WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.440 --> 00:00:06.200 Amen, hallelujah. Yep, we are back from Uganda here today. So 2 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:09.480 yeah, we got in last night at seven thirty in the evening, so 3 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:12.919 we're a little bit bleary, and that's a couple hours past when we had 4 00:00:12.919 --> 00:00:17.480 expected to be in. So we were going to give you a big update 5 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:22.440 today, but we're going to postpone that to next Sunday. But while I'm 6 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:25.320 chatting with you really quick, there's gonna be some pictures flying by, some 7 00:00:25.399 --> 00:00:29.239 fresh pictures from our time. Yep. So that is whoop. That one 8 00:00:29.239 --> 00:00:35.560 went fast, But that is we broke up and went two different ways, 9 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:38.920 and this is the team that went down to Matukola. I have some very 10 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:43.399 fun stories to tell you. I don't want to give away the whole shebang 11 00:00:43.719 --> 00:00:46.479 because we need to come back next week and hear all the stories, but 12 00:00:46.520 --> 00:00:50.119 I will tell you that one of Yeah, isn't that little boy cute? 13 00:00:51.240 --> 00:00:59.560 Yeah? So fun. One story will involve airport security. Someone on the 14 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:03.640 team pushed a button they weren't supposed to push, and so we had airport 15 00:01:03.760 --> 00:01:07.760 securities surrounding them and we weren't sure if we're going to be able to keep 16 00:01:07.799 --> 00:01:15.000 moving on. So it might include that and then it might include some more 17 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:22.079 stories about border security down between Uganda and Tanzania. We met, We met 18 00:01:22.120 --> 00:01:30.400 all the important people, and it wasn't the most welcoming reception that we had, 19 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:34.040 so we had stories to tell. But even beyond all the excitement and 20 00:01:34.040 --> 00:01:41.200 the crazy stuff, there was mighty times in the Lord, great awesome times. 21 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:44.480 I'm just telling you it's so worth it. So next time y'all have 22 00:01:44.519 --> 00:01:47.439 to come with us. So it'll be next week. You're gonna get some 23 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:52.599 fun stories. But at this moment, we're gonna have Pastor Roman. I'm 24 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:56.000 gonna call you a pastor. How's that? Come on up, you're gonna 25 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:01.159 be a pastor this morning. I no, we just promoted him. Come 26 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:05.280 on up, Father, and Jesus name God, I ask you right now 27 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:07.240 to be with us, Lord God, I thank you that you're going to 28 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:10.719 just take the word and I'll bring it into us, mold us into Christ 29 00:02:10.759 --> 00:02:14.800 with the with the word Lorca. I thank you so much for that. 30 00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:20.039 In Jesus name. Amen. Amen, she just messed up. I don't 31 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:24.840 know what pastor of Rome, and that's hilarious. No, she's still talking, 32 00:02:24.879 --> 00:02:31.439 look at her. Well, I'm glad you're here. Welcome home. 33 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:38.000 I love our pastures sometimes, Yeah, they're great. A few weeks ago, 34 00:02:38.039 --> 00:02:40.919 I try to wrestle past your Dwayne, I find out. I found 35 00:02:40.919 --> 00:02:46.800 out he's much stronger than me. But you have such a good heart. 36 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:51.479 He called me afterwards because he came out on top twice, and he called 37 00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:53.000 me after that. He's like, I just want to make sure you're okay, 38 00:02:53.159 --> 00:02:58.560 like internally, like like like I was hurt, and I appreciate that 39 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:01.199 too. I was was totally fine. Not on mind. I didn't mind 40 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:06.000 losing. There was like sharp edges. It was at the Davis's pool party 41 00:03:06.039 --> 00:03:08.120 house party, and it's like a lot of sharp edges, and I wanted 42 00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:12.120 to pull him into the water. Didn't work out for me, but it 43 00:03:12.199 --> 00:03:15.560 felt good. Was that new shorts. You were wearing new pants? You 44 00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:17.199 don't remember. I know I was wearing something new. It all got green 45 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:23.599 with grass. But I love our pastures. They're great. So I'm glad 46 00:03:23.639 --> 00:03:28.240 you guys show it up after last week. Last week was kind of heavy, 47 00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:30.120 but it was good. It was good for our soul. I kind 48 00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:35.919 of want to continue the train of thought that I had and kind of refresh 49 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.280 what we talked about a little bit, and if you remember, we talked 50 00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:43.400 about Peter and how Jesus said, get behind me or get away from me, 51 00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:46.960 Satan, for you are seeing things purely from a man's perspective and not 52 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:52.240 from God. So Jesus made that separation, and he revealed to us that 53 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:58.680 your proximity or your revelation of Jesus does not exempt you from the attack of 54 00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:01.039 Satan. With the fluence of Satan in your life. You know, we 55 00:04:01.159 --> 00:04:04.000 talked a little bit about that, so if you have questions, I'd refer 56 00:04:04.039 --> 00:04:09.759 you to last week's message. And then we also talked about conscience and how 57 00:04:09.800 --> 00:04:14.400 important and vital it is for us as believers to have a clear and pure 58 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:18.480 conscience. And the only way to obtain a pure and clear conscience is through 59 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:23.600 the sprinkling and the cleansing of the blood of Jesus. It's why we do 60 00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:27.879 communion, it's why we're a part of this. And we also talked about 61 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:32.759 the shepherd's voice and if the costs or the price you pay for not following 62 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:39.319 the shepherd's voice, the good voice is following one of the strangers. And 63 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:42.360 so if you want to hear more about that, I would refer you again 64 00:04:42.439 --> 00:04:46.959 to last week's message, but today I want to talk not about that, 65 00:04:46.040 --> 00:04:49.240 but based on that. So that would be the foundation of kind of where 66 00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:55.399 we're headed. And so I'm really believing that God's going to do some good, 67 00:04:55.519 --> 00:04:59.399 good things this morning. So the first thing I want to start out 68 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:06.079 with saying is what you behold is what you become. Well, let you 69 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:12.399 think about that for a second. What you behold, what you're fixated on, 70 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:16.879 is what ends up what you end up becoming. We've heard, and 71 00:05:18.279 --> 00:05:25.000 I think it's Proverbs it says that bad company corrupts good character. That it's 72 00:05:25.079 --> 00:05:29.079 it's touching up on the same principles. What you're beholding is what you're becoming. 