Living by Faith | Pastor Loren Covarrubias

I want to open with this scripture from Romans chapter 1

Romans 1 · chapter mention

where it says for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,

for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who

believes, for the Jew 1st and also for the Greek.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed.

From faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by

faith. How many know we need to live by

faith? Amen.

And he talks here about God's salvation.

It's so good to know that we have a God of a great salvation.

Amen. Church, it's important for us to

understand that that's the message of the Scriptures.

It is part of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ that

God has made a way for us that we would experience his great

salvation. And it's a very important part

of our walk with him that we would understand our salvation

and also understand what the the Scripture says when it says that

the just shall live by faith because we need to understand

I'm hitting the button. But it's got going forward, if

we could help from the backroom, that we would understand how

important it is to walk fully in the faith dimension that God has

for us, because it's only possible when we understand that

it comes through faith. Now, I believe that we live in

what I'll call ominous times because there are some

difficulties that we're going to be facing in the days which are

hit. I believe with all my heart that

God himself is shaking everything that can be shaken.

And so we're living in what we would call tumultuous times,

which means there's a lot of change.

It's happening very fast and in many ways unexpected.

And yet we have to understand that God is involved in all

those things. I use the word ominous because

it speaks about some darkness that's involved in it because we

know that darkness will cover the earth and gross darkness the

people. But in the midst of that, we

need to understand they got us saying to us, it's important

that we would arise and shine so that our light can come.

Now, typically, if someone's talking about the future in a

prophetic sense, especially biblical prophecy, people

usually think that's talking about something bad that's going

to happen in the sense of an economic collapse, a war

perhaps, or some type of social event that's going to cause a

great crisis. And we certainly have enough of

that going around. However, what I want you to

understand is there's something more ominous than those things,

and that is that we are living in a time when we are facing a

crisis of faith. This is very important.

On Wednesday night, I was talking a little bit about the

cradle of American civilization, which is what we call Western

civilization, and I'll be continuing to talk about that

because it's so vital that we have spiritual perception of

what exactly is going on in these days.

Now, the cradle of Western civilization actually started in

the Middle East, was developed in Greece, and became a part of

Latin culture. And so when we think about

Western culture, we think about those different civilizations

and the contributions that they have made.

Of course, the European continent is most important as

the cradle of our acclamation, or being a part of Western

culture, if you would. And often through our history,

we've been tied in some way or another with Europe.

Now, that's a good thing for us to observe, because if you were

to go to Europe today and do an examination of the spiritual

condition of the continent, you would find out that only 3% of

the people go to church, have any active faith in their lives.

They are secular society, by and large, secular people.

And since we share a cultural heritage, in one sense, it's

important for us to realize, well, if they could lose their

religion, if you would, or lose their spiritual walk, should

there be some things we need to be mindful of?

There's actually some crisis in our relationships with Europe

today. And I don't think they're all

that bad because we got to realize who we are because God

has done something special in the United States of America as

it pertains to His move upon us. Even secular history will tell

you that we've had three major religious awakenings that have

impacted our nation and impacted our culture.

And I believe that God's wanting to do that all over again.

How many want to be a part of that awakening in the land

today? Amen.

But it's very important for us to understand how ominous the

horizon offers to us a time that would be 1 without faith if

we're not careful. To understand that, we have to

see faith as something that we live by, not something that

we've exercised just in the past or something that we exercise

when we're facing a crisis and we need God to do something

special for us. What does that Scripture say?

The just shall live by faith. Hebrews Chapter 11 says that

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

faith is the substance of things hoped for.

It is the evidence of things not seen.

If I fell faith, the elders have obtained a good testimony and

from Hebrews Chapter 11, it'll talk about all the patriarchs

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

that we know of the major names throughout the Old Testament and

history of God working among the people, how that they were

always people of faith and how important it is for us to

realize we need to be people of faith and we need to have a good

testimony because in the world we live in today, the world

needs to lead, see a light that they can look to.

