Change is Coming, Week 5

Tim Rivers | October 30, 2022

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Transcription

Tim Rivers: I'm so glad to see you here this morning. Anybody excited about what God's doing?

Congregation: Yes.

Tim: We're in the season of change and it's a beautiful change because God is in the midst of it and he's doing some amazing stuff. I, first of all, want to say how delighted I am that you're here. If you're a first-time guest, thank you so much for being here this morning. For those that are watching online, our Vitamin E family, thank you for tuning in. I believe that God's got something special for you. If you went through the trouble of getting ready and coming here, it's not for naught, it's because God has something special for you.

God knew that you were going to be here and God prepared a word to speak to you. The only thing standing between you and a word is expectation. I never want to waste an opportunity in the presence of God to get something special. Every time I walk in, I come in expecting God to do something fantastic because I want to leave out of here different than the way I came. As you can tell, I'm already ready to preach. Let's get into this word. If you have your Bibles, let's go to 1 Kings 18. I do want to recognize a very, very special person today, Pastor Tim Ross.

[applause]

How cool is this? Now I'm up here. You are here. This is cool. [laughs] 1 Kings 18:41, it says, "And Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain." Ahab went up to eat and to drink and Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel and he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. He said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea." He went up and looked and said, "There is nothing." You ever been there where you really want God to move, you really want God to do something, but you look out and there is nothing?

You ever come to church and the pastor's preaching about all the good things are coming your way and you look out and expect and see, but there is nothing? He said, "Go again." Seven times and at the seventh time he said, "Behold a little cloud, like a man's hand is rising from the sea." He said, "Go up, say to Ahab, prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you." [chuckles] In a little while, somebody say a little while.

Congregation: A little while.

Tim: It don't take God long. I could just stop and preach that. In a little while, while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind and there was a great rain and Ahab wrote and went to Jezreel and the hand of the Lord was on Elijah. He gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. For the next little while, I want to preach on this subject. Can you see it? We're in the series called Change Is Coming. I want to preach some things today based on what I feel the Lord is leading us into. I'm going to preach to three audiences today.

The first is you, you that are gathered here today, those that are watching online, those that are part of Embassy City, those that are part of the community, I'm going to preach to you. The second is, I'm going to preach to heaven and I'm going to declare on earth what has already been done in heaven. The third audience that I'm going to preach to is hell, because I want to serve notice to the devil and his imps that his time is over and that we're coming for him and anything that he thought he had established is about to get destroyed.

[applause]

Tim: Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your goodness and your mercy. We thank you that your word remains true and steadfast. The next few moments, I pray that you would give us ears to hear, a heart to receive, and a mind to understand. Help me to get out of the way, any flesh, any carnality that may taint your word, I pray that they will be removed and that we concentrate solely on what you have to say. We thank you for what you're getting ready to do in Jesus name. Everybody say amen.

Congregation: Amen.

Tim: One of the most fascinating things about God is that God is able to shift things and move things by just His spoken word. In fact, at the very beginning of time, our very introduction to God is in Genesis 1:1. The Bible says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep." Verse 3 says, "And God said, Let there be light, and there was light." God has creative power in His words. The galaxies, the moon, the stars, the sun, the plants, the vegetation, the animals, all were created by the spoken word of God.

In fact, in Chapter 1 alone of Genesis, the scripture tells us eight times, and God said. God has creative power in his words, the sound of his words changes the atmosphere. This is why when God speaks, demons tremble. Angels stand at attention when God speaks. Things move around in your life when God speaks. This is why the scripture says, "You can rest easy when God speaks." Because when he speaks, the scripture says that, "His word will not return unto him void, but it will accomplish everything that he set it forth to do." You can rest assured that whatever God promised when he speaks if it wasn't so is about to be so.

We have to be attuned to the voice of God. Consistently throughout scripture, you're going to find that God when he gets ready to do something, he precedes what he's going to do with a word. He sends his word first and then we attach ourselves and we build our faith on the word of God because the word of God actually sets the stage for what he's getting ready to do. This is why the Bible also says that "Man shall not live by bread alone or man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." If you're a KJV fan, it says," By every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God."

