How To Hear The Holy Spirit | Acts 8:26-40 | Pastor Greg Locke oh ((music playing)) good morning church put your hands together we've waited for this day we're gathered in your name calling out to you ((music playing)) your glory like a fire desire will burn our hearts with truth you're the reason we hear you're the reason we're seeing ((music playing)) we wanna see ((music playing)) ((music playing)) your presence in this place your glory on our face we're looking to the sky i'm just sitting like a cloud you're standing with us ((music playing)) he's the reason you're the reason we seek ((music playing)) every part ((applause)) ((music playing)) is ((music playing)) show us your glory show us show us your power show us show us your glory love come on let's sing that together show us show us show us your glory jesus show us show us your power show us show us your glory hope ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) we want to see flowing from your heart ((music playing)) ((applause)) good morning church it's so good to be in the house of the lord today ((music playing)) would you just continue worshiping with us grace what have you done murdered for me on that cross accused an absence of wrong my sin washed away in your blood too much to make sense of it all ((music playing)) i know that your blood breaks my phone the scandal of grace you died in my place ((music playing)) give all i have just jesus ((music playing)) the cross has taught me to sing and mercy my heart now to save a day and his troubles shall come i know that your strength is enough this candle of grace with my soul ((music playing)) jesus says ((music playing)) come on it's all because of jesus today that's why we're here let's sing this together offer you jesus ((music playing)) is ((music playing)) ((music playing)) jesus ((music playing)) ((music playing)) my soul jesus there's no one beside you ((music playing)) forever you give all i have just to know you jesus there's no one beside you forever the hope in my heart we're gonna sing that again let that be our cry today god let us look more like you ((music playing)) oh to be alive you give all i have just to know you jesus there's no one beside you forever ((music playing)) because of you jesus it's hard because of you jesus because of you jesus my soul will jesus it's all everything because of you jesus because of your love that my soul will ((music playing)) ((music playing)) your is that my soul will live hope to be ((music playing)) in my heart ((music playing)) jesus this is all because of jesus come on well y'all better shout a little bit louder than that under this tent this morning we came here to worship jesus christ amen we're here to worship the lord shout amen in the house shout hallelujah ((music playing)) well give the lord a good hand clap and then you can be seated all over the house thank you for being here we never know what's going to happen from week to week especially when it's raining outside but you have shown up and god's going to show out so thank you for being here we're not worried about a little rain noah saved the whole world on a day like today amen and so there might be a few little leaky spots but i've got the leakiest spot in the whole place right here and so i'm right under the spout where the glory comes out and so i'm honored that you're here we're going to have a wonderful time i want you to prepare your hearts your mind and your hands in just a moment as we give to the needs of the work of the lord but i want to say this i i'm under a legal obligation to always let you know when we have a film crew here of course we have our live stream we have our films going all the time if if you go to church to not be on camera this ain't the one that you ought to show up at amen and so we have a film crew here doing a uh a documentary and so we welcome them let's welcome to the house amen we honor them thank them for being here today ((applause)) and so they'll they'll be they'll be talking to a few folks throughout the day and i'll be doing some some interviews with them and and they're doing some stuff on uh on race in america and all of that and i know we get a bum rap for that everybody thinks we're racist bigots we call global vision for a reason because we take all colors they mean it doesn't matter if you're red yellow black white tall short fat skinny hairy hidden bald baptist catholic pentecostal in church out of church drunk not drunk we'll take them all amen the gospel's for everybody and so we'll we'll make sure that they uh they get their money's worth during the service today amen let me also say this i have a friend here i don't want to put him on a spot don't embarrass him but talking about film crews and talking about movies and documentaries in my estimation not just because he's my friend and not just because he has a new movie coming out that i happen to be in which is pretty cool about the truth on the insurrection which was not an insurrection amen but uh one of my favorite actors i love this guy he is not just like an actor in like 77 000 movies all over the world through the years but uh this guy has directed some wonderful wonderful movies and he's actually with us today and i want to know where he's at nick seriously would you stand up just for where are you at nick stand up stand up right there in the back there's brother nick right there you've seen him in a whole lot of movies he's been a sheriff at a whole bunch of them man this guy's something else i love him and he loves america he's a patriot loves the lord and uh and likes your pastor in public so that's pretty cool amen so that's good so i appreciate him being here but uh we honor you for being here today if you are not i know it's raining you know we got still folks coming in but look we like to do this if you are not from the great state of tennessee and you have either walked or hitchhiked or ridden a bicycle or cruised or flew or drove you have been here today for this service but you do not belong in tennessee would you stand so we can honor you in the house if you are not from tennessee look at that all over the building visitors coming in from all over the nation and around the world thank you we honor you we say we respect you and love you for being here today it's beautiful to have each and every one of you thank you to all of our ushers all of our parkers all of our security team and i know it's difficult out there in the rain thank god for the band they were here at eight o'clock this morning and the lights and sound and everybody's setting stuff up if you think you just put a tent up on a hill and it just comes together it doesn't there's a lot to all of this a lot of logistics a lot of behind the scenes and i want to say thank you to every single person that has a part in what the lord is doing here and isn't it great to be a part of a church where the lord's actually doing something amen where god's actually showing up and god's actually showing out and people are being saved converts are being baptized it's amazing to me how many folks in just really the last 15 months we've been able to baptize the numbers just keep growing and the people just keep standing in line and following jesus christ and it's got to the place now where the momentum has built so much that now when i'm preaching out on the road and i'm showing up places we're baptizing people at places that i don't even pastor because people can't necessarily get here and they just want to follow the lord right on the spot and so it's just been unbelievable to watch what the lord is doing it's been a whirlwind week been a lot of places been preaching all over the nation but my favorite spot is right here under this tent amen and god is doing a work i want you to be faithful as we get ready to pray and give today so often we are taking up offerings for other people and blessing other ministries we will continue to do that and we continue to to dig deep and give this past wednesday night we had an impromptu offering for our missionaries to peru the meadows family and so we was able to buy all of their tickets to get the whole family to peru over there amen give the lord some praise for that on top of what we just did for pastor artur pawlowski who's getting ready to head back to canada we want to continue to pray for him he is in texas i believe this morning and still facing a four-year prison sentence in the next two weeks when he goes home to canada simply for keeping his church open i would say can you imagine but yeah you can't imagine because we're just about that nazi fight in america right now this man is facing four years in prison for simply keeping his church open listen i can support a man like that i told him i said look if you end up going to jail i promise you our church will take care of your wife and kids every month we will make sure they get a check they won't want for anything we'll pay every bill they have if this man of god ends up going to jail we'll send them money every single month to make sure they're taken care of ((applause)) he said well i don't know that that's kind of weird well you can go to a stingy church but don't come back to ours praise god because we like to give we like to bless people and by the way while i'm on a subject i haven't gone to preaching yet but i'm feeling pretty froggy so i might as well jump just right now in the announcements speaking of artur and nazified americanism and all this bunch of nonsense that's happening i just want to remind you i don't care if it's raining i don't care if it's snowing i don't care if it's an earthquake i don't care if it's a typhoon or a tornado and i don't care if sleepy joe fraudulent biden says we can't do it this tent is not ever going to be closed down we are going to have service every single sunday without exception i don't care what the democrats say i don't care what the republicans say it doesn't i care what jesus says that's what matt i don't care what the weather is i don't care what a demon-possessed tyrannical buck wild government