They need salt that helps preserve them if you would.

And so that's the call of God that's upon each and every one

of us. Faith is something that we

believe is that which God gives to us.

It is a gift that enables us to believe when things don't look

like they're possible. That's why faith becomes our

substance and our hope and our evidence.

As I've often shared throughout our history of Mount Zion, we

have certainly been a people who live by faith and facing

circumstances and situations and accomplishment in all the things

that God has had for us as a local church.

And I share that so that we can all know how important faith is.

But it takes it a step further when it says that all of us need

to live by faith. That means faith must be a part

of our full experience every single day.

Now I'm speaking about those who have obtained a good testimony.

I wanted to share with you some story about Moses, some stories

I should say. And Moses's relationship with

God is recorded also in Hebrews Chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

It says that by faith Moses, when he became of age, refused

to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, assuming the

reproach of Christ greater than riches and treasures in Egypt,

for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not

fearing the wrath of the king, for endured has seen him who is

invisible. By faith he kept the Passover

and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the first

born should touch them. By faith they passed through the

Red Sea as by dry land, whereas when the Egyptians were

attempting to do so, they were drowned.

Now, Moses was certainly a man of faith, and because he was a

man of faith, he did some very powerful supernatural things

that benefited his life and benefited the life of others,

namely the children of Israel. Now, it's important to remember

his story, one that most people are familiar with.

There was a time in Israelite history when the Egyptian rulers

over them thought they were becoming a threat.

And so they decided that they were going to start killing off

their children because they were afraid that they would populate

and become more numerous than the Egyptians of themselves.

And so they were killing the children.

But Moses's mother had faith, the Bible says.

And because of that, she wasn't going to just let the same fate

come upon her son, that was going to come upon all the other

children. So the Bible says that she made

a little ark, putting him in a basket and set him up the now

river by faith, believing that some way he'd be found and would

be preserved. I don't know if it was her

intentional thought, but just so happened that the Pharaoh's

daughter was out bathing in the Nile River.

She saw the child, had them fetch him, and she took him into

her house, and he became a part of the House of Pharaoh.

I mean, oh, that's an amazing thing.

And so he was raised in the House of Pharaoh.

But what this Scripture says is when he came to the age of

choice, he made a decision. I'm not an Egyptian, I'm a Jew,

I'm a Hebrew. I'm of the seed of Abraham who

is the father of our faith. And so the Bible says he made

the choice that he wasn't going to be an Egyptian, even though

he was in the highest family of the land.

He was going to accept his true identity now.

His family, the Hebrew family, had always been a part of his

life. So he, in a sense lived a double

life, always knowing his true family but understanding that he

was living in his adopted family.

But the Bible says when he came of age, he decided, wait a

second, I'm going to be who I really am supposed to be.

And so he chose to reject the life he had to follow the new

life. Now how we know that's what

happens to us when we're born again, when we hear the gospel

message and we make a choice to follow God.

The Bible says that we become born again.

The old things have passed away. God says all things have become

new. Now some people only see that as

getting save. So I'm saved now, and one of

these days I'm going to go to heaven and I'm going to have a

pass. I'm not going to go to hell

because I've been saved. But we need to expand our

understanding of this salvation that we're talking about here

today to understand that the first step of our salvation

isn't just making a choice to go to heaven.

It's a choice for a new identity, and that identity is

that you're not just a son of your family.

Your heritage isn't just in the natural, but you've made a

choice and now you recognize God is my father.

I'm a child of the most high God.

I mean, you know, that's a good thing, Church.

Give him a praise on it if you're glad today you're a child

of the Most High God. And of course, just like any

child, we should understand that our Father wants us to grow,

develop and become mature. But that was the first step and

it was a step of faith. If you can think about it,

you're living in the Pharaoh's house.

The Pharaoh was probably the most powerful person on planet

Earth at the time, certainly had all the wealth one could

experience. His true family were slaves and

did not have any freedom. And he made a choice.

