The Watchman’s Anointing: Vigilance vs. Decisionism

• Church Identity and Activity 00:03:30 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts the passive view of church with the active identity of Freedom House Church, asserting that the church must not let culture take over.
• Cultural Polarization 00:04:45 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor discusses the growing divide between those who believe God's word is true and those fighting it, noting the lack of middle ground in places like New Mexico and Seattle.
• Political Neutrality vs. Moral Engagement 00:05:49 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor clarifies that while the church should avoid partisan politics, it must engage with people and issues that affect their future, rejecting the idea that the church should stay out of 'people' matters.
• Reclaiming June as Fatherhood Month 00:07:30 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor challenges men to reclaim June from 'Pride Month' by calling it 'Fatherhood Month' and committing to attend church weekly to make a statement in their families.
• The Watchman's Role 00:10:40 ▶️ 📄
  > Using Ezekiel 33, the pastor explains the biblical mandate for the church to sound the alarm when enemies approach, emphasizing that silence makes the watchman responsible for the people's deaths.
• Priestly Anointing 00:14:00 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor introduces the concept of the 'Watchman Anointing' by referencing the biblical practice of anointing the right ear, thumb, and toe of priests to set them apart.
• The Church's Role as Watchman 00:12:46 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor asserts that the church's primary calling is to serve as a spiritual watchman for the world, mobilizing to bring hope to a desperate world rather than focusing solely on national politics.
• Divine Purpose and Anointing 00:13:15 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that believers are placed in specific locations by God for a kingdom purpose, using the analogy of priestly anointing (ear, thumb, toe) to signify that God has anointed what they hear, do, and where they go.
• Spiritual Warfare and Ideological Subversion 00:15:39 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor details a four-stage Marxist-Leninist strategy for overthrowing nations: demoralization (removing morality), destabilization (corrupting institutions), crisis (creating chaos), and normalization (accepting the new reality).
• Biblical Basis for Watchmanship 00:20:05 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references Genesis 2:15 to define the role of a watchman as one who tends and keeps (guards/protects) the garden, linking this to the loss of the garden when Adam failed to hold his post.
• Critique of Modern Church Trends 00:22:27 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor critiques the 'soft societal church' of the 90s and 2000s for prioritizing cultural relevance and seeker sensitivity over doctrinal truth, leading to a loss of spiritual edge.
• The Four Functions of a Watchman 00:25:34 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor outlines four consistent actions of a watchman: paying attention/listening, being aware/on guard, staying alert/sober-minded, and being observant.
• Spiritual Awareness and Guarding 00:28:43 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that watchmen must be aware and on guard, using the analogy of a SEAL team member who remains vigilant even in casual settings like restaurants or airports.
• Sober-Mindedness and Spiritual Warfare 00:30:38 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor defines being 'sober-minded' not as abstaining from alcohol, but as being clear-minded and watchful against the devil, who prowls like a roaring lion.
• Prayer as Spiritual Listening 00:34:08 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor interprets 'praying always' as being cognizant and submissively listening to God's voice, comparing it to hearing a spouse's voice in a noisy room.
• Human Responsibility vs. Divine Sovereignty 00:35:44 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that protection is not automatic; believers must actively use the name of Jesus and walk in its power, taking action according to God's word rather than waiting for God to act for them.
• Spiritual Intuition 00:37:05 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor introduces the 'law of spiritual intuition,' describing it as the ability to see beyond the physical realm, which can be a blessing or a curse depending on whether one heeds God's warnings.
• Spiritual Intuition and Vigilance 00:37:05 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor defines spiritual intuition as the ability to see beyond the physical, urging believers to be alert to spiritual realities and warnings.
• Confronting Cultural and Spiritual Threats 00:37:40 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the example of New York City's political leadership to illustrate the need for believers to recognize and resist ideologies he views as hostile to Christianity, rejecting passive tolerance.
• Vigilance vs. Ignorance 00:40:02 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that ignorance is a choice that leads to vulnerability, while vigilance is the active decision to learn, listen, and take action against Satan's devices.
• Spiritual Formation and Disciplines 00:41:00 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that spiritual formation involves practicing disciplines like fasting, prayer, and Bible reading to strengthen the spirit against the enemy.
• Taking One's Post 00:43:02 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor exhorts the congregation to identify their specific areas of responsibility (marriage, family, work, neighborhood) as their 'post' where they must stand firm and lead.
• Call to Action and Prayer 00:49:24 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor leads a prayer for the city and invites individuals to commit to their post, followed by an altar call for salvation.
• Spiritual Awakening and Action 00:49:40 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor calls the congregation to stop being passive and to 'take their post' as watchmen in their respective spheres of influence (marriage, family, workplace, church).
• Evangelism and Salvation 00:50:10 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor emphasizes that the call to action starts with a relationship with Jesus Christ, inviting those who have fallen away or do not know Him to give their lives to Jesus and seek forgiveness.
• Consecration Prayer 00:50:52 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor leads the congregation in a specific prayer of surrender, acknowledging God's anointing and confessing Jesus as Lord.

• Sermon Illustration 00:08:29 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about using AI to simulate a world without the church, which resulted in five predicted negative outcomes: collapse of social welfare, loss of philosophical foundation, rise of aggressive worldviews, destruction of art/history, and loss of moral force.
• Sermon Illustration 00:10:40 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the biblical narrative of Ezekiel 33, where a watchman is appointed to sound the alarm when an enemy approaches, illustrating the responsibility of the church to warn the world.
• Sermon Illustration 00:15:39 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts a video of ex-KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov explaining the four stages of ideological psychological subversion used to overthrow nations, starting with demoralization.
• Sermon Illustration 00:17:01 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his past support for public schools, noting that he now views them as dangerous environments for children's morality, citing examples of gender identity confusion.
• Sermon Illustration 00:16:38 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes the historical context of the 1960s, specifically the removal of prayer in schools, as the beginning of the enemy's ideology of subversion in the United States.
• Sermon Illustration 00:19:15 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the events of 2020, noting how the nation was thrown off kilter by a crisis where churches were shut down while strip clubs remained open, illustrating the 'crisis' stage of subversion.
• Sermon Illustration 00:22:27 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts his personal journey from being a proponent of the 'soft societal church' in the 90s and 2000s to repenting in 2020 after realizing the church had lost its edge of truth by becoming too culturally relevant.
• Sermon Illustration 00:25:49 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts growing up in the 70s and 80s with only four TV stations, forcing children to play outside and test boundaries as far as they could hear their parents' voices, illustrating the concept of listening for spiritual signals.
