Pastor Erik West: [00:00:00] Think we've already had church. We already have church. Yeah. Well, we thank God for what he's. What he's done and what he's doing. And that amazing report. Amen. Uh, no, I said, wasn't that an amazing report?
Church Members: [00:00:13] Praise God.
Pastor Erik West: [00:00:14] Amen. There's just so many variables. Like she was telling you. There's some things we're still getting, you know, fluctuation price on. And and, uh, I'm meeting the electrician tomorrow. I finally got one who picked up the phone and answered the phone. So I may find out why he picked up his phone tomorrow. I don't know, but. But anyway, a lot of things we want to do to to make the house, you know, Old Testament. But the old covenant. Remember Haggai the prophet said, he said, you earn money, you put it in a bag, but it's like it has holes in it, like it just never is quite enough. I'm not speaking to you directly, it's just a principle, he said. But the reason is, he said, you need to consider your ways. He says, you you spend here, you do this, you take care of your house, you upgrade, you do this, you do all these things which is necessary and good. Nothing wrong with it, he said. But what you've done is, he says, you've let my house lay to waste, he says. And in other words, he said, the order is wrong. He said, you take care of my house. And he said, your house gets taken care of as a byproduct of it. Well, you might say, well, that's kind of old covenant law, but I'm talking about the principle. The principle thing, the principle of the first and the principle of the first is not just doing things in the order of God, but years ago, I mean, I didn't get this at Bible school or anywhere else, but it was just something that I learned and something I believe I had a revelation of years ago.
Pastor Erik West: [00:01:50] And we've shared with some other friends of ours in ministry, and they said, you know, I didn't call it that, but that's had the same thing. Call it the law of the first. And we say it this way if you have a child and that child wants something for Christmas, or they just want something, you ever had a child that wanted something? You ever been to a toys R us and forget toys R us? So you're in Walmart and you're just anywhere near the toys. If you blindfold that child, it can. It can sniff out the toy section. And, uh, uh, we have one of the grandsons over last night for a few minutes and Chad son, and he was talking about toys and he and he said, uh, we went to we went to Walmart. And I'm thinking, well, your dad works there, so probably isn't that exciting for him. But he said, uh, he said I went down the toy section. He says, I just wanted everything. And I thought, well, that's good to know. Kids hadn't changed the least. You know, he wanted he wanted everything, but they could just sniff it out. But, you know, if she wants that baby doll. Or he wants that, you know, mud truck or what do you call that dump truck, whatever it is. And he tells Mom and dad about it and they kind of say, well, not now.
Pastor Erik West: [00:03:10] And that little kid goes and to Sunday school and hears about it and hears about the Word of God and the promise of God. That kid is going to pray, right? Yeah. It's going, it's going to pray because they're picking it up. I mean, you might have heard me tell a story years ago when Keith Pam was teaching, um, children's church in our Clanton church, uh, he was teaching on giving and receiving. And, you know, God hears your prayers and gives you the desires of your heart. And he was agreeing with them for things that they wanted, teaching kids those principles. And Christine said, uh, she didn't tell me, you know, they had done this. And, uh, at that time she was working in McKinney's Toyota in the old facility on 31, and we was on 31 traveling north to south. And she looked over there and there was no cars on the parking lot. And the reason was, Mister McKinnon was having resurfaced the whole the entire parking lot, so he moved all the cars off for him to do that. In her mind. She said, oh daddy, she says, Praise God, but she was just a little tight. She said, she said, we prayed. She said our prayers are powerful. I said, well, yeah, but why? And she told me, you know what? You had challenged them to do and believe them, she says. And so she said, we believe that Mister Keith would sell more cars than he ever has.
Pastor Erik West: [00:04:27] And she said, look, daddy, he sold every car they had. She said, that's never happened to anyone. It hasn't daddy. I said, no, I, I left it with that I let her, she was flying high. She might even ask. You could ask some money I don't know, but he sold every car McKinney could put out there one time. I feel sorry for them. Other salesmen, they didn't. They didn't even get to ride up one of them. But that's just, you know, I love that we have that as children. But. But life programs us out of that. Yeah. And we need to keep that that part of the innocence of of just saying he said, he said if you'll just come to me as a child and when you tell the child, yes, we'll go today and we'll, we'll get the baby doll, whatever. And she whatever, like, I mean, I don't know why you'd want a baby doll that cries and wets, because if you're going to have children, you'll have plenty of that. Amen. That's the sign they do that, like, oh, you want your mother. So anyway, I know today's world is different. You have to take turns or whatever. I don't I don't know where that came from. But anyway, I better get off that because we already got the offering. Okay. I lost, I lost change, uh, yeah. Michelle used to do it with 3 or 4 kids. Didn't have a car at home. I was 25, 30. I was in Selma. She was in, uh, Staunton.
Pastor Erik West: [00:05:51] How many? You don't know where Staunton is. And you shouldn't. There's nothing to know about it. It did. It does have a caution light. And it used to have a convenience store, but she didn't have no way to even get to the convenience store. And we had the one vehicle, and, uh, she had three kids, you know, from the age of 4 or 5 years old, down, uh, at the time, we was living in the 14 by 70 trailer, two bedroom and, uh, Tyler, the middle child, he had to sleep all by himself. And for whatever reason, he wouldn't sleep. No way. He wanted all the lights off. Totally dark room, no lights. And it couldn't be no one else to be in the room. And he was asleep so. Well. So the other two kids, Chad and Amy, they had to sleep with us. It was, it was it was a lot of fun. And so we put a baby bed at the end of the bed, you know, small little 14 by seven at the end of the bed. Amy was in there. And then I had a trifold, uh, beach chair to my side with blankets on it and pillows. And Chad slept in a trifold. But he's a kid. He didn't. He didn't know anything. Didn't know a whole lot, you know, still today, until I teach him some more. But anyway, he was down there, so when you had to get up and go to the restroom at night, you had to wake up, and then you had to climb, you know, to the end of the bed and climb over the post.
Pastor Erik West: [00:07:09] And then you had to think, do I really need to go that bad? I mean, you had to weigh out the, you know, because it was a big ordeal to go do this. And, uh, and we did that. So yeah, I left her there. And then, uh, I was running a business, and so I was gone ten hours a day, and I was talking to people all day long. And how many you work retail or have worked retail and how many when you get home, you'd like to have some peace and quiet. If you're just 15, 20 minutes, you know, and it's, you know, and when a woman's raising three kids, she'd like to have an adult conversation. And I wanted to have no conversation for at least 15, 20 minutes. And I didn't drink anything. So, I mean, I, you know, I had to have some natural help. So, I mean, some people try to knock it off with some beer, but I, you know, I don't drink. So y'all did know that, right? Okay. Just just letting you all know that. I want to ask you what you're doing, but I just told you what I. You know, I'm living the high life. It's just not by Miller. And I don't smoke anything to get high because I have the most high. I don't need the artificial. And I got the real deal, you know, just like most I got.
