Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Why don't you stand right now, as we honor the reading of God's word? I want you to open your bibles, if you have your Bible, or we'll pull it up on the screen. Our theme verse. As we continue our series on kings and priests, or royal priesthood, we're launching out of one, Peter, chapter two in verse nine. So I think we've got that coming up on the screen. Can we read that together? One, two, three, go. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Now, our text for today, second chronicles, chapter five. Powerful passage, one that you're probably familiar with. And just to put it in context, what's happening here is King David had a desire to build a house of worship for the Lord, and he pulled the plans together. He began to rally givers and materials and all of this. And his son, King Solomon, actually began the process to build this house of worship. And so where we're going to pick up now is actually the moment where they dedicated the temple. Okay, they've done the work. Now they've come together, and this is what happened. Verse eleven, second chronicles five. It came to pass when the priests came out from the most holy place, for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves without keeping to their divisions. Sanctified is holy, by the way. And the Levites, who were the singers, those of Asaph and Heman and Judathon and their sons and their brethren stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen. They had cymbals, stringed instruments, harps with them, 120 priests sounding trumpets. Indeed, it came to pass, verse 13, when the trumpeters and singers were as one to make one sound, to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, when they lifted their voices with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music and praised the Lord, saying, he is good, for his mercy endures forever.
[00:02:10] The house, the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud.
[00:02:17] The priest could not continue ministering because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God in chapter seven. So this story continues. It gets even better. King Solomon stands up and he prays. And then this is what happens in chapter seven. In verse one, when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices and the glory of the Lord.
[00:02:49] The priests could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's. House. When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying, he is good and his mercy endures forever. Oh, man. I'm excited to preach this word to you, ladies and gentlemen. This is God's word, and.
[00:03:22] Yes, and amen. You may be seated.
[00:03:26] This has always been one of my favorite passages because, like, I'm a revival guy. Like, I read these stories, and almost every great revival has them. These moments where the glory of God drops into a room, and it. And it comes in different ways. Sometimes it's a tangible cloud. Like, we read here with Solomon Azusa had encounters like that. I read about the history of revival in Lahaina, and they had moments where this fog would roll across the land, and children and people all across the land would be on their face crying out to God. Incredible. You read about, like, the Brooklyn Tabernacle, and the glory of God came, and lightning struck the pulpit. And I don't know about you guys, but I hear those stories, and I'm like, I want some of that.
[00:04:18] I'd like to see some of that kind of stuff. And so I'll pray that way all the time. And I'll often use this text, like, Lord, let your glory come so powerfully that we, as the people of God, we, as the ministers, aren't even able to stand in your presence, come with so much glory that even in the parking lot, it's known what God is doing.
[00:04:41] It's incredible. And so this is the kind of thing. I mean, how many of you believe that if God could do that for them, God could do that for us? I believe what the Bible says, that the earth will be full of the knowledge of God's glory. And glory, by the way, if you don't know, is a physical manifestation of an attribute of God. So when we talk about glory, it's not just like, I felt a goosebump, but it's even what pastor talked about a couple weeks ago. It's that which affects our senses. Like, I know that he's here. I see what he's doing. So when waters turned to wine, Jesus called that glory. When he raised Lazarus from the dead, he said, you will see the glory of God. When he was himself resurrected, he called that glory. And over and over and over again, we see the glory of God. So when the glory came, there was a physical cloud that dropped in this temple. There was a physical fire that came upon the house of God. I'll ask again, how many of you would love to see an outpouring of God's glory in our midst? Hallelujah. So one of the things that I must highlight is the fact that as I read this story, you need to be aware that there was more going on here than a couple hungry people who prayed for God's glory. There was more than that going on. In fact, as I began to read this, I've been reading with a new lens. I don't know if anybody's with me, but I've been taking note of the times that I see kings and priests. And as I began to read this story, I began to read it with the perspective that the priestly is that which touches heaven, that which interacts with God and the kingly is that which has the authority to transform the earth, influence and authority to see what God's doing in heaven, on the earth. Moses prophesied about a day in Exodus 19 when God would raise up kings and priests. David prophesied about this in psalm 119 about the day of power, Pentecost, how God would raise up a people that looked like Melchizedek, which we studied him. This was a man who was anointed not only as a king, but as a priest. And what God did at Pentecost, in the outpouring of the spirit. He's saying, I'm going to raise up people that operate as priests, who touch heaven, who go boldly before the throne of grace, who have access to God to receive and to release the divine nature. And I'm going to put a kingly anointing upon people so that it's not just in the house of God, but we have the authority to release into the earth the very same things that God has done amongst his people unto the very ends of the earth. I'm getting too excited and it's way too early in the message, but I believe that God is looking for individuals who will say, not only am I going to contend for revival as a priest of God, but I'm going to be one who will see your work extend. Remember, we talked about how kings are these who protect and expand the kingdom of God. And I read these man, and I read about these revival stories. I read about this account, and I'm like, God, I believe with all my heart you want to do the very same thing amongst us. I believe you want to do the very same thing through this people, because the Bible actually talks about how the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God's. Glory. That's in Habakkuk, chapter two. And how. How is the earth going to be filled with glory?
