Sermon

The Assembly - Find Your Fit

Anchor Faith Church

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  1. Well, we're going to start in Hebrews chapter 10 once we get

    Hebrews 10 chapter mention

  2. started, Amen. If you want to turn over there,

  3. Hebrews 10, we'll be in 23. Thank you, Jesus, Hallelujah.

  4. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father.

  5. Hmm. Oh, glory to his name.

  6. Glory to his name. Thank you, Jesus.

  7. The Lord is good. Hallelujah.

  8. Well, let's read it. Let's see what happens.

  9. Let's let us hold fast the profession of our faith without

  10. wavering. For he who is faith, for he is

  11. faithful, who promised the Lord will do what he said.

  12. Verse 24 And let us consider one another.

  13. Let us what consider one another to provoke to love and to good

  14. works. So let us consider one another

  15. to provoke to what love and good works.

  16. Verse 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves

  17. together. As is the manner of some is but

  18. exhorting. But what?

  19. Exhorting one another. What are we doing?

  20. Exhorting one another? And so much, so much, so much

  21. less, So much what more, so much the more as you see the day

  22. approaching. What day is that?

  23. That's the return of the King, I said.

  24. That's the return of the King. We are closer to the return of

  25. Jesus today than we've ever been in our lifetime.

  26. And there are many signs that are that are pointing towards

  27. that. It's highly, highly probable.

  28. I mean highly probable. And ministers that are more

  29. known than I am in the earth are, are equally communicating

  30. that they believe it very well can be in their lifetime or

  31. their children's lifetime based upon some very clear signs that

  32. have taken place. My wife and I were listening to

  33. a podcast by John Previer on The End Times.

  34. And he said on that podcast, he says I have been ministering for

  35. four decades and not one time have I ever ministered on the

  36. End Times in four decades. He said, I'm ashamed of that.

  37. He said the reason is, is because obviously during his

  38. tenure of being in ministry that there are things that are off

  39. and things have had gotten off. And then people had said things

  40. concerning the end times that he says, you know, it's a little

  41. too controversial. It's a little too, you know,

  42. subject for, you know, failure or misinterpretation.

  43. So they just stayed away from it all together.

  44. But he said, you know, once I started getting into it, I

  45. realized I was wrong. You know, just because someone

  46. or or the majority may teach something wrong, does that mean

  47. you should stay away from a subject?

  48. You shouldn't do that. And so in that, he ended up

  49. speaking concerning some trees. And I had never heard this

  50. before. I thought, wow, this is really

  51. amazing. You know, obviously I know that

  52. Israel became a nation again in 24 hours overnight, became a

  53. nation again in 1948. But what I did not realize was

  54. the nations around after World War One that came into existence

  55. around the same time. And he ends up using a

  56. particular scripture, cannot remember right now off the top

  57. of my head, which Old Testament prophet spoke, but he talked

  58. about trees being fruitful, that this is something you would be

  59. able to see. I think it was actually in

  60. Matthew when Jesus was saying, you know, you can determine the

  61. signs of the Toms. He said, but look at the fig

  62. tree. He says, you see the bud, you

  63. know, and you know that season, you're going to know the season.

  64. And then he ends up talking about trees in general, not just

  65. the fig tree. OK, are you hearing what I'm

  66. saying? And so he ends up then talking

  67. about how Saudi Arabia came into exist in 1932, I think it was.

  68. And then Lebanon came to existed, but the names of those

  69. nations actually have a tree associated with it.

  70. Lebanon has cedar associated with it.

  71. I think. Saudi Arabia, I can't remember

  72. what it is off the top of my head now, but there was about 5

  73. nations and then Israel itself was a fig tree and all.

  74. He said once you start seeing all of them starting to produce

  75. fruit, you know the end's coming and within a 10 year period

  76. these nations pop up as nations after the Ottoman Empire was

  77. dismantled and all of a sudden these nations started to form.

  78. Well, it talks about when the nation of Israel comes back,

  79. which 1948 that they would not see death before the return of

  80. Christ. Hallelujah.

  81. Now a generation as he said was either 4080 or 120 years.

  82. Well, if you put 120 years on 1940.

  83. Eight. That's 2068.

  84. That's in my lifetime because I will be 98 in 2068 and man, if I

  85. believe Jesus was coming back, I'm like, why would I want to go

  86. to the grave? I want to be in the generation

  87. where you change in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye.

  88. Hallelujah. Glory to God.

  89. Amen. Well, we should be expecting it

  90. all right now. Could it be 200 years?

  91. Sure, that's plausible. I get it, no one's giving you a

  92. date. But man, there's a season.

  93. And it's more accurate today than ever before, because we're.

  94. Seeing things that never have been seen, nor the acceleration

  95. of things that have never been seen before.

  96. And it says so all the more as we see a day approaching that

  97. really it can be. Unless you want to be a mocker

  98. and say all. They've been saying that forever

  99. because that's what the mockers say.

  100. I'm not a mocker. I'm like the Lords coming, he's

  101. coming. And might as well be my

  102. generation. So I'll just believe it's in

  103. mind. Amen.

  104. I'll just go ahead and he's going to come in some

  105. generation. So Lord, I'll just believe it's

  106. in mind based upon the signs. And man, you can change me in

  107. the moment to twinkle another eye.

  108. I'll put on immortality and then witness to people before I go

  109. Hallelujah. So put that verse back up and

  110. said all the more as you see the day approaching, not the less.

  111. Yet in the USA right now there is less assembling there and

  112. there is more. Had a minister friend of mine

  113. that came into the state and was looking to minister during the

  114. midweek only to find out no one was doing midweek.

  115. We do midweek but they weren't up here.

  116. Amen. And we do more than midweek.

  117. We do a Monday night. We do a Sunday night.

  118. Are you hearing me? We do all the we're just being

  119. scriptural. Hallelujah.

  120. All the more. So let us hold fast the

  121. profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful who

  122. promised. And let us what?

  123. Consider one another to love and to good works, not forsaking

  124. ourselves together, not forsaking ourselves, not

  125. forsaking the assembling of ourselves, not the assembly of

  126. you and God, but the assembling of ourselves.

  127. What together? As the manner of some is so some

  128. have a manner. Oh, I don't have to assemble.

  129. That becomes an attitude within the culture before Jesus comes

  130. is I don't have to come to church.

  131. It's really optional. It's not something I need to do.

  132. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Amen.

  133. Whoo. I can't wait till the Lord lets

  134. me release this other service. Amen.

  135. Yeah. OK.

  136. Not forsaking the assembling, you know, just 'cause you're

  137. here doesn't mean you're here. Hey, man, Hallelujah.

  138. So the Lord told me over there. He said, son, I've been in many

  139. rooms that it was crowded, so crowded people couldn't even get

  140. in. But everyone assembled didn't

  141. care about what I said. He said they were in the rooms

  142. just waiting for me to say something wrong.

  143. To fit their narrative that they're sitting was not to grow

  144. by me, but was to continue to be hardened by me because they had

  145. a preconceived idea of who I was or who they wanted me to be

  146. based upon outside influences. And those outside influences

  147. dictated to them who I was or who they said I was.

  148. This is why Jesus said, who do people say that I am?

  149. You know, somebody's talking about you.

  150. And he said, and based upon them hearing that, they come into a

  151. crowded room and they're not united with the rest.

  152. But they, I don't need unity to move.

  153. I can move anyway even when there's people in the room that

  154. are just looking for areas to find fault.

