Roar from Zion | Pastor Loren Covarrubias

In the book of Matthew Chapter 11 verses 28 and 30, it says

Matthew 11:28

come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give

you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn

from me. For I'm gentle lowling heart you

will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my

burden is light. And I want to share again this

important picture here to demonstrate what is Jesus

talking about when he talks about a yoke.

Some of us growing up in church or maybe in the country, you

understand right away what that is.

But a lot of people don't know what it is.

And this is important for us to be able to visualize it.

A yoke is something that you would put upon 2 animals to help

them work together. It's kind of like a doubling of

the strength. So in this picture, we have the

person in the back who's directing with a plow, if you

would, and then we have the animals here in the front who

are pulling the plow to make it possible for the work to be

accomplished. And I said last week, I kind of

like this picture because the Bible speaks about us being

yoked to Jesus Christ. And the fact is, in this

particular Scripture or picture, if you would, you can see that

somebody's carrying a little bit heavier load or doing a better

job at it. But we have to understand, just

like the Scripture says, when we are yoked with Jesus Christ,

he's able to supply what we lack.

How many glad for that walk with Jesus Christ, Amen.

Amen. And when it talks about being

yoked with him, that means you're connected with him.

That Christianity is not a mere religion or a religious belief,

but it is about having a personal relationship with Jesus

Christ. And then having that personal

relationship with Jesus Christ, we're able to walk in the

fullness of the blessings that God has for us.

And one of those blessings is he walks with us in life and when

we he walks with us in life, when we need strength, he can

give us strength and he's able to do all kinds of good things.

But it's so important that we would realize that when we're

yoked with Christ, he says my yoke is easy and my burden is

light. That's because even when he

gives us a burden and puts responsibility upon it, he

shares with us in the responsibility and the works is

going to be involved. And I can testify as many of

you, again, I've been serving the Lord since I was a little

child, and it's an amazing thing when Jesus Christ is walking

through life with you. Amen.

We're not walking alone. Now I wanted to put up here,

learn from me in the quotes here because I want you to see it's

important for us to realize if we're going to have a personal

relationship with Jesus Christ, it isn't enough just to learn

about Him. And we have to understand that

when we're walking with Christ, he wants to teach us along the

way. Now, this is an important

conversation to have when we think about the Holy Spirit

because when Jesus Christ was getting ready to leave his

disciples, he said, I don't want you to think I'm going to leave

you like your orphans. It would be an amazing thing to

have Jesus Christ walking with you personally and being able to

answer your question. You're hearing from a preacher

and teacher that obviously was the greatest in the world and in

history. And then afterward to be able to

sit down and talk with him and get greater understanding and

know that when you had a need, He was always there.

Well, when Jesus talked about the fact He was leaving, He

said, but I want you to understand, I'm going to come

again and He's going to come through the power of the Holy

Spirit, the Spirit of Christ coming back to the earth as we

celebrate on the day of Pentecost so that each and every

one of us can have the power of the Holy Spirit in us.

He said after that the Holy Ghost has come, He will lead you

into all truth. He will bring to your

remembrance all the things that I've talked to you about.

He will instruct you because the Holy Spirit is the teacher.

And so it's important for us to realize it is a very important

thing for us to come to the House of God to hear sermons, to

take Bible classes, to get instruction.

But we also have to understand that God is with us in our

everyday life. God is involved in every

circumstance and situation, and He can get involved in that

situation, but He's not just going to push His way in.

We've have to invite Him in. Amen.

And so when we are yoked together with Christ, we say,

Lord, I want you to be in every part of my life.

I want you to be in every situation so I can receive all

the things that you have for me. Another scripture that I shared

last week that I want to reference here again is

Ephesians 4 where it says, But you have not so learned Christ,

if indeed you have what heard Him and have been taught by Him.

As the truth is in Jesus that you put off concern to your

former conduct. The old man which grows corrupt

according to deceitful life plus and be renewed in the spirit of

your mind that you may put on the new man which was created

according to God in true righteousness and holiness.