[00:08:30] We've seen mighty moves of God and the power of God drop in churches. But it's been rare that we have seen the power of God, the glory, the manifest presence of God actually sweepden into a nation or take over a people or redeem an entire ethnic group. Some of those things have happened, but it's been rare and it's been few and far between. But I believe you see, I don't know where you stand with your theology, but I was raised to be pretty afraid most of the time. See, if I ever came home from school and my parents were gone, boy, I freaked out. I was sure that I had missed the rapture.
[00:09:12] Is anybody with me?
[00:09:14] I mean, I don't know what it was. It's just like this left behind thing. It freaked me out. I just, like, if I saw a pile of clothes on a random place in our house, I'm just like, my brother's gone. I missed the rapture, you know? And so we were raised this way and just having this idea that, man, things are going to get worse and wickedness is going to increase until Jesus comes to take us out of this mess.
[00:09:40] But somewhere along the line, I in fact, let me just tell you how serious this is, because if you question, like, I had a mom that was serious about the rapture, she made sure that we were rapture ready. Is anybody ready for the rapture? I sure hope so. Okay, because here's what happened I'll never forget. This is when I realized my mom is for real. This isn't just like a church talk. This isn't just a bible study. But I'll never forget 911. I was in high school and I watched those planes fly into those buildings. And like most of you, if you were, if you were alive, if you were around at that time, many of you remember exactly where you were at that time. Well, I was sitting in my third period classroom in high school. I was watching this happen. And about 15 minutes later, I hear over the intercom, Jacob, will you come down to the office? Your mother is here.
[00:10:35] Like, what? So I go down and I sign out, and I remember, I go out to the van, and she throws open the door. She's like, get in the van. The end times are here.
[00:10:48] I'm like, mom, what are we doing? Where are we going? And they're like, so, I mean, I don't know. I guess we were going to go home and sit in the basement and finally make use of our y two k stash.
[00:11:01] Anybody know what I'm talking about? We had evaporated milk down there for years, and. And I guess we're just gonna sit in the basement and drink, you know, macaroni. Eat the macaroni out of this bucket.
[00:11:13] We do have after the service, end time preparation kits that are available in the foyer, if you'd like that.
[00:11:21] No.
[00:11:23] I'll tell you what that did do for me. It did. It put a preparedness. I'm ready for Jesus to return.
[00:11:29] I'm ready for that. But it also caused me to study the Bible, and there's a few things that I began to notice. Like, jesus, I believe that you're coming back, but I believe that you're coming back for a bride that doesn't have spot, wrinkle, or blemish. That means that we're not going to watch the church decline. And Jesus is going to come rescue us. That means that his church is going to get more and more glorious until he returns. I need you to hear me on that. If Jesus came back right now, many of you have friends and family who would miss God, but I believe the Bible says that he's waiting for the fullness of gentiles to come in. Jesus delays his coming because there's still people that need to be coming into the kingdom of God. The Bible says that there's a measure of glory that's going to be released on the earth, not just in the church, but released on the earth before he returns. And so this tells me I'm not just going to hunker down and hold the fort until Jesus comes to take us out of this wicked world. No, I'm going to be an ambassador of God's glory. We're going to see revival come to the house of God, and we're going to see it released into the very ends of the earth, because Jesus is coming back for something that looks better than what he left.
[00:12:48] So how did these guys see glory?
[00:12:54] What did Solomon do? Again, I mentioned a moment ago, they did more than just pray, God, pour out your glory. They did a number of things, and I think this will help us.
[00:13:04] You want to be a steward of God's glory? God's manifest presence. All right, here we go. Number one, I want you to write this down if you're taking notes. Here's what they did in two chronicles. They worked together.
