You are challenged to examine your heart and determine if you are walking by the Spirit or the flesh. If you have never surrendered to Jesus as Lord, or if you need to repent of secret sins, come forward today to experience His transformative power. Let the Holy Spirit rush into your life to bring glory to the Father and deepen your intimacy with Him.
My name is David John Phillips. I have the joy and honor of getting to be the pastor here. There's "no place I'd rather be". There's nothing that I'd rather be doing because I'm standing in the center of God's will, running the race that God's called me to run. And I want the same for you.
I want wherever you are in your life, I want you to be so confident, not because you're confident in yourself, but because you know you're following Jesus. You're in process and he's developing you towards the purposes that he has for your life, and that you're confidently standing in the exact place or seated in the exact place he's called you, and I know you are today. You might have thought you're just coming to check out a church. No. God's God sent you here.
You're here on purpose for many different purposes, and 1 of the reasons is you're encountering and going to encounter the power and presence of God, and the word of God, not because I'm super special, but because I'm running the race God's called me to run. So I'm I'm delegated by the Lord to be the pastor of this church, and also to preach the word today in a way that washes your feet in the water of his word, that irons out wrinkles, gets rid of spots in the bride of Christ, and equips you to be able to run the race God's called you to run. Man, I'm excited. I'm so excited. So Father, I pray for every every heart that you would open their heart today.
*Lord God, you take the blinders off in Jesus name*. Every distraction, every spirit that would try to distract or or or criticalness or religious, I just rebuke it in Jesus name. And Lord, let's dive in to your word together as the body of Christ, and we ask you to speak in Jesus name. And everybody said, amen. *Ephesians-5*, and we're we're in a series, we're in part 3 of this series called the church.
And the the the thread, the crimson thread that goes through the whole series is found in the ephesians-3, but first, it's Ephesians-5 says, be imitators of God as dearly loved children. Which would mean, when the heavenly Father reveals himself to you in a way that you've never seen before, there's nothing new under the sun. It's always gonna be in line with the character nature as as shown in scripture. But when he he reveals himself to you in a way that you've never seen before, that revelation is an invitation from him to imitation of him as empowered by the Holy Spirit. So as we're talking about the church and we're seeing the way that the heavenly Father views the church, the way that Jesus Christ values the church, the way that the Holy Spirit operates in the church, that revelation is an invitation to you to imitate the heavenly Father.
To put the same level of value on it, to repent for lessening the way that you have seen the church in the past, for neglecting the body and the bride of Christ, and instead to hold it with the same honor that our God does. It's a revelation so that you can imitate in your daily life and see the fruit of that. So here's the crimson thread that's been through the whole series about the church. It's in Ephesians-3. It's "mind boggling".
It's mind blowing to me every time I I read this, dumbfounded by the fact that we get to be a part of this. It says in verse 8, to me, though I'm the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to preach to the Gentiles, that's us by the way, the unsearchable riches of Christ. Unfathomable, incomprehensible. Why? Because they're not discerned outside of the Holy Spirit.
But when you give your life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit opens your eyes to be able to comprehend the incomprehensible riches of Christ, as it says in 1 Corinthians-2. He opens up your eyes so that you can see and understand. He's hidden those things not from you, but for you so that you would seek and find. But here's here's where it gets crazy. And to bring to light for everyone, what is the plan of the mystery?
By the way, *Colossians-1:27* says, the mystery is Christ. In you, the hope of glory. You give your life to Jesus. He puts the Holy Spirit of Christ on the inside of you to bring glory to the *heavenly Father* throughout the world. That's the mystery.
But what's the purpose of this mystery? Here's the mind blowing thing. It's already been mind blowing, but this is the mind blowing thing. This is the thread that's found through this whole series. The plan of the mystery or the purpose hidden for the ages in God who created all things, so that through the church Everybody say the church.
The manifold wisdom simply means multifaceted wisdom. So the multifaceted wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places. This was according to his eternal purpose that he's realized in Christ Jesus*, our Lord*. So God's plan for putting Christ in you, the purpose of that plan is an eternal purpose that he had planned before the foundation of the world. It's an eternal purpose.
And the purpose of that plan is to reveal his **multifaceted wisdom** through the church. So don't down the church. Don't neglect the church. Don't pretend that the church isn't important. It's God's plan, his eternal purpose to reveal his multifaceted wisdom through it.
