Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
For gladiators. The game will.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Pound you and punish you.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You think you can handle that, warner.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I think it's time I tried.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Right, Oh May we can underdog Lady t G.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
And the one thing that invites the favor of God
on our life like Sime, and that will open our
eyes to see him more clearly so that we don't
miss him when he comes into our circumstances trying to
speak to us, to answer us, to make himself a
parent in our lives. The one thing that opens up
our eyes is God's spirit on us.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
And if you want, if.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I want God's spirit on our lives, then we got
to decide to live.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Hey, so glad to be with all of you.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Listen, don't even take your seat yet. Let me just
let me just go ahead and read God's word over
you while you're standing.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Is that all right?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I think every now and then we ought to just
stand up when God's word is read to remind ourselves
who's talking to us. Listen to Luke chapter two, verse
twenty one through about verse thirty two or so. When
Jesus was about eight days we're completed, he was circumcised.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
His name was then called Jesus.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
The name given by the Angel before he was conceived,
and when the days for purification according to the Law
of Moses were completed, that's about forty days after Jesus
was born, or so, so he's forty days old. They
brought him into Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
Every firstborn male that opens.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
The wound shall be called holy to the Lord.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
And they came to offer sacrifices according to what was
said in the Law of the Lord. A pair of
turtle doves or two young pigeons, and behold, somebody say behold.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Come on, y'all, say behold, and behold. There was a
man in Jerusalem.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
This guy's name was Simeon, and he was righteous and
devout and looking for the consolation of Israel. And the
Holy Spirit was on his life. And it had been
revealed to him by the Spirit that he would not
see death until he had caught sight of Jesus. So
(02:12):
he came into the spirit into the temple. And when
the parents brought in the child Jesus to carry out
the custom of the law, Simeon saw him. He recognized
that this little baby was Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
He gathered the baby up in his arms.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
He blessed the child, and he said, Lord, now you
can let me depart in peace. I don't have to
see anything else. I haven't yet seen this guy perform
one miracle. Lazarus hadn't been raised from the dead, the
sick have not yet been healed, deaf ears haven't yet
been open.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I haven't seen any of that. But once I've caught
sight of the Savior.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Lord, he says, you can let me depart in peace
because my eyes have seen your salvation, which you've prepared
in the presence of all the people. He's a light
of revelation to the gentiles and the glory of thy people, Israel.
Thank you for letting me see Jesus. Lord, open up
our eyes so that we can see you. Lord, open
(03:09):
up our spiritual ears so that we can hear you.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
God.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
We are sitting on the edge of our seat because
we are anxious to see how you will introduce re
introduce yourself to us today.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Lord.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I'm so grateful that all of us is here, But we.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Didn't come to see each other. We came to see you.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
So Lord, come, we're your daughters and we want to
see you in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Everybody agreed when.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
They said, amen, give somebody a high five before you
take your seat. I'm so grateful and I'm so honored
to have an opportunity to be here with you and
to sharing God's word.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
I believe in the power of the word of God.
I do parent.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Chris has told you three sons, they are giants. I
just have giants walking around my house.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
My nearly sixteen.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Year old is six foot two inches to his fourteen
year old brother is the exact same height. They both
wear size fourteen men's shoe. My youngest son, his name
is Jude. So I've got Jackson, Jerry, Junior, and Jude.
And we named our third son Jude on purpose because y'all,
that's as close as I could get to revelation. Because
it is finish, that is it. It's the end of
(04:19):
the line, and they're giants. Somebody come help me feed
these people.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
That's all I do is try to feed the boys.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
And I remember this particular weekend because I was in Memphis, Tennessee.
They were very little at the time, and I remember
being very, very tired on this particular trip.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
I could not wait to.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Get to the location in Memphis Tennessee so I could
get to the hotel. I'd had an early flight and
was very excited to be at the hotel early so
that I could immediately go and get in the bed.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
And go to sleep early that night.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
I was so happy to have that opportunity, and so
I arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, was picked up at the airport,
driven by a sweet woman who would come from the
church where I was going to be at their conference.
She'd come and pick me up, took me to the hotel,
and it was about seven thirty in the evening.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I was so happy. She said, would you like to
go out to dinner first? I was like, oh no,
I get.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
To go into this hotel room all by myself and
have the.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Bed all to myself. I could not wait.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
So I lay down watched a little sting on television.
I thinking about eight thirty. I mean, I was out.
I needed all those hours of rest, except that around
three am or so, I was.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Jarred awake, jolted awake.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
By a train that started to go by right outside
the back of the hotel. There were train tracks that
were just a few feet behind the hotel.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
The conductor was sitting on the horn.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
The entire time that all of the cars of the
train went by, I was jolted awake, and I went
immediately to the window and looked outside, and I saw
how close that train actually was.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
And then you know, you have.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
To kind of sit there and wait for the whole
thing to pass. And this wasn't a small train, this
was one that goes on and on and on. Finally
it passed, and I tried to get back to sleep,
but really couldn't nestle down into a good sleep.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I knew I had to be up really early.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
In the morning, so I couldn't sleep real well, but
did my best.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Got up in the morning. The sweet woman from the
church came picked me up.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I got in the car, didn't say anything about the train,
had a great long day at the at the church,
at the conference, and then could not wait to get
back to the hotel so that I could try to
get a.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Good night's sleep.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
This was going to be the night that I got
all my good hours of sleep.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
In before having to go home the next day.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
And so I lay down in the bed about eight
thirty nine o'clock in the evening, fell into a very
deep sleep until three am.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
In the morning when a train went roaring by.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
The conductor sitting on the horn the entire time did
the train went by. This time, I was jolted awake,
went and looked at the train outside of the window,
and I thought, I can't wait for the sweet woman
from the church to come pick me up so that I.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Can tell her about this train that is passing.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
By right outside the door or outside the back of
this hotel.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So when she came, I sat down in the car.
I said, thank you so much for picking me up.
I got to ask you about this train.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I described to her how at three o'clock in the morning,
for the last two nights, this train had gone roaring
by in the back of the hotel. As I explained
it to her, I felt bad for her because it
was like it was occurring to her, dawning on her,
like she was reminded about this train that comes through
their community. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, and
she said, Priscilla, I am so sorry. I totally forgot
(07:37):
about that train. And she said, the reason why is
because those of us who live in this community have
gotten so used to the sound of the train that
we don't even recognize it anymore. That train comes by
two or three times a week every week, and we
paid little attention to it because we've lived.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Here so long that we've gotten so used to the.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Sound of the train that when it comes, we don't
reckonize it. We've been desensitized to the train in this community.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
It occurs to me that those of us who live,
particularly in this part.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Of the world, where we have been overwhelmingly blessed by
the presence and the power of God among us, we're
here in this country. You and I can go on
a Saturday to a Christian women event like this one,
or we can go to a Christian bookstore when we
can pick up any Bible in any translation, in any language.
Or we can turn on Christian radio and listen to
(08:28):
gospel if you like that, or contemporary Christian music if
you like that.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
We have options available to us.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Could it be that we have lived in this neighborhood
of blessing for so long that when the train of
God's glory wants to fall in unusual way, when He
wants to show up in power and in glory, that
we have become so used to it that we don't
even recognize his blessing anymore that we've become so desensitized
(08:56):
to God's presence among us that it doesn't cause us
as an always should, for us to fall to our
knees and adoration, our arms outstretched and worshiped that God
would visit us in this unique.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Beautiful way.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Lord, help us to never be desensitized to the train
of Your glory.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
And in the Old Testament or in the New Testament, rather.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
In the book of Luke's Gospel, I love so much
because Luke writes about people who encounter the train of
God's glory in the person of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
He gives a story after story, encounter after.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Encounter of Jesus meeting with people and transforming their life.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
He included a handful.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Of these stories so that you and I would be
not only reminded of their encounter with Jesus, but recognize
that they are not exceptions to the rule. They are
examples for us of the encounters that we should also
expect to have with Jesus. And listen, this should be
your goal, not just hearing about him, but experiencing him.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
That should be your goal.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Like your appetite should be wet, your heart should hunger
for more than just a knowledge of who Jesus is.
You ought to come to the place, I ought to
come to the place in my relationship with the Lord.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
We're more than anything else.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
We want to see him with our own eyes. We
want to hear his voice with our own ears.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
That the same God who divided the Red Sea in.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
The Old Testament, the same God who raises Lazarus from
the dead in the New Testament, the same God that
did those things. We don't want to just celebrate it
in the lives of other people. We want to stand
in line to have it encounter.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
With God like that ourselves.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Luke writes about encounters because he wants to wet our
appetite to have an encounter with Jesus Christ. Because listen, y'all,
we have wasted our time if all we've done is
come here on this Saturday to applaud what Jesus did yesterday.
I'm so glad about what my God has done yesterday.
But I want to see him today, anybody interested. I
(10:57):
want to see him in my own marriage, and in
my own finances and raising my kids, and on my
job and in my ministry.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I want to see and encounter the power of the.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Almighty Living God. That's what today is about. It's to
make you hungry again. It's to wet your appetite again.
