Alone & Waiting

it's alone and waiting it's a theme that i haven't picked up in this way in a good while and it really emerged from some experiences in the last couple of weeks i shared i think over the weekend we were participated in a conference last week of of christian leaders in the media and church world and in our nation and it's a group that gathers annually and we it was delayed this year because of coven so the last time we were together was february of 2020 and as i began to prepare for the meeting and in my party in that i i sat and made a list as i have habit of doing and i kind of described the world we were in in february of 2020. and it i mean it was a pretty straightforward description there were things like the economy at that time was as robust and as healthy as we had seen in a decade uh when i looked internationally there was peace in the middle east and there were historic peace agreements being signed on a regular basis there was a stability in that part of the world that we hadn't seen in a great season on our southern border there was more stability there was a fence being constructed and we were moving towards legal immigration what a notion not an absence of immigration but doing it in an orderly lawful way what else was on my list of the reports in the media on almost a daily basis was that our president and the executive leadership in our nation was unfit the lead that was very much a part of 2020 there was an election on the horizon so those messages were pretty frequent the church in our nation in february 18 months ago i thought was for the most part unaware you know asleep is the word i've used sleep is not an evil wicked ungodly state it's a normal part of a life cycle but it's not you have to have it but it's not the most fruitful time in your life when you're asleep you're unaware unconcerned and uninvolved and i think that's a pretty good description of the church then uh in february of 2020 we were energy independent in fact we were net energy exporters to the rest of the world had a big impact on our labor market and on our our attitudes towards energy today when i made that list a couple weeks ago i realized our world was dramatically different the middle east is very unstable again rockets are flying iran is once again openly saying they want nuclear weapons there's international momentum towards that objective israel and anti-semitism is once again leading the headlines in much of the international discussions so the the global circumstance is less stable our southern border is much less stable we have unprecedented not only illegal immigration but um illegal things pouring across our border with as of the moment at least very little will to do anything to disrupt that our economy is teetering on the precipice of inflation in a way we haven't seen in a long time we're spending far more than our income both individually and as a nation and that is a totally unsustainable pattern i'll spare you all the statistics i'm not an economist but by the end of this year we're on pace to have more than 30 trillion dollars in debt it's a staggering number um the media on a regular basis tells us we have exemplary executive leadership i mean it's almost 180 degree switch from february of 2020. so circumstances don't drive that narrative and the church it's harder for me to place the church today because i think there's some segments of the church that are awake there's some segments of the church that are still disbanded from coven there's another segment of the church that's still enjoying live stream because it's more comfortable and i'm grateful for technology but i think it's safe to say big picture the world is dramatically different in june of 2021 than it was in february of 2020. and my list actually filled the page so i'm just giving you kind of some of the snippets that come to mind but but out of that has come this extraordinary awareness within me of the need for the people of god to take a stand there is a revolution afoot and the outcome has not yet been determined and i believe the determining factor will not be a political party or a political leader or an ideology i ultimately believe the outcome of this revolution will be determined by the responses of god's people and those responses aren't clear to me yet even from like a gathering as we had last week it's a very um mixed response some just would rather be quiet and not talk about what's happening and maybe we'll go back to where we were and can go back to sleep others are aware it's a very but in the midst of that is this awareness that god is inviting us to stand in a way we have never stood before and i honestly i think we're struggling to sort that out partially because of atrophy any muscle that you don't use regularly diminishes and when you begin to use it again it complains and it doesn't just complain once it will continue to complain because the process of gaining strength is a process of breaking down and rebuilding and so i think we're kind of walking through that how we gather for church when we gather for church what we do when we come to church is dramatically different than it was at two years ago we're learning to stand and for some of us we don't like it and so this lesson is really built out of that i'll start in ephesians 6 and verse 10 familiar passage finally be strong in the lord in his mighty power put on the full armor of god so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes please note it doesn't say so you can hire the pastor to take his stand for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers and the authorities against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms the the battle we're watching the revolution that's underway it's being played out in terms of government policy and it's being enacted by political leaders