Sunday Message - Dr. Frank Damazio (September 20, 2015) | Life Bible Church

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That's

enough. I don't want worms. It's a great privilege,

honor to be here in the services, also on the

campus, seeing new building and being with Brad

and Jenny and family and people I've known for

a very, very long time. And all the other people

I've been shaking hands with and loving that

I've known for some of those people over three

decades. So really great to see everybody, all

the ones I haven't met. I probably won't get

to meet you, but God bless you. Love you. I'm

so impressed with the campus, the campus that

you have. I do a fair bit of traveling and I

get around, you know, pretty much around the

world. And this would be one of the most beautiful

campuses I've been in. Just the lodge field,

the northwest, the river. You just have to work

it out so they let you shoot the animals. That's

all I... You know, it just, it ain't right to

look at those ducks landing and taking off and

not take a shot at them. But, you know, that

can be taken care of. But just being here and

seeing the whole thing and knowing. I mean, I've

been through a number of building programs. And

I know the journey so well. And the sacrifice

and the workload that happens accidentally on

people. They don't even plan it's going to happen

to them. It's just doing things and giving your

money and helping and building and still working

on all the stuff. And it will go on for months

beyond this just to move in. There's still a

lot of stuff to do. And that's normal. So I just

want to say a huge congratulations to you as

a church that you have done a fantastic job.

And your sacrifice is a seed that's sown that

many people will reap from. You've built something

that will see a lot of people. find Christ and

return to Christ and families that will be healed

and marriages helped and young people will find

their way and children be raised up in the ways

of God. And it's because you had faith to build

a place for them to come, for them to feel good

about it. I mean, God doesn't dwell on the mortar

and the carpet and all that. We understand that.

But God does visit the houses that are dedicated

to him. Whether they're our home, our business,

or our church facilities, they become sacred

because we make them sacred how we use them for

the kingdom of God. And I'm just telling you,

you have a great future. Have a great future.

It's going to be an amazing journey. Just sitting

there watching and thinking how many times I've

done this with so many other people. myself too,

and trying to think back what I thought would

happen. And every time I go to that point and

I go back and I try to think about what I expected,

what vision did I have, and what could I see

back when we did that building, that property,

and none of them, not one time did I have enough

vision to see all that was going to happen. Not

one time. God always does much more than you

see. What you see is small compared to what you

don't see. And that's where God... It's working.

And he's going to do some amazing things in and

through this church and you, the church, the

body of Christ and the people. I'm just still

baffled. I'm just a little baffled when I drive

here and, you know, there's just, it's in the

middle of nowhere. And you drive and even seeing

an animal is a blessing just to see an animal.

And then you get here and here's this, you know,

It's cultish. It's so... How can this be? How

did this happen? Where do you people live? Do

you really have a home somewhere that you end

up coming here? I just... I was with Roger and

Sherry last night, who was one of the first families

in our church when I started in Eugene, and it's

so good to see them, and just Sherry's cooking,

I mean. And Roger, well, nothing about Roger,

but Sherry. I'm on a roll here. I might as well

just keep going. I know Roger's a great friend,

great hunter, great encourager, great dad, a

very proud dad, a very proud dad, and he should

be. I'm very proud of the church. I'm also very

proud of the leadership team here, some of which

I've known for my whole life. But watching Brad

and Jenny lead. this church and lead the team

yesterday and meeting with them and just talking

about everything to do with this church and the

future and them just kind of getting what they

can from it while I'm here. I just want you to

know as far as I see it, as far as I know in

my own personhood as a man that's been in the

ministry for going on 45 years, I think Brad

and Jenny are two of the best leaders you will

find in the body of Christ. That's what I want

to say. You're awesome. You're awesome. They

have what it takes to be good pastors. Heart.

They have heart. They have passion. They have

faith. They're not afraid. Will they make mistakes?

Have they made mistakes? Of course. Of course,

we all do. I have. I'm just shocked that the

Lord loves me so much in spite of me and that

my church loves me so much in spite of me. I

tell him, I said, if you knew more of me, you

wouldn't love me so much. I'm sure of it. Maybe

I have you totally deceived. I'm not sure. It's

a great thing to have a bonding with the church.

My church loves me because they trust me. They've

watched me for a long time, and they trust me,

and they trust my family, and they trust the

eldership that I work with, and there's peace

in the house. And I think one of the greatest

things that happens is peace in the house, where

you trust leaders. And remember, Brad's not alone.

He has me. He has other people. He has, well,

he has Jenny, too. We have everything he needs

to help him do what he's going to do. I just

committed myself again yesterday to them just

saying, hey, I'm a dad to you and I can be more

of a dad, so what do you want from me? And just

making sure this church just really achieves

something supernatural. You know, just try to

move yourself to the realm of... You really don't

have a clue what's going to happen here. It's

going to be far beyond anything you've thought

about. And that's the journey. That's what's

fun. And the whole fun piece of that is it's

all about people. It's all about people being

saved and healed and et cetera. And I'm still

in the people business and I love it. I love

changed lives. So many people come to me, talk

to me this week. I mean, you can't buy these

kind of things in life. You know, the one young

man talked to me yesterday. He says, you wouldn't

know this, but he said, 30 some years ago, I

was sleeping in a car in your parking lot. My

life was, he went in and he said, You guys got

me out of the car, put me in a place to live,

got food for me. My life was changed. I got saved.

