United We Stand - Part 2
by Kevin Allen
August 8, 2021 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Isaiah 43:10-11, Luke 2:11, Isaiah 44:6-8, James 2:19, Isaiah 44:24, Isaiah 45:5, Isaiah 45:18, Isaiah 45:21, Isaiah 9:6, Colossians 2:9, Isaiah 45:22, Philippians 2:10, Zechariah 14:9, John 1:1, John 1:14, 2 Corinthians 5:19, John 4:24, Hebrews 9:22, 1 Timothy 2:5, John 14:10, 1 Timothy 3:16, John 8:24, John 14:6-9, Colossians 2:9, John 10:30, Ephesians 4:5-6, 1 Timothy 2:5, Matthew 27:46, Revelation 1:18, Galatians 1:1, John 2:19, Romans 8:11, 1 John 5:7, John 12:32, John 6:44, Revelation 1:18, Revelation 21:6-7, John 14:3, 1 John 3:1-2, Revelation 4:1-2, Acts 7:56-58, John 1:18, Exodus 15:12

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--united-we-stand-part-2
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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Last Sunday I preached the message kicking off what I felt like God had for us for this month. We talked about the importance of being unified, being united, that united we stand together. Talked about the importance of understanding that we're better together. And I can only become all that God wants me to be when I help you become all that God wants you to be. And we need each other. We do. We need each other. I think that learning how to be in one mind and one accord is going to help us in what God is doing in our church.

Wednesday night of this past week I talked about a new thing that God is doing, and spoke specifically about great expectations. And how we handle those expectations depends a lot on allowing God to work through us, so that our will aligns with his will and brings those expectations together. And I'm going to continue on that on Wednesday nights. But for me, in my mind, I see Sundays and Wednesdays working together. And this coming Wednesday night I'm going to be talking about what to do when you're disappointed by God. Because there's been times when I can say that myself, that I was a little frustrated and disappointed by what I thought was going to happen and it didn't happen. So if you've ever experienced that, or if you know someone who's dealt with that type of disappointment or disappointment in general, invite them to be a part of Wednesday night, because I'm going to deal specifically with that. And I feel like God's given me a word.

But before we get there, we're here. And I, I feel as though with all that's going on in our church, and, and God placing us and moving in us and doing things in our families, and, and then doing things in our kids and doing things in our lives, that he is prepping us and preparing us for, for this, this expectation that we have of great things. But I also know we're moving into uncharted waters and uncharted, uncharted territories, especially in the world we're living in today. It's because of that that I was feeling to preach about staying united in what we do, because the temptation will be for us to become divided, because there's so much division in our world today. It is, it is everywhere we go. It seems like there's opposing opinions and opposites. And I'm not against people having opinions or points of view. I think that's one of the reasons America is great, is that we, we have been able to in the past have opened discussion about what we personally believe. But it feels like that's being encroached upon. And it's because of this that I have felt in my spirit to come back to push unity in what we do. Not compromise, but unity.

So I feel like before we go on long journeys, at least I do this, I don't know about you, but before I go out on any, any, any, any journey of any kind in my car, I go around and look at my car. I check the tires. I pop the hood. I check the oil. I just want to be sure that I've done my due diligence. Doesn't prevent something from happening, but at least I looked over some things. And there's been a time or two I found where there was something that needed my attention. So with that frame of mind today, I'll go in and move forward and focus us once again on being united together. But my focus today is to take us a little deeper in Apostolic truth. It's not my intentions to upset anyone or to offend anyone, or for someone to feel like this is a personal attack. It is not. It is simply going back with me, testing the winds of what's going on around us in the world, realizing that it feels as though there's things on the horizon that could bring us rough waters. And it's not in the middle of the storm we need to make sure that everything's where it needs to be. It's before we get there we need to make sure that we're together. Does this make sense? So I want to go back to what the scriptures have to say today. In the next few Sundays, as we shore up our lives
 being united. Today I want to talk about one God. I believe this is the first stone in understanding who we are. Therefore I'm very passionate about this subject. This is not something that's negotiable. This is a non-negotiable in our Christian Apostolic beliefs. And I'm going to use a lot of scripture today. That's not me apologizing. I'm not apologizing that I'm using a lot of word. I'm purposely taking you to the word of God to show you that this is not my opinion. But I want to rightly divide the word. If I am your shepherd, if I am who you call pastor, I want you to know I'm passionate today. I'm passionate for a reason, because this is something that is a non-negotiable in our lives.

