Harry Pitts defines a champion as someone who defeats rivals and advocates for a cause, with Jesus as the ultimate example. He argues that humility and daily Scripture study are the two foundational steps for believers to become champions, citing Solomon and King Hezekiah as models of humble leadership.
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It's so wonderful to know that the scripture really is true. They who keep their minds on him have perfect peace. Amen. There are some people in the insane asylum because of the stress, or worry, tension, hopelessness, running from the IRS auditor. Running from long shorts. Thank you. But the children of God, those who keep their hope in him, we have perfect peace. Amen. I'm not worried about the long short coming to my house with a shotgun in my face. Praise God. My Lord supplies my needs. Amen. The word is true. That's right. When he said that it is God only who has made me rich and no one else. Amen. Amen. We don't owe no one nothing but to love them, as the scripture says. Amen. Thank God. I want to thank God for our pastors, Pastor Harry and Pastor Tracy Pitts, for allowing and affording me by the Holy Spirit to be able to be used by the Holy Spirit And this particular moment for this season. Amen. To share a word. Praise God. This is very simple. The message is extremely simple, extremely foundational. We're going to get right into it because there's a few things to cover, and we're going to let it go smoothly each week. By the grace of God, I'll be trying to take at least 2 points if I can to bring this Message across. The name of the message is "Release the Champion Inside." Amen. Release the champion inside. And we can easily say that because God said in Jeremiah, He knows the plans He has for us. Amen. For an expected end, not something bad. Not to live in a double-wide mobile home somewhere that's praise God we hear gunshots at night. Nah, not mangy dogs running up and down the street. Nah, that's not God said I don't want that for my children. He knows the plans he has for us—a good expected end. Amen. The Oxford languages. Defines champion as 2 points that I want to bring out. The first point, a person who has defeated or surpassed all rivals in competition. Let me go over that again. The first point of the definition by Oxford Languages for the word champion is a person who has defeated Or surpassed all rivals in competition. Oh my goodness. Number 2. Yeah. A person who fights or argues for a cause or on behalf of someone else. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I think King Jesus meet all those definition points right there real quick. Amen. Praise God. I think Jesus checked all the boxes. Amen. Amen. And we can back this up with scripture because in this church our pastors require that the word of God be proven. Amen. To not go astray to our own philosophies or ideologies. Amen. Because those ideologies and philosophies are not going to get me around the corner. I'll be knocked upside the head with something that I can't handle. And God say, how is it working, Kelvin? I think you needed me all along. Yes. After I get up from the ground, dusting myself off, I say, yes, Lord, I think I needed you all along. That was my mistake. Amen. Romans 8:37, chapter 8, verse 37, in the King James Version, it says, by putting this into a nutshell concerning champion. Nay, in all things, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Romans 8:37. Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Amen. Amen. Praise God. I think that knocks Russell Crowe out of the picture with Gladiator. Amen. Praise God. Russell Crowe was doing bad on the screen, but he hadn't had nothing on more than a conqueror. Amen. Praise God. Hallelujah. Tell Russell Crowe he can retire right now. Amen. Over the next 4 Sundays, with the Lord's will, I will be teaching with the leading of the Holy Spirit practical steps to release the champion inside. Yes. We're going to go over 2 or more points per Sunday to get a good and thorough grasp of this lesson plan. Amen. Come on. Today we're looking at 2 fundamental steps to build upon this topic. Yes. The first A point is humility. Lord have mercy. Oh my goodness. Very practical, not deep. You don't have to go to the ocean and dive down 1,000 feet and come back and say you got the revelation. Nah, just the word humility. Amen. Point B, study the word of God daily. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Let's get into this thing. Let's delve into it. The first step is to— the first step to progress in our lives is unfortunately, and I hate to say it, unfortunately for many of us is the hardest to do. Sometimes for us men. Amen. I have to say it myself. Amen. The Lord has had to help me to go through some things to break this shell. Amen. To take away that prideful heart. Amen. As once again, like God may say, "How is it working, Kevin?" It's not working, God. Praise God. I think you need to do it my way, son. I say I agree. The first step, unfortunately, we have to admit. That we are wrong or going down the wrong path. That's too hard for too many men to do, amen? Lord have mercy. Wife trying to tell them don't keep spending the rent money on those lottery tickets. That's an unauthorized tax right