A Bed of Lies | Student Pastor Zach Hammond
by Zach Hammond
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Isaiah 28:13-20, John 8:31-32, 1 Timothy 5:24, James 1:14-16, Genesis 3:13, Romans 1:18-25, Mark 7:15, Isaiah 59:13-14, Mark 3:4-5, Matthew 28:19, Luke 24:47, Jeremiah 28:15, Jeremiah 28:16, Jeremiah 5:2, John 16:7-13

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/zach-hammond--a-bed-of-lies
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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What a wonderful crowd that's gathered here. I want to say thank you to each and every one of you for being in the house of the Lord tonight. What a great great church. Thankful to be a part of the church, but specifically this local assembly. We know that the church is way bigger than Maraveville, Tennessee, but I'm thankful to be a part of this location where God meets with us each week and there's a faithful group of people that uh that time and time and time again come in and they faithfully serve God. And I'm just thankful. Why don't you give yourself a big hand today? Just if you're thankful to be a part of this great church. We mentioned we mentioned this morning, Pastor and Sister Carpenter are are in um Lord, I just went blank. They're somewhere. They're in so many places I lose track. Um somebody knows can just shout it out to me. Honduras. Honduras. Thank you. Um Lord, I hope the sermon don't go that well. Um, so they're in Honduras and we've been praying for them and God knows that uh great things have already happened. We reported six being baptized this morning and just wonderful things that are taking place. uh brother Nolan, he is uh ministering, him and Sister Flannry and and they've got uh [name redacted] with them in New Mexico. Brother Simon King's doing a a kids weekend and just believing great things are happening there and just uh God is doing wonderful things. As Pastor Ericson mentioned, he did the anniversary service there in Madisonville and they just had a wonderful, wonderful time. We're celebrating with them what God is doing there in Madisonville. That's it. You go ahead and give God a hand. He's doing great things down there. thankful for what God is doing all of those campuses. Isaiah chapter number 28 and verse number 13. And as you're turning there, I want to say thank you to Pastor Ericson for that great reminder of the word of the Lord today. Um just always is it's always, you know, you kind of have a rule of thumb. I grew up around preachers and pastors so much to the point where I kind of made up in my mind this is what I wasn't going to do just because that's what everybody else did. I went to family gatherings for Christmas. Everybody at the table was a preacher. Uncle was preacher. Grandpa was preacher. Dad was preacher. Other grandpa was preacher. This is what everybody did. And so my wife had made up in her mind she wasn't going to marry a preacher and I was going to do something else. And lo and behold, here we are. And so, um, but preaching, you you preach on souls, you preach on giving, you just kind of expect that the ending is going to be the ending. And, and it's hard sometimes to cultivate um a response from people because it's a hard it's a hard thing. It's hard to get people to think about somebody other than themselves. In fact, most of the time if you hear somebody preach about lost the lost, they're usually going to use a prodal to try to prick at least a portion of the congregation to get the congregation moving because we're so prideful. Many times we can't think outside of me, my and my little family. And then you definitely, you talk about giving, you just got to break down all the walls and all the things. And so for God to move like he did this morning, it just shows the health of a church. It shows the mindset and the mentality of a church. And so, not only did God confirm with his presence today, but thank you for your response to the word of God today that we are about the father's business and about his kingdom moving forward. And I know that that God has great things in store for us throughout this month of seeing people come into the house of the Lord. Amen. Little bit of a different topic tonight. I'm going to preach to you. May do a little bit more of a more teaching than preaching, but I feel very burdened to make sure that I communicate correctly. Nothing's misunderstood. Nothing is uh taken out with a little any passion or that I misspeak by any means. But um it's a it's a spirit that is um it's always been around, but it's a spirit of the last days that's probably a little more fluent now than ever before. And so we will address it from the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 28 and verse number 13. If you would indulge me as I read these seven verses. I got a little bit of feedback in my monitors and I don't know if anybody else can hear it but my ADHD can. Isaiah 28 and verse number 13. But the word of the Lord was upon was unto them precept upon precept. Anybody ever heard that before? That's that statement you're preaching. He says it not only once but he says it twice. Precept upon precept. And then he says, "Line upon line." Says it again, "Line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they might go and fall backward and be broken and snared and taken. Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem." So Isaiah is speaking to the people in Jerusalem that rule this people. was speaking to the people over him because ye have said we have made a covenant with death. Now, that's not the covenant we want to talk about, right? But we all have a covenant with death called sin. I don't know if you realize it or not, but we're all born in sin. We have a covenant with death before we have a covenant with God. And we have to be intentional about that covenant with God. Now, we don't bring that word when you talk about covenant. You don't ever go to Isaiah and and talk about this one. But we all are born in covenant with death and with hell. And we are at agreement. When the overflowing scor scourge shall pass through, it shall not come up unto us. For we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. We've made lies our refuge, and we've hid ourselves in falsehood. Therefore, thus sayeth the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious stone, a sure foundation. He that believeth not shall make haste. I don't know if you can see the narrative, but there's a lot to do with lies and truth. Precept upon precept, the truth, line upon line, the truth. You can't take refuge in a lie. You can't take refuge in falsehood, he said. And then then he you could you could see we quote line upon line and precept upon we we quote the the cornerstone the sure foundation but we rarely talk about our covenant with death and we rarely quote the scripture in between about us finding refuge in our lives. Verse 17 says, "Judgment also will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place of your falsehood. And your covenant with death shall be disenolled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trotten down by it." Such an interesting passage. From the time that it goeth forth, it shall take you for morning. By morning shall it pass over by day and by night. And it shall be a vexation only to understand the report. For the bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself on, and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. What a prophecy. What a word. Nobody is showing up to church early for that one. Amen. I want to preach to you in just a few moments tonight. This is a topic that's heavy on my heart. It's a pulse within this generation. I feel like I could speak hours on it, but God knows I'm not going to tonight. Okay, I'm going to try to be quick to the point and stay on topic. This is a soap box for me because I believe that tolerance is the new rebellion. There is a truth decay in our world today. It's not that you stand for one thing and don't stand for another thing. is that you'll stand for anything. You're tolerant of anybody's truth. You're tolerant of whatever anybody believes. That's the new stance. I'm okay with you if you're okay with me. There's just not my truth and your truth. There's just no truth if we're not careful. So, I want to preach to you for just a few moments on this topic. A bed of lies. A bed of lies. Of course, brother Dale, he lets me know as only Brother Dale can. He says, "I lie in my bed every night." So, those of you that didn't get that, maybe you will on the way home. A bed of lies. Would you lay your Bibles down? Would you lift