Don't Settle For Leftovers

Well, I'm going to delve right into what I feel the Lord laid on my heart. And we're not going to just start off with a scripture, but we will get into scripture. And you may say, well, you get into a bunch before you're done. But we're going to go where God wants to go. So, but I titled today sermon, don't settle for leftovers. Amen. >> I don't know about you, some people enjoy leftovers. I'm not a huge fan of leftovers, but sometimes it's inevitable that uh you're you're stuck with eating the leftovers. And you know, it's always you go to the refrigerator and those things um begin to accumulate when it's not something you enjoy eating and you have those big gettogethers, say Christmas and Thanksgiving and maybe Fourth of July, and there's a extra amount of food that gets put into your refrigerator.

So, those things begin to uh get shoved to the back as you look for something new and fresh. And um somebody says, "Well, don't throw that away. I'll I'll eat it later." So, those leftovers continued to move in the fridge. And you say, "Well, that's probably still good. It's just day one or day three. If you warm it up, it'll probably be okay." And then eventually you open that fridge and what is that? What is that smell? And suddenly your search for food quickly turns into an investigation of where did this even begin? This was not something God created. You pull out that container from the back and try to remember what it is.

And was it chicken? Was it spaghetti? Was it a bad science project? What was that? So, you begin to investigate and realize that it's been there long enough to have a driver's license and it's got to move on. So, but there's always somebody in the house says, "No, don't throw it away. I I think it's still good." But the truth is, leftovers have their place. And there's nothing wrong with leftovers sometimes. Some things are even better the second day. Chili possibly, but not much. But the problem comes when we start living off of leftovers. We weren't created to live on what someone else didn't want. >> That's right. We weren't created to survive on scraps or created to dig through yesterday's blessing trying to find something to sustain us for today.

Because the truth is, God never called us to live on what was. But he's called us to live in the abundance of who he is and what he desires to be in our life. >> And spiritually, too many people, they're trying to do this same thing in their spiritual walk. They try to live off of past moves of God. They're reheating yesterday's worship for today's environment. They're surviving only on someone else's testimony. And they're holding on to that old experience with God. But they have stopped seeking the fresh bread that God offers to each of our lives. Matthew 6:11 tells us, "Give us this day our daily bread." >> He didn't say, "Give us this month's leftovers."

>> He didn't say, "Help us survive on yesterday's mana." There's not a whole lot better than fresh bread. I enjoy bread, especially fresh bread, but nothing's more upsetting when you go to get a piece of bread. And it is definitely not fresh. Maybe it's a little hardened or maybe it has an extensive growth on it. And the the immediate discouragement and disappointment of what you had anticipated suddenly is gone. But I've come to tell you, God has pre fresh and new provision each and every day for every one of us who are willing to go into that throne room we just sung about to go in and seek out his fresh mercy and that fresh anointing and that fresh fire that he has and desires for us each and every day.

The children of Israel, they learned that when God sent the mana into the wilderness, they couldn't store it up or live off of yesterday's supply. Every morning, they had to go out and they had to gather fresh mana because God never intended for his people to live off of leftovers. God never intended to live off of yesterday without something new and fresh >> for today. Yesterday's provision cannot replace today's dependence on almighty God. >> You say, "Well, what about day six? They had to gather a double portion, but it was still fresh because it was gathered according to God's obedience, according to his word. And the blessings, they will stay fresh when it's received and sought in obedience and fulfilling of what God has instructed for your life.

But I've come today and someone here needs to stop settling for the leftovers when God is offering before you a table fresh for you to partake of. If you grew up in aging myself when you had the himnel book and you turned to I don't remember the page but I remember the song come and dine. Jesus has a table spread where the saints of God are fed. But I'm afraid some have changed it to crumbs and wine. Some folks beg for crumbs instead or eat stale forgotten bread. No, God has something new and fresh if we will take the time and put the effort into seeking his face and entering into his presence each and every day.

We can stop settling for what barely gets you through when God has prepared in abundance what it is you need for your life. We've got to stop settling for yesterday's blessing. When there's a fresh outpouring waiting for you to receive it. a leftover. It's something that was once fresh, but it's become something from a previous moment. It may still have value. I grew up every Sunday, our Sunday meal after church was a roast in the crockpot waiting for us to come home. Now, I know a lot of people love roast. I'm burned out. It's one of those things that's better the second time because it's normally shredded and put into a stew. Stew I can deal with as long as the weather's cool.

