Praise God in the sanctuary.
Amen.
Let's sing a little bit of that again.
Hit that praise God in the sanctuary part.
Go from there.
I like that.
Bless God in the sanctuary.
Bless God in the fields of plenty.
Bless God in the darkest hour of the evening.
Every chance I get, I bless your name.
Yeah.
Bless God in the
Empty.
Bless God in the fields that cost me.
Bless God in the light of the Lord.
Nobody's watching.
Every chance I get, I bless your name.
I'm in the witness to the dream.
Bless God when the walls are falling.
Hey.
Bless God when he goes before us.
He goes before us.
Every chance I get, I bless your name.
I bless your name.
Look.
I'm in the witness to the dream.
Holds the big tree.
Bless God.
He's always with you.
He's with you.
He's always worthy.
I bless your name.
I get.
I'm going to give you one more chance.
One more chance.
Every chance you get, here's one more chance.
Hallelujah.
It's easy to bless his name when everything's going good.
Right?
But can you still bless him when your hand's empty?
Can you still bless his name when the weapons are forming
against you?
When the fire's kindled up against you and the floods are
rolling over you, can you stand up and bless him?
Well, that's when we do bless him because he said he wouldn't
let the fire consume you and the flood wash you away.
Right?
There is a standard that he raises up when the enemy comes
in like a flood.
I bless your name, Lord.
I bless your name.
If you have your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Hebrews
in the fourth chapter.
Hebrews 4.
Well, glory.
Thank you, folks, for leading us in today.
Sounded wonderful.
I like it when you don't miss a beat.
Just flow.
It just rolls.
Right?
I thank the Lord for his kindness toward us and his
blessings on us.
He is good and his mercy endures forever.
Well, it's not hard to tell which side of the church
building most of the younger people sit on.
Is it?
Yeah.
Now, you put that other 40 over here and it looks balanced.
So that means y'all are, I ain't even going to say it.
There's a few sprinkles of youth's fountain among you.
Be thankful they're sitting with you and not forsook you
for the other side.
Hallelujah.
God's so good.
Man, praise reports are going to flood in from this weekend.
I kind of thought it humorous last night after the Winterfest
service.
I kind of wait for a report from the adults I got up there.
I kind of wait for a report.
So I texted, it was late, and I said report and about three or
four question marks, you know.
And then the next thing you know, Pastor Brian just sends
about five or six fire emojis.
That's all you get out of him.
Then a little bit later, we get a report from Sister Erica who
honestly confessed she might have had more to report had she
not been out on the floor.
So if our chaperones wouldn't fool around getting the spirit,
then we may have more information to give this
morning, but when they're slayed, then there you go.
It's left to the kids.
They're taking care of themselves.
Isn't that wonderful though?
Hallelujah.
To know I was truly just tickled as they were loading up
Friday.
I always give them my pastor's speech.
You've got to give them that.
You're representing the Hope Well Church of God.
You're representing Pastor Brian and Sister Erica, but most
of all, you're representing Jesus.
Amen.
And then I give them the good part.
But one I overheard a conversation.
Pastor Brian was asking one of his younger teens, he said,
man, are you expecting something this weekend?
He said, yeah, I want the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
So yeah.
So that kind of set a little stirring out in the parking lot.
So I've been excited about what God's doing among them.
Amen.
But it still would be better if your workers could stay up
under the Spirit.
Whatsoever, Lord.
We'll get her when she gets back.
Hallelujah.
God's so good.
And just to think, there's 12, 14,000 students and workers up
there this week, and God has moved in the mountains.
Amen.
Some will go back transformed.
Some saved.
Hopefully many sanctified.
Many filled with the spirit of empowerment to live a
victorious life.
Amen.
And there are many that are going to be called.
God's going to do some calling.
The spirit's calling.
He needs that generation.
Amen.
So he's going to be calling them out and up for his service.
Amen.
Hebrews chapter four.
Look at verse 14 with me for a moment.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed
into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our
profession, for we have not in high priest, which cannot be
touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all
points tempted like we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.
Just for a little bit this morning, I want to follow up on
last week just a little bit.
It was a little, like I said, it got a little rocky last
week when you go to preaching on apathy and complacency and
those sort of things.
It's a stirring.
Hopefully you were stirred by the word of God and the spirit
of God to activate your faith.
And so that's what we kind of want to follow up with this
morning on is faith above all.
Faith above all.
Amen.
I know the Lord's with us this morning for just about every
song, just kindly just put a confirmation in my heart as to
what I'm about to do.
And the Lord is good that way.
Amen.
Every great once in a while I'll request a song.
But I don't tell the folks that lead our worship what to sing.
And I never have because I'm looking for something.
I'm looking for folks who are in tune with the spirit.
Amen.
That's what I'm searching for.
