Love + Unity = Miracles

For right now, let's just receive God's word, and so if you have your Bible with you, grab your Bible, let's stand up together, let's hold up our Bible and let's make Jesus glad and the devil mad and we can say Heavenly Father, we're grateful for glorious way church, we're grateful for your presence, we're grateful for you moving in our midst, for you are good and your mercy endures forever and we are standing on your word.

We're people of your word, we're men and women of faith and we stand on your promises.

Jesus' name, amen.

Well, tonight is just a real simple night.

I just was gonna preach on the equation that God gave our pastor, my dad, many, many years ago love plus unity equals miracles.

Do we get tired of hearing about miracles?

Do we get tired of hearing about love and unity?

And you know we have a history.

We're on our 29th year of God doing some amazing things by following that equation love plus unity equals miracles.

We've seen some miraculous things around here.

We've seen cancer disappear.

One time we had a lady with metal in her I believe it was in her heel and it dissolved and she was able to get an x-ray.

Later on she was completely healed and that plate that was put in by surgery is no longer there.

We've had some crazy miraculous things happen over the years, so this is no way a corrective word of like we're not doing this and we're not doing that, and instead I just wanted to commend all of us.

You know, when you look around, we constantly have new people coming in and we're being good stewards over the in discipling those that come in, and I just wanted to encourage you to keep doing that right, amen.

So we should never let off the gas pedal.

We should always be moving forward and not be moving backwards, and God has so much for this church that's in our future, and I'll be sharing a few other stories of how he's been dealing with me specifically and how I've been able to encourage our staff and encourage my dad especially, just not to rest on what God's done yesterday, but he's still moving today and you know, at 76 years old, my dad is not slowing down, you know, and neither is my mom.

You know we were not.

We were on our way to gonna go to prayer Thursday night and something happened and we didn't make it and we sent Allison instead.

So we had Allison's perspective of our daughter, of what happened in prayer, but I'm so grateful for our Thursday night prayer team.

Thank you so much If you're one of those that sacrifices to go every Thursday night and so God does amazing things as well on Thursday nights but if you'll open up your Bible with me, I'm just gonna start in 1st, timothy and Paul is encouraged in Timothy and as a true son in the faith.

Faith verse two grace, mercy and peace from God, our Father, and Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Verse three as I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies which cause disputes, rather than godly edification, which is in faith.

Everybody say in faith, it's in faith, it's godly edification that builds you up, that brings strength.

That we preach Amen, that you preach, that I preach, that we preach together that we're good and courageers.

Amen.

And we have right doctrine.

That means we walk in the truth, we're full of the truth, we're full of God's word.

It's not some other doctrine that we're preaching, it's not some other hope that you're giving somebody.

No, it's right out of the word, it's right out of your daily devotions In your private ministry.

I mean in your private devotion is birth, your public ministry, and all of us have a ministry.

Let's keep on going.

Now the purpose verse five of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience and from sincere faith, from which some have strayed and have turned aside to idle talk.

And so we're not turning aside, we're not straying and we're not giving in to just idle talk.

It's truth that we speak Amen.

And if we skip on down to verse 12, the apostle Paul starts giving his testimony back to Timothy and it says I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me, because he's counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.

You know you can put your name in there too, because he's put you into the ministry.

He's counted you, lorena.

He's counted you faithful, yvonne.

He's counted you faithful.

He's put you, brother Keith, into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor.

But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelief and the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

Thank you, lord, that that's in Christ.

We receive that faith and we receive that love when we're in Christ, that God's grace has about it so exceedingly much towards our behalf, on your behalf and on my behalf.

This is a faithful saying worthy verse 15, of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, who I am a chief.

He was a chief sinner and God turned his life around, amen.

I was gonna read two more verses, however, for this reason, I obtained mercy that in me.

First, jesus Christ might show all long suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life.

Now to the King, eternal and moral, invisible to God, who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever, amen.

