The Creator’s Word vs. The Creature’s Word: A Review of ‘It’s All About the Word’

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
and more.
[00:00:59] Thank you for watching!
[00:01:54] Thank you.
[00:03:34] In the glory of the Lord!

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Amen.
[00:05:24] He reigns forever.
[00:05:25] Let us stand for the call to worship.
[00:05:28] Amen.
[00:05:29] I said he reigns forever.
[00:05:32] They mean that nothing that comes against God can stand.
[00:05:37] They're clear.
[00:05:39] He reigns.
[00:05:41] I don't get what goes on in Washington or at the White House.
[00:05:45] When God get ready to move, he will move.
[00:05:48] Help me somebody.
[00:05:50] Don't think any human being is in charge of this world.
[00:05:56] Amen, somebody.
[00:05:57] So let us do the call to worship.
[00:05:59] O come, let us worship the Lord, for we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
[00:06:05] The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers of the Father shall worship him in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
[00:06:16] God is spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth let us pray for the invocation gracious God our Father we recognize your omnipresence and we thank you that you are indeed everywhere at the same time but then God we ask that you would manifest yourself in terms of your Shekinah glory that you will fill our hearts and our minds oh God with your divine presence
[00:06:41] and Saturate this place with your presence, O God, so that we'll know that you are indeed in the house.
[00:06:47] Come, Lord, and bless us now.
[00:06:49] Come, Holy Spirit.
[00:06:50] Come, heavenly dove, and fall afresh on all of us.
[00:06:53] All of this we ask in the marvelous and majestic name of none other than Jesus, who is the Christ, we pray.
[00:07:00] Amen.
[00:07:01] Amen.
[00:07:01] And our opening song this morning, our hymn, our song of praise will be Joy to the World.
[00:07:08] I'm going to let the choir lead it this morning.

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
The Lord is come Let earth receive her King Let every heart prepare Him room
[00:08:04] Lord, to the earth let's sing a praise And hear their song in joy While fields and floods, while fields and plains Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy
[00:09:06] He rules the world with truth and grace And makes our nation good The glory of His righteousness
[00:09:42] Amen.

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Joy to the world.
[00:09:59] Amen.
[00:09:59] That's what Christ has come to do to bring joy to the world.
[00:10:04] and Joy as we say is not dependent upon circumstances and situations.
[00:10:09] See that will change.
[00:10:11] Help me somebody.
[00:10:13] You know that's what we call happiness.
[00:10:15] Happiness is based on what happens.
[00:10:18] Help me somebody, huh?
[00:10:20] But joy has nothing to do with what happens.
[00:10:23] Joy comes from the Lord.
[00:10:25] Amen.
[00:10:26] And it's that peace of mind and that contentment that only God can give us that everything, watch this, is already all right.
[00:10:37] Remember, I teach a lot, it just has to manifest itself in time.
[00:10:41] Amen.
[00:10:43] You know and we're gonna deal more sometime in the future with Kronos and Kairos because sometimes we get you know we always want Kronos in other words that calendar time chronologically happen right now and so and that's what we tend to operate on time, human time.
[00:11:00] and God operates on due time oh come on somebody huh that's why I say in due season you shall reap the harvest if you know the word doesn't Galatians 6 and 9 says do not be weary and well-doing for in due season you shall reap the harvest if you faint not or you don't give up uh-oh
[00:11:27] Somebody missed it.
[00:11:28] Let me say that again.
[00:11:31] Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season you shall reap the harvest.
[00:11:43] See, we got it laid out in our mind when it's going to happen.
[00:11:46] All right, let's move on.
[00:11:47] You don't want to talk to me.
[00:11:48] You know, I can tell when people don't want to talk to you.
[00:11:52] Just messing with you.
[00:11:54] Okay, our scripture lesson this morning is from
[00:11:57] From John, the first chapter, you know I'm not a traditional person, even though sometimes I do preach about the natural birth of Christ.
[00:12:06] Amen.
[00:12:06] And some of that will be woven into the message this morning.
[00:12:12] But it goes, you know, Jesus is spiritual and he was made flesh.
[00:12:18] But anyway, so from John, the first chapter, verses went through five and then verse 14.
[00:12:26] In the beginning, the Word already existed.
[00:12:33] The Word was with God and the Word was God.
[00:12:40] He existed in the beginning with God.
[00:12:45] You're talking about Christ now.
[00:12:48] God created everything through Him.
[00:12:52] and nothing was created except through him watch this the word gave life to everything that was created and his life brought light to everyone the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot extinguish it and then verse 14 it says so the word became human
[00:13:23] and made his home among us he was full of unfailing love and faithfulness and we have seen his glory the glory of the father's one and only son and if I may pull back from another version of that he was saying he came full of grace and truth meaning Jesus
[00:13:49] Grace and Truth that's why I ask people how can the truth hurt because we say that a lot in the world what we should be trying to say it goes against my perverted pride and ego notice I said perverted pride and ego because the truth cannot hurt it can only help somebody but hear what I'm saying this morning so if the truth hurt that means I'm out of line with God
[00:14:19] I need to get back in line, then I'll see how it helps me.
[00:14:22] Help me somebody.
[00:14:23] That's your cue right there to let me know I'm wrong.
[00:14:28] See, if I get mad at the truth, that's saying I'm wrong.
[00:14:37] I'm on to something.
[00:14:39] No, really, I promise you, God, that's the whole thing.
[00:14:42] That's the one that gets mad is the one that's wrong.
[00:14:48] Okay, that's enough.
[00:14:50] Huh?
[00:14:51] And we can have righteous indignation.
[00:14:54] You know, in other words, what's going on is evil and don't move with passion to do something about it.
[00:15:00] That's a different, like Jesus became what we call godly indignant.
[00:15:05] Huh?
[00:15:06] Are y'all with me now?
[00:15:08] But that means to move to fix the problem too.
[00:15:11] But just to be mad, to be mad, hey, I need to check myself out to see why am I mad?
[00:15:18] Amen, somebody.
[00:15:19] What's going on in my life, huh, that's out of line with God?
[00:15:24] So we're permitted to be angry.
[00:15:26] That's why the word says be angry and sin not.
[00:15:30] Okay, that's enough.
[00:15:31] Amen.
[00:15:32] That's a two or three.
[00:15:33] That's enough.
[00:15:33] So I know that's enough.
[00:15:35] Let me get three.
[00:15:37] Let the preacher get three.
[00:15:38] Amen.
[00:15:40] So that's a given that the others will be on me.
[00:15:42] All right, Mama, who's going to pray?
[00:15:44] You're praying for us?
[00:15:45] Amen.
[00:15:46] And then we'll do the admin reading and then we'll do the birthday invitation.

[00:15:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Okay?
[00:15:53] Okay.
[00:15:53] Amen.

