Posture | Pure

Start the year with a clear heart and a clear path. We lean into the beatitude “Blessed are the pure in heart” and explore how purity reshapes families, marriages, parenting, work, and community life. This isn’t about perfection or performance; it’s about alignment with God’s presence so we can rest, resist what drains us, and live with integrity that shines.

We share a tangible vision: blessing over homes and marriages marked by honest communication and real intimacy, children and prodigals drawn close to Jesus, and workplaces where excellence is an act of worship. Along the way, we confront envy and the false promises of prosperity, trading comparison for an eternal perspective that makes obedience the true treasure. You’ll hear practical counsel on language and self-talk—how the words we repeat reveal what’s in the heart—and how to reset those scripts with truth and hope.

We also invite you into 21 days of prayer and fasting to replace noise with Scripture, worship, and stillness. Think of it as a recalibration: returning to God with sincerity, submitting to His wisdom, and humbling ourselves so grace can lift us. We unpack what it means to resist the enemy from a place of victory, cast anxieties on Jesus, and live anointed by the Holy Spirit for everyday moments—at the kitchen table, in meetings, and across your neighborhood. Ready to start strong and stay steady? Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a fresh start, and leave a review with one word you’re focusing on this year.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Pure In Heart Vision For The Year
• 2:23 Blessing Families, Marriages, And Children
• 7:55 Favor And Excellence In The Workplace
• 9:54 21 Days Of Prayer And Fasting Invitation
• 12:40 Community And Life Groups To Grow
• 15:26 Zoo Stories And Resting In God’s Strength
• 19:31 Words Reveal The Heart’s Posture
• 22:26 Hope, Purity, And Eternal Perspective
• 27:07 Envy, Obedience, And True Riches
• 32:05 Posture: Return To God With Humility
• 36:48 Submit To God, Resist The Devil
• 40:11 Casting Cares And Staying Sober-Minded
• 43:08 Anointing, Holiness, And Spirit Power

Transcript

Jason Brown: 0:00

Happy New Year. Today we're starting a new theme, and it's called Pure. And we'll be taking a look at our scriptures today. If you have your Bible, your tablet, your phone, at two scriptures that are going to be a highlight for us over the next few weeks. We encourage you to turn there. The first of them is in Matthew 5. It's where Jesus is talking and teaching to us in this piece. And I want you to highlight this as it's going to be speaking to us. It says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And friends, that's my prayer for you for this year. That you would see God, that it would be He would be illuminated in your heart and life this year. And that we would be those that are aligned with Him and His purposes for us. That we would walk in the way He would have us to go. The second scripture is like it in Psalm 51, verses 10 and 11. I'd encourage you to highlight this as well. It says, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Friends, I think each one of us has maybe been in a season where we felt some distance from God, and we felt that we are not those who want to be separated from his presence. It's this opportunity that we have this year to take and start fresh and anew, saying, Lord, I know what my journey has been, but I want to draw near to you in this season. That I want a clean heart that I can approach you, and I can have clean hands that worship you, and I'm the one that can draw near because you're always available to me. It's me that's keeping back from you. And understanding that it starts to align us in a different way because we don't want to be those that the spirit is drawn away from. We want to be those that are walking intentionally with him in his presence and in his purposes for us and for our life. Because he's willing to guide and direct us if we'll open our hearts and our ears to hear him. We have to be willing to do it though. And we talk about this often about walking after Jesus. We know that none of us is perfect. All of us are in need of a savior. And since that's true, then we want to be like his disciples and following Christ where he's leading us to go. Our ambition is to be more like Jesus. And I can tell you that's what I want for you. I want you to be more like Jesus. And that's as a pastor, it's a little bit different because it's a little bit one of those things where I want you to be more like Jesus because that means you'll come to church more. And if you're more like Jesus, you'll probably check green on Planning Center and serve more. And it probably means you're going to give to the Lord and help this place go forward, and you're going to give to missions because you have a heart for God. I'm losing you guys. No. See, I want this for you. I want it for you, for us, but I want it for you, for you. And the reason I want it for you is because I want you to thrive. I don't want you to be held back or to be stunted in your spiritual growth in God. No, I want you to thrive in what he has for you. I've been praying for you and for your families in this Christmas season. And as we come into this morning, praying the blessing of God over your life. Praying it for you and for your family. Friends, I want the blessing of God to rest upon your family. I want them to know the presence of God in such a tangible way that He's the center of who you are as a family. And it's no longer bickering or agendas or this or that, but no, instead, it is the Most High God who is meeting you right where you are, that you can see his tangible presence amongst you while you normally would be fighting. The Prince of Peace has arrived and his presence is with you. That you instill in your children and your grandchildren the ways of God that are better than the ways of mankind. That we have a value for people, we have a value for his presence, we have a value to do the right thing even when people aren't looking at us to be the people of God. I want to pray a blessing over your family. I'm praying a blessing over your marriage. I want your