Harold Hoffman - When Roots Spring Up | Church ONLINE

[Music] good morning first church are you excited to be in the house of god this morning hallelujah let's put our hands together for the king of kings and the lord of lords hallelujah [Music] jesus the same yesterday today and forevermore no other name that can save deliver and restore oh jesus oh jesus is beautiful merciful natural jesus highly mighty worthy jesus is gracious patient generous and there yesterday and forever [Music] he's excellent in this room today excellent magnificent jesus is is nothing can separate us jesus jesus forever forever oh may be going crazy god but you remain the king you remain in control hallelujah oh we worship your name jesus we are confident in this one thing that you never fail [Music] things [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] more [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] everything changes [Music] is let your kingdom come [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] see everything changes everything changes [Music] the mountains have to move is [Music] is god we declare your is [Music] it's your key is go oh let's keep going guys [Music] we're singing about the kingdom of god jesus said that the spirit of the lord is upon me hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor it sent me to heal the brokenhearted deliverance to the captive recovering of sight to the blind that same mantle and that same thing that was on the body of christ in the new testament is now on the the church the body of christ and when we have that kingdom mindset we're here to preach the gospel we're here to heal the broken heart set deliverance to them that are captive to restore proper vision not things of this world but spiritual vision don't get distracted now we have to be about the kingdom's business [Music] [Applause] and then when that happens when we have our perspective right the mountains in your life will crumble the mountains that you face right now will crumble because nothing can stand in the presence of god nothing lord jesus we thank you right now god i thank you for the the situations lord god that we we are in right now because we know that you are refining us we know mighty god that all things work together for the good of them that love god and who are the call according to his purpose lord we are the call and so lord it's my honor right now to pray over every situation on the screen behind me lord because prayer is our anchor in sterling heights at first church there jesus i'm expecting you god to move like never before but i'm expecting you in 2021 god to have a harvest and a reviving lord let that signs and wonders and miracles would follow but specifically right now we offer up to you mighty lord every person who needs a healing touch every person mighty god who has yet to hear the gospel every personal god who has a broken heart even under the sound of my voice god we will mend it lord for a broken and contrite spirit you'll never despise dear jesus if somebody under my voice is is bound or in captive lord it is not your will that you have set people free oh god let there be a freedom of worship let there be a freedom of praise in this house today dear god we have set this aside to honor you we have set this day aside to glorify you mighty god it's our honor it's our joy please be pleased with our worship and our sacrifice of praise as we put our hands together lord we love you we honor you yet again we acknowledge your sovereignty and your deity my king oh there is no god like you all authority is in your hands my god all power and might resides in you oh jesus lord we're not gonna get distracted right now lord the church is awakening lord god your church is understanding who we are i can't be honored forevermore in the name of jesus we pray in the name of jesus we pray oh thank the lord isn't it good to be in the house of god in the presence of god today there's peace here there's love here there's no confusion here that's the spirit of the lord that dwells in this place as you make your way back to your seats if you are a guest with us today our first church family wants to go ahead and put our hands together and say thank you very much for being with us we are grateful that you are here and we are better because you are here and for all of those tuning in online guests and members alike thank you very much for being with us online [Applause] and for those guests whether you be online or in person for those in persons we have something called a connect card certainly self-defining we want to connect with you and we want to build a friendship with you and get to know you a little bit and perhaps you have some questions about us who we are as a church what we believe maybe you have a prayer request that you'd like us to be praying on your behalf for whatever the case may be you can go ahead and fill that out in our lobby for those of you online you can find that connect card on our website first church sterling heights dot com we will reach out to you this week with every single connect card that we receive and if you're in a life group would you go ahead and make some noise for me [Applause] we say it all the time we are not meant to live in isolation we are relational beings and a life group provides an incredible environment to grow number one spiritually together this isn't a hangout club we're growing in christ number two it forges friendships and relationships to where we can grow together one another in community and that's an incredible thing so for all those people who are in a life group right now i'm sure you're having an amazing uh semester so far if you have yet to sign up for one you can do that it is not too late go to our website and you feel free to pick a group what's available and sign up for that and and just watch god move within your group of people that you are connected to it's an incredible incredible thing that god has allowed us to have going house to house breaking bread and fellowship with one another today is the second sunday of the month which means that it is growth track 201 growth track is uh yeah it's incredible they had nine people in growth track 201 this morning so we're thanking god for that growth track is just the classes that we have here at first church that gets you involved it gets you connected and plugged into a serve team where you can build relationships and and impact the kingdom kingdom of god here at first church and so if you have not signed up for growth track or you're you know just wondering what in the world is it about we we know that god has a purpose for you specifically for you and he has a plan for you and not only that he's gifted you in that purpose and in that plan and so go find out what that purpose and plan is and what those giftings are and get connected and plugged into the kingdom of god here at first church and i would like right now go ahead and turn to your neighbor and say congratulations you have made it through the first week of our 21 days of prayer and fasting listen anything worth doing is challenging i'll say it again anything that is worth doing is challenging and and i'm trust that you have been challenged but i was talking to pastor mike before service my my suit's fitting a little bit better right now and so i thank god for that i feel good physically i feel good and that is spilling over into my spiritual