WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:05.280 Pick your Bibles up, pick your Bible up and wave them around, make Jesus glad, the devil mad. 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:06.160 Say this together. 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:10.560 Say, Heavenly Father, we're so glad to be here today. 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:13.759 It's Family Communion Sunday. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:23.280 We're having fellowship with our family, our natural family, our spiritual family, our church family, and with you. 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:31.440 And we thank you for the Holy Ghost that's here that empowers us to be alive in this last day. 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:35.520 We're going to accomplish what we've been designed to accomplish. 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:37.520 In Jesus' name. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:39.280 Amen. 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:40.479 Praise God. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:44.799 Alright, let's turn in our Bibles to 1 John chapter 1. 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:46.240 Bible Little Horse. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:48.159 Well, y'all will bear with me. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:54.159 I had a procedure this week, ablation of my heart. 00:00:54.240 --> 00:01:00.560 It was totally successful, and the doctor was happy about the results. 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:04.319 And so we're going to prove that out, you know, trust but verify. 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:05.599 Trust him, not the doctor. 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:08.159 But I do trust the doctor, but not like I do God. 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:10.239 God's word always works. 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:12.959 You know, doctors treat, but God heals. 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:18.159 But I had to be intubated, so they had to, you know, that they have to run the tube down your throat. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:28.959 And so, and then a complication from that later that week is I got a virus up in my, and so I had to go to the emergency room yesterday and get steroids and all that stuff. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:34.560 So I'm a little bit uh not myself, but I'm gonna I'm gonna get into another gear here, okay? 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:35.840 Y'all just be patient. 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:37.359 1 John chapter 1. 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:39.280 I'm shifting gears. 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:41.439 Verse 3. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:46.959 This is John, you know, the one that we based our book of Revelation. 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:54.560 You know, John was uh he said he was Jesus' favorite, you know, the apostle whom Jesus loved. 00:01:54.799 --> 00:02:03.120 All right, so John says, that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us. 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:09.759 See, you got to read that real close because, in other words, he's he's saying they have fellowship with God. 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:12.400 Now he wants you to have fellowship with us. 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:23.840 So we have seen and heard, declare we unto you that you may also have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:31.039 So you can see then that there's a vertical and a horizontal component to that word fellowship. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:36.560 And these things write we unto you that your joy may be full. 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:37.919 Praise God. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:52.000 All right, and then in James chapter 5, just a couple of pages back to your left, verse 16, and I'm gonna read the second part of the verse. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:57.599 The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:13.759 I want to read the amplified, the earnest, heartfelt, continued prayer of a righteous man or woman makes tremendous power available, dynamic in its working. 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:20.080 And so I wanted to start a series today on prayer, joining forces with God. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:24.479 Prayer, joining forces with God. 00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:30.000 I mean, oh, how the father longs to have fellowship with his kids. 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:31.520 I mean, he's a father. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:34.000 He's called him a father because what does a father want? 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:35.280 A father wants children. 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:40.319 A father wants to have a relationship and a fellowship with their children. 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:54.159 And now you can have a certain amount of fellowship with a baby, but it's pretty much one way, except when the baby learns how to smile or when the baby learns how to say da-da or mama or whatever, that's then they kind of send it back. 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:56.560 But mostly it's one way, right? 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:00.560 I mean, you know, so there's something, you know, we all do that. 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:05.360 We we father our children until they get a little older, and then and then you start to have some fellowship. 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:15.120 You start to have some relationship, and then of course, when when they get in the stages of my children and in and and my grandchildren, now I have fellowship with my family. 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:21.360 I've got I've got a rich uh partnership and a communication, line of communication. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:24.720 That's what really that word fellowship there means. 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:26.000 It's coronia. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:30.879 Greek word, which means uh uh a number of things. 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:39.360 Uh partnership, participation, communication, distribution. 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:42.480 See, it's it's it's it's a big word. 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:46.720 I mean, we fellowship is more than just, hey, how you doing, Harry? 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:48.000 And you know, that kind of thing. 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:52.639 No, it's supernatural, it's a supernatural bonding. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:05:03.839 And uh and it's with God uh, you know, vertically, each individual, and then it's horizontally with each believer, especially in a local church. 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:09.680 And then that then that corresponds to even a larger footprint going up to God. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:16.959 Because now God's not just not have fellowship just with with you individually, He's got fellowship with this church. 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:19.680 And you imagine how powerful that is. 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:26.720 And when you tap into that power in prayer, that's the only way to tap into that power, is prayer. 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:29.439 And so that's why I'm gonna teach this. 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:32.160 I try to teach it on a rotational basis. 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:37.920 That's why I ask our new members, give me at least a year of your life, and I can teach you on enough subjects to where it'll change your life. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:39.920 Not because of me, but because of the word. 00:05:40.639 --> 00:05:45.759 If you'll get the word in you and be a doer of it, it'll change your life absolutely. 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:53.120 And so uh joining forces. 00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:59.439 Really, I'm when I look at that word fellowship, it just means uh joining forces with God. 