Sunday Service

[Music] so [Music] [Music] do [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] good morning family family we would like to welcome all of you in the building our duck richmond and online family to service thank you for joining us and welcome home online family as you come in let us know you're here in the comment section go ahead and hit that share button invite someone to service or start a watch party we want to engage with you throughout service so don't forget to use those emojis and reaction buttons be sure to follow the direction of the ushers as you enter and exit the sanctuary where your mask and maintain a distance of six feet you will also find hand sanitizer stations throughout the building please visit the website join our emailing list and follow us on all social media platforms to stay plugged into this ministry family this is the last sunday of the year we are so grateful for our duck family through joys hardships and everything in between we recognize that jesus is the one who ties us all together divine unity is more than a name it's who we are and we will not be complete without you family stand on your feet and join us let's worship good morning good morning good morning family merry christmas we still celebrating over here it's really good to see you all won't you wave to somebody that's next to you smile with your eyes welcome them i was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the lord anybody glad to be in the house i'm so glad to have you online as well let's pray the heavenly father god we thank you for being god and god alone lord thank you for giving us this opportunity to worship you god through song god we we ask that you would be with us during this time god and that you and you alone will get the glory thank you for what you're doing in and through our lives it is in jesus name we pray amen shout amen [Music] [Applause] we're gonna stand on the word of the lord this morning that said come to him he promises of living water will flow through us amen [Music] are you thirsty are you longing are you desperate do you believe do you believe are you searching are you weary are you empty come and receive jesus and you will never think [Music] [Music] is [Music] are you thirsty [Music] are you empty come and receive [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] oh god [Music] [Music] delivery [Music] let it come right down [Music] [Music] is here we go [Music] one more time speak to it breathe [Music] [Music] oh out of our hearts will flow the spirit of the lord out of our hearts will flow free out of you living [Music] out of our water before the spirit of the lord [Music] we worship you lord [Music] one more time [Music] thank you jesus thank you jesus go ahead and lift your hands unveiling yourself to the flow of the holy spirit allow it to dwell in your person god we ask you as we worship you in spirit and in song god that you would fill us up with the courage that it takes to walk this bout and may you continue to get the glory out of our lives [Music] shaking off the dust as we arise awake awake our generation cries salvation throughout the earth [Music] this world [Music] [Music] you're my close to me is [Music] [Music] [Music] is oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] uh there's is and it carries through here is oh [Music] [Applause] yes is [Music] [Music] right [Music] [Applause] [Music] i responded to him [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] is the truth that y'all needed to encourage ourselves today that jesus is still alive huh [Music] the things on this earth may pass away [Applause] [Music] is [Music] family i'm so grateful because as we have entered in our progressing through this holiday season we celebrated the joy to the world that jesus who was made flesh came into this world he lived the life that we should have did and died of death that we should have died and he came into not not such a pretty world [Music] and after he arose from that death he had a conversation with his disciples they were going back and forth and they were asking him questions he was responding as he as he does and he and he said this thing that is still sticking with me he told them that i have to leave wait a minute the joy that came into the world is is now leaving maybe that doesn't make sense to you guys i know as i was reading it didn't initially make sense to me but i began to be encouraged because he didn't just dip out he said i have to leave so that i may send the comforter to you i'm so grateful that god didn't leave us out here all dry that he sent as a comforter is anybody excited about the comforter the holy ghost family and it is it is that comforter that doesn't just sit here in me but it empowers me to live out loud this life that is difficult on my own strength and so i'm grateful that we get to come boldly before the throne of grace and petition our father to help us in our times of need thank you god [Music] can you hear it the sound of heaven touching earth [Music] the sound of heaven [Music] can you hear the sound of heaven [Music] can you hear us [Music] it will be made though [Music] break our walls now [Music] spirit break out [Music] heaven come down [Music] [Music] yeah work out in our hearts break out in our minds [Applause] jesus is [Applause] [Applause] is do what you gotta do [Music] [Applause] is [Music] is [Applause] is is [Music] it's a spirit breakout break our walls down spirit breakouts [Music] it describes the very moment that we're singing about jesus says now ascended back to heaven and left them a promise of a comforter and so he said stay where you are until you've been endowed with this power this promise of this comforter and so they did just that they were inside of a room and the scripture says that they were in one accord and they were praying they were in one room in one place praying and pleading to god and then all of a sudden the scripture says that it was it was like the sound of a mighty rushing wind began to flow through the room the the scripture describes it like it was like tons of fire just sat on the people so orderly was the moment that the power in the room pushed him out into the streets at a multicultural multi-generational multi-ethnic people begin to hear the wonderful works of god declared in their own language family i believe we are living in the power of pentecost today where a multicultural multi-ethnic multi-generational people have gathered in one place on one accord to watch the spirit break out [Music] time father i pray over this service that this would be a divine collision course lord where heaven meets earth in this place lord i pray that with this collision would come some divine disorder lord i pray that you would shake us out of our idolatries that you would shake us out of our preferences that you would shake us out of our comforts lord that you would shake us into your very