Transcription
[Music] hey face church hello hello rpc west palm online hello sunset hills oh my gosh you guys look good you can be seated.
You know, I've been thinking about 2020 and I have been looking at some memes. Have y'all been checking the memes on Instagram about 2020? Uh, did you post any memes about 2020 and COVID and what it looks like? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't post this first one, but I saw this first one a lot. Tell me if you saw it when it comes up. Has anybody seen this one about how 2020 is just melting away like the Wicked Witch of the West in Wizard of Oz?
The second one I actually posted. I want to see if you posted it. It was about April Fool's Day. "April Fool's Day is canceled. Instead, we're celebrating March 286th." This whole year has been a joke. Did anybody post this one or see it? Say amen.
And the next one, the next one says, "Hey Monday, there's no gatherings of more than 500. Tuesday, no more gatherings more than 50. Wednesday, no gatherings of more than 10. Thursday, don't come within six feet of anybody. Friday, this is the rest of 2020." The floor is melting and turning into lava. Yeah.
And then just one more. Who's seen all of these picture memes? "My plan and what 2020 turned out to be." Does anybody feel that way? If you feel that way, say amen.
You know, and that's exactly why the Lord spoke to me. I loved it. I was sitting on my front porch and I was reading and praying, and God brought to me a scripture that I thought I knew. And that's why study's so important because a lot of times we think we know things, but then as we start to dive into it, we realize, "I don't know that so much at all."
Ephesians 4 verse 30. It says, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." A lot of people have heard that scripture before. If you've heard that scripture somewhere before, you can't quote it or anything, but like, you, you think you've heard it before, go ahead and raise your hand. Say, "Me. I think I've heard that scripture a lot. I think I have it memorized."
But then I read it in another translation, and in the Passion Translation, it says, "The Holy Spirit of God has sealed you. Say, 'That's me,' and Jesus Christ until you experienced your full salvation. So never grieve the Spirit of God or take for granted His influence in your life."
And then if you start studying that out from that scripture in the Aramaic, the Aramaic says, "You know, actually, a lot of manuscripts say, 'Do not grieve.' But 'do not grieve' is not the literal translation of the Aramaic word that is there. The Aramaic word that is there doesn't say, 'Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.' It says, 'Do not limit the scope of who God is in your life because that will grieve Him.'"
Okay, so that freaked me out because when I was always like, "Do not, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God," I'm like, "I don't use the Holy Ghost name in vain. I don't like, blaspheme the Holy Ghost. I'm not grieving the Holy Ghost like I sin. Anybody else sin like I said, but I'm not like a desperate, terrible spiritual sinner. So I don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God like that, right?"
And then I read this and it said, "Do not limit the scope of who God is in your life." Regardless of COVID, regardless of what's going on in the world, regardless of hate, hate crimes, no matter what's happening, no matter how it hurts, no matter the pain, no matter the diagnosis from the doctor, no matter if you've been furloughed, no matter if you got an eviction notice, no matter if they said they were going to leave you, no matter if they said they were going to betray you, no matter about if they're talking about behind your back, do not limit what God is going to do in your life.
I want you to turn to a neighbor right now and say, "I don't limit God's favor on my life." Turn to another and say, "I don't limit God's blessing on my life." Turn to one more person, say, "I don't limit God's healing on my life."
So I brought this box with me because I think a lot of time we put God in a box. Matter of fact, there was this guy, his name's Rod Esther. And Rod Esther was probably 80 years old when we started, right back in the day, 16 years ago. Rod is in heaven today, but Rod would tell us all the time, "Pastor David, Pastor Nicole, I've been praying. You know what God told me about you? God told me to tell you, 'Get out of the box.'"
So it started all the way back at the heart of Saint Charles, and we were looking for a building and we needed to find somewhere to have church, and we couldn't find a building. And their city building that we're at today, that's too big, that's too expensive, it's too nice for us. And Rod will come up to us and say, "God says, 'Get out of the box.' God said, 'Get out of the box.'" We bought their city building. Rod said, "You did it." We moved in. Rod said, "You did it."
