Celebrate

Lord we praise you. We worship you as the holy king. As our holy God, as the one who reigns forever. Jesus, we lift you up. We glorify you, God. We magnify you, Lord.

We point to you with our praise and our worship. Not to any other thing, not to any other power, God, but to you. You, Lord, reign. You, Lord, sit enthroned in the heavens. You, Lord, have the authority and the power and the dominion. You have all might and all power in our lives and in the world, God.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord, that we know you. Thank you Lord that you love us and we can love you Jesus. We glorify you together God. We praise you together Jesus in your name God. In your name God.

I'm thankful that we are not in relationship with a weak God. I'm thankful that we serve a Lord who can not only win a few battles here and there, but who reigns forever and ever. Scripture calls him the King of Kings. Scripture calls him the Lord of Lords. Scripture calls him the almighty one. He has every authority and every ability.

Which means no matter what we have walked in with today, no matter what authorities have become a part of our life that have sought ill towards us, no matter what powers have sought our destruction, we can appeal to and we can cry out to the one who has all authority and who has all power and who can stand against those things and conquer them and crush them under his feet. And the good news is it's free. He offers that relationship and he offers that power into our lives if we will only accept it. It is there for us today. That is the kind of God we serve. That is the God who loves us.

The almighty one. We lift him up today. And as we lift him up, do you know what becomes smaller? Everything else we've been worrying about. As we exalt him and we magnify him and we realize just how grand and just how large and just how magnificent he is and how powerful he is. All of a sudden those things that seem to cover our face and they're right in front of us and it's to all we could see in our life all of a sudden those things seem so small because the truth is in comparison to him they are small.

The Lord can handle it. Somebody hear me today. Even that thing you're thinking about right now, the Lord can handle it. He's not afraid of it. It doesn't scare him. It doesn't push him away.

It doesn't make him get reserved. No, he can handle it today. That's the God that we serve. And I am thankful. Can we just lift another voice of praise and thanksgiving? That that is the God that is in this room.

That that is the God that we were in relationship with. I am so thankful, Jesus. Thank you. Thank you, Lord, that you have all power, but thank you, Lord, that you also have all love for us and you have shared that power and shared that authority with our lives, God. We could not do this on our own. We could not live this life and fight the battles that we have fought without you, God.

But in all of your love and all of your grace and all of your power, you have poured out that authority into our lives through your spirit, God. And we thank you for that. Now, Lord, we live in it today. we were going to move forward in this service with it today. God, we thank you, Lord. Somebody say, "In the name of Jesus, because that's where that authority is." Say it again. Say, "In the name of Jesus." Name of Jesus.

Amen. Amen. Amen. I'll let y'all be seated here at the outset. I'm going to reference a lot of scripture here today, but at the outset, I I just want to set us up a bit. The Sunday leading into youth week has traditionally been a Sunday where the youth pastor comes and and ushers the church alongside the youth and and sets up youth week and shares that vision and casts that vision and and cast that hope of what we want the Lord to do through the week.

And and I do intend to remain faithful to that uh in our pre in my presentation this morning. But I also believe that I am not up here to just give it an announcement. I'm not up here just to tell you, hey, youth week's coming. Let's be excited together. That's that's not what I'm after today. I think that would be a waste of a service.

What I am up here to do today is to hopefully create an atmosphere where we can encounter the victory and strength of God and we can encounter his presence and we can meet with him and he can do the miraculous and do things that only he can do. That is my desire today. And I believe in times of prayer that the Lord has told me that's what he wants to do too. He wants to meet with us and he already has, but he wants to continue. He wants to continue to meet with us. So our theme this year for our our youth week is in line with the Missouri district's theme celebrate.

We want to celebrate. Now the things that we're celebrating here at APC is really it's one thing. We're celebrating that God has all authority and victory to transform and change lives and situations. And there's no such thing as a lost cause. There's no such thing as hopelessness. When Jesus is involved.

And because that's the case, we can celebrate today. We can rejoice today because when God steps into the room, everything changes. All the authority that is in him steps into the room, nothing can stay the same. No enemy, no sin, no problem can stand against him. And because that's the case, we get to celebrate. We don't have to hang our heads.

We don't have to be upset. We don't have to wonder how in the world this is all going to work out. It's going to work out because Jesus is going to work it out. It's going to work out because the power of God is going to meet us. And it's going to work it out. He's going to work it out.

And so what's left for us to do is what Paul tells the Philippian church, rejoice in the Lord always. And I'll say it again, rejoice. The Lord is here. The Lord is with us. I I think I think a church filled with the spirit ought to be a little bit more excited about that reality. The Lord is here.

And because that's the reality, we rejoice in the Lord, not when we're just feeling good. Not just when things are going our way. We rejoice in the Lord always because he is with us and he is for us and he is walking here. We rejoice. We celebrate. We celebrate.

We've been using the story of the Exodus as our key text, our key biblical narrative to get some footings. And so here at the start, I I just want to recount some of that story. Many of us know it. But I just want to get us all in the same place. We We know at least when we get to Exodus 14, Israel has been rescued by God miraculously. He has made war against Pharaoh, the one who had held God's people captive in the Egyptian.

