Big Brother Jesus | Pastor Loren Covarrubias

I want to start by reading the scripture in the book of Matthew

that actually quotes the scriptures from the Psalms.

It says with the while the Pharisees were gathered

together, Jesus asked them saying, What do you think about

the Christ? Whose son is he?

He said in the son of David. He said them How then does David

in the spear call him Lord, saying the Lord said to my Lord,

sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.

If David then calls him Lord, how is he his son now?

This is a very important scripture.

A few months back I was talking about Davidde life and David was

amazing man of the scriptures. The Bible says it was because he

was a man after God's own heart. He truly loved the Lord and he

truly endeavored to follow God in all of his ways.

So in that sense he was a great example.

And one day the Lord came to him and said that through his seed

would come a son who would inherit the Kingdom.

Now there was a natural sense to that because Solomon, his son

took over the Kingdom and also built the temple, which actually

was in his heart to do. But God said it wasn't for him

to do, it would be for his Son to do that instead.

But according to the scripture says it begins to unfold.

We go to a lot of Old Testament scriptures and we've called them

messianic prophecies because in fact, they tell us about Jesus

who was to come. And though there was a natural

application, there's a spiritual application.

So in time, the Jews recognize this, that when the Messiah

would come, the anointed one who had delivered them from their

oppressors, that he would be of the lineage of David.

That's why at Christmas when we tell the Christmas story, you'll

notice in the genealogies of the Gospels that it traces Jesus

lineage back to David, because that was very important

concerning the prophecy that had been given to him.

David not only would have his natural son become something

that would be really a great blessing to the world of his

time, but that son also would build the temple.

Dave would actually bring forth another son in time, not just in

the natural, but he would also build a spiritual temple, if you

would, because the Bible says that we are a spiritual temple

that God is raising up in the earth.

And so there's a natural implication and a spiritual

implication. The Jews were looking for a

natural person like David, who like Dave would be a man of war,

who like David would be able to challenge their enemies and like

David would give them power over all their enemies.

Because when David became the king, literally, he secured all

the borders of the country. And for the first time in their

history, when his son Solomon came to the throne, literally

the country was at peace because David was this man of war.

But in the understanding of the Scriptures, when Jesus Christ

came, he actually was the son of David, but he was also the Son

of God. Jesus was truly man, but he was

also truly God. And so when he's was speaking in

his ministry on the earth and he's talking about who He is,

sometimes they'd use references about himself, just like these

ones in Psalm. That would confuse the people.

And they didn't want to understand really, because they

had in their mind what they thought God should do.

And if God wasn't going to do that way, they weren't going to

receive it at all. And so that's why Jesus

challenged them in the Scripture.

I just read to you, Well, in Psalm 110, it says the Lord says

to my Lord, sit while I make your enemies your footstool.

Now, if it's the Lord talking to the Lord, how could David's son

be just a man? The Lord was the Old Testament

word for Jehovah, Yahweh. It's translated different ways,

but it was the name of God, and so it was the Lord name of God,

saying to the Lord, the Son of God in this case, who would be

able to fulfill the purposes of God and come to this place of

victory. Again, the children of Israel

did not receive this. The religious establishment,

which was the Pharisees, they really stood against it,

actually consenting to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in

time. So he had a challenge to be able

to break the mindsets of the people, but it was hard for

those mindsets to be broken because their hearts weren't

exactly right towards the Lord. That's why this scripture here

is a very good example of what describes their attitude.

It's from the book of Exodus chapter 20.

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

It says that they, Speaking of the children of Israel, said to

Moses, Speak with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with

us, unless we die. And Moses said to the people, Do

not fear, for God has come to test you, and that is fear may

be before you, so that you may not sin.

So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick

darkness where God was. So as Moses brought the children

of Israel out of the land of Egypt, where they were slaves,

they experienced a great deliverance and God told Moses

to take them to Mount Sinai, and there he would meet with them

there. Now, when God came to them on

Mount Sinai, it was a horrible sight in one sense, because

there was Thunder, there was lightning, there were thick

clouds, there was literally an earthquake.

The whole earth was shaking from the very presence of the living

God. Now Moses explained that God

wanted to come so they could understand about the fear of the

Lord. Now the fear of the Lord is

different than being afraid of God.

