You can go ahead and be seated.
So thankful. So thankful to be here today. So thankful to be able to have breath in my lungs to give praise and honor to God, who is so worthy of all the praise and worthy of all the honor.
We're going to move into our next phase of communion. If you do not have the communion elements, go ahead and raise your hands. We want to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to partake. We have some in the front here. Raise them up high so we can make sure you get those.
Communion is the opportunity that we're able to just give thanks and remembrance of what Jesus did on the cross. I don't ever want to be in a position where I take that lightly. I don't ever want to be in a position where I take that for granted. What he endured on the cross for you and I is something that we can never imagine, but it's something that we need to constantly be thankful for. Even in the midst of the storm, we say, "God, I thank you for your grace. I thank you for your mercy. I thank you for what you did on the cross."
One of the things that I ask, if you are in a place where you have not made that commitment to follow Christ, we ask that you do not partake. The scripture actually speaks against it. If you are not in the place where you have not accepted Christ, that's okay. That's just where you are. But this is for those who have accepted Christ into their hearts.
On the night he was betrayed, Jesus took the bread, and he blessed it, and he broke it. And he gave it to his disciples and said, "Take, eat. This is my body, which was broken for you." Let's partake in the bread.
Jesus, we thank you for your sacrifice. The ultimate sacrifice that you gave your body to be broken for us. Help us to never, ever forget it.
In the same way, he took the cup and gave it and said, "Drink it, all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which was shed for the remission of sin." Let us partake in the blood.
Jesus said to them, "Verily, I tell you, unless you eat and drink, you have no life in you. For whoever eats and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day." That is the hope that we have, that on that last day, we will be caught up to meet him.
I ask that you stand as we continue to worship.
Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. I am blessed to be here.
I'm going to go over Pastor Keenan's two things. And it's going to be two things. All right. The first one is the Limitless Lunch. If you have been here for three months or less, Pastor would just love to meet with you over lunch. We can learn more about the church's vision, mission, and history. But we need you to register. So in the seat back in front of you, there's a QR code. If you would just scan that and be able to register for this Limitless Lunch, Pastor would love to meet you.
The second thing, where my man at? Yep, it's just about as weak as the first service. Man, where are we at? I love that. It's hard to get men together. Women, they can get together over anything. It doesn't matter what it is. But to get men, see, look at that. All right, calm down. Calm down. It's not even a time. Man, we have got to do better.
So we have an opportunity on March the 1st to get together for a men's breakfast, okay? It's going to be here. One of our very own is going to be cooking for us. It's an opportunity for us to be able to come together, be able to encourage each other, sharpen that iron as we all need. Men, we don't do a good job of that, okay? We do a good job of internalizing things. But this is an opportunity where we can just come and share and be vulnerable and fellowship together outside of sports. Amen? Amen.
So that's going to be March the 1st here. I know, yeah, it says at a restaurant, but it's going to be here. All right, those are the two things. I know, Pastor Kenan, I know you're watching. You be having five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten things.
It is an honor to be here. It's an honor to be up here. It is an honor to be in the spot where God has entrusted his word to me. It's always challenging to be up here because I know for myself when the Lord has called me to preach on those days, that means there is something in my life that I need to be dealing with, that he is bringing to my attention.
This isn't me like having it together and preaching it to you. It is like this is what the Lord is dealing with me. And my life, my prayer is that I ask God to shine heaven's spotlight down on my life. Do you know we have things in our life that are a hindrance that we're not even aware of? And sometimes we wonder why we responded that way. Why are we triggered? Why did that affect me so much? And it is because we have barriers in our lives.
And so my prayer is, "God, whatever it is that is in my life that I may not be aware of, that you would make me aware so I can begin to work on and to begin to change and begin to trust you for change in my life."
I struggle speaking. I feel so inadequate. I feel like I'm the wrong person to be up here. There are so many more qualified who may know more scripture, went to seminary. But I'm also thankful that the Lord doesn't just call the qualified, that he calls those who are obedient.
And today I want to be obedient to whatever the Lord has. I say this every time I feel a prompting in my spirit, whatever kingdom is going to call and ask me to preach. And I'd be avoiding my phone. I'd be turning that ringer off. And it seems like as soon as I check it, there are the messages. And I thought I got out of it.
