Sunday Message - Doctor Frank Damazio (October 27, 2019) | Life Bible Church

you just give a Life Bible welcome and just honor

Frank and Sharon Damasio and Pastor Frank as

he comes and brings a message. Morning. Thank

you, Brad, for that warm introduction and referring

to me as a grandpa. It's always great to be here

and great to be with the leaders yesterday and

last night with the staff and elders and today

with the church and then we head back up to Portland

and meander through life up there and out of

there and etc. I just noticed that my wife and

Jenny, where is Jen? She's coming from the back.

Okay. I wanted to show the church that they matched

this morning. You know, the look of importance.

The church here is an amazing church, really.

You're an oasis in a desert, and you have done

something very incredible to do what you do in

Harrisburg. around is a very significant achievement.

I just again honor Brad and Jen and the team

for their diligent leadership consistently. They

are a cut above. I always get just a little jealous

because Brad can preach. He can prophesy. He

can emcee. And then he can sing the announcements

if he wants. You know, he can. Me, I'm just stuck

teaching. You know, I can't sing. But sometimes

I do, but it's not appreciated. So I honor that

gift and the whole family. It's an amazing thing.

I always see coming here as part of family life.

I've known Brent and their family and the beginning

of this church forever. And so I'm a part of

it. I'm a part of you. I'm part of the family.

I am the father, I guess, for some. I'm the grandpa.

For Jessie Jo, I certainly am. I gave her one

of my bracelets. I do some bracelets I make called

Pick Up the Pieces after I went through cancer

and all the stuff I've been through. I'm five

years cancer -free, by the way. And so I give

these bracelets away. They're a leather bracelet

that says... pick up the pieces, because that's

what the doctor told me one of the last visits

I had with him, and I was griping about some

stuff. And she says, you're alive, and other

people that took your treatments are dead. You

should appreciate that you're alive. Do you appreciate

that you're alive, Frank? Yes, I appreciate I'm

alive. You know, aren't you grateful? Yes, I'm

grateful. Aren't you a pastor? No, I'm not a

pastor. She says, you know what I'm talking about,

attitude. And I said, I do, I do. And she had

told me that my nerve in my leg would never get

better. My hip is cracked even right now because

the bone's dead. And so getting around is a hassle.

And I was a very active cyclist and golfer and

always been into athletics my whole life. And

so to not do that was just horrible news that

she gave me. And she could tell. And, you know,

we kind of embraced it. And then she had been

through a lot with me. one of the four doctors

that was a part of my whole entire journey. And

she said something to me after I kind of was

emotional about the whole thing and this and

that. And she said to me, she says, Frank, you

need to pick up all the pieces you have left

and build something great with them. And that

was like a prophetic word to me. Pick up all

the pieces you have and build something with

them. Quit whining. And so she kind of put me

in my place. And she was right. She was right.

And so that's what the bracelet says. And I'll

pick up the pieces. I didn't have room to put

the rest on, you know, build something great.

I'll probably do another bracelet for that or

whatever. But anyway, I gave that bracelet to

Jessie Jo. So she's wearing that bracelet. She's

the only one in the church that has it. And she

showed it to me this morning. You know, she was

very... Very proud of that bracelet. And she

says, no one else has it. No one else has it.

You're the woman of God. All right? Because the

time's going to go and I need to kind of jump

in, I want to do something that would be my impartation

to the church today. What I feel, what I see,

what I want to say is in this message. When it

comes to the... The Word of the Lord comes to

us, and this church is familiar with the Word

of the Lord, as I am. I've had some significant

times in my life where the Word of the Lord came

to me, and that was a pivotal, what I call a

pivotal prophetic moment. The Word came, and

it was a pivot point. It was a turning point.

At certain times, it was closing doors, opening

doors, and clarifying things. And sometimes I

didn't even know what the prophetic word meant

until later. And that's the case a lot of times

with the prophetic word. And so I enjoy the prophetic

and believe in the prophetic, and I believe it's

part of the church and should be part of the

church. I'm going to give you today not the word

of the Lord to you individually, but the word

of the Lord to you as a church. And so I would

like you to get excited about hearing something

for your church. the same excitement you have

if they were going to lay hands on you individually.

If you were coming up before the prophets and

it would be an exciting time for you, they laid

hands on you and they gave you a word, you'd

be weeping, you'd be clapping, you'd be, you

know, sharing that word. It would be the great

day. You go out with your friends, you talk about

the prophecy. I'd like you to kind of lean into

my message this morning and say, I'm going to

really receive the word of the Lord for the church.

Not just for me personally, but I'm part of the

church and for the church. If you're a visitor

and however you got here, thank you for coming.

If you're new to the church, thank you for being

here. If you're new to everything that church

does with the worship and, you know, all the

stuff that happens, maybe that's all different

for you. Thank you for coming. Thank you for

trying it. And the prophetic is simply when God

speaks, God speaks through the Holy Spirit, through

the word and through other people. And the prophetic

is not something weird and mystical. It's very

real and it works. and it helps the church, and

Jesus gave apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor,

teachers. He didn't give four. He didn't give

three. He gave five, and the prophets are proud

of it. That's my presupposition on the prophets.

And so we need to have respect for the prophetic

word and respect for that prophetic presence

that comes upon a church. Now, in the Bible,

I'm not going to preach on these, but this is

my frame. In the Bible, in the book of Revelation,

you have John who wrote the book of Revelation,

the apostle John, the beloved apostle. that leaned

his head on Jesus' chest during that communion

service, that beloved apostle that wrote the

Gospel of John, which is the most unique of all

the Gospels, the Gospel of John. And he wrote

1 John, 2 John, 3 John. And then in his latter

years, last book to be written in the New Testament

was the book of Revelation. It was toward the

end of the century. And John was the last living

apostle. And John had already been stoned. He

had been boiled in oil. prison he had already

been through so many physical things before they

sent him to the Isle of Patmos which is an island

where the prisoners would go and never return

and so that was the island you would send the

prisoner and they would die there and it was

a it was a place for the hardcore prisoners that's

the Isle of Patmos that's where John wrote the

book of Revelation and so on the Isle of Patmos

the heavens opened and John began to write and

the Isle of Patmos is an island that faces the

coastline, which would now be Turkey, faces that

coastline right there, and it was just a little

ways off the coast, and the main cities that

he would be facing would be the cities that he

writes to in the book of Revelation. So the setting

is John is old, he's on an island, the heavens

open up, and God begins to speak to him, and

God speaks to him about these seven cities, and

they're all lined up on a... track one two three

four five six seven they were on the trade pathway

of that particular era and they were all central

cities and out from them many other suburbs and

things would happen so they were the central

cities and so he wrote to the city and to the

church of Ephesus so he he begins to sit down

and he writes this Through the Holy Spirit and

by the visitation of God, he writes to the church

of Ephesus and he gives Ephesus a message. And

then he writes to the church at Smyrna and he

gives that church a message. Each one of them

is a little different. There's only one thing

that all seven receive. In these messages, there's

only one repetition that is given. Every other

message for every church is different for every

one of them. There's a rebuke. There's a way

for them to repent. There's a way for them to

set things in order. There's only one church

that doesn't receive a rebuke. And so in these

letters to Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamos and

Thyatira and Sardis and Philadelphia and Laodicea,

we would recognize Laodicea because we quoted

a lot, you know, the lukewarm church. But in

those seven cities, those seven churches, John

writes... his letters and this is what he says

over and over again he that hath an ear let him

hear what the Spirit is saying to the church

he that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit

is saying to the church he that hath an ear let

him hear what he is saying to the church come

on say it with me he that hath an ear let him

hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches

come on everybody he that hath an ear let him

hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches

and so What I'm doing this morning is very much

in sync with what happens in the Scripture. And

that is, by the Spirit, God speaks to churches.