The fear of the Lord is having such an awesome respect for who

He is that in fact it doesn't give you fear.

It takes away your natural fears, because when you know

that God is for you, who can be against you?

Amen. But that's only when you know

who He actually is. He was this awesome God.

As a matter of fact, in the Old Testament, as the children

reservoir were getting ready to take the promised land, the Lord

said to them, now remember the Lord your God is an awesome God.

Now that's the word we use from the newer translation, the new

King James. But the original says the Lord

your God is a terrible God. Well, you read that today and

you think, well, why would God say he's terrible?

Well, the word has a double meaning.

It's terrible to be against that God, but it actually is

wonderful if you're with that God.

Amen, church. That's why, of course, the

translation was changed, because we understand God is an awesome

God, but you have to be careful that we have the fear of the

Lord because the Bible says that's the beginning of wisdom.

It's the beginning of knowledge. But when the children of Israel

saw God, they decided we're going to keep our distance and

we're going to be over here. And Moses, we'll let you go talk

to God. We want to hear what He has to

say, but you go talk to him, and you come to us and tell us what

He has to say. We don't want to get too close

to that mountain. Now Moses was different than

them. The Bible says that Moses talked

to God face to face as a man would his friend when he first

meets the Lord at the burning Bush.

The Bible says he has God. Well, what's your name?

I want to know who you are. Basically, he had this

motivation. I want to get to know who you

are, God. And that's such a powerful

thing. And every single one of us need

to understand we have the opportunity to get to know God.

I started going to church when I was very young.

In Sunday school. They would talk about Jesus

Christ and they would say you can have a personal relationship

with God. Well, to me, that was awesome.

I wanted to have a personal relationship with God.

Everybody in church talked about.

But I found out in time that most people didn't have a

personal relationship with God. They had personal experiences

from time to time, but they didn't build it into a

relationship. But for myself, I always wanted

that relationship and so I adhered to it.

I walked in it and I have all the days of my life and I've

become an advocate at all times. You can have a personal

relationship with God. Now, when I say I was different,

it wasn't like I was more holy or anything than other people.

Actually, it was because God chose me for a specific purpose

of sharing with people about having a personal relationship.

Most people have a difficult relationship with God because He

is invisible. Amen.

I mean, you know, it isn't easy to have a relationship with

somebody who's invisible. Come on.

It's hard enough to have one with one who is visible.

A man who can talk. Well, I was uniquely chosen

because, well, I could get along with invisible people.

As a matter of fact, all my friends when I was a kid were

invisible. I was kind of like an introvert,

a very shy person, had a big family, so that was big enough

for me as far as having people around me.

But when I played, I usually had friends who were invisible.

It was easier to work with people that were invisible in my

mind. So I'd go out and I used to love

to play cowboy and Indians when I was a kid, which was quite

shocking for me. I talked to one of my grandkids

about Cowboys and Indians, and they didn't know what I was

talking about. I'm like, oh Lord, what's

happened to this world? But anyway, I always like to be

the Indian chief. And so I had to have all my

Braves that were behind me be, well, pretend Braves.

And all the Cowboys were pretend.

So when I would get Christmas presents, birthday presents,

often it'd be some kind of Indian headdress that I could

wear so that I could be the chief because my mom always

encouraged me and my fantasy world in that.

And so when I didn't have a Indian headdress, I would sneak

in my sister Jeannie's room, get her cane can and put it on my

head. I don't know if the can cans are

still used nowadays or not, but if you can imagine seeing me run

around the backyard with a can can on my head, telling my

soldiers to follow me and fighting against the other ones.

My next door neighbor, Mr. Hamilton, he called me the

Sheik. And I'm like, I'm not a Sheik,

I'm a chief. I didn't understand what he was

saying, but he certainly didn't understand what I was doing.

In the winter time, I go inside and I play with my marbles.

I had a thousands of marbles. Some were red, some were blue.

And so when I put them out on the bed, the red ones were the

Indians. The blue ones don't tell anybody

that, but the red ones were the Indians and the blue ones were

the Cowboys. And I'd be sitting on my bed and

I'd be making Indian noises as I'm pushing the red ones and

cowboy fighting. When I was doing the blue ones,

I remember one day my dad standing at the door kind of

looking at me, kind of strange. And I know he was thinking, I

wonder if this kid will be normal one of these days then.

