A.R. Bernard | “Understanding Power: Part II” | Christian Cultural Center

you hallelujah hallelujah come let's elevate our will our hearts our mind right now let's get into alignment right now start talking to your father speak to jesus [Music] first of all let's start by saying lord thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you lord [Music] lord sometimes it's where [Music] we are in alignment and alignment is on an approximate position a position of worship a position of worthy to come into the presence of this almighty god oh yes so we humbly walk to the throne of grace we humbly say thank you thank you for seeing us worthy to be in the presence of this all mighty god so lord right now we surrender our cares to you our worries to you so that as we sit and listen to the man of god we will not have anything hindering a word and season specific to who we are so lord once again we submit our cares and our concerns to you give us here's the here eyes and see hearts of receive and minds to understand because we don't want to be just challenged but lord we want to be changed unapolo unapologetically changed for christ so we ask that you have your way we submit and surrender to you in jesus precious precious name amen and a man hallelujah [Applause] you may be seated [Music] god is so good god is so good they probably got concerned they didn't see you they thought i was going to be by myself again they weren't afraid of that they enjoyed that i got a i got good word from you last week heard you blew up the spot i adore the guys all right yeah so thank you for all those who uh gave me the encouragement uh let me know how i did i appreciate it thank you so much i suppose let me say this to you and welcome from across the country and around the world wherever you are whether you're in south africa or in australia or south america central america wherever you're joining us from and of course locally we're just glad that you're part of our ever increasing family we're growing fast yes we are and and expansively and thank you for uh encouraging pj and all of our ministers it is not easy to get up here you may think that you know i could do that until you get up here to do this and all of a sudden you realize that it's you feel the weight of responsibility and the demand and here at ccc we've set the bar pretty high no you set the bar pretty hard okay okay good no but it's pressure it's a good it's a good push yeah yeah i mean and we need to be stretched right we need to be in that's why the the development of self can only come from the group yes in order to have the eye you need the we you need the us because it is the us and the we that validates the eye and that's so important in a world where we think it's all about i it's all about me no you could not be you yes without y'all think about it we only think to the level that we're exposed to we only know what we know yeah and if if you know if you look at just us that means that whatever is in this box of us that we in essence should be able to strive to this next level and no it takes other individuals who have discovered learned and was educated to bring certain things to your you know box yeah right to bring you to a place where now you're learning you're educating adding to who you are you're adding to what you know and that takes another level yeah yeah that's why i believe wholeheartedly in personal responsibility and self-help but self-help has limits yes because no matter how much you help yourself you still still need someone else yes you know look a a a prisoner can't unlock his own prison let himself out of prison i think that that shot over some people's heads okay a prisoner can't unlock his own prison i mean you know the whole idea is you need someone outside to free you from anything that you find yourself caught in that's why jesus but defined prison i think well prison all prisons are not made of concrete and steel the greatest prison is the prison of the mind yes so you need someone to speak into your mind into your thinking to free you from the restraints that your contacts may have placed you in yes you know we have a big challenge today with uh culturally induced ignorance about so many things i was thinking about the borough president and and and and uh keith white who was our corporate council and the use of the language black and brown you know uh individuals and you know that's the culture's always trying to change the language at one time was black and latino yes you know and now it's black and brown and there are a lot of white folks who are marginalized and poor in this country uh as well i i look forward to where we don't have to make those distinction where we can be respectful human beings you know and appreciated human beings but unfortunately the american history the american construct has created things the way it is and we've got to deal with the way it is but um again the intervention of god is what it's going to take in order to make a difference i agree amen amen amen how do we get in jump into all this you know i we can i i want us to be just people yes um and deal with people where they are the different situations that they're they're experiencing but it's going to take some time to to change that i think that was dr martin luther king's dream wasn't it yes it was yeah yeah content of our character and not the color of our skin yes but uh here we are hopefully you know this is a season i believe that you know we have an opportunity in our nation to begin to heal because remember crisis reveals the cracks and jesus said every branch in me that bears fruit i will prune it so that it can become more fruitful so all purification is by way of crisis and crisis creates a situation for us to understand where we're weak where we're deficient and what we need to address to what we need to be better at and to do