Sunday Evening Worship Service

keep that same Spirit as you make your way back to your seats and you can be seated across this house I welcome each and every one of you to Sunday evening worship here at First Apostolic Church all of you in the house and all of you tuning in online I welcome you the same I don't have anything else left to preach tonight uh I'm just kidding I I agree 100% amen and I can attest uh to the impact of Sunday school I had the the privilege uh what does the Bible say I once was young now I'm old um and we'll just go dot dot dot after that and maybe take it out of well it's actually in quite a bit of context uh but I I used to have uh many of these uh students and they're not students anymore they're married and all that but like I said old in Sunday school class at 8 9 and 10 years old and um I'd say a a great turning point in my life I I had the privilege to go after college and work in Washington DC and I I thought that's what I wanted to do and uh uh work on the hill and I remember so so distinctly and we had a a live television live streaming that day it's not quite as accessible as it is now but it was right at the the beginning of them but you couldn't always just log in um uh just with it was it was brand new I think you had to sign on AOL and all that and I wasn't kicked off of AOL uh at that time yet but um but it was on July 4th and I had been going to a a church in in Maryland that was about a 45 minute tram ride and then some people had to pick me up and drive another 30 minutes to Pastor Libby's Church in in Maryland it was quite a a hassle to get there but on this July 4th in Washington DC the place was completely packed and the Subways completely shut down and I I remember uh logging into our fac Knoxville uh live stream and I remember just the greatest conviction coming over my heartall that I wasn't there to teach my Sunday school class I'm I'm not sure how much we learned in that Sunday school class but uh just getting to to to be there with them and and uh and missing them and it and I want to encourage all of you 18 19 20 somethings man there if it it kept me connected it kept me absolutely connected I'm uh I'm I'm not a perfect person I've made mistakes in my life uh there were times that I didn't always feel like I wanted to go to church or it was an app church and I thought that I wanted to stay there but but God used that to say hey I I've got a a calling for you and this isn't where it's at and I don't tell you that as a story of oh I I gave up doing this or that in order to uh to serve God no I I gave up probably being a a fornicator probably being an adulter probably uh being an alcoholic and all all kind of other things could you live for God somewhere like that absolutely but I don't I don't know if I would have been able to that was God keeping me and I and I I look around now and I I see guys out there Braden and Brent and and Ryan and I've had them in school and man I just you you talk about a a blessed a blessed individual and uh I I promise you that as Pastor Whitley said the impact of Sunday school on on both sides of the coin from the students to the teachers uh uh there there is nothing nothing like it I want to get right into the word of uh God tonight if you have your Bibles book of hegi chapter 2: 19 and we'll read one uh verse of Scripture it states and it asked a bit of a rhetorical question is the seed yet in the barn yay has yet the Vine and the Fig Tree and the pomegranate and the Olive Tree at not brought forth from this day will I bless you the question is asked is there any seed left in the barn implying it's it's not it's already been swn this month and there's honestly there's no signs of it bringing forth even a good crop the past season was a failure and it's not looking good for this one either and until now the vine the Fig tree and the pomegranate and the Olive Tree have not borne fruit nothing seems to be going right the seed is not going to do much sitting on the barn sitting in the barn so we'll sew it anyway but nothing's going to harvest and nothing's going to bear fruit and we read hegi is asking this question and he's saying nothing's growing nothing's bearing fruit there's no wine there's no food but and we'll look at proceeding up to this text but from this day will I bless you and this message gives hope that God can lift the curse of sin and replace it with the blessings of his spirit so I entitled this sermon tonight from this day let us pray Heavenly Father we thank you tonight Lord we thank for for the moving of your spirit throughout the duration of this Sunday Lord you know every detail and every specific on the capacity of all of our lives and Lord let your word tonight sink deep into our hearts that we put it into practice that we can acknowledge that all we can only do anything through you any success that we might have any blessing that we might have is only because of your hand of provision o Overlook the in adequacies of the speaker tonight we give you thanks praise honor and glory in Jesus name we pray from this day if I promoted tonight that I was going to or we were going to have prophecy given for the city of Knoxville or the state of Tennessee and everybody believed it to be true you probably wouldn't be able to to uh even get into the parking lot so but nevertheless I I tell you 100% certainty that I will give you a prophetic word tonight I'm going to give you prophecy now unfortunately in our modern day and I shouldn't just say modern day even going all the way back to Biblical times prophecy has been a tool of manipulation and used to uh to to build up the person giving