Why Division Is Necessary | Wednesday Night Service

I am not the first string tonight. I'm the, like, the fourth string, possibly the water boy, so bear with me. Pastor Prabu was actually scheduled to speak tonight, and his father is having some health issues. And Pastor Prabhu is en route to India right now to be with his father. So as his family, I think we need to just take a minute and lift Pastor Prabhu's father up to the Lord and listen, you know all the detail.

I know. I don't know any more detail than that. I honestly don't. Just that. Listen, one of our brothers needs us to pray right now.

So, man, let's pray. So, Lord, you're a good God. You're our father, Lord. And by your stripes, we're healed, Lord. So I pray that those stripes go into action right now on behalf of Pastor Prabhu's father, Lord, I pray that your hand be upon him.

It's not too short to reach out, even across the ocean, Lord. It's not too short to reach out. You're omnipresent. You're there as much there as you are here. So, Lord, we ask right now that you would heal him completely.

Whatever the issue is, we pray that you would heal him completely right now. Strengthen Prabhu's inner man right now. Give him rest, give him peace. Jesus, Lord, he loves you. He's faithful.

I pray that you would honor him for that. Right now, in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

So Pastor Steph called me yesterday or last night actually, and said, hey, any chance you can fill in for Pastor Broadbu tomorrow night? So. And the Lord had been kind of dealing with me on a certain subject, and I had actually already started writing down notes and scriptures and things for this particular subject. So it took me about an hour today just to finalize that and get it over to the printer, my wife, and have her print it out and proofread it for me. I don't think she got to proofread this one.

It's been a busy day. So, hey, listen, but let's dig in. Let's just honor the word, all right, and see what the Lord has to say. So tonight I want to speak on the subject of why division is necessary. Right?

This is not to say that unity is not important, but the Bible speaks about division, and it's going to happen. The good thing is we get to choose where it happens, right? So let's explore that topic and see what the Lord says. So when I was. What kind of got me started on this whole thing is I read this quote that says, when there is no enemy within, the enemy outside cannot hurt you.

And I started to look that up to find out, where did it come from? And, man, it's assigned to a whole bunch of people. So. To all the people it's assigned to. Thank you.

Because I don't know, it was. You know, one source said it came from Winston Churchill. One source said it came from someone. He read a book that he read. And so I don't know.

But the quote itself is profound, right? When there is no enemy within, the enemy outside cannot hurt you. If you will open up your Bibles to the book of Hebrews. That doesn't mean, like, that only men get to make coffee, right? Oh, that wasn't funny.

Nobody laugh. But I make my coffee. You guys don't get that, I'll stop. No more jokes, all right? Some of you guys are looking at me like, what in the world is he talking about?

I don't know. That's the problem.

Hebrews, chapter four. Let's start in verse one.

I'm going to. I've got a lot of Scripture. Is that okay? Man, I just feel like it's a good night to read some scripture, right? So let's dig into this.

Hebrews 1 or Hebrews 4, verse 1. We're going to read all the way through 16. It says, therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did. But the message they heard was of no value to them because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.

Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, so I declared on oath in my anger, they shall never enter my rest. And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words. On the seventh day, God rested from all his works. And again in the passage above, he says, they shall never enter My rest.

Therefore, since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, God again set a certain day, calling it today. Everybody say, today.

This he did with a long time later. When a long time later, he spoke through David as the passage already Quoted today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Somebody say, lord, open my heart. For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. So I'm going to say, lord, help me rest from my works.

Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. For the Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness. But we have one who has been tempted in every way. So just as we are, yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

So, Lord, I pray that you would hide this word in our hearts, Lord, that we wouldn't sin against you. Lord. This word is life to our bodies and health to our bones. Lord, I pray that we would be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only, Lord. And we do have confidence, Lord, that the good work you started in us, Lord, you will complete it.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

So tonight again I want to speak about why division is necessary. Verse 12 again. For the Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow.

It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Listen, if that verse, verse 12 was just by itself, it would be kind of hard, right?

