In The Power

All right. For those that are you new, I am Pastor Carl, and I am going to be delivering the message here for the next few weeks. What? Coral? Coral?

Yeah. If you don’t know, my nickname is Coral. So we’ll just get that. We’ll just get that out there. Okay.

We’ll just get that out there. I don’t like being too far back, but they told me this is where I’ve got to stand. So we’re just going to. To go with. I go with whatever the tech team tells me.

So we’re just going to go that. I’m also trying something new. I am more old school than new school. I like paper notes. Okay.

If you were here a couple Sundays ago or last Sunday, you know, I also like to drop things. So we’re going to try very much so not to drop this. So I figured I’d try something new. My kids are like, dad is stepping up into the 20th century using technology. Okay.

It is not my friend. So I hope you guys had a really good week. And so I want to find out from you guys. I gave everybody homework last week. Okay, first of all, does anybody remember?

You don’t. Oh, okay. Remember when I said that if you get into the Word for at least a chapter a day. Remember when I said start reading? All right, I got one that goes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember two. Okay, good, good, good. I want to challenge you guys because our whole point of this series is start strong, finish stronger. Okay? We need to be able to finish stronger this year.

And part of that is getting into the Word. And what I’m challenging you is it takes. They say it takes 30 days to break or make a habit. Okay, so. So what we’re trying to do is trying to encourage you to get in.

And I would encourage this as families, fathers, mothers, children, carve out some time. And this is one thing we always tried to do when our kids were little is we tried very hard to try to eat around a dinner table. You don’t get that a whole lot nowadays, but I would challenge you. Turn the TV off, take your cell phones, put them in a basket, put them somewhere else, get around the table and just talk. Okay?

You’d be amazed. And when you can pull out the Bible and go, okay, we’re going to read one scripture together, okay? And I challenge you and see what that. Give it 30 days and begin to see what God and what the Holy Spirit is going to begin doing in your family’s life. Okay?

You’ll begin to see now in this message, I’M going to give you some additional homework. It’s easy. Okay, how many know? I don’t like tests. I stink.

It Test. I don’t like tests. Okay, so today we’re going to be at part two in start strong, finish stronger. And it’s going to be dealing with the. The ramifications of power.

So last week we talked about faith. We talked about bold faith, the fighting abiding faith, and steadfast faith. Okay? The thing, the. The faith, faith that we.

That’s the crux of what our relationship is with Jesus is faith. We believe in what God has done, but a lot of times, a lot of us don’t operate in that faith. Okay? It’s. They’re good when they’re good as words coming out of our mouth, but how much do we really take inventory of what we do and our faith?

Okay, it’s great. Faith is great on Sunday, but what about every other day that ends in why? Okay, how are you at work? Does your faith stop at your front door or do you take it with you for the rest of the day? Okay, I firmly believe that faith right now.

And the next topic, we’re going to be talking about power. And then next week we’re going to be talking about anointing those three aspects of your relationship with Jesus Christ. I believe, and I say this not being a doomsayer or whatever, but I think right now, in the day and age, in the society we live in, they are more important than anything right now. Okay? If you.

How do I say if you live under a rock and haven’t been paying attention as to what’s going on. Guys, I’m just gonna be straight up honest with you. Our belief system, everything that we believe, everything that we hold onto, okay, Is gonna be challenged and it’s gonna be tested. Okay? So you’re gonna have one of two choices.

And those choices that are coming are either gonna be you’re gonna fall into your faith or you’re gonna fall out of your faith. Okay? I believe that in the events of the past week, no matter how you view it, show us one thing that we as the body of believers, need to finish out this year stronger than when we started. See, the enemy knows that his days are numbered and he only has become more determined and more violent in the pursuit for the destruction of the children of God. He has done his best to reduce our numbers, compromise our beliefs, and cloud our focus.

I believe you can take it for what it’s worth, but I believe in the months to come, there’s a storm coming that’s going to shake us to our very core. It’s going to challenge everything that we have come to understand who God is and the authority we have access to. We have relied all too much on our own ability and understanding to keep us mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually and financially propped up. We have foolishly thought that our state and local federal authorities would have our best interest in hand. Yet time and time again, they’ve proven themselves woefully insufficient and inept at even following on one single promise.

Yet alone, putting themselves before the people see, they have manipulated and corrupted the very laws that were set forth by our founding fathers, who sought out the very same God we serve in order to seek power for themselves again. If you’re living under a rock, you’re never going to see these things. But trust me when I tell you it’s here. It’s here. See, in Galatians 6, 7, it says, Be not deceived.

