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hey beautiful sun sunshine no rain finally god blessed us i know our bible study i've just every single week we've been having this rain week after week and i've just been saying guys let's just keep praying for good weather keep praying because last week before school starts and the kids need to get a little more sun a little more tan before they get back so god's blessed us today and we're just so glad to have everyone in service today we're going to have the honor of roy denton speaking and maybe even his wife who knows but we're just happy for everyone to be here and we're gonna start with worship so if everybody could worship with us we're gonna sing king of kings [Music] there was mercy in your eyes to fulfill the law and prophets praise the father praise the [Music] [Music] reveal praise kingdom coming and to reconcile the laws to redeem the whole creation you did not despise the cross and even in your suffering you saw to the other side knowing this was our salvation jesus forsake you died praise the father praise the son praise the spirit three one god of glory most praise all of forever held its breath till the stone was moved for good for the lamb had conquered and death angels stood in on for the souls of all who'd come to the father are restored and the church of christ was born then the spirit lit the flame now this gospel truth of old shall not kneel shall not his freedom i am free for the love of jesus christ who has resurrected me praise the father praise the son praise the spirit three praise forever to the king of kings hallelujah that was a wonderful song right there just singing of the praise that we should have for god every single day of our lives and just speaks kind of i love the the sermon that pastor roy shared today about the holy spirit and as i was thinking about it just throughout the day and even during the sermon um a thought kind of came to me how much i've had this talk before but like how much uh emphasis we kind of put on just speaking in tongues and uh a lot of times even like i myself just neglect the other gifts of the spirit then there's so many there's more gifts of the spirit the spirit just gives us and all we have to do is ask pastor roy said all you have to do you just have to keep coming and keep asking and he will give as long as you are available you're ready to receive that gift god will give it to you we're supposed to get closer to the gifter to give to be received and that's just kind of been weighing on me and i just want all of us to strive and just keep pressing into the holy spirit and receive more and more gifts from him because we are able we just all we have to do and it's so simple all we have to do is be available be that vessel that is available that someone can come that god can clean up and he can use us and there's when we're utilized like that there's so many avenues that god can use us and there's so many other things we can do and that's just such an amazing thing and like i kind of got mad at myself as i was listening to this term like you always like you pray in tongues and stuff and you're diligent in that but there's so many other gifts and we read it we preach about it but for some reason it just doesn't stick in our brain and we just we forget to ask for those other gifts so i just wanted to encourage you guys kind of speak from the heart you were the word at the beginning [Music] one with god [Music] now revealed what a beautiful name it is what a beautiful name it is the name of jesus christ my king what a beautiful name it is nothing compares to this what a beautiful name it is the name of jesus [Music] sin was greater [Music] what a wonderful name it is what a wonderful name it is the name of jesus christ what a wonderful name it is nothing compares to this what a wonderful name it is the name of jesus [Music] silence [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] forever [Music] is what a powerful name it is what a powerful name it is the name of jesus christ what a powerful name it is [Music] are you yours is the kingdom yours is what a powerful name it is the name of jesus christ what a powerful name it is jesus lord and we call upon your powerful name today jesus we call upon you today to bless this service let your holy spirit continue to pour out upon us father god let it fill up today's service let it fill up the preaching let it fill the testimonies father god let our hearts be touched let our minds be changed father god i pray that today you just fill all of us up let us our hearts become available for you lord hallelujah let us be available because your powerful name can fill us all up father god you have no rival you have no equal father god and today you are in this place with us god you are going to speak to us you're going to speak into our lives today jesus hallelujah lord hallelujah thank you jesus thank you jesus hallelujah lord hallelujah we believe in you [Music] jesus [Music] through your holy spirit conceiving christ the sun jesus our savior i believe in god our father i believe in christ the son i believe in the holy spirit our god is of jesus is [Music] descended into darkness i believe in god our father i believe in christ the son i believe in the holy spirit our god is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] tv i believed [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] our god is [Applause] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] i believe in life eternal i believe in the virgin world i believe in the saints communion in your holy church i believe in the resurrection when jesus comes again [Music] foreign i believe in god our father i believe in christ i believe [Music] is [Music] i believe in the holy spirit [Music] [Music] jesus let us just give glory to jesus let us show our faith in him jesus we believe in you and it is in you you the father and you jesus and your holy spirit we glorify your name we magnify you in this place tonight lord we ask that you come here in this presence of your holy spirit let your holy spirit touch the hearts of each and every one of us individually just begin to transform our hearts begin to transform our lives begin to speak into our lives lord so that we can become more like you jesus let your holy spirit just begin to renew us sanctify us regenerate us lord let us be more let us be more sensitive to your voice let us be more aware of your presence lord let us walk our life listening to what your holy spirit has to say let us walk our life in obedience to your holy spirit lord give us give us your holy spirit in its fullness lord we want to be overflowing in your spirit lord and so that with this overflow we can share with others lord the the rivers of uh living water lord let it just be flowing from us each and every one of us individually god so that so that these waters could touch this fallen world lord this the uh this this world that is so much in need of your light is so it's thirsty and hungering for your spirit god let us be the ones that that will carry it to them let us be the ones that will provide it for them and let it be by your holy spirit that this work may be done for your kingdom that is in heaven in jesus name we pray amen you may take your seats thank you worship team for leading us in worship it was beautiful and awesome as always and we thank you for your obedience and willingness to serve god with your talents and um i'm glad to see everybody here today and as we know today's service is a special one our guest pastor roy denton that spoke in the morning service will we also be speaking here tonight but before that i would like to present an opportunity for those of us that we're going to have an open mic to share testimonies and uh the ones those of you that come here know what this is and i just want to do maybe 10 15 minutes of time for an open mic if anyone has any testimony something the lord did in their life some kind of encouraging word maybe that you have on your heart to share with us today this is the time for you to come up and share so if you if you're willing raise your hand and you'll be first so eric so eric actually last time i believe david shared something and aaron comes up to me and he's like he's like you know what next time i want to share something make sure you have you put me on the schedule to set to share something next time and i i didn't remind him about it so obviously the holy spirit must have reminded him that he that he wanted to share so i'm just i'm just super thankful for eric and his boldness and courage and i'm excited to hear what the lord put on your heart to share so those one week i was at kids camp and when i was praying in the service i prayed for that i could feel the holy spirit for two days after the two days i prayed for the holy spirit i got the gift of tons [Applause] praise god see and this is an example of what our brother pastor roy was preaching about this morning a young man eric how old are you how old are you eric 10 year old so 10 year old receiving the holy spirit and this is possible for you know anyone that desires and and the spirit is the holy spirit is the one that leads us in our uh our lives of faith so it's very important not only to desire him but to continue to desire him and continue walking being filled with the spirit as we heard this morning so uh we're going to keep this going and we have a hand back our sound booth operator welcome dennis stage taking his time praise god you know every single time i come up here i always have a testimony about pretty much the exact same thing um a lot of you guys know i work for the united states postal service and i'm a mailman and honestly just the entire pretty much my entire occupation is just like i just see god's hand every everywhere i go and everything that happened how i got the job how i stayed with the job and what god's doing in my life while i work for the post office is just amazing and um for those of you who don't know i'm gonna go ahead and start from the beginning so that you guys know everything um so first as i was trying to get a job at the post office there's this exam that you have to take and the exam itself has a 90 percent failure rate and so i thought you know what i'm going to pray about it i'm going to take the exam and i'm going to see what happens if it's the lord's will then i will pass and if it's not then it's not and god will show me something else to do so i took the exam and i passed with a seventy point eight percent if i got point nine percent less then i would not have passed the exam praise god um so i passed the exam and then i start going to these uh i start applying for different offices uh pretty much and i get accept i get a job offer from an office like maybe 20 25 minutes away from home and i go there and and then i take the interview and everything they seem to like me and everything and i thought everything went well a few weeks go