 Welcome to Pace Assuming Ministry. My name is Ben Martin and I'm one of the Associate Ministers here at Pace. My roles include hosting the most excellent way, outreach and event, and pastoral care. And I am so excited that you've joined us in service today. We are open here for men and women every Thursday at 7 p.m. in the firehouse. Whether you have been affected directly or indirectly by addictions, we invite you to come and join us and experience the freedom that can only be found in Jesus Christ. John 836 tells us, you know, sunsets free is free indeed and I am living proof. You can follow us on Facebook to stay up to date with everything that's happening at Most Excellent Way. You can also email us at bmarten at paceassembly.org for more information. If you're watching online, we're so glad that you joined us today. Let us know where you're watching from in the comments. Do you have a prayer request? We have a team ready to pray for you. I'm so excited for what God is doing at Pace Assembly Ministries. And I'm glad that you are here with us. Service is about to begin. First visit at Pace Assembly. Pastor Joey and Reader Rodgers have a special gift just for you. As you leave service today, please visit Guest Central, located on your left as you exit through the foyer. Next Sunday, April 30th, immediately following service, the Pace Young Adults will be meeting for lunch at Nikos in Pace. Let us know if you plan to attend. Register on the Pace Assembly app or email us at info at paceassembly.org. Baby dedication will take place on Mother's Day, which is Sunday, May 14th. If you'd like to dedicate your baby or child, please complete and return the yellow baby dedication info card by May 10th. Cards are located in the foyer. Graduation time is just around the corner. And we'll be honoring the class of 2023 on Sunday, May 21st. Please provide one photo of your graduate along with their accomplishing. Register online by May the 10th. KidCon registration is now open. This is a free event for kids grade K5 through 5th grade, which takes place June 19th through June 22nd. You're on our campus. Registration is available on the Pace Assembly website. Now here's what's happening this week at Pace. Monday at 6.30 PM, men of influence, men's Bible study. Tuesday at 7.00 PM, an accessory prayer. Wednesday at 6.00 PM, at night students' ministries, grades 6 through 12. And at 6.30 PM, rural rangers and impact, pre-K through 5th grade. At 7.00 PM, pastors adult Bible study. Thursday at 7.00 PM, the most excellent way. Also at 7.00 PM, the voices of Pace rehearsal. Saturday and Sunday at 4.00 PM, the Latino Festival. If you're interested in getting involved in this ministry, please contact the church office. Wires and posters are available in the foyer for invitation. And don't forget your tithes and offerings as you exit the building today. Be sure to drop them off in the buckets provided for you. That's what's happening here at Pace. For further information or to register for any event, visit the Pace Assembly app or website or call the church office. And remember, Pace is the place. Welcome to Pace Assembly Ministry. My name is Ben Martin, and I'm one of the associate ministers here at Pace. My roles include hosting the most excellent way, outreach and events, and pastoral care. And I am so excited that you've joined us in service today. The most excellent way is about overcoming drugs, alcohol, and any other life-dominating sins through Jesus Christ. We are a loving group of men and women who need every Thursday at 7.00 PM in the firehouse. Whether you have been affected directly or indirectly by addictions, we invite you to come and join us and experience the freedom that can only be found in Jesus Christ. John 836 tells us, whom the sun sets free is free indeed, and I am living proof. You can follow us on Facebook to stay up to date with everything that's happening the most excellent way. You can also email us at bmartenatpaceassembly.org for more information. If you're watching online, we're so glad that you joined us today. Let us know where you're watching from in the comments. Do you have a prayer request? We have a team ready to pray for you. I'm so excited for what God is doing at Pace Assembly Ministries, and I'm glad that you are here with us. Service is about to begin. Giving praise to our Lord today. He is worthy. We've come to thank you this morning, Lord. People will enter your house with a shout of thanksgiving and an offering of praise. Hallelujah. We love you today, Lord. Jesus, the greatest ovation of the morning. He's worthy of all of our praise and so much more. So what I want you to do, I want you to give me that beat right there, Will. That beat right there, and I want you to get out from where you are and go shake somebody's hand and tell them God is worthy this morning. Come on, get around, get around. Shake somebody's hand, meet somebody. All of you that are watching me on live stream from around the world, are we welcome you to Pace Assembly. We're so glad that you're joining us from where you are, and I know God's gonna be doing it in a very special way this morning. We're so glad that you're here this morning. We're so glad that you woke up this Sunday morning, got breath in your lungs, and you said, let's go to church this morning. Are you glad to be here this morning? You gotta be breathing. You gotta have freedom and the right to give God your praise and so much more. Amen. Amen. Well, this is your first time here. We're so glad that you chose Pace Assembly to be your church this morning. If you're here this morning, if you're here with just you or with your family or wherever you came with at the end of service, if you'll walk out to the four year over there to the left-hand side, we have a place called Guest Central. If you'll step right in there, where you wanna get some, wanna get to know you, get some information about you, who you are, you and your family, if you're here with your family, and Pastor Ms. Rita have a special gift just for you. So we really wanna get to know you and make you feel welcome here at Pace Assembly. So again, after the service, walk out to the four year over to the side, we have a place called Guest Central. So make sure you step in there after service. But also, I wanna do, again, this morning, give a Bible away this morning. So if you, like we always tell you, look right underneath your seat, there should be something right there that you are the lucky winner on the price is right, okay? Reach real far up in there. I mean, really, I mean, really reach all the way up underneath. It's literally like you have to reach your hand. Where? You got it? You got it? You got it, that Bible? Right over there. Again, if you get the Bible and you have one, give it to somebody who doesn't. Give it to somebody who doesn't. I mean, that'd be a great blessing for them. Come on, give them a great big hand. And I told you last week, again, if you don't have a Bible, please go to Lost and Found. Yours is in there somewhere. I think one Sunday, I'll bring the whole box of Bibles up here on the platform and we'll just read the names. That's where your Bible is, okay, yeah. I wonder what happened to that. Well, you probably left it here at church, so. And then those who don't have names will just hand them out as, you know, just individual Bibles, we'll just do that. So, they should, you bring your Bible to Sunday morning service, okay? You'll be a great blessing to your life. So, you know. But also, how many glad givers are in the house this morning? Amen. As you're preparing for your tithe and offering and get ready to give, there are a couple announcements I wanna make. Paste Young Adults, if you're a part of Paste Young Adults, our single college of career, age, bracket. Next Sunday, they're having a lunch at Nikko's next Sunday, so right after service, you meet there some Habbachi feel. I would do it, but I'd probably cut something like my finger or something off and everything, or I'll catch something on fire. But if you are a part of Paste Young Adults, make sure you meet there next Sunday, right after service. Also, a very important announcement I wanna make. This coming Thursday night at 7 p.m. in the chapel, if you're volunteer or wanna volunteer for the Latino Fest that is happening this coming up weekend, then Thursday at 7 p.m. in the chapel, it's gonna be a volunteer meeting. Make sure you're there that way you can be a part of helping this year's Latino, or this month's Latino Fest is all geared towards the children. That's what we're pushing for for this Latino Fest. So if you wanna be a part and help out, I don't care if you don't speak Spanish or not, just be there. You can help serve food, do all kinds of things to help us make this Latino Fest one of the best ones that we've ever had. But again, Thursday at 7 p.m. in the chapel is the mandatory meeting to be there, and then this coming up Saturday at 4 p.m. in the chapel is when it will start, and then again on that Sunday at 4 p.m., it will be in the chapel too as well, and also here in the main sanctuary on that Sunday morning. So make sure you look on the calendar, check the website so you can be sure that you're up to date on all these events. But if you're giving this morning, there's ways you can give. You can give on the app, you can give an envelope as you walk out, place it in one of the black buckets as you leave this morning. So let's ask God to bless the offering this morning, whatever it is that you have to give this morning. Lord, we thank you, dear Lord. We thank you for your presence that's in this room. We thank you for everything you've given us and so much more. We can never give back to you everything you've given to us. So as you bless the offering, bless the gift and the giver this morning, we give you praise, honor and glory. In Jesus, my name and all God's people said, amen. The victory the Bible said. I want you to turn around to somebody and tell them right in there was the Jesus. We give you praise. Thank you, Jesus. It's at this occasion. Come on, stand with me. Hope you're not tired, because when that happens, I'd have to ask you what are you tired of? Worthy of all of this and a whole lot more. I believe that today God wants to touch the lives of people in a powerful way. They're watching even right now in Kenya, where bad storms are rolling through there, but they're still watching. Well, and I believe God is going to touch the lives of people in this room today. The one thing you don't want to do is come to church and leave the same way. I