They've actually prayed about what they're doing and they've
heard from the Lord and he's putting together a cohesive
moment of time for his people.
Right.
And that's what I search for.
And I look for that to know that, OK, I've heard from God
and we've heard from God and he's going to do something
great.
And I'm looking forward to that for the rest of this morning.
So if you'll pray with me, we'll try to be expedient with
it.
I doubt very seriously where it happens in 25 minutes or not.
That's a stretch for me.
I could try that, but we'll see.
Lord, we love you again.
We approach your throne.
My spirit is full this morning, Lord.
My heart is full of joy.
I just feel so good in your house.
Lord, and messages have been flooding in already of churches
that are ghost towns because of the timing and the weekends and
different things and events and pastors may be struggling this
morning, but I'm not, Lord.
Our people have come out.
They're in your house because of what you're doing.
Continue to move in our hearts and lives, Lord.
I know some are tired.
That hour that is lost, it is valuable.
So I pray that you would increase their rest.
Increase their rest for their bodies, Lord.
They're tired.
They've worked and the stress of life.
Have your rest to your people in Jesus' name.
Well, hallelujah.
I just felt the Lord right there.
Amen.
You can be seated.
Faith above all.
Tell your neighbors, faith above all.
Again, just to kindly, you know, catch up for some of you.
It may not have been here last week.
We're talking about advancing beyond the limits of complacency
and that lack of desire, complacency of feeling,
quite pleasurable that everything's fine and security
and you're safe.
And it's just a status quo when you're moving right along.
And if we're not careful, we can get that way in our faith walk
with walking with the Lord.
You can get to a place where, man, this is comfortable.
I've got the devil sort of at bay,
and the spirit kind of is nudging me,
but I've quenched him enough it doesn't hurt too bad anymore.
And we grow complacent.
And we get to a place where life is good.
Amen.
You ever been there?
Whenever I get there, I get nervous.
I set the trajectory.
I thought, well, the Lord already had it set,
but I really set the ball rolling one afternoon,
one sunny spring afternoon.
I had bought an old 79 Ford Bronco.
I was going to turn that into my rabbit hunting mobile.
And I was out there fooling with it and changing spark plugs.
And I mean a beautiful spring afternoon
out in the parsonage yard.
And man, I stepped down off of that old thing.
And away off in the distance, I heard an old gobbler just
howl.
And I thought, man, I said to myself, Lord, I've got it made.
And I wish I had never, ever let those words come out
from the tip of my tongue and roll over my lower lip.
I wish I had never uttered those,
because I truly believe when I said that, David,
I set a chain of events into motion that's brought me
to where we are today.
I really do.
I honestly thought, Sister Cassie,
I thought we could have pastored that first little church
up on top of the mountain for the rest of our lives.
And God would have been good, and we
would have been content.
But you know, the Lord didn't have a desire for me
to get really content and to grow complacent,
because I would have gotten complacent,
because they didn't care who preached on Sunday morning
as long as we were the pastor.
Anybody could come in as long as they
know that we was coming back next Sunday.
They were good to go with that.
And I was good to go with that.
But complacency began to set in.
There was a danger right there that I had to really watch for.
You can get comfortable in any situation.
You can get very comfortable and grow complacent in any situa.
You can get complacent in the midst of hardship.
Even if it's not too hard, or you know,
you can get to a place where you're
satisfied with the status quo.
But God is not satisfied with his people being in status quo.
We look at the children of Israel.
If you'll look above in this fourth chapter,
and you go up to the first verse,
and begin to read down, it talks about the rest of the Lord,
about the children of God going into his rest,
and the rest that he had prepared.
Talk about Joshua leading them in,
talking about how Christ was more perfect than Moses
in chapter 3 and in chapter 4, here in this book of Hebrews.
And that's what Hebrews is all about,
the perfection of Christ, Christ better than,
better than his blood, better than the blood of the goats
and bulls, his sacrifice.
All of this is in the book of Hebrews.
But in this fourth chapter, he talks about the rest of God,
the rest of the Lord, drawing you into his rest.
The children of Israel finally, after wandering
for 40 years in the wilderness, got to enter into the rest.
And the rest was the promised land.
Well, it wasn't very restful.
They had to go in and drive the enemy out.
Amen.
They had to make war.
But it was the rest.
It was the fulfillment of the promise
that God had made to them.
Amen.
Because there's no place to get complacent.
You get into his rest when you get into his destination
for your life.
You move into his rest when the promise
that he has made to you is where you arrive.
But it is there that he begins to equip you
for the rest of the journey.
Amen.
God made a promise to them, and they made it
to the promised land.
They crossed over the Jordan, and they entered into his rest.
They were dispatched.
They got to go into all of their inheritance
and receive their promise.
And they entered into the rest of the Lord.
But in his rest is often warfare,
because the enemy, amen, is always present and always
around.