by i don't get a call i don't get a text i don't get any email anything it's just pretty much shut out and then a few like maybe a month or two go by and then i get another job offer or i get an interview i go to this interview and this office is literally two minutes away from home so i go to the interview i have the interview the boss was scary he was completely terrifying i was just like man i don't know if i want to work for this guy i kind of like the other office better they seem pretty chill and everything but i don't know i took the interview and literally the next day they gave me a job offer they emailed me a job offer and so i got the job there so as i'm working it's a really hard job it's really hard to keep up with everything there's just a lot of things to remember a lot of different ways that the mail needs to be delivered and everything all the procedures and everything how to get signatures how to forward return to sender everything all that mail needs to be you know taken care of a specific way and it was just really overwhelming at first but i prayed about it and then i i was really subconscious about every single little thing that i did like i always second guessed myself always made sure that everything was put where it was supposed to be and so a few months into the job i think it was like maybe three or four months in my supervisor calls me into her office and she has a talk with me and she says dennis listen you're kind of bad at your job and you're delivering very slow cause like we ever almost every single time you go and deliver the mail we always have to send you help so you'd get back to the office on time because there's an outgoing truck all of the outgoing mail that you pick up has to be back at the office by five o'clock so they would it would get transported to the plant and everything and she told me you're doing a very bad job pretty much really bluntly and i'm like okay i understand yeah that's fine i don't know what to say and she's like listen if you don't get it together i'm gonna have to hand you some resignation forms and good luck with whatever else you do i was like okay so i went home and honestly it was kind of it kind of hurt me i'm like man just getting the job passing the exam and doing all of this stuff it was just so hard and just like man keeping the job it's like it takes a certain special someone to actually like be a mailman and work for the post office and i prayed about it my parents prayed about it i'm like god you honestly it's already a miracle that i'm working for the po even working for the post office and if i stay working for the post office it's just a huge blessing and a huge just a miraculous work by you and i prayed about it and ever since that meeting that i had with the supervisor i only got helped once after that praise god and ever since then on that route i've never needed help and then so a few months after that my supervisor on the intercom asks me to go to the middle of the floor where the supervisor's desks are they kind of see all the workers all of the mailmen on their cases around all of the walls and then my supervisor calls me on the intercom to come in to come to the middle to talk to them i'm terrified i'm like man did i deliver something to the wrong place or something i don't even know like i was freaking out a little bit i walk up and paul is a supervisor there and she she looks at me and she says hey dennis where do you see yourself in five years i'm like that's weird i don't know probably still working here why and she's like do you want to maybe become a supervisor or a manager or maybe somewhere up in the chain of command or something like that i'm like i don't know maybe in the future why and she says well i want the supervisors talked it over and we want you to start working for the safety team like get trained to uh clean up spills and stuff like that just start somewhere i'm like okay i'll do that sure why not so then i i started getting trained to clean up spills and everything and i was the safety ambassador at our office and then later on the safety facilitator the safety manager at our office comes up to me and she says hey dennis i don't know if you heard or not but i'm retiring in two years i said okay that's awesome uh are you looking forward to your retirement she's like yeah i'm looking forward to my retirement i'm also looking forward to my replacement i'm like okay cool who's that going to be and she's like well what did what do you think of doing when i retire i'm like i don't know she says i want you to be the safety facilitator at our office i'm like wow that is crazy honestly like i went ahead and i started training to be the safety facilitator at our office recently and it's crazy to think that like two years ago when i started working for the post office i was bad at my job and my supervisors told me that i'm possibly gonna lose my job if i don't get better at it and then two years go by and i'm having committee meetings with our postmaster and our postmaster i only saw him maybe like three times in the two and a half years that i've worked there and then now i'm having committee meetings with him the safety facilitator and the other um supervisors that are at that office and it's just i don't know for some reason it's just like really mind-blowing for me i just started working maybe three years ago almost and i'm already being trained to be a safety facilitator and who knows what god has in store for me it's just a huge huge testimony for me and i want to leave you guys with two verses that kind of i've been pretty much going back to ever ever since i've started working there and it's proverbs 3 verse 5. it says trust in the lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight and the second one is luke 16 10 it says if you are faithful in little things you will be faithful in large ones and that's kind of what's really been touching me right now is that you know god our god is so good our god is so great and like if you're if you're just faithful in the small things god will open doors in your life like you've never seen before like me personally i didn't even know these doors existed i didn't even ask for anything i didn't even try for anything but i prayed about it and i kept seeking the lord and just god just kept on revealing things to me and just opening doors and opportunities like there's no tomorrow praise god thank you dennis for the awesome testimony and the scripture you know it jesus does say seek first the kingdom of god and all else will be added to you so that is a very important lesson for us in our lives and we'll keep this going so hand up if you'd like to share um so i guess i guess i'll just i'll just share a short testimony for myself and then we'll get on to the rest of our program so just um uh what was it i was with you walter i think it was sometime this week maybe thursday when we went to sprouts yeah so um we we it was me walter and max he used to go to our church for those of you that know uh we went to sprouts to just get some things because whatever some drinks and some food to eat and we were we walked into the store and uh in the car we had like a conversat you know like a spiritual conversation about like how we're doing in our spiritual walk and our growth and then we walk into sprouts and we just kind of carry that conversation into there so we're just like we're you know we're walking around just grabbing things and like talking about you know how whatever what what you know what you feel like the holy spirit's leading you into your purpose what you're struggling with and all this like spiritual talk and and then like 20 minutes into the or 15 minutes into the walk around the store we're like kind of look around everything's so quiet and there's like people walking around and we just kind of like got so caught up in conversation and we were talking so loud it was like yeah man you know and then like and then they were just like we kind of like look around we're like wait we're in a grocery store and we're just like pretty much screaming gospel you know in the middle of this grocery store so uh you know unknowingly it was like subconsciously just doing it and then and then i realized like we got so caught up in in you know conversation and and people would kind of like look and stuff and i'm like man that's so awesome to not even have to like to not even have to like you know worry that like oh what if someone like looks over and hears you say something or you know looks at you and like why are you talking you know about that like just to have like this like like natural confidence let's say to just talk about it you know what i mean but that wasn't the significance the significance was in this so we carried that on through our throat through our trip in the store and then we went to the cash register and we put our stuff on the thing and there was like a lady she was um standing uh like you know paying for her stuff she had like a couple bags and i started to notice she was like kind of stressed out and you know in this in this state of like i don't know like you know the state we were in earlier i kind of just had like this overwhelming i guess compassion maybe or something like i don't know how to describe it but like she was like all stressed out and i started to notice okay so she couldn't like pay for her her thing maybe her card wasn't working i don't know what was going on she like went to call her husband she stepped back and she was like oh and like it wasn't working out and then i just had like this feeling just pay for her you know pay for whatever she has and i didn't even know the total i just i literally just went i'm gonna pay for it like it just it just came out of me just like all the other stuff that we were talking about earlier so i'm like oh i'm going to pay for it and she's like what do you mean i'm like i just i want i have it on my heart to pay for your for your groceries and she's like no no it's okay like my husband you know she and i'm like no no i i insist i would like to pay for your for your groceries and i inside i had a feeling like she kind of like i don't know like she was dealing with something spiritually in a sense of like she had some kind of maybe oppression in her life and it's just my own discernment i'm not 100 sure what she was going through but it's just this feeling i had you know in my heart and when i paid for her uh stuff and i i i turned to her and i said uh i don't remember exactly what i said i think something about like you know jesus uh loves you or maybe like something along those lines i just i just told her like that pretty much what i meant what i was saying was like that jesus cares for her he does he does love her like he like almost as if she was questioning it and i and i had to give her that answer that he does care that he does love her and the weirdest thing like so so like uh she she went to go grab her bags and when she was