your hands to heaven and ask the Lord to speak to us tonight? Lord, we thank you that you're good. You're great. You're beyond what we can comprehend or understand. Lord, I thank you that your presence is already here. I thank you, Lord, that you've met us here through worship. That you've inhabited the praises of your people, Lord. that you've already worked in this place. I believe that you're already cultivating an atmosphere in our minds and our hearts to where you can do something great and something powerful. Lord, I thank you, God, that your word is sharper than any two-edged sword. That it's a lamp. It's a light, Lord. That it's all things to all men. That it can do things in one person's heart and something different in another heart tonight. And let it be that relevant word tonight that opens and shines the light, God, upon our minds, upon our hearts. We'll be so careful to give you praise and glory and honor. Speak to us tonight in Jesus name we pray. And everybody said, "Amen." You may be seated tonight. I don't know about you, and maybe maybe everybody can relate at some point or another. Um, but I can definitely relate as I've gotten older. It wasn't an issue when I was growing up. I could sleep about anywhere. My parents would make jokes that I would just, you know, I'd fall asleep on the table. I'd fall asleep in the car. I'd fall asleep sitting up. Fall asleep wherever. I could just go to sleep. didn't matter what was going on. We were getting in the car. We were in the car over 15 minutes. I was going to sleep. And so, um, as I got older, I realized that that become a little bit more difficult. And I don't know, maybe I I've traveled a decent amount, but I've found myself even at you know, family members homes like over vacation staying at aunts, uncles, wherever. And you know, you're the teenager, you're the kid, and you don't get a bedroom, you get like a pull out couch, you know, you get a pallet on the floor, you got four cushions thrown together and a blanket, and uh you just sleep wherever you can sleep, you know? It's just a thing. And so, um I I I I was reading this text and and it was it was puzzling to me that anybody ever found yourself on a bed that was too small? All the tall people raising their hand right now. Yep. Your feet are hanging off, right? lose blood flow to the feet, you know. It just they're just hanging down there, you know. But what would be worse than a bed that's too small, you know? I I don't know about you, but this is this is kind of Now, I stole my son's bed uh for for tonight, but I mean, this is the picture that Isaiah is painting. You know, he says there's a bed some of us find ourselves, and hopefully none of you have this situation. um your current uh sleeping conditions, but you find yourself in a bed that obviously if I try to get my feet on this bed and my head's not going to be right. But he says, "In order for me to get on this bed, I've got to really uh I got to really like kind of it would be like trying to put me in a box, right? I got to like get Huh." He literally says he can't stretch himself out. If he stretches himself out, he can't even fit on the bed. But if that's not bad enough, there is nothing that frustrates me more than being cold. See Stephen laughing? If I get in his truck, I'm I'm just going to go ahead and go get me three blankets, a hoodie, a beanie, cuz I am freezing to death. Sitting at the restaurant today, I'm like, "Hey, why is it so cold in here, right? I'm naturally going to probably have on more clothes than needed." Yeah, I know everybody from up north, you know, it's it's not cold down here. It is to me, okay? It is freezing to me. Call me a Call me a wuss. But I want my own blanket at night. I want the heat on. I don't want a fan in my face. All right. I would rather be hot than be cold. Right? That's just me. I know some of you are like literally you're claustrophobic right now thinking of not having a fan fan noise, you know, just just feeling the the cool breeze. Nope. Not me. Sorry. Right. and and and so there is nothing I can imagine worse than trying to lay down on a bed that's not big enough but then have a blanket that ain't big enough. I have my own blanket. You say that sounds like just a thing to say. You know, my wife has her blanket. I have my blanket. I'm not going to wrestle with a blanket all night. You can have it. I will go get mine. I will go get a large blanket so that I can double that thing up if I need to. My my my little he's asleep right now. He'll be up all night. My 5-year-old, he comes gets into bed every night and he he turns like Tasmanian devil and he just turns that thing up like a fruit roll up over there on the side and here I am just laying before the Lord in misery. There's nothing more frustrating. It's it's just it's like it's just enough just to frustrate you. My arm feels good, but my feet are cold. It's a It's It's just a portion of comfort. It's just a little bit. It's just a form, but it's not the full complete experience. Right? And of all things that Isaiah can talk about, he says it's like having a bed you don't fit on, and it's like having a blanket that won't completely cover you. So he uses this analogy as he's talking about truth and a lie. He's talking about deception. He says, "You made your refuge in lies." And I I I again, he he's got this issue. He's got a small bed and a short blanket. Bed is so small. He can't stretch himself out on the comforter's too small. He's never been completely covered. And so he says, "You're in a covenant with death, sin. Your bed will never be big enough." If you're in a covenant with death and sin, your covering will never be big enough. You will have a form of comfort, but you will never truly be comfortable. You'll never truly have full peace, full joy. You've got just a little bit of a place to lay your head, but you will never be able to lay and just they're just it'll never be big enough. That's that's his point. It'll never be big enough. And he he he says sin it it'll never be sin is always more. It's always going to take you further than you planned on going, right? He'll all sin has no lines. Hell has no lines. It's just a great big place with no standards, no lines. It's always you're always going to have more sin than you do a covering. That's how he describes it. You're always going to have more flesh than you do something to cover it up with. And so, let me let me let me let me just kind of get way into the water with you tonight. There's no greater bondage than a lie where someone finds false liberty. Say that again. There's no greater bondage for mankind than a lie where someone finds a false liberty, a little bit of comfort, a little bit of covering, a little bit of something that I can just be comfortable enough that I could get an hour of sleep, that I could get a season to go by, that I could live this way and I could become accustomed to and comfortable with not all that God has for me. He it's it's it's many many times I hear people that, you know, I'm going to try this. I want to be free. I want to be my own person. I want to experience my own, you know, my my my own freedom, so to say. And that there's it's never going to be enough. We live in a world seeking comfort and a covering, and they've settled for the standard of small beds and short blankets. For some people, it's all they know. It's all they've ever experienced. They emotionally cannot stretch themselves out. They cannot trust anyone. They cannot be any bigger than they are. They can't grow any further. They live in a small bed. That's just how it is. That's just who I am. And they take refuge in lies. I will just adapt. I will just accept. This is just who I am. This is where I come from. This is who I'm meant to be. I'm just going to be uncomfortable the rest of my life. I'm going to live deceived. I'm going to live believing this is who I am. I'm going to just adapt to this character, this label that's been put on me, and I'll just cover up and adjust based upon what crowd I'm around. He says, "You've got refuge in lies." What a weird place to be in. John 8 and verse number 31. Then said Jesus to the Jews which believed on him, "If you continue in my word, then ye are my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make," Everybody say make. Everybody say make make you free. The truth will make you free. Free to stretch out. Free to expand. There's comfort in the truth. There's truth is ability to be able to lay down and be all that you can be. It's not that the bed is is not it doesn't have limits, but it's a bed that you can stretch out. It's something that will completely cover you. Amen. And so the truth establishes the throne which allows us to obtain the greatest amount of freedom mankind can obtain in the kingdom of God here on earth. Truth exposes things. Though some would rather have false freedom and live in a lie than expose their flaws. We have to acknowledge truth if we're ever going to be any greater in this world on this earth in our flesh. 