Big Trouble Ahead - The Path of the Storm [Seeing Whats Shaken]

[Music] it's good to be with you again we're continuing our study on big trouble ed the biblical words tribulation you know don't spend your time trying to figure out if you're going to be ready or you're going to miss it or what you need to do the whole notion i think is to live in a state of preparation and readiness for whatever god does in the earth so we can serve his purposes we're going to look today about the path of the storm because it's predictable the same way they can predict the path of a hurricane we can have some biblical awareness of what's ahead of us right now we're living through an undeclared revolution the outcome's not clear because i think the outcome will be determined by what god's people choose to do if we maintain our routines and sit in our churches and be polite i think we'll forfeit the opportunity of the season if we're willing to stand for the truth of god and boldly acknowledge jesus as lord we'll see god intervene on our behalf we don't have to be angry or belligerent or obstinate we simply need to have the courage to acknowledge our lord in the entire arena of our lives get your bible open your heart most of all let's be prepared to receive whatever god has for us the topic for this session is big trouble ahead the word in the bible is tribulation but that word kind of scares us what it means is there's big trouble ahead and it's not just the tribulation between where we are today and the return of the king there's some trouble ahead and we've been working on this little study trying to understand our responses and how to be prepared for this session i want to talk to you about something specific the path of the storm you know we live in an age where it seems to me that weather prognosticators have been razor elevated before they're like rock stars if there's a thunderstorm in kentucky they'll be on television all day long because it might drift south and if there happens to be storm clouds in our region you get up to the date they will interrupt whatever you're watching to tell you the the cloud they showed you 90 seconds ago is still there [Laughter] amen i mean we are well informed i i like thunderstorms i'm not really a storm watcher i can go to sleep with the lightning and the thunder as well as i can with the peaceful sky it's just a gift i guess unless you live with me and then maybe you don't think it's such a gift we had a storm one night true story of blew the window in our house out kathy woke me up and said the storm blew the window out she doesn't have the gift in the same way so i got to put the window back in went back and went to sleep pray for me but you know if it's a if it's a storm if it's a hurricane a storm of some significance we have some rather elaborate technology now that can help anticipate the track of a storm and long before it ever approaches landfall we know the the the anticipated path of that storm and the track of that storm they'll begin to investigate to know its severity the wind speed [Music] a lot of things you can know so but long before it ever approaches land we know where it's coming well i want to submit to you that we're in the midst of a storm and in the same way that those hurricane watches have to be updated on a very regular basis our up our storm watch has to be updated because the storm we were facing a year ago right now is different than the one we're facing today a year ago covert was still pretty new to us we didn't have a lot of science or a lot of data we didn't really understand a great deal about how it was transmitted or how long it would live on a hard surface or who was most vulnerable amongst us and and there was a lot of fear and a lot of things we didn't know today we have learned a great deal we have survived for the most part the threat that that represented and the projections they had were far greater than the reality we experienced yea god and thank god for all those people who work so diligently on our behalf but it's a mistake we can give the lord a hand for that and all those people who work so hard but it's a mistake to think that the storm has passed just because we can go back out in public without a mask or our kids have a a much broader open door for their summertime activities colvid may have diminished a great deal but i would submit to you that the threats we face today are perhaps greater not perhaps in my mind they're greater than the threats we faced last may they're not nearly as obvious they're not as easily tracked by science we don't have brilliant people in laboratories helping us do analysis and then reporting that analysis with something like a an open release so that we can interpret it what's happening right now is far more covert and less obvious and less apparent and far more spiritual and i don't say that i don't think it's a permanent condition i think storms have there's an ebb and a flow to that but we're still in the midst of a storm feels like to me it's a catfi category five storm that's howling all around us sustained winds storm surges lots of rain tornadoes being spawned things happening we thought we would never see you know there are specific climactic conditions that contribute to the emergence of hurricanes to those storms developing that's why we call it hurricane season and i would submit to you that we're in the midst of a storm season and you need to stay aware you need to pay attention i know you don't want to i know you're tired of it i understand i'm a bit weary with it myself we make decisions about where's church will happen a couple of hours in front of of convening the service means we have to coordinate with hundreds of people where to be and what to do and how to do that it's okay if we can be together no problem we'll we'll maintain that flexibility but i want to start by just acknowledging this notion of the path of the storm it's a spiritual struggle it's not random we're not just caught up in a another turn of the historical cycle there is an intentional effort to diminish and disrupt god's purposes and the genesis of that is not political or ideolo ideological it's not some person or personality there is a spirit behind it and it makes the church's role in this of primary importance and in the season we're in right now last year it was health it was a health concern it was a threat to many many of us right now i can identify some some aspects of our lives that are in the path of