E-T-H means it continually is coming out of the mouth of God. Can I tell you that when you listen to the voice of God, it sets the stage for your faith to grow? If you can believe what God said, then it won't be long until you see what you heard. God will test our faith by speaking and depending on how we respond to the spoken word of God, it creates an atmosphere of God actually realizing His word in our lives. I want to take you back to 1 Kings 18 because I want to give you a little bit of context for this story. The story is Elijah. Elijah had just got through in the earlier part of 1 Kings 18, being at the top of Mount Carmel and he was having a showdown with the prophets of Baal.

He had built an altar, he called onto the Lord. The Lord sent down fire, took up the sacrifice. You can read about it. Spectacular miracle that took place. Then from there they've been in a drought for the last three years. They've been praying for God to send rain. They've been praying for God to move. They've been praying for God to send a miraculous rain out of nowhere and it hadn't happened yet. Now he leaves this place where this miracle took place of fire and he goes to the brook where he chops up 450 prophets of Baal. Now, I know we don't want to think about this, but you've got to imagine what it takes to cut into pieces 450 people.

It takes a lot of energy, it takes a lot of willpower, but Elijah committed himself to destroying the very thing that was destroying the people of God. You can't just say, "Stop it." Sometimes you got to cut it up. You can't just sometimes move away from the thing that held you bound. You got to chop it up and make sure that that thing don't resurrect again in your life.

[applause]

Tim: He cuts up the 450 prophets of Baal, but God still hasn't answered the prayer that they've been praying for the last three years. Now we find Elijah going back to the top of Mount Carmel and the scripture says that "He sits down on the earth and he puts his face between his knees." Now I'll be honest with you, I've tried this at home. I think I'm going to have to see a chiropractor this week. Don't do this unless you're really, really flexible. This is the first account of yoga. Elijah was a certified yogi. He was a yoga instructor.

The scripture says that he bows himself down to the ground. He puts his face between his niece and he says to Ahab, "Ahab, I want you to get your bread and your water and get ready." "Get ready for what?" "I hear the sound of the rushing of rain." "Now, wait a minute, Elijah. We've been in a drought and in a famine for three years. There are no clouds in the sky. The situation doesn't match what you're hearing. I'm not sure if you know what you're talking about or if you're just tired from killing 450 prophets of Baal." Elijah said, "Hey, just go do what I'm asking you to do."

The scripture says that Ahab went and started preparing himself, and Elijah says, "Now that I hear what I hear, I've got to look in expectancy to see if I see what I heard." He tells his servant, he says, "Hey, Mr. Servant, won't you go and check to see what you can see?" The servant goes to Elijah. Elijah says, "Go check." The servant's like, "All right, I'll do it." The scripture says he goes all the way up and he looks, "I see nothing. Let me go tell the man of God. He probably didn't hear right." He goes back to Elijah, "Elijah, excuse me, sir. I think your yoga's getting to you. I didn't see anything." Elijah said, "I know what I heard. Go back and check again."

The servant's like, "This is why I should have finished school. Now I'm a servant. I got to keep doing this." He looks, "No, nothing. Let me go back and tell the man of God. He definitely didn't hear right." He goes back and he tells Elijah, "Elijah, I'm sorry, sir, but nothing." Elijah said, "Go check again." "Good God Almighty. My mama was right. I should have been a carpenter. This is ridiculous." Seven times, this servant-- Can we talk about the faith of this servant? We talk about Elijah, can we talk about the servant? Can we talk about Ahab? What do you do when what you hear doesn't match what you see?

What do you do when somebody else is telling you what they heard? Are you going to move based on what they heard, or are you going to be like, "No, Elijah, you know what? I'm not the one. I'm not going to be fooled and tricked by what you're hearing. You're an old man. I don't trust what you hear." This servant had enough faith to believe that if Elijah heard it, then I know something is going to happen. If it takes me seven times, I'm going to go seven times to check and see what he heard is true.