i've told you before and i told cnn when they were here they will be serving frosties in the lake of fire before we ever shut this church down i'm telling you we're staying open we're staying open because i know round two is coming brown two's coming they're doing all this social distancing masking everybody up don't go to church shut down everything but the beer joints the weed dispensaries and the chicks stripping on poles right you see because now all the football games are packed to capacity and they're like oh yeah rah-rah bish coomba but don't go to church because that's where you get covered apparently for such a long time the only two places you could get covered was church in a trump rally that's like the only two places or the capital insurrection you know it's like three places you could get it and so i'm just saying look this whole ordeal was nonsense when it started and 18 months which seems like 20 years it's still nonsense so i'm just i'm just preemptively letting you know i i know there's a rustling in the mulberry bushes okay and so i i know there's some stuff that's coming and i know the mandates and i know what they're saying right and and i know what's on the way and so if you think we're out of the woods yet you're not paying attention i'm just preemptively letting everyone know it's not a warning it's a promise church will go on as usual in a supernatural holy spirit jesus loving bible authoritative way we're not going to stop so if you hear in the news media that our church is shut down you can know it's alive with the rest of the trash they propagate because the truth is we're staying open in jesus name shout amen up in this house so let's be faithful as we give today that's how you take it off for me man let's just be faithful because we're honoring the house we're giving to the place that god didn't let close we're reaching people literally around the globe we're not called local vision we're called global vision because we're reaching people everywhere and everywhere i go everywhere i go people stand in line for hours to shake our hand and say look thank you for being a voice in the wilderness thank you for being a voice and that's not my platform that is our platform it's what god is doing with us i never want you to think that our ministry has outgrown the validity of what god's doing in this church this church is the platform ladies and gentlemen global vision is who is reaching the nations of the world and so that's what we sow into that's what we give to that's good ground that's fertile soil where fruit is popping up and we're reaching people literally all over the planet people watching us today in a tent in the desert in some bedouin community somewhere in some islamic nation where the gospel can't even be preached and they're watching us today people around the world watching us we have a reporter here today from france that i've not even met yet that one of my friends let me know what's coming i mean people around the world are watching us look i can invest in something like that so we want to be faithful both in-house and online globalvisionbc.com g-i-v-e-give i want you to be faithful today because there's a lot of responsibility to help others this week and bless others and be benevolent sacrificial and generous with other people and that's what we love to do we always have bills here we always have things we have to do and add chairs and all of that god takes care of us we take care of others god takes care of the house and so let's be faithful in our giving today let's pray father thank you for a great spirit here already today i know it's rainy i know it's sticky and humid under the tent but i believe the power of the spirit of god is going to move in this place today and i thank you for that if there is one here that has come to a service but they have never come to the savior through faith or repentance show them today their need of jesus christ lord use the authority of this book we call the bible to infuse us today with boldness and passion and excitement and encouragement lord we can look around and get so discouraged by everything that we see but we're not worried about what we see we're worried about what you say in your word and in your word you are on the throne and you are very much in control of everything that's happening around us even what seems to be a diabolical nefarious plan even all the crazy stuff you are in control and for that lord jesus we say thank you so in this room and online to the tens of thousands of people that are watching and will be watching lord bless the message bless the worship bless the prayer time bless the offering as only you can and when we leave in just a bit i pray that we will be able to say to god be the glory great things he hath done in jesus name and all of god's people said god bless you as you give while we're giving our tithes and our offerings man i just had such a a wonderful week with the lord today a wonderful week with the lord that i want to tell you about today the difference between a religion ((music playing)) and a relationship is his presence ((music playing)) because you can read something a thousand times and in that one time jesus speaks to you it's his presence ((music playing)) or we find fullness of joy it's in his presence where we find healing it's in his presence where he comes alive to us individually and you can't replicate that for somebody you have to taste it for yourself the bible says taste and see that the lord is good and i don't know about you but i want to taste today all of this means nothing if he's not in the room and let me tell you today friend he's in the room as we get ready to worship again i want to encourage you to worship like it's the last worship you will have to give him honor like it's our last chance to do so because he shows up when we have that hunger burning deep down in our soul where two more they're gathered there he is and he is in this place so father we just thank you for meeting us here god would you let your presence fall upon us in a new way would you change us from the inside out would you speak to our hearts ((music playing)) there's somebody here today and you're like i don't know i don't know if god's real because i haven't felt that today you're gonna feel his presence in an intimate way and nobody can take that experience from you let's stand together father we worship you in spirit and in truth and you don't have to wait to raise your hands it's a sign of surrender we surrender it all to you today ((music playing)) we surrender it all to you today ((music playing)) i'm caught up in your presence i just wanna sit here at your feet i'm caught up in this holy moment ((music playing)) i never want to leave ((music playing)) oh i'm not here for blessings cause jesus you don't owe me anything but more than anything that you can do i just want you and i'm sorry when i've just gone through the motions i'm sorry when i just sing another song take me back to where we started i open up my heart to you and i'm sorry when i've come with my agenda i'm sorry when i forgot that you're enough take me back to where you started i open up my heart to you i'm caught up in your presence ((music playing)) and i just wanna sit here at ((music playing)) i'm not here for blessings oh i'm not here for blessings jesus oh jesus you don't owe me anything ((music playing)) but more than anything that you can do i just want you ((music playing)) i just want nothing else and nothing else nothing else will do i just want you and nothing else oh and nothing else nothing else will do let that be your cry i just want you but nothing else matters oh nothing else jesus nothing else we do i just want you ((music playing)) and nothing else ((music playing)) nothing else ((applause)) nothing else nothing else we'll do ((music playing)) ((music playing)) i'm caught up in your presence jesus you don't owe me anything i'm caught up in your presence ((music playing)) i'm caught up in your presence jesus oh i just wanna sit here at your feet i'm caught up in this hole ((music playing)) ((music playing)) may i never boast of anything except the cross our jesus christ and may i not forgetting the blood he shed it's because of this higher life and may i never boast of anything except the cross our jesus christ and may i not forget the bloody shed it's because of this i am ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) i never boast of anything except the cross our jesus christ it's because of this ((music playing)) except the cross of jesus christ ((music playing)) the blood he shed ((applause)) is because of they this never both of anything except the cross of jesus christ may i not forget the bloody shed it's because of this i am alive ((music playing)) except the cross of jesus christ may i not forget the blood he shed is because of this i am alive cause nothing else matters and nothing else nothing else will do i just want you come on live dreams and nothing else oh nothing else nothing else will do we just want you and nothing else nothing else nothing else will do we just want you and nothing else oh and nothing else ((music playing)) and i just wanna sit here at your feet i'm caught up in this holy moment ((music playing)) oh i'm not here for blessings jesus you don't owe me anything but more than anything that you can do i just want you come on let's give them some praise today ((music playing)) amen you may be seated i want to invite you to the book of acts in chapter 8 if you turn there for just a little while acts chapter number eight good thing i'm using the cordless mic i get electrocuted here this morning into the tent and i can tell when it's raining good out there because it starts raining good up here but i i'm adaptable we move around a lot and so as long as it don't get the pages of my bible wet we'll be all right amen i'm so glad you're here thank you for worshiping thank you for praying for giving thank you for fellowship and i know in a little while we'll have a good number of baptismal celebrations and we