When we come to the Lord we have to understand that God wants us

to become a new creation. That's why Jesus said you must

be born again. We come into this world in the

natural realm of life, but when we're born again, there's a

whole other side to us that's become a part of who we are.

We're both natural and also spiritual.

Now God doesn't want those two sides of us to stay separate.

And unfortunately, often times people do.

And sometimes it's just because of a lack of knowledge.

They don't realize that God wants to be involved in our

natural life and God's involved in who we are in our natural

form, if you would. So we have to understand that's

part of the plan. And that starts with being born

again. How are you born again?

Well, the Bible says faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word

of God, so that when a person believes in their heart, the

Lord Jesus, the Bible says we become born again.

We have the ability to walk in the dimension of faith that God

has called us to. So obviously that tells us one

of the most important things we have to do is hear from Him.

And again, we need to hear it through instruction.

Bible study is very important. I'm excited about all the

different classes we have available, how many people are

taking part in these things and we can learn of Him when you

hear a sermon. But you have to also understand

that even in the context of those two settings, that the

word can come to us in a very personal way.

That's the purpose of the Holy Spirit.

So all of a sudden you're not just sitting there getting a

lesson about the Bible. If we allow the Holy Spirit, he

can pull something out of that sermon, out of that lesson that

can give us faith or give us a sense that there's a personal

connection that that word has for us, a personal connection

that instruction has for us. And then we should carry it

farther than that where we understand.

Jesus said my sheep know my voice, and another they will not

follow. Some people think it's a hard

thing to hear from God, or only certain people have that gift.

But Jesus said My sheep know my voice.

How could we know that we know his voice?

Well, you're a Christian today because somewhere along the line

you heard something from Him. You might not have figured it

out that way, but that's exactly what happens because we don't

choose him, He chooses us. And when the Word comes to us,

it opens the mind of our understanding so we can receive

the fullness of God's Word in our life again.

He says we have heard from Him and we are also taught by Him

because with hearing that voice of God, God is able to instruct

us and teach us a long life's journey.

And that's why why it's important to visualize this.

And that's why I wanted to share this picture with you so you can

see yourself as being yoked with Christ and everything that

you're not. He is.

That's why the Bible says I can do all things through Christ who

strengthens me. Amen, Church.

It's a wonderful thing to be yoked together with Christ and

understand how He wants to work in our lives.

Now this scripture says trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Lean not unto your own understanding and all your ways

acknowledge Him. He shall direct your steps.

Do not be wise in your own eyes, but fear the Lord and depart

from evil. I put over this scripture, we

can find a place of confidence and that is when we come to the

place where we can trust in God. Now, this is the same as in our

personal relationships, our trust that we have with a person

we're married to or friend we have, or just somebody who's a

very close in relationship and life together with us.

That comes through a process of getting to know that person.

And after a while, after you get to know a person, how do you

know you can pretty well predict their behaviors?

Most of us don't want to think that we're predictable, but we

really are. And when we walk with somebody

over a period of time and take the time to get to know them,

then it isn't long before we know what they're like and we

can have a confidence in that person because, well, we know

who they are. That's why we need to be yoked

together with Christ, why we need to have a personal

relationship with Him. That's why we have to hear from

Him and be instructed by Him so that we can build our trust in

Him. Because when we first come to

Him and we believe in Him, that's faith.

And as we hear about prayer and knowing that God can answer

prayer, God can heal, and we go through the different aspects of

life, we're recalling him and He gives us faith and we've

received something from him. That faith dimension is

wonderful. But I think we all know that

sometimes we go through situations and circumstances

where we're like, well, what exactly is going on here?

I prayed and that doesn't seem to work.

I thought God said something and it doesn't seem to be coming to

pass. And that's why the Bible says

trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not in your own

understanding. Because when you trust, you

don't lean on your own understanding.

You put your confidence in the person.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Lean not into your own understanding in all your ways.

Acknowledge Him and He will direct your steps.

See, I believe God speaks to me and I believe God wants to speak

to you. Now, again, I don't believe I

can make mistakes with that because why?

I'm always listening to Him and I'm acknowledging Him.

