His Purpose or Your Desires? | Pastor Loren Covarrubias

Well, today I'm going to open with a couple of scriptures I

actually shared on Wednesday night.

Typically if I'm reviewing something, it'll be from the

past Sunday, but I'll be picking up with some scriptures from

Wednesday night going a little different directions.

So it won't matter that you missed Wednesday night.

Although if you want to enlarge a little bit on your

understanding, you could go to that on YouTube as well.

But here in the book of Hebrews Chapter 7 it says this.

Hebrews 7 · chapter mention

But he Speaking of Jesus Christ, because he continues forever,

has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore he is all able to save

to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since He

always lives to make intercession for them.

To me, this is such an important scripture because it talks to us

about the resurrection ministry of Jesus Christ.

It's very interesting to understand because we know in

reading the Gospels that Jesus had three years of ministry.

That was a glorious ministry. It's a very good example that

each and every one of us should look at and say, What part of

that could I pick up and use in my world today?

When you look at his natural life for the 1st 30 years of his

life, that was a forming for his ministry.

One of the things Ashley mentioned last week was about

compassion, which is the ability to feel what somebody else feels

and have a passion that you could share with them.

Jesus Christ went through a life that made that possible for him

because the Bible tells us He grew up as a root out of a dry

ground. He had no form or comeliness or

beauty that we would desire Him. He was a man of sorrows,

acquainted with grief. So the first part of his life

prepared him for his earthly ministry of those three years.

Now, after he came to the cross and he died, the Bible says he

rose again from the dead. Now sometimes people think of

that as the end of his ministry per SE.

And we think about how Jesus said I'm going away, but I'm

going to send the Holy Spirit of my name.

And we think about the ongoing ministry only being about the

work of the Holy Spirit that's in our lives.

But that's not what the scriptures tell us here.

The scriptures tell us that after Jesus Christ rose from the

dead, he then engaged in his heavenly ministry.

The Bible says he sits on the right hand of authority on high

because on the cross he defeated the power of the the devil.

He defeated principalities and powers, the Bible says, and made

an open show of them. And also, as we know from the

scriptures we just read, he died on the cross for our sins.

How many? Glad Jesus died for your sins.

But the Bible says after that, when he took his position on the

right hand of authority on high, the Bible says that he didn't

just sit there and his throne waiting for the end to come or

when he's going to return. The Bible says he has a ministry

of intercession for us. And that's amazing because each

and everyone of us should know that whatever we're going

through in our lives personally or even what's happening in the

world, it should come for you to know Jesus is praying for you.

Isn't that awesome church to think about that?

And so he ever lives that he can make intercession for us.

Now, the reason it says that is so that we can be saved to the

uttermost. And again, I really believe with

all my heart, we're moving in a new day in God.

And it's so important for us to have some chains of mindsets.

That's why we have one website called From the Mountain, just

for the purpose of helping people change mindsets so we can

walk in the glory of this new experience that God wants each

and every one of us to walk in. One of the things that's very

important to understand is God's salvation because we think about

getting saved as our ticket to get to heaven, and that isn't

what God's salvation is about. It includes that for sure, but

the word saved or salvation means to be delivered.

And that's important because we need to understand that Jesus

didn't make it just possible for us to be forgiven so we can go

to heaven. He made it possible for us to be

fully delivered from everything that holds us back.

Give the Lord a praise on that. Anything that would hinder us

from walking in the fullness of what God has for us.

That's why it talks about being saved to the lettermost Jesus is

praying not just that you rejoice in your salvation and

you're going to heaven, but He's praying for you to realize

there's a great salvation if He has for you.

Now, the type of that, we can see it in the Old Testament.

The children of Israel were slaves in Egypt.

The Lord sent Moses there, and through the blood of the lamb,

the Bible says that Pharaoh said you can leave here.

So through the blood they were delivered from Egypt.

The Bible says then they went through the Red Sea, which is a

type of our water baptism. So after we have accepted Christ

in our life, we need to go to the waters of baptism so that we

can cut away that old life, be totally separated from our past.

