It's In Your House

Oh, you're worthy.

Praise you, jesus.

You know from my experience, if God never does one more thing for me, he's already done enough.

And sometimes I feel that we praise God based on what we're expecting tomorrow instead of what we already experienced yesterday, and I think we end up switching God's holy throne to a comfortable seat on our couch and we lose the magnitude of his glory in our own translation of who we prefer God to be, and I am guilty of sometimes wishing God would speak and then sometimes wishing he would be quiet.

Have you ever prayed for patience and then you had a child?

Sometimes we pray for answers we don't fully understand.

Sometimes we pray for healing when the ultimate healing is just to be in the hands of Jesus.

It can be very.

Yeah, you may be seated, sorry, unless you just want to pray some more, that's fine.

There has been a fire stirring in my heart this last week, so much so that I would lay awake at night and just imagine what God is about to do.

God is about to do and I say God, if you can use Paul, a murderer of the faith, from who he was to who he became, use me, lord, whatever that looks like.

And I feel like we get on our path of God.

Use me if it fits what I think it looks like.

And then we end up passing up the road God has paved before us Because we know that it's narrow.

Have you ever been somewhere?

I do real estate photography and I have missed roads because they were little dirt roads that I didn't know were there.

Because in our faith, our active faith, we have to be aware that sometimes fast and loud isn't the way God's trying to do things, that he's trying to slow us down a little bit, because I believe that today we live in a day of mass distraction and we cannot focus on what God is calling us to do and step into his will because we're so concerned about ours.

Maybe I'm preaching to the wrong group, but I know for a fact that I'm preaching to myself.

Do you know how hard it is to prepare for a message?

I watch a lot of.

We don't have TV, so I watch news on YouTube.

You know how hard it is this past week to write a message and stay in prayer when YouTube's popping up every 20 seconds because there's another story happening.

We live in a day to where we don't have to go.

Look for things, things come looking for us and those notifications, as helpful as they can be, we forget to notice.

God, man, we have, we've missed.

We were one week, one sunday, we were gone on vacation, uh up, visiting my mom and dad, and the next we were locked down.

My wife tested positive for covid and we had no, thank god, we had no other symptoms, except for she lost her taste and smell and she was like I, I don't, I can't taste my food right, and I was like we were in the middle of eating.

And she was like I can't taste my food right, and I was like we were in the middle of eating and I was like, just shut up, let's just get out of here, don't say anything, don't cough weird, don't do nothing, let's just make it out.

And so we went and got tested.

She tested positive, I tested negative.

It's called the favor of the Lord, not that we're comparing favor, but God shielded us and protected us, because we know from many stories that it could have went a lot worse.

So we're thankful, it is good to be back.

And I'm telling you, man, this this past week, uh, I took off from doing my photography, stuff took off.

You know, we didn't practice Thursday and Pastor Phil's doing worship anyways.

For me, and it was just, it was a week of God, like, sometimes, I believe, the reason the Bible says to find a place and close yourself in, if that scripture wasn't for today more than ever, because we have to, because if not we will get so caught up in the whirlwind of life and the things that y'all may be mad or happy about the political junk right now, but all politicians are 95%, 99% crooked.

I'm not mad about political stuff.

I'm mad that on Google search you can go incognito and it makes it available to you where you can search anything and not be held accountable.

That's the kind of stuff that makes me angry.

That's the kind of stuff that finds its way into our hands and it makes sinful things a lot easier than it used to be and we're getting so distracted by what's going on around us and God's called us to be higher than that.

But I believe last week, man, I'm telling you God, I fasted and I prayed for this service today because I knew that something was going to be different and I feel that we have been a part of a church body as the church whole around the world.

We have become so used to the way church is that when God shakes up our world how it could look different in 2020, we still try to make it fit in 2021.

And we stay in our little box and forget that God is bigger than our box, that God's vision for this church is bigger than these four walls.

God's vision for this church, god's desire for this church, is bigger than our small minds can obtain.

And I believe that we sometimes, so to speak, slap God in the face with our small vision and embarrass ourselves in the throne room while we're asking for this and he's like you could have this.

You're asking for this and you's like you could have this.

You're asking for this and you could be poured out on like this.

You're asking for my spirit in this way and I'm trying to do it like this and I feel today I felt a stirring last week that today was going to be this year was going to be the awakening of the church again, the awakening of the body of Christ, to come back together and stop letting political gain divide us.

They are only out for themselves, no matter what they try to promise us, they are only out for them.

We serve a God bigger than them.

We serve a God that can't fit in the White House.

We serve a God that can't fit in these four walls, and we need to start acting, praying and fasting as such.

Our God is not dictated by the size of our problem.

His size, magnitude and glory is not dictated by what's going on in politics.

He is not dictated by his glory and majesty by what's going on in politics.

It is not.

He is not dictated by his glory and majesty by what's going on.

Covid-19 does not run God's size and we have leaned into.

We can only do things this way because we are so stuck in how we were.

When the Bible says, behold, I do a new thing.

When the Bible says, behold, I do a new thing, I believe with all my heart that right now, today, from here on out, we have got to be expecting, praying and fasting for God to do a new thing.

He will use the ignorant to dumbfound the wise.

He will use our stupidity for his glory, which you know what that means.

That means whatever you got he can use.

If you've been like me, I have sold myself and God, because we are God's creation.

So when we sell ourselves short of what we're capable of, we also are selling God short, and we are God's creation.

So when we sell ourselves short of what we're capable of, we also are selling God short and we're saying, god, if you want to use me in this way, I will be willing.

You ever told God that?

And then he uses you and just confuses you and you're trying to figure out God.

How in the world is this working out?

Try getting out of the way.

But I feel a great uprising is happening and I believe where it has to start first is in our house, your personal house and in this church house.

We can complain about how things are around us all day long, but until we start making a change here and in here, nothing will happen.

God manifests his glory and does miracles through willing vessels, through willing vessels.

But I believe there's a great uprising.

Feel it in my spirit, because you know what?