So you can probably guess where I'm going to start. We're going to go to Deuteronomy 6, verse number 4: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Isaiah chapter 43, the great prophet, as God is moving upon him, writes these words: You are my witness, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I am the Lord, and beside me there is no savior. God the Father is saying that there is none beside me, that I am the savior. I'm not going to share that title with anybody else. It is mine, and it is mine alone. But we also see in the New Testament where the angels appear before the shepherds, that we read oftentimes during the Christmas season, when they say this in Luke chapter 2 verse number 11: For unto you this born this day in the city of David is a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Now we see here we have two saviors in two different testaments. Who is the real savior? I want to show you that they're pointing to the exact same one.

Going back to Isaiah chapter 44 verse number 6: Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his redeemer, the Lord of hosts. I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no God. And who as I shall call, and shall declare it and say, set and order me, since I appointed it the ancient people, and the things that are coming and shall come, let them show unto them. Fear ye not, neither be afraid. Have not I told thee from that time and have declared it? Yea, even my witness, is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God. I know not any. God is saying, I don't want you to be confused about this. I've looked around, and everything I've created, I'm up here in the heavens where you can't see. And when I look around, there's nobody else up here but me. There's no other God. There's nobody else that I, that I counseled with. There's nobody else that I ask any questions about it. What I do, I do all by myself. It's my opinion. It's my way. And this is how it's going to be.

James 2 and 19 says: Thou believes that there is one God. Thou does well. The devils also believe in tremble. I heard one elder preaching one time, said some people know more than God and less than the devil. Even the devils understand how it's all played out in time. Isaiah 44 and 24: Thus saith the Lord, thou redeemer, thou redeemer, he that formed thee from the womb. I am the Lord that make all things, that stretch forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth about the earth by myself. Nobody was else. I didn't ask anybody's question. I just spoke it into existence. I didn't need a committee. I'm here. I can do it. Isaiah 45 and 5: I, the Lord, that Lord there being translated as literal Jehovah. Savior, there is none else. There is no God beside me. Aguirre to thee, though thou hast not known me. God says that I am the I Am. I am the eternal one. There is a reoccurring theme here. There is one God, not a plurality. If you search through the scriptures
 in the Bible, there is no place where they will show you that there is two or three gods. Nor will you find in the Bible where it teaches that there are two or three persons in the godhead. But the word of God constantly affirms that there is one God, and his name is one. Isaiah 45 verse number 18: For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it, he that established it and created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is none else. Same chapter, verse 21: Tell you and bring them near. Yeah, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient times? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? And there is no God beside me. A just God and Savior, there is none beside me. Now you cannot discount these scriptures by saying they all come from the same book. And the reason I say that is, there is so many instances in the New Testament where Isaiah, this prophet, is being quoted as validating what was taken forth. Even Jesus himself quotes Isaiah. So we cannot discount what God is doing here in this moment.

In fact, it was Isaiah who, who we see the prophecy being fulfilled in Isaiah 9 verse number 6: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulders. And his name shall be called Wonderful. Who's going to be Wonderful? The child that's born is going to be Wonderful. Counselor. Who's going to be the Counselor? The child that's born is going to be the Counselor. The mighty God. Who's going to be called the mighty God? The child that's going to be corn, to be born. The everlasting Father. Who's going to be called the everlasting Father? The child that's going to be born. How are these things possible? Because there's just one God. There can be no contradiction in these verses. One God. A child is born, a direct reference to Jesus Christ, who the apostle Paul would say in Colossians 2 verse 9: For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him. How are you complete? With an understanding, with a revelation, with the knowledge that when I cry out Jesus, I am talking to God, the creator, the one who spoke everything into existence. All of those names, all the culmination of those names throughout scripture, are put together in that one name, Jesus. I don't have to qualify it. All I have to simply say is, Jesus, I need you, in all that he is, and all that he has ever been, and all that he will ever be, is encompassed in that name. Whew. Is anybody thankful that you know the name of Jesus?