God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, he shall also reapeth. The day of reckoning is coming. Physical, mental, emotional and spiritual strength will be needed more than ever. Your very relationship with God will be challenged and put to the test.

You must commit to a daily evaluation of where you are in your walk with the Lord. You must submit yourself to the reflection of your life through the lens of the Word and be determined to walk in the path of righteousness. We must be purposeful in seeking Him. Long gone are the days where we could. Where we could live out the religion or live out the belief system of our.

Of our parents, okay? We have to be solidified in our own beliefs so that what is coming and what is. What is already here. Let me explain something to you. What is already here is only going to get worse.

I’m just being honest. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I don’t care which side of the aisle you come from, okay? It’s going to get worse before it gets better. My question to you is, who do you trust?

Because if your ultimate trust is in the Word and it’s in God and your relationship is solid, then quite honestly, you have worry for nothing. Because, let’s be honest, I turn. I love. I love the news. I love watching the news.

I’m a constant consumer of. I like the news. I like to see what’s going on in the world. But I do it with the aspect of this. They don’t.

They think they got the final say, but they don’t. They don’t. They think they have the power. They don’t. They don’t.

Because at the end of the day, I know who makes the final call. See, I told somebody one time, I said, you know, there’s only two entities in my life that I fear. One is God. The other one’s my wife. Okay?

I have a healthy respect for that. Okay? And a lot of times, one or two in the same, because God speaks through my wife. So am I going to go against my wife? I very seriously doubt that.

We do have. I will be honest. We do have our. We have our disagreements, but at the end of the day, I will agree with her. Yeah.

No. So today, what we’re going to be talking about today is we’re going to be going into power. See, we have the faith, but I think a lot of times we don’t tap into the power that that faith has. We’ve been conditioned, is that we come to church on Sunday, we get jazzed up, we get juiced up. We go out on the words of the pastor and what the pastor preached, and we.

We give him a pat on the back on the way out and going, good job, pastor. Good message. Do me a favor. As long as I’m here on this pulpit, okay, And I love you, but if you look at me and you go, pastor, that’s a really good message. I’m going to come away knowing that I missed the mark.

Now, most pastors, they’ll be like, oh, man, you just boosted my. Oh, man, my ego is doing really good. Let me explain something to you. As far as this pastor is concerned, I’m more concerned about where you’re gonna spend eternity than the next message that I preach. Because I could tell you right now, there’s a lot more people out there that are better orientators and they’re better communicators than I am.

But I do me, Pastor Hans, who’s part of Fountain of Life, he said this one time, he said, you know, he goes, I tried to be everybody else and failed at it. He said, until I decided that I’m just gonna be me. And I learned I’m just gonna be me. I don’t need you to like me. I love you.

Either way, doesn’t make a difference. But I’m more concerned about where you’re gonna spend eternity. Because the fact of the matter is, what’s gonna happen as a pastor? It’s not about how big my house is. It’s not about how big, how much money I got in the bank account or what kind of car I’m driving.

Because I can tell you right now, that red truck out there has got 350,000 miles on it, and I really don’t care if I ever get another truck again. But let me explain something to you. I know that one day I’m going to stand before the Lord, and the Lord’s going to go, what did you do with the time that I gave you? So the fact of the matter is, what my wife said is absolutely correct. I count it as a privilege that you walk through those doors.

I do. Because, see, as a pastor, My job as a pastor, okay, is not to bring glory on me, but it’s to be a lens or a reflective lens and put the glory on him. Because as a sheep, let’s. Let’s be real honest, and I’m digressing here a little bit, but let’s have an understanding of what a true shepherd is. If you go back into biblical times, shepherds stunk.

They didn’t. They slept and ate with the sheep. They did everything. Everything they did were for the sheep. They took care of the sheep.

If the sheep got wounded, they cared for them. They made sure they had the best food, the best water source. They had the best everything. But yet, if you look at the pastor, if you look at the shepherd, the shepherd’s like, man, he’s ratty. Let me explain something to you, and I’m probably going to step on some toes, but again, I’m okay with that.

If I walk into a church, the first thing I’m looking for is I’m looking at the congregants. I’m looking at how much are they being fed, okay? Because I don’t want to see what kind of house the pastor has or what kind of car he’s driving. Because if he’s turning around and he’s driving, look, I’m okay with people driving nice cars. I like nice cars.