So the Bible says because I acknowledge Him and because I've

learned about Him, who He is, I can have the confidence He's

going to direct my steps. So I might hear something from

God and it's not going the way I think it should, but he's

directing my steps. Amen, church.

And so sooner or later you can find out why it is you heard

something and what it actually meant.

Because sometimes we're in the process of learning how things

actually are. But when we're acknowledging the

Lord and asking his direction in something church, we should have

the confidence. Just like the Bible says.

If anybody needs wisdom, let him ask of God and God we'll give

liberally an not hold anything back.

Amen. So when we trust in Him, our

life takes on a whole new level of confidence that again, is not

based just on the circumstances and situations and certainly not

human wisdom and understanding. The prophet Isaiah declared

God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our

thoughts as far as the heavens are from the earth.

That's how far God's ways are from us.

Now we have the mind of Christ when we receive the Holy Spirit

because of our natural understanding.

Sometimes there's a little mixture in the connection, if

you would. But as long as we keep putting

our trust in the Lord and don't lean on our own understanding

and wisdom, then we can have the confidence.

Wait, this is about God, It's not about me.

And that's what I love about serving the Lord as you can have

this confidence throughout your life knowing that well, it's

more about Him than about you. All he's asking for from us is

that we would acknowledge him and seek him and seek for his

way in our life. In the book of Philippians, the

apostle Paul says, not that I speak in regard to need, for I

have learned in whatever state I am to be condemned.

I know how to be a based. I know how to abound everywhere

and in all things. I have learned both to be full

and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Now, in this particular reference, the apostle Paul is

writing to the Philippian church, and he explained to them

some of the needs that he's had. And I said, I want you to

understand something. When I'm sharing these with you,

it doesn't mean that my feelings or how I look at life is going

to be impacted by your response because he said I've learned

something along the way and I've learned how to be content in

every situation. Now, this is a very important

thing because of the apostle Paul was a man who was a fighter

against Christianity, consented to people being thrown into

prison. And one day the Lord speaks to

him from heaven. There's a a light from heaven

that shines upon him. He falls to the ground and Jesus

speaks to him from heaven. Wow, that's amazing.

After that the Bible says he was baptized in the name of the Lord

and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and then for three

years he went to the backside of the desert so that God could

teach him the word by revelation.

And what that means is all they had in those days is the Old

Testament. So the Holy Spirit had to take

him through all the scriptures he knew as a Jew and began to

show him that Christ when was in all those scriptures.

That's what Jesus said when he said meant when he said I read

you read the scriptures and in them you think have eternal

life, but they all speak about me.

So he had all this revelation. But how do you know with all of

that beginning, if you would, He still had some learning to do.

And what he found out is he could learn how to abound

because God did some amazing things in his life.

But he also had to learn what it meant to be debased, if you

would. That were literally means to go

through a period of humiliation. Because sometimes we have to

face things in life where, well, we can be humbled by them.

We think we could do it and we find out we can't.

Or we might even think that God had told us something and then

we're in a situation where we think, well, maybe he didn't say

that at all. As people, we have crises in

life. Amen.

Now what the apostle Paul said is because I'm in a learning

process, I've learned in the time when I'm in need that I can

find a contentment in the Lord. Now one of the things we all

have to learn is our satisfaction has to come from

the Lord. Amen.

Once he becomes our satisfaction, life becomes easy

for us a man, because once he becomes our satisfaction, we're

not need motivated. We're not always trying to make

things work out a certain way, but we can find out that, wow, I

can be content in every situation.

So we went through this process where he had some good things in

life, he had some bad things in life, but since he was being

instructed along the way, he found out how he could receive

from God a contentment in every space of life.

And that's what God wants each and everyone of us.

Now put up here strengthens me because then I quoted earlier

because it's one of my favorite scriptures.

But when I used to quote it when I was first servant Lord filled

with the Holy Spirit walking in the word of God by faith, I

always realized that well, God could get me through any

situation, but I didn't look at it at all that it was my

strength. I would just felt like, well, I

had to depend on him to kind of lift him up and get me through.

