Voices, Week 1

Robert White | June 4, 2023

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Transcription

What's up everybody? I am so excited because today we're kicking off a collection of talks that we are calling voices. Now I just want to take a moment to explain a little bit about why we're doing this. For the next four weeks, we're going to hear from two individuals that are outside of Embassy City and then two that are actually within our own walls. Now, the reason why we're doing this is because God has blessed the church with a diversity of voices, different personalities, different context, different styles of preaching, and we want to have a well-rounded appetite of hearing the word of God from people from various backgrounds. So that's the reason why we're doing it. It's going to help us grow as individuals and as a church to hear God speak through others into our local body. The second reason why we're doing this, this gives me an opportunity to do three things, to reflect, to rest and prepare.

What do I mean by that? Well, first of all, it gives me time to just reflect a little bit on what God has done within our church or the last several months at the beginning of the year to really think through our sermon series, to catch up on things that went well and maybe some things we can improve, but also it gives an opportunity to rest. I'm always going to practice what I preach. I encourage y'all to rest and I want to do the same so my family and I are going to take some time to rest and rejuvenate and make sure that we're healthy in spirit, soul and body. Plus, we get to attend just as a family, which is super cool. And then to prepare. We have some amazing things that are coming up for the next half of the year, and this gives me an opportunity to really spend intentional time and prayer and fasting and preparation for all that is to come in the next few months.

And so we're going to do this this month, and we believe that God's going to do amazing things over the next four weeks. So now without further ado, our very first guest I get to introduce to you for the very first time. He's a great pastor, pastor church in Fort Worth called Freedom Church. He's a great father, a great husband, and he has a voice that every preacher covets. So stand to your feet. Come on all across the place, and would you please put your hands together and give a warm welcome to Pastor Robert White? Come on, man. Preach the word.

Amen. Amen. Come on and give God some praise in here. Oh no. You can do better than that. That's the same clap you gave for me. Give God some praise in here. Lift up your voice. Lift up your sound of praise and let God know that we love him and we honor him, that there is no one that we would rather be in the presence of than our holy and our awesome God. And while you're there, can we give honor to the angel of this house, your pastors pastor Tim and Janese Rivers? Come on. Give God praise for them. Amen. Before you take your seats, I want to say something that I say whenever I preach out. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 13, I believe around verse 17, that you ought to honor those who give leadership over you as one who keeps watch over your soul.

Now, I need you to hear me because you just read that Bible and you thought that that was it, but I need you to understand that He keeps watch over your soul. If I got an attorney, I want him doing real well because he's watching over my affairs and my legal matters. If I got a doctor, I want her doing real well because she's looking over my body. If I got an accountant, I want them doing real well because they're watching over my finances. I don't need them tempted and distracted by the other things of life, and so I want them doing real well because they're watching over the things of my life. How much more for the person who keeps watch over your soul. Yes, those things will pass away, but your soul is eternal. So can we also give honor again to the shepherd of this house, the one who keeps watch over your soul.

Amen. Have a seat, have a seat, have a seat. Well, I'm honored to be here today and so grateful to be at Embassy City Church. Y'all don't understand, y'all are known around the globe for who you are, one of the most diverse spirit field, amazing, obedient, submitted, humble places on the planet, and we are excited to be here today. Y'all do understand that this is not normal. I need you to understand that you're sitting in the move of God that is not normal in our time and in our day, and so I want to make sure that you understand that and that you appreciate what it is that you're sitting in. I want to give honor to my wife who is not with me. She is our children's pastor, and if you know anybody in here, work with kids in the kids kids area, okay?

Y'all are like, no, that's why we're in here. My wife works with the kids and there is something to be said, but I wanted to show y'all a picture of them because statistically, if you see my wife and my girls, you'll like me better, so immediately I show you them so that all of your reservations about me goes away because you're like, if they love him, then maybe we should too. And so that's where we have that, but I love them, honor them and I wish they could be here with me. Maybe next time we come, we'll come as a family and do like Tim is doing and just sit and worship and have a good time on a break. Amen. Well, listen, I'm excited to kick off this month of voices and I pray that the spirit of God will speak something to your heart and your mind through a word that I believe he gave me on a plane coming home from Africa a couple of months ago.