Now I'm married to this woman, have these kids,

been serving the Lord all these years. Who would

have known that just looking at someone sleeping

in a car ends up being a pillar in the house

of God? Who would know that? You can't. You can't

plan those kind of things. You can't imagine

those kind of things. But that's what the Holy

Spirit does with people. And that's what he's

done with you. Every one of you are miracles

sitting right here. You have a story. And, you

know, I know some of you. And you are a miracle.

And I am a miracle. If you know anything about

me, I am a miracle. And so it's just great to

be here. I don't want to take all my time meandering

around, but I just wanted to say that to the

church and make sure you heard it. I'm proud

of you. I just think the worship leading this

morning with the group was just heavenly. Just

amazing. Great job, Jen. Just, you know, I knew

you when you were just so big, you know. And

watching you lead with that depth of gift. And

anointing. And what a great gift you guys have

in her. Great gift. Great presence. Great presence.

And seeing all the young teams coming up is what

it's all about. Our church is 6 ,000 plus people.

And our average age is 29. And so we're into

the next generation. And watching young leaders,

I'm all about that. That's where you push my

button. That's what I want to do. That's what

I do, is help people find their dream and do

it. And watching those young people lead and

everything and write songs. You're just going

to have a great life and a great time. And I'll

be back around here. Last time I was here was

six years ago. I'm sorry. It's Brad's fault.

It's my fault. I just got a little busy, and

I'll try not to let that happen. The reason I'm

on a stool this morning instead of standing and

walking around is because I went through cancer

last year, as I shared with the team yesterday,

and most of the church probably knows that. But

I'm a cancer survivor. I'm cancer -free, by the

way. The journey of going through that definitely

changes your mindset, changes your life, changes

something inside of you. I don't even, I'm not

even quite sure everything that has changed,

but I have changed and watched it and just, you

know, you appreciate things differently and go

at life differently. And I'm at that stage where

I'm reinventing myself right now. I'm giving

my church over to a guy that's worked with me

for 20 years. I think I kind of shocked everybody

that I would do it right now. I don't have to

do it right now. Even my own doctor, one of the

oncologists, my main doctor, she says, Frank,

why are you doing this? Why are you giving up

your church? She says, it's not because you think

something's going to happen to you. I mean, we've

been through this. It has nothing to do with

that. Nothing. She says, okay, as long as I feel

good, if you can tell me that the cancer wasn't

your initial thought about doing this, because

it shouldn't be. I'd be concerned that your emotions

are going the wrong way. She gave me an okay.

I said, nothing about that. I said, do you understand

this phrase, thus saith the Lord? She says, no.

I said, good, let's just go on with the point

like that. It's God. God told me in my heart.

To do this. And so I'm doing it because of that

initiative. I always wanted to make transition.

When I was the strongest. Which I am right now.

Even though I have a little nerve problem. My

knee and calf. That's why I'm not walking on

it. It's really not cancer related at all. I

wanted to do it when I was at the top of the

game. Not the bottom. And when the team was at

the top. And when the church was growing. Great

steady pace. The finances are good. The church

is good. The salvations are off the chart. The

youth ministry is the largest it's ever been.

I mean, we're at kind of that climb. That's when

I wanted to step back and give it to the other

teams so they could just keep making that climb,

and it wasn't me pushing the climb, that they

now get behind and push everything that's going

on. So that's why I did it. In that, I'm reinventing

myself and kind of doing some different things.

And part of that will be mentoring, coaching

more leaders and more pastors. I'll have more

time to do that. And that's probably one of my

gifts. That's probably what I should be doing.

All right, enough about me. Psalms 133. Would

you turn there if you have a Bible? Psalms 133.

I'm going to go to Psalms 133, and we're going

to preach for a few minutes here and communicate

and pray. And I want you to hear my heart. I

want you to hear the Bible. This is a psalm written

by King David. And this specific psalm, I want

you to think with me for a moment before we read

it, before we do anything with it. I want you

to hear something about it. I'm going to talk

about what the psalm talks about, really these

few verses. verses that are written. Psalms 133

is a very short little boxy group of scriptures,

only three or four scriptures and within that

there's some mighty, mighty truths. I think in

a situation like this, when you come into a new

season and you come into a new arena of thought

and an arena of progress and things change, and

I told Brad, it'll never be the same again, Brad.

You can't take what happened 14 years up till

now and just transition it over to this new season.

It's not the way to do this. You can't do it.

It won't work. There's going to have to be some

new stuff and new changes, and you have to kind

of adjust to the new season, and the Lord will

help you. And part of that adjustment happens

in this psalm right here. If you understand the

psalms at all and understand the writing and

the writers, it helps you understand what is

written, if you know why and who and when and

et cetera. Well, there were three main kings

of Israel, although there was 19 on Israel's

side, 19 on Judah's side. We're not talking about

the split kings. kingdom, just when it was together

before it split with Rehoboam and Jeroboam. There

were three main kings. And as you know, you have

the Saul, you have the David, and you have Solomon.

Each one did 40 years. And then after Solomon,

it split and never came back together. Then you

had the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

Each one had 19 kings. Israel had 19 kings. Judah

had 19 kings. Israel had 19 bad kings. They didn't

have one good king. Unbelievable. Judah had 19

kings. were revivalists and reformation kings

that turned the kingdom around every time it

went down. Israel never had that. So all the

prophets that you have, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,

Daniel, all of them are talking to both kingdoms.

And if you read your Bible now knowing that,

you will find where they say Judah and you will

find where they say Israel. When they say Judah,

they're talking about that house. When they say

Israel, they're talking about this house. It's

not all one anymore. Most people don't know that.

