He is Him | Chad Veach

0:00 Hey, what's going on, everybody? Thank you so much for listening to this week's message from Zoe Church. We're going to jump in in just a minute as we study Psalm chapter number 24. If you want to go there in your Bible, Psalm 24. But I want to say thank you to every person that is a part of our church that doesn't live in L.A. We love you and we thank God for you. We pray you feel refreshed and encouraged as you start this new year. We're in the second Sunday of 2026 and we want to say thank you for your faith. If you'd like to give today, go to our website and you can give there. Make sure you hit the subscribe button so you don't miss out on any of the messages that we release from our church. We're going to jump into this week's message called He Is Him. All right, go to Psalm chapter 24, Psalm 24. We started last Sunday, a brand new series called, we want you here. We want God here. That's why we're fasting and praying.

1:05 It's why we're having a conference is we want God to be. Anybody thinks LA could have more Jesus, could use a little more Jesus. Come on, clap if you believe it. Amen. We got enough tacos. We need more Jesus. Amen. Hallelujah. Not that I'm offended by it, but we want more. We want God in our lives. That's our prayer. Psalm 24. Go there. We're going to study this Psalm together today. Psalm 24 says, the earth is the Lord's and everything that's in it, the world and all who live in it. For he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. who may ascend onto the mountain of the Lord, who may stand in his holy place, the one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false God. They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God, their savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, you gates, be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the king of glory, who is the king of glory, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads. I like that part. By the way, what we're doing about fasting and praying, the reason why we're fasting and praying is because we're not going to have our head down this year. We're going to lift up our eyes. Come on, clap. If you got faith, to lift up your, come on, lift up your heads. We're lifting up our eyes. The Bible says in Psalm 121, I lift my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help come from? It comes from you, the maker of heaven and earth. So I like that the Bible's telling us, come on, 2026, lift up your heads, lift up your heads. Verse nine, lift up your heads, you gates, lift them up, you ancient doors that the king of glory may come in. Who is he? This king of glory. He is the Lord almighty.

3:13 He is the king of glory. Write down the title of today's message is called he is him. I like that, that title right there. He is him. I like that because we live in a generation that likes to say like, I am him. You know, I got seven year olds in my home trying to tell me, I am him. I'm like, fam, you don't have armpit hair. You are not him. But we live in this generation. It's like, I don't know if you've seen this, but the university of Indiana, Indiana university is about to play next Monday for their first time in school history for a national championship in Miami. And it's the first time a basketball school has ever done this. They've never been good at football. And when they hired their new coach, coach, uh, Singeti, when they hired him, they were asking, a reporter was asking him like, do you think you can turn a basketball school into a perennial powerhouse in football? And his answer to the reporter was, Google me. I was like, I want to have that kind of confidence one day. I'm like, when my kids are like, do we have to go to bed? I want to be like, Google me. But he's basically saying in this conference, I am him. And I just want to make sure we understand why we're seeking God, why we're fasting and praying because we are praying to the God that is not the God that was, but the God that is. He is that God. He is high and exalted. He is lifted above. He is worthy of our worship.

4:44 Clap. If you believe that he is the God of Abraham, he is the God of Isaac. He is the God of Jacob clap letter. If you believe he is who he says he is and he can do what he said he would do. I love how the first verse starts. It says, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. Write down number one today. Everything and everyone belongs to God. Everything and everyone belongs to God. And I just like this because we live in this IP era where it's all about intellectual property. I wrote on this song or I wrote this script. I invented this app. Everybody wants to have a claim on property. Let me just remind you, you got that creative idea from God. Everything belongs to God.

5:36 It is all to him. It is all through him. It is all for him. It is all from him. He is, the earth is the Lord's and everything. And he got the whole world. He got the whole world. Don't laugh at me because I'm off key.

5:57 The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. It is all to him. It is all through him. It is all for him. And it is all from him. It all belongs to God. Now, I don't know about you, but one of my favorite movie series ever is Toy Story. Any Toy Story lovers in the house. And I'm not a big Buzz Lightyear guy. I'm a super Woody guy. I love Woody, man. You got a friend in me. and on the on the bottom of every single toy was inscribed the name of the owner andy one time they came to jesus and they said jesus even you got to pay taxes and jesus goes okay go down to the river get a fish when you get the fish in the fish's mouth will be a coin i wish you could find my tax payment just like that and they bring the coin. They say, he said, whose inscription is on the coin?

