Counter Church Culture - Counter Culture pt 4

But I'm grateful for our church. I love I love ministry. I love what we do. I love what God has called us to do in church. I want to thank everybody who took this past week. We took some leaders to two back to back conferences. We had some of our core team members, which are mostly conferences in Charlotte, some more elders and deacons in our staff.

And so it was just a great time to to really walk out and to be encouraged about what God has called us to do, to live out the Revelation seven write the the the the just 1721 where it tells us that he has united all of his people. And yesterday we brought roughly about 50 people from our church to walk through.

Just what does it look like to really biblically look at the scriptures and say, what does a Mosaic church look like? Right. What does mosaics reflect? And as I look out here today, I look at every tribe, every tongue, every nation. And that's what we desire to do. We live. We desire to become one church. And what you guys represent is more than what God has called us to do, but it's what this world needs.

And so I thank you guys for partnering with this crazy journey that we're on. And I'm excited you. I'm super, super excited. And this is just the beginning. And so type of shoes, put your belt on and let's enjoy the ride. A man, a man, Let's listen. Let's just go with the laws For our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth.

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us of our deaths. Forgive those who trespass against us and forgive us temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever. I lost my thought there for a minute. I looked at my wife and she threw me off my game for that.

Quick of a second, I tell you. Oh yes, but phrase got guys, that's the motto. Prayer, right? For what? Jesus has asked us to pray. Right? The past couple of weeks we've been in a journey, a series that was called Counter Culture and what we decided to do in this series is begin to address the things that we know what the church is calling, right?

The world is saying is wrong and what the world is calling right. The church, we are saying it's wrong. So it's counterculture to all that we do and all that we know. And so the first week that we taught, we talked in a sermon series about about tithing, right? Yes, we talked about giving. And in that what we what we begin to see that how God began to the God of all creation, God of all Earth, who created the heavens and the earth.

And he carried all the he gave us a commandment. This is not the great commandment, but the commandment said, you know, for all of creation gave us that. He asked is that he loves a cheerful giver. Now begin asking someone, Why does a guy who created everything commands us and encouraging us to give back to him? Right then I begin to realize that he is giving us 100% of everything that we have.

And so we go Old Testament because there's a New Testament scholars in this room. Ma'am, I have to have a theological debate with them later on because they know that ties is not a New Testament. Amen. Let's see. Those 8 minutes are the people that will have a conversation with. And we know that, right? We know that there's no tie.

The New Testament. I get that. But Scripture does tell us in the New Testament that we should give generously. Right. And so we know that tithing isn't giving is actually returning to what is already God's. And that's what we talked about week one. And we believe this. It's beyond our ability to give God's possibilities. And once you begin to hold it to that, you begin to really realize that you can't out give God like God's math trumps Common Core, trumps North Carolina math and all of that.

It trumps everything. We know that God's measure means more than anything else. And then we two, we talked about sex. Amen. Yes. Kind of get a hallelujah for those Mary people. Yes. Amen. So second week, we talked about sex in the right placement of sex. And so, yes, we we are at this church. We talk about everything, you know, because we believe that there's no untouchable topic for the church.

Right. And so we talked about sex and we talked about how sex is an act of worship. Everything we do is an act of worship. So if you need a refrain, reprogram your mind. Everything that you put your hands to, where you're going, that is an act of worship. It should be. And so we we talked about stop choosing a momentary pleasure over God's eternal blessings, right?

Don't forfeit. Then I brought and did a little quick illustration. I had like seven male and females up here. We talked about how, you know, you begin to sleep with multiple people and you create so ties and what that does for yourself. And once you get to a place where you want to get married and you take all of those different experiences, physical and nonphysical, the things that you read, the things that you see, you take those experiences into the relationship that you become and make a covenant with.

And that's messy some time. And to be honest, you know, I need to go back and we need to have a sermon series just on relationships, because that one day sermon topic really did hit everything that we need to hear. So in a future we will go back and have a sermon series about relationships and what God wants us to do.

And in that we talked about stop trying to find the one and seek the one. Right. Many of us are going around for you if you're single. I get it. And maybe you're trying to go out and find out one your next move, your next, you know, baby mama, baby, daddy, where you want to call them, whatever that may be.

