Brian Long shares powerful testimonies from Lori, Patrick, Joanne, and Jared, emphasizing the necessity of spending time in God's Word and prayer to combat self and engage in spiritual warfare. He reflects on the importance of being willing and obedient to God's calling, as highlighted in Isaiah 1:19, and the transformative power of working out one's salvation as stated in Philippians 2:12-13. The testimonies reveal a deep yearning for genuine fellowship and unity within the body of Christ, showcasing how personal struggles can lead to a greater reliance on God's grace and community support. The message encourages believers to actively live out their faith and seek a deeper relationship with God, recognizing that true unity comes from Him alone.

When brother Brian was speaking and I don't know exactly what his words Were but I know what the Lord spoke to me through it When I let my time with the word slip away and when I let my time and prayer slip away then self enters in and it comes in rushing and the Lord really showed me that last night that I Was trying to live on yesterday's manna That at home, I would listen to praise and worship occasionally and I might read a verse or two I might say a quick prayer while folding laundry or whatever But what that left me was I was just a standard bearer in the battlefield that I didn't know the plans of my king Because I was not spending time with him And a standard bearer is in the battle, but I wasn't fighting so the Lord really showed me that that if I want to be in the battle and I do because I Want to fight for my Lord in whatever way he would have me to fight but I need to spend time in his word and Spend time in urgent desperate prayer and this morning Or no, it was last night I was gonna sit down and read my Bible and I I know a lot of us do this. Well Lord, where do I start? And I read in Isaiah It's chapter 1 verse 19 If you are willing and obedient You eat the best from the land. I want the best from the Lord in whatever form it comes in But the word that really stayed with me is if you are willing The Lord offers it to us all we have we have everything we need To survive in this life we have everything we need to live for him But we need to be willing and obedient to him. I Started thinking of it as the desire and the doing And I have the desire but the doing is always so difficult for some I look at different brothers and sisters and in cornerstone and I think Why can't I get it like they do? but Yeah, so I had the desire but the doing was always is what's What in my own self would be very difficult? So now we go to Philippians chapter 2 I'll read 12 and 13, but I want to focus on 13 Therefore my dear friends as you have always obeyed Not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling For it is God Who works in you? to will and to act According to his good purpose I Have the desire To live for the Lord and now with the Lord the doing is his part I just need to be willing and listen and obedient father I Thank you for bringing us here tonight Lord That in your sovereignty you chose for us to be in this room tonight Lord God You've brought us here to hear these testimonies Lord God to fellowship with you to fellowship with each other Lord God Father, I just want to pray for this church Lord God that you put together here Lord this body of believers You've brought together Lord God Lord, I pray that you would continue to move in this room Lord. I pray that you would continue to give these believers humility Lord God That they would put each other before themselves Lord that they put you before all things Lord Father I just pray that you'd be with me right now Lord that I would not say anything in my flesh Lord God that I would not say anything to Try and make myself look good Lord God, I pray that you protect me from that Lord That I would only say something that would glorify you and build up this church. I Love you, Jesus in your name. I pray man, I just want to Let you guys know what I found here coming out here from San Diego, California God is doing something special here But I know in Ephesians it says to endeavor to keep the unity that God creates a unity like this We can't do it. We can't do it with our best thoughts with the wisdom of man will not create this like We heard earlier. We can have the best guitars. We can have there's many fanny fancy buildings in San Diego There really are there's guys up get up there and there are Great speakers and they tell really good jokes But you don't feel a unity. You don't feel a family. You don't feel the body of Christ in them. I my wife and I were led to Start having church out of our house looking for what God has given you guys here Just going back to the Word of God and looking at what? He told us about fellowship with him And so just briefly I'll just give you my testimony of what he's done in the last couple of years and hopefully it encourages someone I Went to church for years went to church. I mean, I guess we touched on that a few times this weekend That church is the body of Christ It's not a building. It's not a place you go with a name It's the body of Christ and it is perfect and beautiful because it's his bride But I was going to a building for years on Sunday mornings, I Didn't go if the charges were playing football. I Was living in secret sin. I said all the right things, but I didn't read the Word of God I didn't pray unless it was like before a meal or we were supposed to I Even had a Bible study that was taught at my house Snuck out backed out cigarettes and and just I've been told for so long that if I prayed a prayer That I was saved but Jesus said that we must be born again And that's a new creation You see I was living that same old life and just thinking because I was going to a building on Sunday mornings that I was saved But God in his mercy God in his mercy asked the pastor of my church to ask me to leave a Bible study guys It had to be God because I did not know the Bible. I wasn't reading the Bible No one no one in that church taught a Bible study except for the elders There's no reason he should have asked me except