Sound of Freedom | Heaven’s Symphony | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Sean Thomas
Sound of Freedom | Heaven’s Symphony | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Sean Thomas
Transcript
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Hey, everyone. Pastor Sean here, and I wanna thank you for subscribing to our podcast. I'm excited to get into today's message. And remember this, God is a good God. He loves you, and he wants to bless you.
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You know, the last several weeks we've been sharing and ministering in our series, Prayed Up, which we're gonna close out our teaching today.
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But, we've been ministering in this series about the importance of being in unity. Someone say unity.
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In these last several weeks, we've been teaching and talking about that there are several levels to being unified.
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And today, we're gonna get into that last level of of what unity really looks like and how how it's reflected.
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But one of the things that I have always in in my lifetime in this nation, have always come to understand and to and to recognize and greatly honor and respect is, you know, we can easily not get along with each other, but when trouble tries to come its way, I've never seen a nation pull together so quickly.
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I I I remember back when nine eleven took place, and how quickly the nation rallied together in that moment.
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There's certain marking moments throughout my lifetime and there's some of you in the room well before that have seen different moments where the nations come together.
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But, one of the things that I've understood was this is that there's truly power in unity. When we can be unified as one, to be in one accord. I want you to now say one accord. One accord.
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And so, we begin to look at this word unity, and when we begin to talk about what is it what it is to be in one accord, we go to our Bible, and we find out that there's many moments throughout the Bible where we see where people have come together, and God has showed up. In fact, the prayer of agreement which we've been putting our attention on throughout this teaching of prayer, in this prayer series, is that when two agree, and then Jesus goes on and He says where two or three are gathered together in His name. Someone say His name.
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That He is in the midst. Now, I wanna go ahead and just push this out because I wanna I wanna get into what I wanna talk to you about today.
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But I have not taught this yet, and this is important.
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Whenever you come to God and pray, you're praying in one name and one name alone.
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It's in Jesus' name.
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So, when you pray, you're not just praying, you're praying in the name of Jesus. And that's why it says that if two or three are gathered together in my name, in Jesus' name, He's in the midst. And there's many people that will pray prayers, but if we don't establish it in the one who answers your prayer, then those prayers can be missed. So, the Bible says where two or three are gathered together in His say His name. His name. Now say Jesus.
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He says he is in the midst. And I'm telling you today as we've come together in his name, God's in the room today. I said God's in the room today. I said God's in the room today. I said God's in the room today. That's good news. Jesus is here today. The presence of the Lord is in this place today. The anointing is in this room today.
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Don't get me preaching just yet. I'm just laying a little bit of a run rate.
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Give me a little slack right now.
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Do me a favor. I want you to turn to first Corinthians chapter 16.
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And as we conclude this series today, it's always one of those things that's bittersweet for me because the time that's rested in and and laboring in the Word and and and just resting in what God's been saying.
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And I know for me,
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this has really been life changing in understanding what prayer really is. How many of y'all feel like that that you've been better equipped and tooled to go to God in prayer so that you understand that when you come to Him, He's gonna respond?
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Maybe you're in the room for the first time today, which welcome to abundant life. You're watching online for the first time today, welcome to abundant life. We're so glad that you're here. You're connected. You're a part. I just wanna encourage you though that in this season, as we've been teaching on prayer, it's with this understanding that God wants to respond to your prayers.
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Not that just God hears your prayers, because the Bible tells us that the prayers of the righteous his ears are attentive to, but God wants to respond to your prayers. God wants to answer your prayers.
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It makes no sense for you to call upon the name of the Lord and Him not respond back to you. If I'm calling somebody, they better pick up the phone because I have the intention of getting them on the other line. And God has the intention of getting you on the line so that He can respond to you in your time of need. Come on. That's good news.
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How many of you got needs today?
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How many are believing for something this year? Come on. How many of all are looking to see your life at a greater place, at a greater level, especially as we are leaning into the second half of the year? How many of want to conclude the latter half of the year better than how you started your year?
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How many are believing for breakthrough or favor?
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How many of are looking to go to a greater level in what God has a sign for your purpose and for your life and for your future?
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I don't know about you, but I wake up every morning, and I begin to praise and thank the Lord that he's put breath inside of me, that he allows me to plant my feet on solid rock. Because today, I've got something to live for, because where there is breath, there is purpose.
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You have first Corinthians 16?
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You know what I just appreciate I just said that? Everybody looked down at their Bible.
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It's like, yes.
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Unity.
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In first Corinthians chapter 16, let's throw up verse nine really quick.
