Prepare for the Day | Pastor Loren Covarrubias

Well, I want to open with this particular Scripture in First

Timothy. It says these things I write to

you, though I hope to come to you shortly.

But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought

to conduct yourself in the House of God, which is the Church of

the living God and the pillar and ground of truth.

Before I actually get into the fullness of the message, I want

to share a testimony because I really believe it's what God is

speaking and something very powerfully that's happening in

the earth today. Last week on Tuesday as I was

recording a part of my message for my program, I guess you

called that I have on spiritual perception.

I was sharing how important it is that we would recognize that

we need to look at our world from a spiritual perspective.

The verse I used was from Isaiah 43 for getting those things

which are behind or for remember not the former things for new

things do I declare unto you, says the Lord.

And I was sharing on that program as God was speaking to

me. I really believe it's time for

us to go to a whole new dimension in what I've been

calling the new day. It's been over 20 years ago that

I had been praying and in the spanning service I heard the

Lord speak to me and He said it is a new day.

If you want to receive the power of this new day, you must open

up your heart so that you can receive the faith necessary to

walk in this new day. Now I've often shared from

Isaiah chapter 55 because the Bible says that the word comes

Isaiah 55 · chapter mention

to us as seed for the sower and bread for the eater.

So when God speaks to us, just like when I'll be speaking

today, I've sought the Lord and this word is coming to you.

It can be bred for your eating that would strengthen you in

whatever you're going through right now.

But sometimes God gives us a word as a seed that's going to

grow and we're going to follow over time.

That's how we develop vision for our life or God has spoken to me

to have for the church and the things that we're walking in.

And so as I preach that word, prophesied that word, taught

that word. We've been had a seminar for our

pastors talking about it. I overtime realized this is one

of those seeds for the sower and that God wanted me to kind of

nurture that word. And in that process, he's also

taught me how important it is to recognize that when God speaks a

word prophetically, we oftentimes look for things to

immediately come to pass. But when you read prophecy in

the Bible, it typically is something that comes to pass

over a long period of time. And so I realized that as God

had give me that word, that number one, it would work in a

generation, that there were things that were necessary for

me to let God work in my heart in order for the word to come to

pass. And so last week, as I was

sensing God saying to me, it's time for a new dimension to that

new day, if you would. I want a confirmation.

I'm like, Lord, I really want to believe that you are saying as

we're going in this new year, something fresh, something

powerful is gonna happen. Well, on Saturday morning when I

got up, I happened to go into the Internet as I'm getting

ready for my study for the day, and I noticed that we had went

into Venezuela. They had taken the President

Maduro of Venezuela into captivity, coming here to the

United States in order that he might be tried for crimes that

he has committed in drug trafficking.

Well, I was very excited about that, But what was really

exciting for me is I've always seen God move in a supernatural

way at our walk here at Mount Zion.

In my life in particular, as I've waited on Lord, I've had

miraculous things happen. I've seen how God has fulfilled

His word, but He always has given me confirmations as well,

and sometimes in a very supernatural way.

So as I go to look for something, I didn't want to use

the TV because I didn't want to wake up Bonnie, which is in an

area where she'd hear it. So I'm doing it on my Internet.

I'm go to YouTube and they happen to have NBC live that was

talking about it. Now, obviously when you're

watching the news, you got to be careful because some of it's

biased. So I knew that, well, if

President Trump had done it, NBC wasn't the voice to listen to

it, to get unbiased if you would.

But it was the only living live thing that was available.

So I went on to it anyway. And the guy was talking and this

is what he said, wow, this is amazing what's happening.

It's like it's a new day. It's the dawning of a new day.

And he said it like 3 or 4 times in just a minute's time.

And I'm like, Lord, thank you, Hallelujah for your

confirmation. So I, my ears were, my eyes were

kind of tearing up because I was so touched by the word that came

not just because it was a confirmation.

I'll explain a little bit more, but also laughing because I'm so

excited about what God is doing because I've often shared how

important it is for us to realize that God isn't just

moving in our world. So when I pray, I don't just

pray for my needs and church needs.

I pray for what's happening in the world because I feel

committed to the greater body of Christ.

One of the burdens I have is we often will say, well, we have a

church in Havana, Cuba, we have one in Mexico, we have one in

San Salvador. And you'll hear that and some

people have one of mission trips for those countries.

