When Fire Meets His Presence | Pastor Loren Covarrubias

I want to open with the scripture I've been sharing for

a few weeks now. In John 14, Jesus is speaking,

he said A little while longer and the world will see me no

more. But you will see me because I

live. You will live also.

And on that day you will know that I'm in my Father, you and

me and I and you. He who has my commandments and

keeps them. It is He who loves me, and He

who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and

manifest myself to Him. This is so important for us to

understand. I read the scriptures today from

Acts chapter 2 because this is actually on the church calendar,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

the day of Pentecost where we celebrate the day of Pentecost

as we read here today when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon

the church and such an amazing thing happened.

And most people see that as the birth of the church, the

beginning of the new covenant, and all that God is doing for

us. In the reading of John's Gospel,

chapter 14, Jesus Christ himself is getting ready to leave the

disciples, and so he's preparing them by instructing them so they

would know what would happen. Of course, in the coming days,

as Jesus Christ was taken to the cross and the crucifixion,

everything was going on. They got so emotionally

disconnected from what was happening that they did not even

understand what it is that was going on, even though Jesus had

told them ahead of time. And so Jesus wants us to know,

as he did his disciples, what it means to receive the baptism of

Holy Spirit, what the Day of Pentecost is all about, and what

that can mean to us Now. When Jesus Christ was here on

the earth, he made it very clear he was the visible image of the

invisible God. He said to his disciples, when

you see me, you've seen the Father.

So Jesus Christ was God manifested in the flesh.

God become banned so that he could live among his people, so

that we could interact with God in a whole new fashion.

But for most of us, it means we can read the Gospels and see

what God would be like as a person.

And it's an amazing life and certainly an example for all of

us. And that's why it's important to

see that he was indeed the in the visible image of the

invisible God and to understand that he wants to manifest

himself to us. And so as he's talking to them

about the coming of the Holy Spirit, he said, I'm going to

come back and I'm going to manifest myself or make myself

known to you. Now again, they knew him

according to the flesh as a human being, but now he would

come through the power of the Holy Spirit, just like he comes

to us. And just like he came to them in

a fresh way and manifested himself to them.

How many know God wants to manifest himself to us as well.

Now of course, for the disciples that brought all kinds of

questions. Judas, not Iscariot, said to

him, Well Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us

and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him,

if anyone he loves me, He will keep my word.

My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our

home with Him. He who does not love me and does

not keep my words, the word which you hear is not mine, but

my Father's who sent me. And so He's making them

understand there's going to be a difference between those who

believe and those who don't believe, that's for sure.

And that's why he was asking the question, Well, I don't

understand. You'll manifest yourself to us,

but you won't be manifesting yourself to the world.

Well, what Jesus was basically telling them is I'm going to

come and I'm going to manifest myself to you because you know

who I am. And after I manifest myself to

you, you're going to begin to manifest me to the world in

which you live. Because even though I'm going

away, if you follow the things that I have spoken to you, the

Father and I are going to come back, and we're going to make

our home our abiding place with you.

I began this series actually in the month of April, before

Easter, talking about the purpose of the Holy Spirit and

culminating this week with the Day of Pentecost.

It's very important for us to understand how this all works

and how God uses His things to perform His perfect work in the

earth. And I shared from John chapter

John 14 · chapter mention

14 where Jesus said I'm going away.

And he said when I go away I'm going to prepare a place for

you, that where I am, you may be also.

Now as a part of that, He said in my Father's house there are

many mansions. If it were not so, I would not

have told you so. Now, as I've mentioned, often

times the word mansion there is huge.

And because of that, sometimes people think he's talking about,

well, he's going away to heaven and he's going to build each and

every one of us our own personal mansion.

And then when we get to heaven, we'll be able to invite him over

to dinner to our mansion. And that's not exactly what he

was saying. He said in my Father's house are

many abiding places, or mansions if you would, because why?

It's the places where God himself is going to live and

when we understand that we can realize, hey, all of this

happens so that where I am God could be how many know that when

you receive Christ in your heart and receiving the power of God

through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, wherever you go, that's

where God goes. Why?

Because he is in you. Amen.

Because we are literally give the Lord a praise on that.

That should make you excited. To me.

That's awesome. Now I want to share a couple of

visuals with you. Because on the day of Pentecost,

when the Holy Spirit came, it was primarily Jews there who had

a history, if you would, going through the Old Testament,

because God has revealed himself to mankind over the years.

