Modern Day Manna | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

Joshua chapter 5 in verse 10. And pastor with his limited voice tonight and I just got started. He came over and said to me, he said, "Listen, I've got to start. We got to keep it going." Brother Christian Vosquez, wave your hand, Brother Christian Vosquez. He had a team that's been here the last few days painting. Our walls look so fresh around here. We've put all our upstairs, our production suite, brand new, just beautiful painted. We had uh we had countertops put in our booths this week. He's been painting old classrooms, daycare, school. Thank you, brother Christian. Thank you for the work you do. Put your hands together. Are you thankful that this house looks beautiful? Brother Dean Valentine, brother Brother Randy Nud have been working on this lawn. Let me tell you something. We got so many acres here. It takes it takes a village. It takes a team. And brother Dean Valentine, thank you for heading up the team that works so hard. Love you, sir. Uh like I see his truck here. I think about every day just driving around the campus and making sure everything looks like it ought to look. Thank you. Just so it takes so many hands, so many hearts. Um you know, movement conference I'm going to preach about in just a few minutes, but movement conference is all about the staff of this church that works so hard. We've got staff that work here uh for a living and they derive their income from this from this uh church. this school, this daycare, and then we have staff, amen, that work around the clock, that are volunteers, that you have jobs elsewhere and and you come here and you get to minister at this church. Thank you. Thank you for making this your place of ministry. Amen. Put your hands together. That's right. We get fed here, but thank God we also have an opportunity to serve here and to minister here. And I'm so glad to be a part of you and a part of this team. Give honor to you tonight. Joshua chapter 5 and verse 10 says, "And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month and even in the plains of Jericho." So you got to understand this is what took place right before the Jericho victory. Verse 11, it says, "And they did eat the old corn of the land on the tomorrow after the Passover, unleavened cakes and parched corn in the selfsame day. And the mana ceased on the tomorrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land. Neither had the children of Israel mana anymore, but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. Again, verse 12. And the mana ceased, neither have the children of Israel mana anymore. I I want to preach with the help of the Lord tonight in your hearing. Modernday mana. Modern day mana. Why don't you put your Bibles down, lift up both hands to heaven and help me pray tonight, that God would anoint me, that God would speak through this message. Father, we love you. Oh Lord, I stand before the greatest people in all of the world, the greatest servants, God. God, the greatest volunteers, the greatest ministers, oh God, the greatest disciplemakers. Lord, I'm so thankful, Lord God, that I get to preach, Lord God. What an honor it is to preach to the greatest people, Lord God, that you've called into Blunt County, Lord God, not only to affect this community, Lord God. But I believe we're going to infect the whole world with your gospel, Lord. I believe, Lord God, through the airwaves and through the internet, Lord, through YouTube and all the social media outlets. I I just believe this church, this ministry, Lord God, that's being done right here at 1331 William Blunt Drive is going to help make disciples in all nations. And Lord God, we're going to bring this gospel to all people. Won't you bless them? Anoint me, Lord God, as I preach your word tonight in Jesus name. Come on, if you'll preach with me, put your hands together. Ah, come on. If you'll help me tonight, just put your hands together and give God praise. Hallelujah and honor tonight. You may be seated in the house of the Lord. Let me let me just give you just a little history before I I begin to preach on my topic tonight. happened. It was exactly one month after the children of Israel exited out of Egypt. The Bible says with a high hand. Come on. How many have read that in the scripture? They they didn't leave Egypt with their head down, head hung down. They they let the Bible says with a a high hand that they found themselves in the wilderness of sin. Now, this was actually the name of the wilderness. This wasn't a place of sin. It was a wilderness called sin. But I don't believe that there's anything good going to come out of a wilderness called sin. H for 400 years they had done nothing more than been slaves in Egypt. They were the slaves to the Egyptians. But now here they were. They were free and they found themselves in this wilderness. And and allow me to set a foundation for a little while. We're going to we're going to preach together. Now look with me in Exodus 16 and verse two because the Bible says the whole