Tim asked me about preaching and I said, sure, and then the spirit of God immediately dropped something in my spirit that I believe is going to bless you all today. Amen. All right. Let's pray real quick. God, thank you for your word. We thank you for your people. We pray that the two will come together in this moment and that your word will penetrate the hearts of your people and they will go out and do amazing exploits for the kingdom of God. Speak through me, use my mind, my mouth, my mannerisms to communicate the gospel message of Jesus Christ. In Jesus name we pray a amen. Hey, turning your Bibles to Acts chapter 28, acts chapter number 28, and when you get there, just say something. Say something, anything. Come on, amen. All right. There you go. He popping up all over the place. Y'all the Bible trail people.

Y'all got there faster than everybody else, and here's the reality. If you don't have it, I'm sure they're going to have it on the screen. I'm going to read the last two verses of Acts 28, which means these are the last two verses of the book of Acts. These are the last two verses of the book of Acts, and here's how it reads. For two whole years, Paul stay there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. It's only two verses. Entertain me. Let's read it again. For two whole years, Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

I recently made a couple of discoveries about myself as I was thinking about preaching this message, and it's going to seem odd for y'all, but stay with me. I promise I'm going somewhere. A couple of discoveries about myself. One, I don't like to watch TV series. As they develop Tim, I realize that I'm not the guy who can go watch the show for 45 minutes and then at the end of it, watch the cliffhanger at the end. Wait for the next week, see what's going to happen next. It's just too emotional for me. I can't keep waiting. I can't develop with these characters over four years. No, I'm the guy who waits for the end of the series, gets the recommendation and watches the whole thing at one time. I'm that guy. I'm that guy. At least, least even if I get ahold of it, I'm going to wait till the end of the season binge watch the season and then say I'm caught up and then wait.

I'm the guy who watches absolutely no TV or all tv. That's me. I'm all or nothing. I discovered this about myself and I realized this is something much to my wife, chagrin because she's like a methodical pacing person. She watches TV one minute at a time. She's like, okay, there's a commercial break. I'm going to pause. I'll come back next week. I'll finish it. I'm like, nah, I got to watch it all right now. Right? The other thing that I've discovered about myself though is that I don't like series endings. I get emotionally invested in all of these characters. We done walked together. I've seen your ups, I've seen your downs. We family now like we've been hanging. Now, I was watching a show when I was on a trip to, I was on this trip to Africa, same one where the Lord dropped this on my spirit.

It's only so much praying and writing you could do on a plane, so I downloaded some episodes and I'm binge watching on the 16 hour flight and the show is coming to a close and I'm getting emotional on this plane. People are walking around. Is he okay? Do we need emergency landing? I mean, I am emotionally invested in the characters and when the show comes to an end, I'm frustrated because usually a good writer doesn't just tie up all the loose ends. A good writer will make sure that at the end of the show, there's a little bit left to the imagination. Well, good writer when the show is over will give you a little bit to think about and say, Hey, here's something that you need to think about and consider about these characters that you've been so attached to. These characters who become your people that you hate to see them go.

The good writer wants the audience. He wants to leave the audience wanting more. What's going to happen next? Is there going to be a spinoff? Who's going to be the spinoff person? Is the story done and today I want to talk to you from the book of Acts, this last two verses from this particular topic, we're not done yet, alright? We're not done yet because Luke, who is the writer of both the Book of Luke and the book of Acts is one of these writers who writes in a way that leaves us wanting for more. I told you that these are the last two verses of the book of Acts, but this is the last two verses of a prequel and a sequel. The book of Luke is the first book that he writes. Then he writes a book called Acts that we have read and we understand to be the beginning and the implementation of the church.