will lord i pray that we wouldn't just desire power for ourselves but lord let us allow the power that we sense in this place to push us outside of this place lord i pray that we would take what we experience here on our location our vocation and our recreation lord i pray that what happens in this sanctuary won't just stop in this sanctuary but lord let it go let it go father we pray that you would continue to have your way in this place god that you would continue to have your way through this stream do what only you can do throughout this service we honor you for your felt presence already it's in jesus name i pray family if you agree with you shout amen to god come on would you put those hands together one more time before we take our seats come on do a little bit better than that let's celebrate our god before we take our seats [Applause] [Music] amen and amen family you may be seated before you do would you just greet somebody smile at them with your eyes give them a nice socially distanced wave a nice social distance hello [Music] well good morning family okay i'll talk to those online good morning family my name is aj i'm one of the pastors here i'd like to welcome you all to divine unity community church welcome home family welcome home this is your first time here in the sanctuary we'd love to get a chance to welcome you as you make your way out of our main doors to your left you'll see a welcome center at that welcome center we have a socially distanced gift for you that says thank you for coming we do recognize that you could be worshiping anywhere on a sunday morning and we're so thankful that you decided to come into the sanctuary and worship with us today if you are watching us online we'd like to say a good morning and a welcome to you as well if you wouldn't mind dropping in the comment section i'm new if you'll just drop that in the comments section we also have a gift for you that says thank you for tuning in this morning we do recognize that you could be watching anywhere on a sunday morning and we're so thankful that you decided to tune in to our stream this morning so fam let's welcome our first time guests that may be on the stream or in the sanctuary this morning oh come on let them know that we love them and we're thankful for them [Music] we are so honored to have one of our church plants uh streaming in this morning would you all give a warm welcome to the well worship center in alexandria virginia with pastor derek and tamika burrows come on let them know there's a family in harrisonburg that's happy to see them this morning [Music] we're going to be taking up our ties and offering here in just a moment and as we prepare our hearts to give i just have a quick thought for us um uh on christmas uh how many of you all looked out the window and it snowed wasn't that beautiful it was uh it was it was not in the forecast it was unpredicted unscheduled and yet it happened anyway and i thought about how that's how god does with us sometimes that he can be unpredictable unscheduled unforecasted and then boom snow can happen and i have found that there are times in which i try to be the weatherman with god anybody know what i'm talking about i like to try to trace him and track him i probably got as much accuracy as the weather people do now actually all right no shot if anybody's a meteorologist in here we love you we thank you thankful for you we love you uh but uh i at times try to figure out what god's going to do and i allow what i'm trying to forecast the lord to do to determine what i do [Music] i try to withhold my giving for you know a good time i try to schedule my my time of adoration for the lord through giving my offering for a time in which i feel like it and i'm reminded that i have a god that can't be tracked and can't be traced it says in ecclesiastes 11 4-6 one who watches the wind will not sow and one who looks at the clouds will not reap just as you don't know the path of the wind or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman so also you don't know the work of god and who the work of god who makes everything in the morning sow your seed and that evening do not let your hand rest because you don't know which will succeed whether one or the other or if both of them will be equally good family what is the scripture teaching us right now it's teaching us that you know if i'm waiting for a good time to sew if i'm watching the weather then i never will what i'm to do is to have an attitude of gratitude to have a pattern of reverence and to continuously give as the lord has instructed me and trust that god will do his part i encourage you that as you prepare your hearts to give let's not do it with waiting for god to show me something waiting to see a signal of blessing waiting to see a sign waiting to see the forecast of snow let's sew and then just watch let's just sew and let's just wait and we'll see what god will do amen family if you're giving in the offering today we do prefer that you um use our digital giving options which are on the screen you can text divine unity as one word to 77977 you can give through the cash app the duck app or you can give online if you'd like to give by cash or check and you're watching online you can mail that in if you'd like to give a cash cash or check and you are here in the sanctuary you can do that on your way out at that welcome center they have an envelope for you and you can drop that in our box as we're not passing things to each other in this season let's pray for our time of giving lord we're so thankful for this opportunity that we have to express an attitude of gratitude lord we're so grateful for this moment where we have to just give out of who you've always been lord i pray that we wouldn't give trying to predict what you'll do that we wouldn't give trying to predict what the next step is lord we would just give out a faithful obedience lord as always we pray have your way with the finances of this church it's in jesus name i pray amen family will you turn your attention to the screen for the announcements this week family here are the announcements for today we want to ring in the new year with you join us live or online for our 2021 new year's eve service celebration we will recap 2020 beginning at 10 pm and will begin worship at 10 30. this event is for the entire family as our duck kids ages 5 to 10 will be having a pajama party of their own in the duck multi-purpose room you must register to attend live and for the children's party and can do so now on the website we want to enter the new year with you and jesus and we look forward to seeing you there the new year is the perfect time to jump start your spiritual growth beginning january 5th we will have six duck edu course options to equip you to develop mad habits that will lead to a transformed life registration is now open so visit the website today to secure your spot calling all ladies