The Tower of the Flock  |  Student Pastor Zach Hammond
by Zach Hammond
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Luke 2:1-14, Micah 5:2, Genesis 35:19-21, Micah 4:8, Luke 2:16, John 1:29, 1 Peter 1:18-19, Proverbs 18:10, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6

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

------------------------------------------------------------
well we bless your name in this house tonight hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah Luke chapter two as you would assume it is the week of Christmas we could go to any gospel and read this same story but I choose tonight to start in Luke chapter 2 verse number one it is always an honor and a privilege to speak to preach to you I know our students I love them and appreciate them they get to hear me probably too much and I love but it's always a privilege to stand before you and to minister the word of the lord I give honor to pastor carpenter sister carpenter and pastor Eric since mr. erikson and all the great elders and people of God it is I'm not really sure tonight would be a typical Sunday night message what I would bring to you I bring to you more of a Bible study and we'll see what the Lord does but the way I see Scripture is the more I understand this the more I understand him therefore I understand my role so revelation to me is a powerful thing because it just gives me more power to say that what I stand for is right the more I see of the prophecies and the arrows pointed from the Old Testament the New Testament that he he did die he did fulfill every single line and every single word in Scripture it gives me more validity of why I do what I do there's many a days that I wake up and the devil has done something to discourage me and it's not some hyped up youth camp that comes back to me and those are great and I believe great things happened you know I'm the firm believer of the power and the move of pentecost's but what gets me through is knowing that here o Israel the Lord our God is one Lord that from the pages of our Bible brother Malone from Genesis chapter one to the very last pages of your Bible all speak in one Accord and so tonight we're going to dive into the the story of Jesus's birth and I will go ahead and warn you that this is about a two-year study for me I don't know that I've ever preached anywhere around Christmastime other than maybe just a short sermon to our students so I have a lot of information tonight and I will tell you this I'm going to do my best to quickly move through this and I'm probably going to disorient the door disorient a little bit of your nativity scene how you see this Jesus in a manger with the wise men and the shepherds so I'll go ahead and you kind of sit on the edge of your seat and if that I'm not I'm not sending you home to discard those things that are sitting on the mantel or anything like that this evening some of you may have them in your yard lighting up and flashing and causing wrecks and those sort of things but I'm not here to do any of that but however I am going to give you what the scripture says tonight and hopefully the revelation of that will give you a better understanding of why he came how he came and all the things that happen in every one of our Gospels that they all recorded it so if you would bear with me as I read the first few verses of Luke chapter 2 I know you know it so just follow along with me and see it as a time of the year that we would read it again and it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed and this taxing was first made by serenus it was a governor of Syria and all went out to be taxed every one into his own City Joseph also went up from Galilee into the city of Nazareth into Judea unto the City of David because that's where he was from he went there to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife being great with child and so it was that that while they were there the days were accomplished that they should be delivered that she should be delivered and she brought forth her firstborn son wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the end and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over the flock by night and lo the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid and the angel said unto them fear not for behold I bring you tidings of great joy which shall be not just to you but to all people for unto you Is Born This Day in the City of David a savior which is Christ the Lord and this shall be a sign unto you because anytime there's a promise in the Bible they'll always be a sign you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men if you lay your Bible down tonight I want to preach to you for just a few minutes about the tower of the flock the tower of the flock if you'd by your heads and let's pray over this soul we love you God we thank you so much God for everything you've done for us all day long God Lord your presence has been here your power has been here we would ask tonight God that you would speak God ever so clearly your word God God that your spirit would move down into this place Oh God God that you would open our minds God that you would God do it only you can do in this house because only you know what we truly need Oh God God not my words God not my mind not my thoughts but you Oh God God stand in this place God intercede in this place God manifests yourself Oh God in this very place we would ask it all in your name and everybody say in Jesus name amen you can be seated the tower of the flock we sometimes think we have somewhat accurate information about the Christmas story just because we've heard it from others repeat commonly accepted information so often that it seems right perhaps us even