The Lord makes war against them. And he uses 10 plagues and the supernatural leadership of Moses and all sorts of supernatural things to free Israel. And eventually Pharaoh does let the people of Israel go. And they start to go into the wilderness to worship the Lord. And the Lord leads them through the wilderness and he says, "I need you to go and camp between a place called Mgdal in the Red Sea. I need you to go and set up camp there." And so they follow the leading and the presence of the Lord and they do exactly that.

The command was given. They pitch their tents and they rest, but not for long because back in the halls of Pharaoh, he realizes what he has just done. He has just let go his entire slave force that built the Egypt that is around him. He he's let that go and he has regrets. And so he sends all of the Egyptian army, all of the chariots and horsemen and officers and soldiers after them to reclaim or recapture them. Israel sees this coming.

Can you imagine 600, it says 600 of the finest chariots and then the rest of the chariots that Egypt had. So there was more than 600. Can you imagine an army of 600 chariots of horsemen and of officers and soldiers chasing after you in the desert? And you're not a trained warrior people. You don't even really have weapons. You don't have anything that would set you up for success.

And here comes this army and you've got a Red Sea in front of you. You cannot pass it. It's impassible. And you've got a a vindictive army coming after you seeking your destruction and your enslavement. Can you imagine being in that moment? I I understand why the scriptures tell us that Israel was gripped with fear.

I understand why that was the reality. And I even partly understand that when they cried out to the Lord, their their anger and their fear and their frustration actually turned on Moses, the one who had led them out of out of their enslavement. They say, "Moses, is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us out here? Couldn't we have just died there? It would have been better if we would have been slaves there and served them than it would have been to come out here in freedom and die." That's the most anti-American thing I've ever heard in my life. Give me liberty or give me Yeah.

That's not the attitude they had. They're like, "We choose slavery. We don't We don't want to be out here free because we're about to die. We choose slavery." The Lord speaks. Actually, Moses speaks first. He says, "Y'all listen." He raises his voice in faith over the roar of the chariots.

He says, "Stand still. Calm yourselves because you're going to see the salvation of the Lord." The Egyptians, you see, that army you see that's seeking your destruction. There's going to be a moment here in just a bit where you're not going to see him any longer. And the Lord is going to fight for you and defend you and win a victory that you could not win on your own. Then he speaks to Moses. She says, "Moses, I want you to do something crazy.

I want you to reach out your staff, your hand over this red sea in front of this impassible body of water. I want you to stretch your hand over it. And when you do, I'm going to part the Red Sea." Just being honest. I'm like, I don't want anybody to see it at first just in case it doesn't work. Like, go ahead, Lord. You know what scripture says?

It says, Moses says, "Okay, Lord, and And in response to his obedience, it says that the waters of the Red Sea begin to wall up on the left and they begin to wall up on the right. And in the middle, you'll see it in the picture in our theme slide up there. In the middle appears a pathway and the scripture calls it dry ground. It was such a miraculous happening that the ground that was just covered with Red Sea is now dry for the Israelites to walk through. And so they begin to walk through. They begin to go to the other side of the Red Sea and find salvation and freedom.

And Pharaoh sees it. He's like, "Man, they're going to escape. They're going to get away." Okay. And so he commands his armies, "Hey, get in there after him. Follow after him through that highway through the sea, and we're going to reclaim our slaves." And the Lord speaks to Moses once more. He says, "Moses, when you get to the other side, I need you to stretch out your hand again.

And when you do, the reverse is going to happen of what just happened a moment ago. The seed is going to come crashing down again on the Egyptian, and I will gain glory over Pharaoh and his armies." And so Moses obeys. Moses stretches out his hand again and the waters come crashing down and every last one of Israel's enemies were destroyed that day at the command of God. That was the day in Israel's history where the Lord won a decisive battle for Israel that they could not win for themselves. That was the day when the waters themselves moved and walled up on the left and right at the command of God so that he could save his people. It was the great victory of Israel's history.

It's the victory that Israel would refer to over and over again through their history. They sing psalms about it. The prophets refer back to it. The New Testament talks about it. Hey, do you remember the time that God rescued us from an insurmountable force when we didn't have weapons and we didn't have the resources and we didn't have what we needed? All we had was a trust in the spirit of God and he showed up and delivered us.

Do you remember when that happened? Do you remember when God worked on our behalf? Do you remember when the Lord showed up? They begin to sing. They begin to praise all through their history. What's really cool about this specific moment though, the mist falls out of the air.

The sea falls back to calm. They see the their enemies on the shore, they're gone. They're not to be dealt with. And I I can imagine after a sea walls up and collapses like that again, there's a moment of silence, maybe of shock. But do you know what happens next? The very next thing after this victory, do you know what Israel did?

Say it, Bishop. They sung. They broke into a praise break. Lenny said, "Stop." Okay, Lenny. Keep me kosher. Keep me cozy.