it so I give this addendum and this explanation tonight the prophetic word that I give you tonight is from the book of hegi and you can read it for yourself so hea's preaching augments the story of what happened when zerubabel and we'll talk about him in a moment and a remnant of almost 50,000 Jews returned to Jerusalem after their Exile in Babylon they found broken crumbling walls and buildings and the worst shock of all was to see their once Majestic Temple lying in Ruins and although those of the remnant born during the Captivity had never seen the temple the elders who remembered its Splendor mourned over the destion for 70 years they had longed to worship God for 70 years they had longed to once again give their sacrifice to him in the temple for this sacred Dwelling Place of God the fire on the altar represented God's presence and his provision and his miracles and when they saw that they would rejoice and no matter what they were going through when they saw that there was a reminder of God's Divine hand of grace and mercy and his presence with the people and they but the priests performing their ritual sacrifices in the temple the younger ones that only had a mental picture uh that they'd been taught by their parents in the synagogues and uh Babylon and it was hard for them to probably imagine what it looked like for the priest performing their ritual sacrifices when all they saw was a massive pile of charred Cedar beams and paneling and toppled pillars and doors with hack marks while their goal overlay had been Stripped Away and removed and zerubabel had arrived in Jerusalem laid he was Laden with the vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had uh confiscated from the temple plus he had silver and gold and other precious things and goods and animals and after the people had settled in Jerusalem and the surrounding towns they reconstructed the altar on its original base there was a great deal of motivation they had once they had now returned from Exile and everybody was unified and everybody was on the same page and everybody had the same vision and it it seems like the adversity and the Captivity was the ignition to for them to be more motivated than probably any previous generation before to rebuild what had been torn down they kept the Feast of the Tabernacles according to the book of Moses and they began the Monumental task of clearing away the rubble so they could lay and build the foundation for the temple they hired Masons and Carpenters along with sidonians and penans to float Cedar Logs from Lebanon to japa to be transported to the temple site this was a great ordeal a great deal of logistics taking place to rebuild the Temple once again and Levites oversaw the building of the foundation to its completion in just two years after their arrival in Jerusalem yet Exile coming back to crumbled walls the gold stripped nothing like it once was but we're all back here from captivity we're all on the same page we seeing the same things the younger generation they've got their strength and their and their youth and their and their tenacity and the older generation has their vision and the navigation for what things looked like and everybody's on the same page and we're going to rebuild the Temple once again and to celebrate priests blew trumpets and the Levites played instruments according to the order of David king of Israel and the choir sang praises to the Lord and the people shouted it says with a great shout if as if shouting is not uh enough of a description you know shouting is already loud but it says not just shouting it says a great shout everybody was happening and anyone listening to the noise it it would have been hard we read that the elders were were crying because it the temple wasn't to what it once was so we see this first kind of U maybe a little bit of dissension initially after the construction of the foundation and anyone listening to the noise it was a great shout but you wouldn't have been able to distinguish between the Wailing of the elders and the rejoicing of the young ones the elders who had seen the first H says they wept with a loud voice because this second temple did not not have the Beauty and the luster of Solomon's Temple which had been one of the wonders of the ancient world but as they became more successful and as this word got out about how quickly they were building back and how quickly they were reconstructing the temple and the surrounding areas no doubt the Persian king forced the Jews to abandon their plans to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem but he allowed them to still be build and work on the temple but still after the dedication of the temple Foundation it seemed that lethargy enveloped the Jews Like A A dense fog uh perhaps it was due to the negative reaction of their Elders they had worked so hard and the youth had done what they told them to do and they they they built up and the the elders weren't uh too satisfied with maybe maybe that was the first kink in the in the armor if you will that that everybody wasn't on the the same page and uh this I'm so grateful to be in a church a multi-generational church tonight as Bishop already asked about who all has been married the longest there's many churches that have uh different Services based on the age group and I'm thankful that we all are able to worship together and no matter if it's a a genre of music my style or whether it's a song that is my preference we we we know that we have a a higher vision of what's taking place and anything that happens in the house of the Lord it really has nothing to do with me the most important person is the