for that. It was God's will And his sovereignty and his his grace And I shared with a bunch of these people but I was scared to death There were guys that had been through Bible college that went to that Bible study. There were elders from the church And I didn't know the Bible You Guys I And to make it even crazier the first Bible study I ever went to was in the book of Ephesians and so I'm like I'm gonna teach the book of Ephesians out of nostalgia and You guys know that book is talk about majestic Talk about lofty. I mean the stuff Paul talks about in there is it's just it's beautiful But but to be that your first time trying to teach to a group of adults But again, I think it was God moving that led me there and I Lived in that book out of fear at first not wanting to look like an idiot. I Wake up in the morning and I would get into that book I'd come home from work and I would study and I'd go to bed listen to sermons about it commentaries I lived in the book of Ephesians and you know those first three chapters Paul tells us where we are when we're born again what that means that we're children of the Most High God and You know, I've been going to a church that taught chapter and verse again for years and years Yet I never thought that opening up the Bible and studying it would change my life. I Really didn't I told you out of it was out of fear at first God just started changing me radically. I Remember studying it one day looking at this and realizing it was true And just falling on my face and weeping So that's what it was like what it's like now Like I said, I was led by the Lord my wife and I to start having church out of our house looking for Kind of what he's giving you guys here And there's eight of us now, but you talk about lonely brother We were in the desert and we still are to a certain point we have God and we have his presence and he's leading us But it's been tough We desire more fellowship and more brothers and sisters to worship him with I just want to encourage you I've been told I was crazy For for believing what it says in here and thinking that I should actually follow it and be obedient to it But you know, it says in the book of James that we're to be doers of the word And If we just read this thing we can sit around here We can be John MacArthur or whoever you think is smart And if we just talk about it all the time if we're not doers if we don't live what Christ has called us to We're deceiving ourselves And so if somebody's telling you you're crazy or or the word legalistic was used I've been called legalistic for wanting to live this out just wanting to follow my Savior Don't let somebody tell you that if you're following this book you're crazy or you're legalistic and I don't think you're gonna find that here But in case there is somebody that's not from here. I would just encourage you that Jesus means us to follow the words in this book in faith Because of his love Maybe that's my buzzer Mm-hmm, but I would just again encourage you guys that that God has created something special here. God creates that unity and Then you guys endeavor to keep it you guys need to be praying for your elders You need to be praying for each other that God would continue to mature you Continue to raise up leaders in this church servant leaders, right? This is something special Lord, I thank you for Lord I thank you for the time. You've given me here this weekend Lord God to Worship you with other saints that just love you and just want to be in your presence Lord. They don't care about buildings They don't care about rock star preachers Lord God. They want you Jesus and Father, I just pray for the leaders in this church Lord that you would continue to give them wisdom Lord God That you'd give them a sensitivity to your leading Lord That you'd fill them with all your fullness Lord And I do again pray for this church Lord that they would be burdened for prayer Lord that they would pray for the leadership Lord That they'd spend much time with you. I love you Jesus in your name. I pray Okay, I think I'll start my brain to Dear Lord, I just pray that you would bless this time and you would Just Help me to have your peace and relax and just help me to be able to share what it is that you want me to share and just to guard against Just some of the different things that are involved That I would have wisdom about how to share those things if that's part of it But just let this be your story and I just pray this in Jesus name um, I Guess I'll start and I'm not gonna look at you. Okay, I'll do better if I don't But I guess I'll start by saying that um, I don't even know exactly when it was probably Well, I don't know when it was it was years ago a couple years ago, maybe But something happened and it started with My sister and I are really close I have four sisters and my younger sister sister and I are very close and I had something going on in my life which really is kind of irrelevant right now, but and So I talked about it a lot I was burdened about it a lot and she kind of got sick of hearing about it. And so did my friend and But it was on my heart and I was consumed with it and it was just something I cared about and anyways, so during I Like everybody I go to you know I went to church a lot and actually my church had a lot of good things I'm not really going there right now. I'm kind of in limbo, but There are a lot of good things there and so I went to church One night and just the way the song service was the Lord ministered to me in such a way to show me that he knew every little detail of the things that were on my heart and He just cared so much and it kind of threw me off Just to see how much he cares and So then that kind of turned my heart toward him And then there was another situation. I grew up in a difficult situation family life With not being treated appropriately and It Really affected my life for years. I had a lot of things I needed a healing from More in my spirit and stuff, but It just really affected my life and I felt like it also affected my relationships Whoops Thanks So, thank you So anyways because he encouraged me so much by