City Sanctuary Worship Service 11:00AM

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] amen why don't we stand this morning we're going to worship the lord today and we're just going to thank the lord for opening up his heavens and pouring out his love and pouring out his mercy and his grace on us this morning amen [Music] calling out to you your glory like a fire awakening desire will burn our hearts with truth [Music] open up the a mighty river flowing from your heart [Music] descending like a cloud you're standing with us [Music] flowing [Music] we want to see a mighty river flowing from your heart show us show us your glory show us show us your power show us show us your glory show us your glory god show us show us your glory [Music] [Music] flowing from your heart [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you lord god we thank you god for what you are doing in us god we thank you for your resurrecting power god we thank you that you are resurrecting things in us god for that have laid dormant for a long time but you're breathing life into them today god lord we breathe alive into those things that have remained dead god and we call them forth to come into fruition today in jesus name lord we worship you we worship you and we thank you god hallelujah [Music] the head that once was [Music] to see your name your name is victory all praise will rise to christ our king your name your day is victories all praise will rise to christ our kingdom [Music] his final [Music] [Music] it's your is your name is victory all grace will rise to christ [Music] [Music] is it out by your spirit i will rise from the ashes of defeat the resurrected king is resurrecting me in your name i come alive to declare your victory your resurrecting his resurrecting take it out by your spirit i will rise probably [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] resurrecting me by your spirit i will rise from the ashes of me [Music] [Applause] [Music] is thank you [Music] was [Music] oh [Music] foreign is [Music] [Music] is [Music] by your spirit i will rise from the ashes of defeat the resurrected kings victory forever [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] forever [Music] [Applause] thank you we praise you today that your victory is our victory god we lift you up in this place today lord we we lift you up that your resurrecting power lives inside of each and every single one of us and though we may walk sometimes with our shoulders low we can hold our head high because you are our savior you are our healer you are our victory today in the midst of all of our troubles and the things that we think that we are defeated in the moments that we think were overcome you are our victory today and lord we lift your name on high we worship you [Music] father we thank you for your word we thank you for your worship today god we give you all the glory in this place today we give you all the glory in this way come on church lift him up come on church whether you're in this building or you're online right there make your make your sanctuary right there lord we worship you god we praise you god we give you glory [Music] god we understand that you are faithful that you are yesterday you are today you're tomorrow you're faithful your word stands true god we worship you we worship you today god we worship you today [Music] you know sometimes i um when we come up here we do this piece [Music] in between it's like a transition everybody knows it's your transition right okay we're getting ready to finish out the worship and go to waving to people when the lights come up and we get done with the prayer and maybe pastor mark or someone says come on church and everybody yes and it goes quiet again they said no come on church everybody yes and it goes quiet again can i tell you he's worthy of more than that [Music] we just sang a song about his res who believes he's still in a tomb oh i gotcha somebody i'll still need some coffee right i think all of us in here say he's not in that tomb anymore am i right and he said the very power that raised christ from the dead is in you today so when i say church let's pray when i say church let's lift him up i don't expect us to say yes i expected to say oh glorious father the one who was above everything that we could ask or imagine we lift your name up on high we put you above our problems we put you above our illness we put you above our debt we put you above everything that we have that we have idolized that we have put in front of you and today we lift you up in this place our hearts are raised up to you our minds are raised up to you our hands are raised up to you and the idols that we placed in our lives we ask you to destroy them to do away with them and allow you to take the rightful place in our life church can you say amen today is he worthy of a praise is he worthy of your worship and let's hear it today we worship you we lift you up give 30 seconds of your worship to him clap praise raise your hands shout his name do something that tells him he's worthy of your glory today lord we worship you we worship you we worship you [Music] lord we praise you jesus we praise you jesus and we thank you we thank you that you are our savior and that you've decided for whatever reason to put that resurrecting power inside of us we thank you for your victory we thank you for your assurance and we thank you for your word today we praise your name and we lift you up right now in this building online when you watch it later or whoever is watching live right now we lift you up and we give you all the glory in the mighty name of jesus we pray amen amen can you say amen today [Music] all right now is the transition period they'll bring the lights up and you can wave to somebody how's that oh god is good amen we welcome you here today [Music] oh man that's good stuff thank you jesus let me say thank you jesus amen listen if this is your first time here thank you so much for being a part of worship with us today we are excited about who god is you agree this is our time where we where we digitally connect so we we wave to each other and now we're going to digitally connect if you have your city sanctuary app whether on your phone or your ipad or your i know i'm apple friendly sorry iphone ipad android devices right i'll get them all in there even if you have your old windows phone that used to be around like 1990. um get the city sanctuary app and make sure you download it and click on the connect and the service check in uh this is your first time thank you so much for coming on out today we we appreciate you and and we hope that you'll find a home here amen we have uh some awesome things to talk about this morning uh before we move on um and i wanna i wanna do that right now so um you know god orchestrates people and seasons is that right and um we are so thankful i'm gonna ask andrew keller and hannah come on up here really quick uh andrew keller you might not um you see some of y'all most of y'all know him but you probably don't see him on a regular basis here at church um and the reason why you don't see him i want everybody turn around and look right up at that sound booth you can't do that on the camera i'm sorry but up in that sound booth there's a door that's behind the sound booth right the recesses that's where the media team hangs out and we orchestrate the live streams um when we're talking about camera one camera two raise that audio up make make heather's voice louder in the microphone um you know or turn down mark's voice in the microphone whatever they say um you know that that's that's where most of that stuff happens um and andrew has been instrumental in being a part of the media team ministry for almost five years now and can i tell you this and i mean this because even up to this week i was texting him we would not have a live stream if it wasn't for andrew andrew has has helped us equip um as i said in the first service he has helped us run cable um him and his dad built the shelves if you ever make your way up into that room um they're shelving that we sit at and desks that we sit at him his dad built those and i've hit my head a number of times running cable underneath them and so was andrew we both um you know and matter of fact our man andrew fell off of a ladder yesterday thankfully no concussion no issue god protected him in that but but we have we have spent many nights here until three sometimes in the morning uh working on things um but andrew has accepted and will be moving into the social media director position um for nations church which is a project from christ for all nations they're launching a church in orlando and uh yeah let's give them a hand so we're we're excited about that um hannah who is up here as well she has been part of the media team she runs camera two most of the time when she was around there um but i brought them both up because uh they're gonna be moving on and i'm so excited about this news they are recently engaged um and they are going to be getting married in january of 2022 um so they are engaged and they are planning to do awesome things for god um and we get to we get to be a part and we get to watch what god does but i ask them up here because we want to pray for them and want to send them off the right way so would you extend your hands to them right now father god i thank you for andrew and i thank you for hannah god i thank you for their hearts i thank you for their desire to serve you god i thank you for um just the the hours and hours that they've poured in to this church to this ministry father god in the thousands of people that are going to come to know you because of it [Music] father i pray a blessing over them that you would guide their steps guide their hearts god that you would orchestrate your will in their lives in their marriage and in their future so that they become a powerhouse for who you are and father god that they would take this social media position and he would just let your name be known throughout the utter ends of the earth and god that so many would come to know you and be set free from your love and your grace and god i pray that you would