Oh When The Saints | Gather - Pastor Scott Silcox

Welcome to the Rock Family Sermon of the Week.

For more information about our church, please visit therockfamily.tv.

Now join us for a message from Pastor Scott Zilcox.

Today we have our last installment of this, and you might think there are this one may be out of place, but I actually think this is a perfectly set for us.

And today we're not just gonna we're not just gonna talk about what it means to gather.

We're going to understand what it is.

Oh when the saints gather.

Oh when the saints gather.

I would just think about this with you for just a second and maybe just dialogue with you.

First and foremost, is that that there is a responsibility to gathering together.

There's a really dangerous uh uh idea, and and I'll and here's the thing, uh I want to be very clear is that it's actually just a partial truth.

It doesn't mean it's not true, but it's just a partial truth.

And that is the idea that because we are the church, we are no need, we don't need each other.

For instance, the context of church as we know it today, meaning the church, like what we're doing this morning and like thousands are doing all over our city, they're meeting in houses of worship, there is a there's a belief that that is a wasted practice.

There is an increasing like like demand for your time, and so what happens is the church gets treated like another punch list item versus a responsibility to gather.

And and I'm trying to tell you that from the very beginning of time, God always intended to have a people that he engaged with.

And there's something that happens when they gather in the same place with a unified thought and a unified desire, and that he will not disappoint when that comes together, he will move in a way that he won't move when you're at home by yourself.

Can I just say that?

Just like we can just set that as a base level for today, that what he does in this space, it is different than what he'll do.

Doesn't mean he will not meet you in your car.

He will absolutely meet you there, but it will not be the same.

There's there's something different about it's like, for instance, like some of you football fans out there, you know, there's there's there's you in a room upstairs, you know, isolated watching the game, and that's usually because of your passion.

I'll just say it like that.

Where where wife and kids know don't enter the sacred space because you're going to war here.

You know, in in your minds, that's the way you think.

But then there's altogether a different experience when you're in the stadium with 110,000 other people and they're screaming and excited and they're passionate about what's happening in the middle out here.

And some of you say, I don't even like football, but I'm just saying it's a great example of how the hypocrisy of our world tells us that gathering around something that really will change your life has become has become a problem.

And gathering around something that means nothing after it's over, we ought to give our life away to that.

And so we invest our money, we invest our time, we invest effort, we buy them, we buy the merch.

Now, God forbid we have church merch.

You know, God forbid we wear the the church's mantra, but we we've got we got thousands of dollars hung up on Gohawks.

I'm not picking on our stuff, I'm saying it's out of balance.

And the church, the church, the church ought to say something about it.

Why?

Because we have a mandate to gather.

We have a call to gather.

We have a call to come together because there's something we're celebrating.

There's something worth celebrating in the kingdom.

It is Jesus.

And there's something that we get when we we come together that I think is really, really special.

Okay, so I'm gonna kind of go through these and I'm gonna you're gonna have to just bear with me.

I don't I may skip around all this stuff.

Second Chronicles 5, if you have your Bibles, open up to it.

Uh maybe on the church app too.

You can check it there.

But if you go there, we'll read this because I think it's very important for us to go through this.

This is a very critical passage to what we're doing.

And we talked about this.

Like, where do you where do you land when you talk about the idea of gather?

And we were kind of thinking, like, I don't know if this is right, but it feels right to us, me and the rest of the communicators that are preaching today and those that are helping us build that that team.

We were talking about this, this this feels like the right, the right launching point.

And and it's different because it's kind of in the middle of all that God really was doing.

And what I mean by that is that God was already up to something from the beginning of time, from Genesis all the way through to Revelation, He had a vision for the church.

He had a vision for what it meant to be connected, he had a vision for what it meant to be in relationship.

And this one is coming right at the heels of, if you remember, we launched talking about this series, we talked about David making preparation for his son to build a temple.

Do you guys remember this?

Is that he had had to confront the idea that you're a man of war, you're a man of blood, and so David, who is a man after God's own heart, can't fulfill what's in his heart to do, which is build the Lord a temple, and he says, No, you're not gonna do it, your son's gonna do it.

And David doesn't get sour about it.

What does he do?

He starts preparing for his son to make an effort.

Now he doesn't just prepare all the gold, the silver, the the the the wood, all of the the materials to build the temple, but he is he is stockpiling resources for the next generation to to live out the vision that he has for honoring and celebrating the Lord.

