Groundwork - Part 1

Church, today I'm going to invite you to join me in the book of Nehemiah.

I want to share with you some things that God has been dealing with me about, and we're just excited for what God is getting ready to do.

We're anticipating a tremendous move of God in this hour, amen.

I believe that everything that is happening now, both in our lives, both in the church and even in the world, is setting things up for just a unprecedented move of God,

an unprecedented revival that God is bringing to the church.

And I don't know about you, but I want to be right in the middle of it.

Amen. I want to be right in the middle of it. I want to be a part of it.

Amen. In Nehemiah chapter one and verse two, it reads this way,

Hannah and I, one of my brethren came with men from Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity and concerning Jerusalem.

And they said to me, the survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach.

The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down and its gates are burned with fire.

So it was when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned for many days.

I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Some will say, amen today. I want to, for a couple of weeks, I want to begin just a short series that I'm entitled to groundwork.

Groundwork. And the purpose of this short series is to cast vision and to prepare us church for what I believe God wants to do with us.

I want to prepare the way for this coming year.

I don't want to start next year talking about the vision. I want to start next year running with the vision.

And I believe that right now God wants to deal with us in ways that will prepare us spiritually for the next step that he has.

I'm going to invite you right there where you are. If you would join me in prayer, let's ask God to have his way for the remainder of this service to speak to us.

Father, we thank you for the divine visitation that we have experienced thus far.

We thank you God for the moving, the stirring of the spirit in this place.

We recognize that the presence of the Lord is here and we thank you for the miracles, the healings that you have already done.

And now God, that after we have worshiped you, I pray that you would speak to us, your church, Lord, in a timely manner.

That the things that you have placed in me I can deliver today with anointing, with power, with humility.

Touch my lips of clay, God, and touch the hearts of your people.

We ask this right now in the name of Jesus. Can everyone say amen?

You may be seated from now until January, church.

I'm going to be preaching from Nehemiah, which tells the story of how God used this man and his countrymen to rebuild the broken down.

Walls of Jerusalem, a familiar narrative to many of us.

And it's filled with many relevant applications, not only for our personal, spiritual lives, many aspects of life,

but most importantly for the church today, for building the church, which we are called to do.

And church, I want to set this up this afternoon by explaining how important it is for us all to realize that we are part of a global church.

We are part of the body of Christ.

Some will say, amen for that.

It is imperative for us more than ever to be aligned, to be in alignment with the mission and the purpose of our beloved Apostolic Assembly,

which we are a part of, and I'm very proud of that.

We are one church, amen.

We are one body.

We are one Holy Ghost, Jesus' name, oneness movement, amen.

And our singular purpose, which has been communicated to the masses, but I really want to establish more than ever in our minds and hearts, is to build the church.

So the mission that has been presented, or the vision that has been presented to the Apostolic Assembly is to build the church mission with an emphasis on the Holy Spirit.

And this is something that every church and every body and every department and every ministry within the Apostolic Assembly has been hearing about,

and ought to propel us, ought to motivate us, and help us see a picture of where we are going.

Now, this is all built on the words of Christ.

This is all built upon what we read in Matthew, chapter 28 and verse 19, where Jesus lays out for his disciples what our mission is.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

He said, go.

Everyone say, go.

Let's say that again.

Say, go.

Go.

Let's say, wait.

He said, go.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

This is what's often been called the Great Commission.

And every member of the body of Christ, every born-again believer, every participant, every follower of Christ has been given this mandate.

This is not exclusive just to the pastor, just to a select group, just to the ministry or the deacons or those in leadership.

This is for every believer.

We have all, as the people of God, have been given this mandate to build the church, to go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.

Amen.

Every tongue, every creed, every color, every background, we are called of God.

How many of you believe this today?

We are called of God to make disciples of the nations and to baptize them.

And then the next verse, Jesus says, teaching them to observe all these things.

So this is our mission.

This is our corporate and individual mission as the church.

