Journeying into Intimacy: Reflections on Pastor Stephen Ward’s Transformative Sermon

How many know that the Lord really is good and his mercy endures forever? Yes. As I stand here today, there’s a lot of emotions that run through me. Good emotions. Not bad. So forgive me if I cry every now and then because this. This, this house is not just a special house for me, but it was a special place to my spiritual father, Bishop Tony Miller.

And, I can’t remember the exact year that he first brought me here and introduced me to now apostle Pat Parcells. Lee. And, immediately it was like we knew each other forever. It was, it was like they knew me really like a mom and dad and, and have always, every time that I’ve been in their presence have reassured me that just being me is okay.

Not everywhere you go with the opportunities. And I don’t say this bragging, Lee, that I’ve had in life and the stages that I’ve stood on that they’re okay with you being human.

They want you to be the gifted man. And there’s a Psalms that David written, and he said this. He said at the end of his life he said, I had no man to care for my soul.

Because everybody wanted David the king. Everybody wanted David the warrior, the giant slayer. But they didn’t know what to do with his humanity. And what I’ve come to learn over the years of being a part of the legacy of this House is what I love about this is that they’re okay with people’s humanity.

The good, the bad and the ugly. Not only are they okay with it, they’re not okay with it to justify it, but they’re okay enough to love people through it and to bring them to a rightful place in Christ. So today, in this House, if you would just for me, would you help me honor the apostles of this house?

Pastor Pat and Sally.

Let me you.

Can you stay standing for a moment? Just throw your hands in the air to.

So I throw my hands and praise you again and again. All that I have is a how they blew young Holly through here. Cause I know it’s not much. I have nothing else in my set for a heart singing I have, I my. So come on my soul, don’t you get shy on me. Lift up your song.

You got a lying side. It’s all drums.

Up. Prophesy to yourself. Come on I know you see inside me. Feel so. Come on, prophesy. Hey! Come on, come on. Prophesy. To come on my soul sick. Don’t! You can’t stop me on your soul. You got a lion inside of those lungs. Get up and praise one more time. Everybody say come on my soul goes inside of me in love.

Your song sing on my side of those lungs. And I love you so I throw my hands. Praise you again and again. All that I have is love and you come on in mine. Oh no, it’s not much I love it I sit for you. Four, four hearts in one hand.

Coming up for you alone I heard you.

For you. Alone. Always for you. One long hot one. Singing crowd I dance the long. We’ll praise your name forever. We’ll praise your name forever. Yes. Song. Sunday for can come up for us. The long. Father, may we never cease to give you glory. And honor. Forever and ever. For your mercy. That was new this morning.

Put me on like a coat. And wear me today. Lord, speak through me. Let my mouth be your mouthpiece. God, I thank you for those that have an ear. Let them hear today. We give you glory and we give you honor. In the name that’s above every name Jesus, Jesus. You can be seated.

On the day of Pentecost, the Bible records that they were in one mind and one accord. You guys are familiar with it. There came a sound of a rushing mighty wind. there came a sound of a rushing mighty wind. This is a thing that we must understand. Is that the. The sound always precedes the manifestation. How many know that when you open up your mouth, you release in either air?

Or what we could consider wind.

There’s something on the inside of you that when you open up your mouth. That the enemy can’t control. The Bible refers to the enemy as the prince and the power of the air. But this is what I have come to learn and understand is that the air that passes through my lungs, past my vocal cords, to release a sound.

He’s not the prince in the power of that air. And he cannot control that. So that that’s when it brings us back to understanding that there’s power in our praise. And that praise is a weapon. It’s actually something that steals the enemy. This is not what I was going that I’m going to preach on today or share with you.

But I hear the Lord saying that there is a new sound that is preceding the manifestation of what has been sown for generations in this house. This is a house of demonstration. It’s not just a house of participation, but it is a house of demonstration that God is wanting, and he is and going to continue to use for the world to see the light, which is Jesus.

Jesus is the light of the world. He said, if I would be lifted up, I would draw all men unto me. I believe that this is a place that has been for ever from the beginning, lifting up Jesus and people being drawn into his presence. This is what I’ve come to learn that once you’ve been in the presence of the Lord.

You’re forever changed. Forever changed. Once you’ve encountered the manifested real presence of the Lord, you’re forever changed in this. This is embracing me. This is what I hear the Lord saying. If you would just let me, I. I am not really one of those line upon line preachers, so forgive me if that’s what you’re looking for today. but I would ask that you would hear me, as this house is with the prophetic ear that even this weekend, all of this weekend, the Voice of God conference.

I don’t think that it’s an accident. I know it’s not that we are in this moment right here in this weekend of what God has been putting and developing within many people that showed up, not only for the conference, but even continued over into today of hearing the voice of God. Because like never before, we have to be more in tune with the voice of God than we are with the voice of a preacher.

Than the voice of a singer.

For too long, the body of Christ has been okay with stimulation and not impartation. And I hear the Lord saying that he is raising his house, the church, to a place of being, what he called them to be, which is the Bride of Christ. And out of being the Bride of Christ, we do what he commanded. He said, be fruitful and multiply.