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:03.839 I mean, we're in covenant with God, we're in covenant with God. 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:05.120 Everybody say covenant. 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:12.800 See, that when I read the Old Testament, it gives me encouragement to believe for what we have that's better in the new covenant. 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:19.920 That's why you ought to read the Bible, you ought to read your Old Covenant, but only about like one-third of the time you read the new covenant. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:28.720 You don't just, you know, I've I've seen people start off reading their Bible in Genesis, and by the time you get to the good news, you're washed out. 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:35.279 Because God is a judge, God is mad, God is, you know, God does everything bad in the Old Testament. 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:37.519 And you have to learn better than that. 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:40.240 You have to learn that that's not really the way it is. 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:45.279 I mean, that's he he couldn't stop the bad from happening because they weren't in fellowship with him. 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:46.560 You see. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:50.399 So I just have people start with the Gospel of John. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:54.079 I said, read the Gospel of John ten times before you ever read anything else. 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:58.800 That'll get you acquainted with the the miracles of Jesus and what he what he did. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:03.279 And then you go back and read the Gospels and get that into you first. 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:08.000 Get Jesus, the healing Jesus, the delivering Jesus, into you first. 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:10.399 And then you can start to branch out. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:11.759 Um, this is for somebody. 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:14.160 Maybe you're struggling with your Bible reading. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:17.120 I I struggled when I got in the book of Leviticus. 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:18.800 I really did struggle. 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:28.319 And I still, you know, I don't I don't confess I struggle, but I mean I do have to pay more attention when it starts to blur, you know. 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:31.360 And uh so praise God. 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:32.240 All right. 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:38.399 Jesus is in every book of the Bible, so that's what encourages me about the Word of God. 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:46.560 So uh this fellowship is vertical and horizontal, and Jesus restored the broken fellowship that happened with Adam. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:50.000 See, all the people in the Old Testament had a broken fellowship with God. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:54.399 They had, I like what Brother Osteen used to say, they were saved on credit. 00:07:56.800 --> 00:08:05.519 The blood of bulls and goats were a temporary uh it solved the problem of their approach to God. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:08.879 They could have no approach to God except over bleeding sacrifice. 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:26.560 And the sacrifice of an animal, whether it was a you know, a calf, a goat, a sheep, or whatever it was, a bird or whatever, it was just an uh an inner uh interloper or a mediator between God and man. 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:35.039 And it God, when God looked at their sacrifice, he he smelled the odor of the uh of the smoke coming off the sacrifice. 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:36.879 It hid human flesh. 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:45.279 The blood was shed, which was life of an animal, and then God just imputed righteousness to them. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:48.960 They they had covering, they had atonement. 00:08:49.360 --> 00:08:50.879 Atonement is covering. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:59.279 We don't we don't have atonement, we've got we're gonna celebrate that in communion a little while later, but yeah, all of our sins have been washed away. 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:00.720 We don't have atonement. 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:05.039 Our sins have been remitted, they've been paid for in full. 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:07.759 That's why we don't have to have but one sacrifice. 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:08.639 Jesus is it. 00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:10.480 There's no more sacrifice for sin. 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:15.759 We don't have to go down here and have an endless supply of animals being sacrificed or people. 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:17.840 I've been to the Philippines. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:18.960 Bless their heart. 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:23.519 Every Easter they've got these guys that volunteer to get nailed to a cross. 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:25.679 They just feel like they've got to get nailed to the cross. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:29.840 Like they don't have any concept of what the Bible teaches. 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:31.200 You know, it's terrible. 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:35.600 I mean, torture these people, they're not doing any good, they're just glorifying the devil. 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:37.840 And they got all this blood everywhere. 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:40.240 It's not any, it's not of any use. 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:44.559 No, Jesus' blood is all there is, there's no other blood. 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:45.919 Amen. 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:48.080 Somebody needs to go there and preach. 00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:48.639 Well, I did. 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:49.759 Okay, sorry. 00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:51.840 Seven times. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:52.559 All right. 00:09:53.039 --> 00:10:00.960 So Jesus restored that fellowship that was broken, and through the new birth, we have access into this divine fellowship. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:02.639 Everybody say divine fellowship. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:08.480 Because we've been made righteous through the blood, see, one time, forever. 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:11.600 Forever, oh Lord, our word is settled in heaven, see? 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:14.720 Alright, so let's look at John chapter 15. 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:19.519 We're getting into this idea of prayer, joining forces with God. 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:31.840 And John 15, really, Jesus is saving some of his meat for the very last hours of his time before the cross. 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:38.639 And uh he's sharing important truths with them that he had not shared with them before. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:44.879 And uh he talked about the Holy Ghost in John 14, the comforter, the paraclete. 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:52.399 And then in John 15, verse 1, he says, I am the true vine. 00:10:53.360 --> 00:10:55.440 And my father is the husbandman. 00:10:55.600 --> 00:11:00.480 When you look up husbandman, it means a vine dresser. 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:09.440 I mean, when you're growing grapes, you've got to you've got to clip the the branches of the of the vine so that it will bear the grapes. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:16.480 And if you don't prune, then you don't get a, you know, it's it's only it same with roses, you know. 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:19.279 Uh Selena's a rose grower. 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:20.799 She knows how to grow roses. 