We Are Better Together

The last few months been emotionally and spiritually tough for me. And in being myself, as I always am in the pull pit, being transparent, I've had some moments where I've just felt low. Now, not depressed, not anxious, just low. Is it okay that I say that? Just felt a little low. And in the heaviness of my spirit for some situations and circumstances that were going on in our church, for the State of Affairs that are in our country and all that's going on in our world.

And I have been, and will continue to push, personally and corporately, in prayer, because prayer is the most powerful thing we can do. Prayer can do anything that God can do, and God can do all things. And I feel like as Christians it is our most underutilized weapon, prayer. We don't use it near enough. I feel like if we fully understood all that we could do through prayer, we would be in a continuous state of prayer, like the word instructs us to.

Those of you who show up in pre-service prayer over in 101, thank you for helping set the tone and atmosphere for our services. It matters. Prayer matters.

In my prayer time, I have been drawing in close to God, because I need him. I need to hear him. Yes, amen. I need him to hold me. Sometimes I just ask him, "Will you hold me today?" Maybe that doesn't make sense to you, but there's some days it's tough. Some days it's tough just to get up and move. And in those days I'm like, "God, I need you to hold me today." And he does. I feel him. He'll wrap his arms around me. He'll pull me in close. I would love to tell you that when he's holding me, that my problems go away. But I will tell you this: while he's holding me, I don't think about the problems. Yeah, most of the time my problems are still there when he gets done holding me. I still got to face them. But my attitude's different. My outlook is different. I've been encouraged, because I've spent time with him.

You guys okay? I'm admitting to you that I need him. That's a truth. I need him. You need him. And there's something about when you just throw your hands up and surrender and say, "God, you know what, I could try to do this on my own, but I fail every time. But when I invite you into my equation, when I put you into the m in the middle of my problem, when I put you into the middle of my circumstances, everything changes about how I see my problems and my circumstances." I hope that makes sense, what I'm saying.

I can't seem to shake this feeling of urgency and excitement. God is stirring things in our day. And it's twofold for me, because there's a big piece of me that's so excited because of what God is pushing forward and doing. Yes, in my position as pastor of the church, am privileged to be a part of so many of your lives and to see what's going on. And it's a great thing when I see God moving mountains in your lives, and I see God working situations out. And then there's a part of me that, when I see individuals who I know at one time walk so closely with God, yet I see them drifting now — and it bothers me, concerns me, makes me more aware of the time in which we're living in.

Here's a reality, and I hope you guys will receive this, okay? I even prayed about it just 60 seconds before the end of the song. "God, should I still say what I feel to say?" And he said yes. Here's what I know: in this room there are some of you who will not be walking with God in the next few years, because you've already set a course to drift away from him. You're listening to a lot of influencers that are around you, but you're not listening to the word of God. You're listening to a lot of voices that are pointing out things, but they're not holding TR true to the word of God.

I'm going to tell you that my title of my message today is "We're Better Together." Cuz here's a reality: I need you, and you need me. I need to be accountable to you, and you need to be accountable to me. In a day where so much is in flux, in a day where we have so much information, in a day where we confuse information with knowledge — information is not knowledge. And a lot — so many people are being swayed, and they're looking for some way to justify how they feel, instead of trying to get down into what God says. I know I say that a lot in this pulpit, but my chief and primary responsibility is to keep you in the word. Because if I can keep you in the word, you'll make it. But if you don't put the word of God at a paramount place, a premier spot in your life, if you take the other voices that are out there and you're trying to put it on equal playing field with the word of God, you will be deceived and misled every time.

Listen, I'm going to be honest with you: there are sometimes when I dig into this word that it hurts me. It hurts me because I need to change. It brings an awareness of my bad attitude, or my outlook not be in a correct way, or something that I need to course correct, or an apology that I need to make, or something that I need to work on. It's convicting. It gets down into my heart, and it rightly divides, and it lets me know that I don't have a right outlook on life, and I have to repent and ask God to forgive me for my stinking attitude. That's what it does for me, and it'll do that same thing for you.

But here's the reality: you can take pieces and portions of this, and you can make this Bible say anything you want it to say. But just because you find a verse or two here to validate how you feel does not mean that's how God feels. You must take the word of God as a whole. We need accountability in our life. If there's ever been a day and age when we need accountability, we need accountability today. We are better together. We are better together.

