Amen. Yes, that's right. That's right. Someone came up to me today and I thought they were my friend until they showed up with a powder blue t-shirt. No.
Hey, listen, I know it gets real serious, especially those traitors. I mean, raiders, but it's all right. They're not in California anymore. It's okay.
You can divorce them. Amen. No, I'm just kidding. We just love to have some wonderful support.
Hey, listen, we have a softball team, and yesterday was their first game, and they won. We're so proud of them. So blessed for all that God's doing here at Elevate Life Church, and we're so thankful. We have our men's Bible study on Tuesday, and pretty soon I'll be heading that up soon as I love to teach the Word and want to get with the men and get some things going. I want to encourage you to get your embrace registration as we are only six weeks away.
And you don't want to miss out on that. We're already, I believe, halfway filled. And we want to fill it all the way up. I want to encourage you to get your friends, your loved ones, your relatives, your cousins, your aunts, your nino, your ninas, and get them all there.
Amen. And if you are able to sponsor someone, that would be great. We're so blessed by that so that we can get everyone here as much as possible.
And if you're ever in a financial situation, and always remember that it's not Rob Peter to pay Paul. Can I say it like that? It's like I'm not going to give because I'm going to go get a ticket. That doesn't work.
Amen. Look at your neighbor and say, it doesn't work like that. Amen.
I see it got quiet when I said that. We're like, they caught me. Dang it. Amen.
But we're going to be blessed by that. Hey, I'm so blessed that you are here. We're going to pray.
pray right before we get into the word and we want to pray for our firefighters that are fighting this big fire up in San Bernardino. It's not quite close to our house, but it is getting very, very smoky at our house. Got up this morning.
all over my car. Our brother Clarence who plays the other keyboards not here today he's on an evacuation watch because he's much closer he does live up in the Highland area and and so we are praying for them and and we're going to believe God that everything's going to be safe. We're going to pray for the firemen, for the firefighters, for the people that live in that area as well as the animals in that area and that God's protection is upon all of them. and let's do that now.
Father, we just thank you in the name of Jesus. We ask, Father, that you would do a mighty work and let's put a stop to this fire, and Lord, I ask that you put a hedge of protection around every... A firefighter that's up the first responders, God, that your hand be with them. Oh, it's so hot out there, God, that you keep them cool. We come against any type of dehydration or heat exhaustion.
And Lord, that you just bring a wind from the east and a rain that would come and help extinguish this fire. We pray for those that are living around the area, God. I ask, Lord, that your hand be with them. hand be upon them and be with them, God, protecting the house, that those that are supposed to evacuate will evacuate so that it doesn't put our firefighters in harm's way. And Father, we lift up all the...
livestock, animals that live up there. Father, that you protect them as well. We give you praise, honor, and glory in Jesus'name. Amen.
And Lord, protect my favorite pizza place that's up there too. Amen. Heather and I used to drive up there and get pizza up there. Amen. Well, listen, let's get right into the Word.
Thank you, Leon. I want to share with you something tonight that I believe is going to help you. It's going to feel a little heavy, but it's really going to help you. to help you how many know sometimes some things are supposed to be said because i love you enough to tell you the truth amen and and sometimes we just need to hear truth sometimes truth doesn't always sound good and fluffy and tickle our ears, but you know, you didn't come here for a massage. I believe you came for a message.
Amen. And God wants to give us some direction so that we can enjoy and serve him and have victory in our life. Amen. Hey, before I go any further, if you're a first time guest, we'd like us to acknowledge you. Would you just lift your hand so we can say hello to you?
Anyone in this place? Amen. I have a couple over here. I have a couple over here.
Amen. A couple over here. Amen.
Thank you so much for coming. Amen. I'll try and behave. Amen. But I don't.
make any promises amen because we love to have a good time but we also love to get the word of God inside of us um so uh let's let's open up our bible to Philippians chapter one as we're gonna begin uh it'd be good time to grab a new notebook get things ready because we have finished the book of Ephesians and now we are going into the book of Galatians as we learn line upon line through the word of God The scripture says in Isaiah that the word is to be taught line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little. And so we're going to go through the whole book of Philippians. And so as an introduction, what's going on in the book of Philippians and why Paul wrote the book of Philippians or the letter to the Philippians. There's a church that Paul established in Philippi and it was in a Roman city, a Roman region.
