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00:00Stand with me, First Baptist, and receive Priscilla Shire.
00:12Thank you. I'm grateful.
00:18Good morning. Good afternoon.
00:23It's a privilege to be with you. You may take your seats.
00:26I'm so grateful, so grateful to be at the First Baptist Church of Glen Arden.
00:32It refreshes my soul. It feels like coming home. It feels like coming home.
00:37I'm so grateful.
00:39Thank you for allowing me the privilege to be a part of this particular day,
00:43because I know it's not just us Sunday. It is your anniversary.
00:47And so I celebrate you today. I celebrate the years of faithfulness
00:51and all of the work that God has done through you, and it feels special to be a part of
00:55it.
00:56I want to celebrate your pastor and first lady.
00:59I cannot not celebrate the pastor and first lady of this house.
01:25I celebrate them because, oh man, for so many reasons, but because they have integrity.
01:32Let me tell y'all, it's sad to say, but it is a rare thing these days,
01:37when you find church leaders who are actually the same people when nobody's looking.
01:43And the fact that you all have that is something you ought to thank God for,
01:48that he entrusted you to people like this.
01:51It's such a blessing.
01:53So much of the way Jerry and I have patterned our marriage
01:57and the way we have raised our children is directly connected to the influence of these two people on our
02:03lives.
02:03I'm so grateful.
02:07I do want to greet you from my husband.
02:09We were all planning on coming, had a little hiccup with his mom who's not doing well right now,
02:14so he stayed home with the bigger boys, but I've got my youngest son with me, Jude.
02:18Jude, you want to just stand up and say hi?
02:19This is Jude Shire right there.
02:25I'm excited to have him with me in the house of God today.
02:28Let's pray and see what it is that the Lord would say to us.
02:34Lord Jesus, put a guard over my mouth, Father.
02:42Unveil our ears, Lord, so that we can hear.
02:46And Lord, would you open our eyes so that we can see.
02:54It is in the mighty, matchless name of Jesus,
02:57the name at which every knee will bow and every tongue will confess,
03:02the name at which demons tremble.
03:05It is in that name that the church of God said.
03:08Amen?
03:10Amen.
03:10Amen.
03:12As I mentioned, I have three sons.
03:15Jackson is 16 years old.
03:16I've been a bit nostalgic and reminiscing while I have been here with you today
03:21because the very first time that I came to First Baptist Church of Glen Arden,
03:24Jackson was six months old.
03:27He was in my arms like this.
03:28Now he is 16, six foot, two inches tall, towering over me.
03:32His brother is 14 years old, Jerry Jr.
03:35And then Jude, he's our surprise baby.
03:37We still don't know how you got here.
03:41Ten years old now.
03:42We named him Jude on purpose because that's as close as I can get to Revelation
03:47because it is finished.
03:48That's it.
03:51That's how you got your name.
03:53Jackson, Jerry Jr., and Jude.
03:55One of the things that I have done with my son since my oldest was five
03:59is when I started it.
04:00I got them each a journal.
04:02I went to Ross Dress for Less on the left-hand side,
04:05back corner for about $4.99.
04:07You can buy a journal.
04:09And I bought one for each son.
04:11I have kept a journal for each of them for all these years.
04:14I plan to write in it.
04:16I don't write in it every day or even every week.
04:18It's just when I see something I don't want to forget that's happening in their lives
04:21or I see the handiwork of God maneuvering things that I want them to be able to recount
04:26and recall later on.
04:28So I'm just kind of writing love letters to them.
04:30I think I'm going to pass it on to them when they're old enough to appreciate it.
04:33Or better yet, I might just give it to their wives so they can see what they're getting themselves into.
04:37That's what I might do.
04:39But I'm writing these journals, keeping it for them, safekeeping.
04:42I was looking through the oldest one's journal recently because he just turned 16 a couple of weeks ago.
04:49And so I was just sort of looking back through his journal.
04:53And I was reminded of something that happened on a particular day in his life.
04:56And I remember this particular incident because I recall that after it, I was particularly spent.
05:02Something was going on with the boys.
05:04They were all little at the time.
05:05So it was diapers and, you know, just full on and full time when they're little like that.
05:09And I remember being very tired after that incident.
05:12And I will never forget it because I had to get on an airplane and travel to Memphis the next
05:18day.
05:18I was so excited about this particular trip.
05:21Things had been so crazy and so chaotic.
05:24And I don't know how it worked out that I was traveling by myself.
05:27Usually we all kind of traveled together.
05:28We homeschooled our boys for quite a while so they could just travel with us.
05:31So usually we were all together or at least somebody was with me.
05:34But on this occasion, I was by myself.
05:37And I was glad.
05:40I was so tired.
05:41I could not wait to get into Memphis.
05:44I was picked up from the airport and we went to the hotel.
05:48The sweet woman from the church that came to pick me up took me to the hotel.
05:51She said, hey, do you want to stop for dinner first?
05:53I said, no, girl, take me to the hotel.
05:55I am looking so forward to being in the room by myself, being able to sleep in the bed by
06:00myself.
06:00I was so excited about all of that, just getting some rest.