[00:13:19] They worked together. Everybody say work.
[00:13:24] We're going to see the kingdom of God extend in this way. It's going to take some work. It's going to take some people who understand I'm a priest unto God, and I'm a king who has authority. In fact, as I was reading this account, the Lord just had me reading it over and over again. I began to read this story, and I got excited when I saw the glory do that God. But then the Lord said, read it again.
[00:13:50] So I go back and I begin to read, and I see King David and King Solomon and the kings of the earth coming together. The kings, the kings, the kings, the kings. And the Lord said, read it again. And I go back and I read. And the priests and the Levites and all of the priests and all of the divisions all came together. All the priests, the priests, the priests, the priests. Okay, I got it. And the Lord said, read it again. So I go back and I begin to read again. And it was all, all the people all together. All assembled. All, all.
[00:14:26] So this is important. I need you to hear me. We need some people who understand, I am a glorious king. I am a glorious priest, and we're all in this together.
[00:14:38] So here's what needs to happen. We need to work together. Everybody say, we need to get to work.
[00:14:44] Come on, tell your neighbor you need to work.
[00:14:48] I know this isn't a popular message, but it's going to be good. Okay, so, Solomon, this is second chronicles five one. It says, when all the work Solomon had done for the house of the Lord was finished. I'm sorry, so all the work that Solomon had done for the house of the Lord Washington finished. You can read the first two chapters. It talks about that work, and I know it says that Solomon worked, but I'll just have you know, if you read chapter two, you're going to see a lot of people worked. Solomon was just the visionary, pulling all this together. It says in chapter two that there were 70,000 to bear burdens. There were 80,000 to Corey Stone. There was 3600 to oversee the work. There were other kings from other nations who got involved. You had incense makers, you had gold and silversmiths. You had lumberjacks, you had oil and winemakers. You had builders. You had wheat and barley farmers, artists. You had musicians, men and women from multiple nations coming together to build a house for the glory of the Lord. The reason I highlight this is sometimes we just think, well, I'm just going to leave that to the pastors. I'm just gonna leave it to the guys who burn with glory. Like Tommy and Miriam Evans. Right? Those guys drip with glory. They'll handle that heaven stuff. No.
[00:16:11] Farmers, builders, musicians, kings, lowly people, men, women, they all came together and they all worked together. Now you're saying, well, that's Old Testament. Well, in the New Testament, did you know the Bible says in one Peter, chapter two and verse five that you are living stones and God is building into his holy temple? What's more is you are his holy priest. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices to God. Ephesians chapter two builds on this idea, and it says that God is building a whole building together. And we are being fitted together. A holy temple in the Lord in whom you are being built together, a dwelling place of God in the spirit.
[00:17:07] You and I.
[00:17:09] It's not that we're going to a temple in Jerusalem. When the people of God come together and build our lives together, this becomes the dwelling place for God's glory.
[00:17:25] You become the dwell. And you know what's beautiful about living stones? I mean, in Kona, if you've ever been to Kona, everything is built out of stone. You get these tongan guys and they're like master wall builders. And they'll build these walls and they'll build buildings. They don't even use mortar, but they find the exact place that this rock fits. And it's amazing to watch. It's not bricks that come out of a mold. And every one of them looks the same. Every stone is different. Some are large, some are small. They're all weird shapes, different textures, but they all have a place.
[00:18:00] And that's us.
[00:18:02] We're all different sizes. Hallelujah. We're all different people. We all rub one another a little differently. But when we come together, God's not looking for cookie cutters. I pulled you out of the mold and you're just like I am. No, we need some different people who look different and act different and believe different and vote different. Hallelujah. Who actually come together and build their lives together, because that is a glorious temple.
[00:18:31] I feel like I'm the only one getting excited about this. Are you with me so far?
[00:18:36] Okay, so that's the beauty of living stones. So I want to encourage you, what is the skill?
[00:18:45] What is the anointing? What is the call that's upon your life that you can bring to the house of God?