But sometimes we settle for, well, I'll just get by on this. I'll just get by on yesterday's prayer. I'll just get by on what I took of yesterday and we'll just rehash that. But I'm sorry, God did not equip us in our spiritual relationship to live off of yesterday's blessing and yesterday's anointing and yesterday's prayer time. He's calling us to a table that spread new and fresh every morning. And he's asking us, meet me every day that I can give you what you need for today. God's not interested in just giving you a blessing. The truth is he wants you to remain connected to the blessor. That's why the leftovers is not his desire.

Don't just try to store up and live off of yesterday. But make it intentional every day. I'm going to get something fresh because I'm going to enter into the presence of the one who makes it fresh. I'm going to enter into the presence of the one who pours out those blessings and those mercies new every morning. >> So Jeremiah chapter 2 is where we're going to try to build from today. Jeremiah 2:1 says, "Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. Be astonished, oh ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be ye very desolate, sayaeth the Lord." In verse 13, for my people have committed two evils.

They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and heed them out sistns, broken sistns that can hold no water. Truth in each of our life, there's one thing every person on this earth has in common. We all have a nose. No, every one of us is drawing from something. You are drawing from something in your life. Everyone has a source. The question is not whether you have a source. The question is what is the source you are drawing from today? Because whatever your source is, that will determine your strength. It will determine your stability. It will determine your confidence and ultimately your outcome. Some people draw from their accomplishments. Some draw from their possessions.

Some draw from other people's approval or their own abilities or their own past experiences. But God created mankind with a thirst. a thirst that nothing else in this world can satisfy. And there's a longing inside every human being, a drive that cannot be filled by success. It cannot be filled by money or relationships, entertainment or recognition. >> But because we're not created to live from these things, he has incorporated that we must be connected to him. >> We must live in him. And we frustrate ourselves so many times trying to seek what he desires for our life from other sources. Matthew 4 and4 says, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedth out of the mouth of God."

God didn't create us to merely survive. The word there that you can't overlook in this scripture says proceedth. That is continual day in and day out. Not preceded something that's old and past. But he created us to be connected to the source of life. And that source is our dependence upon almighty God. The one who went to a cross and shed blood to make salvation available when there was no other way. He wants to be the source of our strength, the source of what we need in our life. And I want to talk to you today about the difference between a system and a source. A system and a source. Because there is a difference between having water stored and being connected to where the water comes from.

There's a difference, a difference between remembering what God did and walking in what God is doing in your life. There's a difference between living on yesterday's rain and drinking from today's fresh fountain. The danger is that many people they have learned to live from a sistern when God is calling them to live from the source. So in understanding this system that we're talking about these times in the Bible that's referring to here is a is water is everything. I'm afraid we've got away from that. It's such readily available that we don't value it as importantly as it was referenced here in this scripture text. Israel we see was not a land overflowing with rivers and lakes but it was arid.

It was dry parched land. A land where water determined whether you survived or not was that availability to the water. Without water there's no life. So they would build sistns. It was a huge underground container carved into rock and sealed so that it could collect rainwater. And when the rainy season come, they gathered as much as possible and begin to store it in there and they protected it and they depended on it. And it was a valuable thing to their survival. And a good sister, it could mean the difference between survival and desperation. But here is the limitation. A sister could never produce water. It only would hold what water was put into it. A sister is dependent on what happened before.

It depended on yesterday's rain. It depended on what was collected in a previous season. And when that water was gone, the sister had nothing else to give. And God is using this imagery here that we see to speak to his people in verse 13 of Jeremiah 2. They've forsaken me the fountain of living water and have heuned outistns, broken sistns that can hold no water. God wasn't saying they had simply chosen a different container, but he was pointing out in this text that they had abandoned the source of living water to their own demise. They had traded a fountain for a sistern. They had traded continual supply for just a stored small amount. They were traded a relationship with Almighty God for the title religion.

They traded dependence on God for dependence upon their own self. But the problem is not to that the sister exists. It had a purpose. The problem is when we expect a sister to do what only the source can provide. See a sister can hold water but it can never create water for our necessity. A sister can preserve water but it cannot replenish itself when it runs low. A sister can help you survive a season but it cannot sustain you continually. And spiritually speaking, there are people who are continually trying to live their life, walking from what God gave them in a previous season, living from an old move of God, living from an old prayer time, an old revival, and depending on an old encounter.