Well, one time I was going through a difficult time in the

1990s. I went through a series of

physical problems, one of them being seizures.

And for nine months I was suffering from seizures in some

capacity of the other. And it was a very, very

difficult time. And what I learned and then the

Lord spoke that Scripture to me. He said, Lauren, I'm

strengthening you. I'm not just going to be your

strength, but God's involved in our person church.

And that's a part of what God wants us to see in this day is

sometimes God wants us to be strengthened as an individual.

And that's the Spirit strengthening the natural side

of who you are. And that's when I began to see

myself in a whole different level concerning God and

concerning my walk with God and really who I was as an

individual. It's funny because one day I was

praying because I was kind of feeling like Lord.

Seems like most of my life you spoiled me, but you're not

spoiling me anymore. What's the problem?

I have all these testimonies, all these great stories, and

right now I don't seem to have a story.

I'm just going through something.

And that's when he spoke that to me.

I'm going to strengthen you, Lauren.

You're going to find out in these circumstances and

situations who you really are. And I've often shared that

testimony, how that when I was having the seizures, I really

couldn't read the Bible, couldn't look at a computer,

couldn't do the things you would normally do to preach or teach

or get prepared for anything. But during that time, I just

felt LED of the Lord that I should continue doing everything

that I always did. And so I was still preaching, I

was still teaching, I was still doing radio, still doing

television, and I was able to do all of that by what God had

already put in me as an individual in my life.

But also in this time of accepting the challenge to

believe that I can do all things and that God could strengthen me

to do the work that was necessary.

And that's so important that we would understand God wants to

work in our lives from that purpose and in that capacity as

well. Now I want to share this

scripture from the book of Job because most of us know the

story of Job. Can you raise your hand and say,

Yep, I know that story. And how many know when we think

about Job, we think about suffering.

And he had to go through great loss.

And this is where I pick up in verse 14 and 16 of chapter 13.

He said, why do I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in

my hands? Though he slay me speaking about

God, yet will I what trust Him. Even so I will defend my own

ways before he him He also shall be my salvation, for hypocrite

could not come before him. Now Job went through some

terrible situations. First of all, he was afflicted

physically and he had boils. He had all kinds of physical

afflictions where he would have been in pain constantly.

And then after that, he started experiencing great financial

loss. He experienced personal loss and

the loss of family members. I mean, it was a bad time.

And he made a commitment of trust at that point because he

said, well, God, even if you slay me, I'm still going to put

my trust in you. Amen.

How do you know that was a choice that he had to make?

And sometimes when it comes to trust, because we have walked

with God for a long period of time, We've seen when he's in

our life, sometimes when we go through things, we just got to

say, OK, God, I'm going to put my trust in you.

I don't feel like I trust in you.

I don't feel like anything's going to come out of this

situation. I'm going to still make a

commitment. I'm going to trust in you.

But one of the other things Job said.

But I'm still going to tell him how I feel about the situation.

Because when Job started going through a situation, he had some

friends that showed up and they wanted to tell him why he was

suffering. It was because he did something

wrong. And then when he started

defending himself, they said, well, look at you, you're

defending yourself. See, you're, you're not a good

person. Well, we know he was a good

person because the Bible tells us in Job chapter one that one

day the Lord said to Satan himself, have you ever seen my

servant Job that there's none perfect in their generation like

him? And that's the opening story,

unfortunately for Job at that time, because the devil, Satan

said, well, let me test him because he's only serving you

because everything goes his way. And the Bible tells us that God

did give that permission. That's why I wrote my book Wise

of the Devil in Your Garden, because, you know, we have to

understand how these things work.

And so he went through this terrible time of testing and

affliction, not because he had did anything wrong, but there

was a witness that he was going to make to the heavenly realm, a

witness he was going to make to Satan himself, that he was a man

that God had chosen. And he was a man who chose to

follow God fully in that amazing story church.

And that's why I said, even though he slay me, I'm going to

serve him, but I'm going to tell him how I feel.

And I believe that's very appropriate in our time of

prayer. We don't have to just take it

and and and just leave it the way it is.