walking out of this like to walk out of the store you can just walk out like you know in the regular passageway but there was like this post next to the um next to the whatever the register and like a little tiny passageway like this like and she grabs her groceries and she like squeezes through and like she just had this like feeling of you could you could just tell that she was she was touched by it you know what i mean that that like to me it just i clearly saw that what was done was was a big impact on her and and then after all this we got in the car and like i i was thinking about i don't know what you guys thought about it you guys were just kind of like standing there watching but i never got to ask you um but i kind of like thought about it and i'm like man like how important is it that we that um uh that we maintain this state of of you know connection with the holy spirit maintaining like how what pastor roy preached about like being filled but to be continually filled and overflowing so that we can continue to share that overflow in in in a way so continually walking in the spirit and being i mean i don't know the word for like like uh actively meditating on the holy spirit like not only just praying and then kind of going back to our daily life like you know because prayer is spiritual so you pray in the spirit and then and then when you walk in the natural how are you how are you going to continue to do something spiritual if you're walking in the natural so if you're going to pray in the spirit you have to continue in the spirit how do you do that you actively meditate on the spirit so so in other words you know if you ask god god use me please you know please use me to do your will and you're praying about it and then you go and you continue walking in the natural how are you going to expect him to do spiritual work through you if you're not connected to him if you're not continuing to be connected to him spiritually so i realized that that meditating on the holy spirit to be in continual prayer not like on your knees prayer but like continual connection and and then when the holy spirit speaks through uh you know maybe early in your walk you're not going to be able to recognize it as clearly but if he speaks through and you and you kind of pick up on that and then you obey it which will produce faith and it can and and that's what god is seeking out of us he wants he wants our obedience not just our not just our belief it's easy to raise your hand and say i believe in jesus but when he tells you to do something how often do you do it you know so he wants he he wants us to be we were mentioned earlier today that you know jesus didn't come to make converts people that just convert to christianity and just wait for his return jesus came to make disciples people that will not only believe but will follow and do his will and be obedient to him and i believe that this you know this meditation active meditation on the holy spirit consistently is very crucial you know in being able to like continually being filled with the spirit and in connection with the spirit is very important in our walks as christians and it's very effective in keeping us in our faith so that was just kind of what i had on my heart to share and you know it's experiences like the one i shared in my life that i notice you know when i see the effectiveness of god working through me or the holy spirit working through me it gives me a desire like i want to do more of that i want to i want to see more of god's uh you know work and his the the fruit of of what i'm doing you know so it encoura like kind of gives me that passion that desire to stay connected to him to stay sensitive and aware of what he's trying to say and do through me so and i'll end on that and i guess we can um we can oh dan wants to add so sorry just a lot has been going on in my my wife's life and uh it's just you have to come up and share uh those puts into your life and um i kind of just had a thought as i was sitting there again kind of what i said during worship about i was thinking about how the holy spirit gives more and more gifts and as i was thinking about it a kind of a metaphor came to me it's just i just saw like stagnant water kind of like this pond that we have behind us it does the wind moves on top but underneath the water is sitting in place and you just see it's so brown and dirty but what we want to be we want to keep flowing we want to be like a river like a stream that just keeps moving and when you look at something like that the water is always crystal clear because as it's moving it's getting cleared by the rocks underneath and all the dirt is just being washed away and as you're moving if we're moving towards the holy spirit if we're moving towards god we're able to become clean by all those little rocks maybe it's something that's pushing on us something that might be like a hard time to us but in the end god is kind of molding us so that we can become fulfill our purpose that he has for us in in our lives and uh to go on to the praise report um me and my wife were our rents uh at our apartment complex is ending at the end of september so we've been kind of looking for rent and my wife she's pregnant praise the lord for that baby's doing well so far so we're super thankful and uh we have two dogs as well so you can imagine a family with two big dogs there two golden doodles one's about yay high and then the other one's still a puppy but she's gonna grow up too so they're two decently big dogs and in the apartment with all our furniture and stuff they barely have room like to run around yesterday i was sitting on the couch and we have a chair just about the size of one of these next to the couch and they were literally running around chasing each other in a circle about this big just over and over again and i'm sitting there i'm like oh my goodness i feel so bad they're big dogs they need room to run and they have nowhere to go because we have them in such a tiny apartment and we've been trying to buy a house but for one reason or another it's just not working out and all i could say it's god's timing we were then we started looking for rent we're looking for a house and one house another house nothing's just working working out and then finally we we started praying about it and we put uh our application in for a house and then um my wife's very like let's do it let's do it now like i don't want to wait i want to be living in a house asap i don't want to be in this apartment anymore i want okay i want to have more furniture i want this i want a table i want this and she's very like go get it type of style so uh the lord kind of like me from the side the lord was kind of teaching her during this application process she we put in the application and i think it took like three weeks or something for them to even give us a call back and the whole time my wife's like man well are we ever going to move out of here are we going to have to re-sign our lease what's gonna go on like i don't know what's happening why can't we just move into a house already and i'm like i i i'm very laid back like i don't worry about anything i kind of go as if like tomorrow's tomorrow if if it's god's will if it's gonna happen then it's gonna happen and then eventually after three weeks uh we they they call us up and the way the application process works they call you up they say like they move from application application in order of person applying and we were like the fourth person to apply in this house and i was like the house went on on the market we applied like literally same day ellen saw it pop up and she she's like okay dan we're applying this house tomorrow they're gonna call us we're gonna sign the lease right away and we're gonna move in in two months or so but they waited almost a month to give us a call back and the whole time ellen just sitting there she's like what is going on and throughout this process i just saw how the lord was teaching her patience and it was just like she she knew it too she told me many times she's like i know the lord is testing me through this i he knows i want this house so bad and yet he's like he's just making him wait we're literally the fourth application how long can it take for them to get through applications because they give you one day to sign the lease if you don't they go on to the next application she's like okay that's four days so the furthest we could have been if they don't start the first day it's five days away so just through that process and then we decided they got to us they give us a call and we we signed the application right away the lease right away and the dogs are finally gonna have a backyard and we went there how we weren't allowed to go we signed a move in a sight unseen addendum but you know you have to peak sometimes a little bit so we peeked to see if our furniture would fit in and the place is perfect everything that we could have asked for a backyard for the dogs we have a nice patio area where we could have the dogs outside even if we don't want them running around in the sun getting dirty and the god just has blessed us over and time and time again and every single every time that rent comes up and no one's like dan you're not you're not stressing about this enough we need to start getting a house or another apartment and uh last time we were we ended up moving into our parents house for two months and then we moved into our apartment conflicts that we are in now and just and through that complex another one of our friends moved in and we were able to get them moved in during the time of their life and i just feel like in every step of our life god is kind of moving us where we need to be so that we could do the last of this apartment complex god moved us in so we could give another person a way to get in as well and then they got an apartment and now we're able to move into a house and i just like to thank god for what's to come how he's going to bless this season of the life in the house and amen thank you guys so much thank you dan thank you for the testimony and it's true it's true god does you know do a lot in our lives and his hand is constantly you know guiding us leading us and he's leading us into new things different things and he knows what's best for us and a lot of times it all comes down to is you know are we listening or do we are we recognizing what he's doing or you know a lot of times he'll do so much and then like later will like look back oh wow so god was doing stuff and throughout that whole time you're like oh is he even here you know and you're all stressing in all those moments but a lot of times you know he's constantly speaking he's constantly working he's letting you know he's providing his peace but it's it's that it's that you know being able to abide in him and being you know filled with his spirit that kind of allows us to walk through it in peace walk through it in joy and and experience