The Myth of the Open Heaven: Why Grace Cannot Be Earned

• Communion and Worship [01:20:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses the logistics of communion, contrasting modern elements with past practices, and emphasizes the emotional and spiritual impact of remembering Christ's sacrifice.
• Personal Testimony of Transformation [01:22:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal story about looking at an old photo of himself before Christ, realizing the profound change and blessing in his life through faith.
• The Blood and Water of Jesus [01:23:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a powerful memory of grape juice being poured out during a power outage, linking it to the blood of Jesus, and connects it to a later event involving water being poured out, culminating in the theological point about heaven being torn open at the cross.
• Scriptural Interpretation (2 Samuel & John) [01:28:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor reads and interprets 2 Samuel 23 (David's mighty men) and John 19 (the piercing of Jesus' side) to illustrate the concept of offering the most precious things to God and the release of spiritual treasure.
• Open Heaven [01:34:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that while heaven is open for all people, humans often perceive it dimly, but faith, hope, and love remain constant and available.
• Open Heaven and Divine Access [01:34:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that heaven was opened at the cross for all people, though humans often perceive it dimly or fail to experience it due to forgetfulness and earthly focus.
• Faith, Hope, and Love [01:35:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > These three virtues are described as the permanent remainders of the cross event, released into the earth for all people to receive and experience regardless of their situation.
• Personal Testimony of Redemption [01:36:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal story of feeling unlovable and lost before Christ, illustrating how God did not give up on him despite his brokenness and bad behavior.
• The Blood and Water/The Holy Spirit [01:39:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects the physical blood and water from Jesus' side to the release of the Holy Spirit, describing it as the 'headwaters of the river of life' that enables connection with God.
• Worship and Sacrificial Giving [01:44:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using the biblical account of the woman with the alabaster jar, the pastor contrasts the disciples' view of 'waste' with the woman's total pouring out of her life, dreams, and hope on Jesus.
• Responding to Disappointment [01:46:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses the pain of poured-out efforts yielding no results (in marriage, family, business) and presents a choice between becoming bitter or pouring those losses out to the Lord.
• Loss and Disappointment [01:46:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the pain of failed marriages, estranged children, and business failures, noting how these events can feel like a total loss or waste.
• The Choice of Response [01:47:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor emphasizes that God does not remove human choice; individuals must choose between becoming bitter Christians or pouring out their pain to the Lord.
• Spiritual Cancer and Bitterness [01:47:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the metaphor of 'spiritual cancer' to describe how holding onto disappointment and bitterness consumes a person's heart, passions, and relationships from the inside out.
• Pouring Out to God [01:49:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the waste of bitterness with the value of pouring out what is costly and sacred to Jesus, citing the biblical woman who poured out oil and David's offerings.
• Personal Testimony of Failure and Surrender [01:50:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal story about a church roof collapse, describing the feeling of failure and the subsequent prayerful surrender of the church to God, acknowledging it was never theirs to begin with.
• The Undertow of the World [01:53:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of an ocean undertow to explain how believers can unintentionally drift away from the Lord and let other things become more important.
• Communion and Remembrance [01:55:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects the act of communion to the theme of pouring out one's life, explaining that receiving Christ's body and blood is meant to empower believers to pour themselves out to God and others.
• Healing and Restoration [01:59:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that just as crucifixion disjointed Jesus' body, the enemy seeks to disjoin believers; God's purpose in communion is to put believers back together internally and relationally.
• Personal Healing and Identity [02:00:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor declares personal renunciation of hindrances to walking in purpose and identity, expecting supernatural straightening out of life circumstances.
• Intercessory Prayer for Family [02:02:04 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor calls the congregation to stand for family members needing physical, mental, or spiritual healing, emphasizing God's care for them.
• Divine Encounter and Love [02:03:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor illustrates God catching those who feel unloved (like a 17-year-old kid), showing them love and caring for them.
• Spiritual Warfare and Deliverance [02:04:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses aggressive imagery ('intercept', 'ambush', 'holy ambush') to describe God intervening in the lives of those being prayed for.

• Sermon Illustration [01:22:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about looking at a high school photo of himself with long hair, realizing how much Christ has changed his life, describing his old self as 'buried' and a 'whole new person.'
• Sermon Illustration [01:23:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a memorable communion service from the 1970s where the power went out during a thunderstorm. A woman named Donna McMillan poured a pitcher of grape juice on the floor, which the pastor interpreted as hearing the blood of Jesus being poured out at the foot of the cross.
• Sermon Illustration [01:27:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells a story about visiting potter Mike Sherrill, who read 2 Samuel 23 about David's mighty men bringing him water from Bethlehem. Sherrill then poured a pitcher of water on the floor, mirroring the previous experience and connecting it to the 'water' from Jesus' side.
• Sermon Illustration [01:31:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor provides a historical/physiological explanation of crucifixion, noting that breaking legs prevented victims from pushing up to breathe, causing suffocation. He uses this to highlight the significance of Jesus' legs not being broken and the spear piercing his side, releasing blood and water.
• Sermon Illustration [01:36:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a personal memory of looking at a photo of himself before Christ, realizing he felt unlovable and unworthy of love. He shares a specific anecdote about his sister hugging him and another girl kissing him on the cheek, noting that he rejected their affection because he didn't feel he deserved love.
• Sermon Illustration [01:40:56 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes a vision he had during a Sunday morning worship service where he saw Jesus being pierced by a Roman soldier. In this vision, the Lord spoke to him clearly, stating that 'the headwaters of the river of life were released into the earth that day.'
• Sermon Illustration [01:44:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor retells the biblical story from Matthew 26 of a woman pouring expensive perfume on Jesus' head. He contrasts the disciples' question 'Why this waste?' with the woman's total surrender, describing it as pouring out her bank account, dreams, and future on a man who was about to die.
• Sermon Illustration [01:53:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a family trip to the beach where his children and their friends floated out to sea on a large float due to the undertow. One child, Phillip, screamed for help, and a friend had to swim far out to retrieve them. The pastor uses this to illustrate how easily one can drift away from the Lord without realizing it.
• Sermon Illustration [01:50:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about a church roof collapsing, which caused him and his wife to feel like 'the greatest failures on the planet.' They prayed, surrendering the church to God, acknowledging it was never theirs, and weeping as they gave it to the Lord.
• Sermon Illustration [01:48:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the biblical story of the woman who poured out expensive perfume/oil on Jesus, noting that while she could have wasted it or kept it, she poured it out, and Jesus declared it a memorial of beauty rather than waste.
• Sermon Illustration [02:02:48 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references a specific memory of looking at a 17-year-old kid the previous day whom God met, using this as an analogy for how God catches young and old people who feel unloved or unworthy.

