The Line Between Real Faith and Self-Deception | Journey With Jesus Part 12 | Apostle Mike Signorelli

Come on.

So Matthew, chapter 21.

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

And then we're going to start at verse six.

So let's read this together.

And the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.

Verse 7.

And they brought a donkey and a colt, and they put on them their

clothes.

And they set Jesus.

They set him on.

On thereon.

Verse 8.

And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way.

Others cut down branches from the trees and strawed them in the

way.

Verse 9.

And the multitudes that went before, before and that followed

cried, saying, hosanna to the Son of David.

Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

And when he had come into Jerusalem, all.

All the city was moved.

And like we said last week, there was like an earthquake in the

city.

That's what that word, moved.

It means like a quake, like an earthquake.

So the city was rumbling with the presence of Jesus, rumbling with

their cries, rumbling with the sounds of hosanna, rumbling with

the gossip of, who is this man that comes from Nazareth?

And the multitude said, when they asked him, who is this guy?

Verse 11.

The multitude said, this is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth, of

Galilee.

Now we know that they actually did not know who the real Jesus was

because he was not just a prophet, he was the Messiah.

And had they known that he was the Messiah, remember this was the

Jewish people, they would have understood that he was just days

away from the cross and it would have been a very different

picture.

But they didn't have the full revelation of who he was.

And so therefore they just said, he's the prophet of Nazareth,

of Galilee.

And I want to stop there because I've got to break this down

for you.

Any spirit that, whether it's human or demonic, that limits the

fullness of who Jesus really is, let him be accursed.

Because when you reduce Jesus, you eliminate the possibility of

what God wanted to bring him in the earth to do.

And so if Jesus is only a prophet, you don't receive forgiveness

of sins from a prophet.

If Jesus is only a prophet, you're reducing who he really is

and what he's able to do and the frustration that Jesus must have

felt that he was in their midst and yet they didn't fully understand

who.

Who he was completely.

This is the crux of the entire sermon that I want to preach to you

today.

Because there are Presbyterian churches that reduce who Jesus is.

There are Methodist churches, Baptist churches, dare I even say

Pentecostal and charismatic churches that reduce who Jesus is

and what Jesus is able to Do.

This is why in the Old Testament, you, God revealed himself

as I am.

That I am.

Because it's a fill in the blank.

Whoever you need me to be, that's who I am.

If you need a healer, I am your healer.

If you need a deliverer, I am your deliverer.

If you need a way maker, I am your way maker.

That's why the only name that is even suitable for human comprehension

is I am.

But then the I am shows up as Jesus and they don't recognize him

as the I am.

And it's crazy, because right now there's so much controversy about

whether prophecy is for today and whether it's true.

There's so much controversy over whether Jesus still heals people

or if that was just a gift that was released in the earth at

a certain time for the inauguration of the kingdom, but

it decreased and diminished in its frequency.

And we should not be praying for people and believing that they

can get healed, because that was just to a greater degree happening

in the times of Jesus to prove that the kingdom entered.

But how many of you know every bit of that could be the intelligence,

intellectualization of people's doubt in the form of false

theology?

Because what we've done is we've done a really good job of systematizing

the scriptures around our own doubt.

We've done a really good job in Christianity of systematizing

the theology around how God can't do something and about how

Jesus can't do it today.

And my hope and my prayer just in the several moments of this sermon

is that as we've taken this journey with Jesus through Matthew,

Mark, Luke and John, as we've retraced his strip, his.

His steps in the streets, you begin to realize that the problem

was not Jesus, it was the audience.

Like, you've never heard a bad sermon.

You just were bad at receiving from that particular sermon.

If the word of God was being taught, if the scripture was being

read, it was breath and life to you, whether you received the

resuscitation or not.

You've never been in a bad worship service.

They may have sang off a key, they may have played the wrong note.

But you weren't in a bad worship service.

You were a bad worshiper in that worship service.

Like, because the thing is, Jesus, when you begin to honor and

acknowledge the fullness of who he is, you can receive in the

worst worship performance there can be, the best worship.

In the worst sermon there can be the greatest revelation.

Because you take the lid off and you say, it's God.

I'M here and there's something that I need and want from you.

But the thing that's in short supply is not local churches.

There are hundreds and hundreds of churches from Montauk

all the way to Brooklyn.

And you cross over to Manhattan and you go into New Jersey,

they'll say the Northeast is godless.

But you wouldn't think it was by the number of churches on every

corner.

There's no lack of preachers on the Internet.

I mean, as a matter of fact, the amount of people thinking that

they're qualified to teach the gospel has increased dramatically.

And some of them need to sit down and turn their social off for

a little while and learn how to sit and receive before they teach.

Amen.

So it's like we've got an abundance of teachers.

Everybody thinks they're a teacher.

We have an abundance of preachers.

We have an abundance of churches in America.

What we don't have is hunger.

What we don't have is desire for more of him.

What we don't have is the unction to say, lord, I want to know

you in all that you could be, not some of what you are, not what

religion taught me, but I want to know you for myself.

And this is what made me, Moses, dangerous.

Because Moses pushed past the superficiality.

And Moses said, show me your glory.

You're not supposed to ask for that.

But the Bible recounts the story of Moses asking to see the

glory of God because he becomes an example of, will we be

those who are hungry?

Will we be those who are desperate?

Do we want more from him?

Or will we just simply expect the status quo?

The story of Abraham in scripture is an incredible story

of him saying, I'm going to go away.

I know not.

I'm going to take my wife Sarah, and we're going to journey

into a foreign land.

And I'm going to dare to ask God for more than what I have in

my life.

And I'm going to operate in faith to believe that there is more

than what is in this generation.