you know experiences peace through that through that process you know so and and he teaches us by the testimony dan shared you know sometimes we get bumped and and stuff but that's all for our cleansing our polishing and to build our character and help us become who he wants us to be so we will get to our guest speaker and his wife today brother roy and cheryl his wife uh you guys can come come forward uh they will have a word for us today and um as those of you that were in our morning service was very blessed and i believe that whatever god has put on his heart to share it will be blessed and the time is your guys so whatever you do with it god bless you amen well thank you so much what a joy it is to be here with you again thank you pastor for the invitation it's a it's a privilege to be able to talk to young people and old people but older people but anyway uh my wife is going to share with you just a moment and then i want to tell you a a story to kind of kick us off here tonight but we're we're excited to share a message with you that i hope we can take to heart and it will change our lives cheryl just agree once upon a true time there was a little girl about this tall and every sunday she went to church and she learned songs like jesus loves me this i know and she had a dime and she put it in the offering every sunday and she learned jesus loved her and one day ordinary day she was at home and she realized i've never asked jesus into my heart daddy's a preacher mama loves jesus i go to church every sunday but this little girl me little girl realized i had never asked jesus into my heart and on an ordinary day in our kitchen my mom helped me pray and ask jesus into my heart and i have learned that much of my walk with jesus has happened on ordinary days when i was around 12 years old as um similar to pastor shared this morning i had been praying and asking jesus for the wonderful gift of the baptism of the holy spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues i wanted all jesus had for me and it was on an ordinary revival night service that's what i thought it was as a young person but that night during the service my heart was so stirred thinking about jesus dying on the cross for me and when i came down that night to pray and i was just thanking jesus for dying for me i could picture him hanging on that cross that i could picture those cruel fat thorn the crown of thorns and the blood streaming down his face and i was just saying thank you jesus thank you and i was just thanking him and praising him loving him and as i was speaking in praise and thanks god gave me the gift i just started praising him in an unknown heavenly language through the power of the holy spirit praise god thank you jesus and i prayed and i praised and i praised and my the presence of god was so real that my physical body got weak and and my legs just got so weak under the power of god that a friend just laid me down because i was so weak because of the power of god and for several hours with my i just i just i i was kind of like paul whether i was in the body or out of the body i didn't know but it felt like jesus was right here and i was praising him in this heavenly language and i didn't want to open my eyes because i didn't want this presence to disappear and i just had such a burning passion for the lost and when my daddy carried me over his shoulder that night home we lived close in the parsonage i was just thinking about those people that were going to go to hell if they didn't hear about jesus and i just said jesus i want to tell people about you jesus help me reach my friends help me to tell people about you jesus and as a young person that was a cry in my heart jesus excuse me jesus excuse me and you know as a young person i thought it was going to be this great big wow but it's been in ordinary days ordinary days home church as we taught children's church home church as we did this home so many ordinary it was an ordinary day that mom wanted me to do something that i didn't want to do but i obeyed her that led to us meeting north carolina guy washington state girl it was because i obeyed my mom on an ordinary day when the lord called us to go for my husband to go teach at a bible school in russia um it was at a service that we just thought was an ordinary camp service we didn't know oh tonight you're going to get a call on your life no we just went to the service and after the service that night an ordinary day being faithful and obedient to god on ordinary days it was an ordinary day in moscow russia bundled up from the cold fuzzy what's the name of the hat hey sumka ha some kind of is there shopka it's fuzzy hat looking a little bit like the russians looking a little bit like the russians with an ordinary day that i stepped down and my heart was so broken for the lostness i saw in their eyes on the outside i saw shabby coats i remember one particular elderly woman she looked elderly but i i believe her hard life made her look older than she was and i thought this raggedy torn old purse that she had i thought in america they would the good will would throw that purse away and such sadness in her eyes and my heart i thought just they're so hopeless they're so lost and the holy spirit said to me cheryl when you get back to america remember that without me even if they're dressed up even if they plaster a smile on their face they're just as lost the holy spirit said that in countries that have outward comfort and outward apparel camouflages their need but without jesus they're hopeless and may we remember that wherever god has you walk in your ordinary days and where god continues to lead us in ordinary days that will keep sharing jesus there's a little boy and girl that needs you to share jesus there's someone on a bus and an office and a work site and a hospital and a college classroom that needs you to share the hope of jesus let's keep the faith and let's keep sharing the faith amen and tonight is an ordinary night and i'm believing on this ordinary night god's going to change somebody god's going to touch somebody before i get started here with what i want to share with you about the fish don't forget i want to just kind of tell you a story because when we went to moscow anybody been to moscow here besides pastor he's from a number of you any let me see the hands that have not been to moscow let me see all right a number of hands now i'm going to talk to you that have not been to moscow now we were there in 1992 as our first time and i told you this morning we had three months to get ready i had no cultural training i didn't know the language i didn't know what you ate in moscow or russia i didn't know what a lot of things anyone to wear but moscow just kind of get the picture here you've got uh the kremlin you've got the uh red square and so on and you've got an inner circle road well then you've got an outer circle highway that's um that's a major highway and if you could picture it it's kind of like i-75 it's got about eight lanes four going in each way and it's just as busy uh if not busier around the outer circle we lived right off the outer circle and i had uh my wife and my three children ages when we went over age ten seven and four now in order to go shopping i had no idea you know see uh uh there you had specialized stores you had a store that just had uh butter and bread and cheese you had another store that sold the meat but there was a store downtown moscow in the center downtown moscow i can't remember the name of it brother you probably wouldn't know it but it was a store in the center that had everything in one building so that's where i wanted to shop you know why because i was used to getting everything in one building and so we were going to go to this place and that became our shopping but i want to tell you how we do it we would have to cross by foot the major highway the outer ring so here we are we're looking at cars coming by cars come by and here we go and we we get and one time actually one time we got halfway by it there was no median so to speak like you have here in the middle of the road you had to stop and wake make sure you know it's about this far in the middle uh you know and so you really had to dodge cars so here i am with all my kids and my wife and we have to cross this major road all right when we get to the other side there's a bus stop and then you have to wait to go take you to the subway so you wait the schedule didn't mean anything they had a schedule there but didn't mean nothing so you just had to wait and wait and wait and wait and so uh we finally get on the bus and it would take us down about 20 minutes or so to get on the subway we get on the subway and it takes us down to the center of the the city and you get out of the after you get to the center of the city you get out and then you walk about five or ten minutes to this story now listen here's the way we had to shop you have a little pool cart i don't know how to describe it brother you know what they were like but they're about this tall with wheels on it and about this square okay that was our pool cart and uh your your grocery that's what you put your groceries in okay so we we pull it along with us and we get to the store and you get in line to buy a kilogram of cheese and a kilogram of butter and so you get in this line maybe as far as from here to the to the to the railing over there and you you wait your turn and you keep going you go a little further and you finally get there they you tell them what you want they give you a receipt so you go over to another line which again about the same distance but it's another place and you get another line and they um uh you you you get up there and you give them the little receipt and you pay for it well they give you another receipt showing you paid for it you go back to the other line that you were in to start with and you work your way back to the front and you finally give it to them and you say here i paid for it and uh now you've got your butter and your cheese okay you got that done now you go to do the same process over with the meat department and then when you get that you get to the same process over for other departments by the time you fill up your little cart it's about three hours later okay so it takes a while and they give you eggs or they gave us eggs in a little not a carton like you have here but it's like a a cone shape uh cardboard and you stick about 10 eggs in it or 12 eggs whatever you wanted i usually got a couple extra because it was you no doubt like you were going to lose three or four of them on the buses without the crunched up you know when people scratched up and you know something's gonna get cracked okay so you buy a few extra ones well then we start the process of getting home by the time we get home you know you get the subway get back catch the bus get back cross the major highway get back home you're tired you're wore out huh and hungry correct