Building Common Faith for Collective Growth

I'm always excited to speak about the word of the Lord because the word of the Lord is nourishment and strength to our bones and to our body. It is nourishment to our spirit man this morning. We know that we are spirit. We know that when we leave our earthly bodies, we will continue to live.

In light of the amount of people that we've lost this week alone, so many of us know the deaths that have occurred in Wentworth because of the violence that's going on in our community. We do know that people are dying, but as believers, we should have the assurance that physical death is not the end of life. It is the end of life as we know it, but our spirit man continues to live.

As people of faith, we have hope. We can trust in the word of the Lord that says, "To live is Christ and to die is gain." Amen. But we are concerned about those who die without Christ and go to a Christless eternity.

This morning, I want to encourage you because I know many of you might be discouraged by what you are seeing going on in the community. You might have had many questions that you've asked yourself, like, "Lord, why is this happening? There are so many Christians in Wentworth. There are so many believers in South Africa. Why are we seeing this death and decay, so much macabre in our communities? Why are we seeing our communities falling apart, marriages falling apart, children being lost?"

We know, firstly, that we are living in the last days, as Timothy says. This is going to happen in the last days. But why are we not seeing the church rising up the way it should? This is a question that I have asked myself many times before as well.

Yesterday, as I was preparing to share with you, I really felt strongly that the Lord was taking me to Mark. I started reading a bit of where the Lord showed me, and I still wasn't getting it. I was like, "Lord, what are you trying to tell me about Jesus's time on the earth?"

I always go back to Jesus's words and his time when he spoke. I always look closely at what he was trying to tell the people. He was trying to convey the Kingdom Life. As it is in heaven, it should be on earth, but he was facing some obstacles.

Before I go to Mark, I just want to speak to you this morning and tell you that our message title is "A Common Faith." That is the title of the message this morning: "A Common Faith." Our faith working together.

The Bible says that we need faith as individuals to come to Christ. We must believe that he is in order to have faith. So when we believe that God is, we know that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works, lest any man should boast. It's not something fantastic that Cecilia has done or that you've done. No, it's purely by the grace of God. Just believing in him gives me access into this amazing family. Amen.

But there's another aspect of Christianity that I don't see working very often, and that is called a common faith. Your question might be this morning, "What is a common faith?" Because yes, I believe I have faith. I believe that Jesus died and rose again and ascended to the right hand of God, and I believe that the Holy Spirit lives in us. You might believe the same thing. So what am I talking about when I talk about common faith?

That's what I want to encourage you with this morning. Before even going to scriptures, I like to tell stories because I'm actually a storyteller. Just like Jesus, I'm going to tell you a little story this morning.

But I want to ask you this: Have you ever spoken to a young child before who believes in themselves? Especially really young children. I was chatting to the Sunday school last week, and I was saying to them, "You know, the Bible says that Jesus actually says we should have childlike faith."

Have you ever spoken to young children? They have the most amazing faith on the planet. I mean, even if you speak to a grade one child who's really, really weak, they'll say, "Miss, Miss, I want to be a doctor." And you, as a teacher, smile and say, "You can be anything, my darling," even though you know the child doesn't have those capabilities. But the child's faith is strong. They believe they can be anything. They can be a doctor.

Have you noticed when you agree with the child how they light up and you strengthen their belief? "Oh yes, my darling, you're going to be a doctor. You're going to be a lawyer. You're going to be an actress. Maybe now they want to be gamers. You're going to be a gamer." And the child lights up even more because they have this belief that they're going to be this.

Now you affirm their belief, and they're like, "Hey, wait a minute. This adult or my mom or my dad also believes the same thing as me. They believe in the exact same thing that I'm going to be this as well." So you begin to strengthen their faith. You affirm their faith, and more so, they believe, "Oh, it can be done."

Have you ever thought about the opposite? When a young child comes to you and says, "I want to be this," and the teacher or somebody else turns to them and says, "Really? You can't even read. How do you expect you're going to be this?" Immediately, you'll notice the demeanor of the child changes because they had this faith. And guess what you did? You crashed it. You crashed it.