Everybody okay? Okay. So, when we come to David,

King Saul, King David, King Solomon, three of

the great kings, 40, 40, 40. Saul had a great

potential, but he ruined it. He ruined his potential.

He ruined his potential because he had a heart

problem. He had a motive problem. He had something

in him that could never change. And he ended

up ruining the kingdom. Ultimately, he ruined

other people under him, including his son, Jonathan,

including all the sons that were in his house.

He ruined them because Saul had a heart problem.

David was raised up by God. And it says in the

scripture, in the book of Acts, it says, David

was a man after my own heart. And this is why

I love David. That's what God says about David.

So he was, God was disappointed in the heart

of Saul, but he was overwhelmed with the greatness

of David's heart. Even though David committed

sin, committed adultery and murder. And I mean,

the guy, did some very naughty, naughty things

in his lifetime. It's not that he was a perfect,

great leader and a moral man all the time. He

made some super big mistakes. But at the end

of it, even when you get 2 ,000 years down, God's

still talking about David. He says, I love David

because I love his heart. He was a man after

my own heart, and I love David even though there

were problems. So David was a heart guy, and

then Solomon was a wise guy. I'm not saying that

to be funny. But he was a man of wisdom, and

so you've got the Proverbs. and Ecclesiastes

and the books that come out of Solomon because

he was a builder of the temple of Solomon and

he was a mighty king but he also had some real

heart problems later on and he drifted and that's

where the book of Ecclesiastes comes out of.

His bad heart, his bad sin and everything's vanity,

vexation, everything under the sun is no good.

He ends his life the wrong way. David, even though

he had problems in his flesh, now listen to me,

he never had problems in his heart. Never had

a heart problem. And he ended correctly. Even

though he had flesh and carnal and just like

me, I mean, I've never committed adultery and

don't plan on it. I'm not going to murder anybody,

although I do think about it sometimes. And so...

It's like, you know, you see someone abusing

their child, spanking their child. We call it

abuse today. God calls it discipline. And so

you think, you shouldn't do that. You shouldn't

do that. But I understand why you're doing it,

you know. And so you kind of move on. Sometimes

when it comes to Bible characters, you look at

them and say, how could they do that? Well, how

do you do what you do? It's the same devil, the

same flesh, the same temptation. They had them.

But David. was a man who had heart. And I want

you to understand Psalms 133, if I can ever get

to my notes here. If Psalms 133 is read with

what I just said in the background, you will

understand Psalms 133 was written toward the

end of David's life. Psalms 133 was written after

a lot of experiences that didn't line up with

Psalms 133. And so when you read Psalms 133,

it's a group of Psalms called Ascent Psalms.

There's 15 of them. From Psalms 120 to Psalms

134, those 15 Psalms were taken by Israel, and

they would sing the 15 Psalms on the 15 steps

of the temple, or they would sing them on their

way to the feast. And so they were called Psalms

of Ascent, going up to Jerusalem geographically,

but also spiritually to the tabernacle, to the

temple, to worship, etc. And so they're called

Psalms of Ascending, Psalms of Ascent. psalm

is next to the last psalm that they would sing

as they would move into Jerusalem or as they

would move from the 15th, 14th step up to finally

get into the courtyard. So Psalms 133, if you

understand the history of it, was placed at a

very significant place and spiritually it has

some of the most significant principles because

Israel was what? Coming together. And they had

been a divided house. Well, they hadn't at this

point. They were fighting division because they

already had all the seeds of division. If I had

time, I would show you those, which I don't.

And so for them to sing Psalms 133, which kind

of one of their Psalms of principle and promise

and prophetic, because this is where the anointing

was. This is where the dew of Hermon came. This

is where God commanded things to come upon them.

And so as they come to the temple or they come

to that place of celebration, they remembered

this principle. when he writes Psalms 133 we

can put it up on the screen if you want the NIV

translation I use a lot of different translations

I like message a lot I use the translations that

agree with me and so I want you to read it out

loud can you is it up okay so I won't see my

slides back here Steve is that the way it is

I don't see them back here it would help me if

I could see that you're on target I don't want

to turn around and look at them, though. I just

believe you are right. Steve is, I've known Steve

since he was, well, for a hundred years. Okay,

I want you to read out loud with everyone together

how good and pleasant it is when God's people

live together. Now, David writes this psalm with

a background of division. His life was riddled

with division, mainly because of this guy called

Saul. That's the main reason. But he also had

some in his house, some in his men, some right

along the whole kingdom. So David is a man who

has experienced the horribleness. of disloyalty

the horribleness of disconnectedness the horribleness

of a Saul who was like David's spiritual father

in a sense and Saul was the one who drew David

out of his house and and put him into the kingdom

as a as a chief warrior I mean Saul's the one

who promoted David Saul's the one who gave him

the doors of the kingdom Saul's the one who's

chose him from his father's house think about

it And then Saul gets filled with jealousy. And

it says in the Bible, almost with the spirit

of insanity, he comes against Saul. Now, the

very man that David loved, and David loved him

to the day he died. He loved Saul to the day

he died. Because David had heart. He was an honorable

man. And so Saul got so angry with David, he

threw javelins at him. He would call David into

a meeting. And as David was sitting there, not

even knowing what was going to happen, Saul would

grab one of his spears and try to kill David

right there in the office, right there in the

presence of the other guys. And David would run

out and hide. And then Saul would repent and

then do it again. And the whole story of David

and Saul is a horrible story. And again, if I

had time, we could really kind of do more with

this. But you get the idea that David's been

a guy who understands. how horrible it is when

brothers are not in unity. How horrible it is

when people that are close to you are not in

sync with you. David had lived that. He had walked

that. And finally, when Saul died, you know,

at the end of his reign, and he'd already gone

to see a witch, and I mean, his life was a mess.

