Known By God
by Wesley Stephens
June 16, 2020 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Matthew 7:21-23, Galatians 4:4-6, Acts 2:38, John 3:3, John 3:5, Romans 8:9, Galatians 4:7, Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:9, Acts 2:39

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/wesley-stephens--known-by-god
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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If you have your Bibles, you can turn with me to Matthew the seventh chapter. Be reading from verses 21 through 23. Thankful for the worship today. I will say this: I feel like my opening text will take a little bit of that joy perhaps away from the song we were just seeing. But I do know this: God has a plan for this service. It's telling Bishop a few minutes ago, even before pastor asked me to preach today, I felt this word for our church. And if you've, if you preached before, you know the difference between preaching and preaching with a burden. I feel like today God's put a burden in this word for us. So Matthew chapter 7 verse 21, if you got it say, got it. Alright, for those that don't, you can look at the screen. Verse 21, it says: not everyone who says to me, Lord Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not cast out demons in your name? Have we not done many wonders in your name? And then I, being Jesus here, will declare to them: I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.

Over the last several weeks, I will be pretty transparent and tell you, these verses have kept me up at night. They've troubled me. They've they've disturbed me. I can't think off the top of my head of a more disheartening portion of Scripture than what we find here in Matthew the seventh chapter. To read this portion of Scripture is to see a people who are doing mighty works in the name of God. They're casting out demons. They're performing work miracles. They're they're working in ministry. They're dedicating least some portion of their life to the name of Jesus. Yet scripture says that on that day Jesus will look at them and say: I never knew you. I never knew you. And I don't know about you, but there is something inside of me that's rising up, and what I believe to be these last days, something's rising up in me, a determination that says: I do not want to wake up one day seeing Jesus face to face and hearing anything other than, well done thou good and faithful servant. So today, with the Lord's help, I want to preach on this title: known by God. Known by God.

Can we just pray for just a second here before we dive into the message? Slowly love you God. Thank you so much for your presence that we feel in this place. God, I'm thankful for the Holy Ghost. I'm thankful that your spirits moving in this place in a mighty way. God, I pray right now, Lord Jesus, that the word that you put inside of me would come out the way that you desire it, God. And I pray that we would have a move of the Holy Ghost here today. I pray that someone would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the first time. In Jesus name, let the church say Amen. Amen.

On that day, will I be known of God? I'm telling you, this question, this idea, this this this wandering of, will I be known, it's kept me up. It's it's made me, it's driven me to a place where I've had deep times of prayer and meditation, just soaking in the the scripture in Matthew, where it talks about how Jesus looks to a group of people and says: I don't know you, depart from me. I know that this is kind of a heavy start to a sermon, but this afternoon I feel that in these days, yes they be the last days, that we understand and comprehend that there are going to be people on that day who are surprised by what they hear the Lord say. That day undoubtedly is going to be here sooner rather than later, and we need to be ready for that day. I'm going to preach as quickly as I can today, but I feel in my spirit the need to persuade someone to examine what that day is going to look like, what it's going to be like when you see Christ's face to face.

What is a day? What is a day? I, we know various measurements of the day. We know that there are 24 hours in a day. We know there are 1440 minutes in a day. We know there's 86,400 seconds in a day. We measure days through these terms. But we also measure days by, were they a good day or were they a bad days? He may ever had a good day before. Has he ever had a bad day before? I think the bad days one there. Unfortunately, some people have a bad day every day. Hashtag pity party for one. We get to see it on Facebook. FDR said of a day, that it's date will live in infamy. There are days that we will never forget. There are days that changed our life. Days like 9/11, where if you were alive on that day, and I do have to say that, because we have a lot of students on the youth group who weren't, but if you are alive that day, you know where you were. You know, you remember how you received the news of the attack on our nation. Days like 9/11 stand out.

Each year we celebrate days of joy. We celebrate birthdays. When you're younger, they're more exciting. When you're older, you just say: give me the Blue Bell, give me a couch, and I'm gonna be good for the rest of the day. I don't want to talk to nobody. I don't want anybody, don't put kit, if you put candles on the cake, we're on a fight. I'm there. I know I don't want that. I was here those candles. I can't put that many candles on a cake. On November 22nd there was a special day. It was the day when my son Knox was born. But it was also the day that my mom was born. They were born on different years, just so you know. But on this day, November 22nd, sometimes it's also Thanksgiving day. I called that day the trifecta. That's the day where we're going to get turkey, we're gonna get cake, and we're gonna get football. The person who invented stretchy pants was thinking of the trifecta. They were thinking of that day. There's days like Independence Day, just a few weeks away. Our second president John Adams said on that day we ought to celebrate with pomp and parade, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other. Basically he was saying, on the 4th we ought to blow some stuff up. Shout merica. Then there's my favorite day of the year, which is Christmas Day. I love Christmas Day. I love celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. It's always a special time for so many.

