WEBVTT 00:00:02.443 --> 00:00:04.809 The title of tonight's message is Uncanceled. 00:00:04.809 --> 00:00:08.342 Who in the sun sets free is free. 00:00:08.342 --> 00:00:10.044 Indeed, jesus has set us free. 00:00:10.044 --> 00:00:11.246 He's uncanceled us. 00:00:11.246 --> 00:00:16.213 We were once children of darkness, but we have been brought into the kingdom of light. 00:00:16.213 --> 00:00:25.667 We have been brought into his family, and so he has uncanceled us. 00:00:25.667 --> 00:00:32.734 The accuser of the brethren used to accuse us before God, day and night, but he's been cancelled. 00:00:32.734 --> 00:00:33.655 He's been cast down. 00:00:33.655 --> 00:00:36.982 He no longer has that privilege. 00:00:36.982 --> 00:00:38.304 We are uncanceled. 00:00:38.304 --> 00:00:43.511 That's the title of tonight's message. 00:00:43.511 --> 00:00:46.395 Just join with me as we dive into some scripture tonight. 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:53.845 When Jesus began his ministry, in Luke, chapter 4, I'm going to read these scriptures to you. 00:00:53.845 --> 00:00:58.871 But Luke chapter 4 comes from Isaiah 61. 00:00:58.871 --> 00:01:04.757 This was prophesied about Jesus roughly 800 years prior to him starting his ministry. 00:01:04.757 --> 00:01:08.623 The Jews would have recognized that they have a Messiah. 00:01:08.623 --> 00:01:10.647 They're watching for one. 00:01:10.647 --> 00:01:12.248 They knew Jesus. 00:01:12.248 --> 00:01:14.891 They knew he was the son of the carpenter. 00:01:15.393 --> 00:01:17.995 He was somebody who frequented the synagogue. 00:01:17.995 --> 00:01:22.105 We'll begin in Luke, chapter 4, verse 17. 00:01:22.105 --> 00:01:25.569 He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. 00:01:25.569 --> 00:01:29.495 When he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. 00:01:29.495 --> 00:01:33.802 So here he's, quoting Isaiah, chapter 61. 00:01:33.802 --> 00:01:38.706 The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. 00:01:38.706 --> 00:01:50.677 He sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set it liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. 00:01:50.677 --> 00:02:06.283 Then he closed the book and gave it to the attendant and sat down and the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him and as he's sitting there, he began to say to them today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. 00:02:06.283 --> 00:02:12.329 And so we can go back in Jewish culture and recognize that they had a special place for the Messiah. 00:02:12.329 --> 00:02:16.753 They had a seat in the synagogue ready to receive the Messiah. 00:02:16.753 --> 00:02:19.556 It was labeled Messiah, it was for the Messiah. 00:02:19.556 --> 00:02:21.722 Nobody dared sit in that chair. 00:02:21.722 --> 00:02:24.806 It was specifically reserved for the Messiah. 00:02:24.806 --> 00:02:34.000 And so when Jesus read this scripture about the Messiah prophesied from 800 years before and he said today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:40.453 And then he sits in that seat when he says those words, he infuriated those people in that room. 00:02:40.453 --> 00:02:43.479 These people recognized isn't this Jesus, the son of the carpenter? 00:02:43.479 --> 00:02:53.979 They knew who he was and immediately they were enraged and they took him outside the city and tried to throw him off the cliff, but he just walked through him and they couldn't touch him. 00:02:55.260 --> 00:03:01.528 On day one of Jesus' ministry, religion tried to cancel him and was unsuccessful. 00:03:01.528 --> 00:03:02.889 He was rejected from the start. 00:03:02.889 --> 00:03:07.996 They were filled with wrath and they were unable to truly cancel him. 00:03:07.996 --> 00:03:16.467 And so I'm going to give you another scripture out of Matthew, chapter 15, verse 22. 00:03:17.508 --> 00:03:19.631 This is the Gentile woman that approached Jesus. 00:03:19.631 --> 00:03:32.550 She was a Canaanite and she was not a covenant woman, and so when she approached him, she said she was crying out to him, saying oh Lord, have mercy on me. 00:03:32.550 --> 00:03:36.596 Oh, son of David, my daughter is severely possessed by a demon. 00:03:36.596 --> 00:03:38.979 But Jesus answered her not a word. 00:03:38.979 --> 00:03:43.366 And his disciples came and urged him, saying send her away, for she cries out after us. 00:03:43.366 --> 00:03:48.935 But he answered and said I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 00:03:48.935 --> 00:03:58.253 So this non covenant woman, a different nationality, she was a Canaanite and Jesus said I was not sent to you, I was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 00:03:59.561 --> 00:04:02.185 This is where this lady should have played the race card. 00:04:02.185 --> 00:04:07.313 She should have employed the use of the cancel culture. 00:04:07.313 --> 00:04:07.995 In that moment. 00:04:07.995 --> 00:04:10.123 They should have rushed into savior. 00:04:10.123 --> 00:04:15.032 They should have shut down Jesus' YouTube channel his Facebook page and his Twitter account. 00:04:15.032 --> 00:04:19.105 They should have gone after Jesus and his corporate job. 00:04:19.105 --> 00:04:25.959 They should have gone after his furniture manufacturing company and attacked all those who would ever do business with him there. 00:04:25.959 --> 00:04:29.125 They should have blasted him on every news outlet. 00:04:29.125 --> 00:04:35.980 They should have made posters of the Canaanite woman and probably t-shirts with their picture on the front, and made a hero out of her. 00:04:35.980 --> 00:04:40.492 You know, if Jesus had said those words in today's time, that's exactly what would have happened. 00:04:40.492 --> 00:04:42.980 But that's not what she did. 00:04:44.541 --> 00:04:48.689 In verse 25, it says that then she came and worshiped him. 00:04:48.689 --> 00:04:52.374 Well, that's the opposite of what culture does. 00:04:52.374 --> 00:05:00.694 Today, they hear one thing that is offensive about Christianity, about Jesus, about God, and they immediately the hatred spews. 00:05:00.694 --> 00:05:02.262 But not this woman. 00:05:02.262 --> 00:05:03.605 She worshiped him. 00:05:03.605 --> 00:05:05.069 She came down and worshiped him. 00:05:05.069 --> 00:05:06.331 She said Lord, help me. 00:05:06.331 --> 00:05:08.702 But he answered her again. 00:05:08.702 --> 00:05:14.593 Here he says it is not good to take of the children's bread and give it to the little dogs. 00:05:14.593 --> 00:05:17.365 So now he's doubled down on the insult. 00:05:17.365 --> 00:05:23.425 He called her a little dog, and this is where she should have become absolutely enraged. 00:05:23.466 --> 00:05:29.880 If there was ever a time to employ the cancel culture, it was right here, but she didn't. 00:05:29.880 --> 00:05:33.586 She didn't. 00:05:33.586 --> 00:05:37.853 The cancel culture is just people who take offense. 00:05:37.853 --> 00:05:42.966 And if these offended people are weak, the cancel culture is weak. 00:05:42.966 --> 00:05:48.913 The cancel culture embraces and incites childish temper tantrums. 00:05:48.913 --> 00:05:53.127 The cancel culture is a bunch of pansies. 00:05:53.127 --> 00:05:59.949 Now go ahead and cancel me after I say that Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be pansies. 00:05:59.949 --> 00:06:04.947 Parents train your kids not to be weak or easily offended. 00:06:04.947 --> 00:06:08.913 We need to have thick skin and a tender heart. 00:06:08.913 --> 00:06:12.288 So this woman did not take offense. 00:06:12.387 --> 00:06:21.980 When Jesus called her a little dog and said this bread is not for you, she said oh true Lord, but even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. 00:06:21.980 --> 00:06:26.990 She said I'm not looking for the whole loaf, I'm not even looking for a slice of bread. 00:06:26.990 --> 00:06:33.290 I just need a crumb, just a crumb that would have gone to waste anyway. 00:06:33.290 --> 00:06:34.793 Just a crumb, that's all I need. 00:06:34.793 --> 00:06:37.403 And he said oh woman, great is your faith. 00:06:37.403 --> 00:06:40.148 Let it be done to you as you desire. 00:06:40.148 --> 00:06:42.812 And her daughter was healed that same hour. 00:06:42.812 --> 00:06:49.223 Faith and compassion move Jesus into action. 00:06:49.223 --> 00:06:54.177 Her faith moved Jesus and the compassion on the inside of him. 00:06:54.177 --> 00:06:55.490 He was drawn to her with that. 00:06:55.490 --> 00:07:01.033 When he saw faith, he had compassion on her and her daughter was healed that same hour. 00:07:02.404 --> 00:07:05.550 For the record, jesus was not a hater, he's not a racist, he's not a bigot. 00:07:05.550 --> 00:07:10.454 He had marching orders from God and a purpose for his life. 00:07:10.454 --> 00:07:14.410 He came, number one, to help the Jews understand their covenant. 00:07:14.410 --> 00:07:19.232 They had a covenant that went back and they had been violating their own covenant. 00:07:19.232 --> 00:07:23.451 They had healing in their covenant and yet they let sickness creep in. 00:07:23.451 --> 00:07:28.853 And so he helped them understand their covenant, the covenant, the very covenant that they had neglected. 00:07:28.853 --> 00:07:41.232 And then he came, number two, to fulfill that covenant and to be the end of the law, to complete it for him, because they could never fulfill the covenant, being a broken people on their side. 00:07:41.232 --> 00:07:56.754 And number three he came to bring the entire world a new and better covenant that was founded upon even better promises, and also to multiply the effect of that covenant to bring many into his kingdom through the believer's ministry. 00:07:56.754 --> 00:08:02.310 And so he came to empower the believers through his work and his completed work. 00:08:03.444 --> 00:08:13.994 In John, chapter seven, jesus said in verse 37, if anyone yeah, 37, he said if anyone thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. 00:08:13.994 --> 00:08:20.634 He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. 00:08:20.634 --> 00:08:28.434 Is anyone thirsty, he said Let him come unto me and drink, and out of his heart rivers of living water will flow. 00:08:28.434 --> 00:08:36.552 But then, in verse 39, it says but he spoke concerning the spirit whom these believing in him would receive. 00:08:36.552 --> 00:08:41.732 For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, but Jesus was not yet glorified. 00:08:41.732 --> 00:08:57.033 Because Jesus was not yet glorified, so Jesus was telling them because of what I'm about to do and the Holy Spirit that's about to come down and be part of you and dwell on the inside of you, because of that you're gonna have rivers of living water. 00:08:57.033 --> 00:09:03.929 And so, if Jesus wasn't gonna be here and he said whoever's thirsty, let him come unto me and drink. 00:09:03.929 --> 00:09:10.711 But yet, a short time later he tells his disciples hey, I'm leaving, I'm getting out of here, but don't worry, I'm gonna send you another. 00:09:10.711 --> 00:09:17.791 What Jesus is saying is anyone thirsty, let him come unto me and drink. 00:09:17.791 --> 00:09:28.489 Let him come unto you, the believer in drink, because you're gonna have the Holy Ghost on the inside of you and you're gonna have rivers of living water that flow out of you, out of your hearts, rivers of living water. 00:09:28.489 --> 00:09:31.673 So when this happened, you go back to Acts, chapter one. 00:09:31.764 --> 00:09:43.572 I'm not gonna preach all of Acts, but Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they had been baptized with the Holy Spirit, and when that happened they would receive power, when the Holy Spirit had come upon them. 00:09:43.572 --> 00:09:53.708 So that's Acts, chapter one, and in Acts, chapter 19, paul found disciples and asked them if they had been filled with the Holy Spirit, and they said we haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. 00:09:53.708 --> 00:09:56.470 And he said wait, I thought you were disciples. 00:09:56.470 --> 00:09:58.195 Who are your disciples of? 00:09:58.195 --> 00:09:59.328 They said John the Baptist. 00:09:59.328 --> 00:10:16.269 And so then he had to preach Jesus to them and get them saved, and get them baptized in the baptism that Jesus provided, and then got them filled with the Holy Spirit, and now they're empowered with rivers of living water to go out of them and meet the needs of whoever comes under them. 00:10:16.404 --> 00:10:19.152 And so that's our mission, that's what we're called to do. 00:10:19.152 --> 00:10:21.874 We are called to have rivers of living water flow out of us. 00:10:21.874 --> 00:10:26.433 That's the love, the compassion of Jesus, and we ought to respond the same way Jesus did. 00:10:26.433 --> 00:10:30.729 He responded to faith and he responded to people's needs because he had compassion. 00:10:30.729 --> 00:10:34.534 If it was important, jesus would not have commanded it. 00:10:34.644 --> 00:10:40.932 So it's critical that believers get filled with the Holy Spirit, and so many are not, and they're missing something. 00:10:40.932 --> 00:10:48.690 The church has been increasingly shut up and the church has allowed the trouble that we see all around us. 00:10:48.690 --> 00:10:56.711 If we had rivers, if the church had continual rivers flowing out of us, we'd have a whole lot less dry, parched, cracked ground. 00:10:56.711 --> 00:10:59.251 We'd have a whole lot less trouble in the world. 00:10:59.251 --> 00:11:01.513 But you look around and we've got all kinds of trouble. 00:11:01.513 --> 00:11:04.914 I mean, houston crime rate is at the top of the nation right now. 00:11:04.914 --> 00:11:14.850 That's not a record we wanna have being number one in murders but that's what we have right now because we don't have the church with rivers of living water going out. 00:11:14.850 --> 00:11:23.833 We've got a few, but Jesus wants the entire church to be that way, and so the church has got to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 00:11:23.833 --> 00:11:24.375 It's critical. 00:11:24.375 --> 00:11:31.529 You don't have power with that, he said to his disciples you'll be filled with the Holy Spirit and you'll have power when the Holy Ghost comes on you. 00:11:31.529 --> 00:11:37.130 And so if the church doesn't have that, they're missing the power, and the church has been increasingly shut up. 00:11:37.130 --> 00:11:42.912 The church has allowed this because it has rejected the power it was supposed to receive. 00:11:42.912 --> 00:11:46.134 You know, it's like they've got this power button, an on off button. 00:11:46.134 --> 00:11:47.951 You got the button on off button on your computer. 00:11:47.951 --> 00:11:49.991 It's got a one for on and a zero for off. 00:11:49.991 --> 00:11:54.847 It's a power button, and so the church sees that button there and they're afraid to push it. 00:11:54.847 --> 00:11:59.251 Just push the button, receive the power you need it. 00:12:00.565 --> 00:12:13.113 Instead of opposing the Antichrist voices that brought us the unconstitutional separation of church and state, the church instead embraced it and started repeating those words Well, we've got a separation of church and state. 00:12:13.113 --> 00:12:14.951 The church is supposed to be separate from the state. 00:12:14.951 --> 00:12:16.691 The church is supposed to stay out of the state. 00:12:16.691 --> 00:12:20.289 That's the Antichrist spirit and the church is repeating that. 00:12:20.289 --> 00:12:29.753 And we pulled out of governmental business Instead of rejecting the Johnson amendment so, for those of you who don't know, that's where we get the 501c3, through the IRS. 00:12:30.544 --> 00:12:39.017 Instead of rejecting that, the church cared more about the convenience that that 501c3 gives for donors and their tax benefits. 00:12:39.017 --> 00:12:47.530 Well, we've got to be good stewards of our money and we want our donors to get the best and the most out of their money, and so, as they make a donation, they need to have this tax benefit. 00:12:47.530 --> 00:12:50.254 So we as a church, you see, must have a 501c3. 00:12:50.254 --> 00:12:51.870 That's an all out lie. 00:12:51.870 --> 00:12:53.369 You don't need that. 00:12:53.369 --> 00:13:08.663 And yet the church attorneys and the denominational boards of demons as pastor says, boards of deacons happily accepted these limitations that came along with the 501c3, but in doing so it took away the voice of the church. 00:13:08.663 --> 00:13:15.842 By the way, the church is a non-profit by congressional statute, not because of anything the IRS does. 00:13:15.842 --> 00:13:19.566 The church is a church by congressional statute and thus non-profit. 00:13:19.566 --> 00:13:21.261 The IRS has nothing to do with that. 00:13:21.261 --> 00:13:34.033 And so if you buy into the 501c3 and the limitations, it's a self-imposed limitation and it limits us, the church, from doing God's word, and so we don't do that around here. 00:13:34.033 --> 00:13:36.243 We're not limited to this world. 00:13:36.243 --> 00:13:39.523 We're made free and we can do what this word says. 00:13:39.523 --> 00:13:40.024 We can do. 00:13:40.534 --> 00:13:55.302 Instead of rejecting the executive orders that said you know only essential businesses and so it could be open during times of pandemic, instead of rejecting those kinds of executive orders, the church closed, and they did so in the name of safety. 00:13:55.302 --> 00:13:57.322 Well, brother, you know we love our congregation. 00:13:57.322 --> 00:14:00.100 We've got to stay safe, we've got to keep them safe. 00:14:00.100 --> 00:14:05.383 We've got a covenant of healing, we've got a covenant that goes against sickness and disease. 00:14:05.383 --> 00:14:18.201 And yet the church at large didn't have a revelation of that, and they wanted to keep people safe, and so it closed its doors and it forsook the assembling of itself together, and that's a violation of God's word. 00:14:18.201 --> 00:14:20.861 But this is what the antichrist spirit does. 00:14:20.861 --> 00:14:26.419 It leads people astray, it brings in deception, and deception is crept into the church. 00:14:26.419 --> 00:14:34.100 But we have a new covenant that gives authority over disease, over every sickness, over every disease, over every name that is named. 00:14:34.100 --> 00:14:37.821 We have that as the church, we have that as covenant people. 00:14:37.821 --> 00:14:53.683 And yet the church quietly put a basket over its lamp and retreated to the safety of compliance, where the government could meet our every need according to the taxes that come in instead of the abundance of riches and glory. 00:14:53.683 --> 00:15:04.182 By Christ Jesus, people are becoming increasingly dependent on government and more compliant with government and walking away from this word here that is so precious. 00:15:05.395 --> 00:15:08.404 In Revelation, chapter 1,. 00:15:08.404 --> 00:15:10.020 I'm going to read some verses out of here. 00:15:10.020 --> 00:15:15.200 In verse 10, we'll begin Revelation 1-10. 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:23.243 This is John writing this here and he's talking about what he's just seen. 00:15:23.243 --> 00:15:35.941 He says I was in the spirit on the Lord's day when I heard behind me a loud voice as a trumpet Saying I'm the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. 00:15:35.941 --> 00:15:41.140 What you see right in the book and send it out to the seven churches and we'll skip down to verse 12. 00:15:41.777 --> 00:15:54.202 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke to me and, having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the Son of man, clothed with garment down to his feet and girded about his chest with a golden band. 00:15:54.202 --> 00:16:00.884 His head and hair were white like wool and white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire. 00:16:00.884 --> 00:16:06.799 His feet were like fine brass, as refined in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of many waters. 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:17.605 And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp, two-edged sword and his countenance was like that of the sun, shining in its strength. 00:16:17.605 --> 00:16:20.562 And when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead. 00:16:20.562 --> 00:16:26.561 But he laid his hand on me saying Do not be afraid, I'm the first and the last. 00:16:26.561 --> 00:16:29.014 I am he who lives and was dead. 00:16:29.014 --> 00:16:31.042 And behold, I'm alive forevermore. 00:16:31.042 --> 00:16:32.418 Amen. 00:16:32.418 --> 00:16:35.143 And I have the keys of hell and death. 00:16:38.917 --> 00:16:41.514 You know, jesus had compassion on John, right there. 00:16:41.514 --> 00:16:43.034 John thought that was the end of him. 00:16:43.034 --> 00:16:47.066 He was on the ground and he thought he was maybe dead in that moment. 00:16:47.066 --> 00:16:49.708 But that same compassionate voice came back. 00:16:49.708 --> 00:16:52.514 John would have been familiar with the voice of Jesus. 00:16:52.514 --> 00:16:58.278 He had heard it a lot as a disciple and he heard those words Don't be afraid. 00:16:58.278 --> 00:17:02.381 And so there was compassion in Jesus' voice. 