Community Heaven and Earth

Foreign.

We're in the middle of a sermon series. We changed the name because it had started to get so long, so we changed the name in the middle of the sermon series. Did anybody notice that? Three people. Okay, how many?

Like the word drench. It's a good word. You know, we wanted to talk about saturate, permeate, soak, all that stuff. But I kind of like drench. The book of Acts is all about a people that got on fire, like, literally set ablaze.

They were born into a new community that started to manifest the glory of God on earth. And through this vehicle, God is still today planning on drenching the earth with. With his glory. Drench. Got a little.

Little bounce in my. My. On my microphone. Got a little bounce on my microphone. Drench.

It says in the Bible, my favorite verse, Habakkuk 2:14. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. So God's eternal purpose is that the world be drenched with his glory. Saturated, soaked. Drenched.

Like when you're drenched, are you wet? I'm drenched. Like, we want the whole world to have a working manifestation of God's goodness. So that's what drench is all about. All right, here we go.

You ready? Heaven and earth. We've been talking about heaven and earth for a long time. The heavens and the earth. In the beginning, God created heavens and earth.

And we realized there was a problem took place, and it got broken. It got messed up. And God's whole purpose now is not to get you to heaven. God's whole purpose is to restore his purpose, which is to get heaven and earth in absolute union, to bring the whole cosmos back under the order of his headship. Now that's what it's all about.

So everything is about getting the heavens and the earth in absolute restoration. Some people think heaven's better than earth. That's not the intention of God. It may look that way now, but God's purpose right now is to make heaven and earth look like two inseparable, intertwined, races, realms. And there's no difference as it is in heaven, it is on earth.

Jesus asked us to pray for that. Did he? Did he ask us to pray for that? Can anybody tell me, did he? Did he ask us to pray for that?

How many think if Jesus is saying, you need to pray for this, it might just be important. How many think if Jesus said, I want you to pray like I want you to pray when you're praying. I want you to pray about this. What I want it to be on earth as it is in heaven. If he asked us to pray for that, how many think it might be important?

Yet we've made vast the importance of us getting out of here. Like God, get me to heaven. Get me out of here. The reason I asked for my sins to be forgiven is so that I wouldn't go to hell, and I got to go to heaven. And that's.

That's the gospel right there. Who wants to go to hell? Not me. Who wants to go to heaven?

Yet that was never really talked about, but was talked about, and we were to pray for and we were to seek was that it would be on earth as it is in heaven. Are you doing that every day? Is that a passion? Are you living for that? Have you surrendered yourself to that as your purpose?

That every day you wake up, you say, as it is in heaven. And when you go out, you expect that the influence that you possess, the fire of God that is in you is moving in and through you and bringing triumph, transformation to every realm. Where you go, where there's sickness, where there's brokenness, where there is not a manifestation, the kingdom you walk in and you say, I command this to be right. In the name of Jesus. No, I'm just waiting until he gets us out of here.

Did you hear about the guy named Putin? Did you hear about him? That's scary stuff. I hope. We hope he gets us out of here.

Whatever is at work behind Mr. Putin, whatever force of evil or throne or dominion is causing a man to be so reckless with people's lives, whatever is at work in that small little head, we curse it in the name of Jesus. We don't battle against flesh and blood. Mr. Putin is not my problem, but I have a responsibility to curse everything that exalts itself behind the scene, to come against peace on earth and the goodwill to every man. So I, in the name of Jesus, command that to stop right now. In the name of Jesus.

Does anybody agree?

Amen. I don't know why that happens. I just. I'm supposed to fly through this slide and get onto the new stuff, but I got stuck. Jesus.

Jesus was a manifestation of those two realms being in one. Where Jesus was, heaven was. Where Jesus was, the kingdom was the king of glory. Wherever he was, it was as it is in heaven. Wherever Jesus was, everyone who touched him was healed.

Wherever Jesus was, he radiated the very glory of God. Jesus. Jesus came from heaven. Jesus submitted himself to being human. Jesus, literally God, became a man.