call them celebrations for a reason because we're celebrating what god's doing in people's lives and so i know sometimes people are trying to get out of the parking lot because it's all sandwiched in and pieced and puzzled together of course we bought all the land around us now and so in the coming weeks and months much of that will be parking and so that's a beautiful beautiful thing but i highly i highly encourage you to stick around and watch what the lord does during the worship at the end during the baptisms it's a beautiful thing and then i know many of you do know about the first meet and greet we do that by design because sometimes afterwards it takes such a long time but my wife and i stay as long as we need to and we're not just these in and out type celebrity indiv no no we'll shake every single hand of every single person that comes through there we'll hug your neck we'll love you pray for you pray with you and just try to be a blessing to you because we wouldn't have a platform if you didn't watch the videos and follow along with what the lord is doing so thank you so much for being here and truly every week i'm just honored and humbled to be the pastor of a church that interestingly enough for a lot of people it may be a hassle but you know why we have so much media come through here both good and bad not because of what greg's doing because what god's doing and so we'll we'll take the good with the bad and so really it's it's an honor every single week to have so many different types of people represented in the house under the tent because i know that god's gonna get his glory and i'm praying today that he'll he'll set some of you free from some bondage that you walked in with and i believe when the people of god gather around the word of god and the spirit of god comes upon us i'm telling you i believe he's about to do something in this room and i feel that heavy in my spirit and so acts chapter 8 is where we're going to be let's pray and we're going to jump right in father thank you so much again for the lord jesus we come together and gather in this place because of you and all you've done so father i pray that you would empty me of greg locke and you would fill me to overflowing with the wisdom the unction the discernment the power the passion of the holy spirit and father as we look into the word of god because this is a bible church we're going to look in the bible as we look into the word of god i pray that you would change us you would convict us you would encourage us you would challenge us but most of all you will make us less of who we are by nature and make us more conformed into the image of the lord jesus christ in whose name we ask all these things and the church said in the book of acts in chapter 8 if i can just give you quickly the spin of the narrative of what is taking place there is a man by the name of philip that was preaching the word of god in a number of towns he was an itinerant he was going from place to place and house to house and church to church and synagogue to synagogue convincing people that jesus indeed was not dead but that jesus was alive and by the way the gospel message is steal the power of god unto salvation romans 1 and verse 16. jesus was buried and he rose again on the third day if he only died then we're of all men most miserable but we do not serve a dead jew in a palestinian tomb this morning we serve a risen savior that's not just around march that's not just around easter that's not just around april that is the fact that every single day we represent the fact that our king is alive do you believe that say amen so philip was going from town to town telling people about the death the burial and the resurrection of christ according to the word of god first corinthians 15 1-5 and so in this context we see that he's been in a revival meeting when several things have been transpiring more converts have been saved more baptismal celebrations have taken place the offerings were big the healings were abundant people literally had devils and demons coming out of them and then the unthinkable happens in the context in the midst of one of the best revivals recorded for us in the whole bible much less even in the book of acts in the whole bible revival was transpiring multitudes of people were everywhere and god's spirit came to this preacher this man of the hour this man for the minute this fiery prophet of god and the spirit of god said i want you to leave all of that leave the crowds leave all the people standing in line to be saved and healed and baptized and delivered and set free leave all of that because there is one man in the desert that i want you to go and talk to now by way of introduction let me say this before we get to verse number 26 and following and that's where we'll be in the text today bible preaching ought to come out of the bible so i'm going to use the word of god but i got to say this christianity separates itself on a number of levels especially the one i'm about to tell you separates itself on many levels from other groups and cults and sects and religions of the world because here's what religion does religion focuses on masses of people but christianity always puts the focus on the individual because jesus knows that you will never reach the multitudes and the masses unless you do it one individual at a time we want to reach multitudes but we do that because every person is significant when it comes to the gospel of jesus christ and god is going to tell this man to leave multitudes of people in a revival meeting to go talk to one black man in a chariot in the desert because one person matters to jesus christ look what the bible says if you would acts chapter number eight and verse number 26 it says in the angel of the lord spake unto philip saying arise and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from jerusalem unto gaza watch please the next phrase which is desert now i don't want to apply this too much because we understand what the strict interpretation is but you have to understand sometimes god will call you from something that is fruitful sometimes god will call you out of something that is flourishing and he's going to call you to the desert have you been to the desert lately sometimes god's going to ask you to do something that does not seem reasonable but at the end of the day know this and know this well obeying jesus christ will not cost you something it will in fact cost you everything everybody wants comfort everybody wants air conditioning everybody wants a dry platform to preach on right everybody wants things smooth they want their bills paid six months in advance they don't want to get cancer they don't want anybody to walk out of their relationship they always want everybody to give them a thumbs up on facebook and social media but if you read the bible here's what you'll find out if you serve jesus christ it may not turn out so hot for you everybody wants comfort the problem with american christianity is it's far too american and not enough christian and we got this sit back at ease in zion mentality by the way that's why 95 of churches in america were able to close and be okay with it because we've reached a peak level defcon level lukewarm christianity in the united states of america nobody wants conviction nobody wants to be changed nobody wants to be challenged everybody wants to be comfortable i'm glad god showed us that you don't need buildings made with man's hands all you need is a tent and the power of the spirit of god and people will show up by the hundreds from all over the world so sometimes god will call you to the desert sometimes god will take you from a job that is flourishing and put you in a situation where you feel like you're starving to death because god wants to remind you stop trusting in your boss stop trusting in your spouse stop trusting in the government stop trusting in your pastor and start trusting in the god of the bible and so he takes this man from a flourishing revival meeting he sticks him literally in the desert we've all been there we could preach on that for a long time verse 27. and he arose and went now let me tell you why that phrase in the bible is so demonstratively important it doesn't say and he scratched his head in bewilderment and looked up at god and said wait a minute god i'm in a great revival meeting he did not fuss he did not cuss he did not back talk he did not become smart mouth he said lord if this is what you want me to do i will do it and i must remind you that delayed obedience is nothing but disobedience and you ought to obey the first time not the 15th time my granddaddy used to say i'm going to tell you this once and you shall obey and i knew he was serious because if he ever told me twice i wish he would have only told me once amen right there and i'm talking about we grew up old school wasn't no time out the only time out you took was a sit down let your butt cool off a little bit after granddaddy got done with you you can tell the difference in the butt whooping generation and the timeout generation can't you you can tell a big difference that's another message for another netflix documentary but nonetheless it says and he arose he didn't argue he didn't have to pray about it i hear people all the time say well you know i feel like the lord's speaking in my heart so i got to pray about it that's an oxymoron if god told you to do it you ain't got to pray about it you ain't got to pray about doing what you know is right you don't have to pray about things of righteousness and god that is if the holy spirit said do it why would you ask god to tell you the same thing he just told you that's just a vain repetition that's just a way for us to get out of it that's a way for us to kind of wiggle ourselves into a corner and say well maybe that's not what god meant if god told you something plainly stop praying about it and get up and do it and so he arose the bible says and he went and behold a man of ethiopia a eunuch of great authority so this was a political dignitary with