06:03And I fell into a deep sleep about 8.30 p.m., really early, excited for a full night before
06:09the conference the next day.
06:11But it was about 3 o'clock in the morning that I was jarred awake out of my slumber.
06:16And I went and looked outside the window to see what was making all this noise.
06:21And not too far outside of the back of the hotel, there were train tracks and a train was roaring
06:26by at 3 o'clock in the morning.
06:27The conductor was sitting down on the horn the entire time that he roared by.
06:33And it wasn't one of those short trains.
06:34It's one of the ones that never ends.
06:35It just keeps going forever and ever.
06:38And so I waited for the train to go by and then I tried to get back into a deep
06:42sleep, but I really wasn't able to sleep really well after that.
06:45And the conference started early.
06:46So the woman from the church came and picked me up early.
06:49And I didn't say anything about the train at all.
06:53I just went through the day looking forward to one more night.
06:56I had one more night in the hotel.
06:58I planned to get a good night's sleep.
07:00Fell into a deep sleep about 8.30 and, you guessed it, about 3 o'clock in the morning, a
07:06train went roaring by the back of that hotel.
07:10Jarred me awake out of my sleep.
07:11I looked out the window.
07:13There was a train again.
07:14And this time I tried to get back to sleep, but really I just couldn't wait for the sweet woman
07:18from the church to come pick me up so I could ask her about this train.
07:22And so early in the morning when she came, I sat down in her car and she said, hey, how
07:26did you sleep?
07:30I said, well, since you asked, there is a train that has gone by, not just tonight, last night, but
07:36the night before as well.
07:38This train roared by both nights waking me up.
07:40What's the deal with this train?
07:42As I spoke to her, her eyes got wider and wider.
07:46There was a look of apology on her face.
07:48I felt so bad for her.
07:50She just said, Priscilla, I'm so, so sorry.
07:53She said, I have to be honest with you.
07:55Those of us who have lived in this neighborhood for so long, those of us who are used to this
08:01community and have been here for years and years,
08:03we have gotten so used to the sound of the train that we don't even recognize it when it comes
08:09through anymore.
08:09It didn't even cross my mind to prepare you for the train because we are so used to the sound
08:14that we've become desensitized to it when it passes through.
08:19It occurs to me that those of us who live, particularly in this part of the world, in the western
08:24part of the world,
08:24where we have been so blessed by the presence of God, where you can go on most any corner and
08:31find a Bible teaching church like this one with a pastor who is proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ,
08:36where you can turn on Christian radio and turn on this station if you like contemporary Christian radio, or if
08:42you want to hear gospel, you can turn on this station.
08:45You can go in a Christian bookstore and pick up any Bible in any translation in any language that you
08:49like.
08:50We have been so blessed by the presence of God around us that could it be that when the train
08:56of his glory wants to fall in a unique way in your life,
08:59you don't even recognize it anymore?
09:04Have we become so desensitized to the goodness of God that when he wants to speak to us, we don't
09:11even hear his voice?
09:12When his fingerprints are to be recognized in our circumstances, we call it coincidence.
09:17We don't even recognize that it's him making himself apparent in our lives.
09:23Lord, help us to wake up out of our spiritual slumber and hear you when you speak and see you
09:30when you are near.
09:34Because I don't know about y'all, but listen, if he's speaking, I want to hear his voice.
09:38If he's moving, I want to see his fingerprints.
09:40I want to see his footprints in my life, guiding my path.
09:44If he is near, I don't want to miss him when he comes.
09:48And it is at least in part to this end that I believe Luke gives us a passage of Scripture,
09:54a story of Christ coming into the world that was already read to you earlier in the service,
10:00so I won't take the time to read it all verse for verse.
10:03But this is the occasion when Jesus is coming into the temple almost for the very first time.
10:10He is about 40 days old.
10:13The time for purification, which is what it was called, was over,
10:16where the mother kind of kept herself in secret with her new baby.
10:20But then after 40 days, they would bring the son into the temple to be presented to the Lord.
10:25And on this occasion, Luke gives us details about the Messiah coming into the temple.
10:31I love the gospel of Luke.
10:33I like Luke as a writer, in fact.
10:35He is a physician.
10:36He's a doctor.
10:36So he's into details.
10:38I like juicy details.
10:40I like the words that can put flesh on the story so that we can get a full picture.
10:45I like how Luke writes throughout the entirety of his gospel.
10:49He wrote his gospel and recorded stories and encounters with Jesus,
10:52not only to show us that Jesus encountered others,
10:56but also to encourage us to know that we can encounter him,
10:59that our eyes can be opened to see him in the details of our life.
11:03And listen, this really should be our goal.
11:05As believers in Jesus Christ, we must not just meet him on the pages of the Old Testament
11:11as a pillar of cloud during the day and a fire at night.
11:14We must not just meet him in the New Testament as he raises Lazarus from the dead.
11:19We are supposed to see him throughout the scriptures
11:21and the encounters he had with those people
11:24and realize they are not exceptions to the rule.
11:27They are examples for us as to how we should anticipate seeing God in our own circumstances.
11:34He didn't just show up for them.
11:36He shows up for us and we can see him.
11:40He meets us.
