Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Psalm 149:3. Psalm 89:15 says the choir of holy angels singing anthems to God's faithful ways. Revelation 7:12 says angels bow down and worship God, praising Him with "Amen! Praise! Glory! Wisdom! Thanks! Honor! Power! And strength!"
Psalm 149:3 says people should praise God with dancing and make music with tambourine and a harp. 2 Samuel 6:14 says David danced before the Lord with all his might. Ecclesiastes 3:4 says there is a time to dance.
Now, we sanctify church, and y'all, all proper, but do I have a few people who mind dancing before the presence? Come on, come on, come on! Those who don't want to do it undercover, but everyone expose themselves that I don't mind temporarily dancing in His presence. Can we go back into that? Just dancing in His presence.
I just want somebody to get out of their seats and dance in His presence. Come on, step out of your seat, step into the aisle, step at the altar. Come on, somebody! I won't embarrass you. Come on, step on out. Come on, let's dance to this, brother. Come on, for real!
This one more time, and we're going to dance just a little bit more. Now, some of y'all, you want to dance. You're like, "I don't know how to do it." I ain't saying do what you did in the club. It just sometimes is simply swaying back and forth, just dancing in His presence.
So let's go back into that. And it's a few of y'all that are like, "Man, I'm telling you the weight of your circumstances, of your problems." When you just sway back and forth in His presence, that... Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!
One scripture says, "In Your presence, there's the fullness of joy. At Your right hand, there are pleasures forevermore," meaning everything I need is in God's presence. And one thing the enemy likes to do is prevent you from getting into the presence of God. Because he knows that some of the processes that you're going through to try to resolve your issues, all it's going to do is just be a process.
But if he can prevent you from getting into the presence of God, he's afraid that as soon as you step in, the weight's going to fall.
Father, we thank You so much for giving us the privilege to come into Your presence. But Father, as we've already said, for in Your presence, there is a fullness of joy. And at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Thank You for speaking to our hearts this morning. Thank You for ministering to us this morning, Holy Spirit. God, we thank You in advance for healing us everywhere we hurt. Father, thank You for healing minds and healing souls, relationships, spirits that are wounded and broken from the blows of life.
Whatever the circumstance, God, they have wounded the heart and the mind of that person. We thank You for creating an atmosphere, a space, a place where we can be free, where we can be made whole, where we can be healed.
And so, Father, we just thank You now that Your presence, Your Spirit is moving up and down these aisles today. And You're doing surgery even right now. You're fixing things. You're resolving problems, God. You're regulating situations, God. Problems that haven't even been mentioned in this service, God. You're fixing them for families even right now, Father.
We thank You. As some people go home today to what was a problem, God, they're going to bump into a promise, God. And we thank You. You're already working those things out. So we thank You on the front end, God, for what You're doing on the back end of our lives. And we honor You for it all in Jesus' name, I pray.
Come on, let's give God the best praise that we can. Come on, let's give God, not me, but... Amen! Amen!
Well, good morning, Hope City! Good morning, Hope City! Can we give all of our first-time guests a Hope City shout of praise? Amen! Amen!
That shout was just for you, first-time guests. We know there are many churches you could have chosen to worship with today, but you chose to worship with us today here at Hope City Church. And I pray, we pray, that something will be said today, done today, that will cause your life to run on all cylinders for God, because we truly believe that the best is yet to come.
Can we give our guests that Hope City shout one more time? Amen! Amen! Amen!
And before you take your seats, can you take a quick moment and love on about four or five people and let them know you're glad to see them today? Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
If you are a first-time guest, if you could do me a favor, there's a code that's going to come up on the screen there. But if you can just text HCConnect to 9400, and doing so, it will give us a record of your attendance today. And it will also give us the opportunity to send you over some information, give you more details about who we are here at Hope City Church.
And if you want to figure out how you can take a next step in what we're doing here, we'd love to be able to share that information with you via email. And again, as always, we do thank you for worshiping with us here today at Hope City Church.
Church, do know in just a moment we will be receiving an offering. If you're a first-time guest, please feel no obligation to give into our offering today. This service is our gift to you. Again, we just say thank you for spending your day with us today here at Hope City Church.
Amen!
I just want to give a few quick announcements, and then I'll receive our offering. Matter of fact, let's go ahead, and our ushers can move forward now if they're already in position. The ushers can move forward now. I'll go ahead and get the offering out of the way.
As the ushers come forward now, we'll give two quick announcements. Next Saturday, or this upcoming Saturday, we will be having a men's fellowship here from 9 to 11 o'clock. I want to encourage all men of Hope City Church to be here, whether you are a man, you know a man, father, son, whoever. Be in the place this upcoming Saturday here at Hope City Church.
