Honor

All right. All right. How you guys doing this morning? You guys look great. Aren’t you glad for.

We’ve got nice weather. Okay. So we just, we just came from Maryland. We were over Maryland the past couple days and we left 40 degree weather. And I’m telling you, I, look, I got to be honest with you.

I love it. I, I do love cold weather. Hey, I’m with you, man. I, I’m like, I’m like cold weather. Yes, yes, yes.

I like, I don’t like walking out in December feeling like a yak slicking you. You know, it’s like, it’s so hot. It’s like, it’s not the high, it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity. It’s like, really? I’ve got, I’ve got two labs and they both, I send them outside and they’re both looking at me going, you got to be kidding me.

Really? So I am so glad you guys are here today and be able to share Sunday with us. Today we’re going to finish up the last of our series and I just want to thank you guys for the privilege of being able to just join with you guys and take this journey with you. Next week, I believe we’re trying to put together a live stream with Pastor Honor and our senior pastor of the fellowship that we’re part of, our parent church. So I want to encourage you guys to be out here next week.

It’s going to be an exciting time. We are coming up with some exciting, exciting things in the next couple months. I am excited. The team is excited. We’ve got a lot of good things.

I had a meeting with Pastor Brad, who is my counterpart, and they are super stoked. My wife and I and Alex had a chance to go in Leon to a conference. Was it H? Hgm we went to. And so coming from a guy that doesn’t.

I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t know anybody. I walked in the room, I’m like, okay, well, one thing I did learn is that that’s okay because if you have an Alex Rubio by in an hour, you’ll know everybody. Okay? You will know everybody.

But it was just, it was a great time and we got to learn a lot. You know, being in ministry for 30 plus years, you know, I’m a consummate student. I love guys like Pastor Honor and Leon and, and Miranda where I just, I can glean off of and learn. Because you never stop learning. Amen.

You know, that’s the thing about scriptures. You never stop learning. And So I got to learn. I walked in, and guys are like. I’m like, hi, my name is Carl.

And before I get my name out, the guy’s like, oh, I know who you are. You’re from Saul Church. Man, I hear a lot of good things about Saul Church. So you guys are in a happening place, and God is doing something. I hear so much about what the spirit’s doing, and just.

I’m excited. And talking with Brad last week, he said our senior pastor is. He’s really excited about what’s happening here at SALT and the growth and the direction that we’re heading. And, you know, we’re just going to take what our founders did, and we are going to springboard off of it, and we are going to. We are going to go to great heights.

So before we begin with our sermon, let’s go ahead and bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, I just want to thank you for this time that we could share together, Father God. I just pray that, Lord God, these not be my words. But they’re your words, Father God, that I pray that I would humbly and truthfully and accurately deliver your word that you have for your people. The Father God, I would represent you to the best of my ability, but also more closely to the best of your.

To your ability that is poured through me, Father God. I pray for the people that are listening within the sound of my voice, Lord God, that their hearts would be open, their ears would be open, Lord God, and their mind would just take in what you have for them. Father, I thank you for this day. I give you glory, and I give you honor in your name. Amen.

And amen. All right. All right. So like I said, the past couple weeks, if you haven’t been here and if you’re online, I want to welcome you guys. Love you guys.

If you get a chance, I’m really going to say this. I love the online crowd. But you know what? You really need to be here. Amen.

This is where you need to be. Because in the fellowship of the saints is where iron sharpens iron and where we get to know each other and we get to love on each other. We get to. We get to share with each other. And so if you can, I would love to have you out here.

I do want to push what my wife was telling you about Wednesday evenings. If you guys love. Absolutely. In depth Bible studies. You love to get in and go from scripture to scripture.

I’m telling you, I cannot express enough. Tune in to Pastor Honor teachings on Wednesday night between 7 and 8, he gets very in depth. My wife and I listen to him when we’re not at group. We have a wonderful life group that we go to with the Dunnings. I love them.

My brother, you know, he’s just. He teaches me so much. I just. I love being with him and his guys. He’s just.

He’s awesome. So over the past couple weeks, we’ve been talking about how we started the year strong, but we want to finish stronger. What basic the basis of that is, really, is that how many of you, at the beginning of the year, you set up these things called. What are they, Resolutions? You go, I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do that.

Okay. I’m gonna lose weight, or I’m gonna eat better, or I’m gonna get into my Bible more. And typically. How long does it usually last? Maybe 30 seconds.

Okay. You know, it doesn’t last long at all. That first donut, you know, you fall off the wagon, you know, you’re just kind of like, get in next week, you lift. You know, look, I’ll. Hey.

I’ll be the first one to admit I did really good. How long did I walk for? About a week. Walked for about a week. I did real good the first day, you know, did real good.

And after that, it kind of trickled down. And my wife’s like, you gonna go out, walk? I’ll go, no, I’m good. I’m good. But the idea behind it is to finish stronger.

Not so much in our resolutions, but in our faith. So over the last couple weeks, we’ve been focusing on how we can finish out this year even stronger than we started. We began taking inventory of our faith and learning more about it. So we began to talk about childlike faith, that faith that is more simplistic in nature. It’s humility.

