Built By Rhythm

[0:00] Creatures of habits, creatures of rhythm. Just think about it. You brush your teeth the same way.! Oh, come on, brother.

[0:31] I'm going to take you to the altar. I'm going to lay hands on you. We laugh, but it's true. It's true. But here is the real truth about all that we're going to be talking about.

[0:46] Nobody backslides in a moment. No one drifts in a moment. No one stops serving God in just a moment. Nobody builds, and on the flip side, no, nobody builds a strong spiritual life in a moment.

[1:00] No one builds a strong prayer life in a moment. You are built by what you repeat. You are built by what you do repeatedly. Amen.

[1:12] And that's good or bad. That's good or bad. Okay? Look at your room. That's a habit. It's a rhythm. Look at your house. It's a rhythm. It's a habit, okay?

[1:23] Come on. Praise God. The Lord is talking to you right now. But you're built by what you repeat and what you do. Before we go anywhere as a church and before you go anywhere as an individual or a person, before vision, before expansion, before growth, we've got to talk about this rhythm in our lives, these habits we have in our lives, because rhythm is so important in our lives.

[1:52] Amen? Everyone say rhythm. Rhythm is this repeated spiritual pattern or these disciplines that really they shape who you become. Does that make sense?

[2:04] Your rhythm shapes who you become. And habits are these daily disciplines that move you in one direction over time. I mean, and habits are grounded in the values that we have for our lives.

[2:18] If you value health, you're going to have habits geared towards health. If you value family time, you're going to have habits and rhythm geared towards spending time with your family.

[2:31] Whatever it might be, okay? Those habits, that rhythm, you shape them and you form them. And over time, they begin to shape and form you.

[2:43] But again, they are all rooted and anchored by what you value most. Do you value the house of God? Do you value the Word of God?

[2:54] Do you value prayer? Do you value spiritual matters? Do you value strong relationships? Do you value sacrifice and giving unto God?

[3:05] These are all important values. And all of our habits, all of what we do, our rhythms are all anchored by what we value. And by what you do, I was going to start this a little different, but I'll just throw it in here anyway.

[3:23] If we were to follow you around for a day, we would know what you value. If we were to follow me around for a day, you would know what I value. You would know exactly what I value.

[3:36] You can tell by some people they got a set routine of prayer. If prayer is a habit, you can tell me the time, the place, the location in which you will be praying and reading God's Word.

[3:48] You can tell a lot by a person's routine. Praise God. This is all important. Especially in the place that we are going.

[3:58] And if you want to move further in your walk with God, hallelujah. If we want to experience the revival that we keep praying about and talking about, this is all foundational in what we do.

[4:10] Praise God. Revival is not built on moments, but it's built on the patterns of our church and the patterns of our lives. Amen. Praise God.

[4:21] If we're ever going to do anything great for God, we've got to build those healthy patterns. Build those healthy habits and rhythms. Amen. Now I want us to go to a place.

[4:36] I want us to go into Babylon. Because it's going to be here that we're going to look at a life who was built on patterns. Who was built on rhythms.

[4:47] And at different stages of his life. And under different circumstances of his life. It shows us that his habits and his rhythm was not because of crisis.

[4:59] But it was because of his patterns and because of his rhythms that he was able to endure those crises. He was able to endure the opposition.

[5:10] He was able to see through, be seen through, through those difficult times. And I'm just going to say right now, you know, you can tell a lot about a person, about me, about you, is when we feel pressure.

[5:21] Because things begin to crack. You begin to tell a lot about a person when they feel the opposition in our lives. Something hard or difficult happens. Amen. I mean, we could just look around the room and we could say, I mean, people may be gone for different reasons.

[5:34] But I'm just saying, you know, people could be gone for, because there's pressures coming in. Either to stay away from church, to do other things that seem more appealing. But again, we can see what really matters in someone's life.

[5:48] And just by looking at all of us here this morning, I can tell what you value most. As being in the house of God. As being, hearing the preaching of the word. As being in the presence of God with the people of God.

[6:00] Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Come on church, would you agree with me this morning? And shout, amen. And hallelujah. Woo!