The book of Luke starts off saying that he wants to write to a dude named Theos. We're going to call him Theo for short. He said, Theo, you've believed in the gospel. Now I want to give you after careful investigation. This is what it is that you've believed and he's rooted him in the story. Told him about Jesus, one of the synoptic or similar gospels that tells us about the life and the legacy, the work and the finished work of Jesus Christ, how he came and lived, how he died and rose again. He says, Theo, this is the foundation of your faith. Many of you in the room today are theos. You have this faith that you have given to Jesus. You have given your life to him, surrendered to the call, given your soul over to him saying, God, I believe in your death, your burial in your resurrection.

I will live as a reflection of your life. Theo, I want you to know you made a good decision. If there are any theos in the house that are maybe questioning where you are, I like Luke, come to remind you that you made a good decision that after careful investigation, there's no better decision that you could have made. Giving your life to Jesus was the greatest gift that you could have ever given yourself. I know you wanted that vacation in Dubai. I know you've been saving up for that new whip. I know that you want those new shoes, but the greatest gift you could have ever given yourself was to give your life to Jesus. Theo, you did a good thing, but Luke says, I need you to understand Theo, that after Jesus got up and you gave your life to him, there's still more to the story, right?

That there's not an ending at the resurrection. No, the resurrection is Jesus taking a bow at intermission and coming back and saying, now it's your turn, and so now what Luke does, he says, everything that I started to tell you, Theo, I need you to understand that there is even more ahead. In the book of Luke, we see Jesus moving from Galilee to Jerusalem, the place in which was the holy city of Israel, and then in the Book of Acts what we see is the apostles moving from Jerusalem to Rome and where we close this book is Paul in Rome, the center of the known world and at the time Jesus leaves us in Acts chapter number one, teaching on the kingdom of God, right and Acts ends where it begins. Now, Paul is in Rome teaching on the kingdom of God and Luke says, I'm not tying up the loose ends. This series finale is not for you to say, wow, everything worked out perfectly. This is the end of the story. The characters all settled into their happily ever after. No, Paul is under house arrest, right Paul, Paul is in a house, this rented house that we read about. Paul is under house arrest. The loose ends have not come together. Luke's original audience is asking what happened to Paul was, was he exonerated or was he executed? What happens to Paul and he says The whole point of the story was not for you to idolize Paul.

The point of the story was not for you to idolize Paul. It was an illustration of the standards of success that happens when we begin to believe the gospel and live out its principles. The point was not for you to look at the stories and tell the stories of what other people did. No. The point was for you to see what you were capable of. I wish I had a few people in the room who understood that the Bible is not a glorified history lesson. Amen? That it is not what we do to go look and see what other people did just to propagate their biographies, autobiographies or stories, but God says, I am coming to you to show you what I'm capable of when somebody submits themselves to me,

When God says in the book of is, I shown you what Paul can do, you've seen what Peter can do. You've heard about a palace and Aquila and Priscilla. You seen all of the exploits of the people, how they throw people in the shadows of those who are anointed so they will be healed. How the handkerchiefs of those who are anointed would heal those people. How prayer opened up jail cells and raised people from the dead. You've seen how it happens when the gospel is preached and thousands of people come to Christ. He says, I want you to see what was possible when people submit it to me and I feel like in this particular house you need this word because just like Jesus, Paul wasn't there when Jesus started to preach the kingdom of God to the original disciples, but Paul was handpicked by Jesus to transition into this place and space of carry and continuing the gospel.

Then Paul says, after you see me do it after being handpicked by the original, I need for you to understand it's not just for you to watch me do it. It's for you to do it as well. I wish I would've had about five more people in Embassy City who understood that cause the original founding pastor was the one who started teaching the kingdom handpicked the next person by the power of the Spirit of God to continue into the work, but he's saying, don't look at me. It's the example that I give so that you too can do what God called you to do. We're not done yet and the reason why Tim, we oftentimes find ourselves thinking that we are done is because we look back, read and say, okay, God, you do what you do right?