They broke into what is the first worship song in the entire Bible in Exodus 15. And they begin to celebrate the Lord's deliverance over their enemies, delivering them from the Egyptians. The first verse of the song goes something like this. Horse and driver, Lord, you have cast, you have hurled into the sea. You have defeated the enemy that sought my destruction. You parted the Red Sea that I could not pass on my own.

And you defeated that murderous force that sought my destruction. You did away with it, Lord. Because that's the case. Because you did that for me and I couldn't do it for myself. I'm going to celebrate. I'm going to sing.

I'm going to rejoice. I'm going to break into a praise because I didn't do it. You did it. We didn't do it. He did it. Israel didn't do it.

God did it. And we praise and we celebrate and we rejoice in him. Yeah. They begin to sing all the more. They begin to sing about that. But then they sing about the promised leading of the Lord.

Hey Lord, you're going to continue to lead us. You're going to direct us. You're going to guide us. They keep singing and celebrating. Miriam gets a tambourine and gets involved. It's amazing.

It's a Pentecostal service. They begin to sing and they get so caught up in their faith that they actually end the song this way. They say, "The Lord reigns how long? The Lord reigns forever and ever." God had so decisively defeated the enemies before Israel that day. God had so decisively defeated the most powerful nation that the world had ever seen that day that they became convinced if Egypt and Pharaoh cannot stand up to God, who can? If Egypt and Pharaoh with all his horsemen and all his chariots and all his resources, if they cannot bring down our God, if they cannot bring down our savior, who can?

And if that's the case, then it must be that he's king of kings and he's lord of lords. It must be the case that the Lord will indeed reign forever and ever. And I love I love the spirit of worship that gets a hold of Israel because it's the same spirit of worship that gets a hold of us. We have seen too much, y'all, to think that God's going to lose this thing. We have seen too much of God's goodness to think that there's going to be a problem that comes along in this church or in your life that can topple him. And so we say with the same spirit of faith, horse and driver, you have hurled into the sea.

Yes and amen. But also, Lord, you are going to reign forever and ever. You're not going to lose. You're not going to be defeated. And because that's the case, as we remain obedient to you, we're not going to be defeated. Yes, the Lord reigns.

I love this story. I love this story. It's the foundational story of Israel. It's the foundational story even when Jesus begins to tell of his own death and the consequences and the results of it. He echoes back to the Passover which is Exodus 12. He he echoes back to the story because it sets such a foundation to talk about how God wins victories.

He wins decisively. He doesn't win partially. He wins decisively. So I want to talk about today using that as a foundation. Y'all like that was the introduction. Don't worry.

I know. I want to talk about today the great victory. Not just the Red Sea. That was a great victory. But I want to talk about the great victory that God has won and is winning even in this room today. Now, to understand the great victory, we have to understand that there is indeed a great battle that's going on in the room.

Scripture explains this to us. It tells us this. Ephesians 6 tells us we're in the middle of a battle. Says we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but we do wrestle. We are in a fight and we fight against principalities. That's not a weak thing we're wrestling against.

That's a principality. We wrestle against powers. We wrestle against the rulers of the darkness of this age and against spiritual hosts. Do you know what a host is? Spiritual hosts, innumerable spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Scripture tells us we're in the middle of a fight.

And some of us really because of our experience, we don't need scripture to tell us we're in the middle of a fight. We've lived it. We've experienced it. We have felt the sting of wounds that this life can so easily apply to our life. We have felt the exhaustion of trying to live for the Lord in our current climate, our current culture. We have felt that exhaustion.

We've even felt the fear that comes along with all the issues and all the problems and all the difficulties that this life has for us. You know that we're in a fight. You can feel it. You can sense it. I'm not saying anything that none of us realize in the room today. We know that we're in a fight.

We can look out into the world and if we're paying attention, we see all of the brokenness and we see all of the darkness and we see all of the chaos and we see all the corruption and and sometimes if we look long enough, we can begin to believe and form a narrative that evil is winning and that the tides of evil are turning against the tides of good and we're going to lose this thing. And we can even ask God, Lord, where are you in all of this? Where are you in this fight? Where are you in this battle? Why don't you show up like you did at the Red Sea? Where are you?

So, we see the fight. We realize, but not only do we see that external, those forces that are working in the world, those things that act on us and war against us, we see that, but we can also look internally. And we see our own weaknesses. We see our own sinfulness. We see our own inability to live a life that pleases the Lord. And and and scripture makes this plain, too, in Romans 7.

Paul says, "I I find this law at work. Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being, I delight in God's law. I want to follow it. I want to be faithful to him. But I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me." We we feel that reality.

I know you know what I'm talking about today, too, when I talk about that internal struggle of living for the Lord. And so, we've got problems within and we've got problems without. We've got wars raging within and we've got wars raging without and it's all part of the battle, the spiritual battle that we are facing here today. But somebody hear the good news that I have come to preach. Scripture does not leave us there. Scripture speaks of another victory just like that of the Red Sea where that sea did in fact part and that army was indeed destroyed at the hands of God.