in a little jig or a little song that we grow up singing it can be a bit odd odd to find out sometimes that we actually don't have all of our facts exactly straight for example we picture Jesus being born in a stable with multiple different animals present the Bible never says anything about that however it only says that after his birth he was laid in the manger or a manger according to which gospel you read some saved thee some say a we picked her shepherds and three wise men but there never was told that there were exactly three standing together at the manger but the Bible tells us that by the time the wise men arrived Jesus was two years old and living in a house Matthew 2 and 11 and verse 16 as well we picture everyone following the star because that's what's over the manger scene that sits above the fireplace but it didn't really happen that way the Shepherd's were from fields nearby right next to the little Bethlehem and so they heard the angels and went directly where they knew that Jesus was at but we see that some different things correlate in this story and according to how we read it in verses 10 through 12 tell us that they said the angel said Behold we bring you good tidings and great joy that that that today the Savior is born in the City of David which is Christ the Lord and he shall be a sign unto you he will be a child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger so the first thing we want to address here I would like to address tonight is the City of David I'll attempt somewhat to tie rod onto the end of pastors wonderful sermon this morning that Boaz was to Naomi and Ruth kinsman redeemer as we heard preach this morning he foreshadows Jesus who is called the kinsman redeemer Jesus redeems his family all of us the people of God from the bondage of sin and death his blood was a ransom payment for each and every one of us so Ruth's decision that Pastor addressed this morning to follow naialah Naomi to Bethlehem gave her Boaz as a husband and was a blessing for her she came into the house of Israel like Rachel and Leah who built their house in Israel this connected Ruth forever to Bethlehem which is where the Messiah would come so the lineage of Jesus as detailed in the first chapters of each and every gospel provides the lineage of Jesus from Abraham verses five and six lists the lineage of Ruth and Boaz to King David so the land that pastored addressed this morning preached about this morning purchased by Boaz was then passed down to his family line it went from Obed to Jesse to David's David's father and then then the land surely became the fields that perhaps Shepherd David was even shepherding when he was called and anointed he was that one that was the family land that Boaz had purchased have you seen with me this kinsman-redeemer had purchased this little area on the map that we call Bethlehem so although maybe not stated exactly in Scripture it is probable that David was actually raising the flocks of sheep for sacrifice for the tabernacle that his kinsman redeemer purchased these sheep were the foreshadowing of this true kinsman redeemer that would be born in the land as told by the prophets and his name would be called Jesus according to the Gospels Mary and Joseph it's not as I would have pictured it growing up that they come riding in on a donkey right young people she's about to have a baby they're rushing into the city to the end you know know they had been there for some would say weeks perhaps months because they were called there for the census to to be taxed because that's where they were from that was Joseph Joseph sland there so they had to be there to pay taxes so they were already in Bethlehem and Bethlehem was very important to God and the birth of Jesus for multiple reasons but one very important one that I want to focus on this evening and it was the city where the Lambs of the temple flock were birth and raised if you're anything like me you have no clue what the term temple flock means they were birthed at what was called the tower of the flock or an original text Migdal a darn and they were raised in the surrounding fields between Bethlehem and Jerusalem just outside of Bethlehem they would be taken in and sacrificed for the sins of the people by the priests remember that it was the prophet Micah who told us that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem initially but when we put the pieces together we find that Micah actually says much more to us than just Bethlehem Micah 5 and verse number 2 but now Bethlehem Ephratah though thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of these shall come forth unto me that is the big that is to be the ruler of Israel who's going forth have from old from everlasting this is the this is the the the this this foreshadowing of what we see we first see Bethlehem mentioned thousands of years before in the book of Genesis when Rachel dies bringing Benjamin into the world Rachel dies in Genesis chapter 35 and verse 19 and was buried in the way of a prat which is Bethlehem and Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day and Israel journeyed and spread his tent beyond the tower of the flock or the Tower of Eden the tower this tower of the flock that I want to make known to you this evening was a watchtower for the Shepherd's to watch over the flocks grazing the surrounding country size between Jerusalem and Bethlehem there would have been many such structures in ancient Israel but this one took special meaning and is the exact reason why Jesus was born in Bethlehem not only because rachel's tomb was nearby in fact some would say that Jacob when Rachel died would have even taken Benjamin into the tower of the flock because it was a place where they knew how to