I'm going to find out who I am. I'm going to follow my true

identity. Now the Bible then says having

made that choice, he first took the life of the Pharaoh's family

and he chose to follow the reproach.

In this case, it says a following after Christ by faith,

he said. I see that there's so much that

this life has to offer, but I really have chosen by faith that

this is the life. And I'm going to believe that

although there's going to be some disappointments, and

although it's going to cost me something by faith, I know this

is going to be the best choice I can have.

Now, as Christians, we have to understand that that

sanctification is something that the church has learned in church

history and something that should be a part of all of our

understanding. That once we make a choice to

follow God, we have to make a choice to not follow the ways of

the world, but to make the choice that we're going to

reject that life and say, I'm going to go the way God has

called me to go. Sanctification means I've been

set apart from my old life. I've been set apart from the

world and I'm going to be a follower of God.

Now the Bible says also that by faith Moses observed the

Passover. And so I want to call this the

faith of observation or observing faith.

What happened then is Moses was called to go and confront the

Pharaoh so that he would let the children of Israel go.

In order for God to do that, he had to send plagues upon the

House of the Egyptians because certainly they didn't want to

let their slaves go. And so the Lord sent these

different plagues. And the final plague would be,

and the Lord had spoken this to Moses and said there's going to

be a death Angel that's going to pass through the land, the first

born of every family, even of the animals.

It's going to be killed by the death Angel.

But if your people will take a lamb offered as a sacrifice,

then have a dinner together, take the blood from that

sacrificial lamb and put it on the doorposts of their house.

When the death Angel comes, it's going to Passover, the house,

hence the term Passover. The Bible says that having

observed the Passover, they experience something

supernatural and that was that the death Angel passed over

them. Now this is important for us to

understand as Christians because there's a very important aspect

of obtaining our full salvation in this, not simply being an

observing Christian. What does it mean to observe the

well? That means that you understand

that the Bible says forsake not the assembling of yourself

together as is the matter of some.

In other words, you realize you need to go to church.

When you come to church, you need to realize that as we

observe the things that we experience here, there's

something that we can have as we experience them by faith.

So we're not just singing, we're praising the Lord and knowing

Jesus is among us. And as we're hearing the sermon,

we understand there's a word going forth to give us faith and

impartation. As we take of the sacrament of

communion and as we observe the sacrament of water Raptors, as

we're part of all these things, we should realize there's a

power that's it's released in an observing faith.

And so we need to understand how important that was.

It certainly was essential for the children of Israel.

And that's why after that Passover, they would receive the

instructions to follow that order time and time again.

And for us as Christians, we should remember that it was at

the Last Supper where Jesus was actually celebrating A Passover.

He said, now do this in remembrance of me.

And so we also understand there's something very powerful

when we have faith that observes the things that God says are

necessary for us. Now, the last thing that

happened was Moses experienced the incredible miracle of the

crossing over of the Red Sea after the death Angel had passed

through the land. The Pharaoh said, get out of

here. I want you guys to go away.

You're nothing but trouble. They're taking off and they're

going to worship the Lord in the desert, the Bible says.

And all of a sudden they come up to a spot where they can't

crossover because they're facing a sea, the Red Sea.

And then they happen to look behind them and realize that the

pharaoh's armies are coming after them.

And so they were caught between what we would call a hard place,

a rock, and a hard place. And they didn't know, well, what

are we going to do? But how many go?

God speaks, So Moses said. God, what are we going to do?

He said, we'll take the staff that's in your hand, lift it up,

and the waters will part and your people will go over on dry

land. They did just that when Pharaoh

and his armies sought to pursue them.

The Bible says that the waters close up and destroyed the power

that Pharaoh and his armies could have usurped over them.

Now, this was the faith of full deliverance.

And I really believe this is where God wants the church to

understand. He's called us at this day

because with all the pressures of the times, God says to his

church, you need to know this is a time when I want you to

experience the complete deliverance.