better at i think that's where we are as a society amen amen there's a big strive uh and it's a sensitivity to saying okay how can we be all-inclusive but yet create a standard that allows individuals to function within society that is leans towards the the common good yeah and i think that's the struggle that's the big tension because uh you have so so much diversity within the community what does the common good look like yeah and i think if we land at a place where the common good looks like uh i think it'll start changing the way we operate function and that's and that's what we debate you know we have to agree on a common good yes and that requires you to be unselfish selfishness is the biggest problem we have in human society you know it's it's it's the the the self versus everyone else you know the other and what comes out of the self is ambition what comes out of of of the outside of us is calling vocation vocation or calling especially from god never comes from within it's always from without and because in the self it's all about what we want what we feel and all of that and we're both subjective and objective yes human beings we can detach ourselves from our own feelings right and look at our situation objectively or we can stay in our own feelings and feel sorry for ourselves but we have the power to do that that's what makes us different from every other species and we have the power to step back and deliberate because we all have drives and feelings uh um you know and passions but as human beings we can step back and deliberate whether we should act on those drives those feelings those passions and that's part of free will that's what distinguishes us from human beings and and and all of this from animals right and all of this goes back to the fact that we've become such a me and an eye generation for the last several decades especially in the west here in america that it it revolves around everything the whole i'm the center of the universe yes not jesus even christians i find christians getting caught up in that where it's it's it's all about them and not about the greater community and that's what jesus pointed to because when you think outside of you and you're no longer the center of your universe all of a sudden you discover this world of people around you that actually allows you to self to to actualize to come into a knowledge of your true identity boy how do we get into this this morning we're supposed to be talking about that's really good power and and and those things but um yeah i you know look i was thinking about even the format here sitting in a chair this comes from the from from our judeo-christian roots because in the synagogues if you ever read in the gospel it talks about jesus talked about the pharisees sitting in moses seat and moses seat was languished to describe a chair that was actually in the front of the synagogue and what would happen is part of the what we call the service the worship service the rabbi would sit in that chair in the front to the right and he would open the book of the law and he would expound to the people the law he would give them an understanding of how to understand the law what it meant and how it applied to their lives so here we are sitting in a chair and it's not strange but it has its roots in you know in the jewish synagogue from where our christianity comes praise the lord that's good we're sitting in the chair cause two years ago i injured my back and i couldn't stand long so here we are praise the lord but i look forward to seeing this house filled with with people yeah side by side no mass and and we're just enjoying the presence of god i think that is so so important and i miss that i miss that you know just moving around seeing people that i haven't seen in months and or a year we're social beings we need each other the worst thing that could happen is isolation they were talking to prisoners and prisoners were saying that isolation is the worst thing for them when they are removed from the general population and they don't have contact with anyone that affects them the most that is the greatest punishment to them you know even introverts uh hunger for interaction for sharing for socializing praise the lord where are we going with this i'm following i'm not well you know let me just say this to you if you're listening and you're here to learn and grow you can learn and grow in so many different ways out of so many different forms there's some people that they're so um gosh structured in a way that if the word of god is not presented in a specific way that they're used to and comfortable with then they just couldn't learn anything something's wrong with that yep a true student enjoys the unique ways of learning yeah yeah right the true student also looks for opportunities to learn yeah again a true student always looks for opportunities to learn and they appreciate the uniqueness in the different ways of learning yeah yeah and that's the beauty of it you you should be open and realize you can learn from a little child learning from youtube and learn from literature they don't limit who they can learn from that was the third part excellent thanks i didn't know we were in it's something i was working on a couple of months ago but i i put this on the board because we started talking uh about in fact you were ministering at another church and i was solo and started talking about power and i talked about political power economic power and i thought about it said well let me give a little bit more background especially we're in political season here in in the city of new york and other parts of the country we're going to be moving into midterm elections and all of that and you know it's it's all part of it but let's go to a text can we can we do that in the time that we don't have left ax the book of acts acts chapter 14. and