Rebrand Announcement (1st service) - Pastor Brad Neuschwander (August 30, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

want to thank you for joining us today, and we

hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

To find service times and watch messages online,

see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. Well, I have a great

privilege this morning. Every time I step into

the pulpit, it is an absolute honor and privilege

to open God's word and to teach his word. Today,

it's going to be a combination of both teaching

and exhorting and also giving some vision. My

team had asked me before we start the month of

September, because we have an incredibly packed

month, And so let me just say this to you. I

know that fall has kind of become our time to

celebrate our anniversary services. And I do

this particularly trying to take the month of

September and really... infuse, ask the Lord,

Lord, who do we bring? What are you wanting to

do? What can we put inside the body of Christ

that they need in this moment that you're building

the people? It's not building this infrastructure.

He's building you. He's building out you, the

infrastructure of God. In fact, that's literally

what the prophetic actually does. The very word

of God comes to encourage. to equip, it comes

to build out. It means to beautify. And God is

always interested in beautifying his people on

the inside. Come on. In fact, as the outside,

we know that you can go to a lot of places, you

can lift things up and put things and tuck this

and pull that. But the reality is, on the inside

is what's eternal. And God wants to actually

spend his time pouring inside of you what is

eternal so that you look more like Christ. And

so this coming September, even starting next

weekend, and I'm kind of giving a little preamble

here this week, but we've got Labor Day weekend.

We'll have something wonderful. And then we have

our... our barbecue that many of us are signed

up to work and to have a whole family barbecue.

That is put on just the only thing you have to

bring. money for is not the food and not the

service if you want to get some merchandise that

may some new things that the team has put together

if you want to do that and get some swag that's

up to you but the reality is we're going to have

for our 25th you know food is a little bit of

our love language here because we do believe

in widening the body of christ and so in that

in that process in that process we are going

to have barbecue chicken and tri -tip and hot

dogs and corn on the cob and all sorts of fun

stuff. I know we've got King Whippy coming over

there as well for dessert and ice cream as well.

There'll be all sorts of great stuff to celebrate

25 years in outdoor service. And you can bring

your lawn chairs. We'll have more on that in

the next couple of weeks. But it's going to be

a great time. And then after that, we have a

special weekend with my friend Daryl Corbin and

his wife, Michael, the pastor. really kind of

the church that is kind of the grandfather church

that we all kind of got connected to. Originally

it was called Bible Temple, then it became City

Bible, and now it's Manor House. Daryl is the

senior pastor at Manor House. Him and his wife

are going to be coming down. They're going to

be speaking to us just about the journey that

they had taking a church with multiple campuses

and having to deal with things inside of their

own organization to clean some things out so

that the fire of God can come. How many know

you can be a church for a long time? I think

they're going on 80 years by the time that they've

pioneered and moved forward. Sometimes God has

to... breathe and clean things out to get people

back to the place to have a fire to be in his

presence and to pursue him. So we're looking

forward to that. God's done an amazing work.

Daryl is a great person. I knew him from Bible

college days. He pioneered a church in Centralia,

Washington and turned that church over to a good

friend of ours and then came and took Manor House

over from Pastor Mark Estes who was the pastor

that took it from Dr. Frank Damasio. So we've

got a long, rich heritage, and we're looking

to have them that weekend. And then the next

weekend, week and weekend, starts on Thursday

morning. We start with our Waypoint Conference,

which is going to be September 24th through the

27th. And we will have Jim Hockaday from Colorado.

that we've had here before, this Last Life Conference.

Him and Aaron will be here, along with Jan Venter

and his wife, Hanley. And we're gonna be doing,

in the mornings, a healing school, and in the

evenings, healing services. And that's gonna

start Thursday morning. We'll do Thursday morning,

Friday morning, Saturday morning of healing school,

and basically just education on how. how to operate

in healing, what to do when there's hindrance

to healing. There's going to be some wonderful

resources that we're putting on so that you can

receive that because we want this place through

Christ Jesus to have a deposit of his healing

grace and we want to release it. Amen? We've

been praying for healing wells to be open and

we believe that we have that right in the scripture

that God tells us that he wants to heal and deliver.

And so we're gonna spend. our Waypoint Conference,

just focusing in on the words of Christ and his

healing power and his desire to heal people.

And that will be every night, Thursday night,

Friday night, Saturday night. They'll be with

us on Sunday morning, and then we'll have a special

final healing service Sunday night. So it's an

extended time of just in the presence of God,

just building on the virtue of Jesus, releasing

it to his people. So that's a full month. It's

a It's a big month. There's a lot of stuff going

on. Our volunteers, our staff are drinking lots

of Gatorade in advance because we're going to

be working hard. We appreciate anyone that can

help and come alongside. It's a big endeavor

to not only take everything from the church to

take to another location. to do a full picnic,

but then to come back and within a couple of

weeks and do a full conference as we do here

and try to do it with excellence is a big deal.

