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Foreign. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Thank you. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Good morning, First Church. Why don't we stand all over this house and begin to lift up the name of Jesus? [Music] Foreign. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Jesus. [Music] Foreign. [Music] [Music] [Music] Everybody says. [Music] [Applause] [Music] This is. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Everybody. [Music] Today. [Music] Foreign. [Music] [Music] [Music] Thank you. [Music] Jesus. Hallelujah. Just lift up your voice. I'm so thankful that we serve a covenant-keeping God. We worship you, Jesus, in this house. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Jesus. [Music] [Music] [Applause] Riders. [Music] [Music] [Applause] Foreign. [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] Doesn't matter. [Music] Foreign. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] Will not hurt me. I love sleeping, baby. [Music] Me more. Foreign. [Music] [Music] [Music] Thank you. [Music] Foreign. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Always. [Music] All right. [Music] You are coming in here. [Music] [Music] So I'm gonna tell you, He's still moving. He's still proving just how great He is. How great He is. Sing with me. [Music] We're here. [Music] [Music] Foreign. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Just how great He is. [Music] Baby. [Music] How great He is. Greatness. God is in this room. He knows where you are, what you're going through. I'm here to tell you right now that you, Jesus' name, He heals every circumstance, feels your pain, but you are not alone. [Music] Think about how He's a covenant-keeping God that's unfulfilled. We're gonna take a step of faith, and we're gonna believe for it, and we're gonna sing it out. We're gonna sing it over your situation. We're gonna. He can break the unbreakable. Do you believe? Yeah. [Music] All the glory and all the praise, Lord. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Let's just keep worshiping right now. Thank you for what You're doing, God. Thank you, Jesus. God, we still believe, God, that You can do the impossible. Thank you, Jesus. [Music] Nothing's impossible with my God. Hey. Hallelujah. They say this mountain can be moved. They say these chains will never break. But they don't know You like we do. There is power in Your name. [Music] Heard that there is no way through. We've heard the time will never change. They haven't seen what You can do. To Your name. So much. [Music] Can we believe? Yeah. [Music] [Applause] For there is. [Music] No matter. [Music] If you. [Music] Give. [Music] Us. [Music] America. Foreign. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] Can't we believe? God, we believe. [Music] [Music] Don't we believe? [Music] You've been planning for your miracles. I'm telling you, don't give up. [Music] I believe that you will do it. [Music] [Music] [Music] I believe. [Music] [Music] [Music] They're gonna put some needs on the board behind me. These are what we would call miracle opportunities. But I know that in this house, not even on this board, there are some people in this room right now who are, who are in prime position for a miracle. There's things in your life that just needs a miracle. There are situations that you're in right now that, that's not by your strength, not by your will, not by your might, but only by the power of God. And now we have an opportunity for a miracle. And so that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna press and we're gonna push. I remember probably a few years ago, Pastor was talking about concrete, and he said when he tried to break concrete, you take a sledgehammer and you smack the ground as hard as you can. And he said the first time, nothing happens to the concrete. Nothing changes. But he said, you do it again, you smack the ground as hard as you can. Nothing changes. And he said, at this point, this is what people tend to get discouraged by, by no evidence of anything breaking. But he says, it's the third time that you take that sledgehammer and you smack the concrete. Nothing breaks, but you hear something. It sounds a little bit different this time. And he says, it's on the fourth time you take that, you take that sledgehammer and just swing, and everything begins to crumble. Why? Because concrete breaks from the inside. For some situations in the room, God's trying to break something, but it starts from the inside. It starts without the evidence of what I can see. I've been praying for a long time, but God's breaking something in the middle of it, and you don't even see it. It's time for the church to take a moment and say, God, it's not my ability to crack, not mine. We'll do it right now. [Music] [Music] Hallelujah. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh my God. Keep pushing. [Music] Happens. [Music] [Music] All right. [Music] I believe. [Music] That you will do it right now. I believe. [Music] [Music] Right now in Your name. [Music] [Music] [Music] Every once in a while, God just picks us. Opens up a window into heaven. He says, whatever I need to do, I can do it right now. Right now. I believe that there's enough faith in this room for people to begin to break some things in their lives that's been there for far too long. And so sometimes you just need to pray a little bit different. Sometimes God's just waiting for you to act a little bit differently. Sometimes God's waiting for faith to respond in a different manner than you've ever done before. And so if you've got a need in this house, I want to invite you to the front. Not because if there's anything special up here, but there's special. There's something special in the act of faith, taking a step forward and saying, I believe that we're not moving. God's gonna meet me somewhere. And so if you need that, if you need something, if you need something in your mind, if you need something physical, if you need something in your spirit, God's here to heal you. There's only people praying, and I believe that God's breaking something. It's time for the church to reach out and say, God, whatever Your will is. [Music] Fall down. Come down. [Music] Everyone. Everywhere. [Music] Thank you. [Music] [Music] I believe. [Music] Do it. I believe. Me. [Music] [Music] To break. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Foreign. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Foreign. [Music] [Music] [Applause] Foreign. [Music] Foreign. [Music] [Music] Thank you. [Music] [Applause] Foreign. [Music] [Music] Foreign. [Music] Thank you. [Music] Foreign. [Music] Foreign. [Music] [Music] [Music] Foreign. [Music] Foreign. [Music] [Music] Let's just begin to worship God for what He's doing. In moments like this, we have no idea. We have no idea how far along into eternity moments like this reaches. But I believe that things have changed in eternity's viewpoint, man. And as we make our way back to our seats, let's put our hands together for all the guests in the house today. Thank you guys so much for coming out to First Church of Sterling Heights. I only have one announcement, but I can make that at the end of a, at the end of this video here. And so if you would all just pay attention to the screen behind me, we're gonna play an announcement video. Hello, First Church. My name is Jason, and here are some things that you need to know. [Music] First Church, we believe that life changes happen in the context of relationships, and that is why we're a church of Life Groups. Be sure to visit our website to find a Life Group that fits you. [Music] We also believe in serving. We know that God has given each of us unique gifts, and Growth Track is the way to find your gifts so that you can serve in the community and here at First Church. It takes place the third and fourth Sunday of every month. We love to say that prayer is our anchor. That is why we start each week out with Monday night prayer right here at 7 PM. If you've been here, you know how amazing it is, and if you have not been here, you won't regret it. We hope to see you at Monday night prayer. All right, uh, I have one special announcement for today. But as I make this announcement, I want to bring up Sister Hoffman. There she is. All right, before I hand the mic over to her, last week we had Mother's Day, and uh, we had a raffle for all the mothers that were in the house. They put their name into a, so big John, we drew it. And so I want to announce the winner of today's uh, basket or mother basket that is going to be Sheila Plastic. Let's put our hands together. [Applause] And she can pick it up. She can pick it up anytime, uh, anytime this week. We'll hand it to her if she's not in the house today. But let's put our hands together for Sister Hoffman, who has an announcement for us today as well. Well, we had a wonderful ladies' retreat this weekend, and I think there were over 50 women that attended, young and old. We had, we actually, Sister Bridget took a, uh, kind of a census of of the age groups, and we had representation equally of each age group, which was so wonderful. And so it was a great time of fellowship, and we want to encourage you next year, if you, if you want to attend and you can't afford, we're gonna start a sponsorship for those ladies that would like to attend and, uh, maybe the, you know, the fee would be a little bit of a hardship. We're gonna, because we want everybody to be able to join in, and we don't want finances to be the issue. But the reason I'm up here is because I want to honor Sister Bridget today. And [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Foreign. She had, she chose a wonderful team. I mean, I was so amazed. I'm telling you, as a pastor's wife, it was so wonderful. All I did was show up. Who gets to do that as a pastor's wife? Rarely. She took care of everything behind the scenes. And, um, so I want her to, you know, talk about her team and give a congratulations. Well, I did have a great team, and I definitely would not have been able to do