It’s free of doubt and fear. And then we talked about the abiding faith, and we talked about how it’s steadfast and uncompromising and unwavering. And then we went into the bold faith, and we talked about faith that stands up and stands out. It’s committed to action, no matter what the circumstances. And if you remember, what was the homework I gave you?

Anybody getting into your word? Getting into your word. Okay, so how many? You know, and I’m not going to ask for raising your hands, but you’re going to find out that that’s. That’s imperative.

That’s. That’s absolutely imperative. So that week, I was actually given a mandate by one of. By one of our members. And she said, you know, you really should give homework every week.

And I’m like, really? I should, huh? I was like, that’s a good idea. I said, we’ll do that. We call them next steps.

But you know what? I like homework. That’s cool. So then the following week, we talked about. We discussed the untapped potential of supernatural power that we have to access to being grafted into the family.

See, we’re not just adoptees. We’re actually grafted into the family. When you’re grafted into the family, the very blood that flowed, the power that was in the blood that flowed down that cross, we have access to that power. We think that, well, you know, I’m weak. I really can’t do this.

No, you don’t. See, the thing is, is that what. That. What it gives us is. It gives us.

We understand that there’s authority in the name. Do you understand? There’s authority in the name of Jesus. When you speak the name of Jesus, you know, if you read in Matthew or, I believe it’s Matthew or Mark, it says where they came in, and these people that were quote, unquote disciples said, well, you know, we preached in the name of Jesus. You know, we preached in Paul’s name.

We preached. And he goes, well, the demon said, I know Paul, I know this person. I know Jesus, but I don’t know you. And he in turn, attacked them. But the fact of the matter is, we live on that faith.

We know the power of Jesus. We have authority in that. The blood gives us access into that, and the Word gives us reassurance. And the presence, the presence of God gives us that peace. It’s where we can abide into that presence.

And see, the thing is, by tying all four of these areas together on a daily basis, we come more effective and purposeful in our walk with the Lord and. And begin to operate fully in the plan that he has for our life. So if we’re looking at the faith, we know we have the faith. We’re in his plan. We have that faith, and then we tap in to the power that we have access to.

But now we tie it all together and we come around full circle, and we begin to understand that we walk into this through the very anointing that is given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ Savior. And we walk not by our own faith, through our own strength, but we operate on power, not through power of our own understanding. See, when we obediently submit ourselves to be fully transformed, transparent, and transfixed by the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit, both physically, mentally and spiritually. See that by looking at our faith and looking through the power, that’s great. But what we need is we have to understand that we have an anointing on our lives.

See, in 2nd Corinthians 1, 21, 21 and 22, it says, God, who enables us along with you, to stand firm for Christ, he has commissioned us and he has identified us as his own by placing his Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything that he has promised. See, our desires begin to shift completely to a different level with God. No longer are we satisfied with the norm or just being comfortable. See, we hunger for something more. We opt to completely give ourselves over to God.

Our love for him has surpassed anything that we can gain or accomplish in this earthly realm. See, when you begin to understand where your faith is and when you begin to understand you desire, the desire in your heart goes, I don’t want to stay where I’m at. You know, we, most of us in our careers, we walk our careers out. Nobody wants to stay at the bottom level of your career. You have a desire to move up the ladder.

Okay, well, in our Christianity and with our walk, we have to be able to. We look at that, we go, God, I want more of you. I want more of you. Because when we give our hearts over to the Lord, what it does is it innately gives us that desire. There’s a desire in our heart.

When we spend time with God on a daily basis, it’s God, I want more of you. I’m not satisfied where I am today. I’m not satisfied with today’s man, with yesterday’s manna. I want the different manna. And we look at it day in and day out.

See, when we see the world through his eyes, we have an understanding that we can not only change the world as we current view it, but in such a way that it goes well beyond our years and our earthly lives. See, when we begin to tap into the anointing, it’s not just about our lives today. We can change lives as well as ours generationally. Okay, so as parents, my job as a parent is I want my children to look generationally. I want to change generationally.

I want my grandchildren’s grandchildren to be able to go back and say, the foundation that my great, great great grandfather laid is in the word of God. It’s not about me, because I want everything to point to him. And that happens when I begin to dedicate everything to The Lord and his anointing and say, God, I want your anointing in his. See, the verse that we just read speaks that we, as children of the Most High God, are set apart. We are anointed by His Spirit, which empowers us to walk out our faith in a way that brings honor to him and his purpose in our life.

The anointing of the Holy Spirit serves as a mark of ownership, reminding us of our identity. Christ, I belong to Christ. His ownership is stamped on my heart. And God, I’m going to do everything that I can do to make sure that I go forward in your anointing. See, Paul said this to the Philippians.

He said, I am certain in 1 6. He said, I am certain that God, who began a good work within you will continue his work until it is finally finished. On the day when Christ returns, the work in you is continual. It doesn’t just stop, okay? You can’t just sit here and go, well, I’m good.

I’m good with, I read that scripture today. I’m good. That’ll get me through the week. It doesn’t work that way. By constantly getting into the Word, by constantly getting into the presence of God, by constantly being dedicated, saying, God, I want my faith stronger than it was yesterday, and by having that you, you begin to see God.