Do you know that that child or that individual needed you to believe along with them for their faith to be strengthened? Jesus was facing the exact same problem. In Matthew chapter 18, verse 19, he says, "Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree or believe about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven."

Interestingly, he says, "If two." Some versions say, "If two or more," but it has to be two. Your faith is good, but it's not enough. You need to have a common faith.

Now you might say, "Cecilia, I don't know if I agree with you." So I'm going to take you to scripture. Amen. I'm going to show you what happened to Jesus, God himself, who needed the faith of others.

In Mark chapter 4, if you have your Bibles, you can go there. In Mark chapter 4, I'm going to start from verse 36, but I'm just going to quickly tell you what was happening prior to verse 36.

The story is about the woman who was unclean for 12 years and had the issue of blood. She was bleeding, and it says that she had been to many physicians, and basically nobody could help her. She had gotten to this place of extreme desperation. She was desperate to see God move, and she must have heard about Jesus somewhere along the line.

She decided, "You know what? I'm so desperate, I'm going to give this a try." She reminds me of a lot of people in our communities today. They are so desperate they're willing to go to fake and false prophets. They're willing to go to other spiritual healers that don't even believe in Christ. Christians are willing to do this even because they are so desperate.

Have you ever met a desperate person? A desperate person is willing to do anything. This person was so desperate, and you can imagine a desperate person's faith is then completely placed on this individual. She realized, "I'm seeing this man doing miraculous things. Surely he can heal me."

She had it in her mind, "If I could just touch the hem of his garment, because I believe he holds so much power, that if I could just touch him, I'll be made whole." So she goes there, but take note, she's in a crowd, and there are other people in that crowd who also have faith because that's why they're there. They also believe.

So along with Jesus's faith and her faith and some of the people's faith in that place, she goes there. It's like the atmosphere. You know, have you ever been to a concert? Have you noticed you can be tired, you need to go, and then you go to a concert, and the energy there alone will bring you to life?

So there was energy already charged in that place, and she touches the hem of his garments, and the Bible says she's made whole.

Now, this is where I'm reading from now. But at that same meeting in verse 35, it says, "While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus." He was a synagogue leader, and they said, "Your daughter is dead." They said, "Why bother the teacher anymore?" Basically saying to him, "Sir, your daughter is dead. Don't bother asking this man to heal her. She succumbed to her injuries or her illness, and she's now died. Let's just go. He can't do anything for us."

That's what they were basically trying to say. Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him. He speaks to the synagogue leader and says, "Don't be afraid. Just believe."

He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion with people crying and wailing.

So try to picture this: You've just heard somebody in your community has died. I mean, they didn't have technology back then, but I can imagine, you know, word of mouth spread like wildfire. Everybody knew this person, just like how we hear stories now on social media.

So people get to the home, and they're crying and wailing. I can imagine she was a young girl; it was the synagogue leader's daughter. They were crying and wailing, and it says Jesus went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep."

So already, when we are crying, when we are wailing, let's be honest, it's very, very difficult to have faith when you're in that state. You're so overcome by emotion that your emotion takes precedence over believing and trusting in God.

So already, he needed to put a stop. He's like, "Stop! She's sleeping." But then this is the part that alarms me. It says, "But they laughed at him."

It's like if you see a dead body, someone's just been shot, and you come there and say to the people while they cry, "He's sleeping." Instinctively, they're going to laugh. "Are you crazy? This person is dead! Can't you see?"

So they laughed at him. Now, the fact that they laughed could mean many things, but I was thinking laughter is a clear indication of dishonor to somebody. Because if you honor somebody and they said that to you, you won't agree with them, but you will very rarely laugh at them. You only laugh at people you think are a joke, or else you wouldn't laugh.

So it's a sign of dishonor. If somebody's not making a joke, they laughed at him. After he put them out, obviously, he knew they didn't have faith, so he put them out. They all had to leave.

