The Reigning Church - AFC Vision for 2025

Every year has this opportunity for us to grow.

Do you know you cannot go through a year without having

something going on so you can grow?

Two things are inevitable challenges and victories.

When you follow the Lord, Amen. Because when you follow the

Lord, you're guaranteed that you're going to win.

Are you hearing me? He always causes us to triumph,

Amen. And aren't you glad that you are

the victor, that you're the one who has victory?

Say, well, I haven't experienced much victory.

Well, just stay with the Lord and you will because he's

victorious. He's never lost.

He's only known as a victor. Even when it seems like he lost,

he won when it looked like that the devil had accomplished

something. Jesus Christ on the third day

says no, no, no, no Hallelujah when it looked like we were gone

dead in our trespasses and sin. But God being rich in his mercy.

Come on because he loved us so much, die for us and man, when

we called on his name, we were snatched out of deaths grip in

that powerful. So you know, it's awesome to be

in the House of the Lord. But in 2024, you know, we have

goals, we have plans. There's things that God speaks

to us about doing. So I want us to run through last

year and show you some of the things that we have accomplished

as a church. We accomplish as a church.

I said we accomplished as a church.

And there's nothing I can stress more.

This is the greatest challenge that pastors or apostles have

when it comes to congregations. And that is this is that you're

not running the vision God's given me.

You're running the vision God's given you because the vision is

for all of us. Are you hearing me?

So in 2024 in our Ignite the City aspect, these are some

things we accomplished. Obviously we had our North

Florida Wildcat. That is a yearly evangelistic

opportunity that we have in our community.

And you understand, you may look around and say, but pastor, I

don't see a whole lot of people from the from from the ones that

I saw at the game. Listen, it's called seed time

and harvest. We just keep sowing into areas

and we'll reap the harvest in areas.

Osceola make a difference day, You know, next year I think

we'll go even bigger because in two hours we're always finished

with what they asked for. Amen.

And so we appreciate that investment, not only making the

difference of that day, but the fact that we go there on a

different times through the year to be a blessing to the faculty

and staff. And now we're also feeding

students Flagler women's basketball.

I mean, we had another extension of that outreach where Pastor

Mike and Angie went with the team, with the coach and the

assistant coach into in Colorado and did some team building that

was transforming their lives. Amen.

And then the fact that we can go to games and support that, what

it does allows us to be in a community.

People going to the game, they might as well see believers

there cheering them on so that when issues come in life, you

can, you know, be there for them, right?

Rick's family Christmas, once again, feeding the homeless for

Christmas. We appreciate everybody who came

and was a part of that. It was an awesome time.

We started some demo in JC Penney.

Hey, man. And we have some dates for this

year so that we can accomplish even more.

Last year, we did 42 total days of prayer and fasting.

We kicked off the year with 21. And then we in the next three

quarters, we did 7 days. And you know, we've been praying

currently for a peaceful transfer of power for our new

elected president. And so, you know, a lot of

things are going on in our nation.

We still need to pray. Amen.

And then we had a living faith conference here as well.

And so you obviously it's always great to have the Hagans come

and and infuse us with a Word of Faith, but also it brings people

from other churches in as well in in the impact the nation.

This is what we accomplished last year.

We did a Kingdom rise up in Valdosta, a global leadership

down in Kissimmee. We went to Plant City and did a

Word in Spirit conference, ministered to 3rd year pastors

in Oklahoma, had ministry at East Coast Camp with the largest

amount of teenagers. They had over 600 teenagers last

year, the largest number all up and down the East Coast that we

had an opportunity to make a direct impact.

We had a Rhema South Regional conference down in West Palm

Beach and minister to to minister there, and then the

Faith Initiative in Tallahassee where we were able to go and

pray for those that are representatives within our

community that represent us. We're able to go into their

offices and take time to pray for our leaders.

Amen. When it comes to influence the

world, what do we accomplish? Well, we had training and AFC

because we flipped a whole church.

OK, come on my construction guys, that when y'all should be

jumping up and shouting right now.

I mean that was what a schedule right?

We hit the hit the ground and painted the whole facility and

put a Reed, did some things there.

It was an awesome time. We had a Mediterranean trip that

took us into Italy, Greece, Albania and Cyprus last year,

touching an impact in different nations.

Obviously, the youth did their first ever foreign mission trip

and went to Anchorvade Church in Nicaragua and then the Brazil

conference. We were able to go and be a part

of celebrating 10 years of what the missionaries that we

support, Joshua and Hannah Adams, man, that experience

alone opened our eyes to some really awesome things that God

has put in our hearts to do. And so we're just really excited

for that opportunity. But all of us with you sewed or

you went on the trip yourself. These are the things that we

accomplished in 20/25/24. Amen.

Now let's move to 2025. I'm going to give you what we're

going to be doing before we get into the word today because

typically, you know, we minister a word and then we come to what

we want to do. I want to deal with what we're

going to do first because this word is life changing.

What God is asking are speaking to us concerning this year.

So let's talk. Go into 2025 and ignite the city

for 2025. This is what the Lords laid in

our hearts. Obviously, there are some things

that are going to continually be there.

Why? Because we live here.

So the North Florida Wildcats, obviously we want to continue

planting seeds and watering those seeds within the community

that we have here in our in our city.

Osceola again, Make a difference Day, Flagler's women's

basketball. We want to continue our Rick's

Family Christmas. And this year, man, we are going

to pull off the Christmas parade float.

We're going to figure out where we can put this thing so we can

participate and do that. Obviously we had the Family

Counts classes now, we did those last year.

We have those up again. This is that initiative from

First Lady DeSantis, and we're going to do two classes this

year. It has been a profound impact on

the community. We have had a lot of

opportunities to touch people outside of our church.

And here's the thing, the people we touch, they may not all come

here, but they've still been impacted by us.

And we have to understand that Jesus himself impacts everyone.

The churches impact multiple people.

We don't always experience the specific fruit of those impacts

because we have no idea where these families of this family

count may end up and eventually find themselves in church and

fellowship. But you can trace back their

decisions to the class that they're taking and it gives you

an opportunity to be able to invest in their life.

There is such a plethora of opportunities for the Saints of

Anchor Faith Church to be involved, to touch someone

beyond your own personal household.

It's really important. The civic engagement forums, now

we call, you know, they were town halls is what we've called

called them in the past. But really they are a civic

engagement forum and we may be doing another one because of the

special election that's up this year based upon our

president-elect appointing people from our state.

And so there is an election actually coming up on January

the 28th. You're going to need to be

informed. We'll get some information to

you. But we have some additional the

constitutional officers, we've done some tours with them.

We have the the judge that overseas, all the judges of St.

Johns County is going to be with us, I believe it's in March, so

that he can communicate how the judicial system works in our

county, he said. Pastor, why would we want to sit

and listen to that? Well, don't you want to make an

impact on the community in doing so?

Do you understand these? One of the judges when Pastor

Angie went down there for another particular deal, Not

personal, just something else to be involved.

They asked her, said would you write a curriculum that would

help in Co parenting? When the judicial system is

asking the church, we need to step up to the plate.

Now in order to do that, it requires some things, right?