congregation and that sounds like the whole church. The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And apparently they found themselves in this wilderness. They found themselves with with shortterm memory loss. They they found themselves with with a little bit with a case of amnesia, if you will. And because just 29 days prior, they had found themselves singing and dancing on the other side of the Red Sea as they watched their enemy as they watch the army of Egypt drown in the Red Sea. Come on, somebody. I love preaching about the children of Israel because the children of Israel remind me of me sometimes. Come on. Can you see yourself when you're reading through the book of Exodus? Can you ever see yourself? Maybe I'm the only one. Maybe y'all just y'all just live this a life of perfection. But but I see myself sometimes just forgetting what God has done. >> Come on. I know we sing songs like look what the Lord has done. But sometimes we get into a place we get into a wilderness of sin, if you will, and we find ourselves forgetting the many victories that God has already brought us through. But I I want to preach about that tonight because the verse verse three says, "And the children of Israel said unto them, would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the flesh pots when we did eat bread to the full for you have brought us or talking to Moses. You brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly." My mic is almost there. It's so close, brother Sharp. to kill this whole assembly with hunger. And I I cross referenced this in Numbers 11 and5. It says, "We remember the fish we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers and the melons and the leaks and the onions and the the garlic." And and I get to reading the stuff and I think to myself, my God, you you are living in a life of slavery. Yes, somehow you can think back into a life of slavery and think of good in a life of slavery, but you can't think back just 29 days >> when you saw Egyptian s should s should s should s should s should s should s should s should s should s should s shoulders soldiers as they were floating in the water >> face down but but here they are verse four says then said the lord unto Moses behold and I don't understand the grace and the mercy of God but God says I will rain down bread from heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day that I may prove them. I can prove to them whether they will walk in my law or not. He said, "This right here is going to prove if they're going to walk in my law or no." So Moses instructs the people to gather in Omar. And um Omar is about two courts worth for each person every day. the the mana, which you know this, but the Hebrew word mana simply means what is it? Didn't even know what they were eating. It was just described as a as a sweet uh uh kind of like a honey wafer that they would they would gather and they only could gather a certain amount every day because if they gathered too much, it would spoil. It would it would rot overnight. So they they could only provide it was provision just for everyone say one day. >> Just for one day. But here it is. No longer would they have to work to find food. No, no longer did they have to worry about their children being hungry or or crying themselves to sleep. No longer did they have to uh uh feel the pains of hunger within their bodies or discomfort. Their worries were over because they were given mana and it would seem like their problem was solved. But then I I like to read what Jesus has to say about this mana. Look with me in John 6 and31. Because here Jesus is responding. Verse 31, he's responding to the religious who told him, "Our fathers did eat mana in the wilderness as it was written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat." They were I don't know. They were trying to learn Jesus. I I don't know what they were trying to do. But Jesus, he he kind of corrects them. He says, he says unto them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my father giveth you true bread from heaven." What's he talking about? For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto the Lord ever, "Give us this bread." And Jesus said unto them, I am that bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. Verse 48 says, I am the bread of life. Jesus said, I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat mana in the wilderness and they're dead. >> This is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof. He says, but I'm talking about bread where they die not. He said, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Anybody thankful for your daily bread named Christ Jesus? Come on. He came down. He robed himself in flesh. Are you thankful for your bread of life? Jesus said, "Bread fell from heaven to your forefathers, but your forefathers died in the wilderness." She said, "But I've come that you might have life and that you might have life more abundantly, living bread." >> And there's no doubt that the mana in the wilderness was a miracle. It was