WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:07.599 If you're a parent and you're like me, you wake up in the morning and you and you say to yourself and you have these prayers and thoughts of how can I embarrass my teenager today? 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:12.320 That was it right there. 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:19.280 So I I wanna know I want y'all to know that uh at the Valentine's thing. 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:30.000 Uh everybody was on the everybody was on the same playing field and then only one champion left is all I'm saying. 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:34.079 When they came in, everybody was equal, but only one champion left. 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:36.320 You probably saw the videos. 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:39.520 They asked if they could play it today, and thank God it didn't work out. 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:43.679 So, what this is, I did not hula-hoo, this thing. 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:45.520 No, did not do that at all. 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:49.759 But uh, I did get a bunch of chocolate that I gave to Tristan. 00:00:50.719 --> 00:01:03.679 So just wanted to, uh Aaron walked in this morning, and I the first thing on my mind, and I'm not, I don't have a haughty spirit or a proud spirit, but the only thing that came out was what's up, second place? 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:13.200 I I laid it at bed last night thinking what I was gonna say to him when I saw him. 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:18.079 Just kidding, it just came out, you know, a champion's talk. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:19.760 All right, so let's move on. 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:24.079 Y'all ready for some scripture? 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:26.959 Now, today I made it easy for the media people. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:33.599 We have like three, maybe four slides, but I have the scriptures, and you're going to mark in your Bibles and you're going to follow along. 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:35.760 We got some reading to do today. 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:37.920 We're going to be talking about two things. 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:47.120 We're going to be talking about why those things are important, what they were used for, and those two things are the old covenant and the new covenant. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:58.480 You can't go to a church if they never preach on these things of what have the importance of the old covenant, and now we get to live in the new covenant, you may not be saved. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:00.319 Your pastor may not be saved. 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:02.239 So you're in the right church today. 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:05.040 Ephesians chapter 2, 8 through 9. 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:11.759 It says this God saved you by his grace when you believed. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:14.560 How did it happen? 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:17.039 You believed. 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:31.680 It didn't even mention one time if you got on the board or staff at a church, you are good to go. 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:32.960 You made it. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:36.639 It said when you believed. 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:41.120 This is why it frames it up in this way. 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:46.240 Because it says, after you can't take credit for this. 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:53.360 Did we just see some pride a minute ago where I was taking some credit for some things I did? 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:55.520 You can't take credit for salvation. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:59.360 You can't work and earn your way another minute into heaven. 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:02.080 You can't take credit for this. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:03.840 It is a gift from God. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:09.039 Salvation is not a reward for the good things that we have done. 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:12.159 So none of us can boast about it. 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:12.719 Let's pray. 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:15.599 Father, thank you so much for your presence here today. 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:20.719 I pray, God, that your words come out of my mouth and that they fall on the ears of people ready to receive. 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:22.080 Soften our hearts. 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:27.280 Let your word penetrate the heart hearts today, whether online or here today in service with us. 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:28.639 In your name we pray. 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:29.520 Amen. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:32.879 You may be seated if you can. 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:36.879 So I'm gonna set this up a little bit. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:52.159 If you haven't noticed, since the very beginning of the year, we have been dancing around and nibbling on a certain sphere of relationship with God and different aspects of that. 00:03:52.479 --> 00:03:55.919 And how to guard yourself against bad relationships. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:00.159 So we've been focusing on relationship with God. 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:10.080 If you remember the word God gave me, I told y'all the first Sunday I came back, the word God gave me for connect church in 2023 is focus. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:11.759 Focus. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:14.159 We get so distracted. 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:17.680 You ever try to do a task? 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:25.360 And you're maybe if you have an office at home or you're at the office at work, you try to do a task and all of a sudden you're scrolling Instagram. 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:28.959 And you're like, wait, hold on, I was doing something. 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:32.800 I have no clue what I was doing. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:38.000 I can tell my age, you ever walk into a room and don't have the answer to that question? 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:46.639 I walk into a room, and I've done now I've done it so many times I'm like, well, I guess I'll go back where I started and try again. 