Unseen: Angels All Around - Week 4: Put Your Angels to Work

All right, we're we're wrapping up today.

Today is the grand finale of what I've been teaching for the last three weeks.

All month long, we've been on a series entitled Unseen.

And the tagline is Angels All Around.

So if you're just joining us, your first time guest, don't think we're weird or anything that we're doing a whole month series on angels.

I promise you, if you go back and listen to it, you'll probably be blown away at the revelation God has given us because we really do believe that there's a revelation concerning angels that we as the body of Christ have kind of let slip out of our hands.

I think that God has angels that operate in our midst, some of them that are seen, some of them that are unseen.

And he has them in our midst to minister for us and to carry out things in our lives that we cannot carry out on our own.

And I thought it'd be great to wrap this up because I've been getting a number of stories and testimonies of people that as I've been teaching this, because one of the verses over in Hebrews 13, too, says, Be careful how you entertain or how you treat strangers.

Because sometimes people have entertained angels without even knowing it.

In fact, look at your neighbor and say, Could you be an angel?

Could you be an angel?

If you're a husband, you better say, Yes, ma'am, you are.

But I've been getting a number of stories, and I thought it'd be great just to read one of them to you that I thought was real spectacular.

I can't say whether this was an angel or not, but I think when you hear it, you would agree this is pretty spectacular.

This person wrote in, they said, nearly 13 years ago, my then husband and I were both stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

I was pregnant with our daughter when my water broke at just 28 weeks.

I was rushed to Oklahoma Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City and placed on bed rest, with everyone hoping we could keep our baby in the womb as long as possible.

During that time, I had several nurses, but one in particular stood out.

Her name was Jessica, and she worked the night shift.

Because my husband had to make the two-hour drive back and forth for work.

I spent many nights alone in the hospital.

Jessica became such a source of comfort to me.

She would pray with me, talk with me about life, encourage me, and bring me a sense of peace during one of the scariest times of my life.

A week later, our daughter decided she was ready to make her entrance into the world.

She was born at 29 weeks, weighing only two pounds three ounces.

After delivery, she was immediately taken to the uh the NICU.

Jessica came to check on us and took us down to see our baby.

She reassured us that our little girl was going to be okay.

Two days later, we were told that I would have to be discharged from the hospital.

Naturally, we were worried because our daughter would have to remain in the NICU and we lived two hours away.

We had no idea how we were going to manage being so far from our baby.

But Jessica came into my room and told us not to worry that everything was going to work out.

She encouraged us to pray about it and then left us alone.

Bishop, I promise you, as soon as we finished praying, the phone rang.

It was a social worker from the Ronald McDonald house informing us that a room had become available and we could stay there completely free of charge for as long as our daughter remained in the hospital.

We were overjoyed.

Naturally, we wanted to find Jessica and share the wonderful news with her.

But this is where the story takes a turn.

We went to the nurse's station and asked for Jessica.

The nurses looked confused and told us that they didn't know anybody that day.

I described her appearance and explained that she had been caring for me during the night shift.

Still, nobody recognized her.

We searched different floors and different hospital wings, asking anyone we could find.

Eventually, I even went to the hospital's administration office.

There was no record of a Jessica working in that entire hospital.

For the next three months, while our daughter remained in the ICU, I continued looking for her, but I never found her.

Then one day we received the wonderful news that our daughter had made such progress that she would be discharged a little earlier than expected.

I was in her room packing up her belongings when out of nowhere Jessica walked in.

She hugged me and said, I told you everything was going to be okay.

I was speechless.

Before I could even gather my thoughts or ask her where she had been, our discharged nurse walked into the room and Jessica slipped out.

My husband immediately went after her, hoping to catch her, but she was nowhere to be found.

We never saw her again.

To this day, I cannot explain who Jessica was or why nobody at that hospital seemed to know her.

What I do know is that she appeared during two of the most significant moments of our journey when we were afraid and uncertain about what would happen to our daughter and when we were finally preparing to take our baby girl home.

I've always believed that God sent Jessica to us for a reason.

Whether she was an angel or someone God specifically placed in our path, I know that through her we experienced God's comfort, God's provision, and God's perfect timing.

Come on, somebody.

How many times have we interacted maybe with an angelic being and didn't even realize that this was somebody that God sent from the unseen realm?

So for the last three weeks now, if you just join us, we've literally been building a case that there is an unseen realm.

So what you're looking at right now, what you can see, what you can feel, what you can touch, this is not all there is.

There is an unseen realm that is actually more real than the visible world that we see.

And in that unseen realm are creatures or beings called angels.

And we've walked you through this.

They are real, they are created beings who are inferior to our human standing.