a lot of money he had a lot going for him he was under candace queen of the ethiopians who had the charge of all of her treasure so this guy was the treasurer he was the financier he was the banker for candace the queen of the ethiopians so this chick had a lot of money so this guy had been given a whole lot of authority in this context and so here he is and watch what the bible said and he had come to jerusalem this is interesting for to worship you know why that's so powerfully important don't miss that he didn't come to jerusalem just for a celebration and a festival he didn't come to jerusalem simply to do financial responsibilities and obligations under candace queen of the ethiopians he didn't come there for a family reunion the bible says that he came to jerusalem to worship you know why that's interesting this is a lost man this is a man that did not understand the bible we'll see that in context this is a man that did not understand who the lord jesus was he had never heard a real clear gospel presentation he's about to he's about to be born again he's about to be baptized he's about to be filled with the power of god but at this point in the context he's still lost and that's important for this reason everybody worships something the world is looking for something to give itself value worth appreciation and this man came to jerusalem because he knew that there had to be more to life i remember years ago when we first got in that little wedding chapel of a building down there i can't even tell the last time i've been in that building because we outgrew it on sundays and on wednesdays but thank god it served its purpose and now it's just used as the the kids room praise god thank god it's a good problem to have in a church when you don't even go back to the old auditorium because you outgrew it but i remember when we first got it it was all set up discombobulated and weird said about 50 people tight as a tick i remember one monday morning i was milling around in the auditorium and i was going through praying over every chair all 50 of them lord bring this person lord save this person and i was just going through praying and a guy came walking in he said pastor i've been coming to the church for a while he said i need to talk to you and i got to talk to you right now i can't wait i like them kind i said all right come on in we sat down this little desk i had and i had my little little high-tech redneck office all set up in my 50-seat auditorium whoa that's a mega church pastor big old hot scalding tears welled up in his eyes and began to trickle down his face and first words out of his mouth was this he says there has got to be more to life than what i'm living i said oh yes you're in the right place or you're in the right place you see everybody's looking for something everybody's seeking something but here's what the bible says in luke 19 and verse 10 jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost light obeyed increases more light if you're seeking this morning if you're looking you're in the right house you're in the right place you're under the right spout you know why because as you're seeking you better know god's seeking you god's been looking for you he that knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of god in him you did not be bopped into this tent in a rainstorm on accident god drew you to this place because he knows you have a heart to want to worship but some of you worship what you know not and here's a lost man that was ignorant of the bible but he was there for a spiritual experience and everybody's looking for something that's bigger than them and i declare unto you the word of the lord jesus is exactly what you're looking for this morning i said jesus is what you're looking for and this man was there to worship and notice what was happening in verse 28 he was returning and he was sitting in his chariot he read isaiah the prophet that's interesting here's a lost man going to jerusalem to worship reading a bible and doesn't even understand the bible now it's not like he had a life way king james version sitting right there in his lap family bible leather bound scofield footnotes oh no didn't have maps and a concordance he had a scroll in his lap and he's reading the book of isaiah we'll find that in a moment he was reading isaiah chapter 53 which is the best the greatest and the most prolific understanding of the gospel in the entire old testament it's a powerful passage and he's reading the book of isaiah and he's reading chapter 53 and god's stirring his heart and watch what happens simultaneously at the same time this man is seeking at the same moment that this man is looking his heart is burdened there's got to be more watch this verse 29 then say then then and only then then in that moment in that very second in that very lickety split of a moment while this man is reading while this man is seeking god was preparing his heart by preparing the heart of one of his servants you should always i emphasize always obey the voice of the spirit the first time there's a reason he's talking to you there's a reason god leads you to that person in a restaurant there's a reason god put someone on your heart that he doesn't normally put on your heart and you wake up in the middle of night to pray for them you see here's what we've been conditioned to do we wake up at three o'clock in the morning we complain about it oh my goodness i can't sleep maybe god woke you up for a reason you ever thought about that maybe god wants to spend time with you at three o'clock in the morning because at three o'clock in the afternoon you're too busy to pay attention to the bible you're too busy to pray you're too busy to fast you're too busy to get in his presence and god said well i'll just wake you up kiddo because i want to spend time with my youngins because god likes spending time with his youngins and so at the very moment that this man in a chariot is reading the bible then the spirit said unto philip now i know i keep stopping but words in the bible are so important and around here we get accused well you people don't preach the bible we preach the bible word by word line by line book by book chapter by chapter because there is nothing that you can improve upon the methodology of the bible the bible is the word of god church it's the word of god we live by that and we die by that there was a time this nation believed that and furthermore there was a time the churches of this nation believe that the real problem is not that we've taken the bible out of public schools the real problem is we've taken the bible out of the pulpits that's the real problem we've taken the bible out of our homes it's become the centerpiece to our living rooms but not the centerpiece to our lifestyle and our livelihood and i go around the world at least i used to in every country i go to people begged me for bibles i come back to america we got 25 of them sitting around the house and won't read run of them never even read and crack a page of the word of god and we wonder why we're powerless we wonder why we're weak we wonder why we're anemic i'm here to tell you words in the bible mean something and so we keep stopping because we must express what god is trying to say he says then the spirit said to him we've been reading through the book of acts in our men's monday morning 6 a.m bible study over at courtney's which by the way come rain or shine be there in the morning six o'clock we're going to be there have a great time it's beautiful church pays for breakfast it's all good in the hood but we've been reading through the book of acts we'll finish up tomorrow and a couple of weeks ago we read through this passage and i've i've seen this passage i've memorized some of this passage i've preached i've taught through this passage but i began to see things that i never paid attention to before and so i want to bring it to your attention it's vitally important to get what he just said it says that the spirit said to him do you know there's 791 328 words in the bible that's 1189 chapters 31 101 verses i don't know how many letters but there's a lot okay that's a lot of bible did you know get this nine times out of ten when god speaks to somebody here's what it says and the lord said and god said thus saith the lord jesus said unto them did you know there's only a handful of times three of them are in this book acts there's only a handful of times in the whole bible when the bible says and the spirit said when the spirit of god specifically speaks into the hearts of his people and the spirit said and so in this context what we're learning today as a church and as individuals is to discern and obey the voice of the spirit you see god don't want to have to yell at you that's why the bible says that he comes to you not in fire not in a flood not in the wind not in an earthquake but in a still small voice and it is the most discernible recognizable voice in the universe if you'll open your heart and listen because god is speaking to his children he is doing far more speaking than we are submitting and obeying and it says and the spirit said unto him philip go near and join thyself to this chariot and philip ran he didn't fuss he didn't try to figure it out he didn't put it on paper and philip ran thither to him and he heard him read the prophet isaiah and he said i love this understand this what thou read is now it's great here it is again here's the context here's the words the bible said that he ran to meet him this guy's in a chariot right clip that he clipped it he got the amish thing going on all bling for the king got rubies and diamonds and gold all over it the man is rich by proximity to candice queen of the ethiopians the guy has a lot of money he doesn't want for cash flow he's got everything he needs except what he wants he wants peace he can pay his bills but what good does that do because the bible says what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul you see you can have everything in the world you could be a billionaire with