We do have a guest speaker that will be with us, Pastor Roberson, who's a local pastor here in Savannah. Awesome guy. I've known him ever since we moved here in Savannah over 10 years ago. I do believe this men's breakfast is going to be a time of empowerment for all of us.
So again, men, show up next Saturday from 9 to 11. Breakfast will be provided, and we will have an awesome time together. And also, it's not just for Hope City. Please feel free to invite any male, any man in your world to join us next Saturday. Amen! Amen!
The second thing I want to share, just an FYI, we'll be celebrating 11 years next Sunday here at Hope City as a church. Amen! 11 years! Amen!
Man, if I got a lot of footage we're doing today to kind of make that day real special, give you guys some history of how Hope City actually started. We may have some footage back in Jacksonville as well. So definitely be here next Sunday.
But also next Sunday, we are going to have available some new church merch. If you want to wear some representing Hope City merch, it will be available next Sunday. Listen, it's going to be a limited supply. We're not trying to make any money off this. We're not trying to make any profit off of this. The whole goal is to simply make some merch available for those who want to walk around representing Hope City Church.
Here's the good news: whether you're here in Savannah or Pooler, there will be merchandise available at both locations. The link is available to go ahead and preorder today. Because guess what? We ain't reordering. We ain't A.I.N.T. I don't have Desi bonnets. We ain't reordering.
And so whenever we do run out, that will be that until we order more things coming in the spring and summertime. So I would encourage you today. A link will go out. You can actually see here. Matter of fact, as well, just simply go to where HopeCity.cc/Store. And if you preorder today, that will be available for you to pick up next Sunday before and after each service, whether you're here in Gateway campus or the Pooler location.
It's going to be an awesome time here next Sunday at Hope City. Please get your merch.
Now, listen, I do know that it's a possibility we may have a snowstorm this upcoming week. Now, y'all know one thing about Savannah. Boy, they say a hurricane's coming. They say rain's coming. We'll shut down the whole city for a drip of water.
So just an FYI, just stay by your text, your emails. We will be sending out information. If anything happens this week where we have to cancel Sunday service, not because the snow will be here, but the roads may still have black ice. And guess what? Y'all don't know how to drive in ice. And ask me how I know, because when it snowed here six years ago, y'all could not even drive out of your driveway.
So if there's any blackouts, we'll make sure to give you guys notice on what the services will look like, both Saturday and Sunday, if the roads are deemed something that we do not want to drive on. So please make sure you are registered when it comes to receiving our text and our emails.
But again, next Sunday is going to be an absolutely amazing time here at Hope City Church.
Let me bless our offering. Thank those who give faithfully here at Hope City Church. We truly cannot do what we do here without your generosity. And when you're given, most of you give online in the middle of the week. And we thank you for that.
But right now, for those who desire to give today, I want to bless the offering and get one more announcement after this offering here.
Father, we thank You so much for this opportunity to sow into Your kingdom. We thank You for every offer that was sold this week, every offer that will be given today. Father, we pray that You bless and use it for the upliftment of Your kingdom.
I pray for those who desire to give but could not give for one reason or another. I pray for business opportunities, job opportunities to come their way that would give them favor. And I do believe they will remember You in their time of prosperity.
Bless these offerings now in Jesus' name, I pray. Amen! Amen! Amen!
Ushers, you can begin to receive our offering at this time. And as the ushers are receiving our offering, I want to ask that Pastor Kim and Hannah, if you will please come to the stage here. I want to introduce you guys.
I want to introduce you guys to this couple here. Most of us are very aware of that here in Savannah, that there's some change and there's some growth happening because of the Hyundai plant in our backyard now. And there's a lot of Koreans and almost over 60,000 people who've relocated from across the country and 52 different states to the Savannah area.
We have been talking now for almost the past two months about how we can support the Korean community in our area. So a few things that are about to happen. For those who don't know, Easter Sunday, we're working on the location right now. So be ready. Easter Sunday for Hope City Church will not be at this spot here. We're looking at one of the big spaces downtown somewhere.
So it's going to be Easter at Hope City 2025. You do not want to miss it. We're going to do one big service with all of us together in one space, so stay tuned for details on that.
But what we are going to do on Easter Sunday is we're going to offer a Korean Hope City service at 3 o'clock right here in this building. And so I'm excited about that.
Again, we've been talking for the past two months, praying about this here, and not just as excited as I am about that, I'm really excited about the two initiatives that are actually in their heart, things that I wouldn't probably naturally think about that people need who are not from this area.
And so I'm going to give him and his wife an opportunity to just share whatever you want to share in this moment right now. Amen! Amen!