[00:16:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
We bow our heads and we just praise God this morning.
[00:16:06] This beautiful day that he has made and we're going to rejoice in it.
[00:16:11] Hallelujah.
[00:16:13] Precious Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord, we come this morning, we thank you.
[00:16:19] Because you've been so gracious unto us.
[00:16:22] You kept us down through the week and brought us to the house of the Lord this morning.
[00:16:27] And we're going to worship and give you all the glory.
[00:16:30] We thank you for the mindset.
[00:16:33] Keep our mind stayed on you, oh God.
[00:16:36] You will keep us in perfect peace.
[00:16:38] We ask you to stretch out your significant hand this morning because you brought us from a long way.
[00:16:45] Many of us, oh God, you brought us down through many days.
[00:16:49] Many weeks and many months.
[00:16:51] God, and we thank you.
[00:16:53] We can't do nothing without you, Lord.
[00:16:56] But we're looking to the hills this morning because we know all our help comes from you.
[00:17:01] And without you, we will fail.
[00:17:03] But there's no failure in you, Lord.
[00:17:06] We thank you for your word.
[00:17:08] Your word is a lamp unto our feet.
[00:17:11] It's a light unto our pathway.
[00:17:14] It guides us and leads us into all truth.
[00:17:16] Have your way this morning.
[00:17:18] Have your way, Lord.
[00:17:21] Thank you for your Holy Spirit.
[00:17:23] We thank you for your blood that was shed on Calvary.
[00:17:27] Without the shedding of blood, there would be no remission of sin.
[00:17:31] We thank you.
[00:17:32] We come before you, God, bringing our disobedience and our contrary ways and our thoughts, God, we repent and ask your forgiveness and the cleanses from all unrighteousness.
[00:17:45] Because we thank you God.
[00:17:47] Did you give us another chance?
[00:17:49] You grant grace upon us once again and we thank you for it.
[00:17:54] We thank you.
[00:17:56] Oh God for being God and God alone.
[00:17:58] You is our shepherd and we shall not want thou.
[00:18:03] Oh God we can tell all our troubles to you and you cares for us.
[00:18:08] Have your way.
[00:18:10] Have your way.
[00:18:12] Look into the hearts of your people.
[00:18:14] Look on the sick and afflicted ones.
[00:18:17] Those that are in the hospital, nursing homes, oh God.
[00:18:21] In prison walls, oh God.
[00:18:23] Those that have lost loved ones, oh God.
[00:18:26] Comfort those that need comfort right now.
[00:18:29] Because you is their comforter.
[00:18:31] You is their strength.
[00:18:33] You is their guide.
[00:18:35] Have your way.
[00:18:36] We thank you for the pastor.
[00:18:38] Continue to strengthen him, God.
[00:18:41] Continue to undergird him more and more in you, God.
[00:18:44] Bring forth the word, O God, to his people.
[00:18:48] Because he has compassion and concern of the lost.
[00:18:51] He not willing, O God, that none of us should perish.
[00:18:55] But, O, he bring forth the truth of your word.
[00:18:59] Ever keep him, God.
[00:18:59] First lady.
[00:19:01] Touch her body.
[00:19:02] Strengthen her.
[00:19:03] Encourage her heart as never before.
[00:19:06] Give her the open doors.
[00:19:08] Continue as you walk therein, Lord.
[00:19:10] We thank you for the wisdom that you have given her, O God.
[00:19:14] O God, to give to others.
[00:19:16] We thank you, O God, for the choir.
[00:19:18] Continue anoint them afresh, O God, to bring forth, O God, to anoint it, O God, that the preacher can preach the word.
[00:19:27] We thank you for the instruments, O God, anoint their hands as they play, O God, unto the option of your Holy Spirit.
[00:19:35] We thank you.
[00:19:36] We thank you for Seals Creek.
[00:19:39] We thank you for Seals Creek, God.
[00:19:41] How you have brought us, God!
[00:19:44] How you have kept us, Lord!
[00:19:47] Continue to strengthen us.
[00:19:49] Continue to be obedient and submissive unto what you have said unto us, O God.
[00:19:54] Obey in your word, O God.
[00:19:56] O God, help us, O God, to stand strong, being the pilot of God that you have called us to be.
[00:20:02] God, we thank you.
[00:20:04] We thank you for everything you have done and what you continue going to do.
[00:20:10] We thank you, O God, for the Christmas service.
[00:20:13] We thank you, O God, the manifestation of your power.
[00:20:17] Because, O God, you are anointing.
[00:20:19] O God, destroy the yokes.
[00:20:21] Destroy every yoke, O God, in the name of Jesus.
[00:20:24] God, we won't fail to give glory and honor.
[00:20:28] Bless the children.
[00:20:30] Strengthen the children, God.
[00:20:32] Save the children.
[00:20:34] Have mercy, O God.
[00:20:36] We come against that spirit, O God, of rebellious.
[00:20:39] We come against every killing spirit.
[00:20:42] O God, turn their hearts, O God, to you.
[00:20:46] God, in the name of Jesus.
[00:20:48] God, you're the answer for the world today.
[00:20:51] You're the answer for the president.
[00:20:54] Oh, the governor and the mayor.
[00:20:56] All those that are standing in authority.
[00:20:59] But you have the last saying.
[00:21:01] Oh, God, we thank you.
[00:21:03] We thank you.
[00:21:04] We're so grateful unto you.
[00:21:06] And we bless your holy name.
[00:21:08] We ask in your son Jesus' name.
[00:21:11] And the church say amen.
[00:21:13] Amen.
[00:21:14] Amen.
[00:21:14] Thank you, Lord.
[00:21:15] Hallelujah.

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Amen.

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Amen.
[00:21:26] Let us stand for the affirmation of faith that we use the Apostles' Creed.
[00:21:36] And I think I read something.
[00:21:37] I didn't read the article.
[00:21:38] I think I received the article on the major celebration of the Creed of Nicaea.
[00:21:45] You know, that's why we call it the affirmation of faith.
[00:21:47] And we use the Apostles' Creed as the affirmation of faith.
[00:21:53] but there's the Creed of Nicaea or you may hear the Nicene Creed and I think that was the first one but nevertheless we hear more about that but we do need to know sometimes there's more than one and let me explain and I'm not trying to sell anybody short but sometimes in church I learn we do things and we don't always know why we're doing it we say affirmation of faith it is we believe that that what what the people did was how who is Christ
[00:22:24] And so it was to give what we call final definition to the person as Christ as best as we could because there is no total definition to describe or to define God.
[00:22:38] Anybody listen to me?
[00:22:40] And so you call him by different things.
[00:22:42] He's the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star.
[00:22:44] You can go on and on and on and forever.
[00:22:46] You still will be talking 50,000 years from now trying to describe who he is.
[00:22:52] He cannot be defined.
[00:22:54] But we can give some reference or structure to the ministry of Christ that he came to do.
[00:23:00] Are y'all with me now?
[00:23:02] And so somebody asks you, well, who is Jesus?
[00:23:04] Then you say, well, what do you believe?
[00:23:06] I believe in God.
[00:23:07] Let's do Apostle Greta.
[00:23:08] I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, the only Son of our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost.
[00:23:17] I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.
[00:23:42] Amen.
[00:23:42] You may be seated.
[00:23:44] Now we will have the lighting of the Advent candle by Sister Shante, and then Sister Pinkston will come and give us an invitation, a birthday invitation.
[00:23:55] Amen.
[00:23:57] We're all gonna party at their house.

[00:23:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
No, just joking.
[00:24:01] She said, not my house.

[00:24:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
Let there be power.
[00:24:14] Good morning.
[00:24:16] So for this Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Advent, I'll be sharing about love.
[00:24:21] Heart that herald angels sing, Jesus the light of the world.
[00:24:26] Glory to the newborn King, Jesus the light of the world.
[00:24:30] We'll walk in the light, beautiful light, come where the dewdrops of mercy are bright.
[00:24:36] Shine all around us by day and by night, Jesus the light of the world.
[00:24:42] Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of love.
[00:24:46] Jesus shows us God's perfect love.
[00:24:49] He is God's perfect love in human form.
[00:24:52] Those who believe in Christ and live in Christ live in love.
[00:24:56] Love transforms and perfects all things.
[00:24:59] It never ends.
[00:25:01] We light this candle today to remind us that God is love.
[00:25:05] We thank God for hope God gives us, for the peace God bestows, for the joy God pours into our hearts, and for the love that redeems us and shows us the way.
[00:25:20] So first, I will be relogging the first candle of hope.
[00:25:42] Second candle, Peace, Runaway Wick.
[00:25:58] Be patient with the wick and the wax.
[00:26:17] Third candle, Joy.
[00:26:22] And the final two candles, Love.
[00:26:44] Let us pray.
[00:26:46] O God of love, Emmanuel, send your light into our hearts at this time.
[00:26:52] Help us to be ready for the time of Christ's appearing.
[00:26:55] Grant that we may so dwell in Christ that his perfect love fills our entire being.
[00:27:01] Make our worship a time to celebrate your love and make us ready to show that love to the whole world both today and forevermore.
[00:27:09] Amen.