[00:18:52] You might be. You might have somebody who's singing close to you. And you realize, man, you've got a beautiful voice. You ought to take that person and introduce them to Brenda Thompson Haney and say, you need to be on our choir. Hallelujah. Do something for the Lord. Maybe you see somebody and they've just got the most beautiful smile, and you just feel so good every time they talk to you. And you know what? I need to introduce you to the ennises. You should be a door greeter in our church, or you look like you can weather the elements. You ought to go greet people in the parking lot. Let me introduce you to Pastor John Michael. Maybe you meet somebody and they look mean. You look like you're ready to fight somebody. Look at those muscles. You look like you're ready to take somebody down. I'm going to introduce you to our security minister. There's a place for you, too. Maybe something leaps in your heart when you saw this announcement about the preteen ministry that's being launched. I just want to encourage church. The church will not be as glorious as Jesus desires it to be until you find your place.
[00:20:02] It's work. Everybody say work. Now, here's the second thing, number two. They assembled together.
[00:20:11] They came together, they assembled together. Chapter five and verse three says, all the men of Israel assembled with the king at the feast. That means they came together, they broke bread together. And I know, man, this was a controversial message a couple years ago. Well, we all need to come together. Don't forsake the assembling. But now we're seeing the statistics. You go talk to an educator, and they will tell you how horrible it was for children to not be able to come and interact with one another. Depression, anxiety, even suicide. Watching drug addiction rise. We as a world have learned the value of coming together.
[00:20:54] There is ways. In fact, you're hard pressed. Pastor Jim has taught us over the years that there is something special when people come together and burn together and believe together, homothumadon, that we are together in one accord. God visits in a special way. Now, I believe that God can visit you when you pray on your own. But I'm just telling you, you're hard pressed to find a moment of visitation, a moment of power, a moment of glory. Where it wasn't a body of believers, where it wasn't people assembled together.
[00:21:31] In fact, there's a power that happens. Matthew 1819 says, this is Jesus speaking. I say to you that if any two agree on earth concerning anything they ask, it will be done for them by my father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. Now, I know if you've been to church more than twice in your life, you've heard that verse. But I want you to think about the reality of this. Like, I can pray on my own all by myself, and I believe that God hears me. He does.
[00:22:06] But the moment I join my faith with my wife or my children or somebody from this church, do you realize that prayer meeting immediately goes to five?
[00:22:18] You say, what are you talking about? Yeah, I got my math right. I'm gonna give you another math problem here in just a minute. I begin to pray with somebody, and the Bible says, jesus is in our midst.
[00:22:28] Jesus, and then the father, immediately begins to work on your behalf. And I believe it's the activity of the Holy Spirit that begins to move and to shift and to change things. I mean, your prayer meeting just went. From me praying by myself. I joined my faith, and all of a sudden, Father, Son and Holy Ghost join in our prayer meeting. That's powerful. This is the power. You know, one of my good friends, will ford, taught me a word, synergy. Do you know about synergy?
[00:23:00] Synergy, this is the actual definition, is when two or more organizations, substances, come together to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effect.
[00:23:13] Simple illustration. If you take one horse and you have that horse pull a cartae, that is 1 told you I was going to give you more math. 1 hp.
[00:23:27] But if you take one horse and you yoke it to a second horse, and they together begin to pull that cart, do you know how many horsepower that is?
[00:23:38] Three.
[00:23:39] Correct. 3 hp. This is a proven concept. It's as if an invisible third horse is right in the middle. There is a multiplied power when two or more come together. Now, in the kingdom, it's even greater. The Bible says, if you're on God's side, one person could put a thousand to flight. But when two come together, 10,000 are put to flight. There's a multiplied power when the people of God come together.
[00:24:12] So they came together, they assembled together, they worked together. Number three, they gave together, they gave together. Verse five, second chronicles, chapter five, says, they brought up the ark. The tabernacle of meeting with the holy furnishings that were in the temple. The priests and the Levites brought them up. King Solomon, all the congregation were assembled with him. Before the ark, they were sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for the multitude. Now, again, this is not just about sacrificing animals. Because do you know where those utensils and those furnishings and everything that went into all the gold plated, everything that was in that church, in that house, was when the people came together and gave together, people sacrificed. They gave of their jewelry, they gave of their. Of their wealth into what would become a dwelling place for the glory of the Lord. And see, I know when I begin talking about money, it's kind of a scary thing, but God's been working on me over the last couple years. I had people come to me, and I remember watching on television, and I saw this guy talking prosperity. And something about it just rubbed me the wrong way. This give to get kind of thing, this, you know, I felt like it was taking advantage of the people. And I'm just like, man, I don't believe that. But God, I believe you. You want to bless your people. And so how do I reconcile these things? Has anybody ever felt some of those tensions? This is what I encourage you to do. Go to the Bible.