and it's affecting academics and economics and international relations it's it's it's in it's entangled in all of those spheres but beneath that they like to our leaders like to talk about root causes a great deal the root cause is spiritual the wrestling match isn't i look forward to the day when we can have ballots filled with candidates who are all godly and embrace a biblical worldview and we can choose between them not godly because they say so but because the fruit of their life gives evidence of a biblical worldview radical ideas like the sanctity of human life a biblical view of marriage a biblical attitude towards human sexuality really radical stuff if you dare to say in the public square these days brings hateful labels hurled your direction so we're clever we become quiet you can't be quiet folks you've got to stand up for the truth that you believe or you don't believe it there's a spiritual struggle underway and if the church capitulates there's no one else to express that perspective it's not going to come from the civic clubs or the other expressions there was a time we might have thought it might have been buoyed by the universities or our local school systems but we've been quiet for so long we were asleep for so long we forfeited those places if the church fails in this season i don't see another delivery system for the message there's a spiritual battle underway so if you've lived in one of those kind of those bubbles you know i just don't like to think about spiritual conflict it's uncomfortable i don't understand it it's a little awkward here would be my suggestion all right we can describe that as our former season in this season you don't have to like it it's happening and we better figure out how to take our stand it's the biblical instruction so verse 13 says therefore because of the spiritual conflict put on the full armor of god so that when the day of evil comes it doesn't say if it comes when you recognize that evil has come if you have not yet recognized that evil is standing at the door in fact i think it's come through the door it's having breakfast at the kitchen table when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground and after you've done everything to stand that's my objective in this study with you to see if we can understand what will be necessary for us to stand more firmly than we have in the past not angry not belligerent not condemning how do we hold our place i don't believe i left it in your notes i actually edited some things out can you believe that three pages and i edited something but in second samuel chapter 11 there's a there's a couple of verses that describe an event that are at the center of king david's life some of you will remember king david had an adulterous affair with a woman that's sin was then is now and in order to cover his sin he ultimately arrived at the conclusion that he would have to have her husband killed he was a mercenary in the israelite army he wasn't even an israelite a foreigner a person apart from the covenant had more integrity than king david and david orchestrates his murder it's in second samuel 11 and verse 14 it says in the morning david wrote a letter to joab joab is the commander of the israelite army and he sent it with this man with uriah he in it he wrote put him in the front line where the fighting is fiercest and then withdraw from him so he'll be struck down and die that's a pretty poignant scene isn't it a man of integrity and courage being abandoned by his fellow warriors at the order of the king and he's murdered he's killed by an enemy combatant but he's murdered now i think what uriah experienced is something that we all fear and it's really at the heart of this study that we're going to do together he experienced betrayal and abandonment and the consequences that came with it because when i talk to you about standing i'm going to suggest to you that biblically there are many times where god will ask us to take a stand not linked arm in arm with multiplied thousands of people but you will have the sense that you're standing in an isolated way now i don't believe you're abandoned and standing alone but there is a time and a place when we're asked to take a stand not in the midst of a cheering throng of people but in a way that makes us a very visible target and i want to take a moment with it because i think to a great extent we've lost our heart for that we have succumbed to a great extent to group think and we don't want to be isolated and we'd rather just submit our group credentials and i'm delighted i'm honored the greatest honor of my life is being included in the church of jesus christ so i'm not trying to find some individualistic role but i i'm gonna i think we will see from scripture that god will ask us to stand and that the fear of being alone or rejected or abandoned is a very powerful voice in our lives and if you don't recognize how powerful it is and how to turn down the volume on it you will forfeit invitations from god because you won't stand in a place because you have the intuition and the awareness to know that to stand there means others will step away from you and if your primary goal is to never be rejected or abandoned or alone you will not finish your course i can tell you this when you stand before the creator of all things you won't stand with your whole small group or the community with whom you worship or even your family you'll stand there alone not a threat there's really a promise in that now the primary battleground of this struggle is in our mind and emotions because there's typically people around us and all sorts of voices speaking to us and towards us and our voice echoing forth but even in the midst of all those people there's a battle in our mind and our emotions oftentimes the temptations that the enemy presents to