They're thankful for what God did in their life, but they have not stopped to draw from what God is providing in the current moment. And there's nothing wrong with remembering what God has done. It's important. Even in Psalms 7 77 and 11, David speaking said, "I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders of old." But remembering yesterday's miracle was never intended to replace today's relationship. >> The same God who parted the Red Sea still wants to lead you and I today. >> The same God who filled the upper room, he still wants to fill this room today. Right now. >> The same God who healed yesterday still has power to heal today.

Right now. Every disease, every sickness is subject to the power and authority of that name. >> And the same God who delivered you before is still your deliverer now >> because it's from the source and the source never changes >> a sister's condition can change but the source will remain consistent. The system depends on the circumstances and the source produces regardless what the circumstances may deliver. And if you have that mindset of the system, how much do I have left? You're always asking the question, well, can I do that? Do I have enough stored up? Do I have enough to make it through? But I've come to tell you the source says I'm connected and something greater than myself is the provision that I rely on.

And it's provision that I trust in and I know that I can get through because I'm connected to the one who has endless supply. I'm connected to the one who has an answer for every situation that I may encounter in my life. That's why it's important when God revealed himself as the great I am. Moses asked God his name. God said, "I am that I am." He was saying, "I'm not dependent on anything outside of me. I'm not dependent on my circumstances or my situation. I don't become something later on. I don't run out and have to restock. I don't change, but I simply am what you need in the moment." >> We as individuals are limited.

That's why we have to say I am a preacher. I am a construction worker. I am a welder. I am whatever. But God's coming into our life. When we go to him and say, "God, I need you to do this." He can because he is the I am. I am that answer you need. I am that healing in for your life. I am that provision that you see no way out. I am that in your life because he is the source. He is the life. >> The Bible declares in Malachi 3 and6 for I am the Lord. I change not. You can take confidence in something that will never change. You can put your trust and your faith in that that does not change.

Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. Everything around you may be changing, but there is one who will never change. Everything around you may be falling apart, but there's one who will still supply. And that is when you remain connected to Almighty God, regardless what circumstances come. Your emotions may be changing. Your finances may be changing. Your health may be crumbling. But I've come to tell you, he will never change. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. And all you have to do is call on that name. That name that's above every name. That name that has all power and authority to change the situation. You don't have to rely on yesterday's blessing and yesterday's prayer and somebody else's testimony, but he's new and fresh every morning and wants to meet with you and supply your need.

>> So thankful that he is that source that does not change. He never dries up. He never disconnects. You don't have to question, do I have enough? But you can have all confidence to say, my God is enough. >> You don't have to worry about making it through because he's proven himself time and time again. I'll never leave you, forsake you. I'll never leave you with more than you can bear. And I've brought you to this point, and I will see you through. why it's so important that we have a vibrant relationship with almighty God. It's why it's important that we find that place of breakthrough in our life and allow the Holy Ghost to work in and through us each and every day.

It was never intended to be a one-time experience for our remembrance. It was not just something that we received and go on living life the way we showed up. But that Holy Ghost is the source. It's that supply. It's that confidence we can connect to and by which we must continue to stay connected. Acts 1:8 says, "But you shall receive power >> after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you." Power. He didn't say you receive a memory or receive a feeling or just a past experience, but you receive power. >> Power that continues, power that flows, power that sustains and will transform your life. But you got to stay connected to the source. When we see the woman at the well, John 4:14, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Jesus went to the well and he met the lady there. But he didn't come to give her a bucket. He came to let her know there was a well of abundance inside of her. He didn't come to make her dependent on one container. This will get me through and then I'll have to come back. But he came to connect her to the source. God's not calling us back to a better system, but he's calling each of us back to the fountain. >> God's calling your name. He's calling my name. Come back to me. The source, the supply that is never ending. The source that will satisfy when everything else leaves you hurting and longing for something different.

He's not asking you to try harder to hold more water, but he's asking you to reconnect to the one that will never run dry. [cough and clears throat] In church, the greatest struggle that most people have, it's not in the not knowing what is right. Many know the scripture. Many know the doctrine. Many know what they should do. The struggle is not information, but the struggle is connection. Knowing the source and living connected to the source are two different things. And there's a freedom from worry and fear for someone here today. If you will embrace the verse found in John 15 and5 understand its principle and its power in your life. John 15 and5 says I am the vine ye are the branches.