So you can relate to it just a little better than that.

But because we know our family in Havana, of course, that is

very special. And I pray we send the money

once a month so that they can have food because it's such a

bad economy. If somebody says they believe in

communism, I say go live in Cuba for a while because when you go

there, you find out communism doesn't work.

And this is one of the sad things he'll tell us is, you

know, it's nice to have money to buy things, but in our country,

oftentimes there's nothing to buy.

And that includes food. And often times they have roving

lockout, says they call them, or blackout.

So they sometimes will go a week or two without electricity.

So you can imagine what that does.

No food, no electricity. It's just a terrible place.

So I'm of course, praying always the God would deliver them from

that dictatorship that's controlling the country.

Now, in the early days of Castro running the country, he has

support from the Soviet Union because they love to have a

thorn in our flesh, so to speak, just South of US, 90 miles from

Miami. And we even had what was called

the Cuban Missile Crisis when John F Kennedy was president

because they were actually going to put nuclear weapons there.

But they had the support of the Soviet Union until, of course,

the Soviet Union collapsed. So in the 90's, the country

suffered. I can't think of the name for

it, but they talk about as a special time of suffering

because nobody was paying their bills, because they couldn't pay

their own. Well, because of Venezuela

falling into the hands of a communist dictator in after the

year 2000 sometime, I can't think of the exact date.

He of course was willing to help them financially and in return

Cuba has given him a 20,000 man private security force because

he doesn't trust his own army to do that for his protection.

Plus they send doctors because they have a lot of doctors in

Cuba who've been trained through their system so they get money.

So when I pray, I pray, Lord, tear down the stronghold of

Venezuela. Lord, tear down the strongholds

in Cuba. Guess what?

It's happening right now and I'm thankful for that.

Now, this is important to understand because just like I

was mentioning, there's prejudice in news reports, even

in philosophies that we might as Christians agree with.

Like in conservative circles, there's a big debate whether we

should be involved in nation building or whatever.

But when it comes to God speaking, you have to understand

something. Or even when God's answering

prayer, sometimes you have to realize that we're in a Kingdom

that's above earthly persuasions.

So you can have whatever opinion you want to have, but when

heaven moves, it moves. Amen.

Church. And when heaven moves, it

sometimes isn't in our comfort zone or what we agree with

politically, whatever. But I want you to understand

something. Our God reigns in the heavens.

Amen. And I'm even excited about

what's happening over in the Middle East.

There's all kinds of St. demonstrations in Iran right

now. To me, the Kamenini and all the

other followers that he's had, the Alia Toya's that have ruled

the country, that's when a Satan seats and I'm glad what's

happening. Past presidents have not

supported those demonstrations. We have one now that's a little

bit different, as you may have noticed in history.

And he put on social media that we were, our guns were locked

and loaded or something like that.

Let him know that we're behind the people there.

Again, it doesn't matter what your political persuasions are.

How do you know that? We have to understand as

Christians that we live in the Kingdom of God.

And so I don't see Mount Zion as just a church in the United

States of America. I see Mount Zion as an embassy

for the Kingdom of God. Can I hear an Amen on that?

Amen. And I don't just see myself as a

pastor. I see myself as an ambassador

for the Kingdom of God. As a matter of fact, if you read

Second Corinthians chapter 5, you'll see that we should all

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

see ourselves as ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.

So whatever positions you might take from a natural or secular

perspective, you always have to be aware that there's something

over that is called the Kingdom of God.

Amen, Church and God answers prayer.

And I really believe that we're moving to time.

We're going to see God tear down some strongholds and I believe

that God's going to liberate his people.

And the shaking, He said, I will shake everything that can be

shaken. That goes back to before I had

the first word. And I tell you, we're going to

see shakings like we've never seen before.

There's going to be some negative reverberations from

those things. That's why we have to be

prepared and why I want to share this message with you today.

The Lord has laid it upon my heart so that we would

understand. In the time when everything is

going to be shaken, we have to take a perspective that's above

the natural. But we also have to understand

that when we operate in the supernatural things that God has

for us, sometimes it's some very practical and natural ways that

we get in touch with the supernatural.

And that's when we think about what that scripture I just read

to you is when it says you need to learn how to behave yourself

in the House of God, Timothy, which is the House of the most

High God, the Church of the living God.