It says he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and he went in where the child was. He took the child by the hand, but before he spoke to the child, I think this is important for you to look at again.

It says he put them out. He took the child's father, the child's mother, and the disciples he had brought with him, and he went to the child.

Now, I want to say this: I believe that Jesus took those specific disciples and the child's mom and dad because he believed that they had faith. Remember, the father was at his meeting already, and the reason why the father had gone to the meeting where Jesus was is because the father was desperate for the child to be healed.

He was there hoping that Jesus was going to heal his daughter, but she had died while he was there. So the father had the faith; the mother must have had faith as well.

So he needed people in the same room with him whose faith was charged to the level of his. He couldn't have anyone in that room who didn't believe. If you've got any doubts, please stay out. This space is only for those who have the same faith as me.

Because you know what? This is the same Jesus who spoke in Matthew to the people who said, "Again, I tell you, if there are two on earth who agree about anything they ask for, it will be done by my Father in heaven."

Even he needed that room charged with faith. So he brings them all in; everybody's out, and he takes the girl by the hand and says to her, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up."

Immediately, the girl stood up and began to walk around. She was 12 years old, and at this, they were completely astonished. They believed. The astonishment wasn't from the fact that they didn't believe; the astonishment was from the fact that God had come through.

But they believed. Immediately after this text, the Bible lets us in on a little secret in chapter six. Sorry, I was reading from Mark five; my mistake. It was Mark five, verse 35.

Now we're going to chapter six, Mark chapter six, and I'm reading from verse one. This is immediately after that happened in Mark chapter five. It says, "Jesus left there after healing this girl, and he went to his hometown accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. 'Where did this man get these things?' they asked. 'What's this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he's performing? Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't this Mary's son, the brother of James and Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?' And they took offense at him."

Sometimes I wonder when I look in our community why we don't have the outpouring of the Spirit like we should. I think sometimes we are like these religious leaders, looking at each other like, "I know you. Aren't you Robin Oliver's nephew? Aren't you Cecilia from the barracks? Like really, what can you do? How can you carry God's presence and Spirit? Don't you work down the road? I know your family. I remember when they had nothing."

And so you know what people do? They label us. They categorize us. They put us into their little boxes, and even if God wanted to do a work leading us to them, they cannot receive us in that capacity, and they take offense. They lose out on a blessing.

Listen to what Jesus said. It says, "Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, amongst his relatives, and in his own home.'"

Then it says, "He could not do any miracles there except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them." He was amazed at their lack of faith. They didn't share a common faith. They didn't even have faith that God could use him because they were too familiar with him.

And God, all by himself, our great Savior, it says he could not do miracles there because he was amazed at their lack of faith. This is telling me that God himself needed their faith to come through.

There is something powerful about a common faith. There's something powerful about somebody standing with you, believing and trusting God wholeheartedly with you that God is going to move on your behalf. A common faith.

We need to protect our common faith. We need to come together as believers. How do we protect our common faith? I was thinking about this, and a scripture that I've been dwelling on for a while now is taken from First Corinthians chapter five, and I'm going to be reading from verse 9 to 12.

I realized that as believers, we are not seeing some of the things that we should see in the church because we cannot come together in faith and believe. That's one issue we're having. The other major issue we're having as believers is that we are looking to the world constantly, and we are not looking amongst our own.

Instead of building each other up and trying to assist and help each other, we are so preoccupied with what the world is doing. What do I mean? Paul, now I'm going to take you to Paul's writings in First Corinthians 5.

Paul was writing to the Church of Corinthians, and just to give you a quick background of what was going on in Corinthians at the time, the Corinthian Church was used powerfully in the gifts because Paul talks about that. He talks about the fact that they don't have love, and yet they're operating powerfully. But if you don't have love, it doesn't mean anything.

So he's writing to this church because a lot of things were happening at the time of the Corinthians, and they were flowing in gifts, but they were quite immoral, to be honest. But God was still allowing them to flow in the gifts, and they needed to protect their faith.

