The Almighty

that's our hope tonight folks is that we have this uh this hope of praising him forever I I put myself in scenarios sometimes when David for example walked out on the battlefield and Israel was in the trenches hiding because Goliath for 40 days had challenged them to send me a man to fight and when David went out there can you imagine first of all the intimidation that had taken over the children of Israel the armies of Israel they were hiding in the trenches but can you imagine I'd just like to I just like to think about this sometimes when when I when my praise kind of lags you know what I mean Wednesday night middle of the week hump day right we get certain expectations

and sometimes our praise just lags even though he's we know that he's still worthy so I think about things like this when David walked out there can you imagine being in those trenches and watching this scenario unfold before your eyes foreign they're all hiding and this kid walks out there with a sling and a rock and the incredulity when they saw how he goes I don't think they remain silent for very long uh can you imagine the Roar and the praise that begin to erupt from the army of Israel when David's walks over to Goliath the audacity of this young man picks up his sword and chops off his head with his own sword can you imagine the praise that must have erupted from those

trenches when when they saw what God had done through this young man listen we serve a great God even on a Wednesday he's worthy of Praise he's worthy of great praise he's worthy of a best praise that we can pull out tonight Hallelujah you're worthy there is none like him and that's what I want to talk about tonight we have a great God we have the great God and this this may be a lesson it may be a sermon I don't know um it's just going to be exalting to the Lord I know that I want I want to lift him up Revelation the first chapter you can be seated if you like foreign Revelation chapter 1. and I'm not going to talk about prophecy

so don't don't sweat right now but I love Revelation and the reason I love it is because it is exactly that it's a revelation of Jesus Christ who he is the entire book is filled with who he is if you have any doubts you need to go read the book and find out it's where he is not portrayed as the lowly Meek and humble person that we saw when he walked on the Earth he's not portrayed as the son of God he's portrayed as the very God the King of Kings and the Lord of lords it shows him in all of his fullness and his Splendor Revelation chapter 1 verse 4. John unto the seven churches which are in Asia Grace be unto you and

peace from him which is everybody say which is which was and which is to come and from the seven spirits which are before his throne now that's that was John's introduction of him he was speaking to his eternality he is and those are all Greek participles he is he was and he is about to be which means that he's always out there in the future but when Jesus introduced himself watch what he does verse 8. yeah he steps up and said allow me to introduce myself now I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come but he didn't stop there he said I've got a further Revelation for you and so

if you take those those verbs he says I the Lord which is the Almighty which was the Almighty and which will always be the Almighty that's me I was I am and I will always be the Almighty um he hasn't diminished in power he hasn't shrunken in size God hasn't lost any weight at all he hasn't put down any Authority or power what he is he always was and he always will be the Almighty now just so we can get on the same page here I want to give you a little definition this is it sounds like something out of a movie script the the word there is pantocrator Ponto krator it's a compound Greek word which means all powerful or holding everything I used

to like to go to the table to go to meetings when I had all the cards when I came to the table I like to have all my ducks in a row so that I had everything prepared and this is about what Jesus is saying of himself it implies that something is being tightly grasped in the hand and the Hand represents gripping strength and the power to hold if you don't have that you can't do a whole lot you can't you can't function as well as you should when you start losing your grip strength that's a measure of your power what you are able to hold on to the hand represents gripping strength and the power to hold and so Jesus says I am still

holding I always was holding and I will always be holding everything It All Belongs to Me amen I want to talk a little bit about the rise of Empires right now and probably bore you to death and maybe watch your eyes roll back in your head just for fun but uh back in the days after the flood Empires and kingdoms didn't start to become built until after the days of the flood and that's when Nimrod everybody knows who Nimrod was Genesis 10 9 and 10 says this that he was a mighty Hunter before the Lord wherefore it is said even as Nimrod the mighty Hunter before the Lord and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Eric and akkad and kelne in the land