You're trying to find that one, but stop trying to find that one and seek the one. If we truly seek our create our Lord and Savior, that God would do everything else and put things in place. And pastor Centers did an amazing job last week talking about dealing with difficult people. Boy, he was cutting last week. Pastor since he's talked about that conflict is not always a sign that something is wrong.

Right. Because a lot of times when we embrace or we come across conflict, we think that there's something wrong, that there's something wrong with me, more or less there's something wrong with the next person. But maybe, just maybe, God is trying to develop something in you within that conflict. And God does not always make the details of His plans clear.

So dealing with difficult people is there to help you to grow. And so today, just for the sake of our time, maybe X Chapter 19, verses one through five, we'll be lifting up chapter 19 verses one through five, and I'll be reading out of the new King James version. If you have it, say amen. If not, say, hold up.

All right. Axes in the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. And then you skip on over to the Book of Acts. It's the fifth book of the New Testament. It's Chapter 19, verses one three, five. And it happened while Apollos was at Corinth that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus in finding some disciples. He said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

So they said to him, We have not so much as heard whether there is even a Holy Spirit come on now. And he said to them, into what then? Were you baptized? So they said, and to John's baptism. Then Paul said to John, indeed baptized with that, with baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe unto him, who would come after him, that is on Christ Jesus alone.

When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So for my message title today it is counter church culture. Counter church culture. As I was looking at our services and I had to kind of go back. So let me just just let me just throw a twist in this. So we've been talking about a lot of things.

That's counter culture. But how many know that there are some things this counter church culture, Y'all know what I'm talking about. And so today I might make you all mad, might make you happy, I might make a whole bunch of things. But either way, we're going to talk about it. So today, you know, we're going to hit some of the three main counselor church culture topics.

First one all time favorite speaking in. Mm come on running and a Honda Father. Forgive me I'm not in Right. Speaking in tongues is one of the most counter church cultures topics that we have today. The next one is healing. It's quiet, it's okay. And the third one is Deliverance. And now I'm gonna give you a precursor. This is just going to be a quick slingshot.

Just so just as an overview, because there's no way that I can really dive into what God really has force for even these three topics. I'm just going to hit it real quick and we will move on, but we're going to come back later on in our year to really go deeper into speaking in tongues and healing, deliverance and things like that.

So let me just give you a backdrop of what's taking place in chapter 19, next, Chapter 19, The Apostle Paul meets a few Christians in Ephesus. Paul just left Corinth. If you know anything about Corinth, Corinth is a work all by itself. It doesn't give Vegas. It'll give Vegas a run for his money. Paul was dealing with all sorts and top of issues with the churches there.

He started a career. So Paul leaves Corinth, makes a journey to Ephesus, and he runs into a few disciples. While he's in Ephesus, he runs into these disciples. And so, no, just by the name of disciples, we know that they're some regular churchgoers, right? They are some tithing members. These are some churchgoing tithing worshipers. So we have some churchgoing tithing worshipers who read the scriptures.

So we have some churchgoing, tithing, worshiping, reading people, scriptures who give generously. So case in point, Paul meets Christians. He comes in contact with disciples and he ask him one question Have you received the Holy Spirit? He asks him, Do you know what the Holy Spirit is? He's asking them, Have you been filled with the Holy Spirit? So if you go back and look at the Scripture, we see that it's possible that you can be a Christian and not even know the Holy Spirit's there.

Because these 12 disciples are in a conversation with Paul and they're like, What is the Holy Spirit? So it's possible that you can come to church every week and every Wednesday and go to conferences and fly around and speak and not know the Holy Spirit. We have believers, Christian believers, who don't understand who the Holy Spirit is, and there's something wrong with that.

See what makes Paul and what makes Paul notice that these 12 disciples don't have the Holy Spirit right. I'm asking myself, as I'm reading a script, as now I'm looking at the Scripture in chapter 19. I'm asking myself, How in the world what makes Paul stop? What made them look so different from everybody else? He locked eyes with these 12 people, men or women, and he asks them, Have you been have you encountered this Holy Spirit?

