I love Reading biographies. In general. But in particular, Christian biographies of Christian leaders for the last 2,000 years in Christian history. Can I be honest with you? I always felt kind of bad.
Because I'd read these biographies. And I'm like. I don't have a prayer life like that. I haven't done Significant things for the kingdom like that. They'd inspire me.
But that also made me feel bad. Until I read this great quote from Pastor Steve Brown of Key Life, he said, I've given up reading puff biographies of famous Christians. When I've taken the time to do the research, I've discovered that those kinds of biographies have done Christians a great disservice. They create non-existent people whose examples don't inspire excellence, only despair. If you're reading a biography, he says, of a quote unquote great Christian.
And that biography doesn't tell you the bad as well as the good, then burn the book. Because it's a lie and it'll only make you feel guilty. And he kind of goes through a list of great Christian leaders and some of the challenges that they have. And they said, each time one of my heroes fell off the pedestal, I was devastated. Until I realized God wanted to teach me something important.
He uses sinful and flawed human beings because those are the only kinds of human beings available for him to use. And in my discovery, I found an incredible freedom, a freedom that putting people on pedestals never gave me.
So we're starting a series. In the life of a man named Elijah. I love Elijah. He's an incredible man. And he's a deeply flawed man.
That's what I love about the Word of God. It's going to show us the great things Elijah did. But it's also going to show us the flaws of Elijah.
Now, this Elijah, he is an incredibly great man. Let me give you some examples of his greatness. He stands toe to toe with prophets on the top of Mount Carmel. I'll be there in a couple weeks, and calls fire down from heaven. That's a great man.
He's the only one of the two people in the Bible who never died. Did you know that? He was taken up in the heavens. In fact, I believe that Elijah's lifting into heaven is a prophetic picture of the rapture of the church. You know, there's seven raptures in the Bible.
Seven is a perfect number in the Hebrew mindset. There are seven raptures. Seven times people are called up in the Bible: Enoch, Elijah, Philip, after he witnessed to the eunuch. It said he was raptured, harpatzo, into another place. Paul said, I was taken up into raptured up into heaven in 2 Corinthians.
John in Revelation 4 is taken up. Jesus is taken up, and then the church is going to be taken up. Seven raptures in the Bible, and Elijah is one of those. Another great thing about hymns. There are two people That the Bible prophesies will come back on the scene in the final days.
Jesus is one. And Elijah is the other. He's a great man. The book of Revelation talks about two witnesses in Revelation chapter 11. And some scholars believe that Elijah might be one of those two witnesses that Revelation 11 talks about.
God wants to reach as many people during the tribulation as possible. And so he puts two witnesses in Jerusalem to preach the gospel. And people want to shut him up. And when people try to come and shut him up, these two witnesses call fire down from heaven and consume everybody. And finally, the Antichrist has these two witnesses killed.
CNN catches their death live on T V. Their bodies are left in the streets for three and a half days. Elijah may be one of them. And I can imagine that when those witnesses are slaughtered. In Jerusalem.
But I don't have to imagine. Revelation chapter 11, verse 10 says this. Here's what that says. Everybody gets excited and they get excited and they celebrate the death of these witnesses. They throw a party, they go on Instagram and they post all this thing.
Yeah, we got him, he died. Politicians and school teachers and social media influencers will say, you know, we don't really condone murder.
However, he had it coming. His tone wasn't good. Reprobate pastors. Who missed the rapture? When these two witnesses die, I can imagine the next Sunday they'll come up.
Okay, we lament the death of the two witnesses and we don't condone murder, but their tone wasn't really good and they hurt a lot of people's feelings. Yeah, they heard a lot. They called fire down from heaven. I said they heard a lot of people speak. Yeah, I got it.
And then, after three and a half days, the Spirit of God raises those bodies back up. And so Elijah may be one of those witnesses. See, he's a great man. I'm trying to say, this guy is incredible. One of the only two people who are going to come back before Jesus Christ comes back.