He that abideth in me and I in him. The same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye can do nothing. I remember as a kid singing that song, you know, he's the vine, we're the branches, but I never truly grasp what was what was being said in that scripture text. He didn't say to to just visit me and occasionally check in with me and come by me when you're empty for a refill. But such a powerful statement. Abide in me. Abide in me. Connect to the source of life. Connect to the source of abundance that I have for you. To abide it means to remain, to continue, to stay, to dwell. Jesus was teaching that the Christian life, it's never designed to operate from occasional encounters.

And I feel like so many try to operate their life from Sunday to Sunday. If I can make it through Sunday, I'll have enough. And then if I can get there on Sunday, I'll restock. But I've come to tell you, Sunday is not enough. >> You've got to make that encounter each and every day. His design for each of us was that continual connection, that relationship. At the midnight hour, we can mention his name and that power just rushes into the room. That peace that only he can bring will just surround you in the midst of whatever it is that you may be facing. You see, the branch does not produce fruit because it tries harder.

The branch does not produce fruit because it attended a class about fruit. The branch does not produce fruit because it has a history of producing fruit. The truth is a branch produces fruit because it remain connected to the lifegiving source of the vine. The branch's responsibility is not production. Its responsibility is to remain connected that the source can provide the provision for the fruit. Because the vine produces life and the vine produces the nutrients. The vine produces the ability. The branch simply stays connected. I've come to encourage somebody today. Stay connected to the vine. The fruit will come. The abundance will come. What you need will come. But it is requirement that you remain connected.

You remain connected to the source. God's never asked you to produce spiritual life on your own strength. But he will give you that strength. He never called you to manufacture peace for your own life, but he did promise peace for us if we will connect with him. He's calling us to abide. Who will connect to the source? who will stay committed and abide in him. Because when you're connected to that source, that endless supply, what you cannot produce by yourself, it will suddenly begin to flow through you. You'll begin to touch others around you because he gives in abundance and you produce overflow. This consistency is found by being reliant on the source because the source will not change when circumstances change.

Where a system is affected by the season, the source remains consistent. The supply remains consistent. If we pick to choose a sister mentality, I have peace when everything's going right. I'm okay. I have peace because nothing's going wrong today. But I've come to tell you, when you're connected to the source, you can have that peace that passes all understanding because God is everywhere you go. God is in the midst of whatever is going right and whatever is going wrong. Philippians 4:11 says, "I've learned in whatsoever state I am there with to be content." Whatever state I am in to be content. It's easy to be content when I'm blessed and to be content when I have abundance and to be content when life is easy.

But I thought it interesting in whatever state, there's that word again, those two words, I am in whatever state I am. I am connected. So what I need is on the way. I am connected. So what I'm lacking, he makes provision. I am. The great I am is still in my life. And when I recognize that I'm connected to the great I am, that supply will sustain me. What I need will come through him. It doesn't have to be on my own strength and my own provision. But all of it is relying on the I am in my life. >> Paul's circumstances no doubt changed. One day he's preaching, one day he's imprisoned. One day he's accepted, one he's rejected, celebrated, one trying to kill him the next.

But he realized the principle of the I am in his life that never changed. And that's the difference between a person who has a source and a person who's reliant only on a sister mentality. Don't fall into that category of the sister where my circumstances determine my condition but be a source mentality where my connection controls my condition. What he desires for me is what he will place in my path. What he orders my steps I must be obedient to follow. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 Paul said, "We're troubled on every side yet not distressed. We're perplexed but not in despair. Persecuted but not forsaken. Cast down but not destroyed." In today's society, we would find a corner and suck our thumb.

It's just a terrible day. I'm going to start a GoFundMe. But when what's inside of you you recognize is greater than what's happening around you, this can be your anthem. Regardless what may come against me, I'm not going to be distressed. I'm not going to be perplexed. I'm not going to be despair. I'm not going to be forsaken because I'm connected to the source. I'm connected to the one who brings all I need in my life. He brings it in his timing. So I don't have to force it. I don't have to make it work. But all I got to do is call on that name. Stay connected to the source and allow him to move in my life because the source is always greater than the season.