And then the Bible tells us that they went to Mount Sinai and

there they experienced the presence of God.

From there they were called to go into the promised land to

take possession of their inheritance.

And unfortunately they were not willing to do that.

They were fearful. God became very upset about that

and he even told Moses, Moses, that's the end of it.

Let's start over again, Moses, like, no, don't do that.

Have mercy upon them and God, OK, I'm going to have mercy upon

them, but as truly as I live, all the earth is going to be

filled with the glory of the Lord.

So he was speaking and making a declaration.

It's going to be OK at this point for people not to fully

experience all that I have, but one of these days that there

will be a people that says I want to be saved to the

uttermost. I want God's full salvation in

my life, and I want to inherit all things that Jesus Christ

says I can walk in, in that which He has for us.

And to me, that's such an amazing ministry.

And that's why I want us to understand Jesus's resurrection

ministry is still at work today. And it's such a powerful

ministry. And the life he experienced so

that he can have compassion for those three years the Bible says

he also had, so that as he ever lives to make intercession for

us. He is a high priest that's very

familiar with what we're going through.

He knows what it is to feel isolated.

He knows what it is to be alienated.

He knows what it is to be rejected.

He knows what it is to have sorrow and have things come

against you. But he was an overcomer in all

things and he says I want you to be the same way.

Amen. Church now going forward here in

Hebrews chapter 2, it says this. What exactly is their uttermost

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

is the question I have over this, and this is what it says.

Well, we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels

for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor,

that He by the grace of God might taste us for everyone.

So that's the first thing he did for us, for it is fitting for

him. For whom are all things, and by

whom are all things in doing what?

Read this part with me bringing many sons to glory.

How many know God wants to bring you to glory to make the Captain

their salvation perfect through suffering?

For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified,

which is talking about us, are all one.

And it's for that reason Jesus is not ashamed to call us His

brethren. To me, that's an amazing concept

to think about and understand that Jesus Christ was our Big

Brother. I like to share the story about

I had a Big Brother and when I was little, he was able to watch

over me, protect me. I was kind of anxious.

He was outgoing, I was kind of fearful.

He was very courageous in a lot of ways, sometimes ways he

shouldn't have been. But anyway, he was my Big

Brother. But there came a time in life as

we got older and I entered into the ministry and he and his wife

were a part of that, that God was able to give me the

opportunity to help him through some life challenges.

And they've become a lifetime part of the ministry here at

Mount Zion. And I look at it, that's the

what God wants us to understand. Jesus is my Big Brother.

He did something for me that I couldn't do for myself, but then

He wants to enable me to do something for Him.

He wants to enable me so that in this life I can be more than a

conqueror and that His glory can be shared with us.

This is a very profound experience for me.

I shared in one of my books and I shared from time to time in

the sermon how that in 1980, after I was married and on my

honeymoon, I felt the presence of the Lord to pray.

And I always like to joke about the fact if you're praying on

your honeymoon that's really good or really bad, I don't know

how you'd want to look at it, generally speaking.

But I was an intercessory prayer.

And as my wife is getting ready and the presence of the Lord

came by me, he said, Lauren, I'm going to share my glory with

you. I had always been told don't

touch the glory. I remember hearing sermons about

that. But he drew my attention to

Isaiah chapter 42. And in that he says God makes

Isaiah 42 · chapter mention

the declaration. I'm not going to share my glory

with another, but my praise with my servant, whom I uphold, my

elect 1 and whom my soul delights.

And of course, that's speaking about Jesus Christ.

But as you read the connotation of the Scriptures, you realize

that God wants to share His glory with all his children.

And that's how the Lord spoke that to me.

And He confirmed it. Because when I went back to the

church on a Wednesday night, my mom asked for prayer.

And as I was praying for her, I asked Lalidi to join with me.

