July 27, 2025 • 49 mins
What would Pentecost have looked like if the disciples had each been alone when the Holy Spirit fell? The power of that world-changing moment wasn't just in the tongues of fire or the miraculous languages—it was in the unity of believers gathered in one place with one purpose.
In this challenging and heart-stirring message, Pastor Michael examines how our modern church culture has normalized division and absence while God's design has always been for unity. Through a fresh look at Acts 2, we discover that the disciples weren't just waiting for the Holy Spirit—they were waiting together, creating an atmosphere where God could move powerfully.
"Unity doesn't just attract people, it attracts the presence of God." This profound truth reshapes how we should view our church attendance and participation in the body of Christ. It's not about religious obligation but spiritual necessity. When we gather with expectant hearts, setting aside personal preferences and embracing our shared identity in Christ, we create space for divine movement that simply cannot happen in isolation.
The message addresses how unity manifests in our marriages, friendships, and church community while acknowledging that unity doesn't mean uniformity. We can maintain our unique perspectives while prioritizing our shared foundation in Christ. Most importantly, we learn that unity breeds the courage we need to boldly share the gospel in an increasingly hostile world.
If you've been feeling disconnected from church or struggling to understand why community matters, this message offers both conviction and compassion. The early church showed us the blueprint—now it's our turn to create that same atmosphere of unity where the Holy Spirit can move freely in our lives and communities.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Amen, amen.
Well, you can be seated.
Parents, as today is not anormal kids class day, we did
put together some baskets forthe kids in the back.
There are only seven, so oneper family, please.
But there's lots of stuffinside of the baskets Coloring
stuff, just different thingsthat they can play with, gives
them something to do quietly.
But the nursery is open.
(00:22):
So, yes, dawn was like wait asecond, do I have to go?
I'll stay.
Yesterday, my wife and Iactually my wife and kids and I
were blessed to be invited toDenison Foursquare, to the
summit, for, I'm sorry, that'swhat I meant Dover Foursquare,
(00:45):
the summit.
I'll get there For a pastor'sget together in the area, and it
was such a blessing to be there.
My kids were so excited to bethere.
Let me tell you they werethrilled to have to go to church
on Saturday in the middle ofthe day, right.
(01:06):
They loved every second of that, didn't they?
Amen, yeah, it was beautifuloutside and then when we got
home, it rained, right.
So they were really angry bythe time the day ended.
But what I realized was it'snot often that us pastors get to
get together and really get tojust pray for one another and
just be in that space.
(01:27):
And when we got in the car toleave, my wife said I really
love those things and I wasreally touched.
As we were sitting there, wehad lunch and then we went to
the sanctuary for a smallportion of worship and just
ministry time and Pastor LarryMassey from Cornerstone in
Coshocton delivered the message.
(01:48):
Now, if you've ever met PastorLarry, have any of you ever met
Pastor Larry?
Not many of you.
He's a man's man, right.
He looks like a lumberjack,right.
He's got these fingers that areabout that big around, like
he's just a big guy, but he'slike he doesn't mess around.
But he said to me, or he saidto the group for the first 30
(02:09):
years of my life I wasn'tallowed to cry.
I was told that I wasn'tallowed to cry because real men
don't cry.
He said so I'm making up forlost time as he wept and just
praised the Lord in all thethings that he had done.
But he had talked about aparticular passage of scripture
that each and every one of usknow, we love, we understand,
especially coming from aPentecostal church Amen.
(02:31):
You don't even know what I'mtalking about.
Don't say amen.
You don't even know whatpassage of scripture.
I'm just kidding Dale, right?
Yeah, it don't matter, it's theBible, right?
But he preached about somethingthat just you know, we know it
and we don't think about it andwe take it as part of who we are
, as part of our DNA, but thenwe skim over it.
But he was talking aboutwaiting on the Lord and I was
(03:00):
like man.
It is hard, it is probably oneof the hardest things you have
to do, but there is blessings inwaiting, amen.
And we can't always see them,we don't always understand that
there are blessings in thewaiting.
But as he told the story, Irealized there was something
just as important that we alwaysmiss.
When they were in the upper roomwaiting on the Lord, what were
they?
They were together, they werein one accord, they were all in
(03:24):
one place, together, becausethat's what Jesus told them to
do, amen.
You know we live in a timewhere division is the standard
right, that's the norm.
It dominates our lives, itdominates our families, our
communities and even ourchurches.
But, honestly, the early churchtold us what we need to
(03:46):
understand about being in oneaccord, in being in unity, amen.
And I, just every time I thinkabout it, I think about what
would Pentecost have looked likehad they all been alone or on
their own right.
Each of them would have gottenthese tongues of fire resting
(04:10):
upon their heads and they wouldhave started speaking in tongues
and in languages that they hadnever heard before.
But nobody would have cared,because nobody would have seen
it, because they would have doneit in isolation.
Amen.
They would have hidden thatfrom the Lord, they would have
hidden that from the peoplearound them, and I think every
(04:31):
time that we talk about thatstory, we have to remember that
they were together, andtogetherness can create an
atmosphere of God Whoo Right Now.
I don't know about you guys, buteven when I come in this
building by myself, there is apresence that rests here like no
(04:54):
other right Like I can.
We were talking about it whenwe were in Dover yesterday.
In their sanctuary there is apresence of the Lord that you
can almost touch.
Right.
It's the same here.
The problem is, oftentimes webecome complacent because we're
here all the time.
Right, many of us are in andout all week long.
We come in to grab a waterwhile we mow the grass, or we
(05:15):
stop and do this, or we stop anddo that and we get used to what
this experience is, and we getused to being in the presence of
the Lord, and then we start totake the presence of the Lord
for granted and then we don'tneed to be at church on Sunday
and we don't need to be atchurch on Wednesday, because you
know it's just the same stuff,right, but not everybody feels
(05:36):
that way.
I want you to look around thesanctuary right now.
Just take stock of the peoplewho are missing.
Now I don't want to get down oneverybody that's missing today,
because I know sometimes that'swhat it feels like I'm doing,
but if you look around and yourealize the people that are
missing, my question to you iswhy Some of us have to work.
Right, some of us havelegitimate reasons, but many of
(05:57):
us we wake up and we just don'tfeel like going.
I wake up every Sunday morningthinking, man, do I have to go?
Do that today?
Right, because the enemydoesn't want me here, he doesn't
want you here.
Because if we are here in oneaccord and we allow the presence
of God to rest upon us, thingswill change in our lives.
(06:18):
And when things change in ourlives, they change in our
community, amen.
And when they change in thecommunity, they change in the
world.
And what does the enemy have ifhe doesn't have the world?
He has nothing.
He has nothing.
So I want you to just take stockin who is missing today.
Okay, I want you to think aboutthat.
And then, if you are a wife andyou're sitting here and your
(06:39):
husband isn't here, I want youto take stock in that.
Okay, now, I'm not saying, gohome and yell at them or you
have to come to church with menext week, pastor.
I'm sick of Pastor Michaeltelling me you need to be at
church.
It's not what I'm saying, it'spray for your spouse, pray for
Lord, soften their hearts, allowthem to see what God is doing
in my life and that he can do itin their life too, amen.
(07:03):
So if you are sitting heremissing us, I want you to really
pray about that.
I want you to really, becausethe thing that I struggle with
is that on Saturday night, weposted on Facebook that we were
at this concert and we werehaving a great time, and then on
Sunday morning, we can't showup for church.
What's more important in life?
(07:24):
Is it the world or is it God?
Because I'm going to tell you Iwill miss church on occasion,
right Like it happens, but Idon't miss it out of choice.
I miss it because we're goingto go on a cruise in November
and I'm going to miss twoSundays.
I'm not telling you whichSundays, by the way, because I
know what you guys do.
(07:44):
You like to bounce out on thoseSundays?
Right, I will be gone.
Do you know how hard that'sgoing to be To be gone from this
place for two Sundays and nothave access to you for two
Sundays?
This community gives me strength.
This community gives me hope,because if he can do it here, he
(08:05):
can do it anywhere.
Amen, because when we cometogether, we can't stop the move
of the Spirit, even if wereally wanted to.
Amen, amen.
Listen, he is no respecter ofperson.
He didn't come here today.
God didn't show up here todaybecause Marcus showed up for
church.
That's not why God came.
God showed up because we camebelieving that he would.
(08:26):
Many of us came prayed up,knowing that God was going to do
something great in this place.
I tell you guys, all the time Ipray over every chair in the
sanctuary.
Every single Sunday morning, Iwalk through and just touch the
chairs and pray in the spirit,and I know that when I do that,
god is like I've got a personfor that seat.
I've got a person for that seat, and even the empty seats, he's
got a person for that seat, butthe enemy has convinced them
(08:49):
that that seat does not need tobe filled today.
Let me ask you a question Istoday a good day to be saved?
Oh, it's the best day.
Why is it the best day?
Because it's here right now infront of us.
Tomorrow's an okay day, buttomorrow it will be a great day
to be saved.
(09:09):
We can't wait on the world totell us when it's okay to be
saved, when it's time to show up, when it's time to be part of
the community.
We have to be ready everywaking hour.
Amen, all right.
So we're gonna to start in Acts, chapter 2, verse 1.
(09:30):
We're just going to read for afew minutes.
On the day of Pentecost, all thebelievers were meeting together
in one place, in one place,right, not several places, they
weren't scattered across towndoing Zoom, they were all in one
.
I couldn't figure out how toget on a Zoom if I wanted to.
That's how I know I'm gettingold.
Suddenly, there was a soundfrom heaven like the roaring of
(09:52):
a mighty windstorm.
It filled the house where theywere sitting.
Now, you don't often stand towait, do you?
How many of you go to thedoctor's office and stand?
Why don't you stand to wait, doyou?
How many of you go to thedoctor's office and stand?
Why don't you stand at thedoctor's office?
Because you know it's going tobe a minute, right?
I got a 2.30 appointment.
(10:13):
I might get in by three, right?
Thank you, jesus.
So we sit to wait because wedon't know what that's going to
look like.
They were sitting, waiting onthe Lord.
They were sitting and waiting.
Then what looked like flames ortongues of fire appeared and
settled on each of them, andeveryone present was filled with
(10:35):
the Holy Spirit and beganspeaking in other languages, as
the Holy Spirit gave them thisability.
On the day of Pentecost, allthe believers were meeting
together in one place.