life because there's a verse that says how be it truth first that which is natural then that which is spiritual we get disciplined in our flesh we get disciplined in our in our bodies get healthy it will spill over into your prayer life it'll spill over in your sensitivity to the voice of the god it'll spill over into your study of scripture it's an incredible thing i'm anticipating 2021 to be a powerful year and not just the year but today let's not always look to tomorrow but what's god want to do right now and today in this service because of prayer and fasting that's already happened so we will be continuing that 21 days of prayer and fasting so be encouraged and and keep on going with that it's affecting you wait till tomorrow night then we have a good week last week at monday night prayer walking through the tabernacle it's a fantastic night of prayer and you know it's just incredible to watch god move and i have some exciting news we were just informed before service that there are two people who are wanting to be baptized tomorrow night and monday night prayer so that's going to be incredible amen and i don't want to limit it to two so if you've been thinking about water baptism let's go ahead and get it taken care of tomorrow night and that'll just be an incredible time in the lord tomorrow at seven o'clock here in the sanctuary uh at this point i'd like to go ahead and set an expectation for the rest of the service you know this amazing team has got one more song planned it's a great great song that will challenge and inspire you but i challenge you right now don't just let it be a song that comes and goes you have a choice to enter into the presence of god and and when you make that choice you interact with that pressure that's what worship is is interacting with that presence of god and um and so don't just don't just let it be a song let it be an experience with god and and so after that you know pastor's going to preach an incredible just an incredible word that god certainly gave him it's fantastic and then you'll be invited up to the front and we don't want just to be an altar call that that just you know comes and goes the power of a church happens here this this is for the lord the word is for us the change happens here and so don't overlook that it's just oh we're waiting for service to get over grab a hold of god before the service is over and so with that being said our ushers are going to come there's going to be a three-minute time of connection when we're returning our tithing and our offering unto the lord uh so we ask that you keep your masks on and make sure that you're socially distant and waving at somebody and not hugging and not shaking hands and just be respectful of that and be aware of that but here at first church we have a value that says we live modestly to give radically it's such an honor to play a role in this because there's so many places that i will never go we're limited anybody know you're limited but the god of this universe is not limited by anything not by space not by time and so when we return something to him he can impact the whole world that we will maybe never even see and so you can partner with us you can do that a few different ways you can do that on our website you can do that with texting to give there's a kiosk in our lobby or you could do it up here in person however you're comfortable i just want you to know that i've been around here long enough and i've seen enough things to know that it will not get squandered it will not get wasted it will get sewn into the kingdom of god and souls will be reached because of what is done today lord jesus it's such a great honor to be here or we we're so thankful how did we ever get so fortunate my lord we feel you right now i pray god today i know that you have put your blessing upon this these finances lord it's just out of obedience to your word you can't help but bless obedience and dear jesus so my prayer is not that you would put blessing here but that you would stretch it or that you would help it to be a guided missile to somebody's soul lord god that they might come to know you because of what is returned right now dear god increase your kingdom in this world today in the name of jesus i pray amen [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] praise the lord praise the lord can we clap our hands together for jesus hallelujah thank you jesus it feels good in this place amen amen the next song we're going to sing is called throne room and i just wanted to say the ability to enter into the throne room of god is not predicated on the music it's not predicated if we get the notes right or sing say the right words that's not that's not what it's predicated on but it is predicated on your desire and your passion to be in the throne room of god does anybody want to be in the throne room of god this morning we were on our way to church and i just i was i couldn't help but feel in my spirit god i don't want this to just be another sunday morning that we check off the calendar i want to enter into your throne room and just like pastor john said this is our worship to him what will you offer this morning what will you offer in the throne room of god [Music] jesus is [Music] is [Music] flowing down [Music] [Music] and i'll it [Music] [Music] [Music] glorious [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] holy [Music] me oh [Music] is is do you see it before you do see the crowds [Music] is is are you before you before you [Music] you'll be is me is [Music] and you'll be forever king [Music] our hearts will cry oh [Music] oh [Music] grace us hallelujah let's sing it to you [Music] [Music] um [Music] your [Music] hallelujah come on there's nothing you cannot do jesus [Music] we love you jesus [Music] we're here for you jesus we're making room that was excellent [Music] boy that's fresh breath of air right there jesus name both of these worship sessions today have been just excellent this morning was excellent now just love the way you people respond if you don't like noise you better never go to heaven i promise you heaven and hell are going to be very noisy places bible talks about gnashing teeth wow then there's the other option thou art worthy o lord receive [Applause] so i guess in eternity you're just gonna have to decide what kind of noise you want to hear i like this kind of noise wow jesus [Applause] thank you for coming thank you for all of our guests online send our love to people as far away as australia we have a group that calls themselves first church leveling colorado to my girlfriend you get that i dearly love my wife is here so i can say that without getting in trouble i got a girlfriend in canada named you get i corey huge she's amazing she had a pretty rough week last week i'll be so grateful when we can be back together with our precious brothers and sisters right across that river please pray that this thing will the bible said he can open a door and when he does nobody can shut it i'd like him to open that bridge [Applause] one verse of scripture proverbs chapter 12 and verse 3 a man shall not be established by wickedness but the root of the righteous shall not be moved this is what it says in the message i wrote it down it says you can't find firm footing in a swamp but life rooted in god stands firm when roots spring up you may be seated [Music] this is what it says in hebrews 12 and verse 15 