Sermon

Expectation of Kings - with Pastor April Hicks

Anchor Faith Church

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  1. Thanks for checking out the Anchor Faith Message podcast

  2. from St. Augustine, FL.

  3. Now enjoy this message. So tonight I just want to get

  4. right into the word of God, because I believe that the Word

  5. of God is alive. Amen.

  6. And that it's living and that it has power contained within it

  7. and that if we would receive it with a great expectation, it

  8. will perform in do its work just as God intended for it to do.

  9. Amen. So if you're titling something

  10. and taking notes, write this down, you're going to write this

  11. down. Expectation of kings,

  12. expectation of kings, which is the church's confidence.

  13. OK. So tonight we're going to be

  14. talking about expectation of kings.

  15. And I want to say this, that the king of kings, he actually has

  16. an expectation himself, right. And so we're going to talk about

  17. that even more, But I really want to hit five points tonight,

  18. and I believe that we can get there.

  19. All right. Pastor Earl has said multiple

  20. times and has received a word from the Lord that this is the

  21. year for a reigning spirit. Do you believe that you have a

  22. reigning spirit? Is your expectation set that

  23. you're walking in fulfilling A reigning spirit in your life?

  24. If you don't have that expectation, I'm here to

  25. encourage you tonight to get stirred up, to start expecting

  26. that. Because that's what you have.

  27. Every believer should have a set of expectations.

  28. Every citizen in the Kingdom of God should have a set of

  29. expectations. 1 Expectation that we should have is to reign in

  30. life. Amen.

  31. Is to reign in life, to reign. Now another expectation that we

  32. should have is to conquer. We should have an expectation as

  33. a king in the earth to conquer some things, and that is how a

  34. reigning spirit moves in the earth.

  35. They have a expectation of conquering.

  36. Another expectation as a king that we should have is we should

  37. have an expectation to find Kingdom treasure.

  38. And I'm going to talk a little bit about that to you tonight.

  39. It's been a great set of services we've had in the youth

  40. ministry about finding treasure. And it just seems so fitting

  41. that we need to have an expectation to find treasure.

  42. Another expectation that we should have is to have

  43. influence. An expectation of a king is to

  44. have influence. Are you hearing what I'm saying?

  45. Another expectation as a king is to be able to have an

  46. expectation to govern and to work with God.

  47. Because we are the Church and it the Church has authority.

  48. So if there's anything as a believer that you should be

  49. expecting, you should be expecting some of these five

  50. things to operate in your life. And all of these five things can

  51. have been given to you, and have been given access to you through

  52. the work of Christ and the power of the Holy Ghost.

  53. Let me give you the definition of expectation.

  54. Expectation is a strong belief that something will happen.

  55. It's a strong belief it is convinced, persuaded, and firm

  56. that what it's expecting shall happen and come to pass.

  57. It's an anticipation. Are you anticipating anything

  58. from the King of Kings? Do you have an anticipation that

  59. his word and all the promises that it contains is yours?

  60. Are you anticipating every day that today is the day I'm going

  61. to continue to walk in the promises of God?

  62. I'm going to reign in my life. I'm going to overcome in my

  63. life? Expectation is is assurance,

  64. expectation is Kingdom confidence.

  65. It's Kingdom confidence. Any expectation that you could

  66. ever have must first come from God's Kingdom.

  67. Then it's promised to come to pass when you believe it by

  68. faith. Those are the expectations that

  69. you and I are guaranteed to receive as a citizen in His

  70. Kingdom. When we believe them by faith,

  71. by faith. And it's a shift in our mind.

  72. It's a shift in how we think. We've got to change some things

  73. in our mind and we've got to get our mind and what we're thinking

  74. in line like a king. Can I just say that we got to

  75. think like a king. We got to speak like a king.

  76. We got to walk like a king. We got to behave like a king.

  77. We've got to expect like a king. So an expectation of a king is

  78. to reign in life. Let's look at Romans chapter 5

    Romans 5 chapter mention

  79. and we're going to go to verse 12.

  80. Let's read this. It says therefore, just as

  81. through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin,

  82. and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

  83. For until the law sin was in the world.

  84. But sin is not imputed when there is no law.

  85. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over

  86. those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam,

  87. who was a type of him who was to come.

  88. But the free gift is not like the transgression.

  89. For if by the transgression of the one man many died, much more

  90. did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one

  91. man, Jesus Christ, abound. To many the gift is not like

  92. that which came through the one who sinned.

  93. For on the one hand the judgement arose from the one

  94. transgression, resulting in condemnation, but on the other

  95. hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in

  96. justification. I want to go back to actually

  97. verse 17. Let's keep going.

  98. For if by the transgression of the one death reigned through

  99. the One, much more those who receive the abundance of grace

  100. and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the

  101. one Jesus Christ. Much more.

  102. Those who have received the abundance of grace, you have

  103. received an abundance of grace. Can you lift your hand right now

  104. and testify? That's on my life.

  105. I've received that not only have you received an abundance of

  106. grace that's on your life that empowers you to reign in your

  107. life, but you've also received this gift of righteousness,

  108. which is the right way of doing things.

  109. It is right standing with God. It is being in right position.

  110. It's being in the Kingdom position.

  111. Amen. So we will reign in life through

  112. the one Jesus Christ, verse 18. So then, as the one

  113. transgression, there resulted condemnation to all men, Even

  114. so, through one act of righteousness there resulted

  115. justification of life to all men.

  116. Aren't you thankful that Jesus fulfilled his assignment?

  117. And through his act of righteousness you now can be

  118. justified and you can stand before God as if sin never

  119. existed? See, that's a position of a

  120. king. We know a pastor has reminded us

  121. many times that the Bible is about a king, his Kingdom, and

  122. his royal offspring. As the king reigns, he has an

  123. expectation that his heirs would reign as well.