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Actually, I'm gonna go to verse eight. Let me go to verse eight. Let me go to verse eight. The Bible says this in first Corinthians chapter 16. This is Paul writing.
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He says this starting in verse eight. He says, but I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost.
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For a great and effective door has been opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
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Paul says, the Apostle Paul says
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that there has been a great and effective door that has been opened to him, but in front of it there are many adversaries.
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Now, as my attention was drawn to the word effective, I couldn't help but to connect the fact that first Corinthians 16 says an effective door, but James five seventeen where our entire teaching of prayer has been coming from says effective prayers.
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And as I was in a time of just sitting before the Lord, the Lord began to open up my heart and my mind, and he began to show me this is that effective prayers open effective doors.
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And I don't know how many of you are believing to go or enter through a new door, which a door represents a new season.
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I don't know how many are believing to enter into a new season.
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Maybe you've been in a place of your life where you've been sick in your body, and you're ready to step into a new season of healing. Maybe you've been in a certain season where professionally you have not advanced in your career, but all it takes is one effective door for you to step through and step into a moment of favor of promotion.
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I don't know if maybe some of you have been going through a part of your life where you just feel spiritually things are not where they should be, but you're believing to have a fresh encounter with the Lord and that effective door on the heels of your effective prayer puts you into a place that you begin to walk with the Lord greater way. I don't know what effective door you're believing for, but I truly believe this is that effective prayers open up effective doors.
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The word effective is is active.
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When we talk about James five seventeen, he says this. It says, the fervent, effective prayers of the righteous avails much.
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What does that mean? It means that active prayers, powerful prayers of the righteous produce results.
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Your prayers are intended to produce results.
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Your prayers is with the intent that God's responding to your prayer of faith.
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It is the effective, the active prayers that allow there to be active doors. Now does anybody know what an active door is?
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Anybody ever see on the side of a building a store that says open twenty four hours, and you walked up to that, you know, that that place? Maybe you're going to like a a convenience store, or you're going, you know, to like Walgreens or CVS, and it said twenty four hours, and you walk up to the door, and that door doesn't open? That's not an active door. That's not an effective door. When I was younger and I was in high school, my buddies and I, for some whatever reason, we thought this was a cool thing. Whenever we saw the hot and ready sign at Krispy Kreme, that was an effective and active door.
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We knew the time was now. We knew the time. It was hot. It was ready. That glazed donut was so good. I'm preaching this so well right now. Want to eat me a delicious hot and ready donut.
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Getting your appetite turned up.
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Licking my lips, it's I I feel it's it's real to me.
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Get that active hot and ready sign.
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Now here's the deal.
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There is an effective door, an active door.
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And whenever I saw that light, that glowing light at night, I knew hot and ready was now, but for a limited time. Why do I say that?
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Because the opportunity of a lifetime has to be seized in the lifetime of the opportunity.
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Let me say that again. The opportunity of a lifetime, meaning the effective door that's open, has to be seized in the time frame that that door is active. And there are some doors that God has opened to you that He is waiting for you based upon your prayers to step into because there is a time frame that is attached to that.
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I remember, and I shared this story earlier on in the series, but I just want to refresh it. There was three other men that God spoke to to start this church abundant life.
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And those three men turned down the instruction from the Lord, and so God moved to my grandfather and spoke to my grandfather and instructed him to start the church, and out of obedience, he started the church. Those three other gentlemen had a window, a door that was effective and open in which if out of their obedience, they could have started this, but they did not. And so that effective door got turned to a white haired gentleman by the name of Woody Thomas, who in faith believed that he could start what God had instructed, and here we are today.
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What I'm saying is this, is that there is effective doors that God is opening up to you, but you gotta step through them. But Paul says this, is he says that there has been a great and effective door open to me, but there are many adversaries.
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Did you know that you have been praying a prayer of faith that opens up doors, but in the way there is an adversary, there is an opponent that is trying to keep you from walking into that door?
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Your adversary, according to the book of Peter, is Satan, the devil, the accuser of the brethren. What does he do? The Bible says. He roams around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
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So, as you're now trying to step into that door, Satan is trying to stand there in the way trying to hold you out. Now, Satan's not a physical being, so what is it that he's trying to use to keep you from going through that door? The Bible tells us that he is the one that will release fiery arrows that attacks your mind. Can I tell you the greatest enemy that keeps you from walking through an effective door is the attack on your mind? But
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Paul says that there is an effective and great door open, and in front of it, there are many adversaries.
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And so faith will unlock the door in prayer. Faith will swing wide open the door in prayer.