The church is kind of a big deal, guys. Not just real church, the global body of Christ. We just play 1 small aspect, a local aspect of the body of Christ. Let's hold the same value that God has for the church. Then we went through some different analogies that show the value that God holds for his church, that are found all throughout scripture.
We've shown that *Jesus* sees the church as the bride of Christ, as his bride. We are the betrothed. I'd say he values the church, wouldn't you? If he sees it as his bride, where we're supposed to become 1 flesh with him in intimacy and communion with our Lord, and where there's intimacy and communion, there's reproduction. Reproduction.
Intimacy So, if you can know whether or not you're mature in Christ as to whether or not you're reproducing. Because immature babies can't reproduce. They're not mature enough yet. Why? Because their focus is on themself.
They need somebody else to clean up their messes. All of their prayers sound like me me me me. So are you a baby Christian or have you matured yet? This is a challenge to maturity. Have you started multiplying?
Who in your life are you discipling to look like Jesus? Who have you led to Jesus in the last 6 months? Who have you been pouring out to others to multiply what God's done in you? And if you haven't yet, you're probably still a baby. It's time to "get off the bottle", get into the meat of the word, start putting into the practice, and begin maturing, so that you can multiply, and that multiplication only comes out of intimacy with him.
Not just on a Sunday morning. Sunday morning's just the celebration. I'm talking about Monday night, Friday night, Saturday night. Your focus and your affection are on the 1 that you're betrothed to. Amen.
Amen. Amen or oh me, if that's a oh me, just just simply repent. Get in church around some believers that are are gonna challenge you forward, and then start to spend time with Jesus and live like this is actually the center of your life instead of just an add on. If you really believe it, your life will show it. Your life shows what you really believe.
You know a simple test on whether or not you're walking by the spirit? Because you're either walking by the spirit or you're walking by the flesh. Simple test. *Romans-8* says, the mind of the spirit or the mind of the flesh is death, and the mind of the spirit is life and peace. If you're walking by or where where your mind is set, that's what you're walking by.
Where has your mind been set this last week? It's impossible to have your mind set on the flesh and walk by the spirit. Is your mind set on worry, doubt, fear, insecurity, lust, what you need, what you want, things of this world? You're walking by the spirit has been choked out by the desires of the world. You need to repent and put your mind, set your mind on his word and on the things of his word.
Get out the junk that's been distracting you so you can walk by the spirit and experience the fruit of that in your life. That simple. That straightforward. Where's your mind been? That's where you how you've been walking.
Renew your mind, transform your life, Romans-12:2. Amen? You guys hear me? Just quoting scripture, guys. Okay.
So the bride of Christ, it's very valuable. It's the church. Let's raise the level of value and honor for the church, realizing that it's God's eternal purpose and plan to reveal his multifaceted wisdom. Come on. That's awesome.
But then if the bride is supposed to become 1, to lay her life down, to become 1 with Jesus, the groom, because he laid his life down already, denying ourself, picking up our cross, and following him, well then, the 2 shall become 1 flesh. It's natural, like we talked about last week, for it to be called the body of Christ. We are his body. He's the head, and we're his body. We're 1 with him, us in him, and him in us, as a reflection to the world.
And what an honor. What an honor to be called the body of Christ. Like, think about it. I mean, we hear it all the time in the church, but wait a second. That's a big deal.
The husband cares for his wife as he cares for his own body, Ephesians-5 says. We're the body of Christ. It's the will of the Father, the word of the Son, and the working of the Holy Spirit through the body. We get to be the "hands and feet". If God's gonna do something, he does it through his hands and through his feet.
He speaks like the brain to the hands, telling what to do. And how dare we rebel and be like a paralyzed hand and said, let us submit to the head in submission 1 with another so we work in unity and experience the multiplication of the kingdom of God through us. It's pretty awesome. You separate from the body, you're separated from the head. You better *honor* the church like Jesus says.
Because how are we gonna get to the kingdom of heaven and says, Jesus says, hey, how'd you treat my body? Oh, I didn't like your body. I I just did my own thing. You didn't follow my word. Depart from me, you worker of lawlessness, doing your own thing instead of following what my scripture says.
If Jesus is Lord of your life, then we should probably begin to operate the same way that he feels about things. Amen? Amen. Now, a lot of people claim ignorance because they hadn't read the word. I get it.