the iron dresses ladies of duck women's ministry presents the teach my hands to war prayer breakfast join us saturday january 9th at 9 00 a.m in the sanctuary as we start the new year learning to posture our hearts and minds toward the will of our father come grasp the full power of prayer through worship teaching and activation spaces are limited so register today the 2021 every nation week of fasting and prayer begins january 11th through 15th this year we will focus on our awesome god join us as we press into a deeper understanding of god's greatness and goodness resulting in worship holiness and mission we will have noon prayer each day of the fast in the sanctuary and via zoom please grab a copy of the fasting guide as you exit the sanctuary today for the digital and children's version please visit our website to download your copy all right family let's get our hearts ready for the word join us in welcoming our lead pastor dr chris johnson to the stage come on this is the day the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it come on let's give our great god our great praise all over the building there online come on we celebrate our savior amen amen you may be seated for a moment i want you to just look around and uh wave at somebody again just uh go ahead and whisper merry christmas to them or something like that there you go for those of y'all online you can type that in so good to have you uh today uh we're so grateful for all of what the lord has done this is the last sunday of 2020. come on somebody should celebrate that you made it to church the last sunday of 2020. this has been an unprecedented year but i'm sure that our god who's the author and the finisher of our faith who's ultimately in control of all things he's been working a beautiful plan and i'm so delighted to be under uh his providence as we are celebrating today as pastor aj gave a shout out to the well worship center in alexandria one of our church plants i also want to give a shout out we sent some folks out to help with a church plant in myrtle beach jerry and janisha johnson they're over here they're some of the children at our house and we celebrate them so glad to have them uh worshiping with us today and the uh and rise uh community church will be launching next sunday first sunday of the year and they're part of that launch and that church planting team so we celebrate and and we're sending prayers there for rise community church with pastor sean and danelle perkins so we're grateful to be a part of this kingdom advancing opportunity uh within our every nation spiritual family uh i do want to give another shout out listen december 31st uh please come out new year's eve we're gonna have a time of worship a time of word and prayer uh we wanna go into the next year uh full of faith we wanna close out the year full of faith and go into the next i do believe how you close one chapter can help determine how you open up the next and so we want you to get some momentum as you go into it again it might not be nothing super spiritual about this changing of the calendar year but we do believe there's an opportunity for spiritual infusion uh and so we invite you out there's gonna be a word um that night that we'll be able to help you go forward and so new year's eve new year's eve which is on december 30 what y'all okay a couple of y'all know the holidays great december 31st so make sure you're there we'll be sure we'll be streaming online too so uh we're excited for that uh today we have a special treat an in-house treat uh from minister royal boyd i'm gonna give you a chance to applause for him in a second so hold your applause but uh minister royal boy has been serving on staff with us for i want to say what three years now uh he started off as a campus missionary as a freshman at james madison university uh he walked to divine unity community church the first two sundays uh he got lost one sunday uh because he has some bad directions from a common mentor of ours uh who should remain nameless but it was just classic moment but he was trying to walk from campus to neff avenue got lost and then he walked the next sunday and then somebody asked him said how you getting to church he said i walk and so he never stopped having a ride since then uh he's a uh like i said he's been on staff and he's been doing several things behind the scenes we've got some exciting things that's going out uh in the future of divine union community church this upcoming year that he's been behind but he's a he's a man of god uh he's a husband it's a great board they have two wonderful children and minister roy he preached a word at the engine last year before i announced the 2020 theme of this year uh 2020 theme this year has been rivers of revival in john 7 38 jesus says those who believe in me according to the scriptures it says out of there out of their hearts will flow rivers of living water rivers of living water and he was talking about that of the spirit and we believe uh that this is a year of revival 2020 and how many of us know that revival is not a fair weather sport that no matter how the year looked there was still dry bones that needed to live there was still rivers that needed to flow they would still drive places that needed that needed refreshing and i thought it would be appropriate when he preached that word then i told him i said look sometime in 2020 ma'am i have you preach it um and you know you go spend time with the lord see what else he has and i thought this would be an appropriate time as we end out the year for you to be reminded and for some of us to be introduced to what the lord has been speaking this year uh as you hear what he's been speaking this year is not to stop it it is to continue it because revival is something we receive and then something we carry and so let's welcome minister roy boyd as he comes forward to bring the word can we celebrate and let him know we are expecting a word today [Music] come on family can we just celebrate jesus the one who really deserves it he's worthy of our praise worthy of our adoration worthy of our celebration come on can you celebrate your savior this morning jesus you are holy and you are worthy our family is great to be with you whether you're here uh in person or here on the screen uh so grateful uh to have you and have this opportunity uh can we uh while we're in the mode of celebrating can we show some love to our lead pastor come on tell them you love them let them know we support him we appreciate his leadership even in the comment section just say i love you pastor chris i'm grateful grateful for you sir uh family as uh i come to this moment uh i'm struck by this reality that when it comes to the spreading of the gospel and of salvation throughout all of the earth we you and i the church both here locally uh and globally we are plan a [Music] and there is no plan b there is no backup plan in case this whole