us are presented in relation to this threat if you'll concede if you will yield to this temptation it will minimize your chance of being alone you feel alone submit to this yield to this see if we can't resolve this fear and anxiety around our our vulnerability we are far more susceptible to temptation truthfully it feels better when others are rallied around us but i want to come back to the ephesians passage the assignment is happening after having you have done everything to stand that is not a passive response and i would submit to you that willing to be alone is a part of the learning to stand now let's see if it holds up to scripture this whole premise of learning to stand there's a fear often times of facing adversaries when we're alone we all understand that we understand the foolishness of defund the police none of us are surprised that crime rates are soaring in all the communities where funding has been withdrawn from the police you don't need a phd in social science to sort that out deuteronomy 31 and verse 5 these are moses instructions to joshua joshua is is succeeding moses he's going to take over the job that moses has had finish moving the children of israel into the promised land difficult to sign that moses couldn't accomplish but and now joshua's been tagged these are moses instructions the lord will deliver them to you and you must do to them all that i have commanded you the people that are occupying the promised land the promise that god gave them somebody already lived there so in order to to enter into the promise that god gave them they're going to have to displace the occupants of the land and they're not going to surrender voluntarily i assure you there is opposition between where you stand today and god's best for your life the question is do we have the courage to occupy god's promise and historically there's been so much abundance and so much security and so much opportunity we could fill our lives with things that we could produce and we weren't certain we needed god's help until we got in a really desperate place a diagnosis that we couldn't resolve or an economic crisis or an emotional meltdown of such magnitude that it would get pushed into the public and we couldn't avoid it but beyond that we could pretty much manage our lives folks that world is gone there is no security in our future apart from god so god says the lord will deliver them to you but you you must do all that i have commanded you you can't do this with a 50 commitment you can't do this with your favorite three commandments and ignore the other seven and then the instructions verse six be strong and courageous do not be afraid or terrified i think you've got the opposite what's the opposite of strong and courageous afraid the opposite of strength biblically isn't weakness it's fear be strong and courageous don't be afraid don't be terrified because of them the lord your god goes with you he will never leave you nor forsake you then moses summoned joshua and said to him in the presence of all israel be strong and courageous it's the second time for you must go with his people into the land that the lord swore to their forefathers to give them and you must divide it among them as their inheritance the lord himself goes before you and will be with you he will never leave you nor forsake you do not be afraid do not be disgusted like joshua's not listening well hebrew is an ancient language it's a very simple language compared to the greek of the new testament and the way you add emphasis is repetition so in a matter of two verses the same instructions are repeated three times it's as if it's being shouted at you be strong and courageous i won't leave you i'll go with you i'll be with you if you know the story as much as there's a together language in that there's very much an aloneness in that when it's time to cross the jordan river it's flood stage what leader moves an entire nation of people across a river with no bridge at flood stage aren't you clever enough to match your strategy with the seasons of the year joshua i don't know god said this is when we're supposed to go sure he did joshua was the one that has to have a battle plan for jericho joshua is the one that has to face the people after they're routed in their second city they attack and they're overwhelmed by an in an inferior force joshua was the one assigned to distribute the land amongst the 12 tribes there's a lot of together language but joshua was aware he's watched moses and god is saying you're gonna have to be strong and courageous and my initial message to you is to complete god's assignment for your life it's not just about joining the right place and sitting and standing at the appropriate time it will take strength and courage to let your faith reach its fulfillment in fact this whole notion of the pursuit of god look at exodus 24 this is moses much earlier in the journey god said to moses come up to the lord you and aaron nadab and aby who and 70 of the elders of israel well that's good there's a big group of us going to move together you're to worship at a distance but moses alone is to approach the lord and the others must not come near and the people may not come up with him how many think you could have 80 people together and moses turns says look i want you 80 to go with me this far and then when we get there you just stay right there everybody think all 80 people thought that's a good idea there's not a chance moses i need you to come from that point alone i would submit you there's a place in every one of our journeys where we will approach the lord by ourselves there'll be a point of choice a point of honesty a point of obedience a point of cleaning up your past a point of acknowledging the condition of your heart a point of separation from those things that you have leaned upon and depended