You know, sometimes I think that we think - as a culture kind of - that when enough time goes by, things start to fade away, right? The influences of the past tend to die with the more time that goes by. I mean, heck, if you ask half of the kids in this room right now, they would tell you that the 90s were so long ago, right? And nothing from the 90s exists anymore and there's no way the 90s has anything to do with who we are today as a culture. You know, to them, it's ancient history. But to me, I actually looked into ancient history this week. I don't know why I got on a kick this week. And I started to look at ancient Greece and ancient Rome, and how they are still affecting us today. You're talking 1,500, 2,500 years ago, and still to this day, we still have influences from that culture that are with us today. We look at like Roman culture, right? The planets, all our planets are named - for the science guys in here - All the planets are named after Roman gods. The Greek culture, we talk about the Olympics. I mean, look, the entire world, every few years, comes in and participates in the Olympics that came from ancient Greece. That's something that isn't even just American culture, but the entire world is still being affected by this. If we look at inside the U.S., we have a ton of things that are still influenced by that culture. “Nike”, the brand, the shoe brand, right? That’s named after the Greek god of victory who was called Nike. Cereal, that's like my vice, I eat a lot of cereal. My wife doesn't like it, but I start my mornings with, you know, super sugary (probably not good for you, cancer-causing sugar). I love cereal. But if you look at the word “cereal", that was named after the god of the grain - still affecting us to this day. Look at the White House. The White House is like a symbol of us as an American culture. What is the architecture done after? Greek culture. And we talk about law, like the difference between civil and criminal law. I deal with criminal law, I don't really know a lot about civil law; The separation between those two is because of Roman culture. So much of who we are today is still being influenced by a culture that has not existed in thousands of years.

One of the biggest differences, if I asked you today what one of the biggest differences between then and now is, you would probably say the difference between monotheistic and polytheistic worship. Right? Back then, they worshiped a lot of different gods, a lot of different things. And depending on what they needed in their life, was where they would go for worship. So if they were going on a trip with their family, they would go and they would begin to get offerings to the god of travel. If they needed luck, they would go and they would worship the god of fortune. If they needed rain, they would go and pray to the god of the storms. And we look and can see how different - how unique - the Jewish religion was coming in because it just worshipped one God.

We today feel like we're so separated from that culture where they worship many different gods and all different things, and that happened so long ago. There's no way that we as a culture are still being affected. But I want us to examine today, do we really worship one God or are we still worshiping many gods? You see, we don't necessarily worship a god called victory. But what do we do? We immerse ourselves in our children and sports and it becomes the center of our universe. I just drove by on the way here past the football field and saw the place packed! It was unbelievable how many people were standing on the sports field this morning. But how many people are in the church of God? We make sports the center of our universe. Do we necessarily worship a god called sports or worship a god called victory or “Nike” or whatever it is? No. But don't we actually worship it? We give our time and we invest ourselves into it, and we sacrifice time with our families or time in our homes, and we sacrifice - and we give offerings. And we go and spend all the time and our minds are consumed about it. And that's what we're talking about at the dinner table. And it becomes a thing that is a god that we end up worshiping. How many of you guys, like the boss said, know somebody who only talks about their glory days, right? “Glory days.” They talk about the old times. Those guys who have maybe big bellies and half of them were my wife's friends in high school, and they were talking about their glory days; How they were the captain of the football team, and they went to state champions. They're 60 years old and still talking about something that happened in high school! Why? Because that was their god. The thing that they worshipped. The thing that they're putting their children into.

We don't necessarily worship a god of prosperity, but we absolutely are constantly working and chasing this god and this rabbit of comfortability. Thinking that one day if we just sacrifice enough, if we just work hard enough, if we just sacrifice enough Sunday mornings and holidays and can keep chasing day after day, that one day we'll finally be happy. We'll finally be comfortable. We'll finally have everything that we want. And we sacrifice, and we give offerings, and we take time away from our family, and we worship, and everything becomes about chasing that rabbit of prosperity. You see, we don't necessarily worship a “god of prosperity”, but don't we actually worship many gods? We look and the names might have changed, but we can see that polytheistic worship is still alive and well. All these years later - all these years later - the American culture is still doing the same thing. That's why God says there's no new sin underneath the sun. There's no new thing that has been invented that he hasn't seen before. And the truth is, we as a culture are still worshiping many gods. Depending on the situation that you are facing, depending on the circumstance in your life, that is the thing you are going to worship and sacrifice for.