• Sermon Illustration 00:27:27 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a story about his grandfather working at a train yard and how he and other kids would flatten pennies on the tracks, using the ability to hear a train coming from miles away through the rails as an analogy for a watchman listening to spiritual tracks.
• Sermon Illustration 00:28:56 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes his friend Robert, a retired SEAL team member, who sits in restaurants facing the entrance to scan for threats, illustrating the constant vigilance required of a watchman.
• Sermon Illustration 00:30:02 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a humorous anecdote about Robert wearing socks filled with change as improvised weapons for TSA checkpoints, highlighting the absurdity of relying on human ingenuity over spiritual readiness.
• Sermon Illustration 00:31:23 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor tells the story of his dog Snickers, who was 'annoyingly smart' and would escape the fenced yard by watching for when his owner wasn't looking, illustrating how the enemy looks for holes in a believer's spiritual fence.
• Sermon Illustration 00:34:55 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of hearing his wife's voice in a crowded room to explain how believers should be able to discern God's voice amidst the noise of the world.
• Sermon Illustration 00:42:09 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor tells a story about a desert nomad who finds worms in his dates; instead of inspecting each date carefully, he blows out the candle to avoid seeing the worms, illustrating the danger of ignoring spiritual realities to avoid discomfort.
• Sermon Illustration 00:46:13 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a father preparing an arrow for his son, emphasizing the need to ensure the 'arrow' (the child) is sharp, straight, and full of God's truth before releasing it into the world.

• Pastoral Charge 00:06:30 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor issues an ultimatum for the congregation to align with his vision or leave the church.
• Pastoral Charge 00:07:37 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor commands men in the congregation to stand up to be recognized and challenged.
• Pastoral Charge 00:13:40 ▶️ 📄
  > Physically look at neighbors and verbally declare 'I'm a watchman' and 'I'm taking my post'.
• Pastoral Charge 00:20:07 ▶️ 📄
  > Touch neighbors and verbally declare 'I'm a watchman' and 'I'm taking my post'.
• Pastoral Charge 00:17:26 ▶️ 📄
  > Public school teachers are challenged to pray in front of every classroom.
• Pastoral Charge 00:36:04 ▶️ 📄
  > Actively use the name of Jesus and walk in its power rather than expecting automatic protection.
• Pastoral Charge 00:36:19 ▶️ 📄
  > Take the Word of God and use it as a sword against the enemy, walking it out in daily life.
• Pastoral Charge 00:36:53 ▶️ 📄
  > Speak, declare, walk out, submit to, and obey the Word of God.
• Pastoral Charge 00:43:00 ▶️ 📄
  > Stand up physically.
• Pastoral Charge 00:43:09 ▶️ 📄
  > Look at the pastor.
• Pastoral Charge 00:44:50 ▶️ 📄
  > Pretend to touch the right ear and thumb.
• Pastoral Charge 00:49:40 ▶️ 📄
  > Place a lifted hand on the heart.
• Pastoral Charge 00:50:19 ▶️ 📄
  > Place the other hand on the chest and pray a prayer of salvation.
• Pastoral Charge 00:50:29 ▶️ 📄
  > Cover the heart with both hands and pray aloud.
• Pastoral Charge 00:50:29 ▶️ 📄
  > Place hand on chest and recite the provided prayer aloud with faith.

[00:00:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:22] I hope you're doing well. Look at your neighbors. Say, you look nice today. You look very nice. Very nice. Haven't met you yet. My name is Troy Maxwell. My wife and I are the senior pastors. We are one house with many different rooms. We have, now we have five campuses. Isn't that fantastic? And I haven't been with you since we opened our new campus in Ballantyne, which is doing phenomenal. I'll give you a quick update. And if you were expecting Pastor Steve Smotherman today, I'm sorry. He's not here.
[00:00:52] he had some issues with his back and he just could not make it and so I let him off the hook I said hey listen you stay home get better come back another day and I really and I'm gonna share
[00:01:02] with you I really feel like that it was the Lord that that happened not that his back is hurt but I feel like that I needed to be here this morning to share with you today something special because
[00:01:13] I'm kind of calling an audible in our service today at our central campus but we kicked off our Ballantyne campus two weeks ago with close to 500 at our first service, and it was fantastic.
[00:01:29] Last week on a holiday weekend, we had over 400. People are getting saved. We're seeing folks from Fort Mill and Waxhaw and Indian Trail and all the places down there, Ballantyne area. It's great.
[00:01:44] Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your giving. If it wasn't for you, it wouldn't have started. And of course, you know, our goal and our desire is to be the local church in every local
[00:01:54] community. We want to be, we want to have an impact in every single solitary community. We also have an online campus and we've got people in North Carolina, which you should be here. I mean, it's
[00:02:06] not that far of a drive. Georgia, Pennsylvania, Montana, South Carolina, Virginia, Florida, New Jersey, Colorado, West Virginia, New York, Maryland, and Mongolia. Come on somebody. Let's give it up from Mongolia. Never been there, but hey, I'm open to a trip, so just invite me. I don't even know
[00:02:24] what the dish of Mongolia is. I did call an audible this weekend, because I want to share some vision with you and with our church. And, you know, we've been in a series called Poker Face,
[00:02:40] and I felt like, matter of fact, I preached this message this week at Legacy Church in New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I was actually with Pastor Steve this week. I preached Tuesday night and Wednesday night and then came home Thursday. And then he called me yesterday or day before
[00:02:56] yesterday and said, hey, listen, I don't think I can get on a plane. I'm like, dude, just stay home.
[00:03:01] It's going to be okay. And even before that, I just felt the Lord drop in my spirit to teach the message that I taught to Legacy Church. And this was something that was on my heart.
[00:03:13] and I wanna call this the Watchman Anointing.
[00:03:18] And I wanna kind of help you and this is gonna be a very pastoral message, a vision casting message for you because I want you to understand the church that you're a part of, that you've committed to
[00:03:30] because I really sense that some people think that church is supposed to be passive, sit back and watch culture take over.
[00:03:40] That is not Freedom House Church.
[00:03:42] and I want to make it very clear who we are.
[00:03:46] Amen, thank you, thank you.
[00:03:47] Let's thank God for that because I think sometimes it's really easy to get a little nervous when pressure comes and if you know anything about the end times and I am not an eschatology guy
[00:04:00] and if you are a pre-tribber, then thank God we're gonna go out on the first shipment but if you are a post-tribber, then we're gonna probably have to go through some stuff.
[00:04:13] You'll be surprised, but I actually think that we probably will go through some tribulation, that we're gonna struggle with some stuff.