of shinar so it was then that he began to build this man by the name of nimrod began to build kingdoms and cities he was the first one there were no kings that you ever read about before Nimrod began to establish these things and so after Nimrod though there begin to be kingdoms and Empires that were built there was the Sumerian Kingdom that started everything off I guess um Sumerians gave us cuneiform writing they gave us a man by the name of urnamu who gave us he was the first law Giver actually even before Hammurabi the Acadian King who came along and gave us the Code of Hammurabi these were law givers of these kingdoms Babylon we all know what Babylon was right it started

back there at the Tower of Babel and Nimrod and this kingdom was built the first iteration of that Babylonian kingdom was a great Kingdom I I Marvel sometimes when I look at the the accomplishments of the kingdoms of the world even in ancient times the things that they built they built things so precisely with with Antiquated and and primitive tools that you can't even slide a piece of paper between some of the stones that they put together so there was an amazing amazing technology even back then in those days these kingdoms were built so the Sumerian Kingdom fell to the Acadian Kingdom the Acadian Kingdom Rose and and then Babylon came along and took over the Acadian Kingdom then there was the Egyptian Kingdom 31

dynasties in Egypt over 3 000 years we see the the pharaoh's tombs the the pyramids and all the Great accomplishments of of Egypt and Egypt was a mighty Mighty Kingdom in its time but the Assyrians decided they were going to take over the world of the day and so they came down and you you remember Nineveh Jonah was sent to Nineveh Nineveh is a modern-day mosul in Northern Iraq that's where their kid their their capital city was God sent um Jonah down to Nineveh to prophesy against them the Assyrians were a fear others Fierce People this is how bad they were they would they would cut their enemies heads off and then stake them out so that it would just scare you to death and

intimidate people into not attacking them and so the Assyrians were were great warriors but they didn't last what happened the Babylonians came along and conquered this second iteration of Babylon came along and they conquered the Assyrians and took over the the known world or part of the known world as it were of that day now the first are you are you still with me the first world Empire was that of Persia had its capital in a place called persepolis it was a beautiful beautiful uh structure that was built there for the palace and it was the the very first of the world Empires and you all probably have heard a little story about the Thermopylae the Battle of Thermopylae and the the 300 Spartans anybody

ever hear about that huh where where the Persian king I think was Darius uh the second who sent his troops down there and told King Leonidas he said uh I I want you to give up all your weapons and King Leonidas says something to this effect in the Greek he said Malone labe Malone La Bay the Second Amendment people in in of our modern day in America wear this on their shirts now says Malone labe it means come and take the Persian king says I want your weapons and the and the the the Greek king says come and take them and so they sent these 300 Spartans out there were actually more than that but but the Persians just just beat them into the ground

they thought valiantly but after all was said and done the smokes uh cleared and the dust was settled these the the Greeks had lost to the Persians well a couple of hundred years later there was a young man by the name of Alexander who got his revenge because he took his army up to Iran which is was Persia and he marched into their capital city of persepolis and he burned everything to the ground Revenge was sweet the Persians was a great Empire but they couldn't hold anything the Greeks conquered Persia and then in turn Rome came along Rome had the greatest military machine that had ever been fielded they were brutal and they conquered everything in their path and so they established their empire they

conquered what was then the greatest Empire which was Greece and and Rome came along and conquered the Grecian Empire you kind of get the picture where I'm going with this the ability to conquer is not the thing foreign you can amass an army and you can group together a powerful war machine and you can go out and conquer many kings and Emperors did that they went out and they conquered but they couldn't hold they could not hold in the modern era we saw in Spain and Portugal and and England as they colonized the world one at one point it was said that the Sun never sets on the British Empire you could go anywhere in the world and there were British Colonials there and so

we saw as in modern times it doesn't exist anymore why because the problem is not in what you can conquer but what you are able to hold I'll get there just hang on there were two commonalities shared with every Empire that was ever built the first was they intended that they would last forever that their Kingdom would have no end every Emperor every King you could go back to the Pharaohs and they were all called the king of kings you can go to the some hundred Roman emperors and they were all called the King of Kings every Empire that was ever built was built on the premise that this is the end we're going to be the last one standing we are the king of