God's doing something in our day. And here's the deal: he's going to continue to do — his will will be done. The question is whether or not you and I are going to be a part of it. There's some voices that need to be silent in your life, and you're putting too much stock into it. Something's moving in the spirit. God is preparing us for the Divine. God is preparing us for a breakthrough. You know how I know? Cuz the enem is fighting hard right now. The enemy is fighting hard in our church right now. He's fighting hard. Unless we know, we're on the verge of something amazing that's about to happen. The miraculous is here. It's taking place. Because there's a lot of families going through a lot of stuff, facing some obstacles that don't make sense right now. It doesn't make sense why you're dealing with what you're dealing with, and how long you've had to deal with it. I'll tell you what's going on: the enem is fighting against us, because he knows he can't stop us as long as we stay united, as long as we stand together, as long as we are in the word and we stand on truth. We have an overwhelming victory that's going to come our way. But we have to make sure that we are accountable to each other. That means there are times when you need to be corrected, and there's times when I need to be corrected. We have to be accountable to each other. Amen.

There's some truths that you must know in your life, and you must establish them. There's some things that you can't let go. There's some stuff that's non-negotiable. I'll say that again: there's some things that are non-negotiable. I don't care who says it. I don't care what they're come against. If they come against the word of God, it's not up for negotiation. We're not in the bargaining business. We don't negotiate with terrorists. We don't negotiate with the Enemy. We're not in the bargaining business. I'm not about making a treaty with him. No, no, I know that the V, the victory's already been guaranteed. I already know how the end of the book goes, and I know what his destiny is. And I refuse to be a part of what he's trying to do. I'm going to be a part of the church. I'm going to align myself with him, with the one, with the King. I'm going to be a part of his kingdom. And it does come at a personal cost at times. And there are sometimes that I'm willing to be misunderstood. There are sometimes that I be willing to be called out, because I'm going to stay in the book. It's not Kevin's opinion I'm going to bring to you. Always what thus sayith the word of God, because the word of God stands the test of time. And there are some things that are non-negotiable.

And a non-negotiable truth I'm going to start with today is: there is one God. He is the Great I Am of the Old Testament. He has been given a thousand names and a thousand titles, but his name is Jesus in these last days. It is the highest name. Is the name above every name. It is the name that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess one day, that he is Lord of all. Regardless of what any influencer or anybody else tries to say, there is one God. It is only through that name that we are saved. That is the name of the Old Testament and the New Testament, eternity past and eternity future.

John 858 says, "Jesus said them, most assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." The invisible was made visible. He is the expressed image of God, of his person. God in Christ, and Christ in you. The great Creator became my savior. And all of God's fullness dwells in him.

Paul was writing to the church in colossa when he said in Colossians 2:8, "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him, in him, in him dwells all the fullness of the godhead body. And you are complete in him."

There is no wound that Jehovah Rafa cannot heal. There is no problem Jehovah Shmi cannot fix. There is no need that Jehovah Jabra can't provide. But Deuteronomy 6:4 says, "Here, oh Israel, the Lord our God is one." He is one. He's one.

Ephesians 4:1: "I therefore, the prisoner the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all loneliness and gentleness and longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep Unity of the spirit in the bond of Peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called into one hope of your calling: one Lord, one Faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above you all, and through you all, and in you all."

We believe and we teach that there is one God, and we must agree on this today. Can we find agreement in the house, that there's one God? Oh, can I find unity in this house? I'm looking for par participation. 100%: do you believe that there is one God and his name is Jesus? Yes. We are better together.

Nature shows us the power of being unified. Chast and I, last year, had the privilege to be on a mission trip. And part of that trip was taking us into South Africa. And we had an opportunity to go on Safari. We were out there in Safari, riding around the truck, and we get to see the animals that were there. And it's amazing experience. We were blessed to be a part of it. But as you're evaluating those animals, you'll see that some of them have learned the power of being in the pack. They learned the power of being unified together. That when the enemy comes crouching in, when the lion is trying to come in, or the cheat is trying to come in, or the Hy is trying to come in — the power of being together. See, the enem is always looking for the one who's drifting on the side. Always looking for the one who's close to the crowd but not in the crowd. Who's close to the group but not really fully committed to being in the middle of the group. Just want to be on the fringe. Well, I'm reaching for somebody on the fringe today, to tell you it's not worth it. The enemy is paying attention to you. He's watching. He's always looking for the one who's just on the outside one. Close enough that if he can ever isolate you, if he can ever put something between you and the group, between you and the herd, he's got you in that moment.

And there's some of you who are flirting with some stuff in your life. You need to stop right now. It's not worth the price you're going to pay, because it's not just you, but there are generations at stake. Because you're trying to flirt with your own feelings and emotions, I'm telling you today, get down into the word of God and find out for yourself and settle some issues. Some prices are not worth you paying the price. Generations are at stake.

The enemy cannot allow you and I to agree, because the devil knows what God's word declares, that when you and I agree, that we can't be stopped. Matthew 18 — Jesus talking about disagreements with his disciples — said to him in Matthew 18:18 "Surely I say to you, whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth will be Loos in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on Earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered there together in my name, I am there in the midst of them."