  124. The king has an expectation that you and heir of Christ Jesus

  125. would be reigning in your life. That's good news.

  126. God a king, Jesus as king, and we as heirs in Christ, we have

  127. the reigning spirit church. That is who we are.

  128. You have a reigning spirit. It's a conquering spirit.

  129. It's an overcoming spirit. It's a spirit of faith.

  130. It's a spirit of confidence. It's a spirit of boldness.

  131. It's a spirit that is connected to the spirit of truth.

  132. And it it actually works. Church Can I tell you that God

  133. hears your prayers when they're in line with His word and he

  134. fulfills it every time and the reigning spirit is confident of

  135. that? And what does pastor say?

  136. We're just not a church that prays, but we're a church that

  137. what has answered prayers. Glory to God.

  138. We know Pastor Earl. He's taught us this, that the

  139. domain of a king is the territory over which he

  140. exercises authority and control over his domain.

  141. Revelation Chapter 17 verse 14 Revelation 1714 says this.

    Revelation 17:14

  142. Together they will go to war against the lamb, but the lamb

  143. will defeat them because he is Lord of all Lords and king of

  144. all kings and he his called and chosen and faithful ones will be

  145. with him. Who is that talking about?

  146. That's talking about the Church. That's talking about the Saints,

  147. the ones that have the reigning spirit.

  148. We will be with the King of kings and the Lord of Lords,

  149. right? And so I say that to say this,

  150. you are a king in the earth. That is the position that God

  151. has destined for each and every one of our lives is to be a king

  152. operating under his influence, operating when he says and to

  153. represent him. So in essence, your life I no

  154. longer live, but it's Christ who lives through me.

  155. So through you the king shows up.

  156. Through you, the king is represented.

  157. Through you, the king is speaking through you, the king

  158. is declaring, through you. The king is believing that his

  159. word shall not return back to him empty, but it will

  160. accomplish exactly what it was sent for.

  161. To see, you are Kingdom representation of the King of

  162. kings and the Lord of Lords. That is who we are, Romans

    Romans 5:18

  163. chapter 5, verse 18 in the Passion translation says.

  164. In other words, just as condemnation came upon all

  165. people through one transgression, so through one

  166. righteous act of Jesus sacrifice, the perfect

  167. righteousness that makes us right with God and leads us to a

  168. victorious life is now available to all.

  169. A King's life is a victorious life.

  170. A King's life is one that walks in victory.

  171. No matter what situation shows up, no matter what circumstance

  172. starts to manifest and happen. A king walks in victory.

  173. Christ walked in victory. It may not have seemed like it

  174. from everyone on the outside as he was carrying his cross and

  175. getting ready to be crucified, but he was walking in victory

  176. because he knew, oh death, Where is your sting?

  177. Where is your sting, Oh death. For he was about to conquer the

  178. grave. So a king walks in victory, and

  179. that is who we are. Church.

  180. We walk in victory. If you're confessing anything

  181. over your life, you should be confessing I walk in victory.

  182. You know, a lot of times believers have this thought

  183. process that Jesus is going to do everything for them, but they

  184. don't realize that they have a responsibility to reign.

  185. They don't realize that it's their responsibility to walk in,

  186. the very thing that Christ gave them access to.

  187. Walk in and see we as as a church, as a Church of the

  188. reigning Spirit, have to have to recognize that we have to take

  189. responsibility in all areas of our life.

  190. Psalm 1/15/16 says this. The heavens are the heavens of

  191. the Lord, but the earth He has given to the sons of men.

  192. I'm I'm sharing these scriptures with you so you can get again

  193. firmly persuaded that you can be reminded of that your reigning

  194. spirit is now it's on the earth right now.

  195. Psalm 1/15/16 in the Passion translation says the heavens

  196. belong to our God. They are His alone.

  197. But He has given us the earth and put us in charge.

  198. Who has He put in charge? Who has He put in charge?

  199. Say I'm in charge. Say I'm in charge of my life.

  200. No one else is in charge of your life.

  201. No one else is in charge of your thinking.

  202. No one else is in charge of your decisions.

  203. No one else is in charge of what you're speaking.

  204. No one else is in charge of what you're reasoning within your

  205. heart, whether it's faith or whether it's little faith or

  206. whether it's doubt. No one's in charge of that.

  207. But you, you and I are in charge of that.

  208. And so God has given us this reigning spirit, and it's our

  209. responsibility to walk in it. Let's talk about the expectation

  210. of kings, which is to conquer. Let's go there, a reigning king

  211. on the earth. One of the first things that

  212. they're going to need to conquer is themselves.

  213. If you're going to do anything for the Lord and you're going to

  214. be able to operate where you start having influence, what I

  215. mean is that your life starts to influence others by its

  216. demonstrations, by its actions, by its words.

  217. You're first going to have to conquer yourself.

  218. You're going to have to conquer yourself.

  219. That's the first thing that we got to do is we got to conquer

  220. ourselves. Many times, I'll say this many

  221. times, many times, people forfeit achieving great and

  222. mighty things for God, for His Kingdom.

  223. It's because they cannot conquer their feelings and their flesh.

  224. When you forfeit, it is you saying I can't conquer myself

  225. based upon how you feel, you know we have to conquer.

  226. We conquer in life through the empowerment from Christ as

  227. believers. We reign in our lives on the

  228. earth when we allow His will to be done in our lives.

  229. I said this to the young, young ones.

  230. You know, a couple weeks ago I said the moment Jesus became

  231. Lord of your life, you no longer call the shots.

  232. He does. That's called conquering church.

  233. You don't call the shots. He does.

  234. That means every decision that you need to make, you need to

  235. you need to make that decision on what does the king say?