The only place that saints are, are, are imparted and release. For there to be things to be fruitful and multiply. God is in a place of intimacy. But this is what happens to us as church believers. We we become religious at trying not to be religious. And I’m

just going to say it, I. I’m born and raised in the church, so I think I got a little bit of, of backing that I can say this because, I’ve been there and and I’ve done it.

I’m 45 years old. I’ve, I’ve seen a lot. I’ve been around the mountain more times than probably that. I look and, but, but I say that because it’s, it’s through these journeys that the Lord takes us on. We were talking about this yesterday, that he he teaches us what not to do. and, I believe that God is calling us.

I keep hearing this word, number one, the the word transformation has been over and over and over and over and over, and God has been releasing that through me for, for, for I don’t know how many months of transformation he’s bringing us to a place of transformation. But I keep hearing it’s it’s the great invitation that leads to this place of transformation.

And in this great invitation, we we, we look through the Scripture, even in in Matthew 1128, he says, come to me, all who are labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. We can go to the line. Isaiah 55 one come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the waters, and he who has no money come by and eat.

John 737. On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me, and drink. Revelations 2217 The Spirit and the bride say, come, and let everyone who hears say, come, come, come, come, come. It’s a great invitation. Jeremiah 29 1213 then you will call upon me and come and pray to me.

Luke 647 everyone who comes to me and hears my words and and does them, I will show you what he’s like, who’s like, Jesus is like.

In Matthew 22 it leads me to here in Matthew 22, verses one through three and verse 14, and Jesus answered and spoke to them again by a parable, and said, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding, and they were not willing to come.

Verse 14 says this. It says, for many are called, but few are chosen. As I’ve been studying through this and then just pondering on this word, I’m like, God, what were you trying to say in this parable outside of just an invitation? What was what was the the backing in the deep meaning prophetically that you’re trying to say to your church in this time?

And this is what I heard the Lord saying. He said, there’s been an invitation that’s been sent for people to come, but the majority of them have been waiting around for me to come to them.

If Bishop was here, he would just say like this. He said, Jesus has already came many times.

And so many times we posture ourselves like, this is the church. I’m not. I’m not here to rebuke, but I’m here to exhort because I believe that this House is a representation and wants to demonstrate what the Lord is releasing today in this House. Hear me. We position ourself as the body of Christ, of always sitting around asking God to come, when all through the Scripture, the invitation is for us to come.

You say, why is that important? It’s important because it changes your posture of worship. It changes your posture of what he desires from his bride. And you say, how so? Because it moves you from a slave mentality to a son mentality. Slaves back. But sons understand that it’s their inheritance. The. And which brings me to this. The earth is crying out for the sons and daughters to be revealed.

It’s not that there’s not sons already on the earth. It’s saying that the earth is crying out for the we us, the mature sons of God, not the taking on the immature. There’s many taking on sons in the body of Christ, but the earth is groaning for the. We are for the mature sons of God to rise in their place of union.

That they understand that it’s not my, my, nor my power, but it’s by the spirit of the Lord is by me moving in him and through him, speaking the word that he says, not what I desire to hear. My.

So what he’s doing is that this great invitation is to for us to enter in to this kingdom life. And I like to say like this. He’s calling us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Come on, you can’t just link that scripture to being once a sinner. And now I’m saved. Because in the scripture, darkness was referred to several different ways.

One of the ways that darkness was referred to was ignorance and blindness.

How many feel like that? The church, could use a little bit of more understanding of who Jesus is?

So this is what’s happening. There’s there’s an invitation for us to come. So what we have to do is what we have to allow our mind to shift to the place that allows our life to become transformed, formed in seeing that we move out of this place of ignorance into his marvelous light, the revelation and becoming the we us sons of God, so that we can demonstrate what God has mandated for us to demonstrate here on earth as it is in heaven.

Is this all right? You all right? Everybody’s just staring at me like a I Catholic new game, that’s all. That’s all right. We’re would track with me for a minute. We’re going somewhere. Because this is what’s happening. I have come to learn and understand. If there’s not some type of voice. Sometimes that offends me to a certain degree.

I don’t change. So if it’s all right, I may take a little bit of time just to offend you, to get you out of seeing what you have. Saul.

This is the thing David said. When I think of the goodness of God, he was in a state of being. It wasn’t where he rested and camped out at. He said, when I think of the goodness of what he has done and where he’s brought me from, he said within me, begins to thank him for his goodness. That kept me from that.

And he said, that place gives me the faith to look into the future and say, you know what? If he did it back then, he’s a God that will never leave me, never forsake me. So therefore he’s going to do it for me all the way to the end of my time.

So we come to this place and God is inviting us to come. But this is what we do as the church. We say, okay, what do I need to do?

What do I need to do? Do I need to pray more? Do I need to fast more? Yeah, you probably should. Some of you, some of you should try it.