About two months later, Rod came up and said, "Hey, I've been praying. Guess what God told me?" God told me to tell you too. I wonder how many times we've walked by faith, gotten our blessing, and then decided, "Okay, I've already done it. I could, I believe that God could do this, but there's this other thing that I don't think God could do."
So here we go. We started believing God and we started go talking about Florida. And Rod said, "I know you're talking about Florida, but I think you're supposed to get out of the box." So then Weldon Spring popped up, and we thought, "We can't buy another building in St. Louis before we buy a building in Florida." I ran into Rod Esther in the lobby. He said, "Golly gee, I've been praying. And you know what God told me?"
The problem is, we think that God is limited. We put God in a box. You guys ever seen the show Friends? You ever seen the episode where like Chandler walks down the steps behind the sofa? So we put God in the box, walking down the steps into the box. Need an elevator in this box, going down. This box is not big enough for me. I'm a big person in a little box. But isn't that how it is with God? God is this big person, we're trying to shove him down in some kind of box. And I'm like, "Well, for me to fit in this box, I think I have to contort in ways that..." Excuse me, I'm in here. Pinky promise. A pinky promise. I'm in here, but I can't stay in here too long because it is not comfortable.
How many of you know if I try and preach this message in this box, you're going to get bored? You can't see me. There's nothing to look at. You're going to start looking at something else. Well, no wonder we get bored with God. We've put them in a stinking box. We've closed the box. Matter of fact, we've closed it with like, "God, you need to get in there because this is what you're allowed to touch in my life. This is what you're allowed to do in my life. This is where you're allowed to be in my life. I really don't need you touching those other things." So we put them in the box, and then we sit on the box, and then we say things like, "Hey God, where ya at? Man, I mean, I need to, I need you in my life. I need you to move. God, you could come out on this one if you wanted." God's like, "You're sitting on the box."
There's ways that we limit God. Everybody say, "There's ways." Man, and this is something I would tear up in my circle of friends. We would go so deep on this, but I got like 28 minutes left to give you the rest of this message.
So one way is beliefs and traditions. For my note-takers, my Twitter people, for my people who make the cute stuff on Instagram, what is the way that we limit God? We limit God with our beliefs and our traditions. God tried to get out of the box with that when he was, uh, in John 11 with Lazarus. I love it. In John 11, it's verses 38 through 44, where the story of Lazarus is dead, and Jesus doesn't show up. Actually, Lazarus is sick, and Jesus has all kinds of time to get there, but he purposefully waits. He waits one day. He's only like in a couple mile journey. He waits two days. He could have walked there in like an hour. He waits three days. Why is God taking so long to move in the life? He waits four days. Then he gets there. In verse 39, Martha comes to him and says, "Jesus, I know you asked this, like, 'Take the stone away,' and you won't go see Lazarus, and you, you miss my brother and all, but okay, he stinks. He's been dead four days. You do not want to go in there."
What parts of our life are we telling God he can't touch because it's too dead? For the almighty God, you can't touch that relationship. I'm telling you, it is over. No, God, I can tell you, I am not going back to that trip. God, I tell you what, I am not going to stay at that job. God, there is no way I'm staying with that man. God, you just, you can't touch that. Finances, God, I'm in the red. They're kicking me. What are you telling God that he can't do because it stinks? God, this stinks. Have you seen what is happening on social media? Jesus, have you seen what they're doing to people? It stinks. God says, "My hand is not shortened that I cannot touch the whole world at one time." Come on, somebody. Do you believe Him today?
[Applause]
Well, there's another place we limit God. We put God in a box about our natural solutions. You like the woman with the issue of blood. They tell her story in three accounts in the Bible. One of them's in Mark 5. It says she spent all her money on the doctors. She'd been doing it for 12 years. 12 years she goes to the doctor's office, she waits. She doesn't have an insurance, and they don't have Medicaid back in the day. So she's shelling out everything she's got, and she's got this issue of blood. It keeps her away from other people.
