The Tale of Two Birds
by Dan MacLeod
May 29, 2022 · New Life Terre Haute (New Life Fellowship)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Genesis 8:6-11, Jeremiah 17:5, Romans 8:6-8, Ephesians 1:14, 1 Peter 5:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:19, James 4:8

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/dan-macleod--the-tale-of-two-birds
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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According to the conclusion of the preaching, we're going to give space for Jesus to do what only Jesus can do. If you are here today and you have never received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, God would like to fill you today. If you are here and you need a miracle in your body, you need a miracle in your mind, Jesus would like to minister to you today. But that only happens by the power of His Spirit. Amen. If you have your Bibles, we're going to go to the book of Genesis chapter number eight and begin reading at verse number six through verse 11. I give Pastor Harpal honor in his absence today. They're away on vacation. We hold them in high honor. He is the voice to this church and certainly a voice for the church at large. And I honor him highly today and thank him for this great opportunity. Genesis chapter number eight, beginning at verse number six, the Bible

reads, it came to pass at the end of 40 days that Noah opened the window of the Ark which he had made. He sent forth a raven which went forth to and fro until the waters were dried up from off of the earth. Also he sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. But the dove found no rest for the soul of her foot and she returned unto him in the ark for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. And he put forth his hand and took her and pulled her in unto him into the ark. Verse 10, he stayed yet another seven days and again, but you look at your neighbor and just say again, you say, I've prayed before, I've asked for that before, but sometimes you just got to do it again. Again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. The dove came

to him in the evening and low in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. I want to preach to you today on this title, the tale of two birds. Amen. Would you pray together with me one more time, Lord Jesus, together we come into one mind and submit ourselves to the Lordship of your word and your spirit. A bind every influence that is not of God in this house, every human spirit or every demonic spirit that would dare to rise against the work of the Holy God. We bind its influence upon our minds and our hearts now. We lose the sovereign power of the Lord Jesus Christ into this atmosphere right now. Because it's by your word, it's by your spirit that miracles happen. It's by the power of your name that lives are transformed, that all things are made new. And we've come today to turn our eyes from

everything of this world and to fix them on you, Jesus. And so we pray in that name and we call on your name in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen. One more time would you give the Lord a hand clap of praise before you seat it. The tale of two birds. You might be familiar with this story, but if not to give you some context, the world was overcome with great wickedness. The heart of God was grieved as he looked down on the beauty of his creation and is confronted with the fact that sin has destroyed it. Immorality was rampant. Violence was out of control. It sounds quite a bit like the modern day. God was so grieved by the condition of the people that he had fashioned for glory and beauty that he is compelled to act. And he purposes in his heart that he's just going to start over. He's going to wipe the earth clean. He will judge it by

the waters. But the Bible tells us there was one man named Noah who found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He was an upright and righteous man. And by way of revelation, God begins to speak to him and to reveal to him a plan of escape. Noah, I need you to build an ark for the saving of your family. It's not just for your family, but for the animal kingdom. And Noah, I'm going to give you very precise measurements of how this is to be built. I'm going to give you instruction on the type of wood you are to use. I'll give you instruction on the measurements and the size and the scale. Noah, I'm not really going to leave any of the detail up to your own decision. I'll tell you exactly what needs to be done. And so Noah does what any good man would do. He starts gathering supplies and he starts the process of building. Now I can

imagine putting myself in his shoes today that when people see him building a boat of this scale, somebody's got a question. Noah, there's not enough water on the earth to need a boat this big. But see, Noah had revelation, insight from God of a coming storm, such as had never been seen before. Rain, Noah, what are you talking about? This concept of rain, we've not seen such a thing. We've not even heard of such a thing. Noah, what is it you're talking about? And so I would suppose today it would make sense to think that Noah's probably carrying out the construction of this ark in the face of skepticism and unbelief. There might even be some that would go so far as to ridicule or mock him and question the mission or the objective that he seems to be completing. But he will not be persuaded because he knows a storm is coming. Can I tell you this morning that whether you like