73 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:31.279 And you know, we've hear we hear the phrase of like show me 74 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:34.920 five of your friends and I'll tell you who you are. That's there's there's 75 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:40.680 truths to these things. And so therefore, what we behold as believers, 76 00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:44.600 what we're fixated on, what our gaze is on, that is what we 77 00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:47.920 end up becoming. And so as I'm speaking this morning, I really believe 78 00:05:47.959 --> 00:05:53.240 that the Holy Spirit is arresting over us, and there's different things the Lord 79 00:05:53.319 --> 00:05:58.040 is going to begin to deposit into our spirits that are different than you're maybe 80 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:00.920 what's happening in your neighbor, or what's happen in the person in front of 81 00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:03.399 you, or maybe your spouse. It'll be specific to you. But the 82 00:06:03.480 --> 00:06:08.519 Lord and his grace and his mercy will begin to illuminate our hearts and our 83 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:13.000 spirits. And I believe there's going to be transformation that's happening. Even as 84 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:17.199 we're talking. I'm excited about this. He guys ready, So what you 85 00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:21.720 behold is what you become. Ten years ago, I was heading I was 86 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:28.160 I did a ministry school in Pennsylvania, Randy Clark's Global School Supernatural Ministries, 87 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:32.120 And in the summertime, we're heading back and there was some crazy delays and 88 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:35.680 they rerouted us through Vegas. I've never been in Vegas, so I was 89 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:40.519 excited and I knew it was like people and people told me this is Sin 90 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:43.399 City, you know all that stuff. So my mind, I'm like, 91 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:46.639 oh, this is Sin City. I'm gonna go tell somebody about Jesus in 92 00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:49.720 Sin City. I was super excited and so get routed. We arrive about 93 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:55.360 twelve that night, which was perfect because that's when everybody wakes up in Vegas. 94 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:58.639 So we end up heading down the strip and I'm thinking sin City, 95 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:00.879 since city it was my friend and his name is Vitalli. Great guy. 96 00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:05.480 Anyway, So we're walking down the street and we're both like us is since 97 00:07:05.480 --> 00:07:10.240 city the throne of the devil and all this stuff, and we're about to 98 00:07:10.279 --> 00:07:14.199 come and do this Jesus thing. And as we're walking, the spirit of 99 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:16.759 God comes and descends on us, and I heard the voice of the Lord 100 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:23.399 in my heart, and God said, who told you it was since City? 101 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:29.040 Did I say that? And immediately I stopped walking. I grabbed him 102 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:33.279 and and as I was listening to the Lord, he said, this says, 103 00:07:33.319 --> 00:07:38.879 not since City. This is my city and these are my people. 104 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:45.800 And so I connected with my listening. We gotta we gotta change our perspective 105 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:49.480 because we're coming in this way wrong. We're coming to do the right thing 106 00:07:49.639 --> 00:07:54.959 the wrong way. Therefore we'll do it wrong. You can do the right 107 00:07:55.000 --> 00:08:00.480 thing the wrong way, therefore you are wrong. And so we stop in 108 00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:03.680 our tracks. We readjust our perspective and we say, God, this is 109 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:07.079 your city. As we start walking down the street, praying and tongues you 110 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:11.360 should do Angela's class by the way, praying and tongues, believing, getting 111 00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:16.399 edified inside, believing the truth about Vegas. This is your city, these 112 00:08:16.439 --> 00:08:20.920 are your people. And so what God did and this is what I believe 113 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:24.800 He will be doing here this morning. He descended on us, highlighted an 114 00:08:24.839 --> 00:08:31.279 incorrect perspective, and brought us up into Kingdom perspective. Remember it last week 115 00:08:31.320 --> 00:08:35.759 we talked about how when Jesus said to Peter, get behind me, Satan, 116 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:39.639 what he did is he combined Satan with world perspective. But in doing 117 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:43.080 that, he lifted Peter out and said, Peter, you're not of this 118 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:48.519 perspective. You belong to God. He married Peter in God's perspective and married 119 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:54.320 Satan's perspective with worldly perspective. So therefore I believe that the Lord wants to 120 00:08:54.440 --> 00:08:58.840 lift us out of perspectives we've been taught since we've been born, and listen, 121 00:09:00.039 --> 00:09:05.279 lift us up into Kingdom perspectives. So listen, listen for that this 122 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:11.120 morning, as we're continuing on. You might be online, listen for that 123 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:16.559 in your home or wherever you're watching from. And so as he did that, 124 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:22.279 our perspective shifted and we began to think about Vegas a way different way. 125 00:09:22.360 --> 00:09:28.360 Guys, girls, ladies, chance, I promise you from that till 126 00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:31.879 then and after then. I don't know how to phrase that properly. Before 127 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:37.279 and after then. I've personally never been as successful with the Gospel of Jesus 128 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:41.720 Christ as I was in Vegas that day. Four hours. I think I 129 00:09:41.799 --> 00:09:48.799 saw probably like forty people either get saved, delivered, healed, or somehow 130 00:09:48.840 --> 00:09:54.240 touched and eighty or excuse me, I couldn't do the calculation problem, but 131 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:58.360 I remember like eighty five to ninety five percent of anybody we decided to make 132 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:05.480 contact with or prayed for either