Calls down fire from heaven, does all these great things, and yet, He's deeply flawed. He stands strong against 850 prophets, but when one angry woman comes at him, he's scared and he runs away. We'll see Elijah dealing with depression. Almost suicidal, is how depressed he is. We'll see him hungry.
We'll see him tired. We'll see him irritable. doubtful, insecure. He's an incredible man. But he's a flawed man.
Just like you, ma'am. You are an incredible woman of God. But you're a flawed one of God. Sir, you have a divine destiny to be a great man of God. But you're also a flawed.
Man of God.
So turn if you would to 1 Kings chapter 17 verse 1. Says this now Elijah the Tishbite Who is of the settlers of Gilead? said to King Ahab, As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my word. The word of the Lord came to him, saying, Elijah, now go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. But look.
Here's what I want you to understand today. This man is a lot like us. Let me give you four ways in which Elijah is a lot like us. Number one, Elijah is a regular person. Just like us.
Look at this, verse 1.
Now, Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead. Interesting thing, he's from a town called Tishba. We don't even know where Tishba is. It is such a small, insignificant town. Archaeologists still have not found where it was.
Archaeologists have found many, many, many of the cities mentioned in the Bible. They have never mentioned his town because it was so small and insignificant. He's from the region of Gilead. That's right across the Jordan River in today's modern Jordan. It is like the Appalachian Mountains, it is remote.
It is rural. It is rugged. This man is a hick from the Appalachian Mountains. This man It comes from a small town. He's not a priest.
He doesn't have formal education. He is a regular. Man. And that's why James says in James 5:17, Elijah was a man with a nature. Just like us.
Listen. I was reading some great Christian biographies. There's a guy named William Cowper. You ever heard of him? One of the greatest hymn writers in history.
William Cowper wrote some of these great old hymns. Like, have you ever heard of this home? There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. Incredible. I read his stuff and I was like, man.
Why can't I be poetic like that? Why don't I have the master of the English language like that? That's got to be a spiritual man, William Cowper. He was. He also was a man at Depressive and attempted suicide three times.
Great man. Flawed men. I love, there's an old preacher named George Whitfield. You ever heard of him preaching in the 1700s? George Whitfield was an incredible preacher.
Benjamin Franklin, who was an atheist. Even Benjamin Franklin said, I could not stay away from George Whitfield's sermon. The guy was such a great preacher. In fact, Franklin, you know, he's a scientist, he did a study one time, went as far back as he could in a crowd to hear George Whitfield preach. And he said, the guy had such a great voice, he could preach to 25,000 people without amplification.
And I was like, I want to be like that. What do you mean, a preacher like Whitfield? He was a great preacher. He was a horrible husband. He would leave his wife.
Put ministry above his wife. His marriage was not a good marriage at all. Great preacher. Flogged man. John Wesley, I love Wesley.
Wesley's great preacher, great organizer. He started what is today known as the Methodist Church. He'd be rolling in his grave if he knew what was happening. He'd be the United Methodist today, but a great man. Horrible husband.
He and his wife did not get along with each other. In fact, there was evidence of spousal abuse, not he abusing her, her abusing him. And in fact, when she died, he didn't even go to her funeral. Great man. Flawed men.
Here's another one of my heroes. Have you ever heard of a missionary? Hero named C. T. Stud.
Yeah Some get the names Harvey, Jones, and Smith.
Some people get stud. Why can I have a name like that, man? C.T. Studd. And here's the man.
Came from a very wealthy home. In his day, cricket, the sport cricket, that was the big sport. And he was a cricket star. In fact, I went on an ESN, the guy lived in the 1800s. I went on an ESPN website thing.
C.T. Studd's record is still on this ESPN website. It's really interesting.
So he's a wealthy man. He's the Michael Jordan of cricket. He gets saved. He leaves all of that. He starts a missions organization.
He's on fire for Jesus Christ. He's in Africa. He's in China. I was like, man, I wish I could have. That kind of minister is an incredible man.
And he was. He was also At the end of his life, a morphine addict. Who was very mean, who alienated just about everybody around him, and this missions organization finally had to call him back. They said, You're destroying this mission. Incredible man who did some incredible things, but a deeply flawed man.
