The Residue of His Presence | Student Pastor Zach Hammond

I'm just thankful. I'm thankful for what God has done and what God is going to continue to do. It's so great to be a part of the church. Thankful for the family of God, the people of God. I don't take it for granted um to not only be able to stand behind the pull pit tonight, but to be a part of such a great group of people. Um and I I think you ought to give yourself a hand. Just just just give yourself I know it's a little may seem a little pompous, but just just give yourself a hand. I'm just so thankful to be a part a part of you. I read the other day, I said, "What's more important, the journey or the destination?" And the wise old man said, "Neither." He said, "The company." And I thought, man, what what a powerful powerful statement. How many times I've talked about the path and the prize, talked about, you know, what what it means. You don't get to see the top of the mountain unless you enjoy climbing. But how much more enjoyable both are when you have somebody climbing with you and you have somebody to enjoy the view with, huh, with you? It's just a But you think of the people of God. Uh you think about what we're privileged to be able to do to be able to be, you know, uh in such a a a conservative community to to be a church nestled here in just this wonderful place and in the world, but to be together with God's people and to have a collective just a collective conscience. You know, I know we don't we we may not see eye to eye on every single little thing. You know, we may not see eye to eye with every other church or, you know, and and but I would rather be divided in truth than be unified in a lie. Huh? I I would rather have a few little differences that that are molehills and and and be able to be unified and to accomplish what we're accomplishing here for the kingdom of God because it's just uh there's so many things that are going going on in our world today. I'm just thankful to be a part of the church that stands for the truth. stands for the truth. The Bible is a interesting book and I'll preach to you tonight um with a ve very heavy heart. I want to try to communicate what God has given me. And I I know that this is not a book for wimps. Uh this book will beat you up. This book will cut you up. Um, it will challenge you and um, you know, but I'm just thankful for the truth. You know, the truth it'll hurt, but it also heals. You know, it's a I'd much rather speak that truth that'll hurt you, but then it'll heal you than speak a lie that'll comfort you and then kill you, right? Huh? It the truth. I'm thankful that it's a group of people, not just a group of people. I mean, you can get a group of people down at the country club, but a group of people that's standing for something. Huh? group of people that believe in something. They got a cause and they're unified in the spirit. What you felt tonight is the Holy Ghost. What you felt tonight is the scripture being fulfilled that when two or three are gathered in mind and then I'll be in the midst and then you begin to lift him up that that the the power of God has come. You say, "I don't know what's going on. I don't I'm uncomfortable and what?" No, that's the Holy Ghost that you feel because the people of God have come together and you're experiencing his presence. Second Kings is where we'll take our text tonight. A kind of odd reading as they asked for my title. I I prepared them for kind of an odd text and I will do my best as I know that there's many biblical scholars and and all of you that you know you have degrees, you have understanding. I know and I get it. When you hear my topic and I conclude tonight, you could say, "Man, you really could have preached about the Holy Ghost or the spirit of God from somewhere else." But I'm just going to be honest with you. This is where the Lord took me. And this is where we will begin tonight. And it came to pass after this that Benad, king of Syria, gathered all of his host and went up and besieged Samaria. That's chapter 6 and verse number 24. Second Kings. Maybe I said first Kings. And there was a great famine. Somebody say famine. famine. There was a famine in Samaria, and behold, they besieged it until an ass's head was sold for four score pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of doves dung for five pieces of silver. Famine food don't sound very good, does it? And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, "Help my lord, O king." He said, "If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? Out of the barn floor, out of the wine press?" And the king said unto her, "What alth thee?" And she answered, "This woman said unto me, give thy son that we may eat him today, and we'll eat my son tomorrow." So we boiled my son and did eat him. And I said unto her on the next day, give thy son that we may eat him. And she hath hid her son. Like I said, a kind of odd text um tonight, but my title for the next few moments, and I hope it makes sense by the time we conclude. And I believe God is going to manifest himself in a greater way. Not that he hasn't already, but that he will do what he wants to do in this place. My title for tonight is the residue of his presence. The residue of his presence. Would you lay your Bible down? Would you lift your hands to the Lord? And would you just ask him to speak to you tonight? Lord, I thank you for your presence. I thank you for your spirit that we feel so strongly in this room tonight. Lord, I know that you've come here tonight to do, Lord, what you would, Lord, what you would see fit, Lord, that we don't even comprehend, Lord, the things that you want to change, the things that you want to move upon, the things that you would like to give victory over. I believe that someone here tonight is going to be refreshed. I believe somebody, Lord, is looking for change, is looking for a solution, and God, you're going to move upon them in a special way tonight. Lord, anoint God this time as we go into your word that it be all that it is, God. And we give it to you to do all that you want to do, Lord. We're here for you, God, and we surrender to your will tonight. In Jesus name. In Jesus name we pray. Would you shout, "Amen." Amen. You may be seated tonight. Like I said, a an odd text here in the midst of a famine as we find this uh quite a interesting list of items that they begin to eat due to their hunger. And the first thing listed we see is a a donkey's head. And uh then we see that there is dove's dung. And for those students um are just wondering that is dove