Isaiah 45 22: Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is none else. I have swore by myself. The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear. Yet in the New Testament church has heard the statement as well. Because the apostle Paul, writing to the church at Philippi, says this in Philippians 2 and 10: That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things of earth and things under the earth. Zechariah 14 verse number 9, the minor prophet says this as God moved on and he pens these words. He says, I am the Lord shall be king over all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one. Now I know I've used a lot of Old Testament scripture up to this point, and there's some of you that we've had discussion about how that you like to get in the New Testament, because that's where we live. Okay. I don't know how we can discount the Old Testament. But if this helps you out, let's go to the New Testament, because I can do that too. John chapter 1 verse number 1 says: In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Is anybody confused about what the word was
? It was there. It was with him, because it was him. That's not great English, but I think I made my point. Verse number 14 of the same chapter: In the word. All right. What was the word? The word was God. That's what chapter 1 verse number 1 says. It's with him, and it was him. And then that same thing in verse 14 becomes flesh. What became flesh? God became flesh. It was this very passage of scripture that led my grandfather, my dad's dad, and to an understanding of the revelation of the mighty God in Christ. He was raised in a Baptist home. But his friend R.T Bennett, Sister Stacy Spencer's grandfather, was a friend of my grandfather. And he told him, James, why don't you go read John chapter 1 verse 1 and read down through that chapter, and just tell me what comes to mind when you read it. And it was in that moment that my grandfather came to an understanding that the word was made flesh. That was God. God couldn't span over without doing something great for you and I. So he robed himself in flesh. If you can't comprehend that, it doesn't negate the reality of what he did.

God became flesh. He came down to where you and I are. He's seen where we were, and he realized, I got to do something. They need a savior. II Corinthians 5 19: To wit, Paul talking here to it, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, hath he committed us unto the world of reconciliation. That, that word there, to it, if you're a word study person, I invite you to go and take this verse and break it down, and you'll discover that to wit there is actually a legal term, meaning in other words, or more precisely, or to clarify the situation. Paul is saying, I want to maybe clear up the fuzziness around this situation. So I want you to know that God was in Christ. And he did this to reconcile the world back to him, to get us back into a right relationship. Why? Because sin entered the world in the garden. And when sin came in the garden, it separated man from God. But God said, I don't want that to be the eternal condition. Instead I want to give you an opportunity by my works, by what I can do, because you can't do it. So I'll come down to where you are. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.

John 4 24, we know that it says: God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Now the godhead, to me, can be broken down into two words. I covered this back in April, in a series that I taught called A Mystery Revealed. And I told you that when we talk about God, and talking about the Father, we're talking about the Spirit. And when we're talking about the sun, we're talking about the flesh, the body of Jesus Christ, the medium, the sacrifice. Because there had to be a body. We had to have a body, because we had to have blood. If there was no blood shed, there's no remission of sins. This thing's all for nothing. Something had to be done. A body had to produce the blood. Hebrews 9 verse 22: And almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission. There had to be a sacrifice. Up until this point, before God came in flesh, they had animal sacrifices that simply rolled things back for a year. And every year you had to come in. You had to drag your sacrifice in there. You had to put your hand on the head of that lamb. And you had to confess openly: God forgive me for the lies I told. Forgive me of the thoughts I had. Forgive me all this stuff I did. And they would take that transference of, of your sins, and they would take that thing and stick it on the altar and tie it down, and cut its neck and let the blood drain out of it. And you had to watch this take place, because it was supposed to be that gruesome image that would stick in your mind and
 next year. You didn't want to have to go pick a lamb out and drag it back up there, and stick your hand on that thing again, and say, God forgive me for lying again. Forgive me for all the stuff I had. But it wasn't pushing it and wiping it completely away. God had a plan from the very beginning. From the foundation of everything being laid out there, he had a plan for you and I. That one day he would come, and he would take our place. He would be that sacrifice once and for all, for you and I. That's why it's important to understand who he is and what was taking place. That's why Paul tells young Timothy about the office of a mediator in First Timothy two and five: For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Somebody had to step in there and negotiate and say, look, something has to be done. Because God, you are perfect and you are holy, and all you do, and your law requires that something has to die, because of the sin that is there. It was a requirement for the law. But instead of you and I having to die for our sins, the mediator steps in and says, but there's a perfect sacrifice that was made. And because that blood was shed, it can cover over all those sins. And he negotiates the terms, to the point to where it negates what has been done in our lives.