6:58 And they said, well, it's Caesar's inscription. And he said, well, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God. I don't know if you realize this, but God already wrote on the tablet of your heart, you belong to me. He has planted eternity in the heart of man. You don't belong. Your body is not yours. Your life is not yours. Remember what you refuse to lay down. Eventually you will lose you. You, you, you will forfeit. That's why Jesus said, if anybody wants to gain his life, he must first lose his life. I want to submit. God is my ruler. God is my owner. I am just a steward. These kids are not my kids. My wife is not my wife. This church is not my church. All of it belongs to somebody else. I'm just managing and stewarding what belongs to the Lord. Anybody want to be a better steward in 2026 of that which the Lord has placed in your possession? And where we get it twisted is we think this is my money. This is my life. This is my body. This is my time. No, all of it belongs to the Lord. The earth is the Lord's and everyone that is in it, it all belongs to God. He starts off with just making sure we're all on the same page. God is the owner and you are the steward. And because it belongs to somebody else, I want to do a better job of taking care of it. Anybody else?

8:25 Verse number two, three, who may ascend the mountain of the Lord, who may stand in his holy place. The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in any idol or swear by any false God. Write down number two today. Give us clean hands and give us pure hearts. I just like that so much. Who can hang out with God? Who can ascend under the heel of the Lord? Those who have clean hands and those who have pure hearts. Oh, I just love this because during to fast and to prayer, what we're really doing is we're saying, God, wash my hands and wash my heart. I know some of us, we love to keep a clean car. Maybe you love to keep a clean house or a clean bedroom. Come on. I think this year we should keep a clean heart. You know what happens with your heart? Your heart gets three things. It gets clouded, it gets cluttered, and it gets critical.

9:22 You got to be careful with your heart because of what happened last year, your heart will get clouded, it will get cluttered, and it will get critical. When your heart is clouded, you can't see God. Everything's cloudy. Where's God in LA? Where's God in our country? Where's God in my home? Where's God at Zoe church? No, you got to clear out the cloudiness so you can get a clear shot as seeing Jesus, the author and the finisher of your faith. Don't let the, don't let the clouds overwhelm the goodness of God. Your heart can get clouded. It can get cluttered. What is a cluttered heart look like? There are idols fighting for your attention, fighting for your passion and your priority. Don't let your heart get clouded or cluttered. No, God is first in my life. And don't let your heart get critical. Have you noticed how critical you've become? You are mad critical. And we get critical about others. You know, complainers are this way. Complainers are weasels.

10:24 Let's go. Hey, you ever meet people that love to get around and just criticize? and you know what? If you're not careful, you'll be critical of yourself. You'll be critical of others. You'll criticize everything in your path. Why? Because your heart is not good. You don't need to change your words. You need to change your heart. The Bible says out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So that's why during the fast and the prayer, we're saying, Lord, don't just clean my hands. I need you to clean my heart, wash my heart, cleanse my heart. Scrub my motives and my intentions as I go into this year. Let it be about your name and not my name. Let it be about your renown and not my renown. Let it be for your kingdom and your glory and your honor. Give me clean hands and give me a pure heart. Our boys ain't nothing like coming back from Christmas break and the schools haven't started back yet. Like we had this great time and now find childcare for your children and go back to work. And so on Monday, we had to figure out what to do with our boys. So we had someone come watch them and we paid for them to go to Sky Zone and Sky Zone is cool because it burns energy. I'm in the burn energy era as a parent. We need to burn your energy. So at 9 PM night, night, because if we don't burn energy, I'm going to be asleep before you. Your mother and I cannot pray together.

11:57 um and so what are y'all doing you guys are sick and so and so and so on monday they go to sky zone sky zone is a cesspool of bacteria and so we sit down on monday night to have day one feast of the fast it is a feast of carrots and potatoes and broccoli and we sit down to eat this beautiful feast and i look at my boys and say boys have you washed your hands because you went to sky zone and no boy thinks when they're growing up i should wash my hands they all look at me they're like no why would we ever wash our hands i said i don't i'm not trying to share a meal with you with all this bacteria. Go wash your hands. I don't realize, I think some of us just go through life and we don't realize how dirty we get. You don't realize the things you've been watching, consuming, the things you've been participating in. Your hands represent your activity, your work, what you've been up to. Your heart represents the secret things that nobody else knows. Nobody else knows the deceit that's within a heart. I don't know about you, but while we're fasting and praying, I'm asking the Lord, though my sins may be as crimson, you can wash me as white as snow.

13:25 Wash my hands and wash my heart. Come on, praise him today. If that's your prayer, give me clean hands, God. Give me a, how could I be with God if I'm, if I'm this stain from my sin? Wash me by the blood of the lamb. Oh, it's like that old song. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. so he starts off and he says the earth is the lord's and everything and everyone that is in it who can ascend under the hill of the lord but those that have clean hands and a pure heart and then he keeps going watch what he says next i love this one in verse five he says um in verse five they will receive blessing from the lord and vindication from god their savior such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob. Write down the next one. Blessed are the God chasers. He's saying blessed is the one that seeks after God.