Come on, somebody.

This little starting point, and we're gonna find out that it's not all too different to what we're doing today.

Does that make sense?

Okay, all right, so let's read it.

Thus, all the work of Solomon uh did for the house of the Lord was finished, and Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated and stored the silver, the gold, and all the vessels and the treasuries of the house of God.

Then Solomon assembled the elders of all of Israel and the heads of the tribes and the leaders of the father's houses of the people of Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the Ark of the Covenant to the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion.

Verse 3.

And all the men of Israel assemble before the king at the feast that is the seventh month, which is interesting.

We didn't play in this either.

This is actually that month.

This is the feast of tabernacles, what he's talking about.

Sukkot, that's what this is, started two days ago.

So if you're wondering, I wonder if they hear from the Lord.

You work that out.

And see, Holy Spirit is threading something, right?

And all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark, verse 5, and they brought up the ark, the tent of the meeting, tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent.

The Levitical priests brought them up, and King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who had assembled before him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.

How many know that sacrifice and worship is actually a bloody event?

And that's hard because we don't like to talk about that because we're we'd like the sophisticated version of this.

But if I brought an animal out here and started sacrificing up here, it'd get weird real fast, wouldn't it?

How many are thankful that there Jesus took it all?

Huh?

Right?

But there was a time where this thing was sloppy, it was messy, right?

And it was a bloody affair.

And so you have to pay attention to that because you might ask, why was it necessary for Christ to go through all that he went through?

Because he became the ultimate sacrifice, right?

Once and for all.

And how many know that once he did it, it was finished?

And so we don't have to do that today because we live what?

We live through the sacrifice that he's made and into the purposes and promises that he's always intended for his people.

You should just be excited about that.

Like, should just be happy.

Thank you, Lord.

You did it.

Then the priest brought out the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house in the most holy place underneath the wings of the cherubim.

We're going to move on to the next eight verses or four or five verses here.

Verse eight.

The cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles.

And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside.

And are there, they are there this day.

There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses put in Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt.

You need to make notes of this, underline some of the stuff.

I'm gonna expound on it in just a minute.

And when the priests came out of the holy place, for all the priests who were present, listen to this, had consecrated themselves without regard to their divisions, and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Hemon, Judith, their sons and kinsmen arrayed in fine linen with cymbals, harps, lyres, stood east of the altar with a hundred and twenty priests who were trumpeters.

This is a lot, isn't it?

Pay attention.

That's a lot of trumpeters.

Verse 13.

And it was the duty of the trumpeters and the singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord.

And when the song was raised with trumpets and the cymbals and other musical instruments and the praise of the Lord, this is for the song.

Listen to this.

For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Highlight it, circle it, put exclamation marks.

We're gonna talk about this in just a second.

The house, the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, so that the priest could not stand, minister because of the cloud.

The glory of the Lord filled the house of God.

We talked about this today.

Fill this house.

Not accidental that we sang that song this morning because we're making a declaration.

We're making a posture.

Pastor Brian was talking about, we're in a posture of just allowing the Holy Spirit to move into this place, fill the room, fill the room.

This is where this is really taken from here.

This idea that he wants to fill the space.

So I want to just make this one statement that I think is important for us.

From Genesis to Revelation, God keeps moving towards his people.

His reputation, his motivation, his desire from the very beginning of time.

Listen, I'm talking to somebody in here who feels like God is far away.

Talking to somebody in here who says, You don't know my life, you don't know what I've done, God can't even look at me, I'm embarrassed, I'm ashamed.

Can I tell you something?

God, from the very beginning of time, knowing who we were, knowing our humanity, was not so embarrassed of you that he didn't pursue you.

And in fact, he built a life of pursuit of you because it's been his greatest desires to know you.

And we know that because he started in Genesis.

What do we know?

In the garden, God was he does what?

He walks with humanity.

In the tabernacle, he dwells among Israel, right?

The tabernacle, that place that Moses puts together, everyone's there, and we're asking the Lord to come.

How many know that that that there's got to be a thought here?

At least there's a logical side of who I am that says, how can God fit in a tent?

And and he doesn't.

He doesn't.

He backed he overwhelms that.

He overwhelms it in such a way that even in that case, too, he floods in.

That's the indicator that he is present.

And the indicator of the presence of God is that you've been obedient to its fullest completion.