And when you look at the Bible, it's the stories, it's.

You go New Testament, you look at a guy like Peter, and he's just

a fisherman, but he's on the boat.

And he just says, lord, if you will let me step on out if that's

you out there.

And he begins to call from the boat and he says.

He says, just call my name and I'll step out and I'll get.

But think about.

He would have known the waves so well, would have been like driving

8094 in northwest Indiana, it would have been like driving the

parkway.

He would have known those waters well enough to know that you

don't step out to walk on the water, and you certainly don't go

out there in a storm.

But he.

He was breaking the rules because the rules limited the expression

of who Jesus could have been for him.

And there's something about this.

And I. I think the thing that the.

The whole reason why I started V1 church is because I thought to

myself, what would happen if I got a group of people together that

weren't good at following rules and said, I know I'm not supposed

to believe for this.

I know Christians say that cancer is just my lot in life, and

I should just accept it and suffer well, and die.

But I've been convicted reading these scriptures that he

still heals.

And what if I broke the rules?

Or, you know, what if during worship, instead of staying in my

seat, I just got up and I begin to dance?

Because when I read the scriptures, nobody.

Come on.

David wasn't supposed to dance.

Matter of fact, somebody was jealous at his dance, but he danced,

and he was so indignant, his clothes fell off.

And what if I had a church.

Full of rule breakers that said I was never good at the tradition,

I was never good at the rules anyways.

But I want to know this man.

I want to know this God.

Are y' all with me?

And this is why it's so ironic that Scripture is filled with stories

of those who push past what they were told that they were supposed

to get from God and with God, and.

And yet we create these denominations, we create these churches

where we just stay in a box that no one even explicitly told

us we had to stay in.

And when I look at this story, and this is the story of Matthew,

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

chapter 21, it's such an incredible story because Jesus shows

up now, and because we've got to go a little bit deeper into the

text, Jesus shows up, and they begin to lay their coats down.

So this is really an act of extravagant generosity.

And they're putting their coats down on the bare ground, and

there's all this dirt and soil and, you know, the rocks and if you

know, the terrain and.

And they're laying their coats down, and then all of a sudden, here

he comes on this donkey, and he's literally just walking upon

their coats, like, treading upon the thing of value that they

had.

And then they have these palm branches, which, you know, we're

not gonna get too much into the deeper side of the theology around

this.

But essentially, they were celebrating another feast in Jerusalem.

And as they were celebrating this other feast in Jerusalem, when

they would have taken the branches off of the trees, and they

begin to take those palm branches and they begin to say hosanna

Day, they were actually celebrating.

This is interesting, they were celebrating a feast out of schedule.

So what was happening was they were acknowledging something spiritual

was happening, even though in the natural, they should have been.

On one timeline, they were saying, we think that another.

There's another timeline.

But the problem was, and very few preachers, I think, in America

will really preach this properly, because we like to preach

the hype.

We like to preach it.

And believe me, we're gonna get to the hype in a few moments.

But how many of you know, like, it can't just be emotionalism.

You can't take this book and make it say whatever you want it

to say.

Can I get an amen?

Like, it's gotta say what it really says.

So here's the thing that the crux of the matter here is they sell.

They're.

They're there in Jerusalem to celebrate one feast.

They recognize Jesus as a prophet coming into Jerusalem, and

they say, wow, this is Hosanna day.

So maybe it's.

Maybe we should be saying, deliver me now.

But then the thing is, they were partially right.

This is what I want you to understand.

They recognize that Jesus was special, but not that he was the

Messiah.

They were partially right.

And then they begin to worship him.

And as they were worshiping him, if you really discern it by

the spirit, it's not true worship at all.

It's a request that they're making of somebody to do something

for them.

So somebody give me their palm branch.

Run up and give me a palm branch.

So, thank you.

So let me show you this.

So they have these palm branches, and they're saying, yashana,

Yashana, deliver now.

Deliver now.

And as they're worshiping him, they're feeling like, yeah, there's.

This is.

Look at.

This is going to be the guy.

Deliver me now.

Deliver me now.

But these are Jewish people that are subjugated to the government

of Rome, and they're not fully free, right?

Rome is the occupying nation.

And so they wanted a political leader.

And so when they see Jesus, they discern that he's special, but

not that he's Messiah.

And as they begin to say, yashana, deliver now, they're making

a request, okay, go into Jerusalem.

Look, we'll put our coats down.

We'll do all this for you.

But we need you to understand that what we want to get in return

as the people, is we're going to make you king, and we need you

to rally everybody to revolt against Rome so that we can overturn

Rome and that the Jews can actually inhabit this without occupying

armies.

Does this all make sense to you?

So.

So the reason for their worship, it was polluted by their

own desire of what he was going to give them and reciprocate

for their worship.

So, in other words, I will lay my coat down.

It looks like generosity, but I'm giving to get.

It looks like worship, but I'm just crying out, out of desperation.

This is why I think the story of the woman with the issue of the

blood is so important, because she had gone to so many doctors that

finally, out of her desperation, she began to break the

rules and crawl through the crowd and say, if I can just touch

the hem of this man's garment, I can be healed.

So what happens is God lets something go from bad to worse for

his glory so that she would start to recognize that.

That this man that's getting ready to walk through your town,

you've been treating him too common.

You're treating him like a teacher.

You're treating him like a prophet.

But if you're desperate enough, you'll start.

You'll stop treating him common, and you'll start to access

the power that he has.

And it'll be more than a request.

It'll be surrender, because you can't do it pretty.

You got to get down on your.

Belly, and you got to crawl through the crowd, and.

And you got to humble yourself.

And see, this is what I'm saying.

When everybody had the palm branches, it was like, oh, look,

everybody.

