Stop, Pause, and Look

if you come today hungry for the Lord it is very evident that he is here to change us to work in our lives My my what an incredible move of the Holy Ghost today in this place and he's not finished I'm watching the clock we still got three hours before four o'clock I don't know what that means but make somebody feel better as I said earlier I think it is evident that the Lord is pleased to pour out of his Blessing on our lives on our church family I welcome you if you're online watching I welcome you if you're here as a guest with us I'm glad you've come thank you so much for being in the house of the Lord I know sometimes when these Services happen we we stand back and wonder what's going to happen next well I can tell you what's going to happen next the will of God is going to be accomplished foreign amen if you feel like you can you can be seated if not you can stand thank you brother Duron thank you to everyone involved at Cornerstone Sunday school teachers greeters parking lot attendant everybody that's involved thank you so much I appreciate greatly and I know the Lord does too you working and laboring for him we have once again gathered in a sanctuary for one purpose and that is to Worship the Lord somebody shout amen come on Amen in so doing we find Refuge in him we find refuge in one another we find strength in the community of the church body we draw one from another our Sunday worship time is very important to the life and the sustainability for the journey that we all walk in this present world everybody say I'm on a journey come on so right now we have been exercising our rights to help and to encourage one another over the last hour since we've been in here praying and worshiping the Lord so many of you have reached out so many of you have prayed for others perhaps you are suffering hurting or in pain today you've stepped away from that to reach out to someone else you hear the preacher today God likes that if we can step away from who we are and what mess we've made in the life that we have developed and we begin to reach out and help others the Lord God will use you somebody say Amen every week we come Together We Sing we talk about the goodness of God we witness the Lord's hand in people's lives we deal with past failures and past faults that we've had we get ourselves into a place where we can handle things for the week ahead of us does anybody know what's in store for the next seven days in your life no but we know the one who knows well amen on Sunday we worship and we love the Lord I've come to tell everybody worship is vital to the child of God the Bible also is very certain to instruct us on assembling ourselves together we bring something to the table when we come into the presence of the Lord and we seek God's face some of us in here have a good voice some of us just simply sing with the choir some of us can play instruments others can teach classes we all participate and we encourage you to continue in Jesus every day looking for ways where you can get closer and closer to him I've come today to assure all of us as we worship the Lord God as a body in so doing the presence and the power of God moves in our lives so over the last two weeks we have made choices as individuals and as a church to fast some things in our lives need to be dealt with the very Act of fasting of course has some pretty powerful implications Even in our modern world 2023 doctors and and those smart folk if you will they'll tell you that intermittent fasting is good for you in certain Health situations amen I fast pain for an example saying I don't care for it it's awesome I decide not to do it if you want to feel better want to lose weight any time that you deny your body the privilege of in taking food you are altering the system in your digestion in your body and the chemicals in your body and there is a direct response for that you hear me but over the last two weeks we have fasted different things not because we wanted to lose weight maybe although that's not a bad thing right nor because we were tired of eating a certain food but as a church body we have desired as the body of Christ that assembles here every week that we want to collectively get closer to God in an effort to find direction and strength from the Lord you and I have chosen to remove things from our lives like media and entertainment the first week social connections we decided weren't as important we wanted to separate and pull ourselves apart from the stuff the distractions of Our Lives it is one way friend when you pull away from those things that you can gain in perspective of yourself and say I don't need that I need more of Jesus the only way you can do that is to make a conscious decision in your mind and in your heart I will do away with something also this past week the Daniel Fast we chose you know what we believe that there's something about when we get into a place it's not easy it doesn't make a whole lot of sense but something is happening why because you have chosen in your life to say instead of giving what I want all the pleasures of the food that I like and all the flavors and all the things that I want some of you have decided I will take it seriously the Breads and the meats I will push them away the sweets and the drinks I will shove that to the side why because you made a conscious decision to save if I can somehow let my mind and my body get to a place where it listen to me where it remembers why I am doing what I am doing then as you make that decision you know what it's easy to pull through