it without them. Um, Bianca, you, you are so good at keeping everybody on track. I definitely, if any event you put on is excellent, and you, you have always been there for me. You helped in so many ways. Um, Charmaine, I think she might be in the nursery, but she is the one that did all of the gift baskets, all of the photo prop, and everything, and she just did an amazing job as well. Um, Sarah, I know Sarah's here somewhere. Okay, there's Sarah. She is, she is an amazing worship leader. She's, she's not done it before, and she stepped up, and she did an amazing job. And I'm looking forward to seeing more leading from you. And Sister Hoffman, she said she didn't do anything, but she really did. I wouldn't have been able to do it without her. She chose these speakers who were, who were wonderful, wonderful. They blessed us so much. I know I'm missing somebody. Laura, my sister-in-law, can't forget her. She took care of all the money. She did all of our food on Friday night, which was excellent. That's something I am terrible at. So, you know, I, I surround myself with people that do things I can. So I had a great, great team, and it was a great turnout, great success. So I'm excited for next year. Yeah. [Applause] [Music] All right. Excited for ladies' retreat next year, 2024. Uh, for now, the ushers can come to the front, and we're just gonna pray over the offering. If you would just bow your heads with me. In the name of Jesus, I thank You, God, for. I want You to. I'm asking You, God, to bless the giver. Every single dollar returned unto You. I'm asking You, God, to let it reach countries I've never been to before, impact families we don't have faces or names for, and to touch situations that only You can touch. In Jesus' name, amen. [Music] Foreign. [Music] [Music] Foreign. [Music] [Music] Foreign. [Music] Foreign. [Music] Good afternoon, everyone. [Applause] The lady that you're here, we've had a wonderful day. It's been a great week, and, uh, um, you know, it's been a wonderful time with the ladies. Appreciate all that was done to bring these women together and encourage them. I, we had a lot of men go to the church in Gaylord. The pastor contacted me this morning. He was, he was very, very grateful, and so am I. We, whatever, we're glad that we were able to serve. Made a massive difference in that church. So, uh, Draylen, Kelsey, and all, they've been on the road for two weeks. They're, they flew into town this morning and church this morning, and he's already been here. The first sir, I told him a moment ago, I said, you go home, get some rest. And he said, you, that would be okay. I said, oh yeah, that would be okay. And but God loving, just leaving in a couple days, and their tour goes on. Grateful for that. John and Talisha are ministering in Muskegon today. So keep them in your prayers. We have wonderful guests, Brother and Sister McKee from Steubenville, Ohio, who drove all the way up here. Honor that you're here. We're honored that you're here. Would you stand with me, please? In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers, not river, rivers, rivers of living water. My subject is, is there room in your life for a river? Is there room in your life for a river? God bless you. You may be seated. This is a picture of the most famous house in America. It's known as Fallingwater, designed by probably the most famous architect that's ever come out of America. His name is Frank Lloyd Wright. It was designed for a wealthy Pittsburgh businessman by the name of E.J. Kaufman. Kaufman owned a lot of land in Pennsylvania and would take his employees there on a company picnic. But in time, he wanted to build something for his family. He asked Wright to build him a cabin. Wright building a palace. Wright was a notorious procrastinator, and it seemed that he always worked best when he was in deep debt and he was out of time. And so Kaufman called him from Pittsburgh and said, I would like to come and see the elevations of the house. And, uh, Wright famously said, "Come on, EJ, we're all ready for you." Which stunned all of his apprentices because they knew there wasn't one line that had been drawn yet. But between Pittsburgh and Wisconsin, Wright drew these prints for this famous house. He had a fellowship there in a place called Taliesin in Wisconsin. Taliesin is an old Welsh word for shining brow. And he had all these young wannabe architects and apprentices around him. And they talked about how they just kept sharpening pencils and giving them to Wright, who drew all of the prints and the elevations for Fallingwater in three hours without a note. It stunned them because they realized he knew where every rock was. He, he knew how far he would have to go into the face of that cliff to cantilever those massive porches and floors for that house. But when Kaufman showed up, Wright stunned him with what is the real gem of the project. There was a rock in the middle of this river called Bear Run. Kaufman used to wait out with his family through that river. They'd sit on that rock and they'd