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But you've got to have faith to be able to look at your adversary right in the face and say, get out of my way mountain, you've got to be removed.
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Now, what leads you through that door though is what the scripture tells us in Philippians four thirteen.
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And the bible says this that you can do all things through Christ that gives you strength. Okay. So, Philippians four thirteen is, you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. Christ or Christos means the anointing or the anointed one. Last week, we talked about the anointing, that there is an anointing that God has placed inside each and every single one of us that when the enemy tries to come on you with a yoke, that the anointing can destroy the yoke off your life. And if you're in a place where maybe you're feeling weak or you're not feeling strong, I can join my faith with another brother. And as we pray the prayer of agreement, the anointing can destroy the very thing the enemy's been putting on my back.
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But here's the key. The key is the anointing. Say the anointing. The word anointing means strength or a it means more specifically to to be strengthened or established in a thing. So, when there's an effective door that is open to me, and there's an adversary standing in the way, the enemy, he's attacking my mind, tricking me, and telling me you can't walk through that door. You don't deserve that promotion.
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You shouldn't believe for that healing. You shouldn't be able to step into greatness. God doesn't love you. You can't receive true salvation. He saw what you did this past week, and the enemy begins to war on your mind.
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But there is an anointing that strengthens you.
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The anointing that strengthens you, by the way, is not like what it had up, I remember in my high school weight locker room above the above the bench press that said, I could do all things through Christ that gives me strength. You know, we all be like, oh, we're gonna bench press three fifteen. No, we're not. Could barely throw up one thirty five.
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It's not a power scripture to get you amped up and strong.
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Now, it can and it will, but the intent of that scripture is that you can do all things through Christ, the anointing.
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You can do all things in the one who has established you for a given purpose.
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And so, if that effective door has been opened up in front of you, you've been established to walk through that door.
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Come hell or high water, you're established to walk through that door. But the enemy will get you to think a little of yourself. He'll get you to get out of faith in what we call fear.
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By definition, the word fear, it actually means faithless.
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So, when Jesus would correct the disciples when they weren't operating in faith, He would say, why are you of little faith, or why are you fearful?
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Why are you faithless, oh faithless generation?
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He's saying you're operating in a dimension of fear because what you were created for was to be able to be established in this thing. So, when the storm comes disciples, you don't got to be in fear. In faith, the anointing that is in you, you can speak to the wind, you can speak to the waves, and you can say knock it off.
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You're not turning this boat over.
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You hear me? So, when we're talking about I can do all things through Christ, the anointing, it's the anointing that establishes me, that strengthens me for what God's called me to do.
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Now again, let me just be clear about this. It would be foolish of me to make that statement, go to the gym, throw on a thousand pounds for a back squat when I've never back squatted a thousand pounds.
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There ain't gonna be my I was not established for that purpose.
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And so, we make that statement, it's to be established in the purpose and the calling that God has for you.
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So, if you're sick, I thank you Lord, I can do all things through the anointing that says that I'm healed.
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If I was called to start a business, then I can do all things through the anointing that will allow that business to flourish. It is an anointing, a strength, an establishment that is upon my life. Paul says in Romans chapter one when he go when he's speaking to the church at Rome, is he says, I pray that when I arrive I may impart some special gift that you would be established. What was he talking about? He was saying this. He says, I pray that the anointing when I come there, when I pray for you, that you would now be established in that anointing so that the church at Rome could flourish and reach people with the Gospel.
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The anointing is what establishes you.
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And so, we're talking about anointing, it's it's it's talking about that you've been strengthened for a particular thing, for a particular purpose. Has anyone ever seen this show?
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I thought about this yesterday. Made me laugh. It's called Hot Ones. Okay.
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If you have never seen it, let me help you out. Basically, these guys sit down at a table and they've got the hottest hot sauces in the world sitting at this table. And they see how far they can test the limits with this hot sauce. And so, they start like on an easy level, and then they progress as it goes on.
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And so, as you watch the show, they're talking, and a lot of times you'll have, you know, different celebrities and people, and they're sitting there, and they're eating hot sauce, and putting it on wings and whatever, and I just don't understand this. I don't understand the I like a little bit of zing, but I don't like something that's gonna make me cry tears and hate my life. But these guys, I don't know, they're just down for the ride, that's what they do. And so they're sitting at this table, they're eating these hot sauces, it's funny, some of them can't hang, and so they have to tap, they bail out, and that's it. They're done. Give me a glass of milk, right? Some of these guys, man, they they were they were born for the heat.
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And man, and you just watch them, and they're just eating this hot sauce. I mean, end of it, I mean, they're just like tears are flowing out of their face, And I'm like, why?