They are spiritual beings that are sent forth by God to care for the needs of those who have inherited our salvation in Christ.

Anybody glad you inherited your salvation through Jesus Christ?

But then I told you this last week that they don't operate unopposed.

It'd be great if they just did whatever they wanted to do, had no opposition, had no resistance.

They don't operate unopposed.

We told you last week that there's actually warfare happening in the unseen realm between angels who do God's bidding and demons who attempt to carry out Satan's wicked schemes.

And I think God gave us one of the best pictures you could ever have over in Daniel chapter 10.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

Go back and listen to last week's message if you weren't here, because we really walked down and showed you behind the curtain what the Bible describes as happening in Daniel 10.

Daniel chapter 10, Daniel said he he started off uh in a position that he called mourning.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

We would call it fasting because he said, I didn't eat any of my favorite foods, I didn't drink any of my favorite drinks.

Daniel said, I didn't even comb my hair.

In other words, he was just saying, I only did the things that were necessary because he had gotten a vision but didn't understand the vision.

And so he was asking God to give him clarity concerning this vision.

So for three whole weeks, Daniel was not eating his favorite foods, he was not drinking his favorite drinks, he was fasting, is what we would call it.

And then it seemed like for three whole weeks nothing was going on, that there was no answer.

He probably could have thought that heaven didn't even hear him.

And then out of the clear blue, one day an angel showed up.

And the angel said this, he says, Daniel, from the f hear that, from the first day you set your heart to seek God, your words were heard in heaven.

And then he said this, and I have come because of your words.

Now, the natural question we all had last week was look, if you heard me if heaven heard me the first day, why did it take you 21 days to get here?

And then he said this, he says, The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me.

In other words, he was en route from heaven.

Seemed like the very first day he took off with the answer, but there was a a spiritual entity that withstood him, and he says he withstood him for 21 days.

So the entire time that it took for the answer to get there, it was never God holding up the answer.

You ought to shout amen right there.

And he said that this this this this spiritual force withstood me.

He said, but but heaven sent an angel called Michael, a chief angel.

He came and liberated him so he could make it to Daniel with the answer.

I think heaven gave us one of the greatest pictures of what spiritual warfare really looks like.

And I really do believe I can say this with liberty that when you are praying, you got to persist in prayer because it is never God holding up the answer.

Give me a better amen than that, somebody.

I'll give you another one.

You remember the story over in Luke when this woman came into Jesus' meeting and the Bible says she was bowed down, she couldn't even lift herself up.

I think she had been in that condition for 18 years.

Jesus looked at her and said, Woman, you are loosed.

And and she she ended up standing up completely free.

But notice Jesus said this.

He says, From the for the entire time she had been bound, it was the devil who had her bound.

Come on, which means the entire 18 years, now not one time when she was going to the doctor was God in heaven saying, Let me see if she'll pray long enough.

The entire time it was never God.

Can I just tell you something?

God is not your problem.

And if you if you can learn to pray, and instead of seeing God on the other side of somebody you're trying to talk into doing this thing, see God as being on the same side of the table as you.

And as long as what you are praying for is consistent with what he has promised in his word, see God as saying yes and amen the moment you say amen.

And see heaven, watch this dispatching the answer you have prayed for.

But we've got to persist in prayer.

Come on, somebody.

We got to continue to praise God when we don't feel like it.

Come on, somebody.

We got to work hard to maintain our joy because the joy of the Lord is your strength, which means we gotta count it joy even when it doesn't feel like joy.

Have you been counting the joy all week long?

Did you run around anybody's restaurant this week?

We gotta count it joy, treat it like it's joy, find a way to act like it's joy even when it's not.

And this is not being weird and spooky, it's learning how to be counterintuitive.

This is not what I feel like doing, but I'm gonna do it anyway.

You know why?

Because I'm not a feeling, I'm not a soul man, I'm a spirit being.

And the real me, the spirit being that lives inside of this body, has the capacity to obey God even when I don't feel like it.

That's a good place to shout, amen.

So I like I'll say it again.

There's a battle going on in this unseen world, there's a war going on in this unseen world, there's a war going on for cities, there's a war going on for states, there's a war going on for nations.

When you have certain regions and they have a strong racial tension, racial tone, that doesn't just happen to be that way.

There's spiritual forces that try to keep it that way.

That's why we gotta watch this.

We gotta be smart enough not to give in to that.

We gotta be smart enough not to let it get the best of us.

We gotta persist in prayer, watch this and tear down those strongholds and command God's kingdom work be done on earth just like it is in heaven.

So here's a question I have for you.

What do we have to do with how the war turns out?