Excited about that. And so, you know, one of the things that I was just really didn't even think about when I was speaking with Pastor Kim on one of those days, I've just assumed that they would want another Korean to help them learn English-wise. And it's like, "No, they would prefer for the Americans to help with that because they're the ones from the country." I'm like, "Okay, that makes sense there."
So, again, you're going to be surprised. I mean, just even little things like tickets and things. She got someone who got a ticket and don't know how to go pay for the ticket. So that type of education, I do believe that God is going to use His church, use all of us as a resource. He's our source, but use us as resources to be able to be a support to those who are in need in our community.
And one thing I wanted him to share, but I think I remember now, there's over 60,000. So when Hyundai came here, I was just thinking that there were a lot of people moving from Korea here, which it is. But there's also 60,000 Americans that have relocated from 52 states to this area here.
So it's not even just about us creating a Korean service for those who speak Korean. But Hope City has to be ready for 62,000 people that are moving to the area. And I'm convinced they're going to be Googling a local church, and Hope City is going to pop up.
So when you see the Pooler campus, this campus, downtown beach, it's not because we're just trying to do stuff. It's because God, there is a need in the community for that. And one promise I made to God almost two years ago, that all the fruit does not have to be on my tree.
I don't have to have everybody come in here and say, "Oh, look what Adam built up." If God sent men and women here who are gifted to lead, I'll be able to get with them and support them and launch them out into what God is calling them to do. That's the type of church that we belong to here at Hope City Church.
And again, thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your resources. We cannot do what we are doing without you. Can we give God a praise for that? Amen!
So with that being said, one quick video announcement, and I'm going to jump right into the word with a brief message for our sermon today.
Who came up with that age bracket? You know, when they say the new 60 is the new this, and the new 70 is that? Yeah, I'm 47. It's the new 27. Come on, somebody!
I'm not coming to that class.
The second thing I want to say about those announcements, small groups. I really want to encourage you, if you have a desire to teach, to lead, you say God has called you to minister to women, to men, to singles, whatever it is. This is your opportunity to lead a small group.
If you say you're called to speak and to teach, one of the best ways to get that started here at Hope City is to lead a small group. So registration is open for that. As the screen said, go to the website and sign up for small group training, because we can't wait to open up the small group track for those who will be attending. Amen!
Let's go ahead and jump into the word with the time we do have left today. We kicked off a new series at the beginning of the year called Start Fresh. Today, we're going to talk about renewing your mind. Somebody said, "God, renew my mind."
How many of you know there are some areas in our life that we need for God to renew our mind, get a new mindset about an old situation? Come on, somebody!
And I believe today through God's word, He's going to teach us how to renew our minds. The word "renew" in the Bible means to change something into something new or better.
Okay? So that's what it means from a scripture. It means to change something into new or to make it new or make it better. It can also mean to restore something to its former state.
So you're either in one or two positions. God wants to renew your mind to restore something back to its former state, or God wants to change something into something new or better. Are you with me?
So again, "renew" can mean put something back the way it was when it was good and you did something to mess it up, or God just simply put it back the way it was. You simply want to do something new and better in your life.
The phrase "renewing of the mind" appears in Romans chapter 12, verse 2. We'll look at that later. The verse literally encourages believers to be transformed by the renewing of their mind so that they can discern God's will.
So that's the core purpose of God desiring for us to renew our minds, so that we can discern what the will of God is for our life. When we don't allow our minds to be renewed after allowing the culture and society to jack us up with our experiences, if we never renew our mind to what it originally was supposed to be, that will lead us down the path that God has for us. Many of us will never live out the stuff that God has called us to live out. Can I get an amen right there?
Look what it says here in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 1. It says, "This won't be on the screen." He said, "But I beseech you, I beg you that you may not be bold when I am present with that confidence."
He said, "Look at verse 3. He says, 'For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.'" Paul said, "It is clear that we're living, we're walking physically in this body, in this flesh. But he said, 'This is not where our war comes from. We do not war after the flesh for the weapons of our warfare.'"
He says here that they are not carnal, but they're mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. So Paul is saying to us that we don't fight the battles that come our way with physical stuff. He said, "The battle that we fight, he said, it is emotional or psychological and the spiritual battle."
And he says, "The weapons that we use, they're not physical, they're not carnal, but they're mighty through God." And Ephesians gives us a list of those different weapons that we can use when we're engaged in spiritual warfare. We'll look at that later.
He says here, "Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing it into captivity." Somebody say, "Every thought."
"Every thought to the obedience of Christ and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled."
So Paul is saying here that you're not going to really be able to win the battles you want to win until you learn the gift of obedience. He says, "If you're walking around being disobedient and not understanding the will of God for your life, you will not be able to revenge other disobedience or things that are coming up against what God has for you."