So if the world is asking, well, it takes more than just people

on staff to accomplish it. It takes all of us saying, wait

a minute, there's mine. Let me jump into that fit.

Let me help be a part of that. So you want to be a part of of

what's going on in our county all the way across the board.

We are going to paint the exterior of mall 2121.

Amen. We're definitely going to hit

the front of the interior of the mall.

I don't know, I'm going to touch JC Penney yet and I'm not really

touching belt currently. That's a negotiation to tear

down a wall. So with that being said, these

are some projects. Obviously we want to completely

demo JC Penney and actually start some remodel next year and

we are extremely close of finalizing our plans.

Every time we get a little close, something else adjusts,

but we're close again. The larger the space, the more

time things take, all right, the larger the space, the more

finance take. But at the end of the day, I

really don't want to have to go to two services.

So if we want to get somewhere, then we're going to have to sew

and believe with us because it's really easy to get on autopilot

when you're in an air conditioner or heat environment

in comfortable seats. When our architect was helping

us with it, he said, now Pastor Earl, you understand why we have

no problem with you preaching an hour or more because the seats

are so comfortable. I said we'll make sure we'll

have comfortable seats in the next one because we need to be

able to infuse the word of God into everyone's life because in

168 hours a week, man, you know, there's a lot of things we have

to get out to get in so that we can live this stuff.

Amen. Also, we're going to start on

another nonprofit organization called I3 Reach.

I3 is Ignite impact influence. That's what that stands for I3

Reach. And this is allowing us to be

able to tap into grants. You understand the wealth of the

wicked is laid up for the and you know there's some grants

that they're just not going to give to the church.

So we're being wise and we're going to create our own non

profit I3 reach so that we can tap into additional grants to

further advance what the Kingdom of God has asked us to do.

Then this is what I'm really excited.

Our Sunshine State Athletic Association.

This is for Washington. We are bringing Washington into

its into a athletic league because as the students get

older, you know, we've not have been able to have a good

organized athletics and we've always wanted that.

So we've already started that this year.

And so, you know, we're looking forward to continuing to build

that program. That way as our students

continue to grow and get into the upper grades, they can do

athletics with us. Amen.

And then the last thing in like the city is Governor Ron

DeSantis. We are still talking with the

office for him to come and speak at the church.

All right. And so we're just be in faith

that that door continues to open.

It's still there and it would be a blessing to us.

It would be a blessing to our community because God is is is

is causing every sector of society to tap into the church.

When we get into impact the nation.

Look at this. We're going to do a Kingdom rise

and Putnam correction this year again, Amen.

Hallelujah. We have a ministry in Plant

City. We're doing a Word and Spirit

conference. Go to Moundsville, Alabama to do

another one. Third year pastors at Rhema.

Again, we'll be going to East Coast Camp with our youth.

We have a Rhema district meetings.

I'm not doing a regional this year.

We're just going to focus on the district, specifically Global

Leadership Conference. And then again, when we say

Sunshine State Association, what we're talking about is the other

cities within our nation that we can play in sports.

So there you understand when your fan base shows up, you can

make an impact. Are you hearing what I'm saying?

So with that being said, you know, we're really going to want

to unpack the nation to this point.

Let me show you this particular map of Florida.

These are the coasts of Florida. OK Anchor Faith Church.

St. Augustine is on the First Coast

now. I remember years ago, actually

it was 1715 years ago, a conversation happened concerning

Valdosta become an Anchor Faith church.

Now I never in my wildest imagination thought I was

planting other churches. I had one directive and that is

I was coming to Saint Augustine, I was planting a church and

that's what we were doing. Then the next thing you know, it

surprised me when the Lord said ask if they want to be an Anchor

Faith Church, of which they said yes, 18 months later, only that

they're not going to stay there. Which was perplexing to me

because I thought, well, why did we do this in the 1st place?

So after traveling there for nine months, in essence giving

birth to the church so that it would be healthy and move

forward, God said that my children's pastor, Pastor Mark

and Ashley Brady, that I should plant them in that location of

which they answered the call and they've been there for 13 years

now. Hallelujah, Amen.

Well, after that experience, you know, and, and they were moving

and obviously, you know, we have this connection.

The next thing you know, all of a sudden Pastor Pedro in

Nicaragua has a brother named Pastor Ramon and he could not

pastor his churches with the Assembly of God because he had

been divorced. And he's and Pastor Pedro says,

Pastor Earl, you should start an anchor faith church here.

And I believe my brother would be a great one to do, you know,

so that minds, you know, you're like, wow, Lord, are you saying

something? And so, you know, I had a

conversation with him. But during that time, before we

actually officially launched Anchor Bay Church in Nicaragua,

my wife and I, as we travel the coast, you know, we love to

camp. We have camped on the Space

Coast. We've camped on the Treasure

Coast. We've camped.

I've camped on the Gold Coast. We've camped on Lee Island

Coast. We've camped over in the

Forgotten Coast and the Emerald Coast.

And we began to realize, I mean, if I was really planting

churches, I'd want to plant on all the coasts in Florida.

That's what I was getting, that I would plant here.

Well, lo and behold, you know, next thing you know, Pastor

Ramon shows up one year thinking we had a Kingdom rise, which was

full force Kingdom conference at the time and we were not doing.

We started to offset them every other year.

And here he is and next thing you know, we're having a

conversation and here's a church becoming anchor faith.

Then the next thing you know, he had some others that were kind

of in his sphere of influence that the next thing you know,

without our kind of knowing, we had two more.

We're like, OK, so church plants for us have been reactive, to

say the least. Everything else that we've done

as a ministry has been proactive.

I mean, we're like lining it out, administrative, getting

everything down and we're moving forward.

There's one church I was proactive in planting.

It was this one. Everything else, I'm reacting.

We're reacting. Next thing you know, this

thing's growing so much that you're like, we're going to have

to do something different. Then Pastor Jay comes and says,

I think I should be in Anchor Faith Church.

You're like, what is happening at that point?

Pastor Mark and IA year ago came together and we realized, well,

if this is happening, we're going to have to organize Anchor

Faith Ministerial Alliance, which we are not.

We have not touched, we have not done anything hardly with it's

in name only. There's no real guidelines.

There's nothing again, reactive, and at that point, a process of

true prayer, spending time looking at and examining it.

What would it look like? And then God sent me to Brazil.

And when he was sent me to Brazil, I saw the model.

It was amazing what Pastor Joshua and Hannah have done in

proactive church plants. They went down to Brazil with

the intent to plant, not with a afterthought, but with the

intentionality. And aren't you glad that God

puts you in relationships so that you don't have to start all

over again or they have to do everything from scratch?

I'm so excited about that. So you know, Pastor Mark and I

are looking at this and you understand at this point then

everything we're having to run a gamut of things.

I mean, from what's the legal ramification of this and how do

we this and what's our attorney going to have to see here?

And then next thing you know, Pastor Jay, you have to legally

organize that. Then Pastor Rick comes and says,

hey, Pastor Earl, after a summer for he was my Indiana Jones of

Washington, he would go away from the summer old mission

trips and come back and teach the students.

It was pretty amazing. And so he would come back and he

said, I believe that the Lord wants me to plant a church and

the Dominican Republican, it should be an anchor faith

church. Again, I'm reacting.

