Transcript
A (0:00)
Foreign.
B (0:04)
Hey good people, this is Torre Roberts. Blessings to you and welcome to the ONE Podcast. I'm excited that you're here. ONE is a community of dynamic and vibrant thought leaders, preachers, teachers, and just a community of wonderful people all together. And we're excited to bring you this weekly podcast from our services from ONE in la. If you haven't been to one, I encourage you to check it out. You can go to One the Word one O N E online and find out all about the service times and all about the teachers and all the philanthropic things that we have going. I believe you're going to be blessed to be a part of it. And speaking of being blessed, we're getting ready to get into a teaching right now that I believe is going to bless you. So tune in, enjoy, and I'll be back with you at the end.
A (0:54)
I'm in full Bible nerd mode today, y'. All. I'm so excited to share this word with you. We're gonna start in Ephesians 3. We're gonna read verses 14 through 21. When Pastor Ed was up here earlier, he mentioned we just wrapped up the first quarter of the year and he's right in the spirit cause this is a first quarter review today. We're so blessed to receive so much from the Lord, his presence, His Word. And we can just wanna run on to the next series, the next topic, the next idea, excitement. But we are going to sit in what he's been doing. So I want us to read these verses together because we know that the word abundance is the banner over our lives this year. That has not changed. So let's read together. For this reason, starting at Ephesians 3, starting at 14. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that ye may be filled with all the fullness of God. Say it loud now, now unto him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us to him be glory to the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Hallelujah. We are standing in abundance. Don't forget it. Because we can get in the grind and forget the grace, but we are standing here in a poor state. He's pouring out his abundance over our lives. And so we're gonna dig into a word today. Just we're gonna review that concept. I want it fresh in your mind. Are you ready? Grab your seats. I'm gonna skip to two Kings, chapter four, verse eight. Let me tell you, when the Lord spoke to me last night and told me I could preach on this story, I voice texted two people saying, I think the Holy Spirit just told me I could preach about one of my favorite stories tomorrow. I was like, yes, thank you. And it' I believe since I've really dug into this story and I'm so excited about it, it's about a woman who was just referred to in the Bible as the Shunammite woman. Man, this story is good. Let's start at verse eight. It says now, it happened one day that Elisha, who was a prophet, went to Shunem where there was a notable woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food. And she said to her husband, look, now I know that this is a holy man of God who passes by us regularly. Please let us make a small upper room on the wall and let us put a bed for him there and a table and a chair and a lampstand. So it will be whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there. And it happened one day that he came there and he turned into the upper room and lay down there. Then he said to Gehazi, his servant, call this Shunammite woman. When he had called her, she stood before him and he said to him, say now to her, look, you have concerned for us with all this, been concerned for us with all this care. What can I do for you? Do you want me to speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army? And she answered, I dwell among my own people. I'mma stop right there. Listen. She said, I dwell among my own people. This is a great woman. The Bible calls her a great woman. Another way to translate that word, great, is a woman of note, a noble woman. She was well known in her city. She was living abundantly. She was well known. It says that she asked the man of God to stop and eat food. It didn't say she cooked it. She was living well. She had people. It was like she cooked them the food. She said, come in and eat food. There's plenty of other places in the Word where a woman cooks food. We see them in there. But she said, come, eat food. She was a woman who had means. And then after, he keeps coming. She's like, this man is a holy man. She goes to her husband and says it. Look at the abundance in the marriage. She goes to him and says, I know that this is a holy man of God. This woman has a gift of discernment, and she has the confidence in her marriage to go to her husband and say it. She doesn't just go, I think maybe I might, you know, just wanted to suggest. She said, I know it. That means she knew her gifts. She knew she could speak from the spirit. She was in a marriage, in a relationship that had room for her gift. And then he turns, and she then says, please, can we build a room for him? Do you see that dynamics there? There is submission, there's headship, but there's also an equitable stance. Ooh, beautiful. That's abundance. That relationship