  155. However, even when I demonstrate.

  156. Power because which room was he showing me?

  157. He was showing me the room of the house that he was in and the

  158. guy that was lame they couldn't even get in so they tore the

  159. roof and you can't brought him down and see in their faith.

  160. He says your sins are forgiven. Shocked the room, but shocked

  161. the Pharisees, the religious. And he says, why do you say

  162. among yourself now why does he say that?

  163. Because you are only look listening to me to try to find

  164. fault with me. You're just waiting for me to do

  165. something to fit your narrative. So you.

  166. Can leave and say, see I told you.

  167. And the same people say work us a miracle, show us an anointing.

  168. He said, I worked a miracle that day to let you know that I have

  169. authority not only to forgive sin, but also to heal, get up

  170. and walk. And the man picked up his mat,

  171. walked out the room, But he said, notice the miraculous and

  172. the anointing. I told them to let you know that

  173. I have the authority on both arenas to let you know that God

  174. has anointed me, to let you know that God has appointed me, to

  175. let you know that God has assigned me that even when I

  176. worked the miracle, they didn't change.

  177. They just. Became more hard, he said.

  178. They come into the room and they say where's the anointing even

  179. when it manifests because they already have an idea of what

  180. they want to see instead of what is being said, he said.

  181. The ministry moved in this way for so long that eventually I

  182. wouldn't even do stuff in towns that I used to do.

  183. It's not because I couldn't, but because all they wanted to do

  184. was seek a sign, and they really didn't want the signs.

  185. They just kept looking for a reason to hate me.

  186. Hallelujah. So when we assemble, are we

  187. assembling because we want to hear?

  188. Are we assembling because we want to grow?

  189. Are we assembling because we want to know from the King?

  190. Are we assembling because we are hungering and thirsting for

  191. rights? Are we assembling because we are

  192. confident that we have found our fit and because we know where we

  193. are fitted at? Then we have the freedom to

  194. really enjoy our King. Because being fitted is knowing

  195. what God has assigned you to do, and you rejoice with others in

  196. their assignment. That you would provoke them for

  197. what good works you would promote, love, you would edify,

  198. you would build up, you would not bring division or strife,

  199. you would not try to bring in questions in or doubting.

  200. No, you would be always be promoting the betterment of

  201. someone else. Yes, Amen.

  202. Hallelujah. So don't forsake the assembling

  203. of yourself together. But when you assemble, come with

  204. the right heart. The heart to want to love God,

  205. the heart to want to follow God, the heart to value everyone

  206. that's around. Hallelujah.

  207. Hallelujah. So we are not to forsake the

  208. assembling, which means that I told our staff years ago, I said

  209. it's for us. It's not going to be less

  210. church, It's going to be more church because that's what the

  211. Bible says. I don't care what traditional

  212. trends are happening. We're following the head of the

  213. church. Amen.

  214. Now, why is this? Because John 14 tells us we're

  215. not orphans, but modern Western Christianity is.

  216. You're the orphan. And that year, God's alone.

  217. He's your personal Savior. He said, Now if you love me,

  218. you'll keep my commandments, and I'll ask the Father.

  219. He'll give you another helper, that he may be with you forever.

  220. That is the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive

  221. because it did not see Him nor know him.

  222. But you know him because He abides with you and will be in

  223. you. I will not leave you as orphans.

  224. I will come to you. Will not leave us as what?

  225. Orphans. That's plural.

  226. Which means he's not going to leave us as orphans.

  227. He's not going to leave us in the care of another estate to be

  228. an orphan is taking the thought well, you know what?

  229. I asked Jesus in my heart and save me.

  230. But the reality is world's tough down here and it's rough.

  231. We're just holding on till we get there because God's not

  232. doing a whole lot. But saving me, He saved me so I

  233. don't didn't go to hell. But you know, he's not providing

  234. any other way. And that's not true.

  235. God provides, but more importantly, he changes your

  236. household. I said he changes your

  237. household. And we're going to see this.

  238. So if you're, if you're not an orphan, then that must mean

  239. you're in a house. And if you're in the house,

  240. you're not the only child there. He doesn't have an only child.

  241. I'm going to say that again. He does not have an only child.

  242. Now you say this is my begotten Son, and that is Jesus.

  243. It is God in the flesh, but he never intended to only have

  244. Jesus as his child. We're going to see this.

  245. So he didn't leave us as orphans.

  246. God never intended us, tended us to be orphans.

  247. An orphan by definition here in the Greek means bereaved.

  248. Bereft means you do not have of a father or parents.

  249. It means this that you are without a teacher, a guide or a

  250. guardian. Well, the Holy Spirit is the

  251. teacher. Glory to God and the Holy Spirit

  252. will teach you how to function in the house.

  253. Oh man, this is good. First Timothy chapter 3, verse

    1 Timothy 3:15

  254. 15. Look what it says here.

  255. It says this, but in case I am delayed and I write so that you

  256. will know how one ought to conduct himself.

  257. Where, where? In the household of God.

  258. I mean, I could go to many of you and I said, well, tell me

  259. about your household and you would describe what's going on

  260. in your home address. And there's very few people here

  261. that are living alone, but there are some that are living alone.

  262. I understand that. But but you didn't always live

  263. alone. I mean, you could have been

  264. given up for adoption, right? And and been in foster care or

  265. in the system we call it. That's true.

  266. But the majority of people were raised in a home where there was

  267. one at least one parent or some guardian.

  268. Are you hearing me? So when we say household, we

  269. typically don't think by ourselves anyway, even if we are

  270. an only child. So here we are.

  271. This is the household of God. And with the household of God,

  272. he says, know how one ought to conduct himself.

  273. Now what is the household of God, which is the church?

  274. So the church is the household of God.

  275. And yet, and, and the church talks about man, people need to

  276. be saved, right? We need to win the lost.

  277. Well, what are we doing with that?

  278. We're supposed to get them born again so they can come home.

  279. Home is not heaven. Home is the church.

  280. It's the household of God, which is the Church of the living God.

  281. And the church is by definition or what it responds it, it's the

  282. pillar and support of the truth. And there's a lot of truth that

  283. the church carries. Why?

  284. Because Jesus Christ, who's the head of the church, we'll see

  285. here in a moment, He is the way, the truth and the life.

  286. And he has a lot more to say than just be born again.

  287. Amen. So the church is the pillar and

  288. support of the truth, the truth that all of humanity needs to

  289. discover. We are a household, I said we

  290. are a household. The AFV translation, I I'm just

  291. going to read it to you. It says this.

  292. But if I should delay, you have these things in writing so that

  293. you may know how one is obligated to conduct oneself in

  294. the House of God, which is the Church of the Living God, the

  295. pillar and foundation. Of the truth this this

  296. translation actually does a better way to translate because

  297. if you if you click on the word ought in the Greek, it has a

  298. more emphatic. It's not like it's optional.

  299. It's more like. You must.

  300. It's required. It's the standard now.

  301. Again, your old way of thinking is don't tell me what to do but.

  302. Jesus is telling you when you come into the Kingdom, I'm going

  303. to need to tell you what to do, OK?

  304. Because what you've been doing is not working.

  305. OK, Your nature's all jacked up. And I'm going to change that.

  306. And then I'm going to renew your mind.

  307. I'm going to give you a different thinking.

  308. I'm going to wash your mind with my word.

  309. I need you to check because my thoughts are higher than your

  310. thoughts. So God's all about changing your

  311. things. So he said.

  312. So in essence, the Scripture saying you're obligated to

  313. behave this way in my house. Oh, come on now, parents, you

  314. know that you've been like the father sometimes when you've

  315. looked at your child and you're like, now you understand this is

  316. my house now when you move. Out you can do whatever you, but

  317. as long as you're under this roof, you're in my house, then

  318. you're going to do what? Just say Amen.

  319. Now Pastor Marshall said we reap what we sow So again, if you

  320. having a hard time in your father's house conforming to the

  321. conduct, if you may realize why your child's having a hard time

  322. conforming in the oh y'all don't want to hear, that's fine

  323. Father. I always yield to the behavior

  324. you want me to have in your house so that my natural kids

  325. are go. I can reap that from my

  326. chitlins. Right.

  327. I know there's there's not different parenting, there's

  328. wordly parenting, and then there's always God's parenting.

  329. OK, God's words are eternal, His ways are eternal, His ways are

  330. life. So you want to do it his way.

  331. Amen. Well, I don't want to make my

  332. child go to church. Will you make him go to school?

  333. You make them go to school. I do not know of any parent that

  334. does not make their child go to school.

  335. Seriously, parents, how many times your child say I don't

  336. want to go to school? Oh, you're not even going to

  337. raise your hand? OK, seriously.

  338. You know that your kid like, I don't want to go today.

  339. I don't want to go. You're like, you're going to

  340. school, but yet you're like, give them an option to go to

  341. church because you don't want to force religion on you.

  342. Force education on them. I mean, you see how silly those

  343. narratives are, but you know why?

  344. It is because we've developed a Society of non thinkers.

  345. We don't have critical thinking, so we just accept.

  346. Anything that's being said, if it sounds good.

  347. Instead of saying that sounds kind of crazy because I make my

  348. child go to school all the time, why would all of a sudden I give

  349. them an option, go to church where there's life because at

  350. the end of the day I can't make them study at school.

  351. Nor can I make them have good grades.

  352. I mean, we'll whip our kids for bad grades.

  353. You'll ground them if they don't make the grade, if they pop off

  354. to your teacher, do something wrong at school.

  355. But yet, you know, they're like, well, I don't want to go to

  356. church. OK, Honeywell, I don't want to

  357. force God on you. You better get to church.

  358. I'm gonna whip your butt. All right.

  359. Amen. Hebrews chapter 3 verse four and

    Hebrews 3 chapter mention

  360. six says this, for every house is built by someone.

  361. But the builder of all things is who?

  362. Verse 6 But Christ was faithful as a son over his He's over a

  363. house. Come on to you in his house.

  364. I'm in his house. I said I'm in his house.

  365. And listen, if you're in his house, then you need to find

  366. your fit in his house, whose house we are.

  367. We are his house. If you hold fast our if we hold

  368. fast our confidence and boast of our hope firm until the end.

  369. You understand, men, there are many runaway Christians right

  370. now. We can say it that way.

  371. They, they're, they're forsaking the assembling of ourselves

  372. together as the day's getting closer.

  373. In essence, they want to be a runaway from the house.

  374. You don't want to be a runaway. You want to stay in the house.

  375. So we see here that we're not supposed to fake.

  376. We are supposed to come together as one.

  377. And when we come together, we're supposed to consider one

  378. another, not to fight with one another, bicker with one

  379. another, question one another. I mean, I'm just reading

  380. scripture here. You can identify yourself pretty

  381. quick because listen, in a house again, how many pay your life?

  382. You tell them to love their siblings.

  383. We're going to get along. You don't like it when your

  384. children are fighting amongst each other?

  385. Well, the Lord doesn't like it when his kids are fighting

  386. either. And he tells us don't do it.

  387. And then he also says you don't have to do it because I've given

  388. you the greater one anyway. Amen.

  389. It's the best house to be in. Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

  390. So it's a house and we're not orphans, which means we're a

  391. family. Families are not perfect.

  392. The Lords will be one day once we put off immortality and we

  393. get into the new heaven. It's going to be perfect.

  394. But yet we have enough working for us now that we can do what

  395. the Bible says for one another. Are we children of God?

  396. Come on John chapter one verse 12 says this Amen.

  397. I mean, I've made my. Kids apologize to one another.

  398. Now go tell your sister you're sorry.

  399. Amen. I've had my children have mercy

  400. for one another. I mean one time Sean was out

  401. riding the go Kart and Brianna was on it when we in Oklahoma

  402. and he threw her. Off and ran over.

  403. Yeah. I mean, like, turned the corner,

  404. she fell off, ran over. Well, I mean, he was upset, OK?

  405. And Brianna had mercy kick in. He carried her all the way home.

  406. Now, Brianna's first response to me was, don't be mad at him,

  407. Dad. I mean, she was throwing Mercy

  408. out there, all right? I mean, she's all marked up.

  409. Sean felt bad. Don't get me wrong, felt bad.

  410. You know, I don't know what was all going on there.

  411. But at the end of the day, Mercy was extended.

  412. He did not get grounded. He did not get in trouble.

  413. But we were like, you need to drive safer at the end of the

  414. day. Amen.

  415. But you understand there, but there were other times that they

  416. would argue with each other and you're like, you go to them and

  417. then we do crazy things like hug them.

  418. You know, you hug your brother and when two brothers are

  419. hugging, you know, that's gets awkward sometimes, you know,

  420. because they're they're too busy competing with each other.

  421. But we're children, it says. But as many as received him.

  422. He to them, he gave the right to become what?

  423. Children of God, even to those who believe in his name.

  424. Do you believe in His name? Come on, do you believe in the

  425. name of Jesus? Then you've been given the right

  426. to be a child of God. And guess what?

  427. God doesn't have only children. He has a house full.

  428. I said he has a house full. Amen.

  429. And they're the best siblings ever because they've been born

  430. of God. Haven we got to keep that

  431. perspective. First, John chapter 3 verse 9

    John 3:9

  432. and 10 says it this way. He says no one who was born of

  433. God practices sin because his seed abides in him.

  434. And he cannot sin because he is born of God.

  435. By this, the children of God and the children of the devil.

  436. You know the devil has children. You know, the devil has

  437. children, OK? Because again, we say

  438. everybody's God's children. Not everybody's God's children.

  439. The devil has children. Now, everyone was created in the

  440. image of God originally, but all have now sinned and fallen short

  441. of the glory of God, which means some people are in a different

  442. house. All right, But we know the

  443. difference between children of God and children of the devil.

  444. They're obvious, I said. They're obvious.

  445. And you know what they're not obvious in?

  446. They're not obvious in physical look, but they are obvious in

  447. behavior. I said they're obvious in

  448. behavior. Come on.

  449. Have you been to a restaurant and you watched one child sit at

  450. a table with some parents and you know they're obeying them.

  451. You know, they're still being a little kid, but the parents say,

  452. hey, don't do it. And they're like.

  453. Yes, ma'am. Or, you know, yes.

  454. And but then you get another one.

  455. It's like running all over the place and crawling underneath.

  456. And the parent can't eat because they're constantly running after

  457. the child because the parent don't have authority, but the

  458. child does. And it's pretty, yes, it's

  459. obvious which one is mannered and which one is not.

  460. Now, to look at him, you would know that until you saw their

  461. behavior. All right.

  462. He said anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of

  463. God nor the one who does not love his.

  464. His what? Go ahead.

  465. Look to your neighbor. Say I love you.

  466. Yeah. Amen.

  467. Come on, say it again. Say I love you.

  468. Now, there's a way to love. It's not your definition of

  469. love. It's God's definition of love.

  470. But again, there is. If we call ourselves children of

  471. God because we've called on the name of the Lord, then we are to

  472. love one another, not to fight with one another, not to accuse

  473. one another, not to slander one another, not to.