If there's an actual war going on, there's a battle going on in the unseen realm, if the things that happen on your job are not all just based on what he said and she said and what they did, if there's spiritual forces trying to keep your your your son in bondage, trying to keep your your your your baby brother bound by drugs, if there's spiritual forces at work in this process, then what do we have to do with how it turns out?

This is the big idea I want you to walk away with today.

God has given believers a role in the unseen realm.

We don't live in the unseen realm.

We live in this natural realm, but he's given us a role in the unseen realm.

We don't control the unseen realm, we don't worship the unseen realm, we don't have independent authority over the unseen realm.

Watch this.

We should not become obsessed with the unseen realm.

But we also need to understand this we are not helpless spectators of the unseen realm either.

It's a good statement right here.

Listen to this.

Through prayer, faith, God's word, and the delegated authority of Jesus Christ, we participate with God and what happens beyond what we can see.

Come on, that's good.

We're not just we're not just spectators, we're not just victims of what happens in the unseen realm.

Through prayer, faith, God's word, delegated authority of Jesus, we participate with God and what happens beyond what we can see.

So I want to start you right here.

We gotta understand kingdom order.

If we're gonna operate in the unseen realm, if we're gonna operate and have our prayers be effective beyond this natural realm that we can see, we gotta understand kingdom authority.

Psalm 103, verse 19 says this it says, The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over what?

Psalms 103:19

Come on, his kingdom rules over what?

Come on, say it like you mean his kingdom rules over what?

It rules over all, rules over everything.

God's kingdom rules.

Which means before we ever get to verse 20 and talk about angels, let's just establish this.

God is king over everything.

Let's just establish there is no authority that is higher than God's authority.

Let's just get this thing straight.

That there's not this great cosmic battle between light and darkness, good and evil, and God and Satan are battling it out.

The devil is no match for God.

If I can tell you something without you thinking I'm blaspheming, he's no match for you either.

Amen.

That's why we don't you don't hear us around here talking about how busy the devil.

Oh, that devil is busy.

Oh, that devil is showing the busy.

That devil is, boy, this week that devil was on my.

He can't be more powerful and have more authority than you if he's willing to run from you.

So all the authority belongs to God.

He's king over all.

That means the angels don't have independent authority.

That means Satan does not have equal authority.

It also means we don't even have independent authority outside of God.

All legitimate spiritual authority flows from God.

Now, on Saturdays before I come come to minister, uh, I usually just get a little take a little nap where I can just kind of center myself and listen to my music.

Literally, while I was asleep today, kind of kind of in and out listening to music and kind of praying while I'm laying there.

I believe I heard the Holy Spirit say this.

If we're going to exercise authority, we've got to learn how to submit to authority.

I want to try to help you understand sometimes, maybe why our prayers aren't piercing through the darkness as much as they should.

Because all authority comes from God.

But watch this, I can't use God's authority to fix what's happening in the unseen realm if I'm not actually submitted to God and authority myself.

So part of me understanding what I can do to affect the war that's happening in the unseen realm, it starts with me understanding God's the one that's got the authority.

That means, watch this when God tells me to do something is not a suggestion.

Come on, man.

That means when God tells me to cut off that relationship, he's not giving a recommendation.

Come on, man, it's not up for negotiation.

That means, watch this.

I can't just take the job I want because they have got on my nerves.

Every decision I make, I got to run it back past headquarters.

Because if I cannot be submitted to his authority, then how can I use his authority to affect the authority in the unseen realm?

Man, that's good stuff, man.

Come on, isn't that good?

Listen to this.

If we're gonna exercise authority, we got to submit to God's authority.

We cannot frivolously order our angels around.

And I'm trying to be real, real cautious with this because sometimes people can get to this place where angels work for me, so I can just tell my angels what to do.

Angels go do this, angels go do that, angels go do this.

We can't just frivolously order our angels around any more than you can tell the waiter at the restaurant, go pick up your dry cleaning.

Right?

Remember my example from before?

That that angels minister for us in the same way that a restaurant server comes to the table, they're not gonna go and get you an order of crab legs or or or or lobster or steak until you give them some instruction.

But watch this, you can't just decide that you know you at Ruth Chris, you can't tell them you want a taco.

Why you you why you gotta order what's on the menu?

So I'm trying to help us understand that, yeah, angels do minister for us, but we are restricted to what God has put in the menu, what he's already given us instructions for.

We have the ability to have those angels that are in our midst carry those instructions out.

Here's Psalm 103, verse 20.

Psalms 103:20

You still with me tonight?

Psalm 103 verse 20.

Psalms 103:20

Watch this.

It says, Bless the Lord, you his what?