God speaks to corporate communities. God speaks

to the people who are in that corporate community.

Ephesus is different than Laodicea. Laodicea

is different than Smyrna. All of them received

the word from the Lord, and they had to adjust

accordingly. Now, every church is different and

unique. No church receives all the same messages

because there's a uniqueness. to the anglios,

or the lead pastor, as referred to in Revelation

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, 1, and the seven stars, which were

the seven pastors of the seven churches that

were in the hand of the Lord. And so he speaks

to those seven stars, and he calls them anglios,

the messengers of God. And so every church has,

am I talking too fast? No, I just, I kind of

have a lot to say, and I want to get on with

it, because I haven't gotten to my message yet.

And so... And the Anglios or the messenger, what

we would call kind of a lead pastor or the overseer,

the bishop. that person who oversees the church,

they receive a word from God. So every church

has a different gifted leader that leads the

church. When I led the church up in Portland

and we planted church missionaries and we built

the culture of that church, I built it around

my particular gifting. Why? Because that's the

gifting I have. I have to build with the gifts

that I have. And so being a teaching pastor was

kind of my in -the -trench work that I did. And

then being apostolic, and prophetic was kind

of my out from the house that I did with other

churches, conferences, and nations. And so I

kind of wore four different hats during my time

being a pastor teacher and kind of prophetic

and apostle. And so being an apostle, I'm not

trying to use that word in a huge way. It just

means someone who has a father's heart and oversees

things and speaks the word of the Lord to people,

and if they don't obey, God kills them. That's

all. So the apostolic is needed in the churches,

prophetic is needed in the churches, etc. Now,

every church... needs to know what God is saying

to that church. Now, I'm going to talk with you

about this subject, the making of a church's

mantle, the making of a church's mantle, the

making of a church's mantle. There are four things

that are in the process of getting to this mantle.

Here they are. I'm not sure what you have on

the slides this morning, so I'm just going to

preach, and you put up what you want, and if

you don't find slides you want, just Google and

put something else up, okay? The four things

about churches that we would recognize and we

would try to obey is, number one, we know that

the church destiny is rooted in the church's

relationship to the Lord of the church. And so

there can be no destiny. of a church if the church

is not related to the head of the church, which

means the congregation has to have a relationship

to Jesus. Jesus has to be the core, the center,

not the perimeter of the church. Jesus has to

be the core and the center to the preaching,

to the worship, to the prayer, to everything

you do. Jesus is the center. We have a song about

Jesus being the center. So the church being different

than any other institution, we build an altar.

And when you come to the services, you encounter

God. You encounter the Holy Spirit. You encounter

Jesus. Why? Because we are a living organism.

We're the church. We build altars. We embrace

God. We talk about Jesus. We're not just another

kind of a, you know, place that you can come

and just go through a routine. We want you to

build an altar. We want you to hear from God.

We want your life to be transformed. We want

you to encounter God every time you come into

this building. We are a church that builds altars.

Second, We know that the supernatural empowering

of the church happens when the church is rooted

where? In the spirit. You can't have a church

without the Spirit, right? Because that's what

Jesus did in Acts chapter 2. When he built the

Acts 2 · chapter mention

church, he poured out the Spirit. And so the

pouring out of the Holy Spirit, the day of Pentecost

in Acts chapter 2, was the foundation for the

Acts 2 · chapter mention

rest of the book of Acts, which is the only church

book we have that we can see how Jesus built

churches. And so the Holy Spirit is an important

piece to building the church. The power of the

Spirit, the love for the Spirit, staying in the

Spirit, staying fresh in the Spirit. We need

to have more of the Holy Spirit. not less of

the Holy Spirit. We need to have more people

filled with the Holy Spirit, not less people

filled with the Holy Spirit. We need to have

people embrace the Holy Spirit, not be afraid

of the Holy Spirit. We are called to be Holy

Spirit churches. We're not called just to be

a structured, great institution that does everything

good and we're squeaky clean and we have a great

building, we have great carpet, we have great

lights and we go through the service and we do

it. We're not just here because we're squeaky

clean and we have a great organization. We're

here because... Jesus is the center and the Holy

Spirit is the power. And that Holy Spirit needs

to be in the life of every person in the church,

not just some of the people. Every person needs

to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And if you

get filled with the Holy Spirit, you need to

speak in tongues. Yes, I did say that. Speak

in tongues. My little funny thing I say, my wife

says, quit saying it, but I like it. It's if

you buy the shoes, the tongues come with it.

And so there's a... Why apologize for speaking

in tongues? It's in the Bible. It's a powerful

experience. It helps you pray better. It helps

you worship better. It's part of being filled

with the Holy Spirit. Don't try to make excuses

about it. Don't try to become a third waver and

say, be filled, but don't speak in tongues. Have

the Holy Spirit, but don't worry about glossolalia

because, you know, that's a Pentecostal thing.

By the way, it is not a Pentecostal thing. It's

a Jesus thing. It's a 12 apostle thing. And it's

a Bible thing. It's not a Pentecostal church

thing. It's just that that group of people happened

to believe it and did it, and they got named

because of Pentecost, the day of Pentecost, so

Pentecostals. And so everybody now, if you speak

in tongues, it simply means that you have a lot

of spirit and no brains. You have great power

and no doctrine. But that's not what we are.

We can have both. We have spirit and brain, and

we have power and doctrine. We're not settling

for one side. We want everything. We are little

pigs in the kingdom of God. We want it all. Third,

we know that the character of the church determines

the influence, longevity of the church. The church

has to have character. I've been around long

enough doing this to watch a lot of churches

flame out. A lot of churches used to have great

power and great presence and great influence,

and they don't even exist anymore. I used to

preach at their churches where they had thousands

of people. Now they have nothing. Now some are

totally gone. Some are dead. Some are split 20

times. What happened? They lost their character.