showed abundance. And so she knows who she is. She speaks a word, she says to her husband, can we please do this? They come into agreement, and now they're going to build a whole room on their house. Again, abundance. They built a room just for him, Airbnb style. It had everything in it. It had a bed, a table, a lamp stand. Honey, it had everything in it. I'm sure it wasn't skimpy. I'm sure it wasn't raggedy. She built this for him. And so he comes and stays there, and his servant is with him. And so now he turns to her, hey, let me do something for you. She has sown abundance into the man of God. She put her money in a spiritual space, and she didn't ask for anything. She was just happy to serve. She didn't build the room believing that God might do something for her. She didn't build the room to say, if I do this, maybe I'll get that. She just wanted to be a blessing. It was worship. It was a way to make room for God's word. When it passed by, I know we reap. But she didn't ask for anything. And then he offers her something. What can I do for you? And he wields his influence. I mean, basically, he's like, I know people. You want me to call the king? You want me to call the commander, the army, what you got? He didn't offer her nothing low because she's a great woman. She has abundance. So he wasn't like, hey, are your lights about to be Turned off. No, clearly not, because I'm at your house. So he had to go high level to see what she might need because she was not a woman looking needy. Oh, we got to get into a salvation that's not always about lack. We got to get to a place where our faith is not always being utilized for what we need. Oh, Jesus. Oh, man, I'm preaching already. And so. So he says, the king, the commander, army. She said, I live among my own people. So what did that mean? Who were her people? Because she's called the Shunammite woman. Shunah was in the valley of Jezreel. This land was inherited by the tribe of Issachar. And it was known to be a productive, fertile space. And so the people of the tribe of Issachar, they were productive people. Issachar, when he was born to Leah. I'm not going to get all into that story. She says, when she gives birth to him, I have received my reward. So Issachar has reward attached to it. It's a productive space. She said, I'm good. These my people. I'm in Shunam. And so here she is. I want you to just take a look at what abundance looks like. This woman was standing in abundance. But the prophet doesn't say, all right, well, then forget it. You don't need nothing. He goes in verse 14, 2 Kings, verse 4, verse 14. So he said, what then is to be done for her? Now, it's interesting. He's not talking directly to her. He's talking to a servant, and she's standing right there. He's going back and forth with her. And Gehazi said, answered. Actually, she has no son and her husband is old. So Gehazi has been going back and forth. And so then the prophet says, call her. And when he had called her, she came and stood in the doorway. And then he said, about this time next year, about this time next year, you shall embrace a son. And she said, no, my Lord, man of God, do not lie to your maidservant. Have you ever wanted something and it didn't come? And you wrote it off, you got over it. You let it go. You have so much goodness in your life, so much abundance in other areas. Stop worrying about it. You stop praying for it. You stop believing for it. Because it was too much work to keep staring into an unmet desire. And so somehow she had put it away because he said, what would you have from the Lord? She said, I'm good. Anybody ever, I'm good. And you really thought you were good? Till something poked you in that spot. This time next year, you should have us on. She said, oh, now, see, see, I was minding my business, serving the Lord. I changed. The sheets have been changed. You have been fed. Your favorite private chef is here when you come. And now you gonna start with me. You gonna get in my business and make a promise about something that I let go of? What have you allowed to slip out of your grip? What have you stopped keeping in the prayer rotation? What have you let go of so that you didn't have to ask God why anymore? What have you sealed over in the corner of your mind? You let it slip out of your grip, but God still sees your heart. And so he challenged her by telling her what was going to happen. And man, I tell you, I believe that the Shunammite woman may have been a woman of color because when she said, no, my lord, she was respectful, my man of God. Again, respectful. And also, do not lie, do not, do not lie to your maidservant. However, in verse 17, when it says, but the woman conceived. Now, why? But because she didn't say, my lord, man of God, I don't believe you have lied. And so I receive it by faith. She said, don't lie to me, and walked off. But, honey, her faith in that space wasn't even required. She still conceived. God's word is more powerful than your emotional situation. You can feel how you feel, but God's going to do what he said he's going to do. And the man of God said, you will