I have a question for you today. What prescription did they give you that they told you you're going to be on the rest of your life? What diagnosis did they give you? Say, "Well, once we diagnose you with with diabetes, and once you go on the insulin shots, or once you go on the hormones, once you go on the thyroid medication, you know, you know, once we remove this part of your body, you're never gonna..." There is no "never" with God, y'all. There is no "never" with God.
You need to turn to your neighbor right now and say, "There is no never with God." God is bigger. God is greater. God is able. God is willing. God is the same. Jesus said, "I am the same yesterday, today, and forever." He can go back to before they removed that thing. Did you know that you can grow a new organ in your body? Did you know that you can develop a new heart pump? Did you know that a womb can conceive that they said would never conceive? Sure enough, 12 years she says, "I know they put me in this box. I know they told me I can't be around people, but you know what? I have the guts to believe that God is bigger than the people who are going to stone me if they find me out in public. I know God's been hiding in this box for 12 years, but you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go in the box and find them. God, where are you at? I need a healing. Jesus, where are you at?"
I'll put a towel over me. I'll risk jail. I'm gonna pursue you. I'm coming looking for you. And you know what? All she had to do was touch Him. When's the last time you touched Jesus in your prayer time? "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It's been 29 days since my last confession. God, I ate some cookies, I yelled at my kids, and I, I went, I went speeding. So please forgive me and bless my family, bless my house, bless my kids, bless my finances in Jesus' name. Amen." That is not prayer.
When's the last time you just started walking around your living room and you said, "Jesus, I don't know what you want, but I know whatever it is, that's what I want. And I've got some clues to what you want, Jesus, because you said you want to bless me. You said you want to heal me. You said you want to use me. You said you want to flow through me. You said you want me so blessed that I could be a blessing. God, show me what you want me to do. God, you are worthy. You are able. God, it doesn't matter what I see in front of me in my life. This I know, that you are my God. You are mighty to save. You are strong and you are able. You are conqueror and you creator. You are mighty and magnificent God. I don't have to look to the right or the left. I look to the hills from which cometh my health, and that is where my God is. And I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." Somebody praise Him right now.
But we get tired. We get tired of walking around our living room like, "Well, I prayed. I prayed for six whole days." It reminds me of Jericho and Joshua 6. Isn't it interesting that in Joshua 6, they focus on a six-day walk? Got to walk around that thing for six days. They got to look at their problem. It's huge. They got to walk around it, and it's a problem, and they're not allowed to say a word. He said, "I need you to walk around your problem in silence because I can't trust you to open your pothole, right? Because if we open this thing, it's good to put things in. We can eat the pie with it. But if we know that he knows, if we open it, the complaining comes out, and doubt will stop the blessing. He knows the complaint will comes out, and then we go around the mountain one more time. He needs to know that we trust Him. He needs to know that we're walking in faith. He needs to know that we're listening to Him. He needs to know that we'll obey Him, right? The willing and obedient will eat the good of the land."
So you might be thinking, "But I've been walking around at six days." Well, Pastor, it hasn't been six days for me. It's been six weeks. Have you noticed how long COVID is? Oh, have you noticed how long COVID is? No, it hasn't been six weeks. It's been six months. Well, I could have probably done it for six weeks or six months, but you know, you don't understand. This has been six years that I've been dealing with this issue. That other lady dealt with it for 12. Oh, but it's been six decades? No.
I just want to know, do you think that God is bigger than your issue, even if you've been dealing it with it for six decades? And are you able to shut the complaining, shut off the doubt, shut off the voice of the enemy, and say, "Yea, though they slay me, God, here I am, walking in faith. Here I am, trusting You. I'm looking at the calendar, thinking any day now, any minute now, any moment now, God. I was walking, but now I'll run. You said just six times, God. Can you do it?" And watch nothing change. I still believe He's bigger.