Let's, let's paint a real picture here.

We numb ourselves to God's spirit because we're too busy with our own feelings.

If I, based on how I felt and decided, based on that, to get up and do something with my life, or to get up and preach, or to get up and sing, or get up and just praise God in my home, which is where I should start.

If I based that on my feelings, I would never get out of bed.

Who's ever walked out of the house?

And you have a flat tire.

Or you get to work and that moron comes up and wants to have a conversation and you're like I don't like you.

We don't have to like everybody, but we sure got to love them.

I mean, this is facts.

Bible doesn't say like your neighbor, it says love your neighbor.

That's just scripture y'all.

But I want to see God start pouring out his spirit like never before.

I want the generation of my dad and before him where God was pouring out and healing and miracles and the Bible was coming alive, because it was literally happening in the church building and outside of the church and revival started breaking out all over this nation and all over this world.

I believe that God wants to do that now more than ever before, that we don't have to wait for God to do something.

We say God, let's do it, because he's already moving, he is real, he is alive.

We don't have to coerce him to stand up and do something.

He's ready.

What is he waiting on His people His people to do something, his people to wake up and start crying out to God and saying God, I need you, I have to have you, I cannot.

I want some people walking around with limps because they've grabbed the angel and said some people walking around with limps because they've grabbed the angel and said I'm not letting go until you bless me.

It may cost you something and it may cost you everything, but it will never outweigh the cost if you do nothing.

We have become lackadaisical and lazy in letting God use us, and if we believe scripture, we know that God does not change.

So if God is the God of the Old Testament and the New Testament and my father's generation, where miracles were happening and the spirit was being poured out and it was like you couldn't contain what God was doing, it was everywhere Then we know for a fact, by His Word, that he is still the same today, but we have become passive and complacent.

So the pastors of this church have been charged with something that is very extreme and very pivotal and vital for this church to be what God has called us to be.

And so the pastors of this church pastor Aaron, uh, pastor Phil and myself we have been putting together something we're going to call it growth track, and in this we're going to read a little.

I want you to get excited about it because it's something that, once you catch a hold of what I'm going to show you and read to you, this is the core values of the church and this is what, based on biblical principles and Jesus Christ, this is how we should live, act and look, because we are mandated.

What Jesus said before he ascended was go into all the world preaching the gospel and making disciples.

So we can preach from a pulpit all day long and it may grow the church a little bit, but we'll be spiritually dead.

Numbers do not mean anything.

If we don't have spiritual growth, then a physical growth is pointless, and if we do not have love at the heartbeat of this church and of these ministries, it is pointless.

We are doing it for ourselves, and so it is our biblical duty to equip believers in battle against confusion and discord.

Because guess what?

We're not going to teach you what a politician says is right or wrong.

We're not going to teach you what a school system will say is right or wrong.

We're going to teach you biblical principles of what Jesus Christ and God himself, through the word, says that should be exciting to you.

It's going to challenge us, it's going to get us out of our comfort zones.

But in our comfort zones it's usually just a little bubble that we get really relaxed in, and that's dangerous because then you get spiritually confused and discord.

So we're very excited to start a connect with track.

We all, we want everyone here, whether you're new or whether you've been here for a while.

We want everyone to go through it.

Why?

Because we want every person in this church to know the heart of this church, to be a part of that thriving heartbeat and to all be on the same page, not just in the same book or in the same chapter.

We want to be on the same page, same line.

Everyone knows what this church believes, everyone has that running through their veins and we will reach people when we all catch that vision.

And so we want to get you on board with this.

So can I share with you some things that's going to be?

We're going to have four things come up on the screen.

I want to read them You're going to read along while I read them up here and these are our core values, the things that make us who we are as believers, christians, a church, a ministry.

So we want you to, number one connect with God.

We want you to make it our first priority as believers, as followers of Christ, to daily pursue a relationship with God.

We believe that through his son, jesus Christ, we are saved not by works, but by the sacrifice of Jesus dying on the cross as a true, pure sacrifice for our sins.

He is the only way to be saved and the only way to God.

And second, we want people to find freedom, and not freedom now.

We want it to be a permanent freedom.

That doesn't mean we're all going to be perfect.

We want our freedom to be in Christ, because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, and we believe in the Spirit of God dwelling in this place and dwelling in us.

So there should be a freedom that sinners could see and in that they will be.

It'll start going through there, but when you get the Holy Ghost come on, when you get the spirit of God poured out on you, it's going to get on everybody and there ain't nothing they can do about it.

It may make them mad, it may make them cry.

It may make them mad.

It may make them cry.

It may make them never want to be around you, but when the Spirit does something, it is permanent, and so we want freedom to be found.

Number two we believe that once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, that then we should begin bearing the right kinds of fruit.

In Galatians 5.16, it says but I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

We live in a day where fleshly desires are just normal, that it's okay to lean into them, it's okay to accept them.

You can't watch a TV show.

I dare you to challenge me.

A regular TV show, netflix, amazon Prime, whatever you want to watch, or regular TV, I don't care.

You can't watch something without some sort of sexual immorality happening.

That's sin.

And when we accept that, we're letting that spirit in our house, in our phones, in our eyes, in our minds.

And then we wonder why we suffer from private addictions, because we're constantly pouring in that sexual immorality throughout the day.

And so then, when we get by ourselves, we no longer have a standard raised up against flesh, we're indulging in it.

This means we need to be intentional about our habits and guarding ourselves against desires of the flesh.

We want our roots to be firmly and deeply rooted in Christ and in his word, to find freedom and stay free.

Number three so we have one we're wanting to connect to God.

We want all of us to be on the same page and through God's spirit is how that happens.

In one mind and one accord, we're all connecting.

Our roots are getting deeper in God, we're finding our freedom and then, once we do that, then we can live in harmony together.

There's an order that the Bible lays out, that we have to first know God, and when we start to know God, then we start to really truly know freedom.

There have been people who can be up in years and never truly tasted the freedom of God.