So I appreciate your prayers, appreciate your

help in advance, and it's going to be a great

time. I am warning you in advance, both Dr. Venter

and Jim Hockaday are not sissies. And by that,

I mean they are constantly living in this truth

of healing. And so they're pretty straightforward

with it. Don't set your teeth on edge by style.

Listen to the word of the Lord. Don't listen.

Remember what Jesus said about John the Baptist

versus himself? Wisdom is personified by all

her children. Listen, Elijah and Elisha were

totally different dudes. And they would pastor

totally different churches if they were pastoring.

Come on. One has got camel hair and locusts out

of his mouth and calling down fire. And the other

is, bring me a minstrel and play for me while

I give you the word of the Lord. There is a big

variety in the body of Christ. Just because you

like a certain style, I get it, okay? The fact

that you're here is amazing. Okay, but the reality

is some of these guys that walk in these giftings

and graces have different personalities. Give

them a little room with the personality and listen.

To the gift and to the, not to the gift, but

listen to the word and watch the gift function.

That's what we're doing. Will you do that with

me? And I think that will bless you. Because

listen, God is no respecter of persons and he

longs to touch his people. And so I'm, one of

the reasons that I brought these two in, I thought,

man, if I was ever going to offend people, it's

this year. Okay, meaning that these guys, I have

more messes sometimes when these guys come in

than when I don't. Emails, remember, Pastor Scott

at Life Bible Church. Anyway, just the way they

say things, do things, you just have to remember,

listen, we are pursuing. the things of God's

kingdom and we're believing for breakthrough.

And I'm okay with someone that is sold out knowing

what their calling is and that they do it day

in and day out and God shows the fruit of that.

I'm okay if they come a little less pastoral

and come a little more evangelist with a fiery

message. And if you prepare your heart for that,

then you won't be offended at sometimes kind

of the rhetorical questions that have a little

snap to the left jab, right? That's why we smile.

Snap, hmm, okay? Allow the word of God to hit

us a little bit. It'll be all right, it'll be

all right. All right, I want to share with you,

the team, as we were thinking about the 25th

anniversary, knowing that I've got all of the

guest speakers that are coming in and the things

that we're going to do. They wanted me to share

with you kind of a, I don't know, best way I

could describe it is kind of an A to Z perspective

of some of us old timers will have heard this

before. Some of us that are new to Life Bible

Church will have never heard it. And then in

the midst of sharing kind of the vision of what

our vision statement is, what God had given Jenny

and I early on when we pioneered, we're also

in the midst of what I want to open today is

to show you some of the rebranding that the team

has developed over the last year and a half and

a project they've been working on. And in that

process, kind of give you what God has been speaking

to me in the last three years of where I believe

he's positioning Life Bible Church. It's been

about a three -year journey for me, just in this

last three years of just saying, okay, Lord,

what is the next season for me as senior pastor?

And what, where are you? You had given me a 40

-year vision when I started the ministry. Many

of you have heard me tell this story, but I had

an open vision our first year of pastoring here.

And God actually, Literally, it's like everything

shifted. And I was walking at the coast. Jenny

and I got away just to hear God in the first,

it was almost, I think it was the first eight

months of our ministry here as senior pastors.

We had went away and I'm walking in at the Oregon

coast and all of a sudden, the atmosphere of

the ocean and the beach and the city, was gone,

and I was inside a whole different scenery. Now

you have to remember, the year was 2001. It just

had turned 2002 when this had happened. And in

this incredible experience that the Lord gave

me, I was very aware that I was walking. I was

very aware that I was in the natural, and yet

my vision was someplace else. I was actually

walking on this property. Now, here's the problem.

This property, the land existed, but nothing

else existed that you see here. No RV sites,

no buildings, no, certainly before the church

bought it, no church buildings. This land was

just owned originally by Morse Brothers and then

was part of the Knife River conglomeration kind

of buying it up. And this land was only permitted

for a building starting in 2005 and six. So in

2002, there was just a little road and fields

and nothing out here. And I didn't even know

that this, I had never been down here. I didn't

even know that I knew this, the land existed,

but I'd never been on it. I didn't even know

what I was seeing in, in 2002, all I was seeing

was I was, I was somewhere walking. I knew that

I was walking North as I was naturally walking

North. And as I was walking North, I was walking,

but I was looking at things in the spirit and

I saw buildings to my right. And I saw a swimming

pool as I was walking up to my left. And I saw

a motel. And I looked back and I saw a cross

on a building. And I saw a business center. And

I saw a gymnasium. I saw a restaurant. I saw

what looked like semis or buses. I couldn't tell.

In a parking lot with long lines. And I walked

through this thing and I walked out of it with

this large parking lot. And I'm like. And then

it ended. And then I was back on the beach and

I was still walking and I didn't run into anything,

didn't trip into anything. It was like, this

is like, this never happened to me. It's never

happened again. It happened one time. And I went

home and I went back and Jay said, what did God

speak to you? I go, I, he spoke, but I don't

know what he's saying. She goes, well, what does

he say? I said, the only thing that I, felt at

the end of what he showed me was, this is your

40 year vision. Well, that's good. That tells

me I'm going to be around at least for 40 years.