• Pastoral Charge [01:38:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > Do not give up on lost or broken people in their lives.
• Pastoral Charge [01:39:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > Continue to love and believe for Christ to save those who are struggling.
• Pastoral Charge [01:42:48 ▶️ 📄]
  > Believe that they can live and carry the open heaven.
• Pastoral Charge [01:58:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > Verbally declare receipt of the power of Jesus' blood and the Holy Spirit.
• Pastoral Charge [02:02:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > Stand up to identify family members in need of healing.
• Pastoral Charge [02:02:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > Stand up physically
• Pastoral Charge [02:03:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray for specific individuals by name

[00:14:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:14:26] Talking about how the angel Gabriel gives this prophetic word about the number of days like very specifically There are going to be a number of days where the temple is going to be rebuilt The walls are going to be rebuilt and then into the city the Messiah will come
[00:14:41] And on Palm Sunday Jesus rides into the city And Dean was just so giddy about this like there's not another possibility There's it's not possible for there to be another person as the Messiah Because he's the only person who completed that prophecy
[00:14:59] So Lord, why don't you guys stand with me and say, Jesus, thank you so much for being our Messiah.
[00:15:04] We just honor you today, Lord, as the Messiah.
[00:15:07] You are our Savior, Lord, and we love you.
[00:15:10] Thank you so much for coming to save us, little old us, for coming to move in our lives.
[00:15:17] And not just that we have some sort of end-life activity with you, Lord, but so that we're living life to the full with you right now.
[00:15:24] That we're saved today, that we're living in those places today, because we get the inheritance today.
[00:15:30] Thank you so much, Jesus.
[00:15:32] So we just worship you this morning, Lord.
[00:15:34] We say we love you.
[00:15:36] We're so excited to be in your house.
[00:15:38] We're so excited to spend time with you this morning.
[00:15:41] Do something big.
[00:15:42] I'm so happy that you're an individual, God.
[00:15:44] You're a God to each of us individually in each specific way that we need you.
[00:15:49] So Lord, I just ask that you would move individually in our hearts today.
[00:15:52] Do something new for us.
[00:15:54] What do I need?
[00:15:55] What do you need?
[00:15:55] Lord, move in a way that's exciting and new, that only you can, because you're so good to us, Lord.
[00:16:03] Amen.

[00:16:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:16:03] Thank you this morning.
[00:16:14] Jesus, we thank you.

[00:16:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:16:16] We thank you, Jesus.
[00:16:18] Come on, just thank him this morning.
[00:17:19] Your love never fails, it never gives up.

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]
[00:17:23] Somebody lift it up and be glad.

[00:39:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:39:29] You've got a choice.
[00:39:31] You can let this day pass you in anxiety, or you can let it pass worshiping me.
[00:39:37] Because this is the only day, this day, you've got to do that.
[00:39:42] So, Lord, we choose today to worship you.

[00:56:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[00:56:34] Draw close to us.
[00:56:38] He's all that we want.
[00:56:41] At the end of the day, that's what our soul is saying.
[00:56:45] It's all that he wants.
[00:56:47] It's all we want, Lord.
[00:56:48] we want other things and walk around in life and it's easy to love other things more than you sometimes and we're sorry for that we repent Lord but at the end of the day when everything settles Lord
[00:57:04] our heart's made for you our heart cries out to you and we just want to tell you you're all that we want in this moment Lord when we're the most ourselves you are all that we want
[00:57:17] so Lord let us live from that place of desire of knowing that we are made for you and wired for you.
[00:57:25] We're wired to walk alongside of you besides still waters, Lord, and be laid down in green pastures, Lord, with rested hearts and peaceful minds, Lord, with you.
[00:57:37] Because we know that, Lord, you're in charge of our lives, God.
[00:57:48] And draw me close to you.

[00:57:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]
[00:57:50] You say that we're crying out to you.

[01:04:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:04:17] And I love you.
[01:04:18] You are the best, Lord.

[01:04:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:04:35] You are the best.
[01:04:38] Lord, we love you so much.
[01:04:41] we want you so much so we say Lord we repent for the times in our lives when we've been confused about that or we've thought or our flesh thought that there was something more that was better right now
[01:04:55] than you are Lord we reject that because there's not you are the best you are the best and we thank you so much Lord that you want to know us too there's a really low barrier
[01:05:10] to entry to be in the presence of the Lord, y'all. And it's not on his side, I'll tell you that. So if you were feeling this morning like there is separation between you and the Lord, I just want to say the Lord loves
[01:05:28] you very, very much. He loves you for you. That's a really sweet thing because we don't always get that from the world. But we come back to our daddy, that's what we get. I don't know if that
[01:05:44] applies to anybody, but thank you, Lord, for loving us despite the stuff we got, despite the things we do, Lord. I'm so thankful for you because you're the best. Adrian was just telling me that she
[01:06:11] had a knee injury and she wanted to worship the Lord. And she was like, well, forget that. I'm going to do it anyway. So she stood up and now her knee's great. I think we got a sweet, sweet
[01:06:23] daddy, y'all. So I'm going to pray for us, okay? Well, Lord, what are you doing? What are you doing right now? What do you need, congregation? What's going on in your body, in your mind? Because we
[01:06:33] got a father who loves us so much, and he loves us individually. So for Adrienne, it was her knee this morning because she wanted to be in his presence, and she wanted to dance before him,
[01:06:43] and he took care of that. So what do you got? Lord, move right now in our bodies, in our minds, in our brain situations, our anxieties. Lord, move right now. Heal it. Remove it. Get rid of it.
[01:07:02] we're done with it. Move, Lord, right now, because you're the best. You're the best, Lord.
[01:07:15] Can I get an amen from somebody, maybe? Amen. Oh, Lord, you're so good to us.
[01:07:27] We thank you, Lord. The ushers are going to work their way forward, y'all.
[01:07:31] We're going to take up an offering. I'm going to pray for that after Byron says something.

[01:07:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:07:36] Yeah, before we do that, I wanted to, I'm feeling like the Lord wants to do something for people's minds this morning it's like a load of lies in our minds strongholds in our minds that are hindering us
[01:07:50] and we all have it whether you think you do or not that's why the Bible says our lives are changed when our minds are renewed or as our minds so I just want you to put your hand on your head
[01:08:03] if you want to and just invite the Holy Spirit into your world, into your inner world, into your thinking. And Lord, we are asking you this morning for the lies of hell, the lies of people, the lies of the world, our own lies, Lord, that you would
[01:08:24] begin to dismantle those this morning. And we wouldn't just sing beautiful songs about your love and how awesome you are, but that would become more of a reality in our life. That would be the thing that rules us and rules our thinking. And Lord, for every spirit of fear and every
[01:08:44] anxious thought lord we just speak the name of jesus to it and say you don't really have a right you don't have a right to us you don't have a right to us because we belong to the lord jesus
[01:08:58] christ we're under the blood his name is upon us and we just reject all this satanic thoughts all these worldly, carnal, evil thoughts.
[01:09:13] We reject them this morning.
[01:09:15] And we say, Lord, forgive us.
[01:09:17] And we're sorry when we've entertained them and we've allowed them into our life.
[01:09:22] Even from childhood when things came into us unknowingly.
[01:09:25] Even those things today.
[01:09:28] That you would free us, Lord.
[01:09:31] Free us.
[01:09:32] You said your burden was light.
[01:09:36] And Lord, I believe that applies to our minds.
[01:09:38] That you would just remove the toxic thoughts and that our minds could be lightened today and freed today, Lord.
[01:09:52] Lord, Holy Spirit, only you can do that.
[01:09:56] We thank you, Lord.
[01:09:58] Let the renewed mind of Jesus come into us like never before, like never before.
[01:10:06] And let us be changed more and more into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:10:11] Amen.

