A Cake Not Turned

you start making your way back to your seats, but just as you do so, grab your Bibles, grab your devices, and we'll go right into the word of the Lord tonight. What a tremendous spirit that is here. A tremendous amount of preparation, prayer, fasting, planning that goes into putting on this event. and so many who have traveled all over uh to be here. I know you are probably already just a little bit tired, but I believe the Lord is going to uh do something here on this first night. So, as you're making your way back to your seats, allow me just to give honor to those who are worthy of honor. The Bible says to give honor to those who are worthy of honor. We give honor to our general superintendent of the assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ. We give honor to Bishop Carpenter and Sister Carpenter. Do we love the carpenters? We love Bishop and Sister Carpenter. These are heroes of the faith. We're thankful for their vision. We're thankful for their impact on the kingdom of God, especially in this part of the of the state, in this region. and we're so thankful for them and to Pastor Chad and Sister Fallon Ericson. Uh we love and appreciate the Ericson family and all that they do, all the administrating and singing and planning and to one of my closest friends in all the world who I am very very proud of. I just I admire and appreciate Pastor Zack Hammond and Sister Lauren Hammond. Do you love the Hammonds? I love and appreciate them. Amen. I lived I lived in their house when I was an when I was an evangelist. I lived with them for a few weeks and he was still in high school and he'd go to school. I'd go to the church and study. He'd pick me up. We'd go eat. We'd go hang out. We'd go do all kinds of things together. Spend time together. and to see where where God has taken him and what he's allowed the Lord to do through him. I uh am so proud. I'm so proud of of my friend Zach and I give him and Lauren and their family great honor. All the speakers this week, we are in uh we are going to have a great time with all the speakers and the morning sessions and uh brother Williams will be here this weekend. Man, we're we're looking forward to the ministry of the word and to my wife Ashley and to my little girl Easton who she will be a camper next year with. That makes me feel very old, Bishop. That makes me feel very old that my little girl gets to be a camper next year. And so I love them. And to uh our student pastor, Pastor Anthony Mcool and Sister Kelly Mcool and the students of First Apostolic Church, we give you honor. I love and appreciate all the students of FAC Knoxville. And I think I think one of my heroes is here in the room. He told me he would be here to Pastor John Voscus who I don't know where I would be had it not been for the influence of Pastor John Vosquez. And to know that he's here this week and he's been praying for me. I give him honor. Go with me to Hosea chapter number seven. Hosea chapter number 7. For weeks I have felt this in my spirit and can't shake it. And so I just told the Lord this morning in prayer, you're just going to have to give me some confidence to preach this tonight. First night of a camp is the hardest night because you're trying to set the atmosphere. You're trying to get a feel of the room. You're trying to get a feel of what the Lord wants to do. Everybody wants to preach the last night. Everybody put in the hard work of the first few nights and then the last night. The first night's difficult, but I feel I just I can't shake it that God wants to do something in your life. And I'm not going to preach long and someone said amen. But I am going to preach what the Lord has given me if you'll help me. All right. Hosea chapter number 7. We're going to read two verses. Verse 8 and verse 9. Ephraim. He hath mixed himself among the people. Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not. Yay, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth it not. Ephraim is a cake not turned. I want to preach the first night of Strong Tower Youth Camp to every student in this room. My thought is a cake not turned. A cake not turned. If you have your Bibles, you can put them down or your devices and put those down. Would you just lift up your hand? And I want to just take a moment. I want to rush through this, but I want you to pray right now that the Lord would speak to you and speak to your neighbor and minister to us from his word. Father, you know the heaviness that I have felt for weeks concerning this sermon, this message. And Lord, I pray that you would bring to my remembrance all things that you have taught me and spoken to me and showed me. Lord, it's not about me. It's about you and it's about these students and it's about your people, Lord. That you are reaching, God, that you want to take us to another level of consecration and devotion to you, Lord. That there are places in our life that we need to have exposed to your word and exposed to your spirit. Lord, I pray right now that the presence of your spirit would just move in every individual in this room. Lord, I pray right now that a spirit of conviction, a spirit, oh God, of hope would move upon every student right now. Father, we know that you're going to do something great this week. And I, Lord, I pray that you would begin it even now. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Would you say in the name of Jesus? Now, would you clap your hands to the Lord? Oh, come on. I wish you'd clap your hands real loud. I wish you would lift up your voice. I wish every student in this room would lift up your voice loud enough that your ears can hear your own voice and your neighbor can Come on. Can you lift up your voice and just say, "I love you, Lord." Come on. I worship you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Turn around, tell somebody, "I'm going to help Pastor Nate preach." And then you can be seated. And if they don't, you have permission to tell him. You said you'd help him preach. A cake. A cake not turned. Now, some of you might know me. I don't know if you know me or not. Some of you might know me from being around this area or maybe social media or something, but you might know this about me, but I really like to eat. Yeah, there we go. We got some foodies in the house. Everybody likes to eat, but I really I like it's just a it's special to me. Like I plan my days. I plan my trip. Uh when we travel, where are we going to eat? I like to eat. I like adventurous food. Now, every once in a while, I like, you know, I like to slum it and go to, you know, Long John Silvers, you know, I like Burger King. There's nothing like the original chicken sandwich, you know, but I really like good food. And then one thing that I got into a few years ago, it was really during uh the shutdowns of 2020, I thought, you know, I'm really I like eating. How about I try cooking a little bit? Maybe I can try my hand at at cooking. You know, just easy thing, quick recipes, throw something into the crock pot. And then you just kind of graduate into trying new things and being adventurous. And then uh I got a smoker. And so then I started getting some meats and try to smoke some meats. And uh it's just just a little side hobby that I've been trying to do to, you know, uh feed uh pun intended, my wild side and to feed this part of uh liking food. Well, a few few months ago, I started watching um people making homemade pizzas. You might like pizza in the house. This is this is this the youth camp, so everybody likes pizza. I really like pizza. That's all we eat pizza probably once a week, if not twice a week. We really like pizza. And so I watched all these pizza cooking videos and people making making pies and and all these things in the ovens that they get and I thought, "Okay, I'm going to do it." So, uh, my birthday came around back, uh, last month and I thought, you know, if I if I get some money for my birthday, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to get all the supplies to start learning how to make my own pizzas. And so, I one of the thing I knew I had to get as I had to get this thing called a pizza steel. A pizza steel. And it's this it's it's exactly what it is. It is a steel uh for pizzas. And you put this 16 or 12 by 12 piece of steel into your oven. And then you preheat your oven all the way it can go. You don't have to have a special oven. You can just use your home kitchen oven. You throw it all the way up to 550° and you let the pizza steel get hot for at least an hour. And so then you make your pie. You get everything together and and then you put the pizza on the pizza steel and it cooks at a high temp for just eight minutes or so, 10 minutes, depends on how well done. I like mine well done. And you you you know, you you make your own pie. Well, one of the things that you have to do is you just can't, you know, if you're like me, you know, Totino's pizza. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Pizza rolls, you know, a hot pocket. you know, you can throw it in there and just make you something on the go. Well, I thought I don't want to I I kind of want to graduate from Totinos and do my own pie. And so, I went to Trader Joe's and I went and bought a a a a pie, a pizza pie dough. It's pre-made dough. It's not cooked. You just take the dough and then you roll it out and then you try your hand at tossing the dough. Anybody ever tried that before? I do not recommend you doing that. Uh if your wife likes a clean clean kitchen, mine likes a really clean kitchen. I dirty it up and you put flour and you throw it up. It's It's not great. So I I did all the things and so I started to I it turned out, you know, it turned out pretty good. We ate the whole thing and but it just really kind of, you know, got my creative juices flowing. I had friends of mine texting me, calling me, "Here's what you got to do. You got to make your own dough." I I'm just a little scared of making my own pizza dough because baking is a science. You know, my mom's a baker. She's a chef. And baking is this like this next level. Like here I am at like crock-pot recipes and you know the associates degrees of of cooking. You know, you here's the graduate level and that's baking and my mom's like, "It's too humid today to bake and it's too cold today to bake and you got to have the right amount of this. It's it's exact measurements. It's all the things. And that kind of just freaks me out. I just want to throw some in the crock pot and cook it and get done. So, I'm not into like, you know, making my own dough yet. I'm just not there. I'm still kind of in this tot. Well, I was taking my walk. I like to walk in the mornings and when I walk, I pray and I listen to my Bible. I I was listening to Hosea chapter number seven. And this verse stopped me literally in my tracks. The writer says, "Ephraim is a cake not turned." I stopped the audio and I stopped walking and I highlighted in my Bible app and I took a little note in my notes app and then I walked on home and I got my Bible out. I got my notebook out and I began to write some things down and the Lord began to show me a few things from this text that I'm going to share with you tonight. Now, if you've ever read the prophet Hosea, early on, God's messenger came to the serious realization that being God's prophet has some occupational hazards. At the very beginning of his ministry, the Lord commanded him to marry a prostitute. And even though Hosea loved her, he was she was repeatedly unfaithful. Their broken marriage became a living object lesson for the entire nation of Israel. And just as Goomemer broke Hosea's heart, Israel had broken the heart of God through their idolatry and spiritual