God brought Together, those two dissimilar realms, God brought into perfect, perfect union. Heavens and earth he manifests. This is life. This is the intention of God. And he was a living, breathing example of what man was called to be.

Jesus wasn't a superhuman that. Thank God for Jesus. See, here's the whole thing. When the Holy Spirit came, it's high five. Now the devil has a nervous breakdown because one person we could kind of deal with, but now we're dealing with millions, because as he is, so are you in this world.

Jesus said, as you sent me, Father, I send them. So we are walking with the same glory, the same power, the same fourth, fourth.

May the Fourth be with you.

I got shouting too much in worship. I should have chilled, I should have relaxed, but I ran. I was roaring. Jen behind me was shouting, but I was roaring. Heavens.

Heavens. Luke 19:10. For the Son of man has come to seek and save that. Say that. Say that.

Doesn't say them, doesn't say those. It says he came to seek and save that. I came to seek and save my bicycle. Where is my bicycle? Where is that?

He came to seek and save that which is lost. He came into a cosmos that is broken, and he came to bring absolutely restoration in every level. Anything that is broken in this earth, God takes personally, and he wants to see it absolutely restored. Thank you. Glad Stephen's on the front row.

He came to seek and save that which was lost. The word is, is to Apollos. Apollo. Apollo. It literally means.

This is from the Theme Theological Dictionary. This is all those smart people, smarter than me. But you want to look it up, you go to a great theologian, and here's what the Theological Dictionary says. Literally, that which has been lost. It hints at the whole of God's created order.

So God's just not looking to save a few people from a desperate ending. He has come to bring everything back into order and to take it to where it had never been. All right? Heavens, Earth, the Church. So the Church was born at Pentecost.

The Church was born. So now it's not just Jesus, but he is the head and the Church is his body. And now Jesus says, a body is prepared for me, and that's the church. And the Church is the vehicle that is here to change the world. That's why we're here.

That's why we're trying to make a bigger room and more facilities and serve more people. Because we believe that right now God is at work transforming the city. Yes. Yes, he is. Yes, he is.

So we talked about the community is formed. We talked about the community is moving out, and now we're talking about the message of the community. So here's a beautiful rendering of the man at the gate. Beautiful. I don't know where I got that from, but that apparently is an exact rendering of that guy.

How many believe that? Okay, but imagine. Imagine you're lame for 40 years. I mean, at birth, and every day you just got carried out to beg. And at the time of prayer, you ask people, could you help me?

Could you. Could you give me something? I mean, I can't help myself. You know, there wasn't like social services back then, and it wasn't like, you know, you know, fill out this form and you can get a check from the government. I mean, he had to go there and beg.

He had to go there and find, please help me. But imagine 40 years of that, and then all of a sudden, boom, these two guys walk up and go, hey, silver and gold. Not the problem here. But I got something else. Are you ready?

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Now, Jesus in his prayer, he said, I've given them the name. Jesus in the upper room said, from now on, you're going to use the name. You've never done it before. To this point, you've never operated in my authority, in my name.

But from now on, you're going to use my name. And when you use my name, all of heaven will show up in power. And so Peter and John walk into the time of prayer, walking in with everybody, and they said, hey, John, that guy, every day, every day he gets dragged out today. What do you say? Let's do what Jesus said.

Let's use the name. Let's. Let's. Let's command sickness to go in his name. Hey, look at us.

And the word look is pay attention. The word look is give me your full focus. The word attention means look at me with an expectancy that something is about to change. How many came here with an expectancy that something is about to change? I hope you are.

I hope you're believing right now, here today. I didn't just come to get entertained or take in a meeting. I came to encounter the most high God. I came believing that I am going to leave here with a fresh deposit of God like I've never known. Something is going to shift in my life today.

Hallelujah. Well, this guy came expecting to get a few cents to get through the day. But then he looked at them all, this crowd of people, the hour of prayer, all coming to the temple. And then he looked. He looked through the crowd and saw these two guys yelling at him.