the other thing then I turned and poured out my heart about that and I just Was in a situation where I was just afraid of the way this person treated me and I was not physical there wasn't physical danger, but just emotional danger and I Just couldn't handle another second of it anymore. And I know God's grace is sufficient, but this was different I just felt like I just literally knew I Couldn't handle it anymore. And So I cried out to the Lord about it and he took that situation and he did like a miracle he stopped the stuff from happening and He worked in that person's heart. So they started treating me differently and were more careful and That encouraged me so then I continued on this journey of realizing that you know, I I guess also part of it is I was in a church situation where again, there's concerns and people didn't really understand and so then I would talk to the Lord about it because he had shown me that he's kind of my best friend and he You know, he's I could turn and pour my heart out to him So he kind of led me on this journey where in different specific situations He really answered prayer and he just really comforted me and he brought Healing by just showing that he's like my all-in-all So I guess I had some different verses related to that One of them is 2nd Corinthians Let's see if I can find it. Okay. Um 2nd Corinthians 1 verse 2 And it's through Well, I'll stop when it makes sense to stop grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ and Part of the comfort there is just that the Lord revealed himself to me that he himself was comforting me and giving me peace Blessed be God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies the God of all comfort Who comforted us in all true our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God and You just look really quick because I wrote down a Bunch of verses and I want to be wise about if there's any others that I should share I guess like a couple thought thoughts are is through that situation of him Revealing himself to me to meet my needs then, you know, I I did start praying and seeking him about like There's been a lot of preaching at my church about revival and in 2nd Chronicle 714 I just started to You know the part about praying and seeking his face then I started wanting to wanting to Know him and Just understand what he wanted to deal with in my life and the draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to thee And I guess the bottom line is I was raised my parents were Lutheran And you know I'm actually Baptist now, but And So my dad would always pray this I'll give thanks to the Lord for he is good and his mercy endureth forever but it just really is a blessing because you know, God is good and That just means so much. He really cares about us and he's loving and he just revealed himself to me in such a personal way for the service about Sharon and And he looks at Anna he goes well, I guess we'll leave it to the sisters And he started throwing all these comments. I just looked at him said Frank that don't affect me one bit Yeah, I can tell it doesn't he said so but this weekend has just been incredible for me just You know, you all know my story I gave my testimony the other night not Friday night Patrick wasn't here maybe a couple you weren't here, but God moved us here to Barnesville about six weeks ago So the whole story is just miraculous and I won't go in all that again, but I Just praise God and to see the group of Saints here tonight there and this whole weekend, you know and There's a couple things that have really really touched me and Frank said he said I'm Frank by name and Frank by nature Well, I'm Jared by name and probably even more Frank by nature So I'm gonna be real Frank here and I hope what I say doesn't offend anyone but Patrick with my background If you would have walked into my church or our church back there you would have been totally shunned Okay, and I love you, and I hope that don't offend you but when God brought me here Back in March we came for a visit and I seen I'd heard all these stories online and brother Brian's Messages and the testimonies and the testimonies what really got to me if I come here and I see all these people That don't look like Mennonites Okay, which I knew they wouldn't But there's there's no No one dresses the same no one looks the same and It was such a blessing to me. And then when you came in yesterday, and I feel horrible for this But my first thought was look at his hair. Yeah, I apologize for that but God has so humbled me in that I when I walked past and Met you shook your hand The only thing I could see was Jesus in your eyes and When you come up here to speak It was so obvious again, it's just like God said That's Jesus, I mean take that how I mean it Jesus in you and and another one is dawn There ain't no Tattooed lady coming into our church back there and gonna worship with us not for more than a Sunday or two And that's and I just praise God for for what he is doing he is setting people free And yes, our bodies might bear scars. I'm not talking about just tattoos when I say scars Our bodies bear scars, but he has united us as one and I I just praise God for that and just as sitting with some brothers after the service guys from Texas that were here and From Milwaukee. I forget all their names, but they're just talking and I was just sitting there and I could have sat there for hours just listening and Last night with brother Frank was sharing and I Forget which time it was but you know afterwards I went up to him I was like, you know I could just drive up to your house and listen to you for a month and Frank looks at Brian he goes and I could talk for a month. Couldn't I? It's like yeah, I imagine you could but it's But it's just been a great great weekend I've been so blessed so blessed and and Laurie the first time we came here, you know, you put us in your a-frame and You know, you're probably one of the quietest sisters in church, but you have met the most to me it's just amazing what God is doing and I Think we need a man in our church similar to Blaine to scream. Yes every now and then, you