marriage to be amazing. I want for your communication to be open. I want for you to have intimacy with each other that is on fire. And you think I'm joking, I'm not. Because this mechanism of the communication of your relationship, it needs the grease of your intimacy. And whenever you have that together, then everything goes better. So I want you to have amazing intimacy in the name of Jesus Christ. How about that? And I want you to thrive, and I want that to be something powerful because your children are watching how you treat each other. Your grandchildren are seeing how you model what it means to love each other. They want to know: is this God thing real? Friends, let's be a good example of what it means to honor one another, to serve one another, to be together in this process going forward. That the Almighty God would have his blessing on your relationship. I want to see a blessing to come upon your children. Friends, I pray that for every single child, for every single narrative, that they would know the living God from the time that they're small, that they would invite him into their life and they would have a relationship with God. It's not grandma's relationship, it's not mom or dad's relationship with God, it's their relationship with God. And that they can know that he will answer their prayers for them whenever they pray. And they can draw near to God. And it's something that is amazing. I'm praying for the parodical child that's in your life that's away from God right now. Friends, I am a prodigal child. No one is too far away from God. He can reach them wherever they are. I don't care how far back in the room you sit, if you're not even in the room, he's there for you right now. He wants to meet you where you are. Friends, he wants you to have an intimate relationship with him. Friend, every single child. We want every child, every grandchild to know Jesus this year. We want every single one that's afar to come back to him. We want them to know that there is nothing out there. I prayed no satisfaction to the things of the world over them and over their life. I want blessing, I want health, wholeness, all those things. I want them to know it's all hollow except for Jesus. Friends, that they can know the blessing of God on their life. Friends, I'm praying a blessing over your workplace. I want you to be highly favored wherever you go, whatever you put your hands to do. That you are someone who has favor with those that are over you, that you have favor with those that you are over, that you have favor with your colleagues wherever you go to put your time and your energy in, that you're someone that serves the Lord at your workplace as unto God and not to the person that pays your check. It's not for your client, it's not for your boss. You're doing it as unto God. That's why you're better than everyone else at your job, because you put in the work because God has blessed you to do it as unto Him. And friends will see the difference in your life because they see that you're someone who's serious about being someone who does it the right way, who doesn't cut corners, who doesn't skip around it, because your ethic of who you are by the Spirit of God is working through you for excellence as unto God. That it will make a way for you. And I'm praying that in your workplace because they will see the light of God shine upon you and they will be like, what is different with you? And you say, Let me tell you about it. Let me tell you about it. Friends, I want you to know the blessing of God that's in your community, that's anywhere that you put your feet to be, that you would know the blessing of God that's with you wherever you go, wherever you're doing. The people that you meet when you're out at the box store, whenever you're out in the community, your kids practice across the planet, wherever you're chasing your kids to do their activities, whatever you're doing, that you would know the power and the blessing of God upon your life. And that you would experience the peace of God with others that you meet, and you'd have rapport and you would see the favor of God that would be pacing in front of you wherever you go. Friends, I want that for your life this year. I want you to live in the power and the blessing of the Almighty God. Somebody say amen to that. See, what we want to see is start a year that's focused on Him. This next Sunday on the 11th, we're starting 21 days of prayer and fasting. And 21 days of prayer and fasting is a way for us to align our hearts with God. We're not twisting God's arm to do what we want. That's not how prayer and fasting works. What we're doing is we're actually being those who are gonna quiet ourselves, draw near to God, spend more time abiding in his presence that we can hear from his heart. That's what it means whenever we do without something good. I can tell you, people are asking me, it's like, hey, are you done with your tamales from Christmas? Yes, they are in the ministry. You guys know what I'm talking about? Friends, we're gonna have to worry. It's gone. What we want to do is not worry about those things. That's why some people traditionally they fast from food. That means they do without food, and during the time when they would normally be having food, they actually spend time in the Word of God and in prayer. Or maybe you're someone who you get stuck in streaming on one of the services and you just kind of binge stuff. Instead, what if you took that same time and got into the Word of God or a worship song or a Christian book that's gonna help you grow in your faith in God? Maybe you're somebody who doom scrolls on social because it's fun and you know kind of lights you up with different stuff. What if you took some of that time and you're like, instead you're during this season, I'm just gonna take a pause and I'm just gonna do that as unto God? I don't have to declare, behold, I am not upon the socials. You don't have to do any of that. If you have, no worries. But you don't have to do any of that. You could just be like, I'm gonna take this time and set it apart as unto God and see what input happens, what output changes whenever you change your input and your time with the Lord. Friends, I