We love days. We love celebrating days. We love marking our calendars with days. We love highlighting certain weeks and days of the year as days that we're going to love and cherish and celebrate. But I can tell you that there is a day that's coming that is going to be grander and more important than any day that we have ever experienced before. There is going to be a day, and it's coming soon, that will supersede any other day that you have
 ever lived. Jesus, he speaks of this day in Matthew chapter 7. And he says of this day, that this will be the last day, will be the judgment day, will be the day where we see Jesus face-to-face. And the question that we will have to answer, the question that will be answered for us, will be: does God know me? Does God know me? If you're here today, I want you to know that that day is certainly a day that we ought to to think of often. And in fact, I can honestly say, I think there's only really two days: that today and that day. Because what you knew today will determine what that day will be like for you. You know, so many people are worried about their past being reasons why they can't get to heaven. But we know where sin was, there was more grace that abounded. You can't listen to this, you can't do anything about your past. You can't change your yesterday's. What you can do today is take the blood of Christ that was shed for you and let it cover every sin that's in your life. And you can't worry about tomorrow. We know the Bible talks about this. You, you're not even promised tomorrow. Why are you so worried about it? Yeah, I'll just tell you, one thing that drives me crazy is hearing people say: well, I'll get right with God later in life. Can I remind you, there's going to be a day? Can I remind you, there's going to be a day, and you don't know when that day is going to come? You know, we like to mark our calendars, but there is a day that we cannot mark. There is an hour that we cannot mark. And that is when Christ comes back for his church. What do you do today is what determines what that day will look like. And all you have to work for on that day is today.

But jesus said: on that day, meaning, will come to me and say, Lord Lord. It's a powerful statement. You know, there's a oneness apostolic person, I look at that scripture, I'll be honest, I get a little excited when I read that scripture. Because Jesus will hear this, he says: they will come to, WHO, they'll come to me. You know, I'm not trying to bash any denomination right now or any theology. But I can tell you with certainty, there's gonna be one throne in heaven. You're gonna be answering to one person. There's not going to be a junior throne over to the side somewhere. You're gonna see Jesus face-to-face. Jesus said: you're not gonna come talk to us, you're gonna come talk to me. He's gonna be there. And many will come to him that day and say: Lord Lord, we prophesied, we did works, we were building your kingdom. They'll say, Lord Lord. But there's a statement there that it should cause us discomfort today. And it's the statement: I never knew you. I never knew you. Jesus, he's talking to these people who are not known, or described at least as evil. They're not nefarious criminals. They're not people who have hid years of obscene cinder. They're people who were working for the kingdom of God. And I feel in my spirit that today it ought to be a red flag for each and every one of us, that just because we are doing good things does not mean that we are necessarily doing god things. Your good deeds will not get you into heaven. Hears that today: your your list of good deeds will not get you, hey, well done thou good and faithful servant. On that day, Jesus says: I don't know you. But Lord, we did all these works. We we were, we were working hard for your kingdom. I don't care. I don't know you.

I'll just say this right now: if that doesn't shake you, there's nothing in the scripture that's gonna shake you. If this doesn't bother you, there's nothing in scripture that will ever bother you. If this is an upset you, if this doesn't make you want to make sure today that you're right with God, there is no scripture in the Bible that will make you want to get right with God, then hearing Jesus Christ look at you and say: I never knew you. I never knew you. Could it be today, could it be on that day, that the only thing that really matters is not how much you know God, but how much God knows you? And I think we get a lot, we get way too comfortable with, we know the name. We know the name. We we are baptizing, and I'm thankful for the name. I'm thankful that I know the name. I think though I know the truth. But can I tell you, there's going to be a day where knowing his name will not matter. It won't matter. It does, he know your name? Does he know you? Does he know you in a, in a way? You can be the most convincing person in this world. You could be known by everybody. You could be known by your peers as a great person. You can be known for by your deeds. You could be known by your good acts. You could be known about the ministry staff as being a good person. You can even hold title in a church. But the question comes down for each and every one of us: it does not matter if your second, first-generation apostolic, 9th generation apostolic, if you're related to Moses somehow, there's gonna be a day where the only thing that matters is: were you known by God today? Are you known by him?

