7/19/26 | Life Church Salem | Andrew Foster | Fear And Glory Of The Lord Pt.3

There's no one else. The Lord is seated on the throne. There's no one like you. Praise Him. There's no one like the Lord. We crown You King of Glory. We crown You. We crown You. You are worthy. We crown You. You are worthy. We crown You. You are worthy. We crown You all. We crown You King of Glory. We crown You King of Glory. We crown You. We are worthy. We are worthy. We are worthy. Who is seated on the throne? There's no one like the Lord. Good morning. Good morning. Hey, church will start in four minutes and 45 seconds. So, get ready. Get ready. Lead me by the Holy Ghost. Shore me of the Lord. Marks. Fill me with the fear of the Lord.

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Wrap me in a rose.

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Sold out for You and You alone. I just want to

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stay so close. Take me to the Fill me with the fear of the Lord. Me. The beginning of wisdom, my delight of the Lord, my protection, my permission. My delight.

>> Good morning, church. We will begin in two minutes. So find your seats and get ready. My protection, my delight, my conviction, my delight in the fear of the Lord, my devotion, my delight in the fear of the Lord, my delight in the fear of the Lord. My delight of the night. Consecrate my heart. Shake me. Fill me with the fear of the Lord. Is Yours. Fill me with the fear of the Good Life Church. How are you? I hope you are doing well. Hallelujah. Thank You, Jesus. I want to offer up this morning a very special welcome to everyone joining us online. And to those of you that are here today, welcome. And if there are any first-time visitors, welcome to Life

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Church. My name is Cheryl Miller and I am your host this morning. I just want to start out just saying this morning I woke up with that song, "Trust in God, my Savior, the one who never fails you. He'll never fail you." So I trust in God, my Savior, the one that never fails. And then it goes on to say, "I sought the Lord and He heard me and He answered me." Hallelujah. That's why I trust Him. Oh my goodness. My goodness, I was thinking too of another scripture and, um, I was just thinking about the goodness of God. And I remember when I was young, I, I don't know why I thought about this scripture, but I was always thinking, uh, I think it's the New King James Version is

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"I would have despaired if I had not believed. I see the goodness of the Lord where in the land of the living." So if you're hoping today, if you're believing in something, hold on, trusting God, you will experience the goodness of God in the land of the living. Let's worship in the name of Jesus. Stand up with me. Lord, we thank You for the service and we enter in with gladness. Hallelujah. Let's worship Him in Jesus' name. Amen.

I know

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a name that can silence

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roaring waves. I know a name that can empty out

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a grave. I know a name. It's the only

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name that saves and it's worthy of all praise. I call You Jesus. I call You. I call You Healer.

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Risen and reigning in power.

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Something comes out of the grave. Every time I call You Jesus,

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I call You. I call You Savior. Worthy

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of glory forever. Something comes out of the grave. Every time I call Your name. Oh, I have a King

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with dominion

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over death. He holds a key in

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His holy hand. He is the heal that has crushed

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the serpent's head. I'll

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resurrected Great I Am.

>> I call You

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Jesus. I call You. I call You Healer. Risen and reigning

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in power. Something comes out of the grave. Every time I call You Jesus, I call You. I call You Savior. Worthy

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of glory forever. Something comes

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out of the grave. Every time

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I call Your name, chains break, trials wake every

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time

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I call Your name. The gates

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of hell shake every

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time I call Your name. Chains break, fake every time I call Your name. The gates of hell

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shake every time I call Your name.

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Every

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time I call Your

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name, there's power in the name

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of Jesus.

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Oh,

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Jesus. Behold, there's power in the name where death

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is

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now yours. And where oh gra

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ve, victory where

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oh death is now

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your ste and where oh

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grave

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your victory

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where oh and is

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now yours. Here,

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oh grave your victory.

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Dead things come alive. Dead things come alive. Dead things come alive in

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the name

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of Jesus. Dead things come alive. Dead things come alive. Dead things come alive in

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the name of Jesus. Dead things come alive. Dead things come alive. Dead things come

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alive in the name. I call You Jesus. I call You. I call You Healer. Risen and reigning in power. Something comes out of the grave. Every

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time I call You Jesus, I call You. I call You Savior. Worthy of glory

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forever. Something comes out of the grave. Every time

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I call Your name, chains, break, dry

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bones break. Every time

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I call Your name, the gates

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of hell shake. Every time I call Your name, dead things

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come alive. Dead things come alive. Dead things come

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alive in the name of Jesus.

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Dead things come alive. Dead things come alive. Dead things come alive.

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In the name I call You Jesus. I call You. I call You Healer. Risen and reigning in power. Something

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comes out of the grave. Every time I call You Jesus,

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I call You. I call You Savior. Worthy of

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glory forever. Something comes out of the grave. Every

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time I call You Jesus,

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I call

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You. I call You Healer. Risen

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and reigning in power. Something

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comes out of the grave.

>> Every time I call You, Jesus,

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I call You. I call You

>> Worthy of

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glory

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forever. Something comes out of the grave.

>> Every time I call Your

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name. Yeah, Jesus, we're so grateful for Your name. We're so grateful that no matter what the situation or circumstances are having happening at that moment, at that moment we could just say Jesus and instantly You change. You change the atmosphere. You change the circumstances and You come to our aid. We thank You, Jesus. Yeah. Who thought I'd find You at the lowest place? Who

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thought You'd feel me in the crowd? Who knew You'd make good my

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mistakes? Nothing like I thought You

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were. You're better. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. Yeah. I

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thought You'd show up for perfection. Cuz what kind

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of God looks for the lost? They say it's over

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for the sinner. Only You say, "No, it's not."

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"No, it's not." You say, "No, it's not. No, it's not." What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. God.

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If the highest

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place I reach is at Your feet, then I've done it all. If the best thing that

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I've seen is Your glory, then I've seen it all. Your love has saved my

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life. Forever satisfied. God, You are my

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everything. If the highest place I reach is at Your feet, then I've done it all. If the best thing that

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I've seen is Your glory, then I've seen it all. Your love has saved my

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life forever satisfied. You

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are my

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everything. If the highest place I reach

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is at Your feet, then I've done it all. If the best

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thing that

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I've seen is Your glory, then I've seen it all. Your

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love has

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saved my life forever satisfied. You are

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my everything. If one word

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is

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the only thing You speak, then I put it all. If I feel Your heart and never

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see Your

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hand, I still have it all. No treasure of this

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life could ever satisfy. You are

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my everything. You

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are my everything. You are my

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God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God.

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What a God. What a God.

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The highest place I reach is

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at Your feet. Then I've done it all. With the best thing that I've seen is Your

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glory. Then I've seen it all. Your love has saved my

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life. Forever satisfied. You

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are my every day. If one word is the only

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thing You speak, then I heard it all. If I feel

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Your heart and never see Your hand, I still have it all. No treasure

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of this life could ever satisfy. You

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are my everything. You are my everything.

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You are my

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everything. You are my everything. Everything. I am. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What

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a God. What a God.

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What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a god. What a god.

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Angels bow before You. Heaven and earth adore You. What a god. What a god.

>> What a god. What a god.

>> God. What a god.

>> What a god. What a god.

>> Angels bow before You. Heaven and earth adore You. What a god. What a

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god. What a god. What a god.

>> Angels bow

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before You. Heaven and earth adore You. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. Angels bow before You. Heaven and earth adore You. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. Angels bow. Heaven and earth. What a god. What a god. What a

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god.

>>

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>> Yeah. Just put gratitude on Your lips this morning. What a God You are. There is no one like Him in heaven and earth. You just sing out Your own words. Just put gratitude on Your lips this morning. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You for Your blood. Thank You for what You've done in my life. Thank You for Your grace, God. Oh yeah. Come on.