Pastor Erik West: [00:08:14] Amen, Amen. So I come home and. And she kind of looked like her hair was always like, you know, like this, whatever. And so she kind of said, they're yours while she's cooking supper. And we did all that. So I entertain kids, you know. And you can do that. I thought, you don't have to have all these fancy gadgets. We didn't have anything electronic. So there wasn't no cell phones. There wasn't all this kind of stuff I could. I got a large closed basket, and I got a little nylon piece of rope, and I could put a pillow in there and put two kids in a closed basket, and I'd drag them up and down the hallways, and I sling, and they'd do a power slide around there. And then she put the pillows on my back and put two, two, uh, put a pillow on my back and two belts. Put one on the front shoulders, one on the back, and I'd do the giddy up for about an hour and a half, put them all three in the bathtub, wash them down and say good night. Amen. Now, that has nothing to do with what I'm talking about today. But, you know, pastor should help you with your home life and parenting. So if you these things are being recorded for your for your advantage. So anyway, I hope that blessed you. We're we're going to talk about we're going to talk about living in the presence of Jesus, the Holy Spirit always.
Church Members: [00:09:30] Amen. Come on man.
Pastor Erik West: [00:09:32] How many would love for Jesus to show up in the flesh at your home for an hour? How many would take 30 minutes if you would do it? How many? You write down a few questions you want to ask him before he leaves. Amen. So some people say it would have been better for us if we could have lived back, you know, when whatever Jesus said, no, it's your advantage. He said, it's your to your to your advantage. If I leave. They didn't. They were like you was real quiet when I just said that. It was really, really quiet when he told them because he'd been with him, what, three, three and a half years, he says it would be better for you if I leave. Because what I'm talking to, John Peter's always trying to butt in. Always. He's always got something in his mouth off all the time. So he says, I can't be with John and Peter. And he says, and there's things I need to teach you, but you're just not ready to hear them today. How many know that's true? How many you ever bought a book? And you mentioned you was going to read it, and you got in just a little bit and all of a sudden you lost interest in it and you put it up and, you know, it stayed on the shelf for six months, a year, sometimes five years.
Pastor Erik West: [00:10:33] Then for some reason, you picked it up and you began to read it. It was the most interesting book you've ever read and somebody has come to your house. I don't know how they stole your book, reprinted it, put it back in there, and now they made it more interesting. What happened, do you suppose, what happened? Some type of growth took place in us, so we had enough experience in life to where we could relate to the to the author of that book and what he printed. And that's the way it is with this Bible. Yeah. Paul said, I'm going to have to. Paul said, I'm going to pray for you, you know, and he says, I'm going to travail. Intercede. He said, because you have just now been birthed in Christ, but you're not fully ready. You're not fully formed in that sense. So when Christ comes in, you have all of him in you. But but no one in this building and I know I'm not. No one is accessing everything that you have access to.
Church Members: [00:11:24] Amen.
Pastor Erik West: [00:11:24] Amen. Let me say it again. No one that I know of has ever accessed everything that has that's already deposited in your spirit that you are, that you have access to.
Church Members: [00:11:37] Amen.
Pastor Erik West: [00:11:38] You say, well, what cuts it off are thinking we all have certain lines of thinking and certain ways that we have let become almost like a fortress, or it is a fortress, so we don't even ever go there. We don't even see it that way. Amen. I mean, and so we just go this way. So that's why the Holy Spirit through through, uh, in Proverbs he says, as a man thinketh. That's. That will be his way in life. Edith. This is available. He will never access it because he doesn't think this way. He thinks that way. I mean, it's just like being I'm one of the strange ones. I'm left handed. So generally, I think I think I'm left footed. So I always start off with my. How many of you start off walking with your right? With your right leg? How you don't know what you start with. So. Well, when I go to a ladder, if you're right handed, let me start with your right leg. I start with my left every time. No. Why do I do that? Because I'm left handed, I guess. And so I, you know, it's my most obvious I go there. Now, if you go, you know, to our house, a lot of times you go in the refrigerator. Some of the jars are kind of, you know, they're kind of they're not twisted. Most of them were cost me was a $3,500 for zero time that I burned the motor up in because I thought I couldn't get to it.
Pastor Erik West: [00:13:11] And I put my hand in there and and I was, you know, usually, Bill, like, you know, you can feel. And I didn't feel like I was cross threading it and I couldn't get access to it. So I was using my hand. And because they didn't put me a drain hose like they were supposed to on it, so I was trying to get in there. It didn't have much room to work, and I cross-threaded it and I didn't smell anything until I used it an hour and a half. And I looked behind me. I thought, what's that? An oil was all over the back of my head. I mean, my shirt, my hat. It was all over the motor, and I burned the motor completely up because I was left handed. And I don't know who to sue without me being left handed. I'm sure there's someone I can sue for that, isn't there? Anyway? So, uh, I mean, I know someone got sued at McDonald's. They're suing somebody, you know, for. We ate every meal here for a month, and I got fat. And they're suing McDonald's for being fat. Well, if you live in the South, I mean, we could wipe out the nation's future forever. Just being, you know, being full gospel. Anyway, I gotta get back to my message or start it.
Pastor Erik West: [00:14:13] Well, Luke 24 and let me get to the main verse. It says, their eyes were opened and they recognized him. Their eyes were opened and they recognized him. Now it's in, uh. Well, if I go to Luke, but Luke 24 and this is, uh, the resurrection morning and, and, uh, just, uh, we're not going to read every verse, but, uh, Mary Magdalene, they go and they're going to anoint the body with spices. And they had them all prepared, and they said, I want to kind of wonder who who can we get to roll the stone away, you know, at the sepulchre, so that we could anoint the body, which is the natural process, what they wanted to do. But when they got there, the stone was already rolled away, and they were surprised, and they they ran in and all they found was the linens that they had wrapped the body with. And Jesus wasn't there. And then. Angels appeared to him and said, why are you looking for? The living. Or. I'm sorry. Why are you looking for the dead among the living? Well, they knew Jesus had been crucified. He was dead. But that's not what the angels said. He said, why are you looking for dead people? Among living people. It wasn't very long after that Jesus appeared to them, but they were so excited. And so the angel said, go tell the disciples, go tell the men, go, go tell everyone else what you saw, and tell them that your Savior has risen.
Pastor Erik West: [00:15:49] And with all the excitements they they ran as hard as they could run. And they came. And it says in verse nine of 24, it says, they returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the 11, and to all the rest. And it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna. And anyway, verse 11, and their words, after they told them what they saw. Verse 11, and their words seemed to them as idle tales. And the disciples didn't believe anything that told them. The amplifier said, uh. But these reports seemed to to be idle tales, madness, fiend things, nonsense. And they did not believe that Jesus was alive. So this is Jesus, 18 who gets the news. And they said, our Lord is risen. And they said, you're mad. You're crazy. It hasn't happened. Uh, you know, you need to sit down and went, well, Peter, where it goes. And he checks it out and he finds the same thing to be true, that there's nothing in the sepulchre. There's no one there. So he goes there, and he. But he doesn't see the angel. He doesn't see Jesus. And he comes back and says, it's true. The sepulchre empty. But he says, but I saw nothing, and no one but you know, where did they take the body? And that that meant a lot to him, obviously.
Pastor Erik West: [00:17:12] But but but he didn't see him. Now I want to pick up on verse 13. We'll do a little bit of reading here. Um, Luke 2413 I'm in the King James, what have you got? Just do the best you can. It says, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about threescore furlongs. And they walked together of all the things which had happened. And it came to pass that while the commune together in reason, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. Now we're reading this, you say, well, this is an unusual passage, you know, for the month of February. It is. It. But three weeks ago, my whole life changed back there in that prayer room. He said, you'll never fulfill what you're called to this ministry until you bring corporate prayer back into the church. He said. You can spin your wheels forever, he said. But you can pray individually. But until you pray corporately and there's unity there, he said, you can't accomplish the higher purpose that that I've called you and the people of this church to accomplish. And then he said in and the things that you talk about about the Third Great Awakening. He said, if you will build a place or he said, if you'll make a place for me here.