the drive-through but instead I consciously stop myself to say but today I will not instead I am fasting today and I am believing even if it's an old carrot or an old cucumber I'm understanding in my mind and in my life that the Lord God desires to do something in me and if I'll ever get to the place where I'll deny my flesh and stand closer to the spirit hear me that that is flesh will do the things of Flesh but that that his spirit will do the things of the spirit and if you truly hunger for the spirit of God in your life you will activate the spirit of God and you will say Let My Flesh decrease and let my spirit increase over the past few days we have searched for God we have looked for God and I've come to tell and declare to everybody in this room today God is moving God is moving God is moving hear what I'm saying God is listening to your prayers he is standing at attention to the church's voice oh God get us to a place where we get out of the way and you use us Lord Jesus to reach our city come on Chattanooga needs a church that still believes in The Old Rugged Cross Chattanooga needs a place where healing and restoration can happen Chattanooga needs a church that'll stand up and say I am bought with a price I am not my own I belong to Jesus let's go back Old Testament for a moment everybody okay Isaiah said it this way in chapter 5. y'all know I'd bring his verse out Chapter 58 verse 6. it's not this the past that I have chosen listen to loose the bands of wickedness and undo heavy burdens and let the oppressed Go free and that ye break every Yoke the fasting that we have been doing is to loosen the bands that the enemy has and what he's trying to do to people in our world come on it is to relieve the burden of those who are being held down it is to cut loose those who are oppressed by their faster and their failures it is to break loose The Binding up that's been holding you back Isaiah pin these words to let us know if you get serious with God he's already gonna move I want to speak a word to somebody today you've got family members that are far from God I challenge you this is the fast god you're gonna break what's got them bound up you're gonna pull them out of that wickedness backsliders are gonna come home those that are backed up they're gonna come running to the why because that's what fasting will do something's moving the spirit of the Lord is closing you I believe there's some in this place right now you are reaching into the spirit world and the spirit of God is drawing you closer to him allow me a moment for the old-timers old-timer you listen to me whoever you are I don't care how long you've been in the house I don't care how long you've known the name you listen to me in the last day saith the Lord he will pour out of his Spirit upon All Flesh things are going to happen do not get distracted in this hour to think that all hell is broke loose and it's pulling the church down no my friend this church is not built by the hand of man it is established by the blood of Jesus Christ it is established by the cross of calvary that is the only way that we'll be able to stand in this hour I want I want to help somebody I want to help somebody what 21 days of of dedication and consecration does this fasting pulls us into the presence of the Lord God and good things are happening some of you right now in this room you are smack dab I'm talking Southern smack dab in the middle of the battle and it appears that you have lost your mind you feel like your things around you are getting worse and worse I've come to tell somebody Stand Fast my friend Stand Fast Victory belongs to Jesus you keep focusing on Jesus you maintain your walk with God you sacrifice and you ask God to get you into his presence why because in the presence of the Lord the fire of God will fall answers will come prayers will be answered you keep walking towards Jesus you notice that he's in control and he's got you this whole time turn around ask somebody come on turn around and ask somebody did Fast and kill you oh you don't even know come on did anybody perish this last week because you didn't have that steak we okay come on turn around look somebody we okay we all right huh I will tell you this well watch how this happens now to everybody in here that wants to answer this have you been going through battles and trials this past week or so that you're not sure where it all came from don't there's some in here saying oh my mama you don't even know preacher say I know I know what it's like why because if you ever get closer to God guess who's mad you all need to hear the preacher today guess who's upset come on Guess Who's upset I've said this often about the condition of our world if my dad were alive today if my grandparents were alive today they'd be rolling over in their grave why do I say that because of what we have become if you will as a nation is that all right but I also know that if my dad or my grandparents were alive today I know where I would find them Duron I wouldn't have to wonder about him my little short Beady Grandma be down here in the yard she wouldn't even wait on y'all she probably just dropped her purse at the door and say you know what Oh Glory I'll come to Worship the Lord today God been better to me than anybody else in this house she'd be the one that walked down the aisle brothers and say you know what God's been a good God I didn't know how to read until I met Jesus now I can read the Bible my grandfather would have told you you know what I didn't even know what it was I got a third grade education but