Sunday Morning Worship | Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing
by Chad Erickson
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: 1 John 1:5, James 1:17, John 1:4-5, 2 Corinthians 11:14, John 1:1, John 1:14, Mark 1:24, 2 Corinthians 11:15, 2 Corinthians 11:4, Galatians 1:6, Acts 8, Acts 16, 2 Thessalonians 2:9, 2 Timothy 3:8

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/chad-erickson--sunday-morning-worship
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
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Turn in your Bible with me to First John 1 verse 5. And while you're turning there, do we get a picture? We got a we got a brand new I my wife and I got to go meet this brand new beautiful Listen, a star was born last week. Y'all realize that? A star was born. This is Adelaide Rose Star. Born May 9th, 8 lb 10 ounces. We've been praying for her this week. She's out of the hospital. She's home doing well. Mama's doing well. Oh, we're so thankful. We're so thankful. Amen. To add brand new uh members to this family. And I I tell you, this is one of the best ways to do it right here. Seth and Emma, we're so proud of you. Amen. We got Sister Barry. We got a new grandmother in the house. And just we got a lot of aunts and uncles. A lot of aunts and uncles, cousins on both sides. Oh my goodness. And we're just so thankful. So thankful for the star, baby. I'll tell you, if you can't be successful with that last thing, you just can't be successful. My goodness, that kid's got a bright future. First John 1:5, y'all got that. I'm proud of you. Speaking of, Bible says, "This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. James 1:17. You might not be able to get there, but it'll be on the screen. Bible says, "Every good gift, every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights. With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." John 1:4, in him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. We're talking about the light. Talking about the light says God, it say God is a light. What does it say? God is the light. Okay. But then we have 2 Corinthians 11:14 says, "And no wonder for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light." Satan is the master counterfeitter. Satan is not a creator. All he can do, he he's not an originator of of of anything. All he can do is give cheap forms of imitation because God's already made all things good. So all he can do is come behind God, come behind the creator and try to replicate the goodness of God. It talks about he can he can transform himself into a angel of light. His goal is to deceive the people of God, God's people, with convincing forgeries, or as the youngsters would say, convincing dupes. To us older people, that means duplicates. Dupes. Back in 1986, Burger King ran a me memorable commercial for their their their new chicken tenders. I wonder sometimes they should have probably just stuck to burgers, but they they they went to chicken tenders. They used a classic Bowtown hit, Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing. Y'all remember that one? Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby. Ain't nothing like the real thing. We're going to leave the baby out. I just want to preach this morning. There ain't nothing like the real thing. Are you thinking you know the real thing? Come on. His name is Jesus Christ. Come on. He loves us. He wants to be a part of us. He wants to live inside of us. Oh, let us just give him praise in this place today before we're seated. Lord, we bless your name. But I just believe, Lord, if we can ever experience what's real, we'll never want to have anything that's counterfeit, that's fake, that's a duplicate of what you are. But God, help us, Lord God, to recognize you, Lord, to give you honor, to give you glory, to give you what's due, your name, which is praise and honor and worship. And Lord, I just believe today in the church, if we can realize and recognize you, Lord, there'll be no room for anything else in our lives. I pray this all in Jesus name. Come on, somebody clap your hands. I feel the Lord in this place already. I feel he wants to do something great in this place already. Ain't nothing like the real thing. You may be seated in the house. Man, looking around, it's so good. So good to have so many guests. Pastor Hammond already said it. It's graduation Sunday. We're looking forward to celebrating all of our graduates, all of our seniors, getting out of this place and going on to do great things in their life. And we're we're we're we're happy for you. We're looking forward to seeing what God has for you. And we're glad that your guests are in the house today. But if you want to see the clearest picture in all of history of the real thing showing up and make every counterfeit obvious, we can look no further than the moment that God himself stepped into our world. >> The Bible says in John 1:1, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God." Verse 14 makes it clear in the word was made flesh and dwelt or lived among us and we beheld we experience humanity experienced his glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth. And for thousands of years