Pastor Erik West: [00:18:29] He's talking about in our hearts. They talk to you about the physical structure, he said. He said, this building is not your building is not ready. You're not ready for increase. You can't take in what will happen. And he says, so I'm telling you now. He says, I'm telling you, I have need of this to be done quickly. So the prayer and then the, the, the physical structure. But but what really, I have never been able to and I don't want to get away from it. But he said, but tell the people that if they'll make room for me. He said, I will come now. I know he's innocent. I know he lives. That's not what he's talking about. But there's a plan. There's a purpose. There's an awakening taking place across the earth, and we have a part of that. We're not trying to be in charge of anything, but we want to be involved in it. You want to be involved in it. I mean, I don't want to run. I don't want to run anything. I used to want to run things in my 30s. I don't run nothing. I just like, Lord, use them and I'll be your biggest cheerleader. Amen. I mean, send me if you. If you want me to go, I'll be glad to. Thrilled to be used anyway, but I don't I don't I don't need a pat on the back.
Pastor Erik West: [00:19:42] I don't need recognition. I'm way past them days, I do believe. Amen, Amen. Young, young men need that. Young men need that. Young ministers. Their ego is very fragile, sometimes very fragile. And so it just takes some time and some maturity and whatever. So in heaven, your reward. If no one ever tells you thank you and they should, or that helped me or that blessed me, that encouraged me. Everyone needs that. I don't care who you are, what you are, what you call to. Everyone needs to know that they're appreciated, needed and what a difference. Whether it's the third grade teacher, someone you work with, a parent, grandparent, guardian, whoever employee, whatever it is. And so occasionally they need to hear that if they got to hear it three times a day of their life, then they got some problems. Amen. Because what we do, we're supposed to do it as unto the Lord. Amen. Um, Pastor Debbie. She's in heaven now. But she said the Lord told her. He says because they went through many years. Well, I don't want to get into that story. Anyway, there's some things that should have taken place within the body, but it didn't take him but did not take place, for I know, at least 15 years. Uh, and so he told her, he said he says that's okay. He said, I'm your reward for pastoring.
Church Members: [00:21:04] Amen.
Pastor Erik West: [00:21:06] In about a week later because, you know, they're from Texas and moved from Texas to Alabama. And there were several things happened. But immediately after he told her that they had moved from one house, sold that house to their older son, and had bought another house, and they had some elder come in that almost looked like it could be junk mail, but it was from Texas. And so the son said, well, this is kind of where we lived. I don't know, I'm going to throw it away, but I just take it to dad. So it was just a person that was back in their church in Texas on the trucking company, and he got a bonus from something that he'd done or hauled some stuff. And he said for some reason he said, y'all have just been on me and my wife's heart for he said, just thinking about all the years that we when y'all were here in Texas, and we glad you're in God's will in Alabama, but we miss y'all. And we got this bonus and wanted to just to tell you how appreciative that we are of all the years that she was with us. And this this is the the tithe of that which is $9,000. Well. That's okay.
Church Members: [00:22:06] Yeah. Amen.
Pastor Erik West: [00:22:07] How many y'all could use? 9000. If you don't send it to me, I know what to do with it. I mean, electrician tomorrow. I mean, I know, I know, we'll do it, but he said you're my reward for pastor. And I was she she was telling us about that. And I said, yeah, I said, but there's two sides to the thing because it's still important. Because when Jesus, you know, healed the lepers, he said, you know, go present yourself, present the sign. There's a way to do this. And they knew the way, you know, say, I'm clean now, but one, one, only one came back. Just one. How many? Y'all remember what Jesus said about that? He said. I thought, that's funny. He said, I thought, I thought ten were healed. What is that? What would you suppose that to mean? They didn't say thank you. They didn't recognize anything. I mean, they were happy. Wasn't mandatory, but one out of ten came back and took time to say thank you. I don't know, that's her brother Copeland preached years ago, he said. But really, he's the only one that we know, said. And then as he went, he became whole, not just healed. Could be that the leprosy just stopped and they were healed. But, you know, leprosy and not being, you know, trying to be funny, but you can lose limbs, you know, they lost parts of, you know, fingers and ears and nose and flesh and lips and everything.
Pastor Erik West: [00:23:29] But I believe he got all his stuff back. Amen. Just because he recognized what Jesus done in his life and the way that you have him live with you all the time, is you recognizing him all the time in your life. And and I'm going to answer the question in a moment that everyone can ask you to ask and how. I said, well, how? You can't really do that all the time. You can't really be aware of Jesus all the time. And I would say to you, you're right. If I have someone doing brain surgery on me, and some of y'all think I need that, probably. But, uh, I wanted to be a Christian. Uh, and I'm going to have already prayed and have peace about it, but I kind of want him focused. I don't want him focused. I mean, one time, three times, actually, in floor covering business. You know, we used to back in the days where no one knows about. Y'all remember vinyl? You just got linoleum before that, and you separate the carpet from the vinyl. You cut a piece of metal, and I've only cut with tin snips about 14,000 gazillion pieces during my years in time. And. I didn't mean to say 14 million because I said this beginning this year, 37 million times, I wouldn't exaggerate. Anyway, I was cutting this piece of metal and a little piece, you know, come off and got in my eye.
Pastor Erik West: [00:24:54] And I did that one time working here. I was cutting some grass and whatever. Something flew up and went in my eye so and had to have it drilled out. That sounds terrible, doesn't it? You know, put a drill in your eye. It's not that bad, actually. But, you know, they put your head in a brace and they have whatever it does to hold your eye open, because when when you hear the drill, you know what sounds like. Yeah, it sounds just like a drill. Your most natural reaction is going to be to, uh, uh, so they got your eyes spread and they're like, she says, and they put some dome and stuff. And I said, she said, are you ready? I said, well, is it real numb? She says, you won't feel a thing. I said, you sure? She says, sure. And I said, oh, Jesus. So here it comes. Didn't didn't feel a thing, didn't feel a thing. And they just drilled that little piece out. I mean, I don't know, there's probably a better way to say that. So I know so they drill that that out, and then you have to wear a patch that's irritated for 2 or 3 days and then you're well. And so there's, there's things in your life in all of us that that is in us and in our thinking that's become obstacles.
Pastor Erik West: [00:26:06] And it caused us to say, well, how could how could I have a presence? Of Jesus with me all the time. We all would say if we had access to him physically. Uh, man, what a wonder that would be, because we know he'd just fix everything. We assume that he would, right? But we do have that according to the Scripture. We have that because we have the Holy Spirit living in us. And, uh. And he said he will be just like me. So, uh, they were on the road to Emmaus. And so he asked them, I forgot what verse we were asked before we got off there, but, uh, anyone have an idea? Where we were for our gotta win. Around 15. It came to pass that they communed together, and reason in Jesus himself drew near and went with them, and their eyes were Holden, and that they should not know him. And he said to them, This is Jesus. He says, what manner of communications are these that you have one to another as you walk in our. And you're sad. So these are two of Jesus disciples. This is this is they're walking down the road head to toe. Emmaus Jesus appears to them, but they don't know. They don't see as Jesus. And he says, you know, what are you all talking about? And. And they said to him, they said, whose name was Cleopus answered, Jesus. Or he said, are you the only stranger in Jerusalem? And you have not known the things which are to come to pass there in these days? And he said to them, what things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, he was a great prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.