And we have to understand that the Holy Spirit is the agent sent to accomplish the work here on this earth right? The Holy Spirit, the agent, the conduit, the person that God has sent to accomplish his work here on Earth through us. See, the problem is that for many of us, we believe that we come to understand what the Holy Spirit is, is what you have experience at other churches or even, you know, what may even have experience here at one church.

So many of these me may say that the Holy Spirit is a great worship experience. Many people may say that the Holy Spirit may be people speaking in tongues. People may even see that say that the Holy Spirit is somebody running around the altar. Right? So we think that the Holy Spirit only comes in one way. I remember growing up going to a prayer line in a Baptist church, Pentecostal passages up to you get the wall, lays hands on your forehead.

And this is leaning in part right here. The I know what I'm talking about right? AM like I'm not going down. He got his hands on my head and I'm like, No, I'm not doing it. I'm no, no, I'm not going to do it. Yeah. Laughing because I've been there before. Like, look, brother, if the anointing is there, I'm well, I'm a go, but don't try to lay hands on me and push me down in Jesus name.

Right. Because I'm a lay hands on you in a different way, in the name of Jesus. Right. I see. Some of us believe that when we talk about the Holy Spirit or the move of the Holy Spirit, we think about those Pentecostal churches where they have services for hours, right? I was like, You got to pack a lunch and they just keep going.

Busy is always the extreme. On one side, we have the Pentecostals in the Kojic in Apostolic preachers over here, right? And then the other side we have, you know, the Baptists, the Episcopal, the Methodist, the Lutherans, you know, those even Catholics where they, you know, the the frozen shows and the Presbyterian. Right. So one side is one extreme way over here, but then the other side is another extreme.

How about we can we just have a good middle like can we just can we just land in the middle somewhere in the middle where you find most of your friends, the full gospel people, right? They're not two Pentecostal, they're not two Baptists. It's a full expression. So what God wants us to do to begin to see are experiencing the full movement of the Holy Spirit, Truth of matter is that we can't talk about or even teach about the Holy Spirit without pulling up acts.

Chapter one verse, the chapter one verse. He would tell us that, you know, we read here in the second that let me just read in chapter one, verse 17 eight, It is that for you to know the times or the seasons which the father has put in his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth, it says that the once you shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

Back in the day I grew up old school. We didn't say was a Holy Spirit. We said it was the Holy Yes, the Holy Ghost is back in the day, the Apostle Paul asked the 12 disciples if they receive the Holy Spirit. We have to come to a full understanding that the Holy Spirit allows us to be the representatives of the Kingdom.

So let me just see the progression of what the Holy Spirit is, because we don't begin to see the full expression of the Holy Spirit. So let me just walk you through really quick acts. Chapter one two, and then we'll dive into chapter three to fully understand what the Holy Spirit is. We have to go back and see Chapter one.

We see that the promises of the Holy Spirit, that's where the Holy Spirit was promised in Acts Chapter one. We also see the purpose of the Holy Spirit, where we are to call to be bare witnesses of the Holy Spirit. So next chapter, when we see the promises and the purpose being revealed to us and next, chapter one.

So if we move to chapter two, we begin to see that it's the presence of the Pentecost, the Holy Spirit being revealed right? It's in the presence of Acts Chapter two, where the presence of the Holy Spirit falls and into the space. Peter begin to proclaim and preach to thousands and thousands are saved. So we see the promise, the purpose, the presence or is preached.

You see the promise of the Holy Spirit to come next. Chapter one, which is used for a purpose where we see the presence of the Holy Spirit being revealed, where it just fell into the body of believers, and they begin to speak in unknown tongues and people begin to hear their language. Then thereafter there we begin to hear the preaching of Peter, but we don't see the power of the Holy Spirit until we get into Acts.

Chapter three. So we went from the promises and the presence. In the next Chapter three, we see the evidence, the power of the Holy Spirit acts. Chapter three says this first ten. Let me just start from verse one X, Chapter three, verses one through ten. Now, Peter, John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour in a sermon laying from his mother's womb.

Let me just stop right there. Scripture says that this young man was laying from his mother's womb. That means that he was laying from birth. So now he's an adult. He is off his parents insurance plan. Can I get a man? I got to reach out and get them jokers off right now, this young man has been laying in on their parents insurance plan since birth and the mother's there and says that he was carried when he was laid daily at the gate of Temple, which is called beautiful, to ask for alms for those who enter the temple.