The good news is there wasn't 1. So it's not like we're

remodeling something or we're having to change over a culture

of something. All we are.

We're going to be at a planet right out the gate.

So I said, OK, we're going to do this one right.

From the beginning, you know, we're not going to have to

backtrack. And so he has legally, we have

our paperwork. We can now officially get a bank

account and have pastor Jay has one.

Now there are these aspects we're like, this is awesome.

So when we were down in Nicaragua, Pastor Mark and I and

we were talking about the anchor faith minister Alliance and what

it would do. We realized there was a couple

of legs that would happen. One that people because we have

had pastors come to us based upon things we're doing that

they're like, Hey, I, they tell me, I I sense the Lord wants me

to connect with you because of things you're doing.

Now they have their own churches, but just like me, not

only am IA Rhema pastor, I'm licensed with Rhema, but I'm

also with Pastor David Huffman, I mean Darryl Huffman's victory

ministry international. So every time I redo my

application for Rhema, they say, are you with any other

organization? I say yes, Victory Ministry

International, Darrell Huffman, he's on my board and I'm

connected to both entities. Why?

Because there's something that I draw from Pastor Darrell that

God has placed in my life. Although he was New Life Church,

I'm Anchor Faith Church, right? So the organization definitely

needs to have a Anchor Faith Minister Alliance where

potentially people could get involved just from a ministerial

level. But then there's another place

where it would be an Anchor Faith Minister Alliance plus

Anchor Faith Church. And if it's going to be Anchor

Faith Church, then the model has been given to us, or we're

seeing it based upon what Brazil has done.

So through the year, Pastor Mark and I were talking about it.

We're having conversations about this thing and along the wild,

obviously many things have. So I went to Valdosta last week

because these are some things that has taken time for us to

realize what we should do moving forward.

And then moving forward, we realized that if I'm going to

plant Anchor Faith Churches proactively, then the

organization has to look different.

And in order for it to look different, you know, there's

some things we have to do different.

But when we look at anchor faith Valdosta, they're thriving,

they're moving and they have vision.

In fact, Pastor Mark and Ashley has vision.

It was when I said, did God call you to Texas?

And he said, well, no. I said, well, I believe the Lord

wants you to take Valdosta. And so he has vision for the

location. And we began to ask questions

and it seemed right that we release Valdosta and let them

run their own vision. So last week I was up there

announcing that because we're always advancing and they have

vision for that location. Never was going to be in

Valdosta. I always saw this once I

realized God wanted us to plant. And so Pastor Mark last week

says, you know what, God gave us the organization and the

foundation to launch. But there's some things in our

heart that we want to do that it seems that we've come together

in agreement. And I came and echoed that.

Now he's not here on the stage to hug my neck for you to see

this as I was on his last week. Right now today, they're

launching a new vision, new name.

Come on now, you should get excited.

I mean why would we ever want to hold back what's going on in

peoples lives? You understand that?

I mean I would never want a relationship to go South just

because somebodies hearing God to do something when God's doing

stuff. Do you understand He's a big

God? And so I went and championed

that and I'm like, listen, they're going they've you've

always been ignited the city impact the nation, influence

world. You've kind of already done

stuff very specific to your community.

You're just going to change the name.

You're going to have the burdens on them to actually rebrand.

Not us. We are anchor faith.

It's what we are. And so I'm excited for them.

So let's pray for them and for their congregation right now as

they are releasing this new vision for them.

Amen. Let's pray, Father, in the name

of Jesus. I pray for Pastor Mark and

Ashley. I pray for the, the, the, the

vision, the things that you've shown them to do.

Very specific to that location. We recognize that a local body

has very strategic things to do. And Lord, they have been there

planted in that community for 13 years.

Lord, really, it's easy to release them to some things that

you've given them. I kind of look at it this way,

Lord. You know, my children started

kindergarten and then they graduate from high school.

It's a 13 year journey. And man, when I look at them,

man, have they gone from the beginning of a church that

they've been able to graduate on to some new things.

And Father, we're blessed to be a part of that now.

Lord, we thank you that you continue to bless them, bless

the work of their hand. We thank you, Lord, for the

divine connections that have been there.

And we thank you, Lord, that you're going to continue to

prosper that location because Lord, all that they're going to

be doing, we're excited about, just as the things you're doing

in us, because you've allowed us to release things into people's

lives, not only in Valdosta, but in other states already.

And Lord will continue to increase.

But when it comes to planning anchor faith churches in our own

nation, then Father, we're going to follow your format because it

best protects the ministry as a whole.

And we praise you and thank you for it in Jesus name.

And all God's people said Amen. So when you look at our future,

it's bright. But here's the thing, I've been

eyeballing the forgotten coast for quite some time and there's

already opportunities. But here's the thing, you cannot

launch out and have multiple locations if the foundation or

the headquarter, the planting church is not as strong as it

needs to be. When I mean by strength, we need

to move to the next level. We can't be thinking about that

in this space. We need to get to the next

space. And so we really need to be

deliberate for that next level of what God's asking us to do

because it that area starts to produce this.

And if the Lord is showing this, you know what that tells us?

There's probably some people in this room right now.

You're called the ministry and you need to get up off of it.

You can't stay comfortable here. It's time because the time has

come for you to be deployed and there's a place for you.

There are others that haven't even come yet that God's called

the ministry and will be instrumental in equipping,

strengthening, and deploying. Don't you want to be a part of

that to where this message of the Kingdom is going into

multiple locations within our state that they can be deployed

through our nation in the world. And God has given us that divine

task, and I'm so excited about it.

Let's look at our influence the world, All right?

Yeah, influence the world real quick.

And then let's get into the word.

We're going to be doing training in Anchor Faith, India this

year. In fact, the Lord spoke to me

and I am doing a Congo trip on Thursday.

I will be teaching at Raymond Bible Training College in Congo

and I'll leave on Thursday. It is the only trip outside of

Anchor Faith Church I will do this year.

The Lord spoke to me and says you focus entirely on Anchor

Faith Churches the rest of the year.

And so we're going to be here doing all that we need to do to

continue to push the things we need to push forward in this

location. But we're going to be doing

training in India. We're going to be doing training

and potentially construction and Anchor Faith Churches in

Nicaragua. We're going to be doing

launching an Anchor Faith Church in the Dominican Republic, which

means when we find the day it launches, could we take a team

with us to help with the launch day?

All right, we want to be able to develop an Anchor Church pastor

retreat because again, if you're going to be an Anchor Church

pastor, then we're going to have to really be connected on annual

basis. Obviously the Anchor Faith

Ministerial Alliance, it's global initiative needs to

occur. You understand, being in other

nations legally or one thing being in our nation, that's a

whole nother ball game. And then obviously there's the

Congo one trip. This is what we did not do last

year that I've brought it into this year because we still need

to do so. And that is purchase a vehicle

for Pastor Roman in Nicaragua and for Pastor Fought Meer in

Albania. Now Pastor Fought Meer, had a

heart attack. He had a blockage, they had to

put a stint in. He was having some chest pains

for hours, so much so that he finally went to the hospital and

they were shocked that he was alive.