Now the struggle that often people have is comprehending the dual nature of Jesus. Jesus declares who he is when he said this in John 14 verse 10: Believeth thou not that I am the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Now we understand through scriptures that Jesus was God in man. That he was human and divine, and he was flesh and spirit. The apostle Paul, again going back to Timothy, trying to make sure that young Timothy doesn't miss any of the things that are going on, says this in First Timothy 3 16: And without controversy, Timothy, I know there's a lot of people getting stirred up around here, but listen to me Timothy, without controversy, great is the mystery. All right, we've got a mystery here, of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Who was manifest in the flesh? God was justified in the spirit. Scene of angels, preaching Gentiles, believed on the world, and received up into glory. Who is he telling Timothy about? Jesus. Jesus. Because who was, who was seen? Who was believed? Who preached on the Gentiles? Who, who received ascendant? He's talking about Jesus in these moments. If I were to ask you, who was justified in the spirit? Scene of angels. Preached. You would say Jesus. Because Jesus is God.

Now we have a fundamental New Testament doctrine that is right here in front of us. Basic church doctrine that the church was built on in the New Testament is: Jesus Christ is God. If not, listen to me, if not, then Jesus was a good teacher, but his blood can't save. He was a good man, but him dying was just a good man dying. Because if it, he is not God, then there is no Emmanuel. There is no God with us. The only way God was with us is because he wrapped himself up in flesh and came. Now if you can't compute that, if he was here, then who was up there? God is omniscient. God is omnipotent. God is omnipresent. He is everywhere, all at the same time. You and I, we're not. I'm right here. I'm nowhere else right now. Now I could let my mind drift away, but my body doesn't go there. Nope, I'm still here. Now I know it's a little bit funny. But we try to, and I talked about this on Wednesday night, we try to stick God inside our mind. He doesn't fit right. And, and if you're honest, you're glad he doesn't fit. I don't want a God that I can fit inside my mind. I'm glad I have a God that's way bigger than my mind can comprehend. That his ways are higher than my ways. It's above what I can
 comprehend. And I got a big imagination. I could come up with some doozy stuff. But I'm glad God says, even your best isn't big enough for me. Even, even your grandest idea, I'm above that. Even, even what you think is a lofty way, I'm higher than that. Because that's how good our God is. So don't get stuck up just because you can't comprehend how he can be in two places at one time. The truth is, you know that, you know that he can. Because he can be in my prayer closet one morning, and at the same time he can be in your prayer closet. What kind of God would he be if he could only spend time with one person at one time? Then we all have to take a ticket, right? We got to get a number. It's like going to the DMV. And we know that is the threshold of hell. We don't want that. I don't want to have to take a ticket. I'm glad I don't have to take a ticket. I'm glad that when he died on that cross, the veil was rent in the temple. That I didn't have to go and find me a priest to talk to. That my high priest died on that cross for the remission of my sins. And therefore, he paid, he punched my ticket, allowing me to go into the throne room anytime I want to. I don't have to stand in line. I don't have to wait for it. I just have to simply say, Jesus I need you. And he comes to where I am.

There has to be a God with us. There has to be an Emmanuel. The death, burial, and resurrection. Repentance, baptism, infilling of his spirit. That is the gospel. That is the plan of salvation. In a couple of Sundays I'm going to go into a deep dive on that. But for where I am today, Jesus says in John 8 24: I said therefore unto you, that he shall die in their sins, if you believe not that I am he. Listen to me. If you go back and look that up, and I know I'm getting down into the weeds here for just a minute, but sometimes I like to get into the weeds. If you get down into the weeds of that verse, if you have here, anybody have an analog Bible with you? That means you have a physical Bible. I know, because I ain't got no log. Yeah, digital on your phone or your iPad. Analog, okay. How many you got to analog? All right, open it up. Go right now. Go to that verse. Go to, go to John 8 24. Now what do you, what you'll see, what you should see, especially if you have a KJV Bible, what you'll see there is the word he is italicized. Now for those of you who don't know this, that the, the those that were translating the Bible over, not every word in Hebrew or in Greek transfers over directly. Sometimes they have to add a few things in there to make the sentence make sense in English. So what you'll see oftentimes is that there are words that are italicized in your Bible. Everything else normally, what you're seeing is, that's indicating that that word was added to bring clarity to the English sentence. Okay. That doesn't mean we discount it, right? We don't throw those words out like they have no meaning. But I'm bringing this up for this very point here. That Jesus in this sentence, if you take out the word that was added, he says, you believe not that I am. The great I Am.

