Annie led group in worship…
Pastor Ray…
I would like you to playing, and I want you to sing a little bit more in a minute. Let’s go back and see what Moses said in Exodus. A couple of key things. First of all, in Exodus 33:7, it says “Now Moses used to take [his own] tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting.” “When Moses went out to the tent of meeting, all the people rose and stood, every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses until he had gone into the tent.” Verse nine, “When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the door of the tent, and the Lord would talk with Moses. 10 And all the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the tent door, and all the people rose up and worshiped, every man at his tent door. 11 And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Moses returned to the camp, but his minister Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the [temporary prayer] tent. 12 Moses said to the Lord, See, You say to me, Bring up this people, but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You said, I know you by name and you have also found favor in My sight. 13 Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You [progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with You, perceiving and recognizing and understanding more strongly and clearly] and that I may find favor in Your sight. And [Lord, do] consider that this nation is Your people. 14 And the Lord said, My Presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest. 15 And Moses said to the Lord, If Your Presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here! 16 For by what shall it be known that I and Your people have found favor in Your sight? Is it not in Your going with us so that we are distinguished, I and Your people, from all the other people upon the face of the earth? 17 And the Lord said to Moses, I will do this thing also that you have asked, for you have found favor, loving-kindness, and mercy in My sight and I know you personally and by name. 18 And Moses said, I beseech You, show me Your glory.”
I wrote this in my Bible. It’s His glory or the presence of God that sets His people, or that sets us, apart from everyone else in the world. We’re not saying we’re really somebody, but He is in us and His presence. So when Annie started to sing that, I know it has to be a strong desire of our hearts that we’d see more, that we’d experience greater, that that presence would manifest in such a way as never before. Because of the time and the times, the days that we’re living in, His presence will set us apart. Your presence! We need that presence to go out, to break through, to declare and move forward.
Thank you for that glorious manifested presence for us today, for the Church, for your body, Lord. Thank you for it.
Okay, Annie, sing that song some more now, please.
Annie continued to sing…
I saw myself do this first. First Corinthians 1 in the Passion translation. It begins first with a greeting from Paul. So the first part, he’s greeting some people. And then it goes on from there. It was a letter. I want you to see it as a letter from me to you today. Excuse me. I’m not Paul, but I just wanted to say it or read it as if it was a letter directly to you from me as a pastor.
So “From [Pastor Ray], divinely appointed according to the plan of God…” Which I believe I am! And I believe you are! And I want to say, first of all in my letter this morning continually seek after the glory that’s been given unto each one of you individually, but see after the glorious presence of God almighty for your family, for your church or ministry, for the position or the call that God has planned for you. Keep looking, keep requiring it as a necessity, the presence of God and that presence will take you all the way through to victory. So I’m writing this letter and I’m going to address it to the community of God, so throughout Paul was addressing Corinth but I want to address the Church. So I address the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ here in Minneapolis and St. Paul and all the surrounding communities in Minnesota. And then I want to address it to all of the States of the United States of America and address it to all those that are connecting together today from other countries. Hallelujah! So I begin by saying…
“…you have been made pure, set apart in the Anointed One, Jesus. And God has invited you to be his devoted and holy people, and not only you, but everyone everywhere who calls on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord, and ours also.
3 May joyous grace and endless peace be yours continually from our Father God and from our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!
Made Wonderfully Rich
4 I am always thanking my God for you because he has given you such free and open access to his grace through your union with Jesus, the Messiah. 5 In him you have been made extravagantly rich in every way. You have been endowed with a wealth of inspired utterance and the riches that come from your intimate knowledge of him. 6 For the reality of the truth of Christ is seen among you and strengthened through your experience of him. 7 So now you aren’t lacking any spiritual gift as you eagerly await the unveiling of the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One. 8 He will keep you steady and strong to the very end, making your character mature so that you will be found innocent on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is forever faithful and can be trusted to do this in you, for he has invited you to co-share the life of his Son, Jesus, the Anointed One, our King!
Paul Addresses Divisions in the Church
10 I urge you, my brothers and sisters, for the sake of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree to live in unity with one another[j] and put to rest any division that attempts to tear you apart. Be restored as one united body living in perfect harmony. Form a consistent choreography among yourselves, having a common perspective with shared values.
11 My dear brothers and sisters, I have a serious concern I need to bring up with you, for I have been informed by those of Chloe’s house church that you have been destructively arguing among yourselves. 12 And I need to bring this up because each of you is claiming loyalty to different preachers. Some are saying, “I am a disciple of Paul,” or, “I follow Apollos,” or, “I am a disciple of Peter the Rock,” and some, “I belong only to Christ.” 13 But let me ask you, is Christ divided up into groups? Did I die on the cross for you? At your baptism did you pledge yourselves to follow Paul?
And I declare this message stripped of all philosophical arguments that empty the cross of its true power. For I trust in the all-sufficient cross of Christ alone.
The True Power of the Cross
18 To preach the message of the cross seems like sheer nonsense to those who are on their way to destruction, but to us who are on our way to salvation, it is the mighty power of God released within us. 19 For it is written:
I will dismantle the wisdom of the wise and I will invalidate the intelligence of the scholars.
20 So where is the wise philosopher who understands? Where is the expert scholar who comprehends? And where is the skilled debater of our time who could win a debate with God? Hasn’t God demonstrated that the wisdom of this world system is utter foolishness?
21 For in his wisdom, God designed that all the world’s wisdom would be insufficient to lead people to the discovery of himself. He took great delight in baffling the wisdom of the world by using the simplicity of preaching the story of the cross in order to save those who believe it. 22 For the Jews constantly demand to see miraculous signs, while those who are not Jewsconstantly cling to the world’s wisdom, 23 but we preach the crucified Messiah. The Jews stumble over him and the rest of the world sees him as foolishness. 24 But for those who have been chosen to follow him, both Jews and Greeks, he is God’s mighty power, God’s true wisdom, and our Messiah. 25 For the “foolish” things of God have proven to be wiser than human wisdom. And the “feeble” things of God have proven to be far more powerful than any human ability.