be with them every step of the way god we thank you for them we send them now and we are excited to see what it is that you have planned and that we get to watch and god we thank you that you're in the midst of all of this in the name of jesus we pray amen can you give him a hand [Music] yeah i get emotional that's fine like i said we're like in here until like three and four in the morning sometimes working on stuff so now i gotta find another person to do that with anybody volunteering no okay i'll just get heather in here with me um listen we have another thing i want to announce as well um we have a gentleman here in the church this morning his name is joshua puckett right back here right joshua's right back there joshua has just uh this is brenda durden's nephew and kyle and chandra's cousin he has just been released from prison for 13 years but during 17 17 years and and during that sentence he found christ and christ found him and and he is on fire sam melendez would go and meet with him and and talk with him and see him and um listen we are we are absolutely excited that our past don't define our future and god has such an incredible future joshua thank you for being here and um we hope you feel welcome in this place today thank you for coming and being a part making this one of your first services can i tell you god changes things amen god grips us and holds us and and does some incredible incredible things and and we are so thankful for that um we're thankful for joshua you being here as well um and uh you know right now we're gonna we're gonna shift i'll come back up in just a minute i'm gonna hand this baton of a microphone off you're tired of hearing me for a second i'm gonna hand it off to randy he's gonna come up and do our offering can you give randy a hand please i don't know about you but i never i never tire here and mark omran behind this microphone do you [Music] so um i i'm tempted to cut my time completely short and just tell you to listen to the to the message because uh you are going to be blessed dwayne has an amazing message to give this morning and i was fortunate enough to hear it in the first service and man is it just terrific but i will uh tell you a little bit so the pastor called and asked me if i would do this and that was yesterday by the way and uh so you never say no to him you just figure out how how to do it and um it seemed appropriate even though the circumstances that um that may that came together may not be you know what you want to hear but i will say this that earlier in the week my sister-in-law text me a photograph of um a bible that she has of mine maybe i left it behind i'm not sure either one of us know how she got it but i got this bible in um june on june 7th 1978. i know i don't look at him but it's the good news bible you know and it reminded me of a time when i was younger which was a long time ago uh was a lot younger and i was in the crowd when an evangelist came to speak to our church and he got up and he said i'm here to bring you the good news right and i was like man i have always wanted to stand in front of the church and say i am here to bring you the good news so if you don't mind i'm here to bring you the good news [Music] and here's here's what some of that good news is we were supposed to have this was the pledge day for our all of the renovations that we're going to be doing in the church well for some of us it's the good news is we've put that back to the 16th of may okay so we got two weeks to ponder pray and prepare for that all right um but but there's more to it than that um wednesday we on wednesdays we meet and we have the elders meet we pray for the church and all the things that are going on and all the prayer requests this particular wednesday was our business meeting and we start at 6 30 in the morning and i well i got to deliver some more good news and the good news is once again your faithfulness showed up in march with another giving tithe record so this will mean a lot more to you when you hear dwayne okay this will mean a lot more to you when you're doing and then further than that um last week we met with one of the lending institutions that we're working with not to borrow more money but to refinance the current balance of the mortgage that we have i can tell you having been doing this i don't know heather how long have i been doing this a long time thank you heather i appreciate your kindness um a long time and and when you do when you go to banks and lenders and people and things as it relates to church finance sometimes they get this glazed overlook and they really don't understand um what church finance is all about um i will tell you that this institution that we um that we met with it was crystal clear there was no there was no confusion of communication the circumstances were i mean they they knew what they were doing and not only did they know what they were doing they want to do it and as a result sarah and i met with them and we showed them what they asked for and within just a few days i don't mean a week i mean a few days we had a term sheet back that is very flexible that will likely be able to actually maybe accelerate some of the things that we were going to do and we haven't even begun the competition yet we haven't even begun the negotiation their first shot out of the box was just very very very good that doesn't happen by accident the good news in all of that is because that's what this congregation does okay the faithfulness of this congregation that puts us in the position to be able to communicate there was we spent an hour that's all the time we spent on going through all the all the paperwork all the stuff that needed to do i've spent months doing this before okay this was an hour so i can promise you that that's some really really good news and i just want to thank you i i our our church is in a position that it's in to be able to do some of these things because of the faithfulness and god promises okay god promises that if we will be faithful so will he and and it's tested and i am just amazed in the entire time a long time that i have been on the church finances this is the best position it's ever been in so thank you we're gonna go to the lord in prayer [Music] before i do that there's a lot of ways to give as you know now usually they're up there you can do it and there's a little church out here we don't pass the plate we don't have them have you come up and drop it off the little church out in the lobby that you can drop your offering in if you'd like so uh let's just ask the lord to bless that well we're just thankful for every person in this room for the the faithfulness the generosity and the expectation lord that when they do you'll do and we're just so grateful that you that you do that and that you you continue to bless this church not because we're trying to make it a prettier place but because we're trying to win more people to you lord we thank you for that ask that you would bless each and every gift it's the giver itself multiply this in ways that we don't understand and we're just so thankful in jesus name amen [Music] hey good morning city sanctuary family let's take a couple of minutes to make sure you're staying connected this week next week is mother's day and you don't want to miss it make sure you bring your mom and all of your family we're going to have free cupcakes for mom and then we're going to have selfie stations for family pictures you know moms love those family pictures so make sure you come on out next sunday to celebrate mother's day here at the city sanctuary this coming monday tuesday and wednesday is our global bridegroom fast where we join other believers across the globe and praying and fasting for the holy spirit to be released all over the world and we're asking you to join us so monday and tuesday we'll have prayer meetings and prayer times you can check you're staying connected for that information and wednesday evening we'll be having a national day of prayer gathering in our main auditorium at 7 00 pm so make sure you're a part of that again global bridegroom fast monday tuesday wednesday and wednesday evening at 7 p.m in our main auditorium a national day of prayer gathering so make sure you're there hey senior century family we are so excited because camp is back camp is back back again tell a friend yeah so we want to make sure that your elementary middle and high school friends sign up to go to camp we are so excited that camp is going to be back at y mama so coming up this summer you don't want to miss it out what's it going to be about it's all about invasion when heaven needs earth check out this awesome trailer to see all the details [Music] it's coming an invasion one that will change everything our future our culture life as we know it will be fundamentally altered and no one no one will ever be the same [Music] psalms 34 and verse number 3 the bible said o magnify the lord with me and let us exalt his name together the bible says in luke 1 and verse 46 and mary said my soul doth magnify the lord and so the more i thought about magnifying and magnification i couldn't help but think whatever you magnify is what's going to seem greater in your life there are those that are fighting over how you get baptized fighting over whether once you're saved you're always safe fighting over a woman should have a long dress a short dress one below the knee just an inch above the knee makeup long hair extensions wigs weaves amen yoga bridges some bridges no bridges strict address i mean sense of god while the church is fighting and debating about all this stuff on facebook the enemy is creeping in and saying hey i have the church occupied the fact is the enemy is after our unity he can't stand the fact that we come in the house of god get on the same page sing the same song in the same key the choirs in one accord the musicians are supportive and behind it and the enemy knows that when god's people get together something very powerful begins to happen he knows that if we lay hands on the sick they'll be healed he knows that if we agree in prayer it's gonna move he knows get together [Music] you