And so they knew and understood some things about what Jesus

said that you and I wouldn't immediately know.

And so it's good for us to refresh ourselves in what they

knew. Now, in the Old Testament, God

did appear to different folks, and Moses was one of them.

Most of us know the story how the Angel of the Lord came to

Moses in a burning Bush. But the Bible also tells us that

one day God told Moses to go up into the mountain.

And we learned from the book of Hebrews that when he was

literally on the mountain that God showed him a pattern of what

is going on in heaven. So whether it was by a vision or

literally something was there that he could see, but like an

object lesson, we don't know. But we know that when he saw

this pattern, when he came down, he gave them what we call the

law of Moses. And also he told them that they

should build a Tabernacle where God could come and have a home

among them if you would. And so the Tabernacle of Moses

was that place. Now, this is a visual of what

that was, and if you'll notice, it was just a rectangular

situation, not very big actually, but it had three

specific courts to it. And it not only was a pattern

for them to have a Tabernacle or a place of worshipping their God

in the Old Covenant, but it actually speaks to us of New

Testament realities. In the outer court there was a

golden altar. And on that altar the people

come and bring their sacrifices, because back then you had to

make an animal sacrifice so that that blood could be the covering

of your sin or bring your forgiveness to put you in right

standing with God. Now the priest had a specific

function that was above the average person who could only go

to the outer court. After the altar came the labor,

and they would wash their hands and feet so that they could go

into the next room, which is what we would call the inner

court. And in this inner court there

was a golden Candlestick. There was an altar of incense

and also a table of showbread, also called the table of His

presence. Now again, only the priests

could go into that room, but how do you know?

That is a pattern for us? Because God has made us kings

and priests unto our God. And so in that room there was

this golden Candlestick that lit up the room.

There was an altar of incense where they literally all offer

incense. So the the smell, that incense

would fill that room and also go through a curtain to the

ultimate place of God's presence, which was the most

holy place. The table of showbread literally

had 12 pieces of bread representing the 12 tribes of

Israel. They would keep it there and it

was called the table of his presence or the bread of his

presence as well, because being close to the presence of God, it

would be assumed that it would pick up some of that presence.

So the priest would eat that bread and replace it once a

week. Now that's a picture of when we

come to church because the candle or the light represents

when we hear the preaching of the Word.

And we should not just see it as something that comes to our

head, but something that comes to our heart and our spirit

because we get illuminated by the Word of God.

The psalmist said, thy word is a lamp unto my feed, a light unto

my path, The table of showbread. Of course, we commemorate as we

receive the Lord's Supper. It shows us the death, burial,

and resurrection, but it also has the presence of God.

That's why we call it a sacrament, and the altar of

incense represents the prayers and praises that we offer to God

because we want everyone to know that we're not just singing,

we're offering praise to our God.

And how many know? The Bible says that goes up into

the presence of God and he receives it.

Amen. Now only once a year, the high

priest could go into the Most Holy place, and thereupon that

Ark of the Covenant was what they called the mercy seat,

which would have been the place of God's resting place.

And he would sprinkle blood there on the Day of Atonement,

which would ultimately bring the atonement or the price for sin

for the whole nation being paid on that day.

So that was an awesome day. Now the Bible teaches us that

Jesus as our High Priest looking at this heavenly pattern, when

he died he offered his blood on the mercy seat and that veil was

literally ripped open. Bible account tells us that in

the natural it literally happened in the temple that they

had in those days. But we know that what it

provided for us is access into the very presence of the living

God. How many glad we can experience

God's presence. Amen.

Now a few weeks back I also shared this because of the Ark

of the Covenant, which was in that place was the ark where God

rested upon the mercy seat, and it had to have a way you could

carry it around because they were traveling through the

wilderness. That's why it was the Tabernacle

or the tent of Moses eventually become the temple that Solomon

built because it had a permanent structure at a certain time in

their history. But they had to carry it around

in these poles because that was the present presence of God.

You couldn't touch the presence or you could literally die.

And there's stories about how that happened in the Bible.

And so they used to carry it on these poles.

Only the priest could carry it, but that arc of his covenant was

the place where God dwelt. So when they set up this house

or Tabernacle, later a temple, it was all built to house the

Tabernacle of God's presence. Now as a Pentecostal,

charismatic, spirit filled Christian, how many know we

believe in the reality of the presence of God?