upon where you say god i will learn to trust you and you alone where your spiritual growth and maturity will require you to stand in that way and if you forfeit that you forfeit the opportunity i'm not done yet let's push on esther chapter 4. you remember the story of esther she rises to be the queen of persia she's a jewess she's a young jewish woman but she has hidden her ethnicity and there's a plot that is launched and signed by the king that the jewish people will be annihilated hatred of the jewish people in persia is not new you know on the map modern-day persia is iran a state that today is dedicated to the annihilation of the state of israel and the jewish people esther's the queen and the message is sent to her that she needs to intercede for her people and she doesn't want to do it because if she enters without invitation and she isn't welcomed she'll be executed there's a significant risk to her and the message that is handed back to her is you've been given a place of authority and with authority comes responsibility and that's an important part of this equation that we are building to accept the authority of the believer to be a child of the kingdom [Music] to be born into the kingdom of god to have the redemptive work of jesus define your future to embrace all of those that authority spiritually that has been given to you that sin is no longer your master that your past no longer has the authority to define your future that through the blood of jesus you're justified and sanctified and made holy with all of those expressions of authority in your life there comes a responsibility if you have the authority and you don't accept the responsibility you're a fraud a police officer standing in an intersection directing traffic assigned to direct traffic he keeps his hands or her hands in their pockets and watches the chaos in the traffic is a fraud [Music] and we're wrong to put our focus on the wonderful blessings and the authority that is ours and shun or ignore our responsibility standing is not an option amen so i don't want to so well i i feel exposed correct i feel more vulnerable uh-huh won't you well i can but i'll need you to we each have an assignment look at what it says to esther esther sent this reply to mordecai go gather all the jews who are in suicides the capital city fast for me don't eat or drink for three days night or day i and my maids will do it fast as you do when this is done i will go to the king so she isn't going alone she's not off on some wild hair radical rebellious trip everybody who has any awareness of her position and her authority is standing with her but when she walks into the king's chamber that's not relevant other than on the spiritual level because if he doesn't lower the scepter to welcome her she won't be arise alive for the next sunrise but she comes to the place in her journey where she'll confront the loneliness of standing you see it's easy to say i'm with you i'll pray with you i'll fast with you but at some point in my journey and your journey we'll be asked to stand someplace and we're seeing that season break all around us so authority and responsibility to go to you cannot enjoy the authority and forfeit the responsibility and maintain your integrity psalm 102 and verse 8 identifies for us the isolation the loneliness if you prefer that suffering brings the reason i paused with this one or at least identified it for you is that suffering is a part of the human experience we're all going to suffer and in times where there's greater suffering where there's greater anguish it brings with it a greater sense of isolation or being alone you know this intuitively because the messaging that goes off on the inside of you is nobody faces a battle like this nobody's challenges are as deep as the challenges i have nobody's pain is as deep as mine nobody understands this fully because suffering isolates us i'm not going to take the time i know it's hard to believe that i left anything out but i'm not going to take the time to develop that in jesus life but it isolated our lord look at psalm 102 hear my prayer o lord let my cry for help come to you don't hide your face from me when i'm in distress turn your ear to me when i call answer me quickly if you're making those statements it's because that feeling is not exactly settled within you my days vanish like smoke and my bones burn like glowing embers my heart is blighted and withered like grass i forget to eat my food because of my loud groaning i'm reduced to skin and bones i'm like a desert owl like an owl among the ruins i lie awake i have become like a bird alone on a roof all day long my enemies taunt me those who rail against me use my name as a curse suffering brings with it isolation and suffering comes to all of us i think one of the burdens we accept that is not legitimate is to know the words that alleviate the suffering in other people sometimes words can't alleviate that we're asked to walk through shadowed valleys we're not asked to camp there to build a condo there but we're asked to walk through them and and oftentimes there aren't words that transport us from that place but one of the most profound things you can do is simply stand with somebody i love you i'm sorry you have to walk this path but i'm praying with you and asking god to bring you through we've got to get better at that folks we've got to stop arguing about whether we believe in healing whether we believe in miracles what have we been doing well what happens if i pray and nothing happens i'm going to pray again what happens if you try to start your card it doesn't turn over i'm going to try again what if it doesn't turn over the next time i'll get help i'm not going to abandon my car and get a skateboard i'm not going to decide cars are a tool of the devil the churches had some backwards