So we cannot grow complacent in the resting
of the promise of God.
And so therefore, we hear as the author begin to just bring us
on through, seeing then that we have a great high priest that
has passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God,
let us hold fast our profession.
When we begin to talk about this complacency,
we talked about how it hinders the progression
of our Christian faith and our walk with God.
And we discussed the very fact of faith itself.
Faith, we use this definition, suggests
a reach that is above ourselves.
It is man in his limited state, reaching out, reaching up,
and reaching beyond into the goodness of the rest of God.
That's what faith ends up with.
We know that faith is the substance of things hoped for
and the evidence of things not seen.
But that is the entering in of the rest that we have of God.
There is a promise, amen.
In verse 12, he said, well, look at verse 11
in our fourth chapter here.
Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest.
You've got to work.
You've got to move in.
You've got to move on.
You've got to be about.
You've got to accomplish.
Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest,
lest any man fail.
He manned after the same example of unbelief.
Many of the children of Israel failed
to enter into the rest because of unbelief, right?
When God brought them to the Jordan
and they refused to cross over because of grasshopperitis,
if you will, when the spies come back
and they begin to give a false report that God's not able,
that we're not.
They've had it right when they said we are not able.
But where they failed and where they come up short
was not believing that God was able to take them
into the rest.
And they talked themselves out of the rest of God.
They talked themselves out into achieving
and accomplishing the promise that God had made them.
So what did they do?
They had to take a hard left turn.
And then for 40 years, they wandered through the desert.
Why?
It wasn't very restful because every morning
they had to get up and get their daily sustenance.
Every day, there was no rest in that.
You had to get up and gather every single day.
And for 40 years, they walked outside of the promise of God
until that whole generation that had no faith
and was full of unbelief and refused to accept the power
and the promise of God until they wasted away,
until they all died in the wilderness.
And then full circle, they come back around
and Joshua hears from the Lord.
Aren't you glad that there are those
who still hear from the Lord
and that the voice of God is still speaking among his people?
Oh, the Lord stood before Joshua and declared in him,
Moses, my servant is dead and you demand, you demand,
you demand.
That's what God was telling him.
And he said, here's the thing that I'm gonna declare
before you today, before we ever get started, Joshua.
As I was with Moses, so shall I be with you.
And there's nobody gonna be able to stand in front of you,
that nobody that's gonna be able to hinder you.
Somebody needs to hear that this morning.
God was with a generation before you,
but God is telling you they passed and they're gone.
And as I was with them, so I will be with you.
And nobody's gonna be able to stand, no enemies,
gonna be able to turn you aside.
For as I was with Moses, so I'm gonna be with you.
And my God, remember what Moses said,
if you don't go before us, then I don't wanna go.
And if you're gonna go before us, show me your glory.
Can I declare to you today when hungry hearts
get ready to see the glory of God,
that the glory of God will make himself revealed?
I don't know about you, but I've heard enough testimony
of yesteryear of how the power of God moved
in the early days of Pentecost.
Well, I'm here to tell you, I'm ready for the wind
to blow again, and I want the wind of Pentecost
to blow upon me and to blow upon you
and to blow upon this house.
For we got that promise from the Lord.
As I was with them, so shall I be with you.
And it is a desire of mine to enter into the rest
that he has available.
Hallelujah.
To enter into that rest, but you gotta grow
beyond your complacency.
Remember, you gotta grow beyond your status quo.
You gotta grow beyond apathy, right?
We've gotta fend off, and we gotta confront the obstacles
that put themselves before us.
Apathy, complacency, remember?
We talked a little bit about ritualized religion.
We gotta get past religion and move into a deep
relationship with the Lord.
That's why I loved what that young man, 13, 14 years old,
what he said there Friday really just struck me deep
when he told his pastor, what I want is the baptism
of the Holy Ghost this weekend.
My God, that's what we want.
Some of you need the baptism of the Holy Ghost,
but you don't have to worry about receiving him
until you get hungry.
And if you begin to get hungry for a deeper relationship
with God, oh, it's scary, pastor.
I don't know if I wanna do all that.
Let me tell you, the Holy Ghost is a gentleman.
He's not gonna hurt you.
He's never gonna harm you.
He knows how to touch you.
He knows how to feel you.
I've seen him roll and flop on a floor like fish
out of water, but then I've also seen him stand
and never move a muscle but the Spirit move,
and they begin to speak in tongues as the Spirit gives you.
He knows who you are.
He knows how to baptize you.
Let him be the baptizer.
He knows how.
Hallelujah.
He's never gonna offend you.
He's never gonna harm you.
All he wants to do is enable you and empower you
with that wonderful Spirit that enables you
to be the victor and victorious in life.
Oh, I don't know if I want all that.
Well, I'm sorry I'm praying it for you.
I'm sorry.
I'm praying it for you.