got healed or saved. I've just this is 133 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:09.000 what happens. This is what God is calling us to. It's a perspective 134 00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:11.399 shift. It's a kingdom perspective. What would happen if you walk out of 135 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:16.519 the doors and your perspective is Kingdom on your family, on your situations, 136 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:18.840 on your business, on your money, on everything you're a part of. 137 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:22.960 What would happen if if the Lord would breathe on us this morning and say, 138 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:26.919 this is what I see. Will you come up and see what I 139 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:31.159 see and live this way? So I'm going to share it. Quick testimony 140 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:35.240 from Vegas since I brought you guys into this loop. Okay, this is 141 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:37.879 so exciting. I just I thought about this yesterday and I was like, 142 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:41.200 I just have to share it. This is good. So we were walking 143 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:46.600 down the street. We were headed to one of the hotel and casino pleases 144 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:50.240 combined. I don't know what it's going anyway, So we're headed to this 145 00:10:50.279 --> 00:10:54.720 casino and we're walking that way and we're passing this group of people and as 146 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:58.480 we're passing them, I get a word of knowledge for this guy. I'm 147 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:00.600 like, hey, can I stop you for a second. The guys like, 148 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:03.759 yeah, sure, what's up. I'm hate does your knee hurt by 149 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:07.480 any chance? He's like, yeah, what you sell? And I was 150 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:11.200 like, well, I'm not selling anything, but man, I really believe 151 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:13.840 that the Lord told me that your knee hurts, and I'd love to pray 152 00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:16.720 for you. And he was kind of like shocked, and his friends were 153 00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:20.480 kind of weird it out, so they just kept kind of walking and he 154 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:24.000 was like all right, kind of cool. And so I get down praying 155 00:11:24.039 --> 00:11:26.360 with him, and I pray for his knee like thirty seconds. I'm like, 156 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:31.200 man, how does it feel? He does one of these and his 157 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:39.080 face goes shocked. He's like, no, for real, for real, 158 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:43.559 this is for real, and he encountered a one hundred percent healing in just 159 00:11:43.720 --> 00:11:48.639 a few seconds. Pray he's got. This is what began to happen. 160 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:54.559 His healing went to the depths of who he is and he began to weep. 161 00:11:54.320 --> 00:12:01.440 He's like, he don't understand. I'm a backsliding pastor. And he's 162 00:12:01.480 --> 00:12:09.279 in Vegas, just woke up for the nighttime. And as he began to 163 00:12:09.320 --> 00:12:13.360 share that, his friends being a call out come on his name is Anthony's 164 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:16.279 like, come on, Anthony, waiting for you because they went. They 165 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:20.679 did not stay for that and they went and they're calling him, and he's 166 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:24.639 like, hold up, guys, hold up, wait because he's experiencing something. 167 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:31.159 God invaded. God presented Anthony with an opportunity for salvation. And so 168 00:12:31.240 --> 00:12:35.279 Anthony's sitting there or standing there, and he's like, sitting there like them 169 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:37.559 him, why what should I do? Should I stay here? Should I 170 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:41.600 go? And he takes a moment, he pauses. He says, you 171 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:46.080 know, well, guys, I'm done. Yeah. He's like, I'm 172 00:12:46.120 --> 00:12:50.480 done, you guys, go, I'm done. I'm finished, and he's 173 00:12:50.519 --> 00:12:52.559 just wrecked. He's bawling, and my friends leading him to the Lord and 174 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:58.559 I just continue on, just looking for my next target. And so my 175 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:01.639 friend catches up to me. Right before we get into the casino. There's 176 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:05.480 these three ladies that come on out and I don't know how to explain this 177 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:09.000 to you, but God gives you insight, and I could see the spirit 178 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:13.039 of seduction on them and I just said, hey, I just wanted you 179 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:16.559 to know that Jesus loves you. And one of the ladies came up and 180 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:20.240 like close, like really close, and like, hey, Jesus, lazy 181 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:24.600 do. Like that was pretty bad, and so I grabbed her hand because 182 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:26.200 she was on me, grabbed her hand, I looked into her heart and 183 00:13:26.200 --> 00:13:30.600 I said, no, Jesus actually really loves you. And she'd being a 184 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:35.559 manifest She's like she's like not manifesting the Holy Spirit. That was something else. 185 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:39.720 And the Lord being to deliver her just by telling her God loves her, 186 00:13:41.240 --> 00:13:46.080 and she's about a scream and her friends are freaking out, what are 187 00:13:46.120 --> 00:13:48.960 you doing to our friend? What do you get off of her? I'm 188 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:52.639 like I'm not doing anything. God is touching her, and my friends praying 189 00:13:52.679 --> 00:13:54.200 for her. We're like, get out in Jesus name. This is the 190 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:58.440 territory of Jesus. She belongs to the Lord. God's so in love with 191 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:01.279 her, and she's just like getting delivered in front of her eyes and in 192 00:14:01.320 --> 00:14:05.440 front of her friend's eyes. And guess what. Guess who walks by in 193 00:14:05.480 --> 00:14:11.320 the midst of this chaos, Anthony. Anthony's walking by, and Anthony's like, 194 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:15.440 guys, girls, girls, it's okay, it's okay. You could 195 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:18.639 trust these guys. They're for real, They're for real. And he's trying 196 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:22.159 to make the situation better at this is just chaos in front of a casito. 