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We invite You in this morning. Faithful,

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righteous.

>> Yeah. We invite You in this morning, Lord. What a God.

>> Worthy. Holy.

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Holy God. What a God. God.

>> What a God. There's no one like You. No one higher than You.

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You're righteous and holy, worthy of it all. You're righteous and holy, worthy of it all. You're righteous and holy. Worthy of it all. You're righteous and holy. Worthy of it all. You're worthy of it all. God,

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You're righteous and holy, worthy of it all. You're righteous and holy, worthy

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of it all. You're righteous and holy. Worthy of it all.

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You're righteous and holy. Worthy of it all. You're righteous and holy. You're worthy of it all. You're righteous and holy.

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You're worthy of it all. You're worthy of. You are

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of it all. You are worthy of it all.

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You are worthy of it all. What a God. What a God. And what a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a

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God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God.

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What a God. What a God. What a God. You're righteous.

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You're holy. You are worthy

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of it all. You're righteous. You're holy.

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You are worthy

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of it all. You're righteous. You're holy. You're worthy of it all. Worthy of it all. What a God. What a God.

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You're so holy. No one like You. He's so holy as we learn about the fear of the Lord. He's so righteous. He's so holy that when He comes in, He ushers in His glory and it sets everything right.

>> So anything out of alignment in our lives, all we have to do is ask Him to come in. For He's the Healer. He's the Savior. He's the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. You're righteous. You're holy. Worthy of it all.

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Worthy

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of it all. You're righteous. You're holy. You are worthy

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of it all. What a God. What a kind. What a God. What a God. What a god. What a god. The presence of the Lord is here. The presence of the Lord. Oh, how God loves you. Oh, how He's just waiting for your response to Him. What a God. What a God we serve. We have a word. There's many of us today that are waiting for a breakthrough in our lives. And often times, I think we get stuck in that place where we're waiting for God to do something that we've seen Him do before. We're waiting for Him to do it that same way in our lives. When God called the people out of Israel, out of Egypt, when they got to the Red Sea, He told Moses, "Hold your rod out. Hold your staff out over the waters." And when He did, the waters parted and they passed through on the dry land. When God was bringing His people into the promised land, when they approached the Jordan River, if they would have waited for God to work the same way He did before, that wasn't how God wanted to do it. Instead, He told Joshua, "Have the priests enter the water." They entered the water before the water dried up so they could cross. So we can't stand by and wait for our breakthrough to come because we were waiting for the way He did it before when He wants to do it a new way. So we need to look for that breakthrough in new ways sometimes. We cannot wait. We can't sit back and say, "God, do it again," when He's wanting to do it a new way. Thank You. You want to sing one more time? You go

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to win my war. You come back. You come back and You call it my

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victory.

>>

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>> You go before

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I know that You've

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even gone to win my

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war. And Your love becomes my greatest defense. It

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leads me through the dry wilderness. And all

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I did was praise.

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And all I

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did was worship. And all

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I did

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was bow down. All I did was

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stay still. And hallelujah, You have

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saved me. It's so much better Your way. Hallelujah, great

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defender. It's so much better this way. You know before

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I do where my heart

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can seek to find Your truth. Your mercy is

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a shade I'm living in. You restore my

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faith and hope again.

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And all I did was pray. And all

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I did was worship. And all I

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did was bow down. And all I did was

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stay still. Hallelujah. You

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have saved me. It's so much better Your way. And hallelujah, great defender,

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it's so much better this

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way. Hallelujah. You have saved me. It's so much better

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your way.

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>> Hallelu

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great defender. It's so

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much better this way.

>>

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>> Oh, it's so much better. So much better.

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And when I thought I lost, You knew where I left me. You reintroduce

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me to Your

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love and You pick up all my pieces, pull me back together. You are the defender

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of my heart. And when I thought I lost,

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You knew where I left me. You reintroduced me to Your

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love and You pick up all my pieces, put me back

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together. You are the defender

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of my heart. When I thought I lost me, You know where I

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left me. You reintroduce me to Your love

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and You pick up all my pieces. Put me back together. You are the defender of my

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heart. When I thought I lost me, You knew where I left me.

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You reintroduced me to Your love and You pick up all my pieces,

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put me back together. You are the defender of my

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heart. Hallelu,

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You have saved me. It's so much

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better Your way. Hallelujah. You

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have saved me so much better Your way. Hallelu.

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You

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have saved me. It's so much better Your way. Hallelujah.

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Great defender. It's so much better this way. Hallelu. You have saved me so much

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better Your ways. Hallelu

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great fender. So much better Your way. So

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much better Your way. It's so much better. It's so much better when

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we trust Your timing. It's so much better when we trust

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Your plan. It's so much better when we wait

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on the Lord. Yeah, we wait on

>>

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>> We don't need to fight. Don't need to worry. We don't need to strive. Don't

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need to fix. So much better. Your ways

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are higher. So much

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better.

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Not my will but Yours. So much. And all I do

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is praise.

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And all I

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do is worship. And

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I'm just going

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to bow down. And I'm

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just going to stay still. Check. Check. Yeah. I want You

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just to stay here in the spot. We're going to pray for something. So stay where you're at. Um, we're going to pray for a couple things, but first we really want to pray for Christian and Kendra.

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Um, if you're if you're on our, uh, the prayer prayer list, um, Christian and Kendra,

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wonderful younger couple. Um, they live in Bend. Uh, Kendra is Brian and Leslie Star's daughter. Christian, for those of you who knew Tom and Carol Landon when they lived here, it's their oldest son. They were in a motorcycle accident over this weekend.

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Um, and, uh, Kendra is out of surgery, but she has broken pretty much both arms, both legs. Christian's life is still

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um, on the line and we're believing for a miracle for him. We're also believing for his leg because they're they're thinking they might still have to amputate it. We're believing right now that there's going to be none of that. And so we're going to pray right now. But before we pray, I want to read you this scripture in Matthew. I want I want to give you a reminder here. There's a story in Matthew 9 about the paralytic, right? And Jesus tells them, "Take courage, son. Your sins are forgiven." Right? And some of the scribes said to themselves, "The fellow blasphemies." And Jesus said, "Knowing their thoughts, why are you thinking such evil things in your heart? Which is easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or 'Get up and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth," right? To forgive sins, get up, pick up your bed, and go home. He got up and went home. Right? The next, just a few verses later, there's the woman with the issue of blood. There's the young girl who they said she's died. And Jesus says, "No, she's not dead. She's just sleeping." Right? Over and over again when Jesus walks into a situation or a circumstance, it changes to come into alignment with the authority of Christ. Right? And so what we're going to do right now is we're going to pray and we're going to pray for Kendra. We're going to pray for Christian and we're going to declare right now that the authority of Jesus, that what was purchased upon the cross, that when the Bible says, "By His stripes we are healed," right now, we're going to declare that for them. So I'm going to start praying.

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I want you to either pray in your heavenly language, just pray out loud, but we're going to spend a moment interceding right now. Heavenly Father, right now we come before You and we ask for Your mercy. We ask for Your grace right now for Kendra and Christian. Father, we make this declaration right now that they shall not die, but they shall live. We make this declaration right now that the goodness

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of God will follow them all the days of their lives. Right now, we speak to Christian's body and we say, "Come into alignment with the kingdom of God." We speak to his bones, his ligaments, his blood. We speak to his brain. We speak to

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his organs right now and we say, "Be restored in the name of Jesus. Be restored right now because of the blood of Christ." We release the Holy Spirit upon that hospital room right now in this moment. We release the Spirit of God right now. We thank You, God, that You are a God of miracles.