I think sometimes we lean to younger people and say, oh well, they don't know better, they're just sowing their oats or whatever you want to call it, and we forget about the people in later generations that haven't even heard the name Jesus, and I think sometimes they get thrown by the wayside because we don't think that they well, they've already spent it.

No, it's never too late to accept Christ.

It's never too late to taste freedom and understand what it is and know God on a true and intimate level.

Connecting with each other is number three.

We believe that binding together is vital and necessary for the kingdom.

Though we worship in the church building, we are the church.

Together we are stronger, and the devil knows that together we are unstoppable.

Together we are stronger and the devil knows that together we are unstoppable.

That's why he's trying to distract us and divide us, because he knows that we get on the same page, same line.

Whoo, the devil's gates are going to be in trouble.

We're not going to sit around waiting for him to attack.

We're going to storm his neighborhood.

We're going to storm his neighborhood.

And let us consider this is Hebrews 10, 24 through 25, and it says and let us consider how we may spur one another you ever been spurred?

Sometimes it hurts.

Most of the time it hurts.

Spur one another on towards love and good deeds.

Not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

It's talking about when God's going to come back.

Y'all, we don't have forever to play games In your personal life, in your families, in your schools, your relationships, your jobs.

We don't have time to play around.

The day is coming and, as we can see right now with the weird, things are shifting in strange ways.

If you read the Bible at all and you look at things that are happening, you're like this is lining up, it's going to be quick, it's going to happen faster than you think.

We're going to blink and either you're going or you're not.

Happen faster than you think we're going to blink and either you're going or you're not.

We are charged to be united and lift each other up so that we can fulfill the great commission and number four.

So once we find harmony living with each other, once we find that everyone's kumbaya together, once we find that everyone's kumbaya on together, now we have the right mindset.

We're saved, sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost, we've been baptized with water, we understand why we did it, and then we find our freedom and say God, set me free and never let me come back to this prison again, and then we connect with each other.

So then, when we have relationship and communication with the community, with this nation and this world, they see that we've already got it figured out.

We're setting an example that we can live in harmony even if we see differently.

Because in a room if you have family of 10 or 12, you know that you can have discord like crazy, but a church family is just the same.

So don't be mad or hateful to each other for somebody not seeing your side of something, because we all are different sides and together we make up the whole armor of God.

Family of God.

We can help each other, encourage each other, lift each other, and when we do that through love, we can't fail.

We can connect to our communities.

We believe in being intentional in our communities to be outrageously generous with our time and money.

It's not just a money thing.

We got to also be willing to get our hands dirty, to be willing to serve others with hearts full of compassion and love.

In Mark 16, 5, it says Jesus says this go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

We must have a go mentality, going beyond ourselves, out of our comfort zones, and allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit to reach out to those who don't know Christ.

This is our purpose and this is our mission is our mission, this is our purpose.

Don't be selfish with the salvation that Christ gives you.

You have no clue what someone's going through.

They may wear a brave face, but you have no clue.

At home their marriage is falling apart or the kids are acting like a bunch of heathens, or they're still having leftover drama from their Christmas get-together.

These are things that affect people on a core basis, and if we can't show the love on the small things, you don't have to preach Jesus to them.

To preach Jesus to them.

To preach Jesus to them.

So be ready for this class.

This is the four core values that we have prepared for y'all.

This is something I am so excited about.

If you ever see my kid jumping around when he's excited about something and talking a lot, I'm the same.

This morning I was dancing around as we were getting ready.

I said, baby, I'm just excited, like I feel it in my spirit, like I feel it in my heart that, man, this is something that God's been stirring in me for a while and it's like, all of a sudden, a fire's been kindling and then it finds a release.

It's like, man, where did this come from?

Thanks, corona, I don't know.

Hey, the devil uses I mean, god uses what the devil meant for evil and he turns it into good.

Amen, there ain't nothing that we can face that God won't turn for his glory if we allow him.

So be ready for this class.

And then after that we're going to talk about spiritual gifts.

We're not going to do it here, but I want to let you know it's coming.

And these spiritual gifts, what it is is you'll take 80 questions.

You'll put a one through five on each one, so it'll read something and then what you feel that you apply to that is a five and if you feel like that's not really me, a one.

And then you go down it's in random order, all the way through 80.

And then at the bottom, you see leadership, you know prayer.

There's all faith.

One of mine is, I think, is it generosity and faith or something like that, something Cause I'm like, yeah, whatever, god's going to take care of it.

Hey, if I could, if my wife would let me give a thousand dollars to a stranger, I would do it.

But I'm married to her, because God knew that if I wasn't married to someone like that, I would be broke, it would be gone.

And then I'd be like, well, what happened, god?

I thought you told me to do it.

It's not that he was speaking to me, it's that I just want to help everybody.

I want to help everybody, but you know that in that mindset, if you're like that, you can still do that.

Here at this church, there's a place for each and every person.

If you want to serve in a capacity whether it's an online media type deal or posting things on Instagram or Facebook, or doing the live stream and helping Pastor Aaron back there.

Brother Howard and their wife you know they would love to be able to rotate out and worship down here with us.

Just a little shameless plug if you want to help out, but these are vital things for the ministry and I believe that every person should have a part, even if you just want to pray.

This is the most important piece of the puzzle.

So don't think, because you don't come to something or do something or go hand something out or give money to something, that you can't do something.

God gave you a mouth and he gave you a mind.

Let him pour out his spirit on you so that you can pour it out on others.

So my dad was a preacher growing up my entire life and some of the most powerful, influential people was the little old ladies that never said much, and so if those little ladies who don't make a fuss.

They didn't really do anything, they just kind of this old, I'm thinking.

One particular her name was Sister Cantrell.

She had a walker, she walked, she.

I mean, she was I'm not a tall guy and when I was in the sixth, seventh grade I was taller than her and she was little and she knew how to pray Like.

She understood the value of prayer.

You cannot put a dollar sign on prayer.

You can't even put a earthly value system on prayer.

Besides, we know that if we have faith of a mustard seed, it will be done.

It will be done.