looking diligently lest any man fail the grace of god lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled uh i was talking with my wife about this and and uh when i think about roots i automatically think about things that are growing down not up but notice how it's worded when a root of bitterness springs up so the truth is that roots won't stay underground forever one of my favorite verses is in isaiah 37 and 31 it says take root downward then you can bear fruit upward so the lesson is pretty powerful the fruit on top is always the result of the root underneath and the word tells us there are probably options to this but there are at least two kinds of roots that i'd like to talk to you about today the first one is a root called bitterness let me share with you what i think is an amazing lesson on bitterness from the old testament number 16 tells the tale of of a rebel a rebel by the name of korah torah was a cohethite a son of cohab if you know your bible the staff from the old testament church the tabernacle of moses and temple of solomon the staff came from a tribe called levite or levi i guess there were exceptions to this this is when you get into that crazy mixed up confused thing called a nazarite vow if you weren't from the tribe of levi and you wanted to work in the temple you could but there were convictions and consecrations that you would have to be willing to make i talked to someone one time they had long long hair and i said um you know i you need to get a haircut and uh he said i'm a nazarite and i said no no yeah uh do you work full-time at the church he said no i said well then you're not a nazarene uh he didn't like that so whatever but it's a great way to use the bible to prove that i want to look like a woman and the old testament staff came from the tribe of levi levi had three boys gershon murari and kohath and if you study leviticus and and exodus very clearly it it divides the duties of the tabernacle service between the extended families of these three boys listen to this verse it's in ii chronicles 34 and verse 13. it's talking about the duty of the sons of kohath and they were over the bearers of burdens and were overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service the cocatheites carried stuff now my sweetheart is here i told a couple men in the first service earlier today if you ever even remotely hear me talking about moving again you shoot me and you tell god i died okay um i don't ever want to move again i'm tired of boxes and my wife has done much much more work than i have but she had to get that in there but she really has i just can't believe how much stuff you accumulate after a while i needed some koaths and boy have i had some from this church we've had people lug a lot of stuff and and we still got a little to go and uh but uh if you were a coathite you were in the front of the parade you know 42 times they changed camps in the 40 years between egypt and canaan about 11 months cloud would move when the cloud moved the priest would say god is rising when they said that immediately men from the tribe or the family of cohab would go into the holy place take that veil off of those i don't know kind of look like rings on your curtain rod they'd unsnapped those rings and they'd walk backwards and they'd cover the ark of the covenant with that veil they would find these rings that were at the corner of the ark and they would stick these two sticks through it and away they would go you know there's a book in the bible called numbers and numbers is just exactly that it numbers israel and if you read the first chapter of the book of numbers it tells you how many men when they went into canaan how many men there were over the age of 20. you you 20 to 50 after 50 you had to retire you couldn't be in the military couldn't be a priest but there was 30 years there when you could serve if you if you read that first chapter of numbers it's very clear at the end of the chapter it said there were 603 550 men between the ages of 20 and 50. we have no idea how many men there were older than 50. we have no idea how many men there were younger than 20 we have no idea how many women there were and we the tribe of levi is not mentioned here at all they're worn in the military so it's it's it's reasonable to talk about two million people so it's the greatest jailbreak in the history of the world and when that cloud moved and this i mean we're not talking single file here when these people move pal you're who knows how wide that parade was but at the front of that parade was that box and koath's carrying them korra was a son of cohab so he had been one of these people who carried the ark i'll call moses the senior pastor okay in time cora grew jealous over his pastor he wanted to be the senior pastor and he convinced 250 princes not joe six-pack on the sidewalk here we're princes leaders so he's obviously gifted he's an orator got influence and they stood with him against moses moses is called the meekest man in in the earth but understand when you say the word meekness it doesn't mean you're a pushover meekness means quiet strength i i've had to deal with some people through the years and tried to explain to them please listen to me i hate confrontation i was raised in a church of confusion it's why i i i have no tolerance for confusion i don't want anything to do with it i've seen where it goes and um but i've looked at him with a smile on my face and said please do not misinterpret my kindness for weakness moses was meek but he wasn't he wasn't a pushover in number 16 and 9 he looks at and reasons with korra and he says does it seem a small thing to you that you're you're separated from the congregation of israel in other words you're out in front of every does that does that seem like a small thing to you and and and he said look this is number 16 and 29. he said if cora and his men just live a normal life and die like everybody else then all of you will know god didn't call me but in the next verse it says but if god does a new thing and boy did he ever do a new thing he opened up the earth swallowed korra and his 250 pounds the bible in another place says he reigned fire and brimstone which is sulfur on them closed up the earth and literally barbecued these fellows under the ground it's ironic because the rest of the tribes got mad at moses look what you did jesus did something very similar to this he said if you reject me you're not rejecting me you're rejecting him that sent me that's a direct quote from moses what moses said if you don't like me take it up with the one that sent me i mean look at moses you know he says you know he's at the burning bush here am i send aaron i didn't ask for this job you know i've heard all these preachers talk about moses stuttering good luck finding that in the bible okay when you read stephen's sermon in acts 7 before he was stoned this is what stephen said about moses he was a man mighty in word and indeed so he wasn't this bumbling stutterer that people have pain makes a nice sermon but it's not bible and he says if you've got a problem with me cora take it up with god i didn't want this job there's still a lot i never wanted to be a pastor i wanted to do something and make money [Laughter] and i've had a blessed life and i'm grateful but there's still lots of days i don't want to be embarrassed i've probably talked more people out of being preachers than