Because you need him.
Remember, the Spirit's not a it.
You need him in your life to enable you and to empower you
that when the devil pops up and tries to hinder you
from your rest, that you can look him in the eye
and resist him.
And he flee from you. Why?
Because greater is he that is in you than he that is in this
world.
And if he's living within you who is Christ, the hope of
glory, and he baptizes you in the power from on high,
then the enemy knows he is no match for what is in you.
It's not about you.
It's not about me.
It's about when we stand in his authority and we stand full of
his power.
The devil knows he is mocking orders.
He knows when he has to go.
Avoiding those pitfalls.
Faith suggesting a reach that goes beyond.
We moved our way to getting above and beyond and around
those pitfalls through prayer.
And I'm not going to get hung up here.
I'm already hung up too long.
We're going to begin to talk about overcoming through the
power of prayer and how that prayer condition is going to
change our heart.
How that prayer conditions us for the will of God, not God for
the will of our heart.
How that prayer changes your and I perspective of what's going
on in our life.
And that God is able to perform the miraculous in our lives.
Amen.
Remember we talked and gave that little definition of what a
miracle was.
That which is caused by the direct intervention of
supernatural power.
That's what a miracle is.
Prayer aligns our will with God's will.
Prayer causes us to be mindful of his word.
And prayer puts us forward in faith.
Prayer puts us forward in faith.
Because I'm going to tell you right now, I'm not going to call
out and spend time lifting up a voice to an empty heaven.
Hallelujah.
I'm not going to lift my voice to an empty heaven.
I'm not going to lift my voice to the glory realm where there
is no one who sits upon the throne of all of the universes
because I know when I go to God in prayer, I know that
everything around me is because of his authority, his will,
and his power.
And when I begin to lift up my voice, I know I'm calling on
something that's out of this world.
I know I'm calling on a power that goes beyond the natural of
the ability of humanity.
I'm calling on the one who is the force of all forces.
I'm calling on God himself.
And so it enables me.
My faith is built when I go to God in prayer.
I have learned a long time ago that God doesn't answer
everything I give to him in the way that I wish it would be
answered.
But I have discovered that he answers every prayer.
The one I don't like the most is when he just flat out says no.
I've learned to deal with weight.
I've learned to deal with yes, and some I've got a yes too.
I wish I had never offered up.
But God in his infinite wisdom knew, hopefully, that my old
country preacher, that boy would learn a lesson if I give him
what he asked for.
And I have learned a few.
So I'm very careful now.
I come boldly.
But I am careful about what comes across my lip.
I have never, ever, ever again said I've got it made because it
unleashed the hounds of hell against me.
And it set me in a trajectory to come from full frontal face
with the devil and to put him in flight and to resist everything
that he's brought against.
But in the same sequence of events, it catapulted me into
the glorious call of God like I'd never encountered and never
experienced before to see God do the supernatural upon the
natural.
I've had people say, Pastor, why do people fall out at the
church?
I said, well, the only way I can explain it is this.
When the natural is touched by the supernatural, something has
to give, and the natural and the nature of flesh cannot stand up
under a simple little breathing of the supernatural.
We yield, we give.
The flesh melts before his glory and the touch of his
almighty hand.
My God, I long to enter into his rest and the power that he has
made available and his faith above all.
Amen.
Well, that button bad for about 18 minutes.
I got through the introduction.
Whew, I didn't know if I was going to get there.
I'm trying to get over here.
So I skipped some stuff.
And you're starting to feel the effects of me getting skinnier.
I'm not getting winded as quick as I was.
So every 10 pounds is good for about 10 minutes.
Hey, law, and that's bad for you because I feel good and it
just keeps flowing and I just want to keep going past your
endurance.
Prayer.
It's prayer.
And we know the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they
are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
casting down every imagination that exalts itself against the
knowledge of God.
And we do know that we war against powers and principalities,
princes of darkness and of the air that sit in high places,
right?
But the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.
So if you're trying, what's that mean?
Physically, fleshly, carnal.
It's not about engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a
spirit being.
It's about engaging in spiritual combat with a spiritual being.
Now, I know there are times that the devil presents himself in
physical flesh in front of you and the temptation is to slap
him in the mouth.
I'm aware of that.
Try to resist that.
Let sanctification ride up over you.
But we engage our warfare in the spirit.
And the greatest weapon is your faith.
Your faith.
Now, just above in our text today, you'll read that powerful
scripture that talks about the Word of God,
which is sharper than any two-edged sword.
Divides us under, cutting through, getting to the morrow,
very to the center of the core.
But if you don't have faith, it's our faith released in the
Word that releases the power of the Word in our life.
Huh?
There are theologians who don't even believe the Word,
but they study the book.
But they have no trust and no confidence and no belief in the
power and the validity of it.