before Jesus was born, humanity had been chasing all kinds of spiritual shadows. We had pagan nations carving idols out of wood and stone. Gods who were nothing more than exaggerated human flaws. And when I say exaggerated human flaws, every mishap, every sin that man committed, he would make an idol for that sin. If he had sexual addiction, why? Well, he would come up with an idol to celebrate sexual addiction. Everything, every kind of sin that man in the Old Testament, if man had sinned, they found a way to justify it through idols and through false gods. Jealousy, hatred, vengeance. They were all powerless because they were not the God. Even the Jewish religious leaders in the New Testament had turned the beautiful law of Moses into this heavy man-made system of rules, regulations, rituals, and traditions that brought bondage instead of freedom. Let me tell you something. Man can mess anything up. >> Come on. What is pure? We we look back. I could take you back to the very first book of the Bible, the very first chapter, and man can mess up what is perfect. You get us, you give us just a little bit of time, we can mess some things up bad. >> My goodness, with God gave him a wife and the very next story in the Bible is is her eating of the fruit. >> And I'm not blaming women on that. I'm blaming Adam. Adam heard from God. Adam was given the word of God and he didn't give it to his wife like you should have. So I'm not blaming women for that. I'm just saying we mess things up quick. The very next generation we're introduced to our first murderer. I mean come on. We couldn't wait four or five generations to have a murder. We had to have it in the children of of the very first man and woman of the Bible. I'm just simply saying God gave us perfection and we found a way to mess it up because that's just what mankind does. Because without the power of God in our life, we're going to mess things up. But then in the fullness of time, the real thing, the real one arrived. The word became flesh and and dwelt among us. Jesus Christ, fully God, yet fully man, walked onto the stage of human history. And he didn't come to imitate light. He came as the light for the darkness could not overcome it. He didn't come to copy power. He was the power. He made the demons cower and he made sickness flee. Woo. He didn't come to pretend to be holy. He was the holiness of God in human form. Every time the authentic Jesus showed up, the counterfeits were forced into the open and exposed for the liars that they were. You know the story when he walked into the temple, the religious leaders hypocrisy was laid bare. Their long prayers uh in their loud impressive prayers in their impressive robes suddenly looked hollow next to the pure authority of the son of God. When he spoke the storm, the wind and the waves had no excuse or they had no right but they had to obey him instantly. There was no false gods or magicians that could ever accomplish uh what God could accomplish with one spoken word out of his mouth. There was no demon that ever bowed down or respected any other rabbi or prophet. They cried in terror in Mark 1:24. They said, "What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? You are the holy one of God." Even the spiritual realm would not mess with him. They said he is the real thing. They understood he was the real thing. Even those that hated them had to admit, "Never has a man spoken like this." The cross itself is the ultimate exposure the devil thought he had won by killing the flesh, by killing the real one. But 3 days later, the tomb is empty. And this phony system of sin, death, and religion is shattered forever. >> Can somebody say amen? >> The resurrection didn't just prove that Jesus was alive. It proved that everything that the enemy had offered throughout all of history was nothing but a lie. And this is why the in incarnation is the greatest example in all of scripture of the real showing up and making every imitation obvious. Because when the authentic appears, the phony cannot hide. I said when the authentic shows himself, everything else that's fake becomes obvious. Brother Holden, I need your help. Hey, brother Holden, bring me a bring me an authentic. You don't have to tell me which is which. I can feel it. An authentic and a counterfeit. Now, I'm just going to be honest with you. This is the first time I've ever held an authentic Louis Vuitton in my hand. But I'm telling you right now, I can feel the difference. It has nothing to do with weight. It has to do with quality. Because a matter of fact, I can't really differentiate the weight between these two purses. But this one right here, this Louis Vuitton and this Louis Vuitton, I don't know, maybe I don't know if I'm even close enough to you to tell, but right away I I noticed that the zippers are nothing alike. On this one over here, I see a cheap zipper. One that was probably zipped on in some sweat factory somewhere sewn into this imitation leather that they've somehow dyed the exact same color as this authentic Louis Vuitton. I can look I can look at the chains of these Louis Vuitton and I could tell, oh yeah, that's a heavy chain right there. this one right here. This I