into being preachers it's like if you're called to do this you can't do anything else but if you're not called man you're stupid to want to do this you really are and uh uh you know so uh this this is stunned me and and it says in 16 and 33 and all that pertain to them went in alive into the pit everything so let me let me take you just put your your your you know slow your mind to a thinker's pace for a moment here and let me take you through the word on the subject of rebellion we're starting in hebrews chapter 12 and verse 8. and i'll change a word for an obvious reason here it says if you are without chastisement it says you are an illegitimate and and not a real or not a real son or daughter not a real child so the writer of hebrews is saying there are legitimate children of god and there are illegitimate children of god so my question was always how do you tell the two apart how do you know what's kosher and what isn't and and um you you in order for me to to to teach you this lesson i'm going to give you a biology lesson on how to have babies okay in order to have a baby you have to have a father and you have to have a mother the father provides the seed the mother provides the womb that the seed is deposited in and that's where life begins okay now we're going to hebrews chapter 12. hebrews chapter 12 compares two mountains it compares mount sinai and mount zion and i don't know probably 20 and 21 of hebrews 12 it will say something like this you are not come unto the mount that burns with fire nor blackness nor darkness nor tempest strong wind but in 22 it says but you are come unto mount zion and it says that that's the city of the living god the heavenly jerusalem an innumerable company of angels watch us the general assembly and church of the firstborn spirit of just been made perfect blood of sprinkling then speaketh better things than that of abel abel's voice had a blood or abel's blood had a voice rather able remember he said my brother's blood is crying out of the ground that's what cain said the blood of abel was saying avenge me avenge me avenge me the blood of jesus has a voice as well it says something better then it's saying forgive me forgive me forgive me the bible says they without us are not made perfect but now that the church is here the church is the vindication of the life of faith on the other side of the cross you understand that look what these people did in the old testament with no holy ghost just faith faith the bible said angels acquire into the salvation angels don't understand forgiveness they've never been forgiven none of them have it's why lucifer goes out of his mind i mean we're trying to fast and pray i can see lucifer saying jesus harold messed up 42 times last week and he's praying and fasting i messed up one time you booted me out won't give me another chance what's what's on what's what's what's with that he said i didn't die for you i didn't die for angels i died for men and women and it's going to be very frustrating to be a demon right now because you know you back the wrong horse you know they said it have you come to torment us before our time they know they're in trouble that's why i think demons understand unity much better than the church because they know their only hope is to stay together see they never did get a new pastor in hell they never had insurrection and say we're getting rid of you knock satan all you want but he's really good at what he does but he he stays simple he's got three pitches lust of the flesh less the eye prior to life that's what he does but he's really really really good at it and and it says in verse 23 we are the general assembly and church of the firstborn if if do you believe we have access to the blood of jesus today i do i believe the blood's in the name okay so i believe we have access to the blood i believe the church has validated the life of the people that look toward the cross and if you're the church you have access to an innumerable company of angels now this is conjecture on my part but i try to make some of this stuff palatable this in in in revelation 12 it says that when the dragon fell his tail drew a third part of the stars it's very obvious who the dragon is in revelation 12 in revelation 1 and 20 it says this the stars are the angels so when lucifer fell he took a third of heaven with him now john said that the number of the angels was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands so that this is what i did i took ten thousand times ten thousand times two thousand which is thousands plural times two thousand again ten thousand times ten thousand times two thousand times two that and it's four hundred trillion so if that's the number of angels left after satan fell and he took a third then he's got 200 trillion fallen angels with him here's the cool thing you look at that and say well that's a lot of zeros but but let's listen to this verse one puts a thousand of flame two puts ten thousand of flame if that dynamic holds true then three puts a hundred thousand to flight four puts a million five does ten million six does a hundred million seven does a billion eight does ten billion nine does a hundred billion ten does a trillion eleven does ten trillion twelve does a hundred trillion can we get it eleven i mean jesus chose 12 and one of them was a devil if jesus couldn't pick 12 good ones i probably can't either listen to me folk god not even god could create a perfect heaven okay and if you think we're gonna have a perfect church you're out of your mind it's not it's not scripturally mathematically possible there's a certain percent about eight percent of them going to be heathers okay and uh first first church you've got it's 5.7 percent uh we're we're below the average and uh but we got heathens i'm west virginia heathers heathens that's what they are and can we get 11 together because apparently there's enough dynamic in 11 unified people that you have authority over all them devils of see satan can't create devils he doesn't have creative power which is cool because the angel that that gave those lions tetanus or lockjaw in daniel's den that angel's still alive the angel that that that that that that led peter out of the inner prison is still alive the the angel that turned the court the trio into a quartet with the hebrew of the fire that angel's still alive paul said there stood by me this night the angel of the lord didn't stop the shipwreck but kept us through the whole day so don't be surprised if you're in a problem right now that the very same angel that that that was suspense all my my my daughters here and young people new year's night they my ashley told me i'm pouring an all-nighter dad pulling an all-nighter she had this bag she had everything in there man i mean she had sleeping bags she had pillows she had all kinds of stuff about four in the morning she said i work home said we'll be there at 9. the angel didn't say i want to go home the angel pulled the all-nighter stuck it out with daniel don't be surprised if the very same angel that was with daniel doesn't show up on your behalf the bible said they camp around those that fear him they are ministering spirits two heirs not they're not doing they minister to you to the heirs of salvation that's that that's a great subject so i'm convinced that it's that that the church it's synonymous that if you're in the church you have access to the blood you have