They just study the literal side of it, the grammar, the intent,
but yet have come to an encounter with the God of the
Word or the Word of the Word.
In the beginning, do I have to remind you of John, what is that,
John 1 and 1, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was
God, the Word is with God, and the same is in the beginning.
God, right?
And then you jump down to verse 14 and John writes in there,
and we beheld him in his flesh, we handled him, and we saw him
in his glory and his power here on earth.
We saw the Word.
We ate and fellowshiped with the Word.
My God, let that saturate your heart this morning.
We have to have faith and release our faith in Christ
because he is the Word.
That's the reason we hear the declaration, heaven and earth
shall pass away, but my Word will never, ever, ever pass away
because why?
Christ was from the beginning, and he'll be all the way through
to there is no ending.
He was, he is, and he always will be.
The Alpha, the Omega, come on somebody, the hyphen in the
between, he is in all, and our faith is in Christ by virtue of
his Word.
Reading it without believing in it causes no transformation,
but believing in his Word constitutes and sets you for
miracles to be released in your life because of your faith.
John 2 and 1, you see the miracle and read of the miracle
of the transformation of the water into the wine.
When they took the pots, they were still clay pots.
When they dipped the water out of the well, out of the spring,
or wherever they got it from, they poured it in the pot,
it was still water.
There was no transformation, no transformative power until
there was belief in the Word that he spoke.
His mother looked at him and said, they've got a problem,
son, you're going to take care of it.
And he tried to give her an excuse, well, it's not time yet,
mama.
Well, you don't tell mama nothing, even if you're Jesus.
He tried that at about 12, remember?
And the scripture says he was subject unto them from that
point on, right?
I'd say Joe cut him a piece of olive limb and got a hold of
him, mine would have.
But when she looked at the servants and said, whatsoever he
says unto you, you do that.
Well, mama, it ain't time for me to do all this stuff yet, son.
She never said another word to him.
He just, okay, y'all get the pots, you fill them with water
and bring them back in here.
I don't hear him say, turn water to wine.
We don't read that.
We don't read that he stuck his finger in it and stirred it and
it turned to wine.
We don't have any other indication other than the
servants just started dipping.
Their faith and his word caused a transformative act to take
place.
And when we begin to understand the human need and the need of
humanity, we begin to understand and know this one thing, that we
require a transformative work and it is instituted first of
all through his word.
So how shall they hear unless they be a preacher?
How can they hear and even know that there's a Christ unless
there is a preacher?
Who's going to go and preach?
Amen.
What did Isaiah say when he declared woe is me for I'm
undone, I'm a man of unclean lips.
And he said, well, who's going to go for us?
And he said, well, here I am.
I'll go send me.
I'll go forth and we hear that the ministers of the Lord,
according to the word of God, become flaming swords of
righteousness as they declare his word.
How beautiful are the feet of them who share and spread the
good news of the glorious gospel.
How is this faith come by hearing and hearing by the what?
By the word of God.
So when the word is proclaimed, then our hearts are hearing the
word and we begin to receive.
And when we understand the human need, it is the power of the
word of God and the inward working of Christ himself that
causes a transformation in our lives.
That's when it happened.
When the servants dipped it out according to his word, what he
said, when they begin to dip and pour, the transformation took
place.
Can I tell you this morning, when you begin to dip in and
begin to pour, there's a transformation that takes place.
When you understand your need, faith above all, those servants
had to believe something was going to happen.
They had to believe that what he said, they had to do.
Some of us are not fully convinced that what it says is
what we have to do.
We'll skip that section for another Sunday.
Somebody say amen.
Thank you, pastor.
So we won't even get into that.
We'll get bogged down.
Oh, it's after 12.
For too long, the law of Moses, the law of God, the sacrificial
system had proven inadequate for man's condition.
It required more than a covering.
Humanity required more than a cover.
Humanity requires a transformation.
We, you, I, we require a transformation.
That's the reason the law was inadequate.
They kept trying to come up with more rules and more
regulations to make them feel more holy.
You don't feel more holy until you're transformed to be holy.
Well, you don't feel worthy.
I've heard so many say, well, I'm just not worthy.
Not yet.
No, not yet, but you're about to be.
If you let him transform you, there comes a comprehension of
your worthiness because of his death, as one author said,
the vicarious death of Christ.
When you understand the heart of the Father and why he sent
his Son, you begin to realize, yes, you are worthy.
You're more than worthy.
You are special in his eyes and in his sight.
He's not, you're just not someone that just gets looped
into the lasso and drug in, but he has chosen, he picked you.
How many, how many ever, when you're young, growing up, you
weren't the best at the sports and all the neighborhood games.
You weren't the best and you never got picked first.
Anybody?
Anybody ever get so far last that nobody wants you?
You're the last pick.
Well, that's the reason we have that wonderful promise in his
word, the last shall be first.