And so I just wanted to talk about verse five.

The purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart.

So, number one, love plus unity equals miracles.

We need to have love and we have love.

The Holy Spirit has that love has been shed abroad in our hearts by God's spirit, and so we have the love of God in our hearts, and it's important that it's out of that love that we operate and we move and we have our being.

It's in him.

And so, you know, there's lots of stories over the 28 years I could share about love.

I just wanted to talk about one example of how easy it is to encourage one another out of that love.

And so I was going to tell a story here.

Recently Alison got invited to a REMA alumni meeting and it was all the way in Conroe and it was on, I think, a Monday night or a Tuesday and I don't remember just.

But we had been really busy and in fact I had a medical appointment in Conroe already that day, so I'd already been to Conroe, I'd already checked that off the list.

And so Selena's like I really believe we should go to this REMA meeting with Alison and I'm like I don't have it, I'm not an alumni, I'm not invited, I'm free.

And it was like at Vernon's Country Catfish Anybody know where that is.

So I'm like come on.

And so I'm like whatever they're raising money for I would be happy to give, but please and I complained all about it until we're in the truck and we're driving and we're on our way to Vernon's Country Catfish, and I think I still complained a good halfway there and I was so tired and so obviously when we got there every single God had just lined it up and it was totally the Lord, and nobody minded that we weren't alumni.

They all, hey, we're all one family.

And so a really long story short.

I could tell all kinds of stories from that night.

That really don't matter.

But my point was that this pastor's wife and her assistant got seated at our table and she has been in the ministry for 33 years, so a little bit longer than us and so we sat down and we started talking and comparing notes and we're wearing name tags and grinding.

Grinding Are your parents, john and Gladys?

And she had gone to Lakewood way back in the 80s with my parents and remembered my mom and dad and described Gladys with the big hair and all of that.

We laugh about it.

She's calmed it down now, but anyways, in the 80s, hair and all that.

And so just I was trying to remember because I got to go back to when I was maybe 13 or 14.

So I got to go way back in my memory to try to grasp who these, and I barely remembered her face.

And so a long story short her and her husband.

I'm going to be vague on purpose so I can share more details about their business, but he had died during COVID and he was the pastor of the church and she was just feeling a little bit lost and a little bit overwhelmed still to this day.

You could tell when she talked about her husband he died in 2020 that she just was still wearing that and still grieving and still.

And we began to talk about the church and I had to check right away to not talk about what we did during COVID and I know that's usually one of the first things I like to brag about.

We sued the governor and we just stayed open and man, the Holy Spirit, shut my words down and I just began to love.

And she began to tell the story about her husband passing away and her assistant was there and she was filling in some of the gaps and it just the compassion hit me and I was able to tell her about almost losing my dad our pastor in 2018, on the operating table and how God extended his life, and so when I hear stories like yours, it really makes me grateful, it really humbles me and it really, you know, and so, basically, I began to encourage her, I began to see the call of God on her life and here she kind of sort of outranks me you know, she's been in the ministry way longer than me and a really long story short later in the evening, after the chicken fried steak and the mashed potatoes and the chocolate pie, which was really good and it was all free and they didn't let you give.

There was no offering that they and then my money wasn't any good there.

It was like praise the Lord, thank you for Reema man, invite me anytime.

I'll come back, but seriously, with humility, like I would have missed it.

I would have missed that encouragement.

And here we got to stand up later on in the evening and we began to pray and every story that I told about this church, she took it and ran with it with the fire of God and it was so powerful the way she began to pray over global aid partnership she remembered the name here I had just told the story about how we put rice meals together and what we've been doing in our missions program and she just was a house of fire and I'm telling you it was so powerful and I just got to turn that and all that encouragement that I had for her, I got to pray it over her and so I just got to pray the plan of God over her life and the fire of God back into her ministry and I'm telling you she began to cry and I began to cry and the power of God just was there.

And you know, the whole way there I had complained about even going in here.