there. The government just making more money. They don't have to use income tax. You just put the lottery tickets out there. Hallelujah. The government said they're going to get that money one way or the other. You just going along with the plan to make yourself broke. And then we don't have any rent money. The baby needs formula. Praise God. You say, but this number is going to do it. Nah, the last number didn't do it. Amen. We have to admit that we're wrong, going down the wrong path. Amen. That takes humility. That's right. This can hurt our pride or make us feel embarrassed before a group of people. That is exactly what the enemy Satan wants, us to get trapped in that thought process to keep us from going forward in life. But the more we practice admitting that we need God's help And that from other people who know what we're trying to learn. Yes. The faster we can adopt this new mindset that is well-meaning for us, the teachers from people who are well-meaning and mature and who are not bent on purposely bringing us to humiliation before others. Amen. Amen. Praise God. Those are the people that we ought to avoid. Those people who, when we want to come to them to ask for help or to ask for some— something that they have knowledge on, but they want to publicly humiliate. That's an immature child. That's a brat. That's a fool in disguise. Amen. Praise God. Let us examine a few scriptures that will show us the benefits of walking in humility. Let's go to Matthew 13, verse 12. Amen. Amen. Matthew 13, verse 12. Get there myself. I believe everyone is there. Amen. Amen. Out of the ESV version, English Standard Version, for the one who has more will be given and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has, has not Let me see if I'm getting that correctly. That's right. 23— I'm sorry, 23, verse 12. Matthew 23, verse 12. My, my problem. Sorry about that. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself Will be exalted. Wow. This is one of the greatest steps. It's foundational. It's just like standing in front of a water hose at your yard or whatnot, and someone turning the water in your direction. What's gonna happen? You're gonna get wet. That's right. That's just the law of physics. The water's coming your way, you're gonna get wet if you stand in there. Well, that's as sure as it is with God in getting us That first step towards becoming a champion, to humble ourselves. Yes. In humbling ourselves, God's like saying, you're getting yourself out of the way and letting me do the work. James chapter 4, verse 10. James chapter 4, verse 10. Verse 10. There we go again. Out of the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses. Everyone there? Amen. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. That is a solid law. Praise God. Amen. Because the one who has created us knows us better than us. It's like the manufacturer of Toyota. They know what kind of oil needs to go in a Toyota. If we try to put something in there that other than it recommends, we're going to see smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe and we're going to have the state patrol pulling us over. Yeah. Looking like an idiot. When he pulls us over and says, son, what, what are you doing? What's this white cloud of smoke coming out of the tailpipe? Well, I tried to put in some cheap oil from so-and-so, from Dollar General's. Is that what the owner's manual said, son? No, it said this right here. Well, do it the owner's manual's way. They the one that made the car. Praise God. It's simple as that. Amen. Was God's like saying, "Hey, I'm the one who made you. Your opinion doesn't weigh as much as mine. I know what I'm doing. I know what's best for you because I love you. I have your best intention at heart." Amen. Let's look at a great example with this. First Kings chapter three. We're about to go into a very good example. First Kings. We want to give scripture, but we want to give good examples. Amen. First Kings chapter three, starting at verse three. When you get there, say amen. Amen. First Kings chapter three. Starting at verse 3, and it reads this way out of the English Standard Version, ESV. Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father. Only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. Verse 4: And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, ask what I shall give you. And Solomon said, you have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David, my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness. In righteousness and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him his— this great and steadfast love. Yes. And have given him a son to sit on his throne. Verse 7, and now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father. Although I am but a little child, there's the key point. That's right. Do you see the humility? Yes. Here's a king of a great nation. Wow. He's saying, "I don't have it all together. God, I need to turn to you." Wow. I'm but a little child. Wow. I have. I was born with riches. Born into wealth, but compared to your surpassing greatness, your surpassing wisdom, your surpassing knowledge, I am nothing. I'm but a little child. I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant in the midst of your people, whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for a multitude. This is a lot of people, my friends. Praise God. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil. Solomon is asking the basics. God, I want to treat them fairly. When they come to me with issues and problems and whatnot, I want to be able to help them in a right way, in a fair way. I need that understanding and discerning heart. Solomon has the heart of the people at heart. Praise God. Praise God. Understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for Who is able to govern this great, your great people? It pleased the Lord that Solomon had added this. Lord have mercy. So God is about what? Loving the people. Because Solomon, who had tremendous wealth, he wasn't asking for more wealth. He wasn't asking for the death of his enemies and whatnot. He said, Lord, help me To lead my people correctly, with fairness. When they come to me with issues, I want to be able to do it right, to give them a right and good answer. And it's like the Lord said, "Hey, that's what I've been looking for—a man that loves the people, that's willing to talk to the people, to help the people." To show love and kindness and fairness to the people. Yes. Verse 10, it pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him, because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right Behold. Behold. I now do according to your word. Behold, I will give— I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you, and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked for, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you all your days. And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days. My Lord. God says my basics is that I want you to have a heart that loves the people. My Lord as well as my Savior. That's what changes people. Yes. Amen. When someone sees the genuine love in the leader's heart, that gets their attention. Yes. They forget about the sparkling diamonds. They forget about the size of the house or what they're driving in, in the driveway or whatever. They just want to see love. When they see that love, they're willing to what? Trust. They're willing to come forward with the issues and whatnot. Pastor, I need prayer for this. I need prayer for that because they see that sense of trust. Because why? They see that love that the pastor has for the people. Amen. Praise God. Our second step is to study the Word of God daily. Amen. Praise God. This step may seem small or unimportant, but it is gigantic. Yes. Let me repeat that again. It is gigantic in its influence in our lives as it relates to what direction we will be going in. You see, what we give attention to the most becomes our path we create to walk towards that particular destiny, whether good or bad. Let's use an example. Praise God. Amen. If a person follows rock and roll 5 to 10, 5 to 8 hours a day, which there are some people that do that, amen. You go to some people's homes, I've seen it on television, some teenagers may have nothing but pictures and posters of Michael Jackson on their ceiling, on the walls, the bedroom spread, there's Michael Jackson pictures on it. They can tell you every lyric of every song on his Thriller album or something to that effect right there. They become an expert in because that's all they're listening to. That's training the mind. And what direction is that person going to be going to? Michael Jackson, that kind of music. Whatever he did is what I want to do. We have just a famous artist just to die a few months ago who, uh, was called the Prince of Darkness. Yes. Black Sabbath. Millions around the world followed this man. Millions. That's right. If he did not have it right with God when he died, He wished a million times he had given back that title, the Prince of Darkness. Do I get an amen? Asking Satan, where's the cool section at? Come on, Travis, you know I had to go there. Couldn't resist it, my man. It was just sitting there, my friend. Yes, yes. Had to take advantage of it. Amen. So being called the Prince of Darkness, Satan said, nah, I think that's my name, brother. You're gonna sit over here where it's hotter than taking my name like that. This step may seem to be small and important, but it's gigantic. They will become experts in that genre of music category. Think of the Grateful Dead. They had Deadheads. Yes. People that was pilgrims. Anywhere that the leaders in this band of the Grateful Dead moved, where they went to for the concerts, there was a pilgrim of people. I remember seeing a documentary on it that followed them everywhere they went. Everywhere, deadheads. Praise God! But they may not see the need of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ in a born-again experience. So these people, by allowing the wrong influence. to come in their mind, just training their brain and their emotion, their soul to follow this particular path. If it does not lead towards coming to Christ, it's a deadly situation. It is. There's a term in, uh, usually given in Proverbs to talk about hardening of the heart. And that's what this comes to. The more a person who is given the opportunity to talk, to listen to in the beginning of the stages of their life about coming to Christ, and they keep saying no to those invitations to Christ, it becomes easier and easier. Amen. To keep saying no. Yes. Wow. Right here, when they first begin hearing someone talking about come to Christ, a little bit more easy. You may have a decision whether to think about coming to Christ or to not. But as you keep distancing yourself, distancing yourself from that invitation that God keeps sending you, it's hardening your heart more and more and more. That's right. So then when that message continues to come, the older you get, as you keep saying no, it's harder to come to Christ. Yes. That's true. Amen. And what happens? You potentially, unfortunately, may miss it. That's right. And be lost forever. Amen. Amen. That is a deadly mistake, my friends. Once again, let's look at some verses to help prove the need for studying the Bible regularly. Joshua 1:8, let's go there. In the Old Testament, Joshua chapter 1, verse 8 is very familiar, but it bears to be spoken here again. Amen. Amen. Amen. When you get there, say amen. Amen. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate— utter, or to speak— meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written, written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Now remember the example we said earlier about Toyota is the manufacturer of their car products? Yes. They know what's best for it. Well, God is like saying there's so many distractions of different courses of life that you can take. That God's like saying, "I'm trying my best to get your attention, to rewire your brain thinking." I know that if you get on the wrong course of thinking of this course or that course that brings you away from me, it's going to be hard to bring you back because God gave us one power. I've said it before, and I'm going to keep saying it. That God gave us one power that he refuses to touch, the power of choice. He refuses to touch it. Oh my goodness. We're— no one is a robot. 2 of my best examples that no one is a robot is Satan first. If Satan was a robot, he wouldn't have fell to hell. He would still be over the cherubim in heaven. Still be over praise and worship. But he made the decision. It was his choice to want to be like God, to want to take God off the throne and put himself there. Then he convinced a third of the angels to follow him. As I said so many times before, when Satan convinced those third of the angels to follow him, And they were kicked out of heaven like lightning, fast as lightning. When they got up off the floor and they looked towards Satan, they said, any more bright ideas, General? Praise God. What do we do next? How did that work? You got me down here thinking that we're going to be Have things great and glorious in heaven under your leadership. Now we're in this dark abyss for the rest of our life. Praise God! Deuteronomy 17, verse 18. Praise God! Moving right along. Deuteronomy chapter 17, verse 18. It is so very important. To understand what we're just saying here, God is trying to rewire our brain, and this is the good part. We've said this word, a general cliché, but in the wrong way for so many years. But if we use it correctly, as it stands right now for this text, for this message, we can understand. Deuteronomy chapter seventeen, verse eighteen. Brainwashing. Oh, Jesus. God is trying to wash the trash out of our mind by getting in the word, by studying the word. It helps rewire us to a path where God says, all right, I got your attention now. You're doing away with the distractions of those other thoughts that go around those paths and whatnot. Because they can lead you to a path of destruction. Because the scripture says there is a way that seemeth— what? Right to a man. But what the end thereof— Lord have mercy— is destruction. That's why we need God. Unfortunately, we just had an entertainer to be an example of that right now. Yes, sir. Who just got sentenced Friday. Yes, sir. There was a path that seemeth right to this entertainer, worth anywhere from $800— a net worth of anywhere from $800 to a billion dollars. He was on a path in his own mind that seemeth right unto him. Little did he know he was running into a wall at 100 miles an hour. A collision course, guaranteed. Yes. And you have this man underneath the— in this past, uh, summer when he was found guilty, or about to be found guilty, underneath the table like a— in a crouched child position. This multi-multi-millionaire, a Gulfstream jet. Yeah. My friends, Gulfstream is no cheap airplane. Headquartered in Savannah, Georgia. As a shell, to give you an example, and we have time, as a shell, if you think about having a van, having a cleaning service for carpets and whatnot, you would have a van, 2 seats, one for the driver and one for your helper, the person that's helping you. In the back, there's nothing back there. No floor, no carpet, no nothing, just metal. That's a shell. Well, at Gulfstream, they sell their airplanes, the jets, as a shell like that. Just the cockpit is ready, but in the back, there's nothing there. Wow. You gotta spend, I mean, $5 or $10 million more just for— to put the furnishings and put the things in there that you want. On top, a Gulfstream 700 may be $67 to $70 million empty. Oh my goodness. Empty. Wow. You gotta spend, like I said, $5 to $10 million more