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Good morning, Seals Creek.
[00:27:23] Good morning.
[00:27:24] I have an invitation for you all.
[00:27:26] Amen.
[00:27:27] You're cordially invited to a birthday celebration.
[00:27:31] Guest of honor is Jesus Christ.
[00:27:35] Amen.
[00:27:35] The date is every day, traditionally December the 25th, but he's always around so the date is flexible.
[00:27:44] The time, whenever you are ready, please don't be too late, though you'll miss out of all the fun.
[00:27:53] The place, in your heart, he'll meet you there, you'll hear him knock.
[00:28:00] The attire, come as you are, grubbies are okay, he'll be washing our clothes anyway.
[00:28:11] He said something about new white robes and crowns for everyone who stays to the last.
[00:28:20] Tickets.
[00:28:22] Admission is free.
[00:28:24] He has already paid for everyone.
[00:28:26] He says he would not have been able to afford it.
[00:28:32] It cost him everything he had.
[00:28:37] Refreshments.
[00:28:41] Bread and a far out drink he calls living waters.
[00:28:48] Followed by a supper that promised to be out of this world.
[00:28:54] Give suggestions.
[00:28:56] Your heart.
[00:28:58] He is one of those people who already has everything else.
[00:29:02] He is very generous in return though.
[00:29:06] Just wait until you see what he has for you.
[00:29:12] Entertainment, Joy, Peace, Trust, Light, Life, Love, Real Happiness, Communion with God, Forgiveness, Miracles, Healing, Power, Eternity in the Paradise, and much more.
[00:29:37] All rated G, so bring your family and friends.
[00:29:42] RSVP is very important.
[00:29:45] He must know ahead that he can reserve a spot for you at the table.
[00:29:51] Also, he is keeping a list of his friends for the future reference.
[00:29:56] He calls it the Lamb's Book of Life.
[00:30:01] Party being given by his kids, that's us.
[00:30:09] Hope to see you there.
[00:30:12] We have a scripture.
[00:30:13] Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory.
[00:30:17] For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
[00:30:23] Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.
[00:30:28] Fine linen sounds like the righteousness of the acts of the saints.
[00:30:33] Bless all of those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.
[00:30:40] 7 through 9, the NIV.
[00:30:42] Thank you so much and Merry Christmas.

[00:31:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
On the first day of Christmas Jesus gave to me He gave me the victory, the victory On the second day of Christmas Jesus gave to me And He gave me the victory, the victory On the third day of Christmas
[00:31:47] Three praying preachers, two shouting shoes And he gave me the bakery, the bakery On the fourth day of Christmas, Jesus gave to me Almighty mission Three praying preachers, two shouting shoes And he gave me
[00:32:15] On the fifth day of Christmas, Jesus gave to me five songs to sing, four mighty missions, three praying preachers, two to challenge you, and he gave
[00:32:54] Three prayers and three just two, two shall we shoot any game in victory On the seventh day of Christmas, Jesus gave to me seven days of praise
[00:33:27] He gave me the victory On the eighth day of Christmas Jesus gave to me Eight angels watching Seven days of praying Six musicians praying Five songs to sing Four almighty missionaries Three praying priests
[00:34:28] Three pray and preach and two shout and shoot and He gave His victory On the tenth day of Christmas Jesus gave to me Ten voices come and nine might begin Eight to watch and seven days of peace
[00:35:05] 3, 3 praying, 2, 2 shouting, and He gave, and He gave me the victory, the victory On the 11th day of Christmas, Jesus gave me 11, 11 willing words, 10, 10 poison comments
[00:35:54] On the twelfth day of Christmas Jesus gave to me Twelve, twelve months to live Eleven, eleven weeks to work Ten, ten for the harvest Nine, nine for our seed
[00:36:23] Almighty is the King We pray to Jesus Any game, any game He's the victory, the victory Any game, any game

[00:36:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
Amen.

[00:37:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
He gave us the victory.
[00:37:07] Amen.

[00:37:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
So then, that means we have nothing to worry about.
[00:37:13] Amen.
[00:37:14] Victory is ours.
[00:37:17] And that is the summation of the scripture relating the life of Christ.
[00:37:23] He gave us the victory.
[00:37:26] And that's been my point.
[00:37:27] We don't have to worry about how it's going to turn out.
[00:37:31] We should know.
[00:37:31] Read the end of the book.
[00:37:33] Then you'll know we win.
[00:37:35] It's like a movie.
[00:37:37] If you read the story or the book before you see the movie, then you know how it's going to turn out.
[00:37:42] Come on, somebody, huh?
[00:37:44] And sometimes when I'm pulled into the shows watching and I know who the stars of the show is, I'll say, let's just say they got somebody.
[00:37:52] Name a good show right now.
[00:37:53] I don't know how to watch games.
[00:37:56] Drama.
[00:37:58] Okay, let's go way back to Hawaii Five-0.
[00:38:01] So let's say they had McGarry tied up and gonna kill him.
[00:38:05] What I do know is McGarry gonna come out alive.
[00:38:11] Why?
[00:38:11] He's the star of the show.
[00:38:13] It's something that we get all worried about, you know, what's gonna happen, you know, to the key person that's in the movie.
[00:38:22] If they're the star of the show, they can't die.
[00:38:26] Come on, somebody, huh?
[00:38:30] You may not know how it's going to, I mean, like, who's going to do what, but you know the end result.
[00:38:36] But Jesus has already been raised from the dead.
[00:38:41] And that means that we have victory in everything.
[00:38:45] Well, I mean, just broken, that's why I call it broken human nature.
[00:38:49] We get stuck on what we see and what we can think.
[00:38:52] Amen, somebody.
[00:38:54] And that's why God said have faith in me.
[00:38:57] Stop looking at what you see.
[00:38:59] Stop counting your dollars.
[00:39:02] Amen.
[00:39:04] Just take me at my word.
[00:39:05] But see, I got to get out of this.
[00:39:07] But see, that's really what prayer is about.
[00:39:10] See, we do prayer as what we call a monologue.
[00:39:13] It's a dialogue.
[00:39:15] So we'll say, I prayed about it, and then feel good about it, and go and do it.
[00:39:19] That's not prayer.
[00:39:22] Prayer is waiting for God to answer, to speak back to us.

[00:39:28] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Huh?