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:23.919 I and and man, I mean, she's got some beautiful roses. 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:26.879 Well, they, you know, you rot, you you gotta cut them. 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:31.360 Kind of makes you sad to have to cut one, but you're not gonna get any more if you don't cut them. 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:37.759 So uh I'm the vine, true vine, and my father is the vine dresser. 00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:39.360 Now watch this. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:44.639 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:47.759 So Jesus leads with a negative. 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:55.279 Every vine, every every branch in me, in me. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:12:01.200 So they're not lost people, they're in Christ. 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:05.840 Every branch that's in me that beareth not fruit. 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:08.240 We'll get more into that in a minute. 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:10.639 We're expected to bear fruit. 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:13.200 We'll talk about what that fruit is. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:24.159 But if you don't bear the fruit, every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he, the vine dresser, God taketh away. 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:25.440 Oh, you mean you go to hell? 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:27.039 No, I'm not saying that. 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:30.960 But I he starts with a negative. 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:36.320 He's talking to his disciples, and he's he's not slobbering on them. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:37.600 He's giving them meat. 00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:44.000 He's giving them, see, the the milk of the word is all the positive things, the blessings. 00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:49.679 But the meat of the word is the responsibilities that we all have. 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:52.399 And we need to teach the responsibilities. 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:54.000 I mean, you have to teach your child. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:56.879 You have to child train, child train. 00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:59.840 You know, you teach a child the right way to act. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:01.600 You teach the child to obey. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:03.440 You teach, they have to be taught. 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:07.200 And when they're two and three, that's when they need to be taught the most. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:10.879 I mean, they're gonna do their own thing unless you do something about it. 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:13.440 You got to show them who is in charge. 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:16.559 I don't know who that's for, but it's probably for a whole lot of people. 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:20.000 All right, so I've senior kids and they need help. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:20.639 All right. 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:23.440 I'm just kids, I'm just joking around now. 00:13:23.519 --> 00:13:26.399 Y'all don't leave this, don't leave the service, children. 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:27.360 All right. 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:29.679 Obey your father. 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:35.200 All right, so he said, Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:46.480 Now, so when you look up the word take away, it means one meaning of it is to take by force from one that which was his or committed to him. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:56.320 So as a branch, you had something given to you, something committed to you, and you don't do anything with that thing, that gift. 00:13:56.879 --> 00:13:59.519 You don't bear fruit with that gift. 00:13:59.840 --> 00:14:02.240 Then he will just take that gift away from you. 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:08.000 Why did he move? 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:09.919 See, he's talking to the disciples. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.000 He's talking, he's leaving, and they're gonna have to impart this to the church. 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:20.320 He can't just give them the blessings, he's got to give them the other side, he's gotta give them the responsibility side. 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:23.919 I'm talking about joining forces with God now. 00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:32.480 I'm talking about how to tap into this power, this great power that is so powerful that can't, nothing on the earth can withstand it. 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:42.960 Nothing in the universe can withstand the power of God that's released through prayer when it's tapped into joining forces with God and joining forces with each other. 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:46.480 So um, so he's gonna take that away. 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:57.360 You know, Brother Osteen, you know, I love Brother Osteen, and he would just he would teach uh transparently his own shortcomings and things that he'd learned through the years. 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:12.000 I see, if you've got some guy that gets up here and just talks about all the victories and never shares some of the things that he's you know had to go through and maybe even failed on or whatever, well, you don't really have a complete picture of the Christian life. 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:18.799 And uh, but Brother Osteen, when he got baptized in the Holy Ghost, God put healing in his hands. 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:20.799 He had fire in his hands. 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:24.000 And I remember Brother Hagin saying the same thing. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:28.000 God put healing in his hand, deliverance in his hands, and everything. 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:30.000 God put healing in Gladys's hands. 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:31.759 I was there the night it happened. 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:36.559 And so this fire was burning, and so he said, I could hardly pass by a hospital. 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:38.559 My hands would get on fire. 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:40.639 Man, what do you do with that? 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:44.960 Well, you go in the hospital and ask God to show you who needs what you got. 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:47.679 You know, well, everybody needs it, but will everybody receive? 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:49.360 You know, he's God's strategic. 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:55.759 He's not going to expect you to go to every every room in the hospital and lay your hands on everybody in there. 00:15:56.240 --> 00:16:02.000 But he would stop and, you know, and and he would lay hands on the persons that God told him to. 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:08.480 So as in the process of time, the ministry grew, the church grew, his responsibilities grew, it's a worldwide ministry. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:11.039 I mean, Brother Osteen was a worldwide minister. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:13.679 Everybody on the face of this earth knew about Brother Osteen. 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:23.519 I don't know if you did, I didn't, because I wasn't in that, I wasn't in that circle, but uh I found out at an international uh convention of full gospel businessmen. 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:30.879 We were in a little bus going over to the meeting in the uh in the convention center in Anaheim, California. 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:38.559 We stayed in the hotel and they had a bus that took us to the to the convention center for this big old convention. 