[01:10:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:10:12] And thank you, Brian.
[01:10:14] All right, one more prayer.
[01:10:16] Well, not one more, but one more in succession.
[01:10:18] We got more prayers coming, I'm sure.
[01:10:20] We pray for the offering.
[01:10:21] All right, well, dear Lord, we thank you so much for your invitation to us to participate in the furtherance of your kingdom as we can give back some of what you've given us.
[01:10:33] Lord, so we just pray for this offering this morning.
[01:10:35] You would bless it.
[01:10:36] You'd honor it.
[01:10:37] You'd do something awesome with it, move it.
[01:10:42] Do mighty things, Lord.
[01:10:43] In your name we pray, amen.
[01:10:46] Oh, holy moly, y'all.
[01:10:48] Everybody okay?
[01:10:50] Yeah.
[01:10:50] I'm going to introduce you all to somebody who you may know, but I don't know if you know how blessed you are that they are currently on our staff. And I don't think she's going to tell you
[01:11:02] that. So I'm going to tell you that we are so blessed that Tori is on our staff and she's going to come up and she's going to just kind of share like a little updatey date children's

[01:11:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[01:11:16] ministry message. Okay. Here I am. So for those of you who I haven't met yet, I'm Tori Berkowitz.
[01:11:24] I love you too. No, but I got to join the River Life team in January of this year. And it has been such a privilege to be around this house. And over the last three months, really learning
[01:11:40] the heart of this house, which is the heart of the Father. And I think if you walk through our doors any Sunday morning, you can see that we value the presence of God. Amen. And then if you look
[01:11:51] around this room this morning, you can see we value generations, right? And so that's what I think is so significant and important in the Lord's heart for this season for our house, the presence of God and the generations. And that's why in River Kids Children's Ministry, we are not just
[01:12:10] babysitting. We're not just passing time, but we are taking every opportunity to come alongside families to pour the love and the goodness of our amazing Savior into them, right? So we believe that every single moment matters. Our team back in River Kids knows every moment matters, and we've
[01:12:33] implemented some curriculum over the last few weeks in all of our classrooms to really help guide kids on this journey with the Lord. And something that I think about is like for our little ones all the way from infants through fifth graders they are on a journey with God
[01:12:47] and it never ends it's an adventure so for our little ones it's wonder wow God made me he knows me and he loves me and as they get older it's wait I can hear from God for myself I can choose to
[01:13:01] follow Jesus my life has a purpose and that's why I want to say it again we are not just passing time, but we are building foundations of faith that will last for eternity. Amen? Woo! I get
[01:13:14] excited about that too. But Proverbs 22.6 says this. It says, train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old, they will not depart from it. And that's what we have the
[01:13:25] opportunity to do every single Sunday, to train up our kiddos to know the amazing love of the Father, to know that they are welcome no matter what, to know the friendship and the grace of Jesus,
[01:13:40] their savior, and to learn how to hear from the Holy Spirit and yield to his fruits being produced in their life.
[01:13:47] So I wanna invite you guys, our church, our family, to be a part of what God is doing in River Kids.
[01:13:53] If you like feel this morning, man, this sounds exciting.
[01:13:57] Come on, we would love to have you.
[01:14:00] We have practical ways for you to get involved And I'd love to get to know you, hear your story, because we're not just filling a spot on a schedule, but we are imparting the kingdom into kingdom carriers.
[01:14:12] So I just want to encourage our church to come alongside our River Kids children's ministry and let's see this thing grow.
[01:14:20] And let's see what God has in store for our kids, right?
[01:14:25] It's good, and I'm so excited to be a part.
[01:14:28] I just have to say, it has been such a joy and such an honor to get to know your families and to be a part of this team.
[01:14:34] But before we dismiss our River Kids, I just want to say, after service, you can find me in the lobby, look for the balloons, and you'll find Tori.
[01:14:42] And I would love to tell you next steps on how to get involved in River Kids Children's Ministry.
[01:14:47] We do background checks.
[01:14:48] We have in-class training, all of the things.
[01:14:50] Don't worry, we're not going to be like, all right, see ya, here you go.
[01:14:53] We will make sure you are equipped and ready to serve because this is kingdom work.
[01:14:57] But I want to invite all of our River kids real quick to stand up on your feet.
[01:15:02] River kids, stand up.
[01:15:04] Can you do your best puppy dog face?
[01:15:06] Come on.
[01:15:06] No.
[01:15:09] But I want to do this right now.
[01:15:10] So all of our River kids are standing up.
[01:15:12] I want us to pray as the mothers and fathers of this house.
[01:15:16] Pray over these kids.
[01:15:17] And I'm not just talking about River kids.
[01:15:19] Let's have our youth stand up as well, right?
[01:15:21] Because it's the generations.
[01:15:23] And God has something awesome in store that he wants to do through River Life.
[01:15:27] So, Lord, we thank you for every boy and every girl, every young man and woman standing up right now.
[01:15:36] Lord, we thank you that you love them, that you know them, and that you have called them to be your son or your daughter.
[01:15:45] And, Lord, as a house, we say we will take the place to stand for the generations, to stand for our kids to know you and to know the power of the cross at work in their life.
[01:15:57] And we thank you, Lord, that each one of these children would be a light in the darkness, that they would show your goodness and your kindness.
[01:16:05] In Jesus' name we pray.
[01:16:07] Everybody said amen.
[01:16:09] All right, River Kids, good job.
[01:16:11] You can head on back to class.

[01:16:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:16:14] Right, y'all?
[01:16:16] You know what I'm saying?
[01:16:18] Heck, yeah, we are in good shape.
[01:16:23] Y'all may have noticed as they're leaving, I'm just going to tell you something, that the past couple weeks we have not been passing or pausing in our announcement giving as a translator has translated.
[01:16:37] Does anybody notice that?
[01:16:39] Some people were aware.
[01:16:40] Some people were like, no, I don't know what you're talking about.
[01:16:42] But we are still translating.
[01:16:45] It's really, really awesome.
[01:16:47] We have actually moved to an app.
[01:16:49] So in real time right now, Erica can demonstrate, I'm broadcasting currently in Spanish and Mongolian.
[01:16:59] So if you are ever interested in that as a service or know somebody who might benefit from hearing what's said from the microphone in their own language, we can accommodate that.
[01:17:11] It's super, super easy.
[01:17:13] It takes me 30 seconds.
[01:17:15] So let me know.
[01:17:16] Come and talk to me.
[01:17:16] I'll tell you how you can get signed up.
[01:17:18] I'll get them, like, hooked up.
[01:17:19] It's awesome.
[01:17:20] It's super, super great.
[01:17:21] This is Stephanie.

