“The anointing of God that is on my life for you. I don’t speak this way often because I see the danger of how people put pastors on a pedal stool. Do recognized that I am human. I am like you. Don’t look at me infallible, without mistakes. I have to be bold about the gifting that God has put in my life for you. I cant shrink back from what God would have me to do on your behalf. It is important that we work together, you and I. As the pastor and the sheep because I am an under Shepard under the Lord in this house. We are to work with each other and stay in sync. We have a vision at Church of the Word, which is Matthew 28. Go and make disciples. Bring the Gospel to people, equipping, and training them. The church is one of the places you get fed. The primary source of where you need to get fed is at home just with you and the Lord. You don’t come to church to have a relationship with Jesus. You come to church to be a part of the Body. You can go home and be a Christian but you are isolated and in danger in that place. If you come here to get equipped in this house to do what you are suppose to do, then it is important that you show up. Do not take this as criticism during this summer season for people that are traveling. I ask that if you can’t be here I ask that you go to the messages and listen to them online.” It may be the very message that you need to hear to get through whatever it is that you are struggling with. “God is gracing whoever the speaker is to speak to you. There is an anointing on my life to keep you from being weary and scattered, not because my name is Sydney. Who ever is the pastor, there is an anointing upon their lives to cause the sheep to not be weary and not to be scattered.Matthew 9:36, if the sheep have no Shepard they would be weary and worn out. Me in my flesh I have nothing to offer you. With the Lord I can offer you what you need and it is not because I am special, but because I obey Him and speak what He would have me to say. I covet your prayers and ask that you would pray for Jen and I as we walk in this role as Pastor for you. There is a target on our back, not that we need to be afraid of it, but it is a real thing. If the Sheppard gets struck the sheep can be scattered. Your prayers are very much needed. Do remember us in prayer.” After one of the alter calls Pastor Sydney had prayed against depression and had since been oppressed with it. “‘Stay full of strength let the weak say I am strong.'”
Main Message:
Pastor Sydney mentioned that he chooses to walk in His grace because in the flesh he is nothing. Practice walking in love, John 13. Our job is to reach out and show the love of Jesus. You know how when you don’t get your way. The next time you want your way that is what Jesus gave up so that we could escape hell and have a relationship with the Father.Which is the beginning of heaven. The kingdom of heaven has come and it is within us. Don’t look to heaven as a destination but as a place to abide. People are going to know that you are of God because you love each other. He judged them according to their deeds, looking at what the people did for the body of Christ and not what they did for humanity, but He questioned; “‘What did you do for me? Jesus said to love everybody especially those who are your brothers and sisters.'” [Christians] are usually the hardest to love. Now looking at loving the people of the world. If you do not love the people of the world then you are not like the Lord. Pastor Sydney mentioned that his natural instinct is to be alone and that as a teenager heights and public speaking were two things he had feared. Naturally he would be an introvert if he had not allowed Christ to flow through him. He also mentions that he deliberately chooses to be more like Christ. You got to stop labeling yourself as introverted or extroverted. Doing the work of the Lord is what is fulfilling rather than going home and hiding.
John 3:16. When Pastor Sydney only had one son he questioned if he would give his only son up for the people that didn’t even like him. He wouldn’t want to give up his son for those who have done wrong and much rather have them suffer their consequences. It is that God has found your value so great and so significant that He had given His only son, because He got you back and He got His son back. He loved the world so much that He had given up what was most valuable to Him. Everyone deserves God’s love, including the person that cut you off in traffic.
Testimony:
Kathleen English gave a testimony about a server she had at a restaurant, which was a divine appointment.Shane had given a testimony of how he had experienced what it was like to share the love of Christ with someone. We are not to be the deciders of who Christ should be shared with. Pastor Sydney talked about how God used him to witness to a woman and then to a man out on the beach while he was in Florida for an event. In addition to that, God utilized him in prayer for a man in the scene at a bar.