The Kingdom, Week 5

Tim Rivers | October 22, 2023

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Transcription

Come on. Put your hands together if you really love Jesus in this place, anybody thankful to be in God's presence in his house? No place I would rather be than in the presence of the Lord no matter what you came with, no matter what you came for. I believe that God is going to touch somebody today and everybody say amen. I'm glad to be back up here. We are going to continue in our series, the Kingdom. I missed y'all last week, but man, what a word from Pastor Yo Kim, can we show him some appreciation? Come on now. Such a timely word, such a prophetic word, such a personal word. It was so, so good, but we are so glad to have you. If you're a guest with us, we want to say welcome to Embassy City Church. We pray that you would make yourself at home, those that are watching online. Thank you so much for joining us. Are y'all already getting this word? Yes. Grab your Bibles. We're going to Colossians chapter one, the book of Colossians, chapter one.

We are continuing. This is the fifth episode installment of our series that we're calling the Kingdom, and I'm really excited about this work. I believe that God is going to do something special in somebody's life. As I was praying about this word, I've really felt like the Lord said this is going to be a turning point for somebody. Somebody is going to leave out of here. Different changed, hallelujah, renewed. I just need two or three people that believe it with me. Colossians chapter one, verse number nine. And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light, he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption.

Somebody say redemption, redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him and he is before all things that in him, all things hold together and he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent for in Him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile somebody, say reconcile. Reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you somebody say, I and you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled somebody. Say reconciled. Reconciled. That's the way I like.

Let's say it again. Reconciled. Reconciled. All right, I'm coming on. He has now reconciled his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I, Paul became a minister and somebody say amen. Amen. This is going to be a message that I believe is going to change somebody's life. It's going to change your direction. The title for today is Restore the Kingdom. Restore the Kingdom. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your goodness and your mercy. I thank you that you have drawn us into your house and I pray that in the next few moments you would give us ears to hear a heart, to receive in a mind, to understand what the spirit would say.

Help us to walk out of here different in the way we walked in. Do what only you can do. Move is only you can move. We give your name, the praise, the glory and the honor because you are worthy of it. In Jesus' name. Everybody say amen. Turn to your neighbor and say Neighbor, neighbor, something good, something good theys about to happen. Oh, turn to the other neighbor and say, neighbor, neighbor, something good. Something good is about to happen. And if you believe that, put your hands together as if you actually believe that something good is about to happen.

Some of us are more convinced that something good is about to happen. Someone just came here to hear three points in a poem. You're going to go home, but somebody and here came to hear a word from God. And if you came to hear a word from God one more time, give God praise in advance for what you believe is getting ready to happen in your life. Oh, it's explosive in here. Behave Tim. Nope, we'll not do it. Well, we've been talking about the kingdom for the last four weeks, it'll be the fifth week. We spent a lot of time talking about the king and his kingdom. I want to real quickly bring us back to an alignment so that we know the definition of two phrases. One is the kingdom of God and the other is the church. And oftentimes we will use these two interchangeably, but they're actually different.

When we talk about the kingdom of God, we're talking about the sovereign rule and reign of God over all things. We are talking about his kingship, his authority, his authorship. When we talk about the church, the church is the institution of the kingdom. It is the embassy of the kingdom. It is the agency of the kingdom here in the earth. Let me explain it a little more plain. When you go to a different country, they may have what is known as the US Embassy and the US Embassy represents the government of the United States in a different country and within that embassy, it is sovereign territory that belongs to the United States, meaning that if you're in a different country and you get in some trouble, you better run to the embassy because when you get into the embassy, they can't touch you any longer because now you are covered by the authority of the government that the embassy represents.

This is why you should be in the church because when you come into the church, it is the embassy of the kingdom of God. You are covered. So we've been talking about the kingdom of God, we've been talking about the church, we've been talking about God, but I haven't really talked about this dirty, slimy, no good for nothing, slick talking thing called the devil. So let's talk about the devil because the devil is the antagonist in the story of the Bible. The devil is the one who directly opposes the furtherance of the kingdom of God. And it's very important for us to understand the tactics of the devil because if you don't understand the tactics of the devil, you'll continually fall into his traps. That's why the Bible says that we are not ignorant, we're not devoid of understanding, we're not ignorant of Satan's devices and schemes, right? The Bible tells us what his schemes are because lemme tell you something, the reason why some people in the body of Christ are losing is because they are not privy to the weapons that the enemy is using.