foreign [Music] my strong tower [Music] from the rising of the sun [Music] and i will praise them [Music] yes [Music] two [Music] we thank you we praise you we are [Music] is [Music] we [Music] pray [Music] we are [Music] and [Music] hey [Music] ignite student ministries team talent dance team everybody let's give them another round of applause as they go awesome awesome i i've never been able to do any of that so and i can promise you you don't want to see that um hey listen i want to take just a couple of minutes uh as as randy uh pointed out dwayne harris our very own evangelist bishop extraordinaire is going to be bringing the word this morning uh and things look a little different i walked up into the booth up there today and i was even talking to somebody in the first service they're like wow you look like yeah you and i said yeah i got a sports coat on if you see me with a sports coat on that means i'm going to be on stage just so you're aware uh that means something different i want to just give you a little bit of information how many of y'all know god is a god of healing and how many y'all are ready to pray for some healing this morning listen um we have a few that need that this morning um bishop floyd lahan has been in the hospital for a little while um and uh we are expecting an incredible healing for him and we are going to be praying uh we're gonna take just a moment to pray for him um but also um pastor's mom claire shade was diagnosed um with covid this week um and we need to lift her up and uh got the word that uh pastor and delta have also tested positive and so we are we are going to be praying for them how many all know that that jesus heals you notice some changes on the stage this morning pastor james and jackie are self-quarantining um they're taking upon themselves to quarantine um but you know i was i mentioned this in the first service and i want to mention it again um there's three things that i hold on to when we talk about healing the first is john 1 1 where it says god cannot separate him from the word because he is the word y'all believe that right he is the word word was with god and the word was god right so we're gonna we're gonna hold on to that the second thing is that jesus says that the stripes that he took were for our healing amen that's two things and the third thing is when the disciples went up to jesus said how should we pray and he said pray like this and he gave him the lord's prayer but he said pray that thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is and what is heaven heaven is wholeness heaven is completeness there is no sickness there is no illness there is no death there is no tears there is no stings so today if we hold those three things together and we say one you can't separate yourself from the word two your word says you took the stripes on our back for healing and three you told us to pray your kingdom come on this earth as we can pray for wholeness completeness health today but i will say this um miss claire schrade pastor delta they're doing well matter of fact uh heather got a text from pastor yesterday he said well i caught up on all my yard work so all of his yards works done right so they're all doing well but they're gonna they're gonna make sure until they get that all clear report that they're they're quarantining um but i think as a body it's our time to pray it's it's our time to pray for our pastors and i'm sorry i'm taking just a little bit more time [Music] the the time and i know he's watching this online he's not gonna like this at all i'm sorry pastor but you're not here and randy told me to but the the time and the i've never seen a man pray for his church the way i've seen pastor pray i've never seen a couple give as much as our pastors give [Music] and can i be completely honest and i don't want anyone in this room if you're a guest apologize but i want anyone in this room to take this as a fence but i'm going to say it anyhow i don't think we've done our part as a body to lift him up and protect our pastors the way we need to pray for them and today i challenge you to do so challenge myself to do so they need it right they are the shepherds of this church look around that's a lot of people we usually ca i can't even take care of my own two kids most of the time but they're a shepherd of every single one of you you call them they're there you say can i meet with you pastor i text pastor at any time he's like i'll pray for you and and and the power that this couple has and that god wants to use them in the vision of what he wants to accomplish in this city and this community and this state in this nation it goes far beyond what we could think and i think i think it's time for us we're gonna we're gonna stop right now we're gonna pray we're gonna ask god for healing for his family for his mom for his dad to be protected for complete healing from them for healing and protection over the whites for our for our pastors and their extended we're going to pray and we're going to say god as in heaven as time bring wholeness here as your word said you're not separated you took our you took your stripes for our healing we're gonna call that in right now would you all agree with me in this god right now we come before you on behalf of bishop floyd lahan god of our pastors of miss clara trade right now father four james and jackie right now we come before you and god we lift them up and we say you are your word you took those stripes for our healing and we believe it and we declare right now your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven we ask your healing your wholeness your church y'all got to do better than that let's go right now father god we pray that you would go in to those moments into that house and provide healing god we pray against any hospitalizations we pray against any long-term effects right now and we pray for instant healing god their bodies would be healed and strengthened god lord that you would protect those that are around them that that are not testing positive so that they don't test positive and father god we pray complete and total healing god and even passed out we pray that this time would be a time of restoration for them god this time would be a time of refreshing for them father as they have to stay within their house and be quarantined we pray that you would speak new things to them god lord your word would become new to them father and that you would do awesome things during this time thank god i pray for this church body right now father god that they would wake at different times throughout the evening god lord that you would that you would pull each one of us out into a time of prayer for our pastors of protection of peace god because you are wanting to do a great thing and the enemy does not want that so right now we pray your bloodline over them we pray your safety over them we pray your protection over them and we thank you for their healing because it's already done in the mighty name of jesus we pray all these things and we thank you we thank you we give you the praise and we give you the honor in jesus name amen amen [Music] thank you for letting me take a few times thank you pastor i'm going to hand this over to mr dwayne harris who is surely to leave your face melted on the floor [Music] what's so good being in here you know it does good to to lift up your pastor i thank you mark for what you mentioned for pastor mark and delta you know sometimes it's easy to watch somebody come in and it's easy to receive from somebody not realizing what sacrifice it takes to them to be able to provide for others and and i thank god we have got a beautiful god-given pastor and wife can y'all let them know even at their house that you appreciate them today [Applause] [Music] we declare god's best over them we declare god's best over their work over their labor and he is faithful and sometimes when we hear news it seems like a natural instinct is that the wind gets kind of removed from yourselves and you kind of and you kind of stall for a moment but you know when when god is in the house how many you know he can create a wind of the spirit and that would sometimes get stalled or delayed or sometimes we didn't anticipate or expect a certain response or a certain diagnosis and sometimes it can leave you wondering now what but but we know what the now what is it's god and god is sufficient so we declare that inside the house real quick one more time i just want to pray if you can stand to your feet one more time i'm trying to i'm trying to help you burn some calories so you can get ready for lunch come on but i want us just to pray and ask god just to to minister to you right there where you're at so here today would you just avail yourself to god would you position yourself in a place to receive from him let's just invite him in heavenly father lord today inside this house we call upon your name we elevate you in this place lord we elevate you above everything everything we've brought in we we humble and we lay it down at your feet and we declare that you are greater than need you are greater than illness you're greater than sickness you're greater than lack you're greater than discouragement you're greater than fear we elevate you in this house lord and as we lift you up let your glory come and rest upon us let your healing come and manifest itself inside this house let your provision begin to manifest itself inside this house we elevate you lord we declare you're above all things and we submit ourselves to you today lord we position ourselves to receive so holy spirit begin to move holy spirit begin to move upon our minds begin to move upon our hearts begin to capture our thoughts come against every seed of the enemy that's trying to create disruption and an inability to comprehend holy spirit make it simplistic today that we can know you are a god who loves us that you're a god who cares for us and you're a god who can be touched we reach out to you today lord we know we're going to leave here changed we give you praise for it in advance in jesus name and the body said amen you may be seated thank you heather i want to talk to you today