This is the thing. Fasting isn’t for God. It’s for us. It does nothing for him. It changes everything about us to see him.

He’s not asking us to do something. He’s asking us to be something. He.

He’s calling us from what we were already created. Sons. The non, the immature ones, into this place of maturity that we demonstrate the fullness of the Kingdom of God from a place of revelation that comes from a place of intimacy or a place of secret.

And this is the thing, is that people are more addicted to the public place than they are the secret place. And you would rather come up in here and Sunday morning and get your word instead of in your closet or in your car on your way to work. In spending time with the Lord and get in your own word.

So therefore we become a church of stimulation. Where we’re just stimulated to feel good.

God longs for impartation. He’s done with stimulation of the bride. He’s looking for fruitfulness and multiplication of the bride.

Many of you probably know the story. I’m not going to go in detail for the sake of maybe the ones that are in the room. Some of it I keep it as PG or G as I can own. And took his brother’s bride.

The lineage of his family. He passed and on and took his brother’s bride. And you didn’t know it on on their wedding night he went in and instead of implanting the seed for multiplication, he wasted it on the ground. Therefore, there was judgment brought to his life, and there was no reproduction. And that so many times as what we do as the body of Christ, we come into a place and we get to a place of stimulation.

And when God begins to release the seed, we run out the door. And the seed is wasted. But God is calling us. This is the the invitation. It’s it’s to come. It’s to come into a place, of this bridal chamber of where we are intimate with him, and he’s intimate with us. And that we come to this place of being fruitful and multiplying.

Come on. That wasn’t just a commandment for us to have natural children. That was for us to multiply, to subdue, to overtake the things here on earth, to allow this place to become like heaven. Come on. For God so loved, for God so loved. notice he didn’t shake people. He said, For God so loved the world.

Not only does God love humanity, but he loves this world enough that he sent His Son to save him. And Jesus came and demonstrated it so beautifully on the earth as a representation. But guess what? Jesus is no longer on the earth. But the good news is that you are.

I’m to say that again. The good news is, is that you are. So therefore, it brings us back to a place that we’re not waiting on Jesus to come. We’re just waiting on Jesus to be revealed through us as the mature sons of God. And I believe that this is the place that God is trying to change us from this place of ignorance, out of darkness, into his marvelous light that we begin to see ourselves as the Bride of Christ, that he created not what we desire, but what he desires.

That we come to a place of saying God just like Jesus prayed in the garden. He said, You, God is not my will. Even though my preference, sin, and the things that I desire are trying to pull me here and pull me there. But he said, I pray this from a place of intimacy God, not my will, but your will be done.

And I believe for us it would do us good. Many times every day that we wake up and say, God, is it not my will, but your will be done? Because this is the thing transformation. Transformation comes through intimacy, not activity.

We can be active doing the wrong thing could be a good thing, but the wrong thing going in the wrong direction in the name of God, not knowing it because we fail to acknowledge and seek first.

The Bible says trust in the Lord completely. This is Proverbs 3355 through six and do not lean on your own opinions with all your heart. Rely on him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make. Here it is. Become intimate with him in whatever you do and he will lead you wherever you go.

Could it be that we been aimlessly wandering as the body of Christ because of a lack of intimacy? That we try to be like Burger King. Have it your way. That that that we we show up into a corporate gathering setting and we say, you know, what are you going to do for me today instead of, no, now, God, what can I offer to you today as a living sacrifice?

What what what can I do to to come to you, as you have said, come into my presence boldly, not timidly. Come on. We’re not living under the old covenant of Moses. Here he was by works from the outer court, in her court into the Most holy place. When Jesus died and said he did finish on the cross, the veil was rent.

You know why the veil was rent? It was rent because not only was God asking us to, not only was God trying to get out into the people, but he was also saying, it’s okay that you come boldly, just as you are not through works, not through what I can do, but who you are in Christ Jesus.

But this is what happens. The scripture says, I’d rather you be hot. Or be cold. Notice the wording here, he said, because if you’re lukewarm, if you’re just trying to hit it down the middle, he said, you’re like vomit in my mouth. He said, I’m going to spew you out because this is where we we have an issue.

If you want me to be honest, in the church today, we have an issue of trying to blend the two covenants to make our better covenant. You have to be and you can I be real with you? Come on. This is this is some of the situation that has held you from progressing to the next place of revelation of who he is.

So you continue to try to earn your salvation, and your good works is not going to do it for you no longer, because God is bringing us to a place of understanding in here today. He that hath an ear, those that know to do good and do it not, you have a responsibility. But this is the thing, is that God said, I’d rather you be hot or be cold, because if you’re lukewarm, I’m going to spew you out.

He’s saying, I would rather you choose. Are you going to live this life of Christianity by works? Are you going to live it by grace and the finished price that I have paid on Calvary? Because this is the thing, the Scripture said that Jesus came and he that he established the better covenant.

Come on, some of you need to read your Bible. It’ll talk to you, I promise. And this is the thing, is that no, we’re we’re more comfortable with the Gospel of Moses than we are the gospel of Jesus. Because the gospel Moses gives us something that we can formulate and manipulate.

