WEBVTT 00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:12.300 Thank you for listening to this message from 00:00:12.300 --> 00:00:19.559 Lifehouse Church. out just a little bit different 00:00:19.559 --> 00:00:21.539 today. I'm just going to do this in obedience 00:00:21.539 --> 00:00:23.660 to what God was kind of prompting me down there 00:00:23.660 --> 00:00:25.559 during worship. I'm going to have you stand right 00:00:25.559 --> 00:00:27.620 now. If you would, just stand up. We're going 00:00:27.620 --> 00:00:30.179 to get to the message in a little bit. But as 00:00:30.179 --> 00:00:32.560 we were worshiping this morning and God was moving, 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:34.700 I hope you felt His presence like I did. God 00:00:34.700 --> 00:00:36.560 gave me a scripture out of Revelation chapter 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:39.479 3, verse 20. It said, Behold, I stand at the 00:00:39.479 --> 00:00:41.939 door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and 00:00:41.939 --> 00:00:44.600 opens the door, I will come into him and dine 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:48.320 with him and he with me. And I'm here to tell 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:50.820 you, somebody in the house, maybe a lot of somebody's 00:00:50.820 --> 00:00:54.259 in this house, God's knocking right now. He's 00:00:54.259 --> 00:00:57.719 knocking. And if you open the door, He's going 00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:00.100 to meet with you. This is a faith moment. Sometimes 00:01:00.100 --> 00:01:02.560 you need your faith built up. Sometimes you need 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:05.019 to know that God came here to meet with you. 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:08.099 This isn't just another Sunday on the books, 00:01:08.140 --> 00:01:09.799 just another thing we're going to go ahead and 00:01:09.799 --> 00:01:12.760 do, right? As Christians, He wants to meet with 00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:16.140 you. And He stopped me. cold down there and said, 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:18.760 I'm knocking and you know who you are right now. 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:21.599 You know God's knocking on your heart. He's knocking 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:23.780 on the door. He wants to meet with you. I don't 00:01:23.780 --> 00:01:25.219 know what it's all about, but he wants to meet 00:01:25.219 --> 00:01:27.019 with you. So here's what we're going to do. We're 00:01:27.019 --> 00:01:29.299 just going to take a moment, and I want you just 00:01:29.299 --> 00:01:31.299 to bow your heads, and I want you to slide together 00:01:31.299 --> 00:01:33.340 with somebody that's beside you. Do this with 00:01:33.340 --> 00:01:34.700 somebody you're comfortable with, but I want 00:01:34.700 --> 00:01:36.200 you to pray because that might be the person 00:01:36.200 --> 00:01:39.560 right now that God wants to meet with. He's knocking. 00:01:39.959 --> 00:01:42.540 He's tapping on the door, and he says, if you 00:01:42.540 --> 00:01:45.700 open the door, I will come in and dine with you. 00:01:45.719 --> 00:01:48.000 That means he'll come in, right, and you'll commune 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:49.090 together. We're going to take communion later. 00:01:49.349 --> 00:01:52.549 It means he comes in and meets you. And some 00:01:52.549 --> 00:01:54.269 of you need to meet with him this morning. I 00:01:54.269 --> 00:01:56.650 don't know who you are, who it is this morning, 00:01:56.689 --> 00:01:59.150 but you need to know he stopped all this for 00:01:59.150 --> 00:02:01.810 you. So I want you to just slide together, lay 00:02:01.810 --> 00:02:04.090 a hand on somebody's shoulder. If you're comfortable, 00:02:04.310 --> 00:02:06.870 just slide up beside somebody. I want you to 00:02:06.870 --> 00:02:08.129 get ready to pray because we're going to have... 00:02:09.150 --> 00:02:10.550 We're going to believe right now. We're going 00:02:10.550 --> 00:02:12.990 to take a step of faith and say you're going 00:02:12.990 --> 00:02:14.569 to meet with God. Father, we come to you right 00:02:14.569 --> 00:02:17.009 now in the name of your son, Jesus. And Lord, 00:02:17.090 --> 00:02:18.629 you want to meet with somebody this morning. 00:02:18.810 --> 00:02:20.590 Lord, right now you're knocking it. Maybe it's 00:02:20.590 --> 00:02:22.490 for the very first time. Maybe there's somebody 00:02:22.490 --> 00:02:24.370 in the house that has never opened the door to 00:02:24.370 --> 00:02:27.210 you or they have just peeked in the door from 00:02:27.210 --> 00:02:29.569 time to time. They slipped into church this morning. 00:02:29.729 --> 00:02:32.530 And Lord, you want to meet with them. Lord, in 00:02:32.530 --> 00:02:34.490 this moment, they're going to sense your presence. 00:02:34.629 --> 00:02:37.210 Right now they feel a tugging and they feel a 00:02:37.210 --> 00:02:40.039 drawl in their spirit. And it's something they've 00:02:40.039 --> 00:02:42.340 never felt before. And Lord, I pray, God, right 00:02:42.340 --> 00:02:44.000 now, just begin to meet with them. They're going 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:46.060 to walk out of this house knowing that they met 00:02:46.060 --> 00:02:48.840 with the Lord and creator of the universe. And 00:02:48.840 --> 00:02:51.319 Jesus, I ask right now by the power of your Holy 00:02:51.319 --> 00:02:53.759 Spirit that you would just bump that door open. 00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:57.099 As they open, turn the knob, God, come in and 00:02:57.099 --> 00:02:59.419 meet them. God, as they sit and listen to the 00:02:59.419 --> 00:03:01.939 message, meet with them. Lord, as they go home 00:03:01.939 --> 00:03:04.680 today and they do whatever they're going to do 00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:08.099 through this weekend, meet with them. God, that 00:03:08.099 --> 00:03:11.219 they might know and, Lord, just sense your presence. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:14.439 And, Lord, you're going to walk them through 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:17.840 the next place, the next space. And if you're 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:19.520 in the house this morning and you don't know 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:21.979 them, and this is the first time, the Word of 00:03:21.979 --> 00:03:23.580 God just tells us that all you have to do is 00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:28.240 believe that he is Lord and that you want to 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:31.139 meet with him. Jesus paid a price. He died on 00:03:31.139 --> 00:03:34.939 a cross so we could be washed clean of sin and 00:03:34.939 --> 00:03:37.840 so that we could approach him. so that we could 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:40.759 knock on the door and He can knock on the door 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:43.340 of your heart and you can open it and you can 00:03:43.340 --> 00:03:46.319 meet with the Savior today. If that's you, just 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:48.780 ask Him into your life. Say, Lord, I want to 00:03:48.780 --> 00:03:52.819 meet with you. In Jesus' name. If you've walked 00:03:52.819 --> 00:03:55.400 with Him for a hundred years, say, Lord, I want 00:03:55.400 --> 00:03:57.939 to meet with you just fresh one more time. I 00:03:57.939 --> 00:04:00.060 need you to breathe on me one more time, Lord. 00:04:00.620 --> 00:04:05.770 In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Can everybody 00:04:05.770 --> 00:04:08.870 say it together? Amen, amen. You babysitted? 00:04:12.129 --> 00:04:15.650 If that was you this morning, hear me when I 00:04:15.650 --> 00:04:18.649 tell you, when God interrupts, when he stops 00:04:18.649 --> 00:04:21.389 things, you need to understand he wants to meet 00:04:21.389 --> 00:04:23.569 with you. He wants to get with you on something. 00:04:23.689 --> 00:04:26.699 I want to pray with you a little later. I thought 00:04:26.699 --> 00:04:28.420 about bringing you up at that point in time. 00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:30.399 We're going to pray a little later on. There's 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:32.240 a prayer team that will pray with you. As a matter 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:34.120 of fact, even while the service is going on, 00:04:34.180 --> 00:04:35.860 you can slip out and find a prayer team member. 