I think oftentimes we're wanting the presence of the Lord to be on our lives, but we're we're not even remotely walking in the obedience needed for that.

And we just say, Jesus, you you know my heart.

It's like, yeah, he knows your heart, but he's also looking for obedience.

He's looking for obedience, he's looking for his people, right?

Why?

Because his pursuit has always been you.

From the very beginning, from the time you came out of your mother's womb, he he is pursuing you, going after you.

Why?

Because he endeavors to have relationship with you, right?

And so we know this.

He he this is just all I'm doing is giving you a testimony of his intent.

Can you can can you just hear that today?

This is the testimony of the Lord in his intent.

So the temple, God's glory fills the house.

That's the scripture we just read.

What about Jesus?

The word becomes flesh and he dwelt among us.

You see the progression.

It's no longer in the tent, he's no longer in the tent or the temple, but now he's saying, I'm coming in bodily form.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was God, right?

When he starts identifying himself as the word, and then he comes down and he says, Now I'm word in flesh.

Now I'm not just declaring who I am, but I'm actually gonna put body on it, skin on it.

I'm gonna embody myself.

I'm gonna become like you, but not like you.

You know what I'm saying?

He's God, he's God, and so he he he humbles himself and he comes in in the nature of of Jesus, but that that gets fast-forwarded, and then when Jesus leaves, he gives us what?

The church.

And what do we get there?

You are being built together into a dwelling place for God.

So you see the progression.

Now we go from not only is Jesus, the word of God, manifest on the earth, but who is the church is now.

Where do we find that?

Acts 2, yes.

Right?

When the church is birthed, the Holy Spirit is come.

And that's how we get to the bottom.

What do we have today?

When people give their life to Christ, they become a new creation, an old man has passed away, they've received Christ, and in receiving Christ, they get a new identity, which is the dwelling place of God is with us.

It's us.

It's us.

Come on, touch your neighbor, say it's it's me.

It's me.

It's me.

Alright, I want to I want to go back to 2 Chronicles 5, and I want to just I want to just kind of cut through some of this stuff with you because we are gonna go in a little different direction today.

Um Charles Spurgeon said this the glory and strength of every church must always lie in God.

Always lie in God.

Why I I love this guy, but but his uh he's got a thousand things to say about the church, but I think this is very important, is that if you don't have him, God, at the center of what we do as a church, when we gather, how many know that it is it doesn't matter?

The very center of everything must be must be God.

Second Chronicles 5, 1, 7.

Thus all the work of Solomon did for the house of the Lord was finished, and Solomon brought in the things that David, his father, had dedicated and stored the silver, the gold, the vessels, and the treasuries of the house of God.

I'm gonna talk about this for just a second.

This is an important thing because I think we read that as like a list of things of like he did that to-do list, right?

Check.

Check he got all the things David prepared.

But I I want to just to apply this to you today in this room.

Why do the saints gather?

Why do the saints gather?

Part of gathering in this room, why it's important for us to do it together, is in the same way David made preparation for the next generation to build this future, how would that apply to us in this room today?

And it goes like this is that every single person in here carries a testimony and a victory in the Lord that if you're not in here sharing it, we don't know, and it never builds the faith.

What Thor did this morning in our in our in our time of of building up the team, encouraging the team, we do a little huddle before service for all the people who serve, and Thor told a testimony of a person that reached out to him who was going through cancer, prayed for them, invited them to one of our services, the service where we had the kids praying.

You guys remember this?

Anybody were here for that?

When the little kids were praying, that couple was invited.

They came in, they prayed for them.

They just got a report back uh this last week.

Am I saying it right?

It's this last week, and and they and they and they are cancer free.

Cancer free.

And the only the only thing they they had to call and testify, why?

Because it it was that day that we were prayed for.

We've not done one other thing since that day, other than wait to to get a report from the doctor.

Go in, face the doctor, and the doctor says, I I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't know.

I don't know.

All I know is you don't you don't have cancer.

We know that.

So so why why why are we why do we say that?

It's the testimony of the Lord.

See, see, if you're not careful, you say, Well, get the kids in here to pray again.

You're not, then you miss it.

You systematize what God is actually doing.

You try to make it a thing, and it's just this is just who he is.

Their hunger and and the kids and our obedience intersect, and we see God do something.

You see, you file you follow now.

So then why do we gather?

