Stephanie Ike Okafor - Accountability & Stewardship

Hallellojah. I am so blessed to be here. I love pastors Henry and Alex. I mean literally, I think when the Lord was sending us to the world that there was like a mishap and they sent them to Australia, then sent me to Nigeria because we are really sisters at heart, and I am just so blessed by our relationship. Now, if you know that you were blessed yesterday, can I hear you in this place? Amen? Amen? Amen, yesterday was so rich and so full, and just like I said, it is such a blessing. Every time I come to Nashville, I'm like a kid again. It's not just what I get to pour around, it's also what I get to receive in this place, and so it always enriches me. We just got married on September fourth, and there are many things I don't tell you about getting married, like how saying husband, you have to get used to it. That is my husband, husband. That some days that you forget to wear your red and rang like today. But it is a blessing. It is such a blessing. You know we're going to be While you're standing, I want us to read just the word of the Lord, and then we're gonna pray, and then you be seated. I am really thrilled about what God is going to do in and through your life. Even as the Holy Spirit gave me this word, it really also ministered so greatly to me in exposed areas in my life that the Lord is requiring a deeper level of surrender. And so we're going to be reading from Luke sixteen, from verse nineteen to twenty six. And this is Jesus speaking. And Jesus says, there was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and he ferried sumptuously. Basically, this man lived in luxury every single day of his life. But there was also a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gait. He was laid. I want you to take note of that there's this rich man and at the same time there's a beggar laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs from which fell from the rich man's table. This is so intriguing to me that this beggar was not desiring for the rich man to buy him a house or give him gold or jewelry. He literally wanted his waist. The crumbs from his table was what he desired, and yet that was not even what he received. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his swords. While he is desiring the crumbs from a rich man's table, what he is left with is stray dogs licking his swords. So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and being in torments and hades, the man finds himself in hell. He lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham, afar Off and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, Father Abraham. Now this got me. This man is in hell. But when he sees Abraham, he doesn't see a stranger. He called him Father Abraham. Now, as descendants of Christ, we are children of Abraham, because Abraham is the father of faith. And when this man saw Abraham, he calls him father. This was not a man that was a stranger to the faith. But yet he found himself in hell. He says, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, son, this really trips me out. He calls him father, and Abraham responds to him as a son. He says, son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this between us and you, there is a great gulf fix so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from their past to us. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, Holy Spirit. Only you can glorify Jesus through this. Only you can glorify Jesus as we are gathered seeking your presence and seek in your face. And so Lord, I decreased myself that you would shine so brightly. I pray that as I speak, that you would minister to each and every individual here in a way that brings transformation to their lives. Holy Spirit, glorify Christ in Jesus' name. Amen, you may be seated. You see in this scripture we see this rich man asking Abraham to send Lazarus to just put the tip of his finger in water that it will cool his tongue. Now you might be wondering, what is water doing in heaven, right, It's not like people are in heaven and they're going for jogs and hiking and they're thirsty. This man was not asking for water the way that we know water. You say, I love God so much because everything in creation is such an expression of something in the spirit. And one of the deepest connections we see is this relationship with water and the Holy Spirit. Yesterday, passor Henry was highlighting some of these things. We go all the way to the book of Genesis and we see this relationship between water and the Holy Spirit. At the mention of the Holy Spirit, it was connected to water that the Spirit of the Lord was hovering over the face of the deep. And that always intrigued me because I'm like, the first thing that God spoke to was let there be lives. The first thing that he spoke it to existence had nothing to do with water. But yet when the Spirit finds itself was to be hovering over the waters. When the Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus, the first thing that happens before that took place was Jesus literally just got baptized in the water, and as he was coming out of the water and in prayer, the Bible tells us that the heavens opened up and the spirit of the Lord came upon him. We continue this journey. Jesus would say that whoever believes my words, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And then the Bible says that in this he was speaking about the Holy Spirit. Then we jump all the way to Revelation. In Revelation twenty two, verse one, the