And I want to just very briefly draw a distinction in your minds today, the difference between mission and vision, because these are related but different concepts that I think having some clarity on what they represent will be helpful for us today when we start talking and thinking and praying and forecasting what God wants to do in our lives.

So number one, mission.

Everyone say mission.

Mission is what we do.

Our mission is what we do.

But vision, because someone say vision, is how we do it.

So again, mission is what we do, but the vision is how we go about doing it.

The mission of the church you need to understand is permanent.

The mission never changes.

The mission is what it was 2000 years ago when Jesus gave it to us.

It has not changed and it will not change until Jesus comes back for his church.

There is always going to be but one mission.

Amen.

There's just one mission.

The mission is permanent, but the vision, the vision, the way we do it or how we do it, that can be altered.

That can change, but the mission does not.

The mission cannot change, but the vision can.

And it's important to understand that God works through accomplishing his mission by imparting, by giving dreams and visions,

which is a promise or a sign of the end time.

I'm going to give your old men shall dream dreams.

Young men shall see visions and actually it's in the reverse and other portions of scripture where the young men shall dream dreams and the old men shall have visions.

But in the last days, there's going to be visions and dreams that God's going to give and those visions and those dreams are God's pictures that he gives to his people on how to accomplish the purpose and the mission that he has for us.

And I, like many men of God and pastors and church leaders have been asking the Lord to give me a clear vision of how we can incorporate and how we can accomplish the mission of Jesus Christ in our local church here at City Light Church.

And I believe that through prayer, fasting, that I have heard from God and I want to share with you very, very importantly, I want to share with you with much fear and trembling before God what I believe the vision is for this church and for us personally.

I want to present to you the vision for 2024.

Now, again, I know that in the past we have done this in the beginning of the year, but I don't want to start the beginning of the year talking about, I want to start the beginning of the year already running with a picture of what God wants us to do.

And that is simply to arise and build.

Everyone say arise.

Everyone say build.

Let's say it together.

Arise and build.

One more time.

Let's say it together.

Arise and build.

Someone say, man, the Lord has confirmed this in my spirit these last couple of weeks.

I went to our national convention already with a great conviction and a great idea in my heart of what God wanted to do.

But there I received confirmation from God that we are headed in the right direction.

This phrase, arise and build, it comes directly from Nehemiah.

In Nehemiah 2.18 it says, and I told them, Nehemiah said, of the hand of my God, which had been good upon me and also of the king's words, which he had spoken to me.

So they said, let us rise up or arise and build.

Then they set their hands to do this good work.

I'll be coming back to this verse in a few weeks from now, maybe in January, because it's very important for you to see that what Nehemiah needed to run with this vision God gave him.

First of all, he recognizes it comes from the Lord.

He said, the hand of my God was upon me.

So there is a vertical authority that he's under or the authority of God.

And then he is also operating under the authority of man.

He's under a king.

He's under judicial governance.

He's under earthly leadership that also gave him permission.

So he is doing everything in order.

How many know God's a God of order?

So everything he's doing is in order.

He's got the hand of God and he's got the approval of his leaders that are over him.

And he is running with this vision.

And I believe church that it is our time, city like church.

Amen.

Every one of us to arise and to build the church of Jesus Christ.

Can you clap your hands and let's give God a praise today?

Amen.

Somebody say amen.

Let's get some historical background into Nehemiah, because this is where we're going to be studying and exploring here.

During Judah's 70 years of Babylonian captivity, King Nebuchadnezzar seized the treasures from the house of God,

burned it down and destroyed the protective walls around Jerusalem.

And not only were the Jews taken captive, but their home, their livelihood, everything was burned.

The beloved city, Jerusalem was plundered and it was besieged and decimated.

It was heartbreaking what took place there.

But after Persia conquered Babylon, just a quick little history lesson,

Persia conquered Babylon and they had concern for the Jews.

They were more empathetic towards the Jews, unlike the Babylonians.