It's to not let when the day ends something to
end in your life, but really to launch you forward
to a brand new beginning.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
And an adventure with Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
So Luke writes about encounters, and he writes during a
time when the nation of Israel is experiencing national depravity
and decay.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
They have been.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Oppressed by oppressors who have come in and stolen from
them much of what they valued. They are living in
a place of oppression and a praise of destruction. And
Luke writes to them during this time when their nation
is in trouble, and I don't know if if you've
noticed or not, but our nation is in trouble. We
are living during a time of moral and social decay
(11:58):
and decline like never for and listen. The more God
is marginalized, the more he's segmented to the periphery of society,
the more he is completely ignored or disregarded, the more
we will continue to see an influx of chaos and
an influx of destruction in our nation. But Luke doesn't
just write to people who have national trouble. Luke is
(12:21):
writing to people that have individual personal struggles. They've been
waiting on a hero to show up. They've been waiting
for the Kingdom of God to be at hand. They've
been waiting for the prophecies of all to come to flourish,
that there would be a Messiah, a savior who would
come and rescue them from all that they've been experiencing nationally,
but also the things that they have been experiencing personally.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
So I know our nation is.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
In trouble, but I didn't really come to talk to
you today about what's happening in the White House.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
I want to talk to you about what's happening in
your house, underneath the roof of your home, the trouble
that might be happening in your.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Marriage, the thing that causes the here's to fall down
from your eyes in regards to your kids, or your finances,
or your health, or on your job or in your ministry.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
You, like the children of Israel, like me.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Been waiting on a hero, somebody who can come in
and speak life to the dead places and refresh the
dry places of our life.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Luke is writing for people who need an encounter with
a God like that.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
And I just want to tell any of you that
might be in a struggle personally underneath the roof of
your own house and the landscape of your own house, and.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
You're in a struggle, You're in a time.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Like Luke writes to where man things are just plain old,
flat out difficult.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
I just want.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
To suggest to you the possibility that sometimes sometimes your
difficulties are less about the enemy being against you and
more about God wanting to show you what it looks
like when He's for you. Sometimes the stuff that you
are facing, this stuff that I'm facing, that are difficult,
(14:02):
it's less about the enemy being against you, and sometimes
it's just about God allowing a stage to be set
in your life to where when He shows up, you
will never ever doubt again that you've had an encounter
with Jesus. So the children of Israel need an encounter
with a Messiah. They need an encounter with Jesus Christ.
(14:23):
And finally Jesus arrives on the scene after four hundred
years of silence between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Jesus arrives on the scene after centuries of waiting after prophecy,
desiring to be fulfilled, Jesus shows up on the scene.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Their hope has finally been fulfilled. But here's the tragedy.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
When he comes, he does not come as they've supposed
he would. He is not on a throne, he is
not riding a white horse. He is not coming in
power and vengeance and authority that they had mirrored in
their oppressors, that they had pictured that their messiah would come.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
And know he is born as a baby.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
All of that deity and authority and miraculous working power
that they longed for was packaged in the skin of humanity,
and a small human at that.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
This is not what they wanted. It's not what they recognized.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
It wasn't the expectation they had built up in their heads.
So when he came, they did not recognize him.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
When he showed up because he was.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Not in the package that they had pictured in their minds.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
He didn't come in the package they had prayed for.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
He had come in a different way because he did
not meet their expectations. When he showed up, they did
not recognize him. In the passage that we read Jesus
as being brought into the temple. He is being carried
by his mother Mary. Joseph is along for the ride
as well. They have come with Jesus about forty days old,
(15:53):
into the temple. They are in a religious gathering where
people have come to perform their religious duties.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
And all the people who.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Are gathered that day are in the presence of the
one they prayed for and do not know him when
he comes.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Would you please notice that they're not just anywhere.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
They are in the temple and still don't recognize the
presence of God. I want to suggest to you that
it is possible to be at Propel and not see Jesus.
I want to tell you that it is possible for
you to be in your church every single Sunday, which
I pray you are, but you can be in your
church and not have an encounter with Jesus. I want
(16:33):
to tell you that I'm so glad many of you are.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
In Bible studies. Stay in Bible study.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
But you can read a verse a day to keep
the devil away until you are blue.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
In the face. But if you read the scriptures with a.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Hardened heart, with your eyes not open, you can be
filling your days with the duty of religious activity, and
never catch sight of the lover of your soul, never
have an encounter an experience with Jesus. All these people
were in the presence of Jesus Christ and did not
know him when he came. Because oftentimes, many times, when
(17:08):
the Lord comes to minister to you, to speak into
your life's circumstances, he will come in a.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Way that is not the way you expected. Why because
his ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not
our thoughts.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
As high as the heavens are above the earth, that's
how high his ways and his thoughts are.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Above our own. And what I attempt to do, what
you often attempt to.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Do, I'm sure, is to dumb him down so that
his ways match our ways, his thoughts match our thoughts.
We want him to answer our prayers the way we've
prayed them. We want the solutions that work out in
our minds to be the solutions that will be best
given the scenario that we see, given the prayer request
that we've prayed. But y'all, sometimes we pray for growth
(17:54):
and he answers with rain. Sometimes we pray for oak
trees and he answered with an acorn.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
And when the answer comes for your marriage, when the.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Answer comes for your parenting, when the solution that God
listen today, God is going to give some of you
solutions and divine strategies for things that are happening in
your life and on your job and in your finances,
the struggles that you're facing.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
And I'm saying, when he answers.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
If the answer does not come in the package that
you have expected, will you miss it because you want.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Your way not his way? And so Jesus he comes, and.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
He's in a pool of religious people and they do
not recognize the presence of God near them. Now, I
want to open up a little parenthesis here before we
jump to a specific.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Person that I want to draw your attention to.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
He's the only person in the text who actually sees Jesus.
But I want to open up little parenthesis because you
may have recognized.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
That Luke went into a whole lot of detail.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
To tell us something about the Text's one thing I
love about Luke is that he gives us details. I
like all the juice and all the details out of
the text so that I can get a full picture
painted of what's happening in the story.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
And Luke wants us to know that Mary.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
And Joseph are coming for the ceremonial dedication of their
firstborn son.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
It's what everybody did.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
That would come to Jerusalem, particularly during this time when
they had a newborn son, to present their newborn son
to the Lord.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Get the picture of this. The Lord in this case
is being presented to the Lord. And they come in,
and Luke writes and tells.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Us exactly what they have with them other than the baby.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Jesus says that Mary had.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Two turtle doves or two pigeons for her sacrifice. Now,
that wouldn't really be of interest, except that we know
from Leviticus, from the sacrificial system that had been set
up divinely mandated by God in Leviticus, that when someone
came to make their sacrifices, they did need two animals
to be sacrificed. One was a pigeon or a turtle dove.
(19:58):
The other was supposed to be a lamb. That they
were supposed to.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Bring a lamb with them.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
But we find in Luke's gospel that he's made sure
we know Mary and Joseph do not have their own lamb.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Luke chapter twelve.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Tells us or Leviticus chapter twelve tells us that there
was a caveat for why someone would not bring a
lamb to be sacrificed.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
There's one little verse Luke chapter twelve, verse eight.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Or so that says if someone could not afford a lamb,
if their financial resources were so that they could not
buy for themself a lamb to bring into the temple
to be sacrificed, there would be an exception made for them.
They could bring two turtle doves instead of one turtle
dove and a lamb. They could just bring two turtle doves,
but that was a symbol of the fact that they
(20:44):
were insufficient in some way.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
They did not have the finances.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
To buy their own lamb, which means when Mary and
Joseph came on that particular day with their two turtle
doves in tow, people would have automatically looked at them,
recognize them as a couple who had insufficient funds, as
a couple who was inadequate in some way, as a
couple who had lack and who had knees. I wonder
(21:10):
how many people turned their noses up at the couple
who could.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Not afford their own lamb.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
I wonder how many people ignored the poor couple who
didn't fit in with everybody else who had been able
to purchase their own lamb. I wonder how many people
did not get.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
An opportunity to have an encounter with the.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Baby Jesus because they ignored the people who had him
carried in their arms.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
I want to speak to anybody who's in this room
and you've.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Ever felt excluded or ignored from the click of people
who have the money to.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Buy their own lamb.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
They drive the car, and they live in the house,
and they are able to communicate or to experience life in.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
A certain way. That man, you just can't afford.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Maybe you've got lacked financially, or you've got lack emotionally,
you have lack relationally, you have poured everything out and
you find it that you've got insufficient funds in some
way in your life and you can't afford what it
looks like everybody else can afford. And you've been ignored
or ostracized. People have turned their noses up with you.
