Created For Eternity | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson
by Chad Erickson
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:29, Psalm 29:2, Psalm 150:1-2, Psalm 150:6, Ezekiel 28:13, Isaiah 14:12-15, Proverbs 16:18, Proverbs 8:13, Genesis 2:7, Acts 13:22, 2 Samuel 6:14-15, 2 Samuel 6:20-22, Psalm 47:1, Psalm 27:6, Psalm 134:1-3, Psalm 149:3, 1 Chronicles 23:5, 1 Chronicles 9:33, Psalm 122:1, Psalm 27:4

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/chad-erickson--created-for-eternity
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
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And if you'll grab your Bibles with me and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 29. Then I'm going be reading from Psalms 29 and two. And then from my favorite passage, probably one of my favorite passages in the Old Testament, Psalm 150. Amen. Give honor to Bishop and Sister Carpenter tonight. We love our senior pastor. Amen. We're so thankful for what they mean to us, to our pastoral team, to my wife. We celebrate this week 21 years of marriage. I know that's hard to believe. Time flies when you're having fun. And it's gone by so fast. 20 21 years. Amen. and so thankful for her. Love her and I love this church family so much. And I I feel that God has given me a word for you. I'll be honest with you. Um I I've preached parts of this message all over the world. Uh from the Asia-Pacific, Africa, South America. I preached it all throughout this country. Uh preached a part of it in Strong Tower Youth Camp one year. Um, but God has given me some more to this message that I just feel is for this church family. So, if you've heard it, if you've heard some of it before, that's okay. You'll know exactly where to preach me and help me and support. But I'm so thankful for a God who loves us. Amen. 1 Corinthians 1:29 says that no flesh should glory in his presence. Psalm 29 and 2 says give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. And then Psalm 150 the last psalm in the book of Psalms says praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts. Praise him according to his excellent greatness. Verse six simply says, "Let everything that hath breath praise ye the Lord." Psalmist David said it one more time. Praise ye the Lord. Just in case you didn't get it the first time, praise ye just in case you didn't get the whole book of Psalms. He says, okay, ju just praise Woo! Ye the Lord. My title tonight, I want to continue on. Pastor Hammond preached, man, last Sunday night, he got me fired up on the topic of worship. Got me fired up. Preached a sermon. If you didn't hear it, simply entitled, they sung a hymn. Go back, watch it online. It's amazing, man. We had Holy Ghost fire in this house last Sunday night. And I told him last Sunday night, I said, "You know what? God's already spoken to me what I'm going to preach next Sunday night. But here it is right here. This the title is simply this. Created for eternity. Created for eternity. Put your Bibles down. We're going to pray and then I'm going to preach for a little while. Father, I love you. Thank you for this great church family. Lord, we are the body of Christ. We represent you. We are your arms. We are your hands. We are your feet. We are the mouth that you speak through, Lord God, to this world. Lord, I'm just going to believe tonight, Lord God, that you'll anoint me, that you'll speak through me. I feel your Holy Ghost in this place. The the choir's already sang about it, Lord. We're created to worship you. We're created to give you praise. We're created to magnify you. Lord, we want to know, Lord, exactly what you want of us. And God, tonight, I want to preach about what we're created to do. But most of all, and most importantly, Lord, we've been created for eternity. We've been created, Lord God, not just for this world, but for the world to come. And Lord God, that's what we're excited about. That's what we're looking forward to. That's what we're anticipating. Soon and very soon, we're going to meet the King of Kings uh and the Lord of Lords. We're going to see King Jesus who died for our sins. We love you, Lord. We bless you, Lord, and we praise your holy name. One more time, clap your hands unto the Lord and give him a shout of praise. Give him a shout. A shout of praise. Somebody say >> yes. >> You may be seated in the house tonight. Oh, hallelujah. God is good >> all the time. >> God is good >> all the time. >> Some of y'all grew up in church. I was taught um hermeneutics Bible school. We were taught never begin a message with a negative introduction. But as far as I know, none of my professors, my my my instructors are here this evening. Matter of fact, John Maxwell in his book, The Six Rules of Effective Communicating, he says, "Never begin with the negative." As far as I know, Dr. John Maxwell is not in the house. So, I'm going to begin by breaking the rule this evening. But, as horrible as it sounds, we were not God's first choice. We were not God's plan A when it came to praise and worship. We understand the Bible tells us that God's plan a the plan a of almighty God was to have a hedge of worshippers that would surround his throne by the tens of thousands, maybe by the hundreds of thousands, possibly by the millions that would do nothing but worship him day and night. Matter of fact, a third of the angels, the angelic beings were created by God. They were perfectly designed to be eternal worshippers around his throne. The archangel named Lucifer, Lucifer is a a beautiful name. I know that now we look at the word Lucifer, the name Lucifer in a negative context, but the word Lucifer is not a negative name. It's a beautiful name. It's a it's a name of light. And it's the most he was the most powerful angelic being ever created. And he was created and anointed by God not as a messenger angel, not as a warrior angel, but he was created to be the supreme worship leader of heaven. >> But let me read how Ezekiel described him. Look with me in Ezekiel 28:13 because we see here that this was a a beautiful being. The Bible says, "Thou hast been in Eden." And Ezekiel says, "The garden of God, every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, the topaz, the diamond, the barrel, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, the carbuncle, and gold. The workmanship of thy tambrates and of thy pipes." These are are musical uh musical instruments was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created. Lucifer, God's original worship leader, had two defining attributes. Number one, he naturally displayed beauty. He was attractive. He was very attractive to the eye. Matter of fact, he reflected the brilliance of God. He wasn't the light, but he reflected the light of God. We looked through these stones. I began to research and I don't have time to go through each one of these stones, but the sardis, the topaz, the diamond, the barrel, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, emerald, carbuncle, gold, all of these are reflective stones. These are stones made to reflect. They're they're made, matter of fact, we put them now uh we put them into rings and uh they put them into jewelry. And the whole idea is they reflect light and they cause you to notice them. and and obviously the ones that reflect the light the most are probably the most expensive. But Lucifer was in the presence of God and he got confused about his identity. He thought that he radiated his own brilliance and he failed to realize that all he was was a reflection of God's radiance. And I believe we could take some time right here and learn a lesson from old old Lucifer that we're nothing without God. >> You take God out of the picture and we're nothing. >> I don't care how talented you are. I don't care how good of a singer you are, how good of a musician you