And so that picture shows us how that we go through this process

even when we come to church. Now we are born again because of

the blood of Jesus Christ. That's what the altar

represents. Then we should go to the waters

of baptism stage 2 and then celebrate the sacraments in the

inner court, if you would, through communion and the

illumination of the word of God and offering those praises, but

recognize God has something more because he wants to take us into

his presence. But on the day of Pentecost,

they saw this different because although we celebrate the

presence, talk about the presence, and love the presence.

I can share my testimony that when I was baptized in the Holy

Ghost, there was something about the presence of God that took on

a whole new meaning to me. But seeing these pictures, you

must recognize this isn't just about experiencing God's

presence based on the scriptures I read to you.

Is you literally becoming that ark, you becoming that

Tabernacle? And that's the way the Jews

would have saw it. When Jesus said I'm going to

come and make my home with you, they're like, what do you mean?

I'm going to be a temple, I'm going to be a Tabernacle, I'm

going to be an art. Yep.

How many know you are the body of Christ, Amen.

And so when you have that revelation, it should give you a

great deal of excitement to think God actually has chosen to

live inside of me. And this is what it says in

Second Corinthians. Therefore, if anyone is in

Christ, you are a new creation. All things have passed away and

behold, all things have become new because we should look at

everything from a different perspective now.

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself

through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of

reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling

the world to Himself, not imputing their tresses to them,

as He has committed to us that same word of reconciliation.

So as we saw that the presence traveled, it also took on

different forms, came in the form of a man, Jesus Christ.

But now God wants us to know that He lives inside of each and

every one of us when we're born again, when we've been to that

altar and received the blood of Jesus Christ in our life, and

when we went to the waters of baptism, we began to walk in a

whole new dimension of living. And we have to understand, we

have to get that new perspective, maintain that

perspective, but also develop that, protect that perspective

so that we can realize, wow, look what God has done in my

life now, just like when Jesus Christ was here in the earth,

the Bible says that God was in him what?

Reconciling the world unto himself.

And he has given us that same ministry of reconciliation.

We have the very presence of the living God in US.

And we have to realize that that puts a whole new dimension or

perspective to our lives. And we have to make sure that we

let that perspective grow because there's a purpose for

our life beyond just the natural living.

When we are born of the flesh, we are born after Adam, the

Bible says, and we come alive. But when we are born again, we

have received a life giving spirit.

So now that we have the life giving spirit, we're not just

alive, we have the potential to literally change our world and

church. There's a revelation in that.

If you would a perspective enlightenment where you begin to

realize, wow, my life has a whole new meaning now I got to

explore the potential of what God has given to me.

So as Jesus is getting ready to leave his disciples, he gives

them instruction. Then after his resurrection, he

comes back for 40 days. We talked about that in the

month of April, because when he came back for 40 days it was

say, it was to say, now remember when I told you This is why

these things happen? And so He enlightened their

understanding to know these things.

And then after those 40 days, it's time for Him to go again.

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him saying,

Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?

He said that it is not for you to know the times or seasons

which the Father's put in His own authority, but you shall

receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and

Samaria, and also to the ends of the earth.

Now I want to focus on this fact, because the disciples,

having seen all that they saw, all they can think about is when

is the end going to come? And it's so common within

Christianity as Christians for us to think only about the end

game #1 when is the Lord going to return?

In the middle 1800s, there began to be a movement of the

Christian Church to try to figure out when Jesus Christ was

going to come. Dispensational premillennialism

is a big part of that. And since that time, people have

been looking at the Scriptures to try to figure out when Jesus

is going to come. And since that time, they've

been telling us when he's going to come.

So for 175 years people have said Jesus is coming, Jesus is

coming, Jesus is coming. When I was a part of the Jesus

People movement, you got to get ready.

Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming.

A lot of people look out at the world today, Jesus is coming.

And if they're not telling you Jesus is coming, they're telling

you the beast is a rising, the Antichrist is coming.

You know, that's the focus. Now you think after 175 years,

people say, well, maybe we're missing something here.

That's the way I look at it. Maybe there's something more

that God wants to do. And that's why I always

emphasize that it's not the end game that's most important to

God or to us. It should be our process.