He says, "Casting down." This is all about how do we pull down strongholds. He said, "Casting down imaginations and high things that exalts itself against God's ways or what we know about God."
So here's the best way to look at a stronghold. A stronghold is a fortified thought. It is a fortified thought that is contrary to what either God has said or what is best for your life.
A stronghold is not something that is just surfacing in your life that you can literally say, "Hey, I'm done with that," and it's gone. No, when something becomes a stronghold, that means it has now taken root.
And you cannot just passively see that thing away. You have to... He said, "You got to pull that thing down." You have to fight. You have to yank it down. You cannot passively deal with those things that are attacking your mind.
He says, "Casting down every imagination and high thing."
Whoever had to go to the dentist? Okay, I hope all of us at some point. Okay. Whoever had to go to the dentist to have a root canal? Okay.
You don't just pull that out with tweezers. They had to... It's like a stronghold. It is deep. For some of you, they literally had to put you to sleep.
I remember Courtney some months ago. She went and got hers done. And below, I got video footage. I said, "Girl, you ever do something to me? I'm like, I'm going to put this footage out there on you so fast."
But y'all, she came out of that bag with her wisdom tooth removed. And I'm like, "I thought my baby was like, 'What did they do to my baby?'" She came out. "Girl, get in this car. Let me take you home."
But what they had to extract from her, it was no service of brushing of your tooth. No, they had to literally extract the tooth from the root.
Some of you have strongholds in your life. And you want to know why they're just not coming up with passive prayers and one conversation or two conversations. No, some stuff requires spiritual warfare.
It requires better going after and going after and going after until you uproot that thing. Not the leaves, but the root. And that's what some of you are dealing with.
Well, you're constantly pulling the leaves off, but you have not dealt with the root. And that is why Paul is going to talk to us today about how do we renew our mind.
Listen, the death of one thing is oftentimes the life of another. I'm going to say it again. The death of one thing is often the life of another.
Sometimes without a death, there can never be a resurrection. Sometimes the closing of one door is literally the opening of another door.
I'm going to say it again. Sometimes the closing of one door is the opening of another. And some of you, you are crying about a certain door you don't want to close.
But God says, "I'm trying to open another door, and I cannot open that door until we close this door." And you're not going to be willing to close that door until you get an understanding or renewing your mind about what God's trying to do in your life.
Sometimes the closing of one door is literally the opening of another door. Some of you had to literally be kicked off of the job you were in before to somewhere where God wanted to take you because God was trying to close that door to get you to walk into something new.
You're like, "Man, but I just love my job right here." But God said, "No, I'm going to shut it down because I need you to move into another place." Come on, somebody!
There are some people you would have never met in the next season of your life if that door never closed. And sometimes we're fighting God, not the devil.
We're fighting God to keep doors open that God said, "I'm trying to close this because if I don't close this, I can't open that one." And that's why the renewing of the mind, old mindsets, old thoughts, shutting those doors is important for your life.
How many of you know sometimes the goodbye to one person is a hello to another person? Sometimes the goodbye to one person is now the hello to another person.
See, God is trying to tell you to get rid of Leroy. Bye! Because He tried to bring, "Hey, Lorenzo!" Come on, somebody!
He tried to tell you to say bye to Nina. Come on! So He could bring, "Hey, Shelly!" Come on!
But because you don't want to say goodbye because there was something good about that person, good about that thing, God said, "No, I want you to say goodbye to that so you can say hello to this."
But you'll never be able to say hello to that if you don't let go of this. Am I talking to somebody right now?
So the death of one thing is oftentimes the life of another. Sometimes the death or sometimes without a death, there could be no resurrection.
Sometimes the closing of one door is literally the opening of another door. And sometimes the goodbye to one person is a hello to another person.
Somebody say goodbye. Now say hello. That felt good, didn't it?
Some of y'all meant that thing like, "Y'all, I ain't going to say his name. I ain't going to say her name." But goodbye!
That felt like therapy, huh? Come on, let's say it again. Say goodbye. Goodbye! Hello!
Say it with an attitude. Goodbye! Hello! Come on, seriously!
Yeah, you got to sometimes tell some people goodbye so you can say hello to what God is trying to bring. Can we give God a praise for that real fast?
Because some of y'all thought y'all was just playing around right there, but you just said goodbye to some stuff.
And okay, now single people, y'all better get ready, get ready, get ready, because you're finally letting go of that. You know he should have been gone. You know she should have been gone. You know, apparently you just don't know either.
But say goodbye! The goodbye and the hello come at the same time. But how will you know? Sometimes there's a gap between the goodbye and the hello.
