Act Like a Child | 07/19/2026

That's just not possible for me.

It's not in me.

But I tell you what is the Holy Spirit is, right?

And all good things proceed from the Father.

Holy Spirit among one of them.

Good morning, folks.

Let's just take a moment to pray real quick.

Heavenly Father, I just pray that in the next 30 minutes or so that you are just dispensing raw, unfettered truth and an uninterrupted word that a people in this congregation can feast upon in Jesus' name.

Amen.

All right.

Morning, morning, morning.

So, as Brittany was saying earlier, summertime's about to come to a close, right?

Which means it's time to get serious.

I know a little bit about that because I'm actually a school teacher.

Okay, that's what I do on the regular.

I teach here in Cowita County at Northgate High School.

Love it, love it.

But when the school year gets going, everything shifts gears, and the summer fun is supposed to be over, right?

Well, what if I told you, because of your relationship with God, because you are a son or daughter in Jesus Christ, the fun doesn't have to stop.

You see, it's kind of ironic.

You, for all the adults in the room, you're growing up, you're being raised, and children, you cut up a little bit, right?

You do little things here and there, and then the famous saying comes out acting like a child.

This has happened for generations.

Okay?

And I understand the intent behind that speech.

Because you want that individual, you want that young child to grow up and you want them to be successful, right?

And life does take discipline.

It does take getting serious at times.

You can read through Ecclesiastes, where Solomon is, you know, he's going back and forth.

There's a time for this, there's a time for that, there's a time to play, but then there's a time to hunker down.

And yes, that is certainly true.

But with the relationship with God, we are always supposed to remain that child that he raised up.

All right.

We're always supposed to be that child, okay?

So much so that in one crucial moment in Jesus' ministry, he actually emphasizes this.

It's a moment that comes out of the blue.

His disciples aren't expecting it.

They have their idea, and all of a sudden, these children are starting to surround him.

And the engagement that happens there just illustrates this fact perfectly.

So if you have your Bible, I want to go ahead and jump into it.

This is a story that you'll find in Matthew, Mark, or Luke.

I like the one in Mark because of the because of how it is written.

So let me just kind of breeze through this real quick and then I'll expound on what I mean.

So starting in verse 14, I'm sorry, said 13, but we're starting in fourteen.

But when Jesus saw it, he was greatly displeased and said to them, Let the children come to me and do not forbid them, for such is the kingdom of God.

Assuredly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.

So what's happening here?

So in Jesus' ministry, he has several serious moments.

Okay.

In the verses just before this moment, a scene is described where he's having a kind of a debate with the religious leadership of his day.

Okay, they're called Pharisees, Sadducees, and Wata Wata Bees.

You can the name goes on and on and who these people are.

And the disciples are clearly locked in.

All right.

They're watching, they're seeing Jesus engage in dialogue and debate with these with these religious leaders, but then the children come in.

Now, for anybody who's a parent in here, which myself included, I got a little toddler son.

When the kids show up, you know everything else stops, right?

Yeah.

Everything just ends, whether you want it to or not.

When the kid comes, it's them.

Well, the disciples panic.

And all of a sudden, they're trying to shoo these kids away.

You can just imagine how they're how they're behaving.

They're like, get out of here.

Go, get.

Quit interrupting our teacher.

Interruption.

Yes, children can interrupt.

But that interruption was a thing of beauty for Jesus.

He saw all those kids, and he doesn't get on to the kids.

He actually gets on to his disciples.

Now, these these 12 men, they've been they've been following him for some time now.

They've been learning, they've been reading, they've been studying, and they've been glued to him.

They're invested in a walk with Jesus.

But in this mo in this moment, he's actually rebuking them.

Okay?

Read what it says here again.

Okay, let the little children come to me.

Why?

Because these children, with all the fun and excitement and zeal, they're rushing to Jesus.

They want to be with him.

Jesus isn't gonna shine shoe that away.

He's not gonna move that off.

In fact, he goes even further.

He says, if you're not like this, you're not entering that kingdom.

You're not gonna be able to receive what the all the Father, the all the things the Father has to give to you.

It just won't happen.

So, in short, here, church, we get this idea often that when we come to God and we're growing in our faith, we we somehow feel like we have to remove all of the excitement, the fun, and the joy and the zeal that comes with us in childhood.

Okay?

Working 10 years on the job right now, it feels like a lot of what I used to do as a kid, I can't do anymore.

You can't just go and have fun.

You can't just, you know, flail about a little bit.

I like how Pastor David says that sometimes you're doing you're just doing undignified worship, like you can't do that, like it's wrong, like it's shameful.

But that's not what Jesus is saying.

If you are not willing to be so bold and up front, if you're not willing to be so open-hearted like a child would be, the kingdom is not yours to receive.

So be unfiltered, be undignified, and get out there and shout, and dare I say, have a little fun.

Get energized when you hear about the word of God.

And don't be afraid to tell it to people.

Jump for joy because here's the thing, folks, that's precisely what God wants his children to do.

That's what he wants his children to see.

Because that exemplifies the wholehearted faith that God wants in each and every single one of us.

A faith so strong, so unhinged on him, that you just can't help that no matter what situation or circumstance you're going through, you say, But my God's got me, my God has me.

And as Jesus said, the yoke is easy and the burden is light.

It doesn't come with all of these stipulations, rules, and regulations.

Discipline, yes, but he wants you to be overjoyed.

The faith you have in God is actually that testimony that he's building.

Speaking of faith, when we walk in a faith with God, when we truly walk in childlike faith, we are exemplifying what was written in the book of Hebrews.

Read here.

Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Let me pause there for a second.

There's a lot of attitude, there's a lot of ideas about what faith is and what it looks like and how it looks.

For a lot of people, they they hear about a Christian faith, it goes usually one of two ways.

Either one, it looks like this whimsical idea, like, oh, you're just you're just following ideas in the wind, believing that imaginary man up in the sky, and you're kind of just going and you're just kind of going with it, right?