want to take you, everybody, take out their phone, if you would, for just a second and take a snapshot of this QR code. It's gonna take you to our 21-day prayer guide. It's a PDF, and you can just use it as a way to guide you through the 21 days of prayer. It's really easy. There's scripture there every day. I want to say thank you to Serena for helping us build this. And it's one of those things that it just is a thing to help us in navigating forward. We're gonna pray over our community, pray over those in authority over us, pray for our government, pray for our community and our church. All the things that are happening is a way to guide us forward in this season of prayer and fasting. We're gonna start that this next Sunday together and do it for 21 days, finishing on the first week of February, uh, the first Sunday of February. So that's what we're gonna be doing over these next days. I want to encourage you to join with us. It's this idea of being pure in our heart towards God. Now, if we haven't met, my name is Jay. I want to welcome you to Cornerstone. We are blessed to be here with you, Celeste and I serving here and getting the opportunity to lead such a great team of people. I want to encourage you because we have life groups coming up in just a few weeks. And so I want to encourage you to decide to be a part of a life group. That means that you're gonna be someone who gets involved and connects with other people, makes a new friend. You're gonna be someone who grows in their relationship with God. You're gonna be someone who serves with your time and your talent. I could tell you, if you want to go deep and actually have friends at church, this is the way to do it, is get involved in a life group. It's hard, man, whenever we sit in these services. You guys might not know the people on the other side of the room, in the other service, in the balcony, the people online. It's hard to connect. So we have to be intentional. And I could tell you from our women's groups to our men's groups to our marriage groups, all sorts of things that are going on, our young adults' groups that are happening, and the youth are doing different things. Everyone has an opportunity to get connected. So I want to challenge you and encourage you to get involved in that. Together, we'll love God, we'll make disciples, we'll reach the world. How many people were encouraged by Pastor Celeste's sermon this past week on finishing strong? I know I was, it was a blessing to us. If you missed it, let me challenge you to go back, take a look at it. It's on YouTube, it's on uh Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other places you can find it, and take a look, listen to what God was challenging us about. You know, she talked about and used this scripture out of Hebrews 12, talking about letting down and letting go of the weights that would otherwise hold us back, and instead being those that endure and finish the race with God. That's what we want to do is finish stronger than what we started. And so in doing so, what's in alignment with what we're talking about today, which is the idea of pure, of having a pure heart before God. Now, a few days ago, my family and I got a chance to go to the San Diego Zoo. And if you get a chance to go, I encourage you to go. It's it's both cases awesome to see the animals, but also awesome just for people watching. Isn't what I'm talking about? Where I they people are watching the animals, and I am watching the people. For some reason, everybody at the zoo was big into taking pictures of the dairyers of all of these animals. They're big into it. And I was big into taking pictures of people taking pictures of dairiers. So it was fun. It's very meta. And you know, they're over there laughing and cracking up, and I'm over there taking pictures of them. So it was a fun time. But I could tell you there were some things that kind of stood out to me when we were there. And one of those was that there's this amazing sculpture of this line as you walk in. And I was thinking about how scripture talks about that the Lord is the lion of Judah, and he's the one that is fighting on our behalf. I think of C.S. Lewis and his portrayal of Aslan as being the one that would fight on our behalf. And I think about that as who the Lord is for us. And if he's that roaring lion, then he is the one that fights the enemy. And when we align with him, then it's the fight against the enemy by the Lord. It's not us out there with a water pistol trying to fight hell. That we're in alignment with the most high God. And it was interesting seeing these alpha animals that otherwise in the, you know, out in the wild, they would be the dominant ones, right? All these big cats, that these big bears, and and you would see them, they would run around their cage and kind of establish that this is their spot. And then they would take a very restful nap, knowing that there was nothing there to get them and that they had established their dominance. And I'd never seen things more relaxed than these big cats, right? They're like, and then they're like blah. I was like, I've never had that good a rest ever in my whole life. You look at these lions, man, they're so good. They're upside down, wanting you to scratch their belly. It's crazy. I was like, this is awesome, man. And you know, moments before they're like rah, rah, and then they're like, ah, rub my belly, somebody. I was thinking about this, man. Polar bears are one of the only known animals to actually hunt humans because they're like carnivore carnivores. And this guy, man, you couldn't even get him off the rock. There was like all this wonderful water and toys and whatever. He's just chilling. Occasionally he'd look over, he's like, I wish I could eat you for breakfast. And then he would lay back down on the rock. And it was very cool, man. We're just checking him out. But it kind of brought to my mind how the alignment of, you know, there's a real enemy out there to get us, but when we're aligned with Christ, we're in this safety, much like they are in this safety, where they don't, they're not afraid of anything coming to get them. They're not stressed out by what's happening, they are