There is no weapon that's formed against you.

Give the Lord a praise. There's no weapon that's formed

against you. The Bible says that can prosper.

And even every tongue that rises up against you in judgment, you

will condemn it because that's the heritage of the Saints.

Their righteousness is of me, says the Lord.

But for Moses, each and every step was a step that he had to

take by faith, seeking the voice of God and walking into

agreement with God's word. In Hebrews chapter 2 it says

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

this. Therefore we must give the more

earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest we drift

away. For if the Word spoken through

angels prove steadfast in every transgression, and disobedience

received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so

greatest salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the

Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him?

You see, we have to have a maintenance program is what I

put over that. And he said we have to be

careful because if not, we can drift away.

That's why I can talk about Europe, which used to be a

Christian continent. They're the ones that exported

Christianity to the New World, both North and South America,

and then to Asia and Africa. They were spreading Christianity

and now what's happened to their continent that doesn't even

believe in God anymore and even the established churches,

they're taking stands. They're literally anti

Christian. What happened?

Well, they drifted away. Now in American history, again,

there's times when we've drifted away, but that's when God raises

up a voice among his people. And they began to stir revival.

They began to stir the people and began to 'cause this great

awakening that God is saying to us, it's time for even today.

Not only are we called to hold on, but we're called to believe

that God has something for us that can change the world in

which we live. Can you say Amen to that church?

Such an amazing time and opportunity, although it doesn't

look like it. That's why he said, how will we

escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

We have to be very careful not to neglect our salvation because

salvation is God's full deliverance for our life.

It's the freedom that He has for each and every one of us.

But if we're not careful, we can drift away, we can lose our

power, we can lose the thing that we used to have in God.

And unfortunately, that's why I love history because when you

love history and learn from history, you're not going to

make histories mistakes. And that's what's happened.

So oftentimes in church history with moves of God, hold

denominations of God who after a while they become careless and

before you know it, they're drifting away from their true

identity. And that's why we have to always

recognize how important it is that we are people who know what

it means to walk by faith. For the message of the cross is

foolishness to those who are perishing.

But to us who are, notice it says being saved.

It is the power of God. For it is written out will

destroy the wisdom and the wise and bring to nothing the

understanding of the prudent. That's why I have over the

Scripture. It is a salvation process

because we shouldn't be speaking about being saved in the sense

of only a past tense and we shouldn't think about it only

having an opportunity of benefit in the future, which is so often

times true. If you ask Christians, are you

saved? Yeah, I'm saved.

That's what makes me a Christian.

Well, what are you saved from? Well that would be a hard

question for people to ask answer, but truth of the matter

is most people think of it only as being saved from hell.

And having eternal life now, that's a part of it.

But we should not have a walk in our salvation that talks about a

past tense experience with only a future hope.

We should have a now salvation in God.

Can I hear you say Amen on that, church?

Because the message of the cross is that we pick up our cross and

follow Him. And as we follow him, that cross

ever works life in each and every one of us.

And through this process we are being saved.

And that word save, there means to be delivered.

It means to be set free. It means to become everything

that God has called us to be and everything in life that we were

meant to be. You see, there's something in

each and every one of us that wants to be who we are called to

be. And that's why we have such a

difficult time in this world today because of the world says,

well, who are you? Just be who you are.

And we understand that God says, no, don't just be who you are in

the natural. Understand that when you were

born again, you accepted a new identity.

And so to know who you are, you have to know who you are in God.

Amen. And so that salvation process is

this process of making that natural person walk in the full

reality of the spiritual life that God has given to us so that

we can become the person that God himself has called us to be.

In Matthew chapter 1, speaking about Jesus Christ, it says, but

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

while he thought this is speaking about Joseph, about

these things, which is when he found out his wife was pregnant.

Behold, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream,

saying, Joseph, son of David, Do not be afraid to take your wife

Mary, for your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of

the Holy Spirit, and she will bring forth the Son.