person next to me and our goal is souls and I'm thankful that that is the philosophy and the sermon that we live by but maybe in the case of this Temple that was the the the first kind of dissension of the people not all being on the same page they were dis discouraged by the tears and the grimaces and the whs of their elders and they may have thought if that's the elders reaction to our efforts then what's the point and then they got worded because they had started working on the walls that they had been told to not work on the walls anymore and then they will start to be murmuring and and rumors because of their success and because of the wealth and because of how good everything was going there were neighboring armies and neighboring kingdoms that were threatening to come in and perhaps this Young Generation or this next generation or the the generation currently leading there is like I came here we built the temple we were successful the the ones telling me how to build it weren't happy with it and now the people uh I I built it and now there's people trying to threaten me because I built it so what's the point no doubt was probably the the conversation why continue to risk any more attacks why continue to build when we're having so much trouble and we can look at the Israelites several thousand years later and say I I can't believe they would find themselves in that state they're working on the temple yet how many times and I preach to myself first do we allow a little disagreement here a little public scrutiny here a little uh maybe hurt my feelings here or or whatever the case a tough conversation here or things not go my way in this particular instance here or again whatever the case and it causes us to question what's the point worked all day served all day poured into this group of people all day faithful to my Ministry only to be met with a complaint only to be met with a criticism only to be met with heartbreak and by human standards these emotions I would submit are probably Justified but we don't live by human standards in the first thing that hegi tells those people his first prophetic word he said don't neglect the building of the temple don't neglect the building of the temple the Prophecies of hegi are among the most precisely dated Prophecies of the Old Testament spanning a year spanning uh excuse me spanning a period of only 4 months in 520 BC his messages along with the Prophecies of his contemporary Zechariah gave the people a powerful motivation to continue on their work but he says you cannot neglect the rebuilding of the temple he said to be indifferent toward the rebuilding of the temple was to be indifferent about the presence of God dwelling among them this may not be some deep Revelation tonight but I will submit to you it is a prophetic word not because I say so but because the word of God says so and I want to tell each and every one of you tonight that your calling and the things that you do to serve your community serve your neighbor serve in your calling it's more important than criticism it's more important than hurt feelings it's more important than somebody disagreeing with you it there is another generation there are other people depending on you and I want to tell you tonight I want to tell you tonight that you can find yourself in a state of lethargy how do you know because I've done I've I've been there before anybody that's been in Ministry for any amount of time can say oh I was I was really frustrated about this situation or I asked myself the question what's what's the point I've been up all hours of the night serving or i' I've done this and put so much work into it or uh uh collected everybody together and uh it was it was going to be great only to be met with criticism or a or a complaint but I want to tell you tonight don't be indifferent don't let those things stop you from what God has called you to do you keep as Pastor Whitley so awesome this morning morning you keep taking steps forward you keep taking steps forward and God is going to continue to sort God sees every hour he sees every second of faithfulness and don't let somebody prevent you from fulfilling what God has called you to do and don't let somebody prohibit you from fulfilling your calling to the highest level to an exception level that God has called you to do every single Ministry is 100% importance and it calls for your full attention oh are many of us bivocational certainly and that's not what I'm talking about but if you're in a position or you're in a role and you've just got it on cruise control and I'll get there later or show up when I want to or that that's not going to get come on pre the job done to be indifferent toward the rebuilding of the temple was to be indifferent about the presence of God dwelling among them the temple was more than just a mere physical structure it represented their relationship with God hega I told the people consider your ways they needed to realize God had withdrawn their blessing from them because they neglected the temple oh but they had justification for doing so it doesn't matter oh you've got justification for doing so it doesn't matter we live to a higher standard am I worthy of criticism yeah oh you better believe it and that's not what I'm talking about we all have to have accountability and and be honest with oursel and take instruction and and that's not what I'm talking about but what I'm telling you is don't let something or someone prevent you from doing what God has called you to do and we can misplace our priorities or our our it talks about Their Blessings being the vehicle that drove them out of the house of