divine. It was good. But it was not God's best. >> You see, we don't need to settle for what God gives as simple provision as if it's God's promise. >> Because mana was not God's promise. It was simple daily provision. Don't let provision take the place of your promise here tonight. If I could preach tonight to somebody, God never meant for his people to settle for mana from heaven. >> Oh no. Mana was only meant to be a temporary fix for an immediate problem. The people were hungry. The people started complaining and God provided mana. It wasn't what God had promised. Oh, no. Because God had promised to them, I'm going to give you a land flowing with milk and honey. He said, I'm about to put you here it is right here. And I love this graphic right here because here they are. They're living in a desert. They're living in a wilderness. They're living in a dry place. And they're settling from mana, y'all. They settled from mana for 40 years. We're talking about they ate the same thing day after day. They went out in the morning and collected an Omar of mana every single day when all along God had promised them, rivers. He promised them trees. He promised them vineyards that they did not plant and crops that they did not plant, cities that they did not build, walls that they did not build. But they settled for a dayto-day provision over a promise. >> Listen, this is my whole message. It's not going to get any deeper than this. Uh but I believe there are modernday manas that we can look to and we can become satisfied with. Uh complacency sets in. Uh idleness sets in. Oh, contentment sets in. Satisfaction will set in. fulfillment. Uh preful, I call it pre-fululfillment. There is a fulfillment that you can fulfill. You can feel this feeling of fulfillment when you're following the will of God. But there's also things that are just meant for provision that God never meant to be a promise. >> I might just preach to myself tonight. I don't know. But I do believe there's somebody in this house tonight who God has done great things for you and called you to high places, but you found yourself satisfied with modern day man. >> Listen, our walk with God has to be so much more than just uh than a just enough mentality. That's what modernday mana is. If I can just get just enough of God, just enough of God to hold my marriage together. Let me talk to us married people. Some people, they just want just enough of God. Just give me a daily man. Oh, that my marriage will stay together. Oh, my wife won't won't walk out on me if I can just be content enough just to have a decent marriage, a marriage where I feel fulfilled, where God is wanting to bless marriages in this place. But you got to step out and say, "God, I'm not going to settle for just modern day men. I'm looking for a promise that you gave me when I walked up a aisle and I said, "I do. I will." When I made a commitment and a promise to a woman or to a man and I said, "I will live for you for the rest of my days." I want a marriage of fulfillment. Not just an okay marriage, >> not just a good enough marriage, but my God, I want a marriage that my daughters can look to and say, I want a husband like my daddy. I want to be a wife like my mama. That's the kind of marriage I want to have. God, help me, Lord God, to have a marriage that's spiritual. I want my I want my children to have more than just daily mana. I want them to have more than just enough of God to keep them in the church. Uh I want to have more than enough that get puts them into a spiritual state where they want to walk with God and talk with God and have a relationship with God. I want children that want to minister in the house of God. >> Come on. I don't want just some daily mana that keeps my kids off drugs, >> keeps my daughters, keeps my daughters out of the jail cell. That's not the kind. I just don't want some mana to keep me from day to day. Oh, but God, I want a promise. I want to live in a land flowing with milk and honey. I want my children to love you, Jesus. I want them to please you, oh God. I want them to satisfy you and cause joy. Some people say, "If I could just get enough of God to stay in church, I'll be content. I don't want to volunteer to serve in the church. I don't want to trim hedges. I don't want to paint walls. I don't want to do any of those things. I I just want to make sure that my pew is where my pew is going to be when I need it to be there. I'm going to come in church and oh, my favorite pew. I just want enough enough of God to kind of slip through the pearly gates, if you will. >> Oh, there's people I know some of you looking at me like, "Come on, you're crazy." There's people that really feel that way. They just want just enough of God just so when the trumpet sounds, they can get light. Come on. That's not the kind of God I serve. And that's not the kind of Christian I want to be. And that's surely not the child of God I want to be. But God, I want to get in this thing with both feet. God, I want to do whatever it takes to please you. God, I want you to be