don't know. This is something you get at the dollar store. And then I I began to look closer and I thought, the quality of this purse, I see no flaws. I I see no rips and no tears. But I see this one right here. I see where this is already tearing off, y'all. They got yellow stitching. Now, you can't see that yellow stitching on this side, but now that it's torn, it's just just a cheap yellow stitch that's trying to hold on this strap. I'm just telling you, whenever the authentic is presented, now I'm I'm going to be honest with you. Before I had both of these in my hand, if you would have handed me this one right here, I don't know if I could have told you 100% if this was authentic or this was a fraud. if this was authentic or this was cheap. But once you experience the real, once you are once you once you exp once you feel once you know once you've been in the presence of something that is truly real. Everything else that comes in I don't care how much it looks like it. I don't care how much it resembles it. It could have the same colors, the same ink. It can have the very same. It has the same little name plates on it. Even has the same Oh, they've done so good to try to replicate the real. But it's not real. It's fake. It's going to rip. It's going to tear. Things are going to fall off. It's going to fade. I just so happen to know, listen, when I was in Bible school, we we would tour up in upstate New York and we would go to New York City and we would we would sing in Brooklyn. We would sing in some of our churches in Brooklyn and we would go we would go to Chinatown and let me tell you something. This was back this was back before they they they caught them. This was this was back when it was openly where they would sell black market if you will. They they would sell all these what I would consider as awesome purses and awesome Tag Huer watches and and man Rolex watches that didn't well they're roll they're Rolex watches that ticked. That that was the only re that was the only way you could tell the difference be besides that they would turn your your your wrist yellow. Other than that, you couldn't tell the difference between a a fake and a real Rolex except for the ticking that these fake watches would do around the watch face. But once you start handling the real, you realize that those stores, those shelves filled with purses that looked like this one were not this one. Because you could buy two for $80. I promise you, you can't get a Louis Vuitton for anywhere near $80. Uh maybe probably not even $800. I don't even know. But this is what I know. When you've got the real thing, there's a worth that you cannot duplicate. You cannot duplicate the worth of the real thing, the authentic, the thing that's real, the real leather. All of this cannot be duplicated. It can be copied. Oh yes, it can. There could be all kinds of counterfeits, but you cannot duplicate what is real. >> And so my whole point today, and I I'm going to preach for just a few more minutes, but my whole point today is this. If we could ever get people into the genuine presence of God, if they can ever really feel what the Holy Ghost feels like, why we try to get people in the house, it's not so we can have a number. It's not so we can tweet about how many are in Sunday school this morning. is so we can get people in the presence of a God that can change them because they've experienced so many things. They've experienced so many experiences where people try to tell them, "I've got what you need. I've got the hope that you're looking for when there is no hope outside of Jesus Christ and him crucified." >> If you know it to be true, clap your hands in this place today. If you know you serve the real thing and there cannot be a substitute >> for the real thing. >> Scripture shows this pattern repeatedly as a devil devil has a counterfeit for nearly every good thing that God offers. I already said it. I already read the scripture in 2 Corinthians 11:14 where it says Satan appears as an angel of light. In 2 Corinthians 11:15, the Bible says, "False apostles disguise themselves as servants of righteousness." In 2 Corinthians 11:4, in Galatians 1:6, Paul warns of another Jesus. You remember this? He warns of another Jesus, of another spirit, of another gospel. In Acts chapter 8, Simon the sorcerer, he tries to purchase the power of the Holy Ghost. Even a spirit of divination is given to a slave girl. Thank Revelation pro for prophet in Acts chapter 16. Let me tell you something. All throughout the word of God, if you're looking for something beside the real thing, or you've never experienced it and you don't know enough about it, you're going to get confused by the fake, by the fraud, by the counterfeit. Boy, even in 2 Thessalonians 2:9, in the last days, the Antichrist and false prophet will perform lying signs and wonders. We we talk about signs and wonders. Well, let me tell you something. They're not going to be the only signs and wonders that are performed in the last day. There will be lying signs and wonders, fraudulent signs and wonders. But as a church of today and as individual believers, we must stay alert to the imitations that are especially prevalent in our time