1 Timothy 5:24, "Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment, and some men they follow after." I want you to hear this tonight. See see this. Exposing the truth now or one day it's going to be exposed. This is not this is not going to last. This is something that is temporary. Yes, it may be comfortable now. You can deal with it now, but there's going to be a day where the lie is going to be exposed. He says you can do it beforehand or you can do it there. But I can't think of a worse feeling than showing up before God. And here comes some things following me. Nobody ever knew it. I kept it all to myself. I only expressed it to a few people. It was just between me and me cuz I never talked to God about it. I thought I had it managed. I thought I had it covered up. I thought I was comfortable. But I learned to live in a bed that was not big enough for me to stretch out on. He says, "All of a sudden, I show up before God, and there's some things that I have deceived myself. There's something about our fallen, deceptive nature that prefers something favorable." Could we all agree to that? We We would all prefer something favorable. Even I tonight, if I'm honest with you, I want to come preach a comforting word to you. I want to come preach something that you're going to say, "Hey, that was good tonight. You spoke to that promise. You spoke to that calling. You spoke to this and that makes me want to jump and shout and do this." Nobody wants to come up and preach about lives. It's just natural within you, right? It's within every one of us. So, we want to give some good news. We're going to give some comforting words. We want to tell we want to we want to do this. We want to do that. We we we we prefer something favorable. And here's the problem. Mo some of us, if we're not careful, and I say some of us, all of us, if we're not careful, we will prefer something favorable, even if it's lacking a little bit of truth. If it's favorable to my flesh, I'll bend the rules. If it's favorable to my flesh, I'll let it have a little bit. It's not a complete lie, but it's not a complete truth, which means it's a so I will live and allow lies to be my refuge just because it makes me feel good. And so I run into this place of refuge and realize it's not refuge at all. It's a bed that's too small. It's a blanket that's too short. It's something the truth has always had an enemy. He can't The devil cannot create. He's a deceiver. He's a manipulator. He subtracts. He bends. He He He takes a portion of the truth. But he denies the whole truth, the entirety of it. It has a form, but it lacks fullness. It has a form, but it lacks fullness. It has a shape of what it could be. This could be comfortable. It could be a place that you could stretch out, but it's not quite big enough. He's just taken off just enough to make it look like something that's comfortable, to make it look like something that will cover it, but it won't cover it. It's a bed that's too short. It's a bed of lies. It's a place that looks comfortable, but it's not true refuge. See this James chapter 1 and verse number 14. But every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when sin then when lust has conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. Do not heir, my beloved brethren. Now I want you to understand all of the terminology here. I know you've heard that before. You've quoted it before. You you've been you've been convicted by it before. Most of you, it's a scripture like that that draw drew you to an altar of repentance and things happen in your life. But it says here, when lust has conceived, it bringeth forth sin. A lie, deception is where it starts. He said you're t you're drawn away. Your own lust, you're enticed. A lie is a is something that has to be conceived. It is deception. Notice that deceive and conceive are they're derived from the main root word the same root words. So deceive and to conceive. We see it is to birth something. It is to bring something forth. You're drawn away. And when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin. No coincidence that Genesis 3:13, "And the Lord God said unto the woman, what what what have you done?" And the woman said, "The serpent beguiled me, deceived me." There was something that was conceived at this moment called sin because I was deceived. It was this process of of I was just drawn away. Paul speaks of the same tactic that Satan uses and and he writes this way. He promised them liberty while being a servant of destruction. It's a bed of lies the devil wants to get you in. It's a form of it. It looks the right way. It has the it has the perception that it's it's good, but it's deception. It's it's it's birthing something within you. And so, look at this. Romans chapter 1. Look at how Paul writes it. For the wrath of God, 1:18 is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. They hold on to the truth in unrighteousness. I'm going to hold on to a form of it's going to look like it's righteousness while I'm I'm going to hold on this form of truth, but it's unrighteousness. I'm going to live one way, but I'm going to call myself this. I'm going to associate and I'm going to call myself a Christian. I'm going to call myself a Pentecostal, but I really live in unrighteousness. He says, because they that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath shown it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead. So they are without excuse. Notice that his power and the godhead when he's talking about truth when he's talking about those are some things. And what are we still fighting today? What's the number one thing? They're going to combat the godhead. They're going to combat whether it's true. Well, we we'll accept that that's the No, no, no. It's either the fullness of or it's not at all. We're not saying the same thing when you're you're trying to tell me that there's a trinity. No, it is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Amen. It can't it's got to be either the whole truth or it's not the truth. And so he mentions these things because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations. and their foolish heart was darkened. Now, we'll come back to that. Let's read the rest of it. Professing themselves to be wise. They became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to a corruptible man, and to birds, and to for-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Where did all of that start from 22 all the way down to 25? Vain imaginations. Vain imaginations. I I imaginations means an inward dialogue. Before you are deceived by Satan, you are drawn away by your own dialogue. Before you ever make the decision, you're going to have a conversation not with your wife, not with your friend, not with your teacher, not with your parents, not with your pastor. You're going to have a conversation with yourself. Vain imaginations. I'm going to talk to myself before I partake of this fruit. There was a conversation that went in on it went in it went on in in Eve's mind. It went on in Adam's mind. It went on in every person that's ever been in covenant with sin since the creation of mankind. There was a conversation of vain imaginations that says, "Am I going to do this or am I not? Am I going to lay in this bed of lies or am I going to live by the truth?" That becomes the question of everything that we do as Christians. It's conceived. It's birthed through a conversation within yourself, a thought, and then a dialogue that you have that's going on. You must look outside of yourself to discover truth. That is the challenge. You have to look outside of yourself to find what is right. If you reason within yourself, you'll always lay down in a bed that's too short with a blanket that's too small. Every single time you'll choose your carnal flesh, if you look within yourself and what's the narrative within the world? Just look within. Just just just trust your feelings. Just trust your heart. No, your heart is deceitfully wicked. Anything that your flesh is trying to produce, and if you're having a conversation with yourself, guess what? You're in contract with death. Don't you sit there in your room, young person, and