Pastor Erik West: [00:27:50] And how the chief priest and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death. And now they've crucified him. But we trusted that had been with. But we trusted that it had been. This is King James. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. Okay, King Jamie King twist you up sometimes. Can it this early in the morning too? And besides this, today is the third day since these things were done. In other words, how could you not know about this? Have you been living under a rock? And of course, they're only talking to Jesus. You know, the one that took all the punishment. Verse 21. But we. So, uh, if you drop down, Jesus answered them in verse 25 and he said, uh oh, fools slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets have expounded unto them all the Scripture, these things concerning himself. And they drew nigh to the village where they went. And he made as though he would have gone further.
Pastor Erik West: [00:29:03] But they constrained him, saying, abide with us, for it's you know, it's late in the evening, and the day is far spent. And he went to tarry with him. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with him, he took bread and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to them. And there it is, verse 31. And then their eyes was opened, and they knew him, and he, Jesus, he vanished out of their sight. So when you go on to read it, they run back and they tell the disciples that would happen to them. And while they're telling him what happened on the road to Emmaus, and they asked him to come to camp with them, he broke bread with them. He ate their eyes open while they were telling the story to the disciples, Jesus appears. He kind of walks through the wall. He appears in the room with them and he says, that's right. That's how it happened. That's right. And then Thomas, you know, he wasn't there. So they all were believers. But but Thomas didn't believe because he wasn't there. Well, these are the disciples of Jesus. Can you see there's going to be some growth that's going to have to take place. Amen. And so. Uh, we want to come to a place where where the presence of Jesus, the presence of the Holy Spirit. Is welcomed here all the time.
Church Members: [00:30:28] Amen. Amen.
Pastor Erik West: [00:30:29] I know you do in your life, but I mean, when we come together that that there's a place that he can come. He wants to be here because he's welcomed here, because he's given a place here that he knows he can take the service over. He knows he can change, rearrange, deliberate, do whatever he wants to do. And we're and we're fine with that. That's what we want anyway, that he can set the captor free. Maybe not by using our methods. He can set the drug addict free. They may not go to the 12 steps. They'll meet Jesus and it might be the one step.
Church Members: [00:31:14] Amen.
Pastor Erik West: [00:31:15] The only thing we have against. Or I say we I mean, I don't, you know, I'm for whatever can help people, you know, whatever they do. So I'm not speaking out of experience, but I'm just saying. But you're not going to get me to stand up for years and tell you, hey, I'm my name is Frank, and I'm a this and I'm that. That disagrees with everything in this Bible. Amen. Huh? When Jesus set the demon free, did he go back to the 12 step demon thing? Like. Well, my name is George, and used to be. There's about 3000 that came with me to the meeting. But, but but I'm still, you know, I'm still a demonic. Ah. You know, you were set free, right? So if you were set free. So that means what's lacking there is when you do that, you have, you do not. You lack understanding about identity. In other words, you don't know who you are yet. So you identify with your flesh. You identify with your past, that, on this and on this. So but I've been free for so many days. He who? The son set free. Now he he's free, he's free. So what you need to. What you need to know more than anything is righteousness.
Church Members: [00:32:27] Amen. Amen.
Pastor Erik West: [00:32:28] That you became the righteousness of God. What you need to know about the grace that empowers you to stay free. To be free. It's not just 12 steps. We'll be learning this forever. There's things in here we haven't. We haven't begun to see. The Bible says one day everything will pass away. Heaven and earth. The only thing, the only thing, the only thing he's going to keep is this. And for eons of years. He'll be reading this right here and open it up to us and we'll be going like, wow, wow. And we're thinking, man, I could have had that. I could have a V8 that kind of dated me when I said that commercial. I could have had a V8. So we want the presence of Jesus in our lives all the time. Amen. Now, what's the difference between a dead Christ? Because they went to go anoint the body of a dead Christ, but they found out that he was a living Christ. What's the difference between a dead Christ and a living Christ? Well, I'm going to say it this way if you have a dead Christ, I must do everything for a dead Christ. But a living Christ does everything for me. They come tell the story that we saw him. He's alive. And it says they're sad, discouraged, disappointed. And they didn't believe him. They were hoping that Jesus was going to be there to deliver them from, you know, in Israel, from the Romans.
Pastor Erik West: [00:33:55] They thought that's why he was here. Certainly, if anyone could do it, he can do it. They tried to believe they wanted to trust him, but they lost all hope. And they didn't have any joy. They didn't have any peace about it. Well, so the women saw this and they go tell the story. And the same is true today. People hear the gospel. They hear they hear the good news. They really do hear the good news. They hear it. And then sometimes they try to grasp it. In other words, they try to take in what's coming forth, but sometimes they don't receive the blessing. And I always ask the question why? You go back to the parable of the sower. They all heard the same thing, same seed, same sower. One out of four gets it. Is it the seed? Anything wrong with the seed? Nothing wrong with the seed. It was four different types of soil, wasn't it? One soil was ready to receive and take in, to take in, to take the seed. And the seed always knows what to do. And the soil knows, knows what to do when the two get together. When we come together with him. And he says. Luke 811 says, the seed is the Word of God. But is our heart receptive when the word goes forth? Because the word all knows how to do is produce.
Pastor Erik West: [00:35:15] A corn seed is never confused. Should I be a flower? Or should I grow up to be an oak tree? Or. I know you want corn, but I'm really going to mess with you and I am going to be a cucumber. Has that ever happened? Have you ever planted corn and got cucumbers? If you do, I'm through preaching. It's your turn. Come on up here right now. So the seed is not confused. It's the heart. It's the unrenewed mind so you can pick it. Abortion clinics all day long if you want to. But I know many Christians abort many things God has planted in them and there's no one picking against you. Include me. I've done it plenty of times. I killed my own. I killed the dream seed. I said, well, we could never do that. We've all done it. Why? Because we gave in to the. We came to the flesh instead of walking by faith. And you know the you. The seed has to. The seed is introduced to your senses. It always is. If you could keep the two apart, it'd be no problem. But you can't keep them apart. So someone has to be in charge. It's like, you know, you plant a garden and you got these crows coming in or rabbits or whatever. So some people put up, you know, scarecrows or whatever, or something makes a sound or whatever. Well, that's what your spirit's supposed to do.
Pastor Erik West: [00:36:40] So if your spirit is strong. Proverbs 814 said, A strong spirit of a man will sustain him in time of bodily pain or trouble, he said, but a weak spirit who can bear it? He said, he said when adversity comes a weak spirit. He said, it'll it'll be a modern translation, said A wimpy spirit will fall down at the least bit of adversity. Well, we want strong people. We want. We want to be strong. You know, you don't even have to pray for strength because the Lord, the Lord is my strength. Well, if he's my strength, why would I pray for it? I would just say, that's who I am. I'm strong in the Lord. And pirates might write. Amen. He is my portion forever. That's identity. That's identity. So we have an identity crisis. You have people, you go on Facebook sometimes or whatever, and someone's stolen their identity. They're taking a page over someone's stealing this and stealing that and stealing that. But when you know who you are, no one can steal from you. When you know who you are, no matter what what people say about you, what it looks like, even if it looks like everything they're saying about you, it looks right. But when you go to the word, this is the mirror, James says, you look in the mirror. Why are you looking in the mirror? When you look in the mirror, you're looking to women.