and hungry it took us about from the time we started to to to go by about 12 miles i think they said the way a crow flies not by the way the roads go but it took us about from the time we started to the time we got back around six or seven hours to fill up just a little cart that you could pull along behind you i had a friend of mine went over and worked with us just for a little while and when he came back to america he went to one of our american grocery stores went down the first aisle and had his cart all the way full and i could understand when you spend six hours get this many then you are pretty excited when you get to a grocery store you know and but but you know what that is what god called us we we dealt with it because god called us to that country and god called us to do whatever it took one more quick story it was the first december that we were there my wife's birthday is december the 19th and i was going to take her do something special we got there in the end of september and so this is october november about three months later and i was going to take her to pizza hut they had a pizza hut and i was going to take her to pizza hut for her birthday so i got all my three kids it was snow and i mean it was cold outside and and i've got my kids and there's a line there that's about as far from here to the front door out there going outside and we're sitting there and for two hours we stood in line we inched a little bit answered a little bit got a little bit it seemed like the line never would stop it was snowing it was cold i was playing games with the kids and i was putting one on top of my my shoulders trying to let the person in the front see that hey come on we i got a kid back here and so we were just having a a a a you know trying to kill some time i get two people in front of me and we're the third person and the man comes out of the store out of the pizza and says we'll take one more and then we're closing now we're number three the two guys in front of i'm saying oh jesus god help us you see i wanted to take my wife out the two guys in front of us they were started arguing oh take me take me and you know what it was a god thing god moved both of them out of the way because they were arguing and took me and my family and we got the people we were the last ones it was awesome it was awesome but you know it's things like that that we weren't used to but god had called us we knew that we were in the right place for such a time as that and so um we we've got a lot of little stories and things and like that but tonight i want to talk to you about fishing i want to talk to you about fishing this morning i know i know this morning i asked the question how many like fish but now we got a new crowd here so how many of you like to fish let me see your hand yeah i've got a few of you all right good yeah you can uh put them down now i want to talk to you about fishery if i could title it it would simply be well fish story but subtitle it fish in the church fish in the church now i want you to stay with me here tonight this is going to be fun matthew chapter 4 verses 18 and 19. if i could go to this it says this and jesus walking by the sea of galilee saw two brothers simon called peter andrew his brother casting him out into the sea for they were fishermen i love them then he said to them follow me and i will make you fishers of men now if we went over to luke chapter number 11 5 verses 1 to 11 we will see the same story but here's here's the difference that it adds to when we look at luke's version the scripture says in luke that they had toiled all night and they hadn't called a single fish i said they had toiled all night and hadn't caught a single fish now all of you that raised your hand here you are fishermen or fisher young men or fish or young women and you love to fish and if you have fish very much you've got a fish story i like to fish i told you that this morning and i've got lots of fish stories and i can sit here and talk to you for hours about fish stories the big one that got away and the little ones that we caught or you know we just couldn't catch any big ones and so on but we could tell you a lot about fish stories uh and you could tell me but in this story here there is no fish story there's no fish story because they didn't catch any fish and it was just another memory of going fishing and catching nothing for these guys these uh these uh four guys here and i'm sure you've had some memories of going fishing and not getting anything but jesus in luke the book of luke used a miracle of fish to illustrate that people uh to illustrate the people that these disciples would catch if they would only follow him remember he said follow me i'll make you fishers of men. he in other words he related he related fish to people okay you got that jesus related fish and people they would catch people from now on and he just used the word fish now it's interesting how jesus caught their attention and proclaimed their destiny by using a fish illustration and it was something they could relate with because they were fishermen so let me say this tonight if jesus can do it i can do it yeah if jesus can do it i can if jesus can use a fish to illustrate the message i think i've got permission to do it okay all right so i'm going to use fish tonight and my title again goes back to their fish in the church okay the fish story or fish in the church so we're going to go fishing tonight and when we look at fish it would say that all of us we could all count ourselves as some kind of a fish and so and i've been a pastor long enough that i know and i've recognized that in the church there's a lot of different kind of fish so tonight we're going to look at the five different kinds of fish in the church now this morning we talked about us being vessels tonight we're going to talk about usb and fish okay all right we're going to look at five different types of fish in the church now i want to look at number one and i'm going to ask you we're going to have a little bit of uh chat back and forth if we could as i share this but number one let's look at the first country throw this first one up on the screen here the first type of fish on the screen all right okay if we don't get it i got a picture of one one second all right all right all right okay here we go one second that's two all right here we go here we go all right what kind of fish is this somebody tell what do you got young man you had your hand up first what kind is it it's a catfish he's exactly right you ever caught a catfish you have they pull really good don't they but what is i'm gonna be and he's the one raised his hand let me just go with him what is so significant about a catfish you know anything about a catfish what just tell me what all you know about a catfish oh he's got a sharp points on his fins he sure does do you know what catfish eat they eat the garbage off the where off the bottom of the river or the pond they eat the junk i mean i catch catfish sometimes and we'll get an old hot dog and we'll marinate it in garlic and i know garlic's pretty good in a lot of things but we'll they'll marinate it in garlic they'll put we'll get sometimes old fish scraps and put on the hook and throw it over but a catfish he is known for eating the junk food off the bottom of the river they were considered unclean fish in the old testament because they had no scales uh but do you know what there's a lot of people in the church that come to church and they they worship the lord they raise their hands they might even sing you know use their voices to sing and sometimes they might even get on the platform but the problem is they're eating junk off the bottom they're eating stuff all of the television or the internet do you are y'all following with me a little bit they're eating junk and it's not pleasing to god and unfortunately there's a lot of catfish in the church and young people we don't want to be a catfish we don't want to be eating the junk off the bottom in fact let's go to philippians chapter 4 verse number 8. can we throw that scripture there we go finally brethren whatever things are true whatever things are noble whatever things are just whatever things are pure whatever things are lovely whatever things are good report if there's any virtue if there's anything praiseworthy meditate on these things we are to feed on good things things that are true things are oddest because you are what you eat did you hear me you are if you feed off the junk of this world friends you're going to act like the junk you're going to act you're not going to act pleasing to god but you've got to you've got to feed on good things whatever you starve dies if you starve the flesh and feed the spirit the flesh will die but if you feed the flesh the flesh will live and the spirit will die you can't have both you're going to become one or the other we must not eat from the bottom of the river of the trash we must not be a catfish so so we're not going to be a catfish i want you to look at number two the second fish that we have often in the church let's look at it anybody know what that is all right let's we got you a while to go we'll get you right here young man tell me it is a largemouth bass what's the significant thing about the largemouth bass they've got a big mouth a big mouth y'all don't care if i act a little kiddish here do you tell them these young i'll tell these kids over here this story you ever heard the story about the big mouth frog there's a story of a big mouth frog the big mouth frog lived in the barnyard and so the big mouth frog went up to the horse and he said mr horse what the horses eat the horse said we eat hay that the farmer brings to us he said is that so and he walked up to the hop hopped up to the cow and he said mr cow what do cows eat and the cow said well we eat the grass of the field he said is that so he walked up to the chicken and he said mr chicken what the chickens eat and he said we eat the corn and the grain that the farmer brings to us he said is that so he walked up to a snake and he said mr snake what do snakes eat he said we eat big mouth frogs he said so you see the big mouth bass he wouldn't get caught if he kept his mouth shut now isn't that true i went fishing the other day i bought my florida fishing license never done that in my life but i knew i was gonna be down here in a little while uh and i've got family down here and i have one of my cousins took me bass fishing and i you know we catch bass up in north carolina but but i uh i i don't usually fish specifically for them but we were going to try it and we fished all morning didn't even get a bite we got on shore i asked my cousin i said something about yeah they sure didn't bite he said yep they all kept their mouth shut and that's exactly what happens if you keep your mouth shut you won't get in trouble and i've seen a lot of times in church there's people that come to church but they can't keep their