  236. What is his guidance? What is his counsel?

  237. What is his direction? You know, many times when we

  238. don't seek the Lord and get his counsel decisions made outside

  239. of the counsel, the Lord will cost us.

  240. And see, God doesn't want you to be in a situation to where it

  241. delayed or it hindered based upon you not heeding His

  242. counsel. And so for us, we must conquer

  243. ourselves. Amen.

  244. We've got to conquer ourselves, our feelings and our emotions.

  245. We're going to look at Moses here in a second and we're going

  246. to see how he had to conquer. But we no longer call the shots

  247. for our lives. We allow him to be supreme in

  248. our lives. We allow his word and his spirit

  249. to work within us. You know, John the Baptist, he

  250. said, what did he say? I must decrease so that he can

  251. increase. That is a conquering statement.

  252. That is getting rid of yourself and your identity and allowing

  253. the king of all kings to reign through your life and to

  254. eliminate how you feel. I mean, when I think about John

  255. the Baptist like he was a Wildman, I mean, I'm pretty sure

  256. he had to cast down thoughts of what people thought about him.

  257. So we got a decrease. Let's look at Moses.

  258. Let's go over to Exodus chapter 3, Exodus chapter 3.

    Exodus 3 chapter mention Exodus 3 chapter mention

  259. We're going to start in verse 1. One day, while Moses was taking

  260. care of the sheep and goats of his father-in-law, Jethro, the

  261. priest of Midian, he led the flock across the desert and came

  262. to Sinai, the holy mountain. There the Angel of the Lord

  263. appeared to him as a flame coming from the middle of the

  264. Bush. Moses saw that the Bush was on

  265. fire, but that it was not burning up.

  266. This is strange, he thought. Why isn't the Bush burning up?

  267. I will go closer and see. When the Lord saw that Moses was

  268. coming closer, he called to him from the middle of the Bush and

  269. said Moses, Moses. And he answered yes, here I am.

  270. And God said, do not come any closer.

  271. Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground.

  272. I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and

  273. Jacob. So Moses covered his face

  274. because he was afraid to look at God.

  275. Then the Lord said, I have seen how cruelly my people are being

  276. treated in Egypt, and I have heard them cry out to be rescued

  277. from their slave drivers. I know all about their

  278. sufferings. And so I have come down to

  279. rescue them from the Egyptians, and to bring them out of Egypt

  280. to a spacious land, one which is rich and fertile, and in which

  281. the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Parasites and Hivites,

  282. and the Jebusites now live. I have indeed heard the cry of

  283. my people, and I see how the Egyptians are oppressing them.

  284. Now I am sending you to the king of Egypt so that you can lead my

  285. people out of his country. Verse 11.

  286. But Moses said to God, I am a nobody.

  287. How can I go to the king and bring the Israelites out of

  288. Egypt? God answered, I will be with

  289. you. And when you bring the people

  290. out of Egypt, you will worship on me on this mountain.

  291. That will be the proof that I have sent you.

  292. But Moses replied, When I go to the Israelites and say to them

  293. the God of your ancestors sent me to you, they will ask me what

  294. is his name? So what can I tell them?

  295. And God said, I am who I am. You must tell them.

  296. The one who is called I am has sent me to you.

  297. Tell the Israelites that I, the Lord, the God of their

  298. ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have sent you

  299. to them. This is my name forever.

  300. This is what all future generations are to call me.

  301. Go and gather the leaders of Israel together and tell them

  302. that I, the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of

  303. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to you.

  304. Tell them that I have come to them and have seen what the

  305. Egyptians are doing to them. I have decided that I will bring

  306. them out of Egypt, where they are being treated cruelly, and

  307. will take them to a rich and fertile land, the land of the

  308. Canaanites, Hittites, the Amorites, Parasites, Hivites,

  309. and Jebusites. My people will listen to what

  310. you say to them. Then you must go with the

  311. leaders of Israel to the king of Egypt and say to him the Lord.

  312. The God of the Hebrews has revealed himself to us.

  313. Now allow us to travel three days into the desert and offer

  314. sacrifices to the Lord our God. I know that the king of Egypt

  315. will not let you go unless he is forced to do so.

  316. But I will use my power and will punish Egypt by doing terrifying

  317. things there. And after that, he will let you

  318. go. I will make the Egyptians

  319. respect you so that when my people leave, they will not go

  320. empty handed is every Israelite woman will go to her Egyptian

  321. neighbor and to any Egyptian woman living in her house, and

  322. will ask for clothing and for gold, silver, jewelry.

  323. The Israelites will put these things on their sons and

  324. daughters and carry away the wealth of the Egyptians.

  325. Moses in this moment had to conquer.

  326. He had to conquer here. God is before him in this

  327. burning Bush. And he is saying Moses, Moses,

  328. he's calling him, he's calling him by name.

  329. Don't you know that God is still calling you by your name, and

  330. God has a purpose for you and an assignment for you, just like he

  331. had from Moses. And Moses responds back and he

  332. tells God, he says, but I'm a nobody, I'm a nobody.

  333. How can I do this? At one point he gave an excuse

  334. about how he spoke. He was full of excuses.

  335. I'm a nobody. I'm a nobody.

  336. See, if you have the mentality that you're a nobody, you'll

  337. conquer nothing. And God doesn't want you to have

  338. that mentality. He wants you to have the

  339. mentality that the King of king is on the inside of you, that

  340. there's a treasure that's been deposited within you.

  341. It's actually the power of God called the Holy Ghost that's

  342. alive and living, that can lead and guide you and help you.

  343. And just like Moses, God told him, I'm going to go with you,

  344. I'll be with you. Do you know that anything God

  345. calls you to do, He is with you to do it?