Come on, you his what?

Bless the Lord, you his angels.

Watch this, who excel in strength, which means angels are not weak little creatures.

If you saw somebody and they they were weak, couldn't even pick up anything, that was not an angel.

Somebody needs to go to the gym.

Come on, somebody.

Angels, the Bible says they excel in strength who do God's word.

Watch this, heeding.

The word heeding means listening with the intent to obey.

Angels are real strong creatures, the Bible describes them, and they heed, they listen with the intent to obey what?

The voice of God's word.

Bless the Lord, you his angels who excel in strength.

Angels are really strong.

Angels are really powerful.

If you find yourself in a difficult situation, just know you have really strong, really powerful beings who are at your disposal.

They are really strong, they excel in strength, they do God's word, and they take heed.

They listen with the intent to obey the voice of his word.

Now, what does this mean?

Because the Bible says that the angels listen to obey the voice of God's word.

The word voice there comes from a Hebrew word coal, spelled Q L, coal.

It means the voice, the sound, or the noise.

And I kind of hate that the translator used the word voice because when we think of voice, we think of you know me saying something, you saying something.

And that's Lawrence's voice.

I know his voice, I know my wife's voice.

But if you look up this word voice, it literally means not just voice, it means the sound.

It means the noise.

You remember over in Genesis chapter three, after Adam and Eve had sinned and the Lord came looking for them, and he said, Where were you?

He said, We heard your voice in the garden and we were afraid.

What do you mean he heard his voice?

I mean, what he's really saying is, we heard your sound.

It's the same Hebrew word.

We heard your sound.

We heard you walking in the garden, God.

We heard your sound and it made us afraid.

So what he's saying here is not that angels hearken just to God's voice, they hearken to the sound of God's word.

Because if they watch it, if they only if they only hearken to God's voice, then that means if God doesn't say it, it doesn't get done.

But if they hearken, if they get in a hurry with the intent to obey the sound of God's voice, that changes everything.

Watch this.

So what it says is that angels listen with the intent to obey the sound of God's word.

Doesn't say they only obey the sound of God's word when he speaks it.

Can I tell you this?

They obey the sound of God's word when it is spoken from the heart of somebody who has authority.

I thought you would have told the church ever.

Angels are strong.

They heed God's word, they they listen with the intent to obey the sound of God's word.

So what they're listening for all day long is the sound of God's word coming out of the mouth of somebody who has authority.

Remember what that remember what the angel said in Daniel chapter 10?

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

It says, From the first day that you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before God, your words were heard.

Then the angel said this, and I have come because of your words.

Sounds to me like if Daniel had spoken the wrong words or no words at all, the angel wouldn't have showed up.

What if Daniel had been there talking like everybody else at work?

All this, these gas prices so high.

Oh, they are high.

Don't get me wrong.

Anybody glad that your God supplies every need in your life, even when the gas prices are high?

Isn't it amazing no matter how high those prices go, God keeps giving you enough money to make sure that your needs are taken care of?

It sounded to me like if Daniel had said the wrong words or said no words at all, the angel would not have been able to show up.

Because he said, From the first day you set your heart to understand, your words were heard, and I'm here because of your words.

Here's a question I have for you.

Watch this.

What have you been speaking?

If the angel showed up for Daniel's word, the question I have for you is, What have you been speaking?

And one of the things I think we gotta get better at is understanding the power of our words.

Proverbs 18 21 says it this way death and life are in the power of the tongue.

Now go back and look it up.

If you study the word that verse, in uh uh Proverbs 18.21, the word direction or the word power literally means direction.

In fact, if you look it up, it means the hand of the tongue.

Death and life are in the hand of the tongue.

What it's saying is death and life are in the direction of the tongue.

Which direction is the tongue going?

Could it be that where we are in life right now is in part a result of what we've been saying?

I know sometimes we don't like that because that means we have a lot more accountability for where our lives end up.

It's easier to blame the white man, the red man, my mama, my daddy, and the system.

But could it be that maybe you have been snared by your words?

I got any good news for you.

If you don't like where you are, talk your way out of it.

Huh?

How about James chapter 3?

James 3 · chapter mention

I'm gonna build a case right here.

James chapter 3, verse 1.

James 3:1

My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.

Don't just get on somebody's stage, start saying something because you get a crowd.

Don't just jump on social media and attract a bunch of people to you because the Bible says when you declare yourself to be a teacher, then we carry a stricter judgment, which means you gotta watch what you say.

Verse 2, for we all stumble in many ways.

If anyone does not stumble in word, and what he says, he or she says, he is a what?

Come on, he's a what?

Perfect man.