The scripture says that on the seventh time, he comes back and he says, "Elijah, guess what? I see a little something. I see a cloud coming out of the sea, but it's only the size of a man's hand." Elijah said, "That's all God needs. He doesn't need a whole lot to do a whole lot. If you saw just a little cloud, get ready." Elijah says, "I don't care how big it is or how small it is. All I need to know is, can you see what I heard? Because if you can see what I heard, you better prepare yourself because in a little while God will do a whole lot with just a little bit of time." The servant comes back and says, "All right, what do you want me to do?" He says, "Tell Ahab to pack his stuff into his chariot, prepare himself and go."

Why? So the rain doesn't stop him, "Wait a minute. Elijah, we don't see any rain. I just told you there was a little cloud." Elijah said, "No, I've heard the voice of God before. And when I hear God, I know that God is going to move, because remember, when God speaks, he shifts things. You may not see what was happening, but for three years while they were praying, God was collecting it in the cloud."

For three years while they were believing God to move, God said, "All right, I hear that prayer. I see that faith. I see that fasting. I see that believing, and I'm collecting it in a cloud because when the time gets ready, I'm going to make that cloud come out of places you didn't even think it was possible, and you better get ready because when the rain pours, if you are not ready, the blessings will overtake you." Ahab goes all the way to Jezreel and the scripture says that the spirit of God moved on Elijah so that he outred a chariot. I'd love to have been there to see that.

I'm telling you this story because I want to relate it to something that I feel like the Lord has spoken to me. I begin to ask God for the last few months as we've been entering into this transition, "God, let me hear what you want to do in this season. Let me begin to see the season that you're taking us into." I felt like God said, "Hey, I want you to go to Luke Chapter four because you are ambassadors of Christ, and as ambassadors of Christ, you're simply going to do what I did because Christ himself said, greater than these shall you do." I want to go to Luke Chapter four, but before I get into really what I want to show you because there's five things that I believe that God is leading us into and God is going to let us experience in this next season, five things.

Before those five things happen, I want you to get a little bit of context of what happens in Luke Chapter four. This is what happens. Jesus has just got through being baptized. In Luke Chapter four, it opens up with the scripture telling us that Jesus being full of the Spirit is led into the wilderness to fast and to pray for 40 days. Now, when most people hear about Jesus going into the wilderness, they assume that Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. That's not what happened.

Jesus was led into the wilderness to be prepared for what he was sent on earth to do, but it was in the preparation season that Satan thought he had an opportunity to stifle Christ in His preparation season because if he could stifle Christ while Christ was being prepared, he could hinder Him from doing the things that He was sent to do. Don't be confused by the wilderness experience. It's not God punishing you. It's God trying to prepare you.

The wilderness is not meant to crush you. The wilderness is meant to prepare you. If you prepare yourself in the wilderness, then you will come out of the wilderness and more resolved in what God's called you to do, and more at ease with what God's called you do. Here's the important part, you will come out with power. The scripture says that Jesus went into the wilderness full of the Spirit, He was led into the wilderness, but the Bible says that Jesus return in the power of the Spirit. What happens in the wilderness experience when you get prepared is God will give you power to do things that you ordinarily could not do. What kind of power did Jesus come out with? He came out with power over sickness and disease.

He came out with power to call out demons. He came out with power to walk on water. He came out with power to calm the storm. He came out with power to make blinded eyes see. He came out with power to make lame legs leap. He came out with power to cause the dead to rise again. He came out with power over death, hell, and the grave. He came out with power and authority out of the wilderness.

I'm here to preach and tell somebody, "You may feel like you're in the wilderness, but God is preparing you for power." Can I keep preaching? He comes out of the wilderness, and when he comes out of the wilderness, the scripture says that He goes to the synagogue where He opens up the scroll to the book of Isaiah and then He says this, "The Lord has anointed me to do five things."