don't know who stole my church, but I'd like for him to bring it back. The last thing I want to do is go to church and leave the same way. I want you to get your Bibles this morning. Turn with me to the book of Matthew, chapter 16. Speak this morning right now, and it's been going on now for about seven hours or more, in front of our nation's capital, right there on Capitol Hill with the background of the Washington Monument in the background. There is 24-hour reading from the book of Genesis all the way to the book of Revelation out loud on Capitol Hill. In 15 minutes, in fact, you can go online onto YouTube. Don't do it till I get through preaching. You can go on YouTube and you can see as people are taking 15-minute increments and reading the Word of God from every nation, every background, every country, are coming to read the Word of God out loud. How many of you know when the Word of God is put in the atmosphere, things change? Some of you don't believe that. Let me try this on. In the beginning was the Word, and the earth was without form and darkness covered the faith, and the Word, and all of a sudden things started getting into order and separating. The Word will make the difference in the atmosphere. I believe and pray that it will happen just like that this morning. For all of our friends in Kenya that are watching and around the world, hopefully our folks in there are chatting this up for you, there is a Bible app that is now available, especially for children, that is in, I think, more than 15 different languages. And whenever I saw that it was, it's a cartoon telling Bible stories, different Bible stories throughout the Word of God, whenever I saw specifically that it was translated into Swahili, I said, we need to make sure that they know that they can get that. So hopefully you'll be seeing that, and you can download that. And anybody here, it's in English, it's in Spanish, it's in Japanese and Portuguese and multiple other languages. Why is that so important? When this gospel will have been preached around the world, then you can look and know that Jesus is coming. And I can tell you, I'm standing right here, and I'm preaching to the nations of the world where anybody at any time can pick up the gospel. You understand what I'm saying? That is significant in Bible prophecy. And I just want to encourage you to keep focused because these are days when people are wondering what's going on and what's happening and they feel like perhaps our world is out of control. Whatever may be falling apart is falling into order in God's plan. And so I believe that God is going to use these people in these last days, and that's the reason why this subject matter comes this morning from the book of Matthew chapter 16. We're so glad to have each and every one of you here. Please don't forget this coming week, we've got a lot of things going on here at the church. We're hosting a band festival here. We're also reaching out with the Latino Fest that will happen Saturday and next Sunday, it's Family Sunday, so make sure you bring all of your family and then some into the room and make sure that they're here and help folks that are watching online to participate. They won't want to miss it. Our outreach friends who have been in town and missionaries from Guatemala are, as we speak this morning, they're at the other church where other churches are at. And that is the T Street Flea Market. Literally, he said there was hundreds and hundreds of people that are coming there every Sunday morning. It's the biggest crowd in town. So they've been there for the past two weeks giving people the gospel and inviting them to the Latino Fest that pays assembly next weekend. So I want you to pray that God would give them a great harvest as they're reaching out today with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Praise God. In the book of Matthew chapter 16, one of my favorite passages of scripture, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ downloaded to Simon Peter. In verse 13, the Bible reads like this, if you found it say a good amen. When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked the disciples saying, whom do men say that I the son of man am? And they said, some say thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, others Jeremiah's are one of the prophets. Jesus, he saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, watch this, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee. You didn't get this from somebody, but my father, which is in heaven, that's how you got it, by revelation. And I say unto thee that thou art Peter. This word, this name Peter, and this is certainly where we differ in doctrine with our Catholic friends. They wanna build the church upon Peter and say he's the rock. But if you look at it, the word and the name Peter here is Petros, little rock, a piece of the rock. A piece of the rock, he's not the rock, he's a piece of the rock. He said thou art Peter and upon this rock, that word rock is Petra, the rock, the solid rock. I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, not the keys to, the keys of. So you've gotta be in it to have it of. He's not giving you the entry. You're already there by revelation. I wanna give you the keys of the kingdom. But what do those keys do? And whatsoever thou shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatsoever thou shall lose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Today I wanna take up the next part of this series that we've been preaching to you on I Believe. I believe at the very beginning as we were opening up this series, I believe in God. That's important because there's only a small percentage of people, even pastors and pulpits that actually believe in God. But I'm telling you I've seen his hand and I've seen him work in my life. I believe in God. I not only believe in God, but I believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, that he's still saving, healing and delivering today. I need nothing added to his work of the cross and nothing taken away in order to get everything I need from the Lord. I wanna make that very, very clear to you. There's a lot of false doctrine that's coming out there that says, okay, you came to Jesus Christ of the cross and got your sins forgiven, but you still need to be delivered. If Jesus can't deliver you at the same time, he's not our God. And I promise you that the God of heaven will not occupy a duplex. He not gonna let save one portion of you and then the other side belong to the devil. Let's get our doctrine straight. We're gonna talk a little doctrine here this morning. I know that sounds tremendously boring to some people, but I can tell you the only reason you believe what you believe is because of the doctrine of Jesus Christ. I believe in the Holy Ghost we brought to you last week. You need to be filled and filled again and filled again and filled and multiple times during the day. How many of you snack in between meals? Let me see your hand. Okay, Lord, please do not kill all the liars in the room. I won't have a congregation. You know you snack in between meals. Take a cracker here, you walk by, grab a chip. Come on. Well, I want you to know that the mandate, and this is the reason why there's a handout inside of your material you received this morning and anybody that's watching online, you can download it as well. Because I believe that God has spoken in my heart to make sure that you are filled and refilled and that you don't think just because you got baptized in the Holy Ghost and spoke in tongues one time, that's it. I want you to know that you need to be filled and be being filled because it is the fullness of God. It's the fullness of God that's gonna keep you from evil. It's gonna keep you from being off track. It's gonna keep you from being distracted. The fullness of God. We need the fullness of God. Today I wanna preach to you, I believe in the church and there are some people that don't believe in it and many people that have forsaken it. But the scripture tells us very clearly in the last days to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is and so much the more as you see the day approaching, question, did you see the day of the Lord approaching? Then that means we should assemble together more often, fellowship more often, get in the word of God more often because what is that doing? It's gonna build you up, it's gonna strengthen you. Whether you know it or not, you need your local church and you need to be part of the universal invisible church. And today I wanna talk to you a little bit about it. If you're ready for this word, say a good amen. Father, thank you for what you've already done in this service. May the word of God and all the meditations of our heart be acceptable in your sight and I pray that you're anointing and we'd rest upon this word today to make the difference in the lives of people and we give you praise for it in Jesus mighty name and everybody shout a great big amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. The church is the work and what the Bible calls through the apostle Paul, the hidden mystery of God that was held in the mind of God from the dawn of time, from the foundations of the world. A hidden mystery. As a part of God's church, we owe our existence, each one of us as a part or a member if you've been born again, to the power of the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter number two, the church was born in power. There is the visible and local church that we see. Many times we say, well, I'm going to church and we talk about or think about a building and then there is the invisible church that is made up of every tribe and kindred and tongue all around the world that make up the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. When most people hear the word church, they're probably thinking of a building but it's much more than that. In fact, the church is actually not a building at all. It is about the people. The people are the church. In the early Christian church, there were no buildings. They worshiped in houses and they worshiped in catacombs in the graveyard because of the great persecution that was upon the church. In fact, the first century Christians were often so persecuted that they would meet in the secret and I will tell you that little by little, we're watching that kind of pressure and persecution come upon us. In fact, I would encourage you to be here this coming Wednesday night. This is a commercial. I've stopped to give you a commercial. Just like when you watch YouTube or anything