We are not left in this crippling reality. No, no, no. Colossians 2, Paul paints it this way. He says, "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, when you were dead to rights, when you had messed up too many times, when you had so corrupted your heart and mind through sinful behavior that you had no right to be in relationship with God, when you were uncircumcised in your flesh, which means you you didn't have relationship with God. You were not in covenant agreement with him. When you were there, when you were desperate, when you were in despair, when you were in destitute, in need of divine intervention in your life, when you were broken, when you had no claim to the goodness of God, when you had no right to the presence of God, it was there that God made you alive with Christ and he forgave us all of our sins and he canceled that charge of legal indebtedness which stood against us and it did indeed condemn us.

He has taken it away though and he has nailed it to his cross. Thank you, brother Spaul, for teaching about the blood this morning. It is the blood that washes away that internal enemy of sin. That internal inclination to turn away from God and the guilt that is associated with it. God has dealt with it. Jesus has dealt with it.

You don't have to be owned by those sins anymore. You don't have to be labeled by those sins anymore. It's not who you are in Jesus. You're not what you used to be. You are what you are because of Jesus. today. He dealt with those sins.

Let them go. Let them go. Step into that new identity. Step into that new life in the spirit. Jesus has won it for you. Yes.

Come on. I'm talking about a victory to celebrate. I'm talking about a miracle to celebrate and to rejoice in. He wanted decisive victory over your sin. Not partial, not some of it, all of it. It was decisive.

But it doesn't stop there for Paul. He goes on in verse 15, says, "Not only deal with your sin, but he also disarmed those powers and authorities that seek our destruction and seek to accuse us and condemn us and draw us away from the Lord and sever relationship with him." Jesus also disarmed them. It says that he made a public spectacle of them. That means he beat them so badly that they should be ashamed of how bad that game went. They are wounded. They are limping.

They're running around hopeless and without resource because Jesus defeated them where Paul says he did it by triumphing over them by the cross. What victory am I talking about? I'm talking about the victory that took place on a hill called Calvary when the son of God, sinless, spotless lamb, gave up his life for atonement for our sins and our mistakes. But he also gave up his life in a moment of victory to destroy those spiritual forces that seek our destruction. What am I getting at? I'm getting at every obstacle and every enemy that would stand in your way from having a relationship with God and living in the victory that God has for you is defeated.

Your sin is defeated. The accusers are defeated. Those spiritual powers are defeated. You have been freed from the grasp of the enemy. And you have been transformed from your previous life as scripture tells us plainly in Colossians 1. For he, meaning God, he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness, and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves, into the kingdom of Jesus, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. 2 Corinthians 5:17, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation.

Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Somebody hear me. You're not an improved you. You're a new you. You're not just a better version of yourself.

You're a completely new person. You don't look like you used to in the eyes of God. You look like Jesus. You have taken on his righteousness. You have taken on his holiness. God won a victory for you that you could not win for yourself and now we just get to live in it.

We get to live in celebrated. 1 Corinthians 6 tells us how it happened. Writes to the Corinthian church. He says, "Some of y'all were messed up. That's what some of you were." He's talking about sinfulness and unrighteous behavior. He said, "That's what some of you were. And truth be told, the Corinthians still were those things.

It wasn't that they had repented and turned around. No, they were still messed up. Go read Corinthians. Maybe not to your kids or certain chapters. He says, "You used to be that, but then something happened." Come on. You used to be lost, but then something happened.

You used to be losing that fight, but then something happened. You used to be defeated by the enemy and by your own sin, but then something happened. You used to be losing. You used to be living in defeat, but then something happened. What happened? Well, well, here's what happened.

You were washed. You were sanctified or made holy. And you were justified, meaning made right in the eyes of God. How? How did that happen? You were made all those things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's an echo of baptism in Jesus' name. When you went down in the water, when you went down in baptism, you took on a new identity. When you went down in the water, you took on Jesus as your identity. You're not you. You're not your old self. you are his righteousness. But the second part of that, here's where I'm going and focusing today.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and and by the spirit of our God, when you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, do you know what takes up residence in you? Victory. Do you know what takes up residence in you? New identity. Do you know what takes up residence in you? Joy and rejoicing and celebration.

The things that we're talking about. Because the spirit of God is evidence of your victory. The spirit of God is evidence that God has fought for you and won. Here's what I'm saying. We're after something that only Jesus can do. Hear me.

The spiritual forces are defeated. Our own sins are defeated. We are empowered by the spirit of God. We can live in victory. We can do this thing. We can walk with the Lord in a way that pleases him.

We can do it. But y'all, because that's the case, because we've got a new identity, we also have responsibility. I can't preach this faithfully to the word of God without telling us about that responsibility. Romans 6, Paul's writing, he says, "In the same way, I need you to count yourself or consider yourself, think of yourself in new identity terms. Count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Consider yourself to be living a new life because it's true.

God has declared that over you. Verse 12 says, "Therefore," because that's the case. Because that's the reality God has put over you. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master because you are not under the law but under grace.

In other words, in other words, God has made it so you are free to live for him. So do it. God has defeated the barriers and the boundaries and the obstacles that would keep you away from that sort of righteous living. They're done away with. You can live for God. Somebody hear me today.

You've been baptized in the name. You've turned to him. You've got the Holy Ghost on the inside of you. You can live for God. You can live above reproach. You can live in holiness.