Now if you wonder why the Pharisees and Sadducees, he's always gotten mad. I know Jeff, I'm walking. And make sure I'm mad when I walk. We'll just have to get over it. They got mad because he would use the unspoken name. See, for, for a couple, about 300 years, once they come back from captivity, they tried to make sure that they were going to live right. So they're going to put more regulations around everything. Like that always helps, right? And that's a bureaucratic government way of thinking. We need more rules. That's going to help everybody have. In making more rules, they decided to outlaw the use of his name, because it was too holy. It
 was, it was too special for any common person. Now they didn't blanket outlawed right off the bat. They just said commoners can't do it, but you know, special people can use the name. And then they got to where even the special people couldn't do it, just those in the priesthood. And then they narrowed down that and said, not even the priesthood can do it, only the high priest. And then, only the high priest could use the name when he's behind the veil on, on, on, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, behind the veil. So here's what happens is, they forgot what it sounded like, because nobody was speaking it. But they knew the connotation that was there. And then when Jesus shows up in those moments, and he declares, and you only get this in the book of John, John the last, last one to write the book, John who had a firsthand account, John shows us this, that when he comes up, he starts declaring, that he uses the I Am. You want to know why the, why the Pharisees and said she's gotten mad? It wasn't because he was healing people. No, they didn't care about that. It wasn't because he was quoting scripture. No, they didn't care about that. It wasn't because he was doing all these things. They tried to catch him, because they were mad. But the sole reason they were frustrated is because he was claiming to be God. He was claiming to be the God, the great I Am. And it infuriated him to the point that they were ready to take up stones.

He gets up and, and even his own disciples are struggling with this for a minute. And we see this, this kind of come to a head in John chapter 14, verse number six. Now, now follow me in this moment. Listen to the conversation. Jesus is there with him. I'm reading from the New Living Translation. Jesus told him, verse number six, this is Philip, and he's telling them: I am the way, the truth, and life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Stop there for just a minute. At least they're asking the question. Who, who is he? Where's God? And Jesus is saying, hello, from now on. What he's saying is, I'm giving you this revelation. You're kind of slow here, but I'm not going to make fun of you boys. All right, put your velcro shoes on and stick with me. That's funny. Some of y'all get that later. From this moment forward, I shouldn't have to explain this. When you see me, you're seeing the Father. That's what he's saying.

Look, verse number eight: Philip said, Lord, show us the Father. Come on, Philip. He just told you. You already got to stay after class. Show us the Father and we'll be satisfied. I see Jesus going, really Philip? Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you s, yet you still don't know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. So why are you asking me to show him to you? How could he say this unless he was God in flesh? Philip didn't ask to see Jesus. He has to see the Father. And Jesus said, look here, look at me. When you've seen me, you've seen the Father. That's why Paul writes again in Colossians 2 9: For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily, and you're complete in him. John records the words of Jesus when he said in John 10 30: I and my Father are one. They never mention a holy two or a holy three. It's always a holy one, an abiding one. God, our God is one. Ephesians 4 5 and 6: Our Lord, excuse me, One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and the Father of all, who's above all, and through all, and in you all. First Timothy two verse number five: For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

At Calvary God didn't die. Listen to me for just a minute. I don't, I want to make sure everybody's clear on this, all right? I don't believe in dead deity. My
 God has never died. My God has never died. I don't believe in a God that can die. And that's not me. That's not my God. And maybe your God, it ain't my God. My God did not die. Now you got to follow me, because you're going to get lost. Don't get lost. We've come too far for you to get lost now. The Son of God died. What do I mean by that? The humanity of God died. The flesh died. But God the eternal Spirit did not die on a cross. When Jesus hung on the cross, he said this in Matthew 27 verse number 46: About the nineth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, Alumni Shabbat. And I, that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This was not one God forsaken another. I heard one guy try to describe this one time, said, oh God was so upset, he looked down the sun, he just tore all the pages. He couldn't look at it. He turned his back, and that's why the sun went away. What sense does that make? What sense does that make? What happened was, that man Jesus, he was fully man, that flesh had been indwelled with God's Spirit. The Spirit left the body. And it was in that moment, for the first time, he felt the weight of sin upon him. What he was crying out was, I have never felt what I'm feeling right now in this moment. God, why have you forsaken me? What happened on that cross was, the flesh died on that cross. The Spirit didn't die. That body spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. But down in three days, the Spirit re-entered that body, and he was resurrected.

That's why Jesus could say in Revelations chapter 1 verse number 18 — now listen to me, listen, look at me right now. If you call me pastor, if I've ever been a shepherd in your life, this is an important thing for you to distinguish and make sure you, you understand this truth in your Bible. If you have a version of the Bible that does not have Revelations chapter 1 verse number 18 and red letter words, you need to get rid of that Bible. It's important. Now if you have a Bible right now, I invite you to open up and see. Is it, if you have a red-lettered edition, your red letter edition shuttle. Because this is the words of Jesus in this moment. Revelation 1 18: I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of hell and of death. The Spirit never died. Just the flesh.