else, here's a commercial. Do not miss Wednesday night. This coming Wednesday night will conclude the series and the Beatitudes on Blessed or the Persecuted. I promise you, you will not want to miss this coming Wednesday night's Bible class right here. Seven o'clock in the building or you can watch it online. As the more and more of the church's influence, Jesus' message was spreading around the known world. That's the reason why he allowed persecution to come to the first church in Jerusalem was to not allow them to stay in their little four corners of what it was, but that persecution actually spread by force out under the order of the Holy Spirit to the known corridors of the world. Now, what is the role of that church? We're gonna deal with it a little bit here this morning because some people feel like that they're in the church, but this church is not by membership of a card and the shaking of a preacher's hand. There are many roles that the church has and the key ones are found in the foundation of what we've been doing already here this morning in worship, in song and edification by the Word of God and by evangelism, getting out into the highways and hedges and compelling people to come in. Who are we? What is our role? What is the characteristics of people that make up the church and the plans and the passion of that church? We're to be known by the fact that we represent Jesus as the ambassadors. We've been called ambassadors of Christ in this world. So that means there is a culture that is found in the church that is not found anywhere else in the world. We've been talking to you over the past few weeks about, I believe, and the biblical worldview. And I'm shocked how more and more we're witnessing how that people who claim to know the Lord Jesus Christ and yet they will either vote or they will make some kind of action, take action that is directly against what the Bible has to say. A biblical worldview, I remind you, is based on the infallible Word of God. And when you believe the Bible is entirely true, then you allow it to be the foundation of everything that you say, everything you do, every action of your life. I filter everything through the Word of God. That is a biblical worldview. Now it's necessary for you to get ahold of this because in the time that we're living in, there is the fast approaching of the changing of your diet. The Bible deals with your diet. The Bible, there's a fast changing of the economics of the world that we're in. The Bible speaks to the economics of the world. There's a fast approaching of rebelliousness with children and parents and so forth and so on. And this Bible is the greatest manual of marriage and of raising your children in a godly fashion to have a godly seed than anything else. So my biblical worldview is all things filtered through what God said, but in this current clash of cultures that we're in, that we're witnessing right now and I was watching a little documentary, I should watch this stuff on Saturday night. The new norm that is on the way, you're gonna love this from the World Economic Forum and the UN is that we will all very soon because cows and beef and meat are contributing to the environmental disorder of things. Now you are instructed in the days ahead and there are literally buildings and businesses that are preparing for all the rest of us to eat bugs. Now the one thing I wanna do is keep my own autonomy. And if I wanna eat Chick-fil-A every day of my life, 24 seven, then I'll eat Chick-fil-A. And the one thing you can't do, I'm a little bit sensitive, you know, my family tells me that I'm the picky one. I don't know about that. I can eat jelly and peanut butter all the days of my life, but don't try to slip a bug on me because you will get a reaction out of me. How many of you know what I'm talking about? Don't send me no meal grubs and some crickets that have been roasted and do like they do with your potato chips. You do know that all of your potato chips are there as plain potato chips until you need barbecue and then they'll dust some barbecue on it. If you want some ranch, they'll dust some ranch on it. Same chip, different flavor. I'm seeing that happen. Here comes the crickets. You want barbecue crickets? A little dust on that, make your barbecue cricket. I know that sounds weird, but this is the mindset of the world that's trying to push us to a place of an Antichrist spirit and system. And I'm gonna say this now and I may repeat it. The only entity and organism and organization that stands between the full onslaught of an Antichrist system taking over this world is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Obviously we know that governmental systems are bowing over to whatever that they want it to be and not just political system but even religious systems to this day are bowing over to accept whatever comes down the pike because if it touches my money, then I'm ready to bow down. If it touches my life, don't mess with my life, ladies and gentlemen, that's the reason why that God called out a group of people and said if you're gonna be mine and you're gonna be part of my church, then you need to know you are the Ecclesia, you are the called out ones. You're gonna stand out like a thumb on your hand because the church of Jesus Christ is not to come apply with this world, not to be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The basic principles that unite us, why would we all come together here and people that are watching online around the world, why would we bother to come together like this? Well, there's some basic principles that unite us. First of all, we believe together in the church of the authority of the entirety of the Word of God, rightly divided as the rule of faith and practice in life and in conduct. In other words, we believe this book right here tells us how we should live. Secondly, we believe in the new birth of Christ through Jesus and his sacrificial death on the cross to become a genuine Christian, not someone in name only. Thirdly, we believe in the willful obedience to the Bible in all of its ordinances, doctrines and laws. I'm talking about what makes up the church right here. Fourth, the freedom of the conscience and personal responsibility to the will of God. These are the basis of what causes us to come together and be called part of the church or the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is not some organization based upon some kind of common brotherhood of man, some club, some clique, resting in just humanitarian practices. I will say to you today that if we don't pass out glasses, the Lions Club will take care of that. If we don't drive burn victims to the Shriners hospital, the Shriners will handle that. If we don't work out the permitting process of our community and of our community, fathers and leaders, then the county commissioners and their boards will take care of that. But who's gonna take care of propagating the gospel of Jesus Christ except for those that are called the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? None. That's the reason why if we don't get to hand out bottled water at the corner street in the love of the Lord, don't worry about it. They'll find water. What they need is the living water. And if we don't give them Jesus with that, then we have done nothing. In the kingdom culture, the church is three things that I wanna give to you this morning. First, it is a spiritual building. The church is a spiritual building and the building plans were not left up to us. They were drawn up by the master architect, Jesus Christ. The Bible says in the book of 1 Peter chapter two, verse five, you also as lively stones, he's talking about the church are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. We read in Matthew 16 where Jesus is saying to his disciples at a certain location where all these pagan gods were worshiped as Caesarea Philippi. And he asked them a pointed question. He said, tell me, what do people say? Who do people say that I am? They said, well, one of them said you're Jeremiah's and one of them said you're a good prophet and one of them said you're this and that. And he said, I hear what they say. But I wanna know what do you say? Who do you say that I am? And out of all those disciples, Peter jumps up and says thou art the Christ. A definitive answer. Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Ladies and gentlemen, he did not say, Jesus did not respond to him and say, oh, that's good. Very good, I'm so glad you finally figured it out. He said, thou art Peter, you are the little, you're getting it, you're a little chip off the old block right here. You're the little piece of the big rock. I wanna let you know upon your statement and authority, I will build my church. Hear me? Out of all the things Jesus could have said, he could have said it anyway. He could have said, upon this statement, I will build my mosque. But he didn't say mosque. Upon this statement, I will build my synagogue. He didn't say synagogue. Upon this statement, I will build my cultural center. He didn't say that. Upon this statement, hear me now, I will build my denomination. Jesus said none of that. He said, upon this statement, watch Jesus, I will build my church. And when I get done building it, the gates of hell shall not prevail against my church. That means there's a difference between just coming to a building or getting up underneath the banner of some denominational ideology or theology, and there is a difference between what the world calls church and what the true, genuine church of the Lord Jesus Christ is. Can I explain it to you? It's a spiritual building, ladies and gentlemen. In other words, the Bible said, I will build my church, Jesus said, the ecclesia, the called out one. So here's the question. Are we supposed to be different than the world? The answer is yes. Well, what is the difference then between secular gatherings and the gathering of the church of God? God becomes the object of our worship. Hear me now. And our mission becomes the object of the church. Every song we sing, every sermon we preach, every outreach, every teaching, everything is done with this mission in mind and this commission in mind. Go into all the world and preach the gospel. And he tells them baptizing him in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and lo, I'm with you all the way, even into the end of the world. Ladies and gentlemen, if we lose our focus about who we are and we try to pick up, well, we've got to be this humanitarian institution or we've got to be this kind of organization or