In First Corinthians chapter five, I'm reading from verse 9. He says, "I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people."

Now, I've always heard people speak about this in the context of the world, but listen to what Paul's saying. It's just quite interesting. He says in verse 10, "Not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral." I'm not talking about the world. I'm not talking about them at all.

He says, "Not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral or the greedy or the swindlers or the idolaters. No, he says, in that case, you would have to leave the world."

I'm not talking about the world. In that case, then we'd have to be escorted into heaven. We wouldn't be able to live amongst everyday people. No, I'm not talking about them.

He says, "But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy or an idolater or slanderer or a drunkard or a swindler. Do not eat even with such people."

"What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?"

Now, some people might have an issue with me after I say what I'm going to say, but I'm so glad I've got Paul to back me up.

So Woolworths debated that wins on a while back, and the churches were on Woolies and sending out these messages, "Don't shop at Woolies. Never shop at them. Did you see that two women were kissing?"

I'm like, "Adidas has been doing that forever already. Nobody's boycotting Adidas. In fact, there are so many Gucci, Prada, Dolce and Gabbana, all the big brands. They've been doing it for years already, and they want to boycott Woolies for doing it."

You know what I was thinking about? I was thinking about First Corinthians chapter five. Really? You want to judge the world? It's not our business to judge the world. The Bible is very specific about us in the world. It says, "Love. By this shall all men know that you're my disciples. Go out and preach to the world."

Our business is not to judge the world. What do you expect sinners to do but sin? Us to be righteous? You're boycotting Woolies because you're saying Woolies is showing homosexuality? Really?

Sinners can show whatever they want today. The world, our business is when somebody in the church is doing it. That's when we need to be quiet. Our business is when we're not correcting and helping and guiding each other. That's a problem.

We are the light of the world. We are the salt of the earth. The world is not the leaders; we are the leaders. We are the forefront. We are so preoccupied with judging the world that the world doesn't want to have anything to do with us, calling us hypocrites, saying, "You judge me, and you go into your homes and do the same thing."

Oh, you're all a bunch of hypocrites. In fact, the world is so angry with us, so disappointed with us. So much of church hurt going on. People are miserable and unhappy and got all this hatred because as believers, we are walking around with a self-righteous attitude, judging the world.

What's your place to judge the world? The world is expected to be themselves. Somebody comes up in your company and makes a rude joke. Your business is not to judge them. They're in the world. They're expected to do that.

People are fighting, selling drugs, swearing. They're expected to do that. This is the way they live. Our duty is not to judge them. Paul has made it absolutely clear when he wrote this letter to Corinthians. Our duty is not to judge them. Our duty is to love them.

And our love for them is going to touch them and change them, not our judgments. He says, "Your business is staying away from people who know the truth and choose to live that way."

So if you see a brother or sister knowing the truth as a believer, and they're behaving in that way, stay away from them because they know the truth. They're setting a bad example for the world. They know the truth. Keep away from them.

He says, "What business of mine is it to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked person from amongst you."

You say, "Deal harshly with those who are in the church doing this, but hey, not the world."

So how do we then, because I was talking about protecting our faith, do you know that Jesus had to tell those people to move out of that room purely because he needed to do what God wanted him to do? But them being there was going to affect what God wanted him to do.

You know, sometimes I think we don't see the move of God in this community because there's so much division in the churches. People are all about building their own kingdom. "Oh, my church, my people." Really? I thought this was God's church. I thought we were God's people.

I didn't know people could own people. I honestly didn't. I thought we were all part of one body, Christ being the head. I am not particular about where people fellowship. If you came to me and said, "Pastor, I need to go to this church. I really believe that God is calling me there."

Do you know what? I will kiss you, wish you all the best, and when I see you tomorrow, I'll hug you and still love you. My priority with every single person that we encounter in this ministry and on the streets and wherever we encounter is to want the absolute best for that person, to see them grow into maturity.