You can live in righteousness. Not because you've got enough willpower, but because you've got the spirit of God in your life transforming you. And and I can hear the objections. I I wrestle with them myself. Well, I struggle. We all struggle.

Keep fighting to live into that new identity. Well, I I even failed this morning, y'all. We all fail sometimes. Keep fighting to live into that new identity. Well, it doesn't seem like I'm changing. It seems like I'm still the old me.

And I I I'm not looking more like Jesus. I understand that change takes time. Stay faithful and keep fighting to live into that new identity because if you keep walking with Jesus long enough, if you keep walking with the spirit of God long enough, it's only a matter of time before you start to look like him, before you start to sound like him, before you start to act like him and he brings about a complete transformation in your life. Somebody hear me. If that transformation's taking time, that's normal. Let me just dispel this instantaneous stuff.

God can do it. God can work a miracle. He did it in my dad's life. Okay, I understand. But for for the majority of us, scripture paints this picture in second Corinthians 3. It says, "Now the Lord," talking about Jesus, "The Lord is the spirit.

And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom or there is liberty in a life." If you've got the Holy Ghost in your life, you've got the resource for freedom in your life. You've got the resource for victory in your life. Praise be to God that when you've got the Holy Ghost, you've got everything you need to be transformed to look more like Jesus. Amen. We're thankful for that. But listen to how that victory takes place in a life in the next verse.

And we all who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory. We all who reflect upon and engage with the Lord's glory. That's another word for his presence or his spirit. We all who have a relationship with and depend on and lean on the Lord's glory. What happens when we do that? We are being process.

We are being transformed. Not we were automatically we automatically looked like Jesus again. He declared us righteous. That happens. But now with the spirit of God in our life, we are being transformed into his image with what? With everinccreasing glory, which where does it come from?

Which comes from the Lord who is the spirit. What what am I saying? I'm saying that it's a process. I'm saying that transformation takes place over time as we engage with the spirit of God. And now, now here's the reality. If that's the case, if we need the spirit of God to change us, then we need to entertain his presence.

The Holy Ghost is not just a ticket to heaven and then we put it on the shelf never to engage with it again. I I have to preach this for a second. I I I need to get it across. We need to get lost in times of prayer and we need to fall into praying in the spirit. We need to get lost in times of worship where the Holy Ghost takes over and we begin to dance and praise like we would not under our own power. We need to get lost in times of reading the word where the spirit of God touches down in our room and begins to illuminate the scriptures to us and transforms us and leads us.

If we are truly dependent on the on the spirit of God to change us, we've got to get desperate for the spirit. We've got to get desperate. Come on. This can't be a Sunday thing where we have good church. This can't be a Wednesday thing where we have good church. We've got to be dependent on the spirit of God.

It's the only change agent. It's the only thing that brings victory. It's the only thing that can bring about change in your life and for your family and for your neighborhood. It's the only thing. We've got to be dependent on him. And when we do, and when we do, when we become dependent, when we seek out an engagement with the presence of the Lord, I'm I'm excited to preach this next part.

The spirit of God begins to bring victory in our life, decisive victory. Again, over time, it's a process, but you're going to look back one day after walking with the Lord and you're like, I used to be that. I used to struggle with that. I used to be messed up like that. Some of us aren't even remembering right now how bad we were because we have walked in a transformational journey with Jesus and we have been so changed that we have almost forgotten what he has brought us out from. But when we engage with his spirit, he brings about a victory and he brings about a deliverance and he he brings healing to our mind and to our spirit and he brings transformation and he he gives us strength to walk through hard times and he gives us comfort in times where we need peace.

It is him himself leading and walking with us when we engage with him. This the prophet says it. You'll find me when you'll find me when you search after me with what? All your heart. Oh, but when we do. Oh, but when we do, y'all this is true of all of us.

But you don't know like I know all he's done for me. You don't know like I know the darkness he has dealt with me in my own heart. You don't know like I know and I don't know like you do what he has done in your life. But whenever I begin to reflect on that victory, when I begin to reflect on all that Jesus has done for me, something just raises up in me and I begin to celebrate and I begin to shout and rejoice. And sometimes I just weep in the presence of the Lord because I begin to reflect on what I used to be and what I am now. I'm not what I used to be and I'm not what I'm going to be, but I am what I am today because the power of Jesus Christ and his spirit working in my life.

And that is the reason for all of us. You didn't get here by yourself. The spirit of God brought you here. You didn't heal that mind by yourself. The spirit of God brought soundness to your mind. You didn't heal your body.

God did. You didn't heal your spirit. God did. You didn't deliver yourself from depression. God did. You didn't get rid of that anxiety.

God did. The spirit of God did it. And because that's the case, and because that's normal for us, we celebrate today. We worship, we thank, we praise. Come on, lift up the name of the Lord right now. Lift up the name of Jesus right now.

We've got every reason to celebrate. We've got every reason to rejoice. We've got every reason to praise him. Come on, let's worship. We thank you, Lord. We thank you.