[6:12] Jesus, you're worthy. And for Daniel, his rhythm was built in private before it was even tested.

[6:22] In public. If you go back to me to 606 B.C. Way back in the day. Jerusalem is now under siege by Babylon. There's smoke and there's fire.

[6:33] And there are temple vessels being taken out. And people are being put in shackles and chains. And a teenage boy is watching all of this happen. What he's known.

[6:44] And what he's been around. And what he's come to love. And what he calls home. If we read Daniel, it says, In the third year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem.

[6:58] And besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim of Judah into his hand. The Lord gave. Interesting. That the Lord gave it into his hand.

[7:10] Because Babylon didn't quite overpower God. He didn't overpower God. He didn't overpower Jerusalem. But Judah had drifted from God's word.

[7:22] They had drifted from God's command. And the Lord said, I mean, you know what? Because you've drifted. And because I love you. I'm going to allow this thing to happen.

[7:33] I'm going to give you into the hand. Because he wants to get their attention. He wants to. You need to wake up, Jerusalem. You need to wake up, my people. Praise God.

[7:45] Oh, hallelujah. The word of God says that the Lord shall scatter thee among all people. But the exile wasn't the end. Jeremiah 29 tells us that for thus saith the Lord.

[7:57] That after 70 years ye be accomplished in Babylon, I will visit you. And before my good word tore you and causing you to return to this place. There was judgment for their behavior.

[8:09] There was judgment for things that were opposed to God. There was judgment and a slap on the behind for their inconsistencies and for their behavior.

[8:20] But there was a promise. There was a promise. I don't want to tell somebody this morning, you know, if the Lord chastised you, it's because he loves you. He wants to see you do good. He wants to see you do right.

[8:32] He wants you to live holy as he is holy. Amen. And if you feel like this morning you're feeling like things are against you. And you feel like things are opposed to you. And things are on top of you.

[8:42] And you can't quite see up from down. I want you to know. Hold on to the promises of God. Amen. Hallelujah. Hold on to his promises.

[8:54] Hallelujah. Is God a man that he should lie? Is he the son of man that he should repent? Is he the son of man that he should lie? Believe and hold on to the word of God. Because his promises are true and they are right.

[9:06] Hallelujah. Woo. Jesus. Help us, Lord, this morning. But Babylon was strategic to get the people of God back into covenant alignment.

[9:20] Can you say it with me? Covenant alignment. Say it with me. Covenant alignment. There was a covenant that was established years ago. We're talking about Abraham. And he was told, I'm going to make your people of the sands of the sea and the stars of the sky.

[9:33] And the people of God, we already said, had become out of alignment with God's covenant and his promises. And now he's trying to get them back in alignment. And Daniel 1.7 says, unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names.

[9:47] So now Babylon takes the best of the best. The brightest of the brightest. And he takes them into their system. They travel, I believe it's 700 miles.

[10:01] They are marching now back to Babylon. From Jerusalem to Babylon. In shackles and in chains. And there goes Daniel. And he's moved into this room with all these other bright people, smart people, educated individuals.

[10:19] And the prince of the eunuchs. And now that is important to understand. That's a totally different message. But you know what a eunuch is? He doesn't have all the functions of a man. Something's taken away.

[10:31] He's missing something. Okay? You understand what I'm saying? Does that make sense? Yeah, I don't want to go into everything. But he's missing something. Something was taken and chopped away. And Daniel and his companions are given to the prince of the eunuchs.

[10:49] And one of the things they do is they change the names. Sister God, it's you. They change the names of these Hebrews. Daniel's name means God is my judge.

[11:01] He's renamed to Belteshazzar. Abednego. And they changed their names.

[11:16] Meshech. Who was like Shek. Who's another god. A god of war. As a riot, the Lord is my help. Rename to Abednego. Or servitude unto Nego.

[11:27] Or Abednego. Then they changed their names. And they weren't changing labels. They were attacking the identity of these Hebrew boys. They were attacking the identity of these young men.

