Beyond Measure | Student Pastor Zach Hammond

Stand to your feet. Ezekiel 43 and verse number 12. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms. And Brother Nolan asked me as I was coming out of the office tonight. He said, "You got a good Mother's Day message?" And I said, "Nope. I just have a message." So, um, pastor preached, "What a wonderful word today." Amen. What a wonderful word this morning. What a great gathering and host of guests and friends and so many of you that are here tonight. I just want to build your faith tonight. It's what I'm here for. Just I hope that by the time we're done that you just see a little bit more of a glimpse of the glory of God. Just just a just a slight bit more. If it's just a little bit more of a glimpse of the glory of God, then we've we've made a we've made great stride. But I'm just going to preach to you about faith tonight. Ezekiel has a vision of the rebuilding of the tabernacle. And verse 12 says, "This is the law of the house." house. Everybody say, "The law of the house." The law of the house. So upon the top of the mountain, the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. Everybody say, "The law of the house." God says it in his word. Anytime he says something twice, just right there in the same couple verses, we need to take note of it. He says the law of the house and these are the measures of the altar after the cubits. The cubit is a cubit and a hand breath. So these are the measures of the altar after the cubits. The cubits is a cubit. One cubit and a hand breath. Even the bottom shall it be a cubit and the breadth the cubit. and the border thereof, by the edge thereof, round about shall be a span. And this shall be the higher place of the altar. What in the world does that have to do with anything? Hopefully, it'll take me a few minutes, but hopefully we can understand this passage, this vision here just a little bit better when we leave here tonight. My title is Beyond Measure. Beyond Measure. Would you lay your Bibles down? I want you to lift your hands to heaven and just ask God to increase my faith tonight. Lord, I pray that you would help me tonight, God, to articulate your word, Lord, to speak life into a room, Lord, to speak hope into something, Lord, that seems hopeless, Lord, to speak, God, faith into every life tonight, no matter where they sit, no matter if they are standing before a giant or there's something down the road that you said trouble's coming, but I have overcome the world. that we stand here as more than conquerors, but we know that we are going to face trials. We're going to fe face tribulation. We're going to face things. Lord, I pray that you would just build our faith tonight, Lord, as we know that you are greater and you are more than able to do all that we need tonight. Lord, speak to us in Jesus name we pray. Amen and amen. Clap your hands to the Lord one more time. You may be seated tonight. God uses mankind from the very beginning and empowers them to do great and mighty things throughout working, throughout obeying, throughout different tactics and ways God uses man. And God is always very specific. You'll see in the Bible there's very few things that are without measure. He when it comes to building something, creating something, making something, he is going to give a measurement. Places like hell are those that are without measure. It's just has enlarged itself. It's not got any dimension to it. And you know, there's certain things when it comes to the presence of God or the mercy of God. Mercy has no limits. We've talked about that before. But God uses something throughout the Old Testament called a cubit. Everybody say a cubit. Cubit. Anybody using cubits on your your job? Brother Kenny French, you got a you got a cubit you're using building those houses or anything? Brother Randy, do we use not we're not using a cubit. We're going to go in feet or you know, we're we're we're going to go in uh inches. And you know, I still struggle with reading a tape measure. I got one of those cheap ones, Brother Perry. I got one, you know, it tells me what it actually says. I can't I just got to and uh they make fun of me if I've got that thing on a job site that's one of those cheapening tape measures. But you you wouldn't use a cubit nowadays. But all through the Old Testament, that's what you hear over and over and over again is this cubit. And it's not a foot, not a yard. And it's sometimes like what in the world is this cubit? But when you know, he tells Noah to build an arc. This first time he uses measurement. He tells Noah to build this ark and to make it 300 cubits long. That sounds big, but we don't really know because we don't really know what a cubit is. He says, "Make it 30 cubits high and 50 cubits wide." And it's so so amazing to see how God's word is so perfect. You know, today they still use that formula to build selling vessels. Today, if you're going to go look at a battleship, they still use that formula. That amount of of of height and breadth and depth and everything that he said, "Noah, build this ark." They still build boats that are going to sell in great waters by that formula today. Why? because God's ways from the very beginning are still the best ways. And so he he says you want to use this cubit. Now this cubit is something that I had to do a little research to kind of understand what a cubit is and I need some a little bit of a you know we'll go kind of like we would with the students and I need everybody just kind of help me out tonight. Would you hold your arm out? A cubit is said to be six hand breaths. That's the Bible. But six hand widths. Let's say it that way. Maybe you understand a little bit better. Six hand widths is from the break of your arm to the tip of your middle finger. So you can take the width of your hand six times and it will go to the length of your middle finger. If that doesn't work, you might be a little weird. Let's just be honest, okay? But mo most people Sorry, I love you. Just got T-Rex arms. It's okay. No. All right. But in in in the creation of man, whe you say, "Well, some people got long arms." Yeah, but they should have a wide hand. That make sense? Okay. So, six. So, he says when when you go to measure something, when you're going to go build something, you're going to build it out of a cubit. And the cubit is from the break of your arm to the tip of your middle finger. And we're going to use this as a measurement to build and construct and to be productive. So what does this tell me? This tells me that God is so perfect that he chooses Noah. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And the special thing about this is that we are all so unique and so different. It tells me that nobody could have built Noah's ark like Noah did. If they'd have brought somebody else out, 300 cubits and 50 cubits would have been a little bit shorter or a little bit taller. So when he chose Noah, he chose the perfect formula for selling vessels. He didn't just randomly pick somebody. He looked down and said, "Noah is the plan." The man was the measurement. The man was the plan. It wasn't just a random selection of saying this man found grace in the eye. He did. But perhaps he said, "This is the perfect size cubit arm to construct this vessel that would save mankind. I'm going to destroy all the earth and I'm going to use this special measurement called the cubit. You can't separate the man from the plan. From the creation of man to where we stand today is all a reflection of the cubit. The iPhone, the internet, the increasing amount of knowledge. It's amazing to see that by the time you get a new phone and figure it out, it's out of date because man's hands are at work. Man's hands are figuring out new ways to do things, new ways to knowledge has increased and there's productivity. It's all a product of man's cubid, man's hand. When Solomon went to build the temple in 1st Kings 6 and verse number two, and the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof was three score cubits, and the breadth thereof 20 cubits, and the height thereof 30 cubits, and the porch before the temple of the house 20 cubits, and the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house was 10 cubits, was the breadth thereof before the house. What does that tell me? that Solomon's temple was called Solomon's temple because it was built by the specification of Solomon's hand. Do we understand that? He gave him a measurement, right? So, we've seen Nebuchadnezzar builds this golden image, six cubits wide, 60 cubits tall. Goliath is described as nine cubits tall. You you you you say, "Well, how in the world do you determine that?" It's almost a guesstimation because it's really based upon who's telling you that, right? The writer is even giving you a definition to say this is the best I can measure him. But we we're just we're really just guessing when they tell us even though they built the ark and that you went up to the ark encounter on a an exc field trip the other day. you got there. And we really don't know how big the ark was without knowing how long Noah's arm was. Are you with me? Because the measurement of what was being built was based upon the person who was building. That's why it was called Solomon's temple, Noah's ark. You see it throughout the scripture. is going to be connected to the person who constructed it because it was based upon the measurement of the man. So when they begin building the tabernacle in the wilderness, the priest was greatly involved. Exodus 27 and1. And thou shalt make an altar of shidum wood, five cubits long, five cubits broad. The altar shall be four square. In other words, it's five cubits all four ways, and the height thereof shall be three cubits. He uses this all throughout the court of the tabernacle. The outer court supposed to be 100 cubits long and to make it 50 cubits wide and I want 10 pillars and 10 bases and the entrance shall be 15 cubits and three bases and three pillars and the altar deals with sin. We know that, right? The outer court is a place where they're dealing with sin and they're they've got this separation. The priest would go in. All of it is measured in cubits. All of it is built by the the priest is supposed to measure and to be involved. He's not just standing on the outside and letting all these people go in and the Levites do this work. And he is the measuring tool of what would be constructed as the that this blueprint of this relationship between man and God. This altar deals with sin and it's got these measurements and standard cubits. There's no dimension for the labor as you've heard pastor teach many times. If you've been through Search for Truth, you probably heard this. But there's no dimensions for the labor. Why? Because when he washes you, there is no limits of of your sin. He can wash you from the furthest, the worst of past, the the it doesn't matter what you've done, there's no dimensions for the labor. That's why when he went to shut the ark, there's no dimensions for the door. He tells you how big the windows going to be, how big the roof's going to be, how big this is going to be, and that's going to be. But when it comes to the door, the place that God is is allowing access there through the water. Amen. That there's no dimensions. And it's awful interesting. I actually read this this week that he said he shut Noah in there. It's almost like Noah didn't want to go in. I don't know if I'd want to go in with all those animals either. It's like, "Hey, get in there." You know, shut him in there. It wasn't Noah's choice to close the door. He shut him in there. So there's there's no dimensions there, but there's a lot of dimensions. It's very specific and it's round numbers. It's 6x 6 by3 when it comes to the altar. There's no dimensions for the labor. And then we step into a place that houses his presence. And for some reason when it comes to his presence, when we move past the labor, we all of a sudden Exodus 37:10 says, "When you make a table of of shidum wood, which is the table of shoebre, two cubits was the length thereof, and the cubit breadth thereof was a cubit and a half the height thereof." Now, we automatically think that word half is just half of of of a cubit. But when it says half there, it's it's he says in verse 11, he says, "I wanted you to overlay it with pure gold." And we know that bron the the brass that that was on the altar dealt with sin. But when you got into the the holy of holies when you got into the presence of God, everything's laid with gold. And the dimensions are different. The dimensions are not round numbers. They're not six, they're not three, they're not nine, they're not 12, they're not four. It's all something and a half. It's it's a cubit and a little bit more. It's a cubit and just a another hand breadth if we could say it that way. Another length or width of a hand. So you go through, he says when you make the the ark of wood, he said two cubits and a half was the length and the cubit was half the breadth of it and the cubit was a half the height of it and the overlaid it with pure gold and without with a crown of gold. He said, "I