this storm and with just a little bit of awareness you can build your own story around it one thing i would tell you that is in the path of this current howling hurricane is family and marriage on almost a daily basis it seems we get new definitions of marriage new definitions of family new pronouns we're told gender confusion is an enormous problem gender reassignment is a thing i grew up on a farm i thought god made that assignment in genesis chapter 2 and verse 24 it says for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they will become one flesh i don't find any place in the story of scripture where god has amended that original plan in genesis chapter 1 and verse 27 god created man in his own image in the image of god he created him male and female he created them and then god saw all that he'd made and it was very good and there was evening and there was morning the sixth day when god looked at creation he didn't go oh he said it's very good church we have an assignment to be ambassadors for the truth not to be angry not to be condemning not to be belittling not to be belligerent but we cannot deny the truth and imagine we're god's people we can struggle with sin we can acknowledge that sin exists we all have our personal stories around that but there is a full-blown assault on the definition of family and marriage it's not new it's just intensified recently in the last few days a judge ruled that a christian college in the state of missouri had to obey an executive order from our current administration regarding gender issues about how bathrooms would be used locker rooms would be used participation in various activities on the campus how students would be housed even though it violated their fundamental religious beliefs and values i could give you many examples i suspect you know many of your own it's the stunning silence of the church that concerns me it's a storm and it's a greater threat to the well-being of our children and our grandchildren than colvin was calvin was of little concern to them it's in fact an impact upon them was minimal the impact of this will change their lives there's another target that's in the path of this storm then it has to do with the church and a biblical worldview the notion of a biblical worldview simply means the way we look at the world that emerges of understanding our world it emerges from the bible it begins with the premise that the bible is our rule of faith and practice and that we as god's people will submit to its authority that we don't have the freedom to change the rules we have submitted to the authority of scripture we don't worship the book but we worship the god that the book reveals to us to be a christian means you have a christian worldview now church is a little different there's some confusion around that definition church is about a person a church with a capital c church is not about a building or a denomination and the person that church is about is named jesus jesus of nazareth is the head of the church he is the incarnate son of god he led a sinless life in obedience to his father he died on a roman cross he was buried and raised to life again now that is central to the church god's love god's mercy and god's grace are all understood in the context of jesus life and redemptive work absent that story of jesus it's not the church i don't care what the architecture looks like how religious the language is how zealous the participants are it's not the church unless jesus is the head of the initiative and please don't put the preference for your local congregation or denomination or your style of worship ahead of the lordship of jesus it's going to be a shock when we get to the other side of this and find out there were people there that didn't worship like we did but their entry into the kingdom is centered in one person and his name is jesus assaults on this worldview are being made both from outside the church and perhaps more distressing from inside the church matthew 16 and verse 18 jesus was speaking i'll build my church and the gates of hades will not overcome it that phrase changed my life my spiritual formation didn't take place in church i accepted jesus as lord of my life in the kitchen floor at 4811 jackson street in hollywood florida i was baptized in the atlantic ocean in fort lauderdale my spiritual formation didn't take place inside a more a traditional church setting i had to learn to love the church i had to learn to understand the value of corporate worship and god's people standing together but when i read that verse where jesus said i will build my church i began to say if there's anything i can do to help with that i'm in david said i'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the lord than dwell in the tents of the wicked i'm with him i'll build my church jesus said and hell itself won't overcome it i'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven to understand there have been keys placed in the hands of god's people in the earth those submitted to the lordship of jesus to bind and loose things that are bound or set loose in our world if you don't like what you see being set loose we have an assignment to stand against it in jesus name we've been silent too long we've been passive for too much time the church and a biblical worldview is in the crosshairs of this current storm in second timothy chapter 4 and verse 2 it says preach the word be prepared in season and out of season correct rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction for the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine instead to suit their own desires they'll gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their ears want to hear i think we're seeing if we're not seeing the fulfillment of that we're seeing the precursors to that a reluctance to put up or tolerate sound doctrine to embrace the full counsel of the word of god but to gather people who will have a form of godliness but they'll deny the power of it in paul's language and thought the power of god is the cross the redemptive work of jesus there's a third part of our lives that is caught in the pathway of this storm and that's the notion of truth and i don't just mean biblical truth i mean the public expression of truth it's under assault it's not even held in high esteem we misremember folks if you put on your resume that you graduated from harvard university and you went to mtsu you didn't misremember and we're watching it at the