[11:40] And let me stop here and just say that, you know, culture is going to try to rename some people. He's going to try to rename you and change your identity. Amen. To try and rule who you are.

[11:51] He's going to want to confuse and blur the lines between men and between women. And we see that today. Rules or lines are being changed and lines are being blurred.

[12:05] Young people. Young people. Their identity is being challenged. Amen. Amen. But that's exactly what the enemy wants to do to us.

[12:19] He wants to change our identity. Not know who we are. Who we serve. And change what we believe. Because if I can change what I answer to, my identity, I'm going to bow to whatever that is.

[12:34] That will not become my master. But I want to tell you something. A changed name cannot conquer a settled mind. A changed name cannot conquer a settled heart.

[12:47] We have got to make up in our minds. I will serve the Lord. I will serve Jesus. And Him only will I bow to you.

[12:58] Praise God. My mind's made up. I'm going to serve Him. And that's why this verse matters. Daniel 1 and 8. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.

[13:11] Now that's rhythm starting. That's rhythm. That's habit forming. He decided. He pre-decided. Everyone say pre-decided. Pre-decided.

[13:22] He had already decided in his young heart. And listen. Daniel and his friends. I mean they're between 15 and 17 years old. They are young. But they have already purposed in their hearts.

[13:32] They had decided. I'm going to live for God. I'm going to serve Him. I'm going to serve my Lord. Even if you change my name. Even if you change my identity.

[13:43] I'm still going to serve Him. And Him alone. Before Daniel ever faced the lion. He faced the plate. Because private compromise leads to public collapse.

[13:58] Private discipline builds public authority. What you are in private always comes out when there's pressure. What you are in private always comes out in the public when you feel the pressure.

[14:14] I'm just telling you. When that pressure comes. We had better be settled in our hearts. We had better be decided. Praise God. Hey. I preach it to myself as well.

[14:25] We all need to decide. Hallelujah. If it's not already decided. We got to do it today. I will serve the Lord. I'm going to be holy.

[14:36] For He is holy. Hallelujah. I'm going to follow peace with all men. And with the holiness no man shall see the Lord. I am deciding today who I am in Jesus.

[14:48] What I am in Jesus. I'm going to live holy. Because I want to see Him. Praise God. Nobody saw Daniel's purpose. Nobody applauded him.

[15:00] Nobody celebrated. Celebrated. Say hey. Good job. Daniel for standing up to the king and his food and not giving in to those things. Hey. Great job. Nobody patted his back.

[15:12] Nobody. It just. He was just settled. He was decided. And God responded. You know the other thing I want to mention. You know Daniel didn't pull out a sign.

[15:25] He didn't protest all loud. And made a huge scene. You know. He didn't say Yahweh.

[15:36] Yahweh. He's our man. If he can't do it. No one can. He didn't. He didn't do any of that. He didn't. Oh that would have been pretty cool. He didn't go stand out in the street corner.

[15:47] He didn't go to a mob. And you know. All those things. We had all those high schoolers just leave school to protest. But he had just decided.

[15:58] I'm going to serve God. And I'm not. And the scripture says in verse 9. Now God had brought Daniel into favor. Brought Daniel into favor.

[16:10] Because he had obeyed God. It settled in his mind. What amazing power that is. How powerful that. That when we are aligned with God. And we align to his word. The amazing favor.

[16:22] And blessing. Hallelujah. That he will bring into our lives. He will make our hand prosper. Praise God. Joseph was a man. Who loved God. Didn't want to offend God.

[16:32] Didn't want to sin against God. He. He. You know. He told. A part of his wife. He says. You know. I can't do this thing against my master. And I can't do the sin against God.

[16:43] And he fled. Some of us need to flee. I don't know. I'm just saying. Some of us need to flee sin. There's just some sin. We just got to run from. We just got to take God.

[16:54] And say. I don't think so. Woo. She grabbed his. His clothing cloth. Or whatever it was. And he ran away. I don't know. Butt naked or what. But he ran away.

[17:05] He said. Not today devil. Praise God. Some of us. Some of us. Need to get the attitude. Like Paul. We told. The Corinthians. Chapter 6. Hey. You need to flee fornication. You need to flee adultery.