mouth shut now there's a time to open it but i can tell you there's a lot of times that we are yield to the flesh and we want to be like a big mouth a frog or a big mouth bass and we want to gossip we want to talk about people can i tell you young people you got to listen don't ever say anything about anybody unless it lifts them up okay don't ever tear people down you don't want to tear people down you don't want to be a big mouth bass now they're good eating i know and i know a lot of people like to catch them but i can tell you they come up and they will bite things off the bottom i've caught them off the bottom i've caught them on on the top but you know they hit a topwater bait they just like to eat a lot and i can tell you though is in a spiritual realm we ca to be careful that we don't have a big mouth that we're not talking about people that we're not tearing people down because in the church in the spiritual realm we cannot do that it's important that we we got to stop bragging of how good we are we've got to stop talking about like i said people in gossiping stop complaining about what we don't have or can't do and stop being angry at one another and calling people names do i have the scripture in james 1 19 do i have that up on the screen there james 1 19 but it talks about the tongue so then my beloved brethren let every man be swift to hear slow to speak and slow to wrath swift to hear slow to speak and so most of us get that scripture all messed up we want to be we want to be quick to speak don't we i want to give them my opinion young people let me tell you don't be a big mouth bass okay don't be is there another scripture on there do i have am i am i going to number three yeah let's go on to number three the third type anybody tell me over here i got these boys i i got you two let's see if you've got it tell me a what a flounder a flounder can you tell me something real significant about a flounder well they can but look at that fish real good do you see anything real significant about him it's flat which does what yeah but there's something that he has that no other no other fish has it like him he is very unique he's you got it thank you for helping him out he's got two eyes on one side two eyes i want you know what that tells me he only sees one side of every story he only sees one side of every story you see there's there's too many people that only see one side of a story they see it they what they see is from their perspective they don't believe that there's another side of the story they will always declare their life on the fact that they are right have you ever seen somebody that's never wrong they're always right huh pastor i i i we know there's some that they're always right you can i mean they only see let me tell you my friends there's always another side of the story i've had people come to me and they in fact how about now guys please listen guys i know i'm these guys have been real cooperative is it okay if i kind of you keep using these guys over here let me tell you something now i know you probably got siblings another brother or a sister or whatever but don't ever do this don't ever do this parents you know this happens one you know the one of the kids come in and say mama or dad such and such happen and they give their side of the story and it sounds pretty convincing but there's always another side and you got you know as far as a young person remember you got to make sure that both sides of the stories are told because mom and dad i've got three kids and i can tell you that i've had one of them come tell me something that was really convincing and i thought that they were right until i heard the other one and when the other one came and told me then i thought oh this story has got a little more to it than i thought but you know it happened so often and not just young people but in the church here let me just tell you when you hear things that somebody says about something or anything you remember there's another side of the story to be careful about jumping to conclusions and uh be careful about drawing opinions matthew chapter 5 verse number 9 and this is important matthew 5 9 there's the that was the other see the guy you see the two eyes there if you haven't figured if you all haven't seen one of those i'm sure but uh matthew chapter 5 verse 9 blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of god now what does a peacemaker do let me tell you what a peacemaker does he listens to both sides of the story he doesn't just draw all his attention he'll take he'll listen to this side of the story it was this side of the story and then he'll try to work out something and help that there are two to be able to come to an agreement so you can't be a flounder you can't be one of those now let me look at the fourth fish fourth fish now this one's a tricky one okay let's see i've you i've given all three of you do you know young man in the little blue sugar you don't know what that is who said that oh yeah did that what you were going to say were you going to say a puffer oh you just told him huh yeah you just told him that's right you're smart you're good did he tell you that yeah okay yes you're right it's a puffer fish we call them where in north carolina we call them blow toads but you know what they do when they come out of the water when they come out of the water and get out of their their uh um familiarity they start blowing up they can blow up that big around and they get you know they're blowtoads and you know what there's a lot of blowtodes that come to church because if something don't go their way they blow up and the pastor has to come and pat them a little bit and get them back in really get them try to help them calm down a little bit get some of the air out of them huh young people don't be a blowtoad don't get mad at everything that happens you see there's some people you gotta it's like walking on eggshells because they get mad at everything they blow up at everything and they they just cause a scene look i know all of you adults you don't do that sometimes we all do it there's times we are blowtoads now look some of you husbands and wives don't go home and call your hus your you know your spouse a blow toad okay don't do that that could cause some issues in the home but bloatos let me give you let me let me give you a scripture about these these bluetooth matthew chapter 5 verse 43 there's a blowtoads see him isn't that cool but i say to you love your enemies bless those who curse you do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you i must confess to you folks there's some scriptures in the bible that i wish that weren't there and that's one of them because it's hard to live by it's hard to live to love your enemies well i'll love them okay as long as i don't have to be around them no but then it says bless them how are we going to bless our enemies if we're not around them you know what that means that means if you've got somebody that hates you that just don't like you and that's talks and about talking about you and everything bake them some chocolate chip cookies and take it to them ooh that hurts don't it do good to those who hate you oh i can pray for those who spitefully use me that's pretty easy lord send fire down and strike them yeah that's that's the way we like to pray isn't it just send fire down and strike him strike him no but the bible says to love those in other words we can't blow up when somebody when somebody treats us wrong we have to do good we have to stay calm we have to to stay holy and love and care for those who do us wrong do good to them now there's one more fish and this fish is so important can anybody tell me all right guys what is it huh good you're you guys are great you're going to be great fisherman if you're not already you'd awesome a salmon a salmon does anybody know anything about a salmon now this is where okay you tell me what do you know about a salmon okay but he's do you know anything about the water he's swimming in he's swimming somebody said it back here he's swimming upstream do you know what it means that means the stream is moving this way and he's swimming against the current he's swimming against the curb now a few years ago i had the privilege of going fishing salmon fishing i had never caught one before and i caught a lot of fish and you know in my lifetime but i've never caught a salmon before and i had the privilege i went to alaska and i went fishing and i'm telling you i don't know if i've ever caught a fish that fought as hard for his size as a salmon it was a king salmon he's got a huge tail god made him and created him to have such strength that he could swim against the current and friends and young people listen to me carefully god has created us he has given us the ability he's given us the gift of the holy spirit to give us power to swim against the current of our culture that's moving in the wrong direction and you and i we must go against the grain we must go against the current the flow is doing like everybody else is doing this everybody you know and whatever but i'm telling you the church young people need to stand up and say no there is a young people there is a generation that will not follow the flow of everybody else there's a generation that will say i'm going to serve god i'm going to be used by god i'm going to live for god i'm going to be holy and i'm going to swim against the grain and against the current i'm going to be a salmon hallelujah there's something else that happens to a salmon does anybody know yes see what it gets cut up he sure does if you catch him he gets cut out but there's something significant significant anybody you adults want to tell me what happens when he gets upstream he lays his eggs but when then what happens he dies you see that salmon his whole his whole destiny is to go against the current and to make it upstream so he can give birth if she can give birth to the males fertilize it but this but the both of them have to swim upstream for the sole purpose of giving life and they give their life so there can be life do you follow with me they give their life and friends young people god has called us and i believe as a generation of young people whether you know you're uh it doesn't matter if you're you're young and 10 years old or you're 25 years old or whatever and even adults here god has called us to sacrifice our self that he that he can be uplifted that other people can be brought into the kingdom of god what do we see here we see in galatians chapter 2 verse 20. it says this uh and those things that we've already put there just go right on through there and let's uh there we go first corinthians okay here we are i have been crucified with christ it is no longer i who live but christ lives in me and the life which i now live in the flesh i live by faith and the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me so paul is saying here look i it's not me anymore i am