poop. Okay. Um So you don't get confused there. Um you can go to every restaurant here, there, and everywhere tonight and neither will be on the menu. Okay. Um there'll be no donkey's head. There'll be no doves dung um tonight on the menu. And I I understand that this is a a little bit of a a comical thing, but you have to see here this you these people were pretty desperate. Um, these people were in quite a uh interesting situation here. Obviously, they had ate everything there is to eat. If you're eating a donkey's head and dove's dung and not just freely, you are paying for it. It's not just something that's just laying there. They've ate the donkey and you just taken the head cuz it's the last thing left. No, you get to eat this and you had to pay, which means you had to work. you had to do. You had to labor for something you didn't want. You had to cash in and give uh it's crazy now what those pieces of silver are worth in our modern uh modern exchange. But it's a it's it's you know this donkey's head that that the commentary all the scholars you begin to read scripture like this you get about 15 different things because nobody really understands it if they're just honest. Like you should have just skipped over it because it's not a good explanation. But one guy was just pretty plain and calm and it seems like something James would say, you know, it's pretty straightforward. He's like, "A donkey's head didn't have much meat on it to begin with." I mean, what what are you what are you going to eat off of a donkey's head? You going to chew on the bone? You going to chew chew on his snout? I mean, it's just disgusting to think about, right? It's just, you know, you got your you going to fry his ear up. I mean, what are you going to do? It's disgusting, you know? And if that ain't nasty enough, you got some dove droppings. Just don't sound very good. It's not a desirable choice of food to even discuss. In fact, talking about it makes you just not even want to eat, right? Yeah. You might just miss a meal. This is good fasting scripture. This good scripture for fasting. You read this, you'll be ready to fast, you know, and and it's like, you know, some people, they like that Daniel fast. I'm like, I'd rather starve than eat like a rabbit. You know, it's just some things are good for you. You know, you just just just read this and it'll make you just just I'd rather not eat, you know. And uh but you read this and it gets worse. They start that this lady has made a deal with another lady. She's going to boil my baby today and boil your baby tomorrow. And I guess if I I don't know how they come up with that. I mean, again, I know it's so far-fetched to think that you would boil a child. I mean, I mean, boil a child. It's just so just so odd just to to think of. And then obviously there's some deception here because one was willing to boil your kid but wasn't willing to boil their kid. So, they went and hid it. And so, it's quite a mess. You can't trust nobody. You got to eat donkey's head. It's not a good place to be, right? And it gets it gets a little bit worse because you can see as things progressively do in in times of famine and obviously symbolic here is a time of sin because the only reason they're in a famine is because they've broken a covenant. They've broken a covenant and the famine has fell upon them and and and and we see that it's just a few verses later that the king asked for the head of Elisha. He asked for the head of the man of God, which is no coincidence because he was the son of Jezebel. So obviously he learned from his mother to ask for the head of the prophet. And so uh just always know that your kids are watching good or bad because here he is just doing the exact same thing. This all is a result of failing to live in covenant with God. All right? According to the law we see written in Leviticus chapter 26 and Deuteronomy chapter 28, a famine was a part of the punishment of God's people for breaking the covenant. It was a part of what would happen when you get out of covenant with God. When you break that covenant with him, that relationship, that agreement between you and him, the relationship, that blood covenant, you and I now experience that covenant through the blood, water, and spirit like they did, but we experienced through repentance, baptism in Jesus' name for the remission of sins and the infilling of the gift of the Holy Ghost. That is our covenant with God. And when we get out, we're reading here in the Old Testament, the New Testament for us, when we get out of that covenant. When we get in a place without his spirit, there are some things that begin to happen in our life that are not very tasteful. There's some things that begin to happen in our life that you you I'm still paying this price, but I'm not getting something that is very delightful. Perhaps some of us feel tonight that we're in a famine. It's just not like it used to be. It just doesn't look like it's supposed to look like. And so I ask you tonight, if it don't look like it's supposed to look like, if there's some things going on in your life that you just don't understand, and you're trying not to carry some of those things from 24 and 25, could I ask you what's your covenant with God look like? What's your relationship with God look like? Most of all, could I ask you, are you full of the Holy Ghost? In a broken covenant, a famine came through. They siege a city and they starve out the people. And this donkey's head, this animal that's used for working, that's used for travel, that's used for progress, that's used to represent uh will and stubbornness in the Bible, I believe, becomes the first thing on the menu. Because when you get out of a relationship with God, your stubborn stubborn will will be the first thing that you have to pay for. And notice that the second thing is the residue of what used to be to go along with pastor's message of symbolism of the dove this morning as we know it is symbolic in scripture of the spirit. We understand that is no coincidence here that the people of God that as they get out of covenant with God that there is a symbol of what used to be there used to be a dove here but now all there is is the residue of his presence. The residue there's proof of his presence but simply what used to be. The dove is gone and there is proof that he was once here. There's a form of godliness, but there's no more power. There's something here that we can see that he was once here, but this was once a people of God, but they've broken covenant. This was once a thriving people