We don't have to hope and cry out to God and just say, like God, where are you, where are you?

We do that in times of trouble, in times of despair, but we don't have to have our faith act that way, because the Bible says that if we speak it and we're lined up with his will, things are going to move and it don't matter how hard the devil fights, because everything that he does anyways God's going to use for good.

Boom, mic, drop.

That's God, that's not me.

Healings in this church, healings in this nation, and that I believe in this community from this church, is going to be a God thing, not a people thing.

When we start grasping who God is and what he can do, there are going to be walls that can contain the people pouring in hungry for what God is going to do, because he's seen it in us.

We are the example of what they see.

And guess what?

There's been a great falling away of ministers.

Ministers, I'm not talking about church people.

I'm talking about preacher men and women that have either left the faith and worship leaders too, that have left the faith or messed up and tainted what God was trying to do in their life.

We're all just men and women.

We need to stay faithful and do what God has called us to do.

So we're excited to serve you and equip you and reach this community together.

This morning I will be going from 2 Kings 4.

And I like Old Testament stuff.

I don't know about you.

I like Old Testament stuff.

I don't know about you.

I like Old Testament.

It's like you see somebody whoop up on somebody else and you're like he just went.

Old Testament, that's how I felt.

He just got whooped, bro.

And I like the fire coming down and the extreme miracles.

I mean Jesus did miracles too, but we're talking about like 4,000 years of history in these few books or more, and it's just cool to see what God can do when he has people to work through that are faithful.

And throughout the entire Bible, from cover to cover, we see God using willing vessels.

And I want you to raise your hand because I don't want anybody to be embarrassed in here, but when was the last time you said, god, just use me.

I don't care what it looks like, I don't care who it's to, because you know most of the time it's going to be to that person that you don't favor very much, because usually it's not about you, and a lot of times it's God trying to teach us those hard life lessons that mold us and make us into who he's really calling us to be.

From cover to cover, we see miracles, and this excites me because God begins to move, the waters begin to stir, and do you know how God shows his glory and miracles Through his people?

That means that we need to be available, watching the live service.

It was so weird being on that side.

It was just, it was so weird.

It's like man.

I want to be there, I want to feel the music.

I want to, I want to talk to people.

I want to shake their hand.

I want to tell them, hey, what's going on, how was your week?

You know, I wanted to talk to people.

I want to shake their hand.

I want to tell them hey, what's going on, how was your week?

You know, I needed that contact.

I was going nuts and something just kept resonating in my heart the week before, actually a few weeks before and then it was the service where Sister Cindy and Frank and a couple others came up and they prayed and I heard her say something and I was like that's it, that's it.

And I'd already been feeling it and it was a confirmation that God was like listen, 2021, it's going to be a year of healing, whether you, whether you think of it physical, spiritual, mental, social we've got some damage y'all, but we serve the great healer.

Jesus didn't die on the cross for nothing.

He came to heal, he came to restore.

And weeks before I just kept hearing healing, healing, healing.

I think it was a prayer meeting before we left, or the week before.

I told Pastor Mother Erin, I was like man, I just feel like healing, like I just feel it.

And then she prayed that in her prayers and I'm like man.

Thank you, god, for already planting seed in the heart of the people before I was even up here to speak.

That's how God does things.

Looking back at last year, all the things that happened and transpired and you know, the nation going through and the world going through all kinds of stuff I don't feel that anything happens by accident, because I serve a God that is bigger than the chaos we got going on down here, and I said this when 2020 was happening and she laughed at me.

She's like, well, everybody's saying that.

But I mean, I think it's no mistake that 2020 was a year of vision, because it gave us clarity on what's important.

And now it's in our hindsight and so now we can look back and say, man, the things that I took for granted, like when I was at the church that I came from we had services actually several weeks where I was doing the worship and we just had me and the guitar and a couple people there on our live feeds and it was lonely.

On your birthday, you said they put people out here, put things out there so you'd have somebody to preach to, and it was weird.

But it made us question what we're looking at very small-minded compared to what God's trying to do, and I believe that in God, nothing battle, sickness, anything is wasted in his hands.

So last year, looking back, we can really see some things we took for granted Time with our family, our health, coming to church.

Now I believe it's time that we start praying for healing.

Some people lost people.

I mean, can I be honest, when I first heard about this, I didn't know anybody that had it.

I didn't see anybody that had it.

Then you have people posting on Twitter, which Twitter's a cesspool.

If you don't have Twitter, don't get on there.

It's a bunch of negativity and trash.

But people are like, well, I've never seen anybody.

I'm in the hospital all the time and so it was like this whole automatically it was a conspiracy theory because none of us had experienced it.

Now we know Our health coming to church.

Now I believe it's time that we start praying for healing, healing, healing in our families, in our governments, our churches, our health.

2 Timothy 1.7,.

It says this For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Healing happens and is displayed through God's people.

Has anyone been watching the news?

And you just start twitching.

I'm telling you, something else comes on on.

I'm like, yeah, I don't even know what's wrong.

I just my phone will vibrate and I just know something else and it's, it's got.

It's got our brain so, so scattered and so divided and so confused.

We don't know what's what.

And it's like what, god, how can I get focused on you?

I said earlier, we're living in a day of mass distraction because the enemy wants us to lose sight of what really matters and he is trying to disrupt the family.

One of the most important things that God created when he first created was man, and then he gave her a woman.

It was God's purpose for a family to be the center of his dwelling place.

When he came down through the garden, he would walk with them daily.

It was important to him to be together.

When the devil is fighting or when you decide to serve, you need to ask a very important question why?

The thing to help keep you going is the why.

Why is the enemy trying to destroy the household?

Why is it that this is one of the main things that he attacks, whether it's on the negative or positive side of things?

Why?

Why are you driven?

Why are you serving God?

Why is one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves right now.

Why is the devil trying to disrupt the family and the way God intended it to be?

And when we declare, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, the devil gets upset and he starts trying to cause division.

The devil will try to destroy what God is trying to protect and to build.