able to say say, "Well done, thou good and faith, faithful pew warmer. Well done, thou good and faithful church attender." >> Oh, no. kisses. I want God to say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy that I've set before you." That's what Oh my God. Eternity is going to be a beautiful place for people that say, "I don't want a lifestyle of complacency. I don't want a lifestyle of idleness. I don't want a lifestyle of just contentment or satisfaction. But God, I want a lifestyle that's full of milk and honey and promises that are yay and amen. If that's you, I wish you would clap your hands and just say, "God, I want to please you with everything that I do." Modern day mana. In 2025, we see modern-day mana everywhere with teens addicted to screens, >> settling for virtual validation over real purpose. Young adults that are chasing careers and and money-making entrepreneurship and and leaving behind godgiven callings. And I'm not against entrepreneurship. I Oh my god. Start businesses, do great things, make a difference in our community. But if it causes you to backslide while you're doing it, >> what have you gained? If I if if if you if you could put six six, seven digits a year into a bank account, but you're not where you were >> spiritually last year, this year. >> That's what backsliding is. >> Backsliding is simply it doesn't mean that you're drinking on a bar stool. Backsliding simply means that you can look back a year ago and say, "I'm not where I used to be." >> Spiritually, I'm not the place where I used to be. I don't do what I used to do. I I don't minister the way I used to minister. I don't worship the way I used to worship. I I'm not who I used to be. That's the definition of backsliding. If you're not moving forward, you're going to fall backward. If you're not going towards the promised land, you're going to find yourself for 40 years wandering around in circles wondering why things don't come true. And when I say, "God, you've given me promises, but nothing's been fulfilled." Well, maybe it's not fulfilled because you're willing to settle for modernday mana. Modern day mana is families prioritizing extracurricular activities over God and over church. raising kids who know sports stats but don't know scriptures. >> It's trendsetters. Listen to me. Trendsetters retiring from their church ministries thinking that their time to impact is over. >> It's not over. We need you. We look to you. We call you a trends setter for a a purpose, a reason. >> You're setting the trends. You're you're allowing us younger generations to see how it's done. You give me hope as a as a 49y old. If you're 60, 65, 70, you give me hope that I've got a future in the church because you're here and you've done it and you've proven that God is good and God is faithful and God's brought your family and your children and your grandchildren. That helps me to know that my children can be saved and my future grandchildren can be saved because you are a proven. You're an example to the church. You're a pillar. You're a trends setter of what the church is. Uh don't give up. Don't stop. Uh don't feel worthless. You are of worth. Uh because my generation needs you. >> You say, "Well, the kids don't even notice it. It's not about the kids. It's about my generation. I'm the generation following you. I'm looking to you. The younger generations are following me. But I'm looking to our trendsetters. I need an example. My wife needs an example. Your wife needs an example. Thank God for our trends setters. Matter of fact, put your hands together. We ought to thank God for every everyone in their 60s and 70s, 80s and 90s who have lived this life and proven as an example. You can do it modern day. Why are we eating mana when God has promised milk and honey? Now listen. When I was in university, I lived off this stuff right here. I lived off I thought they're called ramen noodles until I find out what they're called ramen noodles. Raymond, he's the guy next door. These are ramen noodles, man. Beef flavor. Chicken flavor. Flavor. >> Y'all know what that means, don't you? You crush these up and put them in bowling water. There's no chunks of chicken in there. I'm just going to tell you, there's no chunks of beef. And if there was, I wouldn't I don't know what part of the cow what is. You know what I'm saying? But but sadly, listen. You can survive, Brother Johnstone. You I found out in in Bible school. You You can survive, but you can't live healthy. >> I know. I know. I know. I know some of y'all shaking your head like, "I don't know, Brother Ericson. I live off that stuff." Listen, but but here's what it is. This is this is the greatest analogy that I can make tonight is that for 40 years, the children of God settled for this right here. collected an Omar of this right here every single day when God, this is the best analogy I can say, Kippi and Kathy when God promised them Ruth's Chris five course meals. I'm talking about the bread, the salad. I'm talking about the ordurves. I I'm talking about bringing in a pallet