Let me just put that in just layman's terms. This young man was picked up and and delivered to the gate called Beautiful. Every single day. And why is he at the gate called Beautiful? There's plenty other gates that they could have dropped them off. And if you were to look at the temple and it's designed by itself, the gate called Beautiful was the entrance.

Is that most that all that Christians went into to get into the place of the holy of holies. And so let me just let me just break it down to 22 for you, is if we had a layman come to our church and he was put out in front, all these Christians were walking by him and didn't take notice of.

No. How many times that you walk past somebody and don't you begin to take notice of them and we'll go back and Dallin and just a little bit more, it says, When we seen Peter and John about to go into the temple and ask for alms, he began to fix his eyes on him with John. And Peter said, Look at us when he's asking for alms.

You know, that is right. It's that guy. When you're one stop that the rest up light and they're holding a sign and they ask, Can I just get a dollar? Can a brother get some change in a 21st century? People they like? Can you can you Venmo me some money? Can you cash that me some money? Like how can you get cash out but you can't get a job?

But in this context, we begin to see this individual here. He needs to be healed. He was with this disease or this infirmity, this this posture where he was not able to walk since birth. So he needs a healing from somebody. So he looks at John and Peter and he says, look at us. So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

He looked at John and Peter expecting to get something from them, and they didn't he did not get what he was expected. He got something so much more. We worship a God who's able to heal the sick. Just recently, about a month ago, I got a call from one of our members. She's older and she's actually here today and is Becky's here and so glad that she's here and is Becky has an amazing testimony where the doctor said there's something that's on your heart and we just miss Becky.

You want to tell your testimony, I can bring you to microphone again. All right. So this is Miss Becky. If you don't know her, let her tell her story because she can tell it better than I can. Okay. And this Becky can have a okay. I want you all to know that I'm very thankful for all of you and I love you.

And when Pastor Ron was talking about the Holy Spirit, I have never been to a church that I have felt the Holy Spirit like I have felt in this one one church. When I come. So I want you to know that I just I'm blessed. I'm blessed to be here today. In December, I had my physical and my doctor found a heart murmur and she said she didn't know what it was, but she was just sending me to a heart doctor and precaution.

And I said, Well, you know, at my age I'm not having surgery and I will be 90 my next birthday. I think I wait. My daughter took me to the heart doctor, and he did an EKG and he was concerned about I have shortness of breath and no energy. And so he had his nurse. He wanted stars to walk me around the office.

My oxygen was 94 or pulse. I don't I don't know which it was. Now I'm really confused. But anyway, I think it was oxygen and he wanted to know or just see if it would drop when I walked around. Well, the nurse could not keep up with me and and when I got back, it was the same as it was when I left 94.

So he wanted me to have an echo gram. Well, we went to have an echo gram, and a little technician found something. He didn't know what it was. Well, you know, as many Echo Gram says he's had, he should have known what it was, but he didn't. So he got his supervisor and the doctor in there and they did not know what it was.

They were going to confer with other doctors and so we went home and the heart doctor called my daughter and told her that I had a fast growing tumor around my heart, that he wanted to schedule open heart surgery. After I said, I'm not having it, he said, I want you to have a MRI just in case I can see more detail.

So we went and I had an MRI. Jack, I don't know if she's here, I haven't seen her yet, but she gave me a prayer pocket square and I took that with me to MRI and of course, passed around. And one day to call that day I had a beautiful prayer. I did not ask for healing. I just asked that that you would pray for me, that I would make the right decision whether to have open heart surgery.

That's what I was fighting. I had the MRI and it took our 30 minutes and it did not bother me. It was no problem. What? I heard all these sad tales and how bad it was. I didn't have any trouble at all. I know God was with me and prayers. I came out of him. Ah, the doctor did not call us for probably three days and he said the tumor is gone.

That's all he said about what I know. I know that. I know that. God help me. I know it was dire. They saw it. I saw something and I was healed. And I know that God is in control of my life and he's with me every day and I just praise the Lord. I still have the sticking veil in my heart, but they are just amazed that I and I wish I had the strength for it.