God can begin to show things to you, open your eyes and show things to you that says, you know what? I’ve got a plan and a purpose for you. See, God has that plan and a purpose that only you can complete. I can’t complete it. Your neighbor can’t complete it.

It’s specifically for you. So you have been specifically chosen, prepared for his work. Each of us play a different part in the furtherance of the Kingdom of God. Some are out front, some are hidden, some are more public influence and affect change that is widely observed. And some have more of a hidden influence that can affect change generationally and supernaturally.

None are greater than the other. Okay? So the fact of the matter is, is that you see people on tv. I do it, I see people on TV and I go, man, they’ve got such. They’re great orators, they’re great speakers, they’re great preachers, man.

They just, they’ve got all this God, I can never be like that. God says, you’re right, you’re not going to be like that because I’ve created you for something different. Okay, I imagine this and I heard a long, long time ago when I was, when I was growing up in our church, In Maryland and Hannover, Maryland. I heard my pastor say this. He said, a lot of us have this concept that when we get to heaven, that we are going to see, you know, people.

You know, when God says he starts handing out the crowns, that he’s going to be like, billy Graham’s gonna be up front and all these other people are gonna be up front and that’s gonna be. He said, but you may be surprised. There may be the little old Mrs. Smith that nobody saw her, that stood in her closet every single day, cried out to God, wore the carpet out, praying for her children, for her neighbor, for the ministry. And God’s gonna say, here you go, here you go.

Don’t ever look at somebody and go, you know, wow. You know, man, because what you’re doing is you’re missing the mark of what God has for you. God says, I’ve got a plan for you, and you need to, through faith and through the power and through the anointing, you tap into that. I can’t do that. It’s like.

It’s a crazy analogy, but, you know, every snowflake is different, okay? The fact of the matter is, is that we’re all different. God says when we give our hearts over the Lord, we confess him with our mouth. Believe in our hearts that God says, I have a plan for you. Your husband can’t do it.

Your kids can’t do it. That person can’t do it, because it’s specific to you. And the fact of the matter is, is that what happens is, is that as a church, as a whole, okay, yes, I have the pulpit. I can sit up here and speak. But what happens is, because we are part of a body and that body goes out and we grow the church because.

Because it’s not. I’m not the church. This building isn’t even the church. You all are the church. And when we begin to act in accordance with God’s word and according to the purpose that he has in our life, we affect change in the kingdom.

We begin to. We become dangerous to the enemy. And, you know, the thing about it is, too, is that there is power in multitudes. Because you’re not alone. Because you get to.

You get to have. And join arms with that brother, that sister, and say, hey, I’m struggling here. But you know what? We can do this together. It’s about us working together.

So when we talk about it, what exactly can we, you know, does the anointing do? You know, we talk about the anointing and. Look, I’m just. I’M not naive. And to say that we’re just kind of brushing the surface of.

Okay. Of this because we can go into a much, much deeper study about the anointing and what it does. So I’m really just kind of brushing the surface. But I think that this is important. But what does it do?

The anointing has the power to break the yoke. The yoke, as the Gospel of Luke records in the words of Jesus. And he was referring to scripture in Isaiah, and He said, Luke 4, 18, 19, it said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the poor. And he has sent me to proclaim that the captives will be released, that the blind will see and the oppressed will be set free. It can give the believer the ability to break the chains of bondage and oppression.

Depression, anxiety, sickness and death have no place in. When operating in the anointed, the power Holy Spirit, the enemy has no choice but to flee. When you walk into that, when you walk into that plan, you walk into that purpose and, and you were anointed by God, the enemy has no choice but to recognize the authority that you have. It doesn’t make a difference if you’re a businessman, a teacher, a first responder, a ditch digger, construction worker in the military, it doesn’t make a difference. You, when you made that commitment to the Lord, you have an anointing in you that you have to tap into and you go, God, I am in my position and I am here and I’m going to operate the way that you want me to operate.

Hell cannot do anything to stop you, because what happens is when he recognizes, the enemy will recognize and go, God’s all over them. God is all over them, See? And it also has the ability, it provides strength, boldness and courage. See, in second Timothy 1:7, it says, for God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power and love and of self discipline. It gives us the ability to stand not only for ourselves, but also in the gap for others.

Against fear, sickness, depression, anxiety. We have the power to stand against the headwinds of the enemy, to boldly and accurately proclaim the word of God, to speak death. See, it’s not just for your life, but it’s also for the life that’s next to you or somebody that you may meet at Walmart where God can speak to you. You could be in a line. And because you’re so in tune with the Holy Spirit and you’re so in tune with God that the Holy Spirit says, hey, that person in front of you, they’re really going through something, and I need you to just speak into their life.

And you go, whoa, wait a minute. Where did that come from? But when you. When you move into that position, when you move into that and you’re out, what you’re doing is the moment you take a step forward. You are now operating in the anointing.

Okay? You’re operating in the anointing. 3. It restores the broken heart. In Second Corinthians 1, 3, 4, it says, all praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in trouble so that we may comfort others when they are troubled. We will be given to them the same comfort that God has given to us. This anointing can bring healing and deliverance to the broken. It can even restore what the enemy has stolen.