She spoke Spanish, she's Hispanic with her mother's

sister, Ramirez. Why I was praying for my mom, I

prayed in tongues, didn't know I was doing it, but I was actually

giving them a message prophesying to them in Spanish.

Didn't know Spanish at the time, but I do know they ran out very

excited because I told them what to do and they fulfilled that

purpose. So God was very faithful and in

that he shared with me how that the glory is shared because when

you do something that you couldn't do without God's help,

I'm, you know, that's God sharing his glory with you.

Amen. Now in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

said light your light so shine before men that they might see

your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

And of course, the second way that we glorify God is when

through his power working in us, we actually do things ourselves

that can bring glory to God. And that's what that Lord spoke

that to me in 1980. And as I had walked with Him all

these years, I have seen that He has given me the capacity to

live above my human experience and to accomplish things in God

that were only possible with His help, but things I had to be

willing to do when He spoke to me.

To walk in obedience to His Word.

And so God wants every one of us to know there's a realm that

we're going to walk in like we've never walked in before, as

we let God give us the faith to believe what He can do in our

lives. In Matthew chapter 25 in the

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

reading here today, it says for the Kingdom of heaven is like a

man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and

delivered his goods to them. And to 1.

He gave five challenge to another two and to another one

to each according to his own ability.

And immediately he went on a journey.

Now it's called the Kingdom of heaven for a good reason because

we have to understand heaven is about God's Kingdom.

Now we enter into the Kingdom of heaven.

The Bible says when we are born again, Jesus said if you're born

again, you can both see and enter into the Kingdom of

heaven. There is a present tense reality

that when I read the principles here, like in Matthew chapter

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

25, I know they actually work in this life as we're challenged by

faith. But I also know what's called

the Kingdom of heaven, because one day Jesus will come and

establish his full reign here on planet earth.

And when it does, he does, it'll be obvious.

He is our king. It is God's Kingdom that we are

part of, and it's very important for us to understand that we

don't just die and go to heaven. It's important that we're born

again and enter into His Kingdom, recognizing that's a

state that we will forever be in through first our life here on

earth, and then afterward when Jesus comes again in his second

coming. Now notice it says that He gave

each one according to their abilities.

Now, it's very important in life that we learn about our

abilities. In reality, that's what growing

up is all about. I think one of the major lessons

that we need to learn in life, especially when we're young, is,

well, what exactly is your ability?

And I've always used the illustration for me about sports

because when I was a kid, that's one of the first things that I

learned I was not good at, and that was sports.

Somebody said, well, you know, why don't you like sports?

Well, my problem is that I don't like sports.

My problem is sports don't like me when I was just a little kid

and I remember what being a little kid is like.

I remember most of my life and I remember my attitudes and ideas

I had in those days. And as a little boy, you always

want to win anytime you're part of something.

And if you can, you want to stand out and win.

So in sports, you'd often hear people say, no, honey, it isn't

whether you win or lose. It's how you play the game.

Well, when you're real old, you don't even pay attention because

that doesn't make any sense at all.

When you get old enough to understand it, you roll your

eyes and go, oh, yeah, sure, your parents might tell you

that. But then you watch them watching

the sports program on television, and you realize

they're not sitting there thinking, oh, isn't it

wonderful? They're playing.

Well, I'm, you know, they scream when they win and well,

whatever, when they lose because guess what?

We like to win or we like to lose.

No, we don't like to lose up. Forget that part.

We understand how important it is that we have this motivation.

That's what I was like when I was a kid.

So when I was in sports, of course everybody wanted to win.

So I was one of those people that nobody wanted on their

team. I would be the last one picked

or everybody would say, well, what did we do with him?

What are you getting? Somebody said to me once when I

told that story, I felt so sorry for you.

I said don't feel sorry for me. I didn't want to be on my team

either. I just didn't know how to get

around it. It just wasn't my ability, if

you would. A lot of people have their kids

in sports these days and pay for programs and they they say it's

about building the character and building the ability to learn

how to strive for a certain goal.