the Lord that or out of the they were they didn't have time to work on the temple because they were too concerned with their own personal affairs and God God said because of this you you're going to sew an abundance of seed but you're going to reap little you you're going to eat and drink but never be satisfied you're you're going to be bundled up but you're never going to be warm you're going to put money in your pocket but it's going to disappear because of apathy and neglect he said if you will obey my Commandments if you won't allow lethargy to slip in I if you'll stay the course if you'll keep keep taking those steps forward like Pastor Whitley talked about this morning the blessings of God would touch every area of their life their travels their business matters their Harvest their livestock their enemies their spirituality their relationships their families their health every single capacity and God through hegan's anointed prophet prophecy stirred the spirit of the people back to action it got them back on the same page and as soon as the Harvest was completed they began organizing working in teams and assembling tools and getting back to the mission at hand I I had the privilege this past week uh asked by our our great commissioner uh Ronda Lee to do the devotion and prayer meeting and prayer over the County Commission meeting and I I did a a devotion and then I prayed and then there were County Commissioners and the mayor and I the whole place seemed to be filled up now we could have had a we could have had a two-hour prayer meeting and there's nothing wrong with that uh in in the house there's nothing wrong with a two-hour prayer meeting we need that sometimes we could have had that for two hours in that that County Commission meeting and uh but you know after we got done barring God sending some miraculous plan down which certainly he's capable of doing but he uses his creation uh to work on his behalf and works through him in so many different cases uh there was a time of people rolling up their sleeves and organizing and and planning and probably in debate and people giving their preferences here and people telling what should happen here but I looked back I was going to check check that out well I want to hear my prayer you know about 4 and 1 half hours later make sure I didn't stutter anything about 5 hours later they were still meeting still meeting and that the meeting went late on into the night and that is what God calls us to do is to get to work to get to work to roll up our sleeves yes we're going to pray and yes Jesus is going to be the center yes there's going to be differing opinions yes there's going to be debate at times yes I'm going to try to communicate something and it might not come out the right way yes I might get my feelings hurt sometimes but I'll get over it but whatever you do don't allow something Petty don't allow something Petty or a word somebody says in a in in a moment of frustration to be used as leverage well I'm just going to pull away from everybody or I'm not doing that anymore I can't work with this person or that person don't allow those things to happen we're on the same team don't allow lethargy to slip in because when we all working together and we're not there there's still there's still there's still more pro pro prophecy coming but he says as they worked he guy delivered the Lord's message to the people oh get ready for this all right he said I am with you I am with you God is with you every step every step of the way you keep doing what you're called to do don't allow some dissenting opinion don't allow some negative voice to get you off track amen reference points in the past often can be used to measure events in both the present and future this can be good and it can also be negative if a person learns from their past you can work toward a better better present and future however if you believe the past was a Utopia if you have Golden Age thinking where everything was so great at this particular point in time that the current day could never meet the expectation of that day that's not going to lead to being a great witness and testimony to people in this day his present and future are doomed because they believe they will never be able to surpass the achievements of the past such an attitude defeats faith and causes one to Discount the sovereignty of God because you're professing that the omnipotent omniscient omnipresent God of this world you're confessing that the the the god of Miracles the the god the choir sing about tonight was limited to a certain dispensation and time and he's not capable of moving in the same realm as he did whatever that time is you're stuck in such an attitude can defeat faith and it discounts the sovereignty of God who is in control of the present and the future when God's people looked back to compare the GL past Glory of Solomon's Temple to its present deplorable condition and romanticizing the past and have having revisionist history they became discouraged admittedly Solomon's Temple was a feat never to be repeated absolutely but God's plan was to lead his people to something greater there was going to be something greater than the temple there was going to be the presence of God that could not in any way be limited to something built with human hands yeah and this was the prophetic word that he was giving them yes we've got to talk about the Miracles of the past because yes they build our faith but we can't live in the past we can't live off of yesterday's Mana we've got to have a fresh outpouring of the Holy Ghost in every single service we have and all of us including me I got to be