it or not, the rain will fall on the just and the unjust. All of us are subject to the reality of a storm in our world. Storms that come unwelcomed and uninvited. We certainly don't like them and we don't want to expect them. But the reality is they come and friend, you better make sure that when the storm shows up in your world, that you have a place of safety you can run to. Noah, I'm going to give you a little bit of insight so you have a place of refuge for your family in the hour of your trouble. You wonder what this beautiful sanctuary is. You wonder what New Life Fellowship is all about. I'll tell you what it's all about. It's an arc of safety from the impending storm that is sweeping our world. Oh, I know there'll be dark days and dreary nights. There'll be seasons of great depression times that are so difficult that seem hopeless and where we

all seem overcome. But it's in that moment, Noah, that I've given you the arc. Then comes the day when the rain starts falling and God says it's time to board the vessel. God shut the door. It is a startling message this morning, but there will come a time that God shuts the door. All of us are afforded the privilege this morning of encountering the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there will come a day God shuts the door. The rain begins to fall and the Bible says the fountains of the deep were opened up. And water begins to come forth in a volume as never seen before. And I can imagine by this point of the story, those who questioned Noah, those who didn't believe Noah, those who thought all of this stuff was unnecessary are now confronted with the fact that I should have found a way into the arc when I still had a chance. And now days turn to

weeks, weeks turn to months. And they float aimlessly upon the waters of the earth. Now, as grateful as I'm sure they are for this vessel of their salvation, let's consider the reality of the climate inside this arc. Anybody here ever been on a cruise before? This was nothing like a cruise. There was no air circulation. There's no plumbing. There's no electricity. But I'll tell you what there is. There's a lot of animals. I grew up with just enough horses to know that it doesn't take very many animals to make a bad smell. All this to say that as grateful as he is for the vessel of his salvation, I think we could say it was far from perfect. It was not the most comfortable of environments. Certainly as days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months. Perhaps there were moments Noah's wife and children come to him and say, Daddy, are you sure that you really heard from God? Do you have

any insight, father, when this is finally going to end? When we'll walk free from this and have an opportunity to start over and rebuild, but weeks become months. And it seems like they have questions with no answer. There's a lone window aboard this arc that I'm sure Noah hoping as he rises to peer from that window out into the horizon. He's hoping with everything inside of him that he'll see dry land. Looking for just a piece of evidence that the end is near and that the situation is about to turn. But as he peers out that window, doesn't matter which direction the boat goes. All he sees is water. As far as the eye can see in every direction, the head can turn water on every side. No sign of ending, no sign of hope. It seems like a dire circumstance. And so Noah gets the idea as we read in our text this morning to fetch a bird from aboard that arc

and send it forth. The first bird he puts forth is a raven. It is unique. Of all the birds you could choose, Noah, why raven? Eagles and hawks and what we would later read of the dove. And certainly so many more. Why the raven? I submit to you today it was ordained and orchestrated by God to teach us all a timeless lesson. Though thousands of years removed is still as relevant today as it ever was. You see a raven is a bird that feasts primarily on the flesh of dead animals. It's a ravenous creature. In fact, raven is both noun and verb. A raven is a bird, but ravenous is nature. And that raven is sent forth and never returns. Do you know why? Because the surface of the earth is littered with the carcass of dead animals. With the remnants of judgment floating upon those waters. You see, the raven has no need to return to the arc because it will feast

on the death that is in the world. I don't know what it is about our human tendency to default to the flesh before we try out the possibilities of the spirit. But the first bird Noah reached for was that raven and he sends it forth. I don't know what he was hoping for, but this is what I've learned in my flesh. Dwelleth no good thing. My flesh can't bring me evidence of a better future. My flesh can't usher me in to a new future. My flesh cannot do it. And this is what Noah learned when the raven didn't come back. He learned the raven couldn't do it. But there's something in him that's compelled. You see, he believes that somewhere there might be evidence. His faith is not limited by what he can see. He is persuaded that there's a possibility that somewhere out there there is hope. And so the Bible tells us he releases a dove. We know this most notably