handle newborn children because of the unclean nature of shepherding and herding at the time that the Gospels were written in that and back in the time that the Bible was written the only place there was only one place that a Shepherd could flock there was anywhere closer or remotely close to the city every all the Shepherd's were required you keep those animals you keep your flocks outside of the city because they were considered unclean but there was one exception because hundreds of lambs were needed yearly for the temple flock hundreds of lambs were needed every year for the priests to take the sheep into the temple and from that sacrifice the sins of the people the sins of the city sins of the people of God were remitted so this therefore thankfully you know it's just five miles out of out of jerusalem let me find this little village of meth lehem it was the hills and valleys that were perfect for the sheep to graze and so Bethlehem became one place in all of Israel where sacrificial lambs were raised it was the lower level of this tower where the newborn spotless lambs because that's the only kind that could be brought into the tower of the flock they were brought to him and wrapped with long strips of cloth as they would not hurt themselves as they become injured or damaged or blemished because a lot of times they would they would have spotless lambs as they are birthed but leave them with the flock too long and pasture they would have a little bit of blemish on them and they'd have a little bit of bruising or or they've they've run into the fence so they're so small that they've got caught here or trampled here so they immediately the Shepherd would bring them into the tower the flock and they would swaddle them with strips of clothing so these Shepherds were no ordinary Shepherds rather Levitical Shepherds as the scripture calls them they were skilled and discerning exactly how to take a perfect lamb or how to take an imperfect lamb what to do with them these are not ordinary men they were not ordinary Shepherds they were not just out protecting the flock they knew the law they knew they were in they were an integral part of the temple system without them Israel had no sacrifice for their sins they were a huge part in the temple flock these are the Shepherds that the angel appeared to were the keepers of the tower of the flock they were the only ones allowed that close to the city so when the angel says and this shines somebody assigned some of you a sign unto you that you shall see a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger those words were not vague to those Shepherds if I told you tonight you're gonna go find a child laying in a cradle I mean there's hundreds of those right you're gonna find a child laying in a cradle in Blount County wait oh that's it that could you give me a little bit more you know if you looked at it that way but these Shepherds knew that there's only one place in town that has a manger which is is a little bit again and I'm not here to rock anybody's cradle pardon the pun but as a manger in an original text means a stall but when it was in the stall wrapped in swaddling clothes they immediately knew there's only one place in town that swaddles things in a stall so they went immediately they knew exactly where these sacrificial lambs were born wrapped in swaddling clothes inspected by the shepherds so they knew exactly to the point on the night of Jesus's birth where he was to see this with me these Shepherds they had trained all their lives for this moment you're not talking about ordinary people even Mary may have had to ponder these things the scripture says in her heart she may not have truly understood it everything but those Shepherds just as much as the priest would have known what micah 4 and 8 what the what the scripts have had foretold that was going to happen that there was going to be a sacrifice that would come they had prepared their whole lives for this moment they knew exactly where to find him Micah gives another prophecy we see in chapter 5 and verse number 2 that we read earlier but listen to this map Micah for an eight-oh thou ow'st tower of the flock the stronghold of the daughter of Zion unto these shall it come even the first Dominion the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem now stay with me I know this is a lot of information but Luke's original audience would have immediately picked up on the significance of the angel appearing to the shepherds in Bethlehem because the only Shepherd's in Bethlehem was the temple shepherds the only shepherds in Bethlehem's were the Shepherd's of the Tower of the clock so when they said that he was born in Bethlehem it was a sacred place of sacrifice and he appears first to these shepherds and they certainly would have recognized the significance of Jesus being laid in a manger and being wrapped in swaddling clothes because no doubt many of them remembered Micah's prophecy that it would be revealed that the tower of the flock it was a powerful prophetic sign at the moment that he was born at the place of sacrifice these Levitical shepherds who gave help to multiple births and protected these Lambs every year in and year out they knew the requirements of the priests they knew the law they knew the prophecies and just like you've got to see this clearly before we can move on the reason that he appeared to the shepherds and they got the word first is not just all the different things in scripture because we understand pastors always gonna get the word first but those shepherds were Jews and those wise men were Gentiles and just like the Holy Ghost came first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles first to people that understood it first to