dollars just to furnish it. Put the plan in there that you want, and they have interior direct designers at Gulfstream to help choose that for you. They just said, don't let the check bounce. Praise God. We're here to serve you, sir. Yeah. They take the check and give it to Marty and say, see if the check will clear, Marty. We're about to make some more money. This is what this entertainer had. A Gulfstream, a major mansion in Los Angeles, a major mansion in Miami at Star Island. Millions among millions of dollars, crying like a baby, like a child, humiliated, shamed. What did God say? God is not mocked. You heeded none of my counsel. I tried to warn you over and over again to come my way. Yes. You laughed at my counsel, laughed at the people I used to, to tell you to do it the right way, to come to me. And now you laugh at your own laurels. You're subject to your own decay. A multimillionaire crying underneath the table in the courtroom. Lord have mercy. It's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of a living God, my Lord as well as my Savior. We're about to get some examples here. Deuteronomy 17, verse 18. This is talking about the kings who come before Israel. This is what they're supposed to do. This is the governing thing that they were supposed to do. And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom— this, this means any new king that comes to— that sits on the throne in Israel— Yes. He shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law. approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it in all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers. Amen. And that he may not turn aside from the commandment either to the right Or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, and he, he and his children in Israel. Now, we don't have time. I'm just going to use one example because, um, trying to get with the time sequence here. We don't have time to go over every king of Israel and Judah, but those kings who followed this sound advice to stay studying God's word They prospered out of their mind. Those kings who refused to fear God, refused to spend time with God, they failed miserably. Wow. Let's go to 2 Chronicles to give an example. We're about to give good examples, amen? 2 Chronicles chapter 29. Trying to, praise God, be sensitive to the time. Amen? Amen. 2 Chronicles chapter 29, starting at verse 1. 2 Chronicles 29, starting at verse 1. This is King Hezekiah, his father before him was a foolish king. He was doing things against God's will. I don't have time to go into it right now, the things that he was doing, but he was being rebellious against God. Hezekiah saw this and said, I'm not going that direction. Said, that was you, Dad. That's not me. Bye-bye. Oh, I see, Dad. My eyes have been opened. Your way fails. Hallelujah! I got that lesson real quick. Let me give you a tip then. I learned that real good. Hezekiah, verse one, chapter twenty-nine, verse one. Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old. So he was old enough to see the mistakes that his father did by being rebellious and disobedient to God. Yes. And he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. He brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east and said to them, hear me, Levites. Now consecrate yourselves and concentrate— consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the holy place. For our fathers have been unfaithful. Here it is. He's saying— Mm-hmm. That I have seen that our fathers before us have been unfaithful to God. For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. It's like Hezekiah said, hey, I was standing back and looking. I, I see those idiots. They went that way, I'm going a different way. That's right. And have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs They also shut the doors of the, uh, vestibule and put out the lamps and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. Therefore the wrath of the Lord came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of horror, of astonishment and hissing, as you see with your own eyes. For behold, Our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. He's just seeing the destruction that has happened to his country because of the unfaithfulness of his fathers. Amen. Now it is in my heart to do— to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us. Hezekiah said, "Man, y'all older generation, y'all messed it up for us. I'm I'm trying my best to get God's wrath off of us right now. Praise God! So y'all just move on out the way. We were we're about to do things differently. We're about to go with God." Verse fifteen. Verse fifteen. They gathered their brothers and consecrated themselves and went in as the king had. Commanded by the words of the Lord to cleanse the house of the Lord. The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord, in the court of the house— in the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it and carried it out to the Brook of Kidron. Verse 18. Then they went into Hezekiah, uh, into Hezekiah the king and said, we have cleansed all the house of the Lord, the altar, the burnt offerings, and all the utensils, and the table of the showbread, and all its utensils. They make— they're just cleaning things out as