This is our candidate.

We're going to vote him in.

Look, it's Rubio.

Rubio, the next president.

Oh, look, it's Trump.

Oh, look, it's Obama.

Oh, look.

Come on.

Who's your per.

Look, here's our savior.

They're coming.

But what are you asking for?

And what happens is when you are trying to get somebody to do

something for you, you'll make them a celebrity, not a savior.

And then you will not be able to recognize who the true savior

is.

This is why we have political idolatry in the United States on

both sides.

This is why we have racial idolatry in every direction.

Come on.

I'm trying to help y'.

All.

I'm trying to help y'.

All.

That's why the one of the most segregated days on in every week

is Sunday, when we filter into churches where everybody has the

same schedule color, because we just learn to play by the rules.

And the rules are, I can't have a white pastor, especially one

with hair now.

And I can't go to a church that doesn't play song the way, you

know.

And, you know, it's like, what happens is we begin to build up our

request.

We begin to build up our reciprocation.

I'll do this for you if you do this for me.

I'll participate in this if I can.

I'll be active in the local church if I can climb the social

hierarchy.

In other words, like, I need a sense of significance.

So that's why I serve.

I need to feel important.

So I hope they acknowledge me in the church.

I hope they see me.

I'm gonna go.

It's like, I'm telling you, there's all this humanness, there's

all this carnality, there's all these selfish desires.

And I think, what grieved me about the reading of Matthew, chapter

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

21, and you can go to the Book of Mark, you can go to Luke, and

you can look at the different accounts of this same story.

And I've heard sermons about Palm Sunday every year of my life.

And I'm like, why has nobody ever pointed out the fact that they

were worshiping a false version of Jesus with the real Jesus

right in front of them?

And that's why here we have black Jesus, white Jesus, brown Jesus,

yellow Jesus.

We have Presbyterian Jesus, Methodist Jesus, Baptist Jesus, Pentecostal

Jesus.

We have Republican Jesus, Democrat Jesus, woke Jesus, liberal

Jesus.

Come on.

We have academic Jesus.

We have relatable Jesus.

We have Jesus that has a lot of followers on Instagram.

We got Meme Jesus.

We got Buddy Jesus.

I'm going there today.

I'm going there because the irony is you fashion a God in your

own image when the true one is right in front of you, asking that

you would fashion yourself into his image.

That's what discipleship is, is you become more like him instead

of making him more like you.

Because when you join a church to fulfill your own preference, it's

only a matter of Sundays until you leave the church.

Because we don't scratch your itch and meet your preferences.

Listen.

And at best, the preacher preaches the word of God, but at

worst, when you've built a Christianity of convenience, the

preacher will preach to itching ears what he thinks that

people want to hear because.

Because.

Oh, come on, somebody.

You're.

You're Crying, hosanna, to be delivered from the wrong thing.

What they should have done is they should have said, jesus, we

know that you're the Messiah, and we know that you're here in Jerusalem

to go to the cross.

And we're all here to say, we'll go with you.

We'll go with you.

What they should have said was, jesus, I'm not here for the

miracles.

I'm not here for deliverance from demons.

I'm not here to ask that you do a governmental coup and flip the

regime that's over us here, Rome, Jesus, I'm here for you.

Completely, totally.

I lay aside my agenda.

I lay aside my cultural preferences.

I lay aside the familiarity of my own life.

But you know what?

I've heard people preach it like, look how extravagant.

They put their coats down on the dirt.

It's much easier to lay a coat down on the dirt than it is to lay

down your preference to lay down, your selfishness to lay down.

Because you know the very definition of paganism is I'm going

to offer an item to a deity, and then that deity is going to give

me something in response.

That is the very definition of paganism.

So what makes Christians separate than pagans is we get desperate

enough like that woman with the issue of blood that we say, lord,

I. I'm going to crawl through a crowd.

I'm going to humble myself.

I'm going to push past all the rules, and I want to know you for

who you are, and I want to grab a hold of the hem of your garment.

I'm not asking for a conversation.

I'm asking for an encounter.

I'm not asking.

Come on.

I'm not asking for significance.

I don't care if you notice me.

This is why her story is so powerful.

She wasn't looking for a title in the local church.

She wasn't looking to be noticed on the Internet.

She wasn't looking for fame.

She wasn't looking to sit at the table with Jesus.

She said, if I could just get close enough to him to encounter

him, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, then I will be

made whole because I know who this man is.

And see, there's something about this next season of.

Of your life where you.

Where you start to break the rules and say, okay, enough is enough.

There's only two teams, and a team is not Islam versus Christianity.

It's not Hinduism versus Christianity.

It's not atheism versus Christianity.

It is those who believe that he is the Messiah who submit and

surrender to him as Lord and those who do not.

That's it.

There's only two sides.

And that woman was saying, I'm thinking that this man is more, I'm

thinking, and if I can just get close to him.

And she had to get down on her belly to surrender.

It looked like extravagant worship.

Coats on the ground, palm branches in hand, loud shouts, deliver

us now.

But it was really the equivalency of a whole bunch of orphans

begging instead of receiving a father.

Do you want a meal or do you want a family?

Do you want a new outfit or do you want a family?

Do you want a bed or, or do you want a family?

Do you want a house or do you want a family?

Do you want a car or do you want a family?

See, this is the thing they were interacting with Jesus saying,

I want some things from you.

I don't want you Jesus, but I want you to fix this political problem.

I don't want you Jesus, but I want you to fix my physical problem.

And see, the thing about the gospel is, the gospel is we get so

much more than a car, so much more than a house, so much more than

a meal.

We get a family with a father in heaven who loves us.