have a picnic. To their absolute amazement, Wright ran the river right through their house. And there's a set of stairs on the bottom of that one porch where they were able to walk down and get on that rock that they had had all of those picnics on. It is considered an architectural masterpiece. I thought it was a great story because everywhere I look, I, I just see stories. I, I'm a weird kid. I look at things through the optics of the Bible, through the church. I just thought this was a great story about someone who ran a river right through the middle of the house. [Laughter] In 1984, the athletic shoe business was dominated by Converse. Converse shoes had 54% of the athletic market. They had guys like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Closest competitor to Converse was Adidas. Adidas had about a third, 29% of market share. And the caboose coming in last place was a small shoe company in Beaverton, Oregon, known as Nike, who were led by a very eccentric man named Phil Knight. I heard this story about a man named Sonny Vaccaro. Sonny Vaccaro was the marketing director for Nike, and it was his job to find three basketball players, and he had a $250,000 budget. It was going to spread out that $250,000 between those three men. That was going to be their promo for the year. Those were going to be the fellas that they would try to recruit to wear their shoes. And all of that changed when Sonny Vaccaro saw the clip of the 1982 NCAA Championship game. In 1982, North Carolina was in the championship game with Georgetown. And, um, Sonny Vaccaro kept watching this clip again and again and again. Watch this right here. Watch. That's Michael Jordan right there. What? He's 18 years old. Watch this. Bam! There's 14 seconds left to go. North Carolina was coached by a man named Dean Smith. Dean Smith had a reputation of always being a bridesmaid and never a bride. He had been to the championship game three times and lost every time. This is the seventh game of the championship series. They've, they've got famous players on North Carolina. And, uh, it's when Sonny Vaccaro kept watching this clip. It's stunning to realize this play is designed for Michael Jordan. It's the last play of the last game, and possibly the last championship that Dean Smith will ever coach. And yet Dean Smith trusted an 18-year-old kid with that shot. They had a famous man named James Worthy, who went on to a very, very illustrious NBA career. When Sonny Vaccaro saw this kid from Wilmington, North Carolina, just so casually make that shot under that much pressure, under those kind of duress, he realized, "I am looking at something really special here." And so Sonny Vaccaro, through all rules to the wind, and he did something you're never supposed to do. He went to Michael Jordan's house. It's always supposed to go through the agents. He went from Oregon, flew, and got a car and drove to Jordan's house and talked and met his mom and dad, but most importantly, met his mother, the power broker behind the throne. Her name was Dolores. When he came into her yard, she said, "You know, this is very arrogant of you to come into our, up to our house unannounced. To just, don't you realize how rude this is?" And he said, "Mrs. Jordan, I think your son should be represented by somebody who's not willing to ever take no for an answer." And when he said that, it's thunder. And she said, "Well, actions always meant more to me than words. I'll give you a few minutes. What do you want to say?" And he said, "Mr. Jordan, I think you're the only person in the world that really understands how great your boy is going to be. And I'm asking you." She said, "You know, Michael's going to go with Adidas. And if Adidas can't give him the right offer, his second choice is Converse." He said, "I know that we're not even considered, but he said, I'm asking you to bring your son and your husband to Oregon and listen to what I have to say." So when Sonny Vaccaro went back to Beaverton, his boss, Phil Knight, was furious that he had gone to North Carolina without his blessing, and he was going to fire him. Knight said years later, "I decided to go for a run. And when I came back to my office, I called Sonny Vaccaro in my office, who expected to be fired." And he said, "What do we got to lose? I'm authorizing you to give Michael Jordan all the money, $250,000. Don't spread it out between three guys. Never done this before. Like you to offer all of it to Michael Jordan." So Sonny Vaccaro went down to the design department with an amazing guy named Pete Moore. [Music] He simply asked Pete, he said, "I want you to design the greatest basketball shoe that's ever been made." Mr. Moore told him, "Humans have been wearing shoes for thousands of years, and the design has substantially changed once. When they made a difference between right shoes and left shoes, and they did that 600 years ago. You want the greatest basketball shoe of all time? How long do I have?" He said, "Till Monday," which was three days away. Pete Moore came up with a masterpiece. These