hold the child. He didn't say, do you believe you'll hold the child? He said, you will. Don't lie to me. She walked out, but she didn't even come all the way in the room and said, she just stood in the door. Is anybody just standing in the door right now? Some of you are just looking at me, you standing in the door because you're like, she's trying to get me to pick up what I laid down. She's trying to get me to believe again in something that was too hard to get over because it took too long. Oh, when I was young, I believed that I would be wealthy or I would succeed in this area. I would have this family or this condition would be healed. But I've laid it down enough to still serve God and enjoy the rest of my life. And now I'm challenging you. And your spirit is trying to wake up, but you're standing at the door. But his word is going to do what it says. It was sent to Do. But the woman conceived and bore a son. When the appointed time had come, of which Elisha had told her she ain't even. She didn't have a daughter. Instead, she didn't have twins. She what he said got done. She bore a son. And when the appointed time came, had come, of which Elijah had told her she had him. Let's go down to verse 18. Because, man, there's a plot twist and not the kind we like. It says, and the child grew. Now, it happened one day that he went out to his father, to the reapers. And he said to his father, my head, my head. So he said to a servant, carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon and then died. I stood in the door and now. And I got the thing. And not only did the child die, but I think about these moments. It says she sat, he sat on her knees till noon and died. Maybe you've had that experience where it looked like the thing that you believed God for was coming. And it came and she sat there. Can you. And I. I don't know if you've ever sat there and held your marriage in your arms and watched it die. I don't know if you had that career change and the job was it. But then they started talking about you and maneuvering and somebody wanted you out. And you said, sat there and watched your dream job die. You made it to la, all the doors opened up, you got the job, you got the apartment, you got the part, you got the thing. It was going well for years. And then suddenly my head, My head. And I think it is not insignificant where the child was when the headache that struck him and ultimately killed him happened. It says he was with his father among the reapers. That means he was out in the field where you harvest what your return is for what you sowed. He was out there amongst the reapers. I mean, he was literal harvest. Out there with the harvest as they're reaping what they sold. But then something they reaped died. She held him until she. He died. I have to imagine that she was praying so hard during that time. I bet she was calling life into him and in modern day language, rebuking the devil and pleading the blood. She didn't have the blood yet, but if it was our moment, I imagine she was prayers, oil, whatever they had. She was sitting there doing what she could do. This was a woman of means. If a doctor could have done something, she could afford it. But she sat there and he died. But then, my God, she did not stay seated. The next verse says in verse 21, after he died, and she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon him and went out. When God said, this needs to be the most spiritually focused year of your life, this is what spiritual focus looks like. She held him till he died. She didn't fall on the floor and start hollering and screaming. She didn't run to her husband and say, what are we gonna do? She didn't start yelling at God and say, why would you? She stood up, she walked to the room where she stood in the door and got this word in the first place. The man of God was in the room when he gave her the word in the first place. She went through the door this time and she laid him on the bed where the man of God had been. I gotta believe she wasn't using it for no Airbnb. Only the man of God stayed in that bed. It was an all too sacred kind of space. And she walked into the door. There was no. But this time she was active. She was active because she had now seen what God would do. And so she walked into the door, she laid him on the bed, she went out and she shut the door. She never said anything. Yet in this year where the banner over us is abundance and God has called us to have the most spiritually focused of year of our life, yet your mouth will be your greatest enemy to your spiritual focus. If you ain't got nothing nice to say, don't say nothing. Silence is better than opening your mouth and sowing your own word seeds onto your heart that will then grow. So she said nothing. Then in verse 22, she called to her husband and said, please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys that I may run to the man of God and come back. When she opened her mouth, she had a strategy, honey. She didn't say what was wrong. She didn't tell nobody what the problem was. She said, I gave one of the young men to go get me a