So sometimes God won't know. Can you say hello? Say hello for a season or say goodbye for a season and wait for the hello to come. Come on, somebody!
And that's some of y'all's problem right now. You don't mind saying hello, but you don't want to say goodbye.
But the question God is saying right now, can you be okay without getting weary in well-doing, knowing that you're going to reap if you faint? Now, come on, somebody!
Oh, this is good to me all by itself! Come on, somebody!
The renewing of the mind is like the weaning process of a child. The renewing mindset is like the weaning process. The child goes through that when a mom, where the child's used to receiving breast milk from the mom.
But now the child has grown up, and now the mother is ready to wean the child off of the breast milk onto some type of formula.
But watch this. If you've ever been in a house where a child was going through the weaning process, it is a very laborious process where the child oftentimes cries out in anger.
Sometimes the child feels offended, thinking the mother doesn't care, doesn't love them because you're not giving me what I need.
But what the child doesn't realize, the mother is trying to teach the child how to receive the same thing a new way. Come on, somebody!
See, some of y'all are crying about doors that God is shutting, places that used to provide for you. God said, "No, I'm still going to provide for you. I'm just going to provide another way." Come on, somebody!
He said, "No, I'm going to still take care of you." And the funny thing, even with the nutrients of the baby, with this new stuff now, there's oftentimes better, even more nutrients in the formulas that are available for the baby.
But the child doesn't know that. The child thinks that the mother is trying to take away from them. And some of you don't even realize that God is trying to do something for you.
He's not taking nothing away from you. He's actually trying to give you something. Come on, somebody! Who am I talking to right now?
And we have to renew our mind about our life, our situation, our circumstances, knowing that God knows better than we know. Can we give God a praise right there?
So let me just give you three things about this renewing of your mind.
Number one, you got to leave the past behind. If you're going to renew your mind, you have to leave the past behind.
Listen, sometimes all that was in the past was not necessarily bad. It just doesn't belong in your future.
So I'm going to say it again. Some of the stuff that was in your past that God is saying let go, it's not necessary that it was all bad stuff. It just can't go with you into your future.
It is almost like being in the fifth grade and you graduated, and now it's time to go to the sixth grade. It's not that the fifth grade was bad. I'm just done with that, and I'm now going to the sixth grade.
I got a promotion. God is trying to promote some of y'all, and y'all still trying to hold on to lower levels. That was okay for that season, but it's not okay for where God is taking you.
Come on, are you with me right now? There was nothing wrong with first grade, second grade, third grade. You just don't belong there. It don't belong in your future.
God's trying to take you to another place, and you have to understand that. Romans 12:1-2 says, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. He says, this is your true and proper worship. He says, do not be confused. Be not conformed to the pattern of this world."
Now, this word "world" is not talking about cosmos that we can physically see with our eyes. He says, "Be not conformed to this ion, the patterns of this world, how this world operates."
You know how some people say the way up is you got to sex your way up. You got to rob your way up. Still, no, in God's kingdom, the way up is down.
In God's kingdom, the way up is up. He says, "Be not conformed. Be not conformed to this ion, the patterns of this world, of the culture of our society. He says, but be ye transformed by the renewing, literally the anachronism of your mind."
It's almost like a person who is literally renovating a room in their house or renovating the entire house. That's what the renewing of your mind is like. It is taking a room that was one way and redoing that room.
And that is what the renewing of your mind is like. He said, "Then and only then, when you renew your mind, you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing, and perfect will."
Come on, somebody! So you're never going to truly receive what God has for you until you renew your mind from the way you used to think before you knew who God was.
You can't now say, "I want to know God and I want to be a part of God's kingdom" after jacking our life up for 10 and 15 and 20 years.
Come on, we know we all, before we knew Jesus, we had already did some stuff. Come on, somebody! You have already tasted and seen that the world was good. Come on!
So now that you've tasted and seen that the world was good, in order to know that God is good, you got to renew your mind and taste and see that the Lord is... Come on, y'all! Y'all with me right now?
So we have to renew our mind so that we can prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God is.
Listen, you can't start a new chapter of your life if you keep rereading the last one. I'm going to say it again. You can't start the next chapter of your life if you keep rereading the last one.
See, the only time it is okay to go back and read other chapters in the past when it's something positive.
Whoever read a book before and you just love how the last chapter was and you just keep going back and reading page four? It's like, "Oh, I got that. I just love page four."
Because what it's doing is it's not taking away from you. It's building you up. If you go back to the past and it tears you down, you don't need to go there.
You should only refer to the past when it edifies and it builds you up and it inspires and it lifts you up, not bring you down.