And I'm sure there is an aspect of that's true.

But in the end, to me, you find out it's about genetics if you

really want to get where most little boys want to go.

Now, when I was a kid, girls weren't really into sports.

If a girl was somebody that liked sports, you'd call them a

tomboy. Wasn't a derogatory term.

It was just like, that's a girl that likes sports.

Didn't make any sense at all. If you're really pressed a girl,

you have to get in sports. Which one would do you want to

be a part of? They're likely to look at it and

think, well, which one has the cutest outfit?

That's the way the girls stopped back in those days.

Was it like they were motivated the same way?

The world has changed and I've watched the world change.

There's a lot of good things that have happened in the

changing world, which I'm a part of.

But I can say what it was like as a boy and how you like to win

and how you don't like to lose and how I didn't want to be a

part of a losing operation. So it didn't take me long to

discover I have other talents. I got to find out what they are

and I feel this is very important that we learn about

our abilities. One of the things God's been

speaking to me in the last couple years even is how to be

self aware. Because when a person's self

aware, you can be aware of your abilities but also your

disabilities. I'll use that term because it's

the things that you're not able to do from a natural

perspective. Now, all of us have things that

we're able to do, all things we have, all of us have things that

we are not able to do. And it's very important for us

to make an assessment, but it's also important for us to

understand that God himself not only gives us talents based on

our abilities, but how, you know, he also gave us our

abilities. Now that's an important thing to

understand. That's why we have to look at

our abilities and say, well, what is it that I'm able to do?

Because God looks at that and he orchestrates our life based upon

those things. And so we have to understand how

those things work in our life so that we can fully experience

everything that God has for us going forward.

In the parable here, it says after a long time, the Lord of

those servants came and settled accounts with them.

So he who had received 5 talents came and brought five other

talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me 5 talents.

Look, I've gained five more talents beside them.

His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant, you

are faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many

things. Enter into the joy of the Lord.

Now put over this the return. Because of course, Jesus Christ

died on the cross and He left, and He also said he's coming

back two occasions in the New Testament.

His disciples are very inquisitive.

Matthew 24, When are you coming back?

Well, I don't know. That's what the Father has in

His hands. I can tell you when I'm coming

back in Acts chapter 1, as He's leaving again.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

When are you going to restore the Kingdom to Israel?

I don't know the times that the Father has in his hands.

How many know? We always want to know when the

end is. We do know Jesus said that.

What after a long time now the disciples would have never

dreamed it would be over 2000 years when you read the New

Testament you can read and they they were thinking he would come

in their life. I'm sure as every generation

since that time has speculated concern his return.

But we have to understand, he said it's going to be a long

time, so don't plan for the end. Decide what you're going to do

in the meantime. Mean man church.

And so it's important for us to realize that God has put things

in our hands and we have to ask, well, what am I going to do with

what God has given me? Because one day Jesus is going

to come and we have to have a settling of accounts.

And that's very important for us to understand and quite a

different idea of what we think about when we think about going

to heaven. Jesus didn't go to heaven and

retire, and He wants us to understand.

That's what we have to understand too.

Going to heaven isn't a divine supernatural retirement.

Can I hear an Amen or this is something the Lord taught me

years ago in Isaiah Chapter 11. I was reading Isaiah 11 one day

Isaiah 11 · chapter mention

and I read these scriptures that to me were about heaven.

It says the nursing child should play by a cobra's hole, and the

weaned child should put his hand in the viper's den.

This shall not hurt nor destroy in my holy mountain, for the

earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as of the

waters cover the sea. I just remember reading that and

thinking to myself, there's going to be snakes in heaven.

And I'm like, Lord, I don't want snakes in heaven.

I don't know about you. Some people say, well, that's

just the ardour snake, don't worry about it.

Well #1 how do I know what kind of snake it is?

I'm not an expert and #2 they're just creepy.

I don't know what it is about them.

I don't even want to be around with gardener snakes.