symbolic of the spirit shown in the baptism of Jesus in Matthew chapter three when the spirit descends like a dove. Now we have this beautiful contrast. It is the tale of two birds. The first is symbolic of the flesh. The second is symbolic of the spirit. And it's unique to me that the raven never returns. And though the dove finding no place for its feet to rest, it comes back to the ark. Because the spirit of the Lord will not dwell in just any atmosphere. The spirit of the Lord will not fall in just any place. It will not find rest in places marked by flesh and death. It will not find rest in atmospheres marked by chaos and confusion and disorder. And so it comes back into the ark seven days pass and Noah says, we're going to try this again. He sends forth the dove a second time. And we read in our text this morning that when it comes back

the second time, it comes back with an olive leaf, but not just any olive leaf. The Bible says this is an olive leaf plucked off. A little detail, just two words, so easily overlooked, plucked off. As if to say, Noah, I didn't find this leaf just floating on the surface of the water. I didn't just go among the remnants of death in judgment. No, Noah, I flew to a place you couldn't see. And I found a place where the waters had start to be abated. I found a place where there was an olive tree showing forth. Because you see an olive leaf was evidence of a branch and a branch was evidence of a tree, which was evidence that somewhere, even though it wasn't where Noah could see with his natural eye, that somewhere the waters were abating, the waters were subsiding, this was evidence of a new day. No, I didn't just bring this from the top of the water. I didn't

just find some leaf floating among the carcasses of dead animals. I went to a place that you couldn't go by yourself. I went to a place you couldn't see with your natural eye. And I'm bringing you back evidence of that place. This is the tale of two birds. But I've really not just come to preach to you today about Noah's Ark. And I've not just come to preach to you about a raven in a dove. I've come to preach to you about your life in the decision you make. Because we are all, as Noah, seemingly drifting at the mercy of circumstance that sometimes seems beyond our control. And we can peer out the window hoping for evidence of a better day in a brighter future. Hoping for a better doctor's report or a better outcome or a better deal. And there we find ourselves at the mercy of unfortunate circumstances. And you know what we do? We all too often make the same

mistake Noah did. We say, I'm just going to try this raven first and we trust in the arm of the flesh. Jeremiah 17 and 5. He said, Thus sayeth the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm in whose heart departeth from the Lord. Cursed is the man who trusts in the power of earthly strength. Cursed is the man who trusts in earthly ability and earthly understanding and earthly knowledge. But you know you're as guilty of it as I am in times of testing and trial and temptation. What do we do? We all too often trust in the arm of the flesh. Why do you think Paul wrote in Romans chapter 8? How about the war between the flesh and the spirit? He said, For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is at enmity. He says it literally wars against God. There's nothing in

your flesh. There's no work of the flesh that can bring about the wonderful works of God. He continues, it's not subject to God. And neither can it be so that they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But all too often we are guilty of it. And those times of anxiety and depression and question without answer. We are all too guilty of trusting in the arm of the flesh. And I've come today with this simple message to preach to you that the raven cannot do it, but the dove can. You don't need another vacation. You don't need another job raise. You don't need a few nights away from the kids. You don't need a new house or a new car or a new suit. No, that's not what you need. You don't need better internet or a new cell phone. You don't need a new TV. I'm going to tell you what you need. You need an old fashioned move of the

Holy Ghost and fire. You got to make a decision. How am I going to live my life when the going gets hard and you hear this preacher. It's going to get hard. How are you going to do it? Are you going to send forth the raven or are you going to send forth the dove? I've come to preach to some people today that have dormant promise in your heart. That you've got prophecy yet fulfilled in your life. And you feel a little bit like Noah peering out the window. Looking for a little bit of evidence. Looking for a sign of a brighter future. Looking for evidence of a miracle on its way. But all you see is water all around. Do you understand what the Holy Ghost is? Paul wrote in Ephesians and he told us what it was. He said it's the earnest of our inheritance. It literally means it's the down payment. This is what God said. God said, hey, I've