that God was was leading with a pillar of fire and pillar of cloud. And this is once a people of God who know they're in a famine now. And they're chewing on the skull of a donkey and they're eating the residue of what used to be there. That's right. See this very odd passage of scripture begin to play out as I used to I used to do this and I used to do that. And I'd like to preach to someone tonight who perhaps used to have the presence of the dove. Used to have a desire for God. I used to. But now there's just this residue of his presence. There's this understanding of the covenant. There's the understanding of knowing to be in the place where I once felt his presence, but now when the singing goes forth and the prayer goes forth that it's just awkward that I just have something here that I can't really connect with anymore. a lack of his presence that will quickly send your life into a mess of all of a sudden the next generation is affected and all of a sudden you have a you you have a man of God that is that that they're they're they're going after his head and it's a it's in our culture today just as so that the very moment we do not have the spirit of God that things begin to fall apart. You can't be full of the Holy Ghost and not have a love for the things of God. You cannot be full of the Holy Ghost and not have a love for a worship for the true living God. You cannot be full of the Holy Ghost and not have a love for spiritual leadership. You can't be full of the Holy Ghost and not love his bride. You can't be full of the Holy Ghost and not have a desire to be in his presence. We cannot live off what used to be. We will not make it on just the residue of past generations revivals. We will not make it on what God and I'm thankful for what God did on Mcinley Street. And I'm thankful for what God did up the road. And I'm thankful for the moments that we had in the gymnasium. I'm thankful for the revival and the people that God has touched. But this is just the beginning. That we have not arrived. That we are not all of a sudden in this place where the miracle miracle is heaven. It is not. There is more for this congregation. There is more for the people of God. And we must continue in what got us here. And that is being a spiritled, Holy Ghostdriven church. We will not make it on the stories of old. We must have our now revival in the midst of whatever we're in. It doesn't matter the season. We must have his spirit. We must be led by his spirit. God is not done. God is not just I I feel like so many have just we've gotten to this place where I I don't think it's a age thing. I think every single one of us, no matter if we're a student in Kids Quest or we're a trends setter, God is not done with you. God is wanting to do something great in this city and he has you here to be a part of it. I I've just come to tell you tonight, I've come to kind of shake you up and let you let's start the 2025 off right and say that that there's more. There's more. Why? Because we're still here. The spirit of God is driving us. We must be led by spirit. I have a picture in my office that I I constantly I have it hung there for a reason. Most people walk in there like that thing's just a weird it's a scoreboard. It's a it's a scoreboard that looks like an old scoreboard off of a baseball field and it simply says at the top yesterday's hits won't win today's games. That's that's where we're at. I'm thankful that every church across the globe, you we hear it all the time. We travel, you get it in the comments, you get it in text, you go to FAC Marvel, you go to that. That's all well. I'm glad that we are highly esteemed. I'm glad that people come into conference and they want to know how are you doing this or how you doing that. But that doesn't mean that we've reached this pinnacle of all great and mighty to know there is people in this city that are lost and going to a devil's hell. And God wants us to be about his business like never before. I I I don't KNOW HOW TO EXPRESS it to you in any other way than we've got to get the spirit working in our lives. We got to get the spirit being manifest in our our lives individually, not just collectively. Yes, sir. But I'm here to tell somebody this first Sunday night of the year that we must have his spirit. My heart's pounding with these words. I feel the words of Moses tonight as he says in Exodus 33 and 15. And he said unto him, "If thy presence go not, if thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence." God said, "I will send my angel with you. I'll give you my promise. I'll let you prosper. Even give me some I I'll give you some victories along the way, Moses." But Moses said, "No, no, no, no. I don't want no angels. I don't want no victories. I don't want no false sense of victories. You don't have no I want your presence because victories will come and go and angels may come and go but when I have his presence I've got everything that I need. I'm here to remind you tonight that you got to have the Holy Ghost. DO YOU FEEL FRUSTRATED? DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE STUCK? I'm here to tell you you need the Holy Ghost to be rekindled in your life tonight. Moses immediately goes to that tent of meeting and talks with God. He was determined that whatever else happens, I'm not going anywhere without his presence. David said, "Cast me not away from thy presence. Take me not take not thy holy spirit from me." We can't do anything without his presence. I I know and I'm not I I I hear it and I get into the debacle of communicators and preachers and there I am not preaching for a response. I'm not one that's going to get up and and and and hark on people in the pew for not getting with me. Okay? I'm just not going to do it. You have a choice of whether or not you agree with the scripture. You have a choice of whether or not you agree with the word of God. But I'm here to tell you tonight that we have a lot of people sitting in our pews across this nation that are claiming a spirit that there is no evidence of in their life. They're cla they're claiming a religion of apostolic or claiming a religion of Christianity, but there is no evidence of it in their life. Paul said there's a constant struggle. And if you don't acknowledge the fact that you're in a struggle of your flesh and the spirit, I can assure you that you're living in the flesh. Look at it. Galatians 5 17. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that you would. There is a war going on for you to not live in the spirit. There's a war going on that's trying to keep you in your flesh. You must be in combat constantly knowing that we must be full of the Holy Ghost. If you don't acknowledge it, you are failing. If you are not seeking God on a daily basis, if you're not desiring to please him more than anything else, there's more than likely not a chance that we're making it. There's more than likely not a chance that we are full of his spirit without acknowledging IT. YOU'RE NOT JUST going to wake up and default just love Jesus. You're not going to wake up and just default TO PRAYER. YOU'RE NOT GOING TO WAKE UP and just default. Your flesh is at war. And he continues on a few verses later, verse 22, he says, "But the fruit of the spirit is love and joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such thing there is no law." And look at this verse 24. They that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and and the lust. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit that he he's saying it over and over again. You've got to have evidence. He says it in Galatians 4. He says it in Galatians 5. He talks about it in Galatians. He keeps going on and on and on and on. He said, "You're claiming a Christ that there's no evidence of. There's got to be fruit. If there is a tree, there's got to be an evidence of something that you've got to live it out. You can't just claim this thing. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Come to ask you, is there is there is there a spirit or is there just a residue of once what once was. There used to be peace, pastor. There used to be faith. There used to be meekness. There used to be joy. There used to be a desire for God. There used to be some worship. There used to be some involvement. There used to be, but now there's this this thing that fers and there's negativity and I can't seem to get out of this season and I find myself in a famine where it's just the residue of his presence. I'm not here to beat you up tonight. I'm here to try to stir up your spirit. Some of us used to be involved. Some of us used to be bothered by lost souls going to hell. Some of us used to make church a priority. We used to we used to I'm afraid it's just become something that we do rather than who we are. So I ask you tonight, are you aware? Are you aware of it? Are you aware of his presence? Genesis 28:16, Jacob awakened out of his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." Oh God, let there not be a Sunday night that goes by like there did just a few moments ago and there be people in the house of God that in the midst of his presence, in the midst of an outpouring, in the midst of where people are speaking in another language, in the midst in the midst of where God is doing and God is there's a victory happening and and here and there and there's there's break there's a breakthrough happening over here that someone is able to sit in his presence and be so COLD AND SO CALLOUSED THAT YOU DON'T REALIZE THAT THE KING of Kings, THE LORD OF LORDS, THE GOD THAT CREATED YOU, THE GOD THAT YOU CLAIM TO SERVE BY BEING here doesn't even GET A HAND, DOESN'T EVEN GET a Oh, I've come to preach to you tonight. And I know it may be a little difficult, but God stirred me up tonight. That until I COULD GET EVERYBODY TO REALIZE THAT I'M NOT GOING TO MAKE IT WITHOUT HIS SPIRIT, I CAN'T LIVE ON WHAT GOD DID FOR ME AS A TEENAGER. I CAN'T LIVE ON YESTERDAY'S VICTORIES. He saw them rowing and trolling through the night. Contrary unto them, Jesus said, "I would have walked right by him on the sea that was troubling them." Don't let Jesus pass you by. Don't let his presence be here and you not know it. Oh, what a scary place to be to be claiming, to be walking around, to be say, "Oh, I go to that church. I'm a part to be claiming to be full of his spirit but can't even acknowledge it on the outside. How deceived. How foolish. How callous. I don't ever want to be tracking Jesus. I want to be led by him. I don't ever want to be trying to figure out waking up. I missed it. Oh, what a what a feeling. What a unrest. You know, it's it's a scary thing when you begin to look at mankind. You know, they say you could take a could take a polar bear, you could put him in these hills in East Tennessee, he would die. He would not make it. He would not be able to endure the summer months. You could take certain animals, put them in certain environments. Due to environments changing is why we have some animals that are extinct due to these things happening and those things happening. You have certain things that you're just not able to uh be able to create habitat there and to be able to function there. They say you can put fleas in a box for a certain amount of time. When you remove the lid, you don't have to worry about the fleas getting out of the box because they have they have they have beun to learn that this is this container that this this this box had created margins and they won't jump any higher than the lid. Just take the lid off and they're not going to go anywhere. They've trained themselves and their capacity is just built within the box that they have been placed in because all other things that God ever created are not near as adaptable as mankind. The adaptability of mankind is something that scientists study and say is unfathomable. That you could take and you could put you could put the same kind of people, not a different species, not a different No, you could take mankind and put them in Antarctica, put them in Australia, put them in Africa, put them we inhabit most every single every single region at the hottest to the coldest. They can go and they can live and they can be adaptable. But adaptability of mankind is sometimes a scary thing because we can morph and we can conform and we can adjust into almost any environment. This is why Paul tells us to be careful not to conform ourselves to the pattern of this world because we are oh so easily adapted. So many people ask themselves how did I end up here? How did I end up that one time I was in the choir and now I'm so I can't even lift my hands. HOW DID I END UP HERE that I used to be involved in such a manner? I used to be in the prayer. I used to be this leader. I used to do this. I used to do that. And now I I I just don't even know what to do when I'm asked to lift my hands. I never meant to get to where I'm at. But you were just tossed to and fro. And before you know it, you're frustrated trying to live for God without God. Just like anything else, this life living for the Lord requires action. In an age, in a world where there's so much content and