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You are the God who heals. You are the God who saves. And that with You, we know that nothing is impossible. And so we release the God of the impossible right now upon Christian. We release right now the Holy Spirit upon that entire hospital room. And we declare right now that the life of God, the Spirit of God right now dwells in that place. And that Christian, not only will You live, but we declare that You will have both legs working in the name of Jesus. That nothing will be amputated, that You will be restored. We also speak right now over Kendra. We declare the same thing. We declare restoration right now in the name of Jesus. We declare supernatural healing in the name of Jesus. That things they thought were broken would be mended. That things they thought were beyond hope would be restored. And we release the hope of God over all the families right now. We speak the hope of God over the Star family. We speak the hope of God right now over the Landon family. And we say, "Hope, arise in the name of Jesus. Hope arise in the name of Jesus." Come on. Yeah. Just keep praying. Come on.

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I want you to keep. We're interceding right now. So, just keep praying. Keep interceding right now in the name of Jesus. Right now, we declare health and restoration and wholeness right now. in the name of Jesus.

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>> Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus.

>> Come on. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. I got one more thing here. I feel like we're supposed to pray for the, the word I kept getting during service was, I feel like the Lord wanted to remind people that I am your protector. I, I feel like there's people in this room right now with the season you're in, with the, um, things you're walking through, that you have been asking the Lord, "God, are, are You my protector?" And I feel like a Father says to a child, "I

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will protect you." Can we just raise the lights a little bit right now, Josiah? I, I feel like we need to pray this over people that people who are struggling with the revelation, the understanding to have faith in the fact that God is their protector. The amazing thing about the Red Sea, right, is that what does God say to them? He says, "Just stand and watch," right? Like they did not have to do anything.

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They stood and observed God as their protector. And for a lot of you in this season, it's not that more is being asked of you. It's actually asked that you're actually being asked to watch as God moves on your behalf. So, if you need prayer for that, if you're like, "I'm struggling right now to believe God is my protector," can you be bold and just raise your hand right now? I want you to raise it high in the air. And as you see people with their hands up, I want you to come and I want you to lay hands on them right now. I got people in the back. Remember, hey church, church is not, uh, we're not viewers here, right? This is a participation event. So, if you see someone with their hands up, I want you to go to them.

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I want you to lay hands on them. And I want you to declare right now that God is their protector. I want you to release the revelation of Jesus as the one who fights for them. And I want you to be led by the Spirit. Some of you, you're going to get prophetic words or insights. Some of you, God's going to lead you to pray something very specific. Pay attention to what the Holy Spirit is saying right now. Come on, release it over them right now. Lord, we thank You that You are their protector. We thank You that the Bible tells us You are a good Father and that You give good gifts to Your children. And right now, we make this declaration to each and every one of you that no matter the season you are walking in, that you will see God as Your good Father, as Your protector. That He is not only fighting battles for You, He is not only waging war on Your behalf, but He is covering You in the shadow of His wing at the same time. That He is giving You strength where You thought there was no strength. Come on, some right now, there needs to be a shift right now in mindsets.

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So, I'm going to declare that right now that in the name of Jesus, we declare that there's a shift right now happening supernaturally in how you've been thinking. That we ask the Spirit of God to shift Your mindset on what it means to walk with God as Your protector. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Oh, yeah. I, I hear the Lord almost just like chuckling and saying that

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"I'm not done. Just watch." [snorts] "I'm not done. Just watch." Come on. So, we declare that right now. He is not done. Come on. Just watch. Thank You, Jesus.

>> Praise the Lord. Now, you know, we started out earlier this morning. I told you about that song, "Trusting in God." I trust in God. Jeremiah 17:7 says this, "But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. Trust Him. Let Him be your hope and confidence." And the things that just have been prayed over you, let that happen. Psalms 28:7 says this, "The Lord is my strength

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and shield. I trust Him with all my heart. He

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helps me and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving." So, as you're trusting, as you're waiting for that new thing, worship Him. Praise Him for what He's doing. You may not see it, but you can praise Him. Glorify His name for what He is doing.

>> Hallelujah. Oh, give God all the honor and all the praise. I thank You so much. And I know we don't say this a lot, but we entered

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in. We were ushered into the presence of God. Thank You for yielding, worship team. Thank You for yielding to the Spirit of God. Oh, hallelujah. My, my, my, my, my. I tell you,

[laughter]

see this, uh, old-fashioned, uh, Church of God Christ girl want to just shout right now, but I know, I know where I am. And, uh, I just want to tell you about the goodness of God and what He has done for me and what He has done for you. Don't hold

[screaming]

back. Don't hold back. You got something to thank Him for today. You have something to glorify Him for today.

[screaming]

Thank Him for your healing. Thank Him for your victory. Thank Him for what He's doing FOR YOU. Oh, we serve a mighty God. We serve a mighty, mighty, mighty God. Hallelujah. Thank You, Jesus. Woo! Glory, glory, glory. Woo. Thank You, Jesus.

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Sometimes you need to just thank Him. Sometimes you need to just praise Him for what He's done and is doing. Woo! I want to thank you, Life Church, because you are a generous church. You love to give and we have multiple ways to give and I think they're going to put it up there and even in the row in front of you. You can tap your phone. It'll open right up and take you to learn more about

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what's happening at Life Church and how to give. Well, there it all is right there. Thank you, Shantel. I'm going to start praying and then come right on up. Come on. You can come up now. Lord, we just thank You for the givers. We thank You for those who give in multiple ways by serving, by giving of their finances, by giving to others. Oh God, we thank You for that. And I pray blessing upon every person. And even if in your heart you desire to give, I pray blessing upon you so that God will place upon you either that job or or send a check in or finances, whatever it may be. We give You all the honor and the glory and the praise, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. And amen. Shantel, you got some good news, don't you?

>> Yeah. Yes. Awesome. So good. Thank you, Cheryl. Um, for today's live announcement, I wanted to bring it to you guys and talk to you about Wholeness Ministries. So, I am the Wholeness Director here, Chantel Brewbaker, and the, the joy of our Wholeness Ministries. Who's ever experienced a Sozo or a spirit connection or a life change? Or, yeah, look around. There's many. Right. So, and so with that, I was praying for it this morning and I literally, I didn't know the song was being sung this morning about pieces. "He puts me back together." And I was praying and that's what I saw is I was like, "Lord, You are putting us back together." And so that is part of what our Wholeness Ministry does. And looking at Psalms 23:33 says, "He restores my soul. He leads me beside still waters, right?" There is a restoration that happens for the body of Christ. And so that is full. That is the fullness of salvation. It's not just baptism. It's deliverance. It's freedom. It's being brought out of the old and into the new. And so if you've never had, uh, one of our Wholeness sessions, um, we welcome you. It is available for you. I'm going to list them off. So we have, um, you can find them on our website at lifechurchsalem.com. We have Sozo Ministries. These are going to be more one-on-one, uh, spirit connection and our freedom sessions. And we also do children's Sozo. If you don't know if you have a nine, 10-year-old or a pre-teen or a teenager, we offer children's sessions as well. Um, also we have our Life Change workshop. This is, yeah, this is a two-day workshop. How many have gone through Life Change? Right? We have another one coming up in November, I believe. So, that's also a radical time if you, if you just want that breakthrough in that way. It's not counseling. Um, it's more than just a prayer time. It's really an encounter time with the Lord with these sessions as well. So whether you've had a hundred Sozos, um, or, uh, you would like, or you've never had one before. Also, I want to highlight within our spirit connection sessions, that is one of our only, uh, modalities that we have that you can be with another person in a session. So if there's freedom that's needed, if there's connection that's needed with a spouse or with a sibling or with a parent, these are sessions that you can actually do together and see what the Lord does to bring healing. So, yeah, I just want to pray for you all this morning real quick. Okay. So, Lord, I thank You that You restore our souls. That our souls are things that need to be restored, God. And that is not a bad thing or a negative thing, but it's actually part of the sanctification process that we get to walk with You, Lord. So I pray for each person here if they have felt scattered, if they had felt that their pieces are thrown about, Lord, that You love to bring the individual back into alignment physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. Lord, You bring us into alignment with the kingdom of heaven. And if that anybody's heart is touched by the thought of as a session, I pray that they would be encouraged to to seek it out, Lord, and that You would move on their hearts, God, because You are always working in our behalf. We love You, Jesus. We thank You that You have, by Your Spirit, You lead us beside the still waters, and You give us these tools that we can partner with with Your Holy Spirit. We love You, Jesus. Amen.

All right. And then next, we will have our live or our other announcements. We're continuing to work alongside the city as we prepare for the first phase of the campus initiative project. Andrew will be sharing a little more about it this morning, but we ask that you continue to pray for God's provision, wisdom, and discernment as we plan and prepare for all that's ahead. We're also still working towards our financial goals to complete this project. So, if you'd like to partner with us in that, we'd be so grateful for your support as we invest in what God is building here on campus for generations to come. Are you ready to encounter the power and love of God in a fresh new way? Then come to our preview night and experience firsthand how Life School encourages and trains believers

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to know God and their identity in Christ. It's taking place on Tuesday, August 18th at 5:45 p.m. Be sure to register online so we can plan for you. We're 3 and 1/2 weeks away from church camp at Richardson Park Campground. If you didn't grab a campsite this year,

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but want to be added to the wait list if any open up, just call or email the church office and we'll reach out as sites open. Also, even if you aren't camping, we'd love for you to come spend the day with us on Friday or Saturday, the 14th or 15th. On the evening of the 14th, we're having a churchwide potluck and worship night in the campground common area, and everyone is invited, whether you're camping or just coming out to visit. For those of you who will be back home, our regular Sunday morning service will still be taking place on the 16th, so don't worry. Mark your calendars for Saturday, August 8th. Hope on the Riverfront is taking place at the Riverfront Park Amphitheater from 4 to 8:00 p.m. It's a free, high-energy community event bringing hope, connection, and encouragement to youth, young adults, and families across Salem. Head to their website to grab your free tickets today. It's hopeontheriverfront-salem.org. Another quick reminder that a few of our ministries are taking some time off for the summer. From now through July 29th, our youth will be on break. They'll resume meeting on August 5th. Then our young adults, prophetic community connection gathering, and the Salt and Light Ministry will be off for July and August. All three ministries will resume in September. Thanks for being flexible. Don't forget about our Art Sozo taking place tomorrow, Monday the 20th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. here at Life. Everyone is welcome and no art skills are required. All the details are online. The Out of This World Kids VBS camp starts

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tomorrow and runs through Friday. Our teen leadership team and our volunteers have been working hard for the past 10 days to prepare for this incredible week. All kindergarten through fifth graders are invited to this jam-packed week of discovering who they are in Christ, chosen, purposeful, and full of light. The VBS is completely free, but you must be registered. So don't miss the chance for your kiddos to experience it. All right, morning church. How are we

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all doing? Good. I don't know why this is over there, but I cannot do that. All right. Uh, welcome to Life Church. My name is Andrew Foster. I'm the lead pastor here. Um, before we jump into the word this morning, we got a couple of wonderful things we're going to be doing. Um, first off, we're going to pray for a church. If you're new or if you're visiting, we take time every week. We pray for a different church in our city and in our region because we don't want to go, God just to move here in Life Church. We want Him to move throughout the church of Salem. Amen. Amen. So our church this week is Emanuel Baptist. Can you extend your hands with me this morning? Father God, right now we thank You for Emanuel Baptist. Lord, we bless them this morning. We ask right now for just the power and the, the glory of God just to be there for them. We ask for the scriptures to come alive in new ways, that wisdom and revelation would be released upon them. We ask for people to be saved, people to be healed, and people to be delivered through what they are doing, that they would be a blessing to the city and the region. In Your holy name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Um, a couple other fun updates. First off, thank you so much to everyone who gave towards Courtney and the car last week. Um, we raised just a little over $10,000, uh, for her. So, yep. Awesome. So, thank you just for your generosity. Thank you all so much for sewing into just her and her family. It is very appreciated. Um, also campus initiative, if you haven't heard that term before, um, or maybe you've heard it and you aren't sure, we are in a few years long project that we're just in the beginning of, uh, with the city, uh, that the city is kind of requiring us to do some things to stay here upon this property. Um, and so we are to the point right now where we are still submitting plans. We're still working with the city. My update for you is that we submitted a bunch of stuff this week and we're by August 20th, we will get a response and have a better idea about how we are going to be moving forward. And so I'm asking you first off right now, just to continue to pray because we need favor with the city. We need favor, um, with the plans that we have submitted. We've jumped through a lot of the hoops that they've asked of us. We've done our soil engineer has come through the landslide stuff. I mean, we've had everyone come through for each and everything. And we're not worried about a landslide, but here in West Salem, they're worried about it no matter what. Um, and so you're just required to do, you know, studies and surveys. Um, and so we have submitted everything. So, we just need to pray. All right? And so, I'm just asking you right now, pray for the campus initiative. Pray for the city of Salem to give us favor because there's a lot of things that we need in order to function as a church. And we are trying to work with the city on this. Our, our goal from the start, as I have said, is not to be in battle with the city, but we will stand firm when we need to stand firm and we will do what we need to do. And so, I just want you to pray that the city will give us favor. That there will be more approval for the things we're asking for than we thought was possible. That the Lord will open doors for us that we did not think were possible, right? Um, and that He's going to, that He'll just show Himself faithful, right? The other thing too is just as a reminder, we still need to raise at least half a million dollars in order to get everything done that the city is requiring us to do. So for those of you who consistently are giving, I just want to say thank you. Those of you who are sewing into that, we appreciate that. Um, and just as always, please consider if you have not just sewing into it. Every little bit helps as we work on doing what we need to do. I'm going to have a fuller meeting in the month of, uh, probably September, October, somewhere in the fall, once we get the response back, once the eldership team gets to talk about some of it, and we'll kind of give you a broader view about what next steps look like. All right. Okay. Yeah. Come on. All right. Thank you. Um, next, Mitch Shaw, please come up. Can we welcome MIJ as she comes up right now? So, MIJ just got back from the Amazon on Thursday. Uh, for those of you who are here, when we prayed for her, we sent her out. Um, we just wanted her to share about her trip, what she saw God do, share some testimonies. So, I'm going to pass the microphone over to her and let her take it away.

>> Take it away.

>> Uh, first of all, I want to really say thank you to my home group. Um, they're really my sending entity. Um, they're my prayer warriors. They're the reason I can even stand this morning. So,

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I'm, I'm grateful, uh, for their love and and, uh, support. So, this trip on the Amazon, this is my 30th year and, um, this, the purpose of this trip was to go out to where the solar, um, Bibles were going. So, they're, they're solar Portuguese Bibles, the whole entire Bible in this little teeny solar audio Bible and, um, they give them out to people that are just that just come to the Lord. So they have the word instantly in their hands available to them. So, um, over the past two years, our, uh, home group has, um, they have financed 175 of these. So, been going out and, I mean, it's, it's pretty incredible. So, I, uh, asked this year if I could go out where the Bibles were going. So, I, I, um, I did it to myself. I mean, so you don't have to feel sorry for me. So, I'm out on the Shingu River, which is in the middle of the Amazon basin. And, and the Shingu River is a long, one of the six main tributaries of, of the, of the Amazon. And then all these tiny little tributaries, probably about eight other teeny little rivers, uh, I went to out, out there. So, uh, number one, we're going to go into some slides. So, the day dawned and, uh, I say to myself, as I do, "I am ready, willing, and totally unable." And, uh, number two. So, uh, we board their Maranatha. So this is, um, after three, two and a half days of flying and then, and then the boat. So, it's, it's far out there. And so, uh, number three, then, uh, we get on a speedboat. And then number four, we travel to somewhere. You know, I just, I'm just along for the ride, right? Yep. Lots of fun. Don't get motion sickness. Do not, do not, not do not do that. Number five. Then we walk and we get out on these little boardwalks and all the little piranha and poisonous snakes stay where they're supposed to and we walk on and, yeah. So then we get to number six and we start seeing what God is doing. We get out on in a little, um, house and we see, "God, what are You doing, Lord? What are You doing?" And we start agreeing with Him. Number seven. So, in this video, this, um, gal that's in the, um, red sweater, she was, uh, sitting when I came onto this property and she was leaning into her mom. And it wasn't just a lean, it was she was fading into her mom. And I kept watching this and the Lord said, "Pay attention to what I'm doing." And I, and so I'm watching this. So she keeps putting her head in into her mom's lap and then she faints. And, uh, God said, "All right, time to pray. Spirit of death wants her." And He showed me the spirit of death coming after this girl. And that she was agreeing with it. She wanted, she wanted to go. And God said, "Nope, she's not. She's going to be alive and You just start speaking life." So I did. I just started speaking life, speaking life, speaking life, speaking life over her. And, um, then, uh, my translator went over and, um, began hugging her and, um, we just continued to speak life. And all of a sudden, I thought I saw that death go. Just left. Just left. like, you know, obeyed the Spirit of God.

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You know, you can't have this girl. Uh, found out that she had had a, uh, miscarriage at seven months, three days before this, and she just wanted to go where that baby was. That's all she wanted. But Mom, who I'm hugging there, did not want her daughter gone, and neither did the Spirit. So, we were in agreement. And it was wonderful. That's as close as I've come to, uh, raising somebody from the dead. That was fun.

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Um, so, uh, number eight. So, then we invite people to meetings, um, in the evening where God really shows up and does a lot of incredible things. Lots and lots of hunger. So much hunger. Um, they're, they're just, um, you go up to a house and

you go, you know, do you want to be evangelized? And they say, well, sure. I mean, it's [laughter] okay. You know, it's it's it's very different. Was wonderful. And then uh number nine. Oh, did I do that? Yeah. Number nine. So then we landed up on this little beach um in a in a village in this in the scallow with the orange dress just got her back totally healed. That was fun. And then the pastor, so he's in blue right in in the front and uh he had had prayer the night before and he sat in the chair and just said my from the top of my spine to the bottom of my back that um I am in pain all the time. And I thought, well, that's not good. We're going to get rid of that. So um started praying for him and started seeing something there in the spirit, not just in in the physical. And then he starts sharing about this confusion that he has all the time and this doubt that plagues him all the time. He's such a wonderful man of God. It just I couldn't was not making any sense. So I just said, you know, God is not the author of confusion. He's a God of peace. And the minute I said that, this spirit left that that back and he started crying so hard just to he was just getting rid of all of it and he stayed with us totally painfree. He was so happy every day just [laughter] very cool. It was very cool.

Um number 10. So, this rainbow I I know it's hard to see, but it it does reflect into the river and and makes a full circle. It's actually makes a full circle. And that's what God told me this year is that I have come full circle. This was my last trip. I've come full circle and I'm not sad. Um I've done what God had told me to has told me to do. Uh, I finished the work he's given me to get do and I have come full circle.

Um, number 12. Here are the people receiving the Bibles after they've just come to the Lord. This whole little group of people and uh they're holding their Bibles in their hands. And uh number 13, this is uh looking out at the back of the boat. That's actually where I brush my teeth, too. But I'm saying goodbye uh to the Amazon. And uh number 14, this is my translator, my wonderful 19-year-old Brazilian, energetic, fantastic translator. And uh number 15. So over coffee when I got back into town um my friends that I've uh ministered with for years and years, I've known this gal since she was 16. She was a maid in the missionaries house. She learned English and now she is the apostle of the vineyard churches all over all over the Amazon northern Amazon. And so um she also speaks around the world and um a powerful powerful woman of God. But before I left last year, I said they they just started a church. It's two years old and they've packed their building. They they can't put another body in there. They're it's just so full. And so they were looking for a building. And the Lord gave them a word to me and I I said, "God is gonna give you somebody in your life to finance this church." And a dollar to us is like $1,000 to him or other, however you look that. Anyway, he's rich. He is very, very rich and generous. So, but you're going to meet him and he's going to give you the money. And so, they just They just held on to that word, you know, they just held on to that word. They had a lot of other options and this and that and the other thing and they just thought, "No, this is what God said we're going to do." So, she was invited to the United Kingdom to um share in a conference and she was with some friends and some friends got a call and said, "Oh, this guy wants to come to the to the conference. He can only be here per day." And fine. and they met him and the day later in a 15minute phone call the entire church building land was financed. [applause] >> Can we just give her [applause] >> I'm still so busy. >> No. Yeah. Yeah. [cheering] Check. Check. Thank you, MIJ. Thank you for sharing. We're going to hear from a few other of our missionaries just in the next few weeks, too. So, it's be great. A lot of people following the Lord and going where he calls them to go. Amen. >> Amen.

All right. We are in a series and I'm jumping in. I'm going fast. We're going sweet. The fear and glory of the Lord. Um we are in week three currently. We've been spending time with Moses at the burning bush right at Mount Horeb or Mount Si where Moses has drawn near to the glory of the Lord. And in doing so, we've been unpacking what is the fear of the Lord. We've talked about higher fear and lower fear about how there's a difference between being scared of God and fearing God, right? how the fear of the Lord what the Bible with how the Bible translates it into the Hebrew word uh yare means to do with reverence awe and worship and how important the fear of the Lord is for those who are Christ followers that we're actually called to walk in the fear of the Lord. We looked at a couple different verses. We looked at Proverbs 3:7 that says, "Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil." Fear the Lord and depart from evil. We talked about how in Proverbs 9:10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. How there is wisdom to be found. That the the journey of wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. We also talked about Proverbs 111 where it says, "Holy and awesome is his name." Uh the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom as well. And then we also read uh later on too about how fear uh about how the fear of the Lord, right, is the fountain of life that there's actually life that is released when you walk in the fear of God. [snorts] And I I've had some wonderful conversations with quite a few of you wrestling with this term and this understanding of the word fear because a lot of us do not like the word fear. Right. >> Right. It makes us uncomfortable. It makes us a little uneasy. We're like, "Oh, I don't like that word. I I want to I want to maybe, you know, change it with something else or make it sound a little more palatable to me. And I want to encourage you that when God calls something a specific way or a term, when the Bible tells us this is what this thing is called, we do not change it because to make it more comfortable. Instead, we adjust how we understand it to align with what the word of God says. So since God says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, we understand then that there is a different there's different types of fear. And the fear the Lord is calling us into is awe. It's reverence. It's wonder. It's standing before the creator of the universe and realizing he knows your name, >> that he sees you, that he values you. And so we have to be able as followers of Christ to not to not make or change the word to make it more comfortable to us. Instead, we have to understand, right, that in our English language, fear is fear. In the Hebrew, there is a lot of different words that had a lot of different meanings. And we're not talking about being scared of God. We're talking about being in wonder and awe of him. We're talking about humbling ourselves before him. And we're going to continue now in Exodus. So, if you're not in Exodus yet, please open your Bibles. You just go into the second book. It's not too far. Exodus 19. I'm going to read verse 16 to 20. It's going to be up here as well. And so, it says, "It came about on the third day when it was morning that there was thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud over the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound so that all the people who were in the camp trembled." Where we're at right now is Moses has led the Israelites out of Egypt, right? He had the encounter at the burning bush. He went into Egypt. They have come out. They have gone through the Red Sea. They are now in the wilderness. And Moses has led them to Sinai to Mount Horeb uh to have an encounter with God, to meet with God. So that's where we're at right now. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. And they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Si was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire. and its smoke ascended like a smoke of a furnace, and the entire mountain quak violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder. Then the Lord came down on Mount Si to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. Whoa. Okay, I want you to picture this, right? I want you to imagine this, right? This is smoke. There is fire. There is lightning. The Israelites are afraid, >> which I mean I I would I would be wrestling with with some fear too here, right? But the beautiful thing, right, is that we see that God shows up. God shows up in power. God shows up in strength. But what he does is him showing up is still an invitation to the Israelites. So we're going to continue reading here. We're going to go down now to the next chapter. So turn to Exodus 20 18. And it goes, "And all the people were watching and hearing the thunder and lightning and flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it all, they trembled and stood at a distance." Then they said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen, but do not have God speak to us or we will die." However, Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid." This is the lower fear. This is do not be scared, right? Do not be afraid for God has come in order to test you. In order that the fear of him, now this is the other type of fear, the awe, the wonder, the majesty, the worship, that the fear of him may remain with you so that you will not sin. So the people stood at a distance while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was. And and and this the story is so amazing to me because what we see right is that in the power of God, in the majesty of God, an invitation was given to come into his presence. An invitation was given and an entire people made a choice that they would rather have a mediator than a relationship.