But the doctors are so amazed how healthy I am. My blood pressure all my blood work is perfect. So thank you, Jesus. Yeah. And we have a great church and pastor and Felicia, too. I love you. All right. To the other Mike. There we go. Amen. So, guys, look, I don't know if you guys read between the lines right?

She went to the doctor, and the doctor said there is a mass on your heart. She went back to the doctor. She did another scan. And the doctors are saying, where is this mass? Okay, let me replay that one more time. She went to the doctor one day and the doctor said that she has a mass on her heart.

She prayed. We prayed as a church and she went back to the doctor again. And the doctor said, where is the mass?

See, some of you may not be clapping because it's not you. You're not rejoicing because it's not you, but it's going to come appeared in point a time in your life with your walk with God, or if you not walk with God, where are you going? To call out his name like God have mercy on me. Like God, I need mercy on you because God, you are my Jehovah, our guide.

You are my healer, you are my Redeemer. At some point in your life, you have to begin to call out Jesus name and say, Jesus, heal me. Come on now. Church, I don't care how old you are. You can be two years old or 90 years old. Sickness and health will always come at you. Yes, You will call on the name of Jesus at some point in your life.

And I just pray that at the age of 89, that I can have the faith of making Miss Becky say, Jesus is my Lord and savior. That's right. I know if I go, I'm good. If I stay, I'm good. So it doesn't matter. I want that to be your testimony. Like Jesus, if I go, I'm good. But if I say I'm good.

Oh, yes. I see. By the look of some of your faces, this is counter church culture. Because you don't believe in the healing power of Jesus Christ. If you can believe in Jesus Christ, that He can save you, you either you will believe all of this or none at some point in your walk with God. Big G. I'm not talking about liturgy.

My God is a big heap. You wrap it all the sets, He be slain, all the demons, the God that we serve at 2800 Westchester Drive, one church in High Point, North Carolina, is the God of all gods, the God of all creation. Where his son died and rose. And he's coming back. I need you to know that we believe in the authority of this entire word where he says that by his strife, I hill the strives that Felicia talked about, where he hung in a cross, where he died and he bled.

We are healed by his stripes and his stripes alone. Yes.

He sees counter-culture for those who don't believe in the church. Yeah. Come on, guys. You have to begin to believe. Yes. That the king who said who set us free. We are free indeed.

Paul writes about the gifting in the Scriptures. He says that there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. There are differences in ministry, meaning that they have different cause in appointments of that God has called them to do. But the same Lord. There are diversities of activities, but is only the same guy who works. All in all, in all, but the manifestation of the spirit is give it to each one for the profit of every one.

Not just one. And everybody follows everyone. If you're white, if you're black, if you're Latino, if you're a man, if you're big, your small skin, whatever the case may be, is for everyone. There's no discrimination by blood. It says, for one is given the word of wisdom through spirit to the another. One is the word of knowledge, to the same spirit to another.

Faith is given by the spirit, and another one is healings by the same spirit. So the same spirit that gave me knowledge and faith, it gives me healing. So you can have the understanding that only gives you one and not all of them. It's not an either or God we serve regardless, both and and some more. It says to another prophecy, to another, discerning a spirit.

So let me park right there for one second. The spirit of discernment of spirit. That means that you are acutely aware what's going on in somebody else's life. The good and the bad. So if you discern a spirit of somebody, that means we've got to deal with the right. So if we're going to if we serve a God that deals with healing, then we serve with God that deals with deliverance as well.

We that is counter church culture. See, a lot of churches is they just preach and teach about, well, you know, let me just give God the the the you know, the nice package. God, no, we don't know. We got a guy who's just a righteous as well. He'll sit you down here, rise you up. But you have to begin to understand for which a quote Ephesians six that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against what And what else?

Power is against rulers. Of what? Of darkness. Let me just stop right there. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. So this fight that we're in, this Christian fight that we're in Gaza, spiritual, that means we have to fight the same battle that they're fighting us with. As you get up to go and be air box the enemy and you're not going to be hitting him.

He has to begin to fight the enemy with spiritual things. And it's the word of God. It's the blood of Christ.