So let me read something I found on the internets, on Googles.

Feel free to look it up yourself and, by the way, shame on you if you just come to church and you never look up anything that we ever say.

You should be digging in Scripture and making sure that this pulpit is delivering the true, wholesome word of God.

It's not just for you to come and sit.

You have to participate, you have to Dig for yourself.

This is something I found.

More than 20 million children live in a home without the physical presence of a father.

20 million, 20 million.

The devil's been busy y'all.

He's been trying to break up and destroy the sanctity and the holiness of a marriage.

And millions more have dads who are physically present but emotionally absent.

If we were to classify this as a disease, fatherlessness would be an epidemic and a pandemic worthy of attention as a global emergency.

I'm not going to say a politician's name and I don't want to get upset, but there's been someone who is trying to take out of the Senate, using mother or father or anything like that.

That takes the Lord's Prayer out.

Right there.

They will not be able to pray or anything, because we serve God the Father and God the Son.

That will immediately take God out of the equation.

If you've never prayed before, this is one reason to pray, because family is what gives us strength.

When we didn't come here, I didn't feel weak, but I felt stronger when I was here.

Does that make sense?

I didn't feel like life was over or whatever.

And if you watch online and you're part of our online family, we appreciate you being here and we are so glad that you showed up and decided to watch today.

But there's something about being in the presence of family.

There's something different about being in the presence of worship.

But hey, if you got surround sign at home and you want to crank the worship up and have it, you know, beaten through your body, that's pretty, that's pretty close.

But there's something about being with family, being close, being close knit, and the devil is trying to destroy the fabric of the church.

And where does he start?

He doesn't start working on the church in these seats, he starts working them in your homes.

That's where he starts really trying to divide and conquer, because then, if he can disrupt your peace where you go to find rest, then you're going to cause discord here.

If you can't find peace and love, you know the fruit of the Spirit that we're supposed to be displaying.

If you can't find peace and love, you know the fruits of the Spirit that we're supposed to be displaying.

If you can't find those in your house, it's disrupted.

It's where peace should be a refuge.

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year and I get to be around family.

You may not know this about me.

You probably do if we've talked for a short amount of time, but I love people.

Sitting at home was terrible.

I looked up YouTube videos of crowds just so I'd feel better.

I'm just kidding, I didn't do that, but but I mean, that's how I am Like.

I love people.

I love interacting, love shaking hands, hugging necks, like hey, what's up?

I love conversation back and forth and be like hey, how's it going, but the people that matter the most.

The devil's been trying to disrupt that and I believe with all my heart that healing needs to start happening globally in our world.

It must start in our own homes.

See, when home is at peace, no matter how work was, no matter how you know you and your friend are having idiotic government people.

When you come home, you can be yourself and you can sit down and relax and rest.

It's a place of rest where you can just take a load off.

If you got a recliner, pop that puppy back and you're just zoning out on TV, have a cup of coffee, whatever your thing is.

Man, there's nothing like coming home after a long day of work and you could just become putty in the sea.

It's a safe place, and the devil wants to cause confusion and division in your house and in the house of the Lord.

If he can divide us, he can conquer us.

In 2 Kings 4, we see a story of a woman whose house is literally falling apart.

Her husband had died.

She had gone so far into debt to try to survive.

She went in survival mode, but she was borrowing and borrowing and borrowing.

The person she owed money to was saying Okay, to pay me back, let's start, I'll take your kids.

I'm glad that's not a thing today.

Or am I going to debt?

No, no, no, no, just kidding.

I love my child, calm down.

But they were saying we're going to take your kids.

So let's read 2 Kings, 4, 2 through 7.

Now I want you to pay attention 4, 2 through 7.

Now I want you to pay attention.

I'm going to get a little louder when I come to this part that I really love and I think it's up there too, a little highlighted.

So the prophet Elisha this had just been a little time after Elijah was caught up in the chariot of fire, okay, and he took up his mantle and so he was carrying on the legacy.

Legacy is important.

We don't look at things the same way as we used to.

Legacy is important.

We don't look at things the same way as we used to.

We seem to not care too much about legacy, but legacy is vital to the survival of your home and your church.

So in verse 2 it says what can I do to help you?

Elisha asked Tell me, what do you have in your house?

What do you have in your house?

What do you have in your house.

Nothing at all except a flask of olive oil.

She replied.

Say it's in my house.

Now, hold on, I don't know where you go to church, but we call Pentecostal.

Say it's in my house.

There you go.

Look at y'all Nothing except a flask of olive oil, she said.

And Elisha said borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors.

Then go into the house with your sons and shut the door behind you.

What God's gonna do in your house is going to be a private thing.

The healing that comes in your house and in your heart is going to be a private thing.

Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.

So she said, or she did as she was told.

Her sons kept bringing jars to her and she filled one after another, soon every container full.

It was full to the brim.

Bring me another jar, she said to one of her sons.

There aren't any more.

He told her.

And then, and then and then, the olive oil stopped flowing.

I'm repeating it because it's important.

When she had no more vessels to pour into, god stopped the flow.

I want to come back to it.

There was still more to be poured out, but there was no place for it.

We have filled our hearts and our minds and our lives, our relationships, our homes with so much pointless junk that we have run out of space for God to pour out on.

We have filled our jars so full of everything else that God has stopped the flow, so that we will start emptying jars.

Now I don't know about you, but 2020 seems like the flow stopped for a second.

2020 was a place of where am I going to pour out next?

Are you ready for it?

Have you emptied yourself?

And that should be our daily prayer that we empty out what is in here for God to really pour out.

God has stopped pouring out the blessing, the provision, the anointing, the healing, the favor, because we've stopped making room for him.

And listen, I'm not saying that God has stopped every single favor, every single blessing, but I'm saying that he has more to pour out, that we have to be ready, willing and able to say God, fill me with your spirit, fill me with your power, fill me with your anointing, with your spirit, fill me with your power, fill me with your anointing.

Verse 7,.

When she told the man of God what happened, he said to her now sell the olive oil and pay off your debts and you and your son can live out on what is left.