I'm already preaching, it's been three minutes. So it's very important for us to look at the word of God and find out what tactics, what schemes is the devil using to oppose the kingdom of God. And then we can find it in one Peter, chapter five, verse eight. Peter says, be sober-minded, be watchful because your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring line seeking someone to devour. So we know that the devil's main tactic to oppose the kingdom is division. Even the word devil comes from the Greek word diablos, which actually has the sense to separate or to set in opposition. Literally the word devil means to separate also means that a tail bearer or a false accuser. So what the enemy does, what the devil does to oppose the kingdom of God is he tries to cause division. Oh, y'all want some more word?

I got you. Well, let's look at the fact that he devours. Devour is actually the word destroy, which is a two part word. The first is reversal. D is reversal and stir is to build. So literally the tactic of the devil is to deconstruct, divide the kingdom of God. How do we know this? Because the first mention of the devil before earth, if you can find this in Revelation chapter 12, verse number four, the scripture tells us that Satan, he caused treason against God in heaven. And when he fell, his tail took a third of the stars representing the angels. So the first tactic of the devil against the kingdom of God was to cause division among the angels. But he didn't stop there because the next time we find him, he's in the garden and he's having a conversation with Eve. And what does he tell Eve? Eve, I dunno why I just did this.

He sl it his way in a garden and he said, did God actually he was a Thur? He remember that? Did God actually fade? And what he did is he planted a seed of division die vision, split vision. Oh God, he planted a seed into Eve. Eve believed the lie and she disobeyed God, which then caused division between humanity and God. But it didn't stop there because the next iteration of division then wasn't just between humanity and divinity. Now we see division between Adam and E because what's the first thing that happened when God came to Adam and he said, yo fam, what have you done?

God, you know I was happy being single. I was living my best life. You are the one that came up with the idea. It's not good for man to be alone. The woman that you gave me, he didn't even say the woman that I wanted. He said, the woman that you gave me, have you ever talked to somebody? And when y'all got in trouble you were like, this was your idea. I didn't even want to be here, the woman that you gave me. So now we see division between Adam and Eve, but it doesn't stop there because the next iteration we continue to see division between Cain and Abel and now the results of division are growing because now division is causing murder.

So it is the tactic of the enemy to keep you divided. The greatest threat to the kingdom is division. The greatest threat to the solidarity of a kingdom is division. This is why the devil fights you so hard to stay divided. He wants you divided from God. He wants you divided from other people. He wants you divided in your family. He wants you divided in your marriage. Why do you think that your biggest fights are on your way to church? And by the look on some of y'all's faces, I just hit a nerve. From now on we driving separate.

Why? Because if he can keep you divided, then you ain't going to catch the word when you walk in here. If he can keep you divided at your job, you ain't going to do a good job. If he can keep you divided in your relationship, you ain't going to have good relationships. If he can keep you divided from God, you ain't going to have a prayer life. If he can keep you divided and separated, he can cause destruction in the kingdom. This is what John chapter 10, verse 10 says, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. He is not satisfied with just stealing your stuff.

He wants to take your stuff and then he wants to kill you and then he wants to destroy you. The word destroy means to literally pull apart. That is the scheme of enemy. Why would the devil try to keep you separated and divided from the kingdom? It's because he is privy to the fact that if you leave his kingdom, you come up under God's kingdom and when you get under the kingdom of God, you are now protected by the kingdom of kings who never loses. You lose all the time in the kingdom of darkness, but when you come into the kingdom of light into the kingdom of God, you'll never ever lose again. Can anybody testify to the fact that when you made a decision to come up under the kingdom of God, through the agency of the church, you started fighting hell more than ever before you were not that cute, but the Sunday that you came to the Lord, oh, the ladies were throwing themselves at you on Monday, you never got invited to parties, now they're inviting you every Friday night, you never got invited to go have some drinks with the bros after work.

Now they're inviting you to the strip clubs.

Can I just keep it real? You never had these cool things happen to York, but when you came into the kingdom, the devil said, now he's trying to keep you divided. Why? Because he knows that if you get into this kingdom, this kingdom never loses. This kingdom will always stand. This kingdom is rock solid this kingdom, goodness and mercy follow me. This kingdom, when I'm hungry, he gives me bread. This kingdom, when I'm thirsty, he gives me water and this kingdom, when I'm down, he picks me up in this kingdom, I'm under a different domain. I can walk around with my head held high because I'm in the kingdom of God. This is why Satan tries to oppose you so much when you're in the kingdom of God because he wants to separate you, he wants to divide you. But this is what Jesus came to destroy because we all often have to ask the question, what did Jesus actually come to do?