ideas there's a solitude that comes with intercession jeremiah the prophet in chapter 13 says if you do not listen i will weep he's talking to the people if you do not listen i'll weep in secret because of your pride my eyes will weep bitterly overflowing with tears because the lord's flock will be taken captive he said if you don't listen to my message if you can't hear the word the lord has given to me i will weep alone because i see what's coming we're standing remember what we're talking about a season of tremendous change when the foundations are being ripped apart and there are voices saying a biblical worldview is inadequate it's it's out of date it's archaic i won't yield to it and we're asked to give a message into that gale force wind that god hasn't changed his mind about marriage god hasn't rewritten his perspective the best way for our children still comes from a biblical worldview and if you don't hear that message i will keep saying it but in private when i pray there will be tears run down my face because we know the consequences for the children we cannot be silent if we're silent the responsibility falls on us there's a solitude in interstate it's why so many christians don't want to look they don't want to think they don't want to be let's not talk about that let's just go do a familiar bible study and sing our favorite chorus it's it's too awkward to look because if i look i have some responsibility if you look away you're just as responsible there's a separateness that comes with waiting lamentations who's the author of lamentations lament it's really not a trick question jeremiah wrote lamentations jeremiah is the prophet in jerusalem when the babylonians are coming and it's too late in god's economy for an alternative outcome so jeremiah has a very difficult job descriptions so after the book that bears his name is the book of lamentations his lament over what has happened because of the lord's great love we are not consumed for his compassions never fail they're new every morning great is your faithfulness i say to myself the lord is my portion therefore i will wait for him the lord is good to those whose hope is in him to the one who seeks him it's good to wait quietly for the salvation of the lord it is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young let him sit alone in silence for the lord has laid it on him my observation i don't know a more sophisticated way to say it yet but when others are in motion when others lives are busy and active and they they seem not to notice and they're hurrying back to familiar things waiting feels very alone waiting for the lord to move waiting for the lord to manifest himself waiting for the power of god to be brought to bear it's a certainty god will not be mocked i trust him he's faithful but oftentimes god's timing is inscrutable it's beyond my understanding and between the god's intervention and the circumstance and the place where i stand while others seem to be busily moving forward if you're waiting there's a sense of separateness in that waiting and then i put another a couple of other passages in because they give us a little the passages i'm most familiar with the ones i prefer to quote is that god will never forsake you right that he's as close as your breath i mean we could together come up with a pages and pages of those verses but that's not quite the entire story in second kings 21 and verse 13 god is speaking he said i will wipe out jerusalem as one wipes a dish wiping it and turning it upside down i will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies they'll be looted and plundered by all their foes because they have done evil in my eyes and have provoked me to anger from the day their forefathers came out of egypt until this day it's a mistake to imagine that god is a god of infinite mercy and grace because clearly there are times when god is a god of judgment and justice and if i have a concern for our nation in this season and the reason i'm willing to speak as plainly as i know how to the church or is i we need god's mercy and we don't want to lead presumptuous lives because the reality is on our watch we have descended into unprecedented ungodliness on our watch i'll give you one other passage the story is more familiar this is sampson the one of the judges of israel the strong man of the bible he's been betrayed by delilah but he doesn't know it yet she's been trying for an extended period of time to betray him and sampson was so reckless so reckless with the things of god is it fair to say we have treated the things of god recklessly we've just imagined there was an infinite storehouse and we could treat them shabbily we could attend when we wanted to attend because we could always go to church after all until we couldn't we've got lots of choices and we could afford to argue about which translation of the bible we would read if we were going to read it but we're not really reading it but we'd rather argue about which translation was best if we were going to read it and we haven't really given ourselves to worship but we will debate ad nauseam the best way to worship if we ever chose to it seems to me we have been so reckless with our faith samson was reckless with his faith until finally the betrayal was complete and his covenant with god was broken his hair has been shaved he doesn't realize it yet delilah called samson the philistines are upon you and he awoke from his sleep and he thought i'll go out as before and shake myself free it's always worked before it didn't matter what the barrier was or how great the the number of adversaries there was an anointing upon his life that brought freedom to him he didn't understand he didn't know that the lord had left him samson had lived presumptively for so long that he took a terrible terrible toll in his life they