access to god the judge of all you have you you the the spirits have just been made perfect that you you are the general assembly in church of the firstborn and if you are you're zion and you are the heavenly jerusalem now here's when it gets cool this is what it says in galatians 4 and verse 26 it says jerusalem which is above what's that heaven the heavenly jerusalem jerusalem which is above is free which is the mother of us all which is cool because now see we got to talk about mom and dad we have identified who the mother is the church there should be no doubt among us who the father is okay so what happens peter said this being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible seed which is the word of god which means when someone teaches you the word of god it goes into the spirit into the womb of the mother that's where life takes place if you believe what the bible says life doesn't begin when the baby comes out of the womb life begins in the womb i taught you last week john the baptist leaped in his mother's womb when mary told her so the first person to really praise jesus was an unborn baby you're fearfully and wonderfully made something magical and mystical is going on i knew you i formed you in your mouth i knew your name i knew your surname that's bible that's incredible and so do you understand the power of that here here here's my wife i i was there when the girls were born my wife wasn't playing suduko when the babies were born my wife was going ah i mean she had that transition labor the first time for over 24 hours i'm falling asleep between contractions slapped me once you had something to do with this stay awake somebody visits our church for the first time here's this wonderful music meet you wonderful people here's this incredible preacher i'm a great preacher let that go online the reason i'm a great preacher is because i preach the truth anybody that preaches the truth is a great preacher boy i did it twice today haven't already i've already bragged on myself plus i said i got a girlfriend name you get boy wait till that hits fake book yeah it'll be saucy it'll be saucy someone visits our church gets up and leaves and we go they weren't hungry you missed it it's not the duty listen what it says in the book of isaiah 61. now let's not say 66 and 8. watch this when zion who's zion church when the church travails children are born we're not talking about some hill here mountains don't have kids there's something else going on here we are zion which means that's what we're coming together tomorrow night for how many years have i said i want to get 100 people in prayer i want to get a hundred people a hundred people prayer a couple of months ago it just went bloop and all of a sudden we've never gone back to under 100. last monday there was over 140. and we were saying the new goal is 150. now the new one's 200. we just bump it up then let's go for 500 okay and have a thousand all right that that's that that'll happen it just will and so the travail is not the duty of the guest the travail's the duty of the church that was that when zion go ah and when a visitor comes they don't have to go oh they just speak in tongues because the labor was done before they showed up i think sometimes you could paint a church pink and blue it's a nursery around here where something is born it's important so break the box i mean that i don't have time to get sidetracked with that but that box wasn't represented her past it it was quite possibly the same expensive fragrance that she used during her most aggressive conquest she broke that thing filled that room that's what happens when prayer feels permeates the atmosphere people come in and just get born again it's not hard i was raised in a church of chronic seekers i i saw people pray for the holy ghost for years years i always knew something was wrong wrong and then i found that verse why terrorists thou now jesus said terry until the spirit's poured out but after spears poured out don't terry we we're going to come and terry and i my father-in-law had a friend in bible school went to bible school didn't have the holy ghost every sunday night he would come up to the altar take off his shoes take off his tie take off his jacket get ready to pray hey my father-in-law wasn't a patient man but he he told me about his friend bill one time they prayed all all night long for people to get the holy ghost seven in the morning he said i knew i wasn't going to get it when i started praying last night chronic seekers but this is what the bible says why terrorist thou now arise wash away thy sins calling on the name of the lord listen to this verse when i read this verse with revelation it might it's like the elephant in the room this is second corinthians 11 and verse 4 for if he that cometh preacheth another jesus whom we have not preached or if you receive another spirit which we've not or another gospel see see there's counterfeit christians there's a counterfeit holy ghost oh sure there is every everything god's ever done satan has had a cheap imitation of it always according to corinthians there's another gospel another jesus there's another holy ghost how do you get an illegitimate child someone in the covenant has to be unfaithful it can't be the father because he said i don't ever change i'm the same yesterday today and forever not even the shadow of turning so there's only one option that be bs the church the mother gets involved with what paul called another gospel another spirit another jesus and they have kids bunches of them here's what's fascinating to me they have the same mother as you do they just have a different dad so how do you know who the real child of god is and who the spurious child of god is it's easy it's in hebrews 12 and verse 8 can you be corrected can you be chastened do you have a teachable spirit or are you one of these people say i'm taking my toys and go home adios jesus did that i'm bill i'm trying to be mean but i'm not going to pastor an adult day care i'm not doing that i'm just not doing that it's the story of the good samaritan you find these people in the ditch you pour oil in their wounds you bind them up you put them on your mule which is a great verse for put them in your car and bring them to church i mean literally the samaritan says okay let's see i got i got 62 bucks here you go he said now i use this to take care of him he said if you spend more than i've given you when i come i love that very when i come back i'll settle up with you jesus will be a debtor to no man trust me god keeps good books you invest something for him he's going to settle up with you i promise you that right now i promise y'all we don't know if the guy that the samaritan took out of the ditch lived or died that's not the purpose of the story the purpose of the story is we're going to do everything we can for you around here we really will but sooner or later you're going to have to decide do you want to live or not okay we'll spend billions of dollars on all kinds of programs and all kinds of stuff and that's all fine and good but sooner or later you're going to have to make up your mind are you going to serve god or not because jesus taught five things to nicodemus number one you've got to be born again everybody preaches that then he said you've got to be born of water and spirit everybody doesn't preach that then he said if you're not born of water and spirit