(22:14):
Can I just tell you that sometimes you don't need
to have your own lamb when you can carry the
lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
In fact, the lamb is most often best experienced in
the lives of those who have insufficient funds.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
In fact, I think it.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Is our affluence that keeps us from actually having an
encounter with the living God. We've become so used to
being able to bless ourselves that we don't have a
real authentic relationship with the bless or. We are so affluent,
we have prosperity, particularly in this part of the world
where listen, if you're poor in this country, you're rich
(22:58):
in other countries ye, where we've been able to sustain ourselves,
where we know where our next meal is coming from,
where we choose from a closet full of clothes as
to what clothes we're going to wear to a particular event,
where we might have financial struggles.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Everything is not.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Perfect, but we still have our daily needs met. It
is sometimes in our affluence, because our arms are so
full of the lambs we have bought for ourself, we
actually don't even have rooin. We don't have margin to
have an intimate, ongoing relationship with the lamb of God
that takes away the sins of the world. Lord forgive
(23:34):
us when we've turned our noses up at people who
don't have all.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Of the external markings of affluence. In doing that, we
have missed out.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
On the blessing of having a relationship with the people
who often have the most intimate relationships with Jesus Christ.
Because sometimes, y'all, those people are not in the spotlight.
They're the ones behind the scenes. Sometimes those are the
people that are not in megatorch churches.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
They're in store from churches.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Sometimes there are the people that are not the ones
on the platform with the microphone in their hands. They're
the people that volunteer their time to clean up in
a sanctuary like this, to sweep.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Up after us.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
They're the people who volunteer their time to be in
the Sunday school teaching our second graders and third graders
so that you and I can enjoy an opportunity like that.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Lord forgive us when we ignore.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Those people and clamor after the people whose gifts happen
to put.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Them in the spotlight. But we ignore those people are
who are an intercessory prayer.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Who are on their knees in the secret quiet places,
the lamb of God tucked within their arms, having an
intimate encounter with him, but we ignore them because they
don't look like us, or dress like us, or drive
what we driver, live where we live.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
So if you've ever been that person, the.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Text speaks to you today that it was Mary and
Joseph who did not have what everybody had, but they
had what everybody else didn't have.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
And so they come into the building.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Nobody recognizes that Jesus has arrived.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Except one person.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Luke writes at the top of the passage, he writes,
and behold, somebody say behold.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Come on, y'all, say behold.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Anytime an author and the text writes that word, it
isn't a throwaway word. It isn't something that you just
need to skip or skim over quickly. Anytime you read
behold in the text, the author's trying to tell you
lean in, put your chin in your hands, just in
case you kind of fell asleep during all the minutia
and the fine details.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
That led up to this moment.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
This is when the author wants you to open up
your eyes and sit up straight, because there's somebody he
wants you to meet. He says, behold, there was a
man named Simeon. And when no one else recognized the
presence of God. When God came near, there was one
guy who did. And if in this room today there
(26:06):
are only gonna be a handful of us who actually
have an encounter with God, I'm talking about where we
hear his voice when we our hearts are set aflame
by the Holy Spirit, when you when we get some
direction for the purpose that He has for our life.
If there's gonna be a whole lot of us who
haven't experience today, but.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Only a few that actually encounter the.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Living God, that I don't know about you, but if
there's only gonna be a few, I want to be
one of them.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Anybody.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
So Luke says, pay attention, because there's one guy that's
going to show you how to have your eyes open
so that you aren't just in the religious place, but
so that you encounter a holy, living God.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
He says, there's a man named Simeon. He's righteous, devout,
and he's looking for the consolation of Israel. His eyes
are open, pealed to the horizon, waiting for Jesus in
whatever package he chooses to come, waiting for an en
counter with the long awaited Messiah. And then he gives
us at least the one There are many throughout this text,
(27:07):
but the one characteristic of his life that I believed
opened up Simeon's eyes to.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Catch sight of God.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
That will open up our eyes to catch sight of God,
he says. At the bottom of verse twenty five, he says,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him. Luke says, Simeon's
eyes were open to catch sight of God because God's
(27:38):
Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit is the greatest
gift you will ever receive this.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Side of eternity.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
The moment you place faith in Jesus, the moment you
receive Jesus as your personal savior. I don't know if
you knew it or not, but you received in that
moment the greatest gift you will ever the Holy Spirit
of God. And the Holy Spirit is not a ghost
or a wind, or a fire or a dove.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
He is often symbolized by those things, but y'all, they
ain't who he is. The Holy Spirit is.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
The third person of the Trinity. Not third because he
is least in value, just third because he is the
last to be revealed to us in the pages of scripture.
But all of the fullness, all of the power, all
of the authority, all of the greatness, all of the
grandeur of God the Father is in the person of
the Holy Spirit, which means when you place faith in
(28:31):
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in you,
that now means that all of the.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Power, all of the glory, all of the grandeur, all.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Of the greatness of God the Father now lives on
the inside of you.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Ephesians Chapter one says.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
The moment you believe, you receive the Holy Spirit with promise,
you are not waiting.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
On the Holy Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit right now.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
You did not receive the Holy Spirit in installment plans.
You can't give away a person in parts. All of
the Holy Spirit you ever gonna get. You got the
moment you got saved. Now we need to be filled
by God's spirit as we yield to His conviction in
our life, in obedience, as what is happening in us
(29:15):
becomes an outward expression, as our behavior is modified, as
we are sanctified. Somebody say sanctified.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
That means as we are molded into the image.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Of Christ Jesus, so that we start to think like him,
and talk like him, and walk like him, and behave
like Jesus. Jesus behave. We need to be filled by
God's Spirit. But when you God saved, listen to me,
you received.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
The Holy Spirit of God. God's Spirit is in you.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
The benefit of this is all of the fruit of
God's Spirit is available to you. That means that there
is gentleness that you don't have in your own natural
ability for that person or that problem that now you
were able to have that is beyond your.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Own next capacity. Because the Holy Spirit, what.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
He does is help us to live beyond ourselves.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
When we've come to the end of our patients.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
You know what that one coworker, that one that if
she says one more thing to you, you're going.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
To knock her out. That one.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
The Holy Spirit is the one that gives you patience
when your patience has long since run out. The Holy
Spirit is the one who gives you self discipline so
that you have discipline in areas where you know, left
to your own natural desires and propensities, you would not
have discipline. In that area of morality or that area
of gluttony.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
You wouldn't have discipline.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
But now, because the Holy Spirit lives on the inside
of you, you can live beyond your natural capacities. Anybody
excited about that. The Holy Spirit gives you fruit so
that you are able to have more than what you
would have if left to your own. But you don't
just get his fruit, you get his gifts. The Holy
Spirit gives you gifts through which you can to find
(31:00):
the body of Christ. He turns what would have maybe
possibly been just a talent into a gift that actually
causes what you do or what you craft to actually
get to the hearts of the people that you are
singing to or speaking to, or dancing for or writing to.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Those people.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Now, don't just read words on a page that you wrote.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Now, the words are like fires shut up in their soul.
It changes their heart, it renews.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Their mind, It accomplishes spiritual purposes in their life.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
So listen. If you're a writer, well then write, do
your best work.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
But in the end, what you're praying for is that
God's Spirit will annoy your words with power and with
fire to affect people for the glory of God. Don't
just speak, ask God for fire on your message. Don't
just dance perfect your craft. But in the end, what
(31:57):
you're looking for is not just talent. What you want
is a gift, and there's no amount of manufacturing that
can give what only the Holy Spirit can give. So
when the Holy Spirit takes up resonance on the inside
of you and on the inside of me, at the
moment we are saved, we have the privilege of having
relationship with Jesus Christ, having relationship with God, having communication
(32:21):
with Him because.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Of the Holy Spirit that lives on the inside of us.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
That if when God sent his son Jesus to die
on the cross, if when we received that gift, we
got a ticket to eternity and that was all we got,
just that we knew we were saved from death, hell,
and the grave, and we got to experience eternity with
Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Listen, if that's all we ever.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Got out of this salvation deal, that would have been
enough for us.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
To celebrate for the rest of our days. But when
that might have been enough for us, it wasn't enough
for him.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
He said, no, I'm going to send you the Holy
Spirit so that you don't have to wait to get
to Heaven to experience heaven, but so that you can
have a little bit of heaven right now while you're
here on planet Earth. I'm going to give you myself
in the person of the Holy Spirit, so that you
will see what it's.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Like to walk with me and talk with.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Me, and have friendship with me, and an ongoing relationship
with me.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
That is what it means to have the Holy Spirit.
But Luke says that Simeon did not just have the
Spirit in him.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
It says that the Spirit was upon him. This tells
us that there is a difference between the spirit being
in you and the spirit being on you. I want
to live a life that invites the presence of God's
(33:53):
Spirit on me.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
I know He's in me, but I want the.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Kind of life that is magnet that calls down the grace,
the favor, the anointing, the presence of God.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Upon my life. I want to live in such yield
and surrender to Him that not just is he in me.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
That's a gift that all of us get who plays
faith in Jesus Christ. But I don't just want him
in me. I want him on my life. I want
the evidence of Him on my life. I want it
so that when I do something, or say something, or
participate in something or pray over something.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
I want it so that when I.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Walk away, people don't just say Priscilla was here. I
want them to say, no, God's presence was here. That
only happens when the spirit of.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
God is on you.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
And so if you want to mother your kids in
such a way that you leave the imprint of God
on those kids, the spirit can just be in you.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
He got to be on you.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
If you want to be the wife that God has
called you to be, single woman, if you want to
be the kind of single woman that God has called
you to be, if you want to be the kind
of employer or employee that God has called you to be,
if you want to walk with purpose in the way
that God has called you to, then thank the Lord
that God's spirit is on you. But I'm asking that
God will allow it. There to be two thousand women
(35:12):
who leave this place today at the end of the day.