It says in 2 Samuel 1, when David heard the news

that Saul was dead, he wept and wept and wept.

He never lost heart for Saul, even though Saul

lost heart for him. Why? He had a heart, a different

kind of a spirit. He was a man that God loved,

and this is one of the reasons why. And so then

when you go to... The Absalom story. I mean,

how awful is the Absalom story? Everybody knows

Absalom, especially those that are really into

spiritual warfare and stuff. You know, they're

always casting out the spirit of Jezebel and

the spirit of Absalom. I don't dedicate any kids

named Jezebel or Absalom. In my whole life, I've

never dedicated an Absalom. Or Jezebel. But I've

heard that name mentioned a lot in the house

of God. Spirit of Jezebel is whatever it is.

Spirit of Absalom and all this. Well, it goes

with scripture because Absalom was a naughty

boy. He was David's son and he was the best looking

son. He was the son of promise. He was the son

that everybody loved. He had personality. He

probably had a lot of David in him. And it says

that David loved him more than any of the sons.

And so there was a lot going on with Absalom.

But Absalom turned against his own father. And

then Absalom... begins to do things that are

horrible in setting David up to rent the kingdom

and ruin the kingdom. He would meet people as

they came to the temple or came to see the king.

They're in the outer courts to see the palace

and to come in and present their stuff. Only

the heads of the tribes could do this. And as

they would come in, Absalom would just slip around

and meet him right at the front door. And he

would just say to them, oh, you're going to see

king, huh? Yeah, yeah, we're going to see the

king. Well, what's the problem? Well, out of

Naphtali, we got some real problems with our...

our crops, and then what has happened is the

king has taken our money, so we can't hire enough

workers, and they would go through it, and Absalom

would just simply say, if I was in charge, that

wouldn't happen. But go see the king and see

what happened. He did that, it says in the Bible,

day after day after day after day after day after

day, and he starts stealing the hearts of the

people based on a false... based on his own ambition.

And as he stole the hearts of the people, finally

it blew up. and they came to kill David and David's

men took him out the back door and hid him in

the wilderness and you can read all about it

in the Bible and it's quite the story as David's

leaving you know you have one guy up on the hill

throwing rocks and dirt at David saying you're

a cursed man you deserve this everything is happening

to you and one of David's soldiers which would

be I think a great elder says let me just go

relieve his head that's what he says he says

let me go relieve that man of his head And David

says, leave him alone. Who knows? God might want

him to say that to me. David's heart. Just leave

him alone. Don't dare. You rotten man. You deserve

this. So David's knocked out in the wilderness.

Then they corner Absalom. There's a war. And

Joab, who's one of David's right -hand generals,

David says, Joab, now listen. Listen to me close.

When you go out and you find Absalom, you don't

lay a hand on him. Do not touch that young man.

David believes he can repent, turn around, something

will happen good. Joab knows better. Joab's an

old warrior, and Joab sees that David's hard

at deceiving him. Joab sees that Absalom is the

greatest problem Israel has. So when they went

out to fight against Absalom and his guys, Absalom

had long, long black hair. If you have long black

hair, this sermon is for you. No, not really.

He had long black hair, dark as the night, good

-looking guy, and he's riding in his chariot,

and his chariot takes a bump, and his hair goes

up and gets caught in the tree. And the chariot

goes on, and Absalom is hanging in midair by

his hair in the oak tree, and Joab comes up and

sees him and kills him. Shoots him through the

heart with five darts. Says, you're done. You're

dead. And so then the word goes back to David.

And David says, how's my son Absalom? How's Absalom?

What's going on out there? How's Absalom? Joab

says, well, may all the king's enemies be like

that man is right now. David fell out weeping,

horribly hurt. My son, Absalom, my son. But Absalom

was not his son in heart, only in flesh. He was

a rotten son. He was a horrible boy. He was divided

in the kingdom. He was not just hurting David,

but he, I mean, if I told you the whole story,

it gets much more horrible than this. And so

I'm saying this because David writes this psalm

out of experience. And he has Israel sing it

with the heart of, this is what happens when

there's unity. The greatest thing you can do

as a congregation is have unity. The greatest

principle of blessing is togetherness. And the

greatest attack of the devil is always to disconnect,

divide. turn against, steal hearts, gossip, say

the wrong thing, behave the wrong way. He can't

stop something that's together, but he can stop

it if it's divided. He can pick off people. He

can do things he can't do when everyone's together.

So my word to you today, as you step up to where

you're going in this future of this congregation,

is to understand. The spiritual, supernatural

necessity of unity. And wherever discord pops

its head, in children's ministries, in youth,

in parking lots, wherever people... have a little

sideways attitude or spirit. It's not because

they want to end up, an Absalom would be a deep,

deep, deep, dark journey that you'd have to go

a long ways to beat that. I'm not saying there's

anybody here that's an Absalom, not hinting about

some personality or whatever. That's a long,

dark journey. But the whole spirit of division,

discord, is not a long, dark journey. It was

in the New Testament from day one. It was in

the churches. They had to fight against it. The

whole Bible talks against it. You have to be

the guarder. the custodian, the warrior to keep

the spirit of unity wherever you are. Unity is

not something that the church somehow gets out

of the spirit realm. Unity comes through people.