Now this is important. All right, I'm going to get back to this in a minute. Now some of y'all looking around, look, I'm saying on chunky Bibles in the back. All right, don't do that. All right, I'm just letting you know that these were the words of Jesus. They should be red-lettered in your Bible. Some versions, and the New Living Translation is one of them, does not red letter these words. I like the New Living Translation, but it has errors in it. I know where the errors are. I'll point the arrows out for you. That's an error. These are words of Jesus. He was the one that died. He's the one that went down the head, to hell, and took back the keys. Told the devil, look, give me them keys. And on his way out he looked at him and said, hey, my kids are going to show up one day, and they're going to bang on that door, and you're going to let them in. That's not my message, but that's powerful. You don't have to worry about what the enemy's taking from you. You have the ability through God to go back and get it. Another message for another day. But it feels really good right now to tell you that our God, when he died on the cross, while things were going on, we thought it was all over. The disciples, when he hit, he was busy. He wasn't taking a nap. In fact, he went down. He went down to hell. He grabbed them keys up. He also went back to the, where the chair was at, the tree
 of life. And said, hey, you need to get out of here, because I'm here right now, and I'm here to restore that life. We have so many things going for us when we understand the mighty God in Christ.

Let me ask you a question: who raised Jesus from the dead? The Bible does not contradict itself. I don't even have to defend it. It has lasted all by itself. It doesn't need you to defend it. It doesn't need me to defend it. It stands all by itself. Now what I'm trying to do is to point you to what it says. So let me ask you a question: what does the word of God say about who raised Jesus up from the dead? That's a good question. You are smart people. Let's go to the Bible. According to Galatians 1 and 1, the Father raised Jesus from the dead. Paul, an apostle, not of men, either by men, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. Anybody confused about this verse? Paul, right in the church there, who did Paul say raise him from the dead? No, it's not a trick question. What'd he say? The Father did it. Yeah. All right. But John 2 19, Jesus said in John chapter 2 verse number 19: Jesus answered and said in them, Destroy this temple, in three days I will raise it up. This said the Jews: 46 years was a temple in building, and wilt thou reared up in three days? Verse 21: But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said unto them, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said. So according to John chapter 2 verse number 19, who's going to raise him up? He said he raised himself, didn't he? All right. So now we have Galatians 1 said it's going to be the Father. But Jesus shows up and says it's going to be him. But let's go further. Romans chapter 8 verse number 11. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelling. Back up a little. Confused here, right? This does, this, this seem confusing? Because Paul said it was going to be the Father. Jesus said he's going to do it. But then we read again that Paul writes, it's the Holy Spirit. What are we going to believe about this? See, I don't believe for a minute on that great getting that morning, that the Father says, oh, would you look at the time. I'm supposed to get him up, about miss my deadline, you know. And Jesus pokes his head out of the tomb and says, No, no, I said I was going to do it. And all of a sudden the Holy Spirit skids over from the side and says, Both of y'all are wrong. It's going to be me. No, that's not what happened. There wasn't a holy committee of three up there. They're all talking about the same thing. It's the one God who said, I'm going to do it.

Don't miss out. The Bible doesn't contradict itself. It makes perfect sense. There are three that build record, according to scripture. First John 5 7. There are three that bear a record in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. It does not say that there are three in heaven. That's not what it said. Did it say that? That's not what it said. It said there are three that bear record in heaven: the Father, the Word, which knows the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And John the beloved, the revelator, he sums all these things up by saying, these three are one. There's the dual nature we have to deal with. We, we understand that Jesus was human, and he was God.