And even when it comes to going to heaven, when we get to

heaven, that's going to be an awesome and glorious thing.

But we can't just focus on the end game.

That's the end game. There is a process we have to

know about, so Jesus said, and you shall receive power after

that. The Holy Ghost has come upon

you, and you must understand that power God gives to us is

for a very powerful purpose in the earth.

As I often mentioned, the scriptures that we read were

originally written in Greek, so sometimes you can go the

original Greek word and get a little amplification of the

meaning and the word power there.

If you read it in the Greek says dunamis, which is where we get

the word dynamite. How many know you?

You've received dynamite. When you receive the Holy Ghost,

you need to know that there's supernatural power in that.

Amen. And I like the idea that when

I'm facing an impossible situation, I have the dynamite

to blow it up and move on through.

But just like it is with dynamite in the natural, so it

is in the spiritual church. It's time for us to grow up and

realize there can be problems playing with dynamite.

I've shared before a story how once I was going to a meeting,

somebody encouraged me to go to, they were having a special

meeting in the charismatic, a group of people that were

meeting and they wanted me to hear the special speaker.

And of course, I got there, found out it was a part of a, of

a fundraising event. And so I'm just trying to be

nice and go and show myself that, hey, Lord, Pastor Lawrence

tries to get along when he can. Anyway, so the preacher's up

there preaching and he tells the story.

He says that he was sending in his private jet.

He's even said the cost. He said it's a $45 million jet.

He was telling how wonderful and everything was, and he was just

enjoying his jet because he likes airplanes.

And then he was saying that all of a sudden God spoke to me and

said, what's the matter with you?

You're supposed to live from faith to faith.

Why are you happy with this jet? You should be exercising your

faith to get a bigger jet. And everybody was all excited.

Yay, we got power, get a bigger jet.

Now myself, I wanted to go up in front of the crowd and say, now

please tell me you're not believing this story that you're

being told right now. Now, I have no problem with

affluence or blessing. I'm 100% capitalist.

And the emphasis these days of a lot of people in socialism and

say that's bad news. Matter of fact, I heard this

week the Elon Musk, if he starts this IPO that is involved in now

with his spacecraft industry, a business he has, he could be the

world's first trillionaire. And I think if I was a

businessman, I think that'd be a lot of fun to be the first

trillionaire. And he won't just have a private

jet, He'll have a private spacecraft, his own Millennial

Falcon. I think, wow, I want to have my

own jet. But the point of this is just

the focus on what we do with what God has given to us.

What? What is this first?

How many know we need to take it seriously and we need to realize

that. And of course, as a pastor, my

ministry, as was this person's ministry, is about asking people

to help you accomplish God's purposes.

And so if I have greater faith one day and I can wake up, I'm

going to believe for some things that God's going to do that are

miraculous to help people help my world.

That's what I think it's all about.

Now, I do know God blesses his people, so I'm all into that as

well. But again, I'm wanting to

understand. God has given us power, but he

wants us to know, well, why and how do we use this thing Now?

When Jesus Christ was on the earth, the religious

establishment hated him, but the people who were the average

people, they said, well, you know, there's something

different about this guy because he has authority.

In other words, he didn't just have power and there seemed to

be great demonstration of power. He had authority because of his

level of maturity, if you would, as the Son of God, he had the

demonstration of great power, but how many know he also had

wisdom and understanding that went with it?

And that's what God, of course, wants us to understand, that we

have to take more seriously the things that He's given to us

because I know a lot of people that have needs that only God

can care. How about you?

And I want to be a source of that.

But what he also told them about this power, he said so that you

could be my witnesses. And again, in this case, it's

also good to look up the original Greek word because it

literally is martyr or martyr. So he's basically saying I'm

going to give you the power to become a martyr for my Kingdom.

Now for the 12 apostles of the Lamb Jesus Christ, that was very

important to understand because they all became literal martyrs

except for the John, the beloved Disciple, whom the Bible tells

us that they tried to kill him by putting him in, I shouldn't

say the Bible, but church tradition tells us they tried to

kill him by throwing him in a boiling a pot of oil and it did

not faze him. I'd like to be a part of a

miracle like that, but unfortunately that means I'd

have to be thrown into oil and oil and I don't want to do that.

So let me write my own program, Lord.

But the point of this is, is that God wants us to realize the

purpose of the Holy Spirit is so we can become His witness.