11:41We can encounter him when we're spent and empty and no longer to provide for ourselves.
11:46We can expect that when we're blind, he makes us see.
11:49We can expect that when things are dead, he still raises Lazarus.
11:54We can expect that he still turns water into wine.
11:57He didn't just do it for them.
11:59He fully intends to do it for you.
12:02And this is why Luke writes,
12:04and he writes during a time of national decay.
12:07You need to know that the children of Israel were in a time of oppression
12:11when Luke writes.
12:13They are underneath the thumb of oppression.
12:15This is a time of moral and social decay and decline
12:20like never before in the nation of Israel.
12:23And I don't know if you've noticed or not,
12:25but our nation is in a time of moral and social decay
12:28like we have never, ever seen before.
12:31And the more our God is marginalized and pushed to the periphery of society,
12:36the more, y'all, we're going to see the influx of chaos and destruction
12:40and disaster of every kind.
12:43Luke writes to people who are in a nation that is in need.
12:47But he doesn't just write to people who are in a nation that is in need.
12:51He writes to individuals that are in need.
12:54He writes to people who don't just want to know about what God can do in the White House,
12:58but what God can do in their house, underneath the roof of their own home,
13:02where their marriages are fragmented, where their bodies are broken,
13:06where their minds are fissured, where their hearts need mending.
13:09He writes to people who need a Savior, not just out there, but in here.
13:15Individuals who are struggling, he writes to us.
13:18He writes encounters about broken people who met up with a great God.
13:24And I believe that somebody might need to hear this today in this service.
13:28I didn't say this in the previous two services.
13:32Sometimes, sometimes your difficulties,
13:35they are less about the enemy being against you
13:38and more about God showing you what it looks like for him to be for you.
13:47Sometimes when things are chaotic, they provide the backdrop.
13:51That is the backdrop for Jesus to show up
13:54and your eyes to finally be primed so that when he comes, you will not miss him.
14:02So these people have been waiting on a Savior.
14:05The nation is in trouble.
14:06They personally are in trouble.
14:08They have been calling out to God for centuries,
14:11asking Yahweh to send a Deliverer, to send a Messiah, to send a Savior.
14:16They need a hero to rescue them for the struggle.
14:20And when Jesus arrives, they do not realize that it's him.
14:27They've been calling out for years and centuries,
14:31asking God for an answer.
14:33And when the answer comes, the package in which he comes
14:37is so much different than their expectation,
14:40that their expectation has blinded them to the reality of God's answer to their prayer.
14:46They expected a champion on a white horse with a sword in his hand.
14:50They wanted all of the dignity and all of the authority
14:53that would come with the king that they had pictured in their mind.
14:57But when Jesus comes, he doesn't come as a king in a chariot.
15:01No, he has put on humanity.
15:03He has clothed his deity.
15:05He has condescended, and he comes packaged as a baby.
15:09And when he arrives in the temple,
15:11they do not even know that God has answered their prayers.
15:17I want to suggest to some of you that the answer you've been praying for,
15:20God has already answered.
15:23I want to suggest to you that the invasion of holiness that you've been needing
15:29in your marriage or in your finances or in your health,
15:31I want to suggest to you that possibly the answer has already come.
15:35It's just packaged in a way that you do not prefer.
15:40I want to suggest to you the possibility that sometimes when we pray for oak trees,
15:46God answers in acorns, that possibly when we pray for growth,
15:53sometimes God answers with rain.
15:57Sometimes the answer looks different than what you anticipated.
16:00And so then the prayer becomes, Lord, would you open up my eyes?
16:05Lord, would you heighten my spiritual sensors so that my radar is up,
16:10so that when you are near, even if you've come differently than I've expected,
16:14I do not miss sight of you.
16:20So the text tells us, Luke writes, and he says, listen, Mary and Joseph,
16:24they come into the temple, and they bring the baby Jesus, the Messiah,
16:28the one on whom everyone has been waiting, and they come into the temple.
16:32It says in verse 22 that they came according to the law of Moses,
16:38and they brought him, Luke chapter 2, verse 22,
16:42they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
16:45That's an interesting concept, isn't it?
16:47They were presenting the Lord to the Lord.
16:51And they bring him into the temple, and it says in verse 24
16:54that they had a pair of turtle doves with them.
16:57I'm going to open up a little parenthesis right here, if you don't mind,
17:00because, you know, this is the 12 o'clock service,
17:01so Pastor Jenkins said I had a little time on my hands.
17:06I'm going to open up a parenthesis because Luke, with the details,
17:09wants us to know that Mary came as all parents of firstborn sons
17:13would have come to the temple to perform two different sacrifices.
17:18It was like two different layers in the sacrificial system,
17:21the burnt offering and the sin offering.
17:23They were required to bring with them two animals for this sacrifice,
17:28one for each.
17:29Leviticus gives us details about the sacrificial system.
17:32You don't have to turn there.
17:33I'll just tell you that in Leviticus chapter 12,
17:36all the details are given as to what they were supposed to bring
17:38and how the system was supposed to be outworked on this specific occasion.
17:42And Luke chapter 12 tells us that they needed a pigeon for one of the sacrifices,
17:46but they also needed a lamb.
