Regathering the Scattered (2021-07-25)

[Music] in the heavenly [Music] now [Music] you're teaching me how to receive it so let all the if strivings is [Music] is [Music] every wall comes crashing down [Music] jesus has given me when i open up my [Music] jesus [Music] crashing down [Music] jesus has given me [Music] your authority [Music] everybody [Music] [Music] i know who i am [Music] [Music] uh there's nothing left to prove there's nothing left to prove [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good morning everyone glad to see you in the house of god this morning as the saints come marching in or dragging in whichever it might be we're going to begin today with a great family moment uh we are going to do a baby dedication the first thing this morning isn't that awesome all your moms say oh see i would like for the parents and the family members of desiree marie harris to please join me on the platform desiree marie was born on january the 1st 2021 her name desiree means longed for the puritans used this as a given name that is the name before any other surname and it was to indicate that that baby would be desired favor with god and man and also that that child as desiree we desire god with all their heart mind and soul and so they've given her the name of desiree marie which means beloved and i know she is going to be beloved by this great family behind me today uh also joining the parents austin and lauren harris are the paternal grandparents dwayne and stacy harris the maternal grandparents of dale and his wife amy broom and then of course here's baby sister mackenzie right there can you say hi mckenzie hi yeah so again baby baby uh and sister mackenzie says hi then also we have great grand grandparents here today larry and diane smith which are right there amen we know them here very well we have some aunts some uncles and some cousins up here as well so we have christopher melissa and evelyn hawkins today right there good to see you guys and then we also have mason and ashley moyer well we welcome them back a couple weeks ago and then we have the awesome brandon harris right there in the back being humble and then also i believe that dwayne's sister lucinda and larry and her husband larry are here and we welcome them also sitting right there well this is a joyous occasion parents and i'm honored to be doing this for the second time and today we're going to be honored to have your dad and your dad also participate two ordained ministers now desiree doesn't have a chance she's going to be a powerhouse right she's got two ordained ministers as grandpas so it's going to be of course their wives are just as anointed and i might say my wife's anointed more than i am so maybe that's the case with them but this is a time to celebrate no other child will have desiree's exact dna personality voice print fingerprint that she is made by god and the expression of her gifts would be unique she is definitely a gift psalm 127 verse 3 look at how beautiful she i know you like me you like preachers because you got two grandpa preachers amen the bible says in psalm 127 3 that children are a heritage but they're also a reward from the lord the bible tells us that what we should do with them is that we should do what hannah did we should dedicate them to the lord exodus 13 2 says that all the firstborn are mine well she's not the firstborn sixteen times god says of the firstborn but what he's saying is that all children of minds just the firstborn are the recognition that all the kids belong to me then we dedicate our children in response to god saying that so what do we do we know from hannah chapter 1 verse 11 that she prayed she asked the lord for a child god has given you whether you prayed or you didn't god has given you a child and a child that is most beautiful obama says that her response when god gave her a child is that hannah in verse 23 for samuel 1 went and offered sacrifices to the lord and says also in verse 25 she worshipped the lord so today i'm going to ask you some questions before our time of dedication do you publicly recognize that desiree marie is a gift from god and do you publicly give him thanks and worship for her life if you do say we do amen second covenant today we look at active dedication she's going to steal the show folks it's going to be and that is that we need to commit to in deuteronomy 6 we need to commit to raising them in the knowledge of the lord and he says that we are to teach them in all their ways when they're when they're going side to side or when they're laying down right we are to teach them the ways of the lord so now mckenzie's following her younger sister okay so do you as parents today also covenant that you will raise desiree marie in the knowledge and nurture the lord if you will would you say we will awesome third and finally remember that there was the healing of tabitha in the new testament by jesus and then he told the parents to give her something to eat that is that jesus is concerned about the salvation of our children but also in the temporal needs being met by the parents so they belong to him but he wants you to take good care of him right so will you both also commit to as the lord prospers you taking care of all of the temporal needs that desiree marie will have if you will you say we will awesome well it's a wonderful dedication and now comes the real point for prayer when they give the baby to me right as an act of dedication today it was symbolic in luke chapter 2 verse 2 that mary and joseph brought jesus and presented him before the lord at the temple so as a form of that they would be redeeming him back right so as a form of you placing her in my arms is just the symbolic fashion and that is that we're saying in a symbolic faith lord i'm placing her and dedicating her to you amen all right would you do that right now hi hi oh she's looking back at mommy look out there can you look out there i think you better look back at mommy okay okay would you join me church and as we dedicate desiree marie to the lord today let's pray our father we thank you for not just a ceremony we thank you for the true hearts of these two parents it's the heart of this family to honor you and to dedicate desiree marie harris to the lord lord today we ask for you to take this active dedication take her up into your arms as they place her in mine and lord today we pray that as your child both by creation and now my dedication that god you would take desiree and that god you would mold her life you would with her angel to watch over her you would keep her in all of her ways that you would bless her in all kinds of ways and you would cause lord your grace and your face always to shine upon her lord in every way may you uh teach her to know you in an early age in every way may you reveal your goodness to her lord in every way god may you help me to keep her from falling in jesus name amen amen amen now by the dale would you go from there i mean brother dwayne well it's a privilege obviously to be here and to see family heritage but but it's a privilege to be here today with family for the dedication of desiree um and here today and standing here as a family we're making a commitment but you as parents are making a commitment that you recognize that she is a gift from god and being a gift from god then she's a designed gift so therefore she's divine and therefore she has a plan and a purpose and in the old testament in the new testament we see that uh they would be anointed with oil as a significant uh factor to show that they had been set aside for that calling and purpose that was within them we even saw that with jesus christ leading up to the cross so here today we just want to anoint her and to pray god's favor over her purpose and calling heavenly father lord today we just give you thanks for heritage lord lord we give you thanks for divine heritage you've been faithful in our family lord to keep the word of god accessible through us from generation to generation that we could know you and so lord i just thank you for sensitive children who know you who who have recognized that you have a design purpose over their child so today lord we declare that your hand of favor is upon her lord for every gifting and seed that you've already placed within her lord we pray that as she grows up to know you as her heart