kings but the second commonality that they share brother Adam is that none could hold they could Proclaim they could conquer but they could not hold for very long what they had conquered amen the subjugation of man is an ongoing theme of History it started in the east of the Eden when God planted that Garden there put Adam and Eve in that garden and Adam was lured into surrendering a god-given authority to a serpent God gave man dominion over everything that he had created it was his intent that man should rule this Earth as uh as God had created him in his image but Along Comes the enemy the one called the devil the old Serpent and he tempted you know the story but what was

lost there was the ability to rule we laid down our Authority and surrendered our domain into the hands of the devil and believe me the devil is an opportunist he will take everything that you will give into his hands the Bible says that he's like a roaring lion that goes about seeking whom he may devour he will take everything that you will give him and so Adam surrendered The Authority The god-given Authority that had been placed in him to this enemy of humankind and so the devil takes the ball and he runs with it and he began to continue the expansion of his kingdom of darkness it looked like that it would go on forever it built and built to the point where God looked

at Humanity in Genesis 6 5 he said God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every everybody say every every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually it looked like we were on a downhill spiral and we could not pull ourselves out of that tailspin it was it was looked like the darkness was going to overtake everything until God stepped in and tore it all down and began Anew with a man who had found Grace in the eyes of the Lord by the name of Noah and God says I'm going to start all over with eight Souls that have been saved by this Arkham even after the devastation though of God's judgment with a new

beginning it did not take long until the enemy once again established a foothold in humanity and begin to establish his kingdom once again Darkness began to to Reign again you would think that we would learn the lesson after a while that we would resist the devil as the Bible says but there is something inherent in our nature that Temptation that that that presentation that Satan brings to us that gets us if we are not careful every time even in the best of conditions we will fall prey to him if we do not guard if we are not aware of his tactics and the message that Satan presented to humanity was the same as every Empire that was ever built of his message he is this

this Kingdom this kingdom of darkness if you're not going to escape it it's going to rain forever and there is no way out but thank God for a voice of a prophet a prophet with a message for hope for all of humanity that still Rings clear today we get excited about this Isaiah 9 6 listen to this one God just is giving a promise of something that that that will bring hope to humanity that is engulfed in darkness who thinks that there is no escape and that the kingdom of darkness is going to stand forever but this is what the Lord says For unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his

name Shall be Called wonderful counselor the Mighty God the Everlasting father the Prince of Peace but it didn't stop there of the increase of his government and and peace listen to this all of you world Empires who think you're going to stand forever this is the promise that God gives to us of the increase of his government and peace of there shall be no end upon the the Throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with Justice from henceforth even forever we ought to give the Lord a hand clap of praise tonight because we are not bound by kingdoms of Darkness Hallelujah he said everybody stand back at the Zeal of the Lord of hosts will

perform this it's in the hands of God and still the darkness was pervasive it seemed to engulf everything but Galatians 4 4 says this when the fullness um when the fullness of the time was come God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law he always comes through folks he will always perform his word he'll do exactly what he said he would do take heart in this he would with his word with his coming into the world this this God incarnate coming into the world of humanity he would with his word and his Spirit conquer every sphere of creation and every stronghold of hell listen I I Marvel sometimes at the the effects of of what Jesus Christ actually did when

he came into this world he took every sphere of creation he descended to the lower regions of the earth and he ascended up on high and every level of creation between he conquered every one of them and subjugated them to his own authority when he was confronted with the most egregious acts of sin for which there was no sacrifice under the law what did he do he said I forgive you go and sin no more the things that the law could not do for Humanity what was he doing he was punching holes in the darkness and and tearing down the kingdom of this world when the woman was brought to him caught in the very Act of adultery they expected that he was going to

follow the law but instead he said neither do I condemn thee go and sin no more aren't you glad for a forgiving savior he broke the Yoke of sin with those simple words I forgive you I forgive you it is listen it's not the responsibility of the church to forgive anybody it's the responsibility of the church to introduce everybody to somebody who can forgive everything Hallelujah I can't forgive your sin but I can point you to somebody who is able to wash it all away when he was confronted with infirmities In the Flesh that had never since the world began they marveled at this in John the ninth chapter they said nobody since the beginning of the world has ever healed the eyes of the