And God's spirit isn't just in us, but God's spirit
is on us.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Where we are marked by the presence of God.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Where when people encounter us there's something unusual, something distinct,
something that they cannot touch or taste or communicate with
their five physical senses. There's an intangible that is on
their life. Where when the employer is looking to give
the promotion. It's not that your resume says you are
the most qualified out of all the candidates, but there's
(35:41):
something about you that they just can't put a finger on.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
That's called the spirit of God being on you. It's
called favor.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Favor is what opens up doors no man can shut,
what puts you in places you know you don't have
no business. Being in favor is what sets you in
positions that you know you aren't qualified for. Save Favor
is what makes it so that you are exactly where
you're supposed to be to accomplish exactly what it is
(36:16):
that God has set for you to a company. It's
what qualifies you when you don't have the degree, and
you don't have the diploma, you don't have the connections.
You're just where God has opened up a door for
you to be.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
And even though people might talk badly.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
About you or trying to push you out of that place,
you cannot be moved, not because you manufactured your way there,
but because God's spirit has placed you there.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
God's spirit on your life is what makes it so
that you don't have to.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Market yourself because you've already been marked by the presence
of Almighty God.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Oh, I want God's spirit on me. And can I
tell you this? Are you listening? There is one that attracts.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
The presence of God to rest on our lives, and it.
Speaker 4 (37:06):
Is holiness, plain.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Old, flat out old school.
Speaker 4 (37:24):
Holiness.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
I implore you, sisters, by the mercies of God, to
walk in a manner worthy of the calling by which
you have been called. That if you come, if I
come into this room, and we celebrate till we are
blue in the face, and we wave our hands, and
we read the scriptures and we worship, but we walk
out of here and we live in a way that
(37:50):
is incongruent with everything that we've heard here today. If
we do not choose to walk in a way that
honors God, we have wasted the time that we have
spent the year. And if there is something that breaks
my heart for my own generation and the generation coming
up after me, is that social media has made it
(38:13):
so that we are more interested in impressing people than
walking holy before our God. We are more interested in
being perfectly lit than we are in making sure that
we're laying up treasures for ourselves in heaven.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Lord help us when because of our huberts, because of
our arrogance.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Because of our pride, we are more interested in receiving
the applause of people than we are of making sure
that we will receive the applause of heaven. But a
day is coming, y'all, sooner than we think where we're
going to look our Savior in a space.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Where we're going to see him face to face. And
when we see him, he.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Will not ask me how many Instagrams followers I have.
He will not wonder how many people like to my
message on Twitter. What he'll ask me is number one,
did I have a relationship.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
With his son Jesus?
Speaker 2 (39:11):
And then I will give an account.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
You will give an account. And I don't know about y'all,
but when I give an account, I'm looking for a well.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Done not because I necessarily please people, but because He
is pleased with my life. And the one thing that
invites the favor of God on our life, like Simeon,
that will open our eyes to see him more clearly
so that we don't miss him when he comes into
our circumstances trying to speak to us, to answer us,
(39:48):
to make himself.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
A parent in our lives.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
The one thing that opens up our eyes is God's
Spirit on us.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
And if you want, if I want.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
God's Spirit on our lives, then we got to decide
to live. Holy, I implore you, by the mercies of
God to lay aside every sin, every hindrance, anything that
is keeping you entangled so that you cannot run with
endurance the race that is set before you. Any relationship,
(40:18):
sever it at the past so that you can walk,
Holy Sister, any addiction, any habit, any lifestyle choice that.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Is keeping you from being free and.
Speaker 2 (40:28):
Walking in victory in Jesus' name, let it go by
the power of the Holy Spirit, so that he can
rest on your life. Going to church is good, but
it's not enough. Doing your Bible study. Oh it's great,
but it's not enough. If you want God's presence on you,
marking you, making you distinct and different from the people
(40:49):
around you.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Then you gotta walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
Be Ye, Holy, it's not perfection.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
It is a call to yield to the power of
the Holy Spirit in you, so that you do not
give way to all the desires of your flesh. What
it means is that you have not chosen as a lifestyle,
an attitude, or an action that you already know is
displeasing to God.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
You know upfront that you've.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
Already got on your calendar after this is over. A
place you're going or a person you're seeing that you
know you don't have any business being in relationship with,
but you've already scheduled sin into your calendar. I'm saying,
walk away from everything that is keeping you from having
the biggest, most amazing blessing you can have on your life,
(41:42):
and that is God's presence marking you all up on you,
setting you apart girl for his purposes and with his
power evident through your life. If you were in this
room and you are in chains in some area of
your life where you've tried the twelve step program, you've
tried to walk away from that illegitimate relationship, You've tried
(42:03):
to not live this lifestyle because you know that it
is out of alignment with the truth of God.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
But everything you've tried in your own power has.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Not set you free so that you can walk in
holiness and have God's presence resting on your life. I
believe that before this day is over, those chains can
fall off of your life that you can decide that
I'm going to live holy so that I can have
God's favor like Simeon, so that my eyes can be opened,
because I want to see my God. I want to
(42:33):
hear his voice. I want to have an experience and
an encounter with Him. If you are in this room
and you know you're not walking in holiness, you know
there is an area of your life, whether in attitude
or in action. I mean God's asked you to forgive
that person and you have dug your heels in the
ground you have refused to forgive, or in your actions
(42:58):
where you are literally doing something, participating in something, engaging
in something, and you've dug your heels into the ground.
You've ignored the little pricks of the Holy Spirit asking
you to walk away from that or.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
To participate in that. You've ignored it. And you know
you are not living holy before the Lord.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
And you want to get that strike today so that
we can all be women who honor God in our
attitudes and in our actions and invite the favor of
God on our lives. Listen, If you were in this
room and you know holiness is the call that God
has given to you this morning, would you please.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Right now, in this holy space, just rise to your feet.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
If that's you, If you need freedom in a specific
area of your.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Life, We're going to walk out of here a holy
band of women.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Who want God's favor on us. Don't be embarrassed, don't
be ashamed. Listen, body got time for that. This is
the moment where we say, God, we give ourselves to
you a living and holy sacrifice. We present our bodies
(44:10):
to you, We present our minds to you. We present
ourselves to you, Lord, a living and holy sacrifice.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
Do with us what you will.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
We surrender the area of life that is our area
of bondage, the area we've been holding back, the little
cold we've kept from your fingerprints being upon it. We
surrender that to you. If you want freedom in Jesus's name,
this is your moment.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
Stand to your feet. You don't have to go home
the same way you came.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
Girl, You don't have to think the same, you don't
have to act the same. You don't have to be
in bondage like you are and have been. We can
change that by God's spirit. Today, Lord Jesus, I looked
up every single sister who is standing underneath the sound
of my voice, and I pray right now in Jesus's name,
that you would give them a holy boldness and a
courage to surrender to you every area of their life
(45:03):
that they've been holding back. Sister, would you picture that
area where you know you need to ask for forgiveness.
I'm gonna ask you to just put your hands out
in front of you. Cup those hands in front of
you like you're holding that thing.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Picture it in your hands right now.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
The scripture says that if you confess your sin, He's
faithful and just to forgive you your sin and to
cleanse you of all unrighteousness. Picture that in his hands,
in your hands, ask the Lord to forgive you, ask
for his forgiveness.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
And only when you are ready, you lift up those
hands as if.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
You were yielding it finally completely to him, and you
lift up those hands in surrender, give it to them,
and just let it go. Lord. Every attitude, every action,
every little hidden place in our life. Lord, every bondage, Lord,
(45:59):
every illegitimate relationship, every immorality. Father, everything that is not
like you, we give it to you right now. In
Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that if there is a
bondage of shackle on somebody's life, that is demonic in nature. Lord,
I pray in Jesus's name and by his bloodshed on Calvary,
that you would cancel every demonic assignment against these women
(46:22):
and against their families. Lord, I pray that you would,
by your holy spirit break the shackles. Lord, loosen them.
Help us to hear the shackles falling off right now.
In Jesus' name, and Lord, I pray that we will
walk in a manner worthy of the calling by which
we have been called. Father, I pray that you would
enable us, by your spirit to no longer.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Walk by the flesh, but to walk by the.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
Spirit, so that we will not fulfill the desires of
the flesh.
Speaker 1 (46:48):
Lord, I pray for freedom. In Jesus' name. I thank
you for Galatians five.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
To one that says it is for freedom that we
have been made free. Therefore we will stand firm and
no longer be some again to any yoke of slavery
that is in our life.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
We are free in Jesus' name. And it is in
the matchless name of.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
Jesus Christ that everybody agreed and said Amen, Amen.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
At TBN.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
Our mission is to use every available means to reach
as many individuals and families as possible with the life
changing gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for helping make
the Gospel of Grace go around the world.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
Without you, we couldn't do it.
Speaker 3 (47:31):
God bless you.