And so Paul, the apostle, came into that region and he established a church. A bunch of people got saved. Church started growing. Things started happening.
And it was very interesting because one of the things that Paul saw was happening and what was going on during that time, that it became a not just a region, it became a type of a Roman establishment, like a Roman. culture, Roman colony, that's the word I'm looking for, it's a Roman colony. And so a lot of the, even the Jews were able to become a type of Roman citizens at that time. But during this time in Philippi, it was also beautiful.
It's kind of a place where all the wealthy would go retire. They would go and take vacations there. It was very, very beautiful.
But the culture of the Romans during that time, was they were really into kind of this success and accomplishments, but they sure loved to show it off. They were really into social status and social, you know, financial status. They loved honor and respect. They'd even wear their medals outwardly so they could prove who they were because they wanted respect and they loved when... People would look up to them, and they loved position and titles, and they were really into this stuff.
I mean, everybody would dress a certain way just to out. It was kind of like the Roman Joneses, you know, like they got to keep up with the Joneses. If you had a nice car, I'm going to get a nice car.
If you had that medal, I'm going to do something and get a medal too. And they were just like competing against each other all the time, and that's the way the culture was. So Paul comes, and he establishes a church there, and God's moving. Theophilus comes and talks to Paul and he begins to excuse me, Aphrodite comes to Paul. Well, before I go there Paul, after he established and started talking about Jesus too much to them, they didn't like it so they ended up throwing him in prison.
Now Paul's been in prison for quite some time and Aphrodite shows up to Paul, brings him an offering from the church comes to bless him, take care of him. We'll talk about that later. He says, man, Paul, he's telling them it's good things that are happening.
The church is growing. The people are growing. Things are happening. It's wonderful. And however, there is some bad news.
And he says some of them had still not dealt with their pride and their personal pursuits or status and prestige. And rather than building each other up, they're actually building each other up. Their pride is driving them apart.
And what happened is the culture of the world at that time, that respect and honor and, you know, look at me and titles and all that, it started kind of getting into the church. And next thing you know, the Philippian Christians started doing the same thing in the church. You know, well, I'm the leader of this and I'm over this and I've been saved this many years and I give this in the church.
And all of a sudden they started finding out that this elitism and titles and positions. And. Next thing you know, the church itself began to divide.
So Aphrodite is telling Paul, he said, listen, this is happening now in the church. It came from outside. Now it's in the church. Sound familiar?
Hello. And so all of a sudden, it's all about my position, my title, my seat. Don't want anyone sitting in my chair.
You know, all of a sudden, it's all about my position. And no longer what... God had called us to, which is to serve one another. It's about my position, my title, and my place. And there were even teachers at the time that were promoting this.
And so Paul's having to deal with this, and so he writes this letter. to the Philippians and when he writes the letter he doesn't rebuke them it's not a letter of correction Because he's trying to come from a different angle. And what he's going to do, he's going to encourage them. He's going to kind of tell them not to do what they're doing indirectly.
Instead of like I always tell people, you know, don't tell someone what they're doing wrong. Tell them what to do right. And pray that they figure it out.
Amen? That you don't always have to point at people's wrongs. Sometimes just point at what's right. And they'll figure that out. And let God raise them to that place.
And so now Paul shows up and it starts in Philippians chapter one, verse one. He says, Paul and Timothy, Timothy is a young pastor, and he starts off with these words, bond servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are on Philippi with the bishops and deacons. It's interesting that Paul starts his letter with bond servants, Paul and Timothy bond servants. Many other letters, Paul will start the epistle with.