It is the pillar and the ground of truth.

Now truth is the most important thing that we should know as

Christians because you will know the truth and the truth will

make you free in church. We shouldn't just share opinions

of men or human philosophies. We should always share the

truth. Can I hear to men on that?

Truth has power and this scripture tells me that the

foundation, which is the ground in which truth is planted and

the pillars that hold it up, it starts in the House of God.

And so when we think about the church, we have to think about

what a powerful thing that we're evolved in when we're a part of

the church. Now, when I was a kid, I grew up

in church, gave my life to Lord at an early age.

And for some reason, because God makes us who we are, I always

was aware of what's happening in church and thinking about how

church could be better than it it was.

Our church I grew up in was a small country church because

this was the country back in those days.

So a small church was typical, but they always wanted to grow.

They always wanted to be evangelistic.

And so they would have evangelism campaigns and talk

about might people to Sunday school.

So the church could grow, but the church really never did

grow. It grow a little bit and then it

would shrink again. And one of the big reasons for

that is because it's one thing to say you want the church to

grow. It's another thing when you come

to church on Sunday morning and somebody is sitting in your

seat. You know, we always get our own

seat. And it's kind of troubling when

there's somebody sitting in our seat.

So I'm, you know, if a church is going to grow, they might

actually sit in your seat or often times this is also the

case with the church grows. Sometimes you get people in with

talent and they might have a better talent than you and that

can make you feel threatened. Those are normal carnal

responses if you would. So from a small age, I used to

say, oh, I don't want to go to a small church.

It just has too many things happening that are going to make

it not really grow and whatever. Well, I found out that big

churches are no different than small churches.

I used to think I have to go to a big church.

When we started our church, I've being aware of all the

complaints people had about church in their life.

I thought Mount Zion's going to be different.

I'm going to be different. I know that my heart is for the

people and I'm going to do what they want, do what they need me

to do. Of course, I almost said what

they want me to do, but I'm supposed to do what you need me

to do. But I also like to do what you

want me to do when I can. But sometimes that doesn't make

me popular too. I have found out that doesn't

matter what you do, people are going to complain.

That's why. Is that true?

Because we're all people and we all do it from time to time.

But the point is, I have always had a vision that the church

should be everything God wants it to be.

And I truly believe that as I look at Mount Zion and as we've

built over the years, Mount Zion has all the attributes a local

church is supposed to have. And I believe that we're

positioned for this next phase of going to the world and going

to all the nations as God has called us to do with a

prototype, if you would. That's very powerful.

And that's why we advertise the things we're doing.

We really have what you have need of, to walk in the things

that God has. And why is that?

Because I believe in the church. My vision is for the church.

And I really believe that we need to understand how important

the church is. As a matter of fact, this

Scripture says, let us hold fast the confession of our hope

without wavering. For he who promised is what

faithful. Let us consider one another in

order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the

assembly of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but

exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day

approaching. Now, as the author of this book

was writing inspired by the Holy Spirit, of course he's making

them understand there's days of trouble coming.

So you need to be prepared for them.

And I really believe that that's what the Bible's all about is

God says be prepared for whatever comes your way.

That's why I said you should take a marriage class before you

need a marriage class because how many you know, that helps us

get prepared ahead of time. Taking a discipleship class,

taking the new beginnings class, we should say, what is it that I

have need of? Because we're in a very

difficult age right now. And in order for us to truly

live for the Lord, we have to understand we have to have a

plan of action. That's why he said hold fast to

your confession. Why?

Well, there's a lot of influences, people,

circumstances, situation, media, social media, all kinds of

voices trying to get you off course, trying to get you to

lose faith, trying to get you to become anxious or concerned

about your world. And the Bible says very clearly

here, we got to hold fast to our confession.

And that's what I've done over the history of my life.

When God has spoken to me, I've shared it with you.

I believe that God says it. It's going to happen.

So I'll hold on to it with everything within me.

And I have found out that I've seen that God is faithful just

like that Scripture says. And I know that well.