Okay. I believe in that in Jesus name with all

the stuff that has come at me. I just hang on

to that word. Lord, you showed me 40. I'm at

only 25. Come on. And in that process, I saw

those things. I did not think about those things.

Literally, I pondered them from time to time.

But as the years went by, we went from starting

in our church, our first little meeting in August

in my parents' house for about two or three times.

Then we went to Harris School that had just...

and we met at Harris School for about six weeks,

and then we moved again to the Seventh -day Church

of God and rented that building for about three

and a half years, and then we moved to the Wyatt

School building, and we called it the Wyatt Campus,

and we moved there, and we were there for over

almost 12 years until this property came available.

Now, in all of that journey, I had forgotten

the open encounter. Fact is, we had had plans.

We had been to several places during the Wyatt

times. We had talked to some of the farmers around

there. We had plans to lease, lease to buy 25

additional acres. We thought, well, we'll just

build onto the Wyatt campus and just make it

a... And then I was thinking the vision again.

I thought, well, I never saw a school, but I

know we're supposed to have a gym and I know

we're supposed to have a church building and

a swimming pool. And then we started getting

into all the issues with county and state and

all of the stuff. And when they told me that

what we wanted to build, I would have to spend

about a million and a half just to flush the

toilets. I thought, Lord, surely you misspoke.

I'm not gonna pay $2 million to create a pond

so that people can flush the toilets. Surely

that can't be right, not to mention what it's

gonna cost to build out there. And so we were

contemplating this. I've got some of the drawings

in my upper room in the house of what we had

just started contending for the vision of the

original times we would just, okay, what are

you showing us? What are we trying to piece together?

And in the process of that, we had some prophets

come and declare to us that the Lord was, we're

supposed to throw the plans away and we were

supposed to redesign what we were to build. In

fact, as the word was, you're building too small

and too insignificant. You must think extravagant.

Extravagant. Now that is not a Mennonite word.

Extravagant sounds expensive. And that's why

I say it's not a Mennonite word. Because my whole

point was we were just going to build a, try

to build a sheep shed, literally with metal siding

and a metal big barn. And I was used to tractors

and combines and everything that would fit in

there. We thought, well, we'll just. get a covering

and it'll be relatively inexpensive. We'll just

put up a bunch of sheds and then we'll figure

it out. And literally we had decided this kind

of in a thinking that that was the will of God.

And then we had our three prophets come in and

all of a sudden they turned to me and they go,

you've been planning something. Yeah. Throw it

away. And build something God says extravagant

with excellence that will have his glory and

his radiance on it. And so in that process, there's

been a journey. And you're gonna hear some of

these words over the next few weeks as our team

has gone back through. I think we have, they've

circled through about 100 different prophetic

words that have come over this house over the

last few years that the Lord specifically spoke.

To this house. And to the ministries. And to

things. Some have been accomplished. Some are

yet to be accomplished. And in that process.

Then the Lord showed us this property. And in

the showing of this property. I remember it was

late in December. And I was praying. I think

it was 2012. I had met with a businessman. And

this businessman came to me. He said listen.

And he didn't go to our church. But his wife

did. And he goes, listen, my wife's been telling

me about you guys are trying to lease 25 acres

and build on that Wyatt campus. He goes, are

you insane? Well, probably. He goes, you need

to go look at that property that's for sale on

the Harrisburg Riverbank. He goes, all of the,

and he spoke exactly what I just, all of the

infrastructure, all the sewer lines, all the

power is already in. It's already done. You wouldn't

even have to pay for it again. The word of the

Lord. Hallelujah. And so I said, well, I've looked

at it before. I just didn't sense anything on

it. But I said, I'll tell you what, I will go

look at it. And so that, It was December and

I was praying and one night I couldn't sleep

and it was about 1 .32 in the morning. I'm praying

and Jenny and I have a little propane fireplace

there and I had the fire on. I hear this little,

sometimes God speaks to me. If you'll read the

scriptures, he says sometimes he speaks in dark

sayings and in riddles. Have you ever had the

Lord kind of give you something that you had

to search out before? I hear the Spirit of the

Lord speak to me in this funny little way. He

says, you'll go through a gate, it sleeps more

than eight. What? At two in the morning, what

does that mean? And he said it again. You'll

go through a gate, it sleeps more than eight.

So some of the time, I think that's half the...

Why half of my hair is gone is because my family,

the church and the Lord. Hallelujah. I mean,

and I'm like, Lord, and just, you know, you kind

of do this. Lord, what? Go through a gate. Sleeps

more than eight. Go through a gate. So then I

started to look up every scripture on the number

eight. And then I'm looking up gates and I'm

just trying, I'm thinking he's telling me to

go to the scriptures and find something. And

then at the end of my, the next morning after

I kind of went back to bed and woke up, Oh yeah,

I was supposed to go look at that property. I

told that guy I would. And I didn't even think

the two were connected. So we come down here.