Paul an apostle or Paul called to be an apostle because back in the day some churches he had to kind of prove to them that he was an apostle but he comes to the Philippians and he doesn't call himself apostle he doesn't say called to be an apostle by the Lord by the will of God he simply says Paul and Timothy bond servants of Jesus Christ and he's trying to not use his title at that time because this church is getting into titles and he starts the letter with bond servant to remind the church that the kingdom of God is not about being it is not about titles but about being a true servant of God a bond servant what is a bond servant maybe not a word we use today but a bond servant means one who is subservient and entirely disposed of to his master. Back in the days a bond servant in the Old Testament was different than a slave or just a servant. Back in the Old Testament they would actually have a slaves, they would have servants, and so they would purchase them, they would have to work for them because they owed them money, there was debts that had to be paid, things like that, but there was always an opportunity for that slave.
or servant to be released and God made it a law that once that servant serves for six years, you're to let them go, to remind them that they were slaves in Egypt and God set them free. And you're to set them free after six years. However, after six years, once they're set free, that slave or that servant, because he loves the master, because he wants to be be there.
You might think, why would he want to be there? Because listen, back in those days, if you were a slave or a servant, the master was responsible to take care of you. You didn't have to worry about your food. You didn't have to worry about what you were going to eat, what you were going to drink, what you were going to put on for your master to care of all those things for you. Sound familiar?
Amen. Jesus said, don't worry about what you're going to eat, what you're going to drink. going to drink or what you're going to put on for your heavenly father will take care of you amen and so this so you could see why they would want to stay because they he provided a place for them to live he even sometimes they would even choose a wife for them they even got a wife from their master hallelujah amen And so, just like God provided us a groom, Jesus, amen. And so, there was this culture that took place. And so, if the servant decided he wants to stay, He doesn't want to leave.
He wants to live there. He wants to continue working. It was a it was a commitment for life. And then what the master would do is he would take that servant.
He would bring him to the door of the house, the wooden door of the house. And it would take an owl is what they call it or some kind of peg. And they would pierce the right earlobe of the servant. And it actually gave him prestige, like position. It actually made him where people didn't look down at him but honored him.
That this man is going to serve his master the rest of his life. It was a place of honor to them. And so now once they put the piercing through his ear and into the wood, it signified that this was not a place of honor. not a slave.
This was not just a servant, this was a bondservant. By choice, they're serving their master. And so Paul is saying, Paul, I'm a bondservant to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not forced to serve God. I'm not forced to live for Him.
I'm not forced to honor Him. I do it by choice. And it's a choice that I'm going to do for life. I'm a bondservant.
Much more respectful because I serve him because he is my master and my lord and I'm a bondservant to him. I choose to serve him and we think about why why the piercing of the ear. Many of those things in the old in the old testament were types and shadows of of of Jesus.
Why the piercing? The piercing is to remind us that Jesus was pierced for us. Amen. And why did they put him to the door and put him up against wood?
Because Jesus laid his life on a cross made of wood. And why did they pierce his right earlobe? Well, because back then when a priest was to be consecrated to the Lord, they would kill an animal, take the blood, and put it on his earlobe.
And if a leper was going to be healed or was going to be delivered, the priest would kill the animal. take the blood and put it on the earlobes, signifying they're clean. And so that's why there is a piercing, there is a door, and there is ears. And we look at this, and it's a picture of our life in Christ Jesus. And then they would put blood on the hands.
It says that he would apply the blood to the ear. The thumbs and the big toes. Why? Because the thumbs represented the hands signifying our deeds are unto the Lord. He would put the blood on the big toe because our feet represents our walking for Jesus.
And he would put it on the earlobe to signify obediently hearing and obeying the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and the voice of a stranger they do not listen to. So he wants to wash us and cleanse us, but he wants us to give us our hands, our feet, and our ears to Jesus. Amen? So these are important things that God is trying to tell us.
And just an introduction that a servant didn't have to worry about. See, when you serve Jesus and you are a bondservant to God, he's going to take care of all your needs. He's going to be there. It's almost like, if I can dare say, God's responsibility because you are his child.
You are his sheep. You are his servant. And it's been the, what is it, the, what's that word about the father? It's the way of the father.
And this is how God operates. And many times we see these things in the Old Testament and we understand the character and nature of our father. that he's going to take care of us.
And to be a bondservant means that you give it all, that you you lay it all down, that you empty yourself out and let the Lord fill you up. That his, your ways are not his ways, his ways are your ways. You empty out your desires, you give him all your, your, your, your, what, what makes you fill, fills you up.