[00:04:20] I don't think we're in the tribulation because I think it's way too easy right now to be Christian, even though we're feeling some pressure.
[00:04:28] But after being in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and realizing, if you've ever been to New Mexico or Washington, Seattle, or Oregon, or places like Pennsylvania and New York City, you'll realize that there is a very polarizing spirit
[00:04:45] in those places, that either you are for God or you are not for God.
[00:04:50] You are either for the truth or you're not for the truth.
[00:04:54] Now, you can call it politically whatever you want.
[00:04:56] You can call it conservative or liberal, but the truth of the matter is that there is a growing divide between those who believe that God's word is true and those that are fighting with the truth of God's word.
[00:05:12] And when you go to a place like New Mexico, it's very easy to see the polarization.
[00:05:18] There is no middle ground.
[00:05:20] But I just wanna share with you that in North Carolina, we are in a place that we are, it's very easy to get in the middle.
[00:05:32] You can call it purple if you want to, that we're neither blue nor red.
[00:05:38] and I don't wanna, I'm not talking about politics here because I think sometimes we get all caught up in all the church, you know, Pastor Troy, Pastor Penny talk about politics.
[00:05:49] No, no, no, we talk about people because politics involves policy and policy involves people.
[00:05:56] So you can argue that the church shouldn't be involved in people or you can argue that the church shouldn't be involved in politics and we are going to be involved in what affects you and your future family.
[00:06:14] So with that being said, I just wanna set the tone for this message today because on my post, on my watch, I'm not letting North Carolina and Charlotte go to hell in a handbasket.
[00:06:27] Not gonna do it, not on my watch.
[00:06:30] So if you wanna be a part of this team, then listen to what we have to say.
[00:06:34] If you don't, find another church.
[00:06:35] I need your seat because I'm not gonna play patty cake with the devil and get all caught up in my feelings about whether I'm going to hurt somebody or offend somebody because of what God said. So I just want you to know that, that that's not,
[00:06:55] that's not who I am. I am very clear on what we want to accomplish at Freedom House Church and do it. Doing what we do is very important to what's going on. And I can tell you,
[00:07:08] there are churches around the nation that are doing the same thing of which, you know, We're a part of connecting with those churches like Legacy Church, which is in the People's Republic of New Mexico.
[00:07:20] And it is a very strong growing church in spite of the pressure.
[00:07:25] Matter of fact, we're reclaiming June here in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[00:07:30] We're not gonna call it Pride Month.
[00:07:32] We're gonna call it Fatherhood Month.
[00:07:35] And we're gonna ask all the dads that are in it.
[00:07:37] Matter of fact, if you're a dad or a man or wanna be a dad, just stand up on your feet right now.
[00:07:42] Stand up on your feet.
[00:07:43] Let's give it up for all the men in our church.
[00:07:47] I wanna challenge you.
[00:07:49] I wanna challenge you men to make the month of June the month that you come to church every single week and make a statement in your family.
[00:07:57] I know you might have some vacation, just watch online.
[00:08:00] Get your kids on the beach and go, hey, we're gonna watch church for an hour and 15 minutes.
[00:08:04] Amen?
[00:08:04] Because it's not, we're not gonna let the devil take a month away from us.
[00:08:08] We're gonna reclaim it and call it fatherhood month.
[00:08:11] Amen?
[00:08:12] You may be seated.
[00:08:13] I put in AI. I'm very friendly with AI, by the way. I don't know if you are because just in case they do take over the world, I want them to like Troy. My wife argues with AI. That's not what you
[00:08:29] need to say. And that's why I'm like, honey, you need to be nice to AI because one day they could show up in your house and just take over. But anyway, I put in the AI, what if the evangelical
[00:08:40] church no longer existed on this planet? What if you remove the church? What if you just completely removed it? No more church, no more Sundays, no more prayer, no more worship, no more, no more,
[00:08:54] no more of us gathering in small groups. You just removed it completely out of the way. And it gave me five things that would happen in our world. Number one, the collapse of the world's largest
[00:09:04] social welfare network. It would just go away. Did you know that the church provides most of the social welfare in our world? We feed more people, we clothe more people, we house more people than any other organization in the world, the church of Jesus Christ. That's what you're a
[00:09:23] part of. The second thing that would happen is Western civilization loses its philosophical foundation. Number three, a power vacuum filled with more aggressive worldviews would rise.
[00:09:37] Number four, the destruction of art, music, and intellectual history. I don't know if you know this or not, but most of our art, our music, and our intellectual history is built around the Christian foundation, the word of God. And then here's the most powerful one that I think we need
[00:09:52] to recognize and what I want to talk about today. And it's the loss of the most transformative formative, moral force in human history if the church didn't exist. In Ezekiel chapter 33, if you want to turn there with me, Ezekiel chapter 33, and I appreciate the production team because
[00:10:14] I threw a lot at them in the last couple days to change the whole messaging and change all of the videos and everything to do this. Thank you, Javier and the whole team. Let's give it up for
[00:10:26] our production team. They do such a great job. But I want you to hear this word that I believe is so relevant today for you and me. Verse one of Ezekiel chapter 33, it says, once again,
[00:10:40] a message came to me from the Lord. God says, son of man, give your people this message. When I bring an army, an enemy against a country, the people of that land choose one of their own to be a watchman.
[00:10:58] Everybody say watchman, watchman.
[00:11:00] When the watchman sees the enemy coming, he sounds the alarm to warn the people.
[00:11:06] And then if those who hear the alarm refuse to take action.
[00:11:10] So I want you to get this.
[00:11:11] An enemy is coming towards the camp.
[00:11:16] An enemy is coming towards the city.
[00:11:18] An enemy is coming towards the country.
[00:11:20] And God says, I want you to pick someone to be a watchman.
[00:11:25] Everybody say watchman one more time.
[00:11:26] and their job is to sound the alarm when the enemy is approaching.
[00:11:33] However, if the people, then if those who hear the alarm, the ones that have chosen the watchman to sound the alarm, those who hear the alarm refuse to take action, it is their own fault if they die.
[00:11:50] In other words, if they don't listen to the watchman, it's their own fault.
[00:11:53] They heard the alarm but ignored it so the responsibility is theirs.
[00:12:00] If they had listened to the warning, they could have saved their lives.
[00:12:02] But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and doesn't sound the alarm, doesn't speak up, doesn't stand up, doesn't speak truth to warn the people, he is responsible for the captivity.
[00:12:23] They will die in their sins, but I will hold the watchman responsible for their deaths.