But what precedes it is like the Lord's. Like, I have a rest for you, right? He's like, I have a rest that you're meant to enter. You're meant to live in peace, right? A peace that passes our understanding where sometimes we don't even know why we are peaceful.

Because of what's in front of us or what we're dealing with. But there's that sense of rest, and then there's verse 12. And then after that, there's the throne of grace. But in between that peace and that throne of grace, there's a part that we have to play, and that's letting the Word of God divide our soul and our spirit. That's the division that's necessary.

And if we will give ourselves to that, rest will come. If we will give ourselves to that, we will see the Lord rightly on his throne, full of grace and wisdom and forgiveness. We will see him as he is. But we have to let His Word divide good from bad inside of us, where we get rid of everything that's not him and obtain everything that is. But there's only one thing that can do that.

We only have one promise of that happening, and that's the Word, and we can't neglect it.

So to help us remember this, to help me remember it, I have some P words to make my point. No pun intended. Well, yes, there was, but anyway, it still sounded good. Okay, I've got some P words. All right.

So if you want to take some notes, all these words start with P. Just to help us remember God's promise. All right, which is the first word? Promise.

It promises to divide or take away everything that keeps us from living according to the Spirit.

Right? If we live according to the Spirit, we will live. If we live according to the flesh, we will die. That's the Word. But there's a promise we have that that Word will divide out of us everything that keeps us from living in the Spirit.

But we have to read it. We have to internalize it. We have to pray through it, right? We can't open it on a Sunday and open it on a Wednesday. It's going to have some effect.

But I guarantee it won't be the peace we're looking for. Right? We won't realize the promise. We certainly won't have the confidence to go before his throne boldly and proclaim who he is and receive his forgiveness, and therefore be at rest in our souls. It's got to be something that's perpetual because we as humans tend to forget and we need a reminder constantly.

So he makes a promise. He's like, if you'll do it, get everything out of you that's not of me, and I'll show you who I am. That's the promise. Hebrews 4:12 says, for the word of God is alive and active, let's read it Again, sharper than any double edged sword. It penetrates even to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow.

It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Listen, the Word will divide right from wrong in our lives, in our minds and in our hearts.

How many times are we tormented in our mind because the Word's not there, right? And we just live in torment. I've been there. It's not fun. It's not fun.

But there's a promise. There's a way to get rid of it. We just have to act on divides us to the point of separating what is him and what's not him.

That's our promise.

Our prayer with of I want all of you, Jesus, should be followed by this. Lord, show me who you are.

There's only one way we're absolutely sure that we're not mishearing the Lord and that's reading this.

I can't tell you how many times in my life I knew I heard from the Lord. I would have staked my claim on it only to find out, you know what, I was wrong.

But this never fails. This doesn't lie, this doesn't mislead, this is true, it's trustworthy. But we've got to get it in us. It holds the wisdom we're looking for in daily life. It holds the wisdom we're looking for in things of the spirit.

But if it sits on the shelf full of dust, we forfeit the wisdom, we forfeit the peace.

There's a division that must take place and this is the tool that will do it.

We can't neglect it. Now listen, I will agree there's a certain amount of wisdom we as humans get from age and experience. But that doesn't mean it's the wisdom of the Word.

It can be completely out of line with the Word, but it's still wisdom. It's a form of lower wisdom.

But the only way to get godly wisdom to live godly lives, be godly people, make godly decisions and think like Christ have his mind, is by getting this inside of us.

Listen, sometimes I think we forfeit the reality of the kingdom for a lesser reality, right? Have you ever met someone and you're just like man? That's a Jesus person, right? Man. There's just something about.

There's something different, right? There's some sustenance to that individual.

That's because they possess this, this possesses them and it makes them who they are. And they don't live in a reality that the rest of the world lives in. They don't live by the reality of what they can only see, hear, touch, taste and smell.

It's a whole different world. It's this reality. It's this truth. We've got to let this divide what is not kingdom, reality, and out of us. We've got to get that out of us.