And he looked with an expectation. And Peter walked over and he grabbed his hand and he said, in the name of Jesus, can you say that? See, some people think the Ten Commandments said, don't use the Lord's name in vain, but when you use his name without an expectation of absolute transformation, that's a vain expression of the name in your head. You go, nothing's going to happen. But I'll do it anyways, man.

Anyone who approaches him must come. And when you come to him, he's the rewarder of those who seek him, but he's rewarded. Those who come in faith use it with expectation, with belief. For the first time, they use it, and boom. I tell you, it was so amazing.

All of the people, everybody freaked, freaked out, and they were just like, wow. And then Peter stood up and he said, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. This had nothing to do with me. It wasn't my holiness, it wasn't my piety, and there wasn't something I did to achieve a status where I finally got to create a miracle. All I did was obeyed.

What Jesus told me I used the name. And they continued to use the name. And they were actually thrown in jail for using the name. Stop using the name. Because when they use the name, things changed.

Pastor Cheryl taught you on. That was good stuff, too. All right, so Acts chapter three. Peter then took this opportunity to preach a sermon. He began to preach.

He preached the sermon when at Acts, when everybody was full of the Holy Ghost and fell out and stumbled out, a crowd gathered. He preached a sermon. 3,000 people added to the church that day. So here's Peter, another great crowd. He preached a sermon.

And here's the meat of that sermon. You Ready? Acts, chapter 3. 1921. Acts, chapter 3.

1921. Repent. Say repent. God commands all men everywhere to repent.

Repent, therefore, and be converted that your sins may be blotted out so that times of refreshing. Say refreshing. Ah, refreshing. And not a time, but times. Ongoing waves of refreshing may come from the spa.

Who doesn't love the spa times? Refreshing may come from somewhere. They come from somewhere. They come from the presence of the Lord. Isn't it great that God has ordained that you would live in a constant flow of his refreshing, that you would live in a constant download of his presence?

Another day of victory, another day of joy, another day of walking and living in the presence of God. Wow. Refreshing come from the presence of the Lord. That he may send Jesus, who was preached to you, before whom heaven must receive until the times of the restoration of all things. Say restoration, say repent, say refreshing, say restoration.

There you go. That's the good news. That's the message of the body of Christ, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his prophets since the world began. He has to fulfill every one of those words. So let me say it again, and you had this last week, so you should know the answer this time.

All right, Ready? You'll get it right. All right, ready? Here's the question. Which of the following is best definition of repentance?

Which of the following repentance means to turn from sin or repentance means to change your mind in light of new facts? Number two. Very good. Good for you. How many are still stuck on number one no matter what the Bible says?

I'm staying with number one. It's number two. It really is. Number two. Repent is the word, it's compound word.

It means afterthought. So it's a thinking word. The first word of the kingdom is a thinking word. It's not a feeling word. It's not some, you know, soulish experience.

It is thinking. Thinking. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Did you know your mind had a spirit? Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

It's a thinking word. Thinking. Oh, we gotta think. Yes. As a man thinketh, so he is thinking.

It's a compound word and it's afterthought. So it's not just thinking, it's thinking that comes after. So if you're gonna have thinking that comes after, like there's a lot of people who are still, you know, Montreal Canadiens fans, because they haven't had the revelation yet that Toronto Maple Leaf's fans are blessed. So. But when they get that revelation afterthought, they'll change their minds.

Can I get an amen? That went over really well. But you see, there's a revelation. There's something that happens. And in light of this new thought, in light of this new revelation, I have an opportunity.

And you see, you could repent today. You're. You're in God's presence and God wants to shift things in your life. So repentance isn't a one time act. It's something that we constantly do.

I don't know about you, but how many are thinking different about stuff than you have before? And I mean, I'm always thinking about new things. I'm always thinking about stuff. But repent is afterthought. To think differently afterwards after that is to reconsider a changed mind in light of new evidence.

Because you can't if you don't have new evidence. Why are you repenting? What are you doing over there? Repenting? What are you repenting of?