I called the elders at the time. I said, would

you just meet me down here? I promised this guy

I would look at this thing. Let's honestly look

at it again. And a few of them were able to make

it. And we drove in through the property, kind

of the gateway of the property. And as soon as

I pulled on the property here, it felt different.

And I remember Bob Calhoun was with me and a

few others. And I looked at Bob and I said, Bob,

do you feel that? Yeah. And I said, well, let's

just walk around the backside of this property.

And so we were walking around. It didn't have

any of the church sanctuary or the offices, the

buildings, the gen chair, what we would call

the gen church room. 125, 120, and a little kind

of RV recreation room was on the end here, right

where the sanctuary is here, just a little, every

building was kind of knocked down. It was like

a 15 by 20 foot structure that was connected,

just kind of a lounge for the RVers. And as we

walked around the corner and I looked, I saw

the pool and I saw the motel. And I looked at

the elder and I said, this is it. This is what

I saw 11, 10 years ago. This is it. I didn't

recognize it. It looks a little different. When

I went out into the parking lots and I saw the

long stripes for the motorhomes, I said, I thought

in the vision it was a truck stop, but it's for

RVs. Because when you see things sometimes, this

is part of the understanding, when you see something

sometimes what God shows you, it doesn't look

exactly like it is on the earth. That's why if

you read any of the prophetic books of the Bible,

they'll always say it was as, it looked like,

it was as though it was. And I thought, this

is that. And as soon as I said it, man, Something

hit us and said, this is it. We walked around

the property and literally we started then pursuing

it. I actually, Velden, I'm glad you're here

today. I actually called Velden because I realized

it was a banker, a bank that he banked with that

I didn't know. I said, you play golf with everybody

important. Can you hook me up with this guy?

And Velda says, yeah, I'll introduce you to him,

but then that's up to you. And I said, yeah,

okay. So he introduced us to this, the vice president

and the president of the bank. And honestly,

it was a miracle. God did an absolute miracle.

We should have, by all means, we should have

never been able to purchase this property, but

we did. And we did it for, now. We have the river

issue that if we would have probably known a

little more than what we know, it might have

stopped us from doing it. It stopped others.

It didn't stop us. You look back and you go,

well, the providence of God, but we knew God

had spoken to us that once it had come to the

bank, that this was what we were supposed to

have. And so I'm sharing that because it's part

of the whole vision. In the beginning, in that

2001 timeframe, before the Lord gave me an open

vision, he also gave me very specifically. He

said, I'm giving you what your vision is for

this house. Because I, honestly, when you go

to church plant, there's so much more resources

available today for church planting than there

was back then. Fact is. They asked me one time

in a seminar to kind of share all of the things

that we had learned and what was our focus group

and all of our mentoring in church planning.

I said, I didn't have one. I didn't go to any.

I just heard God and did what he told me. So

here's what he told me. He said, here's your

purpose. Here's what I want. from you. I want

you to build me, if you can put this on the screen,

our purpose, if it's there, yeah. I want you

to build me a Christ -centered church where God

is magnified and exalted, where each person finds

Christ's love and direction for their life while

being trained, equipped, and empowered to serve

the family, the church, our communities, and

the world. It was that quick. And then he began

to just lay it out to me, to build a Christ -centered

church. And what that means is this, a place

where God's whole truth is released, where faith

and truth in Jesus Christ becomes our anchor,

his teaching, the modeling of genuine love, fellowship,

and discipleship in all things that pertain to

life and godliness happen. What else? Where God

is magnified and exalted. And this is why, part

of the reason why Life Bible Church pursues what

we pursue is this very issue. He said, build

me a Christ -centered church where I'm magnified

and exalted. And the Lord spoke to me, I want

you to build me a place that is devoted to worship

and prayer and exalting Jesus Christ, the King

of glory. That focuses on God's kingdom, his

authority. his power, his love, and his grace

displayed through devotion and allegiance and

surrender to God's word, will, and way. This

is done by presenting our whole selves to the

Lord in a lifestyle of praise and prayer and

worshiping God as we honor the Father, the Son,

and the Holy Spirit. And then where each person

finds Christ's love and direction for their life,

How is this done? This is done through biblical

instruction, through Holy Spirit -led worship,

prophetic prayer times, atmospheres where the

prophetic word of God and exhortation can flow

through fellowship and practical service from

house to house ministries, discipleship trainings,

conferences, classes that deepen and reveal God's

general will and his specific will for our lives.

