You are not alone if you like things because there is something in us all that loves things. However, things will always be there. You needed them yesterday, you need them today, and you will still need them tomorrow. Your parents needed them, your children also will need them.

But in life, only one thing is necessary, if you can find God, then you have everything you need. If you can find His presence, seek His kingdom, and be at the center of His will, then everything else will begin to locate you. Whatever you have been running after will start to run after you.

Luke 10:42 "But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Mary's demonstration of worship was one of the greatest worship experiences. Jesus Christ said for the rest of history, as long as this world remains, what the woman did will be spoken about. Mary was such a God-seeker that she became the first person to see Jesus when He rose from the dead.

I pray that God will help you and me so that we will always be after the one thing, to please Jesus.

Martha once asked Jesus, Lord, is it of no concern to you that my sister has left me to serve alone? While busy serving, Martha's can sometimes become offended by the Mary's. And just like Martha, I used to be angry with people who just came to church and sat and enjoyed the word, but maybe these are the Mary's.

Harvest is preceded by sowing. No Harvest comes if there is no sowing. Similarly, when the clouds are full they do not have a choice but to pour out rain. So we need to ask ourselves these questions any time that we are not able to receive our harvest:

1. What have I sowed?

2. How am I sowing?

You may be sowing good seeds, but how are you sowing them?

3. What are the hindrances or destroyers of my harvest?

So as we look at these questions in greater depth, we will reap the benefits of our efforts.

Bishop | Charles Cody.

Your will is critical in God's plan for your life. As long as you are willing to do what God called you to do and you stay in the word of God so that it can instruct you, and give you insight, then God will do something special with you. When your obedience to God is locked in place, you begin to experience the next phase of your life.

If you seriously desire what God has for you. If you want to be more than all right. Drop everything and dive deep to get out of that situation.

When I prayed many years ago, I was crying out to God, asking how I could stand the test of time and sustain the anointing. I wanted to keep the calling and do the things God had called me to do. My concern was that people I looked up to had fallen into all kinds of sin. I thought they had succeeded, but they were not where I was expecting them to be.

God revealed three to me things that I have been taking my time to share:

These are important things to remember, especially in these times when there are more things that want to move us away from the path we are meant to take.

Following Jesus requires us to learn how to follow, because you cannot keep your focus on Him unless you follow. 

John 12:26 "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor."

Following Jesus is therefore, a lifelong journey, but it is one that leads to a deeper sense of purpose, fulfillment, and joy.

People want to worship God because it is convenient. But God is calling us to another place. A place of worshiping out of sacrifice because true worship is worship given out of sacrifice.  

Habbakuk 3:17-19 "Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— 18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." 

Before anything else, we are worshipers, before I am a preacher I am a worshiper. There is not going to be any preaching in heaven. There is not going to be any praying in Heaven. The only thing we will do in heaven is to behold God's glory and to worship Him.

And so one of the things that we must focus on is to be like Mary when we are in the presence of God, to worship without reservation. Sometimes true worship comes out of pain. The more you have gone through, the deeper your worship is. The more your pain, the greater your worship.

The Journey of salvation is one of following Jesus and hearing His voice. That that which breaks His heart, breaks our hearts, and that we carry His burdens. We go with Him wherever He wants us to go. We begin to live as strangers on earth because the things that other people are motivated and are driven by are not what drives or motivates us.

"These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being first fruits to God and to the Lamb." Revelation 14:4. 

When you follow Jesus, you begin to understand His heart. You begin to know His ways, you begin to desire what He desires and all these things will be added to you. Unless we fix our eyes on Jesus, we will not be sustained. Because life is going to bring all kinds of obstacles, there are going to be challenges. There are going to be betrayals.

Not everybody who came to Jesus stayed with Jesus. Some crowds were following Him because they had seen the miracles. Some people were looking after Him like Judas because they knew they would get something. 

But thank God there was also a Mary who did not care about anything around. She was extravagant on Jesus, she broke the perfume and worshiped. 

Who shall we be? Will we be counted among those who just follow because we want to see miracles, because we want to see what we can get, or shall we be counted as one like Mary? Who says, Lord, I just want to worship you.

May we be seekers of the Kingdom, God's ways, and His true love.

We should all ask ourselves these questions that Paul asked. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?

God did not call us to be comers, He called us to be goers. We all want to participate in the great commission. But we are not fulfilling it probably because it is uncomfortable. It is not comfortable going out and speaking to a stranger. However, if you are moved with compassion, the compassion will be greater than your fear. It will be greater than your comfort, and your fear of rejection. 

We need to show people we are not just bringing them to a church. People know about churches but they are saying what is so different about you? We have to be practical in showing love and fellowshipping with people. We should show them the love of Jesus Christ and pray for them. 

Further along in the message, we look in-depth at how to effectively evangelize. Below is an outline of what to expect.

Steps to evangelizing:

  1. Establish a relationship with them.

 2. Introduce Jesus.

 3. Lead them to Jesus Christ.

 4. Follow them up.

In case you have never felt a burden for souls, or you do not have the fire for evangelism, by the time you are through listening to this message, the fire to win souls will enter you. And you will have a testimony of having preached to some people.