cleanser. Before the Xanders came along, I didn't even know what a pallet cleanser was. I thought sherbet was a dessert. What? What? I said it wrong. Sorbet. See, I called it sherbet. I I grew up on ramen noodles. See, you can tell I eat rich food and I don't even know what's sorvet sherbet. It tastes like sherbet. I didn't know that stuff was. Pallet cleanser. What's a pallet? Bring the steak. Come on. Bring the filet minan. My God. The children of Israel. They settled. Y'all listen to me. I know it was provision. Listen. Listen. I know some of y'all going to come to me and say, "Brother Ericson, it was provision from heaven." It was. It was divine. They would have starved to death without it, but they didn't have to live off it for 40 years. It was a choice they made. Matter of fact, I started I started studying. I don't know. Some Some of y'all look hungry. I'll leave these up here. Somebody needs these for can't afford to go to Dairy Queen after service tonight. There you go. That'll feed a family of two. But I be I began to study the psychological effects of mana on the children of Israel. and you study psychology. If you've gone to university, usually the first year of university, you're going to study psychology. But the older generations weren't allowed to enter the promised land because of their lack of faith. And I I just believe that mana was the very substance that produced this lack of faith. You see, when you don't have to provide for yourself, you lose confidence in yourself. Your self-worth is affected. There's a term called the dependency theory in psychology. Man's daily provision required minimal effort developing passivity. This reduced motivation to seek alternative food sources and the predictability of mana created psychological comfort in an uncertain environment. All right, follow me with this. You see, in Egypt, slavery limited their survival skills like hunting and farming. Mana's provision continued this pattern, stifling skill development. There there's a term called learned helplessness in psychology. Centuries of slavery, conditioned reliance in external authorities. They they they were they were always being told what to do and how to do it and when to do it. And mana reinforced this by making survival dependent on divine intervention. complaining about the mana showed a belief in their own powerlessness. When quail, watch this right here. When quail was provided, they hoarded it, indicating a scarcity mindset. Remember that they ate so much of it, they choked on it. That this reflects learned helplessness where they felt unable to change their circumstances. Then there was group dynamics in psychology, collective complaining, amplified dissatisfaction and discourage initiative. Their history of slavery shaped a cultural identity tied to being provided for. And mana met basic needs, reducing the motivation to take risks. In case I lost anybody in the psychology class, simply what I'm trying to say is they were so dependent on mana that they had no initiative to go out and find their own food source. And so when it was time for 12 spies to go into this land over here, this land that was flowing with milk and honey, when it was time for them to go over here and leave this mentality, this mana mentality, when it was time to enter into the promised land and look and to spy and to see what was there, they couldn't get beyond the mana except for two. Two Joshua and Caleb, two spies somehow someway, never got so dependent on mana, never got this psychological effect, never got this mentality, this lifestyle. They said, "You know what? We are well able. The rest of y'all, y'all see yourselves as grasshoppers in their sight." Now, the Bible doesn't say that the the the inhabitants of the land saw them as grasshoppers. Oh, no. The Bible says in their own sight they were as grasshoppers >> to the inhabitants of the land. Come on somebody. I don't want to live with modernday mana. I don't want to live in a place where God has called me to do great and mighty things and called me to do exploits. But here I am. I'm still living a lifestyle right here that says God I got to be provided for every moment, every second of my life in order to survive. Sometimes we just need a Joshua and a Caleb to rise up, a generation to rise up and say, "I'm not interested in momentary provision." But I want to go and seek the promise. I believe it's worth it. I believe we are well able. If God is on our side, if he's for us, who can be against us? These two men in the generations that follow them, they were ready to take the land. Modern day mana says, "It's too hard. Just stay where you are. Stay comfortable." But a breakthrough spirit, a milk and honey spirit says, "No giant is too big. No wall is too tall. No battle is too tough." >> So, I'm almost finished. But a few years ago, a few years ago, I discovered my greatest fear. My greatest fear, my greatest fear is not heights. My My greatest fear is is not the alegged spider or the large poisonous snake, although I'm scared of that stuff. Oh, I