God, God, we saw what you did. Then we want you to do what you do, right, and God is saying, no, I'm waiting on you to do what you do because the same way that I moved, watch this through them. I want to move through you. Say it again because I just gave you my thesis and if you miss my thesis, you missed the message the same way that I worked through them. I want to now work through you so I got four reasons why you can rest assured that the same way that God worked through them, he can also work through you. Then I'm going to let y'all go. Y'all the early crowd. Y'all got brunch plans. Here we go. I'm going to let you go get your brunch plans. Here's the first thing you need to understand. We have the same process. We have the process.

Look at verse 30 again. Acts 28. For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house for two whole years. Paul stayed there in his own rented house. I told you Acts ends like it begins. Do you remember what Jesus told the disciples to do when he was getting ready to leave? He says, I need y'all to go wait. I need y'all to go sit somewhere. So many times the process that we want to lean into is the process of busyness, right? Come on the process of going, the process of doing, but God says, I got the same process. I got the same process. Go wait in the house. Some of y'all have big plans for your career, big plans for your future, big plans for how God is going to use you in the marketplace and out there, but I need for some of y'all to show up and sit in the house that there is a period of your life, a period of your calling where the first thing that you need to do same process is sit in the house. Here's the reality. Here's the reality. There's so many people in our day and age who want to skip steps. Yes,

And in skipping steps wondering why What we get is not what we saw or what we get is not what we heard The Lord said, you've been skipping steps.

We have the same process. Now I'm going to show you this process and I'm going to work backwards from Acts one, eight. Now Acts one, eight, y'all have read the scripture before. I'm going to quote it from him. He says, and you will be my witnesses it when the spirit comes upon you in Jerusalem, ju Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world. Let's start with the end of that sentence. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world. If you are have been in any Bible teaching church for any amount of time, you understand that Jerusalem is the core. Judea is the next level of outreach that gives you to the extended family. Samaria is now us reaching out to the uncomfortable places and the uttermost parts of the world is us living in faith. Matter of fact, we are the uttermost parts of the world. The gospel did what it was supposed to do. We have the same

Come on process. He says Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, uttermost parts of the world. I told you before the book of Luke starts in Galilee and ends in Jerusalem. There's movement that the book of Acts begins in Jerusalem and ends in Rome. There is movement. Jesus instructs the disciples to move the gospel from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the world that happened. There is movement. The book ends in the epicenter of the then known world. There is going to be movement. Paul leaves the gospel to continue in the direction the Savior. Your promise to watch this y'all, we make a huge mistake thinking that the process stopped with Paul, right? That if there is movement in the beginning, movement in its growth movement, in its momentum, there is still supposed to be movement with the gospel today. It starts with you sitting in the house, but the gospel was never supposed to stay in the house.

Idolizing Paul was never the purpose of Luke's writing. I told you it was an illustration of what we were supposed to be the goal of the church watch. This has always been to move from in here to out there. The goal of the church was always to move from the house to the marketplace. The goal of the church was to move from this house to your house. The goal of the church was to move from this place to the city center that this was supposed to be. I think it's called an embassy that sits in the middle of a foreign land but gives us jurisdiction to have authority in that land. Here it is. Watch this. We have the same process. The God says we're supposed to start in here. Yes, I told you to sit but you can't sit forever. Yeah, I told you to show up, but showing up is not the end of your assignment.

We have the same process to move from in here to out there and here's the problem y'all. When we think that we've accomplished half the process and celebrate the way that we do, we missed the fact that God wanted to do much more with us. I'm a huge basketball fan, huge basketball fan. I like Tim Ross, am from la I'm from Long Beach actually to be, I think I heard a woo whoop over there. I'm from Long Beach, California and so I'm a huge Laker fan. I am a bitter Laker fan. I am an angry Laker fan. I am a frustrated Laker fan. Let me say all of that right now. My team did a great job to come back. We lost and I'm not talking about that anymore. Let's leave that alone, but one of my favorite Lakers of all times obviously is Kobe Bryant and one year one when the Lakers were demolishing everybody in the playoffs, Kobe sits down behind the desk in the press conference room and they ask him a question about winning game two of a four game series.