You give him everything. It's a free will. It's a free choice.
It's to give, it's to make him, uh, The one who makes all the calls, all the shots that we obey his instructions. Jesus says this in the scriptures. He says in Matthew chapter five that the poor in spirit will inherit the kingdom of God. Poor in spirit means to empty yourself out of all your desires and carry God's desire in your heart. To be poor of spirit means is one who does not exercise his self will, but the Lord's will.
Poor in spirit is to be poor in your own ways and rich in God's ways. To renounce all preconceived opinions in search of God's truth. To set aside present habits and your present views, your present way of life.
Not my will, but your will be done. And that sounds like a good amen until you have to do it and it becomes an oh my. It's jettisoning everything and anything that can be in the way of your duty to God.
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 16, 24, he said, if anyone desires to come after me, let him do what? Deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
For what profit is a man that if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give for his soul? So I'm going to ask you a question.
Where do you find, ask yourself this question, where do you find personal value and greatness in your life? Is it through... riches?
If I make enough money, it makes me feel valuable. It makes me feel great. Where do we find personal value and personal greatness?
Is it through riches? Is it through success? Is it through accomplishments?
Is it through social status? How many friends do I have on social media? Is it economic status? Is it honor and respect from others?
Or, here's a big one, or is it being someone's rescuer? Where do I find personal value? Where do I find personal value? Is it in the things I do?
Is it in my accomplishments? My education? My, my, my...
my business, whatever it may be. What fulfills your deepest need? What is it that makes you feel satisfied in life, fulfilled in life? Is it our things? Because I tell you what, it's very easy for that to become what we're looking for.
And it's okay to have stuff. It's okay to be rich. It's okay to have these things.
But when it becomes your all in all, the joy doesn't last. The joy does not last. There was a story of the rich young ruler.
And Jesus shares this story. So get ready, put your seatbelts on, click. Okay, because this is going to help you, it's going to bless you.
It's the story of the rich young ruler in Matthew chapter... 19 it says now behold one came to him saying to him good teacher what good thing shall i do that i may have eternal life and jesus says to him why do you call me good no one is good but one that is god so here's a rich young ruler and he comes to jesus and he says good teacher you And he says, good teacher, how shall I receive the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus says, why do you call me good? I like to just for a second think about that. Why do I, we call him good?
is a good God. And we can show reverence to God as a good teacher. We can, and we can show reverence to God as a good protector. That we can show reverence to God as a good healer.
a good provider, but what God is saying that he says in Luke chapter 6, why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I say? In other words, we call him Lord and we honor him in all these other areas of our life, but he's just a good teacher. He's just a good God. He's just a good Savior, but he's not Lord of my life. He's the Lord of my crisis, or is he the Lord of my life?
Oh, come on, somebody. Is he just the Lord of my crisis? That means that, you know, Jesus is in my life, but he really only is there when I need him.
It's 911 Jesus when I'm in trouble, and then the rest of the time I forget about him because he's not really the Lord of my life. my life he's the lord of my circumstance if i can phrase it that way he's he's he's the one that helps me in time of need and he's just the one that takes care of everything but he's not really my lord he's just my good good god he's a good god god's a good god And the question isn't, is he a good God? Why do you call me good?
The question isn't, is he a good God? The question is, is he your God? Is he your Lord?
Woo! Get quiet in this fan of God's a jerk! Because until he becomes the Lord over my time, the Lord over my marriage, the Lord over my money, the Lord over my business, the Lord over my will, the Lord over my opinions, the Lord over my life, he is not Lord. If he's not the Lord of all, he's none at all.
Because God will not take second place. God is not our co-pilot. God is not in the back hallway. And then when I need him, oh, by the way, Jesus, come over here. Come on.
No, he wants to be Lord. But listen, when he's Lord of your life, he is your protector. He is your helper. He is your provider.
He wants to be those things, but he wants to be Lord first. That's why when we pray a sinner's prayer, he must be your Lord and Savior. A lot of people want a Savior, but they don't want a Lord.
But He's got to be your Lord before He can become your Savior. And Jesus is saying, I'm glad you call me healer. I'm glad that you call me Lord.