I’m okay with them having a nice house. But when you begin to put that before your congregation and before the sheep, as far as I’m concerned, there’s a problem. There’s a problem. I listened to one pastor one time, and he was influential pastor. I know I’m gonna get in trouble.

Very influential pastor. He had a large congregation. And he turned around and he said, you know, he goes. He told the church, we need a roof on our building. We really need a roof on our building.

And it was gonna cost him about $200,000. And he said, I want every person in the congregation to give $100. And. And we could pay for our Roof. But the fact of the matter is, if you dig a little bit deeper, two weeks ago he spent $250,000 on a Lamborghini to give his wife.

Okay, I have a problem. Because most of the people that he served were middle to lower income. See, the fact of the matter is, is that if a pat. Look, this is my job as a pastor. My job as a pastor is to pour into you, to make sure you are blessed, to make sure you guys make it to the kingdom.

Because the fact of the matter is, I don’t want your relationship to exist just here. I want it to exist out there. Because you know what? You guys are the ones going to take the bullets, not me. You are the ones that are going to go out into the Virginia beach and Atlantic Avenue and you’re going to be on the front lines.

So as my job as a pastor is to make sure that I give you those tools, that. That I give you that ammo, that you do what you need to do. And that when you come to me and go, pastor, I had a rough week, and I go, let’s pray. Let. Talk to me about it.

Talk to me about it. I tell people all the time. I’ve talked to other pastors and they’ve looked at me and they’re like, you know, man, I just have. I said, do yourself a favor. Do yourself a favor.

There’s an old adage, especially in the business world. It says you can always complain laterally. You can’t complain. It’s difficult to complain up, you definitely can’t complain down. So this is why I tell a lot of pastors.

I said, do yourself a favor. Put my number in your speed dial. When you lose it, I don’t care what time of day it is, call me. Call me. I’d rather you yell at me.

Let’s be honest. I’m just okay where I’m. I’d rather you yell at me, cuss at me, do whatever you want. Just let it go. Let it go.

Tell me everything that’s on your heart. You know why? Because if you can let it out and you can tell somebody your frustrations, and a lot of times I don’t even say anything, and I’ll tell them. They’ll look at me and they go, are you going to say anything? I go, no, no.

Because trust me, if I say something, I’m probably going to screw it up. But my job is to listen. Listen. And I want to love on you, because trust me, as a pastor, I know what it’s like to Go home and feel like you’ve been kicked, that you’ve been pushed down, that you’ve been, you’ve been just you. You feel the worst.

Things aren’t going the way that they’re supposed to go. Things aren’t happening the way that they’re supposed to go. And you feel defeated and you’re like, God, did you really call me for this? Is this really what you want? But the idea behind it is, is that I’m a wineskin.

God pour into me. So it is not your job as the congregation to pour into me to heal my wineskin. It’s my job to go to the Lord and go, lord, I need you to pour down into me so I can be in the overflow. And then what happens is then you guys go out into the highways and the byways and you are living that life that God has appointed you to live. See, all of us have, all of us have a different plan.

God says, you know, and we’re going to get more into this. But God said, this is why I hate the technology. Come on, Alex. Yeah, I know, I know. Thanks.

So anyway, to my notes. This is what, this is my job and this is what I want for you guys. I want you guys to go out and I want you to just live out your life for Christ. I want you to leave it all on the field. I want you to leave everything out.

I want you to run that race. I want you to give everything that you have so that when you stand before the Lord, the Lord looks at you and goes, well done, my good and faithful servant. You may never. I told you a couple weeks ago, you may never be a pastor, you may never be an evangelist. But you know what?

You’re gonna be a businessman. And let me explain something to you. If you want God as a businessman to bless your business, you first give it to him. You give him the first 10%. You give him the first 10% of your.

You get into that word, you understand the power. And I guarantee you there isn’t another business out there that’s gonna stop you. A family. You can be the best family when you get into the Word. You know what?

Here’s the thing. Even when we recreate. You wanna surf? Great. You wanna surf?

Let me explain to you, I don’t know anything there is about surf. That’s why I surrounded with guys that do. But I will tell you this. When you give what you do to God, first God is going to blow your mind when you begin to give him. Before you get up, you get into that word.

You get on your knees, and I don’t care if you’re two years old, up to 200 years old, it doesn’t matter. Because you want to go out there. When you hit that water, you hit that beach. Trust me, God’s spirit’s going to pour for you, and there ain’t nobody that’s going to touch you. Nobody.