  346. If he wasn't with you to do it, you could never do it in the 1st

  347. place. Because anything that we do for

  348. God is not in our own efforts, but it's by his power, in his

  349. might, by his strength and his ability.

  350. So an expectation of a king is to conquer, and we've got to

  351. change our mindset. The more you change your

  352. thinking like a king, the more you'll reign in the reigning

  353. spirit. You know conquering yourself

  354. means conquering your flesh. Can we talk about that for a

  355. second? Conquering yourself means

  356. conquering your flesh. You know we all have flesh.

  357. Look at your neighbor and say you have flesh and look at your

  358. another neighbor and say you have feelings and look at

  359. someone behind you and say you have opinions.

  360. Now turn around and look at me and say you have flesh and you

  361. have opinions and you have feelings but my opinions but my

  362. feelings mean nothing. My opinions and feelings do not

  363. bring heaven to earth. My belief and expectation does.

  364. His word does. My confidence in his ability

  365. does. And so here Moses is, I'm a

  366. nobody. Moses is thinking, how can I do

  367. such a great thing? How can I go back to a nation

  368. where people have been treated so harsh and so cruel and

  369. deliver them out? Who am I that you would choose

  370. me? You know, a lot of us sometimes

  371. have this thought process that I'm just not good enough.

  372. Well, I can tell you that if you've made Jesus the Lord of

  373. your life, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens

  374. you. Isn't that what the word says,

  375. is that you can do all things through Christ?

  376. You know, the flesh will always make excuses.

  377. You know Moses, he had this excuse.

  378. Well, I'm a nobody. You know the there's a parable

  379. in Luke chapter 14 called the Parable of the of the banquet or

    Luke 14 chapter mention

  380. the supper. And and in this parable Jesus

  381. begins talking and he says there was a master and the master was

  382. preparing A banquet, A feast. And he began to send out

  383. invitations to those to be invited to come to the banquet

  384. and to the feast. And one by one in Luke chapter

    Luke 14 chapter mention

  385. 14, if you can read that, you'll see that everyone had an excuse.

  386. One says, you know, well, I just got married.

  387. One says I just got married. Where's Dylan and Mary?

  388. You're getting married Saturday. Whoa, give him a round of

  389. applause. But I know their character and

  390. they won't let the fact that they just got married come and

  391. hinder their obedience to serve the church and to be in the and

  392. to do Kingdom things and to be purposeful.

  393. So an excuse, one of the excuses was is oh you know, I just got

  394. married. One excuse was is you know, well

  395. I just bought this or I need to take care of my parents.

  396. And so all these excuses started happening.

  397. Did you know every time you give an excuse to God you forfeit a a

  398. reward, a heavenly reward. Every time you give an excuse

  399. and you do not follow through, you have lost an eternal reward.

  400. You know God leads and guides his children.

  401. So the next time you're in public and you're at a place

  402. where the Holy Ghost says you need to do this, or you need to

  403. say this, or you need to demonstrate, you need to do that

  404. and don't make an excuse. Because by your obedience and by

  405. letting your light shine, people can be influenced.

  406. So one by one in this parable in Luke chapter 14, they just

    Luke 14 chapter mention

  407. started making excuses and then you know what the result was.

  408. For every person that made an excuse, they were not able to

  409. eat with the master and dine. Your excuses can hinder your

  410. receiving from the Lord. You know, God's looking for the

  411. willing and obedient. Amen.

  412. An excuse passes over an opportunity to conquer.

  413. Moses could have stayed with his feelings.

  414. He could have totally said, I'm not doing this, I am not doing

  415. this, I am not doing this. I mean he could have really

  416. stayed with how he felt. You know, Pastor said this on

  417. Sunday and and it was so true, and I want to repeat it, he said

  418. the devil is not the church's problem.

  419. We are when we don't submit our will to his will.

  420. When you don't submit your will to his will, could it be that

  421. you're making an excuse? You're resisting Galatians?

  422. Chapter 5, verse one says it was for freedom that Christ set us

  423. free. It was for freedom that Christ

  424. set us free. See, we should be so free that

  425. excuses aren't even an option in our thinking because Christ has

  426. set you free. Therefore, keep standing firm

  427. and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.

  428. You know the king wants his citizens to be free.

  429. He wants them to be free from the control and the influence of

  430. the flesh. Even Jesus.

  431. Even Jesus, as he is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, has

  432. feelings about what he is about to go through.

  433. In fact, his feelings were so intense that he was sweating.

  434. Blood drops of blood. Jesus, what I love about him, He

  435. didn't make an excuse. He asked if there was another

  436. way, but there was no other way. He fulfilled what it was that

  437. God had given him direction to do.

  438. Could it be that you're the one church that must fulfill

  439. specific direction from God that he purposes in his heart for you

  440. to do? Say I'm the one.

  441. See, a king knows they're the one to be used.

  442. They're the one that will prepare themselves to be a

  443. vessel useful for the master. See, the master wants to use

  444. vessels. Can I say that he wants to do he

  445. wants to use his church, He wants to use vessels?

  446. He really does. And he wants to use those that

  447. are useful, and useful ones are ones that don't give excuses.

  448. They submit their will to His will.

  449. They honor him. They they live their life

  450. according to His word. They let the Word of God dwell

  451. in them richly. They hunger and thirst after

  452. righteousness. They're filled all the time.

  453. You know, they deal with issues. They don't allow their feelings

  454. to be here. You know, they put their

  455. feelings down, you know, You know, I am saying a lot about

  456. feelings. And I want you to know we do

  457. have feelings. But if my feeling ever leads me

  458. in a different direction than the word of God, it's got to go.

  459. Got to go. So Galatians 516 through 24 says

  460. this, but I say walk by the spirit.