Aren't you glad for the Holy Ghost, the sustainer of life?

He's recovering. Everything is good as far as

that's concerned. There were some things he wanted

to do in 2025, and I said I'm not coming.

I said I have focus here that I need to do.

I said let's plan that for 2026. He want a citywide men's

conference, OK. And so, but we need to get them

a vehicle again. He has this awesome looking

Ford, red Ford station wagon that has over 500,000

kilometers. The thing looks brand new.

I mean, he really takes care of his vehicles, but we need to get

him another one. Why?

Because we're in the nation where we can have the resources.

And so we're going to be getting you those numbers here pretty

soon. I can tell you right now 20K is

easy for both. I think they're going to be

probably a little bit more, but 20K easy for both.

And so we'll make some things available for you to be able to

open up and see that. Amen.

Aren't you glad that we are progressing?

You want to hear what the Lord spoke to us concerning 2025?

Last year we came off the reigning spirit.

Wow, the reigning spirit. And the theme of that is there's

many spirits talking. Now you need to understand this.

If the Lord has us minister in these areas anytime a message

comes, anytime, say anytime, anytime we preach any message,

healing, faith, prosperity, deliverance, forgiveness, any

subject we ever preach, the minute you walk out that door,

the devil's going to try to steal that from you by creating

a scenario to determine will you apply that or not.

Now we emphasize the reigning spirit and that there were other

spirits. Guess what the other spirits are

doing a lot of talking. You've been equipped to hear

correctly, but you need to fine tune your hearing because again,

the other spirits will come as an Angel of light to try to get

you off, get you out of your purpose, get you away from what

you're called to do if you don't.

And I'm not surprised when the Lord spoke to me about this year

for 2025 is the reigning church. It's the reigning church.

Now The thing is, is that we're going to need to see exactly

what God meant when he talked about church because in the

Western world as a whole, especially now does not is not

technically modeling what Jesus said he would build.

And so we are going to have to dive into the author of the

church and his Word in order for us to be able to see what his

church looks like. And I'm not surprised because,

you know, last year one of our key verses was that in the last

of the last days there will be seducing spirits and doctrines

of demons and some will fall away from the faith, right?

And be pulling. And then as you keep on reading,

it said that in these last days that Saints will heed to

themselves teachers. In essence, they will say, why

don't you build a church that teaches this and will come to it

will come and assemble if you will have this content.

And they will heap teachers to themselves so that they can hear

the content that they want, not necessarily what God wants.

And again, we saw where Paul told Timothy, he said, now

listen. And when it comes to the to the

Saints, you're going to give instruction, you're going to

give reproof and you're going to rebuke.

And I like what Doctor Rodney Howard Brown said.

He says, Saints, that means 2/3 of my preaching are going to

have a corrective tone. But you understand, we have a

generation that doesn't want to hear correction and they really

don't even want to hear instruction.

They want to hear things that are only telling them nice

things. Which again, this is the

problem. That's why we're preaching a

message on the negative mindset. Correction is the most positive

thing you could ever hear 'cause it's life.

I said it's life and if we'll change our thinking, then we'll

never have an issue with correction ever again.

We'll never have an issue with repute rebuke.

In fact, we will fall on our knees and say, thank God you

rebuke me from the path I was heading down.

Whoo, glory to God that make you want to run and shout Amen.

I mean, we're going to correct this kind of thinking so that we

can enjoy all that God has for his church.

Why is it that we can accept we were wrong for salvation, but

refuse to accept wrong thinking after we're born of God?

Amen. But we're talking about the

reigning church because he says, listen, there are going to be

pockets of assemblies that are going to rise up everywhere,

everywhere, not just in the US, all around the world that are

going to have congregations where the Saints determine what

is being preached. Are you hearing me?

God's not deciding. The Saints are deciding because

he says they will heap teachers to themselves.

This is what we want to hear. And if you'll do it, we will

financially support you. We'll financially do whatever

you want to be done. Just do what we need you to do.

Hallelujah. But that's not the church he's

building. You know where it's at.

Matthew chapter 16, verse 18. Let me press through.

Matthew 16:18

And I said, and I also say to you that you are Peter, and on

this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell

shall not prevail against it. You want to be a part of the

church where the gates of hell doesn't prevail because the one

that Saints caught, they bring their teachers in to tell them

what they want. Then the gates of hell will

prevail against those locations. But if you won't, you do not

want hell to prevail against you in your life.

Then you're going to have to be the one that Jesus is building.

In fact, the Passion translation gets this right when it says I

give you the name Peter a stone. And this truth of who I will I I

am will be the bedrock foundation on which I build my

church, my legislative assembly and the power of death will not

be able to overpower it. Jesus came to establish a

legislative assembly a called out once in essence, the King.

The church is like an embassy where the ambassadors come

together to hear from the home country so that they can walk

out in the policies and procedures and the directive of

the home country, The Kingdom itself, God Himself, who sits on

the throne and communicates what God wants to see done in the

earth because it is a global takeover.

At the end of the day, Jesus Christ is coming back and there

will be no alternative thinking. Are you hearing me?

Because His thinking is life. Martin Luther King said this.

Martin Luther King Junior, He says this.

There was a time when the church was very powerful.

It was during that period that the early Christians rejoiced

when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed.

In those days, the church was not merely a thermometer that

recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion.

It was the thermostat that transformed the Moors of

society. Wow.

Think about it. When Jesus launched the church

in the book of Acts, it was not listening and hearing the world

and trying to identify with the world so that it could impress

the world to try to win the world.

It was the the power of God that was being demonstrated in

communities that caused all whole communities to give up

their idolatry, give up their witchcraft, turn, throw down

their idols and run to Jesus. It was casting out devils, it

was healing the sick, it was raising the dead, it was

speaking the word uncompromised and full of power.

It was amazing, this birth of a church and man.

Where has it gone? It was never God's intent for

the church to not have power. In fact, Colossians chapter one

verse 13 to 18 says, For he rescued us from the domain of

darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his beloved Son,

and whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin.

He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all

creation. For by Him all things were

created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible,

whether Thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, All

things have been created through Him and for Him.

You've been created for Him. He did not die for you, you were

created for Him. He died so that you could come

back, because He, you were for Him.

He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together,

man. If you're not with Him, you

can't stay together. He is also the head of the body,

the church, and he is say He is the beginning, the first born

from the dead, so that he himself will come to have first

place in, in, in, in, in everything.

Those who are sold out to Jesus as Lord knows man, He has my

everything he says we are to love him with all of our and and

mind and stream. He gets the whole man, the

threefold nature man. Not only does he change your

spirit that you couldn't do, but then because you yield to him

and his spirit in you, you renew your mind because he gets your

mind, he gets your soul, he gets your affection.

He he deserves your emotional attachment, then he deserves.

Because your body, because your body's not your own, you can't.

Your body shouldn't tell you you're too tired to do the work

in a ministry or what God's called you to do, because it is

the Lord's. So He should get you straight.

Your strength should not go to your employer.

Your strength should not go to your business.

Your strength should go to the Lord.