And you know what? Even if you don’t make the quals, even if you don’t do what you. You know what? You sit there and go, God, all the glory is to you. Doesn’t matter.

All the glory is to you. So let’s get into it. So we’re going to talk a little bit about the Presence. There’s power in his presence, power in his word, power in the blood, and in the name of Jesus. See, in the presence, we need to take that time to be in his presence of the Almighty.

That can bring a multitude of benefits. When we take that time out of the day and we carve into that time, there’s benefits that halves with spending time with God. Now, most of the time we go, well, you know, I really don’t have the time. Or I’m busy and I’m. You know what?

Here’s what I. My wife used to always tell me this, because I did. I would tell her, I said, I’m busy. This is what I got going on. She goes, you know what?

You’re never too busy to spend time in the presence of God. You’re not. Because if you don’t spend time with presence of God, everything is uphill from there. And she’s true. You have a couple of the benefits, and we’ll go through, and we have hope.

In Jeremiah 29:11, it says, For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. See, God knew you. He knows what your plan is. Your plan is not like mine.

God has it for you. By spending time in his presence, you get to understand what that future is. Strength. Isaiah 43 says, how many need strength? How many need strength?

Y’ all need strength. And see, it says, but those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, and they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. It’s a consummate. When you get into what God’s doing and you begin to get into his presence, you find strength.

You come to him in your brokenness. You come into him in Your weakness. Everything seems to be going wrong. You got God. I need you right now.

And he does that. Peace and Joy. In Romans 15:13, it says, I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. See, the enemy wants you to live in consummate doubt.

He wants you to live in that. That I don’t know. Or maybe. Or possible. And God says, no, no, no, no, no.

When you spend time with me, I give you hope. I’ll give you access into that. He gives us guidance. Proverbs 3, 5 and 6 says, Trust in the Lord. This is one of my favorite scriptures is trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not under your own understanding.

And it says, in all thy ways, acknowledge him. In all ways, not just some ways. In always acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. In Psalms 119, 105, it says, Your word is a lamp unto my feet, a light un path. See, we are actually invited into the presence of God where we can find communion and relationship with God.

Dwelling in his intimate place with God can truly begin to understand him and know him on a completely different level. The more time we spend with him, the more time we become like Him. His glory becomes transfixed on us. You become more like Him. In Exodus, we read in 3318 through 20, we talk about Moses.

And when Moses went to the mount and he said, Moses responded and said, show me your glorious presence. The Lord replied, I will make my goodness pass before you. I will call out my name, Yahweh before you. I will show you mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose. However, you may not look directly at my face, for no one may be able to see me and live.

My Father in law used to tell me all the time, he used to say, show me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you’re going to become. You are who you are. Choose. It’s basically you are who you choose to spend time with. We used to say that if you shackle yourself or handcuff yourself to a dead person, nine times out of 10, what’s going to wind up happening is you’re going to be like that dead person.

Or what you can do is you can turn and you can. You can join hands with somebody that’s got life in them. That’s got life that, that. That the glory of God is transfixed on them. The glory of God is In them and on them.

And what happens is, is the more time you begin to spend with God, the more time you devote to that to spend him. There is nothing that the enemy can do to you that is going to bother you. Why? Because you’re prepared. Because you spend so much time in the presence of the King that what happens is, is that that glory comes on you and you become like Christ.

You become like God and the glory and you go, God, I can handle all things through you. I can do all things by spending time with you. King David said this. He said in Psalm 5 and 3. It said, Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord, each morning I will bring my request to you and wait expectantly.

Take that one last. He says, I will wait expectantly. David never went to the Lord without expectation of that the God was going to do something. How many of us get into the presence? Or we go into our.

We go into our prayer closets and we go, well, God, I really need help. I think you can do this. We already have doubt in the back of our mind. We’ve already basically hamstrung God. But the fact of the matter is we need to go into prayer.

We need to go into his presence expecting there’s an attitude. You start out, I used to go into my prayer closet and say, God, take away all distractions right now because I need you. Because if I can’t do this right now, Lord, with you, I’m not going to make it. I’m not going to make it. Suicide is running rampant in our society.

Why? Because people give up because there’s no fight left in them. What I want, what we have the ability to do, is let people know there is an avenue. Spend time. I wish I had two minutes to spend with my brother to tell him, just spend time in God.