Bible talks about the throne room, and it talks about how on the where the Father was seated, and the throne where the Lamb was seated, and it says from the throne there was livers of living water. And you may be wondering where was the Holy Spirit in this? The Holy Spirit is the river of living water. There is that beautiful connection. And when we go back again to Genesis and we see the Spirit of God hovering over the water, Like I said, I was so intrigued by this. I began to ask the Lord why was this the place he chose to hover. You see something about water is that water is reflective. It is almost as though when the Holy Spirit was hovering. He was seeing himself, not because he needed to do a touch up, right. He said, look, before the big day of creation, let me get my hair right. You know. He wasn't looking at his image in the water because he needed to see himself, But the water was a representation of his essence. You see, when we look at creation and when we look at Earth, we if water stopped to exist, Earth as we know it would perish. Water gives life to humanity, and the Spirit gives eternal life. It is such a beautiful description of the work of the Holy Spirit in us. But what is all this, What does all of this have to do with this text about this rich man? And he was not in hell because he was a rich man, because the very person that he was looking at, Abraham, Abraham was extremely wealthy. He was not judged because of his riches. But yet this man is asking, Abraham, could you send Lazarus to just give me some water. What the rich man was looking for was the spirit of God God. He said, I am in torment, and the only thing that would save me in this place is the Spirit of God. But an Abraham says, even if we desire to there is a gull fixed between us, because this is not the place where you seek salvation that was supposed to happen on earth. On the earth is where the Lord said that he will pour out his spirit on all flesh. This is not the place that you do this. But what this man did not realize is that during his time on earth there was something connected to his obedience with Lazarus that would bring him to the place of surrender with the Holy Spirit. You see, the Bible talks about eternal life and eternal death, and when I was younger, I used to think that this idea of eternity was something that happens when we go to heaven. As I began to study the scriptures, I began to realize eternal life starts on earth because life is about walking with God. And that is why there is a man named Enoch in the scriptures that the Bible tells us that Enoch walked with God and he was not He walked with God in a way that was so perfect that God did not even need him to see death. He just transitioned him. Because what life is about is walking with God, not just having knowledge of God, but walking with the Lord. Because Satan has knowledge of God. The demons know who Jesus is. They have knowledge of him. Even when Jesus revealed himself, the demons will look at him and say, what have you come to do with us? But they didn't walk with him. Judas the Scariot, he had knowledge of Christ, but he didn't walk with him. But then you have a man named Peter who walked with Christ. Because you see, when you walk with Christ, there is intimacy that is developed, and in intimacy you begin to share the burdens of God. God begins to reveal to you the mystery of your life and your identity, because you see, when God created you, he created an answer. The only reason that God could rest on the seventh day was because of what took place on the sixth day. On the sixth day, he created man, and when he looked at man, he said, this is very good. When he looked at man, he said, this is my strategy to continue working without lifting a finger. When he created man, he said, I could hide my essence in him, and now I could rest. He is still resting because of you, because when he sees you working, he says, I am working. That is why when the disciples said, Jesus, can you teach us how to pray? And he begins to reveal to them what they should seek for in prayer. And he talks about that on earth as it is in heaven. But who executes on earth? You do so when the Lord looks at you, he says, you are an answer. You are an answer to the issues that plague your community. You see, God, in his infinite wisdom, is a master strategist. We have, you know, business classes, and we have all these books that teach you how to win people and how to strategize. But the master strategist is God. He did not send you in the generation that he did to the family, that he did to the community, that he did without reason or without cause. He said, when I sent you, I recognize that you would be the answer to existing of future problems to come. And so when we walk with God in this place of intimacy, he begins to reveal to us what we were called to speak to, what we were called to answer. You see, when the Bible says that the Lord will pour out his spirit on all flesh, whenever there is the need to pour out, something has to be cultivated on the earth. We have to create the atmosphere because one thing, the Holy Spirit, is attracted to its atmosphere. It is the reason that even before we speak or reminister, we worship because we want to create an atmosphere for his presence. That's why the Lord even talks about he enthrones the praises, because when there is an atmosphere that honors and glorifies him, he is attracted to it. And so when the Spirit wants to pour out himself, when water wants to pour out, the