"...do we still worship many gods or are we worshiping the one true God…"

But the Bible gives us a clear command. And I pray today that this verse hits you as hard as it hit me in the heart when I read it; I've read it a million times, but for some reason this week it was like a gut check. And it says in Deuteronomy 6, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord thy God is one God. And thou shalt love that one God with all of your heart with all of your soul and with all of your might.” So today, let's examine our lives in this verse and say, do we still worship many gods or are we worshiping the one true God, amen? So if you have your Bibles, I'm going to be reading from 1 Kings. That's our main verse for today, that Deuteronomy verse. I'm going to be referring back to it.

But I have a little story that I like that I read this week in 1 Kings 20. And for the background of this story, this is at a time when the king of Aram came and attacked Israel, and they lost, and the king of Aram could not figure it out. He couldn't contemplate in his mind how it was possible; Because they had so many more soldiers. They were better trained. They had better equipment. They should have won this battle easily. But they come and they lose, and this is where the story picks up where he's trying to figure out how it happened. 1 Kings 20:22, “Afterward, the prophet came to the king of Israel and said, ‘Strengthen your position and see what must be done, because next spring the king of Aram will attack you again.’

Meanwhile, the officials of the king of Aram advised him, ‘Their gods are the gods of the hills. That is why they were too strong for us. But if we fight them on the plains, surely we will be stronger than they. Do this: Remove all the kings from their commands and replace them with other officers. You must also raise an army like the one you lost - horse for horse and chariot for chariot - so we can fight Israel on the plains. Then surely we will be stronger than they.’ He agreed with them and acted accordingly.

The next spring Ben-Hadad mustered the Arameans and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. When the Israelites were also mustered and given provisions, they marched out to meet them. The Israelites camped opposite them like two small flocks of goats, while the Arameans covered the countryside.

The man of God came up and told the king of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Because the Arameans think that the Lord is a God of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the Lord.’” Amen.

So the first thing we need to understand today is, He is the one true God. He is the one true God. Hear, O Israel. Hear, O United Faith Church. The Lord thy God is one God. You see, we serve one God with many different names, but one God. Back then, they served many gods with all sorts of different names. We as the church need to understand a very important principle today. No matter what the situation is, no matter what you are going through, no matter what hardship or challenge you are facing, the Lord thy God is one God and He is always the answer. You see, to the one getting battered by life, He is El Elyon, the most supreme God. To the one who feels alone and abandoned, He is El Roy, the God who sees all and cares. To the one who is in need, He is Jehovah Jireh, the one who provides. And to the one who is sick, He is Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals. The Christian must know - I don't care what you are facing in your life - the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of heaven and earth, is in control of all things. And He is always the answer.

The king of Aram, he couldn't get that. He couldn't understand it, it didn't compute in his worldly mind. He couldn't understand that the God of the hills was also the God of the valleys. And in the same way, the world can't understand. They don't get it. It doesn't compute that the God of healing, is also the God of provision, is also the God of obedience. You know, when you come into Christ, the church needs to stand on the one true God to say that it's the same God. The God of provision, the God of life, the God of goodness is also the God of obedience, is also the God of discipline, is also the God that comforts you in your time of need! Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one God!

So the king of Aram, he says, “it just doesn't make sense.” But when you can kind of understand it in his worldly kind of view and his worldly thinking about what was going on in that time, he said “The only thing that makes sense, we fought them where they were the strongest, right? He's the God of the hills. We'll fight him in the valleys and surely we will win.” You see, he didn't understand the supremacy of our God. Church, do you understand the supremacy of our God? I know Pastor Janeth sent out that verse and it hit my heart this morning; Do you understand the supremacy of our God, of who we serve? You see, the church - the overall church - they like to take it and cut Him into little pieces and try to take one and not the other. But I tell you today that He can't be the Lord over your heart, and not the Lord over your mouth. He can't be a God of the Sunday, unless He's the God of the Friday and Saturday as well.