That is what we want for people. Where their fellowship is insignificant, their growing into maturity and their faith being built up, that is what I want. That is our mission.

And I'm going to prove to you this morning that that was the father's mission. Let's quickly go to Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four from verse 11 to 13.

Jesus is—sorry, Paul is writing to the Church of Ephesus. In Ephesians chapter four from verse 11, he's talking about unity and maturity in the body of Christ. He says, "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers to equip his people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach maturity in the faith."

That's what Christianity is about. We all need to reach maturity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining the whole measure of the fullness of God. Becoming mature, that is the purpose—growing up and becoming mature.

And when we are mature, we know very well how to conduct ourselves in the world. We know very well that we should not be judging the world. We should be looking at each other. The reason why we need to judge each other is to say, "Listen, you've heard. Come back. I love you."

Not pronounce it to the world. No, amongst ourselves. "I love you. I'm here for you. Take my hand. Let's walk together." If the person refuses, keep your distance from them.

The reason why we have to keep our distance if the person refuses and pray for them and trust God that they're going to come back is because we see how somebody's lifestyle can affect somebody else.

We see how Jesus only took a particular number of his disciples. He didn't even take all of them. He took certain disciples, and we see how he needed the right people in that space for God to do a work.

So we have to come together and have a common faith, believing and trusting in God, not mocking and talking about each other behind each other's backs, not putting each other down.

We are not seeing God move because we are too busy gossiping about, "Did you see so-and-so? Did you see their meeting? Did you see what happened there?"

If we don't stand together and we think this is some big fancy competition that we're going to win, we're not going to see God move. We have to join our faith together and believe.

Brothers and sisters, I don't care where you fellowship. This community is falling apart. We need to come together and pray.

Don't say, "Oh, I'm not going to pray because they're not from my church." "Oh, they go to the Catholic church." "Hi, please, I don't want Catholics here." Unsafe people? Really?

The same people that believe in Christ with you? Can we come together and join our faith and believe that God can do this marvelous work in our community?

Yesterday, after I was preparing, I had an opportunity to watch a movie. Now, Apostle and I prepare very differently because they can spend many, many, many, many, many, many, many hours in prayer, and he will tell you that he will not be able to get a word until he spends those hours.

I, on the other hand, can watch a movie, and the Lord gives me a word. I know it's really unfit, but that's the way the Lord works.

I'm saying that because I'm a storyteller. I look at film very differently from how most people do. Most people watch for entertainment; I watch to learn and for knowledge.

So anyway, I decided to watch this movie because somebody said it was a really good movie, and it was based on a true story. I thought, "Okay, true story? Sure, I can pick up something from you."

So I went in to watch this movie, and it was quite a touching movie about a woman who was dating a guy from the U.S. Both African-American. This guy really likes her. He was doing well financially, but she noticed there was something strange about his personality. He was very possessive.

He only said, "Hey, don't," and when people would speak to her, he'd go up to the guy and say, "Why are you guys speaking to this girl? I'm dating her now, and you know, just leave her."

She was very possessive, but her mom said, "Ah, you know what? It's good that he's possessive. If the man's not worried about you, be worried. He's worried about you. Now he's the right guy."

So she thought, "Hey, he's the right guy. He's taking care of her financially. Everything's going well."

So they started dating. He said to her, "You need to come live with me, and I want you to leave your job. I'm going to take care of everything for you, but I want you to be at home."

She thought, "Hey, this guy's great." She even said, "I must leave my job? Financially, I'm going to be sorted out."

She goes to live with him, and only while she's living with him, she notices that his jealousy and possessiveness is unhealthy. You know, it's not love; now it's bordering on being obsessed.

So after they have the baby together, he says, "You're not allowed to visit your family." She is very close with her family, and she starts getting worried.