He was given a pattern. He didn’t really after that. All he had to to do is just trust God, I guess, for the provision to build it. Because after he, you know, the if you’re an architect in this room, once he was given the baton, all they had to do was follow the pattern.

But God is moving us into a place that is not by our patterns, but it’s by his presence.

Because the the pattern didn’t mean anything. Even in the Gospel of Moses, what was important, even to them, was the Most Holy place. But what was removed from us in the New Covenant is that we don’t have to work our way into a place called Holy.

Is that now? Not only is there a place that we refer to as holy, now you are holy. You say, how am I holy? What is holy mean? You’re set apart. You’re one of a kind. You believe you’re one of a kind. All right. You’re holy. Some of you need to come into agreement with that because not only is he holy, but he said I created you in the likeness, in my image, that you would bear my image here on earth.

Not only do we declare that there’s a holy God, but in return he looks at us and says, there’s my holy people. Come on, you gotta change your lens of the way that you’re seeing things, because this is the way that we many times approach coming to God. We approach coming to God through who we are instead of who Jesus is.

And this is what we do. We see God through humanity instead of divinity. And we, we, we, we, we, we put ourselves off of we, we see God through. Well, this is the way grandmamma told me. This is the way I was raised. This is the way, you know, this is this the way I see it and that, you know, that has may have worked okay up to this point.

But the Lord saying, I’m calling you to another place, and what happens is that we begin to see God through our good works. And we think that he’s like a good cop, bad cop. When we’re good, he’s good. When we’re bad, oh, he’s just waiting on that throne just to.

Know God’s not a child abuser. Hear me? He is not a child abuser. I don’t care what religion has told you. That’s the works. That was before the cross. He is not a child abuser. He’s not come to condemn you. But he came that you would have life. The so a kind of life to the fullest. The abundance of life carrying the glory of God.

So he’s calling us to this place of intimacy. Why? So that he can rest his full wi us on us as mature sons of God.

How many want to go? How many? How many are willing to respond to the invitation? Because this is this is this is what can happen. Listen, this is what can happen. We’ve received the invitation. The Scripture said many are called invited, but few are chosen. I think it’s possible for us to be in a place of invitation, but we refuse because of the way we see ourselves to be chosen.

Come on. Can you begin to see yourself the way that God sees you? Because if you don’t, there is no way for you to come boldly. You’re going to come timidly because you begin to base it off of your good works. And God said, I’m not looking for your works. I’m looking for your surrender. I’m looking for your, not my will, Lord, but your will be done.

Transformation happens in this place. God is calling us to a place of transformation. But you know what has to happen? The renewing of the mind.

That’s the invitation, the renewing of the mind. The Scripture says we are transformed by the renewing of our mind. I grew up as a child doing ten revivals with my dad in the mountains of the south southwestern part of Virginia and West Virginia, and.

I am a revivalist to the core, and I believe, for revival. And one of the reasons that I just relocated here to the West Coast was because of, I believe that God is going to use California as a demonstration to the world of revival.

And I believe that this house is one of the houses that is the spear point of leading what it looks like of revival. And this is what revival is to me and what I feel that God is trying to do. He’s trying to revive our mind. Because we can sit and put any kind of label on revival. What it looks like.

Oh, they shouted, they ran. People fell on the altar and fell out and we call it revival. And so it’s okay. I’m all for it. I’ve done it, been in it, seen it, I love it. Continue to do it. I love to see the expressions of God showing up in his people, and they respond in the way that he wants them to respond.

But this is what I’ve come to learn and understand. You don’t live in revival. You live in renewal.

We spend the majority of our time praying for revival, not even knowing probably, that we’ve already been revived and God is trying to shift us into a place of renewal and the place of renewal. Is this right here? Bishop Tony used to look at me often, and he would say this. He would say, son. He said, don’t you ever forget to unlearn and relearn, unlearn and relearn, he said, because when you forget that pattern, you will end up into a place that you are.

Continue contending for reviving instead of being the revival. Because when we shift from just believing for revival after we been revived into renewal, we then become the demonstration and we become the revival that God wants to release on the earth to others, because then it puts a mandate on us. That’s the reason that we have a little bit of a hard time, I’m going to be honest with, with shifting into a place of renewal, because it then puts a little bit of responsibility on us to position ourselves as a son and not a slave.

That we’re not begging for God to do it, but we’re saying God flow through it. Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water. Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water. How many know who the river is? Come on. Out of your belly shall flow rivers. If you’re waiting on God to show up mystically at your work place and bring revival, it may not happen because he’s waiting on you to show up.

The real you. Not not the fake you. Because this is the thing. He ain’t going to anoint the fake you. He only anoints the real you and God is waiting on us to get out of this place of immature sons. The earth is groaning and shifting into this place of maturity and saying, God, I’m not! No longer just going to sit around and just beg you to come and do something.