adultery. Therefore, Hosea's messages pulse with heartbreak and hope at the same time that God is calling his people often referred to as Ephraim. He's calling them to repent and to return and to give them uh to give him their complete undivided devotion. That God does not want a little bit of devotion. He doesn't want just half of their devotion. He wants their complete devotion. And we come to chapter number seven in these these prophetic messages that God tells through the prophet Hosea that Ephraim is a cake not turned. Now, to feel the force of this message and to get where we need to go, we need to step into an ancient Israelite kitchen for a moment. In Hosea's day, bread wasn't something you bought in a plastic bag like I did at Trader Joe's. Oh, no. They they would take all of the pieces and all of the parts and they would take all of the flour and the water or oil and salt and they would make and mix their own dough. So when we say cake here, he's not talking about a teiered cake like you might think at a birthday party, but it is a piece of bread, a flat piece of bread, and they would roll and knead this dough out. And then they would take that dough and they would put it on this this plate or this what I would like to use making my pizza, a pizza peel. And they would make this peel and they would put the dough on it. I got a picture here. You can kind of see it here. And they would put it on this really hot griddle and there'd be a fire underneath it. And the and the cook would take the dough and begin to cook it and to heat it up. Or if perhaps it was a uh some sort of brick oven that they would make and they would get it real hot and they would begin to turn it around and they would flip it over and make sure it was completely done and completely made well enough that it was edible. And so the fire would heat it up and they would flip it over and they'd heat up the other side and they can serve it to everybody else. And so this is what the Lord says of Israel. He calls them Ephraim. He says they are a cake not turned. Here's the picture. It's that they are on one side well done, charred up. They have touched the fire and they have been heated up to a point that it is it is it is black with ash. But yet on the other side it is raw and unedible. And so it's nothing more than something that could be thrown into the fire or thrown into the trash. And this is what the Lord is saying through the prophet is that my people are a cake not turned. What got them to this place? What led to this moment? What led to this message? Israel had mixed herself with foreign powers. They had suffered great loss because they relied on these outside heathen alliances rather than placing their faith and their trust in the Lord. But this was more than simply being political. This was a spiritual condition of God's people that they were halfbaked. They were cooked up on one side, but they were raw on the other side, meaning that they are good for nothing. They're half baked. >> One side had touched the fire, while the other side was undone and raw, half baked, like the dough on the cook's griddle. It was charred and burned on one side and raw and doughy on the other side. One side exposed to the fire while the other side is uncooked. They were half baked like the church in Leadyia and Revelation. They were lukewarm. They were a little bit cold and a little bit hot. Therefore, they were good for nothing. And God would spew them out. The Lord said, "I wish you were hot or I wish you were cold. Be one or the other." But instead, you're half cooked, you're halfbaked, you're not done, you're lukewarm, you're in between somewhere. Come on. God would rather you be hot or cold than to be halfworldly and half churchy. Come on, somebody. He'd rather you be hot on fire for him or completely cold rather than you be lukewarm and halfbaked, half worldly and half churchy, half on fire and then you're ice cold. Come on, somebody. God is calling us to a place that he wants to turn us. That he wants to turn us over. I wish somebody lift up their hands right now. I wish somebody lift I'm just getting started. I want you to know that God wants to turn us over tonight. God wants to turn somebody over. He's not looking for half devotion. He's not looking for half faithfulness. He's looking for somebody who's completely consecrated. Somebody who's completely devoted. I wish somebody clap their hands. I wish somebody would declare, "I want to be that, Lord. I want to be that." Oh yes. Someone say amen. >> I want to draw a few principles, a few lessons from this picture of a cake not turned. Look at what he says here. Ephraim hath mixed himself among the people. Don't overlook when you're reading the Bible, when you're studying the Bible, don't read too fast. Don't skip through it or gloss over it because there's sometimes there's a little play on words here. He says that they have mixed themselves. What do you have to do to have their proper dough? You got to have the right mixture. The ingredients of dough must be mixed properly. For Ephraim, they were mixed up with other nations and peoples. They were a cake not turned because they had been mixed with the wrong crowd. This is nothing but a another picture or an echo of the Passover. The Passover meal, the bread was to be without levan. The leavenan representing sin and the world and Israel's need to be separate from the nations around them. In the New Testament, Paul employs this same phrasing or ideal when he says, "A little leaven leavenvens the whole lump." In other words, if you just put a little bit of leaven in the mixture, it's going to infect the whole dough. I'm telling you right now, Ephraim was a cake not turned because they had little levan in the dough. They had mixed themselves with things that they should not have mixed themselves with. I want you to understand