Lord is looking at what atmosphere have you created? You see Lazarus and this rich man. What the rich man did not recognize is that Lazarus was his assignment. This rich man did not recognize that this poor man full of sores at my gate is actually my assignment. Every single day, this man walked by him, ignored him. And I began to ask the Lord why did he do this? Because number one, this is a sign that this man was not walking with you. He had knowledge of you, but he was not walking with you. Because when you walk with Christ, it requires a deep level of surrender and sacrifice. And the Lord began to reveal to me that it was not that this rich man was selfish, because I mean, it's not that Lazarus was asking anything mighty of him. Lazarus literally was longing for the crumbs on his table. It was not that this rich man was judgmental. That he saw Lazarus and maybe he was like, you're so lazy, look at what you're doing with your life. He wasn't judgmental, But it was that this rich man when he saw Lazarus, he was indifferent. He was numb to it. He had no sensitivity. And what the Holy Spirit began to show me is that many times we are like this rich man because Lazarus, in his eyes, was just another beggar. How many times do we look at the world that we live in, and because of social media, that everything is brought to our table, the crisis that we see in our home, we just look at it as just another issue. It was just another shooting that happened, It was just another murder, it was just another kid that was trafficked, and we go about our lives as though we are not called to be answers. I loved yesterday when Pastor Alex was sharing about the ministry of the people that even tell you the stories of martyrs and how they are so overlooked because it's just another country that is against Christ being glorified. How many issues in life have we seen as just another problem because it's so common to us. But the Lord began to show me that in this season, he is calling you to the problems at your gate. It doesn't matter how calmon it looks like in the world, but there is something that has been brought to your gate. I love so much. When Pastor Henry was sharing the other day when he talks about how when he encountered Christ, he was working at that grocery store. If you were here yesterday, the bylaw it was so cheap, the grocery store that even the name was cheap. You know, they didn't even spell it out properly, they just would bil. But he was working at this story, and he talked about how frustrated he would be every single day coming in there, because all he could hear was the sound of people's groceries being checked. But when he encountered Christ and began to walk with Christ, he began to hear a different sound that every time a person walked up to him, he heard the sound of purpose. He heard the sound of what God wants to do with their lives. That this grocery store became ministry, and the Lord was showing me that He is calling us to the issues at our gates. It's not just what you do in the world out there. It is how are you representing Christ in your home? How are you representing Christ in your workplace? That is just not another person who had an attitude. That is your assignment at your gates. You see, don't think of it strange when the Lord starts asking you to sacrifice in different ways, when he starts telling you, you know what, I don't want you to travel as much because I want my spirit to fall in your home. And if there is no one to cultivate the atmosphere in your home, the spirit is not going to fall. There's some of you that the Lord, even though you I've been praying and asking God, I just need to raise at my job. I'm actually looking for a different job. And the Lord is saying, but what about that person that literally you see every single day, that has an attitude, that person that bugs you, And all that you care of is that, you know what, I have work to do. I don't have time for this and they're telling you about their family member who is going through an illness, and you have never taken the time to say, you know when list come together and pray, but you will go to church and when there is someone that needs healing, you are quick to stretch your hands. You say, I want to stand in agreement, but the Lord is saying there are issues at your gates and it is not what you do out there that matters as much as what you do at home, the places that He has already positioned you. You are complaining about God, I want to move from this area, but you don't recognize that your neighbor is your assignment. You have not even met the neighbor. They see you in the elevator, they smile at you, and you are just focused on the things that you have to do. And sadly enough, you might be on the way to an outreach event. You're on the way to serve somebody, but your neighbor is trying to say hi. But you don't have time for your neighbor because you are going to serve the Lord. This is deception because what is at your gates is what God judged Lazarus by. You see Jesus did not tell us the story of Lazarus and this rich man. He did not give us a recap of what this rich man did with his daily life. That was not what he judged him by. This man may have been generous to people. This man may have done amazing things in his community, because the Bible said he lived in wealth every day. He may have built houses for people, But what he was judged by was the person at his gates. What Jesus was looking at was the person at his gates. This is the reason that even