highest levels of our nation and the most the most traditionally some of the most respected and revered sources of information we're watching the dissemination of propaganda wrapped up in the media it's not supposed to be that way we're experiencing censorship in ways that i have never seen it in my lifetime and i'm not aware of in our history as a people we've been told for a year to follow the science and i am gladly willing to do that i'm an advocate for science but you should know this about science science doesn't change in california michigan and tennessee it's reproducible it's consistent it can be evaluated and measured when science is co-opted by political agendas and becomes manipulative and a tool for propaganda it's difficult to follow truth is under assault you know that we've watched the struggle with that through coven you're seeing some breakthroughs to prayers you have prayed over the last months lies that were told about the virus we struggled with the truth was buried but many of that much of that truth is beginning to come forward i believe that's an answer to your prayers the lies and the deception that was put in place can't stand it's crumbling may it continue to crumble may other lies and deceptions that have been put in place in the public square crumble may the truth be told don't stop praying don't grow weary don't be discouraged truth is under assault we were told in scripture in isaiah 59 and verse 14 you know the passage by now it says justice is driven back and righteousness stands at a distance truth is stumbled in the streets and honesty cannot enter truth is nowhere to be found and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey that's p-r-e-y becomes a victim not a person who prays p-r-a-y currently in the public arena to sean evil to take a biblical perspective towards evil and say i will not endorse it cause you to become a victim they don't want to hear your words they don't want to hear your opinion you understand that it has brought a stunning silence to the people of god we're going to have to find our voices and the courage to stand up and speak the truth this is not a new thing we're dealing with a new version of it and it's facing us from some new platforms and it came to us rather unexpectedly it seems as suddenly as the virus from wuhan china did but it's not a new thing i want to read a passage it's john chapter 7 the the the leaders in jerusalem have given the temple guards the assignment to go arrest jesus they don't like his message and they're reporting back they failed to carry out their assignment it says the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the pharisees who asked him why didn't you bring him in and the guards said well no one's ever spoken the way this man does to which the pharisees responded you mean he's deceived you too has any of the rulers of the pharisees believed in him no but this mob that knows nothing of the law there's a curse on them and then nicodemus speaks up you know nicodemus in john 3 he'd come to jesus at night he's a part of this ruling group nicodemus who'd gone to jesus earlier and who's one of their own numbers said does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he's doing and they replied are you from galilee jesus came from the rural part of israel they spoke with an accent listen to their response look into it you'll find that a prophet does not come out of galilee folks long before we had digital media and social media there was fake news because the religious leaders in jerusalem had they chosen to there was an abundance dozens and dozens and dozens of biblical passages that they were familiar with that highlighted the authenticity of jesus message but his message was inconvenient they didn't want to accept the truth they would rather tell a lie in fact he was later to be condemned based on lies that they propagated fake news is not new fact checkers with an agenda they were there in the first century when jesus was ministering in jerusalem and they're around us in the 21st century it's not a new thing we're still committed to the truth the fact that we're in a storm and we see family and marriage or a biblical worldview or the truth under assault doesn't mean we should be silent we'll stand for the one we serve there's a fourth component i think that's in the path of this storm and it's economic but the implications for our lives go far beyond dollars and cents if the current trends continue we'll forfeit our independence you understand when dependence is created upon the government in order to benefit from that you have to relinquish your independence when you're given something that you're told is for free and you begin to rely upon it and depend upon it or anticipate it as changing your life in order to receive that benefit you have to relinquish your independence it's not a good bargain we're seeing a diminishment of our resources we're seeing on a daily basis a remarkable empowerment of central authority proverbs 18 9 i like the verse it says one who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys the bible called us to work god worked when we meet him in the first chapter of genesis he worked a six day week work is not evil work is not wicked work is not for someone else to do we are called to be busy with god's work and with the work that is necessary to support and to sustain our families if you don't like work if you hate work if you complain about work begin to repent thank you for that resounding amen do you know private property is a biblical idea we could take more time than i'm willing to tonight but in acts chapter five it's the story of ananias and sapphira their outcome's not great they sold some property and then they lied about it but i'm interested in what peter had to say to ananias peter said how is it that satan has so filled your heart that you've lied to the holy spirit and you've kept for yourself sonny the money you received for your land they had property and they sold it and they pretended to have brought the full purchase price but they kept some for themselves peter said didn't it belong to you before it was sold and after it was sold wasn't the money at your disposal what made you think of doing such a thing it was yours you could have come in and said we want to give you one percent of the purchase price no harm no foul you could have said we brought a tenth a tithe off the purchase price no harm no foul you could have decided not to give anything