197 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:24.679 It's the most precious thing. And these girls end up pulling her friend 198 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:28.519 away, and as it are pulling her away, she comes back and she's 199 00:14:28.519 --> 00:14:31.480 say thank you, and they pull her out. And I don't know what 200 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:35.639 I ended up happening in to her, except that she got delivered. Priest 201 00:14:35.639 --> 00:14:43.200 the Lord, why are we talking about perspective? There's a weight to this. 202 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:48.440 Your perspective determines how you live. Last week we mentioned I believe it 203 00:14:48.519 --> 00:14:54.519 was Matthew chapter six, Jesus said, if your eye is clean, your 204 00:14:54.519 --> 00:14:58.600 whole body is filled with light. But if your eye is dirty, your 205 00:14:58.600 --> 00:15:03.559 whole body is filled with darkness. And if and if the darkness you have 206 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:07.960 you think is light, and how deep is that darkness. So the perspective 207 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:11.559 we walk in, that we walk out of those doors with, that we 208 00:15:11.639 --> 00:15:16.120 even chat amongst each other with, is very, very very vital to the 209 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:22.120 flow of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I do believe that God is pulling 210 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:28.919 us into a much higher, much elevated perspective than what we might have been 211 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:31.679 living. And so, I mean, I'm thinking about myself in Vegas and 212 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:35.600 how things probably would have been a lot different if I would have came us. 213 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:41.320 I'm going to tell somebody about Jesus probably have been a lot different. 214 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:45.120 Maybe somebody would have been touched. I don't know. I just know that 215 00:15:45.159 --> 00:15:50.799 when we come with kingdom perspective, we get kingdom results. This morning, 216 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:54.720 I want to talk about Saul's transformation. A lot of us know him as 217 00:15:54.759 --> 00:15:58.639 Paul or Apostle Paul, but before he was Paul, he was Saul. 218 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:02.399 And I'm I'm gonna We're going to go through a story together and I'm gonna 219 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:04.720 try the best they can to go through it quickly. But man, get 220 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:10.519 ready because God's about a rock or well, now I'm totally excited about this. 221 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:15.159 So it starts not with I'm gonna do a little priest story before we 222 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:21.440 get into scripture. When Jesus came, died, resurrected, he came to 223 00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:25.039 his disciples, reread the Holy Spirit on them and said, wait until, 224 00:16:26.039 --> 00:16:29.399 wait, until the Promised One comes, until the power of the Holy Spirit 225 00:16:29.399 --> 00:16:32.759 comes. So they wait forty fifty days and the power of the Holy Spirit 226 00:16:32.759 --> 00:16:36.080 descends on them, and they start speaking in tongues. Miracles break out, 227 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:40.600 and the church is born, and there's thousands added to them almost daily. 228 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:45.360 They're just massive, massive move of the Lord in the early Church. And 229 00:16:45.399 --> 00:16:52.919 so what happens is as they're growing, there becomes dysfunction and disunity and divide. 230 00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:56.279 And it happened amongst the females. I don't know what the Lord was 231 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:00.159 thinking with females. We should just I don't know. It's a I mean, 232 00:17:00.200 --> 00:17:06.799 look at the Garden of Eden. I know what happened there, And 233 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:11.000 all the brothers said, I don't say anything. You will you will get 234 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:15.000 in trouble. You will get I'm messing up bad. I'm gonna get a 235 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:18.039 talk on the way hold on, no, I'm kidding, Oh Lord, 236 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:25.319 please help. Females are girls are just amazing. I will say, the 237 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:30.920 way your brains work is just a mystery that God created in and of itself. 238 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:41.480 Yeah, I'm digging deeper, Oh Lord, Like okay, no, 239 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:45.079 I'm not gonna go there. But God is so good and females are amazing. 240 00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:52.519 But so, Saul, what happened? Thank you? Somebody just dug 241 00:17:52.559 --> 00:17:55.759 me out. That was a rope, thank you. So what happens is 242 00:17:55.759 --> 00:17:59.319 there's a there's a division amongst women. It was a cultural issue, the 243 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:03.160 Hebrew speaking woman and the Greek speaking woman, and they were divided amongst food 244 00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:07.279 distribution. I personally think the Hebrews like, hey, we're first, we 245 00:18:07.319 --> 00:18:11.759 need this first, whatever, And it caused such a big division that the 246 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:15.279 Apostles had to get involved and they're like, guys, we can't get involved 247 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:18.079 with this food distribution. We got like souls that need to be saved. 248 00:18:18.119 --> 00:18:23.279 And so they appointed seven men to oversee food distribution. And we would assume 249 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:29.960 they were just appoint administrative people, you know who, they appointed powerful men 250 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:34.559 of God. One of them was Stephen. Stephen, the Bible says was 251 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:38.559 full of wisdom and full of the Holy Spirit in a way that when he 252 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:42.640 spoke, you couldn't argue with what he's saying. Therefore a lot of people 253 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:48.480 were touched and converted into the Christian way. And so when Stephen spoke, 254 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:52.079 a lot of people were touched. So what happened was the Jews from a 255 00:18:52.119 --> 00:18:57.279 synagogue made up a plan where they lied about what Stephen was saying to the 256 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:03.599 High Council and the Jews in Judaism. And so what happened is they arrested 257 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:07.519 Stephen and they brought him before the High Council, and they said, they 258 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:10.599 brought up the accusation, and they say, what do you say about this? 259 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:17.440 And here we find ourselves in Acts chapter seven. I want to I 260 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:21.119 want to bring our attention to one thing real quick. It's in Acts chapter 261 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:25.960 six, verse fifteen, when they when they brought Stephen to the High Council. 