biblically, the Lord judges priest according to how they raised their children. That you will see a priest like Eli, and his judgment to no longer be used by the Lord was connected to how his children were raised. It was not about the things that Eli did. It was not that the Lord looked at him and said, Wow, Eli, you've taken in sam You've raised them up as a prophet. This is great stuff. Matter of fact, the Lord will tell Samuel what he was gonna do in Israel, and Eli was connected to that. He would whisper to Samwell. The judgment coming upon Eli not because of the things that Eli did that affected those outside, but how Eli treated what was at his gate. There is a judgment of the Lord connected to what he has called us to steward. You see, right before Jesus tells the story, Jesus talks about a parable in Luke sixteen from verse one, he tells the disciples of parable and he says there was a rich man who had an unjust steward, and he's talking about how the steward was wasting his wealth and his resources. So he comes to the steward and says, you must give an account of your stewardship. But this steward could not give an account because he was wasteful. And the rich man says, no longer shall you be a steward. You see, I believe that when Jesus spoke about this parable, and shortly after he tells the story of a rich man in Lazarus, that the real person who is the rich man is the Lord and the rich man and the story is the steward. Because you have to recognize that we are not owners of anything. We are only stewards, and everything we have is the resources God has given us to equip us for what he called us to answer the wealth the relationships, the children, the church, the community, your story, your testimony, the places you were born. That you are only stewards over it. You are not an owner. And when you begin to see life through the lens of stewardship, it brings a understanding of responsibility. God, how am I handling what you have given me? God? Can you show me? Don't let me just do things randomly. The Bible says obedience is better than sacrifice. I just don't want to do random things in the name of God and he has no connection to it. That is why Jesus could say to certain people who came to him and say, Lord, Lord, we did this in your name, and he said to them, get away from me. I never knew you. You sacrificed in many ways, but none of it was led by my spirit. You never lived a life of obedience. Get away from me. You did many things that were great in the eyes of man. You did many things that were applauded in stadiums and arenas, but they were never celebrated in heaven because we had no part in it. You want to live the type of life that you would have a confidence that Heaven celebrates you. You don't want to get so caught up in the likes of people that God has no place in your life. It is when I talk about when we talk to people more about God than we actually talked to him. We talk to people like, you know, you should just pray, you should do this, you know all this stuff. God is so good, but you don't really actually create an atmosphere for his presence. You don't want to live a life that seems so sacrificial and the spirit of God was never involved. What is at your gate right now? Is it your job? Is it your children? Is it your family members? Who is that uncle that just annoys you all the time? And it keeps being brought up over and over again. You see when the Bible talks about this Lazarus was laid at his gate, it gives us this idea and understanding almost like every day that some people just came and dropped Lazarus at this man's gate, because surely that is where his answer would come from. What are the things in your life that bother you? What are the pew are the people that literally you cannot stand. They just annoy you and you have no choice but to see them every day. You have to hear about them every day. You are expel to them every day. Maybe it's the city that you were born and you were exposed to the news that is happening. And the Lord is pulling your heart that there is something I am calling you to do here and you can understand it because in your mind you feel like God, this is moving backward. And he said, it has nothing to do with moving backward, because I am the God of times and seasons. I can call you out of something in a season and call you back into it another season, because you needed to be equipped. When you look at Moses. Moses wanted to be the hero in the season that God did not call him to be the hero. He tried to deliver the people in a time that Heaven was not announcing his name as a deliverer, so it did not work. And then when God called him to bring deliverance to the Israelites, he began to question himself because it felt like I'm moving backwards. I've been here before, Lord, And the Lord said, as you have been there by yourself. But now I am going to walk with you there. I don't know where God is calling you, but I'm here to confirm his voice to you. It is not something you should ignore, It is not something you should feel like, God, how could this thing that is so little be the thing that carries the weight, the most weight in my life. But this is really the pattern of Jesus. Jesus will say things like I was hungry and you fed me. I was in prison and you visited me. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. And the people would ask Jesus, They said, Lord, when did all of this happen? And Jesus said, whatever you did to the least, you did unto me. There is something in the pattern of God that what you consider least in your life is that actually one of the greatest things He judges you by. And so the very thing that you may be looking at in your life as the least. The least sin in my life is my job. The least sin in my life is my neighbor God I have I'm busy, you know, especially in our generation, business is like air to us. You know, I'm just busy. I just have so much going on. I don't really have time to deal with this right now. The least sin in your life could be the cry of your child and it might not be about giving her to somebody else or giving him to someone else for them to deal with their tantrum. But the Lord is saying, this is a moment for you to reflect Christ that how you cultivate this moment would allow the spirit to fall. Isn't it crazy that many of the great things that we talk about in our lives, maybe the things we learned about our faith, many of them come from childhood. Oh, I used to see my mother do this, even in the time I didn't like it. I used to see my father do this. My mom would wake us up every time at midnight to pray, and I used to be so annoyed, and I'm like, this is the time to sleep. I don't understand this. And then I would be sleeping and she would say wake up. I said, Mom, I'm just meditating. I'm just trying to meditate on the goodness of God. But then now I look back and I'm like, when there are certain things in my life that I need to seek the face of God on, I am not the one who prays at midnight. And so what I'm saying to you is that I don't know what you consider as the least in your life. Jesus did not judge this rich man by all the greatness of his life. He judged him by the least, this beggar at his gate. And the Lord is asking us to man our gates because when we cultivate an atmosphere at the things that He has placed on our gates, this is how the spirit of the Lord is released. This is how water is released. This is how people come to the place of refreshment and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Because of your kindness, because you were able to pause and speak to someone, because you could take time out of your soul called busy day and pay attention to what is happening around you, because you could sacrifice for the thing that the Lord has called you to do. What you consider least might be the very thing that God calls the greatest thing in your life. I want you to stand with me. You see, Abraham told Lazarus that in your time you received your good thing. But what I have learned in the Lord is that good things are for good works. The Bible tells us how God has prepared good works for us to walk in, even before we were ever created. Everything you consider good in your life are resources for good works. And there are things that God requires of you to get your eyes and to set your attention back on what is considered least. You see. That's why even when Jesus walked on the earth, the hypocrites and the judgmental people, and the Pharisees and the Sadducees and all the people that their names ended with sees right, they couldn't understand how is this the Messiah? Because they had this idea, when the Messiah comes, we would know because they thought that he would come in such a glamorous way, not that he would come from the least town. They thought that when he would be that he would be dining with the kings and queens and all of that. But he was chilling with the sitters, he was hanging out with the prostitutes, he was hanging out with the people that were considered least. He would touch the leper. These were things that were not done. These were people that were outcast. But Jesus reveals his ways and his pattern because this really makes us christ Like, because if you only honor, if you only pay attention to the people that you can get something from, then you have not started your walk with God, because when Christ died for you, there was no guarantee of what he would get from you. It was just the expression of his love. When he was on the cross, dying for the very people that put him there. There was no guarantee that by doing this, they would all come back to my grave and apologize. We are so sorry, Jesus. We should have known. He didn't do it because he was going to get something out of you. He did it because of who he is, and he did it as a seed that hopefully you will discover who you are. We don't do things because of what we could get out of it. We do it because it's our identity. It's our call, it's our assignment, it's our mission. You don't love on people because it's a random commandment. The commandment reveals something much deeper. When the Lord says, love your neighbor as you love yourself, it's not just because how can you command the person to love? I command you love this person. The commandment reveals something that is found in intimacy. I remember asking the Lord, how is it that you just love us in such radical ways? And he says, because I see you, I don't see what you put on I know who you really are. Love. There's a revelation connected to love. I love you because I know you, even when you don't know yourself. I love you because I see you beyond the layers of your hurts, your disappointment, what society put on you. I see you beyond all of it. And this is the manner God is calling us to look at people and society not because of what we can get out of them, but how Christ is glorified when they are revealed that you know what you may not even you may not respect me, you may not honor me, but that does not take away my ability to honor you and to love