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Why?
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What joy do you get out of this?
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But the part that I found was interesting was this, is different people could go further as it was getting hotter.
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The anointing on your life allows you to go further, especially when times get hot. When you feel like the enemy is trying to turn up the heat, when you feel like, man, I don't know, this might be too big for my life, this prayer that I'm praying. I know that it's a big prayer, but God reminds you that you've been anointed in Christ Jesus for that purpose, for that thing to be able to withstand the test of times. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, it might be turned up seven times hotter, but no fiery furnace will be able to send you hair on your body. There's something about the anointing that strengthens you for what God has purposed for your life.
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And so Paul says there's an a great and effective door. There's many adversaries, so how am I gonna deal with my adversary?
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I'm gonna walk in the anointing that's in me, and I'm gonna walk by faith knowing that I'm called to step through the threshold into purpose and destiny.
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But now, here's the deal, because I can talk to you all day that you're anointed, but the reality is this, is that nobody arrives in their anointing.
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You don't just arrive at the place of your anointing. You don't just arrive at the place of strength. You arrive at the place of your thinking.
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And you gotta start thinking on the level of your anointing.
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And let me tell you, there's been too many people that have been held back from what God has spoken because you think with the poverty mindset rather than with the prosperity outlook.
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You're thinking that you're always gonna be sick rather than seeing yourself being healed. You gotta stop thinking little and start thinking big because you don't arrive at the place of your anointing, you arrive at the place of your thinking.
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Colossians chapter three verse one says this, is that I'm gonna set my mind on the things above where Christ is. Christ the anointing.
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He says, set your mind on things above and not on things of the earth.
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The Bible says that we are now dead to our natural desires, and we are hidden with Christ where the anointing is. You are locked in with where the anointing is, and where the where the anointing is is where your mind has to go to. Now I'm not talking about the power of positive thinking. What I'm talking about is this, is that you take this living word and you allow this to be the place that your mind goes to. Every wake and turn, every time that there's a dang devil that tries to get you tripped up and tripped out from the door that you're called to step through, you're saying no. That's not what the word of God says. But I pledge to this word. I stand in this word. I walk by this word. I rest in this word because this word right here is the key to me stepping in through that new door.
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Few excited people this morning. He
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says to set your mind on things above where the anointing is.
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You're not wrestling in the flesh.
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The Bible says that the weapons of our warfare, they are not carnal, but they are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and everything that tries to exalt itself against the word of God.
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But it doesn't stop there. The Bible says that now you are to take every thought captive and bring it into obedience of Christ.
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Every thought needs to be brought into the anointing.
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Every thought needs to bring be brought back to the thing that the Lord has spoken over your life according to his word. You hear me this morning? Because if we don't get our mind right, then we're not gonna get our mouth right.
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Because when we're talking about this right here, the Bible tells us in Proverbs 23 verse seven, as a man thinks into his heart, so is he.
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So as I think those thoughts that are inconsistent with God's Word into my heart, so am I. As I allow the deception, the lie, things that bring about division, things that bring about offense, things that bring about destruction, and destructive patterns and behaviors into my life. As I allow them to be in through my thoughts, it goes down into my heart. And Jesus says in Matthew twelve thirty four, it's out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
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We just went full circle.
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What are you talking about? Because Jesus says this in Luke 11 verse two. When you pray, say.
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When you pray, say.
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So what I'm saying is coming from my mouth. What's coming from my mouth stemmed from my mind, and what was from my mind was from my heart where the anointing is. If I think little here, I'm gonna speak little there. And some of your mountains aren't being removed because you're not speaking at the level of where your anointing is. You gotta start speaking at the level of where your anointing is. That's why the Bible tells us in Jude one twenty to build your most holy faith. I begin to speak in the Holy Spirit. I pray in tongues.
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Praying in tongues builds up my faith that when it looks like it's all chaos, when it looks like it's all messy, when it looks like all hell is breaking loose, my mind can't comprehend it. So, I'm not gonna just talk words that is gonna get my mind all tripped up. I'm gonna begin to pray in the Holy Ghost. I'm gonna begin to pray in the spirit. I'm gonna begin to pray spiritual things that's gonna build my spiritual faith so that when I say, those things will line up with my words.
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So as I think in my heart, so am I.
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So if you don't like your reality, you need to start thinking some different things. And maybe that might mean you need to have some different people around your life.
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Maybe the very people that you thought was gonna come into the prayer of agreement is actually creating disagreement in your life.