God’s Calling
26 Brothers and sisters, consider who you were when God called you to salvation. Not many of you were wise scholars by human standards, nor were many of you in positions of power. Not many of you were considered the elite when you answered God’s call. 27 But God chose those whom the world considers foolish to shame those who think they are wise, and God chose the puny and powerless to shame the high and mighty. 28 He chose the lowly, the laughable in the world’s eyes—nobodies—so that he would shame the somebodies. For he chose what is regarded as insignificant in order to supersede what is regarded as prominent, 29 so that there would be no place for prideful boasting in God’s presence. 30 For it is not from man that we draw our life but from God as we are being joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. And now he is our God-given wisdom, our virtue, our holiness, and our redemption. 31 And this fulfills what is written: If anyone boasts, let him only boast in all that the Lord has done!
Pastor Ray continued…
So I read all that letter to you today, just to say if you got anything to boast about, let it be to boast in what the Lord God almighty has done for us, for you, for the Church, for the earth. And that the glory that God has brought forth, that presence of the mighty powerful Holy Spirit, that that would be the desire of your heart and the leading of your heart and up and out of your hearts, as you declare and lift Him up, that you would use the anointing that’s has been placed within you. And with every fiber of your being and with every part of your hearts that you would come wholly and solely under the blood… made righteous through that blood and declare a heartfelt cry for more of the glory… every day! Thank you for it, Lord.
Okay, Ms. Annie sing a little more about the glory. Hallelujah. There are notes that you’ve been playing that they’re like a drawing. There are notes that draw us. They’re drawing us to actually do what we sing about… The glorious, manifested presence of God almighty. So now let’s tune and go for it.
Annie led group in worship singing about the glory…
Pastor Ray…
Hallelujah. Annie, there was one part where you sang, “We have no fear.” Is that what you sang?
Annie…
I am not afraid.
Pastor Ray…
Oh, I’m not afraid. that stood out to me because of the glory. We’re not afraid. It should be no fear.
Annie shared and then led in worship…
When Moses went up to the mountain and he stepped into the cloud of God’s presence, the people were afraid and they ran from the mountain. How can we dwell with everlasting burning? Well, without the blood of Christ Jesus, we can’t.
Pastor Ray…
I want to just touch on the “afraid” part, the fear. Just a few scriptures. Isaiah 41:10, “Fear not, for I’m with you. Be not dismayed for I’m your God. I’ll strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
I got a text from someone in Florida that is going into surgery this morning, probably right now. I’ll declare this over this lady: “For the Lord is with you. Don’t be dismayed. For He’s your God. He has strengthened you. He will continually help you. He will uphold you with His righteous right hand. Be strong, be courageous, do not fear. Don’t be frightened, do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” right into that room.
In the name of Jesus, we apply that precious, holy blood over you and over every person in that room; the doctors, and whoever is in there, we cover with the precious blood and declare, “You are whole, healthy in the name of Jesus. For by the stripes that Jesus took, you were made whole in Jesus’ name. We set ourselves in agreement with you right now from this place and from many other places on the earth, “be whole, be restored, be healed in Jesus’ name.”
Hallelujah. Thank you, Father.
Just a couple other ones. 2nd Timothy. “For God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.
Psalm 34:4. “I sought the Lord and he answered me and he delivered me from all my fears.” I’m not afraid. We’re not afraid. In the glory, in the presence of our great Lord, we will not fear… fear about the future… fear about how things will turn out. Oh no! No fear in Jesus’ name.
Deuteronomy 31, “Be strong. Be courageous.” We’re speaking over ourselves “Do not fear or be in dread of them for it’s the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you are forsake you.
Psalm 23:4. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” what do we do there? We keep right on walking. “I will fear no evil for you are with us, your rod and your staff they comfort us.
Philippians 4:6–7. “Do not be anxious about anything…” That means carefree. “But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
John 14:27. “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled. Neither let them be afraid.
We could go on and on because the Word goes on and on and comes against fear of any kind. We are carefree this morning. Let them go… (tongues) If you’ve had some fears concerning some things, let them go.
Thank you, Lord. We’ll just bring them up to you. We’ll give them onto you. You said to do it. Any kind of fear or doubt or anxiety. No anxiety at all! But carefree. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Lord.
Now by the blood, we’ve overcome. Through that blood, we’ve already won. Now in and through covered in the blood, we’re protected wherever we go. We take upon ourselves this morning right now, a fresh fullness of the Spirit. (tongues) a new covering or a fresh covering. We declare we’re covered in the blood of the Lamb and we declare “no weapon formed against us will prosper.” …against our future… today in Jesus’ name… for we are free… completely and totally free… covered in the blood. We prosper wherever we go. (tongues)
Thank you, Lord. We’ll take others with us. We’ll set them free because you set us free. We’ll set others free and we’ll bring your glory, you’re a great presence, wherever we go in Jesus’ name. We believe and we know this day is foreordained and you have a plan and you put that plan in us before we were born. And we believe to walk it out in your glorious holy presence today. We thank you for it. Thank you, Father. Thank you.
We are refreshed and we’re not depressed. We’re looking up. We’re not down. We’re not going down. Not going back. Refreshed. Restored and made whole… We’ll take it with us today. We believe to bring your presence to others wherever we go today in Jesus precious holy name. Amen. Hallelujah.
Thank you for coming in and praying with us today. Appreciate it. See you tomorrow.