I mean, call me friend. I'm glad that you call me your protector and provider. And that you even call me Lord. But am I really your Lord? Not just the Lord with the authority over your situations.
The Lord over your trial, the Lord over your health, am I really Lord of your life? Am I the Lord of your heart? There was a guy, I shared this story before, and if you've heard it before, just kind of laugh like you hadn't heard it before.
This guy has a house. He's got all these bedrooms and Jesus shows up and knocks on the front door and the guy opens the door and he lets Jesus into his house and he's all excited. Jesus in my house, Shondo.
Mama wrote a hot Jesus is in my house. So he takes him up to the master's bedroom. Get it?
He's the master. And he gets him a king-size bed. And he puts him in this beautiful bedroom, fixes it all up, got a refrigerator, a couple of things in there, got his own shower with dove soap, you know. Sorry. It's dumb.
King bed, you know all that, because he's the king. Okay, so he's got him all fixed up in his bedroom and everything's great. He closes the door, walks out, he's downstairs watching TV, watching, you know, the Rams beat Detroit, you know.
And watching the Raiders win, just hanging out. And all of a sudden there's a knock on the door and it's the devil himself. Shows up at the front door. And he's like, shoot, I'm not afraid of the devil. I got Jesus in my house.
And so he opens up the devil and the devil comes in and just beats him up. He's like, what's going on? And he's like, what's happening? Devil beats him up and then takes off. And he's like, what's happening?
Devil beat me up. I got Jesus in my house. Sound familiar? So he runs upstairs to the bedroom, opens up the master bedroom. He says, Jesus!
He goes, man, dude, the devil just sort of beat me up. You didn't do anything. Jesus is just sitting there, quiet.
He's like, come on, Jesus, you got me, right? Come on. We're compadres.
Got you in my life. Got you in my house. You can take care of it, right? I expect you to. Close the door, walks downstairs, devil knocks on the door again.
Opens up the door, devil comes and beats him up again. He's like, what's happening? Why is the devil beating me up?
I've got Jesus in my house. Guy runs back upstairs, opens the door, sees Jesus. Jesus, what's going on, man? Look, I got a black eye. Devil beat me up.
You're just sitting in here relaxing on your king bed. I got a bathroom with a throne. No, I shouldn't have said that.
That's probably bad. I gotta stop. But you know what I'm saying?
I mean, he's like, he's got it all fixed up, but but he's got Jesus in his house. Devil keeps coming in, beating him up, knocking his pillar from pillar to post. He's like, what's going on? After a couple of times, the devil keeps doing this. Finally dawns on him.
I know what the problem is. And he goes upstairs and he opens the door. He goes, Jesus, come on down to my living room.
Brings him into the living room and he goes in the back room. So next time the devil knocks on the door, Jesus answers the door. Amen.
And we've got to be careful that we don't do the same in our own life. We got Jesus in our home, in our life in a sense, but we've got him in the back room and everything's great because we think Jesus is there, but he's not in the living room. He's not in the front room. He's not answering the door. We're still doing our thing while we got Jesus in the back room, thinking that just because we got Jesus in the back room that Jesus is going to show up.
And Jesus says, no, no, no, no. You've got to give me the master key. You've got to put me in the front. Let me answer the door so then I could take care of business.
But if you're just going to keep putting me in the back and only calling on me when you need me. Because I know you didn't come to AliveA Life Church for a massage, but a message. Amen. Because we got to do this, man.
I love you enough to tell you the truth. We got to do this. We're going to keep getting beat up. keep going through what we're going through, keep facing trials, keep facing our situations, then we find ourselves blaming God when really we're the ones that are not letting Jesus be the Lord of our life. We want to be the Lord.
You can't serve two masters, yourself and Jesus. Come on, somebody. And he's happy that we call him healer, and he's happy that we call him provider, and he is those things in our life, and he wants to be those things, but is he just the Lord of my crisis, or is he the Lord of my life? The Scripture says where your treasure is, that's where your heart is also.
So the question is, what's our treasure? Well, it could be wealth, but it also can be a lot of other things. Is my treasure my will?
Because where my will is, that's where my heart is. Is my treasure my position? Is my treasure my title?