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:49.199 Because I have no clue what I went in there for. 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:50.560 No clue. 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:59.519 And as soon as I go back to the spot where I began, I begin to remember the things I set out to do in the beginning. 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:06.800 Some of us have been wandering around spiritually wondering what am I supposed to do? 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:08.319 What was I even here for? 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:13.199 Maybe you've gotten to a point in your life where you're in an empty room and you have no clue. 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:15.759 You have no clue what you went in there for. 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:20.399 God has a word for you today, and He's going to give you a purpose. 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:29.279 You cannot understand or be a person to receive and ready to receive your purpose if you do not have a plan. 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:30.560 Come on, man. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:38.560 The challenge of 17 is a part, and it is vital to the plan to figure out your divine purpose from God. 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:47.199 You have to be willing to sacrifice time, yes, even your money, even your family. 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:48.240 What did Jesus say? 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:52.000 Hate your father, hate your mother, hate your spouse, hate your kid. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:57.680 He was letting them know how serious God wants your attention. 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:05.360 Sometimes I have conversations with my wife. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:09.519 And I don't know why. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:14.399 I don't know if it's a marriage thing or what, but she likes to try to have them when she's in the other room. 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:21.360 Or if I she'll be in the bedroom and I will be in the bathroom. 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:23.600 Now these are right there next to each other. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:29.519 And she will start talking to me while I'm brushing my teeth, or I have a speaker on. 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:34.399 And I said, Baby, I love you, but I don't know what you're saying. 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:50.800 At the men's breakfast the other day, I asked, I think it was at the men's breakfast, I asked a couple of them, I said, Listen, I worked in a machine shop for years, and you know, that noise of machines going and all that really loud and tearing away of metal, it will the high-pitched squealing noise and all that will mess with your ears. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:59.600 But I've gotten to a place in my life where if there's other noises going on, I can't have a true conversation and hear everything if you have a certain tone of your voice. 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:03.680 And the and the Lord just spoke. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:07.680 Thank God I'm not the only one. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:16.480 And so sometimes when there's even the slightest or smallest distraction that isn't even messing with me, but it's on. 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:26.480 If we're watching a show in the living room and she's trying to talk to me, I will pause the show and I will turn and look at her face to face. 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:32.720 Because I need to read her lips to make sure I understand what she's saying. 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:38.160 Because I want to follow the rules. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:40.560 I want to know what she's telling me to do. 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:43.920 I want to know, I want I'm curious about what she actually has to say. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:49.680 Some of us in our spiritual lives won't turn off the distractions long enough to hear God's voice. 00:07:52.720 --> 00:08:00.879 And then things come up on us, and all of a sudden we're faced with issues, struggles, and seasons, and we're like, where did this come from? 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:03.680 And God's like, I've been telling you for a year. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:13.120 But we've been so distracted, and our relationship with God has become so dismantled that we can't focus on God anymore. 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:15.040 So God has placed it in my heart. 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:18.959 I probably will preach on it the entire year or until I see you getting it. 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:27.519 That we need to get our focus back, that a relationship with God is more important than anything else in your life. 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:34.960 The salvation of you and your family and people you know and love. 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:36.399 It is not a game. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:44.159 Salvation if you don't know God, if you don't accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will die and go to hell. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:09:06.799 But you should have on your lips the revelation from God of the good news of Jesus Christ that there is a way out from sinful nature, that there's a way out of lifestyles that people have allowed to surround them and manipulate them and influence them into doing things they know they shouldn't do. 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:13.679 We love as Christians to just bash homosexuality, but it's sexual immorality. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:31.600 We will watch things that are sexually immoral on our TVs and never change the channel, and we wonder why the world is so messed up because the church won't change the channel, we won't turn off the TV. 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:53.440 We want to tell everybody else how to be good Christians and live a good little life with a bow tied on top, and we ain't doing nothing for the kingdom except running our mouths, and God don't need your mouth, He needs your life to be an example of what He has done in you, and if there's no change, then you need to check your heart. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:01.440 We must regain focus to get our eyes back completely on God. 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:03.519 Listen to me. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:12.559 Politicians say things to get positions, stop relying on them more than you do God. 