[00:25:56] Stop listening to the televangelists. Don't even listen to this preacher. Listen to what the Bible has to say. So here's what I began to do. I began to go through the Bible just in my daily reading. And because I'm a revival guy, I began to highlight anything that had to do with the power of goddess, visitation, healing, miracles, angels, revival. I mean, I would start highlighting that blue because I wanted to open my Bible and just see blue and like, okay, I know that's a power verse right there, right? But I also began to do something else. I began to go through and anything that had to do with money, stewardship, offerings, I began to highlight those verses. Green. I didn't want to take somebody else's word. I wanted to know straight from the heart and the mouth of God what he had to say. Now, here's what's really crazy. Some of you aren't ready for this, but you're going to come on board with it. Okay? Are you still with me? Are you doing okay? Elbow your neighbor. Make sure they're awake.
[00:26:57] Here's what's crazy. I began to notice how many blue power visitation miracle passages were always right next to green. Giving, generosity, offering passages. You'll always see them sandwiched right next to each other. In fact, I'm going to give you a couple examples right out of scripture. In Genesis 28, Jacob commits one of the first ones. I'm going to give a tithe of all of my increase to the Lord. And in that very location, God visits him. This is where we get the word Bethel. God visits him, the house of God. He sees Jacob's ladder, angels ascending into offering.
[00:27:41] We see it with Abraham. Abraham gives an offering. The Lord tells him, bring to me a sacrifice. Give an offering. This is in Genesis 15. And it's in that moment that God visits him. And we see fire come down and go between those offerings. And it's there that he confirms the covenant and changes his name. Visitation, offering, New Testament. Cornelius, acts, chapter ten. He is visited by an angel who says, cornelius, salvation has come to your house. Why? Because your prayers and your giving have come before the Lord as a memorial. His giving and his faithfulness in prayer had grabbed the attention of God. Solomon, his visit from God. This is another one that I just dream about. Like Solomon. Ask me anything you want. Well, how did that happen? That day he had given the largest offering that you'll ever read about in scripture. He gave an outrageous offering. And that night, God shows up and what do you want?
[00:28:47] I know this messes with some of your theology, but the Bible says, hear me on. This is another verse that you all know, but you don't know.
[00:28:54] God loves cheerful giver.
[00:29:01] Do you hear what I said?
[00:29:03] God loves a cheerful giver. Now, you think about that. It ought to mess with your theology, because it should cause you to say, now, wait a second.
[00:29:11] I thought God loved everybody, and I'll say, he absolutely does. Even while we were sinners, he loved you. He gave himself. There's no question about it. He loves you. He loves everybody. But I will tell you on the authority of scripture, there is a special place in God's heart for generous people.
[00:29:33] It grabs the attention of God. I challenge you to take that bible highlighting. Do that as I began to do it a couple years ago, and you will begin to see the same. Just like my wife. She had her birthday yesterday.
[00:29:46] And my wife, she loves you.
[00:29:51] But if you sent her a gift card or brought her flowers, she probably loves you more.
[00:29:59] She got a gift card for a facial. And, oh, I got a facial, and, oh, someone sent me Chipotle, and oh, so and so brought me flowers. And I'm just telling you, there is a special place in her heart for people who loved her that way.
[00:30:13] And there's something about the heart of God. Listen, we could debate about the tithe, but as I have read the Bible, old and New Testament, you cannot get away from being generous as a person of God.
[00:30:27] It is part of the kingdom. So they came together, they worked together, they assembled together, they gave together, and number four, they worshiped together.
[00:30:41] It'll get a little lighter from here on out. I know you're feeling convicted. I need to serve. I need to show up, I need to give. I know, but we're going to worship together. Amen. They worshiped together. They set themselves apart. They were sanctified. This, by the way, was not just the high priest. It says that all the priests came together to worship. The priests, the Levites, singers, musicians, cymbals, stringed instruments, harps, 120 priests with trumpets. And they made verse 313, one sound heard in praising and thanking God for he is good and his mercy endures forever. And as they worshiped, there was an all of a sudden moment as they worshiped. I mean, I'm just, like, trying to picture what this had looked like. I mean, like, all of their work had been completed, all of their giving had come to fruition, all of their serving. And now they're together and they're worshiping. And I just imagine, like, the courtyard outside and you're hearing the trumpets and the cymbals and the stringed instruments inside.