hate spiders. Brother Chris Hull and I love you and I love your company. I've not seen a spider in my house in I don't know a long time. But let me tell you something. There's nothing. So I was walking in my driveway the other day, man. I was coming up from my mailbox and I saw something leaping up the driveway next to me. In my provision, my my peripheral vision, I said, "That ain't a frog. that's got more legs than a frog and it's hairier than a frog. I saw the spider. It was It was hopping and leaping as I was walking. Oh my. Listen y'all, but spiders Oh, I don't like snakes, but they're not my greatest fear. The greatest fear is to live life and never reach my full potential. >> That's my greatest fear. to one day be at the age of 95. I hope I make it to 95 lying in a hospital bed. I never want the thought to cross my mind. This is my greatest fear that I would have a thought that would say, "You didn't do half of what God called you to do." >> My greatest fear is to have an epitap written across my gravestone that says, "Here lies a good man that could have been a great man. Now, >> I don't know about you, but that's my greatest fear. >> I think to myself, God, you've given me so many skills. You've given me talents. You've given me your anointing. God, you place me in a perfect church in a in a perfect atmosphere to grow and to flourish. God, oh, I don't want to die one day and think or be about to die one day and think to myself, what could have you done? What should have you done? What would have you done? But when I die, when oh, when my eyes will close for the last time, when I take my last when I take my last breath of air into my body, I want to say, you've run the race. You've finished the course. You've done what God called you to do. You've done everything that he ever wanted you to do. That's what kind of life I want to live. That's who I want to be. And listen, I have I have no shame in in promoting the movement conference in the middle of this message because the majority of people in this room have been called to do great things. >> I'm talking about worldchanging things. And there are some in this place that have settled for modernday men. Oh yes, there are people. Listen, there are people, and I I'm not here, I don't want to shame anybody. That's not what this is about. I just want to kind of enlighten us to understand that there's people from all over the country that in a little over a week, they're going to drive hours. We got people coming all the way from Texas. Uh we got people coming from California that are going to be flying across this country. We got people coming from almost every state in this great United States of America to come here to learn about how to be a better better disciplemaker. >> And I think to myself, God, I pray that our ministry staff I pray that our church uh will understand how important it is uh to drive five miles to the church uh and be here for the movement conference. And again, I'm not trying to shame anybody. you ought to want to be here because we're going to have unbelievable church. Uh it has nothing to do with that. But I'm just here to say there might be somebody here today uh who you've been sitting back and you've been surviving on some ramen noodles and you've been surviving on just living a mediocre life and been content living that way. When God is calling you to be a disciple maker, he's calling you to do great things uh to be a world changer and to win souls for his kingdom. and you're ready to get up off your pew and say, "I'm sick and tired of just sitting here. God, tell me what to do. God, show me what to do. I'm going to go to movement conference and hear what I can do to be involved and to make disciples." Everybody should be a disciplemaker. Come on, everybody. Everybody listen, it wasn't just the preachers. It wasn't just the apostles. It was every believer of Jesus Christ uh that was given the great commission to go into all the world uh and preach this gospel, this lifechanging gospel, this soulsaving gospel of Jesus Christ. Come on, somebody. Whether you're a Bible study teacher, whether you're a connector, whether you're somebody who can just bring people together to hear the word of God, whether you're a gathering, you invite people into the house of God. All of us are called to be disciple makers. >> I'm almost done. You may be seated. Oh, please get on. Listen, get on your church center app. Just get here. If you can get here one day, I I know you're going to be here at night. Pastor Hammond already announced it. Got some of the greatest preaching, the greatest choir in the whole world is going to be singing. Got some of the greatest preaching in all the world. Oh my god. Some of the most talented, anointed, they got corn in their crib. They there's they're disciple makers. They've done it. They're going to teach us how to do it. But if you can get a day off, get if you get Wednesday off or Thursday off and do yourself a favor and get into the house. Come on. We've got callings. God's ministering. God