and in our day. I got to hear our our seniors as they gave their senior testimonies on Friday. And I cannot tell you how proud I am of them and what they've accomplished graduate from Apostolic Christian Academy tonight. We're going to celebrate them. We're going to we're going to celebrate them big. And I got to go and and attend some of their graduation parties this last couple days. And oh, I'm just I cannot tell you something inside of me, my heart my heart is just overwhelmed with with godly pride for our students who are who are now becoming adults and who are now on their way to universities and colleges and and oh real life. Come on, some of you adults, you know what I'm talking about. You you think you're you're an adult until you become an adult. And once you're an adult, then you're like, "Okay, this is what an adult feels like. I just thought I knew what an adult felt like. You might be adult teen, but you're not quite there yet. Might be an adultish, but but but you're getting there. You're getting there. But there's some serious warnings and and the enemy has traps ready for our senior class, for our graduating class. You you got some traps that are already set out before you that he's he's going to look to trap you and trip you up. and he oh he's looking he's looking for a way to get you and contain you and to pull you out of the church and and the world will tell you that real freedom means throwing off all restraints. It it means partying and casual relationships and experimenting lifestyles. And there's a there's a new term called living your truth. It's not about truth. It's in here. is about discovering what your truth is and living what you consider truth to be. And that's what's being pedled to us in our colleges, in our universities. I want you to know a lot of these crazy mindsets, these these things that we'll we'll we'll watch the news and we'll see people holding up signs and people rallying and and rioting about stuff, most of that begins in our universities because we're raising up. And what's so scary is as adults, we can say, "Yeah, it's just a bunch of university students. Oh, who cares? It's a bunch of universities. Well, I got news for you. In 10 years, they won't be university students, >> but they're still being raised up and trained under these crazy philosophies and these ideologies. And I want you to know today, it might look exciting on social media, but it's just a cheap counterfeit. It's a cheap imitation. Many students walk on a campus as they're they're chasing this freak fake freedom only to end up in bondage and and end up with anxiety and addictions >> and a life filled with regrets. I've se I've seen too many of our young people graduate from our high school and go off to university and we never see them again. Young people that I would have never guessed or never dreamed that they would not return to this house. You say, "How in the world could they go to an to an apostolic academy most of their lives and then and then just decide they're done?" It's very simple. They never fell in love with the authentic. >> They never fell in love with the real thing. >> They they were just a fake. They they knew they they they saw the worship in chapel and they they they they figured out how to lift up their hands. They figured out how to clap their hands. They they even f they figured out during the choir song when they Oh, right. Here we get to the bridge. Woo. Dance like he did it. Okay. I could dance a shout like he did it. And they figured out how to look like they're worshiping and and act like they're worshiping, but they never truly understood the authenticity of worship, >> why we do what we do. There's a purpose. There's a reason. But I'm afraid that we have students. And I I pray it's none here. Maybe it's those that are watching online. I don't know. I don't I definitely don't want to say that any of our young people are going to go down this route, but I'm just here to give warning. I'm not your commencement speaker, Pastor Nolan. He's going to he's going to give you words of wisdom, but true fe freedom isn't found in a dimly lit dorm room doing God knows what. It's found right here in the house of God. Freedom is found right here. Whom the sun sets free is free indeed. There's nobody that can give liberty. There's nobody that can give freedom except the son of God. Because the son of God, he was robed in flesh. He dwelt among us. Uh he shed his blood. He died on a cross just so you and I could be redeemed. Just so you and I could be set free. Just so the bondage of sin could be broken off our lives. And freedom is in the house. Uh if you believe it's in the house, why don't you just give God praise for a moment? If you believe you're here because you've experienced liberty, God, we bless your name and we thank you for liberty. You're going to be tempted to build your worth on your grades and on career success, on likes and shares and follows uh and people commenting on how you look uh and what you're doing. The pressure to find yourself uh apart from God is so intense right now. This is a phony identity that's going to collapse the first fail. The first time you get rejected, listen, all