Suddenly, there was a soundfrom heaven like a roaring and
mighty windstorm that filled thehouse where they were sitting.
The Holy Spirit did not comewhen they were scattered.
(10:57):
It came when they were togetherand unified.
Unity doesn't just attractpeople, it attracts the presence
of God.
Listen, we might all be greatfriends and we all want to hang
out with one another, right, butdo we do it so that God can be
present with us or do we do itso that we might just have
(11:23):
friends that we can talk to?
Listen, I love all of you, butwhen we're together, I want God
to be there too.
I want there to be a presenceof the Holy Spirit in that place
, and what I mean by that is Iwant the Holy Spirit to go
before me in everything that Isay.
I want the Holy Spirit to gobefore me in everything that I
(11:44):
do, because if I don't allowthat to happen, it just becomes
a free-for-all and we starttalking about other people and
we start acting ways that weknow we shouldn't be acting.
Right, we start doing things weknow we ought not be doing, but
we don't care because we didn'twelcome the presence of the
Spirit to be with us.
We met for social hour insteadof spiritual hour.
(12:09):
Can I promise you that when youcome to a gathering of this
building, we typically aren'tgoing to start anything without
prayer, because prayer is thefoundation for all things that
we are going to do.
Right, I don't have arelationship with Christ if it
weren't for prayer?
Right, because that's how Icommunicate.
Now, if any of you are married,have a significant other and
(12:33):
you don't communicate, how longdoes that relationship last?
Not long at all.
Because if I'm frustrated and Ichoose not to tell my wife if
I'm worried and I choose not totell my if I'm stressed, if I'm
angry and I choose not to tellmy wife if I'm worried and I
choose not to tell my if I'mstressed, if I'm angry and I
choose not to tell my wife,she's going to sense all of
those things but she's not goingto know why I'm feeling them.
Right, that communication isimportant.
(12:55):
Jesus knows my heart.
I'm not hiding this from him.
Right?
Listen?
For the past week and a half Iwandered around my house.
Just give me peace, father,lord.
Just whatever it is.
Just give me peace, lord.
I just need you to understandthat I believe you and I trust
you and I know you're gonna dosomething great.
But my body, my flesh, it can'taccept it.
(13:18):
Right?
And when you're doing thatnonstop and you're in
relationship and in conversationwith him, mighty things are
going to take place in your life.
We cannot have relationshipswith one another that the Holy
Spirit is not welcome at Right.
So that means you can't come tomy house and not expect the
(13:41):
Holy Spirit to come with you,amen.
You can't be in a relationshipwith somebody and expect the
Holy Spirit to come with you,amen.
You can't be in a relationshipwith somebody and expect the
Holy Spirit to not be there,because through the presence of
the Holy Spirit, we are unified.
Right, big crowds, small crowdswhere two or more are gathered.
Right, when two or more aregathered.
So when there are two of ustogether, the Holy Spirit will
(14:04):
also be present.
God will also be present.
You know, I've been praying alot about that and I realize
that there are people who don'tunderstand the Holy Trinity
right.
To me, that's a scary thought,because when I say the Holy
Spirit is present with you, whenyou are filled with the Holy
(14:26):
Ghost, god is present inside ofyou, jesus is present inside of
you, because they are one in thesame.
There isn't a separation of thethree.
Right?
We all on the same page.
Am I scaring some of you?
Okay, I don't think you'rescaring anybody.
We're going to do a wholeseries on that, all right?
(14:47):
I was just telling my wife Ireally want to get really good
at doing sermon series with youguys, so that we can not just
hear the word, but we can learnthe word and we can absorb the
word Amen.
And there are so many of us whodo not understand the importance
of the Holy Trinity, so many ofus who don't even respect or
understand or even care to knowabout the Holy Trinity.
(15:08):
Right, I was talking tosomebody the other day actually
it's been a little while ago andthey asked me this question.
They said do you speak Hebrew?
No, and they said, well, oneSunday you were like up front
and you were like speaking alanguage I ain't never heard
before and I was like, well,okay, all were like up front and
you were like speaking alanguage I ain't never heard
before and I was like, well,okay, all right, so we're gonna
(15:31):
go down this path.
That's a heavenly language,that's how I communicate with
God, so that the enemy can'tintercept it.
Right, it sounds weird topeople who don't fully get that.
It is not.
I mean here's, this is whatwe're talking about, right,
right, I mean this is what we'retalking about, right, right now
.
Right, everyone present wasfilled with the Holy Spirit and
began speaking in otherlanguages, as the Holy Spirit
(15:52):
gave them this ability.
I remember one time Florencesaid to me have you been filled
with the Holy Spirit?
And I looked at her and I said,well, yeah, and she goes.
I don't know that I've everheard you pray in the Spirit,
and I was like man.
If my pastor hasn't heard it,who has?
(16:18):
Right, it's not something weshould be afraid of.
It's biblical.
The Bible tells us this isacceptable and that this is how
we should be.
And so I want to encourage youtoday that, as we are talking
about unity and we become onewith the Holy Spirit, we should
be seeking that experience.
Right, we should be looking forthat experience.
It's not something you canforce.
When God gives it to you,embrace it, don't hide from it,
(16:42):
because I'm telling you when youget it and you learn how to
speak to the Father.
That way, holy smokes, I don'thave to worry about what the
enemy is doing in my life,because when I call him defeated
in the name of Jesus, when Itell him he has no authority in
my life, god hears that and goes.
I got you, I got you, and thething is, my wife's got me right
(17:06):
.
My wife won't leave me norforsake me, because if she was
gonna she woulda right.
I'm not saying she shouldn't,I'm saying I don't think she
will.
That doesn't give me a licenseto go and do whatever I want.
I respect that about her right.
But just because she won'tleave me nor forsake me, I know
that the Father will not leaveme nor forsake me.
(17:28):
Even more than that right, Ican be a real screw up, I can
fall short of the glory of God,but I know that I will always be
redeemed.
Amen.
We should be able to do that toone another.
Unity doesn't just attractpeople to other people.
It attracts the presence of God.
(17:48):
We are creating an atmospherethat welcomes the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Do we do that when we come inhere on Sunday morning, or do we
find ourselves whispering aboutpeople?
Do we find ourselves stuck in acorner being like did you
notice that Pastor Michael'swearing a tie today?
Wonder what's going on with him?
(18:10):
Did you guys notice that PastorHolly's hair is down?
Wonder what's going on with her?
Did you notice that so-and-soisn't here today?
Wonder what's going on withthem?
Listen, this isn't the place forthose conversations.
Neither is the parking lot,neither is the text messages
(18:31):
whenever church, because if weare truly unified, then we say
whatever is happening in theirlife, I'm gonna pray that God's
perfect will be done in allthings for them.
I'm gonna celebrate with themif they've had a victory.
I'm gonna be frustrated withthem if they're frustrated.
I'm gonna pray that God isgoing to celebrate with them if
they've had a victory.
I'm going to be frustrated withthem if they're frustrated.
I'm going to pray that God isgoing to take whatever is
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happening in their life and makeit bigger and better than
anything he has ever done in mylife.
Amen, because when I can getexcited for your wins, I can get
excited for anybody's wins.
Right, listen, god will dosomething great in every life
that he gets the ability totouch.
The problem is is, sometimes theChristians don't want to
celebrate that with one anotherand what we do is we take the
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unity that we are so called tocreate and we separate it by
your victory and my victory.
But the victory comes in thename of Jesus.
It doesn't come in the name ofMarcus or in the name of Michael
or in the name of Joe.
Victory comes in the name ofJesus.
It doesn't come in the name ofMarcus, or in the name of
Michael, or in the name of Joe.
Victory comes in the name ofJesus, and if I am a true
follower of Jesus Christ, I amexcited for the victory that
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happened in his name.
Amen.
I don't have to be worriedabout myself or glorify myself.
I have to give glory to God inall things.
Amen.
I need a nap now.
Are we truly creating anatmosphere that welcomes the
Spirit or one that divides?
(19:56):
In our homes, in our church, inour workplaces, even in our
commute to work?
We make a choice to bring unityor division in the body of
Christ?
Amen.
Poor Marcus, he always thinksI'm mad at him.
I feel bad for him.
(20:19):
He'll send me a text and Idon't respond and he's like he's
got to be mad at me.
I'm not mad.
Three to five business days,right.
It's worse now more than ever.
Sometimes I don't even knowwhere my phone's at.
That's today, baby, thissucker's laying at home
somewhere, but I don't careabout that.
But the thing is, I need him toknow and I'm never going to be
(20:43):
so upset with you that I willjust ignore you, right.
It's just not who I am.
I may text you back and you maystill feel like I'm.
I promise you, if you feel thatway, just ask.
Just ask, because I want unityin the body, not division.
I don't want anybody to everfeel like they have to be
(21:05):
worried about how I feel aboutthem or how somebody else feels
about them.
Listen, there is only unity,togetherness in the body of
Christ, amen.
You know there are some churcheswho do marriage counseling, and
I don't mean pre-marriage, Imean marriage counseling, so
like when a relationship is onthe rocks and they want to talk.
(21:25):
I've learned somethingcounseling so like when a
relationship is on the rocks andthey want to talk.
I've learned something I don'tlike doing that.
Here's the reason Y'all get adivorce.
I feel responsible for it.
Y'all work it out for six,eight months and then get a
divorce.
I feel responsible for it.
Right, it's not something funto do.
(21:48):
Now I will pour wisdom intoyour life and I will give you
all of the advice that I canpossibly give you.
However, know that on thebackside I am praying God's
perfect will.
Lord, should it be your will,because I believe that unity is
important in marriage.
Right, being in one accord,being able to have conversation
(22:10):
and honest conversation and sayI don't like what you're doing.
I feel this way, I feel thatway being able to have those
conversations, but, at the endof the day, if you have a spouse
that doesn't reciprocate, thatit's likely not going to end
well, right, but there are somechurches who do it, and when
they're doing it, they don'tcare if you get divorced or not.
I, on the other hand, careabout that.
(22:33):
Why do I care about that?
Because I care about you andwhere you're going to spend
eternity.
And here's the problem.
The church has gotten soft ondivorce too.
Right, because it's legallyacceptable.
So we get a little soft on itAt legally acceptable.
So we get a little soft on it.
At the end of the day, theBible tells us that we shouldn't
get divorced.