Hallelujah. Your thoughts, your emotions,

your minds, your will, your intellect, all that you do

should be surrounded. There was a time when people

were so passionate about the things of God that they were

willing to die for it. You understand, if we don't

watch out and I listen, we're going to do some really creative

things this year with different things we'll bring on the stage

and different things we want to do.

I plan to do another mud run to do an example illustrated

sermon. Again, I love those things.

I mean, how many enjoyed Christmas when we did the Doctor

Seuss, Seuss Christmas? I mean, those are great.

However, have we lost the ability or willingness to have

the persecution? Do you understand the very

English Bible that you're reading today cost somebody

their life that they were willing to go against the norms

of religion and be considered a heretic so that every St. could

have the right to read the word, The word that we are always

admonishing you every year to read cover to cover.

But you know as well as I do there's a lot of Saints that

aren't reading the book that someone poured out their blood

to make it in a language they could read.

Have we lost the cost? Have we failed to remember that

the church was not designed to be a social service, but to

bring the power of God? And there were people Steve and

died for his belief, many others that we had on the screen prior

to service. If you were looking, you could

have read them. And when we end this thing,

we're going to let you scan AQR code so that you can get our

vision book digitally where you can read the timeline of what

the church went through and the persecution that went on in

different places just so they could assemble.

I mean, again, Amos Wong, he, he, he flew into China to be

able to meet with a group of people that were waiting for

him. If they started to come in from

from so far where they couldn't ride in trains, they had to,

they had to come in different directions into a warehouse that

had no air, no heater, no air condition in the middle of

winter. And they would wait and they

would deploy them an hour at a time because if they had that

kind of movement and there were those sitting that had been

there for 12 hours waiting for Amos to come preach, they

brought him in and he minished for three hours, 3 hours.

Because they don't know when they'll get to assemble again To

hear the things that we have a great liberty.

Now, I'm not saying this so you feel bad.

I'm just saying in our world, there's a cost.

I mean, I thank God for the comfort we have.

I thank God for the conveniences we have.

But I don't want to lose the passion of God's church.

And I believe that the Lord is saying to the westernized

church, especially to the American church, wake up and see

the seriousness of my church and what I needed to be doing in the

last days. He wants his church to reign.

And so when he preached in this freezing warehouse with

thousands of people who had already been there, some for 12

hours, then they took him out, and then for the next 12 hours,

they had to slowly start being deployed away.

Right now in the world, people are being persecuted, still

martyred for their faith. There are multiple nations where

you just can't come and freely assemble.

And we debate on Sundays. I mean, when we put it in

perspective, William Tyndale became what was considered a

heretic. Was he the one burned?

Burned for translating the Bible so you could read it in English.

I hope we haven't become so callous of comfort, of being

comfortable because the reigning church can handle pressure or

more importantly, you're being so conscious of others that

don't have the comfort we have that we're driven to say how in

the world can we help those in those nations?

It will not hinder us from the things that we have nor the

things that we get to enjoy. But the reality is there are

still those today. We even have some martyrs that

we have. That is early as the end of the

20th century. In fact, there was another

particular man that was basically translating the Bible

in that in his language. And what was that?

Cameroon or And he was murdered for it because he just wanted

the language in his native tongue.

The church that we're in is victorious and powerful, but

it's victorious because we're not afraid to face opposition

nor to go into places that are oppositional.

And when you've been given the freedom, then you want to be the

catalyst that can help those that aren't in the same freedom.

Ephesians 117 to 23 says in God the Lord Jesus Christ the Father

glory. May He give us a spirit of

wisdom, revelation and the knowledge of him.

I pray that the eyes of our heart will be in light so that

we would know what is the hope of his calling, What are the

riches of the glory of his inheritance in the same?

What is surpassing greatness of his power towards it?

Who's believed? This obviously is not just

salvation so that we know where we're going when we die.

These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His

might, which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from

the dead and seated him in his right hand in heavenly places.

Far above all rule and authority and power and demean in every

name that is named, not only in this age but also the one to

come. This act of Jesus is so powerful

that it goes to the next age and then eternity.

Glory to God where he's far above all rule and authority.

This church that he's building is powerful and he put all

things in subjection under his feet and gave him his head over

all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him

who feels All in all. Eds have also said this.

He said the 1st century ecclesia or ecclesia introduced a radical

and revolutionary social agenda that launched a process that

literally changed the world. With the subsequent

institutionalization of the church.

However, what was a lifestyle that implemented Jesus agenda

became programs of good deeds that fall short of transforming

societies. You know what I have realized

more and more is that when I hear Saints say where are we

going to see the miracles? Where are we going to see the

power? When are we going to see this?

It's not that they're actually wanting to see the what they're

really asking is where's the powerful church that was there?

They if it's misplaced direction, we're not transformed

just because someone's healed. We're not transformed just

because someone's raised from the dead.

Jesus did this so much in his lifetime that he eventually

says, I'm not even going to do miracles in this city anymore

because you've rejected the thing that had the power.

It was my word because it's the word that transforms.

And you understand, if we would just go back to the passion of

wanting to live His Word and do His Word and let His Word be our

lifestyle, then the miracle signs and wonders are easy.

Why? Because they follow the

preaching of His Word. And I'm not saying me from the

pulpit as much as you preaching it with your lifestyle.

Martin Luther King junior said it this.

He said the church must be reminded that it is not the

master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscious

of the state, the conscience of the state.

It must be the guide and the critic of the state and never

its tool. If the church does not recapture

its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club

without moral or spiritual authority.

Martin Luther King junior said this.

Why could we have gone through a whole time period of the

Emancipation Proclamation and it still be decades, centuries

later before we are addressing a civil rights issue when the

church should have been the proponent of every tongue tribe,

a nation? And if we don't watch out, we'll

go back to that. And don't think it's not in our

own nation. There's no such thing as a white

church, a black church. It doesn't exist in the Bible.

Every congregation should have something that looks like us and

we can still do better. Are you hearing me Sunday?

Adelaide said this. The church, a once respected

institution of truth and integrity, has lost her respect

due to ignorance of purpose and lack of insight into God's

original plan for His church. And you know, we're all about

original intention. We want the original plan.

Colossians chapter one verse 28 to 29 says this King James

Version, whom we preach, whom we what preach, warning every man

and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present

every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which

worketh in me mightily. You'll understand why I use the

King James here momentarily. Look at the amplified classic

version. It says it this way.

We preach and proclaim, warning and admonishing everyone and

instructing everyone in all wisdom, comprehensive insight

into the ways and purposes of God, that we may present every

person, say every person mature, fully grown, fully initiated,

complete and perfect in Christ the anointed one.

Verse 29. For this I Paul says, laborers

unto weariness, striving with all the superhuman energy which

he so modelly and Kindles, and works within me.

I must read an excerpt from Rick Renner, Sparkling Jim concerning

this passage of Scripture. It is very important for you to

understand as the reigning church what this means.

He says the word perfect or the amplified says mature in this

verse. In the Greek, Paul uses only

five times in the New Testament. Each time describes full grown

adults. It describes how a person

develops. He or she transitions from being

youthful and immature to an individual who is full grown and

mature. In addition, Paul uses this word

twice to denote spiritually mature individuals who are

living in accordance with the will of God.