you're not even going to see the kingdom he said if you're not born in water spirit you can't enter in the kingdom and the fifth was listen for the wind which is why i think nicodemus was there on the day of pentecost and suddenly the wind he said ah that's what he was talking about but but but but i thought i thought and i was taught if you're baptized and filled the holy ghost you're automatically in the kingdom that's not what jesus said jesus said you're not even gonna see it until you get water buried and spirit filled and then you're going to have to decide am i going to enter into the kingdom way of life where are all these people we've baptized and seen filled with the spirit of the last 40 years you couldn't build a building big enough to hold them all because in every conversion there is a crisis because this is a change of lifestyle and you're going to have to you're going to be confronted with oh man this looks like commitment and you're going to have to figure out am i going to do the live the kingdom way of life or not so i i don't know how much money the dude spent on band-aids and and sutures and who knows what but sooner or later the dude either they either spent money on getting him a new suit or buying him a casket and we've had our share of both but the bottom line is simple do you have a teachable spirit can you submit yourself to a pastor well he said all right i ain't doing that okay look i didn't want this job okay all right the last thing i wish i could stick a gun in people's ribs say you're going to heaven whether you like it or not it'd be a whole lot easier but we're pestering an old volunteer army here which is what's going to vindicate jesus in the end do you understand that jesus is going to look at satan and say listen stupid i let you dangle every sordid filthy nasty thing in front of those people that your little dirty mind could dredge up and they still chose me i let you invent pornography i let you have drugs i let you have nicotine i let you have alcohol they still wanted me i thought when i read number 16 i thought it meant cora and and his pals and all their families died but then i found this verse it's in numbers 26 and 11. it said notwithstanding the children of korah they didn't die if there's anybody in the bible that should have had a bitter attitude it should have been coors kids they watched god barbecue their daddy right in front of them you tell me you couldn't hear them muffled screams coming out of that dirt those kids live through that but something amazing happened fast forward 400 years david's on the throne first thing he does is he says uh where's the box because if you study the book of samuel the sons of the the preachers boys hof nine phineas i never did like that of night sounds real too close to something else but they swiped the ark and they went down the bible said they danced she shouted till the ground shook and then next day they got their behind handed to him and the ark goes into the land of the philistines for seven months then it comes back and it ends up in a benadab's garage and it's there for over 20 years which means that during the entire dynasty of saul the ark of the covenant wasn't in the holy of holies in the tabernacle which means you can have church without glory sure you can everything we do comes short of glory anyway i've heard peace let's give god glory good luck because let me tell you what he ain't sharing that with nobody now you could sense it and if you're smart you'll return it and reflect it back to him but you won't say hmm that's mine don't ever do listen god's job is to to promote us our job is to stay humble you get those two rules reversed that it's a bad day because if you think it's your job to promote you then god says if you're gonna do my job i'm gonna do yours and god will humble you and he's really good at it you don't want god to humble you if you abase yourself you'll be exalted you exalt yourself bad choice bad career move i was listening to a thing a couple months ago about this al qaeda thing and they they got they got uh osama bin laden and got his number two guy and and the guy in the cia he was on the radio with the number three guy and they could talk he didn't know where they were but they were talking and he said i got some good news and bad news for you he said listen here abu badhead he said the good news is you're number three in al-qaeda he said the bad news is you're number three in al qaeda and he said you better strap on your chin strap boy because he said it's gonna be a rough road for you for the next couple days and it was and he died bad career move don't you dare oh i'm something i'm special we are the moon that's i wish i could teach you that you know he's the son of racist we're the moon moon is reflected light don't move powerful because it can affect tides and seasons and all that kind of stuff but but there ain't no moon in the world it's dumb enough to say it's me you're just a gray bunch of ash until the sun shines on you we're just a dirt ball until the glory of the lord shines on us reflect it bounce it back don't hang on to that because that's what happened to satan look what a the bible said he had this coat with all these stones on it when god spoke i asked the man never said we had a physicist come here years ago i said what what is what is light and he said oh that's a great question pastor hoffman we don't know he said what we do know is the closest thing to light is sound he said just there are sound waves light has frequencies and waves and i said oh i get that perfect he spoke there was light he speaks there's light so you got this sequin sport coat on all of a sudden the light hits you you're shining man you think i saw a movie years ago steve martin he was a a fake evangelist and he had this sport coat on with all these sequins and he would come out and this platform was dark and a spotlight wham would hit him and all these lights are going that's what happened to satan he thought he was something amazing don't doubt that he's got his own church oh they talk in tongues oh they talk at them it's phony baloney holy ghost there's not a far it's not a far leap from glory to goofy folks i've seen both [Laughter] here's what amazes me this is first chronicles six i gotta go fast first chronicles six david becomes king he gets the ark they put it on zion people say jerusalem is the city of david no it's not read the bible zion is the city of david david takes the ark puts it on mount zion builds a tent over it he you could see it you could see it it had been hidden behind veils not with david it's out there for you to see david is the worship leader the psalmist he devises 24 orders of musicians and he gets them all together and he said okay let's have a vote who's going to be the worship leader now if dralen would have been alive he would have got the vote but draylen was there yet they all agreed on the same guy heman we all want heman to be the worship leader listen i'll read it to you here's first chronicles 6 and verse 33 and they weighed on and of this of the hemon was the singer who is haemon look what it says the son of shemuel does that sound does that sound familiar it ought to because look at the next verse the son of elkanah do you ever read the first chapter in samuel we always talk about hannah it's not about hannah it's about elkanah elkanah is the dad of shemuel which means