becomes sensitive and her ears open lord that you would cause those designed gifts to flourish lord to prosper and to multiply in her lives that she could be used by you to touch others or we declare peace and strength over her we come against any plan of the enemy over her lord that would try to dissuade her to pull her away from her divine purpose but we seal it today under the name of your authority that's found in jesus christ amen amen amen amen god has a plan for every young life amen amen how many of you grew up in a church and you were fortunate enough to grow up with faithful men and women of god setting an example and discipling you now tag you're it because one of the things of this season that we've been going through we know and you'll hear it today in a message and i just pray the same anointing hits the second service as a first but the enemy has done much to break up the body of christ see it's not just about a physical family that is on stage and i thank god for that heritage and the many of generations that are represented many that have gone on before and prayed many more will get a chance to come this way but in that there is also a spiritual family and the enemy has tried to keep spiritual families he's tried to keep not only this child but every child from seeing godly men and women praising the lord unashamedly of praying in the power of the holy ghost of speaking and teaching in class with anointings and i just pray that what the enemy has meant for harm god will turn it around because that is the gathering back together so don't just pray for this family today as i pray here in just a moment would you too make your commitment unto the lord that as part of the spiritual family i will do my part in the raising of not just this blessed child but every child father lord in the name of jesus christ we come before you and we just ask sword for your anointing to continue to be upon us father lord a long time ago you wrote a plan instruction manual for the required assembly of young lives of homes and for your churches the body of christ father lord what the enemy has meant for harm god we ask lord that you just turn it around and lord god we pray that what has been already started among this family that is represented here on stage with their oldest daughter lord we know that they will continue on continue to grow them and give them continue to set examples before them in this church may they hear from their pastor and from teachers and from their brothers and sisters in christ's sword how to continue growing themselves and they'll lead their children as they do so but father lord i also ask that you let your anointing rest upon the body of christ lord not just in this house but upon everybody of christ across this land oh lord there are children who are growing up without godly examples would you again draw your children back to your house where they will see the godly examples of sons and daughters of the most high god the lord they'll catch the fire and they'll see the vision they'll hear the story they'll be discipled and led lord that we may reap a great harvest lord let it happen in the name of jesus christ we ask your blessings again upon desiree upon this family upon this church and all churches represented for your glory and honor amen amen thank you my friend beautiful i feel a spirit of god here i do i do affirm god's hand is upon her today uh like for heather omran to come my wife is is in children's church these days uh teaching our kids so heather as our member care coordinator would you assist me and yes that bible the bible talks about in psalm 127 verse 3 that children are a gift from god well we want to symbolize the house of god giving gifts to desiree right so first we have a bible and we pray that from deuteronomy chapter 6 that she will live in that bible and she will have many precious moments with god through the word of god then we have a certificate the certificate is just a official way to remember that she was dedicated to the lord in those days when she may not want to clean her room when she's giving you a hard time about she wants nothing but chicken nuggets you might want to pull that out and say lord we dedicated her to you so help me right now amen and then we have a white rose for the mother's love nothing purer than a mother's love and then we have a red rose for the father's love so we know that lauren that your love for your daughter is so pure next to god's love and you'll love her like god wants you to love her and that you'll sacrifice and provide for her too austin as as the father provides for us then we have some gold carnations to the grandparents and the great-grandparents we have nothing for the cousins and nieces okay sorry you guys are left out yeah i know but we do have these carnations to represent how much your righteous support as dale mentioned and it's also dwayne mission your righteous support of desiree will make a big difference right so we yeah she's active i'm telling you what what kind of anointing oil did you put on her wow powerful so today we want to say congratulations on the gift of god and also to your hearts to dedicate her to god i know you please the father today may you be blessed in all your days of rearing her may she teach you many things about god as you teach her the things of god as well so we thank you and we thank god for her life amen let's give this great family these parents a big god bless this morning all right amen congratulations amen congratulations let's everybody stand together and turn to somebody and say you remember when you were a baby do you remember probably not [Music] and pastor james lead us in the great worship of almighty god that's the lord as you're standing in this place we declare that there is nothing too hard for our god there's nothing that our god can't do as we lift him up in this place [Music] just one word you call the storm that surrounds me just one word and darkness has to [Music] retreat one touch i feel the presence of heaven [Music] just one touch my eyes there's not a mountain that we can't love or praise the name that makes the way there's nothing that our god can do just one word [Music] just [Music] my eyes [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh i believe that the search is right today i'm believing for greater things about you let's make this the declaration of jesus is [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh sing it again [Music] in this place [Music] [Music] there's no power [Music] i will i will believe there's no power like the power hungry there's not a mountain that we can't do oh praise the name [Music] is [Music] somebody blessed be the name of the lord aren't you glad that you can be in the most believers today testifying of the faithfulness our god for the lord loves us so much he wants everyone in this place to know that you're not by yourself just turn around and look the bible tells us that we're two or more gathered in his name touching and agreeing on any one thing he's going to he's going to do it but i believe there's a little more than two and i believe the lord promised that he's going to show up because we just simply want to honor him you're not by yourself you're not alone we testify of the faithfulness of our god is that he will be with us at all times regardless of what you face trust in him we praise your name lord god thank you jesus let's sing together the lord is he goes before me defender behind me [Music] i'm filled with anointing [Music] no weapon can harm me [Music] this is the good news today that we can testify hallelujah [Music] [Music] [Music] he always guides me [Music] is and goodness [Music] [Applause] [Music] hallelujah thank you [Music] hallelujah [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] your spirit is [Music] [Music] your spirit [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] thank hallelujah jesus let it rise in this place thank you jesus [Laughter] put your hands in this place [Music] is oh worship him worship him lord we praise you today he's calling you into intimacy today oh just get into an intimate time of worship hallelujah oh hallelujah we praise you lord oh you are fortress lord you you alone are worthy of our praise come on in this in your own heart lord we praise you we magnify you we thank you that you'll