We praise you. We praise you. Y'all, the presence of the Lord is here. And I want to I want to come to a close quick, but I the the Lord has not released me from saying this last part. I love that we have the Holy Ghost. I love that we've got the spirit of God working on the inside of us.

But it doesn't end here. It doesn't end with us. It's for all. It's for everyone. It's for the prostitute. It's for the drug addict.

It's for the homeless person out there that we see regularly in this area. The spirit of God is for them. And it is our job as an ambassador of Jesus Christ. It is our job as those who carry about the witness of the power of the spirit in our life everywhere we go to get it to them. They need it, y'all. And because I know that it works.

And because we know that it works, we celebrate that. That there is not a situation that cannot be changed by the power and spirit of God. It can happen because he has never lost a battle and he never will. I want to tell you one final story before we come together and pray and celebrate. The Apostle Paul in the first century in Acts 19, he goes to the city of Ephesus. And y'all, Ephesus was bad.

It was a pagan city. It had witchcraft, had demonic powers, it had sickness and disease. It had idolatry. There were temples set up all over the place to false gods and enemies of the Lord and his people. It it was awful. Paul shows up to that city, he's well aware.

He's well aware of what Ephesus is. And when he shows up, when he gets there, he finds some disciples. He finds some church folk, his people, and he doesn't show up and say, "Hey guys, um, what are the political parties that we can get get involved with and put our hands on the levers of power? We need to change some things in Ephesus. It's messed up. How can we Let's get a hold of some political power.

Let's do that. He didn't ask that. He didn't suggest that. He didn't even show up and say, "Hey, what about the activist groups that are here? We we need to get involved in activism because we got to change society. We got to change the culture.

We we got to get we got to get involved. We got to do this thing. We we got to make Ephesus change. We got to make Ephesus more like Jesus. Let's get in those activist groups." He didn't even look at his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and say, "Hey, what can we do to be more organized? We need more systems around here.

We need more administration." Y'all, I've learned to love administration. It helps me stay on track. Some of y'all are worried because I'm away from the notes. He didn't even say we need administration. We need systems. He didn't do any of that.

Let me make a caveat. Politics are necessary. Activism can be helpful. And administration and systems, those are a must even in the kingdom of God. All right? But it's not where Paul started in that ancient pagan city, Ephesus.

He showed up and the first thing that he did is he found those people of God that were trying to live for the Lord in the way they knew. says, "Hey y'all." Acts 19:2, "Do you got the Holy Ghost?" Some of y'all are laughing because you think it's funny like I do. Y'all got the Holy Ghost? And they respond to Paul and they say, "Man, we haven't even heard that there is a Holy Ghost. We do know that there was one available to us." And so Paul is confused probably because Jesus named baptism and holy ghost and filling go together. But he's confused. He says, "Well, how are you baptized?" Because if you would have been baptized in the name of Jesus, you would have heard about the Holy Ghost.

How were you baptized? And so the disciples respond. He says, "Well, we we were baptized under John's baptism." And Paul doesn't slap him. He says, "That's wonderful. John preached a baptism of repentance. you turned away from your life and to God. That is wonderful.

That is a great step in the direction of the Lord. But John preached about somebody coming after him who would baptize you not only for repentance but would baptize you in the spirit of God. He begins to teach them that they need the Holy Ghost in their life. And so they they they give in. They believe Paul. And so he prays for him, lays his hands on them.

They they receive the Holy Ghost just like they did in Acts chapter 2. They begin to speak in tong. The spirit of God takes up residence in their life. He baptizes them in Jesus name. And do you know what the next stuff that happens is? He goes out to Ephesus.

He starts healing sickness and disease. Him and those disciples, they start casting out demons. Unclean spirits are just coming in contact with the Holy Ghost filled people. They're not even touching them. They're not even laying hands on them. And unclean spirits are leaving people.

People are bringing their books of witchcraft and their demonic resources. And they're confessing their sins and repenting unto the Lord. And they're they're burning those books in the fire. Hear me. Ephesus was completely turned upside down because of some Holy Ghost fililled people that simply trusted in the spirit of God. Sure, maybe they set up systems later, but it's not where they started.

Sure, maybe they got into activism later, but it's not where they started. Where they started is where we have to start today. We've got to start with an infilling of the Holy Ghost. We've got to start with the transformational power of Jesus Christ. We may ask, Paul, why did you start there? But the answer would be simple.

It is what they needed. It's what Ephesus needed. That ancient pagan city, the only way it was going to turn around is if God got a hold of that city through his spirit. And Paul would be proved right. That city was turned upside down. And then Paul nearing the end of his life, he assigns Timothy, a young pastor, to oversee Ephesus.

Can you imagine that? It's like overseeing Nineveh. Says, "Timothy, you've got it. needs you to go oversee Ephesus. And he doesn't write to Timothy and say, "Timothy, hey, make sure you got systems. Make sure you got all this stuff in order." He he believes in systems. Paul's got systems.

It's not where he started with Timothy. He writes to Timothy and he says this. Hey, uh, new bishop of Ephesus, the guy that's got to wrangle these pagan people, says, "For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands." And he explicates what the gift is in the next verse. for the spirit God gave. It's not a spirit of fear. Doesn't make us timid, but it gives us power and it gives us love and it gives us a sound mind or self-discipline. Do you hear what he just told Timothy?