a capital b and without jesus you are bankrupt you could sit on a dime and dangle both legs and have nothing to show for it and this man who needs nothing is in need of a biblical encounter with jesus and the bible says that philip ran thither to meet him i love that here's why i'm just a a practical down-to-earth simplistic southern hillbilly when it comes to the bible i just happen to believe what the bible says it says he ran thither to meet him did you know that they didn't have nike pants in them days you know they didn't have gym shorts in those days this cat hikes up his little bit of whatever kind of robe he's wearing over there in the middle east right he sees a chariot out in the distance and this distinguished evangelist of the lord this man with a pastoral responsibility threw all of that education plumb out the window hiked up his robe and said i'll be there in a minute i'll be there and this guy is running through the desert with his sandals on to meet a dude in a chariot that he's never laid eyes on that's obedience right there so he runs up beside him he's all out of breath he says hey what you reading and he tells him what he's reading he says do you understand it he said how can i except some man guide me and he stops and he lets philip come up in the chariot watch this the story blows my mind verse 31. he said how can i how in the world can i understand what i'm reading except some man should guide me by the way you are here in this tent today not to hear from greg locke you are here today to hear from the spirit of god so you can learn to guide other people to hear the spirit of god each one reach one i know people that have a head full of knowledge and no power they're book smart and god dumb they know all kind of stuff about the bible but they're dry as cracker juice at the end of the day and i say what we need are some combustible people that are on fire and passionate for the things of god and this man runs up beside he said look what do you or what are you reading i'm reading this i don't understand it will you guide me he stopped he said yeah i'll got you and i love how he guided him watch what the bible says and he desired philip that he would come up and sit with him the place of the scripture which he read was this here's the direct quotation right out of isaiah 53 this is what the guy was reading it wasn't a coincidence this was divine providence of god here's what he was reading he was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb before his shearers so open he nod his mouth in his humiliation his judgment was taken away and who shall declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth and so he reads this powerful set of verses from this scroll copy in a chariot of god's word in the desert to a man from ethiopia that he never naturally laid his eyes on and as he began to read it the heart of this man was totally engrossed in the context and he said is he talking about himself is he talking about somebody else is he predicting and prophesying the messiah that is to come and save us all who's he talking about and interest began to grow in this man's heart and i want to dial things back stop for a moment and say something some of you are here today just because you're interested in something that you don't understand and that is wonderfully okay some of you are here today seeking you're looking years ago pastors made a grave mistake of judgment and they sent out these these huge mailers if you will and said look what do people in your community want in a church and they called them seeker sensitive churches by the way they became so sensitive they all became sissies and the pastors closed all their churches down but that's a whole other message at another time they asked the lost people lost people what do you want to see in church so when you ask a lost person what you want to see in church don't be surprised when the church morphs into looking like a bunch of lost people right well we just want five minute messages we want smoke machines and we want lights we want high-tech redneck look i like screens i like lights i like all of it but the beautiful thing about this place is if they one day do burn our tent down like they keep threatening guess what in a rain storm we'll sit out on top of the cars and we'll still worship jesus christ next sunday we ain't stopping for nobody we ain't giving up for nobody it ain't about a building it's about the body it's about the gathering the gathering is what the power is the gathering and so they said we want to find out what the world wants and so this guy's a seeker he's looking i want to know truth and really that's what people are seeking they don't want more pizzazz they're not looking for extra people don't come here because they think we're gonna have all of the the beautiful temple arrayed with man's hands they're coming to a tent for pete's sake and they know it in a packed out parking lot with mad neighbors and documentary film crews here all the time they didn't show up because we compromised some of you are seeking the truth because you can tell we believe in it so much that we'll live for it and we will die for it if need be to god be the glory great things he has done that's why you're here and he was seeking something he was looking for truth and it was given to him there in isaiah 53 and so notice what happens in verse number 34 and the eunuch answered philip and said i pray thee of whom speakest thou the prophet this of himself or of some other man who's he talking about philip can you help me can you guide me and i love what happens next this is the most beautiful verse in the whole text verse 35. then philip opened his mouth which by the way that's not hard it doesn't say well then philip had to get out and go get his concordance and go get his maps and go get his greek and go get his hebrew and go figure it all out and get his phd off the wall so he could defend his education nope it said he opened his mouth the bible says if you open your mouth the holy spirit will feel it people say all the time how do you just get up there and preach without notes just open your mouth and god will give you what you need to say i read myself full i pray myself full and the holy ghost lets me preach myself empty that's just the way you do it and so this guy didn't have to get out and say well let me go you know convince you that i'm from cemetery i mean seminary he said no he opened his mouth he began at the same scripture he didn't have to dance around same scripture and preached unto him what's the next word church jesus that's pretty good message no matter where you go he only had one message jesus jesus jesus he's the sweetest name i know let this mind be in you which was also in christ jesus who being in the form of god thought it out robbery to be equal with god but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found and fashioned as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross wherefore god also had highly highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that is the name of jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father give jesus some praise in his house this morning church give jesus some praise in this house it's the name of jesus whereby we are saved there's no other name given among me in acts 4 12 whereby we must be saved you don't get saved because you're a baptist you don't get saved because you're a pentecostal you don't get saved because you're a catholic you don't get saved because you're a methodist or an episcopalian you get saved by the blood of jesus christ what can wash away my sin nothing but the blood of jesus what can make me whole again nothing but the blood of jesus now what we should be bothered by is how many people they call themselves pastors and christians that will not be honest enough to tell you that jesus is the only way to the kingdom of god they say well that's just so bigoted that's just so narrow-minded hey jesus said narrow is the way that leads unto life and few there be that find it jesus was the most narrow-minded preacher on the planet when it comes to the gospel i'm not bending jesus is not one of many ways to the kingdom he is the one and only weight of the kingdom and if you trust anybody but jesus to get you to heaven you ain't going somebody say amen that's just the truth that's just the truth when it comes to jesus i'm so narrow-minded a gnat could land on the bridge of my nose and kick both eyeballs out the same time that's narrow-minded right there jesus is the only way jesus is the message that the world needs you see i i get a lot of criticism our church gets a lot of criticism they say yeah what y'all do y'all just y'all just worship trump let me tell you something if you think i'm sitting around twiddle d twiddle dumb waiting for trump to save america you got the wrong one i'm lifting up my eyes my redemption draws now i'm looking for jesus to save america ladies and gentlemen i ain't looking for the republican party to save it i'm not looking for the democrats to say hey as far as i'm concerned there are two heads of the same snake my loyalty is not to them my loyalty is to jesus christ and the kingdom of god that's where my loyalty is that's where my loyalty is and he preached jesus unto him there's no better message there's no better text c.h spurgeon used to tell all of his preacher boys find a verse in the bible and just run to jesus because he's in all of them he's in all of them verse 36 and as they went on their way they came to a certain water and the eunuch said man he hadn't been saved long see here is water what doth hinder me to be baptized now you know what's interesting this guy didn't go through a six week or a seven month discipleship course he just met jesus in a chariot had his whole life together so he thought he just got saved reading isaiah 53 cried out to god and they pass a watering hole in the desert you've been in the desert most of y'all know i rode my bicycle some years ago in 2014 i rode my bicycle from this church to los angeles