Or we look at tithes. We like to look at tithes like, “Oh, I'm going to give God 10% and, you know, it’s what I owe. And then I'm the god of the other 90%.” Let's look at tithes real quick. Let's look at what it's meant to be. Back in the day, the farmers would come and they would take the very best of their sheep, the very best of their cattle, the very best of their grain. And they would take the very, very best, the stuff that would sell at the highest markup - the stuff that would sell and make them popular and famous for what they did - But they took that and they gave it to God, their first fruits. What they were saying was “God, everything I have is from You. And I'm giving back. I'm just giving this little 10% to You to recognize the fact that it all comes from You.” And then God would bless them back, and then they would give back, and it was a reciprocal, circular relationship that just went on and on and on. And what did it do? It spoke and said, “I do not serve a different God.” That's what it said. “I don't serve the god of this land. But everything that I have is from the God who provides.” Somewhere along the line that has changed into “I'm giving God what I owe Him, the 10%, and I'm the king over the other 90%.” Where it used to be he was the king over everything. Now it's, you know, “I own the other 90.” And we have come so far in the American church to say, “How dare God ask me for anything?” Let me tell you something. God is the God of everything. God is the one true God. You see, God doesn't need your money. He doesn't care about anything. It's not really about money. But we can understand how money is the root of all evil, and it is a god that has served in this land.And the church must come together - not in money, not in any one thing - but in all things. And say, “God, You own all things. You own me. You are the one supreme God.” Let me tell you something, we serve a jealous God that will not share a pedestal with any other false god.

What does it say? “Because the Aramaeans think that the Lord is a God of the hills and not a God of the valleys. For that reason alone, I will deliver this vast army into your hands. And you will know that I am the Lord.” The “Lord" is not just like a passive word. Like the Lord, the most supreme, the Jehovah, the God who created all things. God doesn't play half ownership. He's not going to allow Himself to share a place with another God. You see, polytheistic worship, it still exists today. I'm going to tell you something, you're not going to hear this from the pulpit very often. It's okay to serve other gods, as long as one of them isn't the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the minute you begin to start worshiping and saying that “I am one of God’s”, He has to be everything. He's not going to take second place. He's not going to serve with another god. If Baal be your god, go out into the world. As my wife said this morning, go out and serve Baal. But if God be your God, if the Lord Jesus Christ be your God, if the creator over the heavens and the earth be your God, well then worship Him with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength. Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one God, and I'll tell you today, there can be no mixture.

The church needs to know that. You see, the church wants to worship God until a fight with your spouse. Then all of a sudden, the god of pride owns your mouth. to worship God until you get a promotion, then the god of success owns your whole week. Worship God until you get your healing, then the god of selfishness steals away all of your thanksgiving. But He - I'm telling you today - needs to be the “Lord” God, the Lord over your life. You know, we use that term so loosely. People do the same thing with the salvation message. They say “Hey, he's going to be the Lord of your life. Just say it. Just say He's the Lord of your life. Say it, say it, say it!” Right!? And then as soon as you say that you're saved. And that's how the world looks at salvation. They gloss over what it means. But let's really look at what it means. The “Lord” over your life means He is the king over everything! He is the ruler over everything!

It means He is the king over your finances, how you look, how you talk, how you allow yourself to think and feel. He is the king over your so-called “rights”. He is the king over your revenge and your pride! He is the king over all things, and all other gods must fall down and bow before Him! All other things must fall down; So when you say - when the church says - “He is the Lord over my life” you have to know what it means. How many people are really willing to surrender in that type of way? And that, people of God, is why the road to heaven is narrow and few walk on it, but the church must remain. The church must stand. Hear, O Israel, and say it with all of your breath and all of your actions. And when you're at work and, when you're out in Walmart, and wherever you are, everything about you should say, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God! Hear, O Barnegat, the Lord thy God is one God!” And you shall worship Him with all of your heart and with all of your might and with all of your strength. You see, there's a reason that the first two commandments of the Bible are, “Have no other God before me and do not fashion yourself an idol.” He takes it seriously. Can we understand that this morning? Have we established it? Can I move on? Okay!

So, He is the Lord thy God! And He is one God, and He is the most supreme God! Secondly, He is the God even over death. He is the God even over death. You see, there's no greater force in this world than death. When you study ancient cultures, there was always two gods that were always the strongest. The god of the air, and the god of the afterlife. In the Greeks, it was Zeus and Hades. In Aram at this time, the god of the underworld was a god called Nergal, and the god of the sky was a god called Ishtar, who goes by another name - for you RLTI graduates in here - went by the name of “the Queen of Heaven.” Even in biblical times, death was seen as an inescapable end for all. The Sadducees didn't even believe in the afterlife; They believed that once you were dead, you were it. That was it. You were done, and that was the end.