It's it's appropriate for us to seek the Lord and it's also

appropriate for him to us to ask him questions, tell him how we

feel. I mean, that's part of

communication in every relationship that's going to

lead to a healthy relationship. And so it's very common for me

when I'm in prayer and say, now Lord, you said such and such and

I don't see it going that way. What's going on here?

And shouldn't you be doing this and shouldn't you be doing that?

I mean, most of our prayer sessions are counseling God and

how we should do things. Amen.

We not only want Him to answer prayers, we have a very specific

way we've got it all figured out.

Surely it's going to work. God just needs to listen to our

wisdom, right? No, he doesn't always do that

because he knows more than we do.

But in the process of his suffering, Job was open to God,

talking to him about the situation.

And certainly he did come out on the other side.

And the Bible says he had a double blessing in every area of

his life because he continued to walk with God.

And the Bible also says that in that experience he had a greater

revelation of who God was. He said to God, God, I used to

know you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes have seen

you. I know something I've never

known before. I really believe that God's

saying to the body of Christ today, this is a time when we're

going to get to know him as never before.

Amen, Church. And it's in the difficult times

we are living in, in this day that these things are going to

be made known to us and we need to understand what it is that

God is speaking. Now I want to talk to you about

loss, and specifically I'm going to share 2 scriptures about

people going through things and how to handle that loss.

In this prophecy of Isaiah, he says the righteous perishes and

no man takes it to heart. Merciful men are taken away

while no one considers that the righteousness is taken away from

evil. He shall enter into peace.

They shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his

uprightness. Now, of course, one of the

greatest struggles we face as human beings is when we suffer

loss of loved ones, loss of people that we know.

And sometimes these losses make no sense whatsoever.

Now, I've often heard people complain about this.

They say, yeah, you'll be at the funeral and somebody will say,

but they're in heaven. That doesn't make me feel any

better. And we're like, what are you

talking about? Don't make you feel any better.

Well, we should recognize that when we're crying at a funeral,

it's not so much we feel sorry for the person.

How do you know we feel sorry for ourselves?

When God created Adam, one day he said it's not good that men

should be alone. I will create a helper and a

companion suitable for him. He didn't say, oh, it's not good

that Adam should be alone. I'm going to find somebody

who'll be with him and complain all the time and frustrate

everything he's doing. Somebody said, well, that's what

I know anyway. The truth is we need people in

our life and going through life with our parents, our support

group of our families, our church community.

These are all things that are very important to us.

It's one thing I always share with people is that I love

stories. Obviously I like to tell the

stories of the church and I always remember stories of my

life. But when people die, how do you

know part of your story dies? Because and I was thinking about

this one day, you know, my parents had passed away and all

my aunts and uncles had passed away.

So how do you know when that happens?

It's like a whole part of your life has passed away.

My kids aren't interested in me telling them stories about that

situation because they can't even relate to what that's all

about. And so when you have friends and

people, there's stories that you also only can share with that

friend or that family member. And so when you lose somebody,

how many you know, all along the way, part of you is being lost

as well. But there is a place, obviously,

where we stand back and we have to say, well, we do know that as

Christians, we have an eternal purpose.

We have an eternal God. And how do you know when we're

born again, we're going to live forever, Amen.

That's an awesome thing, Amen. Something we need to know, and

that's why we have to also remind ourselves that sometimes

when people are passing to eternity, that's the best thing

for them. That's what the scripture says.

Some people time somebody dies and people aren't thinking,

well, this is better for them. Actually.

Now, it's easy for us to say that when we know that they're

been through a time of suffering, maybe with an illness

or as they're getting older, certain organs begin to fail.

And so we can say, well, surely they're better off in heaven.

But sometimes it's not like that.

Sometimes we just think, Lord, please let this person stay with

me. You can't think about the

consequences of their life or how God actually could say,

well, this person has lived this amount of time, but now it's

time for them to go to the heavenly realm and that's

actually going to be better for them.

I know when my brother passed away, he was our baby brother.

He died at age 38. He had a liver disease.

And my mom, of course, was a person of prayer.