  461. How are we to walk? How are we to walk?

  462. See the Spirit is how we are to walk by.

  463. And you will not carry out the desires of the flesh when you

  464. stay with the Spirit. You'll walk by the Spirit.

  465. And you won't allow your your excuses or your feelings or your

  466. emotions to then be the way that you walk.

  467. Because the way that we're to walk is by the Spirit when we

  468. won't carry out the desires of the flesh.

  469. Verse 17. For the flesh sets its desire

  470. against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh.

  471. For these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not

  472. do the things that you please, the things that who pleases we

  473. please. Your flesh is always looking to

  474. be pleased. That's why we're to crucify it.

  475. That's why we're not to live by its passions and its desires and

  476. its cravings. If we're to live by any type of

  477. passion, desire and craving, it's to crave the things of God,

  478. to believe that God is alive in the earth and he's moving in his

  479. church. In fact, the Apostle Paul says

  480. the one thing that you should crave and desire is for the

  481. gifts of the living God, the Spirit of God, to move in the

  482. church. So you're to be LED verse 18.

  483. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the

  484. law. Now the deeds of the flesh are

  485. so evident, say, evident, which are immorality, impurity,

  486. sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy,

  487. outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying,

  488. drunkenness, carousing, and things like these of which I

  489. forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you.

  490. Those that practice such things will not say, not, will not

  491. inherit the Kingdom of God, but the fruit of the Spirit.

  492. Here we go, is love and joy, peace, patience, kindness,

  493. goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

  494. Against such things there is no law, which means there is no

  495. limit as to how much of the fruit of the Spirit that a

  496. Kingdom citizen can produce. In fact, we should be producing

  497. so much that it is out at reach at hand for those to grab a part

  498. of. It should be influential.

  499. All the fruits of the Spirit should be produced in such a

  500. great quantity in our lives. That is, it is literally a

  501. double take for someone who has no concept of the things of God.

  502. There's no law, which means I can have as much joy as God.

  503. There is no law. God.

  504. I mean, I'm so full of joy. I mean it.

  505. It's so I'm this is hilarious. I'm just so full of joy.

  506. I mean, I am. And you know, the more you

  507. conquer the flesh and you conquer yourself, the more joy

  508. will manifest. Because I can tell you there was

  509. a time in my life where there was not a lot of joy.

  510. But I can stand up here now and tell you I got the joy of the

  511. Lord. And I'm telling you, when the

  512. joy of the Lord starts to bubble up out of my belly, I can't

  513. contain it. I mean, it's a laughing forever.

  514. And you know what? It is so refreshing.

  515. It is so refreshing because the Holy Ghost is the refresher.

  516. He is the strengthener. He brings everything good that

  517. we need, so we should be having this love that the Spirit

  518. produces and it should be producing so much.

  519. So an expectation of the King is that they would expect these

  520. fruits to operate. Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 17.

    Ephesians 4:17

  521. As a citizen in God's Kingdom, there is a way we ought to walk,

  522. so I say. So this I say, and affirm

  523. together with the Lord, that you walk no longer as the Gentiles

  524. also walk in the futility of their mind being darkened in

  525. their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of

  526. the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their

  527. heart. And they, having become callous,

  528. have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of

  529. every kind of impurity with greediness.

  530. Verse 20. But you did not learn Christ in

  531. this way. If indeed you have heard him and

  532. have been taught in him, just as truth is in Jesus that in

  533. reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old

  534. self, say old self, You know that old old man sometimes tries

  535. to pop up, You know, it's like the old man just can kind of pop

  536. up out of nowhere if you're not careful.

  537. And that's why it takes self-control that comes from the

  538. Spirit when you walk by the spirit to have that control.

  539. So that old man can't pop up anywhere at any time.

  540. You know, the old man, the dead man, the former nature that the

  541. Bible references, that nature should not be at work within

  542. you. It's dead.

  543. It is gone. In fact, the day you confess

  544. Christ, it says you now are a new creature in Christ Jesus.

  545. The old is gone and new has come.

  546. Amen. And so the new on the inside of

  547. you, the Newman, the new nature that's now born again.

  548. OK, can hear. God has a capacity to operate

  549. and to hear the Spirit of God now is what should be leading

  550. us. Not the old man, not the dead

  551. man. The next time the dead man

  552. starts to rise, You need to say you're a you.

  553. You're dead. Get under my feet.

  554. I don't have that nature anymore.

  555. It's it's gone. I have a new nature.

  556. You know a lot of times in our lives we have to say that out

  557. loud. I I, you know, for me.

  558. I know I'll speak and I'll say no.

  559. Shut up. Because Christ lives in me, and

  560. if it's not Christ speaking, then it's subject to the old

  561. man. So the old man is gone.

  562. A person's inability to conquer their mind results in a defeated

  563. life. Your mind needs to be conquered.

  564. So not only is your flesh have to be conquered, but now your

  565. thinking has to be conquered. How you think will determine the

  566. outcome of what you're facing, how you think.

  567. If what you're thinking on is not the plan and the and the and

  568. the voice of God and the will of God, then the outcome of that

  569. situation won't be just that, the plan and will of God.

  570. So how you think matters? You know, when we were at

  571. Kingdom Rise Conference, we hosted that the last time we

  572. hosted that. One of the messages that was

  573. ministered was called Rain in Your brain.

  574. Does anybody remember that message that was ministered

  575. reign in your brain? And so an expectation of a king

  576. is that you would literally reign in your brain.

  577. You've got to change the way that you think.

  578. And this is every day, folks, every day, every day, every day.

  579. Because the thoughts come, thoughts come, but it's the

  580. thought that comes that stays and festers, that we focus on

  581. and then yield to and operate in causes problems.