church thing doesn't work out we're it and so if our generation is going to be reached for jesus it's going to be because we did it and if it's not going to be reached it's going to be because we didn't and on that foundation family i pray that we will commit to open our hearts to receive whatever it is that god has for you and that we will lean in can we do that can we do that this morning all right turn with me to ezekiel chapter 47. ezekiel chapter 47. uh i'll preach from verses 1 through 12 but for the time being we'll just read verses 1 through 6. ezekiel chapter 47 uh and i'll be reading now the english standard version now we believe that participation is better there so can you stand on your feet and here's what we're gonna do i'm gonna start us off and then you can pick up our reading as you catch the rhythm cool dope all right it says this then he brought me back to the door of the temple and behold water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple towards the east for the temple faced east [Music] water all right family i want to bring our attention to verse five again he measured a thousand and it was a river that i could not pass through for the water had risen it was deep enough to swim in a river that could not be passed through and he said to me son of man have you seen this i want to take as a title for our conversation this morning family something's about to break something's about to break can you just go ahead and encourage your neighbor tell them something's about to break matter of fact find your other neighbor and tell them don't break down god's about to break through [Music] uh father we thank you so much for this time on god we thank you so much for your word i mean what you're doing in our hearts father i come now as your servant unworthy to preach your word and so our father i recognize that i cannot do this without you so i press my ear to your lips and i'm not afraid to say whatever you would have for me to say hide me behind the cross now you alone may get the glory now make yourself known reveal yourself and to us in such a way that we will know that you are god that you are good and that you're turning a heart back to you it's in the name of jesus we pray amen amen something's about to break growing up family uh i actually had a dog i am a bit of a dog person i love dogs um unfortunately i do not currently have a dog but i did have one growing up and his name was champ now chant was a german shepherd chow mix now if you know anything about dog breeds that means two things one champ was fairly large and in fact he would go up to my dad who was a bit taller than me a fair bit taller than me and he would put his palms on his hands and just about look my dad eye to eye so he was a pretty big dog secondly that also means he was fairly aggressive and now champ had a different kind of aggression most dogs will attack when a stranger comes in chant was different he would attack when the stranger leaves if a family it was the weirdest thing there are many people who got chased out of our house by champ in fact i remember watching champ clear a six-foot fence in order to chase somebody who was leaving our house so so he was real aggressive uh we my family we moved into an apartment and could no longer keep champs so my aunt and uncle in pennsylvania took them up took him up with them uh and they had some people over and they put him in a garage and they were keeping them there uh and people could hear him bark and scratch and he was angry that he couldn't see the people um but they really didn't think anything of it you know at some point the dog barking in the garage just becomes background noise and you pretty much just go about your day go about your time as if he doesn't exist until they heard the sign of this crash and then all of a sudden the dog that was in the garage was now chilling in the living room because chad had broken down the door and now you can imagine that a dog of that size that just tore the door off the hinge you know it's a little bit of a moment you might have to go clean yourself up in the bathroom after that that's that that that's that that's a little different and so they began to act differently because they no longer just heard champ they now see him and when i come to this morning i have a sneaky suspicion that many of us respond to revival in the same way they responded to champ you've heard about revival but you've yet to see revival and so it becomes background noise where we begin to live as if revival doesn't even exist that we hear pastor chris declare revival rivers of reviving all of these things and it just becomes the background soundtrack to our lives and we don't respond to it or live as though it's a real thing but i believe that what god wants to do in us this morning family is bring us from a place of just hearing about revival but actually seeing it experiencing it and walking in it does anybody believe that and so i began to ask the lord what would it look like if we really believed that revival was coming that we would see it what would happen for us to actually move from just hearing about it to sing about it and that's when he reminded me of this story because it's simple something had to break that for us to go from just hearing champ to seeing champ the door had to break that champ wanting to get out among the people he began to put such a pressure on the door that eventually the door had to succumb to his will and he began to be experienced by the people and i believe that that is exactly what god is doing in the spirit that everything that is hindering the flow of his rivers of revival everything that is hindering and limiting him from moving fully in your life god is beginning to apply some pressure and as he begins to apply pressure it's going to have to succumb to his will so he can flow and you'll experience the revival he promised but something is going to have to break we were at uh the elder pastor staff advanced a couple weeks ago and god began to speak all these words about how he saturated us and how there was going to be an overflowing and how the dam was going to begin to break and his rivers would begin to flow and one thing that i know about a dam is that often times when the dam is about to break you don't actually realize it because it's breaking from the inside out and so there begin to be cracks in the wall that you can't see but then suddenly something is released suddenly something lets go and suddenly there's a flooding that you cannot deny and i believe that's what god wants to do now for us to be able to see this breaking of the rivers of revival of this dam i believe there's also some breaks that we have to embrace in our lives and we find them here in the book of ezekiel and so there's four things that i want to talk about this morning i want to talk about the breakup the breakout the break in and then the breakthrough break up break