And this is what many people do. They keep resorting to the old ways, the old mindset, and you cannot start the next chapter, the new thing that God wants to do in your life if you keep rereading the last one of how somebody hurt you, how somebody did you wrong, how they walked out on you, how your mama was never there, how your mama treated your sister better than she treated you, and how your daddy wasn't there when you needed him the most.
You will never be able to get to the next chapters of your life talking about what they did to you last year.
Listen, now, let's be very clear. I'm not saying what happened to you last year wasn't painful. I'm not even saying it wasn't rumble.
But what I'm saying is if you don't get help with that and for that, it's going to keep you in a prison or in a cycle. And you'll never get to the rest of the chapters where you find out that I may have been broken in chapter two, but I get healed in chapter four.
Come on, somebody! And the enemy wants to keep bringing you back to chapter two, never getting you on your healing process to chapter four to see what God has in store for you.
Can we give God a praise for that?
Here's a second thing I want to give you here. Simply renew your mind. Renew your mind.
Look what it says here in Isaiah 43:18. It says, "Forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. He says, see, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it? He says, I'm making a way in the wilderness, in the wasteland."
Now, let's go here real fast. He said, "Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it?" It's almost that same word I used about two weeks ago when I talked about Elijah, who said that I hear the sound of the abundance of rain.
There was no rain nowhere in sight, but he perceived rain was coming. Y'all stick with me right now.
There were no physical signs of rain, but there was a witness in his spirit that change was about to come. And I'm telling you, for some of you, you're going to have to perceive it before you see it.
You're going to have to sense it before you see it. See, we got five senses, right? And most of us, we depend on, "I got to see it or touch it before I believe it."
But we got other senses in our bodies that if we could depend on those as well, we can see something. The Bible calls one of those things discernment.
If you understand the power of discernment, you can see something. If you understand the power of discernment, that before you see it, your discernment can kick off and you can sense that rain.
And that's what the prophet Elijah was. He sensed rain was coming so much so he said to his servant, "Get up, go out and look out on the hill and tell me what you see."
The servant came back and said, "Hey, man of God, I know what you said, but what you said you perceive, I don't see it at all."
And so the servant had to go back a second time or third time. And every time he came back to Elijah said, "Elijah, I know you said you hear the sound of the abundance of rain, but what you said you're in your spirit, there's no signs of that at all."
It took about seven times for Elijah to go back, go back, go look again. And finally that seventh time the man saw something that Elijah was sensing.
He saw a physical manifestation of what he was sensing in his spirit, which was a small cloud the size of a man's hand. And he came back to Elijah and said, "Elijah, I see now what you were already sensing."
See, if you really want to make this make sense, think about something in your own life where you need to see rain, where you need to see God move it.
But you may not see nothing right now, but the question is, can I sense it before I see it? And just because I don't see it, don't mean it's not there.
I just got to learn how to sense it in my spirit, man, first. You know how women like to pray. And sometimes you ever get impressed sometimes, and you got a bad thing going on, issue going on, and you took that thing before God, but by the time you got out of prayer, it felt like things were already changed to witness what's in your spirit.
Everything looked the same out here, but on the inside, you know it's already worked out. It's already done. It's already fixed.
And a matter of no time, what you were sensing, it manifests itself to you. This is where God wants us to get to so that we don't walk by what we see. We move by what we believe.
Even when Jesus returns, He's going to be looking for faith in the earth. He's not going to be looking for what you can see. Do you believe that I can do this here?
Who remembers the story when Jesus died and Dr. Thomas was there, and they said, "Hey, Jesus has arose from the grave, as He said." And Thomas said, "I'm not going to believe it, except I can see the nail scar in His hand."
And Jesus said to Thomas, "He said, Thomas, now I understand you, but He said, blessed are those who believe and have yet, haven't even seen it yet." Come on, somebody!
See, so you got to get to a place where you done saw the handiwork of God for three years, Thomas. You done saw God. You done saw Jesus' work for three years.
Everything He said He was going to do, He did it. So now that you find yourself in a situation, you should be saying, "Hey, you know what? I followed that man for three years. I saw the miracles He did. If y'all say He's alive, take me where He's at, because I know He's there waiting for me."
Come on, somebody! And that's how you got to get about your dream. That's how you got to get about your vision. That's how you got to get about every promise that God made to you.
And if you believe that, let's give God a praise for that on today!
I don't have to see it to believe it. I have to believe it to see it. Come on, somebody! Because I believe my believing has the power to bring it out of the spirit realm into the natural realm.
Are you with me on today? The power of life and death is in your tongue. He said, "You can call those things that are not as though they were."
He said at one point, He said, "At this point forward, you won't ask me anything. You will speak and ask, and the Father will do it."
He said, "Stop asking me to move the mountain. No, you speak to the mountain, and the mountain will be moved."