blind nobody what did Jesus do he just spent on that made some mud balls and put them on the guy's eye and he healed him and gave him back his sight when he was confronted with death he just said daughter arise he stopped the funeral procession and gave life back to the one who was dead I'm telling you he was Conquering the strongholds of hell every Power that hell held was being broken by This Man Called Jesus Christ if it was the infirmity of the flesh he healed it if it was sin he's he forgave it and if it was the stigma of leprosy and being an outcast he gave them restoration and a future he comes to the coast of gadera where there's a

man living among the tombs that is possessed of the devil what does he do he gave him a cleansing and restored his sanity listen there is nothing that my God Has Not Conquered in this world in all of creation and then this audacious claim that he made Upon This Rock I'll build my church and what he's saying folks is Bring It On hell Bring It On I'm going to build my church on a rock and the gates of hell is not going to be able to contain this church oh folks I said it in the prayer meeting yesterday when Jesus talked to that woman in John 4 he said to her if you only knew if you only had an inkling if you and I

ever get our eyes opened to what Jesus Christ has put into the church what he has invested in the Church of the authority and the power that is yours as a child of God when you step up into the the reality of what he's given you you will become a very different person and a force to be reckoned with in the world amen that dark day of crucifixion appeared to be the Triumph of the dark kingdom it looked like the kingdom of hell was was finally going to establish itself above every thing else look at him he's beaten he's bloodied he's got a crown of thorns and blood streaming down his face hanging up there naked to the crowd humiliated look at him hell must

have been rejoicing the power of death was upon him I like what Jesus did though listen the Bible says that he dismissed his spirit it's not quite as illustrative as I'd like it to be what it really says is that when it says he gave up the ghost it says he dismissed his spirit you see he couldn't die because he was the Eternal God so in order to follow through with this he just politely says to his spirit you may go now and he died what was he doing he was showing that even this death because on the third day he would prove it once and for all that this death that had taken him had conquered him it looked like had put him on

the cross and then put him in the Tomb it looked like death had won it looked like the power of death had conquered him but even though death maybe had won that that battled there at Calvary the power of death could not hold see that's the that's the problem is you can conquer but you can't hold you can conquer for a while but you can't hold him and so upon coming out what did Jesus say to them Matthew 28 18. and Jesus came and spake unto them saying man I met I Met Death I'm at hell I met everything every possible obstacle but let me tell you something right now all power is given unto me in heaven and in Earth and with that declaration

listen if he says he's got all the power it means that there's nothing left for anybody else let me translate that for you because power there's two words for power one of them is power we know that Satan the devil hell has power right we can't deny that there's a power of hell but what Jesus the word he was using here Pastor Brad was exousia he said all the authority is mine I have the legal right to everything and and if you don't have the legal right to it you are a usurper and an interloper and you gotta you gotta yield to this are you hearing me tonight when you when you have this name this this name of Jesus you are speaking the name

in which is invested all the authority in heaven and in Earth and if we ever if we ever if we ever know and understand what Authority we have in this Kingdom in this realm of the spirit we would be a very transformed people amen and so here we are in modern era it looks like hell has undergone an expansion program Darkness as in the beginning prevails on the face of the Earth remember back in Genesis 1 2 Watch What Happens here Genesis 1 2 and the Earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep but Darkness can't hold when God moves and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters listen Darkness can only last until

the spirit of God steps in and when the spirit of God steps in darkness has no claim no power and no Authority I'm looking into the faces of people who have been redeemed I assume by the blood of the Lamb amen hey raise your hand right now you you've experienced that Redemptive power of the blood of Jesus Christ has redeemed you out of your sin let me tell you something there's some maybe some new people here and and some people who are just coming into the church but let me tell you something there's something to this new birth experience you are coming out of a kingdom of darkness into a kingdom of light and and when God forgives you he doesn't forget because there's no

ignorance in omniscience you can't know everything and forget stuff this is why Jesus compared it to a new birth you take that newborn baby you got no past to talk about you can't talk about the things that baby did because it didn't do anything it's just been born into the world and so Jesus said Marvel not that I say unto you you must be born again and when listen when this broke on me I began to just rejoice in the Lord because when you are born into the kingdom of God this one that's going to last forever your sins don't have to be forgotten they are gone God is the only one who can uncreate something he wipes them away and you are a newborn