Tim: As I begin to pray about what are you doing with us, God? What season are you leading us into? I felt like the Lord said, "I've been preparing y'all for the last seven years. It's been prayers, it's been fasting, it's been requests, it's been faith. For the last seven years, I've been collecting them in a cloud. I've been collecting them. You may have thought that you saw miracles because you saw fire come down out of heaven, but I'm just getting started because while you've been praying, you've been believing, you've been asking God, I've been collecting those prayers."

Here's five things that we're about to see. Number 1, he said, "I come to proclaim the good news to the poor." That word poor there means [unintelligible 00:19:37]. It's the word that means to be stooped over. That means you can be stooped over either physically or spiritually. Jesus said, "I've come that those that are stooped over, those that have no sense of hope, who have no sense of direction, who have no peace, those who are walking around waiting for alms, waiting for somebody else to encourage them. Can I tell you what I hear God say to us is that we're about to preach hope to those who are hopeless. We're about to see an inundation of people who are stooped over, begin to straighten out their back, square back their shoulders, and walk in the confidence of God. God is about to use us as children of His kingdom to represent hope to those who have no hope.

Jesus said, "Look, I didn't just come to heal the sick and to raise the dead, but I'm here to help those who have lost hope because of what they've gone through." I'm talking about people who have lost hope in the church, people who have lost hope in ministry, people who have lost hope in their marriage, people who have lost hope for their children, people who have lost hope over what God wants to do in their life. People who have gone through circumstances and situations in their life where they've lost hope, they're stooped over.

The scripture says that this word [unintelligible 00:20:54] literally means the inability to look up. Maybe there's somebody in here right now that you are poor. You're stooped over. I remember one time talking to Pastor Tim about a situation in my life, and he said, "Stand up straight, square back your shoulders. Walk in the confidence of what God's made you to be. I believe that we're entering to a season where people are going to find hope." The second thing that he said is going to happen. He said, first of all, I'm going to preach to those, the good news to the poor.

The second is, I'm going to proclaim liberty to those who are captive. There are so many people that are held captive right now, captive by the opinions of others, captive by their own mistakes, captive by generational curses, captive by their thoughts and their own ambitions, captive by relationships that they should have broken up, captivated by friends and family members who have ridiculed them, captive by people's opinions and words.

I believe God is saying that liberty means to release. It means to set free. It means freedom. What I hear in the Spirit is I hear freedom ringing. I believe that we're entering into another season of more freedom. Freedom and body, mind and spirit. Freedom from the opinions of other people, freedom from the opinions of what other people think you ought to be.

I believe that we're entering into a season of freedom. The third thing that I hear God say, He says, "I come to give the recovering of sight to the blind." Whew. What I love about this word recovering is that at some point, that person was able to see. It's different than saying, "Hey, I'm giving you sight for the very first time." Recovering of sight means to take back what you've lost.

How many know what it's like to be recovered? Oh, yes. I know very well what it's like to be recovered. I've gone through my own season where I saw, I've seen the goodness of God, and I had faith, and I had no fear, and I was walking in the will of God, but something happened in my life that made me peel back. I wasn't able to see the vision that God had for my life anymore. I wasn't able to depend on the voice of God. I had to reach out to try to see if I can get where God wants me to go, but I believe that God is calling us.

What I hear God calling us to do is to preach that there is purpose and healing for people. It doesn't matter what you have in your life. It doesn't matter what you've lost in your life. This is going to be a place of healing. Healing of emotions, healing of mental health, healing of your body, healing of your mind, healing of your spirit. Healing of your soul.

I'm preaching this in the atmosphere because Satan has gotten a hold of some people and said that you will never come out of this situation, but I'm telling the devil and all of his imps that freedom and healing is about to take place. That people are about to get free. People are about to get healed. People's eyesight is about to be opened. Vision is about to come back.