And then on the seventh day, get this. Sit down. Sit down. And I said, "Honey, taking my time." Up on the seventh day, He asks them to do more. He said, "Hey, you've had to walk this thing out once a day for six days, six weeks, six months, six years, six decades. But on seven, you've got to do it seven times." You see, about the time we want to give, and He asks us to present, and when it looks like nothing has changed, and God presses on your heart, are you going to do it? It takes a lot of faith, but we get a lot of blessing. We get a lot of blessing.
You might be thinking, "I don't know if I can do that." I know. So banner year. How many people have jubilee banner year hopes and dreams that have not yet come to pass? Say amen. Have you given up on those dreams? That's my faith church. You know, so I had one. I was starting to give up on just because I started doing the math on my miracle. See, this is my banner year. This is my jubilee. And I have been believing for years that this is the year that I would have a grandbaby. And if I'm gonna have a baby in 2020, I needed, see, somebody to get pregnant like April of last year through like February of this year, right? And so time was ticking and time was clicking and things were happening. And January's happened, last year happened, January, February happened, March happened, April happened. And I started looking at my husband and I said, "Well, you know, I thought this was our better year, jubilee, but I guess God has a blessing for us next year." And right about that time that I gave up. Well, I didn't all the way give up. I was hanging on like by a pinky. Any, anybody hanging on by a pinky on some of your faith today? I'm hoping to take you from a pinky to a finger. I'm hoping to unclench the rest of your hand. I'm hoping to get the rest of that hand open. And I'm letting you know in November of this year, y'all are gonna see my grandbaby. I thought it was too late, but God said, "No, just watch me work." If you gotta hold on by a pinky, don't let that pinky go. Know that God is bigger than your pinky, and your strength and your power comes from Him. And God never fails. He never fails.
But a lot of it depends on us because a lot of us, we think, "Okay, we can't break this thing. We can't do this thing." And God is the chain breaker. The anointing of the Lord, it breaks the yoke of bondage. And God doesn't need you to break it for just you. God needs you to break it for other people too.
So there was this thing with the minute mile. I need two people to come on the stage with me. Two people. You think you're kind of quick, you're kind of fast. Come on up here for a second. Come on over here for a second. Come out here. Okay, what shoes you got on, Riri? Let's see what you got here. Okay, you might have to go shoeless. I'm gonna call you Shoeless Joe Jackson. I'm gonna put KBN. Come here, KBN. And Riri. Come here, KBN. And Riri. Come stand right here. And we're gonna have a race. So we're gonna need to go to a wide shot. You guys stay here for a second. I'm gonna come here. Let's see. Can we do that? All right. And I want to see who can reach me first. Are you ready? On your mark. Get set. Go!
Who do you guys think won? Who do you think? About KBN. KBN. [Applause] [Music] Did they do good? Now, as fast as y'all were, can either one of you run a four-minute mile? No. A four-minute? No. Not now. Not now. Most people can't ever run a four-minute mile. Matter of fact, for years and years and years, people tried to break that four-minute barrier. Nobody could break the four-minute barrier. They trained, they tried, they ran, they pressed, they pushed. And so one day, finally, there's this guy, his name is Roger Bannister. He ran a mile in three minutes and 59 seconds. First man in history. And it wasn't about a couple decades ago. You, you think he still holds the record, don't you? I mean, it was so hard to do it. He held that record for a long time, right? No. Once he broke the limit, once you break that faith lid, once you break that barrier in your life, once you break that thing, you can break it. Not just for you. You can break it for your generation. You can break it for your family. You can break it for your neighborhood. You can break it for your city. You can break it for your church. You can break it for your country. You can break it for your county. You can break it for your school. You can break it for your business. He held that record for 46 days. All it took was 46 days. All of history, nobody could break that record. But John Landy, an Australian. God, because I love doing an Australian accent. So John Landy came up right behind that little Randy boy and he ran fast. And in 46 days, he broke the record. When you let God, everybody say, "Let God break the limits." Say, "He can do it." When you let God break the limits of faith in your life, you're going to be punching past those things. Because a lot of times, all it takes is faith.