[00:39:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
and He'll tell us what to do.
[00:39:31] All right, that's it.
[00:39:32] Give God some praise for the choir.
[00:39:34] Amen.
[00:39:35] The musicians.
[00:39:38] Those preparing the meal downstairs so we can eat sufficiently later.
[00:39:42] Give God some praise for them.
[00:39:44] Amen.
[00:39:44] Our usher.
[00:39:45] Amen.
[00:39:46] Our prayer warrior.
[00:39:47] All of God's children.
[00:39:49] Amen.
[00:39:50] Whoever put the beautiful basket in my office with all the little treats in it.
[00:39:54] Thank God for
[00:39:55] Who ever did that?
[00:39:57] Advent reader, amen.
[00:39:58] Our special birthday invitation.
[00:40:00] Amen.
[00:40:00] We never did get a physical address of where the party is going to be.
[00:40:04] No, I like to joke now.
[00:40:05] But that was beautiful.
[00:40:06] Thank you so much.
[00:40:07] Amen.
[00:40:08] And thank you for asking.
[00:40:09] I appreciate that because it's putting it in relevant terms, sometimes practical terms that we can all understand.
[00:40:16] Amen.
[00:40:17] All right.
[00:40:19] Now,
[00:40:20] Let me say a word of prayer.
[00:40:20] Gracious Father, your manservant, come into this most sacred moment to impart the word of life and truth, and thou would please speak to and through me.
[00:40:27] Bring me the complete unction and utterance of your Spirit, so that the words that come from my mouth
[00:40:31] will be those ordained by you.
[00:40:33] Then, God, we ask that you will consecrate our hearts and minds so we will receive it and apply it to our daily lives so you will glorify Christ magnified, the church edified, the world evangelized, and Satan is already horrified.
[00:40:47] This we ask in Jesus' name.
[00:40:49] Amen.
[00:40:50] If you read, and I'm not going to say it verbatim, but we believe the context of part of, I think it's Isaiah 14.
[00:40:57] I hope I got it right, but not charge it to my head, not to my heart.
[00:41:02] Satan really is a chump.
[00:41:05] I'm very serious about it.
[00:41:07] You're a little scrawny fella.
[00:41:10] They got a big mouth, but he can't back it up.
[00:41:16] In fact, the world is going to ask the question in judgment, is that the man that deceived the world?
[00:41:26] I understand what the Bible says.
[00:41:29] Other people are going to say, I can't believe
[00:41:32] We allow that joker to trick us.
[00:41:38] So you've got to read the Bible.
[00:41:39] What the Bible says about Satan, not what we know.
[00:41:42] I grew up, people used to say, you know, Satan is mighty, but God is almighty.
[00:41:47] Some of y'all may have heard that too.
[00:41:49] Well, really, Satan, if Jesus said all authority is given in my hand, where's Satan getting it from?
[00:42:02] He can't have all and Satan got some.
[00:42:05] Let me give you the philosophical, eschatological, theological meaning for all.
[00:42:14] It's deep.
[00:42:16] All means all.
[00:42:19] Y'all will catch it tomorrow.
[00:42:23] It's as simple as that.
[00:42:24] All means all.
[00:42:26] Okay, I can't get into that.
[00:42:27] Let's go into the
[00:42:30] The text.
[00:42:31] So I want to use that as a subject from the scripture that was read in the hearing.
[00:42:36] It's all about the word.
[00:42:37] I don't have any fancy topic or anything to give to you this morning.
[00:42:42] I hope I didn't leave anyone out on my thank you list this morning.
[00:42:47] But it's all about the word.
[00:42:52] When we go to Genesis, the first chapter, and get an understanding of how
[00:42:58] The world was created when God created heaven and earth it says in the beginning God created heaven and earth and goes on to say darkness was on the face of the earth and the world was without form and void and the spirit moved upon the face of the waters and then it goes on God said let there be light and all through that text you find God speaking it into existence
[00:43:28] You hear me good now?
[00:43:31] He doesn't use any hammers and nails.
[00:43:36] He speaks it because we downplay the power of words until somebody heard our feelings.
[00:43:47] We then know that words can be powerful.
[00:43:50] Amen, somebody?
[00:43:51] Somebody ever said anything ugly to you?
[00:43:54] And you were totally unexpected?
[00:43:56] Y'all talk back to me this morning.
[00:43:59] And you were not expecting that to come from them?
[00:44:02] And you were having a good day?
[00:44:05] And somebody said something ugly and unnecessary to you?
[00:44:08] Come on, y'all talk, huh?
[00:44:10] Anybody ever spoke unkind to you?
[00:44:14] And it hurt your feelings?
[00:44:17] Right?
[00:44:19] So we do know from that angle also sometimes people speak something kind to you and it lifts your spirit.
[00:44:28] Women like to be told how beautiful they are.
[00:44:31] Y'all talk back to me, huh?
[00:44:32] You like to be said some other things too I can't say in church right now.
[00:44:36] Well, I don't mind saying like we told you fine and all of that stuff.
[00:44:39] Men like to be told they are handsome.
[00:44:42] Amen, somebody?
[00:44:44] Come on, brother.
[00:44:44] Y'all talk back.
[00:44:45] Sister, sister won't.
[00:44:47] Amen.
[00:44:47] But you dress well.
[00:44:50] So there are things that we like and we know that words have power.
[00:44:55] Well, likewise, the word of God also has power.
[00:44:59] And so much power that God spoke it, spoke the universe into existence, and God said, let there be light, and there was light.
[00:45:09] Let light roll up on one side and he called that day and let darkness roll up on the other side and he called that night.
[00:45:18] He separated the light from the darkness.
[00:45:22] How do you separate light from darkness?
[00:45:24] That's a mystery.
[00:45:27] Huh?
[00:45:27] How do you pull light out and darkness out and let the old light over here and all darkness over there?
[00:45:37] Let there be stars.
[00:45:39] Let there be the sun and the moon.
[00:45:42] The sun shall rule by day and the moon shall rule by night.
[00:45:48] Let there be fish and fowls and birds and animals and everything there is.
[00:45:53] God spoke it into existence except when it came to us.
[00:46:00] He formed us out of the dust of the earth.
[00:46:06] I need to throw a Hebrew word in there, exonelium, which really means God created it out of nothing.
[00:46:14] Somebody missed that.
[00:46:17] There was nothing that God used to create it, but he spoke it.
[00:46:25] And he wants us to understand now that the church must understand the power of words.
[00:46:34] Mr. Smith used to say, we speak our churches empty or we speak them full.
[00:46:39] If both of what we say about the mouth, with that mouth.
[00:46:42] Amen, somebody.
[00:46:43] Well, I don't have time to get into the nuts and bolts of that, but God's spoken into existence and now, and where the other versions of the Bible talks about the virgin birth, John does not mention Mary and Joseph having anything to do with Christ.
[00:47:01] He goes back before Joseph and Mary was ever thought about when they say, in the beginning was the Word.
[00:47:10] Before there was a Mary, and before there was a Joseph, before there was the angelic host, there was the Word of God.
[00:47:18] And God created.
[00:47:20] Everything that was made was created by Him.
[00:47:23] And nothing that was created was not made by Him.
[00:47:25] I want you to understand, if God used the Word to create the universe, we speak the same word, I'm getting into my message, but we create too by the things that we say or don't say.
[00:47:41] I promise you don't downplay that.
[00:47:45] We even talked about before how easy God has made it.
[00:47:52] When the word is spoken, it goes directly to the heart and in your mouth.
[00:48:02] When we talked about that, Moses said to Deuteronomy about why they could do it.
[00:48:06] He said, it's not too difficult for you.
[00:48:08] Now we say that, but those are lies.
[00:48:11] It's not what God said.
[00:48:13] Help me somebody, huh?
[00:48:15] We say it's hard, but God didn't say that.
[00:48:18] Moses said that it's not hard for you.
[00:48:21] In fact, nobody got to go up to heaven and get it and bring it down so we can obey it.
[00:48:27] You don't have to cross across the sea to go get across the sea to get it and bring it to us.
[00:48:32] So we can obey it.
[00:48:34] He said no.
[00:48:36] Watch this.
[00:48:37] The word is in your mouth and is in your heart.
[00:48:42] And Paul picks up on that in Romans 10 about salvation.
[00:48:47] In fact, you can't be saved without the word.
[00:48:50] So when you are saved, the word, you see, it's the same thing.
[00:48:54] It goes into my mouth and in my heart.
[00:48:57] My heart, so watch this.
[00:48:59] I just got to believe it.
[00:49:01] and my mouth so I can speak it.
[00:49:04] So all I have to do, I promise you it's as simple as this.
[00:49:07] Believe what God has spoken and speak what is spoken.
[00:49:16] See the word creates faith.
[00:49:20] We may have a form of faith, but not faith in what God has spoken.
[00:49:26] And there's a difference.
[00:49:29] A lot of people say, I got faith!
[00:49:31] No doubt!
[00:49:32] But James said, the devil got it too!
[00:49:35] In fact, the devil know it!
[00:49:39] So what?
[00:49:40] I got faith!
[00:49:42] Faith without work is what?
[00:49:45] Dead!
[00:49:49] The devil believes in troubles.
[00:49:52] So that is not what we call faith.
[00:49:55] It's faith in what God has spoken.
[00:49:57] Help me somebody.
[00:49:59] I believe, I believe we believe that.
[00:50:01] But that doesn't make it happen.
[00:50:04] Come on somebody, huh?
[00:50:05] It's just like going around the Jericho walls.
[00:50:08] The Lord said one time for six days, y'all march around the walls.
[00:50:15] And on the seventh day, go around seven times.
[00:50:18] Help me somebody, huh?
[00:50:20] And when they completely obeyed the Lord, the wall did not come down until the six days had passed and on the seventh day, the seventh time around.
[00:50:32] Same thing with Naaman.
[00:50:34] When the prophet said, go dip yourself seven times in the Jordan River.
[00:50:40] And the first time, nothing happened.
[00:50:42] Second time, nothing happened.
[00:50:44] Third time, fourth time, fifth time, sixth time, nothing happened.
[00:50:48] only until he went to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times.
[00:50:58] Did he get healed?
[00:51:00] See, it's what God said.
[00:51:02] In fact, I got mad about not better rivers.
[00:51:07] Help me somebody, huh?
[00:51:09] So that's why knowing the Word is so important and knowing what the Word says is so important.
[00:51:15] So now let me give you one more thing and I'll get into the depth of the message.
[00:51:20] God ever since Adam's, or I'm going to say Adam's sin, God promised salvation to the world.
[00:51:28] Amen, somebody.
[00:51:30] We call it the Proto-Evangelium, Genesis the third chapter, verse 15.
[00:51:34] I don't have time to read all of this.
[00:51:37] For all through scripture, God is promising us that he's going to send somebody.
[00:51:43] And that person that he promised is Jesus Christ.
[00:51:48] And Moses even talked about it that he's going to send a prophet like me.
[00:51:53] And here's the job of the prophet.
[00:51:54] Here's to give the true word of God.
[00:51:59] We don't mind the priestly ministry.
[00:52:01] Here's the prophetic ministry that the church is bothered by.
[00:52:05] The church and the world don't want the prophetic word of God.
[00:52:09] We don't mind the ceremonial stuff and doing the weddings and baptism and all that stuff like that and the worship service.
[00:52:17] But when it comes down to a word of reform and changing our way, then we get upset.