We gather because the testimony of the Lord, you don't know the story of the person sitting next to you, you don't know the victorious work that he's doing in your life and in their life, presently, right now, and in the past.

And when we come together, it builds a greater narrative.

You probably don't understand what I'm saying because you don't understand what happens.

You know, oftentimes when when David would would conquer a nation and its riches and or uh have victory over a particular enemy, he would take those spoils and move it into the treasury in preparation for the nation, and it would be housed in the temple.

You understand?

Like, like, like when when Solomon and all of these folks who are who have done all the work of getting the temple done, he takes them on a giant conquest to get all the spoils that my daddy made prepar preparation for.

Now think about that.

All these men who didn't fight in wars are dragging in the spoils and the testimony of what our nation's been able to do.

So you tell me, you come to church, and there's no purpose for you here.

And you say to me that when we come together, nobody sees me, nobody knows me.

Well, how about just tell your story to somebody in here because that is the the the spoils of your life is what creates groundwork, it's the it's the testimony, what God is gonna come and anoint.

He's gonna bless that when we come together and we declare who he is because he's been faithful, because uh let me just show you.

Let's do it.

Let's play, let's play a little game.

Okay, if God has done miraculous work in your life, specifically in the way of healing, and and and you you don't mind raising your hand to testify, would you just raise your hand?

God is changing, keep it them up, keep them up, don't put them up and down.

Don't don't keep your hand up.

Come on, because some of y'all are low, which means I don't think you believe God did it.

Like, like, like, come on, come on.

All right, just just uh uh we're gonna make it better.

We're gonna make it better.

If your hand is up, stand up.

If your hand's up, stand up.

Yo, yes, stay, stay standing, stay standing.

The testimony of the Lord.

Look, this is by far the majority of the room.

By far, by a landslide, this is the majority of the room is actually standing saying, I can testify, God is faithfully moved on my behalf in the way of healing.

Praise God.

Praise God.

You may be seated.

If God has ever used you to pray for somebody and there was healing, God used you in an act of obedience where you partnered with God to pray and there was healing that happened.

Is there anybody here that says I would be a part of that?

Stand to your feet.

Why?

Wow.

Keep standing, keep standing, keep standing.

I just gotta say this.

I mean, this is low, but I gotta say it.

And we're trying to find people to work the altars.

We're struggling to find people who know how to pray, and the testimony of the Lord is you're already here.

Faith is already in the room.

I just don't know where I fit.

I'm just gonna throw out a thought.

Maybe, just maybe.

God's gonna use you to encourage your brother in prayer or your sister in prayer.

Amen?

Go ahead, be seated.

Be seated.

This is important stuff.

Pastor Scott, why are you doing this so dramatic?

It's because oftentimes you come to church and act like you're here alone.

Sometimes you come here and you're hiding out.

Sometimes you come here, you're desperate for an answer and a solution, and you wonder why we are constantly asking people to respond and so we can pray.

Because I know what's in the room.

Anytime we gather, we are like these guys.

We've gathered the spoils of times past.

There are people in this room who have lived enough life, had enough God, had enough experience, have seen more revivals and touches and anointings and things.

And then we're we got a whole generation who's struggling, and you're like, man, I just hate that for them.

Just stop looking at them and being like, yeah, they'll figure it out and give it away.

Like there's a there's a there's a portion of what the church is supposed to be.

She's not doing it because we're we're asleep in consumer mentality.

You still think you're getting more, but I'm here to tell you, like, it's in the same way that if you never pour out, there's nothing else to fill.

Nothing else to fill.

Fill me, Lord.

He's like, you're full.

You're so full, you're just full.

You're full.

You know, just tell somebody, give it away, pray for somebody, be the church.

Why does it matter?

Right?

We talk about this idea that if you go through this passage, and I won't read the whole thing to you again, but I do think it's interesting.

He he gathers all this stuff, he brings it into the house.

He brings it into the house.

We're going in with all the testimony of the Lord, all the provision of my dad, all the testimony of what the Lord has done for us as a people group.

It matters.

Now, Solomon prays a prayer in chapter uh six, but you can go through and look, he even knows what he's built ain't enough.

That this house is not even gonna, this ain't gonna get it.

And he's right.

In terms of size, who can hold or how's God, but that wasn't the point.

God knows that, and God's gonna fill it to the point where it it literally fills the presence of the Lord so much so that nobody can actually do what they came here to do.

I'm just telling you, this is this is this is the pursuit of our of our life, right?

Amen.

Okay, so so this is interesting.

So he gets all the congregation of Israel, he symbols them all, does all the thing.

He goes after the ark, sacrificing, and and listen, when he talks about going to the ark, did you notice this right here?

He says, They took up the ark and they brought it.

Oh, the assembled assembled, uh, I'm sorry, verse 3.

And all the men of Israel assembled before the king and the feast that is in the seventh month, and all the elders of Israel came to the Levites, took up the ark, and they brought the ark of the tent in the meeting, and all the holy vessels were in the tent, and the Levitical priests brought them up, and King Solomon and all the congregation, all over Israel, had assembled before them.

This idea that that there's sacrifice.

Do you guys can remember when David uh attempted to move the Ark of the Covenant the first time, right?

And he didn't do it the right way, there was casualties.

So I just want to stop right here and just say that oftentimes we think that that there are no rules to approaching the presence of the Lord.

And I'm here to tell you that that's actually not true, and that didn't actually change over time.

We want to believe that that the rules stopped here because Jesus did away with rules, but Jesus still needs to be approached with the appropriate way.

There's an appropriate way.

There's an appropriate way to house and hold and carry the presence of the Lord.

Bill Johnson used to talk about this all the time.

It's like when the Holy Spirit had descended upon Christ, when he gave, right, when he comes out of the water, he's been baptized.

He says, he says, He hears, well done, good and faithful, right?

This is my son in whom I'm well pleased, is what he says.

And then the dove ascends, and he always talks about this idea.

How do you walk with a dove on you?

And he says it like you walk, you walk out with the dove in mind.

The dove lands on you, you ain't just like, you ain't swooshing it off.

But this is a prophetic sign, and what that means is every step I take, I take recognizing that how I carry myself and how I carry the atmosphere around me matters.

That's carrying the with the dove in mind.

My question is, how many of us in the church no longer carry ourselves as though the Holy Spirit is actually with us?

We we we carry ourselves as though we'll visit him once a week.

And that's a totally different way of doing life.

As a Christian, as one who's submitted to the Lordship of Christ and Him moving in my life, I walk out daily with the dove in mind, not with him as a second thought.

I walk out, meaning this.

If I'm and some of y'all are thinking I'm talking about birds.

I mean, like, guys, I'm not talking about a bird.

Nobody's getting a bird today.

You know, that's not gonna land on, and if one does land on your shoulder, you need to be very, very still.

Because God is trying to tell you something.

I'm just saying, after this message, and you get a bird, I'm saying pay attention.

But for those who don't get a bird, this is not about a bird, right?

This what this is about is the Holy Spirit at work in my life, and every day requires me to be cognizant, pay attention, aware that what I keep and what I carry keeps the Holy Spirit present.

Okay.

5, 18 through 14.

You talk about uh this verse 10.

There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets, Moses.

The reason this must come in, and what's inside the Ark of the Covenant matters is the two tablets.

This is a a direct testimony that God made a covenant and he will not break it.

He made a covenant with you, he will not break it.

You say, man, what why are we even talking about that?

Why why are we doing that?

Like, we don't have an Ark of the Covenant here, no, but but you have a covenant that's been given to you because Christ made it available.

There's a there's a there's a divine connection between the promises of Israel that are now yours because you're grafted in we you guys are Gentiles.

Yeah.

Some of you don't believe that, but you are.

Right?

But we're grafted into the body of Christ.

We've been we've been we've been brought into the covenant.

That's what this is, that's what he's trying to so we we have the promise that is that sits on on us as a people.

The church, the body of Christ, which is not a person or a particular person or people group.

We're now all in.

Okay, okay.

Just trying to tell you it's bigger.

I guess maybe is what I'm trying to get across to you today.

It's bigger, it's bigger, it's bigger, it's bigger.

Okay.

Oh, we gotta hurry.

Okay.

I gotta figure out what I'm skipping.

Okay, I'm not gonna skip this.

Go to go to uh right.

I I know I should, but I'm not.

Um I I want you to see something, I'm gonna see something about unity.

Something about unity.

Look at this, verse 11.

And when the priest came out of the holy place.

Now look at look at what's listed right here.

For all the priests who were present had what?

Consecrated themselves.

They consecrated.

This is a word we don't use that often anymore.

But but consecrated, set themselves apart.

They've they've consecrated, they've they've they've they've put themselves before the Lord and they've purified their intentions in their heart.