this is an interesting situation where paul and barnabas were ministering and you know their ministry was so deep and profound that people responded to them in a way that sort of deified them and they reacted in verse 14 by saying but when the apostles barnabas and paul heard this they tore their clothes um gosh i'm trying to not have to go back through the whole text but when part when when and i'm reading from the new king james version but when the apostles barnabas and paul heard this they tore their clothes and ran in among the people crying out and saying men why are you doing this they were treating essentially they were saying because of the the power of the words and the spirit that was coming from paul and barnabas they were saying the gods have come down in the form of men so they were treating these two apostles as though they were deity all right and the apostles stopped them right there all right when they heard this they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude crying out and saying men why are you doing these things we also are men with the same nature as you and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things these idols to the living god who made the heaven the earth and the sea and all things that are in them and here's the beautiful part who in bygone or who in times past in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways nevertheless he did not leave himself without witness in that he did good gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness and with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them so they these guys were like superhumans and they wanted to worship them but they were saying no no no no let me point you to the true god the true and living god but these words are important who in who he made heaven and earth right see and all things that are in them who in bygone generations another translation says who in times past all right allowed all nations to walk in their own ways did you hear that that god allowed humanity to develop over time and throughout human history that means he allowed governments to be formed nations to be formed tribes to be formed systems of government customs and and traditions to be formed he allowed humanity to grow and develop on their own and please understand the whole the old testament when you read it's specifically about the nation of israel and those nations in relationship to israel but there was a lot going on on the rest of the planet yes that you know was not mentioned you know going on on other continents uh but during that period of time in times past what did god do he allowed the nations to develop he knew that they would develop religions that were wrong right and worshiping idols and creatures and angels and other things he knew that he knew that they would develop governments some of those governments would be oppressive some of those governments would be governments of justice and and equity and care for the marginal life he knew that all of these different forms of government would emerge from humanity at the same time all your spiritual warfare folks he assigned angels over each nation as part of his oversight in guiding man in that development and was holding those angels responsible accountable for the development of the societies under their jurisdiction these were called tutelary messengers or tutelary angels under the uh instruction of god but the most important thing is that throughout history god allowed nations to develop on their own you all got that yes got that out there thank you you can answer for those online god allowed a china to develop he allowed uh and asia to develop he allowed a south america to develop he allowed in africa to develop he allowed central america south america north america he allowed all of this right to develop over time because he knew that he had a plan and he would enter human history so think about it all right god while this is going on while he's allowing all these other nations deuteronomy beautifully deuteronomy deuteronomy 32 8 it says that he took a nation for himself which is the nation of israel so he makes a promise to abraham right and then that promise is passed down isaac and jacob and then from jacob and then emerges uh joseph and then moses out of moses he establishes a people a nation of people so god allowed other nations to develop on their own but he himself would develop his own nation which would become the nation of israel and he would reveal himself to that nation so that that nation could be a light to other nations got it eventually he knew that how he developed that nation of israel would point to the coming of his own personal intervention into human history which he did in the person of jesus christ and then begin a process of recovering humanity towards the second return of christ through the personal work of the holy spirit so god allows human history to continue on its own right he then invades human history in the person and work of jesus 2000 years ago what does jesus do god enters human history through jesus right praise the lord praise the lord so the incarnation was the intervention of yahweh into human history and that's powerful that's amazing because we think of human history today before christ and after christ even though they changed the name common era before the common error no no it's bc before jesus and after jesus so so what happens is god allows human history to develop humanity to develop and he sees the errors the problems with them but he has a plan and too often we get so overwhelmed by the condition of things that we want to leave the plan and try to do something immediately that's powerful that's powerful when the plan is what's going to make the difference not our immediate immediate knee-jerk reaction to things did you all get that this is good preaching folks that's good are you all getting this the difference between a plan and the whether you call the band-aid system yeah right yeah and that's what we want we want god we want you to do this and do it now yes no god always has a plan turn to your neighbor that's probably your wife or your husband or your mother your sister your brother or whatever and say god always has a plan right the victory is in the strategy the strategy is in the plan amen yes that's it not in your knee-jerk reaction not in your emotional uh response it's in the plan and that's powerful because the the plan has better long-term effects compared to the knee jerk absolutely that's why it's abandoned like you said yep so so sometimes the plan requires things to continue as they are waiting for the perfect timing in order to intervene the scripture says when the fullness of time had finally come god sent his son he just didn't send jesus at any old time he planned it and if you ever read the third chapter of the book of luke the first three verses it tells you who was in government who was in power who was the head of the empire who was the high priest everything was lined up and then the word comes to john yes john the baptist in the wilderness to prepare the way for the coming of the lord so god sees what's going on he sees and he understands but god has a plan not only for all of humanity but for your life as well and when you surrender to him and trust him that's what trust is all about all right god is continually saying folks i got a plan for you i got a plan for you i got a plan follow me let me lead you so that that plan can be executed and the right timing and the right elements come together so even though he allowed humanity to continue with all of its issues he had a plan and at the right time 2000 years ago what does he do he invades human history he inserts himself in a very personal way jesus christ yep right he is the express image of the father jesus said if you've seen me you've seen the father so god invades human history 2000 years ago in the person and work of jesus christ that's important in the person and work of jesus christ and once the person and work of jesus christ was completed then on the day of pentecost god invades human history again in the person and work of his holy spirit amen and the person and work of the holy spirit will continue until jesus returns you get this plan it's a plan folks i know we get upset and we see the way the world is going and where is god he's got a plan yes all right so think about it think about it the three things that that that god worked with and i think you mentioned you referred to some of the spirit word and community right so three things that we need you mentioned this first all right i opened up with it i think you you referred back to it we need spirit word and community in the old testament all right we didn't have spirit we had the presence of the holy spirit as he manifested all right in special ways in specific situations on particular people the patriarchs the priests the prophets kings but the masses of people did not experience the holy spirit like that it was not the time what did they have they had the word word in the law of moses right yes and they had community in the nation of israel what did they have the word and community what did he give him the which was in the law of moses right and he gave them community the nation of israel he gave them an identity what were they missing what was they missing spirit absolutely and this is very very important and that's why when jesus came a lot of his conflict were with the keepers of the law the pharisees why because they were engaged in the letter of the law but jesus was pointing to the spirit of the law and we have that in our day and time we have a difference in our court system between the letter of the law what it actually says and the spirit of the law well what is it trying to convey and we can get stuck in the letter of things and be very legalistic but what is the spirit of it what is the spirit of what was written and what code was given so so we can have word right and community and community identity but it's not going to achieve what god wants to achieve without spirit spirit so he sent his word right created community but in order for this word and community to be effective what would we need the spirit spirit a church is community right so we move from a nation of israel specifically identified with the jewish people and we we broadened it out so it's no longer jew nor gentile but encompassing all humanity yes you get it you're with me church y'all out there you're with me stay with me south africa you're with me stay with me all right so but we need both we need community we need the word we need law we need legal codes we need instruction right we need wisdom but we need community to experience it to to to model it to share it to pass it on from generation to generation so when jesus comes all right the word enters personally the word was given through the law of moses but now when christ comes the word enters human history personally right in the beginning was the word the word was with god the word was god right all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life and the life became the what the light of men the light shined into the darkness so even though we had word and community there was still that darkness until the spirit spirit came so jesus comes as the light of the world he comes as the word and he makes the way so that spirit could now make this complete you see it yes so god invades human history through the incarnation with his word right the person and work of jesus his work in in healing and miracles and preaching repentance and modeling the kingdom of god uh and and modeling the authority of god because the kingdom of god is essentially the rule of god the sovereignty of