people that knew how to react to it because they knew that it was coming it first came to the Shepherd's because they went running and knew exactly where it was because they had seen that oh this is the law that's being fulfilled it's this is what I planned my life this is what I've built my list why I keep going in and out of the temple this is what I keep doing these things for so he lays it out perfectly for us we see that Herod was all about the wise men coming to worship with the king of the Jews because they thought he was coming to worship him he was the King of the Jews but then they said no no no it's it's it's the one that's been born and all of a sudden he sends out a decree for everyone to be killed wrapped in swaddling clothes see this is this is where it gets really interesting to me and and and and we'll go somewhere here in just a moment just a little bit beyond just the facts of what's happening here in the Gospels the first few chapters of all of our Gospels had Jesus been born in the end or anywhere else he would have been swaddled like even a baby as swaddled today you can look it up online you would lay that maybe diagonal across and wrap those nowadays you'd wrap a blanket then they would take strips of clothing and wrap the baby up he would have been born in town had been born like any other child would have been born during that native been swaddled would but really care we were just different pieces of cloth that would keep him tight make him feel like he was in his mother's womb but see in the tower of the flock they didn't just use just normal cloth they used the clothing of the priest what would happen when that priest would go in the temple and make that sacrifice for the sins of the people it's when he would come out he couldn't wear those clothes anymore he couldn't use those clothes anymore he couldn't go back in with those clothes on he couldn't make anymore say he couldn't do any of his priestly duties with that closing more so he would take those clothes that perhaps were even a little bit bloody it had previous sacrifice on him and they would take brother Johnson said they would they would rip them up into two long strips and that all the sheep that came in the Tower of the flock were swaddled in the clothing of the priest from a previous sacrifice so no the scripture don't say it but they did tell us where he was born and everybody else that was born in there or all the other sheep let's say it that way that's the way they were swaddled so perhaps Jesus would swaddle with the garments of the priests which there's so much to preach there but I will move on Luke chapter 2 verse 16 tells us that they came with haste because they knew where he was the Shepherd's came quickly found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger as the angel says and they seen it they made it known abroad saying which was told to them concerning this child and they that heard it wondered at these things which were told them by the shepherds but Mary kept all these things had pondered them in her heart we see here this is such a powerful thing because you you've got to see where Mary's had and understand and I fear that that we may be caught up a little bit in this and our modern-day culture she's pondering these things she's thinking through these things you ever thought about he said there was no room in the end I don't know about you but growing up I thought about that many times and thought you know they're walking up to a little motel type Shack you know and there's a guy there that's you know half-asleep and and you know he's up in the middle of the night and you know we don't have any more rooms everybody's here Johnny just come in off the you know the road and he got the last room and you know it's kind of got Motel kind of feel as my mind set like there's no room in the end but that's that's not the case in fact it makes much more sense knowing that Mary and Joseph just distant and hobble into town on a donkey they had been there for months for the knowing the end was the home of their family in that day and time the home of your family all the family would would come into their family in together and they would all sleep there in the same abode together so it wasn't that there wasn't room in the the Bethlehem motel there wasn't room in their family house for couldn't you imagine a lot of the things that was going through Joseph and Mary Mary's got a lot of things to ponder but there was no room in their family home there was no room in the end which positioned them into what the prophecy of God I feel that there's some of us and this is it's just somewhat a part of our culture and I know there's times where I feel myself but we feel entitled to the end and some of us are wondering why the prophecies and promises of God that he spoke directly to you as a father a mother a child a grandparent are not coming to pass is because we stand at the end waiting on our family waiting on the world waiting on something that we feel like should happen because by all means I'm pregnant could I not just have my child in the family home we've become so entitled that we deserve this that by by the means and again I'm not here to step on anybody's toes but I'm here to confront a spirit of the adversary that's come upon this this this generation that says that because something's gone wrong in the family in and maybe I've been rejected or things aren't exactly the way that I wanted them to be or they haven't turned out this way or I don't have what they have or they don't have what you've become entitled to saying that there's even now books being written there are things being said on Christianity today that there's people that think just because of how they've