And you get that idea.

But what Hebrews is explaining is like, no, faith is a real thing.

It is a substance, it's a noun.

Everybody says substance.

It's a substance, it is something that is actually there in you and it's present, and it is and it is telling you this is true evidence of things not seen.

Just because you don't see it doesn't necessarily mean it's not there, right?

When you've got the faith in God, it's not necessarily something up here that you're holding on to.

It's not just a bunch of ideas and whimsical thoughts like a lot of people tend to criticize it with.

No, it is something more deep in here, it's something in the heart.

Those children, when they rushed to Jesus and disrupted that service, this is the reason why Jesus didn't rebuke them.

They were open-hearted about it.

They knew something was special about him, and they wanted to be with him.

And Jesus takes that moment and he says, That's the kind of church I want.

Those are the kind of followers I want.

I don't want people who just say and and okay, I'm gonna go along with it.

But no, they're they're rushing to a church.

Are we rushing to God wholeheartedly and belief, like we truly believe what he says, like his word says?

That's what we're supposed to be like.

But unfortunately, sometimes in a church setting of all places, we lose that because here's another aspect of it.

Okay?

So we got the whole open, wholehearted faith.

That fire, if you ever feel that fire, that joy that stirs up inside of you, that's the witnessing.

You get into a church congregation where they start focusing more on the rules and regulations and the religious rituals and the rites.

In other words, it's more about your posture than it is actually the faith that you're exhibiting.

Sometimes we actually kill that.

During our morning prayer service, that was actually what was prayed about continuously.

And I pray, I'm praying that y'all are feeling right now, it's okay to be open and bold about your faith.

And it's okay to express it a little bit.

Dare I say, it's okay to get a little bit loud, church.

It's okay to get loud.

Children aren't quiet.

We know that.

A little toddler son, we're getting ready for church, and I hear, ah, you know he's alive and well.

He's ready to go.

The day started, it's time to go.

If you work with young children, you know.

Get into high school, they all kind of just die down a little bit.

You gotta have to add a little spark in them.

But young little kids full of energy and vigor, they're ready to go.

They're ready to shout.

Church sometimes, though, shuns that.

It's like, no, no, quite down.

Back in the old days, you got pinched for it.

Some of y'all know what I'm talking about, right?

You get pinched and then you get that little look and you shut your mouth.

I get it.

There comes a time where you've got to hunker down and you've got to get you gotta get poised.

But our walk with God was never meant to be like this thing that we walk around with a chain or a shackle on us that tells us you've got to suppress your thought, feeling, or emotion.

Be like the child.

Go run to God and shout.

Amen.

Be a little undignified.

Kids don't worry, they don't worry about the embarrassment.

They just go.

Little toddler son, he goes and running, trips, falls, fortunately, not on a hard place.

Uh-oh.

And then he gets up and he goes.

He doesn't care.

Doesn't matter.

No shame.

Just runs.

There's a beauty in that kind of innocence.

And here's the thing: that's actually the innocence that God has been trying to bring back to us in our lives.

When you go back to Genesis and when you go back into the fall of man, you gotta understand everything was as it should have been.

And Adam and Eve, they were walking around, they might have been grown adults, but they're walking like children.

They were God's first children put on earth.

And their relationship was a back and forth dialogue, communication.

It didn't matter.

It was only until later.

It was only until a little bit later, when the fall happened, that now things start getting serious.

The thing about getting serious is now you withdraw yourself from God.

So now we fast forward.

Jesus is in his ministry, he'll be crucified to finally bring it into this, to restore that father-child relationship that he had been yearning for a millennia to get back with humanity.

And yet in church, here we are trying to do things that we think they ought to be.

When Jesus all along is saying, Can you just run to me?

Run to the Father.

Just rush to the Father.

Be the child.

Stop worrying about what being an adult Christian is like and start looking at what being like a child Christian is like.

Kid Christianity is so much more fun.

Just because you're adulting does not mean that you have to let that inner child in your life just completely fade away.

No, that's the inner child that God wants to bring back into you.

Because that's the inner child that He wants to have the lasting eternal relationship with.

Why do we put that off?

It's not supposed to be that way.

And there's a reason why, because here's the thing.

We live in this modern digital age, and this and there's professionalism run rampant, okay?

I'm a school teacher.

I trust me, it's all about professionalism.

You go in your work environment, professionalism, right?

Stern, discipline, style, get the job done, be diligent, all that stuff.

But what God wants to show is that you don't have to live life constantly like that.

So seriously.

No, God wants you to breathe a little bit, run, see Him for the Father that He is, and not being stuck in the confines of strict religion.

Never wasn't supposed to be that way.

It was meant to be a relationship.

Amen.

God wants that.

He wants it for a reason.

He wants that because that's the testimony that every believer can share.

Look at the relationship that I get to have with my God.

Not just some distant being out in the blue that I have no connection with.

No, this is a God who wants a personal relationship with me.

He wants me to be his child.

He does not want me to be his adult.

For any of for any parent in here, okay, especially parents of older children who've grown up and been 18, I've heard this time and time again.

I was growing up, you know, my mother would tell me, you know, you won't really understand until you are a dad yourself.

Once a child, always a child.

You see, you see your kids grown up, and they're still your kids.

That's how you first knew them.

Well, guess how God first knew you?

He knew you as the child.

And he wants to run back at any given moment.

Because that's the kind of message he once sent.

Notice why God wants us to have a childlike faith.

For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

That word elders, it's kind of an umbrella term for any older or well-seasoned individual in ministry, often in leadership, but for all intents and purposes, they could be older, and yet even those individuals are supposed to exhibit a childlike faith.

Those individuals are sharing the testimony of God in their life.

What testimony?

Well, what are we talking about?

It's like in a court trial.

Here's what I've seen, here's what I've heard, this is what I've witnessed.

That's a testimony.

God doesn't want to give you a testimony about how strict and disciplined that you could be at a moment.

No, this.