And then next, being trained. equipped and empowered

to serve. How does that happen? From classrooms

to the streets, from our jobs to communities,

from small groups to our larger church settings,

we're to model and live to release people to

be anointed servants in the kingdom of God. This

includes growth and maturity for everyone. Each

person is to receive and display the love and

power of the kingdom of God as it is to be working

in and through their character, their words,

their deeds, their gifts, their talents, and

their sphere of influence. And then finally,

to the family, the church, the communities, and

the world. In our homes, in our church body,

in our cities, Because we're not just a Harrisburg,

we're a tri -county church. Our region of the

tri -county area to our state, to other states,

then to our nation, and then over the wall to

the world. We who are born again are to be living

as sons and daughters of the king. And as the

family of God, we are called to share and extend

God's love, his acceptance, his placement, and

his identity with all who are called by his name.

We are to be examples in godly love and life

in all things so that all will see and be drawn

to the Father through the Son and placed into

the family of God by his Spirit. That was the

vision. Now, the Lord expanded the understanding

of it, but it was right. I mean, when Jenny and

I were sent out in 2001, for the Lord to say

that, it was so specific. It was something. that

I needed to hear. And the verse that kept ringing

in our heart 25 years ago was 2 Corinthians 5,

17, and 18, which is, therefore, if anyone is

in Christ Jesus, they are a new creation. The

old is passed away. Behold, which means see it.

See it and realize it. The new has come. And

all of this is from God who, through Christ,

reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry

of reconciliation. That's our ministry. Not my

ministry, our ministry. Now God, after 25 years,

we've been operating in that the purpose is not

changing. The theme... of 2 Corinthians 5, 17

and 18 is not changing. However, the Lord has

highlighted a couple of verses in this next season

that is going to go with what I believe a fresh

mission statement that encapsulates all that

we've talked about and all that we're supposed

to be is coming. And I'd like you to turn your

attention to Hebrews 13, 21. It says this, may

the Lord equip you. May the Lord equip you with

all you need for doing his will. May he produce

in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every

good thing that is pleasing to him. Now that

is pretty stinking wide. Not so wide that it

encompasses everything, but everything. that

is good in his will. He wants you to be equipped

in everything that is good in Christ. Wow, that's

pleasing to him. May all glory be given to him

forever and ever. That's part of this next stage

of our journey. And Ephesians 3 .18 goes with

it. That you may know the power to understand

with all of God's people how wide, how long,

how high, how deep his love is. And that you

may experience the love of Christ, though it

is too great to fully understand. You'll notice

the experience. But you'll know it, not from

knowledge only, but from encountering it. That

you will be made, what? Complete with all the

fullness of life and the power that comes from

God. Now all glory to God who is able through

his mighty power to work within us to accomplish

infinitely more than we ask or think. Glory to

him and glory in the church and in Jesus Christ

throughout all generations. This was a verse,

if you listened to the last part of that verse,

I preached on that verse for over 15 weeks. Why?

He is able to do exceedingly abundantly more

than we ask or think. That's part of what God

is asking us in this next 25 years. So let me

go on to the story. of how God began to speak

to me for the last three and a half years of

where we're going over the past several years

as I've been in times of prayer and waiting on

the Lord I've had several encounters while waiting

on the presence of the Lord that I was given

the ability to see something while waiting in

his presence this has happened to me periodically

throughout my journey with the Lord and I shared

with you the first open vision that I had that

was literally tangible where I was walking in

that. But these other times came when the Lord

would just open my eyes and as I would be waiting

in the presence, I wouldn't be walking anywhere,

but my eyes would be open. And it's happened

as I've been worshiping here, sometimes on the

platform, sometimes in prayer. I saw what those

of us that would look at Ezekiel chapter one,

and we're going to take a look at Ezekiel chapter

one. What is often called by some people as the

mobile throne of God. Now we know the throne

of God is established in heaven, but Ezekiel

1, when you read Ezekiel 1, you begin to see

God coming to visit Ezekiel and there are a whole

lot of things that are attached in that visitation.

Not only is there the throne of the Lord that

he sees one like the son of man sitting on that

he has different descriptions of him, but he

sees the cherubim or the wheels within the wheel

and the living creatures and it moved he saw

it move up down back forth everywhere it would

go it would be lifted up or it would come to

him and that was the beginning of Ezekiel's ministry

was really in the midst of exile God came to

him in the midst of his people and would bring

this vision and this encounter of the holy awesome

presence of God and everything that's attached

to it as God establishes his throne or brings

his presence near. And I happened to catch a

glimpse of that from time to time. What I saw

was similar to what I've read. And I witnessed

what would represent the cloud of his glory and

encountered what I knew was an atmosphere that

was directly connected to the throne of God and

its glory. And honestly, to describe it, as I

put it in words here and just have gone over

it, it's almost how Ezekiel described it is incredible.

Having caught what I believe is several... the

experiences of seeing that presence of the Lord

and the atmosphere of what's around him. It's

more than I can describe. It's incredibly awesome.