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:16.559 If you read the New Testament, it said nobody wanted. 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:20.559 It didn't say the government came in and wrote them all fake money checks. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:28.720 It said that the people of God took care of the widows and the orphans and people in need. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:34.240 We hold our checkbook so tight and then say, Well, they should have just worked for it. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:38.960 Get mad at me all you want. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:40.559 I'm just quoting scripture. 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:49.919 How can we say, God, bless me when we are not first willing to bless others? 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:53.759 God, pour out your blessings on me, but only me. 00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:58.159 I don't want to see nobody else having a good time. 00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:00.240 This is my time. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:03.519 It's my money and I want it now. 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:04.480 Anybody heard? 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:08.080 I'm sorry, they came into my head. 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:14.240 We got to get to focus back in our on God, in our relationships. 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:18.399 We have to recenter our relationships back around God. 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:23.039 We have to recenter our money back around God. 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:29.120 I have told this is my policy as long as I am pastor here at the church. 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:35.759 It is my policy that if you think we're after your money, give your tithes to somewhere else, another church body. 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:38.879 Because all I'm telling you is what God said to do. 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:43.600 It's I don't want you to ever give here because you think we're trying to get your money. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:48.720 You show God that you're going to be faithful and He'll show you how faithful He is to His Word. 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:53.120 And then you and I'll have a conversation and you'll be apologizing because I was right the whole time. 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:06.559 We have to recenter our lives, our relationships, our very words, our every desire, and even, yes, our thoughts. 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:12.080 If you think I'm being harsh or making this up, this is what I love about Jesus, man. 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:12.639 He didn't care. 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:13.759 He was a renegade. 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:15.440 That boy didn't mind nobody's business. 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:16.320 He was just like, whatever. 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:17.440 I know you're talking about me. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:18.399 Shut up. 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:20.879 Call them out on their thoughts. 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:22.480 He knew the power of thoughts. 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:30.559 This is why he said, Men, if you even lust, and this applies to women too, if you even lust upon someone, you've already committed the adultery in your heart. 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:34.000 If you hate your brother, you have committed murder. 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:40.879 You're like, wait a minute, I didn't do the actual act, but your mind, if you entertain it long enough, eventually you will. 00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:45.600 And that is the danger of having thoughts not captive to God. 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:49.600 In everything, submit yourself to God. 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:58.399 And if you submit everything that you are, all that you are, all your thoughts, all your lives, all relationships, even the ones you don't like, submit them to God. 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:04.960 And watch God begin to pour out his blessings. 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:05.360 Why? 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:08.799 Because why would God not bless what is his? 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:16.960 Fully centered back around Christ. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:18.559 Now, this is essential. 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:21.360 This is not just a relationship talk. 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:25.360 This is for your spiritual well-being and your spiritual growth. 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:33.440 So I am sorry to say if you wanted a church that tickled your ears or talks about how God is only going to bless you and you don't have to do anything. 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:36.240 Oh, bless God, hallelujah, and everything is rainbows and butterflies. 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:37.840 Wrong church, wrong pastor. 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:46.559 We have to put in the effort to pursue God. 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:57.200 Pursue God and have look listen to this heavenly wealth. 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:02.720 Yes, God pours out monetary things for us to be blessed with. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:07.679 But if you look for that as your blessing, that is all that you Jesus said, that was all you will receive. 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:11.440 I want what heaven has to offer. 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:15.279 Because heavenly riches, no moth can touch. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:17.679 Earthly things will pass away. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:22.799 All the things we own will decay and they will rust and they will go into the dirt. 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:31.759 But you have something that is heaven-weighted and it has real substance, it will never pass and never fade. 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:34.080 So spiritual growth and maturity. 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:39.919 If you haven't noticed, I have been saying this since we have been lead pastors here, which actually next weekend is one year. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:41.759 Has it felt like a year to y'all? 