dying to myself i'm dying to the flesh and i'm giving my life to christ i am dying he's using the symbolism here again crucifixion he's dying on the cross that was a it's a symbolic thing so christ can live just like that salmon so people can live christ living through me but just like that salmon he dies she dies so others can live you know we live in a culture today in america where it's all about me it's about me it's what makes me happy what makes me comfortable but my friends it's we've got to get that out of our mentality it's not about us it's about who we can give and instill life into that they can know jesus christ as their personal savior every one of you are missionaries here tonight you are missionaries to sacrifice yourself your pleasures your desires your goals that god can live in other people's life for such a time as this god has called you russians ukrainians and other slavic peoples he's called you to this country to stand up and go against the flow he's called me we are missionaries you may not be sent to guatemala or mexico or africa or india you may not even go back to russia but i can promise you my friends across the street in your neighborhood you have people that you can reach you have people that you can talk to and you have people that you can humble yourself and give up of yourself to bless them and help them have life so the question is what kind of fish are you tonight what kind of fish we don't want to be known as a catfish or a large amount of bass or a flounder or old blowtoad or puffer whatever it is we want to follow christ we want to be a salmon and follow christ in luke 2 52 it says jesus found favor with god and men and i can tell you you will find favor with god if you will give up your life so others can live i want to close with this story and then i'm gonna we're gonna have a time around the altar that fine pastor to everyone come around now listen carefully my dad was 29 years old yeah let me just leave that scripture right up there okay that's an important scripture my dad was 29 years old when he became pastor of ashkeville assembly of god that's where i'm from he was in 1960. the first thing my dad did was to hold some revival services the people didn't know him and instead of bringing an evangelist in he decided he would himself would be the evangelist at his own church he was going to be an evangelist so he started having services well i believe it was the first week we had or they had i was i was very young at the time they had a big snowstorm i think they said it was around eight inches of snow and my dad says to himself he said well you know i i don't know if we'll have service tonight you know we we we're not used to snow where we're at i know y'all aren't used to it here but even in north carolina where i'm at we get a little bit through the year but not a whole lot so when it snows it shuts everything down but this was back in 1960 and so he says to himself he says i don't think we'll have service tonight because nobody's going to show up and it's snow on the ground and whatever but the spirit of the lord spoke to him and he said no you have church anyway so we had service and eight people showed no seven people seven people showed up for the service but one of those people was a young man around 20 years old might have been just a few years older but he was a young man he came and he was a young man that was not he had never been baptized in the holy spirit and that night with eight inches of snow on the ground with seven people in the service this one man young man was baptized in the holy spirit and through that one man revival started and they went nine weeks straight without a night off and there were numerous salvations numerous baptisms in fact the church in ashkeville the basically the foundation of that church that that's there today started with one man that was hungry and thirsty and he went against all the circumstances see the the the the normal reasoning was there's snow on the ground why go to church tonight there's a lot of obstacles you know that are that are that are going against me and i can say my friends there will always be obstacles coming against you that will try to maybe give you an excuse for not to go again up the river to go against the current but if you will push past the circumstances some of your circumstances and your obstacles might be sickness some of it might be family issues some you know there could be numerous reasons but i can tell you that god wants and he's looking for people he's looking for people that will swim upstream that will give their life and if one person in this congregation will totally totally totally commit and say i want nothing more but jesus i believe a revival can break out and i believe there's more than one here tonight that has that desire but revival can break out here in this city in this town and can start right here with the slavic people and spread all over this county in this city but he can start here but god's looking for a fish that'll swim upstream he's looking for somebody that will go against the grain and against the current and say i don't care who talks about me i don't care who what anybody says about me i am going to follow christ and i'm going to give birth to somebody so they can find life too hallelujah i want you to stand with us tonight would you and i'm going to ask you this this evening i'm going to ask you if you would to come around the front again like we did this morning would you come and we're going to we're going to say here i am lord i want to be a salmon i want to be a fish that will go against the grain today tonight my friends i want us i want us to go against the culture some of you may have heard this but it's a saying that we have heard i've heard all uh many years but it's everybody else is doing it have you ever heard that everybody else is doing it can i just remind you if everybody else is doing it it's probably wrong because jesus said that white is the gate white is the path that leads to destruction and a lot of people are on it but narrow is the path there's few people on it so if everybody's doing it it's probably not right probably not right may we go against the cultural flow and say i'm going to stand up i'm going to be a man or a woman a boy or a girl for christ it doesn't matter what people say about me doesn't matter what people do the circumstances is not going to control me jesus is going to control me his spirit is going to control me so i would encourage you here tonight let me give you one more story before we stop i told you a story this morning about a young girl 15 year old girl but this happened back in 19 about 82 in our christian schools i was the principal at the time there was a guy there that and he was a senior in in in the school he was a big dude bigger than me i'm pretty big he's bigger than me but he was one of those shy guys he didn't want to talk he didn't want to say anything but this young man was 1982 we had a great revival in our school and he got filled with the holy spirit and i let him speak like you did tonight he let the guys testify tonight awesome testimonies by the way great great thank you for sharing but he let i let him testify he gets up this is a shy guy he gets up and back in those days we had y'all don't know what it is but cassette tapes you remember cassette tapes but we had acceptance and i was recording the service he got up and filled both sides of a cassette tape because he was just so full of god so full of the spirit i was telling you the holy spirit changes us it changes us it gives us a boldness it helps us to swim against the flow and that's my desire my courage i've been i pray that every place i go to that i can either water or plant or somehow another help to stir up the gifts that's in people to love jesus more and to get closer to jesus and to be that powerhouse because you shall be receive power and you shall be witnesses and that's what the lord's looking for witnesses they can put power in you to make you a witness so lives can be changed father come on let's begin praise right now and ask him father we come to you right now lord in the name of jesus lord we thank you for these young people that are here tonight we thank you for these oh god and i pray right now lord as we begin to seek you as we begin to worship you we begin to magnify your name o lord i pray that you will begin to hover over this place that your holy spirit will begin to move upon these young people upon these adults that are here lord we need you today more than ever before we need you lord you see the the the cultural pressures that are around us lord the peer pressure that that that we have and these young people are having lord that the the enemy is trying to sneak in and come in and destroy but lord i pray that you'll give them an auction that you'll give them the power tonight of the holy ghost that you give them that power to stand that power to to share this great news of your your death and resurrection and lord that only you can give us hope and lord we just pray as we seek you as we reach out to you that your holy spirit will fall upon this group of young people lord we need you tonight we need you if you are already baptized begin to speak in that language if you're not i pray that you'll yield and just allow the holy spirit to speak through you tonight oh glory oh glory to god glory to god hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah if you can speak in tongues just begin to pray in tongues just begin to touch our hearts holy spirit [Music] let us be filled with you and more of you and overflowing of you holy spirit let us be your witnesses [Music] and it says you will you shall receive power when the holy spirit had come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in jerusalem and all in all of judea and samaria and to the end of the earth lord and we proclaim this in our church we proclaim this in our and all the people that are members here at this church lord that we will be those witnesses we will be filled with the power of the holy spirit we will carry your gospel to all the people in in need of it lord there is a dying world there are souls in need of your spirit there are souls in need of your truth lord and we are filled with your spirit and we will lead them into the truth we will lead them into your kingdom lord every single person here in this place today god they have been chosen by you in order to bring people into your kingdom jesus and we pray that you just fill us with your spirit and begin to reveal to us the gifts that you have for us begin to reveal to us the plan that you have for our lives lord let us receive a fresh revelation of what you have in store for us lord on an individual basis lord as a church as a as a people lord that are seeking your face god we are gonna gather and we are not just gathering in this building just awaiting your return lord but it says that you say that we must go