And you are absolutely, when you see it, you're

undone. What Isaiah said of the Lord, when he

saw the Lord high and lifted up, he said, woe

is me, I am undone. It moves you to a place of

going, oh God, don't kill me, but you are so

awesome. And I am so unworthy. You are so amazing.

And after some of these encounters, I had questions

because as we're pastoring this church and through

seasons, I wish it all was just linear. But God

doesn't do things always on a linear basis. He

does things kind of in... If you've ever read

the book, The Circle Maker, he does things in

patterns and he brings things around. He always

revisits things and resets to remind you that

he is a God who's faithful and revisits covenant

people. But he also seems like he likes amusement

parks with ups and downs. And so everything about

living your Christian life none of us, for the

most part, just live a steady Christian life

where it's just everything is the same and just

a slight increase and you're just, you know,

just like you could print it out on a chart,

well, here's my 3 % increase every year in God.

How many of you know that some of your biggest

increases come through your most darkest times?

And so in the process of the valleys and the

hills, many of that, times it's in the midst

of the valleys and the hills it's in the midst

of circumstances and the testing of faith and

the trials that God begins to deal with you and

I begin to ask the question Lord you've told

me to build to focus this team and the church

and everything on an atmosphere of your presence

and to connect in worship and to fervently pray

and to believe you and yet there's times where

you come in great power and And then there's

other times when it doesn't seem like, I mean,

I know you're there. The Bible says you're always

there. There's times when we could, what we would

call the manifest presence is so tangible. And

then there's other times when we just by faith

know your presence is there. Why is there this

on the service? Where sometimes you feel breakthrough

and other times you feel like, bing, you hit

the lid. And so, I ask God these questions. Is

it us? Is it you? Is it both? Why in the intensity

sometimes, or in private, can it be so incredible?

And other times it's still incredible because

I have access to you, but I don't experience

it at an incredible level. I have to take it

by faith. And I was inquiring by the Lord of

some of this over the journey of Life Bible Church,

being told this was my mandate for this house.

And as I was on this journey to ask the Lord

about this, because I don't, I'm just telling

you this, I don't like it when we don't experience

breakthrough. The team sees it. I try to hide

it. But I can't. If they see me turn around in

the chair and start to pray, they go, uh -oh.

I don't know what else to do. It's just like,

Lord, God, I got a breakthrough. I will preach

until you break through. As I was talking to

the Lord about this one day, I heard the Lord

say, reread Ezekiel 1 and Ezekiel 10. And I read

both of these. chapters over and over. I read

all of it from one to 10 back and forth. I kept

reading it. Now I'm not going to read Ezekiel

one, all of one and all of 10 today, but Ezekiel

one, verse 12 was the verse that absolutely leaped

off the page. And we'll get there in a second.

Although my seeing of what I would see the presence

of the Lord is not the same. In intensity or

in the power of the scripture, I'm not in any

way equating my visions to anything close to

the power of scripture. I'm just saying I had

something in scripture in which what I saw, I

recognized that this was the Lord revealing his

throne and his presence to me. And I began to

comprehend as I read again multiple times and

familiarized myself with it. that the measurable

increase of God's presence when he visits and

the difference between his high presence that

is experienced and those that come through faith,

that his atmosphere does bring something with

it that is meant to change and move us forward.

Meaning that We don't worship God for a feeling.

Please hear me say that. We don't worship God

for a feeling. We worship God because we're told

to worship God and our spirit inside of us desires

to worship the one who is creator and the lover

of our soul. So whether the song service did

it for you or not, The whole principle of worship

is not on our gauge of what we like or don't

like. The principle of worship is literally,

it means we praise, honor, magnify his worth

-ship. It's all about him receiving glory. Okay,

you doing okay? So in that. As you begin to read,

and I'm going to have to go quickly here. As

you begin to read Ezekiel 1, verses 1 through

Ezekiel 1:1–14

14, you begin to see that the atmosphere of God's

presence brings about the atmosphere, or if you

will, the living creatures that represent the

four, we call it the four faces of God, or the

four atmospheres. You've got the lion, you've

got the oxen, you've got the man, and you've

got the eagle. All of those represent even a

type of gospel. Mark, Luke, and John, they all

represent a type of, the oxen represent the servant,

the man representing the one who has been made

in the image of God, the eagle representing the

prophetic that sees high, and the lion representing

what? That boldness that comes to advance the

kingdom of God. All of those things are always

in the presence of God's throne. And in the presence,

they're always there. You read the scriptures

in Revelation, those are always there. And then

you see, the presence of light and fire in the

midst of it and the cloud of his presence and

the authority of it. And in that process, if

you've noticed in a worship service, sometimes

you'll get the lion's presence, but then sometimes

you'll get a prophetic presence, the eagle. Sometimes

you'll focus on just the man, the one who hung

on the cross. There's a man on the throne. And

sometimes you'll get the oxen, the call of what?