[00:31:53] I don't know if there was a mighty rushing wind. I don't know what that manifestation of glory looked like. Obviously, there was a cloud, but God visited them. And I just imagine all of those trumpets and all of those instruments instantly were silenced as God suddenly came down. Have you ever had a suddenly visitation from God?
[00:32:17] A moment where God surprised you, God showed up, and you didn't even like God? I wasn't expecting that. I had one of those. On Monday night, I just dropped into our young adults ministry, and they started singing this song that I've never heard. And I'm just, like. I'm trying to catch up with the lyrics, and the next thing I know, I felt like I was staring at the sun. Like, it was just like. I felt like I was just getting blasted by the power of God suddenly. Moments, visitation, moments.
[00:32:46] The story that people, a couple people have already referenced today is I shared about Leah and how we were dating. She was my girlfriend. We were talking about marriage, and I already knew that. I like man. I was like, gung ho for the lord. I'm gonna preach crusades, and I'm gonna plant churches, and we're gonna do the work of the Lord. And Leah was scared.
[00:33:13] She was afraid. And there were times where I'd ask her, like, leah, you want to do a Bible study together, just me and you? Let's pray together. And she absolutely nothing. And I'll never forget, there was a time we were going to a revival service, and I was asked to be a part of the prayer team. There was an evangelist from the argentine revival named Hector Ferrea who was preaching that meeting, and we were asked to be a part of the prayer team. Jacob, I want you and your fiance. The invitation was clear. I want you and your fiance to be a part of the prayer team. So we're driving from christ for the nations up to the meeting, and I'm telling Leah, we are going to be a part of the prayer team tonight. She's like, no, we are not.
[00:33:58] You can go. And I'm like, leah, you don't even have to pray. Just stand with me, and I'll pray. You just be there to support me, okay? And she's like, no, I will not. And we were going back and forth, and I remember, I mean, I got so angry. I'm like, leah, we're talking about getting married, and you won't even read the Bible. You won't even stand next to me when I'm praying. How are we supposed to do the ministry together if you won't even do these simple things? We came into that church service so angry.
[00:34:30] You ever come into church mad.
[00:34:33] So we're worshiping, we're going after God. And all of a sudden, the power of God drops in that place, and you just know the Lord is there.
[00:34:46] They open up the altars.
[00:34:48] And again, I look to Leah like, are you going to come? No, I'm not going to come. You go. So again, I'm angry, but I'm just like, okay, we're going to go. And I'll just go and pray. And so I'm going. And I'm there, and I'm with the pastor. I'm with this evangelist, and we're just. We're moving through the altars. There's hundreds of people, hundreds of people in the altars.
[00:35:07] And I'll never forget, the pastor gets up on the microphone. He takes the microphone and he says, God is here, and he's here to answer your prayers. Ask him anything.
[00:35:18] And in that moment, Leah, in the back of the room, says, God, I need you to confirm that I'm supposed to marry Jacob.
[00:35:28] The pastor, in that very moment, grabs the microphone again and says, be specific. Ask God what you need. And she's like, okay, God, I want you to confirm that I'm supposed to marry Jacob. And I want you to confirm it through the pastor's wife.
[00:35:49] She finishes praying. She looks up, and she sees the pastor's wife walk up to me, and she reads her lips from the back of the room, where's Leah?
[00:36:03] This is true. You ask her, where's Leah? So in that moment, she begins to walk down. And the way that she'll tell the story is like, literally like the sound became low, and it was like tunnel vision. All she could see in that moment was the evangelist and the pastor's wife and me all standing down there. I mean, crowd of people. But the whole service stopped for this moment.
[00:36:28] And she walks down to that altar, and the pastor's wife takes her by the arm and says, this is Leah, Jacob's fiance.
[00:36:41] Will you pray with her?
[00:36:43] And he begins to speak in Spanish. Leah's like, oh, no, no, no. I don't speak Spanish. So he just smiles and he goes.
[00:36:56] And I watch you guys, this is crazy, okay? Now, we don't, you know, make a practice of blowing on people a lot in our altars or anything, but I'm just telling you what happened in that moment.
[00:37:07] I watched Leah, my girlfriend, my fiance, who I was questioning if I should marry. I watched her from, like this stair fly back a good eight to 10ft. Nobody touched her. One blow. I watched her fly back. I mean, the catchers didn't even have a chance. She hit the ground. She's shaking under the power of God. She's crying. I mean, emotional tears shaking, fire of God on her. It's powerful.