Now, here's my point. My point is: God, I love what Steve Brown says, God. Uses flawed people because that's the only people he has to work with. And in fact, if you read your Bible, you'll find that Noah was a drunk. Abraham was too old.
Isaac was a daydreamer. Jacob was a liar. Leah was ugly. Joseph was abused. Moses had a stuttering problem.
Gideon Dealt with anxiety. Samson had long hair and was a womanizer. Rahab was a prostitute. David had an affair and was a murderer. Elijah was suicidal.
Jonah ran from God. Naomi was a widow. Job went bankrupt. Peter denied Christ. Martha was a warrior.
The Samaritan woman was divorced and living with someone. Zacchaeus was too small. Paul was a murderer. Timothy had an ulcer. Lazarus was dead.
And yet he used every last one of those people. When you tell me God could never use somebody like me.
Okay. You've just told me more about your belief in God. Then your belief in yourself. God Uses flawed people, which is why Paul says, looking at the church, if he looked at cross assembly, he would say the same thing about cross assembly as he said about the church at Corinth. Consider your calling, brothers and sisters, not many wise according to the flesh.
Not many, mighty. Not meaning noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. God loves using flawed people because that's the only kind of people he has to work with.
So, how is he like us?
Well, number one, he has a nature just like us. Number two, Elijah lived in a wicked culture. Just like us. Let me give you a quick history lesson. For 100 years, the nation of Israel had three kings.
Uh Saul? David and Solomon. And then there's a civil war. And it splits. the the nation of Israel into two.
That the northern part of Israel actually retains the name Israel. And they existed for about 200 years. They had 19 monarchs. Every last one of them were bad. There was not a good one among them.
The southern kingdom. of of the split Israel just took the name Judah. And they had 17 rulers. Eight of them were good, nine of them were bad.
Now go back to the northern kingdom. Ahab is the seventh King Of this northern kingdom, now that there's been the civil war and it's been divided, he's the seventh king of the northern kingdom. And um And the Bible does something to Ahab. It really doesn't do to the other kings. The Bible really focuses on Ahab's wife named Jezebel.
She was a wicked, wicked woman. She was a Phoenician princess. who married Ahab And led the people of Israel to start worshiping this weird demon god called Baal. It's a highly sexualized religion. Baal and partner Asherah and the symbolic, I don't want to get into the gory stuff on this, but it is a highly sexualized religion.
And Jezebel leads the entire society to become demonic and sexualized. That's the culture Elijah operated in. Won't you listen to me? You are operating in the same culture today. We are operating in a culture saturated with a Jezebel spirit.
which causes us to lift up And to worship. and a like. Jezebel demon-possessed people like Taylor Swift. She has a Jezebel spirit. That Jezebel spirit is infiltrating your next generation of young people.
I read some of her lyrics of her new album before I came out here. If you're a parent and you know what those lyrics say, and you let your teenage daughter listen to that, listen to me, you are a bad person. Parent. Chadie, you can't call me a bad parent. I just did.
If you listen to that lyrics and you are okay with your daughter watching that, you are now introducing your daughter to a demonic Jezebel spirit. And I know the kids run the families today. I get it. Gentle parenting. We've got to let them make their own decisions.
Daddy, why don't you stand up and be a man and make a decision and say, this home is a home where Jesus dwells. We are not opening the portal of demons into this home. You, like Elijah, are operating in a Jezebel demonic. system. And it's getting darker.
Never Listen to me. From now. to the beginning of of time. the generation of Noah. There has never been a more reprobate generation.
than right now. And I can prove it to you. In human history. There has never been a time where it's been acceptable to castrate little boys and put a dress on them and now say, you're a little boy. That's now socially acceptable.
But John, why do you keep bringing up the transgender thing? Because I'm telling you something. A lot of the violence we're seeing today, a lot of the reprobate that we're seeing today, all that's going back to a lot of this transgender stuff. We are living in the most reprobate time in human history. You can get mad at me if you want, and you can email me about the Taylor Swift bad parent thing you want.