information, this overload of information that you can scroll and you can find uh so much content and so much scripture and now you have this artificial intelligence. You can ask it things and it can tell you this and it can tell you that. We still today suffer from the same thing that we have suffered from the beginning as mankind. And that is not that we have a knowing problem, but we have a doing problem. And I've said this before and I've talked about this before, but I think it's very important that you understand that it goes back to that just just you have to want the Holy Ghost. You have to do things to keep the Holy Ghost. You have to repent more than just one time. You you have to to go to him more than just that one time as an 8-year-old or as a 12-year-old or a youth camp or a revival. There takes some action. And I believe that that if you could just understand that if I would just put this word to work that it would do some things in my life, it would change my life. The the Holy Ghost is the greatest gift. It's the greatest miracle. It's the greatest thing that could ever happen to you and I. Amen. I believe it without a doubt. The greatest revival the United States could experience. It's simply just everybody that knows what they know about the Bible just doing it. In a in a study and Pastor Carter and I were talking about the other day, Dennis Prager made the statement. He said, "You can defund the police if you would like to as long as everybody would live by the Ten Commandments." That's right. It solves so many issues if you would just live by the Bible. You would just obey the word of God. In fact, let's look at how scripturally scripture so perfectly explains that that a lack of action that we're seeing in our world today. The the the reason that we have so much hypocrisy going on that it's magnified in the lenses of the internet is we have way too many people that are not living with the God inside of them that they claim to be serving. There's so many people that claim to have the Holy Ghost, claim to be YOU. YOU CAN'T DO SOME OF THE THINGS people that people are doing with the Holy Ghost inside of you. Look at this. John 7 verse number 16. Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." If any man will do his will, say this with me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of my doctrine. So, no, we got that all backwards in the world today. You got to know his doctrine so you can do his will. That's not what the scripture says. The scripture says just do what you know and then you'll understand the doctrine. In other words, you shouldn't be you shouldn't be condemning somebody for doing something you never tried. You shouldn't be arguing with somebody about something that you've never been a part of. He said, "If you'll do it, you'll understand it." And the world don't work that way. That's why we frustrate. And there's many times where you get in an argument and you say, "Yeah, I just be honest with you. Some of those things you don't need to discuss until that person has the Holy Ghost." Why? Because they will never see the scripture the right way until they have the Holy Ghost. Why? Because understanding is linked to doing. You can't get that comprehension until you put to action what he's already told you to do. Don't get in some SOME THEOLOGICAL DEBATE WITH somebody that don't pray. Don't get in some theological debate with somebody that's not coming to God. If they're NOT COMING TO GOD, THEY'RE NOT GOING TO SEE THE SCRIPTURE BECAUSE A HUNGRY ASK, SEEK, KNOCK. YOU DON'T GET YOU DON'T GET GOD WITHOUT COMING TO GOD. DON'T GET IN THESE ARGUMENTS ALL OVER THE INTERNET WITH PEOPLE THAT ARE TRYING TO DILUTE and they're trying to deconstruct their religion and deconstruct the OLD TESTAMENT AND TRY TO COMPROMISE THIS, COMPROMISE THAT, COMPROMISE. Let me tell you tonight, let me enlighten you on something. Compromise is built on failure. The only reason you compromise anything is you failed enough times that you want to lower the standard. Nobody winning lowers the standard. Nobody victorious wants to compromise anything. But you don't dare let the devil, the devil is a liar, just because you've been knocked down. That's so that he can perform his glory THROUGH HIS SPIRIT INSIDE OF YOU. HE SAID, HE SAID, "IT'S NOT BY MY MIGHT OR BY MY POWER, BUT BY HIS SPIRIT." SO WHEN YOU GET KNOCKED DOWN, DON'T COMPROMISE. GET A HOLD OF THE HOLY GHOST AND LET IT PULL YOU UP OUT OF THE MUCK. Don't don't don't DON'T DON'T FALL PREY TO THIS idea of lowering the standard because a man of God don't want to pray. Don't you get on social media and be clicking through and say, "Oh, well, look, they only have church one time a week or they only have the and I'm not throwing shade at anybody. I've just come to ask how in the world we're going to get more by doing less. You do what you need to do. But when I DO HIS WILL, I'LL KNOW HIS DOCTRINE. WHETHER IT BE OF GOD OR I SPEAK OF MYSELF. DON'T DON'T GET INTO THIS STUFF. You can be seated. Don't get into this stuff with all these people. Huh? They can knock it all day, but they ain't never tried it. Until you've prayed for the Holy Ghost, until you've been baptized in Jesus name, until you felt the power of his spirit, until you've opened up the text and not just asked AI some difficult questions. Huh? Look at this. He said, "He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory, but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him." And he tells them this, I love this verse number 19. He said, "Did not Moses give you the law?" Aren't all of you Pharisees and Sadducees, aren't you there? You Yeah, you're the ones who can quote the law of Moses. Didn't Moses give you a law? and you didn't keep it either. So, it's no wonder you don't understand what I'm telling you. It's no wonder you don't understand the doctrine. You can't keep the one you got. You claim to be wanting to kill me. That's what he says. Why go ye about to kill me based upon a doctrine you don't even live? Huh? WHY DO YOU SEEK TO DESTROY SOMEBODY ELSE ON THE BASIS OF SOME BIBLICAL SCRIPTURE THAT YOU DON'T EVEN LIVE OUT? HUH? OH, you tell tell me tell me how religious it is that we can get on the internet and we can get on the phone and WE CAN GET IN TEXT MESSAGE GROUPS AND WE CAN DEVOUR PEOPLE ACROSS THE AISLE AND WE CAN TALK ABOUT OUR BROTHER AND OUR SISTER. YOU DOES THAT SOUND Christian at all? BUT YET WE CLAIM TO BE FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST. That is there's NO THERE'S THERE'S NO WAY YOU'RE NOT GOING TO CONVINCE ME that you can