And so during that period of time, the Jews were released and they were allowed to start going back to their homeland.

The doors were opened for them to return to Jerusalem.

And you will read in the latter parts of the Old Testament, there were different revivals that took place,

different spiritual reforms that took place.

And under three different leaders, we see three different groups returning back to their homeland of Jerusalem,

beginning with Zerubbabel, then with Ezra, and finally Nehemiah.

Under Zerubbabel, we see the temple being rebuilt.

And this is a great pattern for us to see how God restores a people, how God...

You can do a great study on restoration and revival because it always starts with the temple.

There's got to be a revival. How can there be a revival in the earth or in the world if there's not revival in the church?

Come on somebody, amen.

And so Zerubbabel's task was to rebuild the temple, restore the temple, and then Ezra comes in

and his job was to reform the people.

And then finally Nehemiah, under his leadership, the walls are rebuilt.

This is how God works. The temple is rebuilt and then the people are rebuilt and then the walls,

which represent the community, which represents the world, those are rebuilt of society.

And these walls were a picture of that, a broken down society, a broken down world, a world that was in need,

a world that was desperate, a world without hope, a world whose gates and walls had been burned down

through corruption and through immorality and through perversion and then just through sin in general.

We see the results. You reap what you sow.

Obviously, Jerusalem and all of Judah had come under siege and had fallen from God,

but God was reviving things.

And just like we see there, I see a picture of revival that is coming through this land that we live in,

called the United States of America. I believe in revival and I believe that just like the picture we see here,

God wants to revive and God wants to restore and bring back families together and bring back,

come on, and restore and heal the land. Amen, somebody.

These broken down walls are a picture of how society looks today.

And God, just like then, is looking for modern-day Nehemiahs who are willing to arise and build.

He's looking for modern-day Nehemiahs that are ready and willing to build the church as the church,

to come together. But there are some divine things today that I want to impart to you.

Some divine things that are needed before building can continue or building can commence in our life.

Because Nehemiah did not just go from hearing the news to all of a sudden building the wall.

There was a process that God had to bring him through. There was some things that had to be dealt with in Nehemiah's life.

And the first divine thing that needed to take place in Nehemiah was a divine burden. Amen.

A divine burden. And prior to this moment, prior to this, the hearing of this news,

Nehemiah, you could say, was living his best life. Nehemiah was the king's cupbearer.

And he enjoyed a life of peace and prosperity and political power.

You could say in a way that Nehemiah had it all. He had a position of privilege, a position of influence.

He was right there next to the king. And he wasn't just a butler per se.

He wasn't just the taster of the wine and the food, which he did to protect the king from poisoning.

His job was very important. But more than that, he was a counselor. He was an advisor to the king.

He was somebody who served almost like the chief of staff to a president,

oversaw the affairs and the operations within his palace.

He was in a position of authority and of great trust. He was close to the king.

He had the king's ear. He was trustworthy. He was a faithful man.

He was a good man. Nehemiah was a man of integrity, a man of character.

He was upright. He was a righteous man. He was a good man.

And all of these things are true. And all of these things are great about Nehemiah.

He was living a godly life. He was living a good life.

I mean, he was living a blessed life. Could not have gotten any better for him.

If he was climbing the ladder, he had reached the top of the ladder.

I mean, very much like Joseph was, second to Pharaoh.

He had accomplished so much in his life and he had seen the favor of God on his life.

No doubt because he was devout and he was committed to his God. Amen.

But for the better part of his life, he was also a little too busy and preoccupied.

A little too personally involved in the affairs of his own life to be involved in God's mission.

He had errands to run. He had events to organize. He had meetings to attend.

People to supervise. Events to manage on top of his career

and his professional responsibilities. Nehemiah probably was a family man as well,

which meant that he had a home to take care of.

He had a wife to love and possibly children to raise and a home to lead.

So Nehemiah was no slouch. Nehemiah was no slacker in life.