You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from

their sins. Now, this scripture and the next

two are scriptures that I spoke on last year.

And throughout the year the Lord has talked, had me talk about

the church because I believe that in the world in which we

Live Today, God wants his full salvation to work in US.

And it's only possible when we are connected to the church,

connected to the House of God. And that's a part of our refuge

that we need to understand. Now at Christmas time is when I

told this particular story about Jesus, because when Mary became

pregnant and Joseph found out, he's like, oh, no, what am I

going to do? Well, he was a just man, so he's

going to put her away privately. And that's when the word of the

Lord came to him. And I'm, you know, it's the word

of the Lord that's going to produce faith that child in her

has been conceived by the Holy Spirit.

You will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from

their sin. Now, the New Testament name

Jesus is actually a translation of the Old Testament word

Joshua, which means Jehovah is our salvation.

So Joseph would have known right away what he was implying here

when he says you will call his name Joshua in his hearing

because he will deliver his people from their sin.

Because Joshua was the one who in the Old Testament followed up

on Moses responsibility and took the children of Israel into the

promised land. He was the commander of the

people of God, and Jesus Christ is our commander.

The Bible pictures him as one sitting on a White Horse

marching forth in victory. And God says you need to

understand something. He didn't just die for the

forgiveness of your sin. He died so that you can be

delivered from your sin. Most people when they think

about the cross, think about the blood of Jesus Christ and about

it being for forgiveness, and that's certainly a very

important part of what it is. But you have to understand that

blood from the cross was much more than that.

That's why Isaiah the prophet said he was wounded for our

transgressions, yes, but he's also bruised for our iniquities

or our weaknesses, chastised for our peace.

Because God wants us to have the peace of the past is all

understanding. And by his stripes we are

healed. How many know we serve a God, a

healing church, so we have to understand that when He died to

save us from our sin, He came to deliver us from the consequences

of sin and all the things that that brings to us in the world.

Another scripture that I shared this year as I was talking about

this just a few weeks ago was in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And with many words he testified the exert and saying be saved

from this perverse generation. This of course is taken out of

the book of Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Peter is preaching to the people and he's letting them know you

have crucified the Christ. But he didn't just die and get

buried. He rose again from the dead.

And that day the Holy Spirit had come to confirm that fact.

And people are looking at this amazing things of people being

baptized in the Holy Ghost. They're like, what in the

world's going on here? And that's when he said to them,

you need to be saved from this generation because that's the

generation that rejected Christ. And how do you know God wants to

save us from our generation, the world we're living in today?

It's a generation, and there's a lot of things in it that could

take us down. So we need to be understanding

of the fact that God's salvation gives us power over the present

world so that we don't just live in the world in which we live,

listening to the voices of the land, but we're listening to God

and walking in agreement with his power in our life.

Now this next verse of Scripture I shared in part of last year as

well. And from time to time, this is

such a very important scripture. It says, And you be made alive,

who were dead in trespasses and sins, which He once walked

according to the course of the world, according to the Prince

of the power of the air, the Spirit who now works in the sons

of disobedience, Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves

and the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the

flesh and of the mind. And we're by nature children of

wrath, just as others. How many know He came to save us

from our past? Now this is amazing to

understand because before we come to the Lord, the Bible says

that we are dead in our trespasses and sins.

In other words, we're not conscious of God and the life He

has for us, but when He resurrects us from that dead

place, now we're alive and we're aware of God.

And God, He says, you got to build on that.

But it also tells us we experience a deliverance.

And this is important to understand because when we were

dead in our trespasses and sins, we were literally under the

influence of the God of this world and the spirit of the age.

It's not just culture from human behavior.

That's the power that holds people back.

It's the power of the enemy. It's the God of this world.

It is the spirit of darkness that's upon the earth.

Now what you see in that verse is what it says is when you were

under that influence, what did you do?