I know that you're 30 and you're wondering, "Is this the right job for me? This the right relationship?" Yes. God is going to give you the ability to see and envision your life. Healing, healing, healing, healing, healing, healing, healing. I just want to stay right here because somebody right now, I believe that you're in a situation where you feel like you've lost your vision. You've lost your ability to see what God has for you. You settled for things that God didn't want you to settle for because you can't see straight. You've allowed the blindness in your life, and it wasn't even your fault, somebody else's.

They put the seal to your eyes so that you couldn't see but now I believe that God's about to give somebody's vision back. I believe that God's about to give somebody life back. I believe that God's going to give somebody your sight back so you can see and envision yourself in the will of God again. Here's the next thing that I heard Lord say, "I'm going to give liberty to those who are oppressed." That word oppressed literally means to be crushed to pieces. Crushed to pieces, meaning that you've lost purpose. There are people that are going to walk in here that have no purpose because they feel crushed.

The image here is that of a vessel or a cup that's been broken. Broken because it's been dropped. What the Lord said he's coming to do is I come to restore the pieces back together and give you purpose again because here's the lovely part about purpose. We have a master potter who does not discard us based on our condition, but He has the ability to reshape us and remold us and renew us so that we can be used as vessels of honor so He can pour into what's the wine so that we can fill other people. What I hear is God sending us broken vessels that are going to find purpose in this house.

You may be in this place, you may be watching online, and you may be saying, "You know what? While you're preaching about this, I'm dealing right now with brokenness. I'm dealing with oppression. I feel like I've been dropped. I feel like I'm in a thousand pieces," but I'm here to tell you that Jesus can put you back together, and when He does, it's going to be a mosaic. It's going to be more beautiful than it was before. It's going to be the tapestry of His love and His grace and His mercy. He's going to give you a testimony.

Here's the fifth thing that I heard is that, I came to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. I came to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. That word favor is the word acceptance. What Jesus is talking about here, He's talking about the year of Jubilee. The year of Jubilee happened every 50 years. Every 50 years. What would happen is those that had debt, it would be erased. The animals would be rested for a year. They wouldn't have to plow the fields anymore.

Anybody that owned anything, it became a community event. Those that felt like they were worn out and tired and they've gone through certain circumstances, that they were indebted to others, they would be released in that year. What I hear the Lord say is, this is the year of Jubilee. You've been praying for him. You've been asking God for it. You've been believing for it, and this is the year of acceptance. This is the time where God is about to let you rest.

Now, here's the interesting part. I don't want to be allegorical, which means to try to put meaning into a scripture that isn't there, but I do believe in correlations. For those Bible nerds out there and theologians, I'm not being allegorical, but I do think it's interesting, that when I read the scripture in 1 King's 18, "That the servant went to go see what the man of God heard seven times."

We've been a church for seven years and for seven years we've seen the glory of God unleashed. We've seen fire come down out of heaven. We've seen God do things that no one thought was possible. When God began to speak to Tim and Juliet about things that are going to happen, we've already seen the first fruits of what is to come, but I believe that as we step out of our seventh year and into our eighth year, I see a cloud, coming up out of heaven, coming up out of, I see a cloud full of prayers and full of thanksgiving and full of faith. I see God about to unleash in this eighth year things that we never thought was possible.

My message to you today is prepare yourself. Get yourself ready. Get your faith ready. Get your heart ready. Get your prayer ready. You better get ready, because this is what I heard. This is what I heard when I read the scripture. I said, "Hell, that's funny." He went up for seven times. Each time He, the man of God just said, "Go see what you can see." What am I looking for? You're going to look for what I heard. What do you mean I don't know if I can trust what you heard. You can trust what I heard because what I heard is from the Lord. When the Lord speaks, things begin to shift. You don't understand. For the last seven years, things have been shifting in the spirit. For the last seven years, God's been doing in the undercurrent of the sea.

What you don't see. If you just go back and look, you're about to see a little cloud come up out of it. You've been believing God for a little while, but you've been in a drought. Can I get personal with you? You've been believing God to do something spectacular. Something that you heard God speak, but because the atmosphere hasn't changed based on what you heard, you walked away. I hear God say, "Go back and look again. Go back and look again. Go back and look again. Don't just trust what you feel in the atmosphere.