You are the carrier of unity. And if you're not

in unity with yourself, You're double -minded.

You're double -moraled. You're double -financed.

You're a person who's fighting with yourself.

You don't accept yourself. You don't like yourself.

You're divided with your convictions. You're

inconsistent. You cause arguments where you go.

If there's a discord in you, you won't carry

unity to other people. Unity starts with an individual.

With you agreeing with the scripture, you agreeing

with Jesus, you agreeing with God, you agreeing

with yourself. Unity starts with that heart that

God wants you to have. If you're fighting with

your spouse, that's what I'm talking about. That

leads to the wrong thing. With your kids, with

your friends, with your boss, what am I saying?

Be a David. Doesn't matter how horrible someone

else is, they should never make you into a different

person. It doesn't matter what they do. It matters

what you do. Don't let a Saul make you into a

Saul. Let a David make you into a David. Guard

that in yourself. This psalm, when it talks about

unity, it uses four words, four descriptions.

It says, David says how good it is for brothers

or people to dwell together. He uses the word

good. Which is, I'm going to give you just a

little quickie on each one of these. From the

Hebrew, he is saying valuable. That unity is

valuable, delightful, precious. That's what he's

saying with this Hebrew word good. He's saying

it's beneficial. And the word that you should

hear is the word advantageous. He is saying unity

is good. He's saying it's advantageous. It's

precious. It's valuable. It's something that

the whole nation should stand for. He also uses

the word pleasant. And in the Hebrew, the word

pleasant means favor. It has the idea of the

favor of God. So he says where there's unity,

there's value. Where there's unity, there's the

favor of the Lord. And then he says how brothers

dwell together is a... Living unity expressed

in relationship when brothers dwell together.

And that could be the leadership team for my

house. That's where it would start. I would be

most concerned about my leadership team. And

then I would pass that spirit on to the next

team. And then the broader church, etc. And so

David says, how wonderful it is. How wonderful

the feeling of having relationships that are

clean and bonded and flowing together and unified.

heart is just a wonderful thing. I have that

in my house, in our church up there, in City

Bible Church. I have 27 elders. People always

say, 27 elders? That must be a real bummer. It's

not at all. I love my 27 elders, and they love

me. We work together, and we're bonded, and it's

the most pleasant atmosphere. There's something

about brothers relating in relationship and sisters

in relationship. Don't let anything take relationship

out of your heart. Don't let anything pound out

of you the preciousness of forgiveness, the preciousness

of letting offense go. Offense is the trap of

the devil to lead you to bondage. And so if you

don't understand that, you're going to have a

lot of bondage in your life. If you are offended

and you hang on to an offense, the Greek word

for offense is skandalizo. It's the idea of a

box with a stick trap and the skandalizo is the

trap. And so the animal comes in and takes the

stick out and the box falls over them. The oldest

trick in the world for hunting. That's the Greek

word for skandalizo. It's taking the bait. It's

drawn into the trap. And once you take the bait,

you're going to be trapped. Take the bait. Don't

get involved with offenses. Don't get involved

with unforgiveness. Don't get involved with gossip.

Don't get involved with debate. Don't take the

bait. Can I hear an amen? Scandalism is a real

thing and it destroys... People and families

and business and church and the preciousness

that you feel here. The oneness of heart and

the joy of worship and being free. Well, you

don't want to be thinking about it. I don't like

him and I don't like her and she didn't eat my

apple pie at the potluck. And this one came to

my small group but they always come late. And

that little girl broke our coffee table. And

so you have to let things go. Can everyone say

go? Turn to your neighbor and say, I'm letting

it go. Now you asked your neighbor, are you?

And your answer should be? I said your answer

should be? Yes. Yes. Then he uses the word unity.

Pleasant, good, precious, valuable. Pleasant,

accepting the favor of God. Relationship, bonding,

and what? It's unity, and he uses this word unity,

which has the idea of, kind of uses the negative

to make the positive. The word unity means the

absence of division. So David is saying how good,

how valuable, how wonderful, how precious is

the absence of division. He says, I've known

both sides, and David probably had. out of 40

years he probably had 37 great unified years

but he had probably 40 months where there were

things that happened that were horrible so the

whole life was in that way so David is saying

I know both please let there be an absence of

division here's my definition for unity it simply

means harmony Agreement, that's the New Testament

word and Old Testament. The slide, the definition

here is working together with what? One heart.

A church has to have heart together with one

heart, one soul. One soul is the mind, the will,

the emotions. When a church has that, it is so

much fun. It is so enjoying. It is so fruitful

because there's one heart. There's one soul.

There's one mission. And there's one spirit.

Ephesians 4, 1 through 3 identifies my definition

as being very biblical. Ephesians 4, 1 through

3. And so there's one heart, one mission, and

there's one spirit. There's one voice. There's

one mind. 1 Corinthians 1, 10 is one standard,

one judgment. I mean, there's all these. In the

book of Acts, you have the key word 1, 1, 1,

1, 1, 1, 1, 1, all the way through the book of

Acts. In one accord, when they came together

in one accord, there's things that happened.

So this word unity, I hope. if you just write

these little phrases down as you pray, remember

these. The word unity had the idea of one heart.