Pastor Erik West: [00:37:51] You're. We're doing our hair. Maybe you're shaving, you're putting on makeup. Whatever you get out in the wind, it blows your hair. You go to make adjustments. And James says, why do you look in the mirror? Because you go to see the man that you're supposed to be, the man and woman of God you're supposed to be, because only in the word can you get the can you get the accurate picture of who you really are. Then you take that picture and you put it into life and everything is going, yeah, against it, saying it's not working, it's not happening. It's not going to happen. Forget it. Get it out of your mind. It's not going to get any better. It's not going to get any better. It's not going to get any better. So we have to live by faith. So I went to, uh. Um, the way things are in this construction is kind of like we put two parts, but sometimes I got a because of what's got to happen, like electrical. Maybe I got to do some of the phase two and phase one. So, uh, just a few days later, uh, he said, well, you know, to get the carpet squares put in and get what needs to be done in here, he said, uh, you know, they're about two months booked up. I said, yeah, he said, well, you better get on the book, don't you think? I said, well, yeah, but you kind of would need to buy stuff to get on the book.
Pastor Erik West: [00:39:13] He said, that's right. So. Okay, I know how this works. So I got on the phone and I said, when's you're opening what we can do any time like this. And I said, okay, let's do it this week of May. Okay. I'll be in just a few days to pick out the color and paint. Sounds good. Go and put me on the books. Carpets paid for. It wasn't paid for. Hmm'hmm. To put on the books. Faith makes plans. He said, I told you what to do. I didn't make you responsible for it. He said. Other people here. They listen. They're just as called as you are. Maybe in different capacities, but they're just as called as you are. I should do this and get it finished. You have to be ready. You got to get ready. So I've learned that through the years. But sometimes I would forget that. I would forget that. And so when we're when we're leaving this way, and you have a presence of Jesus in your life every day, then you can have this wonderful communication. I mean, sometimes I'm going to the car and I'm I didn't used to use my I don't know why I used my hands. I used to use my hands so much to be more animated.
Pastor Erik West: [00:40:39] Actually, if you take communication to tell you to do it, it helps keep people awake, especially if you have a long arm to slap them a little bit. But that's where I'm staying right here. That way you don't have spit, nor nor do you get slapped. See how nice I am? You may come out and preach to you. No, no. So that's Michelle. So yeah, we'll have a camera right there and a TV, and we can look at the scriptures right there and read it straight on and, and it'll follow me instead. If someone had to follow me. It's only cameras. Only $8,000. Just a little thing like that. But that's paid for. I mean, we hadn't ordered the chairs at that time. Quite time to order, but but it's funded. And that also. Am I happier than y'all? Praise God. Amen. Well, we just want to tell you, because you're a family, you're part of it. And if you're, you know, if you're if you're part of the help, you're part of that. If you're part of the what solves the problem, then you you know, God does not let a seed be planted that he doesn't recognize. And he never gets confused. You know where the harvest is supposed to come to. You say, well, Lord, what? What if I give this seed and my neighbor next to me to give something? It's just one chair over.
Pastor Erik West: [00:41:57] He knows. He knows. I mean, this ain't GPS. Like at my house. Everything. Almost everything I order. If you go by GPS, they're going to take it to Barbara's house. So I'll just tell her I'll have a package come tomorrow. They're not going to read the mailbox, and they're not going to see the big sign on the door, because the GPS must be right. No, it's not. It's not right. Which is usually okay unless you're lugging shelves across, you know, whatever. So the Lord's never. He's never, uh. He's never confused where something goes. So a dead crash. You do everything for him but the living Christ. He does everything for you. Amen. I wrote this this way. Maybe this will help you. I believe the secret to the Christian life. This is me talking to you. This. I believe one of the main secrets to living a successful Christian life is to know. Not think not work for the presence of Jesus. And, you know, as real as you know your name. Not trying to work something up in praise and worship and these songs and have some. And then every week we're, you know, we're just saying, oh Lord, come and fall down. There is a difference between the manifestation of the Lord, of the presence of the Holy Spirit. It is different. It doesn't mean he's manifesting all the time. There was a manifestation. You could say you could.
Pastor Erik West: [00:43:32] You could call it. When I got up, I told her, I said, I'm supposed to do something here. She said, what? You. I said, I don't know, I'm not supposed to do something, but you can just call that exhortation part of it. You could call Prophetical, couldn't you? Part of. You could just say we're stirring ourself up in the Holy Ghost. You just knew there was time. It was not time to change the order of where we were going, because you're just. You want to be sensitive to that. Well, when you know him and instead of know about him. Then you'll be aware when he wants to have communion with you. I think the word's called fellowship. Koinonia fellowship. He wants to have fellowship with you. He wants to be your best friend. He's there every waking moment. And he'll come to you at any time, any time, and every time that you'll open the door to have fellowship with him. He generally it won't be dramatic. It won't be like you have to have goosebumps. He'll talk to you about very natural things sometimes that you're dealing with. He'll tell you that I'm aware of these things and and everything and he'll give you instructions, he said. Because I've already anticipated your need before you knew you was going to have the need. And so I have your answers. And sometimes he says he won't. He doesn't say, well, this is the answer.
Pastor Erik West: [00:44:55] Sometimes he'll just say, say, trust me. Continue to walk with me. Just. Just trust me and continue to walk. See, there's a difference between trust and faith. Some people say the same thing I disagree. I don't I don't think I mean, there's some comparisons, you know. Faith is is is unwavering. Faith is perseverance. Faith is steadfastness. In other words, it believes the promise. Because you're you're convinced. Abraham was convinced that if God to him, his God, which he knew very well, gave him a promise, God was able to perform what he promised. Remember that Romans four. How could you trust someone completely that you don't really know? That you just have information about. The Lord wants you to have experiences. Sometimes word churches say, well, you just got to be just the word. We know we don't. We don't need no experience. We don't have to have no experiences. Well, I know I probably said that myself because somebody else said it years ago, but the older I get, I quit saying what somebody else said. One day you get old enough to have an opinion. It don't mean it's right, but you have one, right? But I want to check mine against the word, you know. Acts two wasn't experienced. Psalms 34 says, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. That implies some type of experience. Taste and see. A man came up to.
Pastor Erik West: [00:46:35] We got some septic tank issues, which is always fun. Still have them for a couple more weeks. And he's he said, we're going to be able to fix this and whatever, and it's going to be this much. And he went to go fix it and said, well, that ain't going to fix it. But for five times what we told you, we can fix it. Well, what are you going to say? Uh, we don't need that. No, we need it. And he said, he said, do you know the lady next door? I said, right there at the house. I said, yes, my sister. He says, that's your sister. He says, uh, she's a nice woman. I said, you know her? She said, he said, well, a few years ago he said, I was working for the city of Jemison. Young YoungBoy. Really talented. I mean, he's real kind. He said, and we'll go out there. And she had a leak, but it was on her side, which that's usually your problem. He said, but I was just right there, he says. And so I could tell it was going to be a situation for us. She needed fixing right away, he says. So I just fixed it. My boss told me, I need our thing. Come on, he says, well, would you let me just stay here and do this? I just want to do this for her. He said, that woman bake me a cake.