when I got in the word of the Lord something happened in my spirit and in my life I'll tell you it would be my mom that'd be down here saying if I had the strength I'd be popping my neck and well why because the old-timers understand something greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world and they would recognize the reality if we can get ourselves out of the way and let the glory of God move in our lives there is no telling what can happen in your home on your job in the church house foreign Matthew said it like the Matthew book is chapter 17 verse 20 Jesus speaking said unto them because of your unbelief preferably I say unto you if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed shall say unto this mountain remove hints to Yonder place it shall remove nothing shall be impossible to you how be it what's he say this kind goeth not forth not out but by now we we memorize the great big old verse Jesus wept well then we'll skip over this one because the prayer and the fasting thing is a great challenge for us somebody say Amen so you got these disciples these followers of Jesus they've been watching Jesus go up everywhere and doing things and he's speaking to Devils he's talking to folk folk are shaking in their shoes there's there's power moving and so they they got these cats in the house and they're just wreaking havoc in there and so these are these followers of Jesus Brother Sam decide we're going to go in here and we're going to pull a Jesus on them y'all want to keep this story get in the story it's in Matthew chapter 17. and so they go storming in this house like they're about to move devils and stuff here they come anybody realize recognize them when they come out of the house well they look like what'd you say huh there's naked that's a southern term they is naked tore to close come running out of that house that Devil's beating a snot out of these guys and they're thinking they got all that in a box of crackers that get in your Bible read the story and they come up and it's like oh it's a beacon it's a great big and honey my I need my towel back where's my towel whoo they come to Jesus and they're saying hey can we do this why what's going on with this why can't we go in there and take oh God help us today and the Lord Jesus very gently and very kindly simply looks at them and says you need to understand something that if you're going to have a move you better move first how do I do that you get yourself into a position of prayer and fasting wait a minute Jesus what are you saying what I'm telling you is I give you all the power to do so but if you don't learn to get yourself out of the way and let my spirit in you're not going to be able to deal with any devil some of you in this room listening to me right now and maybe you're online watching right now you've got Devils beating you down every day and you don't know what to do with them I come to tell you what to do with them get yourself in a position to have authority by fear and fasting to believe oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah I come in the name of Jesus he taught me that when I deny myself and I walk upright in the spirit that I can come in the name of Jesus and every devil in this house has got to leave come on if you believe in the power of Jesus Christ give him praise right now only when we refocus we dedicate Our Lives to the Master's plan that he gives certain Authority and Power to deal with the powers of this world when you connect with God's plan something happens this fast that we're on this 21 days of dedication listen to me carefully there is a purpose friend there are chairs in this room that need people in them there are people listen to Paris listen to preacher there are people on your job their lives are terrible and horrible and they need answers it's going to come through your testimony you've got family members that once Walk With Jesus they are so far from God right now they wouldn't know it if they hit him in the face you need to pray God give me the strength to reach for them so that they'll come to themselves and they'll recognize there's more room in the Master's house than there is in this pig pen I'm going home I believe the outpouring for the last days is going to be so powerful you and I will not be able to understand it y'all giving Pastor some Liberty today are you listening I'm standing at the door this morning and Daryl Sandy walks in the door and looks at me said I've been looking for you I said do I know you oh I've been praying for the courage to come in my mom and dad have been praying for me to come am I telling it she walked down I'm just using her as an example today the hunger of a heart says I have a need and Jesus is the need feeler because Somebody Prayed because a grandma prayed because a mom and dad pray oh somebody hear the preacher because somebody interfered because somebody interceded because somebody believed there is Glory that breathes into somebody's life ah you wonder where fasting comes from this this fast this fast notice the the law was given to Moses back in the Old Testament I want us to understand purpose of the principles the levitical law was given because the Levites were given the rights and the responsibilities of the presence of God y'all know that right you be the workers you'll be taken care of this is how you do it this is what you do and they passed it generation to generation you with me Leviticus chapter 23 I want you to notice something verse number one the Lord spake unto Moses saying speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them