You can't have a good church if you don't have

people of character. You have to be people of

integrity. You have to have leaders of integrity.

We can't sweep under the carpet things that are

wrong in the kingdom of God. We can't excuse

things and just act like it doesn't exist. The

church has to be a clean place, a character place,

a Jesus place. place, an integrity place. We

have to do things right. We have to honor the

rules that the Bible puts out, and we have to

live by those, raise the church up, and if you

do that, you'll be a church that goes on 10,

20, 30, 40, 50. I handed our church over. Our

church is almost 70 years old. Can you believe

that? Our church is almost 70 years old up in

Portland. We've only ever had three pastors in

70 years. We've never had a fallen pastor. We've

never had a fallen elder. We've never had a church

split. We've never been a church that's been

known for any kind of weird doctrine or heresies.

We have gone on decade after decade. I'm just

here to prophesy with my eyes open. You can finish

this race with great character and you can be

a church of influence and you can do great things

for God and you will do great things for God.

Keep your character. Fourth, It's the one I'm

after. We know that each church has its own and

like Bible would have your own unique destiny.

You have a unique personality. Why? Because you

have unique leaders and the blending of gifts

and culture and legacy and Holy Spirit activity

and things happen. The personality of the church

begins to shape. That's what happens. You have

a dominant distinctive. That dominant distinctive

would be. Your attitude toward the Holy Spirit

and toward the Word of God. I mean, it's in your

culture. You have a heritage. And you have the

thing that I'm talking about this morning. You

have a unique mantle. And that unique mantle

is important for us to understand and important

for us to embrace. And so let's talk about mantles

for a moment. Now, if you're not a Bible person,

have not heard the word mantle, I'm going to

frame it in so you can just walk right through

it with me. The word mantle is a Bible word.

Now, we use it sometimes if you're around church.

A lot of people will say, well, that man really

has a mantle or that guy really has a mantle.

Wow, she leads worship. She has a mantle. for

worship we use the terminology sometime and most

people would have heard it how many of you would

have heard the word mantle sometime how many

of you would say i haven't i'm not very familiar

with the word mantle anybody we're going to send

you to a special class right now would you okay

but it's in the bible and and the mantle is a

significant powerful concept That is carried

through scripture. The mantle is made for people.

Individuals. Leaders. And it's also made for

congregations and churches. So mantles are made

for a person. And mantles can be made for a church.

When God puts the mantle on a person. He doesn't

always explain how much that mantle will cost

you. He doesn't tell you the sacrifice involved.

He doesn't tell you the journey to get the whole

piece on you. But he promises you the grace to

get through it. So the mantle of God comes upon

us. And that mantle, there's two easy ones if

you wanted to study it. One would be Joseph in

Genesis 37 where his father makes him a tunic

or a mantle of many colors. Many colors. And

that mantle of many colors, when he put it on

Joseph, all the other brothers went, wow, that's

a beautiful coat. We're jealous. Why did you

give Joseph that coat? But the coat was not just

a coat. It was not just a mantle because it's

the same word, the tunic. It was... many colors

and it was prophetic. And so Joseph was given

this mantle and he was going to live out the

colors of the mantle. He was going to live out

the blackness of the night. He was going to live

out the redness of the jealousy. He was going

to live out the gold of the supremacy that he

would inherit. He is going to actually live out

every single color that he's putting on. You

need to watch it if God says, and I'm going to

give you a mantle with many colors. Really? Yes.

And you're going to live every one of them. You

want to wear it? Oh, yeah, but you have no idea

that it means pits and prisons and stuff and

brothers that are jealous and all that's going

to happen. So you wear the mantle, but the mantle

costs. Now, when it comes to Elijah and Elijah,

Elijah had a mantle. And he was a prophet. He

did seven miracles. And God said to him, I want

you to take your mantle and I want you to give

it to another man. His name is Elisha. And I

want him to carry the mantle. And so he does

that. He goes down. And in 1 Kings 19, 19, it

says that Elijah finds Elisha plowing in a field.

And this man is not thinking about anything.

He's not in the school of the prophets. He's

not preparing for this. He's not thinking about

it. And it says that the older prophet with his

mantle. Now, remember, this mantle would have

had so much in it in just the aroma of the mantle.

His sweat, he had to walk 160 miles to get to

the guy to give him the mantle. He had been in

the cave. He had wore that mantle for years.

There was an aroma to it. There was a friendship.

There was something about Elijah's mantle that

was very, very, very special. And God says, I

want you to take it. I want you to throw it on

that man. And so as he came down plowing, he

throws the mantle on the younger man. And then

he just keeps walking. And the younger man says,

just a second. What have you done? Don't worry

about it. The prophet didn't even want him to

have it. Don't worry about it. I'm leaving. But

the young man got it. He knew what it was. He

just gave me his mantle. I got the mantle. I

got his mantle. What does that mean? I'm going

to go serve this man. And so he did for the next

number of years. Seven years he served that man.

And at the end of seven years, that mantle became

his. But he was a servant before he could get

the mantle. And so that's kind of the background

of the mantle. Now, the word mantle. is what

I want you to look at right here. The word mantle

is from that Hebrew word, well, you would know,

but the Hebrew word ador and ader, those two

words are used throughout the scripture, and

they're translated so many different ways. They're

translated excellent, famous, mighty. They're

translated noble, roomy. There's English words

that come into your Bible, but it's the same

Hebrew word over and over again when we talk

about the mantle. So what is the mantle? This

is what the mantle is. A mantle is the powerful

anointing and call that rests upon a church.

I'm talking to you, your church, to demonstrate.

Something that is majestic, because that's what

the word mantle means. Superior, magnificent,

glorious. It's the grace that God puts on a church.

grace lands on that church when that mantle lands

on that church when that mantle begins to work

itself into that church it begins to mold that

church for the destiny that it has and you can't

always see the breadth and the height and the

width and etc of the destiny because you don't

know all that the mantle means but as that mantle

begins to rest upon the church there's a calling

and there's a glory and there's a power and there's

okay now let's drop into it in the New Testament.

Acts 4 .33. Acts 4 .33. The word mantle, Hebrew.

The word grace, Greek. are close to the same

meaning because they have the same idea. Now,

I don't have time to totally frame in this Greek

word because this Greek word for grace has the

idea that there's personal grace for salvation.

You can't get saved unless the grace of God comes

into your heart. There's no doubt about that.

The scripture says that. By grace and faith.

You're saved. But there's also a grace that comes

on you for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And

so there's a grace for salvation and there's

a grace for gifting. And in the church, there's

a grace for personality, power, and functionality.

And that's what I'm talking about. Listen to

it right here in Acts 4 .33. And with great power,

everyone say great power. The apostles gave witness

to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and...