I don't know. I'm just repenting because we have sometimes in our mind that repentance is how we get God out of heaven. If we repent enough, God will show up. And I don't even know where that comes from. It's not even biblical.

It's just weird. See, in the old covenant. In the old covenant, you had to beg and plead. And you know, if you tried your best to get rid of your sin, you might have got a visitation from God. But we don't live in an old covenant.

We live in a new covenant where we change our minds. Because the level of blessing, the level of God's goodness, the level of the good news is making me reconsider the way I see God and the way you see God. I have to say that with three syllables. Go. The way you see God is the most important thing about you.

And often I've got to realign the way I think about God and the way I think about the ways of God. The Word is the worst, absolute worst translation in the Bible. The word repent. They took metaneo and made it repent. That is just so stupid.

It's the worst translation. And it comes from the word reponatett. And raponitet was a Latin word which meant to be sorry again and to do penance. And you see, the people were so dumbed down by religion, so messed up by religion and so in bondage to, you know, nasty churches that kept on wanting to make you feel miserable and pay your way out of your debt to God. They used that.

So they said, you've got to do something like this. You've got to somehow pay your way out of your evilness. And you've got to do some act to get back into a place of God's favor. Here's the good news. You ready?

God favors you. Stop being stupid and align yourself with that. Did he say stupid? Yes.

See, I aligned myself with the good news. I changed my mind from that rubbish, that reponitet nonsense. And God doesn't want you to be constantly sorry. He came that you might have life. He came that you might have joy.

He came that you might have peace. He didn't come to make a crowd of miserable people.

All right, Mark, chapter one, 14 and 15. Jesus came to Galilee preaching The gospel of the kingdom and saying the time, the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is now. Here. It's right here.

The kingdom of God is now. And in light of those new facts, people are going, what are we going to do now? So in light of those new facts, here's what you do. Repent, change your mind and embrace these wonderful facts and believe the gospel, which is good news. Amen.

So, good news, good news. Three stages of met nail, really quick Revelation, realignment, reassignment, revelation, realignment, reassignment. When you get a new revelation, that revelation calls you to realign yourself with fresh truth. It's not really fresh truth, but it's fresh to you. And so you're going to now align yourself.

You're going to separate yourself from nonsense believing and you're going to align yourself with the truth about God. So you get a revelation, you get new insight information. Can I get an amen? See, many people don't believe in healing because they just don't believe in it. And it takes a long time sometimes to get people off of that because they've gone to places where they taught well, healing is not for today.

And that's not a privilege we have anymore. And the whole church, a lot of the church is crippled and, and, and sick because they don't properly discern the body of Christ and they don't understand the wonderful benefits of the cross. And because in their minds, they don't believe it's possible, it will not happen. So you got to believe that. You got to repent, you got to get your mind realigned and agreeing with the new information.

That's where we get the word confession. The word confession is homologeo, which means to say the same thing. So you have to say the same thing as God says about healing. What does God say about healing? I am the Lord that healeth thee.

Except in 2025. I stopped doing that, you know, 2,000 years ago. I just did a few of them early on just to show that I was God. No, that's rubbish. He's still the Lord that heals you today.

And see, the church has to align their thinking with that. There's many, many things that we are completely misaligned with, but we'll stop with that one revelation, realignment and then reassignment. If you're going to experience that blessing, there does have to be a realignment of your thinking. Amen. Because as a man thinks, look in the mirror and say, what's this guy thinking about?

Because that's what you're getting okay. And what does God want for you? Every wonderful, blessed thing, every good and perfect gift comes from the Father above, the Father of Lights. And there is no shadow of changing. He's never going to stop being the Father of Lights.

And he's never going to stop giving good gifts to his children. Do you believe that?

I don't know. Well, if it be God's will. Well, it is God's will. It is. Repent on that one.

Amen. Clement, early church father in the first century, probably was a contemporary of many of the apostles. He said, since he desires all his beloved to partake of repentance, he established it by his mighty will. He established it.