Jesus didn't just come to flex on people with miracle signs and wonders. He didn't just come to say, I'm the son of God. He didn't just come to teach these great sermons and tell these great parables, but look at what Luke chapter four verse 18 says. This is Jesus speaking of himself. He says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind and to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Jesus said, I've come with one single goal in mind. I've come to restore everything that the devil has tried to destroy where Satan caused the vision. God came to bring unity where Satan tried to separate Jesus came to pull back together.

Literally Jesus said he came to restore captives back to freedom, that heca, to restore sight back to those who've been blinded, that he came to restore liberty to those who are oppressed. And I love the last part because everything that he says up until this point is encapsulated by this. I came to preach the year of the Lord's favor. Now, some people don't really understand what that means, but the year of the Lord's favor is actually him alluding to the year of Jubilee. Now, if you've been around church any length of time, you've probably heard the year of Jubilee, you've probably sang songs about Jubilee and don't even know what it means. For the longest time I thought Jubilee was a person, but let's look at Leviticus chapter 25, verse 10, and you shall consecrate the 15th year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants and it shall be a jubilee for you. When each of you shall return, somebody say return, return, return to his property and each of you shall return somebody say return, return, return to his clan. The significance of Jubilee was that it wasn't just about forgiveness and release. The significance of Jubilee is that it was about restoration. Yeah, the year of Jubilee was about restoring something that was lost. To restore means to bring back to the original possessor.

The message of the kingdom through Jesus Christ was this, you don't have been separated, alienated, you have been divided from the kingdom. But I came to reconcile you, to redeem you, to restore you out from under the kingdom of darkness and planted into the kingdom of life. Can I tell you the message of the kingdom is restoration. God does not want you to live outside of the kingdom in your own little world under the domain of darkness, but God snatched you up out of there and he brought you in the kingdom of life. You used to be a sinner, but now a saint. You used to be lost, but now you're found. You used to be outside but now you're in. You used to be down, but God picks you up. You used to have no hope, but God gave you hope. You used to have no faith, but God gave you faith. This is the message of the kingdom. My God, I feel like running around this building when I think about my life and where I should be. If it had not been for the kingdom, somebody ought to give God some praise for restoration. Come on, somebody ought to give God some praise for restoration. When was the last time you just thought back on where you were before you found Jesus and Jesus found you? Where were you? You didn't have hope, but he came and brought you hope and I give God praise for it.

Restoration. Somebody said restoration. Jesus came to restore what the devil tore. I will. Jesus came to restore what the devil tore. The devil thought he won until Jesus showed up. And we could spend the next 45 minutes I could call the band up, turn up the volume and we could shout for the next 45 minutes about the goodness of God. But how we were lost and now we're found. We used to be outside of the kingdom just longing and wishing to be in the kingdom. And then through Jesus Christ and his blood and his sacrifice, he made a way for us to come into the kingdom and it will be well and good if we just spent the next few minutes just praising God for the message of restoration into the kingdom. However, one of the greatest tragedies of the church is that we spend so much time focused on restoring those that are without that we neglect those who need restoration within. Come on, let me ask you this. Why does the church spend more time and effort developing evangelism programs but no time developing restoration programs?

Church is planning more churches when the church is planning the churches have people who need restoration in their life. Oh Lord, preach. How have we got to this point that as a church we try to cover up the fact that people in our churches need restoration by just adding more people. And if we have more, we can cover up the fact that there are people in our churches who are literally suffocating because they need restoration. It is folly to build and place bricks on a wall that needs to be restored because if you add bricks to a brick that needs restoration, it compromises the legitimacy of the building. And yet right now we have so over-emphasized bringing new people in that we've neglected to take care of those that are within.

I wonder how many churches need restoration, but it's covered up by lights, camera, great marketing, ss, e o. But what I want to teach you today is that the message of the kingdom is not just about restoration of those that are without to within, but the message of the kingdom is to restore those yes that are falling away from within. I wonder how many people have not come to church today because nobody in this church is willing to restore them. Come on. And when I say this church, I'm talking about the global church. I'm not talking about this church.