Part of witnessing is telling people something, but a more

powerful thing is when we demonstrate by our life that God

is everything that He says He is, so that we can receive the

life of God inside of each and every one of us, so that we can

fully become everything that God has called us for you.

Isn't that awesome, church? I believe this is a time you can

give the Lord of praise on that for a time of transition in our

understanding, but also in our maturity.

Because I believe that God's going to do some very powerful

things in the earth today, and He wants His people to be a part

of it, not just in the church, but also in what's going on in

the world. I believe God wants to use this

and as people of influence, but we just have to understand how

to walk that way. Now in Matthew chapter 3 it says

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

this, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He

was coming after me as mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not

worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the

Holy Spirit and what? He will baptize you with the

Holy Spirit and what? His winnowing fan is in his

hand. He will thoroughly clean out his

threshing floor and gathers weed into the barn, but he will burn

up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

It's a 2 fold baptism. I get baptized in water, then I

get baptized in the Holy Spirit, and it's called the Holy Ghost

and Fire. Now, the Bible says our God is a

consuming fire. Sometimes people in the

Pentecostal charismatic circles, when they talk about the Holy

Ghost and fire, they think about how the Holy Spirit does give us

a powerful sense of God. And I love what I sense when I'm

in worship and praise and in the presence of God.

And when they're talking about the fire, they just think it's

another level of goosebumps to enjoy God.

Now the fire has a purpose and that's to consume things that

need to be consumed to deal with things that need to be dealt

with in order for us to walk fully in the things that God

has. It's all about purging and since

the origin of our movement, if you would, going back to the

charismatic Pentecostal holiness movement to the second work of

Gray all the way back to John Wesley who taught Christian

perfection. He's it's always been this

thought that the Holy Spirit comes to do a a work on each and

every one of us. And I know that God is changing

my perspective. Last week I used the same

scripture. If you were in the service last

week, you'll know there was a little bit of a glitch in our

system because I read that scripture and I pushed my little

clicker here and the green button that means go forward.

And it was the scripture all over again.

I thought, did I hit the wrong thing?

So I hit the backward and it was the same scripture hit the

forward and say kind of threw me off because I if there wasn't a

scripture there, as you know, I don't preach from notes.

So it'd be very easy for me to stop myself and say, oh, there's

a scripture missing. And I could stop for a minute.

I could picture it and I could actually tell you that scripture

and continue. But that kind of threw me off

because I couldn't figure out if it was forward, backward, what

am I doing wrong? And that's when I said it's not

me, it's the people in the back. Now, the reason I want to bring

that out is because I absolutely believe that when there's a

problem, you deal with it in a practical sense because I'm a

leader. I'm like, OK, there's a glitch

here. How can we fix this?

It don't happen again. But as a follower of Christ and

as a minister, I absolutely believe that when I am in the

work of the Lord, all things work together for good to those

who love God and are called a corner of his purpose.

Can I hear the event on that? So when there's a glitch like

that, I get confused and I say now, Lord, I have to believe

that some way you were speaking to me through all this.

Some of you'll think that's a little bit of super spiritual if

you would, but I believe that because I don't believe the

devil can interfere. I don't believe people can

interfere. I don't even think I could

interfere. If my heart is doing what God

wants me to do, it's going to work out.

Amen. I believe that.

So as it turned out, I used that same scripture in my ministers

meeting this week because I'm trying to set all of our

thoughts in order about what is God doing?

How does this all work together? And I realized then what God was

doing because there was an emphasis of point because I

really believe we're kind of like in a new era.

And so so some mindsets I have to get rid of or change my

perspective on. And that's what he showed me

through this event. So anyway, I told the person who

made the mistake last week you were the devil, but this week

you're the Angel of the Lord made them feel a little better.

But anyway, I really believe with all my heart that God's

doing so, so many amazing things in the world.

And so like I'm, I don't want to miss anything God's doing.

And I really believe that it adds a whole new dimension to my

life that if I let God show me what I think is happening, maybe

not what's happening at all, but I can put my trust in the Lord.

So on the day of Pentecost, when they had fully come, the people

were all in one accord in one place, as Jesus giving them

instruction. And suddenly there came a sound

from heaven as our rushing mighty wind, and it filled the

whole house where they were sitting.