Anyway, although it was comfortable me to have Jesus as

my individual invisible friend, I also understood that I had to

not make him up, so to speak, formulate my own Jesus.

But I had to, through the Word of God, get to know who He was.

And of course, when your kid in Sunday school, you have all

kinds of visuals that people show you.

My favorite, of course, was Jesus with the lamb in his arms

looking for the lost sheep of the House of Israel.

And that was the picture I built on and I grew in.

And so it's so important for us to recognize that we need to

make a choice. God is going to be a personal

part of my life. I want to be like Moses.

I want to be like all these other people of the Old

Testament. That's why I'm writing my class

that I'm teaching on Thursday nights.

It's about having this personal relationship, really about

walking with Jesus to become everything we're supposed to be.

Because I really believe that's what happens when we follow him

and it's an amazing thing to know like Moses, God face to

face as a man with a friend, not that we will visibly see him,

but our perception becomes that as we walk in the word with the

help of the Holy Spirit. Now in Psalm 110, going back to

the original Scripture, it says the Lord said to my Lord, sit at

my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.

The Lord shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion rule

in the midst of your enemies. Now this is beautiful because

basically when Jesus Christ was on the earth for three years, he

ministered in obedience to the call on his life to preach the

gospel to the poor, the opening of prison to them that were

bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and bring

deliverance to so many people. But of also, most of us know

that in the end that meant he was willing to be obedient even

unto his death. And the Bible says that when

Jesus Christ died on the cross. That's why I love to show the

picture when people are baptized, because there's an

identification we can have with that experience that when Jesus

Christ died on the cross, because he was obedience, the

Bible says through the spirit of holiness that he even rose from

the dead. And the Bible says that when he

rose from the dead, he sits at the right hand of authority on

high. And we know from other

scriptures that the Bible teaches us that all the

principalities and powers of the enemy have been broken.

So basically after Jesus did his job, he goes to heaven, sits

down and says OK, what next? Well from that point in time

everything would happen. Not through him personally, but

the strength would come from Zion.

The Bible says. Now in the Old Testament, Zion

referred to the Jews to Mount Zion where the temple was.

But we know in the New Testament, the Bible says in

Hebrews chapter 12, but you have come to Mount Zion.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

It is the city of the living God, a heavenly Jerusalem.

That's what happens when we come to church.

We are those people that God has chosen, that through us the

strength of the Christ would come.

So all that He accomplished, He accomplished not just for us,

but he wants to do something through us.

And a lot of Christians want him to do something for them, but He

also wants to do something through you.

And that isn't just a ministry, that isn't just something that

you're doing specifically for God.

As a Christian, we should see that all of our life is an

opportunity for us to invite God to come in and be a part of what

we're doing, and He's able to do something for us that we can do

for ourselves. And so that's what God wants us

to understand. He wants us to grow in the

knowledge of Him through an ongoing relationship with Him

that really we practice in everyday life as we allow Him to

come into our circumstances and situations.

It goes on to say here in this Psalm, your people will be

volunteers of the day of your power in the beauties of

holiness from the womb of the morning.

You have the dew of your youth. And this is a key factor here.

And something I really believe is God saying to the church

today with me, everything has a season and it has a time, says

the Lord, and this is a day of visitation.

This is the day of my power, says the Lord your God.

And in order for this day of power to be manifested, the

people have to be volunteers. The word volunteer there

actually means to have a willing heart.

And so God's saying we've got to be willing to allow God into our

life so we can make our life a habitation for God's willing,

and throughout a partnership with him, bring glory and honor

and praise to our Lord. And I truly believe this is a

time when God's going to have volunteers as never before.

So I'll be talking about it even more and more as the days unfold

because I really believe that God wants us to push out into

the community, offering more programs and more opportunities

for people to come to the Lord. So this is a time when God is

saying the call is going. Now, will there be volunteers in

the House of God? Now again, often times people

think, well, I don't have any attributes that I could use to

volunteer for the things of the Kingdom of God, But it's

obviously true with our community centers how that

there's a lot of different jobs that you could do in order to

facilitate the operations of the buildings and all the things.

While one of the ladies in the church was probably 20 years ago

said I'll, I'll come every once a week and clean the bathrooms.