Pastor Erik West: [00:47:47] It's been about three years. I'm supposed to tell you this? He pulled out his phone and showed me the cake pictures. He said he said, and then she sent me a letter. He said, and this is the picture of the letter he said. Then she wrote the city of Jemison and said this about me. He says, I don't know anyone like her ever who's ever done this. He said, I don't ever go by this house. Well, I don't, you know, some pray, some kind of blessing on her. He says, I can't tell you what this means to me. He said, I'm going to keep this on my phone forever. And I was thinking, should that means my price is now cheaper, he said. He said, no, my boss wants all that. I said, yeah, so I said, how about I already want them cakes? She said, still going to be what it is. I said, okay, I started last, so you didn't know you made that kind of impact. But he has it on his phone. I mean the the cake, the thank you letter and then to the city letter. He said, who takes time to do that? I said, well, you don't know how much she appreciated you doing that when she needed help, you were there. But our help comes from the Lord. He just uses. People, but we're about out of time. So let me get to my sermon.
Church Members: [00:49:01] And, uh.
Pastor Erik West: [00:49:03] Because it's about five til so the secret to the Christian life, and I'll give you the rest of it on Wednesday is so the Christian is not to just think this thing, but but to know, to experience each day, throughout the day the assurance and comfort of his love. I'm going to skip a few things here. I want to get to the part where I was going to tell you, can a busy person? Can a person who's physically busy during the day can can you really keep yourself aware of the presence of God all the time? I mean, all the time. I mean, if you go to the dentist and he's got your mouth open and he's drilling you, I mean, you might really be talking like Barbara. I know she does another story on her. I was in alabaster years ago, and he said, oh, are you kind of Barbara Grace? I said, yeah, he said, you know, she doesn't like people like me. I said, well, she don't like you. He says, no dentist. I said, yeah, she doesn't really like the confined whatever. And he said, uh, so he said, well, we're going to work you up an estimate. And I thought an estimate, an estimate. I mean, I could see Nathan give me an estimate, you know, but I was like, Mr. Scott, he might give me an estimate. And I said, but an estimate. He says, uh, do you have any of her same situations, like claustrophobia or do you have any? I said, well, it depends on what the estimate is.
Pastor Erik West: [00:50:24] I mean, an estimate. I'm just kind of hurting right here. You want to work up an estimate. And then you come back. I said I feel what she felt. Let me get to my message. What if you're a business person? What if you're responsible for a large corporation? Can you constantly, really? Can you constantly be thinking of Jesus all the time? Can anyone here say, I've constantly thought about Jesus all the time? I don't think you can. Well, if you're a nurse, bank manager, architect, electrician, can you always be thinking of Jesus? No, but you don't have to. You say, well, why is that? Because Jesus will think of you. When a baby is newborn and you got a newborn baby, son or daughter, the Bible says a gift from God. First few months you wonder. But anyway, you know they have a lot of needs when their first 2 or 3 months, uh, when that baby's when you're whether they're nursing the baby or giving the baby a bottle and that baby is sleeping in the mom and dad's arms. That baby is laying there helplessly, isn't it? That baby is helpless. That baby probably is not even thinking about their mother or father. They they they know they're there's a perception that they know the person, but they don't when they're two months old, they don't really know their mother. When they have a need.
Pastor Erik West: [00:52:00] They don't know anything about their mother. They don't know their mother's name, nor do they know your Social Security number. If you're a business, they don't have your Ein number. They don't know anything about that. They can't. That baby can't focus and think about the mother. But they don't have to because the mother or the father is thinking about them. And when you have that kind of relationship with the Lord himself and the Holy Spirit, even when you're busy and it seems like everything's piled in and you don't have all the time that you wish that you could spend, you can have a consciousness of him throughout the day, but not every moment. But know this he he knows every thought that you have. Look, if you can keep up with the number of hair on people's head throughout the planet. This is someone who has some ability. Let me know that that changes every few seconds. Yeah. So he said, I will. I will remain with you. I will watch over and keep you. I will never leave you, nor will I forsake you. My presence is with you. Each waking moment. I will watch over you as you sleep constantly with you every hour of the day. And so we might think that's too good to be true. No, it's just the continual presence of Jesus. Well, then I could know him. You see, if I know him that way, now, I can have peace.
Church Members: [00:53:31] And comfort.
Pastor Erik West: [00:53:32] My jaws are stored. That means he would be that to me. He would be my happiness. Because it's him. A dead Jesus I do everything for a lie of Jesus does everything for you. Amen. He would be with me in trouble. Hand in hand as the good father. No need for fear. No more anxious thoughts, he said, casting all of your care upon him. Why? For he cares for. Huh? He cares for what? You. That means he's thinking of you. Even when you can't think of him. He's thinking of you. These are things that just was coming to me as I was preparing. Just thoughts. He said, I gave you life. So I was there for your first breath. He said, I'll also be there when you take your last breath. You'll never be without me for your first breath or your last breath. My presence will always remain with you. He's a gentle, humble presence. If he needs to be, we know his capability. He deals with things. We know he's also known as the Lord of War. We'll see that in the Book of Revelations. But he deals with you very meekly. Kindly. He's humble. We'll finish with this. Jude 21 says, keeping yourself in the love of God. Jude 21. There's only one book. Keeping yourself in the love of God, looking for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ with eternal life. So he says, keep you. Keep yourself in my love. And always look for mercy. Well, some people paint Jesus as he's mad and he's out to get you. He says no, just keep. Keep yourself in my love. Well, when I do that, I'm thinking about his presence all the time. I think about his goodness. I'm thinking about how faithful he is. I'm thinking about there's a way that this is. He's aware of these situations and I'm trusting him. See, I can trust you if I know you don't call out any names. But how many know? Some people, but you can't trust them. No, I.
Church Members: [00:55:53] Do.
Pastor Erik West: [00:55:55] You mean there's just some people that, you know, they might be nice person, but. But you you can't trust them with this, this and this because you've had too many experiences. In other words, their character tells you and your experiences with them tells you you can't trust them. So you can't really know someone and trust someone, or you can't trust that person unless you know them. You say, well, we all know God's trustworthy, but he wants you to have the experience. He wants you to have the confidence. It's important that we have confidence and this is the confidence that we have if we ask anything according to his word. We know that he hears us. Notice that he started off with not just knowing the word. He started off with, I want you to have confidence. So so he said, if you know me, then you can have confidence that if you anything in my word belongs to you, he says, then I will hear you when you pray. I'm quoting John John five 1415 and then know this, the thing that you pray and ask for, which is my will.
Pastor Erik West: [00:56:57] Know that your petition is granted. Yes, but that comes out of a relationship which develops the confidence. You know, a lot of you have been with us for years. Miss Dana was with us in that first building. She's seen a thing or two. She probably had 4000 thousand reasons she could have left years ago. Could not like this, not like this, not like this. Whatever. But she just stay steady. She just stay steady. She just stay steady. She just stay steady. She just stay steady. Then other ones come. I remember when Keith came. Years ago. He was single. Remember when you're single? That was two lifetimes ago. He met his wife at church. But when very long, he was going. Church with Nathan. And also Nathan shows up, had all these little kids behind him. They all grew up. Well. But they stuck. They stayed. They stayed during the hard times. So it's real easy to have friends when you own a swimming pool. Son in law. He's got a new house with a swimming pool.