of those things right there. If you go by the way people like you and love you, then you're also going to fall when they start disliking you and they start making hateful comments on your post. The very same thing that gave you a high is going to give you a low. Because if you find all of your selfworth in your friends, in your classmates, and on social media, you're always going to fall every time they pull you down. But if you put your trust in God, if you Oh my God, my value, my identity, everything I am is in Christ Jesus. And because of that, it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks of me. It doesn't matter if you don't like the way I dress. It doesn't matter if you don't like the way I separate myself from the world. I still have a God who loves me and cares for me. And I'm a one God, apostolic, Pentecostal, waterbaptized in Jesus name, Holy Ghost fililled, tongue-talking apostolic. And you better know who you are before you leave this graduation service tonight. You got to know your identity. You got to understand your purpose and your plan. God loves you, but he wants you in his presence. He wants to build the real thing in your life. >> You're going to be told, here's a here's a new term I hear. You're going to be told that your real tribe is found in parties and clubs and it's found in your dorm, friends. They'll accept anything. And that's why that's why it's a good feeling to have people around you that that will never contradict anything that you do or say, >> but those are the very people that are going to pull you down. Those are the very people you you got to be around your brothers and sist you got to be around elders in your life and have mentors in your life that'll tell you when you do right and when you do wrong. >> We're going to build you up when you do something good. And we're going to tell you, listen, you got to fix these things. We're not we're not going to tear you down, but we're going to tell you, oh, you got to fix these things in your life because if you don't, you're going to live for the fake and you're never going to be able to experience the real thing. It's shallow. It's counterfeit to feel like you got to belong to a society. Real community is our family. It's the family of God. Oh, just speak truth. Listen, I've got three daughters. I want you, all my elders in this house. I want you to speak truth to them. >> All right? >> The last thing I want is a bunch of young people that think they're living right and they're not. >> And I've seen that happen. And I I've witnessed churches who whose leadership disallowed their young people to live any old way they wanted to. And they were never corrected. They were never set straight. And so therefore, they never experienced authenticity. >> Y'all hear me? They never experienced it because they were never told the difference. And that's why the church family is so important. That's why I believe it takes the church to disciple people >> more than just one person. There's no one person in this in this house that can say, "This is my disciple. I disciple them. They're on the pier because of me. Oh no. When you bring them into this house, we all become disciplemakers. We all got to help the next generation. We all got to help the new convert to understand who they are and what they are and what God has designed the purpose of them for. >> Help me, my daughters. Help us. Come on. We got to help. We got to help each other raise our children. >> There's nothing wrong with that. I don't listen. I don't need the government to tell me how to raise my children. I don't need Washington to tell me how. I don't need I don't need Nashville to tell me how to raise them. >> But God, I need a church that's on fire for God that every time my kids come into this house, they experience what real is. >> They they experience what wholeness is. What it feels like to be a part of a people who know what freedom is really all about. >> Authentic church. I want to be the authentic church. This culture screams that success means money, status, and the perfect job. Oh, and the perfect life by the time you're 25. And every adults laughing right now. Every teenager's like, "That sounds good." And every adult, man, I'm 50. I I'm twice that. Still trying to figure stuff out in my life. Come on. You can't Don't Don't Don't Don't do that to yourself. Don't get into a place where you think you got to make a certain amount of money in order to be successful. God help us. God, I just believe we preached about this not long ago, but if we're just good stewards of what is God's, we're going to be blessed. >> God's going to open doors. Oh, yeah. God's going to open doors. God God's going to reveal stuff to us. You You say, "Oh, is this a get-rich religion?" Oh, no. It's not a get-rich religion. It's just a get blessed religion. >> Listen, I can't I can't help that being in the presence of the real thing >> causes me to be favored by the real thing. >> I I can't help that you can't help that. I'm looking out at successful people today. And it's not because you looking you're looking for a lifestyle of success. It's not like it's not because you you you've ripped everybody else around you