something on the first night of Strong Tower Youth Camp that you're a cake not turned. When you mix yourself with things that you need to be separate from, God says, "I've chose you. I've called you. You are to be called out of darkness and into his marvelous light." We are not to be mixed up with the things of this world. I know I've come to preach on the first night. I'm telling you right now, some of us have need to be separate from some things. There's some things we need to separate ourselves from. If we're going to be a cake that's completely turned, we need to see what we're allowing into our life. Oh yeah, you better watch the influences in your life. It does not take much for yeast to influence the dough. It takes a little lev. It takes a little bit of wrong influence. Who and what you allow in your life will influence you for good or for bad. Relationships, friendships, entertainment, habits, and vices can be your undoing. >> Too many have cooked their spiritual life because they've allowed some agent to come in and be mixed into their spirit. Something has cooked your spiritual life because something is influencing you or distracting you and leading you away from complete devotion to Jesus. Anything, listen to me now, anything or anyone who pulls you away from a consistent prayer life, a steady diet of God's word and influence into your local church, you are a cake unturned. I've come to tell somebody, you need to take inventory of what you're allowing into your life, into your heart, into your mind. What are you watching? What are you listening to? Who you hanging out with? Where are you going? I'm telling you, I don't want to be a cake unturned. I don't want to be mixed up with some things in my life that's going to make me un this is youth camp. I'm telling you, we're going to have to make sure we're checking the ingredients. We got to check the ingredients of what we're putting into our spirit. >> Someone say amen. >> A little leaven leavenvens the whole lump. He says this there are cake unturned. What does the chef What does the cook have to do? If the cook didn't turn the dough over, if it was spent too much time on one side exposed to the fire and the other side was not exposed to the fire, they're uneven and out of balance. There's something in their life that they have not exposed to the fire of the Lord. This pictures too many people's consecration. They will expose some part of their lives to the spirit while neglecting the other part. They will allow the spirit and the word to heat up and expose and burn out its deficiencies while neglecting the other parts of their life. And that's called partial obedience, partial sanctification. It's partial surrender. It's partial devotion. They can worship and praise on Sunday and live like the rest of the world the rest of the week. They will consecrate Wednesday or Sunday morning, but Monday through Saturday, I'm going to be like the rest of my friends that I go to school with. I'm telling you, you're a cake not turned. You've exposed some part of your life to the fire, but there's something else you need to expose to him. There's somewhere he's not king in your life. There's somewhere where he's not ruling and reigning in your life. And this is the time. This is the week. This is the time for you to say, "Lord, it's time for you to turn me. It's time for you to turn me." Come on, somebody. We just can't expose oursel to him on Sundays. We're going to have to expose oursel to him every time we get a chance to come in contact with his word and with his spirit. You need to turn up the heat in your prayer room. You need to turn up the heat in your private worship. You need to turn up the heat in your private devotion. Not just on Sundays, not just at Strong Tower. Come on. I don't want to be a cake not turned. Turn me, Lord. Turn me, Lord. There's some things you're going to have to expose to the fire of the spirit. There's some anger you need to let go of this week. There's some relationship, Lord. I keep getting relationships wrong. You know why? You've not exposed that part of your life to the fire. You're still king there. You're still self-sufficient there. >> I just got this temper problem when I ever I I get on the basketball court. You know what you need to do? Get off the basketball court. But you don't understand. I just got a competitive spirit. What you've got is the wrong spirit. Because if you can lay down the Holy Ghost when you are competing against other Holy Ghost fil people, you need to make sure you got the real thing. You need to exp Oh, you ain't going to help me preach. I've come to tell somebody, I don't want to be a cake unturned. You need to let that Come on. Let your desires be exposed to the fire of his spirit. Let that anger, let that temper, let that lust, let that jealousy, let that gossiping spirit be exposed. I don't want to be a cake. I don't want to be uneven. I want to be a turn to me. Lord, you ever go to these I I know. Now listen, you go to Walmart or Engles around here or grocery store, you see the rotisserie chicken, they got it in a fire and it's roasted, but they don't put that chicken just on one side. They rotate that thing. Or if you're a real high society fancy pants like me and you go to Waggles and you see the hot dogs. Come on, somebody. I feel it right now. That that that dog is not just getting the heat on one side. I don't want a halfcooked hot dog. If that thing is rolling, you know what some of us need to do this week? We need to turn before the Lord and say, "Lord, here's some area. Here's some dark area in my life that needs to be exposed to your spirit. Here's some Here's some part of my life that needs consecrated. Here's some part of my Come on, somebody. He doesn't want just a little part of you. He wants the whole man. He wants your mind, your heart, your spirit. He didn't