He called and said, "Hey, I need you on this certain date." And my wife and I, we won't be here. And I was like, "I'm so sorry, pastor. I won't be able to make it." But thinking I'm being obedient to the Lord, it is just not working out. And he said, "You know what's perfect? The 16th opened up. So I'll put you down for that date." I'm like, "All right, Lord. I guess I'm going to be obedient."
I want to give honor to my family who is here, my father, Dr. Gordon, and my mother, and my big-headed sister over here. I love you. Thank you so much for being here. It is, I am blessed because I grew up in a praying household. I'm blessed that I have both parents who knew how important it was to call out the name of Jesus.
I'm standing here today because of their prayers. And I know as many of us because of the prayers of the saints and prayers of family members that we are here today. Thank you.
We're in this series called Better. Week one, we're introduced to better and how God wants better for us, a better life. Third John 1-2 says, "Prosper and be in good health as your soul prospers." John 10-10 says, "I came that they might have life and have it abundantly."
I believe that we understand that God wants better, but do we truly believe it? See, it's one thing to have the knowledge of it, but it's another thing because when you truly believe something down on the inside, your life is different. Your attitude is different. Your responses are different. How you walk it out is different.
We have to go from more than what we know to what we believe and claim it on the inside so we can live it. I believe sometimes we have fallen into the trap of culture for what better is. Culture says fame is better. Money is better. A big house is better. A new car is better.
Now there's a place for those things. And if God chooses to bless that way, that's okay. But that may not be his definition of better. But that may not be his definition of better for your life. I have to be able to understand what God is saying.
But sometimes because we have fallen into this trap, we have just settled. We've settled for okay. We've settled for okay relationships and we've settled for okay marriages and we've settled for okay jobs and okay positions. And unfortunately, we've settled for just okay faith.
For faith comes when it's convenient. For faith comes when it's convenient. We try to do everything that we can first and then we call on God as a second or last resort. But I'm here to tell you God should be our primary. Our first call and our last call and I just need to get out of the way.
God wants better for us because when we have better, he gets the glory. When our relationships are better, he gets the glory. When our marriages are better, he gets the glory. He wants better for us. But we need to understand what that better means.
Week two, we focus on a better heart, future, and hope. We learn that our heart can be deceiving. Sometimes we have things in our heart that we want that God says that's not the better for you. Sometimes our heart can be swung by the circumstances of what things look like.
But I don't want to settle for what my heart says. I want to settle for what God's heart says for my life. We need to guard our hearts with all diligence. This week, I firmly believe that God wants us to have a better perspective. A better perspective.
Part of us understanding what better means and how God wants us to have a better heart, future, and hope. We must have a better perspective of who God is and the better he wants. I firmly believe and early to understand that we must understand that God wants us to have a better heart, future, and hope.
We must understand and come to grips with that God is more than enough. God is more than enough. Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I can do anything. I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me.
Our main passage is going to be found in Matthew 6, verse 19-34. I am so thankful for our praying parents, praying friends, family members because with that support it gave me the confidence to know that because I have Jesus, everything is going to be all right.
I've heard it said that he who has God has everything, but he who has everything but God has nothing. Saints, we have God. That means that we've already been given the gifts of everything that we already have better. We just need to be able to claim it right now as a church.
We are trusting God for the finances to be able to move into that new building. We understand that he is more than enough. I remember when Pastor Keenan came to our house for dinner to share this vision of a new church and starting it up, and we prayed and we understood that God was more than enough to make it happen.
Who was at that coffee shop meeting to see who was going to be there? Right? One raise your hands, let me see. We prayed because we didn't know who was going to show up. You can't have church without people. So we were there praying, "Please, Lord Jesus, let people show up." And people came, and then more people came, and then more people came.
And we understood then that God was still more than enough. And when we came to the school, we had that first service. We didn't know how many were going to come, and the place was packed out. And then we believed for a building, and those of you who know, in the thought we had a building and it fell through, didn't work out.
And we were like, "God, are you still more than enough?" So I'm here to tell you it doesn't matter what your circumstances look like. God supersedes what your vision can see. Sometimes we need to step out on faith and say, "God, whatever it is, I know it's going to be better."