My email address is ChrisConnell at CrossAssembly. But here's the interesting thing. The more reprobate the culture, The greater the potential for a mighty move of God. God's spirit moves when the culture is the most wicked. And I wonder, the signs are out there that we could be standing on the verge of a mighty move of God here in America.
You start following what's going on in the media. Even the media is scratching their heads. We don't understand this. Churches are starting to get filled back up. People are interested in religion again.
Young men in particular, young men in particular are interested in Jesus. Why are young women? Statistically, not as interested in Jesus now, it's because what I just told you: this Jezebel spirit. But there's something going on. You know, John Wesley that I was talking about ministered in the 1700s.
in a town called Newcastle, England. And after he ministered there, he wrote in his journal. Never in my life have I heard such filthy language, such swearing. Never in my life have I seen such open wickedness. Then he writes this.
This is fantastic. This place is ripe for revival. And I say to you. Never have I seen so much wickedness in our society. This is fantastic.
This world is ripe for a revival. Yeah. Elijah Was a regular person just like us. Elijah lived in a wicked society. Just like us.
And then, number three, and I won't spend a lot of time on this because I'm going to hit this next week. God spent time preparing Elijah just like us. Look at verse 3. God says, go away from here and turn eastward. And hide yourself by the brook of Careth, which is east of the Jordan River.
Now, watch this. Elijah's, the peak of his ministry is about three and a half years from now. In three and a half years, the highlight of his ministry, he's going to go to the top of Mount Carmel. He's going to call down fire from heaven. That's what most of us know Elijah about.
That's three and a half years. God says this, go east. to the book of Cherith. Carmel is West. He's sending Elijah in the opposite direction three and a half years before he calls down fire from the heaven.
What in the world is going on? Listen to me. God is going to use Elijah, but before he can use Elijah, he's got to prepare Elijah. And for three and a half years, you're going to hear me say this next week. It was a time of drought.
It's a time of testing. He had to prepare Elijah to use Elijah.
Some of y'all are wondering: God's not doing anything in my life right now. There's no answer to prayer. I don't feel it. I used to feel it. It just seems like a dead time.
Nothing's happening. Listen to me. When it comes to God, there's no such thing as nothing has happened. He's always doing something. Right now, God is preparing you to use you, but God would be very cruel if He tried to use you before you were ready to be used.
He's going to use you to impact that school. But you might be in a season right now. Where he's preparing you and getting you ready. And the worst thing God could do is to put you in that situation if you're not ready for that situation. Hey, he's going to use you to impact that workplace.
But he's preparing to use you. before he uses you. Hey, ma'am. God's going to use you to bring that granddaughter back home. I know she's a reprobate.
I know she's living like hell, but God is going to use you. He's preparing you to be used to bring that granddaughter back home. Does this make sense? Yeah. God's not going to use you before you're ready.
And that's what he's doing with Elijah. And that's the pattern of God. Abraham is called to be a father. He says, Abraham, I'm going to make you a father. God waited 24 years before he actually became a father because it took God 24 years to make him the man that would be the father.
Moses, God says, you're going to be a leader. But Moses did not become a leader for 40 years. Why? Because God had to take 40 years to prepare Moses to be that leader. David He's anointed king of Israel.
It's great. But he didn't become king for at least 10 years. God had it prepared. Paul is born again, and God says, You can be the greatest missionary of human history. God waits 10 years between the time Paul gets saved and the first missionary journey.
Jesus comes to earth. And God prepares Jesus for 30 years for a three-year ministry.
So don't tell me. God's I'm telling you something. We're called to do a lot of things as followers of Jesus Christ. One of the hardest things we're called to do, listen to me, is just wait on God. Don't get ahead of God.
He's working. He's going to use you. He's getting you ready. You wait on God.
So Elijah is a regular person just like us. Elijah lived in a wicked society just like us. God spent time preparing Elijah just like us. And then, number four, Elijah only had one person to please, just like us. Like us.