I'm not condemning anybodythat's been divorced, listen, we
are all covered by the grace ofGod, right?
But when you are in a perfectlyhealthy relationship and you
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choose to walk away becauseyou're obsessed with somebody on
Facebook listen, listen,chances are that girl you're
chatting with on FacebookMessenger is a dude.
Right, chances are it's somedude in Indonesia or whatever,
(23:20):
and you're sending him Bitcoinfor no reason, right, I'm
telling you, listen, listen, theenemy wants us to fall for
these traps.
God wants unity, the enemywants separation.
I am not willing to fall into atrap of separation for some
person on the internet, right.
(23:40):
I'm not willing to fall inseparation for some person
standing in front of me.
Listen, I promise you, Imarried up when God gave me
Alyssa.
He gave me a lot more than Ideserved and I am thankful for
that every day.
But the problem is the problemis you can look at a marriage
and go well, that's not aperfect marriage.
We never said it was.
We never said it was.
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We don't pretend like it is.
What we do is we learn how tocommunicate with one another and
we put Christ in the center ofeverything.
We put Christ in the center ofeverything.
Listen, god moves when hispeople are together in heart,
purpose and in spirit.
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Right, god doesn't move in mymarriage if we don't welcome the
Holy Spirit into that placeRight Now.
I always this is not a joke,but I always tell the story.
When we move into a new home,the first thing I do is I hang
our marriage certificate on thewall.
There's a reason for that.
That is what makes our house ahome.
(24:42):
Right, that marriagecertificate is more than a piece
of paper.
That marriage certificate saysthat in a piece of paper.
That marriage certificate saysthat in a covenant with God, we
have bound ourselves to oneanother Right.
But furthermore, that marriagecertificate is signed by
Florence.
Now, I know that many of youdon't see any value in that, but
two of my favorite women in theworld have signed that piece of
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paper.
World have signed that piece ofpaper, and I made a covenant to
her, to my wife and to God, andI feel all this pressure to
perform at a certain level,right To be a perfect husband
all the time.
I am so thankful that none ofthose people expected perfection
out of me, because I want to beperfect, I want to do the
absolute best, but I alsounderstand that I can't ever be
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what Jesus Christ was able to be.
I will never be that, but whatI will be is honest and what I
will be is willing to changewhen something I am doing has to
adapt.
See, that's the problem withthe church.
We want to talk about unity andwe want to pretend to be
unified, and we don't want totalk about the sin that we have
(25:48):
in our lives.
We want to talk about everybodyelse's sin.
Right, when we're gathering inthe corner and we're
chit-chatting about people, wewant to talk about their sin.
We don't want to ever talkabout the sin that consumes our
lives.
Sometimes that sin is simple.
There's kids in here, so Ican't start listing some of the
things that I know we arestruggling with in this building
(26:09):
.
God knows that we arestruggling with serious things
in this building.
I need you to know somethingthat does not separate you from
Christ.
So long as you don't allow itto consume you, sin is not
acceptable in the eyes of Christ.
You are covered by grace andmercy.
Grace and mercy is not alicense to continue to sin.
(26:31):
It should be a way that itshould consume you to change
your lifestyle, because you knowthat you are to please the
Father in all things.
Amen.
Listen, some of you will walkout of here today and go.
I am never doing that again andby dinnertime you've done it
again.
It will happen, but I promiseyou you need to look.
(26:51):
Keep your eye on the prize Aheavenly home, amen.
I don't need to worry aboutthis world.
I don't want to deal with thisflesh anymore.
I want to be focused on thespirit.
I want to be looking at whatGod wants to have in my life,
those things that I constantlygo back to.
That is not what God wants forme, because that creates
(27:14):
division between me and the HolySpirit.
Do you want to be in unison, inone accord with the Holy Spirit
?
Do you want to be in truerelationship?
Then you have to be honest.
You have to be honest.
You have to be honest withyourself, your spouse, your
friends, whoever it may be.
Listen, I've learned one reallyimportant thing in life If I
(27:37):
need to stop doing something, Ineed somebody to hold me
accountable for it.
Amen.
Anybody ever done anything theyknow they ought not do, but they
don't tell anybody about it.
So it's their little secret.
Woo-hoo, hallelujah.
Marcus, we all know yours isroller meat.
You don't have to pretend likethat's a secret, buddy.
If you want to eat less rollermeat, you need an accountability
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partner, right?
You need somebody to say Marcus, you don't need six hot dogs
today, right, probably can't beyour wife because you ain't
listening to that, you just get12 at that point, right, kidding
, I'm kidding.
We know that we do things, wesee it, we actively engage in it
, but then we say well, I don'tunderstand why my life isn't
(28:20):
going the way I expect it to.
Can I tell you why you areactively engaging in separation
from the Holy Spirit?
Actively engaging in separationfrom the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1-4.
Now this, you got it there.
Acts 1, 4?
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Yes, no, maybe.
Yeah, because you can only see,like Acts of the Apostle, you
can't see the whole thing.
Yeah, that's a good point.
Yeah, I got you all messed upback there today.
This is what Jesus told thedisciples.
He said once when he was eatingwith them.
He commanded them do not leaveJerusalem until the Father sends
the gift that he had promised.
(29:05):
As I had told you before, thatwas Jesus telling them that God
was going to send the greatcomforter, that he was going to
send the Holy Ghost, the HolySpirit, to be with them.
They were obedient to whatChrist had told them to do.
They were obedient to whatChrist had told them to do.
They sat there and waited andwaited, and waited.
(29:26):
And I can bet there wassomebody in the room that went
hey, you think we can go now,like, I don't think this is
gonna happen, right?
And those who were dedicated towhat the Lord had called them
said sit there and shut up.
We are waiting on God to sendsomething greater than Jesus.
(29:49):
Now, I know that you haven'twalked the earth with Jesus, but
you know he performed miracles.
Right, jesus was a pretty soliddude.
Jesus was healing people withsimply his clothing.
He didn't even have to touchthem.
Their belief allowed them to behealed.
And he's saying that he isgoing to send somebody greater.
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The Holy Ghost gives us comforton the inside.
Amen.
The Holy Spirit brings us peace.
It brings us joy.
It brings us joy.
It brings us happiness, and somany of us don't even know how
to feel those feelings.
You ever met that person inyour life?
That's just miserable.
All the time they don't knowthe Holy Spirit, because anger
(30:39):
and frustration and all of thosethings, that doesn't come from
God.
It does not come from God.
Dads, I want to ask a questionAre your kids allowed to touch
the thermostat in your house?
Your wife's not allowed totouch the thermostat.
Listen, I tried to lock mineout one time.
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My wife got on my phone andchanged the password.
She was like uh-uh, that ain'thappening in my house.
I tried to lock mine out onetime.
My wife got on my phone andchanged the password, she was
like uh-uh, that ain't happeningin my house.
There are some that, dave, areyou that way?
What do you set it at, dave?
Great debate.
What's your thermostat set atIn the summer or in the winter?
(31:21):
62?
You can hang meat in there,good gravy.
62?
You guys complain that it's 68in here.
Tina's sitting there with acoat on.
If Tina went to Holly's houseshe'd have to be dressed in a
Sherpa.
Have on winter boots likeJiminy Christmas.
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Good gravy, marcus.
Where do you keep yourthermostat set at 75?
Okay, a little warm in there.
What do we keep ours at?
72, 74, somewhere in thatwindow.
But now listen, we keep ours at74 because we don't like that
electric bill.
Right?
Air's expensive.
(32:07):
Here's the reason.
I ask that when you see somebodytouch it, what happens to you?
Right?
Like I'm going to breaksomebody's fingers, right?
Why are you touching?
You don't even understand.
Are you paying the electricbill, right?
Can I tell you that thatemotion is not from God.
It's a thermostat, folks, right?
Do you get what I'm saying?
(32:28):
Sometimes we allow our flesh totake over in the simplest of
situations, right?
Stephanie likes to go toPittsburgh.
She loves the city ofPittsburgh.
How many of you like to driveto Pittsburgh?
I hate driving to Pittsburgh.
No, loves the city ofPittsburgh.
How many of you like to driveto Pittsburgh?
I hate driving to Pittsburgh.
(32:48):
Now, here's the thing.
Here's the thing aboutPittsburgh.
You know that bridge that yougo under, where you have like
0.2 seconds to decide which laneyou need to be in before you
just have to drive off the sideof the bridge.
You know what I'm talking about.
Okay, listen, I get so muchanxiety driving through there,
like my fist clenched thesteering wheel and I can't
breathe until we're through it.
Right, that is not from God, Ipromise you.
(33:09):
It is not, but it's not thatbig a deal.
It is not that big a deal, butfor some reason, my body says
you know what you're doing,you've been through here a
million times, but I'm going toneed you to panic Right Now.
The Holy Spirit's like I gotyou, but I'm like you ain't got
me through this.
Unless this car gets wings, Idon't mind the tunnel, I don't
(33:33):
like the bridge.
Right, I'm looking up.
The cars are merging in frontof me.
It's nerve wracking, but myspirit just can't take over.
They can't win the flesh inthat moment.
Go over more often.
Listen, I sweat when I driveLike I can't like when I leave.
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My fingers are swollen fromgripping the steering wheel.
I ain't going more often.
Something wrong with you.
Something wrong with you.
Something wrong with you.
Jesus commanded them to waittogether.
He told them to wait togetherand they were obedient in that
waiting Amen.
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Waiting is hard, and waitingtogether can be even harder.
Right, we have waited upon theLord in this building since 2019
.
We knew God was going to dosomething greater, but when
COVID hit and we couldn't meethere, that was a scary time for
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us.
It was scary and we believedthat God would be doing
something great and we waitedand we waited and we waited
Together.
We waited and God has shown up.
He has done something soamazing in this place and when I
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look around and I see thenumbers are down and I count the
tithe and offering and I seethat the money is down, I think
to myself but, god, it is muchmore than any of those things.
Yeah, we need people in seatsin order to get people saved
right.
Yeah, we need money to keep theair on because, you know, holly
likes it at 62.
We have to be able to do thosethings.
(35:24):
But at the end of the day, ifwe are growing in Christ, that
is the ultimate goal, right?
And that comes with unity.
It does not come with division.
They didn't leave.
They didn't leave, they didn'tscatter.
They stayed together, trustingin the promise that Jesus had
(35:47):
made to them.