He was a hardworking man. He was an honorable man and he had built for himself a great life.

And so for that reason, I commend him. I mean, hats off to Nehemiah for building this great life

and this legacy for him and his family. But the truth is that Nehemiah was also living in a bubble.

He was also living in a bubble. And so are many believers today.

And we understand and I have seen throughout my life, throughout my ministry,

they have a personal relationship with the King, no doubt.

It seems that God has blessed them and they even served the King in a variety of ways,

much like Nehemiah did. No one's doubting. No one's calling into question your relationship with God.

Or saying that you're going to hell. I mean, by all accounts, just like Nehemiah,

there are many believers today who are very much right with God in the sense that they are pleasing God

with their lifestyle, pleasing God with their choices, doing the right things and staying out of trouble,

living above reproach and all those things are wonderful and good and something that we should all aspire to

and strive for as God's people. However, there seems to be in the case of many today,

a lack of urgency for the mission that God has for the church.

There seems to be a man somebody. There seems to be a lack of urgency.

And I would dare say a lack of concern or a lack of compassion even over what is happening

and what we are to do about it. And today I say this with all sensitivity.

I don't mean to step on anybody's toes, but if your toes get stepped on, so be it.

Because it's not me, it's the Holy Ghost that wants to awaken the church and awaken us to understand

that we can no longer just live our life with our... Come on now.

Live our life with our spiritual blinders on and say, well, as long as I'm going to heaven, that's all that matters.

No, there's going to come a day where each and every one of us are going to have to stand before God

and give an account not only for the life that we lived, but for those that we have the opportunity

to reach and the church that we had the opportunity to build.

Amen, somebody.

And so I am here to sound the alarm into someone's heart today in your life and tell you that, yes,

it is possible to punch your ticket to heaven. It is possible to build your life and not be building the church.

It is possible to be spiritual and non-missional. It is possible, and I say this with all due respect,

to be apostolic and doctrine and indistinction, but not in demonstration.

It is possible to be apostolic, to be Pentecostal in every sense of the word and yet still not be out and about

doing what God wants us to do, to be like Nehemiah, living in a bubble of blessings and not be moved to compassion.

It is possible to be like Jesus portrayed in the story of the Good Samaritan, like the Levite and the priests

that are just too preoccupied. Some people are so busy being church-minded or being religious-minded

that they're not being kingdom-minded and thinking about what do I have to do to stop what I'm doing,

to take some time out of my schedule and reorient and restructure my life so that I am able to reach those poor people,

those despondent people, those sinners that are on the side of the road, that need somebody to love them

and treat their wounds and restore them back to life.

They have got a burden in my heart and the burden that I feel is one that I want everybody under the sound of my voice to feel.

We have got to get to a place church where we are so burdened, where we are so consumed with the things that consume God.

I feel this in my spirit today until what breaks his heart breaks our heart.

We will not see the rebuilding of the church and of the walls in our society.

We need God to baptize with the burden for the lost, with the burden for those who if they don't hear about him

are on their way to hell. We need God to so interrupt our lives like he did and Nehemiah, like he did with Nehemiah.

Nehemiah could have heard the news and said, well, you know, I am just like a lot of good and well-meaning good intention.

I am not here to poke fun, I am not here to upset people on purpose, but like very good and well-meaning Christian.

I am going to keep them in prayer. Amen.

But I want to know, are we just keeping things in prayer that we ought to be also doing in action?

Oh, now somebody, I am going to pray that somebody would go talk to that person.

Hello, what if you are feeling what you are feeling because the Holy Ghost is trying to provoke you and move you to be his mouth

and to be his voice and to be the hands and the feet of Jesus, amen, somebody?

Nehemiah could have very well said, you know, well, I am going to wait for the right time or maybe down the road.

But I still got some things I need to do, having quite, you know, got it out of my system yet, you know,

I still got some things I need to accomplish. And then one day, maybe, I will know when he heard the news.