Church Members: [00:58:26] Doo doo doo doo doo.
Pastor Erik West: [00:58:32] I bet I'll get some my best sermons in June. During the day, I bet that my son is like, ooh, the Lord really talking out here.
Church Members: [00:58:40] Right?
Pastor Erik West: [00:58:42] But I'm talking about people that stay with you when they know you. And some of the things that they know you, you don't even want the world to know. And they're they still care for you even during that. Amen. Even when you're dealing with situations that you don't want to be dealing with, or you want it changed, but you're but you're still going forward, and then you have a support and a support system.
Church Members: [00:59:09] Mm.
Pastor Erik West: [00:59:10] See, that's what happens in prayer. That's what we was talking about in prayer. You can't pastor a church. And say, well, I'll just get I'll do the praying. Not that people aren't aren't praying, he said. But you have to have corporate unity. It's called a body. And those people, they kind of all went to heaven on me. So here we go again. Now let me finish this right here. This I'm going to start my sermon finished right here. So the secret you ever heard about. But.
Church Members: [00:59:41] Uh.
Pastor Erik West: [00:59:42] The Lord is looking for a holy church. He's going to come for a glorious church. It's like he's not going to come until the church's glorious. Well, are you born again? Yes. You're you're you're glorious.
Church Members: [00:59:57] Amen.
Pastor Erik West: [00:59:59] If Jesus is going to return when there's no spot or wrinkle or sin, he's never going to come back. It'll never happen, right? All right. This is my. Let me finish here. Let me give you the secret of holiness right here. In your understanding instead of in dealing instead of indwelling sin in your thinking. How about there is an indwelling Christ instead of indwelling sin? We're seeing is even to a believer there is an indwelling Christ to conquer it. It's him. See it's relationship. His indwelling light, his love. That's the secret of holiness. You. In other words, he's not waiting for you to become strong enough. Ephesians 610 says, be strong in the Lord and in the power of what his might, his might. So the secret of wholeness is not the indwelling sin, it's the indwelling Christ. And first Corinthians 130 said, Christ is made unto you sanctification. Oh, Christ is already past tense made unto you sanctification, which means he sets you apart for himself, but you are holy. So Christians, ministers, preachers sometimes talk about holiness. But do you really know what holiness is? Is simply Christ coming into your life. He takes charge. He takes charge of your whole being. That's holiness. He's the ruler of all things. Your thoughts, your nature, your emotions will come under his authority and submission. And then we just simply yield to him. See? It's him. If life is hard for you, it's now. If life is difficult for you today, it's probably because you're doing most of it.
Church Members: [01:02:03] I mean, there.
Pastor Erik West: [01:02:04] Were times in my life that I had to, even as a pastor, I had to go back and the Lord would just say, uh, this is this is not going to get any better. And I'm thinking that is not good news. He said, matter of fact, it's going to get worse. And I said. Uh, you know, I'm a word man, so I'm like, uh, can I get any word on that? He said, sure. How much? How much time you got? He said, actually, I could tell you how much time you got. I said, no, don't do that. Don't tell me today. He says, as long as you're in charge of it, it's not ever going to change. I had to come to the place to where I had to just surrender and become what the Bible says dead. And I said to him, I can't fix this. I don't know how to fix it. You can put that in financial things. You can put it with raising a family with children or troubled in the family, and you can't fix it. Look, most of us, if we had a if we have a problem, especially if it's a severe problem, if you could have fixed it. You would have already done it right. So we've already proven to him that we can't. So just coming to him and say, I can't fix this, well, that's not going to be a revelation to him. He can say, hey, listen, this is his revelation coming from Jemison, Alabama, but it helps to lay it out on the table, so to speak.
Pastor Erik West: [01:03:30] And you tell him, I can't fix this. And then I cast the care upon him. I did this years ago with a teenager child and well, now they were past the teens. But at this point, and she asked me one day she says, you are ignoring this child. And I said, not really. I said, I know, I know why you said that. She said. There's some situations. I said, yeah, I know about that. And she said, and, uh, John G. Lake talked about, uh, a man that he knew that he won in his book, the man had a problem with the sun. And this the sun had all kinds of addiction problems. And, John, do you like to talk to him about it and prayed for the man and the man, John G. Lake didn't tell him to do this, but from that point on, he said, I don't have a son. So about six months later, what I mean by that he cast the care completely on him as if I don't have the sun. Why? Because God has him. Well, 2 or 3 months later, they came in and they said, uh, we, uh, we're sorry to tell you this Mr.. Uh, but there was a jumper off the bridge and it ended in whatever. And we're trying to identify the body, but it looks like this is your son. He says, couldn't couldn't be.
Pastor Erik West: [01:04:58] My son jumped off there. He said, well, he said he said, I don't have a son. And I thought he just cracked under the pressure because this kid was giving him more than he could for years. But he said, I don't I don't have a son. I'll have some. This might help somebody. I'll finish right here. So this is back many years ago. And I said I and I said, I see that I wasn't saying what he was saying, but I completely cast the care upon the Lord. And when and when this kid was in my presence, we I would acknowledge him, but I would never ask him about this. I would never say, why? Why are you doing this? Why are you not doing this? When, when are you ever going to. Whatever. I just left it alone. And I said, Lord, he's yours. He's not mine because I. One day I almost got to the place to where I was. I who knows, I could have left the world dealing with that situation in my own power, just, you know, owning my thought life. And I completely cast it upon the Lord. And she said, well, I mean, it's like you don't even recognize us in the world. I said, no, he's he's in the world. I said, God knows he's it's his son, not mine. I said, now the Lord's going to fix all this, and I might adopt him, but he's the Lord's son.
Pastor Erik West: [01:06:17] So I left. I left all this alone. And, uh. We had Jack Myers and we was in Clanton. Y'all remember some of y'all remember Jack Myers? And things was getting worse and worse and worse. And the devil would tell me. He said the phone's going to ring at any time, and they're going to tell you your son's dead. We found him here. We found this. We found that. We just taunted me all the time. And, uh. Jack Myers was a Holy Ghost meeting, and there was a man that we brought in musicians, you know, from Oklahoma. We flew in musicians to do a whole youth thing. But the Sunday night was for everybody. And, uh, he, he was calling out words of knowledge. The lights was off. We had some other lighting, and he was just it was it was a time of what was going on. There was laughter and there was deep weeping all at the same time. And I was in the front, you know, trying to be the pastor. But I still had all this weighing on me. And I remember at the front all my knees on the carpet, and I was weeping. And I said, Lord, I've. I've lost him. I've lost him. Uh. And I just knew that, like, any time I was going to get this phone call and he would be deceased, and I had this mini vision. Mini vision. I was at the front of lights out. I'm on the. I'm on the floor.