The greatest blessing oftendoesn't come in activity, it
comes in inactivity, right, like?
I get people who ask me thisquestion all the time.
Pastor Michael, why don't we doour own VBS?
Tried, that once, endedmiserably.
Pastor Michael, why don't wehave more things for kids to do?
(36:10):
Great, that sounds like youwant to volunteer, right, the
reason I don't worry aboutprograms right now, because
without volunteers, programsdon't exist and they can't
survive.
So I create it today and I killit tomorrow, right?
And then, well, pastor Michaeljust pulled the rug out from
under.
That You're right.
(36:30):
You know, every year, when we dothe Easter egg hunt, I think to
myself how are we going to pullthis off?
How are we going to pull this?
And every year we do it.
That is the one time that Iwill pour my blood, sweat and
tears into a program, because itis not for you, it is for our
community.
Right, listen, if you guysdon't want to show up, we won't
do it.
If you want to show up, we'lldo it.
(36:51):
The problem is you ask forthings.
Well, you know, we want to do aprayer walk, we want to do this
, we want to do that, we want tohave all of these things.
Why can't we do more?
And then you don't show up toit?
What's the point?
Why do we do a Wednesday nightchurch service?
If nobody comes to church onWednesday night, the same six,
(37:13):
eight, ten people show up onWednesday.
What's the point?
Listen, those people are saved.
We know they're saved.
They read their Bible.
We know what they're gettingfrom it right Now.
We love it because it's a timeto be refilled.
But, guys, those of us who donot have a solid foundation, who
are not in unity inside you,should be here if the doors are
(37:33):
open, because, I'm telling you,you need Jesus.
Probably more than other peopleneed Jesus.
Right, because you aren'tconnected, more than other
people need Jesus, right,because you aren't connected,
you aren't unified with the body.
I don't understand why we fightso much for programs but then
we don't show up for them.
What's the point?
What is the point?
Unity does not come from simplycreating a program.
(37:56):
Unity does not come from simplysaying I'll try to be there.
Unity comes from showing up,sitting next to people, knowing
that Jesus Christ is your Lordand Savior, praying for the
(38:16):
building, praying for thecommunity, praying for the
people around you.
Yesterday, alyssa and I got topray for a lady.
I don't know her, I don't knowfor a lady.
I don't know her, I don't knowwho she is, I don't know where
she attends church.
It didn't matter to me, becauseif you believe that Jesus
Christ is your Lord and Savior,then I'm not going to sing it,
but I want to sing it.
I want to sing it.
(38:39):
Come on, come on, nat justre-recorded it.
Natalie.
Come on, come on, nat justre-recorded it.
Natalie just re-recorded it.
I call Natalie Grant Nat.
Her and I are like that.
Her and I are like that.
We're friends like that.
Help me out here.
What?
Give me a break?
This is a re-recorded song.
It's the Russ Taft song fromthe 90s.
(39:00):
You're my brother, you're mysister, so take me by the hand.
Anybody know that one.
Together we will work until hecomes.
If you attended here whenFlorence was here, you know that
(39:20):
song, because every person inthis room would have to stand up
and hold hands and we'd swayback and forth like the who's
out in Newville and we wouldjust seriously, it was all the
time and I'm telling you, shewould look at you and go and you
would know that you were allholding hands that Sunday
afternoon.
Right, it's the truth.
But she believed that.
She believed that if you were ablood-bought child of the
(39:42):
Almighty, then you were part ofthe family.
Division wasn't something thatwas normal in church then.
Division is normal now becausethe enemy knows that it works.
Right.
Sometimes people feel likethey're not important.
They feel like they haven't.
Oh well, so-and-so doesn't talkto me, and that person doesn't
(40:02):
like me?
Oh, listen, it doesn't matter.
You are all together as onefamily in the name of Jesus
Christ, amen, okay.
Acts 2.14.
Lord, have mercy.
No, no, no, guys, I got a speedrun now, sorry.
(40:23):
Thank you, jesus.
Acts 2.6.
When they heard the loud noise,everyone came running and they
were bewildered to hear theirown languages being spoken by
(40:46):
the believers.
Now, this is the point in whicheverybody is speaking in
tongues.
Right, all of the people in theupper room are speaking in
tongues and there are peoplegathering around because they
can hear this noise and they'recompletely shocked because the
people who are speaking theselanguages are languages that
they shouldn't know.
They shouldn't understand them,but they do.
(41:09):
That is when you know that theSpirit is truly moving, amen.
Okay, unity does not meanuniformity.
Right, the spirit will noterase our differences when we
(41:29):
become one in Christ.
Right, we will all havedifferent opinions, we will all
have different viewpoints, wewill all have different lives,
we will see things and do thingsdifferently, but at the end of
the day, those things becomesecond best to who Christ has
called us to be in the body.
Amen.
So you may not believe exactlywhat I believe, but I'm going to
(41:51):
give you lots of grace andmercy, because it doesn't matter
, so long as you know that JesusChrist is your Lord and Savior.
Right Now, there are somethings I'm going to tell you.
Hey, that's not right, that'snot doctrinally sound opinion.
Right, but that's what we'recalled to do, that's what
pastors are called to do.
Now, I'm not going to try toshove something down your throat
(42:11):
.
Hey, listen, you don't want tobelieve that.
You need to pray about it.
Allow God to change your heart.
Allow God to change your mind.
Right, there are some people whoget so worked up over politics.
Listen, listen, jesus Christ isalways going to be king.
Nothing else matters to me.
Listen, bad things are going tohappen in this world.
(42:34):
Bad things are going to happenbefore good things happen.
Right?
They say it always gets darkestjust before you turn on the
lights.
Sounds like a crazy phrase, butit's true.
But when that light switchflips on and we all get called
to glory, none of this matters.
I focus on what matters, andthat's Jesus Christ.
Now the world is gonna get dark, it's gonna get ugly, it's
gonna be heated and people aregonna hate each other, but the
(42:56):
body of Christ has no place inthat world.
We don't need to hate oneanother.
Now my question is is why aren'twe dragging more people from
that darkness into the light?
Why aren't we going out intothe world and saying hey, I got
a question for you.
Do you know Jesus Christ isyour Lord and Savior?
And when the world looks at youlike you're crazy, know that
you have planted a seed and thatthere is hope for that person
(43:19):
to receive Jesus Christ.
Amen for that person to receiveJesus Christ, amen.
Unity breeds courage.
Isolation does not.
So when we separate ourselvesfrom the body, we do not gain
courage.
Now, courage is something thatwe need to understand as a very
(43:41):
important part of being aChristian and being a disciple
and being able to preach thegospel to the world.
Amen.
Because how many of you areconfident enough in your
relationship with Christ thatyou will say to somebody do you
know Jesus Christ as your Lordand Savior?
Not a lot of us, right, becausewe might do it, but we're gonna
do it to the people that we'vetalked to a hundred times.
You're not gonna do it to acomplete stranger, right?
(44:01):
Let me tell you we need to findcourage, and that courage can
be found in the body.
Togetherness was just thebeginning, because I want to
remind you that as they weretogether, they started to step
out and proclaim the name ofJesus.
So when we're together, that'swonderful, but we also have to
(44:28):
learn how to separate, conquerand divide.
Divide and conquer.
That's the right way to saythat Divide and conquer.
Because when Pastor Holly takestable, talk to Cadice.
She's not taking this wholebody with her right.
This body's not showing up andable to talk to Cadice.
She's not taking this wholebody with her right.
This body's not showing up andable to support her.
She goes out into thewilderness almost on her own.
(44:50):
She's got a team of people, butshe's the one front and center
preaching the gospel in some ofthe darkest places, right?
Are we praying for her in that?
Now, when I ask you about prayer, I'm being serious, I'm not.
Do you think about Pastor Hollyand her caddis event?
That's not what I'm asking you.
I think about Pastor Holly allthe time and all of the things
(45:11):
that she does.
You know, all of these youngwomen's walks and these prayer
things that she's doing at thegazebo.
She has you guys at her house,she has you here at the church,
everywhere.
There isn't an area of thiscommunity that she hasn't
covered, right?
And when you think about herand all of those ministries, do
you truly pray for her and thoseministries?
When Pastor Roger and I arehere working in the building,
(45:35):
are you praying for that project?
And what I mean is are you,lord, bless their hands, bless
the project, lord, let your willbe done.
Because if you're not doingthat, are you Lord, bless their
hands, bless the project, lord,let your will be done.
Because if you're not doingthat, if you're like oh yeah, I
forgot Pastor Holly's havingthat thing tonight.
Hope that goes well.
That means nothing, becausethat tells me that you have not
(45:56):
unified yourself with the HolySpirit.
Prayer above all else.
See, when we go out into thewilderness, we have to be
willing to pray for one anotherat a distance.
Those prayers know no bounds.
Right, I can stand here andpray for Dale, and that's just
as good as if I'm laying handson Dale, it's all the same.
(46:18):
But at the end of the day, wehave to understand that we can't
just sit around hoping thatthings go well.
Same.
But at the end of the day, wehave to understand that we can't
just sit around hoping thatthings go well, thinking that
well, I'm sure somebody willshow up.
Unity comes in prayer.
Unity comes in showing up.
Unity comes in being present inother people's lives.
(46:42):
Amen.
Pentecost should remind us ofthis.
If nothing else, god meets usin community, amen.
So when we are together and weare connected, god will show up.
He'll show up in your prayercloset, he'll show up at your
(47:05):
house, he'll show up whereveryou are.
But I'm telling you, god willshow up in community when we
walk out of worship, when I stepinto the pulpit on a Sunday
morning and the Spirit is movingso mightily.
Listen, god is doing somethinggreat.
We have to be willing toembrace it.
It happens because we are hereas a body of believers, knowing
(47:25):
that Jesus Christ is our Lordand Savior.
Amen, let's pray together.
Thank you, jesus.
Father, I thank you and I praiseyou for your presence in this
place.
Lord, that you are moving insuch a mighty way today in the
lives of the people who aresitting here, that, lord, that
you are moving in such a mightyway today in the lives of the
people who are sitting here,that, lord, as you move, they're
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finding themselves unified andconnected to the people sitting
next to them.
Father, not through flesh andblood, father, not through words
that are spoken, but throughprayer and through connection in
the bloodline of Jesus Christ.