I remember as a kid, I went with my parents one one day to the mall. And there was a an NFL player there that I really really honestly just loved. He was, when I played, my favorite football player. And it was a guy named Frank wycheck. Anybody remember Frank wycheck? Music City miracle, come on now. I remember going to the mall. I've been literally hyped up for days. My dad had got me this Frank wycheck football, and there had like statistics on there. And I had memorized every single one of them. I could have told Frank how many catches he had in college, how many catches he had in the NFL. I could have told him every, I literally, I could tell me where he went to school, where he grew up. Like I knew Frank wycheck. We got in this line. It was at a place called champs, I think there was a store name. And we're in this line, and I mean it was a long one. And I could see him at one point in the distance. I was like, that's Frank wycheck, there he is, in the flesh, that I only see him on TV. I was like, there he is. I mean, I've seen him on the picture radio. There he is. There he is, Frank why chicken. I got all the way up to, and I, I'll never forget it. I had this football, and I I said: Mr wide chick, will you, will you sign this football for me? I was so excited. Mister check, he looked at me, and he said: sure son, but what's your name? What's your name? Because he wanted to put two Wesley, and then signed it the football. And I'll be honest, when he asked me for my name, it crushed me. It upset me. I was
 like: mr. white chick, I watch you every Sunday. I cheer for your your team every week. I root for you guys when you threw that ball over to Dyson. Like I was in your corner. I was fighting with you. Like I am your biggest fan. And yet he asked me, what was my name? I wonder in a spiritual sense, how many of us each and every Sunday come into the house of God and we root for God. We we cheer for good things that happen. We worship what we're supposed to worship. We ain't men where we're supposed to amen. We know God. But the question comes down to: does God know you? Does God know you? You know him, but is, if the tables were turned today, does he know you? Mister why check, he crushed my soul, and he said: what's your name? But there's going to be a day where it's going to be a lot more than just making your feelings hurt, when the master looks at you and says: now what's your name? What's your name? Who are you? I don't know you. Depart.

I'm reaching for somebody today. I'm reaching for somebody who thinks that just church attendance is good enough. I'm reaching for somebody today that's tired of just playing church and looking like the church and posting on Instagram like you're a part of that church. I'm reaching for somebody today who's tired of just having a surface relationship with Christ, but you know there's something more. You know there's something more for you to do for the kingdom of God. I'm looking for somebody today who's tired of just playing the church, and you want to be the church. Is there anybody today who wants to be the church? Is there anybody today who doesn't want to just know God, but you want to be known by God?

I remember when I was in my my early 20s, I would go, you know, I have a meemaw, and maybe ever me mom, grandma Betty, meemaw, and sure, I love my me mama. You know, I was like my favorite human being in the world. She's awesome. I remember going to her house. I was in my 20s, and I wasn't really living the way that I should live. And one night I was sleeping there, and then God woke me up with just a horrific dream. It was Judgment Day. And like there was a list of all the things I didn't do that God had asked me to do. And boy, you just hate those dreams, you know. It's like, God, really, like you couldn't tell me stir in the day. Like I have to wake up, it's 2:00 in the morning. Like come on, as if God cares about my calendar. I woke up, and I was like, I started praying. And God, and the Holy Ghost was telling me: you need to get to to your home church, and II to pray through on Sunday. It was, it was early morning Sunday, about 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. I lived about three hours away from my meemaw, lived about three hours away from a home church. I remember driving all the way there and got to an altar. And I'll never forget, on that day I made a decision that I was no longer going to live for God for my meemaw. And I decided that while my late, my parents relationship with God was great, it wasn't good enough for me. I remember thinking to myself: I didn't make this personal. I need a man to make this relationship with God about him and me, not anybody else. And I remember at that altar pleading and saying: God, if you'll take me back, I promise you I'll get close to you. I'll never leave you. I'll never walk away from you. I want to be right there beside you. I want to make this thing about you and me, not about anybody else.