And as far as I know, she's still doing that and it's been a

help to what we're doing doing. And so there's all kinds of

different ways that we'll be talking to you about in the

future. But just remember, God wants to

do something awesome. And it's going to start with the

people that say I'm a volunteer, I'm ready.

Now the second part of that verse, it kind of seems funny

because it talks about the dew of your youth that comes in the

morning. There's trying to paint a

picture here because when do we see dew?

Well, it's in the morning, and what happens, especially this

time of year, might be warm during the day, but as it cools

in the night, the cooler air isn't able to hold its moisture.

So what happens is that moisture starts falling to the ground.

And that's why in the fall, you'll often go outside and see

that there's a dew on the ground.

And So what it is symbolizing is what's happening in the

beginning of the day. You're gonna see the dew and

what this scripture says, the dew of your youth.

And one of the things I was feeling God was speaking to me

about is that we need to recognize this is a day of

visitation and power, especially among the youth.

And so we'll be calibrating our Community Center.

And that's why we really appreciate the extra funds that

we can have at this time. And I was talking to the leaders

yesterday that we're going to have a level of faith.

We're going to make a difference in the world today as never

before. Amen Church.

And I'm excited about what God is able to do and people giving

their part and their share to be a part of this.

But the key factor is there's something happened with young

people today and it's I've seen it reported in secular reports

as well as Christian ones. George Bonner, who's a Christian

pollster, I guess, is the word to describe it, and he's been

polling the generations and he's saying there's something

happening in the younger generation right now, and

literally young adults have the highest level of church

attendance of all the different generations.

Believe it or not, it didn't used to be that way.

And one of the things that they were saying is that there is a

movement even among young men because in the past, whenever

God did something new, truthfully, women were almost

always on the forefront of what was happening.

And that's why, especially when you start a new work or God's

doing something new, it usually doesn't what quite work this

way. But in this new harvest is

coming right now, everybody's saying something's happening.

So church, we're getting ready for the harvest.

We're going to make a difference in our world.

Amen. Not just for the world's

children, but for ours, because we're going to believe this

blessing is going to go to our children, to our children's

children, Amen. I want to be proactive to

believe that no matter what's happening in the world, I can

have a confidence that God is able to keep what I've committed

on to him against that day, Amen.

And so this is a time that youthful harvest is going to

arise. And as you often hear me

testify, I became a part of that in the Jesus people movement in

the early 70s. And I believe that something

just as dramatics happening today.

That's why we have to have an ear to hear and we have to

willing heart to be a part of all that God is doing.

Now going to the book of Hebrews chapter 2, we see another

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

illustration and amplification again of Psalm 110.

In this particular verse it says, For He has not put the

world to come of which we speak in subjection to angels, 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 angels, and yet you have crowned him with glory and honor

and set him over the works of your hands.

Now this of course is quoting a scripture from the book of

Genesis. In the very beginning of time

when God created man, the Bible says he created him from the

dust of the earth, breathed in his nostrils the best breath of

life, and man became a living being.

Now when God started this, he said, now let us make man in our

image and in our likeness. Not only that, let them have

dominion over all the creation that I have.

And then after they were created, He gave them that

dominion mandate. It's time to take your place.

That's why Hebrews chapter 2 is quoting another Psalm.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

In that Psalm chapter 8 where he's saying, well, why would God

Psalms 8 · chapter mention

use people? If God had a great plan for

planet earth, why wouldn't he just use the angels?

They would be much easier to work with.

They have so much more power. Who is man that you are mindful

of him are the Son of man. You would visit him.

Well, God said the angels were not created in my image and

likeness. Since the time of the

Reformation, people began to realize that Christianity should

not be a mere religion, but it should be a people that

understand they were created for a unique purpose that only God

could come up with. And that's why we have to not

only receive Christ in our life, but we need to say, OK, what

purpose do you want to add to my life so that I can be that image

bearer to my generation? And it's so sad that in the

story of the children of Israel, how they chose religious

tradition over having that personal encounter with God.

And we see the same thing happening in church history.

There came a time really when the dynamic church that was so

powerful that literally the whole Roman Empire, which was

guilty of crucifying the Christ, literally turned to Christianity

in 320AD. How did how did that happen?

Well, it was a powerful group of people, but once the church

became accepted, unfortunately people began to follow the old

patterns of having priests and intermediaries between them and

God. And God was put more at a

distance. And the Lord says, don't you

know that I created you in my image and likeness?