It allows us to pour into another person and see into their brokenness through our experience of our own brokenness to give them by the power and the anointing of the Holy Spirit through hope and comfort and peace. See, without it, we’re unable to move past our own suffering. You cannot expect to pour into somebody else’s life. If you haven’t dealt with the hurts, the scars, the demons in your own life, you just can’t do it. But see, the reality is that God says you’re not meant to stay where you are, okay?

You’re not meant to stay there. What God says is. God says, look, I’ve already freed you. I’ve given you the freedom. I’ve broken those chains.

I freed you from oppression. I’ve gotten rid of your depression, okay? Because I’ve given you the freedom. I did that at the cross. You confessed it.

You believed in it. Stop wallowing in it. Stop going. Well, like a lot of times, what happens is we sit down and a pastor or preacher will give a great, great message, and we’ll go to the altar and we’ll cry out to God and we go, God, I just want change. I want change.

And then you know what we have a habit of doing? We have a habit of going back to the cross, and we pick up that bag that we left and we go, well, you know, let me just. Let me try to deal with this on my own. And you were never meant to do that. God is saying, if you dropped it at the cross, leave it there.

Now, that doesn’t mean that the enemy ain’t going to come back to you and go, hey, you remember that? Well, but see what he’s failing to. He’s failing to tell you. And he’s not going to tell you, but you need to remind him. He’s going, yeah, Satan, I remember that.

But you know where I left it? I left it at the foot of the cross. And at the foot of the cross, when the blood came down at the bottom of that cross, it went over that. And I’m done, and I’m moving forward. So any addiction, drug addiction, alcohol addiction, pornography addiction, those addictions washed in the blood.

Depression, anxiety, sickness, death, disease, left at the cross. And we move forward. And when we begin to realize that and understand that, what happens is you become a vacuum. People will become to seek you out, and God gives you insight to pour into somebody else’s life. And the greatest part about it is, so most of you that I’ve talked to, you know, I’m a product of a broken home.

God has given me the ability to pour into the lives of children or families from broken homes. I used to look at that as a hindrance, and now I look at it as. That is my ability to help. That’s my superpower. That’s my superpower.

You know, I’ve looked. I’ve come in contact with alcoholics, and they’re going, you know what? I beat that. I beat it. I didn’t beat it on my own.

I beat it through the blood of Jesus Christ. And you know what I did? He beat it to death. And because he beat it to death, I’m allowed to be able to pour into somebody else’s life and go, you’re not alone. I get it.

I get your struggle. You know, and that’s what God does, is he allows us to pour into other people who are brokenhearted. The other thing is, it allows us to live out our purpose. In 1st Peter 2. 9, it says, but you are not like that.

For you are a chosen people. You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others to the goodness of God. For he called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light. See, what that is, is that we’re not called to fit in.

We’re called to stand out. Okay? We have a unique purpose. Look, you may not feel like you’re called to preach. You’re called to teach or be a missionary or even be an evangelist.

But whether you realize it or not, you are. You are. Okay? You may not hold the official title of pastor, evangelist or missionary. But the reality is, is that you are, if you walk into your place of business, you’re a missionary, you’re the evangelist, you’re the pastor, okay?

And it doesn’t make a difference if you’re an H Vac Tech, okay, A carpenter like me, a painter like me, okay? Or you’re an entrepreneur or business person. See, the thing is, the Word says that we’re going to be held to accountability of what we know, not what we don’t know, but what we know. And if you desire to watch God move in your midst, this is where you stay in his presence. And by.

In his presence, you get into His Word. You understand your authority. I have watched more people go from unsuccessful struggling to just doing that. And, and they watch as their career level begins to ascend to a much higher level. And trust me, you could sit there and tell me all day long, I hate where I work.

Guess what? The reality, what will happen is you’ll find out that you’re going to find out if that’s where God wants you. Because if that’s where God wants you, God’s never going to move you out, because God’s got a plan. So the best bet is to find out, God, why do you have me here? And if you don’t have me here for a purpose, then move me out.

And he will. He will. I’m not. Look, when I stepped down, as. When I stepped down as assistant pastor several years ago, I thought, you know what?

We’re done with Virginia. We’re going to move back. We’re going to go back home to Maryland. And we tried several times. We’re like, God, we’re just going to move.

We’re done. God said no. Three years ago, four years ago, we’re like, hey, we met with the realtor. We’re like, okay, we’re going to put our house up for sale, and we’re going to go back to Maryland, and that’s where we’re going to go. And, and the, the, the.

The realtor sat in our, our living room, and we’re expecting to get this whole, you know, okay, here’s what we need to do with your house. Here’s what we need to do. He was in my. He never left my island for four hours. And all he did was prophesy, pray and preach over our family to the point where all three of us were literally crying.

And I’m like, this is one of the top realtors in the area. And he sat there and he poured. I mean, he poured it out and he’s like, dude. So he says, I’ll call you. I’ll give you a call in a couple months.