262 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:30.759 Watch what happens At this point, everyone in the High Council stared at 263 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:37.039 Stephen because his face became as bright as angels. I was thinking, that's 264 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:41.160 probably why nobody can argue with him, because if you're talking to him his 265 00:19:41.240 --> 00:19:45.839 face so bright, you just amen, yes, you're right. So watch 266 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:51.880 what happens. He begins to tell these Pharisees and this High Council the whole 267 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:56.319 story from Abraham all the way down to basically Jesus. He hits the law 268 00:19:56.480 --> 00:20:00.839 pretty hard, and he's sharing all a lot of this past tense and then 269 00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:06.759 in chapter seven, verse fifty one, he brings it down to their level 270 00:20:06.920 --> 00:20:11.480 and he begins, he begins to be very very serious with him, and 271 00:20:11.559 --> 00:20:18.720 he says, you stubborn people, you are heathen at heart and death to 272 00:20:18.759 --> 00:20:23.200 the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That's what your ancestors 273 00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:27.920 did. And so do you name one prophet. Your ancestors did not persecute. 274 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:32.079 They even killed the ones that predicted the coming of the Righteous One, 275 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:37.839 the Messiah, who who you betrayed and murder. You deliberately disobeyed God's law, 276 00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:45.079 even though you received it from the hands of angels. Imagine that the 277 00:20:45.160 --> 00:20:51.920 Jewish leaders were infuriated with Stephen's accusation, and they shook their fists in rage. 278 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:59.759 But Stephen full the Holy Spirit gay steadily, who yeah, gaye steadily 279 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:07.440 to heaven and saw the glory of God. I want to repeat that. 280 00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:15.559 But Stephen full of the Holy Spirit case steadily into heaven and saw the glory 281 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:19.359 of God. And he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God's 282 00:21:19.400 --> 00:21:29.000 right hand. And he told them, look, behold, look I see 283 00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:33.279 the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor 284 00:21:33.319 --> 00:21:40.079 at God's right hand. I believe Stephen was actually crying out to them, 285 00:21:40.359 --> 00:21:45.400 saying, come higher, look at what I see. Come to my level. 286 00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:48.519 See what I see. Then you'll be what I am. Look and 287 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:56.599 behold what I'm seeing. Fifty seven. They put their hands over their ears 288 00:21:56.599 --> 00:22:00.839 and begin shouting. They rushed to him, dragging him out of the city 289 00:22:00.920 --> 00:22:04.720 and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them 290 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:11.839 at the feet of a young man named Saul, and as they stoned him, 291 00:22:11.960 --> 00:22:18.240 Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus received my spirit, and he fell to his 292 00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:27.720 knees, shouting, Lord, Yeah, don't charge them with this sin. 293 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:37.960 And with that he died. Saul was one of the witnesses, and he 294 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:44.480 agreed completely to the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that 295 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:48.880 day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem, and all the believers except the 296 00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:53.480 apostles were scattered through the region of Judea and Samarium. Some develop men came 297 00:22:53.519 --> 00:23:00.920 and buried Stephen with great mourning, but Saul was going everywhere to destroy the 298 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.480 church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women 299 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:15.359 to throw them into prison. Wow, okay, I was thinking last night, 300 00:23:17.519 --> 00:23:22.720 man, I'm so glad to be in America, in the Great USA, 301 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:29.799 where we have the Second Amendment and we have protection rights and just a 302 00:23:29.880 --> 00:23:34.680 lot of religious freedom. My family actually came here for that reason. I 303 00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:40.599 have a lot of family from the Russian side and a lot of family from 304 00:23:40.599 --> 00:23:45.240 the Ukrainian side. We immigrated from Ukraine and we came here thinking that authority 305 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:48.559 was to be feared. We didn't know that they're actually public servants, and 306 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:52.839 we had no clue that the Second Amendment what even that meant. So when 307 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:55.799 I got to find out what that meant, and the fact that you know, 308 00:23:55.839 --> 00:23:59.400 we have a right to bear arms and just protect ourselves, thinking, 309 00:23:59.400 --> 00:24:03.359 man, we live an amazing country. This is amazing privilege. We have 310 00:24:03.480 --> 00:24:10.400 to be here, So praise the Lord for that. If I was to 311 00:24:10.440 --> 00:24:15.000 take a poll right now and figure out how many of you are ready to 312 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:18.880 go, if somebody would come in the middle of the night. The numbers 313 00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:23.079 would be scary. Ready, probably like ninety percent of us are ready armed 314 00:24:23.559 --> 00:24:29.359 and dangerous. Saul came knocking on your door in the middle of the night, 315 00:24:29.400 --> 00:24:34.160 trying to drag you out. You'll be like Saul. So you decided 316 00:24:34.200 --> 00:24:42.440 to come through my door this fall. You got two options. It's either 317 00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:48.599 I make you fall, or you give your Lord, give your life to 318 00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:53.359 the Lord, and become the pall you were created to be. I know 319 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:56.720 that's some of you here. I know that's true because I've been in some 320 00:24:56.799 --> 00:25:03.160 of your homes and I heard the way you talk, especially when it comes 321 00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:10.440 to firearms. I love you guys, by the way. So Saul went 322 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:15.319 on this persecution spree and started throwing people in a prison and and and started 323 00:25:15.400 --> 00:25:21.680 killing off people. And here's the crazy thing in chapter nine. I'm gonna 324 00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:26.000 actually read this because it's so important that we get exactly what's happening. Chapter 325 00:25:26.119 --> 00:25:30.640 nine, verse one. Basically, as Saul is going on this persecution spree, 326 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:33.359 how many of us know it. You can't stop the Gospel of Jesus 327 00:25:33.400 --> 00:25:37.960 Christ. You just can't. And if you persecute the gospel, it multiplies, 328 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:42.039 spreads, and covers the earth. That's that's the blessing of persecution as 329 00:25:42.039 --> 00:25:47.279 you persecute it just it's like wildfires went to the flame. It's amazing. 