Now that we're in this place, we are still believing for better. We're going to be going next door, but once we get there, we know that God still has better for us. That can't be no gift. We know that laptop can be no incentive. We know that we can get a new life.
If we are going to be Limitless Church, that means that we have to continue to trust God. We can't get over there and say, "Okay, we've made it." That's not it. I expect those doors to be busting at the seams because the saints are pouring in because they know it's going to be a place of healing and salvation and restoration and prayer.
It's God of more than enough. It's easy to proclaim that God is more than enough when things are going good. When you got money in your pocket and things are going good and your marriage is great and your kids are listening to you, it's easy to say that God is more than enough.
But what happens when you pray and those answers aren't coming as quickly as you want them to? Is he still more than enough? What happens when you pray and the answer is no? Is he still more than enough?
As I am preparing for this message, when Pastor Kenan asked me to pray, it never comes at a convenient time. Never. It never comes when I'm fully rested. Never comes when I got plenty of time. It always comes in the midst of a storm. And this week was no different.
When I woke up last week, my youngest son, Justice, had a fever. And as all kids, he was sick and wasn't feeling well. And then I remember one day before school, I went to go wake him up. And I put my hands on his leg. And you cannot imagine the screaming. He just screamed and screamed in pain. And I'm like, "What in the world is going on?"
And I picked him up and I tried to put his feet down on the ground and he couldn't walk. And I'm like, "Lord Jesus, what is going on? What is going on?" See, when you're obedient, the devil wants to see how obedient are you going to be?
And I can hear him saying, "You're going to be preaching this message. But do you believe that God is more than enough?" See, it can't be what I see. Because our circumstances are going to change. But God never changes. He is the same. And I have to trust in that.
Even when my son is crying out, "Daddy, help me," and I don't have the answers for him. What had happened, he developed this inflammation in his legs that he couldn't walk. And the worst thing ever invented is WebMD. We go on there and we all are experts. And it's the worst-case scenario.
They're talking about worst case. We're talking about adolescent death and all these statistics. And we're looking at his numbers and the numbers that's in there. And it's not looking good. And the devil says, "God, where is he? You're a preacher. You've raised your children to love God. Where is he when you're calling on him?"
See, we have to understand that God is more than enough before the storm comes. Because it's there. Sometimes it's hard to find it. But when it's in your heart, when that storm comes and you can't find it, it's already there. It's already on the inside.
Is God really more than enough? And Friday, he said, "I want to try to stand." And he could stand. And I think that's a miracle. We had to get him a wheelchair. We've been carrying him. My poor wife has been carrying him everywhere. Have to carry him to the restroom, carry him to the couch.
And those of you who know my son, he is the most active human being in existence. And how am I going to keep this eight-year-old? Because the doctors have said it could take four to six weeks before he's able to walk. I'm like, "I do not have four to six weeks. He needs to get back to school immediately."
But a little bit, sometimes the Lord shows up just on that other side of that first step of faith. He said, "I'll meet you. Can you just take that one step and I'll meet you on the other side?" Sometimes we like, "Lord, I want to see it first." But that's not how faith works.
Faith only moves in one direction and that's forward. There's no reverse in faith. And it doesn't matter what the circumstances look like. Will you trust him? Because of what happened to my son, I was like immediately triggered.
And many of you know, about 10 years ago, my wife and I lost a son. Such a shock. Because I remember he was born sick and it got to a point. I firmly believe with everything that I had that God was going to heal him. I wouldn't even listen to the doctors.
The doctors were like, "We don't know how long he's going to live, but he is not going to live." Like I rebuked that spirit in the name of Jesus. And I just truly believe that he was going to make it. And when the nurse called in the middle of the night that said that he was gone, I said, "There's no possible way. God, this is not the story. It can't be."
And I remember driving to the hospital and all I could think is, "God, this cannot be it." And I could hear that still small voice. "Am I still more than enough?" Regardless of what we prayed for, God is still God. Regardless of what the outcome is. Regardless if you don't get that promise, this side of heaven, he is still God.
And will you trust him? Trust him. I remember on those first nights, I would get on my knees and I was just so overcome with grief and pain. And I wanted to pray, but there were no words. That's why I'm so thankful for the saints. You have a voice for those who may not be able to pray.