god he modeled the sovereignty of god when he cast out demons what was he modeling the sovereignty of god what does sovereignty mean that god is ultimately in control everything must submit to him so when he dealt with disease and sickness what was he modeling the sovereignty of god he was expressing god's sovereignty and god's desire so god's desire is not for humanity be sick and and and die all right his desire for humanity is for humanity behold to be well uh to be at peace and to thrive that's his desire so when jesus dealt with all of these things he was demonstrating and manifesting the sovereignty or the rule of god over all of these things so it is the person and work of jesus christ that invaded human history and when his work which was the cross all right his work was on the cross so he he he he demonstrated the love of god the life of god the light of god the authority of god and everything that he did there was reasons why he he did the miracles you know that he did and it wasn't to just come and heal the whole world no it was to manifest the authority of god so god is here god is present emmanuel god with us right we celebrated christmas time celebrate every day believe it so the person and work of jesus but then his work on the cross is finished all right and now it opens the way for the spirit to come and the spirit of god to begin his work the person god now comes in the person and work of the holy spirit let's look at some scriptures that help us understand this because this brings us back to economic and political power and what's necessary within a society to balance those two things out so um where can we go here gosh oh i love this you know let's go to john chapter 7 john 7 30 let's see 7 30 yeah let's go to john 7 37 and i know you got to punch it into your little computer there and those of you who still have the i'm not going to say it last time i said old technology my ipad crashed in the service so i respect that book the bible that you may have in your lab okay all right so so in the last day verse 37 in the last day that great day of the feast so this is the feast that jesus is at and the crowds are there right it's a jewish festival jesus stood and cried saying and i'm now reading from king james version i'm sorry if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink what was he talking about verse 38 he that believes on me as the scripture has said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water verse 39 is critical but this spake he of the what come on spirit of the what was he talking about spirit what was he talking about spirit the spirit which they that believe on him should receive for the holy ghost holy spirit holy ghost same some people say there's two different no the same problem same person but this fake he of the whole the spirit which they that believe on him should receive for the holy ghost was not what given i can't hear you out there given not yet given king james language not yet given because jesus was not yet glorified when would he be glorified in his resurrection so there's certain things that had to happen it's not that the holy spirit never appeared and worked on earth no you see him in the old testament but as a general outpouring upon all of humanity this was never done this is unprecedented what jesus is talking about but he's saying that when this comes to pass the holy spirit will now be be at work in the hearts of human beings and begin to change society and bring the word and community together got it that's why we've got to have the holy spirit so you can't have a church that evicts the holy spirit and the work and moves of the holy spirit we just have to understand that the holy spirit is more than jumping and shouting and prophesying and you know it's more than that all right so so jesus was here talking about the holy spirit who could not be given to humanity until his death and his resurrection because that's what would give access to the holy spirit got it um and and please understand let's let's go back to [Music] oh man i'm gonna jump around oh that's good all right we'll we'll jump to that let's go to acts chapter 2 acts 2 17. let's go there and i'm glad you can get there quickly acts chapter 2 verse 17. this is the day of pentecost right day of pentecost peter is preaching after what happened the holy spirit comes how many familiar with the day of pentecost acts chapter 2 right they were all gathered in the upper room and the holy spirit comes in like a rushing mighty wind tongues of fire you know the whole experience and and it's confusing because they don't understand what's going on so peter stands up verse 17 verse 16 and he says i love these words this is that this is that which was spoken by who job the prophet joel so a something prophetic is being fulfilled here all right this is what the prophet joel prophesied about and it shall come to pass in the last days right so this is the launching of the last days we're in the last days and have been since this since uh pentecost and it shall come to pass in the last days saith god i will do what pour out my spirit pour out my spirit spirit on a few people oh i can't hear you oh come on out there in internet land or whatever all right not upon a few people not on specific people like the patriarchs like the kings like the priests like the prophets know but i'm going to pour out my spirit upon come on oh all of humanity i got goosebumps all of humanity now is going to have access so jesus preached access to the kingdom the rule of god and now the holy spirit is poured out so that now humanity humanity can be brought into an intimate relationship with god because intimacy with god is spirit to spirit intimacy with a human person is spiritual spirit and that's why social media can do but so much internet can do so much we have to have in person for real relationships