17:48That was the requirement, that they needed a pigeon or a turtle dove,
17:52and they needed a lamb, which is why it's interesting
17:55that Luke wants to make sure we understand on this occasion that Mary came,
17:59but she didn't come with a lamb.
18:00She had two turtle doves, two pigeons.
18:03That seems to go against the Levitical law in Leviticus chapter 12.
18:08But there is a little caveat, a little nuance in verse 8 of chapter 12 of Leviticus
18:14that tells us that if someone was not able to afford their own lamb,
18:18if they did not have sufficient funds to be able to purchase for themselves a lamb,
18:23they could buy the lesser expensive sacrifice, which was another pigeon.
18:28They could come with two pigeons if they could not provide for themselves enough to purchase the lamb.
18:34Scholars say that Joseph had a job.
18:36He was a carpenter, as we all know, but he was really more like a stonemason, an architect.
18:41He had money, but the thing is, they had to travel to Bethlehem, you remember, for the census.
18:47They had had to stay in and around Bethlehem for 40 days.
18:50Scholars say that he had probably just come to the end of his resources,
18:54and by the time the 40 days were up and it was time for him to go to Jerusalem,
18:58they no longer had enough to be able to buy for themselves a lamb.
19:03So when they came into the temple with two pigeons,
19:06folks would have looked at them and turned their attention away,
19:09thinking that these people are poor, they are meager, they are insufficient.
19:14They would have had all of the signs of people that were living in poverty.
19:18I wonder how many people would have looked away.
19:22I wonder how many people would have turned their noses up at the poor couple who just came in with
19:27the toddler.
19:27I wonder how many people, because they lacked the signs of affluence,
19:31would have disregarded the people who were holding the Messiah that they prayed for.
19:36I want to speak to anybody who is in the room and you've got insufficient funds.
19:40I want to speak to anybody who is in the room and you've ever been marginalized or outcast or ignored
19:45or somebody has turned their noses up at you because you don't have the signs of affluence that everybody else
19:51has.
19:51And maybe your insufficient funds are not just financial, maybe it's emotional.
19:56You are depleted.
19:58You've given everything you've got emotionally or relationally or creatively.
20:03You've done everything you can and now you don't have enough.
20:06Here's the good news.
20:08While they were looking down at Mary and Joseph because they didn't have a lamb,
20:12what they didn't realize at the time was that this couple had the lamb that takes away the sins of
20:18the world.
20:22Listen, it is when you are in times of lack that the lamb can be carried most beautifully in your
20:29life.
20:30Sometimes we don't experience the lamb of God as he is meant to be experienced because we got too much
20:35stuff.
20:37As long as we are able to provide for ourselves, as long as we have our own sufficient funds financially,
20:43emotionally, spiritually,
20:45as long as we think we can buy our own lamb, we don't experience the lamb in close, intimate fellowship
20:51the way he is meant to be experienced.
20:53So if you're in the room and you are depleted and spent and lacking in some area of your life,
21:00get ready.
21:00The lamb is on the way.
21:08Emptiness makes room for the fullness of God.
21:12Weakness is the platform for the strength of God to be displayed in your life.
21:18I remember being with some people in a hut, y'all, in Africa.
21:22Dirt floors, thatched roofs.
21:23When it rained, they lived in squalor as the floor became mud.
21:27And I walked into that house and the peace of God was almost tangible.
21:32They didn't have no stuff, just the lamb.
21:37And I walked, you could feel the presence of God as you walked in the room, the smiles on their
21:42faces,
21:42the way they gave their last little bits to be able to be a blessing to me, the foreigner who
21:48had come over from America.
21:49And she sat me down to tell me about her life.
21:52And she said, Priscilla, you need to know that we here in this village, we pray for y'all over
21:57in America.
22:02She said, we need you to know that we pray for you because when we hear you pray, when Americans
22:09come to us and we hear you pray,
22:12your prayers, they're so self-centered.
22:15She said, you're already blessed, and yet we just hear Americans praying for more blessing.
22:21She said, your prayers, sometimes they're so weak and anemic and feeble.
22:26We are asking God to allow you to experience him in the way we have no choice but to.
22:33We can't afford our own lamb, so we get him in a way y'all have not gotten him.
22:41And so we're asking the Lord to make you desperate enough to experience him the way we've experienced him.
22:52So if there's some lack somewhere in your life, financially, spiritually, creatively, you've run out,
22:58you're taxed in your relationship, you just don't have it in your own natural resources,
23:03expect that the reason why is because he wants your arms empty so that you can carry him more closely
23:11to yourself.
23:20Close parenthesis.
23:25The couple comes in with Jesus.
23:28Please do not let it be lost on you
23:33that they bring Jesus into the temple.
23:39they are at church
23:41and folks don't see Jesus.
23:49Y'all, they're in the midst
23:51of doing religious stuff
23:54and don't see him.
23:56Which means you can be in church
23:57every single Sunday.
24:00That means you can be waving at the service
24:03and saying amen
24:04and participating in religious activity
24:06and doing your little quiet time,
24:08reading a verse a day to keep the devil away
24:10and saying your prayers
24:11because your grandmama said you're supposed to.