Lord, we know that your bloodruns through our veins and if
that's the case, then I amrelated to each and every person
(48:07):
sitting in this room.
And that, lord, I find greatpeace in knowing that these
people are praying for me andthat I'm able to pray for them,
that my words can reach yourthrone and make everlasting
change in their lives, can reachyour throne and make
everlasting change in theirlives.
Father, you show up in everyway possible.
(48:29):
It is our responsibility toembrace that.
Move in our lives, touch ourhearts, give us a boldness to
declare the mighty name of Jesus.
We thank you and we praise you.
We give you honor and glory inthe mighty name of Jesus, and
(48:52):
the church says Amen.
Amen, amen.
Well, you can be seated.
Parents, as today is not anormal kids class day, we did
put together some baskets forthe kids in the back.
There are only seven, so oneper family, please.
But there's lots of stuffinside of the baskets Coloring
stuff, just different thingsthat they can play with, gives
them something to do quietly.
But the nursery is open.
(00:22):
So, yes, dawn was like wait asecond, do I have to go?
I'll stay.
Yesterday, my wife and Iactually my wife and kids and I
were blessed to be invited toDenison Foursquare, to the
summit, for, I'm sorry, that'swhat I meant Dover Foursquare,
(00:45):
the summit.
I'll get there For a pastor'sget together in the area, and it
was such a blessing to be there.
My kids were so excited to bethere.
Let me tell you they werethrilled to have to go to church
on Saturday in the middle ofthe day, right.
(01:06):
They loved every second of that, didn't they?
Amen, yeah, it was beautifuloutside and then when we got
home, it rained, right.
So they were really angry bythe time the day ended.
But what I realized was it'snot often that us pastors get to
get together and really get tojust pray for one another and
just be in that space.
(01:27):
And when we got in the car toleave, my wife said I really
love those things and I wasreally touched.
As we were sitting there, wehad lunch and then we went to
the sanctuary for a smallportion of worship and just
ministry time and Pastor LarryMassey from Cornerstone in
Coshocton delivered the message.
(01:48):
Now, if you've ever met PastorLarry, have any of you ever met
Pastor Larry?
Not many of you.
He's a man's man, right.
He looks like a lumberjack,right.
He's got these fingers that areabout that big around, like
he's just a big guy, but he'slike he doesn't mess around.
But he said to me, or he saidto the group for the first 30
(02:09):
years of my life I wasn'tallowed to cry.
I was told that I wasn'tallowed to cry because real men
don't cry.
He said so I'm making up forlost time as he wept and just
praised the Lord in all thethings that he had done.
But he had talked about aparticular passage of scripture
that each and every one of usknow, we love, we understand,
especially coming from aPentecostal church Amen.
(02:31):
You don't even know what I'mtalking about.
Don't say amen.
You don't even know whatpassage of scripture.
I'm just kidding Dale, right?
Yeah, it don't matter, it's theBible, right?
But he preached about somethingthat just you know, we know it
and we don't think about it andwe take it as part of who we are
, as part of our DNA, but thenwe skim over it.
But he was talking aboutwaiting on the Lord and I was
(03:00):
like man.
It is hard, it is probably oneof the hardest things you have
to do, but there is blessings inwaiting, amen.
And we can't always see them,we don't always understand that
there are blessings in thewaiting.
But as he told the story, Irealized there was something
just as important that we alwaysmiss.
When they were in the upper roomwaiting on the Lord, what were
they?
They were together, they werein one accord, they were all in
(03:24):
one place, together, becausethat's what Jesus told them to
do, amen.
You know we live in a timewhere division is the standard
right, that's the norm.
It dominates our lives, itdominates our families, our
communities and even ourchurches.
But, honestly, the early churchtold us what we need to
(03:46):
understand about being in oneaccord, in being in unity, amen.
And I, just every time I thinkabout it, I think about what
would Pentecost have looked likehad they all been alone or on
their own right.
Each of them would have gottenthese tongues of fire resting
(04:10):
upon their heads and they wouldhave started speaking in tongues
and in languages that they hadnever heard before.
But nobody would have cared,because nobody would have seen
it, because they would have doneit in isolation.
Amen.
They would have hidden thatfrom the Lord, they would have
hidden that from the peoplearound them, and I think every
(04:31):
time that we talk about thatstory, we have to remember that
they were together, andtogetherness can create an
atmosphere of God Whoo Right Now.
I don't know about you guys, buteven when I come in this
building by myself, there is apresence that rests here like no
(04:54):
other right Like I can.
We were talking about it whenwe were in Dover yesterday.
In their sanctuary there is apresence of the Lord that you
can almost touch.
Right.
It's the same here.
The problem is, oftentimes webecome complacent because we're
here all the time.
Right, many of us are in andout all week long.
We come in to grab a waterwhile we mow the grass, or we
(05:15):
stop and do this, or we stop anddo that and we get used to what
this experience is, and we getused to being in the presence of
the Lord, and then we start totake the presence of the Lord
for granted and then we don'tneed to be at church on Sunday
and we don't need to be atchurch on Wednesday, because you
know it's just the same stuff,right, but not everybody feels
(05:36):
that way.
I want you to look around thesanctuary right now.
Just take stock of the peoplewho are missing.
Now I don't want to get down oneverybody that's missing today,
because I know sometimes that'swhat it feels like I'm doing,
but if you look around and yourealize the people that are
missing, my question to you iswhy Some of us have to work.
Right, some of us havelegitimate reasons, but many of
(05:57):
us we wake up and we just don'tfeel like going.
I wake up every Sunday morningthinking, man, do I have to go?
Do that today?
Right, because the enemydoesn't want me here, he doesn't
want you here.
Because if we are here in oneaccord and we allow the presence
of God to rest upon us, thingswill change in our lives.
(06:18):
And when things change in ourlives, they change in our
community, amen.
And when they change in thecommunity, they change in the
world.
And what does the enemy have ifhe doesn't have the world?
He has nothing.
He has nothing.
So I want you to just take stockin who is missing today.
Okay, I want you to think aboutthat.
And then, if you are a wife andyou're sitting here and your
(06:39):
husband isn't here, I want youto take stock in that.
Okay, now, I'm not saying, gohome and yell at them or you
have to come to church with menext week, pastor.
I'm sick of Pastor Michaeltelling me you need to be at
church.
It's not what I'm saying, it'spray for your spouse, pray for
Lord, soften their hearts, allowthem to see what God is doing
in my life and that he can do itin their life too, amen.
(07:03):
So if you are sitting heremissing us, I want you to really
pray about that.
I want you to really, becausethe thing that I struggle with
is that on Saturday night, weposted on Facebook that we were
at this concert and we werehaving a great time, and then on
Sunday morning, we can't showup for church.
What's more important in life?
(07:24):
Is it the world or is it God?
Because I'm going to tell you Iwill miss church on occasion,
right Like it happens, but Idon't miss it out of choice.
I miss it because we're goingto go on a cruise in November
and I'm going to miss twoSundays.
I'm not telling you whichSundays, by the way, because I
know what you guys do.
(07:44):
You like to bounce out on thoseSundays?
Right, I will be gone.
Do you know how hard that'sgoing to be To be gone from this
place for two Sundays and nothave access to you for two
Sundays?
This community gives me strength.
This community gives me hope,because if he can do it here, he
(08:05):
can do it anywhere.
Amen, because when we cometogether, we can't stop the move
of the Spirit, even if wereally wanted to.
Amen, amen.
Listen, he is no respecter ofperson.
He didn't come here today.
God didn't show up here todaybecause Marcus showed up for
church.
That's not why God came.
God showed up because we camebelieving that he would.
(08:26):
Many of us came prayed up,knowing that God was going to do
something great in this place.
I tell you guys, all the time Ipray over every chair in the
sanctuary.
Every single Sunday morning, Iwalk through and just touch the
chairs and pray in the spirit,and I know that when I do that,
god is like I've got a personfor that seat.
I've got a person for that seat, and even the empty seats, he's
got a person for that seat, butthe enemy has convinced them
(08:49):
that that seat does not need tobe filled today.
Let me ask you a question Istoday a good day to be saved?
Oh, it's the best day.
Why is it the best day?
Because it's here right now infront of us.
Tomorrow's an okay day, buttomorrow it will be a great day
to be saved.
(09:09):
We can't wait on the world totell us when it's okay to be
saved, when it's time to show up, when it's time to be part of
the community.
We have to be ready everywaking hour.
Amen, all right.
So we're gonna to start in Acts, chapter 2, verse 1.
(09:30):
We're just going to read for afew minutes.
On the day of Pentecost, all thebelievers were meeting together
in one place, in one place,right, not several places, they
weren't scattered across towndoing Zoom, they were all in one
.
I couldn't figure out how toget on a Zoom if I wanted to.
That's how I know I'm gettingold.
Suddenly, there was a soundfrom heaven like the roaring of
(09:52):
a mighty windstorm.
It filled the house where theywere sitting.
Now, you don't often stand towait, do you?
How many of you go to thedoctor's office and stand?
Why don't you stand to wait, doyou?
How many of you go to thedoctor's office and stand?
Why don't you stand at thedoctor's office?
Because you know it's going tobe a minute, right?
I got a 2.30 appointment.
(10:13):
I might get in by three, right?
Thank you, jesus.
So we sit to wait because wedon't know what that's going to
look like.
They were sitting, waiting onthe Lord.
They were sitting and waiting.
Then what looked like flames ortongues of fire appeared and
settled on each of them, andeveryone present was filled with
(10:35):
the Holy Spirit and beganspeaking in other languages, as
the Holy Spirit gave them thisability.
On the day of Pentecost, allthe believers were meeting
together in one place.
Suddenly, there was a soundfrom heaven like a roaring and
mighty windstorm that filled thehouse where they were sitting.
The Holy Spirit did not comewhen they were scattered.
(10:57):
It came when they were togetherand unified.
Unity doesn't just attractpeople, it attracts the presence
of God.
Listen, we might all be greatfriends and we all want to hang
out with one another, right, butdo we do it so that God can be
present with us or do we do itso that we might just have
(11:23):
friends that we can talk to?
Listen, I love all of you, butwhen we're together, I want God
to be there too.
I want there to be a presenceof the Holy Spirit in that place
, and what I mean by that is Iwant the Holy Spirit to go
before me in everything that Isay.