[01:17:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:17:22] Stephanie's gonna do some announcements good morning morning hey who said oh boy okay happy palm sunday guys isn't it such a good sunday i need it better than that happy palm sunday yeah that's much better so i got a few announcements for this morning
[01:17:43] first we got our sojourn women's meeting that'll be happening tomorrow monday march 30th 7 at 8 30 p.m our lovely adrian mccann say hi come on don't be shy girl say hi with her new knee she usually
[01:18:02] does announcements if you guys don't know but uh and i just love the way that she does her announcements every morning so i bet she'll do a great job a woman 18 and older you're you're more
[01:18:13] than welcome to be invited that goes for me too yeah uh holy week service we got a service happening good friday isn't that amazing yeah yeah i love it uh it's happening this friday april 3rd 7 p.m cory is preaching hopefully that brings you to him not away from him
[01:18:34] um you can bring your friends bring your family if you can't come that's perfectly okay you can just stream it online and you know you may be confused as i was we are still having an easter
[01:18:47] sunday service as well this good friday service is just a plus you know a bonus if you will it's just a cute extra thing next we have our concealed carry handgun course that is happening saturday
[01:19:02] april 18th if you need a permit you want a permit to carry a handgun or if you just need a refresher you should totally come to this full day course um it's at the church april 18th but i need to
[01:19:16] announce that registration and payment ends next friday not this friday next friday that's april 10th and i don't know how you're supposed to register you'll probably have to look in your email or something like that you have to pay about like 150 160 dollars uh cash check or venmo
[01:19:34] if you have any questions where's pablo pablo say hey hey yeah if you have any questions you can just ask him after service, or you can email him at gpoblod at gmail.com. All right, those are
[01:19:51] announcements. Byron, come on up. Come on down. All right, let's just raise our hands towards Byron. Lord Jesus, we just, we lift Byron up this morning. Lord God, I just, I'm hearing just that you want to plant some seeds this morning, Lord God, and I just pray that whatever seeds
[01:20:24] Byron may be planting, whatever seeds you're planting in our hearts, Lord God, that they don't fall on the pavement or on the thorns, but Lord, that they fall on the good soil, and we apply
[01:20:35] deep roots into whatever byron has to say this morning lord god please open our hearts and open byron's hearts as well in jesus name amen good job well i can't quite match that