You don't have to put me in the distance.

You don't have to have another person between me and you.

I want you, says the mighty God, and I want to have a

relationship with you that you were created as my image bear,

and you can be everything that I have called you to be, says the

mighty God, Amen. And with that will be a people

of influence, will be a people that will be able to subdue and

have authority in this life that goes beyond our natural

authority, but something very powerful that only the Lord

himself can do. As the Hebrew writer goes on, it

says you have put all things in subjection under his feet.

That speaks the first of Christ, but then also for us, in that He

put all in subjection under His feet.

He left nothing that is not put under His feet.

But now we do not yet see all these things put under him.

But what do we see? Well, we see Jesus, who was also

made a little lower than the angels, as a man for the

suffering address, crowned with glory and honor that He, by the

grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

So Jesus Christ had to become a man in order that he could show

us what it was to be one of those image bearers, if you

would, and a person who could be an overcomer in this life.

Jesus had a life of a lot of opposition.

Opposition is a normal part of life.

Even when we get in a relationship, there's opposition

because we're different. Amen.

When we go out for our vacation or job, everywhere we go there's

a certain level of opposition that comes our way.

But God can give us power over every circumstance of our life.

Church. Isn't he amazing?

Don't you want to walk in the fullness of all that he has?

But what that scripture says is Jesus has already won.

We don't see it yet because when we see it, it's going to be

happening under our feet. God says, I have called you to

be a people of authority. I've called you to be a people

that overcome, says the mighty God.

It isn't just what Jesus did for you.

Now it's what you're going to do for him, but also he's going to

do it through you. Give him a praise on that.

That's a good one. Amen.

It goes on to say here in Hebrews chapter 2.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

For it was fitting for him whom are all things, and by whom are

all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the

captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

For Rothy, who sanctifies, and those who are being sanctified

are all one speaking about Jesus who started it now us who are in

process. For which reason he's not

ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare your name

to my brethren in the midst of this symbol.

I will sing to you. And again I will put my trust in

him. And again, here am I and the

children whom God has given me. I put over this that Jesus

becomes our Big Brother. But it starts by recognizing

that Jesus was a son of glory and he's called us to be the

sons of glory. Isn't that amazing church to

think about that If I want to emphasize the fact that he talks

about us being his children. When you're first born again,

how you know you become a son of God.

But God doesn't want us to be children.

He wants us to grow into maturity so that we can be the

sons of God, not just the children of God.

And I put here how important a Big Brother was because I know

in the natural life about having a Big Brother.

As most of you know, my Big Brother passed away recently and

I did his funeral. That's the 4th member of my

family I've done funerals for. And it's not a easy task, but

there's one thing I'd want to do it give honor to the people who

have blessed me in my life. And so I would always want to

take that opportunity to be a blessing for them in return.

And I sure appreciate it, having a Big Brother.

I grew up in a family that I had eight brothers and sisters.

There were nine kids. And you might think that was

crazy, but seemed like most of our relatives were in a

competition because I had an Aunt Alice who had 10 kids, you

know, So there were a lot of us back then had Big Van.

Now, in a big family, there's a whole lot of work that's

involved. I heard somebody talked about

the other day about how hard it is to have two or three kids.

Well, when my mom had #8 my brother had been born at seven

months, so she had her 8th kid, and five of them had not reached

4-5 yet. How many know that's a whole lot

of work. So what happens in a big family

situation like this? If you can't afford help, you

got to have the help in the household.

So my sister Jeannie became the assistant to the mother and my

brother Bill is the assistant to the father.

And so my dad used to work a lot to take care of the family.

I remember hearing people say, yo, my dad's not around.

You don't come to my games. I'm like, my dad's working for

money and I like the money so he can go wherever he needs to go.

Besides that, I had a Big Brother and my Big Brother gave

me that feeling like my dad did. He could take care of me.

He's pretty tough guy and I knew he could take care of me.

But as a Big Brother, he also challenged me on things and so

lots of times in life when because I was an introvert and

very easily being willing to draw back rather than to push

in, he would be always there. Come on, Lauren, you can do it.