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:43.200 And uh we got on the bus, there's about 30 people on there, and they said, Well, where's everybody from? 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:52.080 And they they talked about one was from the Bahamas and one was from Italy and one was from this place and that place. 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:53.840 They got to me, I said, We're from Houston. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:55.600 Oh, John Osteen. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:16:58.799 I mean, I went, what? 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:00.639 I had no idea. 00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:03.519 I'd been going there about, I don't know, less than a year. 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:06.960 I didn't realize that he was worldwide. 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:11.200 I mean, I just said Houston, John Osteen, just like that. 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:16.400 And uh, but anyway, so I'm getting back to the story where he had the healing in his hand. 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:18.079 So responsibility grew. 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:21.680 He's got books and tapes, and he's he's preaching like a house of fire. 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:24.799 Nobody would fill in for him, but just ever great once in a while. 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:32.400 He's preaching Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, you know, about 50 weeks of the year, then traveling. 00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:34.720 I mean, he he is a man that's on fire, you know. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:44.480 And so he he got to where he wasn't, you know, the hands would burn and he and he just didn't turn in, you know. 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:46.400 He didn't, I've got a meeting. 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:49.200 I I I can't do this right now. 00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:54.960 And so after a few months, he realized that there was no burning in his hand. 00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:00.160 And the Holy Ghost, you know, he he he finally noticed. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:07.680 He'd been so busy, so busy working for God that he didn't have any time to do what God really wanted him to do. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:13.359 He wasn't functioning in that gift, that that branch, he had taken it away. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:15.519 Are y'all getting this now? 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:17.359 Hallelujah. 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:21.519 So he went to the Lord. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:23.599 He said, Lord, I don't know what happened. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:25.519 Uh I don't have the burning in my hands. 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:27.359 He said, Well, you weren't using it. 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:29.039 What do you mean? 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:31.359 Well, you went by hospital after hospital. 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:35.440 I'd burned, your hands were burning, you wouldn't respond, so I took it off. 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:37.440 Oh, and he began to weep. 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:39.599 He began to cry, it broke him. 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:46.880 See, children have to be brought to a place of brokenness over their uh disobedience. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:48.960 And that's the same way God leads with us. 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:57.359 He doesn't send a car wreck, he doesn't send cancer, he doesn't, he sends his word, he will chasten you, he will child train you with your with his word. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:00.559 And even in that area, I mean, he still does that. 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:02.559 He does it with me, does it with anybody. 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:05.279 You have to be prepared to be corrected. 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:08.000 If you can't be corrected, you're in a mess. 00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:13.920 He can correct anybody, no matter how big your name is or how little. 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:17.279 And I appreciate Brother Osteen telling that story. 00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:20.400 I mean, man, that's that's a humbling thing to say. 00:19:21.119 --> 00:19:23.440 And he said, Oh, God, just please. 00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:26.000 I I'll do I I won't do that again. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:30.240 If you'll just put that back in my hands, I'll I'll I won't do that. 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:32.079 I'll use it, you know. 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:33.440 And he broke, he was broken. 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:35.359 Well, it didn't happen right away. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:36.240 Why? 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:37.920 Because trust had been broken. 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:46.880 You know, God's not going to just turn the spigot on and off, on and off, just at your whim, just because you have a few tears, just because you say a few words, you're gonna have to prove something to him. 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:55.519 Really, it gets back to letting some things go so that you can really major on what God wants you to do. 00:19:55.680 --> 00:20:06.319 I mean, a lot of things, he said, you know, the thing, another time he was he told this story, because he was having trouble with his blood pressure, and he was just having all kinds of trouble with his heart. 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:10.960 And he went to the Lord, you know, and fasted a couple of days and went before the Lord. 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:13.519 And this was after this thing about the hands. 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:17.200 He told this story too in wide open Sunday morning church. 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:21.200 See, that's what I appreciate about that generation. 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:23.039 They imparted to us. 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:27.119 I stand on their shoulders of the people that taught me. 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:28.480 That's why I teach you. 00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:34.240 The things that I've heard and seen and handled of the word of God, I impart, I give to you. 00:20:35.839 --> 00:20:37.279 I've hit my other gear now. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:38.720 All right. 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:41.759 Everybody shift gears now. 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:43.359 We're gonna shift gears. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:51.599 He said, uh, I went to the Lord and about this heart thing, and about three days. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:54.000 You know, he didn't just answer him right away. 00:20:54.799 --> 00:21:00.960 Because somewhere, I know Brother Osteen kind of knew what it was, but you know, he had to hear ache. 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:02.480 So God told him what it was. 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:08.880 He said, you know, the thing that's breaking you down is not and weighing you down, crushing you. 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:09.680 That's what he said. 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:13.759 The thing that is crushing the life out of you, there I finally got the right quote. 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:18.880 The thing that's crushing the life out of you are the things that you've added to my call. 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:30.559 Woo! Now, see, this whole part of the new year, Jesus said, I make all things new. 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:34.000 Make means lighten the load. 