No, he wants to see, he wants you to speak about the joy.

He wants you to talk about the joy of being in a relationship with him.

That being with him is better than being without him.

That in this hard world where we are told constantly, get it together, get it right, suck it up.

These are tough times I know that are going on right now in our world, right?

We're always concerned about a multitude of issues.

War here, economic collapse there.

Worried about a job, worried about financial stability, worried about the family, all these problems.

God wants to take those and he wants to lead you through them with new joy.

That's the kind of testimony he wants to bring.

If you could do it on your own, then there's nothing to show for him.

The funny thing is, life's problems cannot be solved without God being in it.

So you might as well join in just for that reason alone.

Like children growing up.

Mom, I need help.

Dad, I need help.

You might even be in your 30s, 40s, and 50s, and yet you might still be going back to your parents.

Have you been through this situation?

Do you know what it's like?

God wants to be that for you in your life.

You never outgrow God.

You never outgrow God.

And it doesn't matter what your problem, situation, or circumstance is, and also doesn't matter how qualified you are to think you can handle it.

God is there to get you through the moments that you can't bear on your own.

That's what he wants.

That's the testimony he wants to bring in your life.

Amen.

He wants you to speak on those moments where you had no choice but to operate in faith, and he took care of it.

You say, okay.

How can I have faith?

Where do I get the faith from?

Because remember, in Hebrews it says faith is a substance, it is a noun, it is something that is in us.

Where do I get that faith?

Straight from the Father.

Apostle Paul in Romans 10, 17.

Okay, so then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

If you heard God speak it, then you know he's gonna work it.

It's going to happen.

The problems and circumstances that we are in, we are trying to figure it out on our own.

We're trying to do things like adults.

Here's my problem, it's my responsibility, I gotta fix it.

God certainly doesn't mind you trying to navigate through a situation, but he would much rather that he be a part of that process with you.

When you've exhausted every option that you have, God is there saying, I also can get you through this.

In fact, I know how to get this, I know how to get you through better than you know how to do it.

I know how to put the pieces together.

And by the way, while you were going through this hardship, I've already got the situation in the background ready for you.

All you gotta do is just keep your eyes focused on me.

Kind of on a side note, when we talk about a faith with God, that doesn't mean that we're not feeling the hardship in that moment.

But when we have faith in God, it's that opportunity to go beyond what we're feeling, to we're just now trusting Him that we're gonna get out of this moment.

And when you get out, there's your testimony.

Now I'm not just preaching that up here, okay.

This is this is a lot of my life.

So if y'all just pardon me for a second, I'd like to ramble off here a little bit, okay?

So you already know I'm a school teacher, right?

Made that clear.

Obviously, because I like to talk.

But I've had more than a few moments where that could have been abruptly halted.

Okay, so to become a teacher, you know, you gotta go to college, you gotta go through the teacher prep and all that, all that kind of stuff, right?

Not once, not twice, but about three times in my prep work, I could have been severely delayed.

And that's problematic when you're dating the love of your life and you're hoping to get married when you get a job settled.

You don't want that kind of delay, okay?

And I I won't forget, I'll tell I'll give you one example.

So I was doing a practicum.

This was this was not student teaching, but it's the step to becoming a a teacher candidate.

And I'm not gonna lie, this one, this one hurt me for a long time because I was raised to give it your all and give it your best, right?

Something that my mother instilled into me very at a very young age.

And so when I'm doing my coursework, I'm trying to give it my all, right?

Well, it really does, it really is a blow to my ego whenever I get, for lack of a better term, a report card back from the cooperating teacher, and I got a lot of bad I got a lot of bad remarks.

Now, I can't move on in my studies if I have an unsatisfactory report.

They allow you some grace here and there.

Okay, like you can you can miss out on a couple of marks, but they gave it back to me and I and I was missing the marks through and through.

You want to talk about a moment where I had to no longer lean on my strength?

I I knew I wanted to be a teacher and I knew I could be a good one.

Okay.

I had a lot of things going my way that would that was confirming that I was going in the right direction, but then you hit this and it's a roadblock.

Now my career's gonna be put on hold before it even gets started.

Well, that's the moment God intervenes.

I got I got called up to my professor's office and he just he was about as dumbfounded as I was.

He was he was surprised.

I'm not trying to kind of toot my own horn here, but he was taken off by it.

He says, I I don't get why you got that report.

I said, Well, I guess we're gonna talk to the teacher.

He said, Well, we've been trying to talk to the teacher.

We emailed several times and we're not getting a reply.

So here's what we're gonna do, Nathan.

We're just gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and just push you on through.

I got to continue on when in that moment, technically, I was not considered qualified to go.

So let me tell you something about hearing of faith, okay?

You might be in a situation where you don't feel qualified, that you don't have the skill, you don't have the capability.

If God says something's gonna happen, by God, it's gonna happen.

If I had more time, I'd be happy to share even more because that's not the only moment, okay?

There's been several moments where I'd have to just trust in God that I was gonna get through that impossible circumstance.

You gotta hear it.

You've got to be like the children.

Why did those children rush to Jesus?

Because they wanted to hear and not just passively go in one out the other.

They were ready to take it in wholeheartedly.

That's why Jesus rebuked his disciples.

That's why he said, if you want the kingdom, you gotta come in like this.

You gotta come in and hear open-heartedly and wholeheartedly.

Amen.

There's just no other way around it.

Even better, there's another aspect of this.

When you rush to God and when you choose to have faith in Him, do you realize that despite what's going on and what's happening, you are choosing to actually put that off.

You see, again, the adult thing to do is to take charge, take control, and try to manage it yourself.

That situation I told you before, I was completely at the mercy of the powers that be.

My professor, that teacher, their decision was going to be what determines I get to move forward.

I had no choice but to seek a higher authority.

And that's the beauty about God, because he's above all that.

When you hear that promise of God, he's giving you a guarantee.

It's not that whimsical idea or that wishful thinking.

That's a guarantee.

He's speaking authoritatively.

He's saying, No, this is true, and I don't care what your circumstance is.

I like how one pastor says it.

All of this that you're seeing might be the facts.

But the truth of the matter is you can move beyond that.

You can get beyond that moment, you can get beyond that trouble.

This is why we are able to confidently cast our burdens up to the Lord, like it says in Philippians chapter 4, be anxious for nothing.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving.

You knew by the way, you know, whenever you give thanks to something, do you do it before or after?

Think about it.

Sit down, about to eat that meal.

When somebody gives you something, what do you say?

The act has already happened, it's already been done.

God has already done the lead work.

You just need to trust the process.

Be anxious for nothing.

Stop holding on to a problem that God does not intend for you to hold on all by yourself.

He's got the process, he's got the answer.

He's above it, he wants to move you through it.

Be anxious for nothing.

Don't we live in a world right now where there's so many people that are just filled with anxiety because they're trying to find solutions to problems, but a lot of those problems are just simply beyond their control.

Those are the kind of problems that God wants you to run to like a child, without embarrassment, totally unhinged.

Dad, I need some help.

That's the kind of God we follow.

That's the kind of God we worship.

Amen.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Take the problem, cast it up, run to your God who knows that problem better than you do, and he will get you through that process.

What you're feeling now is temporary, but God has the permanent solution and it is beyond that trouble.

Just hold on, be like the child, run to him, and don't be embarrassed about it.

And do it with all your problems.

It doesn't matter how many they are.

In another verse, whenever it, whenever Jesus is teaching about praying for your needs, he says it, God already knows the need.

Just go and give it to him.

Okay?

Now, when you give your problem to God, you do realize you are taking the situation out of your control.

That means you now have to let God settle it.

Now, God's ways are always above our ways, his methods are always different from our methods, okay?

He has to be that way for a reason because oftentimes when we're trying to solve a problem, we've got one thing in mind, but God has something else in mind.

Remember, he's trying to build testimony through you.

And it's through your faith you get to give testimony.

So you have to just lean on his understanding, which sometimes is going to be a need-to-know basis.

But there's an immediate reason why.

He wants to give you the peace, only he can give in the moment.

When you cast the burden up, when you cast your troubles up, he is choosing to replace that anxiety and that hardship that you're feeling, the burden, and he's instead trying to replace it with your peace.

We know this whenever we send a task to somebody that we can't handle, all of a sudden you feel that release, right?

You feel an easing, you feel relaxed.

That's the kind of relationship God wants to have with you, where you kick that back to him.

He says, Okay, it's in my court.

Now I'm gonna walk you through it.

Now I'm gonna show you how to get it done, and my peace is gonna be with you.

And that peace surpasses all understanding.

This is why, whenever you hear testimonies of Christians, you got the people listening thinking, How did you get through that?

How did that not tear you down?

Because the Christian, the Holy Spirit-filled, faith-following, childlike believer in Christ will say, Because God was giving me the peace I needed in the moment, that's ultimately what is needed.

And he wants to give it to you openly every day.

Don't be like the adult, be like the child.

God, I need help.

Get me through.

And that peace of God is going to take you beyond that circumstance.

I guarantee it.

I gave you one testimony of mine.

There's many people in this room right now that I know have testimonies to share, right?

We all have it to give.

And God wants to build those testimonies in each and every single one of you.

Walk with him.

Actually, no, don't walk.

Be like a kid.

Run.

Rush them.

I love him when my little toddler son sees me.

I give go pick, I'll pick him up at the end of at the end of the day, and he'll just rush me.

He doesn't care.

That's the kind of stuff God wants us to be like.

Where we don't worry about being in control.

God loves it whenever you allow him to be in control, because that's what that's what obedient children do.

Okay, I'm gonna do it.

I'm gonna do what you tell me, Dad.

I'm gonna do what you instruct me to do.

Because I know you have a better way.

I know you have a higher way, and I know that you can get me through in this moment.

Amen.

That's what he wants.

Okay?

Besides, we've already got enough problems in our lives.

Especially when you're an adult, you've got a multitude of different problems.

Okay?

Being a parent is one of them.

It's hard work.

Children are a blessing.

They're beautiful.

I love my son.

But it's work.

It takes time to get him up out of bed and try to get him to go to the bathroom when he doesn't want to.

It's hard work when you're trying to feed him his food and he goes, I don't like that.

It's work when you're coming home from work and your child now looks at you and says, Come play with me, daddy.

It's also work when you're trying to handle the day-to-day tasks.

Okay.

I'll give you the education perspective.

Okay.

Y'all do realize when you're a teacher, you're actually not being hired to be a teacher.

That's actually only a portion of the job.

Okay, let me tell you the other stuff that gets involved, okay?

You're gonna be the counselor.

You're also going to be the task manager, you're gonna serve on a committee.

You're also gonna make sure that these papers are properly filed, which by the way, those papers are never gonna be looked at, but because of compliance, they have to be done.

You got to fill out this form and you gotta check these boxes, and then your whole day gets consumed with handling a million tasks, and you say to yourself, but I'm only a human.

And then you got to go home, and then you gotta handle the responsibilities of a home.

It's hard.

And yet sometimes in church we are told to now take personal charge of our relationship with God.

Well, hopefully, you're seeing by now that's not the dynamic of this relationship.

The dynamic is actually the opposite.

You're working hard long days, I understand that.

I've got a plan for that.

Come home, the house is a mess.

God's up there saying, I got a plan for that.

All those challenges and all those struggles that are going on around you, God is saying, I've got a plan for that.

Can you just hold on with me for a little bit?

Can you just have faith?

Can you believe that your circumstance right now is not permanent, but I've got something greater beyond the veil of all of this chaos in your life?

I'm beyond it.

So quit worrying.

There's enough troubles in the world.

That's what Jesus is telling his disciples.

Okay, therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.

Sufficient enough today.

God is here telling us quit worrying about every little detail because guess what?

It all eventually comes to an end.

The day ends and a new one shows up.

And God is ready to meet you in that day.

I hope you're getting what I'm saying here.

God wants you to take the burden and lift it off.

Hand it over to Him.

Let Him help you.

Let Him ease you, let Him relax you.

His yoke is easy and His burden is light, as Jesus said.

He wants to take those troubles.

This is totally the opposite of what the world teaches.

Problems here, problems there, it's your problems.

You go and you fix it.

And they dish it back at you.

I'd rather follow a God who says, I see your problems, I see your troubles.

It's a lot.

I'm gonna help you get through this.

In fact, the biggest problem of all, the one about our eternity, the one about where we're going to be when we're done in this life on earth, even that he decided to take the burden on.

Amen.

Let's go ahead and cue it.

There's plenty in our life that can be a burden.

You can go ahead and turn the music on.

All of that stuff can weigh us down.

And it can kill that inner child that's yearning to just be free and to just run.

With all the life circumstances and responsibilities that we have, it's very easy to forget that.

Because we're raised in that.

That's that's what a fallen world has done.

It takes every problem and it puts it on you.

Now think about this.

Especially for the parents in the room, would you want to take that logic and put it on your child?

Would any sensible person want to do that?

I think it's safe to say the answer would be no.

That's our God.

When it's a problem that He needs to take care of, He takes that burden.

Our job is to listen and hear and walk by faith.

Amen.

He wants to take those troubles.

He wants to take those burdens.

So as the summer months are coming to an end and the vacation season starts to dwindle away, I'm really hoping that you take this word and remember it for the remainder of the year.

That in those trying times, whether it's from work, whether it's your home life, whatever it is, I want you to remember that at the end of the day, God is not expecting you to hold your own problems by yourself.

He wants to be that dad.

Will you call on him?

Even if it's something that you've broken, he says, Will you help me like fix it?

Will you let me help fix it?

How many of us have a hurt heart right now that's overburdened and weighed heavily because we've got too many challenges?

There's a God right now that is ready, willing, and able, and he wants to take those challenges on.

Amen.

Let's pray.

So, Heavenly Father, I just thank you this moment in this day that you had an opportunity to remind the people in this church that you are called Father God for a reason.

That you want to be that everlasting parent who's not only there to teach, to discipline, and to instruct, but also to relieve, to take on the challenges of this world, not least among which our eternal salvation, and to hold on to that, freeing us from that burden and the bondage that comes with it.

I pray, Father, over everybody right now that as they leave these doors and as they're beginning to go about their regular life, that there is a transformation that had taken place, that they see themselves not as just someone who has to fix everything, but that they can walk freely and run to you, knowing that you're going to be with them, that they don't have to be alone, and that they can now shout for joy like children of God.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you so much, church.

Wasn't that good?

Um, I love this because of how God's anointing works.

Um, Nathan, how old are you?

Okay, he's getting old enough where he has to think about it for a second.

33.

This is what's beautiful.

Um, and we all just I was sitting there and I felt like the Holy Spirit was telling me some stuff about some people in here in this room.

Um, God is using a vessel to give a message to you, and you are not listening because you're like, He's young, what does he know?

There's some people in here, you're business owners, and you or you want to be, and you're you're it's going in one ear and out the other because you don't understand the concept of honor.

It's not Nathan, it's the anointing of the eternal God of all wisdom, speaking through a man saying, Hey, I want you to talk about this today because people need to hear it.

And listen, church, we have such a lack of understanding of what honor is.

It's not his life experience, it's the anointing of God.

There's people here, you've had health issues for years, and all you do is live in fear, and you don't believe that God wants to heal you.

And that message was for you.

But because he's a young guy, and because you don't understand what honor is in the Bible where it says honor everyone, you're missing it, you're not receiving the power of the anointing in the moment.

When Jesus comes to his hometown, God all powerful, nothing's impossible.

His hometown, they did not honor him.

This is Jesus, the carpenter, that's Mary's son.

And he did not do all that God would have intended.

There's business owners here, this is what I've heard, business owners and people wanting to do business.

And because of your lack of honor to receive the anointing, you're you're putting a cap on that.

Okay?

There's people in here that need massive healing.

You have major health issues, and God is speaking to you.

He wants your anxiety about it, he wants your fear, he wants you to come to him as a child.

That was a word of the Lord today.

When he was talking at the beginning, you know, here's the thing.

I'm not, listen, I do not have all the answers, okay?

But I have discernment, and I asked the Lord for discernment.

When he was starting his message, you know what I felt?

I felt this thing that people were getting very, it was almost mocking towards it when he's saying, Hey, be a child.

Do you know Michael mocked David and she was barren the rest of her life, not producing?

And we come to God and we think God's not our friend because we're not producing, and he's saying, Hey, get the Michael out of your life, get the lack of honor, get the self-pride, the self-righteousness.

Some of you, God has a purpose and a calling for your life to be wealthy and successful, not so you can just have fun and everything will be easier.

He's trying to do something for the kingdom, and the lack of honor will rob that from you.

Paul tells Timothy, don't let anyone look down upon you because of your age.

It's the anointing.

It's the anointing.

We can do nothing apart from God.

Nathan, thank you for hearing from the Lord, brother.

Um, I know I from the, you know, I know I've watched Nathan, and he has a serious natural demeanor.

Okay?

And I love seeing him up here, and this is something the Lord's doing in his life, that childlike faith.

The Pharisees were very mature in the Lord and very wrong in their maturity because they know so much.

But yet God comes and he gets the foolishness of the world, does he not?

I will take the foolish things of the world and I will use them to so the wise in their own eyes, how foolish they actually are.

That's the key.

Emma, I love what you said, and it's so true.

The things we want most from God, we think it's gonna come this way.

When it's simply, how about be humble in his presence?

How about stop caring so much what everyone thinks?

Thank you, Nathan.

So, Lord, we just repent.

And this, I'm just I'm just as guilty.

I don't even know, I felt like I needed to say this for you, brother.

Not that you needed it, but I felt led by the Holy Spirit to say this.

I was at another ministry before we moved back to Georgia, and um when I I love doing church, I love ministry.

I just I love it, okay.

And um sometimes in the ministry world, you know, guys, we get competitive.

We're competitive.

I'm a competitive dude.

I played sports, you know, and sometimes we're like, well, hey, I want to like lead the charge, and then when I get to lead, I'm like, what am I doing wrong?

You know, things like this, okay?

Men say amen.

Back me up.

Um, I'm at this ministry and I'm not really getting picked to do anything.

And in my eyes, I'm like, I'm the most talented guy.

You know, these people are spiritually blind, obviously.

In complete rebellion.

I have all these things I tell myself.

Um, and this young kid, he's like probably close to half my age.

The Lord starts using him, he starts speaking prophetic words and he starts getting opportunities.

And I'm gonna be honest, I was so jealous and bitter about it.

And I lacked honor, and I was like, how could this, you know, who is this guy?

How could this guy be given this much honor?

It doesn't make any sense.

And he's sitting there ministering, and the Lord like rebuked me hard.

Okay, and he's like, David, it's not him, that's me.

Am I not allowed to use any vessel I want to use?

Are you gonna tell me who I can use and not use?

I used a donkey before.

Jealous, bitter, prideful, competitive.

You know, the body of Christ, we're not supposed to be competing with each other.

I still struggle with that.

I have to bring that to the Lord on.

Like, okay, I'm sorry, God.

We're not the best church in Noonan.

And the Lord rebuked me, and um, I repented.

And this is what I did is I didn't just make it an internal thing.

I exercised, you know what?

Faith without works is so my faith was brought me to conviction, and I repented of this, okay?

Looking down upon someone, judging them.

Oh, who are they to tell me something?

They don't know how long I've been a Christian.

Oh, and I've done missions and I've done church work.

How could God use them to talk to me?

And you're blocking yourself off from the very thing you want.

And listen, if you got all the answers, why are you not healed?

If you got all the answers, why don't you have breakthrough?

Show me your fruit if you've got all the answers.

And if you don't have that, then maybe we listen and humble ourselves and honor each other.

The Lord rebuked me for looking down upon this guy.

So I repented and I put my faith to work and I started honoring him.

I started speaking well of him in front of others.

We have so much division because we don't know how to honor.

Oh, we got to uncover everybody.

They're not around.

Let's talk about how they're not good at stuff, how this, but who do they think they are?

And we uncover and we dishonor, we dishonor, and bring dysfunction.

I started honoring him.

People be around.

That was an awesome word.

Thank you.

I went up to him.

Man, listen, that was so anointed because it was, and I hated to admit it.

But I was like, thank you.

And here's the thing.

I we move away, okay?

And lie, I'm in a season, and things are very hard.

We go back to the ministry to visit, and I come up to the altar, and he's not, he didn't leave the message, and all of a sudden I feel someone's hand on my chest, and it's him.

And he says, Hey, I have a prophetic word for you, David.

He gave me he gave me the best prophetic word I think I've had in years.

Spoke right to it specifically and gave me a promise from the Lord that I've held on to still to this day.

And I want to tell you something.

Honor the anointing on each other.

Honor the anointing.

Nathan, that was anointed, brother.

I felt the heavy anointing sitting right here.

In the midst of his teaching school full-time, being a full-time dad.

Oh, yeah, by the way, he's like in college still all the time, getting degrees and probably gonna get his doctorate and all this stuff.

And the Lord had put him on my mind and said, Hey, I want him preaching.

He's got a teacher's anointing on him.

And here's the thing: I I love you all, but I'm gonna be honest because I sense things in the spirit, not because I'm amazing.

Because I just asked God for it, and when he was doing that, I felt this discernment.

There was such dishonor in the room, and you're blocking yourself off from what God is trying to do.

And we need to be honest about that because no one can see that.

We can cover up dishonor, but you're blocking the anointing, you're blocking the breakthrough, you're blocking the healing.

Amen.

Now, when Paul would write letters, he goes, Listen, I hated sending that last letter, it was harsh, blah, blah, blah.

You know, I feel like Paul right now.

Listen, I don't mean to be the bad cop here, but I would rather see you healed and hear what you need to hear instead of fluff you up with lies.

Okay, the Bible says it's better to receive the correction of a friend than the kisses of an enemy.

It's these words that bring us life.

And young men in here and men of all ages, that dishonor, I have had to be humbled.

The Lord, I've had to be humbled so many times, not just internally, but through action.

Lord says you believe it, then put action behind it.

Put action behind it.

We are one body, many parts.

And I need the anointing and the gifting on your life just as much as you need it on my life.

Amen.

And the way we extract it is we honor.

In the name of Jesus, Father, I thank you, Lord, that you're bringing healing today.

Some of you, that's the key that you needed.

I heard specifically, business owners, you keep running into a door and you need to check yourself because the Lord is wanting to unlock the door, but you lack honor.

You cried out for answers, and the Lord says, You keep disqualifying the solutions I put in front of you.

Your Jesus is coming to your hometown, and you're not receiving the miracles because you lack honor, because oh, you have all the answers.

Oh, really?

Lord, forgive us for our lack of honor.

Forgive us of jealousy and comparison for selfishness and envy.

Jealousy and envy are the ones that we just don't like to talk about.

I'm gonna be honest.

I don't like talking about that.

I don't like admitting to the Lord when I have it, and I do.

Lord, forgive us for that.

Did y'all agree?

Say amen.

All right, Lord, they agreed.

We're good now.

So, Holy Spirit, we invite you to bring healing this morning.

We invite you to bring healing this morning and breakthrough and direction.

Um, okay, who in here is a runner?

You used to run track or you like to run?

Runner, runner, stand up if you're a runner.

It's symbolic, it's spiritual.

Runner, runner, used to run like run track, or just run like you enjoy running.

Is there anybody else?

Is that you?

Mark, your runner.

Okay.

So all the runners in the room, the Lord says, I'm giving you new shoes.

They're fresh and they're clean.

But these shoes are gonna create direction because that's what you need.

The Lord, the shoes are gonna create clarity and direction, but it's also give gonna give endurance for the trip ahead.

And I want you to know this.

Um, and also right here, address right here, look at me.

The Lord says, I'm gonna give you specific direction, and you've been asking to, and I'm gonna make it very clear in the name of Jesus.

And also, your knees have been hurting.

Your knees have been hurting, but I'm gonna hold you up and don't stop.

Your knees have been hurting, but I'm gonna hold you up, so don't stop.

Don't stop, don't stop in the name of Jesus.

In the name of Jesus, if you have a hurt knee of any kind, if you're raise your hand.

Let's look around.

If someone's raising their hand around them, we're gonna go, church, let's surround them, or we're gonna lay hands on them, we're gonna agree for their healing right now.

Lord, we speak healing right now in the name of Jesus.

We speak healing right now in the name of Jesus, Lord, complete healing over the knee, Father, complete recovery over the knee, Lord.

Even if there's been surgeries and stuff done that would seem uh like it can't be repaired, or tendons, I don't even know all the biology of it.

If there's stuff that seems like it's impossible, Lord, we ask for a creative miracle that you completely restore the knee.

Completely.

You are the God that still heals, you are the God able to and still will.

In the mighty name of Jesus.

Um, sir, right there.

Polo, right behind, no, right behind you.

Yes, sir, yes, sir.

You um is this y'all's first time here?

Okay.

Um the Lord pointed you out to me, man.

And um, the Lord says there's so much um success on your life.

And the Lord says um there's gonna be more success on your life, and there's favor.

Um, I see this favor with man, and there's certain things you know how to do.

You know how to talk, and you know how to talk and you know how to get certain things done.

There's a skill on your life.

The Lord says, Um, the compass has been going in circles, but now it's stopping and it's giving you direction.

The Lord says, That is me.

I'm giving you clear direction in this season, my son.

And it's felt like it's been so long where the compass was just going in circles, and you're just saying, Lord, Lord, what which way, which way, which way?

The Lord says, now that the compass is stopped, and I'm giving you direction, and I'm gonna give you favor, and I'm gonna give you success, and it's gonna be for my glory, and it's going to be wealth, and we're not also a church that just tells everyone they need to be rich, just FYI, if this is your first time here.

But for you, you're a kingdom builder and you've got generosity at your heart, and at the deepest part of you, and the Lord knows this things, he says, I search out the heart.

There's a purity where you say, Lord, you can have any of it, it's all yours.

I literally want to do your will, and He's gonna He trusts you, so He is gonna provide wealth, so don't be discouraged about that, okay?

And He's gonna provide success to you.

Is this your uh wife, girlfriend?

Wife, can you stand up too?

Um there's been uh there's been um some hurt, and the Lord sees that, and He's gonna mend that up, and um you've been really wanting friends, and the Lord says, I'm putting friends around you, really good friends around you.

And uh actually, um, Sharon, will you go stand behind her?

Um, I think that you have a you have an anointing and a heart for deliverance um to minister to people, and there's a spiritual anointing that's gonna bring freedom, it's gonna break chains.

It's not gonna be because everything you say is amazing, it's a literal anointing.

Father, I thank you for this woman of God who's been misunderstood, who's been rejected, and she's also been treated wrongly.

And um, she's not been able to act and work in the calling and the gifting on her life, Father.

We just thank you, Father, for the anointing on her life, and we thank you that you you're leading her into that, Father.

And we thank you for such a time as this, God.

You're healing her, you're equipping her, and you're setting her forward in what she was called and meant to be.

And we also just speak to her dream life.

We say, no bad dreams in the name of Jesus.

We thank you, Lord, that her church her sleep is going to be restful and peaceful.

I sense that that was something the enemy's been trying to rob your sleep.

We just rebuke every spirit of fear and every spirit of it's like this ongoing drama.

We say peaceful, restful sleep, and we thank you for the friends coming into her life, Father.

The friends, and it's not like you have friends now, but there's also there's more coming that are gonna push you in that calling.

Thank you, Father.

Thank you for that.

Thank you for letting me um do that on your first Sunday here.

I didn't ask for permission, so yeah.

Y'all can sit down now.

Thank you, Jesus.

Isn't God good?

Isn't God good?

Some people I call out, it's like their first time here, and you don't see them ever again.

And then some people come back.

Hope we see you next week.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

Uh Ricky, will you stand up, bro?

Let's see.

Um dun dun dun dun dun.

Dr.

Randy, will you come behind this guy?

Like Nathan, there's a teaching anointing on you.

Um, and the Lord's gonna use it, and the Lord's got timing for all of it, and you're very faithful to the Lord.

And um, but also it's not just that.

Um, I feel like there's a spirit of hospitality on you.

And um the this is weird.

It's what you have inside of you, what the Lord strengthening, the enemy will actively come against that.

But there's a thing of hospitality of bringing people together.

So, Father, I thank you for I thank you for Ricky, Lord, and I thank you for their teacher anointing on him, Lord.

But I thank you for there's a shepherding heart on him as well.

Strike the shepherd and the sheep scattered.

That's one of the hard things when you have a shepherding call.

The enemy doesn't want you having sheep and doesn't want you gathering, so it'll try to strike you, try to strike your home, your health, your wealth, your marriage.

Will you hold your wife's hand, please?

We just say no weapon formed against them in the name of Jesus shall prosper, Lord.

We thank you for their marriage, we thank you for their family, we thank you that they're walking in health and wealth and prosperity, Lord.

We thank you that every bill is paid, Father.

We thank you, Lord, that you're providing for all their needs according to your riches and glory in the name of Jesus.

We thank you, Father, for your protection and preservation over their home.

Every aspect of their home.

We plead the blood of Jesus over them.