Now, that verse is not dealing with small church. Small church is love that verse. I don't know about that, because I've been in some of our daughter works when there was only two or three of us there. I've talked about that before. And it's a great verse to hang on to when you're like, "Hey, where two or three of us are there, he's there in the midst of us. That's what the Bible says." But you got to keep it in context, because Jesus was talking about disagreements. He was talking about where there's not unity going on. Where there is disunity. Where there has been offenses.

Oh my goodness, everybody's offended today. We live in the most offended world, or the society, that there is. "I'm offended that you're offended." I mean, you can't even look at anybody anymore, they don't get offended. You can't say anything. You can't declare anything. You can't put anything out there without somebody like, "I just — I don't like the way you said that. I don't like the way you looked. I don't like the way —" Well, there's a lot of things I don't like, but I'm going to spend all my time — you know, Jesus said the fences are going to come. You can't stop them. But it's not about the offense. You — everything about the offense. And if the devil knows he can make you be offended, he can keep you out of the herd. Yeah. "I don't want to go to church, cuz I go church, there just — there people in there. There's the Hypocrites." Okay, you're not going to go to church CU there's Hypocrites? Well, don't go to the grocery store, because there's Hypocrites. Don't go to the doctor's office, cuz there's Hypocrites. Yeah, don't go to school, because there's Hypocrites. Don't go anywhere. You're just going to have to set home by yourself. Because the moment you leave — matter of fact, you can't even be home, because there Hypocrites there too. You're there. You hypocrite. Isn't it amazing how we'll rationalize things that we won't do?

Here's, it's so frustrating, this world. And the enemy is — he has capitalized on where we are in this moment, especially in our world, and especially in our society, in our culture today, where nothing can be said. Nothing can be — nothing can be drawn on the line and say, "This is where we go." Because the moment you draw a line, you offend somebody. The moment you declare something as an absolute, someone's upset about it. They don't like it.

Now, here's what I've always tried to do, is to try to leave my opinion out of the matter and say, "What about what the word says?" Because if you're really going to argue with somebody, then go argue with God. See how that goes. I'm not optimistic it's going to work out too well for you. He has this thing: he likes to pretend he's God. He likes to act like he's God. He likes to be God, because he is God. But the enemy tries to devour us. He tries to push us aside. He tries to keep us to where there is no unity in the body. He tries to keep us divided. When what we're trying to do there — because he knows if we get together and realize just how powerful we are, there's nothing that he can do to stop us.

We're not meant to be alone. The data that's coming in, and is still pouring in since covid happened, since 2020, where our world got changed and rocked unlike any other time, at least in my lifetime. Nothing changed us. Nothing had ever happened to us like Co in my 48 years on this Earth. But what we realized in there is, we realized pretty quickly, we were not meant to be alone. Now, we are the most connected generation that has ever lived, yet we're the most lonely. We're the most informed generation that has ever been, yet we're the most anxious. We're dealing with epidemic portions and numbers of people dealing with anxiety and depression, yet we have every reason to not be that way. We've never been more connected. It's never been easier to be in touch. It's never been easier to stay connected. It's never been easier to have what it is that you need to be comfortable in your life. Yet all those things have not helped us one bit. They've only hurt us. They've only caused us to be more miserable, to be more miserable, separated. At some point, when are we going to wake up and realize these things are not helping us? They're hurting us. They're keeping me isolated. They keeping me by myself.

What's going on? The enem is trying to keep disunity. And what's going on even inside the church — he's trying to keep this unity in there. Why? Because if I can't let them get together, I can't let them unify. If they ever unify, they'll overwhelm me.

Genesis 2 said it's not good for man to be alone. Proverbs 4 says that where two are better than one. When the — our great God and Creator was forming the universe, the sun, the moon and stars, and all the living things, as you go through Genesis one, everything he did, it was good. It was good. It was good. He created this, and it was good. He created this, and it was good. He created this, and it was good. It was only the first time we get to where something was bad, is when he created man, and man was alone. He said, "This is not good." You're not meant to be alone. You're not meant to do life by yourself. You're not meant to be isolated off in the corner. God and his wisdom knew that the United team is better than a solo Mission. So God created the institution of marriage. It's his invention. He alone gets to define it.

We read in the same chapter that as Adam eats his wife for the first time, he declares the following, Genesis 2:23: "This is now bone of my bone and Flesh of My Flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man." Two different words that were used there, on purpose. Because God was establishing a principle that was there: that man and woman were not meant to be alone. They were meant to be together. But even in the together, they were not meant to be by themselves. He was meant to be a part of their life.