[00:12:31] Church, I believe we are called in this generation to be the watchman.
[00:12:36] You and me, you and me, not somebody else.
[00:12:41] God didn't pick someone else to do this.
[00:12:43] No, he picked you in this generation.
[00:12:46] The church is to be the watchman for our world, not just the United States of America, which we live in a great country.
[00:12:52] Can I get an amen?
[00:12:53] I know we got problems.
[00:12:55] I know we don't all agree on who should be in charge.
[00:12:59] I think we would probably agree on some of that disagreement.
[00:13:03] But the truth of the matter is, is that the church has been called to mobilize in order to bring hope to a desperate world.
[00:13:13] And you're that church.
[00:13:15] God didn't move you here just for a new job.
[00:13:18] God didn't move you here just to give you a new house or you met a cute girl and she lived in Charlotte and you were brought here.
[00:13:25] No, you are set in this place for a specific reason for the kingdom of God.
[00:13:32] You're sitting here today for a very specific purpose.
[00:13:37] You are a watchman.
[00:13:39] You're a watchman.
[00:13:40] Look at your neighbor, say you're a watchman.
[00:13:43] Look at your other neighbor, say I'm taking my post.
[00:13:45] I'm taking my post.
[00:13:47] Come on, say it again.
[00:13:47] Say I am a watchman.
[00:13:49] I'm taking my post.
[00:13:51] You know, the Bible calls us that we are a royal priesthood, a chosen people, God's special possession.
[00:14:00] You know, when they would anoint priests, they would do three very specific things in order to set them apart.
[00:14:05] They would anoint their right ear.
[00:14:08] They would anoint their right thumb and they would anoint their right big toe.
[00:14:12] They would anoint their right ear.
[00:14:13] Just touch your ear right here.
[00:14:14] Just touch it right now.
[00:14:16] I know we're participating.
[00:14:17] Just pretend like you're in kindergarten.
[00:14:20] They would anoint their right thumb.
[00:14:21] Just touch your thumb.
[00:14:22] And if you can, I know it's hard for some of us that are over 55, just touch your big toe.
[00:14:29] I want you to understand something.
[00:14:31] God has anointed what you hear, what you do, and where you go.
[00:14:37] God has anointed what you hear, what you do, and where you go.
[00:14:41] We're not here just to live life.
[00:14:43] No, we're here on purpose.
[00:14:45] God has called you and he has anointed you.
[00:14:48] I'm convinced that God has called this generation to be the watchman and it's time for us to take our post.
[00:14:54] Freedom House Church has been called in Charlotte, North Carolina to take our post.
[00:15:00] We will not step down off our wall.
[00:15:03] We will take our post.
[00:15:04] We will stand up for North Carolina.
[00:15:06] We will do our part here on the East Coast.
[00:15:09] And that's what God's called us to do.
[00:15:11] The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 16, verse 13, it says, keep your eyes open for spiritual danger.
[00:15:17] Stand true to the Lord, act like men, be strong.
[00:15:23] We're called to watch, touch your neighbor, say, I'm a watchman. I saw this video that one of my pastor friends sent me of an ex-KGB agent named Yuri Beznamov. And he had defected to the United States. And what's interesting is this
[00:15:39] video was recorded in 1984. And he was explaining a Marxist Lenin, what was called ideological psychological subversion that they would use in order to overtake nations, overtake people groups.
[00:15:57] And he explained that there are four stages that are involved in taking a nation. The first is what's called demoralization. And the goal of demoralization is to remove morality from the community. Now, I believe this started in the 60s in the United States of America. I don't know if
[00:16:19] you know this or not, but this country was built on the freedom of worship. The whole reason that we left England was to worship freely. We didn't want the thumb of the government controlling how we worshiped God. And as a result, we occupied the United States of America, and that worship
[00:16:38] is how we do. And so in the 60s, there was the removal of prayer in the schools.
[00:16:45] This began a process of the enemy's ideology of subversion in the United States of America because what they go after and the enemy goes after is your kids.
[00:16:58] He's not going after you.
[00:16:59] He wants your kids.
[00:17:01] I used to be a public school proponent.
[00:17:04] People ask me all the time, should I send my kids to public school?
[00:17:07] Public school's dangerous.
[00:17:09] Just being honest.
[00:17:11] I mean, you can send your kid there as a boy and he'll come home as a girl.
[00:17:16] Or a cat, depending upon what area of the school.
[00:17:21] Look, and you may be a public school teacher and you're called to be a watchman.
[00:17:25] You have a post.
[00:17:26] And I wanna challenge you to not remove prayer out of school.
[00:17:29] Matter of fact, you can pray in school.
[00:17:30] You can pray it, but in front of every classroom.
[00:17:33] And nobody can tell you no because it is a part of our worship, our free worship in this country.
[00:17:39] You say, well, hold on a second.
[00:17:41] What does that mean?
[00:17:41] Just come talk to me after the service and I'll show you the law that you can pray every time you're in class.
[00:17:47] They want our kids. Remove morality. This is what the alphabet mafia is all about.
[00:17:55] The LGBTQIABCDEFG is all about, is to remove morality, to get rid of morality.
[00:18:03] Christians argue with me all the time about homosexuality. They argue with me all the time about abortion. It's a woman's right to choose. No, it's called murder. It's immoral. Are you following what I'm saying. And so why are we arguing about that thing? Why are we calling it
[00:18:22] women's healthcare? See, let's change the language to make it emotional, to make it feel like it's okay. It's just part of healthcare. No, no. That's all a part of the enemy's demoralization of our country. The second stage is what's called destabilization. This takes about two to five
[00:18:40] years. By the way, demoralization takes anywhere from 15 to 30 years to accomplish. Destabilization destabilization is the second stage. And it takes about two to five years. And this involves our economy, foreign relations, defense, the justice organizations, the civil issues to
[00:18:58] destabilize society. So let's corrupt the courts. Let's corrupt the judges. Let's make sure we get corruption in there to destabilize. The third stage is what's called crisis. This only takes weeks. All it takes is one crisis to bring a nation off kilter. We saw it in 2020. Our whole
[00:19:15] nation just got off kilter in just a very few short weeks. Churches shut down, but strip clubs were open. You see, I mean, that's just stupid, but people went along with it. Wear masks. They
[00:19:32] don't work, but wear them. Get the vaccine, and if you don't, you know, you're hurting other people.
[00:19:40] Well, hold on, but you got the vaccine.
[00:19:42] You shouldn't, and it didn't even work.
[00:19:45] And now there's court cases.
[00:19:46] It's all gonna come out, crisis.