Well, you lived according to your natural inclinations, the

lust of your flesh, the desires of your mind, and you were by

anger, children of wrath. We live in a very angry world

today, and you can see it on the news all the time.

People are responding in anger, and then there was their

surprise when other people respond by anger.

How many do we live in an angry world?

We got to understand there's no only one way out of it, and

that's getting out of that world and getting into his world.

Amen. Because Jesus is the Prince of

Peace and that's the real solution for the world in which

we live. So as people are getting caught

up in their angry debates, they need to recognize something.

You need to get out of your world, not just try to get the

upper hand in your debate. Because of the Prince of the

power of the air is at work. And God says, I've delivered you

from that. And that's why I wrote my book,

Why Is the Devil in Your Garden? Which I encourage everyone to

learn because a lot of people have this idea and it's even

promoted in popular culture that the devil's trying to get us on

his side. And they've been talking about

selling your soul, the devil, and he'll give you this or that.

The devil's not trying to get you on his side.

He wants you on your side because when you're on your

side, you're not on God's side and you're not any help to the

world in which you live. And so we have to understand

what it means to be delivered and how that can impact our

life. That's why the salvation we have

is so great, because it gives us power over our flesh.

Now it says here in Romans 10, which was our opening

scriptures. But what does the Scripture say?

Well, this is what the Bible says.

It says the word is near you. It's in your mouth and in your

heart. That is what the Word of Faith

which we preach that if you confess with your mouth the Lord

Jesus, and this is a key, believe in your heart that God

has raised him from the dead, you will be saved that they have

not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah says Lord, who has

believed our report. So faith comes by hearing,

hearing by the word of God. And so in order for us to walk

by faith, we have to hear a Word of Faith.

And this is so important to understand because where does

the Word of Faith have to come to our heart?

With the heart. Man believes Christianity is not

a religion of the head, is a religion of the heart.

It means opening up the innermost part of your person,

your desires, your motivation, the source of all your life to

God. Because when you do that, God is

able to put his word inside of you.

And as you begin to confess that word and make it a part of your

conversation, guess what happens?

You become a new person. That's why he says, now don't

say we've got to go up here and bring God down or go down there

and bring him up. He's inside of you.

How many glad gods inside of you today, Church, Amen.

You got to trust and believe that by faith, and it comes by

receiving the Word into our heart and also in our spirit.

Now having said that, I want to emphasize this part of that

chapter. It says, How then shall they

call on Him and whom they have not believed?

And how shall they believe in Him in whom they have not heard?

And how shall they hear without a preacher?

And how shall they preach unless they are sent as this is

written? How beautiful are the feet of

those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of

good things. Now, this is such a very

important thing because the world needs some preachers.

They need preachers from the platform, and they need

preachers wherever they go. Because how many know we have

all been called to preach the gospel in the sense that if it's

in your heart, it should be in your mouth.

You should be able to tell other people and that helps advance

your own development as you share what God has done in your

life to other people. Now the word preacher in the

original tense, you'll see it means to herald or proclaim

something. Then the example often used is a

town crier. In the old days, before anybody

could read or write, there was only one way you could really

communicate news and that was by having a town crier.

The town crier would typically wear certain clothes.

Often times they would make an announcement by saying hear ye,

hear ye. Other times they would ring a

bell, blow a trumpet, whatever. But they tried to get attention

to what they had to say and then they would make an announcement

proclaiming what is the news? Now we live in a time, of

course, today where people get all kinds of news and you don't

even have to read. You can just watch it online,

but in the day where there was no media and no printing presses

to speak of, and most people couldn't read and write anyway,

this was. The only way you could do it is

to have someone make a proclamation and say this is

exactly what's going on in American history.

There was a guy named Paul Revere who went through the

towns and the British are coming.

The British are coming and it alerted the town to be aware

what's going on. So they will to raise up a

defense. And so the town crier was very

essential for their protection, very important for them to know

what's going on. And that's what God says.

We need a preacher. Now, when I was in prayer the

other day, the Lord spoke this to me about the preacher.