So when a prayer request comes, you know, you may be the only one praying. It was the prayers of my mother and my father and people in the church when I didn't have the words. Because I understood that God is still more. He is still more than enough.
Will you trust him today? Sometimes walking by faith is hard. Some of us, it seems like every single step is so hard. Nothing is easy. It seems like everything that we do is so hard and it's hard to find success. But walking by faith is exactly where the Lord wants us to be.
100% reliant on him for everything. I think sometimes we take it for granted that we only rely on him when it's the last resort. And we only rely on him when the doctor says there is no more help. But God is saying, "Will you trust me at the beginning? Will you trust me through the process? And will you trust me at the end?"
I'm working on that. Because it's hard because in the midst of the storm, we still are human beings. And that will rise up in you, that lack of faith quick. And the devil is good at his job. And I think sometimes we spend too much time listening to him instead of pouring into God's word.
I have to trust what the word says, not on what I see or what I feel. Because my heart is misleading. And sometimes circumstances don't tell the truth.
I'm going to leave you with three points. I believe in order for us to have a better perspective, we need to stop worrying about it. Now I hear you say it's unpopular. It's impossible not to worry. But with God, all things are possible.
I think in our culture, it's mainly convenient to worry and to stress and to procrastinate and wait to the last second. We're so overcome with. And it's like popular to say, "You know what? I'm going to see a therapist." There's nothing wrong with therapy. But therapy is after I put my reliance in Jesus.
I'm not going there first. What is the therapist going to tell me that the word of God can't tell me first? It's a supplement. It is a help. It is not my 100% resource. I have to be reliant on God.
Look at verse 25, 6:25. "Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, about what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body or what you will put on. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to your life?
Why are you anxious about the clothing you will wear? Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of them.
But if God closed the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you? Oh, you of little faith. Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, "What should we eat or what should we drink or what should we wear?"
For the Gentiles seek after those things. But your heavenly Father already knows that you need them. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all of these things will be added unto you.
And therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. See, we're worried about the wrong stuff. We're worried about how are we going to be able to provide and how are we going to be able to make enough money to be able to eat and do all the things.
And the word of God is saying we need to be worried about being alive. We need to be worried about being alive. We're worried about food, because when you're dead, food don't mean nothing. Clothes don't mean nothing.
My prayer is, "Lord, if it's your will, help me to see another day." Because every day that I'm here comes, my dad always says, comes with an assignment. That means God has something for us to be doing.
The fact that we are here today, God is saying, "It's something I have for you today." When I lay my head down at night, "God, did I complete your assignment? Did I do what you wanted me to do today?"
I don't ever want a day going by that I'm just living for myself. Every day that I wake up is not just to make money. It's not just to prosper myself. It is to enhance the kingdom. What am I doing for the kingdom today?
I wonder how many days we've wasted. How many days we've just gotten up when we've gone to work and we just put our head down and we've gone home and put our head down and woke up and done the same thing over and over and over and over again.
I choose today, I'm not missing any more opportunities. Because I don't know when that day is going to be my last day. I read a statistic that in America, 3,500 people did not wake up this morning. They went to sleep, had plans about what they were going to be doing this Sunday, and that was it.
3,500 people every single day will not wake up. And God chose for us to be here today. The least I can do is say, "God, thank you for another day." Regardless of what it looks like, I thank you that you've given me this opportunity. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Take the days for granted. That we're just going through the motions. Not doing anything, not accomplishing anything, just spinning the wheel over and over and over again. Today, I resolve in myself that, "God, whatever time you've given me, I'm going to do it and to use it for your kingdom."
Number two, we need to understand our value. Understand your value, how important you are to God. How much more important are we than the birds and the flowers? But God makes sure that the animal's needs are met. How much more will we meet our needs according to his riches and his glory?
And from what I read in my scripture, he will never run out. That he has the best in mind, that we are on his mind constantly and consistently. Will we just trust him? If you read this verse in Luke, it says, "Consider the raven."
Now the raven is considered an unclean bird. Ravens are scavengers. And if you were a high-class society, you weren't eating ravens. That was just what the leftovers, ravens don't care if the food is fresh or it's been there for a while. It's a blessing.