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Maybe you might need to reevaluate what you're putting your attention on and what you're seeing and what you're listening to.
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I don't need to roll all that out. Anywhere you look, if it's inconsistent with God's word, get it out. I don't have to sit here and list off a whole bunch of relevant examples. You know if it's inconsistent with God's word, get it out. It's a poison.
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It's a cancer.
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It will cause your life to go in the opposite direction of what God has spoken.
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And so, need to get my mind right, Set my mind on the anointed things, on the Godly things.
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So that now out of my heart to my mouth, I can speak those things.
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And this is why Jesus tells us whatever you pray, say, have faith in God, speak to it, believe, receive what you have asked and it will be done.
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It's simple. Don't complicate the gospel, guys. You can't complicate the gospel.
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God's very simple. We're the ones by nature that we make things complicated, but God's very simple.
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I remember when my son was born, back in 2021.
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And when my wife gave birth to my son, they started to do all the tests on him. And so they were checking to see how he could see, how he could hear, all the different things to make sure that he was a healthy baby.
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And within thirty six hours, one of the nurses came to the room. It might have been a little less than that. But she came to the room and she said, we're having some challenges with your son in getting a proper hearing assessment.
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And we're concerned maybe there's fluid in his ear, we don't know.
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Well some time had passed and they couldn't conclude anything, so they sent to us to go see a specialist.
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So we went to go see a specialist and they ran some more tests on them. And they said, we still don't understand what necessarily the situation is, but we're gonna go and send you off to to go to another specialist. So, I'm taking my son to another specialist. And so, I am, and we were at, Joe DiMaggio Hospital, and so we're there with a hearing specialist for newborns and for children. And so we're sitting there, me and my son, and he's brand new fresh, man. I mean a fresh little lamb just resting on me. And so they put these things in his ear to run the tests.
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We were there for probably about three hours.
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And the nurse came back to me and said, Mr. Thomas? I said, yes ma'am.
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I want to let you know that we just concluded running all the tests. I said, okay.
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And she said, I want you to brace yourself. I want to share some information with you.
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But I just want you to be prepared. After running the test, it's been concluded that your son has deafness in ear and he's probably not going to hear.
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At best, we probably will be able to put hearing aids, but even at that, he'll have to live wearing hearing aids for the rest of his life.
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And I looked at that nurse or that doctor and I said, I said, is that your professional opinion?
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And she said, yes, sir. I said, can I give you mine?
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Can I can I give you mine? I said, I respect what you're doing, but I respectfully disagree with what you're saying. The fact might be that he has hearing loss, but the truth is my son will hear and his ears will be opened for the glory of God.
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And I said, my son's ears will be opened for the glory of God. And I said it a third time. I didn't say it as demonstrative and as exciting as I am with you all. It was little more like, ma'am, his ears will be opened for the glory of God.
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Couple months later, we continue to bring him to different places, have him checked out. And, what we found out with my son is that there was an issue with one of the chromosomes that was responsible for for his hearing. So he wasn't deaf.
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It was just the the tones that he hears is a little lower than what we would hear.
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So we came home one day, and I saw my son. And he was sitting on the ground, and he had two utensils in his hands, and he was tapping away.
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So that's interesting. And I looked up on the screen and or on the TV, and there was like a worship music video that was playing. I don't know if I'm calling you out two weeks in a row, Jasmine. I don't know if that you had that on or whatever it was, but we walked into the houses on one of the days because you were watching him. And he had the utensils, and he was just hitting us. So that's interesting.
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It's like a fork and a not a knife, a spoon.
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Caught myself.
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Parenting.
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Awesome.
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So he's there and he's tapping away. I'm looking at him and he's watching the screen. I'm like, that's this is now, I know what my confession of truth and faith was,
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But I also remember what the doctor said. Not that I believed it.
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So I watched him. A couple days later I took those out and I put two pencils in his hand or two pens in his hand and he's tapping away. As time went on, what I realized is that he began to develop his hearing where he hears low tones in the same way that when a drummer drums, you hear.
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What began to take place was my son began to develop an ear for music.
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And he begin to develop an ear to be able to play and hear notes and sounds that the average person just would not hear. And here we are now almost five years later, and as a five year old, I was giving I was having my son take drumming instructions, and his drumming instructor said that he's as good as a kid that would be eight or nine years of age. He learned how to drum.
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What's the point? The point was that in the natural, the facts might have said he's deaf. But the truth was he was anointed for a particular purpose, and that anointing comes on him whenever worship music begins to play, and He begins to drum, and He begins to worship, and He begins to play because of His anointing. You have no right or excuse to disqualify self from the effective door that God has opened for you because the adversary has told you you're not good enough, because the adversary has tried to put a label on you, because the adversary has tried to minimize your call or minimize your purpose.