You know what it did to Nehemiah? It crushed him. It crushed him.

He didn't jump up in joy and celebrate and run the aisles and swing from the chandelier.

He didn't do all that. When he heard the news of the broken down walls of Jerusalem,

it broke his heart into a million little pieces. He was so distraught.

He was so saddened by what he heard. The Bible says that he sat down. He said, I sat down and I wept.

I wept. I wept for many days. I cried and hurt my heart.

It grieved my spirit. It grieved my soul to know of the condition of those walls.

And of course, those walls represent the condition of the people and the Lord began to deal with him.

The Bible says that he agonized that he began to pray and to fast.

And I believe that's what we need to do at the beginning of next year.

We're going to start with 21 days of prayer and fasting somebody saying that.

But when we pray and fast, some of you are going to do some fast of food.

Make sure that you're fasting from food is not just a spiritual diet.

Hallelujah.

But make sure that as you're fasting and as you're praying that you're really allowing the Holy Ghost

to deal with your heart and deal with your spirit and help break you

so that you will see what God sees. Clap your hands and give the Lord some praise today.

Church, I believe that we need God to deal with us.

I believe that we need the Holy Ghost to burst our bubbles, our bubbles of life, of work and prosperity in the church.

And all those things and give us a burden for people.

Help us to see people the way that Jesus sees them.

I believe that in 2024, I'm going to prophesy right now that people are coming back to God.

Oh, I wish I had a believer in the house.

I said I believe that in 2024, people are coming back to God.

The protocols are coming home.

The wayward are coming.

Come on, I need somebody with faith to believe with me right now. Come on.

Come on, churches, anybody believe with me right now?

The souls are coming back.

I believe that God's going to move in a powerful...

If you believe it, I want you to give God 30 seconds of praise right now. Come on.

Come on, somebody praise him right now.

Somebody, if you believe God's going to do it.

How many of you know we got the power of the Holy Ghost?

We got the name of Jesus.

Oh, yes, come on.

I feel something in the spirit today. God is dealing with us.

God's dealing with us.

Church, we can't just get excited about it.

We need to convert our excitement into action and say, what can I do to build the church?

How many of you believe God's giving us a mandate, amen, to build the church?

Second thing we need after a divine burden is a divine blueprint.

We need a blueprint.

We need God to give us a strategy.

We need God to show us.

It's got to come from him.

As Nehemiah began to pray and process the pain over the state of Jerusalem,

I believe as we read the scriptures that he received a vision and direction from God to rebuild those walls.

He said, I cannot rest until those walls get rebuilt.

Oh, my God, I cannot.

I can't just go back to church or light as usual.

I cannot go to church.

Can I tell you something?

I don't want church as usual anymore, folks.

Church, brothers and sisters, with all due respect, I don't want a repeat of 2023 and 2024.

I believe that God wants to do greater things, brother David, amen.

I believe we got, you know, we got to fill up that baptismal tank a little bit more next year.

Come on.

Hey, man, I said we got to fill up that baptismal tank.

I am not satisfied to have only two or three baptisms.

The devil is a liar for every soul we did not baptize last year.

We're going to baptize two or three more in the year to come.

I wish I had somebody that would.

Is there anybody that believes it in this place right now?

Yes, in the name of Jesus.

But guess what?

We're not going to do it just me or just you.

We're going to do this together.

Amen.

We're going to build the church as one church and as one body.

And we're going to find our place and get this vision from God.

And the vision was an essential part of laying the groundwork.

He didn't just march out there without a plan and just say, well, let's just see how this thing goes.

He didn't just march out there.

So I'm just going to wing it, you know, I'm just going to swing for the fences and see what happens.

No, God gave him a vision.

God gave him a plan and church.

What I love about where we are right now as the body, what I love about where we are as an assembly,

as a church here today is that God has given us a blueprint.

God has given us a strategy.

God has not left us without direction.