Can I hear any amens on that? Well, there, there is a little

bit of a problem. And that's why I preached the

message way back then that, well, heaven isn't going to be

heaven because it's everything we want it to be.

Heaven's going to be heaven because we're going to be

everything He wants us to be. Amen, Charge.

Now the majority of people believe in heaven.

Even people say they don't know if they believe in God, will

say, oh, I believe in heaven because it is encouraging to

people when somebody dies and say, oh, I know they're in

heaven. And so for a lot of people, it's

just something they like to talk about to feel better.

But there is a heaven Amen church, and we have to

understand what exactly heaven means.

A few years back they did this survey and they were asking

people, well, what's heaven to you?

And everybody thought of heaven as something that was glorious,

something that was fun. And really, for most people,

heaven was everything that they wanted it to be.

That's why when I was growing up in church, we used to sing songs

like Just Build my mansion next Door to Jesus, 'cause we were

waiting for that heaven to come and we would have our mansion.

HG hasn't seen anything like the mansion we're going to get when

we get to heaven. And so we talked about the

streets of gold and we talked about all these things.

And most of those things, if you really look in the Scriptures,

they'll find out they're really not all that true.

I remember when I was a kid, because everybody wants you to

think heaven's a place you want to go.

And they used to say in church, you can go to heaven and shun

hell, or you can go to hell and shun heaven.

What are you going to choose? But it's much more than just a

choice of your destination. I remember one day saying to my

mom, Mom, is there going to be bowling in heaven?

Because I was just starting to get into bowling.

I loved it. Of course there's going to be

bowling in heaven. Am I going to be a good bowler

in heaven? I mean, how you know that would

take more faith to ask a question like that when you knew

that's my son in the back seat. Is he going to be?

Yes, honey, you're going to be a good bowler in heaven.

Am I going to always win? Wait a minute.

If he's going to win, who's going to lose?

I guess I'll have to bring up a group from hell every once in a

while to be the losers. So as people that want to win,

we can have the losers. Then you can go back to her

where you are. Yeah, loser.

Well, that's not exactly what it's all about.

Amen. We have to understand that he

wants us to mature in that. When the terrorist attacks

happened many years ago, they were talking about that and they

we found out that for the terrorists, they were like, if

we die through a terrorist attack, we get to immediately go

to heaven and get 70 virgins given to us.

I said 20 in the first service. My son corrected me.

He's the expert, so I think it's 70.

He wasn't sure if it was 70 or 71, but for them it was like,

the more you do bad here for God, of course, the better it's

going to be over there. Now.

I'm sure that was for the young Muslim people because I'm, you

know, you get an age where the best part about going to bed is

a good night's sleep. But anyway, that's another

story. But as we think about how it is,

we get all these ideas in our mind and we think about this,

but it's always self-centered in motivation.

And the Lord says it's time for us to get out of our

self-centered motion and begin to walk in God's word.

Now this is a very important scripture because the Bible says

therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be

well pleasing to him. For we must all appear before

what the judgement seat of Christ.

Each one may receive things done in the body according to what he

has done, whether good or bad. Knowing therefore, the terror of

the Lord, we persuade men, but we are well known to God, and

also trusts are well known in your consciousness.

This is a very important doctrine concerning the

judgements of God and also the judgement seat of Christ because

the Bible says that we're all going to appear before Him.

Often times when they talk about his heaven going to heaven to

movies, they'll say, you know, Saint Peter's going to be at the

gate because Jesus said he'll have the keys of heaven given to

him. Am I getting in or am I not

getting in? That's not the only question.

Actually. Jesus meets us there and he

says, now what was your aim? Was your aim to be pleasing to

me or did you think that a self pleasing life would have made

you happy? And so our aim in life will be

something that we're going to be questioned about.

And I want to stand up there and say my aim was to serve you

Lord, and to live the life that you called me to live.