know where's the life and it's just I Just can't quite say what I'm feeling. I don't think but my heart is full. I'm happy and Yeah, God has called us here for a specific purpose and and And you know only God knows what all the future holds, but It's just exciting to be part. You know a realization came to me a couple years ago through a sermon Paul washers You know Paul washers real Frank too, and he said God doesn't need you He can get donkeys to talk for him if he needs to and that hit me I used to think God, you know, I had something to give God That's how I used to think and and I have nothing but I am so honored to be allowed to be part of his kingdom to be part of You know to be used by him It's such an honor. He but he don't need me. He desires. We serve him. He desires to use us but he don't need any one of us and a Brother had mentioned or someone had mentioned that you know, if we're if we were silent even rocks would cry out Hope I never hear that You know, I hope I never hear that but God is doing the work. He's doing it all across the country Around the world, but the answer isn't in barnstall. The answer is in Jesus Christ God has chosen to use this little town. It's a little group of people to glorify his name. I believe that But the answer is not here the answer is only in Jesus so Hope I didn't offend you brother So, I love you. I I mean there's a oneness of spirit that that's just Steve I love you to death man. I don't know why but I do it's There's just so many things. I could just go on and on but I'm just trying to say I guess I'm just really blessed and Just appreciate the church here, you know the cornerstone everybody but cornerstone my new family our family has pretty much rejected us and I consider you my brothers and sisters my Spiritual family that's you know sit here thinking tonight as others were sharing The get-togethers we would have back there consisted of eating and playing rook if you all know what rook is It's card game That's what we did Gossiped tore each other down It's but we're all Christian in name, you know name only a lot of us and I Really missed last night Prayer meeting that we normally have it brother Allen's, you know, I'm so glad we were here obviously, but there's that special bond that you get Through that and to see that to feel the presence of God come and meet with you And there was one, you know, we you can take it for granted There's one night God didn't come and we left feeling horrible and it was because of our own sin We didn't we you know, and it was a good lesson one. I think we all learned well But don't take the glory of God for granted And we're two or three or eight or gathered God will be there with you, brother. No, I Just leave that as an encouragement Own and flown and flown through brother Frank to us and I praise God for that I'm I feel the same way I could echo everything that everybody has said and I'm so grateful Sebastian so grateful that you're here from so far away. You've really been a blessing to us brother You really are and the Jeremy's help I mean he does so much, you know that big van hauling everybody such a servant. Thank you, Jeremy and This whole body of Christ all of you are such a blessing and I praise God for what he's done these two little songbirds I'm gonna carry that from Denny Keniston the little songbirds God's songbirds Maureen and Aileen. Thank you so much The Lord really has his hand upon you and and is using you to his glory. So praise God for that Let's just pray together. And if you'd like to stay in fellowship more You're more than welcome Okay, it's such a blessing to have you from Texas tremendous blessing and Okay, let's pray together. Yeah, Al Sure, let's uh, let's stand together and let's just call upon the Lord together Heavenly Father, I am so very very grateful So very grateful to you father. Our hearts are so full And I'm so humbled Lord God. I am so so humbled to be a part of this body of Christ Each one so precious in your sight each one so precious to me Each one so precious Lord that you've drawn from so far away Some of it just seems so surreal to me I'm so glad Lord That you've just given me the privilege of being here. And I'm so I just feel so blessed tonight all my brothers and sisters here together and Lord my my heart's desire is That you would just pour out upon them pour out upon each one Lord God That each and every one of us as we leave this place would leave having been changed by your glory Lord Change from glory to glory that we would have a deeper intimacy with you That our hearts would truly be enlarged that your love would truly flow through us. Oh God That you would you would just take us deeper even as we leave this place Thank you for knitting hearts together. I believe in many ways There are many things that have been birthed There's something that's been birthed by you Oh God in these meetings I don't think I even understand that completely but something that you have birthed and I thank you for that And I thank you that you're the one who is faithful to complete the good work that you've begun Lord we praise your holy name and we just ask that as we lift our voices together in praise and worship You would continue to be glorified and honored and exalted And father I also want to say a special. Thank you for the way each and every one has been willing to serve and Use their gifts there were men that down to the physical work men that worked so hard To just prepare this place so we could meet here They worked by the sweat of their brow and they didn't do for do it for the applause of men They do it for your glory and honor There are women who poured out in that kitchen and you saw all of that Lord You saw all of it. You saw those who fasted and prayed You saw those Lord who who were praying in secret who were preparing for months Beforehand and I thank you that you're so faithful Lord I guess my greatest desire is that you would just pour out an abundance of blessing Upon each and every one of my brothers and sisters tonight We love you Jesus with all of our hearts. We thank you with all of our hearts in Jesus name. Amen