24:13You can be doing all the religious
24:15and be around people
24:16who are also doing it.
24:18But on this day,
24:19there was a temple full of people
24:21in the presence of God
24:22and only one man notices.
24:25Later on, Anna will as well.
24:27There are only a couple of people
24:28who are seeing Jesus
24:30even though he's right in front of them.
24:33Lord, open up our eyes
24:35so that we can stop playing church
24:37and see you.
24:46Verse 25, Luke says,
24:49and behold.
24:49Somebody say behold.
24:51Come on, say behold.
24:52Behold.
24:53In the original language,
24:55when a writer would write the word
24:57that is translated to our English behold,
25:00it was a powerful word.
25:01It was pregnant with possibilities.
25:03In our language,
25:04it just says behold
25:05and we consider it to be a transition
25:07from one part of the text to the other.
25:09But when a writer would write that
25:11in the original language,
25:12it was very, very intentional.
25:14Behold is designed to spark your attention.
25:17It's designed to spark your interest.
25:19If for some reason
25:20you've kind of fallen asleep
25:22or you've been bored
25:23with all the details
25:24of what has been written before,
25:26the writer wants to make sure
25:27that now you sit up straight
25:29and you lean in
25:30and you put your chin in your hands
25:31and that your ears
25:32are heightened and sensitive
25:34so that you do not miss
25:35the person that he wants
25:36to introduce you to.
25:38He says,
25:39Behold,
25:40there's a guy who sees Jesus
25:43and his name is Simeon.
25:45He says in verse 25,
25:47Behold,
25:47there is a man in Jerusalem.
25:48His name was Simeon
25:50and here's the kind of guy he was.
25:52He was righteous.
25:53He was devout.
25:54He was looking for the consolation
25:56of Israel
25:57and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
26:03I've been thinking about Simeon
26:05and what made his eyes primed,
26:08his spiritual eyes primed
26:10to see something
26:11that everybody else could not.
26:13What made him different?
26:15What attributes about his experience
26:17and his life
26:18made it so that his heart
26:20was sensitized
26:21to the sight of Jesus,
26:22the presence of God
26:24in his midst
26:25even though he was packaged
26:26in a way that nobody
26:27had anticipated?
26:30There are many of them
26:31that I could pinpoint to you
26:32but there is just one
26:33that I want to focus
26:34my attention on
26:34for the next few minutes.
26:36The last line of verse 25 says,
26:40And the Holy Spirit
26:43was upon him.
26:48The Holy Spirit
26:51was on him.
26:54The Spirit of Almighty God
26:59rested on Simeon.
27:03If you are a believer
27:04in Jesus Christ,
27:07you have received
27:08the Holy Spirit.
27:10Ephesians chapter 1
27:12verse 13 and 14 says
27:13that the moment
27:14you place faith in Jesus,
27:16you received,
27:17you were sealed
27:18by the Holy Spirit of promise.
27:20You are not waiting
27:21on the Holy Spirit.
27:22All the Holy Spirit
27:23you ever gonna get,
27:24you got the moment
27:25you were saved.
27:27Now we need to be filled
27:28by God's Spirit
27:29as we yield to him
27:30and yield in obedience
27:32to the conviction
27:33in our life
27:33that he gives us
27:34but you have received
27:36the Holy Spirit
27:37if you're a daughter
27:37or a son of the Most High God
27:39through Jesus Christ.
27:41The Holy Spirit comes
27:42to live on the inside of you
27:44and just in case
27:44you didn't know,
27:46he is not a ghost
27:46or a wind
27:47or a fire
27:48or a dove.
27:48He is often symbolized
27:50by those things
27:50but y'all,
27:51that ain't who he is.
27:52He is the third person
27:53of the Trinity.
27:54Not third because
27:55he is least in value,
27:57just third because
27:57he's the last to be revealed
27:59to us in the pages
28:00of Scripture.
28:01But all of the fullness,
28:02all of the power,
28:03all of the glory,
28:04all of the grandeur
28:05of God the Father
28:06is in the person
28:07of the Holy Spirit.
28:10So if you've received Jesus
28:12and the Holy Spirit
28:13lives in you,
28:14that means that
28:15all of the power,
28:16all of the grandeur,
28:17all of the greatness,
28:18all of the authority,
28:20all of the glory
28:20of God the Father
28:21now lives
28:22on the inside of you.
28:25He lives with you.
28:26He talks to you.
28:27He walks with you.
28:28And the reason why
28:29is so that you don't
28:30have to wait
28:31to get to heaven,
28:32to experience heaven.
28:33God said,
28:34I'm coming to you
28:35right now
28:35on planet earth
28:36so that you can know
28:38what it's like
28:38to have a little piece
28:39of heaven right now.
28:40He says,
28:41I came that you
28:42might have life
28:43and life more abundantly.
28:45That's the Holy Spirit.
28:47So he walks with you.
28:48He talks with you.
28:49He lights up your steps
28:51so that he can guide you.
28:52He makes it so that
28:53you are comforted
28:54and encouraged
28:55in times of discouragement.
28:56He is your guide.
28:58He is your advocate.
28:59He is the Holy Spirit of God.