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Listen. Don't minimize what God has spoken over your life, or else God will never maximize what He can do through your life. Begin to give glory and thanks, and know that out of your prayers, God's responding, and He's anointed you for such a time as this, that your best days are the ones that are ahead of you and not behind you. But God is doing a new thing. Do you not perceive it? Wake up somebody.
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His anointing, His strengthening, His purpose is alive inside of you.
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And so, I began to discover was this, is that as I set my mind on the level of my anointing and I speak accordingly, then what I speak will determine what I see. And so sound will begin to determine sight.
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Jesus says, roll the stone away and a sound came out of His mouth when He called Lazarus, and a sight followed it when a dead man that was wrapped in grave clothes came back to life and stepped out of that grave.
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So based upon what you say, there is power in your sound that is fueled by your anointing in your faith that as you speak, now all of a sudden things begin to line up in sight.
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Paul and Silas were bound in chains in a jail, and they let out a sound of praise, and their sight caused those shackles to come off.
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Some of you, the key to your freedom is in the power of your praise telling those things that you cannot stay.
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I'm done with addiction.
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I'm done with heartache. I'm done with those things that have tried to keep me locked up and locked out. I'm done with it, but I'm praising and thanking God that whom the Son has made free is free indeed.
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Your sound will now determine your sight. Sound always precedes sight.
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You don't believe me, man? I was the other day waking up in the morning, and because of the holiday weekend, I heard this early at 06:45 in the morning.
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I was like, oh man, gotta get the trash out.
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Here I am. I got one croc on.
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I'm in my I'm in my skivs.
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Y'all never know where I live, so I'm not worried about it.
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I'm grabbing this trash, and I'm bringing it out because I know on the other end of with a powerful sound comes a powerful sight.
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Big old truck collecting trash is on the heels.
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I don't hear and then all of a sudden a little white azuzu shows up pulling up to my house picking up trash.
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With a powerful sound always comes a powerful sight.
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My My my wife's family lives in Indiana, so whenever we go to visit family, we'll fly to Indianapolis Airport.
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And in Indiana, they're known for the Indy five hundred, the big racing event that takes place. And when you walk through the airports, they've got this race car that's in there. And you look at this thing, and I mean it's a beautiful sight.
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I mean you look at that, the tires are big on it, and and and just the way that it's painted, and all the sticker decaling on that thing. And so, we get into the airport, my son, he wants to climb on it. My daughter, she wants to climb on it. They want to take all the photos, because it's a powerful and beautiful sight. But can I tell you something?
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There's no engine in that car that's in that airport.
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There's no sound.
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It's only a sight.
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Can I tell you the biggest concern and the biggest charge at the same time is that we cannot be a church that's a big sight with no sound? If there ever was an hour right now that America is going to continue to go on for another two fifty years plus lest Jesus comes back, it's not because we look good, but it's because we know how to make a sound, that we're still one nation under God, that we're still a land and a people that is willing to stand firm for the things of God and speak out the things of God. Listen, we live in an hour right now that the nation in a lot of different things that are ungodly are telling you to shut up. I'm here to tell you it's time for you to speak out.
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Speak the things of God. Speak the truth of the living God. It's time that we begin to let out a sound of freedom.
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Because with every powerful sound comes a powerful sight.
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Well, I just don't like some of these things that's happening anymore in the community. You know, they've gotten really woke with their agenda.
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And you know, man, shut your mouth with that garbage.
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Start speaking and praying the truth of God's word and begin to allow angelic beings to be released on heaven's behalf for the earth, for your behalf, for your family, for our community.
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Every powerful sound is followed with a powerful sight.
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Even the movie business and TV understands this.
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Let me let me do this. I'm gonna grab Nate. Can you I want you to have you hop up on the drums real quick.
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And Ken, hop on the keys too.
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Whenever you watch a movie or TV, you could have the same individual wearing the same thing, but depending on what you hear will determine what's gonna happen in their future.
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Right?
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You could have someone looking as clean as pastor Chad.
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How do you use it, brother? In his suit as bishop, in his suit.
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And you could see and and imagine if it was a movie, they're just they're walking along.
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Right?
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And all of a sudden, you hear just some play some soft strings from again.
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They're probably just thinking about something nice.
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So that's a really good, very angelic, life is pretty good.
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Things are things are well.
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Drop that out.