For gladiators. The game will.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Pound you and punish you.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You think you can handle that, warner.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I think it's time I tried.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Right, Oh May we can underdog Lady t G.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
And the one thing that invites the favor of God
on our life like Sime, and that will open our
eyes to see him more clearly so that we don't
miss him when he comes into our circumstances trying to
speak to us, to answer us, to make himself a
parent in our lives. The one thing that opens up
our eyes is God's spirit on us.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
And if you want, if.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I want God's spirit on our lives, then we got
to decide to live.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Hey, so glad to be with all of you.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Listen, don't even take your seat yet. Let me just
let me just go ahead and read God's word over
you while you're standing.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Is that all right?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I think every now and then we ought to just
stand up when God's word is read to remind ourselves
who's talking to us. Listen to Luke chapter two, verse
twenty one through about verse thirty two or so. When
Jesus was about eight days we're completed, he was circumcised.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
His name was then called Jesus.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
The name given by the Angel before he was conceived,
and when the days for purification according to the Law
of Moses were completed, that's about forty days after Jesus
was born, or so, so he's forty days old. They
brought him into Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
Every firstborn male that opens.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
The wound shall be called holy to the Lord.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
And they came to offer sacrifices according to what was
said in the Law of the Lord. A pair of
turtle doves or two young pigeons, and behold, somebody say behold.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Come on, y'all, say behold, and behold. There was a
man in Jerusalem.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
This guy's name was Simeon, and he was righteous and
devout and looking for the consolation of Israel. And the
Holy Spirit was on his life. And it had been
revealed to him by the Spirit that he would not
see death until he had caught sight of Jesus. So
(02:12):
he came into the spirit into the temple. And when
the parents brought in the child Jesus to carry out
the custom of the law, Simeon saw him. He recognized
that this little baby was Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
He gathered the baby up in his arms.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
He blessed the child, and he said, Lord, now you
can let me depart in peace. I don't have to
see anything else. I haven't yet seen this guy perform
one miracle. Lazarus hadn't been raised from the dead, the
sick have not yet been healed, deaf ears haven't yet
been open.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I haven't seen any of that. But once I've caught
sight of the Savior.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Lord, he says, you can let me depart in peace
because my eyes have seen your salvation, which you've prepared
in the presence of all the people. He's a light
of revelation to the gentiles and the glory of thy people, Israel.
Thank you for letting me see Jesus. Lord, open up
our eyes so that we can see you. Lord, open
(03:09):
up our spiritual ears so that we can hear you.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
God.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
We are sitting on the edge of our seat because
we are anxious to see how you will introduce re
introduce yourself to us today.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Lord.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I'm so grateful that all of us is here, But we.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Didn't come to see each other. We came to see you.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
So Lord, come, we're your daughters and we want to
see you in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Everybody agreed when.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
They said, amen, give somebody a high five before you
take your seat. I'm so grateful and I'm so honored
to have an opportunity to be here with you and
to sharing God's word.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
I believe in the power of the word of God.
I do parent.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Chris has told you three sons, they are giants. I
just have giants walking around my house.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
My nearly sixteen.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Year old is six foot two inches to his fourteen
year old brother is the exact same height. They both
wear size fourteen men's shoe. My youngest son, his name
is Jude. So I've got Jackson, Jerry, Junior, and Jude.
And we named our third son Jude on purpose because y'all,
that's as close as I could get to revelation. Because
it is finish, that is it. It's the end of
(04:19):
the line, and they're giants. Somebody come help me feed
these people.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
That's all I do is try to feed the boys.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
And I remember this particular weekend because I was in Memphis, Tennessee.
They were very little at the time, and I remember
being very, very tired on this particular trip.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
I could not wait to.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Get to the location in Memphis Tennessee so I could
get to the hotel. I'd had an early flight and
was very excited to be at the hotel early so
that I could immediately go and get in the bed.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
And go to sleep early that night.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
I was so happy to have that opportunity, and so
I arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, was picked up at the airport,
driven by a sweet woman who would come from the
church where I was going to be at their conference.
She'd come and pick me up, took me to the hotel,
and it was about seven thirty in the evening.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I was so happy. She said, would you like to
go out to dinner first? I was like, oh no,
I get.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
To go into this hotel room all by myself and
have the.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Bed all to myself. I could not wait.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
So I lay down watched a little sting on television.
I thinking about eight thirty. I mean, I was out.
I needed all those hours of rest, except that around
three am or so, I was.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Jarred awake, jolted awake.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
By a train that started to go by right outside
the back of the hotel. There were train tracks that
were just a few feet behind the hotel.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
The conductor was sitting on the horn.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
The entire time that all of the cars of the
train went by, I was jolted awake, and I went
immediately to the window and looked outside, and I saw
how close that train actually was.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
And then you know, you have.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
To kind of sit there and wait for the whole
thing to pass. And this wasn't a small train, this
was one that goes on and on and on. Finally
it passed, and I tried to get back to sleep,
but really couldn't nestle down into a good sleep.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
I knew I had to be up really early.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
In the morning, so I couldn't sleep real well, but
did my best.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Got up in the morning. The sweet woman from the
church came picked me up.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I got in the car, didn't say anything about the train,
had a great long day at the at the church,
at the conference, and then could not wait to get
back to the hotel so that I could try to
get a.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Good night's sleep.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
This was going to be the night that I got
all my good hours of sleep.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
In before having to go home the next day.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
And so I lay down in the bed about eight
thirty nine o'clock in the evening, fell into a very
deep sleep until three am.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
In the morning when a train went roaring by.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
The conductor sitting on the horn the entire time did
the train went by. This time, I was jolted awake,
went and looked at the train outside of the window,
and I thought, I can't wait for the sweet woman
from the church to come pick me up so that I.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Can tell her about this train that is passing.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
By right outside the door or outside the back of
this hotel.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So when she came, I sat down in the car.
I said, thank you so much for picking me up.
I got to ask you about this train.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I described to her how at three o'clock in the morning,
for the last two nights, this train had gone roaring
by in the back of the hotel. As I explained
it to her, I felt bad for her because it
was like it was occurring to her, dawning on her,
like she was reminded about this train that comes through
their community. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, and
she said, Priscilla, I am so sorry. I totally forgot
(07:37):
about that train. And she said, the reason why is
because those of us who live in this community have
gotten so used to the sound of the train that
we don't even recognize it anymore. That train comes by
two or three times a week every week, and we
paid little attention to it because we've lived.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Here so long that we've gotten so used to the.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Sound of the train that when it comes, we don't
reckonize it. We've been desensitized to the train in this community.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
It occurs to me that those of us who live,
particularly in this part.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Of the world, where we have been overwhelmingly blessed by
the presence and the power of God among us, we're
here in this country. You and I can go on
a Saturday to a Christian women event like this one,
or we can go to a Christian bookstore when we
can pick up any Bible in any translation, in any language.
Or we can turn on Christian radio and listen to
(08:28):
gospel if you like that, or contemporary Christian music if
you like that.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
We have options available to us.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Could it be that we have lived in this neighborhood
of blessing for so long that when the train of
God's glory wants to fall in unusual way, when He
wants to show up in power and in glory, that
we have become so used to it that we don't
even recognize his blessing anymore that we've become so desensitized
(08:56):
to God's presence among us that it doesn't cause us
as an always should, for us to fall to our
knees and adoration, our arms outstretched and worshiped that God
would visit us in this unique.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Beautiful way.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Lord, help us to never be desensitized to the train
of Your glory.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
And in the Old Testament or in the New Testament, rather.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
In the book of Luke's Gospel, I love so much
because Luke writes about people who encounter the train of
God's glory in the person of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
He gives a story after story, encounter after.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Encounter of Jesus meeting with people and transforming their life.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
He included a handful.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Of these stories so that you and I would be
not only reminded of their encounter with Jesus, but recognize
that they are not exceptions to the rule. They are
examples for us of the encounters that we should also
expect to have with Jesus. And listen, this should be
your goal, not just hearing about him, but experiencing him.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
That should be your goal.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Like your appetite should be wet, your heart should hunger
for more than just a knowledge of who Jesus is.
You ought to come to the place, I ought to
come to the place in my relationship with the Lord.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
We're more than anything else.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
We want to see him with our own eyes. We
want to hear his voice with our own ears.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
That the same God who divided the Red Sea in.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
The Old Testament, the same God who raises Lazarus from
the dead in the New Testament, the same God that
did those things. We don't want to just celebrate it
in the lives of other people. We want to stand
in line to have it encounter.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
With God like that ourselves.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Luke writes about encounters because he wants to wet our
appetite to have an encounter with Jesus Christ. Because listen, y'all,
we have wasted our time if all we've done is
come here on this Saturday to applaud what Jesus did yesterday.
I'm so glad about what my God has done yesterday.
But I want to see him today, anybody interested. I
(10:57):
want to see him in my own marriage, and in
my own finances and raising my kids, and on my
job and in my ministry.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I want to see and encounter the power of the.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Almighty Living God. That's what today is about. It's to
make you hungry again. It's to wet your appetite again.