That's done in a physical way, with washing and all that kind of stuff in the garments that you wear, but they consecrated themselves.

I'm just saying, I we we gotta get better, and when we come into the presence of the Lord, we treat it as holy.

Watch what happens here.

They consecrated themselves without without what?

With regard, without regard of their divisions.

Meaning, meaning they didn't come in with their own bias.

They didn't come in and say, We are this and you are that and all of this.

Like, no, no, no, no, no, no.

The model's been the if you really want the presence of the Lord, then you're gonna have to drop the identity.

You're gonna have to drop this idea that you're you're in some kind of crisis mode here, or you're in some kind of like, I my identity is so important, my my ethnicity is so important.

No, no, no.

We drop all that because what we're coming together for is bigger than, bigger than, larger than look, look, look, look at this, look at this, look at this.

This is this, and all the Levitical singers, all of them, kinsmen arrayed in fine linen, cymbals and harps and lyres stood east of the altar, 120.

Listen, this is a uh Christian said this, I think.

He was like, this is a God's planning center invite.

Right?

I thought it was really funny.

That's that's like you some of you don't know what planning center is.

Have I talked about serving this year?

Because that's how you get to know what I'm talking about.

So for these are all the people who serve know what I'm talking about.

Planning center is the invite that you have to say, yes, I'm coming, I'm serving, I'll be here, whatever, whatever.

This is God trying to make sure.

Do I have everything in order?

Solomon is trying to figure it out.

Do we have everything?

Check, check, check, check.

And 120 trumpeters said yes this day.

Amazing.

And here we go.

Now, why does this matter?

Because look, it says this, and it was the duty of the trumpeters and the singers to make themselves heard in.

Did anybody notice something?

No one, come on, this is for somebody in here.

Nobody got a solo this day.

Come on, something.

You know, nobody's on solo duty, nobody's got their mixtape, nobody's got that tape.

You know, old church folks know what I'm talking about.

You grew up in church, you knew.

You knew.

My sister was one of those people that that had to always carry the tape.

You know, not Delisca, of course.

No.

Um, no, I'm just kidding.

She can sing too.

But my twin sister always had to have a tape.

We go to a revival.

Sister Silcox, uh, did you come prepared to sing?

What?

I don't know.

Open the bag.

You know, they always do the like, what?

Sing?

I don't even know if I can.

There's there's a whole catalog.

They just pull out the papers, like, which A, you know, A to Z, which song would you like me to sing?

Any any old folks know what I'm talking about.

You grew up in the church, you know what I'm talking about.

Old church mothers always ready to sing, you know?

It's true.

Am I right?

It's so true.

So look, not on this day, because because there's no solo.

We're in unison.

They're not even doing parts.

We want to be unified, unison, one voice, all of us together, all making one declaration.

See, see, if if there's if there's individual expertise showing out in this deal, if it's all about somebody getting their little solo, then the glory is being shared in the moment.

And he won't do it.

When we're looking for our thing, I'm just saying maybe just get in unison to what the church is doing.

Get in unison of what the church is saying, get in unison about what we believe, get in unison about what we say, get in unison about our heart for our community.

Why is it that we're always all on a different beat of a different drum?

And don't look around you at those people who clapped off key the whole day.

Don't do it.

You know you're sitting next to one or two of them out there who are singing unto the Lord, who have rhythm definitely under the Lord, right?

Just all over the place.

But listen, this is what God is trying to bring the body into a place where He can show up.

So you got to keep tracking with me.

Why?

Because I'm gonna get this right here.

It says this the song that's chosen.

This is the song that's gonna be declared after Solomon's got everybody in there, everybody's there, 120 trumpeteers, there's cymbals, there's lines, there's linen everywhere.

Here's the song.

For he is good, and for his steadfast love endures forever.

He's good, and his steadfast love endures forever.

You know how I know this wasn't modern-day church?

You know how I know?

You know how I know this is definitely not in our our our our our uh Western version of church?

It's because this song, this song, has nothing to do with me.

That's how you can tell.

You can tell because we've we've got worship sets now that are all about what God will do for me.

And yet Solomon and these people understand something about the temple, is that is none of this is about me.

Everything that we're doing here is about him, and so the song we're all gonna sing, even though you want to sing it about yourself, he says we're singing it about God.

You you can you just take this and teach it to the worship.

All the worship people need this.