I've been the youth pastor you here for about eight years. I've been the youth president in our state for a couple years. And I've noticed a trend in our students. The most miserable students in our youth groups are the students who are living for God because their parents were telling them to Kansas. Can I expand this to the rest of the church? The most miserable Christians are the ones living for God because they're afraid to go to hell. Come on, you don't need to live for God just to avoid hell. You need to live for God because it's the best life. My Bible says: taste and see that the Lord is good. I can't, I hate to bust your bubble tonight, but I can't. I can't taste the Lord for you. You've got, you've got to come to an altar yourself. It's not your mom. It's not your dad. It's not your grandpappy. It's nothing. If you want to see that the Lord is good, then you've got to come to an altar and experience him for yourself. I've made that decision in my early twenties, and I can tell you, there's never been a day that I've regretted it. But each and every day he's gotten better. He's become more wonderful. He's become closer. He's become my god.

Matthew 7, told you the beginning, it's been troubling me, it's bothering me. The folks here who asked to be departed from the Lord's presence, you seem like good people, seem like good folk. They're Christians. They've been working in his kingdom. Bothers me. I was thinking to myself: how does an all-knowing omniscient God not know the Christians? How does he look at those people and say, I don't know you? We teach, we preach, that he knew us but while we were in our mother's womb. We teach him preach that he, he knows the the number of hairs on our head. For me, that's getting easier every day. I asked the question, and maybe you're asking the question today: god, how do you not know these people? When you dig into the word, here's a deal: when you read the Word of God and there's a question that pops up, if you keep reading, you'll find an answer. God doesn't create confusion. He's not, he's not the author of that. He's not gonna set you up and say: hey, read this portion of scripture, I'm gonna blow your mama, give you all these questions and I'm not gonna answer him at all. I said that. I said: God, why in the world do you say you don't know these people? Started digging a little bit, and the first answer I found was that when God is talking about knowing here in verse 23, he's not talking about knowing people from a distance. He's not even talking about acquaintances. He thought, he, you know, some of you, you evaluate, should I accept a person as a friend on Facebook by how many other friends you have with that person? Take me, the worst person in the world, but you're like: well, I got 20 mutual friends, I should accept. Jesus ain't talking about knowing you good enough to accept your friendship on Facebook. Y'all get this? When he says no, he's not talking about like a surface level, we barely know each other, you came into church one time and felt goose bumps and walked away the same person you always were. When Jesus says no here, I never knew you, that that new way, it literally means, it means to know someone at an intimate level. If you're looking at a, and
 I'm not trying to get weird, but it literally talks about a husband and wife, how they know each other. There's an intimacy. We're not talking first date, first love, like I got those butterflies. We're talking about like commitment. When Jesus says, I never knew you, he's basically saying: you were never committed to me. We weren't close like that. You knew me, I knew you, but I didn't really know, no. You, first 23, is talking about an intimate level. But anything goes further than that. Because as I continue to read in the Bible, I got to Galatians chapter 4. And I'm gonna tell you, Galatians 4, it rocked my world a couple of weeks ago. And verse number four of Galatians 4 says: but when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law. It's important there, not for us to understand, that guy, when he came to this earth, he was born of a woman. He was made of a woman, and he was made under the law. Why is that important? Because we are under the law. In order for Jesus to reach us, he had to put himself under the laws. This makes sense. He couldn't have impacted our lives unless he came through the legal and legitimate way. He came to this earth. And verse 5, it says, he came to redeem those who were under the law. If Jesus wasn't under the law, he could have never redeemed us. But God came to redeem those that, he might pose, is saying here that there's, there's something's about to happen, if we're willing to let it happen.

You see, Redemption was not our part. It was never our job. You could not redeem yourself. You could not do enough good things to redeem yourself. It took a sinless man named Jesus Christ to go shed his blood on Calvary. That was the way we were redeemed. Redemption is not a might. Redemption is not a maybe. It was done. It's done. When He shed that first drop of blood, it was done. Calvary, he ain't, covers the multitude of sins. It was our Redemption. It was our plan for salvation. He, it was what opened the door for us to have a a close encounter with God. It was God's desire to reconcile the world to himself, and he did it through Calvary. And so while Redemption is not a mite or a maybe, there is an option in here force, and that is adoption. That we might receive the adoption as sons. Maybe thinking, why in the world does that matter? Here's the deal: Calvary, you can't choose it. It chose you. Calvary is not a respecter of people. It respects every single person. This is why I know about Calvary, is it, the blood that was shed at Calvary is good for each and every person. Hmm, I'm talking about people who don't look like you. I'm talking about people that don't act like you. I'll tell my people that don't talk like you. I'm talking about skin colors of all varieties. Here's a deal: the blood that was shed at Calvary, it's good for whosoever will. And I'll tell you this about Calvary: nobody can take Calvary away from you. Let me tell you who can't take Calvary away from you: you can't take Calvary away from yourself. You can't do enough bad in this, you can't do enough bad, you can't do enough. I hate when people say: I've messed up, I've gone too far. No no no no. You have not comprehended Calvary. Because Calvary says, no matter what you've done, and no matter where you've been, you can still have the blood bubble your life. You cannot choose Calvary. But what you can choose, it is adoption.