you'll never leave us alone you've called us in the intimacy of your holy of holies though we praise you we praise you lord we praise you lord sing that hallelujah a few more times brother come on let's worship him just a little bit more hallelujah that part of it hallelujah [Music] oh worship him worship him come on [Music] one more time one more time please [Music] yes [Music] see i believe that in your worship today he can comfort you [Music] you come in heavy laden or burn down you need to as he tells us to cast all of our care upon him because he cares about you [Music] one of the greatest ways that you evidence to him that you're doing that is through your praise even though you go through tough times and when you can say hallelujah he's my fortress he's my high tower he's my comfort you defeat the devil who's trying to depress the living daylights out of you [Laughter] [Music] because the devil really church is practically trying to take away your praise and destroy it that's what he wanted from the beginning when he said he wanted to sit where god sits right he's still trying to rob from god the thing that he deserves relationship with us and praise and faith from his people when i i'm going to ask you to cast all your care and i believe somebody's going to get a breakthrough and we sing this a couple more times we sing hallelujah we're singing hallelujah remember hallelujah is only used four times in the new testament it's used in revelation and it's always used about deliverance so that's a praise word for deliverance [Music] come on and praise him i praise him i praise him that's it sing it again [Music] one more time one more time one more [Music] time [Music] one more time sing it softly sing it just softly to the lord [Music] intimate [Music] hallelujah hallelujah [Music] oh hallelujah would you put your hands together with me and praise him today hallelujah hallelujah you are our comforter you are always keeping us close you know there's in case you ever wondered if the lord's in these services this song came at just the right time we've just had probably more death in our church than we've had in any one week but what does he say he says sing hallelujah anyway because you are not alone we had remember prayers we had the linda dive memorial service see randy here today god bless you randy and all of your family great lady of god so you remember their family and prayers they celebrate her life and her victory in christ today we had the calvin durham uh memorial service this is karen gilley's father taylor rosario's grandfather and we had the isaac morrison memorial service a a little baby adorable just only live 16 17 days claudette zadravi went home to bear with the lord this week as well her service will be on august the 5th also bill nichols nephew sam passed away in new mexico talked with david perez yesterday lillian he's daughter veronica perez was murdered in puerto rico they had the memorial service yesterday and there was an overwhelming turnout mass of people who talked about her great life and how she brought joy to so many people david meredith has also had his moral service up in kentucky rusty meredith's father let me tell you in all this i believe every one of them knew the lord so praise god like the hallelujah for me to live is christ and to die is gain thank god for their victory now they joined the cloud of witnesses that's cheering you on it's cheering me on they're cheering us on today so today if you will just pray for them and then we're going to sing this of course a couple more times father we just submit to you the families that need our prayer the bible says in 1st corinthians 12 when one sorrows we all sorrow when one rejoices we all rejoice so today lord we sorrow with those who are sorry but yet we rejoice with those that have gone on to be with the lord we thank god for their victory o death where is your sting o grave where is your victory for the sting of death has fallen up in the redemption of jesus christ so today we sing hallelujah we are not alone hallelujah we are not alone and we will praise our god for our god is a deliverer our god is a high tower he's a refuge that we run into and he keeps us from the storm so we thank you that even though there's storms god we thank you that you are the refuge in the storms and our god is a refuge in the time of trouble and we praise him and we sing hallelujah we are not alone hallelujah sing it a few more times come on let the heavens hear it today join the angels today oh yes [Music] i'm not alone oh yes [Music] hallelujah you're my comfort today in the comfort of this family hallelujah you thankful for him today give him your praise to the clapham shout out to the lord the voice of triumph clap your hands all your people shout unto god with the voice of pride hallelujah and amen but wave to somebody before you're seated smile be friendly let somebody feel the love of god through your wave or your smile and you might be receded and uh we want you to to keep on checking in on our church app right now and go on to city sanctuary church app and press the connect tab and then also the check-in tab and give us your praise report and your prayer requests and again we are excited that you're here today you're going to see a video announcement just a minute but today is our grill group so hopefully you will stay with us and enjoy right now the the hard work of elder larry efford his son justin efer and probably his mvp most valuable player his wife margie efford that are out there slaving on the grill for grilled hamburgers and grilled chicken and hot dogs praise god and all the fixes this is going to be a slap good hungry time right there i tell you we're going to have a good time and getting to know each other so please stay with us it's time to prepare our hearts for giving and uh we have to prepare our hearts because the bible says in second corinthians 9 7 that god loves a cheerful giver i guess i'm the only one that found that funny this morning i told you i had to prepare your heart right so again when we prepare our hearts we prepare our hearts by remembering that everything that god has given to us and remembering that we are blessed by him so remember that and again offer him the tithe and the offering our father we give you praise today we thank you for you you have committed yourself you will never leave us nor forsake us we are not alone today we have just enjoyed the intimacy of your presence lord now would you please bless us as we worship you and we are eternally grateful for the holy spirit been given to us as an engagement ring or a seal that greater things are to come in your manifest presence and glory for that we are most grateful and in your name we pray amen god bless you hey good morning city sanctuary family let's take a couple of minutes to make sure you're staying connected this week our church-wide grill group is today immediately following our 11 a.m service so if you signed up to be a part of this then make sure you join us in the gym right after our second service for an awesome time of food and fellowship so that's right today church wide grill group hey make plans to join us this wednesday evening here at the city sanctuary where we have a lot of things happening this week for our mid service our adults will join in room 110 for our last session of constitution alive our students and ignite student ministries we'll be in the student chapel we'll have our grief share also meeting with bill foster and al sanchuario will have their bible study in their chapel so come on out be a part wednesday night here at the city sanctuary 7 pm hey we're asking you to be a part of our 21 days of prayer that's coming up august 8th through the 28th we believe god is calling this church to a time of focused prayer we're asking you to join us so make sure you put that on your calendar you'll hear more about that in the coming weeks special services and special times of prayer but make sure you mark that down and prepare yourself for august 8th through 28th 21 days of prayer [Applause] [Music] is [Music] hey man how many are looking forward to eddie james coming huh should be a great time of worship this year we're also having a sunday night uh bash back to school bash what is a bash well it's nothing the world necessarily does with other things but we're going