Praise be to God.

All of the churches of the Apostolic Assembly are united with the blueprint that Jesus modeled through his life and through the Apostles and their ministries.

We have four gospels, my Lord, that we can look through.

We have four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

And then we have the book of Acts.

We have all of these resources showing us what the model is.

Amen, somebody, showing us how to do it.

And over the years, you've heard it said throughout different pulpits in our churches and different services about the strategy of Jesus.

How many of you have heard of that?

Amen?

The strategy of Jesus.

And I'm sure you have heard or seen or saw or maybe even worked in it in your prior church or ministry.

The strategy of Jesus is the simple and essential and powerful blueprint that God has given the church to grow.

And let me just share with you briefly.

Hallelujah.

I'm Ron Murray running out of time here.

This consists of three main components.

Here is the blueprint that God has given his church in this hour.

Number one, everyone say evangelism.

Amen.

Let's say that again.

Evangelism.

God said we got to reach people.

We got to share the gospel.

Amen.

Preach the gospel, Jesus said, to every creature.

It is our job.

How shall they hear the word of God says, except but a preacher.

And you don't have to have a credential or a ministerial license in your pocket to preach.

You can open up your mouth and be the voice of God wherever you are.

How many of you believe that?

Amen?

We've got to share and we've got to evangelize.

Again, this is all of, we're not going to assign a department in the church to do this for us.

We're not going to assign that one, that one brother, man.

He's on fire, man.

Let him tell people, no, no, no.

We're all going to participate in our own way of evangelizing.

So evangelism is number one.

Secondly, discipleship.

Can someone say discipleship?

Amen.

Discipleship.

Jesus said, make disciples.

He didn't just say baptize sinners and leave them sinners, but make them disciples.

Train them, teach them, help them, mentor them, guide them so they become full-fledged Christians and full-fledged members of the body.

Amen, somebody.

Amen.

We got a disciple and so discipleship is a part of it.

And there are things that God is going to do, some changes that are coming.

I'm not going to tell you them all right now, but they're coming.

And there's some different things that we're going to do this coming year that it's going to get a little more focused on discipleship.

Praise be to God.

And then small groups.

Amen.

Somebody say small groups.

Well, that's our city groups.

Praise God.

But these are the three components to the strategy, three components to the blueprint that God has given the Apostolic Assembly in this church today.

The Holy Ghost is challenging us to get personally involved in evangelizing the lost.

Can I hear an amen?

Of making disciples.

Can I hear an amen?

And gathering together in groups.

Another amen.

And if we do this, you know what we're doing? We're being faithful to the primitive model that was given to us in the book of Acts.

If you read the book of Acts, you will see that this is exactly what the early disciples did and God added to them daily.

Hallelujah.

God blessed them with growth.

And the day has come upon us church to arise and build.

Hallelujah.

And to bring up new souls and new ministries.

Praise be to God.

And we've got to gather together.

We've got to evangelize the lost.

You know why somebody say why?

Because time is running out.

That's why Jesus is coming soon.

And we've got to tell as many people as we can about our loving God.

Come on somebody, clap your hands.

Come on, clap your hands and give God some praise today.

We've got to tell Him.

We've got to tell Him.

And we're going to arise and build with dynamic, our city groups.

They're going to get more dynamic next year.

They're going to get more dynamic in this sense with the exception of some city groups that have specialized focus or specialized ministries.

With those exceptions, the majority of our city groups are going to start gathering together again in homes and opening up the Bible and praying together and helping each other and fellowship each other.

There is nothing more apostolic than that.

There is nothing.

Let's go to the Word and Acts chapter 2 and verse 46.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Just give me a few more moments of your time.

It reads this way.

So, continuing daily in one accord in the temple.

Someone say in the temple and breaking a bread from house to house.

Someone say house to house.

I should have had you say breaking bread too because I like doing that.

Praise God, huh?

They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily.

Those that were being saved.

Hey, we don't need any gimmicks.