Can't say it this way: you can't choose redemption, but you can choose Pentecost. I was reading an article a couple days ago that said: for those that are Pentecostal, they want to take a deeper level in their walk with Christ than other Christians do. I won't get to a rant here in a second. But are you kidding me? Like, as a Christian, you can, right, Pentecostals are just a little bit more hungry for the things of God than I am? I'm not trying, I'm just, I'm not trying to bash any denomination right now. But redemption was given to us. Adoption is something that we get to choose. Says in verse 5, he keeps on saying, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Verse 6: and because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son. He might know what that is. That's the Holy Ghost. It's saying in verse 6: because you are sons, he sent forth his spirit. And when you're, his spirit enters your heart, there's something that happens. And what happens is, you begin crying out: Abba Father. Can I break that word down for you? It means daddy. When you get the Holy Ghost, there is something that takes place inside of your heart, inside of your spirit, that enables you to look at Jesus a different way. He's no longer just the Savior. He's no longer just the one, I'll come on somebody, he's northern just the one that shed his blood on Calvary. But when you receiving his spirit, you become his son. Now this bothers some people. I understand this bothers people. People like: I've already, he's already my father. He's already, he's already my daddy. You know, Pentecostals, do you think you guys speaking in tongues, God, the holy goes before he, he's my father. He's already my father. Again, I don't mean it as a disrespect, but if you think he's your father before you receive the spirit burn, you're wrong. Incorrect. Incorrect.

You know, if I went to an adoption agency right now, and saw a kid, there was a good-looking kid, I said: I want to adopt that kid. I said: I love this kid. I'm gonna take him home with me. I take him home. I give him room. Put him in there. I take him, I just straight take him. You know what that's called? Side call adoption. It's called kidnapping. It's called Amber Alert. It's called, I'm no longer the youth pastor here. It's called, I got a record. It's called, the Popo, they're looking for me right now. I better stop screaming. Oh yeah, y'all with me? You don't just hop into an adoption agency and pick up the first kid you like, and say, I love you, you love me, I'm now your daddy. No no. There is a legality to all of this. There is an adoption letter that has to be stamped and signed by the government before you ever become dad. Y'all hearing this? People will say, he's my god. Here's the deal: legally, he's not your dick God. He's not your father. Let me correct that. When people say he's my father before they got the spirit, like from a legal standpoint they are not right. I'm the father of Knox and Hazel, because my name is on their birth - I am their legal father. Y'all got this? You only adopted when you get the name attached to you. You're only, you're only his son when the names attached to you. You're only his son when you've been buried, buried in his name in Baptism. Not titles of his name, but his name. And you're only his whenever his Spirit enters your heart. Now some people will say that that sounds too legalistic, you know, for a long
 time. When people call Pentecostal legalistic, I used to bother me. He stops at me. I'm like, how in the world would you call me, how dare you? You know, they're like saying you're a Pharisee. Hold up here, some bad dudes. People say that Pentecostals are legalistic. I was looking up the definition of legalistic. You know what that legalistic definition is, is to adhere excessive, excessively to a law or formula. That's what the definition is. I'll be honest: there is a law, it's the Word of God. There is a formula, it's found in acts 2:38: repent, be baptized in Jesus name, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And that's me being legalistic, then baby, I'm legalistic. I'm sorry. You're not going to come and bother me by saying I'm Lila get legalistic, because I believe in one Lord, one faith, one baptism. You're not going to catch me there. You're not gonna bother, that's legalistic, then I am legalistic 100%. Because there is one God. There is one Father. There is one who's above all, and through all, and in you all. And there is only one name whereby. If that's legalistic, then stamp me legalistic. Because I believe in the name that's above every name. You Pentecostals, you believe it, they're speaking in tongues, and is all the way to receive the Holy Ghost. No, it's the evidence. It's not the holy ghost. It's the evidence. Yeah, I'll just go a step further, say I'm not sorry that it's the evidence. Some people I've heard apologize for speaking in tongues. Are you kidding me? People say, you know, if you think that you have to be born of water in spirits then you're legalistic. And I'm saying, all right, then you're saying Jesus is legalistic then. Because last time I checked my Bible, in John 3 and 3 and 3 and 5, it says: except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And except a man be born of water in the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Call me legalistic, but you're throwing Jesus and that is wealth. People can get mad all they want. They can get upset all they want. But it's not my doctrine. It's not my denomination. It's not my church. It's what does say it, the Word of God. It's what the Bible says.