be negative, that you could talk about your pastor, that you could and you got the Holy Ghost inside. It ain't no YOU'VE DECEIVED YOURSELF. YOU BETTER GET YOURSELF RIGHT WITH GOD. YOU BETTER GET your You will not know the doctrine until you do his will. And you can't perform his will without his spirit. Paul tells it time and time and time and time and time again. You can't do it without the spirit. You want joy, how you going to have joy? Spirit. You want peace, how you going to have it? The spirit. You You want all of these things? You want to be able to walk in these things? You've got to have the spirit of God. This is why the truth, the word of God, is not completely understood until that that has been enlightened by the Holy Ghost. The spirit produces the the the fruit of the the spirit. The flesh produces the work of the flesh. And they're at battle. There's a struggle going on. I'm not going to compromise. I'm going to lower a standard that only requires the residue of his presence. I wish for a moment you lift your hands. presence of the Lord is here. And I've got more. I wish you'd lift your hands for just a moment. God speaking to somebody. Oh, holy God of heaven. God, we need you tonight. Let's look at what Jude says in Jude chapter 1. He says, "Remember the words of the apostles." Remember the words of the apostles. Verse 18 says, "How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who would walk after their own ungodly lust. These be they who separate themselves sensual having not the spirit. But ye church, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy face faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. And that that's it. You you you see what's going there's he's talking about the last days there there's ungodly lust. There's things going on. They'll separate themselves having not the spirit. The spirit will separate you from those that have not the spirit. It's very obvious. It's very it's easy. It's simple. But if you've never had the Holy Ghost and you're in this place tonight, if you've never had the Holy Ghost, I hope that you by the end of this message tonight, you understand that you need it to do what God's called you to do. You've got to be empowered by his spirit to worship. The true worship is not possible without spirit and truth. Holiness is unachievable without the Holy Ghost. Let's not talk about all these things of of standards until you have the Holy Ghost that empowers you to live at that level of sanctification. That withdrawing yourself unto God. He says in Jude tells us, he says you can build yourself up. How do you do that? Pray in the spirit. How do you mature? How do you build yourself? You pray in the Holy Ghost. You you you pray in the Holy Ghost. said, "If you've never had the Holy Ghost," you say, "How do I do that?" Acts chapter 2 and verse number 38. Then Peter said unto them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. You do those things." He says, "If you will do my will, you will understand my doctrine. If you will repent, if you will be baptized, he will give you the gift of the Holy Ghost." This promise is a powerful promise. It's that it's the reason he died. It's the reason he was buried. It was the reason that he rose again. But I've come to preach to the church tonight that if you have it, you need it again. I said if you have it or you claim to have it, you need to be filled again. And Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6 and verse number one, "When then as workers together with him, beseech ye also that you receive not the grace of God in vain. For he saith, I have heard thee, in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I secured thee, behold, now," somebody say, now. Now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. THAT IS TO EVERYBODY. PAUL IS PREACHING TO THE church at Corenth. He's not preaching to a bunch of folks on the street. We use that scripture to SAY, "HEY, YOU SHOULD GET BAPTIZED TODAY. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the time of sal." No. Paul's saying, "You need to experience salvation again." To the church of Corinth, you need to you need a Holy Ghost. I know you got it a few years ago. I know you got it a few months ago, but you you you you got to get it back so you can start manifesting. So you can see a little bit of that fruit of the spirit. So I see a little bit of that love and that joy. And you got way too much of an attitude to have the you got way too many things going on against your brother to have the Holy You got way too many things in your life that don't look like the Holy Ghost. You ought to go pray a little bit. You ought to you ought to pray till you speak in another tongue. You ought to pray until you get that evidence. Huh? Come on, somebody shout now. Now. Now. When do you need the evidence of his spirit? Now. Well, I'm waiting for them to sing that song. Nope. Now. I I don't know what some people are waiting. I'm waiting on a war to break out. I'm waiting on to hear, you know, hear of the end times. We're here. I I don't know what else you're waiting on because when you hear the trumpet, it'll be too late. He said, "Now, now I'm waiting on them to ask me to to to to to I'm waiting on them to forgive and and I'm waiting on them to do this, and I'm waiting on them to mend these things. I need them to come." No, no, no, no, no, no. Now is the day for you to do what you know to do. Don't prop up your salvation on anybody else. Now is the time to worship. Now is the time to LIFT YOUR HANDS. NOW IS THE TIME. You say, "I've never leaped for joy." Now's a good time to do it. you. I I've never ran the aisles. Now's a good time to start. I've never done this. No, no, no. Now 2025, the first Sunday of 2020 would be a good time to start doing something that you never Why? Because this it's it's the Lord's day. IT'S THE DAY OF SALVATION. IT'S THE DAY THAT GOD'S MADE. IT'S A DAY THAT GOD'S GIVEN YOU AND HE'S GIVEN YOU THE BREATH in your body to be able to worship him. Come on. I wish you'd lift him up. Come on. I wish you'd lift him up with a with a loud voice for a moment. Come on. WITH A LOUD VOICE. I CAN'T LIVE OFF yesterday's praise. I CAN'T LIVE OFF YESTERDAY'S PRAYER. I can't live off last year's victories. Oh, hallelujah. Come on, somebody shout hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, hallelujah. Now, 2 Timothy 1 verse number 6 says, "Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up." That's what I'm here to do tonight. I just want to stir up your thinking a little bit. I just want to stir up