are. I don't care how good of a speaker and ortor you are and and whatever else. You could be good at taking photography and taking pictures. You could be good at building things. You could be a a construction worker that's more than just a construction. You can be an artist when it comes to woodworking. But it doesn't matter how talented you are. When you don't have the power of God, when you're not reflecting what God is, when you don't have the anointing of God in your life, you are nothing. Matter of fact, we were just uh uh this past week, my family and I, we we had the privilege of worshiping at at at NAYC at the youth conference with uh they had over 30,000 worshippers. Pastor uh he talked about it this morning, but we we got to be there and we got to experience the amazing singing, the amazing preaching, the the musicians were second to none. They ministered during this conference and they were absolutely dripping with talent and ability. They sang, they played, they preached and and the roar of worship was almost deafening at times. However, although they were talented, they they the worship was not for them. We understand uh it was for the God that they were singing to and they were singing about. It was to the God that they were preaching about. But if these people would ever begin to envision that the 30,000 students were their fans instead of the fans of God, instead of the worshippers of God, the very same thing would happen to them that happened to Lucifer. And sadly, I've witnessed this happen to to so many uh throughout the years. I've seen talented I'm talking about Uber multi-talented people. people. They were so talented. They could preach, they could sing, they could play instruments. They were the greatest worship leaders. Uh when they would get up before crowds, they could move crowdsuh with the talent that they had. But I begin to watch them, and I'm sure some of you know, and you're probably even thinking of names at this time of people who have fallen away because it went to their head. pride got a hold of them because there's a temptation of pride when there's an audience. >> There's a temptation of pride when you begin to minister and you begin to look out and you get confused as Lucifer did. You get confused at who they're there to see. They're not there to see you. They're there to be in the presence of God. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced to see that many young people worshiping God. But oh, Lucifer, you were not the light. You were just a reflection of the light. >> But his second attribute, he he naturally created an atmosphere of worship. And that's really what I've come to preach about tonight. He was a atmosphere creator. Lucifer was an angel that had music built into him. Music came from every part of his being. He didn't play music. He was music. But then Isaiah chapter 14 took place. And and this is where it gets really sad. The story Oh, the story gets sad because in in verse 12, the Bible says, "How art thou fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, son of the morning. How art thou cut down to the ground which did weaken the nation? For thou hast said in thine heart, watch this right here. I will ascend into heaven. He said, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high God. Yet, he said, "Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit." >> Because pride is the silent assassin of worship. >> It's pride. It's pride that is the silent assassin of worship. Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goeth before destruction and a hotty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 8:13 says, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil." The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. What is evil defined as well? It says right here, it's pride and arrogancy. Oh, God says, "I hate it." He says this, "Do I hate?" God doesn't just dislike pride. He hates it. Uh because it robs him of the worship that he created us to offer him. >> Pride turns worship into performance, making it about us instead of about him. Imagine, if you will, showing up to a wedding and trying to outshine the bride. >> That's what pride does right here in God's sanctuary. It steals the focus off him and it puts it on us. >> Oh, God help me. When I walk into the sanctuary, when I come into the gates, uh when I walk into a place, uh we call this a sanctuary cuz it's a place of safety. It's a place where we can just bask in the presence of God. Uh it's a place where we can bring our knees before God. Oh yes, it is. But it's also a place where we can lift up our hands uh without fear without wrath, without doubting and we can give glory to God. It's a sanctuary. We can come together and worship him when I come into his househ. I don't want to think about myself. I don't want to listen. Sometimes I get sick and tired of thinking about my needs and what it is God that you can give me. But sometimes we just got to set all that aside. It's not about me, but it's about you, oh God. It's not about my wants and my desires. It's not about my dreams and my plans, but it's about saying, "God, I've come here to think about you. Uh to put my mind on you to focus on glory." Come on, somebody give him praise in this place. Uh we got to forget about self. We got to get self out of the way and let God be praised in his house. Lucifer, Satan, the devil, whatever you want to name him, whatever you want to call him, he failed to do what he was created to do. And in his place, oh, thank God. Mankind was created for the same very same purpose. We were replacement. We stood in for Lucifer and onethird of the angels to fill a vacancy. God created Adam and his wife Eve with the very same attributes. He's created you and me with the very same attributes that he created Lucifer. Our bodies were created to be a living instrument of praise. >> Why the Bible we we'll read about it in a few minutes, but that's why the Bible talks about to sing unto the Lord. That's why it says make a joyful noise unto the Lord. And some of you are like, I'm not a singer. I'm just going to stand here and watch everybody else sing. But the Bible simply says, "Make a joyful noise." Yeah. If you got breath in your body, let everything that have breath, you ought to praise him. Some noise might sound good and some noise might not sound good. I was sitting, oh my God. I was sitting at NAYC and there was a young person sitting behind me and they were the loudest singer in the whole stadium. And my God, they didn't sing one note on key. You got David Jennings up there leading worship, one of the greatest singers in in Pentecost. I couldn't even hear him. I sat in a different seat the next night. I looked for that guy. I said, "Where's that guy? I'm not sitting anywhere near that guy." But I do, Brother Andrew, I do appreciate he might not been able to sing on key. And he probably, brother Donn, he probably knew he couldn't sing on key. But he was singing as loud as he could because somewhere that young man had been taught, it doesn't matter if you're a good singer, a mediocre singer. It doesn't matter if you can sing on key, you can't sing on key. If you're tone, it doesn't matter if you're tonedeaf. It said make a joyful noise. And he was singing to the top of his lungs. It might have annoyed me, brother, know it, but it sure didn't annoy the one he was singing to. I wish some people in this place would would take that to heart and say, "You know what? I may not think I'm good enough to sing in the choir, but when the choir is singing, we need worshippers out here that are willing to sing along with the choir. And you may not know what the tenor part is or what the soprano note is or the alto note is, but you can make a joyful noise unto the Lord because we were created, we were created to be a musical instrument. We