And because we have a father, we have everything that our Father

has and we have access to everything our Father has for us.

And so the revelation of the Bible is if you stop requesting from

Jesus and you get into relationship with Jesus,.

Then you don't have to request.

You can open the refrigerator at one in the morning because you

live in.

The house that has an unlimited supply and you're no longer

an orphan.

Begging.

You are a son and daughter, grabbing, taking authority, accessing

what's been given to you because you've been grafted into

a family.

And see, I'm concerned right now.

I'm concerned right now because I see a lot of people signing

up for Christianity but not being adopted by Christ.

And this is why, as I get ready to come to a close, you need

to understand the difference because.

There's two sides, there's two teams, the sons of Satan.

Luciferianism is the system that governs this world.

But then there's this up upside down system where Jesus, the

greatest of all, is the servant and he's raising us up.

And so you got to choose you this day whom you will serve.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

But there is no middle ground.

There is no middle ground.

And so as I was thinking about these two teams, as I was thinking

about these two Sides and how I was going to present this message

to you, My mind immediately went to the book of Revelation, which

I'm going to show you in a moment.

But you got to understand, it's like, but, Mike, is it wrong

to ask Jesus for things?

Things?

Because didn't Jesus say, ask of me?

Didn't Jesus give us.

Yeah, but it's the heart behind it.

Watch.

Here's the difference.

Because one of them, you're begging as an orphan, the other one,

through adoption, you're accessing what you know you have

authority to was already yours through your father.

Now let me tell you a story.

So the team, I had 27 people travel to London with me for Breakers

Night.

London, we had God TV simulcast.

And we're so thankful for their commitment to the vision that

I cast for breakers that they simulcasted all across Europe, many,

many European nations.

So we're in this venue in London.

The line goes blocks down the street.

People have flown from other countries.

People have driven three, four, five hours away just to be

there.

And they're cramming it.

I mean, our team was scanning tickets and people were basically

fighting them to get in.

They just hurry up, scan my ticket.

I have to be in the room.

I have to be in the room.

The hunger, the desperation that we saw was off the charts.

And people coming from Wales, church planters, people coming from

Dubai, actually came from Dubai to come to London.

Just a demand.

I want to be in the atmosphere.

I want to be in the room.

But there was this young man that was a monthly partner of Mike

Signorelli Ministries, and he was there for the partners Q and

A that we do before the event.

And he stood in line because I give people an opportunity to ask

me questions.

And he said, when it came to me, he said, I checked myself out

of a mental institution this morning, and I told myself, if I

could just get to the Breakers Night, I know I can be free.

And then he starts crying, how do I get free from these demons tormenting

my mind?

Because I know that I need help.

And I told him, I said, tonight you're going to learn your

identity and you're going to learn who you are through Christ,

and you're going to be free from these demons.

So all of a sudden, the service begins to, I mean, worship.

It was powerful.

God was moving.

But then all of a sudden we get to a part where I start confronting

the works of darkness.

And that whole sermon, what I was trying to do was get the identity

into them and of who they really are.

And it Because a lot of Christianity has made this one man

show where it's like, oh, my favorite preacher, my favorite pastor.

And that one man show mentality is one of the worst things

that could have entered the body of Christ because we view ourselves

as passive or active.

And it's like one man is active while the multitudes are passive.

One man is preaching and ministering, and the multitudes are

not doing it.

And so I was really like, how do I help London understand?

We are not here to see Mike Signorelli, but Mike Signorelli is

here to help you understand who you are in Christ, to open your

eyes, to equip you and then turn you loose to do what God's called

you to do.

Does this all make sense?

So the whole message was a message of adoption.

You're not here to beg.

You're not here to.

To like, oh, Lord, please, if it be thy will.

You know, it was like, no.

It is his will for you to be healed.

It is his will for you to be delivered.

It is his will for you to be completely made whole.

But the difference is begging versus taking authority.

It's someone else is this special person, and they only they

have the power to do it versus I have been empowered by the Holy

Spirit, and I see what God did through Mike, but that just became

a testimony of what God can do through me.

I see how God uses Mike, but that just reveals how God could use

me.

If I'm obedient, like he's obedient, then it's the we over me.

Are y' all with me?

And so I begin to preach this, this, this message.

And I was trying to get that because I said, if.

If the things that happen tonight only happened because Mike's

here, then Mike failed.

And Jesus was raising up disciples.

As a matter of fact, before the palm branches, before this Hosanna

Day celebration, what, Jesus had already sent them out to cast

out demons and heal the sick sick.

And he began to do the work of the ministry.

And so Jesus wasn't interested in building crowds.

He was interested in building disciples.

And so all of a sudden, this is one of my favorite stories of

the time that we had in London.

All of a sudden, during the deliverance time, when I begin to

cast demons out, and this is happening through television, as

a matter of fact, God TV hit me up and they said, look how when

they ended the stream just online and a quarter of a million

people had already tuned in, and that was only the Internet, not

just television.

They said, it's going to take Over a week to tabulate all the numbers.

And so God was moving.

So we begin to do deliverance.

And I look over at the young man who checked himself out of the

mental ward, and he has his hands on his head like this.

And all of a sudden I go over to him because I'm like, I want to

hear what's happening.

Because I. I was going to pray for him.

And when I listen, you know what I hear him saying?

Every devil, you have to come out of my mind.

I don't belong to you anymore.

I belong to Jesus.

My mind is not your mind.

You have to come out of my mind.

And he began to take authority because he knew who he was.

And all of a sudden I came over to him and I said, you heard

him, devil.

He checked himself out of that ward.

He belongs in the family of God.

He's been adopted by Jesus Christ.

And whom the sun sets free is free indeed.

Somebody shout if you believe we have authority.