out break in and break through are we ready for a family now first of all is to break up for us to understand the breakup we actually have to understand the context in which ezekiel 47 finds itself because ezekiel 47 is really the continuation of a conversation that already started so ezekiel he is now a captive in babylon he was supposed to be a priest uh but that didn't work out because when you're a captive you don't become a priest so and so he's now captive and so god comes to him ezekiel since he didn't get a chance to be a priest i'll make you my prophet and so ezekiel begins to get all of these visions and he begins to get insight into what god is doing and what has happened to the people and so he's seen in the natural how the temple got destroyed but god gives him insight to what's going on behind the scenes and so ezekiel gets this vision of a wheel in the middle of a wheel and these wheels begin to lift up the throne and the glory of god leaves his people now these are his chosen people why in the world would god allow his presence and his glory to leave his chosen people well simple they trusted somebody else they begin to worship idols and now idol is anything that you trust for your hope for your salvation for for your security for your fulfillment for your satisfaction for your joy that is not god and so they begin to trust in these other things and so god says you cannot have both that if you choose to be in relationship with them you can no longer be in relationship with me because i will not be a part of your spiritual polygamy that i will not be your side peace i will not be your sunday morning hookup to help you feel better about yourself and then you go about your life living as though i don't exist and so god says until you break up with them you cannot be with me and i have to ask the question how could people who have time and time and time again seeing god move and god work and god do miracles how in the world could they trust something else well family the conclusion that i came to is for the same reason we trust idols is because idols put us in a place of practical prosperity here's what i mean by that when you trust an idol it'll give you what you want think about it if you make an idol out of your career you're probably gonna make more money probably gonna work your way up the corporate ladder and have a better position you may get idle out of relationships at least temporarily they're gonna make you feel good and idol will give you the things that you want and think you need but the danger of idolatry is that while it puts you in a place of practical prosperity it also puts you in a place of spiritual poverty and if we're not careful we'll get so caught up in how the idol is allowing us to prosper that we don't realize that we're spiritually impoverished and this happens time and time again to the children of israel in fact at the beginning of the prophet elijah's ministry god sends him to ahaz and jezebel and while they get a real bad rap in the church we have to ask the question why did the people love them so much why did they follow him simple because the nation prospered under them the nation did great they experienced social economic and political prosperity and so they were okay with dying a bit spiritually and so what does god do in response he says elijah cut the water off and there's some of us you heard the word of rurals of revival and yet you've only experienced drought and it's not because the word wasn't true but it's because you've trusted something else you've depended this year on something else you found your security and your safety and your comfort in someone else other than jesus and so he cut the water off and so time and time again they begin to trust something else and so god removes his glory but we do have this hope family that in ezekiel chapter 40 uh as the temple has been destroyed ezekiel gets this vision of a new temple and he and then in 43 he begins to see the glory of the lord come back and and god says this will be my throne and i'll allow my presence to be among my people but on one condition break up with your idols remove them get rid of them because you cannot have both and what i've realized family is the god that you trust is the god that you get if you trust your career all you'll ever have is a career if you trust your money all you'll ever have is money if you trust a relationship all you'll ever have is a relationship but if you trust the god of heaven you'll have love you'll have joy you have peace you have patience you you have prosperity in fact you'll have heaven but you got to trust him and i think it's so powerful that he says this is the place of my throne because i realize that we cannot experience revival without first submitting to lordship if he is not on the throne in your life there's no way he can revive you and so in this place he says break up with the things that you trusted what does the breakup look like it looks like repentance it looks like turning away from the things that you trusted and beginning to trust god for real peter in acts chapter 3 he says it this way repent and then times of refreshing from the spirit will be your portion and so he says begin to break up with those things that you trusted and as they break up with the things that they trust it says my glory and my presence will rest there in ezekiel chapter 47 out of the presence of the of god begins to flow this river family if you come in here and you say roy i'm feeling real dry this morning roy i'm feeling real empty this morning i have good news and bad news good news is god's here to fill you perhaps the bad news is you're first going to have to empty yourself of yourself and then he'll fill you and then you experience the refreshing and the revival that he promised but now we recognize that the revival that god wants to do is not just personal but it's missional and so it's not just a breakup but there's also a breakout here's what i find interesting the water begins to fill the temple and then it says it's a trickle as it's coming out of the temple walls and the further and further away that it gets from the temple the stronger it becomes and what i realized family is that there's a temptation in all of us to settle for god's trickle when he wanted to give us a river that we'll settle for what we experienced here on a sunday morning when god wanted to do so much more he wanted his glory to hit the grocery store he wanted his glory to hit your job he wanted the glory to hit your home and yet we settle not for the river but for a trickle and we limit what god wants to do in our lives but he actually wants to move beyond these walls now when i originally think about this i think about the walls of this building but then i realized something that if god just needed to get out of the walls of this physical building the whole world be saved y'all remember quarantine it forced us out