have a conversation about yourself with yourself because it will never tell you who God says you are. Never. Mom, dad, if you're going to have that conversation about yourself with yourself, you're always a failure. You're never going to live up. You're always going to be a form of this abuse and the form of this this this things that you did in your past and something you didn't live up to. You're always going to be Why? Because you have a contract. You have a covenant with sin. The only way that we can have a good conversation with ourselves is talk to something that's outside of ourselves. That's why prayer is the essential element of the contract between us and God. If I don't talk to him about it, I'll never know what he thinks about it. If I don't look to the word of God, I'll never be able to walk in covenant with him. So therefore, I will be in a bed of lies and deceive myself thinking that I'm in love with God. Too many of us, if we really get down to it, we're in the situation we're in because of not something somebody said on Facebook, not something that mom or dad did, not something that pastor said. They were just the ones who took the fall for the conversation you had with yourself. Don't let a deceived dialogue within you create a doctrine that you live by. I'll say that again. Don't let a deceived dialogue within you create a doctrine for yourself. You've convinced yourself that everybody's against you. They're really not. You've convinced yourself that you're unloved. And the Bible says quite the opposite. He said, 'I gave my only begotten son for you. That you were worth everything for me to exchange all that I had for you. You are everything to him. So, but if you're going to have a conversation with yourself about how you feel, you're always going to feel unloved. You're never going to measure up because your heart is deceitfully wicked. You convinced yourself you're not enough. You've convinced yourself that you don't need God anymore. You convinced yourself that you're okay the way you are. You've convinced yourself that I'm just going to live at this standard. God's called me to stretch out. God's called me to do some things in faith, but I'm just living on a small bed with a short blanket. This inward dialogue has killed more relationships, ministries, and marriages than anything anybody else has ever said because assumption, please hear me tonight, assumption is the lowest form of understanding. It's sadly the foundation of a lot of people's lives. Oh, I thought, yeah, you know how they think about. You don't know that because you've never talked to them about that. You just assumed. You just assumed that the boss don't like you. You just assumed that the family member was shooting at you. You just assumed that that post was about you. You just assume that they intentionally didn't invite you. You just assumed and before you know it, you literally are living your life on assumptions and it's the most uncomfortable place you could ever want to be. You literally lay in a bed and you toss and turn at night based upon the assumption of the dialogue, the vain imaginations as Paul calls it in your own mind. You've not talked to anybody. And you haven't talked to God about it. You not prayed about it. You not talked to the person that offended you. You've not done any of the biblical principles that says, "Hey, this is a way to freedom." Because what is that? What is that? That's the truth. But it requires you to look outside of yourself. It requires you to go to a moral compass that's not your heart, that's not your mind. And so again, I'll say it one more time. Assumption is the lowest form of understanding and we cannot allow it to be the foundation of our life, our relationships with people, our relationships with God. Because some of us just assume things in this scripture that we've never read. We watch it online and we some preacher over in Kalamazoo says this, that and the other and we don't know what he believes or what he truly what he's trying to accomplish or whatever. We just take it hook, line, and singer. We just assume that's what the word of God says. and all of a sudden we start, you know, training our kids that way and we believe that and we build our life on an assumption that we never looked at for oursel. I just assumed that that's right. I just No, no, no. It's it's crucial that you understand that your life's going to be laid and the other side of the balance with this book. Assumption is the mother of all messes. Most every mess you could get in, somebody assumes something. Oftentimes, running from confrontation, we just assume. An effort to dodge the truth, we assume. I would hate to stand before God on an assumption when we had access to the solution. The trinitarian doctrine, they've convinced themselves that there's three. You have to convince yourself of that. According to the scripture, it's an inward dialogue. It's within our nature. You can see it within doctrine. You can see it within our psycho. You can see it within how we think and how it's within our nature. We would rather be right. Oh God, hear me tonight. We would rather be right than be free. We would rather be right than truly live in a place of comfort. Some of us live in discomfort with your head hanging off the bed, with your life in disarray, in depression and anxiety and frustration and fear. You live in all of that just so you can say I'm right. I believe this. You're not going to commit. You can show me in scripture I'm still going to do this. You can tell me I'm wrong. You can say you can preach so your face is red. You can preach to you ain't got no more words to say. You can sing it until everybody's shouting, "But I'm going to stand here because I don't think I have to do that. I don't think I have to believe that. I don't think I have to. It's within our nature that once we make a decision that pride sets sets up residence and I'm not coming out of that situation. I'm going to stay right here. I believe this. I professed this and you just want to be there so you can say I told you so. Being right is a real cheap version of selfworth. It's this conversation of vain imaginations, Paul says, within yourself to prove to yourself that, oh, I was right. You will combat obvious truths to be right. It's the worst form of pride a person can carry, I feel, through scripture. This deception, it births something within you. It's conceived. It's deceived. It's all from the same because it it just it something is growing inside of you. You run with whoever makes you feel most right. Whoever just makes you feel like that this is the most comforting, you just want to run to anybody that'll give you an encouraging word. Anybody that thinks like even if there is a logical and obvious answer, everybody's saying you need to fix it. You're wrong. The scripture says this. It's obvious that it's tearing things apart. It's messing things up. It's obvious, but you just want to be right. So then it becomes not about being better or growing or being able to even be comfortable. And again, we go back to we say it all the time. This is not about me being right. It's not about you being right. It's not even about us necessarily getting better, somebody being better, somebody being smaller, somebody being this church growing, this happening, that whatever the case may be. It's about the truth. I've never made anybody free. never will. You haven't either. Believe it or not, nobody's ever come to God for you and ever will, they come to God for the truth. Anybody that's ever come to God for somebody else, it didn't last long. Anybody that's ever got a miracle that wasn't sustained by the word of God didn't last long. You'll notice in scripture anytime a miracle happens, he was teaching because a sustainable miracle is one that comes through the word. Because you can't separate any form of the scripture of miracles, signs and wonders, repentance, anything that you want to look at as the doctrine, the foundational elements, the chief cornerstone that he speaks about in the prophecy. Look at any of it. You can't do any of it without seeing the fullness of scripture. It's about the truth. It's about being saved. Sometimes even this morning, we we have we have a message that's preached that's that's so heavy on the heart. God's moving. And if we're not careful, it's like, "Yeah, we just we we're going to invite somebody to church. I want somebody to be at the church, and I'm thankful for the church, but this is about heaven and hell. You ain't going to make it without the church." But sometimes we need to be pricked and realize if