I wonder sometimes how many times we view God's blessing as leftovers. See what happens is God blesses us and we think it's great. And then we look at somebody else's blessing and we're like, "Lord, look at what I got compared to them." And we don't want it.
When I was growing up, we didn't throw food away. My mom and dad know exactly what I'm talking about. My mom would cook like on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. And then we had leftovers for the rest of the week. We didn't know what we was going to have.
She called us down. Our kitchen table looked like Golden Corral. It'd be chicken over here. There's some spaghetti over here and some greens. And there's some bread over here with some butter on it. And we was happy. Maybe some hot dogs over here too.
And if you weren't happy, you sure kept your mouth shut about it. But then we get older and we get a little muddier. We got money in our pocket, a little too bougie to be eating leftovers. We want to go out today, you got a refrigerator full of food and going out to eat.
Sometimes my kids be looking at leftovers like, "That was yesterday." I'm like, "It's going to be good today too." I want to be a place where God, whatever it is, whatever it is, we're looking at somebody like, "Yeah, we got a car, but theirs is brand new."
God said, "Do you rather walk?" I don't ever want to take God's blessings for granted. Whatever he has given me is for me. And it's perfect for me. We worked so hard, worked so hard.
I have dreams of this house. I remember I was like, "This is what I want my house to look like. I want it from scratch. I don't want anyone to live in it. I want a brand new car right off the lot with no miles on it."
And we worked so hard to accumulate this stuff. And we get this house and in 30 years it's going to belong to somebody else. And we work hard and we get this brand new car. And in 30 years it's going to be at, you pull it for parts.
I need to set my mind on kingdom things. I don't want my treasures to be down here. Because eventually it's going to rust and it's going to corrode. It's going to get old and you got to replace it. But my treasure in heaven is forever.
And I know my place is secure. Is he still more than enough? Number three, in order to become better, have a better perspective, we need to be kingdom-minded.
Look at 19, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, where thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
I'm excited to move into this new building. This new building is not for us to brag. It's a place to enhance the kingdom. I am believing in 2025 for salvation. I'm believing in revival to take place in this city and in this nation in the world. Because we need Jesus.
Everywhere I look there is a lack of hope for the future. And they need to see it in us. The world needs to see the hope in the saints. But I wonder how good of a job we're doing. Does the world see us praising?
Do they see us arguing? Do the world see us being thankful? Or do they see us complaining? I wonder what kind of example we are setting. I don't want rocks to cry out for me. I don't want the stars to cry out for me.
While I have an opportunity, I'm going to tell the world that God is good and that he's faithful. And what he's done for me, he wants to do for you too. I need to be a better example. We, as the church, need to be a better example.
I found myself getting in the way a lot. I don't mean to. I believe sometimes I pray this prayer, and I know God says, "I know the plans that I have for you." But I'm like, "Lord, I'm sure if you can take some of my plans and add them on to the plans that you got, everything will just turn out better."
Right? Because these plans that I got over here, they real good. Right? So go ahead, and God said, "It don't work that way." I just need to get out of the way.
A favorite thing that I heard from my mom and dad growing up was, "Mind your own business." Mind your business. And another thing I heard was, "Stay out of grown folks' conversation." I remember my parents used to say that all the time.
I'm like, "I didn't even say anything." I was probably just looking at the conversation. I remember, see, the Holy Spirit has been talking to me for a very, very long time. And I remember one time my dad was talking to somebody else, and I was watching the conversation.
And my dad looked, he said, "Stay out of grown folks' conversation." And I almost said, "Why don't you stop talking so loud?" But the Holy Spirit talked to me in that moment. He said, "No, no, bro, don't, don't, don't do that. I'm trying to help you. You need to trust me. I'm trying to save your life."
I believe sometimes God is saying, "You need to mind your business and let me take care of mine." God says, "I know the plans that I have for your life, but you have to trust them. And let me work it out without your interference, because we mess it up."
Sometimes we want to try to figure out the solution to it. And when it's all messed up, there's like, "Okay, God, here is the mess." God says, "If you just trust me from the beginning, it will save you a lot of pain and heartache."
We need to mind our business and let God take care of his. And what is our business? The last point is we need to share our testimony. Proclaim the testimony. Folks need to hear what God has been doing in your life.