got a diaphragm. Come on, think about this. Think about how God created us. We got a diaphragm that pushes air. The lungs, the the the lungs don't they don't take in air, inhale and exhale. It's the diaphragm that lowers that allows air and pulls air into the body. And then the diaphragm, it raises and it pushes air out of the lungs out of the body. The lungs just hold the air. But God gave us this diaphragm to push those lungs and and to push air, oxygen up through our trachea, past our voice box, through our articuls, our our teeth, our tongue, our hard pallet, our soft pallet. Some of y'all sing through your nose. We got some good country singers in the house. >> Some of y'all raise that upper pallet and you sound more like an opera singer. That's all right because God made us. We are vessels. We're created to be living instruments. You say, "Well, I don't play an instrument, Brother X. And I I never took lessons. I Man, I got a sister that played the obo, and I got a brother that played the saxophone, and I have another sister played the xylophone. Listen, we're all living, breathing instruments. >> I I thank God for all this up here. But if all this was not here, we could still have church. >> I love the drums. I don't want to live without the drums. They say you can have whatever kind of band you want to have. good band, not so good band, but if you got a good drummer, we're okay. >> But at the same time, it doesn't matter how good your band is if you don't have a good drummer. Listen, I don't want to live without drums. Thank God. Thank God we have drums in the church today. I thank God for the piano. I I thank God for instruments that keep us on key. But if we had no instruments, we would still be just as powerful in worship >> because we can lift up our voices and we can make sounds. My God, there's ac capella groups out there. Sometimes I would rather listen. They make more beautiful noise and sound and harmonies than any band could come up with. Come on, you've heard him. And God made us, God God designed that just like he put into Lucifer. He gave him pipes and timbles just like he put into Lucifer. He put that into us. God made us to where we can come up with and we can design and and we can write songs and and put lyrics to melodies and harmonies. They can give glory to God. But with this oxygen, God allows us to inhale and allows us to exhale. And I want you to know today that oxygen, I know it keeps us alive. And I know if we're not breathing, we're not living. But oh, I'm so thankful. Genesis 2 and 7 says, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. The breath wasn't just for living. It was for praising. Let everything that have breath uh when God breathed the breath of life uh into mankind, it was more than just to make his chest expand and for his lungs to begin to suck. Oh, to suck air, but it was so we could give God praise and glory to his name. It took humanity quite a while to discover our purpose. You you read through the Old Testament, I know there were those that the Bible talks about that they would play instruments unto the Lord. And I know that there were those that that sang. Well, we know that when they came through the Red Sea, I know Moses, some of y'all don't probably think of Moses as a singer, but he was. The Bible talks about the song of Moses. We understand Mary and we we understand that there were songs that rejoice when God would do something good for people. But I want you to turn with me to Acts chapter 13 and 22 because here is where St. Luke the Evangelist records about the man who truly he got a revelation of what mankind was truly created to do. For God said, "I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will." And I want you to know, there's a lot of opinions. There's a lot of people, a lot of theologians have a had a lot of different views on what this will was. But I can't help but to believe that David more than anything else was a worshshiper that figured out how to worship God. and not only how to worship God, but he figured out how to lead others into worship. >> I know he killed a bear with his bare hands, but that was not his claim to fame. I know he killed a lion with his hands, with his bare hands. I know he wrestled and and killed a lion with his bare hands, but that was not his claim to fame. Matter of fact, he did that all when nobody was watching, when nobody even knew what he did. Even when he took on Goliath, even when he took on the giant, that was not his claim to fame. Although the women of the street began to sing about how he has slew his tens of thousands, but David's claim to fame was discovering the creative purpose of mankind. He brought the ark of God out of a tent behind a curtain and he brought it into the presence of a people where they could feel the presence of their creator. He brought it to the city of Jerusalem, the city of David, the city of Zion. But I want you to see this right here cuz I want to slow down just a little bit in this story because as David is bringing the ark, he's bringing it to the city of David. The Bible says in 2 Samuel 6:14, it says, "And David danced before the Lord with all his might, and David was girded with a linen ephod." I've read this scripture so many times. I preached this scripture so many times, but I began to study the Hebrew of the scripture to get a better understanding of what was happening right here with David. But the Hebrew word sihawk, translated danced implies jubilant leaping. And all throughout the Bible, wherever you see the word dance or dance, this is the Hebrew word that is used. However, this is not the Hebrew word that's used in this scripture. When it says David danced before the Lord with all his might, the Hebrew word used right here, the only time it's used in the Bible is macar, which means it's drawn from the root meaning to twirl or to spin. And it suggests a vigorous twirling motion where clothing was sometimes shed in worshiping fervor. One time in the Bible, the only time this word, this Hebrew word is used for dancing right here is when David, and I know a lot of times uh we preach about how David, oh, he took off his kingly robe. Uh he took off his royal garments and he began to dance before the Lord with all his might. And sometimes with the altar, we think of the two-step dance and we dance. >> But that's not what happened right here. This was a dance that he got so crazy in his worship. He got so wild in his praise that when he began to spin, he spun around so fast that that kingly robe that oh, King Saul would have never allowed to come off his shoulders. that same kingly robe. David allowed that thing to spin off his shoulders and lie on the ground and it revealed that he was wearing a linen ephod. This is what the Levites wore to worship in. >> I want you to know that the people, oh, the people of Israel had never seen Saul wearing a linen ephod. >> They never seen Saul worship out of his kingly robe. Matter of fact, Saul was pious. Oh, Saul. He walked around like he was something. He was the first king anointed by God to to to lead this people and to rule over God's people. He thought it was all about royalty and fanfare. But David, oh, when you're a worshshiper in the background, when you're a worshshiper when nobody's watching, when you got your own prayer closet that nobody even realizes that you're in, when you step out of it, it doesn't change who you are. He >> It doesn't change who you are. You are still who you are. He He wasn't a king that worshiped. He was a worshipper that ruled a kingdom. He wasn't a king or a warrior. He wasn't a warrior. He was a He was a godanointed worshipper who he was a warrior on the side. That's not who he was. He was a worshshiper before he was anything else. All right. >> And verse 15 says, "So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet." David