[00:52:26] I know I'm right about it this morning.
[00:52:30] And that's what Jesus came to do.
[00:52:33] Amen somebody.
[00:52:35] And he is the Word of the Father.
[00:52:37] Now there's so many scriptures that point to his coming, I don't have time for all of that, alright?
[00:52:41] So let me just go to the text quickly, give a couple of, a little few points.
[00:52:46] The Word is eternal.
[00:52:47] In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[00:52:52] So we can't separate God from the Word and the Word from God.
[00:52:56] And Jesus is the Word, so if I say I don't like the Word, or the Word is a problem for me, what I'm really saying is that Jesus is a problem.
[00:53:05] Because see, people are divorced too.
[00:53:08] Amen, somebody.
[00:53:10] He is the Word.
[00:53:12] Amen.
[00:53:13] And who got a physical?
[00:53:15] All God did when it came to Jesus was take this and put some meat on it.
[00:53:24] Honestly, God, that's the point.
[00:53:27] He took the Word and put flesh on it.
[00:53:35] So it's not the flesh that counts.
[00:53:40] It's what's inside of the flesh that counts.
[00:53:44] So it's the Word.
[00:53:45] What we said earlier that every Word of God is designed to bless us.
[00:53:53] Some of it goes against my flesh or my perverted mind.
[00:53:59] But it's supposed to, in other words, it is to correct me.
[00:54:03] Help me somebody, huh?
[00:54:04] You don't want me, I don't think I got, oh, here we go.
[00:54:09] That's why I keep it up here.
[00:54:11] Amen.
[00:54:14] This is what sin did to everybody.
[00:54:17] God created us like this.
[00:54:20] Sin did this to everybody.
[00:54:23] The Pope, every pastor, every bishop, every presiding elder, every steward, trustee, class leader, the willing worker, and the busy bees.
[00:54:34] Sin messed everybody up.
[00:54:38] Every prophet, every apostle was like this until Jesus got a hold of us and he began to get the kinks out of our lives.
[00:54:49] So the word is designed to get the kinks out.
[00:54:58] Help me somebody.
[00:55:00] But sometimes we got some ways we don't want to give up.
[00:55:05] See now that's the problem.
[00:55:09] I promise you that's the problem right there.
[00:55:11] I love an ugly attitude.
[00:55:14] So don't preach against that.
[00:55:16] I love doing what I do, so don't preach against that.
[00:55:19] But the word is designed to fix that ugly attitude.
[00:55:25] So I can be a pleasant person.
[00:55:30] Amen.
[00:55:31] And all you, the old ugly attitudes are carrying around pain from the past.
[00:55:36] Amen somebody and we touched on the last week some of this can I be real y'all in the church some of it come from broken relationships a lot of it come from broken relationships amen somebody you know let me leave that alone for another day well let me just so the Word of God is eternal it was in the beginning in other words Jesus in the square as the Word of God existed before he showed up in Bethlehem he was already here
[00:56:09] Just birth in Kronos, but in Kairos, he was already here.
[00:56:16] Amen, somebody?
[00:56:18] I don't want to get just bogged down.
[00:56:21] Birth is important now.
[00:56:23] And what I really need, I got to ask the question, do we have any drummers, people that can direct directors in the church?
[00:56:33] Well, now I'm going to create one.
[00:56:36] I'm going to speak it.
[00:56:39] Okay, so quiet up in here.
[00:56:42] Let me tell you what, because some of this stuff you're not going to understand until we do it in drama.
[00:56:48] And I can tell you, I'm used to having drama ministry in December.
[00:56:54] We start sometime in November and we deal with the Holy Nation.
[00:56:59] And we usually start with Adam and Eve and come all the way up to the birth of Christ.
[00:57:06] And you can't put everything in there.
[00:57:07] We put some of the key points in there.
[00:57:09] Amen.
[00:57:11] And you start seeing the birth of a holy nation until we get all the way down to Christ.
[00:57:17] Then that stuff starts making more sense to you as to why things got to be as they are.
[00:57:23] And I can tell you right now, Abraham, with the lineage of Christ, his background family was just as jacked up as ours.
[00:57:32] If not more jacked up.
[00:57:35] If you name it, the sin exists.
[00:57:38] Help me somebody, huh?
[00:57:40] We see that doesn't stop us from being who God has called us to be.
[00:57:44] I don't care what my mom and my daddy did or didn't do, that doesn't stop us.
[00:57:48] Help me somebody, huh?
[00:57:50] And we gotta learn that it doesn't matter what somebody else has done or didn't do, nothing can stop us.
[00:57:56] But just keep in mind, the Word of God is eternal.
[00:58:01] The Bible says that heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word shall stand forever.
[00:58:07] The grass withers and the flower fades, but our God or the word of our God stands forever.
[00:58:16] Nothing will ever change it.
[00:58:18] Huh?
[00:58:19] Even when we get to heaven, the word is still going to be in rule, going to be ruling.
[00:58:23] So we may well get the word in our heart because there's a lot of things I can say about it, but it's undefeatable.
[00:58:28] You know.
[00:58:29] Amen, somebody.
[00:58:31] Can I really tell you what we're really trying to say this morning?
[00:58:33] What is the challenge of humankind?
[00:58:36] It's putting the word of God in our hearts and letting it rule.
[00:58:40] Because somehow in the church we've gotten this wrong and we say other things are important but people don't know the word.
[00:58:48] Amen.
[00:58:48] Something about all by myself.
[00:58:50] We just said at this point too, I'm closing out.
[00:58:52] The word is created!
[00:58:56] What you see was spoken into existence.
[00:59:04] You want to change the circumstances?
[00:59:07] You want to grow Sills Creek?
[00:59:10] Sneak it.
[00:59:11] But from the heart.
[00:59:12] I'm very serious about it.
[00:59:16] What do you want to see?
[00:59:19] Did I curse?
[00:59:23] Get so quiet.
[00:59:26] Proverbs 18 and 20.
[00:59:28] Listen carefully now.
[00:59:32] The tongue...
[00:59:34] has the power of life and death.
[00:59:43] The tongue has the power of life and death.
[00:59:52] That's why when Jesus went to the cemetery, he just called Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth.
[01:00:00] And we believe, theologically, he didn't just say, Dad, get up, because Nahum would have gotten up.
[01:00:07] Adam would have gotten up.
[01:00:08] Eve would have gotten up.
[01:00:10] Abraham would have gotten up.
[01:00:11] Sarah would have gotten up.
[01:00:12] He had to call them by name and say, Lazarus, you come forth.
[01:00:17] And Lazarus came out.
[01:00:20] He touched them or did other things.
[01:00:22] In this case, he just called them.
[01:00:26] And that's what would happen in the judgment.
[01:00:30] Y'all listening to what I'm saying this morning?
[01:00:32] This is significant.
[01:00:34] I'm telling you.
[01:00:35] I don't mean to speak just to be saying words and not follow up by action.
[01:00:42] But I got to learn to speak it.
[01:00:44] I'm going to let that marinate.
[01:00:47] Maybe you need to.
[01:00:50] because see we can say some other stuff with our tongue that cancel our blessing sometimes don't even know that sometimes we're doing all the right stuff action wise in church and everywhere else but we speak in negative words sometimes about people listen that's the danger of gossiping notice both gossip and gospel both start with gossip so I just say that people stop sipping
[01:01:20] y'all will catch it tomorrow put a spell on them and that don't mean a negative spell the word of God has power to change lives that's why when Christ spoke they said no man has ever spoken like this before he didn't speak like the teachers of the law but he spoke with authority and power
[01:01:49] but the word got to be in my heart see it has no more power than how much it dwells in my heart but when I when I got it in my heart and I'm not living by I speak it what I said shall come to pass plus God is guiding my tongue anyway so I only speak what he want me to speak but whatever I speak shall come to pass do you know God wanted so that not a single word that I speak shall ever fall to the ground but everything happened as I spoke it and likewise you
[01:02:19] this is serious stuff that's why the word is followed by signs and wonders we are not even allowed to go to the cemetery because the dead folks are getting up y'all let me you catch tomorrow I mean people got to check out at some time come on folks amen somebody
[01:02:47] but this is this is so it creates something so the tongue has the power of life and death and I'll close with this where two things will say I just can't preach them one is the word is phenomenal because all the things that will happen in the universe is phenomenal but lastly I want to talk about the word is incarnate and that's the issue right there the word was made flesh and had its dwelling among us
[01:03:18] Christ is present in us to the degree that the word is present in us.
[01:03:24] Come on somebody, huh?
[01:03:26] I can't teach you.
[01:03:26] That's why he want to keep us out of the word.
[01:03:28] He doesn't mind doing anything else because it's empty.
[01:03:31] It's vain.
[01:03:32] It had nothing in it.
[01:03:34] Like I got a car with no engine or I got a gas tank with no gas.
[01:03:39] You have a 550 gallon tank, but if you don't have any gas in it, it doesn't matter.
[01:03:47] I don't care what kind of car you have.
[01:03:49] Come on somebody, huh?
[01:03:51] You can have a Rolls Royce, a Bentley, a Mercedes, or a Lamborghini, it does not matter.
[01:03:56] I don't care how well it looks, how beautiful it is, how shiny it is, none of that matters if there's no gas or electricity to operate at.
[01:04:06] Likewise in our lives, the Word of God must be in our lives.
[01:04:12] It must be in our lives.
[01:04:13] So the words that I speak, every time I say something, they come to pass.
[01:04:18] They give witness to the kingdom of God.
[01:04:20] That's what God wants from us.
[01:04:24] And you speak, that's why you speak over your family.
[01:04:30] Can I say something without y'all bothering me?
[01:04:33] That's why names are so important.
[01:04:38] I'm just teaching.
[01:04:41] It is supposed to be that every time you call your child a name, and they have to know what it means, you're calling them something positive.
[01:04:48] Help me somebody, huh?
[01:04:50] Huh?
[01:04:50] You're calling them something positive.
[01:04:56] And they start buying into it.
[01:04:59] Hear me good on that now.
[01:05:02] You're calling them something positive.
[01:05:05] You're speaking over their lives.
[01:05:08] every time you call that name that's why you know even in we don't we skip over it but even when a child is baptized you know there's supposed to be some uh uh uh uh more than what we just we tend to do let's put it like that because it's at that point it said name this child help me somebody huh and we've lost it
[01:05:32] about the importance of name that's why when God called people you said they shall be called by this name huh if my people what the word says if my people what who are called by what my name referring to Jesus his name shall be called Jesus why because he shall save many people from their sins
[01:06:01] Joshua was named Jesus.
[01:06:05] It's just Hebrew.
[01:06:07] Jesus is Greek.
[01:06:09] You like my name?
[01:06:10] Eleazar.
[01:06:12] Hebrew.
[01:06:13] I told you the Greek equivalency.
[01:06:14] Do y'all remember?
[01:06:15] Is this a test?
[01:06:18] Now I know how much you listen to me.