come just to redeem your heart. He came to redeem the whole man. And we need to turn before him. I wish somebody lift up their hand and say, "Lord, turn me this week. Jesus didn't give one hand and one foot. He gave both hands and both feet. He gave that head the crown. God doesn't just want one part of you. He wants the entire man to love the Lord your God with your mind, your heart, your strength, your soul. Turn me. I don't want to be halfbaked. I don't want to be a cake not turned. Someone say amen. >> Amen. This next part, strangers, strangers have devoured his strength and he knoweth it not. Again, don't overlook words here. It's a play on words here. Look at the word devoured. Hosea says, "Strangers have devoured." The word devour here in the Hebrew means to eat. It's used over 800 times in the Old Testament. In every con everyday context, it simply means to consume food. But in prophetic literature, in Hosea especially, it carries this very strong picture or metaphor to consume, devour, destroy, or exhaust something completely. Think of locusts devouring crops or fire, devouring wood or invading armies, eating up a land's resources. It implies complete and total depletion. Not just a nibbling away, but something being swallowed up and used until little or nothing remains. That's Ephraim's strength. Strangers have come into his life. They're strange because they were not to mix themselves with them, but they had cozied themselves up thinking that these things were going to make them better, provide some sort of safety, some sort of fulfillment. We've talked about being mixed up with some things, but it's time to start recognizing that there might be some people in your life who are devouring your strength. Who's consuming your strength? Whose drama is consuming your strength? It might be your drama. It might be you. Don't be pointing at everybody else. It might just be you. Pastor Bosquez has preached and taught about this that some of us are addicted to drama. >> And if we could ever get freed up and delivered from our drama and our addiction, some of us will create drama. If we don't have enough drama happening in our life, we'll create drama. But I'm telling you, you need to make sure you're not allowing strangers to consume your strength, to consume your energy, to consume your mind. It cannot just be people. It could be things. It could be constantly doom scrolling with all that brain rot. Watching all kinds of nonsense on YouTube and Tik Tok. I don't I'm not preaching against that. But is it draining your energy where you have nothing left over? God does not want our leftovers. He wants our first fruits. We shouldn't give God just a little bit on Sunday and give the world everything else the rest of the week who's consuming us strength. It's strange things. It's strange things in your life. But she's just so pretty, Brother Nate. He's just so handsome. Are they in Are they making your prayer life better? Are they making you sit further and further away from the area where people worship? >> I can't make it without them. You will. >> They did not die on a cross for you. Therefore, they cannot give you in him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily. And Paul says, "And ye are complete in him." If you want fulfillment, you need to get Jesus in you. And you need to get in Jesus. You're not going to find completion or fulfillment in somebody else. How come the preacher somebody don't let strange things devour your strength? Don't let strangers devour your strength. But brother Nate, they go to church. What church? You see, I'm going to go to their church on Sunday morning. And then >> what are they preaching in their pull pit? It's all the same thing. You've already let them devour your strength. >> Well, they think I'm going to move on. They believe in baptism in Jesus name. All right. What do they think about the Holy Ghost and speaking with other tongues? >> They're they're close to us. I'm going to try to be a witness to them. Oh, no you're not. You're letting them devour your strength. You need to Come on, somebody. You better get this thing down in your heart and down your mind where nobody's going to drag you from it. No matter how cute they are, no matter how much money they've got. Come on, somebody. Don't let strangers devour your Someone say yes. >> Look at here's the frightening part. And he knoweth it not. Like Samson shaking himself like he had always done and didn't know the spirit had left him. Ephraim strength was devoured and they didn't even know it. You know what strength is? Strength is purpose. Look at the next part. Verse nine. Yeah. Gray hairs are here and there upon him and he knoweth it not. Strength is the byproduct of youth. The writer of Proverbs said this in Proverbs 20 and 29. The glory of young men is their strength. And the beauty of old men is the gray head. Israel's purpose, Israel's purpose was to be a light in the world. They were to be a light to the Gentiles. And instead, strangers had infiltrated and they had mixed themselves with the world around them. And now the light was out in Israel. And they looked and acted and sounded just like everybody else around them. Therefore, their purpose was gone. I'm telling you, when you waste your life, when you waste your youth, you are wasting God's given purpose. Come on, don't wait until you have a 401k and you're retired. You're not You're not promised tomorrow. You're not promised a deathbed salvation. You need to do it right now. If he's calling you to do something, don't wait until you till you're married and you got kids and you got a degree. If he's calling you to do it, you do it while you've got some strength. Do it while you got some strength. Come on, musicians, get ready. I was driving. I was driving. I was probably 20 years old in my hometown and I was driving like in the