Do you know how much money that would take for her and her sons to live the rest of her lives with no worries to pay off her debts?

And then the legacy passed on to the next generation and I believe God wants to pour out a spirit of healing on us now for the next generation.

Legacy is not about what's happening now.

It's about now and what's to come, and I feel that God needs to put that in our spirits, each one of us, in our homes, in our lives, in our church, that we need to be concerned about the ones coming after us, because we can get narrow-minded and focused on what is here and sometimes that can discourage us or deter us from doing what God's trying to get us to do.

We have to be concerned about legacy.

What she needed for the miracles she already had in her house that little bitty flask of.

Have you ever seen a flask?

Let's just use modern day flask, okay, not saying anybody's alcoholics, just saying you probably know what a flask is.

Okay, nobody get offended, it's a little thing.

A flask of oil was all that she needed, that she already had.

Everything that she had in her home was exactly what God needed to do a miracle.

Everything that you have in your house right now, every talent you have, every capacity of knowledge, whatever it is you already have that God can use your job, your schools, your kids.

I got a skinny little kid.

He don't weigh much.

He's got to jump around in the shower to get some water on him, but I know that this little bitty guy, one day God is going to grow into a huge man of God.

Because I'm not living and doing now for me, I'm doing for him and I'm doing for his children and his children and his children.

Because the blessing of God does not fall short on just us of today.

We are mandated to build a legacy for those coming after us.

This church building here is not for you today.

It's for the sinners tomorrow.

The spirit being poured out, the little bit of oil that each one of us has in our homes, it's not for us today, it's for those tomorrow.

God is not calling you to be satisfied where you are.

We need to seek his face.

We need to ask God, pour out your spirit once again.

God, pour out your blessings once again, because what we have in our house is enough.

Anything in the hands of God, it's enough.

Stop saying, god, I can't unless you use me like this.

God, I can't speak in front of people, neither can Moses, and he led them to the promised land.

He led them out of bondage.

What do you have in your heart, in your home, that you think is not good enough?

Give it to God.

What do you think that you can't do?

Give it to God.

You know, in Acts there's a story of some faithful people going up to an upper room and they had no clue what they were looking for.

Of some faithful people going up to an upper room and they had no clue what they were looking for.

They had no clue what was about to happen.

All they had was a spoken word, a sentence.

Think about it A little short go and wait type thing.

They had no clue what they were waiting on.

They had no clue how it was going to manifest itself.

They had no room to guess and say, god, if you do this, then I'll be filled.

They had to go do.

The one thing that we all hate is wait.

Man, the DMV drives me mad.

There ain't nothing that takes that long, nothing.

I'm sorry, if you work there, if you're watching online, you're working at DMV.

Help those people out.

I know we get some spiritual cries out on that one.

I know we get some spiritual cries out on that one.

But listen, god has not called you to be someone else.

God has not called you to fit in the shoes of someone else's anointing.

God has called you to be you Because if you think, if you say God, listen I know we've all read it, probably 90 to 80 percent at least, watching online or here in this congregation, have read the stories where Jesus rebukes Peter and says get behind me, satan.

And then he says on you, I'm going to build my church, on you, I'm going to build my church If he can use Peter.

They couldn't shut up for anything Because later he knew that that mouth was going to be a mouth for him.

Later he knew that that mouth that couldn't shut up when the Holy Spirit rained down and started filling the people and people thought they were drunk.

They were going to need somebody with the big mouth.

They were going to need somebody who wouldn't shut up.

There was never a lack of characters.

He could not be on Twitter there's only 130-something characters, I think and he would not make it.

He would have paragraphs, paragraphs, paragraphs, because he wouldn't shut up.

God can use what we don't like about ourselves.

We saw that Jesus didn't like it, but he loved that.

He knew that the little thing that he had that we saw as a hang-up was going to be just enough oil that he was going to be a part of the great infilling, because he was willing, he was arrogant, he was mouthy.

He's the one that cut off the ear when Jesus was like hey, chill out, I'm going to be taken.

And then, all of a sudden, it was a big shock that, hey, jesus said something is coming true.

And then he cuts the ear off of the guy.

He acted stupid.

And then Jesus still covered up for what he did and healed it.

If he can use Peter, if he can use Paul Saul that went to Paul if he can use someone Christians he used that mess up to then reach us today.

Think of how many generations that is, how many people that is.

He used someone who was a murderer to reach us today.

I'm bringing this home because I want you to understand that we may have someday in this church house murderers.

That's a hard pill to swallow because we want everyone that comes into church to be church people.

That's the opposite of what Jesus said to do.

He didn't say go into the church and preach the gospel.

He had already preached to them.

He knew they were a bunch of whitewashed tombs.

He knew they would fall on deaf ears to them.

We have people out there that are starving, dying, hungry, spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially, by themselves.

We need to make sure that our vision does not become tunnel, but we look at God's vision that we need to be intentional with trying to reach sure that our vision does not become tunnel, but we look at God's vision that we need to be intentional with trying to reach those that need healing.

Because in truth, whether you may not now or you did at one point, we all need healing, some of us on a daily basis because of our past scars.

But I know that in the desert I start to thirst for God.

But I know that in the desert I start to thirst for God and I know, with my scars of stupidity, I remember to keep serving God, because what you have in your house, that little small drop of oil, god can and will use it if you give it to him, and it will not just fill your containers, it will get in everybody else's.

Because we should not be doing this for us, we need to be doing it for them, because most of the people they think they're okay or you hear a lot, I'm a good person.

I mean you do.

People are like I live a pretty good life.

I have a best friend from high school I hope I didn't see it.

He may not know who he is, I don't know but me and him don't talk anymore because he believes in Muslim beliefs.

He's not a Muslim, but he said I've read the Quran and I this and that, and I'm like man.

That's not, it's not the same God, it's not.

And so we don't talk that much anymore because he thinks he's okay and he's a generally good person and he is a good guy, he's great.

But the Bible specifically says that we have all fallen, we have all sinned.