Now I've had people say, well, well, when he was in the garden, and who was he praying to? That's a good question. It's a legitimate question, as you're trying to process through this. How does that happen? What do I do with this? That's where you have to realize, when you're reading through the scripture, it's important that you read with an understanding. And ask yourself, okay, if he's working a miracle, does this flesh, human flesh, work miracles? No. No
. But when it says he got hungry, do you think God gets hungry? Do you think he's up there going, boy I'm starving right now, I'd really like some ribs? Hey, see, God doesn't do that, all right? So that's when you read through and you ask yourself. There are things, in it to me, it's really, really plain. We lay it out there and say, when it says that he hunger, when it says he thirsts, when he said that he was tired, do you think God gets tired? God doesn't get tired. Any time you read those things, it's talking about the humanity of Jesus. But when you see him walking on water, when you see him open blinded eyes, when you see him raising people from the dead, when you see him curing the lepers, that's divine. Both things taken place in the same thing. So in the garden, when the humanity of Jesus is saying, if it possible let this cup pass from me, it's flesh wrestling with what it knows the Spirit's wanting it to do. Anybody have those moments in your prayer closet? Yes, I do. Where I go in on a regular basis and my flesh is saying, God I want to be good today. God I want to be honest. God I want to be, be upright. God I want to, flesh is dealing with what I know the Spirit's leading me. That's what's taking place in the garden. Is the flesh of the man Jesus is, is getting to where he can bring his will into alignment, so that he can make the statement: Nevertheless, not my fleshly will, but your divine Spirits will be done. There's a dual nature. You have to understand the dual nature of who he was.

John 12 32: And if I be lifted up from earth, I will draw amen unto me. The Son. John 6 44: No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him up in that day. The Father. You may one day find yourself asking the question, well, who's the Alpha and Omega? Again, I take you back to Revelations chapter 1 verse number 18, which is red lettered, which is red letter, red letter. It says, I'm the Alpha and Omega, the beginning in the end. Stay at the Lord, which is, which was, and which was to come. But let's go to Revelations 21 in your Bible. Flip over there. Flip quickly in your scriptures. Revelations 21 verse number 6. This is not red lettered: And he said unto me, It is done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end. I will give unto him that is the thirst, the fountain of the water life freely. And he that overcometh shall inherit all things. And I will be his God, and he shall be my son. This is God the Father speaking in this moment. How can he do it? Because the two are one.

You may find yourself asking one day, who's the coming one? Who's coming back? John 14 3: And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Jesus. First John chapter three verse number one: Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. And doth not yet appear what we shall be. But when we, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Referring to the Father. It's impossible that two persons draws us to God, or as Alpha Omega, or is coming back again. Only one person you'll see in heaven. The only person you're gonna see is Jesus Christ sitting on the throne. There's only one throne in heaven. There's only one throne in heaven. In heaven you're gonna see one throne. In heaven you're going to see one, one sitting on the throne.

This is non-negotiable, ladies and gentlemen. We have to be united in this understanding and comprehension of who he is. Revelation chapter four verse number one: After this I looked, and behold, the door was open in heaven. And the first voice
 which I heard was as it were a trumpet talking to me, which said: Come up hither, and I'll show you things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the Spirit. And behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one set on the throne. God in the Old Testament operated as a Spirit. But in the New Testament, God operates as the Son, Christ Jesus.

How many people, I'm getting ready to close. How many people, how many people struggle when you, when you see what happened to Stephen in the book of Acts? I've ran into individuals trying to describe this. What was going on? What was taking place? Steven, there in Acts chapter seven, as he was there, and all of a sudden they bring him out and begin to stone him. And we see the moment where he, he, he says this verse, chapter 7 verse 36: And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opening, the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears, and ramped him with one accord, and cast him out of the city and stone him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.

So much in this passage of verse of scripture right here. I heard Johnny Godaire one time tell a fabulous story about a new convert that had come into understanding the mighty God in Christ. And he didn't really know his Bible full well. But he went back, and he's telling everybody about, that Jesus is God, and going through this whole thing. Into which some of his friends that had a different understanding of scriptures began to really challenge them, and bring up to the point of when Stephen's being stoned. And, and the young man, he didn't fully under know the story. He had never heard it. He said, well read it to me. They read this passage of scripture to him, to which he gave one of the most brilliant responses I've ever heard in my life, and said this: Any man getting hit in the head rocks, Allah will say anything. But we know there's a much better answer to that than somebody getting into head rocks is allowed to say anything.

Here's the truth. Stephen was a good Jewish boy. He had been the synagogue. He had been taught. He knew fuel and understood that when you talk about anything that refers to the right hand of God, you're talking about authority and power. Let me ask you a question. The Bible says that God is a Spirit, okay? Does anybody disagree with that? That's, that you shouldn't, because that's what the word of God says. The God is the Spirit, okay? If God's a Spirit, where's his right hand? Just, just curious. Matter of fact, I'll take it even one step further. Where's his right side? If he's a Spirit, how can you distinguish right from left in a Spirit? You can't. He was speaking metaphorically. He understood, when he looked up, what he was seeing, as he understood that Jesus was the authority and the power of God. That's what he was seeing in that moment. He wasn't seeing a duality. He wasn't seeing dual nature. He wasn't seeing a holy trinity up there. What he was seeing was a comprehension of knowledge and understanding of all the teaching that he had been taught in his life, in that moment, right before he died. He got a revelation of what was taking place.