00:04:36.060 --> 00:04:37.819 If you feel like you need to pray right now, 00:04:37.879 --> 00:04:39.500 they'll pray with you. They'll take you out in 00:04:39.500 --> 00:04:42.319 the back. Not out back. That sounds really bad. 00:04:42.860 --> 00:04:46.000 They will take you out there where it's very 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:49.899 nice, and they'll pray with you. I made it sound 00:04:49.899 --> 00:04:50.899 like they were going to take you out and beat 00:04:50.899 --> 00:04:55.339 you. Listen, how many know God's good? Amen. 00:04:55.399 --> 00:04:57.120 He's good. He's good. Yeah, come on. Give him 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:02.240 a hand. He's worthy. Amen. Well, we were going 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:04.120 to play the theme music, and I pulled an audible 00:05:04.120 --> 00:05:07.019 there. We Are Family. I started a message series 00:05:07.019 --> 00:05:09.480 last week called We Are Family. How many know 00:05:09.480 --> 00:05:12.639 that song? I'm not going to sing it, but you 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:14.819 can hum it if you want to. But we started that 00:05:14.819 --> 00:05:17.579 message series last week and really started to 00:05:17.579 --> 00:05:19.139 begin to talk about the importance of family 00:05:19.139 --> 00:05:21.439 and what family means. And we realized a few 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:23.399 things last week. Last week, we realized that... 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:26.839 Family is a powerful thing. And I'm going to 00:05:26.839 --> 00:05:28.980 start off with our physical family, our family, 00:05:29.100 --> 00:05:30.740 right? The family that's around you. A lot of 00:05:30.740 --> 00:05:32.220 families are going to get together on this holiday 00:05:32.220 --> 00:05:35.500 weekend. It's a powerful thing. And family can 00:05:35.500 --> 00:05:38.250 make us or break us. right? It can lift us up 00:05:38.250 --> 00:05:40.769 or it can tear us down, one of the two. It can 00:05:40.769 --> 00:05:43.470 help us fly or it can load you down with baggage. 00:05:43.689 --> 00:05:46.930 It can be a good thing and it could be a bad 00:05:46.930 --> 00:05:48.829 thing, or your family could be something right 00:05:48.829 --> 00:05:50.829 in the middle or in between, somewhere on that 00:05:50.829 --> 00:05:53.730 scale, right? But in the kingdom of God, our 00:05:53.730 --> 00:05:56.149 spiritual family is set up for something different. 00:05:56.329 --> 00:05:59.329 Brothers and sisters in the Lord are meant to 00:05:59.329 --> 00:06:01.089 raise us up. Now, I know that doesn't always 00:06:01.089 --> 00:06:04.160 happen, but it should. Right? They're meant to 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:06.379 raise us up. In the kingdom of God, everything 00:06:06.379 --> 00:06:09.439 is opposite of the kingdom of this world. Everything 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:11.740 in this kingdom moves from life to death. In 00:06:11.740 --> 00:06:14.120 the kingdom of God, it moves from death to life. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:17.459 Everything comes to life. And here's the thing 00:06:17.459 --> 00:06:21.240 in the kingdom of God. It's populated with family. 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:23.660 It really is. Brothers and sisters in the Lord. 00:06:23.720 --> 00:06:26.639 In the kingdom of God, we're not just mere citizens 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:32.259 of heaven. We are sons and daughters. of God. 00:06:33.079 --> 00:06:35.879 If you're saved in the house, you're a son or 00:06:35.879 --> 00:06:38.220 a daughter of the Most High, all right? Turn 00:06:38.220 --> 00:06:39.939 to somebody, tell them, you look a little bit 00:06:39.939 --> 00:06:42.040 like his son. You look a little bit like his 00:06:42.040 --> 00:06:46.699 daughter, all right? Come on. I hope you've been 00:06:46.699 --> 00:06:49.319 reminding yourself of one of these truths or 00:06:49.319 --> 00:06:51.939 all these truths throughout this week. But there's 00:06:51.939 --> 00:06:55.319 really another possible, powerful aspect of family 00:06:55.319 --> 00:06:57.920 life in the kingdom of God, and it's this. It's 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:02.949 testimony. Say testimony. Testimony. We're going 00:07:02.949 --> 00:07:05.569 to testify this morning. Hopefully you'll do 00:07:05.569 --> 00:07:07.569 some of this at the end, maybe just to the person 00:07:07.569 --> 00:07:11.850 beside you. But testimony is a powerful aspect 00:07:11.850 --> 00:07:15.220 in the family of God. And we don't talk about 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:18.899 testimony in the family of God enough. We don't 00:07:18.899 --> 00:07:21.959 discuss it enough. We don't put enough weight 00:07:21.959 --> 00:07:26.019 on it. And everybody in this house, anybody that 00:07:26.019 --> 00:07:28.579 knows Jesus, anybody that's listening online 00:07:28.579 --> 00:07:31.740 and Jesus is your Lord and your Savior, you have 00:07:31.740 --> 00:07:34.930 a testimony. You have a story to tell. And some 00:07:34.930 --> 00:07:37.350 of us have some of the same elements in our story 00:07:37.350 --> 00:07:39.850 because some of it is the same, right? It's the 00:07:39.850 --> 00:07:42.689 same Jesus who saved us. It's the same Father 00:07:42.689 --> 00:07:45.689 and Lord and Creator who watches over us. It's 00:07:45.689 --> 00:07:48.810 the same Holy Spirit who drew you in, maybe even 00:07:48.810 --> 00:07:51.209 spoke to you this morning and lives with and 00:07:51.209 --> 00:07:53.709 resides within us when we come to faith. It's 00:07:53.709 --> 00:07:56.230 the same confession that we make in our faith 00:07:56.230 --> 00:07:59.329 to Jesus. It really is the same forgiveness factor. 00:07:59.870 --> 00:08:02.290 that every one of us has experienced, that forgiveness 00:08:02.290 --> 00:08:05.449 of sins, that washing and the cleansing. It's 00:08:05.449 --> 00:08:08.149 the new covenant of Scripture, our new covenant 00:08:08.149 --> 00:08:11.310 with God. That's all the same. It's the same 00:08:11.310 --> 00:08:15.129 power of God that's at work in you as in work 00:08:15.129 --> 00:08:20.050 in me. But beyond that, the testimony gets wildly 00:08:20.050 --> 00:08:24.110 different. Beyond that, the details of your story 00:08:24.110 --> 00:08:27.959 look completely different than mine. And all 00:08:27.959 --> 00:08:31.139 the crazy twists and turns of how you got to 00:08:31.139 --> 00:08:34.340 God. And once you got to God, all the crazy twists 00:08:34.340 --> 00:08:38.679 and turns from that point to now. All the stories 00:08:38.679 --> 00:08:42.399 and the testimonies of how God brought you from 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:44.539 that place where you were lost and without him, 00:08:44.580 --> 00:08:46.419 and now he's got you in a place where you're 00:08:46.419 --> 00:08:48.120 just waiting to see what God's gonna do next 00:08:48.120 --> 00:08:51.700 in your life. It is our testimony, it's the story 00:08:51.700 --> 00:08:55.720 of God's power at work in us. It's the testimony, 00:08:55.860 --> 00:08:59.610 amen? Oh man, you don't believe it yet. It is, 00:08:59.710 --> 00:09:02.490 it's true, all right? If Jesus has changed your 00:09:02.490 --> 00:09:04.129 life, if you're saved, if you're born again, 00:09:04.409 --> 00:09:08.029 you've experienced something along the way. First 00:09:08.029 --> 00:09:11.149 salvation. Some of you in this house have experienced 00:09:11.149 --> 00:09:13.990 healing and deliverance. Raise your hand if you've 00:09:13.990 --> 00:09:16.590 been healed of something and delivered something. 00:09:16.669 --> 00:09:18.389 Take a look around. Raise it up. Come on. If 00:09:18.389 --> 00:09:20.309 God has delivered you out of something, if he 00:09:20.309 --> 00:09:22.570 has healed you from something, you need to testify 00:09:22.570 --> 00:09:26.049 about that, right? And some of you, how you speak, 00:09:26.250 --> 00:09:28.970 how you live, what you step through in your life, 00:09:29.070 --> 00:09:31.649 you need to speak about this. You need to testify. 