God used me to encourage her to keep going and not quit that she was anointed, that she had she was called, and so there her assistant was.

But just again, the love of God, is so easy to encourage one another.

We should never complain about it.

Man, I'll drive to Timbuktu, I'll go anywhere to do what God's called me to do to encourage one another.

And, man, it's so easy when it's a brand new visitor or somebody who just walked in the door, how easy it is to just everybody's hurting.

I mean, people are.

They come through this place with real problems and the devil is real, but the power of God is so much greater, as he that is in us, than he that is in the world, and we have his power.

And this is 2023, the year of power, and we should never forget that when somebody walks in, that we have exactly what we, what they need.

That that I'm telling you it's.

It's happened so many times that I'm going to tell that story next when I talk about unity, but, but, but, you can feel the love of God in this place you can feel the unity of God, and so God really used that.

You know my wife, she.

All I have to do is listen to her.

She has an amazing track record and she's right at least 5.1 out of 10 times.

You know, I'm just kidding, I'm just waiting, but like just that, that whole week leading up to that.

Hey, we're going to go to this meeting, or we should.

I'm not even invited, I would complain about it and what and and and and.

It was so much easier just to go, just to obey God, and, and it's always that way with with all of us, it's always easier to obey.

Obedience is way better than sacrifice, you know it's.

It's better to give of ourselves, it's better to to sacrifice our time to obey God, amen.

And so if you just flip on over to the book of James, if you go forward a few more books, that's right.

After Hebrews we have the brother of Jesus and James, chapter 2, I wish I would have gotten this maybe in a different version because it gets a little bit religious sounding.

James 2 · chapter mention

And you're like Jay, are you sure you know what you're reading?

And it anyways verse 2, I mean sorry, james, chapter 2, verse 1, my brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.

James 2:1

For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man at filthy clothes and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, hey, you sit over here in this good place, and then you say to the poor man, oh, you stand over there, there's no room for you to sit down, or sit here at my footstool.

Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

I'm telling you, it's so simple to show partiality in this world and it's so easy to identify, maybe, with your old man or the way our culture wants us to think, or the experiences that you experienced when you're, when you were growing up.

There's obviously no room for racism, there's no room really for any kind of partiality.

Showing partiality, especially in class, especially in race, and I'm telling you, we have unity.

Love plus unity equals the miraculous power of God.

And so I just encourage you to take this unity, which is special.

It take it with you wherever you go.

Take it.

You know you're as a family, especially men.

You're the head of your household.

You have this unity.

You know, maybe you've not, maybe you're new here, maybe you haven't been coming very long and maybe you're just growing up in your faith and maybe you know you're receiving some encouragement.

But I'm telling you, you can have the same spirit of unity that exists in this church in your home, and you can walk with that same unity with your wife and with your kids and you can communicate well with your kids and be a good encourager and be full of the Holy Ghost.

Like I said, it's just so easy to follow the Holy Ghost.

And so here it's.

Basically, james is saying it's a sin to show partiality, and so we, we don't show partiality here.

We allow anybody to come in, look.

In any way, I'm telling you, I'm telling you the doors of the church are open and I'm telling you it's harvest time and God's sending people from the north, the south, the east and the west.

Are we ready?

Are we ready?

Amen, we're ready.

I just I was going to tell an old Lakewood story, but leading this, we were at Supernatural Leadership Conference, me and Selena, and we had a big group with this actually.

But I think it was just.

I think they were working.

So it was just me and Selena and we sat down with pastors Billy Joe and Teresa Watts of Tulsa, oklahoma, I think.

The Rock Church in Tulsa.

Anybody heard of them?

Anybody heard of them.

We have a few people shaking their head, and so it turns out.

So we sat down, we're eating together and it turns out that Pastor Billy Joe, I was like man, you have the perfect radio voice, and he was like well, actually I was on KJOJ Radio from 1980, whatever, so they were from Houston, and so we had all these things in common, including Lakewood, and so we got to talk and just you know, we're about to end the conversation, the meals come into a close and Pastor Teresa, she said you know, I've never told this story before, but I feel like it's the Holy Spirit.