resting in who they are. And there's a perspective about that. I think sometimes we fall into this category of those that are naturally prey. Now, they haven't been attacked at all in their generations. You could see it here, and and they haven't been attacked in their generations, but it doesn't matter. This is inside of them that they know things are out there to get them. So they're looking all the time. In fact, I was like, hey, see this little one right here? It just turns its head right towards me and it's like, Are you talking about me? Are you trying to eat me? What are you doing? You know? I think sometimes we run around with that same anxiety energy, worried that everything is gonna fall apart at any time. And friends, we should instead have a posture that says, No, I belong to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Creator God, who I am in alignment with, and my posture is in him, so therefore I cast my cares on him, and I'm gonna rest in his presence. And somebody deal without the anxiety for the day and cast your cares on him. I pick up in scripture today looking at Luke and coming to this scripture, it starts to kind of unpack for us. We're gonna look at different pieces here, talking about this idea of posture. Luke 6, 45 says, the good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good. And the evil person out of the his evil treasure produces evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. And I think that's true in our own experience, beyond, of course, just being true in scripture. But it's one of those things that you can understand how you're doing in your heart by what you're saying. I'm gonna try over here where there's a better reception. How many people know what I'm talking about? When you hear yourself saying things that aren't in alignment with God, then you know how you're doing in your heart. And I think that's why it's talking about, you know, understanding that from your heart is gonna be the abundance of however you feel. And if your feelings are in check because you're in alignment with God, then it's gonna be a different thing you profess over your life. And if you hear your own voice speaking things over your life, then you'll believe it. So when you start saying, oh, I'm stupid, or oh, I'm dumb, or oh, I didn't get that right, blah, blah, blah, you're saying that over yourself again and again and again. And in friends, instead, what we see is an alignment with Christ where we're supposed to be those who have a posture saying, Listen, I know what my past has been, but that doesn't dictate my future. I can make different decisions in alignment with Christ and see a different outcome than what I've experienced previously. The chains of sin can be broken off in the name of Jesus Christ. The old mentality, the old prejudice, the old things that have got you by the neck in the past, gone in Jesus' name, that we can walk forward free in what he wants to do in and through our lives. First John 3 says it like this in verse 2 Beloved, we are God's children now, that we will be and has not yet been appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him, meaning Jesus, purifies himself as he, as Jesus is pure. Another piece in Scripture, the psalmist says in Psalm 73, verse 1, uh it says this, truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. The psalmist is writing this, thinking about all the times that Israel was not good and was not faithful to God, when Israel complained the whole time about everything that ever happened to them, and how God was continually good to them, continually steadfast in his mercy, continually giving them another opportunity. But friends, even better if we are those who are aligned with him and we are pure in heart. We will see God's action on our side even quicker than those who are at a distance. It continues in Psalm 73, 3, for I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. I think this is interesting because I can connect with this. You know, whenever I was young, my parents uh they didn't come into ministry because they didn't have any other options. It was quite the opposite. My dad left uh a very lucrative position and opportunity to be bloated, super rich, to go into ministry and not be. You know what I'm talking about? And so I grew up as a pastor's kid in church without the money that he could have had from the job that he didn't take. And I was a little bit bitter about it because I was smart enough to know that we didn't have the things that I wanted. And that I other people around me, they're apparently heirs of Warren Buffett or something. They had all the things. And you know, I was just like, Well, I want that. I want that. Why did you have to say yes to God? We could have been loaded. You know what I mean? I didn't understand that I actually have something so much greater than they could never buy with all their money, which is I have a heritage from God. I have a mentality of Christ. I have parents who are good and modeling the way of God, and obedience to God is greater than money. Money can be taken away from me. Obedience to God is not, it's eternal. I didn't understand it. I didn't align with me when I was young. I just thought about what I didn't have. And so there was this piece inside of me that, you know, oh, if you do this, then you can't, there's no good things for you. That's not true. Friends, even being broke missionaries across the world, we've had such a rich life, and our kids have had such a worldview that we couldn't have bought them had I had all the money from staying in corporate America. And now they get to see people as people, no matter where they are from, what color they look like, what language they speak, all of them being people who God values and who God wants to have a relationship with every single person from every single place. And because of that alignment, that's something that we get to reap as a benefit because of the obedience to God. The psalmist says it a little bit different here. He just breaks it down. He says, For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. He continues, he says, For they have no pangs until death, meaning hunger. Their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in