For this reason, the more recent translation, the Amplified says

that we may present every person mature, fully grown, fully

initiated, complete, and perfect in Christ.

Thus we see the word perfect that Paul referred to in

Colossians 128 as one who is spiritually mature and

endeavoring to live out his or her life in accordance to God's

perfect will. It tells us that we are not just

called to win masses to Christ and then leave them beside

behind as spiritual infants. Rather, our God-given task is to

help people walk out of immaturity while leading them

onward into spiritual maturity. Bringing people up to this level

of maturity is an undertaking so huge that Paul acknowledged it

could only be done with the power of God.

He said, Where unto I also labor, striving accordingly to

his working, which worketh in me mindedly.

Now before I finish reading this, you understand there came

a time after World war that some denominations came together and

said, Let us take the gospel to its simplest form.

And from there we began to preach you must be born again

alone. And that the role of the church

then became to win the lost and to win the lost really at all

cost, at the cost of his identity, at the cost of his

purpose, at the cost of spiritual growth.

We get so excited when we go into places and people get born

again but we have no idea where they're at after their new birth

experience. We come and tout in our great

assemble halls of all the people that were born again over a

particular outreach, yet we have no concept of where they are.

No follow up plan to be able to feed them, grow them, disciple

them or change them. In fact, Jesus literally said go

into all the world and make disciples, not converts.

In order for you to be a disciple, you must be converted.

You must be born again. But he never intended you just

to know that you're going to heaven when you die.

He expected you to grow up, look at your neighbor and say it's

time to grow up because Jesus Christ is coming back for the

church. That's mature.

He expects us to grow up. Paul goes on to say it this way.

He said the word labor here in Colossians 129 in the Greek

word. This Greek word describes the

most physically and mentally exhausting type of Labor.

OK, let me help clarify this verse 29 has to do with what

Paul's assignment was, which is my assignment, and he is saying

this is the most physically and mentally exhausting type of

Labor. By using this word, Paul

reminded us of the extremely hard work that is required to

help a person attain spiritual maturity.

According to this, Paul worked very hard to bring people from

spiritual infancy into spiritual adulthood.

In fact, the next word he choose, the word striving,

drives this point home. It comes with another Greek

word, which was the word we get, the English word agony.

This is why you should pray for us.

The use of these two words, labor and striving, tells us

that the task of helping individuals move from spiritual

empathy to spiritual adulthood requires focus, effort, and hard

work. And it can be all.

And it can often be as agonizing as raising a natural child to

become a level headed adult. And we're not just spiritually

raising one person, but many people at one time.

This would be humanly impossible if it were not for his working,

which as Paul said works in US mightily.

The word working here in the Greek word means is where we get

the word energy. Furthermore, the word mighty is

the word dunamis which Paul used to describe Christ divine

ability that resides in each true believer.

So Paul was acknowledging that it is only possible to present

every man perfect or mature in Christ of of his divine because

of his divine super natural energy that works within us.

We are insufficient in ourselves for such a task.

We can only accomplish it because of the infusion of

Christ's mighty dunamis power that works in US.

Hence, the task of helping someone grow from spiritual

empathy into spiritual adulthood is a supernatural feat that can

only be accomplished in cooperation with Christ's mighty

power that works in US and through US.

And I can tell you from first hand experience why it would be

mighty tempting as an apostle and pastor to only communicate

the salvation message. Why it's tempting.

In fact, I remember one time in the beginning stages of Anchor

Faith Church, because there's all kinds of models out there.

And I and I had people coming to the church say, Pastor Earl, you

know, if you just did this, you double and he they were right.

If all I did was talk about where you going to go when you

die, If I left off the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

If I didn't talk about moving on so that the fruits of the Spirit

can be possessed in your life. If I let you just live in your

carnality. And let's just all rejoice when

somebody who's out of God's household comes into God

household with the rest of the dysfunctional kids that are

assembled together. Amen.

Because many of you know the price you've had to pay, the

things you've had to put down in order for you to attain.

But here's the thing, you can attain the spiritual maturity,

but if you do not stay there, you can digress back to

immaturity. Paul said this.

If you feel that you have failed to stick it out to the end with

the individuals you've been called to help mature, take

heart. Yield to the Holy Spirit's

present in your heart for the task.

He ends this ends it by saying this as believers, we should

always be It should this should always be our purpose.

We must not only win people to Jesus, but also disciple them to

maturity so that they can live the balance the the balance of

their lives as fully mature spiritual adults who live to do

the will of God. Don't you want to look back on

your life and say that I live the majority of it mature?

Because the Scripture indicates that a person can arrive to

spiritual maturity within 4 three to seven years.

So it doesn't take long to attain to maturity or to arrive

there and then you can live the rest of your life in it.

And that would be amazing. Are you hearing me?

So he goes on. Then let me say this.

Then This is why we have Ephesians 411 and 13.

And he gave some of the apostles and some of his prophets and

some of his evangelists and some of his pastors and teachers for

the equipment of the Saints, for the work of service to the

building up of the body, until we all attained to the unity of

faith, of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man, to

the measure of the statue which belongs to the fullness of

Christ. Any babe in Christ can say,

that's my daddy too, because when the Father's your dad, he's

your dad. But babies say that verse 16

from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by what

every joint supplies according to the proper working of each

individual part calls of the growth of the body for the

building of of itself and love the keyword here that we've seen

in these past two scriptures, the Colossians now here in

Ephesians is the word mature. Mature means brought to

completion, fully accomplished, fully developed, full grown.

Sunday Adelaide said this people are supposed to come to church

and be aware that they are being trained and recruited.

The church is supposed to be a place like a classroom or a war

room where you have been equipped to go out from Monday

to Friday and fight for the cause of the Kingdom.

Not like fighting demons that have been defeated thousands of

years ago, they've already been defeated, but fighting to bring

the righteousness and rules of the Kingdom of God into your

sphere of influence. Sunday went on to say it this

way. The Church of Jesus Christ was

planted in this world to be a change agent for the

transformation of the world and of the particular society where

the church is located. And the reason why every town,

every city, every community should have a local church

somewhere in its surrounding territory where a local church

is present, is because it's there to transform that society.

Not to assimilate to it, but to be so different that only two

things can occur in that community.

Major opposition and persecution to those that hate the things of

God and righteousness, and those who run to the church because of

its integrity and the life of those who live it out day-to-day

victoriously. Hallelujah.

I have no problem being at opposition in our community to

those who do not want to follow God because we are the light of

the world and the Bible tells us Jesus says light has come in,

but they love their darkness instead.

And there are people in our community is going to love their

darkness, which means they'll hate our light, but there will

be many drawn to the light and be transformed.

Hallelujah, just like you have been transformed.

Aren't you glad you've been transformed?

What are the sector of societies?

One, religion, two family, 3. Government, 4.

Business, 5. Education, 6.

Arts, entertainment, sports and seven the media.

These are the sectors of society we are to infiltrate with the

Kingdom of God. When you get into your place of

business, you should be the light of the world.

You shouldn't be an ambassador. You should reflect the ideals

and lifestyles of the Kingdom of God.

When people are sick, they should come to you.

For you'll pray. So you'll pray from when they're

in trouble, they should come to you and you would pray for them

because they know you just don't pray.

You have answered prayers. Hallelujah.

This is the reigning church. But equally, when you go to

work, people are going to persecute you.

They're going to talk bad about you.

They're not going to let you get promotion.

They're going to stand in the way.

They're going to do all kinds of things to try to hinder you.

But you stay with God. And if God's for you, who can be

against you can't be compromising.

You can't compromise an ideal for more money or more prestige.

How could you be more known than be known by Jesus Christ?

A title and promotion doesn't make you greater.

You're already great because the greater ones on the inside of

you, He's called you a son. He's called you a daughter.

I'm known by Jesus. Everything else is less than.

Any relationship I have outside of that is less than because I

know the King, and the King knows me.

Hallelujah. He knows my name, I said.

He knows my name. He knows your name.

In first Corinthians 1420 it says, brethren, do not be

children. Immature in your thinking.

Continue. Continue to be babes in matters

of evil if you want to be. If you want to be immature, then

get immature in evil. Amen.

If you want to be a babe, then do it in evil.

But in your minds, he says, be mature men Psalms 1/3 the

amplified says, and he will be like a tree firmly planted and

fed by the streams of water, which yields his fruit in its

season. Its leaf does not wither, and in

whatever he does, he prospers and comes to maturity.

The reason why most Saints can never get to maturity,

especially in the Western Church, is because they don't

stay planted because again, they they believe the lie of the

devil. Well, that's the pastor's

vision. He's trying to get you to do

what he's heard from God. No, this is not my vision.

This is our vision. How do I know this is true?

Did you save yourself? The Father had a vision.

I'm going to send my son. He's going to die on a cross.

He's going to pour out his blood for all your wrongdoing.

And he says, I see you in the vision, but if you're going to

be in the vision, you're going to have to make it your own.

Well, I'm only born again because it's God's vision.

No, you're like, I see myself a child of God because before the

foundation of the world, He had a plan for me, a purpose for me.

He always designed for me to be with dominion and rulership, and

I had fallen out of that. But He has a vision to bring me

back, and I'm going to be a part of that vision because that

vision is my vision. My vision is to be a child of

God, one who rules and reigns with Christ.

That's my vision, not just his. Well, if that's the case, then

guess what? The local body, it shouldn't be

mine that you're following. It should be yours you're

following and you are finding your fit in that vision, which

means you should drive, thrive, run again.

I use athletics all the time. Not everyone's the quarterback.

Not everyone, but those that are in their positions when they

function as they were designed can defeat the opposition and go

on to the next round and eventually be crowned champion.

Don't you know when Ohio State beat Texas that the quarterback

didn't say concerning that one defensive player who scooped the

ball up and ran down for a touchdown?

That he didn't say, look at him showing off.

You know, when I broke through that hole and nobody touched me,

I fell down at the 20 yard line. I mean, he could have fell down,

not look like he was showboating.

I mean, he's a defensive player. What's he think he's doing?

But we don't talk like that with athletics.

But why do we talk like this in the church?

Immaturity talks like that. No, when you get planted and you

quit running around, then you're going to finally hit maturity.

No plant in the natural can mature if it doesn't stay

planted. And again, people will say all

the time, oh man, I grew so much here.

I'm growing here, I'm growing here and I'm growing here.

They're not growing because the Bible doesn't support that kind

of growth to maturity, Nothing at all.

It doesn't support that kind of movement to maturity.

So when you find a place, you need to stay somewhere.

In fact, this is what I love about Pastor Mike.

Pastor Mike, stand up. Pastor Mike was born again.

What? What?

How old were you when you were born again?

9797, He's born again. He was planted in that church,

Apostle Scales Church. He only left that church because

God called him the ministry of which then he needed training.

Then he went to Oklahoma and he was went to Bible school.

But he didn't just go to Bible school.

He was planted in the local Church of the Bible school

called Rhema Bible Church. And he stayed there.

And then the Lord said, go to Saint Augustine and he's only

been in his whole life as a believer in three churches, only

three. And I would surmise if he would

not been called to ministry, he most likely would be an Apostle

Scales church still today. And man, he can grow there

because Apostle Scales is amazing, amazing teacher.

You know, Pastor Hagen would say this concerning Pastor.

Thank you, Pastor Mike, who graduated from Rhema.

And they become say, well, I've done 20 years of ministry, yet

they've only been in locations 3 years at a time.

They go in, start a church or take over a church, you know,

and then the honeymoon, 18 minutes, 18 months is over.

And now they're dealing with problems.

And then they say, well, the Lord's called me.

And then they find another church and they go somewhere

else. And Pastor Hagen says, don't

tell me you've been in ministry for 20 years.

You've only been in ministry for three years because you've only

experienced what three years will give you.

That's wisdom talking. Well, I'm spiritually mature.

No, you've only grown based upon how long you've stayed planted.

And if you've been planted, then are you staying in attainment?

Philippians chapter 3, verse 12. We are about to drive this thing

Philippians 3:12

home, he says, not that I've already obtained it, that I've

already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold

of that which I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

Brethren, I do not regard myself as laying hold of it yet, but

one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward

to what lies ahead, I press on to the goal, towards the goal

for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude, and

if in anything you have a different attitude, God will

reveal that also to you. However, let us keep living by

the same standard to which we have attained.

Rick Renner says this concerning the word I press on is the Greek

word which translates as I Follow after is a fiercely

aggressive word in historical Greek literature.

It means to hunt, pursue, to chase, to track down and kill.

It is the picture of an outdoorsman who is so determined

to hunt down an animal that he will stop at nothing to pursue,

chase, track down, and ultimately get the game.

That is a driven individual. That means complacency should

never be in the mind of a believer that the minute you

were born again, you have this determination.

I will become all that my king saved me to.

He saved me from something to something, and I will obtain

that. And then when the whole body

gets that kind of drive, there's not a gate in hell in any sector

of society that can stand against that reigning church.

Can't happen. I said it can't happen because

you will not let those sectors of society impede you.

You will be so driven to hunt down and do exactly what you're

called to do in your community. The amplified says this.

So let those of us 1st 15 and 16 of First Timothy 3.

So let those of us who are spiritually mature and full

grown have this in mind and hold these conviction.

And if in any respect you have a different attitude of mind, God

will make that clear to you also.

Only let us hold true to what we have already obtained and walk

and order our lives that way. You understand in three to seven

years you can attain to spiritual maturity, but you must

maintain the standard you have come to.

I'm always perplexed how a believer can grow in the things

of God within a church, can go from salvation to the baptism of

Holy Ghost to the authority of the believer in healing and

prosperity and all the things that are associated with who you

are in Christ. And then go all the way back to

a denomination that only only preaches.

Where are you going to go when you die?

And to think that they're going to be spiritually mature in that

area. Another translation says it this

way. Therefore, let us who are

perfect again, mature. Embrace this point of view.

If you think otherwise, God will reveal to you the error of your

ways. In essence, He's saying what I'm

saying. You need to accept His truth and

don't think that you should not fiercely pursue that which God

has apprehended you. Then he says in verse 16,

Nevertheless, let us live up to the standard that we have

already attained that we have already attained.