gouged out his eyes that day and his life ends very triumphantly so i wanted those two the god's forsaken his people because of their persistent rebellion and sampson's presumption because when we talk about your willingness to stand i don't want you to treat it recklessly or arrogantly we want to come with a humility and a respect for god god i will stand wherever you ask me to stand i may feel inadequate i may feel unprepared i may feel a little wobbly but but if you've asked me i trust you've created me with everything i need to stand in that place and i'm willing lord i want to ask you to begin to think in a new way to to pray in a new way god if you put me in an office and the people i work with aren't christian if you want me to stand in that place i will gladly stand as a light for jesus if i'm in a school and it then they're struggling it's not a christian place i'll stand in that place for you if you will help me i will stand whatever the assignment i don't want to be reckless or presumptive and it seems to me there's there's a long history in scripture of these assignments to stand alone now please understand the context we're standing alone with with god or on god's behalf we're not abandoned by god or apart from god but god gives us an assignment that isn't always supported by thousands of people so that we're indistinguishable from the crowd moses in exodus 14 they've just about gotten out of egypt just about moses pharaoh has released him the plagues are over the passover's over but pharaoh changes his mind pharaoh approached the israelites looked up and there were the egyptians marching after them they're terrified and they cried out to the lord and they said to moses was it because there were no graves in egypt that you brought us to the desert to die well i'm sure moses drug them out by their hair or their head [Music] what have you done to us by bringing us out of egypt didn't we say to you in egypt leave us alone let us serve the egyptians it would have been better for us to serve the egyptians than to die in the desert i'm telling you that's an awkward meeting hundreds of thousands of people pointing a finger and moses stands up and says don't be afraid stand firm and you will see the deliverance the lord will bring today now you can read that and think there was no question in moses mind no concern in his mind baloney that's a hard place to stand and i'm tired of the rhetoric about renewal and revival and outpouring and movements and all of this stuff we'll have to be willing to stand it's not going to happen around us or in spite of us we're the church there's an army of angry people coming egypt has been plundered and destroyed and devastated and all that anger right now is focused on this one group of hebrew slaves and the slaves are saying moses said you go and if you know the story this scenario is a recurring theme in moses assignment i could have given you a dozen more instances of this elijah the prophet remember elijah the great challenge of elijah's life was the wickedness of king ahab and his wife jezebel ahab and jezebel in all of israelite history are the gold standard for wicked right they're the most wicked of the wicked if david was the the most outstanding king ahab is the most wicked jezebel is phoenician she's not even an israelite so she brings all of the occult practices with her i mean they are wicked beyond it's un for three years through elijah elijah prays and it doesn't rain for three years in an agricultural society you know what a three-year drought does everybody's not only starving they're broke and they know that elijah's prayer initiated that so he's not getting a lot of invitations to dinner parties and finally there's this confrontation on mount carmel and you know the story elijah's going to pray and fire is going to fall from heaven and there's a tremendous victory but in first kings 18 elijah came near to all the people and said how long will you hesitate between two opinions if the lord is god follow him but if baal is god follow him but the people didn't answer him a word they're not voting can you say alone the king will kill you if you can the queen will definitely kill you if she can you're appealing to the people based on hundreds of years of heritage and they're not saying a word [Music] then elijah said to the people i alone am left a prophet of the lord but baal's prophets are 450 men now elijah's not correct before we get done with this chapter we'll find out there's seven thousand that have still not bowed their knee to baal but they're not on mount carmel so what we have is a very honest presentation from the prophet's heart there may be thousands yet that haven't bowed but in this moment i'm the one you can put your hands on and i'm the one that's has drawn the line in the sand in fact that's repeated two more times i i edited out of your notes i know it's a shock but it's in chapter 19 twice where he said i alone him left this time he says it's a god when he's he's run into the desert he's exhausted and he said god i've been very zealous for you and now i am alone and finally god said oh bother there's seven thousand more david first samuel 30. this is before he's been anointed to be king but he hasn't yet secured the kingdom he hasn't yet taken jerusalem as his capital he's living as a refugee he has a band of people that have gathered around him and he's greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters while they were out from camp their camp was raided and their wives and children were carried off and when david and his warriors come back these mighty men that we like to talk about the mighty men said we're going to kill you if this is your leadership we're done with you now he has no court of appeal you can't file a motion someplace this is very personal and it says david found