had 30,000 worshippers that he was leading. Oh my God. He's leading 30,000 worshippers. I got to reading that today, Brother Nolan, and I thought, "Wait a minute. I was just in the presence of 30,000 worshippers. >> I know we have we have people sprinkled throughout this crowd who is there. Let me tell you something. When he got an entourage of 30,000 worshippers to bring the ark of God into the city of David, they were having, listen, I know this is a New Testament word, but they were having a Holy Ghost time. They were shouting. Oh my God. They were shouting. And they were playing music. It talks about trumpets, but they were playing music. They were dancing. They were leaping. And this kind of reminded me what was happening with 30,000 people, young people in the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, because oh, I want you to know, it just absolutely blew my mind. There are four levels. There's four levels to the stadium in Indianapolis. And as we were worshiping, I began to watch as people began to run on the main level on the ground floor. I began to see young people get in a line and kind of like we do around here, they were running that stadium, >> the same stadium that Payton Manning made famous. >> Oh yeah, >> they're running in that stadium. But then I looked up to level 100 and I looked and oh my word, there was a line of students running around level 100. And then I looked up at level 200 and there was a level there was a line of students running along level 200, 300, 400. I couldn't believe it. I was like, "My God, we're dancing. We're shouting. There's four levels of runners running. This reminds me of David bringing the ark into the city of David. Listen, there's nothing new that we're doing today that David didn't start. Woo! There's nothing we're doing today that David didn't start. Right here in this story when he began to teach the people how to worship God. But hold on. I want you to see for yourself. Some of you saw it on social media, but some of you didn't. But I had brother Dale get a clip. I had Dale get a clip of one of the nights. Go ahead and play it. Man, I want you to feel and see what we felt. If you got it, I got it. Let me see. Wave your hand. >> Come on. 30,000. >> You got it. Let me see your feet. I got it. And you got it. Let me see your joy. And if you got it, >> here we go. Just wipe your hands and speak. I got it. I got it for and this is where the Holy Ghost just took over. And I wish I had a longer clip of it, but I wanted you to see what 30,000 people looked like worshiping God and shouting unto God. The Bible says that David, he whirled and twirled until he he couldn't even keep his clothes on. He all he was left with was a garment of worship. He said, "This is who I really am. You see me as a king. You see me as a warrior. You see me as a giant slayer. But I'm a worshiper 30,000. The Bible says that every six paces 1 2 3 4 5 6 they would stop hold 30 >> I don't know how you hold up 30,000 you may be seated I don't know how you hold up 30,000 people except that they must have understood how to worship >> and they must have understood my god oh listen you listen you got to experience if you never experienced It's tens of thousands of people worshiping together. You just got to feel it's is a feeling you've never experienced to hear the sound, the roar of worship. But I just believe they were arm in arm. 1 2 3 4 5 6 stop. Make sacrifice. Praise God. Praise God. For he is good. For he is great. For he is kind. For he's the God who protects Israel. But I want to apologize in advance because I'm about to put a wet blanket on all this because pride, that's what pride does. Pride smothers worship. And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Mel, Saul's daughter, aka David's wife, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. Let me I want to stop here just for a second. I I want to say thank you to our young people. I want to say thank you to our Strong Tower students. I I want to say thank you to to to Jackson Weir tonight because I saw him load up for the highest leap I've ever seen. >> It was like a spring was like, I'm not going to try. I'll get about six inches off the floor. >> I'm pretty sure Jackson's feet were about right here. If he would have had a basketball, he could have dunked it. But you know what? I I don't know if I've ever seen him jump that high on a basketball court that he's willing to jump up here. Give him praise to God. >> Listen, don't don't throw off on these young people. We got the greatest young people in all the world. We got praisers and worshippers. I think Listen, I look to our elders for wisdom. I look to those with gray hair and white hair for the wisdom, but I look to the younger ones for strength and for vigor. I look to the younger ones, show us how to worship. I can't leap like that anymore, but show me what it looks like to get your feet. I want to see how you elevate. Ben Lee, I wish I could run like you can run. I wish I could. My God, I'd probably faint if I came across and came around this sanctuary. But I'm so thankful for you young people who can run, who can shout, who can leap, who can dance, who can sing for hours. Oh, wait, hold on, though. I got to put a wet blanket on it cuz here we go. Here we go. We got we we got a king who had defeated pride in his life. And don't you know if anybody could have had pride, it was David. >> The dude's good-looking. Makes me sick. >> The dude is uber talented. He can write songs. He can play instruments. He gets called out of a sheep pin. This is how good he is. He gets called out of a sheep pin to come into the king's house to entertain the king. He >> He didn't get called out of singing in some stadium to go entertain the king. He got he got called out of some sheep pit. >> Goodlook, talented, could play probably any instrument that you could put in front of him. Guitar, drums, piano, harp. Oh, but then he's he's also a warrior. Yeah, he can also he can also kill things that ought to be killing him. He can also stand up to giants. Got a giant saying, "I'm going to feed your bones, your carcass to the birds." He just looks at him says, "Sticks and stones might break somebody else's bones, but you will never catch me." Come on. The guy had everything. If anybody could have had pride in his heart, if anybody could have said, "Look at me. Look what I've done. Look who I am. Look what I've become." Old Davy boy could have done it. But I'm so thankful that he had killed the spirit of pride. But sad to say, he had a wife that was trying to revive that spirit in his life. Here he is. Here he is leading the people. Here he is. He's excited. Here he is. But here it is. Here's what I come to preach today. And maybe I'm preaching to a young person today. Maybe you just started dating or maybe you're in between boyfriends or girlfriends. I don't know. But David got my out of Saul's house, but he didn't get Saul's house out of Mel. Oh, the Bible says and and there's only one place in the Bible that actually states that a woman loved a man and it says that Michael loved David. Nowhere else. Read your Bible through. There's nowhere else where it says a woman loved a man. It says Michaelel loved David, but she did not love the God of David. And so, young person, what you got to do, listen, I know there's a there's a popular there's a popular, I don't know, cliche that says if it if it looks like a duck, if it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, it's a duck. No, no, no, no, no. That's not true. Because I know people that can look apostolic. >> They know when the choir song gets to going, they know how to do this right here. The ladies, they got their long, beautiful flowing hair. The young men know how to put on a suit. They know how to look apostolic. They know how to talk