[17:16] Paul told Timothy. Flee youthful lust. Church. We got to flee sin. We got to flee immorality. We got to flee the wrong things. Amen. And decide in our hearts.

[17:27] Jesus. I'm going to run to you. I'm going to run away from sin. But God. I'm going to run to your will. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise God.

[17:41] And as for these four children. God gave them knowledge and skill. Resolve. Resulted in favor. Resolve. Resulted in God looking down upon them.

[17:52] And smiling upon them. And blessing them. Because the rhythm that we build in our lives. Builds muscle. Spiritual muscle. And it builds the capacity.

[18:02] To hold the blessings. And the favor of God in our lives. The more we pray. The more we fast. The more we give. The more we exercise those muscles.

[18:13] God says. I can put more on this person. I can give more to this person. I can give more to that individual. I can give more to Brother Zeke. He's been faithful. He's shown to be faithful. I'm going to give more to him.

[18:24] Hallelujah. I'm going to give more to Deanna. I'm going to put more on her. I'm going to give more to her. Because I can trust her. I can trust her. She's faithful. She's a good steward. Hallelujah.

[18:35] Hallelujah. But we've got to resolve it in our hearts. Hallelujah. This is what we do. Not out of convenience.

[18:46] And not out of just because pressure is pushing us. But before pressure comes. Before chaos comes. Before any of that stuff comes. We have already decided.

[18:58] This is the rhythm of my life. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Jesus. I praise you Lord.

[19:10] Woo. Jesus. Rhythm sustains us. Rhythm sustains us. Hallelujah. The habit sustains us. If we want God's hand in this church.

[19:20] We must build personal rhythm first. If we want this church for revival. If we want our lives to have revival. If we want to see those.

[19:30] Our family saved. Our daughter. Our husband. If we want to see all those things come to pass. And you know. It's in God's timing. And in God's will. Praise God. There's got to be rhythms in our lives.

[19:43] Because when people look at our life. That's a testimony to them. That's a testimony to their lives. So we all got to build that prayer rhythm. That in the word of God rhythm.

[19:54] That faithfulness rhythm. Come to church. Come to the house of God. Be with the people of God. Hallelujah. And just be in the house of God.

[20:05] In the presence of the Lord. Praise God. Be faithful. The giving rhythm. The fasting rhythm. Because habits create spiritual strength in our lives. Between chapter 1 and chapter 6.

[20:24] We're about to get to in Daniel. Almost 60 years has passed. Almost 60 years has passed. I know we're talking about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

[20:37] And the fiery furnace. And the Lord sends an angel. Or a theophany. Or whatever it might be. And brings them out. But one thing I will say about those three Hebrew boys in that fire.

[20:48] Is that they were so resolved in who they were. They said, hey, you know what? You know, even if God doesn't bring us out of this. We still will not bow.

[21:00] Even if God doesn't answer our prayers. We're not going to bow to you, oh Nebuchadnezzar. Even if God does not bring us out of this situation.

[21:12] You know what? We have already decided, Nebuchadnezzar. We're going to serve God. Church, I want to tell us. Even if God doesn't answer the prayers like we want it. Even if God doesn't answer whatever it might be.

[21:24] The way we think it should go. We have to have that resolve that says, God, I'm going to serve him no matter what. I'm not going to be swayed this way. I'm not going to be swayed that way.

[21:34] I have decided I'm going to serve the Lord. I'm going to serve the King. Hallelujah. Because I am decided. Praise God.

[21:47] They said, if it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. And he will deliver us out of thine hand, oh King. But.

[21:59] But. But. This is a big but. But. If not. Be it known to thee, oh King.

[22:11] We will not serve thy gods. Nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. If the enemy comes before you. And thoughts come into your mind.

[22:23] Hallelujah. It says, God's not going to do it. God's not going to answer your call. God's not going to answer your prayer. Hey. Devil. Shut up. Shut up. Let me see.

[22:34] I'll say. I'll say. I'll say. Even if God. Oh yeah. He said it too. He amens. Dog. Or she. Even if God doesn't answer.