Doesn't matter if you're as good at kickball, softball,
football or basketball, he's chosen you.
Right?
And for you all, you people who got picked first, there you go.
You'll be last.
The human need is that of transformation.
And that transformation comes by faith.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
And we acquiesce the wonderful favor of God by faith.
That's why it's faith above all.
When we see Paul's listing of the armament of the army and the
soldier of God, what does he say?
And above all, what does he say above all?
Taking what?
The shield of faith.
Above all, you got your helmet on firm.
You got your chest guarded with that blessed plate of
righteousness.
You got your shields on, your shins.
How many of you knows walking around a truck in a parking lot
and you bark your shin, you're just about laying down.
It doesn't matter what's on the ground.
You're down.
How would you like to be on a battlefield and some little short
guy out there knows if I can hit him in the knee, I'll get him.
And he's going around hitting everybody in the shin and in the
knee.
And you're on the ground and he takes your life.
You got the shin guards on.
You've got protection.
Amen.
You got your feet shod with the preparation of the what?
Of the gospel.
Amen.
And then in one hand you got the sword, right, of the
Spirit.
You got the word of God.
You will that thing around.
Amen.
But you know how hard it is to fend off arrows with a sword?
You might get one if you're lucky.
But if you get behind that above all, you know, you got that
girdled truth around you.
You're walking in it.
You're living in it.
You're loving it.
Amen.
And the enemy's coming at you and arrows are flying and you
can only get one maybe and you're going to get struck by
whatever if they've loosed 50.
You've got 149 may hit their mark.
And above all, if you lift up the shield of faith and you get
behind your faith because then you know that it is truly
greater than he that's in you and not you.
And you know that if God be for you then who can be against
you?
Then you begin to get that sword going and saying I resist
you in the name of Jesus and I'm quenching all the fiery darts
of the enemy.
It gives me, how many of you have ever seen these old war
movies or Indian movies where they're shooting arrows and
they've got fire on the tip?
That's what comes to my mind.
The devil not only wants to inflict harm but he wants to
inflict as much harm as possible.
So they come in blazing.
They come in fiery.
But that's all right because they become quenched when I
lift up my shield of faith.
Above all, I'm going to pray but I'm going to lift up my
shield of faith because I know in whom I believe.
I know that if I can just believe him, his promises are
yea and amen in Christ.
He's not going to fail me.
He's not going to forsake me.
Every word that he promised over me he will keep and I have
faith in that.
Without faith it's impossible to please God.
Hebrews 11 and 6.
Mark 11 and 22 have faith in God.
Mark 9 and 23 all things are possible to him that believes.
Hebrews 11 and 1.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the
evidence of things not seen.
Amen.
What have others said about faith?
Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and
receives the impossible.
Move the immovable, break the unbreakable.
Right?
God we believe.
God we believe in you.
He said it.
Now you see why I've been so excited to get here.
He said it.
It is done.
He said it.
I believe it.
He said it.
It is done.
Do you believe because he said it that it is done?
The authority of the voice of God.
Go ahead and stand up.
I'm going to shut up here in just a few minutes.
If you're standing I'll be sure not to keep you over 20.
A little faith, I like this one, a little faith will bring
your soul to heaven.
Great faith will bring a little heaven to your soul.
I need a little heaven to my soul on occasion.
Amen.
My faith is going to get me to heaven.
I trust God.
I trust the vicarious death of Christ.
Amen.
We're going to talk about that here in just a few weeks,
aren't we?
I believe that he died.
Not fell asleep.
Wasn't just unconscious.
When he gave up the ghost, he gave up his life, the breath
of life, his flesh.
I believe Joseph got him down.
The ladies put as much smell good on him as they could get
and anointed his body for the burial that had to be done
very quickly and they put him in that tomb.
I believe that that Roman soldier stood as the garrison
rolled the stone in front of the door and the seal was
placed on it.
And I believe he was there three days and nights.
Just like he said.
Matter of fact, this is how he put it, as Jonah was in the
belly of the whale, three days, three nights, soul must
the son of man be in the heart of the earth.
I believe that before he ascended, he first descended.
And I love what he did while he was there.
He took the keys to death, hell, and the grave.
And he made an open spout of Lucifer before all of his
minions.
I believe he did that.
And he ain't even got back to the throne room yet.
I believe on the third day as he proclaimed, that stone
rolled away.
I believe he presented himself to the Father in that
temple in glory.
He gave himself ransom.
And I believe on that third day when they come running to
the tomb, Mary and the others, that he was standing there.
Don't touch me yet, I'm on my way.
This stopped in between.
But I'll be back in a day or two.
Oh, my Lord.
I believe for 40 days he showed himself openly.
I believe he told Peter when he said, Lord, is that you
over there?
I smell some bread and some fish fried.
It's me, come on.
Come and dine.
There's just too many loaded points in this.