So that makes us sinners by definition.

So that makes us sinners by definition.

Use what God has already given you to be a blessing to someone else and you will be blessed with more.

What does the Bible say?

Be faithful over a few and I will give you more.

Be faithful over a few and I will give you more.

Have you ever had the mindset and I've been guilty?

I never.

This is my promise to the church.

I will never preach, teach, treat whatever you want to call it.

I will never say anything that I myself have not preached to myself or have dealt with, because I cannot speak out a conviction to you with compassion if I have not dealt with it myself or don't understand it.

So that's where I preach from.

If I ever get loud or too excited, it's because God has done something in me and I want to make sure that he does it to you.

Have you ever had the mindset where you look at someone else's job and you said, man, if I had their job, I can give like nobody else?

When, actually, if you don't have any money and you don't give your tithes on that, that Jesus says this is Jesus, it's not this church, this is Jesus.

If you don't give your tithes on the little that God has given you, you think he's going to trust you with more, because guess what, once you increase in income, that money becomes more too, and then you will not be able to let it go because it's so much.

Does that make sense?

That's just math, don't get mad at me.

Or, if I had that spouse, I wouldn't fight as much, guarantee you, if I had a different spouse I would fight a lot more because mine is very gentle with me, because I love that.

She's a soft-spoken woman.

But it's dangerous because I don't really know.

When I'm in trouble, like probably right now, if I had those kids my life would be less chaotic.

I've had this one within the last week.

I've thought this one.

Or have you ever had that like, well, if those were my kids, I'd do this and that and yours are the ones.

That's probably the worst.

You don't realize.

I've been there before.

I had a child.

I was like, oh, if that was my kid, I'd yank him up right there.

And then you realize if you hit a kid in public, you go to jail.

If I had that car, if I had that one specific car, I would feel better about myself.

Others would accept me, I would be in a different class, a different status, and I would feel good about myself If I had a different personality.

Well, if I had their personality, people would accept me more and I can engage more in social conversations.

So we have all these underlining different things and God is saying, if you just let me use what you have, 2 Peter 1.3 says this by his divine power, god has given us everything that we need For living.

2 Peter 1.3 says this and excellence.

Now we can all preach and teach you whatever, but until you start applying it, it's pointless.

We can talk about love, charitable, giving, tithes, you know, giving our time to serve the community, but if we never do anything about it, it's just air.

I don't want to be an air-filled church, I want to be a Holy Spirit-filled church, and faith and the Holy Spirit require action.

So, starting tomorrow, if you put that up there, we're also going to have.

So, if you go to this right here, it's going to be 21 days Starting tomorrow.

From tomorrow's date to the 31st will be 21 days of fasting and prayer.

This is how we need to start off our year.

Now, if you go to y'all know the website connect-churchcom, forward, slash 21 days and you'll see this, along with all the sorry.

You want to go backwards?

Yeah, can we go back to the last thing?

So, each day, day, one vision for my life.

We're going to have a scripture for each day what it talks about and what you need to be praying about.

Because, guess what, when we start praying together, y'all, heaven and earth will collide.

Things will change in this church, in our communities and, I believe, in this world, when the believers come together and start praying and get real with God and get real with what we're talking to them about, to really have a life-changing experience my life, my family, growth.

See, these are things right here my life and my family.

Those two things right there are what I've been talking about today.

You got to get your junk in order.

You got to get your house in order before you start trying to reach other people, because, guess what, they're out there ready to point out your flaws.

They are.

And guess what, we in the church are almost all the time ready to point out someone else's flaws, and that will tear up the roots to the fruit of the Spirit.

What you have in your house is enough for everything on this list.

You can make a difference on everything on this list.

You can make a difference in 21 days of prayer and fasting.

So on the website that we gave you, connect-churchcom, forward slash 21 days.

It has this right there and it also has different types of fasting and the purpose of why we fast.

So there's going to be I don't know the exact breakdown of everything, but you just go to that website.

It's on our website.

You can also click it if you go to Connect Desk Church and you forget the forward slash 21 days.

Remember it's 21 days because we're doing 21 days of fasting.

So that should be pretty easy for you to remember and it will say different types of fasting, because some of us may take medication where we can't fast everything.

There's also spiritual fasting, where you start purging of social media, you know really seeking God of what you need to get rid of, because it's supposed to be a little bit of a struggle Sometimes if you can't go the whole day.

There's a thing called intermittent fasting, where you give up, you know breakfast and lunch and you eat later in the evening Whatever you need to do, that you and God talk about and he says do this, do that, do that.

We're going to back you because that's between you and God.

Going to back you because that's between you and God.

But one of the things Jesus says, that is the remedy and the equation to doing what Jesus did, and even more so that he promised is the prayer and fasting.

If we want to see 2021 be a year of healing, we have to start with prayer and fasting.

If we want the blessings and all the things we've been talking about fasting, if we want the blessings and all the things we've been talking about prayer and fasting, you know the awesome thing about these you can do it anywhere, at any time.

You can do this when you're at work, you can do this when you're driving down the road and actually I get a lot of windshield time, I travel a lot and I pray, I crank up the worship and I pray, I crank up the worship and I just start praying, because things change when we pray first, because you know what happens, and this is something I'm guilty of.

I pray after the circumstance happens and by then, we're just asking God to clean up the mess.

True or false?

Because if we pray after something detrimental happens or after we mess up, but if we pray, god, shield me, god, protect me, god, give me favor, god move, god, pour out your spirit we are asking in faith, not in cleanup.

There's a big difference and I feel and when I say I feel, I'm saying this is truth that we are guilty of and I say we honestly that we are guilty of making a checklist for God to answer, and that's our prayer time and our devotion, our Bible study.

I'm a minister and I'm guilty of it too.

We get busy with work.

I work outside of the church, I work two to three other jobs.

I'm a busy person, and then a husband and a father.

That doesn't excuse me for touching heaven, doesn't excuse me for really truly praying and fasting, because I feel that if we want to be connected with each other, we first have to follow number one, and that is connect to God, and the rest is going to fall in the line.