want you to take this measurement, but I want you to add just an extra hand." When you see the presence of God, and they're trying to symbolize it, it is always your hand, but then a little bit extra. It's beyond what you can measure. You could measure just the cubit, but he said, "When it comes to the presence of God, when it comes to the word of God, there's another hand. When it comes to the word of God, it's not just me looking at it, but there's a hand of God that's involved. When it comes to mercy, it's not anything I can comprehend. There's a hand of God involved. When it comes to the presence, the ark of the covenant, it's not just a round number of I can measure it out in cubits, but there's a another hand that's involved. Amen. I need to take care of what I need to take care of at the altar, and I need to sacrifice some things, but when I get into his presence, there's another hand. It's it's that it's that that that presence and he says and and you can't help and our Lord I I got into all kinds of stuff today and I'm going to hurry because I know we've had a lot of stuff going on but that's why I believe that same word that he said a cubit and a half that when the Queen of Sheba showed up and was looking at it she said the half has not been told same word. Why? Because you can't describe that extra hand. You can do all these things with your hand and you can work these cubits out and you can measure it out and you can have a plan, but there's another hand that comes in that half's not been told. I couldn't help but think I just got to searching that word half and you know they they it's not in there, you know, but they they suspect that Jesus he lived 33. It's all throughout the scripture. the words just duplicated and it's like he's he did all this in in in the body of a man but there was also that other hand breath it was just an sometimes if we're not careful we become so productive and we become so good at having church and we become so good at being Christians and we're so adaptable we've come so far as a church and we're building things and we're creating things and we've become more creative and and and we've got all these things going on we never thought things would be possible. We're driving cars and cars are driving us and there's artificial intelligence and business is booming and I'm working hard. But if we're not careful, we'll become too reliant on just our cubit. Our hands can become so productive, brother Ben, that if we're not careful, we'll forget that without him, we can't do anything. Without him, we can't do nothing. Hey, Teddy, come here. Help me real quick. Help me. Help me. I want you to look at something. Maybe this is why. Run, run, run, run. You're fast. Come here, buddy. Well, maybe this is why God says you need to have childlike faith. Huh? Look at Look at this hand. You know what? What? What's What's he going to build with these hands? Anybody going to hire Teddy to build you a house? Anybody going to trust Teddy with with with with anything that you're you really want done? No. He's a child. But guess what? He's not going to put near as much faith in this breath, this this cubit as his daddy is. And so his faith in God in the extra hand is going to be a whole lot higher because he don't have near as much faith in this hand. So he's not over here measuring what God can do because he knows I can't do it. So, I'm going to let God do it. My hands can't do it, so I'm going to give it to God. But if we're not careful, God's saying, "I need you to get back to the way you were when you're a child, where you weren't near as dependent upon yourself, but you're more dependent upon me and what I can do for you and how I can work for you." Amen. Thank you, Yeah. Yeah. We're we're we're good at it. We're we're good at having church. We're good at we we've been around it so long and we understand all the things and we can say the right things and we can check the box and we can we we can dress the part. We can speak the language, right? To the point where we're not careful. We're just managing an identity. That's right. It doesn't it doesn't take much faith, right? How many times are we looking beyond what we can measure, beyond what we can really plan out, beyond what we can fathom? We're seeing things flourish, but we forget that we can measure out and do a lot of things with our hands. But John 15, Jesus says, "Without me, you can do nothing. You can do nothing." Paul, he uses terms that have to do with ex exceeding and and and all all of these these terms that are beyond what we could really understand. But Paul says to the church at Rome, he says, "For I say through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you," everybody say everybody not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think because that's the moment that the the extra hand has to go. You understand that? When we begin to take matters into our own hands, when we begin to look and and and deceive, our own heart begins to deceive us and we begin to just I'm going to deal with that. I'm going to take matters into my own hands. I'm going to deal with this situation. I'm going to take then he has to remove that extra that half. So Paul's dealing with this concept, this thought process process. He says, "But I need you to think soberly. According to God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." I want you to say that with me. Everybody say, "The the measure of faith." Not a the not a not like you got a measure and I got a measure. He gave you something that he didn't give me. No. While you were formed in your mother's womb, he said, "I'm going to give you the measure of faith." He would give you the measure that he knew you would need. for everything you've ever been through, everything you'll ever go through. He put in you the measure of faith to be able to deal with a divorce, with the to be able to deal with the loss of a child, to deal with the the the heartbreaking things that you've been he said, I'm going to give you the measure of faith to deal with a prodal, the measure of faith. And the thing is is we we have what we need. The measure is here. It's not it's not a thing where you get to look across the aisle and say, "Man, man, I if I had their faith, I could do it." No. The faith that you need has been dealt to you, and he's dealt the measure to you that he dealt to them. The difference is is allowing that extra hand to work. It's not my will, it's your will. It's not by my might or by my power, but by your spirit. It's by that extra hand that comes you. You've been