Just give him. Give him five minutes a day before you make any decisions. Give him five minutes a day. Unfortunately, I stand on this side of the realm and I can’t tell him that anymore. But we have the ability to go out into the highways and byways and tell those that are absolutely distraught and say, there is somebody, there is a God that is looking down on you.

And all you have to do is give him the time, give him the presence and spend that time with him. If your marriage is failing, spend time with God. God has the answers. Look, I’m a child of divorce, okay? I came from a single family home.

My mother raised me, okay? But I will tell you this. This is one thing my mother always said she gave me Two rules she said. Number one, never feel sorry for the situation that you’re in. Never feel sorry for the situation you’re in.

And number two, always pray for your father no matter what. You know how humbling it is to come from a woman when I physically watched her get thrown across the room or wind up in the hospital. Okay. The fact of the matter is that woman spent time with God. And what it was is that God was on her and in her.

And what she did is it went out from her, okay? It didn’t make a difference of what the world threw at her. She said, God is my husband and he’s going to take care of me. And he did. And he did.

The next one we’re going to get into is the Word. See, God’s. The power of God’s Word is living and inactive. This book is not just words on a page. It’s living.

And when we get into it, that life that’s in this Word gets in us. If we don’t spend time in it, then what happens? It gets in us. See, Hebrews 4 says, for the word of God is alive and sharper than any two edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow, and exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. See, the Greek word used here for sword is.

And I’m not good with Greek, so bear with me. It’s called makaria. It is used to indicate a much small dagger type blade. Is it more for a surgical usage? It is more about precision than it is brute force force.

See, when the Word has the ability to convict and comfort, it goes into areas that we have sought to hide and or run from. It exposes them so as to bring about a deep and meaningful transmit transformation. This transformation brings us to a new level of understanding, of healing and of growth. As we get into the Word, it repaint, retains that power to cut away the areas of our life that keep us from walking into the true purpose and plan that God has for us. See, we go through our life and we have closets.

We have closets in our psyche. We lock them. We go, oh God, I’ll give you everything, but I’m going to lock this and I’m going to hold that because you can’t. God says, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want that back corner that you tried to hide from me.

I want that because you don’t understand. I have so much for you that I need to clean your closets. All the skeletons have to come out. And that’s what the Word does. As you get into the Word, we begin to get uncomfortable.

Because what the Word is doing is it’s cutting, it’s surgically going in. It’s cutting out the heart, the hurt. It’s cutting out that which is distracting us. And that’s what we need. There’s power in that.

The next one is called is the blood. Let me start this. Years ago, I was preaching and we talk about the blood. And I’m just going to be quite honest with you. Without the blood, without the shedding of the blood, we have nothing.

We don’t have. Christianity is not here. Judeoism is not here. Let’s be honest with you. I remember years ago in preaching and the pastor, I went and I preached and I gave the message and talked about the blood of Christ.

Well, I went into the office and he says, hey, come here, come here, come here, I want to talk to you. I was like, okay, no problem. And he says, look, he goes, great message, great message. He’s like, okay. And he said, but I need you to tone down the talking about the blood.

And I was like, what? And he’s like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He goes, you know, we don’t want to gross people out. We don’t want to. We don’t want to.

We want to. We don’t want people running. And I’m like, lord, what am I doing here? Because the fact of the matter is, without the blood, without the shedding of blood, none of this makes a difference. Difference.

None of it makes a difference. Romans 3:25 said, Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God. Propitiation in this scripture means that Christ willingly offered himself up on behalf to provide us for forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation. It provides an atonement for a debt to we could not Pay. In Hebrews 9:14 it says, Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our conscience from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God.

For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself up, offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. See, when we confess with our mouth and believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord and Savior of our life, we enter into that blood covenant. There we find supernatural power and overcoming power, the blood of Jesus is life giving. It’s powerful. It makes us, it is what makes us overcomers.

It speaks more over us than any accusation that the enemy can throw at us. The very blood that was shed on the cross makes us who we are in Christ. Imperfect people serving a perfect God with unfathomable access to power to accomplish the impossible, both in natural and in supernatural. See, when we on a daily basis continue to align ourselves with God and bring ourselves into remembrance of the covenant we are in with the most High God, we gain the ability to decree and declare his promises over every aspect of our life and even speak into the lives of those around us. We become essentially a threat to the very enemy that that seeks to destroy us.

See, the enemy wants to remind you of your past. He wants to remind you of how insufficient you are. He wants to remind you that you have sinned. He wants to remind you what you’ve done. But what the blood does, it gives us the ability to take our fingers, stick it in the enemy’s eye and go pound sand.