got something good for you. I've got a land. I've got a land where there's no sickness. There's no sadness. There's no tyranny and there's no tears. I've got a land one day that you're going to go to. But you know what? You don't have to wait till you get there to taste of its goodness. Because when you got the Holy Ghost, God said I plucked a little something out of heaven. And I gave you a taste of it right now. I know you walked in here with pain in your body today. I got good news. One day you're going to a place where there'll be no more pain. But when you start living by the dove, you know what happens? You don't have to wait till you get there. Because that dove starts flying and it goes where you can't go by yourself. You know why? Because he said no flesh should glory in my presence. I'm not just preaching to you today

about a personal decision. I'm preaching about a spirit in Christianity in the 21st century. All kinds of churches that look nice, feel nice. They got systems out the window, programs more than they know what to do with. But you know what? The only bird flying in their building is a raven. There was a mega church in New York City that's in the process of dissolving right now. Because they're going through pastoral transition. And their pastor, who's a great apologetic, wrote a very long article explaining why. His words not mine. He said because most mega churches are built on personality. And they cannot sustain the tension of transition. This is what that tells me. It's just a raven. It's just a raven. Nobody's talking about the Holy Ghost. Nobody's given space for miracles. It's just a raven. And the raven, it can't get there and bring you evidence. Because he said no flesh can glory in my presence. That's why even God incarnate before

he could ascend into heaven. His flesh had to be glorified because in his humanity his flesh could not exist in heaven. That's why the doctrine of the eternal Son cannot be true. He was the only begotten Son of God. Because there's no flesh in heaven that's not been glorified. And he'd not been glorified until he'd been resurrected. But you know what happens when you step into that atmosphere of the Spirit? God says anything is possible. The raven can do it, but the dove can. I'm preaching to somebody in this house today. Who feels like you've been just floating aimlessly through life. That's what the Bible says. That the raven went to and fro. You know where else you find that language? In Job chapter 1 when Satan said I went to and fro across the face of the earth. You know where else you find that? 1 Peter 5 and 8 when he said like a roaring lion. He goes to and fro

seeking whom he can devour. You know where else you find that? When the Word of the Lord says that you are tossed about to and fro by every wind of false doctrine. To and fro is the terminology of carnal living, of lukewarm living, of flesh driven living. Where there's no power of the Spirit. There's no purpose of the Spirit. There's no direction of the Spirit. I'm preaching to somebody today who feels like you're going to and fro. Like you're at the mercy of circumstance beyond your control. You feel like you have promise from God. You've received prophecy from God. But you're looking out that window searching for evidence that fulfillment is near. Searching for evidence that the answer is close and you can't find it. I'll tell you how you're going to find it. By a move of the Holy Ghost and fire. You said preacher is it really that simple? Yeah, it really is that simple. Hey, you are a beautiful people

and this is an amazing church. This is a beautiful facility and I give God praise for what he has done and what he is doing. This is beautiful. This is the sign of blessing and talent and sacrifice and I honor you for it. But hear this preacher today. There's a hundred thousand people in this county that aren't going to be set free by blue lights and nice carpet and bigger buildings. There's 60,000 people in the city proper of Terre Haute. Hey, I've walked through Walmart. I've seen the depression on their face. I've seen the addiction in their life and you just hear this preacher. The raven cannot help them. There's nothing wrong with doing it good. There's nothing wrong with doing it with excellence. But at the end of the day, there's only one thing that's going to help these precious people. It is the power of the Holy Ghost. You say, so what do you do? You got to release the

dove. You got to open up the window and you got to let the dove fly. You say, how do I do that? Well, I'm glad you asked. The Bible says, praise the Lord for His mighty acts. Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. That means I am commanded to praise based on what He's done. But the measure of my praise is based upon my understanding of how great He is to me. Now, I don't know about you, but God has been awfully good to me. Because I could tell you some stories about coming home from a bar in university when I was a backslidden teenager running from God and at 3.30 in the morning, calling people, there was a lot of people I saw growing up. I wasn't sure if they were going to go in the rapture when it happened. But there's a few people I was sure. There was this elderly lady in the church I grew up in named