So there was this guy. There was this businessman, and he was walking in Central Park. And as he was walking, he was really contemplating a lot of very serious things, all the way contemplating to suicide because his business was going so bad. He was getting ready to lose everything. He got an eviction notice on the office. He got an eviction notice on the house. And so he's walking, he's trying to think, he's trying to figure it out. He goes and he sits on a bench. He's not there very long, and an old guy comes and sits next to him. Real classy-looking dude, classy suit. And the guy says, "It looks like something's going on in your life." So the young business guy starts telling him everything that's happening. He's like, "Oh, you're never going to believe this, and I don't really think we're going to fail." He goes, "Well, what's your business plan?" He starts telling him what he's doing. He's like, "What's your product?" He tells him. He's like, "What's your marketing plan?" He tells him. And he pulls a checkbook out of his pocket and starts writing. He said, "Here's the thing." He takes the check and folds it in half and holds it to him. And he says, "All you really need is a little bit of money. This is going to get you through your problems, and I believe your business is going to turn around. And if it does, one year from today, meet me back on this park bench and pay me back." Hands him the check, folds it in half, and walks away.
The guy's just so dumbfounded. He doesn't even open the check for like two or three minutes. He's just like, "I don't know why this guy would believe in me. I don't know why this guy would do this for me. Could this even be real? Is this even enough money to cover my problems?" And he opens up the check, and the check is for $500,000 from John D. Rockefeller. He's like, "This check is good." Yes, yes.
So he goes back to the office and he gets really busy. He's so excited. He's telling everybody what happened. He's like, "We gotta have a meeting. We gotta pull things together. Put the check in the safe. I'll put it in the bank tomorrow." Well, tomorrow turned into the next day, turned into the next week. And he's like, "We haven't needed it. I'll get it to the bank. I know the check is good, but we don't need it right now. Let's just keep going. Let's just keep going." And soon they were out of the red, soon they were in the black, soon sales were soaring, soon he was successful. And within one year, he went from losing everything to being super successful. And he realized that your date was coming up, and he never even cashed the check.
So he goes into the safe and gets the check. As it was that day, he goes to the park. He's looking for the man. He's looking for the man. He doesn't see the guy. He goes back and sits on the exact same park bench. And here comes that guy. But he's dressed in pajamas. He's like, "All right, casual day, whatever." The guy comes and he sits down and he says, "Hey, I've got the..." He doesn't even get the whole sentence out, and this lady runs up, this nurse runs up in scrubs and says, "Oh my gosh, is he bothering you? I'm so sorry. He lives in the retirement home down the way. He has dementia. He escapes all the time and tells people he is John D. Rockefeller. We are so sorry for bothering you." She scoops up the man. He said, "He can't even afford a cab to get back." And walks away. The check had never been good.
What's the one difference that was made? He finally believed. He believed because somebody else believed in him. I'm telling you right now, I believe in you. But above that, I believe in the God that created you. I believe in the God that believes in you. I believe in the God that intended you. I believe in the God that has purposed you. I believe that God puts you on the earth right now, in this time, with these gifts and these abilities and these opportunities because God knows if you will believe in Him, you're not going to perish. You're going to be blessed. Everybody turn to your neighbor and say, "God has no limits." Turn to your neighbor and say, "This is my banner year."
And what is a banner year? What is our jubilee? Our jubilee is all debts are canceled, all property returns to its original owner, and all prisoners are being, all prisoners are being set free. Okay, how many of y'all have seen on the news that they are literally setting the prisoners free? Have y'all seen that? Say amen. How many of you have seen prisoners here with house arrest anklets and they're coming out of prison, getting their anklets off, and they were getting on parole early, getting released early? Say amen.
Here's what I want to let you know, that the prison is not just physical, but it's also metaphorical. So when we see the melting calendar, when we see our dreams, our thoughts, and ideas for 2020 getting put in a box, I want to ask you, what's been limiting you? Is it the fact you hadn't been able to go to work? What's your prison? That's what I'm asking you. What's your prison? And do you think God can get you out of that prison?