down so that you could go up the ladder. It's not about that. It's because we simply are in the presence of the real thing. And being in the presence of the real thing truly shows us our true identity. And when we see our true identity, now all of a sudden he can do through us what he wants to do through us. And in doing so, success just happens. >> He leads me, I will follow. He's a lamp into my feet. He's a light into my pathway. You just stay in his presence. You You just follow. You follow the path he gives for you and you will be successful. And I'm not saying you're going to be a multi-millionaire, but I don't know what success looks like for you, but success for me is being in the presence of the real thing. >> It's just simply saying on a Sunday, I can be in the presence of the real thing. >> Real success is hearing Jesus say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." A bank teller once shared an important principle with me. They said, "The best way to recognize a counterfeit bill is by thoroughly handling the real." They don't pass out Xerox paper for the tellers to feel to see this is this is this is fake. This is counterfeit. No, no, no. They say, "Put this $100 bill in your hand and just begin to rub with your forefinger and with your thumb and feel the consistency of the bill. Feel there's a watermark there. There's something that shines there. There's I was I was I was beginning to research and didn't finish it, but but there are there are so many different ways that a banker can tell if a bill is real or counterfeit. stuff that I've never thought about. I'll be honest with you, I don't get a chance to handle too many $100 bills. I don't I I know it's my generation. My generation is the digital generation. We just don't I see these guys these guys, this older generations, they'll pull out like a wide $100 bills in a in a in a in a they'll pull off the rubber band and start flipping through all these $100 bills. I'm like, that's awesome. But my wife would never let me do that. >> I'm telling you, brother Abear, my wife does not let me carry cash. And I'll tell you why. I don't respect paper cash like I do digital cash. I don't. Most people are opposite that. I don't. And when I say that, it's not a bad It's not a bad thing. My wife thinks it is sometimes. It's not a bad thing. But I'll just I got a couple hundred dollar bills for my birthday and I went down to a conference and saw a whole missionary. I'm just like, "Oh, I got $100 bill." Saw an evangelist. I was like, "Oh, I got another $100 bill." And my wife's like, "Hey, um, you got those $200 bills?" I'm like, "Oh, I just," and again, it's not, "Brother Navy, it's not a bad thing. I just I got a hole in my pocket. I just don't keep $100 bills." But anybody like those guys with the bands of hundreds when you feel that any bank teller when that comes in their window and they start going through those hundreds they know something different here something's weird here something's odd here what what is it what what is it that I feel something there's something phony something fake and they feel it immediately well I'm drawn to a close by I just want to reference just just a couple ways that The devil has a way of putting things on our life that look and seem so real but are just not real. Matter of fact, you remember the stories even the Old Testament. I'm going to quickly hit these. I wanted to read about this, but we're just going to quickly hit this. There was brothers. They were they were Pharaoh's magicians. These were the modern-day Las Vegas magicians. I'm talking about Is it Sigman and Roy? I don't even know how to say their names, but but we're we're talking about famous magicians of Egypt. It was Jenny's and Jambberies, brothers. And we can read about them not only in the Old Testament, but we read about them in the New Testament because in 2 Timothy 3 and 8, the Bible talks about these these brothers. In ancient Jewish tradition, they identify them. They were steeped in Egyptian occult arts and they opposed Moses. But their copied power reached its limit. You say, "Well, how did it reach his limit?" You you remember the story. They could replicate a few of the things that Moses did. God told Moses, "Throw your staff on the ground." And these two magicians, they threw their staff on the ground also. And their staffs all became serpents. What about the blood? The the water turned to blood. They were able to turn water to blood. Also, the plague of frogs. Yes, believe it or not, those magicians were able to come up with enchantments where they also brought on frogs. However, they had limitations because there came a point when what they did could not compare to the real. There's all Listen, I'm not going to tell you today that imitation and fake and the fraud doesn't feel good sometimes and isn't impressive sometimes. But oh God, give us the spiritual wisdom and the spiritual understanding to see the difference between the two. God, I want to be like that bank teller that handles those bills and says, "This one's real. This one's fake." Ah, that a shadow of a doubt this one's real. Without a shadow of a doubt, this is fake. The seven sons ofKeva, a Jewish