Look at verse 1.
Now, Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab. As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand. Look at this. Before whom I stand. Won't you listen to me?
The problem in Elijah's day Was not Israel had abandoned God and started worshiping other gods. That wasn't a problem. You know, the problem, you'll hear me say this over and over and over again as we talk about Elijah. The problem was not they had all left God and started worshiping other gods. That wasn't a problem.
Here's what they did: they said, We're going to keep worshiping Yahweh, the true and living God. But we're also going to worship Baal. And we'll worship. We'll go to Asherah. And we'll throw a little worship of Dagon in there.
And we'll worship all these different God. We love you. You're a good God. We're going to worship you. It's going to be God and.
And it's what's happening in the evangelical church today. A report just came out, just came out. It was called the 2025 State of Theology. It was produced by LifeWave, and they found that almost half of evangelicals said that God accepts the worships of all religions. Half of evangelicals.
So you may call, I'm God. You may call me Allah. That's okay. I accept that. You may call me Krishna Ah, that's fine.
I'll accept that. You may call me Buddha. That's fine. Look, I'm God. You may have misnamed me, but we're all, I understand what you're saying.
We're living in the same day of an amalgamation of religions just like Elijah lived in. It's God and, God, and. Listen to me. There is one true and living God, only one. His name is not Muhammad.
As one old preacher said, He's not Buddha. Buddha is nothing but a fat piece of rock sitting in your house as a decoration. There's one true and living God. His name is Jehovah. His Son is Jesus Christ.
There's only one way to that God, and that name is Jesus Christ, the name that is above every name. Let me tell you something. Christian? You know how offensive it is to God? For you to say Jesus is one of many ways to salvation.
What you're just saying to God is There's a underways to you. And you sent The apple of your eye. Your only begotten Son. to come to this earth and get Beaten. and torn up and crucified and tortured, so that now we have 101 ways to God.
And God says no. There's one God. And one way to God, and his name is Jesus Christ. And did you know this? The name Elijah.
Means L means God. I means my. Jah is short for Jehovah or Yahweh. Listen to me. The name Elijah means this.
My God is Yahweh. Y'all can worship whoever you want. You can follow after whatever God you want. I don't care, but my God is the true and living God. His name is Yahweh.
That's what his very name means. Would the guy that we have some Elijahs rise up in the church and say, We are not trying to be offensive, we're not trying to be mean, but I'm just telling you, there's one way of escape for the coming judgment, and his name is Jesus Christ. One God, one way, and that way's name is Jesus Christ. And then Listen to what he says. I love this.
He says in verse 1 As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, Before whom I stand.
Now, one of the reasons I was late coming out here. As I was just in the study between services, I knew better about this. Between services, you probably team out with too much information about it. Between services, I kind of sit back there in that little room and I'm like, I got it. I should have said this better.
I should have said that better. I don't want you to think I'm sitting back there saying, wow, I was pretty impressive. I was pretty good. I never do. And.
Hargo spoke to me. The Lord the God of Israel, before whom I stand. The Spirit of God brought me back to what Paul said. to the Corinthian church. We must all stand.
Before the judgment seat of Christ. And the Spirit of God spoke to me. And here's what I think Elijah is saying. I don't care what y'all think. Because I stand before God.
One day I'm going to have to get an account to God.
Well I defriended you. That's fine. I just don't want him to defrie me. One day I'm going to stand before him. And Elijah says, I love him.
He's my God. But I'm terrified of them. Um But before every Sunday. before we come out here first service. I meet with the worship team in the back there and we just have a time of prayer.
Every Sunday, I try to give them just a quick word of encouragement. We only have a few minutes, so I just give them a quick word of encouragement. And so, do you know the word of encouragement I gave them today as we were standing back there? Ready to come out, everybody's ready. Pastor, what's your word of encouragement?
I said, Well, you know, my devotions this morning. I read Luke chapter 12, where Jesus said, Don't fear those. who can kill the body and after that they're done. Fear the one who has the power to send body and soul into a devil's hell where you'll burn for all eternity. Let's go get them, team.