somebody don't come to the truth, they're not going to make it. It's the way, the truth, the life. There's still not a back door in. There's still not an option over here. There's still not a a secondary. No, no, no. They don't get to do this over there and they get to get in. No, no. It is the truth. Always has been, always will be since he came out of the grave and he conquered death, hell, and the grave for you and I. Since that moment forward, every single one of us have to go through the gospel truth of repentance and baptism in Jesus' name for the remission of sins and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. If you don't have the Holy Ghost, you're not going to be quickened. You're not going to be called out. It's the truth. And that's the struggle. That is the struggle that is confrontational. Paul says in 2 Corinthians, "For the weapons of warfare are not car carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exaltth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringeth into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." He just told you everything that I'm preaching. Stop having this conversation with yourself and talk to God. Stop trying to have the conversation in vain imaginations and assuming this and assuming that. Cast down those inner conversations. Stop trying to reason within yourself why they did this, why they don't matter what they did. Don't you dare try to. You need to go to this book and the book's going to say forgive them how many times as many times as they do it. You're going to go to this book and it says love them. You're going to go to this book and say, "Hey, they crucified me." They're going to crucify you. You're going to go to this book and it's going to give you some truths and some conversation that you need to have with yourself. Mark 7:15 says, "There's nothing from without a man that entering into him can defile him. But the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man." You understand? He says, "What's in you is going to defile you. Do not have a conversation with yourself." That's not where it happens. Have a conversation with God. What's his following scripture? He that hath an ear, let him hear. That's the the conversation's not this vain imagination of you just trying to paint this picture of what you think happened. No, the conversation is he that has an ear, let him hear with the spirit, with the word. We must in our culture create an appetite among apostolics for absolutes. It is absolutely true. The doctrine of the apostles is absolutely true. And you must, if you don't take into consideration what you're consuming, you'll never have a taste for absolutes. If you don't, if you don't really take into consideration, young people, all generations, what you're scrolling through, if you don't take into consideration that content, you'll never have a taste bud for truth. Tasting all sorts of things. People are consuming more than they've ever been. Content is at an all-time high. But you must have an appetite for absolutes or you will be tossed to and fro. There's no coincidence. He says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trustth in him." You cannot change the truth. You can't change it. Nobody never ever has. You must change yourself to want this. We fought false doctrine for decades. Isaiah 59. And the transgressing and the lying against the Lord, and the departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood, and judgment is turned away backward, and justice stand at the far off. For truth is fallen in the street. That's our world today. Truth is fallen in the street. The common people in Jesus's day heard him gladly. It was the re religious people who laid weight to catch him in his words. It was the people that had never heard. They didn't know that this bed was too small. They didn't know true comfort. They didn't know true covering. They didn't know what the blood of Jesus felt like. They don't know what the liberty and the freedom. They didn't know the truth that could make them free. That's not the people who were trying to catch Jesus in his words. It was the religious folks. It was the Pharisees. The phariseical opposition of truth is one of our day that if you're not careful because of social media, you will claim to be in truth, but you will fall prey to by scrolling through it. Hear me tonight. this phariseical make fun of catch everybody in every little thing that they say and do if you're not careful before you you yeah it was funny it happened but if you start making fun of people worshiping you start making fun of people that are I'm sorry I'm not one that usually says this but I'm still preaching to you better be careful what you're consuming because before you know it the more you laugh at it the more you joke about it the more you look at it is just another One day, the more you dumb it down, you'll be saying, "Oh, I don't have to do this. I don't have to do that. I don't have to go there. It's just another this. It's just another person. Just another few songs in a sermon." Jesus is teaching. Let me give you just a couple examples. In Mark 3 verse number four, he said unto them, "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" and they're just trying to catch him in something he's doing wrong. And when he had looked round about them with anger, that's not the Jesus we want to preach about, right? Huh? That's not the real that's going to get a million views. No, that's not going to create your loving culture. He looked at him with anger. Huh? You can fill up, you can fill up a church with something that looks like comfort, with a culture that has a perception of comfort. Because it's no different than than having having a gathering down at the country club. It's no different than having a gathering over here at the coffee shop because you've gathered with people that will speak to your vain imaginations. You've gathered with people that see it the way you see it. And they all they want to do is talk about the fact that I just don't feel like I can stretch out. My feet are cold at night. The blanket won't really cover me. You know, my husband, he just won't do that. That that's that's not culture. That's vain imaginations. That's unrighteousness claiming truth. That's vain conversation. That's what Paul is preaching about. I It's all right. He says he had he looked at them with anger, being grieved with hardness of their hearts, saying he you see he was Jesus. He could tell what they were thinking. Stretch forth thine hand. And he who stretched it out, his hand was restored. Whole is the other. Stretch forth your hand. Jesus was teaching and then he made he he he He worked a miracle because Jesus's, again, I know I've mentioned it, but you'll see it time and time and time again, his miracles were centered around confrontational doctrine. Wordbased miracles are the most sustainable. Pharisees are there to catch him in a lie to validate their version of the truth. Jesus looked upon them angrily. not that Jesus would we would not it's again it's not the the the person we don't we don't want to talk about all the times of confrontation and this doctrine and how many times this is a man who who said they they even said you know he he said he was going to destroy the temple. Yeah. But he also said he was going to raise it up. That's the social media of today. Be careful what you're scrolling through. I can't believe they said that. They didn't say that. That was the three words. He said, "Destroy this temple and in three days I'm going to raise it up." It's a phariseical truth. He said he was going to destroy the temple. Can you believe this guy? We should kill him. Huh? You you you should you should you should like and follow and share and you should comment. You can't believe people would be doing this. You can't believe people would be following. you can't be. And all of a sudden, you just got a sound bite and all of a sudden you're just sitting there thinking, "Man, you all of a sudden you're you're having a conversation with yourself, sitting in the car, sitting in the lunchroom, sitting somewhere, all and you're just thinking, man, if I wonder if the I could really trust that person. I wonder if that church is headed that way. I wonder if this person's thinking that. I wonder if that person's doing that. I wonder if this person's really being faithful to it's it's over and over and over again. You see, these Pharisees are trying to catch Jesus. Do you clean your hands before you eat bread? Do you do this? Do you eat bread on this day? Do you They're trying to catch him in