I don't have time to go into a deep word study with you, but I would encourage you at some point, on your own time, to go back to Genesis and read through, and do a word study, and just see what was there. See the isy. The words get down to the Hebrew that was there. The words are being described, because God was declaring his very name, Jehovah, in the middle of what was going on. That inside that union of man and woman, Jehovah was in the middle of it, because he was always intended to be a part of our lives. Together — ple — please understand me — to be a part of our lives together. The unity that was there.

There's power when we get together. We are better together. We are better together. We are better together.

Being a part of the church, being a part of the family God, is so important. Our fellowship — or another way it gets translated in scripture is communion — this word is used some 20 times in the New Testament. The church is a fellowship of people united to Jesus Christ with one another. No man is an island, because we're better together.

Deuteronomy 32 tells us that God is our Rock. And one of us, when we get together, it says that we can put a thousand of our enemy to flight. But when two of us get together, multiplication comes apart, and we can put 10,000 to flight. We are stronger together. I need you, and you need me. I need you, and you need me. We are better together, when we are in agreement with this unity.

Bad plans can come together and even work. Being united together, horrible organization can make something possible, because when we unite, brother and sister, we invite the one who framed the worlds into existence to join us.

And what I know today in this room is, there are many of you who are facing some over helming circumstances in your life, and you need a brother and you need a sister. We need each other. We are better together.

Now, the enemy is going to tell you that you don't need to reach out. You don't need to tell somebody what's going on. You don't need to go in. You don't need to put some expectations — they're only going to disappoint you, and they're going to let you down. Stop listening to the devil talk. He is a liar and the father of Lies. If he's speaking, whatever the opposite he says is true. If he says you don't need people, then, oh my goodness, how much do you need people. If he say says, "Don't speak," I would be shouting. If he says be quiet, I would not stay silent. I would reach out. We need each other.

This is what I know: there are hurting and broken homes in this room today. There are hurting and broken bodies in this room today. There are Hur and broken minds in this room today. There are addictions in this room today. There are broken relationships in this room today. There are broken bodies in this room today. There are financial needs in this room today. But I also know this: he is in this room today. The king of kings and Lord of lords is in this room today. The author and the finisher of life is in this room today. The one who speaks and storms are quiet is in this room today. And sometimes our faith struggles, but I'm here to tell you, there's power when I connect in with somebody else beside me. I want you to know, if you're strong in faith today, then you should be looking for a brother or a sister who maybe is going through something, so that you can connect your faith to their faith, so that you may be able to help them in their circumstances, be connected back to God. We need each other.

And I know there's some Hur and broken people in this room today. I'm here to tell you, God's about a restoration, and he's going to do something special before I say the final amen today. But I need somebody else's Faith besides mine to agree with me that God's going to do something special. Not only that, I need somebody willing to open up their eyes of faith and say, "I'm not going to be by myself in this moment, but I'm going to pray with somebody. I'm going to worship with somebody. I'm going to reach out to somebody in this room. I'm not going to just sit in my chair. I'm not going to be by myself. But I'm going to be sure that I'm a part of what God's wanting to do today, in this place. I have a today God. I have a right now God."

And I wish somebody else besides me would be a little bit excited and animated in this moment. I feel like I'm having to be a cheerleader up here. Is God good, or is he not? Has God done something for you, or not? And if he's done something for you, why are you sitting down? Stand up and worship the king of kings and Lord of lords. Where's the faith? Where's the faith? Where's the Faith? Some of you just standing out of obedience, but where's the faith in this room? I've got faith that my God can do a miracle. Does anybody need a miracle today? Somebody's not tapping in. I'm telling you, the miracle working God is in this place. If you need a miracle, I would be activating my faith today, through motion. W — thank you, Brother Taylor. Fine, you don't believe me, stay in your seats. But for those of you who are believing right now — thank you, Nate — for those of you who are needing a work in your life, I wouldn't be in my seat. I would be down. I would be saying, "God, I want you to see that I believe you can still do it. That you can still move mountains. That you can still heal bodies. That you can still —" Come on. Come on. Yes. Yes. This is what I'm talking about. Faith in motion.

We are better together. We are better together. Keep worshiping. And the authority in the name of Jesus, let there be a release of the operation of the gifts of the Spirit right now in this place. Oh God, let your spirit move right now. Let there be healings and miracles and signs and wonders on your church, in the mighty name of Jesus. Yes, come on. Come on, let's pray right now. God's about to do something. Come on, men and women of Faith, let God use you right now in this place. If you're in the ministry right now, you need to be praying for God to use you.

We are stronger together. We are stronger together. We are stronger together. We are stronger together. We are stronger together. We are stronger together. I need you. You need me.