00:09:32.029 --> 00:09:34.509 How many of you have lived a different life now 00:09:34.509 --> 00:09:36.929 than, wildly different than what you lived a 00:09:36.929 --> 00:09:40.809 year ago, five years ago, ten years ago? I see 00:09:40.809 --> 00:09:42.929 some of you going, oh, yeah, right? You're not, 00:09:43.029 --> 00:09:46.450 right? Some of you, God's given a different perspective. 00:09:46.789 --> 00:09:49.230 Some of you've got a new lease on life and eternity. 00:09:49.710 --> 00:09:53.049 You got a testimony. You have a testimony. And 00:09:53.049 --> 00:09:56.929 your testimony is your written, right, or spoken 00:09:56.929 --> 00:10:00.730 statement of God's work in your life. Our testimony 00:10:00.730 --> 00:10:03.350 is kind of a sworn affidavit of what God has 00:10:03.350 --> 00:10:06.649 done in me and has done it on a large level. 00:10:06.950 --> 00:10:10.090 And testimony is powerful. In a court of law, 00:10:10.269 --> 00:10:13.590 it is the testimony of witnesses that helps to 00:10:13.590 --> 00:10:18.570 establish or to confirm a truth. If you go to 00:10:18.570 --> 00:10:21.250 a courtroom, they'll call witnesses to the stand. 00:10:21.389 --> 00:10:22.850 If you've watched, how many of you watch TV? 00:10:22.990 --> 00:10:24.850 You've seen it on TV, right? Some of you may 00:10:24.850 --> 00:10:26.769 have actually been in a courtroom, but they'll 00:10:26.769 --> 00:10:29.269 call a witness up and they're trying to prove 00:10:29.269 --> 00:10:31.690 a particular truth, something that's true. And 00:10:31.690 --> 00:10:33.590 they'll call the witness to the stand and they'll 00:10:33.590 --> 00:10:35.850 begin to ask them questions. And the idea is 00:10:35.850 --> 00:10:39.960 that that witness begins to testify. and to confirm 00:10:39.960 --> 00:10:43.580 what is to be known as the truth of what took 00:10:43.580 --> 00:10:46.340 place. They'll ask him what happened, how it 00:10:46.340 --> 00:10:49.419 happened, when it happened, what was your experience 00:10:49.419 --> 00:10:53.440 and what took place and they're testifying to 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:58.120 confirm. Deuteronomy 19, 15 really talks about 00:10:58.120 --> 00:11:00.379 it in the law of Moses in the Old Testament. 00:11:00.600 --> 00:11:03.159 It says this, one witness shall not rise against 00:11:03.159 --> 00:11:05.440 a man concerning another iniquity or any sin 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:08.480 that he commits, but by the mouth of two, Or 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:11.259 three witnesses. Give me a two or three. Two 00:11:11.259 --> 00:11:14.879 or three witnesses, the matter shall be established. 00:11:15.340 --> 00:11:18.960 Right? It is the testimony that begins to confirm 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:22.940 the truth of the matter. It is a testimony that 00:11:22.940 --> 00:11:26.940 is the confirmation of God's truth. His truth 00:11:26.940 --> 00:11:30.580 never changes. It's always there. But your testimony 00:11:30.580 --> 00:11:33.720 is a confirmation to somebody else that God's 00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:35.779 truth is still in existence and is still working 00:11:35.779 --> 00:11:38.659 out today in somebody's life, right? He works 00:11:38.659 --> 00:11:41.639 in our testimony to confirm to somebody else 00:11:41.639 --> 00:11:44.320 what God is doing and that he is still on the 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:47.169 throne and he's alive and well. It's true. It's 00:11:47.169 --> 00:11:50.889 in your testimony. So understand, it's not your 00:11:50.889 --> 00:11:53.389 testimony that confirms the truth. The truth 00:11:53.389 --> 00:11:55.909 is the truth. God's word never changes, right? 00:11:56.070 --> 00:12:00.269 But your testimony confirms. It's a confirmation, 00:12:00.610 --> 00:12:05.289 and it's powerful. Our testimony, if you want 00:12:05.289 --> 00:12:07.549 to, you can look at it. It's like a living illustration. 00:12:08.389 --> 00:12:11.149 You're a living illustration to somebody that 00:12:11.149 --> 00:12:14.070 God is at work. in this world. You probably never 00:12:14.070 --> 00:12:16.269 saw yourself like that. Maybe you never looked 00:12:16.269 --> 00:12:18.149 in the mirror and thought, you know, I'm a living 00:12:18.149 --> 00:12:21.049 illustration of God's power at work in this world. 00:12:21.149 --> 00:12:24.110 But you are. You're a word picture for somebody. 00:12:24.450 --> 00:12:26.950 When somebody sees your life and what God's walking 00:12:26.950 --> 00:12:28.970 out in your life, and you're testifying, you're 00:12:28.970 --> 00:12:30.870 telling them what God's doing in your life, and 00:12:30.870 --> 00:12:32.529 they're seeing what you're talking about is matching 00:12:32.529 --> 00:12:34.690 with what you're saying, and all those things 00:12:34.690 --> 00:12:36.649 are kind of culminating into one thing, they're 00:12:36.649 --> 00:12:40.610 like, wow, right? Look at that. There's a picture 00:12:40.610 --> 00:12:43.889 of what God's doing. He's still working. He's 00:12:43.889 --> 00:12:46.090 still moving. He's still working with people. 00:12:46.409 --> 00:12:49.210 And you're the people. He's doing it. It's a 00:12:49.210 --> 00:12:53.389 testimony. It is a living illustration. It's 00:12:53.389 --> 00:12:57.389 the story of Jesus and you that somebody else 00:12:57.389 --> 00:13:00.429 needs to hear. Now, some of you, I can tell by 00:13:00.429 --> 00:13:01.710 looking in your eye, you're like, I don't know 00:13:01.710 --> 00:13:03.169 if they need to hear that. They need to hear 00:13:03.169 --> 00:13:05.590 that. The person beside you needs to hear it. 00:13:05.629 --> 00:13:08.360 I remember when I was young. I remember when 00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:10.259 I was growing up, we heard testimonies all the 00:13:10.259 --> 00:13:12.639 time. We were in a small church, and testimony 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:15.480 was a regular part of the gathering. How many 00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:17.500 of you ever, if you've been in church a long, 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:20.720 long time like I have, did anybody ever experience 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:24.059 a popcorn testimony service? Raise your hand 00:13:24.059 --> 00:13:26.879 if you have. Good, all four of us. Okay, four 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:30.059 or five of us, right? Popcorn testimony. And 00:13:30.059 --> 00:13:31.620 it was literally like popcorn. You know, when 00:13:31.620 --> 00:13:33.340 you throw popcorn in it, what's it do? It pops, 00:13:33.460 --> 00:13:35.159 right? So they would say, popcorn testimony. 00:13:35.620 --> 00:13:38.080 And what happened is anybody can stand up and 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:40.559 give a testimony, which is wild, by the way, 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:42.480 okay? Because you never knew what somebody was 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:45.000 going to say. But, you know, you could pop up 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:47.700 in this small church and just give your testimony. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:50.840 And it was encouraging. You know, if you come 00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:52.779 to a revive night, we have those once a quarter 00:13:52.779 --> 00:13:56.480 where we have worship. Our new tradition is we've 00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:58.100 been doing a little while now, but at the end 00:13:58.100 --> 00:13:59.840 of it, we just all come up front. We hand the 00:13:59.840 --> 00:14:01.799 mic around and everybody gives a testimony to 00:14:01.799 --> 00:14:04.799 what God's done. It is so encouraging. I hear 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:06.759 what somebody's doing, what God's doing in somebody 00:14:06.759 --> 00:14:08.980 else's life. They hear what he's doing in my 00:14:08.980 --> 00:14:12.840 life and it changes things. Testimony is powerful. 