california not a motorcycle a bicycle in 10 days 310 miles a day you talk about buns of steel i had some by the time i got there i'm telling you that's rough i rode a bike through the desert and there wasn't no watering holes in it there wasn't no ponds there might have been a few mirages but they're in the desert says that twice and they come up on some water and this guy's like well i'll be there's a watering hole what doth hinder me to be baptized which i do find interesting because there had to be a watering hole for them to get out and to get in that's why we believe that baptism is by way of immersion some of you grew up in a church that dry cleaned you that ain't what the bible says baptism is a picture of the death the burial and the resurrection of jesus christ that's what it's a picture of romans chapter 6 says and so he said hey there's water what doth hinder me to be baptized i love the answer that philip gave him he said verse 37 philip said if thou believeth with all thy heart thou mayest and he answered and said i believe that jesus is the son of god ding ding ding winner winner chicken dinner that's all you need right there you believe in your heart you confess with your mouth that jesus christ is lord he said look here's some water what do i need to do to get baptized philip said that's simple you believe on jesus yep all right son let's go is that simple yesterday we were flying home from fort lauderdale and we have the glorious privilege and this doesn't happen a lot especially with the way travel's been jacked up these days we had the glorious privilege to sit in the seats and wait for almost every single person to get off the plane at the request of the stewardess named brittany and she spun around in the chair in front of us big old watermelon tears welled up in her eyes and began to stream down her face and i'm telling you she was ripe for the picking of the gospel she was so ready she had some stuff in her past didn't even say what it was that was sketchy and she didn't think god would save her look god specializes in sketchy folk he specializes in broken crazy sinful rebellious people the bible's full of it and she bowed her head right there on that airplane prayed to receive the lord jesus christ and when we got to the end we said in jesus name amen and when we said that the the other guy that was working with her he'd done slipped in he's like in jesus name amen we had some holy ghost survivors show up on the airlines on american airlines which is the most non-american airlines out there and god showed up and showed out people are hungry we got one message jesus is the message that the world needs and he said now that i've got it what do i do he said you believe yes i believe so i want to follow him in baptism so watch what happens verse 38 he commanded the chariot to stand still and they went down both into the water both philip and the eunuch and he baptized him some of you are here today for that very reason to follow the lord baptism doesn't save you it shows people that you have been saved the water doesn't wash away your sin it's the blood of the lord jesus christ that cleanses us from all evil the bible says the water is symbolic of the fact that you have died you've been buried and you are being raised to new life by the power of the gospel and the bible says that he baptized him now i love what happens next this is crazy and when they were come up out of the water the spirit say spirit of the lord caught away philip that the eunuch saw him no more that's when they came up out of the water they come up out of the water and the bible says that the spirit called philip away that the eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way rejoicing now look i ain't trying to be spooky i'm trying to be scriptural these cats go down in the water together and he dips him and the bible says when he comes up out of the water two things happen the eunuch is rejoicing and philip is go beam me up scotty gone and the bible says that he's found preaching the gospel at azotos that was 27 miles away so i don't know how in the world that happened i know somebody reads and says well you're foolish to believe that oh no knucklehead you're foolish not to that's what the bible says this ain't a marvel comic book this is the bible so he dips him down in the water he brings him back up and the bible says that the eunuch went on his way rejoicing and philip was found 27 miles away immediately preaching the gospel you couldn't stop this soldier of the lord but here's what's interesting when we read through this quickly a couple of weeks ago in men's bible study one of the gentlemen asked a very interesting and yet historical question he said do we have any idea what happened to him when he got home yes we do not in the bible but in church history this ethiopian eunuch went back to his area and he became history tells us such a raving roaring evangelist such a lion for the gospel that revival began to sweep that world and for the first time in recorded history that nation in that area africa that continent got the gospel in such full-blown truth that people were converted people were challenged people were changed people were baptized churches were started and to this day the world has never been the same because of one man in a chariot that got born again and baptized in a watering hole in the middle of the desert that is the work of god that is the work of god ((applause)) but i just want to say as we bring it to a close and again today i i just wanted to stick with the text and share some things that have been on my heart but the thing that grabs me the thing that nabs my attention is when it says in the spirit said to philip some of you today have been struggling for a long time with obedience to something that god's clearly paved a way for you to do or maybe he's called you to pave the way yourself for others to follow some of you have so much ministry in you you don't even recognize it because of fear some of you could literally turn your community upside down some of you could turn your school board upside down some of you have been called from god you have a political anointing upon you and you ought to run for some office and turn this nation back to the glory of god some of you have preached in you some of you are prayer warriors and god's trying to draw it out of you some of you have an anointing to understand directing and acting filming i mean while we're at it we might as well just take over everything if we're going to take the nation back for the glory of god amen we ought to get back to the foundation of letting the media at least tell the truth every now and again some of you been called to bless the people in your community some of you have been called just to go next door and knock on your neighbor's door and love them in the name of jesus you ever sometimes sit in a restaurant and you get that tug to walk across and pay for somebody's meal that's never the devil doing that the devil will never encourage you to do something that's going to bring honor and glory to jesus christ you just remember that you're like well you know that's just my flesh that's just the devil when has your flesh or the devil ever asked you to bless somebody never and sometimes you feel that urge man i ought to pray for that person so here's what happens you walk away and guess what bing bing bing bing bing bing bing bing bing bing bing it's like a seat belt alarm it's the holy spirit bugging you today i said hey not head you should have prayed for them then you ever felt that way like oh man i missed it we've all missed those opportunities we've all missed them sometimes what we think god is doing in our life is extraordinarily random but it's not random at all it's the pre-arranged plan of god to speak to our heart because here's what's happening when god's speaking to your heart he's simultaneously speaking to somebody else's when he's telling you in cracker bear or a waffle house walk over and just say a word of encouragement to that person because you can tell they're broken you know what he's doing he's preparing that person for you to do just that and if you don't do it then he'll find somebody who will and one of the most miserable ways to live is in total stark contrast and disobedience to the will of god when you know the spirit is speaking and you refuse to obey i could give you a thousand examples i could give you 10 000 illustrations both biblically and historically in my own life of when i knew god spoke to me about something that was out of the blue and it wasn't arranged in my mind it just happened and every time i obeyed a blessing came forth for someone else but every time i disobeyed i've always regretted it there's never been a time i've disobeyed the still small voice of the spirit when i slept well that night my lunch didn't even taste good because i knew they walked out the door before i could get to them and god already told me to talk to him god already told me to look him in the face and say i'm praying for you sometimes the bible says it's just a spoken word in due season that lifts somebody's heavy load and how do you know there's a lot of people these days carrying some heavy loads and sometimes like we did this this past wednesday night i could tell during the singing that my brother mike mathis was just broke so you know we did during wednesday night service when i got up i said look we love to shake hands we love to get around fellowship with each other i said but tonight right now in the name of god just hug five people you never even looked at before you know what's crazy i got more feedback online from people that weren't even here to hug folks i guess they were like you know hugging their couch and stuff when it happened i don't even know like hugging their dog hugging their cat hugging their spouse they ain't even talked to in the last six months right and they're like wow you didn't do that more often in church and it was just a quick impromptu i just knew because one man was broken it would affect the