[00:19:50] And then the third is normalization.
[00:19:52] Let's just bring it all back to normalized and let's make promises to people that it'll never happen again.
[00:19:58] This is the cycle that happens in order to destroy a country.
[00:20:05] We have to step into the watchman anointing.
[00:20:07] Touch your neighbor, say, I'm a watchman.
[00:20:09] Look at your other neighbor, say, I'm taking my post. I'm taking my post. We see this from the beginning in Genesis chapter two, verse 15. The Lord God took the man and put him, positioned him, posted him in the garden,
[00:20:22] and he told him to tend it and to keep it. He told him to do two things. Number one, to tend. I want you to serve the garden, Adam. I want you to cultivate the garden. I want you to minister
[00:20:31] to the garden. But then I want you to keep it. The word keep means to guard, to watch, to preserve, to protect.
[00:20:38] Matter of fact, Adam was put there in order to protect.
[00:20:42] In other words, no gardener, no garden.
[00:20:46] Remove yourself from your post, you lose the garden.
[00:20:49] And that's exactly what happened.
[00:20:51] Just a few short verses later, in Genesis chapter three, verse one, it says, now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.
[00:20:59] Now I want you to notice that first phrase right there in Genesis three, because that's a very important phrase in order for us to understand our responsibility and authority over the enemy.
[00:21:09] Notice he doesn't say that the enemy is more powerful, has more authority.
[00:21:14] Matter of fact, he says the enemy was a beast.
[00:21:17] And just a few verses before that, he told Adam that you have authority, dominion over every beast.
[00:21:24] But he said that this beast was more cunning, more shrewd, more slick, more crafty.
[00:21:31] And he says to the woman, has God indeed said?
[00:21:35] Did God really say that?
[00:21:37] He was sowing doubt into the heart of humanity of whether God was really producing what he would say he would produce.
[00:21:47] Are you gonna really do this?
[00:21:48] You shall not eat of the tree of the garden.
[00:21:50] Did he really say that?
[00:21:53] Is his word really true?
[00:21:55] Because if it really was true, why is it working for you?
[00:22:00] And this is the seed, seed, the crafty, slick seed of the enemy. And we know what happened. Adam was standing right there because it says that she took of the fruit, ate of it, and then gave it to her husband. Her husband
[00:22:14] did not have his post. And as a result, the garden was lost for you and me. And let me just take you back a few decades ago. And this is where I think the church got off a little bit. This was in the
[00:22:27] nineties and the early two thousands. And I was a part of the church. I got saved in the early nineties. And I, you know, I've, I've studied a lot of church history. And, you know, if you go
[00:22:38] back to when this country was founded and the preachers and, you know, the Bunyans and all the folks that were, that had just, just incredible ministries across the world, the Whitfields and, and the, the, the people that traveled and had revivals, there's, there was a different level
[00:22:54] of preaching, a different level of church. It was different, very different. And in the 90s, in the 2000s, there was a few people that wanted to reach culture. And I don't think it was a bad
[00:23:09] idea, but I think the methods created a soft societal church because they wanted to reach seekers, people who were wanting to, you know, they were kind of wondering about Christianity.
[00:23:26] And what happened is the church started to look more like the world than the church should.
[00:23:36] And this happened in the 90s and the 2000s. And actually, our church participated in it, Freedom House Church, when we started. I learned a lot from these guys.
[00:23:44] And I think their intentions were good, but what ended up happening, they started putting unsaved people leading worship these were people that not even christians on the platform playing guitars and singing songs about god and they didn't even believe in god because of their talent
[00:23:58] because they wanted to make sure that the world understood that in church you could see the same talent started to play all kinds of you know music that was different that wasn't worshipful that wasn't connected to god and they become they became so culturally relevant that they lost the
[00:24:14] edge of the truth and our church participated in it for many years and I was like what's going on here what why is this happening because I thought that we were part of the same trend I had to
[00:24:28] repent because I missed it as as a pastor I missed it I realized that that and what happened I believe is in 2020 there was a major drawing of a line in the sand that said either you are going to press
[00:24:45] in to be able to endure in the end times, or you're going to fall back. And what I saw is I saw pastors who had adopted that philosophy. You saw them removed and you saw young, young guys who had
[00:24:59] a voice rise up. You saw churches stand for things. And I stood up in front of you in 2020 and repented and said, look, I missed it. I'm sorry. I should have been talking about these issues. I should
[00:25:15] have been more aggressive in talking about it and we changed the dynamic of our entire church realizing that it wasn't just about believers we needed to convert believers into disciples into an army see a watchman does four things consistently four things if you want to write
[00:25:34] these down a watchman pays attention and listens a watchman pays attention and listens when I was a kid I grew up in the 70s and 80s and you didn't have you had four stations on the television
[00:25:49] you had ABC NBC CBS and do you remember the fourth one PBS that's it come on anybody over 45 will know what I'm talking about some of you you're like you didn't have 385,000 stations to watch and
[00:26:02] 16 streaming services and you know I can pick Netflix and Paramount and Peacock and I mean you just name it you can pick anything you want well that's not the way it was so my mom was like you
[00:26:13] didn't even want to watch tv because there was nothing on tv you know i think maybe one one time you would what you could see a movie that was 10 years old it took you 10 years for it to get to
[00:26:23] the television now you can rent it for 1999 it just came out yesterday so not the way it worked when i grew up so what you did is you went outside and played and my mom would say all right i want
[00:26:34] you to leave at eight in the morning and i want you to come back please don't come back um and just come back by dark how many y'all remember what i'm talking about you know i'm talking about
[00:26:46] And so, and you had to, you could go as far as you wanted as long as you could hear Troy, Matt.
[00:26:55] You know what I'm talking about?
[00:26:56] As long as you could hear the voice, you could go that far away.
[00:27:01] Way outside, you didn't stay in your yard.
[00:27:03] I mean, you went all, you went as far as you could and you test the boundaries as far as you could go.