All right, that's what we see right here in this moment. that an entire of people fell into being scared of God instead of understanding that the fear of God invites you closer. They chose distance. They chose to step away. And before we dig into it more, I'm going to read what Exodus 19 3-6 tells us, right? So, Exodus 19 3-6 says, "And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, "This is what you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel. You yourself have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on wings on equal wings and brought you to myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel. What does he say in verse four? I brought you to myself, right? Not that I brought you to a set of rules. Not that I brought you to a list of regulations. Not that I brought you to the law, but I brought you to me. This is the language of relationship. This is God saying what he was doing. That when he brought Israel out, he was not looking for something transactional. He was looking for connection and relationship. When Jesus died upon the cross, when he saved your you, when he died for your sins, he is not looking for a transaction. He is looking for a relationship, right? And what we see right now is the Israelites wrestling with that, trying to figure out how to walk in that because in verse six, he says it even more strikingly. You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. A kingdom of priests. Every single one of them. Every single one of them. You will be not just the Levites, right? Not just Moses. the whole nation was being called into a priestly relationship with God himself.

Just think about that. The invitation, right, that that was for them. It was an invitation to come closer to him, right? And the priest in Israel, just to for those of you who may not understand what that is, right, the priest in Israel was the person who stood in the presence of God, in the presence of God on behalf of the people. God was saying he wanted an entire nation of people who could stand in his presence. Wow. An entire nation of people who could stand in his presence. It's what Jesus died for, right? Access for all of us to stand in his presence to be carriers of his presence. Ephesians 2, right, highlights it for us here. And he came and preached peace to you who are far away and peace to those who are near. For through him we both have our access in one spirit to the father. So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household. That was the intention of Sinai. Not distance, right? Not not to scare them to pull away, but to invite them into the fear of the Lord that would cause them to press into the presence of God. Not fear that drives away, but fear that calls you to draw near. And we see God's response in Deuteronomy 5, right? In Deuteronomy 5:29, he says,"Oh, that they would always have hearts like this, that they might fear me and obey all of my commands. If they did, they and their descendants would prosper forever." That that that should I think that stirs something in me when I read it because what I hear right there is a language of of longing of God longing for them. that God watched his people back away from the mountain and his response was grief, not anger. He wanted them closer. Right? The fire and the lightning was real, but it was not meant to drive them away. They were meant to show it was meant to show them who they were drawing near to. I want to encourage you this morning, the distance was never God's idea. For you personally, distance from the spirit in the presence of God was never his idea. God does not seek to have distance from you. He seeks to call you closer to him.

And and some of us have gotten into the place where we see the majesty of God. We see the wonder of God. And we have allowed there to be distance between us and him because we are more willing to stand and watch than to step in and participate. But you were not called to be an observer into the kingdom of God. You were called to be a participant. You were called to walk with him in it. The people stepped away. Right? That the word for trembled here in Exodus 19:16, right, that we read that how a thick cloud, a very loud trumpet blast came and everyone in the in the camp trembled. It's the word karad. That's the word for trembled, right? And it means to be terrified, to shake with fear. It it's not reverent awe. It's fear. It's uncertainty. It's nervousness. Moses leads them out of the camp to meet with God at the foot of the mountain. He is taking them towards the thing they are trembling at. Right? And and they cannot do it. Right? Exodus 20:18-9 says, "The people trembled and stayed at a distance and said to Moses, Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die. I think that word distance is really important right there. Right in the Hebrew it means to be come far to put distance between yourself and something they are actively moving away from the presence of God. Okay. I want you to ask yourself that question right here and now. Are you actively moving towards the presence of God or are you actively staying at a distance? Maybe you're like, "Well, no, I'm not moving away." But maybe your feet are just planted and you're not stepping forward. The beautiful thing about Jesus is that he is the initiator as we've talked about in the last couple weeks, right? He is the one who extends his hand. He is the one who invites you closer. But as he gives the invitation, you have the choice. Do you actively move forward? Do you actively go closer? Right? Like I said before, they are choosing a mediator in this moment over a relationship and they will spend the next 40 years paying the price for that choice. Can we ask ourselves that question? Have I chosen a mediator over a relationship? Is my relationship with the Lord based upon my pastor's relationship with him, based upon how the worship team is going? Or is my relationship with the Lord based upon me and him? Is my relationship with the Lord based upon where my parents are at? Or is it based upon the choices I am making? The fear of God leads you into a relationship, not into just mediation. You cannot have a relationship, right, without being close. me and my kids, right? We are not here. I am not a I mean, I am a mediator a lot of times. Let's be real, right? But the mediation that I do, right, our relationship comes from our closeness. I am not here to simply help be a mediator for them and life. I am here to bring them along and to teach them how to live. This breakthrough I think that Larry was talking about earlier, I want to encourage you. Breakthrough comes when you step into relationship and when you stop trying to manage God to fit your understanding.

Right? And so what we see here is with the fear of the Lord. Moses does something that an entire people cannot do. They are scared of God. Moses has fear of God. And he understands that the fear of the Lord causes them to come humbly before God. And he becomes this steps into the place where he is the voice from God to the people. When God intended to speak to the people himself, you were not called for me to be the one who just tells you about the Lord. You were called to speak to God yourself. Jesus did not die for you to come to church and hear a good sermon. He died so that you could have one-on-one access with him. Do not get comfortable with sitting in church. Do not get comfortable with just hearing good sermons and good words. get comfortable going to God and saying, "I want to hear from you myself."