Is my... treasure, my motives, my pride, my desires. Scripture says the Lord gives me the desires of my heart.
That doesn't mean He gives me what I want. That means that He takes His desire and puts them in your heart so you desire what He desires. All my heart, all my life belongs to you.
And Paul's telling the Philippian church, listen, God has called us to be humble servants, not looking for a name, not looking for social recognition. John the Baptist says, I must decrease that he may increase. God's wanting the believers in Philippi to understand that we need to follow God's will, God's way, that we trade our desires for his desires.
We trade our desires for his desires. our ways for his ways, our honor for his honor, our glory for his glory, our recognition for his recognition, that we can shine for Jesus because God is not going to share his glory with man. But if I can show Jesus in my life and that everything I have, listen, the Bible says in Matthew chapter 5 verse 3, it says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What does it mean to be poor in spirit?
spirit. That means I empty myself out of me so God could fill me up with him. Empty yourself out and God will fill you up with him.
In other words, I want to live a life for Jesus. I want to be like Jesus. I want to love like Jesus.
I want to forgive like Jesus. I want to serve like Jesus. I want to be humble like Jesus.
Jesus says, I don't do my will. I do my father's will. And in the end, if we allow all these other things in our life to bring joy and happiness, many of us know that it's not going to last. You're not going to be happy.
He's telling the Philippian church, listen, guys, I know you like the medals. I know you like the titles. I know you like all the prestigious stuff and the social status. know that.
But listen, it's only going to bring joy for a little while. Pretty soon you're not going to be happy. You're not going to be fulfilled with the things of this world. Joy is found in Jesus.
Peace is found in Jesus. Love is found in Jesus. Fulfillment is found in Jesus. And so he's wanting us to understand this, that he must be Lord of our life. So we have to ask ourselves that question.
Is he truly the Lord of my life? Because as I said before, it's Lord of all or none at all. Is he the Lord over my time?
Is he the Lord over my marriage? Is he the Lord over my money? Oh, it got quiet. Or is it just mine?
Is he the Lord over your business? He gave you the business, he blessed you with the business, but then it's like, Charlie Holmes, this is mine. There was this gentleman who took his son to McDonald's and bought his son french fries. Very, very wealthy man.
And he bought his son some french fries. Y'all getting hungry now. And he put the french fries next to his son and he opens the newspaper and he's reading the newspaper as his son is eating the french fries. And his father reached over to grab one of the french fries and the son wrapped his arms around the french fries and said, no, mine! When it comes to our giving, is that...
The son not realizing that this father could buy him every french fry at McDonald's. Every french fry he could buy for him at McDonald's. And the kid not knowing it said, they're mine. Wait a minute, I gave that. What's up, Lewis?
What's going on here? Is he the Lord? Is he the Lord? When tithes and offerings comes, is he Lord? Hello?
When your time comes to volunteer, is he Lord? When you get up in the morning and and it's church time on a Sunday and it's like, I'm tired, is he Lord? Oh, I want to sleep in too sometimes.
What if one day you just came to church and they said, where's Pastor Tom? Oh, he slept in. So I came on Wednesday night and I was so tired and I was just like beat and I looked at Heather she goes oh I said I just I go I just want to stay home tonight everyone else gets to when they want to but I said ah and she goes oh yeah I wonder if we should and then I said I could just go to sleep right now. Oh, I could just relax.
Put on some Netflix. While I have the service on the side. And then say I was watching service. I don't live in your house.
I'm just saying. And I said, no, no, no. We're going to church. Jesus is Lord of my sleep.
And he'll give me rest. Amen. I want to be in the house of the Lord. I want to be where God is. I know he's with me.
I'm not saying that. But I want to be where God's people are is what I meant to say. I want to be with God's people. As much as I'm tired, I'm going to go anyways.
I'm going to sacrifice myself. I'm going to. Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen.
I got this last verse for you. Philippians chapter 2 verse 3. Let nothing be done through sin. selfish ambitions or conceit but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves let each of you look not only for your own interests but also for the interests of others and let this mind all which was also in Christ let this mind be in you which was also in Christ who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no repute Reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of man. This is how we become servants of God.