Then eventually, she sends a message to a cousin of hers and shows the cousin all the marks on her body because he's been beating her up and so forth. She says to the cousin, "I'm really desperate to get out of this relationship and out of the home. Please, when he goes to work, can you get another guy to come and help me move my stuff out? If he comes, please protect me. I'm so terrified of this guy."

So the cousin helps. He goes to the house; they get her out. He just so happened to come. He used to drive by all the time to check on her in the day. He gets there, sees they're moving, and punches her in front of her cousin.

The guy pulls out a gun and says, "Get away from him."

So then they have this arrangement. He goes with the cousin. She's living with her cousin. The cousin's only living with her to protect her from this ex, and the cousin stands there when she hands over the child because he visits with the child.

But eventually, he gets annoyed, and he sees the cousin. "Listen, I'm not going to do anything to her. Can she come to my house without you? Please, just drop off the child and then pick it up."

So one day, she's going to the house to pick up the child, but she's scared because she knows this guy is capable of anything.

So when she gets to the house to pick up the child, you see his—she's like, "No." By the time she got the child, long story short, he tries to kill her. She jumps in the car; she drives. He follows. She goes to a school nearby and tells him to quickly take the child.

But she doesn't manage to get away. He kidnaps her. Long story short, he takes her to this isolated house and says to her, "I'm going to tell you now, you're not living here alive. I'm not going to let another man touch you. I'd rather you be dead than anyone touch you. You're mine forever."

He also says, "I'd rather be dead than let anyone have you." And it carries on beating her, calling her all the filthiest names under the sun.

So it's reported to the police because people were there when he was kidnapping her, and they quickly find out that, hey, this woman's been kidnapped.

Keep this in mind: six months before she is kidnapped, another African-American woman is kidnapped and wasn't found. So the community is scared; her family's terrified.

Her cousin, who was her closest friend, who was living with her, goes and breaks into the guy's house. He's not there, realizes the guy kidnapped the ex-boyfriend. They cannot find her. They find the car in this wooded area. They know they can't before, but they still can't find them.

The cousin starts looking, can't find her. He's getting desperate. On day two, she's close to dying. She hasn't had anything to eat or drink. She knows very well this man's going to kill her.

So the cousin gets very desperate and speaks to his male best friend. The best friend says, "Hey, I want to tell you something. I think I know somebody who can help us."

He says, "Who?" He says, "Listen, I know you're a Christian and everything, but listen carefully to me. This is a psychic."

Now, I know you don't believe in psychics, but please, how desperate are you? The guy says, "Okay, if you're desperate, give the psychic a chance."

My relative went to the psychic, and the psychic was 100% accurate. She was able to help my family member out.

He goes to the psychic. He was told to bring a bracelet that she wore so the psychic can touch it.

Funny enough, the psychic is a young girl. She could be like 12 or 13. She's like a guardian, watches her, but she has these abilities.

He goes to the psychic. The psychic closes her eyes, touches the bracelet, and shows you the psychic can see things.

What's astonishing is the psychic is able to tell him what's been happening to her over the past few days and says to him, "Listen carefully. She is alive, but she's very close to death, and he's definitely going to kill her if you don't get there in time. All I can tell you is that she's close to a body of water, and you can save her if you get there quick enough."

So he goes back to the friend. He says, "Listen, we're going to go back and search the area we searched because she is near a body of water. The psychic told me so."

The friend's like, "You're crazy. We just went to that area with the body of woods. There's no way she's there. We searched; there was nothing."

He says, "No, this time we're going to find her." They go back where they had already searched, but this time they see a man that knows the area better than them.

The man says, "Actually, you know what? We found these two abandoned homes." The guy says, "Now listen, you see behind the bushes? Nobody can see that home, but as that Livia knows that home, there's another abandoned house just behind the bushes."

They hadn't been to that one because this bush was hiding it. So they decide to go to that house. She's still alive, and by the grace of God, as they get there, she screams because she heard movement.

And this guy decides he's going to start stabbing. He starts stabbing her, but the cousin gets in there. So forcefully, he manages—he sees the guy stabbing, he shoots the guy, kills him, and long story short, her stab wounds did not cause her death. She survived.