And she told, she said, she said, you know, I grew up in Black church and I went to prayer view A&M for college, and so she was mainly just around Black people and it took her breath away.

It shocked her to walk into Lakewood church to see all of this huge group of people from all races, denominations, backgrounds worshiping together, and I think it was like a big white woman just came over and gave her a big hug and she told me about the first time they visited Lakewood church and that's what happened and it just it stuck with her all these years.

She's never forgotten that moment.

And so I had to say my dad's story, the same thing, only backwards, at a big Black man picked him up off of his feet.

It was Brother Guthrie.

Brother Guthrie picked him, William Guthrie picked him up off of his feet and his feet are dangling.

It's like who is this man?

And so, like that, we inherited spiritually that spiritual DNA.

Hey, maybe we're not as big as Lakewood is, but I'm telling you, talking kind of like the old Lakewood, we inherited that spiritual DNA.

Where this is a regional center, people drive from all over, from Sealy, I don't need to tell you all y'all are from all over the place.

We could find out who drove the furthest here tonight, you know Montgomery, all over like Baytown.

There for a while we had a whole crew from Beaumont come in.

That lasted for a long time.

I hadn't seen those two brothers over here.

They're from down south.

I think they're almost in Galveston.

Lorena's here.

She's pretty far like Paschema right, league City, league City, way down there.

So, anyways, that's a fur piece from here, but I'm telling you we have unity, we have that same love, we have that same unity.

When you walk in here All these years later, you know that's what kind of church that we have.

We have the miraculous, we have God moving here.

And it started with that spiritual DNA of our pastor and his wife sowing seeds into another ministry and reaping that DNA, that spiritual DNA.

And so you know, I never get tired of talking about word of faith with people.

I never get tired of talking about our spiritual DNA.

I never get tired about of where we came from spiritually and how strong we are because of the word of faith.

And pastor preached about it this morning and told stories about it this morning.

And I'm telling you, you should never be ashamed of what you believe.

We know why we believe what we believe and it's all right here, it's all plain, it's all crystal clear to us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It's not hard.

It takes Bible theologians to screw it up.

And you know, I'm telling you, you know, from the time I was born to the time I was five, we were Catholics.

So, believe it or not, I still remember going to their version of Children's Church, way you know.

But in the Catholic Church they teach you that you do not read your Bible because you can't understand it.

And obviously we know that we have the Holy Spirit leading, guiding and directing us.

We have Him on the inside of us, and so when we read the logos, the Word of God, it becomes Ramah word, it becomes something personal.

If you read between the lines, the Holy Spirit uses what you're reading, and so it's so important for us to stay in the Word of God, amen.

And so we have love, we have unity and, most of all, we have miracles.

Let's read about one in the book of Acts, and we'll kind of compare it to what's going on today in the church Amen.

And it says I'll read it out of my notes right here and it says Acts 3, 1,.

Now Peter and John were going to the temple at the hour of prayer that's the ninth hour, about three o'clock in the afternoon when a certain man crippled from birth, so in other words he was lame.

He had to be carried there and he laid at that gate at the temple, which was called beautiful.

The gate was called beautiful so that he might beg for charitable gifts from those who entered the temple.

And so when verse three, so when he saw Peter and John, that word see means to notice.

Obviously he's not blind, he's lame, so he can see.

I just wanted to point that out, just in case.

But there's three different ways of seeing.

That is pointed out here and that just means to notice.

And so he noticed Peter and John about to go in the temple.

He asked them to give him a gift.

And Peter directing his gaze intently at him, that means fixing his eyes on him.

And so did John and said look at us.

And that look means a totally different thing.

So there's three different.

So there's kind of like I saw and I looked.