So you want to be one heart with your team. And

we're just talking specifically about church,

Acts 4 .32. And the multitude of those who believed,

Acts 4 .32, were of one heart. Two, one soul.

Acts 4 .32. One mind. 1 Peter 3 .8. Finally,

all of you be of one mind. Having compassion

for one another. Love as brothers. Be tenderhearted.

Be courteous. Mean people suck. That's a great

bumper sticker. It's biblical. It's right. Christians

are supposed to be gentle, tender, and courteous

to one another. as we build the body of Christ.

We speak the same thing. We're in one accord

in harmony. The idea of one accord, as you go

through the book of Acts, it's a big thing. One

accord, one accord, one accord. Acts 2, Acts

3, Acts 4, Acts 6, Acts 9, Acts 10. I mean, it's

right through. It just seems like that's where

they kind of rested in this truth. The idea of

one accord in the book of Acts means... And I

just kind of love this phrase. That's why I think

the Bible is written in New Testament Greek language

because it's so much more colorful, so much deeper

than the English language. It has so many shades

of meanings and has so many masculine, feminine,

very bad stuff. Now, I mean, you can do so much

with one word. American language is pretty boring

compared to Greek. Not pretty boring, very boring.

And so when you look at what they say about the

one accord, it means this. At the moment of unity,

at the moment, of unity. Now listen to this.

There's a surge. A surge. So the Greek has the

idea that at the moment this principle happens,

activates, at the moment you find it, at the

moment you believe it, at the moment you do it,

what is that? It's a... Divine moment. It's a

spiritual moment. It's a God moment. It's a supernatural

thing because the chemistry of heaven comes together.

And at the moment you do that, there's a surge

into the future of good things that are released

at that moment. When they came together in one

accord, he says, the Holy Spirit fell upon them.

They began to speak in tongues, et cetera. Why?

At that moment, there was a surge, an open door,

a brokenness into the supernatural realm. I want

your church not to dwell in the natural, but

the supernatural. I want you to have a surge

of supernatural things. Come on. You need more

healings. If you're sick in your body right now

and you have any form of disease and you need

healing, lift your hand. Just lift your hand

right now. Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray

for a surge. of the supernatural to land upon

these people with their hands up. Lord, you healed

me of cancer. Lord, you've healed some of my

friends of horrible diseases. I have faith for

the supernatural. We're in one accord and we

are in agreement about what God can do. Lord,

I speak a spiritual surge into the life of these

people where faith is released, healing is released

in this house, in these services, in these families.

Let unity cause a surge of the supernatural in

Jesus. name. The book of Acts had miracles because

they had unity. You think about that. And every

time the devil tempts you to do otherwise, you

think about the door you're closing. Think about

it. Think about the doors you close when you

have the things I'm talking about that you shouldn't

have. Let unity be the thing you have. Can I

hear an amen? Alright. Now, I'll just hit on

these just a little bit. Here's five Psalms 133

stated results of unity that this church should

believe for. Our church believes and we practice

this and it works. Here are five things the Bible

says you will have. You will have. It's a promise.

If you will flow together. In unity and harmony

of spirit and heart, be a David, not a Saul,

etc. All that I've said. One, a continual, fresh,

powerful supply of the anointing. A lot of people

want the anointing, but they'd rather fight than

keep it. They'd rather let little issues that

are minors come in and rob them of what should

be the major thing you focus on. It is like,

it says in Psalms 133, it is like, everyone say,

it is like. I'm teaching you Bible this morning.

This is not just opinion. This is Bible. It says,

it is like. What is like? Unity is like the anointing.

That's what he says. He says, if you want to

know what the unity is and the effect it has,

well, it's like the oil upon the beard. And now

that I have a beard, I believe it's a very biblical

thing. Running down to the edge of the garment.

The anointing oil mentioned in Scripture was

used to anoint prophets and kings and priests

and so it has something to do with recognizing

and releasing gifts of people. It has something

to do with healing because it says in James 5,

as you know, anoint the sick with oil and so

you have this oil thing again. The anointing

releases other things in the kingdom of God but

unity is like the anointing. What does that mean?

The anointing finds its best manifestations in

the spirit of unity. Its greatest release is

when there's that thing we're talking about.

Number two, what is unity? It is like, this is

in your Bible, it is like the oil pulled upon

a head, run it down on the beard, run it down

on Aaron's beard, down on the collar of his robe.

And then verse three, it is. As if it is like

the dew of Hermon. What's the big deal about

the dew of Hermon? Can you imagine telling your

friend, I just want the dew of Hermon to be on

you, buddy. Well, they'll look at you a little

cross -eyed and say, yeah. Dew of who? Hermon.

Who's Hermon? No, Hermon's a mountain. A mountain.

So the dew of a mountain. Well, you have to understand

what David is saying here when he says, unity

does the same thing as anointing. Unity does

the same thing as dew of Mount Hermon. Mount

Hermon was the tallest, is the tallest mountain

that Israel had. It's one of the only snow -capped

mountains that Israel had. And so Hermon in their

day had great identification because the dew

of Hermon was what? Here's what it did. It was

a continual supply of moisture. They had no rain.

Very little. So the dew from the mountain cap

peaks that came down to their valleys and their

farmlands was their life. It was their productivity.