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:43.680 If you want the new things, you have to get rid of the irrelevant things or the things that God is finished with in your life, you need to overthrow those out in the sea. 00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:49.599 It comes from that Acts 27 where that big ship, they had to lighten the load in that ship so it didn't sink. 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:55.279 I mean, if you keep if you keep adding, adding, adding, and you don't lighten the load, you're gonna sink. 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:57.039 Where do you get that? 00:21:57.279 --> 00:21:59.759 In prayer, joining forces. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.960 With God. 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:04.079 Man, I've preached the whole message just in one verse here. 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:05.759 I better shift again. 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:06.720 Come on, let's shift it back. 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:08.240 I'm gonna get down the road now. 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:09.359 I've been grandma all. 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:12.240 I'll get in second gear at least. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:19.039 So uh, but then he says, every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it. 00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:21.359 See, the other one was take away. 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:24.640 In other words, he's that's more that's more corrective. 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:26.799 Purge is prune. 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:29.279 That's positive. 00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:33.039 See, because you are bearing fruit, he wants you to bear more fruit, so he prunes you. 00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:37.039 And anytime you're pruned, it's live tissue. 00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:38.640 That's not a dead branch. 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:40.000 That's a branch that's living. 00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:44.000 It has produced fruit, and you're gonna go down below the fruit and trim it. 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:46.400 And when you look at it, it's green in there. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:46.960 See? 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:48.240 It's live. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:51.119 Well, if you prune me, it hurts. 00:22:51.519 --> 00:23:01.920 For me to end something that, you know, and over the over and over and over, God has had to prune me, prune me, prune me over years and years and years and years. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:06.960 And when you are pruned, you have to guard your heart because it hurts. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:10.400 You feel almost like you're being punished. 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:12.799 You're not being punished, you're being congratulated. 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:16.400 See, you need the God's perspective on this. 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:21.599 You you you'd let the devil talk you out of the greatest blessings that God has for you. 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:25.920 When you blame and give credit to the devil for pruning you. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:27.359 No, God prunes you. 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:29.680 So you can bear more fruit. 00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:32.960 He's saying, You boy, you're bearing fruit, I want you to do some more. 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:36.319 He's not finished with you, he's just getting started with you. 00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:38.079 Oh, come on, lift your hand right now. 00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:39.039 Hallelujah. 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:41.279 Everybody said, God's not finished with me. 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:43.119 He's just getting started. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:45.359 Hallelujah. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:58.079 So every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit, he pruneth it that it may bring forth more fruit. 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:02.960 And then we go to verse 4 abide in me, and I in you. 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:11.359 And as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can you except you abide in me. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:12.559 See? 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:15.119 You abide in him. 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:18.160 Well, you know, there's two ways to look at that. 00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:28.559 In other words, the minute that we got saved, and we're gonna have baptism in a little while, so that's an official uh declaration that you're saved to everybody that sees you. 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:31.759 You identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:36.799 He did a new thing in you, you're a new creature, and you're saying that publicly. 00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:44.799 Uh so that moment the Holy Ghost baptized you into the body of Christ, you became, you became one with him. 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:46.720 That's legal. 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:55.440 But then are you living the life vitally or in according to life, functionally, are you abiding in Christ? 00:24:55.519 --> 00:25:04.000 And how do you abide in Christ to the to the degree that his word has uh rule over your life then? 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:06.400 If Jesus is Lord, Jesus is the word. 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:13.039 If the word is not Lord, if it's not dictating your life, then really not abiding in him. 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:17.599 You might be legally you're saved, but you're not living like you're saved. 00:25:18.319 --> 00:25:19.680 Well, I'm not backslidden. 00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:22.240 Well, I know there's all kinds of levels of backsliding. 00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:28.079 You can be barely backslidden or you can be fully backslidden, but none of it's good. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:33.839 Everybody says he's not talking about me, he's not talking about me. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:34.400 All right. 00:25:34.640 --> 00:25:35.279 That's right. 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:35.759 Okay. 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:41.200 So you so look at this a little bit. 00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:47.680 So as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can you except you abide in me. 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:50.079 He said, I am the vine, you are the branches. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:26:04.640 He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth just a little bit of a couple of grapes, a couple of green peas, one ear of corn, much fruit. 00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:11.920 For without me or separated from me, or severed from me, you can do nothing. 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:24.720 And so I want you to get this uh this abiding in Him cries for a continued heartfelt connection that we talked about James 5.16 and amplified. 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:32.480 A continued, a fervent, continued, heartfelt uh connection with God in prayer. 00:26:32.720 --> 00:26:36.079 I mean, it's not just inner, only when you have emergencies. 00:26:36.319 --> 00:26:37.279 Can you imagine? 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:42.400 You know, you've raised kids to adulthood, you never hear from them, you never see them. 00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:44.720 There may be some people like that here. 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:47.440 And I heart goes out to you. 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:49.680 There's a it's an epidemic of that. 00:26:50.880 --> 00:27:02.079 I mean, they just they don't care about their parents except when they need money, when they need to be bailed out of jail, when they need more, you know, they need a place to crash. 