haman's grandpa was the prophet samuel and you go down through this family tree and i i i can't do all these names you know elio toa there's a guy zuff who would call the kids you know okay may have amazing son of el cajol azariah zephaniah son of tejas son of a seer son of a bishop son of korah oh son of israel son of cohath son of levi son of israel hemans great great great great grandpa was the rebel korah but instead of the family being destroyed because of bitterness somebody saved that family and i'll tell you who it was david and the listen at least he records it so i found 11 of them i'll give them to you psalms 42 44 45 46 47 48 49 84 85 87 and 88 if you have a study bible look at any of those psalms and between the number of the psalm and the first verse this is what it says 11 times a song for the sons of korah somebody we don't know who david wrote it down because this is 400 years now somebody taught these kids your dad had it wrong this is what you're supposed for instance here's psalms 42 as the heart or as the deer pants after the water you want your soul your daddy panted for power you need to pant for god you need to want that cool that water springing up that river of life that's what you want he listen this is a this is this is psalms 44 and verse 1. we have heard with our ears oh god our fathers have told us what work you did in their days in the times of old somebody told us what happened before we showed up have you ever heard of this psalm 46 god is our refuge and strength a very present help and trouble therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed does that sound familiar that's what happened to their daddy that's what happened to their grandpa you go on in 46 and it says there is a river the stream is where i've made glad the people of god have you ever heard this verse oh clap have you ever heard pastor say this oh clap your hands all ye people and shout unto god don't just clap clap and use your mouth oh clap your hands all you people and shout unto god with a voice of despair and depression no triumph that's psalms 47. read what it says right above that verse a song for the sons of korah cora he he goes i can go i'd tell you on and on here's what it says in 48 it said walk about zion go round about her tell that mark ye well her bull works consider her palaces that you may tell it to the generation following for this god is our god forever and ever he will be our guide unto death you know what that means it means you walk here's my problem with antifa and all this other foolishness that's going on right now all they're doing is tearing down tear down the statues burn that up spray paint that on and on you're building nothing this is what the psalm said you need to walk around jerusalem and say you see that tower my grandpa built that see that whoa bear my daddy did that you've been to washington d.c let me tell you something about washington d.c they don't build monuments to guys who said i don't think we can do this one of those early guys read the book david mccullough wrote a book on john adams read how adams talked about that first convention and he said we knew there was a divine authority in the room guiding us when one of them said fellas we better hang together because if we don't hang together we're going to hang separate it's just it's just what did you say it said build something so that your kids and your grandkids can say my grandpa had a role in this we're gonna build another building in that grass over there i'm not gonna put this church in debt again we've already been through the debt we're out of debt i'm not going into debt again but i believe in my heart we're going to build a church on that grass that the only way it's going to be done is people that say i'm going to i mean i'm an immortal man for god's sakes pastor can't you see the corona can't you see all these small businesses that are failing all i know is this church just keeps growing that's all i know okay it just keeps growing and growing this is the second service look around you we couldn't have possibly got the people from the first service in here i don't care how many chairs we got i want us all to be together i don't want to have if we got to go to a third service we'll go to a third service but ultimately i want a place where we can come together so that your kids phil heskett he don't want me telling his story but a week ago he called he said i need to see you pastor and i thought ah shoot he got transferred that's mr faith pastor you know film kayla's gone shoot you know i get in the office and i said what can i do for you he said i know you're busy but we'd like and he handed me a big giant stack of money and i said what is this for he said well phil kayla and i want to be the first ones to give an offering for the new building where our kids are going to be raised there you go i'm not going to tell you what it was but it was a lot of money i love people like that because all of a sudden that kids are going to grow up see that my daddy she may have played a role in that did a part in that if we come together we can do something amazing jesus said right over jesus it said occupy till i come in other translations says do business until i come back okay i got to go fast watch this have you ever have you here's isaiah 53 all right listen there's two kinds of roots here here's a root of bitterness that sprung up and many were defiled but here's why he is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows acquaintance you ever heard this wounded foreign that's 53 54 here's 52 and he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and i was of a root out of dry ground another place he called him the root of jesse it did i got i got i got two roots here for you i got a root of bitterness that if it grows deep it ain't staying underground forever it's going to spring up and a lot of people are going to be defiled here's the other route this route of david amen that they stuck him in a box they stuck him underground but this route just like the other one will not stay unexposed and under the ground forever just as root of bitterness springs up and haves a harvest jesus christ sprung up by resurrection out of the grave and he's got to harvest as well so the question we're going to ask is what what kind what's in your garden amen what what's what's growing in your spirit you you can buy into the anxiety these these politicians my grandpa told me years ago politicians are like bananas they're yellow they hang together and they're in a straight one and a bunch and if this last week i i i don't i'm never voting again don't do that that's exactly what the stupid people want you to do but for goodness sakes you've got to understand our answer is not in the political process our answer in the king of kings our answer is in the prince of peace if you're expecting this world in its political environment to produce your answers god help you you got to decide i am not going to let the anxiety and the attitude get off of the news websites get off of that stupid stuff and quit letting these people steal your joy and burglarize your life every day put some good music in your house put some good music in your car come to prayer meeting get in the word you can stand janice i needed i needed a triangle i tried trying to draw something yesterday and i didn't have a triangle so i went to the art store in rochester as soon