troubles that others are. They're not stricken like the rest of mankind. He wants to be fat and sleek, friends. Some of you are already there. Congratulations. You've done very well. The psalmist would be so proud of you. Most of us are trying to go the other direction. You guys know what I'm talking about? And he's like, no, man, they're fat and sleek. Look at that. Because he knows the hunger. He knows what it means to go without a meal. And meanwhile, he's writing about these who are, it doesn't seem like they have anything wrong going with them. They have all the things. And he's talking about how instead, that's not what we should be going for. Instead, we should have a heart that's after God. He says in Psalm 73, 25 and 26, Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Friends, that's what we're talking about, is to understand that the thing that we're after is not what other people have. That stuff is fleeting. Even if you buy the best brand new thing, in just a few moments, it's already old. And you don't have the new one anymore. And even if you can think of a person that has the greatest amount of wealth, maybe they have a billionaire on their name, guess what? There's people who have more than them. And there are people who don't want to be on the list that have more than them. And it doesn't matter because even in that pecking order, it doesn't matter at all because none of those things are eternal. And all of those things will pass away as they pass away. But as we live for God, we live for an eternal purpose that is greater than anything else that's temporary on this earth. And I can tell you, once we get that aligned in our heart correctly, then it then being those who are obedient to God and saying, okay, I'm going to do without this good thing I like for something better, that's that's something that we just say yes to. We say yes to God. And when we do that, then he's willing to trust you with even more. He said, I'll trust you in the small things and in the small, then I'll make you over greater things. Isn't that what he says about those who are good stewards? And so the same way that we would be those that align our hearts with him, so he can trust us with a bigger platform for what God wants to do in and through our lives. And you see it here that it says that who am I of heaven for you, that my flesh, my flesh and heart may fail, that everything may come apart, but you are steadfast. You are the God who keeps your promise. Friends, that's who we're called to be, that He would be our portion, He would be our strength forever. As we are those who are looking to have a pure heart and a posture after God, it means for us to be called clean from sin. You know, before you even came inside this building, before I ever arrived here today, you already know areas in your life where God is talking to you about it. I don't have to call it out, I don't have to say anything that's your male or anything that you're dealing with, because every single one of us has fallen short. Every single one of us is those who need more of God's love and grace that need his forgiveness. Every single one of us are those who need to be clean from sin. And so as we look to the scripture in Proverbs 20, it says it like this: Who can say, I've made my heart pure and I'm clean from my sin? Friends, we know this. We talk about this often, that it's not possible for us to earn our way or buy our way into God's grace. We can't do enough good works. You can't earn your way into it by giving to the poor or something like this. No, that's a response of our heart because of what God has done in and through us. That's why we do those things, as James talks about. But instead, it's one of these things that we understand that it's Him that does these things on our behalf. It's Christ who's become the sacrifice for all people. And it's the reason why we know how we're doing by our actions. Because our actions, as we know, speak louder than words. We can say, oh yeah, no, I trust God, but then your actions are gonna say whether or not you really trust God. We're gonna say, oh no, God's a priority in my life, but then we know by our actions whether or not he is a priority. It continues here in Proverbs 20, verse 11. It says, even a child makes himself known by his acts and by whether his conduct is pure and upright. That's why today we're talking about when this idea of pure, we're talking about the idea of posture. It's the first idea. The idea of posture is the way that we live with God. See, so often we're those who who might want to put God on the side, like he's just a part of our life instead of living for God as the for focus of our life. And if our posture is one where we're humbled and we're drawn near to God, then we can approach God in that way. Whereas if we're puffed up and full of pride, well, then we'll see what it talks about in Scripture. It jumps here, and the first takeaway is this in posture is a challenge to return to God, return to God. Joel 2, we talked about it this summer, says, Even yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, with mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He relents over disaster. And we could see right here what it's talking to us about is that it's really about your heart and not about your outward appearance. You know, when we talk about it often is this idea that we want to live for God and He already knows all the things. We can't bluff God. I don't care how good you are at cards, you can't bluff God. He knows all the things. And so we can try to act and put our stuff together and put a face on, he knows the real. And in their day, see, when they would rend or tear their garments, it was an outward sign that they were in mourning, that they were, they were someone who was really going through it. So they were showing other people, like, hey, I'm really sad, I'm really tear, I'm really mournful about my actions. So they would tear their garments. Their garments was one of the most expensive things they had. It was something that took lots of time and effort. It's not like now we just go get fast fashion from the mall. It's not like that. And their day was this