And as he did, I've often shared these scriptures that we need a

preacher, a teacher, someone who's instruct.

A preacher is somebody who inspires.

Sometimes people think, well, the difference between a

preacher and a teacher is how excited they get.

So if somebody's real excited and maybe spitting a little bit,

wow, that's a preacher. They're kind of just slow and

talking like this. Maybe point to the board.

Well, that's just a teacher. I know that because I used to

attend a Pentecostal church and sometimes people would say to

me, you know, you're more a teacher than a preacher.

And I know what they're actually saying is you're kind of boring,

but I understand you're got something to say.

But the truth of the matter is it can seem very instructional

and always should have some instruction to it.

But it also should inspire you in order that you might have

faith. And so that's where the preacher

comes in as one speaking the word of the Lord.

But this is the key that God was speaking to me about because it

says how can you preach unless you are somebody who sent?

See in the old days that have town criers that had the

specific responsibility of working for the king.

And so when they came through the town, people know, hey,

that's the King's messenger and they're sharing and telling what

the king wants us to hear. Now, this is important to

understand because we live in a day when a lot of people are

mixing up the message and not hearing just a word that they've

been sent to share. You see, this is so important

for us to understand because the preacher is called to hear from

the king and then share what the king is saying to you.

I've often seen it these days, and unfortunately it's true that

a lot of preachers are not going first to the king.

They're first of all looking at what's going around them,

watching the news, hearing what people have to say, and maybe

from there going to the king if you would.

But they're going with their opinion and bias based on what's

down here rather than starting what's up there.

That's why the Lord has been sharing and I've been

prophesying it, preaching, teaching.

God is the one who sits on the throne.

He's the Lord of all the earth. Amen.

And the Bible says he rod only rules in heaven, but he rules in

the affairs of men. So if you're not careful, you'll

see what's happening in the world.

Do you think, well, that's what's happening?

God says, no, that's not what's happening.

That's what you see happening. If you want to know what's

happening, you got to go to Heaven's throne.

If you would, you got to hear from the King of Kings and

recognize it starts first with him.

And so that's what it means when it says they have to be somebody

who's sent because they're not looking at the world and trying

to apply God to the world. They're going to God and hearing

what he has to say in church. That's so important for all of

us to understand, not just the preacher up on the platform.

Every single one of you need to spend time in the presence of

the Lord and say, well God, what is it that you are doing in the

world? You see, when I read the news

and I hear what's happening and what's going on, I always filter

it from what I feel. God has spoken to me first.

And sometimes in services, you'll hear me talk about

current events, but I don't share it from a political

perspective, even though some people will think I do.

But I look at, well, God, what are you saying to me and what

are you doing and how we're using people and how are you

using this? Because I believe that God can

use everybody and all things for his purpose because, because

what does the Bible say? All things work together for

good to those who love God and are called according to his

purpose. So I don't want to look at

what's happening because that could confuse me.

But if I hear what's happening, it's going to give me faith.

Amen. Church, how many say it's

important to be a people of faith?

Amen. And to hear a message that's

sent from heaven first, so that can define the circumstances and

situations of our life. Going back to the very beginning

of time when God created mankind, He put him in the

Garden of Eden, and there the Lord planted a garden, and he

put man in there whom he had formed.

And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is

pleasant to the sight, good for food.

The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden.

And the tree of what? Knowledge of good and evil.

I said that so that we could see this picture over here.

God speaking. That's the tree of life and what

comes off of history. I mean, oh, it's good fruit.

But then the tree of the world, which is what that represents,

it has some good things. And sometimes people will eat

off of that tree with a good motivation.

Eve went to that tree and the devil convinced her that if she

did that tree, she'd actually be helping her husband out the

church. That's the tree of mixture.

God says don't eat from that tree no matter how good it is or

how good it sounds. Now I often sure this is part of

our class on discipleship. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter

Isaiah 52 · chapter mention

52, how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of them

who preach good news and know what the good news is.