as i walked in ah pastor i looked and i i got to be good i'm getting really good at recognizing people with their eyes because that's all i see ah tessa here it's janice and she's back there and i said i didn't know you work here she said i've been here for years she grabbed her bus come here let me introduce you to my pastor and she said then there's people standing there in line she said did you know this is my pastor did you know she said i just told doug i wonder if he knows if we're still alive she said we've been watching faithful online and we've been given in tithe but she said i promise you i'm gonna be there tomorrow there she is right back there right there there that good for her word we're coming out of this all right i i realize there are people have to be prudent i'm not asked to be stupid right now but for goodness sakes don't put all your faith in the vaccine you want to take the vaccine take the vaccine but for goodness sakes if you think that is your answer there's going to be something else and something after that and something after that because satan learns something he's got an advantage there are people that used to call this church home i don't know if they ever are coming back but they got replaced i'm being honest with you there are people that are bitter at me because he wouldn't quit church you shouldn't have called off church pastor you're putting all these people you're going to kill them all well guess what [Music] the last thing i want to do is to harm you but i'm looking what's behind all of this and i'm telling you there's a spirit of there says don't go to church then if you don't go to church you ain't going to go to prayer meeting this is what janice told me i tell you what i did pastor i'm stronger and deeper in a word right now than i've ever been she said my husband said my god have mercy are you ever gonna quit reading that bible but there's so she did the bible said they that wait upon the lord should renew their strength if you're at home right now and you don't feel comfortable coming to church i get it but don't you get out of the word don't you get out of the habit of prayer don't you if you're watching you're obviously still in the habit of watching this thing online stay in sync with what we're trying to do even so much more as you see the day approaching this is not the day but it's coming this is a trial run and if this is going to destroy your faith if your faith is small you will shrink and you'll die the bible said in the time of battle we're in a war here folks we are a war we just really are so you're going to have to decide here all right if you don't want to be in this building i'm cool with that but man answer this question how's your prayer life are you in the word or are you terrified i'm on the phone with my girlfriend you get yesterday oh pastor i just wish i could get across that stupid river i just want to be in church [Music] lord jesus come with me around the shoulder come worship him come with faith right now well there's there's there's a spirit of faith in this room here right now luna my cousin russell that i told you about last week just called again he said i'm completely healed i don't ever need the wheelchair again god completely restored my body he's watching right now completely restored oh jesus oh jesus oh jesus raise your hands there's an attitude in this world that's trying to make you put your head there make your voice get lower it's trying to steal your joy but this is what the bible said he is the lifter up of my head it says lift up your voice lift up your eyes lift up your hands isaiah said he was high and lifted lifted that's the purpose of the church to get beneath the name of jesus now the bible said he's above everything just he's already above but we want him to be lifted even to a place where nothing's even close to where you be like james and john and you looked up your eyes and oh you sees him that's all you see is him amen pray with me and turn your prayers into praise right now lord jesus i am so grateful to be in your house i'm so grateful to hear your word to be with your people to send your spirit to sing songs about you lord jesus i am asking you god that you would guide my steps and guard my spirit let angel camp around these people lord they said that that the enemy would not get an advantage over us that we are not ignorant of his devices i'm asking you lord right now let a spirit of faith and boldness of witness spirit come upon us right now this world's afraid this world is losing confidence and the way things have been done everything that can be shaken is shaky so when things do not shake it's going to look real appealing hallelujah do that today why now arise wash away your sins call on the name of the lord get in that water rise to walk in newness left to right front to back [Music] [Music] [Music] amen we wanted to break forward [Music] is i will be [Music] is [Music] [Music] forever [Music] is are you [Music] forever [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is is [Music] oh is let's go ahead and love on the lord just a little bit almighty god we are so thankful for your presence lord we are so thankful mighty god for the man of god for the lord's anointing in our life for our pastor lord jesus lord we're so thankful mighty god i ask you humbly lord today search my heart put it under a microscope it examine it oh god if there be any unclean thing in my life i pray that you'd help me to be aware of it i pray god that you would bring it to my intention god help me to have a correctable heart help me to have a submitted spirit mighty god a teachable spirit alone that i might be called your son oh jesus let this be a church fighting god or with the right attitude with the right spirit o god lord for this world waiting on the manifestation of the sons of god help us o lord to be that help us to impact our world o god as you see fit for your glory and for your honor i pray a prayer of blessing over these people i pray that this life mighty god or this week my lord that they would be drawn to you like never before lord jesus that there would be a closeness and an intimacy my god this week that they have yet to discover lord for you are drawing your people closer closer closer to you than we've ever been my god for there is a challenge and there is a mission of god that is greater than it's ever been before my god prepare your church prepare your people for what lies ahead dear god i pray over us today in the name of jesus o lord we call it done let's thank god again oh jesus i never want to rush through the presence of oh we honor you lord such a great spirit of the lord among us and it's been great to worship it's been great to celebrate and been great to learn with you all today if you can make it tomorrow night at seven o'clock i'm telling you it's a powerful thing when the people of god are fasting the people of god are unified and uh and god shows up that's where the miraculous happens that's where true real life change happens and so you don't want to miss it please be a part of it if you can make it god bless you all be safe we love you and we'll see you tomorrow night [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: First Church Sterling Heights

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Id: rByCbDj16H0

Length: 110min 23sec (6623 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 10 2021