So if we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and rulers of darkness and against spiritual house of wickedness in heavenly places, or of course, high places, God's word was Satan. Initially, he was in heaven, Right? And what happened to him? He fell so foolish. Now we're having this theological debate. So Lucifer was what? He was an angel.

He's a worship leader. Right? So he's an angel that was in heaven. And he's fallen word to an angel that was in heaven, that has all the knowledge in heavily places. He takes that knowledge and places where he walks with that knowledge here on Earth.

So a fallen angel is on earth. And we begin to believe this. We're fighting an angel that has fallen. Think about it. There's some theology there right? If that if Satan was an angel who had fallen, he's a fallen angel. So we're fighting a principality that was in high places that's now here on this earth. And his soul purpose is to take you out.

Right. And we're my gladiators that. Come on now. I got me. I got a couple of one church gladiators. Got even more church gladiators over here.

So let me let me just begin to We opened up with what Prayer The Lord's Prayer right. So we open up with the Lord's Prayer. And there's one of the prayers that we kind of what it says that we should be delivered from. Let's put this all together. We motto The Lord's Prayer all the time, and we say it.

We say, God deliver us from evil. But do you believe then. Do you truly want that deliverance from evil? Yeah. Do you know what that looks like? Yeah. It's not pretty. It's messy. It's ugly.

And you have to begin to believe that. Look, if you are a believer that you can be oppressed by certain spirits, you can be possessed by those spirits, but you can be oppressed by those spirits. There's a difference. Possession means that they are in you. They're. They're controlling you. That is possession. Let me just let me back that up with some scripture real quick, because y'all looking at me like I'm like, I don't know what I'm talking about.

First John, chapter four, verse four says this You are of God, little children and have overcome them because he who was in you is greater than he who's in the world first. John four and four says that he that is in you is greater than he the fallen angel is in the world. And so you guys have power and authority to overcome the enemy.

It's because he Jehovah Jara he Jehovah Nehisi he Jehovah Shiloh, the God of peace is greater than anything that's in this world.

Guys, we have to walk with that authority. You have to walk with that authority. First, John five and he says this. We know that whoever is born of God does not sin, but he who has been born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him. Simply put, if you are if you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, he can't touch you.

He can oppress you. I mean, he can have he can make some things difficult for you. But it's okay, because I know that this momentary affliction does not compare to the promises that I have.

I need you to put your big boy's pants on If you're going to fight for your life right now, it's okay. It's okay. Because the eternity that we have with Jesus Christ is in dim comparison and so what you in a fight? If you're in a fight, that means you can handle it because he has seen you is greater than us.

In a world where this is counter church culture. Like we don't talk about the oppression that we get as believers, the anxiety that sometimes the enemy may put on you. I get it. But church, we are over comers because we are walking in a season of our church that you got to get ready. And for those of you who are in our welcoming or allowing a gateway for the oppressor to beseech you, I'm giving you notice right now.

Cut it off. Cut everything off. We have to stop compromising our witness and close the doors to the enemy. Stop. What you watching? Stop what? You're listening to. And change the tide. Change the narrative because you are what you eat. What you put in is what you're going to put out. Now you need to repent, renounce and resolve.

You need to repent. Which means change your mind. Change your habits. What you're doing right now, it means you need to turn away and resolve means that you need to walk in obedience.

Church You have the opportunity to put on Christ.

It's like play football without no pads on, right? I mean, my brother, I mean, we used to play in the grass all day long. We, you know, grown up in the hood, you know, projection of what you used to do. You go in the back yard somewhere, you throw the football, you make a touchdown, you know, you tag, touch, tackle, you put no pads of growing up.

What God is saying this if you make me your king and your Lord, I'ma give you a uniform called the Armor of God and where you can begin to walk away, slay demons.

So as our worship team, get ready, is counter church culture. To believe that we don't believe in healing is counter church coach. I even talk about speaking in tongues. That's a whole nother to take care of a leader, guys tongues is is sure is your communication to God your personal relationship, your personal. Let me just put this in a biblical perspective.