I want the Holy Spirit to gobefore me in everything that I
(11:44):
do, because if I don't allowthat to happen, it just becomes
a free-for-all and we starttalking about other people and
we start acting ways that weknow we shouldn't be acting.
Right, we start doing things weknow we ought not be doing, but
we don't care because we didn'twelcome the presence of the
Spirit to be with us.
We met for social hour insteadof spiritual hour.
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Can I promise you that when youcome to a gathering of this
building, we typically aren'tgoing to start anything without
prayer, because prayer is thefoundation for all things that
we are going to do.
Right, I don't have arelationship with Christ if it
weren't for prayer?
Right, because that's how Icommunicate.
Now, if any of you are married,have a significant other and
(12:33):
you don't communicate, how longdoes that relationship last?
Not long at all.
Because if I'm frustrated and Ichoose not to tell my wife if
I'm worried and I choose not totell my if I'm stressed, if I'm
angry and I choose not to tellmy wife if I'm worried and I
choose not to tell my if I'mstressed, if I'm angry and I
choose not to tell my wife,she's going to sense all of
those things but she's not goingto know why I'm feeling them.
Right, that communication isimportant.
(12:55):
Jesus knows my heart.
I'm not hiding this from him.
Right?
Listen?
For the past week and a half Iwandered around my house.
Just give me peace, father,lord.
Just whatever it is.
Just give me peace, lord.
I just need you to understandthat I believe you and I trust
you and I know you're gonna dosomething great.
But my body, my flesh, it can'taccept it.
(13:18):
Right?
And when you're doing thatnonstop and you're in
relationship and in conversationwith him, mighty things are
going to take place in your life.
We cannot have relationshipswith one another that the Holy
Spirit is not welcome at Right.
So that means you can't come tomy house and not expect the
(13:41):
Holy Spirit to come with you,amen.
You can't be in a relationshipwith somebody and expect the
Holy Spirit to come with you,amen.
You can't be in a relationshipwith somebody and expect the
Holy Spirit to not be there,because through the presence of
the Holy Spirit, we are unified.
Right, big crowds, small crowdswhere two or more are gathered.
Right, when two or more aregathered.
So when there are two of ustogether, the Holy Spirit will
(14:04):
also be present.
God will also be present.
You know, I've been praying alot about that and I realize
that there are people who don'tunderstand the Holy Trinity
right.
To me, that's a scary thought,because when I say the Holy
Spirit is present with you, whenyou are filled with the Holy
(14:26):
Ghost, god is present inside ofyou, jesus is present inside of
you, because they are one in thesame.
There isn't a separation of thethree.
Right?
We all on the same page.
Am I scaring some of you?
Okay, I don't think you'rescaring anybody.
We're going to do a wholeseries on that, all right?
(14:47):
I was just telling my wife Ireally want to get really good
at doing sermon series with youguys, so that we can not just
hear the word, but we can learnthe word and we can absorb the
word Amen.
And there are so many of us whodo not understand the importance
of the Holy Trinity, so many ofus who don't even respect or
understand or even care to knowabout the Holy Trinity.
(15:08):
Right, I was talking tosomebody the other day actually
it's been a little while ago andthey asked me this question.
They said do you speak Hebrew?
No, and they said, well, oneSunday you were like up front
and you were like speaking alanguage I ain't never heard
before and I was like, well,okay, all were like up front and
you were like speaking alanguage I ain't never heard
before and I was like, well,okay, all right, so we're gonna
(15:31):
go down this path.
That's a heavenly language,that's how I communicate with
God, so that the enemy can'tintercept it.
Right, it sounds weird topeople who don't fully get that.
It is not.
I mean here's, this is whatwe're talking about, right,
right, I mean this is what we'retalking about, right, right now
.
Right, everyone present wasfilled with the Holy Spirit and
began speaking in otherlanguages, as the Holy Spirit
(15:52):
gave them this ability.
I remember one time Florencesaid to me have you been filled
with the Holy Spirit?
And I looked at her and I said,well, yeah, and she goes.
I don't know that I've everheard you pray in the Spirit,
and I was like man.
If my pastor hasn't heard it,who has?
(16:18):
Right, it's not something weshould be afraid of.
It's biblical.
The Bible tells us this isacceptable and that this is how
we should be.
And so I want to encourage youtoday that, as we are talking
about unity and we become onewith the Holy Spirit, we should
be seeking that experience.
Right, we should be looking forthat experience.
It's not something you canforce.
When God gives it to you,embrace it, don't hide from it,
(16:42):
because I'm telling you when youget it and you learn how to
speak to the Father.
That way, holy smokes, I don'thave to worry about what the
enemy is doing in my life,because when I call him defeated
in the name of Jesus, when Itell him he has no authority in
my life, god hears that and goes.
I got you, I got you, and thething is, my wife's got me right
(17:06):
.
My wife won't leave me norforsake me, because if she was
gonna she woulda right.
I'm not saying she shouldn't,I'm saying I don't think she
will.
That doesn't give me a licenseto go and do whatever I want.
I respect that about her right.
But just because she won'tleave me nor forsake me, I know
that the Father will not leaveme nor forsake me.
(17:28):
Even more than that right, Ican be a real screw up, I can
fall short of the glory of God,but I know that I will always be
redeemed.
Amen.
We should be able to do that toone another.
Unity doesn't just attractpeople to other people.
It attracts the presence of God.
(17:48):
We are creating an atmospherethat welcomes the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Do we do that when we come inhere on Sunday morning, or do we
find ourselves whispering aboutpeople?
Do we find ourselves stuck in acorner being like did you
notice that Pastor Michael'swearing a tie today?
Wonder what's going on with him?
(18:10):
Did you guys notice that PastorHolly's hair is down?
Wonder what's going on with her?
Did you notice that so-and-soisn't here today?
Wonder what's going on withthem?
Listen, this isn't the place forthose conversations.
Neither is the parking lot,neither is the text messages
(18:31):
whenever church, because if weare truly unified, then we say
whatever is happening in theirlife, I'm gonna pray that God's
perfect will be done in allthings for them.
I'm gonna celebrate with themif they've had a victory.
I'm gonna be frustrated withthem if they're frustrated.
I'm gonna pray that God isgoing to celebrate with them if
they've had a victory.
I'm going to be frustrated withthem if they're frustrated.
I'm going to pray that God isgoing to take whatever is
(18:51):
happening in their life and makeit bigger and better than
anything he has ever done in mylife.
Amen, because when I can getexcited for your wins, I can get
excited for anybody's wins.
Right, listen, god will dosomething great in every life
that he gets the ability totouch.
The problem is is, sometimes theChristians don't want to
celebrate that with one anotherand what we do is we take the
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unity that we are so called tocreate and we separate it by
your victory and my victory.
But the victory comes in thename of Jesus.
It doesn't come in the name ofMarcus or in the name of Michael
or in the name of Joe.
Victory comes in the name ofJesus.
It doesn't come in the name ofMarcus, or in the name of
Michael, or in the name of Joe.
Victory comes in the name ofJesus, and if I am a true
follower of Jesus Christ, I amexcited for the victory that
(19:35):
happened in his name.
Amen.
I don't have to be worriedabout myself or glorify myself.
I have to give glory to God inall things.
Amen.
I need a nap now.
Are we truly creating anatmosphere that welcomes the
Spirit or one that divides?
(19:56):
In our homes, in our church, inour workplaces, even in our
commute to work?
We make a choice to bring unityor division in the body of
Christ?
Amen.
Poor Marcus, he always thinksI'm mad at him.
I feel bad for him.
(20:19):
He'll send me a text and Idon't respond and he's like he's
got to be mad at me.
I'm not mad.
Three to five business days,right.
It's worse now more than ever.
Sometimes I don't even knowwhere my phone's at.
That's today, baby, thissucker's laying at home
somewhere, but I don't careabout that.
But the thing is, I need him toknow and I'm never going to be
(20:43):
so upset with you that I willjust ignore you, right.
It's just not who I am.
I may text you back and you maystill feel like I'm.
I promise you, if you feel thatway, just ask.
Just ask, because I want unityin the body, not division.
I don't want anybody to everfeel like they have to be
(21:05):
worried about how I feel aboutthem or how somebody else feels
about them.
Listen, there is only unity,togetherness in the body of
Christ, amen.
You know there are some churcheswho do marriage counseling, and
I don't mean pre-marriage, Imean marriage counseling, so
like when a relationship is onthe rocks and they want to talk.
(21:25):
I've learned somethingcounseling so like when a
relationship is on the rocks andthey want to talk.
I've learned something I don'tlike doing that.
Here's the reason Y'all get adivorce.
I feel responsible for it.
Y'all work it out for six,eight months and then get a
divorce.
I feel responsible for it.
Right, it's not something funto do.
(21:48):
Now I will pour wisdom intoyour life and I will give you
all of the advice that I canpossibly give you.
However, know that on thebackside I am praying God's
perfect will.
Lord, should it be your will,because I believe that unity is
important in marriage.
Right, being in one accord,being able to have conversation
(22:10):
and honest conversation and sayI don't like what you're doing.
I feel this way, I feel thatway being able to have those
conversations, but, at the endof the day, if you have a spouse
that doesn't reciprocate, thatit's likely not going to end
well, right, but there are somechurches who do it, and when
they're doing it, they don'tcare if you get divorced or not.
I, on the other hand, careabout that.
(22:33):
Why do I care about that?
Because I care about you andwhere you're going to spend
eternity.
And here's the problem.
The church has gotten soft ondivorce too.
Right, because it's legallyacceptable.
So we get a little soft on itAt legally acceptable.
So we get a little soft on it.
At the end of the day, theBible tells us that we shouldn't
get divorced.
I'm not condemning anybodythat's been divorced, listen, we
are all covered by the grace ofGod, right?
But when you are in a perfectlyhealthy relationship and you
(22:56):
choose to walk away becauseyou're obsessed with somebody on
Facebook listen, listen,chances are that girl you're
chatting with on FacebookMessenger is a dude.
Right, chances are it's somedude in Indonesia or whatever,
(23:20):
and you're sending him Bitcoinfor no reason, right, I'm
telling you, listen, listen, theenemy wants us to fall for
these traps.
God wants unity, the enemywants separation.
I am not willing to fall into atrap of separation for some
person on the internet, right.
(23:40):
I'm not willing to fall inseparation for some person
standing in front of me.
Listen, I promise you, Imarried up when God gave me
Alyssa.