And there's gonna be a day here, there's somebody, there is going to be a day when it does not matter how many times a person told you legalistic. It's not gonna, the only thing that's gonna matter on that day, this: does God know you? What does Jesus tell me? Matthew 7 says: I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Just looking at that this morning, I thought to myself: you know what, that doesn't say sinners there. It doesn't say those people that have been fornicating all week, and all those people that are practicing homosexuality, or those people that are getting caught up in addictions. It doesn't say. It just says those who practice lawlessness. What that is literally thing is, that there are people who practice having a faith with God based on a legality, meaning they're acting as if God is their father before he actually is their father.

Romans 8:9 says: but ye are not in the flesh, but you are in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. But catch this, he goes on to say: now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. I know this is, this is hard preaching. I know that for some of you, this is, this is harsh reality. But I want someone to wake up and smell the coffee, that unless you have the Holy Ghost living inside of you, unless you have his spirit inside of you, then you are none of his. Magical agents for says: God hath sinned his his spirit, the spirit of a son. Goes on to say in verse 7: wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a good, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. This is good news. This is life-changing news. This is CNN breaking news, right here, right now. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is now moving in our hearts, in our lives. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead has been moving, and will continue to move, in this sanctuary today.

But here's the breaking news, and that is this: as soon, and everybody say as soon, as soon as you receive the Spirit of Christ, you are no longer a slave. You are no longer a slave to sin. But you are immediately transferred into a son. When you get the Holy Ghost, what literally happens is, you are stripped of the slave clothes. You're stripped of the chains that are holding you back. You are, you are breaking down the walls that have always keep, they've always kept you down. And you were becoming a son of God.

Romans 8:15 says: for you did I receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption. If you have the Holy Ghost in this place, if you have been spirit filled, you can stand to your feet and you can say: I am no longer a slave to fear. I am no longer a slave to anxiety. I am no longer a slave to depression. I am no longer a slave to addictions. I am no longer a slave to those things that ye kept me bound. But now I am a son. But now I am an heir. But now there has been an adoption that has taken place between God and me.

Can I tell you what happens? There are perks when you get the Holy Ghost. There are, whoa, you know, people sign for credit cards for the perks. I don't know why I'm will be borrowing getting the Holy Ghost, because there's a lot of perks to it. Because when you read the Holy Ghost, you become a son. When you become a son, you become an heir. When you become an heir, everything that God has now belongs to you. My Bible says that he will supply all his art needs, according to the riches that are now my riches. The Bible says all the gold is. The Bible says all the silver is his. The Bible says that he owns a cattle on a Thousand Hills. I've come to tell somebody today that the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. And when you receive His Spirit, you become his heir. When the great I am becomes your father, you're no longer the slave you used to be. What happened when the prodigal son came home? He had been working and the pigs pit. He was worrying undoubtedly clothes that belonged to a servant, to a slave. And when his father saw him coming from a while, Oh, a long ways away, what's the first thing the father gave the son? He said: go get me a robe. Go give me the heirs Rome. He don't belong in that slave skin anymore. He don't belong in that slave robe anymore. He don't belong in that slavery's clothing anymore. There was something that he now has, and that is the hair, that is the sons robe. Bring me the son's robe. Let's put it on him today. You may have come this place bound. You may have come to this place chained. You may have
 come to this place as I slave to this world. But you can leave this place a brand new person. You can leave this place when no longer slavery wrapped around you. But you can leave this place with the sonship. You can leave this place as a new hair of the Father.