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:49.200 We were talking, I'm like, oh, I guess I guess February is a year. 00:14:49.759 --> 00:15:02.399 The vision and the mission that I've been preaching and screaming for a full year, a little over a year actually, is to equip and raise up disciples to do that we must learn and apply spiritual. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:06.320 This is a this is a curse word in the church sometimes, disciplines. 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:23.759 We have to go through the process of retraining our minds, our behaviors, and our thought patterns to stay on the straight and narrow, to not conform to this world. 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:28.320 We wonder why our churches end up empty. 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:30.960 It's because we look and act just like them. 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:38.559 They have nothing drawn, they don't have the Spirit of God drawing them in because we don't have the Spirit of God on us. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:44.879 We must become transformed and renewed in our minds and our hearts and our spirits. 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:46.399 So how do we do this? 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:49.519 We do it by relationship with God. 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:58.000 Last week we talked about the dating phase to understand that bad company corrupts good character. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:12.720 Some of you, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically are going to have to cut ties to people and relationships that have no business being connected to you. 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:19.759 And me as a person who is a social butterfly, I hate this. 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:23.519 Because I just want to love everybody and everybody gets along. 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:26.879 I show, my wife tells me how much grace and mercy I show to people. 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:33.120 People, when I when I was younger, not so much now, but when I was real young, I had people moving into my houses. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:37.360 I told them no pets, they had like cats and stuff, and they were tearing up furniture, my furniture. 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:42.480 I would let people, when I lived in Orlando, do whatever they wanted to me, and I was just a doormat to come into my house. 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:46.639 God retrained me in that. 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:49.279 Because you can't really be like that if you're a pastor. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:53.440 But I understand that position. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:58.559 I understand the pull to want to go along to get along. 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:00.799 Now, this isn't always a bad concept. 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:07.119 This isn't actually, we want unity in the church, but just because you're not the same doesn't mean you can't be unified. 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:15.279 Just because we have different viewpoints on things, or you have a political view over here and I have one over here, doesn't mean that we can't still be unified under God. 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:28.160 Just because someone's a different denomination than us, if they believe the basics, that Jesus is the one true Son of God, that he came and died for our sins, and that God created the very basic things of Christianity. 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:30.079 There's no verse in the Bible. 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:32.400 I'm not gonna get on that soapbox. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:33.759 All right, let's go back to my notes. 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:35.039 Amos 3 and 3. 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:39.920 Two people cannot disagree in the way that they are going and end up in the same direction. 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:45.359 You've got to get some people in your life that you agree with that agree with you spiritually. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:50.319 If not in agreement, cannot walk in harmony in the same direction. 00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:53.519 This speaks a little bit about being equally yoked. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:56.240 Don't go out there if you're single. 00:17:56.559 --> 00:17:57.599 Raise your hand if you're single. 00:17:57.920 --> 00:17:58.960 Raise your hand if you're single. 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:00.240 Here's what you're working with. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:01.599 Here's what you're working with. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:05.599 Some of you are like, well, I'll be here next week, too. 00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:14.559 Unequally yoked will permanently damage your spiritual health. 00:18:16.160 --> 00:18:16.720 Why? 00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:26.000 Because as much as we love to think that we are like Jesus in the capacity that we can just go to anywhere we want to go and we'll make everybody saved when we leave, it's usually the opposite. 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:27.119 They will drag you down. 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:36.079 It's sometimes necessary to cut relationship ties. 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:38.720 Now, this is this is hurtful, this is painful. 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:51.440 It makes me think a little bit of when Tristan was born, and that that weird-looking head popped out, the body popped out, and the doctor was like, You want to cut the umbilical cord? 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:53.039 Sure. 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:55.599 I took the scissors, okay? 00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:57.279 Never done this before. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:01.680 I did not know it was going to be like an extension cord tough. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:07.759 And it slipped right off and it nicked the edge, and I'm like, Oh, I looked up like she felt it. 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:10.160 I had no clue what I was doing. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:13.200 And the doctor, he laughed at me and he said, That's all right, go eat again. 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:14.880 So I was like, I was like, I'm gonna get this one. 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:16.000 So I clamped it down. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:25.039 Sometimes the most painful and awkward part is cutting the umbilical cord to relationships that should not be feeding you. 00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:26.079 Come on, man. 00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:47.039 But if you allow the spirit of God, not you, but you get some real power behind you that understands how to work those scissors, that understands how tough those cords can be to cut, it'll only take one time and they will be severed, and you just run. 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:50.079 Don't look back, run. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:20:02.160 And here's here's the alluring thing about the life that we used to live in and the friends that we used to have is that we can get very um, we can remember the good times and we forget a lot of the bad. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:13.680 Lot's wife was headed to a place of safety and no condemnation, nothing. 00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:22.640 The angels were leading them out, they were home free, and she was so tied to what was she looked back. 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:29.839 Some of you wonder why you've been hitting a spiritual brick wall over and over again. 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:33.440 It's because you keep looking back and you can't run forward if you're looking backwards. 00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:36.559 You hit walls face to face. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:45.759 Toxic people need to be excluded from your sphere of influence. 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:51.599 You can love them from a distance, you can pray for them, you can say, Hallelujah, that's right, good job, from way over there. 00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:59.119 Because your spiritual well-being and your spiritual health is more important than their feelings. 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:10.319 A lot of times, if you're like me, I don't mind hard conversations, but if it's somebody I really enjoy and like, it's hard for me to tell them the truth. 00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:15.119 And if I love them, I should be able to more, but for some reason it's the opposite. 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:20.640 I don't want to hurt their feelings, I don't want to say what I really need to say because I actually care for them. 00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:28.079 Sometimes you have to just do it, grit your teeth, and run so that they can't argue their case. 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:40.640 Because if it's somebody you enjoy being around, a relationship you actually enjoy or you feel that you need and you don't want to be alone, you'll stay with them and just endure the spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional damage. 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:49.759 So in this week, too, we're gonna be talking about the covenant phase. 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:54.240 Have you been looking at my notes? 00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:58.880 When you read, you read stuff that has all the time, it's exactly what my message is about. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:04.640 You're up there reading and feeling the Lord, and I'm just like, get it, God. 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:07.839 God is so good. 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:08.480 Man. 00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:09.599 So what does this mean? 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:10.799 A covenant. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:12.319 A covenant. 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:17.119 So if you've noticed, and Jesus did this a lot when he taught, he called them parables. 00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:18.480 The Bible calls them parables. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:24.480 He would say something in a way that the people would understand physically to explain something spiritually. 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:28.319 So if you haven't noticed, last week we were talking about dating. 00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:33.680 I'm explaining something that most of us have gone through at one point in time to explain spiritual things. 00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:36.079 So this week, what do you do after your date for a while? 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:39.119 You pop the question and you get married. 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:47.279 So you be you come under what used to be your relationship, and then you go to what is now a covenant with them. 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:50.960 So the covenant definition is an agreement. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:55.920 You're agreeing when you go into covenant with your spouse, I'm going to stay faithful to you and serve you. 00:22:56.079 --> 00:22:58.400 You're going to stay faithful to me and serve me. 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:01.440 Now listen. 00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:09.920 One of the largest spiritual issues in the church today is that no one wants to be tied down. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:13.759 You ever heard that before in relationships? 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:15.440 Well, I don't want to be tied down. 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:16.880 Oh, so you want to be a slut? 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:30.480 Y'all would expect that on a Sunday morning, would you? 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:35.839 And a loose spirit is a real thing. 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:39.440 Because God is a God of covenant. 00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:54.559 So if you are going into covenant with someone, it is pleasing to God that he sees the way he meant for things to happen, to happen, and to be honored and uplift and live in that covenant under the blessing of God. 00:23:54.960 --> 00:24:04.000 Not playing house, let me shock you again, not shacking up, but you have a covenant between a man and a woman. 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:06.720 I ain't got to go no further. 00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:14.240 That you have a covenant blessed by God under the way He designed it. 00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:24.960 This is why we have such chaos in our society today, because we try to take things that are blessed under God's covenant and they become manipulated and twisted up to mean something else. 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:30.880 Or to fit in the mold that make you feel comfortable with how you want to live your life. 00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:36.240 And it's not how you want to live your life, it's what the Bible says you should do to live your life. 