And here's the thing, right? There the fear of God means that when God moves and when God speaks, I adjust. Right? I change. Uh the hard thing, right, is when you get into the presence of God, it often highlights things in your life that need to be surrendered to him. Have you noticed that? that when you get into the presence of God, all of a sudden he brings something up and all of a sudden you have to make a change. And it's hard and it's not comfortable and it's not always the easiest thing in the world. But I want to tell you right now, God wants you to be a carrier of his presence. It is not a one-time experience. It is a lifestyle. All right? And so he calls you into this place. So Moses in verse 21 draws near. The people remained at a distance. He drew closer. Right? Everyone is standing back. Moses is the only one heading forward. The lightning is still there. The thunder is still there. The fire is still there. Right? And I I don't think the diff the difference is courage. Right? The difference is what kind of fear Moses was carrying. The people were scared of God. Moses feared God. And that fear drove him closer into the presence. And this is the distinction, right, that Moses himself draws in Exodus 20:20. In Exodus 20:20, he says, "Don't be afraid." Right? Moses answered them, "For God has come to this way to test you so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning. Do not fear, right? Do not be afraid and so that you fear, right? This is not Moses contradicting himself. This is him highlighting the difference between these two things. They want a mediator. They want distance. The invitation is relationship. Think about Adam in Genesis 3, right? The moment sin enters the picture, the first thing he does, right, is hide. What does he say? I heard you in the garden and I was afraid. That is what scared looks like, right? Running, hiding, putting distance between yourself and God. The Israelites at Si are doing this exact same thing. The person who fears God, who's not afraid of him, but fears him, has nothing to hide. They run towards the presence, not away from it. They may be undone by it, right? They may be undone by what they're encountering. They may not be able to fully look at it. They may fall on their face and weep. But in doing so, they choose the presence of God. Psalms 25:14 says, "The Lord is a friend to those who fear him. He teaches them his covenant." [music]