It's to not let when the day ends something to
end in your life, but really to launch you forward
to a brand new beginning.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
And an adventure with Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
So Luke writes about encounters, and he writes during a
time when the nation of Israel is experiencing national depravity
and decay.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
They have been.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Oppressed by oppressors who have come in and stolen from
them much of what they valued. They are living in
a place of oppression and a praise of destruction. And
Luke writes to them during this time when their nation
is in trouble, and I don't know if if you've
noticed or not, but our nation is in trouble. We
are living during a time of moral and social decay
(11:58):
and decline like never for and listen. The more God
is marginalized, the more he's segmented to the periphery of society,
the more he is completely ignored or disregarded, the more
we will continue to see an influx of chaos and
an influx of destruction in our nation. But Luke doesn't
just write to people who have national trouble. Luke is
(12:21):
writing to people that have individual personal struggles. They've been
waiting on a hero to show up. They've been waiting
for the Kingdom of God to be at hand. They've
been waiting for the prophecies of all to come to flourish,
that there would be a Messiah, a savior who would
come and rescue them from all that they've been experiencing nationally,
but also the things that they have been experiencing personally.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
So I know our nation is.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
In trouble, but I didn't really come to talk to
you today about what's happening in the White House.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
I want to talk to you about what's happening in
your house, underneath the roof of your home, the trouble
that might be happening in your.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Marriage, the thing that causes the here's to fall down
from your eyes in regards to your kids, or your finances,
or your health, or on your job or in your ministry.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
You, like the children of Israel, like me.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Been waiting on a hero, somebody who can come in
and speak life to the dead places and refresh the
dry places of our life.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Luke is writing for people who need an encounter with
a God like that.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
And I just want to tell any of you that
might be in a struggle personally underneath the roof of
your own house and the landscape of your own house, and.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
You're in a struggle, You're in a time.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Like Luke writes to where man things are just plain old,
flat out difficult.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
I just want.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
To suggest to you the possibility that sometimes sometimes your
difficulties are less about the enemy being against you and
more about God wanting to show you what it looks
like when He's for you. Sometimes the stuff that you
are facing, this stuff that I'm facing, that are difficult,
(14:02):
it's less about the enemy being against you, and sometimes
it's just about God allowing a stage to be set
in your life to where when He shows up, you
will never ever doubt again that you've had an encounter
with Jesus. So the children of Israel need an encounter
with a Messiah. They need an encounter with Jesus Christ.
(14:23):
And finally Jesus arrives on the scene after four hundred
years of silence between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Jesus arrives on the scene after centuries of waiting after prophecy,
desiring to be fulfilled, Jesus shows up on the scene.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Their hope has finally been fulfilled. But here's the tragedy.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
When he comes, he does not come as they've supposed
he would. He is not on a throne, he is
not riding a white horse. He is not coming in
power and vengeance and authority that they had mirrored in
their oppressors, that they had pictured that their messiah would come.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
And know he is born as a baby.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
All of that deity and authority and miraculous working power
that they longed for was packaged in the skin of humanity,
and a small human at that.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
This is not what they wanted. It's not what they recognized.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
It wasn't the expectation they had built up in their heads.
So when he came, they did not recognize him.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
When he showed up because he was.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Not in the package that they had pictured in their minds.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
He didn't come in the package they had prayed for.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
He had come in a different way because he did
not meet their expectations. When he showed up, they did
not recognize him. In the passage that we read Jesus
as being brought into the temple. He is being carried
by his mother Mary. Joseph is along for the ride
as well. They have come with Jesus about forty days old,
(15:53):
into the temple. They are in a religious gathering where
people have come to perform their religious duties.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
And all the people who.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Are gathered that day are in the presence of the
one they prayed for and do not know him when
he comes.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Would you please notice that they're not just anywhere.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
They are in the temple and still don't recognize the
presence of God. I want to suggest to you that
it is possible to be at Propel and not see Jesus.
I want to tell you that it is possible for
you to be in your church every single Sunday, which
I pray you are, but you can be in your
church and not have an encounter with Jesus. I want
(16:33):
to tell you that I'm so glad many of you are.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
In Bible studies. Stay in Bible study.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
But you can read a verse a day to keep
the devil away until you are blue.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
In the face. But if you read the scriptures with a.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Hardened heart, with your eyes not open, you can be
filling your days with the duty of religious activity, and
never catch sight of the lover of your soul, never
have an encounter an experience with Jesus. All these people
were in the presence of Jesus Christ and did not
know him when he came. Because oftentimes, many times, when
(17:08):
the Lord comes to minister to you, to speak into
your life's circumstances, he will come in a.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Way that is not the way you expected. Why because
his ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not
our thoughts.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
As high as the heavens are above the earth, that's
how high his ways and his thoughts are.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Above our own. And what I attempt to do, what
you often attempt to.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Do, I'm sure, is to dumb him down so that
his ways match our ways, his thoughts match our thoughts.
We want him to answer our prayers the way we've
prayed them. We want the solutions that work out in
our minds to be the solutions that will be best
given the scenario that we see, given the prayer request
that we've prayed. But y'all, sometimes we pray for growth
(17:54):
and he answers with rain. Sometimes we pray for oak
trees and he answered with an acorn.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
And when the answer comes for your marriage, when the.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Answer comes for your parenting, when the solution that God
listen today, God is going to give some of you
solutions and divine strategies for things that are happening in
your life and on your job and in your finances,
the struggles that you're facing.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
And I'm saying, when he answers.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
If the answer does not come in the package that
you have expected, will you miss it because you want.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Your way not his way? And so Jesus he comes, and.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
He's in a pool of religious people and they do
not recognize the presence of God near them. Now, I
want to open up a little parenthesis here before we
jump to a specific.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Person that I want to draw your attention to.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
He's the only person in the text who actually sees Jesus.
But I want to open up little parenthesis because you
may have recognized.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
That Luke went into a whole lot of detail.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
To tell us something about the Text's one thing I
love about Luke is that he gives us details. I
like all the juice and all the details out of
the text so that I can get a full picture
painted of what's happening in the story.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
And Luke wants us to know that Mary.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
And Joseph are coming for the ceremonial dedication of their
firstborn son.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
It's what everybody did.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
That would come to Jerusalem, particularly during this time when
they had a newborn son, to present their newborn son
to the Lord.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Get the picture of this. The Lord in this case
is being presented to the Lord. And they come in,
and Luke writes and tells.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Us exactly what they have with them other than the baby.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Jesus says that Mary had.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Two turtle doves or two pigeons for her sacrifice. Now,
that wouldn't really be of interest, except that we know
from Leviticus, from the sacrificial system that had been set
up divinely mandated by God in Leviticus, that when someone
came to make their sacrifices, they did need two animals
to be sacrificed. One was a pigeon or a turtle dove.
(19:58):
The other was supposed to be a lamb. That they
were supposed to.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Bring a lamb with them.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
But we find in Luke's gospel that he's made sure
we know Mary and Joseph do not have their own lamb.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Luke chapter twelve.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Tells us or Leviticus chapter twelve tells us that there
was a caveat for why someone would not bring a
lamb to be sacrificed.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
There's one little verse Luke chapter twelve, verse eight.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Or so that says if someone could not afford a lamb,
if their financial resources were so that they could not
buy for themself a lamb to bring into the temple
to be sacrificed, there would be an exception made for them.
They could bring two turtle doves instead of one turtle
dove and a lamb. They could just bring two turtle doves,
but that was a symbol of the fact that they
(20:44):
were insufficient in some way.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
They did not have the finances.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
To buy their own lamb, which means when Mary and
Joseph came on that particular day with their two turtle
doves in tow, people would have automatically looked at them,
recognize them as a couple who had insufficient funds, as
a couple who was inadequate in some way, as a
couple who had lack and who had knees. I wonder
(21:10):
how many people turned their noses up at the couple
who could.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Not afford their own lamb.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
I wonder how many people ignored the poor couple who
didn't fit in with everybody else who had been able
to purchase their own lamb. I wonder how many people
did not get.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
An opportunity to have an encounter with the.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Baby Jesus because they ignored the people who had him
carried in their arms.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
I want to speak to anybody who's in this room
and you've.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Ever felt excluded or ignored from the click of people
who have the money to.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Buy their own lamb.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
They drive the car, and they live in the house,
and they are able to communicate or to experience life in.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
A certain way. That man, you just can't afford.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Maybe you've got lacked financially, or you've got lack emotionally,
you have lack relationally, you have poured everything out and
you find it that you've got insufficient funds in some
way in your life and you can't afford what it
looks like everybody else can afford. And you've been ignored
or ostracized. People have turned their noses up with you.