about god our provider how many know we serve a god who is a provider you know sometimes we say that but but then you get somebody who says yes and amen why because somebody knows that they know that they know that god is a provider anybody here ever found that god is a provider can i get a witness to that he's a provider and we are needy do you realize that people by our very innate nature we have the ability to identify everything that seems to be wrong now i'm not talking about your spouse come on not talking about your friend but isn't it funny how somehow just human nature we could walk into something and say i don't really like that or i need this or i need that humans by our very nature have the ability to identify needs we are a needy people come on come on we're needy people and i'm talking a believer and unbeliever alike but for the believer you know sometimes we we have this hierarchy of needs where we know that we have a certain need maybe it's a financial maybe it's a move maybe it's a transition and you need god to give you clarity and so you begin to pursue god and you begin to petition god and you lift up this need this is the greatest need that you have and then god moves and god structures and god answers the prayer and you would think that we would enter into a season of thanksgiving but what happens for the typical person is we thank him for the moment and then we elevate the next lead right back up and we start all over again with the next need we are a needy people now listen that is not a fault that is not a frailty i want you to know that that is by design you have been designed to have need you have been designed to be able to identify needs you have been designed that way it's within your character because it's also within the character of god to provide for that need come on so just as we have the ability to identify needs god has the ability to supply the need come on and so how god has created us is that through the normal process we will find him and pursue him we will know there is always a void when we are searching for something until we find god can i get a witness that you were searching pretty heavy come on before you ever got saved and found jesus christ you were miserable you were miserable to understand come on you were constantly trying to find something to satisfy you but it never satisfies you why only christ can satisfy and so just as he has created us to have need he is sufficiency i love moses uh moses inside the bible he he he gives attributes and names to god see when you're in a relationship with somebody you know them at a deeper level come on when you're in a relationship with somebody your friends you know some of you have nicknames and i'm not going to ask you to share them here because we probably don't want to know and truth be told you probably don't want us to know anyway right but when you have somebody you're in relationship with your spouse you you give them little nicknames little things that are terms of affection are little things that identify their characteristics and moses says of god that his name is jehovah jireh come on jehovah jireh he's a god who provides he's a god who by his nature provides mark came up here and talked about john 1 1. and he talked about the word in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god and i want you to know that as you read into verse 3 it tells us that everything you see was created by him and without him nothing was created that was created in other words every single bit of resource every bit of matter everything that has ever formed anything is only there because god has provided and it doesn't matter if you're a believer or if you're an unbeliever and maybe you've just never trusted god it doesn't matter it is god that allows resource if you have acclimated and pulled in and acquired anything it's because god has created the substance of resource as a parent i have children if you have children you know they're a needy bunch come on i mean they are you know it's a good thing that i'm not god i mean come on you know i i can't love children the way i think god loves children and and i think i'm a good parent but i'm just saying come on you know my children now have grown up anybody here survived and got your children all the way to adulthood can i see you see that shaky hand y'all look y'all look y'all look at that shaky weary hand that hand's like oh you're the one sleeping in church why because you survived this thing you made it you know when you get into the military they give you honor when you serve a tour of duty you raise up a child and get them to adulthood you should be pinned with a medal you should have certificates people should rise when you come into the room why you've accomplished something because children are a needy bunch there were so many things i had to sacrifice i didn't have the ability to enjoy life when my children were small because my children were small yeah you know you know now we go out to eat me and my wife and now that they're gone and they're working and and it'll be a friday and me and my bride to go out and we'll go eat something and one of the children a call or they'll text and hey what are you guys doing oh we're out eating where are you eating none your business my wife my wife you know see my wife you know she's more maternal she you know don't say i'm eating steak tell them tell them baby i'm eating steak 15 steak not 50 i don't know but i could but see when my children were small it's like you know children have the ability they know that you're going to provide for them i remember we would take our children out sometimes after church with the pastors and there was one time we went out with some ministers who had came into town and and we had went out to eat with them and we were sitting there in the restaurant and we were on our way and we were there with our children and we didn't have the money to be going out and eating this was going to be groceries this was the reality was is what you eat today is going to have to hold you through tomorrow right so we're we're going out to eat after church and we'd already eaten and we do that talk you know you have that talk with your children inside the car when you're getting ready to get around other people you know that talk you better not say nothing stupid you know that talk don't you act crazy now don't you make us look bad and we're going to a restaurant but you're not eating but i'm hungry you're not hungry you ate last night come on and then if you decide to let them eat you already have the talk now when we go in they're going to give you a kid's menu but i don't like macaroni it doesn't matter you're going to eat an order off the kids menu you had better not try anything funny and so we go into this place and we're sitting in this restaurant and we're sitting there for an hour and a half and and finally we get ready to leave and and they had our children sitting over at a children's table and all of us adults were sitting over here hallelujah praise the lord isn't it great to have a children's table and not be at it come on and so we were sitting there and the waitress brought the receipt and i remember i looked at it real quick and i kind of picked it up and i kind of nudged my wife and we kind of looked at it real quick i'm thinking this thing's about 15 more than it should be and i'm and i'm kind of looking through all these little things in these codes you know they got hyperglyphics because they don't want you to see what you're paying for and so i'm looking through it and i realize it sounds like sundays and desserts and i'm thinking we didn't eat no sundaes and dessert ma'am ma'am yeah if you could just do me a favor i notice on this receipt there's a couple items on here that we didn't order she took the receipt she looked at it she looked over across the restaurant she says are those your kids and i kind of made my head back to looking there's all three of my children got a big old goofy smile and got some chocolate syrup wrapped around their lips and the empty two-foot glass come on i was like yeah those are my kids they're gonna wish they weren't but yeah those are mine those are mine and you pay it why because they knew that i had the ability to provide for them i want you to know here today that your heavenly father has the ability to provide for you come on that should do you well that tells you that if you have a physical need that tells you if you need resource how many you know god created everything and if he created everything he could provide for that resource and some of you might have a a mind that seems emotionally weary and beat down and maybe you're dealing with a spirit of fear and just a spirit of anxiety but can i tell you the god who made your body knows how to correct it and knows how to heal it come on god is proficient if you have your bibles you can take them and turn to first kings chapter 17. first kings chapter 17 i want to look into an account here inside first kings chapter 17 we're going to be introduced to elijah for the first time the prophet elijah and in this account what we see is the interaction and dialogue between him and king ahab so in this account we are becoming introduced to king ahab and we are becoming introduced to elijah and we're going to see that there is this period of time where god is going to give a demonstration that it is the presence of god that provides the provision come on so in other words you can't see see you can pray and ask god to bless you but if you're not in his presence you can't even get the provision see many times people say well i need god to move no really what you need to do is you need to move into the presence of god your greatest need is not the physical need your greatest need is to know him is to be in his presence so this bible it tells us as we look at this account that what we're going to see is one party is going to be blessed elijah and one party is going to do without ahab and the difference is is how they choose to treat and to stay and to dwell in the presence of god in elijah or 1st kings chapter 17 verse 1 i'm going to read here you'll see the