Now, perfect does not mean without a flaw.

It literally means if you look it up, it means a mature person.

If we can get to the place where we discipline ourselves where I don't say the wrong stuff, I'm not, watch this, I'm not telling crazy jokes.

I'm not gossiping about stuff, I'm not murmuring and complaining all the time.

I'm preaching better than you saying, Amen.

The Bible says if I can get to the place where I learn how to control what comes out of my mouth, I'm a mature man or woman, and I'm also able to control my entire body.

You mean you mean I can control my weight loss by learning how to control my tongue?

You mean I can learn how to control my spending by learning how to control my tongue?

You mean I can learn how to not have outbursts and leave my spouse bruised emotionally by just learning how to control my tongue?

Verse number three says, indeed, watch this, we put bits in the horses' mouths so they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.

But look also at the ships.

Although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small what rudder wherever the pilot desires.

And verse five starts off like this even so the tongue.

Even so, what is he saying?

He's saying the tongue is just like the two things I just told you about.

The tongue is like the bit.

Are you with me tonight?

The tongue is like the bit that you put in a horse's mouth, that big old horse.

You know, you weigh 180 pounds, that horse weighs, I don't know, 500 pounds, whatever it is, and you can turn that horse's body by a little bitty bit that you put in his mouth.

You pull the reins to the left, the horse goes left.

Pull the reins to the right, the horse goes right.

You pull back, the horse stops.

You hit the reins, the horse takes off.

That little bitty bit in his mouth controls that horse.

That little bitty rudder on the bottom of that huge cruise ship determines which way it's gonna go.

What he's saying, he said, even so the tongue.

He said, Whether you realize or not, your tongue is determining the direction of your life.

He said, Whether you realize it or not, man, some of the stuff you've been repeating that your mama said to you, some some of that, that some some some of you are are inherited worrying through generations.

You're like a champion worry, because you didn't start with you.

Like if there was an Olympic game for worrying, your mama would have the gold medal, your grandmom would have the silver medal.

Come on, somebody.

Well, now we we we have to go back and recognize that the words that come out of our mouths matter.

I I was in my office this week kind of studying for this message, and I looked up and I was looking through on my shelf and I found two of my old Bibles.

I didn't find them because they're right there, I know where they are.

I I grabbed two of my Bibles from when I first started ministering.

And I and I said, I meant to bring it up.

I I opened it up and it I went to the front of it because when I first started ministering, when I first got into ministry, the Lord made me write down all the scriptures I could find in the book of Proverbs, in James, the one I'm giving you right here, every verse I could find that dealt with the words coming out of your mouth.

Clearly, I must have talked too much.

Because for the first few years, I'm trying to teach you this, for the first few years, God wouldn't let me go to any other subject other than learning how to control your words.

And I'm trying to help you understand something that if we're going to see God moving our lives in a way that He wants to move, one of the first things we gotta do is gain control, gain mastery over the words that come out of our mouths.

Can I get an amen?

Listen to this.

As Christians, our words really do matter.

Tell your neighbor, your words do matter.

Come on, say it with some conviction.

Tell them your words do matter.

Now, listen to this.

I don't mean that they they they they magic, they they they matter like magic words kind of way.

I don't mean it in a name it and claim it kind of way.

I don't mean it in a sorcery kind of way.

Listen to this.

But when I know what God has said, I can put his word in my mouth and give voice to his will over what he has entrusted to me.

Can we just get honest?

A lot of believers have spend the entire day saying the wrong stuff.

I'm not trying to condemn you, I'm trying to help you renew your thinking.

I'm trying to help you realize that we're not talking about sorcery, we're not talking about I can name it and claim it, whatever I say, so I'm gonna create my own world because there's a lot of new age metaphysical stuff that's out here as well.

But they the fake comes from the real.

You don't get a Rolex watch unless there's a real Rolex watch.

Some of this fake stuff out here where folks are creating their own world and I'm manifesting it with my word.

All of that stuff came from the truth of God's word.

But what we're not saying is we're not saying whatever you say, you can have whatever you say.

We're saying what you say that agrees with what he says.

Which means we gotta walk around, we gotta stop walking around saying stuff like these kids are driving me crazy.

We gotta stop saying stuff like my husband's so freaking lazy.

Listen to me, don't ever, don't ever, don't ever open up your mouth and repeat what your grandmother used to say.

Every time I take one step forward, it seems like I get knocked two steps backwards.

I'm trying to help you.

Don't open up your mouth and say stuff like, I'm scared to death of what may happen.

I can hear what somebody's saying, but but Pastor, I didn't, I didn't really mean that.

Here's a question I have for you.