careful about going around remember oh when we used to have church every single night oh you students you're not ever going to live up to the prayer revivals that I had or you're not ever going to live up to the Walk of God I I say a thousand times no this generation's going to be better than the generation before them and I look around this place tonight from the guys running the camera to the guys running the sound Jake preached up here a few weeks ago at Elevate student Chapel the the next generation is absolutely littered across this congregation not only with roll in the church but rolls working out in this world doing absolutely amazing things for the community in all different capacities I want the enemy to know that the church is in good hands and I know that this church if any church that's multi-generational that's been around for over 60 years knows the importance of pouring in to the Next Generation oh and I'm such a great preacher there's about 10 more that's even better coming on it's getting better and better and better and better the remnant thought their past out shown the present that God's work was not finished he encourage the people to focus on the reality of God's abiding presence and help dwelling on past misfortunes maybe maybe mistakes in your past you focus on that stuff it will only diminish faith in God's promises because it's saying God's Mercy is not great enough God's Grace isn't great enough forgiveness from from God isn't isn't great enough and when we dwell and live in those past mistakes and don't you dare bring up somebody else's past mistakes when we when we when we live in that it's questioning how great our God is HEI delivered his second prophecy on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles he admonished zerubabel Joshua the high priest and all the people to be strong I mean this is deep stuff tonight be strong and work for I Am with You heg I realized the people were comparing the present situation to the Glory Days of their past and to the inspiration of God's spirit challenged them to look to a future that was going to be greater than anything they could possibly imagine he I realized the people needed Vision in their life he 267 says for thus saith the Lord of hosts yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the Sea and the dry land and I will shake All Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this house with Glory sayeth the Lord of hosts for the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former sayith the Lord of hosts and in this place I will give peace his third prophetic word don't worry I only have four is the blessing that comes with obedience obedience to God's word now they should have learned that their neglect of the Lord's Temple had contaminated every area of their life even it wasn't an incremental digression necessarily because of something sinful in their life but there was just disagreement there was hurt feelings there was confusion there was lack of vision maybe lack of leadership at times and this caused some to fall away and SLP back and fall into a state of lethargy but he said if you'll be obedient to God's word yes during the three months of working on the temple the people had probably seen many indication of God's presence but had not yet experienced the blessings and the abundance of God's blessings they were between Harvest and their half empty wine Vats and storehouses still suffered from the effects of the past 15 years although they had worked tirelessly on the physical construction of the temple they had not yet given much thought to their need for Spiritual Revival oh they had worked hard they were hard workers and they were were they were dedicated but God instructed them consider now from this day and upward God was pleased with their hard work but also wanted them to turn fully to Him and acknowledge that yes indeed you work hard yes indeed you have a skill set yes indeed you have a a mighty talent but I do want you to know that any provision that you experience any blessing that you experience it is directly because I provided it to you and from that day forward their hope for the blessings of God would become our reality he eyes four prophetic words don't neglect your calling there's something greater in the future there's a blessing in being obedient to his word and fourth was the Messianic promise the Messianic promise made to David is recognized in zerubabel because zerubabel was part of that davidic bloodline where the Messiah would come from zerubabel was a descendant of King David and however the promise reached its climax in Jesus Christ who descended both from King David and zerubabel but all scripture it in the in the is a in the Old Testament is pointing forward it's a foreshadow of of a time to come he's fourth prophecy followed on the heels of the third perhaps he perceived the people's speculation about how long the temple in which they were laboring would remain standing they had seen the ruins of the first temple how long would it be before another Heathen conquered and tore down the second temple how we've got a season of success in this moment we got a as a season of agreement in this moment it it feels like a good time when we're all working together but how long is it going to be till somebody messes that up hey I encourage the people not only to look at the present but to just look forward into the future because God was going to establish an everlasting Kingdom he was pointing forward to a time to come of redemption for all Humanity and also an eternal home zerubabel is used as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ a a