As I look forward, He's going to show I'm even more faithful,

says the Lord. Because I believe with all my

heart the best is yet to come, that God's going to do that

which is exceedingly and abundantly above all that I can

ask or think. That's why the Scripture is so

important when it says and forsake not the assembling of

yourself together, which is the manner of some all the more is

to see the day approaching. And I'll talk about that as a

very last verse, but emphasizing first of all, how the Bible says

we need each other. We need to consider each other

and we need to understand that we need to be in a setting where

other people are considering us and this is where the church

comes in as the pillar in the ground of truth and why all of

us need to understand churches shouldn't be seen as an option.

It's a part of the plan of God that He would have a people that

will fulfill his purposes in the earth and that would also be a

partaker of his promises. And we can only do that when we

understand how important it is to assemble together.

Look what this next verse the Scripture says that we should no

longer be children tossed to and fro and cared about with every

wind of doctrine. You got also throw in their wind

of philosophy because everybody has an opinion.

They want to share it in our day and it's very easy to get

confused by all that's going on. We shouldn't be like children

are tossed to and fro are the tricky of man cuz there's a lot

of people out there trying to take advantage of us, but also

in the cutting craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking

the truth in love that we may grow up in all things.

In him who is the head Christ, from whom the whole body joined

and knit together by whatever joint supplies according to the

effect of working by which every part does its share, causes

growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Notice I put over this some assembly required.

Now God's goal, and it's something I've of course been

sharing from the beginning, is that we would go on to maturity.

Now that's not just God's goal, it should be ours.

Just like in the natural you come to this world as a baby.

You have parents that help you by taking care of you, hopefully

instructing you how to accept responsibility in life so that

you can become mature and again repeat the process.

So also our Heavenly Father thinks the same thing concerning

us. His desire is to bring us all to

a place of maturity. And all the more as we see this

day of confusion as everything that's being shaken that can be

shaken, we need to understand you will know the truth and the

truth will set you free. And we need to know that the

truth will also put us on the solid rock.

Jesus said, if you keep these principles, these things that

I'm saying to you, you're going to be like the man who built his

house upon the rock. When the winds come and the

storms blow, and they will, you will be standing in the midst of

the storm. If you don't, you're going to be

like the person who built their house upon the sand.

When the wind blows and the waves are coming, the Ocean's

rising up, guess what? You're going to be washed away.

That's why God wants us to go on to maturity and why it's

important that we would have connections.

Now, this is so important because when I was a kid in

school, high school especially, I remember we'd have assemblies

and they were usually some kind of a pep assembly where you get

together, especially as you're going to very important games.

Everybody, they want you to get the school spirit and get all

excited and shout and jump them down.

Whatever it was to give a spirit, they would say, well,

some people see church the same way.

You need to go and get some spirit, get excited so you can

make it through the week. No, that's not what the Bible

says. When the Bible talks about us

assembling together, we have to understand that it's like

assembly. And that's why I put over that

verse. Some assembly required because

when we were doing Christmas shopping for our kids and they

wanted things like bikes and stuff, if it said some assembly

required immediately, I'm like, no, I'm not buying that one.

God didn't give me an assembly mind in the sense of putting

mechanical things together. It's always been something.

I'm sure I could have learned it better than I did, but it was

just like kind of one of those things that, well, it's more

comfortable to stay away from it.

So when I was young, first married, I'd depend a lot of

mom, my dad, we call Papa Bill around here at Mount Zion.

Now that wasn't also easy because as the father, he didn't

just help me, He wanted to show me how to do it.

And then if I was something about my car, he'd yell at me

for not doing it right. He remember I was told the story

how he checked one day, said have you checked your oil

lately? No, I haven't.

So he opened it up and he said, I said, do I need an oil change?

No, you don't need an oil change.

You don't even have any oil in this bar.

Another time I got in trouble because I didn't have water in

the battery. I don't know if you still need

the water and batteries or what. And I just figured if you put

the water where it goes, it'll go wherever it needs to go.

Hey, man, that's what we do when we drink water, people.

Anyway, I was always getting in trouble for that.

And so I was glad when I could graduate to my brother Bill

because he'd take care of things for me too.

So often times Christmas Eve is going over and if it assembly

needed, I would take it over there and hit assemble it for

me. And unfortunately, they're both

the gone. So Bill Foster was reminding me

I call him when I need something assemble now.

But anyway, I'm always going to have body connections, Amen.

How you know that we need to be connected, Amen.

Because there's always something that we need from somebody else.