No, I’m going to be your hands and feet in the earth, and I’m going to demonstrate with confidence that I am going to be confident because I have found my identity in a place called secret, not a place called Public Eye, that I have found my identity in a place of spinning time, of hearing the voice of God, not a voice of another man, but hearing the voice of God.

Hearing his word prophesied over me from his mouth and understanding that if he said it, he said, I’ll watch over my words and I will perform it and bring it to pass.

Just, just, just, just just a little bit of, of understanding there. When when that was prophesied, how did you did you know that the Bible wasn’t written?

at least 400 years after the record of the recording of where he said he watches over his word and performs bring It to pass. And then it was 1200 years before there was anybody literate to be able to read what was written. So you say, what was he saying?

He was saying that there is a place that you can be in a place called secret, this place of union, that you hear my voice that is being spoken over you. Come on. I love the Bible and I love the scriptures and the inspired Word of God. But guess what? God didn’t just talk to the prophets in the Bible.

He’s talking to the prophets today. He’s still talking today. God has never stopped talking.

We’ve just stopped listening. So God is bringing us to this place of maturity, of understanding that I am a walking, living, breathing representation of what I’m beholding. The Scripture says that you are becoming what you are beholding.

What have you been looking at? What are you beholding? Come on. What what what what what what image has been created in your mind about you that you see greater than the real you? This prophetic demonstration in written that Isaiah wrote about it. He’s beautiful. He said, in the year that King Uzziah died, he said, I, I saw the Lord high and lifted up just where my mind goes.

You know, it’s like he was prophetically declaring, really? Almost as as the crucifixion. He said, I, I see Jesus because a little later on, the scripture that we quote so much, Isaiah 43, behold, I will do a new thing, and he shall spring forth. He shall spring forth not slow, but he shall spring forth speedily. It was almost like he was declaring, there I see the Lord being crucified.

And I also see the Lord being resurrected and bringing a new covenant. And he’s saying this right here, he said before he quoted, I will do a new thing. He said, you got to forget. Think about this. The former thing. I just saw this last night as I was reading and studying and preparing for the day, he said, you got to forget the old, the old covenant, new covenant.

You may break it down a little bit, he said. You got to forget the old ways and embrace the new. And this is what Isaiah says. It’s beautiful. He said, behold, many of us know it. You know, behold means to see. Can you can you see it? Then he goes on again on down a little farther. And he said, shall you not perceive it?

He says it again. Can you see this thing? He must have been dealing with some stubborn people. Then also he’s like, hey, hey, hey, can you, can you see this? Because this is the thing that is a possibility is that it is possible for you to be in a new thing and not even know it.

Because you haven’t allowed your eyes to see properly. I can’t help but to quote him because I spent a lot of time with him. Bishop would say like this. He said, you don’t see with your eyes. You see through your eyes because it’s your brain that tells you what you’re seeing. And this is what happens to us is that we allow religion and things to formulate a form of godliness to us, but we don’t understand how to really see him high and lifted up.

I’m I’m saying this prophetically in this house today, because I believe that you guys are a demonstration of what God is saying and what this is. It’s not it’s not come and say for you guys to correct things. I believe that this house, because I’ve been around it long enough, most of this stuff that God has shared is not new to you, is that God is confirming an identity that is on this house, in the mission that is on this House to become to the world the demonstration of let your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So God is calling us to this place. Can you see me? Or do you see an organization? Can you see me or do you just see your favorite preacher? Okay. Can you see me?

He say, can you see the newness of life? Can you see that I am doing a new thing? Can you, can you can you perceive that God has shifted us into a new covenant, the better covenant? Can you see that it is no longer by our good works, but it’s by the price that he paid on the cross.

And when he said it is finished, no longer do we have to worry that the enemy is going to take us out unless we submit to him, but that we understand that he has already won every battle? Can we see it all? We have to do is change our mind. That’s that brings us back. That we’re transformed by the renewing of our mind.

Because as you renew your mind, your eyes begin to behold who you really look like. In the beginning was the word. The word was with God, and the word was God. The word with there is pross. It means that the Word of God was face to face with God in the beginning. And then the Scripture didn’t say, there.

He said, Then the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Who’s he talking about?

This was in the beginning. This wasn’t at the cross. This was prophetically declared. God didn’t have a backup plan for the fall of Adam. He was already predestined. He was already done. He already knew. He’s a God of all. For he knowing all things. That’s the reason the Scripture says that the, the, the lamb of the lamb was actually slain before the foundations.

When talking about Calvary. He was slain to take away the sins of the world. Think about this. This is a good one. Jesus didn’t come to forgive sin. He come to remove sin. Because look, look, look. In the old covenant people sins were being forgiven. So Jesus didn’t have to come to establish that. He come to remove sin, to eliminate it from the earth.

For God so loved the world that he sent his only son to remove the sting of death. from the fall of Adam.

But guess what? That that was in the plan B for God. He already had plan A, he or he had Jesus in mind. That’s the reason he said before the foundations of the earth. I have already slain the lamb. I already see this. Come on. The things that take us by surprise never surprise. God.