It was their rescuing. That's how God... made

them fruitful. The dew of Hermon to them was

like saying, you will be the most prosperous

person in the world because you have the blessing

of God upon your field. They would understand

that. You would understand that. They would just

say, dew of Hermon you know what the dew of Hermon

does for us the continual supply of moisture

that fertilizes our land and makes our land fertile

and supplies us with what we need for fruitfulness

and makes our crops abundant and that dew brings

our provision and it helps us in the dry season

and helps us when there are no seasons it's the

dew that's consistent so David is saying if you

want an atmosphere that makes abundance in fruitfulness

Even when it doesn't look like you should be

fruitful and the natural things are turned against

you, there's a supernatural moisture of the dew

that comes upon your life and upon your job and

upon your business that only God can give. Where

does it come from? Unity. So you might be praying

for open heavens and rain and God is saying,

I'd rather give you some dew. Because the do

is more consistent. It lays on everything. Where

rain might only touch certain things, the do

would blanket everything. Everything. The do

of Herman, and this is what it was called in

the Hebrews, the Hebrews writings, if you read

this, the do of Herman was called choice do.

So if you were talking to a business person,

you would say, hey, do you live in... In that

area where they had the choice dew? Yeah, I do.

Wow, that's amazing dew that you guys get over

your grapes and vineyards. It was called a choice

dew from its freshness and abundance and connection

to life and growth. So when you think of the

dew of Hermon, I want you to think of supernatural

fruitfulness, refreshing. Abundance. The blanket

of God's favor. Touching every area of the church

and life and people. You know what's amazing

about church? I mean, I've been doing this for

a long, long time. And one of the things when

I had cancer, I went all the way back to as far

as I can remember in my life. From the time I

can remember as a child. And I had many, many

hours to lay in that stupid bed and think about

it. Because I'm hooked up to these chemo treatments.

300 hours I did the chemo treatments. And so

as I'm laying there. I took myself on a journey

to say, okay, what was significant in your life?

You have time now to stop and think what were

the most significant things that you think happened

in all of your 64 years, 65 now, I'm 64 during

cancer, and so I was thinking everything through,

and I shared some of this yesterday, so I'm not

going to go back, but the one thing that was

very clear to me, no regrets, no if I could turn

the clock back in, I wish I... could have, should

have, all that. The only thing that had that

stamp without those could have and maybe and

should was my life in church. I would never raise

my family anywhere but church. I wouldn't want

to marry anybody that didn't love church. And

all of my closest friends and the choicest moments,

the hardest moments too, some sad moments, some

life, because life rains on everybody, happens

with my friends in church. And so the dew of

Hermon for me, that fruitfulness and that abundance

happens when you find a church and you stay with

it. You find your house and you live life all

the way through. I'm now doing life with my friends'

kids' kids. Amazing. And so you look at now where

they are and they're having kids and they're

in the house and wow, abundant, fruitful covering

of my life. That choice to comes out of not allowing

the petty thing to rob me from the major blessings.

We focus on the wrong issues, church. We get

upset for the wrong. things we say. Stay focused

on Jesus. Love people in spite of whatever they

do. Always forgive. Always forgive. You're the

loser if you don't forgive. Unforgiveness is

you drinking the poison and hoping they die.

It's you that's the loser. Don't do it. Can I

hear an amen? All right, the third thing. It

says where the Lord commands is blessing. So

it's 10 till. You guys are out at noon, right?

Yeah, okay. So maybe Angel, Jenny, and Angelettes,

why don't you come and take the platform? That

way I'll be forced to finish. This is what my

people do at home. They start slowly coming to

the platform one at a time. And then they play

the keys. Then they play a little louder. A little

louder. Then someone starts singing and singing.

And then I say, is this a divine hint or what?

All right. Where the Lord commands the blessing

is where unity. I mean, think about it. God crosses

every obstacle and every intentional attack of

the enemy. And when he finds unity, like a general,

he commands the blessing of the Lord. And there's

one thing about God. His word doesn't return

void. His word cannot be argued with. His word

cannot be stopped. So when it says God commands

blessing, that's a pretty... big deal. Meaning,

nobody can stop it. You can start doing the,

you know, the spooky music kind of stuff. What

I call the pre -opera show. Not that you... Yeah,

there you go. A little quieter. You have to get

noisier as you go. Fourth one. Where the supernatural

life of God is at work, the Lord commands life.

And you're called Life Bible Church. We have

a lot of churches called Life. It's an amazing

subject in the Bible, but where the supernatural

life of God is at work, the Lord commands life.

I don't know about you, but I've been in some

very dead churches. They're deader than Julius

Caesar. And so when you get into a dead church,

I can't wait to get home to my live church. And

I say, God, bless these people. Just don't make

me ever have to be here. I don't want to be here.

I just want to do my thing and leave. I can't

help them. It's dead beyond dead. You're going

to have to do something supernatural. I've watered

a dead branch, but I don't know what's going

to happen. And so I go home. I love to be in

a place where there's life. Don't take it for

granted. Don't take it for granted. There's thousands

of churches that are on their way out. And there

are thousands of churches on their way up. Be

a church of life. Life, life, life. I speak life.

To this church. And the last one. Now you get

a little louder. You start now. Start building.

The last point. Is it empowers the church to

win spiritual battles. Where there's unity. There's

power. Through the life of God. And the anointing

of God. And the do of God. And all these things

that make up what. It allows you to win spiritual

battles together. Matthew 18, verse 19 says,

Matthew 18:19

if two of you agree, you know the scripture.

Message translation says in Matthew 18, 19, take

this most seriously. I love Eugene Peterson.

I think he's the most genius today writer that

is alive today. He wrote Message Bible. He says,

a yes on earth is a yes in heaven. A no on earth.

is a no in heaven. Take this very seriously.