donkey. Bring him here. I'm going to see the man of God. I'll be right back. She said, I'm going to run to see him and I'll be right back. Baby, you got to recognize your trial and your tribulation is but for a moment only going to be a little while. You better go to your altar, go to the man of God, woman of God, word of God, and say, I'll be right Back? She didn't say maybe. I don't know. I'll be right back. She still ain't told nobody that the child is dead in the room. She said nothing. And her husband's in the field reaping, so he don't. Come on. Do not allow one area that gets dark and weird looking to stop you from reaping in the other areas of your life. You gotta stop being paralyzed by the thing that looks off when there's so much to reap. Keep reaping. Keep reaping. God is gonna do what he said, but you keep enjoying what else is there. Oh, Jesus. Okay, okay, okay. I told y' all I was in a mood to today. I'm in a move today. Jesus. Now she goes down. Then she called to her husband. She told her servant, go get me a donkey. Then she called to her husband and said, please send me one of the young men. I'm sorry. One of the young men was a donkey. She called her husband and got that, that I may run to the man of God and come back. She did not tell him his son was dead. So he said, why are you going to him today? He's suspicious. It is neither the new moon nor the Sabbath. What you going to church today for? It's not Sunday or. Why you going? You was just here last week. You just went to church Wednesday night. What you doing here? This isn't that time of year. It's not Mother's Day. It's not Easter. Why you going? Where you going? That's essentially what he said. It's neither the new moon nor the Sabbath. And she said, it is. Well, my God, that will never get old as long as I've been in church. It. She's looking at him. This is her husband. They got this miracle together, and she didn't even bother to tell him. It looks like God has failed us. She went again to him for provision for what she needed for her spiritual focus, and he gave it to her. That dynamic is so beautiful. They were one with each other. He knew her, she knew him. She said, it is well. Then she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, drive and go forward. Do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you. Don't be like, ma', am, am I going too fast? Ma' am, is the ride go? She said, don't slow down, but here's something we cannot miss. I had this flash of her on a donkey riding into a place, I think just a couple weeks ago. We celebrated Jesus, the King of Kings. Get on a donkey and ride into a. I had a Jesus flash. I'm just saying. And here's what matters in Genesis 49. I'm not going to go there. But the tribe of Issachar that she's from is described as a strong donkey that can bear burdens. She's riding on her spiritual inheritance. She's focused on what she is determined to have based on who she is spiritually. You got to keep that focus. Who are you? Whose are you? Who do you serve? Because that will change your posture. Who are you? Whose are you? Who do you serve? She got on that donkey and took off riding. Then she finally gets there. Oh, my God, she saddles that donkey. Let's go to verse 25. And so she departed and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel. So it was when the man of God saw her afar off that he said to his servant Gehazi, look, it's a Shunammite woman. What's she doing here? Please run now to meet her and say to her, is it well with you? She done said it was. Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered to Gehazi, it is well again. See, life and death is in the power of the tongue. You have to choose. But it's not just saying any old thing, because the Bible also says that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So if your heart and your words are not matching, those words are loose and useless. Somewhere down in her heart, she knew that God was not going to fail. And so she could say, it is well, and she meant it. I need you to get the tears out. I need you to get the holler out. I need you to throw your shoe and whatever you got to do to work to the place that when you say, it is well, you mean it. Until then, Some of you couldn't have said it as well when you walked in here this morning. But you're going to be able to say it and mean it before you walk out this door. It is well. Now, when she came to the man of God at the hill, she caught him by the feet. She was a great woman. She went low. She caught him by the feet. Oh, Jesus. She caught him by the feet. But Gehazi came near to push her away. But the man of God said, let her alone, for her soul is in deep distress. And the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me. Let me tell you that he's a prophet. I'm a prophet. This is what I tell you. I'm a prophet, not a psychic. If you don't tell me and God don't tell me, I ain't gonna know. Sometimes you're going to the people of God, the leaders of God. You want them so bad to give you a word to tell you what God's gonna do. If I could just hear from her. Honey, you need to hear from