we have to have in person let me understand that's why you can have a 100 000 followers on social media and only five friends in real life what does that say folks okay so it'll come to pass i will i in the last days of god i will pour out my spirit upon what come on upon all flesh so now all of humanity not just certain individuals within the economy of god but all of humanity would experience it and why is that important i'm glad you asked let's go to genesis chapter 6 verse 12 genesis 6 12. in fact genesis 6 11 genesis 6 11. i know you're there already right the earth also was corrupt before god and the earth was filled with what with violence verse 12 and god looked upon the earth and behold it was what again corrupt corrupt corruption set in right for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth what was the problem flesh what was the problem i can't hear you what was the problem flesh absolutely now let's go back up to the beginning of chapter six uh verse 3 and the lord said my spirit shall not always strive with man for that he also is what he also is what flesh yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years so what was what what happened because of corruption setting into humanity the holy spirit did you all hear holy yes what kind of spirit the holy spirit will not dwell in an unclean temple so because humanity became corrupt and unclean now the holy spirit must withdraw that kind of personal relationship that god intended originally with adam and eve and it's not on not until the day of pentecost that now we are revisiting the removal the withdrawal of god's spirit from back in genesis to now the reintroduction of god's spirit in a very personal way with humanity are you getting this folks yes very very very important here as as we see it my spirit shall not always strive with man now what is the holy spirit doing striving with humanity once again convicting the world of sin right and of righteousness and of judgment this is what he's doing all right so when he comes let's let's go to john chapter 16 verse 12. gospel of john and i know let me see if i got it here ooh come on act right i didn't say anything bad about the bible come on back right here all right let me go this way john 16 let's go to verse 12. all right jesus says here i have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now and bear simply means you can't handle them you're not at the place level of maturity experience knowledge etc to comprehend and grasp the things that i want to share with you how be it when he the spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth now there are other passages as well there all right that speak of the ministry of the holy spirit and you know again that word bear means to carry the weight or pressure or responsibility of what he wants to share so he expressly declares that he was leaving many things unrevealed so that they would require a relationship with the holy spirit in order to experience revelation so jesus did not quite contrary to some what some people think that the church was born after when jesus said go into all the world he gave them the new testament say hey now go no there was no new testament there's no scriptures we know it until hundreds of years later all right all they had was their experience with him and the things that he commanded to them and and commanded them and he said now go into all the world make followers of christ and teach them to observe all the things that i commanded so the things that he said right so he promised that this revelation would be completed after or the process of revelation would be completed after the holy spirit because he would begin the process of guiding the community so a community would be born by the holy spirit because we're born of the spirit not of the flesh a community would be born of the holy spirit and that community would grow and develop because of the work of the holy spirit and he outlined in advance the elements of new testament revelation he said he'll bring all things you could write this john john john down john 14 26 he will the holy spirit will bring all things to your remembrance which means that the holy spirit would be historical in nature he would give them an understanding of historical events got it he'll bring all things through remembrance whatever i said to you and it's not just reminding them of what he said but giving them understanding of what it meant and throughout jesus's ministry he would quote the old testament and then explain what it actually meant so in the new testament the holy spirit would refer us back to the things that jesus said and did and teach us what it meant this would be the ministry so it would be historical it would be doctrinal he said right he will teach you all things to teach is to impart doctrine so it'll be doctrinal the interpretation of historical facts was not just bringing back to us historical facts and events but he would interpret those facts he would give us an understanding of what those events meant what they actually meant and he still works like that today he we look at history and the holy spirit for those who are in that kind of relationship with him he gives them the interpretation and understanding of what those events actually mean and prophetic he will show you things to come so his the holy spirit's work would be historical doctrinal and prophetic too often we stick we stick ourselves to the the second chapter of act where he says i will pour out my thread upon our flesh and and you'll prophesy and you'll dream dreams and have vision and that's all no there is so much more the work of the holy spirit to build this community but now we have spirit we have word we have community all coming together so let me just go back here so this holy spirit working through people some with special roles like in ephesians 4 where