[01:06:22] Whole church forgot.
[01:06:24] It means Lazarus.
[01:06:30] Eliezer is Hebrew.
[01:06:33] Lazarus is Greek, but they mean the same thing.
[01:06:37] Matthew was named, that's Greek.
[01:06:42] But the Hebrew equivalent is Levi.
[01:06:47] In fact, some of the version calls him Levi.
[01:06:49] But hear what I'm saying, church.
[01:06:52] Names are important.
[01:06:54] All this goes back to the word.
[01:06:58] Now I need to understand the Word of God.
[01:07:03] Because when people got sick in the Bible, and the man said, Jesus, I shall go to your house and heal your child, the servant.
[01:07:11] And the man said, I'm not worthy that you shall come under my roof.
[01:07:14] But do what?
[01:07:15] Just speak the Word.
[01:07:19] And it shall happen.
[01:07:21] And that's what I want to understand.
[01:07:22] The essence of Christ is about the Word of God coming down to earth.
[01:07:27] that bring into being everything God has spoken before us.
[01:07:32] That's the essence of His coming.
[01:07:33] It's about the Word.
[01:07:34] It's not about all the other stuff, but it's about the Word of God that matters the most.
[01:07:41] If we miss that, we miss the coming of Christ.
[01:07:44] Here's why it's important.
[01:07:45] I'm through.
[01:07:46] Because if you just imagine it was completely dark in this room.
[01:07:54] I call that Old Testament.
[01:07:58] I'm talking really old testament completely dark somebody flip the light switch new testament see that what people don't know what they're talking about when they say well that's old testament it's the same thing lights on lights off old testament lights off you can't see or if you see you can beg you barely see
[01:08:27] Help me somebody, huh?
[01:08:29] So Christ really came to explain or be the light of the word because he preached from the Old Testament.
[01:08:39] What are the word folks talking about?
[01:08:41] He preached from the Old Testament.
[01:08:43] He taught the Old Testament.
[01:08:45] He was saying this is what the Old Testament was saying.
[01:08:51] I mean, my God, how can you say the church like that?
[01:08:58] Do you not, how many times you read?
[01:08:59] He said it is written.
[01:09:02] What do you think he's talking about?
[01:09:05] Old Testament.
[01:09:09] He just shined the light.
[01:09:11] Well, he is the light.
[01:09:13] So now I can understand
[01:09:16] What God meant.
[01:09:18] Amen somebody.
[01:09:19] That's why he just gave them what we call the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law because they couldn't keep the letter of the spirit of the law because they didn't have the Holy Spirit.
[01:09:32] That's why he said that the only big bad thing is that thou shalt not kill.
[01:09:37] But now if you're angry with your brother without cause, you're a murderer.
[01:09:46] Because that's where murder comes from, anger.
[01:09:51] So he goes to the root of it.
[01:09:54] That's why he could say that.
[01:09:56] Are y'all with me church?
[01:09:57] I'm through, huh?
[01:09:59] I promise y'all, there's just so many things.
[01:10:01] So that's why he said, I did not come to abolish the law.
[01:10:05] So I'm trying to figure out, I mean, I swear I just don't get it.
[01:10:08] What folk get trying to separate the old from the new?
[01:10:12] Well, that old-tasty man.
[01:10:14] What?
[01:10:15] He just told you in Matthew 5th chapter that I did not come to abolish the law or the prophets.
[01:10:23] Everything they said is true.
[01:10:27] I'm just shining the light.
[01:10:29] I came to what he called fulfill the law.
[01:10:32] You can only do the letter before, but now the spirit of the law says this.
[01:10:38] Because you know why?
[01:10:39] You can never write the letter of the law plain enough to get folk to understand because there are always loopholes in it.
[01:10:53] I don't care how many laws you write, there's a loophole in it.
[01:10:58] I see it in the church and everywhere else.
[01:11:00] So I go to the spirit of the law.
[01:11:02] Can I give you one of the scriptures?
[01:11:03] So here we go.
[01:11:05] So, who is my neighbor?
[01:11:08] You know, people don't read the Old Testament very well.
[01:11:12] So here's the law.
[01:11:13] Because this is the hardness of their crazy hearts.
[01:11:15] I'm honest to God.
[01:11:17] If a person fell sick or, you know, like this man was in the Good Samaritan situation, okay, they had to take a measuring tape and measure between the two cities.
[01:11:29] to see which one he was closest to and that's the one that had the responsibility.
[01:11:33] Can you imagine you almost dead and folk got to get a measuring tape and measure from one city to the other?
[01:11:40] They're trying to figure out who is the closest neighbor.
[01:11:45] Huh?
[01:11:45] I promise that's what was going on.
[01:11:49] And Jesus trying to say, I had to say it, Moses had to say it like that because your heart was so hard.
[01:11:57] But who is he closest to?
[01:12:00] So Jesus, that's in that stupid mess right now.
[01:12:06] He told a story about the Good Samaritan.
[01:12:08] Man was half dead.
[01:12:10] And I tell you, we quit beating up on and criticizing the priest and the Levite.
[01:12:14] Because see, there was a law.
[01:12:17] He was trying to say something else in that text.
[01:12:18] There was a law that would not allow the priest nor the Levite to touch the man.
[01:12:25] So there's a law that says that.
[01:12:27] So I'm trying to show you that the law may not fulfill your needs.
[01:12:33] Because they obeyed the law but the man was still lying there injured.
[01:12:39] Oh somebody ought to help me right now.
[01:12:41] You can obey the law and still neglect to do the good that you ought to do.
[01:12:46] That's what Christ was trying to say.
[01:12:48] Don't get caught up in stupid laws.
[01:12:51] It's never about the law.
[01:12:52] It's about the heart.
[01:12:54] It's a heart matter.
[01:12:56] That's why the word goes to your heart.
[01:13:00] You have to be moved by your heart.
[01:13:02] And so anyway, so Jesus tells a story about the man half dead and the priest went by and the Levite went by.
[01:13:10] But guess what?
[01:13:11] And the Samaritan and the Jew didn't even get along, had no dealing with each other.
[01:13:16] But the good Samaritan stopped by.
[01:13:18] and help the man bound up his womb and take him to the hotel and say here's the money to cover the charges and if you spend more than what i gave you i'll make it right when i come back jesus asked him after that now who's the neighbor so they had to say the one that showed mercy
[01:13:39] oh come on somebody it's about showing mercy it's about showing mercy just somebody in need not trying to follow some stupid law did you know it was legal to have slaves and hang us that was a law they had on the book but it was ungodly and wicked they got a law to take your house if you don't pay your property taxes I still say it's an unjust law
[01:14:08] How you gonna take somebody's home?
[01:14:11] Find another way to operate the government.
[01:14:14] They ain't meeting somebody.
[01:14:15] Yeah, I said it, and I ain't backing down off of it.
[01:14:17] You don't take the only livelihood or place to stay?
[01:14:21] What's really saying you don't own it?
[01:14:29] Word of God for the people of God.
[01:14:31] Thanks be unto God.
[01:14:33] See why it's all about the Word?
[01:14:35] Huh?
[01:14:37] Because if I know that Word,
[01:14:39] I'll help you.
[01:14:40] But I'm trying to figure out what the law says.
[01:14:45] Come on, somebody.
[01:14:46] You know what I should tell the members?
[01:14:47] And I'll say it publicly.
[01:14:49] Anyway, if we can't operate the church by the word of God, there's no point in bringing up the discipline.
[01:14:54] Now I'm not saying you don't need the discipline for structuring how we are organized as a church, but that don't really fix our problems.
[01:15:01] I'm serious about it.
[01:15:02] If we got to have that, that means that something is wrong somewhere.
[01:15:06] Because I ought to see enough righteousness in the Word of God that I should know how to operate my office.
[01:15:11] You know what I said to people?
[01:15:12] I don't need another resolution to help me do my job as director of church growth and development.
[01:15:18] What do I need to know except that my job is to make sure
[01:15:22] The souls are saved and at the achievement of the gospel.
[01:15:27] And churches are developed to have what they need to do it.
[01:15:32] What else do I need?
[01:15:35] The moral mess can get me bogged down.
[01:15:39] Oh Lord.
[01:15:41] Go you know all the world.
[01:15:44] That's it.
[01:15:45] Case closed.
[01:15:48] Imitation is extended.
[01:15:52] it's about the word church that's what Satan gonna fight to keep you out of and from understanding even for those of us who study the word you want me to have misinterpretation of the word and they don't misapplication of the word huh because he knows what the word is going to do in the beginning was the word the word was with God and the word was God the same was in the beginning
[01:16:19] all things that were made were made by him and there was nothing made that was not made by him everything so God took it God spoke his word and the universe as we know it came into existence are there things in your life you want to see changed huh you see it may not happen in my time nor yours I you know I don't I don't try to thank God he never gave me a spirit of trying to be more successful than another pastor who can measure success
[01:16:47] And he didn't call us to be successful, he called us to be faithful.
[01:16:51] Because see, everything unfolds itself in God's timing, not mine's and not yours.
[01:16:56] If you want to talk about failure, Jeremiah would be considered as a major failure as a prophet.
[01:17:02] Those folk, they weren't thinking about Jeremiah.
[01:17:06] Huh?
[01:17:08] But yet God lifts them up.
[01:17:12] Huh?
[01:17:12] And see, what you do for Christ, will carry you to the next kingdom.
[01:17:17] Amen.
[01:17:18] I promise you one thing I'll do give you the word to the best of my ability and I seek to understand huh I'll study to understand I'll ask questions to understand because I think it's dangerous to get up here and tell you this is what the word is saying and I've have studied do you know officially I just go on
[01:17:47] Use AI and say, AI, write me a sermon on the Holy Spirit.
[01:17:52] I promise God that'll do it.
[01:17:57] For all three points, introduction, conclusion, and everything in between.
[01:18:01] Y'all listen to what I'm saying, church?
[01:18:04] If I get up here and tell you God gave this to me to give you, I'm lying like a dog.
[01:18:11] And God would get me for that.
[01:18:14] Invitations extended to receive Jesus.
[01:18:17] as your Lord and personal Savior.
[01:18:20] Christ wants to come into every heart, you may stand, and every mind.
[01:18:26] Get into the word, church, I don't care if you, and I really mean it with all my heart, there's not much scripture really to understand, you want to know the truth?
[01:18:34] All those are just recordings where God had to speak to the folks over centuries trying to get them to understand and do right.
[01:18:40] But it's got basically the same message.
[01:18:43] Do you know the summation of the entire Bible?
[01:18:45] It's love your neighbor as yourself.
[01:18:47] That is the Bible.
[01:18:50] That's really all God got to say.
[01:18:54] Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
[01:18:57] Amen.
[01:18:58] Anyone want to accept Christ, unite with this church fellowship, or rededicate to your life, this is your opportunity as the choir shall sing.