And that was, I mean, that was my word of encouragement. He's a how's that an encouragement? My encouragement is this. I think sometimes we get a little bit loose. We deal with God.
I'll tell you some. He ain't your buddy, he ain't your pal, he ain't your homeboy. He is the holy, righteous, awesome God of the universe. He is the great I am. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
He is the awesome God of the universe. And if I weren't clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, if I wasn't forgiven through the blood of Jesus, I would have no hope before God. One day I will stand before the awesome God of the universe, but I can stand confidently because I've been born again through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, but He is still the awesome God of the universe.
Now I've just given you right there I've given you right there the key to boldness. If you play to an audience of one. You're going to be all right. But here's the problem. Elijah says, I stand before God.
Can I tell you something? I love you. I'm saying this out of a heart. Seriously, I'm saying this out of a heart of compassion. I'm not mad at you.
So, everybody, just take it. I'm not mad. Just calm down, okay? I'm not mad. But here's your problem.
You don't stand before one person.
Well, I got 1,200 Facebook friends.
Some of y'all are standing before 1,200 Facebook friends. And you want to please every one of them. That's the quickest way to insanity. I'm going to tell you something. When you finally come to the point in your life where you say, I will one day stand before that holy God, He is the God of the universe.
It's only His opinion that matters. I don't really care what everybody else thinks, I just care what God thinks. When you come to that point, you are liberated. That Dieter Bonhoeffer said this.
Something like Those who fear people. Have lost all fear of God. Those who fear God have stopped being afraid of men. Chuck Swindahl, I love what Swindahl says. Swindahl says.
Those who seek to please God only are invincible from within. Isn't that great? You only want to please God, you're invincible from within. And he says, not only that, but when we stop striving to please people, we are also unintimidated from without. Elijah.
My God is Yahweh. I stand before one person. It's the God of the universe. That is the key to boldness and to living unintimidated lives. Ma'am, I hate to keep him.
I'm just, I don't know why God's burdened me on this. It's hard to be a parent today. And here's what your girl's going to say. But, mommy, mommy, everybody's listening to Taylor Swift. I know, sweetheart.
But you're different. You're a princess of the most high God. And I'm called by God to guard your little soul and your mind because I want you to raise, be, I want you to have a Deborah spirit. I want you to have a spirit of Mary. I want you to have a spirit of Esther.
I want you to be a godly woman who changes her world. I know God has a divine destiny for you. And because I love you, I don't care what all the other mamas are going to say about me. There's some things you can't listen to, sweetheart, because you're a child of the most high God. And when you stop worrying about what the other mama's gonna say about you, And you're not gonna be in the book club, and you're not gonna be in the carpool line.
I don't care. I stand before one person, and that's the God of the universe. I love this story. In his book, What God Thinks When We Fail. Steven Roy tells the story of a young violinist.
Violet, he was a protégé. Prodigy? Prodigy. Not prodigy. Prodigy.
He was just. Ketter's a great, he's a great violin player.
Okay. And people were just amazed at how great he was. I said, when are you going to give a concert? He said, I can't give a concert. I said, why?
He said, I'm scared of people. I can't play in front of a crowd. And everybody's upset because he's criticized. He said, you're a great. Violinist.
And you're scared of crowds. He said, yeah, I'll never do a concert.
Now one day out of the blue He announced that he was going to give a concert. in one of the largest concert halls in London. He walked out on stage. And for one and a half hours. He played.
flawlessly. And when that final note with some. was played. The crowd stood up. They began to cheer and cheer.
And that young man, he didn't smile, he just looked across that crowd like this. Just scanning that crowd, looking back and forth. No smiling. No cheering, just looking back and forth. And finally he stopped.
And he squinted. And then he smiled. And then he acknowledged the cheers. Act when he was asked how he was able to perform in front of that big crowd when he's afraid of people. Here's what he said.
He said, right before I went on stage, I was told that my music teacher was going to be in the crowd tonight. I Just played For him. And afterward I didn't even hear the cheers. I just look in the crowd. And when I finally saw my music teacher standing and cheering me, that's when I was able to relax.