Great grace, everyone say great grace, was upon

them all. What is this? This is what I call the

corporate grace mantle. The grace of God was

upon them all. They were already saved. We're

not talking salvation here. They haven't been

taught about gifts of the Holy Spirit yet. But

there was a mantle, a blanket, a canopy, a presence

of the grace of God upon this church. And because

of that, they had great power was working upon

them all. An abundance of this grace was upon

the church. All right? Now, grace levels. In

understanding grace, number one, there's grace

that comes on a person. Now, I'm not talking

salvation. I'm talking gifting hand. mantle so

grace comes on a person there's also number two

grace can come on a family both natural and supernatural

when you see it some families are prone to being

filled with teachers Mom's a teacher. Dad's a

principal. Kids grow up. They go to school. They

become teachers. You're a carpenter. Your son's

a carpenter. You're an electrician. He's an electrician.

You're a business guy. Your daughter becomes.

You're in medical. She becomes. He becomes. You

watch it in families all the time. There's a

grace even in the natural. that can rest on a

family, and there's a grace in the supernatural

that can rest on a family. My son is building

a church, our son right now in Portland. His

church is already almost 900 people, only 18

months old, and people are looking at that and

thinking, wow, this is an amazing church, and

it is an amazing church, and he's right in the

city. He's only 31 years old. He preaches the

Bible with power and with clarity and with clear

doctrine, with anointing. He moves in the gifts.

Where did he get all that? Fruit doesn't fall

far from the tree. And mantles don't fall far

from the person. And so he has my mantle. Now,

I don't rub it, and I don't even bring it up.

When I preach there, I don't ever say anything

like this. But in my heart, I know it. And it's

true. Not everyone starts out of the gate at

the same place. And legacy increases success.

That's why you should protect your legacy. You

protect. What you put down to the next generation.

You protect what you pass on. Because not everybody

starts at the same place. And we don't want the

next generation to start all over again. We want

them to stand on the shoulders of greatness.

On the shoulders of faith. On the shoulders of

grace. On the shoulders of miracles. On the shoulders

of believing God for great things. The leaders

coming up in this church should be standing on

the shoulders of Brad and Jen and the rest of

the elders and the team. And now they're in there.

Are you? You're 40. You're 43. And you're 63,

aren't you? No. You're 46. Oh, God. Shandai Rama.

He is 50. Let it be known. that on this particular

day in 2019, Pastor Frank said to the congregation,

yea, thus saith the Lord, Brad is old. All right,

he's 50, she's 43, and the elders of whatever

age, they've been serving God for many, many

years, and they have legacy in their families.

Their families were families of... in my church.

Both of their families were in my church in Eugene,

and they were Christian families who had Christian

faith, who had prayer, who had anointing, and

they pass it on to their kids. And I'm watching

Jessie Jo this morning, and she's standing right

in front of my wife, and she kept looking at

me. I know she wanted to sit on my lap, but I

didn't have her come over because I knew I could

never get rid of her again. And so I'm just joking.

I'm just joking. Don't you tell her that. And

so here she is. She's worshiping. Long hair,

long hair, dressed perfect, dressed perfect,

singing, moving. Who is she like? Hello. It runs

in the family. She's not like Brad, no. And number

one daughter, leading worship, prophesying, meandering

in the spirit. Naturally, does it any time she

wants. She could sing the song of the Lord at

a funeral. And she might. Okay, what am I saying?

Mantles come on people. Mantles come on families.

Don't criticize mantles on families. Natural,

supernatural. And mantles come on churches. And

churches are made up. of the multi -level gifting

of the leadership team. That's why you need all

five of the Ephesians 4, 11, and 12 leaders.

Jerusalem church. What was Jerusalem church like?

Preached only to the Jews. Let it be known, if

you don't know history, the first church... In

Acts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Only preached to

the Jews. And it took a sheet with a bunch of

funny looking animals coming down in the dream

for Peter. And God says, up, eat. Peter says,

I am not going to eat those animals. That's against

the law. And I am a... I am a pure Jew. No, I

will not. God says, no, it's not about eating.

Peter was always getting things wrong. So he's

reacting, I will never eat that stuff. God says,

geez, and you're the first pope. And so Peter,

that was a joke too. God was saying to him, go

outside, go outside, go outside what you're doing.

House of Cornelius. God fell. And Peter says,

I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything. I

was just there. And in the middle of the preaching,

Holy Spirit fell on some of these Gentiles. And

they got filled with the Holy Spirit. I heard

them speak in tongues. I didn't mean to do it.

I didn't try to do it. I didn't do anything about

it. Honestly, guys, I was preaching in the middle

of a sentence. God just interrupted me, overtook

them. And I was just there saying, wow, wow,

wow. Oh, what am I going to say to the church

in Jerusalem? They were a one. One generation,

one ethnic race focused people. Jerusalem. So

what does God do? Okay. How many are enjoying

this? How many feel you're getting something

out of it? Okay, good. It's good for you to raise

your hand. It makes me feel good. Okay. Corporate

grace on the church is this. This is corporate

grace. Next slide. Corporate grace. is a God

-given deposit in a local church. Now, this is

what you have in this church. And I'm doing this

because I'm begging you to guard it, acknowledge

it. understand it and it's not just some good

idea that happened here in Harrisburg or somehow

you know Brad was raised here so he came back

here there's a sovereign peace there's a linkage

here there's a God thing there's a plan there's

a destiny there's something going on and you

get to be a part of it and it's an awesome thing

to have a church that has a grace deposit in

it A local church that is empowered to serve

God together in a special way. And so the church,

your grace deposits your gift in whatever you

have, whatever you do, whatever you serve. You

deposit into the church, and the church actually

helps develop your grace. And your grace actually

helps develop the church. And so your life and

the church's life get interwoven. And so before

you know it, You are now blended. The mantle

the church carries is the mantle you start carrying.

So if you're a business person, you start doing

business with more faith. You start doing business

prophetically. You say, what are you doing? What

are you doing over there? I'm getting the word

of the Lord for this decision. What are you talking

about? It doesn't matter. Just wait. Okay, this

is what the Lord wants us to do. And they do

it, and it works. It's not weird. It's not funny.

It works. Next time they say, why don't you sit

over there and do that again? They don't even

know. Why? Because the church has a deposit of

faith and the prophetic and miracles and an acknowledgement

that the Holy Spirit speaks to you in every arena

of life. And so even... How you do business is

affected by the church you're in. How you raise

your children. How you pray. How you go through

a crisis. How you pray for miracles. Oh, you

have cancer? Geez, I'll be at your funeral. I

really feel bad for you. You're leaving so much

behind. You're so young. Man, I don't want that

person talking to me. At least I want them to

say, we're on it. We will pray. And we will believe.

And God could work in this situation. We're going

to believe that he can because miracles still

exist. I want someone to tell me God could. I

don't want them just to bury me prematurely.

Tell me that God can do a miracle. The church

you're in. begins to shape the way you pray,

the way you do money, the way you think about

business, the way you raise kids, the way you

do everything. There's a corporate mantle that

affects the individual. All right. Are we there?