Alice Ellis. And I was sure when God came back that lady was going. And so I'd get home at 3.30 in the morning and I could feel the love of God reaching for me. I could feel God trying to get ahold of me. I could feel His love in my dorm room in that university. And so I'd pick up my cell phone and I'd call Alice Ellis at 3.30 in the morning. And as soon as she said hello, I'd hang up. Just making sure I hadn't missed a moment and the door hadn't been shut. Well, I could tell you stories. I could tell you stories about coming off a highway, taking an exit off an interstate one day, going 60 miles an hour and blacking out behind the wheel. And I was about to hit a telephone pole. When I come to, it's right there. And the next thing I know all the telephone pole hits is the side view mirror

of that car. The car goes down over an embankment. The police officer comes and she puts me in the back of the car. And she says, young man, have you had anything to drink today? I had just come from breakfast. I said, yeah, and I'll never forget her head snapping around. And when she looked at me, I said, orange juice. And she said, young man, if a police officer ever asked you if you had anything to drink, they don't mean orange juice. I said, I just came from breakfast at the log cabin. And she said, well, I need you to come with me. So she walks me back to where the car veered off the road. You could see the tire tracks from where they veered off the road onto the grass. And they stop right in front of the telephone pole. And directly beside them starts a brand new set of tire tracks that goes down over the embankment to where the

car landed. And standing there, she looked at me and she said, young man, can you explain this? And I knew. I knew. I wasn't living for him, but I knew. I knew it was God. I told her, no, God forgive me because I can tell you, God has been good to me. So every now and then when I get in the presence of God and I get to feeling and thinking about how God good has been. You know what I do? I got to run a little bit. As a matter of fact, I was in a church service a couple of weeks ago and my seven year old son, he was kind of shimmying in the pew. I said, Sawyer, if you don't stop, I'm going to have to out dance you. I was just joking. And then the Lord said to me, do it then. And so I took off running around the front of the church. And I know in some

churches that's unwelcome. I know in some places they'd ridicule you and laugh at you and make fun of you. But you just got to understand something. I've encountered the power of the dove in my life. I know how good God is. Hey, to this 33 and a half year old man, God has been awfully good. So every now and then when I find myself in a struggle and I start looking for evidence of a brighter day and a better future. And a miracle that God said is on the way. This is what I've learned. I just got to release the dove in my look silly. Somebody might laugh. Somebody might say it's unnecessary, but you can just keep yourself righteous opinion to yourself. You can live under the shadow of the raven. But I've come to tell you today, there's a dove flying in this house. And if you have a need, you want to just step back from your problem and lift

up your eyes. From whence come with your help? Because I'm preaching to you about a God that has all power. About a God that can do the impossible. About a God who said, I can do all things. Come on, let me push you here a little bit. You got to give God a sacrifice of praise. Shakata yo bo sattala baha. Come on, that's the power of God. That's the dove moving in this house. That's God saying the possibility of your miracle is in the room. What do you have need of? Are you tired of living under depression? Are you tired of battling anxiety? Are you tired of that pain? Are you weary of that fight? Send the dove! Send the dove! Shakata yo bo sattala baha. He aroko sattala baha yandala baha. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Come on, with the fruit of our lips. With a little shuffle in our feet. With the wave of the hand. Come on, it's like David.

Those people of God had been without the presence of God for so long. They didn't even know how to act around it. But not David. He was grateful for the restoration of glory to the people of God. So he said, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to take six steps. One, two, three, four, five, six. And then we're going to stop right there. And we're going to sacrifice unto God. And we're going to dance before the Lord. Because it was the restoration of glory. The raven lived in the first six steps. But his power stopped. And the dove showed up on the seventh. I'm preaching to some people in this room. God's calling you to step out of raven living and into dove living. But I've also got my finger on a spirit in the 21st century. What happened when those oxen had the ark on a car and they came to Ornand's threshing floor and they start bucking? Everyone