After this movie, I was shocked beyond belief. I said, "Lord, this is a psychic. Psychics can see things that are happening. I'm not doubting the abilities. I'm not doubting this. They're seeing things that are happening, but they are entering the spiritual realm illegally."

And there's us as the church. We have the very authority of the King of Glory. All authority in heaven is given to us by Jesus, and nobody could tell him where this girl was except the psychic.

I said, "Lord, do you mean we cannot come together as a church and trust you? Because when Paul was speaking to them, he said, 'Yes, the Lord has given some to be evangelists, some as guardians, ministers, others teachers like Pastor Marlon. You can teach the word, but others prophets.'

How is it that we are not operating accurately in our gifting? Because you see, unlike the sangomas and the psychics, they can enter that spiritual world illegally on their own. But as the Church of God, we need a common faith to enter in.

We need to come together, trust God, believe God. Not only can we enter in, but like Jesus, we can enter in, pray, they can be healed and raised from the dead. But we are not seeing any of that happen because we do not have a common faith.

We are operating in our faith individually and trusting God that he's going to move, yet my brother on this side who's standing next to me and my sister on this side is busy yapping about me, talking about how I don't have power, about how God can't move, how this, this, and that.

When we're coming together, we pretend, "Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." But we're not truly coming together, believing and trusting God because we lack a common faith.

This morning, I'm hoping that you could join with me and trust God, believe with me when we say we are praying for—if someone sends a message and says, "Can you please pray for me, Pastor? Can you please pray for me?"

We can't just say, "Yes, I'll pray." We really need to come together and pray and trust God to see great things happen. We have to join our forces better than the Marvel and DC superheroes, man.

What we have is the true power. We can't see the electricity in the physical, but hey, in the spiritual, it's happening. These fireworks are going on, but the secret is to have a common faith.

Jesus himself, the Messiah, couldn't see many miracles in his own hometown because of their lack of faith. We are having the same problems in our community. We are not seeing the move of God that we should because we are not coming together, believing the Lord for greatness to happen.

We must come together as a community. We must pray together. That's why I was excited when they said they were having a prayer walk. Yes, I couldn't go, but Pastor did go, and I was happy about that.

I thought we have to start joining our faith together. We have to start praying together. We need to stop this business of worrying about doctrine.

We get so caught up in little doctrinal beliefs that we forget that our faith is in the King of Glory. Our faith is in Jesus, not in ourselves, not in our location, not in where we live, not with our parents, not this false teaching of things about, "No, no, no, you cuss."

No, no, thank you for that beautiful message this morning. I'm not cursed; I'm in Christ. I'm blessed. There are no generational curses following me. Really? So you mean Jesus Christ is so powerless that a generational curse can be more powerful than him?

No, the Bible says when I got saved, when I gave my heart to the Lord, all those curses he took them on the cross. I am now blessed inside of him. I know that I'm blessed. I'm affirmed in my faith.

So let's come together. Let's join hands. Let's cause this power to be revealed. Let's pray for our communities. Let's pray for each other.

Someone gives me a call. I've been praying for my friend Sharon. She might watch this video. She's an amazing friend that watches everything I do and inspires me, and she might watch this.

But let me tell you about her. For 10 years, she's been asking me, "Cecilia, pray with me. Pray for me. Pray with me. Pray for me, please. I believe God is going to do something. Always pray with me."

You know she's a believer; her faith is very strong. We've been praying together. Even when we were having our prayer meetings, I say, "Pray for Sharon." I come here, "Lord, please help Sharon. She's not happy at work. They are pressing and all. Please, Lord."

After 10 years, a season in her old job has finally come to an end, and the Lord has opened a better door for her. I was so touched, and I said, "Sharon, look at God! We joined our faith, and we trusted him. Look at God! Hey, look what he's able to do."

This morning, let's join our faith. Let's trust God to move on our behalf and on the behalf of our community. Amen.