Can I hear an Amen on that? Now He said in your body, which

obviously everything we do is in our body, but it is important to

see that the first level of that is letting God's sanctification

power work in our personal life so that our life can what,

glorify God? Again, that's another one of

those scriptures that makes us understand we have to have a

real understanding of how this all works.

Now continuing with the story, it says, so he who had received

5 talents came and brought five other talents.

Say Lord, you delivered to me 5 talents.

Look, I've gained five more talents beside them.

And as the Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful

servant. You were faithful over a few

things. I will make you rule over many

things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.

Now I want to emphasize that word.

Look, first of all, and I remember when I was raising my

kids, whenever they were doing something and I was around or

Bonnie was around, they want to make sure you notice.

I remember going on vacation to Florida and they'd be playing in

the pool. But when they jumped in, if they

were being daring or if they had a special jump, they would say,

look, Dad, look, Papa, look and see what's happening here.

Why? Because how do you know when we

make some type of accomplishment in life, we want to know

somebody's looking. Now, the reason I say that is

because, and this goes back to our ability, since God gave us

our abilities, we have to understand that God is also the

God who created us, Amen. And because he created us, it's

important for us to understand He knows what's going to be

satisfying for us. That's why when the Bible says

don't live a self satisfied life, but a God satisfied life,

that isn't like God's not considering you.

It's God saying I created you. I know what's going to satisfy

you and I actually know what's going to give you joy says the

Lord. And so we all have this tendency

to want people to notice what we're doing for good.

And it is no different as it pertains to God.

That's why it says enter now into the joy of the Lord.

I was working with somebody years ago who had a drug and

alcohol problem and they were explaining how that the brain

and one of these classes I attended has a reward center.

And because we need to reproduce, the joy reward center

works through our sexuality. Certainly it does through our

eating as well. Because how you know you have to

eat, stay alive and how many you know, sometimes we eat things

that aren't going to help us stay alive, but we enjoy that

too. I used to work at a grocery

store and I used to run the cash register and people were always

complaining about the price of groceries.

And as I was pushing the chocolate cake down, I'm like,

you don't need this chocolate cake.

But but there's a reward center that comes and works in our

behalf. And it doesn't just work in

physiological things, it works in psychological things.

That's why opiate addiction has been so devastating to our

country, because opiates, when they work on the brain, they

cause the reward center to make you feel as if you actually

accomplish something. That's why somebody can get

addicted to things like that and their life can be a mess and

they still have this feeling that they're successful.

That's the danger of the opiate drugs.

But again, we have to understand that God created us for a

purpose and he's the one that put that reward center in our

brain. And sooner or later we're going

to want to have this sense. Well, I've done my best.

I've tried it, this thing. And so God gives us stewardships

of our life. And he says as you look at the

different areas that you have in your life, whether it's your

marriage, whether it's your relationships, whether it's your

job or your vocation, you should always understand that putting

in a good effort is going to give you that same sense of

reward that sometimes we think we can find by doing things that

will be pleasing to us. And in the end, that self

seeking life does not bring happiness or peace or joy or any

of those things, But to the Son, he says your throne of God is

forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is

the scepter of your Kingdom. You have loved righteousness and

hated lawlessness. Therefore God, your God has

anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your

companions. I've always memorized

scriptures, and this is one that I certainly did memorize a very

long time ago because I read that and I found out that

there's a truth to the fact that when you love to do what God

wants you to do, there's like a special anointing of joy and

gladness that comes upon you. And I love it because as I've

served the Lord all these years, there's a certain level of joy

that I've always been able to maintain.

And I believe it's because my heart is to do what God wants me

to do. I have experienced His joy.

There's a joy we can have when we're just in the presence of

the Lord and it just kind of pours upon us.

But there's a joy that sticks with us through our everyday

life that comes when we say, I'm going to do the right thing.

Because fulfilling purpose is always going to bring much more

satisfaction than simply finding your desire.

I know I've mentioned this a couple times about Charlie Kirk,

but I think his life is such a testimony about that.

Because I watched again this week on television and there was

a guy on television and he's part of the Fox News.