He gave me a lot more than Ideserved and I am thankful for
that every day.
But the problem is the problemis you can look at a marriage
and go well, that's not aperfect marriage.
We never said it was.
We never said it was.
(24:01):
We don't pretend like it is.
What we do is we learn how tocommunicate with one another and
we put Christ in the center ofeverything.
We put Christ in the center ofeverything.
Listen, god moves when hispeople are together in heart,
purpose and in spirit.
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Right, god doesn't move in mymarriage if we don't welcome the
Holy Spirit into that placeRight Now.
I always this is not a joke,but I always tell the story.
When we move into a new home,the first thing I do is I hang
our marriage certificate on thewall.
There's a reason for that.
That is what makes our house ahome.
(24:42):
Right, that marriagecertificate is more than a piece
of paper.
That marriage certificate saysthat in a piece of paper.
That marriage certificate saysthat in a covenant with God, we
have bound ourselves to oneanother Right.
But furthermore, that marriagecertificate is signed by
Florence.
Now, I know that many of youdon't see any value in that, but
two of my favorite women in theworld have signed that piece of
(25:03):
paper.
World have signed that piece ofpaper, and I made a covenant to
her, to my wife and to God, andI feel all this pressure to
perform at a certain level,right To be a perfect husband
all the time.
I am so thankful that none ofthose people expected perfection
out of me, because I want to beperfect, I want to do the
absolute best, but I alsounderstand that I can't ever be
(25:26):
what Jesus Christ was able to be.
I will never be that, but whatI will be is honest and what I
will be is willing to changewhen something I am doing has to
adapt.
See, that's the problem withthe church.
We want to talk about unity andwe want to pretend to be
unified, and we don't want totalk about the sin that we have
(25:48):
in our lives.
We want to talk about everybodyelse's sin.
Right, when we're gathering inthe corner and we're
chit-chatting about people, wewant to talk about their sin.
We don't want to ever talkabout the sin that consumes our
lives.
Sometimes that sin is simple.
There's kids in here, so Ican't start listing some of the
things that I know we arestruggling with in this building
(26:09):
.
God knows that we arestruggling with serious things
in this building.
I need you to know somethingthat does not separate you from
Christ.
So long as you don't allow itto consume you, sin is not
acceptable in the eyes of Christ.
You are covered by grace andmercy.
Grace and mercy is not alicense to continue to sin.
(26:31):
It should be a way that itshould consume you to change
your lifestyle, because you knowthat you are to please the
Father in all things.
Amen.
Listen, some of you will walkout of here today and go.
I am never doing that again andby dinnertime you've done it
again.
It will happen, but I promiseyou you need to look.
(26:51):
Keep your eye on the prize Aheavenly home, amen.
I don't need to worry aboutthis world.
I don't want to deal with thisflesh anymore.
I want to be focused on thespirit.
I want to be looking at whatGod wants to have in my life,
those things that I constantlygo back to.
That is not what God wants forme, because that creates
(27:14):
division between me and the HolySpirit.
Do you want to be in unison, inone accord with the Holy Spirit
?
Do you want to be in truerelationship?
Then you have to be honest.
You have to be honest.
You have to be honest withyourself, your spouse, your
friends, whoever it may be.
Listen, I've learned one reallyimportant thing in life If I
(27:37):
need to stop doing something, Ineed somebody to hold me
accountable for it.
Amen.
Anybody ever done anything theyknow they ought not do, but they
don't tell anybody about it.
So it's their little secret.
Woo-hoo, hallelujah.
Marcus, we all know yours isroller meat.
You don't have to pretend likethat's a secret, buddy.
If you want to eat less rollermeat, you need an accountability
(27:59):
partner, right?
You need somebody to say Marcus, you don't need six hot dogs
today, right, probably can't beyour wife because you ain't
listening to that, you just get12 at that point, right, kidding
, I'm kidding.
We know that we do things, wesee it, we actively engage in it
, but then we say well, I don'tunderstand why my life isn't
(28:20):
going the way I expect it to.
Can I tell you why you areactively engaging in separation
from the Holy Spirit?
Actively engaging in separationfrom the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1-4.
Now this, you got it there.
Acts 1, 4?
(28:44):
Yes, no, maybe.
Yeah, because you can only see,like Acts of the Apostle, you
can't see the whole thing.
Yeah, that's a good point.
Yeah, I got you all messed upback there today.
This is what Jesus told thedisciples.
He said once when he was eatingwith them.
He commanded them do not leaveJerusalem until the Father sends
the gift that he had promised.
(29:05):
As I had told you before, thatwas Jesus telling them that God
was going to send the greatcomforter, that he was going to
send the Holy Ghost, the HolySpirit, to be with them.
They were obedient to whatChrist had told them to do.
They were obedient to whatChrist had told them to do.
They sat there and waited andwaited, and waited.
(29:26):
And I can bet there wassomebody in the room that went
hey, you think we can go now,like, I don't think this is
gonna happen, right?
And those who were dedicated towhat the Lord had called them
said sit there and shut up.
We are waiting on God to sendsomething greater than Jesus.
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Now, I know that you haven'twalked the earth with Jesus, but
you know he performed miracles.
Right, jesus was a pretty soliddude.
Jesus was healing people withsimply his clothing.
He didn't even have to touchthem.
Their belief allowed them to behealed.
And he's saying that he isgoing to send somebody greater.
(30:13):
The Holy Ghost gives us comforton the inside.
Amen.
The Holy Spirit brings us peace.
It brings us joy.
It brings us joy.
It brings us happiness, and somany of us don't even know how
to feel those feelings.
You ever met that person inyour life?
That's just miserable.
All the time they don't knowthe Holy Spirit, because anger
(30:39):
and frustration and all of thosethings, that doesn't come from
God.
It does not come from God.
Dads, I want to ask a questionAre your kids allowed to touch
the thermostat in your house?
Your wife's not allowed totouch the thermostat.
Listen, I tried to lock mineout one time.
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My wife got on my phone andchanged the password.
She was like uh-uh, that ain'thappening in my house.
I tried to lock mine out onetime.
My wife got on my phone andchanged the password, she was
like uh-uh, that ain't happeningin my house.
There are some that, dave, areyou that way?
What do you set it at, dave?
Great debate.
What's your thermostat set atIn the summer or in the winter?
(31:21):
62?
You can hang meat in there,good gravy.
62?
You guys complain that it's 68in here.
Tina's sitting there with acoat on.
If Tina went to Holly's houseshe'd have to be dressed in a
Sherpa.
Have on winter boots likeJiminy Christmas.
(31:42):
Good gravy, marcus.
Where do you keep yourthermostat set at 75?
Okay, a little warm in there.
What do we keep ours at?
72, 74, somewhere in thatwindow.
But now listen, we keep ours at74 because we don't like that
electric bill.
Right?
Air's expensive.
(32:07):
Here's the reason.
I ask that when you see somebodytouch it, what happens to you?
Right?
Like I'm going to breaksomebody's fingers, right?
Why are you touching?
You don't even understand.
Are you paying the electricbill, right?
Can I tell you that thatemotion is not from God.
It's a thermostat, folks, right?
Do you get what I'm saying?
(32:28):
Sometimes we allow our flesh totake over in the simplest of
situations, right?
Stephanie likes to go toPittsburgh.
She loves the city ofPittsburgh.
How many of you like to driveto Pittsburgh?
I hate driving to Pittsburgh.
No, loves the city ofPittsburgh.
How many of you like to driveto Pittsburgh?
I hate driving to Pittsburgh.
(32:48):
Now, here's the thing.
Here's the thing aboutPittsburgh.
You know that bridge that yougo under, where you have like
0.2 seconds to decide which laneyou need to be in before you
just have to drive off the sideof the bridge.
You know what I'm talking about.
Okay, listen, I get so muchanxiety driving through there,
like my fist clenched thesteering wheel and I can't
breathe until we're through it.
Right, that is not from God, Ipromise you.
(33:09):
It is not, but it's not thatbig a deal.
It is not that big a deal, butfor some reason, my body says
you know what you're doing,you've been through here a
million times, but I'm going toneed you to panic Right Now.
The Holy Spirit's like I gotyou, but I'm like you ain't got
me through this.
Unless this car gets wings, Idon't mind the tunnel, I don't
(33:33):
like the bridge.
Right, I'm looking up.
The cars are merging in frontof me.
It's nerve wracking, but myspirit just can't take over.
They can't win the flesh inthat moment.
Go over more often.
Listen, I sweat when I driveLike I can't like when I leave.
(33:57):
My fingers are swollen fromgripping the steering wheel.
I ain't going more often.
Something wrong with you.
Something wrong with you.
Something wrong with you.
Jesus commanded them to waittogether.
He told them to wait togetherand they were obedient in that
waiting Amen.
(34:17):
Waiting is hard, and waitingtogether can be even harder.
Right, we have waited upon theLord in this building since 2019
.
We knew God was going to dosomething greater, but when
COVID hit and we couldn't meethere, that was a scary time for
(34:38):
us.
It was scary and we believedthat God would be doing
something great and we waitedand we waited and we waited
Together.
We waited and God has shown up.
He has done something soamazing in this place and when I
(34:59):
look around and I see thenumbers are down and I count the
tithe and offering and I seethat the money is down, I think
to myself but, god, it is muchmore than any of those things.
Yeah, we need people in seatsin order to get people saved
right.
Yeah, we need money to keep theair on because, you know, holly
likes it at 62.
We have to be able to do thosethings.
(35:24):
But at the end of the day, ifwe are growing in Christ, that
is the ultimate goal, right?
And that comes with unity.
It does not come with division.
They didn't leave.
They didn't leave, they didn'tscatter.
They stayed together, trustingin the promise that Jesus had
(35:47):
made to them.
The greatest blessing oftendoesn't come in activity, it
comes in inactivity, right, like?
I get people who ask me thisquestion all the time.
Pastor Michael, why don't we doour own VBS?
Tried, that once, endedmiserably.
Pastor Michael, why don't wehave more things for kids to do?
(36:10):
Great, that sounds like youwant to volunteer, right, the
reason I don't worry aboutprograms right now, because
without volunteers, programsdon't exist and they can't
survive.
So I create it today and I killit tomorrow, right?
And then, well, pastor Michaeljust pulled the rug out from
under.
That You're right.