So he didn't need a celebrity pastor to cast a demon out of him.

He needed a pastor who has been raised up with influence to

use that influence righteously.

To say, the only reason why God gave me this level of voice is

to tell you, use your own voice.

This is what I.

This is the heart.

Because, okay, I'm gonna show you now because I'm about to do something.

This is the heart of the message.

There's two sides, and now both have palm branches.

Both are sacrificially laying down their coats and preparing a

way for Jesus.

Both are declaring, deliver now.

But one is requesting and the other is worshiping.

One is asking for reciprocation, and the.

Other one says, I'm humble, I'm submitted, and I'm here for you.

One of them wants a title and a position, and the other one is

getting ready to die with Jesus.

See, this is the difference.

There's two kinds of church people.

One who want to build the church,.

And then one who want to build their own reputation.

Come on.

One that serves because they can't out serve Christ, and the other

one that.

Serves to be seen serving.

And on the outside, it's like the fig tree.

Because that fig tree has leaves nobody can discern, it doesn't

have fruit.

But Christ is coming back soon and he's gonna look and he's gonna

say, why did you do it?

What did you do it for?

Did you do ministry for money?

Or did you do it because I called you to do it?

Did you do it to be seen because you didn't Deal with childhood

trauma?

Or did you deal with your trauma in the secret place?

And then I ra you up to deal with millions of children's trauma?

It looks like the same action, but it's got a different root.

And the root of the fig tree is rotten.

But there's another tree, Oaks of righteousness that are planted

by streams of water, that we don't need a palm branch because

we grow our own.

And we're waving to the Lord all day.

And we're bearing fruit that remains.

I'm about to read you this text.

I went, you know, and Julie, I was encouraged.

This pastor that hosted the night, he let us use his building.

He said, he's deaf in one ear.

He said.

He said this in front of our team.

He said.

He goes, mike, I gotta remind you, I don't know if you even remember

this.

The last time you were here, you turned to me and prophesied in

my deaf ear.

And he goes, it completely opened.

I heard every word of that prophecy.

And as soon as you were done, it closed again.

And he says, I have no idea why that happened.

And he was telling these stories, and he said, mike, after

the last time you were in London, we had to baptize 58 people

the next day.

And over a hundred people joined our church.

And then we went to a building campaign, and we're actually increasing

the church right now.

And last couple nights ago was even greater.

Why do I say this?

Because there are people in London, negative people complaining,

people criticizing people who say this can't happen in London.

And here comes a hillbilly Sicilian.

Come on.

Somebody with no dad.

Dad died prematurely.

Single mom and five kids.

Here comes a hillbilly Sicilian.

I ain't special, but I know the one who is.

And I.

This is going back to the beginning of the sermon for those

who are about to miss the connection.

But I made my mind up years ago that he is not a prophet to me.

He is not a teacher to me.

He is the I am.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God.

And the Word was with God.

And by all things, the Word had established it.

The cosmos knit in the sky by the Word, every disease healed by

the Word.

So I may not be special, but I know the One with all power.

I know the One with all ability.

And I will not limit him.

I refuse to limit him.

Because this is what was happening.

Here's the thing.

You want to know the secret?

Let me do this for the theologians, because I see a theologian

in our midst.

Jesus didn't have to overturn Rome because Rome was on its way

to non existence any.

So actually, in Jesus wisdom, he said, I'm not going to even pick

a fight with Rome because it won't be here.

Because kings and kingdoms all pass away.

Oh, but the name of Jesus is forever.

And see, this is the thing.

Some of y' all are fighting the wrong battles and not fighting

the right battles.

And so you got to make up your mind.

Is your Jesus a healer or is he impotent to heal?

Is your Jesus a deliverer or impotent to deliver?

Is your Jesus all powerful, all knowing?

Is he omniscient?

Come on.

Is he El Shaddai?

Come on, somebody.

Is he Jehovah Jireh?

Is he Jehovah Nisi?

Or is your God an idol?

Does your God live in stained glass windows?

Because my God breaks out of those windows and he reveals who

he is when I cry.

Hosanna.

Come on.

I'm not requesting.

I'm accessing what's already mine.

Because I know they want to cancel me for believing in healing.

Just because some people lied doesn't make God a lie.

Just because some people are crooks doesn't eliminate the power

of what God can do when we respond.

And that's why I pray for the young people of our church and I

pray for the women of our church.

And I pray for those.

Those that have been incarcerated.

Because you.

Listen, you can cancel one of us, but you can't cancel all of us.

And healing was never for one man.

It's a gift that the Holy Spirit gives freely to a generation.

That says, I believe.

All right, I gotta end this sermon.

I told you we were gonna get to the good part.

So remember, I said there's two teams.

There's two sides.

Sons of Satan.

Sons of God.

Daughters of Satan.

Daughters of God.

That's it.

That's it.

It's that.

It's that simple.

So watch this.

All of you, whether you know it or not, are in the Bible.

And I want you to turn with me to Revelation, chapter seven.

If you're saved, if you're.

If you've been redeemed, if you've been filled with the Holy

Spirit, you are in the Bible.

I'm going to show you where you show up in the Bible.

So you could tell your friends I'm in the Bible.

You could tell them I'm in the Bible.

I'm going to show you where.

After this.

This is verse nine.

Chapter seven, verse nine.

After this.

I beheld and Lord, a great multitude which no man could number

of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues.

Okay, we gotta stop there.

On Earth, the nations divide when they go to church.

Oh, this is the Asian church.

This is the African church.

This is the Caucasian church.

But in Revelation, when we see God's design, it's all of them together.

Okay, are y' all with me?

Are y' all with me?

Come on.

It's all of them together.