best they can. Amen. Let's, uh, look at a key verse Well, let's continue on. Verse 35, the, um, verse 35, the B portion of 35. Amen. Amen. The latter part of verse 35. Thus the service of the house of the Lord was restored. That's the point I'm trying to get to. And Hezekiah and all the people, verse 6. And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because God had provided for the people. For the thing came about suddenly. Amen. Wow. Praise God. Praise God. 30, verse 6 and 9. Chapter 30. I'm going to try to speed through this. Verses 6 through 9 of chapter 30. So carriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying, O people of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your fathers and your brothers who were faithless to the Lord God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see. Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, meaning refusing to repent. That hard— that's the same as hardening of your heart. Being stiff-necked means you're refusing to repent. Yes. But yield yourselves to the Lord and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that he— that his fierce anger may turn away from you For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you if you return to him. Amen. Amen. 31, just very quick, almost finished. Chapter 31. Verses starting in verse four, and he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem. Chapter thirty-one, verse four, and he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the princes, priests, and the Levites, that they might give themselves to the long. Of the Lord. As soon as the command was spread abroad, the people of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and all the produce of the field. And they brought in abundantly the tithe, the tithe of everything. And the people of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep and the tithe of the dedicated things that they had been dedicated to the Lord, that God And laid them in heaps. In the 3rd month, they began to pile up the heaps. This has been going on for 3 months, bringing in the wine and the oil, the cattle. Wow. Took 3 months to bring it in, bringing this, this new order, honoring God. And the 3rd month, they began to pile up the heaps and finish them in the 7th month. Took 4 months to get it organized, all those heaps of of things when they started bringing, um, the goods, the first fruits, and whatnot to the Lord. Amen. Amen. Now we're going to go and, and see something, a parallel, in verse 31— uh, I mean verse 4, that same chapter. Go back up to verse 4. It says, and he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give The portion due to the priests and the Levites, that what? This is the key part: that they might give themselves to the law of the Lord. What is he saying? The leadership, the priests need to be giving themselves to studying the word, being before God. Let's look at that in Acts. Amen. And we're about to get ready to close out. Go to Acts. Acts chapter 6 in the New Testament. Remember they said that they were trying to give time for the Levites to give time for the Word. Starting at verse 1. Verse 1. Acts chapter 6, verse 1. Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, they were increasing. Increasing is a good thing. A complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. The Hellenists were the Greeks, the, the women of the Greek culture. Amen. And the 12 summoned the full number of the disciples and said, it is not right that we should give preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you 7 men good, of good report, full of the Spirit, wisdom, whom we appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. That's what we just read in 2 Chronicles, the same thing. Right. God is wanting the leadership to have time to be before for God. Wow. What an example for us in the year 2025. Pastor Harry needs that time. He doesn't need to be beleaguered by the works and the business of the ministry. He needs to have that quality time with God. Why? So he can get more revelation. As he gets more and more revelation, God will anoint that teaching and it draws more people. Yes. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you 7 men good of repute, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. These are the, the number of people. I'm not going to read the people in verse 5 that was appointed, but verse 6— go to verse 6. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples— what? Multiplied. Greatly in Jerusalem. You went from increase to jumping. Wow. You were increasing like this right here, but as the man of God, as the priest of God was able to stand before God, they leaped In number. It multiplied. It went from growing like this to an exponential curve. Do you see the point? Amen. Does that make any sense? As the men of God, the leadership, were able to stand and spend time with God, God gave them revelation. He gave them understanding of the word. So when they came before the people of God and gave that revelation that they got from God, God anointed and blessed the people to listen to it, and the people wanted to come left and right. Amen. They multiplied. It went from growing like this to growing like that. Amen. Praise God. Thank you. Thank you, Pastor.