thinks, well, he was just doing a good thing. He was putting his hand up to steady the ark because it was where the glory of God would dwell. No, you see, anytime you try to hold up what God's tearing down, God's going to deal with you. I'll tell you what's happening in our world right now. God is exposing things and showing things that are dismantling religious systems that are dominated by the raven. I don't know if you read the news and you see what's happening in the religious world. God's shaking things because God said my glory doesn't get moved by the convenience of a car and oxen. He said, when you want my glory to move, I gave you a priesthood to pick it up by stays and to put it on your shoulder because the only way glory moves is by the feet of the priesthood. And what's happening right now is God is moving through the world, dismantling religious systems and

strongholds that have kept honest people bound, but they can't find what they need because the raven can't get there. The raven can't get to the heavens. It can't bring you evidence of that place where there's no sickness and sin, where there's no sorrow or sadness, where you'll never cry another tear, where you'll never feel another pain, the raven can't get there. Shandabokotalabaha, Ekotayabosatamahayokushatabaha, Ekomandahasotoramanlyalamoshatalamaha, Ekomahashahatayaboyaha. Yeah, come on Lord, send your dev, send your dev, Ekotobosatalabaha shokumandayalamaha. Yes, yes, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ekotabosatalabaha, Mandokosatandalamahakitoyobosatalabaha. Come on, God has a dev, he wants to send over Terahot. God has a dev, he's going to send through this county. It's flying through this sanctuary right now. If you have need, just reach up and grab a hold of that olive branch. Hatabokoyalamaha, heyondoshatahayarabakushatabaha. Paul told Timothy, he said, you got to know this, that in the last days, perilous times shall come. But you have an ark, you have a place of refuge, there's a place

where the dove is flying. That's why Paul said quench not the spirit first Thessalonians 519. Quenching was the process where a blacksmith would take that metal or iron that was forged in the fire and was red hot from the heat and they would take it out and stick it into a cold environment to stop the process. Paul was saying, don't you quench the spirit? If God has begun a process through the fire in you, don't you remove yourself from that environment and quench the process? And I'm prophesying to this house today. God has begun a process of deepening. There are places of routine and comfort that you're all right with. But I'm telling you, there are dimensions in the spirit that God is opening to this body. And don't you quench the spirit? Don't you walk out of an encounter with the dove and go entertain the raven in your home? Shataboyakatayalamosatalabaha Hey, I'm in submission to your pastor, but I believe I

have his heart. And I have spoken with him, you hear me right now. There is a deepening of spiritual depth and anointing that brings power and demonstration to this body. That building, that building is horizontal expansion. Concrete, steel, drywall, that does nothing for depth. That's just horizontal expansion. But because the blessing of the Lord is on this house and he has favored this body, the horizontal expansion is actually in response to a call for deep. For deep, calleth unto deep. The deep place of the spirit beckons to the deep place of our life. And we feel that pull, we feel that tug even now in this atmosphere. We can feel it, you know what it is? It's the dove. See, there was no steering wheel on that arc. There was no motor. Noah couldn't dictate the direction. And so it might be easy to think he's at the mercy of the wind and the wave. But my brother, it was actually the hand

of God guiding that through the storm. You feel lost, you feel wandering, you're wondering what's happening. Because it's been so long and the promise hasn't come to pass and the prophecy's not been fulfilled. I'll tell you what God told me. He said, I'm bringing evidence to that house today. Because it's the earnest of our inheritance. You think the Holy Ghost is good? My friend, the Holy Ghost is just the down payment. It's just God letting you know. I'm going to come back one day and give you everything I said I was going to give you. You know, God loves giving evidence. That's why in Genesis 9 he said, a bow in the sky. And told Noah, this is my sign. This is my evidence. I'll never do it again. That's why when the Holy Ghost was poured out on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, they were all filled with the Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the