00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:04.160 Yeah. 00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:08.640 Well, what you know, after a while, can you learn to say no? 00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:10.960 Can you give yourself permission to say no to that? 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:13.119 I empower you to say no to that. 00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:14.319 You're just enabling them. 00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:14.960 Stop it. 00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:16.559 Well, I don't know what'll happen to them. 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:18.240 Well, whatever happens is on them. 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:22.720 You know, the devil will tell you you did everything wrong, raising them around. 00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:25.359 Really, it's there they made all the decisions in their life. 00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:27.039 So just get off of that. 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:30.240 Start praying, God, my child is saved in Jesus. 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:34.720 Just start standing in the gap spiritually instead of trying to meet their needs physically. 00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:36.720 I don't know who that's for, but it's for somebody. 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:37.759 More than one. 00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:38.319 All right. 00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:43.599 Everybody say continued, heartfelt connection. 00:27:45.119 --> 00:27:54.640 So in verse 5, it says that we can't do anything unless uh we're connected to Him. 00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:59.440 On the flip side of that, what's the implication? 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:06.480 It doesn't say it in words, but you need to realize that Jesus can't bear any fruit without the branch. 00:28:08.079 --> 00:28:11.119 He can't bear any fruit without you. 00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:18.400 I can see some tilt signs rolling up on your eyeballs. 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:20.720 And we pray like God's got to do everything. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:23.119 Oh God, do this, oh God, do that, oh God. 00:28:23.279 --> 00:28:24.400 No, it's you. 00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:27.119 He put you on the earth to do some things. 00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:29.519 He put you on the earth, he empowered you. 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:32.319 You've baptized in the Holy Ghost. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:36.160 You've got the power to change this world, change this life. 00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:39.119 We're in fact, we're got a mandate to do that. 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:44.640 So, um, so we can't bear fruit without Jesus. 00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:46.799 Jesus can't bear fruit without us. 00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:57.519 So there's a joining of forces, which I mean it's not op, you know, it's not, you know, optional. 00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:00.480 All right, verse 7. 00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:03.359 If, everybody shout if. 00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:05.759 See, there's so many ifs in the Bible. 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:07.440 See, if is there. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:09.839 When it's if, it's up to you then. 00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:11.200 Not God. 00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:13.279 God, there's no ifs with God. 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:15.839 The if is always on your side. 00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:21.519 If says there's a choice, so it's your choice. 00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:23.359 He's not gonna make you. 00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:25.279 It's your choice. 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:27.119 Everybody say it's my choice. 00:29:27.519 --> 00:29:29.680 So it was your choice to come to church this morning. 00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:34.160 Now, God might have might have told you. 00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:36.160 I I meet people the first time guests. 00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:37.359 How did you come to this church? 00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:40.799 Well, I just searched online and I just felt like I wanted to come check you. 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:43.759 I was driving by, you know, all kind of answers. 00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:54.480 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. 00:29:54.799 --> 00:30:00.960 Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit. 00:30:01.440 --> 00:30:04.880 So shall you be my disciples. 00:30:05.839 --> 00:30:07.359 So now let's look at that now. 00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:16.960 See, so if you're it it in order, the the fruit that you're to bear is asking whatever you will and it being done. 00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:18.319 That's the fruit. 00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:21.759 The word ask, I just preached on this not long ago. 00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:24.000 Uh make a demand on the covenant. 00:30:24.079 --> 00:30:37.519 You're not demanding of God, you're demanding on the basis of the covenant, the new covenant, sealed by the blood of Jesus, your rights and privileges for yourself, and also on behalf of somebody else that might not know what you know. 00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:44.480 When you lay hands on someone that's sick, they might not know that healing is available and you bring them healing. 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:48.480 Well, then you're making a demand on their behalf. 00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:52.240 You don't demand God, you demand the devil to take his hands off. 00:30:53.519 --> 00:30:57.440 You demand healing, you demand their body to line up with the word of God. 00:30:59.279 --> 00:31:01.119 So that's fruit. 00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:04.079 Much fruit. 00:31:04.559 --> 00:31:09.279 And the proof of whether you're a disciple is that you bear much fruit. 00:31:09.359 --> 00:31:11.759 If you don't bear fruit, you're not really a disciple. 00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:16.160 I mean, I get there's a whole denomination, disciples of Christ. 00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:18.319 I don't I don't think any of them are disciples. 00:31:18.559 --> 00:31:20.079 They don't even believe in healing. 00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:21.599 I don't know how you'd be a disciple. 00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:25.599 You don't know anything about healing, you don't know anything much about your about your covenant. 00:31:26.160 --> 00:31:31.920 I'm making, I shouldn't be making fun, but I mean, these denominations, it's Ichaba, I'm not pick picking on them. 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:36.160 There's a lot of denominations where God has already stamped Ichabod on the front door. 00:31:36.240 --> 00:31:37.680 If you could just see in the spirit. 00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:39.119 What does Ichabod mean? 00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:40.240 The glory departed. 00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:44.000 The glory's here this morning in this word. 00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:45.200 This word's going out. 00:31:45.279 --> 00:31:46.720 I can tell you're receiving it though. 00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:48.400 Come on, lift your hands right now. 00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:50.079 Thank God for the word of God. 00:31:51.759 --> 00:31:56.640 I mean, there's no other way to be a disciple, then you must be determined to bear much fruit. 00:31:56.720 --> 00:32:04.319 So that means you've got to put yourself in a position through this divine, fervent, continued connection with God. 00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:08.640 So three aspects of joining forces of God today. 