And, you know, two months went by. I get a phone call and my wife and I are home. And he calls up and he says, okay. He goes, well, here’s what we can do, and here’s what I. Here’s what I see, and blah, blah, blah.

But what it was is that I was reading between the lines, was listening to what he wasn’t saying versus what more of what he was saying. And I kind of got this feeling now. See, most realtors would be all over it. They’d be like, hey, I’ll call you back in 24 to 48 hours. I haven’t heard from him since.

I haven’t heard from him since. And it’s not because he’s a bad realtor. I’m going to tell you right now, he’s not a bad realtor at all. It’s just the fact is, is what he’s doing is he’s being obedient to God. And when I text him, I think it was about a month before we hooked up, and I said, hey, I got a text message.

Or I talked to Pastor Honor, and he told me this is what he wanted to do. And he sends me this emoji, and he goes, hallelujah. He goes, I knew God had a plan. I knew God had a plan. What it was is that I was like, God, I want out of here.

And God says, no, I’ve got a plan for you. I got a plan for you. You know, even after. And I say this a lot, but, you know, even after, you know, the death of my brother, I’m like, God, I’m done. I just want to get out of here.

I want to move. I want to go. I’m done. You know, I want to. You know, we don’t have anybody here.

We have friends in Maryland. We got friends there. And God says, no, I have a plan for you. I’m going to give back to you everything that the enemy has taken from you. What he did was he turned around and my brother’s gone.

But I got another brother. And I happened to tell him this week, I said, my wife looked at me, and she says, I close my eyes, and I swear your brother was standing in front of you. And the thing about it is, is what he did, too, is he gave us a family. And that family is salt church. So see, what God does, what the enemy meant for bad, what the enemy meant for bad, God uses for good.

Okay, the enemy, you know, so we have to look at that. It’s in his purpose. We live out his purpose. See, when we Words by the living example, God’s freedom, promise and salvation that is offered by the sacrifice that he made on the cross. How you live out your life in the fullness of Christ is the ability to set others free.

What you’ve gone through has. God can use that to set others free. See, in second Timothy 4, 7, it says, and these are Paul’s words, he says, I fought the good fight, I finished the race, and I remain faithful. But see if he goes on in verse 17. And he said, but the Lord stood with me and gave me strength so that I may preach the good news in its entirety for all Gentiles to hear.

And he rescued me from certain death. See, God sees what you’re going through. You know, we look at our past and we think that that’s an anchor. And God goes, no, that’s not an anchor. That’s a tool.

That’s a tool because there’s people out there that need to hear what’s going on in your life. There’s people out there that need to know that there’s freedom. So as believers, our purpose is to live out the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, it has been said, if you remember what I said this one the first time, and when necessary, use words. Your life is your biggest example.

Because people are going to look at that. See, in this day and age, especially in this new generation, they pay more attention to how you’re living than what’s coming out of here. Because nine times out of 10, we’re trained that I don’t trust the words that are coming out of your mouth. I just don’t. But then when they begin to see you live that out, it’s completely different.

They begin to see the freedom that God has set. God set you free. How do we do this? So we’ve got to cultivate it and maintain the anointing on a continual basis. How do we go about and how do we do this?

We do it through increase. We’ve already talked about that. We talked about daily and fervent prayer. Get into the Word and get the Word into you. Be purposeful about abiding in the presence of God.

I cannot stress this enough. Getting in the word, praying and just abiding in the presence of God. Couples, you want a strong marriage. You want a marriage and a relationship that is absolutely unbreakable. Spend five minutes together in the Word, prayer and in the presence of God and I can guarantee you God will wrap that in his glory and he will give you.

He will set you on a hill and make you an example, especially in this day and age. Again, like I said, I’m a child. I’m a product of a broken home. You’ve got it now where two out of every three marriages are failing and ending in divorce. Let me explain something to you.

Some of the hardest times that my wife and I have, I have ever gone to, God’s got it through God. God got us through it simply because we relied on him and not on ourselves. Yeah, Divorce is easy. Okay? Giving up is easy.

And that’s what the enemy expects. That’s what the world expects. But what he doesn’t expect is when two people gird up their legs, stiffen their bodies and go, we’re not giving in and we’re going to push forward. The other one is don’t hinder the anointing. Never settle for the ordinary.

Strive for the extraordinary. Be in the world, but not of the world. Evaluate if the table that you’re currently sitting at was a table that was meant to be flipped. Watch the tables that you’re sitting at. Watch who you hang out with.

Are they life suckers? Are they drawing the life out of you or are they adding to you? Are they benefiting you? Okay. Are you able to pour into them?

When you come out, do you go, hey, you know what? Iron sharpens iron man. I really got a lot out of that conversation. Okay, number three, Bring honor to the father. Live a life worth heavenly celebration.

Live a life that is dangerous to the enemy. Live a life that is kingdom minded and has generational impact. So I’m vaguely familiar with the butterfly effect. And I’m sure there’s people here that are a lot smarter than I can. Thank you, Miranda.

And basically that stands as that if the butterfly flaps its wings in Asia, that over time that ripple effect has a more, greater impact thousands of miles away. What you don’t understand is the decisions that you make today. The word and in getting in closer to God, have generational effects by not just by your children and your family, but those that are around you. They’re all watching. Okay, we could take this example.