(22:14):
Can I just tell you that sometimes you don't need
to have your own lamb when you can carry the
lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
In fact, the lamb is most often best experienced in
the lives of those who have insufficient funds.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
In fact, I think it.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Is our affluence that keeps us from actually having an
encounter with the living God. We've become so used to
being able to bless ourselves that we don't have a
real authentic relationship with the bless or. We are so affluent,
we have prosperity, particularly in this part of the world
where listen, if you're poor in this country, you're rich
(22:58):
in other countries ye, where we've been able to sustain ourselves,
where we know where our next meal is coming from,
where we choose from a closet full of clothes as
to what clothes we're going to wear to a particular event,
where we might have financial struggles.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Everything is not.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Perfect, but we still have our daily needs met. It
is sometimes in our affluence, because our arms are so
full of the lambs we have bought for ourself, we
actually don't even have rooin. We don't have margin to
have an intimate, ongoing relationship with the lamb of God
that takes away the sins of the world. Lord forgive
(23:34):
us when we've turned our noses up at people who
don't have all.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Of the external markings of affluence. In doing that, we
have missed out.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
On the blessing of having a relationship with the people
who often have the most intimate relationships with Jesus Christ.
Because sometimes, y'all, those people are not in the spotlight.
They're the ones behind the scenes. Sometimes those are the
people that are not in megatorch churches.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
They're in store from churches.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Sometimes there are the people that are not the ones
on the platform with the microphone in their hands. They're
the people that volunteer their time to clean up in
a sanctuary like this, to sweep.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Up after us.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
They're the people who volunteer their time to be in
the Sunday school teaching our second graders and third graders
so that you and I can enjoy an opportunity like that.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Lord forgive us when we ignore.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Those people and clamor after the people whose gifts happen
to put.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Them in the spotlight. But we ignore those people are
who are an intercessory prayer.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Who are on their knees in the secret quiet places,
the lamb of God tucked within their arms, having an
intimate encounter with him, but we ignore them because they
don't look like us, or dress like us, or drive
what we driver, live where we live.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
So if you've ever been that person, the.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Text speaks to you today that it was Mary and
Joseph who did not have what everybody had, but they
had what everybody else didn't have.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
And so they come into the building.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Nobody recognizes that Jesus has arrived.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Except one person.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Luke writes at the top of the passage, he writes,
and behold, somebody say behold.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Come on, y'all, say behold.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Anytime an author and the text writes that word, it
isn't a throwaway word. It isn't something that you just
need to skip or skim over quickly. Anytime you read
behold in the text, the author's trying to tell you
lean in, put your chin in your hands, just in
case you kind of fell asleep during all the minutia
and the fine details.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
That led up to this moment.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
This is when the author wants you to open up
your eyes and sit up straight, because there's somebody he
wants you to meet. He says, behold, there was a
man named Simeon. And when no one else recognized the
presence of God. When God came near, there was one
guy who did. And if in this room today there
(26:06):
are only gonna be a handful of us who actually
have an encounter with God, I'm talking about where we
hear his voice when we our hearts are set aflame
by the Holy Spirit, when you when we get some
direction for the purpose that He has for our life.
If there's gonna be a whole lot of us who
haven't experience today, but.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Only a few that actually encounter the.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Living God, that I don't know about you, but if
there's only gonna be a few, I want to be
one of them.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Anybody.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
So Luke says, pay attention, because there's one guy that's
going to show you how to have your eyes open
so that you aren't just in the religious place, but
so that you encounter a holy, living God.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
He says, there's a man named Simeon. He's righteous, devout,
and he's looking for the consolation of Israel. His eyes
are open, pealed to the horizon, waiting for Jesus in
whatever package he chooses to come, waiting for an en
counter with the long awaited Messiah. And then he gives
us at least the one There are many throughout this text,
(27:07):
but the one characteristic of his life that I believed
opened up Simeon's eyes to.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Catch sight of God.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
That will open up our eyes to catch sight of God,
he says. At the bottom of verse twenty five, he says,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him. Luke says, Simeon's
eyes were open to catch sight of God because God's
(27:38):
Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit is the greatest
gift you will ever receive this.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Side of eternity.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
The moment you place faith in Jesus, the moment you
receive Jesus as your personal savior. I don't know if
you knew it or not, but you received in that
moment the greatest gift you will ever the Holy Spirit
of God. And the Holy Spirit is not a ghost
or a wind, or a fire or a dove.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
He is often symbolized by those things, but y'all, they
ain't who he is. The Holy Spirit is.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
The third person of the Trinity. Not third because he
is least in value, just third because he is the
last to be revealed to us in the pages of scripture.
But all of the fullness, all of the power, all
of the authority, all of the greatness, all of the
grandeur of God the Father is in the person of
the Holy Spirit, which means when you place faith in
(28:31):
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in you,
that now means that all of the.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Power, all of the glory, all of the grandeur, all.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Of the greatness of God the Father now lives on
the inside of you.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Ephesians Chapter one says.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
The moment you believe, you receive the Holy Spirit with promise,
you are not waiting.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
On the Holy Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit right now.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
You did not receive the Holy Spirit in installment plans.
You can't give away a person in parts. All of
the Holy Spirit you ever gonna get. You got the
moment you got saved. Now we need to be filled
by God's spirit as we yield to His conviction in
our life, in obedience, as what is happening in us
(29:15):
becomes an outward expression, as our behavior is modified, as
we are sanctified. Somebody say sanctified.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
That means as we are molded into the image.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Of Christ Jesus, so that we start to think like him,
and talk like him, and walk like him, and behave
like Jesus. Jesus behave. We need to be filled by
God's Spirit. But when you God saved, listen to me,
you received.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
The Holy Spirit of God. God's Spirit is in you.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
The benefit of this is all of the fruit of
God's Spirit is available to you. That means that there
is gentleness that you don't have in your own natural
ability for that person or that problem that now you
were able to have that is beyond your.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Own next capacity. Because the Holy Spirit, what.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
He does is help us to live beyond ourselves.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
When we've come to the end of our patients.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
You know what that one coworker, that one that if
she says one more thing to you, you're going.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
To knock her out. That one.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
The Holy Spirit is the one that gives you patience
when your patience has long since run out. The Holy
Spirit is the one who gives you self discipline so
that you have discipline in areas where you know, left
to your own natural desires and propensities, you would not
have discipline. In that area of morality or that area
of gluttony.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
You wouldn't have discipline.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
But now, because the Holy Spirit lives on the inside
of you, you can live beyond your natural capacities. Anybody
excited about that. The Holy Spirit gives you fruit so
that you are able to have more than what you
would have if left to your own. But you don't
just get his fruit, you get his gifts. The Holy
Spirit gives you gifts through which you can to find
(31:00):
the body of Christ. He turns what would have maybe
possibly been just a talent into a gift that actually
causes what you do or what you craft to actually
get to the hearts of the people that you are
singing to or speaking to, or dancing for or writing to.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Those people.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Now, don't just read words on a page that you wrote.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Now, the words are like fires shut up in their soul.
It changes their heart, it renews.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Their mind, It accomplishes spiritual purposes in their life.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
So listen. If you're a writer, well then write, do
your best work.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
But in the end, what you're praying for is that
God's Spirit will annoy your words with power and with
fire to affect people for the glory of God. Don't
just speak, ask God for fire on your message. Don't
just dance perfect your craft. But in the end, what
(31:57):
you're looking for is not just talent. What you want
is a gift, and there's no amount of manufacturing that
can give what only the Holy Spirit can give. So
when the Holy Spirit takes up resonance on the inside
of you and on the inside of me, at the
moment we are saved, we have the privilege of having
relationship with Jesus Christ, having relationship with God, having communication
(32:21):
with Him because.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Of the Holy Spirit that lives on the inside of us.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
That if when God sent his son Jesus to die
on the cross, if when we received that gift, we
got a ticket to eternity and that was all we got,
just that we knew we were saved from death, hell,
and the grave, and we got to experience eternity with
Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Listen, if that's all we ever.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Got out of this salvation deal, that would have been
enough for us.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
To celebrate for the rest of our days. But when
that might have been enough for us, it wasn't enough
for him.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
He said, no, I'm going to send you the Holy
Spirit so that you don't have to wait to get
to Heaven to experience heaven, but so that you can
have a little bit of heaven right now while you're
here on planet Earth. I'm going to give you myself
in the person of the Holy Spirit, so that you
will see what it's.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Like to walk with me and talk with.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Me, and have friendship with me, and an ongoing relationship
with me.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
That is what it means to have the Holy Spirit.
But Luke says that Simeon did not just have the
Spirit in him.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
It says that the Spirit was upon him. This tells
us that there is a difference between the spirit being
in you and the spirit being on you. I want
to live a life that invites the presence of God's
(33:53):
Spirit on me.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
I know He's in me, but I want the.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Kind of life that is magnet that calls down the grace,
the favor, the anointing, the presence of God.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Upon my life. I want to live in such yield
and surrender to Him that not just is he in me.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
That's a gift that all of us get who plays
faith in Jesus Christ. But I don't just want him
in me. I want him on my life. I want
the evidence of Him on my life. I want it
so that when I do something, or say something, or
participate in something or pray over something.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
I want it so that when I.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Walk away, people don't just say Priscilla was here. I
want them to say, no, God's presence was here. That
only happens when the spirit of.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
God is on you.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
And so if you want to mother your kids in
such a way that you leave the imprint of God
on those kids, the spirit can just be in you.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
He got to be on you.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
If you want to be the wife that God has
called you to be, single woman, if you want to
be the kind of single woman that God has called
you to be, if you want to be the kind
of employer or employee that God has called you to be,
if you want to walk with purpose in the way
that God has called you to, then thank the Lord
that God's spirit is on you. But I'm asking that
God will allow it. There to be two thousand women
(35:12):
who leave this place today at the end of the day.