of our buildings and yet last time i checked the whole world hasn't been saved and so perhaps the issue is not the walls of this building maybe the issue is the walls that we built in our heart now why would people who love god and are called to love people build walls to limit god's activity in their life well the lord showed me three reasons in this text because walls contain they comfort and they control walls contain they comfort and they control first of all walls contain that we build up walls to keep what god is doing in our lives because we're selfish and self-centered and i mean that in the purest sense of the word family because we are at the center of our own lives because our time with god is focused on our own needs and our christianity can never move beyond the scope of our own personal needs we contain the work of god into our own lives and anytime you contain the river of god it always becomes contaminated my mother had a leak in her in her kitchen sink and we and so we put a bucket down there to catch the water and it was time uh to empty out of the bucket family can i tell you how nasty that thing was like the the stench that emanated from that bucket was crazy and i was i was dumbfounded by the fact that the water that we lived on the water that we drank the water that was so integral to our lives if it stops flowing it can become that and many of our lives have been poisoned and made stale and contaminated because we thought that jesus was just for us and jesus was just here to meet our own personal needs and so rather than being a conduit we became a container and we did not allow the spirit of god to flow and now we're contaminated and so we build up these walls acts chapter one the disciples they come to jesus and they say jesus when you gonna fix the government when you're gonna make our political systems right in other words they were asking when are you going to do something for us and jesus says don't worry about that here's what you focus on but you shall receive power to be my witnesses in other words what jesus says is as you take care of them i'll take care of you but it has to be able to flow and so we build these walls to contain but we also build these walls to comfort it's cold outside have you noticed i'm over it i'm still waiting for god to call me to florida but it's cold outside and the only reason why we don't have to be cold in here is because we have walls they make us comfortable but what if revival requires your discomfort look at the text it says that as ezekiel saw these waters the spirit led him through the water what it does not say is that ezekiel had the opportunity to watch the waters grow from the sideline it says no he has to walk through this river and i'll walk through a few rivers and i know that that means he had to have gotten his feet wet maybe you'll get your clothes wet and it's probably muddy on the bottom it's really uncomfortable it's not nearly as comfortable as being able to sit on the bank and just watch it grow and so what is what god begins to teach ezekiel is no the revival that i'm doing in you is uncomfortable you cannot just sit on the bank and watch perhaps god wanted ezekiel to know that participation is better than observation that you're not just gonna watch this but no you're gonna have to get your feet wet you're gonna have to be involved in this and what i realized is that many of us limit god's activity in our lives because we only want to participate to the extent of our comfort and the moment our participation begins to make us uncomfortable and it begins to call us to more and it begins to stretch us and it begins to be difficult to make a balance and now it's inconvenient we want to back away from our participation when maybe god is saying this is the revival that you asked for it's just not comfortable and so we build these walls to comfort but then also walls control i ain't been around the block too long but last time i checked family you don't tell a river where to go you just go wherever the river takes you and what i realize is that many times in our hearts we want to gain some type of control we want to gain some type of authority over our own lives and so we begin to step out of the rivers of revival because it's now taking us somewhere where we weren't comfortable with god i didn't agree to this god i didn't know this is what was gonna happen and we don't realize that we have no right to tell god what people places or pains he's gonna take you to all he said is that there's revival on the other end he didn't say anything about what you had to do to get there and we try to take control and so rather than staying in the river of what god wants to do we make excuses to step out god i don't like my family i don't believe it it creates pain it's uncomfortable so i step i step out god i don't want to go to those people they still cuss they still drink it makes me uncomfortable let me stay in my christian bubble i just want to have bible studies at green berries and so i step out of the river god i don't want to go to richmond i've never been there before i don't like it there so i step out of the river god i don't want to go to alexandria i'm too old for this i got kids i got a job here and a career here and a life that i've built for myself here i saw i stepped out of the river god i don't want to go to north carolina ain't never been there what's salisbury isn't that a steak and so we step out of the river of revival and now we're dry because you needed to control your life and so god wants to begin to break out of the walls that we built that limit his movement and so there's a there's a breakup and then he begins to break out then also found that there's a break in the spirit leads ezekiel back to the bank and ezekiel peeps these trees and there's trees that have been rooted and planted by the rivers now when you study trees throughout the scripture we realize most of the time trees are referring to the people of god they call it the planting of the lord and is where god plants us not only by his presence but also by the people he's called us to and now i don't think it takes much for you to realize that i'm not a farmer or a forester of any kind and i'm only 26 i ain't been around that long but when was the last time you seen a tree replant itself have you seen it you ever just see the tree say it's uncomfortable here and i don't like it here i want to go somewhere else and so it just lifts up his roots and let me do something else and what i realize is that many times this year god has called us to be rooted and yet we've been talking about being replanted and we tried to move ourselves away from the very people god called us to and we wonder why we're dry and now when i think about this i call this the break-in because one thing i recognize is for roots to be set they don't set themselves in the landscape where it's beautiful what roots do is they go