foreshadow HEI used zerubu to represent God's Authority on the earth it called him a signant and we've talked about this before the the king signant or seal was used on with hot wax and it was pressed inside of it to be used as the signature for official documents or that King seal would be uh posted in the in the Town Square if you will to represent the authority of the king or or when somebody with the King seal went to uh speak on behalf of the governmental leadership or the kingly leadership they would show that official King seal and whatever this individual that had been granted the seal said it was as if the king said it the this individual had full authority of the king if he had that seal on his uh life and the word of God God calls zerubabel a a signant that whatever he says this this is where Jesus Christ this is part of his bloodline whatever he says it's as if God is saying it all authority was vested into him and his authoritative spiritual guidance during these trying times he was telling the people that they could be cleansed and blessed and I've preached this before from zerubba yes we talk about uh uh the name of Jesus on our lives and that signant on our lives it it gives us uh Authority and dominion and and let me preface Dominion not dominance not a not a bullish attitude and and all of those things are true but that signant on your life is also the resp responsibility that the main purpose of having it is that any person that you get around you're pointing forward that hey there is something greater that can take place in your life if you need to repent of your sins let me point you and show you where you need to go oh let me tell you about the the testimony of my life it's going to point you forward on where you need to go oh you you're having a t time in your in a relationship or in your family or in a marriage or whatever the case let me tell you what your next step is we got first steps that meet every Wednesday night and you know what that is that's some people with the signant of Jesus on their life pointing to forward saying hey this is the next step that you need to make and we're going to take that next step to together our true Ministry our ministry is pointing that there is a better day ahead there's blessings ahead there's healing ahead there's provision ahead oh is there any seed left in the barn oh there may not be any seed left in the barn in your situation tonight it might seem like the pomegranates aren't growing and there's no fruit on the vine but the word of God is telling you tonight through the prophetic word of HEI and those four key points that if you will be obedient and not neglect your calling don't get weary in well doing if you'll look forward and keep your eyes up God is ready to pour out his Spirit upon you and there is a better day ahead and he's saying from this day from this day from this day will I bless you from this day will I start bringing you provision from this day will I start bringing you healing musicians come Hallelujah we see this curse replaced now with a blessing oh we see this when Jesus comes on to the scene Peter said I've fished all night and we've caught NADA and Jesus says go cast and I I can see Peter probably interrupting him Jesus you're a great Rabbi you're a great teacher I respect you and I love you but I'm the fisherman I know these Waters better than anyone in fact you met me while I was out on a boat and I fished all night and I know exactly where to go to catch fish I'm the best fisherman out here and there's no fish but there was a difference this time was Peter talented skilled knew all of the trade of being a excellent fisherman absolutely but he had caught nothing yeah but there was a difference this next time Jesus said go cast your nets again and he went through this di trap and I could see him being kind of frustrated yet he was obedient he said Master nevertheless at your word I will go and cast my net again and we know what happened there was so much fish that it began to break the boat there was so much blessing that they didn't didn't have room enough to receive it when you will be obedient to God's word there is a covenant promise there is a prophetic word over your life that God is going to operate in a manner that defies from this day stand with me Glory Glory poor Behavior poor performance will guarantee a poor result Ministry takes work yes we're going to pray we're going to preach but it takes work little or no prayer minimum Bible reading inconsistent Church attendance selfish preoccupation not looking out for the good of my brother or my sister as a whole versus my personal aspiration will result in neglecting the temple building and it will hinder yours and someone else's spiritual life and it will result in very little satisfaction Joy or strength and our lives can seem fruitless and empty and we should wait heed the words of hegi and reflect upon our manner of living we should reflect upon our manner of communication we live in a more and more increasingly casual Society I and I I know we address each other as brother and sister sometimes and that's not even necessarily what I I'm talking about but don't get yes we're friends don't get too casual with each other tell have somebody proofread something before you text it do I sometimes it might be better to call someone to to hear the the tone of your voice and the and and trying to generate understanding and and and say it a little softer is that all right we we've got a high calling here we got a mission here there's Merit in obedience there's Merit in excellence and on the flip side if we become too mechanical they can become