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:48.559 If we as believers believe that the Bible is true from cover to cover, we have to stand and remain on that truth and not let culture influence the church on what is right and what is wrong. 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:57.119 We can be welcoming to people that have issues, sexual immorality issues, but we cannot be affirming. 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:06.400 Because we all need Jesus, we all need to be saved. 00:25:06.880 --> 00:25:12.000 If you're out there whoring around and doing your thing, I'm not gonna tell you you're gonna be blessed by God. 00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:13.680 You need to get your stuff together. 00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:19.599 If you're a liar, if you're a cheat, if you're a manipulator, you need salvation. 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:24.960 If you are living in a life of sin, not having hangups, because we all have hangups. 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:26.480 Can I get an amen? 00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:29.039 If you've ever had a drop of pride in your life, guess what? 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:30.079 You gotta hang up. 00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:33.920 If you've ever looked on somebody and lusted, you gotta hang up. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:46.799 But we live in churches today in the American culture that will not submit to deliverance, and we live under bondage of demons and sexual immorality and everything else, and we just want to wash over it like it's fine. 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:54.319 God has not called us to live in a moment of fine and acceptance and affirming. 00:25:56.559 --> 00:26:02.160 These kinds of things will not make it and enter into the heaven that God writes about in the scriptures. 00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:05.440 There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. 00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:07.759 So God is a God of covenant. 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:08.880 We see this. 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:10.400 Come to the surface. 00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:11.599 Now listen to this. 00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:14.079 Nobody wanting to be tied down. 00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:14.480 Okay? 00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:17.839 Now, we understand this relationally. 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:20.480 Let's talk about spiritually. 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:23.920 We have a phrase, y'all may know this. 00:26:24.079 --> 00:26:25.440 Pastors definitely know this. 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:27.279 We call them church hoppers. 00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:33.920 They don't want to be tied down, they just want to come and I just want to give what God gave me and blah blah blah. 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:39.359 No, you want to come and partake and not give anything. 00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:42.720 Consumers instead of contributors. 00:26:43.039 --> 00:26:44.559 I'm gonna move right along. 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:48.880 We see this come to the surface in marriages constantly. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:53.599 Either they think they are ready to get married or they have a whoops. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:27:00.400 She got pregos and think that getting married is the right thing to do. 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:07.440 Now, this is all noble and good, except it's the right move with the wrong motive. 00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:22.079 So they enter into a covenant with someone, and because their head was in the right place, but not their heart, the covenant becomes very difficult to keep. 00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:27.759 The covenant becomes difficult, although not impossible, but extremely difficult. 00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:31.599 This is why guilty salvation never lasts. 00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:36.160 Because it's a head choice instead of a heart choice. 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:40.480 And so someone will say, I want to be saved, I want salvation. 00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:41.839 And this is all well and good. 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:46.000 This is usually the first steps where you acknowledge that you need a savior. 00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:50.559 But this is a head situation and not a heart contemplation. 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:54.319 We say it with our heads, we don't mean it with our souls and with our spirits. 00:27:54.559 --> 00:28:01.519 So if we feel guilty about being a sinner, which we all should, are there any perfect and no sinners in the house today? 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:02.400 I didn't think so. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:04.480 Let's move on before somebody tries to lie. 00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:11.599 So, but if your heart is not in and only your head, your spirit will not be sustained. 00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:14.640 This is why. 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:26.400 And you think about this head knowledge of the Bible is great if you're trying to quote, but heart knowledge of the Bible will sustain you to live it out. 00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:30.880 Let me prove it to you with a very simple example. 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:36.000 The devil knows the Bible, but he will not be saved. 00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:41.359 Head knowledge is good, but heart knowledge is the goal. 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:45.119 Head knowledge is good, but heart knowledge is the goal. 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:45.359 Why? 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:54.640 Because when it gets down into your heart, it becomes a covenant situation where it actually matters to you what God thinks. 00:28:54.960 --> 00:28:58.799 It matters to you what you do, the decisions you make. 00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:04.960 I told y'all that I tell y'all this all the time because I want to remain thankful in God's blessings. 00:29:05.359 --> 00:29:14.240 Every time, when I get to go to the gym in the mornings, we live kind of across the neighbor in a neighborhood, across our gym. 00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:21.599 When I pull out and I'm waiting at the stop sign, I have to cut across, you know, those little things in the middle of 281 where you got to do the U-turn thing and blah, blah, blah. 00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:24.160 So I got, I can't just go straight across. 