Now, every mantle, and this is not on a slide,

so if you're taking notes, you just have to keep

writing if you want. If not, just listen. Every

mantle has what I call... On the church. We're

talking about the church mantle. Every mantle

has grace marks. Grace marks on it. Like what?

One, birthmarks. In the natural spiritual, there's

birthmarks. A visual mark on how the church was

started. Why it's so important to start churches

right. The struggle, whatever happens in those

early days, is what begins to birthmark that

church. If you start a church in unbelief, it

puts a mark on you. If you start a church with

a low level of integrity, you'll struggle maybe

for a long time. if you start every church has

a birthmark this church has a birthmark and the

birthmark in this church is that it had faith

it had vision it had prophetic it started with

a bang it started with people that knew how to

pray they had great vision there were marks on

this church from the very beginning that they

were going to believe God for great things not

little things and they were going to push through

In intercessory prayer and prayer walking, maybe

you, you know, today when Brad said that we're

going to meet at 8 o 'clock, 9 o 'clock, what

did you say, 10 o 'clock? 8 to 10, the first

shift, 10 to 12, the second shift. If you're

a visitor, you're thinking, what is he talking

about? Prayer walking, what's a prayer walk?

Should we go to the prayer walk? No, it's very

long, hon, 8 to 10. What do they do at the prayer

walk? I don't know, but it sounds like they do

something. Are they outside? Are they going after

the demons in Halloween? Oh my God, what's going

on in this church? If you don't understand it,

it might sound funny, but in a very real sense,

prayer walking is simply taking your prayer on

a walk. And it is... When we bought the property

in Eugene, way back, you know, I'm just a young

guy, I prayer walked that property every single

day before we ever bought it. I prayer walked

every inch of it, acres. And I would, step by

step, claim the property, bless the property,

see buildings on the property. See prosperity

on the property? See people coming? See the cars

driving in? I would close my eyes and I would

prophesy to myself, this place will be filled

with the presence of God. This place will be

filled with people coming to this building. This

place will be filled with the anointing and miracles.

As I prayer walked, there was nothing but a piece

of dirt out there. But in the visible realm,

you might see dirt. But in the invisible realm,

I was prophesying things that are not as though

they were. Speak in the word of the Lord even

over dirt and rocks. Why? Because that's what

we believe. That we're not just natural. We're

supernatural. We're people of the Spirit. Okay,

number two, there's unusual marks. Church miracles.

I could tell you a bunch that I had down there

and up there in Portland, but no need. Third

is a trademark. A trademark is some kind of a...

A stamp that goes on you that's distinguishing

something that God stamps onto the church. If

you had to say, if you've been around one year,

two, five, seven, whatever, and someone would

say, what do you think are the unusual marks

on Life Bible? What would you say? If someone

said to you, what's the distinguishing characteristic

of that church? Well, you know, they're a church

that, They're a happy church. And they love the

Holy Spirit. And they preach and they prophesy.

And it's just the place is alive. And I like

it. Can somebody shout hallelujah? There's a

trademark on it. Number four, there's a logo

in the spirit realm. identifying statement that

you begin to make your vision. Your vision is

usually the outworking of your faith and your

journey and your whole experience in God making

you in the church. And so what is the logo? What's

the statement that you make about this church?

Well, again, Brad talking about giving money

and you clap when he said we're going to give

money to the Palestinians. Did you say Palestinians?

And to the Jews. Messianic Jews, and we have

churches over there. And you start clapping.

You might not even understand everything that

that means, but it sounds right to you. It sounds

right that we're trying to reach some other people

and give first fruits away and money away. What

kind of a church do you have? We're liberal.

We're generous. We reach beyond our borders.

We give. We help. We build churches. We bless

pastors. We send missionaries. We're not just

about ourselves. We're about the kingdom of God.

Can you shout a big hallelujah out there? We're

not just about ourselves. Our tithe is not just

about keeping this building open. Our tithe is

to extend the kingdom of God. Our tithe is to

extend the mission program. Our tithe is to help

young people get trained and help everything

that's going on. You have a logo, a trademark,

and you have, number five, a brand. A brand that

begins to happen. A reputation. A following.

And people recognize the brand. When people say,

where do you go? I go to Life Bible. Oh, yeah.

Life Bible. I heard about it. Yeah. Life Bible.

That beautiful building down there looks like

a Sun River resort, right? Yeah. That's our building.

Well, why did you build it so nice? Because God

builds nice things. Well, why did you build it

so big? Because everyone is going to get saved,

including you. And there's room for you here.

We made room. Why would you build something like

that in the middle of Harrisburg when there's

only so many people outlining Harrisburg? Because

we don't look at the dirt and the fence and the

grass, although you look at the grass seed farmers

because they are great givers and we bless them

in the name of Jesus. We look at the potential.

And even though we can't see all the neighborhoods,

God says there's enough people to fill this place

five times. But if you have no vision, if you're

not brought into this brand, this logo, this

trademark through miracle and faith, you might

also be on the other side of the, what are we

doing? But after a while, you get it. Wow. A

lot of people here. So. Where did you drive from?

How many here from Elmira? How many from Junction

City? How many from Eugene? Ooh, Shandarama.

How many from Salem? How many from Stanton? I

met a woman yesterday who drives every service

from Stanton. That's on the other side of Salem.

I said, what's wrong with you? I said, don't

you know there's churches in Salem? She says,

I do, but not like this one. And God put me here,

and what is an hour drive? Well, some people

don't even drive 10 minutes. And I bet you she

drives an hour, and she's on time. Okay. Remember,

I'm family. I'm family. The sixth term is DNA.

Every biological human race people have this

thing called DNA. It's how we find things now.

It's greatly developed in all kinds of crime

fighting, but it's in our family. It's in our

peoples. It's a, what is it? It's a genetic code.

And even if you don't like the genetic code,

you can't change it. It's your code. It's your

DNA. Every church has a genetic code, a DNA.

Every church. Our church, I can remember as a

pastor in both. I only pastored Eugene in Portland

40 years worth. I can remember at times thinking,

I wish I could simplify the service. because

we would grow more, and we were a sizable church.

We would grow more, and I would have visitors

say, why do your people lift their hands? Well,

because it's a Bible. It bothers me. I don't

think you need to lift hands to worship. Well,

no. You might also say you don't need to breathe

to live. But it's not true. And I can remember

thinking, if I could clean this service up, not

have so many people doing funny things like coming

to the front or prophesying or lifting their

hands or dancing or clapping or carrying on.