concerning ready the feasts of the Lord which you shall Proclaim to be holy convocations even these are my feast six days shall you work six days shall work be done six days but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest the holy convocation you shall do no work therein it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings hang on to Pastor for a moment longer this was the establishment of the Sabbath to humanity God gave us this particular understanding through creation we agree created everything that is in six days the Bible says specifically in Genesis that on the seventh day he did what he rested in that resting he wasn't exhausted he had not spent all of his energy he was giving to you and I he was given to the children of Israel at that time he was giving them reference to the importance of remembering and in doing so he said I want you to understand you're going to have a bunch of weeks in your life and you're going to work and you're going to be required to do things and you're going to be made to do stuff it's going to be by the sweat of your brow there's things going to happen that you're going to have to do as Humanity but because I will provide everything in the six days there must come a day that you stop turn around and reflect oh God help me right now and in your reflection of what has been you can sit on that Sabbath you can stand on that Sabbath on that Holy convocation day and you can say Look What the Lord Has Done you want to understand the necessity of this I will cause Manna to fall from Heaven you will go out each morning and gather what you need for that day but on the day before the Sabbath if you're going to sustain yourself through the Sabbath you better gather up enough here to get you through here and here until there what is the significance to you and I there will be friend a time in your life when you won't understand how and why and how come things are happening the way they are but the promise of God is simply this if you will live your life and you will stop and pause to take time to turn and reflect and recognize the glory of the Lord has been with you on Monday and on Tuesday and on Wednesday and on Thursday and on Friday and on Saturday and you stop and you pause and turn around and look you can declare I'm not going back there but I will give thanks for everything that happened from that point to here listen to the preacher today in a 21 days of dedication and consecration this faster should cause us to come to the place where we pause and instead of getting bogged down with the society and the culture and the chaos and the confusion and the junk of our world and the sin that is rampant around us it ought to cause us in our you know in our Sabbath time to turn around and look and see God you have been good to me you have made a way where there was no way you put it on the table you made it happen you gave me the strength wisdom comes from you why because I pause to remember the blessings and the goodness and the provision of my God the Sabbath was a time stand with me to refrain from the normal activities of life no work to be done no Gathering of food to eat only reflection and refocusing on God's provision and his protection the command that God gave his people listen to me was not to starve them but it was to cause them to pause and reflect now I want to say something I do not want to be misunderstood but I want you to know something friend manna that spoke about spoken of in the Old Testament was the provision that God gave to his people agreed the blessings of God in our lives 2023. are his provisions to take care of his people food job finances career are you with me what I fear in this hour because of the Plenty that we live in some of us are living Monday and we're storing up stuff for Tuesday and we have forgotten the fact of manna is if you try to carry it over past its season it will rot and spoil and you will have to throw it away some of us in this room today we are living on past relationships and happenings that Lord God the Lord God gave us and we're hoping that they'll be strong enough to give us sustenance for the journey ahead I come to you and I declare that that is not going to happen it needs to be thrown by the wayside listen to me and you need to this morning pick up what you need for the journey ahead of you for the journey ahead of you don't you get sidetracked come on don't get caught up in what this world is trying to tell well the Sabbath is this and the Sabbath is that don't start on Monday came and start on Sunday and the calendar was made this and now come on I've had that argument with a thousand people the Sabbath is not a gay on a calendar it is a Time to stop pause and look I'm not going that way I'm headed this way but through this week every single day I gathered the substance that I would need to make it and yesterday before I got to this day I gathered up a double portion and now with this double portion I am enjoying the blessings of God while looking back at What the Lord Has Done I will not stop here I will not cease and just put my tent right here no friend I turn around and I say yesterday's blessings yesterday's miraculous yesterday's Provisions they're not good for today but I will remember them tomorrow I got to get up in the morning one more time and understand this is the day the Lord has made I'll rejoice and be glad I'm going to gather up substance for my family look family we got a partake of it now why because none of us know what tomorrow holds not one of us can declare