giving everything you need in your mother's womb to be able to measure out your life to be able to work. You you you've got to understand that tonight. There are no excuses when it comes to faith. You've been dealt the measure. You've been given the measure to be able to navigate the life that you are living. He said, "This is the law of the house. A cubit is measured by the man or the woman. A measure of faith has been dealt. The Hebrews chapter Hebrews 11 and verse number 8 says, "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he would have received an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out, and not knowing whether he went. By faith he so joined into a land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and with Jacob and the heirs, with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. We get deceived if we think we walk into a place like this and think that some man built it. We get deceived into thinking that we begin to look at our business and it's booming and thriving and we think we did it. The moment that we begin to look at anything that's not made by God, given by God, the blessings of God, is the moment that we begin to take and put our hands back on the steering wheel. We begin to take over control. I'm here to remind somebody tonight, we can't do it without him. We no matter what level of success you feel like you've you've you've achieved no matter how good it is or perhaps how bad it is. You can't do anything without him. I know you got some measurements and some of you you feel like you got you great things happening right now and you've got this going that. No, no, no. You're nothing without Jesus. Nothing without God. Nothing without his presence. I've got to have the hand of God. Jesus says, "I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days, I will build another made without hands." There's certain things that only God can build. There's certain things in your life that only God can do. Some of us, he he says in there that the Bible there there are doors that God can open that no man can shut. But then there's another door. The next verse, it says God is standing there knocking at. You've got to understand when it is time for your hand to work and when it is time for his hand to work. There's times you need to open a door and there's times you need to let the Lord open a door. There's times where you you're kicking doors down that God never meant for you to walk through. There's times, but God's sitting here saying, "Hey, I'll I'll I'll come in if you'll let me. I'll come in." So, what what does that tell me? That faith is this process of not knowing and un and understanding that I'm going to do what God has asked me to do, but there's going to be times where I can't do anything. God's hand is going to show up, and it's going to show up right on time. He is going to build something. He's going to open up a door. He's going to send the rain. He's going to do something great in your life. And it's not going to be by your hands. It's not going to be by your thoughts. It's not going to be anything you could accomplish. The greatest times and moments and seasons of our life is when we can look back and say, "I don't know how that happened. I don't know how I got here. I don't know how I made it through that. I don't know how I say. What was it?" It had to be the hand of the Lord. It wasn't my hand. I stand here today and if I was here by my own accord, who knows where I would be. I'm here by the grace and by the mercy of God. If you're here today and you're a testament as a child of God, you're a testament to the hand of the Lord, not your cubits, not your hands. It's the blessings of God upon your life. every every everything that we read, every covenant, every promise, every uh every every everything that we see that we're like, I want to buy into that. I want to be a part of that. I want that to be prophesied over me. I want that to be speak spoken over my life. Those are all God hand moments. It doesn't matter if it's time, talent, or treasure. Pastors talked about it many times. It's a open hand that engages the hand of God. It's it's a it's an open hand. It's an open mind. It's a open heart that engages the hand of God. He said it's beyond man's hands. It's beyond what you and I could do. And many times that's what we especially as adults and the older we get have a hard time fathoming something that's not within our measurements. That doesn't logistically that doesn't work. This doesn't measure out the way that I think it should. He says we are this temple. It's made without hands. This treasure and earth and vessel. He's speaking to us when he says that know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which you have of God and you are not your own. Why does he keep saying every time Paul talks about it and he's talking about you being this temple made without hands. He's got to remind you you can't measure this temple. You you you can't put you you can't say hey oh I'm only I'm only going to let God do this if if if I can do this. And he says no you're bought with a price. Therefore, you glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which is God's. We are made in his image. We have the cubit. We have the measurement. We have hands that we must put to work. But God is a God who wants to work beyond measure. We are his tabernacle. We are his temple. We are his vessel. And we have just six hand whips. He said, "You've got six, but seven is my number. You've got six, but seven is the number of completion." That's the law of my house. The law of his house is the seventh hand. It's the seventh handwidth that comes in. He said, "Everything that deals with man is going to be a round number, but when you build that ark, we're going to add the hand of God." When you rebuild the temple, Ezekiel, the law of my house is these are the measures of the altar after the cubits. The cubit is a a cubit and a hand breath. Not by my might, not by my power. You can try it on your own, and you may build God a house, but you'll never build him a home. You can try on your own, but you'll never build God a you'll never build a home without God. You can build a business on your own. But with the seventh hand, you can be an eternal investor. It's beyond measure. It's beyond what you can understand. It's it's it's it's beyond what we can comprehend. You've been given a the measure of faith. And I'm here just to simply remind you tonight that he's a God of exceeding abundantly. I want you to understand this text tonight. Ephesians 3, Paul again