Come on. Sometimes they'd use some names

that I would repeat here. But anyway, he's like you got to

challenge yourself. I've often shared the story how

that when I was 17, I had a good job, so I bought a new car and

it was a 1971 Camaro and I knew I had to have a girlfriend in

the other book at seat if I life is going to be fulfilling and

I'll share with you how I prayed for a girlfriend and it was a

beautiful prayer I presented to the Lord.

Well, my brother Bill, he's kind of like you don't pray for a

girlfriend. You just go get a girlfriend.

I'm like, well, that's easy for you because he was pretty good

at it. I just watched from the

sidelines, you know, kind of thing.

So one day he says, hey, calls me.

He said, Lauren, I want to go to my friend's house.

We're going to go work on the race car.

And I said, he said, well, you come pick me up.

So I picked him up and we went over there and we're looking at

things. And all of a sudden he stops and

he says, hey, he said, Ron, Lauren just bought a new car and

he wants your sister to go for a ride in it so he can show her.

I'm like I had never met the girl before, let alone I get the

nerve to ask her to go in my car.

So I'm just in panic mode. What am I going to say?

What am I going to do? How am I going to think?

Anyway, through spraying in tongues I got through it.

But anyway, not really. I wasn't filled with the Holy

Spirit yet, but I was praying. I can tell you that right now.

And it was that girl who a couple weeks later came into the

Wolves Den, which was the store Clarkson High School had.

And I was a part of being in that as a Co-op.

And she came in and she also told me that she was going to a

place called the Prayer House, which was a part of the Jesus

People movement. And she asked me if I want to go

to the prayer house. And I'm like, here's the answer

to prayer right in front of me. Of course, I'm going to go to a

prayer house. But anyway, it was a beautiful

experience. I would all work, but it was

through that that I received the Holy Spirit and got involved in

the ministry and everything happened.

So I can say it was prayer, but it was also my brother Bill that

got me filled with the Holy Ghost.

Say mentored because God can use our Big Brothers to push us

along the way. It's funny because I was reading

the article and they were all excited the person that was

writing the article how that now that the boys outnumber the

girls, I'm like I kind of like the olden days when the girls

outnumber the guys. It's not more fun for me anyway.

Might sound selfish, whatever having a Big Brother is

something that Jesus has been to me as well because as I've

shared with you my many testimonies of faith that I've

had. I'm not a daring person at all

in my natural personality. And so I'm just the kind of

person is kind of like OK, whatever you know what you do

don't matter to me. I'll just enjoy my own little

pretend world if you would. But God challenged me to take

big steps, whether it was the buying of our first church that

was way more than we could afford, buying this 52 acres

next to I-75, which it really didn't seem at all feasible at

the time. But again, God was always there

pushing me and always saying to me, come on Lauren, you can do

it. Just get going.

And through the encouragement of Christ, through the Holy Spirit,

I've been able to step out beyond myself.

And that's what happens when you have a relationship with God.

It changes along the way because God is always bringing us

forward. And I think this is a good case

of no, because somebody was telling me before the 1st that,

well, the faith they used to have doesn't seem to be working

the same and they were wondering if they were losing their faith.

And I want to repeat that story because I want to tell you a lot

of people are being challenged by your faith right now because

God wants to take you to a new level of faith.

Yesterday was good, but today is better, says the mighty God.

I have a place I want to take you.

You've never been before. So it goes on to say it in

Romans 2, and we know that all things work together for good to

those who love God, to those who are what a called according to

his purpose, for whom he for knew, He also predestined to be

conformed to the image of his Son, that he, Jesus would be the

first born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined,

these He also called, whom he called, these he also justified,

and whom He justified these He also what glorified.

Now it's using it in the past tense sense, but we have to

understand that God does stuff and it's already accomplished,

but we have to make the choice to walk in it.

Amen. So when it says being conformed

to the image of Christ, it means to be jointly formed.

So as you're walking with him and it is very true, you begin

to pick up the habits and the thoughts of the people that are

around you. That's why it's important to

figure out who you're letting be around you.

But also you have to understand that when we walk closely to

Christ and we are with him to a strong sense of joining, then

your walk with him will form you because as you're walking

together and that's where this picture begins to come in.

Because when we become joined with him, something happens that

begins to change us in our life. It says Jesus was the first born

among many brother. He was the only begotten Son of

God. Now we know concerning Jesus

Christ that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God,

and the Word was God. So Jesus wasn't born on the day

that he was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the same sense we are.