And there appeared to them divided tongues again as of

fire, and one set upon each of them, and they were all filled

with the Holy Spirit began to speak with other tongues as the

Spirit gave them utterance. Now, again, the word Pentecost,

if you go to the original, it simply means 50th because 50

days in the Old Testament, after they had celebrated the

Passover, they would celebrate the day of Pentecost on the

church calendar that the traditional church has always

held to, we celebrate on Sunday. So it's not always exactly the

50th day, but it's measured that way.

So we've realized that fifty days after the resurrection, we

got to celebrate the fact that there is a Pentecostal

experience that God wants us to have.

And when it's talking about tongues of fire, it's talking

about speaking in tongues, as you notice in the Scripture

there. And it was a supernatural sign.

But again, today I'm emphasizing how important it is for us to

realize there's more than just the speaking in tongues, more

than just the gifts of the Spirit.

God wants us to realize there's something that He can do in each

and every one of us to change our lives when we will let Him

do that. And this is a key verse here in

verses 22 and 24. It says men of Israel, he hear

these words, Jesus of Nazis, a man attested by God to you by

miracles, wonders and signs which God did through him in

your midst as you yourselves know him, being delivered by the

determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.

You have taken by lawless hands and have crucified and put to

death whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death,

because it was not possible that he would be held by it.

Now this is such an important thing to know because there's

two things he's saying. First of all, he's saying now

you know how Jesus Christ was arrested, killed on the cross?

He rose again from the third day because this was all God's

predetermined purpose. But then he said, now you guys

are guilty because you're the ones that crucified him.

And so basically, there's two things going on here.

Just like I was sharing in that earlier example, there was a

people who are not doing what they're supposed to do, but

never does it stop God from doing what he wants to do.

And so when we are aware what's going on, how many know we have

to line yourself up and say, OK, God, I didn't see what you were

doing, but I want to be a part of what you're doing.

Amen. And that's what he was telling

them. You have to understand something

that you killed Jesus Christ, but you couldn't hold him down.

I want you to know something that in your life you need to

know that sometimes things go wrong.

Sometimes it seems like the devil's against you, people are

against you, or it seems like you made a mistake that can't be

corrected. But God says thus saith the

Lord, that's not going to hold you down.

Amen. You got to know that in the

Father's plan for our lives that there are many glitches along

the way, but if we will put our trust in Him, we could know that

all things do work together for good.

We just have to say, okay, God, open my eyes, let me see.

I want to know what it is that you're doing because I have an

expectation that you're going to do something that's exceedingly

and abundantly above all that I could ask or think.

This is why, Peter, most of us know how Peter was the one who

said, Jesus, I'll never betray you.

Jesus, if somebody tries to do anything, I'll be your defender.

And Jesus said before the morning comes, you're going to

deny even that. You know me.

Beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fire

trial that has come to try you. This is that Saint Peter, as

though some strange thing has happened to you.

But what? Rejoice to the extent that you

partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed,

you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

We have to understand how that God uses suffering and how He

uses pain, and in the process of our problems, we can't be shaken

and say, How did this happen to me?

When people go through times of suffering and pain, our

immediate response is always that's well, that's just bad.

But God says is impossible, as it seems to you.

Will you let me show you how I can make this into something

good? Because God can turn it around

if we're willing to let him move in our lives.

Now, this is vital because sometimes when we make a mistake

or something happens, we almost get embarrassed because we made

a mistake or what people going to think, God let this happen to

me. What, what's wrong with me?

So even if you can't think you were guilty, you're going to

think people are going to think you're guilty.

I'm, you know, we get, we get all upset because we're always

trying to figure out what did we do wrong?

What other people do wrong? What is it that God is doing

right is the question we have to always ask ourselves in the

midst of every situation. Amen.

Nobody made a bigger mistake than Peter, but it became clear

in the end that God was able to do something that was

exceedingly abundantly. If you allow the situation to be

your furnace, if you would kind of intensifies the fire when

you're in your situation and say, well, I don't know what's

going on, but I'm going to let God's Word have a perfect place

in my life so that when this fire is burning, it can purge

me, it can cleanse me, and it can make God's Word come to pass

in my life. In this you greatly rejoice.