There's three different versions in the Greek, if you were to look them up and study this out.

And that when Peter says look on us, look at us, it just means like hey, feel us, like what we have, like look inside of us, because there's power on the inside.

Don't just you're not looking at the external, you're looking at the real us, the spirit, like look to the inside.

And it says look at us.

And the man paid attention to them, expecting that he was gonna get something from them.

But Peter said silver and gold are money I do not have.

But such as I have, give I thee.

Right, we can all quote that.

But religious people like, hey, they didn't have any money, know that.

The surrounding chapters explain all of that, that they lacked for nothing, that it wasn't about, they just didn't happen to have money right on them and that money wasn't the important thing.

That what he had he's gonna give them and that's the power of the Holy Spirit.

And from that vantage point, he never bent down.

He never said hey, brother, I know that you've been spit upon, I know that you've been ignored, I know that you've been made fun of, maybe you've even been robbed.

Hey, and just sit down in the dirt with them and just have empathy and sympathy.

No, he had, he moved.

They both moved.

Peter and John moved with compassion.

The same compassion that Jesus had is the same power that Peter and John had.

And they said such as I have the power that's on the inside, give I thee.

In other words, what do you have?

What power possesses us?

Let's not forget the power that's on the inside of us.

And, such as I have, give I thee.

Pick up your bed and walk.

And I have to read it.

I missed it and let me find it.

Actually I'm sorry I missed it in my notes there.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

In verse seven.

And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up and immediately everybody say immediately his feet and ankle bones receive strength.

So right away.

Here's a lame person from birth that didn't know how to walk that all of a sudden he is leaping up verse eight.

So he, leaping up, stood and walked.

And where did he go?

Did he go back to his home?

Did he go back like bragging all of what had just happened, how Jesus healed him through these men?

No, he entered the temple with them, walking, leaping and praising God.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God and they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the beautiful gate of the temple and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

And basically it opened the door for Peter and John to share the gospel inside the temple.

And you say, jay, that was just church, that was just temple.

No, it was, like you know, I think, of the state capital.

Recently we've been going to the state capital a lot and actually I've only been twice, but James and others from our church and it has this really interesting protective gate all the way around it and you just have little areas where you can walk through to get up through to the capital, and at nighttime they're able to shut all that down and secure the capital, obviously.

And so this place was a place of influence.

It was a place where influential people gathered, and it was the place where the religious leaders of the day gathered, and so it wasn't just church, it wasn't.

And so here, in front of all these Jewish leaders, peter and John are able to share the gospel because of this healing.

This healing opened the door, and so I just wanted you tonight to know, to be secure in the power that you have on the inside of you, that you're anointed.

Do you carry this healing power as well, and it's not only for you and just for your family and your four, and no more.

It's for those that you come in contact with in your sphere of influence.

It's also for strangers.

Man, the Holy Spirit will use you to pray for people, whether it's in the grocery store or the bank or wherever it is that you are and I'm telling you we have, we carry this power and it's so important to not just leave it dormant on the inside.

Notice that, peter and John.

Again, they didn't just sit down with him, but they moved with compassion and they pulled him, yanked him up into the position of authority that they had.

And notice they were going into a place of authority and they took him with them, not to just brag about what God had done, but to lead him into a place of influence.

Lead them, lead him the man who is no longer lame, can you imagine.

And that is what we're doing every day.

That's what Tara and those that are going to the Capitol, and that's what this church is all about.

It's about pulling people up out of the mess that they're in with the power that God's given us.

That's what your job is, that's what we're all called to do, and leading them and guiding them into their place of influence, into their place of authority.

And it's not just about the walls of the church, it's all happens outside the walls and the discipleship.

Yes, it happens here some of it.

But you can begin that process where you are.

You can get people healed wherever you are and you can preach the gospel wherever you are.

And I'm telling you, people are hungry and thirsty for the truth and it's you that are filled with the truth and that are holding this power.