significant thing. He's saying, listen, save the garment, tear your heart, and be contrite in your heart towards God. Make it for real. Because you can put on the show, the show doesn't matter. Really is where is your heart after God? And you can think about this as someone who's praying to the Lord during, you know, fasting and having a focus on God is that they want to have something that's real. They want to be a real connection with God, not just going through the motions, not just doing a list of me, me, me. You ever been in that kind of prayer? Lord, I need this and I need this and I need this and I need this and I need this. See you tomorrow. Bye. He's like, What? You know, uh, we had some friends who were visiting from France the first service. And one of the things that we learned in France is that you can go and try to do business straight away the American way, it doesn't work. Because unless you greet a person and treat a person as a person, they won't even respond to you. You can walk into a cafe and be and ask for a coffee, you ask for a croissant, and they would just look at you. And you could do it again and try to use your terrible French and they would just look at you. And then you were like, Bonjour, monsieur, bonjour, monsieur. And then you can do business. But you have to treat a person as a person first. And friends, if we are those who are personable with God, then we're gonna be those that draw near to him before we ask for anything. It says he already knows what you need. So we're the ones that draw near to him and say, Lord, have your way in and through me. Lord, I need your wisdom to navigate the situation. Lord, I need your presence, Lord, so that I don't make the wrong decisions here. Anybody else? Now we can be those that are in alignment with him. The second takeaway is in posture is this idea of submit yourself. Submit yourself to God. In James 4, it says, but he gives he gives more grace. It's talking about in context about all these decisions that people can make that are away from God, and how we have to come back into alignment with him, and how he is the one that gives grace to us. Therefore, it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. What does it mean here? You look at it, you think about this as we're going to this scripture, and it's talking about all these different elements in this short amount of scripture. It says that God opposes the proud. Well, why is that? Well, it's because God is holy. And if you're all puffed up with pride, that can't come into him proximity with the holy God. So it's not God that's keeping you from him, it's you that are keeping yourself from God. So that's why he has to keep you at a distance, because if you come closer, his holiness will kill you. So what he does is he keeps you at a distance because he loves you. And because your pride prevents you from drawing near. But if you're someone who will humble yourself and say, Lord, I do need you. Lord, I do, I'm a broken person, I need forgiveness. You humble yourself in alignment with God, it's a different posture. And you can draw right near because he's available to you right here. He's the God of the universe who came all the way to us. And so, friends, let me encourage you that you would be someone who humbles your heart and doesn't have to be humbled by circumstances. But instead, we have the right heart first, and it says that he will be those that makes a way for us and lifts us up. Also, what does it say? If you're in alignment with God, it says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. And why is that? Well, it's not because you are the one that's doing the resisting. No, it's because the power of God is you're now in alignment with the power of God, and he has already been victorious over the devil. So the devil has to flee. Doesn't mean that darts aren't going to be fired your way, doesn't mean that attack won't come your way. There is a real enemy of your soul that does not like you. He doesn't want you to thrive, he doesn't want good things for your family. Why is that? Because he knows he already lost. He's a bad loser. So he wants to take everybody down with him. And let me encourage you, don't be one of those. Be those that are aligned with the living God. That you get your heart right first, so that the victory is yours. So that as you go to the Lord and draw near to him in those times of prayer, it's something substantial. It's something amazing. And as you draw near to him and you're praying to him, it's something powerful that can happen in and through your life. Continues in James 4, 8. It says, Draw near to God, he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you, or he will lift you up. Friends, I love this because it gets down to the nitty-gritty. It gets down to business. Saying, listen, if you are someone who is doing all these things, don't expect that God is going to be fighting on your behalf whenever you're being duplicitous, when you're being against the ways of God. How can he fight for you? Instead, align yourself so you'll be in sync with what he wants to do. As you humble yourself, he will lift you up. And I love this because it just tells us about what will happen. What does it say? It's all these things about being serious in your life with God. So it doesn't mean a fleeting moment in the morning where you're like, God, please forgive me and uh that I'll have a good day and that I'll be blessed. Amen. No. That we be those that are serious about our heart with God, serious about the sin we've committed against Him. It's not fake, it's authentic. And we could say to God, Lord, you know me. You know where I'm at, you know where I fall short. Help me, Lord, with my pride, help me, Lord, with my thought life, Lord, help me with my ambition, help me with these things, help me with this, help me with that. Lord, help me. I'm a broken person. I need help. And as you humble yourself, see that He will lift you up and elevate you past what you would try to climb and do on your own. Continue here with this next idea of posture, posture of humble yourself, as we said. It says in 1 Peter 5, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Friends, that's what we talked about earlier, is about being those that cast our cares on God, our anxieties on him. I could tell you about this. I need that just for today. My day already started out that way today. I mean today, today, like the day, this one. I already need to cast my cares on Jesus. Because as I do, then I'm not the one that's trying to stress and this and that. No, Lord, give me the wisdom to navigate this thing and not have a bad attitude and not bite someone's head off. Just me? Okay, great. 1 Peter 5.8 says, be sober-minded. Be watchful. For your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. That if that gate suddenly disappeared, I would be in big, big trouble. Because suddenly they wouldn't be laying on their back. The lion would come alive and he'd be looking to eat me. You can see this image as we have here of this, you know, like a digital lion trying to come eat you. You could imagine that that sleeping lion would be like, you know, I need a snack. I like you. You know what I'm talking about? And that's how the enemy is to us is that he's like, I want to see which one of them is straggling outside. I want to come and snack a little bit on their situation. And friends, that's not what we want. That's not what we have. That's not what the scripture says, is that we need to be those that are sober-minded and aligned with God because as we are, then we're safe in his presence because he's the one that's fighting on our behalf. We continue with posture talking about this and the anointing that's overflowing out of our posture with God. See, whenever we are those who are puffed up with pride, then it means that we have to be kept at a distance from God. So instead, that we would be those that humble ourselves and draw near to God. His model for anointing someone for ministry and anointing them for the things they're called to do, we see as the priests were set in motion there and the anointing of Aaron in the time of Moses. And it wasn't an Aaron that anointed himself. It wasn't Aaron who had the power to anoint his sons. No, it was God who is saying, set them apart and anoint them with this oil that's going to represent my spirit. And as I do, as I place this oil upon their head as it drips down them, then my anointing will be significant over them. Friends, that's what I want in my life. I want to be the one someone who's anointed by God to do the things he's called me to do. How about you? I know this. I would much rather be anointed by God than trying to do my own thing and acting like I am. I want to be someone who's living for him. It continues here, it talks about it in scripture, it comes alive in Exodus 29. It says, You shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him, meaning Aaron. Continues, and it says, You shall take part of the blood that's on the altar and of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons, and his sons' garments, and on him, and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his son's garments with him. And friends, this is what we see is that the model that's there for us is the same one we experience. That it's the sacrifice, the blood of the sacrifice that takes the place of the person's sin. That's what Jesus came and did for us, is that he became the sacrifice for all people, the holy sacrifice for everyone. And he becomes like the sacrifice of old, the one that lays down their life, that signifies the sin of people. And the sin is on that, on that thing that dies. And so the sin is paid for. And so as the anointing is upon the person, so they're sprinkled with this indication that's saying they've been made in right standing, not of their own doing, but the sacrifice that was made for them. And so what God has done by his spirit, not in the physicality, but by his spirit, is that he has anointed us and his sacrifice for us has set us apart and made us holy, not of our own doing, because we are filthy rags before the Lord, because of his doing we're made in right standing with the living God. And so as we embrace what he wants to do in and through our lives, we too are those that get to be anointed by God to draw near to him and have that outpouring of the Spirit of God upon our lives. At the end of the Christmas season, we talked about being a light, being a light wherever we were around us. And that light is signified by the oil of the Spirit. And in the Holy of Holies, that's what was there. The oil that burnt this lamp before God. And friends, that's what we're called to be too, is called to be those that are powered by the Spirit of God to be a light wherever we go. And that we too would get to be the blessing of God to others as we experience his presence, because we are now the walking incarnation of the Holy Spirit of God as He leads us to be impactful wherever we go. So let's be those who are real and authentic and humble in heart so he can use us and lift us up for his glory. Amen. We have a video for you. We're gonna come back.

Video: 39:26

There is nothing you cannot do with God. No matter who you are, where you come from, what your past may be, you were made for more. This new road set before you, God already has a plan for. This season of life you're walking through, Jesus wants to walk with you. This is your moment to do more than you would ever imagine. The more that God has prepared for you, more of his presence. More of his goodness. More of his kindness. More of his peace. More of his joy. More of his power breaking through ordinary circumstances with extraordinary strength. More of him. So when you stand before your Goliath, you don't shake with fear, but have more strength in your spirit and more courage in your bones. More of him. So when seasons of darkness surround you, you can declare more of his promises over your life. More of his presence filling you. More of his Holy Spirit walking with you. Jesus is calling you to more of him each and every day. So stand up in your spirit. Put on the full armor of God. Declare with authority that Jesus is more than enough. Speak it over your life, over your family's life, over your future. Make this the declaration that marks the next chapter of your incredible story. That you were made for more.