in verse number 20. I have misqued this scripture my entire life. And I get up here and when I pray I say it over and over and over again. He's a God who's able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we can ask and think and hope you. We quote it, we sing it, we put it in lyrics, but it does not say exceed exceedingly. This is one of those verses that Paul does this a lot. And if you read the scripture enough, you study it, you sometimes have to take Paul's letter and Paul's text and you kind of have to back into it. You got to have to come come from the other angle. You can't start at the beginning. He says here, he says that you you you've got this power that workketh in us. It's not by our might. Again, he's reminding you. It's not by your hand. It's not by your cubit. It's not by what you can measure. But he says we if we will ask or even think according to the power of the Holy Ghost above all he says he's an abundantly he says abundantly which is already telling us it's above it's abundantly but he's exceeding abundantly. He uses the word exceedingly when he's talking about sorrow a lot throughout the text. But he says, "Whatever you think abundant is, I'm going to exceed that." He's not just listing off things. He's making it better than even what we could ask or think. He says, "Abundantly, I will exceed that." You can measure it. I will exceed that. You can think and come in and think though, I'm going to get this from God tonight and have some faith. And guess what he's going to do? He's going to exceed abundantly. I don't know about you, but that was a whole lot better to me in the office than it is right now. It's May maybe I Okay, that's fine. That's the kind of God I'm here for. I know you guys are just like, "Hey, I just want to live a consecrated loveydovey life with Jesus." I'm here for the blessings. I'm here for it. I'm here for the abundance. I'm here for the overflow. I'm not come just to meet the status quo and live by whatever the status and standard is. No, I want the exceeding abundantly. You say, "Oh, I'm living an abundant life. I'm living an exceeding abundant life." That's the kind of God we serve. Not what a cubic can do, but what the seventh hand can do is exceeding abundantly. We are more than conquerors. Jesus told the apostles, "Increase your faith. It's there. I put it in your in your mother's womb." The faith is there. You just got to turn it up a little bit. The faith is there. You just might need to read about it a little bit. The faith is there. You just might need to pray about it a little bit. The faith is there, but it's not by your own hand. It's not by your own might. It's not by anything you can measure. I know you're right now mentally measuring that doctor's report. You're measuring that business deal. You're measuring the thoughts in your head. You're measuring your marriage. You're measuring your relationship. He said, "No, no, no, no, no. There's a hand of God that you're only in covenant with that mother, that father, that husband, that wife. You're only that business is only going to thrive with a seventh hand. You you can measure it all you want to." He said, "But you got to increase your faith." He says, "If you just had faith, the grain as a as a size of a a mustard seed, that's what he tells me. He said, "You got to give me something. You You got to give me something where he said, "You can move mountains with a mustard seed. You can move You can do great things." Why? Cuz God is literally leaned up on the edge of glory tonight, looking over a congregation and thinking, "Man, I wish this just wasn't another Sunday night. I wish this was an exceeding night. I wish this was an abundant. I wish they'd let me work a miracle in that place tonight. I wish they'd let me deliver them from that addiction tonight. I wish they'd let me deliver them from that thought process tonight. I wish they'd let me work in their life cuz I want to do abundant. I want to do exceeding. I want to if you just give them a little bit to work with. If you just give them a little bit, I think you can be seated. I think there's too many of us that are deceived about our faith. Faith's become this real elastic word that gets used and thrown around and get tweeted and all these things. Let me do some simple math. God is a God of multiplication. Shows that throughout scripture. Even when Jesus is walking around, he don't really do adding. He multiplies. He blesses it, breaks, it multiplies. He's multiplication. Now, I'm I'm no math wizard by any means, but even if you took exceeding abundantly God and put him in the equation with zero, it still equals zero. It's like if we could just put a a one next to the seventh hand, we could have great miracles, signs, and wonders. We could have a working God in our life. But a lot of us have the absence of a working God simply because we have deceived ourselves into thinking that we have faith. Because if there was an ounce, if there was just a mustard seed, if there was a 0.5 in the equation, we could get if there's just something. But zero times no matter what God 0 times exceeding is still zero. If God's not working in our life, we better turn our faith up. We better raise our faith. You say, "How do I do that?" I got to remember who he is. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. Am I living like that? Perhaps there's a zero in the equation of my faith. Am I living like a more than a conqueror? Am I living like he's an exceeding God? I got to ask myself tonight, do I have enough faith to really see God work? Do I get to utilize and see the hand of God in my life? Said you got to increase it exceeding God has sent me just to tell someone tonight, you have access to the measure faith. You say, "Whoa, I've heard of the prophets. I've heard of the great ones, the ones on the evangelistic field, and their miracles, and these are things are happening. Those things are happening." They ain't got no more faith in them than you do. It's the measure. But you go take them and put them. They that that's not their hands. That's God's hand. The only difference between the person who's not seeing God work and the person that's seeing God's work is we get our hands off of it. We get our hands out of the way and we put we say, "God, I need you to work in this. I I've done all I can do. I've shaped all I can shape. I've lifted my hands and surrendered to you. I've clapped my hands all I can clap them. I've done everything. I need the seventh hand of God. I need you to work in this situation. I need you to move in this business