Need to hear about the success. Also need to hear about the challenges. It's okay to tell folks, "You know what? I've been praying, but God didn't work it out that way. But guess what? He's still God."
Because sometimes we feel like we're the only ones in this situation. Like we're all alone. That is nothing but the lie of the enemy. And since we're all alone, just keep it to yourself. No one's going to ever be able to understand.
But it's something when we come to the house that we have people who are praying for us. Where two or three are gathered together. I try to tell people, "You know what? Mike, my back is messed up. Can you pray for me? I'm struggling with my kids. Can you pray for me? My wife is not feeling well. Can you pray for me?"
Because the devil knows if I can get two or three gathered together, touching and agreeing together that God is there. Sometimes we just need to call on the name of Jesus.
I remember sometimes I had no words. I would just say Jesus just over and over and over again. Because I remember. I understood that there was healing in that name. That there was restoration in that name. That there was salvation in that name.
When you call on the name of Jesus, demons and devils, they got to flee. They got to get out of your life and turn you loose. Sometimes we are living beneath what the power and the authority that God has given us.
That when you don't have anything to say, all you need to say is, "Jesus, I trust you. Jesus, I love you. And I know that you're going to make a way when there is no way." I understand what the doctor said. But I know, and I know somebody who knows that all power and authority is in his hands.
I just need to trust it. When I was a kid, we used to have testimony service. Remember them days you'd be in church for four or five hours all night long. But people understood if I could just get to a place where prayer is.
And I could hear the saints. And I was just a little kid. They were telling their testimonies of God's faithfulness and testimonies of God's healing. Then we had people who would get up there and they would tell the testimony of what is to come.
Now this isn't like the culture of name it, claim it. Where you say, "Lord, I claim a Mercedes and I know you got that for me." The big one too, not the little one. This was like, "Lord, I'm proclaiming my healing. That I know that I'm proclaiming healing for my children. That they would come to know you."
That there was a trust and a claim of things. See, faith is the evidence of things not seen. But we know that. It's going to happen. I don't know where you are. Maybe you got that diagnosis and the doctor said it's over.
But I'm here to tell you, only God has that power. We need to be able to trust him in the midst of the storm when we can't see it. We have to be able to recognize that he is more than enough.
We're able to sing that song, "It is well within my soul," that regardless of what happens, I know that God is in control. I'm believing for my miracle now. But if it doesn't come. If you don't get that promise. If it comes to the other side of heaven, God is still God.
I love the story of the Hebrew boys. They didn't know what Jesus was going to do. But they believed that it was going to happen. But they told the king, "Nevertheless, if he doesn't, we will not serve any other God. If he does not save us, he is still God."
Because he's a God that's bigger than our circumstances. And the things that we've prayed for, if they don't come when we ask, we know that God is never late, but he is always on time.
We know that God is never late, but he is always on time. Can I have the worship team come on up?
My freshman year in college was so rough. I don't think I've been wounded by other people as much as I was in that period of time in my life. I remember I'd pray. I'm like, "God, why would you bring me here to this place? Sports is not working out. School is not working out. Friends are not working out. I couldn't go home."
I finished out the year there. And I remember I couldn't sleep. Just affected everything. And I remember I couldn't take it anymore. I called my dad. And I said, "I can't take it." He goes, "What's going on?" And I tell him to share. He said, "Let's pray."
And I remember he prayed so powerful. And he just called on the name of Jesus. That name is so strong. There's so much that's associated with it. There's so much that's associated with that name. But we have to understand God is more than just a God of healing.
He's a friend. He's a companion when you're lonely. Someone you can talk to when you don't have anybody. And all that God is requiring of us is will you trust him today? Will you trust him?
I guarantee when you leave this place, it's going to be waiting for you out there. The Bible says that the devil is a roaring lion seeking. That means he is actively looking for those he can devour. That means he's looking for you and he's looking for me.
And regardless of what happens, he knows that he can't touch us because we're covered. We're covered. And we have to trust it. Even when the noise is loud. And the storm is rocking that boat from side to side. And it seems like you're going to tip over.
God is saying, "I'm in the water with you." See, sometimes we want God to just right the ship. God says, "I didn't promise I'd right the ship. I promised I'd be in the storm with you. And I'll bring you in the furnace with you. And I'll walk in the desert with you. Because I promise that I will never leave you nor forsake you."