John 1 18: No man hath seen God at any time. So if no man's seen God, then how did Steven see? Jesus is the image of the invisible God. God is a Spirit. God is omniscient. He's all present. He's everywhere. Exodus 15 and 12. That stretcheth out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. We know that they did not see a physical hand. Simply, they were, it was the power and the authority, it was there.

As they bring this to a close, musicians are coming. I know this is a different message than what I normally preach on a Sunday. But I could not get away from what I feel like God was leading me to do. That we are heading into some troubled waters. Not that I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm a doomsday prophet or speaker. That's not what
 I'm saying. But our climate and our culture is changing so rapidly, that there's constant disagreement and disharmony everywhere we go. It's all around us, everywhere. That I feel like God is, is in, in the Spirit. He's moving, and he's doing some phenomenal things in our churches. There's, there's miracles that are taking place. There's lives being put back together. God's pouring out his Spirit. All these things are going on. But I feel, as, as pastored, that I had to come back, because of where I feel like God's taking us in this last day of revival. Because sometimes there has to be a great shaking for the revival to take place. And I feel in this last days there's stuff being shook all around us. But that's not a time for us to go back then and make sure that everything's tightened down in our understanding, before we get to that great shaking. And I feel like God was telling me, you got to go back and unite them. You got to go back and show up some things. You got to go back and make sure that they understand, that they know who I am. That they understand who I am to them. That's why I was telling you that this message is a non-negotiable message. To understand this is to understand scriptures.

I know that if you could drive down this street and go to any denominal church up and down these roads, you're going to have people who will argue with what I preach today and say it's not true. That's why I use so much scripture in what I did today. I didn't want you to say that my pastor's opinion about this. Listen, this is not my opinion. This is what, thus saith the word of God. I'm here to tell you, you can feel the presence of God in a lot of places around here, but you can't always see the demonstration of the power of the Holy Ghost like you see in a church where truth is being taught on a regular basis. There's something powerful when you understand the mighty God in Christ. That when I cry out to that name, I'm talking to God the creator. I'm talking to God the savior. I'm talking to God the provider. I'm talking to God the healer. It all is wrapped up in the name of Jesus. It's not for sale. It's not negotiable. I have to understand it. I have to live it. It has to be a part of the fiber of everything that I do.

So as you stand with me, there will be opposition to truth in the world. But I've come too far in my life, and I've seen too much. That's why I would take a Sunday, when this would normally be a Wednesday night Bible study, I would take a Sunday and tell you, you have to understand this. This is the stuff that gets us over there. This is the stuff you have to settle in your life. These, these things today, next Sunday, the next couple Sundays, what I'm going to come to you for, they're non-negotiable. The foundational understandings of the Apostolic doctrine that you have to have in your life, in order to go to where he is. Yes, he's a loving God. And he's so loving that he perfectly packaged it all together and put it in his scriptures. And then, if you are a Holy Ghost field person, that Spirit living in you will take this word and bring it to life. And you read these passages, and it comes off and it grabs you right here, and it won't let you go. Because that Spirit in you is identifying with the word, because the word is him. He's in you. He's around you. He's here. And he's trying to lead you into a deeper walk.

Now I know that God wants to do something here. So it's time for alter. They're going to play. They'll probably have a song to sing. They can come on out. You don't come out of the closet. Come on, come out of the back room. Got to be careful what you say these days. Listen to me, Mariota, he has trouble these waters up here. And I don't know what you have need of. But if, if salvation is what you need, I invite you to come down. Let us pray with you, because the God of salvation is here. His name is Jesus. If you need a healing in your body, I invite you to come down, because the healer is here in this place. His name is Jesus. If you need provision in your life, things are out of control, the circumstances are, are such that you don't know how you're going to make it, I invite you, because Jehovah Jireh is here. We call him Jesus. If you need your relationship restored, whatever it is, whatever you have need of, I invite you now. Come down. Exercise your faith. Trust that God wants to do something in this place. They're going to lead us in song, and I'm going to pray with you.