meaningless when did you know there's probably going to be a this is another prophetic word there's going to be a service in the future no offense to you Jake tonight because you're on the sound there's probably going to be a service in the future where the sound might malfunction oh gosh what are we going to do the choir might come in at the wrong time somebody might play the wrong note oh no oh what a horrible service we got to be bigger than that stuff stuff's going to happen stuff will happen and that's just that's that's applicable to everything stuff like we we got to be bigger than that we're here to give glory to the King of Kings and the Lord of lords I is that in any way is that in any way justification for not giving Excellence at my position 100 times no but my point is saying we've got to understand what the main goal is don't look to the Past I'm I'm H I'm hurrying God's spirit is coming no matter how late you think it is and y'all the singers can come on now no matter how late you think it is in your life in a situation take heed from the cross and he said unto Jesus this was a man being tried for for murder and all kind of other things right next to Jesus on the cross at the very last seconds of his life I I don't think it is a u Blasphemous to our theology to assume that this man didn't have a great upbringing and live a great life right I don't think it takes a great deal of latitude for me to say that but at the last seconds of his life he said unto Jesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom and Jesus said unto him verily I say unto thee today from this day today Thou shalt be with me in Paradise I I want you to know across this house it is the highest honor to be a part of what I feel is the greatest congregation on the face of this Earth multi-generations uh diverse of OCC occupations diversity of skills all of these things that operate together to make up the body of Christ but every single one of us can experience a season of lethargy every single one of us can allow the emotions of the day and the stresses of life to prevent us from doing what God has called us to do and in turn neglect the people that we're called to impact but in those times our job is to build each other up as that signant as those with the name of Jesus on their life not to walk around as though I've got some membership card that nobody else has oh oh I'm Jesus name and I I I've got it all together and I'm uh Superior than you absolutely not is it cause us to get on our knees and say Hey Brother Hey sister I love you and there's more there's more there's a better future lying ahead for you oh there's the holy ghost that can be poured into you that will change your life if you look forward if you point forward and point people in the direction of their healing and number four there is a Jesus that stepped onto the scene and he's coming back again there's healing in this life and the life to come and that's the prophetic word over our life tonight he's saying from this day and I want to open this altar up to every single individual who wants to make that commitment on their life no matter what situation you might be facing it might be something in your work it might be something in a relationship it might be an interpersonal relationship that nobody else knows anything about but you can say from this day I'm not going to allow weariness to creep in I'm not going to approach my Ministry with lethargy I'm going to keep going after it after what God has called me to do I've got a calling on my life and there's no devil in hell going to prevent me from doing what God God has called me to do oh oh speak victory tonight yes Jesus to I say yes Lord I agre my desire passion and is to be what to be I will be I will be what you call me to be I say yes Lord I agre my desire passion is to be what you call me to be why don't on this Summit fair day where we've kind of had a celebration of signing up for making plans looking ahead for the summer where we're going to hang out together and do different things together why don't we link up with somebody and find a prayer point with somebody and and nobody pray alone and nobody pray alone I guess except me right here and why don't we have a prayer of unity a prayer of vision as Pastor Whitley talked to about this morning a a prayer for taking that next step let's pray right now oh Heavenly Father Lord we are your servants Lord not my will but thy will not my will but my brother's will my sisters will oh the person next to me is the most important person Lord let me put my preferences aside Lord let your work be done oh if the if something comes along I'm not going allow bitterness or or Strife or or weariness God I pray a prayer of protection around your Saints around their hearts and around their minds Lord to to give us a fresh breath of your spirit to remove any lethargy Lord we know that there is a greater there's something greater happening there's something a greater time ahead there's still more people to be filled with your spirit there's still more people to go down in your name oh and there's a day to come soon and very soon when you're going to return for your bride and there's going to be people that get to heaven and they didn't never hear one word from this pull pit but they're in heaven because brother or sister so and so taught me a Bible study brother or sister so and so oh because of their life and because of their kindness and humility pointed me forward as the signant toward you Lord we thank you and we praise you could we turn this into a shout of Praise across this house from this day from this day from this day yes