Though now for a little while, if need be, you have been greed

by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being

much more precious than gold that perishes, that is tested by

fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the

revelation of Jesus Christ. Who having not seen you love,

though now you do not see him yet, believing you've rejoiced

with joy, inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of

your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Now again, the word salvation means we get to go to heaven for

sure, but we have to understand it means also God's work in us

to do His trials and His purposes.

And when it says various trials, that means there's all kinds of

different trials. You have trials that are going

to be you, unique to you because of who you are, what you're

doing in life, whatever, but you have to understand that the

Lord's in every trial. You have to understand because

you're the arc of his presence walking around the God is in the

situation. Why?

Because you're in the situation and we have to keep ourselves

open to say God, I believe that you're able to do something

that's so powerful in my life. And I know God because you're in

me. You're in every circumstance and

you're in every situation. So I'm not going to say God's

not in that. God's in everything because he's

in you. Amen.

How powerful is that to know and that the process, again, of

salvation is not just an end event.

It's something that goes along in the process of what it is

that God is doing in your life. I like the joke that, well, all

of us suffer as you get older because getting older is can be

a pain. I remember reading once where it

said it really takes a strong person to get through old age

because things don't work as well.

I remember talking to somebody about this and I like to say,

yeah, I have as much energy now as I did when I was 24.

Problem is, is it stops at 1:00 in the afternoon now, where it

used to last the whole day. I mean, life itself can be a

trial. And somebody was saying me the

other day, they they sent me a text.

Don't you hate it when people are dying and you're seeing how

people are getting old and all these things going on?

I said, well, there's one thing I know I don't mind getting

older because it means I'm not dying.

People say, well, Pastor Lauren, don't you believe in going to

heaven? Yeah, I want to go to heaven

when I die. Asked me of the sermon joke I

told before how that there was a preacher preaching in the church

service and he said, who wants to go to heaven?

And everybody's saying, yeah, yeah, yeah.

There was a young man in the very front row and he didn't do

nothing, just sit there. Preacher looked at him and said,

you don't want to go to heaven when you die.

He goes, oh, when I die. I thought you were taking up a

load today. How?

You know, God wants us to understand we have a purpose to

this life. Amen.

And that the salvation is an everyday experience, that He

wants us to be able to walk in the Spirit himself.

The Holy Spirit bears witness with our Spirit that we are

children of God. And if children then heirs,

heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

And we did we suffer with Him that we what may also be

glorified together. For I consider that the

sufferings of this present time, I'm not worthy to be compared

with the glory which will be revealed in us.

For the earnest expectation of creation eagerly waits for the

revealing of the sons of God in the earth.

When I was a young man, age 21, I want to go be trained for

ministry and the program I want to be a part of.

They said, well, you're a little too young.

We like people to be young, already married so that we know

there's kind of settled in life. And I was praying about it and

the scripture came to me. So I want the person in charge

of the training program. I said, well, God told me that I

had to get ready because if I was willing to suffer with

Christ, the glory of the Lord, it's going to be revealed in my

life and it through my ministry. And so the person said, OK, I'm

going to let you in. And I found out there's some

suffering along the way. There's some difficulties along

the way. There's trials you go through,

you think, well, how did this happen to me?

What is happening here? But I can testify that in

everything I have found is as I put my trust in the Lord, His

glory ultimately is being revealed.

I often share my testimonies of miraculous healings, but I've

also found out that God can give me miraculous strength when I'm

going through a trial as well. And when it seems like how are

you going to make through the day?

Well, I can make through the day.

Nothing holds me back from doing what God has told me to do

because I know I can do all things through Christ who

strengthens me. And so I'm going to ask everyone

to bow your heads and close your eyes before we partake of the

table of showbread. If you would, the table of His

presence, our communion, that we would recognize you.

Each and everyone of you have been chosen of God.

Amazing. You've been called to be that

ark of the covenant. You carry the very presence of

the living God wherever you go. That's what happened to you on

your Pentecost. And God says, would you let me

show you how that I am with you everywhere and in all things,

and I have chose you for my purpose?

Will you let me teach you of my ways, that you might walk fully

in all these things? Hallelujah Jesus, God is going

to do something powerful and he says I want you to be a part of

it. Father, we just commit ourselves

to you. Thank you for making us the

Tabernacle of your dwelling in Jesus name, Amen.

This is Pastor Lorne Coverbius from Mount Zion Church.

We thank you for joining us today and invite you to connect

with our church family by visiting mountzion.org and

following us on social media. God bless you.