I could clean it up. And we could reach more

people. But in my heart of hearts, we had a DNA

that said, we are Holy Spirit people. We are

worship people. We clap our hands. We lift our

hands. We dance. We come to the front. We lay

down sometimes at the altar. People weep. People

carry on. As soon as you try to domesticate the

Holy Spirit, you end up chewing him right out

the door. Our DNA is not to apologize for lifting

hands. Not to apologize for clapping, dancing,

singing loud. Not to apologize for people that

are at the altar. Not to say, well, you know,

I know that. Just say, that's the way it should

be. People are passionate. People love church.

People love God. And you need to tell people

when you invite them to the church, hey, our

church is different. I'm just going to warn you

before you come. What do you mean, how different

is it? Is it a cult? No, no, no, it's nothing

like that. But our church is really loud. Because

I had visitor after visitor, and we forget, they

would say, your church is so loud. Really? We

get used to it. And then my response would be,

well, if you're going to go to heaven, you better

get used to it, because heaven's loud. I try

to joke with them, but the fact is, Our churches

are loud. We turn the sound up. We have a bunch

of instruments. They're used to maybe something

really quiet and 30 minutes. And then they would

say, your services are really long. Really? 90

minutes is long? And I would say to them, when

was the last time you went to the theater? And

they would look at me kind of like the cow looking

at the fence post. What's that have to do with

it? With the movie more than two hours? Oh, yeah,

yeah. Then why would you be asking me about a

church that goes 90 minutes? It's because their

concept of church is it's dead. It's boring.

Get in and out as fast as you can. Keep your

hand on your wallet. Keep your hands in your

pockets. Don't let anything happen. Don't let

emotionalism take over anything. And just get

in there and get out of there because that's

what church... Not for us. Church is a place

to rip. It's a place to let go. It's a place

to enjoy God. It's a place to worship with passion

and pray with passion and sing with passion.

That's... our DNA. So you need to say to people,

we're loud. Well, I don't think I mind that.

We're emotional. I think that's fine. We cry.

Does every visitor have to cry? No. I'm just

telling you, we cry. And we do a couple of things.

We clap. We lift hands. You want to try it with

me right now? Let's do it. Let's just lift. I'm

not telling you to do it. You know, get them

into it. Just lift your hands. See, there's no

problem with it. Just lift your hands. Do it

one more time before we get to the service. Just

lift your hands. Okay, now you're ready. We have.

Church with marks on it. And what got you here

was those marks. Don't remove them to try to

go on further. A lot of churches get rid of the

very mark that got them where they are. And we

start pastoring and doing church from the people's

mindset. Well, the people don't want a long service.

We're going to have to cut it short. I would

say to our church, I don't really care what you

think. I said, because you're not the pastor

I am. And I said, your choice is to stay or leave.

I don't have a choice. I have to stay. And because

I have to stay, it's going to be like this. Because

you might not stay, make me change it, and then

leave. just going to build it the way I see it,

biblically, and live with it. Because I think

that the marks that God gives a church are distinctive,

dominant marks that you better pay attention

to. Okay. Are you all right? I want to read another

scripture. Are you ready? Acts 11 and 23. Acts

11 and 23. Now, Acts 11 is the most important

pivotal chapter in the book of Acts besides Acts

2. So the history of the church, the church we're

all trying to build, is in the book of Acts.

Everybody goes there because that's the history

of the church, and you can see the church. Acts

2, outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Jerusalem starts.

That was a pivotal beginning of church. Acts

11. actually belongs in Acts 8. I don't know

why Luke did this. But Acts 11, I'm going to

ask him when I get there. When Luke wrote this,

Acts 11 is a continuation of Acts 8, verse 4,

Acts 8:4

is a continuation of Acts 11, verse 19. So if

Acts 11:19

you put Acts 8, 4, read it. Stoning of Stephen

and the people were scattered to preach. Then

put Acts 11, 19. It starts right there. And they

were scattered, and they went to preach in all

the regions, and it starts going through the

history of it, and part of the regions is Syria,

and part of the regions in Syria is Antioch,

and then it starts going through the cities.

Acts 8 -4, Acts 11 -19 belong together historically.

That's the continuation there. And so what happens

in Acts 11 happens right after the first martyr.

It happens right after, again, one of the most

pivotal and the New Testament was what Stephen

did, what he preached, what happened. And remember,

who was at the stoning of Stephen? Paul. He was

a rascal. Paul held the coats while they threw

the rocks. That's what it says. So Paul was there.

Give me your coat so you can throw harder. Give

me your coat. Okay, I'll hold all the quotes.

Go ahead, kill the guy. He shouldn't be living.

He's preaching erroneous. Paul was there. What

happens in Acts 8, pivotal to Acts 11. And in

Acts 11 and verse 19, you get into the verse

and it starts talking about the people that went

to preach at all the different places. And some

people went to preach at Antioch, the city of

Antioch. Acts 11, 23. Barnabas goes there because

the apostles say, hey, there's something going

on in Antioch. I think we better check out. So

they send Barney. Why? Because he was such an

encourager, pure -hearted guy. They say, why

don't you go look at it? He goes, Acts 11, 23,

and he came. Barnabas. And he saw the grace of

God. Mantle. And he was glad and he encouraged

them all that with purpose of heart they should

continue with the Lord. So in Acts 11, Barnabas

runs into this new church. This new church. is

now going to equal Jerusalem church. It's going

to be Jerusalem and Antioch, the two centers.

Jerusalem is actually now going to be affected

by Antioch, but nobody knows what's going on

here. Barnabas goes, and he goes, I can't believe

it. I saw the grace of God, the mantle, the corporate

grace, stuff going on. People are being saved.

People are praying. They live with purpose. And

so he says, I have to go find Paul. Well, Paul

had gone home after the council meeting. He had

gone home back to Tarsus. It says Barnabas travels

to Tarsus. Paul's hometown, finds Paul, says,

you got to come with me. Paul says, sure enough,

I'll do it. They go back to Antioch. And Paul

goes, whoa, what is happening here? Barnabas

says, I told you. He says, and Paul, you have

to understand, they're preaching to the Gentiles.

And Gentiles are being saved by the hundreds.

And they're a multi -race church. They're a multicultural

church. They're a multi -everything church. They're

a melting pot. They're doing something no church

has ever done before. And so it says in your

Bible, Paul and Barnabas spent a year teaching

at Antioch. How many of you would like to be

in Paul's class at Antioch? Man, I would. I would

love to hear what he taught. for a year in Antioch.

Now, everyone say out loud, we receive the mantle

that God has for us. What would that mantle look

like? I'm going to tell you what I think it looks

like. I think you're called to be an Antioch

church. I think your purpose and your anointing

is in the Antioch category. And I think the mantle

that is on you is in Acts 11. And I think if

you would read Acts 11, you will find the points

I'm going to give you. I'm going to give you

a few right now. Are you ready? Here's the mantle

that we want to recognize and keep on this church.

Number one, supernatural empowering mantle. We

want the hand of the Lord to stay on this church.