[00:37:40] I just praise God. And we begin to minister and, you know, go through the altar. I mean, probably. We were probably ministering in that kind of mode for about 2 hours.
[00:37:51] And at the end of the night, I had to carry her to the car. She was so wiped down by the power of God, I had to carry her to the. I had to carry her out to the car. And I put her in the car, and we're driving home, and she's still there shaking as we're driving home, shaking.
[00:38:12] And I turn to her and I say, do you mind if I ask what's going on with you?
[00:38:19] She's like, jacob, all this fear that I've had to pray with you to study the word, with you to minister by your side.
[00:38:30] God burned it out of me tonight.
[00:38:33] He burned it out of me tonight.
[00:38:39] I didn't clap and cheer like you guys are.
[00:38:43] I turned to her and I said, prove it.
[00:38:49] Pray right now.
[00:38:52] This is true. Pray right now.
[00:38:56] I know I have become more gracious over the years, just so you know, but pray right now. And she did.
[00:39:05] She began to pray. It was the first time I honestly remember hearing her pray. I'd watched her worship, but she began to pray and pray for us and pray for our marriage and pray for the ministry that God was opening. And it was beautiful. I could take you back to the very place you're driving from Irving, back down to Christ for the nation's campus. And I could take you to the very spot where she prayed out loud in front of me and look at her now, doing video announcements. And I mean, just awesome.
[00:39:35] It was an all of a sudden moment.
[00:39:41] I believe for that.
[00:39:44] I believe for that.
[00:39:47] The people came together and they were worshiping. All of a sudden, the glory, the manifest presence of God dropped into that room. Now, here's maybe the most important revelation of this entire thing. This is what really wrecked me about this whole thing.
[00:40:05] I'm seeing this and the priests are there, and they're worshiping the Lord and man. They have touched heaven.
[00:40:13] God has seen the work. He has heard the prayers.
[00:40:17] He's heard and received the worship. He's seen the giving and the generosity. And now the priests are there in their worshiping. And the glory of God comes into the place and the room goes silent because all the worshipers, all the instrumentalists, they're all out under the power of goddess, in Solomon.
[00:40:41] He stands up outside the house and he prays.
[00:40:49] You can read this in chapter six. He stands and he prays.
[00:40:54] And the people began to pray together with Solomon.
[00:41:00] And when Solomon prayed, when Solomon began to lift this up, we read it earlier in the service. But I want you to see this. When Solomon had finished praying. Do you see the scene? They're in the house of God. They've just been wrecked by the glory of God. Solomon is outside and he's praying, and the people are praying. And when he finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and the sacrifices. And the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Come on. Another wave of glory came. And then the priest could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. Now watch this. When all the children of Israel, not just the priests, not just the ministers, when everybody saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, on the. The temple, they bowed their faces to the ground, on the pavement, and they worshiped and praised the Lord, saying, he is good and his mercy endures forever. When a king took his kingly authority and he prayed and the people agreed, something happened. The very same glory that was in the house was released to the nation.
[00:42:26] The very same glory. And they began to say the very same things that the worshipers in the house were doing. Friend, I believe that when the priestly and the kingly comes together, we're not just going to have good revival meetings in the house of God, but there's going to be a glory that is seen to the ends of the earth. Look at what their God is doing. Look at how God visits them. This is what happens when the kingly and the priestly come together.
[00:42:56] So we're going to take a moment and we're going to do what they did. We've given, we've served, we've worked, we've prayed.
[00:43:09] We're going to worship like they did.
[00:43:12] We're going to worship. I want you to stand all across the room.
[00:43:16] We're going to go before the throne of God. Don't leave in this time. In a moment, I'm going to come back and we're going to pray. But I just, man, I feel God's glory even right now.
[00:43:27] We're going to posture ourselves to engage him over the next few moments.
[00:43:32] So, lord, we, I believe God, if you, if you could move that way for them, you will do that for us.
[00:43:45] We're not looking backwards at, wow, what a great move of God that was. No, I have the expectancy that the greatest move of God is ahead of us. That greater glory is ahead of us. Let us not mountains and valleys and bide our time till you take us out. No, it's glory to, glory. To glory. Glory in the church, glory in the world, and tell the knowledge of God, glory covers the earth. Oh, God, begin with us here today.
[00:44:15] We worship you, we exalt you. Visit us even now in Jesus name. Come, let's worship together.