dialogue that he has with ahab and elijah the tishbite who was of the inhabitants of gilead said unto ahab as the lord god of israel lives before whom i stand there shall not be dew nor rain these years but according to my word and the word of the lord came unto him saying get thee from here and turn thee eastward and hide thyself by the brook cherith that is before jordan and it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook and i have commanded the ravens to feed thee there so he went and did according unto the word of the lord for he went and dwelt by the brook cherith that is before jordan now inside this dialogue what we see is elijah is being commanded by god to shut the heavens down and cause the rain upon the land to cease and i want you to know if you don't know the backdrop in there in chapter 16 you are introduced to king ahab and it tells us that king ahab was an evil king in fact he was the most eviless king that they had had up to date in fact nobody had done more evil than king ahab to that point and sometimes we associate we say well king ahab and jezebel and it's you know real easy for us as the church to begin to blame jezebel for everything you know and i'm not giving her a green light and i'm not giving her a pass she was an evil woman who steered god's people away from what he had called them to be but jezebel was never the issue the issue was ahab jezebel had been raised in a pagan culture jezebel didn't know any better but ahab had been raised as a jew ahab knew the stories and the accounts of god's faithfulness ahab knew who he was he was rising up as a king over god's people he had been called he had an identity to know and to operate in the blessings of god see sometimes people have a title that declares they're blessed but there is no blessing you realize you can have some nice fancy bumper stickers and you can get some of those nice silk screen shirts that say blessed come on bless this bless that but just because you say it doesn't mean you're blessed see he was the king he said the king of god's people but you weren't in fellowship with god himself and so therefore even though you had the title you were not entitled to the blessing and the provision and what happened is he married into a counter-culture he becomes so influenced and wanting to make his kingdom so much that people would talk about it that he looked around the kingdoms around him and wanted to take a little bit of that and a little bit of that and he married into jezebel who was a paganist and he married into this counter culture now when you marry a counterculture you will become divorced from the blessings of god can i tell you god's hand would be removed from ahab why because he didn't like him no because ahab chose not to like and not chose not to follow and pursue god and he made choices can i tell you we're living in a culture that's trying to marry you with some ideals and ideas that are not conducive to the word of god in your life can i tell you we're living in a culture and you would better know what you're attaching yourself to and so god begins to move now ahab ahab begins to bring in this false god he brings in the god baal this false god bell the one who they said was who who brought fertility the one who could open the heavens and bring the rain this god who baal who they said could bring increase inside the harvest and so god said okay so you want to trust him for your resource then i'll just go ahead and shut up the heavens and so here ahab had developed this beautiful orchard it says that he built a grove to baal so that when you came into town you had to pass by this beautiful display this grove this garden that had all these things that had been set aside to the worship of baal they went out into the fields and accumulated every fruit-bearing plant and began to put it all in they began to produce and bring everything in and put all these things to beautify this garden as if baal somehow had put this together but the truth is every plant that was sitting inside the grove they tested to baal was created by jehovah jireh himself it was only there because jehovah jireh had made that and so you want to keep something and make it look fruitful so god shut off the heavens and let's see if your baal can bring provision let's see if your bell can bring refreshing and so as the drought comes as the heavens begin to get closed dryness comes on the land drought comes on the land and everything begins to die come on listen we're in florida i got a couple plants in my yard if you forget about them one or two days you go out they look like sticks come on they're all burnt up and dried i want you to know that the grove that they had planted and attested to bale was beginning to wilt and was beginning to wither and by the time the drought would end they would be running buckets to go over there in port it almost seemed that the lunacy why would you take water we need to drink to put it on a plant that is dying because so many people try to create an image that is not blessed but they want people to look at them as if they are blessed can i tell you if god is in it there's a blessing and if god's not in it it'll never sustain itself so here we see elijah now elijah you're going to see that god's going to bless him now why is he going to bless him because first off elijah is going to be obedient to the word he's obedient to the word now listen to me because this the way he got blessed is the way you're going to get blessed the way blessings work is god is very proficient when you obey and follow the word there is a blessing that comes with that can i get a witness to that can i get an amen you know your life is different why because you began to follow the word of god and you know it's living and it's alive and it's able to produce for you and so he received the word and now elijah goes in and walks in excuse me excuse me you're in the kingdom yeah i know i know i need to see the king i've got a word to give to him see elijah was not intimidated he was not intimidated by the counter-culture because he knew what was on the inside of him he was not intimidated by a counterculture because he knew the truth and he had heard it from the source itself and sometimes we become intimidated and if you're intimidated by the world around you it tells you that you're spending more time listening to the world around you than you are the god who created it and so he was inside the presence of god and he says i've got to deliver it now you go deliver this oh yes god i've got you and he walks in and he delivers the word have you ever noticed sometimes when you do what god's called you to do you don't get the reception you thought you were going to get come on well if i just serve god everything is going to go good yeah how'd that work for you come on it's going to be good if you'll be obedient to god it's going to be good and he's going to be sufficient but now we see that elijah came in to speak and god says now immediately now elijah pack your bags i appreciate you coming in talking to the king but it's time to pack your bags you can't stay here you can't stay where you were i've got to relocate you so he says i've made a place out in cherith there's a brook and i've set aside this place that i want you to go and there i'm going to sustain you you can't stay here where you were how many of you know that sometimes when god gets into your life and changes you you don't live the way you used to live come on you don't even stay and talk and hang around the same people you used to hang around why you don't have anything in comfort with them anymore right everything has changed on the inside of you blessed is the one who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly or stands in the path of sinners or takes seat in the seat of the scornful but his delight is in the law of the lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night he shall be like a tree that is planted by a river a river that is flowing with living water his leaf shall not wither he will bear fruit and everything he touches will prosper the one who's willing to leave all the things that the public says you have to have but you become isolated with god and so god takes elijah and he puts him by this stream where he will flourish here inside this little place's place of cherith god has set him aside to bless him he comes out here and he realizes that while he's out here in this place of cherith god says now not only will i provide for you with the water listen he's going to provide for him in two fashions he's going to provide for him with the physical there is a physical means by which he is being blessed that's the water that's the stream that is there but he doesn't get up to hunt there is no food or resource so as along with the physical resource god is going to provide supernatural resource and he says and every morning and every evening i'm going to cause the ravens to come by and the ravens are going to bring bread to you and they're going to bring meat for you to fill your belly so he had physical provision and he had supernatural provision and so what he was learning is that when you don't see how god's going to do it he can still do it how many you survived covid 20 20. you know our life is still in shame we're still trying listen we're still trying to make men's we're still trying to make moves we're still working through something that is legit and real but here's one thing i want you to understand how many you realize that god was faithful through it all and sometimes he blessed you through physical means and sometimes he had to do the things you didn't think he could do and he blessed and provided for you through supernatural means he's going to take a raven now this if you know this he's a jew listen elijah's a jew the raven is an unclean bird you're not supposed to even touch the unclean you shouldn't have nothing to do with the unclean and yet god is going to use the unclean thing to feed him and what he is doing is he is he is setting it up so that when elijah realizes that god is providing he doesn't lose sight and and think that the ravens listen the bible didn't say and the