Those of you who don't know, she had a prayer and healing

ministry here at the church. So if anybody's sick, she

believed they were going to get well.

You can call her anytime of the night and she'd say, I'm

believing God for you. And that was her ministry.

So when my brother's health kept on failing, obviously she would

start praying all the more. We'd all be praying all the

more. And my brother had such a

spiritual experience through all this that he really began to see

heaven as a great alternative for him.

And I remember when they talked to him about, but but Matt,

we're praying for your healing. He's kind of like, what's better

with you guys? Don't you believe in heaven?

I'm like, what do you mean? Well, I will be going to a

better place. All right.

Oh yes, of course you will. But after he passed away and my

mom was in prayer, she felt like the Lord spoke that scripture to

her and said he found a great place in me.

It was a place of rejoicing. But if he would have stuck

around, he would not have necessarily had the strength to

continue that. So I'm letting him basically

continue that in heaven. There's, there's a time for

that. And sometimes we don't realize

there's a lot of tragedies people face in life and

sometimes they're kind of working in this direction.

But the Lord's kind of like, I'm not going to let that person go

through that. I'm going to take them home.

That's what that scripture says. I used to always think of it

this way because I love history and think about things from a

historical perspective. That if I was a Jew living in

Poland in 1940 and I lost one of my loved ones, I would have been

devastated. But in 1941, when they were

putting all the Jews on kettle cars and they were so squeezed

together they couldn't even move, and they would be 15 days

in those cars and nowhere to go to the bathroom, no food to eat,

and then taken to the Holocaust place, the concentration camps.

How do you know that? Maybe about 1941 or so somebody

might say, well, I'm glad my kids not here now or I'm glad

this isn't happening because, you know, we never know what the

future is all about. But we do know who holds the

future. Amen, Church.

And sometimes God has a plan, and we always have to realize

that plan is for our good and that plan is for the good of the

person because again, we don't always understand all the

consequences of what earth is going on.

This next verse of Scripture talks about that in Acts Chapter

Acts 7 · chapter mention

7. It's telling us a story about a

man named Steven who is a firebrand of his day, if you

would. It says when they heard these

things, they were cut to their heart.

Stephen was preaching a message to the Jews and they didn't like

what he had to say. And so they gnashed at him with

their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy

Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus

standing at the right hand of God, and said, Look, I see the

heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand

of God. Then he cried out with a loud

voice, stopped their ears, and ran to him with 1 accord.

And they cast him out of the city, stoned him to death.

And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a

young man named Saul, which of course we know as the apostle

Paul. Well, this past week I heard the

news about Charlie Kirk being assassinated.

Now myself, I did not actually know him by name.

I as soon as I saw the picture, I recognized him as being

somebody who was on the news, et cetera.

But as you begin to hear all the news, he was a boy, young man, I

should say 32 years of age, who loved God with all of his heart.

And one thing he always said is the number one thing is I want

people to know who Jesus is. But his spiritual fervor was

lived out in the political realm.

And so he tried to take his involvement in the political

realm as a way of bringing the principles of the word of God to

the world in which he lived. And he did so very boldly on

college campuses because when he started doing this, he was like

18 years old, maybe 14 years ago.

And the college campuses were the last place you would go to

set up a organization that would start talking about moral

principles and living if you would.

And he loved being a debater. So he debated people.

But his organization grew, and thousands of people were part of

it. All kinds of chapters were

involved in it. And this past week, he was

assassinated. And of course, I always think

about the broader picture, wife, children, moms and dads,

grandpas, and think about all the sorrow that's contained in

that. And the first thing I thought

about is this story of Steven, because Stephen, when the early

church started, was chosen to be one of the first deacons.

The apostles were facing all kinds of natural things,

especially the caring of the widows.

And they said, well, we can't do all this work.

We got to have some servants in the church, people who can do

this. So let's pick out deacons who

were good people, have wisdom, we can depend upon them.

And so it was a really fine attributes if you were picked as

one of these deacons. And so he was chosen as a

Deacon. He was set in, but he also was a

preacher. And just like in the scriptures,

he was willing to tell anybody the truth because he believed in

the truth. How you know the Bible says if

you know the truth, the truth will make it free.