He says, y'all are up now two oh and you did it in convincing fashion. Kobe, why don't you look happy Kobe with that stern mamba look on his face, stares back at the commentator and he says, job's not finished right now. Y'all missed it. Co. Co. Kobe says, he says, yes, we're up to oh, but that's only half the job. You got to win four to move on. He says, the problem is if I start celebrating before the process is done, what'll end up happening is I might get distracted with my celebration and not fulfill my assignment and the Lord told me to tell somebody who's in the room who's been sitting and showing up that now it's time for you to realize job's not finished. There's some more things that God has called you to some more things he wants you to do. Jobs not finished right?

We have the same process. We have the same process, but not only we have the same process. Watch this. We have the same presence.

Bible says that Paul sits in a house and he starts welcoming other people in. When you look at the house in a New Testament, oftentimes the Bible will say this about the house that the people came because the spirit of the Lord was there. Mark chapter number two, Jesus starts teaching and the Bible says the spirit of the Lord was there to heal and the people filled the house so much so that they couldn't even get in the doors because where the spirit is, people see the work of the spirit and they show up wanting to see,

Come

On, you don't have to have gimmicks. You don't need a marketing plan. You don't need no fancy lights if the spirit is there. I wish I had three or four people in the room that knew wherever the spirit of the Lord is, that's where liberty is, where the spirit of the Lord is. That's where power is where the spirit of the Lord is. That's where God is and people even want to be there.

I'll tell you a story. I told you I'm from LA and we were moving from LA to Texas and we were sitting in a hotel on Esther's road in Irving getting ready to go back to California. On the day we decided we were not going to go back to California permanently. We were packing up our stuff. We had examined the land God had called us to go to and we were leaving me and my wife. It was just the two of us. We hadn't had children yet. This was 17 years ago in July and we sat down in that bed. I stared at the ceiling and I looked up and my wife knew that there was something wrong. She said, what are you thinking? I said, ah, this is a big move. Both of our families were still in California. My parents, her parents, my siblings, her sibling, aunts, uncles, careers, money, stability, housing, so I'm laying up at the ceiling as the man who's supposed to provide all these things for my wife and I'm about to take it all the way from her, right? She says, are you okay? And I said, ah. To be honest, I'm a little nervous. She said, why? I said, because this is a big move and what if it doesn't work out? She held me that night, look me in my eyes and said, as long as we are together.

We'll be okay as long. Yeah, you ought to clap for that. That's a good woman right there.

She said, as long as we are together, we'll be okay. I need somebody to understand this today that we have the same process as those who came in the book vax, but we also have the same presence. He gave us the process that it was from here to there, from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the uttermost parts of the world, but he says that's going to happen when the spirit shows up and here's what you have to understand, that it seems like a daunting task to go from in here to out there, but as long as we've got the spirit, we're going to be okay. As long as we've got his presence, we're going to be okay. There are some of you who are in the room right now who fear being alone, but I'll tell you this, you just come out of a series about being connected and God has given you some ways that you need to connect with other people, but even if folks start tripping, as long as I got the spirit, I'm going to be okay.

Watch this. The God who commands us to take territory in his name will not send us out without giving his presence. Say that again. The God who calls you to take territory in his name will not cause you to go out without his presence. This is not limited to Luke. This is a biblical consistency of God in Matthew 28 where we know to be the great commission. Jesus promises us that he's going to be with us as we go and make disciples. In John 14, Jesus promises us that he's leaving us not as the end, but he says, I'm going to give you a perle, and the Paraclete is the helper, the one that's going to come alongside of you. He says, you want him to come because I've been alongside you. He's going to be in you. This is a biblical consistency of God.