he says he gave prophets apostles pastors teachers evangelists not necessarily in that order so some individuals all right would experience a special role in relationship to this community are you with me yes got it evangelists prophets pastors apostles teachers so he's going to pour out his spirit upon all flesh all of humanity and those who respond to him and are born again are now going to become part of that community but he's going to also give some of them specific roles to play in the building of that community he also will give specific special gifts to individuals within the community as is outlined in first corinthians chapter 12 right and then again uh in which which are you know uh spiritual empowerments in first corinthians 12 and in romans chapter 12 we're talking about serving gifts so there will be there will be especially anointed individuals who occupy roles of leadership they'll be individuals who would express the charismata of the holy spirit first corinthians and there'll be those who express the spirit of god in the form of serving the the people of god the community of god did jesus set this up good yes come on did he did he have a system here yeah sisters and structures so so think about this again he he intervenes in human history and and i shared with you that human history is the story of man's struggle this is history man's struggle for two things political power and anybody remember the other one so history is a story of man's struggle for for what two things so if god enters human history what is he entering he's entering man's come on come on come on he's entering man's what he's entering the struggle and what is what are men struggling for political power and and it's all about what power it's all about power so god enters human history in the person and work of jesus christ all right and he brings about redemption death on the cross resurrection now sets the stage so that all of humanity can experience his spirit all right and now god has entered in a very special way the struggle within human history between political power and economic power and when you read the book of revelations what is really going on there it's the culmination of this struggle that's what revelation is about it's the cult where it all comes to a head and basically revelation is saying as it comes to a head without divine intervention we're going to kill each other do you hear that so we need divine intervention we need the return of messiah we need the return of jesus christ we need this second and final intervention of god because in this struggle all right and technology is moving faster than our character our our mental emotional intellectual uh motivational ability to sustain it yeah and that's dangerous folks are you hearing me yes it's dangerous technology is going where we can blow up the world and what's the only thing to to balance that i'm glad you asked because that oh man we're out of time wow we don't have the luck that's good we're gonna have the luxury to go you would like that that's good you like that that's good you got to get out to long island so you can preach i know these people lovely people [Laughter] [Applause] need to time to leave so that we can oh that's right we got it yes we gotta spray sanitize yes sanitize and all of that we're gonna pick up can we pick up on this did you get anything out of this today yes i want you to have the big picture of you and then we can zero in to certain parts and certain elements all right and let me tell you something folks we as a people of god should know god and we should understand these things in a way that we can give hope to the rest of humanity all right because if you really look at what's going on around the world we humanity is headed toward a cliff that they're going to go over and it's going to be a done deal but in christ we have hope we have hope and in christ we all come together all languages all tongues all ethnicities all races all of that we are brought together the the wall of of separation is is is torn away and here we come together as a new community where peter called it a new nation a royal priesthood all right and we are priests and kings right now we are priests and i know there are those who tried to say we're priests and king right now no right now we're a priest and we're in a priestly mode and we're going to talk about that we will be kings when jesus establishes his kingship amen amen amen praise the lord hallowed we we gotta pray this has been good revelation yes come on you don't pray you're the prayer on the prayer you're the prayer do you want to go to prayer or you want to go to the altar call i'll let you be led by the holy spirit well i haven't said this in a long time boom don't encourage that don't encourage that well come on let's start by our heads talking to god for those who have a relationship with god please engage i was listening to a song this morning on my way in and it's been laying on my heart and it says grandma used to pray out loud by her bed every night to me it sounds like mumbling like she was out of her mind she said boy this kind of praying is what saved my life she said you ought to try it sometime and you know how she was right she was talking to jesus for some of us this we're at a place where this is this has we're broken and this is we're at a decision we have a serious decision to make where whether it's you know is his prayer going to save my life and as you're praying here or at your home in your car at your job pastor adam has a text he wants to read and wants to usher us in a little prayer hallelujah while your head's about your eyes are closed across the internet here in this room the bible says that like water spilled on the ground so we all must die it can't be recovered but god does not take away life instead he devises a plan a strategy his pastor