  582. So we got to cast thoughts down whether or not in line with

  583. scripture. You know, the Bible says that

  584. you and I are more than a conqueror.

  585. We're more than a conqueror. Romans 837 says you are more

  586. than a conqueror. There's a conqueror and then

  587. there's more than that. And the more than that is what

  588. God says we are. An expectation of a king is to

  589. find Kingdom treasure is to find Kingdom treasure.

  590. Proverbs 25, two. Proverbs 25 Two it says it is

  591. the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings.

  592. The glory of who? The glory of who are you?

  593. A king? It's the glory of kings to

  594. search a thing out. So there should be an

  595. expectation that every time I'm in the word of God, there is

  596. something that's going to be revealed to me.

  597. And it doesn't matter if it's the Scripture that you've heard

  598. 100 times. It doesn't matter.

  599. The Holy Ghost can reveal a new point, a new perspective, and he

  600. can speak to you because the Word of God is living and

  601. active. It's alive.

  602. So the glory of kings is to search out a thing.

  603. How is your searching going? Can I ask that question?

  604. How's your search going? How's your search going?

  605. It's a question we should ask. How's your search going?

  606. You know, everyone in here should be confident and say my

  607. search is going great. I mean, the Lord dropped this in

  608. me. I mean, I was reading this and I

  609. got this and it's changing this and it's producing that and this

  610. is happening. And I received this and I mean

  611. this person was ministered to by that, that was searched out.

  612. I mean, how is your search going?

  613. How's the search going? So the glory of God is to

  614. conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search it out.

  615. Proverbs 25 Two and the Passion says it this way.

  616. God conceals the revelation of His Word in the hiding place of

  617. His glory. But the honor of kings is

  618. revealed by how they thoroughly search out the deeper meeting of

  619. all that God says. So God has this revelation for

  620. each and every one of his citizens and His Kingdom.

  621. He has a revealing that takes place by the Holy Ghost.

  622. When we read the Word, there's a revelation that comes forth and

  623. it's in it's in the hiding place of His glory.

  624. You know, when's the last time you have spent some time with

  625. God in His glorious presence. Because the moments that you

  626. spend with God in His presence and and and in His Word in your

  627. one-on-one time with Him is when He has the ability to reveal.

  628. A lot of times we got to get quiet.

  629. We're going to get quiet. There's voices everywhere.

  630. And so we've got to get quiet. We've got to search it out.

  631. It's the honor of kings is revealed by how they thoroughly

  632. search it out. You know, God has honored man

  633. and God has honored us with His word.

  634. God has honored us with His word, and how we thoroughly

  635. search it out will demonstrate our honor back to Him.

  636. So how are we searching it out? Are we still hungering and

  637. thirsting? You know, I remember at 16 years

  638. old when I gave my life to Jesus, coming out of religion

  639. and being so passionate for the things of God and hungering for

  640. the things of God and just hanging on to every scripture

  641. that I could read. I had a spirit filled life Bible

  642. that someone had gotten me as my first Bible and it was so full

  643. of Kingdom lenses in perspective.

  644. That's why when I came to Anchor Faith church, the Kingdom was

  645. there but then it was there. Does that make sense?

  646. And I remember writing a letter to my mom after I had.

  647. Received Jesus as my Lord and I wrote scripture all over the

  648. envelope. I mean, I wrote it on the front,

  649. on the back and put a stamp on it and wrote a letter and put it

  650. in the mail. And I'm sure the postman was

  651. like, what is this? I mean, it was filled with

  652. scripture. Couldn't get enough of

  653. scripture. How is your hungering for the

  654. word? How's your thirsting?

  655. How's your craving for the word? The more you're in the word, the

  656. more you're going to find treasure.

  657. Matthew 619 through 21 Here Jesus tells us, don't keep

  658. hoarding for yourselves earthly treasures that can be stolen by

  659. thieves. Material wealth eventually rust

  660. decays and loses its value. Instead, stockpile heavenly

  661. treasures for yourselves. Stockpile what?

  662. Stockpile. What?

  663. If you're going to stockpile anything, it needs to be

  664. heavenly treasures. If you're going to begin to

  665. store anything, it needs to be heavenly things.

  666. So stockpile heavenly treasures for yourselves that cannot be

  667. stolen and will never rust, decay, or lose their value.

  668. You know the word of God and the treasures revealed in the

  669. scriptures are more valuable than any monetary money you

  670. could ever receive. They're more valuable than any

  671. Ruby or Pearl or diamond. I mean, they're more valuable

  672. than anything because they're eternal.

  673. It's eternal things. Verse 21 says, for your heart

  674. will always pursue what you esteem as your treasure.

  675. The Holy Spirit is a hidden treasure inside us.

  676. The Holy Spirit is the treasure of truth deposited on the inside

  677. of you. So you can always know the lies

  678. of the devil and cast those thoughts that are lies.

  679. You know the Spirit of Truth is a continual healer on the inside

  680. of you. Everything you have need of is

  681. right on the inside of you say it's right on the inside.

  682. So the expectation of a king is that there's treasure to be

  683. found and God has it for me and he's not withholding any good

  684. thing. If I search it out, I'll find

  685. it. The Holy Ghost, who is the

  686. counselor? The comforter, the strengthener.

  687. He's the supply. It is so imperative, church that

  688. we lean on and walk by the Spirit.

  689. The Holy Spirit is a treasure. In fact, Jesus said that it's

  690. better that I go so that when I go I can send you the Holy Ghost

  691. who is all that we need to depend on to receive, to be led

  692. by, to hear from because it's connected to his word.

  693. Colossians chapter 3 verses one through 3.

    Colossians 3 chapter mention

  694. It says if then you have been raised with Christ, if you have

  695. been raised with Christ, if you have been raised with Christ.