Once you start going out to evangelize, you will be amazed at how people are hungry for the word of God. The harvest is plenteous. Some people are just waiting for someone to tell them about Jesus. May God use you as a tool to bring healing and salvation to many.

Why is the word so fundamental in this Foundation? Why is it so key? The Bible says in Psalm 138:2, "I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name, For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name." 

In this message, we look at why we need to build on God's word as our foundation. We will further analyze seven things that the word of God does to us.

      1. The word of God has the power to cleanse us: to cleanse our minds and to wash us.                                                                                        

Jesus said in John 15:3, "You are now clean because of the words that I have spoken to you." 

Ephesians 5:25 the Bible says, "Husbands love your wives as Christ loved his church and gave himself for it that he may cleanse it by the washing of water by the word. So that he might sanctify the church having cleansed her by the washing of water by the word."

      2.  The word of God has the power to transform us.

 Romans 12:2 says do not be conformed to the standards of the world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. 

If God has given us His word to transform us, His word will transform us if we are ready.           

Isaiah 55:9 says, "As the rains do not come from the heavens and come to the earth without watering the earth, so is my word that comes out of my mouth it cannot come to me empty but it will fulfill that which I have commissioned it to do."  

     3. The word of God shows us the will of God.                                                          We struggle with the will of God because we do not know the word of God. God's word can direct you in the will of God. There is nothing God is going to do that is outside His word.

Romans 12:2 says, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may be able to prove what is that good acceptable and perfect will of God." 

      4. The word of God activates faith.             

Romans 10:17 "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God."  

Habakkuk 2:4 The just shall live by faith, my righteous one shall live by faith.

      5. The word of God instructs us in righteousness.

Instruction in righteousness comes from the word of God.

2 Timothy 3:16 the Bible says,  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 

     6. The word of God corrects us. 

The Bible says it is profitable for correction. God wants to do great things in our lives however, He will not do certain things unless He corrects us.

You are going to blossom but before you blossom you have to be pruned. This is what Jesus said in John 15:2  "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit." 

So sometimes correction is not even that you are sinning or doing something wrong. God is just saying you are doing so well my son my daughter, so I need to prune you so that you may do even better.

 7. The word of God comforts and strengthens us.

The word of God is a source of comfort and strength. The good thing I love about our God is that even after He has beaten you up, and corrected you, He comforts you. Even when He corrects and instructs us, He does not do it to harm us.

 1 Peter 5:10 "But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you."

Whatever you are going through, as someone said, you are just going through. God is not going to let you die in that wilderness. God is not going to let you get destroyed where you are. He is going to build you.

He will finish what He started, He is faithful to His word. He says the word that I have spoken, I will watch over it to fulfill it. Faithful is He who promised.

God has placed a certain command into the lives and hands of fathers. They are to teach and command their children and their household to keep God's way(psalms 78:1-7). This is a charge to fathers, your responsibility to your children is to show them God; teach them about God. 

You need to have a big expansive heart to embrace people because as you develop in the Lord, He sends you children. And He will send some your way, so begin to expand your heart. 

In this message, we will look at two examples of fathers in the Bible, Abraham, and Eli. 

Genesis 18:19, "For I have known him (he's talking about Abraham) so that he may teach and command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is righteous and just so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he has promised." 

God is giving a testimony about His servant Abraham. 

As we read Abraham's story, we conclude that It took a father who had taught his son to trust and obey the Lord to bring that son to a point where he obeys so foolishly. I call it foolish obedience because he laid his life on that altar willingly and said take my life. Abraham's obedience to sacrificing his son, coupled with his son's obedience was what pleased God about him. 

And in 1 Samuel 2:12, we see God's report concerning Eli's sons. He says they were worthless men because they did not know the Lord, they did not respect Him. And as you read on you get to see Eli calling his sons and confronting them about the report he heard concerning them and about what they had done.

 1 Samuel 2:29 "Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?" 

In the above text, we see that Eli placed reputation above everything else. He said I do not like the report but he did not go forward to correct the sons. They should have been kicked out quickly because what they did in the temple was not acceptable. So before God, he was honoring the sons above God.

The first example we saw was of a good father who placed his son on the altar before God and said if I have to kill you for Him, I am going to do that. Eli on the other hand, honored his sons above God and that was the problem.

I urge us to be careful not to place our children, the offspring that God has given us above Him. The offspring, the blessings, and the things God gives us can never take His place. We can not place them above God. We can not create a situation where our children are more important than the Lord, and pay more attention to them. Because, in the long run, we end up neglecting the things of God.

Sometimes as we take care of our business things that matter to us more, we cause the things of God to suffer and eventually perish. In the eyes of God, that is honoring your sons more than Him.

God is so powerful and so great but He predetermined that there is nothing He will do on this earth without using a human being. And the way we permit Him or the way we give Him the license is through prayer.

So how come many of us pray but very few people really pray prayers that can shake the heavens?

What does it take to pray prevailing travailing prayers? What could be hindering us from praying effectively, and from seeing results to our requests?

In this message we will look into the barriers to prayer.

Barriers to prayer:

This will enable us to move from praying popcorn prayers; prayers that just pop and they are gone to praying prayers that cause a difference and have extraordinary results.