But now, you're responsible for what you know. And as you operate under that responsibility and humble obedience to what you know, you get the blessing of it. It's not it's not a weight that's too heavy to bear. You are called and created to walk in humble obedience to him. And as you do, you experience the freedom of surrender.
Amen? You guys alright? So now we're we're we're to the the third part. We talked about the bride of Christ and the body of Christ, both designed by God to reveal his multifaceted wisdom because it's talking about the church. Now we're on part 3, the church, the house of God or the temple of God.
You see all throughout the world, especially the ancient world, but even now in India, Thailand, and China, and Japan, Africa, they make these temples for their gods, and they believe that their god rests in the temple. They go there. Some religions require sacrifice or offerings or other things as an act of worship. All of that's a reflection of the true 1 God, *living God*, who created you to be his house, and we see it all throughout scripture. The church, the house of God.
Let's go to 1 Corinthians-3, just to show you a few scriptures about it before I talk about it in detail. Verse 16, do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. It's a big deal.
*1 Corinthians-6:14-15*. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Verse 19, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own.
You were bought with a price, so glorify God with your body. Your body is made as a temple of God, a house of God for him to dwell. The bride of Christ becoming 1 as the body of Christ, and then he fills the body with his presence and his spirit. It's kinda awesome. *2 Corinthians-6*.
Just go ahead a few verses real quick. Verse 14, do not be unequally yoked with the unbeliever. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial?
Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? That's a theme for later in the message. For we are the temple of the living God. As God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them.
I will be their God, and they will be my people. This is this is reflecting Revelation-21, God's plan of all time. He's not mad at people. His plan from the beginning was to make his people into his house where he could dwell in their midst with them. Know them personally, as a husband and wife, as a head and a body, as a house indwelt by the presence and spirit of God.
*Ephesians-2:19*. So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. You are members of his house. Why are you no longer strangers and aliens? Because you surrendered, if you have, surrendered your life to Jesus as Lord and became you're born again as part of the body of Christ, part of the bride of Christ, made into a house that he filled with his spirit.
Just setting the stage, guys. Just setting the stage. Let's go to 1 Peter-2:4. As you come to him a "living stone", rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone and precious.
Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the cornerstone is Jesus Christ. And then, you give your life to Jesus, you become transformed and become a living stone placed on the cornerstone that together we become the body of Christ. So individually, you're a temple of the living God. Individually, as a person, you are supposed to be a house of the living God.
But then corporately, we together are the temple of the living God. And if you put multiple stones on top of 1 another, you got a bigger house. So a bigger manifestation of the presence and power of God together. Unity is a big deal in the body of Christ. You guys with me?
Shake yourself. Don't fall asleep. About to get into 1 of my favorite things in scripture. Hermeneutics is like simply the study of how to read the word, how to present the word. 1 of the laws of hermeneutics is the first mention.
Meaning, the first place something is mentioned, it's important. It sets the baseline, the the precedent for the rest of it to the rest of of what is said in scripture about that thing to be built off of. So the house of God, the first time it's mentioned in scripture is kind of important, and we find it in Genesis-28. Jacob, so you got Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Where when you give your life to Jesus, the Bible calls us children of Abraham by faith, entering into the same *covenant relationship* with God by faith because of our faith in Jesus. Okay?
So Jacob is traveling from Beersheba to Haran. It's nighttime, so he lays down to sleep at this place. There's nothing but some rocks there. He takes a rock, puts it under his head, and he falls asleep. And as he's sleeping, you can go and read it in Genesis-28.
As he's sleeping, God gives him a dream. God appears to him in this dream, And he sees heaven open, and like a ladder coming from heaven to earth, and angels ascending and descending on the ladder in that place. And the Lord's standing over it, and the Lord speaks to Jacob in essentially inviting him into the same covenant relationship with himself that he promised to Abraham and all of Abraham's descendants. Jacob wakes up, and he says, surely, this is the house of God, the gate of heaven. And then he responds to that covenant invitation into relationship with a covenant action, tithing.
He says, I'll tenth of everything I have I give to you. Side note, *covenant* is a big deal in the body of Christ and in relationship with God. So there's nothing there but a rock that he laid his head on, and yet, Jacob wakes up seeing nothing but a rock, but because God opened up heaven, and there's a ladder extending from heaven to earth, angels coming up and down on the ladder, and God speaking to him, inviting him into covenant relationship, Jacob declares this place is the house of God, the gate of heaven. First time house of God is mentioned in Scripture, and it's mentioned as a gate of heaven. What is a gate?
