Special Occasion Messages Archives

May 28, 2023May 27, 2023

The Promise of Pentecost

2,000 years ago, 120 disciples of Jesus sat in the Upper Room praying and waiting, in accord, for the promise of the Holy Spirit. It was Pentecost Sunday, around 9 am, when the power of God rushed into the Upper Room like a mighty rushing wind. Tongues of fire rested upon each and every head. The promise of the Holy Spirit had come. Pentecost had been fulfilled. 2,000 years later, we take all of this for granted. We don’t fully grasp what that meant for the Church and the world that day. Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the grave importance of Pentecost in his fiery Pentecost Sunday message, The Promise of Pentecost.

Acts 1:3-9
Joel 2:28-29
Isaiah 32:15
Ezekiel 39:29
Zechariah 12:10
Acts 2:1-4
Matthew 10:1
Luke 1:35
Isaiah 42:1
Luke 4:18-19
John 5:19a
Matthew 28:18
Matthew 21:23
Acts 3:11-12
Acts 3:16
John 14:12-14
John 15:7-8
Zephaniah 3:9
2 Timothy 1:6
1 Timothy 4:14-15
1 Thessalonians 5:19

The Promise of Pentecost

The Holy Spirit

The Promise of The Holy Spirit

²⁸And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. ²⁹Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. ³⁰And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. ³¹The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. ³²And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Joel 2:28-32

The Coming of The Holy Spirit

¹ When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. ²And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. ⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:1-4

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A Mother’s Burden

Happy Mother’s Day. The role of a mother can become heavy and burdensome. It can become difficult and tiring to remain a strong, faithful mother as your children rebel and fall into the traps of the enemy. Some mothers have burdens that feel too heavy to carry, while others feel so hopeless they don’t even try to pick the burden up. There is nothing like a faithful mother, but how do you remain faithful when you have the whole world weighing on your shoulders? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he encourages each and every mother in his fiery message, A Mother’s Burden.

2 Samuel 21:8-14
2 Samuel 3:7-8
1 Samuel 18:19
Romans 12:12

A Mother’s Burden

Rizpah and Meraba

⁸The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; ⁹and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.
¹⁰Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night.
¹¹When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, ¹²David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa.
¹³And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. ¹⁴And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that God responded to the plea for the land.

2 Samuel 21:8-14

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The High Price That Jesus Paid

Sometimes it’s easy to take for granted what Jesus did for us on the cross. We’re mere humans who are quick to forget. In some cases, many of us are lied to and told that our actions cannot impact our salvation. We’re told that healing, gifts of the Spirit, and abundant life is no longer for us. So, what was the purpose of Jesus’ sacrifice if all that He did wasn’t for us? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the great price our Savior paid for us in his powerful and sobering Easter Sunday message, The High Price That Jesus Paid.

Mark 15:33-39
Mark 14:36
Mark 14:22-25
John 3:16
John 15:1-8
John 15:10
Acts 1:24b-25
Luke 22:44

The High Price That Jesus Paid

³³And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. ³⁴And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ³⁵And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, He is calling Elijah.” ³⁶And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down.” ³⁷And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed His last. ³⁸And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. ³⁹And when the centurion, who stood facing Him, saw that in this way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

Mark 15:33-39

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The Day of Visitation

2,000 years ago, the Lamb of God came to take away the sin of the world. God came in the flesh, yet the Pharisees and their followers didn’t recognize this visitation. They didn’t recognize God incarnate as He rode before them on a donkey fulfilling prophecy. They missed all of the signs. Will you? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the importance of the sign of the times in his Palm Sunday message, The Day of Visitation.

Luke 19:28-44
Psalms 50:12
Psalms 118:22
Luke 20:17-18
Matthew 23:37-39

The Day of Visitation

The Triumphal (Triumphant) Entry

²⁸And when He had said these things, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹When He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, He sent two of the disciples, ³⁰saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’”

³²So those who were sent went away and found it just as He had told them. ³³And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” ³⁴And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” ³⁵And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. ³⁶And as He rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.

³⁷As He was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, ³⁸saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” ³⁹And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” ⁴⁰He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Jerusalem Missed The Day of Their Visitation

⁴¹And when He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it, ⁴²saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side ⁴⁴and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Luke 19:28-44

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Husbands Love Your Wives

40 to 50% of all marriages in the US end in divorce, making the US have the 6^th highest divorce rate in the world. Why are so many marriages failing? Why does it matter? Not only does such a high divorce rate affect millions of families and children, but Jesus declared, “So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Shouldn’t we work towards figuring out why the divorce rate is so high if marriage makes a couple one? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the key to a loving, successful marriage in his Valentine’s Day message, Husbands Love Your Wives.

Ephesians 5:22–33

Husbands Love Your Wives

¹ Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. ²And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. ³And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” ⁴He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” ⁷They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” ⁸He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. ⁹And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

Matthew 19:1-9

²²Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior. ²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. ²⁵Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, ²⁶that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. ²⁸In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰because we are members of his body. ³¹“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³²This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Ephesians 5:22-33

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Against All Odds

They say if your dreams don’t scare you, then you aren’t dreaming big enough. Our God-given dreams don’t always seem possible. They’ll tell you that it’s impossible. They’ll tell you that you aren’t enough, but what they don’t understand is that if God is for you, then who can be against you? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the importance of pursuing our God-given dreams regardless of whether others believe it’s possible or not in his New Year’s Day message, Against All Odds.

2 Samuel 23:8-17 (CEV)
Ezekiel 22:30-31

Against All Odds

³¹When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. ³²And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” ³³And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” ³⁴But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, ³⁵I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. ³⁶Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” ³⁷And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”

³⁸Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, ³⁹and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. ⁴⁰Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.

⁴¹And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. ⁴²And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. ⁴³And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” ⁴⁵Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

⁴⁸When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. ⁵⁰So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David.

1 Samuel 17:31-50

³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.

Luke 1:37

²⁶ But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Matthew 19:26

³¹ If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31

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The Hope of Christmas Pt. 4: The Decree of Caesar Augustus

Merry Christmas!

We all know the Christmas Story of Luke chapter 2. It starts with, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.” When we read this verse, we don’t think much about it, as I’m sure Caesar didn’t either. Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the significance of one of the most overlooked verses in the Bible in his Christmas message, The Hope of Christmas Pt. 4: The Decree of Caesar Augustus.

Luke 2:1-20 (KJV)
Proverbs 19:21 (NIV)
Jeremiah 1:12
Ezekiel 12:25
Luke 1:37

The Decree of Caesar Augustus

¹ In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ²This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³And all went to be registered, each to his own town. ⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, ⁵to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. ⁶And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. ⁷And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

This decree of Caesar Augustus started the beginning of the greatest gift from above.

⁸And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. ¹⁰And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹²And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!”

The angels rejoiced because they understood that the greatest Christmas gift had just been given to all of mankind. Jesus is the true message of Christmas.

¹⁵When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. ¹⁷And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. ¹⁸And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Luke 2

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The Hope of Christmas Pt. 3: And His Name Shall Be Called Jesus

Every year on December 25^th, we celebrate the birth of Christ. This year is no different, but do we fully understand what we’re celebrating? What does it truly mean for all of mankind that Jesus Christ was born 2000 years ago? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he brings us to the true meaning of the birth of Christ in his message, The Hope of Christmas Pt. 3: And His Name Shall Be Called Jesus.

Matthew 1:18–25
John 1:11
Matthew 1:18b
Luke 1:39
Luke 1:30–31
Proverbs 27:1
Acts 4:10–12
John 16:33
Matthew 1:21

And His Name Shall Be Called Jesus

The Prophecy of Jesus Christ

¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. ²⁰But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” ²²All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
²³“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call His name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us). ²⁴When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, ²⁵but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called His name Jesus.

Matthew 1:21-25

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The Hope of Christmas Pt. 2: The Dragon Who Tried to Steal Christmas

Today, Christmas is becoming more and more controversial to celebrate. Many could argue that Christmas itself is under attack. Many don’t realize that this isn’t new. Christmas has always been under attack from the very beginning. 2,000 years ago, there was a war between good and evil. God Himself was the subject of an attack by the enemy. But when was this attack, and when was Christ ever really in jeopardy? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the very first attack on Christmas in his message, The Hope of Christmas Pt. 2: The Dragon Who Tried to Steal Christmas.

Matthew 2:1–2
Matthew 2:9–11
Matthew 2:7–8
Hebrews 4:13
Revelation 12
Esther 1:13

The Dragon Who Tried to Steal Christmas

¹³Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy Him.” ¹⁴And he rose and took the child and His mother by night and departed to Egypt ¹⁵and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
¹⁶Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. ¹⁷Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: ¹⁸“A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

Matthew 2:13-18

What does this have to do with the dragon trying to steal the very hope of Christmas?

¹ And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. ²She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. ³And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. ⁴His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. ⁵She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, ⁶and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.

Revelation 12:1-6

Satan is the dragon that tried to steal the very hope of Christmas through King Herod.

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The Hope of Christmas Pt. 1: The Promise of Christmas

Every Christmas season, we read the same Christmas verses on the Birth of Christ Jesus, Matthew 2, Luke 2, Isaiah 9, etc. These are everyone’s go-to Christmas verses, but what if there’s a Christmas verse we’ve missed that’s hidden in plain sight? A Christmas verse that was given to bring hope to all people? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he opens our eyes to the Christmas promise we’ve all missed in his message, The Hope of Christmas Pt. 1: The Promise of Christmas.

Genesis 22:15–19 (NKJV)
Genesis 17:5–6
John 8:56 (NIV)
Genesis 22:2
Genesis 21:12
Galatians 3:15–18 (NKJV)

The Promise of Christmas

Fulfilling the Promise of Christmas

Birth of Christ Jesus

⁶For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Isaiah 9:6-7

Jesus is the promise or prophecy of Christmas fulfilled. It’s His birth that gives us hope because, without Jesus, there is no salvation. There is no hope. There is no light in the world. There is nothing.

Luke 2:1-7

Jesus fulfilled the first promise of His coming 2,000 years ago (the first Christmas), but that’s not the end of the story. Jesus will come again.

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The Promise of Pentecost

The Holy Spirit

The Promise of The Holy Spirit

The Coming of The Holy Spirit

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