He will not send you out without his presence. Watch this all the way back in the Old Testament, we're reminded of how God promises Joshua. He says, I will be with you and Moses understood this because Moses says, I ain't going nowhere without you. He says, God, I'm not moving unless you go and here's the reality. We got to get a Moses mentality. We got to say, God, I'm not going there unless you go with me. We got to get a Joshua revelation that God I will obey because I know you are with me. We got to get a Jesus understanding that you are going to live in me and then we got a Pentecostal understanding that the spirit of God shows up to empower me. I need somebody in the room to know that we have the same presence. Yes, it's the same presence that they had. It's the same presence that comforted them, the same presence that gave them joy. It's the same presence that brings healing. It's the same presence that causes demons to flee. It's the same presence that is necessary to regulate my weary mind. It's the same presence. The problem is you don't that he's a presence because you only talk about his work. You don't talk about his person, and so now what you expect when the spirit shows up is for something to be done, not someone to be with.

We don't understand his presence because we want him to show up and do something. Lord, I just want to be with you. We have the same presence and Paul is welcoming people, not just into a rented house. He's inviting them into the presence of God. Can I ask you a question? Do you trust this is not rhetorical? You can answer me. Do you trust that the presence of God lives in this house? Oh yes.

Then why is it hesitant to invite people and to a presence that will change their lives? No. You ought to be telling everybody you know that there's a place where deliverance happens, that there's a place where healing happens. There's a place where your lonely and weary mind can be fixed and healed and helped and it's in the presence of his spirit. Here it is. Watch this. We have the same presence. We have the same. I mean we have the same process. We have the same presence, we have the same power. Paul is in this house and the Bible says he's teaching on the kingdom of God. This is good stuff right here because here's the reality. Whenever preaching on the kingdom of God, as mentioned in the scripture, it is synonymously attached to the power of God's deliverance. We have the same process. We got to go from in here to out there. We have the same presence that the spirit of God dwells in us and with us and for us and empowers us, but we also have the same power. We have the same power. The kingdom of God is synonymous with the power of God. Watch this. He said, acts one, eight, remember I'm working backwards. Jerusalem is your assignment, Judea, Samaria, under both parts of the world you'll do that cause the spirit shows up. And right before he said the spirits going to show up, he says, you will receive power. Power.

He says, I need for you to understand that what I'm getting ready to give you is some serious stuff. He says, what I'm getting ready to give you is some serious stuff. He says, I'm about to give you the same power.

My Bible readers know where I'm going. He says, I'm about to unload and unleash on you the same power. I'm going to tease it out a little bit cause I think my Bible readers are getting me. He says, I'm about to allow you to utilize the same power. Now if you're Christian, this ought to make you go crazy because this is the hope of everything that we believe. If there is no resurrection, the Bible says we of all people are to be most pity. And the Bible says that he has placed in us the same power

That raised Jesus from the dead. I believe that's a life-changing power. I believe that's an eternity shaking power. I believe that that's a power that literally turns a, B, C to ad. It's a power to change time. It's a power to change history. It's a power to change mindsets. It's a power that can't be stopped. And here's what you got to understand, Felicia. That same power lives in me. No, I don't know if y'all got that. I don't know if y'all got that. I pay attention to the electrical currents that are happening around me. And if there's an electrical current that's a loose wire, they say that's live power.

They say that's live power all over the place. So you got to be careful how you touch it because it's so powerful. If it's not contained the right way, it'll destroy some things. And I think over the last 2000 years, because the church doesn't understand the kind of power we have, we've destroyed some people. Cause our words got power, our thoughts got power, our abilities got power. And the problem is we've been wrecking people with power. But what if we contain that power in the process with the same presence and begin to say, God, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to take this live power, submit it to you and watch lives get changed.

Paul preaching on the kingdom, sit down. I got one more point. Don't do that to me yet. Don't do that to me yet. Here it is. Watch. Paul says, I'm teaching on the kingdom. And if you go back to when Jesus first taught on the kingdom, Matthew four verse 17 through about 25 I think it is, Bible says he came on the scene and began preaching and teaching the gospel of the kingdom, right? He's preaching the gospel of the kingdom, not because he need to preach. Watch this, the gospel of the kingdom. He wasn't yet preaching the death bearing, resurrection. They couldn't handle that yet. Wow. Yeah, come on. But he's preaching a gospel, right? He's preaching the gospel. Cause Paul said there's not a gospel, but there is one gospel. He's preaching the gospel of the kingdom, but he's not yet preaching the fullness of the death, death burial in resurrection because they can't handle that yet.