Sometimes we fall into that danger zone of measuring our spiritual life by past experiences. I remember when I used to pray for hours. I remember when I had such a hunger for God and I couldn't wait to get to church. I remember when I felt the presence of God so strongly. And we have those moments and we can be thankful for those moments. But memories were never meant to become our source. A memory is a testimony of what God did. But relationship is how we receive what God is doing in the moment. Israel made this mistake. They remembered Egypt. They remembered the wilderness. They remembered what God had done, but they struggled to trust what God was doing in the current day.

They remembered yesterday's mana, and they wanted that. But God wanted them to trust him daily for their provision. God could have given Israel manner for 40 years. Who's signing up for 40 year old bread? He didn't do that. God was teaching them dependence and to trust in him. He wanted them each and every day to wake up every morning. Remember my provision comes from him. I can go back to the source. I can stay connected and my provision will come when he provides. Sometimes we're guilty. God, won't you just give me enough strength for 10 years? But I feel like we get that answer because I want to commune with you every day. Every day I want you and I to connect and to allow me to strengthen you.

for you to trust in me, for you to be dependent upon me and not upon your own self. Jeremiah 2:13 talked about the broken sistns that can hold no water. A broken system is a frustrating problem because you can put water in it, but it's not going to retain what you put in there. It's going to leak out. It loses what it was meant to hold, and it no longer fulfills the purpose that it had in its intention. But it describes what happens when people try to live disconnected from God. They experience moments of victory and they have encounters and they make commitments and they receive blessings but they don't relay remain connected to what other source can only provide.

But because they're not connected, then they eventually return to the same patterns, same struggles, same weaknesses, same failures, and they repeat that cycle and they become frustrated. God, why aren't you when the question should be, forgive me, God, for not connecting continually to you? trying to live my life as a sister and coming in storing up and trying to live off of what I can do. Some people pray this prayer, God, please change my situation. But God is saying, I want to change your source. Because if God comes in and he changes your situation, but your source remains the same, eventually you'll end up back where you started because it's just going to leak away.

The answer to a repeated defeat is not simply more effort. The answer is a deeper connection and a continual relationship with Almighty God. The one who created and who can touch and who can change your circumstance. The one who's asking us to abide in me. He didn't say try harder and work harder and perform better, but he said to abide in me. We all have weaknesses. We all have areas where God is working. We all have those places where we need growth and we must allow God to continue to work. But we must be careful because there's a difference between acknowledging our weakness and accepting defeat as an identity. That sister mindset, that's just who I am.

I've always been this way. I can't change. It's the way my family was and I'll always struggle with this or that. But 2 Corinthians 5:17, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. God doesn't deny your past, but if you will connect to him, he will transform your future. Paul had a past. He persecuted the church. He destroyed lives. But after encountering Jesus in his life, he made this statement. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. Once again, we see that statement. I am. When we learn to live our life with the I am in the midst of everything that we do and everything everywhere that we go, I'm going to be connected to the I am.

I'm going to trust in him to get me through. I'm going to trust in him to provide the peace. I'm going to rely on him for the answers. Grace didn't excuse Paul's past, but it transformed the future. And the enemy would like nothing more than to convince you that your identity is built around your struggle, and that's just who you are. But God wants to build your identity around your connection to him. God wants to give you a new start and extend his grace into your life into those avenues where everybody says, "Well, that's just the way you are and that's just how you'll always be." But I've come to to tell you, there's an opportunity that stands before you to be a new creature in Christ, to connect to a new source and to have a new hope in your life.

And the way we do that is we find that place of continually searching him in prayer. Prayer keeps that connection point open. It's not just asking God for things, but it's maintaining a relationship that he can in turn talk to you and order your steps. The word of God, it keeps us open in that connection. It keeps us aligned with the source. It's our instruction manual for living life. And when things aren't going right and things just seem to be all squirrely, I've come to tell you, go back to the instruction manual and allow that connection to be made the way God intended it to be made to align yourself with the source and allow it to correct you and to strengthen you and to guide you and to cleanse you.

Psalms 119 and 111. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. If you never put it in, there's no way you can hide it. Obedience to what he's saying for your life, it will keep that flow moving. Disobedience always creates a separation. Not because God moves, but because you and I move. We make that disconnect. Isaiah 59:2, "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear." God's desire is always, hear me, always restoration. He calls us back. He invites us to repentance. Because repentance is not God pushing us away. Repentance is God restoring the connection that you and I disconnected.