29:01He will never leave you
29:03nor will he forsake you.
29:04There is nothing
29:05that you can do
29:06or can't do
29:08to cause the Holy Spirit
29:09to no longer indwell you.
29:11He empowers you
29:12to make it
29:13so that you can be
29:14what you cannot be
29:15in your own power
29:16and in your own strength.
29:18He gives you fruit
29:20so that when your patience
29:21has run out,
29:23he gives you an extension
29:24of patience
29:24for that person
29:26with which you have
29:27no more patience.
29:30He gives you gentleness
29:31when your gentleness
29:33has long since gone.
29:34He gives you self-discipline
29:36so that you can restrain yourself
29:38when in your flesh
29:39you are not able
29:40to restrain yourself.
29:42But he doesn't just
29:43give you fruit,
29:44he gives you gifts
29:45so that those things
29:47which might just be
29:48natural talent
29:49now they edify
29:50the body of Christ.
29:52They build people up.
29:53They break yokes.
29:55They loosen shackles
29:56on people's life
29:57because you have been given
29:58the gifts
29:59of the Holy Spirit of God.
30:12But the text
30:13does not tell us
30:14that God's spirit
30:16was in him.
30:18It tells us
30:19that God's spirit
30:20was on you.
30:24Which means
30:27y'all there is
30:28a difference
30:28between God's spirit
30:30being in you
30:32and God's spirit
30:33being on you.
30:39Oh, I'm so grateful
30:40that God's spirit
30:41is in me.
30:43But I want
30:44the presence of God
30:46on me.
30:48I want to live
30:49the kind of life
30:50that is a magnet
30:51that calls down
30:52the presence of God
30:53on my life.
30:54I want him
30:55resting on me,
30:57gracing me
30:57with his favor
30:58on my life
30:59so that when people
31:00see me,
31:01when they see you,
31:02they don't see us.
31:03They see something
31:04they can't quite
31:05put their finger on.
31:07But it sets us apart
31:08from everybody else.
31:12God's presence on you,
31:13his presence marking you
31:14is why your boss
31:16when it comes time
31:16for promotion
31:17looks at your resume
31:19and the other person's resume
31:20and they are far
31:21more qualified than you.
31:23But there's something
31:24about you
31:25that they just
31:26can't quite figure out.
31:32It's the presence
31:33of God
31:33on your life.
31:34When you are marked
31:35by God's presence,
31:37that's the difference,
31:38choir.
31:38That when you sing
31:39the song,
31:39it's not just a song
31:41that tickles folks' ears.
31:42Now the lyrics
31:43reach down
31:44into the souls
31:45and the hearts
31:46of people
31:47and redeems them
31:48and delivers them
31:49and shakes
31:49the shackles off.
31:52the presence of God
31:53on us
31:54is what takes
31:54a message like this one,
31:56help me Lord,
31:57and changes it
31:58from a motivational speech
32:00to a message
32:01that is the power
32:02and the very palatable
32:03presence of God
32:04that sets us free.
32:07It's what makes you
32:09a woman or a man
32:11on whom God's presence rests.
32:15And listen,
32:16you can't buy it.
32:20I don't care
32:21how much money you have,
32:22you can't buy it.
32:23And I'm so glad
32:24you got all them degrees,
32:26but you can't study for it.
32:34God's presence on us
32:36is a gift of God himself.
32:40And I want God's presence
32:42on me,
32:43shall we?
32:43I want God's presence on me.
32:46I want that intangible quality.
32:48It's God's favor.
32:49That's what it is.
32:51It's favor, y'all.
32:52Favor is what opens up doors
32:54that can't nobody shut.
32:55Favor is what puts you
32:57in positions
32:57where you know
32:58you ain't got no business
32:59being there.
33:01Favor is what aligns you
33:02in the right places
33:03that went the right people
33:05in the right season
33:06to accomplish the right task.
33:08It's God's anointing
33:09that marks you.
33:10And when you have been marked,
33:12you do not have to mark it yourself
33:15because you've already been marked
33:17by the Holy Spirit of God.
33:21Oh, I want the presence of God
33:23on my life.
33:25This is what sets you apart
33:26and what it's what makes you distinct.
33:28This is why Moses prayed
33:29in Exodus 33.
33:30He said, Lord, listen,
33:32if you're not going with us
33:33to the promised land,
33:34then we ain't going.
33:36Yahweh had been so upset
33:38with their grumbling
33:38and with their complaining.
33:40He said, y'all go ahead.
33:41I'll meet you there later.
33:42Moses said, uh-uh, not today.
33:44If you're not going
33:45to the promised land,
33:46we ain't going
33:47to the promised land.
33:48Here's why.
33:49He says, because what
33:50will make us different?
33:54How will they know
33:55that we're a different nation
33:56than all the other people
33:58if we are not marked
34:00by your presence?
34:07We've got to be marked
34:08by the presence of God.
34:09And if there is one thing,
34:12gosh,
34:14that invites and magnetizes
34:17the presence of God
34:18on your life,
34:19it is holiness.
34:29Listen to me.
34:33You've got to be holy.
34:41I'm talking about
34:42old-school,
34:44flat-footed holiness.