ravens fed elijah it said god fed elijah see sometimes we become so fixated on the on on the substance that we lose sight of the source see you may have some skill set and you may have some abilities to do some things but that's not your source god is your source you may have a paycheck coming in this week i pray to god that you do but your paycheck is not your source come on god is your source and so you can lose the paycheck and you can gain a paycheck and he may feed you to the physical but you know he can always take care of you through the supernatural so he's sitting here in this place and here in this place out by cherith he is getting provided for god has taken care of him now he begins to do what everybody does they begin to get comfortable and settle into the place where god has called you and so here by this brook he he begins to build a little shelter surely he begins to put up a little thatched roof to stay out of the sun he's he's made a comfortable bed he's he's been here he's staying here for a while and and sometimes it's real easy to get comfortable in a place god has called you so much so that you don't realize that sometimes he may call you to leave and so he's sitting there in this place and he realizes that the stream is starting to dwindle down as the rain has been withheld and as it's drying upon the land the stream that is being fed is slowly dwindling and now as he wakes up and as he looks out at the stream to refresh himself he realizes that the width is shrinking down now you can see the sediment inside the water and god is testing him see he could have said well this ain't working you know i got all the meat and all the bread i can eat but there's water i mean look at this water i mean god wants me to be blessed and he could have left where he was at and he could have walked and went all the way upstream to see if he could find more provision i mean after all doesn't god want you to be blessed but what god was testing him was to see are you putting your eye on the provision or is your eye on the provider are you willing to stay when it doesn't seem like it's sufficient so many times we leave where god has called us to be because we think that somehow it's just not working maybe god's trying to see if you're content to stay in his shadow or are you chasing the provision well you know if i'm blessed i'm going to have access to resources so i found this new job i'm chasing this i'm doing all these things and look i'm making money therefore i'm blessed maybe not because if you have the resource but you don't have the presence of god you are not walking in his blessing come on and so what i'm telling you is that when it's time to leave it's time to leave but if it's time to stay i'm telling you don't put your eyes and don't be moving based upon your lack you need to understand that your god is sufficient to keep you in every season so he's sitting here and he's in this place sitting up there in sheriff and he has made himself comfortable but now it's beginning to dwindle now he realizes that god is beginning to transplant him god is getting ready to move him and something is happening here because the first thing i want you to see is the blessing that god has given them up to this point has been good i mean listen there's a drought on the land there's nowhere there's no water and everything's dying inside the town the prices are jacked up there's no food and yet he's sitting out here he has a little stream of water god's feeding him everything is good but i want you to know that the next season see sometimes we hate transition but what we need to understand is transition always puts you into something better and so he's comfortable here and he thinks well i don't know where i'm going to go if this dries up and where you're taking me god but from the outside god is getting ready to put him into a house where he has a roof over his head he's getting ready to put him into a place where he's going to drink his water not from his hand but from a cup he's getting ready to get him into a place where he's not going to be fed by the unclean bird but by a woman who's going to be cooking and baking bread inside the oven listen god is going to bless him but sometimes we get lost in transition and i want you to know that god is faithful in transition anybody here ever made it through transition and you know that it was scary sometimes you didn't know what he was doing but did he or did he not bless you on the outside come on and so he's beginning to move now here's what i want you to see so he has a level of blessing that comes from obedience to the word that's where he's at now he's been obeying the word of god god is blessing him but now you're getting ready to see a new deeper form of provision god is going to provide greater for elijah how's he going to do it not just through obedience to the word but obedience to the work in other words there comes a season in time where he was out here in the wilderness by himself he was in communion with god he had a great testimony but nobody knew it god was doing something in him but he wasn't interacting he wasn't interchanging he wasn't giving of himself god said in this next season i'm going to move you from a place of solitude and i'm going to put you where you can begin to minister to other people you're going to minister to a woman and a woman is going to minister to you and you're going to learn that your faith is not to be kept secret come on sometimes we don't walk in the fullness of the blessings of god because we're unwilling to just walk in faith see if you will become obedient to do the work that god has called you he will give you a greater level of provision so while he's sitting here god is dealing with elijah and god's dealing with a woman down here in a little town called zerath he's dealing with this woman this woman is a widow she's lost her husband she has only her her male child in the house she has no resources everything has depleted listen everything has depleted in the land there's there's very little water and there's no grain and she only has what is left and she's already committed that this is it we're going to make this last meal and then we have nothing and then it's just time to sit here and we'll wait to die and she is crying out to god and god hears her and we know he hears her because as you read through the account in chapter 17 we know that god told her that he was going to provide a man of god that she was to go out and that he was going to provide to her that she was to bring into the house and that through that man of god she was going to be blessed so she's crying out in a point of need and she knows that she needs somebody and then over here is elijah and god says it's time to get up and to move it's time to leave where you're at and to go down there this woman had a little bit of water but she didn't have any food this man over here had a little bit of food but he didn't have any water they each had something the other person needed and this is the key you need to understand in ministry is everybody has something to offer somebody everybody has something you can do and so many times we look and say well i'm not in position to bless somebody there is always somebody you can bless and god creates provision when you begin to elevate and to to make that connection and so we see in the story that this woman is going to make her way outside of the town she's walking out she knows that god had told her he's going to send a prophet and she's she's not just opening the door well i don't see him maybe he'll come knocking no sometimes you got to put yourself in a position to encounter the blessing sometimes we sit back and let god do all the work when really he's saying why don't you step out why don't you trust me and so this woman comes up and this woman begins to walk out i'm trying to get my sweat rag hang on one second this woman begins to walk out listen listen i'm all right i'm already hydrated i already drank about 16 ounces of water i'm due for the bathroom any minute but we're going to make it so this woman is sitting on the outside she comes on the outside of the city gates and we know in the dialogue later she's just going to tell a lie she's just out here and she's just going to tell eliza well i was just picking up two sticks no it don't take that long to pick up two sticks she's not out here to pick up two sticks she's out here to find the blessing she's out here lingering in a place that she knows god is going to provide for her much like an altar have you ever seen some people come in and come and go out of an altar but some people just sit and linger have you ever noticed that sometimes god's looking for somebody who's willing to linger she's sitting out here by the gates she knows the man of god is coming she knows that there's nothing left at the house except her son waiting on her to return there's nothing but death coming because they don't have any substance and she's looking around and she sees somebody coming maybe this is him and and he walks by and doesn't greet her and then maybe this maybe this and and walks by and doesn't greet her and then she looks down the road and at one point we know that she makes eye contact with elijah elijah comes up and she says maybe this is him and elijah walks up and he sees this woman now when elijah comes up to the city he's looking at the gate surely there was more than one woman standing on the outside of the gate it would have been a normal commerce section even with lack they would have been out there cleaning and foraging and picking things and she's out there and he looks and he sees her and he could have said to himself this lady god seriously this this is where you called me this this is where you called me you put me here for her see sometimes we want to qualify what god has called us to do sometimes we're willing to to witness if it's the right person sometimes we're willing to give of ourselves if we can get the recognition we think we need sometimes we want to buffer up to the people that we think can polish us and make us look good but god is calling you to work to those who are in need and