on you because there is something that you don't know about yourself that God does. And let my life be the seed that one day God would water in revealing your identity, you see, there is a reason why the Bible says that one plants, another one waters, but that it is the Lord that causes it to grow. And this is exciting when you're just like God, you know what, We're gonna do our part, and we want you to just let it grow. But it's also revealing that before God can cause a thing to grow, somebody has to plant, and someone else has to water environment atmosphere. Before the Holy Spirit can fall in our nation, before the spirit of God can fall in our homes, before the Spirit of God can fall in our workplaces. Somebody has to plant and somebody has to water. It is time for us to take a stand at our gates, to look at the very things that God has placed in our care and not overlook it because it's just another annoying habits. It's just another annoying co worker, it's just another neighbor, it's just another incident, it's just another crime. Like I need to have things to do. And God said, I placed it at your gate not to be ignored, but because it is your assignment. And as we are here today, if you are saying, Lord, I've kind of been focused on what I thought were the big things in my life, and you have to be honest with yourself and you're like God. First of all, this is a moment of repentance. I want to take hold and be a good steward over the things that I've considered least because if I'm honest, I've ignored them and I thought that I was being an amazing servant by doing all these big things for you, but the least is also what you judge me by. And if you are saying that, Lord, I repent and I'm coming today in full surrender that whatever you have called and asked of me to do, Lord, I say yes, it will cost me something. Absolutely well, Lord, I still say yes. And if you know I'm speaking to you, I want you to just meet me at this altar right now, Thank you Jesus, and we're gonna pray. Thank you. Lord. Look at this as the altar of your decision that Lord, today I make a decision that I'm not gonna overlook the very things that I have been disobedient to because I thought it was about the big things. And I've neglected what you placed at my gate. And Lord I repent, And Lord I say yes, because many times you don't recognize that in order for God to move in the ways that he desires to, he needs your willingness. He needs you to come in partnership with him. That is why in the beginning the Lord said to man that he has given him dominion. That was not just a fancy word that hey, go out there and conquer. No, you are the one who rules over this and in order for me to move on the yours, I need your partnership to have permission. Now, we don't like the idea that God needs permission because it's like he's God, but he has order. That is why Jesus did not come as a spirit. Jesus had to come in the way God gave dominion over the earth. He could have just come down and say, hey, guys, you know I'll be here for some time, and I would just disappear. Even for the Lord to come one he needed a will in vessel and marry. But he needed to come in the order that God's for the earth. God needs you. God needs you. The world cries out when there is trouble and they say where is God? But the real answer, and the real question rather is where are his people? Because God wants to move but there are people that are needed. Do you know how serious it is that God would even shut a woman's womb because he had need of it. Samuel was such an intricate part of his plan. When it came to the anointance of David, where Jesus would have his lineage connected to It was so serious to God that he had to go against his own order of saying to the woman, be fruitful and multiplied, and shut her wound so that she will seek him in a way, and say, God, if you give me a child, I would give him back to you. And the Lord said, that is the sound I've been waiting for. I would give you a son because I have need of him. Can you imagine that there was no one else under earth that God knew that he could and trust the anointance of David too, That a woman had no clue that in heaven there was a meeting about her. And they said, for a season, we just have to close her womb so that she will come to the place of sacrifice and release a sound that Heaven recognizes. God has need of you. The problems that you see is not someone else that's supposed to solve it. You have a part in playing. You have a part that the Holy Spirit needs in order to You have a part to play. When you read about the Bible, look at it in the eyes of partnership with God and man. Don't just look at the things that the Lord did, look at the partnership that gave him permission. Thank you Jesus, Thank you Lord. Even if you're up there and you feel like, man, that's a long walk. As you're taking your walk, I want you to start thinking on all the things that God has placed in your hand, all the things that God is saying this, these are the things that I actually will judge you by to be a good steward over I want you to start asking the Lord God, give me strategy, give me wisdom, Show me how to handle what you have placed in my hand, because it came from you God, I want to partner with you in such a beautiful way, no matter what it will cost. What have you placed at my game? What have you called me to be responsible to? Holy Spirit, begin to reveal to me the things that I have ignored. You see, because for some of us your heart may be so callous. But