How do you pass up come and dine?
Faith above all.
Your confession in believing that Christ is who he is.
Confession and faith merge together to incite the
miraculous.
Without a confession, there is no salvation.
With the mouth, confession is made.
We believe in our heart.
Confession and faith merge to work salvation.
The acceptance of the wonderful gift of Christ.
Job's confession, I know my Redeemer lives.
I know he does.
And though the skinworms may devour this old body, yet
with my own eyes, I shall see him.
For I know my Redeemer lives.
Right?
David's confession is this, the Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want.
He goes from there to the places where he leads him and
guides him beside the waters and the green pastures.
He goes on and let his faith be released in the Lord, his
shepherd, and he says he anoints my head with oil.
Now you've got to know the shepherd understanding what
anointing some oil is all about.
It's just rich.
He anoints my head with oil.
He prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies.
Even though my enemies are raging around me, I can sit
at the table.
Now is that not a confession?
Here's another one.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days
of my life.
Well, there may be a Goliath in between, a lion in
between, a bear in between, a rebellious son in between.
His own mistakes, his own sin in between.
But God's goodness and mercy followed old David all the
days of his life.
And then Jesus made that confession.
He said, when the Lord said that my Lord shall sit down
at my right hand, I'm going to sit down at his, for he will
not see my soul destroyed.
Now there's your confession.
Abraham confessed his faith in that my God shall provide
for himself.
Right?
God will provide for himself.
Son, we don't have to do anything.
We just got to obey what we've been told.
We got to do what he said.
And he said, go up there and sacrifice.
You carry your load, I'll carry my part, and we'll get there
together, and God will do his part.
Father, I love you this morning.
So grateful and thankful for you willing to do your part
this morning.
And for us, it's faith above all.
That we may enter into your rest, enter into the promise
that you've made, enter into the grace that you have provided.
The just shall live by faith.
It's faith to faith, glory to glory, grace to grace.
You need to work on your confession and your belief
this morning.
We're going to close out with prayer.
I want everyone that would just come around the altar.
If you need prayer, I want you to stand right here.
Sister Jackie, you come and make yourself ready to close out
in our prayer today.
Remember, we've got a prayer, a special prayer we're going
to close out with.
Everybody come on at wood.
Let's close out in a season of prayer.
It's faith above all.
We all need a little lift in our faith, don't we?
I do from time to time.
I need a little encouragement in my faith.
Because of all the fiery darts, anybody getting shot at lately
besides me?
Come on.
They're just flying in, aren't they?
Well, let's lift our faith up.
I had to encourage my own self the other day.
They said, where's your shield?
What have you done with your shield?
Where did I lay my faith?
I can't lay my faith and trust in God aside.
That's the one thing I need, that I can hold it up when I
can't lift up a sword.
If I forgot my helmet, I can at least duck my head under my
faith.
Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray right now over the
household of believers today.
Lord, I know the enemy.
I know how he's working.
I know how he's launching.
I know how he's sending arrows our way.
I know how he's moving.
Lord, it's not just one arrow of this, but it's a dozen arrows
of this and that.
Lord, it's coming at us from all sides, but we're surrounded
with a shield of faith, trust, trust, confidence, faith,
believing in who you are and what your word is declared over
our life, knowing that you're able to do abundantly above all
that we ask or think.
We know it's according to the power of God that works in us.
We ask God that you increase our level of faith.
Lord, I read where your disciples ask you to teach them
how to pray.
Lord, I need us to learn more about how to keep on believing,
how that we can keep on trusting and knowing that you're good
and your mercy endures forever, that your grace abounds in our
life.
Lord, watch over the household of faith this morning.
Lord, they need a touching body, soul, mind, and spirit today.
Need a little bit of healing.
Lord, need recovery.
Lord, we thank you for watching over and keeping and guiding the
hand, Lord, of the surgeons who performed last week.
But God, now we need your hand upon this body, Lord, upon this
flesh for a healing.
Lord, recovery full with strength.
Lord, full, Lord, full and robust strength, God.
Allow your grace, Lord, allow your grace.
That is all sufficient.
Lord, your abundant grace, hallelujah.
Touch and heal today, Lord.
Touch and heal, touch and deliver this morning, mighty God.
Touch and deliver today, Lord.
Lord, for everybody in here that needs a healing, for every mind
that needs peace, Lord, we're going to keep our mind on you
because your word declares, as you spoke it through your prophet
Isaiah, thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is
stayed on thee.
Lord, let us keep our mind on you.
Let's keep that helmet secure.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
And above all, we're going to keep on believing.
Every word that you said, every promise that you've made, you are
not a man like us that you should lie, and not one promise
that you've ever made has ever failed.
So if you spoke it to your people, if you spoke it to your
people, Lord, it's coming to pass.
It's going to happen.
It's going to be revealed.