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:17.200 It's powerful. There's one, and only, there's 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:19.600 many, but one stuck out in my mind. I was trying 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:21.139 to go back, and I thought, which one am I going 00:14:21.139 --> 00:14:23.100 to share with the church when I come in and preach 00:14:23.100 --> 00:14:25.080 this morning? What testimony? And I remember 00:14:25.080 --> 00:14:27.679 several years ago, this was quite a while ago, 00:14:27.779 --> 00:14:32.399 probably 2008 -ish, 2009. How many of you remember 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:34.779 Phil Stacy? Anybody remember the name Phil Stacy? 00:14:36.330 --> 00:14:38.509 All right, this is going well. All right, one. 00:14:39.529 --> 00:14:41.929 Okay, let me give you a little, let me refresh. 00:14:42.070 --> 00:14:46.250 Phil Stacey was on season six of American Idol. 00:14:46.710 --> 00:14:50.250 And that was in 2007. And he went up through 00:14:50.250 --> 00:14:51.909 the ranks. He made it for a while. And then he 00:14:51.909 --> 00:14:55.169 got voted off the island, so to speak. All right, 00:14:55.169 --> 00:14:57.970 and he was out. But he signed a record deal. 00:14:58.029 --> 00:15:00.250 But the unique thing about Phil is that Phil 00:15:00.250 --> 00:15:03.250 was a Christian. And he does Christian music. 00:15:03.690 --> 00:15:07.730 And he did a local concert up in Hershey, PA 00:15:07.730 --> 00:15:10.049 area. And he was doing it for a church plant 00:15:10.049 --> 00:15:12.149 that was going on up there. And we got the opportunity, 00:15:12.289 --> 00:15:14.230 Dixie and I got the opportunity to go meet him 00:15:14.230 --> 00:15:16.230 and talk with him. Normally they come in, you 00:15:16.230 --> 00:15:18.210 know, they do their thing. We got to spend, I 00:15:18.210 --> 00:15:20.070 don't know. a couple of hours with this guy. 00:15:20.289 --> 00:15:23.190 And we got into conversation with him and it 00:15:23.190 --> 00:15:26.129 was amazing. And during that evening, he started 00:15:26.129 --> 00:15:27.809 to begin to tell us his testimony. One of the 00:15:27.809 --> 00:15:30.210 things, and he grew up just like I did. He grew 00:15:30.210 --> 00:15:32.990 up in church, just like Dixie did. He was in 00:15:32.990 --> 00:15:34.830 church all the time. His mom took him to church 00:15:34.830 --> 00:15:36.809 on Sunday morning, Sunday night. He was there 00:15:36.809 --> 00:15:38.909 all the time. But as he got a little older and 00:15:38.909 --> 00:15:41.330 he got into his teenage years, he began to drift 00:15:41.330 --> 00:15:44.559 from God. And he got a job and he started not 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:47.259 going to church, not showing up. And he talked 00:15:47.259 --> 00:15:49.980 about one rainy night, he came home and he said 00:15:49.980 --> 00:15:52.620 the home where they lived, they came and it was 00:15:52.620 --> 00:15:54.240 a garage there. And he said, I wanted to pull 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:57.279 into the garage and it was raining out. And he 00:15:57.279 --> 00:15:59.120 said, our garage didn't have an automatic garage 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:01.240 door opener. So you had to stop, get out of the 00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:03.559 vehicle, open the garage door, pull your car 00:16:03.559 --> 00:16:05.600 in and close the garage door. I know the work, 00:16:05.700 --> 00:16:08.220 it's amazing, right? He had to do those things. 00:16:08.279 --> 00:16:10.279 But he said he went to get out, went to lift 00:16:10.279 --> 00:16:12.940 the garage door. And a man came up behind him 00:16:12.940 --> 00:16:16.320 and stopped him and threatened him and grabbed 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:17.960 ahold of him and put him up against the door. 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:20.059 He was there to steal his car. And what Phil 00:16:20.059 --> 00:16:22.820 didn't know was that had somebody had escaped 00:16:22.820 --> 00:16:26.279 from prison, a state or two away, had been on 00:16:26.279 --> 00:16:28.620 a rampage going from place to place, stealing 00:16:28.620 --> 00:16:31.759 cars. And every place that he stole a car, he 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:34.259 shot and killed the person that had the car. 00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:38.639 He was the next person. And he said, as he had 00:16:38.639 --> 00:16:41.580 me up against the door, he said, he began to 00:16:41.580 --> 00:16:44.159 look above me and something strange happened. 00:16:44.299 --> 00:16:47.220 He said, the man that had a hold of me got scared. 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:50.039 And he said, I don't know what took place. Well, 00:16:50.179 --> 00:16:53.559 what Phil didn't know is mama was at church. 00:16:53.620 --> 00:16:56.480 This was a Sunday night and mom was praying. 00:16:57.100 --> 00:16:59.580 And mom felt in her spirit that something was 00:16:59.580 --> 00:17:02.139 wrong with her son. And it was a small church. 00:17:02.200 --> 00:17:04.119 And mom stood up in the middle of the church 00:17:04.119 --> 00:17:06.119 service and said, we need to stop. We got to 00:17:06.119 --> 00:17:08.119 pray for Phil right now. She stopped the entire 00:17:08.119 --> 00:17:11.259 service. The church began to pray and call out 00:17:11.259 --> 00:17:14.640 Phil's name. At the same time, this was all taking 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:18.700 place. And Phil was convinced to this day that 00:17:18.700 --> 00:17:20.900 what that man saw was a guardian angel standing 00:17:20.900 --> 00:17:23.019 above him and is scared to live in daylight. 00:17:23.059 --> 00:17:26.380 And he hopped in Phil's car, took off and left. 00:17:26.440 --> 00:17:30.019 And he was the only one in that string of people 00:17:30.019 --> 00:17:33.220 that this man stole cars from that was not shot 00:17:33.220 --> 00:17:37.140 and killed. Obviously, it's serving the Lord. 00:17:37.859 --> 00:17:43.019 It is our testimony that is powerful. It is what 00:17:43.019 --> 00:17:46.980 God is doing in our lives. That is powerful. 00:17:47.319 --> 00:17:51.920 And someone around you needs to hear what God 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:55.059 has done and what he is doing in your life. It 00:17:55.059 --> 00:17:59.220 is powerful. Our testimony should be heard in 00:17:59.220 --> 00:18:01.779 this house and it should be heard out of this 00:18:01.779 --> 00:18:05.099 house. Amen. People need to hear it. You need 00:18:05.099 --> 00:18:06.940 to hear this among your brothers and sisters 00:18:06.940 --> 00:18:09.359 that are sitting here. You need to tell about, 00:18:09.480 --> 00:18:12.819 you need to, you need, you know, anytime you 00:18:12.819 --> 00:18:14.640 get the opportunity, tell somebody what God's 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:17.299 doing in your life. Sometimes, so many times, 00:18:17.339 --> 00:18:18.759 and I do the same thing. We come in here, we 00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:20.920 chit chat. What's up? What's going on? What's 00:18:20.920 --> 00:18:22.680 the weather? How's it going? Blah, blah, blah, 00:18:22.779 --> 00:18:25.079 right? And we're not talking about Jesus and 00:18:25.079 --> 00:18:27.099 what he's done. We need to start sharing with 00:18:27.099 --> 00:18:30.420 one another. One of the things it does is it 00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:32.910 begins to build your faith. When you hear about 00:18:32.910 --> 00:18:34.930 what God's doing in someone else's life, you're 00:18:34.930 --> 00:18:37.170 thinking, man, if he did it for them, he can 00:18:37.170 --> 00:18:39.569 do it for me, right? If God did it for them, 00:18:39.730 --> 00:18:41.710 they're not anybody special. Maybe you don't 00:18:41.710 --> 00:18:43.029 think that, but they're thinking, yeah, anybody 00:18:43.029 --> 00:18:45.009 special, right? If he's doing it for them, he'll 00:18:45.009 --> 00:18:47.730 do it for me. And you begin to take it. We need 00:18:47.730 --> 00:18:50.289 to hear this. We need to understand. Listen, 00:18:50.410 --> 00:18:52.470 we've got to talk. We've got to tell one another 00:18:52.470 --> 00:18:55.410 the story. of Jesus. And I wanted to share one 00:18:55.410 --> 00:18:57.269 of those with you this morning. We got one of 00:18:57.269 --> 00:18:59.250 our very own Life Housers. We got two this morning. 