out lord and we must preach the gospel we must proclaim the light lord we are the light and the salt of this earth lord we and we will go out and we will preach the gospel and we will shine the light lord and we will be the salt of this earth jesus is the holy spirit come like a fire rabbit holy spirit we need more of you we need more of your presence you see the open hearts here you see the open vessels here lord jesus we ask that you fill these vessels freshly fill them with the fresh oil the oil that it will overflow lord that as they walk lord they will be a shining light of righteousness and holiness of your kingdom lord jesus lord you see their hearts you see their desire you see the passion lord we want to receive your spirit in its fullness lord jesus we refuse to be stagnant in our faith lord but we will move we will pick up the sword of the spirit and we will go and spread the word to all of creation lord jesus and it is not what it is with you lord jesus that this can be done it is only by your spirit it is only by your power lord and the authority given to us but from the heavens lord by your but your father lord jesus you have given us this authority and power in order for us to proclaim this gospel lord jesus you see the young children lord you see the yearning desire for you lord jesus i pray that you just fill them with your spirit lord give them a fresh revelation of you jesus who you are lord assad let them witness and proclaim the gospel of your kingdom in their schools in the places that they go lord you say that we must be like little children in order to see the kingdom of god lord and we will all we want to all be inside your kingdom god and not just inside of it lord but we want to be filled with your kingdom in order to share it and help others find it lord it was said that we must be like a salmon swimming against the against the current lord in order to in order to give new life lord how do we do this jesus we must seek after you lord jesus and it is only by your spirit that that new birth will come and we must be filled by your spirit in order for this new birth to happen lord jesus let us start with our church and the people around us let us just begin to be a light let us just begin to be this this this salt lord for the people next to us our brothers our sisters the people in our families lord the people in our church lord let us just be filled with your spirit and be and share the love for all for each other lord let us unite as one and your spirit god so that we can go and proclaim the gospel of your kingdom just lift them up in your spirit jesus says we must worship in spirit and in truth it's not about your mind it's not about what you're thinking just with all that you are all of you all of you the breath that god has breathed into you with that with that spirit inside of you lord with that spirit inside of you we must praise him we must praise him and glorify and worship his holy name jesus we glorify you we magnify your holy name lord we give you all the praise and glory in this time in this moment lord and we just praise you you sit on the throne above all things lord jesus and you have poured out your spirit on this earth lord and we receive your spirit and we will share we will share your spirit with others lord jesus we will become these inner witnesses we will be these witnesses on this earth i have it in my heart just just find somebody next to you and just pray with him just pray with them find somebody near you and just encourage them just just just put a hand around them put a hand with them and just pray over them so that the holy spirit would fill them and if you have something on your heart to share with them just share it with them let them know what you what the lord is putting on your heart for them and do it for each [Music] other [Music] that he can use us to help others so he can use us to edify the church so we can build each other up the holy spirit is in us so we can bring people into the light so that we can bring king people into the kingdom so that we can bring people to the place where they can be born again let us just come to this closeness with the holy spirit let us have an intimate relationship with the holy spirit so that we can just proclaim it to to each other so we could build up the church so we can unite as one and bring people into the kingdom of god about assad [Music] allah [Music] m [Music] more of your spirit jesus an outpouring of your spirit jesus is [Music] [Music] [Music] let us be sanctified holy spirit give us a passion to seek you in our secret place lord jesus let us not lose this fire but walk in here lord jesus son of a lord let us continue to be filled by your spirit jesus christ [Music] [Music] holy spirit you are precious you are precious and you are in this place you are in our hearts holy spirit [Music] continue to abide in us holy spirit let us walk our lives with sensitivity to the holy spirit let us walk our lives with realization that he is in us he is in us and we can hear him and he can speak to us and he loves us he adores us he has a burning passion to use each one of us he is just asking you are you ready are you ready to be used are you ready to be used he wants to use you to reach this lost world but are you available are you ready to be used by him he is inside of us he is ready to work he is ready to witness and bring people into his kingdom but are we ready are we ready to be used he is speaking but are we listening he is speaking to each one of us but do we do we have an ear to hear what he is saying do we hear what he is saying to us do you do we hear what he wants us to do here [Music] [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] let us experience your love in its fullness jesus let's let the embrace of your holy spirit jesus [Music] thank you jesus hallelujah jesus yes lord hallelujah jesus we praise you for this amazing service father god for how you have mood have your how your spirit just came down jesus is what we've been after all day today father god and you delivered father god you are powerful father god and i just pray that your power it just lives in us father god let us just keep striving towards you father god and let us make sure that through everything everything we go to father god let us never forget that it's not us it is always you father god we have to rely on your beautiful name father god hallelujah jesus hallelujah you are the word at the beginning one with god the lord most high [Music] what a beautiful name it is what a beautiful name it is the name of jesus christ what a beautiful name it is nothing compares to this what a beautiful name it is the name of jesus so jesus [Music] was what a wonderful day what a wonderful name it is [Music] [Music] is [Music] death could not hold [Music] the heavens are [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] my [Music] oh everybody raise a shout to the powerful name that is jesus hallelujah hallelujah praise god praise god i think everything is wonderful when jesus is here praise god but i think we missed one thing we never pray for our wonderful friends now you are friends pastor roy and your wife cheryl let's pray for them okay let's pray everybody let's stand up and pray for them okay and the brothers come here yeah let's let's do it let's do it and bless them hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah jesus jesus thank you thank you lord for these vessels hallelujah you use them and we ask that you use lord and tomorrow and lord and lead them lord wherever they go your anointing will be there lord bless them lord their family lord in jesus name we pray we thank you lord that you made this day hallelujah and we enjoy your presence your word lord hallelujah we bless them by the name of jesus and we ask father for your protection over them lord hallelujah give them lord help give them power more hallelujah financially bless them lord hallelujah and spiritually hallelujah thank you lord thank you lord for this wonderful services what you gave us to us through their ministry praise you lord we praise you we praise you and thank you in jesus name amen amen okay so you may take your seats um we will be wrapping up our service you know actually i just had a thought come to mind and the final prayer uh our pastor peter was not able to make it excuse me um i got a call from him when after our first church service and a lot of you may know that they're not their whole family is not in an easy place right now and uh you could i could hear it in his voice over the phone and i just i just feel like we we should come together and just have when we have our final prayer to just cry out to god on the behalf of our our sister that's you know we all know we we i grew up with and a lot of us did and she's in a very tough situation right now and i truly believe that you know we cry out to him on her behalf and intercede for her and their family because the family is in a tough place as well and uh if ruby are you here if you could come forward if you're okay with it we're going to pray over him and as we pray over him we will believe that uh he will provide god will provide give his will will come through and their family and we believe for healing for for the family and strength healing for sister lilia and strength for the family so maybe if you could come forward and in our final prayer as we close the service we will pray for them and on our next service we'll let you know the date once we coordinate with it and uh the last thing i have to say before we do closes what i mentioned earlier about that active meditation of that of that actively meditating on the holy spirit to actually stay in that you know you experience it here and it's good and you could feel the power in the presence and you know how much better would it be to get to a place where you can constantly remain in that presence where you can constantly be able to hear what the holy spirit is saying what the holy spirit's wanting to do through you and i encourage all of us and myself included because i'm learning as well i've tasted and seen the power of it but i want to be able to be more effective in it i want to be able to you know remain in that presence so just like brother or pastor roy said you know less of the flesh more of the spirit you know when you walk when you avoid walking in the flesh to try to walk in the spirit by doing that you allow the holy spirit to work through you and speak through you and once you start seeing the things he does through you you you just you just want more of that so i encourage you in this and uh where's ruby okay so we'll just pray for your family he wasn't able to come forward um are you willing to come forward ruby i just i don't know i just have it in my heart to pray over you specifically i um i believe that we need to do it so uh whoever whoever is willing may come forward and we will lay hands on him and pray for him in our final prayer you