I don't know about you, but this is some good preaching right here.
Watch this here. When you change the way you think, you will change the way you live.
When you change the way you think, if you can kick this brain, this mind. See, the issue is, is not even the brain itself. The brain is just another organ in our body, but that mind...
And our mind, the Bible says, can be renewed. Our mind can be changed. We can alter the way we think. We have the power to do that.
And sometimes the stuff you say, the power of life and death is in your tongue. What you speak has the power to alter your thought life.
Number three, and I'm done. Press forward with purpose. If you're going to renew your mind, you need to press forward with purpose.
I'm not just renewing my mind because I don't have nothing to do. I'm renewing my mind because I got a purpose.
I'm renewing my mind because I want some dreams to manifest in my life. I'm not just renewing my mind because I'm just bored today.
No, I got some stuff that's in front of me that I want to achieve, and the mindset I have right now, the way I'm thinking right now, it ain't going to bring it into my life.
I'm thinking negative. I'm thinking fearful. I'm murmuring. I'm complaining, but I want God to do this. I want God to do this.
God said, "I can't do what I want to do in your life with that old mindset."
Who remembers the story when Jesus was... One scripture said, "Jesus went through a town." He said, "And the scripture said, I could do no great works there but heal a few sick folk."
Now, this is Jesus talking, the healer Himself, and said, "I came through this situation. I came through this situation. I came through this situation. I came through this town. I could do no great works there because of their unbelief."
Here's my point: your unbelief, that our thoughts have the power to hinder manifestations of what God wanted to bring into our life.
And if they were able to hinder Jesus... Now listen, I know Jesus, if He wanted to, He could have worked against that.
But what Jesus was trying to show them the power of principles that when the principles are applied right, you can manifest. You can do certain things that He even said.
And said with this here, if I wanted to, He could have made miracles happen even in the midst of doubters. But He knows He's trying to teach them something that for exactly is for us.
And that you're not going to be able to do no great works without in the room.
Who remembers the story where He was about to heal somebody's mama, and He said there was so much doubt in the room, He said, "Put him out."
He said, "I can't even resurrect this situation because y'all doubt too much. Get out of here while I work on this miracle."
God's trying to do some new things in your life, and you got to put some old thoughts out, some old ways out, some old people out if you're going to see the manifestation of what God desires to do.
You got to press forward with purpose. Look what it says here in Philippians chapter 3, verse 13.
"Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do: I'm forgetting what is behind and I'm straining toward what is ahead."
He says, "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
I have a slide of a track star. Okay, is this the right one? Okay. For those who know Pastor David, our Pooler campus pastor, he is an Olympic champion.
And when he went to represent the Olympic champion, he was a champion sent to America, the Olympics. He went out there with one goal: he wanted to win the gold.
But he said, "I would not have been able to win the gold if I kept looking back. I had to be willing to press forward. I had to be willing to get into awkward positions. I had to be willing to stretch."
And the question is, are you willing to stretch in this season? Looking for it not behind you, but who you got to leave behind? What you got to leave behind?
Are you willing to position yourself in such a way that you can grab a hold to the reason why you're running? He was running because he wanted to go metal.
And he positioned himself, watch this here, so much so, not the day of the race, not the month of the race, not the year of the race, but years before the race he was working on himself so that he could grab a hold to the high calling.
And some of you are going to wait till you get 90 years old and about to die and start serving God for real, but you need to do it right now.
Seeing the righteous forsaken or is he begging for bread? Come on, somebody!
And so we have to be willing to get into uncomfortable positions and stretches so that we can manifest all that God has in store for us.
Can we give God a praise for that right now?
Don't let what's behind you distract you from the purpose that God has placed before you.
Don't let what's behind you distract you from the purpose that God has placed before you.
Can we give God a praise for His words on today?
Come on, stand to your feet and let's do this one more time. Look behind you. I'm going to leave the past behind.
No, no, no, no! Y'all should do it with real attitudes right now after this sermon here. Y'all should have an attitude about every past thing that's going to hold you back.
Say, "I'm leaving the past behind. I'm renewing my mind with God's truth, and I'm going to press forward with purpose."
Some of y'all came in late, so you didn't get it. So that was just for y'all to be able to see how to do it.
So let's say, "Look behind you and say, I'm leaving the past behind. Okay, I'm renewing my mind with God's truth, and I'm going to press forward."
Some of y'all are not...
Glory to God! Thank You, Jesus! Thank You, God!
Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your word. For Your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths. Thank You for speaking to our hearts. Thank You for speaking to our minds on today.
Father God, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Thank You for the spirit of unity in this place on today. Thank You for the one mind, the one heart.