Pastor Erik West: [01:08:03] I'm the pastor. Right? Jack Myers doing service and I was weeping. And I had as many vision and I saw him. I saw this fence, but it was weird. It was made out of my hand. Like you'd have three strand or four strand. I had a fence made out of my fingers, and it wasn't no bigger than my fingers. And he man, he scaled over that fence, mine like this, and he ran up. He he was looking back saying, you know, kind of laughing. And it was kind of saying. He was. I mean, he slipped out of my hands. There's nothing I can do. He's not a teenager, but he's not. Whatever. He's still your kid, right? And then that mini vision. I saw him run and thought he was free and he ran into a wall. And when I was sitting there on the carpet weeping, I saw this wall. But it looked different. It was made out of flesh. And as it began to pan up in the vision, it's like each finger. It was, it was, it was hand. And I knew it was the hand, Lord. But each finger was like 25 foot feet high. So he would just with four fingers, he'd have 100. And he was trying to get up the wall and couldn't. And he said to me, he says he might. I got out of your reach and out of your hands, he said, but he'll never get out of mine.
Church Members: [01:09:33] Amen, Amen.
Pastor Erik West: [01:09:35] And I hadn't seen him for a long time, and he'd had enough trouble to spread around for a while. And it was dark in the room and he said, everything's okay. And he said, um, look behind you. That's what he said. Open your eyes and look behind you.
Church Members: [01:09:56] And open.
Pastor Erik West: [01:09:58] And there was my son in the building. Who I ain't seen in months. And he was weeping and crying. He said. I was working at Lowe's. He told me after he said I was working at Lowe's mixing paint, he says something came all over me. He said, I don't even know what it was. He said, I do know what it is, he said, but he came all over me and he says, if I had to quit my job, I knew I had to leave there and get to that church. I didn't know there was this man was here tonight, but I knew I had to get there tonight. And I told him, he said, I told him I had to go. I had an emergency. And I said, well, okay, then clock out. And he drove from Alabaster to Clanton. Vasily, get there and walked into the meeting. And I'm sitting there having this meltdown, and the Lord's gave me this vision, and my son is standing behind me who I haven't seen in months. So I've learned something about knowing him. See. Oh, taste and see. I mean, I want that cake to say, I want that cake. I bite, then I want to say, where's the milk, yo? Or whatever, you know, where, where's the coffee? The Lord wants you to be able to experience. He wants you to have those experiences.
Pastor Erik West: [01:11:25] And I know you have. But I know he's doing something to cross the earth and he's doing something. He's doing it everywhere. The people would just open up the door. He said, just let me can I use I mean, this is what he said to me. He said, you're not ready. He said, can I use your facility? I'll tell you what. It bothers me. I said. I don't have a facility. This is yours. He said, but I still I asked Peter, could I use his boat? He said, can I use this facility for what I want to use it for and get it ready? And I said, yes, Lord, I mean everything, anything I have is yours. He said, if you let me use it. He said, like I told John Kilpatrick, he said, remember that meeting you was in. He said, if you let me use it. He said, he said, if you let me use it, he said, I'll pay my own way. I've never had the Lord tell me nothing like that. If you let me use it and partner with me, I'll pay my own way. You don't remember this, but in that meeting Jack called out, it's pretty cool. We were sitting in the dark and he had his word of knowledge, and he says, I don't know if I've ever heard a girl's name, this name.
Pastor Erik West: [01:13:02] He said, but I have a word for someone named Marlena. She, she she wasn't there, but he went ahead and gave the word out. And I don't know if you I'm sure you got the word to her, but but he was sitting there, you know, Mr. Beale was there, and he had a word for his daughter. About, you know, her life and some changes and stuff like that. So we're just getting ready. We haven't even hit the surface. The tip of the surface yet? You haven't even begun to see. We haven't even begun to see what the. What this outpouring is going to look like. A teachers are going to be a nervous wreck. They won't know what to do. I mean, the service will start and it's like, you think you're going to teach something and you got all these things you spent time with and it don't look like it fits anywhere. You're going to have people that's going to miracles. Listen to me. I'm speaking by the Holy Ghost. Miracles are going to just pop out and break everywhere, you know, and no one has touched anyone. I mean, the Holy Ghost is. This might offend a teacher. He's going to heal people without you teaching on healing or laying hands on them. You may not get oil on their forehead and they'll. And they'll get a creative miracle.
Pastor Erik West: [01:14:22] I'm still speaking by the Holy Ghost. And you'll see limbs replaced and grow out. You'll see eyes that don't see. See. You'll see people that had surgery to have the things removed and they'll be replaced. I have a three page prophecy that I haven't. I've only shared with Michelle so far of what he told me. Some of it was personal to me and to us, but it includes every one of us. This is that time. Why? Because the Lord's coming. The Lord's coming. And he's preparing us. If you had four kids and he came and two of them wasn't going to make it. On the rapture. Which two would you choose to stay for the tribulation? He doesn't want any of them to be here. So he's pulling out all the stops, so to speak. There'll be signs, wonders and miracles. There'll be things that no one can say anything about. You won't be able to explain it. I mean, when I like the girl who got the new knees when she went to the doctor, you know, the parts was missing. What do you say when you were the surgeon? Curry blackhead wasn't like that years ago. And his meeting and they put a plate in his back and screws and and Curry laid hands on him and he didn't seem like nothing happened. And he went back to his hotel room.
Pastor Erik West: [01:15:59] He woke up the next morning and didn't feel no pain. He stood up and was like, wow. And, uh, I mean, the plate is in his church. They got it in a plaque. Whatever. He woke up and didn't feel no pain and said, Thank God I'm healed and went to the bathroom, came back and the plate and the screws was in the bed next to him with the serial number on it, and he took it to the doctor and the doctor about pain, he said. He said, oh, how did you get this out? Oh my God, how are you alive? He said, well, I went to a man, prayed for me, and he looked at the serial number, went to his record, and he said, the doctor just like. What you going to say? I don't believe that. Who cares what you believe at that point? I mean, who cares? I mean, what's it going to take for you to believe? Thomas? Thomas. Amen. I didn't mean to. Whatever. Just. I'm excited. I'm really excited. For what? For what's happening right now. And I thank you that you're coming to help us to pray and to and to believe God together, because it it's going to go throughout the county. It's going to go throughout the state. It's going to get over the borders. It's when you when you have to evacuate the beach and they have to put the stuff over the windows and put the plywood up.
Pastor Erik West: [01:17:22] It's coming in and and nothing and no one's going to stop it. The denomination is not going to stop it. No preacher is going to stop it. God's going to advertise his own meeting, and it's not going to be like a or Roberts or Kathryn Kuhlman or brother Hagan. It's not going to be a Raymond T Ritchie. I mean, we'll have some of those. That Smith Wigglesworth or John G. Lake is going to be the body of Christ. It's going to be the kids that we're teaching. It's going to be the teenagers that were teaching is going to be the little child that's going to lay hands on the sick. It's going to astound the entire world. You're going to think you're five year old, doesn't know anything, and you're going to find out. They went to school and they lay they laid hands on a on a deaf child. And the deaf child heard, this is the day that you're living in. Arise and shine. For the glory is risen and has come upon you. Now arise from your, you know the emphasis from your depression, your frustration, and the circumstances which has kept you down. Arise, and let the glory of the Lord shine upon you.
Church Members: [01:18:29] Praise God.
Pastor Erik West: [01:18:31] Well, I bless you in his name. Do you receive it in his name? It's always good to say I receive. I receive. You don't really. You have to receive it. Amen. And so, if you can be here with us Wednesday, we're going to be at seven. And, uh, we look forward to being together again. Amen. You're dismissed.
Write a comment