A gate is a place that opens and closes. A gate lets what's inside out, and it lets what's outside in, or it keeps what's inside in, and it keeps what's outside out. Amen? By the way, angels ascending and descending in Hebrews-1, the Bible calls angels **"ministering spirits"** of fire and of wind. Very important.
Wherever the glory of God is, there are ministering spirits of fire and of wind, answering the prayers of the saints and taking the prayers of the saints to the throne. They have a role in the kingdom of heaven. I don't magnify angels, but I'm not gonna ignore either. When God creates something, he lets them accomplish their role. They're messengers that take prayers, but they're also warriors that accomplish the prayers of the saints.
You hear me? So the house of God, the gate of heaven that lets what's inside out, lets what's outside in, and it's a place where God has spoken. That is the precedent or the baseline for the house of God. Fast forward, we see the house of God multiple other places. In the Old Testament, a lot of what happens physically is spiritually what we walk through, and they created a mobile tabernacle.
You heard of the tabernacle? And they called it the house of God. It was the place where God's presence rested, and God cared about the finite details of the tabernacle. It was beautiful. It was wonderful.
It was made with lots of the riches that Moriah talked about. Why? Because God cares about it. It was his place in his house, and he wanted it holy. He wanted it set apart as a place where people come to worship.
It's the gate of heaven where people come in and experience the culture of the kingdom of heaven, but also is supposed to be a light shining to the world, drawing the world into relationship with the heavenly father. Amen. He set up every detail, and I don't have time to go into all that. But I will, 1 day. And then it moved from the mobile tabernacle.
King David desired to build a house for God, a physical house that was not mobile. And God let his son Solomon build Solomon's temple, which was a house for God. It was the most beautiful temple that we've ever seen physically on earth, and yet God still said the latter house, the glory of the latter house will be greater than the former because you are the latter house. You are the temple of God. God built this amazing or Solomon built this amazing temple with the riches of the world, greater than anything we could ever imagine.
Every detail mattered. The beauty of it took queen Sheba's breath away because God's excellence does that when the people come together in unity. It was wonderful. When the temple was finally built, they brought the ark of the covenant, which was the representation of God's presence, the representation of his throne. They brought it into the holy of holies in the midst of the temple, And the presence of God rushed in, filled the whole temple.
Man, that was a big spit. Filled the whole temple, So much so that the priests couldn't even stand to worship. It was the first indication of people being slain in the spirit. Just so you know, that's biblical. Sometimes, God moves in such power that you can't even stand in his presence.
You wonder why many people come in and they start crying because God's moving and their emotions don't know how to handle it, so just tears come out. Can manifest in joy and tears and all kinds of things, but we're not faking it. This is real church, just authentic. Amen? Amen.
So God's presence rushed in, filled the temple with his power. The priest couldn't even stand to worship. And even in Solomon's day and age, man, they they began to sacrifice to other gods. They still sacrificed in the temple, but people got caught in sin, and it moves for the house of God. We see in Ezekiel-8, 9, and 10, that the people got caught in idolatry.
*Idolatry* is putting another God before God. And it's a it's a bad thing in the Old Testament because without the sacrifice or without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. And the people would bring their sacrifices to the temple to pay for their sin, the sacrifice of lamb, lambs. Blood would be spilled on the altar to pay for their sin, but when the people in Ezekiel's time have forgotten about God, they for they they started worshiping other gods and stopped the sacrifice. There's no more payment for sin.
Idol worship was a huge deal. Abominations doing all kinds of crazy sins because they'd given their heart to another. *Ezekiel-10:9* and 10, he sees this vision of the cherubim. Cherubim are simply angels that are around the throne, representing the presence of God, and God's presence moving up from the holy of holies, 8, 9, and 10. And then it later in the chapters, it moves to the threshold, which where the door is.
Meaning, it's almost as if God's presence lingered, like he didn't want to leave. Slowly going from the holy of holies to the threshold. Later in the chapters, moves from the threshold to the Eastern gate. Once again, slowly his presence departing the temple, almost as if God did not want to go. Because his plan from the beginning, his eternal purpose was for the church or the house of God to be the the representation of his multifaceted wisdom to the world.
His plan was to dwell in the midst of his people, and now because of their idolatry, he's leaving. They've they've walked out of relationship with him, and he's he's not happy about it. He's slowly moving out from the holy of holies to the threshold, to the Eastern gate. And then later it says, to the mountain outside, which would have been the Mount Of Olives. And then all of a sudden, he was no more.