the talk. >> But just cuz they talk it and they look it doesn't make them apostolic. What you got to figure out is how do they feel about worship and more importantly how do they feel about how you worship your God? >> Because here we have the Bible never calls Mel the wife of David only calls her the daughter of Saul and Saul was carnal. Saul was wicked. Saul Saul was the type of person you didn't want to double cross him. You you didn't want to turn your you didn't want to turn your face away from him. You you Bible or you hear the the statement about you know you have your friends close you keep your enemies closer. Saul was one of those guys you just kind of watched him you kept an eye on him because you couldn't trust him. And here the Bible talks about Michaelel being the daughter of Saul. And I just believe it's because the prophet was not going to name her the wife of David because she was such a hater of worship. He was not going to allow her to have the privilege of being called David's wife. >> When you look when you look through when you read the book of Matthew, you start on chapter one, the very first verse when it starts talking about the uh the the life of Christ and the lineage of Christ and and it starts talking about who he came from. The very first thing it says is he was the son of Abraham and the son of David. Son of Abraham and the son of David. And I'm studying this and don't take this too far. But I began to think to myself, I began to think, you know what, Abraham was promised a son. I don't know. David was also promised a son. And their first sons, think about this right here. The first son of Basheba didn't make it. And the first son Abraham had Ishmael wasn't the one. But I just believe there was a son coming in the New Testament to both Abraham and David. Oh, the son of Abraham and the son of David whose name was Jesus. And oh my hell, because you were a hater of worship. Because you scorned your husband. Because you looked at him and you thought, "Why is he taking off his royal gown? Why is he dancing the way he dances?" Oh, I believe that God shut up her womb. The Bible says she never had a child. But there was a woman, and I know Basheba, some people call her adulteress. I don't know because I got to studying that, too. And in that day, if the king called you, you really didn't have a chance. You didn't have a choice. Uh you did whatever the king says. It didn't have to be conceptual. You did whatever the king said. But here, he brings this woman, another man's wife, and he brings this woman. And now Jesus, when you read the genealogy of Jesus Christ, this woman named Basheba, not like hell, not in the lineage of the kings, but Basheba is the mother. Oh my god. of Solomon and we have the lineage of Jesus Christ. The genealogy comes through Solomon. What I'm here to tell you is young person, you better be careful who you date. You better be careful who you look at. You better be make sure that you know that you know that you know that they're a worshshiper and they love to worship and they appreciate worship. And I'm just going to give you some tips. >> Sometimes you can look at their parents and see if their parents are worshippers. >> Fruit doesn't fall far from the tree at times. Now, I'm not saying we got some young people don't have parents in church and and you're amazing young people and you're you're living for God. But listen, I as a parent, I want to give God glory that's worthy his name. I want, listen, I want my daughters to be able to look at me and say, "That's what it looks like to worship." And any boy that's interested in one of my daughters, I want them to be able to look at me and say, "Hey, if the daddy and the mama know how to worship, I bet the daughter knows how to worship." David could have looked at at Mike's daddy and said, "There ain't no worshiper here. >> I'm going to move on. I just got on thin ice right there." Young people are you're supposed to worship. Come on. What about us older folk? God, help us to understand what we are created to do. God, what you created us for us to do. 2 Samuel 6 and20. Watch this. Then David returned to bless his household. Now, you got to imagine he didn't see his wife in the window. Brother Dean, he didn't see his wife looking out and scorning him. He comes to bless his household. Can you imagine? He's sweating kind of like I'm sweating right now. He's sweated out of everything. He's coming to the house. He's getting ready to bless this household. We're in the city of David. He's like, "This is my city. I've come to bless my own household. We're going to have revival in this household." And he steps in to bless his household with holy expectation. And Michael, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David. Didn't even let him get in the house. came out to meet David and said, "How glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaidens of his servants, and as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncoverth himself." And David said unto Mel, watch this right here. He gets fired up. He says, "It was before the Lord which chose me before thy father, before all thy house, his household, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over all of Israel." He said, "Therefore will I play before the Lord." You all see that right there? It doesn't say, "Will I dance before the Lord?" It doesn't say, "Will I worship?" It says, "Will I play before the Lord?" And this doesn't even mean he played musical instruments. This simply made, he sang, he praised, he worshiped with joy. >> He said, he said, "Your father, while your father was ruling the kingdom, God anointed me to be the next king. >> While the household of Saul was crumbling, he anointed me to be the next king over this placeh." And he said, "Oh my God, if you think that I'm being too loud, you ain't seen nothing yet. If you think that I'm undignified now, you ain't seen nothing yet." He said, "I will yet." The more vile be vile than this, then thus, and will base in mine own sight. This simply means I'll become even more undignified than this. I will be humiliated in my own sight. He said, "You think I've got pride. You think I care what anybody thinks. You care what I think." You Sometimes you just got to look around and if your friend ain't worshiping, that's okay. If your boyfriend ain't worshiping, that's a problem. If your girlfriend ain't worshiping, that's a problem. But you got to look at them and say, "Uh, if you think that I'm being too loud, you ain't seen nothing yet. If you think I'm undignified, my kill, you ain't seen nothing yet. So, I got to hurry. I got to hurry. I got to hurry. I got to hurry. I'm going to be done in about 7 minutes. You may be seated in 7 minutes. I got to be done. I got to be done. But here you go. I'm going to fast forward because he brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it. And Pentecostal worship as we know it was invented when the ark of God was taken out from behind the curtain. And David put it right in the center of the tabernacle that he had pitched for it. He put it into a sanctuary. And this is where we get our Pentecostal worship. Oh God, I pray that we never get too sophisticated to worship our Pentecostal worship. >> I pray that we don't get too dignified to worship the way that we worshiped last Sunday night. I I pray that we don't ever have eldersh who will say, "You know what? I I I'll walk a mile in the mall every day, but I'm not willing to walk around and march around this sanctuary." All right. >> I hope we never get young people that say, "I'm willing to run track and run long distance uh and and sprint. I'm willing to do all those things that competition, but don't you ask me to do it for God. I pray we never get to that place. Uh but I pray that we continue on and I believe we're going to continue on