Irenaeus, he said, repentance is the gift of God's grace whereby we turn from error to truth. Repentance is a gift. Repentance isn't a human work. Repentance isn't something that you do in the flesh to get God to feel happy about you. God always feels happy about you.

Always. There's. Sometimes he says, I'm really happy about you, but you're doing stupid stuff. Come on over here. Let me hug that out of you.

Repentance is a gift. Say it's a gift. It's a gift. It's not some work you perform to get God's blessing in your life. Jesus did all the work.

Jesus did all the heavy lifting. Jesus finished everything at the cross. Jesus gave you absolute access to everything God has. It does not come through effort. It comes because of his grace, through faith alone.

It's not by work. So no one can boast. But people have turned repentance into. It's the work you do to get God to like you again. It's really not.

It's a gift from God. That transformation of your mind, that quickening of your mind to understand and align yourselves with the purpose of God. Even that is a gift from God. Well, I know those two guys would show me Bible. I want Bible for that.

Okay, let's find some Bible. Acts 5, 31. Him God is exalted to his right hand to be the Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. Say give. What does give mean?

It means give. That is the proper translation. Well, that was Israel. Those people, they're special, no? Acts 11, 17 and 18.

If therefore, God gave them the same gift that he gave us. So what's he talking about? He's saying Barnabas goes up to Antioch and he sees this church and he sees a bunch of Gentile people and he sees the Gentiles, the Jews, all together, all experiencing God together. He's going to, wow. I thought this was just a Jewish thing.

I didn't know God loved everybody, although it says it everywhere in the Bible. But he got blown away by this and he said, God gave them the same gift. Say gift. God gave them the same gift he gave us when they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who was I thought I?

Who was I that I could who was I? Who was I that I thought I could withstand God? Then God has also granted to the Gentiles. Repented unto life. Is repentance a gift?

Did you have wiggle room in your heart right there? You were like, yes, repentance is a gift. It's from God, the alignment of your mind with the purposes of God. It's a gift from God Himself. Romans 2:4.

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not realizing God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance. Rodine Williams said, only love, which can't be changed by our behavior, has the power to change our behavior. That's why I come to church, because I'm trying to change my behavior. My wife, you know, keeps complaining about me at home, and I want to be a better man. So I come to church to learn some principles to be a better guy.

So give me a couple principles to obey today, Pastor. Well, that's good advice. Smile at your wife, say good morning. If she says, empty the dishwasher, empty the dishwasher. That's good advice.

But see, if you want to experience a transformation where that's not something you have to be told to do, but it's something you do innately because it's in your heart and your life to do it. It's not something you do because these are the deals I make with my wife. I do this and she does that. But if you really want to become someone who loves your wife, who does it, because serving her is paramount in you, I want to share some good news with you. Come unto Jesus the transforming power, the good news of the gospel.

Let him baptize you and smear you with the Holy Ghost. Let him transform your very nature, and you'll become a partaker of the divine nature of God. And then you won't have to work to serve your family. You will love to serve your family because like Christ, you want to pour your life out for those you love. And this is an effort heart.

This is a joy of being a child of God. I'm just being myself.

Did you guys get the difference in that?

One is woefully yes. I should be nice today. The other is, I can't help myself. Niceness flows out of me unconsciously. I'm constantly demonstrating that I am a child of God.

Was that helpful for one person? Let all the wives say amen. Amen. We'll pick on you next week. But let me read that again.

I want to read that again. I want to read that again. A love which can't be changed by our behavior. A love which can't be changed by our behavior. See, God doesn't love you because he thinks you're special, although he does.

God doesn't love you because you perform certain things as. Ah, now I love you. Look, that was good. Now I love you. God loves you.

God loves you, and his love for you is unchanging.

That's really true. I don't know why that causes people such a head cramp. Have you ever heard of the unconditional love of God? Nothing can change the fact that he loves you. Not even you.

Even when you're not faithful, he is still faithful because he can't deny Himself.

Hallelujah.

The only thing that can really change your behavior is being baptized in a love that doesn't give a rip about your behavior.