something. They're looking for all the wrong reasons. They're still plotting to kill Jesus while he's raising up Lazarus. I'm thinking, man, one of the funniest things you'll see in scripture is when they get all the grave clothes off Lazarus, they said, "He's such a testament. We need to kill him. He's already been dead. Are you trying to kill somebody just took grave clothes off?" Like, at some point, what what good is your plotting? What good what plan you going to come up with? But let's think about it. This is the thing you got to understand in our world today. And I'm preaching to everybody. This is not just students because everybody's on social media. Some some some grandmas are like the first people to comment on anything. Let me ask you this. What if the Pharisees wrote the Gospels? What if Jesus let the Pharisees pin the Gospels? What would your narrative be about Jesus? But the most powerful thing about it is he didn't just say, "Hey, Matthew, write the Gospels." He gives us a fourdimensional perspective of his life. It's not just truth because Matthew said it. He said Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are all going to record it and they're all very different and they're all going to give you the story, but they're going to give it from their perspective and it don't one time contradict itself. And so you get this four-dimensional look of the gospels and not one time did the Pharisees catch him in something or do this or do that. You you see this powerful narrative of comfort, this powerful narrative of Jesus Christ, the gospel, the good news. And that's why you can't just take a bite from Matthew and make you a doctrine out of it. If you're going to take Matthew 28:19 and say that he you you going to baptize him in the name of the father and the son and the holy ghost, then why didn't Mark and Luke and John say it? Because Luke said it in 24:47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his nation among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. So you don't get to take just Matthew 28:19 and say I'm going to baptize people in the name. First of all, it's you take it out of context context of baptize somebody in the titles because that's not correct by even what was written. But if you're going to take Matthew 28:19, you better take Luke 24:47. You better take Mark 16:15 and 16. You better take John 20 because he gives you a four-dimensional look at the Gospels. You don't just get to take one account. And so we see once again, he just validates it's the whole truth. You've got to take all of it. He breathed on them the Holy Ghost. He we see time and time again that he's confirming himself that I am the way. I am the truth. And without it, without all four of the gospels, and this might mess with you a little bit, but without all four of the gospels, you get a wrong Jesus. He gave you all four accounts for a reason. And Matthew may connect with you and John may connect with you and Luke may connect with you. But that don't mean that you get to throw out Matthew. That don't mean you get to ignore Mark. That don't mean you get to just create your own doctrine because I connect with John. He said, "I'm going to give you all." He is truth. Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes to the father but by me. And if you know me, you would know him. And if you know me, you've seen him. Why? Because he is the truth and he is absolute. And in the last days, we see this contrast. And I I'm I'm hurrying. I'm hurrying to a close. But Jeremiah is this powerful prophet prophet tasked by God to go into a backsliding nation that is all too different than the narrative that's often been pedled in Christianity. But it's the religious people who are wanting comforting prophecies. It's the religious people who if you're going to preach to me, preach to me some good words. Preach to me that God is going to take me through. Preach to me that this is this this is going to change my and it is. But not just part of the truth. Only all of the truth will. So Jeremiah is this interesting person. Sometimes people, you talk about Jeremiah and you you read about him and he don't really get a fair shake for what he did. I mean, the guy was a prophet that would prophesy against the false prophets in the church who were giving a furry feeling like he's prophesying all the things you want. And Jeremiah's like, "Sorry, that's not it." Can you imagine? Can you can you imagine being a part of that church? Huh? It's the appetite within our world today for truth. He says it's like honey and butter. He said they they they got to figure out the difference between good and evil. He said you got to there's got to be an appetite. And so you you feed these immature Christians and and but eventually they got to grow up. They got to change. So we see Jeremiah 29 and verse number 21. This this this is the craziest stuff that goes on. He tells him, he says, "I'm going to I'm going to deliver you and the the hand and then all these victories are going to come and Jehoshaphat he that he says that that isn't right. Your heart turned it's got to be turned toward God." And this is Isn't there a prophet of God here? He begins to ask some questions. Yes, but I hate him. The scripture says, "I don't like what Jeremiah has to say. He's always calling me out. Give me somebody who will tell me what I want to hear. Give me somebody who will speak words that are not confrontational to my flesh. Jeremiah 28:15 then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Haniah, the prophet here now, Haniah, the Lord hath not sent thee. I I just be honest with you. I don't I just got done with the study on Jeremiah. I don't think he could preach in 99 5% of the churches in the world today. No way. He's like, Lord hadn't sent you. Can you imagine? Like, it's so confrontational. Confrontational. And then I get I got to thinking like based upon some tapes and some old recordings that I've heard, I don't know if some of my great-grandfathers could preach in church today. I I'm concerned that most preachers are more concerned about the internet mob of backsliders than they are the truth. They they'd rather just lay in a bed of lies and speak comforting words. I know a bunch of churches they wouldn't have my great-grandfather. I know a bunch of churches Paul couldn't preach in their church. Way too confrontational. Way too He's way too direct. He'd call out way too much stuff. He says, "Haniah, you're causing my people to trust in a lie." And he said, 'You'll die this year because you have taught my people rebellion. You can read it. Study the whole text. It's Jeremiah 28:16. I don't have time to go through the whole story. What a strong word from Jeremiah. And so here here's what it comes down to with all of us that our relationship with the truth has to be so burdensome and so strong that we love this word that I'll buy it and it's not for sale. I'm not going to abandon this. It's not something that I'm tra. It has to be so strong on us that no matter how pulled and how how easy it is to want to say something favorable, I've got to say the truth. It doesn't matter how enticing it is nowadays to want to say something favorable, something that just makes that person feel good that's asking you a question. It is your responsibility to be a light to speak truth in a dark world. It's our responsibility. You say, "Well, what if I say that that that that you have to be born again?" Lord have mercy. God forbid you tell them the way of salvation. You must. That's strong words. I don't think that'd go over in my community. You never know because Jeremiah 5 says it this way. Oh Lord, are not thine eyes upon truth? The eyes of the Lord are literally searching. I'm almost done. the the eyes of the Lord are looking for truth. It it's not a location if you're in a pig pin, but you come to yourself. The eyes of the Lord are upon truth. We need to pray that God leads us not to anybody. We need to pray that God leads us to people that want to come to themselves. We need to pray that God leads us. I know that person's in sin there eventually. I believe God's going to call, but you need to pray God leads you to somebody that's maybe in a pig pin, maybe in a mess that says, "Oh, they just came to themselves." Because the eyes of the Lord are on anybody who wants to get out of a short bed with a tired of living a lie. Tired of feeling this way. Tired of feeling the dis the disappointments and the depression and the fear and I'm tired of being all cooped up. I'm tired of feeling like I can't express myself. There's no hope. There's no peace. There's no joy. I'm