He was incarnated, but in that incarnation he becomes the first

born of the family of God. He becomes our Big Brother, He

becomes our protector, He becomes our instructor, He

becomes all things that we have need of, because that's how the

power of God works in our lives in the individual sins.

That's why it says this in Hebrews Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard

Him and what been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus, that

you put off concerning your former conduct the old man,

which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed,

in the spirit of your mind you may put on the new man, which

was a created according to God, and true righteousness, and also

holiness. So there is this walking

together with Christ, where we learn more about Him.

And how do you know when you find a new friend or somebody

who comes to your life, As you get to interact with them, you

get to know them. You don't know them the first

time you meet them. It's a process where people kind

of let their walls down and you become friends.

And of course, God's walls are always down.

But we let down our walls. And guess what?

When we do that, we'll get to know Jesus like we've never

known Him before. I love this walk I have with Him

because for all these years I can still learn something, I can

still see something, and I can still allow God to take me

beyond myself to a dimension I've never walked in before.

And this is so important because when you walk with Christ, you

have to recognize He wants to teach you along the way.

So when we have a crisis relationship with God and just

call Him in for help when we need help, we're never going to

be able to learn and hear from Him the way we're supposed to.

Most of you know that when we got this 52 acres here on I-75,

there were miraculous means by which the Lord did that.

Don't want to share that story again, but when God performed

the miracle of giving him this property, when we went to the

Township with our plans, I thought for sure they would give

us a yes. They gave us a no.

They said things like a church shouldn't have that property,

it's so visible, blah, blah, blah.

And so it seemed like it was just going to be a no.

And so we started fighting against them.

We were getting petitions. We had crowds of people who were

protesting. We're doing everything we could.

And then when I was in prayer, the Lord said, Romans 13 to me,

and government is for your good. It's not a tool against good

people. It's a tool against evil people.

And basically in the context of that, the Lord said, shouldn't

you be submitting to the government?

So I'm like, OK, I like the fighting in part better.

You work this miracle when you gave us the land.

Surely we can move in there as the people of God take dominion.

He said no, submit, find out what I can do for you.

And so we went in there and we submitted to the plan and

purposes as they gave us the commandment, if you would.

And I saw God's wisdom in it. See, I was able to be instructed

how I didn't even see God's full plan.

Sometimes God uses the people around you to work the plan out.

And it was because we did that we were able to move slowly and

add on to our building twice in just a couple years.

But then also we had the opportunity to open our

Community Center, one in Clarkson and one in Waterford.

And it was just, when I look back, I'm like, Lord, you're so

smart. Sometimes we just got to stop

and we got to listen. Amen, church.

And this is where this scripture comes in, because it's so

important for the day and hour in which we presently live.

And this is the invitation Jesus says to all of us, 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 and

lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Why? For my yoke is easy and my

burden is light. And I want you to see what a

yoke was. Because it was something they

would use to put 2 animals together in order to double the

power as they were, for instance, like this palm of

field. But I like this picture because

Jesus is carrying the Hever load and we're kind of over here like

this, but stay in yoke to him. He's able to do something in US

and strengthen us. And we also understand, or we

should, that if we allow ourselves to be yoked with

Christ, and if we have that personal relationship with him

where we let him teach us, speak to us, grow in our lives.

Church, you're going to find rest for your weary soul.

And you know, we live in a world today where the world needs to

find the rest, find the peace. And we have to understand too,

there's things happening today that can shake you at your very

core, but when you're yoked together with Christ, He's able

to strengthen you, to teach you, and to make you everything you

need to be for whatever life He has called you to.

Can we all bow our heads for just a moment?

Because before we take communion, the Bible says we

should examine ourselves. And the Lord is saying to us

today, come to me, come you that are weary or heavy laden, and

find out I can give you rest. Come to me.

You that are confused, I can give you answers, I can give you

wisdom, I can give you understanding.

Put your life in my hands and find out that with me all things

are possible, says the mighty Godfather.

I pray for all of us as a people today.

We're living in a unusual time, but we know it's your time.

We know it's your season, and we know that we are your chosen

ones in the earth. So Father, let us bring glory

and honor and praise your name by finding your strength and

life in every situation. We ask it in Jesus name, Amen.

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.