the Lord. If you don't tell me and God don't tell me, God's gonna talk to you. The Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me. Verse 28. So she said, did I ask a son of my Lord? And here I originally interpreted this as possibly the most melanated statement in Scripture. Did I not say, but you can't yell at the man of God. So I imagine it'll be like you got your court voice. Did I not say, say I have all the consonants. I. Did I ask a child of the Lord? I did not even ask. But you said it and now it came. And I love him. And then now I get this grief. Did I not say. Did I not say, do not deceive me. But God showed me last night that I was not hearing that right, that my flesh and my attitude, how I imagine I would have, is there. But. And sometimes we don't know. So you lean in, you imagine. But God showed me in scripture how to properly interpret her. Listen, here we have a prophet Elijah. We have a woman crying on his feet, and we have a man saying she shouldn't be doing it. I believe that a few weeks ago there was a woman with an alabaster box. She fell at the feet of Jesus and broke it open. And Judas stood there and said, what is she doing? This is a waste of money. This is a foreshadowing of that moment. And so that's how. My God. So that's how I know this great woman came. But she broke her heart open. And they said, doc, I didn't ask for this. Did I not say. Did I not say. There's no attitude. She broke it open on his feet. See, some of us are so great, noble and known public figures and all our followers and our videos and clips and credits, but baby, sometimes you got to break open the thing that means the most to you. And this was her heart. And there is Gehazi who's tied to get her to leave Jesus feet. There'll be a Judas in the space. You will know if you are in the right position, if you are at the feet of God, the. But somebody Else is talking trash about your belief in God, your position in God, you know, that's your moment. Pour all of it out. Because Gehazi's name means valley vision. He only sees problems. He only sees problems, and he's a thief. In the very next chapter, the Elijah, the prophet heals Naaman the leper. And Naaman tries to give the prophet all kinds of silver and gold. And the prophet says, no, we're not going to take nothing, because I don't want it to look like you paid for what God did. I don't need nothing from you. And Gehazi goes to the. To Naaman and lies. And he said, oh, the prophet told me to come back and get that stuff. He told me to come back and get that silver and gold. And he took it. And because he stole, because he was greedy and money focused, the leprosy that came off Naaman went on to him. He was a problem in the first place. And so I got Jesus sitting there, I got a woman breaking it open, and a man who said, we could have gave this to the poor, but really he just wanted it in the bank so he could take it. And in five seconds, he's getting 30 pieces of silver to sell us. It's the same scene. So let the Word correct you. When you read the Word, you can't just read the Bible. You got to read the whole thing. You got to read it. This is her being spiritually focused. Abundance aside, there's still reaping going on back home. But spiritual focus led her to the feet of Jesus to honestly show the emotion of the moment. She broke it open. She was cool in the door. I live among my own people. But she ain't cool no more. Some of y' all are like that. You hold your feelings close to your chest. I look at you, I would never know how you felt. I would never know what intensity was there. I would never know what you're grieving. Cause you stand in the door and you say, you cool. But she let that out, baby. There's gonna be a moment when you're gonna have to let that go and get a grip on the feet of Jesus and deafen yourself to voices that only tell you about the valley of your life. That's it. Abundance, spiritual focus. Last one. My God, she made a big move. Watch this. Oh, my goodness. I love it. I love it, I love it. I'm gonna keep going then. Verse 29. Then he said to Gehazi, get yourself ready and take my staff in your hand and be on your way. If you meet anyone, do not greet him. And if anyone greets you, don't answer him. Don't slow down for nothing but lay my staff on the face of the child. That staff represents a spiritual authority. Lay my staff on the face of the child. And the mother of the child said, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. Send me with him. I'm not going with the voice that only sees what's dark in the valley. Because that voice that just tried to move me away from the feet of the word I got is not going to be the ambassador to go back to what I need. I will not leave you, God. I don't care how dark it looks. I don't care if it looks like I'm losing. I won't leave. She made a big move by not moving. She said, I'm staying right here. I don't mean no disrespect, but I'm staying here with you. I'm not getting off this word. Y' all need to let it go. No, I don't. No, I don't. Well, come on. You should come to my church. Well, let's go to this conference instead. Well, it doesn't seem to be working. I will not. You ain't got to run around. 