Jason Brown: 41:08

Amen. Love what she said there. You're made for more. Friends, let's be those that are humble in heart, have the right posture so we can be empowered by the Spirit of God to live pure lives after Him. Today, with this opportunity to respond to this message of God's goodness, maybe you're here and you've never made a decision to follow Jesus. Today is your opportunity to do so. It's your opportunity to invite him into your heart and life. And I can tell you, that's what has made such an impact on us, each one of us having to answer that question of have you embraced Jesus? See, for us, the symbol of the cross is one of freedom and forgiveness. It's one where Jesus took all of my sin and all of my brokenness and all of my mistakes, and he took it upon himself. And as he died, that sin died with him. He took all of your sin and all of your mistakes as well. And in doing so, he paid for the sin of the world once and for all for all people. But I have good news, friends, that Jesus is not dead, but he is alive. And so we can have an active relationship with the living God. And so as we pray and ask him into our hearts to forgive us of our sin, forgive us of our brokenness, to start a new life with God, we're doing so in having a real active relationship with the living God. This isn't a dead deity, it's not a good idea preacher. No, this is the living God, the Messiah, the very answer for us all. And it's only through Jesus that this is possible. See, as broken people, all of us know all of us have made mistakes, all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It's only through a holy sacrifice, only through Jesus as the one who became that for us, that we can be in relationship with the Father. The Apostle Paul, he writes to the church at Rome, he says this, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. But with the heart one believes and is justified, with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Friends, today, it's your opportunity to say yes to God, to start a new relationship, to invite him into your heart and life. I'm gonna ask everyone if you're here in the room, if you just stand to your feet right where you're at, bow your heads as Christians are praying. Friends, we've been praying for you that you would make a decision to follow Jesus today. Friends online, wherever you are, take a moment, pause for what God wants to do in and through your life. Maybe you're here, you've heard this sermon talking about having a pure hands and pure heart before God, living as those who are humble before God, but maybe you don't even have a relationship with God. Today is your opportunity to say yes to God, to invite him into your heart and life. Or maybe that's been your story in the past, but then you walked away from living for God. Today is your opportunity to recommit your heart and life to Him. His heads are bowed here in the room. If that's you, and you'd say, Pastor, I just want to be included in that prayer. You just raise your hand right where you're at. Just indicate that you want to invite Christ into your heart and life. We see the hands that are there, the hands, the other hands that are there. Thank you, Jesus. As people making decisions for Christ, you see the hand that's there and the hands that are there. Thank you, Jesus, as people are saying yes to God today. Friends, wherever you are, the even online, wherever you are, we agree with you as you're inviting into Christ into your heart and life today. Thank you, Jesus. I'm gonna ask everyone if they would pray this prayer out loud after me. Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name I pray. Amen. Amen. Friends, we rejoice that you make a decision to follow Jesus today. Praise the Lord. Many people raising their hand today in this service and in the service before as well. Praise God. That's you. Take a moment, take a snapshot of this QR code. It's the next steps, and we want to put materials into your hand so that you can be successful in living your life after God and living for Christ. Today, all of us have this opportunity to respond to God's love. And as we start this year and go into a time of fasting and prayer, I would challenge every person to come and make an altar with God during this song. That you would come forward as an act of obedience, as a step towards God, saying, Lord, if there's anything in my life, any attitudes, any sin, anything, Lord, that you would forgive me. I want to be made in right standing. Lord, if you if you're if you can give me guidance and give me impartation of your spirit, I need that as well. And he can do all those things and more, friends. So I'm encouraged every single person to come and make an altar with God. Lord, we thank you for your word today and how you speak to us. Lord, how you challenge us, Lord, and encourage us. Lord, that we are those who can come and approach you. Lord, that you've come all the way to us. Lord, that we would be those who are humble in heart and have the posture, Lord, of alignment with you. Lord, that we would be those that ask for forgiveness and Lord, have nothing in between us and you, but instead, Lord, that we would be imp we would be empowered by your spirit so that we can be those who have an impact in this world around us. As we come to this altar, we do so, Lord, thanking you for the blessing upon us, upon our family, upon our marriages, upon our children, upon our community and our workplace, Lord, and how you're working in and through us for all of those things. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Celeste Brown: 47:00

So next Sunday we'll be starting prayer and fasting. This week, I want you to begin to think about what you're gonna do and just remember we're giving up something good so that we can attain something better.

Jason Brown: 47:12

Before we go, I want to place a blessing over us. The Lord bless you and keep you. And be gracious to you. Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. Lord, you would empower us by your spirit to live your love out to those around us. Pray all this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Know this. We love you very much. You're a cornerstone. God bless you, and happy new year!