Because the fact of the matter is, is that your past has been washed by the shedding of blood. It gives us the ability to enter into that presence of God. It gives us that ability to work in and amongst the supernatural. And you don’t believe me. Again, spend time in the Word, do the next thing that I’m going to tell you to do.

And I can guarantee you, you never know, the next Smith Wigglesworth may be in this room. And if you don’t know who Smith Wigglesworth, do a little bit of research. But I will give you this. He is a man that literally walks so close with God that he could enter a train and talk to nobody and somebody would come up to him and go, I know you’re a man of God and I need you to pray for me. And he would immediately pray for him and immediately they were healed.

Now for the skeptics that say, well, you know, healing doesn’t really happen now. This doesn’t happen, you know what? You’re wrong because I’ve seen it. And if you don’t believe me, okay, I watched a nine year old little girl that was told that she’s got a tumor behind her nose, in her head. It was going to cause massive surgery and she would have to go through it.

And I watched a firm word of God, anointed mother, look at her and go, do you believe that God can heal you? And that nine year old little girl said, yes, Mommy, I believe it. And before they walked into the office, they prayed and the doctor took another X ray and put the X ray up and he goes, I don’t understand this, this is not here. He goes, this was the X ray yesterday. See that mass right there was about the size of a nickel.

He said, here it is. Today it’s not here. And if you don’t believe me that it can’t happen, she’s sitting right there. Because that was what happens. I sat in a doctor’s office when the doctor told me and said, you, wife’s got lymphoma.

We’re pretty sure she’s got lymphoma, but the insurance company isn’t going to be able to pay for it. That same woman that prayed for my daughter sat there one night, went up to her prayer closet and said, God, I’m not taking this. I’m not accepting what the enemy gave me and I’m going to beat this. And she went back two weeks later. And the doctor’s like, I don’t know what you’re here for, but you’re fine.

I can’t find anything. I can’t find anything that’s going on. If you’re going to sit here and tell me that miracles don’t happen, the anointing doesn’t happen. That doesn’t happen. You’re wrong.

It does happen. When you get into the Word, you get into the presence of God, supernatural things happen. And again, I don’t care if you’re five or you’re 500, the anointing of God flows the same. It’s all. And how bad do you want it?

Because trust me, the word out there, the world out there, they’re looking for weak. Trust me, there’s blood. There’s blood in the water. They’re smelling for weak Christians. I’m telling you right now, this is a whole nother sermon.

It’s a whole nother topic. Why do you think our government will not touch a Muslim with a ten foot pole? But yet they go after Christians and evangelicals like it’s opening day. It’s about time that when Christians, when God’s children get into the Word, begin to pray and stand on his word, that they need to become the enemy’s worst nightmare. And it’s time we have some warriors, not weaklings.

I love getting around older Christians. I love getting around those that have been in the faith for years and listen to what they do, and listen to how they do things and what God has done in their life lastly, but not whatever. There’s power in the name. I ended with this because there is such power. In the name of Jesus Christ says, therefore God revealed him to be, to have a place of the highest honor and gave him The Name above all names, and that that name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and here on earth, every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the father.

In Philippians 2, 9 and 10, the name of Jesus carries immense authority. His very name has the ability to transform, heal, bring forth the great power that we can never imagine. When we as his children invoke the Name, it has power to give us dominion over sickness, sin, and all that the enemy can throw at us in his name, we can find refuge, strength and perseverance. Scripture says, and these signs will accompany those that believe in My name. They will drive out demons and then they will speak in new tongues.

Mark 16:17. Sometimes in the most unbearable situations within our lives, we have not because we ask not. Why is it so easy that we wallow in our misery when the reality is is that if we but call on the name of Jesus, he is but there. The name of Jesus is what builds faith in us. God says in John 14, in 1413 it says, I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

He says it, it’s right there. I don’t make it up. He just says, hey, this is what we’re going to do in his name. We can find healing through James 5:14. These are some scriptures that they’re not going to pop up, but you can write them down or do whatever see me afterwards.

Healing James 5:14, Acts 4:30, deliverance Rome, Romans 10:13, protection in Proverbs 18:10, power in prayer, John 14:14, Matthew 18:20 and Ephesians 6:18. Worship we find in Jesus name is in Psalm 66, 2 and Psalm 104. We find hope in Psalm 137. We find unity in Jesus name in First Corinthians 1:10 and we find faith in Acts 3:16 and First John, John 14:12 says this. I tell you the truth, anyone that believes in me will do the same works I have done and even greater works, because I’m going to the Father.