330 00:25:47.319 --> 00:25:52.440 So as he's persecuting, everybody's going everywhere preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, 331 00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:56.000 and people are getting saved and touched along the way. Meanwhile, Saul is 332 00:25:56.079 --> 00:26:00.720 uttering threats with every breath and was ea or to kill the Lord's followers. 333 00:26:02.440 --> 00:26:06.640 And he went to the High Priest. He requested letters addressing the synagogues and 334 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:10.759 Damascus, asking for their cooperation and the arrest of any followers of the way 335 00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:14.880 he found there he went, he wanted to bring them, both men and 336 00:26:14.920 --> 00:26:22.640 women back to Jerusalem in chains. As he was approaching Damascus on this mission 337 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:33.200 trip. Yeah, a light from heaven suddenly shone downs. Remind you of 338 00:26:33.240 --> 00:26:44.400 anything, Stephen, Maybe it's amazing how Jesus brings Paul back, or Saul 339 00:26:44.519 --> 00:26:49.839 back to his first encounter. His first encounter was when he was sitting and 340 00:26:49.880 --> 00:26:53.640 everybody's coat was laid at his feet, when they were stoning Stephen. When 341 00:26:53.680 --> 00:27:00.240 the light of God shone down on Stephen, and Stephen saw what the kingdom's 342 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:07.680 all about, and Jesus pulls back, almost like brings Paul back into that 343 00:27:07.799 --> 00:27:19.759 experience. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 344 00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:26.240 Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you? Lord? 345 00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:30.079 Saul asked, and the voice replied, I am Jesus, the one 346 00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:33.400 you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city, where you 347 00:27:33.400 --> 00:27:37.880 will be told what you must do. Then the men, the men with 348 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:41.599 the men with Saul, stood up speechless, for they heard the sounds of 349 00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:45.519 someone's voice, but saw no one. Saul picked himself up the ground, 350 00:27:45.799 --> 00:27:48.039 and when he was open, when he opened his eyes, he was blind. 351 00:27:49.240 --> 00:27:56.079 So his companions led him to Damascus by hand. He remained there blind 352 00:27:56.119 --> 00:28:00.079 for three days and didn't eat or drink. I was thinking, why with 353 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:04.200 Jesus blind him? It's again, it's a question of your perspective. He 354 00:28:04.279 --> 00:28:11.319 had to close the eyes of Saul so that everything he saw, everything he 355 00:28:11.400 --> 00:28:15.319 knew to be true, would be cleansed and redeemed. Like even now, 356 00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:19.079 let's practice this. Close your eyes with me for just a second. Immediately, 357 00:28:19.079 --> 00:28:22.920 when you've closed your eyes, you're more aware of your internals. You 358 00:28:22.920 --> 00:28:26.599 can open your eyes now you're more aware of what you feel, what you're 359 00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:30.640 thinking, what you're desiring. Some of us are aware that you're hungry, 360 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.200 just different things. You're just more aware. And so God and his mercy 361 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:40.839 blind soul for three days, and I believe it was internal cleansing, as 362 00:28:40.599 --> 00:28:45.640 as the Lord was redirecting and shifting his perspective, showing him everything he thought 363 00:28:45.640 --> 00:28:48.400 to be true and where the lies were, and how Jesus connects to the 364 00:28:48.440 --> 00:28:52.480 Old Testament, how he's a fulfillment. I believe that was all going on 365 00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:56.000 in the midst And then what God does is he calls out to a guy 366 00:28:56.079 --> 00:29:02.680 named Annanias Annonius was in Damascus, and Jesus shows up to Annonias in a 367 00:29:02.759 --> 00:29:06.480 vision and he's a Anonis, there's a guy I want you to go and 368 00:29:06.599 --> 00:29:11.920 lay hands on because he's blind and he needs his vision because he needs to 369 00:29:11.960 --> 00:29:15.200 do things and all this stuff. And his name is, by the way, 370 00:29:15.240 --> 00:29:18.559 his name is Saul of Tarsus. And Annonis was like, oh, 371 00:29:18.680 --> 00:29:22.240 Jesus, I think you're wrong about this guy. Like I don't know if 372 00:29:22.279 --> 00:29:23.920 you heard. Let me tell you God, just in case you're not in 373 00:29:23.960 --> 00:29:27.920 the know. This guy is like not a good guy. He's here to 374 00:29:29.160 --> 00:29:33.240 like get people in prison and to kill them. And I think we should 375 00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:37.440 just skip this one. And Jesus once again confirms that no, you need 376 00:29:37.480 --> 00:29:41.400 to do this because Saul has a call on his life. And watch what 377 00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:47.720 happens. In first eleven says, go over to Jesus is speaking to Annoni's 378 00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:52.160 go over to straight street. Well, yep, straight street, to the 379 00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:59.160 house of Judaeus Judas where when you are there, ask for a man from 380 00:29:59.160 --> 00:30:02.519 Tarsus names Soul. He's praying to me right now. I've shown him a 381 00:30:02.599 --> 00:30:04.960 vision of a man, and and I is coming and laying his hands on 382 00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:10.640 him so that he can see again verse thirteen. He rejects, but then 383 00:30:10.759 --> 00:30:15.559 verse fifteen, once again Jesus says, go for Soul's my chosen instrument to 384 00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:18.839 take my message to the gentiles, to the kings, as well as to 385 00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:22.200 other people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer 386 00:30:22.279 --> 00:30:26.640 from my name. Verse seventeen. Here we are so Annonias went found Saul. 387 00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:30.960 He laid his hands on him and said, brother, Saul, the 388 00:30:30.039 --> 00:30:34.559 Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road has sent me so that you 389 00:30:34.640 --> 00:30:47.920 might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy spirit. HM. When 390 00:30:48.039 --> 00:30:57.039 you hold people's sin against them, you are withholding their breakthrough. I'm gonna 391 00:30:57.039 --> 00:31:03.759 say that warmer time. When you hold people's sin against them, you are 392 00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:10.400 in a position to withhold the breakthrough that God's intending for them. Perhaps God 393 00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:12.960 is showing you that sin for you to be the answer and the breakthrough in 394 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:19.119 their life. Can you imagine if Antonius really rejected and said, sorry, 395 00:31:19.240 --> 00:31:23.279 God, let's let's figure out some other plan, and he helps Saul sin 396 00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:27.079 against him. Can you imagine that Saul would never be Paul? Do you 397 00:31:27.160 --> 00:31:33.279 know that half of this New Testament here? You know who wrote it? 398 00:31:33.079 --> 00:31:42.000 Paul? Who was Saul? And can you imagine if God pulls us out 399 00:31:42.039 --> 00:31:48.160 of the selfish perspective, an offended, an offensive perspective, and calls us 400 00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:52.880 into a selfless and unoffended perspective that we would have on this earth, what 401 00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:56.759 it would look like if we would walk out of those doors and be unoffended 402 00:31:56.759 --> 00:32:00.000 no matter what comes our way, that we would have a kingdom perspective. 