  696. Not everybody's been raised with Christ.

  697. If you've been raised, have you been raised with Christ?

  698. If you've been raised with Christ to a new life, thus

  699. sharing his resurrection from the dead, aim at and seek the

  700. rich, eternal treasures that are above.

  701. What are we to be finding and seeking rich, eternal treasures

  702. that are from above? It says then where Christ is

  703. seated at the right hand of God. And set your minds and keep them

  704. set on what is above the higher things, not on the things that

  705. are on the earth. See, an expectation of the king

  706. is to find treasure when their mind is set on things above.

  707. If your mind is set on things above, then you can be confident

  708. that you are going to receive Kingdom treasure.

  709. Amen. So the question is, is how is

  710. your mindset? How's your mindset?

  711. Verse 3? For as far as this world is

  712. concerned, you have died and your new real life is hidden

  713. with Christ in God. See, when you hide your life in

  714. Christ and you aren't in the way, you'll be able to find some

  715. things in the Kingdom. It's when we get in the way that

  716. we hinder. Well, I don't really want to

  717. read the Bible or I don't really, you know, want to take

  718. time to to to to spend with the Lord.

  719. I don't really feel like it or I'm too tired or whatever the

  720. excuse is. Remember, an excuse is a forfeit

  721. to receive a heavenly reward. Matthew Chapter 7, verses 7

    Matthew 7:7–11

  722. through 11. Matthew Chapter 7, seven through

    Matthew 7 chapter mention

  723. 11 says keep on asking and it will be given to you.

  724. Keep on seeking and you will find.

  725. Keep on knocking reverently and the door will be open to you.

  726. Keep on asking, Keep on asking. Have you been asking for

  727. anything lately? Come on, keep on seeking.

  728. Have you been seeking, have you been knocking?

  729. You know, I told the teenagers I said this, this right here, the

  730. knock. You know the knock never gets

  731. old to the king. Your knock never gets old to the

  732. king. You're asking, You're knocking.

  733. You're seeking. It never gets old.

  734. It never gets old. He never gets tired of hearing

  735. your knock. He never gets tired of hearing

  736. your asking. He never gets tired of your

  737. seeking because he wants to be able to answer your request.

  738. He wants to be able to open the door when you knock.

  739. He wants to be able to give you what you're seeking.

  740. He never gets old of your knock. You know seeking is an attempt

  741. to find something. An expectation of a king is to

  742. find treasure. We should be in a position of

  743. seeking at all times. When you have a seeking at all

  744. times, it's then that God can drop in your spirit because your

  745. position you're seeking, you're aware of Him.

  746. You've got a God consciousness about you.

  747. You haven't turned him off because it's Monday and you

  748. hadn't had your cup of coffee yet and you haven't checked your

  749. emails on the computer. See, when you say in a position

  750. of seeking, it's then that God can drop things in your spirit

  751. because you're always attentive and tuned to what He is

  752. speaking. You're you're ready to receive.

  753. It's like those spiritual antennas, right?

  754. So seeking is an attempt to find.

  755. It's an attempt to desire. It's an attempt to obtain, It's

  756. an attempt to achieve and to ask for from someone.

  757. Jesus said seek and you'll find and verse 8.

  758. For everyone who keeps on asking, receives everyone who

  759. keeps on asking. See, I think a lot of times we

  760. stop asking. And whenever you stop asking,

  761. you're not guaranteed to receive, because you're asking

  762. should be in faith, right? And he who keeps on seeking

  763. finds, and to him who keeps on knocking, the door will be open.

  764. Or what man is there of you? If a son asks him for a loaf of

  765. bread and will hand him a stone Or if he asks for a fish and

  766. will hand him a serpent? If you, then, evil as you are,

  767. know how to give good gifts and advantageous gifts to your

  768. children, how much more will your Father, who is in heaven,

  769. perfect as he is, give good and advantageous things to those who

  770. keep on asking him? How's your asking?

  771. How's your asking? What are you going to drop in my

  772. spirit today? Lord, is something that I ask

  773. all the time. What are you going to drop in

  774. me? I'm expecting.

  775. I'm asking. I'm sensitive.

  776. I'm thinking about you. I haven't forgotten you.

  777. I didn't leave you at home and drive to work and you're not

  778. there. You're with me.

  779. Everywhere I go you're in me. You're you're working through

  780. me. I'm conscious of you.

  781. I've trained my mind to be conscious of the king because I

  782. am the kings representative. How can I represent someone I'm

  783. not conscious of? How can I represent someone I'm

  784. not even thinking about? How can I represent someone that

  785. I have no idea how, how they function and how they operate?

  786. How can I represent someone that I want to hide or I'm ashamed

  787. of? So we should be asking.

  788. We should be knocking. And the Holy Spirit we know is

  789. always speaking. The Holy Spirit is always

  790. speaking. The word of God is alive.

  791. Another expectation of a king is to have influence.

  792. Say I have influence, and since you have influence, you're to

  793. guard your influence. You're to guard it because if

  794. you give off wrong influence, it can damage.

  795. So we've got to guard the influence that we have.

  796. You know, David said this. He said search me and and and

  797. and and search my heart and know me and find if there's any way

  798. within me that would go against God.

  799. So you got to guard your influence.

  800. You know the enemy hates your influence.

  801. He doesn't like it that you have the seed of the Kingdom in your

  802. heart, that you're living by Kingdom principles, that you,

  803. that you understand the word of God, that you can believe God

  804. and receive from God. The enemy hates that.

  805. So we should have this influence.

  806. Our lives should demonstrate the Kingdom and its culture on the

  807. earth, and our lives should have influence with it.