strength in the lord is god one translation says he encouraged himself in the lord his co-workers the people he trusted the people he's leaned on there's an aloneness folks there are times and places not every day not every season but god will ask us to stand in places where there won't be the choir we would prefer god hasn't abandoned you he hasn't broken his promise he's teaching us something having done everything to stand we will stand ezekiel chapter 3 again a prophet the spirit came unto me and raised me to my feet he spoke to me and said go shut yourself inside your house and you son of man they will tie with ropes you'll be bound so that you can't go out among the people i'm thinking that's a pretty lonely place when they come get the prophet and tie them up well before they come do that just go shut yourself in the house well i would rather walk through the streets of the city in the power of god with the angels protecting me shut up and go lock yourself in the house i'll make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you'll be silent and unable to rebuke them though they're a rebellious house i'm not going to give you the words to respond to them but when i speak to you i'll open your mouth and you'll say to them this is what the sovereign lord says whoever will listen let him listen and whoever will refuse let him refuse for they are a rebellious house it seems like a very descriptive presentation of standing alone on assignment for the lord doesn't it again not every day not every assignment but our journeys will include these places jesus in matthew 26 and verse 31 jesus told them this very night you will all fall away on account of me for it is written i will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered these are our heroes matthew and peter and john and james and the whole crew and jesus said listen before the night is over there's not going to be one of you a bit of help the apostle paul in second timothy at my first defense he's a prisoner in rome at my first defense no one came to my support everyone deserted me may not be held against them the lord stood at my side and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the gentiles might hear it and i was delivered from the lion's mouth that sounds poetic they didn't feed me to the lions in the arena but nobody would stand with me there were no character witnesses there were no leaders from the churches in all of the cities that i helped to plant saying this man was a force for good in our community nobody stood with me now the lord stood at my side he said i don't believe god abandoned paul i don't believe paul missed his assignment for the handful of examples i've given you i assure you i could have brought pages more are you willing to stand you know what paul wrote just before that i think i left this in your notes ii timothy 4 do you have it he's writing to timothy do your best to come to me quickly you see when you read that previous passage you think oh paul didn't care tough old bugger he was so crusty nobody wanted to travel with him but the verse is just before that he said do your best to come to me quickly demas he loved the world and he's deserted me crescens is gone and titus is gone luke is with me get mark and bring him he's helpful to me in my ministry he goes on to say bring me a coat i'm cold what's paul doing he's standing what are we going to do what's going to be said of the church in the 21st century what's going to be said of the church postcovid what's going to be said of the church in this season of revolution in our nation what's our message going to be i want to close and i've got to close so i gave it all to you you can read it later i at least wanted you to have the awareness of the promise and the faithfulness of god psalm 34 verse 18. you can read this section you can read aloud as a proclamation over your life if you feel alone or isolated because of any of the reasons that we've tagged if you feel vulnerable to temptation because of that this set of promises will help you read them aloud declare them over your life psalm 34 verse 18 the lord is close to the brokenhearted and he saves those who are crushed in spirit if you're brokenhearted god hasn't abandoned you you're not a failure you haven't written you out of the script he's close to you i don't feel like it who cares why are we so willing to to believe bad messages than when we feel them you feel fat you believe it all right you have one of those days you feel like your hair didn't work ah it's awful i just feel awful why would you believe the negative messages and to reject what god has said about you there's a battle in your mind stop yielding psalm 27 verse 13 i am still confident of this that i will see the goodness of the lord in the land of the living wait for the lord be strong and take heart and wait for the lord i don't like to wait i don't like to wait in line at the grocery store i don't like to wait in line to rent a car i don't like to wait microwaves annoy me takes three minutes to bake a potato it took three minutes to bake a potato 20 years ago can't we upgrade this thing so i mean i have to say this verse a lot romans 8 37 and all these things we were more than conquerors through him who loved us we're what what's more than a conqueror i thought if you conquered you got it all well the simplest way i would know to if you're more than a conqueror after you've won the victory you plunder your adversary so you're not only triumphant you walk out with everything that was there when you walked in i'm convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor demons nor the present or the future nor any powers height or depth anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of god that is in christ jesus i may be standing it may look like i'm kind of lonely here there may