[22:45] You know what? We're still not going to bow down to your gods. We're still not going to serve your gods. We're not going to worship your gods. Because we have decided. We have decided. We are going to serve the Lord.

[22:58] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God help us. Get a made up mind. So nearly 60 years has passed between chapter 1 and chapter 6 of Daniel.

[23:11] Empires fall. Kings have died. And Daniel now is growing older. He was a spry young chicken. Spring chicken. He was 15 to 17 years old.

[23:21] Now he's almost in his 70s. Still a spring chicken. Rhythm grows old.

[23:33] But here's the thing about Daniel. Is that rhythm remains. Rhythm remains. His habits remained. His dedication to God remained.

[23:48] Because rhythm and habits over time can make you uncompromisable. If you hold on fast to those.

[23:59] If you say, God. God, hold me. God, hold me. God, keep me. Let me not fall. Oh God, but keep me in the palm of your hand, Lord.

[24:13] In Daniel chapter 6 verses 3 through 5 it says, Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes. Because an excellent spirit was in him.

[24:24] But they could find none occasion nor fault. And these princes, these presidents, they're jealous. Because he's gained this favor.

[24:37] We should not find any occasion against Daniel except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. They could not find any dirt on Daniel. Daniel was a man of character.

[24:49] Daniel was a man of prayer, of these spiritual habits. And they couldn't find any dirt. Daniel was elevated because of God.

[25:03] Daniel had risen because of God. Again, he's nearly 70 years old. And through consistency and over time, he's lasted kings and kingdoms and so on and so forth.

[25:15] And God's elevated him. And he's gained favor because of what God is doing in his life. And now these princes or these presidents or these officials that are around him are jealous.

[25:28] Because they don't have the same amount of favor as Daniel. Amen. Jealousy is dangerous.

[25:41] Jealousy is ugly. It is dangerous. And it will destroy your relationships. It will destroy your marriage. Hallelujah. It will destroy a lot of stuff. So instead of being jealous of your brother or your sister, they get blessed.

[25:55] Hey, God, I'm going to rejoice with you. I'm going to rejoice with you, sister. I'm going to rejoice with you, brother. You know, I'm not going to mention my troubles. You know, but God knows my troubles.

[26:06] Hey, and I'm not going to say, well, good for you. But, you know, for me, I'm kind of, you know, no. Jealousy will kill relationships. Mmm. Ha ha.

[26:17] We need to celebrate one another. That wasn't in my notes, but we need to celebrate one another. Praise God. We need to celebrate one another. If one has a victory, brother, God bless you.

[26:29] God is so good. If another has a victory or a blessing, hey, God bless you. I'm going to rejoice with you. Mmm. Ha ha. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. But they couldn't find dirt on Daniel, and so they attacked his devotion.

[26:47] And they made prayer illegal. Thirty days, they talked to the king and said, hey, we want to set up this decree. No one can pray to any other god except you, O king.

[26:59] No prayer except to you, king. Daniel 6 and 10 says, now when Daniel knew, everyone say knew. When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, that this decree was going to go into effect, he went into his house, and he kneeled upon his knees three times a day.

[27:21] As he did aforetime. As he did before.

[27:32] As was his practice. As was his routine. As was his habits. As was his rhythm. Regardless of what the king had said.

[27:42] Regardless of what they had told him. Whatever decree they said, hey, your head's going to be chopped up. You're going to be thrown in the lion's head. Whatever it might have been. He says, you know what? They're not going to steal my devotion. I'm going to do what I've always done.

[27:55] I'm going to go pray. I'm going to seek God. Because that's what I do. Because I've already decided. I will only serve God. Yahweh. And him only shall I serve.

[28:08] This phrase is everything. He didn't build prayer because of lions. I'm sure he knew about them. He didn't build prayer because of what the lions have already torn apart.

[28:22] Or the threat of lions. He just revealed the fact that I'm doing what I always have done. Have cost me or allowed me to last this long.