we've got to be that. We will have missed what God has called the church to do and nobody on this planet can do what the church has been called to do. I'm picking up a few of you, but that's all right. We are the called out ones, not the conformed ones. So let me say to you right now, for everybody here and those of you watching right now, listen carefully. If your life and lifestyle only changes on Sunday morning when you come, you're not part of the church. We are to be salt and we are to be light. We are to be the people that are influencing this world for the gospel of Jesus Christ, otherwise we become no salt. In fact, Jesus said you become worthless and should be thrown in the road and walked over the top of because you're not bringing an influence and changing the place where you are because the church is not confined to the four walls of this building. Furthermore, just in case some of you had some ideology that we're the only ones going to heaven, I want you to know there is a larger and greater church that is made up of every tribe, of every kindred of every tongue. Oh, I can't wait until we get to heaven and see the doors flung open. You talk about a border crossing. It'll be a border crossing like you've never seen. People from every age and every dialect and every tribe and every tongue coming from the four corners up out of the grave and everywhere coming into the city to exalt the one who created the church. Ladies and gentlemen, you and I are only part of it but we are glad to be a part and pace assembly of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not the conform ones, we're to be the transforming ones. I find that very interesting. He said we're to be set apart for the purpose of God. So listen, if you're in the church, there are certain characteristics that identify you as a member of that church of the Lord Jesus Christ, not because you took the starting point class. We reduced it to four weeks because some people couldn't make it to six. And if we went by the old standard of the church long ago, if you didn't make three of them, you were out anyway. I want you to know this church will comp you and will help you get the studies so you can make the four weeks and qualify to be a member. But to be a member of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, I want you to know the membership roles at Pace Assembly and the role that would be called up yonder are two different roles. Let's make it plain here this morning. You're either know Jesus by revelation or you know him by information. Some people just know about him. All of Islam would call him a great prophet, a great man, but they don't know him by revelation. Different groups of people might know him and classify him as a good man, but until you come into the revelation of it, how many of you've come into the revelation of it? Let me see your hand. Let me just check you just a minute. Here's what Matthew 16 said. Peter stepped up when Jesus asked him, who am I? He said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus responds back to him and said, it isn't flesh and blood. You haven't been to some Bible study that revealed this to you. You haven't been to shake the preacher's hand to reveal this to you. You have had a download into your heart that says old things passed away and behold all things became brand new because I gave my life to Jesus. That's what gives me membership in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Entry into the church is by spiritual birth, born again into it. You're not there because you attend services or because you like the people that come. Listen, you might even like the people you're sitting beside. Why in the world do we get all bent out of shape and because somebody that may have gotten on our nerves or parked in our space or whatever it may be, we're ready to quit that. But at the ball game that we paid money on that seat, we care nothing about a relationship with the person sitting next on the right and left. All I care about is the game. Ladies and gentlemen, I didn't come here. If I've got friends, it's wonderful and we should be friendly and show ourselves friendly. But I didn't get in this church because I was looking for a friend. I got in this church because I was looking for a savior who knew how to take me from loss to being found. It was at the cross that that took place. Let me make sure you understand. It wasn't at some gathering at the church. Somehow today, the whole mindset of the mandate of God to preach Christ in him crucified that the apostle Paul told us to do has gotten a soul off track that we think we're gonna trick people into the kingdom. We'll have a fellowship. What do y'all, this was the way it was several years ago. They will go into a community and poll everybody to ask him, what do you like? Do you like choirs? I like choirs, I don't like choirs. And once they got through taking the poll of the community, I know you think I'm making this up, but this is a fact. Once they got through pollin' everybody and so what kind of church they wanted, they made it conform to what everybody and called it seeker, seeker sense. And we're gonna feed it to you the way you want it because it'll be palatable to you. And once they created that, then crowds of people would gather together because we've got ourselves a church that fits us. I want you to know, I'm trying to be careful right here. Y'all better pray for me on this front row because I'm telling you, there's some words in my head that don't need to come out of my mouth, but I'm just saying to you, God is not building this church so that you can actually feel comfortable in everything that takes place. I want you to know to be a part of this church. Let me not sell you something that's not true. Let me tell you what it is. All those who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Come on, get on that church right there. Come to that church right there. All of those who are gonna name the name of the Lord, we're gonna outlaw your God and tell you you can't speak in the name of Jesus and beat you like they did Peter and John just to make sure you know that you're getting the point of the government that was in charge of the time. And because I'm part of the church, Peter and John said, it's not of this world and not created to be seeker because at that moment, the moment they beat me and left me bloody, I'm out. Come on, somebody. The moment that they beat me and tell me I can't speak in the name of Jesus and all I got was an organizational religion. Ladies and gentlemen, at that moment, I'm out. I am out. I don't have no more friends, don't care nothing about me in there. But because Peter and John said, we have seen too much and we've heard too much to deny the name of Jesus. They got right up from their beaten place and kept right on walking with God. Oh God, give us a church at pace that's not afraid. Come on, we sung about it. I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid. I wanna tell you I'm not afraid to name the name of Jesus who is the head of the church. I'm not the head of this church. He is. That's why I don't like it. Take it up with management, I'm in sales. I'm the delivery boy. I'm just telling you what the way he said we're gonna do it. He said, I will build my church, not you. And he's not gonna custom build it so that everybody feels comfortable. Come on now. We're watching that even now fall away by the wayside where hold denominations that claim themselves to be a part of the church. But their ideology and their religion and their theology doesn't line up with this book and you know what, people are scattering like flies. It's not by a membership card. I don't care how many times you shake my hand. You're not getting to heaven cause you shook my hand. You might wanna get some hand sanitizer after you shake my hand. It's not by your transfer. It's not by your works that you're in this kingdom, in the church. Did you hear what I said? I'll go down and work at the church and that'll merit some, it won't merit one thing. We appreciate it. And I believe there were heathens that were working on the ark with Noah. But when the rain started falling and the door shut, they weren't on board. I don't care how much you hang around the church. I don't care, watch this, this is what happened. Well, my mama was a member of First Baptist. My daddy was a member of this. And you know, we're just a high as 57. I don't care what your mom and daddy was. I wanna know who do you say that Jesus Christ is? Based on the truth, that's what changed me. A personal revelation like Peter had. It's not what others say. It's what I say about Christ. I know what other people say. But what do you say? And boy, there's a lot of opinions out there today, aren't there? That church, that people wanna talk about the church. Listen to me, I'm in the church. I'm talking about, I'm preaching about it, but I want you to know whatever their polls say, what Time Magazine's got a whole thing that's on the front cover. And every week there's another poll of how the church is in decline. I got an article from the 80s on the front page of the Time Magazine, the church is in decline. And all the time they're wanting to say sad sack stuff about the church. I can tell you right now, I don't care what takes place, what wind blows. God, there'll be a lot of people that fall out by the wayside and hold denominations that sink. There may be, we were watching a program on YouTube this morning preaching from years ago and this magnificent edifice of a building called a church down in Lakeland, Florida has been taken over and apartment buildings have been built right on top of the place where the church used to be. And it was a holy ghost service in that place. Can I tell you something? God ain't looking for a building. He's not looking for somebody who's just coming along to get along. He wants you to know today you need a personal revelation and when it's all said and done, he said, if I can find 10 in the city, I'll save it. I want you to know there will always be a church. Oh, you may not be there, but there will always be a church. They'll always be a preacher. They'll always be saying somebody who's singing praises to God because God said, I'm building this church. You're not building it, it's my church. It's a spiritual building. It's a spiritual building. How do I know I got in? Am I in the church, pastor? It's by a born again experience and an encounter at the cross where my sins were forgiven that gives you entrance into the church. And I came to tell you when I got in to his