And this is what it says.

And lo, a great multitude, which no man can, number of all nations

and kindreds and peoples and tongues stood before the throne and

before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palm branches in

their hand.

So now you have two audiences.

Matthew, chapter 21 is, the Lamb is there, but the Lamb has not

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

been slain.

And they have palm branches.

Now in the book of Revelation, chapter seven, there's another crowd

of all nations.

And the Lamb has been slain.

And now we're in the future.

And they also have palm branches and the worshiping.

Listen, I'm just here to tell you there are some fake Christians.

Oh, but there are some real ones, too.

Let me just tell you.

They may not be popular on earth, but heaven knows their name

and hell knows their name.

Come on.

And heaven shakes when they begin to pray.

Come on.

There might be some fake Christians, but I met some real ones

in New York.

I met some real ones on Long Island.

I met some real ones in Miami in my time.

See, everybody gets to wave the palm branch.

I'm not gonna tell you to put the palm branch down, But I know

the lamb can tell the difference between who is real and

who is not real.

And listen, when Mayor Mamdani is sitting.

In his office and he is doing an Islamic religious observance in

Gracie Mansion.

Listen, I'm not here.

This is not an anti mom dummy sermon right now.

It's just simply my way of saying we've got a Muslim mayor who

will not forsake Islam, even in his own home in Gracie Mansion,

who sat down surrounded by Islamic influencers.

But there are Christians who won't even join a flight crew and

get together in their own home.

See, you can wave your palm branch, but I know if you're real

or not.

But I know there's somebody else that says, if Mom Dummy's gonna

have a small group for Islam in Gracie Mansion, I'm gonna open

up my house.

And I got.

Oh, come on.

You don't want to hear that.

And I'm gonna open up my house unto the glory of God.

And we're gonna shout from the Rooftops, Jehovah, Jesus.

And nobody's gonna shut us up.

He's got every right to exercise his belief.

But get off the fence and start believing and start operating

in your faith.

This is the time President Trump made an announcement that we

are going to rededicate this nation to God.

Everybody's going to have a palm branch at that rededication.

But only the Lord will know who is requesting political deliverance.

But who is saying, kings and kingdoms all pass away, but all.

Come on.

I serve the King of all kings,.

The Lord of all lords, and I'm not here to manipulate an outcome.

I am here saying, God, if you.

Can hear from heaven.

We've humbled ourselves before you, God.

Oh, come on.

Heal our land.

I'll tell you what God's not done with London.

I've seen a remnant.

He would save a city if there was just 10 people.

And I saw thousands in London who say, no, I'm not done.

Is there some on Long island who said, God's not done with Long

Island?

Is there some in Brooklyn right now?

Come on.

Is there some in Indiana that say, God's not done with Indiana

right now?

Come on.

But they all got palm branches.

They're all singing the same, same song.

But the Lord knows.

And listen, the one thing I've never wanted to be is fake.

What you see is what you get.

That's all I know.

And I think this church, oh, yeah, we got imperfect people everywhere.

Led by an imperfect person.

Led by a perfect person.

But I will tell you this.

Whatever Moses, whatever Gene Moses had that told him, break the

rule.

Oh, we're about to go there.

Break the rule.

There was something in Moses that said, I would rather try to

see his glory and die because my body gets overwhelmed than never

try.

Whatever Gene was in that woman that said, hey, instead of

laying at home and just bleeding to death, go crawl through

that crowd.

See what will happen.

Break the rule.

Oh, come on.

Talking to somebody.

Break the rule.

Break the rule.

See, I'm talking to somebody right now.

I feel it.

By the spirit.

It's like that guy, the Latin King.

He's that high ranking Latin King.

Latin Kings aren't supposed to go to church.

But something in him said, break the rule.

Break the rule.

Go hear the gospel.

See, there's something some of you, oh, I'm an introvert.

I'm shy.

Break the rule.

Break the rule.

Break the rule.

Oh, come on.

I'm.

See, there's.

I'm a. I'm always the depressed person.

I'm supposed to Be full of anxiety.

Break the rule.

What if this time is different?

What if you start to press in?

See, what happened is whatever that gene is that says, I'm gonna

give myself permission to break the unspoken rule and I'm gonna

come before the Lord, what that's actually doing is creating

relationship.

That is.

You know how people say we don't.

Have religion, we have relationship?

They don't know what that means.

Relationship happens when you say the rules.

Are, we're supposed to act surface level.

But I'm gonna break the rules and.

I'm just gonna tell you, I gotta take the mask off.

This is who I really am.

This is what I really did.

This is how I really feel.

But then when you break that rule with God and you come before

him with a contrite heart and you say, God, I don't even know if

I can do this, but show me your glory.

Show me your ways.

I taken every drug, I've drinking every bit of alcohol, I've

slept around.

But I want to taste and see that you are good.

And I'm breaking a rule right now to ask you if you would come

and encounter me.

That's who I am.

That's who you are.

That's why we had 19,000 people watching on the live stream.

Because they're done with the rules and they want somebody to provoke

them.

You know, let me finish reading this and I got a powerful

testimony that we're going to share with you.

They're clothed with white robes and palm branches in their

hand.

Verse 10 says, and cried with a loud voice saying salvation to

our God which sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

This is so heavy.

In Matthew 21 they say, Deliver me Yashana.

But in Revelation 7 they say, Salvation belongs to you.

Total opposite.

It's like when my brother in law and my sister found out that

they lost their baby.

I called them on their phone as their pastor, not just their brother.

And I said, what do you think about this, Ryan?

How do you, you're a Christian.

How do you process this?

You know what he tells me?

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, but blessed be the name

of the Lord.

I will not curse God.