so he looks over and he sees the woman and he addresses her and he says woman why don't you give me some water and the bible says that she immediately she doesn't balk she doesn't say water don't you understand we've been in a drought sun where did you come from you got a heat stroke going on no she doesn't say that it says that she immediately turns and goes to get the water and what that tells us is that she recognized that this is the one whom god is bringing this is the one who god has called her to meet this is the one who's going to provide him so she quickly leaves and she goes to get the water and he says ah ma'am ma'am while you're gone why don't you also prepare for me just a little bit of bread she turns around now she says water it's hard enough to give you water but you want me to give you from bread don't you understand that's my area of need that i don't even have sufficient he says ah but make a little bread for me first and bring it here and after you provide for me then go back and provide for you and your son and god assures you that your barrel of meal and your vasque of oil will never run dry throughout the drought and she goes and she obeys see sometimes we don't have an issue given something we have excess in what we have an issue given is the thing that we have a need in come on come on sometimes we hang on so tight to the thing listen the thing that you need the most is the thing you become the most stingiest with the thing you put the greatest desire in is the thing you're unwilling to release and sometimes you've got to be see god wants to bless us but sometimes we become so tightly fisted around the things god with the things that we have need of we become so tightly fisted because it's all i have i can't make for you i can't give to you god this this is all i have and your fist is so tight that god couldn't pry your fingers apart to bless you if he wanted to but to the person who says this this is all i've got and and releases i want you to know that when you release something it becomes replenished see god can't rejuvenate and replenish what you're unwilling to release pastor mark i know he intended to be here i know i know he intended to be here today and we have already committed and we've done our first fruit offerings here inside the house and and i want you to know that uh that the vision that god has given pastor mark for reaching this uh this community is just beyond me i i it's a god-given vision it's a god-given vision and the one thing i know about a god-given vision is god will always bring god-given provision to god-given vision and here in the coming weeks we have an opportunity to give and i just want to assure you that sometimes we need to understand that when we give we are really giving from a place of need but when you release the thing that you have need of god will always begin to replenish and i know pastor mark said we're going to try to hit these goals within two years i don't see how it's going to take two years because once god's people begin to start giving they're going to start getting blessed and can i tell you provision is going to reap upon provision upon provision into the hand that's willing to give and release god's going to bless us me and my wife in our early years of marriage we've always committed to giving to the lord and tithes we've always committed not here to preach on tithes but i am here to tell you that given to god and being faithful to god to a god who is faithful will always reap dividends for you and there was a time in our early years where she was at home and and we had small children and i was going to school and i had a job while i was going to school and while i was in there i lost my job and we fell into hardship and and we were just barely making it we were doing everything we could to shift the bills around just to take care of the things that had to be taken care of and we were falling behind and even when we were falling behind and could not pay in times we would take a pen and we began to mark down our tithes that we had committed to pay some people say well you know you don't got to do that god understands i know he understands but i also understand too i understand that it's not a it's not an obligation it's a blessing and so years it seemed like it wasn't years but it sure did seem like there was that tally kept growing as we were unable to provide and it started getting to the point that was like my gosh i don't know how we'll ever be able to meet this it wasn't that we that we thought that we owed it to god is that we wanted to be faithful to what we committed to god and it was there as we started to get to the point that we thought there was going to be no return no way that all of a sudden god began to open a door to work and i began to work and we began to make a little increase and then god would open a door and give me side money and he began to give increase in unexpected areas and we began to take that little pin and we began to go ahead and well let's just go ahead and put another 20 on that let's just go ahead and put another 30 on that that sheet would span out for the size of a couple pieces of paper but time is time again as we would begin to give god would begin to bless us and god was proving himself to us i want you to know that you will never out give god and when you become committed to release the things that you have need of that is what you will reap that's what you will reap and so now they're inside the house he comes in he's inside the house with this with this widow and inside the house it tells us that the the barrel that she had of meal would never run dry and the little vask of oil that she had would never run dry notice that god didn't tell elijah now tell her because she's faithful that every morning when she wakes up there's going to be a fresh baked loaf of bread sitting inside the kitchen on the table in that little fire kissed oven just waiting to be eaten i just want to let you know that i'm a provider he didn't do that no what he did is he gave her the ingredients for the blessing he said every day she comes out you let her know that as she comes into the barrel that there will always be sufficient whatever you use to bless somebody else i'm always going to replenish and replace he didn't go out there and he didn't cause her barrel to come full and then it called the oil vas to come fl flowing and pouring over no it was just sufficient so that every day when she was willing to go work with what god gave her he was going to replenish what he gave her and i want you to know that your blessing sometimes we think god has to give us in surplus no no no the greater miracle is that he gives you substance as you use it as you commit it to him that he uses it and then he begins to cause it to materialize and to come back to you in tenfold and here's one thing i want you to see is that every day if she wanted to be fed she had to take the ingredients and she had to take an action with those ingredients to feed the family she would have to take the meal and work it and blend it in and she would have to cook it god will give you the resources but sometimes we're sitting around waiting for handouts sometimes we want god to give us the finished product well can i tell you right here this right here is the finished product i thank god that he gave us the finished product and just like that woman he said you'll never run out of bread and you'll never run out of oil can i tell you the bread of god is always sufficient can i tell you the oil of the spirit is always sufficient for the believer can i tell you the same things that he gave her is the same things that he gave you and me the word of god and the spirit of god you have everything you need to be blessed you have everything you need to be sustained in god he's already given it to you and so in this story we see that it comes to a point that all of a sudden sitting inside this house god has been provided and sometimes things that just they they tend to just get a little bit of common place heather if you want mine coming sometimes god blesses us in such a way on a daily basis it just becomes commonplace and we we begin to lose sight of all that god is really doing and so this woman is sitting here and daily he is providing for her and yet she has a son that is with her and i want you to see that inside this account her son signifies her future everything about her future listen her husband's gone it doesn't tell us what happened but her husband's gone he possibly died and something happened so all she has is her son and as a mother raising a single child who doesn't have the ability to provide for her she's she's investing everything into this child she's raising this child why because someday this child will be caring and providing for her this son signifies her future hope everything lies in this this child she's giving to to commit to nurture to care why her future is in her child everything's in this male child and she wakes up one day and it tells us that she realizes that her son had passed she goes to her son and he's not responding and son son and she begins to shake him and she realizes he's not breathing he's not moving he's cold to the touch he's past and this woman becomes overwhelmed by the grief of her future being taken she picks him up she sees this she puts them to her bosom and she begins to cry out why because now all of her hope all of her future cares have died the man of god's inside the house and he hears her crying and he comes down see sometimes we think god can meet our need today we just don't think he's sufficient for tomorrow come on how many of you know god is faithful can i see your hand now here's what you do now i want you to leave it up is is god here with you today if he is leave your hand up if he's faithful if you know he's with you now and you know he's he's supplying he's providing for you he's doing things for you now that you're gonna do is he doing that for you can i see your hand would you lift that up i wish we could roll back and you could see yourself 10 years ago when you wondered what he would do today do you understand that today was