talked about this morning so that the banished person may not remain estranged from him any longer you may feel far from god this morning but the fact that you're in the hearing of this word is part of the plan of god to bring you close to him that no matter what you've done no matter what sins you've committed every one of us falls short of the glorious standard of the righteousness of god but because of jesus and the perfect work on calvary we have the opportunity for new life this morning put your heads about and your eyes closed if that's you i want you to pray this prayer silently with and say father god this morning i put my hope in the finished work of jesus christ that he was born of a virgin died for me in my place and on the third day was raised to life now i put my hope and my faith in jesus in jesus name i pray amen if you prayed that prayer across the internet there's a a text option an email option you can let us know we want to journey with you we want to walk with you in this process of growing in your faith god bless you pastor amen we're going to still pray uh because that's pastor was praying um someone text me and uh why are you praying they texted yes but i think it was it was key because she said the struggle is real yes yes yes and some of us as christians we're struggling whether it's you know to just walk this walk with god sometimes especially in a day like this where the demand to show up to church is not there so i don't have that accountability to walk this walk with god or some of you might be struggling because you know the financial uh issues that are going you're going through puts you at a place where you're tempted to step out or to do things that might not be according to the will of god and i'm not talking about an illegal thing but according to the will of god in your life the struggle is wrong i want to pray with you i understand that the struggle is real believe you me you're not alone with understanding that the struggle is real so that's about father god thank you so much for this service thank you for allowing us to understand that yes the struggle is real but you have called us to walk this walk you have called us to live a specific life dna to who we are as individuals so lord i pray for these individuals that are watching that you just guide god and govern that path that you would just speak some new wisdom into their ears reshaping and reimagine and re-energize it the way they can move and do what you have called them to do lord i pray for the individuals who are teetering that that really hasn't taken a relationship with god serious they're christians they believe you but they've been thrown down and they've been letting their cares in this world choke up the energy so i pray for them that they will remember the cross remember the seven last things of christ remember the resurrection remember the call to the altar remember the freedom from the chains hallelujah remember the freedom from the burdens remember why we call ourselves christians yes why because you are good and not just sometimes but lord all the times as we pray for our first anointing to walk this walk you have called us to walk in jesus precious name through the power of the holy spirit amen amen amen sorry part of the left that's good i didn't want to fall so remember the i cannot be actualized without the we and the us yes very very important and it takes all three spirit word and community to make a whole christian sometimes we get we we focus mostly on the spirit and very little word sometimes we focus on the word very little spirit or we don't do community it takes all three coming together and it's it's it's a juggling act to balance you know it's a balancing act to balance those things in terms of their impact their influence but it all comes together and that's what we try to do here at christian cultural center thank you for being with us i hope you were blessed today amen those of you who are in the building those of you outside and the way things are going we're going to expand over the next two months the numbers of people until we get back to where we can really enjoy each other and the presence of god and do community yes once again and uh last thing uh we have summerfest on september 20 september june june um because we we were talking about going into live full live service in september june 26th thank you thank you staying in my ear thank you at 2 p.m please join 26. yes june 26th as well as we we would use the surveys to interact with the people and some of the things that we're looking to do into the future is uh determined by uh the response on the survey so if you receive a survey please take the time out to respond to it so that we can serve you better it's not just you know because we want to send our surveys because i i believe you know i don't like pulling surveys out but i understand that this is for how we can serve you better so please participate help us out we would really appreciate that yeah you have a voice and we want to hear your voice i i know and and appreciate you trusting our leadership but at the same time we want to hear from you we want to have the pulse of the people amen amen so for those of you who joined us uh across the country and around the world and locally by internet and those of you who are in the building thank you for being with us today we pray that you were blessed let's all stand as we [Music] say what we say as we leave this place but never god's presence come on jesus jesus is lord period we believe it we proclaim it and we're seeing it come to pass god bless you we love you have a wonderful wonderful week in the lord go the mass has ended

Channel: Christian Cultural Center - Brooklyn Campus

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Length: 59min 4sec (3544 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 06 2021