[00:27:08] So when I was a kid, we played on playgrounds, we played in swamps, we played in creeks, we played everywhere and I played on train tracks now it's very dangerous extremely dangerous I mean most I mean people died on train tracks but I love we would we would go to the train station
[00:27:27] and just play my grandfather actually worked at the yard and so I knew trains very very well now here's what's interesting about trains because we would take pennies and we put them on the tracks
[00:27:38] and they would smush the pennies and flatten them anybody ever done that before it's really cool it's extremely cool some of y'all don't even know what i'm talking about you don't even know what a
[00:27:46] penny is what's a penny troy never seen one of those before is that an app no penny was a form of currency and uh you used those back in the day so you could put the penny on the train track and
[00:28:07] the train would come and run over it and flatten it out and it would be every one of them was a little bit different but here's the interesting thing you could do with the train you could you
[00:28:16] would know, because there were so many train tracks, you were wondering where the train was going to come. So you could put your ear to the track and you could hear the train coming from
[00:28:26] like four or five miles away. You could hear it on the train track. A watchman has their ear to the tracks of what's going on spiritually. You got to put your ear to the track. The second thing
[00:28:43] that a watchman does is they, they are aware. They're not unaware. They are aware. They're on guard. I have a buddy who's a part of SEAL, used to be a part of SEAL team three, retired. His name
[00:28:56] was Robert Acognac. I had him come and speak here several years ago. He did a father's day for us.
[00:29:02] And Robert and I became really close friends. We still talk. Matter of fact, he gave me one of the SEAL team, the Tridents. He gave me one. I keep it on my desk. I look at it all the time. When I
[00:29:15] get a little down, I just remember that you can make it, Troy. And I'm thankful for what Robert did. However, Robert was a very intense man. Whenever we would go out to dinner, he would
[00:29:28] always sit so he could face and see the entire restaurant. And I asked him, I said, why do you do that he goes because I know that guy has a gun I know that person over there looks a little
[00:29:38] sketchy I know and he would just go through and I'm trying to order you know some calamari and he's telling me about all the people that are going to kill us I'm going what in the world's
[00:29:49] going on and Robert says I'm on guard because that's my job see watchmen are on guard they're at their post they don't ever let their guard down I said well so what do you do when you go
[00:30:02] to a plane he goes I wear socks I'm like what are you talking about I said you wear socks he goes yeah oh yeah I said because you know because you can't through TSA you can't take any weapons with
[00:30:12] you can't take a knife or anything like that but he he goes I just wear socks I was like what do you mean he goes I wear socks and I keep a a pocket full of change because you put change in
[00:30:21] a sock you got a weapon I'm like Robert you are stupid but let me tell you something now I wear socks. Come on, look at your neighbor. Say, watchman, wear socks. Watchman, wear socks.
[00:30:38] Habakkuk 2 verse 1, it says, I will stand my watch and stand at my guard post. Watchman also, number three, are on alert. They stay awake. They remain sober. The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 5
[00:30:51] verse 8, it says, be sober-minded. Be sober-minded. It's not talking about alcohol. It's talking about that you need to be clear-minded.
[00:31:02] Understand what's going on.
[00:31:03] Understand your surroundings.
[00:31:05] Be watchful.
[00:31:06] Why?
[00:31:06] Why does he say that?
[00:31:08] Look at the rest of the verse.
[00:31:09] You have an adversary, the devil, and he prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
[00:31:18] My wife lost her dog last year named Snickers.
[00:31:23] Some of y'all know the story of what happened to Snickers.
[00:31:26] You know, he passed away.
[00:31:27] He was like 15 years old.
[00:31:29] We have a new dog now named Hershey.
[00:31:30] All of our dogs are named after candy bars. It's weird. But Snickers was a very smart dog, like overly smart. He was smart, annoyingly smart. And I didn't like him. I'm being honest. I didn't
[00:31:49] like the dog because he was so smart and he loved Penny and she, you know, treated him good. And he He knew exactly what he was doing all the time and he did it annoyingly.
[00:32:02] Like he would, you go, hey Snickers, he'd turn around and go, yeah, I'm not coming.
[00:32:06] Yeah, right, I know exactly what you're saying.
[00:32:09] Treats, yeah, you're trying to trick me.
[00:32:11] I'm not gonna come and eat that treat.
[00:32:13] I'm not doing anything you want me to do because, and he was so smart.
[00:32:17] So I would let him out to go to the bathroom and he would escape and I'm like, how in the world does he get out of our fenced backyard?
[00:32:23] And Snickers, I watched him.
[00:32:26] I finally said, all right, I'm gonna figure out what's going on.
[00:32:28] So I watched him and I would let him out and he would start on the right side of the yard and he would go out of the door and he would start sniffing around the edge of the fence
[00:32:36] from the very beginning.
[00:32:38] You know, he'd stop and pee and then he'd sniff around the edge of the fence and then he'd stop and look and he'd sniff around the edge of the fence and then he'd look back at the door
[00:32:45] and then he'd sniff around the edge of the fence.
[00:32:48] He's just watching to see if anybody's watching.
[00:32:50] So I stood behind the door so he couldn't see me and I watched him, he's working the fence.
[00:32:56] And then all of a sudden I saw him he stopped at the part of the fence. He looked up at the door and then he went under the fence and took off out the yard. Snickers. He just looks like, yeah, see you, buddy. I'm out of here.
[00:33:06] And he's gone. So I put some rocks right there around the edge of the fence and then I'd let him out again. I watch him and he just worked the fence. Let me tell you something. You have an
[00:33:14] enemy that's looking for any hole in your fence. He is looking for any hole in your fence and he's searching around your post. He's looking at your part of the wall to see, can I get through? Can
[00:33:27] I get their kids? Can I sow a little seed? Can I do something just a little bit to, to, to break through into your yard, into your life, into your world, to infect you, to pull you away, to cause
[00:33:40] you to maybe just be a little passive in your relationship with God, to pull back just a little bit. The third, fourth thing that a watchman does is they are observant. They're observers. They see, they behold. Why? Because watchmen watch, watchmen warn, and watchmen war. Watchmen watch,
[00:34:02] watchmen warn, and watchmen war. That's our job. That's our calling here at Freedom House Church.
[00:34:08] How do we do it? It starts with prayer. Ephesians chapter six, verse 18, it says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Praying always with all prayer. What
[00:34:23] does it mean to pray always with all prayer? Does it mean we need to be bunks and never leave the church? No, no. It means that I am cognizant, submissively listening to God all the time.
[00:34:37] I'm open to his voice. Doesn't mean that I am weird or pulled away or disconnected. No, I'm just hearing God. I'm listening for his voice. I am at attention. I don't know. My wife, we've been
[00:34:55] married for over 34 years. And I can, you could put me a room this big and everybody's talking.
[00:35:03] And when she yells, I can hear her voice. I know what exactly what her voice, everybody could be yelling, but I know her voice. Do you know the voice of God? Because he's never silent. He's
[00:35:17] always talking. You say, well, I never hear his voice. Well, you got 66 books full of it right here and he's always talking. And I want to make sure that I am, I am connected to him. And that's
[00:35:30] what prayer is. Prayer is, is I'm listening to God and saying and doing and going where he wants me to go. Let me just close with a couple of thoughts here. Protection from attacks of the enemy are not
[00:35:44] automatic. And I think this is important for us to understand as the church. It's just because you're a Christian doesn't mean all your problems are going to go away. Yes, you have been given authority. Yes, the name of Jesus is above every name. But guess what? You got to use that name.