What he's preaching now is because you got the process and the presence, there's a different kind of power that's here. And when Jesus will preach it, watch what would happen. The people the Bible says, will listen to the gospel of the kingdom and then the next thing will happen is he would heal every disease. He will cast out demons, he will set some things in order. Here's what the Lord told me to tell you. We're not done yet. That same power is here to heal diseases, to cast out demons, to set things in order to begin to create the space where the presence and the kingdom of God begin to reign and rule in every area and atmosphere and sphere around us. Here's what we are called to y'all to take this power from in here to out there with the power, the presence of God, with the power of God so that people can see it alive in us, but submit it to him. The power is alive, that live wire in us, but it's submitted to him. I love this thing about the power of God because I think the problem with many of us is that our concept of the power of God is only to deliver us from sinful behavior. That means our vision of who God is, too small, Our power to save our soul and to get us out of our sin debt. That's true, but it's just the beginning. Yeah, we're not done yet.

We're not done yet. No. When he delivers me from that sinful heart, now I take that compassion that he placed in me, that replaced that bitterness that used to be in me and I love on people so much so that the atmosphere is transformed. Whenever I show up, I'm a thermostat, not a thermometer. I change atmospheres. I don't read 'em. I begin to make things happen. Here's the reality, it's the power of God in you. Your vision of what God wants to do is too small. You think the power is just to get you a promotion. The Lord says, no, I want to change the industry. You think the power is just to make sure your family stops arguing. God says, I'm trying to change generations. Your vision of the power is too small. Can you imagine if the Booker acts was Paul just saying, I don't want to murder no more. I don't want to kill people. God take it out of me. And then for 28 chapters, all we see is I thank God that he took murder out of my heart. All I did was murder people and now I got a testimony. I don't murder no more. That's too small. Come on man.

That's too small. I'm not saying it's not right. I thank God every time Paul told his testimony he included it, but it was as he was moving in front the governments as he was moving in front of Caesars, as he was changing industries, as he was taking cities for the kingdom of God. Your vision of the power of God. That's got to grow up. I'm done, I'm done. I'm done. Here we go. We got four, we on three. Here's the last one. First thing, recap. We have the same process, we have the same presence, we have the same power. Watch this. We have the same promise

Here, here. Here's X one eight, here's X one eight and you will, yeah, that alone should have made somebody shout because this is not an empty promise from one of the homies. This is not an empty promise from somebody that you have been convinced is the good storyteller. This is the word of God and you will Yes, that's a promise. That is an imperative. That is when God says, Hey, if you do what I tell you to do, here's what's going to happen. That's when the Lord looks at you and says, Hey, out of all this stuff that we've been talking about, and you understand now that the power, your vision and the power has got to be increased, that the presence of God that's with you is the thing that's going to carry you and the process that we're going to do it in is the way that it's going to happen. He says, once you get ahold of all that I need for you to understand, this is not a bet, right? This is not a gamble. This is not a possibility. God says, this is a guarantee. Yes, you will receive power, you'll be witnesses. You'll have expanded. Y'all missed it cause Jerusalem, juda, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world is expansion. Now watch, the problem here is that the church preaches thing experience out of my nose. He says, the problem with expansion is that the way we teach it is expansion comes without heartache.

They move from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria, to the hundred most parts of the world through persecution. Right? And I dare not preach to you an expansion that does not come with a level of discomfort. No, no, no, no, no. It's expansion that God is getting ready to do in you. Yeah. It's necessary for the kingdom of God to keep moving. It's necessary for you to move to your next level, but it's also going to cost you something. It's going to cost you some relationships. It's going to cost you some peace of mind. It's going to cost you some physical heartache. It's going to cost you some spiritual warfare. The Lord told me to tell you today, it's a promise, but the promise comes with both sides.