tired of laying down at night and putting my head on a pillow in this bed of lies. I'm faking it to my family. I'm faking it to my friends. I'm faking I'm not okay. You realize how many people in our world are doing that every single night. And God's just looking, searching the earth. His eyes are upon truth. Partial comfort, partial coverage. Jeremiah says that you've healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, "Peace, peace, when there is no peace. I'm sorry to be so straightforward, but our world don't need another slight touch. Our our world don't need another slight healing. Our world needs the truth. Our our world don't need it's just it's a halftruth. So, it's a whole lie. It's a small bed. It's a short blanket. There's people that are looking for change. There's people that are looking. And so, we must create a culture that celebrates the truth, celebrates honesty. I try my best to do this within my life, within my family, within our students. It's one thing when people are wrong, but if they're honest, we can work with that. But if I have to go search you out and pull you out of a bed of lies, you're never going to serve God on your own. This is a bed you have to get up out of and say, "Hey, I was wrong." There's some young people in this place tonight. If you would get out of this bed, everything would change for you. Mama's been trying to pull you out of it. Daddy's been trying to pull you out of it. Friends been trying to pull There's some families. There's some parents. There's some husbands and wives that are laying right here. And if you would get out of it yourself, it would blow your mind what God would do because the strength within you. You're only as strong as you are honest. That's the foundation of all relationship with God. Repentance is honesty. Relationship is honesty. And so you got to begin with the truth. And I'm here to call to pull to speak life to somebody who's tired of being in a short bed with a small blanket. Just stand to your feet tonight. It was Noah who spoke truth when he seemed like an adversary. Person trying to save your soul is not your enemy. Paul said to Galatia, "Have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth?" And there's a lot of things that could be fixed. There's a lot of time that could be kept from being wasted if we could all handle the truth. Not only in our own lives, but cultivate a culture of truth. Jesus at the very end of it all in John 16, he mentions it in all four gospels, but I'll pull from John 16. He says, "Nevertheless, I tell you truth." Jesus is about to ascend. And this is such an odd way of saying it, like it's Jesus. Of course, he's telling you the truth, right? But he clarifies because it's important that these these 12 disciples that he's leaving down here and he's going to ascend that it's still the basis of everything. It's going to be what p it's going to be the pulse in your veins. It's going to be what drive. It's got to be truth. Truth is the beginning of it all. Says, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth." Look at this. It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he has come, he will reprove the world. That contract, that covenant of sin, and the righteousness and of judgment, of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness because I go to the father and you see me no more. Of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them. Now, that's a powerful scripture because many people, they just The spirit of the Lord is still speaking. You're hearing words now that the disciples wanted to hear. He's given it to the church today because you're the church of the end times. They couldn't hear it then, but maybe you could hear it now. How be it when he the spirit of truth see this with me is come and he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whosoever he shall hear he that has a ear that's going to hear that he speaks if you'll have a conversation with him and not a conversation of vain imaginations with yourself. He will show you of things to come. So what is the comforter? Spirit of truth. For all of you that see things in picture form, you'll never remember anything I said, but you'll remember this. He'll send you a comforter. And if you want me to get real corny, he'll send you a king-size comforter. It's big enough for you. It's big enough for your family. It's big enough for the people in your job. It's big enough for anything. He said, "There's never a place that you could go. There's not a thing that you could do that could escape the truth of the blood of Jesus. That he was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Before any of this happened, there was truth that he is God. And there's this comforter that's the spirit of truth that's going to come and it's going to cover you. It's going to be be it be all that you ever needed, all that you ever wanted. It's ne he says, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth that before I go, I'm going to send you a comforter." It's the spirit of truth. It's the truth is the only comforter. It's the only thing. It's not some counterfeit comfort. It's not something that's going to give you partial coverage. is not something that's going to give you just a a piece of comfort. It's something that's going to give you everything that you need. And as my mind goes to the Old Testament, he says, "No matter if you make your bed in hell, you start thinking a truth, his eyes will find you." There's somebody tonight that just simply needs to get up out of that bed. It's been uncomfortable for too long. It's been not enough for too long. It's frustrated you for so long. You've been deceived. I get it. You had a conversation with yourself and you made a bad decision. I get it. You've even attempted the old Adam and Eve and you've tried to cover it up with some fig leaves. You've got a little small blanket. You're trying to cut. It's from the very beginning. It's not just the first time Isaiah just come up with this idea. It's been a small bed and a short blanket ever since sin came in. The fig leaves are not going to cut it. It's just going to frustrate you. This small blanket, this little bed is nowhere for a child of God to be laying their head. I invite somebody tonight who didn't know there was more that you've just been living like this with no idea that God cared about you the way he does. That God went and did all that he did just for you. You had no idea. You've just been living this way. But then, oh, I call the saints of God to do a little soulsearching that we've not become pheriseical. and we've just taken a portion of truth. We'll take the comforting words and the promises and the good prophecies, but I don't want that com I don't want that. I don't want that strong word against my flesh. We should bow your head in this place tonight. Feel the spirit of the Lord speaking just as he spoke in the garden as he said, "Where art thou, Adam?" See God, I'm ashamed. See God, I'm ashamed of what I've done. See God, I'm I'm just trying I'm going to cover this up myself. I'm just I'll live deceived. No, no, no, no. God's looking for you. His eyes are looking for somebody tonight who will come to themselves in the last days. Perilous times will come. All the things are listed, every head bowed, every eye closed, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. Turn away from that, he says. But he says, ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. I want to open these altars tonight for somebody who just wants the whole truth. Don't matter if you've never been to an altar or you grew up coming to an altar. I call you tonight to search your soul. Say, God, I don't want to be comfortable in my flesh. God, I don't want to find myself in a place right now, open these altars to any and everybody who wants to make a decision and make a a a declaration. I will not be deceived in the last days. I will not fall prey to the vain imaginations and the conversations in my minds. I realize that stepping out takes a little bit of courage and nobody wants to be nobody wants to be uh categorized as the person that that relates to the sermon, but if we're truly honest, we all do. We can all fall prey to it so quickly. You need to have a conversation with God about your situation. need to have a conversation with God about your problems. Have a conversation with God about those thoughts. Need to have a conversation with God tonight about those feelings. Because if it's vain imagination, God knows where you've assumed things that are not true. Come on, that's it. I hear some of you beginning to pray. Some