to have a pizza party after we uh we're welcoming all the high school students in from around our community uh our regional churches as well so sunday night's going to be another night where we focus on back to school blessing and giving out some blessings to uh students as they go back to school so remember that on the 22nd on sunday night at 6 00 pm i have a prophetic word i believe from the lord and i want to give that to you next week i'm looking forward to sharing on on some of the seasons and what the meaning of the seasons are and some of the things that god has given to me so again please be here next sunday but today is about regathering uh the scattered i was praying some some probably a month two months ago and the lord gave me three things first one of those was to regather the scattered i said well that's probably because you know he wants you know covid and and vacations and he just wants me to try to get people back in church and like always i'm always impressed myself with how dense i am when god speaks to me so he said no no no that's not that's not it really i've got something deeper for you to share and i want you to give this word so here we go uh hebrews 10 24-25 and let's consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds not abandoning our own meeting together as the habit of some people but encouraging one another and all the more as you what as you see the day drawing near i'm going to talk about that day what does that really mean father i just pray that your anointing would be upon the preaching and on the receiving both are equally important so preaching's foolishness unless you anoint it and lord we just pray that in every way we would not though sit here and have eyes to see and ears to hear physically but not see or hear the kingdom today so we bind distraction and uh we bind the enemy who wants to blind our minds we pray that there would be a powerful prophetic moment in every heart that god people would be freed from what the enemy's devices are and in every way healed and and made whole to serve you we thank you for that in jesus name everybody said amen amen it's a picture of jerusalem israel on the screen right now and i put that on there to illustrate that as god gathered israel because you're going to find in the bible especially particularly the old testament you're going to find where god gathers or that their god gathers and the enemy scatters now again some people can read the prophets that talked about god's scattering because that's there's judgment involved but the enemies of israel were used to do the scattering so when we look at the fact that god prophetically has allowed israel to be scattered at times and then to be regathered what is the meaning of this we look at scattering scattering either happened to god's people in the old testament because of their own personal disobedience and as to say that they got away from god and because of that disobedience that god allowed their enemies to scatter them once with assyria once for the babylonians and uh there was again other times in their history where they were under occupation and then there was times of the enemy warfare that was used to do that and so it is that there are times uh in our lives today except for obvious things when people have to work or there's illness or there's some uh extemporaneous need there are times when we also could be disobedient and not understand what god wants for our lives and in particular being regathered and staying connected in the body of christ other times the enemy tries to beat the living daylights out of us with attacks against our life and it leaves people somewhat scattered somewhat uh you know just distracted because of all the drama that's going on in their life so it is that god also prophetically and significantly says he will regather his people well why does he want to regather his people he wants to regather his people for strategic initiatives that cannot happen unless they are regathered for example he promises to regather them the prophets are full of this for the rebuilding of the second temple and that rebuilding of course his own son would be coming into those temple courts and it was going to be uh the most significant time for the whole planet when his son came in and used so many things about the temple to teach the true kingdom of god and so he re-gathered them to be able to construct that second temple and then there is going to be the regathering of israel in unbelief which has happened in 1948 when they became a nation that it was prophesied that god himself in jeremiah 31 says the lord himself shall regather israel that he was saying i'm going to do this get out of my way and so no matter if the united nations meant good but all the other nations meant bad you know it was basically that god reformed israel as a nation in 1948 but they were regathered in unbelief that is they still didn't believe largely that jesus was their messiah so they were regathered but yet they didn't really have the significance of why they were regathered but there will be a day when they are regathered in belief when all of the jews will be regathered from the four corners and they will all recognize their messiah and they will all give him praise because they're going to be set up for the millennial reign we know that god's people had to be formed initially so they could conquer and possess the promised land so god always regathers strategically he puts you together in a marriage strategically in a family strategically he put you together in the the different groups that formed your life uh for a good thing strategically because god gathers for good things to happen the devil scatters so that good things will not take place and happen so we look at what is happening in our text today we understand that he says that we should not forsake the assembling together of ourselves as the habit of some is but we should gather together all the more as we see the day approaching what day is that we read hebrews 9 28 the same epistle you'll find it's the second coming of christ that that day that he's referring to that we should gather together more as we approach the second coming of christ is only understood in the signs that lead up to the second coming of christ so we know that to be the day of the lord from joel chapter 3 and verse 14 that the day of the lord is preceded by what chapter one restoration that is that there's going to restore the years that the locusts have eaten it's known by number two the outpouring of the holy spirit i'm gonna pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and daughters will prophesy etc and it's known by also the ultimate day of uh the lord in that that day where he says in chapter 3 verse 14 that multitudes are in the valley of decision that is armageddon when all the enemies of god in israel are going to come together and the lord will appear from heaven and he will smite them with the word and sword out of his mouth well that day is also known as the day of evil ephesians 6 and 13 take the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand against the evil day not just the ultimate evil day but the evil day that is a part of the enemy scheme in your life where he intensifies and escalates the evil he brings against you where he takes all the temptations and makes them gang up on you when he increases the pressure uh greater than it's ever been this is the three-fold attack and the bible says ecclesiastes 4 12 then a threefold cord is not easily broken so when you look at a threefold attack you find the evil day in job's life he had three attacks on his kids on his money and on his body right that he had the intense attack the evil day we know that peter was told by jesus that satan has desired to sift you like wheat jesus prophesied his failure but he prophesied his growth but when you have been restored then strengthen your brothers even though you may feel like you're on in the evil day jesus who is the author and finisher of your faith is also prophesying your restoration and your growth hallelujah the god it may be bad now but praise god you're going to grow through it and you're going to stand as a victor you just hang in there and then there is the time of apostasy that in this time leading up to that day there is in first peter chapter 4 verse 1-3 in the