If you speak in tongues at this church or any other church publicly. Scripture says that you have to have someone there to interpret to be in order, right. And someone let you know. Right now, if you speak in tongues publicly at this church and you're not in order, I'm politely correct. You in Jesus name, I love you. Right?

Because we want to make sure that we do things in decent and in order because we embrace your heavily language. But it has to be placed in its proper position and it's proper practice. Like if you're publicly speaking a tongue, is this great? If you had that prayer language, you know, the Bible says that we we encourage that everybody would speak in tongues, but that interpreters out there doesn't proffer them in that he said, I would not even have you to speak in tongues, but I love and actually have to three the latter part of the scripture.

This is what he says. Verse seven Peter said that Silver, gold I do not have, but what I do have, I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. He takes him by the hand. He lifts up this lame mare who's been lame since, and immediately his feet, his ankle, his bones begin to receive strength.

Not only is he walking, he is leaping and jumping for joy. And he does this in all the people of the town saw this man walking, sitting at the gate called Beautiful people saw this young man, middle aged man get healed. They saw the result where he encountered the vessels of the apostles, meaning that the palace was able to heal him in the name of Jesus.

I'll make this one caveat I believe in healing 100%. I believe in the gifting of the tongues 100%. I believe in casting out demons 100%. But you know those oppressive spirits that you may walk with because you may be walk with oppressive spears. You may not even know that Scripture says that some things come by, by prayer, fasting, that I mean, sometimes when you're trying to cast out or release, remove that oppressive spirit.

It may not happen just by us laying hens and praying and speaking in tongues. It may only happen by you consecrating your body, your flesh. It may not be quick. It may not be a one day or two day, maybe a 40 day fast. It may be a three month fast. But what are you willing to do to fall on your face before God and say, Got us into all that I am this lame in met Peter and now he's a witness of what the Holy Spirit has done because they didn't read enough to see the power of the Holy Spirit to act.

Chapter three The Gifting of the Holy Spirit Fulfilled in Chapter two. The proclamation was Chapter one. So you have the gifting in a proclamation, but the power of the Holy Spirit wasn't received until the third chapter. Guys, we have weapons of mass destruction at our hand. You have weapons of mass destruction in your hands. Get connected to a church.

If there's not one church, you're connected to a Bible teaching church that will walk with you, sit down with you and do life with you. We will cry with you. We some pizza and chitlins hallmark and fried. What don't you chitlins anymore? But all that good stuff, some papoose ass and you know, all of those tacos, all that good stuff, you know, whatever you want.

The point is this do life with the church. If you don't, you're missing out so much. A church was standing a gap for you in so many ways that you won't even begin to realize. So church we're going to close out with a song is called Your Way. One of my favorite songs, because I wanted you guys to understand what we can do, we'll begin to profess the names of God.

Yahweh means Lord Adonai means Master Raffa is the Lord who hills Elohim is God. Elisha Die is the Lord God Almighty. We have something for everyone, the God of Abraham, Jacob And Isaac is the only true God that will rise again and says, We sing this song. I don't know where you're at with your relationship with God today, but let's get right if you need to come to the altar and just lay down to God, forgive me of all my sins.

If you need to make a rededication to your your walk, your relationship with God, you can do that, you see. But if you want to come to the altar, we have our deacons and our elders. I see this with you that can pray with you. We want to walk and do life with you. But if you're not right with God right now, as we sing this song, just cry out to him, To God, I'm here.

I surrender all that I am. God, I give you my life. God, I believe that you are the Son of God, that you died and you rose. And you're coming back to redeem your people, your children, The guided You was born of a Virgin Mary, where you sit your only begotten son for my sins to redeem me. The mess that I am to redeem me so that I can have a rival relationship with you.

Because I know that I'm all sin. And because you are a holy God and a righteous guy that you don't want nothing of my sin but God. You said an ambassador to reclaim who you are, who I am, and that's only in the mighty name of Jesus. So my prayer is that you know who Jesus is in your life.

And if you don't, two of our elders are sitting at the door right now. They would love to talk with you and pray with you. Church You got to get ready because we are closer to the end of times now than we've ever been before. And it's time this time out to stop playing church by desires that you guys were walking through life with the community of believers that will love you and that will challenge you in such a way that you reflect who Jesus Christ is in your life.