So he has done all of this for us to understand that you are a chosen generation. But he’s asking, do you choose to be chosen? Will you step up to the plate? You say, God, I want to be who we are, sons of God. I want to be the ones that the earth is crying out for. That’s where we have to get the body of Christ that even most of us need to.

Just to help people, to get hungry and thirsty again. Because that’s really the only two prerequisites that the Lord the Bible says. He said, come all who are hungry and thirsty, come eat and drink. Come to the table of the Lord

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I believe in this room today that he is shifting us to understand that we are not, that we’re going to be here. Me, we are the sons of God.

Sonship is not a title. It’s a position. And this is the thing that most of us who come to learn and understand, even if you have any type of military background, the power in authority comes from the position that you hold. When you understand your position, you understand your authority. So that when the enemy comes up against you and tries to whisper in your ear, oh, you should be afraid.

Oh, you’re sick.

Come on. Satan is not an enemy to God.

He’s our adversary. He’s not God’s. But that doesn’t even worry me because I understand that I’m in God. I’m in this. What we would call the Perry crisis. It’s called the circle dance of the father, son and the Holy Spirit. It’s just a beautiful picture. We’re in that we’re not outside of it. We’re in it. Jesus said with the Scripture said that when Jesus was crucified, we were crucified.

And when he rose again, we rose with him. And we have been seated with him. Where? Not in me. Walk. He said, we’ve been seated in heavenly places. Why is that important? Because when you sit in an elevated place, you see things from a different point of view. What you’re able to see, the obstacles that have been formed, trying to work against you, that you’re able to navigate around.

No weapon formed against us shall prosper from a place of understanding that we are seated. Are you getting this today? How many, how many, how many is willing to step up to the plate of the challenge of saying, God, I want to know what it is to be intimate with you, to reproduce, and not to be okay with just being stimulated by you.

That that I am willing to shift out of this place of being okay with just feeling good when I come to church. But I want there to be something deposited in me that when I walk outside of these doors, that I become fruitful and I multiply what was sown inside of me on a continual basis, that I come into this place of intimacy.

You can be active for God and not produce anything, but it’s impossible to be active with God and not produce. There’s a difference, and most of us have positioned ourselves that we’re doing this for God instead of in God or with God.

I learned that the hard way. I know what it’s like to have the mentality of saying, I’m doing this for God. You know where it left me full of depression and anxiety, trying to sustain something that I was never intended to sustain.

It left me in a place of depending on prescriptions to help me through life.

Because I tried to do it for God instead of with God.

And I did it for a long time.

I’m not proud to say that, but I did because I didn’t understand any difference. But when I got the revelation that I’m not doing it for him, but I am, I co labor with him and that is not by my mind and it’s not by my good works. It’s not about how good I can sing, how good I can play, how good I can preach.

But it’s about is the Spirit of God on it?

Is there glory resting on it? Is there weight resting on it? The church is guilty of counting nickels and noses, but God has really come to not number us. He’s come to weigh us.

How much glory have you allowed yourself to be? Position. How much glory has been able to be entrusted to rest on your life? Because it’s the glory of God. It’s the cupboard, the manifested presence.

God is omnipresent.

Everywhere.

But he’s not manifesting himself everywhere except this way. He said this to Moses. He said, my people will be known. By what they carry.

And this is the great thing about us as believers is that when we come together, he promised, where two are three are gathered in his name. He didn’t say, my presence will be there because he’s I’m not presence. I mean people around the world, the drug houses and all of that, you know, they can experience the I’m not present but not the manifested presence.

This is makes sense to you because God is wanting to reveal that through the we are sons of God, the mature ones that is able to say, I know my authority in Christ because I know who I am. That when I walk up into a room that is full of hatred and strife, that it has to cease because of the glory of God the rest of my life.

That actually when I walk by somebody in a wheelchair, that the shadow of my life causes them to get up.

That we shift into this place here. The call today, there’s an invitation for us to come into this place of intimacy. In this place of secret.

This is one of the keys of the kingdom. You say, what is the key? I believe that the key is the key of David the beloved. And I believe once we understand that we have this key, we never, ever again waver. I have to ask for a door to be open because we have the key.

Where is that key? Found in the secret place. Through intimacy from a place of presence, not your preference.

Our preference gets in the way, and majority of the time, if you want me to be honest. It’s not that it’s always a bad thing, but sometimes it gets out of hand and it causes us to desire things. That’s not of God. That’s the reason the Scripture comes back to me says seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of these things will be added unto you that we seek first, where in the secret place?

David said it like this he said, early in the morning, will I rise? That’s not me. Setting my clock to 4 a.m.. The word early there meant first. And he said, in everything in my life I don’t put you on a time clock, he said, but everything in my life I come to you first car. Is this your will?

Because if it’s not, I don’t want it. Is this your will for my life? If not, I don’t want it. Where do we find that? In his presence. In his presence? His what? The fullness of joy. God is bringing us to a place of fullness, maturity. I know it takes a lot for us to maybe comprehend some of these things that we really do carry, but this is the thing.