00:17:04.395 --> 00:17:12.015 In Revelation 1, jesus goes on to give commendations and criticisms, instructions and promises to the seven churches. 00:17:12.015 --> 00:17:22.624 There was the Loveless Church, the persecuted church, the compromising church, the corrupt church, the dead church, the faithful church and the lukewarm church. 00:17:22.624 --> 00:17:30.515 So Jesus' words were a judgment to the seven churches, but it was given out of love and compassion. 00:17:30.515 --> 00:17:34.786 He was not wanting one of those churches to be a failure or to be lost. 00:17:34.786 --> 00:17:40.247 He gave each one instruction whereby they could all receive their reward. 00:17:40.247 --> 00:17:46.535 He commended some when they were doing a good job and the others he said what they were doing wrong and how they could fix it and get it right. 00:17:47.297 --> 00:17:51.086 And so Jesus wants to help us get things right when we're out of place. 00:17:51.086 --> 00:18:03.384 You know Jesus is coming back for a church that's without spot, without wrinkle, without blemish, and he expects that that comes out of Ephesians 5, 27. 00:18:03.384 --> 00:18:13.535 And I look around at the times that we're in right now and I see that the sands going through that hourglass we're in the last little bit, the last few sands are going through the neck of that hourglass. 00:18:13.535 --> 00:18:23.663 We're coming close to the end and yet the church is out of position when you can only see a faint flicker of a dying flame. 00:18:23.663 --> 00:18:30.944 In so many churches the church wants to lay low and they don't want to say anything that might get them canceled. 00:18:30.944 --> 00:18:33.535 But we've already been uncanceled. 00:18:33.535 --> 00:18:36.124 Jesus has already done that for us. 00:18:37.037 --> 00:18:40.535 If they would just simply recognize, jesus made us more than conquerors. 00:18:40.535 --> 00:18:43.535 Claire and I were talking about this the other day. 00:18:43.535 --> 00:18:46.404 Maybe she even mentioned it in her preaching. 00:18:46.404 --> 00:18:47.961 What's more than a conqueror? 00:18:47.961 --> 00:18:50.342 The conqueror, the fighter. 00:18:50.342 --> 00:19:05.801 If you like to watch fighting on TV, if you like to watch the MMA fighting, that guy who wins the fight is the champion and he's a conqueror and he's defeated the other guy in that ring and those fights are pretty bloody and brutal. 00:19:05.801 --> 00:19:09.819 But that man is, or that woman they even have women doing that MMA. 00:19:09.819 --> 00:19:12.480 So that winner of that fight is the champion. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:19.682 But when that winner goes home and brings that check to their spouse, the spouse is more than a conqueror. 00:19:19.682 --> 00:19:21.839 So you've got the conqueror who won the fight. 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:27.281 But the one who gets the full benefit of the fight is more than a conqueror, and that's the church, that's who we are. 00:19:27.281 --> 00:19:28.838 We've been made more than conquerors. 00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:37.203 Hebrews 4, verse 15 says For we do not have a high priest that cannot sympathize with our weakness. 00:19:37.203 --> 00:19:41.864 But he was in all points tempted as we are. 00:19:41.864 --> 00:19:44.923 He's been through everything that we can go through. 00:19:44.923 --> 00:19:52.280 He was tempted just like every person can be today, and yet he did it without sin, and he did that so that we can. 00:19:52.280 --> 00:20:03.250 It says here Therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace, where we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 00:20:03.250 --> 00:20:07.911 So that we can come boldly before the throne of grace, we can obtain mercy. 00:20:07.911 --> 00:20:10.291 God's mercy is endure forever. 00:20:10.291 --> 00:20:13.073 It's always available to us. 00:20:13.073 --> 00:20:20.325 We can find grace to help in time of need, and so if we're to be counted faithful, we must do that. 00:20:20.325 --> 00:20:28.853 We must come boldly and go ahead and take advantage of that grace and that mercy that's available to us and that help that's always available to us. 00:20:28.853 --> 00:20:35.594 And we also must become compassionate like Jesus and love people enough to tell him the truth. 00:20:37.404 --> 00:20:40.193 You know what kind of truths are people afraid to hear? 00:20:40.193 --> 00:20:44.251 Here's an easy one Men can't get pregnant. 00:20:44.251 --> 00:20:53.151 And those words right there will infuriate and enrage people to try to cancel the one who said those words. 00:20:53.151 --> 00:20:54.852 They'll try to cancel me over those words. 00:20:54.852 --> 00:20:55.849 Men can't get pregnant. 00:20:55.849 --> 00:20:59.755 It's wrong to kill babies in the womb. 00:20:59.755 --> 00:21:02.451 It's wrong to kill babies outside of the womb. 00:21:02.451 --> 00:21:04.269 It's wrong to kill babies. 00:21:04.269 --> 00:21:11.109 There's a simple truth, and so we ought to love people enough to help them with the truth. 00:21:11.109 --> 00:21:20.231 It's wrong to let violent repeat offenders out onto the street and have the opportunity to keep on committing more crimes. 00:21:20.231 --> 00:21:22.412 We have lawlessness here in Harris County. 00:21:22.412 --> 00:21:36.030 What our Harris County judge, what our Democrat commissioners on that court are doing, what those judges are doing when they let these violent repeat offenders out there, when we try to reduce the funding for our law enforcement officers. 00:21:36.030 --> 00:21:41.634 These people in government positions are supposed to be God's ministers for righteousness. 00:21:41.634 --> 00:21:46.811 They're supposed to be a terror to evil, and that's according to Romans, chapter 13,. 00:21:46.811 --> 00:21:49.113 But when they're not, they're violating God's laws. 00:21:49.113 --> 00:21:51.753 They're in there for an alternative purpose. 00:21:51.753 --> 00:21:57.892 They're serving the antichrist spirit, and that's wrong, and so we ought to love people enough to tell them the truth. 00:21:59.505 --> 00:22:04.053 Jesus had compassion on people and he cared to teach him what was right. 00:22:04.053 --> 00:22:06.928 You know, to have compassion literally means to suffer together. 00:22:06.928 --> 00:22:19.570 It can be defined as that feeling that arises when you're confronted with another's feelings and their sufferings and you feel motivated to relieve their suffering, always follow that compassion. 00:22:19.570 --> 00:22:29.090 When Jesus was feeding the 5,000, this comes out of Matthew, chapter 14, it said he saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion. 00:22:29.090 --> 00:22:32.553 Compassion moved Jesus, and what did he do? 00:22:32.553 --> 00:22:33.548 He healed their sick. 00:22:33.548 --> 00:22:47.076 It says In the same account, but in Mark, chapter six, mark's account of this, it says he was moved with compassion for them because he saw them as sheep having no shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. 00:22:47.076 --> 00:22:52.269 And so compassion caused Jesus to teach them many things and to heal their sick. 00:22:52.269 --> 00:23:01.508 And he also cared about their hunger, enough to show the disciples how to work a miracle and multiply the resources and take a little boy's lunch and feed so many. 00:23:01.508 --> 00:23:05.855 And so compassion moves Jesus. 00:23:05.855 --> 00:23:08.490 He taught, he healed. 00:23:10.224 --> 00:23:14.751 Whenever you have that compassion welling up on the inside of you for you know, you see somebody in need. 00:23:14.751 --> 00:23:24.292 Whenever you have that compassion welling up on the inside of you, that right, there's an indication that the Holy Ghost wants you to do something and he wants to do it through you. 00:23:24.292 --> 00:23:29.354 That compassion is not for you know, hey, I need to find somebody to do this, to handle this. 00:23:29.354 --> 00:23:31.030 That compassion is for you to do that. 00:23:31.030 --> 00:23:33.491 When you have compassion, respond to it. 00:23:33.491 --> 00:23:36.133 Respond with the love of God towards that person. 00:23:36.133 --> 00:23:37.830 Let the Holy Ghost back you up. 00:23:37.830 --> 00:23:39.390 You can't do this in your own power. 00:23:39.390 --> 00:23:40.153 That's obvious. 00:23:40.153 --> 00:23:42.030 That's why we have that power button. 00:23:42.030 --> 00:23:44.311 Push the power button and let the Holy Ghost work with you. 00:23:47.444 --> 00:23:58.694 Matthew, chapter five, verse 11, says blessed are they when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of mean, nasty and evil and ugly things against you falsely, for my sake. 00:23:58.694 --> 00:24:08.010 So when people are giving you a hard time for Jesus' sake, because you're ministering this word or doing this word, it says that you're blessed. 00:24:08.010 --> 00:24:09.307 Blessed are they. 00:24:09.307 --> 00:24:15.647 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake, you're blessed. 00:24:15.647 --> 00:24:26.166 And then it says rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for your reward is in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 00:24:26.166 --> 00:24:32.467 You won't catch any flak until you're over the target, ready to drop the bombs on the devil. 00:24:32.467 --> 00:24:35.165 That's the only time you start getting flak. 00:24:35.165 --> 00:24:41.394 And so if you start getting flak, just know hey, I'm on target, I'm right where I need to be, and then get happy about it. 00:24:41.394 --> 00:24:43.582 It says rejoice and be exceedingly glad. 00:24:43.582 --> 00:24:44.505 And so that's a choice. 00:24:44.505 --> 00:24:47.875 But get there, rejoice and be exceedingly glad. 00:24:48.758 --> 00:24:54.941 So a little bit later, there in Matthew 5, moving on to verse 13, it says that you were salt, you were the salt of the earth. 00:24:54.941 --> 00:25:03.986 But if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned If it is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under the foot of men? 00:25:03.986 --> 00:25:14.007 And so salt, you know, it's got a flavor, it's salty, it does something to your food, it's recognizable universally, but if it loses its flavor it's worthless. 00:25:14.007 --> 00:25:16.154 And so you're the Jesus said. 00:25:16.154 --> 00:25:17.199 You're the salt of the earth. 00:25:17.199 --> 00:25:18.242 Don't lose your flavor. 00:25:20.088 --> 00:25:24.280 Verse 14 says that you're the light of the world, and the city that sat on a hill cannot be hidden. 