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If you heard that and you saw them walking, you'd say, oh, you know, they're probably getting ready to step into a a very, very significant moment of life.
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But, if the sound, I'm not going to have you do this one, was like, and
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you thought that Jason was going to hop out with a machete, same sight, different sound.
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The sound determines what you think is going to happen next, because you heard the sound first.
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So, I don't care how good they look in their suits, or how they're dressed, or how things appear to be in the
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And so the sound of my prayer life has to reflect the sight.
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The anointing that God has placed on my life to make that sound will allow me to know that that effective door is that what God has called me into, and so my sound is gonna determine my sight.
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You hearing me? So, if you are going through a season where you just feel like, man, the odds are stacked against me, but I know that there's an effective door that's in front of me. The sound might need to be a sound of warfare. Hit me some drums real quick.
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And so as you hear that sound, you're gonna begin to say, no weapon formed against me shall shall prosper.
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My praise goes to God who fights my battles. The one who upholds me in his righteous right hand. The one who is my son. The one who is my shield because I know that my steps have been ordered of the Lord. So my sound is gonna determine my sight, and I'm gonna step through that effective door knowing that I am called to have victory in Jesus name.
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Sound determines your sight.
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But maybe I've gone through a season of great grief and heartache and loss. Just play some some strings for me.
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Then I don't need the sound of warfare.
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What I need is the good shepherd to remind me that he's still leading me by still waters. That I know that even in a hard time that he's with me in the valley, and he still has prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemy.
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Because the sound that I need right now is one that's gonna remind me that God, you hear all my petitions and all my prayers, but you're still with me. You are the one who bears all my grief and all my pain, but yet you still hold me strong. Your sound begins to determine your sight.
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Not everyone has to go to God in the same prayer posture. You go to God based upon where you are.
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God's not looking for a perfect prayer posture.
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He's looking for you to be honest and come to Him as you are in your time of need. And maybe your need is warfare, but maybe your need is in a time where you've gone through loss, there's grief, and there's heartache, and you don't know what to do. But yet, you're still reminded that you've got a God who's with you and a God who loves you, that goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life. Your sound determines your sight.
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So when Jesus says pray, he follows it up by say.
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I wanna tell you today what you say will determine what you say. But pastor, what does that have to do with the prayer of agreement?
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I'm so glad you asked that.
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So glad.
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I know. Some of you are like, I'm waiting. And if you don't get to it, I'm never gonna be in agreement. No. I'm kidding.
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There's three levels when we're talking about the prayer of agreement. Level one is that we come together for a thing. We call that unity.
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We come together for that thing. Much like us today in church, we've come together for a thing. That thing is that we worship together, seek Jesus, man, encounter the goodness of God, the presence of God.
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Man, that this would be a day that, man, we would truly know that God loves us.
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So we come together for a thing. But now we got level two, which is I'm gonna advance in the thing.
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And the way that I advance in the thing is the unity of faith. It means that now we're not just all here for the same thing, but now we begin to think the same thing. We begin to speak the same thing. We're now active working together. As Paul says, it's the body that supplies joint to joint. It's a working. It's a synergy.
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The Bible tells us to be cautious that we would all speak the same things, not let there be any division amongst us, but that we would be joined together with one mind, first Corinthians chapter one tells us.
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So same mind, same sound.
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And sometimes the effective doors that's been opened is not just gonna be because you came into the room with all this faith, all this sound, all this anointing.
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Sometimes it takes an army.
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Son of man, see the valley of dry bones?
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I need you to speak to those dry bones, because I'm raising up a vast army.
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What we've done is labeled the modern church just to be a beautiful family of community, and we are, and that's good. But before you're a family, we are an army. We are the army of the Lord that God is using to advance the kingdom of God in the earth.
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And so when we come together, we become so strong.
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We become so faith filled. We become so in one accord as it was on Acts chapter two. What happened is that when they begin to dwell together in accord in Acts chapter two, because they had the same mind and the same sound, the Bible says that there was a sound of a rushing mighty wind.
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The sound came first, and then the sight of tongues that rested upon them. The sight of the fact that they went with holy boldness and preached the Gospel, and thousands gave their life to Christ.
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When they came in one accord of one mind and one sound, when they were unified in faith, all of a sudden things begin to change.
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In Joshua six, are we okay? We good? You gotta get I want you to get this. Joshua six, when the children of Israel stepped into the promise land, the first thing God said was, you're gonna take out Jericho. We know that story. Great story. Heard it many years. Grew up listening to that story. They even made a song to it. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho.