that gift that God gave you. You know, it's amazing how quick kids get gifts nowadays. You go back in there and say, "Hey, you just got that." You're not going to play with it. You forget. I think sometimes it's Tuesday and we've already forgot the gift from Sunday. He says, "Stir it up." Every morning, stir it up. That's why we're starting tomorrow morning to remind us every every day there's a battle for God. Now notice where this is positioned. He says you need to stir up the gift of God. And that's verse six. Stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. Huh? And then verse seven says, for God's not giving you the spirit of fear, but power and love and sound. Look, you see all the the evidence that comes with the Holy Ghost, huh? God's not giving you the spirit of fear. He He said, "If you'll stir it up, it there's a reason these two scriptures are together. You stir this up and you can get fear out. You You pray to you pray in the Holy Ghost. That's the best that's the best thing you could take for your fear. You stir it up till you pray in the Holy Ghost. It's the best thing you could take for your your frustrations and and your fear and your anxiety. You say, "I'm feeling fearful today. I'm feeling confused today." I'm just telling you, stir it up. Pray, worship. You know, it's like a we we we got we got back from vacation and I was over here working doing some stuff at the church and I came home and my wife was cleaning out the pantry. And I don't I can't tell you how many times I've done this, but I go and I get it's like late night snack of some Honey Nut Cheerios. Heart healthy. That's what it says. Anyways, it's probably made out of asphalt or something, you know. Get that box out. It's half full. You know, you got more cereal than you got milk. That's always the case, you know. Just keep pouring, keep pouring, keep pouring. I'm looking forward to it. Hungry about to pour it in. And you take that first bite after you've wasted that whole cup of milk to realize they're stale. And I mean stale. Stale. You turn them around turn around and realize that you're probably the only person in this house eating this cereal. That's why it's still here. Cinnamon Toast Crunch does not go expired, right? But it's been expired for few weeks. I was just thinking about the the expiration date. It looks presentable. It looked like it always did. But when I turned and looked at that date, probably should have looked at that before I poured it out and you know dirty the spoon up and can't help but sometimes maybe God looks down and thinks there's a a date since the last time that they really surrendered to me. When's the last time you really got stirred up like the first time? Say when it hit me the first time, I'll never forget. Huh? Where I was standing, who was preaching, who was around me, the emotion that a God that loved me filled me with his spirit. that perhaps the longer we live for him, God forbid, the longer those dates get in between where we house his presence where we feel that overwhelming spirit of God that just overtakes us and that language begins to flow as the outward evidence of the Holy Ghost. Because no matter what anybody tells you, you don't get the Holy Ghost without evidence. There's always been from the Old Testament to the New, there's always an outward evidence of an inward filling. You don't get the promise without there being a sign because doing action is connected to his doctrine. talking about the spirit of God tonight, the Holy Ghost. It started, the whole book leads up to an event that all of a sudden there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. And I I I hope and I pray that no matter the generations to come that when a man of God or a worship leader or somebody in a prayer meeting or somebody in a class even at the at the academy that they they begin to pray and even if it's happening in pre you know that that that devotional prayer time they're in home room but somebody if it's a teacher if it's somebody in an altar doesn't matter where it's at that somebody says that I feel the Holy Ghost that it always means something. We never become callous to the fact that somebody says, "I feel the presence of God." You say, "Oh, well that's just normal." Yeah, but it never it never should become routine. It never should be something that you could just say, "Oh, well, they do that every service." Or, "Oh, yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's the Holy Spirit. That's the presence of God. The God that died for you. The God that conquered death, hell, and the grave for you. The God that's going to judge us, the Holy Ghost, the presence of God, the feeling of the Holy Ghost, the move of the Holy Ghost is the goal EVERY SINGLE service for every person. Hear me, church. Tonight, we are a spirit-led church. What you see when you come into this place isn't the residue of Acts two. This is that this is the dove. This is the Holy Ghost. This is the same spirit. This service is not ran by the tracks computer. This service is not ran by the beat of a drum. That doesn't control this service. The audio visual team is not in control of THE SERVICE. THE SPIRIT IS WHAT CONTROLS this service. The move of God, THE FLUIDITY OF WHAT GOD WANTS TO DO IS WHY WE'RE HERE. If he wants TO STOP RIGHT NOW AND MANIFEST HIMSELF, if he wants to begin AND MANIFEST HIMSELF, WE HAVE NOTHING in order other than being in the will of the Holy Ghost. Oh, hear me for a few moments. Let not the day be gone, Brother Dakota. When the spirit of God falls upon a musician and they lose themsel in the Holy Ghost and somebody has to step off an instrument and be WHY BECAUSE THE HOLY GHOST TAKES OVER. THEN SOMEBODY STEPS OFF OF THEIR DUTY or their job or their thing that they do every service and say, "God, I need you to shake me up right now. God, I need you to stir me up. I don't know what's coming. I don't know what you want to do in my life, BUT I NEED YOU TO STIR ME UP. We want the Holy Ghost falling in everything we do. Come on. Would you lift your hands? I need you. I need you. I need you. I need you, Lord. I need you. Come on. There's no substitute. There's no substitute. Oh, we can't become so system and so cutting edge with the how that we miss the why. Nothing will substitute the HOLY GHOST. THE POWER OF HIS PRESENCE. IT'S NOT our presence. It's not OUR ATTENDANCE. IT'S NOT OUR WAY. But we're here to feel his presence. We're here to let him move. He says, "Quench not the spirit. Don't hold back the spirit. Don't suppress the spirit. Don't restrain the spirit. Everything