as an apostolic church uh that doesn't just believe in Pentecostal worship, but we believe in Bible worship. What we do in this place every Sunday. What we do in this place every Wednesday. What we do when we come to Strong Tower Youth Camp. What we do when we come to NYC and NAYC and all the different conferences. We are doing Bible worship. This is not something we made up. This didn't come from Isuza Street. This didn't even come from the day of Pentecost. This came all the way back when our very first worship leader said, "This is how I want you to worship." Listen, I believe David, you may be seated. I believe David, he tried everything before he taught it. >> Before he told anybody to leap, before he told anybody to sing, before he told anybody to dance or to shout, he had already done it. He already felt like he already felt what it felt like to be anointed by God. >> This was all done. Not in Moses's tabernacle. This was done in David's tabernacle in the city of Zion. He taught those people how to worship. And I fear I fear I fear that there might come a day when we don't know why we do what we do. I fear especially when we get in the third and fourth and fifth generation apostolic Pentecostals when our kids have this is all they've ever known and they don't know why we do it. Well, you got to get back in your Bible and you got to start reading how David taught 47, Psalm 47:1. He would teach, "Oh, clap your hands uh all ye people and shout unto God uh with the voice of triumph." Uh he taught them how to clap their hands and make a joyful noise unto God and to shout for the victory. In David's tabernacle, Psalm 27:6, "And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me. I will offer in his tentuh sacrifices uh with shouts of joy. I will sing. Yesuh I will sing praises to the Lord. What we're doing today is nothing new. This is Bible. >> Psalm 134 and1 he said behold bless the Lord. All ye servants of the Lord which by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands uh in the sanctuary and bless the Lord. Uh the Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion, out of Jerusalem, out of the city of David. Oh, in Psalm 149 and 3, I like this one. Let them praise his name in the dance. Let them sing praises unto him with a timberal and a harp. Oh, in David's tabernacle, they played musical instruments. In 1h Chronicles 23 and5, it says, "Moreover, 4,000 were porters." That's doorkeepers. That's security. And he said, "4,000 praise the Lord with the instruments which I made," said David to praise therewith. David wanted to make sure that the people learned how to play instruments. You think it might be important for us to have instruments up here? >> 8,000. 8,000. He said, "I want 4,000 at the door. I want to make sure that only the holy come in. Only those that have been purified, that have gone through the the purification process come in. But once they're inside, I need 4,000 of you to be worshippers. And I need you to play musical instruments." Listen, David was a choir director. David was an orchestra conductor. He was a band leader. He was a worshshiper. He anointed singers. 1 Chronicles 9:33. I just want to make sure we understand why we do what we do. And there are singers chief of the fathers of the Levites. These are the singers who remained in the chambers and were free. They had no other job for they were employed in that work day and night. And I know I know this doesn't take place until the New Testament. I know we don't hear about this until the New Testament, but the Bible talks about that the angels are before the Lord. And day and night they cry, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, which is, which was, which is, and which is to come." But I somehow see that David, he saw in his mind's eye, if it could happen in heaven, >> it can happen right down here on earth. Uh if it could happen around the throne above, around this ark, uh around the presence of God, I'm going to have day and night, night and day, I'm going to have worshippers uh that do nothing but sing uh and praise and give glory to God. >> You see, nowhere in your Bible does it say that the angels in heaven sing. The Bible only records that they cry because I believe that Lucifer and his choir of angels, I I believe a third of the angels, that was the choir. They were the singers. They were the singing angels. But I got news for you, and you know this already. They're no longer in heaven. They were cast out of heaven. So now we have twothirds of the angels. And all they can do is cry, "Holy, holy, holy." But David, the man after God's own heart, uh, he employed worshippers. Uh, in his tabernacle, that day and night, uh, he had a first shift, a second shift, a graveyard shift of worship. >> They would just come, I believe, in joy. They would high five on the way out as the other ones are coming in. They would say, "Woo! We've been worshiping for the last eight hours. You're up to bat. Come on in. Let the worship continue." And round the clock, day and night, uh, in the tabernacle of David, there were worshippers. Uh, let me tell you something. The reason why we worship has nothing to do with music genres. It has nothing to do with favorite music styles. Fast or slow, it doesn't matter. We worship the way we worship. Uh, because that's what we are created to do. Uh, we just do it naturally. Uh, it's who we are in our natural state. Uh, when we're worshiping, we're in our natural state. Uh the only people that look awkward in a Pentecostal church are people that don't know how to worship or refuse to worship. They're the only ones that look awkward. When you look over the choir, the only ones that look awkward are the ones that aren't singing and the ones that aren't worshiping because everybody else uh is in the natural state that they were created to be in. We worship you. We worship you in lips of adoration as a company of praise. We bless your name. I feel the Holy Ghost in this place. Uh we were created to worship him. We were created We were created to be worshippers. Just remain standing with me. David fulfilled all God's will. He discovered what true worship was. He he figured out what man was created to do. Uh up until that point, they had altars where they would worship. They had altars where they would sacrifice. They had altars uh coming off the ark. Uh know and his family that built an altar. They would worship God. But I'm talking about the worship that we have right here at First Apostolic Church. Uh this is when it all began when David, he just understood. Psalm 122 says, "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord." It's a place of relationship. This is not a place of religion. It's not a place of ritual. It's a place of relationship. Psalm 27:4 says, "One thing uh have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life." But here, here is where my title comes in. Because the more I began to study and the more I began to think about this, we're mortal. We think of worship on earth and we should. But when God thinks of worship, he thinks of eternity. I used to preach a message called created for worshiper. But oh, I got to thinking the McGruters, the late Mcruters, Karen Priscilla McGrder, some of my favorite singers, songwriters, they used to sing a song, I'm just warming up. I'm just warming up. I'm just warming up for that meeting in the sky. Right. Right. Right. If you think I'm strange, don't wait around for me to change cuz I'm just warming up. Yeah. I'm just warming up. Old big stand will say, "Yeah, I'm just warming up when I reach the other side." Brother Hammond, I got to thinking about that. all we're doing here. Listen, I know it's like David said, I will play before the Lord. This is fun. What we did last week at NYC, what we did last Sunday here in the church. Listen, this is fun. This is