latter times times is a successive seasons there is going to be a great falling away people are going to fall away from each other they're going to be irreconcilable you read that in chapter 3 verses 1 through 5 they're going to fall away from god they're going to have some of them have a form of god or godliness but deny the real power to let him into their life to really change their life so again he's talking about that apostasy where people are going to be falling away that's why the writer says that as you see the day approaching that much the more that you need to gather yourself and keep gathering yourself together when we look at the whole end time uh prophecy part of that what we see him say here is in this verse or these verses of scripture is beginning in chapter 10 verse 23 he said first of all the hebrews were in all kinds of conflict in an evil day so he said verse 23 hold fast to your confession of faith uh nothing wavering and then he goes on to talk about in verse 30 35-37 he says that if your soul shrinks back the lord says i will have no pleasure in the soul that shrinks back that is if we are going to shrink back because of the evil day then what faith do we have in god to deliver us but he said the just shall live by faith and he says this in verse 37 we are not those who turn back but we are those that continue to believe and we are those that continue to have victory therefore he talks about that we need to consider how to provoke one another to love and to good deeds provoke is a word that means the light of fire underneath your neighbor you have permission from god to light a fire under your fellow believer to do what to love and to also do good deeds therefore he says not forsaking the assembling together of yourselves as the habit of some is now i don't know what you know about assembling but we just moved my youngest son into a new place to live in tampa florida where he's working a large christian church down there and when you move someone into a place guess what you need to have something in the place for them to sit on and them to lay down on and all that so where did we go of course we went to ikea ikea that massive place where you it's like hades you get lost in there it you go from showroom to showroom called 9-1-1 for a rescue but nobody came and all that showroom stuff the showrooms look great and then you get it home and then you see that some assembly is required right that's where you have a thousand screws that you don't need to go to what is there is this go you go through you got you got these the different kind of pegs and all kind of turn styles and they just think of ways i i picture the guy who does this stuff of thinking of maniacal ways that they can frustrate somebody who's putting this together and so i i told my son that there is a the greek word for pain is the word ikea because this is so painful and so we you know we put started put all this stuff together and it's something that you know it looks so good in the showroom right but then there is some assembly required in order for it to be what it was in the showroom god shows us a lot in the word of god but guess what for some of the things that he wants to do in you and in me we need to have an assembly we need to get together we need to let some other people pour their wisdom their testimonies their encouragement their gifts and to us and we need to pour into them you know it was i bought a uh some time back i bought a pressure washer and uh there was an extension where the user put a uh a handle of extension so you could have to bend over so far well they only put one screw in the and the one side didn't have the other screw for the other side and so it wouldn't work you know i tried to tighten it even more so i could make it work and it would always slide down and so i had this one screw that's on my on my bookcase that i'm i'm gonna go get another screw so i can basically make that thing work the way it's supposed to work and so you know when you are not here when you don't have all the parts in the body the work that is supposed to be done is a whole lot harder than it needs to be so he says do not forsake the assembling together of yourselves when you're not here or you're not online guess what you are missed because god wants to use you you aren't just coming here to check off a box my friend god looks at you coming here as a minister he looks at you coming here and your smile your handshake your hugs your love your encouragement your word of wisdom everything that he wants you to do on any given time you get together is because he's ordained for you to minister that we are the body of christ to minister one to another and so assembly is required for everything that god wants to do in our lives we look at this fact of the end time gathering god's into gathering we know from malachi 4 and 6 the bible tells us that in the end times he's going to do an intergenerational gathering and he's going to gather the hearts of the fathers to be toward the young younger children and the children to be toward the fathers that he's going to gather there to be an intergenerational bonding that will bring the best of both worlds into play in the last days he's also going to bring israel back together for them to be a judge of the nations for the nations to be drawn into them the battle of gog and magog uh at the end of the battle of armageddon all these things and how how they're treating them matthew 25 uh you know how you treat israel is going to be brought into judgment and then also ephesians chapter 2 verse 15 that he is also gathering together one new person gentile and jew light that again it's gentiles that are reaching the jews a lot of it and it is again gentiles that are working together to fulfill the plan that god gave originally to the jews and so that god's going to use them again to fulfill their plan part of their plan as well but it is one new man where he's bringing together uh people from various different religious backgrounds and that's what amos 9 11 says then the last days he's also gathering the tabernacle of david tabernacle of david didn't have a church denomination sign on the outside it didn't have any walls it basically had a delete over top of it right it has had all come whosoever will let them come and worship god right i'm going to tell you it's not so important the label that's on the door what's important is you got people inside the door that are all connected to christ and they're all connected to each other all to give god the glory in prayer and worship prayer is going on like never before the prayer movement and the worship movement have been soaring for the last 50 years because god is trying to rebuild the tabernacle of david where everybody can join together he's gathering us because something significant is going to happen what is that well he's coming again that's what's going to happen and to get us ready he's going to gather us together to do greater things to the body of christ than has ever been done before i am looking forward to living in this generation i'm looking forward to the gun lap lap in this generation as god leads us to see the greatest things that have ever been seen come to pass on the face of the earth that's what's exciting because god says i want you to gather those that are scattered for this purpose in the earth today praise his name but we have to understand there are some enemies you look at this stop the spread you know we now have l.a county and several of the counties in california that are looking at putting the mass mandate back and i'm not here to do politics what i'm just saying to you is that that the bible says in luke 21 11 that in the last days one of the signs of his coming is pestilence or pandemics again we're talking about hebrews chapter 10 gather together much the more as you see the day approaching what is the day the day of his his second coming one is one of the signs is that there will be pestilences or there will be plagues or pandemics in the land now again we have we've closed down for a month here we we did the protocols we fought but we still fogged the building right we still sanitized we still have things available people need to self-govern and they need to take care of yourself as well so we're not against protocols we're not against keeping people healthy and safe