Things start to peel off you when you realize you still love me, don't you? Yes. You're never going to leave me, are you? Even if I'm a real dope? No.

Gosh. That will baptize the nonsense right out of you. That love is transformative. Amen. Amen.

Religion exalts behavior and not the Savior. All right. Thank you, Pastor Cheryl. Amen. Your sins may be blotted out.

See, when you repent, you turn to Jesus. Your sins are blotted out. Colossians 2:14. Think of it. All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean.

The old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to the cross. Amen. Folded over, bam. Nail stuck in it. You are free and you are blessed in every single way.

And we talked about that last week, the nailing and the folding over. So hopefully you remember that. Now, look at this picture right here. Look at that picture right there.

You go for a run. I think that's what happens when you go for a run. I haven't gone for a run, but I have feelings.

That's refreshing, right? That's refreshing. You're hot. You're like. And it's been.

We've had a hot summer. It's nice to just. That's Good. Say refreshing. And we got this right here.

Isn't that great? Hey, how many have gone to the spa, had your feet all done and got all the rough edges knocked off and just let somebody, you know, take care of you and do your fingers? And how many have had that? I've never in my life done that.

I'm terrified that I'd be tickled to death. I'd boot the lady in the head.

Sorry. Anyway, anyways, with some people, that's refreshing, right? When you think of, you know what? I just. I just want to get away.

I want to get refreshed and let's book a spa day. Amen. Okay, let's get. Don't touch me. Don't you want a massage?

No, don't touch me. All right, here's another one right here. Here's this one.

I told George, from now on, the backdrops that for worship, I'm going to get my vacation pictures. We're going to put them in the background. Amen. This is. This is one of my vacation pictures.

That is my right toe, and that's me sitting at my favorite beach, the Crane beach in Barbados. I'm going back there again in November, and I just love that beach. But when I am there, all the cares are gone. Rolls off my shoulder. I just feel so awesome.

Refreshing. So times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. And I know his presence is everywhere you are, but when can we get to the place where my refreshing is tied to his presence and not to some external event or something that I'm experiencing physically? When can I get to the place where the very best refreshing in my life is being in his presence? Only a few people in this church know that because they come on Wednesday nights for our encounter meetings.

I don't know where the rest you are, but apparently you're the spa. But, you know, I love just hanging out with other people in the presence of God. And he promised that there would be times of refreshing. God would show up and give us times of refreshing. I'm going to go quickly now.

Can you say quickly? All right. Psalm 42:1 to 2. As the deer pants for the water, so my soul thirsts after you, Lord, when can I go? David was removed from the presence because back in the old covenant, God was in that little box.

And David was like, there's nothing like being in his presence. And David created his own tabernacle where there was no barriers but the temple. Only thing there was the presence of God. And he just gave everybody access to the presence of God. And David longed for the presence of God.

Aren't you glad you live in this place where he's not in a box but he's in you? Are you glad? Wow. Thank you Jesus for that. Acts 3:21.

Jesus, for this time he must be remain in heaven out of sight. Right now, Jesus must remain in heaven out of sight until everything is restored. Restoration. He cannot return until everything is restored. And what?

What Restored. Restored to the right way. Just the right way. God, through the preaching of his prophets, said it would be so. Jesus is kept in heaven until every prophetic word about restoration is fulfilled.

So God wants you to align yourself with him. He wants you to repent. Then he wants you to walk in constant experiences of his refreshing over your life every day. And then here's what else God wants. He wants to restore to you every good thing.

How many wants a restoration? How many think that's good news? That he's going to give me the ability to align myself with his thoughts. He's going to constantly refresh me from his very presence. And then he's going to restore to me everything that's been stolen from me.

That was the message. That's what Peter preached. He preached that message. There's one prophetic word seeks fulfillment as the waters cover the sea, the earth is going to be filled with the glory of the Lord. Jesus must be kept in heaven until the fulfillment of every prophetic word.

That's a prophetic word. Therefore, if Jesus came and that was not realized, the whole cosmos would implode because God didn't honor his own word.

Does anybody believe that? Or you guys all still and bad news. It's going to be a mess. Does anybody got an eschatology? That's good.

Does anybody see a happy ending? Are you people all. Putin's gonna win. It's gonna blow us all up. That sucker.

He's gonna bomb everything. But Jesus is gonna get us out of here just in time. Rubbish. Putin's gonna lose. Not I pray Putin comes to Jesus and I pray whatever's at work in that mine would be broken and shattered in the name of Jesus.

That all of Russia might see the goodness and the glory of God. That all of China might see the goodness and the glory of God. That all of Iran would see the goodness and the glory. That all of Syria would see. That all of Saudi Arabia, that all of Canada would be flooded with the glory of the Lord.

Let me go quickly. Let me go quickly. We are pre wired to expect wholeness. We're pre wired. We Are pre wired to expect when things aren't whole.

It gets twisted when things aren't right. Like our eyesight. When you see something that's not quite right, you go on tilt. Because we are pre wired to expect wholeness. You.

We long for things to be right. We will not settle for less. We will not settle for less than it is. But we're trying to drive into us is an expectation that we should be pioneers in this realm of as it is in heaven. As it is in heaven.

As it is in heaven. As it is in heaven. As it is in heaven. What do you expect, Pastor Call? I expect as it is in heaven, and I believe that's the word of the Lord.

We don't like broken things. Scratch and dense stuff is cheaper because who likes buying scratch and dense stuff? I have bought some because it was a really good deal. Cheryl doesn't like it at all. But I did sneak one in because the dent was in the back.

Don't see it. Okay. If people do buy broken stuff, most often, it's because they want to restore it. They want to. Some people go look for broken down cars so they can restore it and bring it back and make it beautiful, you know?

So we. We love restore shows. Amen. Who loves restore shows? You love watching that HGTV where.

Oh, look. Oh, that's an ugly place. Ooh, look at that kitchen. And then you know what happens after that, honey, we need a new kitchen.

As it is in heaven.

We love it. We love restoration shows. Here's a lovely restoration picture just for you, man. Hey. Ooh.

Wow.

That's pretty amazing restoration. We all love restoration. We all love testimonies, don't you? I love when I go to Teen Challenge and people share their lives with me and I hear the way lives have been devastated and broken by addiction and pain and all these things. You're like, oh, that's an ugly life.

And then you see somebody totally set free, Their life is put back together. And then they tell you, I'm better than I ever was. Who doesn't love when Humpty Dumpty gets put back together again? Amen. That's my wife's term of affection for me.

Humpty Dumpty. Pray for me, Job. Chapter 19, 25, 27. But as for me, I know that my redeemer lives. And he will stand upon the earth.

Alas, after my body is decayed. Yet in my body, I will see God. I'll see him for myself. I'll see him with these my own eyes. I'm Overwhelmed with the thought, Job messed up everything.

Taken from him, destroyed his body, riddled in pain. And what does he say? My redeemer lives. It might be a mess right now, but with my own eyes, even if my body decays, I'm telling you, I will see my redeemer for myself. My redeemer lives.

What do you say? In the face of brokenness, my redeemer lives.

And this was before Moses. This was before Abraham. This was way before. This was someone who believes in a revelation that God is good. And no matter if anything awful has happened to me, he will turn it around.

Because my Redeemer lives. Hallelujah. Settle down. Oh, don't encourage him. He'll preach longer.

Job 42:10. When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before. Who's in the twice as much track right now? Who's in the twice as much track right now?

Well, I deserve what I got, you know. I wasn't a good person.

It's a principle. It's God. It's your Redeemer. He doesn't bless you according to your goodness. He blesses you according to his wonderful purposes and glory.

Hallelujah. He restored. Isaiah 61:7. We read this last week. It said, instead of shame and dishonor, you will enjoy a double share of his honor.

Ye put. You're desperate. You put post it right at the city gates. You put all the problems, all your difficulties say, I'm going to be open. I got stuff going on in my life.