[00:36:04] You got to walk in that power. You have to do something. Yes, God is in control. And he set the boundaries of his control based on the word of God, his word, meaning that he's not going to
[00:36:19] do anything more than what his word declares. That's our job. Our job is to take the word and use it as a sword against the enemy, to walk it out because watchmen watch, watchmen warn,
[00:36:34] and watchmen war. That's our role. That's our post. That's what God has called us to do here in this moment right now.
[00:36:42] And it doesn't mean, God is sovereign, but understand sovereignty doesn't mean he's gonna take action for you.
[00:36:49] It means that I have to take action according to his word.
[00:36:53] And I gotta do something with the word of God.
[00:36:56] I gotta speak it, declare it, walk it out, submit to it and obey it.
[00:37:01] Are you following what I'm saying?
[00:37:02] We have to always stay alert and pick up on God's warnings.
[00:37:05] I call this the law of spiritual intuition.
[00:37:10] See what is not seen.
[00:37:12] Did you know that you don't just have two eyes on the front of your face?
[00:37:16] You have two spiritual eyes as well.
[00:37:18] That God has given you the ability to see beyond what other people may not see or don't wanna see.
[00:37:28] Sometimes it can be a blessing, sometimes it can be a curse.
[00:37:31] Because God will let you in on things that other people don't know about.
[00:37:36] It's called spiritual intuition.
[00:37:38] You can see beyond.
[00:37:40] you can see things that other people don't see. And whenever something looks really weird and confusing, it is spiritual. For example, let me give you a perfect example. Why in the world would New York City elect a Muslim mayor to lead the city? That is just weird. I just want to make
[00:38:02] sure I'm in the right church here because that has to be spiritual. Because why would a city elect a person to run it that's a part of an ideology that attacked that city just a few
[00:38:16] decades before. That just doesn't make any sense. And I know what Christians are saying. Well, you know, we just need to love the Muslims. Absolutely, we need to love people. But the ideology of Islam wants to kill you, wants to wipe you out, wants to take over this city.
[00:38:34] Did you know that there's five mosques trying to be built in our city? You say, oh, just let them do what they want to do. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I think you're missing the point here.
[00:38:44] You say, well, well, we need to just sit back and let them, I mean, we need to have the freedom of worship. No, no, no. You're, you're talking about, you are missing the point and you got
[00:38:51] your eyes closed, buddy. You got your ears shut up and you're not listening. You're, you're getting in the middle again. Well, we don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. You know? No, no, you, you don't know what Islam wants to do to you. If you are an unbeliever, if you do not believe in
[00:39:07] Muhammad, they want to kill you, wipe you out, your family, your kids, cut your head off.
[00:39:21] I want you to understand. And if we just sit back and go, oh, we just need to love everybody.
[00:39:26] We don't want to offend anybody. No, no, no. You need to take your post. You need to be your watchman. You need to stand up, see what is not seen, hear what others can't hear.
[00:39:42] Not only do you have two ears on the side of your head, but you also got two ears on your spirit.
[00:39:47] And God has called you to listen.
[00:39:50] Listen to what the spirit is saying.
[00:39:52] Sometimes you gotta hear what others don't wanna hear and listen to the spirit of God.
[00:39:59] We must be vigilant or we won't pick up on Satan's attacks.
[00:40:02] 2 Corinthians 2, verse 11, it says, lest Satan take advantage of us, we are not ignorant of his devices.
[00:40:10] I believe the opposite of, and by the way, ignorance is a choice. You're not born ignorant. You choose to be ignorant.
[00:40:18] Ignorance is a decision to not be educated. It's a decision to not listen. I believe the opposite of ignorance is vigilance. It's I'm deciding to take action, to learn, to connect with what's important to where I am in my family, in my marriage. Look, you can put your head in the
[00:40:40] saying and say, you know, it's her problem. Or you can say, God, what do you need to do with me?
[00:40:45] Or it's his problem and you need to fix him. Or you can go, God, I trust you got him. Let's work on me. That's called vigilance. The opposite is ignorance. Higher the ignorance, the more vulnerable
[00:41:00] we are. Lower the ignorance, we decrease that vulnerability. How do we stay vigilant? I'm going to give you a word called spiritual formation. And this is the difference between being a believer and a disciple. Being formed spiritually means that I'm going to practice the disciplines
[00:41:19] of the Christian faith, reading the Bible, praying, worshiping, coming to church, serving, confession, fasting. Fasting is not a suggestion. It's a part of forming our spiritual, our spirits.
[00:41:35] because here's the last thing I wanna say today is the enemy will always take a bigger portion than you expect.
[00:41:43] He'll always do that.
[00:41:45] Hosea 4, verse 6, it says, my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.
[00:41:50] He's always gonna take more than you think and we have to stop him because we're called to be watchmen.
[00:41:58] I read this story and it really ministered to me.
[00:42:01] Kind of helped me, kind of jerked some slack out of me in my life and I read it often and I wanna read it to you.
[00:42:09] It says, don't be like the desert nomad who awakened hungrily one night and decided he'd have a midnight snack.
[00:42:16] Lighting a candle, he grabbed a date and took a bite.
[00:42:22] Holding the date to the candle, he saw a worm.
[00:42:26] Whereupon he threw the date out of the tent.
[00:42:30] Biting into the second date, he found another worm and threw it away.
[00:42:36] Deciding he might not get anything to eat if this continued, he blew out the candle.
[00:42:47] Church, we can't blow out the candle for the sake of getting our needs met and thinking that we're just gonna be consumers.
[00:42:55] We gotta keep the light on because God has called us to be a watchman.
[00:43:00] I want you to stand to your feet.
[00:43:02] It's time for us to take some ground back and get on the offenses.
[00:43:05] I want you, everybody look at me for a second.
[00:43:09] I'm today just giving us a reminder of our marching orders at Freedom House Church.
[00:43:16] And again, I wanna make it very clear.
[00:43:18] This may not be the church for you because we're not gonna sit passively and let the world take over.
[00:43:25] We are not gonna do that, not on my watch.
[00:43:27] You can go to some other church that's just gonna sit there and not say anything and do anything, and then just say, it's all about Jesus.
[00:43:35] Of course, it's all about Jesus.