been treated and things that's happened in their life they deserve heaven entitled in everything up into eternity for God's sake it's blowing my mind to see and our students are fighting it more than ever that they deserve something we'll never desire heaven until we realize we deserve hell hear me this evening we will generation of young people until we realize that he came as a lamb slain before the foundation of the world and if it wasn't for him no matter what my situation looks like no matter what my problems look like no matter if I get kicked out in the family in I got a walk in God's promises brother Josh I got a walk in God's prophecies God doesn't owe us anything we don't just just just get to walk in and check off the attendance list and beebe off into heaven it's not going to happen it's a spirit of the ages we've got too many Mary's standing outside the end waiting your turn and I am scared to death that you're waiting your turn and you're going to stand at the gates of heaven waiting expecting I did this in your name I was at church all the things I had to go through that they didn't have to go through come on Lord could you just let me in it's not gonna happen that way it may look like you're telling me I got to go give birth over here with a sheep you're telling me I got to go over here where where there's no other people I've got to go over here there there's probably I don't know you know I've always had this kind of in my mind that there's you know manure and all this stuff and it stinks or whatever however it's the tower of the flock it's gotta be clip kept clean these are the sacrificial lambs this place is probably dusted and cleaners some of them some of our homes probably this place is nice so it she doesn't even realize probably what she's going into but we must be careful that some of us are missing out on the fulfillment of what God has for our lives because we feel entitled to be in the house it's not always going to go the way we want it to go it's not always but God's gonna work and if we will let him the aspect of of faith that in all things work together for the good it's hard to act in when we act as if we're entitled all things work for the good of those events that that that realm of faith cannot be activated for somebody who feels like that they are entitled to something that somebody walks around with a victim mentality that does not work you are working in a total different realm of theology than what God says he says all things work together for the good of those who called according to what what was God's purpose to be born in the tower of the flock yeah and again I've got to get off this subject but it's something that is is blind and so many people blinded now I feel like multiple generations and it's being passed down and being passed down please parents see that more than ever before wrap your kid up swaddle them put father the scripture says follow the scripture says that you're the priest of your home could you wrap is there any garments that that mama might could take from your sacrifice and wrap around your kids to keep them from bruising and hurting and feeling the pain it's the same thing that got him out of got him out of Egypt in the book of Exodus pastor preach perfectly about it the other night one lamb for one home put the blood on the doorposts sacrifice one lamb the way of you sacrifice those those first Born's didn't have to die on the inside of the house if there had been blood on the outside of the house or wouldn't been blood on the inside of the house we understand this evening if we have some if we have one generation and I love brother Balls analogy of saying that we can't there's too many people being born but that for us to win the whole world and and I'm sure that's true but it will get some parents in the house that learn how to swaddle and learn how to sacrifice and learn how to treat their kids and protect their kids with holiness protect their kids with righteousness then we we don't have to worry about the ones being born because they're gonna grow up in the temple flock if our parents don't get it yeah there's no chance of us win in the world but if one generation will lock in if one generation will understand no room in the end because God is trying to fulfill his promise he was the lamb slain he was the ultimate sacrifice he was born in Bethlehem the tower of the flock because he was the lamb John chapter 1 and verse number 20.9 says this the next day John seeth Jesus coming unto Him and saith behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world 1st Peter 1 and 18 for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your father's but with precious but with the precious but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ as of the lamb without blemish and without spot the lamb without spot and without blemish because he came out of the temple flock it was disappointing as I'm beginning to study and I know that I got the floor little early tonight and I will be conscious of the time it was disappointed so I begin to study and I'll save you the time and and and my voice for three dollars you can download a book and as I begin to study it's about one hundred and ninety pages or so it's called the temple the flock it's a great rider and he takes you so in depth to every single rider that points to why Jesus was born in Bethlehem three bucks they're great three dollars a good study for you it's on Amazon and iBooks there's so much more to it but it was disappointing to me as just this morning I was awakened multiple times through the night with a thought on my mind and says I wonder if I could go visit that place I pulled it up and immediately took me to a few different sites and it blew my