child you have no past in the realm of the spirit Hallelujah your past is gone don't give up the naming rights to the devil he wants to come back and and he wants to name you don't allow hell to claim you by allowing it to name you are you hearing me you go to Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and you stand up I haven't been I just know what they do okay you stand up and you say hi my name's Dennis I'm an alcoholic you are identified by your sin you go to an Arcanine meeting you stand up you identify yourself and I am an addict you identify yourself with your sin let me tell you something it should not be so in the church Paul said

and such were some of you but you're washed you're Sanctified you're Justified you are not do not come into the church and identify yourself as an addict an alcoholic any kind of sin that you might identify with do not call yourself that you are a born-again child of God washed in the blood of Jesus Christ of you have no pastor but you have all the future Hallelujah we get bogged down sometimes and allow the enemy to identify Us by the sin that we commit you're a failure I'm not a failure I'm a child of the king there's Royal Blood that flows in my veins I'm not a nobody I know who I am I've got the name of Jesus applied to my life don't let

the the enemy identify you and give him the naming rights to your life when he comes against you you tell him I'm a Child of God I'm a born-again bible-believing holy ghost filled Jesus name child of God Amen and you have no hold over me the enemy and some of our lives may have told us that there's no escape from his grasp just like every other Emperor believing that their empire would last forever the devil wants you to believe that he's got a grip on your life and you'll never get out of his grip he says things like what you are that's what you're always going to be you'll never get out of this nobody's going to deliver you your situation is terminal you fail

too many times you'll never recover from this failure stop listening to the voices of one whose fate is sealed and his Doom is sure and his kingdom is going to come down ultimately stop listening to that voice of but listen rather to the voice of the one who says I love you so much I went to a cross I gave my life for you to purchase you out of sin I've redeemed you by my blood do not go back we get knocked down sometimes but Micah 7 and 8 says what rejoice not against me O Mine enemy doesn't say if I fall some of those cork sniffers out there need to understand this you know some of those people that never have a failure in

their life I don't know anybody like that but you know you run into people like that who are just the epitome of everything I'm not one of them it doesn't say if I fall it says when I fall don't Rejoice against me just yet when I fall what's going to happen I shall arise because I'm a part of a kingdom that is on an upward trajectory it is not going down it's always going upward it and when I sit in darkness of the Lord shall be a light unto me hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah if you knew listen I don't have a whole lot of influence in Washington DC sister Amber my vote don't count for much so if I walk in the White House they'd probably

it'd be a long cold ride home let's put it that way I don't even have a whole lot of influence in Jeff City if I go to the State House in Jeff City they don't know who I am Dennis who get him out of here I don't have a lot of influence there so it's just on my even in in local government I don't have any influence there matter of fact I don't have a whole lot of influence anywhere anybody else with me I don't have a whole lot of influence anywhere except one place there's one place that I do have influence there's one place where my voice is heard one place when I pull back that Veil you with me there's a place you

may feel oh so small I'm trying to inspire somebody tonight to step up into who you truly are you are a child of the most high God you call him father and he calls you son or daughter he knows who you are he knows your voice he knows the Cry of your heart he knows of and so while I don't have influence in World politics or national politics or local politics up I do have a place where I can influence somebody and thanks be to God the one that I have a voice with just happens to be brother Everett the one who said I am I was and I will always be the Almighty I don't need the president of the United States of I

don't need the governor of the state of Missouri when I can pull back the veil and go into that prayer room that throne room and stand in the presence of of the one who says I've got all the power I've got all the authority that you need Hallelujah you do too you need to step up right now and and tell yourself I have influence them with the most powerful person ever when I go to my knees in prayer Hallelujah I go to him look at what happens I come like remember the story of of Jacob and Isaac those old saying that says sometimes you know even a blind hog finds an acorn once in a while I think Jacob kind of stumbled into this he

comes to his father Isaac and Isaac says is that you he saw he said yep he said come closer and let me let me see what you're wearing yep that's Esau's garments what do you got for me I've got an offering of this lamb stew huh bring it here when I go before my father I don't go in my own name I go in the name that's been applied to my life and that name means something in the portals of Glory and I don't go in my own garments because I have put on brother Mike I have put on his garments his righteousness I've put on Jesus Christ so that when I approach him I approach him with the name that is above every name