in this atmosphere, because this is an atmosphere that the Lord is attracted to, and the Holy Spirit is already ministering to you, there are things that at the beginning you are just like, no, I'm good, And all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit is breaking your heart. He's breaking the walls that have been guarding your heart, not even guarden that has been keeping you from your heart, And he says, these are the areas. These are the areas where you have hardened yourself against the voice of God. These are the people that you have hardened yourself against the voice of God. I have need of you there. Yes, I know you want a promotion. Yes, I know you want to move. Yes, I know you have all these desires and all these dreams and all these things. But can you just connect with the season of your life? Because times and seasons belong to God, and your life is revealed through times and seasons. So can you just silence the voice I loved yesterday so much? Pastor Henry said, don't be so caught up in ambition that you miss the mission, because you could be caught up in ambition and living a life that everyone applauds. But eternally you are dead. You look alive, You're drinking your water, you're minding your business, your skin is glowing. Everybody says, well, it's a secret. I just drink a gallon of water a day. I just, you know, drink your water. But Heaven does not have any record of you. You see, when Jesus talks about this story, he never said the rich man's name. He said Lazarus name, but he never says the rich man's name. You see in Proverbs, it tells us that the memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot. The man's name was found nowhere in Christ because he is life, he is the essence of life, and his name was not found in life. So he just calls him a certain rich man. You don't want the world to know your name and God doesn't know your name. You don't want the Lord to just define you by what the world defines you. As there was a certain musician, there was a certain business man, there was a certain artist, there was a certain actor, there was a certain fashion designer, there was a certain teacher. And he doesn't even say your name because it's not Jesus was not being petty. His name was not found in him. Thank you, Jesus. I want you to just lift your hands with me, Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you. We thank you because you are in this place. Lord. We don't want to live for the crowd and not know you. We don't want to live for the crowd and not be known by you. But Lord, as we come before you at this altar, and all around this room, Holy Spirit, reveal to us the areas of our lives that we have considered as least, but you call great. Reveal to us the areas of our lives that we have ignored because we didn't think it was worth anything. But yet these are the things that you have called us to be stewards over, Holy Spirit. We cannot do anything without you. It is in you we live and move and have our being. And so Lord, I pray that you would give your sons and daughters strategy for what you have placed in their hands. Oh God, I pray you would give them wisdom in how to steward their assignment. I pray you would begin to reveal to them the depths of their calling and the mission that you have always known before you even placed them in their mother's wont Lord you have need for your people, And we come before you with a yes that Lord, we want to partner with you. We want to walk with you. It's not enough to have knowledge of you. We want to walk with you, and no matter what that will cost us. Lord, may we not define success according to man's standards, but we may define success according to your assignment. That when we know that God I will be faithful and true to the assignment you have given me. That is success, because that is where life truly is found, eternal life. So Lord, we thank you breathe on your sons and daughters that their words and their lifestyle and how they move would release your spirit. We thank you that we would see change in our nation because we have encountered the Living God. We thank you Lord, that we would begin to turn work environments to places of encounter. We will begin to turn our home to places of worship. We will begin to turn our neighborhoods and community and grocery stores and classrooms and bus stations. Lord God, we will begin to turn everywhere we set our feet. Oh God, Lord, you gave a word that wherever your feet touches, I have given it to you. Lord. May we understand the weight of this. Wherever our feet touches, it's a place that we can invite the Holy Spirit to encounter your people. Lord, May we be moved by the beauty of partnership. May we be humbled that the God of all creation desires partnership with us. Thank you, Heavenly Father, and we thank you for what you're doing in this conference. We thank you that lives will forever be changed, transformed, healed. I thank you, Lord God, that destinies are being established in this room. That Lord God, you are revealing, Lord God, the words connected to their purpose, their assignment. That Heaven is releasing a sound that is setting your people on a charge. Oh God, have your way in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, Can we just lift up or praise in this house? Can we lift up a praise like we know God has done something in our our lives. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Amen. Amen, Come on, can we take a moment and just on apasta? Stephanie e k Amazing, amazing,