I will not speak a word against God.

He's saying it through tears.

He's saying it through crying.

But he said, I'm still gonna worship him no matter what.

It didn't work out how I thought it wanted.

I wanted it to work out.

But I will bless his name no matter what.

So there's two teams.

I know what team Ryan's on Revelation 17.

You get, you guys, you feel what I'm saying?

And this is the heart of the matter.

And so a moment happened.

And Angela, I need your help for this part, because then we're

gonna worship.

You know, we were.

We've been journeying together for a very long time.

And, you know, when she came to us, it was like, you did not know

God.

You didn't know the things of God.

And you were just like, hey, I'm here and let's do this thing.

And so I'll give you my backstory, and then I'm gonna turn

you loose.

So what happened was we were in London, and I had been preparing

for this sermon, knowing I was gonna fly back and have to preach

it.

And then I was preparing for London sermon.

And for some reason, I thought to myself, man, Angela's story is

so deeply prophetic, connected to these things that I'm trying to

teach, and how could I convey that?

So here we are on, not just national television, but international

television, and the entire venue wherein is filled from top

to bottom, dangerously filled with people.

And I, as I often do, I didn't give any warning.

So if you ever travel with me, there will be no preparation.

If you didn't do your preparation in prayer, then you're

just gonna.

You'll probably end up preaching your biggest sermon in

your life three minutes before you knew you were gonna do it.

Anybody who's traveled with me knows.

And so all of a sudden, we.

I see her and I was like, angela, you gotta help me.

You gotta tell your story.

And I knew the implications of having you tell your story in that

venue with that context.

But tonight I want to close with your testimony because it's

really going to help people understand.

Are you a Revelation 7 Christian, or are you a Matthew chapter

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

21 worshiper?

Like, which one are you?

Like, are you a person in the crowd?

Hey, man, I'm just waving.

Or, man, because everybody's got palm branches.

And I think there was a moment in your life where you crossed over.

Would you tell them about that?

Glory to God.

So as Pastor Mike mentioned, I did not know God.

I came into this service because.

Or this.

This church because two people invited me, and I said, sure, why

not?

And I.

It was four days before my 24th birthday.

So I lived my entire life without the Lord from that point.

And the first person I see is Brianna Barbaro, who I went to school

with.

And something you need to know is that Brianna and I went and tried

out for X Factor together.

I tried out for all of the things that you can think of.

I tried out for X Factor, the Voice America, America's Got Talent.

I tried.

I was going into open mics, trying to just.

Just be famous.

I wanted to be on tv.

I knew I had this gift, and it felt good to receive these acknowledgments

and maybe get money to be paid for something that I enjoyed to do.

And it got to a point where it felt like prostitution.

And I know that sounds pretty intense, but it felt disgusting.

I felt gross.

I was giving something that I knew.

I didn't know it, but I knew it was sacred to me, and I was giving

it away just to.

For money or for some sort of attention and acknowledgement.

And I said I was getting anxiety, actually, every time that

I would perform, and I never got anxiety.

And I was like, this isn't.

This isn't for me.

And I vowed that I would just never, ever sing again.

I put the mic down and I said, this is.

This is not for me anymore.

I'll sing, you know, to myself.

And that's that.

And so Bree sees me, and she's the first person that I see, and

she's like, oh, my gosh.

What are you doing here?

And I'm like, I don't know.

There's a church in this movie theater.

That's what I heard.

And she's like, yeah, I'm actually.

It was her first.

First day on worship.

And she's like, wow, you should think about joining the worship

team.

And I'm like, I don't even know Jesus.

I don't know what that even looks like.

And so she's like.

And then I told her.

I said, I actually, I'm.

I'm done singing.

I don't want to do it.

I. I won't do it again.

And she told me later on that she laughed at me because she knew

I was gonna step on the stage again.

And so.

So a few months later, I decided, I'm gonna check out the

worship team and go to the worship rehearsals.

And I just knew.

I just knew.

And the Lord told me out of.

After giving my life now, he spoke to me, and he said, I got a

flashback.

And something to know is that I was sexually abused for years of

my life.

And the Lord.

The Lord brought me back to that moment, and he said, I gave

you this gift at this very moment because you felt silenced,

but I gave you a voice to glorify me and me alone.

At first, I was trying to get all of the glory.

I was trying to be on tv.

Tv.

I was trying to make money and be famous.

I was trying to absorb the glory that was not supposed to be

mine.

It was never mine to begin with.

And so I decided.

And that day that I stepped, the first time that I was scheduled

and I stepped on, I felt the peace of God like something I've

never understood.

And he said, this is the reason why it didn't work out.

It was because it was for me and not for me.

It was for him and not for me.

And so I'm just.

I'm so thankful.

Thank you for letting me share this testimony.

It has been sacred to me and it has been such an honor to be in

this home.

And I just.

I thank you.

I thank you and Pastor Julie and I give you so much honor.

And you guys are the best.

Listen, this is.

This is how God.

I want to show you how God works because we're to worship.

And that story was so powerful because think about this.

I want to be on tv.

I'm.

You're going to X Factor.

You're going to.

You know, it was an X Factor.

Wow.

America's Got Talent or whatever.

You're just going down the list getting nose.

I kept getting no's.

Wow.

And so.

But this was her goal.

Like, I. I know I have a gift and I want to use it.

Now fast forward and now watch how God works.

See, this is.

This is the thing about paganism.

This.

Remember pagans say, I'm going to offer.

This is witchcraft.

They do this all over where you live.

Everybody watching right now.

They do witchcraft.

You know what witchcraft is?

I'm going to do this and then get this.

Am I right?

That's witchcraft.

So look at the story of Abraham.