An owner, an entrepreneur of a business, and he’s faithful to God. He loves God. Well, what it is is those that are below him are watching him. They’re looking at him. They’re seeing how he carries out his business.

They’re seeing how he handles tough situations and stressful situations. I have been a part of People and they’re like, you know, my job, I could go out, I could make a lot more money. I could make a ton more money. And I’m going, so why don’t you? And they go, because of the honor and the integrity of my boss and the owner of the company, I’m not going to leave them.

I go, even if you can make more money? He’s like, money’s not it. Because I can’t find that. I can’t find that. I watched a good friend of mine, a good friend of mine up in Maryland when he was a teenager, got a part of a.

It was a speed and sound shop. He was into cars. So an older gentleman had owned this business, and he got into the business and he began to work with this older gentleman and whatnot. And he. He was a Christian, and he lived out his life.

And the gentleman that owned the business was not a Christian, and he just lived his life out. But the man operated with the utmost integrity. So one day the man called him in. The owner of the business called him in and he said, hey, my buddy’s name was Mark. And he said, hey, Mark.

He goes, I’m sick and they don’t give me long to live, and I don’t have any. He’s like, I’ve got family that I could turn this over to. He said, but you know what? He goes, I’ve watched your life and I’ve watched how you lived over the last several years. And he goes, and he goes, first and foremost, he goes, I want to know that God that you talk about.

I want to know where I’m going after I die. And Mark gave him the opportunity to lead the man to God and. And he gave his heart to the Lord and the man. Eventually, he wound up passing away. And during.

After the funeral and whatnot, the man’s wife and family came up to him and he said, yeah. He said the one thing that he left in his will, he said, you’re taking the business. And he went, what? He goes, yeah. He goes, he wanted you to have the business.

Everything, lock, stock and barrel. They signed it over to him. God blessed him. So, you know, God, trust me, when you think that people aren’t looking, they’re looking. That marriage that’s falling apart next door, they’re looking at you, okay?

That single mother that’s losing her ever loving mind, that’s on their last nerve. They’re watching you, okay? Those children in your classroom, okay, that are having. That are having ideologies and LGBQs and the homosexual, they’re being shoved down their throat. They’re looking at you and seeing what you’re going to do.

They’re watching you. Because those are the people that they’re going to look these as they grow up, they’re going to remember. Man, I remember that teacher, I remember that businessman. I remember that couple that lived next door that they just came over and introduced themselves. They didn’t really beat us over the head with the Bible, but what they did do is they lived it out.

See, our life, I’ve spent a lot of years in construction, 35 years. And one of my things, one of my passions was always older homes. See, our life is like a house. It’s beautiful, ornate, full of rooms, rooms that are meant for rest, for eating, for studying, for gathering. And at the front of this house is a door.

And some of these doors that I used to go into very older homes in the older part of Baltimore were very ornate, hand carved, hundreds of years old, brass hinges that were painstakingly, you know, milled out, leaded glass, beautiful doors. But when I usually went into the house, I usually wound up going through the back door because the front door was always padlocked back. It was always boarded up. But see, over the past couple weeks, what we’ve been doing is we’ve been kind of doing some house cleaning. We’ve been going through faith.

We’ve been going through our rooms and going into each room and into the closets and going, okay, God, I want to clean this out for you. Kind of like what I used to do when I would walk into a house and go, okay, we’re going to clean this room out. We’re going to do this and we’re going to do that. What I’m not going to do is I’m not going to rip all the stuff out because I can’t get it. It’s too expensive to get.

But I’m going to, I’m going to beautify it. I’m going to put some love into it. And what we do is we begin to clean our house. And we said, okay, you know what? I’m going to go through my house and I’m going to clean this house up and I’m going to make it look pretty.

That’s kind of our life. We said, you know what? I’m going to clean the room of my language up. I’m going to clean the room of my thought life up. I’m going to clean the room of my actions.

I’m going to start acting more Christ like, okay, but see, here’s the thing. You can’t do it just on your own. Okay? We do things through the power and the blood of Jesus Christ. So that’s kind of like a house, is that I can go through all the rooms and I can check everything out.

I can make sure the windows work, I can make sure all this stuff works. And then I have to go into the power grid of the house. Because if you’re familiar with old houses, they used to have what we used to call the old knob and tube. Okay? Two wires run up to a knob and you put it in.

And nine times out of 10, it always caused a fire. Okay? How they ever got it to work in the 1910s, 1920s is beyond me. But you know what? That’s well beyond my years.

So we go in and we upgrade the power system. Kind of like we were talking about last week. We’re going to tap into the blood of Jesus Christ. We’re going to abide in his presence. We’re going to understand that there’s power in the name.

Kind of the same way with our house. We want to make sure that the lights don’t flicker. We want to make sure that the power doesn’t die. When we throw hand hair dryers, curling irons and cooking utensils and all, then we wind up popping a fuse. We want to make sure that everything’s up to date.