00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:28.880 I gotta go out, then try to get in the turn or try to get in the U and then go to the neighborhood. 00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:32.000 I thank God when I could just go and not even have to stop. 00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:33.359 I mean, I do stop. 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:40.799 I forgot there's a police officer on the front row. 00:29:43.599 --> 00:29:46.240 Okay, maybe there's a rolling in front of that word. 00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:50.960 But check your English. 00:29:51.200 --> 00:29:52.559 Stop is still there. 00:29:54.079 --> 00:29:57.039 And then I get to go right across and make the U-turn and no traffic. 00:29:57.119 --> 00:29:59.839 I thank God for the stupid small stuff of my life. 00:30:03.039 --> 00:30:04.559 I'm gonna say something. 00:30:04.799 --> 00:30:06.720 And I hope you take it the wrong way. 00:30:09.599 --> 00:30:18.720 Every night, I lay my hand on my wife, and I thank God that she even is still there next to me. 00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:32.000 Because in my life right now, spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally, I am not wondering why I'm here. 00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:35.599 I'm not wondering why I walked into the room. 00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:49.680 There were years where I attached myself to a person and that person left me, and so I became emotionally, mentally, even spiritually damaged because I thought my value was tied to that person. 00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:52.640 But when I began to read scripture, it doesn't say that. 00:30:53.839 --> 00:30:56.880 It actually says that God longs to have a covenant with me. 00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:06.640 And when I begin to understand that God wants to have something to do with me, it changed everything in my life. 00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:11.599 Saying a prayer and raising your hand is not salvation. 00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:13.119 Come on. 00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:17.039 Salvation is a life, a heart, and a mind change. 00:31:17.119 --> 00:31:20.240 It is complete surrender to the Father. 00:31:21.359 --> 00:31:24.400 So that you can truly understand what salvation is. 00:31:24.559 --> 00:31:28.799 We're going to read and explain God's covenants. 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:31.759 The two covenants I mentioned earlier, the old and the new. 00:31:31.920 --> 00:31:34.480 This broke up into two different parts, the old and the new. 00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:45.279 It's a little bit of theology, it's what we believe here, but I wanted you to understand this because even though some of you may be seasoned into faith, you need to be reminded that you cannot work your way into heaven. 00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:56.960 Don't matter what you're a part of, don't matter what you do, the only way to be saved is salvation of Jesus Christ. 00:31:57.279 --> 00:31:59.839 He is the bridge from us to the Father. 00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:01.440 There is no other way. 00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:06.559 Now, salvation produces and should produce good deeds. 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:09.759 But good deeds do not birth salvation. 00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:12.799 So this is the old covenant. 00:32:12.880 --> 00:32:19.119 Now, the old covenant, it is a working arrangement, it is works-based. 00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:20.400 Let me explain. 00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:22.000 He had this with Israel. 00:32:22.160 --> 00:32:27.440 So when Moses brought them out of Egypt, he wanted to set them apart. 00:32:27.599 --> 00:32:38.559 Now, I've been studying, doing chronological through through the uh first of the Old Testament, and I travel a lot when I'm working, and so I just had the Bible read to me. 00:32:38.720 --> 00:32:44.480 And I can't even keep up mentally and focus on the road with all the stuff Moses was telling them they had to do. 00:32:45.839 --> 00:32:48.720 I'm like, thank God for the new covenant. 00:32:48.880 --> 00:32:51.519 Like I it was so exhausting to me. 00:32:51.599 --> 00:33:07.039 Like, and then they were describing how pieces of the ephod and all this other stuff, and the robe that the Levites had to wear, and the most high priests, and the temple of meetings, and all these things that there was, it had to be a certain length this way, a certain length that way, had to be sewn together, so it was one continuous curtain. 00:33:07.119 --> 00:33:15.839 Then there was an inner chamber, and there's all this stuff that they had to do just to be in the presence of God, and the people themselves could not even enter in. 00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:29.119 God established a sacrificial system that would allow them to be cleansed. 00:33:29.359 --> 00:33:33.839 This is key, temporarily from their sins. 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:40.240 But these sacrifices had to be repeated over and over and over and over. 00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:42.079 Old covenant, old covenant. 00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:49.440 He ordained priests to present the people before him, as the people could never come directly into the presence. 00:33:50.880 --> 00:33:55.920 His people, even though God poured out his blessings straight out of Egypt, he took care of them. 00:33:56.079 --> 00:33:57.200 They wanted for nothing. 00:33:57.359 --> 00:33:59.200 Their clothes and sandals lasted. 00:33:59.279 --> 00:34:06.720 There was he delivered them not only from the land of Egypt, but from the Egyptians when they walked through dry land. 00:34:08.239 --> 00:34:13.360 Miracle after miracle, leading them with fire, covering them with smoke. 00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:17.760 All these miracles in their life, and they still would not adhere. 00:34:17.920 --> 00:34:21.440 They were not grateful enough that they would not follow the law. 00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:25.599 They were a the Bible calls them a rebellious people. 00:34:29.679 --> 00:34:30.960 Hello, America. 00:34:33.840 --> 00:34:40.320 And we're not even under the old covenant to keep all of those things that they had to do and the old sacrifice. 00:34:40.639 --> 00:34:45.119 Now, this leads to the prophet Jeremiah, and he prophesied, he's coming through prophesying judgment. 00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:47.280 You've got to stop what you are doing. 00:34:47.519 --> 00:34:48.079 Turn. 00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:51.039 God's people would not turn from their wickedness. 00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:52.800