We're playing before the Lord. But, Brother Ben, there's coming a day when everything I've learned to do down here, I'm going to take up there. And where Lucifer and a third of the angels got pride in their hearts and they could not worship God any longer. There's coming a day when I'm going to step in and I'm going to step through those pearly gates and I'm going to say, "Lord, I'm here. The worshipper has arrived. I'm here to praise you. What Lucifer couldn't do, I've come to do what a third of the angels couldn't do. we've come to do. Yeah. When I reach those pearly gates and they swing open wide, I'm going to shout for joy cuz I've reached the other side. All my pain and sorrow up there I shall forget. If you think I shout down here, you ain't seen nothing yet. I'm just warming up. I'm just warm. I'm just warming up in the sky. >> So if you think I'm strange, don't you wear it for me to change. >> I'm just falling for the other side. >> And I know I know I know we talk about and sing about all the pain and sorrow is going to be gone. know and thank God it's going to be I know we sing songs and verses about meeting our loved ones over there and thank God we're going to meet him again over there. But if we could ever get the revelation that David got. David wasn't teaching his people to worship so they could just be good worshippers here on earth. He was teaching them how to worship so they could be worshippers for eternity. They were created for eternity. We as mankind were created for eternity. Now listen, I'm not trying to duplicate what we did last Sunday night. God forbid that we dance and shout two Sundays in a row. It might be too much. But I just got news for you. If you don't enjoy it here, if you're looking at me and saying, "Oh, please, Brother Ericson, are you expecting me to pick up one foot and then put up another foot? Pick it up. Pick it up. Pick it up. Pick it up." Are you expecting me to leap like Jackson left? Are you expecting Surely you don't expect me to run the aisles like Ben Leap? Eternity is going to be a long time. But that's not the church that I pastor in this place because I believe this church is a shouting church. This church is a tongue-talking church. Not only a holiness church, uh, not only a Jesus name church, but this church is a worshshiping church because we understand what we are created to do. We understand. So what does that mean? I'll tell you what it means. Sadly, kind of like the angels, we got about a third of us that get it. I'm I'm I'm being sweet. I'm I promise you I'm being sweet. Cuz some of y'all just up here going, "He's just up here cheerleading." Yes, I am because I want to be like David. And David was the ultimate cheerleader. Oh, all they do is get up. Those worship leaders, they tell us to lift up our hands. Oh my goodness. If he tells me to lift up my hands one more time, well, if we would just lift up our hands and the worship leader wouldn't have to say, "Wo, if when the Holy Ghost began to fall, if we just threw our head back, no one would have to tell us to throw our head back." If when we started feeling something inside of us like fire shut up in our bones, if we just begin to move our bodies a little bit. Come on. Come on. I want to feel natural. I want to feel natural in eternity. I want to be comfortable. I want to go somewhere. When I'm there, I say, "Hey, this is what I did on earth. This is what I did for 80 years. This is what I did in Marville, Tennessee. I learned how to worship. I learned how to praise. I learned how to give God glory." Go ahead and sing this song. I'm done. Let's just worship him for a little while. Come on. We are created for eternity. We are created for eternity. We are created for eternity. All of my fear I will turn into praise. Shrink off despair as I sing out your name. A victory. I will test out in faith. I will crush disappointment and break every chain. My fear I will turn it will turn into praise as I sing out victory. I will crush disappointment and break my fear. I will turn it on. I will break every break every day. I will let down. I will break every break every break. Break everything. Break everything. Every break everything. I don't care what you say. I don't care what I look like. I don't care if I see my mercy. I see you leave for you got it. Let me see you clap your hand. I got it. And if you got it, I got it. Let me see you. I got it. And if you got it, I got it. Let me see your waiver. I got heat. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. Oh, I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. Oh, you got it. I got it. Oh, let me see you clap your hands. And if you got it, let me see you stomp your feet. If you got it feeling for joy got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got to praise her. I got to praise and I got to let it out. I got a praise. Say now I got to I got to praise and I got to let it out. I got a praise. >> I got a praise. I got to praise. I got to praise. >> Now listen, listen, listen, listen. When we begin to praise God and do what we were created to do, there are some things that just happen naturally. There's some things in this place take place like healing, signs, and wonders. And it's very simple. It's because we get the attention of God because he looks down at 1331 William Blood Drive in the city of Maraba. What is a little speck on the map? But God begins to see 500 worshippers, 500 praisers, and he starts to say, "What can I do for you? You're blessing me. What can I do for you? I see more healing take place." Listen, last week at NYC, I saw more healing take place. There are more recorded miracles during that event last week than I've heard of in the United States of America ever. But it didn't start with healing. It started with worship. And when those kids started getting a hold of God, people started getting the Holy Ghost. They started putting people down in Jesus name in the baptistry. And then people started getting healed of sicknesses and healed of diseases. I wish you would praise God. Not because you're going to receive something from him, but because somebody next to you might need a blessing. Somebody next to you might need a healing. And your worship could call the attention now of a healer. If you've been through what I've been through, then you would be praising to say you been through. If you been through you been through what I've been through and you praise me through what I So praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. >> Praise him. >> Praise him in the morning. Praise him all day long. >> Praise him. >> Hold on. I'm going to be just as honest and transparent as I can be right here. About a year ago, we had a service like this and I was trying to dance and I was about 30 lbs overweight. And I repented to God. I said, "God, I'm sorry." I said, "I want to dance, but I can't." And just as plain, he spoke to my heart. I felt like he said, "Well, why not?" I I don't know. Listen, God may not speak to you like he speaks to me. He said, "Lose weight. If you wait too much to play raetball, pickle ball, basketball, that ain't going to kill you. >> But if I weigh too much to worship, >> I got problems. So I just said, "God, I need you to help me. Help me find a way. I'm going to lose this weight because when the dancers start dancing, when the leapers start leaping, I'm not lost enough yet to be proud of it, but at least I can keep up with the dancers. I may not be able to run with them, but I can keep up with the dancers." And when I think about Jesus and what he's done for me. When I think about what Jesus and how he set me free. >> When I think and when I think about Jesus, what I think about Jesus, how I can dance, dance, dance, dance, dance all night. All night. All night. All night. >> All night. All night. >> All night. >> All night. >> All