The second P word too is it promotes. What does it promote? It promotes true unity.

It keeps us from debasing ourselves through fighting and resorting to mere human instinct.

Philippians 2:1 through 4. Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and one in mind. Listen, if we're going to be one in mind, let it be this mind, right? We can unite all we want around an alternate truth and we will fail. Okay?

How unified we are around it.

I can name a bunch of groups of people who are all unified around what they believe is truth. And there's unity there. They're all floating together in the same direction of destruction. But they're unified.

Not with this. This keeps us far from destruction. We've got to let this divide our soul, our mind, will and our emotions operating in the flesh, from operating in the spirit.

Listen, let's just read some. Let's keep reading some scripture here. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit rather than humility. Value others above yourselves, Lord. This gives us the right understanding of who we are and who other people are.

Not looking to your own interest, but each of you to the interest of others. First Corinthians 3. 3. You're still worldly. Since there is jealousy and quarreling among you.

Are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? Listen, this keeps us from that, right? You understand that the enemy has a plan for us, but so does the Lord. And this is the only way to know it, right?

There's no other way. This is it. The enemy's plan is easy to know. Just turn the TV on. Just turn your radio on.

Get on social. No, no, nevermind. Don't get on social media.

But listen, if you want to know the enemy's plan for you, just quit looking at this. He'll make it known really quickly. But he's sly about it. He's very slick, right? I promise you deception will set in.

We'll believe a lie. And a lie is anything other than kingdom reality. That's what a lie is.

The only way we can Live in the kingdom. Reality is to digest this inside of us and let it separate what isn't kingdom from what is. All right. James 4:1 12. Let's read some scripture.

What causes fights and quarreling among you? Don't they come from the desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have. So you kill, you covet. But you cannot get what you want.

So you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God when you ask. You do not receive because you ask with wrong motive so that you may spend what you get on your own pleasures. This will straighten out your motives, I promise. You adulterous people.

Don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity with God? Therefore everyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Lord, let this sink into my heart tonight. Father. Or do you think scripture says without reason that he is jealously longing for the Spirit he has caused to dwell in us?

But he gives us more grace. That's why the scripture says God approaches the proud but shows favor to the humble. Listen, this will knock the pride off of you right at the same time it won't leave you broken.

We've got to have this church. We need this. We need this more than we know. We need this. This has got to become a reality for us.

It's a promise for us. It's a promise of rest. It's a promise of his throne. It's all in the same scripture. It all flows together.

The same scripture that says, Listen, this is divide right from wrong in our lives is the same scripture that promises rest and boldness in his throne. It's his presence because it gets everything out of us that contradicts his presence.

We've got to let this sink in.

Submit yourselves into God. Resist the devil. He will flee from you. Come near to God. He will come near to you.

Wash your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double minded. Listen. This keeps double mindedness far from us. Grieve, mourning well.

Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up. Brothers and sisters, listen. Don't slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or sister judges them, speaks against the law and judges it.

When you judge the law, you're not keeping it but sitting in judgment on it. There's only one lawgiver and one judge. The one who is able to save and destroy. But you, who are you to judge your neighbor?

Listen, when this division doesn't happen, this division Will, Right. If you really want to know why, there's arguments and disagreements, there's quarreling, there's fighting. It's because this division hasn't taken place, right?

This is everything. It heads off so many things that the devil means to destroy us with.

It's found in here.

This is the roots of the tree of life, right? John says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God. This is the roots that that's grown out of. You'll know a tree by its fruit. I've never seen a healthy tree, drink tree, that doesn't have healthy roots.

This is how they're planted. This is how they're extended deep into the ground. When we open this and we say, lord, show me today who you are. And when we read something in this and our life doesn't line up with it, it's, lord, forgive me, apply this to my heart, apply this to my spirit.

And then I promise you, according to this, you will be at rest.

I don't care what's going on around you. This brings rest because it takes away the things. That takes away our rest. Thank you, Jesus.