I need your eyes of understanding to be enlightened. I need your eyes of faith to be opened up. If you could see what I can see in the spirit, you could see that people are coming from the north and the south, from the east and from the west. I can see them right now. They're going to fill this building up. They're going to fill this altar up. I can see it right now. If you could just let me preach what I feel, what I see in the spirit.

I can see us having lines and lines of people that were baptizing. I can see people being released for generational curses. I can see people being released from opinions of other people. I can see people who have been hurt by the church getting released. I can see freedom. I can see purpose. I can see healing. I can see everything. I've said, "When I've gone through the Lord in prayer." I said, "God, I don't know what you're leading us into, but God, I want to see it. I want to hear it."

What I felt God say is, "I just need you to go look, because for seven years you've been praying, you've been asking God, you've been trusting God." God said, "I've showed up time and time again, but I'm about to release the cloud that you've never seen." Again, I don't want to be allegorical, but here's what I thought. The servants that I saw, I saw a cloud, like a man's hand come out of the sea.

It got me to think if a hand has five fingers, and these are the five things that I believe that God's going to do in our midst, and why am I preaching this to you? I don't want you to get confused by what you see. I don't want you to go home and say, "What does this actually mean?" Now I want you to go home and go, "God, what I've heard today, I believe we're going to see. What I've heard today, I believe we're going to experience, before you touch it."

Can you believe it? Before you can experience it? Can you hear it? Here's what I believe God's about to do for us. I believe that God is about to work in a little while. I'm not going to wait till the 10th year anniversary. I'm not going to wait until the 12th year. I'm not going to even wait until next year. I'm believing that this is going to happen right now in a little while.

It don't take God long. He can do it next Sunday. That person that you've been praying for is about to walk in and get freedom. That child that you've been praying for is about to walk through the doors and get their release. I come to preach faith to somebody. That's why I told you I'm preaching to three audiences. I'm preaching to you as an individual. I'm preaching to heaven because as it is in heaven, let it be done on earth.

I'm here to serve notice to the devil. "Hey, devil, you think it's a small cloud, but you guess what?" God moves in spectacular ways. You can't handle it. Why am I preaching this? This is what Elijah told Ahab after he told him what he heard. He said, "Go prepare yourself." In the next couple weeks. I'm going to preach to you about getting prepared, get prepared. Those of you that have felt a call to preach, it's time to get prepared.

Those of you that feel called to be evangelists, it's time to get prepared. Those of you that know how to pray, it's time to get prepared. Those of you that know what it's to exercise your faith, it's time to get prepared. Those of you know how to worship, it's time to get prepared. Those of you that know how to go out and grab people and bring them in this house, it's time to get prepared. Can you see it?

When Jesus sat down, I'm about to close. All eyes were on Him before He ever worked a miracle. Before He ever healed a binded eye, before He ever caused anybody to come out of a bed, before He ever walked on water, before He ever calmed the storm, before He ever said, "Peace, be still", before any of His miracles, it was just a word. The question for those that are in the synagogue looking at Jesus was, Can you see it? Change is not just coming, but change is now here.

Now, can you see what you hear? I believe that God is going to continue to do things beyond our wildest imagination. I just need, God just wants about 12 people. That's all he needs to see it. I'm talking about conversations tomorrow. Man, I can see my kid coming back in the season. I can see that prayer that I've been praying for healing in my body, it's about to take place.

I can see that loved one that I've been witnessing too at my job. I think it's about that season. It's about time for them to come back in. I can see it. Where is it? It's underneath the surface. It's in the sea. Can you go to the sea and see what you see? God's about to do amazing things. God's about to do some spectacular things. I'm not just preaching this to hype you up. Even if you walk out of here and you go, I don't know.