in the highway and in the highway there was a stoplight. I stopped and in the next lane over to me was somebody I had graduated with. Went to school with them from middle school all the way through high school. I'm like 20, 21 years old. I see him. He rolls down his window. I said, "Hey, Chris." He said, "Hey, Nate, man. What's going on, man?" I said, "Man, I'm just I don't know what I'm going to." He goes, "Can I ask you a question, man?" I said, "Sure." He goes, "What are you going to be when you grow up, man?" What? Like, bro, I'm 20, 21 years old. I really didn't know what I was going to be, but I was like, "We should have talked about this in seventh grade." Hey man, what are you going to be when you go? I'm like, well, first of all, I am 5'8. I'm have no more growing to go. At least not this way. Some of us start thinking about what we're going to do. Too late. We let time >> I'll do it when I'm out of college and I'll do it when I've got a spouse and I'll do it when I've got kids and I'll do it when I've got this and I've got that together and I've I'm telling you time moves at a frantic pace and before long you're going to have gray hair and you're going to it's time is going to pass you by and you've let strangers and you let other things steal your strength and you're going to look back and say, "I wish I would have been a missionary like God told me to be. I I wish I would have taught Bible studies and I I wish I would have started a P7 and I wish I would have started a CMI." But don't let things steal. Stand to your feet. Don't let strangers devour your purpose. Don't let foreign agents leaven devour God's vision for your life. Don't waste your life. And you become when you become halfbaked, a cake not turned, you waste your life. This is Ephraim. This is Israel. They had become a cake not turned. What's the remedy? What's the how do how do how do you get out of this situation? Look with me at Hosea chapter number 14 verse number one. Oh Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Look at verse two. I want to preach this one of these days, if not just right now. Here's here's what God wants. Verse two, take with you words. What? What? What do I What do I need to bring him? Keep reading. Take with you words and look at this. Turn. Turn. Turn to the Lord and say, he even tells them what to say. Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously. So we will render the calves of our lips. What's he saying? In the Old Testament, they would bring a bull or a lamb or a ram and offer a sacrifice. And God says, "That's not what I want. I want you to take with you words. Words. Where do words come from? Your heart, your mind, your emotions. God doesn't want a sacrifice. Why? He's already provided the sacrifice. Jesus was the sacrifice for our sins. So, I don't have to bring a sacrifice. Not that I could bring a sacrifice, but here's what is amazing to me is that in the Old Testament, when they brought a sacrifice, the priests would inspect the offering, but they did not inspect the offerer. Does the offering have any blemish? No. We'll take this. What about me? This is taking your place. I know you're not perfect. You see, Jesus was the sacrifice that was perfect. He was the offering and the offerer. So that which was perfect offered up the perfect sacrifice. So we who were imperfect could just bring words. God doesn't want a sacrifice. He wants you. I'm not perfect. That's all right. He's perfect. They're going to come out here and start singing in a second, but I want you to lift up your hands. Somebody in this room needs to expose some part of your life to the fire. Some place where you're still self-sufficient or you think you're self-sufficient, where you think that you're still in control and you're really not. There's some place in your life that's not exposed to his word. No, it's not exposed to the light. You're still in the dark somewhere. You're trying to hide it. You're trying to keep it concealed. But I want you to understand that he sees everything. And he wants to see that. And he wants to do something with that part. Yes, that part in your life. Here's what he wants. He wants you to bring words with you. What's that? What words does he need? Lord, forgive me of my sin. I want you I wonder if some young person will come out of their seat and out of their out of their area and come to an altar tonight. I know we don't have a whole lot of room down here, but wherever you can get in and say, "Tonight on the first night, I'm not going to be a cake, not turn. I'm going to turn. I'm going to turn. I'm going to turn. I'm going to turn. There's going to be some things in my life. There's there's some lust in my life. And there's some anger issue in my life. And there's some jealousy in my life. And there's some there's some envy in my life that I need to expose to him. And there's something I don't want to be halfbaked. And I don't want to be a cake not turned. There's something I need to give to him on the first night. Lord, we're going to get some things right. But here's what he wants you to bring. He wants you to bring yourself. He wants you to bring words with you. And the word says this, that he will turn to you. When you turn to him, he will turn to you. And when you begin to turn to him, he begins to show you love and grace freely. He begins to show you mercy freely. Come on. I want you to lift up your heart. Come on. I want you to pray and I want you to bring the fruit of your lips. I want you to bring the calves of your lips, the fruit of your heart of repentance. On the first night, I don't Come on. We don't need to look around. Don't worry about who's here and who's not here. They'll be here all week. Right now, you need to turn to the Lord. There's some unconsecrated part of your life. There's some undevoted place in your life that the Lord wants to