14:28 I love this so much because at some point in your Christian walk, it's got to stop being God chasing you and you got to turn the tables and you got to chase God. At some point, oh, I love James four. It says, if you draw near to God, God would draw near to you. Jeremiah 29, 13. When you search for me with all your heart, then you will find me. I'm loving this fastened prayer because what it's saying is, God, I want to seek your will. I want to seek your face. I want to seek your kingdom. your kingdom come and your will be done and it says blessed are the god chasers blessed are the ones that are that are going after god it's so cool one of our board members one of the elders of our church someone that we submit our lives to is pastor dave patterson pastor dave patterson is in vacaville california he's in northern california pastor is an amazing church an unbelievable church and pastor dave has been pastoring it for almost three decades i believe And for these three decades, he has led a Thursday night prayer meeting every Thursday night, Thursday night, 7 p.m.

15:37 They pray every Thursday and they've been able from that prayer meeting to touch most of California. And he will say that the really the the secret to the power of this church is their weekly prayer meeting. But about eight years ago, he tells a story that God asked him to change the name from a prayer meeting to pursue. He said, I'm not asking you to gather the church to pray. I'm asking you to gather the church to pursue God. And I'm just telling you, 21 days of prayer and fasting, we're not just praying, we are chasing. We are seeking God. We are trying to say, God, show me where you're at. Come on, clap louder if you believe it. Show me what you're speaking. Show me what you're doing.

16:21 Blessed are the God chasers. Would the God chasers say, I don't just want your blessing, I want the blesser. I don't want religion, I want relationship with God. I don't just want you to give me all the good stuff, I want to find what moves the needle of your heart. Oh, I love Psalm 27, put it on the screen. When you said, seek my face, my heart said to you, your face, Lord, I will seek. when you said, let's, let's think about this in terms of a text message. When God sent you the text and the text reads, seek my face. What was your reply to God? For some of us, you didn't even text back. For some of us, you text back God later. For some of you, you put K. how violent must you be? You wicked and perverse generation.

17:22 But let me ask you, God is saying to you, seek my face. What's your reply? What will you answer back to God? Because the Psalmist said, when you said, seek my face, my heart replied back to you, your face, Lord, I will seek. If you didn't start the fast with us, I want to encourage you, start tomorrow. Take the next 14 days and let's seek after God. We are not seeking for our own name or our own renown or our own pleasure. We are seeking after the heart and the will and the face of our God. The earth is the Lord's and everything and everyone that is in the earth. Who can ascend under the hill of the Lord? You can do that if you have clean hands and if you have a pure heart. Blessed are the ones that are like the Jacob generation. Those that seek after God, not the ones that are going like, pursue me again, God. I'm just waiting for God to pursue me.

18:25 He's been pursuing you. It's your turn to pursue God. Amen to that. And then he keeps going. Now look at the next part. Oh, I love verse seven and eight. Lift up your heads, you gates. Be lifted up, you ancient doors that the king of glory may come in. Who is this king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. Put it on the screen. Glory means weight, honor, and overwhelming importance. God is being announced not as a visitor. He is being announced as the rightful ruler. Oh, I like that. Lift up your gates. Lift up your doors. What he's saying is anything that's been blocking God, anything that has barricaded itself up against God, any door that's been shut, oh, lift up your gates, lift up your heads. Come on, it's time to let God show up. Show up in power, show up in might, show up in weight, show up in love. Clap if you're down for God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to show up in your life. Write down the next one. Do you really understand who's arriving? Do you understand who's showing up? Nothing outranks him. Everything that stands in God's ways must move. Gates and doors represent barriers, authority, and control.

19:46 By telling them to lift up, it's saying that nothing is high enough or strong enough on its own for God. Saying, no, no, no, there's things that have been shut up in your life. There's some gates, there's some doors, there's some addictions, there's some barriers. No, no, if you let the king of glory come in, it stands no shot against our God. I'm preaching this message to you today because earlier in the week, this last week, a pastor from Texas left me a voice memo. He was at another conference and he said, while we were at this conference, I kept worshiping and thinking about you and God gave me a word for you, Psalm 24. And he said, this year, I believe LA, there's some gates and some doors that are about to open for Zoe church. I believe there's some gates and some doors that are about to open for your life. Come on, I prophesy to you in 2026. There's some things that have been stuck for years. Come on, anybody down, do you understand that the King of Glory, with all of his weight, with all, come on, praise him a little bit louder, with all of his glory is about to show up. Lift up your heads. Lift up your gates. Lift up your doors.