whole congregation if we just loved on each other a little bit and that released something in the room that night so i don't know when god's going to tell me here often or here lately it's been very often that he has me just walk up and start talking to people and he just kind of gives me a word in my spirit which is not spooky it's very biblical so i don't know what's going to happen in today's restaurant i don't know what's going to happen tomorrow or tonight or when i go to walmart or when i'm in some other store at the gas station i i don't know how random it's going to seem but listen what i'm trying to condition myself to do is what i'm teaching you obey the voice of the spirit the first time don't make him have to tell you again and some of you today have a level of obedience that you're going to have to walk in god's been speaking it's time to surrender do you believe that church it's time to surrender would you buy your heads with me our heads are about our eyes are closed here's what i want to do if you are here today for our baptismal celebration just go ahead and begin to make your way over to my left your right miss billy and our crew of volunteers will be there to make sure you get what you need we've got plenty of towels so if you're here for that just go ahead and begin to line up it'll make the process smoother and quicker and easier here in just a moment but i want to talk to the rest of you today there are some of you in this room you need a word from god there are some of you that have driven a very very long way some of you have flown from other states just to be a part of what god's doing in this place and i'm here to tell you there's still healing in the name of jesus christ there's still redemption in the name of jesus christ there's still bondage breaking power addiction breaking power in the name of jesus in just a moment i want to talk to the folks perhaps that are here seeking god that don't really know him but right now i want to talk to those that do those that are seeking those that know there's a word from god those that know that they need to obey and there's other levels for them to walk into those that just know there's something in their life they're gonna have to turn from so they can obey those that just need a healing touch from the lord those that just need to know today it's gonna be all right the sun will shine again and i wonder how many people over this vast audience would slip up their hand and say today pastor locke i know exactly why the holy spirit led you to that holy text because god is speaking to my heart i follow jesus i know jesus but i know i've got a word and i know i've got to submit i know i have to surrender and today god's speaking to me all over this room just slip your hand up high hold it up all over this room all over this room so so so many of you i want to invite everyone to stand if you would for just a moment our heads are about our eyes are closed everyone's standing father would you bless this delegation of people as only you can would you move in this place as only you can as we're bowed before the lord i'm going to ask some of our men and some of our ladies to begin to come forward some of the folks on our prayer team that are willing to pray for you and pray over you and pray with you sometimes all you need is somebody to put their hand on your shoulder and look in your eye and say you better know god's on the throne and if you need prayer if you need surrender maybe you ought to just come today and get on your knees by yourself or stand and raise your hand maybe this is between you or you and your spouse or you and your parents or you and your kids or you and the friend that brought you but i wonder right now if you need somebody to pray with you and pray for you you slipped up your hand a moment ago and said i know god's got more for me i just need somebody to pray with me and believe with me i'm going to ask you right now sir i'm going to ask you right now ma'am would you humble yourself would you swallow your pride whether you're a visitor member regular tender whether you've been here once or a thousand times or the first time i want you to slip out come on right now we're going to pray over you god bless you god bless you come on right now all over the room all over the room all over the room all over the room if you want to come and kneel by yourself you do that you want to get up by this platform you do that you need somebody to lay hands on you let us pray for you in the name of the lord jesus you need healing you come you talk about that you need god to release you from an addiction some bondage that you're carrying come on right now come on down to the front dozens and dozens and dozens of people moving all over the building come on right now come on right now there's no time like the present don't let the devil keep in your seat when the spirit of god's speaking you obey right then not next week not tomorrow now you strike while the iron's hot come on come on now i want to ask you this question that i have asked every single week that we've been under this new tent i wonder if there would be a man here i wonder if there would be a lady here a young person somebody here who would say you know what pastor what i really need is what that man needed in the text you're not looking for a healing you're not looking for a blessing you're not looking for any of that you're looking for jesus because you need to be saved you've never been born again you know why jesus said ye must be born again because the first birth jacked you up who were born into sin all have sinned and come short of the glory of god the wages of sin is death but the gift of god the gift of god is eternal life through jesus christ our lord and i wonder if there would be an honest person here today that would say pastor lock i've never truly repented of my sin and trusted jesus i've never been saved i don't know that heaven's my home i know i don't want to go to hell i need a life transformation i need an experience with jesus that forgives me of my sin and makes me a new creature i'm not sure i'm saved but i want to be sure all over this room whether there's one or a dozen if that's you today and you would be willing for me to help you have a conversation with jesus christ and you today want to be set free and forgiven of your sin and you want to be saved i want you right now would you slip your hand up just just look at me slip your hand up if you today need the lord jesus christ and you today want to receive him as you say would you hold up your hand god bless you right here is there another god bless you over here god bless you over here thank you thank you thank you to hold him up just for a moment so i can see him just all over the room thank you god bless you thank you there towards the back you may put your hands down now look i'm going to tell you what i told brittany yesterday in that seat on american airlines i don't have any pixie dust i can sprinkle on you i don't have a hocus-pocus prayer i can give you i got a supernatural god that's willing to save you in your seat right where you're at a prayer did not leave heaven and die for you but a person named jesus did so you could pray the words a thousand different ways it's not some prayer that saves you it is jesus that saves you the bible says you believe in your heart but what do you do you confess with your mouth the lord jesus that god hath raised him from the dead i want to help you know how to confess with your mouth and for the many of you that raise your hand all over this tent right now before the lord don't worry about the person beside you don't be ashamed jesus said if you're ashamed of me before me and i'll be ashamed of you before my father in heaven right where you stand right where you see it right where you are sir ma'am i want you to simply call out to the lord i'm going to help you know how to converse with god not because i'm some great individual that only knows how to talk to god but the bible says that god wants to hear the prayer of repentance from your heart he wants to hear i'm turning from my way and trusting jesus you could say it a million ways but right now before the lord i wonder would you be willing to simply say this father i know i am a sinner and i know for my sin i deserve hell but i believe jesus died for my sin i believe he was buried and i trust your word that he rose again from the dead forgive me of my sin i believe and trust your word and lord jesus the best i know how i trust you and you alone to be my lord and savior forgive me and cleanse me make me a new creature and i trust you by faith to take me to heaven when i leave this world in jesus name now with your heads about an eyes closed let me ask you this just so our people can simply rejoice at the hearing of hands and knowing that people today are being delivered from sin if you right now believe standing and sitting where you're at you met the grace of the gospel and you met the presence of god today and you have repented and you have trusted jesus christ if that's you sir if that's you ma'am would you slip up your hand high all of this building you you trusted the lord jesus today god bless you rejoice church rejoice look at the hands look at the hands look at the hands look at the hands god bless you god bless you so many thank you now look you're as saved today as you ever will be you can wait a day you can wait a week you can wait a month you can wait a year to get baptized but maybe some of you said look today i've trusted christ i've repented i believe the gospel and i want to follow the lord today we'll figure it out we'll get you what you need we got taos we got the whole deal so if you want to stand in this line that's already beginning to assemble and you said today i've prayed today i've trusted jesus i want to follow the lord in believers baptism then you slip out and you do that right now give the lord some praise up in his house today church ((music playing)) well we can say with monica at the beginning of church we have tasted