How are an angels supposed to know when we're serious or not?

How are they supposed to know well?

They meant this one.

Or they were just joking this time.

Now, I'm not saying we can't joke, we can't have fun.

What I'm saying is we've got to get better at the overwhelming majority of our words being in concert with what God has said about us.

Now let me just clarify this because I'm also not talking about living in denial.

Because this message on the power of your word sometimes is twisted.

Because sometimes people that people think that that means denying the problem.

See, confessing God's word doesn't mean walking around saying, you know, the doctors give you a doctor's report.

God doesn't need you to say there is no cancer.

There is no cancer, there is no cancer.

You're sitting here looking at the report.

He doesn't need us to deny what is, he needs us to call for what should be.

You walk around, you nodding and sneezing, and I don't have the flu.

You sure look like you got the flu.

I'm staying away from you like you got the flu.

We don't have to deny what is in order to call for what should be.

At no point.

You've all heard us tell our testimony about our daughter and the miracle we walked in.

I won't try to re-read re- uh rehash all of that.

But can I tell you, I to this day, I have never typed in sickle cell disease into the computer.

Still haven't, to find out what it says about the disease.

I got enough information from her doctors when they were little, when she was little to know what we needed to do.

I went back to the word to find out what God has said.

We have never had to sit around and say, She don't have sickle cell, she don't have sickle cell, she don't have sickle cell.

We have never declared our daughter, we've never declared she had sickle cell.

Well, you know what we would say?

That diagnosis.

When they would ask us, you know, we would say this.

She was diagnosed with.

You know what?

That's accurate.

Stop walking around talking to the same.

Where'd you get it from?

And then attaching something that the Lord didn't give you.

You don't have to deny the fact in order to call for the truth.

Can I get an amen, somebody?

Moses never stood in front of the Red Sea and said, This is not water.

David never stood in front of Goliath and said, That's not a giant, that's not a giant, that's not a giant, that's not a giant.

I mean, when you when you go back and when you go back and look at it, Jesus never stood in front of Lazarus and said he wasn't dead.

Peter never denied that he was in prison.

Watch this.

God didn't deny in the beginning that it was dark, he just called for the light.

I'm preaching better than you're saying, amen.

Listen to this.

I'm trying to say this.

Faith doesn't deny what it sees, faith declares what God has said about what it sees.

You still with me?

Thermostat right here, man.

I'm looking at it and it says 71 degrees.

Well, watch this.

I'm not gonna stand here and say it's not 71 in here, it's not 71 in here, it's not 71 in here, it's not 71 in here.

And see, that's what makes unsaved people and doctors think that Christians are crazy.

Because we think we need to deny, I'm not receiving that, I ain't accept that.

No, I don't have that, I don't have that, I don't have that, I don't have that.

We don't have to deny the fact in order to call for the truth.

Apparently, in this room right now, it's 71 degrees because the thermostat tells me that.

Well, I don't have to sit here and say it's not 71, it's not 71.

Guess what?

If I want it a little bit cooler, because I'm on the stage, y'all chilling, but I want it a little bit cooler.

So I dial it down from 71, and I think I want to make it 67.

When I hear somebody saying, Well, I'm not gonna say that because that ain't real.

I believe in keeping it real.

The Bible says, call those things that be not as though they were.

Can I say it another way?

Call those things that be not until they become what God said they should be.

So guess what?

I dialed it to 67, and if if this were actually connected, we created this, but if this were actually connected to the system, me dialing this to 67 would send a signal to the condenser in another part of the building to send cold air.

Watch this, and don't you stop sending cold air until this room matches what you said it's supposed to be.

You don't have to walk around and say, I don't have cancer.

You know what you walk around?

You declare from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet, I am healed whole and well.

Jesus Christ did a work on the cross at Calvary, and by his stripes I am healed.

So I speak to myself.

I speak to every cell in this body, I curse every cancerous cell.

I command you by the authority of Jesus Christ, bow your knee to the name of Jesus.

I command healthy cells reproduce at a rapid rate in my body.

I declare my my immune system is strong and healthy.

I'm not denying what they saw, I'm denying that being the final result.

Watch this, and I'm not gonna stop calling for it until it becomes what I have declared it's supposed to be.

You better shout amen, somebody.

Don't sit around and repeat.

Well, you got a child that's that's battling autism, that's okay.

You speak life in the name of Jesus.

Declare that my child's mental and emotional faculties are 100% well.

And guess what?

I'm not denying what it is.

I'm gonna get all the help and resources that are available right now where we are, but I'm not gonna let a day go by that I don't get up and declare where God has said it should be.

Come on, you still there?

So, what should we do?

We gotta learn how to do this.