Timothy, first things first, if you're going to do anything about this pagan city, you better stir up the Holy Ghost in your life. You better begin to rely on the spirit of God in your life. You ought to turn to Jesus in every waking moment and say, "Jesus, I can't do it. I don't have the words to convince them. I don't have the wisdom to convince them, but what I do have is a relationship with the spirit of God. Lord, would you begin to break out of my life into the lives of others?

Would you make me clear enough to just tell them, you need the Holy Ghost? And if you get the Holy Ghost, things are going to begin to change over time, and God's victory is going to become decisive for you and your life. And I stand here today in complete agreement with Paul. And I confess and I rejoice. The same spirit that Ephesus needed in that day is the same spirit that APC needs today. The same spirit that Ephesus was changed by in that day.

It's the same spirit that's going to change St. Louis. It's the same spirit that's going to change South County. It's the same spirit that's going to change Ter. It's the same spirit that can put your marriage back together. It's the same spirit that can heal that brokenness.

It's the same spirit. It is the answer today. It is the answer. Somebody hear me. It's the answer to depression. It's the answer to brokenness.

It's the answer to hopelessness and pain. It's the answer to alcoholism. It's the answer to drug addiction. It's the answer to cutting. It's the answer to broken families. It's the answer to a divided country.

It's the answer to racism. It's the answer to poverty and oppression. It's the answer to confusion around gender and sexual issues. It is the answer. Oh, we got to quit trivializing it. We got to quit making it harder than it needs to be.

The world needs the Holy Ghost. They need the Holy Ghost. And y'all, here's the celebration point. And we've got it. Y'all, somebody receive that. The world needs the Holy Ghost.

They're desperate and dying for the Holy Ghost. And we've got it. We've got it. We carry around in our persons the testimony of his power. All we've got to do is stir it up. All we've got to do is believe in it again.

Do you believe that the Holy Ghost can really change a life? Do you really believe that if God just gets a hold of them, all those questions become less important and God begins to usher them into relationship and things starts to make more sense for them? Do you really believe that the Holy Ghost is power? Do you really believe that the Holy Ghost is transformation? Do you really believe that the Holy Ghost can make all things new and can restore somebody and can heal somebody? That the Holy Ghost really can put a city back together?

Do you really believe that? Because I do. Oh, I believe it. I believe it like Paul believed it. I believe it like Timothy believed it. I believe it like Jesus believed it.

I believe it with every fiber of my being. And I'm preaching it and I'm celebrating it. They need the Holy Ghost and we've got it. We can share it with them. We're ambassadors. We're here to share the Holy Ghost with the world.

And here's the good news. If we'll do it, things will change. Come on. If we'll do it, things will change. If we'll do it, that divorce rate will fall. If we'll do it, that drug addiction rate will fall.

If we'll do it, that brokenness will start to go away. If we'll do it, miracles will start to happen. If we begin to share, lives will begin to become transformed, y'all. We don't have to have our heads hung low. We don't have to be in despair. We don't have to be depressed and wonder how it's going to happen.

The Holy Ghost is going to do it. The Holy Ghost is going to do it. Oh, we've just got to stir it up. Would you stand with me? We just got to stir it up, y'all. I don't have a pretty altar call today.

I don't have wise words. I don't have a great appeal. It's not going to tickle your ears. It's not going to seem amazing, but it is the appeal of the Lord himself. If you want your life to be transformed or you want your life to be a conduit to bring transformation to others, I invite you today to stir up the gift of God that is in you. And if you've never received the Holy Ghost today, you can receive it today.

You can have it today. Better yet, God wants you to have the Holy Ghost. He wants you to have the Holy Ghost today. The Apostle Peter, when he preached the first message on the Holy Ghost, he ended it this way. For the promise, what promise? of salvation in the Holy Ghost. That promise is for you and it's for your children and it's for all who are a far off.

Even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And the Lord is calling today. Better yet, not only did the Apostle Peter preach it, but Jesus himself preached it in Luke 11. He says, "If you parents, even though you're evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give you the Holy Spirit if you ask him for it?" He wants you to have the Holy Ghost today. And I promise if you receive it, you'll begin that process of stirring up that spirit of God in your life and victory will be ushered in and you'll be celebrating like the rest of us saying, "Thank you, Jesus. Glory to God.

You are the King of Kings. You are the Lord of Lords. You are the victor of my life. You are the one who saved. You are the one who redeemed. And you are the one who can save.

And you are the one who can redeem." If you want to join in that spirit today, whether you want to celebrate or you want to stir up the presence of God, here's the appeal. Why don't you find a place and have a cooperative spirit with the presence of the Lord? Please, please don't just sit back. Please don't just sit back. Please don't let this moment pass you by. The spirit of God is here.

He wants to encounter you. Please don't sit back and get comfortable and say, "I'll wait some other time." Or, "This isn't the service for me to respond. I know you're tired. I know you had a long week, but what's going to make the difference is if you engage with the spirit today. Oh, if you want to stir it up, if you want to engage with him today, I invite you. Why don't you come forward?