How many sons and daughters have not returned because they don't feel like they will be welcomed back? Galatians chapter six verse one, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself lest you two be tempted. Part of the kingdom's restoration assignment is for those who are spiritually mature in the body of Christ to help restore those who have been caught in transgressions within the body of Christ. That word caught means to catch unaware. It means that you've been ensnared. This is not the same thing as somebody who is deliberately sinning without no regard for what they're doing. And let me just stop and say this. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, would you get saved and you have the earnest of your inheritance, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will convict you. So if you are continuing in a sin and you feel no conviction, you got to check to make sure you got the, y'all said it.

I'm talking about those who are living for God, but Satan has found an entry point into their lives and he throws a net over them and pulls 'em back. So the question is, what is our responsibility as a church for those who are caught in a snare? So I want to teach on how to restore one another. Number one, there must be a recognition of sin. Can I tell you that it is the scheme of the enemy to try to keep you caught in a snaring, in a transgression and not bring it to the surface because anything that is not in the light cannot be dealt with. Oh God, there has to be a recognition that there is a transgression either by the person that is transgressing or by the ones who are spiritually mature enough to see somebody transgressing and call them out for it. Come on.

Some of y'all know about somebody who is caught, which you won't bring it into their attention because you don't want to be judgy because the culture has told us that it's none of your business. But can I tell you that anyone who was caught in a transgression does not want to be caught in a transgression, but the scheme of the enemy is to keep you in the dark and to keep you separated and to keep you divided and to keep you caught in this transgression. Why? Because if he can keep you there, he can divide the kingdom. This is what the Bible says, James chapter five, verse 16. Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. In order to be healed, you must confess. So in order to restore somebody who's caught in the grip of a transgression, there must be a recognition that there is a sin. Let's not blow over it. Let's recognize that there are people in this building watching online that are caught in. I'm not talking about that. They're not saved. I'm talking about that're caught in a perpetual cycle of a sin that they want to be free from and somebody in the church needs to recognize that and start cutting the net off of them. My God have mercy. There must be a recognition of sin. There has to be somebody that has spiritual eyes to look into somebody's life and say, Hey, listen, you're caught.

There's a trap. You're ensnared right now. You must confess it. Here's the second thing, how to restore one another. Number two is it requires accountability. Restoration is done by the spiritual mature. Lemme tell you this, you cannot restore if you need restoration. I'm going to say it again. You cannot restore if you need restoration here. Paul is telling the church of Csia that if anyone is caught in transgression, you are spiritually, you are a spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness us. There are a lot of churches where there are people who are seemingly spiritually mature but instead of restoring, they're judging. That's it. That's right. It's like walking up to a wall and seeing that a brick is out of place and there's 15 people saying that brick is out of place. That brick is out of place. That brick needs to be replaced.

That brick has got a problem. The mortar is loose, it's coming out, but nobody takes on the responsibility of actually replacing the brick. If we are going to restore one another, then somebody has to go, I will be the one who will go fix the brick. I will be the one to go restore this one. I'll be the accountability partner and I will take it upon myself to make sure that this is going to be God is calling some of us who've been in a church for a long time to stop looking around at all the people that aren't doing right and come up with a solution for how we're going to help them get better.

It's one thing for Jesus who have sat there on the throne looking down at the world and be like, man, somebody got to restore this. Somebody got to fix this. Somebody got to. No, he said, I'm going to leave throne myself and I'm going to step down into humanity so that I can be the one that takes the accountability to bring restoration to humanity. We have got to reflect Jesus in the church and be willing to be accountable for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are caught in snares and transgressions. Will you stand in place of somebody and defend them? Oh God, have mercy.

You know how many people got these blogs going and YouTube, but they're not part of the restoration project? Shut your mouth unless you can help with the restoration. Keep your mouth closed because that's my brother and sister. You're talking about's my family member. You're talking about, oh Lord, we got to get somewhat upset about it. Number three, it requires gentleness. Restoration of our brothers and sisters must be done in the spirit of gentleness, not with a I told you this was going to happen. I knew it based on how they were active. I knew it. You know how many people are not being restored because they're afraid of how the restoration process is going to go.

There are many people who would rather stay ensnared than to deal with the harshness. I know of people who have not walked back into a church because if they do, somebody is going to meet him at the door. Get him up in front of the church. Confess your faults to everybody. Luke chapter 15, verse number four, what man of you having a hundred sheep if he has lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulder rejoicing. I'm going to read this one again. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing.