God is not trying to come in here to ask you to figure it out. He’s just asking you to walk it out and trust. Trust, as Peter did when he got out on the water and begin to walk and say, God, I’m going to trust you. I’m going to trust that that when when I look into the mirror that I don’t see the feet.

I see victory. When I look into the mirror, I don’t see a cast out of cast away. But I see somebody that’s accepted. When I look into the mirror, I don’t see someone of hate. But I see someone of love. That I represent who you are. For God is love

. So there

What are you beholding in this place of intimacy? What are you beholding? He said, my people perish. I’m about to end for the lack of what?

This lack of understanding of who they are.

May we never become familiar with his presence and his glory. Because when we become familiar, it leads to us living this life of being okay with just feeling good instead of being transformed.

God don’t function as a God of transaction. He functions as a God of transformation. That’s who he is. It’s impossible for him to show up in a situation and not transform it.

But we have become addicted with the transaction of God.

You give $10 and God can give you $100.

If you pray in us, then you’ll get healed. If you fast enough, you’ll see the breakthrough. If God tells you to do those things to bring yourself into line, yes.

But God is bringing us to a place of maturity, of understanding that this is something that we walk in. It’s not something that we come in and out of.

I said this in the class the other day as we were having some discussion. I said, The Holy Spirit is not transient. He don’t come and go from our lives.

Notice in the beginning, when Adam fell.

Notice the story. He was Adam that didn’t show up.

Not God.

God still showed up for the walk. But Adam did. And that’s what we do to ourself. So therefore we put God. Is this transaction of God.

When I need him, I call him.

Instead of living in this place of intimacy.

It’s not a place that you should try to formulate in your mind, because there’s one meaning of intimacy that uses the word actively involved with each other on a daily basis that brings about intimacy. That’s one of the meanings of the word.

And as we do this, God is not looking for these things that we love, called visitations.

He’s looking for not just this building, but I say these people. A place of habitation. Where he inhabits the praises. Where he inhabits you, not only in this room, but in school, in your workplace, at home, in your living room. There’s some things that you would stop doing if you understood that you were in the secret place that has been tormenting your lives, whether it be addictions.

Because this is the thing, he don’t come and go from you. He said, I’ll never leave you. It’s not in him. He said, I’ll never leave you nor forsake you. It’s man that chooses to walk away. And God is continually showing up for the walk. Don’t hide from him. Don’t allow your fear and say I. I got to do know God wants you to be.

He wants you to be a son. He’s not gender specific. It is a position that we hold, for we are the sons of God.

This is where we are entering into. I love this house so much, because I believe there’s a demonstration that is coming from this place like never before. I really do.

The seeds that have been sown from the founders. The things that have been prophesied. People this week with sharing prophecies with me. It’s like the angels ascending and descending in this room.

Angels in the Scripture was referred as messengers. You know what that is? That ain’t I. I’m I’m not going to say that, saith the Lord. But to me it’s messengers that are. Notice it said, they’re ascending and descending. It’s us ascending to a place of understanding, revelation. What God wants to release. And then we bring it back to earth.

It’s us as messengers, ascending and descending, ascending and descending to hear the voice of the Lord continually.

May we never get tired of pursuing his presence over our preference.

I lead a ministry called the Living Room. That’s what my heart is. It’s presence over everything. Because where he is, anything is possible to them that believes. I’ll say, like Moses said, it’s he’s not there. I don’t want to be there. But guess what? We have a promise that he is there. He’s right here. And when we show up, he’s there.

Where 2 or 3 are gathered, he’s there. The manifested glory. I feel God moving across this room today, stirring our hearts to a place of understanding who we are and who we are.

You’ve been bought with a price that you could never, ever earn.

Never ever pay. And it’s not even expected from him. You may be in here today, and you have not made the choice to follow Christ 100%. You’ve been in and out, in and out because you kind of have seen God as a God of in and out. And God wants to reestablish that in your life today, that he’s a consistent God, even when you’re inconsistent.

That he loves even when you are not responding with love to his love.

It’s he loved first that we made love. He was the demonstration. That’s what worship is. Worship is simply love. Responding to love. My life being a living example of love. That was the greatest commandment. He said, I wish that you would love one another, is what he said. Above all things. Love yourself. Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

And that would be a that’s that’s kind of a hard one for us to get over right there, because most of us don’t even love ourselves. We don’t love our is not saying love yourself in a prideful way, but it’s the love, the image that he created you to be. That’s the warfare that we have. We war not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.

The warfare is against what? It’s against our image, the it. The enemy hates what you look like.

Because it’s. It is what he never could become.

Satan was just a reflection of what he was allowed to come close to.

And this is the thing. We’re not just a reflection, but we were created in the likeness. And his image.

That’s the reason that the enemy fight you is because you look like what he could never become. What he wanted to become.

He fights against your identity in Christ Jesus continually to keep you from moving into this mature son state. That’s the warfare. And you know where that is.