Worship. Worship keeps our so our focus upon that source. Worship will remind us that it's not about me. It's not about my ability. It's not about my strength. It's not about anything within me. But it's all about him. It's all about him. Psalms 34:1, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. at all times. Means I'm connected at all times. At all times. Not just when life's good. Not just when all my prayers have been answered, but at all times. So the question is not do you have water? The question is where are you getting that water from? What is your source? Because everyone is drawing from somewhere from past victories or their own strength or from other people or but I've come to tell you there's still hope because there's still a fountain and you are being drawn to it if you are submitting yourself to God and his will and purpose for your life.

There's a source that contains living water. A source that will never fail, will never run dry. John 7 and37 says, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." And this invitation is still open. Come back to the source. Come back to the fountain. Come back to the place where the water never runs out. Because the truth is, if you are living your life as a sistern, you're merely surviving. And he never intended the church to just make it through to another day. But when we connect to that source, that source of almighty God is a source of abundance. It's a source that can overflow. And his blessings are not limited by human capacity.

John 10:10 says, "I am come that they might have life, that they might have it more abundantly." Amazing. I am. I am. He didn't say, "I came so that you could barely survive, but he came so that you and I could have abundant life." We must be careful to not fall into that sister mentality of focusing on the capacity instead of the connection. I had a good church on Sunday, so I should be good. I'll just live off of that that service or that moment. But I've come to tell you, God has so much more for you when you realize the importance of staying connected, staying full, and overflowing. Because we are called not only to receive power, but what else did it say?

To be witnesses. This isn't just to remain within oursel, but we should be witnesses to all those we come in contact with. Let me tell you about the source. You don't have to live off of your own abilities and your own strengths, but let me connect you to the one who can give you also in the supply. And you can be connected and have what you need in your life. And the answers that have remained to this point is just questions. God wants to do that in each heart, in each life. But we've got to remain connected. John 7 and38 says, "He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

Rivers of living water. He's not looking for just limited supplies and containers, but he's looking for rivers that are willing to flow where he can work through you and touch other lives. The Holy Ghost was never meant to terminate at your initial experience. It was meant to become a blessing flowing through your life that you can in turn be a witness and affect others lives around you. Shame on us if we try to hold and hide it within oursel. It's not the purpose and not the intent. But we're all called to exercise that power, touching those around us, witnessing, encouraging, strengthening, and impacting all that we meet. David understood this principle. Psalms 23. I love this passage.

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. supply was not in the pasture, but his supply was in the shepherd. The sheep didn't have to worry about finding everything. They simply knew to follow the shepherd. In verse five, he goes on to talk about my cup runth over. God's not merely a God of shortage, but he's a God of overflow. But we must remain connected to allow that overflow to flow from us. And as the musicians come, there's an overflow of abundance that God wants to pour out in this place today. And as you stand, I don't know all the stories in the room, but no doubt someone is frustrated where you're at in your current state, your current condition, your current situation.

But I've come to tell you, you're not in it alone. you can come and connect to the source who can touch you and give you a peace. He can give you the strength to bear what it is you're having to deal with. And there's others in this room who can allow that Holy Ghost to move and you can become that encouragement to that individual who says, "I just don't know where to go and what else to do. Because water that's continually received and never released will become stagnant. It's why some people that can sit in church year after year, hear preaching, receive blessings, and experience the presence of God, yet still remain unchanged. So I challenge you as this service wraps up.

Have you remained unchanged for too long? What is it God wants to pour into you, but because you have held on to too much and not releasing what he wants to take from you to replace with something far greater and better for your life? But because we feel this is enough, we're not willing to allow his abundance to any more flow into our life. The greatest source we have is the Holy Ghost. But we must allow that Holy Ghost to be more than an emotional experience and just a simple moment in a service. But we've got to embrace the fact that it is the power of almighty God that wants to move in us and through us and to work to those around us.

But we've got to be willing to allow that source to flow. >> And so these altars are open. If you've never experienced the gift of the Holy Ghost, I invite you to come because that Holy Ghost is here for you today. He would love to connect with you and to supply and to fill you beyond your own capacity. But if it's been a while and you say, "God, I'm just not feeling you like I used to." I challenge you. Make a fresh connection to Almighty God. Restore that connection to the source. Find a place and allow him to restore you today and to overflow you in his abundance. Today is the day.

Now is the time. Connect to God in this house right now, church. It's prayer time.