You get both of 'em there, there's, there's a movie. Back in the day, Cooper and Jr play radio and they asked him to say, radio, you want the sweet potato pie or you want apple pie radio? Said both of 'em. Lord told me to tell you today I'm going to give you expansion. And you say, well, God, does it come with discomfort or does it come with grace and glory? He said, both of 'em. He said, it's going to come with some discomfort, but it's also going to come with some glory. And if you want to get to the glory, you going to have to fight through the discomfort. It's a promise. It's a promise. Let me leave here and y'all come back here next week and y'all say, well, he told me to spend around five times and it was all going to be done. I ain't say that you can spin around all you want. You might just be dizzy. Here's what the Lord told me to tell you. You will. Yes, you will. There's a promise attached, but here's the reality. The reason why you got to know this word of God is because you got to see that if God did it for them, he'll do it for you. Yeah. You notice that we don't read the Bible. Tim was feeling sorry for Paul, right? But we are about how he went through. But when we go through trials, we feel sorry for ourselves. Like we not going to get the same outcome he got. Right?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. When you read about Paul throwing inside, you so proud of him because God's grace is sufficient and God's going to make the weakness of Paul, the strength of the glory. God. Come on Paul. Then when your side start hurting

Now, now all of a sudden it's God, I don't understand. I served you, I worshiped you. I gave everything that preacher said. Go through the process and I did it all. Now my side hurt. Maybe we oughta start doing what James told us to do to rejoice in our trials, don't we? That the testing of our faith is going to produce something in us that we can't get without suffering, that we can't get without pain, that we can't get without trial. Maybe we ought to start worshiping God in the middle of it. You know why? Cause storms look different for people with seed in the ground. That means I'm going through this storm, but I know it's about to produce something. I'm going through this storm, but I know it's about to give me something. I got two more things to share with you and I'm done. Watch this. My kids, they love Frenches cooking. French came with me. He's one of the leaders in our church, and French can cook y'all. He can burn. He cooks lot Lamb lollipops for my daughters on Mother's Day, my kids start bragging about French's food. It's the best thing they ever tasted. And I cook too, so I'm insulted now.

I tell French, I say, man, I need that recipe. French sends me over videos and instructions as to how to do the thing. My kids are looking at me like, it ain't going to be Mr. Lamb, but I understand this. He sent me the process. He also sent me videos. So while I'm in the kitchen, he's with me. I got his process. I got his presence. He said, you got a cast iron in the oven, don't you? Yeah. I said, I got power. And what I have is if I follow his instructions,

What I have is a promise that it'll turn out the same way and in the middle of it, I don't get tired because the smoke hit my eye. I don't quit because the oven is taking longer to heat than his oven did. I don't quit because I don't see the same color that his had at the same point in time. No. What I keep doing is I keep running through the process. I keep listening to his voice in my ear. I got his presence. I keep making sure that all the power is intact and it's moving the way it's supposed to. And when it came out, I let it rest. I let him rest, I let him rest,

I let him rest. And what I was able to do was carve that lamb up and serve it to the people who shouted me in the first place. And you know what they said? Taste like Mr. French's. Cause we got the same process, the same presence, the same power, and the same promise. I wish I had five people in the room who are looking forward to letting him take his rest and as he rests, you get ready. Because when he come up, he going to carve up this lead and start passing it out. And the same promise, the same promise, the same promise that God gave to them in the Book of Acts is coming for you. Come on, give God some praise in this house.

Hey, if you're here today, you're like, who is this big man sweating and screaming? Why is he so excited? Because there's a promise for you too. For those of you who haven't received Jesus, here's the promise. The Bible says, if you will confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, that you will, it's a promise you will. It's a promise you will be rescued, saved, made whole in the presence of our holy God. Make that decision today and allow God to rescue and save you so that you two can worship the way we're worshiping because we know that we're not done.