are a picture of Michael Jordan shoes that were worn as first game of the Chicago Bulls. They sold in May of 2020 for $674,000. A revolution was created with these shoes. The NBA had a rule that 50% of the shoe had to be white, of which this one isn't. For every game Michael Jordan would wear these shoes, the NBA would fine them $5,000. And Phil Knight said, "Who cares? That's great advertisement. We'll pay. We'll pay the fine." When Michael Jordan and his mom and dad came to Beaverton, Sonny Vaccaro said this to him, "Michael, you were cut from your high school basketball team. You have willed your way to the NBA. You're going to win championships. It's an American story, and all Americans are going to love it. You're going to change the world. But you know that once America has built you as high as they possibly can, they're going to tear you down. It's the most predictable pattern in this country. And the only way to combat this, Michael, is you're going to have to be willing to be that guy that they revere 100% of the time. This is the way it works. You're going to be exalted, and then you're going to be attacked, betrayed, exposed. Can you survive that? In that moment when you're truly alone, who will you be? Because Michael, your shoe is just a shoe until someone steps into it, and then it has meaning. Not meaning for you, meaning for the rest of us. You see, we just want to touch your greatness. We want you in Nike shoes, Michael, not so you have meaning in your life, but that we can have meaning in ours. And everyone at this table is going to die and be forgotten, but not you. You're going to be remembered for a long time, Michael Jordan, because there are some things that are eternal, because your story is going to make us all want to fly." They left, and three days later, to the astonishment of the sports world, Michael's mom said, "We are willing to take Mikey's offer under one condition: Michael gets a percentage of every pair of shoes that you sell with his name." Never been done before. Supposed to give him $250,000. He's happy with that. They make the shoes, they make the money. That's not what the Lord has said. The Lord said, "You know, and I know my boy is going to be the greatest ball player of all time. My boy gets a percentage of every pair of shoes that are sold." Phil Knight said, "Well, so what? The best we can probably do is sell $3 million worth of them shoes the first year." Nike sold $162 million worth of Air Jordans in eight months. Today, Michael Jordan is, of course, the most famous sports figure in the world. He's worth over a billion dollars. His passive income from these shoes right now stands at $400 million. If you had a pair of first-generation Jordans right now, depending on the condition, they'd be worth $25,000. Now, I'm not here to just give you a lecture on architecture or turn you into sneakerheads. It stunned me a while ago to realize that the Bible begins with a river and two trees. Genesis chapter 2. That's the very same story that the Bible ends with in Revelation chapter 22. It said there was a river, and on either side of the river was the Tree of Life. It had fruit would be born every month, and it said there were healing leaves. I knew I was on to something. Bible begins with the story of a river and two trees. It ends with the story of a river and two trees. But then I really got excited when I found Ezekiel 47. Because right smack dab in the middle of the Bible is the story of water that's coming out of the house of God. First, it was to the ankles, and then Ezekiel kept waiting, and it was to his knees, and then he kept waiting, and it was up to his waist, his loins, and then he said, "I couldn't touch bottom. It was a river that I couldn't pass over." If you keep on reading, it says in Ezekiel 47 and 12, "And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed, because it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because of the water that issued out of the sanctuary." And the fruit's going to be for meat, and the leaf's going to be for medicine. One verse says you could meet the fruit. It doesn't mean you couldn't eat it. It means you couldn't eat it all. Because here in Michigan, apple trees have apples once a year, and grapes are on the vine once a year that you can pick. But these are very special trees. You can have a harvest every month here, and every month it's a different kind of fruit. And not only is this tree amazing because of the fruit that it produces, the leaves on these trees can heal nations. So I'm fascinated for years, as you know, with Isaiah 61, which is the first sermon that Jesus Christ ever preached, is found in Luke chapter 4. It goes something like this: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He anointed me to preach to the meek, bind up the brokenhearted, liberty to the captives, opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, and to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, you've got ashes, He'll give you beauty. You have mourning, He'll give you the oil of joy, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called Trees of Righteousness, planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified." I knew I was on to something. It begins with a river and two trees. It ends with a river and two trees. Right smack dab in the Bible, river and two trees. First sermon Jesus ever preached talked about these Trees of Righteousness. And then I remembered this: "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of the sinner, nor sitteth in the seat of the scorner. But his law, his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law does he meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of living water, his leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth is going to prosper." Ladies and gentlemen, we're supposed to be the trees. And in order to have these kind of trees and to bear this kind of fruit and have these healing leaves, there are two things that are required. Number one is righteousness. Righteousness. Trees of Righteousness. My father-in-law made something very simple to me. He said, "What is righteousness, Harold?" And I, I didn't know how to answer that. He said, "I'll tell you what I think it is. It's just doing what's right. Just doing what's right." Do you believe there's a God? Do you believe His saving name is Jesus? They that come to Him must believe that He is, and then He's a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. I'm telling you, ladies and gentlemen, you can study every civilization this world has ever known, and everybody knows you're not supposed to murder. Everybody knows you don't mess with somebody else's wife. Everybody knows you don't steal and take stuff that's not yours. Everybody knows you're not supposed to lie. Everybody knows you honor your mom and dad. Those are non-optional principles that are hardwired into the spirit of every man and every woman that has ever walked on this Earth. Are you righteous? Are you doing what's right? I know we say perfection is not attainable, but let me tell you what the Bible said. If you don't offend in word or deed, the same as a perfect man. I'm telling you, it is possible to lay your head down at night and say, "I did it right today. I didn't offend one person. I didn't say one thing beneath the dignity of someone who would dare to call themselves a child of God." My words were good. My actions were good. I was perfect today. Now, I know it says, "If you say you don't have sin, you're a liar, and the truth isn't in you." But I'll be honest with you, there's a place I've, I, I know there's a verse in the Bible said, "His ways aren't our ways, and His thoughts aren't our thoughts." But this is what Paul said, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." I'm telling you, it is possible to see it His way. It is possible to think like He thinks. The Bible said, "Israel knew what God did. Israel knew His acts, but Moses knew His ways." Israel was at least smart enough to realize God was on their side, but they had no idea what was going on and how that occurred. But Moses understood. Hands up, we win. Hands down, we lose. He understood God's ways. I'm appealing to you today because we've got to be the trees. This, this world is sick. I don't know what 666 means, but I do know this: this world is sick, sick, sick. When it comes time and walking with the Lord, am I preaching to anybody here today that you're just sick and tired of being sick and tired? Haha! Because it's not enough just to be righteous. You got to live by a river, not a mud puddle, not a pond, not some shallow, tepid spring. "The streams were made glad, the people of God." It does exist now. You might have never experienced it, and you might have never had a taste of it, but I'm telling you, that doesn't negate the fact that it doesn't exist. It's there. It's available to us. We can access this thing. But if you notice Ezekiel's story, that it's to the ankles, and then the knees, and then the loins, and then you can't touch bottom. I think it's a great picture of of walking with the Lord. I, I, I, I think the deeper you get in this thing, the less of you and me is going to be seen. And there is a place. You see, there's three arks in the Bible. First of all, there's the Ark of Noah, and then there's Jochebed's ark that she put baby Moses in, and then there's the Ark of the Covenant. Let me tell you what I learned about Noah's Noah's Ark a long time ago. There's no sail, there's no rudder, there's no steering wheel. That ark, like all of the other arks in the Bible, were totally at the will and the whim of the current. As long as you can touch bottom, sir, you're in charge. As long as you can dig your toes, lady, in the dirt and the dust and the gravel by the side, you're, you're in charge. I'm preaching to somebody here today that I'm hoping that you're willing to get out there where you can't touch bottom anymore, and you're willing to let the river take us where we need to go. Where do we need to go? Praise God. Praise God. [Applause] Do you have, do you have place in your life for a river? You have it there. It's the room in your life for a river. I'm not talking about something modest. I'm not, I think why'd you tell us that story of that house? Are you, are you willing to let the Lord run right smack dab through the middle of your life? This is what Joseph said. I had a vision, and I was, I was the chief in the middle, but all the other chiefs were around me bowing down to me. And I was, I was the planet in the middle, and Daddy, you were the sun, and Mom, you were the moon, and all the rest of you boys were stars, but you were in orbit around me. I was the center of the universe. It's a picture of Jesus Christ. I think Joseph is the greatest Old Testament example of Jesus Christ because the Bible said, "And unto Him shall be the gathering together of the people be." Because all the way from the beginning, you read that Bible, it says that He was the one that dwelled between the cherubims. Ezekiel tells a mystical thing known as a wheel in the middle of a wheel. Some people think it's a gyroscope. I just, I don't understand all that. It's the wheel in the middle of the wheel. It doesn't surprise me that Jesus was flanked by thieves, and He was on the middle cross. I can do this again and again and again. I'm telling you, this thing only works if Jesus is in the middle. He can't be on the edge. He can't be on the periphery. You got to be able to willing to let Him flow right smack dab through the middle of your life. Every thought, every dream, every fear, every inhibition, every aspiration. Are you willing to put that on an altar and say, "God, see, try me. See if there's any wicked thing in me. Discard what You will. Renovate what You can. But oh Lord, I want to be a vessel that You can flow through. I have room in my life for a river." I want that thing to do. The Bible said, "Freely you have received, freely give away." It's like tithing. God didn't give you that money to hoard it. God didn't give you that money to build a bigger barn. If your barn's full, great. I rejoice with you. Don't build a bigger barn. Have a full barn and give the rest of it away. I want to know why it is. I, for years, I've had people, Lord, Pastor, priest, pray for me that God will bless me. I'm in trouble with money. I'm in trouble with money. And we pray, and God blesses them, and they quit praying. I think you need to pray as much when you get the money as you did before you ever got it. [Applause] Here right now, I'm telling you, ladies and gentlemen, I think He wants to be right smack dab in the middle of our lives. I want to. I want us to be the Sonny Vaccaros of Pentecostal. Look at the Lord and see something great. Other people might not see it, but I want First Church people to see it. I want them to realize we got to sell everything we got and give everything to Him. We, we're putting our eggs in His basket. Dear Jesus, I believe that You can touch this city. I believe that You can have a revival in this church and a harvest in this community. [Applause] I don't think it's by chance that Michigan is a hand. But Michigan is not a closed fist. Michigan is an open hand. And so this church is not going to ever be the Church of the clinch fist, but of an open hand. Freely He gives. Freely He gives away. [Applause] Oh, my Monet, did I say unto you, you must be born again? Because He said, I'm telling you, boy, out of your belly, out of your belly, you're gonna flow rivers, rivers. Whoever is going to drink of the water that I shall give shall never ever thirst again. Jesus' name. Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. We've sung. We've had an altar service. Stand with me, and let's worship for a while. Come with me around this altar. I know this is, whatever, what they used to call them movies, just years ago, when you got two movies in one day. I forget what they, I never did matinee. This is a matinee, okay? We already had an altar service. We're gonna have a matinee. Let's come up here again. Amen. I'm appealing to you. I want you to believe. We did. Now, I could be wrong, but I don't think so. Pentecost has been my life for many, many, many years. To my knowledge, we returned the largest cash offering in the history of this entire movement. This movement's been around since 1945. That's, whatever, 55, close to 78 years now. First Church gave the Lord. We don't have independently wealthy people in this church. I had a man, I was standing in the drugstore, as I do, I talk with people. Here's an old gentleman in front of me, and he was, as far as I was concerned, taking too much time. And I said, "Would you please get out of the way? I gotta, I gotta buy this toothpaste and go home." He laughed at me and moved off the side, and he said, "Oh, well, I need a newspaper." And I said, "No, no, you stay there. I'll pay for your newspaper." And I put a couple bucks down and bought him a newspaper. And I said, "There." He pushed me out of the way and said, "Give me two of them lottery tickets." That lady pulled up two of them lottery tickets, and he paid for them and gave them