It's going to be released in hearts and lives.
It's going to come to fulfillment, Lord.
Lord, I thank you for our church and this church body.
Lord, I thank you for our fellow brothers and sisters and all
who assemble here to worship you in spirit and truth.
Lord, I pray over each one, your divine grace.
Let the supernatural, your supernatural, your glory, your
divinity move into their situations, their hearts and
their minds and into their lives.
Give grace and strength, Father, in the name of Jesus, Sister
Jack.
You're going to try to come up here.
You're going to pray down there.
Here, have your hand.
Come right on up.
Remember our prayer emphasis.
Sister Jackie's prayer is going to be out in the front.
It's over family.
We need prayers for our families, amen.
It'll be out in the front.
Also, next Sunday morning from 10 to 1030, this room right back
here on my left, your right, it's going to be designated
prayer time.
I know you're going to be in Sunday school, but if you want
to slide and you want to pray for the service for just a few
minutes, maybe take some turns and come in and out.
You don't have to stand there the whole 30.
You can get in there and pray for a little bit and get on, but
from 10 to 1030, this room's going to be open.
We'll have it set up for pre-service prayer.
I'm serious.
We've got to pray, amen.
Prayer's going to open up.
It's going to build our faith that we can keep trusting God.
Listen to this and let it stir your heart and pick your copy up
and pray it this week.
Hallelujah.
Father, we come to you with hungry hearts to be instruments
of your grace and love.
In times of broken homes, blended families, abusive
relationships, and fractured marriages holding on by a thread,
we ask God for your guidance.
From your creation diary, beginning at day one through day
five, Lord, you were preparing a home for your first family.
May our homes today be that place of refuge, shelter, and
protection, and nourishment from the storms of life as you,
mighty God, hide us in the cleft of the rock.
Hallelujah.
May our families brought together by blood, whom we put
our greatest trust and confidence in, know as they run to us,
we, oh God, will run to you.
Hallelujah for you, oh God, are our greatest shield against
the attacks of the enemy.
May we live by example, and when culture changes around us,
may we know your standards, Lord, never changes.
May we not just go through the motions, nor take our families
for granted, but embrace the responsibility as parents to
live by example in our walk and our talk.
Hallelujah.
Lord, that we may lead our children into a relationship
with Jesus.
We know that parenting is a journey.
It's one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet
one of the most valuable assets in our society.
May our homes be a lighthouse shining forth a beacon of life
for our families to run home to, knowing our arms are always
open with love, forgiveness, and security as oil runs an engine.
We apply the oil of the Holy Spirit to our families and in
our homes.
Father God, go in places, Lord, that only you can go.
We ask you to heal the fragments of our hearts that are shattered
and broken that only you can see the scars.
Lord, we are all on different paths of life's journey, be it
young parents overwhelmed by everyday demands, but Lord,
Psalms 127 and forth says that children are a gift from you.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are the children of
one's youth, a responsibility meant to be raised and sent to
the world with purpose just like arrows launched by a warrior.
We pray for the grandparents stepping back into the role as
parents due to circumstances beyond their control.
Give them strength for the task, Lord.
We pray for parents of adult children making poor choices.
We pray for barren couples who long to be a family and for the
overloaded, financially unstable and unappreciated parents who
wonder where they went wrong.
We ask you, O God, be that balm of Gilead to them.
Hallelujah.
For Lord, your sources are unlimited.
And lastly, Father, we, may we be mothers of women who like the
widow of Zarephath willing to give the last of her oil or as
Hannah who gave her son back to God or as Jochabed who made
a basket of pompous wreaths for Moses, who led Israel out of
Egypt's bondage.
May we stand in the gap and not be afraid to touch the hem of
your garment.
Father, we women in this room who have stood beside men of
God, warriors of the faith, for many years who at times were
their armor bearers and encouragers, pushing them
forward to pursue their callings, many of whom have
endured unbelievable hardships.
I ask you to remind them their sacrifices have not gone
unnoticed, that you have prepared a place, our eternal
home, where no tears will ever stay in the streets of that
city. And we will finally hear as that welcome home, as family
reunions gather all over heaven, welcome home, welcome home,
welcome home.
Hallelujah.
Take you a copy of that and pray that this week.
Don't neglect the one that you took home last week.
This is about cultivating a habit of prayer.
You remember the average Christian only prays five
minutes, and if we're below average, I'm trying to increase
your average and increase your time in the presence and before
the throne of God.
And plus, do something effective for the kingdom.
So pray these prayers.
Remember, no service this Wednesday.
It's spring break.
You're going to be traveling.
Be safe.
Have a wonderful time.
Get rested and enjoy the rest of the Lord.
Amen.
God bless you.
Thank you for being here today.
If you're visiting, stop by the booth out to my left out there.
They have something special for you.
Going grace, going peace.