that's what we long to do my point is is that as a sign of the times along earthquakes and nations rising against nation and all the various wickedness that's lawlessness is going to take place comes this pandemic and so we look at this whole idea of the pandemic you see the only 15 states in america only 15 did not make any restriction for people to go and worship god all the rest of the states did put a limitation on people going either to the house of worship or there only could be 10 people go or whatever it might be so only 15 states did not make any limitation on worship well obviously everybody every pastor wants to keep their people safe so maybe they self-governed and closed down or whatever and all that is my point is not political my point is all spiritual because there's three stages of loneliness relational loneliness first of all starts with protests people begin to feel the lack of relational uh bonding with another person and they begin to get angry they begin to get angry that they don't feel that love they don't feel that closeness with that person and so anger is one of the things that's been one of the dispositions of our country now we've had other things to get angry about there's been some injustices of racism there's been political mayhem there's been a lot of things but underneath all that one of the outgrowths of this separation isolation has been this feeling of disconnectedness that produces first and anger secondly it produces a depression despair mental health has fallen into the cellar we've had a rise in in mental illness in our country in every category the most among young people 18 to 35 years of age suicide ideation has increased dramatically as well as crime crime has increased from 2019 25 especially uh murders homicides criminal homicides have increased uh 25 percent what is that all a part of well there's detachment detachment is when people begin to get numb because they're not connected they're not they're not in a relationship and they get distorted in their thinking and and and so they become detached and it's like they don't care anymore and they withdrawal from people and when you have that happen you have a sinkhole that happens in your life you see what we know about relational bonding is that god made relational bonding as the foundation of his entire creation if you just you forget the bible for a second and just look at the universe we look at the universe and you see the second law of thermodynamics second law of thermodynamics is the law of entropy which basically says that every system that's a closed system will run down because it will eventually use up all the energy in that system and then it will lend itself to disorder and eventually chaos that is to say that god even made the creation the universe to draw energy from itself he made it to draw strength from the other planets and suns and stars and and things that were in the universe to draw strength in the universe now of course we know colossians 1 15 that he is also the one that upholds all things he's the he's the energy that's going to keep it together until he makes the new heaven and the new earth right but god even in making the creation made it to where it was dependent upon other parts of his creation so it is that we can see from this that people who get separated from relationships guess what happens they begin to eventually exhibit disorder in their life and then chaos they begin to have a lack of feeling like they got things together and they begin to maybe fall away from god and they get a chaos and a disorientation in their life this is what we're seeing in our nation and we have to understand if babies are left alone they will die in the 20th century the research that was done talked about babies had the same food fed to them they had the same diapers changed regularly they had the same safe environment to stay in but there were babies that got ill or died because they didn't have enough nurses to take care of them there was not enough touching and bonding and they first grew ill and then they would die because they were not bonded to another person you see that researchers tell us that physical illness mental illness chaos and disorder and crime increases when we are detached when we are not a part of another person or people in relationship family members work associates neighbors church attenders you know we have to have each other we look at bonding we have to understand that god is never alone that god is three is one god but he exists in three persons that god is a relational god you see what we find out about him is that he says in genesis 1 27 let us personal pronoun plural let us make man in our image according to our likeness deuteronomy 6 and 4 the shema here is your lord your god is one the word one is the echoed it means a plurality in oneness matthew 28 19 jesus said baptizing them in the name the word name there in greek is singular in the name the single name of the father son holy spirit three in one see god is relational and so he made you and i to be in his image so we were made to be relational yes first to him foremost amen to be in relationship with him but then to be in relationship with others as well we look at the fact that it's not good for man to be alone you realize in genesis chapter 3 verses 22 and 25 that when god discovered they sinned he said i want you to put the cherubim with flaming swords in front of the tree of life why so that man will not be in eternal isolation you see if he would have allowed them to eat in their sinful state being estranged from god either the tree of life they could have lived eternally separated and isolated from god but god said oh no put the angels with the flaming swords because i'm not having that no i'm going to have the seat of the woman which is going to be my son that's going to come and going to crush the serpent in his head is going to redeem them so that i can have eternal oneness and relationship this is the high priestly prayer of jesus in john 17. oh father that they might be one in us as we are one together it's all about relationship this is what we find out when we look at this whole bonding process when it comes to relationship is the foundation of all existence in john 15 there's all kinds of agricultural metaphors to explain to us how important it is to be a relationship with god and with others he talks about the i am the vine you are the branches unless you abide in me then you cannot bear any fruit you can do nothing what is that basically saying he said that basically we have to be connected to christ and then we understand through all of the analogies that we have to be connected first corinthians 12 chapter 2 12 20 21 that we are members one of another and the the i can't say to the hand i don't need you and the head can't say to the foot i don't need you i'm here to tell you ephesians 4 16 says that the body builds build up and grows by that which every person supplies you see friend you aren't just here by an accident somebody here needs you somebody here needs and you need somebody here that there is a divine plan that god had for us to be in relationship with him first but then to be in relationship with the body of christ that yes we have to draw strength from one another we have to draw wisdom from each other and receive the gifts from each other we have to have the protection from each other the comfort that we provide for each other when we go through things it is god's plan for our growth and so we have to regather the scatter why because he says that in the last days times are going to get more perilous what do they mean times are going to get more demonic i'm here to tell you that the enemy's going to pick you off if you let him separate you from the fold because as times get more demonic and god says i want you to not forsake the assembly until you get to yourselves together much the more keep getting together watch each other's back pray for each other all the 27 one another passages in the new testament talk about that we are a body of christ we are connected one to another that god wants you and i to live in harmony and together in ephesians 2 until we are indeed a tabernacle meant for god to manifest his presence among us oh yeah hebrews chapter 2 he sings among the brothers and sisters amen he lives in you but he also