And really there's something that we all have that we can

give to others. But this is talking in a more

mystical sense in a way, even though it's a practical sense,

because it says like we're like the body and the human body has

many different parts. Now there's some parts of your

body you can live without, but how we know we want it all there

and for nothing else the looks right.

And so we might be able to get along without certain parts of

our body. Like they might say, Oh, you

don't need tonsils. They don't want you don't need

this. Take it out.

And I'm like, no, I want to keep it.

God put it there, I'm keeping it.

Amen. Well, that's the way the body of

Christ is. We might look at things that

give it value, but God says, I'll put it in the body.

You have need of that and so it's so important that we would

understand it's connecting that actually is what gives us the

full opportunity to receive life.

And connecting is not always easy, but you have to make a

choice. I'm going to get connected.

What does it take? Well, it takes effort when you

see all the things that we have in our community centers and our

activities and all the different things going on.

There's some way you can get connected and get to meet

people. You just have to look on the

website and get connected. Amen.

But some assembly is required and that means putting it

together so that it can operate properly.

That's why it says, Therefore, let him who thinks he stands

take heed lest he fall. Why?

Well, we not understand how important communion is.

So the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion

of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it

not the communion of the body of Christ?

For we, though many are one bread and one body for we are

all partake of that one bread. Notice this is from chapter 10.

I was reading out of Chapter 11, but it's so important when we

think about communion, we call it typically the Lord's Supper

or can be called communion. But he's using that as an

illustration to the church at Corinth and he says, well, it's

just like communion. Don't you understand?

When you come together, we have to understand that we all are

partakers of Christ. So we all partake of one bread.

But when we first started the church and we had a small number

of people, we used to do that. We'd have somebody, Molly Da

used to actually go and buy us some fresh bread and we'd have

communion with a fresh bread and pass it around.

After a while, people started wondering if we were passing

germs as well as bread, but so we switched.

But also we had a lot more people than one loaf of bread

would supply. I mean, you know, we'd need a

real big loaf to feed all of us here today.

But anyway, it's important to understand that we are all

partakers of one bread and that bread is Christ.

And so when we But when we think about communion, we have to

understand that also means that we are one bread to the world.

And the word communion is used in the New Testament, often

times as the word fellowship. It's a Greek word, Koinonia,

which means that we are in partnership with each other.

It means that we need to all be participating in order for us to

experience the fullness. And there's actually another

word that is used here, which is social exchange, because

sometimes just being involved with activities and getting to

meet people, it could be life changing.

How do you know we need people? Psychologists call it

affiliation needs the Bible calls a fellowship, but you need

to have an affiliation with the people that are going to share

your values in order that you can be reinforced in those

values and also that you can help other people as a part of

this. And so it's important to

understand we are one bread and one body.

Now going to the literal Lord's Supper communion service

Scriptures. It says, Therefore, whoever eats

this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner,

shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

But what let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of

the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in a

unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not

discerning the Lord's body. Now this is quite amazing

because he goes on to say for this reason, many are weak and

sickly among you. Many sleep, which means dead

doesn't mean falling asleep. It's using the word they're

asleep because it sounds a little better.

Just like when somebody says, well, if something happens to

me, you're actually saying if I fall over dead, right?

We like to use different words to talk about it.

And that's what he's doing there.

But he said, you know, if you don't understand the power of

communion, you're going to suffer for it.

You might even be sick. You might even die prematurely.

That's what the Bible says. How do you know if it's in the

Bible? It's true.

Since the early stage of the Christian Church, communion has

always been the focus of what was done.

Around 1600, as a part of the Reformation, there were a lot of

people, because of the Age of Enlightenment and scientific

theory coming in, people even in the Christian Church influenced

by those things, got rid of the concept that something's there

in communion. And they'd say, well, that's

just something that we do to show something.

So it's an outward form. And they said the same thing

about baptism because they thought that was just

superstitious or just too mystical if you believe there

was something that was going to happen as a part of your

spiritual experience. So God in these days is bringing

the church back to a full understanding.

So I hope you're allowing to give you that full

understanding. Amen.

Because he said that when you come to the table of the Lord,

there's power, but you have to know how to get a hold of it #1

He talks about an unworthy manner.

Now some people think that means well, when you take community,

you better be careful because if you're not worthy, this is going

to happen to you. No, that's not what he's saying

When he says an unworthy manner. He's talking about your attitude

in your approach, not your condition.