I need to learn to praise him in the midst of the storm. And when I'm in the furnace, I need to say, "Nevertheless, even if I trust you anyway." Will you trust him today?
Tomorrow when I wake up, I'm going to look in the mirror and I'm going to say, "This is the day that the Lord has made. And I'm going to rejoice and be glad in it." That means no matter what comes my way, no matter what's on the other side of that door, God's got me.
And everything is going to be all right. Will you trust him today? Tell your testimony. God is looking for somebody to tell anybody about somebody who can save anybody. All of us.
Will you be that mouthpiece? Every Sunday, you should have a guest. When we move into that building, I expect there will be no room soon. Because people in this city are going to know that Jesus lives. They're going to know that Jesus lives over there.
They're going to know that there's healing in that place over there. People are going to get up and say, "I got to get to church today. Because I need my blessing." And whatever the blessing is going to be, God, I'm going to say, "Thank you."
Thank you for another day. Thank you for your blessings of grace and love and healing. And I'm going to proclaim that until you come.
Bow your heads. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for who you are. We trust you. We know that you are God that's more than enough.
Help us to change our perspective. We know that you want better for us. Help us to understand what that is, that we want your best and not what the world says. We love you and we praise you. In Jesus' name we pray. Everyone said amen and amen and amen and amen.
We're going to move into our next phase of worship with our offering, tithes, and authoring. An opportunity for us to be able to say, "God, thank you for the ability to give. Thank you for this job. Thank you for my finances."
But we acknowledge that those of us who go to church here, that tithing is not an option. Tithing is not an act of generosity. It's an act of obedience. For those of you who call this your church home, we must tithe.
God is saying, "If you call yourself a follower of me, a member of this church, then you must give." Because we are trying to be kingdom-minded, enhancing the kingdom.
I ask as the ushers come and they pass the buckets, please stand as we're going to continue on. There are three ways to give. You can text the word give to that number online. You can visit www.livinglistwoodland.com or the QR code which is in the seat back behind you.
Please stand as the buckets come and then we'll come back. As you reach your hands to this offering, God, we thank you for this gift. Thank you for the opportunity to give. I pray for those who gave and those who gave not.
God, I pray that you would continue to bless us, that you would plant the seed and let it grow, that we would be able to enhance the kingdom with this. God, we love you so much, and we praise you for the victory in every single area of our lives.
God, we love you. We thank you for this word that you spoke today. I pray that lives would be changed and touched at the moment they walk out of here, that people would see a difference. And when they ask, we give you all the glory and all the honor.
And everyone said amen and amen. One thing, men, for the March 1st, you need to register for that so we make sure we know how much food we're going to get. How much food to prepare for.
I don't want to leave without the opportunity to pray with you. I would ask that our ushers would come, our offering, our praise team would come down, those who just want to pray with you.
Maybe you're here and you say, "This is an opportunity for me to give my life to Christ for the first time." Maybe you're saying, "Today is the day I've been putting it off." But maybe you're feeling that tug at your heart. I pray that you would come on down and accept Jesus as your personal Savior.
We believe that this year is going to be a year of rest. It's going to be a year of restoration and renewal. And maybe it's been a long time since you've been here. Maybe it's been a long time that you prayed. But I'm here to tell you, today is the day.
And maybe you just need prayer. Just say, "It's been a challenge. I just need someone to touch and agree with me. I just need some hope. I just need some encouragement." Now is the time to come on down and get it.
So as we leave, I pray that you would just take your stuff, go on down and get some prayer as we pray our way out. God, we thank you for this day. I pray that as we leave this place, but not from your presence, that you would clothe us in righteousness, keep us safe and keep us healthy.
God, I pray that you would help us to understand what better means, a better life and a better hope and a better perspective. We know that you are a God that is more than enough. We know that the miracle is on the way.
We know that you are a way maker. We know that every single step we take, you're taking one with us. Every breath I take, you're breathing with us. God, we rejoice and we thank you for what you've done, what you're doing and what is to come.
And we claim the victory in your holy and precious name. And everyone said, amen and amen. Have an amazing day and as always, live limitless.
on Feb 16, 2025