87. Where did the word? She said, I will not leave him. And so he arose and he followed her. And the next verse 31, it says now, gehazi went ahead of them. He took off running, so he's ahead of her and the prophet, and he got there first, and he laid the staff on the face of the child. But there was neither voice nor hearing. Gehazi couldn't make it work. Therefore he went back to meet him and told him, saying, the child has not awakened. So they about halfway there, he got there, didn't work out. He comes back. He meets them coming. He said, I put a staff on him, but he's still dead. Mm, mm, mm. So Elisha kept coming. The woman kept coming. It doesn't say that. She fell out crying. He did what you said, and it didn't work. She says nothing. Then she gets there. When Elisha came into the house, there was the child lying dead on his bed. He went in, therefore, shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord. And he went up and lay on the child and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, his hands on his hands. And he fe stretched himself and he stretched himself. Does anybody see the cross? Does anybody see Jesus he stretched himself. They hung him high. They stretched him wide. He hung his head, and then he died. But by his stripes, there's healing. He stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm, but encountered that cross symbol. And he returned and walked back and forth in the house. And again he went and stretched himself out on him because he got warm, but he ain't talk yet. Then the child sneezed seven times, and then he opened his eyes and he called Gehazi and said, call the Shunammite woman. So he called her, and when she came into him, he said, pick up your son. So she went in, fell at his feet again because she remembered where she was, and she fell there again. The number one danger we have is getting so excited when we get what we want that we take off running like the other nine lepers, like anybody else, instead of falling back at the spot that got me here in the first place. She didn't run. I mean, how could you have not been like, give me my baby? She's spiritual focus. Abundance is still happening in her field. She's spiritually focused. She made a big move, and when the harvest for that move came, she fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out. She shows us how to walk out, everything we've been talking about this year. Abundance, spiritual focus, big moves. You can do it. You can do it no matter what it looks like. And in. You can do it more directly than she did because she had to go to the prophet. The prophet had to come to her, and then he had to go a couple of rounds before the child came back to life. But there's a story in Luke chapter eight about a man who had a daughter. His name was Jairus, and he had a daughter who was about 12 years old, which we believe is not far off of the age of her child that died. And this was a man who only had one daughter. She was a woman who only had one son. And he came to Jesus because the child was dying. And Jesus heard his request. But right as he was about to respond to Jairus, a woman who was bleeding grabbed him. And he had to turn around, who touched me. So we got that whole scenario plays out. But then once that's over, he turns his attention back to Jairus. So let's read it in the word, Luke 8. 41. And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus feet, a ruler of the synagogue. He knew the Word. And he fell down at Jesus feet and besought him that he would come into his house. For he had only one daughter, and she lay a dying. But as he went, people thronged him. So we know she gets healed. Skip down to 49. While he yet spake, My God. While Jesus was still saying, daughter, be of good comfort. Your faith has made you whole. Go in peace. While he yet spake. There cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, things done got worse. Thy daughter is dead. Trouble not. The Master tried to get him to give up just because his one child, his blessing, his legacy, was dead. But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, fear not, believe only, and she shall be made whole. And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in. He put people out of the room in the same way that Elisha put people out of the room. He put them out of the room except for Peter, James, and John, and Father, the mother, the maiden. And all of them wept and believed, bewailed her. But he said, weep not, she is not dead, but sleeping. And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. And then he put them all out. And now he's alone with a dead child on the bed, like Elisha was alone with that dead child on the bed. And he put them all out, took her by the hand and called, saying, maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and she arose straight away. Listen here. Elisha was a man like us, but Jesus wasn't. Elisha had to go a couple rounds. Jesus didn't. And you have direct access to Jesus because he is the high priest of good things