Listen, division's gonna happen, but we get to choose which division it is. It's going to happen. Either we're gonna let this divide us, right? Or everything outside of this will divide us.

You guys with me? I know it's a little bit heavy. It's not over, though. I apologize. We're going to get a little bit deeper into this, and then, you know what?

We're going to go before the throne and see if we can't get some of that promise to rest. Listen. It purifies us. That's the next P word. It washes us and makes us clean.

Ephesians 5:25 through 27. Husbands, love your wives. Just as Christ has loved the church and gave himself up for her. To make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word to present her to himself. A radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

Listen. Just like husbands.

Listen. Are instructed to declare the Word and pray over their wives. Listen. We need to declare the Word and pray over our own hearts.

The principle of washing still exists. It still remains.

I don't remember the last day. I haven't prayed the words, Lord, wash me.

Listen. Not to try to be holier than thou. Listen. I don't want to be dirty.

And this is my only promise.

This is leads us in paths of righteousness for his Name's sake, right? This word is a lamp into our feet and a light unto our path. Listen, I read that scripture the other day, and I'm like, man, how many times has this word lit up my path only to show me I'm on the wrong one, right? Come on. I know some of you guys have been there, too.

At least one of you, me, and at least one other person here needs this for real. You ever want to know if you're doing the right thing, open this up. You ever want to know if you're thinking correctly? Open this up.

You ever want to get to the point where your emotions don't control you? Open this up.

Right? It's all found in here.

Listen, the word removes soul ties we have in our lives and dethrones them from their place of control so they can't manipulate our thoughts and actions, right? You got some soul ties you need to get rid of. Open this up. Let the word wash over you.

If you've ever gone through a counseling session, what's that whole session based on?

If it's godly, it's based on this.

It's this being prayed over you. It's the principles found in this word being spoken over you. Because it literally will get rid of the things that have attached themselves to your life so that we can be at rest. It's a promise.

The fourth P is. It pulls. It pulls the log out of our own eye, right? Matthew 7:3:5. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own?

How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your own eye when all the time there is a plank in your. Let me take the speck out of your eye when all the time there's a plank in your own eye. You hypocrite. First take the plank out of your own eye. Then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

Listen, if you want to see clearly, man, you got something blocking your vision. You can't see a situation clearly. Like, you need to see it. You don't have the wisdom for that situation. Open this up.

Lord. Show me. Help me.

It's a promise that we don't take advantage of far too often and then wonder why we can't get on track, right? We wonder why our lives are headed a certain direction. Listen, I'm not saying there's not going to come tough. Become there won't be tough times in your life. There Are.

I've had them in mind, right? But, man, this will get you out of them, I promise. Or to at least let you see it the way God sees it, and then you're willing to let him do his work through that time to achieve the promise.

We got to open this thing up quick. Story just came to mind. This wasn't in my notes. I'll tell some of you guys. Know back in 2020, when Covid hit man, I got hit by the first strand of COVID And I won't go into all the details, but I ended up in the hospital in ICU.

Doctor walks in and he goes, Mr. Daniel, are you in a lot of pain? And I said, well, I said, you know, I'm on whatever it was pain medicine they were putting in my iv. I don't remember the name of it. I'm like, so, no, I don't feel much. And he goes, are you sure?

And I looked at him. I'm like, he's asking me for this for a reason. So I said, doc, what do you have to tell me? And he said, Mr. Daniel, your organs are shutting down. There's nothing we can do for you.

That was it.

That was it. He had written me off, right? And I'm like, man, I got a wife and four kids at home. They need me, and I need them.

And I'm like, I didn't have a Bible with me, and to be honest with you, I didn't have the strength to pick up my phone, so I was pulling it from here and here.

Lord, I ain't going out like this. Now, your word says that you're a healer. There's a promise there. Lord, by your stripes, I'm healed. I'm walking out of this hospital.

I'm not going to stay in here.

And listen, I wasn't the only one that started praying the Word. I got out later and found out there were people because we know some people in different parts of the world. There were people all over the world praying for me at that moment, declaring the Word, declaring his faithfulness over me.

Listen, but when it's in you, you can do that. If it's not, you can't.

We've got to get it in us. And I'm preaching to myself, too. Whatever level it's in us right now, it's not the issue. The issue is we need more, right? I don't care if you can stand up here and quote the entire New Testament.

You need more.

You need more. I need more. We need more as a body.

We've got to ingest it, get it into us, and then declare it for what it is.

Lord, may you remove the plank from our eyes that we would see you clearly. I've got two more P words and then we're done.

My next P word. Hang on. Put your seatbelt on.

Is pig.

Anybody ever hear. Anybody here ever been to a pig farm? Listen. I have. It's not pleasant.

I still eat bacon, thank you, Jesus.

But it's not pleasant. There's two overwhelming things that you're going to notice about a pig farm. One is the noise. They are not quiet animals. It's almost deafening.

They're some of the most mouthy creatures on the face of this earth and man, they're just going at it just non stop. The second thing is the smell. Like it is overwhelming, right? The first time I went to one, I thought I was stepping on concrete, but it wasn't concrete. Yeah.

And it was like up past my ankle. Yeah. I just left my shoe there and walked off. I'm like, I'm not putting that thing back on. It was pig poop, right?

And I stepped in it. I got it on me, right?

Pig. Let's look at some scripture.

The Word will keep us from being pigs. Matthew 7, 6. Let me give you a little preface to this scripture here. We've been doing a series on the. And the scripture we've been pulling from is the Sermon on the Mount, right?

Matthew starts in Matthew 5, ends in Matthew 7. And then he starts walking it out in Matthew 8, right? We've got the Beatitudes. He said, I'm blessed, for theirs are blessed for theirs are. And he goes through them and then he starts washing us with the Word.

He's like, listen, you've heard. But I say this. He starts giving us these nuggets, these pearls, right?

He's like, listen, you've heard don't murder. But I'm saying, listen, if you're angry with someone in your heart, you've already done it, right? And he goes through this long list and he's throwing out these pearls.

And then he starts explaining the pearls. He starts going through it all. And then right in the middle, there's this scripture that just seems so out of place. It doesn't seem to line up with anything before it and anything after it, unless you view the scripture correctly.

And here's what that scripture says. Matthew 7, 6. Do not give dogs what is sacred. Do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.

Now, listen, can we have a moment of honesty? How many of you read that scripture? I'll raise my hand to this. And thought you're the one handing out the pearls.

Come on, raise your hand. I know, listen, if you're not raising your hand, you're not telling the truth. You ever read that? And you're like, yeah, I'm the pearl giver. Yeah, that's me, baby.

I got oysters full of them. I've been fishing and I got them. I ain't giving them to them pigs, right? They can't have my pearls. How many ever read that scripture and go, oh, my gosh, I'm the pig, Right?

Golly, I did. I mean, here in the last couple of weeks going through this, I'm like, oh, Lord, I've been piggish, right?

Here's a couple of things I've noticed about pigs, right? Pigs can't accept correction. You ever tried to correct a pig, right? They're a little bit bullheaded. They just kind of do whatever they want.

And the funny thing is, they're intelligent animals, right? But you ever go to a pig farm, those jokers just kind of do what they want and they're not shy about it. And they'll bite you if you try to correct them, right? They don't receive correction.

Two is pigs attack those who are trying to correct bring correction into their lives, right? You got a pig going through a gate. It's not the right one. You try to get them to the other one. Don't put your hand down there, right?

They're going to bite that hand.

That's just what pigs do.

Another thing pigs do is they lack humility, right? They'll just go on doing whatever they want to do no matter what anybody else says.

They don't receive correction. They attack those who give it to them, right? That's what a pig does. This keeps us from being pigs. This keeps us from being a pig that can't receive pearls of wisdom from this and from others, right?