heal, that the Lord wants to wants to remove, that he wants to expose. He wants to expose. Come on. Come on. I want you to lift up your heart. Come on. Lift up your voice. That's what he's looking for. Come on, Lord. Come on. Lord, here it is. Here it is. Here's this unconsecrated, undevoted part of my life. Come on. Here's this uncommitted place in my life. Lord, I want I want to give you my mind. I want to give you my thoughts. I want to give you my heart. It's not just not just part-time, but I want to give you everything. I don't want to be halfworldly and half churchy. I don't want to be lukewarm. I don't want to be a cake and not turn. Come on, lift up your voice. Come on, every place all over this room. Everyone in this place, come on, lift up your heart in prayer. Lord, I'm bringing to you words. Come on. All over this place. This is beautiful. This is beautiful. On the first night of Strong Tower Youth Camp, we're going to get committed. We're going to get recommitted. Come on. We're going to get committed tonight. Come on. Lift up your voice. Come on. Don't wait for them to sing. Come on. Right now. Turn. Turn. Turn. And he will turn to you. Come on. He's faithful and just to forgive you of all your sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's what he wants to do. That's what he wants to do. I don't want to be a cake not turned. I'm turning my heart. I'm turning my spirit. I'm turning my emotions. I'm turning my mind. I'm turning everything over to him. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. If you will turn to him. Come on. If you want to pray with somebody, you can do it. Pray with somebody. But don't don't don't neglect your own prayer life. Don't deut your own heart right now. Come on. I don't want to be a cake not turned. Yes. I want to be I want to be devoted. I want to be devoted. I want to be committed. I don't want to be partially obedient. I don't want to be partially obedient. That's still disobedience. He wants the fruit of your lips. He wants the sacrifice of your heart. >> Lord, forgive me. >> Lord, forgive me. >> Lord, forgive me. >> Come on. Forgive me of my sin. >> Forgive me, oh God, of my iniquity. >> Come on, that's it. I I want to have holiness in my life. >> I want to have sanctification in my life. >> Holiness is what you want from me. >> Yes. Would you lift up your hands? Come on. All over this sanctuary. Come on. >> Oh yes. Holiness. >> Holiness. Holiness is what I long for. >> Come on. Lift up your voice. Come on. Right where you are. Every every young person on this first night. We're just going to take our time. >> We're going to take our time. >> Come on. The Lord has come to do a deep work in somebody's spirit. >> The Lord has come to do a deep work in somebody's heart. in the dark places. Just say, "Lord, here it is. >> Here it is. >> Oh, take my life. Come on. Take my turn. Turn. Turn." That's repentance. >> That's repentance. Oh Lord. So take my heart. >> Take my heart. >> Take my heart >> from the front or the back. Wherever you are. >> Come on. Maybe it's that entertainment you got to get rid of. Come on. It's dedication to you. But you're putting too much time and effort into other things other than into your relationship with Jesus. >> Come on. world. Lay that thing down on the altar tonight. >> We're going to expose that thing to the fire of his spirit. >> Take my life. >> Transform it. >> Transform it. >> Take my will. >> Take my will >> to yours. >> To yours. >> To yours. >> >> Come on, somebody. >> All over this place. >> Lift up your heart. >> Come on. From the front to the back. >> I want you to lift up your hands. Come on. If you can't get down here, make that where you are at altar. Come on. We're going to turn tonight. >> We're going to turn tonight. We're going to repent tonight. >> I'm going to repent of my pride and my ego. It's what you are. So take my heart. >> Take my heart. >> Take my heart. >> Take my heart. >> Take my heart. >> Take my >> Come on. Come >> to your >> to yours. to yours. Oh Lord, take my heart. Take my heart and take my life, transform it. Take my will take my will to yours to yours. Oh, >> here's what I want to do. Just listen to they're going they're going to sing in a second. I want you to lift up your hands from the front to the back. From the front to the back. Come on right now. I feel the Holy Ghost. We're not going to go fast. I want you to close your eyes right where you are. And I want you to find that thing, that place, that strange thing, that leaven that's in your heart, that's in your spirit. There's something there. You know it is. I want you to say, "Lord, this is it." And I want to put it on an altar tonight. Can you do that? Just right where you are. You don't have to say it real loud, but you know where it is. I want you to pray right now. Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord, you see this relationship. You see this anger issue. You see this jealousy? Whatever it is, Lord, here it is. This unexposed part of my life. Maybe it's this unconsecrated, this part where I have not submitted to your will. There's something in my life, some part of sanctification that you're really wanting to get a hold of me and and I'm not letting it go. And God, this week, I'm going to try. I want to put it on an altar. Come on. I want you to pray from the front to the back. Whatever it is, might be it might be social media, might be an app, it might be something you're watching or listening. This is old school, I know. But I want you to know that God wants you to turn towards him. And when you turn towards him, he will turn towards you. But I want you to lift up your voice right now and pray. Come on. Before we sing again, I want you to put that thing on an altar and say, "Lord, I'm putting that thing on an altar, I'm going to crucify that thing this week. Lord, by your grace, by your spirit, by your mercy, I'm putting that thing, that entertainment, that sport, that habit, that addiction, that relationship, that girl, that boy, whatever it is, God, I'm going to expose it to your fire. I'm going to expose it to your will. Come on. If you'll turn to him, he'll turn to you. If you'll turn to him. Come on, lift up your hands. Lift up your heart. Come on. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Take my mind. Take my mind. Take my mind. Take my heart. Take my will. Come on. Take my emotions. Oh God. Take this drama. Oh God. Take this addiction. Oh God. Take this thing. Take this habit. Oh God. Take this desire. Oh God. Expose it to your will. Expose it to your fire. Take my mind. Come on. Come on. Take my heart. Come on. Take my will. Come on. Lay your hand on somebody. Pray with somebody. Say, "We're in this together." Come on. We're in this together. >> Take my heart. >> Oh yes. >> Oh yes. >> My glory. Yes. Take my Hallelujah. >> To your >> to yours to yours, Lord. >> Come on. Yes. On this first night, on this first night, I'm going to rededicate my life. I'm going to reconsecrate my life. Take my sh take my heart. Take my heart. Take my to you lift up your hands one more time. They're going to sing. This be your prayer. >> Holiness. Holiness is what I >> Come on, sing that. Holiness. >> Come on. Holy is to be separate. Come on. Holiness. >> Come on. Let that be your prayer. Come on. Lift up your hands from the front to the back. Let that be your prayer. Sing it again. >> Say, "Holiness, holiness, >> holiness. >> It's what I long for. >> Holiness >> is what I need. Oh, holiness. >> Let this be your prayer next. Say, righteousness. Oh, >> rightousness. >> Rightousness. >> Oh, rightous is what I need. Let that be a prayer. Oh, rightous. Rightousness is what you want from me. >> One more time. Say rightousness. >> Rightousness. Rightousness is what I long. >> Do you long for it all? >> Rightousness is what I need. Oh righteousness, righteousness is what you want from me. One more time. Oh, take my life. >> Take my life. >> Take my life and be transformed. Take my will >> to your to your >> to your heart. Take my heart. My name to your to your heart. Take my heart and take my heart. Sing my take my glory to your to you. Let all the other names fade away. Jesus, let all the other names fade away until there's only you. Let all the other names fade away. Jesus, take your place. Jesus, take your place. Let all Let all the other names fade away. >> >> Let all the other names fade away. >> Till there's only there's only you. Let all the other names fade away. >> Oh Jesus. Jesus hang your name. Jesus take your name. >> Let all the other names. >> Let all the other names fade away. Let all the other >> Let all the other names fade away. >> Till there's only >> Till there's only >> Let all the other names fade away. Straight away >> Jesus take your >> Jesus take your >> Jesus take your all the other names f all the other names fade away. Did all the other names fade? >> Did all the other names fade away. >> Still there's only all the other names fade away. >> Jesus take your >> Jesus take your >> Jesus take your >> Jesus take your >> Jesus take your >> Jesus take your take your place in my heart. >> Jesus take your take your place in my life. Jesus. >> You got all authority. >> You got all authority. God, >> turn what you need to turn. >> Jesus take what you need to take. >> Jesus. >> Fix what you need to fix. Jesus take your >> Jesus. Jesus take your place. >> Jesus take your Jesus take your place. Jesus take your >> Jesus take your >> Jesus take your name >> and all the other names fade away. >> All the other names fade away. >> I don't want anything but you Jesus. >> And all the other names fade away. >> There's only all the other names fade away. Jesus take your >> Jesus take yours. >> Jesus take yours. >> Jesus take your >> Somebody make that declaration in this room with your hands and voices lifted. Let all let all the other names fade away. >> Come on. Every sickness and disease is just a name when brought before the name of Jesus. >> Jill only. >> All we want is your Jesus. All the other things. >> Jesus take. >> Jesus take your >> Jesus take yours. >> Jesus. >> Somebody lift that joy in this house. Jesus take >> Jesus take your >> Jesus take your place. >> Jesus take your >> take dominion over my heart. >> Jesus. >> Take dominion over my mind. >> Jesus. >> Over my hands, over my feet. Jesus take your >> Oh my God. >> Jesus take your >> Jesus take your place. >> Jesus take your take it all. to Jesus. Say, "I'm going to worship you forever. I'm going to worship you." Say, "I'm going to worship you forever. I'm going to worship." Could we make that declaration tonight? I'm going to worship you forever. I'm going to worship. >> Oh, nothing's going to steal my praise. >> I'm going to worship you forever. I'm going to worship you. >> I'm going to worship you. >> I'm going to worship you forever. I'm going to worship you. >> I'm going to worship. >> I'm going to worship you forever. I'm going to worship. >> And I'm going to worship. I'm going to worship you forever. I'm going to worship >> with my hands raised with my voice lifted. I'm going to worship you forever. I'm going to worship you >> even when my situation isn't the way I want it to be, God. I'm still going to worship you. Come on, one more. Could we lift our voices? Lift our hands all over this room. Come on. It's easy to just clap your hands. Somebody lift up your hands. Lift up your voice all over this house. God's turning some things right now. Come on. God's turning situations right now. You don't have to wait till Thursday night. You don't have to wait till tomorrow morning. Come on. God can turn your situation around right now. God, do it, Jesus. Do it, God. Do it, God. Do it, God. Do it, God.