night. All night. All night. >> Listen. Listen. So, so, so I remember when I was a teenager, CUCA College, New York State Youth Camp. I remember, Brother Cole, the first time, now I sweat through my shirt. I'm not ashamed. Whatever. Come on. >> I remember the first time I felt comfortable doing this >> because up until that point, I just felt it's kind of like one of these like somebody's going to see me. Somebody's going to see me lifting my hands. It's kind of like this right here. I see some of our young people doing it. Kind of this little halfway almost surrender. Not quite. But let me tell you something. There's nothing that feels better than this. >> Come on, you ought to try it. It feels good. Come on. It feels good. I surrender. I surrender. I surrender. I think it was the same year that I learned how to do the Pentecostal dance. You say, "Well, learning how to do the Pentecostal dance." Well, easy. We learn parts in choir, it's okay. In some worship, it's okay to kind of learn how to do it, right? Because up to that point, I call with a I call the dance of the redeemed. And you're just like, >> you don't know what to do, right? You see, you know, just don't know what to your arms and legs going all different directions. I remember when I learned how to do it. Don't judge me, but I played before the Lord. I said, this ought to be fun. If this is not fun for you, you're going to hate >> heaven. If you're standing here and just going, "Oh, God. Oh, dear Lord. Come on, let's have some fun. >> David told his wife, he said, >> "If you think you talking about taking my royal robe off in front of the the maidens, just cuz your daddy never did it." David said, "Just cuz your daddy never did it means I'm going to do it." Your daddy never wore a linen ephod. He never wore a worshshiping garment. He He didn't He didn't care about Levites. David said, "That's what I'm all about. I'm a worshshiper." And he just learned how to dance. He just Now, I know when he danced for the ark, he did some crazy twirling and he did some stuff that his his royal robe come flying off. But sometimes if you'll just learn, if you'll just learn how to just woo, you got to let loose in the presence of God. You got to be able to say, "Hey, it feels good. I need a beat. I need a beat. I need a beat. I need a beat. Give me a beat. Somebody give me a beat. I just need a beat. I need a dancing beat." There it is. Hey, come on. This feels good. Come on. This There we go. Here we go. I'm not telling you. I'm not I'm not teaching you how. I'm just simply saying this ought to feel natural. We're going to be doing this for eternity. in your mind's eye. You got to get in the presence of God. You got to get the throne of God in one seated on the throne. He's the one that died. He's the one who shed his blood. He's the one that sacrificed his life. He's the God that wrote himself in flesh and dwells among us. He's a prince of peace. He's a lord of lords. Yet he's a mighty morning star. He's the lily of the valley. He's the first of the valley. I was created for eternity. I was created for eternity. The devil me again. He thought I was there. Heat. Heat. Happy I was there I would give up and never again he thought I was dead. Heat. Heat. People that are looking good. You got it. Let me see a song. I got it. You got it. Let me see you wake up there. I got it. You got it. I got it. Let me see for joy. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. Do you have it? Do you have it? I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I and roll back Jordan red and fall down Jericho. You can't stop me and roll back Jordan fall down Jericho. You can't stop me. Oh my. Oh, you can't stop me. Oh my god. My God is bigger. My God is gater. You can't stop me. You can't stop me again. You can't stop me. Me. on. Cuz I can feel it shaking. I can see it, baby. I can hear it breaking right now. Right now. I can feel it shaking. I can feel it breaking. I can feel it, baby. Right now. Right now. >> Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. Right now. fail. My God made everything that the devil tried. God made it. God made it. My God made everything that the devil. God made it. God made it. >> God made it. God made it. I made it. God made it. I made it. God made it. I made it. The enemy is trying. Somebody shout. Would somebody shout? Would somebody shout? Would you lift up your voice? Would somebody shout in this house tonight? Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. >> Presence of the Lord is here. >> Heard a statement this week. I'll leave you with this tonight. We've heard from the word of the Lord. said that pride can turn heaven into hell. >> Pride can take paradise, the Garden of Eden, and turn it into a place that you can't have anymore. >> You can be in a place like this, and pride can keep you from experiencing what everybody else has experienced around you. >> Some of the strongest moves of God that I've ever been a part of in my life come after a moment like this. Why? Because you just got your pride out of the way. >> If you're willing to look foolish, >> it's one of the greatest altars you can ever experience. You can come down and pray a polished prayer and sometimes you can say things you really don't mean. But if you got to actually pick your feet up and you got to actually loosen up your coat a little bit, you got to actually get out of your comfort zone a little bit, then all of a sudden when you get done getting your pride out of the way, the Holy Ghost can fall. The Holy healing can fall. If somebody lift your hands up right now in the name of Jesus, you could be changed in this place tonight. You could be healed in this place tonight. You can Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Turn around and grab a hand of somebody next to you for just another moment. I wish you'd pray with some ferveny right now. Lord, we bind everything that needs to be bound. Lord, we loose everything that needs to be loosed in the name of Jesus. We ask your scripture says, anything, Lord, we pray the will of your perfect will, the will that you have for us, let it take place in this room right now. Not by my might, not by my power, not by anything I could say or do, not by anything that man could boast about, but my pride's out of the way. Let the glory of God fall in this room right now. Let the glory of God fall in this room right now. Bitterness has to go. Discontentment has to go. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank God for his presence in this place tonight. >> I I know some of you are thinking, man, we just did this last week. Brother Ericson just talked about it. It's like, hey, you preach one of those conviction weeping prayers. you know, let's keep this thing shifting back and forth. You know, this has to become normal. You with me? Say, well, I'm tired. God is no respector of persons, but he's respector of principles. Amen. >> If you're with me tonight, there's principles that if we don't participate in, it makes us feel like that God is respecting a person. Not. So, he's no respector of person. He's a respector of principles. There's a principle in the Bible at the altar at so many different times where he wants to make an a kingdom exchange with you and I. God can do that a few different ways. It can be preached about. It can be talked about. It can be done in weeping. It can be done in dancing. It can be done a lot of ways. But there is an exchange. And brother Ericson talked about it tonight. We must make sure that there's never a Sunday that goes by where we're not given an opportunity to take off the garment of heaviness and put on the garment of praise. David knew about it cuz he wrote about it. He It fell off of him. That that fell off of him. And it says that linen ephod was there, right? He made an exchange. And so he writes about it.