we see, everything we see, beginning to end, it's all about the spirit. the presence of God. Let us not take anything for granted from the parking lot to the Sunday school room to the pull pit to the free class. No matter what it is, they're out of there. There can be a moment, brother White, all of a sudden the spirit of God just falls in the midst of that class. The spirit of God falls in the midst of a pre-ervice meeting because we are all here for one reason to be led. Paul says as many are led by the spirit. Those are the sons of God. You shall receive power after what? The Holy Ghost has come upon you. We must have the spirit. You stand to your feet. Spirit of the Lord is there's liberty. Know you not that your body is a temple of that spirit of God that dwelleth in you. Paul says in 2 Corinthians, if every scripture I've mentioned, if everything I've said doesn't validate our need for the presence of God, for the Holy Ghost, 2 Corinthians 5 says, "Now that he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath given us the earnest or the down payment of the spirit. He gave us the Holy Ghost. Therefore, we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. And notice where this is placed, for we walk by faith and not by sight. Many of these scriptures that we quote all alone, it's mo, it's very interesting where they're at. We are confident. Verse eight says, "I say and willing rather to be absent from the body to be present with the Lord." You're not going to get to where you want to go without being full of the Holy Ghost. Not on this earth and beyond this earth. Romans 8 and8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so be that the spirit of God dwelleth in you. Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. I know this is very straightforward. Paul is saying it. You, we all need it. We've got to have it. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, and the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken my your mortal body. How's that going to happen? By the spirit that dwelleth in you. That's what he says when the trumpet sounds. When he splits the splits the sky, what's going to take you out of here is the Holy Ghost. You got to be full of it. You got to be full of it. You're not going to make it without it. The same spirit, not a portion of, not a piece of, not the residue of. He says, "You got to have it." And it reminds me of a story in closing tonight. Matthew 25 and verse number six. You've heard it. It's Jesus's parable of 10 virgins. Five wise, five foolish. He comes. Five had oil. Five went to get it. They come back. back and he says, "No, I couldn't help." But just in prayer before service, they had a lamp that perhaps had the residue. It could have been lined, Brother Fallon, with oil. It could have had the scent. It could HAVE HAD ALL THE SIGN THAT THERE WAS ONCE OIL there because at one point they knew where to be. They knew to be in the house OF GOD. THEY KNEW TO LISTEN to this. They knew to be a they they were in the right place. They knew he was coming. But just because you're here just because you're in attendance don't mean God's going to wait for you. He's given you a space. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the day that you say, "God, stir me up." I'm preaching to somebody tonight that you feel like you've gotten so far. You've done something where you feel like you're so far. I'm just telling you, the same Holy Ghost that filled you years ago is here to fill you tonight. the same Holy Ghost that you and I are going to need to get to get out of here to be with him forever. Come on, somebody step out of your seat. Come on. God's calling you. Come on. God's calling. You can't live off of the residue of what once was. I've got to have your presence. I've got to have your presence, oh God. Come on. I wish we'd turn this place into an oldfashioned prayer meeting. Musician and singers, if we could just pray for just a little bit. Come on, musicians, can we just pray? Come on. We're nothing without the Holy Ghost. We're nothing without the anointing of God. God, I love you. Come on. That's it. Come on. That's it. Don't miss a moment. Don't let him pass you by. DON'T LET IT PASS YOU BY. DON'T LET IT PASS YOU BY. GOD. Come on. Don't let the devil distract you right now. Come on. I challenge you to lift your hands. I challenge you to lift your voice. I don't care how long it's been. Let that date start right now. Let that date be tonight. On the first Sunday in 2025, God renewed me. Come on, each and every one of us. Come on, students. Come on, students. Pour your heart out to God right now. Come on. Don't let it pass you by. His presence is here. Be aware of what God wants to do right now. Pray till you pray in the Holy Ghost. Pray till you pray. God. Oh my god. Oh God. Oh God. Come on. Nobody's exempt. Nobody's exempt tonight. Come on. No, not one. We all need it tonight. Come on. I'm asking you tonight. Oh, I'd give anything for 100% participation. Would you lift your hands and lift your voice? God, we need you. Come on, men. Lead us tonight. Come on, men. Lead us tonight. Come on, Dad. Pour your heart out. You got to be full of the Holy Ghost. Shar. I love you. Clear everything the church. Church, Lord Jesus. Help me get together. Great. Let's go. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh my else. Oh my god. God, you reach over and grab the hand shoulder of somebody with you. Brothers or brothers, sister but sister, could you just lift up a prayer together? Come on. I I know some of you are just waiting for us to start singing or waiting for us to dismiss, but I wish we could just linger in his presence for a little bit. Come on. Could we linger in his presence tonight? There's nothing awkward about being in his presence. God, we're here for you. Oh God, we're here for you. God, we want to see you work. Oh God, God, you can do more in a moment. Oh God, come on young people, open up your mouth. Cry out to God. I need you, Lord. I need you, God. I need your presence more than anything in my life. I need you, God. I need you, God. Oh gosh. go. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, God. Come on. What you're feeling is the Holy Ghost right here. Come on. He's just allowed his presence like the spirit. like a dove just to fall into this place right here. Come on. Do you feel the pieces in this house tonight? Do you feel the pieces in this house? Come on. He's lighting in this place like a dove. Oh, I feel you, Jesus. I feel you, Jesus. I feel you in this place. Feel you in this place