not be a chorus around me but you need to know that nothing has separated me from the love of god he's watching over me there are unseen forces busy on my behalf i can give you lots of examples from scripture you're not alone that's the that's the deception yes you're being asked to stand to occupy a space to be held accountable to accept responsibility but you're not alone but you've got to be willing to stand and at the point of that it feels alone i'll close with daniel three remember daniel you know what daniel yeah sure you do a lot of people say well you know what happens in revelation 12 well you know give me a hint 3 is the story of daniel's three friends being thrown into a furnace because they wouldn't bow to an idol remember the setup for that the king gets this great idea he's going to build this huge gold statue of himself and when the music plays everybody's to bow to the statue that's against the jewish law their their worldview says they can't do that so when the music plays everybody bows because that's the pathway to promotion that's the pathway to the next government check that's the pathway to not being labeled something you don't want to be labeled so everybody bows and the music plays and here stand these three young men and they bring him before the king because they're part of his advisory team and he's not angry at them and he said maybe it's a language thing maybe it's a new custom when the music plays you're supposed to bow and they said king respectfully you don't understand we can't bow and he said well again a little confusion here if you don't bow we're going to put you in a furnace to which they responded you do what you need to do we'll be standing now that's a fun sermon to preach unless you're the one standing there you know the story he's so angry now he's lost all sense of composure i can see the spittle dripping off his chin while he's sparking his orders heat the furnace seven times hotter tie them up put them there so they've accomplished that everybody's still bowing peeking and they go to look it's in your no it's just daniel 3. the king leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisors weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire i see four men walking around and the fourth man looks like the son of god amen and on everybody that gets tossed in the furnace walks out that's the end of hebrews 11. it says the world wasn't worthy of them all isaiah they put in a log and sawed him in two isaiah one of my heroes was oral roberts and maybe his most famous sermon was the fourth man it was masterful when he told it he would tell the story of shadrach meshach and abednego and when he got to that point about the fourth man he has the the fourth man jesus in every book of the bible in genesis he's the seed of the woman in exodus he's the passover lamb and in leviticus he's the giver of the law all 66 books i'll spare you i believe we're we are being asked to stand in ways we've never been asked to stand before and i i for myself i can say it causes me to feel more vulnerable and i'm watching the struggle because i interact with christians across our nation and beyond and it's not an easy choice to be made so i would ask you to do two things use your voice to encourage those that you recognize are standing in whatever way and i don't mean principally with podiums and give an encouraging hand to those who are struggling if you're being asked to stand it's worth it it's worth it it is worth it because one day we will stand before the lord and you will have wanted to have done your best i know it isn't always easy and i know that you will forfeit some things but it is worth it i want to pray for you may i do that considering how much scripture you had that's not too bad why don't you stand with me i think that's a flat-out miracle of biblical proportions considering the outline you had father thank you i thank you for this season more than a time of tremendous change when i believe you are prepared to move in unprecedented ways to pour out your spirit to to gather your people from the four corners of the earth to to reign righteousness upon us as we have never seen it lord that you called our names in this unique season and we thank you for it we praise you for it tonight we lift our hearts and our voices to you that you've awakened us from a slumber and you've opened our eyes to what you're doing in the earth we give you thanks for that and glory and praise for that and lord we ask you tonight to help us show us the places you've asked us to stand or not somebody else's opinion or someone else's assignment the places you've asked us to stand that we have the courage and the boldness the tenacity the willingness forgive us when we have bowed to the idols forgive us when we have bowed to public pressure or bowed to opportunity or whatever it may have been father forgive us holy spirit help us show us how to put the armor on teach us how to stand let the heaviness lift let the joy of the lord come may we be more aware of the angels standing around us than the brazen threats of the adversary we praise you for it thank you for your church and the earth may our lives be pleasing to you and through our lives may jesus name be exalted and your purposes break forth as never before for it's in your name we pray amen hallelujah god bless you

Channel: World Outreach Church

Views: 9,110

Rating: 4.9307957 out of 5

Keywords: World Outreach Church, World Outreach Church Murfreesboro, Pastor Allen Jackson, Pastor Allen Jackson Sermons, Online church service, live church service, christian sermons, How to Stand for God, Moses, David, Joshua, Esther, Elijah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, God-Assignments

Id: 03lYrkOJ4W0

Length: 59min 26sec (3566 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 01 2021