Because when we think we're right and nobody else can be, we can't receive. I don't care if it's a constant thing in our lives or if it's momentary. In that moment, we can't receive pearls of wisdom. Listen, I don't want to be a pig. I want the pearls.

And Jesus, right in the middle of this sermon, he's throwing out these pearls and he's like, look. He's like, pigs can't accept these.

Don't be a pig. Don't trample them under your feet. Because what happens is people stop throwing them at you, right? They just, they stop.

He or she, they're not going to receive it anyways.

We can't be piggish. We have to position ourselves to receive the pearls of the kingdom. In fact, the kingdom itself is compared to a pearl.

Jesus said, there's a man who found the pearl in a field and went and sold everything he had to buy that field just for one pearl. Listen, he's got a lot of them. This is full of them.

This helps get the pig like tendencies out of our life, right? So we ain't stinking up the place and making a bunch of noise. That was meant to be a little bit funny, but I guess it didn't hit the funny bone. It hit something else, right? But I don't want to be like that.

I don't want to be the one stinking up the place and making a bunch of noise, right? Where I always have something to say but nothing to listen to, right? Where my opinion becomes more important than anything else, right? This will wash that out of us. And listen, I say that because there's been times in my life I've been like that.

And I know I'm not the only one.

I know I'm not.

Listen, if it was, he would have written Jonathan Daniel in front of the Scriptures, right? That applies to those things so that none of the rest of you would have had to worry about it. But that ain't in there. Well, I mean, the word Jonathan and the word Daniel is in there. But listen, that's taking it out of context, all right?

My middle name is not. But you don't need to know what that is.

Starts with a H. It's not a P word, right? But seriously, it's. There's an application to that for everyone. Even if it's momentary, you're forfeiting pearls.

There's been times in my life where someone came to correct something in me. I'm like, I ain't had. I ain't listening to it.

Especially with the person delivering it.

You ain't got nothing to tell me? Look at you. You stink worse than I do.

Right? Some of y' all been like that too. I.

But listen, I say that because there's some people in this room that struggle with that. I don't know who you are. The Lord didn't point you out to me. I just know you're here. The Lord laid that on my heart, right?

You struggle with that. It may not be constantly, but there's those times where internally you're like, I'm not listening to anybody.

Right? You're forfeiting rest, you're forfeiting his throne, you're forfeiting his grace when you do that. I forfeit those things if I do that.

Listen, he wants to get the pig like tendencies out of our life.

Listen, we need to focus on not being the pig who tramples on the pearls before we can be the one who possesses the pearls, right? Man, I want to possess the pearls, I want to possess the treasure. And pigs can't do that.

Everybody say, lord, help me not to be a pig.

About half of you don't want to be a pig.

My last P. And we'll wrap this up. The last P is protects.

This Word protects us from sin and shame.

Hebrews 4, Verse 14 through 16. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who also ascended into heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness. But we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace and to help us in our time of need.

Listen, I don't know about you, but I need that kind of mercy and grace, right?

I don't care who we are. We're going to walk through a time of need.

He knows that, so he made provision for it.

This helps open our understanding of that. So when the time comes, we understand his nature. Because it is going to come, right? I'm not here to preach on eschatology, so I'm not going to go deeply into the timing of the Rapture. But listen, the Word is clear.

We're going to face some stuff before he comes back.

I don't care if you call it the Tribulation, label it whatever you want. But you can't deny the fact that the Word says we're going to face some stuff, going to go through some stuff.

There's going to be a time of need, and we need to be able to cast ourselves on who he truly is. And the Word is how we know that. It reveals Him.

It reveals who he is. It helps us in practical things, right? If you own a business, trust me, it can help you. If anything, it'll wash your heart from greed.

It helps in the most practical ways and it helps in the most spiritual ways. We can't forfeit in Our lives. Right. Because there's going to be times where we need the Word that's inside of each other. I can promise you that.

I know I have.