[01:19:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Now behold the Lamb, the precious Lamb,

[01:19:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Everyone will accept Christ.

[01:19:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Everyone will be seated.

[01:20:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
You love me so much that I've never known the precious Lamb of God.

[01:20:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Let us stand.
[01:20:56] All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.
[01:21:37] Amen.
[01:21:38] Now we have the announcements.

[01:21:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
Good morning, Church.

[01:21:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Good morning.

[01:21:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
It is the end of the year of 2025, so there's not much going on for the remainder of the year.
[01:21:59] Just please remember that we are eating after church so if you would please stick around go downstairs and so that we can fellowship all together as one.
[01:22:13] Bible study will resume after the first of the year.
[01:22:17] So if you did not get the email, if you did not hear, Bible study will resume on January the 14th.
[01:22:25] So there is no more Bible study the rest of this year.
[01:22:28] And the first part of the year, it will resume the first part of the year.
[01:22:34] Last week in my absence, Brother Spacey announced that the Mighty Program Heirs will be having a program coming up on the 17th.
[01:22:43] Doors open at 4 p.m.
[01:22:47] Excuse me, 3 p.m. You can purchase your tickets in advance through him for $20 or at the door for $25.
[01:22:56] So, of course, the pilgrim heirs are family, so let's please support them during this program.
[01:23:06] And then I will yield.

[01:23:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Thank you.
[01:23:14] Thank you.
[01:23:14] A couple of things.
[01:23:15] This is Merry Christmas season.
[01:23:19] We do have the fruit bags.
[01:23:21] Let me make sure I mention that.
[01:23:22] So when we get ready to do that, I'm going to need some young people to help us bring the fruit bags here.
[01:23:27] So everybody get a bag, and we'll say Merry Christmas from Sears Creek Church to you.
[01:23:34] At this time, I want to present a couple of gifts to our clergy staff.
[01:23:43] I start off, first I'll do the pastor last, for leaving the best for last.
[01:23:50] Sister Kelly, on behalf of Sears Creek Church, we want to thank you, wish you a Merry Christmas, and hope that next year we'll be here again to do everything all over again.
[01:24:05] So thank you, Merry Christmas.
[01:24:11] Sister Wanda, on behalf of the Sears Creek Church, the whole church, again, we want to tell you Merry Christmas.
[01:24:18] You get a fruit bag.
[01:24:19] Everybody gets a fruit bag, so you get a fruit bag.
[01:24:23] Thank you.
[01:24:28] And have a good day.

[01:24:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Pastor, would you be so kind to walk down here, young man?
[01:24:32] Yes, sir.
[01:24:33] I'm glad you called me young.
[01:24:36] Words make you feel good.
[01:24:37] I feel like dancing.
[01:24:40] The alternative to becoming older is to die younger.
[01:24:50] I'd rather become older.

[01:24:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Amen.
[01:24:54] On behalf of the Sears Creek Church, we want to present you a token, a gift.
[01:25:00] We hope you have a Merry Christmas.
[01:25:02] Again, you get a fruit bag too.
[01:25:03] We gave you a fruit at the front, but you get a bag also.
[01:25:06] So we're looking forward to a
[01:25:10] Prosperous, a spiritual growing prosperous.
[01:25:14] When I say prosperous, financial is well, but I'm happy in what you're bringing to Sears Creek.
[01:25:23] So I'm saying thank you for your gift.
[01:25:28] Thank you.
[01:25:28] Thank you.
[01:25:29] Thank you.

[01:25:29] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Thank you.