00:25:24.280 --> 00:25:32.307 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but they put it on a lamp stand that it gives light to all who are in the house. 00:25:32.307 --> 00:25:39.916 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father, who is in heaven. 00:25:39.916 --> 00:25:42.784 You've been uncanceled. 00:25:42.784 --> 00:25:46.212 You've been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven. 00:25:46.212 --> 00:25:48.278 You have revelation knowledge. 00:25:48.278 --> 00:25:50.102 You've got a power button Turn it on. 00:25:50.102 --> 00:25:52.887 Jesus has already paid the penalty. 00:25:52.887 --> 00:25:57.471 He's overcome the world, the connotation being that he's already done this. 00:25:57.471 --> 00:26:01.221 And so you can enforce the terms of the world surrender or the devil surrender. 00:26:01.261 --> 00:26:06.181 And so we're charged to be salt, to be light, and let compassion drive you. 00:26:06.181 --> 00:26:08.404 Be filled with the Holy Spirit. 00:26:08.404 --> 00:26:13.914 You can't accomplish everything that you've been called to do if you're not first filled with the Holy Spirit. 00:26:13.914 --> 00:26:16.500 Believers need to be filled to overflowing. 00:26:16.500 --> 00:26:19.106 Have rivers of living water flowing out of you. 00:26:19.106 --> 00:26:21.659 It is hard to hold back a river. 00:26:21.659 --> 00:26:24.183 Have you ever tried to stop up a river? 00:26:24.183 --> 00:26:25.586 It's hard. 00:26:25.586 --> 00:26:30.442 You can't do it unless you employ some pretty extreme engineering. 00:26:30.442 --> 00:26:31.924 And so be that. 00:26:31.924 --> 00:26:38.906 Be somebody where, when God's word, god's compassion and that truth starts coming out, nothing can stop it. 00:26:38.906 --> 00:26:42.803 It's not just one river that flows out of you, but multiple rivers. 00:26:42.803 --> 00:26:44.627 Rivers of living water flows out. 00:26:44.627 --> 00:26:57.401 You know, claire sometimes says that I'm too salty, and I might be, but really I'm just trying to make up for all the other Christians who have lost their flavor of salt. 00:26:59.365 --> 00:27:07.294 And so we've got to be salt, we've got to be light, we've got to employ what God gave us the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:27:07.294 --> 00:27:09.766 He's our helper, he's on the inside you, it said. 00:27:09.766 --> 00:27:12.696 He would lead you, he would guide you, he would show you things to come. 00:27:12.696 --> 00:27:15.364 There's a world out there that is lost and dying. 00:27:15.364 --> 00:27:16.826 They don't know the truth. 00:27:17.255 --> 00:27:21.284 Much of the denominational church is trying to do things under their own power. 00:27:21.284 --> 00:27:30.381 They have the word, and the word is good, and they'll accomplish some stuff with the word, but the word and the spirit together will put you over the top. 00:27:30.381 --> 00:27:39.349 The word and the spirit together will accomplish so much more than the logos or the written word will Revelation knowledge. 00:27:39.349 --> 00:27:47.579 The Holy Spirit will give you revelation, knowledge about his word, and so then it becomes alive to you on the inside of you and you can accomplish so much more. 00:27:47.579 --> 00:27:49.487 Have that compassion on the inside of you. 00:27:49.567 --> 00:27:51.815 Care about people, love people. 00:27:51.815 --> 00:27:56.163 You know if you're busy loving people it's hard to be mad at them. 00:27:56.163 --> 00:27:59.710 Love is a fruit of the spirit. 00:27:59.710 --> 00:28:05.829 Love keeps no account of a suffered wrong, and so the cancel culture. 00:28:05.829 --> 00:28:08.217 They have a long list of accounts. 00:28:08.217 --> 00:28:15.345 They have an itemized list, a whole spreadsheet of things, of all the wrong things you've said, when you've said it, who you said it to. 00:28:15.345 --> 00:28:18.659 They know who you work for, who to go after, who your friends are. 00:28:18.659 --> 00:28:20.384 They'll camp outside your house. 00:28:20.384 --> 00:28:23.395 You'll have news media that'll come against you. 00:28:23.395 --> 00:28:29.621 You've got all kinds of ways that the cancel culture will try to cancel you out and you could cower, you could become afraid. 00:28:29.621 --> 00:28:31.750 You could say, oh my goodness, they're coming against me. 00:28:31.750 --> 00:28:33.297 I've said something. 00:28:33.297 --> 00:28:35.144 The news media is out here. 00:28:35.144 --> 00:28:42.767 Well, when have you had the news media out in front of you before, where now you have an audience that's much bigger than your living room, than your front yard? 00:28:42.767 --> 00:28:52.961 Now you've got an audience of the world, so you can look at these things and be fearful of them, or you can look at them and say what an opportunity we have. 00:28:53.829 --> 00:29:00.809 And so I go back to when we determined and declared that we were going to be open as a church. 00:29:00.809 --> 00:29:06.809 The county judge was sending threatenings that they might send law enforcement here if we opened up. 00:29:06.809 --> 00:29:14.789 So this was back when this pandemic was getting geared up and churches were closing down. 00:29:14.789 --> 00:29:19.809 The governor had issued his executive order and said only essential businesses can be open. 00:29:19.809 --> 00:29:21.334 And we said well, what about us? 00:29:21.334 --> 00:29:23.279 We're essential, the church is essential. 