Why? Because what we want to do is we don’t want to live on yesterday’s manna. We don’t. Yes. We don’t want to live on yesterday’s technology.

We get all this done and we do this, but we fail to address one thing. We address all the rooms. The outside of the house is looking beautiful, but we fail to address the front door. Because, see, the front door is. How is the entrance to our life.

It’s the entrance into our heart. It’s the entrance of how people get to know us and they get to know us, our worst times and our good times, because it gives us the ability. So now what happens is. So one of the things that I used to do in construction is we used to take the door off the hinges and they were heavy. I mean, heavy.

And we used to send them out to a company that would strip the door down. Hundreds of years of, you know, decades of paint would come off the door and it would expose the hand carved ornate roses and flowers. And all the time that it took to build this door, and it would expose the beautiful old growth wood in this door, and then they would peel back the plywood all off of the window. Because, see, whether you know it or not, you guys have. You guys have covered up your heart.

You don’t want anybody to see your mistakes. You don’t want anybody to see the things that you’ve done or you’re hurt or anything that’s going on. So you’re going to keep that hidden. And God says, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We’re going to peel that.

We’re going to peel that plywood off of that. We’re going to expose the beautifully painstakingly made leaded glass that literally, when cleaned and put back together, that the. That the sunlight of the Holy Spirit can shine through and it dances in different colors in the hallway of your life, that people can see that, and they see what God has done. So you get all that done, and we hang the door up and we get the lock to work correctly, and we polish up the brass and get the years off of it. And then we go.

And we go to open the door, and all of a sudden it’s stuck. We’re like, wait a minute. I put all this time into it. What’s going on? What’s happening?

Why is this door not open? And you’re pushing and you’re pushing and you’re pushing on this door, and it opens a little bit. You’re going, okay, I’m going to push a little more. What do we forget? We forgot the anointing oil.

We forgot the oil that goes on the hinges that allows the mechanism of the hinge to work freely. Because, see, metal on metal doesn’t work all the time. So when you begin to add that anointing oil into the hinges of your life, and you allow God, you seek him on a daily basis, and that oil gets into you, and it begins. That door can flow open, and it begins to allow the Holy Spirit to come into your life and say, I can use this house. I can use everything.

And not only can I use this house, but this house is welcoming because I can send others to it who are hurting. That door that was kicked and beat on and covered and painted over and said that it was ugly, that was your life. God says, no longer. No longer. I have made you beautifully.

I have painstakingly handcrafted you in your mother’s womb. I have given you a plan and a purpose. The enemy has sought to deprive you of the plan that I have for you. But over the past couple weeks, we’ve been going through this, and we’ve been. We’ve been going, God, I want to get closer to you.

God, I want more of you. And now what’s happened is you’re pushing that door and pushing that door, and God, God, God, what’s going on? And God’s saying, it’s my anointing. You’ve got to cry out for my anointing. Not the anointing of yesterday, but the anointing oil of today.

Because then what happens is somebody comes and they open up your door. It’s very easily opened up. And what it does is it shows what God has done done and how God has set you free. It shows the beautiful rooms that they can come in and they can sit in the dining room and they can eat a meal and they can be filled. They can walk into your study and they can talk with you about the Word, and they can go over the word with you and how it gets poured into you.

Or maybe they need a room of rest. They just need rest. My wife and I tell people this. We have the most beautiful sunsets. God absolutely blessed us with the absolutely beautiful sunsets.

There are times that when I was pastoring, we would come home or we would come out over the weekend, and we would come home and there’d be another car in a driveway. And I’m like, what’s another car doing there? She goes, I don’t know. So we’d walk into the house and go through the house. We’d set up everything in the kitchen, and there’d be.

One of our staff would just be sitting on the back porch, and tears would just be flowing down their face. And we’d walk out and we’d go. We’d go, what’s going on? And they said, no, I just. I needed God.

I needed to get alone with God, and I needed a place that was just peaceful, that I could just get away. And we would find them on our back porch, and they would be staring at the. The sunset and the pastel colors, the beautiful painting that God would give them. And they would sit here and go, I’m just marveling in what God has done for me. That the ocean that I see in the waves and how they systematically flow in rhythm.

And I could sit on the beach and I could just begin to see the waves move back and forth. And God begins to overpower me and say, I love you. I’ve given you all this because I love you. And as God begins to do that in your life, what it does is it gives you the ability to open up your life to other people who are struggling, who are hurting, who are in bondage. And they look at people, you know, they look at you and they go, how can I?

And you look at them and you have the ability to go, let me help you. The. That’s what Salt Church is all about. See, salt has two properties. It’s a healing property, and it adds flavor.

And see, sometimes what we need to do is we need to pay attention. And by spending time in the Lord, when we get people in front of me, what do they need? Do they need healing or do they need more flavor in their life? That is Salt Church. That is you.

That is you. Don’t ever, ever allow the enemy to come in and lie to you and tell you that you’re worth nothing. Don’t ever let the enemy remind you of your past without reminding him of his future. Because you are salt. And that’s not just because of the church that you belong to.

That’s because of what’s in his word. You are a priest. You are of a royal priesthood. You are called to be ministers. You’re called to be pastors.