Right. There's been times where I needed the Word that was inside of Mike Roberts. It was recent, too.

My mother and my grandmother passed away this year.

My grandmother passing away is one of the hardest things I've ever dealt with in my life. Probably it's in the top three because she was like a mother to me. I'd walk by her room at night because I lived with her for a good period of time growing up.

I'd walk by her room and I'd hear her praying. She'd be laying in bed, just praying. And if I stood there long enough, I would hear my name come across her lips.

And, man, it was always declaring the truth as she knew it in the Word over me, over her entire family. And, man, I was having a difficult time. I was having a difficult time with my mother passing away. Somebody knocked on my door. I opened it.

It was Mike Roberts.

He came in and shared wisdom in the Word with me. And I knew the scripture he was talking about. In fact, I memorized it. I knew it. I could quote it to you, right?

But it was from the Lord's mouth to his and then from his to my ears. A declaration of the Word and a heaviness lifted off of me. Just a declaration of the Word.

That's all it was. It was a pearl, a pearl of wisdom. But he had it because he reads it.

So let's stand.

I knew you guys never thought this was possible, but I'm going to get down early.

I just wanted to make that known. I just lost my reward in heaven, but I wanted to make that known.

So, Lord, my ask tonight, for myself and for all my brothers and sisters here with me tonight, Lord, is that you deepen our hunger for your Word, Lord. And when we do open it, that you broaden our understanding of it. That you would be our personal teacher. That your spirit would lead us in all truth and all righteousness as we open it up before us, Lord. And let it drive far from us the things that doesn't look like you, Lord.

Let it divide soul from spirit, things we don't even know that's in there, Lord. Bring it to light as we read your word, Lord. And then fill us with your spirit.

Give us boldness to approach you for who you are, Lord. And then I pray, Lord, and I declare a place of rest over my brothers and sisters. Man, I felt this when I Walked in tonight. Listen, if you need rest right now, raise your hand.

Yeah, I felt it when I walked in. Hands went up all over this auditorium. A place of rest. It's the promise of the Lord. And when was the promise meant to be fulfilled?

What was the word? It was today. That's why I had you repeat it. It's the promise of the Word. And that word, the promise is for today.

So, Lord, I pray right now that today your rest would be on your people.

That it would be on their hearts, that it would be on their minds, that it would be in their spirits, Lord, that it would just exude from them, that it would be infectious to those who are around them.

Lord, you do provide rest for the weary. Your word instructs us. Come to me, you weary one, and I will give you rest. It's a promise. O Lord, as your son, I declare it over my brothers and sisters right now that your rest will enter them and remain there, Lord, because they give themselves over to the washing of the water through the word.

So, Lord, I declare that over this house right now, a time of rest.

I come against any form of wickedness or darkness that would enter the minds and souls and spirits of your people and that you would wash over them. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus, I declare this joy unspeakable, full of glory. In the name of Jesus. Come on, pray for it.

Pray for it, guys. Ask the Lord for it. Lord, give me joy.

Lord, give me rest in place of turmoil. Lord, let your oil of gladness wash over me. Wash my eyes to see like you. Wash my mind to think like you.

Wash us tonight, Jesus.

Just give it to the Lord. I'm not trying to prolong this, but some of you guys just need to release something you've been carrying and you know it's still in your rest.

Release it right now. Say, lord, I exchanged this for your rest.

For a lady in here. Is an issue with your mother.

You're a younger lady, probably mid-30s or less. There's an issue with your mom that's stealing your rest. Give it to the Lord. Give it to the Lord. I don't know of any particular problem.

I really don't. In the natural. I just feel before the Lord. If you'll release it to him, he'll replace it with rest. Give your mother to him.

Exchange that battle for his rest.

Have faith. Believe in him that it's going to be okay.

Thank you, Jesus. Let your spirit wash over us, Lord. Let your spirit wash over us. Father, in Jesus name I pray. Thank you, guys.

Thank you, Lord. Yeah. Thank you, Jesus.