00:29:23.279 --> 00:29:25.809 And we declared and we determined we're going to be open. 00:29:25.809 --> 00:29:35.809 So it was that Palm Sunday that we opened the doors to the church and we didn't send a notice out to media but they wanted to cancel us. 00:29:35.809 --> 00:29:43.239 They wanted us to be the bad church that was killing people, the bad, irresponsible church that was spreading disease. 00:29:43.239 --> 00:29:46.253 The church doesn't spread disease. 00:29:46.253 --> 00:29:49.781 The church spreads the love of God. 00:29:49.781 --> 00:29:52.258 The church spreads healing. 00:29:52.258 --> 00:29:55.809 We're charged to lay hands on the sick and the sick will recover. 00:29:55.809 --> 00:29:57.796 That's what Jesus said we can and should do. 00:29:57.796 --> 00:30:01.776 And many churches just shut down and so we opened up. 00:30:01.776 --> 00:30:03.098 This is our testimony. 00:30:04.412 --> 00:30:13.750 And the news media was out there, not just one station, but there were, I think, three news media stations out there In the parking lot and we had 120. 00:30:13.750 --> 00:30:22.809 Think about it there were 120 in the upper room when the Holy Ghost filled that room, those disciples in Jerusalem that were waiting for this 120. 00:30:22.809 --> 00:30:31.196 And so we had 120 in our sanctuary that day that we opened up, on Palm Sunday, and we got all kinds of hate mail. 00:30:31.196 --> 00:30:32.760 We got all kinds of bad reviews. 00:30:32.760 --> 00:30:42.682 They tried to overwhelm our Facebook page with bad posts and bad things and, just like Paul said, these things have rather fallen out to the furtherance of the gospel. 00:30:42.682 --> 00:30:46.278 And we had a voice that went out over news media. 00:30:46.278 --> 00:30:47.582 I got to interview on BBC. 00:30:47.582 --> 00:30:49.799 I took a phone call from Good Morning America. 00:30:49.799 --> 00:30:55.769 The New York Post called us renegade pastors Thought, hey, that's kind of cool, we're renegades to the world. 00:30:55.769 --> 00:31:01.935 But we got caught doing what God called us to do and that would have been the end of it. 00:31:01.935 --> 00:31:11.598 Except that we were also open Easter and that meant the same group of news media stations were back here again reporting on us, not one but two weekends in a row. 00:31:12.594 --> 00:31:17.759 And everybody in the Houston area knew that we were that church that opened up and we got to sue the governor. 00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:19.809 We got to push back against lawlessness there. 00:31:19.809 --> 00:31:26.855 You know, we have a constitutional right that's protected under the First Amendment, and so we exercised our right. 00:31:26.855 --> 00:31:29.701 We didn't try to defend our rights, we asserted our rights. 00:31:29.701 --> 00:31:31.578 We just did it. 00:31:31.578 --> 00:31:33.488 And we sued the governor. 00:31:33.488 --> 00:31:41.299 We pushed back and shortly thereafter there was a revision in the explanation of the governor's orders which allowed for churches to open up. 00:31:41.299 --> 00:31:48.809 And then, shortly after that, he issued new orders which encouraged churches to open up, and we were not that super spreader of it. 00:31:49.511 --> 00:31:53.682 We did not have a pandemic that rolled through our congregation and took everybody out. 00:31:53.682 --> 00:31:57.520 On the contrary, people came in here, they loved God, they worshiped God. 00:31:57.520 --> 00:32:02.541 Those whose churches were closed from far and wide came here. 00:32:02.541 --> 00:32:09.413 People came from Austin, from Beaumont, from Galveston not just once, but continually, while their churches were closed. 00:32:09.413 --> 00:32:14.778 They came right here and they got to hear the gospel, they were taught the truth, they were fed the truth. 00:32:15.471 --> 00:32:22.809 There were people that came in here that missed church, that had been out of church and they didn't even know what they were missing until they came into church and felt the presence of God. 00:32:22.809 --> 00:32:30.720 They felt rivers of living water, and we got to water people from all over this region, and we still get to do that. 00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:32.809 And so we, as believers, we're charged to do that. 00:32:32.809 --> 00:32:34.836 We're charged to have compassion. 00:32:34.836 --> 00:32:36.760 We're charged to lay hands on the sick. 00:32:36.760 --> 00:32:43.540 We're charged to teach this truth, to love people enough to teach it, and we're charged to have rivers of living water that flow out of us. 00:32:43.540 --> 00:32:47.681 And so that is what the believers are to do in the end times. 00:32:47.681 --> 00:32:50.638 We are not canceled, we have been uncanceled. 00:32:50.638 --> 00:32:53.378 Don't let the world tell you you've been canceled. 00:32:53.378 --> 00:32:58.734 You can look at it as a threat or an opportunity, and I see it as a huge opportunity. 00:32:58.734 --> 00:33:00.500 We have a much bigger audience. 00:33:00.500 --> 00:33:02.679 When they come against us, more people are listening. 00:33:02.679 --> 00:33:09.079 When they come against you, more people get to hear you, and so let's be doers of God's Word and not hearers only.