wants to minister through it through us. But we've got to be willing. And I end I end with this because there is there is in the New Testament there is a man and you're so familiar with him, but maybe you haven't really thought of his whole story. There's a man named Simon Peter. Simon Peter was a fisherman. He was he was content with his nets, his his boat, his daily catch. He was living a just enough life, satisfied with what he knew. Even after foul, listen, even after following Jesus for three and a half years, even after watching Jesus perform miracles, signs, and wonders, he was always first in line. He saw it all take place. Peter was the one that was always there, always by Jesus's side. But even after the cross, uh, even after Calvary, we find Peter going right back to fishing. Oh, yeah. He had this man mentality, modernday man. Oh yeah. But Jesus met him on the shore and said, he said, "Peter, do you love me?" He said, "Oh, oh, Jesus." He was He was back to fishing, back to casting nets over fishing. Jesus said, "Come on, Peter. Come on, Simon. Do you love me?" Asked him a second time. Peter said, "Oh, Jesus, you know that I love you." He asked him a third time. Said, "Peter, do you really love me?" And he said, "Jesus, you know I love you." And I can't help I can't help but Paul this this this is so parallel right here that that that Peter denied Jesus three times. And here Jesus says three times saying, "Peter, do you love me?" Oh, I can't help but see in the scripture where Jesus was really trying to get to Peter and saying, "You deny me thrice. Can you see you love me three times?" And when Peter, he said, "Oh, you know I love you." Then he said, "If you love me, take care of my mother." Is that what he said? He said, "If you love me, take care of my stepbros. If you really love me, Peter, take care of Joseph, my stepfather." That's not what he said. He said, "If you love me, feed my sheep." Which in our terminology today, if you love me, make disciples. He was saying, "Peter, if you love me, leave this boat again. Get up off this pew. Get out of the boat. There's coming a day. The day of Pentecost is coming. And I need a preacher to preach the very first gospel, the very first death, burial, and resurrection. I'm needing a preacher to preach about the plan of salvation, to repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of your sins. Uh, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Uh, he was simply saying, "I need you to feed my sheep because there's 3,120 that are going to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."Uh, There's 3,120 that are going to be saved because of the ministry of you, Peter. >> But I couldn't help in the prayer room. I began to s because I began to think the way that Jesus told Peter to be a disciplemaker was he kept on saying, "Do you love me? Look up at me. Do you love me? Do you do love the Lord? >> Come on. Do you do truly love the Lord? >> Come on. He's talking to Peter right here. He He's talking to the one that denied him. He's talking to the one that left him and backslid and went back to fishing fish when Jesus wanted him to be a fisher of men. Oh God, I I stand here today and I say, Jesus, I love you. And the way I'm going to show my love for you is the same thing that Peter did. I'm going to do everything I can because it was Peter when they commanded him to stop preaching the name of Jesus, brother. Oh, brother Namy, he would not stop preaching the name of Jesus. Uh he refused to stop preaching the name of Jesus. Uh it was Peter that as he would walk up uh he would lay hands on people and they would receive their cider or the would walk again. It was Peter that God anointed that his very shadow as he would walk through the streets. Uh, people would be healed. It was this same Peter that Jesus said, "Do you love me?" >> I want you to stand to your feet today. And I hope I don't know. I don't know. We're getting close to movement conference. And you just got to understand that everything inside of me, everything, every thought that I have is about disciplem at this point. Everything I'm thinking about is how do we get people in this room from all over this country? Matter of fact, we have missionaries coming from Lebanon. They're going to be here. We have missionaries coming from Germany that are going to be with us during movement. We got people from across the world that are going to be here. And my thought process and I know your thought process is how can we teach people to make disciples? How can we be an example? How could we show them? And I want you to know the greatest thing we can do is to love the Lord enough to be a disciple maker. Philippians 3:13 says, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended." Paul said, "But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Simply what Paul is saying is he looked towards the Old Testament and those children of Israel where everyone in the older generations found themselves wandering and never allowed into the promised land. But there was a generation that