403 00:32:00.039 --> 00:32:04.559 Even everybody who might want to offend us actually gets touched with Jesus. Can 404 00:32:04.599 --> 00:32:15.279 you imagine instantly verse eighteen, something like Scales fell off Saul's eyes and he 405 00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:22.160 regained his sight. So much about vision here, it's ridiculous. Then he 406 00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:27.240 got up and was baptized. Afterward, he ate some food and regained his 407 00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:30.240 strength. Joe came up to me and told me that was communion. He 408 00:32:30.519 --> 00:32:36.000 I believe it. Actually, it's because their strength and communion what we do 409 00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:38.640 every Sunday we come here for a lot of us are doing it every day. 410 00:32:38.839 --> 00:32:44.480 Their strength and the broken body and the blood of Jesus our source of 411 00:32:44.559 --> 00:32:57.680 so much outwardly. Outwardly, in the realm of the physical or the natural, 412 00:32:58.160 --> 00:33:05.599 we only have authority over what we've seen inwardly. I'm gonna say that 413 00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:10.640 long more time. On the outside, you can only bear fruit of what 414 00:33:10.680 --> 00:33:15.599 you've experienced, or what you truly come to know, or what you've seen 415 00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:22.799 inwardly. That's why in Vegas we saw a massive fruit, because there was 416 00:33:22.880 --> 00:33:27.240 a there was a moment that got highlighted and there was a shift of transformation, 417 00:33:27.599 --> 00:33:30.119 and he allowed us to see something inwardly, and he allowed us to 418 00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:37.799 see Vegas through a different light, and therefore we bore much fruit. Is 419 00:33:37.839 --> 00:33:45.240 that the right word? Bore much fruit. Therefore, when the Lord comes 420 00:33:45.279 --> 00:33:49.680 and he begins to address things inwardly. That is the best thing that can 421 00:33:49.720 --> 00:33:54.000 happen for us. And a lot of times he's working to kill your flesh. 422 00:33:54.240 --> 00:33:58.319 He's working to kill that me, myself, an eye in you. 423 00:34:00.119 --> 00:34:02.920 The most precious thing that can happen for a believer is when they die to 424 00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:14.039 themselves. I'm want to quickly go to Ephesians, chapter one, verse fifteen. 425 00:34:21.719 --> 00:34:30.440 You see, when God illuminates something inside of you, there's a position 426 00:34:30.599 --> 00:34:37.320 that God gives you to jump ship, to jump from what you thought to 427 00:34:37.440 --> 00:34:42.000 what he's thinking. When he illuminates, when he shines his light, when 428 00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:45.360 he exposes something could be greed, could be selfishness, could be maybe you 429 00:34:45.400 --> 00:34:49.400 mistreated somebody. You had no clue, but maybe you mistreated somebody. Maybe 430 00:34:49.440 --> 00:34:52.400 something happened and he's shined some light and you're like, oh my God, 431 00:34:52.599 --> 00:34:57.880 conviction, whatever, that's his grace or at least in that moment to jump 432 00:34:58.039 --> 00:35:06.119 from one to another and to respond to that call. We hear that Jesus 433 00:35:06.119 --> 00:35:10.280 says, or I don't think Jesus, but in somewhere in the New Testament, 434 00:35:10.400 --> 00:35:15.719 I think Paul writes it. He's saying that you cannot please God without 435 00:35:15.760 --> 00:35:22.400 faith, and then faith without deeds is dead. And so when we hear 436 00:35:22.440 --> 00:35:28.719 scripture like this, what happens internally we hear deeds. We don't hear faith. 437 00:35:28.760 --> 00:35:30.920 We hear deeds. And so what we try to do is we try 438 00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:36.880 to work harder. And what deeds, what deeds does to us is it 439 00:35:36.920 --> 00:35:40.760 becomes a strife thing and we get works mentality where if we have more deeds 440 00:35:40.840 --> 00:35:45.039 or if we've done more, we'll feel better and we'll feel like we have 441 00:35:45.119 --> 00:35:52.760 faith. But that's not totally true because you can do the right things, 442 00:35:52.840 --> 00:35:57.639 but the wrong way. You can have deeds, but it comes out of 443 00:35:57.639 --> 00:36:01.239 the wrong heart. First Corinthians, they're teen talks about love and saying that 444 00:36:01.320 --> 00:36:06.519 you can do all these things, but if you don't have love, it's 445 00:36:06.559 --> 00:36:12.159 nothing. So it's a position of heart and perspective. So when we hear 446 00:36:12.400 --> 00:36:16.840 faith without deeds is dead, and where we're provoked to do more for the 447 00:36:16.920 --> 00:36:22.079 Lord, and it's not coming out of faith, it's coming out of strife, 448 00:36:22.320 --> 00:36:30.840 we're missing the point. You see, when the Lord shines his light 449 00:36:30.119 --> 00:36:36.400 on our life and he reveals something or maybe an area that we're not doing 450 00:36:36.440 --> 00:36:39.000 well enough, and it's not for you to strife. It's for you to 451 00:36:39.119 --> 00:36:44.519 yield to him. It's not for you to work harder, but it's for 452 00:36:44.559 --> 00:36:52.760 you to submit to him better because it's the power of the Holy Spirit working 453 00:36:53.000 --> 00:37:00.000 in you, causing you to do things that pleases him. So the more 454 00:37:00.039 --> 00:37:02.719 you yield to the Holy Spirit, the more he's actually working in you. 455 00:37:02.920 --> 00:37:07.320 And you can't tell how, you don't know what you don't there's no way 456 00:37:07.320 --> 00:37:10.440 to put a finger on it. But when the Holy Spirit's working on you, 457 00:37:10.639 --> 00:37:15.559 the fruit becomes evident. So what he gives us as a task to 458 00:37:15.559 --> 00:37:19.400 do is to believe in Jesus, believe in the sun, and work less 459 00:37:19.519 --> 00:37:24.000 I believe it or not. The importance of perspective shift is so important. 460 00:37:24.440 --> 00:37:28.840 I'll bring you a very practical example since we're on the topic of tides, 461 00:37:30.280 --> 00:37:37.000 so a lot of us view ties in this way. One is we're losing 462 00:37:37.119 --> 00:37:43.559 ten percent of our money, Like we're giving away ten percent to fulfill what 463 00:37:43.639 --> 00:37:50.079 God's requested of us. So we're giving away, so we're losing I mean, 464 00:37:50.119 --> 00:37:52.079 there's still godly principles and even if you have that, even if you 465 00:37:52.119 --> 00:37:55.760 have that perspective, God will bless it and you'll you'll experience amazing things. 466 00:37:57.119 --> 00:38:01.199 But there's a different perspective. It's a kingdom perspective, and it's called investing. 