The presence left the house, the temple. That's why God sent Jesus. God loved the world so much, he wanted to enact his plan to dwell in the midst of his people. Jesus to come and be the lamb that was slain, sacrifice his bloodshed for the world so that he would never have to leave or forsake his people again. Because the lamb of the blood of lambs and goats don't take away sin, really.
They're just a representation of Jesus that was to come to fully wash away your sin so you could stand comfortably in his presence and him never leave you or forsake you. So in Matthew-21, physical representation of what he's gonna do spiritually in our lives if we'll let him. The triumphal entry. Jesus triumphantly enters into the temple. When you give your life to Jesus, it's the same.
You're born again, and Jesus triumphantly enters into your temple, into your heart. And what does he do right after he enters into the temple? He makes a whip, and he begins turning over the "tables of the money changers", and the the idols, the things that are not supposed to be in the temple, and that's the same thing he'll do to you. When you receive Jesus as Lord of your life, he triumphantly enters into your body, into your temple by the Holy Spirit, and he starts flipping over idols and flipping over tables. Why?
Because he's preparing for his spirit to enter in power. Because he wants your life to be a gate of heaven. A place where angels descend, where God is there and the voice of God is speaking. So Jesus, the lamb that was slain, died on a cross and rose from the grave so you could receive his life. And then he told the disciples, wait till the promise comes that I've promised you.
And then he went. He said, it's better that I go. If I don't go, I'm not gonna send the comforter. But when I go, I'm gonna send the comforter, the advocate, the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God that will lead you into all truth, his presence. And then he ascended into heaven.
And he did, he said, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and all the nations. And then in Acts-2, they've been waiting 40 days since Jesus was resurrected. 10 days in the upper room, they're waiting. Those 10 days, they're probably getting they're in prayer. They're probably ironing out some issues of disunity because they just fought about who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Couple months before, they probably had some issues. If it wasn't for you, Jesus wouldn't be gone. No. No. Wait.
Thank you, Jesus. He's here. And, you know, just ironing out those things. I'm just imagining that that's the case. Scripture doesn't say that.
So don't say that as as bible. Okay? Regardless, after 10 days, they were in unity in 1 accord. I can't help it. In the dream team service, I said they were in 1 Honda Accord.
Dad jokes have to come. My son said in Jesus name. So *Acts-2*. Remember, angels are ministering spirits of wind and fire. The gate of heaven is the opening and the closing.
We're letting the the culture of the kingdom of heaven come from heaven to earth and impact the world, but it's also a place where it opens and it invites the world into relationship with the God of the universe who's speaking at that place where God speaks at an invitation to imitate him as a dearly loved child. It's an invitation into into relationship with him. So what happened in Acts-2? The promised Holy Spirit came. Let's read it.
Verses 1 through 4. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in 1 place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each 1 of them. There's wind and fire. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance. The same thing that happened in *Genesis-28* was happening here.
Jesus came in, cleaned the temple, filled flipped the tables, prepared the way, and then God sent the Holy Spirit to fill them with power so that their lives be could become a gate of heaven, a place where the world is invited into relationship with the God of the universe and can experience righteousness, joy, and peace if they would only come, but also a place where where we go, Jesus said, wherever you go, declare the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Why? Because the Holy Spirit lives in us and is with us, and as we go, righteousness, peace, and joy goes with us to infect and shift atmospheres and change cultures, inviting people either to come into relationship with the God of the universe and enter into covenant with him or to run and persecute like they did Jesus. The church is the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, but also the house of God and the gate of heaven on earth. You individually, but us corporately, all the more.
And God wants you to experience his presence and his goodness in a real way. But Jesus said, he's the door. He's the gate. Jesus is the ladder. Jesus is the gate.
The only way to enter into that culture of the the kingdom to be transformed is to go through Christ, confessing him as the Lord of your life. Enter into relationship with him. So here's what I wanna do. I wanna invite the altar team to come forward. I wanna do multiple things.
I wanna give an invitation for those that have never given their life to Jesus. You've never experienced a true relationship with God. You guys come on. Fill the hole. You can't enter heaven.
You can't experience a relationship with the God of the universe. You can't know him as the bride and body of Christ, which you're created to know him as. You cannot unless you've surrendered to Jesus as your Lord. It's not based on you going to church, which going to church is a good thing. It's not based on you having a grandmama that prayed for you.