00:18:59.369 --> 00:19:00.829 And I want you to turn your attention to the 00:19:00.829 --> 00:19:02.210 screen because I want you to hear a testimony 00:19:02.210 --> 00:21:12.019 this morning. This is Cindy Brand. And I got 00:21:12.019 --> 00:21:19.000 down on my knees. I helped lay the board and 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:22.839 got it done in time for a church service call. 00:21:23.119 --> 00:21:26.279 And we were able to set up the routine for the 00:21:26.279 --> 00:21:29.750 next day. and it's just still knocking. And I 00:21:29.750 --> 00:21:32.769 am today. I canceled all my other commitments. 00:21:32.869 --> 00:21:35.250 I canceled the surgery of commitment because 00:21:35.250 --> 00:21:37.910 I felt like there's no need. What are they going 00:21:37.910 --> 00:21:40.690 to do? And it was all God. And it was all through 00:21:40.690 --> 00:21:44.130 prayer and allowing someone else to pray for 00:21:44.130 --> 00:21:46.549 me and not do it on my own. And sometimes we 00:21:46.549 --> 00:21:49.309 need that and we have to accept that. So when 00:21:49.309 --> 00:21:52.130 Pastor Kip says on a Sunday morning, if anyone's 00:21:52.130 --> 00:21:54.349 in need of prayer, please seek out the prayer 00:21:54.349 --> 00:21:58.250 team, seek out me, any of the pastors. Please 00:21:58.250 --> 00:22:00.950 do it because sometimes prayers from someone 00:22:00.950 --> 00:22:06.769 else can be more rewarding for you and more healing 00:22:06.769 --> 00:22:10.089 for you than you yourself. God bless and have 00:22:10.089 --> 00:22:13.710 a great day. How many of you faith just raised 00:22:13.710 --> 00:22:15.089 there a little bit? Come on, give him glory. 00:22:15.230 --> 00:22:21.390 He did it. I didn't do it. He did, right? It's 00:22:21.390 --> 00:22:25.400 the testimony. We need to tell the story of what 00:22:25.400 --> 00:22:28.740 God's done. It'll raise your faith. It gives 00:22:28.740 --> 00:22:31.579 glory to God. The word of God tells us in everything 00:22:31.579 --> 00:22:34.140 that we do, we should give glory to God. It's 00:22:34.140 --> 00:22:37.279 a form of praise and worship. When you speak 00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:40.460 out of gratitude, when you tell somebody what 00:22:40.460 --> 00:22:43.740 God's done in your life, it is a form of praise. 00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:48.160 It is a form of worship. It's showing your gratitude 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:50.900 for what God has done in your life. And every 00:22:50.900 --> 00:22:56.259 opportunity we get, we should brag on. Amen? 00:22:56.259 --> 00:22:59.519 Brag on what God's done. Brag on the Holy Spirit. 00:22:59.740 --> 00:23:01.960 Look at the person sitting beside you right now. 00:23:02.660 --> 00:23:04.420 Take a look at them. Just stare at them for a 00:23:04.420 --> 00:23:07.259 moment. That's all I want you to do. Okay? But 00:23:07.259 --> 00:23:10.039 every time you testify, right, every time you 00:23:10.039 --> 00:23:13.599 brag on them for just a moment, brag on Jesus, 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:16.859 you have the opportunity of raising their faith. 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:19.740 All of a sudden, they start to hear what God 00:23:19.740 --> 00:23:22.950 is doing. It's hard to argue when somebody, you 00:23:22.950 --> 00:23:25.230 can argue theology all day long, but it's really 00:23:25.230 --> 00:23:27.009 tough to argue when somebody says, you know what? 00:23:27.069 --> 00:23:29.829 I've been healed. I had a knee and I was going 00:23:29.829 --> 00:23:32.289 for surgery and they checked it out and it's 00:23:32.289 --> 00:23:34.670 all okay. I don't understand it. I don't get 00:23:34.670 --> 00:23:37.089 it. Just, I don't know. We just prayed and God 00:23:37.089 --> 00:23:38.650 moved. How many of you know that raises your 00:23:38.650 --> 00:23:41.130 faith? For somebody that doesn't know God, they're 00:23:41.130 --> 00:23:43.410 like. I don't know. I got to wrestle with this. 00:23:43.509 --> 00:23:46.009 I got to fight with this. We got to practice 00:23:46.009 --> 00:23:48.690 testimony in the house. You should practice it 00:23:48.690 --> 00:23:50.650 in your life group. You should practice it in 00:23:50.650 --> 00:23:52.470 a worship service. You should practice it when 00:23:52.470 --> 00:23:54.589 LH3 is taking place. How many know, right? When 00:23:54.589 --> 00:23:56.609 you get your three people together, right? Three 00:23:56.609 --> 00:23:58.789 people, three minutes with the creator of the 00:23:58.789 --> 00:24:01.470 universe for three years. I just changed it up. 00:24:01.470 --> 00:24:04.059 It used to be three months. All right. You should 00:24:04.059 --> 00:24:06.200 have been doing it for three months by now. When 00:24:06.200 --> 00:24:07.900 we hit the three -year mark, I'm going to change 00:24:07.900 --> 00:24:10.380 it to 30 years. But you get together with those 00:24:10.380 --> 00:24:14.160 three. Anytime we're together, we should be testifying 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:17.660 and bragging on Jesus. And we got to practice 00:24:17.660 --> 00:24:19.920 it in the house. And we practice it in the house 00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:22.299 because what you practice inside the house, guess 00:24:22.299 --> 00:24:26.500 what you'll do outside the house. If we practice 00:24:26.500 --> 00:24:29.720 testifying in the house, we'll practice testifying 00:24:29.720 --> 00:24:32.809 outside the house. Whatever you do and whatever 00:24:32.809 --> 00:24:35.369 you practice in your home, sooner or later that 00:24:35.369 --> 00:24:38.829 will spill out into outside of your house. If 00:24:38.829 --> 00:24:42.069 you're acting Jesus -like in the house, and I 00:24:42.069 --> 00:24:44.349 may know that's where it should begin, is in 00:24:44.349 --> 00:24:46.490 the house. If you're acting Jesus -like in the 00:24:46.490 --> 00:24:48.430 house, good chance you're going to act Jesus 00:24:48.430 --> 00:24:50.549 -like outside the house. If you're not acting 00:24:50.549 --> 00:24:52.890 like Jesus inside the house, sooner or later 00:24:52.890 --> 00:24:54.630 that's going to show up on the outside, right? 00:24:54.750 --> 00:24:56.529 You're going down the road, somebody cuts you 00:24:56.529 --> 00:24:58.049 off. What's going to happen? Are you blessing 00:24:58.049 --> 00:25:00.029 them in the name of Jesus, or are you blessing 00:25:00.029 --> 00:25:03.039 them? in the name of Jesus or some other name, 00:25:03.119 --> 00:25:07.279 right? Come on, it's true. We have to practice. 00:25:07.380 --> 00:25:10.779 We testify because what we're doing in the house 00:25:10.779 --> 00:25:14.740 spills out. We give testimony, we practice, and 00:25:14.740 --> 00:25:18.759 we testify in the house and outside because it's 00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:23.619 powerful. It's powerful. Your testimony is powerful. 00:25:23.940 --> 00:25:26.740 Whether you've been saved a week, a day, whether 00:25:26.740 --> 00:25:28.559 you've grown up in church. So many times I hear 00:25:28.559 --> 00:25:31.019 people talking about, you know, well, my testimony 00:25:31.019 --> 00:25:32.680 is not powerful. I got saved when I'm five. I've 00:25:32.680 --> 00:25:34.240 just been following Jesus ever since. That's 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:37.259 amazing. That's incredible. Do you know how much 00:25:37.259 --> 00:25:39.940 junk you missed in all your life, right, that 00:25:39.940 --> 00:25:41.640 everybody else is dealing with? It's amazing. 00:25:42.349 --> 00:25:44.069 You've got to testify about what he's doing. 00:25:44.230 --> 00:25:45.849 And I want to share a scripture out of Revelation 00:25:45.849 --> 00:25:48.470 that just shows you how powerful this is. And 00:25:48.470 --> 00:25:51.049 it says this in Revelation 12, 10. Then I heard 00:25:51.049 --> 00:25:53.410 a loud voice saying in heaven, now salvation 00:25:53.410 --> 00:25:55.529 and strength and the kingdom of our God and the 00:25:55.529 --> 00:25:58.329 power of his Christ have come for the accuser 00:25:58.329 --> 00:25:59.869 of the brethren. How many know who the accuser 00:25:59.869 --> 00:26:02.390 of the brethren is? The devil. All right, say 00:26:02.390 --> 00:26:04.869 the devil. We're not giving them any glory, just 00:26:04.869 --> 00:26:06.890 wanted you to say. All right, for the accuser 00:26:06.890 --> 00:26:09.349 of the brethren who accused them before our God 00:26:09.349 --> 00:26:12.009 day and night has been cast down. So the Satan's 00:26:12.009 --> 00:26:14.509 been cast down. And they, when it says they in 00:26:14.509 --> 00:26:15.950 there, they're talking about the saints of God 00:26:15.950 --> 00:26:18.029 here. This is the children of God. This is the 00:26:18.029 --> 00:26:21.130 sons and daughters of God. For they overcame 00:26:21.130 --> 00:26:24.650 him, the devil, by the blood of the lamb and 00:26:24.650 --> 00:26:28.200 the word of their testimony. I don't know if 00:26:28.200 --> 00:26:30.140 you know it or not, but the way you overcome 00:26:30.140 --> 00:26:32.839 the enemy, the way you overcome Satan is by the 00:26:32.839 --> 00:26:35.500 blood of the lamb, by Jesus Christ and him alone. 