[01:25:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Appreciate that.
[01:25:29] Warren, too, we appreciate one of the gifts to all.
[01:25:33] If I may speak to those you just gave gifts to, we appreciate it.
[01:25:36] Old saying, if you don't have to do it, but I thank God that you did do it.
[01:25:40] Amen.
[01:25:41] It's not a problem.
[01:25:42] It's not that we have a lot.
[01:25:43] We just be generous and sometimes, not to you all, but sometimes people misconstrue our generosity with having a lot.
[01:25:51] If I were to tell you the real truth, every situation I've gone to has been a pay cut from where I was.
[01:25:57] I had to build it up, and by the time it built up, you know, I'd go somewhere else where it was a decrease in salary.
[01:26:04] My wife can tell you, God just opened doors for us.
[01:26:07] Amen.
[01:26:08] And remember I left the corporate world to pastor full time because I heard the call of God and I don't regret it.
[01:26:16] I really mean it.
[01:26:18] And I'll say some more and I could say some more on that but I just won't today.
[01:26:22] But you know something that God wanted to do.
[01:26:23] How much do you really love me?
[01:26:26] We believe the Apostles Peter and others and his brothers Andrew left a lucrative fishing business.
[01:26:35] So if you follow Christ, it's going to cost you something.
[01:26:40] I'm serious.
[01:26:40] It's going to cost you something that you desire to have, but I desire Christ more.
[01:26:46] Amen.
[01:26:48] And so we truly say thank you.
[01:26:50] Please know everywhere I go, I tell people I'm the pastor of Seals Creek Amesion Church.
[01:26:57] Amen.
[01:26:58] And we are happy to be able to say that.

[01:27:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
So this is for someone who just recently graduated.
[01:27:16] So we have a member here that graduated Friday.
[01:27:22] Please come on up.
[01:27:28] Dr. Tonya Reeves.
[01:27:54] You're welcome, you're welcome.
[01:27:56] On behalf of the trustees, you know, you do a lot.
[01:28:01] Anything that I need, you help me.
[01:28:06] So you are the best co-chair I've had.
[01:28:10] I appreciate that, I appreciate you.
[01:28:13] And on behalf of Sears Creek as well, we just wanted to give you a little graduation.
[01:28:25] Congratulations.

[01:28:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
You want to tell the church your official degree?
[01:28:30] God bless you.
[01:28:31] Congratulations.

[01:28:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Thank you.

[01:28:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
You want to tell the church your official?

[01:28:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Well, I was already a family nurse practitioner, so I got my doctorate in advanced practice with, I don't really call it a minor, but substance abuse and counseling, so I can start pursuing that as well.
[01:28:45] I just want to say thank you to everybody here.
[01:28:48] I'm truly a Creek kid and every time one of us rise, we all rise.
[01:28:54] I'm so thankful for a lot of the lessons that I did learn here.
[01:28:59] I get emotional just because my love for education started here.
[01:29:11] Mother Brady was my great champion.
[01:29:13] The one thing she always told me is, with your education, once you get it, it's the only thing they can never take back.
[01:29:22] They can never take that from you.
[01:29:24] And I wish she was here.
[01:29:25] That was one of the things she said she hated.
[01:29:28] She said, I'd live my life with no regrets, but I hate I didn't do that.
[01:29:32] And I told her, I'm going to get it.
[01:29:34] And it's going to be for the both of us.
[01:29:36] So Mother Brady, this is for you.
[01:29:37] We got it.

[01:29:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
I want to thank Sister Marmita for just saving me from the fire.
[01:29:49] Amen.
[01:29:51] Amen.

[01:29:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
But we celebrate with you, Sister Tanya, and appreciate your hard work and effort that you put into getting an advanced degree.
[01:30:03] Amen.

[01:30:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
And we want to be encouraging to our people who seek higher education.
[01:30:09] and at some point I deal with when I teach on education, there are different forms of education, formal and informal, but those who go that extra mile for formal education, because you got to be approved by a board of people, am I right about it?
[01:30:24] You just can't go to school and say, hey, you got to be,
[01:30:28] Your doctorial work and you have to answer tough questions to get approved and that can be a rigorous process.
[01:30:38] Amen?
[01:30:39] You really have to study for it.
[01:30:41] For those who may not know it, I need just one more announcement.
[01:30:45] Reverend Dr. Dwight Cannon,
[01:30:50] or better say other candidates too that they say his daughter is running for judge in Charlotte area and I forget the exact district or maybe at large I don't recall but she's running and so we want to be able to be supportive as well as others so I don't get in trouble amen that's just an announcement the others I don't know the names of everybody that's running but she is running and uh okay I think that's it they want to give out the gifts yeah I'm sorry I have I have one more thing uh

[01:31:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Sister Tonya also brought some clothes for the ladies.
[01:31:22] They're right here by the door.
[01:31:25] I know Sister Kelly in particular and Cousin Kirky, Gary, and Kim's mom.
[01:31:34] It's a box back there for her too.
[01:31:37] And if any ladies would like to just go back and see what she's brought, you're more than welcome to do so and take what you want.

[01:31:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Last thought before we give it back to the pastor.
[01:31:48] We should have plenty of bags.
[01:31:51] But what I'm asking, please, ma'am, please, sir, everyone get one the first time.
[01:31:56] So make sure everybody get one.
[01:31:58] Then when you know we've got members at home, we don't want to keep the bags.
[01:32:04] We don't want to keep the bags, but we'll make sure everybody get a bag.
[01:32:07] Then if you need a surplus, just let us know.

[01:32:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Amen.
[01:32:11] So let's do this.
[01:32:12] Go ahead and do the benediction and then we'll bless the food and then you can give out the gifts.
[01:32:18] We'll be okay.
[01:32:18] Then they walk on downstairs.
[01:32:20] Well, food's not ready yet.
[01:32:22] You told me I would keep...
[01:32:24] I could have preached another 50 minutes.
[01:32:30] They've been gone.
[01:32:30] I heard that.
[01:32:31] I don't know.
[01:32:32] You didn't say that.
[01:32:32] I was just messing with you.
[01:32:34] So we'll be patient.
[01:32:35] So then let's do the rest of the benediction and bless the food and get your gifts like that.
[01:32:42] I think we are watching our service.
[01:32:54] She's like... Not that I'm opposed to do it.
[01:33:00] I really don't.
[01:33:01] But the world that we live in now, and I'm being honest with y'all, I'm getting older.
[01:33:06] Like y'all said, some older people, they don't care to drive at night.
[01:33:09] I'm there too.
[01:33:12] And I thank God he gave me the mind.
[01:33:13] All of my ministry, I've always said this.
[01:33:16] God gave me this spirit.
[01:33:18] I don't know what it feels like to be in a 70, 80 year old body so I'm not going to complain about people who are at an age I'm not.
[01:33:25] I've always have said that and I think now I'm getting there I can understand a lot of things.
[01:33:29] I mean from experience you're just not what you used to be.
[01:33:34] And sometimes I have a mind to do things I may not have the energy and sometimes I have the energy and I don't have the mind to do it.
[01:33:41] You understand?
[01:33:43] And then there's some time I have to do things wise on my mind.
[01:33:47] Anybody know what I'm talking about?
[01:33:48] I had to send myself a text message and an email sometime.
[01:33:53] Yeah, I probably sent myself, you don't even send your own self a text message, right?
[01:33:57] Yeah, I sent myself a text message and like that to be reminded of some things because I'm older, you know, and there's time too.
[01:34:04] I can walk in one room to get something by the time I get it and I forgot what I went in there for.
[01:34:08] Okay, I know the only one.
[01:34:10] All right, so let's do the benediction, blessing, and then we'll share the gifts.
[01:34:18] The Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron and his sons, this is how you are to bless the Israelites.
[01:34:26] Say to them, the Lord bless you and keep you.
[01:34:30] The Lord, with his face upon you, will be gracious to you and give you peace.
[01:34:36] So they will put my name on the Israelites.
[01:34:38] and I will come to them and bless them.
[01:34:42] We put his name on Sears Creek and all who are watching this we ask in Jesus name.
[01:34:51] Amen.

[01:35:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Now let me bless the food.
[01:35:17] Gracious Father for the food that you have provided.
[01:35:20] Thank you God for the hand, those who worked so hard to prepare it.

[01:35:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
And now bless us as we shall partake of the same.
[01:35:28] Help us to be ever mindful in terms of action, those who do not have, that it never be said that there was anyone among us, around us, that was hungry and we fed them not.
[01:35:41] So move upon our hearts to do what has to be done.
[01:35:44] Give us presence of mind to be aware of those who don't have.
[01:35:48] So now bless it, consecrate it, and purify it.
[01:35:50] Again, bless those who work so hard to prepare it, and bless us we shall partake of it.
[01:35:55] In Jesus' holy name we pray.
[01:35:56] Amen.