And I said to myself, if my teacher is pleased with what I have done, everything else is okay. What's that old saying? Life is a stage? You ever felt like that? Life's a stage, and everybody's judging you.
They're judging how you look, what you wear, how you act, how you come across. Life is a stage, and a lot of y'all are terrified. I want to give you a piece of advice: you have in the crowd a carpenter from Galilee who loved you so much that he died on the cross for your sins. He is coming back again one day to judge the living and the dead, and he is in the crowd. I want you to forget everybody else and turn your eyes upon Jesus and look full in his wonderful face.
And the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and his grace. You just play for Jesus Christ. You just play for Jesus. I don't want you to stand at me right now.
Some of y'all, when I talk about the fear of God, you understand what I mean, the fear, the respect. He's the awesome God of the universe. Eastern Weiss said it. It's about supposed to love God. But Joshua's telling me I was supposed to respect and fear God.
You can do both. No, no, no, no. The opposite is true. Have you ever heard this phrase? Familiarity breeds contempt.
When you get too familiar with this holy and righteous God, you become contemptuous of that God. I'm gonna tell you what is happening in my life. When I start thinking about the awesomeness, the mightiness, the power, the sovereignty of God, and yet he loves me and calls me friend, when I keep thinking about the fact that he's the one that's ruling this world, when I think about that everything is going according to his plan, he is God, he is awesome, and he has the power to send people to hell. When I think about that, And then I start thinking about how good that God has been to me. I'm telling you something.
Something just wells up inside of me. I can't stop loving them. Here's what I want you to do right now. I want you to think of Two or three or four things in your life. Here's your guy that God has done for you.
That God has given you. or that God has seen you through. You got it?
Something he's done for you?
Something he has given you? Or something he has seen you through. Two, three of the, you got that right now? What you think about that? And I want you to raise your hands to the holy sovereign God of the universe right now.
Don't ask him for anything. Just start thanking him for how good he's been to you right now. Start thanking God right now. Can we do this?
So I throw up my hands And praise you again and again. Cause all that I have I guess you're Hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah. And I don't miss my much, but I'm nothing else. fit for king.
Except for our hearts. Sing. Hallelujah. New York, hallelujah. Come on, my God.
Come on, my soul. Oh, don't you get shy on me? Lift up your song. Cause you got a lion inside of the trunks. Get up and praise the Lord.
Come on, my Lord. Come on, my soul. Oh, don't you get shy of me, lift up your song. Cause you've got a lion inside of your trunks. Get up and praise the Lord.
Oh, Lord. Come on, my soul. Oh, don't you get shy on me, lift up your song. Cause you've got a lion inside the trunks. Get up and praise the Lord.
Except for a heart singing, when I said this is the most wicked, demonic society. Since the days of Noah Some of y'all cringed. Got scared, demons, demons, demons, whatever, the demons. I know what your Bible says. My Bible says greater is he who's in me than all them demons out there in the world.
So why are you scared? Cause that awesome Mighty. Holy God! Who's going to judge this world one day and then make everything right and then usher in righteousness? That same God is with you.
And again, I don't know what your Bible says, but if that God is for me. I don't care who's against me. Who can be? I don't care. So I say to you.
What God said to Joshua. Yeshua. Millennia ago, before he was about to cross the Jordan River and fight some giants and some demons and some armies that were bigger than him and mightier than him, he didn't know what's going to happen. He doesn't know how that's going to shake out. And God says, Hey, Joshua, don't worry about that.
Khazak Veyamats. Outside a rope they all the kid. He in a heart. I don't know. And a hey ha.
Beho Eshe Teleach, which is Hebrew for. Cross assembly, be bold. Be strong. Meaning you don't be afraid and you don't be terrified of anything. Why?
Because the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the sovereign God of the universe, the Righteous One, the Holy One, is going to be with you everywhere you go this week. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen and amen. God bless you, beloved. Let's go change this world for Jesus Christ.