00:26:35.740 --> 00:26:38.940 And it's you testifying about what that blood 00:26:38.940 --> 00:26:42.099 has done in your life, right? We overcome Satan 00:26:42.099 --> 00:26:44.160 by the blood of the lamb and the word is the 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:46.960 testimony. So many times we try to overcome Satan 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:49.019 with so many other things, right? We're gonna 00:26:49.019 --> 00:26:51.019 wheel our way through. We're gonna muscle our 00:26:51.019 --> 00:26:53.319 way through. I'm just gonna be me, pound our 00:26:53.319 --> 00:26:55.299 chest. I'm gonna make it happen because I'm a 00:26:55.299 --> 00:26:57.920 Christian. By the blood. of the Lamb and the 00:26:57.920 --> 00:27:00.539 word of your testimony. By the blood of the Lamb 00:27:00.539 --> 00:27:03.740 and by the word of your testimony, right? You 00:27:03.740 --> 00:27:06.559 don't even have a testimony without the blood 00:27:06.559 --> 00:27:09.599 of Jesus Christ. The power is in the blood and 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:12.240 the testimony is a confirmation of what's already 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:16.500 true. And it is what overcomes Satan. It unlocks 00:27:16.500 --> 00:27:19.119 the power of God to be released in your life 00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:21.319 and to be released in the people around you. 00:27:21.380 --> 00:27:24.680 And it seems too simple. It seems too easy. It 00:27:24.680 --> 00:27:26.380 seems like it should be something different than 00:27:26.380 --> 00:27:28.359 that, right? We gotta work for it a little bit 00:27:28.359 --> 00:27:30.059 more. We gotta, I don't know, there's gotta be 00:27:30.059 --> 00:27:32.319 some other formula. But the word of God says 00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:34.940 it is the blood of the lamb and the word of your 00:27:34.940 --> 00:27:37.579 testimony that begins to overcome the enemy. 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:42.099 And it happens. It takes place when we began 00:27:42.099 --> 00:27:44.720 to speak about who God is and what he's doing. 00:27:44.779 --> 00:27:49.019 It crushes the enemy. It steps on the neck of 00:27:49.019 --> 00:27:52.220 the enemy. And virtually nothing can come against 00:27:52.220 --> 00:27:56.039 it. One drop of the blood of Jesus Christ stops 00:27:56.039 --> 00:27:59.400 any and all evil in life. Do you understand that? 00:27:59.819 --> 00:28:03.079 the power in that. And when you verbalize that, 00:28:03.160 --> 00:28:06.900 when you speak that confirming testimony, you 00:28:06.900 --> 00:28:11.019 are stopping evil. You want to raise a standard 00:28:11.019 --> 00:28:14.420 up against the enemy, you begin to testify about 00:28:14.420 --> 00:28:17.259 what God has done in your life, what he can do, 00:28:17.420 --> 00:28:20.700 what he will do, what he said he's going to do 00:28:20.700 --> 00:28:24.559 in his word. It's in your testimony. It's what 00:28:24.559 --> 00:28:28.670 you speak. It is what you're saying. And can 00:28:28.670 --> 00:28:30.529 I just ride this train just a little bit longer 00:28:30.529 --> 00:28:34.950 and then we'll be closing this up. Why do you 00:28:34.950 --> 00:28:38.589 think Satan works so hard to keep the word of 00:28:38.589 --> 00:28:42.789 God and Jesus being spoke out of the public sector? 00:28:44.029 --> 00:28:46.990 Why do you think the enemy does not want you 00:28:46.990 --> 00:28:49.630 to testify about what God's done in your life? 00:28:49.750 --> 00:28:52.269 Why do you think he wants you to keep and not 00:28:52.269 --> 00:28:55.500 speak of the word of God? because there is power 00:28:55.500 --> 00:28:58.559 to overtake him and he knows it. Every time he 00:28:58.559 --> 00:29:01.400 shuts down the word of God, every time he shuts 00:29:01.400 --> 00:29:05.119 down a testimony of God's confirming work in 00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:08.660 your life, every time he does that, it gives 00:29:08.660 --> 00:29:11.000 him the ability to begin to overtake. But as 00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:13.640 soon as we start speaking the word of God, just 00:29:13.640 --> 00:29:15.980 like Jesus did in the desert, as soon as you 00:29:15.980 --> 00:29:19.099 begin to invoke and verbalize the word of God, 00:29:19.180 --> 00:29:21.019 when you begin to speak about what God's done 00:29:21.019 --> 00:29:24.069 and how that applies to your life, enemy has 00:29:24.069 --> 00:29:27.529 to flee. Hell begins to shake. Demons begin to 00:29:27.529 --> 00:29:29.930 tremble. They don't know what to do with themselves. 00:29:30.190 --> 00:29:33.589 And this is the power of God at work in you. 00:29:33.910 --> 00:29:37.970 And it sounds so simple, but it is so utterly 00:29:37.970 --> 00:29:41.569 powerful. You start speaking Jesus. You start 00:29:41.569 --> 00:29:44.349 telling Jesus. You start talking about all the 00:29:44.349 --> 00:29:48.000 details that God's worked out in your life. How 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:49.720 many of you have got a testimony and you look 00:29:49.720 --> 00:29:51.140 back on the other side of the testimony and you 00:29:51.140 --> 00:29:53.380 think, how in the world did God work all that 00:29:53.380 --> 00:29:57.400 out? It's crazy. You couldn't make this up, right? 00:29:58.079 --> 00:30:00.579 It's true. I've got one more testimony for you. 00:30:00.740 --> 00:30:02.779 I've got how God does that, and then we're going 00:30:02.779 --> 00:30:08.160 to close up. Good morning, LifeHouse. Just wanted 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:10.559 to share a quick testimony about God's perfect 00:30:10.559 --> 00:30:13.519 plan, His perfect timing, and how He provides 00:30:13.519 --> 00:30:15.980 for us even in the most dire of circumstances. 00:30:16.769 --> 00:30:19.869 As many of you know, on April 28th, I lost my 00:30:19.869 --> 00:30:22.849 dad and stepmom in a car accident. April 28th 00:30:22.849 --> 00:30:25.190 also happened to be the day that our house was 00:30:25.190 --> 00:30:27.809 going on the market for sale. So very quickly, 00:30:27.829 --> 00:30:30.529 we were faced with how are we going to handle 00:30:30.529 --> 00:30:33.170 everything that's about to happen? We reached 00:30:33.170 --> 00:30:35.470 out to our realtor, discussed it, decided that 00:30:35.470 --> 00:30:38.029 we would leave the house on the market and just 00:30:38.029 --> 00:30:40.230 manage things as best we could over the next 00:30:40.230 --> 00:30:41.970 couple weeks, knowing that God was going to be 00:30:41.970 --> 00:30:44.339 there with us and to help us out. So over the 00:30:44.339 --> 00:30:46.740 next couple weeks, along with planning services 00:30:46.740 --> 00:30:49.859 and things like that, we also had 15 showings, 00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:52.880 none of which had really led to a serious offer 00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:57.319 or anything like that. So we were on May 15th 00:30:57.319 --> 00:30:59.640 on a Thursday. We were supposed to have a softball 00:30:59.640 --> 00:31:01.779 game that night. Thursday was a great day. However, 00:31:02.059 --> 00:31:05.740 the weather the last couple days had the field 00:31:05.740 --> 00:31:08.579 too wet. So we go into Thursday the 15th planning 00:31:08.579 --> 00:31:11.380 to be at a softball game, and that wasn't the 00:31:11.380 --> 00:31:13.569 plan, the softball game. I also looked at my 00:31:13.569 --> 00:31:15.829 phone that afternoon and realized that I had 00:31:15.829 --> 00:31:18.690 a showing request that was then canceled. So 00:31:18.690 --> 00:31:20.269 I had a showing, then the showing was canceled. 