But what does Jesus Christ say after his resurrection? I love this verse. What does He say after His resurrection, in Revelation (1:18)? You can put it up. “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look,” - like, look at me - “I'm alive forever and ever. And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” Amen. We need to understand why this is so important. His death and resurrection were the ultimate sign of victory, not only in the physical realms, but in the spiritual realms as well. To this power of death that has existed for so long, that has touched cultures over time and over distance - Every person has been touched by this power of death. Here stands Jesus Christ saying, “I hold the keys to death and Hades in my hand.” Not only did He defeat it, but He holds authority over it. So many of us have experienced this power of death in our lives; Really look at where we've been, who we come from, where our families have been. We have felt that power of death in our lives. For some of us, our minds were eroded by sin. There was death. It caused death, so much so that we couldn't think. And we were riddled by mental illness, or anxiety, of all these things - These illnesses of the mind that just plague people. And they go through such trauma and heartache. Why? That is the power of death over somebody's life.

Or our hearts have been desensitized. What is death? Like if my finger died, I can no longer feel, right? It takes away the feeling in my finger. Well, in the same way, our hearts have experienced the power of death, so much so that they become desensitized from sin. We cannot feel. What happens when you can't feel? Well, you can't have compassion. You can't have love. You can't have relationships. This affects our marriages, and our kids, and so much of who we are. All because of the power of death. The sting of death takes its toll; We take up things like pride, arrogance, and hatred to try to protect ourselves from the pain of the world because we have been hurt so much. The power of death ends up leaving holes inside of our heart that people try to fill with addiction and drugs and all these other things that exist in this world. You see, our relationships, our children, our mindsets, they have all been touched by the power of death. But this is why this message is so important. Jesus Christ claimed victory and authority over death on the cross and His resurrection. He is the most supreme God even over death!

"That power of death that you've had in your life? His victory means freedom for you."

That means you can be free! That power of death that you've had in your life? His victory means freedom for you. It means freedom from the power of addiction. It means freedom from the sin of pride. It means freedom from the hurts and pains of your past, and the heartache and everything that you've been through. It means freedom because he holds the power over death. He holds the keys to death and Hades in His hand. But why do we need this freedom? Let's ask that. It's not so you can be a better person. You don't get freedom so you can be a better version of you. You don't get freedom so you can go out and just be awesome all the time and just walk around and everybody's looking at you like, “Oh, look at that guy, he's so cool.” That's not what God offers freedom for. God offers freedom so that you can come into that commandment, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one God, and you shall worship Him with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength.” We cannot fulfill that command if the power of death is over our lives, but God comes in - He has authority over it, and because He has authority over it, He can take it. He can take it. He can remove it from your life and bring healing for one reason, so that you can worship the one true God. So that you can stop devoting your heart and your life to all the other gods of this land - all the other things of this land that exist- and that you can fall down and worship Him with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength.

You see, the king of Aram couldn't get it. He didn't understand how he lost that original battle, and I'm sure he had probably gone around and heard God referred to as “The Most High God,” Right? We've all heard that. If you've been around church people, you've heard “The Most High God.” And he's probably thinking, “Oh, He's the Most High God. He's the God of the hills. I'm going to fight Him on the plains, right? I'm going to fight Him in the valleys. If He's the Most High God, He's not the most low God. So I'm going to go down there and we're going to win. And we're going to fight Him where we are the strongest.” You see, in his natural polytheistic mind, he made a mistake thinking that God was not the strongest in the hills and the valleys. That He was not a God of the hills and the valleys. So naturally he goes down and they line up. And what does the Bible say? That the Israelites were like two small flocks of goats, like two little dots on the horizon, and here are the Arameans that fill the entire countryside. You see, his mind in the normal way of doing things in this world couldn't comprehend that there was one God over heaven and earth that was the most high, that was the God over all things, that held all supreme authority.

"...God is looking for the church to rise up and display into this world what it means to worship one God."