You can ask anything for me in My name, and I will do it so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. We just read that. It says, yes, you can ask anything. See, many theologians differ in the meaning of even greater works. John Wesley said this.

So one apostle, one apostle wrought miracles by his shadow, another by handkerchiefs carried from his body, and all spake with various tongues. But converting one sinner is the greatest work of all. But see, the thing is, is that see through the power of the Covenant we have with Jesus, we have the ability to bring supernatural power of the gospel not just to our friends and family, but to the surrounding communities and to the world. Jesus said that through the church, Jesus can reach farther and with greater results than he can even do within his three years ministry. So the fact of the matter is he left.

And he left his guidance, Holy Spirit, here. See, all we need to do is abide in Christ and be obedient to the leading of his Spirit. We are called his hands and feet. Okay, we need to stop listening to what the world says that you can’t do and understand that you have more power through Christ to accomplish far more than you ever thought what God. When Jesus left, he said, look, I’m going to send you out into the farthermost parts.

Okay, yes, you may not be a ministry, but let me, let me get you to understand something. You can be a ministry to Atlantic Avenue. You can be in ministry to Virginia beach, any part of Virginia Beach. Pick one. Claim it for the name of Jesus.

If surfing is your deal and you want to get up on the beach, claim a section of the beach. I’m claiming this section for the Lord Jesus Christ. You want to really do something that’s wild, I’ll challenge you. You surf. Before you get on that board, walk out a hundred square foot or a hundred square yard section, corner to corner and say, God, I’m claiming this ground for you.

That means that anybody that comes into that ground, they’re equal game for God. Go ahead, see what happens. See what happens. And then go surf your heart out. And just understand that as you’re sitting out on that water, that they just walked into God’s territory.

Okay? Because see, when you walk that you’re claiming that, you’re decreeing that the enemy has to stand aside and go, I can’t go there. Try it. See, the thing is that the name gives us authority, the blood gives us access, the Word gives us reassurance, the Presence gives us peace. Let me, let me repeat that again.

So you got it. Okay. The Name gives us authority. The blood gives us access. The Word gives us reassurance, and the Presence gives us peace.

And we’re going to end with this. When all four are applied, it gives us power over all principalities and powers. See, in Ephesians 6:12, it says, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unforeseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits. Look, if you’ve known me for long enough, to know I’m big on this thing, which I call it Lance Wall now. Does it Google Lance Wall Now?

And it talks about the seven mountains. If you want to know why we have problems in our school, if you want to know why we have problems in our government. If you want to know why we have problems in arts and entertainment. If you want to know why we have problems in our financial institutions. Probably going to step on some toes.

You can blame the church. I’m sorry, I just call it like I see it. You can blame the church. You know why? Because somewhere in my 30, 40 years of serving God and being in the church, the church decided that we’re going to stick within our four walls.

We’re going to be seeker friendly. We’re going to preach nice, comfortable messages. We’re going to sing nice and beautiful and uplifting, you know, worship. What we forgot is that the war is not in here. The war is out there.

What we forgot to do is this essentially is boot camp. We’ve got to train the disciples and the apostles here so they go out. You know why we’re having problems in the financial. Because what we did is the church forgot. We got to train people up to go into the financial institutions and say they belong to God.

The enemy has put his gate at the top of every one of those mountains. Guess what? I don’t know about you, I don’t know about Salt Church, but as long as I’m here, I want Salt Church to be on the pinnacle of taking back those mountains. Because I’m tired of the enemy doing and having his way. I want financial institutions to prosper.

Not because I want them to prosper, okay? Because I want God to get the glory. I want public schools to start acknowledging God. How are we going to do that? Because we’re going to train people here and we’re going to send them out there and go over and take it back.

And by getting into the word of God. That was your homework last week. This week, I’m going to challenge you this way. Five minutes. Five minutes.

That’s all I’m going to ask for every single day. I don’t care if you pick a morning, evening, whatever. You can make up to five minutes. You know how you can make up the five minutes? Turn TV off, turn your phone off.

Okay? If you’re married and your wife sits there and she wants to talk, just say, hey, look, I got five minutes. You can either join me or you can go into another room. You can tell your kids the same thing. The idea behind the five minutes is, what I want you to do, is I want you to take that five minutes and I want you to get alone with God.