yesterday's future and your god i'm here to tell you today you just testified that he is sufficient within the moment of today can i tell you 20 years ago you didn't know what today held 20 years ago you didn't know you was going to be sitting in a church and testifying that god was proficient but you're here today testifying come on because he's faithful and if he was faithful then and if he's faithful now he's going to be faithful down there too can i tell you he's alpha and omega the beginning and the end he was good then and he's good today and he'll be good tomorrow and if he's sufficient for you today then you don't have to worry about tomorrow the woman is crying because her future has died it has passed and the man of god comes down and he says woman give me the child now it could have been a natural tendency take your hands off this is my my child and she could have clung to him but something inside of her wanted to believe i don't know that anything can happen but i need something to happen see god's people got to get to the place that you're just willing to let it go to see if god can do something greater than he's already doing some of you were here this morning and you already know what you got you already you've already diagnosed your condition come on you've already evaluated your circumstances and you're holding it in on the inside of you and you've declared that it is dead how about you let god do something with that here this morning how about you let him do something with it today she releases the child it says that elijah takes the child he goes up to the place that had been committed to the man of god inside the house this woman said inside this house i don't have much but i'm going to dedicate a place for the lord she dedicated a place for the lord that she allowed the man of god to dwell it was there in a lost with just a little caught that the man of god stayed the anointing the presence of god resided in the house because she gave him room he took that child he went up and he laid the child on the bed now the bed is a place that signifies peace and rest the bed of the one who trusts the lord is beautiful because it doesn't matter what's going on around you and your circumstances if you ever know sometimes it doesn't matter what's going on and even when you watch the news but you can just settle down into the presence of god and you just encounter the peace of god come on anybody know what i'm talking about come on where you just begin to press in and even here today before you came in you were carrying all the worries but something's different right now you feel something different why because there's peace and there's protection in the presence of god and so here inside this place of rest he says that's where we're going to put the issue took the little boy he laid him over to the bed and it says elijah began to pray and elijah laid and extended himself over the boy and he began to pray heavenly father this is her only hope this is her only son would you begin to return would you bring life back and he prayed over the child and then he released up to look and he was still the same says he laid over a second time and he began to pray god you've got to bless god you've got to do and he would raise up and he would look and the child was still dead sometimes we tire just a moment before the victory sometimes we tire out right before god's getting ready to give us a breakthrough but there was something on the inside of elijah listen elijah had never seen a resurrection elijah had never raised anybody at this point he didn't even know that this was possible in his mind but something on the inside of him said it was possible the spirit of god on the inside of him said lay him in a place where you have relinquished him to me lay over and begin to pray and begin to intercede and begin to rest on me knowing that as you declare my word i'll resurrect those things that are dead he had never seen it but something on the inside told him it was possible [Music] inside the house the enemy has told you some things are not possible but i'm here to tell you today that you serve a living god who can do all things jehovah jireh your provider a god who has created everything therefore he can manipulate it to bless you come on stand to your feet he reached over and he prayed one more time he laid over the young boy and he prayed because he knew something on the inside told him that god was sufficient and as he began to pray he felt something moving up under his chest all of a sudden there was movement and he and he got up and the boy was breathing and was looking up the spirit had returned that which was dead had come back to life he carried that child down to the woman she said now now i know that god is faithful see isn't it funny sometimes we see him in the small things he had been faithful he had been feeding her she had cried she was outside had no food was going to die did you forget about that but isn't it funny god blesses us but even through the pathway of being blessed we somehow seem to tend to forget all that he's already done maybe you need to be reminded that god has done something for you already anybody in here ever been blessed god ever meet a need when you didn't have a way god ever give you healing when you didn't have access to a doctor god ever calls finances to rise up into an account god ever calls a door to open that you couldn't open come on your god is faithful to you and i want you to know that if he was faithful then and if he's faithful today that no matter what you're caring about tomorrow he's going to be faithful for that too here this morning inside this house i want to take a moment so that you can get what it is you need to release see everybody has something they need to just release to god maybe something you don't think he can handle anymore maybe it's a backslidden my brother up here who went in to prison and served can i tell you somebody might have been praying somebody might not but i know god was searching and god was pursuing you he was coming to find you can i tell you there is no lost hope i don't care how far gone you think they are i want you to know that your god can bring salvation back to the household for your children come on i want you to know he can do it he can do it he did it for me i know he can do it he'll do it for you carrying a weight sometimes we carry a mental weight some of you are here today and it is the mental weight you know that god is faithful but there's a spirit of fear there's a spirit of anxiety that just keeps you i today am telling you that if you will begin to release it god is going to do something would you bow your heads bow your heads in prayer heavenly father lord today inside this house lord we declare that you are proficient lord we declare that no matter what the need is no matter what the obstacle is that you and you alone are sufficient lord we declare that in your name we know that there is healing and that it manifests upon the sick we know that in your name there is resources it begins to position itself around us to bless us as we call upon your name lord you've been dealing holy spirit right now just deal with your body deal with your people deal with your children come on just let them deal with you let him search you right now there's some things that he's going to try to release from you today come on let him bring it to your mind some of you already know what it is some of you already know it's a spirit of fear you trust god you've seen god but there's just a spirit of fear it doesn't say anything against you you were made to have a weakness but i want you to know today that god is a god of provision and he can destroy it [Music] holy spirit right now begin to move holy spirit right now begin to transition us to receive what i want to do right now is i just want to open the altar i want to ask you if you have something you need to leave listen sometimes it's not about just coming down to pick up two sticks sometimes it's about lingering inside the presence because you know that if you wait that your god who is a provider is going to meet you here you know that your god who is a provider is going to supply for you today why don't you come down there's already some of you you know you need god to move there's a circumstance a situation you want to release i'm inviting you to meet me down here i want to pray with you i want to agree with you that god is able come on come on some of you already have a knee don't wait don't wait yep i want you just to position yourself i want you to come down and i want you just to position yourself position yourself in a place that makes a declaration that says god can do what i cannot do for myself i got anybody who believes that inside the house i got anybody who can testify to that come on [Music] i know it's hard to step out but sometimes you need to act sometimes you need to respond to get a different level of breakthrough a spirit of fear that has been torment your mind but i want you to know that today there is deliverance today there is freedom come on we're going to pray in just a moment come on we're going to pray you need to step out step out if you want to come down and release something i want to invite you to come down to the altar we're going to have a time of release down here a time where we receive what it is god has if you don't think you need to be down here could you do me a favor if you agree that god is able would you begin to just declare it inside the house would you begin to just stretch your hands down to those who are in need listen when you have the obedience to work for others needs god will bless you some of you have a need but if you'll begin to pray for somebody else to receive what you have need of god's gonna do it for you today [Music] you are here you're working in this place and i worship you i worship you [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] my god that is who you [Music] are [Music] is [Music] you

Channel: City Sanctuary Deland

Views: 47

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: ShHFhetv7ds

Length: 120min 3sec (7203 seconds)

Published: Sun May 02 2021