Of service for the kingdom and God. Those are

all the atmosphere that is around God of how

he decides to move his people forward. And as

you look at that, you begin to see that these

living creatures have wings. Some wings cover

themselves and some wings propel themselves.

Now, I could go deeper into this, but I'm running

out of time. So let's just keep going. Verse

12 is this. And as they went, it says, and each

went straight forward. Wherever the spirit would

go, they went without turning as they went. Meaning,

whatever direction, God and his spirit chose

to go. That was forward. That was forward. That

was forward. Every direction God chooses is forward.

Now, I don't have time to tell you. It's not

about. Really, the visitations that the Lord

has given me are what he's allowed me to see.

I'm trying to bring some of that in so you understand

the context of why the vision came out as it

has. But the Lord showed me something about moving

with the presence of the throne of the Lord,

which represents truth and the spirit. Listen

to me. We're in a series right now where we're

dealing with what? Spirit and truth. So God has

brought us now to a place where you understand

how do you move with spirit and truth? You have

to be sensitive to what the spirit of God is

highlighting in that day, in that moment. When

we come together in this house, we don't just

come together, pick a list, pick a song list,

do a song service, get in a good word and that's

it. No, no, no, no, no. He's teaching us to do

what? Move by the authority of spirit and word.

The authority of when he wants to come and allow

the manifest presence of God to be released because

when he comes in that way, he does what? He releases,

the king releases the power of his kingdom. And

so I was drawn to that statement and then the

Lord took me to John 3 as Jesus was dealing with

Nicodemus. As I was looking at Ezekiel, I felt

compelled to go to John 3. He says, Unless one

is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Jesus again answered Nicodemus, I say to you,

unless you're born of water and the spirit, you

cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is

born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of

spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I say to

you, you must be born again. Verse eight is the

clincher for today. The wind blows where it wishes.

You hear its sound, but you do not know where

it comes from or where it goes. That is a direct

reference to Ezekiel chapter one and how the

presence of God comes and goes. You know it's

there. You know he's around you. He's beside

you. He's with you. But sometimes the encounter,

you don't know where he came from or where he's

going to next. He just visits you. Now listen.

So it is. What? So it is with everyone who is

born of the spirit. Meaning what? If you've been

born again, God wants to train your senses to

know both truth and his spirit. Together with

Ezekiel, I knew the Lord was highlighting something

about being led by the spirit of God. Holy Spirit

spoke to my heart and he said, any way I go is

forward. It's forward in my will. Please understand

that. It may not be forward to you, but it's

forward in my will. Son, in following me, you

must understand any way I move you is a forward

direction. I, the Lord, do not retreat or backtrack.

I always go forward. Remember, I desire those

who worship me in spirit and truth, these that

are moved by my spirit in any direction. Why?

I move them always into my truth, for this is

how I guide them. And that brings me to this

next phase before we now begin to show you a

couple things. As I was doing that, over the

last three and a half years ago as I was waiting

on the Lord and I just began, I sit in this back

room back here and I was looking at the river.

This was the beginning of us realizing that the

river was taking way more ground that year than

it had ever done before. Like it took 20 feet

that year. And I'm looking at it and I'm panicking

and I'm just staring out the window and all of

a sudden as I was in the midst of this thinking

about Spirit and Truth and Ezekiel and John,

all of a sudden this hummingbird comes to the

window. And I'm like, what? There is no flowers

here. It's just a shrub bush that needed to be

trimmed. And it's just, and I watch it. Up, down,

back, forth. And I'm like. I was kind of just

took my mind off the river for a second. I'm

looking at this bird going, wow, it's amazing

how this thing can move back and forth. Still

sharp as a tack, not putting it together. So

that was the first day. Second day, I come back

to the prayer room. That was on a Tuesday. I'm

now on a Wednesday and I am praying and I'm asking

the Lord back on this Ezekiel thing and what

I've been seeing. And all of a sudden, Hummingbird

comes back. I go, you've got to be kidding me.

There is no flowers here, buddy. There's no feeders.

And then it just stands. I mean, literally stand.

I mean, flies up. I'm standing looking at the

river. It flies up and just and looks right at

me. I go, oh no. I'm about to become one of those

weird prophets that hears something from a bird.

Thank God he saved me. I did not hear anything

from a bird. But it just looked at me, did its

back and forth, up, down, and buzzed away. Didn't

put it together again. I now understand why Peter

needed the vision three times. The third day,

I am praying. And again, a hummingbird shows

up, grabs my gauge. or my gaze. And this time,

as it moves back, forth, up, down, I finally

said, okay, I'm not getting it. This is the third

day in a row. There's no flower. Lord, what are

you saying to me? And all of a sudden, as soon

as I asked that question, a fresh infusion of

faith and courage hit me. And I began to stand

over the riverbank and began to declare that

it would not destroy The vision or the promise

that God had given us. That only the Lord's will

would prevail. And as I was saying that, I heard

the Lord say to me, he goes, I want you now to

look up what a hummingbird does. I thought, seriously,

Lord? Look it up. So I went and I began to look

up hummingbirds. And here's what I found out.