and seen that the lord is good today amen listen i wanted to share something with you on my heart real quick before we go into a time of baptisms in a time of prayer during that third song in worship today the spirit reminded me of a story in the book of luke in chapter 10 and it's the story of martha and mary and martha had invited jesus into her home and she was going to serve him she was making dinner so she's out and she's busy and she's going all around and she's cleaning up after kids because they're dirty amen and she's cooking and she's a slaving and cooking dishes and all that but mary mary was sitting at the feet of jesus and martha got kind of jacked up in her spirit a little bit about that so she goes to jesus and she says jesus i'm cumbered about i'm moving around i'm cooking i'm doing this and my sister mary is doing nothing but sitting at your feet and i love what jesus said to her he says martha martha like so loving and if you're a mom or a dad underneath the tent today you know that sometimes you just look at your kids and you're like really do i really even have to say this i feel like that was the kind of moment that they were having and jesus said something very beautiful to martha he said martha you're so busy doing all of this stuff but mary mary has done the one thing that is needful and friends can i tell you today that the one thing that you absolutely need in your life is to sit at the feet of jesus in his presence this world is chaotic and it is crazy and we go to work and we go home and we wash clothes and well i'm a mom so i do all those things and we cook dinner and we wash dishes and all that good stuff and it can be kind of not convenient right to just take a minute and to get in the presence of the lord but friends can i remind you today that it is this jesus is saying to us oh martha martha there is one thing that is needful so this week as we go into our week and we go back to work and our kids go back to school and we go back out into this crazy chaotic world where nothing even makes sense anymore amen can we just remember this week can we be encouraged by the words of the lord jesus to rest in his presence this week to take the time to sit at his feet to take our alabaster box of oil and to pour it out and to worship and to praise him because he's the same god in the valley that he is on the mountaintop amen he's the same god in the desert that he is at the well that brings forth living water he is the same god yesterday today and forever and we will praise him and we will worship him and we will glorify him because he is the name above all names he's sitting on the throne room of heaven and he is looking down on his children today and so lord today in this place god we just praise you jesus we worship you lord you are worthy of it all god you are worthy of it all lord we give everything to you god today we stand in a place of surrender lord lord we say to you here i am send me lord lord you can have my life you can have my marriage you can have my children you can have my job god god you can have it all and i'm just gonna rest in your presence because i believe you god god i have judged you faithful that is promised lord and so lord we just lift you on high in this place god god we just worship you and we praise you because lord you are good and god we know that what the enemy means for evil you turn for good in our lives god and god it doesn't matter what we face god god it doesn't matter what is going on in the world because god you are sovereign god you are the constant one god and god we trust you and lord we worship you and we praise you god and god if we find ourselves in the desert we will still testify of your goodness because you are good in jesus name amen ((applause)) ((music playing)) let's have some baptisms amen hallelujah you stand you can sit it'll be on the screens worship with us we're going to baptize these folks and in just a moment my wife and i will be right over there in that little tent so in a few moments if you want to go ahead and start lining up on that far right hole right there so you don't have to be here as long if you're a visitor we'd love to meet you but let's celebrate some baptisms amen ((music playing)) all right sister carol upon your public face passion of faith in jesus christ the power of his gospel against me great honor my sister in the lord to baptize in the name of the father son the holy spirit ((music playing)) of faith in jesus and the power of his gospel gives me a great honor to baptize you in the name of the father son of the holy spirit ((music playing)) all right my young friend caleb upon your public profession of faith in jesus gospel it's been a great honor to baptize you sir in the name of the father son the holy spirit buried baptism raised ((music playing)) all right sister ashley upon your public profession of faith in jesus in the part of his gospel it gives me a great honor to baptize you before these witnesses the name of the father son the holy spirit buried baptism raised to walk ((music playing)) ((music playing)) oh ((music playing)) all right my young sister brooklyn upon your public profession to faith in jesus and the private gospel it gives me great honor before these witnesses to baptize you in the name of the father son the holy spirit buried baptism raised to walk and moon is alive ((music playing)) you were ((music playing)) upon your public profession of faith in jesus gospel it gives me a great honor to baptize you in the name of the father son the holy spirit buried baptism raised alive ((music playing)) in jesus and the foreign of the gospel gives me great honor before these witnesses to baptize you in the name of the father son the holy spirit baptism ((music playing)) ((music playing)) night ((music playing)) all right brother john upon your public profession of faith in jesus in the part of his gospel it's my great honor to baptize you sir in the name of the father son the holy spirit is ((music playing)) ((music playing)) profession of faith in jesus the power of his gospel gives me a great joy to baptize you in the name of the father son of the holy spirit ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) my ((music playing)) oh ((music playing)) upon your public profession of faith in jesus and the power of his gospel gives me great honor to baptize you my sister the lord in the name of the father son the holy spirit ((music playing)) ((music playing)) you are ((music playing)) foreign ((music playing)) these witnesses the name of the father son the holy spirit baptism raised to walk in new christ may i not forget the blood he shed it's because of this i ((music playing)) upon your public profession of faith in jesus and the power of the gospel gives me a great honor to baptize you before these witnesses in the name of the father son the holy spirit baptism raised ((applause)) ((music playing)) it's because of christ all right security upon your public profession of faith in jesus and the power and glory of his gospel it gives me a great honor my sister in the lord to baptize you before these witnesses in the name of the father son the holy spirit buried baptism raised to walk in newton's life ((music playing)) except the cross of jesus ((music playing)) not christ the bloody shed it's because of this even upon your public profession of faith in jesus and the power and glory of his gospel gives me great honor to baptize you sir in the name of the father son the holy spirit isn't raised ((music playing)) ((music playing)) is ((music playing)) honor to baptize you in the name of the father son the holy spirit buried baptism raised ((music playing)) what a ((music playing)) what a beautiful name it is the name of jesus christ all right brother joshua upon your public profession of faith in jesus gospel it's my great honor my brother the lord to baptize you before thee witnesses the name of the father son the holy spirit baptism raised ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) sue upon your public profession of faith in jesus in the part of his gospel what a beautiful honor to baptize you my sister in the lord the name of the father son the holy spirit bury baptism raised to walk in newness ((music playing)) ((music playing)) i've seen ((music playing)) upon your profession of faith in jesus gospel it gives me great honor to baptize you sir in the name of the father son the holy spirit buried baptism raised to walk in london ((music playing)) ((music playing)) is ((music playing)) all right amanda upon your public profession of faith in jesus christ the power of his gospel it gives me a great honor to baptize you in the name of the father from the holy spirit baptism raised ((music playing)) what a powerful name it is the name of jesus what a powerful name it is the name of jesus profession of faith in jesus gospel it gives me a great honor before these witnesses today baptize you in the name of the father son the holy spirit bearing baptism raised ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) is ((applause)) ((music playing)) hallelujah my brother aaron upon your public profession of faith in jesus and the power and glory of his gospel it gives me a great honor my brother the lord to baptize you before these witnesses the name of the father son the holy spirit ((music playing)) ((applause)) is ((applause)) ((music playing)) upon your public profession of faith in jesus the father's gospel it gives me a great honor my young brother in the lord baptized you in the name of the father son the holy spirit buried baptism raised ((music playing)) well give the lord some brain to the house for what he's doing every single week around here amen we love you guys we'll be back under the tent wednesday again on next sunday men will see you in the morning at six o'clock at courtney's and at 6 30 at courtney's tomorrow night for our men my wife and i will be right over here in the tent if you want to line up for the meet and greet love you guys god bless you you're dismissed ((music playing)) ((music playing))