[01:20:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:20:52] or tory wasn't that i mean man yeah they're awesome aren't they thank you lord thank you lord for the great worship today amen yeah amen so we're gonna we're gonna usually we do communion sometimes after worship
[01:21:09] but we're going to do communion at the end today so if you picked up a thing out there if you didn't get one maybe you can get one now if you want to but yeah we're going to do it
[01:21:25] I wanted to do it at the end today and you know the kids will get a chance if they come Friday night we'll be doing communion again and we'll be doing it again next Sunday so we're giving you
[01:21:39] many opportunities and that was great what she said about cory you know don't let that push you away that's pretty good cory yeah no we did it last year uh the it was awesome man i mean the
[01:21:55] lord's presence was here so it'll be good it'll be really good no pressure cory but we'll have some worship and we'll hear some some stuff that'll really speak to our hearts because it's a time to really think about what Christ has done for us. Amen? Because he's done a lot.
[01:22:16] And so, yes, I was looking at a picture yesterday of me before Christ that my sister gave me when I was in high school. And I was looking at myself, which back then I had hair. Okay?
[01:22:31] In fact, I had a lot. In fact, my hair was longer than a lot of women's hair in this room back then. And I was looking at myself, though, and I was thinking, you know, man,
[01:22:43] the Lord has been, has done so much for me. I mean, so much. It just made me realize how blessed I am in my life, you know, that, you know, Christ revealed himself to me and gave
[01:22:57] me this opportunity to be part of his family. And it really has completely changed my life.
[01:23:03] I mean, totally.
[01:23:05] I mean, I'm not, I don't even, looking at that picture, it's like, wow, that person was buried.
[01:23:12] He's gone.
[01:23:12] There's a whole new person.
[01:23:15] I'm so thankful for that, y'all.
[01:23:17] You know, I'm so thankful.
[01:23:19] And, yeah, and all those songs we were singing this morning were so speaking to my heart, you know, because they really did bring us back to the Lord.
[01:23:27] But I wanted to tell you about this communion time we had.
[01:23:30] I don't know if I've ever shared this.
[01:23:32] I've shared it somewhere.
[01:23:33] I don't remember if I've shared it here or not, but it doesn't matter because it so speaks to my heart.
[01:23:39] I was thinking about it this week a lot.
[01:23:41] And so this happened back in the 70s.
[01:23:45] I said it was a while ago, but it is the most memorable and most powerful communion service that I ever was in.
[01:23:54] And, you know, back in those days, we did our church at night, on Sunday night.
[01:24:00] and there was one night we were there and we were going to do communion and I don't know if it was around Easter or what but we were planning on doing communion that night and the way we did it back then
[01:24:14] is we had a table at the front, a big old pitcher of grape juice and a big loaf of bread and that was really cool and we've done that before here.
[01:24:25] You know, then COVID came and we bought them little things which are terrible right i mean it's so like you know we used to have people come up front and it just got so crowded in here but i'm about ready to go back to to inconvenient crowd to have something a little
[01:24:44] bit more you know besides the the little thing although little things were nice i carry them around in my car i steal them from the church you know i'm just gonna confess i've been stealing
[01:24:55] those things and i carry them around my car sometimes and do communion when i'm sitting at a stoplight but you know but anyways in this particular night there was a terrible thunderstorms and in the area and um and the power went off and this church was a lamb's chapel it was a very
[01:25:14] loud church okay it was not a presbyterian let's you know be still and know that i'm the lord kind of church it was shout to the lord church and so really a real energetic uh worship and
[01:25:28] but that night uh the power went off and and so it was just dark in the building if you can just imagine sitting in a in a building that was dark and so it kind of got quiet in there
[01:25:44] and everybody was seated and it just really got quieter than natural quiet.
[01:25:53] For me, it did anyway.
[01:25:54] I'm not sure about everybody else.
[01:25:57] But, you know, we were sitting there and nobody was saying anything in the darkness and suddenly there was this sound and the sound was of like liquid being poured out.
[01:26:13] and someone from the congregation came up and took that pitcher of grape juice and just started pouring it out on the floor.
[01:26:28] And that sound, I've never forgotten that sound.
[01:26:32] Yeah.
[01:26:34] It was Donna McMillan who did it.
[01:26:36] Yeah.
[01:26:37] Some of y'all might know Donna.
[01:26:39] She did.
[01:26:39] She was a young person then so she was wild.
[01:26:42] so it took a lot of boldness for somebody to do that but it was it was as if and again I can't answer for everybody else but for me because I can't remember anything else that happened in
[01:26:56] that service I remember that one thing and that one sound and it was like being for me it was like I was standing at the foot of the cross and hearing the blood of Jesus being poured out
[01:27:10] and it was just so impacting to me to have that experience and it really helped me to really draw near to the Lord just like what we were seeing but that's not the end of the story
[01:27:25] like I said I don't remember anything else that happened after that moment but then probably I think the next weekend we were with Jim and Kathy Beck and I were with Jim and Kathy we went up to Hendersonville and there was a
[01:27:40] guy up there who had a meeting going on in his house, Mike Sherrill, who's, at the time, he was just one of these starving artist kind of guys. He was a potter. Now he's a world-famous potter,
[01:27:53] so we got to hang around with somebody who's real famous in the pottery world before he became famous, but I think he's still pretty hangout. You can still hang out. He's still a humble act, and you never know that his stuff is all over the world in museums. Magazines are
[01:28:07] about him and you know he's just a cool guy you know he's one of these artist people that's really cool and really hip and all that but he also is super spiritual and super humble and loves the
[01:28:18] Lord more than most people so that's my testimony but I wanted to read what he read scripture he he in his meeting that night at his house it's out of 2nd Samuel 23 it says David was then in
[01:28:34] the stronghold while the garrison of philistines was then in bethlehem and and david had a craven and said oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of bethlehem which is by the
[01:28:46] gate so the three mighty men forced their way into the camp of the philistines and drew water from the well of bethlehem which was by the gate and carried it and brought it to david
[01:29:00] and yet he wouldn't drink it but he poured it out as an offering to the Lord and he said far be it from me Lord that I would do this should I drink the blood of the men
[01:29:14] who went at the risk of their lives so he would not drink it and these are the these things the three mighty men did so you know Mike Sherrill read that scripture and then he took a pitcher of water
[01:29:33] and started pouring this pitcher of water out on the floor in his house.
[01:29:40] And so, I mean, like I was feeling like, oh my gosh, Lord, I've experienced the blood of Jesus being poured out and now I'm experiencing the water that came out of Jesus being poured out
[01:29:59] and like in just in a few days and it's really never left me that two things in that scripture there how David, you know, he was yearning for that water and that water represented everything to David
[01:30:14] it represented his childhood, his life you know, his hunger for his home because they were, you know the enemy had taken over their home and they were stuck out in the wilderness us and and that's why these men these three mighty men don't y'all if you want to read
[01:30:34] interesting stories in the bible read about the mighty men of david they're like you know kind of a guy thing honestly but i love those stories uh but david wouldn't drink it because to him it was like the blood of his men that went and he felt the only thing that he could do
[01:30:54] with this offering is offer it to the Lord and give it give it to the Lord because only the Lord would deserve such a sacrifice that these these men made and I believe those men understood what
[01:31:08] David was doing and understood that what they did was was like a worship it was like David came to a place of worship and surrender in his own heart and offering the best thing that had ever been
[01:31:19] given to him he gave it back to the lord now let me read over in john 19 are y'all with me this morning okay it's john 19 this is the new testament it says so the soldiers came and broke the leg
[01:31:34] this is jesus on the cross and they're you know the two men that were crucified with him and so they were wanting to uh make sure everybody was dead for the sabbath so the soldiers came and
[01:31:47] broke the legs of the first man it is interesting that i don't know if you know about this just this is a side thing but the reason they broke their legs is when a person was being crucified for
[01:31:58] them to breathe they would have to push up okay use their legs to push up to get a breath and then relax you know let off to to to exhale and so that's what they would be doing the whole time
[01:32:11] they were being you know they were dying on the crosses lifting themselves up with their legs to breathe and then exhale. So it was really super intense. So they broke their legs so they couldn't
[01:32:21] lift up and they would suffocate because they wouldn't be able to breathe. So that kind of gives you a little picture if you didn't know that. So it says they broke the leg of the first
[01:32:32] man and the other man who was crucified with him being the Lord. But after they came to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Yet one of the soldiers
[01:32:44] pierced his side with a spear and immediately blood and water came out isn't that powerful and that's really what i felt was you know that week of my life is i really you know the lord was
[01:33:00] allowing me to experience it in communion and that night at mike sheryl's house the blood and water of jesus and so when he was pierced you know it was not just you know it was more than
[01:33:14] just a physical act it was literally like that like what was in Jesus the most precious thing in Jesus the blood of Jesus and the water of Jesus was released into the earth and and out of that treasure that he he released the treasure that was inside of him and when that
[01:33:36] water hit the ground and that blood hit the ground it was like heaven hit the ground it's like heaven came down to to the earth and and the heavens were literally torn open the bible says there's
[01:33:50] other verses i could give you heaven was literally torn open and and and the treasure of god was released released to humanity at that point and that's what that's what really happened and i wanted to read this scripture to you it's in first corinthians 13 12 through 13 uh it says now we see
[01:34:13] in a mirror dimly but then face to face but now I know in part but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known but now faith hope and love remain these three and the
[01:34:31] greatest of these is loves so you know heaven was opened at the cross for all time for all people okay but what it's telling us here is sometimes we're not aware of it because it says it's dimly
[01:34:49] we see dimly now often we're not aware that heaven is opened okay often we're not experiencing that but it is open heaven's open it will never be closed again and heaven is open for every human
[01:35:06] being on this planet no matter who that human being is it's open for them but we as humans it's we just it's dimly it's dim to us uh but but there is one thing for sure okay because
[01:35:23] and there's a lot of thoughts about what it means to live under an open heaven but one thing for sure is is it says that these three three things remain faith hope and love so faith hope and love
[01:35:38] is available for all people all the time are you are y'all hearing this okay so when you if you think you know when we think about open him we could think about a lot of cool things
[01:35:50] but the most important thing about it is faith hope and love you know when his faith his hope his love is right here on this earth right now. When Jesus, when he bled out, when they