I may hold the title, but you know what? You do the work. You do the work. The alcoholics, the addicted, the sick, the diseased. God’s going to do it.

God’s going to do it. I believe it. I believe it. I didn’t stand in this church four months ago or back in August and go, wow, you know, yeah, it’s a small church. Yeah, I don’t know.

We’re just going to kind of come and hang out. The moment I walked into this parking lot, God says, you’re exactly where I need you to be. And I need you to tell them that they’re about. Their house is about to get rocked. Because you think salt’s just in a name.

I got news for you. It’s not just in a name. It’s about to become your job, guys. God loves you. He cares about you.

This remnant is here. And I’m going to speak to those that are online. If you’re not here, you need to be here. I cannot express enough the spirit of God and the presence of God that is just in this room right here and right now. But I could tell you that the remnant that’s here, they don’t live it just here.

They go out and they live it. God is moving, see, And I’m going to end with this. See, we talk about revival and we talk about restoration. This is the one thing I could tell you. See, revivals for the church, you revive what is dead.

You bring it back to life. But see, the church can’t. The church, the world out there cannot have restoration until the church has revival. Because when revival takes place here and we get in right line with God and we begin to operate the way that he wants us to do as a church, then the world out there can have restoration. See, the fact of the matter is that revival’s here.

It’s here, okay? And if you don’t believe me, we do a head count every week. And yes, the church is growing, just in case you were wondering. The church is growing, revival is happening. Because what’s happening here is that revival’s taking place.

We’re getting in line with what God says that we need to do. And then what’s happening is that we’re going out there and we’re being allowed to restore what’s out there, because the presence of God is here. I believe that. And I’m going to stand in faith and believe. I’m going to believe that over the next three months to four months, you’re going to see Salt Church is going to see growth that it’s never seen before.

All of the naysayers have a nice life because God’s not playing games anymore. The wind of God’s already cleaned house. I believe those that are here, the ones that are sitting here looking and going, I’m willing to take up the mantle that God has given me, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes. Because I believe that, as my buddy, as my brother Alex said, Virginia beach is a rich target environment. Guys, I cannot express to you enough.

Your pain is temporary. What you went through, whether in your life and sickness and death and divorce or marriage or whatever that was yesterday. Today we live in revival. Today we live in restoration. Today we become the enemy’s worst nightmare.

Today we walk in the kingdom of God. Stand with me, every head bowed and every eye closed. First and foremost, if you’re here today and you don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, if you don’t know this freedom, if you don’t know how to be set free, the word of God says, if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, that he died on the cross, rose three days, rose three days after that, and he is coming again. God says you can be saved, that the very anointing and the very spirit that we talk about will abide in you. We’re going to do two prayers, and this first prayer is for those of you either Online or here in the.

In the sanctuary. If you don’t know the Lord, then I’m going to ask you in your heart that you pray with me. Heavenly Father, I ask that you would forgive me of my sins. Heavenly Father, I confess you as Lord and savior of my life. Father, I ask that you would forgive me of my sins.

Father God, I pray that you would deliver me from the oppression, the depression, the anxiety, break the chains on my life. Father God, I believe that you died on the cross for my sins. I believe that three days later you were rose from the dead and I believe that you were coming back for me. Father God, I confess you as my Lord and Savior. Help me to live for you.

If you said that prayer, then I’m going to ask if you’re here today that you meet one of us out at the front and just say so we can personally pray with you. If online you’ve done that, I want you to send in an email and said today, today I made the commitment. It’s my second prayer. Those of you are here today that you desire in your heart that I want a fresh anointing. I want to live out the life that we’ve talked about over the last three weeks.

I want more of God in my life. And we’re gonna pray and I’m gonna believe with you that we’re gonna walk forward in this. Heavenly Father, I pray for those here and those online. Father, you know their hearts. You know the desires that they have.

Father God, I pray that you would wash them, set them free, give them freedom. I pray where there’s anxiety and depression, I cast it down in the name of Jesus, Father God. Where there is sickness and disease, I decree and declare healing right now in the name of Jesus, Father God. Where there is a desire, Lord God, to know you more, I. I pray right now that you would fill that right now.

Where there is marriages that need to be healed, fill it right now in the name of Jesus. Touch them right now. Father God, as we go about our week, I pray that you would just touch them. Bring us all back together next week. Father, I thank you for these people.

I thank you for their lives. They’re a blessing to me. I pray that you would protect them, keep them. May your face shine upon them. Lord God.

I love you, Lord, and I thank you. And everyone said amen and amen with the connection cards. If you could do me a quick favor, I know my wife kind of went over these beforehand. Fill these out if you can. If you haven’t filled them out, we’re asking everybody to kind of fill these out because we want to update our contact list and everything.

Anyway, on the back, if you could say, you know, I would like to. It is my or prayer request or next steps. Fill that out for us, please. You could drop it in the box up front. My wonderful wife did a great job of that.

I just want to reiterate what she’s already done, but fill these out for us and we’ll be able to update our contacts calendar or contacts in planning center. I love you guys. You guys are awesome. Have a great week. Go with God.

He’s going with you, Sam.