That's a good thing, but she prayed for you so that you could personally surrender. Say, I'm gonna follow you. Guess what? Even demons believe Jesus died and rose again. There's a lot of people that are going to church that are good people.
They believe Jesus died and rose again, but they have never followed him as Lord, and they're not a part of the kingdom of heaven. Demons don't follow Jesus as Lord, but they believe he died and rose again. You understand? You have to believe so much that you're willing to say, alright, I'm taking myself off the throne of my heart and I'm gonna make you the Lord of my life. I'm gonna follow what you say instead of what I feel.
In that moment, he takes the weight of sin and shame off of your shoulders and he puts the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes rushing in. See, that's what I left out in Ezekiel-7:8 and I don't know, 8 9 and 10. He lingered in as he was leaving cause he didn't want to. But as soon as the temple was clean because of Jesus' blood in Acts-2, he rushed in because he longs to be with his people.
He wants you to be more full of he wants you to be full of the Holy Spirit more than you wanna be. He longs to be with you. He wants to rush into your life and impact every aspect of your life because he loves you. God's not mad at you. So I wanna invite everybody to stand.
And let's do this. I'm gonna give the altar call for multiple things altogether. Number 1, you've never given your life to Jesus. You know you need to. Don't leave.
Come up here. Tell 1 of them, I'm ready to give my life to Jesus. They'll lead you into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Number 2, you got some tables in your temple that need to be flipped. You you need that you need to repent.
Bible says, confess your faults 1 to another and pray for each other so you may be healed, which means secret sin only grows more dirty. So we have the body of Christ not to point you out, but to encourage you and help restore you, to help heal that which is hurting so that you can walk forward in holiness and repentance. And then number 3, come up here and talk with them if that's you. But number 3, is you need fresh wind and fire. You want a fresh and filling of the Holy Spirit for more boldness, more experience of his presence and his power in your life.
Just come to the altar. And if they're busy ministering to people that need to give their life to Jesus or repentance or other things, great. We'll have others laying hands on you. Because the bible says, in act all throughout acts, we saw people lay hands on people. Can the Holy Spirit come without laying on our hands?
Absolutely, he can. He's a big boy and do what he wants, but he loves using the body of Christ because it takes humility to need 1 another. It takes pride and insecurity to say, I don't know. I just need myself. Get it?
So I'm gonna pray and invite you forward. By the way, I was supposed to talk about establishing covenant Sunday and all this kind of stuff. We're gonna do that next week. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's okay. You'll find out next week, come next week.
Get established in the body of Christ you're invited to. Do that stuff online. Take a look at who we are. Don't leave without making a decision. If you feel that burning in your heart, you know that's you, make a decision.
If you know you need to flip some tables and repent of some things, get back right with God, come forward. If you're just burning in your heart because you want more of him, come forward to the altar. We're gonna play some music and just pray, lay hands on you. And if you need to go because I went 12 minutes over where I usually go, I understand, no judgment here. But just go quietly because there's gonna be ministry happening.
Okay? We love you so much. Father, thank you for these amazing people that you sent here with an invitation to deeper levels of intimacy with you and multiplication. Lord, Holy Spirit, I ask for you to move. It says, godly sorrow leads to repentance.
So not condemnation that leads god worldly sorrow that leads to death. But Lord, I pray for those that need repentance, just Holy Spirit move on them now with godly sorrow. That would lead to life change in those areas, that they wouldn't minimize sin, but they would understand the gravity of it, that that the result of it is death and and destruction of their purposes from their lives. They'd understand the weight, but then they don't learn to value the blood as more than the weight of sin, that they're forgiven and they can walk clean. Lord Jesus, **I pray** for those that don't know you and they they don't even know what all I said, they just know they need a relationship with you.
Don't let them leave, Lord. Draw them to the front. And Father, for those that have a hunger because of what I said, it created a hunger for more. Lord, draw them to their knees. *Holy Spirit*, move in power.
Raise them up as leaders in your kingdom. Put them through the process of of development, Lord God. 1 step at a time so they can lead their families well. They can lead their jobs and their businesses well. Lord, men and women, thank you, Father.
**Thank you for** the honor of getting to be here with them and doing this. "In Jesus name", I pray. Let's "turn on some music" and you guys "respond as the Lord leads".
Transcribed with Deepgram