church, I'm not talking about in the assemblies of God, I'm talking about in his church. Nobody can talk me out of it. There can't be anything that can get me away from it. I can't be tempted away from it. The devil can do everything he wants to do, but because I'm in the church and I know who saved me and I know who redeemed me, I don't have to wonder, am I going to church today or am I gonna go to the house of God? David said I was glad when they said unto me, let us go under the house of the Lord. I wanna know, are you got stale religion or have you got something on the inside that when you heard it was Sunday morning, you said I was glad? When they said to me, today's the day you get to worship the Almighty. Don't you worship him every day? Yes, I worship him every day. But on this day, I can lay my phone down, my emails down, the telephone, everything else. I said I can say, oh Lord, I am exclusively yours. This day belongs to you. Say amen, somebody. I know whom I have believed. I'm not saved because I didn't have anything else to do that day. I'm saved because I was lost. I was empty, I was hurting, I was without Jesus and he found me. Somebody said I found Jesus, you didn't find nothing. You weren't even looking. He found your hiding place. Come on, somebody. Come on, you better remember who saved you, who gave you life. You better remember I owe him my whole life. That's why I'm in this church. I'm in this church today because it's a spiritual building. And I'm part of that spiritual building. And I want you to know the people that are watching in Kenya right now, they're part of this church. Are they members of Pace Assembly? Get care left. If they're part of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood ball crew, they're in the church. Come on, somebody. I can appreciate it. I love the assemblies of God. I was raised in it, but if they fall off the map tomorrow, that will make not one hill of beans to my salvation experience whatsoever. I'm born again to the bone. I'm alone to Jesus, and I'm part of this church. You better know something. The only thing that's gonna go up on resurrection morning is the church of the Lord. I'm talking about the real church. I'm not talking about that fake denominational religious stuff. I'm talking about the ones who's got the blood applied to the doorpost, and they know that they know they've been born again. Have I got anybody part of the church here this morning? You better identify yourself just in case Jesus decides to come back today. Look at your neighbor and tell him I'm part of that church. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the reason why we don't custom build this thing for us. I don't like this. I don't like that. I don't care. Do you really think Jesus is asking you, what would you like? How would you like us to do it for you? Oh, you don't want to start until one because you don't get up until noon. I wish you would say amen for somebody sitting next to you. And we are so messed up. We're so messed up today that we feel like that we've got to wear and do everything the world does in order to be relevant. But I submit to you today, ladies and gentlemen, if that high priest, ooh, this is gonna rub something. I'm talking about the Bible. If the high priest who would minister before God had a walk into the presence of God with ripped jeans, if he would have walked in to the presence of God with ripped jeans and old t-shirt and his cap turned around backwards and tried to minister before God, he'd have been dead on the spot. Y'all should read this Bible. When he went in there, he went in and the fresh clean linen garments that represented, he would have represented himself. He was representing Christ. Everything he wore spoke of Jesus. The clean white linen garments of the high priest. We've watered this thing down so much that not even sinners want to be a part of it. I came to tell you, there's a lifted standard. Thank you for those three, eight bands. It's still the truth. There's a lifted standard to belong to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. This ain't a club. This ain't the Legionaires. This is the church of the Lord Jesus. Hear me? He's not just a spiritual building he's building. He is building the body as point two. The church is his, it ain't your body. It's his body. It belongs to him. He's the head, we're the body. He's the head, we're the body. The head can't function without the body and the body sure enough can't function without the head. Well, I don't want to be submissive. I don't care, I don't like authority. You better get to liking it real quick because he's the head. I'm not the head, he's the head. Christ is the head of his own body. It's the head that tells the body what to do. What did he tell us to do? He said, you're my body. I'm the head. Now go into all the world and preach the gospel. We're so messed up in what we think the church is today that we've gotten off track doing everything but that. So now whole denominations are debating on whether or not women should preach in the pulpit. Really, let me tell you something. If she gets the word of God, let her preach. Come on somebody. Are we really debating over that because if you want to I can wear you out with some scripture over here. Deborah was a judge to the nation of Israel. The woman at the well went in and told the whole city and only the men showed up. You come on somebody, don't make me go there and showed up in that place. She said, come see a man that's told me everything. She was the revival evangelist of the day. Let us stop trying to figure out how to get the mode out of somebody's eye and I say preach the gospel male or female. We're so messed up. This is his body. Why you can't call this when you can't? I'm not the one calling you. I can assure you and one of my heroes of the gospel and of preaching the word of God, Dr. Charles Stanley went home to be with the Lord this past week. Two things in his life and telling ministers that helped me tremendously. First thing I learned backing up that Lance Cracker truck over there to OWCC at the time and I was listening to my, I didn't care nothing about fixing that crackers in that vending machine. God was dealing with my heart. He said, I want to tell all you that claim you know how to preach and you want to preach and you say God's called you to preach if you can do anything else, do it. There's a lot of things I can do but there's only one thing that I'm called to do. Come on somebody. And then they put a picture up of his prayer room. He said, for all you preachers I want you to know how I get my sermons. Wait a minute Pastor, isn't he a Baptist? Some of you were but you've been sanctified and filled with a holy goat. He said, I want to let you know the way I get my sermons and they posted it online, his prayer room, a chair, a cot, and a room he went into pray. He said, I'll study the word of God until I'm full of that word. Then I'll go in there and I'll pray myself to sleep. I said, I'm in, pray myself to sleep so my own conscious mind gets out of the way. But he said, I'll always take in a legal pad and I'll write it down because God's gonna say something when I wake up. You've been called into the church. You didn't just get up one day and say, well I think I'll just go be a Christian today. You know what called most of you? Adversity, tragedy, difficulty, a place of helplessness and hopelessness. And you know what the Lord said? Come on and I will graft you into my body. Some of you that are in here at Pace Assembly, your former church kicked you out because you started believing in the real power of the Holy Ghost for today. And suddenly you weren't welcome at a location, a denomination that said you can't do that around here. And what I'm amazed is that so many people who are spirit filled are finding themselves going to nominal churches where they're not allowed to let the spirit of God move and because they settle down in their own spirit. And it's up to you, you go where you want to. But I wanna tell you when Jesus comes looking for the church, he's gonna be looking for the same one that he left on the day of Pentecost. It's a spirit filled tongue talking. I don't care if you like it or not. It's in the book, it's not in your denomination. It's in the book, it's not in your theology. It's in the book, he said I'm coming for that church. That's the one I'm coming for. So it's his body, it's his body. His body is supposed to be salt and light. I'll still with me here this morning. He's to be salt and light. We have common vision, we have common values. We created a culture as his church to follow what he wants as the head of the church where his body. So what does that church culture look like? What is this supposed to be right here at Pace Assembly as part of the universal church of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, first of all, we're supposed to be a giving church. I thank God I passed our giving church right here. When I said a few weeks ago, we're gonna give Bibles to children in Kenya and Swahili in their own language. There was nobody coming up to me saying, you know what pastor, we ought not to do that. Don't you think we could save that money for the poor? Can I tell you something, ladies and gentlemen? That's a Judas spirit and I'm glad that Judas spirit don't live here. It's a giving church, come on. You know what that does? It compats selfishness inside of our own heart. What else is it? It's a church of freedom where the word of God can be preached and nobody's trying to say, well, I think this and I think that. I don't care if you got questions, bring them on. I've had plenty that have come to me. I'm just telling you, we're a word church and we're a spirit church and we're a church where there's freedom in the Holy Ghost and whenever he gets ready to do whatever, we throw our agenda out and we follow the cloud. It's a worshiping church. Why are we a worshiping church at Pace? Because the Bible says we should and we do it according to pattern. Well, at my church, we're not so loud. Okay, at my church, we hold our palms like this. We don't do this. Come on, somebody. Remember, it's not your church. So what does worship constantly do? The more we worship, it combats idolatry in our own hearts. It won't allow something else to get higher than Jesus Christ to be the one who's worship. We will worship the blessing more than the blesser. Come on, somebody. I will ride on Sunday on my blessing when I'm supposed to be in the house of God worshiping. And I remember this church that told me just a few