manifests himself among us as we come together as the body and the bride of jesus christ beloved god says regather because something greater is coming i want you to be ready i want you to be in on it i want to pour out my spirit upon all flesh come on and praise him amen hallelujah you see developmental bonding produces spiritual relational emotional security the baby bonds with a mother nine months of gestation he's in a nice warm environment there's all the needs met he's he's being nurtured she's being nurtured in that gestation period but then all of a sudden that baby's born how'd you like that moms tell them a man huh babies i'm glad my wife's not here to hear that you have a few choice words for me baby's born and in that time the baby's born into bright lights and uh to a lot of noise and a lot of things that are totally emotionally unstabilizing and they cry ah they cry right because this is a shock to their system then they spend their first year rebonding with mom they spend the first year building memories mom and dad are there mom and dad hold me mom and dad feed me mom and dad take care of me change my diapers wash me mom and dad are there and in the second year what happens the second year is called the toddler years so the toddler years you know they know how to walk and now it's about independence so they will start walking and then they look back at mom or dad and then they're okay okay they're there and they'll walk and do something else and they'll look back and mom and dad say okay okay they're there i'm emotionally secure and they start building these memories of emotional security which psychology emotional constancy where we we have been trained to bond to that parent to know that they're going to be there for us and when we can do that then we can become more and more independent we can go out and do more and more things because we have the memories we have the the remembrance of the fact that yes they are there for us and we can we are loved and we can make it this is what was happening in the spirit with timothy you read ii timothy chapter one paul says in verse five timothy remember this is like remembering this is where your your emotional your spiritual security is he says remember of the sincere faith that was in your grandmother uh lois and then your mother eunice and i'm persuaded it's in you right that is saying that there's a bank of spiritual memories that god will build in your life as a believer when you first get saved you remember how god was answering every prayer like in 30 seconds flat remember how god was doing this and that and all of you have certain benchmarks in your spiritual memory banks of when you felt god when when you knew that he answered prayer when you knew that he did something good for you that's to build your spiritual and emotional security in him so that you can go out and face the next lion and the next giant and have confidence that the same god who gave you victory then is the same god's going to give you now and then he says to timothy he says so therefore timothy stir up the gift of god that is in you remembering what god has done in you remembering that faith also it's time for you to be independent it's time for you to get out there and stir it up praise god stir up the gift of god that is in you and begin to do the work that god had for you understand all the time he's still going to be with you can look back at daddy you can look back at jesus you can understand he's still with you and then he addresses a really emotional need he says understand this though finally timothy that god has not given you a spirit of fear understand in your emotional level i told you about your faith and i've told you about your gifts but let me tell you on an emotional level god has not given you a spirit of fear but a power and love and a sound and delivered mind so you can go forward from daddy you can go forward and you can throw up the gift and you can preach to those people in ephesus and you can pastor the toughest church in the known world and you can do it with confidence that hey i am with you and yes i've given you gifts remember the presbytery they laid their hands on you remember also that you don't have to do it with fear you can do with power and love and a delivered mind i say to you believer rise up stir up the gift of god remember what he's done in your life i say to you in jesus name that you have not been given a spirit of fear or anxiety or depression or despair but you have been given a spirit of love from god you need to know that god loves you daddy loves you abba father loves you oh hallelujah and he's going to give you a delivered mind and the power to do what he's called you to do come on and give him a praise right now because hallelujah but you have to redeem the time beloved we have to redeem the time kovid and that time reminds me of this verse luke chapter 13. man had a fig tree planted in the vineyard he came looking for food on it and didn't find any to some people cove has been like a very unfruitful season so a person who was more sharp said cut it down you know we've had lots of opportunity in this time to be critical have we hello is this michael some people are just ready to cut you down some people just angry bad cut it down but then there was someone else who said no don't cut it down but let's dig around it and let's put fertilizer let's take out the weeds and the hindrances to its growth and then let's fertilize it with the good things from god and his word and then let's see what happens basically saying that what time is used by god to produce growth and if you and i aren't growing we aren't using the time wisely see jesus said in john chapter 7 they wanted him to go to a certain area and he said you know for you to go any time is good but for me to go it's not my hour to go why because they were wanting to take his life in jerusalem he was not living by chronos elapsed time he was living by kairos god's appointed time you see the lord always wants us to use the time just like the coveted season we didn't sit around in our hands we got on we got our music online for the first time in covet right we saw god win more people to christ and than we had seen in a long time 55 within the first two months we we saw the plans begin for the remodel remodeling and the reaching out to more people for this sanctuary we haven't sat around like oh i guess it's kovid i guess we can't do anything for god i guess we can't i guess we have to just sit and wait this through you see that's what's called bad time bad time is when you don't do anything with a season that seems to be unfruitful in your life two stories one of the miners which means equal opportunity all got 10 minus everybody has the same opportunity story of the talents that was given according to ability both of them had the same result two out of three of them developed the time but there was always one that did what the miners they hid it and in the story of the talents they buried it you see if we just hide because we're afraid of what what we've been through what we're going through we just hide in fear friend that's that is not understanding what god's plan is for you to thrive yeah we've been through some terrible stuff i lost my own dad i lost my my mom almost married 70 years last her husband my brother's here yeah i understand people have lost people i've lost my dad but did i just say i can't live anymore i'm gonna just fold up my tent life is over for me no you live according to your assignment you live according to your days david was blessed over saul because david fulfilled his assignment saul did not i'm here to tell you that god wants to give the kingdom to those that will fulfill their assignment for him on the earth and what we see is bad time is just trying to hide it maybe you've been through some hurt maybe somebody did something to you well if you just try to hide it then it can't get to the light of god to heal it friend you got to understand god wants to heal the things maybe it's sin maybe it's addiction maybe it's hurt maybe it's wounds well don't hide it don't bury it and let it be a bondage that keeps you back give it to god let him heal it he's anointed to heal the broken heart and the set camp is free let jesus deliver your soul my god i feel like preaching i don't know whether i'm mad or anointed