We don't need any marketing schemes or whatnot.

All we need is to get back to the book of Acts.

Come on now, somebody.

All we need is to meet in the temple.

What we're doing right now, lifting up the name of Jesus and celebrating what God has done and hearing the word preach.

But then we've got to get back to meeting in our homes with each other and breaking a bread because that's the apostolic way.

Hallelujah.

Again, in Acts 5.42 it says, and daily someone say in the temple, amen.

And then in every house, say in every house, every house, they did not seize teaching and preach.

Where was the teaching and the preaching?

It wasn't just in the church, my friend.

It was also in the house.

They did not stop teaching and preaching the word of God in the house and in the temple.

And then the Lord continued to add to his church.

I want to be 100% apostolic in these last days.

And I don't just want to be apostolic in my dress and in my tongue.

I want to be apostolic like the Acts of the Apostle that brought the gospel to the people from house to house, breaking a bread.

And the spirit of the Lord would move upon them and the church began to explode with growth.

That's what I want to be, amen.

And I'm here to tell you, coming to the temple is the start, but it's not enough.

Long over are the days of just being a Sunday Christian.

Some folks even have a hard time with that one, huh?

Amen.

They say you got to walk before you crawl, right?

So you got to come to church, amen.

Someone say go to church, huh?

Go to church, amen.

Go to the temple.

But long are the days of us just saying, well, my Sunday thing is that's what I give to God.

No, God is saying what about the rest of the week?

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

So you get filled up with power and Holy Ghost and Word and all this stuff on a Sunday.

And then for the rest of the week, I need you to be active.

I need you to get on the front lines.

I need you to be involved in evangelism and discipleship and small groups.

Praise be to God.

So as the piano player comes on up so I can wrap this thing up here, hallelujah.

It is what we must do as an apostolic Jesus named church.

Hallelujah.

This is what the church is supposed to look like in the 21st century.

So therefore today, I want you to hear me loud and I want you to hear me clear today, church.

I mean no disrespect and I'm not trying to ruffle you up today for no good reason.

But I'm here to tell every person in the sound of my voice today, I am calling on every baptized member of City Light Church to let's get on board with the vision and build the church of Jesus Christ.

Hallelujah.

I am calling on every man.

Oh, come on.

Where are the men in the house today?

Come on, men, let me hear you.

Oh, come on.

I'm going to give you another chance.

Come on.

Where are the men in the house today?

Calling on every man to get involved.

Every women, women of God, hallelujah, are you there?

Can I hear you right now?

Come on, sisters, let me hear you.

Or maybe I need to say where are the barons and where are the dorkas?

Huh?

Why are you so ashamed to be a dorka?

You've got to be proud you are.

I hear some people say, I don't want to be.

Why not?

They're the ones that are working, getting things done, sharing the gospel.

Let's do this together.

I'm going to get about on pin for every one of you men in here so you know who you are.

I got my pin on today.

It's not about on one, but I got one too, you know?

We're going to have the City Light 10 years.

We're going to have all, we're going to just pass out pins, you know?

Hey, if that's going to help you, praise God.

I'll do whatever it takes to motivate you.

So we all can see that we are the church and we got to build the church.

I said, we got to build the church.

Calling every young person, where's the real youth at?

Let me hear you, real youth, where are you?

That's it.

Come on.

Build the church.

Let's not just have activities, just to have activities.

Huh?

You know, where's the evangelistic element to it?

Where's the soul, the backslide, the prodigal, the unsafe friend, family member, this classmate,

you know, the co-worker?

Who are we reaching and say, come on, let me tell you about this Jesus?

Huh?

Lord, hallelujah.

Let me tell you about this.

Let me tell you about the one who changed my life.

Let me tell you, I'm calling on everybody in this church.

Let's build the church together.

Let's arise and build.

Would you stand with me right now?

I feel this in the Holy Ghost.

Oh, hallelujah, Jesus.