Why speak the word over what God has entrusted to you?

Speak the word over your house.

Ask me and my house, we shall praise the Lord.

See, I got a kid that's you don't understand, Pastor.

I got a kid that has gone way off.

I raised him in the church, but they go, ask me and my house.

My house doesn't mean the dwelling I'm in, my house means my whole generation.

You ain't going to hell through my generation.

You should pick a different family if you think you're going to hell.

God, because I'm gonna pray and your life is gonna be miserable trying to sin.

Why?

Ask for me and my house.

Declare God's provision over your life, man.

My God shall supply all my need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.

Declare protection over your life.

Come on, no weapon that is formed against me shall prosper.

Declare that God has assigned his angels charge over me, and a thousand may fall at my side, ten thousand in my right hand.

Watch this, it will not come near me.

That's not wishful thinking, that's not denying all the evil that's going on.

That's denying that that evil has any power or authority over my life and my family, my situation.

I can't fix what is entrusted to you, but I have a right to confess God's word of my guard.

Amen.

Amen.

I said amen.

Declare God's word.

Watch this over the fears.

Notice I didn't say your fears.

I said over the fears.

Why?

Because 2 Timothy 1 7 says, God has not given us a spirit of fear.

That means I refuse to give in to that fear, man.

Confess God's word over your future.

We know all things working together for good for those that love God.

Even when you can't see how it's gonna work out, you don't know where the help is gonna come.

All things are working together for my good.

Folks ask me, isn't that construction out there bothering you?

Not one bit.

It ain't even bothered, it ain't bothering, not even one bit.

I look at it and smile now.

You know what?

It doesn't have authority over my life.

And I know all things are gonna work together for the good of this church.

Come on, somebody.

God's got a purpose and a plan.

And I'm learning a lesson.

It doesn't have to go the way I saw it or thought it for it to still be God's will.

Come on, is this good stuff, man?

See, I believe what happens when you start living your life.

I don't mean every now and then saying this, but every day you get up, I'm gonna give you a confession today.

You can use this one or go write your own, man.

Every day you get up and you make this confession over your life.

I believe that the angels in heaven who are strong and they are taking heed to God's word, the sound of his word.

I believe when you, as a believer with authority, declare God's word over your life, your angels are in a better position to carry out and put all the pieces in place to bring to pass what God has promised for you.

Can you give God a shout and a praise with me real quick?

Come on.

Come on, I done preach myself happy, mama.

Come on, come on, somebody, shout like you believe that, man.

Praise God, somebody.

All right, I want you to stand up with me because I want you to make this confession.

Man, I wrote this confession out, and I want you to come along with me.

Let's give voice to the word of God.

You ready?

Let's read it together.

Let's go.

Today I give voice to the word of God.

I declare that as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

No weapon formed against me shall prosper, and God has given his angels charge over me to keep me in all my ways.

My God shall supply all my needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.

God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.

I will not fear my future because I know that God is working all things together for my good.

I declare the word of God over my life, my family, my children, my health, my resources, my purpose, and everything God has entrusted to me.

I will not give voice to fear.

I will not give voice to doubt.

I will not give voice to the lies of the enemy.

I will give voice to the word of God.

God's angels exist in strength.

They do his word, they heed the voice of his word.

So today I put God's word in my mouth and declare his word over everything he has entrusted to me.

I stand in the authority of Jesus Christ.

I speak in agreement with the word of God.

I trust God to release every resource he has assigned to accomplish his will in my life.

Even when I cannot see it, God is working.

Even when I cannot see them, God's angels are on assignment.

My life belongs to God.

My house belongs to God.

My children belong to God.

My future belongs to God.

I am protected, I am provided for, I am not alone, I am not afraid.

There is more happening in the unseen than I can see.

So I will keep praying, I will keep believing, I will keep speaking the word, and I will keep trusting God.

My confidence is in God, my authority is in Christ.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Come on, give God a shout.

Come on, you can do better than that.

Give God a shout of praise.

Come on, we thank you, Lord.

Come on, we trust you, Lord.

Praise God.

Praise God.

Praise God.

Praise God.

Come on, praise God.

Come on, praise God.

Come on, praise God.

Come on, give them about 10 more seconds.

Come on, lift your voices, praise Come on, give him 15 more seconds.

We give you praise, Lord.

Great is the Lord, and great is to be praised.

You're wonderful in all of your ways, God.

Marvelous is our God.

Wonderful is our Lord.

Marvelous is our King.

We give you praise.

Come on, we give you glory.

Come on, we give you honor.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord.

Come on, continue to lift up your voices.

Come on, you got about 15 more seconds.