I'm going to keep you just a little bit. Here's

what I found out. Hummingbirds consume as much

nectar as they possibly can. It's like they live

for nectar. Hummingbirds remember every place

where there was an abundance of flowers and they

go back to places of sweetness. Hummingbirds

move in all direction. They're the only one in

God's creation that can do that. It's in direct

proportion. They move the way they do to get

the nectar. Hummingbirds have incredible vision

to see color. They can see even infrared light.

They see the spectrum of light. Hummingbirds

are tiny in size, but I love this one. They are

aggressive in spirit. They defend their nectar

sources and their nests. Hummingbirds can sing,

but some squawk and some chatter. That sounds

like our worship service. Hummingbirds beat,

heartbeat up to 1200 beats per minute, but their

wings can flap in certain species over 80 flaps

per second. And then finally, hummingbirds have

the unique ability to hover midair, operating,

this is incredible, operating their wings in

a figure eight pattern that allows them to stay

stationary while receiving the sweetness. God

spoke to me as I finished it. He said, the hummingbird

is a type and a shadow of what it looks like

to live passionately. for the nectar of my presence.

I told you I wanted this house to be a house

that pursues where God is magnified and exalted.

Jesus and his presence and the Holy Spirit is

what you are to be and to pursue. Every time

I want you to remember my goodness and recall

the glory of my presence of each encounter. Like

the hummingbird, you should be able to move by

the Holy Spirit in every direction I come to

lead you. Do not get stuck by formulas or rituals.

You must be led by the Spirit and truth. And

like the hummingbird, continue to be fervent

in spirit of prayer and worship boldly and aggressively

operate in faith and kingdom authority. And I

said, oh God. Give us this heart. As the team

was asking what they wanted to do for the 25th,

what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do for

the church? Is there anything we can do? I said,

well, what do you think we need to do? I said,

the last time I did something for the church,

I built a fire pit and the river took it. They

go, we want you to rebrand. We want you to come

up with a new logo for the house. I said, I love

that logo. It has the compass, has the direction.

It has north. Tim Munson worked hard on that.

I hope he's still forgiving me after all of the

work on that. And they said, no, we love that,

but we need something fresh for the next generation.

And so we took time with the logo, the new logo,

some fresh colors. some updated fonts and an

updated mission statement. Now, I'm not a guy

to change things for changing things. Just ask

my wife. I don't like change unless I know that

it's transformational change. So as I met with

the team, they decided to bring in someone outside

just to try to get something beyond what we've

had. changed over the years in the 25 years.

And they asked me, they said, and we can start

putting some stuff up there. They said, what

would, if you help us understand Life Bible Church,

if you say, what is Life Bible Church like? I

said, well, first of all, it needs to be specific

Northwest colors. I said, we live in the Pacific

Northwest, but I said, the best thing I can tell

you is spiritually, we're like Tabasco. We are

a little spicy and we're a little fervent and

hot in the things and we add, we try to pursue

to add flavor in our encounter with God. So I

said, think spicy, think hot, think Pacific Northwest,

and then, oh yes, think hummingbird. And they

go, what? I said, but not a Tinkerbell hummingbird,

something that's a fighting hummingbird. And

so this is what we've come up with. Life representing

growth, the background, the compass, and you

can see the compass in the background kind of

dimensions, and you can see the hummingbird that

God spoke to us over the years. And so we are

excited for the next 25 years to keep pursuing

the presence of God. to see the next generation

passed on, to be able to have a fresh logo. And

here's our new mission statement. Very simple.

I'm, as you know, long -winded as we're over

time. Let's put up the simple, to do his will

in his power for his glory. To do his will in

his power for his glory. Can you say that with

me? To do his will in his power for his glory.

Would you stand with me this morning? Jenny,

why don't you come stand with me here? Let's

pray over the people as you get ready to give

some announcements. Father, in Jesus' name, Lord,

we honor your word and we honor Lord, you. We

thank you for 25 years. God, we don't want to

forget what was behind like we read this morning.

We want to teach it to the next generation. The

exploits of God, the preservation of God, the

faith that came, the miraculous things that happened.

But Lord, we have expectancy set upon the next

season. Lord, about what you are doing, we will

not turn our back in the day of battle. Lord,

for victory. And promises and inheritance is

about at the time of transition and in the time

of birthing something new. Lord, we bless you.

We bless your work. And we bless, most importantly,

the ones that you love, your people. Now, Lord,

we know that a logo and that is not much. But,

Lord, we love the journey. And, Lord, we ask

that you would put this mission in our heart.

We know our purpose is to build you a Christ

-centered church where you're exalted and magnified,

where everybody finds their place and their identity

to serve the family, the church, the communities,

and the world. But let us be people trained and

equipped to do His will in your power for your

glory. In Jesus' holy name we pray. Amen. If

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