When two of you get together on anything, believe

for the yes. Come on. I would rather, I would

rather do life with yes people than no people.

I want to do life with people that are agreeing

for great things. walking in the spirit and heart

of unity, overcoming the works of the enemy,

and believing that as we agree, it's a yes. Yes,

God can do this. Yes, God can supply. Yes, God

will break down the gates of hell. Yes, God will

deliver people. Yes, he will heal people. Yes,

it's going to be a great day in the household.

Yes, it's going to be a great week at business.

Church should not stop at 12 o 'clock. You've

got to take it right through your business and

your home and have a yes spirit about everything

you do with the spirit of unity. It doesn't matter

who you work with, who's around you, what the

boss does, the foreman does, or anybody else

does. As for you and your heart, keep unity.

your heart and you be that person that brings

agreement harmony you be the person I want you

to bow your head and I want you to do something

with me just in a few seconds just bow your head

we're gonna pray first first for sure I want

to make sure that if there's anybody sitting

in these chairs. Everybody that knows how to

pray, your head's bowed and you're praying under

your breath. However you pray, just pray under

your breath. Just pray for God to move, Holy

Spirit to touch people and heal people. We're

praying now just for that last supernatural touch

of God to come upon us, to do, to cover everything

in this sanctuary. If you are here today and

for whatever reason you got here but you don't

know Jesus or you're away from Jesus and I have

said something or the worship or something along

today said God loves you, God is for you. God

wants to forgive you. God has a plan and a purpose.

You've not ended your life. You've not sabotaged

your life. God's grace will take care of you.

If you're here and you don't know Christ or you're

away from Christ, say, Frank, I need God in my

life. I want you to lift your hand up right now.

Would you please just lift your hand up anywhere

in the auditorium? Say, Frank, I need God in

my life. Lift your hand up over there. Okay,

more. Anyone else? I'm looking around. See that

one? See that one? I see this one. Someone else?

Just lift your hand and say, Frank, I'm away

from Jesus. I need to come back. Or, I don't

know Christ. Now, every service, you should be

praying for the visitors to be unsaved. So that

you have people coming to Christ in this atmosphere

every single time you gather. Every single time.

How many of you have division in your marriage

or your home and the devil's found the end road?

Head should be bowed right now. And you want

God to come and rescue you from this mess and

teach you how to walk out of it. Lift your hand

right now. Your home is under attack. Your marriage

is under attack. Need God. How many have a business

that's under attack? Lift your hand. If you have

a business or a job that has just fallen apart

because there's so much division and gossip and

stuff going on. And I could go on. There's hands

on every one of these. Why? Because what we're

talking about is something very real. And God's

going to move for you and your heart to do something

in your home and your business. And those who

lifted their hands for Christ want to come to

Christ. I want you to find one of the leaders

after the service and come up. I'm not going

to do anything right now. But you need to know

that your heart is the first step. You don't

have to get lost in the process. Just follow

through. Take your heart to someone and say,

I need God in my life. Even if you didn't lift

your hand. Now I want everyone to stand. Stand

to your feet. And I want you to take each other's

hands toward the middle. So everybody on the

side, just take one step toward the middle. So

all the hands. you can take the hands of your

neighbor right around. And I just want to pray

a fatherly, apostolic kind of prayer over this

church, over your future, over your homes, over

your life, over your vision. Let's believe God

right now for an impartation. Father, I pray

in the mighty name of Jesus, there will be a

spiritual impartation to Life Bible Church. Lord,

I pray that you will cover them. Let the dew

of Hermon blanket them this morning. Lord, let

the oil of God come upon every head all the way

down to their feet. Lord, I pray that you will

cover their finance. I pray that you will cover

their facilities and their campus. Lord, I pray

that you will cover their vision and their future

and their decisions and their steps and their

progress. Lord, I pray that you will cover every

family that got us here, Lord, that you will.

Allow there to be a spirit of unity to keep us

here and to keep us bonded together and moving

together. Lord, wherever the enemy has already

tried, because he tries all the time, every church,

always beating at the door. Lord, wherever the

enemy has tried to come in like a flood, let

the spirit of the Lord raise a standard in the

mighty name of Jesus. The devil is a liar. He

has no power here, no force here. There's no

way for him to enter. There's no way for him

to harass the people of this church or the physical

bodies in this church or the spiritual inheritance

of this church. Lord, we build a hedge around

this church now in the mighty name of Jesus.

Lord, we thank you for the blessings of being

here. profound favor you put upon them to find

this land and be able to build and to be able

to be in this community right here. Now, Lord,

I pray that there will come anointing upon the

favor of God that's on them. And Lord, they would

multiply that favor. Lord, I pray that there

would be supernatural growth. There would be

hundreds of people saved in this building. Thousands

of people that would get their lives together

and heal the families and heal the young peoples

and bless the business people and get jobs and

help the marriages be strong. Lord, I pray that

the whole dew of Hermon and all that it means

will land on this property. Every inch of it

will be blanketed by the dew of favor and the

oil of God upon every leader, every staff, every

elder, every pastor, every worker, every servant,

every person that's doing anything in the house

of God. every person that will be doing things,

everybody that is serving you in this community

and their community. Let the favor of God rest

upon them, Lord. We pray in the mighty name of

Jesus. interested in hearing other podcasts or

contacting Life Bible Church, go to www .lifebiblechurch

.org or call us at 541 -995 -8282.