priest, he they saw and tried to replicate Paul in Ephesus as he performed miracles, signs, and wonders. Paul was casting demons out of people, and they thought to themselves, "We're going to cast demons out, too." They thought, "We can use the same name." But they were fakes. They were frauds. They had no relationship with this Jesus Christ whose name they were using. Oh, but here the evil spirits, they said, "We adjure you." Or they said to the evil spirits, "We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches. It's not who we preach. We're coming to you with who Paul preaches." And all those spirits answered him back and said, "Jesus, I know. Paul I know. But who are you?" They said, "Who are you? You're a bunch of frauds." Let me tell you something. The spirit world understands the difference between authenticity and fraudulency. They understand the difference between the real and the fake, the counterfeit and the real. They understand the difference. And the Bible says that these sons of As they were naked and bruised, which simply meant this man with the demon inside of them tore them apart. which tells me this. I want to be in the presence of the real thing. Uh in a way, in such a way that everything I do is not somebody else's religion. It's not somebody else's God. It's not somebody else's power, but it's the Holy Ghost that's inside of me. It's the Holy Ghost that fills me. It's the Holy Ghost that uses me to make a difference in this world. It's the Holy Ghost that helps me to add value to my to my saints of God who who walk this walk with me. All right. >> Ain't nothing like the real thing. >> Said there ain't nothing like the real thing, the real Jesus, the real Holy Ghost, the the real peace, the real power. When the real thing, the real one showed up 2,000 years ago, every counterfeit was exposed. So, I want you to stand to your feet with me. And I'm working. I'm working hard to be done by 11:30. And I think I can do it. But I want to close with a powerful testimony and you're going to hear the story that inspired me to preach this message this morning. This is Lisa's testimony. For 15 long years, Lisa was lost in the new age world. For she started with yoga and meditation, but then quickly moved deeper into crystals and tarot cards, angel numbers, spirit guides, manifesting, and a new thing or new to me called raising her vibration. She even became a raiki master and a certified intuitive coach. She charged people hundreds of dollars for readings and energy clearings, stuff I've never even heard of before. To the outside world, Lisa looked spiritual. She posted beautiful Instagram pictures and captions like, "The universe has my back." But inside, she was tormented. She had panic attacks that would wake her at 3:00 a.m. in the morning. Her relationships kept failing. She had deep emptiness that followed her everywhere. But one day, a friend invited her to church. Lisa came with crystals still in her purse. When the people worshiped, she felt a holy conviction that she had never known. For months, she tried to mix the two worlds. She would go to church on Sunday and she would go to her new age practices on Monday. She even tried to Christianize her old tools. But the peace never lasted. But then came her breaking point. Alone in her apartment surrounded by her crystals, sage, and oracle cards, Lisa fell to her knees and cried out with tears streaming. She said this, "Jesus, if you're real. If all this is fake, show me the real thing." She said, "I don't want the substitute anymore." She said, "I want you. I want the authentic Jesus." Oo, I feel the Holy Ghost. And in that quiet moment, no light, no music, no crowds, the real Holy Ghost entered into her room. And the presence of God was so strong that Lisa fell onto her face. She got up. She gathered every occult object. She threw them away. She renounced it all in the name of Jesus. The power of God hit her like a wave and she testifies that she began to speak in tongues and the torment left. The anxiety broke and a joy she had never felt began to flood her soul. I feel the Holy Ghost in this place. I believe somebody's going to be delivered in this house today. She later said with tears, she said, "I spent 15 years chasing shadows and vibrations." She said this, and this is where I got my message. She said, "But there ain't nothing like the real thing, baby." She said, "The moment the authentic Jesus came into my life, everything fake lost its power and lost its hold upon me. Today she's a passionate soul winner. Today she's a passionate disciple maker. She's doing things for God that she never thought that she would do before. No more deception. No more bondage. Oh, no more spiritual wickedness in high places. But she has the genuine power of the Holy Ghost. The real Jesus has showed up for her and he can show up for you. How if we just end this service with the church family? If you're a guest in this house, I invite you to the front. We're going to end this in the altar. We're going to sing. But before we sing, I want us to come together. And I want us to begin to pray and say, "God, I want to take self inventory. And I want anything that's not real. Anything that's