In the same way today, people cannot comprehend what it means to serve only one God. They will look at you and say, “I don't get it. It doesn't make sense. How do you spend all your time in church? It doesn't make any sense. Why are you devoting all your time to this church, to these things, to this God? Why? It doesn't make any sense. How can you not act? Do you have a problem in your life? How could you not act? You've got to get up. You've got to get on your own two feet. You've got to pick it up. What do you mean you're going to wait on God? What does that mean? Is God coming? Is He on a bus? What does it mean God's coming? ‘Wait on God.’ That makes no sense. or how do you not get angry? You were just wronged. Somebody just stabbed you in the back. How are you not angry? How are you not bitter? How are you not resentful like everyone else? You need to go and get even.” You see the gods of this land, the people of this land, the worshipers of this land that worship all the other different gods, they cannot comprehend what it means to worship one God, to worship one God over all things. But God is looking for the church to rise up and display into this world what it means to worship one God. There's only one way of doing things in this world; This world looks and says there's only one way, but the church must stand and say, “You're right, there is one way, and your way is not the right way. The way is through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the gate. All that come to God must come through Him.”

I really like that verse when he says, you know, “Because he thought I was the king of the hills and not the valleys, I'm going to deliver them.” It's almost like He took it personal, right? Like He kind of took it personal. Like God got offended a little bit, let's be honest, right? He was like, “Are you kidding me? Did this guy just compare me to all those other gods?” And He took it personal. In the Bible, there's a few times that you really get that sense that God's like upset, you know, for what they just did. You know, I think of Balthazar when he was honoring all the other gods and a hand wrote on the wall, right? “Your days are numbered.” Or when Herod was being proclaimed as God and he was just sucking up all the worship. And what happened? He was struck down in that moment and eaten by worms. All these different stories and here we are again in this story of God coming and God taking it personal - the fact that He was being compared to all these other gods. You know I look at that, and can we really see how serious God is about being compared to all these other things in the world. To all these other false gods. Can we understand how serious God takes it when He says, “Have no other idol before me.” And, “Let there be no mixture between my ways and the ways of this world and all these false gods.”

You see, God takes it personal. In the same way He took you personal. You see, in the same way God takes His name personal, He took your name personal. In the same way He knew you while you were still a sinner. In the same way He took a personal interest in your life to rescue you out of the grave, out of the darkness, out of the muck and mire, out of all the sin, and the pain, and the power of death. You all have different stories and you can all come up here, and you did the other week talking about all God has delivered you from. You see, God took it personal. God took you personal. He knew your name! He went to the cross. He thought about you. He did all these things personally thinking about each one of you. And I tell you, church, it's time for the church of God to begin to take his name personal. To begin to take Him personal. To stand on His name. To rid themselves of all idol worship and to remove themselves from the patterns of this world and to devote themselves to the one true God in heaven.

We cannot operate under the power of death. Worship of anything else leads to death, that's why the Bible says, “There’s a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to destruction.” There's a lot of ways that seem right to men, but in the end it leads to death. There is only one way to life. There is only one way, and it is through the Lord Jesus Christ. The power, the one who proclaimed victory over death. The one who holds the keys to death and Hades in His hands. The one who is victorious. He is the one true God of Israel. He is the one true God that will not share a place in your life, a pedestal with any other god. He is the one true God. So because we serve the king over death, that is reason finally that He can be the God of life. Think about it for a second - all these different things in this world - how can anything offer life? No other god, no other thing, no other person ever worshiped can ever proclaim that they beat death. So how in the world can someone offer life, if they did not beat death? Only the one who beat death can offer eternal life. He is the only one that can offer true life. There's a lot of things in this world that tell you that “It offers true life.” We're told that if we make enough money, we'll have a life that's worth living. We're told that if you just work hard enough and “Go, your retirement! When retirement time comes, that's when you get to enjoy life and it becomes worth living is retirement. If you work hard enough.” We're told that, “Hey, if you eat healthy and work out and do all these things, well, then you can start living the good life and you can really have a healthy, good, fulfilling life.”

I listened to this podcast the other day. It was Jase Robertson from Duck Dynasty. His dad just passed away, and he is absolutely his father's child. And he went in and he spoke and he said, “Listen, I'm all about it. You know, live healthy, go to the gym, take your vitamins, eat well.” He's like, “I'm totally about that life, but we can't let it become a delusion. We can't let these things become a delusion that death is not coming. I'm telling you today that death is coming and you better be ready.” And I was so impressed with what he said, because the truth is that all these things in the world, they offer delusions to take it away and say that death isn't coming. Or this life is worth living if you do A, B, C, and D. But death is coming; Death is coming for all men except for those who have received eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, we devote all these extra hours, and effort, and thinking, and worship, and sacrifice. We do all these things into these so-called gods of the land. But the Bible says, can any of these things add even one hour to your life? And the answer is no. The only one that can give life is the one who defeated death. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the Most High God.