[00:43:36] That's a stupid statement.
[00:43:38] Of course, everything we do is about Jesus.
[00:43:40] The center of all we are is about Jesus.
[00:43:43] We wouldn't be here without Jesus.
[00:43:45] Our sins wouldn't be forgiven without Jesus.
[00:43:47] He hung on the cross for you and me.
[00:43:49] I mean, he was raised from the dead so I could walk in his victory.
[00:43:52] but he does not want us to sit passively on our hands and not do anything as Christians.
[00:43:59] No, God has called us to stand firm.
[00:44:03] And I just wanted to just make sure that we understand that as the church of Jesus Christ right here in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[00:44:10] I can't be in control of what other people are doing, but I can where God's called me to.
[00:44:18] And I will stand before God one day and he's gonna hold me accountable for what, for the word that he gave me. And I believe we've called to be watchmen in this hour.
[00:44:30] So what's my, what's your post? Where's God called you? I'm going to touch your right ear, touch your right thumb. You don't have to touch it, but just pretend like you're touching your, your big toe. He's called you to hear. He's anointed where you, what you do and where you go.
[00:44:50] so what's your post if you're married your marriage is your post your marriage you protect that marriage you say God I'm in a covenant I tell my wife all the time you could leave me
[00:45:04] but I'm going with you divorce isn't an option in my family we're gonna stick it out we're gonna fight it out and we fight man we're good fighters intent excuse me intense fellowship but we love
[00:45:26] each other we made a covenant to each other and we're gonna stick to that because because that's my post. I'm the leader in our family because God called me to be the husband. Husbands, you're the
[00:45:40] leader in your family. Well, she knows the Bible more than me. Then change that. Change it. You can change that. And it's not a competition. I'm not saying this is a competition, but you should be
[00:45:53] the one leading. Well, she can pray better than me. Change it. Change it. She's always the one that says we need to go to church. Well, then change it because you're the watchman. You're the watchman you know what your post is if you're if you got a family if you got kids that's your
[00:46:13] post your family is your post because one day you're going to pull back you're going to draw back on the bow and you're going to release the arrow called your son or your daughter and you
[00:46:25] want to make sure that the tip of their arrow is very sharp that those feathers are groomed just right that that that that shaft of that arrow is very pointed and straight and full of God's truth
[00:46:36] Because when you release it, you know that it's going to take the enemy down wherever it goes, wherever that arrow goes, wherever your kids go. Your family is your post. Your workplace is your post. It's not just where you earn money. No, your mission is Bank of America. Your mission
[00:46:56] is, is, is Allied Bank. Your mission that God called you there. Well, there ain't no Christians there. You're the one that God put there to be the Christian. Well, there ain't no Bible studies there. Well, then start one. Well, nobody's going to come. Well, you'll be have the audience of four,
[00:47:11] you, the father, the son, and the Holy ghost until somebody shows up. That's your post.
[00:47:19] Your neighborhood is your post. Look, just don't go home this afternoon, raise the garage up, drive in, close the garage and go, these people are crazy out here. Those kids, they're all crazy around here. They just cause trouble and mess. No, you'd be the house that everybody wants to come
[00:47:34] to. Have a ping pong table, get a foosball table, make a pool in the back, dig a hole, put some water in it. Somebody will show up, especially if you got one of those neighborhoods. Make your
[00:47:47] house the one that everybody comes to because that's your post, your neighborhood. Draw a circle around it. Walk, walk a prayer walk around and say, this is my neighborhood. The devil's not coming here. Nobody's going to steal from cars. And that's what I'm talking about. That's your
[00:48:01] post. Your school is your post. If you're a student, you walk those halls with authority.
[00:48:09] You don't have to walk in, in thinking, well, that, you know, there's more strength. No greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. If you're a teacher, if you're a teacher, put your
[00:48:20] Bible on your desk every single morning. Well, they might get mad. Who cares? They might fire me. Okay. God will give you a better job. Do we really trust him or not? I mean, do we really
[00:48:31] trust him. Because if we do, then we'll take those steps and we'll take our post. Your church is your post. This is our post, not these buildings. They're just, they're just tools. No, we are called
[00:48:49] to be the church of Jesus Christ right here in Charlotte, North Carolina. That's our post.
[00:48:56] Let's pray for our city. Let's believe for our region. Let's change the political atmosphere.
[00:49:04] let's change the dynamic of our city look it's not time to move to Florida because it's better there because everything's good there no if everybody leaves here what's going to happen no God has called us here for such a time as this it's now for us time to change amen let's lift our hands
[00:49:24] to heaven father thank you for today lord we love you we honor you and we bless you father we pray if we have been passive in any way Lord that we would take our post that would be we would be
[00:49:40] called the watchman of our generation if you're here today and you know maybe you've stepped down off of your post your marriage your family your neighborhood your workplace your church I want you to take one of those hands that you have lifted and just put it right on your heart
[00:49:57] because today you're not going to be passive anymore you're going to take that step God what does that mean? He'll tell you. He'll tell you exactly what that means. Just put your hand right on your chest. I'm going to take my pose today. And it all starts, let me tell you where it all
[00:50:10] starts, with a relationship with Jesus Christ. And if you don't know him as your personal Lord and Savior, today's your day to get right with God. Maybe you knew him at one time and you fell
[00:50:19] away from him. Take that other hand and put it on your chest and say, I want to give my life to Jesus. I know I'm not serving God, but I need to. I know, I know that my life is not pleasing to him.
[00:50:29] I need my sins forgiven and I need to follow Jesus with my whole heart. Just put that other hand on your chest and let's cover our heart and let's pray a prayer together all across this
[00:50:40] church today. Even online, just say this out loud in your living room, all across this room. Let's say it all loud. Say it all clear with, with words full of faith. Say this with me. Say heavenly
[00:50:52] Father, today I take my post. I am a watchman. You've anointed my ear. You've anointed my hands.
[00:51:02] You've anointed my feet. What I hear, what I do, and where I go, you've called me, Lord.
[00:51:11] Thank you, Jesus, for saving me today. Thank you, Jesus, for calling me back on the wall.
[00:51:18] I'm taking my post today in the name of Jesus the name that's above every name I confess that name I confess that Jesus is the Lord of my life thank you Holy Spirit for filling
[00:51:35] me to overflow in Jesus name now let me just pray for you Father I just thank you for every person in this room Lord Lord I pray that you would stir their hearts Lord through this message, that you would stir their life, Lord, in the name of Jesus, in the name of
[00:51:54] Jesus, in all God's church said, amen. Come on, give God a big hand clap.