I approach him when the garments of righteousness and not the filthy rags of my sin and I bring to him an offering that came out of his own flock the lamb that was slain I bring that back to him and say I am coming to you on the basis of this slain lamb I'm bringing you this offering again and showing you this is what you did for me I want to give it back to you hmm you have a name that is above every demon of hell that is greater than any power of sickness let's stand right now I feel the Holy Ghost in This Place somebody needs to get a hold of this the enemy has been taunting you and tormenting you and telling

you that there is no end of his kingdom in your life that it's not going to stop he's going to keep bringing the onslaught and and you're not going to escape from his kingdom but I'm going to tell you something there is a name that is able to break every yoke of sin that's able to break every chain of bondage and that's able to break any any problem that exists in your life and all you oh if we only knew if we only knew that all I have to do is call on that name and when I invoke that name of Jesus I am calling on all the authority and the power that heaven can bring to my situation Hallelujah and when the kingdoms of

this world have fallen time is declared null you know what he's still the Almighty he's still the almighty the one who has an iron grip on everything that he ever had in eternity Luke 1 33 says and he shall reign over the house of Jacob everybody say forever and of his kingdom there shall be everybody say no end listen he's not going to abandon us he's not going to forsake us he's not going to put down his scepter of authority he's going to be at the end what he was in the beginning he's still going to be the almighty your situation is not going to change him your situation is not going to defeat him because nothing can defeat the Almighty Bill Gaither wrote a

great line in one of his songs he's it's called he's still the king of kings and they sing it A Christmas I think but let's have Christmas in July or whatever he said he has walked by the gravesides of Earth's Fallen Kings who opposed him and yet he's still reigning whoo somehow love and compassion have conquered it all even foes join with Heaven proclaiming Hosanna he's still the King of Kings and the Lord of lords don't let the devil tell you that somehow he's got you in his grips and you're not going to escape I challenge you this night call on the name of Jesus and not just call on it in a perfunctory sense of don't just say it but say it with some

Authority when you speak the name of Jesus when you pray in the name of Jesus when you call that name of Jesus over your situation believe it and do it with some Authority I will not be defeated in this situation or this problem I will not because I have this beautiful beautiful name of Jesus Hallelujah I pray that we we receive something a revelation I think that's what Jesus was all about here he was trying to tell John who was on that island in Exile old hurting in his body but he said I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and when he saw him he said I want you to know John who I am your situation doesn't change me your situation doesn't

diminish my power you're walking through this Valley right now but I want you to know I am I was and I will always be the Almighty Hallelujah let's just thank you for that right now father we thank you for this great name of Jesus by which all the family of Heaven and Earth is named you're already doing it let's just spend some time magnifying that name and if you've got a need here tonight you might as well take advantage of the fact that the almighty is here would you just lift up that name or call on that name right now and insert it in your prayer and praise Lord we lift you up on the midst of these needs Lord in the midst of the

world that we're living in we lift up and we magnify the name of Jesus been applied to our lives and we call on that name for every family and every need Lord we're asking for your help and you're covering Lord right now help us to remember who we are and whose we are and that name that's applied to our lives in Jesus name in Jesus name I'm going to ask you we might as well do this we're in the presence of God we've got his name if you have a need would you just lift your hand right now and we're going to pray in that name of Jesus and who knows at the end of this service tonight because you call on that name God

can touch would you pray right now there's needs all across the building Lord we invoke that name and we invoke the almighty God who that name represents we're calling on the name of Jesus over every life over every sickness and Circumstance we speak that name of Jesus and we pray in Jesus name for healing provision for peace Lord and for strength tonight in Jesus name we pray we thank you for that name we thank you Jesus thank you Lord