Why don't you find a place maybe against the wall? Why don't you find a place to kneel and say, "God, oh, fill me with your spirit again, whether it be the first time or another time, God, fall fresh on me. Fall fresh on my mind and on my heart, God. Transform me by your power, Jesus. And commission me, Lord. Don't let me settle for the transformational power of God being for me only, Lord, but make me missional.

We've got what the world needs. We've got what will bring that brokenness down. We've got what will bring healing. We've got what's going to restore them. We celebrate it today, God. Oh, commission us.

Stir us. Come on, APC. Stir it up. Stir it up. Get vocal with the Lord. Get desperate with the Lord.

Oh, God. Stir your spirit within us. Stir your spirit within us, God. Oh, don't settle. Don't settle today for being uh uh for being someone who's watching only. Don't settle today just to look on.

Oh, get in touch with the spirit of God. Get in touch with the power of God. Get in touch with his presence today. Get in touch with the Holy Ghost today. Reach for him. Reach for him.

Reach for him. Oh, he's here. He's here. He's here. Stir uses when your kingom comes. Let your kingom come.

The earth is shaking. Chains are breaking as your kingom comes. Let your kingom come. Everything changes. Everything changes when your kingom comes. Let your kingom come.

The earth is shaking. Chains are breaking as your kingom comes. Let your kingom come. Everything changes. Everything changes when your kingom comes. Let your kingom come.

The earth is shaking. Chains are breaking as your kingom comes. Let your kingom come. Everything changes. Everything changes when your kingom comes. Let your kingom come.

The earth is shaking. Chains are breaking as your kingom comes. Let your kingom come. Mountains have to move. Every chain is loosed. God we declare your kingdom is here.

Everyone will see. Fall down at your feet, God we declare. Your kingdom is here. Mountains have to move. Every chain is loosed. God we declare your kingdom is here.

Everyone will see. fall down at your feet. God we declare your kingdom is here. Mountains have to move. Every chain is loose. God we declare your kingdom is here. Everyone will see.

Fall down at your feet. God, we declare your kingdom is here. Everything changes. Everything changes when your kingom comes. Let your kingom come. The earth is shaking.

Chains are breaking. As your kingom comes, let your kingom come. Everything changes. Everything changes when your kingom comes. Let your kingom come. The earth is shaking.

Chains are breaking. As your kingom comes, when your kingom comes, everything changes. Everything changes when your kingom comes. Let your kingom come. The earth is shaking. Chains are breaking as your kingom comes.

Then your kingom comes. Mountains have to move. Every chain is loose. I declare your kingdom is here. Everyone will see. Fall down at your feet.

God we declare your kingdom is here. Mountains have to move. Every chain is loosed. God we declare your kingdom is here. Everyone will see. Fall down at your feet.

God we declare your kingdom is here. Everything changes. Everything changes when your kingom comes. Let your kingom come. The earth is shaking. Chains are breaking.

As your kingom comes, let your kingom come. Everything changes. Everything changes when your kingom comes. Let your kingom come. The earth is shaking. Chains are breaking.

As your kingom comes, when your kingom comes, everything changes. Everything changes when your kingom comes. When your kingom come. The earth is shaking. Chains are breaking. As your kingom comes, good.

Your kingom comes. Everything changes. Everything changes when your kingom comes. Let your kingom come. The earth is shaking. Chains are breaking.

As your kingom comes, let your kingom come. Everything changes. Everything changes when your kingom comes. Let your kingom come. The earth is shaking. Chains are breaking.

As your kingom comes, let your kingom come. Everything changes. Everything changes when your kingom comes. Let your kingom come. The earth is shaking. Chains are breaking as your kingom comes.

Your kingom come. Everything changes. Everything changes when your kingom comes. Let your kingom come. The earth is shaking. Chains are breaking.

As your kingom comes, let your kingom come. It may not appear so, but I have not My problem relationship is not I am extending the very blessing and every journey. Lord, you praise. Come on, let's lift that celebration up to the Lord for the victory he has granted to us. We praise you God. We glorify you Lord.

We worship you Lord. God praise you. Thank you Jesus. We thank you, Lord. We thank you, Lord. Oh, Bishop, you just said this line to me a moment ago, but we're not fighting for victory.

We're fighting from victory. We're not fighting for the victory. Jesus has already won that. Now, we fight from a position of advantage. We fight from victory. That's where our faith comes from.

That's where our confidence comes from. That's where our spirit of rejoicing comes from. We're not trying to earn anything. We're just fighting from it. We've got the win in our pocket. We've got the win in the bag because Jesus has wrought a victory for us.

Amen. And he has shared it with us. He has shared it with us. And he has told us to give it to others. And what's really cool about having all power is you get to hand a bunch out and never run out. So you get to go share this with somebody else.

And you don't lose anything by giving it away. You just spread the kingdom and authority and victory of God farther than it was before. Amen. And we celebrate that. That God reigns and that through us he can he can bring about victories in every life. No matter how bad, how dark, how broken, he can still win.

Amen. Amen.