It’s not. We’re going into the enemy’s camp and taking back what he stole from us. Where is the enemy’s camp? Can somebody tell me?

It’s right here.

The Bible says to bring every thought into captivity, to pull down everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, the understanding of God that he has spoken over you.

That we bring it into subjection. We pull down these things. Come on. God is calling us to another level of fruitfulness, so therefore it’s going to demand another level of intimacy.

And this by far of of stewarding a place of secret is harder than becoming a great speaker, a great teacher, a great husband or a great wife. It is much harder to steward the secret place than it is for all of those things to come to fruition. Because the enemy knows that if he can keep you from looking into his eyes and beholding the reflection

that you see, and you keep you from becoming who he’s created you to be, he has one.

It’s what side do we choose to be on? It’s not that God and the enemy’s still worn it out. The enemy’s defeated today. To God. But that’s the reason the Bible says, choose you this day, whom you’re going to serve. We have a choice. Every day we wake up whom you’re going to serve. Who do you choose? Every day that you wake up, that you’re going to serve?

God is calling us to this place saying, God every day. Let my choice as soon as my eyes open, Lord, I choose you. I choose you over my preference. I choose you over everything that makes me feel good because everything is not going to make you feel good. And that’s okay. Because in his presence, what doesn’t look like him, many times it doesn’t feel good because he begins to remove what doesn’t look like him.

And he said, no, I’m created you in my likeness, in my image. You are not that. That’s one of the powerful things about worship that I sometimes I think we don’t understand is that worship doesn’t put us together. It takes us apart.

It dismantles the flesh side of us so that the real who we are is revealed in him and through him.

That’s the reason that we, we cannot become so hung up on just singing and playing that that that is all that, that there is to worship. No, it’s not worship to the father is also you becoming a mature son.

That’s how he gets the glory. God don’t get glory out of you being broke. He don’t get glory out of you being sick. He gets glory out of you. Walking in the full maturity of a son that he created you to be. That’s how he gets glory. You want to give God glory? Then allow yourself to arise to this place of maturity.

Listen, I don’t care what your age is. Age is just a number. All you gotta do is change your mind. Come on. Some of you need to think yourself to a happy place. You don’t need a pill. You need to change your mind. Some of you are dealing with anxiety and depression. And it’s just one thought. You’re one thought away from having your breakthrough.

It’s not attached to what some doctor can do for you. One thought away. Come on. The drug addict didn’t just fall into being addicted to drugs. He started first with the thought.

And I believe that God is shifting us to this place. If we could today, let’s stand to our feet. And before we close that, we ask God to restore the thirst and the hunger for this place that he has invited us to so openly invited us, because that’s the only thing that he looked for. He said, those that are hungry and thirsty come.

And he said, I will give you. I will give you. He has an endless supply of what you need to drink, what you need to eat.

God, let us be transformed today. As our minds has been challenged and renewed, God, that you would allow our life to represent the transformation. That we leave here today saying, well, I didn’t feel it means it’s not that we walk by feelings. We walk by faith. He that hath an ear, let them hear. Today, God, today we stand on the Word of God today, that it’s not by our might, nor by our power, but it’s by your spirit.

And we trust the voice of God. We trust the voice of God. We trust the utterance that we hear from the deep parts of our being God. We trust the voice of God that it won’t lead us astray, but God it will continue to keep us on the path of righteousness for your name’s sake, that it will keep us in the place that we know that we are being directed and guided by the comforter.

Today we submit to you, Lord. We submit to your will, and we submit to your way. Here, thereby short of breath, take a Torah by. Breath short of breath. Should that be to your sound. Prepares the way. Your sound prepares the way. I see victory on every side. Come on. Can you see it? I see deliverance in every situation of bondage.

I see a way out of no way. Because of Jesus. He is the way out of no way. He is the truth and the life is breathtaking. Baa baa baa baa baa shake father forever. Let your word be settled in our hearts as it is in heaven. Lord, we honor you today. God, and we give you glory just for who you are, just for who you are.

Glory, glory. Glory. See, Gloria. See? Glorious glory. Shut up! Bye bye, rutabaga. Take care. Bye bye.

Come to me. All who are weary. Come boldly to the throne. Room of grace coming down. The master is calling. Come and come and fellowship. Come, come, come, come. It’s time for us to come boldly. Come. Surrendering our will. Surrender. Surrendering our preference. Surrender and our agenda. Surrendering it at the feet of Jesus. And take on the better portion, even as Mary did, sitting at the feet of Jesus.

We come, Lord. And I, God, I thank you from this place of of intimacy and secret, that there’s a new wave of revelation that is coming out of this house. I think that there’s a new wave of impartation and demonstration of miracle signs and wonders from this place of intimacy. God, it’s not by good works, but it’s coming from this place of purity that this House has carried for so long and has tended to.

God, I thank you that you are continue to birth sons and daughters from this pure place that will touch the world.

We give you honor and praise in Jesus name. Everyone that agrees shout Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen.