Turn to the book of Revelations, Chapter 6, the book of Revelation, Chapter 6. We're going to let the young folks who are up here in this building today go down to their time together. Thank God for the little ones across the parking lot. Remember if you have a little one across the parking lot, you can still drop them off next Sunday morning.
If you have someone in the nursery, they can be dropped off at that building before you go downtown. All these little ones who just went downstairs, they will go down with us into dairy next Sunday morning. Revelation 6, Verse 9, and when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held. John recording what he saw in the vision when the Lord showed him.
And those souls beneath the altar cried with a loud voice, church hear this, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, does thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? The souls of the martyrs that have been killed for their faith and for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Those souls beneath the altar of God cry out day and night, O Lord, holy and true, how long will it be to you avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given to every one of them.
It was said unto them that they should not rest for a little season. They're crying out, when will you avenge us? And the Lord says to them, Just rest, just rest for a season. And this is what he says, until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled.
What's taking place in heaven, our minds can barely consume, that the souls of the martyred saints. Do you know God said that when Abel was murdered, that his blood cried out, his voice may have been silenced, but his blood cried out. The Bible says, in the saints of the martyred, they cry before the Lord, How long will it be to you avenge us? What a day that will be when my Jesus, I shall see, when we look upon his face, the one who saved us buys grace.
Amen. Church, I'm here today to tell you grace is not an excuse to sin. Grace is what keeps us from sinning. Far too many churches and far too many pastors have twisted grace into a free pass to live, however they want and we want.
Grace doesn't lower the standard, it gives power for us to meet it. Church, we need God, we need Jesus, we need the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the only answer to the world today and we need a bridge of hope. And right here at Harvest Church, we are going to build the bridge of hope right out of this center where we call the sanctuary.
We are going to build a bridge around the world and through this community. We will feed the hungry. We will take care of the widows. We will be there for the children without fathers.
We will look after our young people. We will stand beside each other. We will encourage one another. We will build one another up.
We will stand for the gospel of Jesus Christ. We will build a bridge of hope. Amen. Amen.
Amen. I have labored for 25 years under the calling and the anointing of God in this place. It is now, it is time, it is the season for us to march forward victorious into the land and to take what God has given us. Maybe just maybe Church, we're facing our Jericho moment, just maybe it's time to take the city.
Maybe now, maybe right now is the moment. That's the opportunity. We've shouted that for far too long. It's time for action.
Come on Church. It's time to rise. John chapter 14 verse 1 through 10 is what we will declare to not only our church, our community, but to the world. John 14, 1 through 10.
Jesus said, let not your hearts be troubled. He said, believe in God, believe also in me. For in my Father's house or many mansions, some translations will say, rooms, if it were not so, I love this about Jesus. He said, if this were not so, why?
Because he's truth. He's not a man, but he would lie. He said, if this was not true, I would not have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. He said, I tell you this because it's true.
Verse 3, and if I go and I prepare a place for you, Jesus says, I will come again and I will take you up to myself. I'm reading to you out of the Americans, they're the English standard version today. The where I am, he said, you may be also Church, how many of you long for that day? How many of you long for that day?
When he says, come home, come home, come home, and he reaches out his arms and he embraces us and we see him face to face for the very first time, we see him face to face. Oh, Jesus, he said, I'm going to prepare a place for you and I'll come again one day. And where I am, there you may also be, Church, that's reason to rejoice, that's reason to celebrate. Get out of your old grumpy attitude and realize this is the day that the Lord has made, it's not about what you don't have, it's not about what you want, it's about the kingdom of God, it's time to rise up and be the Church in the light of the world, amen?
Come on, we all got wants, we all got needs. Say, well, I'm too shy and I don't want to go talk to other people and I've been picked on in my life. Get over yourself. Rise up.
I'm here for who in this place hasn't been picked on at some point in your life, who hasn't been made fun of at some point in your life. It's time for us as the children, the born against Spirit, filled blood, church, or the Lord Jesus Christ to rise up because it's no longer I to live in church, but it is Christ to live within me. Hallelujah, which is the hope of glory and that's you too, that's you too, that same spirit that raised up grace from the dead now dwells in us. I got to tell you, I don't know why anybody wouldn't want to be in this church.
This is a Bible believing gospel preaching Church and we don't care who don't like it. We will preach the Word of God and the gospel and the love of Jesus Christ because we know we want to prepare a place and He's coming again and I don't know about you, but my heart Christ come quickly, Lord Jesus. Verse four, and you know the way to where I'm going and Thomas speaks up. Here's a lot of Thomas's today in our society and Thomas speaks up and he says, Lord, they walked with him for three years.
Thomas, Lord, we don't know where you're going and how can we know the way? And Jesus said to him, come over here, you're doing bad. Come here, you're not in the skull. Come over here for a second.
I didn't say that to him. Jesus said to him, Thomas, I am the way and the truth and the life. He said, no one comes to the Father except through me. There is no other bridge.
There is no other hope. There is no other life. There is no other salvation outside of Jesus Christ. I don't care what the internet tells you.
I don't care what the new age movements tell you. I don't care what the culture tells you. I don't care what social media tells you. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life.
He declared it. It is absolute truth. Absolute truth. And he said in verse 7, if you had known me, listen to what he said, if you had known me, in other words he said, you don't know me.
Thomas walked with him and didn't know him. Sure, how many are gathering in buildings like this today? But don't know him. Thomas walked with him for three years.
He sat with him. He ate with him. He was close to him. He heard things that no one else heard.
And Thomas said, we don't know the way. Oh my goodness. And Jesus had you known me, which indicates Thomas didn't know him. Had you known me, you would have known my Father also.
So from now on you do know him and have seen him. Philip said in verse 8, Lord show us the Father. And it'll be enough for us. Isn't that like I'll show me?
We live in a show me world, don't we? Well, you show me. You prove it to me. I know what he's done for me.
He healed my body. He changed my mind. He saved me at 12 years just in time. He anointed me and called me to preach his word.
Well, he could have picked a lot better vessels than this one, but God only knows. I trust God. And I believe God from that age. I didn't know how it would happen.
I didn't know what he was going to ask me to do. But I have lived my life. And this precious woman sitting over here has lived the last 40 years alongside of me. God help her.
God help her. Because she hears the cries in the late night hours. She sees the restlessness of a soul crying out for people. She sees the brokenness of a pastor at times who just can't understand why.
I said, God, don't let me be angry when I see empty chairs on Sunday. Because I knew I'd see empty chairs. I said, God, don't let me be angry. I don't want to be angry.
You didn't call me to be angry. You called me to be a light. Help my frustration. Sometimes I feel like Noah with a hammer in my hand and I'm crying out, come, come to the altar.
Because it's all about the change in a moment. And if you don't believe that, you must have a reprobate mind. I'm serious. James, that's what is your life.
But it is about a vaporist here for a moment in Vanish of the way. And that could be you or I. Any one of us, our life could be required of us in a moment that a 31 year old man on a stage and an assassin's bullet with his beautiful wife standing there watching. And his young daughter in fear ran to him when she saw the chaos.
31 year, you think he thought he had died at 31? No, no. But he did. What is your life?
Come on, church. Is it just about your job? Is it about your 401k? Is it about your savings account?
Is it about what you want to amass? And there's nothing wrong with any of those things if they're in the right place. But we are called to be the children ambassadors of the most I got to build the kingdom of God. To take as many souls with us as we can.
And Starlie's precious wife said he wanted to make heaven crowded. First time I ever heard that, my son-in-law told me that. We got to make heaven crowded. Do you know there's some Christians today who don't want to make heaven crowded because they want their space.
You know the enemy is so lying deceived us that we are not even social people anymore. We're social networks. We're not social people. Remember, I told you that.
We're good at talking to people like this. But we're not good at putting our arms around them and hugging them anymore. We're not good at listening to one another anymore. We're not good at talking to one another anymore.
We live in Haitfield streets. Haitfield society. Or if you disagree with me, I'll kill you. You disagree with me.
I'll hate you. There are some people that just won't agree with you. And there are some people that you won't agree with them. But you just move on.
That's what Jesus said. Jesus said if they don't receive the message you move on. As Mrs. Lyons would tell you, you zip it, you lock it and you put it in your pocket and you walk away, right?
You zip it, you lock it, you put it in your pocket. You don't have to fight. You don't have to get into altercations. You zip it, you lock it and you move on.
This world is on a destination course. And it's not good for the world. It's phenomenal for the church. Come on.
Phillips speaks up and says, well, why don't you show us the Father? Verse 9, Jesus says to him, get over here, you numb skull. No, he didn't say that. We would say things like that, wouldn't we?
Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and you still don't know me? You know, it's sad to say, but most times we don't know what we have until it's gone. You know, most pastors think, or most churches think that the ones who stand behind these pulpits are interchangeable. If this one leaves, we'll just get another one.
If we don't like this one, we'll just get another one. God calls God appoints and God anoints. The people that God has placed in your life, He's placed them there for a reason. And if they're rubbing you like the roughest grade of sandpaper, He put them in your life for a reason.
Everything there's a season, amen? Sometimes the seasons will go and you just walk away from that relationship or that person. But ours is called to be ambassadors, which means we represent. How long have I been with you, Philip?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say show us the Father? 10, He said, do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak of my own authority.
What do I understand that? I don't stand up here any week under my eye. And nobody will know my heart greater than that than my wife. I tremble at the Father standing before you on Wednesdays or Sundays or any other given opportunity of the high calling of the mission of the gospel of Jesus Christ of Proclaimate to the church.
That's an incredible, awesome responsibility. And I do not take that lightly. I do not take that lightly to speak His authority. If it ever became about my authority, it would be time for me to leave.
I am telling you that. If it ever became about my authority or my personality, oh, he just wants to rule now. No. It is God's calling.
It is God's anointing. It is God's authority. Amen. He said, I do not speak of my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me.
Oh, you do not know how many times I would like to speak of my own authority? Because I can think of thought and I could say some things. How about you? How about you?
How many of you have ever just wanted to say something but wisdom prevailed? Not many. Right? How many have wanted to say something but wisdom prevailed?
And you held your peace, right? You held your peace. Oh, Jesus. I give fire emojis to text it to me when I am preaching from the young people.
They text me fire emojis. Church, we live in a world that is searching. Searching for meaning. Searching for peace.
Many are searching for hope. We look around and we see brokenness everywhere. Broken families. Broken trust.
Broken communities. Broken dreams. Church, let me ask you this question. Have you ever stood at a church?
Church, let me ask you this question. Have you ever stood on one side of a creek or a gap or something and you needed to get to the other end? If you've ever walked out this side door over here and the steps are missing now, you know what I'm talking about. How are you going to get to the sidewalk, right?
Have you ever been on one side of a river and wanted to get to the other side? Have you ever been on one side of a highway and needed to cross over to the other side but you didn't see any way to do it? As my dad was aging after his second stroke, he was driving in a parking lot in Florida and he was driving around because he was not able to pull in and navigate how to get out the exit of the parking lot. You're not frustrating that was.
Someone who was a professional driver all his life and he couldn't comprehend how to get the car out of the parking lot. And bless his heart when he did. He went down the wrong way in a four lane highway. This is a true story.
And my mother, like every good woman, screaming and telling how stupid he is punching him in the arm, he does the only thing he knows to do. He veers down into the medium and pulls up over the other side to get on the right side of the. And I saw a picture of an electric Uber car the other day in a city. It was in a parking lot and the person got in there was no driver.
It was just a car. And that car drove around that parking lot. And the person is on their phone. How do we get out of our house and stop?
I'm getting motion sick. I ran around the parking lot. I can't get the car to stop. I can't get it to leave the parking lot.
What do we do? Have you ever just felt like you were in a situation that you couldn't get to the other side? Come on church. Let's be real with each other this morning.
Life can feel like that sometimes. We see peace and joy and hope on the other side. But in between seems to be this incredible gap and how do we get to that other side? But I've got good news for you here today.
Jesus is the bridge. He is the bridge. He is the bridge. He bridges the gap between us and God.
If I wanted to walk today and this was just glass and razor blades or if it was a venomous snakes and I needed to get over to that other row, how would I do it? I need a bridge. What's the intent of a bridge? It's to walk on.
It's to step on, right? Without that bridge, I could base sudden death or destruction because of whatever lied between me and here. Have you ever felt that way? You're stuck somewhere between here and there and you can't seem to get from here to there.
And it's frustrating. Jesus is the bridge, the gaps that goes over the gap between us and God. The Bible tells us that sin separates us from God. It's like a deep canyon.
And God's on one side and we seem to be on the other side. No amount of good works or effort can get us to cross. But that's why Jesus came to die on the cross. His cross became the bridge.
And that's why He said, I am the way. I am the truth and I am the life. We need to get to those without any hope. Come on, Nathan, Justin, come up here for a second.
Nathan, Justin, come here for a second. I need to get to these people over here and I have no way of getting them. Will you build me a bridge? No, no, no.
I want you to grab chairs and build me a bridge. Well, I know they were all like, here's our moment. Hey, hey, flexing and stuff. Come on, build me a bridge.
Build me a bridge because I got to get to the people. The only way I can get to the people is build me a bridge. Take away from me to get to them. Help me get to them.
You know, these guys are pretty smart. Do you see what they did? They didn't leave me away to fall off. You see what they did?
These guys are smart. Can I tell you today, church or bridges? Use lists unless you do this. And I know some of you are going to be like, oh, Lord, He stepped on a chair.
And He didn't even take all his shoes. They're laced high. It would take forever. We can dust these off.
Your life is more important than that chair. See, for me to get to you, I had to be able to step off of there. You know, it's 62. You run across those chairs and not think anything.
I stepped on that first one. I thought, you don't feel that cushioning when I sit on it. It's funny, when you're younger, you don't think nothing. You get a little bit older.
You start thinking, hmm, do I break my neck in front of everybody this morning for an illustration? But a bridge can be in front of you all day long, but unless you're willing to step out on that bridge. And I didn't balance either. See, I put one hand in the pocket.
If you're not willing to step out on the bridge, I can't get to you. But because of a bridge, I'm able to get to you today to bring to you a message of hope, of truth, of the gospel, of Jesus Christ. But unless you're willing to step out on the bridge, the bridge is useless. This thing could sit here day after day, week after week, month after month.
But if I wasn't ever willing to step out on it, I'd never make my way back to you. He's the bridge. The only bridge. He said, I am the way.
He's not one of many bridges. Pittsburgh has many bridges, isn't it beautiful? Huh? In the city, beautiful.
And you see those bridges. It's a remarkable sight, especially when it's just getting dark and the lights are all coming on. He's not one of many bridges. He's the only bridge.
He's who the world is rejecting. Don't need your bridge. I'm self-sufficient. I got a good job.
I make good money. You know what? Can I tell you something? The ground's level at the cross.
He don't go, let me see your bank account statement at the cross. He doesn't say, ooh, engineer. Oh, janitor. I don't know.
Janitor is over here. Engineer is over here. No. No.
He just may say to the engineer, he could just sit back for a second. I got a friend coming up. That was a janitor. Yeah, but he's called by my name.
Here's a rope of righteousness. Come on, church. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
They'll be sitting here all week. Come back, get them now. Or we don't do it now. They'll be sitting there all week long.
Then I'll go put them back. Oh, yeah. Henry will put them back. That's right.
Henry will put them back. Henry, you see that? You can thank me afterwards. Thank you, gentlemen.
I just wanted to give them one more opportunity to flex in front of all you people. 2 Peter, chapter 3. Do not overlook this one fact, beloved. That the Lord, one day, that the Lord, with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day.
In other words, to God, a year is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day. In other words, our time frame. How old was Charlie Kirk and God's eyes? You don't know.
Because the day is as a thousand years, he could have been a thirty-one thousand years old. If that's a literal statement and a day is a thousand years, Charlie could have been thirty-one thousand years old in God's eyes. Let that blow your mind for a second. Isn't that what your Bible says?
A day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day? If that's literal, we try to put dates and time frames on everything and we lose sight of some powerful things at times. Verse 9. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some would count slowness.
If a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day, we say Jesus went to Calvory some thousand years ago and the church cries out, why are you waiting so long? If a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day, do you know Calvory could have been? It's really not that long, is it? We don't always understand God's ways.
The Bible tells us that. Ours is to do what he's called us to do and not worry about the rest. Amen? We are called to be faithful.
We're called to be faithful. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some would say he is, but he's patient toward us. We're wishing that any of us would perish, but that each of us would come to repentance. He doesn't want us to perish.
He wants us to come to him. He wants us to follow him. Amen? Romans 8, really?
Chapter 8. Romans, chapter 8. And verse, you know, sometimes when you copy and paste, I don't know why it does that. But Romans 8, verse 1, Romans chapter 8, verse 5 through 9.
And I have to copy and paste because I got to blow it up so I can see it, you know? I can see it. Nice, large. Look at my large letters.
I got that little fine print. I've got what's called extended print. Romans chapter 8, verse 5 through 9. The English standard version, it says this verse 5.
Ready? For those who live according to the flesh, they set their minds, come on, we're shifting to the back to the platform. For those who live according to the flesh, they set their minds on the things of the flesh. They set their minds on things of the flesh.
We got anybody here today that set their minds on things of flesh? I hope not. You know what? I want us to do that upbeat.
There's power in the blood again. Can we do that? Can we do that? I know we got to speak the name of Jesus.
And if we have time, we can do that too. But I want to do that. I want to do that. How many thankful for the blood today?
How many thankful for the blood? For those who live according to the flesh, they set their minds on things of the flesh. But those who live according to the spirit, they set their minds on the things of the spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh.
Listen, your Bible says it's death. But to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. Verse 7, for the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile toward God. Hostile toward God.
For it does not submit to God's law. Think about the events of this past week. Indeed, it cannot. It's at enmity.
It's at opposition. Let me give you a very strong military term. It's at war. The natural mind, the fleshly mind, an unregenerated mind, an unrighteous mind.
It's a war with God. It gets angered at the truth. It gets angered at the truth. Nothing makes somebody more angry than when they know they're wrong, but they don't want to be right because they accept the lie.
Nothing changes, my wife always says unless something changes. We need God to change our minds. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile toward God. It does not submit.
It does not obey to God's law. It cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, you, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.
How many can say praise the Lord? Hallelujah. Glory to God. You are not in the flesh, but you are in the spirit.
God's spirit dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. God bridges the gap. And he brings hope to the hopeless.
Amen. He brings hope to the hopeless. Help to the helpless. What a mighty God he is.
What a mighty God he is. If the Lord carries, how many you want to do something powerful for the kingdom? How many do something great for the kingdom? So if you want to be part of the army, if you want to be part of the commission of God, I'm going to ask you to stand right now.
I'm going to ask you to stand right now. Father in the mighty name of Jesus, we stand in your presence today as the children of the Most High God. We love you for who you are. We thank you today for bringing salvation to us.
We thank you for saving us. We thank you for cleansing us. We thank you for washing us. We thank you for making us whole.
There are many things in this life that we don't understand. I confess that to you all the time. Lord, there are just things I don't understand. There are things I don't get.
But I've learned I just trust you. I trust your heart. I don't need to get it all. I don't need to understand it all.
I just need to trust you. And I pray that over this household of faith today that we could come to a place where we just abandon the Lee trust you. We say God, we don't need all the answers. We don't need to figure it all out.
We don't have to have it all mapped out in front of us. All we need to do is trust you. Believe you. Love you.
Serve you. Commit our hearts to you. God, you'll lead us. God, that's your truth.
Christ, and so about today as we stand before you as a children and your children, we ask you, Father, use us. Send us. May it all be for your glory and for your honor. The gifts, the talents, the abilities that you've blessed us with.
We lay them before you're thrown today. We lay them before you're thrown today. They're not for our pride. They're not for our ego.
Lord, they're for your glory. Every gift, every talent, every ability that you have blessed us with. And Lord, the ones that you're bringing into this place. Lord, I believe you said it from the North, Southeast, and West.
You are about to begin to bring in from the north, the South, and the East and the West. talents, abilities, and resources. Father, that we would lay them all before your throne, and that we would humbly walk before you. God, that none of us would pridefully walk before you, but God that we would humbly walk before you, because you are God, and we are just your servants, we're your children, and we love you with everything that is within our hearts.
God, use us today. Why not here? Why not now? Why not, Derry, Pennsylvania?
God, blow the minds of those in these communities. Do something so big. Do something so big, Lord, that no man, no worship team, no one could receive the glory and honor but you, because you are worthy of it, Lord. You are worthy.
Oh, we bless you, we bless you, we bless you. We celebrate you. Be with those who mourn today. Be with those who are brokenhearted today.
Comfort them, strengthen them. Cause them to stand strong in the face of their adversities. Guard them up with your precious wings, Father. Hold them in the hollow of your hand.
May they be strengthened by your throne. Oh, God, we bless you. We worship you. The army must go forward.
Help us to take the land for the glory of the kingdom of God. May righteousness abound. In this community, our surrounding communities, our county, may righteousness abound. May we as the church stop worrying about entertaining people and present them with a gospel of Jesus Christ, the power of your resurrection.
How great you are. Bless these folks, Father. Bless the rising and their sitting. Bless their coming and their going.
Whatever their hands may touch, wherever their feet may trod. Father, I pray we'll be blessed of you. Strengthen their hearts and their minds today. Comfort them and give them rest as we leave this place today free from our burdens of sin.
Because of the power in the blood. Amen.