[01:36:04] pierced him, faith, hope, and love was released into the earth. It was poured out on the ground.
[01:36:10] It's poured out for us. We have this opportunity always, no matter what situation we're in, is to be able to receive that faith, hope, and love and experience that faith, hope, and love.
[01:36:23] And like I said, I just want to keep emphasizing it because it's dim to us, because it's not 100% clear to us all the time, or even 20% clear to us, is we tend to discount it.
[01:36:39] We tend not to live from an open heaven.
[01:36:43] We tend to live from the earth, okay?
[01:36:46] And we tend to forget.
[01:36:47] But when I was looking at that picture of myself before Christ, see, I forgot about that person.
[01:36:53] I forgot about, I'd forgotten about what all God has done for me.
[01:36:58] I had forgotten how lost I was and how at that point in my life, honestly, I felt unlovable.
[01:37:06] I didn't feel like I could be loved because of a lot of things.
[01:37:12] But I didn't feel like I deserved to be loved when it really came down.
[01:37:16] I didn't know that then.
[01:37:17] And I didn't know, I wasn't conscious of any of that then.
[01:37:20] Okay, but looking back and looking at myself, I realized, you know, my sister, one picture she gave me, my sister was there hugging me.
[01:37:29] And I can remember when my sisters wanted to love on me, I didn't want them to love on me.
[01:37:35] And it wasn't a weird brother-sister thing.
[01:37:38] It was because I didn't feel like I needed, that I could receive love.
[01:37:42] I didn't deserve to be loved.
[01:37:44] Does anybody know what I'm talking about?
[01:37:45] you know and then there was this other girl which we haven't figured out who she was Becky was wondering who's that other girl over there kissing you I said yeah it was on the cheek
[01:37:59] I don't really know who that girl is I have no clue who that girl is isn't that weird she had long hair so I knew it wasn't somebody else anyway that's the side story it wasn't Becky
[01:38:16] that's why she was wanting to know who the heck was that girl kissing you I need to know.
[01:38:22] Oh, but I wanted to say this to people out here.
[01:38:27] I want you to hear this.
[01:38:28] For yourself or for your friends or for your children, for anybody in your family, don't ever give up.
[01:38:37] Don't ever give up on a person.
[01:38:39] I'm telling you, don't give up.
[01:38:42] Because when I look at that guy, that boy, that 17-year-old, just completely completely lost somehow God didn't give up on me he didn't give up on me he went after me he kept going after me and going after me and going after me and if you keep
[01:39:02] believing that for your family your friends whoever it is in your life that you feel like they're not going to make it or whatever and I was doing a lot of bad things really a lot of bad
[01:39:11] things that I shouldn't have been doing and I was a plague to my family because I was so so broken inside but god didn't forget he didn't give up on me and i don't and my family didn't give up on me
[01:39:24] so keep loving them keep loving them keep believing for christ to get them and the lord will get them okay he'll he'll find his way to them they'll find their way to him and they'll
[01:39:36] get in that beautiful when the lord does that oh the lord lord help us so the blood and the water or foundational to living from an open heaven, y'all.
[01:39:47] See, that has to become a reality.
[01:39:49] And we know what the water represents because Jesus told us, right?
[01:39:53] The water represents, Jesus said, out of your bellies will flow what?
[01:39:57] Rivers of living what?
[01:39:59] Water.
[01:40:01] And this, it says, this is just John chapter 7.
[01:40:05] This he spoke of the Holy Spirit, which was not given yet.
[01:40:09] And the reason the Holy Spirit was not given yet is because Jesus had not died yet.
[01:40:14] You see, when Jesus was pierced, that water that came out, that released the Spirit of God in him into the earth, okay?
[01:40:23] And then later, when the baptism of the Holy Spirit came, the power of God came.
[01:40:28] Are y'all with me?
[01:40:29] That was in Acts 2, 50 days later or so, right?
[01:40:33] And so we had to see that, you know, these are the two precious things that God has given us in this life, and they were given as you know when he died and they were released into the earth I'll never
[01:40:46] forget I've shared this many times in this church but it was really life-changing for me is one Sunday morning we were having just worship in the church and I had a vision of Jesus on the
[01:40:56] dead on the cross I had a vision of Jesus being pierced by a Roman soldier and the Lord spoke to me as clear as a bell and I mean you know I wish the Lord speak to me like this all the time
[01:41:08] like instead of once every blue moon which is not very often right a blue moon in fact I've never seen a blue moon I don't know where that came from I know it comes from something
[01:41:19] but it's like where's this blue moon thing man but he said to me this the headwaters of the river of life were released into the earth that day the headwaters you know the headwaters are the beginning
[01:41:33] and so the spirit of the Lord was released into the earth that day okay and that's the spirit of the lord the and the and the blood of jesus are for or what enables us
[01:41:46] to connect with an open hand they're what enables us to live a life of faith to live a life of hope and to live a life of love are you with me on that it's just such a if we can just get that
[01:42:00] we forget all the others if we just get that then it will be it will it will radically change your life. Amen. What flowed out of Jesus now flows into and through those who receive him. What flowed
[01:42:21] out of Jesus, the blood of the world, now flows into and through us. And as we receive it, we don't just look towards an open heaven. We begin to live an open heaven. Are you hearing me? That's the key.
[01:42:34] We're not looking for an open heaven. We can live the open heaven. We can carry the open heaven. We can carry the blood we can carry the spirit to people around us literally and you need to have
[01:42:48] to we have to believe this okay because if we don't believe it it's just not going to do us much good if and but see it happened at the cross so when we're believing in the cross this is part
[01:43:00] of what we're believing so okay are y'all with me this morning because y'all are not looking so hot out there you're looking a little distressed at me yeah well in a couple weeks I had to do this
[01:43:14] class I think three weeks about preaching at the River Life School of Medicine I'm like oh my gosh I hate to do that class you know down there when I was with my sister yesterday and where she lives
[01:43:31] which is you know halfway to the beach I met I went to her birthday party and there was a bunch of people there I hadn't seen in many years and this is what they were all asking me hey are you
[01:43:44] still a preacher they didn't ask me hey are you still a pastor down there you're a preacher that's what they call you I thought oh yeah yeah I think you could call it that I guess you could I'm sort
[01:43:56] of am anyways Matthew chapter 26 it's just funny how people do things okay Matthew chapter 26 now when Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper a woman came to him with an alabaster
[01:44:12] vial of very expensive perfume and she poured it on his head as he was reclining at the table but the disciples were indignant when they saw this and they said why this waste for this perfume
[01:44:24] could have been sold for a high price and the money given to her given to the poor so why this waste but for her it was never about the perfume right it was never about that it was her life it
[01:44:36] It was her love.
[01:44:37] It was everything that she had.
[01:44:39] She poured her future out.
[01:44:41] She poured everything out on this man that would soon die.
[01:44:45] Everything.
[01:44:46] She gave her all.
[01:44:47] It was like she had a bank account.
[01:44:49] If you had a bank account and you gave it all and there was no hope of getting anything else, that's what she did.
[01:44:54] She gave her dreams.
[01:44:55] She poured her dreams.
[01:44:57] She poured it all out.
[01:44:57] How many people have dreams about the future?
[01:45:00] Okay.
[01:45:01] This woman poured those dreams out on Jesus.
[01:45:04] She poured her hope out on Jesus.
[01:45:07] She poured it out.
[01:45:08] And what did the disciples say?
[01:45:10] Why this waste?
[01:45:14] Okay, that's a very powerful, powerful statement.
[01:45:18] And I think it's a question that we all have to answer in our life at some point.
[01:45:22] Why this waste?
[01:45:24] And so, you know, sometimes we pour ourselves out, right?
[01:45:27] Sometimes we pour ourselves.
[01:45:29] Our time, our strength, our prayers, our love.
[01:45:33] We invest deeply our lives in many ways.
[01:45:36] Most believers really do.
[01:45:37] In some ways, they invest.
[01:45:38] Maybe they invest them in their children.
[01:45:40] I mean, every good parent does that.
[01:45:42] You know, friends, the body across the kingdom, they just give it all.
[01:45:47] Give it all.
[01:45:48] Sometimes you do that, and sometimes nothing comes of it, right?
[01:45:53] Have you ever been there?
[01:45:55] Have you ever been there when you've poured yourself out and nothing came of it?
[01:45:59] It's a hard place to be.
[01:46:00] and that question lingers in your mind.
[01:46:03] Did I waste my life doing this?
[01:46:05] Did I waste my life in this relationship?
[01:46:07] If I poured my life, could I have done something different with my life instead of the things that I did?
[01:46:13] I mean, am I talking to anybody in this room?
[01:46:15] Yeah, yeah.
[01:46:17] You know, it can feel like a loss, you know.
[01:46:20] It can feel like a loss when your marriage don't work.
[01:46:23] It can feel like a loss when the kids that you've loved so much in your life and raised them the best you can raise them and then they just go off and live in a terrible way
[01:46:33] and treat you terribly and say terrible things to you.
[01:46:37] You can feel like you've just messed up, and you feel like you've wasted all of that.
[01:46:42] And so sometimes things just fall apart in this life.
[01:46:46] Sometimes your business falls apart.
[01:46:47] Sometimes your finances falls apart.
[01:46:50] I feel like mine's always falling apart.
[01:46:52] But anyways, so, but we're still always given a choice in those moments, aren't we?
[01:47:00] God never takes our choices away.
[01:47:02] He gives us a choice.
[01:47:04] I'm trying to talk to somebody in here.
[01:47:06] He gives us a choice.
[01:47:08] And we can hold on to what we lost in our hearts and minds, okay?
[01:47:12] And become disappointed and become bitter Christians.
[01:47:15] And begin to question the goodness of God.
[01:47:17] And question everything about our spiritual life.
[01:47:21] Or we can take all that and we can begin to pour it out to the Lord.
[01:47:25] And give it to the Lord.
[01:47:27] That's our choice.
[01:47:28] It's one of the others.
[01:47:29] there's no in between we can hang on to it and let's let it eat into our hearts like cancer okay that's that's what it's like it's like spiritual cancer and this bitterness in our life and this hardness comes into our life because of the disappointment and the discouragement and
[01:47:45] the things that we bleed for and hope for that fell on the ground and evaporated in front of us am i saying anything you know and and we can hang on to that and what that will do it'll begin to
[01:47:58] consume us from the inside out. It'll begin to consume our hearts. It'll begin to consume our passions. It'll begin to consume our relationships. We'll begin to see everything through a bitter, broken life. That's what we'll look at. And we'll look at other people through bitterness.
[01:48:15] And we will begin not to trust people. We'll begin not to be vulnerable anymore. We will begin to to find comfort in alcohol or drugs or sex or whatever, the thing that you think will make you happy
[01:48:29] and heal this craziness inside of you.
[01:48:35] And that's what happens.
[01:48:37] Why this waste?
[01:48:39] What if she would have heard that?
[01:48:43] and suddenly at that moment was like, oh my gosh, I've wasted my future on this guy who's going to die because he told them this is what she did.
[01:48:53] But she didn't.
[01:48:55] She didn't go there.
[01:48:58] Jesus, in fact, y'all know, he said, hey, for the rest of probably all eternity, this is going to be a memorial.
[01:49:05] This is going to be something that's beautiful in the Lord because she poured it out to him.
[01:49:12] Okay?
[01:49:14] So David poured out what was too costly to keep.