to him. He said, "I wish you win. I hope you win, boy." And boy, did I hope I win. And I was, honest to goodness, I didn't tell nobody. I was down in my basement, man, when them numbers came. The first number, we hit it. Second number, we hit it. The third number, we hit it. And I'm going, "Oh, baby!" Because I had already made a covenant with the Lord. "I won't keep a dime of them. I won't keep it down. I'll build a new temple. We'll give millions to missions. We'll build churches all over the world." I promised You, God, I won't keep it down. [Music] But the next morning, someone called me from Australia and said, "I have a word from the Lord for you. If you would have won, you would have got all the glory. God doesn't want one person to build this temple. God intends for everybody to have a part in the blessing." I can tell you story after story after story, but I, I really truly believe, ladies and gentlemen, we are perfectly positioned to do something amazing. Can you see that in your God? You know, is He just some stupid cross around your neck? I see people do this all the time. It's like, "I'll cut it out for goodness sakes. It's just, cut that foolishness out. Get Him in the middle of your heart. Don't just dangle them around your neck like some, some piece of cheap jewelry." I've seen it in Pentecost. Pentecost can become a habit. It can be a weekend pastime. I'm, I'm looking for people that are willing to sell out. I'm looking for people that every day of the week, you're just on, on notice. God, lead me to hungry people. Guide me to hungry people. I believe You're great. I really do. I see something in You, Jesus. Other people may, may just consider You one of many, but not me, man. I, I see You. I see You. The Mighty God in Christ. The Lord Almighty. Omnipotent. Reign. Amen. I want us to look at Jesus the same way that guy looked at an 18-year-old kid years ago and realized something that nobody else realized. Wow. Wow. Because just like so many people want to wear a pair of Michael Jordan shoes, they're never going to dribble like him. They're never going to shoot like him. They're never going to fly like him. But I can have a pair of Michael's shoes. Do you realize you and I have the, the honor, the privilege of having the Spirit of the Mighty God in us? You realize what we have access to? What He has invited us to share with? Praise God. Praise God. We're gonna sing worship for a while. In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. [Music] Three trees. [Music] Come on. Your love. I love you. [Music] [Music] It is. [Music] Please. [Music] [Music] [Music] Holy Spirit. [Music] [Music] Like. Foreign. [Music] [Music] [Music] Things. [Music] Jesus' name. [Music] Praise God. [Music] I've already mentioned, we have a very special guest here, the McKees from Steubenville. I got a call from them. His name is Urson. He wants the Holy Ghost, and he said, "I'm not just coming Sunday. I'm sticking around, and I'm going to that Monday night prayer meeting because I want that Holy Ghost." [Music] I want you to spend the rest of this day, and I want you to keep Urson McKee in your prayers. And tomorrow night, we're gonna believe God's gonna fill him with the Holy Ghost in this prayer. [Music] In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. I don't know about you, but I hitched my wagon to a star when Jesus came into my life. I am nobody from nowhere. I'm like David. The Bible said he was in, and God brought him from the sheepcoat. That means he was on the back 40 acres of the farm. That's me. God found me. Led my life. I've been able to have so many grand and great experiences in Jesus' name. Lord Jesus, I thank You for this week. I thank You for every woman that's been encouraged. I thank You for every nail that's been driven, every gallon of drywall mud that's been splashed on that wall. I thank You for all of the screws that have been put in place, all of the effort that's been made to bless other churches. I ask You, God, right now that You'll be with John and Talisha. I pray for Draylen and the team as they leave again this week to finish their tour. I pray for Lanai Steinke in Paraguay right now, Lord Jesus. And I'm believing You to keep that precious girl inspired and encouraged and be used her mightily. And if she does, and when she does come back, I want her, God, to share with us what she saw You do. We're gonna leave this place now, but we're not leaving God without a witness and without a desire because we believe church is something that you go from and not just something that you come to. So we leave this place right now to minister. Give us favor, Lord, with that girl that's going to wait on us in the Rachel Ray restaurant. Give us favor, Lord, with those people that we need. Let us be a great witness. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. [Music] I love you all. Thank you so much for being here today. All of our guests online, we love you and thank you for your continued support and prayers and encouragement until I mean. [Music] Thank you. [Music]