Amen. So when you when you know truth,

you certainly want to stand on truth and believe and share that

truth with other people, just as this young man Charlie Kirk this

week as Steven was. But when he shared with people

the good news, they looked at his bad news and so they stoned

him to death. And so his family, sometimes

when we read Bible stories, we don't get into my, I always like

to do that about stories. I like to look at him and kind

of get in that place in time. He was a young man.

He was probably around 32. All the apostles were around

this age of Jesus who was crucified at age 33.

And so they were all about that young.

They all had parents. They all had family members.

A few of them had wives. Stevens could have had a wife,

could have had a young family, just like the guy this week.

And when he goes out and he does something really good for God,

he is stoned to death now. I mean, that's a hard thing to

understand. And a lot of times, you know,

when things happen like that, you encourage Christians to see

that God is in it. It is something that we resist

in our thinking because obviously the Bible says God

doesn't make bad things happen. The Bible says every good and

perfect gift comes down from God, who is the father of

lights, and in him there is no shadow of journey.

But although we know that God doesn't make bad things happen,

how do you know he could stop bad things from happening?

And that certainly is a hurt that often times I know in

dealing with people, whatever the tragedy of their life is,

why did God let this happen? And even if the person who

suffers or goes through a difficult time or circumstance,

if they even brought it on themselves, people will still

wonder, well, why get didn't God do his part?

Well, I want you to know, and this is so important to

understand, God is always involved.

It isn't like he's sleeping. It isn't like he's distant.

God is always involved, but God always understands that He has

an eternal purpose. And the Bible says that no

purpose of His can be withheld from Him.

And He also gives to each and every one of us a purpose.

And sometimes that purpose can be fulfilled at an early age.

Sometimes that purpose that we think is going to go in One

Direction, it comes to an abrupt halt.

And well, that's the end of the matter because that's exactly

what happened to Stephen. Now, it's very important to

understand this because I put up here, seeds die because when

Jesus Christ was getting ready to go to the cross, his

disciples always saying that can happen to you, that can happen

to you. I'm sure they would have said

you're only 33 years old, your ministry is only three years

old. You've done so much, don't go

anywhere, don't go anywhere. And Jesus said unless a Colonel

of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it divides alone.

Jesus was letting them know that in his death, there would

literally be a multiplication of what he was going to be and do

in the earth. And really, in watching the news

this week, that's what Charlie Kirk's wife said.

They're Christians. And she said, well, people don't

understand what's been unleashed here and take talking about the

fact that we don't know what's going to happen next.

Amen. But that's important to

understand. But I also want to share with

you how important it is for us to get and see everything in its

context. This past week, I had a stack of

newspapers on my desk. What newspapers were they?

Well, I've often shared how when I was a kid, nine years old, I'm

watching the news, seeing the news or whatever.

And so one of the things I did is I used to actually cut news

events out of the newspaper, but back in those days, you couldn't

save things on your computer or whatever.

You just had to cut out the articles from the newspaper and

I would glue them into the scrapbooks.

So in my newspaper articles, 1963, The Assassination of

President Kennedy, I have all those articles.

I don't think anybody's going to ever want them because I

actually use Elmer's glue to put them in my scrapbook so they

don't look too good anymore. So I'm looking at kind of thing,

and should I just throw this away now so my kids don't have

to when I'm older? That's the kind of things I was

thinking about when you get here over years.

But anyway, as I was thinking about that, but I had that

article, I had the articles where Martin Luther King was

killed in 1968, Robert F Kennedy killed 1968, George Wallace, one

of the presidential candidates shot and become a crippled 1971.

And I was thinking about all the events that happened in the 60s

and especially in 1968 when Martin Luther King, who was very

big on rights for blacks, especially in the South, because

of all the Jim Crow laws that were down there separating the

races, etcetera. And, and there was a lot of

controversy in that. Matter of fact, one of my life

stories is my brother Bill, and I was 14, he would have been 18.