So don't allow it to just become dormant on the inside, but share it everywhere you go.

Be faithful to walk in it, be faithful to explain what God's been doing in your life in your own prayer time.

Man, that happens to me so often.

You know I'm gonna contradict myself and say it backwards too.

You know, maybe it's the morning that I missed praying and reading my Bible.

Maybe it's the moment that I feel the emptiest, is when God uses me the most, and I don't know what it is about that moment.

But, man, when you place a demand, it's always there.

And I'm not bragging on myself or making it sound.

I'm just saying when you make a demand on the annoying, it has nothing to do with me.

It sure has nothing to do with my personality.

It has nothing to do.

Sure it doesn't have anything to do with my IQ, but it's all the Holy Spirit on the inside.

Don't allow yourself to be led away by your own thoughts and your own.

Don't lean on your own understanding.

We just said that last Sunday.

But in all your ways, your derex, your opportunities that God has for you, acknowledge him, put him first, move him to the front of what you're paying attention to, zoom past every distraction that you have in this life and zoom into Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him we were the joy.

He went through all of that on the cross so that God could have a relationship with us.

He did that in obedience to his father and man, how sad it is if we don't lean on, if we just lean on, our own IQ, if we just lean on our own worldly thoughts and the thoughts that are bombarded by advertisements and this and that and this information over here and this news media outlet over there and this junk email that I just received but it looks like the real thing.

No, man, I'm telling you, we're leaning on God's word.

We're leaning on the powerful word and the powerful moving of the Holy Spirit that's on the inside of us.

We're filled with power and we're filled with fire.

You know, a few weeks ago we had our missionaries with us and they were up here ministering.

I can say their names right, obviously, because this is just Sunday night we're still not on live streaming or anything.

But Lee and Nat and they were with us and Natalie Nat got up and began to pray when Lee was finished.

What Lee shared was so powerful about their work.

But she began to pray in her mother tongue and I knew by the power of the Holy Spirit that she was praying about fire and I didn't understand it in English, but I heard it in the spirit and I stood up and I responded and it was like God was playing a movie and it was like a fire hydrant that somebody, like, opened the spout of the fire hydrant but instead of water coming out, fire came out and then she switched over to English and began to pray.

That fire filled up the sanctuary and then it got to our knees and then it got, you know, it went all the way up and it consumed all of us and I'm just, I'm telling you we're full of the fire and the passion of the Holy Spirit.

We received an impartation that night and we continue to take that amen.

Love plus unity equals miracles.

It's not just for us, it's not just for our family.

Thank God, we have that power in our own homes.

We have that in our own relationships, but it's not just stuck in those four walls, it goes outside those walls when we take it, when we're faithful to share what he's given us.

Amen, hallelujah.

Well, just lift your hands with me tonight, and Selina's about to come up, but, as she does, we'll just, father.

We just thank you for your word.

Lord, we just thank you for your faithfulness.

You're a faithful God.

We serve a faithful God.

Lord, we just thank you for the fire, the passion, lord, that You've instilled on the inside of us.

That's pouring out of us, lord, the love and the unity that we have, one with another.

Lord, we don't take it for granted, it's part of our spiritual DNA.

So, lord, we get out of our own way.

We get out of the way with our personalities and with previous thought, lives and previous ways of thinking, things that we grew up with.

And we latch on to your will, doing this your way, pleasing you in everything that we do.

And, father, we just thank you, we're grateful, and we just get in line and get under the spout where the glory pours out.

Lord, that we just thank you in the book of Second Chronicles.

Lord, the unity that happened when your glory was poured out in Solomon's temple.

Lord, we just thank you.

We have that same, a more powerful manifestation of your glory here in the last days and we walk in that glory in your goodness, lord.

It's all about your goodness and your faithfulness, and, lord, we're faithful to share with others this power that You've given us, the power of the Holy Spirit and Lord, out of our belly flows rivers of living water, and we're grateful for it.

In Jesus' name, amen.