00:31:20.809 --> 00:31:24.289 So I get home Thursday night, and I am walking 00:31:24.289 --> 00:31:26.269 my dog out around our house, and I pop around 00:31:26.269 --> 00:31:28.490 the front side of our house, and there's somebody 00:31:28.490 --> 00:31:30.890 standing in our yard. I'm not sure who was more 00:31:30.890 --> 00:31:34.289 surprised, myself or this gentleman, but we talk, 00:31:34.369 --> 00:31:36.549 and it turns out that his family was the family 00:31:36.549 --> 00:31:38.269 that was supposed to see the house that night. 00:31:38.780 --> 00:31:41.059 and they were going to be in the area. It didn't 00:31:41.059 --> 00:31:43.279 happen to work out for their realtor, but they 00:31:43.279 --> 00:31:45.359 just wanted to drive by, see the house, and get 00:31:45.359 --> 00:31:47.160 some information off of our sign, which is why 00:31:47.160 --> 00:31:51.000 he was in New York. So I invited them in and 00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:52.539 figured since they were here, it would be a time 00:31:52.539 --> 00:31:54.059 for them to see the house since they had driven 00:31:54.059 --> 00:31:56.900 down already. So they went in, they looked at 00:31:56.900 --> 00:32:00.380 the house, and when we got down to the garage, 00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:04.160 our garage is packed. So not only was it busy 00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:06.609 with the move, but we needed a place to put my 00:32:06.609 --> 00:32:09.049 dad and stepmom's Harley -Davidson trike. So 00:32:09.049 --> 00:32:12.390 we made room in our already tight garage, moved 00:32:12.390 --> 00:32:15.950 that in, and through the discussions with this 00:32:15.950 --> 00:32:18.730 family, let them know that we'd had something 00:32:18.730 --> 00:32:20.589 that popped up a couple weeks ago, that my dad 00:32:20.589 --> 00:32:24.890 and stepmom had passed away. And they were very 00:32:24.890 --> 00:32:27.650 empathetic about that, gave their condolences. 00:32:27.650 --> 00:32:31.009 Just a super, super nice family. Well, through 00:32:31.009 --> 00:32:32.730 the discussion about the accident a little bit, 00:32:32.769 --> 00:32:36.299 we find out that... this gentleman and his family, 00:32:36.359 --> 00:32:38.500 he is a corporal with the Pennsylvania State 00:32:38.500 --> 00:32:42.400 Police. And in fact, he is the supervisor of 00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:45.319 the Criminal Investigations Unit, which is the 00:32:45.319 --> 00:32:49.420 unit that is going to be investigating the accident. 00:32:49.799 --> 00:32:52.440 And of all the things that had happened over 00:32:52.440 --> 00:32:55.380 that week, one of the challenges that I had was 00:32:55.380 --> 00:32:58.339 connecting with this department and connecting 00:32:58.339 --> 00:33:00.599 with this trooper that was in head of the investigation. 00:33:01.140 --> 00:33:05.119 So as God's perfect plan and his perfect timing 00:33:05.119 --> 00:33:08.039 would be, we did not pull the house off the market. 00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:10.680 We left it on. We did not have a softball game 00:33:10.680 --> 00:33:14.259 that day. I was not in the house when they got 00:33:14.259 --> 00:33:15.799 there because they weren't intending to come 00:33:15.799 --> 00:33:17.680 in. They were just stopping by to see the outside 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:21.460 of the house. So there are simply no coincidences. 00:33:21.819 --> 00:33:25.859 God has a plan. Even when things look bad, look 00:33:25.859 --> 00:33:28.720 distraught for us, God has a plan that is perfect 00:33:28.720 --> 00:33:32.819 and has perfect timing in it all. And he brought 00:33:32.819 --> 00:33:36.000 us all together at that moment. And he is there 00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:38.140 for all of us, even in the midst of our messy 00:33:38.140 --> 00:33:41.900 lives at times. God is there. We pray to him. 00:33:41.940 --> 00:33:44.160 We let him know what we need. And God is there 00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:47.799 to provide for us. Thank you. Do you know what 00:33:47.799 --> 00:33:49.480 we call it? Yeah, come on, give him glory. It's 00:33:49.480 --> 00:33:54.819 true. Do you know what we call those here? We 00:33:54.819 --> 00:33:57.579 call those divine connections and divine appointments 00:33:57.579 --> 00:34:00.309 that God sets up. And that he orchestrates. And 00:34:00.309 --> 00:34:03.269 we should tell the testimony. Charlie and Laura 00:34:03.269 --> 00:34:05.029 are sitting in the back. Raise your hand back 00:34:05.029 --> 00:34:06.990 there. And they'll tell you, by the way, that 00:34:06.990 --> 00:34:09.429 gentleman did buy the house. And they're getting 00:34:09.429 --> 00:34:11.650 ready to close on that. And Charlie's actually 00:34:11.650 --> 00:34:14.150 had testimony of multiple things. And how many 00:34:14.150 --> 00:34:16.510 places have you been? Every time he tells his 00:34:16.510 --> 00:34:18.250 testimony, he gets invited somewhere else to 00:34:18.250 --> 00:34:21.550 speak. And to tell testimony. Not of this, but 00:34:21.550 --> 00:34:23.050 of other things that God's worked out in his 00:34:23.050 --> 00:34:25.809 life. It is testimony where we speak. In the 00:34:25.809 --> 00:34:27.489 middle of the chaos. In the middle of grief. 00:34:27.730 --> 00:34:29.920 In the middle. of frustration, in the middle 00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:32.380 of life, in the busyness of life, when we can't 00:34:32.380 --> 00:34:35.900 figure a thing out, he's working it all out. 00:34:36.280 --> 00:34:39.000 And when we get on the other side, we need to 00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:42.619 give the testimony. Amen. Worship team, if you'd 00:34:42.619 --> 00:34:47.119 come. It is the blood of Christ in our testimony 00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:49.619 that begins to change things. And as they come, 00:34:49.800 --> 00:34:52.500 I want to give you one last thought today. And 00:34:52.500 --> 00:34:57.300 it's this, our children need to hear testimony. 00:34:58.059 --> 00:35:00.800 Our children need to hear testimony. Our children 00:35:00.800 --> 00:35:04.059 need to hear our testimony of what God's done 00:35:04.059 --> 00:35:07.079 in our lives. And our children need to hear or 00:35:07.079 --> 00:35:10.599 have their own testimony. If you go into the 00:35:10.599 --> 00:35:13.500 book of Joshua, he was a leader. He was the second 00:35:13.500 --> 00:35:15.420 leader of Israel as they came out of slavery. 00:35:16.670 --> 00:35:20.630 And Joshua, after Israel had wandered for 40 00:35:20.630 --> 00:35:23.030 years in the wilderness because of disobedience 00:35:23.030 --> 00:35:25.750 to God, Joshua's getting ready to take them into 00:35:25.750 --> 00:35:27.989 a place called the promised land that God had 00:35:27.989 --> 00:35:30.570 promised them. And it's across a river. It's 00:35:30.570 --> 00:35:33.070 across the other side of the Jordan River. And 00:35:33.070 --> 00:35:37.329 as he's preparing to take them over to the Jordan, 00:35:37.429 --> 00:35:39.869 across the Jordan to get to the promised land, 00:35:39.949 --> 00:35:42.489 really to the place right across from where Jericho 00:35:42.489 --> 00:35:46.119 was, they had to get across this river. with 00:35:46.119 --> 00:35:49.079 probably a million plus people, all their animals, 00:35:49.260 --> 00:35:51.340 all their supplies. And here's the thing about 00:35:51.340 --> 00:35:53.340 that river. There was no bridge to get them across 00:35:53.340 --> 00:35:57.719 that river. There were not enough boats and vessels 00:35:57.719 --> 00:36:00.880 that could get them across the river. So God 00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:03.840 spoke to Joshua and told Joshua, I want you to 00:36:03.840 --> 00:36:06.280 take the priest, get the priest, and I want you 00:36:06.280 --> 00:36:07.880 to get the Ark of the Covenant. Now the Ark of 00:36:07.880 --> 00:36:10.219 the Covenant was in the temple and the Ark of 00:36:10.219 --> 00:36:12.360 the Covenant represented the presence of God 00:36:12.360 --> 00:36:15.840 because God's presence rested on it. And they 00:36:15.840 --> 00:36:17.880 took the poles. They would carry that with long 00:36:17.880 --> 00:36:20.500 poles. And