down into the dirt and so roots have to force their way and break their way into the dirt and to the dark and to the difficult place and hold on and they do not quit just because there's a little wind they do not quit because it's just uncomfortable but no they hold on even when they cannot see understand or it seems a little dirty they hold on because they recognize this is where i've been planted and there's many of us this year that we've tried to uproot ourselves and we're experiencing the consequences now but the god has said that it's time for us to break in to the family that he's called us to and one thing that i know about a break-in family is that it requires force bruce have to force themselves into the ground they have to force themselves in the route and one thing i learned this year found is that it it takes force for me to stay in family that i need a force to keep me where god has called me to be and because there are forces of hell trying to keep me out of family i need the forces of heaven to keep me in this thing i need the forces of heaven to tell me not to quit not to give up not to throw in the towel and walk away and now what are the forces of heaven well the bible talks about glory and it says that glory is this weight it creates this force and it says that when we begin to lift up his name it says that he that the glory of god takes a seat among his people and so my prayer this year family is when my flesh wants to move and my flesh wants to walk away from the people that he's called me to i need the holy spirit to sit on me i need the holy spirit to take a seat i need some glory to rest on my life to hold me where god's called me to be god i need you to hold me when offense wants to take me away i need you to hold me when the culture wants to tempt me to quit on what god called me to i need you to hold me until i can love my brother i need you to hold me until i forgive my sister i need you to hold me until my flesh bends i need you to hold me until my soul submits to be a part of what you called me to be a part of and what 2020 has taught us that many of us did not have enough force to keep us in family and so it didn't take much for us to get us out you need some glory on your life that begins to create a weight and it begins to hold me in the people that god called me to that we need to develop the audacity to not just wait for an invitation or wait for it to be convenient or wait for it to be easy no i'm gonna break into this family because i need this because without my root set i'll be tossed to and fro by every wave and wind of doctrine by every facebook post by every news my every news outlet i'll be thrown off and i'll just be going like this all around the world and with no stability i need family i don't want family i need it when my flesh doesn't want i remind my soul we need it and so i lay my roots down because it's only through my roots that i experience the resources of the river and for some of us we've dried up and we blame duck it's not duck it's not pastor chris you have no roots and so there was no way for you to get the resources of the river it says in verse 12 it says that these trees that are planted by this river the trees won't fade the leaves won't fade they'll be fruitful and they'll be good for something for the healing of nations and many of us don't end up experiencing that we're just fruitless and fading simply because rather than being rooted by the river of what god wants to do in this house we've planted ourselves by the puddles of our own personal ambition and you wonder why you dry it's time for us to embrace the planting of the lord that if this is the people he called you to this is where he's called you to stay and so we see the the breakup and the breakout and the break-in and we're closed here family with the breakthrough now we've heard this term breakthrough many times before i'm sure if you've been in church for a while but i want to help us get a new look a new thought on this idea of breakthrough breakthrough in the dictionary says this it's an act of removing or surpassing an obstruction or restriction a significant and sudden advanced development or increase and family can i tell you that's exactly what i see in ezekiel chapter 47. because it says that as this river flows it begins to flow into the dead sea now the dead sea is the dead sea for a reason nothing can live in the dead sea in fact that is hostile to life the dead sea is so salty and so dense that even somebody like me can float in it it's not a good place and yet the scripture teaches us that the moment this river touches it what is dead now becomes full of life that's a breakthrough if i ever seen one and so it says that even in the places that you've discounted even in the places where you don't feel like there could ever be any life my family will never come to jesus my prodigal will never come home that city can never be revived those people can never come to know jesus the lord says watch me watch me be the god of breakthrough and i will break through your family i'll break through your fear i'll break through your anxiety i'll break through your depression and i'll break through your your addictions and i'll do it suddenly it says this the scripture teaches us david found himself just anointed king and the philistines rise up against them and david recognizes man i have some history at war but i can't trust myself in this i can't depend upon my own strength i'm new into this king position and as a young nation i don't really know what to do god and so god begins to give him insight and it says that god gives them victory and upon their victory david doesn't credit himself but he names that territory bel perezin which means the god who gives breakthrough because family david said that the lord has broken through all of my enemies like a mighty rushing flood and i've got just enough faith to believe that that's exactly what the lord is about to do in your life that he'll break through every enemy he'll break through every obstacle he'll break through every wall he'll break through everything that's keeping you separate from him he'll break through everything that's causing your family to be blind to his presence he'll break through everything that you need in your city sudden breakthrough is the word of god suddenly he begins to break through suddenly their eyes are open suddenly he begins to reveal his glory suddenly healings take place suddenly miracles take place suddenly signs and wonders take place sudden breakthrough for alexandria sudden breakthrough for richmond something breaks through for salisbury where we begin to see the glory of god throw his weight around [Music] and how do you respond a sudden breakthrough how do you respond to sudden breakthrough in myrtle beach when god causes that church to grow at an accelerated pace more than your systems can actually handle what happens when god calls