Now, I will tell you this. You are going to get distracted. You just are. Because when you open yourself up for that and you open yourself up and you’re going, God, I’m going to do this, and this is what I’m going to do. Trust me.

The enemy is going to start telling you everything that you didn’t do. He just does. But you go in and you make it a daily habit, and you get in there and you get into the presence of God, and God begin to download into you. Look, that’s fine. You got a grocery list.

Leave the grocery list on the floor. For right now, say, God, I’m here for you. I need you. I need you. Because I don’t want to be the same.

I don’t want to be the same person I was yesterday. I want to be a different person now, and I want to be a different person tomorrow. The only way that I could do it, give him five minutes. And I will tell you this. Most people that have done the five minutes, they’re going, man, that’s not enough time.

I got 15 minutes. Carl, you know what? You’re not going to believe this, man, but I just. I was like, man, getting in the presence of God. I was there for an hour.

Great, Great. I’ve listened to businessmen that have taken that and they’ve gone in and they’re watching deals that they thought they would never happen or they were skeptical of happen. They’re watching deals. They’re either falling by the wayside and they’re happy about it, or God’s doubling it. They’re doubling it.

I’m watching teachers go into classrooms, and God’s beginning to use teachers in ways that they never have been able to for. I’m watching first responders and nurses and whatnot. Take that attitude and they go in and God’s beginning to do things in them. Five minutes a day. Read a chapter a day.

Five minutes a day. And here’s the reason why. Because God is. Guys, as I said before, friends, as I said before, there’s a battle coming. I want you ready.

I need you ready. God needs you ready. We are his hands and feet. The enemy is not going to give up easily. As a matter of fact, I’m just going to tell you now, he’s fighting even harder.

He’s fighting even harder, okay? I don’t care what side of the aisle you lean on, it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t care. Okay? And I will tell you this.

Any pastor that says. And Leon can chastise me later. Any pastor that sits there and tells you, we don’t talk politics on our pulpit. Find a different church. Find a different church.

Because here’s the fact of the matter is Jesus was political. Because the fact of the matter is the reason why we’re having the political discourse that we’re having now and the problems that we’re having now is because God is not there. We need God there. We need God to put godly people there. We need God to do things in our life.

The next. The next. Look, we could sit here and go, the next Smith Wigglesworth is here. The next. But you know what?

Maybe the next councilman’s here. Maybe the next multi billionaire business person is here. God needs money. I mean, he doesn’t need money, but like, he uses. He uses us.

He uses us. Stand with me. We’re gonna end. Sorry for keeping you late. I apologize.

Every head, every head bowed, every eye closed. I love you guys. I want to see you fervently walk into the presence of God. I want to see God bless your life. I want to see God do things in your life that he’s never done before.

I want all doubt cast away. If you could sit here and honestly say, carl, Pastor Carl, I want to go to the next level. I want the next level level in God. Then here’s what I’m going to ask that you do. If you can say that right where you’re standing, just raise your hand and just say, God, I’m here.

I’m ready to go to the next level. I want what you have for me. Raise your hand and we’re going to pray. See those hands? I see those hands.

Hallelujah. Heavenly Father, I pray right now for these people. Father, I pray that you would utilize them and minister to them. Father, I pray, Father, that you would give them a fresh anointing. I pray that you would give them a fresh understanding of your word.

I pray that they would dive deep into the power that they have that you make access to them. Father, I pray that you would touch their lives and minister to them. Father, I pray for healing in their bodies. I pray for healing in families. Lord God, I pray for and over abundance in their finances.

Lord God, I pray, Father God, that. That those that are represented here out of the five mountains, in the arts and entertainment or the business realm or the government realm or whatever. Lord God, I pray. Blessings and blessings and blessings Father God. But I pray, Father God, that you would place in their heart such a need to get so close to you.

Love on them, Lord. Love on them. Bless them. Heal their bodies right now in the name of Jesus. At the sound of my voice, if you’re going through a sickness or a disease, I command it to leave right now in the name of Jesus.

Sickness. Be gone in the name of Jesus. Healing right now in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Praise you, Father.

Father God, as we leave here today, I pray that nothing that we have learned today would stay here, but it would go with us and you would bring it back into our remembrance for the rest of this week, Lord God. Bring us back together, Lord God, next week. Father, I thank you. I praise you for this congregation. I thank you for these people.

Bless them and minister to them in your name. Amen. And amen. I love you guys. Go with God, because he’s going with you.

You guys are awesome. I love you guys. Turn around, greet somebody. Give them a high five before they leave. Love you all.