It's okay. I'm telling you it's about to happen. I've been to the mountain. I talked to God and God said, "He is coming." Prepare yourself. Prepare your chariot. It's about to happen. It's about to take place. Now here's what I love about God. Here's what I love about rain, is you can't predict rain and you can't manufacture rain. Rain is the one thing that is unmanufactureble. I don't even know if that's a word, but we'll go with it. Rain is simply a miraculous occasion every time.

Meteorologists can't even really predict it right. They can only give you a percentage of what they think is going to happen. God is the only one. Then when he says it's about to the rain, you better get a raincoat. You better go get an umbrella. You better get yourself ready because Ahab, when he heard Elijah say that, "I don't play with this man of God. I've seen it do it time and time.' In fact, we just saw fire come out of heaven. If he hears it, I can see it. Let me go ahead and get ready.

Do you believe what you hear God saying to you? If you need freedom, can you see it? If you need healing, can you see it? If you need purpose, can you see it? If you need God to move in a spectacular way in your life, can you see what you hear? You would stand to your feet all across this house. Here's what I love about God. God will let His words sit, to see if you move. In every instance where God did something spectacular, you know, he spoke about it first. God said, "Let there be light, and there was light. God said to Abraham for Him, "I will make of you a great nation." God made of him a great nation. God said to Pharaoh, "Let my people go." His people were let go. God said to David, "I've chosen you to be king." David was made king.

What stood between the word of God and the realization of God's word was faith. Faith without works is dead. Here's what I'm calling for us to do. I'm calling for us to raise our faith.

What is faith? Faith is simply believing that God tells the truth. Faith is simply believing that if he said it, he will do it. Faith is simply saying that I'm not waiting until my circumstance and my environment changes. I'm going to change the environment by my faith. Faith simply says that no matter what anybody else is saying, what anybody else is thinking, I don't care if I don't see a cloud in the sky. If God said it, I believe it.

I'm going to move forward in the belief that God is going to do what He said He's going to do. How many have heard a word for yourself that God said he's got something for you? Can I pray for you? Keep that hand lifted right now. "Lord, you see these hands lifted right now. At your word, God we will move. At your word, we will stand steadfast, because your word is a lamp to my feet and a light unto my path. The grass may fade and the flower may wither, but your word will remain steadfast. Right now, God, I pray into the atmosphere. your word that you're about to unleash miracles, signs, and wonders in our church.

I release right now into the atmosphere that we believe you that you're going to bring forth healing, freedom, purpose. That you're about to give people supernatural moves in their quiet time, that you're going to heal those that are sick, both mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I believe, God, that we're praying right now in the Spirit that you're shifting things and under the surface of the sea, you're collecting cloud that's about to rise up, that we're about to see the unleashing of your promises in this eighth year that we're stepping into.

I thank You, God, for every prayer that's been prayed. I thank You, God, for every faith that has risen up. Right now we declare it in your name. Let it be done. Right now, God, I say, I see what I hear because your word is true and it's right and it's holy and it's just and it's perfect. As a church, as a collective, we now say yes. Somebody say yes.

Congregation: Yes.

Tim: Somebody say amen.

Congregation: Amen.

Tim: Somebody say yes to your word. Somebody say yes to the word of God. Somebody say, my faith.

Congregation: My faith-

Tim: -is coming up.

Congregation: -is coming up.

Tim: My faith-

Congregation: My faith

Tim: -is going to the next level.

Congregation: -is going to the next level.

Tim: My faith-

Congregation: My faith-

Tim: -trust God.

Congregation: -trust God.

Tim: My faith-

Congregation: My faith-

Tim: -is in His word.

Congregation: -is in His word.

Tim: My faith-

Congregation: My faith-

Tim: -is in my prayer.

Congregation: -is in my prayer.

Tim: My faith-

Congregation: My faith-

Tim: -is in my expectation. My faith-

Congregation: My faith-

Tim: -is in what God said.

Congregation: -is in what God said-

Tim: -he is going to do. Now put your hands together and give God some praise in this building.