You know that through the blood of Jesus Christ we can all be

forgiven, Amen. If we confess our faults, if we

confess our sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us of our

sin and to cleanse us from melon and righteousness.

It's through Jesus Christ that we have been made worthy.

But whenever we partake of something in the House of God,

we have to understand there's a manner by which we should be a

participant. And that manner is we do it of

faith. And he's writing in the

Corinthian church, they had what they also called an agape meal

because when they got together, they would have dinner as well

as the Lord's Supper. And it turned into a party, as

you see from the scriptures that are being read.

And he's like, what are you guys doing?

Don't you know? This is something that Jesus

himself started. He even said the Lord gave it

directly to me. So he wasn't even saying he's

quoting what other people had. He had received personal

revelation from Jesus Christ. And this is one of the things

Jesus told him in the manner that he should approach the

Lord's Supper, because on the night in which he was betrayed,

Jesus took that bread and he broke it and said, this is my

body. And he took the cup.

And he said, this is my blood. And I know there's a lot of

different ways people discuss it and get upset about it.

But when you have a faith experience, you come to church

and you say, you know what? I want everything to have a real

experience for me. I don't just come and sing.

I come with the right attitude and I know that the Bible says

that Jesus says he's singing in the worshipping congregation.

That's amazing. Whether I'm taking communion,

whether we're watching a baptism.

That's why I like to have on Sunday mornings we have anointed

with oil at the close of the service.

If you're sick, the Bible says get anointed with oil.

Don't miss out on the opportunities God has to.

The church is the pillar in the ground of truth, a man church.

But it's so important that we also have discernment because

discernment says I'm not just looking at things from the

outside perspective. So when I come to church, this

is a good way to start practicing spiritual discernment

or spiritual perception as I call into my YouTube program.

Because when you come, you got to say, OK, wait a minute, I'm

in church. I got to make sure that I have

the right manner of approaching when I'm singing, when I'm

hearing the word, when I'm going to the altar, because there's

something that's super that's available to me if I'm willing

to let myself be a partaker of those things.

That's why in speaking about the church, Jesus said this.

If somebody's in a dispute, he says, well, if you can't settle

among yourselves to bring it to the church.

But if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church.

But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him beat you

like a heathen and a tax collector.

Cheryl, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound

in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth, it

will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two

agree, you agree on earth is concerning.

Anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in

heaven. For where two or three are

gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.

That's why I really believe it wouldn't been just my prayer

that brought the deliverance for the people of Venezuela and

hopefully the deliverance for the people accused us.

But it was partly my prayer because I believe when I pray,

God hears. Amen.

And I'm sure something as serious as that, there's

probably millions praying, I don't know.

But I do know this. When we pray, God hears.

But there's a special authority that Jesus said the church has

because there's a power that we have when we come together that

God puts upon us as a church. And when we begin to understand

that, we'll begin to realize there's something available for

us in the House of God that we need to take full advantage of.

He said the church has power in heaven, and he says where two or

three are gathered together in my name, heaven and earth

connects. And I shared this a few months

back when I was talking about the descending New Jerusalem as

the church because the Bible tells us that when we're in the

House of God that literally the heavens are opened over us.

Isn't that amazing church? That's why we're an embassy for

the Kingdom of heaven. That's why we're ambassadors for

Christ. Because guess what?

We have the opportunity to touch heaven.

Heaven isn't just a distant place.

Heaven is a source of authority. It's a source of blessing that

we can access when we understand the power and authority that God

wants to give to us as a church. Now I want to emphasize this

Scripture from the Old Testament because God has revealed himself

from the Old Testament to the New Testament in a progressive

fashion. So the church, as we read, is

the House of God, the pillar and ground of truth.

But we also have to understand that there was a type in that in

the temples that were built in the Old Testament.

So when they built the temple of Solomon, the Bible says that God

spoke to Solomon, said when I shut up heaven, and there is no

rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send

pestilence among my people. If my people who are called by

my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and

turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven,

and I will forgive their sin. And what?

What will he do? How many know we need that in

our land? Amen.

Give him a praise now, God said. Now my eyes will be open and my

ears attentive to prayer made in this place.