Spirit gave them the ability. Tongues is not the Holy Ghost. But it is the evidence. There's just something about God that loves to give us evidence that he's going to do exactly what he said he was going to do. And so if you're in this house right now and you have never received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and you would like to, or it's been a long time since you have broke through and prayed in other tongues or in unknown language and you want to be filled for the first time or you want to be refilled, I'm going to invite you to step out of your seat and make your way to the front. You said, preacher, that's a bold ask. I know it is. But if you'll show God bold faith, God will show you great power. Because James said if we draw nigh unto God, he will draw nigh unto us. Come on, if you've brought somebody to church today,

if you're sitting near to somebody, it's not going to hurt you to step around and ask them. You're stepping up? Thank you, my brother. Thank you. I love people like this. Because this is the kind of faith that God rewards. Somebody says, I don't care about the crowd. I don't care if anybody sees me. I'm going to get my evidence. If you're here today and you need a miracle in your body, you need a miracle in your life, you need something supernatural from God, I want you to step out of your seat and make your way to the front. This is beautiful. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Let's just give God thanks for a moment. Father, we thank you. We thank you. We thank you. You're faithful. Your word is true. You're not a man that you should lie. We thank you. We thank you. Here's what we're going to do. Even if you have not stepped forward today, this is not

a spectator sport. Every single person in this sanctuary today needs to be a participant with what God is doing in this moment. Our ministry team, when we get ready to pray, you can make your way and help us pray for these people who've stepped forward. But here's what we're going to do. The way we release the dove is by praise. But before we do that, all together, whether this is your first time in this church or you've been here your whole life, we're going to repent. And we're going to surrender our will in our life to God. We're going to give it to Him. We're not going to hold anything back. We're going to surrender completely to Him. And then once we do that, I'll give you some more instruction. And we're going to let the power of the Lord Jesus Christ fall in this room and let God do what only God can. Because even me, this is just flesh and bone.

I live in the confines of the raven. But if I'll crucify the power of this flesh, I can connect with the power from another world. Would you lift up your hands? Would you lift up your head? And would you just begin to repent, Father? Forgive me for any sin. Forgive me for any wrong. Lord Jesus, I pray that you would search my heart. That you would cleanse me of every wrong attitude, every wrong action. I pray, Lord Jesus, that you would wash me by the water of your Word. Your Bible tells me, God, that your mercies are made new every morning and I humble myself to receive that. I receive the love that you have towards me. I receive your forgiveness. My mistakes don't disqualify me. My struggles don't disqualify me. I accept it now, God. I receive it into my heart, my mind, and my life. Hallelujah. I surrender my will to you, Jesus. I surrender my will. I give you my

success. I give you my failures. I give you my struggle. There's nothing that I'm holding back from you. There's nothing that I hide from you, God. I give you everything right now. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Would you just thank God for his forgiveness right now? Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Now, here in just a moment, I'm going to give you the instruction. We're going to begin to praise the Lord. And when you begin to praise the Lord, the power of God is going to fall in this room. I want to push you a little bit with your sacrifice of praise. Sometimes we like to give God comfortable or convenient praise. It's kind of like, hallelujah, hallelujah. Let's just be real. It kind of feels awkward. It can feel a little awkward, you know, talking to a God you can't see. A clap of hands. I mean, but you've got to press past that awkwardness. There's a difference between just worshiping God from

your mind and worshiping God from your heart. My mind, I can know what to do. I can do the actions. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I'm actually thinking about what restaurant I'm going to eat at or who I'm going to hang out with on Memorial Day. But it's a whole different thing. When I fix my thoughts on him and I visualize his goodness and his broken body and his blood that brings my healing and I begin to say, hallelujah. I love you, Jesus. I thank you. Whoo. See, you feel it when it comes from the heart. The spirit bears witness to your spirit. And here's what we're going to do. If you've come forward and you need to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I just want you to lift up your hands. If you've come forward and you need a miracle in your life or in your body. I want you to lift up your hands. Some of our great saints and ministry team,

I want you to look around. You see these people. I want you to be ready to pray with them. The Holy Ghost is about to fall in this room. Come on, I want you to begin to lift up your voice. Begin to lift up your voice. Hallelujah. By the authority of the Word of God and by the power that is in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Receive the Holy Ghost. Now. Receive your miracle. Now. Come on, that's it. That's it. That's it. Taya rabah, taya rabah.