34:49I'm talking about
34:50the kind your grandmama
34:52used to talk about,
34:53your great-grandmother,
34:54your great-grandfather
34:55before we became tolerant
34:57and sensitive
34:58and accepting anybody,
34:59any old kind of way
35:00to come.
35:01And yes,
35:02you should come as you are,
35:03but don't stay
35:04as you are.
35:04We've been called
35:06to honor God
35:07with our lives.
35:14I flew over
35:15from Dallas, Texas
35:16to my family
35:17at First Baptist Church
35:18of Glen Arden
35:19to employ you,
35:21brothers and sisters,
35:22by the mercies of God
35:23to walk in a manner
35:25worthy of the calling
35:26by which we have been called.
35:31I came to encourage you
35:33to lay aside every weight
35:35and the sin
35:36which so easily entangles us
35:38so that you can walk free.
35:41Galatians 5.1 says
35:43that it is for freedom
35:44that you have been set free.
35:46Therefore,
35:47stand firm
35:48and don't be subject again
35:49to a yoke of slavery.
35:51He paid too high a price
35:53for us to still be shackled
35:55by every sin
35:56and every addiction
35:57and every habit
35:59and every lifestyle.
36:00You don't have to live
36:01that way anymore.
36:05You can have victory
36:06in Jesus' name.
36:09Living holy
36:09is not a call
36:10to perfection.
36:12It is a call
36:12to walk away
36:13from a lifestyle
36:14where you have planned
36:15to sin.
36:16I mean,
36:16where you've scheduled it.
36:18It's in your calendar
36:19who you're going to see,
36:20where you're going to go,
36:22what you plan to do.
36:23It means that you choose
36:25as a lifestyle
36:26to align your behaviors
36:27and attitudes
36:28with the truths of God
36:29so that you can honor Him
36:31and also so that you can invite
36:33the favor of God
36:34on your life.
36:38Why do you think
36:39that the enemy tempts you,
36:41dangles a carrot
36:42of just the right thing?
36:43It wouldn't bother her
36:44or him,
36:45but that's your carrot
36:46that lures you away.
36:48The reason why
36:49is because if you
36:50and I are pulled away
36:51into a lifestyle
36:52of sin and rebellion,
36:54he knows that
36:54that resting presence
36:56of God will no longer
36:57be ours
36:58and if we're not marked,
37:00he can take full advantage
37:01of us every single day.
37:04Holiness,
37:05you've got to live holy.
37:06You've got to decide
37:07to lay it down.
37:09You've got to decide
37:09not to go back.
37:11You've got to decide
37:12and trust the Holy Spirit
37:13to take the taste for it
37:15out of your mouth,
37:16to change your desires,
37:18to change your wants
37:19so that you can align
37:21with the truth of God.
37:24be ye holy.
37:31Lord,
37:32would you forgive us
37:33for wanting to impress people
37:34more than we want
37:35to impress you?
37:37Forgive us,
37:38Father,
37:38for wanting our selfies
37:39to be perfectly lit
37:41more than making sure
37:42that our lives
37:42are full of the light
37:44of God.
37:45Lord,
37:45forgive us
37:46from being so lured in
37:48to friends
37:49and likes
37:50and Instagram followers
37:52that we've forgotten
37:53that all we need
37:54is the applause of heaven.
37:58Help us,
37:59Lord,
38:00to be the same
38:00in the light
38:01as we are in the dark.
38:03Help us to live lives
38:04of integrity
38:05that honor God,
38:06that have character,
38:08that are the same
38:09through and through.
38:11Live holy.
38:15I came to tell you
38:16to lay it down.
38:18Lay it down.
38:19It's not worth it.
38:20The Spirit of God
38:21can't wait
38:22to lay on your life
38:24and give you the favor
38:25that you were made for,
38:26that you were redeemed for,
38:28but you've got to lay it down.
38:31If you are in this room today
38:33and you need to lay it down,
38:34listen,
38:34there is something
38:35you know right now.
38:36The Holy Spirit
38:37is beckoning you
38:38to lay it down.
38:39It might actually,
38:40literally,
38:40be a physical thing
38:41you have with you
38:42and you need to come
38:43and let it go.
38:44Or it might just be
38:45a secret sin of the heart
38:47that you know
38:47you've been holding on to
38:49and harboring it.
38:50Today is the day
38:51when you want to lay it down
38:53and walk in freedom
38:54and fullness
38:55and the favor of God.
38:56If you need to lay it down,
38:58don't think twice about it.
38:59Run to the altar tonight.
39:02Run to the altar and come
39:05and let's do business
39:06with holiness today.
39:13If you choose to live holy,
39:15he's going to open up your eyes
39:16so you can see him.
39:18He's going to open up your eyes
39:19so that you can experience him.
39:23Come on, lay it down.
39:25Whether it's in your heart
39:26and you just need to lay it down
39:27or whether it's a physical thing
39:29you have with you
39:30that's symbolic of it,
39:31if you need to lay it down,
39:32do it.
39:34Come.
39:36In Jesus' name, come.
39:40Be free in Jesus' name.
39:42Victory is yours in Jesus' name.