You see this offer of eternal life, it comes for those who receive God in His fullness. Here's the catch - it has to be on His terms. It can't be on our terms. This free gift of eternal life is offered unto all men, but it comes from receiving Him in His fullness. From receiving the fullness of what it means to worship God. I had somebody come to me, I might have even shared this before, and she said, “Hey, listen, I had an aunt who was really sick, and I was praying, and I said, ‘God, would you please rescue her?’ And she ended up passing away,” and she's like, “I haven't really wanted to be in church since then.” And I said, okay. And listen, I understand that we want healing, right? I got a kid who's constantly going through health issues. I got my wife who's constantly struggling with her diabetes. I wish I could take it from them. I tell my wife all the time I'd be a better diabetic than she is. And I wish I could take it from her and she could just live in freedom, right? Because I don't mind that as much. But, you know, I could take that - I wish I could. I wish I could take the sickness from my son and take it upon myself so that he could live free. I want them to be healed, and I understand that. But I want us to really look at what it means - what the word “eternity” means. You see, our lives are but a mist. They're here one second, and gone the next.

And I said that to this lady. I said, “Listen, it sounds like you need a God over life and death - the one that is in control of life and death.” And she said, “Yeah.” I said, “He already did it. He already did it! He is the God over life and death. And He offers eternal life to all men.” Eternal life, not temporary life. I get it, we want our people healed. I understand. Believe me, I do probably more than most. But God offers eternal life, for eternity, right? Not for the next 10 years, not for the next 20 years. For eternity! God is offering eternal life, and it comes from those who are willing to submit their lives underneath the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It comes to those who are willing to submit themselves to the one true God of heaven and earth. Your rent, your healing, your marriage. Believe me, I know how important these things are, but those are just temporary fixes. God is offering you eternal life in Him - at his table, in heaven - but it comes on His terms.

In Ezekiel 36 (33-36), this is what it says, “On the day, I will cleanse you from all your sins, I will resettle your towns, and the ruins will be rebuilt. The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate for all in the sight who pass through it. They will say, ‘This land that was once waste has become like the garden of Eden; the cities that were lying in ruins, desolate and destroyed, are now fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations around you that remain will know, that I the Lord have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.” This is what it means. This is what eternal life looks like. Listen, I was that person. I was the desolate land, I was the land that was barren. And all those that walked by me would look and say, “Wow, this person's desolate. This person's lost. There is nothing worth living inside this guy's life.” They went by and looked at it. But when the Lord Jesus Christ brings life, it is eternal life. It is life in the fullness. It is God coming and inhabiting a man.

"You're born again because you're no longer tethered to your previous life that had the power of death over it."

It is transformative! This is why we talk about being born again. You're born again because you're no longer tethered to your previous life that had the power of death over it. God comes and brings the fullness of life inside of a man. Because He has authority over death, He can bring all life. Breathe life inside of dry bones, and bring him and make him transform and change into a new creation. It makes it so much that all those who walk by and see it will say “What was once desolate is now like the Garden of Eden. This can only be the hand of God.” When they see marriages and relationships restored, when they see the coward standing unwavering on this word of God, when they see the prideful going low and being the most humble, when they see the depraved overflowing with love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness. When they see the miracle that comes - the transformative thing that comes upon a man that breathes life inside of him so he is no longer the same - then the nations will say, “Surely, there is a God in heaven! Surely there is one true God! This could only be Him.”

I'm going to just close with this verse. And it's the end of our story and let's read about it (1 Kings 20:29-30). It says, “For seven days they camped opposite each other, and on the seventh day the battle was joined. The Israelites inflicted 100,000 casualties on the Aramean foot soldiers in one day. The rest of them escaped to the city of Aphek,” - They're safe. Good, we made it. We're safe, - “...where the wall collapsed on them and 27,000 died.” It's hard to look at that and say God wasn't involved. They were little foot soldiers, little herds of goats where the Arameans covered the countryside. They come and they have better chariots, they have better horses, they had better weapons and everything else. And they come and 100,000 of them perish in that moment. And the ones that escape try to run into safety. And what happens? The wall falls down on them, right? It's hard to say that God's not involved in that. And I tell you so it will be the same when God comes and brings transformation and life upon the church. All will look and say, “It's hard to say that God's not involved in that.”