20:58 Let the King of Glory come in. If you don't know who he is. Put it on the screen. King of glory, our king of glory, defeated sin, conquered death, disarmed hell, triumphed over Satan, fulfilled the law, crushed the curse, rose from the dead, ascended into glory, claimed all authority, established an eternal kingdom, opened the way to the Father. He secured salvation, released the Holy Spirit. He defeated fear, overcame darkness, redeemed broken identity silenced the accuser and he guaranteed our final I wish you'd praise him to start your year like the king of glory is welcome in your house the king of glory is welcome in your heart go lift up your heads oh lift up your doors lift up your gates let God be welcome in this place lift up a shout of praise we're not talking about a small God we're not talking about a puny God we're not talking about a God of little weight you better be careful not to minimize the power of my God when you minimize the power of my God you end up like Goliath you think that it's about your physical power David said I come against you you come against me with a sword and a spear and a javelin but I come against you in the name of the God of army of Israel. Today, I will feed your head to the carcasses. You better be careful not to minimize the power of my God. They look down over the Jericho walls and they go a bunch of little Christian protesters marching around our city.

22:38 They wasn't laughing when the walls came falling down. All throughout the Bible, men minimize the power of the king of glory. And all throughout the Bible, God showed himself to be stronger and bigger and better. Don't you minimize my God. You minimize my God, you'll end up in the belly of a whale. You minimize my God and you'll be the one laughing. When God said you can be pregnant in old age, you'll be sitting there going, how could I get pregnant? I'm just here to tell you He is who he says he is. He can Google him. He is him. All throughout the Bible, people try to, he's not that big. Nebuchadnezzar was out in his balcony one night looking around going, am I not amazing?

23:45 look at what I've built. God humbled Nebuchadnezzar, drove him out to the wilderness, made his nails grow crazy and his hair go crazy. And then in his depravity, he says, now I know who the real God is. Don't you minimize my God. Don't you come in going like these gates are too strong. There is no idol in the city of LA that's bigger and stronger than the name of Jesus. Come on, clap like you believe who you're singing to today. Clap like you believe who you're praying to. I'm not fasting and praying to a dead God. I'm fasting and praying to a God that can break a chain. He can move a mountain. He can feed 5,000. He can heal a body. Give him a lot of praise if you believe. He is who he says he is. Oh, I wish you could understand how big he is. I think sometimes, I think sometimes because you've been put to sleep by church, you forget who you're talking to. Do you understand who's arriving?

24:52 Worship team, come join me. Verse nine, lift up your heads, you gates, lift them up, you ancient doors that the King of glory may come in. Who is he? This King of glory. Who is he? He's the Lord Almighty. He is the King of glory. God is all powerful. He is the victorious king who deserves full access and full authority. Nothing stays closed when he arrives. And let me remind you, he is king, not because someone voted him in. He is king because he is king. and when he shows up the whole room will change when he shows up your whole life will change when he shows up those dirty hands and that dirty heart get washed by the blood of the lamb because all it takes is one moment with Jesus and I said it last Sunday but let me remind you we are making our church into a Bethany Thank you.

26:03 Jerusalem handed him over. He was rejected by his own hometown. He was rejected by the crowds, rejected by the leaders. He was rejected by his closest friends, but in Bethany, he was welcomed. It says that Mary and Martha welcomed him into their home. Think about the contrast when there was no room for him in the inn versus being welcomed and desired in a house. Oh, it was in Bethany that when Lazarus passed away, the sisters looked at him and said, if only you had been here, Jesus.

26:40 You know, like when you talk to somebody and they were like, the party was so good, but it wasn't the same without you. I wish you would have come on the trip. That's how they're talking to Jesus. We would not be facing this if you weren't here, Jesus. It was in Bethany that the woman, she broke that perfume, that expensive perfume, and she washed his feet. She wasn't coercing him or managing him or controlling him. She was worshiping him with extravagant praise. Here's the best that I've got. I love you and I desire you and I want you. Clap if you want your life to become a Bethany, a place where he can rest, a place where he can rule, a place where he can do his thing. Come on, clap if you're hungry. Clap if you're desperate. I don't want less of you this year. I want more. of you this year. It's Bethany.

27:35 It's Bethany where he did his best work. It's Bethany where he laid his head to rest. It's Bethany where he found refuge. It was Bethany. It was Bethany that was his favorite place to go. And I'm praying for you. And I'm praying for me that we become a Bethany. Come. Come, Lord Jesus. I'm lifting up my head. And I'm lifting up all the doors that have been stopping you from ruling this life. And I'm saying every gate break, every gate in my life, because I don't want anything in front of you. No idol. I don't want anything in front of you, Jesus. You are everything to me. So, Lord, if there's anything in my hands that's dirty, wash it. If there's anything in my heart that's not pleasing to you, point it out. Because I want to be one that seeks God. you'll live a miserable life as a christian waiting for god to always pursue you but you'll live in the will of god if you're always chasing after him i want more of your voice i want more of your will i gotta decrease god because it's your time to increase in my life stand to your feet we want more of you jesus we want more of you again thank you so much for listening to this week's message we pray that it brought you great strength and great encouragement don't forget to hit the subscribe button we love you and we will see you back next sunday