I wonder how many lost sheep when they're found are being beaten with a staff and made an example. I had to leave the 99 to come get your tail. I'm going to make an example out of you. You get to walk back. I'm going to drag you back. A good shepherd leaves the 99 finds the one puts him on the shoulder, rich, rejoicing, happy, excited, and when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors saying to them, rejoice with me for I have found my sheep that was lost. Just so I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. Oftentimes when we use this passage of scripture, we try to look at it from the viewpoint of somebody who is outside of the kingdom coming into the kingdom, but he's talking about someone who was a part already of the fold losing their way. God mercy. And how many of us will go out of way to go find one person that has lost their way and bring them back rejoicing? Oh God.

Here's number four. It requires humility. This is what he says in the latter part of verse number one, keep watch on yourself. Let you too be tempted. No one in this place watching online or whoever hear the sermon is immune from temptation. Paul doesn't even say, keep watching yourself lest you two be caught. He says, keep watching yourself lest you be tempted because what draws us away is temptation. Stop listening to this narrative that well, temptation is not a sin. That's right. But why would you stand close to the fire and brag about not being burned?

Why continuously put yourself in a situation where it's just a matter of time? Your flesh is not that strong. That's right. Keep watch on yourself lest you two be tempted. The reason why we are in the restoration business is because every one of us have a restoration story. The reason why we have to be so gentle and we have to do it with humility is because we all are susceptible to getting caught in a snare. The reason why we have to look at our brothers and sisters in the kingdom and say, I am more concerned about restoring you than the turning a blind eye and just bringing somebody else in to put in front of you, okay, before Jesus, we love to talk about the great commission, but did you know that before Jesus gave us the great commission, Matthew 28 19 before the great commission, there was the great restoration because before we get to Matthew 28 19, we got to back up where Jesus, after his crucifixion, he is come out of the grave and one of the first things that he does is he goes, visits a disciple by the name of Peter and he comes to the seashore and he sees Peter out there fishing Peter who had gotten caught in the snare of denying the Lord and he's ashamed and he's embarrassed.

He feels guilty. So he goes back to what's familiar and Jesus shows up and Jesus, he says, before I can get to the great commission and before I get to Acts two, I got to get you back, bro, because I told you I gave you some keys and the enemy's been after you.

Satan desires you that he may sift you as wheat. I've been telling you, Peter, I've been telling you Peter, the enemy's after you because you got a call on your life and now he's divided you, so I need you to come back. Peter comes back, he says, Jesus doesn't reprimand him. He doesn't say, I told you you were going to do this. He looks at him and he says, do you love me more than these? And Peter, you got to get in Peter's mind, Peter, no doubt in his heart, he knows he does, but his actions say otherwise. And now he's face to face with the one who he's denied and he says, yeah, Jesus, I do. Jesus says, go feed my sheep. Then he asks Peter again, Hey, do you love me more than these? Jesus says, yes, I do. I do, I do. Jesus says, I'm going to ask you again. And I believe the reason why Jesus asked Peter again is not because Jesus was unsure whether Peter loved him or not. It was because Peter was unsure if he would be accepted or not.

Peter, do you love me more than these? Peter says, you know that I love you and Jesus says I do. And because I know that I'm restoring you, but Jesus wasn't done. Jesus finds another disciple by the name of Thomas, and Thomas is dealing with doubt and he's not convinced that Jesus has risen again. And Jesus appears to him and he shows him his hands who have holes in him. He could have closed them up, but he said, I'm keeping holes in so that I can restore you. He shows him. Thomas says, okay, I'm convinced Jesus doesn't stop there. He gathers all the disciples who have lost hope, who have lost faith, who thought that it was all over. And Jesus restores faith back to them. This all happens. Why before the Great Commission, Jesus says, before you go out there and pull people from the kingdom of darkness, I want to demonstrate to you that the mandate of the kingdom is to restore those who are falling away within the kingdom. And we as the modern church have got it backwards. We spend more energy and more time trying to get people from without instead of taking care of the ones that are within who are falling away.

Maybe you're in this place and you're caught in a snare. Maybe you keep going to that person. Maybe you keep going to that website, maybe you keep calling that person. Maybe you keep gospel, you keep lying, you keep cheating. Maybe you keep hiding and the Lord is putting a spotlight on you right now. Not because he wants to condemn you, but because he wants to restore you. I'm not teaching this because of something that I read in a book somewhere and I thought it was great, but I've experienced this in my own life. I've told y'all the story about how I felt called to preach when I was 13 and I started preaching immediately 13, 14, 15, 16. And I felt like I was doing the will of God. I was preaching.