mind the minute I saw it that there had been a church it's called the Church of the Nativity that had been built over the top of the temple flock or other than the Tower of the flock they tore it down and built a big church over the top of it now you know I understand that things change and and and you know what have you but then I saw when it was constructed that in 325 AD the Roman Emperor Constantine built the Church of the Nativity over the tower of the flock in Bethlehem now it is called manger square if you were to visit there today where you can find long lines of people who visit the birthplace of Christ you could pay an extra twenty dollars according to Travelocity to skip the line it's just a place where people come and go where they marked in this basement area where they claim that Jesus was born but it pricked me in my heart when seeing that name and that date my memory was jogged as I look back over some research and confirmed I believe I could have confirmed this multo 20 times today to make sure that I wasn't losing my mind but if you would recall I know pastor Erickson has done a lot of study on this as brother carpenter has pastor carpenter but it was a group called the Nicean Council that met and brought together where 1600 plus bishops were invited and I think somewhere around the neighbor of 420 bishops actually attended this council where a doctrine called the Trinity was formed yeah that's right that doctrine is formed by a council and not by the Word of God it is a man-made doctrine and would you believe that the same name that built the church called the council meeting in the same exact year so in 325 AD he tore down the birthplace of the Lamb that was slain for the foundation of the world in the tower of the flock the spotless lamb the place where he was swaddled in priestly garments the place where he rode himself in flesh and came down to be the sacrifice for us he tore it down and within months of each other gathers together and creates today what is the largest false doctrine movement in the world as much as I got frustrated in reading this as much as my mind began to go to a place of frustration and going to the Lord to understand that in the same year that he built the doctrine of the Trinity he tore down the tower on the flock and the Lord checked me and my frustrations and says I don't need it anymore for I was the lamb slain there is no need for another priest there is no need for another shepherd there is no need for another land and therefore there's no need for the Tower of the flock and I'm here to serve notice maybe on your life tonight maybe on your year and particularly two of false doctrines that come against the minds of our students that come against the minds of our world that you world false doctrines of the adversary may try to divide him you may try to destroy him but there is a name because proverbs says the name of the Lord is a strong tower brother Isaac for the righteous run into it and are saved you can tear down the tower of the flock you can try to erase history but the bottom line is he still reigns the lamb has still been slain the blood is still speaking in this room today it is still carrying and covering our sins as we enter this house of worship this evening it's still moving us it's still shaking us and I challenge you right now before we move anywhere else if you just lift your hands up and begin to speak that name I don't know what your problems are tonight I don't know if you have any at all but all of us could use a little bit of the move and the power of the Lord will we speak that name it's a strong tower it's a strong tower could you see this with me this evening the temple flock now gathers at a strong tower strong tower students it's a strong tower that the righteous run into the righteous come into what are why are we the people of the name because that's the tower that's the strength the righteous run into it now now I love to be a place for for for mercy and grace and love but we're talking about righteous people we're talking about people that that are trying to serve God and do all that they can't they run into it and they are safe oh they come in here think about it he has he is duplicated in this house that this is a strong this is a place of his name what happens people come in and they're born again by the Noland they're born here in the strong tower of his name and what do we do we begin to take them in and pasture we wrap them with swaddling clothes we wrap them up with priestly garments we want to put the protection of a pastor over the top of them we want to speak holiness so if you put these guardrails up in your life if you'll begin to do these things I can't help but see that all of a sudden a strong tower becomes a place of the house of God where you can come be born again here I don't care what the world looks like and here's the great thing about the power of the name that you don't get you don't get chose by some Shepherd out in the field you don't have to come in spotless cuz he didn't come just for the city of Jerusalem he didn't come just for the city of Bethlehem he just didn't come for the Jew or the Gentile or those who got it all together or you've got a great a bank account or you got this or that he came for all the world for the foundation of the world so that you could run into it brother Josh and find security you could come to an altar of repentance you can go to waters of baptism and take on that name so that that becomes your tower that becomes your place where you now received a gift of the Holy Ghost there's power in the tower there is everything you need their safety the name of the Lord that's one thing young people and I know I keep going back to you but if there's