Because in Acts 6, the apostles went to prison, and when the apostles went to prison, you know what God did? He said, "There is no prison that can hold my people." And He opened the doors of the prison. He didn't do it just one time. Back in, in Acts 12, they put Peter in prison. In Acts 12, and it was so serious, you know what they did? They put in 16 guards, they put two chains. Chains don't limit God. God will break every chain. If I was Tasha Cobb right now, I'd be all, "Break every chain!" I've been breaking chains. I can't sing. Don't ask me to sing, but God can break every chain. All right. He had 16 guards, he had two chains, and he had three locked doors.
So what are you saying? Well, God, you don't understand, Pastor Nicole. You see what's going on in my life is that I've got the divorce. I've already been evicted. They foreclosed on the house. I'm absolutely bankrupt, and I've been homeless. Yeah, so have I. But God, when we are weak, then He is... I know most of you got the High God book. So I want to give you some reading. You see, it's in page 17. There's a section that says, "I can't fix it." We yell at it, God, like He doesn't know. And we say, "I can't fix it." God's like, "I know. I didn't create you to fix it." He says, "He said, 'Hi God, I'm looking at something right now that I don't even know how to handle. I can't fix it. I can't make it go away. I can't repair it, and I feel helpless, weak, and vulnerable.' I can feel in my spirit right now, there's people I'm talking to that this is what's been going on in your head. 'Weak. When I'm weak, Your strength shows through. I don't get to the beginning of You until I reach the end of me. If I wouldn't need You, I probably wouldn't get You involved. I just march around in foolish pride, making decisions without even consulting You because I've got it.' Famous last words. The things I can't fix are the things I was never meant to fix. It doesn't matter how bad it looks. It doesn't matter if you can't figure it out. It doesn't matter if it's been keeping you up at night. Maybe you've been sitting here with God in this box, and God said, 'I don't care about the chains. I don't care about the guards. I don't care about the depth of the situation. I don't care about the difficulty.' He says, 'It's all easy for me.'"
In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were in jail. I know y'all know that story. And God sends an earthquake. Right? He rumbles the earth, opens the doors. Doors come open. They don't run out. They are so stinking confident in who God is. They wait. They wait with the doors open. Why? Because there was a jailer there. The jailer is freaking out. He's like, "If all y'all leave, they're gonna kill me. I'm gonna die." And they're like, "Oh, our jailer, our captor, our enemy is gonna perish if we go. So we won't go." Kill our enemy? Get this. Wow. This is just, this is mercy and grace abounding, right? We won't go because our enemy would perish. We'll go ahead and sit here and wait with our enemy for them to come. So they sit there and they wait. And they come. And they're like, "Hey, hey, hey." I think it's verse 36. It says, "Hey, look, we heard what happened. We heard we made God mad. So here's the deal. The magistrates, they've sent orders to release you. You're free to go."
But Paul told the officers, get this. "Hey, look," he said, "they had us beaten in public." The Nicole version says, "Yeah, God saw. God saw your pain. He said, 'We didn't have a fair trial.' God knows you weren't treated right." He said, "And we are Roman citizens. And just so you know, you are kingdom citizens." So Paul punked someone. Says, "Do you think we're going to quietly walk away after they threw us in prison and violated our rights? Absolutely not." I'm quoting the Passion Translation right now. He said, "You go back and you tell the magistrates that they need to come down here. We're just going to wait for them right here in jail." They weren't afraid that they were going to lock the doors again. They weren't afraid that they were going to beat them again. They weren't afraid that they were going to put chains on them again. They were bold in their faith. They said, "We had sat there and we sang praises, and our God rocked this world because our praise was not moved by our circumstance." And I just wonder today, do you possibly have a praise when the circumstance looks bad?
[Applause]
And the magistrates came down there. Go look it up in the Passion Translation yourself. They went to the prison and apologized. Paul, Silas, "So sorry, we had you in jail. Um, we'd really like to release you. Please, uh, can we walk you out and help you leave our city?"