i can't tell good good times are when you invest when you invest and you make the most of every opportunity god never meant for you to be stuck he never meant for you just because you're you're not being treated right in some way shape or form for you to not grow you've got to god's either doing something in you or he's doing something around you but jesus said my father always is working oh that's my daddy he's always working and i'm working with him all you need to know is that hey romans 8 28 he's working it all together for your good oh he's working i'm working praise god why don't you start investing why'd you take the time i've given you and invest and growth and let the kingdom of god explode in your life oh hallelujah jesus is so awesome jesus is so real so beloved before we eat hamburgers and hot dogs and chicken choices that heal you need to realize the need you see if you sit here and say you know what pastor i feel like that you know you took this opportunity just to say we need to come church more is that the lord tell them i'm busy right now at the moment you see you don't know me very well because i pray about every message i made a commitment to only give god's word so whether you believe me or not i'm telling you i put my hand in his bible i know this message is not about you coming to church more it's much deeper than that it's a prophetic word about hearing the spirit say that i am prophetically going to regather for the greatest outpouring of all human history and in our small little corner of it in deland florida god's not going to leave us without that same glory that same outpouring and that same witness it just takes an obedience and it takes people that says i want to i recognize the need in genesis 11 6 when they became one he said behold there is nothing impossible for them to do i'm here to tell you you talk about worship going to a whole brand new level you talk about gifts and miracles and science going to a whole new level some of you want me to preach better well if you'll get in here and get in unity then i'll preach better too praise god hallelujah you know you want to see greater things happen in your family in your marriage in your in your finances i'm telling you when you get regathered where god wants you to be regathered then he is going to prepare you for the greatest thing that he can do in your life so you got to see the need and say yes i hear the call of the spirit you're going to overcome past injury i can't preach all this you guys are ready to eat or go home or something but you've got to overcome past injury yeah we've all been hurt in church yes i could tell you about my hurt in church we've all been hurt by other people disappointed okay blah blah blah right we've all got our stories but the only thing that's hurting is you we've got to overcome the injury and learn to trust in god and if god has told us to regather then guess what it's the enemy who's trying to scatter you finally we have to deal with distorted thinking you see beloved psalm 73 21 22 says this psalmist said when my heart was grieved and my spirit was embittered i became ignorant and as a fool i became a brute beast to you lord when you're hurt sometimes you really can't hear god he said i became like a brute beast i was ignorant and foolish i wasn't listening to you i did something really stupid i did something i wasn't listening to god i was just because i was i was hurt in my heart i was embittered in my spirit wounded people always have trouble feeling loved by god and feeling that they can hear god and that's when the devil comes in to kick your tail all over the place to get you to make stupid decisions to make you to follow god at a distance or fall away all together let me tell you love it there's going to be a great fallen away just understand that the bible said there's going to be friends maybe that you know even family members that that end up falling away from god let it not be named among you [Music] you see distorted thinking is the thinking that basically says my name is naomi pleasant but i'm going to call myself mara because the almighty has dealt bitterly with me when you have a loss of a son and you have two sons and you lose your husband and moab and you come back and you deny what god has imprinted you to become because you are wounded and you are hurt what do you need you need the body because when she came back to that crowd in bethlehem guess what they were saying hi naomi they weren't saying hi mara no she was calling herself that but they wouldn't call her that they kept calling her mara and after a while she found out that ruth was pretty good after a while she found a cancer redeemer named boaz after a while she found out that boaz was gonna take up her case and then she was gonna he was gonna take in ruth to be his wife and after a while she had what every mama wants to have a grandbaby obed father became a grand baby became the father of jesse jesse became the father of david king david and naomi [Music] found out that she could be pleasant again she could be pleasant again she could be happy again you see folks when you take your way take yourself away you isolate yourself in the body you lose so much of how god wants to minister to you even if you've been disappointed let me tell you god knows how to work all things together for your good don't let the enemy scatter you instead say i'm going to regather and not just for my own benefit i'm going to think about ministering to somebody else when i get into another believer's life because god wants to use me as well as he wants to use them to minister to me let's stand together beloved and today we're going to end with prayer among ourselves we're going to ask you to find somebody around you maybe three or four or five we're not in we're not advertising whole hand holding unless you're with your spouse or family member but we are going to ask you to practice what god has put in to your heart today father i pray right now because there is tremendous prophetic significance in this when they were all together in one accord the holy spirit was poured out lord you want to revolutionize our worship our gifts your manifestations oh our growth our deliverances our families our finances our jobs our mental and emotional and physical health lord let us not discount and dishonor the body and consider those of the body that we don't need them because you have told us that we do so today lord i pray that you would use this time of bonding every person here would would find someone that they can deposit a blessing a smile a prayer an expression of love the lord right now would you rescue the perishing those that feel like nobody loves them those that feel like they can't make it another step god may you rescue them and let them know today through the body of christ that they are loved and they are going to make it because we're going to make sure they make it father bless this time of prayer we pray in jesus name amen would you please find someone around you right now don't leave please find somebody around you right now maybe family member maybe friends find someone share the love of god share prayer with them right now please find somebody and have a prayer together with him you might need to get out of your seat go somewhere find somebody you know you recognize somebody else you don't but would you right now find somebody that you can pray with right now you gonna go ahead and sing again [Music] is [Music] is [Music] okay [Music] [Music] would you deliver everything [Music] [Music] see [Music] [Music] is if you're praying continue to pray if not we want to release you as as many as already already left and go to the meal please get in line to eat right away when you get there and make sure you get to know the people around your table there are questions there and audience activators will do later as a group so please lord bless and keep your people cause your face to shine upon them let them your countenance upon them be gracious unto them lord and always give them peace in jesus name amen god bless you beloved have a great [Music] day [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: City Sanctuary Deland

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Id: Jw8OkqOHaNY

Length: 119min 59sec (7199 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 25 2021