And he, he was telling his testimony about how he had made

a choice to follow Jesus more perfectly.

He said, I was raised in church, but when I got older, it was

just about Easter and Christmas. But when I looked at what he

offered and I looked at what happened to his life, I realized

something. I need to have a real

relationship with Jesus Christ. And his name's Jesse Watters.

And he lived a life that wasn't Christian very much.

But when I heard that Tosman, I'm like, wow, this is amazing.

And the thing I want to point out about that is he taught

about Jesus Christ. And he certainly had his own

political viewpoints. But you'll notice as you

research what he did. And like I mentioned, I always

look in to see what, what, what's the key to people's lives

and their impact, because he had impact to such an age.

And that was because he lived according to purpose and he

taught other people to live according to purpose.

So it was a life of purpose that brings great blessing, and it's

a life of purpose that brings great success.

And a life filled with one's own desire is going to bring not

happiness, not joy, not peace, but actually just the opposite.

And then we have to love righteousness, which simply

means, you know what, I'm going to do the right thing.

And I'm going to believe that as I do the right thing, I'm going

to sense this joy. I'm going to sense this peace.

I'm going to find out how that it will overwhelm me as I walk

in the fullness of life that God has for me in that amazing

church. The plan God has quite different

in our mind, isn't it? Therefore we also, since we are

surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside

every weight in the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us

run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking on to

Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith, who what

for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross,

despising the shame, and set down at the right hand of the

throne of God. When it talks about the cloud of

witnesses, Hebrews Chapter 11 is about a bunch of people who

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

decided they were going to follow God no matter what the

cost. And the Bible says if we believe

that God is God, we'll also believe he is the rewarder of

those who diligently seek him. And so that chapter is about all

these people. Many of them went through some

very difficult times, but they found out in the end that God is

a rewarder. But then it goes to this

Scripture about Jesus Christ because Jesus understood as the

Father had demonstrated so clearly, when you do what he has

called you to do, there's a joy that's going to be in front of

you that's going to be worth the effort to get involved in.

It's all about our purpose. And that's why when Jesus was

getting ready to go, the cross people said, don't know it can't

help you. Peter said I'll fight him for

you. Jesus said, no, wait for this

purpose was I born. He understood the power of

purpose and the joy that would come by that life that he has

prepared for us, and also the joy that he has prepared for us.

And in closing, it says, but one testified in a certain place

saying, what is man that you are mindful of him, or the Son of

man that you take care of him? You have made him a little lower

than the angels. You have crowned Him with glory

and honor and set over the works of your hands.

You have put all things in subjection under His feet,

speaking about Jesus Christ. But for in that He put all in

subjection under Him. He left nothing that does not

put under Him. But now we do not see yet all

things put under Him. Can we bow our heads and close

our eyes for just a moment? Because I really believe with

all my heart, there's a challenge that God's saying to

the church that if we will let go of our mindsets, the things

that seem desirous to us, and we make a choice to follow Him and

His way, we're going to find life satisfying.

We're going to find life victorious.

We're going to find joy unspeakable and full of glory.

The world is becoming more dark. Darkness is covering the earth

and gross darkness the people. That literally speaks about an

emotional heaviness that's coming upon the land.

And that's why there's so much anxiety and depression and all

these negative things. So when the Bible says that

we're supposed to rise and shine so his glory can be seen upon

us, cherish, he's really talking about some emotional fulfillment

and joy. The the world's going to look at

it and say, well, why are they finding peace?

Why are they finding joy? So as we bow our heads and close

our eyes for just a moment, the simple message, your desire or

His purpose, His plan or your plan, finding your desire or

finding His purpose will make the difference.

Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit, move upon each and every

one of us today that we would fully understand that You want

to do great things in our life and You want to give us the

abundant life. It is an emotionally satisfying

life. It is a fulfilling life that You

have for us. Let our hearts be open in Jesus

name. This is Pastor Lauren Coburbius

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.