And a benefactor comes by, folds it over and nails it shut and says, I got it all covered and more. You don't just get free from what's going on. Look what it says. Instead of shame and dishonor, you will enjoy a double share of honor. You will possess a double portion of prosperity in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.

Repent. Live in constant refreshing and experience a restoration that comes from God himself. That was good news right there. That was Peter's message that day. That's what he taught the people.

He said, repent. And then, Zachary, I love this. As for you, because of the blood of my covenant, because of the blood of my covenant, I'm going to bring you out of that waterless pit. I'm going to return you to the fortress, you prisoners of hope. Is anybody a prisoner of hope?

I can't help myself. No matter what I am a prisoner. Hope has me nailed down. I can't have any other emotion except hope. Hope your life's a mess.

Hope. Hope it's not going to go good for you. Hope. Hope. I am bound to hope.

It chains me down. It locks me in. I am baptized in hope. All I can do is hope. I have a steady expectation that God is faithful and he'll perform every promise for me.

Jesus, you make me do it. You make me do it. I will restore to you twice as much the Old Testament rule in Exodus 22, if a thief is caught, the compensation is double the value of what was stolen. And see as a new covenant, people, whatever the enemy took from his God won't just bring it back. He'll restore twice as much to you.

And he will restore to you. John 10:10. The thief. Jesus said this. The thief comes, only he comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

But I have come that you might have life, not just a little bit of life, the God kind of life. And you have that life more abundantly bubbling up and overflowing in your life. Amen. All right, we're just about done. The screen says, free the volunteers.

Free the volunteers. Amen. The gospel for the volunteers. Free them. Let my people go.

All right, got another picture for you right here. We're almost there. Say, we're almost there. I say, the service is going so good. I'm loving every moment of it.

Would he please stop?

See that? You see that? That's actually on my finger right here. It's on my finger. It's my dad's ring.

His dad gave it to him when he was 13 years old. My dad's dad passed away at the age of 39, and he gave all the boys, gave them all these rings. And my dad had this ring always on his hand, always like that ring. And when my dad passed away, he gave me the ring, and I've worn that ring. I was driving the car one day, and as I was driving, I was turning the corner, turned this way.

Then I realized that I had a gold ring on my finger, but the stone was gone. And I was like, I got a hole. And I was like, oh, my goodness, what's happened? Funny thing is, is I found the stone later on in a different pair of pants. I found the stone in my pocket, but the K was missing.

And I said, oh, one of these days I'm going to go to a jeweler and get that reset and see if I can.

See if I can get a K restored to that ring. So that was end of last summer somewhere, and I had it set aside in a drawer, and I said, I'm going to take care of that someday. But then, Christmas, my wife, who was legendary for giving poor gifts, so.

I'm only kidding. She gives great gifts, but she always feels like there should be a greater manifestation, like I should have been more excited. And I go, oh, that's awesome, honey. Thank you. She gave me an apple watch.

Oh, thank you. That's really good. She goes, don't you like it? I went, I like it. You don't like it, do you?

I'm like, I like it.

Oh, you don't like it. I'm like, oh, my God. But, you know, this Christmas, I opened a little box, and when I opened it and I saw it looks like jewelry. That's strange. And I opened it, and it was my ring.

And it was all restored, and it was so cleaned up. It was beautiful.

Settle down, settle down. It's enough. We're not here to exalt any person.

You know, I literally, right there, I just. I was broken. I was crushed. I went, oh, my goodness. It looks so beautiful.

Looks so shiny all put together. The cave was restored. This is better than it ever was. I put it on my finger. I said, that was the absolute best.

You're way more precious to him than that.

Says, I hold you in my hand like a royal diadem. When God wants to show off, he shows the world you. He just holds it out and says, look. Look what I've done. And restoration is yours.

Restoration isn't something you have to achieve. It's a gift from God where he wants to turn everything around and bring it back to where it was, but to take it where you never thought it could go. And the good news is, repentance is a gift. Refreshing is a constant promise. And restoration is your inheritance.

And it's not just back to. It's where it could have never, ever dreamed of.