When I got married, I left my house, my parents house. What you're supposed to do, the Bible says. That kind of awkward if you don't. But anyways, I got married, left the house. I've been married to my wife over nine years now. You know, there's still times I go to my parents house. Well, I go to my parents house, you know what I do? I started looking through the fridge. I don't ask for permission. I don't say: hey mama, you got some groceries? She my mama. She got groceries. I go in there, I open the fridge. I punched through the pantry. I'm looking for anything and everything. I don't have it, I don't have it, you know, maybe even appetite, but I'm still looking, because I'm on my mama's house. I go into the living room without ever snack I find. I thought I spawn the couch. And if that couch is occupied, somehow are overcrowding, no I do. I don't say: well, I guess I'll still in the floor. No, I make room for myself. I'm backing up in this thing. If you like it or not, we're gonna move for me. Call me Moses. Why do I do this? Things about to split, like I'm about to sit down. When I go to my mom's house, a dad's house, I'm comfortable there. I go to their house, it's like going to my own house. You know, I'll tell you this: I think my parents are here right now. I think if you ask them: do you like it when your son comes over and acts like he owns the place? Like, yeah I do. They may hesitate for a second, but I think they really like it. I hope they really like it. I think they take pleasure in knowing that their son still feels comfortable in their house.

What am I trying to say? I'm trying to say: when you show up here, this is your father's house. When you show up here, hey, if you're going to be comfortable anywhere, it ought to be the house of God. If you're gonna feel a Liberty to worship anywhere, it ought to be a center point Apostolic Church, because this is your father's house. Well, I just don't feel comfortable worshipping today. But maybe you're not acknowledging him as your father. You think he wants you to be uncomfortable here? This altar place right here, this place used to terrify me when I was a kid. I'm like: I don't want to go to the altar. That's where the crazies are. I'm doing a hard pass. But you know what I've come to realize over time? This is my father's house. This is my father's house. You know what I realized about my father's house is, what he likes for me to do is, he likes to come into his house and get all that I need in this place, so that I can go out to that place and not just survive in this world, but thrive in this world. I don't know about you, but I come to the house of God, I don't leave this place down. I don't leave this place beaten up. I don't leave this place discouraged. Know what I do is, I get all the Holy Ghost I need, and I leave this place with joy. I leave this place with peace. I leave this place with comfort. I'll leave this places. I know overcomer. I wonder, are there any overcomers in the room right now? Are there any people who feel comfortable in the house of God? Are there any people who know how to worship in his house? Hoon had through fill of Liberty to lift their hands and to magnify him. You don't have to be uncomfortable here. You can pray with boldness here. It's your father's house.

Will come to a close here. I'm going to stand to your feet. Galatians chapter 4, it's a part here, man, it's a truth bomb, kind of shattered in my mind, my thinking here. After the spirit has entered these people in Galatians 4, it says, and verse 9: now after you have known God — Paul's writing this, he says, after you've received the spirit, you know God. But there's like this moment of hesitancy while he's writing this. He puts a comma there. He puts an oar there. And it's like he's, he's come up with this mindset, it says: you know what, there's a better way of saying this. When you see the spirit, you have known God. But wait, it gets better. You no longer just know God, but what does it say? You are known by God. When you receive his Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, you no longer just know of god, but God begins to know you.

In Matthew 7, the Lord look, says the people who were doing good deeds, and he tells them to part: I never knew you. I never knew you. But today we can get ready for that day by getting her selves full of the Holy Ghost, so that we no longer just know God, but so that we are known by him. I want someone to know that the Holy Ghost is for you today. The Bible says in Acts chapter 39, that the promise is to you. The promise is for you. And it's for your children, and as to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. Today, if you want to be known of God, then you need to receive his spirits. Because there's going to be a day here, this seyn of God, there is going to be a day that supersedes every other day. And the only thing that's going to matter on that day is: all you known by God? It's not gonna matter how much you have in your 401k. It's not gonna matter how much you have in your bank account. It's not even gonna matter how much your peers think about you. It's gonna be: were you known by God?

This is the father's house. And this is why I felt this morning in prayer, it's me, we need to make this the father's house right now. I know we've slowed down a little bit, but I feel the presence of God moving in this place. I feel the Holy Ghost sweeping through. I believe that there are people in this room, you're going to get the Holy Ghost for the first time today. I believe that the promise is for you. But I think as a church, what we need to do is, we need to start praying through. Pastor says this, and it's so powerful. He says: the thing that prevents you from speaking in tongues is give me the thing that keeps you out of heaven. How long has it been since you've been filled with his spirit? How long has it been since you have felt his presence so closely? How long has it been since she, since you spoken in a heavenly language?