And God's spirit isn't just in us, but God's spirit
is on us.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Where we are marked by the presence of God.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Where when people encounter us there's something unusual, something distinct,
something that they cannot touch or taste or communicate with
their five physical senses. There's an intangible that is on
their life. Where when the employer is looking to give
the promotion. It's not that your resume says you are
the most qualified out of all the candidates, but there's
(35:41):
something about you that they just can't put a finger on.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
That's called the spirit of God being on you. It's
called favor.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Favor is what opens up doors no man can shut,
what puts you in places you know you don't have
no business. Being in favor is what sets you in
positions that you know you aren't qualified for. Save Favor
is what makes it so that you are exactly where
you're supposed to be to accomplish exactly what it is
(36:16):
that God has set for you to a company. It's
what qualifies you when you don't have the degree, and
you don't have the diploma, you don't have the connections.
You're just where God has opened up a door for
you to be.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
And even though people might talk badly.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
About you or trying to push you out of that place,
you cannot be moved, not because you manufactured your way there,
but because God's spirit has placed you there.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
God's spirit on your life is what makes it so
that you don't have to.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Market yourself because you've already been marked by the presence
of Almighty God.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Oh, I want God's spirit on me. And can I
tell you this? Are you listening? There is one that attracts.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
The presence of God to rest on our lives, and it.
Speaker 4 (37:06):
Is holiness, plain.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Old, flat out old school.
Speaker 4 (37:24):
Holiness.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
I implore you, sisters, by the mercies of God, to
walk in a manner worthy of the calling by which
you have been called. That if you come, if I
come into this room, and we celebrate till we are
blue in the face, and we wave our hands, and
we read the scriptures and we worship, but we walk
out of here and we live in a way that
(37:50):
is incongruent with everything that we've heard here today. If
we do not choose to walk in a way that
honors God, we have wasted the time that we have
spent the year. And if there is something that breaks
my heart for my own generation and the generation coming
up after me, is that social media has made it
(38:13):
so that we are more interested in impressing people than
walking holy before our God. We are more interested in
being perfectly lit than we are in making sure that
we're laying up treasures for ourselves in heaven.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Lord help us when because of our huberts, because of
our arrogance.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Because of our pride, we are more interested in receiving
the applause of people than we are of making sure
that we will receive the applause of heaven. But a
day is coming, y'all, sooner than we think where we're
going to look our Savior in a space.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Where we're going to see him face to face. And
when we see him, he.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Will not ask me how many Instagrams followers I have.
He will not wonder how many people like to my
message on Twitter. What he'll ask me is number one,
did I have a relationship.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
With his son Jesus?
Speaker 2 (39:11):
And then I will give an account.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
You will give an account. And I don't know about y'all,
but when I give an account, I'm looking for a well.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Done not because I necessarily please people, but because He
is pleased with my life. And the one thing that
invites the favor of God on our life, like Simeon,
that will open our eyes to see him more clearly
so that we don't miss him when he comes into
our circumstances trying to speak to us, to answer us,
(39:48):
to make himself.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
A parent in our lives.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
The one thing that opens up our eyes is God's
Spirit on us.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
And if you want, if I want.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
God's Spirit on our lives, then we got to decide
to live. Holy, I implore you, by the mercies of
God to lay aside every sin, every hindrance, anything that
is keeping you entangled so that you cannot run with
endurance the race that is set before you. Any relationship,
(40:18):
sever it at the past so that you can walk,
Holy Sister, any addiction, any habit, any lifestyle choice that.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Is keeping you from being free and.
Speaker 2 (40:28):
Walking in victory in Jesus' name, let it go by
the power of the Holy Spirit, so that he can
rest on your life. Going to church is good, but
it's not enough. Doing your Bible study. Oh it's great,
but it's not enough. If you want God's presence on you,
marking you, making you distinct and different from the people
(40:49):
around you.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Then you gotta walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
Be Ye, Holy, it's not perfection.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
It is a call to yield to the power of
the Holy Spirit in you, so that you do not
give way to all the desires of your flesh. What
it means is that you have not chosen as a lifestyle,
an attitude, or an action that you already know is
displeasing to God.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
You know upfront that you've.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
Already got on your calendar after this is over. A
place you're going or a person you're seeing that you
know you don't have any business being in relationship with,
but you've already scheduled sin into your calendar. I'm saying,
walk away from everything that is keeping you from having
the biggest, most amazing blessing you can have on your life,
(41:42):
and that is God's presence marking you all up on you,
setting you apart girl for his purposes and with his
power evident through your life. If you were in this
room and you are in chains in some area of
your life where you've tried the twelve step program, you've
tried to walk away from that illegitimate relationship, You've tried
(42:03):
to not live this lifestyle because you know that it
is out of alignment with the truth of God.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
But everything you've tried in your own power has.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Not set you free so that you can walk in
holiness and have God's presence resting on your life. I
believe that before this day is over, those chains can
fall off of your life that you can decide that
I'm going to live holy so that I can have
God's favor like Simeon, so that my eyes can be opened,
because I want to see my God. I want to
(42:33):
hear his voice. I want to have an experience and
an encounter with Him. If you are in this room
and you know you're not walking in holiness, you know
there is an area of your life, whether in attitude
or in action. I mean God's asked you to forgive
that person and you have dug your heels in the
ground you have refused to forgive, or in your actions
(42:58):
where you are literally doing something, participating in something, engaging
in something, and you've dug your heels into the ground.
You've ignored the little pricks of the Holy Spirit asking
you to walk away from that or.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
To participate in that. You've ignored it. And you know
you are not living holy before the Lord.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
And you want to get that strike today so that
we can all be women who honor God in our
attitudes and in our actions and invite the favor of
God on our lives. Listen, If you were in this
room and you know holiness is the call that God
has given to you this morning, would you please.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Right now, in this holy space, just rise to your feet.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
If that's you, If you need freedom in a specific
area of your.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Life, We're going to walk out of here a holy
band of women.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Who want God's favor on us. Don't be embarrassed, don't
be ashamed. Listen, body got time for that. This is
the moment where we say, God, we give ourselves to
you a living and holy sacrifice. We present our bodies
(44:10):
to you, We present our minds to you. We present
ourselves to you, Lord, a living and holy sacrifice.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
Do with us what you will.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
We surrender the area of life that is our area
of bondage, the area we've been holding back, the little
cold we've kept from your fingerprints being upon it. We
surrender that to you. If you want freedom in Jesus's name,
this is your moment.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
Stand to your feet. You don't have to go home
the same way you came.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
Girl, You don't have to think the same, you don't
have to act the same. You don't have to be
in bondage like you are and have been. We can
change that by God's spirit. Today, Lord Jesus, I looked
up every single sister who is standing underneath the sound
of my voice, and I pray right now in Jesus's name,
that you would give them a holy boldness and a
courage to surrender to you every area of their life
(45:03):
that they've been holding back. Sister, would you picture that
area where you know you need to ask for forgiveness.
I'm gonna ask you to just put your hands out
in front of you. Cup those hands in front of
you like you're holding that thing.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Picture it in your hands right now.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
The scripture says that if you confess your sin, He's
faithful and just to forgive you your sin and to
cleanse you of all unrighteousness. Picture that in his hands,
in your hands, ask the Lord to forgive you, ask
for his forgiveness.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
And only when you are ready, you lift up those
hands as if.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
You were yielding it finally completely to him, and you
lift up those hands in surrender, give it to them,
and just let it go. Lord. Every attitude, every action,
every little hidden place in our life. Lord, every bondage, Lord,
(45:59):
every illegitimate relationship, every immorality. Father, everything that is not
like you, we give it to you right now. In
Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that if there is a
bondage of shackle on somebody's life, that is demonic in nature. Lord,
I pray in Jesus's name and by his bloodshed on Calvary,
that you would cancel every demonic assignment against these women
(46:22):
and against their families. Lord, I pray that you would,
by your holy spirit break the shackles. Lord, loosen them.
Help us to hear the shackles falling off right now.
In Jesus' name, and Lord, I pray that we will
walk in a manner worthy of the calling by which
we have been called. Father, I pray that you would
enable us, by your spirit to no longer.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Walk by the flesh, but to walk by the.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
Spirit, so that we will not fulfill the desires of
the flesh.
Speaker 1 (46:48):
Lord, I pray for freedom. In Jesus' name. I thank
you for Galatians five.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
To one that says it is for freedom that we
have been made free. Therefore we will stand firm and
no longer be some again to any yoke of slavery
that is in our life.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
We are free in Jesus' name. And it is in
the matchless name of.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
Jesus Christ that everybody agreed and said Amen, Amen.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
At TBN.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
Our mission is to use every available means to reach
as many individuals and families as possible with the life
changing gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for helping make
the Gospel of Grace go around the world.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
Without you, we couldn't do it.
Speaker 3 (47:31):
God bless you.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.