the priests would carry it on their 00:36:20.500 --> 00:36:22.340 shoulder. They weren't allowed to touch the ark. 00:36:22.420 --> 00:36:25.099 They would carry the ark. And he told them to 00:36:25.099 --> 00:36:27.280 go down. And the priests were supposed to come 00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:29.659 up to the edge of the river and stick their toe 00:36:29.659 --> 00:36:32.880 in the river. And when they stuck their toes 00:36:32.880 --> 00:36:35.280 in the river, just at the riverbanks, and you're 00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:36.840 probably going to go to a river this weekend, 00:36:36.980 --> 00:36:40.340 right? As they go to the riverbank, what happened 00:36:40.340 --> 00:36:42.820 was, as soon as they touched the water, the water 00:36:42.820 --> 00:36:45.619 began to heap up this direction, and the water 00:36:45.619 --> 00:36:47.420 that was in front of them began to flow away. 00:36:48.030 --> 00:36:50.869 And as they probably stood there stunned, the 00:36:50.869 --> 00:36:53.449 water heaped up this direction, the water here 00:36:53.449 --> 00:36:55.889 on this side went down that way, and now they 00:36:55.889 --> 00:36:57.630 had a muddy mess in front of them. And while 00:36:57.630 --> 00:37:00.670 they're standing there, God dries up the riverbed 00:37:00.670 --> 00:37:04.329 for them to cross. How many know that's a story 00:37:04.329 --> 00:37:06.909 to tell? Come on, that's a testimony, right? 00:37:07.420 --> 00:37:11.960 And Joshua, he knows that this is a story that 00:37:11.960 --> 00:37:14.360 they need to tell. But he also knows that sometimes 00:37:14.360 --> 00:37:16.940 it gets lost. Even if you experience something 00:37:16.940 --> 00:37:19.840 incredible, even if you experience a miracle 00:37:19.840 --> 00:37:23.860 of God, it gets lost later on. So listen to what 00:37:23.860 --> 00:37:37.050 he says to do in Joshua 4 .1. He says, take for 00:37:37.050 --> 00:37:40.070 yourselves 12 stones from here out of the midst 00:37:40.070 --> 00:37:42.489 of the Jordan. From the place where the priest's 00:37:42.489 --> 00:37:45.449 feet stood firm, you shall carry them over with 00:37:45.449 --> 00:37:47.849 you and leave them in the lodging place where 00:37:47.849 --> 00:37:50.510 you lodge tonight. And Joshua called the 12 men 00:37:50.510 --> 00:37:52.210 whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, 00:37:52.309 --> 00:37:55.010 one man from every tribe. And Joshua said to 00:37:55.010 --> 00:37:57.329 them, cross over before the ark of the Lord, 00:37:57.369 --> 00:37:59.829 your God, into the midst of the Jordan. And each 00:37:59.829 --> 00:38:02.769 one of you take a stone on his shoulder, according 00:38:02.769 --> 00:38:04.889 to the number of the tribes of children of Israel. 00:38:05.960 --> 00:38:09.519 be a sign among you when your children ask in 00:38:09.519 --> 00:38:12.780 time to come saying, what do these stones mean 00:38:12.780 --> 00:38:16.159 to you? Right? Then you shall answer them that 00:38:16.159 --> 00:38:18.019 the waters of the Jordan were cut off before 00:38:18.019 --> 00:38:20.320 the ark of the covenant of the Lord and it crossed 00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:22.659 over by the Jordan. The waters of the Jordan 00:38:22.659 --> 00:38:25.679 were cut off. These stones shall be a memorial 00:38:25.679 --> 00:38:29.920 to the children of Israel forever. Do you know 00:38:29.920 --> 00:38:34.800 what a memorial is for? Testimony. Testimony. 00:38:35.289 --> 00:38:37.449 He says, stack up the rocks. I want you to take 00:38:37.449 --> 00:38:40.070 rocks from the Jordan that you're crossing over, 00:38:40.150 --> 00:38:42.110 and I want you to stack them up wherever you're 00:38:42.110 --> 00:38:44.050 at, and I want you to build a memorial. And every 00:38:44.050 --> 00:38:46.210 time your kids walk by and say, what are those 00:38:46.210 --> 00:38:48.090 stones all stacked up for? You're going to tell 00:38:48.090 --> 00:38:50.469 them, this is where God met us. This is where 00:38:50.469 --> 00:38:53.230 God performed the miracle. We're going to testify 00:38:53.230 --> 00:38:55.650 about what God's done, right? This is Memorial 00:38:55.650 --> 00:38:59.010 Day. This is Memorial Day weekend. All across 00:38:59.010 --> 00:39:01.070 this nation, there are going to be parents, there 00:39:01.070 --> 00:39:02.690 are going to be people pointing to memorials 00:39:02.690 --> 00:39:05.219 and saying, let me tell you who sacrificed. Let 00:39:05.219 --> 00:39:07.500 me tell you about the service member who died 00:39:07.500 --> 00:39:10.460 so that you could have freedom. It is a testimony. 00:39:10.800 --> 00:39:14.039 And Joshua wanted them to remember, our children 00:39:14.039 --> 00:39:18.840 need to hear testimony. We need to set up memorials 00:39:18.840 --> 00:39:20.940 for our children to see so that they can look 00:39:20.940 --> 00:39:23.360 and say, what does that mean? And we can say, 00:39:23.500 --> 00:39:26.900 that's when God met us. That's when God moved. 00:39:27.260 --> 00:39:30.639 That's when God did something. Amen? It's true. 00:39:31.659 --> 00:39:35.719 Communion. Jesus said, do this in remembrance 00:39:35.719 --> 00:39:40.780 of me. This is a memorial. I want you to testify 00:39:40.780 --> 00:39:43.579 what the blood of Christ has done in your life. 00:39:43.679 --> 00:39:48.239 When my body was broken, testify what he's done. 00:39:48.820 --> 00:39:52.719 So today we're going to testify. We're going 00:39:52.719 --> 00:39:55.059 to take communion. And then I want you just to, 00:39:55.079 --> 00:39:57.039 as you're getting ready to, and we're going to 00:39:57.039 --> 00:39:58.539 come down these center aisles, you're going to 00:39:58.539 --> 00:40:00.239 get the communion elements. There's one, there's. 00:40:00.739 --> 00:40:03.000 multiple ones in the back. There's ones up here 00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:05.019 where you can get the communion elements. And 00:40:05.019 --> 00:40:07.340 as you get ready to do about, you know, to walk 00:40:07.340 --> 00:40:09.000 up and take those elements and go back to your 00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:11.599 seat so we can take communion together, I want 00:40:11.599 --> 00:40:13.400 you to begin to think about where God met you. 00:40:14.840 --> 00:40:17.179 When's the last time he met you? If you were 00:40:17.179 --> 00:40:19.340 gonna testify to one of your kids, if you were 00:40:19.340 --> 00:40:21.760 gonna point back, maybe you don't have any children, 00:40:21.820 --> 00:40:23.940 but a child in this church, and you can say, 00:40:23.980 --> 00:40:26.300 point back to a place in your life and say, oh 00:40:26.300 --> 00:40:29.139 man, this is where God met me. This is what God 00:40:29.139 --> 00:40:31.539 did. This is when God healed my knee, right? 00:40:31.940 --> 00:40:33.820 This is when God worked out all the circumstances 00:40:33.820 --> 00:40:36.059 to sell my house in the middle of a bunch of 00:40:36.059 --> 00:40:38.920 chaos. What's your testimony? So I'm asking you 00:40:38.920 --> 00:40:40.960 to stand this morning. Worship team's gonna begin 00:40:40.960 --> 00:40:43.139 to play. You can make your way right out of the 00:40:43.139 --> 00:40:46.760 middle. Come up the center. If you're listening 00:40:46.760 --> 00:40:49.199 online, just go find these elements in your house. 00:40:49.420 --> 00:40:51.159 Find the juice and the bread. We want you to 00:40:51.159 --> 00:40:53.619 take communion with us today. If you're listening 00:40:53.619 --> 00:40:56.239 somewhere and maybe some of our family's not 00:40:56.239 --> 00:40:59.980 here, maybe you just joined us online. But as 00:40:59.980 --> 00:41:03.079 you come, I want you to think about, if I had 00:41:03.079 --> 00:41:07.380 to point back, what would I tell them? Was it 00:41:07.380 --> 00:41:12.000 a year ago? Was it 10 years ago? Was it 20 years 00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:17.639 ago? Was it last week? Are you going to testify? 00:41:28.010 --> 00:41:31.449 this message from Lifehouse Church. We pray that 00:41:31.449 --> 00:41:33.789 you were impacted powerfully by this message. 00:41:34.110 --> 00:41:37.150 If you have been personally affected by our ministry 00:41:37.150 --> 00:41:39.909 and you would like to partner with us as we love 00:41:39.909 --> 00:41:43.050 God, love people every day, visit our website 00:41:43.050 --> 00:41:43.469 at