(36:30):
You know, every year, when we dothe Easter egg hunt, I think to
myself how are we going to pullthis off?
How are we going to pull this?
And every year we do it.
That is the one time that Iwill pour my blood, sweat and
tears into a program, because itis not for you, it is for our
community.
Right, listen, if you guysdon't want to show up, we won't
do it.
If you want to show up, we'lldo it.
(36:51):
The problem is you ask forthings.
Well, you know, we want to do aprayer walk, we want to do this
, we want to do that, we want tohave all of these things.
Why can't we do more?
And then you don't show up toit?
What's the point?
Why do we do a Wednesday nightchurch service?
If nobody comes to church onWednesday night, the same six,
(37:13):
eight, ten people show up onWednesday.
What's the point?
Listen, those people are saved.
We know they're saved.
They read their Bible.
We know what they're gettingfrom it right Now.
We love it because it's a timeto be refilled.
But, guys, those of us who donot have a solid foundation, who
are not in unity inside you,should be here if the doors are
(37:33):
open, because, I'm telling you,you need Jesus.
Probably more than other peopleneed Jesus.
Right, because you aren'tconnected, more than other
people need Jesus, right,because you aren't connected,
you aren't unified with the body.
I don't understand why we fightso much for programs but then
we don't show up for them.
What's the point?
What is the point?
Unity does not come from simplycreating a program.
(37:56):
Unity does not come from simplysaying I'll try to be there.
Unity comes from showing up,sitting next to people, knowing
that Jesus Christ is your Lordand Savior, praying for the
(38:16):
building, praying for thecommunity, praying for the
people around you.
Yesterday, alyssa and I got topray for a lady.
I don't know her, I don't knowfor a lady.
I don't know her, I don't knowwho she is, I don't know where
she attends church.
It didn't matter to me, becauseif you believe that Jesus
Christ is your Lord and Savior,then I'm not going to sing it,
but I want to sing it.
I want to sing it.
(38:39):
Come on, come on, nat justre-recorded it.
Natalie.
Come on, come on, nat justre-recorded it.
Natalie just re-recorded it.
I call Natalie Grant Nat.
Her and I are like that.
Her and I are like that.
We're friends like that.
Help me out here.
What?
Give me a break?
This is a re-recorded song.
It's the Russ Taft song fromthe 90s.
(39:00):
You're my brother, you're mysister, so take me by the hand.
Anybody know that one.
Together we will work until hecomes.
If you attended here whenFlorence was here, you know that
(39:20):
song, because every person inthis room would have to stand up
and hold hands and we'd swayback and forth like the who's
out in Newville and we wouldjust seriously, it was all the
time and I'm telling you, shewould look at you and go and you
would know that you were allholding hands that Sunday
afternoon.
Right, it's the truth.
But she believed that.
She believed that if you were ablood-bought child of the
(39:42):
Almighty, then you were part ofthe family.
Division wasn't something thatwas normal in church then.
Division is normal now becausethe enemy knows that it works.
Right.
Sometimes people feel likethey're not important.
They feel like they haven't.
Oh well, so-and-so doesn't talkto me, and that person doesn't
(40:02):
like me?
Oh, listen, it doesn't matter.
You are all together as onefamily in the name of Jesus
Christ, amen, okay.
Acts 2.14.
Lord, have mercy.
No, no, no, guys, I got a speedrun now, sorry.
(40:23):
Thank you, jesus.
Acts 2.6.
When they heard the loud noise,everyone came running and they
were bewildered to hear theirown languages being spoken by
(40:46):
the believers.
Now, this is the point in whicheverybody is speaking in
tongues.
Right, all of the people in theupper room are speaking in
tongues and there are peoplegathering around because they
can hear this noise and they'recompletely shocked because the
people who are speaking theselanguages are languages that
they shouldn't know.
They shouldn't understand them,but they do.
(41:09):
That is when you know that theSpirit is truly moving, amen.
Okay, unity does not meanuniformity.
Right, the spirit will noterase our differences when we
(41:29):
become one in Christ.
Right, we will all havedifferent opinions, we will all
have different viewpoints, wewill all have different lives,
we will see things and do thingsdifferently, but at the end of
the day, those things becomesecond best to who Christ has
called us to be in the body.
Amen.
So you may not believe exactlywhat I believe, but I'm going to
(41:51):
give you lots of grace andmercy, because it doesn't matter
, so long as you know that JesusChrist is your Lord and Savior.
Right Now, there are somethings I'm going to tell you.
Hey, that's not right, that'snot doctrinally sound opinion.
Right, but that's what we'recalled to do, that's what
pastors are called to do.
Now, I'm not going to try toshove something down your throat
(42:11):
.
Hey, listen, you don't want tobelieve that.
You need to pray about it.
Allow God to change your heart.
Allow God to change your mind.
Right, there are some people whoget so worked up over politics.
Listen, listen, jesus Christ isalways going to be king.
Nothing else matters to me.
Listen, bad things are going tohappen in this world.
(42:34):
Bad things are going to happenbefore good things happen.
Right?
They say it always gets darkestjust before you turn on the
lights.
Sounds like a crazy phrase, butit's true.
But when that light switchflips on and we all get called
to glory, none of this matters.
I focus on what matters, andthat's Jesus Christ.
Now the world is gonna get dark, it's gonna get ugly, it's
gonna be heated and people aregonna hate each other, but the
(42:56):
body of Christ has no place inthat world.
We don't need to hate oneanother.
Now my question is is why aren'twe dragging more people from
that darkness into the light?
Why aren't we going out intothe world and saying hey, I got
a question for you.
Do you know Jesus Christ isyour Lord and Savior?
And when the world looks at youlike you're crazy, know that
you have planted a seed and thatthere is hope for that person
(43:19):
to receive Jesus Christ.
Amen for that person to receiveJesus Christ, amen.
Unity breeds courage.
Isolation does not.
So when we separate ourselvesfrom the body, we do not gain
courage.
Now, courage is something thatwe need to understand as a very
(43:41):
important part of being aChristian and being a disciple
and being able to preach thegospel to the world.
Amen.
Because how many of you areconfident enough in your
relationship with Christ thatyou will say to somebody do you
know Jesus Christ as your Lordand Savior?
Not a lot of us, right, becausewe might do it, but we're gonna
do it to the people that we'vetalked to a hundred times.
You're not gonna do it to acomplete stranger, right?
(44:01):
Let me tell you we need to findcourage, and that courage can
be found in the body.
Togetherness was just thebeginning, because I want to
remind you that as they weretogether, they started to step
out and proclaim the name ofJesus.
So when we're together, that'swonderful, but we also have to
(44:28):
learn how to separate, conquerand divide.
Divide and conquer.
That's the right way to saythat Divide and conquer.
Because when Pastor Holly takestable, talk to Cadice.
She's not taking this wholebody with her right.
This body's not showing up andable to talk to Cadice.
She's not taking this wholebody with her right.
This body's not showing up andable to support her.
She goes out into thewilderness almost on her own.
(44:50):
She's got a team of people, butshe's the one front and center
preaching the gospel in some ofthe darkest places, right?
Are we praying for her in that?
Now, when I ask you about prayer, I'm being serious, I'm not.
Do you think about Pastor Hollyand her caddis event?
That's not what I'm asking you.
I think about Pastor Holly allthe time and all of the things
(45:11):
that she does.
You know, all of these youngwomen's walks and these prayer
things that she's doing at thegazebo.
She has you guys at her house,she has you here at the church,
everywhere.
There isn't an area of thiscommunity that she hasn't
covered, right?
And when you think about herand all of those ministries, do
you truly pray for her and thoseministries?
When Pastor Roger and I arehere working in the building,
(45:35):
are you praying for that project?
And what I mean is are you,lord, bless their hands, bless
the project, lord, let your willbe done.
Because if you're not doingthat, are you Lord, bless their
hands, bless the project, lord,let your will be done.
Because if you're not doingthat, if you're like oh yeah, I
forgot Pastor Holly's havingthat thing tonight.
Hope that goes well.
That means nothing, becausethat tells me that you have not
(45:56):
unified yourself with the HolySpirit.
Prayer above all else.
See, when we go out into thewilderness, we have to be
willing to pray for one anotherat a distance.
Those prayers know no bounds.
Right, I can stand here andpray for Dale, and that's just
as good as if I'm laying handson Dale, it's all the same.
(46:18):
But at the end of the day, wehave to understand that we can't
just sit around hoping thatthings go well.
Same.
But at the end of the day, wehave to understand that we can't
just sit around hoping thatthings go well, thinking that
well, I'm sure somebody willshow up.
Unity comes in prayer.
Unity comes in showing up.
Unity comes in being present inother people's lives.
(46:42):
Amen.
Pentecost should remind us ofthis.
If nothing else, god meets usin community, amen.
So when we are together and weare connected, god will show up.
He'll show up in your prayercloset, he'll show up at your
(47:05):
house, he'll show up whereveryou are.
But I'm telling you, god willshow up in community when we
walk out of worship, when I stepinto the pulpit on a Sunday
morning and the Spirit is movingso mightily.
Listen, god is doing somethinggreat.
We have to be willing toembrace it.
It happens because we are hereas a body of believers, knowing
(47:25):
that Jesus Christ is our Lordand Savior.
Amen, let's pray together.
Thank you, jesus.
Father, I thank you and I praiseyou for your presence in this
place.
Lord, that you are moving insuch a mighty way today in the
lives of the people who aresitting here, that, lord, that
you are moving in such a mightyway today in the lives of the
people who are sitting here,that, lord, as you move, they're
(47:46):
finding themselves unified andconnected to the people sitting
next to them.
Father, not through flesh andblood, father, not through words
that are spoken, but throughprayer and through connection in
the bloodline of Jesus Christ.
Lord, we know that your bloodruns through our veins and if
that's the case, then I amrelated to each and every person
(48:07):
sitting in this room.
And that, lord, I find greatpeace in knowing that these
people are praying for me andthat I'm able to pray for them,
that my words can reach yourthrone and make everlasting
change in their lives, can reachyour throne and make
everlasting change in theirlives.
Father, you show up in everyway possible.
(48:29):
It is our responsibility toembrace that.
Move in our lives, touch ourhearts, give us a boldness to
declare the mighty name of Jesus.
We thank you and we praise you.
We give you honor and glory inthe mighty name of Jesus, and
(48:52):
the church says Amen.
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