one thing that we need to make sure that we hold on to firmly it's that as Isaiah said and therefore Lord the Lord himself shall give you a sign behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel if Mary's son was to be called Emmanuel why did she name him Jesus because they mean the same the name of the Lord is a strong tower the righteous run into it and our say because Emanuel means God with us and Jesus means that Yahweh saves so he understands we understand that Emanuel is now God with us because he came through the tower of the flock but now we understand it through the death and burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ that now we've become not just the tower the flock but now we've become the strong tower of his name and that where he is where he dwells he saves understand that with me to where he twelves he saves we cannot expect to be saved where we do not feel his presence how long has it been since you felt the power of God where he is he saves how long has it been since you felt the power of his name we sing about it pastor preaches about it we know the scripture about it we know that this is a strong tower we know that this is a place of refuge we know that when things go bad we know who to turn to but the bottom line is is how often do we tap into the power of his name how often are we confirming with our soul with our spirit that he is with us and he is saving us if the Lord come back right now do we know and people were not entitled to the end you're not just gonna wake up there one day where God is God saves I'll close with this isaiah 9 and 6 for unto us a child is born and unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulders thank God and his name shall be called wonderful counsellor the mighty God the everlasting father the Prince of Peace I remind you this evening with a simple Bible study what are his qualifications what is on his resume what is it that you need in this house what is it that perhaps you're looking for somewhere else with a name will take care of it wonderful he's perfectly balanced he has a personality that is perfectly balanced he's a counselor he's educated beyond all he knows all things he's the mighty God he has no nationality he rules all nations he's the everlasting father he has complete work experience he's the creator of all things he is the Prince of Peace he has the skills beyond anyone else of reconciliation I'm here to remind you no matter how old or how young you are that whatever you do in Word or in deed young person do it in the name of Jesus get in the strong tower it's where he was born it's where he died its way it's all in the name you need salvation tonight I give you Jesus you need healing tonight I give you Jesus amen brother burn every need healing tonight where's it at it's in the name of Jesus if you need a touch tonight I give you Jesus if you need marriage it's all it's all about Jesus no matter what you need I present you Jesus tonight because the bottom line is you could stand to your feet if you need a parent tonight young person I give you Jesus if you need an answer to your job I'll give you Jesus if you need an altar tonight I'll give you Jesus he's the answer to every single problem I don't have time to go into it but I feel that of the Lord to close with this tonight everything we do is in him because without a hundred scriptures and multiple multiple ways of explaining it to you that Jesus fulfilled every single prophecy but also every single position he became the high priest he became the land he became everything that we need there's not a word in the Old Testament that he did not fulfill and tonight I know I could I could preach four or five of the things that make him Vic to that may do this if they do that it may prick your heart in a different way we could talk about suffering this evening and we would all immediately connect it we could probably fall on an altar and immediately begin to break and and God could definitely do things because we connect with suffering but I want you to connect with something tonight and I feel under the power of the Holy Ghost that we end this year going into January realizing and understanding this is a strong tower for one reason the name if we can't get excited about the name if we tell you worship if we can't accept we can't look for a solution anywhere else I don't know what there's there's nothing else we can pull out of the Word of God that would be the solution to your problems that we Beast resolution to your heartache will be the solution to your pain nothing going wrong tonight could we celebrate the name tonight I give you Jesus I give you Jesus tonight come on look at look at you look at your neighbor I'd challenge you to grab the hand of your neighbor we're fixing to open up the altars grab the Handy neighbor and lift it up and look at him tonight I don't mean for this to be awkward but this is the this is the family of God tell him saying Jesus is all you need Jesus is all you need Jesus is all you need right in line with what pastors already said if you need healing tonight I wish you'd step out of your seat because Jesus in the name of Jesus you can be healed if you need healing tonight in the name of Jesus you can be healed come on if you need to be swaddled if you need to feel the loving arms of Jesus if you need to feel the hope of who he is come on if you need if you just just need to be lifted up tonight I give you Jesus come on people of the name speak that name come on if you feel led to pray with somebody come on speak that name over all in the name of Jesus we ask you to touch in the name of Jesus touch of a young person tonight in the name of Jesus you'll come for my marriages tonight God's sake arsenal