rose up that said, "We are not willing to be satisfied with modern-day mana. But God, we want your promises. God, we want a land flowing with milk and honey. God, we'll do anything we have to do to get out of the ordinary, to get out of a dry place. And Lord, to get into a place of promise and a place that's flowing with what you have for us, God, the promises that are yay and amen. I wish you as a congregation just lift your hands right now and say, "God, you've called me, God, to do great things. God, you've called me to be, Lord God, so much more than maybe I'm living." And then come on somebody. I'm going to testify right here and say, "God has called me to do so much more than what I'm doing, but I'm going to join with you and I'm going to say, God, I refuse to be content. I refuse to be satisfied where I am. But God, I'm going to press toward the mark. Uh I'm going to press toward a higher calling, God. Uh I want to be a disciple maker. I want to gather. I want to connect. Uh God, I want to educate. God, I want to train and teach. God, help me. Oh, God. This world is lost. This world is on the way to a devil's hell. Unless a church will rise up and say, uh, I'll be the one. I'll disciple. I'll take the time. I'll do whatever it takes to get out of the mundane, oh God. And to live a life of promise. I'll do whatever it takes, oh God, to be victorious. Uh we are well able to win Blunt County. Uh we are well able to win Maraveville, Tennessee. Uh Friendsville, Elcoa. We are well able Green Back. Uh we are well able to reach into West Knoxville into Lenor City. Uh we are well able to win and be victorious in this last day. I wish somebody would just lift up their hands and say, "God, help me to be what you've called me to be." Come on, somebody say, "I'll say yes to you, Jesus." Come on, disciplemakers. Come on, believers. Come on, lovers of Jesus. Uh, whatever it takes, oh God. I will not be content until I have more of you until I'm what you want me to be. Call me, oh God. Oh, call me, oh God. Oh, God. Make me, mold me, God. This is our prayer. is to be what you call me to be. >> That's what I'll be. >> I will be what you >> Come on. I wish you would just really reach out and say, "God, help me. >> God, help me." >> I say, "Yes. Come on. I I didn't preach for a reaction. I I didn't preach for you to shout or run the aisles. Come on. I'm trying to get your heart in this thing. Uh I want you to get involved with your heart. Come on, somebody. You can do so much more. I can do so much more. We can do so much more. >> I'll do it. Oh, God. I'll do it. what you call me to be. >> My marriage is going to be better because of it. >> Come on. My teenagers are going to live for you because of it. >> My children are going to live for you because of it. >> Come on. What's your desire today? >> I love you. Come on. If you don't know what to pray, why don't you just start praying? I love you, Jesus. >> I love you, Jesus. I love you, Jesus. I love you, Jesus. Come on. The more you say it, he's going to start speaking to your heart and he's going to say, "Feed my sheep. Make disciples. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. I love you, Jesus. I passionately >> is to be >> Come on. There's got to be a passion in this place. >> That's what I need. >> There's got to be a passion in this house. A passion that loves that loves the lost. that loves the dying, that loves the hurting. I say it. Come on, lift up both hands as high as you can. Come on, say yes to the Lord. Lift up your hands as high as you can. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I agree with you, Lord. >> I agree. >> I will do it. I will do it. Oh, I say I agree. I agree. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. >> Come on. Through the Holy Ghost. Come on. We begin to agree with his way and his will and his plan. I agree. I submit myself to your word. I submit myself to your commission, oh God. Yes. Yes. I say yes. I agree to your will, to your way, to your word. I will be I will be what you call me to be. >> My soul says yes. I say Lord I desire is to be what you want me to be. I will be I will be what you call me to be. I say yes. Lord I agree. I desire passionately is to be what you call me to be. That's what I'll be. I agree. I agree. Do your will and to your way. I agree. I receive your word. Say yes. I say yes. I agree. I will say yes. I say yes. Braden Heiner, upon the profession of your faith and obedience to the word of God, I now indeed baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. And thank the Lord you've received the gift of the Holy Ghost in Jesus name. Heat. Heat. Say yes. I say yes. I am I am I will be I will be what you want me to be. Come on. >> Can we lift our hands and sing that? Want every hand lifted high tonight, Lord. I agree. >> I agree with your word tonight, Lord. >> God, we want to be what you've called us to be. >> Come on, say it out loud. That's what I'll be. >> I want to be what God has called me to be. Amen. If you believe that, would you clap your hands tonight?