an acceleration when the text says it it says that fishermen they still by the river and they let down their nets hear the word of the lord divine unity community church prepare your nets because we're coming into a season of extreme fishing we're coming into a season of where there's a wave of evangelism that'll hit this house and flow out of this house like you've never seen and people you never thought would be saved people you prayed for for years pray for for decades will begin to experience the power presence and the glory of god in this season [Music] prepare your nets and it says everywhere that this river touched it came to life now it says that breakthrough is removing an obstacle and family i have to imagine that death is a pretty good one [Music] death is pretty strong that's usually pretty final but i'm so grateful today that we have a god that measures in breaking through death because i remind you that god became a man in jesus christ that he lived the life we should live died the death that we deserve but the beautiful thing is that it says that a soldier stabbed him in the side and out of his body flow blood and living water and jesus recognized that there's a revival that's going to take place so early on sunday morning jesus broke through death and he got up with all power in his hand and that same power is working in your life that same power is working in your depression and in your anxiety and in your fear that same power is working on your family that same power is working in richmond in alexandria and salisbury and harrisonburg that same power will show up in your location your vocation and recreation and so is there anybody that will praise the god of breakthrough this morning is there anybody that says god i believe you god i'll trust you god i'll focus on you god i'll walk away from my idols and i'll see your glory i walk away from a comfort and from my control and making a container out of you but i believe to see your glory here on earth can we just zip up our hands and lift up our voice and receive what god wants to do and celebrate our [Music] break our savior spirit break our walls [Music] jesus here jesus a dimension of his name a dimension of the name of jesus christ every knee shall bow on the earth under the earth every tongue shall confess that he is lord i feel like the lord is saying to us today don't play with my name that if you say it there's breakthrough attached to it that those who are armed with faith we can't say the name that defeated death and stay the same that break out spirit break out isn't just a song it's a reality for the believer and so can we begin to lift up a praise that can associate well with the king of kings and the lord of lords come on it's your last sunday come on can we begin just to lift up lift up his name come on lift up praise unto the king of kings unto the lord of lords come on i'll cheer for him greater then i can cheer for my favorite team greater than any level of celebration come on we lift him up we make room he inhabits the praises of his people come on put on that praise for a moment come on we're going to go ahead and let this place break in come on spirit break up break our walls [Applause] jesus [Music] we want to see your [Music] we [Music] glory hallelujah to our king come on let's just celebrate them one more time all across the building come on right there online come on you can celebrate them wherever you are [Music] come on you can even sing your own song for a moment come on [Music] let thy will be done here on earth as it is in heaven [Music] lord let your kingdom advance through us rivers of revival [Music] let us be the carriers of love the carriers of joy the carriers of peace let us be those who are left in this world for a moment to bring hope and healing that people might know that you are who you said you are if you're willing to receive it wherever you are in this moment will you receive revival today will you receive the rivers of revival to the point where it overflows lord let your rivers overflow in us and let it flow through us god i pray now that rivers of revival will literally leak from the church all throughout the streets come on i'm seeing healing just flowing come on the rivers of reconciliation come on i still believe that harrisonburg and rockingham county can be an example to the world around us rivers where the holy spirit has torn down the walls of separation of division a spiritual shallowness lord we want to go deeper we want to go further as the bible declared says he who has ears let them hear so family today i pray that this is not a moment where you just listened with your physical ear and it didn't go any further let this word sink deep down in you for your marriage for your family for your well-being with with the lord for your community your location vocation and recreation maybe god might be telling some of us you thought you were waiting on something but god was waiting on you and so he's inviting you further and further and further lord let your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven we give your name honor glory and praise we celebrate your glorious name [Music] may your praise ever be on our lips may our hearts be completely surrendered to you if you're here this morning and you need additional prayer our prayer team is up here we're ready to pray for you if you're here this morning you're saying look i want to start a relationship with jesus christ that you've never completely surrendered your life to christ if you're there online you can indicate and say look i'm ready to start a relationship with jesus if you're here today please come up to our prayer team and let one of us know we'd love to help you walk with jesus maybe you're here today you're going through a rough circumstance or situation maybe you can't quite shake some grief or some turmoil or you got something coming up this week and you just want to know that you're not by yourself we want to pray for you and maybe you're saying look maybe the lord just filled me up in a greater way and he brought you into that deep place i'ma tell you go this week and let revival spill out of you wherever you are amen come on let's give the lord another handclap of praise hallelujah can we show minister roy boy some love for that mighty mighty word [Music] amen look family um we're going to be dismissed in just a moment so you may be seated uh our greeters and our ushers they're gonna come and dismiss you in a moment again if you need prayer our prayer team is up here new year's eve join us we're gonna be here get here 10 o'clock it's going to be an amazing time in the presence of god family we love you go be a blessing to somebody go be a carrier revival we love you fam you

Channel: Divine Unity Community Church

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Length: 106min 58sec (6418 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 27 2020