days ago said, I've been doing business with this group of men and all of a sudden they called me up and said, listen, we're gonna be going up on Saturday and we're gonna be visiting this place. We wanna go golf and take you golfing. You're one of our good friends and we got a private jet, we'll fly you up there and it'd be great and all that will be gone all weekend. He said, well, I can't. He said, the reason why is there's two reasons. He said, first of all, said my granddaughter's having a birthday on Saturday and I gotta be there for that birthday. Second of all, I go to church on Sunday morning to worship the God who created all things. Now he said, if Monday morning you wanna get the plane ready, I'll be ready Monday morning. But the best thing, look at the influence right here. The best thing we all could do is wait til Monday and go to church on Sunday. Ladies and gentlemen, I can't do without you and you can't do without me and together we make up part of the body of Christ in worship. We're a spill or fill church. That's the culture that Jesus wants. I'm talking about his body. What does that do? That combats every type of satanic activity. The devil is not worshiped here because the spirit of God lives on the inside of that. And I may not make a big deal to you but let me just tell you, in Chicago, Illinois this weekend they are having what's called the satanic con. It's like the Pentagon that happens over here but it's worship unto Satan. In the city of Chicago where there's murder and mayhem going on right now they're ready to lift up their praise to Satan. The devil is a liar. Somebody needs to open up that church in the middle of Chicago and say that the Lord says unto you, come out from among them and be sent. Come on somebody, in every community there ought to be a representation of a spirit filled tongue talking fire baptized church. Oh Lord, let the preachers be on fire in the pool bed and the members be on fire in the pew. I'm sorry but I was raised in the fire, somebody said, and the smoke ain't gonna do. I know too much about this holy God. Come on somebody. I know too much about being spirit filled to come to some nominal activity where we check off our religious box and go out the door. Ladies and gentlemen, we haven't had church until we've had church. Come on somebody, he is the difference maker. What else is part of this culture in the body of Christ? It's community, community. And yes, we should be communal. We should be reaching out with love, acceptance and forgiveness for everybody in our community. But ladies and gentlemen, we're not to bring that fleshly sensual thing into the body of Christ. We're to be standing here as a community of salt and light that makes the difference in their life, them not making the difference at all. That's the reason why in just about 30 days from now there'll be an outreach on the beach on what is called Pride Weekend here in Pensacola. And Sean Foyd's gonna be out there leading worship under the living God right in the middle of the day. And I now have the privilege by Ben and Cherie to be able to go out there to the family beach fest they've been doing for six years. And I'm gonna carry this same Bible and I'm gonna preach this same way. And I'm gonna believe God for the harvest of people to come in. Pastor, nobody can get saved out there in that mess. Ladies and gentlemen, if Jesus walked the shores of Galilee and said, follow me, I say in the name of Jesus, let the anointing break every yoke and set captive people free. We're not gonna keep this thing in the four walls of this church. We need to get out into the highways and hedges if we believe Jesus is coming. We need to be a church of evangelism. That's the only thing that's gonna combat the Antichrist culture that we're in. My dear friends, you heard me say it on Wednesday night. The UN has now said that they've signed a law that allows you to be able to have sex with minors. Oh yeah, shocking, isn't it? That's the way our world is going. And what is gonna stand between that world and a person who needs hope and life and needs a place of refuge and a place of salvation? It is the church. Ladies and gentlemen, hear what I'm telling you. Next week can be here. I'm gonna preach, I believe Jesus is coming. So I'm gonna save some stuff for you, but I just wanna let you know, when Jesus comes again, he's not gonna be asking permission. He's not coming in a manger laid up as a baby. He's not coming down here to say that I'm just gonna walk among him, be one of, no, no, no. He's done all that kind of stuff. When Jesus comes again, he's gonna be coming for his church, not his denomination, not his mosque, for his church. I wanna know, is there anybody in here who's part of his church body? Shout out to somebody. I'm almost through. Bible says in the book of Philippians, the things that you've heard and learned and seen and heard and saw in me, these things do. And the God of peace will be with you. Ladies and gentlemen, it's important for us to pass on a generational blessing to our church, to our children. That's why they're out there. If you don't have your kids in church on Wednesday night, what are they doing? Well, pastor, they got homework. Please. I don't know that I've ever made a kid who did his own science fair project. Talk to me, somebody here. Where are my parents in here? Grandparents, aunts and uncles. I'm talking about setup all night long, went to Walmart at the late hour and got you some little eggs so you can make little mounds on there because they was talking about the moon. Ladies and gentlemen, don't give me all those excuses. You get your babies and your grandbabies and you get them in the house of God on Wednesday night and I will tell you in a world that's trying to snatch our children from the very womb all the way to the tomb, the devil is a liar. There's somewhere you got to mark a line in the sand and say, as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. The church becomes more important than anything else. I know this is so foreign. This is so weird. This is so politically incorrect, but when I was growing up, we didn't take vacation until we checked the schedule at the church to see what was going on first. And even then when we were on vacation, Daddy took us to church. We found a church somewhere because this is not about checking off my religious box. This is about a lifestyle. Come on somebody, this is about a mindset. This is about a lifestyle that he saved in. I'm not just saved 363 days out of the year. I'm saved all year long and I owe him my life. We're his body. Somebody shout, we're his body. I'll deal with this more next weekend. The Assemblies of God has united doctrine. We call it the 16 fundamentals of the faith. But the culture of the Assemblies of God churches today are so diverse. When I was growing up, you could go to church in Florida and go all the way to Wisconsin. Let me say Minnesota. And you can get in the same atmosphere today in many places. You don't know if you're in a spirit-filled church or a glorified whatever. Come on somebody. And we think we can do what Paul said. Having started in the spirit, are we gonna try to finish it in the flesh? Let me tell you something. Come on, let me pull it. Let me get, let me get, let me get dignified here. Some of y'all are nervous as cats on a hot tin roof right now. At pace, our history and our destiny are tied together. Speak like a dignified. The world does not understand the culture. They think you're weird. Here in the middle, y'all sit down and shout. You're jumping up and down and hooting and dancing and falling out and that kind of stuff. Saying amen all in the prophesies, interpreting the prophecy for the edification of the saints and on and on and on. Because the wisdom, excuse me, the wisdom of the wives, God said, will be brought to naught. Did y'all read your Bible? Paul said, I love this. Paul deals with several mysteries. He said, there is a mystery that's been hidden in the mind of God since the dawn of time. Colossians chapter one says, from the foundation of the world, what is that mystery? Mystery, he said it wasn't revealed until now. What is that mystery? He said in Colossians one, he said, the Jews thought it was them. And then you Gentiles come along and you thought it was you. But I'm gonna bring together the Jew and the Gentile and call them the church, which is the hidden mystery of God, the hidden mystery of God. And if you just listen to the media today and everybody, even religious, theological, so forth, everything I'm doing right now is totally politically incorrect. Am I right about it? Am I right about it? Stand up, Brother Fisher. Come here, you guy. But let me tell you something else that the church don't understand either. Here, give each other a holy kiss. There you go. You know what, the church don't understand, your world don't understand, how is it that you can get a white man and a black man in the same location, worshiping the same Jesus? And we're systematically racist, the devil is a liar. Look around this church. We got a little bit of everything. We got some white chocolate and some dark chocolate. We got some in between. Can I tell you? This is what the Lord said as a mystery because ain't no man could ever put this together and be able to say you can get white, black and everybody else in the same. I'm from Swahili and Japanese and Chinese and Vietnamese and Portuguese and Hispanic all up in the same place. And we've got a common denominator. It is Jesus Christ, the son of the living God, both to the Jew first and then to the Greek. So away with all this nonsense. Let's just keep showing them what Jesus' church really looks like. I'm almost done, bring my musicians and stuff. So what do you do over there? Well, this is a culture of singing. When you come to Pace Assembly, we're gonna sing. Well, why do you do that? Cause the book says, sing. And then you might find somebody just like a few minutes ago that starts shouting. I had one guy when I was preaching years ago. He brand new saved. He didn't know nothing about no church culture. He'd look at me and say, park it right there. I didn't care if you said park it right there. Who we, hallelujah, glory to God. If it goes up before the throne as an incense and a worship, let it come out of your innermost being. Come on somebody. At Pace Assembly, we sing and we shout. And we dance before God. Why do you do all that pastor? Because I'm not waiting on Springfield to tell me how to do it. I've read the book and he said, if you're gonna enter into his gates with Thanksgiving and into his courts with praise, David said, I'll dance before the Lord day and night. He said, I'll praise him in song. I'll praise him on the high sounding simmer. I'll praise him on the trumpet in the heart. He said, get everybody together and let everything that has brand praise Jesus. Cause it's something I feel like. I'm giving him a praise because he's worthy of all of that and more. Shout out to somebody. I'm about to lose some people right here. At Pace Assembly, we give altar calls because I'm not preaching for your information. I'm preaching for your revelation. And when it gets revealed to you what you need to do, then there needs to be a response to that. I am a response preacher. That's not some cultural thing. Oh, they do that in the black church. Oh brother, come on, yeah. I'm not doing it because it's a cultural thing. I'm doing it because it's like fire shut up in my bone. And I can't stop my feet from dancing and I can't stop myself from shouting, you know why? Cause after what the Lord has done for me, it is joy unspeakable. You just sit there and be dignified. Where is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? Be seated at pastor at Pace Assembly. We believe in miracles, healing and deliverance. While we have programs to be able to help people and disciple people, we're not waiting on 12 steps. I got one step, step towards Jesus. Come on somebody. If you get it, you get in Pace Assembly, you'll have to be rehabilitated. But if you get in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood will empty you of everything that you used to be. But he not gonna leave you empty. You know what he else had done? On the other hand, here comes the Holy Ghost filling you up and you'll have no desire for the drugs, the alcohol or any other thing that will cause you to stray. At Pace Assembly, it's not emotionalism. Just a bunch of emotional people. Have you watched a ball game lately? I'm not talking about NFL, MLB or anything. I'm talking about up at Para. Where you gotta put out a sign up there at the little league field, this is just a game and don't holler at the judges and we don't need you on the field. You know why? Cause nobody sits up there and folds their hands. This, I should not even say this cause this will throw people off the train. We're gonna host the high school jazz fest in this building on Friday. Wait a minute now. Why are you gonna do that? Well, cause they need a building. Furthermore, they're all gonna come in here and sit in the seats you're sitting in. You know what's gonna happen? Kids are gonna be up on this platform where every Sunday and every Wednesday there's an anointing of God. When they sit down in that cloth, some of you all been out of shape because of it, can I tell you? When they sit down in that cloth where you're sitting right now, they're not gonna be sitting in the same location down at the school where there's satanic thing, transgender thing and all that kind of stuff. They're gonna be sitting up in an anointed atmosphere and somebody gonna look at somebody else and say, I feel something in here I never felt before. That's right, it's called Holy Ghost and I can assure you he's all over me and he's keeping me alive. Anybody in this building put your hand down on your seat and ask God to anoint it with a double portion so that people will actually give their life to Jesus Christ in the middle of a jazz fest. Okay, if that didn't get you off the train, this one will. At Pace Assembly we give our tithe and offering. Why do you do that? Cause it's in the book. And let's make sure you understand where you're supposed to give it to. Well pastor, the Lord told me to give it to my Aunt Bessie because she's having a hard time right now. Well, you're putting a curse on Aunt Bessie and on you. I knew this would get tight right here. What do books say in Malachi three? Bring all the tithes and the offering into the storehouse that there may be meat. The tithe belongs to God. It's the first off the top and it comes to your church, your local church. Not to Bishop Flipflop somewhere out there in California. Cause if that's the case, you need to call him when you get in the hospital and get sick. Call him up. Can you preach my funeral? Who are you? I got a lot of preachers that I love and appreciate and have a heartfelt appreciation for but they ain't getting my tithe. I have to pay for it and I pay our tithe to our district that is an assembly of God minister. And then we pay our full tithe right here to Pace Assembly. I'm not doing it to tell you to pat me on the back. I just know where my blessing comes from. And that's what we do at Pace Assembly. So if you're a member of this church, if you're a member of his church, oh, y'all don't get off the train now. I gotta stop. Here's the third thing and I'm out of your way. He said, first of all, I'm gonna build my church and that church is gonna be a spiritual building. He said furthermore, secondly, it's gonna be my body. And I like this one cause this is the one that's gonna ramp it right up for next weekend at the Lord Terry's. He said, you're a spiritual building. You're my body, born into my body and you're my bride. Revelation 22.17 says, and the bride says, come. And the bridegroom says, come. In the book of John, he says, the bride is for the bridegroom, it belongs to him. You know what the Lord's doing? You know what the Holy Ghost is doing right now? The Holy Ghost is not here so you can just talk in tongues and have warm fuzzies run up and down your spine. The Holy Ghost, listen, listen, listen. The Holy Ghost is preparing a bride for the groom. He's preparing a bride. What kind of bride? A bride according to the scripture that is without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Didn't say there wouldn't be scars. Didn't say there wouldn't be struggles and issues that the bride has to walk through. But it says on wedding day, she will be prepared. He's talking about his church. He's not talking about his denomination. He's not talking about his group, his gathering. He's talking about his church, his body, his spiritual building and his bride. There's not a wedding ceremony that I do that I don't quote from Ephesians chapter five. Wives, submit yourselves under your own husbands as unto the Lord. Husbands, love your wives. Even as Christ loved the church. Paul said, I'm talking about the relationship between the church and Christ. What does he tell that groom to do? Who loved the church and gave himself for it. We're so messed up in the world that we're in right now. It's hard to find genuine couples that loves the bride and the groom back and forth like they did when they first got together. Come on, somebody. But I wanna let you know, Pastor, I read that scripture. And it says, my wife is to submit to me. Well, first of all, you don't even know what that means. And I don't have time to explain it to you right now, but let me just kick it up to the next level. What are you supposed to do? Oh, the groom is supposed to give his life. She submits, she still gets to live. You, you got to die. Die to you. Wow, did I just help myself on counseling or something or what? Oh, I get it now, Pastor. If you can see the faces of some of the men in this room right now. They look like a mule eating out of a straw. It's his bride. He's coming back for a bride now in Matthew 25 and I'll deal with this next weekend. Matthew 25, there's a waiting that's taking place. What are they waiting for? They're waiting for the bridegroom to come. And there's five wives and there's five foolish. Notice this. At one time, they were all in the church, but something happened. They let their oil leak out. Ain't that something? Ain't that something? Isn't that amazing? Let me put a little connect the dots with you. Isn't it something that the fight? In fact, this week I read it before I got here this morning that our president is gonna put pressure upon the oil companies to stop producing the oil to produce the power. And what was it that the five foolish virgins were lacking in? Oil. And without the oil, there was no light. At one time, they had a relationship with the Lord, but now they've let it leak out and watch this. See, this is the way I read this because it wasn't just a little bit of go that our government was asking Venezuela and Iran to give us extra oil. And you know what both of them said? No. Well, what happened with those five foolish virgins? They came over there and said, we don't have enough oil and they ask of the wise virgins, give us some of your oil and what did they say? Wait a minute, that's not Christ like, oh yes it is. Because when you should have come to church and should have contributed and you should have been a part of what was going on, you stayed at home, you stayed out, you laid out like an old manger dog and said, I'll get it when it passes my way again. And the next thing you know, Jesus, the groom has come. The bride is getting ready to leave and all of a sudden you're trying to buy oil back that you had years ago. Oh, if I could just get back, you've waited too late. The church, my friends, I'm watching it right now. Please, I've been in this thing for a long, long time and I've studied Bible probably, I'm not an expert, but I'm just telling you, I'm just telling you, there's a new bill that's being introduced right now into Congress by several senators. That bill is for every man, woman, boy, and girl in the United States of America to have a QR code that is specifically and personally theirs. So you'll be identified by your QR code. You'll get into your bank by your QR code. You'll take money out of the bank by your QR code. You'll buy your groceries at Walmart by your QR code. Friends, the church knows what's going on. People that go to church and just have information, they're looking and going, I don't know what's going on, what's happening, but the real church of the Lord Jesus is turning and cutting ties with all that's around them because they can sense that there's a gravitational pull that is happening here. The church is his bride and that bride has one focus. She's not getting married to multiple bridegrooms. She's only getting married to one and she's saving herself for that one. Come on, somebody. She ain't horrid around with a bunch of other lovers, materialistic lovers, apathetic lovers, whatever, you call it whatever that it is, she's centrally focused upon the bridegroom. I don't know how to describe that except I was driving in my pinto and we were getting closer to getting married 38 years ago plus, we were excited about getting to see her that I went marginally over the speed limit. It was as fast as that little pinto could go because I was going to see my balloon was. That wasn't the first time. I don't think I'm alone in here. That wasn't the first time I went to see her that fast. Different car, higher speed. He pulled me over and gave me a ticket. I had so many tickets. I get skittish when I stand at the grocery store at the cash register and the lady behind the cash register puts up with me and says, do you want the reward points? Every time I hear points, I run. It was the last time I had that many points. I didn't have a driver's license, but that didn't stop me from seeing sweet baby. Come on, somebody, come on, cause if you want to go to church and you ain't got no way to get there, somebody will help you put you in the car and drive you there. Come on, somebody, you do what you want to do. Calling everybody if it's important to you and if it's really good, if you do it really good like I did and you get all in points and your license gets suspended for three months. I couldn't drive legally anyway. And I couldn't tell my folks and I couldn't tell her folks. This is a revelation to her daddy right now. So you know what? Come on, Charlie, you ready? You know what? I didn't have to worry about it cause my bride loved me so much that she came and picked me up. Y'all ain't talking to me? Did you hear what I said? If you love that joker that much, the bride will say I'm coming to get you Jesus. Don't mess with me, I'll preach some more on you. Pastor, I haven't felt that a long time that maybe you need to get back to your first love again with Jesus until your heart beats out of your chest at the thought that the groom could be here any moment now. We're part of the spiritual body. We are the spiritual building. We are his body. We are his church. I am very concerned about people who think they're part of his church. But they're not in. They're in by information. Come on to our fellowship. We're gonna do a softball game and you're in. I'm just gonna tell you mine real fast. I'm out of your way. I was raised in an assembly God church. My daddy was a assembly God preacher. Started churches, preached all around. And I got saved at nine and filled with the Holy Ghost at 10. But I never got water baptized. But every year at my church, they send this little card around. And I'm confessing this now so I can make sure I don't have another sin in my heart before Jesus comes. Because I'd always marked down on that card that I was okay, I'd just skip over that water baptism. And years later, after we were married, we were in a church of God at that time. And it came time for baptism. You know what the Holy Ghost said? You need to get water baptized. So I was a assembly God. We were in a church of God. And they didn't have a baptismal pool because first Baptist Mary Esther had the nearest baptismal pool. So I got it all covered. I got your assembly God, your church of God and your baptism all covered up in there and went down into baptismal pool. And I want you to know all of my calisthenics and all my works and all those things didn't do it. The day I said yes to Jesus Christ on the piano side of right assembly, Jesus came into my heart, my little old selfish, horrible, sin-ridden nine-year-old heart. And the worst thing I ever did was put spitwads into Sister Caver Sunday School class in the basement or took a couple of extra coconut cookies. I'm confessing it all today because I'm going to heaven with or without you. Some of y'all letting them coconut cookies in Sunday school keep you out of heaven. You better go ahead and confess. Tell my other church. Now I'm just gonna tell you, there are whole denominations including and I will bring this to you next Sunday. There are whole denominations that are now walking away from the Word of God and from Jesus Christ who gave himself for his bride. You hear me? And the assemblies of God now, there are some that have thought in their mind, we're gonna change some things. So they put it to a vote this past week. I'll tell you what it is next Sunday. What's the point pastor? Jesus did not say, I will build my denomination. That's a revelation for some people because it's their denomination they've gotten born again to. And if their denomination goes down or their hero goes down, but when you get saved, it's a spiritual transformation that engrafts you into the body, his body, into his bride. And I don't have love, I appreciate everybody, but my number one love is him. I've fallen in love with Jesus because he's God and because he's forgiven me of all of my sin. He asked that church at Ephesus in the first church of the Book of Revelation. He said, you're doing a lot of good things. You got some good works going on. You got some things going on over here. That's good, but he said, here's, I've got one problem. He said, you have left your first love. You've left your first love. He says, return and do your first works, not working it. Do your first love thing over again. Get back into a relationship with me above everything and anybody else. And when you do, I'll be as close as the mention of my name. I feel the spirit of God hovering across this entire congregation with your heads bowed, your eyes closed and people not moving around right now. I just want to ask you something. Do you need to come back to your first love, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the bride of Christ? Do you need to get back? Maybe you've never been born again. Maybe you've never been born again. Today's the day of salvation, my friends. Jesus is coming for his bride and he won't wait. If today you say, pastor, I need to come to Jesus Christ right now, I need to come to him right now. If that's you, slip your hand up where you are right now, right where, amen, amen, amen, amen. Praise God. I'm just gonna tell you, I'm gonna stand right here at this altar and in a moment I'm gonna have everybody stand. And when I do, if you need to come to Jesus Christ, I'm gonna ask you to come to this altar. I don't want anybody jumping out in the aisles and trying to make a break for the back door. I don't need you blocking the aisles. I need people to be able to say I'm coming without an obstruction. And I feel the spirit of God moving upon the hearts of people here to renew your commitment to God of your first love. I'm part of the church, pastor. That's good. Where's your love level? I gotta return back to him who loved me the most. I want you to get ready. Those of you that raised your hand I'm gonna be standing right here. As soon as I have everybody stand, I want you to make a break out of that aisle. I want you to make that break and come straight down here with me. I want to pray with you. We're gonna ask Jesus Christ to come into hearts and lives of people, people that are watching online right now. And those of you that say, pastor, I just need to return back to my first love relationship with the Lord. I feel him calling you today. Today's the day. As soon as I ask you to stand, I don't want you to wait. Don't reason in your heart. Just step out in the near style and make your way all to this altar. We're gonna pray together. And if you'll do it, let's do it right now. Everybody stand, everybody stand. Make that break right now. Come on. If that's you, come right where you are. They're already coming. Come on, son. Come on, come on. Where's my ministers? Come on, come on, come on. Come on, come on, come on. Come on. Come on, everybody in this building. Lift those hands and begin to worship him. Fall in. Today's the day of transformation for you. Today's the day when old things pass away. Today's the day when everything comes brand new, man. So I'm gonna pray this prayer. And I want everybody here and all of you that are watching online and all of you that are standing around this altar, ready to give your life to Jesus Christ. I want you to pray this prayer right out loud. Would you do it? Just bow your head. This is between you and God right now. Let's do it right now. Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father. I come to you in Jesus' name. I'm a sinner, need of the Savior. And you are that Savior. Today, Lord Jesus. I'm asking you to come into my heart and forgive me of my sins. I repent before you. I want you to come in and live inside of my life. Take over. Today I wanna come into your church and that only happens by a new birth. You said I must be born again. Today I give my life to you. I reject my sins. And I receive your forgiveness. In Jesus' name, I believe you died on the cross. I believe you were buried and you rose again on the third day and you're coming again at any moment. Take me just like I am and I receive you as my Savior and my Lord in Jesus' name. I'm washed. I'm cleansed. I'm saved. I'm healed. I'm delivered. I am set free. In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Now lift those hands towards heaven all around this room. Somebody oughta open your mouth and give him glory for what God's doing around this altar right now. Somebody oughta thank him that your children are gonna give their life to the Lord. Just like what's going on around this altar right now, old things are passing away. Hot tears are rolling down their faces as they're surrendering their life to Jesus. Hallelujah. Everybody in this building, throw your hands up and say it out loud, baby. Say, Paul, send your Bible. We'll send what you need right now tonight. I'm just gonna say to you as I'm watching what's taking place around our world. The only hope for this world is Jesus Christ. And the only thing the church has is not a rummage sale or a bazaar or a circus or some clowns, balloons and candy. What we have is Jesus. I give you Jesus today. You better go out of this place and give people Jesus. When you go to the restaurant, give the waitress and the waiter Jesus. When you stop at Walmart, give them Jesus. It might be the last time that you represent the church to somebody who needs Jesus. Don't look at their skin color. Look at their kin. I don't care about your skin. I wanna know about you. Are you kin? Are you part of the body of Christ? Today's the day. I commission you in the name of the Lord. Go and be the church. Go into the highways and hedges. The building is gonna stay, but the church is leaving. I said the building is gonna sit right here, 39, 48, highway 90, ain't going nowhere, but the church is about to leave the building. Go find them, go rescue them, amen? Turn around somebody and tell them I believe in the church falling