  474. Be offended with one another. Hallelujah.

  475. No, we are to love one another. Amen.

  476. I said we're to love our brother.

  477. Well, it goes on and says it this way in First John, just

  478. another term that we are called because we are to love our

  479. brother. First John 313 and 14 says do

  480. not be surprised brethren, if the world hates you.

  481. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we

  482. love. Now that's a very interesting

  483. phrase, isn't it? And I'm talking about finding

  484. your fit. I'm talking about the church and

  485. where everyone is to come together.

  486. But you understand, when you come to the church, you're

  487. coming to the family of God. And there is a way that the

  488. family of God is to function, is to behave, is to act, is to

  489. conduct itself in the house. And we're supposed to be home.

  490. We're not supposed to be runaways.

  491. We're not orphans, we're not estranged, so he says we we know

  492. that we have passed out of death in the life.

  493. Is it because we confess Jesus as Lord, although that's

  494. required. OK, but what's he say here in

  495. first John because we in essence there is an action following

  496. your confession a behavior because there's a new nature in

  497. you and the new nature in you does not send the new nature

  498. wants to respond only like God would respond and God's respond

  499. to his own kind is love, acceptance encouragement

  500. building each other up champion one another preferring one

  501. another serving one another right.

  502. He who does not love abides in so we are brothers and sisters

  503. in Christ. We are children of God.

  504. We're in a household we we are brethren.

  505. You know what else we are Look at this particular passage of

  506. Scripture. We are also called in John

    John 13:34

  507. chapter 13 verse 34 and 35. He says a new commandment I give

  508. you that you love one another even as I loved you that you

  509. also love one another. By this all men will know that

  510. you are my disciples. How they going to know 'cause

  511. you asked Jesus into your heart and saved you, 'cause you went

  512. to church? No, if you have what?

  513. Love for one another, I said, if you have love for one another.

  514. So again Jesus, which is pretty powerful, he says a new

  515. commandment. Now we always quote this

  516. commandment, you know, it says do unto others as you'd have

  517. them do unto you. We understand that.

  518. We've talked about that. I mean, the Scripture

  519. communicates that. But however Jesus says, I'm

  520. going to give you a new one because in this dispensation

  521. called the new birth, the age of the church is the expected

  522. behavior of the child of God. Now why does he have to command

  523. it? Because he knows once you're

  524. born again, your mind is still not renewed to the new behavior.

  525. And that's going to take a little time.

  526. This is why he called new believers babes in Christ.

  527. So again, we're in the house. And when if someone came down

  528. today and got born again, we could say, woo Hoo, the Holy

  529. Spirit has given birth to a new child and they're a babe.

  530. And when there's a baby in the house, well, there's some

  531. conflict, right? Because babies before, as

  532. they're moving to maturity initially are wanting everyone

  533. to respond to it and its needs, right?

  534. So what a cry when it's hungry, it'll poop on itself.

  535. And we let that go. We're like, I understand, no

  536. problem. I mean, you just got born again.

  537. I realize you're going to continue to do some things

  538. today. That's from the place you left.

  539. However, the expectation as you continue to come home and be

  540. home and and be with your brothers and sisters, we're

  541. going to grow you up past this. And we see this from older

  542. siblings down to younger ones, you know, pulling it along.

  543. My sister, my sister takes credit for my brains.

  544. She does academically. I was.

  545. I did better than my sister, but she said was because I taught

  546. you everything when you were just when I was coming out of

  547. school, you know, kindergarten, I would come home, play school

  548. with you and I would teach you things, you know.

  549. And she did. I was ahead of the game before I

  550. even got into kindergarten because my sister.

  551. Played school with me and taught me colors and numbers and ABC's

  552. and even mathematical equations prior to me even going in.

  553. Are you hearing me? Because she had learned

  554. something she wanted to instill in her sibling.

  555. Hallelujah. Now that doesn't mean there

  556. wasn't days I resisted, but there were other days I just

  557. yielded because I wanted to play with my sister.

  558. And as a result of that, I grew. Hallelujah.

  559. So we have babes that are in the church, but ultimately they are

  560. to grow up. Why?

  561. Because we are disciples. Disciples are those who are

  562. enlisted as students. So all of God's children are

  563. expected to grow and to develop. And you do not do that outside

  564. of the house. This is part of the environment

  565. that comes when you find your fit.

  566. Look at what it says in first John chapter 3 verse 32 or 23 to

  567. 24. It says this.

  568. This is this is his commandment that we believe in the name of

  569. his Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he commanded

  570. us. The one who keeps his

  571. commandments abides in him and he in in him.

  572. We know by this that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has

  573. given us. So notice this command that we

  574. love one another, because again, it wasn't.

  575. Do the best you can while you're in the planet and when you get

  576. born again. I realize it's very difficult to

  577. get along with people, especially your own house.

  578. That's not what Jesus said. Jesus knew we would be in close

  579. proximity and this is what else he knew.

  580. He knew that you know what? You're not all the same because

  581. I didn't make cookie cutters. I made everyone unique in their

  582. own way for my glory and my expression.

  583. However, your differences do not make you difference.

  584. It makes you fit because with a puzzle, it's the differences

  585. that actually make it fit. Because as he said, if everybody

  586. was an I, where would the hearing be?

  587. And if everyone was a nose, where would And it kept on.

  588. We are different by design. But our difference by design

  589. doesn't mean we should have conflict.

  590. It means we should resolve to love one another and embrace the

  591. differences. Hallelujah.

  592. Because when we recognize in our household, thank God for you and

  593. for what you bring and what you bring and what you bring,

  594. because nobody's better than anyone.

  595. I mean, which puzzle piece is the best piece?

  596. The only time a puzzle piece seems more important than the

  597. rest if it's the last piece. But here's the.

  598. Thing hold on Yeah it was lost and we had to find it right if

  599. we don't want to talk about the 99 right now but we frustrated

  600. with you we're like where's this last piece No, what I'm saying

  601. is if you put a puzzle together there's going to be a last piece

  602. tear that thing up throw it in the box shake it open it back up

  603. and do it again the chances of you having the exact same piece

  604. the last piece the probability of that is obviously based upon

  605. the size of the. Puzzle.

  606. The point is, is that God's not trying to make you better.

  607. He's just making you you. And there are times in a service

  608. that all of a sudden he decides to you.

  609. Like today he decided to say, let me use April as a piece of

  610. my puzzle to encourage the body. But that's not every service.

  611. Sometimes another piece of the puzzle comes up and does an

  612. encouragement or it comes through some other way.

  613. Why? Cuz God's using US in so many

  614. different ways. And aren't you glad that people

  615. can actually play instruments unlike others who can't?

  616. And we're like, thank God you play cuz I don't.

  617. And you get to receive the benefit of someone's uniqueness

  618. because it makes a better expression of the.

  619. House Hallelujah. Thank you Jesus.

  620. So we are to love one another. You know what else we are?

  621. We're sons of God. Come on, look at this.

  622. In Romans chapter 8 verse 14 to 17 it says this.

    Romans 8:14–17

  623. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of

  624. God. For you have not received a

  625. spirit of slavery leaving leading to fear again, but you

  626. have received a spirit of adoption as sons which by which

  627. we cry out ABBA father now notice says spirit of adoption

  628. because why he'll never leave you as an orphan.

  629. However, we are not really just adopted.

  630. That translation could say it this way.

  631. It says he we've received the ability to find our place.

  632. Because we're actually born of God.

  633. We're not adopted into the family.

  634. We are born of God. We are a new creature in Christ.

  635. So God's not. Adopting us, He's making us his

  636. own. By nature, However, there is a

  637. place for us. I said there's a place for us.

  638. You know what? God rallies.

  639. As a pastor and apostle, in the 21 years I've been here, come

  640. April, but been in ministry longer than that, one of the

  641. most grievous things that I experienced is when a member of

  642. the body cannot rejoice in their own and who they are by

  643. themselves because then they can't connect with no one.

  644. And it's sad because their potential never is fulfilled

  645. because they isolate themselves. It's tough, it's grievous, and

  646. your heart goes out, especially when turmoil starts to happen

  647. because you know you're missing your fit, you're competing with

  648. other pieces that you don't have to because you're unique, your

  649. own, but yet you're connected. And it brings grief and it

  650. brings the Father grief because he has a way for his family to

  651. function. And here's the thing, if he says

  652. it, it is obtainable. That's what's so amazing.

  653. It is obtainable if you aspire by faith.

  654. You understand, again, what have we relegated faith to?

  655. We relegated faith to personal, personal wealth, personal

  656. health, personal relationships. But how about putting faith

  657. towards, I'm believing God for your church that you're building

  658. that, that everyone will find their fit and rejoice with one

  659. another. And I'm going to be, I'll be one

  660. of the ones that won't fall into the trap of not encouraging

  661. building up, walking in love. I'm going to be that piece that

  662. always stays in the right, right position.

  663. And it's obtainable because the Lord says it's obtainable.

  664. He goes on to say verse 16, the Spirit himself testifies with

  665. our Spirit that we're children of God, and if children, heirs,

  666. also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we

  667. suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

  668. So again, the church is not this religious exercise.

  669. It is a household, it is children, it is sons, it is

  670. brothers and sisters, it is disciples that have a specific

  671. way they are to function and behave with one another.

  672. Yes. Amen.

  673. Hallelujah. Amen.

  674. Because, Dad, our father knows how well you're doing as a child

  675. based upon how you're treating your siblings.

  676. Come on, that's good, because notice, he says.

  677. Now the world's going to realize your mind because how you treat

  678. your family, because the children of the devil, they

  679. kill, steal and destroy each other.

  680. They use and manipulate each other.

  681. Hallelujah, but man, when they're like, how in the world

  682. do you get? Did you you didn't get upset

  683. about that. You're not going to get mad

  684. about that. You're not going to.

  685. Now, I'm not when I'm talking about walking in love towards

  686. one another. I'm also talking in love because

  687. the brethren is going to say as some of my children did and my

  688. daughter learned a lot from her brothers.

  689. Well through example. Don't do that, right?

  690. But I know that periodically my children would say, if you do

  691. that, you're going to be in trouble.

  692. Now, that's not being mean, ugly, divisive.

  693. It is. That's not the standard of the

  694. household. And some of my siblings didn't.

  695. Some of my children did not participate with their own

  696. siblings because they knew if I do what you're doing, I'm going

  697. to be in trouble. You own your own.

  698. I've warned you. I've told you the standard,

  699. which means I do not go and participate with you with that

  700. behavior. You understand the body would

  701. grow way faster if the believers would say, hold on a minute,

  702. that's not our behavior. Don't suck me into that.

  703. I'm not doing that. You need to change.

  704. I'm not going with you down that road.

  705. And sometimes the siblings would do this because, you know, they

  706. would be burdened by the choice of their family member, that

  707. they would come to the parent and say.

  708. We call them tattle tales, but God calls them people.

  709. Who's trying to bring reconciliation?

  710. I mean, you cannot. Assemble as often as we do and

  711. not have conflict, but conflicts easy to overcome.

  712. When you have the Spirit of God in you and your nature is of

  713. God, and you renew your mind and you yield to it, it's pretty

  714. simple. Amen, Hallelujah, say Amen.

  715. Anyway, so we're sons of God. Look at this in Colossians

  716. chapter one. We are the body.

  717. But Jesus is the head, for he rescued us from the domain of

  718. darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved Son.

  719. In essence, our dad went to the tyrannical ruler devil and told

  720. all of those kids that were in a home they never should have been

  721. in. He never desired them to be in.

  722. He says to them, you can come to my house forever.

  723. And when we accept Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, where we

  724. leave that household and we come into a different home, we have

  725. redemption, the forgiveness of sense.

  726. He is the image of the the invisible God, the first born of

  727. all creation, who's the first born Jesus is.

  728. For by him all things were created both in the heavens and

  729. on earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones or demeans or

  730. rulers or authority, all things have been created through Him

  731. and for Him. He is before all things, and in

  732. Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, and

  733. the body is the Church, and He is the beginning, the first born

  734. from the dead, so that he himself might have, might, will

  735. come to have first place in everything.

  736. Who has first place? Who is the head of the body, and

  737. the body is the Church. Now you cannot call yourself the

  738. body of Christ or the church if the head has been amputated.

  739. So this brings this thought when it comes to finding your fit.

  740. The first aspect in order to find your fit is that you have

  741. to recognize that once you're born again, God never intended

  742. for you to be isolated or alone. He always wanted you to collect

  743. upon the same place with other brothers and sisters because he

  744. knew greater power is demonstrated because it his his

  745. body. So when people say I love Jesus

  746. but do not love his church, this is a conflict because how can

  747. you love Jesus and hate his body?

  748. Well, I hate church. Well, you may hate people who

  749. call it church and it's not, and that may be true.

  750. However, even in the Book of Revelations, his body has

  751. challenges of which he, the head, will correct.

  752. He will correct. He said.

  753. They have tolerated the spirit of Jezebel and I've given her

  754. time to repent, which means Jezebel can be in the church for

  755. season, which means the pastor could allow that to occur per

  756. the head because he's wanting her to repent.

  757. But if she doesn't, he will address it, deal with it,

  758. eliminate it, and any that are following that voice will be

  759. eliminated as well. It's going to happen.

  760. God is not mocked. He's the head of the church and

  761. again, you cannot say that you are part of Christ and never

  762. attend church or a symbol and act like he is fine with that.

  763. You cannot find that in Scripture.

  764. That's right. Can't find it.

  765. Now you know what people say. People say, well, what about in

  766. these countries where you know they can't have church?

  767. Well, I'm glad you asked because in most, most of those places

  768. that cannot have church, they do a better job of actually

  769. assembling because they figure out ways and they can't wait to

  770. get together, even at the risk of their own lives.

  771. Had one missionary that we support.

  772. He went to China to minister there.

  773. And so they told people he was coming to minister.

  774. And so people started showing up to an undisclosed location and

  775. it took them 8 hours to get there.

  776. And the reason I took them 8 hours #1 because of travel #2 is

  777. because how they brought them in little by little so that it

  778. would not be noticeable, the crowd.

  779. And it was in a warehouse that had no heat, no air condition.

  780. It was during the winter so it was snow on the ground.

  781. Then he came into the building they had some had been there for

  782. 8 hours or longer waiting for him to come just to hear the

  783. word of the Lord. He preached for three hours

  784. where you could see your breath. Then he left and it took them 8

  785. hours to leave because they had to trickle out.

  786. They wanted to go to church so bad.

  787. And here in the West, man, we have climate control times.

  788. Police are not lined up out here ready to shoot us when we go and

  789. we'll wake up and and let I feel a little tired.

  790. And then we're like, Lord use me.

  791. He's like, well, you're not doing the basic.

  792. The basics is just coming home every time.

  793. The place I assigned you to. Are we going to see this?

  794. The place that I appointed you to be, How often they come

  795. together, You would be there. Hallelujah.

  796. My children had no problem showing up at the table every

  797. night. Not one time.

  798. In fact, they would actually show up early sometimes.

  799. We'll be eating tonight. See, when you realize you're

  800. getting spiritual food and you're hungry for God, you're

  801. like, I can't wait to get to church, can't wait to sit, can't

  802. wait to be with my family, can't wait to hear what the meal is

  803. going to be. See when you still value the

  804. word because again, it can be steak and potatoes again.

  805. Somebody like, praise God, let's have steak and potatoes again

  806. tomorrow night. I am a steak and potato guy.

  807. Well, you know what, I like steak as much as anyone else.

  808. And once I've had it once doesn't mean I can't have it

  809. again. It's your approach to it that

  810. brings. And God says I'm going to build

  811. a group of believers that their approach is all about me loving

  812. one another, being connected. They're going to assemble.

  813. They're going to assemble. So Colossians 113 to 18 again

  814. says that we've been rescued. We're the body of Christ, He is

  815. the head. So Jesus says this in Matthew

    Matthew 16:15–19

  816. chapter 16, verses 15 to 19. Everybody doing all right.

  817. I mean, you're in the most powerful thing on the planet

  818. right now. It's the church.

  819. Now, look, just because some places aren't functioning well

  820. doesn't mean God's not doing something.

  821. So don't be one of the rebellious.

  822. Children of God. Who make fatalistic statements

  823. that are not birthed in reality. I mean, my kids would be

  824. extravagant about some things. Like, really?

  825. I mean, seriously, Are you saying this right now?

  826. I mean, that is, like, way out of context.

  827. Because, you know, it seems like in the West everybody's like,

  828. man, there's no church. And he said to them, but who do

  829. you say that I am? Simon Peter says you are the

  830. Christ, the Son of the living God.

  831. Jesus said, blessed are you Simon Barjona, because flesh and

  832. blood has not revealed this to you.

  833. But my Father who is in heaven, I say to you that you are Peter

  834. and upon this rock, not upon Peter, but upon the revelation

  835. that Jesus is the Christ the King, I'll build my church and

  836. the gates of hell are at Hades will not overpower.

  837. Verse 19 says, and I'll give you the keys of the Kingdom.

  838. That's why we know that it's built on the Christ or the King,

  839. because why would it be built on religion?

  840. And he's given Kingdom keys. It's been on the Kingdom.

  841. I said it's been on the Kingdom. I said it's been on the Kingdom.

  842. You know, I'm amazed at how many people are already bored with

  843. the word Kingdom. That's like getting bored with

  844. the name. Jesus, 'cause I'm here to tell

  845. you the King's coming and he's not bringing a white church with

  846. a steeple in in the new heaven and new earth.

  847. We are not going to see a crucifix.

  848. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, and whatever

  849. you bound on earth shall have been bound in heaven.

  850. Whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in

  851. heaven. Notice Jesus in verse 18.

  852. I will build my church. That word my is of me.

  853. That means Jesus is personally involved.

  854. Jesus did not delegate the building of the church to the

  855. apostle, the prophet, the pastor, the teacher, or the

  856. evangelist, although he did give those gifts a very specific

  857. instruction for his church and a layer of responsibility.

  858. Then you have the Saints. The Saints are not building the

  859. Church and in the US many Saints have have developed boards that

  860. they vote their fivefold ministry.

  861. In. Under the pretense that they've

  862. heard from. God, all right, it's fine.

  863. I mean many. People use God as a manipulative

  864. tool to advance their own cause. It's true.

  865. And when you say that they try to put it on those who aren't.

  866. But it's it's noticeable by the behavior of the individual and

  867. how they talk about others. Very noticeable.

  868. So Jesus said I'm going to build my church, which tells me I

  869. don't care how many bad church experiences you've had, Jesus

  870. today is building his church. There is the existence of it in

  871. the planet. Because he said once he comes

  872. in, there'll be no end to the increase of his government or of

  873. peace, because the government will rest on his shoulders.

  874. The shoulder is in the body. That is the church.

  875. The church is like the embassy. We are the ambassadors.

  876. And he is building those embassies all over the world

  877. where his children are coming together, hearing from the home

  878. country, encouraging one another, champion one another,

  879. wanting each other to find their fit and do their part.

  880. Because when we all do it together, we can accomplish

  881. amazing things. And that's happening in the

  882. earth today. It's happening.

  883. And when people say, well, you know, I'll try to, I'm never

  884. going to go to church again, well then you're unscriptural.

  885. Hallelujah. No, we need to find our fit.

  886. Jesus is building the church. Ephesians chapter 4.

    Ephesians 4 chapter mention

  887. We're closing down here, it says, and he gave some as now

  888. I'm going to come back and reiterate this point in the

  889. eighth verse, it said, and God gave gifts to men.

  890. That's every one of us. Say I'm a gift.

  891. Come on, say I'm a gift. You are a gift.

  892. You know what good gifts are? Gifts are only good if they're

  893. opened. So unless you let U.S.

  894. Open you, what good is your gift?

  895. Most of you are trying to be like Santa Claus.

  896. You want to keep yourself as a gift underneath your own tree

  897. called the cross and wait for Jesus to come and open you.

  898. Jesus like I've been trying to open you.

  899. So he gave gifts to man. Some of these gifts are

  900. apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.

  901. Not all are those gifts. Now here's the big problem and

  902. I'm going to go into this in more detail.

  903. God does not call them titles. That's.

  904. Right. And I get it.

  905. I understand what why people do that.

  906. They're like, man, I'm not about a title, brother.

  907. I'm just like you, you know, and they want to maintain this sense

  908. of humility that they're not trying to be something, you

  909. know, I'm not into titles. Well, you know what?

  910. God wasn't into titles because he didn't make it a title.

  911. He called it a gift. And what we've done is we've

  912. used a human term, brought it into the church, and now we've

  913. changed something that all of a sudden, if one of these gifts

  914. are in operation, we're seeing it as title, we're seeing it as

  915. controlling, we're seeing it as controlling me, when none of

  916. those gifts can control you. And they were never designed to

  917. control you, but they are designed to equip you.

  918. And equipping you is not just telling you you look beautiful

  919. today. Because when Paul told Timothy

  920. to equip, he says you're going to instruct, but you can also

  921. rebuke, you're going to correct. In fact, 2/3 of the ministry of

  922. the fivefold ministry has to do with you're going to have to

  923. change the way you think. And we've developed such a soft

  924. US church, but again, even in the softest of churches, that

  925. they do not want to hear correction one time.

  926. They will be the first believers that will stand on a sideline

  927. and let a secular lost person cuss out their child at a game

  928. in order to perform better. And then we'll re reaffirm this

  929. lost person who's been yelling at our child and giving them all

  930. kinds of obscenity and say if you don't do it, you're not

  931. going to make it to the next level in college.

  932. You better listen to your coach. But Jesus building his church.

  933. So all who are sensitive, please change your thinking.

  934. If not, you'll leave, I can't help it.

  935. We're here to equip the Saints. Why?

  936. So that they know they go to heaven when they die.

  937. See, the assembly is not just so we can have a pepper rally,

  938. although there are some pepper rally services.

  939. Amen. I like a good pepper rally too,

  940. but pepper rallies don't have you winning.

  941. You have a pep rally because the whole week you've been

  942. practicing, you've been on the field, blood, sweat, tears,

  943. exhaustion, going without water when you know you want it and

  944. the coach won't let you take a water break and says do another

  945. one. Then the pep rally comes and

  946. you're like, thank God we're in the air conditioned gym and we

  947. get to go rah rah re and everybody gets excited because

  948. we're going to beat the team tonight.

  949. But we can only win tonight because we executed Fiona, our

  950. only hope of winning. Hey, ma'am, so we equipped the

  951. Saints. I wish some of you get more

  952. excited in this. That's all right.

  953. Hallelujah, some of you. Are a lot more mature than this

  954. and you could really help the whole flow of service if you

  955. would just go ahead and act on what you're thinking instead of,

  956. you know, being reserved. For the equipment of the Saints,

  957. for the worker service to the building up of the what body of

  958. Christ? Because again, you come to

  959. church not just for you. The assembly is not about you.

  960. It's not about you. Again, because we have made him

  961. our personal Savior and church is an option because all we

  962. really care about is where we're going to go when we die.

  963. Then the church can't function like it was because you're

  964. coming for you and you're not coming for someone else because

  965. you're really supposed to grow so that you can help build up

  966. someone else. Now you're not building someone

  967. so that you can make someone follow you because you need your

  968. part to do your part. Oh, I can't wait till our team

  969. rally night. Hallelujah.

  970. Speaking of Team Rally night, all of you that are in our

  971. Elevate orientation or Elevate ministry have been sent a thing

  972. on Planning Center to accept one of the dates that is not

  973. optional. Your desire to be in your fit

  974. and to continue to grow and give yourself means I'm coming not

  975. does it fit in my schedule. So at the last I heard there's

  976. about 100 that had not out of 300.

  977. Let's go to work. All right, 'cause man, it's

  978. going to be worth your while until we all attain to the what?

  979. Well, we can agree to disagree. No, we can't.

  980. We need to unify the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the

  981. Son of God to a what? Mature man?

  982. The reason some people struggle is because they want to stay

  983. immature. But the mature will require

  984. people to mature. Come on, you need to mature now.

  985. And I'm not being mean to you. I'm just saying let's mature.

  986. And that's not mean. That's not mean spirited.

  987. That's like, come on, maturity is a pretty awesome thing

  988. because when you're mature, it ain't about you anymore.

  989. It's nothing about you. It has nothing to do with you.

  990. Because it had to do with me, man.

  991. I'd have left a long time ago. I am self-sustaining.

  992. I know how to feed myself. The problem is when I started to

  993. feed myself, I realized I cannot be cut off from the rest of the

  994. body. So what keeps me and is not my

  995. calling, it's my obligation to my King.

  996. That's why I keep showing up and assembling.

  997. This is why many of you when you're on vacation, you find a.

  998. Don't let the Westernized church make it a department or

  999. something that we just do on the side.

  1000. It's who we are. The church is not a building,

  1001. it's who we are. How do I take this off?

  1002. How do I take vacation from who I am?

  1003. It's called amnesia, OK. As a result, we're no longer

  1004. children to be children, tossed here and there by waves and

  1005. carried around by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of

  1006. men, by the craftiness and deceitful scheming, but speaking

  1007. the truth. And love.

  1008. We are to grow up in all aspects into Him who was the head, even

  1009. Christ. Whom?

  1010. The what? Whole body, Not one part of the

  1011. body, not just the leg parts. The torso doesn't need to show

  1012. up today. Whom the whole body?

  1013. Whom? The whole body being what being

  1014. what? What are they fitted?

  1015. Find your fit being fitted and held together by what every

  1016. joint supplies according to the proper working of each

  1017. individual part. So they're each individual has a

  1018. part and you have a proper part. We'll talk about this next week

  1019. because some are trying to be in a part that they're not proper

  1020. to be in. You were never designed to be

  1021. there. That's good.

  1022. And you're mad at God because you want to pick your spot.

  1023. I'm glad my fingers aren't mad at my toes.

  1024. I've never woke up my my fingers were trying to break my toes

  1025. off. It's never happened.

  1026. It's never happened. Never once did I have this issue

  1027. inside me because my stomach was trying to become my heart.

  1028. Although sometimes I've had heartburn because it's something

  1029. too spicy somewhere. But, you know, my organs are not

  1030. competing against each other. If they do, it's called an

  1031. abnormality and something's wrong.

  1032. It's not. We're evolving, all right.

  1033. Hallelujah. Thank you Jesus whom the whole

  1034. body being fitted and held together by whatever joint

  1035. supplies according to the proper working of each individual part

  1036. cause of the growth of the body for the building up of itself.

  1037. How in love. Sure wish I could talk about

  1038. that. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 19

    Ephesians 2:19

  1039. last scripture here we go. This is the assembly.

  1040. It's time to find your fit. The reason why many people are

  1041. struggling today is not because it's not because they don't make

  1042. enough money. It's not because you know they

  1043. don't have it. They they have they do not have

  1044. an education multiple things. The problem is is because they

  1045. have not found their fit. Jack Myers, who's in plant city,

  1046. he said this you'll never truly feel connected to a church until

  1047. you begin to serve in it. Attending helps you grow

  1048. spiritually, but serving allows you to fulfill your God-given

  1049. purpose. God never intended his church to

  1050. be an instructional institute. He expected it to be a household

  1051. of family members who served one another and the community they

  1052. were in. That they brought the light of

  1053. God to A to a place of darkness. And we would be so different

  1054. that darkness would want to run and get inside.

  1055. But in order to do that, you cannot come to church only for

  1056. yourself. You know, the assembly is not

  1057. just about you, it's about building up the other one.

  1058. And do you understand some services God did more, not just

  1059. he. God is doing so much.

  1060. We don't even know all that He's doing right.

  1061. And I know this as a minister, as as the pastor and the apostle

  1062. of this church. I know that there are people

  1063. working in the parking lot that are saying things to other

  1064. people in the congregation that is genuinely helping them

  1065. continue to stay the course and stay connected to the church

  1066. body. That's pretty amazing thing.

  1067. OK, Now, that doesn't mean there isn't other stuff that happens

  1068. in churches. It does where people are trying

  1069. to pull people out, right? Those are absaloms.

  1070. That's what they do. But you know, the Lord

  1071. recognizes that and He deals with that and God's

  1072. long-suffering and He's merciful and He wants people to change.

  1073. But when it's functioning right, you understand, every one of us

  1074. are going to be doing something towards someone else.

  1075. And we're not competing for attention.

  1076. We're just complementing each other based upon the assignment

  1077. He asked for us when we come together, and we can't wait for

  1078. the next one and for the next one and for the next one.

  1079. Because when he uses me, great. When he uses someone else,

  1080. great. Because we're all doing

  1081. something great together. We are the most selfless

  1082. individuals on the planet and it's demonstrated in our

  1083. connection with one another. Ephesians 219 to 22.

  1084. So then you are no longer slaves or.

  1085. Aliens, you're strangers. You're no longer strangers.

  1086. You know what? You shouldn't be a stranger to

  1087. the church. Well, you know, I haven't been

  1088. to church in five years. What?

  1089. I haven't seen you in three months.

  1090. You're like a stranger. We are no longer strangers.

  1091. We're no longer aliens. But we are what fellow citizens

  1092. with the Saints and are of God's household having been built on

  1093. the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

  1094. Notice those two gifts had an assignment in the building of

  1095. his church, and those two gifts are still in the planet today.

  1096. Christ Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

  1097. He's obviously the the head of the church in whom the whole

  1098. body, say whole body, not part of the body, not partial body,

  1099. but whole body. When we get this in our psyche

  1100. that anytime you're not here, when you can be here, you're

  1101. affecting the assembly. I know here at the church, we

  1102. monitor when people become vision partners and then to get

  1103. on, do our supportive ministry class on how to serve the church

  1104. because you're serving Jesus, not us.