[28:36] I heard a quote the other day by Brother Anthony Mangan, a pastor over in Louisiana. Of the Pentecostals of Alexandria. He said, when you pray, you're saying you want what God wants.

[28:51] That was, I've never heard that definition before. I've heard you submit. You align yourself. And that's good. But I love this quote. He says, when you pray, you're saying you want what God wants.

[29:05] He's all, my parents put it in me. My parents told me to go pray. He's all, before I was 12 years old, I always thought my name was Go Pray. Go Pray.

[29:15] They always told him, hey, go pray. But mom, go pray. But dad, go pray. Working out with God. And he thought his name was Go Pray. But he says, when you pray, you're saying, oh God, I want what you want, Lord.

[29:30] I want what you want for my life. I want what you want for your people. God, I want it in my life, Lord. When we pray, we're saying, God, I want what you desire for my life and for my family.

[29:44] If prayer is irregular, alignment, hear me. If prayer is irregular, alignment with God is irregular. It is out of alignment. If alignment is irregular, power becomes irregular.

[29:57] You don't rise to the level of crisis, but you fall to the level of your habits. What's your rhythm?

[30:13] What's your rhythm? What are your habits? What are your habits? What are your habits? Hallelujah. And when they threw him into that pit, when they grabbed Daniel and they threw him into that pit, they threw him into the lion's den.

[30:35] Scripture says this in Daniel 6.22, My God has sent his angel and has shut the lion's mouths. Oh, thanks be to God for showing up, for showing up and being strong.

[30:53] God did not, hear what I'm about to say. God did not prevent the den. God did not prevent the den, but he shut the mouths of the lions.

[31:04] He did not prevent the den of ever happening. God could have done that. But he had just shut the mouths of those lions. Daniel, you know, he didn't just survive Babylon because he was talented.

[31:20] He survived because he was patterned. And I want to tell all of us here this morning, you know, God will not prevent, always prevent the lions' den in our lives. He will not always prevent hard times in our lives.

[31:32] He will not always prevent difficult times that we create in our own lives. Hear what I'm about to say. This is really important. God will not always stop that because we create scenarios. We create routines that are unhealthy.

[31:46] We get caught up in sin. We get caught up with unproductive relationships. Hello, somebody. We get caught up in all those things. And we say, oh, God, why me?

[31:57] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. All we got to do is look back at our own life and see what we did. Praise God. But I want to say this. God's not always going to stop the difficult times.

[32:08] But I want to tell you something. He will shut the mouth of the lion. Hallelujah. He will see you through those difficult times. Hallelujah. You'll go through the fire, but you won't be burned.

[32:20] Hallelujah. You'll go through the difficult times, but you won't be harmed. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Because God wants to bring something out inside of you. And if it's going through the fire in your life, hallelujah, God says, I'm going to bring you out.

[32:33] And you're not going to be burned. Hallelujah. But we've got to be patterned. We've got to have rhythm in our lives. And Daniel was aligned with the covenant.

[32:48] He was aligned with God. And I just want to interject this. We already kind of touched this a little bit ago. I'm coming to a close here. Daniel was, you know, aligned to the covenant.

[33:01] And I want to say this. We have got to be born again. Because if we build these habits and build these rhythms and we are not born again, we haven't been baptized in Jesus' name, immersed, fully immersed in water, as the scripture teaches.

[33:24] If we have not received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, evidence by speaking in other tongues, all we have is religion. That's all we have.

[33:39] Jesus said in John chapter 3, he said, Except the man be born of the water and of the spirit. He cannot enter the kingdom of God. We've got to be born again, church.

[33:52] We've got to be born again of the water and of the spirit. We've got to be baptized in Jesus' name in the water. If you have not been baptized in Jesus' name, you can't today.

[34:02] You can make it right today. Hallelujah. I believe it was Acts chapter 19. Paul came across these disciples of John the Baptist. And he said, he was in conversation with them.

[34:17] And he said, The Holy Ghost, since you believed. He says, we haven't even heard of this thing. And he says, well, until what then were you baptized? And he said, under John's baptism. And he told us, didn't you understand, a greater than John the Baptist has already come?