I I'm just it's important for us to see this because why?

When we have what?

We have the testimony, the preparation.

Are you tracking?

When we get the testimony, we got the preparation, we got the testimony, we have all the people in unison, they're all bought into where we're going.

We're not singing a song that aggrandizes who we are or what we need.

We put him in his rightful place, we get this, and the house of the Lord was filled with the cloud, so that the priest could not stand and minister because of the cloud.

That the presence of the Lord begins to fill the space in a way that I no longer can stand before the Lord.

I can't even do what I'm supposed to do.

And for all those who think that, man, this is what this is the problem with the Pentecostal church, then just pipe down.

Pipe down.

I'm gonna tell you something.

At least the Pentecostal church is still protecting the presence of the Lord to bring us to a place that we can no longer do what we normally do.

We've at least got a sensitivity about the Holy Spirit that we won't just push by it because we don't understand it.

Or because it's too complicated or it's confusing.

Well, guess what?

Life is confusing.

God is God, He'll do what He wants to do, and my bet is if we'll do things like He wants to, He will overwhelm your system.

He's gonna overwhelm your system.

I'll take it a step further.

You don't have to push anybody down in this segment either.

So there's the other side for all those who thought I'd forgotten.

No, you're you're I don't have to over exert myself in this place because he's been glorified, he will do what he wants to do.

And we will trust it.

Why?

You say, well, that was good for Solomon, but what about us?

Great.

Here's what I want to say.

We can prepare the house, but only God can fill it.

So my question is, what are you doing to prepare your house?

Now I've talked about this being a metaphor, really, it's just an example.

It's not a metaphor, it's really an example.

It's a microcosm.

We're in the middle, but like fast forward, we are the church.

My question is, what are you doing to prepare your house?

Are you preparing your house to be filled?

Are you preparing your house to be seen?

What are you doing?

This is the question I have to wrestle with the Lord.

This is me wrestling God over the last few weeks, knowing we're gonna get to this.

And we've all been excited about believe and obey and go, but I knew we're getting here.

And this place is where you have to confront you and your motive and your temple, and what are you doing?

What are we doing?

Are we caring for for the are we carrying an atmosphere where he is welcome?

But this is what I've come to realize.

We can only prepare, he is gonna fill it.

You don't have to manufacture it.

You don't have to manufacture it.

Just trust, I prepare my heart, he'll meet me here.

He'll meet me here, amen.

Let's talk about Acts 2, one through four, because this is that fast forward.

You go back and you see it in this way, in the day of Pentecost, right?

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were what?

All together in one place.

I want you to anybody tracking themes with me today, pay attention right here.

Watch.

They're all in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind.

Like a mighty rushing wind.

Does that sound familiar?

I don't know, like 120 trumpeters.

Track with me, track with me.

God is not hiding.

He is being very overt about what he's doing, and he has been from the very beginning.

I am doing this in the new model as well.

He's saying, I'm coming in like a wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

Doesn't that sound familiar?

That's Second Chronicles language.

He fills the house, he's filling the house.

Why?

Because they went and separated themselves, but they gathered, they gathered, and in the gathering, they're in one accord, they're in one unison, they're in one voice, they all want the same thing.

God says, go, wait for me there.

Their obedience to do it, their hunger and their desires met with power.

I'm asking anybody that wants power today.

You've been wanting the power to move through your life with more confidence.

I'm telling you, the Holy Spirit is is is there and waiting if you'll just get hungry enough.

Okay.

What are we seeing?

What are we seeing?

The fire from the altar now on the person.

Fire from the altar.

Why?

He is showing us I am with you, I'm for you.

Yeah, but I don't want that.

It's weird.

Like, come on, man.

Jesus needed the Holy Spirit.

He says, I'm I'm gonna leave the Holy Spirit for I am, I am, I am, I've got to go so he can come.

I don't want it.

I'll be kidding.

But no, what you don't want is to feel weird.

Just go say it.

Right?

My my logical brain doesn't want what that is because all I've known is the Holy Spirit is somebody who speaks in tongues, and that's weird.

I'm just saying, he he did not come so that you could be weird and call it Holy Ghost.

He didn't give you a get out of jail card for acting strange.

He came to empower your voice to be a witness and a testimony.

And so you're you're you're you're you're setting the Holy Spirit aside.

But you're also not a good testimony.

You're not a good witness.

Yikes.