[01:49:18] He poured out what was sacred to him.
[01:49:21] Okay?
[01:49:23] It was just too costly for him to take it to himself.
[01:49:26] This woman poured out what was too costly to her.
[01:49:29] It was sacred to her.
[01:49:31] It's just sort of the same thing.
[01:49:32] But see, Jesus poured out something that was even greater.
[01:49:35] Okay, because he's the one who poured out the most, the best for us.
[01:49:42] And heaven receives it all.
[01:49:46] He receives what you pour out to him.
[01:49:49] He receives it.
[01:49:50] Heaven receives it.
[01:49:51] There's no waste in the kingdom of God.
[01:49:54] God, there's no waste.
[01:49:55] No matter, if you give it to the Lord, it's not a waste.
[01:50:00] Because he'll take something and make something out of it for you.
[01:50:03] He will do something in your life.
[01:50:05] He will take that bitterness away.
[01:50:07] He'll heal you of that spiritual cancer that's destroying you.
[01:50:11] He will get your eyes where you can begin to see life the way it really is.
[01:50:16] Instead of the way you think it is.
[01:50:19] I've told you all this many times.
[01:50:21] And it was just so powerful to me.
[01:50:23] And at the time, we didn't know.
[01:50:26] that's what we were doing but we actually did this becky and i did this years ago when we had this calamity in the church and the roof fell in and we just felt like we were just we just felt
[01:50:37] like great the greatest failures on the planet and we just like we were like okay then then we're done then you know because we have failed everything we we've just we've come to the end and we told
[01:50:50] the lord lord this church was never ours in the first place that's what we said to we went home and pray. It was never ours, Lord. None of this belongs to us. And so, Lord, if you're saying
[01:51:04] it's over with, it's yours to say that. You get to decide. But we give it to you. And whether it goes on or whether it ends, we're going on with you, Lord. And it was a precious moment to us,
[01:51:19] although I will tell you this, it was a very painful moment. And we were weeping when we did that we were weeping to the Lord because we were broken and it felt like all our dreams were broken
[01:51:31] it felt like our future was broken okay but but it wasn't it wasn't but I think there's just times in our life when we come to a place like that and I just pray I just pray it you know that it doesn't
[01:51:45] come to it was just that was just so hard it was just so hard and I wonder sometimes maybe the reason it's so hard because i'm so hard-headed you know that god's been was trying to talk to me
[01:51:57] beforehand and maybe i didn't have to go through that but we did go through what y'all you know and we did give this say to the lord this church belongs to you we pour this church out
[01:52:09] on the head and feet of jesus and whatever he does with it is up to him so you know i'm just feeling this morning you know i mean i've just been thinking about this pouring out thing you
[01:52:23] know all week like oh this is the worst commute this is the worst uh palm sunday message ever where's the palm trees and all that cool stuff but to me it's the best okay because that's what
[01:52:45] the Lord's really looking for in all of us it's not just in our troubled times okay it's not just in our it's when we live a life poured out to the Lord when our heart is always towards the Lord
[01:53:00] to pour ourselves out to him and give ourselves to him and to me that's what this whole time you know called holy week and you know that's what it's all about is to reflect on that
[01:53:14] and to get back to what He's saying, what they're saying.
[01:53:19] Lord, bring me back to You.
[01:53:21] Because it's so easy in this life to begin to drift a little bit.
[01:53:25] Not intentionally.
[01:53:27] There's an undertow in the world.
[01:53:28] Y'all know what the undertow is.
[01:53:30] You go out in the ocean and it slowly pulls you out to sea.
[01:53:34] There's an undertow.
[01:53:38] And it slowly pulls us away until we're way out.
[01:53:42] I think I've told y'all this too, One time we were at the beach with some friends, and our kids were real little.
[01:53:50] Aaron and Grace, my two older kids, they had two friends with them.
[01:53:56] And they were, I don't know, probably eight or nine years old, something like that.
[01:54:01] Maybe 11 and 12.
[01:54:03] I never know the numbers.
[01:54:04] But anyway, them four got on a float, a big float, and they were floating out to sea.
[01:54:13] and Phillip was little and he'd come running up to us like, you know, screaming.
[01:54:19] Remember that?
[01:54:20] Fortunately, the friends we were with, the guy was a very good swimmer but he had to go and swim way out there beyond where the waves were breaking to get them and pull them back here
[01:54:32] and to land.
[01:54:35] Yeah, well, Grace was a real good swimmer so she jumped off and left the other three hanging because she'd be like, I ain't going out with y'all.
[01:54:42] She knew she could swim me because she was a really good swimmer but I don't think he was and the other two were not great.
[01:54:47] But that to me always just spoke of my life is without knowing, I can drift away from the Lord.
[01:54:58] I can let other things become more important, okay?
[01:55:02] And when God comes looking, when God comes calling, I can try to hang on to those things instead of pouring them out to Him, you know?
[01:55:11] And so this morning, that's one reason I wanted to do communion at the end.
[01:55:17] I wanted us to really, I wanted us to pour our lives out to the Lord afresh.
[01:55:29] That's what I wanted.
[01:55:31] Because that's what communion really is, is receiving the life that he poured out so we can have everything that he has, so we can begin to pour that out and keep pouring it out and keep pouring it out.
[01:55:43] So I think we've got communion stuff.
[01:55:48] Well, it'd be nice if we had some music.
[01:55:51] Is the Lord speaking to anybody in this room?
[01:55:59] I hope he is.
[01:56:03] Man, if you had just heard the sound of that grape juice that night in a dark room being poured out, if you just heard that, it would never leave you.
[01:56:19] It's like echoing through time.
[01:56:24] There's a power in that.
[01:56:37] So, you know, like I say, these are kind of sterile feeling, aren't they?
[01:56:45] Really would like to shift and get a better way of doing communion in our church, y'all, honestly.
[01:56:51] People have suggested it to me, but maybe we should do that.
[01:56:59] But you know what?
[01:57:00] This can be okay, too.
[01:57:03] Yeah, amen.
[01:57:04] I mean, I've done communion with water before.
[01:57:06] I didn't have any, but I felt like I was supposed to do it.
[01:57:08] All I had was water.
[01:57:09] In fact, I did it one time with apple cider vinegar.
[01:57:12] That was kind of rough, but it worked.
[01:57:18] I just pray the Lord will give us an impartation right now.
[01:57:51] Lord, we just thank you for the body of Jesus and the blood of Jesus.
[01:57:56] I thank you that there's power, power in the blood, Lord.
[01:58:01] There's power in the blood, power in the blood.
[01:58:06] There's power in the Holy Spirit, Lord.
[01:58:08] Thank you that when that Roman soldier pierced you, that that power of the blood and that power of the Spirit got poured into the earth.
[01:58:21] Lord, we receive it today.
[01:58:22] We receive that.
[01:58:24] You need to tell the Lord you receive it.
[01:58:27] Just say, I receive it, Lord.
[01:59:00] You know, another thing about the crucifixion is when a person's crucified, all their joints are pulled out and get disjointed because of being stretched out and hung like that.
[01:59:16] And Jesus said, And, you know, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, do this in remembrance of me or remember me.
[01:59:28] In other words, God wants a church and a people that are not disjointed.
[01:59:34] And that's what the enemy wants to do is disjoin us.
[01:59:38] But what God wants to do is put us back together.
[01:59:42] And he even wants to do that for you as a human being to put you back together.
[01:59:46] and the places that are disjointed within you.
[01:59:51] When we're put together within ourselves, then we can be put together with others because we'll no longer be a disjointed person ourself and we can be joined to other people in the love of the Lord.
[02:00:10] So Father, we just thank you today for the body of Jesus.
[02:00:13] If you want to take that little nasty cracker and just pretend it's really a good piece of bread and to say, Father, say, Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you, Lord, for this body of Jesus
[02:00:34] that was broken for me.
[02:00:39] And I believe today as I receive this that you're going to do something supernatural.
[02:00:48] You're going to bring some healing into my life.
[02:00:52] You're going to straighten some things out in my life.
[02:00:54] And I'm not going to be the same anymore.
[02:00:59] And Lord, I just renounce all those things that are hindering me to walk in my purpose and walk in my true identity and know the love of Christ which surpasses true knowledge and I'm going to be filled
[02:01:18] with the fullness of God because that is my inheritance and I declare that over my life and I'm going to be able to bring that to other people and people are going to know that God has showed up in their life
[02:01:34] and I'm going to be able to let them know that God is there and He's going to do something for them.
[02:01:45] And we just declare that in Jesus' name.
[02:01:50] So take the breath.
[02:01:56] And I'm also feeling right now if you have family members that need a healing, okay?
[02:02:04] I just feel like there's people that have people in their family that need healing.
[02:02:11] And it could be physical healing.
[02:02:13] It could be mental healing.
[02:02:14] It could be spiritual.
[02:02:16] I want you to stand up if you're one of those people.
[02:02:19] You just got somebody in your family that's just broken, that need healing, that need the Lord to do something for them.
[02:02:31] And when we take this, we're going to receive it for ourselves first, but we're going to remember those people.
[02:02:40] And we're going to remember that God remembers them and that God cares about them and that God wants to do something in their life.
[02:02:48] because I do feel like this is a time where God wants to touch some people like that 17-year-old kid that I was looking at yesterday that God came and met me.
[02:03:03] I think there's a lot of kids out there like that and old kids and young kids that don't feel like they can be loved, don't feel like they deserve to be loved, but God's going to catch them.
[02:03:18] He's going to show them love.
[02:03:23] and they're going to be able to be loved.
[02:03:24] And they're going to be cared for by the Lord.
[02:03:30] So, Lord, we want to bring this cup before heaven today for healing.
[02:03:44] Healing our bodies and healing our minds.
[02:03:47] But also healing for those that we're standing in the gap for right now.
[02:03:51] So I just want you to lift up these people.
[02:03:54] Just bring their name to the Lord.
[02:03:55] Bring their name to the throne of grace.
[02:03:58] Just bring them to the Lord.
[02:04:01] And say, Lord, do for them what you've done for me.
[02:04:05] Help them, Lord.
[02:04:06] Help them.
[02:04:07] Have mercy on them, Lord.
[02:04:08] Heal them.
[02:04:10] Bring your power into their life, Lord.
[02:04:13] Redeem them, Lord.
[02:04:14] Don't let them continue on the road their own, Lord.
[02:04:19] But intercept them, Lord.
[02:04:23] Ambush them, Lord.
[02:04:24] A holy ambush.
[02:04:27] That you would show up in their life in a way that they would know that God has come.
[02:04:33] God's doing something.
[02:04:34] Whether they understand it or not, that they'd know that they'd had an encounter with the living God.
[02:04:39] We are asking you for that, Lord.
[02:04:42] And Lord, we ask you for healing and deliverance in our own bodies, but also for those that we love and care for.
[02:04:51] We ask for power to come, the power and the blood to come.
[02:04:55] Lord, we receive that.
[02:04:57] We receive the blood this morning.
[02:04:59] And we just declare the blood never loses its power.
[02:05:02] It will go on and on and on all through eternity.
[02:05:05] Lord thank you for pouring out your body and blood Lord thank you for hope thank you for hope for those that we're praying for and believing for that we can have hope that God's going to get them
[02:05:28] we can have faith, we can speak faith just speak faith that God's going to get them, God's going to do it God's going to deliver them from the lies of hell, God's going to save them, Lord we just
[02:05:43] thank you for that