to come. And so if it looks like the word you received is not coming to pass, or it has come to pass and it has died, you don't have to come and find me and ask about the notes from the message. You don't have to find Pastor Ev or Pastor Charles and say, you gave me a word, and it tells us, hey, honey, go to the Word, go to Jesus. Fall at his feet. You have direct access. And I promise you, he'll. He'll just reach out his hand and resurrect the thing that he spoke, his word cannot return. Void. That word means lifeless. It must accomplish what it was sent to do. And so whatever you are standing on, what you declared on the first Sunday of January when I said, get it on your mind for your testimony on December 31, because you're standing under a banner of abundance when I told you, be spiritually Focused. Don't miss a service. Amp up your prayer time. Get in your way. Word. Let this be the most spiritually focused year of your life. I asked you to have big faith. I dared you to take big steps. I asked you to sow a big seed. I asked you to be people who are big, who make big moves, do not release it. Get a grip on what God said to you, what he said to you, what he said to do. Because every time you let something slip out of your hands because it will be easier not to believe this, don't you let doubt start rewriting the story. Oh, I sold believing for this. But you know, I saw God do something over here and that may have been what God really wanted. Don't start rewriting the story of the word he gave you. Stand on it. Stand strong. But bow broken. Jesus will speak life. Stand to your feet. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. How can you not believe that this Bible is not the word of God? How can these stories be reflected over and over again? You don't need a divinity degree, the exegesis and ISO. You don't need if the Bible will prove itself, just keep reading it and reading it and reading it. Jesus came that you may have life and to have it more abundantly. And what a year for him to speak abundance us. What a year when my God. Tragedies are commonplace, types of diseases, people are slipping away, economy's down, can't get enough pay, muggers and robbers, no place seems to be safe. There's wars, rumors of wars. Sometimes it's depressing just to get online, but you are attached to a movement where before those things even kicked up, he said abundance. And you can stand in the door about it, but his word's coming. He's coming. You can believe it now or you can fall at his feet a little later. Either way, it's gonna happen. So you know what? As they say, I'mma do both of them. Both of them. I'm going to do both. I'm going to believe it and I'm going to break the box of my heart open so that my fears and my pain and my wounds that fight against that relief, against that belief, I'm going to pour those out. I'm going to do both. Anybody else want to join me? And doing both. Hallelujah. Before we go, is there anybody here you are not yet locked in, in a relationship with Jesus? I'm telling you, you missing out, you're missing out. If you don't know a moment when you said in your life. I want to follow Jesus from this day forward. I'm not looking, looking back. Change my mind, change my life, change my heart, change my purpose. If you've not had that, maybe you've consciously believed in him, but have you had an experience with Jesus that you walked away from the altar knowing something just happened to me and I'll never be the same. If you haven't had that experience with Jesus and you want that today, just slip your hand up if you're here. I want to pray for you. I never want to assume that just because you came to church, you know Jesus. Amen. If you're watching online and that's you, type it in the chat and one of our prayer team will get to you. We want to know that everyone knows Jesus. Who would like to be covered under a prayer that says, anchor my belief in your word. Lead me, bless me so good it leads me to the feet of Jesus. Blow my mind so much. Not when you read my mind, God. When you read my heart. You know the desires, you know the thing I've let go of. God, bless us so much that it leaves us weeping at your feet, in awe of you, in surrender to you, in submission to you. Deafen our ears to those who would like to reinterpret our posture. Deafen our ears to them. Let us only hear the word of God and our own cries as we grip the feet of Jesus. The very gospel itself transform us in the process of blessing us so that we don't only receive a thing, but we have a deeper revelation of who you are. And that is the real problem is why we say that it's not about his hand, it's about getting to his feet. Father, we thank you and we trust you to lead us there. And we know that even in the moments of doubt, in the moments of pain, in the moments of what feels like grief and loss and fear, we also know at the same time that you will never fail us. So thank you for loving us enough to not only grant our desires in our heart, but to heal our hearts as well. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. Get a grip and do not let go.