I felt like I was in the will of God, but there was a problem. I was ensnared as well as a teen. I was ensnared in pornography and I was embarrassed and ashamed and I felt guilty for it. And I didn't feel like I could tell anyone because if I told my pastor, what if he pulls me away from preaching again, if I told my parents, would they be embarrassed of me if I told my brothers and sisters would I feel like I was isolated? Nobody else was dealing with this. So I dealt with the snare by myself, but the enemy had a hold on me in the area. And I remember one evening, I think I was 16, late at night. I was in my room. I had the door shut and I was ensnared. My brother's room was right next to me and I heard him get out of bed. So I did what I always did. I shut everything down. But then my door opened and my brother came in and I thought, oh no, I didn't have time to hide like I normally do. I didn't have time to go clear my history and clear my caches. And my brother came and he said, lemme see your laptop. And I didn't want to do it,

But I had it in my laptop

And I said, it's all over for me. My brother clicked around, he closed it and he gave it back to me and he walked out. And I remember I turned around and I buried my face in the pillow and I just cried because I knew I'd been caught in the snare and now somebody knows it and now it's all over for me, which a couple minutes later, he came back in and I was expecting him to go off on me. But instead my brother looked at me. He didn't say anything about it. He didn't condemn me. He just said, man, God's got a call on your life and the enemy's trying to destroy it.

So I'm putting covenant eyes on your computer, which is an accountability software, and I'm going to pay it every month and I'm going to be your accountability partner. And my brother who saw me get caught in a transgression, could have condemned me. He could have thrown me to the wolves, but he decided to help restore me. I wouldn't be here today if I didn't have people in my life who helped restore me. The Lord told me that there are people in this place. You need to be restored and you've kept a great face and you've kept it hidden for a long time and nobody of significant knows, and you've been getting by, but the enemy has got you in a grip and you cannot fulfill the fullness of what God has called you to do because you're ensnared. You're caught in a trap. And God sent me here to tell you that is time for restoration. Hallelujah.

It's time for restoration Hall. If you're caught today, God is going to set you free. For some people, it's an affair, whether it's physical or it's emotional. For some people in here, it's gossip. For some people, it's pornography. For some people, it's lying. For some of you, you have got things that you are doing that you know are transgressions, but you're caught in it and you don't want to tell anybody. But God sent me here to tell you through the word of God that there's a spotlight on you right now. And God does not want you to keep walking around needing restoration and not getting it. And let me tell you something, we as a church, embassy City Church, we're not going to be a church that turns away people from within. We're going to help restore you. We will be your accountability. We will handle you with gentleness. We'll stand by you until God restores your life.

We are not going to be the type of church that spends more time focus outside when people in here are sick, Jesus, this is a hospital. We need to see your wounds so that we can dress them. We can cover you. This is what's going to happen today. God's got to restore some people. I want you to stand all across this place. I want the altar team to come up here. Every single altar team member, I could tell you to come up here and just lift your hands and confess to the Lord. But what's required for true restoration is a brother and sister in Christ.

You can't do it by yourself. You know this because you've already tried. You got to have accountability. I still to this day have accountability on my software, software, on my stuff because I'm not given the enemy space to entrap me and ensnare me. I'm going to pray. And then when I pray these altars are completely open, for those of you who know the Lord is speaking to you, do not leave this place until you come up here and pray with somebody because October 22nd marks the day for somebody's restoration. I'm not talking about, I'm not talking about you getting saved.

I'm talking about you being restored within. We've preached it so wrong that people think they got to get rebaptized and people re-saved. It's like adopting a child and when they mess up, say you got to restart the adoption process. You can be adopted and still have issues, and a good family is going to make sure to let you know, number one, you're not leaving this family. And number two, we're going to restore you to health. So if you're in this place and you know need it, I'm going to pray and then you can come up.

Dear Jesus, oh, the message of the kingdom. It's not just for those that are without, but it's for those who are within in, and I know the Holy Spirit is right now moving, touching, convicting, drawing those who need restoration in their life. They've been ensnared, they've been caught unaware. The net is over them. But today there's going to be a release. There's going to be a cutting away of the net of the snare, and you are going to restore them, Lord, back into the place, into the position that you desire for them. So Lord, we set aside every pretense. We set aside all of our pride, all of our Bo boying. We set aside any thought of what other people would think about us, and we come to you and to our brothers and sisters believing that the restoration process begins right now. We give you a name, the praise and glory for what you're getting ready to do. In Jesus name, we pray if you're in this place and you're ready, I want you to come down and talk to somebody right now.