  1105. And then when people get on the schedule, we begin to realize

  1106. that. Sometimes people just come when

  1107. they serve and not come to be fed and we correct that because

  1108. that's like saying to like an athlete saying I'm not coming to

  1109. practice, all I'm going to do is come to game day.

  1110. That don't work like that. No, we come together because

  1111. coming to service like this and not serving anywhere else is

  1112. vitally important as serving all of it is OK.

  1113. And so the whom? The whole body being fitted

  1114. together again, this not being fitted, separated from one

  1115. another. Oh, I'm with you even though I'm

  1116. not there. Now Paul, through a different

  1117. constraint, says although I'm not with you, I'm there in the

  1118. spirit. But you understand he wanted to

  1119. be there. I mean, sometimes Paul couldn't

  1120. be in the church because he was in prison.

  1121. Now, if you're in prison, I understand why you're not here.

  1122. OK, Pastor, I couldn't make it to church Sunday.

  1123. How come while I was in jail? OK, what happened?

  1124. And which one is it 'cause I can visit?

  1125. All right, I'm in the system to visit, right?

  1126. However, I mean, that was Paul's reason for not assembling

  1127. because even Paul on his travels was to go from church to church.

  1128. And as we said in another service that if you are the one

  1129. and God comes after you, the many defines you.

  1130. The reason we rejoice is because he can take you back to the 99.

  1131. He doesn't bring you back and say now you stay over here, this

  1132. is the 99, you're so special. That never happens.

  1133. He's only finding you to put you back in the flock where the

  1134. greatest protection is. I said where the greatest

  1135. protection is. The greatest protection is not

  1136. isolation, not individualism. It's not being separated.

  1137. Or on your own. The biggest protection is being

  1138. the whole body being fitted together is growing into a holy

  1139. temple in the Lord, in whom we also are being built together

  1140. into a dwelling of God in the spirit.

  1141. You know, we should be so champion, man.

  1142. I'm so glad to see so and so here because because they're

  1143. here, they're making us better. Because they've assembled.

  1144. We are becoming better. Because they've assembled with

  1145. us, man, let me look. We're so and so.

  1146. They need to get here. Why?

  1147. Because they don't understand the assembling is a big deal.

  1148. We need to whole body needs to get here.

  1149. The whole body needs to get here.

  1150. The whole body needs to get here.

  1151. The whole body, you understand, you can't even be used unless

  1152. the whole team shows up. In some athletics, if the team

  1153. didn't show up, but you'd have to forfeit the game.

  1154. And I'm wondering if some communities are being forfeited

  1155. to the devil because everybody won't show up on and then we're

  1156. saying, Lord, do something in our city, he said.

  1157. I'm trying to. Would you please get together?

  1158. Would you get together? We have to change our thinking

  1159. and understand the ascent. It's not.

  1160. Oh, your pastor, you want people to come to come here?

  1161. Listen, they don't want them to come hear me.

  1162. I want them to come hear God. That's why we stay in Scripture.

  1163. But I have an assignment. And if that's bothering you,

  1164. that's your problem, not mine. We all have to do our part.

  1165. You don't want to be like Cora. We hear God too.

  1166. OK, go ahead. Hear God too, then.

  1167. Didn't work good for Cora to rebel against the assignment.

  1168. He had a place, he had a fit, and God was pleased to have him

  1169. there. And he couldn't have done any

  1170. better than that part. But he wanted another man's.

  1171. In the ground swallowed him and his family.

  1172. Wow, that's not among us. We're not like.

  1173. That Amen. Come on, shout Amen.

  1174. I'm helping you by faith because a lot of times when you get into

  1175. message like this, this is what grows you, right?

  1176. And it's real simple. I mean, you just do a quick

  1177. evaluation. How am I doing?

  1178. Am I, Do I love being here? Do I love assembling?

  1179. Do I love doing this? Because again, no one made you

  1180. come today anyway. And if you don't love it, then

  1181. there are other places in the planet where there's 8 billion

  1182. people of which they say 2 billionaire believers.

  1183. So find the place God is assigning you or appointing you

  1184. to be. But if you are assigned here,

  1185. then it should be everything to get here.

  1186. It should be #1 on your mind, not what you're doing Monday,

  1187. not what you're doing this weekend, not movie you're going

  1188. to watch. What are we doing at church?

  1189. How do we get connected? What can I do there?

  1190. How can I find my fit? What am I doing?

  1191. What's the church doing? Because that's Jesus.

  1192. He is the head of the body. I want to serve Him.

  1193. Lord, what are you doing in your church, The one that you're

  1194. building? I've come to assemble.

  1195. I want to do my part. I want to build up the brother.

  1196. I want to be with my family. I want to encourage them.

  1197. I want to strengthen them. I want to champion, I don't want

  1198. to leave myself out so that we can do all that we're supposed

  1199. to do in the community that you've placed me in and the

  1200. vision that you assigned me to. This is why we love to assemble.

  1201. Let's huddle up because we're running a play for the Kingdom

  1202. and we are guaranteed to win. And as everyone does their part,

  1203. we cannot fail and we advance faster.

  1204. Hallelujah. Come on, stand to your feet.

  1205. I just want you to change your position for a second.

  1206. Amen. The first way you find your fit

  1207. is you have to commit to assembling period.

  1208. Any position that you're going to take, it requires you to

  1209. develop a commitment. When it comes to a job, you

  1210. either going to be employed. And when I say that that's even

  1211. if you own the company, because if you own the company, if

  1212. you're not partnering with someone who's purchasing or

  1213. utilizing your resources or what you have to give to society, you

  1214. don't have a business. You're not a business by

  1215. yourself. No one makes money by themselves

  1216. because if you are trading in stocks and you're not making

  1217. money by yourself, you are investing that other people are

  1218. selling a product that's allowing that stock to grow so

  1219. that you Because if that doesn't work, then guess what?

  1220. The stock plummets and your money and investments gone.

  1221. Everyone has to have somebody else and you got to commit to

  1222. it. Yet for some reason in the

  1223. Western church after World War 2, we decided that the only

  1224. thing we had to do is know that Jesus came into our heart and

  1225. save us so that when we die we go to heaven and for whatever

  1226. reason, this. Was just an option.

  1227. It's not an option. God never called you to himself

  1228. to be alone. No, didn't do it.

  1229. Listen, there are men and women of God that are in the fivefold

  1230. ministry who have gone to other nations, not to see people born

  1231. again, but to establish churches by which people would be born

  1232. again. To develop assembly halls called

  1233. the Body of Christ and they may not ultimately stay in that

  1234. nation. They may turn it over to

  1235. someone, but they started with a group and they all came together

  1236. and they began to minister. That was the intent the whole

  1237. while now we've like let's just go tell some about Jesus, get

  1238. them born again, leave and don't ever put them to church isn't is

  1239. not necessary. You're not even reading

  1240. scripture. It was never designed that way

  1241. ever. We have to commit to the church.

  1242. God's assembly and when we do that then He'll give you an

  1243. appointment. Being born again doesn't is not

  1244. your place in the church. It gives you access to the

  1245. place. In the church.

  1246. Being born again gets you in the house so that now the Father can

  1247. give you an assignment. Being born again doesn't make

  1248. you the church. It gives you access to the

  1249. assembly where you can now find your fit.

  1250. Of which the one who's authorized to tell you what it

  1251. is is him, the builder of the church, who was the architect.

  1252. And we'll talk about that next week.