Bondservants. That we are lightbearers of his love and of his truth. And let's just not go to church, let's be the church.
Loving God with all of our heart. With everything we have and know that God, he's Lord. He's Lord. I don't just attend the church. I'm not dating the church.
I am part of the church. I just, I just, I just have to say, you know, God's not interested in weekend visits. He wants full custody. He wants you all for Him.
He doesn't want to share you with anyone else. He said, there shall be no other gods before me. No other thing shall come before me. And if you want God to be all in all in your life, and you want God to be the one... who takes care of all your needs and does all these things that he promises, the Bible says if you fulfill the will of the Lord your God and obey him, then all these things shall come upon you.
You will be blessed in the city, blessed in the field, blessed coming, blessed going. Everything you put your hands to, you shall prosper. You will be the head and not the tail. You'll be above and not beneath. Because the scripture says if we humble ourselves under a mighty hand of God, He will lift us up.
He will lift us up. Promotion comes from the Lord. That it's not me seeking my own will, but your will, Lord.
Your way. And as I serve him with all my heart and I make him priority number one, man, I tell you what, you'll be a VIP to G-O-D, man. God will show up on the picture.
God will move on your behalf. And I'm not, it's just not a 9-1-1. want Jesus. He's the real deal, man. This is the real deal.
So that when we are in a situation, our provider is there. Our protector is there. Our helper is there. Our healer is there. And he's not just the one I call and is the God of my crisis, but he's the God of my life.
Amen. Come on, if you got something from Jesus, let's give him a praise. Amen. So I want to encourage you when you leave today, go and be all that God. Get in your secret place.
Cry out to God. Call on the Lord. Say, Lord, fill me with your will, oh God. And if Jesus says, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I say?
Oh Lord, I want to do what you say. And if I obey and love and forgive and give of myself for the betterment of somebody else, forgiving those that hurt me, loving those that despisely turn their backs on me, not worrying about... position at work, at school, in church, not worrying about titles, not worrying about any of those things, that I keep my eyes on Jesus, that he fulfills my need. Amen? Amen.
Let's bow our heads and close. Close your eyes. You're here today.
You don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. God wants to come in and forgive you of all your sins and cleanse you. If you're a saint in this place, this is the time to be praying, getting a hold of Jesus. Don't be a distraction to anyone else because the Holy Spirit's working right now.
Perhaps you're here today and you've been going through some stuff. You've been struggling a little. You've been facing some hard situations.
Maybe you're just coming because you're just looking for purpose in life. Look. Looking for that joy, something.
I need something. This world is a chaotic world. Maybe you just want to get closer to God.
What if I told you there was a way? A way for God to come and be a part of your life and truly, truly walk with you and talk with you and be in your life. How many would like that? Like him to just be there for you. To know that no matter what happens, I could be at peace because I know that God is in control.
And that God will take care of me. And I'm okay. I'm not worried about that. And to have that close relationship with God. And if you want that today, maybe you haven't had that or even needing that in your life.
I want you to do me a favor. I want you to just raise one hand up in the air and say, Pastor, will you pray for me? Will you pray for me?
I need Jesus in my life. I see one hand over here. Anyone else, I see another.
I just need Jesus. I see some more over here. I just need Jesus. I just want Jesus.
I need Him. I need help. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Sick and tired of facing the same thing over and over all by myself. I need help. And that's you today. Jesus wants to come into your life.
Maybe you need to rededicate your life to Jesus. Get back on track. Maybe at one time you were serving God, but you found yourself backslidden in your heart. Maybe you're not out doing the things you used to do, but in your heart, you're just not close to Him like you need to be. to be.
Today you can come back to Jesus and he's just waiting for you. He's not mad at you. He's mad about you. It's not shame on you. It's shame off you.
All you have to do is say yes to Jesus. We're going to stand in a minute and if that's you that raised your hand or maybe you didn't. When we stand I'm not going to make you do it.
No one's going to force you to do it. This is between you and the Lord. But if you meant it, it's going to take a little bit of effort on your side. I'm going to ask you to get out of your seat. Grab your belongings.
Grab a friend if you need a friend and I want you to meet me right up here.