deal. I need you to move in this sickness. All right, sir. God's just simply told me tonight to come and just challenge somebody's faith. Just a cubit of praise. Would engage the hand of God. It's no coincidence that that seventh hand, he didn't. He says, Joshua, march six times around the walls of Jericho. Nope. He says march seven times. Why you six is the number of man. And we don't have to get into all of those types. But that he uses that number of seven to hey this this is beyond measure. This is beyond what you can measure out. This was a very common thing. You don't understand. When he told him to march around seven times, this is the same guy that's going around measuring stuff with the six hand breaths of his hand. the number six meant something totally different to them. The number six to us is just we hope we hope it just don't ring up three times in a row. You know, it's just bad luck. But it meant something to them, right? It's like this my measuring tool. This is my tool belt. This is how I work. This is how I operate. And so he says, "I need you to march Joshua seven times." He thought, "Oh, we're getting into a different measurement here. We're getting into a not just by my hands." And so he says, "I need you to march seven times. Non, if you want to be healed, don't just go down there six times. He says, I need you to go seven times because non, you can't heal yourself. And non, it don't matter if your feet are the ones walking and your hands are the ones washing. God's the ones healing. Amen. And it doesn't matter how much you think that you can take the pill or you can take the shot or you can do this or do that. It doesn't matter what you are lacking faith in or you're being challenged with right now. It might just be a mindset. It might be anxiety and depression. I'm challenging you tonight to give it to God. It's not going to be fixed and solved by your hands. It's not going to be figured out by your hands. Healing is in this room tonight. Deliverance is in this room tonight. You say, "How?" The presence of God is just waiting for somebody to engage the faith that he put in you. It's beyond measure. It's beyond measure. Lord, I'm going have to hurry tonight. Jesus name. Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went to the top of Carmel and he cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees and need it to rain. Lord, he said to his servant, "Go up now, looked toward the sea, and he went up and looked, said, there is nothing there." Anybody ever been there? God said something, but there ain't nothing there. God said, go look. I don't see nothing. And he said, "Go again seven times." And it came to pass the seventh time that behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea. Just a little bit bigger than a cubit, just one extra breath. Just a little bit further. You walk that seventh time. if you dip that seventh time. He said, I I'll send the rain. And it's just amazing to see God just lays this out. And I don't I don't have time to take you through every little thing that I've read. And I can tell some of you are thinking, "Thank God." He said, "This is the law of the house. It's going to be a cubit and one hand breath." That's what he says in Ezekiel 43 when he's he's rebuilding the tabernac. He's having the vision of rebuilding the tabernacle. And you turn the page a few few just a couple times you get to Isaiah or Ezekiel 47. And all of a sudden there is an experience that's described. You've heard it talked about. You've heard it preached about. Ezekiel 47:1 afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house. And behold, the waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward, for the forefront of the house stood toward the east. and the waters came down from under the right side of the house at the south side of the altar. Three or four chapters earlier, he is giving the dimensions of the altar. He said, "You're going to build this altar and it's not going to be 6x 6x 6x six. It's going to be six and a hand." Six and a hand. This is not the altar that was built back in Exodus we were reading pre previously this is six and a hand you're going to this is the law of the house he says so from this altar from the law of the house a cubit plus a hand he said then brought me out of the way of the gate this water starts coming from this altar that's been built with that one that that seventh hand and northward he led me out the way without unto the outer gate and he looked eastward and behold there ran out waters on the right side. These waters I believe and and and I can be stand corrected tonight. I believe represent the presence of God. The spirit of God. The waters begin to move from the altar. The altar is what's going to move the waters always has and always will. The prayers of the righteous of the altar is going to be the source from which the waters come. So, it's no no coincidence that he says, "We're going to build this altar and we're going to have the hand of God involved." And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits. I I don't know if you realize that, but we just read that. But I don't I don't know how that worked. 90 I realize you guys are like, "I don't really care how it works. Just thousand cubits." But he like sitting down on the ground. Is he walking that off? A thousand cubits say he's like but and he brought me through the waters and the waters were to my ankles. He he he says it's coming from out the this the south side of the altar here and it's he measures out a thousand cubits and it's ankle deep and he measured out a thousand and he brought me through the waters and the waters were to my knees and again he measured a thousand I don't know if you're adding but we're 3,000 cubits whatever that is and was a river that I could not pass over and the waters were risen waters to swim in a river that could not be passed over and he said unto me son of man hath Thou seen this? Then he brought me and caused me to return to the brink of the river. Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river, there were many trees. Behold, there's trees. What's that mean? That means there was no trees when I got there. All of a sudden, now there's trees. There's life. What was dead now has life? Because that's what the altar and the water will do. Amen. But he says here he says he says it was ankle deep and it was ne and he says oh before before I know it I I'm just measuring these things out. I'm just measuring I'm just walking a thousand cubits thousand cubits and the water just keeps increasing the presence of God. The spirit of God just keeps it's and all of a sudden he says I'm swimming in it. It's without measure. It's beyond what I can even measure. It's not ankle deep. I can measure that. It's not waist deep. I can measure that. And again, all those measurements are using the man to all of a sudden he's just swimming in it. Brother Jacob, he there's no way to measure. I I can't tell how many cubits I even am from this thing, but when I come out, there's life. There's trees. God has done something supernatural. He says it's without measure. So he says, I'm going to use this and from the altar, the law of the house, the hand of God is going to be beyond measure. Just stand to your feet tonight. It's not ankle deep. It's not waist deep. Simple question tonight. How long's it been so since we've been treading water? in the spirit rather than at the consequences of our own hands. Say, I'm treading water financially. I'm treading water mentally. I'm dealing with so many things that I can't even describe. I can't really He said it's exceedingly sorrowful. He uses all these terms talking about sorrow too where we can't I can't seemingly measure it. And some of us the water of the enemy has overwhelmed us so much that we don't know. We don't remember what it feels like to be in a place where it all of a sudden begins to hit my ankles and then it works up around my waist and all of a sudden I'm speaking in tongues like I did the first time. I'm lost in the Holy Ghost like I was the first time. I'm experiencing something where it kept me and I couldn't get I couldn't even stay on my feet when I was at youth camp as a teenager. I couldn't even imagine to describe to you how it felt the first time when I got to the altar and I was honest with God and it was almost childlike faith. You said, "Well, I wasn't a child." But it was childlike faith because it was your first time experiencing. And some of us, it's no different. I couldn't help but picture and this is how I think in picture form. Has anybody ever watched those babies social media where they just chunk them in the water? What in the world did you just do? I The first thing through my head is like, if I did that, my wife would kill me. I'd be dead. You better hope he turns over, right? But I I just I just feel like there's there's this portion of where the devil he he can't create. He just has to deceive and imitate. Right? So on this side of it, we're experiencing something and we're using muscles and we're measuring things and we're trying to figure things out. God's saying there's a hand that's reaching for you and he wants to overwhelm you in the same way that it's like throwing a baby in the deep end that the spirit of God, the presence of God, it's the measure of faith, it's in you. It doesn't matter if you're 5 years old or you're 85 years old in this place tonight. There's faith in you. There's a drawing in you. The mercy of God draws you to repentance. What does that tell me? The mercyy's there before I ever take a step. The mercy's drawing me before I ever make a decision. That God's there whether I choose him or I don't choose him. He's drawing you. He's pulling on you. He wants you to just give give him just a mustard seed moment tonight. Give him just a cubit of response. Give him give him just a just a little bit of reflective heart. Just a little bit of looking back over your life and saying, "God, I want it the way it used to be. God, I want a double portion tonight. God, I want it to be overwhelming. God, I want to see a miracle. God, I've been dealing with this sickness. God, I've been dealing with this dilemma. God, I've been dealing with all these things." I'm here to tell you tonight that the God that's beyond measure wants to touch you tonight. every man, woman, boy, and girl. No matter your age, no matter your situation, some of you are treading water in bitterness. Some of you are treading water. You you you just you feel like you're so overwhelmed. You don't know which way to turn. You don't know what to do. I'm just telling you, God is here. And if we just increase our faith, he can move mountains. He can move mountains tonight. I hope you hear me tonight. I hope it's sinking in. I hope you begin to feel what I'm feeling right now. He can move mountains right now in this place tonight. He can transform your mind if you He can transform your situation. He can heal your dilemma. He can deliver you out of of bondage. He can deliver you from anything tonight. There's no thing. Come on. That's it. Come on. That's it. The measure is there. The measure is there. You just got to reach for him. It's within you. You can say, "Well, I've been dealt a bad hand." No, no, no. You've been given the measure of faith. Don't let the devil deceive you and miss your moment tonight. Don't let the devil confuse you and you miss an opportunity tonight. God wants to exceed abundantly. He wants to exceed the first time that you felt the Holy Ghost. He wants to exceed the last time that you had an experience with him. He wants to bring a supernatural moment into your life that you'll be able to look back over as a memorial right now. Young person, engage your heart. Young person, engage your mind right now. God, I want it. God, I want it. God, I need it. Come on. That's it. Come on. That's it. I hear some of you. Faith, faith, faith. Oh God, I need you. God, I need you. God, I need you. Come on. Come on, that's it. Come on. That's it. Husband and wife, bind together in faith. You can keep trying with your hands. You can keep trying to figure it out with your own ways. God's saying, "Give it to me tonight." God's saying, "Just present your request. Ask, seek, knock. I see a cloud. It's like a man's hand. You say, "I've come about this before. I've prayed this prayer before." Go again. Go again. Pray again. Ask again. Ask him again. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. It's beyond measure. Come on. That's it. He's beyond measure. I'm asking you, church, to be the body of Christ right now. You know, those that are struggling, why don't you go link your faith up? Go link your faith up with somebody right now. God wants to do something in their life tonight. God wants to deliver somebody tonight. God wants to encourage somebody tonight. God wants to simply build their faith tonight. Come on. Could we? Nobody looking around. Everybody find somebody. Would you find somebody? Would you wrap your arm around them? Would you grab their hand? Would you pray for them? God, we want you to be that exceeding God. We want you to be that abundant God. We want to see, God, you work in our lives. Come on. Don't let the devil cause you to start measuring it right now. It's beyond measure. I know it seems like a mountain, but you just need a a little bit of faith. Just a little bit of faith right now. Just a little bit of faith right now, mama. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Come on. That's it. Let the Lord touch you. He hears you right now. He hears you right now. Hallelujah. Come on. That's it. Don't miss a moment. Don't miss a moment tonight. Don't miss an opportunity tonight. I I I'm not sure who feels exempt from a blessing. Who feels exempt from God doing something great in your life, but I want all God has for me. I want everything he has for me tonight. I want everything he has for my family. I don't want to stop short of that hand. Come on, father. Reach for him. Come on, mother. Reach for him right now. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Happy birthday. Come on. The Lord's moving right now. Come on. The Lord's moving right now. I'm asking everybody who will would you lift your hands and lift your voice right now? Every praise team member, every musician, every production person, I wish you'd lift your hands and lift your voice right now. We cannot become accustomed to coming in and not getting what God has for us. Take that step. Come on, take that step tonight. Pour your heart out to him. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus name. Please, please hear me tonight. Please hear me tonight. This is the picture. You hear me tonight? Every person you're praying, I want you to look right here. This is what church can become. It can become non's six time washing. Yes. And I've washed and I've washed and I've washed and I've prayed and I've prayed. I went up and I don't see nothing. God, there's no rain. There's no change. I've marched around these walls quiet for I don't know how many. My legs are weary. And before we know it, we're just living from Sunday to Sunday. And God sits wanting to increase our faith every Sunday. But we've become accustomed to just being a sixstep Christian. And so we literally come in and we think, "Brother Hammond's ministering to them tonight. Brother Hammond's ministering to the sick tonight. He's ministering to those that have bitterness tonight. He's ministering to those that have things in their heart tonight. He's ministering to those that have prodals tonight. No, no, no, no. I don't I don't think you understand. He's an exceeding God to every one of us. The minute we stop having exceeding faith, abundantly fa immediate that the minute we stop wanting more of God is the minute we stop short of a cleansing. is the minute we stop short of a of of seeing a a hand that sticks it out and begins to shower a blessing out on you on Monday because of what you're about to do in this place right now. You say, "I missed the rain on Tuesday." Tuesday's rain comes from faith right now. It's a step. He's walking up the hill thinking I'm going to sacrifice my son and he doesn't see the goat on the other the ram on the other side. Are are you with me? That's a faith walk. The picture tonight for everybody in here is take the seventh step to see the seventh hand. Walk the seventh time to see the seventh hand. I want one more time before they sing anything, before they play anything, before you begin to sing the song, I want you to lift both your hands. I want you to close your eyes and I ask every single person in this room to just ask God for more than you walked in here with. from the depths of your heart, individually. I want more. I want more. I'll take the extra step tonight, Lord. I'll go the extra journey. I want to see the hand of God in my life. I want to see the hand of God in my life. Come on. Come on. How long's it been since you were treading water in the spirit? How long's it been since you were speaking in an unknown tongue? How long's it been since you were lost in the Holy Ghost? Come on. I'm not exempt. Nobody's exempt. Exceed God. Exceed last week. God exceed yesterday. God worked that miracle. God worked that miracle. Come on. Tonight is the seventh time for somebody in this place tonight. God is speaking to you. If you'll just wash one more time. If you'll just walk one more time. Rabbi Oh, come on. That's it. All in one accord, in one place, in one accord. Thinking about the goodness of Jesus. I am more than a conqueror. I am able to see God work in my life. I I've not done too much. I've not gone too far. You said it, God. And I believe it, God. You said it, God. And I believe it, God. Oh God. Oh God. for the river. I say to you, my children, does my word not declare that when I return shall I find upon this earth? Oh, I say to you, my children, do not be weary with worship. Do not bey tread my courts. Do not come into my house and take my blessings for the Lord will place my hand upon you. If you take my vessel and become intoxicated with your world, I will reveal my hand with judgment of handles with me. How I want to place my hand upon you and cause you to do exploits. I am not a God that delights in judgement. I am not a god that delights in my hand of judgement and writing upon the wall. But I say to you my children, yield yourself unto me. Yield yourself in your mind unto me, and I say God will place my hand upon you. I will bring things in your life that you have forgotten and given up hope. But I God can place my Oh my god. Your hand your hand. Jesus. changing your hopes on things eternal to God's unchanging hand. We're going to hold to God's unchanging hand. Oh, to God's unchanging hand, church. Oh, build your hopes on things eternal. Oh, to God's unchanging hand. One more time. Would you sing it now? Oh to God's unchanging hand. Oh to God's changing hand. Oh build your hopes on things eternal. Oh, to God's changing hand. God's hands going to move in this world one day with judgment. Just like God's hand moved in Belshazzer's banquet when they took the holy things of God and made a mockery out of them. And God said, "My hand needs to appear." His hand appeared on the wall. I got news for you. Abraham looked for a city whose builder and maker is God. We're going to the place that he has prepared, that seventh hand is prepared for us. I want to hold that unchanging hand of God. I want to place my hopes on things of eternal. I want to hold God's unchanging hand. We've heard from the Lord again tonight. Why don't you just lift up your hands, place them in the hand of God, give him praise before you dismiss yourself tonight. Oh, thank you, Lord.