[34:30] And they were re-baptized in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. If you have not been baptized in the name of Jesus. If you've been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

[34:43] That's inadequate. We've got to be baptized in the name of Jesus. We've got to follow the pattern. We've got to follow the scriptural pattern. Amen. Praise God.

[34:55] Acts 2.38. Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ. For the remission of sins.

[35:06] And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. We've got to be born again of the water. We've got to be born again of the Spirit. Hallelujah. You cannot, I cannot, discipline myself and yourself into the kingdom.

[35:22] We've got to be born again, church. We've got to, we must be born again. Amen. If we had not the Spirit of Christ, we are none of His. Come on. Hallelujah.

[35:35] Hallelujah. But once you are born again, once you are born again, these rhythms, Jesus, they will preserve you.

[35:45] They will keep you. Hallelujah. They will help you get deeper spiritually. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Holiness is not earning salvation. It's living in line with the life God placed inside of you.

[35:59] We need the Holy Ghost. We need to be baptized in Jesus' name. Oh, God help us. Let's all stand here. Hallelujah.

[36:13] Church, I want to tell us today that before we go, before we move forward, before we go, we got to build rhythm. Before we expand, we've got to kneel.

[36:24] Before we influence, we've got to be aligned. And if we build rhythm, we will not bow to the enemy. We will not bow to outside pressures.

[36:36] If we build rhythm, we will not break. If we build rhythm, we will not drift. Because we're aligned to God's will.

[36:48] And we're around God's people. Hallelujah. Because you are not built by moments. Say that with me.

[36:58] We're not built by moments. Let's say it again. We're not built by moments. We are built by rhythms. And that's what I want to do this morning.

[37:12] I want to get in rhythm. I want to build a rhythm. I want to get aligned with God. We're going to have an altar call right now. I don't know what, we're going to have an altar call.

[37:24] And simply what it's going to be is, before we go, we align. Before we go, before we move forward into this promised land God has given us, into this revival God has given us, God has promised for His church, we are going to align our lives.

[37:42] not emotionally, because emotion, it can, it can trick us. And not temporarily, but aligned. Daniel didn't shout in Babylon, he knelt.

[37:55] Hear me, church. Daniel didn't dance in Babylon, he knelt. I don't want to tell someone, maybe your rhythm has slipped. Maybe a prayer has become occasional for you, or optional for you.

[38:11] Maybe the word has become convenient, or inconvenience. But asking if you love God, I'm asking are you aligned?

[38:23] Are you aligned this morning? I'm asking are you aligned? Because revival does not rest on excitement, although it's part of the process.

[38:36] It rests on alignment. It rests on rhythm. It rests on the habits of the church. And if you need to reset your rhythm this morning, if you need to kneel before you go, if you need to say, God, build something steady inside of me, I want to just invite you to come to this altar.

[38:57] I want to invite you to come to this altar. No pressure. But I will say, it is a declaration of what you truly desire from God.

[39:10] It worries me, and I'm going to, it worries me when people don't come to the altar. And I pray for them, because they're holding something back. You're holding something back.

[39:22] You're holding something back. And hey, you know what? And there's no judgment. If you're not ready, if you're not willing to commit, then I want to say, better decide soon.

[39:37] Because He is coming. Church, He loves us. He loves us. Hallelujah. This altar is open, not for shame, but for alignment only.

[39:53] Hallelujah. God, I want to be aligned to you. I want to be aligned to your will, oh God. I want to be aligned, oh God, to your purposes, Lord.

[40:03] God, I want to be aligned, oh God, to what you desire in my life, oh Lord. my rhythm is slipped, oh God, my habits are inconsistent, oh God.

[40:18] Hallelujah, Jesus. So now I will kneel for you, oh God. I kneel for you, Lord. God, I want to be alive.

[40:32] I just want you. That's it, church. Hallelujah. I see faith coming forward. I see faith coming forward. That's it, sister.

[40:43] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You're making a declaration right now. You're making a declaration right now. When I just say another song, take me back to where I started.

[40:58] I open up my heart to you. I open up my heart to you. Amen.