Father, I declare that as the children of Israel marched around the walls of Jerusalem, they were on Jericho, and they were on one mind, one accord, God, and walls began to come down.
Father, I declare today that this group is going to see fruits from this message on today. And God, they're going to see things come down that need to come down, and things that need to go up are going to begin to go up.
God, we thank You for Your favor. We thank You for Your grace in this space on today. God, doors that could not open, God, they're going to begin to open.
Things that couldn't shut, that needed to be shut, God, they're going to be shut. We thank You for it, Father, in the name of Jesus.
Jesus, our minds are being renewed today.
With every head bowed, every eye closed, maybe someone is saying, "Pastor Cora, I needed this word today. I know church, but I don't know Him. I'm shaking your hand, but I've yet to shake God's hand. I got good religion, but I don't have a personal relationship with this God you're talking about.
I want to know what it means to be born again. I want to know what it means to give my heart to Christ. I want to know what it means to have my name written in what I heard you say is the Lamb's Book of Life.
Today, I want to give my heart to Christ. And maybe you're saying, "Hey, I've already made that decision. I'm assured of my salvation. But what I do need is a church home that teaches the Word of God in such a way that I can take it and apply it to my life and see my faith and my family transformed by it.
I believe I can hear God's voice in this place speak to me. And so today, I want to make Hope City Church my home.
So whether you're going to make that decision today for salvation, yes, I know that we're all God's creation, but we choose to become a son. We choose to become a daughter.
First Adam in the Garden of Eden, we lost it all because of sin. Second Adam, Jesus Christ, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He restored it all and gave us... regained our access back into the presence of God in which we can now go boldly before His throne of grace and make our request known.
So if you're saying today, "I don't want to just be His creation. I want to be a son. I want to be a daughter. I want to make Hope City Church my home."
On the count of three, no pressure, no prime. Just want to know who I am included in on this prayer. If that's you, on the count of three, let me just quickly see your hand, whether you're online, watching online, you're making that decision right there on your couch, right there in your bed, wherever you may be, in that hospital, on your job, wherever you may be, this message just resonates to you in one of those two ways.
I want you just to slip your hand up for just a moment, all over the building. One, two, three. Would that be one? I see that hand. I see that hand. I see that hand. I see that hand. I see that hand. I see that hand. I see all those hands across the room right now.
Do me a favor to just one more thing. If all over the building, if we could all lift our hands towards heaven, I want to just simply pray this prayer with me for those hands that went up and even those that may have went up online today.
Just repeat this simple prayer. Let me say, "Lord God, I believe You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for my sins, but I also believe He rose from the grave with all power in His hands.
So I ask You now to forgive me of any and every sin that has separated me from Your love.
Now say, "God, I don't fully understand what all this means, but I do believe with Your Spirit, Your presence living on the inside of me, I will become the person You desire me to be.
So I ask You now to fill me with the power and the presence of Your Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, You are welcome to live in my heart for the rest of my life.
Father God, Your word declares any man being in Christ. He's a new creation. Old things are passed away, and behold, all things are becoming new.
I pray for those that prayed that prayer for the very first time, whether it was for salvation, it was spiritually separated from You or physically separated from a church family.
I declare that everything they lost in that season of separation, that Father, they're moving into a season of restoration.
And God, everything that was taken away from them prematurely, You're moving them right now into a season of restoration.
I declare that everything that attached itself to them, that is sucking away at the quality of their life, every stronghold, every yoke, every chain, every burden, it is falling off right now.
And who the Son sets free, they are free indeed. In Jesus' name, I pray.
Come on, can we celebrate for every decision made in this place on today?
So just quickly, as I dismiss you, just a couple quick reminders. If you made that decision today to follow Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, I'm going to right now, as a matter of fact, ask our ministers who will be standing after us or over to even step forward now.
If you need prayer, want someone to stand with you, our ministers will be here for you and with you at the end of our service. If you need to take that next step, Grove Track is immediately after this service on today.
Child care is still available. You're able to go right to Grove Track and step into the Grove Track on today.
And again, I'm going to go ahead and ask the pastors to go ahead and go to the lobby. And if you guys do have any questions or you have any insight that can add value to what they're going to be doing with the Korean ministry, please give them that insight.
Give them your number, email, whatever it may be, whatever resources that we can make available to make this a success.
God bless you, and you'll be dismissed.
Father, we thank You for this day. Thank You for speaking to our hearts. Thank You for speaking to our minds. Thank You for life transformation that took place in this space on today, whether it's in this building or online today.
God, just God continue to bless these, Your people, and speak favor over their life. We thank You for all that You're going to do in us and through us as You renew our heart and You renew our mind.
In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen! God bless you! Have an amazing day!
on Jan 19, 2025