We thank you, Lord.

It is so.

We believe it to be so.

We give your name the praise, the honor, the glory.

Come on, George, you got about 10 more seconds.

Open up your mouth.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me.

Let us ignore his name.

Amen.

Woo! What a word today.

Amen.

Let's just be seated just for a second.

Let's be seated.

Woo! Thank you, Lord.

The presence of the Lord is in this place.

And the Bible says, what the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

There's liberty.

If you're in this place and you don't know Jesus, right now is a great moment to know him.

He's not asking you to be perfect.

He's not asking you to try to clean up your life and fix your life.

Truth of the matter is, friend, you can't fix your own life.

But we need Jesus to do so.

The Bible says if you believe in your heart, you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved.

Today is a good day to make him Lord of your life.

What does that mean?

I'm no longer in control of my life, but I want to surrender my life to the one who has created it.

So if you're in this room today, we're not gonna call you to the front, we're not gonna embarrass you.

But in just a moment, I'm gonna count to three, and I want you to reach out in that seat pocket.

You can go ahead and grab this card.

If you know today is a day that I want to be saved, it's a card that says say yes to Jesus.

Because I'm gonna count to three, and I believe that people in this room, you're gonna come to Jesus for the very first time.

You say, I want Jesus.

I tried to do life on my own.

I tried to manifest my way, but I didn't know that with Jesus Christ, all things are possible.

So if you're in this room today, you want to give Jesus your life.

I'm gonna count the three.

Go ahead and reach to that card right now.

Reach that seat pocket, grab that card.

I'm gonna count the three.

When I get the three, I want you to raise that card.

Say yes, count me in.

I want to be saved today.

I want to give my life to Jesus.

I'm gonna count the three.

You ready?

One, the Bible says that today is the day of salvation.

Two, don't miss your moment.

Don't let the devil talk you out of this.

New life for you.

You ready?

One, two, three.

Lift that card up.

Cards are going up.

Yeah, I see that card there.

Another card there.

Yeah, beautiful.

Beautiful.

Watching online, I can't see you, but all of heaven can see you.

Our team is putting a poll right there on the screen.

It's gonna ask you a question.

Do you want to say yes to Jesus?

Go ahead and hit yes.

Once you hit yes, go ahead and lift your hand as an act of faith.

That today is a brand new day for me.

I see those hands.

Hands still going up.

It's not too late to get in on this prayer.

I want to be saved.

Yeah.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

As I said, the Bible says, if you believe with your heart, you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved.

We're gonna say this prayer all together as a family.

We're gonna believe right then and there by faith that today is a brand new day for you.

Are you ready?

Let's pray.

Dear God in heaven, thank you for loving me.

Thank you for sending Jesus to die in my place.

He paid the price for my sin.

And I know you raised him from the dead, and he's alive right now.

So, Jesus, come into my heart, save me, forgive me, make me brand new.

I surrender, I give up my whole life to you for the rest of my days.

And according to the Bible, I am right now born again in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Come on, church, let's make some stadium noise for all of those that said yes to Jesus.

Did you just make a decision for Jesus?

Welcome to the family.

We're so excited.

Trust me, we're clapping for you, and we believe that you've made an important decision today.

We'd like to help you on your journey.

So if you'll follow the directions that are on screen, there is a free book you can download.

It's gonna take you five to ten minutes of your day for the next seven days.

But our pastors have put together some amazing resources that we believe will help you on the journey ahead.

If you don't want it, nobody's going to email you, text you, bother you, anything like that.

We just want to make sure you are successful in your walk with Jesus.

Now, let me tell you, one of the things you should consider is baptism.

And if you're in the Jacksonville area, we do baptism after our first weekend service every month.

And you can just scan the QR code that's on the screen, sign up for that.

I'd love to be a part of that journey with you, or any of our ministers would.

If you don't live in town, we do believe you should find a Bible teaching church and at least go get baptized, even if you're still gonna watch our service.

But download that book, it's free.

We're excited for your journey ahead, and we can't wait to be a part of that.

Now, this is a part of the service where we also demonstrate our generosity.

If you're just checking us out today, you don't feel any pressure to give.

But for those of you, this is your church, you know that we are generous is one of our core values.

And so you can give online or you can give through our app, which I really like.

You have the Apple Pay option right on our app.

Just go to your Google store or your Apple store, download the We Are Impact app.

It's also a great way to study notes that um come from the sermons that you watch on here.

And there's a lot of events on there as well.

But you can give through that app.

It's super easy, and we're just grateful that you partner with us week after week.

Well, we're so excited you joined us today.

Hope you have an amazing weekend, and we'll see you next time.