Our God reigns. When you think about good news,

you think in a natural sense, oh that must be something good.

What's in it for me? Or I don't want to watch the

news on TV? There's all these bad things

happen. Why don't somebody just share

some good news? No, that isn't what it means

when you watch news these days. It's certainly true that, well,

there's a lot of bias in the news these days and sometimes

it's commentary and we don't even know it's commentary, but

they're talking as if it's news, but it's commentary.

The other day I was looking at a Christian website where they

have Christian news, and there was an article there about Bruce

Willis, who I had read before he had some kind of dimension, was

losing his ability to function. So it mentioned something about

him and how he was recovering. So I thought, oh, I got to find

out about. So in this video that pops up,

there's famous news people, the doctor from CNN who was talking

about this miracle of how he was cured by this great thing.

And all of a sudden I'm looking at this doctor.

I'm like, for some reason that doesn't look like a real person.

By the end, I realized it was an AI generated video and nothing

out of his roads. I was like, said a fellator.

I Googled it. Hey, did Doctor Gupta say this

is a miracle drug? And he said, yeah, I have a

problem. I'm suing those people basically

because they're acting like it's me and it's not me.

How many know there's a lot of fake news these days.

There's fake news, there's vice news, but God has some good

news. What's the good news?

Our God reign search Hallelujah. And that's what makes it

absolutely wonderful good news. No mixture, just truth.

And in closing, in Philippians, it says this finally, brother,

whatever things are true. Whatever things are noble,

whatever things are just, whatever things are pure,

whatever things are holy, whatever things are of a what a

good report. My mom's favorite verse of the

Bible. If there's any virtue or if

there's anything praiseworthy, what should we do?

Meditate on these things. Can we all bow our heads for

just a moment? Because I believe this is such a

pivotal time, if you would, in both the plans and purposes of

God and also in human history. And it's such an important time

to incline our ears so that we can hear and say, I have a ear

to hear, so I'm going to hear what is God speaking so we can

tune into the best news, which is the good news of God.

Now, you have to know that the God of this world, the spirit of

the age, is always trying to bring confusion, try to get you

to drift away. And sometimes it just happens in

a very small and subtle way. God says, remember who you are.

Remember what you came out of. Make sure you're observing your

Christian faith and know that whatever enemies behind you, I

can drown it in the waters that I have for you, says the Lord.

If you'll put your trust in me. This word is very apropos

because there's people here today you've just been going

through that process of confusion and God says, I'm not

the author of confusion, I'm the author of peace.

And I will give you clarity as you put your trust in me and

give me your heart, says the Lord.

I just know about the Spirit. There's somebody here today

you've just been wrestling, wrestling with a choice.

What am I do? What I'm going to do?

Ask God, He will direct you. The Bible says if we'll trust in

Him, He will direct our path. It's a heart thing.

You might say, well, it's hard for me to trust.

Well, you can trust God. Don't let the excuses of human

failure, 'cause you're not to trust God.

Good news, you can trust Him. Good news, you can rely on Him.

Good news, somebody in just you've been so nervous and upset

and anxious, What's going on? What's going on?

God says get yourself focused, Get yourself focused.

Get yourself on the rock. I'm here, I'm here.

Be careful who you're listening to.

Meditate upon me. My word and a good report.

Whose report will you believe? I read the Scripture.

Even Isaiah said, Lord, who's believing my report?

Who's believing this report? Well, there's only one way they

can believe it, Isaiah. If they have faith, they can

believe it. Father, I pray for our house

today because we are living in those times where we need faith

as never before. And so I'm believing that every

person that's here and watching online because of the weather

that you will touch them right where they at that they would

know, Father, that you have them in your hands.

They can relax, they can trust, they can believe if they'll just

meditate on you right now. Father, I just thank you because

you can give us what we have need of.

In Jesus name I pray and I thank you.

Amen. This is Pastor Lauren 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.