  808. It's Kingdom representation. Matthew chapter 514 through 16.

  809. Matthew, chapter 514 through 16. You are the light of the world.

  810. You are the light of the world. I don't know about you, but you

  811. know the world is pretty dark, and it's getting darker and

  812. darker. In fact, the Bible says that

  813. lawlessness will continue to abound.

  814. And so we can expect that it's it's just going to get darker.

  815. But Jesus said you're the light of the world.

  816. He said you're the light of the world.

  817. On the inside of you is the light that he has deposited when

  818. you've called upon his name. And you, you represent him,

  819. right? You're the light of the world.

  820. He said a city set on a hill cannot be hidden, can it?

  821. I remember taking a cruise one time and getting off of a port

  822. and looking over and seeing a whole city on a hill, houses

  823. built into the mountain. We're a city set on a hill.

  824. We're the light of the world. Nor does anyone light a lamp and

  825. put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand.

  826. And it gives light to all who are in the house.

  827. Let your light shine. Let what shine.

  828. What should be shining, what should be shining, what should

  829. be shining before men, so that they'll see the good works and

  830. glorify your Father who's in heaven.

  831. You know if your light is connected to the Word and the

  832. Spirit, it should never go out. See, you know the the Word and

  833. the Spirit isn't like batteries that go dead.

  834. You know, batteries have a little bit of power for a short

  835. time, and then they're dead. And even rechargeable batteries

  836. over a time go bad. They're not forever, but on the

  837. inside of you, you've got the power of the Holy Ghost, and it

  838. never goes dead. In fact, that power raised

  839. Christ from the dead, and he's now seated at the right hand of

  840. the Father. So you've got the power on the

  841. inside of you. You're a light and it your light

  842. should shine. Your light should shine.

  843. Your light should shine. Galatians chapter 2, verse 20

    Galatians 2:20

  844. Galatians chapter 2, verse 20 says I have been crucified with

    Galatians 2:20

  845. Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and

  846. the life which I now live in the flesh.

  847. I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave

  848. himself up for me, who loved me and gave himself up for me, who

  849. loved me and gave himself up for me.

  850. Christ gave himself up for you so that you could be His light

  851. shining, and people can glorify those works you know influence

  852. when we're talking about influence and how a king is to

  853. have influence. Influence comes through your

  854. obedience to do the Father's will.

  855. Influence comes through your obedience to the Father's will.

  856. It's the new nature on the inside of you through the

  857. Spirit. You know to have influence means

  858. you got to move when God says move, you got to go when God

  859. says go, and you got to do when God says do or you hear what I'm

  860. saying. And so our influence is

  861. important. Our influence is what the King

  862. can use to minister to somebody else.

  863. Are you hearing me? Our influence is important. 2nd

  864. Corinthians chapter 5 Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 14

    2 Corinthians 5:14–21

  865. through 21 says, For the love of Christ controls us.

  866. Having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all

  867. died, and he died for all, so that they who live might no

  868. longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again

  869. on their behalf. Therefore from now on we

  870. recognize no one according to the flesh, even though we have

  871. known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him in

  872. this way no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in

  873. Christ, he is a new creature. Old things passed away, and

  874. behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from

  875. God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave

  876. us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God

  877. was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting

  878. their trespasses against them. And he has committed to us the

  879. word of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for

  880. Christ. Say I am an ambassador for

  881. Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us.

  882. Have you been making God's appeal?

  883. Have you been speaking and decreeing and commanding some

  884. things? See, an expectation of kings is

  885. to have influence. Well, your influence is

  886. connected to what you're saying. The church's authority is

  887. connected to it is written. So are we making an appeal?

  888. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

  889. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we

  890. might become the righteousness of God in him.

  891. The last point I want to encourage you with is

  892. expectations of kings is to govern and work with God.

  893. It is the Church having its authority in Ecclesiastes 8

  894. four. We know this scripture, but it's

  895. bears repeating. It says where the word of a king

  896. is there is power and who may say to him what are you doing.

  897. Where the word of the King is, there is power.

  898. What have you been speaking? What have you been saying

  899. lately? Has it been the King's word?

  900. Because if it is, there's power present, proud, power to

  901. perform, power to do, Power that produces not only for our lives,

  902. but over situations and circumstances, power for others.

  903. What have you been speaking? Because if you've been speaking

  904. the King's word, then there's power that's with that word,

  905. there's power that's with that word.

  906. Luke, Chapter 9, verses one through 5.

    Luke 9 chapter mention

  907. Now, Jesus called together the 12 disciples and gave them the

  908. right to exercise power and authority over the demons and to

  909. heal diseases. And he sent them out on a brief

  910. journey to preach the Kingdom of God and to perform healing.

  911. And he said to them, take nothing for your journey that

  912. might encumber you, neither a walking stick bag bread money,

  913. and do not even have two tunics apiece.

  914. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city

  915. to go to another. And As for all those who do not

  916. welcome you, when you leave that city, shake the dust off your

  917. feet, breaking all ties with them, as a testimony against

  918. them that they rejected my message.

  919. Your authority is connected to the right to exercise power that

  920. Christ gave you access to. You have the right, You have the

  921. right to speak as a king, you have the right to decree.

  922. As a king you have that right. And so, as a citizen and as a

  923. king in the earth, we ought to be speaking and decreeing a

  924. thing. What we don't speak and decree

  925. will be delayed. So if you're believing for the

  926. promises of God, Pastor Marcus, you can come.

  927. Then you should be speaking the promises of God.

  928. You should be decreeing the promises of God.

  929. You know the enemy has no legal right to to hinder and affect

  930. our lives. He is under our feet and the

  931. authority that Jesus has delegated to us as the Church

  932. can put him at Bay. What are we speaking?

  933. An expectation of a king is to begin to operate and move in

  934. authority. Thank you so much for listening

  935. to this message. If you want more, subscribe to

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