I'm going to read that again. The Lord is a friend to those who fear him. He teaches them his covenant. Do you understand that you are there's an invitation into friendship that starts with the fear of God? You are No, we'll get there in a second. I'm going to go a little further here. I want to make sure I get to this part, right? Not rule his rules, his friendship, [music] his covenant. The fear of the Lord is not the beginning of a transaction as we said earlier, right? It's the beginning of a relationship. It's the beginning of friendship. And and this word for friendship right here in Hebrew is translated as sold. And it is not a casual friendship. Strongs, when I was looking it up, talks about it is a session, a company of persons in close deliberation. And by implication, intimacy, consultation or a secret. Psalms 25:14 describes a converse with God in intimacy. One commentator put it this way, right? He said that the familiar intimate it is to have familiar intimacy with Yahweh to be part of a privy council that met for a deliberation. This is God pulling someone right into [music] his inner circle. The place where kings took their most trusted adviserss. The place where things were said and were not said anywhere else. It's the same word that's used in Amos 3:7 when it says, "Certainly the Lord God does nothing unless he reveals his secret, right? His this this idea of friendship to his servants, the prophets." That's what it means. It's the same word that's used here. Moses, I think, is living proof of this. Not because Moses was the smartest person, the most qualified person, but because Moses drew near. Moses understood the fear of the Lord. This word that's used for it, sold, this word for friendship is to have intimate counsel with another. That when [music] you walk in the fear of the Lord, there is intimacy that you are being invited into. [snorts] Maybe this is a good question then to ask. [music] Do I feel like I'm walking in that type of friendship with the Lord? Do I do I feel like that's the level of connection of intimacy I have with him? And if the answer is no, then that this is not to shame you, but this is to say, well, maybe we need to realign some things then [music] in our lives. Maybe I need to understand that I have allowed the fear of God to slip away. And instead, I've started to create a God that's more manageable, a God that's more in my image than a God that requires me to have awe and reverence and wonder. Have you lost the wonder of God? Has your relationship with him become something casual when it was meant to be something that caused you to change? Have you allowed his voice to be something manageable instead of being willing to go into that secret place where the thunder and the lightning is? So many of us, I think, we step out of friendship with God, not because we're angry necessarily, not because we're hurt, right? But because we enter into a place where our comfort determines what God looks like instead of understanding that in the fear of the Lord, I live in a place of awe and wonder. The fact that the very God who created the earth is willing to come down and commune with me. He's willing [music] to have a relationship with me. That should cause me to fall upon my face each and every day. That should cause me to humble myself each and every morning as I say, "Lord, I'm going to enter into the fear of God right now and just declare the wonder of who you are." I think of this old song we used to sing. May we never lose our wonder, wideeyed and mystified. May we be just like a child sitting at, I think, the feet of our king or something along those lines, right? May we never lose our wonder. The fear of God is an invitation back into the wonder of God, back into the majesty of it. I I want to tell you that you you should never lose that awe. That when we worshiped earlier this morning [music] that that was an invitation to be in awe of his majesty and who he is. Do you remember what it was like when you were when you were a young child, right? And you had that awe and that wonder of your parents? Do you remember what it was like to be, you know, young? I I remember as a young man, right? I had an awe and and I still do, okay? I'm not saying this is just be clear. My parents are in the room so you know you know just to be be I'm not throwing them under the bus here but I you have an awe and wonder of your parents whereas in they can do no wrong right that that you have them in this place almost like a pedestal in your life because you look up to them right you hopefully have a fear of them and that you respect them that you are following them that they are raising you up in the way you should go right I remember what it was like to have that awe and that wonder to have that place of respect if you didn't have maybe a parent in your life maybe it was for someone else. But we have these people in our lives we have awe and wonder for and then as we get older maybe we realize, oh, they're not perfect. They change, right? They they do make mistakes. And when I see my own children right now, my sons are in this place of having awe and wonder for me, right? Where they go, "Oh, no. There's something is wrong." And I'm actually able to still fix it with the limited knowledge I have. And Kaden, you know, this morning goes, "Wow, you are the best dad." Right? And I'm like, "Thanks, man." like, you know, like there's this awe and there's this wonder and everything that I do. But I understand that as he gets older and some things are going to change. He's going to look at me a little differently because he's going to realize that that I'm not perfect. I'm flawed. Here's the thing. A lot of us with our relationship with God, we treat it like our relationship with our parents where what we've allowed to happen is that as our on wonder maybe of our parents has faded, we've assumed it's the same with God where instead of it deepening into a place of realizing that he is so vast, he is so far beyond, we've allowed God to be someone that we've stepped back from to say, "No, I'm pretty familiar with who you are." If you have, if you believe that you are familiar with the God of the universe, I want to challenge you. Maybe you've stepped out of the fear you should be walking in. That when we come into church, that same awe and reverence we have for our parents as young, young kids, that is what we're supposed to have for him. And that is what we see. We see the Israelites with an understanding, right? That they choose to be scared and to step away. They choose to have a relationship with the God that is manageable through another person. Even though the invitation was for them all to be priests, to all be in relationship, and one man out of an entire nation chooses to step into the dark clouds, chooses to walk upon the mountain. I want you to know right now the invitation this morning for you [music] is where are you standing currently? Are you standing on the outside? Are you looking is is God something that you see from a distance or are you willing to walk into the presence? Are you willing to humble yourself and allow the fear of God to transform you? Not because you're scared of what he's going to do to you, but because you're in awe and wonder of who he is. I always want to live in that place. The American church. Let me just Okay. Okay. I'm just I think a lot of pro well a problem with a lot of our churches. All right. Not all of them, right? This is a blanket statement, so you take it with that grain of salt. But I think a problem with a lot of our churches, right, is we've taught the church, we've taught the people that when we come to church, we're watching the mountain and what's happening instead of understanding we all get to go to the mountain together. Right. Right. Which is why during service today, we said, "Okay, hey, if someone has their hand up, it is your job to go and pray for [music] them. You are not in church to be a spectator. you're in church to see the power of God move through you to touch the world around you. Jesus did not die for people to simply look at him. He died so he could hold their hand and have a conversation with them. And the world that's living outside of these walls right now need to encounter a people who carry the presence of God. And I want to tell you right now, if you carry the presence of God, but you don't walk in the fear of God, you will not be able to sustain it because you will be trying to do something on your own instead of understanding that this place of awe and reverence puts me into a humble position to carry and walk with the maker of heaven and earth. Are you catching what [music] I'm trying to communicate this morning? I'm wrapping it up. I promise I'm wrapping it up. Thank you. You're doing so great, Chloe. playing so wonderfully up there for me, giving me that that beautiful that beautiful thing that I need to remind myself right for it. Um, I'm just going to read I'm going to say one more thing here. One more thing. John 15:15 says, "No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends." Right? Because all things that I have heard from my father, I have made known to you. John Bevere makes a statement that I think is important, right? He goes, "The fact that Jesus says no longer servants means there was a time when that is exactly what they were, servants, not because God did not love them, but because they were not yet established enough and the fear of the Lord to handle what friendship with God actually carries." Salvation is a gift. It is freely given. Right? Salvation is a gift. It is freely given. But friendship with God, soul, the intimate counsel of God, the inner circle, the place where he shares what he is doing, that is reserved for something. And Jesus tells us it is reserved for those who have obedience rooted in reverence. Moses became a friend not because he was sinless, not because he was the most gifted person. In fact, if you remember, Moses told God, "I'm not good at speaking. I I can't go to Pharaoh, right? He wasn't the best communicator or orator, right? Because but Moses because he kept walking toward that the cloud, kept walking into the presence, right? When everyone else was running the other way, the people at Si, the Israelites, they had been saved from from Egypt. They had seen the miracles. They had been brought out of Egypt. They were God's people, but they stayed servants because they jo chose distance over nearness. They let fear drive them back instead of drawing them in. I want to encourage you this morning as as I wrap this up that the fear of the Lord is not just an emotion. It is not a feeling, right, that you just have in a worship service. It is a posture for your whole life that says when God speaks, I move. Even when I do not understand, even when I don't have all the answers, even when no one else is walking towards him. That is what the posture is. The crazy thing for me too, right, is that the people saw what God did. They saw his the miracles. They saw him part the Red Sea, right? All of these different things. And in fact, Psalms 103:7 says, "He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the sons of Israel. The people saw, right, what God did. Moses knew how God thought." Same events, right? Same same events here. Completely different axis because Moses drew near when other people stayed away. You can be in the same camp. You can be in this church, you can see miracles [music] and still not know God. Proximity to the works of God is not the same as proximity to God himself. And the fear of the Lord means I'm not satisfied with merely seeing his works. I want to know him. Can we stand to our feet this morning? Forgive me for going a little long, but I'm going to pray and I'm going to get you out. [snorts] Can we just close our eyes and put out our hands this morning? I want to posture myself. I want to posture my heart into this place of just of reverence, of the fear of God, of the awe of God. And we're going to talk about this next week, but Moses came down from the mountain carrying the glory of God, right? And so when we when we step into this place, when we step into the fear of the Lord, it allows us to also carry the glory of the Lord. And so, heavenly father, right now, we come before you. We come before you humbly. We come before you in awe. We come before you in the fear of God. And we make this statement right now, Lord, that we want to draw near to your presence. We do not want to be a people who are scared of you like the Israelites. We do not want to stay at the back and seek a mediator, Father God, because you have already sent your son to die for us. He has already shed his blood on the cross. There is now access and relationship. And so, Father, we choose to step into the fear of God. We choose to step into the fear of God. We choose to not choose just proximity to the presence. We choose right now proximity to you, the creator of heaven and earth. May we never lose our wonder. May we never lose our wonder. Father, for those of us who have lost our wonder of your presence, we repent right now for that. We repent for not being awe of who you are, of being comfortable with the creator, of stepping out of the place of wonder and awe. Lord, help us to be like our children once again, where we look at you, Father, and we are in awe and wonder of who you are. Oh Jesus, we repent for any time that we have made you comfortable and normal. where we've been content to watch and not to pursue, where we have been content just to look from afar instead of draw near. Oh Lord, I ask right now that you would give us a revelation of the fear of God. That you would give us a revelation that transforms us. That we would be a people who could carry your presence. That we would understand that because you are with us, everywhere we go has the potential to become holy ground when we lean into an encounter with Jesus. And this city that we live in, this world that we live in, needs an encounter with you. It needs an encounter with the living God. Oh Jesus, we want to be your Moses's. We want to be those who come. We want to be your royal priests. We want to be able to stand before you and help people encounter the wonder and majesty of Jesus. Challenge us this week. I give you permission in my life to challenge me. Holy Spirit, challenge me this week to step into the fear of the Lord, to step into the awe and wonder of God. As we just stay in this place with our eyes closed, we always just want to give an invitation that maybe if you're in this room before and you've never given your life to the Lord, maybe you've never chos chosen to make Jesus your Lord and Savior. I want to encourage you right now that there is nothing better that you can do. That when you call upon his name, the Bible says that you will be saved. that those who draw near to God, he will draw near, too. And when you confess with your sins, right, that when you confess with your sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive you of all unrighteousness. So, if you're in this room and you've never given your life to God before, but you would like to, I'm we're going to take a moment and just wait. I'm going to ask that if you would like to give your life to Jesus, I want you to raise your hand and just make eye contact with me so that I can see you. And we're just going to wait here for a moment and [music] we're just going to pause and let the Holy Spirit do it. Thank you. You can put your hand down. Sorry. Yeah. Thank you. We're just going to stay here. Raise your hand. Just make eye contact with me. We're just going to wait right now in this moment. Thank you, Jesus. Anyone else? Just want to encourage you. There's nothing better you can do. All right, we're all going to pray together. I I want to give you the encouragement too that sometimes we've we've [music] stepped away. Sometimes maybe we've we've walked away or we we've allowed ourselves to get comfortable in life. And maybe you're thinking, well, I've given my life to the Lord right now. And maybe what you're feeling is God also given you invitation just to come back into what pursuit looks like. Just to come back into his presence. And if you need [music] to do that today, that that is a beautiful thing to do as well. Just say, "King Jesus, I'm willing to pursue you again. I'm willing to come after you again. Can you all just repeat after me? Jesus, >> Jesus, >> I ask you to be Lord of my life. >> I ask you to be Lord of my life. >> I repent for my sins. >> I repent for my s >> I declare I need a savior. >> I declare I need a savior. >> And I give my life to you. >> And I give my life to you. >> I ask for you to wash me. >> I ask for you to wash me. >> White as snow. >> White as snow. >> To take away my shame and my guilt. >> To take away my shame and my guilt. >> And to bring me into your family. >> And to bring me into your family. I declare there is no one like you. >> I declare there is no one like you. >> And I invite your Holy Spirit >> and I invite your Holy Spirit >> to fill me. >> to fill. >> Thank you. Come on. Can we celebrate? >> Come on. [applause] >> Prayer teams are going to be up here on either side. Remember we have VBS. There's going to be uh Soozo and Holiness people in the back. U school is also going to be in the back. A lot of wonderful things. Prayer teams are coming up. if you raised your hand or if you want someone to pray with you this morning, there's going to be phenomenal people over here. I just want really want to hit that. Do not leave without getting prayer if you need prayer. There is nothing too small to take to the the feet of Jesus. Amen. >> Amen. >> Amen. >> Amen. You should be filled with joy in your heart right now. >> Yeah. And if you are a firsttime visitor today, um please go back to the guest table. You'll see Bro Juru there and he has a gift for you. Are you energized and ready for the week? >> Well, I had a little testimony, but I think I'm going to just move forward. So, Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for this service. I pray blessings upon every single individual in this place that they will go forth have a beautiful day and an awesome week. Thank you Lord in Jesus' name. Amen. And amen. uses the wonder [singing] [singing] you heal. Because you love [music] too good to not The mention of your name can raise the dead. Jesus is Jesus is the wonder. Mesopes will You're too good to not