00:32:11.599 --> 00:32:14.160 In fact, it'd be worth looking back on that word. 00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:15.200 Where did I get it? 00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:17.119 2 Corinthians 13. 00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:18.880 I love Paul. 00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:28.400 He he wrote a pretty blistering letter, two of them, to Corinthians, because they were so carnal, they needed help. 00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:32.240 They were body rule, and he had to correct them. 00:32:32.559 --> 00:32:54.319 But at the end of his second letter, to kind of put the fire out a little bit, I mean, you know, the fire of correction, he said this in verse 14 the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. 00:32:54.799 --> 00:32:55.440 Amen. 00:32:55.759 --> 00:32:57.440 So that was his prayer for them. 00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:12.720 Three, see, the the triune God, God the Father, love, God the Son, the grace, God the Holy Ghost, the communion, koinania, unbroken, continued, heartfelt connection. 00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:14.319 And where is the Holy Ghost? 00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:15.519 Right in here. 00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:17.680 He's right in here to help you. 00:33:17.759 --> 00:33:21.599 He's right in here to put you in position to help others. 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:29.519 Alright, so three concepts, uh aspects of joining forces with God, which is Cornania. 00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:33.440 You have uh joining forces with the Father. 00:33:33.759 --> 00:33:35.920 Earnest, heartfelt, continued. 00:33:37.119 --> 00:33:40.240 See, I like to pray with the word in the Spirit. 00:33:40.319 --> 00:33:42.000 I like to pray with the Bible open in my lap. 00:33:42.079 --> 00:33:43.920 I'll read a while and pray a while. 00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:46.799 This is but this is God talking to me right here. 00:33:47.279 --> 00:33:49.359 I don't need to hear a voice, I've got the word. 00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:53.839 If he wants to talk to me, he can talk to me anytime he wants, but it's rare nowadays. 00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:56.160 When I was a baby Christian, he talked to me all the time. 00:33:56.240 --> 00:33:59.039 And I one day it just kind of evaporated. 00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:05.279 I kind of thought I was backslid until I understood, no, you're gonna lean on this right here now. 00:34:05.359 --> 00:34:08.559 I'm I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna be talking to you out loud. 00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:14.159 You know, first of all, you're kind of a fruitcake, you go around telling God people that God told you this morning. 00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:17.440 I knew a lady one time, well, God told me this morning, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:18.159 I thought, what? 00:34:18.320 --> 00:34:19.679 On the telephone. 00:34:21.519 --> 00:34:24.480 You know, telegraph, telephone, telewoman. 00:34:24.559 --> 00:34:28.159 I mean, you know, it's just throwing rocks at me, Lord. 00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:30.239 I'll take that back. 00:34:34.800 --> 00:34:37.119 Jesus on the main line. 00:34:40.480 --> 00:34:43.519 No, the God's word is God talking to you. 00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:49.920 And the spirit, see, when you when you get in the Holy Ghost, you start praying in the Holy Ghost, you speak to yourself. 00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:51.360 How many of you preach to yourself? 00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:52.960 I used to preach to myself all the time. 00:34:53.119 --> 00:34:59.440 And then I heard some goo-goo bird at full gospel tell me that that was flaky, and I thought, well, you don't know what you're talking about. 00:34:59.920 --> 00:35:02.079 I get so edified preaching to myself. 00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:04.880 That's how I learned to preach, is preaching myself in my backyard. 00:35:05.599 --> 00:35:13.039 I'd I'd tell the devil, come on, I had an old stump in the backyard, an old pine tree that they let fall out after it was rotten and left a jagged stump. 00:35:13.119 --> 00:35:14.960 They didn't even cut it off with a chainsaw. 00:35:15.440 --> 00:35:19.599 And I was going to, and I thought, no, that's a good place for the devil to sit and listen to me preach. 00:35:20.880 --> 00:35:22.400 Come over here, devil, sit down. 00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:24.639 I got a few things to tell you. 00:35:26.559 --> 00:35:38.800 I'd walk up and down my backyard just preaching and speaking to myself and psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing, making melody in my heart, prophesying, you know, before anybody told me it was wrong. 00:35:38.960 --> 00:35:46.400 One morning I was out there, and this big old, and it had to be a pigeon because it was too big to be a dove, but to me it was a dove. 00:35:46.800 --> 00:35:55.039 It was solid white, pink bill, pink feet, and he came flying, fluttering over my backyard, just right above my head. 00:35:55.119 --> 00:35:59.760 And I think, and I just I felt the Holy Ghost come all over me. 00:35:59.840 --> 00:36:01.679 I thought, God, he showed up. 00:36:02.960 --> 00:36:08.880 And he's fluttering right over my head, and and I kind of reached up to see if I could grab him and bring him down, you know. 00:36:08.960 --> 00:36:14.159 And he he he flew away and he lit down on my fence, on my fence, top of my fence. 00:36:14.400 --> 00:36:16.400 And I just I began to weep. 00:36:16.480 --> 00:36:17.840 I just felt like that was God. 00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:20.960 I'd never seen a bird, much less a big old pigeon. 00:36:21.039 --> 00:36:22.159 Where did a pigeon come from? 00:36:22.239 --> 00:36:26.000 We don't have any pigeons out in Northwest Harris County, they're all downtown. 00:36:30.159 --> 00:36:35.280 But what I'm talking about is a heartfelt continued connection. 00:36:36.639 --> 00:36:41.920 And uh, you know, prayer, it's not how you get faith. 00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:45.199 You don't pray for faith, but prayer is the mother of faith. 00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:48.239 Because out of prayer, faith is born. 00:36:48.880 --> 00:36:50.880 Because that's where you actually get connected. 00:36:51.119 --> 00:36:55.840 Koinonia, partnership, communication, relationship. 00:36:55.920 --> 00:37:02.239 That's where you get God's heart, that's where you get God's perspective, that's where you get God's orders. 00:37:03.199 --> 00:37:06.320 He might tell you to do something out of his word. 00:37:07.199 --> 00:37:10.400 More and just quit listening for voices and look to the word. 00:37:11.280 --> 00:37:16.639 If he speaks, fine, but look to the word, look to the Holy Ghost on the inside. 00:37:17.760 --> 00:37:18.880 So three aspects. 00:37:18.960 --> 00:37:20.800 Number one, koinonia with the Father. 00:37:20.880 --> 00:37:23.119 Number two, koinonia with each other. 00:37:23.920 --> 00:37:26.000 And let's look at 1 John again. 00:37:26.079 --> 00:37:28.559 I want to see if we didn't read that verse 7. 00:37:28.800 --> 00:37:30.559 First John 1, 7. 00:37:30.960 --> 00:37:31.920 Very interesting. 00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:36.400 And some people try to try to exist without the local church. 00:37:36.480 --> 00:37:38.639 They try to exist on their own. 00:37:38.960 --> 00:37:41.599 I come across them on Facebook all the time. 00:37:41.679 --> 00:37:48.000 They're, you know, followers of Facebook, and some of the things they write, I can tell they don't go to church. 00:37:48.639 --> 00:37:53.280 They've made an uh, you know, and there's some people that are homebound and can't come to church. 00:37:53.440 --> 00:38:08.559 I respect that, I understand that, so it's better than not doing it, but but at the second time there's some people, there lots of people since COVID really have given their selves permission to just call themselves Christians and disciples, and they don't even go to church. 00:38:10.239 --> 00:38:13.280 And so let's look at this, 1 John 1 7. 00:38:14.320 --> 00:38:19.679 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, what light is that? 00:38:19.840 --> 00:38:22.079 Well, the light of the word for one thing. 00:38:22.800 --> 00:38:25.679 And the light of the Holy Ghost is another. 00:38:26.000 --> 00:38:30.639 So if you're gonna walk in light of the word and light of the Holy Ghost, you're gonna come to church. 