And we want the supernatural power of God to

be released in this church. And it says in Acts

Acts 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11, 21 about the Antioch church. And

the hand of the Lord was with them. And that

phrase, the hand of the Lord with them, is the

idea of favor and blessing and supernatural and

that the hand of the Lord being upon it. You

cannot buy the hand of the Lord. You cannot beg

the hand of the Lord. You cannot manipulate the

hand of the Lord. The hand of the Lord goes where

the hand of the Lord wants to go. And when the

hand of the Lord comes upon a church and blesses

that church, you need to be the people that stand

up and worship and praise God and say thank you

for the hand of the Lord upon this church. It

affects me and my family and my business. and

my future, and everything about me. Matter of

fact, I want everybody, I'm not done, so don't

you try to sneak out. If you do, God will judge

you accordingly. I want everybody in this room

to jump up on your feet right now. Jump up on

your feet. Are you there? Like toast out of a

toaster, jump up. Have your hands free. Are you

ready? Let's give the Lord a shout and a clap

this morning. Come on. Come on. Thank you, Lord.

For your hand, for your hand, for your hand,

for your hand, for the supernatural. Thank you,

Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. For invitation

and deposit. Blessing, favor, don't you. Take

it for granted. Don't you just say, well, we've

been in this church. This is a church raised

up by God. And the very thing that most churches

want, you have. The hand of the Lord is on your

church. Okay, be seated. Number two part of this

mantle. is Acts 11 21 a great number believed

and turned number two is the passion for the

lost mantle and a great number I want you to

say out loud great number now I'm going to say

some things and you can weigh it you can do whatever

you like with it this church is destined to grow

a lot more And you're going to add another service.

Have you told the church about the other service?

They might be adding another service. Why? You

want to make room for people. Why? Because a

great number will turn and believe. But even

God does the math. God knows how many chairs

you have, how many rooms you have for children's

ministry, how many parking spaces you have. God

is practical. He's no dummy. He understands exactly

where you can go, how much you can have, and

how many people he can send here. And if you

don't have the faith to make room for it, or

the faith for more parking spaces, or the faith

for more whatever, or even multiple services,

then you stay where you are like a lot of churches

do. Because they don't want to do the work of

adding another service, another campus, another

whatever. But I'm prophesying to you with my

eyes open this morning. When you add another

service, you will make room for people. New families

will come. New visitors will come. New miracles

will happen. Because you made room for it. Every

single time we started. multiple services on

every campus. We were up to 20 services a week,

weekend. And I would be nervous. Okay, we're

going to start Sunday 9. We had 11. Now we're

going to go to 9. But that's early. You know,

in the pulpit, we are mighty men of God. In prayer,

we beg the Lord. Is that right? That is exactly

right. Because you're out of the boat in front

of everybody. So you're saying, and God will,

and God can, and I'm believing. And you're thinking

to yourself, please, God, for the people's sake,

don't let me down. Starting every service, I

would think, oh, I hope some people come. Jesus,

it would be so bad. And sure enough, start filling

up, filling up, and I'm thinking. Then I would

get them to pull up and say, what were you thinking

this morning? I told you the people were on their

way. But I didn't know. When you make room for

the lost. For their families. For their cars

to park. For them to have a chair to sit in.

For them to be in a service where they can experience

what you've experienced all these years. Thank

God there's a church in the middle of Harrisburg,

in the middle of, I'd like to say nowhere, but

that's offensive to everybody that lives here.

You're somewhere. And it's an amazing place and

it's a beautiful place and people are scattered,

but they'll drive. I think people are going to

drive from many places to taste the presence

in this place. The woman from Stanton, an hour

drive. Why? When you find presence, you get addicted

to it. And the drive doesn't mean anything. Why?

Because you want that on your life. You want

it on your life. Of course, there's many churches,

and there's many great churches. But there's

only one of you. Only one of you. This unique

DNA. Number three, the powerful grace mantle,

which is verse 23. I've read it to you already.

And the grace mantle was upon them. And if you're

listening to me, just hear the wording, a grace

atmosphere. A quality of graciousness. I think

this church is very gracious. I think the people,

the cafe people, the people that park your car,

they park my car, they're probably not parking

your car. The people, yeah, people that park

cars, yeah, yeah, they're out there. You find

them. But there's graciousness in the door greeters

and the cafe people and the worship teams and

the pastors and the leaders. And people are smiling

and laughing and hugging and enjoying themselves.

And people are walking. Because there's a graciousness

on this church, which is an attractiveness, favor,

kindness. Number four, the unified purpose mantle.

There's something clear here that's going on.

There's a unity of purpose. There's an urging

you to press into that vision, press into that

purpose, and remain faithful to what the Lord

is doing in your midst as you build and as you're

a part of it. Who knows? what you will be doing

in this house and in other services. And who

knows if you start other campuses. And I don't

know that Brad is going to do that. I'm not telling

him to do that. I'm not prophesying him to do

that. I'm just saying sometimes you need to take

the service where the people are, not bring the

people where the service is. And sometimes there's

communities that could really blossom with a

service like this and a church like this and

a preacher like this and the worship like this

and the presence like this. And I'm just saying

there's a lot of areas around here that probably

could really use. a campus and a service, but

I'm not saying you should do that. No pressure.

Number five, a faith leadership mantle. It says

they found good leaders who were full of the

Holy Spirit, controlled by the Holy Spirit, enthusiastic

with the Holy Spirit, and they were men of great

faith. I thank God. I thank God for Brad and

Jennifer. I thank God that you have a pastor

and pastors that have faith. I'm glad they're

not saying, well, you know, we can't, you know,

we don't need to build anything else. You know,

I'm 50 years old. It's time for me to kind of

unwind a little bit. You know, it's time for

us to, we would probably just, you know, stay

with what we have and I'll get on my motorcycle

and do more writing. And so... No. Faith never

stops pressing. Right up until I had cancer,

I was starting another campus. Right after I

got out of the hospital, I was thinking of enlarging

our vision to do this and this and this and this.

And that's why I realized I'm not the guy to

do it because I can't pull that off. I need to

pull something else off and let someone else

do this. And so I think faith. never stops taking

ground. As a business, when you stop taking ground,

you stop taking money. As a church, when your

vision becomes only about this, why would God

give you miracles? Why would God provide more

money for you? Why would God give you things

you can't use? It's when you're out of the boat

that the water has to work. It doesn't work if

you're a boat person. If you're a boat person,

not a water walking person, it doesn't matter.

You don't need a miracle. You can sit in the

boat all day long and say, I want a miracle.

I need a miracle. Oh God, give me a miracle.

I'm in the boat. I want to walk on the boat.

I'm walking on the boat. What a miracle. I didn't

dump it out. I didn't tip it over. I'm walking

on the boat. And you go, man, I had a miracle.

That's not a miracle. It's just living life routinely.