You'll begin to connect with each other and find freedom and then be able to connect to the community, because you and God have got on the same page, same line, and then we're all in that together.

Boom, one minute till 12.

And then we're all in that together Boom, one minute till 12.

I'm going to read you this one thing, and I want you to understand this, because we say a lot.

I feel, I feel, I feel.

But I want you to understand this real quick.

It's easy to be caught up by an emotional relationship with God instead of a foundational relationship Basing our actions and beliefs on how we feel instead of what we know.

Emotional responses are like driving on ice.

It doesn't matter.

Once you set off that emotional response, you can slam on the brakes and you're still going to skid everywhere.

But we want to provide you with the vital tools.

That's the reason for the growth track.

We're going to launch it.

We want our leaders to go through it first, because we want the leaders to then be able to pour into you and be able to be on the same page with us and with you, and this is an exciting thing.

It's going to be.

We haven't worked it out a hundred percent, but three or four weeks we're not sure on the dates and times according to each class.

We're probably going to switch it up whatever works, with the people that are going to want to take it in that month.

But we have to get our house in order first and then showing the love of Jesus to those who are lost.

The great commission given by Jesus was to preach the gospel and make disciples.

We must answer this call.

It is not an option.

What you have in your house is enough that God can pour out on you and everybody else that you know and come in contact with.

You have to start believing this that what you have is enough for God to use.

You don't have to be on a stage for God to pour out his spirit on you and the people you love.

You don't have to be on this stage with a microphone or on the worship team or serving in whatever capacity.

If you just stay home and pray.

If you're online and you're not praying, shame on you.

We are all called.

Jesus did not name one person when he gave the Great Commission.

He didn't.

All he said was go.

We have to have the go mentality and our why will fuel our try.

If you do something at this church, to be on YouTube, to get paid, to be known, get a pat on the back from pastor.

We don't want you to serve.

We don't and I'm being very blunt with this because I believe it's a part of our who we are.

Just like if you're not a cheerful giver and you can't give out of the love of your heart because God has given to you.

We don't want you to give tithes here, but you give one year to God in your tithes and faithful giving and being here and showing up and he will change your life forever.

He will change your life forever Because it says in his word if we are faithful, he will be faithful, and even when we're not but you're not Look, this is a bold statement, but I'm just saying If you don't feel comfortable giving here, tithe somewhere.

Tithe somewhere because Jesus said to do it and watch God pour into your life.

This church will never beg for your money.

If you don't feel comfortable giving it here because you think there's an agenda, then don't give it here.

That's a big statement, I understand.

I'm not trying to make anybody upset, but the principle that Jesus laid out is true, whether you give here or not.

So be faithful to God in what you do and who you are, and he will be faithful in who he is.

And you will not be able to out give God.

You will not be able to keep up with his blessings.

You will not be able to pray with people enough and to seek his face enough, because you can't outpace God on every level.

You can try your best and you will not be able to.

What you have in your house is enough for God to use.

You need to start believing in yourself that who God made you to be, where he has brought you to and where he has brought you from are two great reasons to start sharing the gospel with somebody.

That's why I am where I am, because God brought me out of such depths of meth addiction and alcoholism.

I don't deserve to have this in my hand.

I don't deserve to be in a church.

If anybody deserves to be condemned, it's me for the things that I did and how I acted.

But God doesn't save us according to who we've been.

That's the reason Jesus came.

That's the reason Jesus came.

So we need to share that with others by using the small oil that God has given you in your house Maybe finances.

I got a lot of personality in my house, with me and my son.

I got all kinds of personality.

I'm pouring that oil out on everybody, but that's what God gave me.

I'm not a Fortune 500 club or anything like that, you know owner or investor, but God gave me personality and a heart to love and serve people.

God will lift you up after you lift him up.

Can we just stand together for a minute and with every head bowed just for a second?

If there's somebody here under the sound of my voice or at home that does not know God, that has never found that freedom.

Or maybe you have accepted God and you've gotten lazy and you don't serve God.

I want you to raise your hand.

I want to, as one of the pastors of this church, to intentionally pray for you.

Just slip your hand up, slip it right back down.

Nobody else is looking around.

This is a between you and God thing, and I want to seriously pray for you because we have got to get serious about our relationship with God.

This church is not about religion, it's about relationship.

It's not a denomination thing, it's a call to serve people thing.

If anybody want to slip up their hand and say I need help, I need something, I need God to move in my life.

I don't feel like what I have is enough.

I need God to pour out his spirit on me and to show me who I am through him.

Just slip it up, right back down Now.

All you believers who do not raise your hand, I want you to start crying out to God for those that did.

We don't even know if there was somebody at home.

I want you to start pouring out your heart in place for them.

Come on.

Lift up your worship.

Are we a Pentecostal church or are we not?

We should not be ashamed to praise our God.

Lord, we come to you right now.

We are asking, in your mighty name, that everything that this church is involved in, that you pour out your spirit and your favor in this community, in this nation, in this world.

Those that lifted their hands, father, I pray right now that you come down and you say to them, lord, let them feel your arms wrap around them, lord, that, whatever they're going through right now, god, that you bring them to a place of repentance, of strength, of love, of compassion.

That, god, they don't feel the weight anymore, but they can feel your freedom.

Father, I pray for every person under the sound of my voice, whether they are here in this place or they're online.

That, god, you pour out your spirit right there in their living room.

That, god, they feel you, they know you are there.

That once again, we turn to you and we pray first and not after.

And, god, help us to know that the oil that we have is enough for you to use, that what we have is more than enough.

God, pour out your spirit on us and let it get all over everybody we come in contact with.

Pour out your spirit on this community, god.

Let this place be a lighthouse to those who don't know you.

Let it be a place of refuge for those who feel destructed.

God, we ask, in your precious name, that you shape our vision for the lives that don't know you.

God, put people in our paths, lord.

Let us see the path before us and let us walk it with righteousness.

In your name, we pray Amen.