of you beginning to open up your heart unto God. Come on right now. Would you pray to him with all that's within you? He's sending the comforter right now. The spirit of truth that's coming down right now. The truth will make you free. There's going to be a delivering power that sweeps over this house here in just a moment in the name of Jesus. For anybody that'll be honest, anybody that'll pray a prayer of repentance. Anybody that'll truly give their heart to God, he's going to touch you right now in the name of Jesus. That's it. Come on. That's it, young person. That's it, Mom. Come on. That's it, Mom. I know it's hard, but let's just let's just transition into reality for a moment and give it to God. I know it's been guarded. I know it's been filtered. I know it's something that you just won't don't want to be vulnerable. You don't want to trust. But I'm asking you to trust God right now. I'm asking you to give God every thought. Take it captive and give it to him. take it captive and turn it over to him. There's going to be a breakthrough of strongholds in the mind. Let that happen to you right now, young man. Come on. Come on, young lady. That's not God's thoughts towards you. Come on. That's not how God sees you. Come on. God's got something for you right now. Come on, church. be the church right now. Come on, create an atmosphere of truth. Come on, create an atmosphere of truth with every person. Would you lift your voice up right now? Would you lift your voice up right now to cry out? Cuz we we all need the truth. We all need God right now. Oh, in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Oh, in the name of Jesus. I know it can be a very vulnerable atmosphere, but there's some of you that may need to go to somebody in this room and speak truth to them. Hey, I shouldn't have said that. Hey, I shouldn't have shouldn't have acted that way. There's some of you that just need to pray with somebody next to you. You might need to yoke up with your family and pray for a few moments. There's going to be some change. There's going to be some I'm not going to continue to lay in this bed. I'm not going to continue to be uncomfortable. I've got to change. I can't keep living this way. Oh, in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Oh, I'm pleading with somebody to just reach back towards God for a moment. Come on. He's reaching for you. His eyes are up on truth. Anybody that'll be real with him. Anybody that'll be real with him right now. Come on. Anybody that'll be honest with him. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Church, would you hear me for a moment? Oh God, I know I promise you everything in it within me wants to just turn this and give you a comforting word. But here's the word for you tonight. Sister Ericson said, "How are you going to close tonight?" I said, "I have no idea. I have four scriptures that could possibly be it, but I have no idea. But God just spoke to me so strong and he said, "This whole narrative right here is what can get within each and every one of us that we come in on a Sunday night and we claim to be fooling running over the Holy Ghost, but we want to get just enough to cover us for the week. want to get out of this deceptive just idea within within your mind. And I hope you can feel my heart right now. It's each and every one of us. Do we really come in and get everything God has for you tonight? Please hear me tonight. It's not just young people. It's It's not just It's every single one of us. If we're not careful, we'll become so accustomed to this culture that it's just enough. I know I'm coming back Wednesday. I know I'm going to get to come back Sunday. I'm just going to get just enough for me and my family. get just enough to make me feel in my conscience that I've done enough. So I challenge you tonight. How long has it been since you left an altar and it felt like it did the first time you walked away from? Because we become no different than no different than the Pharisees who just have a form of it. I've become so accustomed to it. I've come so used to it. I I I just just want just a little bit of his presence. Just top me off, would you? No. There's somebody on your work this week that needs truth running over from you. And if we're not careful, we will deceive ourselves into thinking that just having enough spirit and enough truth. He says you are to be full of spirit and truth. Not half truth and half spirit. He says you are to be full of spirit and truth because those two are everything that we are as Christians. It's the comforter, the Holy Ghost, the spirit of truth. It's all encompassed in who Jesus is. So, I'm asking you, I wish everybody would stand to your feet right now. And I wish you would lift your hands. I wish you'd close your eyes. Don't be distracted. Don't allow anything to pull your attention here for the next few moments. I don't want a small bed. I don't want a short blanket. I want everything you've got for me. I want the comforter to send the Holy Ghost right now. I don't know how long it's been. Maybe it's earlier in service or maybe it's a few years, but the Holy Ghost is about to fall in this place. And it's God's will that you begin to speak in another tongue as the evidence of the truth, the spirit of truth, the comforter is in this place right now. He wants to wrap his arms around your situation. He wants to change your atmosphere. He wants to change what you're dealing. Come on. That's it. But we can push a little bit further right now. Come on. We can push a little bit further right now. We can push a little bit further right now. Come on, reach for it. God, I want all you've got for me. God, cover me. God, wash me. God, cleanse me. God, change me. Come on. That's it. Some of you are being delivered from that stronghold in your mind right now. Some of you are being delivered from that vain imagination. Come on, that's it. Come on. That's it. God's for you. That's not an assumption. God's with you. That's not an assumption. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. Come on, break through right now. Come on, break through that storm. Change my mind. Change my heart, oh God. Heat. Heat. of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Oh God. Who thought you filled with earth like I saw you were. You're better. What a God. What a God. Oh Lord, God, I need all of you, oh God. Lord, I want all the strength, oh God. Lord, I need all that you have for me tonight, oh God. Lord, I need all that you have for me tonight. In the name of Jesus. I know you show my kind of God is for the Lord. They say it's over. You say, "No, it's not." No, it's not. You can't go. If the highest place I reach is at your feet, then I've done it all. If the best thing that I've seen is your glory, then I've seen it all. Your love changed my life forever. Satisfied. You are my best. If the highest place I reach is your best thing that I've seen is your se your love forever. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. In the highest place I reaches on your feet and I turn it all is the best thing that I've seen in your glory. And I've seen it all your Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Everything. Come on, throw your hands up to heaven right now. We worship you in spirit and in truth tonight. You are my one. The only thing you speak, then I've heard it all. If I feel your heart and never see your hand, I still have it all. No treasure of his life would ever sisfy. God you are my everything. Come on singing. God you are my everything. I say God you are my everything. Now say God you are my everything. Come on let's lift up a loud praise now. Right here. Lift up a loud praise without the lyrics of a song. Come on. Without the lyrics of a song, lift up loud, loud, loud, loud, loud. Praise. Seeking out truth. Seeking out truth. Oh. Oh. I feel your presence. I feel your glory in this place. I feel the comforter. The spirit of the comforter is in this place. Oh Jesus. Oh yes Lord. Yes Lord. Yes. Come on. I just feel we can linger in the spirit just a little bit longer. Sometimes we we cut ourselves short just a little bit too much. Come on. Linger in the spirit just a little bit longer. Come on. Push through your praise. Come on. Push through your worship just a little bit. We heard a great word tonight. Come on. We're responding to the word. We're responding to what God spoke into our hearts, into our lives, and our lives. Oh, I refuse the bed of lies. I refuse the bed of lies. I refuse for short bed, short sheet. I refuse it. No. Truth. No matter what. Truth. No matter what. No matter how hard it is