I said it.

I'm gonna get in trouble for that.

No.

But I said it.

It's true.

How, how, how, if he says the Holy Spirit has come to empower you to be my witness, I say, I don't want the Holy Spirit.

How can I be a good witness without the Holy Spirit?

Like, I'm just telling you what the Bible says.

That's what it is.

So, like, I want that.

I want to be empowered so that my witness is what it needs to be.

So that the testimony of the Lord is there.

Okay.

Good night.

I feel like I'm working harder than I need to.

All right.

Ironaius, he says this, where the church is, there's the Spirit of God, and where the Spirit of God is what?

There's the church.

I think there's just like to me, you start separating those two.

You just can't.

And they couldn't then, Lord.

My boy, way back doing this.

He's defending it.

So much so he's in France defending this in a very real way at the time.

And he he they actually they I think they even didn't didn't you would probably the only person who would know this.

Like, didn't they make him a doctor?

Right?

A doctor of the church?

That's what I thought.

So they even turned, they even they even label him as the doctor of the church because it would because of his sickness and his effort towards healing it.

So so I'm I'm just trying to say like like that there's a ton of history behind these beliefs, and it originated with the Lord, obviously.

But okay, let's go to this.

Uh, do I have any more slides?

Maybe I do?

Yeah.

Why why what Ephesians tells us about Acts and where we are today?

What Ephesians does is turn around and and and strengthens what I'm doing.

Worship team, come and help me.

Come on, come on, come on, come on.

Because they know, they know what we're about to do.

Because here's the thing.

I I've said enough about what it means to gather.

What does it mean for the church to gather?

We are going to actually physically step into the the the the the the whole um we're we're we're going to uh how do I say it this way?

We are going to model what it means to gather here at the church.

And I don't mean like because you showed up on the property.

I'm talking about talking about when the church takes a step collectively in unison, and we begin to declare who he is.

We're gonna start by thinking about the testimony of the Lord for your life.

So while I finish this up, I want you to be thinking about where God has been faithful.

And this may be hard for somebody who's in need today, but I want you to just push by what you need today and think about where he's been faithful.

And if you can't find, and I'm you know, I I'm teaching, I'm gonna teach you how to do this.

Okay, I don't even know if that's the right word to say, but I'm trying to help you.

All right.

If you're in a place where you can't you can't physically think of a time where God has actually been a blessing to you, or you're so offended with the Lord right now because he hasn't done what you've been asking him to do, I want you to borrow somebody else's testimony.

Do you hear what I'm saying?

I want you to borrow for this momentary time the testimony of the 90 plus percent people who got up in here today and said, God use me and God healed me and God used me to be a part of healing.

And I want you to just use that and say, God, if you'll do it for them, would you do it for me?

See?

I want you to borrow it.

And I say borrow because you're gonna have plenty the rest of your life to lean back on starting today.

Amen.

Ephesians 2.19 says this.

So then you are no longer strangers or aliens, but you are what, fellow with who?

With the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ, Christ Himself, being the cornerstone, in whom what?

The whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple of the Lord.

Why are you here today?

Who are you?

What does it mean to be Christian?

What does it mean to be follower of Christ?

It means you are a living stone.

It means in this earth, in this time, in Huntsville, at your jobs, in your family, in this very hour, this very moment, God has made you a living stone in which He has made Himself available to you individually.

But why we gather is that the stones come together for the temple of the Lord.

The living stones begin to assemble together, not around our identity, but around our identity through Christ, who is the cornerstone, who brings the foundation strong, secure, faithful.

I'm not just some rando.

I belong to a bigger story.

Showed up here today.

I'm here to tell you, you belong to something bigger than yourself, bigger than your testimony, bigger than your disappointment, bigger than what your mama said, bigger than who your daddy wasn't.

You're a part of something bigger.

If you know Christ is your Savior, he has said, I'm living in you, breathing the breath, the pneuma, the life of God in you.

That that person is the Holy Spirit who is guiding, directing.

He is using you to be a witness and the testimony of God's faithfulness to see salvation into every person that you come in contact with.

They need to get this early.

What is he saying?

The whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple of the Lord.

Verse 22.

In him you also are being what?

Built together into what?

A dwelling place, but not just any dwelling place.

See, that's where we want to stop.

Yes, we're a dwelling place.

Make me a dwelling place for the spirit.

Make me a dwelling place for the spirit.

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