And we were driving up Montcalm in Pontiac, and all the sudden

bombs start going off on our right hand.

We're passing the bus garage in this for the city of Pontiac

schools. And 10 buses were literally

blown up with bombs. And we saw the whole thing.

Now, because of our age, all we can think about is getting by a

phone because we didn't have a cell phone, because we wanted to

call CKLW, the Motor City, because if you called with the

right news event for the year, you would get 1000 bucks.

We're like we want that 1000 bucks.

We weren't thinking about the consequences on our nation.

We knew my Aunt Alice lived around the corner in Hampton Rd.

right by signals and we're like let's get the analysis and use

her phone so we can call that in.

We never won that year. I don't remember that part of

the story, but that's how desperate things were in those

days. And then when JFK was killed and

these big assassinations are taking place, I remember a guy

in church saying we all need to go to the corner of our

properties and plead the blood of Jesus.

This country's falling apart. I'm like, Oh my God, Jesus.

But I found out that God was doing something totally

different. And if you study history, you'll

find out history is all about the headline people, the famous

people, the kings, etcetera, which is what history is to a

greater extent. But often times what's really

happening in the world, taking God out of it is not what's

happening in the headlines and the famous people, but it's

happening in the everyday people.

And we have to understand that church and then add the context

of what God is doing because where everybody was saying the

world's falling apart, what's happening to our nation now if

one person kills another person, that's not what's happening to

our nation, no matter how famous that person is or how much

controversy surrounds it. We have to understand that we

have to take everything in its context.

And I found out that, well, people have a tendency to just

take things and oftentimes make them much bigger than their

context. But more importantly, I'm

sharing with you what God has spoken to me.

And I saw how God used the environment of the times to stir

great revival. And there was what we called the

Jesus People movement. It was a counterculture to the

counterculture, and yet it reached a whole multitude of

young people and church. This is a time when God's

reaching young people. I shared with you last week all

the things indicate something powerful is happening.

And of course, Charlie Kirk, I didn't really like, I said no at

first, but he seemed to be really involved in the the

college love of this. But I know God's going to do

some other things too. Great things are happening.

And then the charismatic movements that came from the

heels of that and and how powerful God moved over the next

whole generation Church. We are in a time of supernatural

happenings from God, and although we will have our

political decisions and find interest and all these things,

what you have to understand is God's doing something

supernatural. Joel prophesied it.

He said multitudes, multitudes are in the valley of Decision

for the day of the Lord is near in the Valley of Decision

church. We are in the valley of decision

and everything is going to focus on people needing to make a

choice. So what we have to do is we need

to be speaking the truth. Amen.

But not from the idea that the world is falling apart, but from

the idea that God is doing something so powerful.

The sun and moon will grow dark. The stars will diminish their

brightness. These are not literal events.

These are prophetic terms often used when a time of great change

is taking place. And we are in one of those times

right now. The stars are falling, being

diminished in brightness. But what is God going to do?

The Lord also will what roar from Zion, utter his voice from

Drews from the heavens, and the earth will shake.

But the Lord will be a shelter for his people, and the

strength, Hallelujah, of His people as well.

Can we all bow our heads and close our eyes for just a

moment? Because I believe with

everything within me, this is a momentous time in the history of

planet Earth, United States of America, Mount Zion Temple, the

people of God. And we got to make sure we're

tuning in to what it is that God is speaking and understanding

that we all have to take our place.

And it seems like somebody's fallen.

We got to stand up all the more. There's always somebody else and

God saying, will you respond? Will you make yourself ready?

My people shall be volunteers in the day of my visitation, says

the Lord. And this is the day when the

volunteer call is going out to the body of Christ and to the

nations. It's time for the roar to come

from Zion. It's time for the Holy Mountain

to begin to speak and declare. And time for God's people to

know we have a refuge. We don't have to be afraid.

He will give us strength. He is able.

He is calling. He is calling.

Father, in the name of Jesus and the seriousness of the moment

that's shaking our nation, Father, let your people hear

your voice say arise and shine. The people of Zion.

It's time, It's time. Thank you, Jesus.

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.