We plead the blood of Jesus, and we say that Ricky walks in his calling.

We say that the doors are opening, Lord.

We say that confusion is halting in the name of Jesus.

Thank you, Father.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you, brother.

I don't know what's going on or anything, but the Lord wanted to do that.

Are y'all okay?

Um, left left arm forearm area.

Does someone have some pain or numbness in their left forearm?

You do.

And does anybody else?

We're gonna give someone to left forearm right here.

There's pain or numbness.

No.

Are y'all lying?

In these environments, a lot of times what happens, it's interesting.

Um, the Lord's calling this out because he's wanting you to get healed, but we get embarrassed about it.

And I can't tell you how many times people come up to me at the end of service.

That was me, David, and they make me look like a fool in front of everybody.

And I said, You don't get your healing.

Listen, I gotta go after church.

My I got my son, my wife's out of town.

It's me and baby.

We're gonna watch World Cup together.

No, he's not gonna watch it, he's gonna whine the whole time while I try to watch it.

Let's go lay our hands on her real quick.

In the name of Jesus, we speak complete healing, Father, to her forearm, Father.

Even to the blood vessels, the nerves.

Complete healing in the name of Jesus.

Head to toe, Lord, we thank you for the wonderful daughter of God that she is.

We thank you that she's part of this family, Father.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

Alright, and we speak complete healing over Pastor Pete, Pastor Sharon, over Rick Watson, even over Philip Burg.

Burge?

Burge.

Complete healing in the name of Jesus.

We speak complete healing over Tammy in the mighty name of Jesus from head to toe.

Who else just says, hey, I need some healing?

We don't have to get specific.

He's like, hey, I need to need some healing.

Digestive issues.

We say complete healing over digestive issues in the name of Jesus.

Even the inability, no matter what you do, to lose weight.

We say complete healing to thyroid, metabolism, all those things.

Stubborn fat, visceral fat, be go away, be burned up, fire of God, literally.

Right?

Amen.

Come on.

Come on.

We speak health over our bodies, wholeness, Lord, pain in shoulders, pain in legs, pain and knees go away in the name of Jesus.

Cancer be gone in the name of Jesus.

Broken homes that need to be healed.

We speak the power of God to heal and restore homes.

Even homes that have been damaged by real issues, real betrayals.

We say that the Lazarus of those things come back to life in the name of Jesus.

Come back to life in the name of Jesus.

Broken dreams and men, broken dreams.

You're never gonna hear guys, you're never really gonna hear guys talk about broken dreams.

We just speak right now to discouragement.

And we come out of agreement with discouragement.

There's something that's spiritual about discouragement.

It wants to convince you that it's not worth it.

Just stop.

You've already been you've already felt the pain, so just stop.

Some of you in here, I'm not gonna call you out, but the Lord's showing me some guys in here that this is your thing.

You have discouragement and you can't bust out of it.

The best times of your life was like high school, you know, but just there's things have happened, and now it's always discouragement, and you always come back to this.

We just come out of agreement.

Um, there's things the Lord's been calling me to, things I've been trying, and I they weren't immediately as successful as I wanted them to be.

And it's amazing the spiritual thing of like just stop.

And I'm like, wait a second, that's I break I come out of agreement with discouragement in the name of Jesus.

In the name of Jesus, Lord.

So I speak even to the business owners.

When you've had a trial after trial, you've had unsuccess.

We come out of agreement with discouragement.

Lord, we thank you, Lord, if you've called us to this, if you've called them to that, Father.

We thank you, Lord, that the floodgates of heaven are opening, Father.

We thank you that the floodgates of heaven are opening.

We speak that over Anna right now.

Maddox in the name of Jesus.

We say, open heavens, Father.

Prosperity, Lord, is gonna shower over them in the name of Jesus.

Did I say Maddox?

I am so sorry, brother.

She's married now, by the way, trafting Garna.

That is my fault, and I'll humbly in complete humility admit that.

Lord, we thank you for trafting, Lord.

Floodgates of heaven open in the name of Jesus.

Thank you, Lord.

Alright, y'all stand.

Brother Nathan, if you're still here, man, we love you and thank you for that wonderful word.

Lord, I ask that you protect and bless every single person here under the sound of my voice and every single person watching online, Lord.

We speak healing and blessings over them.

This discouragement, heaviness, unbelief, all this stuff, contention, striving in the spirit, striving in the body of Christ.

Stop blocking your miracles, stop blocking your breakthrough.

Sometimes we're our own, we're sinning.

You don't need to keep rebuking the devil.

You need to repent.

This has been my greatest victory as I'm realizing, hey, if I just repent more, things get better.

If I'm honest more about my own inconsistencies, my own issues, my own weakness, things are getting way better.

I'm way more happier.

Just so you know.

Father, I speak that over them.

Humility, Father, to come to the Father.

In Jesus' name.

One more thing.

I've just sensed this.

There's, and it may just be me.

There's an apprehension about some pending medical test.

Is anybody receiving that at all?

You have some tests coming up?

That you have a test coming up?

Amen.

One.

Come on.

You got a test coming up?

Amen.

I do.

I've I it may I say maybe it's me.

I've got all these lymphoma things tomorrow.

And every time they they kind of sneak up on you, you know, and you just say, oh my God, I've got to do that again.

So in the name of Jesus, if you have a test, any test coming up, in the name of Jesus, and this is what I pray for everybody that we pray that's ill having an illness.

Every report in the name of Jesus, this is not, this is not a this is not a boast.

This is a decree of faith.

Every report that's coming up will be better than the one before.

Every succeeding report will amaze those who are giving the test.

Every succeeding report will be better, and this is what we declare.

Our God is able, He is more than able to superabundantly do more than we ask or imagine to the glory and honor and praise of Jesus Christ.

And everybody said, Amen.

Have a great day, have a great week.

We love you.

And parents pay particular attention to the stewards out here because your children are in a different room than when you left them, maybe.

Thank you.