00:38:31.280 --> 00:38:34.719 If, see, there again, that word if is your choice. 00:38:35.039 --> 00:38:42.320 If you walk in the light as he's in the light, we have fellowship, we have coronia one with another. 00:38:42.559 --> 00:38:44.320 That's horizontal. 00:38:48.239 --> 00:38:54.960 And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. 00:38:57.199 --> 00:39:07.519 Which tells me then if you don't walk in the light of the word and you don't walk in the light of the spirit, and you do decide to sit home, that you can drift off and not be cleansed. 00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:14.159 Because you're not, you're not compared, you're not, you're not rubbing up against anybody that loves you enough to tell you the truth. 00:39:14.400 --> 00:39:24.480 When you come to church, sometimes people can put their arm around you and love on you, but sometimes people can give you a little, you know, pat on the back, and a little exhortation is not a mean thing. 00:39:25.199 --> 00:39:29.519 My example of that was years ago, and Grody asked me to sing on a Sunday night. 00:39:29.599 --> 00:39:33.039 I sang a song and I just couldn't even remember the words. 00:39:33.119 --> 00:39:34.239 That's what happened to me every time. 00:39:34.320 --> 00:39:35.440 I'd freeze up. 00:39:35.599 --> 00:39:47.440 I'd have a track, I'd be singing to the track, you know, and I'd sing the first, you know, little few words, and then I couldn't remember the second one until finally at the last second, right when I'm supposed to cut in. 00:39:47.519 --> 00:39:49.840 I'd so the whole song was like that. 00:39:50.159 --> 00:39:53.280 It was, I mean, my knees were having fellowship one with another. 00:39:53.440 --> 00:39:54.559 They were knocking. 00:39:55.360 --> 00:39:57.039 And I got through, I was so nervous. 00:39:57.199 --> 00:39:59.519 Oh, yeah, yeah, I hold a mic like that. 00:39:59.840 --> 00:40:03.599 5,000, but no, 3,000 on Sunday night, 3,000 people. 00:40:03.920 --> 00:40:11.519 And so I at the end of the service, uh Jim Scalise was a guy that God put in my life. 00:40:11.760 --> 00:40:16.719 And Jim was a minister, and he, big old heavy guy, you know. 00:40:16.960 --> 00:40:19.599 And he said, Well, brother, that was really good. 00:40:19.679 --> 00:40:20.480 It's anointed. 00:40:20.719 --> 00:40:21.840 Pat me on the back. 00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:24.960 I said, Oh, well, I don't know. 00:40:25.199 --> 00:40:27.199 He said, No, brother, I said it was anointed. 00:40:27.280 --> 00:40:28.480 Now you received that. 00:40:29.119 --> 00:40:30.559 Don't be throwing that down. 00:40:30.639 --> 00:40:32.000 I just told you it was anointed. 00:40:32.079 --> 00:40:35.199 Now, when you say you weren't, well, then you're calling me a liar. 00:40:35.519 --> 00:40:36.960 Oh, I didn't know that. 00:40:37.280 --> 00:40:39.119 No, come on, just receive it. 00:40:39.280 --> 00:40:39.679 Say it. 00:40:39.760 --> 00:40:40.719 So he made me say it. 00:40:40.800 --> 00:40:43.280 See, well, I didn't get offended, I just learned. 00:40:44.960 --> 00:40:50.320 See, you don't have that when you're watching on live stream, unless you hear me talking about it. 00:40:50.800 --> 00:40:52.400 I'm gonna correct you on live stream. 00:40:52.480 --> 00:40:53.519 Anyway, all right. 00:40:53.760 --> 00:40:55.199 I don't care if you watch or not. 00:40:55.280 --> 00:40:56.800 All right, so here we go. 00:40:57.440 --> 00:40:59.679 So with each other, everybody say with each other. 00:41:00.639 --> 00:41:06.000 So communication, partnership, relationship here at Glorious Way, we're gonna start a group this morning. 00:41:06.079 --> 00:41:07.119 It's the new group. 00:41:07.440 --> 00:41:13.440 So you're new at the church or you're new with with Jesus or you're or both, then this is a group for you. 00:41:13.519 --> 00:41:21.440 This is gonna be a good place to start, get started, get connected, and uh and start that CPR, that Cornanea. 00:41:22.079 --> 00:41:24.639 And then later on we'll be adding to the groups. 00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:25.760 We have teams. 00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:28.800 Groups are for fellowship, teams are for serving. 00:41:29.039 --> 00:41:30.400 We have lots of teams. 00:41:30.800 --> 00:41:32.239 I mean, it's a work of the ministry. 00:41:32.400 --> 00:41:35.840 This church doesn't just come alive by itself every Sunday morning. 00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:46.880 I mean, there's an army of people coming up here to turn the lights on, get everything ready to go, and things moved around, and it takes a lot of work to uh have a service. 00:41:47.039 --> 00:41:48.880 And so you can be part of that. 00:41:49.360 --> 00:41:52.880 And uh, and then of course, prayer meetings on Thursday night. 00:41:52.960 --> 00:41:54.800 We have prayer on Sunday morning. 00:41:55.039 --> 00:41:56.960 Uh, and of course, our services. 00:41:57.119 --> 00:42:01.039 All of those uh develop uh coronia. 00:42:01.519 --> 00:42:05.199 And the third one is is fellowship with your pastor. 00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:07.039 Now, where do you get that? 00:42:07.199 --> 00:42:10.239 Well, John said, you know, we need to be have fellowship with us. 00:42:10.400 --> 00:42:11.599 See, he's talking about me. 00:42:11.760 --> 00:42:12.960 He's talking about John. 00:42:13.599 --> 00:42:18.079 So I'm I'm I'm fellowship with God, you have fellowship with me, and we all have fellowship with God. 00:42:18.159 --> 00:42:19.920 So it's it's like this. 00:42:20.559 --> 00:42:30.159 And I like to describe it like this when you've committed yourself to this church and you committed uh yourself to that I am your pastor and I've committed myself to you. 00:42:30.480 --> 00:42:36.719 You know, I I don't mind telling you it's been a been quite a week for me, and I'm here. 00:42:37.280 --> 00:42:40.079 I didn't have to be here, I'm here because I wanted to be here. 00:42:41.039 --> 00:42:44.320 You know, I'm a little shaky, I'm a little coarse, but I'm here. 00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:45.840 The word works anyway. 00:42:46.079 --> 00:42:56.559 I've learned to preach through all kinds of, I mean, I've had congestive heart failure, I've had bumps, I've had, you know, I've had everything the devil could throw at me, and I don't I don't stop. 00:42:56.639 --> 00:43:02.000 Unless I, of course, I had open heart surgery, so I had to stop for a while, not very long. 00:43:02.800 --> 00:43:03.760 But I'm living. 00:43:03.920 --> 00:43:06.639 God put new lease of life on me. 00:43:06.960 --> 00:43:11.920 So when you make that commitment and I make that commitment, it's a holy commitment. 00:43:12.000 --> 00:43:20.400 It is a it is a divine connection, partnership, relationship, and with it comes supernatural hearing. 00:43:21.199 --> 00:43:25.119 I can preach on this and you can hear something totally different. 00:43:25.440 --> 00:43:29.280 You come to church and you've got a need, and the Holy Ghost you need to hear a word. 00:43:29.760 --> 00:43:32.079 You know, I can't tell you how many times that's happened. 00:43:32.159 --> 00:43:35.920 I I see somebody at the church, oh Pastor, you spoke right at me. 00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:37.199 I needed that word this morning. 00:43:37.280 --> 00:43:38.480 I said, Well, what did I say? 00:43:38.639 --> 00:43:41.199 And they tell me what I said, I don't remember saying it. 00:43:41.440 --> 00:43:47.360 So out of my lips, the word came, and that by the time it got to you, God just turned turned it into whatever you needed. 00:43:49.119 --> 00:43:50.639 It works in the negative. 00:43:51.599 --> 00:44:04.159 I said it works in the negative for people that aren't committed, that people are committing themselves to be my judge and my Monday morning quarterback, and the one that wants to just kind of be critical of everything we do. 00:44:04.480 --> 00:44:07.119 Well, it turns into the wrong thing. 00:44:08.559 --> 00:44:16.400 Because the devil comes to church, unfortunately, doesn't stay long here because flies can't light on a hot stove. 00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:18.639 Amen. 00:44:18.880 --> 00:44:23.039 So, fellowship with your pastor, that means praying for me, and I know you do. 00:44:23.199 --> 00:44:26.719 Praying for Gladys, she's getting improving and getting better. 00:44:27.119 --> 00:44:30.320 And we're committed to just having everything the devil stole. 00:44:30.480 --> 00:44:31.679 We're gonna get it back. 00:44:32.719 --> 00:44:37.119 And uh, because we're joining forces with God and with each other. 00:44:37.679 --> 00:44:38.719 Hallelujah. 00:44:39.039 --> 00:44:40.239 Joining forces with God. 00:44:40.320 --> 00:44:42.159 Come on, lift your hands and receive today.