moment
that's shaking our nation, Father, let your people hear
your voice say arise and shine. The people of Zion.
It's time, It's time. Thank you, Jesus.
This is Pastor Lauren Coverbius from Mount Zion Church.
We thank you for joining us today and invite you to connect
with our church family by visiting mountzion.org and
following us on social media. God bless you.