It's being safe. It's staying in the boat. You

don't get the miracles until you get out of the

boat. That's where miracles have to happen. Bible

says, as they went, God worked with them. Faith.

Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible,

and receives the impossible. Faith. I used to

quote this to my staff and leaders all the time.

It's one of the fun things I did. Francis of

Assisi in the back third, fourth century, you

know, he is a monk and a writer and a great man

of God, actually. He established a lot of things

we're still doing. Francis of Assisi. Found a

monk who was cooking in one of the monasteries.

And he wanted to take the monk with him and go

start more monasteries where there weren't any.

And the monk said to him, I can't go. I'm cooking

for the other monks. Francis of Assisi said to

him, give up your small ambitions. Come save

the world with me. And I would say that to my

staff all the time when they would give me their

low -level excuses. I would say, give up your

small ambitions. Come save the world with me.

We all have small ambitions that we just get

so wrapped up in. But, you know, I want you to

understand, your life really matters. Fine, you

won't get what God is saying to you. I'm really,

I'm really naughty. I apologize for my humor.

No, I don't at all. All right, we want faith.

Number six, we want the apostolic equipping mantle

to stay on this church. The apostolic equipping

mantle. thinks about training leaders and pipeline

and doing everything for the next generation.

It's an apostolic mindset. The apostolic equipping

that goes on here already needs to be multiplied

many more times. Number seven, the prayer worship.

You can play, I don't mind. Just as long as the

organ's off. The prayer, worship, and counter

mantle, you have it. Chapter 13, verse 2, while

they were ministering to the Lord and worshiping,

the Lord said, the voice said, the prophetic

came. That's a unique thing. Not all churches

do that. Not very many churches do that at all.

The prayer, worship. Number eight, the prophetic

voice mantle. Where we believe in prophets and

prophetic and voice, Not just from the pulpit,

but in the people, for the people, around the

people. The prophetic mantle rests upon the church.

And prophecies that come. I kept all the prophecies

that came over our church in a journal. And I

would go back to them. Why? Because I believe

that God's going to talk. I might as well listen.

And so I would go back and read those. And the

ones that came to pass. I would check them off

and say, that's happened. That word of the Lord

was fulfilled. This one has not happened. Every

prophecy has a rhythm. The prophecies over the

church has a rhythm and a course that they fulfill.

In 1 Corinthians 13, it says, and where there

be prophecies, they shall cease. And the Baptists

have used that to say, we no longer need prophecy

because they have ceased. That's not what that

Greek word says at all. That Greek word is kataargo.

And where it says, and prophecies have ceased,

it simply means kataargo, to finish their course.

That's what the word means. Something that finishes

its course. And where there be prophecies, they

will finish their course. And when they finish

their course, you better get a new word to continue

for the next season because the word for the

last season doesn't work for the season you're

moving into. And so you need to get a catargo

for the church to make sure you're in the right

rhythm to move the church into the future. Can

I hear an amen? Number nine, a God -sized vision.

So we're never going to limit this thing. It's

going to be God -sized vision. It's going to

be the purpose and the mantle mixing together

to fulfill that vision. It says in the book of

Joshua, a scripture that I've used a lot, and

I'm going to put it on your church, Joshua 17,

14 through 17. I won't read the whole context,

but this scripture is about vision. And it's

one of the most, for me, one of the most shaping

scriptures that got me to think about vision.

Because Ephraim and Manasseh were people that

were born dreamers because of Joseph. They were

Joseph's children. So they had dreaming in their

spirit, in their genes. And it says they came

to Joshua and they said, why have you only given

us one lot? We are a great people and you have

limited us. And Joshua said to them, the mountain

country is not enough for you. Then what you

should do is go clear out the mountain country,

clear a place for you, take care of the parasite,

the giants. in the mountains of Ephraim where

they have the warriors that keep that. I want

you to go and take those. It's not that you don't

have enough country. It's you won't take the

hard country. I didn't give you one lot. I gave

you plenty of lots, but you won't clear the lot.

And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph. This

is in your Bible. I'm not making this up. Ephraim

and Manasseh, dreamers, faith people. You are

great people, and you have great power, and you

should not only have one lot, but the mountain

country is still going to be yours. I'm not going

to give you the plains. You're going to have

to do the mountains. You're going to have to

clear it. And he gave them four phrases. He says,

I want you to go up. Everyone say, go up. Cut

down. Drive out. Take possession. Now that's

the word of the Lord to this church this morning.

Go up, cut down, drive out, and take possession.

Why? Because you have a great vision in front

of you. You've only just begun. The best is yet

to come. I don't care how many years it took

you to get to where you are. This is only first

base to actually round the bases. This is only

the beginning of something great. There's a new

season, and God wants you to go up, cut down,

drive out, take possession. Why? Because there's

a great mantle on this church. That's God. Now,

put your... Bibles and stuff down again. Stand

to your feet. Are you there? All right. Now,

let's give the Lord another shout and another

clap and say, we receive. We receive. We receive.

Bow your head. Close your eyes. And let me prophesy

to this church. For I have set before you an

open door and no one can shut it. For you have

sufficient strength because you honor my word

and will keep my word. I will give you my word.

Take notice. Mark it. I've set before you today

a brand new open door. and it shall continue

until you are able to enter it. And when you

enter it, sooner than you think, at that moment,

opportunity will spring forth, and there will

come a newness to your strength and a newness

to your vision. For I have put favor on this

house, and I have opened doors that you can't

even imagine. I will provide for you the people

you need, the leaders you need, the finances

you need. I need you to go up. I need you to

cut down. I need you to expand your vision because

there's coming new open doors, a new season for

this church and this congregation. I need you

to step up in faith and extend the vision and

let the kingdom of God move forward. This is

a time, this is a time where the Lord will put

a mantle upon this church that you will feel,

a mantle upon this church that you will own,

a mantle upon this church that will change you,

your family, and your future. God, is going to

do mighty things through this congregation. And

he's going to anoint you with that mighty mantle.

And this is a turning point day, a marking day,

an open door day. Come on, lift your hands, everybody

in the room. And just, I want you to imagine

that I was the Elijah walking by, and I threw

the mantle right onto you. I threw the mantle.

Right on to you. And you received it with the

great effectual work and door that God has for

your church and what he's going to do with you

in the name of Jesus. Now, I want you to look

at me. Put your hands down. Just look at me.

And I want you to say these words with me. We

agree together and ask for a double portion.

We pick up the mantle and we stand in our place.

with faith and expectancy. We declare, we believe,

that the mantle rests on us. And the mantle on

us will open the rivers that are in front of

us. We will seize the miracles, we will overcome

the challenges, and we will let this mantle Make

a new future. We will carry it. We will honor

it. We will keep it. For us, our children, and

our children's children, we wear this mantle.

In the mighty name of Jesus. Come on, now let's

give the Lord a real clapping shout. Call us

at 541 -995 -8282.