the council for tomorrow but I could tell you this much if I'll get enough of Jesus today and I get up in the morning hungry more for more of him he will order my steps he will tell me where to put my foot down and the way that I take will be his way the light that I run after will be his life the word that I'm hungry for will be his word and I'll be able to declare you know what every day I live for Jesus hello the old-timer said it every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before it is 1 30 for us clock Watchers I know it's a long service to whoo preacher Lord's moving singing for those concerned I asked brother Duran to remove one song and he did so I got four more minutes eight minute song oh come on oh hear me now come on says now give me one there you go this is where we are today friend the last couple of weeks in this 21 days of dedication and consecration I think some of you are blown away by the way that God is moving in your life some of you are still holding back still nervous because you know what the Lord is going to say and if you yield to it it's going to hurt a bunch I come to tell you in these last five days there will be a fasting chain going on people of God are going to get in touch with God and I am declaring the whole counsel of the Lord says God will be with us God will be leading us God will be anointing the church for the battle and the thing the journey ahead of us I've come to tell you now is not the time to give up on Jesus now is the time to fall in love with him this fast that we are on come on some of you are so excited because God has walked into your homes he has walked onto your jobs he has come into your school room and he has said I'm with you don't be afraid Don't Be Afraid don't be afraid I've come to bless you I've come to multiply your seed I've come to give you glorious power and anointing and unction why because it is the Lord's will that He blesses and touches and moves in the lives of the church come on this church has not hurt damaged and destroyed come on but we are standing steadfast by the blood of Jesus Christ on the name that's above every name this altar is open right now to somebody to come down here and say I accept the promises and the provision of the holy God and before I leave here I'm going to get to the Altar and give the Lord praise and give the Lord praise and give the Lord Praise oh come on somebody bring your praise to the Lord come on bring your worship to the Lord come all down oh that's right come on oh that's right come on this fast is leading us this fast changing us this fast this fast this time with the Lord things are different I am changing I'm drawing closer to him I'm drawing closer to the master he will do I'm drawing closer to the King of Kings oh that's right that's right that's right come on run into his presence there is healing here yeah yeah yeah oh come on this fast we're great to go this fast will break the yoke this fast will it'll lose the man's awake till under the heavy burdens watch what he will do see what he will do if he conquered the grave then there's nothing to Grace out here what he will do if he conquered the grave then there's nothing too great watch when he will oh that's right that's right get ready get ready ready ready for Revival it's coming it's come here you better get ready now try your miracle oh yes watch you to pull off the chains nothing too grave watch the spirit of the Lord Jesus the spirit of the Lord God Hallelujah foreign this fast will break the yolk this fast will unfetter the chain this fast will set at Liberty those that are bound come on this fast will make the difference allow me one moment please if you've not been participating in this fast for whatever reason I challenge you this week decide Lord I need you so I'm going to choose Lord turn loose of something and I'm going to consciously make the effort to say Lord if I let go of something where's Ian if I release it then you will release from Heaven a word a miracle to my life if you've been praying and fasting these last two weeks I admonish you finish what you started next week we're going to come back rejoicing again tomorrow night all church prayer online Wednesday night we're back here for Bible study actually we got Bible study for short term and we got our business session as much as the Holy Ghost was poured out today the Holy Ghost can be poured out in a business session come on come on he works in your messed up life he can work in the church too huh sorry oh CR is Tuesday night for those hurts Hang-Ups and habits why are you so loud it's allow for that's Tuesday night at six o'clock to eight o'clock church is welcome to come now just so you all know next not this but the next one they'll go live with the public is that right February 7th they'll go live with the public so get ready get ready to get ready I love all of you I am so glad you came today don't forget right after service we have our pastor social back here for those that that pertains to we want to invite you to come and just spend a moment the department leaders if you get a chance come through introduce yourself let them know who you are what you do maybe I love all of you take a hand throw it to heaven right now Lord give us this day our daily bread we're going to trust you for it this week God as we're fasting praying believing Lord let us be changed by the word let our hunger Lord God be focused on you this fast will do the job it needs to do in Jesus name I love all of you shake hands and be friendly greet one another till next time God bless