Speaking about the temple, which was a pattern for the New

Testament church, for now I have chosen and sanctified this house

that my name may be there forever and my eyes and my heart

will be there perpetually. And of course, we know now that

we are the temple of the Holy Ghost, we the body of Christ.

And we have to understand that means we have power in prayer.

There's power in our individual prayers, but there's more power.

And some people feel uncomfortable about this, but

there's more power in our corporate prayer when we come

together and we pray. That's why our Tuesday morning

prayer service is so powerful, because people could come and

turn in the request because when the church is praying, it makes

a difference. That's not my opinion.

That's the word of God, Amen. And so prayer power works and we

have to be aware of all these things and understand there's

something that happens when we bring our prayers to the House

of God and to understand it is the place where he has placed

his name. So when you read that scripture

of two or three gathered together, my name, he's not just

saying, okay, you guys get together.

He's talking about the church, He's talking about an authority

he gives to his house. And that's why when we bring it

to the house, there's a difference.

And so we have to be mindful of these things because there's

supernatural power when we approach things with the right

manner. Amen.

Now in First Corinthians 3, it says this.

Now, if anyone builds on this foundation with the gold,

silver, precious stones, with hay and straw, each one's work

will become clear. Here's that word day again.

The day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire.

The fire will test each one's work of what sort it is.

If anyone's work, which he has built on it, endures, he will

receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he

will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved yet so as through

fire. And so this is important because

when we think about the day and the day, we often think about as

the day of judgement. Most people know when you die,

you're going to stand before the judgement seat of Christ.

At least you should. That's a day of judgement.

When Jesus Christ comes in his return, it says it will be a day

of judgement. But this Scripture makes us

understand that there are days of judgement.

The day of judgement is basically when there's a

combination of certain behaviors that lend itself to a certain

outcome. That's why the Bible says

whatsoever man sows that shall he also reap.

Why? Well, just like in the parable I

was sharing when Jesus talked about the man who built this

house upon the rock, if you don't do the right thing, sooner

or later the things began to pile up.

And sometimes that means there's going to be a judgement that's

necessary. And that's the judgement of

fire, where God burns away the fleshly works in order that the

cold and the purity might come forward.

So in this day that we live in, there's some things that well

are going to have to be given accounting of.

I really believe that I see in the financial world, when we

went through the Great Recession and the COVID crisis came and

all the things that happened there, there were a lot of

monetary things that were done that well.

They weren't wise in the long run.

They were good for the short term.

And because of that, we've had great inflation.

How many know we have inflation? And if you watch what's

happening, if you go to the restaurant or you try to buy a

house, which nobody can now, you realize, hey, there's something

about these inflation figures that aren't exactly right.

Because I can't anymore do this. And people are in a nervous

thought concerning life because how is this all going to work?

Well, there's going to be some consequences.

But Jesus said, just put your house in order, because if you

put your house in order, you open yourself up when the

purging of fire comes to the blessing of God for his

preservation, Amen. Church, I'm glad we serve the

living God, Amen. And sometimes we will suffer

because there are times where Christians certainly have times

of loss. But the thing we understand is

as we put ourselves back into the business of following God's

Word, what happens is we began to sow the right seeds that are

going to produce the right and proper fruit in the day of

fruitfulness. That's why in closing, the

Scripture is so important. It says for if we will judge

ourselves, we would not be judged.

Now when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord.

So that does happen. So I don't want to eliminate

that verse that we may not be condemned with the world because

sometimes God allows judgments to come.

So we'll shape up whatever. But the important thing that we

should understand as we every Sunday come before the table of

the Lord has realized, God says if you judge yourself, you won't

come under judgement. If you set everything in

alignment now, you'll be prepared for the day, whatever

that day is. Whenever that day comes, we are

called to be prepared, says the mighty God.

I'm going to ask everyone to bow your heads and close your eyes

for just a moment and let's approach the table of the Lord

in the worthy manner. That means, Lord, give me

discernment. I want to see this is just more

than a ritual. I want to partake of the life,

the healing, the blessing that you have with your word in

action in my life, in this day. We are in a new day.

There will be winds blowing, fires burning, Get ready, get

ready, get ready, prepare yourself, prepare yourself by

being taking heed according to His word.

Father, in Jesus name, just let us be a people of maturity in

this day. Give us the ability to hear your

voice, to walk in your way, to hear what you're speaking to us

in Jesus name, 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.