[02:06:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]
[02:06:15] can we get the ministry team to come forward please i think there's plenty going on this

[02:10:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[02:10:15] morning that you may feel inclined to respond to the lord in the midst of we got um some people up here if you want to come forward and get some prayer i think um i'm just going to say this
[02:10:32] congregation if you fall into the camp of people who find yourself unlovable that's a lie from hell you should maybe think about coming forward and let us pray with you about that before you leave
[02:10:46] today okay or if you got anything else going on so uh people can come up val is going to come up

[02:10:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[02:10:54] and share a testimony i will be quick um a quick testimony um you know this um message is very powerful um you know i have a sickle cell trait and every time i read that scripture i felt like
[02:11:19] man i need i need i need to drink that water why didn't he drink that water because you know i mean? Maybe he was thirsty or something like that. But what the Lord revealed this morning to me is
[02:11:34] that sometimes our own craving keep us from giving what belongs to the Lord. And David did not let his craving hold him back from giving what belongs to the Lord. And sometimes the Lord is inviting us
[02:11:53] to give him what belongs to him but because our own craving of our own flesh our own soul get in the way and therefore we don't we don't give God what belongs to him so what kept me from seeing that scripture was my own
[02:12:14] craving my own craving for water my own desire to always stay hydrated because of my own sickle cell trait in and that's what keeps us as human being from

[02:12:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[02:12:31] giving what belongs to the Lord thanks about so Lord we just give you space right now to highlight the spaces in our life the things in our life that we're holding on to, you know, the things that we would cherish, that we want, but that you're asking for.

[02:13:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[02:13:00] Oh, Lord, give us the strength to hold those things with an open hand, to let those things pour out to you. If you have stuff you want to do today, y'all, up here, come on. If there's

[02:13:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[02:13:22] something that you're struggling with, if there's something that you know, man, I gotta, I gotta give this up. This is my sacrifice, but I don't want to. We'll pray with you about that. You know,
[02:13:33] Again, I'm telling y'all, if you don't feel lovable, you need to get your hiney up here.
[02:13:39] Let some of these folks pray with you.
[02:13:41] Let's break that off before you go home, because that's not a burden you have to carry.
[02:13:45] All right, Jesus died on the cross for you.
[02:13:48] You are super, super lovable.
[02:13:50] Let us explain that to you real good, okay?
[02:13:53] And if you're heading out, we love you.
[02:13:55] Happy Palm Sunday.
[02:13:56] See you next week.