So as I get you ready to wrap up, I want to let you know you're going to make the devil, hey, he did not take your 2020. Joseph didn't get betrayed by his brothers so that the devil could win. Joseph got betrayed by his brothers so he could be set up to rule and be an authority for a miracle. God works all things together for our good. That's a promise that we get, or that's us calling the Bible a liar.
I want you to look at your neighbor right now and say, "I believe the Bible. I've been set up to win." You're not getting healing, you're getting wholeness. You're not going to be broke, you're going to get abundance. You're not going to live in lack, you're going to live in overflow because we serve a God of no limits. Turn to your neighbor and say, "Let God out of the box."
I'm gonna end with this scripture, and this is the second place it started. I went straight from "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God," which means do not limit the scope of what God can do in your life. And then He took me to this scripture, and then the rest came in the middle. And this is Revelation 3:8-9. And then it says it again in Isaiah 22:22, just so in just a case I only got the New Testament, He's like, "I put it in there." I only got the Old Testament, He said, "I put it in there because this is something you needed to not miss." And He says, "I know what you've done."
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"And I have set before you a wide open door." He said, "I went to the prison, I opened up the door. Some more of my boys went to prison, I opened up the door. Paul and Silas went to prison, and I opened up the door." Early on, we said, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever." He said, "You're in a prison of finances, I'm opening up the door. You're in a prison of health, I'm opening up the door. You're in a prison relationally, I'm opening up the door. You're in a prison of confusion, I'm opening up the door. You're in a prison of depression, I'm opening up the door. You're in a prison of anxiety, and I'm opening up the door. You're in a prison of medication, I'm opening up the door. You're in a prison of furlough, I'm opening up the door. You're in a prison trying to lose your business, I'm opening up the door." With God, there is no limit. The door is open and no man can shut it. And it follows up in Isaiah 22. He said, "I'll open the doors." He says it again, "That no man can shut." And what I love is, if you study that out, the word Eliakim, it's a picture of Jesus. And when you translate it, he says, "Jesus has unlimited control."
I want to pray with you. If you felt like the calendar was melting, if you felt like the wiry cat, if you felt like you had 286 days in March because March would never end, if you felt like you didn't know how you were getting out of this, I want you to stand with me. Whether you're online, whether you're at RPC Sunset Hills, wherever you're at, I want you to stand up right now. And as you lift your hands to God, I'm gonna mix my faith with you. I believe God has us here together intentionally. And that every person under the sound of my voice wasn't here because of routine, wasn't here because this is what I do, wasn't here because somebody else tuned in online. No, God said, "I have a destiny date with you." And that destiny date is on Tuesday. And I needed to get with you and tell you something on June 30th. I needed to let you know that June is going to end, and that's going to close that book, and July is going to begin. And as you step into this new month, you're stepping into a new level of faith. You're stepping into a new anointing. You're stepping into a new space. God said, "If you will dare to believe that I am bigger than you can ask, then you can dream about at night, then you could daydream in class and doodle bigger than your biggest goal, better than your biggest dream, and able and waiting on you to perform your blessing, I will move in your 2020. It is your jubilee. My hand is not shortened, and I have not changed my mind just because the circumstances look bad. God says, many times that is my operating room to make something great."
Father God, in the name of Jesus, we just reach out to You right now and we thank You for who You are. You are precious. You are patient, God. Thank You for Your patience. Wow, man. Well, our mouths have been crazy, and while our thoughts have been out of control, while we've been pressured and scared and trying to lock the doors, trying to stay in, not sure if we should go out, not sure if we should gather, not sure if we should worship, not sure if we should go in the neighborhood, not sure if we should go in the grocery store. God, You've been sure this whole time.
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I declare the blood of Jesus, the hand of the Lord, the protection of the angels. No plague shall come nigh our dwelling. No hate shall come nigh our family. No injustice shall touch our generations. But love, mercy, grace, faith for a dreamed of future beyond all dreams. We call it into existence right now in Jesus' name. We pray. Amen and amen. Was that all right for tonight? Campus pastors, come on up here right now. Come on, campus pastors. You.