467 00:38:04.559 --> 00:38:07.840 So when you give ten percent when you tied, you're actually still attached 468 00:38:07.880 --> 00:38:14.760 to it. You've invested into something. And so when you invest there's a 469 00:38:14.880 --> 00:38:19.800 return because the perspective which you come to something is what you'll get from it. 470 00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:24.079 So it's the faith attached to what you're doing. So if God lights 471 00:38:24.159 --> 00:38:28.920 up your world and shows you, hey, you've been actually you've been losing 472 00:38:28.960 --> 00:38:34.239 money by tithing. If God shines his light on you, that means he 473 00:38:34.239 --> 00:38:37.599 actually wants to take you to a deeper or more higher place. He wants 474 00:38:37.679 --> 00:38:39.920 to take you, He wants to bless your life. I mean, when 475 00:38:39.920 --> 00:38:45.519 I heard the statistic that like half of the church tides, I mean I 476 00:38:45.920 --> 00:38:49.559 shrunk in my seat. Not because not because I'm like, oh my God, 477 00:38:49.599 --> 00:38:55.000 we're not believers. It's because we are selling, sure from what God's 478 00:38:55.039 --> 00:38:58.400 called us to be. I mean, a lot of us are praying for 479 00:38:58.440 --> 00:39:01.000 opportunity, but we're not giving God the opportunity to bless what we're doing. 480 00:39:02.079 --> 00:39:06.440 We're asking the Lord to do certain things in our life, but we don't 481 00:39:06.440 --> 00:39:09.159 want to give him anything to work with. I mean, my wife and 482 00:39:09.199 --> 00:39:13.960 I tied for two years and and the moment I said, okay, Lord, 483 00:39:14.239 --> 00:39:16.000 I like some more money, he gave me a business idea, I 484 00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:21.719 mean like, and I'm still doing it and it's great. And I had 485 00:39:22.119 --> 00:39:24.559 no clue what I was doing beside the Lord told me what to do. 486 00:39:28.199 --> 00:39:37.239 And so the difference between how we were and how we're gonna be as your 487 00:39:37.239 --> 00:39:51.719 response to what the Lord is doing in your own life. Ephesians, chapter 488 00:39:51.880 --> 00:39:54.920 one, verse fifteen. Ever since I heard of your strong faith in the 489 00:39:54.960 --> 00:40:00.000 Lord and your love for God's people everywhere, I have not stopped thinking God 490 00:40:00.199 --> 00:40:04.760 for you. I pray for you, constantly asking God, the glorious Father 491 00:40:04.840 --> 00:40:12.239 of Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight kingdom perspective, 492 00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:21.599 so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your 493 00:40:21.599 --> 00:40:28.599 hearts would be flooded with light yep, so that you can understand the confident 494 00:40:28.639 --> 00:40:31.840 hope that He's given to those he has called his Holy people, who are 495 00:40:31.840 --> 00:40:37.920 His rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible 496 00:40:37.960 --> 00:40:45.039 greatness of God's power for us who believe him. This is the same power. 497 00:40:46.039 --> 00:40:51.599 This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated 498 00:40:51.679 --> 00:40:53.920 him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. 499 00:40:55.760 --> 00:41:00.360 Man, oh Man, oh man. So it's the goal of everything we're 500 00:41:00.360 --> 00:41:07.000 doing here, like all the preaching, all the teaching, and and the 501 00:41:07.280 --> 00:41:12.199 pastors, prophets, evangelists, and everything that you might hear from the Lord 502 00:41:12.760 --> 00:41:15.480 in your car or just even your chat amongst each other. What's the goal 503 00:41:15.519 --> 00:41:19.519 of it? What's the purpose? What's the goal of our all of our 504 00:41:19.559 --> 00:41:28.679 instruction? Chapter four, verse eleven. Now, these are the gifts that 505 00:41:28.800 --> 00:41:34.239 Christ gave to the church. The apostles, the prophets, evangelists, pastors 506 00:41:34.239 --> 00:41:40.199 and teachers. Their responsibility. The goal that they have is to equip God's 507 00:41:40.239 --> 00:41:45.280 people to do His work and build up the Church, the body of Christ. 508 00:41:45.800 --> 00:41:52.039 This will continue until we've all come to such unity and our faith and 509 00:41:52.159 --> 00:41:57.800 our knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring 510 00:41:57.880 --> 00:42:05.400 up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Oh Lord, just go 511 00:42:05.480 --> 00:42:08.239 home and read that again. Please. We just pastor did an amazing job, 512 00:42:08.360 --> 00:42:12.480 like last month or the month before, like four weeks in a row. 513 00:42:12.679 --> 00:42:15.679 We touched up on that verse, and I mean, the whole idea 514 00:42:15.920 --> 00:42:22.039 is just it's the goal that would become more like Him, that his light 515 00:42:22.440 --> 00:42:29.760 would shine into our life, expose dark hidden things and expose any demonic influences, 516 00:42:29.840 --> 00:42:36.000 and expose any lies that we believe in, and bring us to the 517 00:42:36.039 --> 00:42:43.239 feet in the heart of Jesus. Would you stand with me. We're gonna 518 00:42:43.239 --> 00:42:54.159 sing this song Holy Spare. You're welcome here. I feel like I know 519 00:42:54.239 --> 00:42:59.440 the Lord is onto something. I don't know if the person is here, 520 00:42:59.519 --> 00:43:02.440 but heard that somebody was here first service. His name was Stephen. He 521 00:43:02.559 --> 00:43:07.400 lived in Vegas and he just recently came back to the Lord on Tuesday, 522 00:43:08.159 --> 00:43:12.800 and he was here for the first time first service, and I mean the 523 00:43:12.840 --> 00:43:15.840 message might have been just for him. I don't know, but I know 524 00:43:15.920 --> 00:43:20.639 the Lord is onto something because maybe your heart is responding to it. Maybe 525 00:43:20.679 --> 00:43:23.599 there's some things that the Lord is doing inside your heart, inside your soul. 526 00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:27.760 Maybe you're hearing you've never given your life to the Lord, or maybe 527 00:43:27.800 --> 00:43:31.199 your backslid and like Anthony was in Vegas, and maybe there's different things that 528 00:43:31.280 --> 00:43:36.039 God's doing. I don't know, but you know, because the Holy Spirit 529 00:43:36.159 --> 00:43:39.360 is like an amazing light and he shines. That's his job is to shine, 530 00:43:39.639 --> 00:43:44.400 and our job, or our privilege is to respond to what he's shining 531 00:43:44.480 --> 00:43:46.639 too. So I want to encourage you, if if if I can have 532 00:43:46.679 --> 00:43:50.079 some destiny team up here, if you got to go grab your kids, 533 00:43:50.119 --> 00:43:52.920 go grab them. But if there's something the Lord is shining on, or 534 00:43:53.159 --> 00:43:58.119 maybe there's there's a call that God's calling you to. Maybe God's actually called 535 00:43:58.159 --> 00:44:02.360 you to us certain ministry or to do something and you've been resisting. I 536 00:44:02.400 --> 00:44:07.960 don't know what it is, but there's a moment here the grace will illuminate. 537 00:44:08.559 --> 00:44:13.440 Grace will illuminate your situation. And I believe that God is giving us 538 00:44:13.440 --> 00:44:16.480 the grace to jump, to jump into all that He has for us. 539 00:44:16.719 --> 00:44:22.199 So this morning I want to pray over us, a crazy good prayer, 540 00:44:22.440 --> 00:44:25.159 and I believe the Holy Spirit is going to continue his work. Ready, 541 00:44:25.320 --> 00:44:30.679 Father, I'll thank you this morning for your presence, for your nearness, 542 00:44:30.400 --> 00:44:35.639 Holy Spirit. We ask that you would just come even now and light up 543 00:44:35.679 --> 00:44:40.760 our worlds. Even now, would you come light up our worlds just like 544 00:44:40.800 --> 00:44:46.360 you did for Saul. Light up our worlds, Light up our worlds. 545 00:44:49.480 --> 00:44:52.880 If you feel like you have to come and agree in prayer with somebody, 546 00:44:52.880 --> 00:44:54.280 would you come to the front. If you feel like you just gotta sit 547 00:44:54.320 --> 00:44:58.440 down for a moment, maybe you gotta lay down, maybe you just gotta 548 00:44:58.480 --> 00:45:01.559 get on your knees. Respond to the Holy Spirit the way your heart is 549 00:45:01.639 --> 00:45:07.440 responding. And I believe we're going to experience radical encounters and key Lord, you