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Jericho. Right? Right. That was the dance too. The
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bible said though that Joshua gave the instruction to the army and the priests that you're gonna march around the walls six days. And on the seventh day, you're gonna go around it seven times. And at the end of the seventh time, when the sound of the trumpets of the priests make the noise that the people are gonna shout and the walls are gonna come down. Boom.
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That's the story.
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For six days, they march around, they say nothing.
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The seventh day, they march around six times, they say nothing. But on the seventh time, everybody turned up. It got wild.
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Okay.
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Lord showed me this. Why did they say nothing for six days and on the seventh day for six laps?
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Because for six days and on the seventh day six times, they needed to get the same mind.
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Before, they were responsible to make the same sound.
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And too many times, we're not in the same mind, so we're not making the same sound.
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And what determines in the name of Jesus that he is in the midst that he shows up and shows out is not just that I'm saying things, but I actually believe from my mind into my heart that today, God's showing up with a miracle.
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Today, that family member that came with me for the first time to church that I've been praying, they're gonna get saved today.
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Today, miracles and signs and wonders. Today, God's gonna encounter me with healing. Today, the Lord's gonna renew my strength. Because when you have the same mind and you come together with the same sound, then the walls come down. The effective doors are wide open, and the adversary is moved out of the way because the devil cannot stand the sound.
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So Jesus says,
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when you pray, when you come together in Matthew 18, when two agree, when you pray, when two agree,
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Whatever you ask my father in heaven, it will be done for you. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I'm in the midst.
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Here's the third level.
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Number one, we come together for a thing. Number two, we advance in a thing. Number three, when Jesus shows up, now you actually get to experience the thing. And that word agree in the Bible, we're to agree. The word agree, the Greek word is symphonia where we get the English word symphony. When everyone with the same mind and the same sound is doing their part, we create a symphony. And when there is a symphony unto Jesus, he is honored and he is glorified. And the bible says that he rests on the praises of His people. He is there.
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That is the power of prayer, of agreement, when we're unified as one.
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We're unified advancing in a thing. But I don't know about you, I want to experience.
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I want to experience a thing.
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But it's when everyone does their part.
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So sometimes to do their part, you gotta start with a little drum roll.
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A little drum roll.
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There you go.
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This would be good for a moment,
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but what starts to bring it to life is when we throw some strings because
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now we're starting to create a sound.
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But I feel like we've 're able And And
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to
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And symphony and Jesus so, shows up in the middle of it, then
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anything in his name can be so.
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And so a symphony requires more than just a sound of drums or a sound of keys. In fact, I think I said last week that the oil that flows should not just remain on the platform, but the oil that flows has to be one that's carried out from the head to the beard to the skirts of the garment because that oil should be flowing all the way out this door. So, it's not just the sound of Ken and it's not just the the sound of the team but it's the sound when the people of god come together and gather in his name.
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It's the power of the
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in to We're
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the
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be
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Death couldn't hold you down.
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We're gonna lift our voice in victory.
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Gonna make your praises lousy.
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The enemy's been defeated.
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Death couldn't hold
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Jesus.
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Be you.
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Name We're We're in I'm gonna go back into this song for a moment.
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And whatever that thing is, we've been for nearly ten weeks talking about being prayed up, moving in faith, now understanding that we are anointed to come together to be a powerful force, to be a powerful army.
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What is it that the Lord has spoken over your life that He wants you to step into?
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And what enemy, what adversary, what thing has the enemy tried to do to keep you from going through that door?
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When we shout unto God with a voice of triumph, I want you to see that enemy, that adversary, that thing, whatever it has been, just completely moved out of the way, just as Jesus says that you could tell that mountain to be removed. And as we lift up a sound, I want you to begin to get a sight of what God has spoken over your life. Maybe that is healing in your body. Maybe that's restoration in your family.
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Maybe that's breakthrough professionally.
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I don't know what it might be. Maybe you're far from God, and you said, Lord, I don't know what to do. I'm here to tell you, shouting unto God with a voice of triumph is knowing that God loves you, that God's with you, that God hasn't given up on you, that when you call unto Him, He'll continue to show you great and mighty things. When you shout unto God, you begin to see that mountain out of the way, for we serve a good God. Come on, church. I said, we serve a good God. Come on. We serve a God that loves us. Yeah. A God that cares.
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A God that restores.
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A God that heals. A God that delivers.
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A God that blesses.
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As we shout, we are shouting with a voice of victory. Yeah.
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Come on. Thanks
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again for listening to today's podcast. We trust that it has touched your heart and blessed your life. Listen. To support the ministry, you can go to our website, abundantlife.tv.
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And remember, we are better together.