39:49If you're in the balcony,
39:50we'll wait for you.
39:51Just come on.
39:56Lay it down.
39:57Let it go.
39:58Let it go.
40:05Come on.
40:09Y'all move forward just a little bit.
40:10Move forward just a little bit.
40:13Come on, just a little bit.
40:20Come on, y'all.
40:21Anybody else?
40:22This is it.
40:22This is the time.
40:25Today is the day.
40:26Tomorrow is not promised.
40:32He's calling you to holiness.
40:35He's calling us to be a church
40:37that lives right.
40:39Help us, Father.
40:45Listen, if you do not know Jesus Christ
40:48as your personal Savior,
40:49if you've never placed faith in Jesus,
40:51you come too.
40:52Come down.
41:04Just by you coming,
41:06I'm telling you,
41:06shackles are being broken
41:07off of your life right now.
41:10Off of your life right now.
41:16He's going to take the taste
41:18for the drug out of somebody's mouth
41:21right now in Jesus' name.
41:22He is going to take the taste
41:24for the alcohol
41:26out of somebody's mouth
41:27right now in Jesus' name.
41:29He's getting ready
41:30to change your desire
41:31so that your want to
41:33wants to do
41:34what he wants your want to to do.
41:37He's getting ready
41:37to break ties
41:38with that illicit relationship
41:40that you haven't been able
41:41to shake free from.
41:42He's getting ready
41:43to break that soul tie
41:44right now in Jesus' name
41:46so that you can be free.
41:49He's going to give you
41:50the names of the people
41:51that you need to call
41:52into your life
41:53to be an accountability circle,
41:55to hem you in
41:56so that you can walk
41:58in holiness
41:58and get your footing
41:59in this thing.
42:02Freedom in Jesus' name.
42:04Freedom in Jesus' name.
42:06Freedom in Jesus' name.
42:11You don't have to go back
42:13the same way.
42:14Lay it down.
42:14Tell him right now.
42:16Whatever you're offering to him,
42:18offer it to him right now.
42:22Anybody else?
42:28The shepherd of this house
42:29is about to pray over you.
42:30Pastor Jenkins is going
42:31to pray over you.
42:32You don't want to miss this.
42:35If you need to lay it down,
42:36come.
42:37Don't wait.
42:38Come.
42:43I see you.
42:44God's got you.
42:45He has got you.
42:46It's okay.
42:47It's okay.
42:49It's okay.
42:49It's okay.
42:50It's okay.
42:51It's okay.
42:51It's okay.
42:52It's okay.
42:52It's okay.
43:01It's a couple more minutes.
43:02Come on.
43:05Holiness.
43:05That's what he's called us for.
43:07Holiness.
43:23Lord Jesus, I pray right now
43:25for every sister,
43:26every brother who is gathered here.
43:27I pray first for those
43:28who may not know you as Savior.
43:30Lord, I ask that right now,
43:31even now,
43:32in this holy moment,
43:33they would confess with their mouth
43:35and believe in their heart
43:36that you indeed are Lord.
43:38I thank you, Lord,
43:39that you came to save,
43:40not just to deliver,
43:41but to provide ongoing empowerment
43:43and victory while we're still here.
43:45So, Father, I pray right now
43:47in Jesus' name
43:48that you would not only redeem,
43:49but that you would deliver,
43:51you would set free,
43:52you would loosen shackles.
43:54Lord, that you would cause us
43:55to live in a way
43:56that is different
43:57than how we're living now.
43:58For anyone under the sound
44:00of my voice
44:00who has come forward, Lord,
44:02I pray that by the power
44:03of your Spirit,
44:05you would loosen shackles
44:06off of their life, Lord,
44:07so that they literally
44:08go home different
44:10than when they came today.
44:12Father, help them
44:12to have the courage.
44:14Lord, I pray a holy courage,
44:16a holy boldness
44:17right now in Jesus' name
44:19that you would lay it down,
44:20every sin,
44:22every hindrance,
44:22that you would not go back,
44:24that you would no longer
44:25push that button,
44:27that you would no longer
44:28sit in front of that screen,
44:29that you would no longer
44:30smoke that substance,
44:32that you would not participate
44:33in that illicit relationship,
44:35that your lifestyle
44:36would be changed
44:37in the name of Jesus
44:39and by his power
44:40that has been shed
44:41on Calvary.
44:42Father, we're going
44:43to walk holy today.
44:45Lord, I pray for accountability
44:47in Jesus' name.
44:48I pray that you would send
44:49the right mentors,
44:50the right friend
44:51to stand around,
44:52to stand guard,
44:54to help them to be measured
44:55in their activities, Father,
44:57so that they will have
44:58a sounding board
44:59as they walk worthy.
45:01Lord, help them,
45:01as Colossians 3 says,
45:03to put off the old things
45:05and put on the new things.
45:07Help them to have
45:08the mind of Christ
45:10in Jesus' name.
45:12In Jesus' name.
45:14We thank you
45:15for freedom today, Lord.
45:17We thank you for freedom.
45:20Now listen to me.
45:21Look at me.
45:22It is yours.
45:25Now walk in it.
45:28Walk in it.
45:30Walk in it.
45:39I love you.
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