You know, that's what I love about God's mercy and compassion

because This is why he told, he said a righteous man may fall 7

times, but he, he gets back up. Do you understand?

We can have bumps along the way, we can make wrong choices along

the way and most of the time we make those wrong choices.

We say this, I know better, God will forgive you and let's move

on. But for some, they will allow it

to entirely derail their life. You know what I've seen?

You know, the one of the quickest ways that I've watched

spiritually mature Saints go to immaturity is when they see

someone who is spiritually mature fail and then the same

mercy and compassion they want in their lives.

When they fail, they don't extend it to the one that they

have held and esteemed as a spiritually mature person.

And they get so offended by that.

I've seen it through the years, they walk out of church, walk

out of fellowship, walk out away from God because someone they

thought were spiritually mature didn't make it, didn't do

something right. Now many times there they

repent, get right with God, go on as if it never happened.

Some of that's even in a relocation for some based upon

who whatever they were called to do.

But the reality is then that other person holds that to them

and holds on to that, and won't forgive them and justifies their

new flesh life. But yet we'll tell you Scripture

because they know it. Do you understand?

Once you attain knowledge of some things, you can retain

knowledge even though you're no longer applying the knowledge

you have retained. Which brings us our last two

passages of the Scripture. It's the reigning church and

Ephesians 5, 27. It says that he might present to

himself the church and all her and all her what having no spot

or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and

blameless. Now Pastor Angie and I tag team

this message years ago concerning the latter rain.

In fact, when you read that account, James, that the Lord is

patient as a farmer for the early and latter rain, that the

reality is the majority interpret that passive scripture

as harvest. And I'm not going to lie, it is

harvest. It is harvest.

OK, However, what is the latter rain for?

When we say harvest, what are we harvesting now?

Listen to me. You were dead in your trespasses

and sin, which means you were something different than what

you are today. All of us were a seed, and when

you farmer plants a seed, a seed has a potential in it, but the

only way that what's in it can come out or be seen is it must

die, Paul said. Unless a grain of wheat falls

into the ground and dies, it cannot produce after its own.

So when you plant yourself the word in you, you die to

yourself. Then the new person comes out.

Conversion is a plant. The the early rain comes so that

this new growth that has come out of a seed that has died is

there so its roots can get grounded and so that the plant

itself can grow for the purpose of producing fruit.

So the fruit is not the law saved.

The fruit is the believer showing its fruit it's

producing. The latter rain is so that the

fruit can get to maturity. In my backyard is a banana tree,

and I've been going out looking at it because there's an

indicator that lets me know those bananas are ready to

harvest and it hasn't gotten there yet.

Didn't know that plan before, didn't know how that worked

before. There they were.

They were never turning yellow. I'm like, why didn't it turn?

Maybe I need to cut them off. So I cut those things off,

brought them into the house, and sure enough, they started to

turn yellow. I'm like, there it was.

I peeled that banana. I ate that banana and all the

moisture in my mouth got sucked out.

I thought I was going to choke. It was the worst taste of banana

ever had in my life. I'm like, this is disgusting.

What in the world is going on with this fan?

It looked great. It it turned yellow.

It looked like you could, but it was so bitter.

It was bitter. It sucked all the moisture out

of my mouth. Well, I didn't realize that

there's this piece of it that has to completely fall off and

die, which is an indicator. Now it's ripe and I'm close.

I got about this much left of what's supposed to fall off that

I can cut that thing. Then you cut the top out of it

so that it would produce fruit again the next time you have to

prune it. OK, that's a different serves.

All right. I learned that I harvested it at

the right time. Then it went from green to

yellow. And when I they were the

sweetest bananas, the sweetest. So the latter rain is for the

maturing of the crop. The latter rain is not so much

for the loss to be saved as much as it is for the church to

mature. Now don't get me wrong, when the

church is mature, it'll change the world.

It'll all of a sudden become a transforming society again.

It'll be this massive moving force that walks in the power of

God that is only wanting to seek the purpose and plan of God.

When we receive this latter rain, it will cause the fruits

of the Spirit to be able to mature in such a way that when

we walk around, when we walk through the places, it'll be as

Miss Wigglesworth said one day when someone got on the bus and

says, your mere presence convicts me of my sin.

The glory of God will be in such full display as the outpouring

of the Spirit in the latter days for the maturing of the church.

And we want the latter rain, but in order to have the latter

rain, you're going to have to position yourself.

You're going to have to start producing fruit.

Now, glory, means of high repute, free from sin, a most

glorious condition, most exalted state.

There's another state of the Church that has yet to be seen

and it's not just falling on everyone because all you have to

do is read the book of Revelations to realize that that

not every church that Jesus was building did he continue some he

said if you don't repent and get this right, we're talking about

believers. I'm a pull the lamp, the one he

says I'm about to spew you out of my mouth.

Are you hearing me? So second Peter chapter 3, verse

2 Peter 3:14

14, we'll close with this. So beloved, since you are

looking forward to these things, be diligent.

Make every effort to be found by Him at his return, spotless and

blameless, in peace that is inwardly calm with a sense of

spiritual well-being and confidence, having lived a life

of obedience to Him. When the greatest things that I

get to do every day is to wake up and know that I'm obeying my

Heavenly Father, it gives me the greatest peace to know that I'm

doing His will. I'm in lockstep with Him.

I'm I'm doing exactly what He's asked me to do.

And it doesn't matter the opposition.

Because when I look at the ones that have gone before me and

endured much trials and tribulation but finished the

course, it encourages me to continue to press on.

And I can't help but press because I'm driven to accomplish

that which God's called me to do.

And I want to take a whole group of people with me.

In fact, God desires us as fivefold ministers to do just

that. And it is a lot of effort.

It is to weariness. Pastor, are you under a lot of

pressure? Always, But by the grace of God,

I said by the grace of God, I'm not complaining.

I'm just telling you like it is for what purpose?

To mature you so that when you attain to it, you'll retain it

and you'll walk in it. And man, when the next wave of

new believers come in and the next wave of new believers, you

know, what I've loved about Anchor Faith Church through the

years is that we create this layer of people that grow so

that then when the next layer comes, there's more than myself,

my wife, and a few others that are walking in spiritual

maturity. There's so many Saints doing it,

and it just keeps filtering out that the base of maturity keeps

to getting larger and larger. What's so awesome about a base

of maturity? It can sustain a larger base of

immaturity. If we want a larger harvest of

babes, then we must develop a stronger foundation of maturity.

That way, when they start to struggle, you'll be able to say

what does the word say? And they'll call you a cult

because you'll all say the same thing.

It is a culture. We live in a Kingdom and we say,

well, what does the king say about this?

What does the king say about this?

What does the word say? Well, how come everybody says

what does the word say? What else is there?

Peter says you have the words of life.

So this year's the Reigning Church and I want to kick this

year off because the most attacked organization on the

planet is in this building. This is why you're attacked,

because you house the power of God and the only way that we

survive and thrive is we are intentional to say I will never

let someone Take Me Out of my fit.

I will pursue it with passion till he returns or I go to be

with him. And I will be in unity with the

brethren. I'll be in unity.

I'm going to find my fit, do my part, because the people in this

room depends on it. They depend on me coming all the

time, showing up, doing what God's called me to do.