not genuine, anything that's not authentic in my life, God, I want it out. Uh, Lord God, my ideologies, God, the way I think, God, I want it to be you. I want it to be real, God. I want your power to fill me. I wish right now you just lift up your hands and say, "God, fill me with the power of the authentic Holy Ghost that was poured out. I don't want another Jesus. I don't want another Holy Ghost. I don't want another gospel. But God, I want what's real. I want what's pure." Come on, somebody in this place, you got to really say, "God, I need you in my life. I want the Holy Ghost, but I don't want just the Holy Ghost. I want to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Uh I want it to overflow outside of me. I want it to make a difference in my children's lives. Uh in my wife, I want to make a difference in my family members, my brother, my sister, oh my in-laws, God. I want this to be something, Lord God, inside of me that's so real. When people experience me, they experience it genuine. I don't want to be like Satan. I don't want to transform myself into something that's not real. But God, I want to be real. I want your Holy Ghost to be real inside of me. And I want to be a living, walking, talking example of what you are. Come on, somebody just pray that prayer in Jesus name. In Jesus name. Say, Lord, I reject every imitation of my life. Uh God, I want the real thing to live inside of me. God, fill me with you. Fill me with your peace. Uh fill me with your real joy. Uh I'm not going to settle for happiness. Uh I want joy. I'm not going to settle, Lord, for anything besides your power and the authority that's with you. Come on, somebody experience the real right now. Come on, somebody experience the real right now. If you don't have the Holy Ghost, if you've never been born of the water and the spirit, what a day. What a day to say, "Jesus, I give you my life. Jesus, I turn to you. Jesus, I want your spirit to fill me. God, I want what's real to be on the inside. Oh, to experience you, oh God. God, it's my desire. Oh, it's my desire to experience the real you, God. Nothing else will do. Nothing else will do. Oh, I got to have you in my life, Lord. Nothing else will do. Nothing else will do. Nothing else will do, Jesus. Oh, come on, saints of God. Oh, just for about five minutes, I wish we could just pour our hearts out. Come on. About five minutes before we start singing, oh my God, help me, Lord God. Lord God, I've settled for far too less. God, I've settled for things, Lord God, that weren't your perfect will. God, I've allowed thoughts that come into my mind. Oh God, they weren't from you. But God, I give you, Lord, from this point on. I give you my heart. I give you my mind, my soul, everything. Lord God, it's yours. It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. God, just show me what's real. Just show me what's real. Oh, God. Show me what's real. Come on, reach over and take somebody by the hand. Take somebody's shoulder next to you. Come on, pull them in close. Pull them in close. And come on, just say, "God, I pray for my brother. I pray for my sister." Maybe you're near and your spouse. I pray for my spouse. God, I'm believing, Lord God, together. God, together, we can experience you, Lord. Together, oh, as we see the time approaching, Lord God, we're going to find ourselves together more. We're not going to forsake the assembly on ourselves together. We're going to come together more. We're going to be in your house more. It's going to be more important to us, God. We experience your power, God. Let us experience your power, God. Show me your glory. Show me your power, oh God. I don't want to mistake anything, Lord God, that's not you, God. Show me your glory. Show me your power. Show me your authority in my life, oh God. >> >> Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. >> Come on. Throw up your hands as high as you can. Throw up your hands as high as you can. >> Show us your glor. >> Show us, oh God. >> Show us your burning heart. Be holy. Show us your glory, Jesus. Jesus, >> show us your glory. >> Show us, >> show us your glory. >> I want to see it. I want to see it. I want to see it. >> Show us your glory. >> Come on, sing this right here. Sing this right here. Everybody show us >> >> Wonderful. We in your pres now. Jesus, you change everything. Yeah. Heat. You will be here now. Jesus. You change your everything. Jesus, you save everything. Come on. It has to go. >> Jesus, you change everything. You change everything. Every singus Jesus you change everything. Jesus you change everything. Jesus you show us your glory. Show us your glory. Show us your glory. and wonder and surren Come on one last time with your hands lifted all across this place today. I'm thankful for a lifechanging God. Lord, if it wasn't for you, I don't know where I'd be today. Lord, I don't want to even think, Lord, of what I would be without you, without your changing power, the blood. Lord, your resurrection power. Lord, we thank you, Lord, for all that you've done for each and every one of us today. Lord, we exalt you and we praise you and we lift you up this morning in Jesus name we pray. Clap your hands to the Lord.