Abraham take Isaac and kill him.

Now watch.

He takes him up to the mountain and he goes to kill him.

And then the angel refrains his hand.

And it's almost as if God is saying, no, no, this isn't paganism.

I just needed to know that you would die to your own desire.

I just needed to know you would give it to me.

Matter of fact, I'm gonna give Isaac back to you.

But I needed to test your heart.

And see, that's the difference is in witchcraft, they're cutting

themselves before they're God.

They're sacrificing Christ and children.

They're doing all these things to try to make these things happen

to our life.

Well, I got good news.

The gospel means good news.

Jesus died for me.

Jesus won it all for me.

And everything I thought I gave up for Jesus.

He said, that's not even any sacrifice that could match the sacrifice

of my son.

And I'm actually going to give you exceedingly, abundantly more

than you can ask, think, or imagine.

But I just needed to know that you were willing to lay it down.

I just needed to know that you were willing.

Come on, I'm talking to somebody right now.

So here's Angela.

All these years later, she's been in the background.

She's serving on the coffee team, she's serving on the kids team.

She's just content to do whatever is in front of her.

And then she comes to London and.

She's on the worship team.

And they have a satellite television dish outside.

They got the whole band and they said, we're not just going to

put this on United Kingdom television.

We're going to put it all across Europe.

I said, angel, not only do I want you to sing that song, but they

overcame by the word of their testimony and the blood of the Lamb.

Tell your testimony to Europe.

Now tell your testimony this week to America.

How many of you know he's a good God?

Hallelujah.

Somebody shout, come on, stay on your feet right now.

Stay on your feet right now.

In Matthew, Matthew 21, they laid down their coats, but they wouldn't

lay down their life.

Come on, I'm talking.

I'm teaching you.

In Revelation 7, it says, and they crowd with a loud voice saying,

salvation.

To our God, which sitteth upon the.

Throne and unto the Lamb.

And all the angels stood around the throne and about the elders

and the.

And the four beasts and fell before the throne on their faces

worshiping God, saying, amen.

Blessing and Glo and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power,

and might be unto our God forever and ever.

Amen.

So this is what we're about to.

Do as a church across every location right now, I'm asking a

question.

Which team are you on?

Everybody's got a palm branch, but is there anybody here that are

saying, I'm not requesting from God.

I'm gonna be like those in the white robes.

I'm switching over.

Like Angela.

He gave me a G. I thought that gift was for me, but it was for him.

I'm not here to receive glory.

I'm here to deflect it back to the Father.

But I believe that if you will shift into this moment of worship,.

This.

Is about to be a prophetic moment of worship.

This is about to be a moment of promotion, because you gotta go

low before you go high.

That woman with the issue of blood.

She started crawling on her belly, but she didn't stay low.

She was lifted up and she was healed.

In that.

Come on, somebody.

The Lord will ask you to go low.

He'll say, sacrifice your son.

But he'll say, abraham, I'm gonna make you a father of many nations.

It's not always gonna be like this, but somebody's getting ready

to worship with me.

Are you ready?

This ain't gonna be a sinner's prayer.

This is gonna be repentance, which is, lord, I repent for what

I made it.

I dare you.

Matter of fact, I feel led to.

Do this across every location if to preach or to teach or to do

ministry.

I believe symbolically, you need to lay it down before the Lord

lifts it up.

For three years, I was in northwest.

Indiana, and I was the executive pastor of a church.

And for three years, I was in hiddenness.

For three years I didn't preach.

For three years, I didn't do any ministry other than the behind

the scenes.

And I said, lord, why have you done this to me?

And the Lord said, the only thing that's gonna make you fit to

be able to withstand the weight of what I'm to put on your

life is if you learn how to go to the secret place when nobody's

looking.

And be.

Come on.

Some of you don't realize the best training for your preaching

gift, it's not V1 college, it's the parking lot ministry.

Some of you got it wrong.

You got to humble yourself before the Lord.

You got to bow before him.

Some of you said, God called me to music.

Well, are you making music in the secret place before you make

it on the stage?

Stage.

We got an appetite for stadiums, but we don't have an appetite

for surrender.

And the Lord knows the difference between which program

you've got your hand.

But I'm telling you.

Ah, come on.

We're about to be the real ones.

So we're gonna worship in a few.

Moments because this is what I'm praying by the Spirit, oh, Lord,

when we step up into Times Square this Sunday coming up, Lord,

that we march.

We're not walking.

We're marching.

Marching.

We're marching from the trains.

We're marching from the parking lots and those.

Those parking garages.

And we're coming together.

And we're not going to be those.

Fake Christians, all idolatrous.

We're showing up with robes of righteousness, and we're saying,

we're here to show the world what it looks like when the body

of Christ is submitted and surrendered.

Are y' all ready?

So this is.

This act of worship is gonna be a prophetic act.

So whatever you gotta do, do it.

Because when you lay it down, the Lord lifts you up.

Come on.

She gave up the dream of television, and guess what?

God put you on television all over Europe.

He's put you on television now, see, the Lord will restore it.

The Bible says when God makes you rich, it adds no sorrow.

You can try to get rich on your own, and you'll have a lot of

sorrow.

Or the Lord can lift you up and he'll make you rich and add no

sorrow.

How many of you want to lay it down with me before the Lord?

All right, so from the front to the back, we're just going to

begin to worship right now.

And whatever you got to do is an act of repentance.

You do.

We're going to take a few moments to do this.

So, Angela, will you use that gift God gave you and lead us in

worship?

Come on.

Church cross every campus right now.

Let's worship.

Who was slain and seated on the the throne.

There's no one like the Lord.

Elders, creatures bow, giving praise to him and him alone there's

no.

Ra.