it was your property it was your choice but you wanted the benefit that came from a generosity that you weren't sacrificing for we're a little addled on this topic right now we're a little confused god doesn't need my resources i don't give because god needs what i have i give because i need to break the strangled hold of selfishness in my life see the challenge we face is no matter what we have we want more and when we get more we're still not satisfied we most of us have lived through that you know we thought a 10 improvement on what we have we'd be happy we got 20 more and we're still not content psalm 50 and verse 12. i love it it says if i were hungry i wouldn't tell you this was god for the world is mine and all that's in it god said look if i needed something i'm not calling you and we get it kind of sideways we think boy god would be relieved if i'd step up and be more generous no you'd find new freedom if we would learn to stand up and be more generous you need to open your heart and your mind to what god has to say about your resources or this current storm you will lose your balance and the reason it matters is i don't believe the abundance that we're enjoying right now is sustainable i think the same way we have seen a health scare and a threat and a shaking i think it's inevitable that we see an economic shaking and you need to know what your source is you don't have to be frightened or threatened but we need to know what our source is now there are some factors that contribute to our vulnerability in storms in hurricane if it's a hurricane the season makes a big difference you're much less susceptible in florida in january than you are in august it has to do with the temperature of the water where the storms incubate but location has a lot to do with it too a hurricane in the gulf coast didn't a huge deal to us in tennessee we may get a little extra rain and it may inconvenience our picnic but for the most part we don't have to put boards over our windows location matters and if you're in the path of a storm awareness makes all the difference it's why they work so hard now to warn us days and days in advance if you need to evacuate if you need to change your physical settings if there are many things you can do to be prepared so that combination of knowing the season and awareness of what's happening and your location all contributes to your vulnerability so i just want you to begin to pray a simple little prayer lord to what degree and in what ways am i vulnerable in this current storm last year they were telling you wash your hands don't talk to strangers stay six feet apart you had lots of guidance lots of things helping us stay safe last year whether you like them or not there was an avalanche of information we're not getting that information right now unless you're listening to the lord but the storm is more real job 15 and verse 21 sounds of terror on his ears while at peace the destroyer comes upon him completely unaware of the destroyers approaching we don't have to be frightened by it but we need to be aware of it put the window back in and go to sleep first thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 1. now brothers about times and dates we don't need to write to you for you know very well that the day of the lord will come like a thief in the night and while people are saying peace and safety destruction will come on them suddenly as labor pains on a pregnant woman and they will not escape it says the messaging will be peace and safety but destruction is imminent people ask me frequently do i think the lord's return is near yeah i think that's a highly probable scenario but suppose we're wrong suppose we miss it by a thousand years it doesn't diminish the storm that we're in it doesn't diminish the reality that we've been asked to stand in the midst of say are these really the last days these are really your last days [Laughter] didn't that a happy happy thought there's some vulnerability factors i want to take a minute with you i spend a lot of time in church world i read a lot of the literature i talk to leaders in the church across our country and around the world and there's some things that contribute to the vulnerability of the church that i think have to be addressed some of these we have talked about a bit in la in these last few months one has to do with the church being asleep sleep is a normal part of your life cycle but you don't want to be asleep at the wrong time you don't want to be asleep when you're driving you don't want to be asleep if you have an assignment to be attentive to something when you're asleep you're an accurate description of your engage is that you are uninvolved you're unaware and you're unconcerned if you're asleep and somebody breaks into the house it doesn't bother you you're not frightened help yourself just don't wake me up and i would submit to you we've been asleep too long there's abundant evidence to the fact that we were asleep not too long ago they took the ten commandments out of our schools we didn't say anything not too long ago they redefined marriage we didn't say anything there have been many things that are clearly contrary to our biblical worldview that have happened on our watch and we've said very little 3 000 children a day lose their lives to abortion and the primary defense of that for the last decade or more has been nobody has a right to tell me what to do with my body until this last year and everybody could tell you what to do with your body how far to keep your body away from somebody else got to put a mask on your body where to put your body and we have not been able to find the courage to stand up and say i won't support you until you defend the lives of those that can't defend themselves we've been asleep ephesians 5 and verse 14 says it's light that makes everything visible that's why it said wake up o sleeper rise from the dead and christ will shine on you be very careful then how you live not as unwise but as wise making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil he says you're living in a storm you better wake up and pay attention ezekiel 33 is a little more direct ezekiel 33 talks about the watchmen on the walls the people assigned to stand guard over the city and god's perspective is pretty stunning to me it said if the watchman sees trouble coming and doesn't blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them that man will be taken away because of his sin but i will hold the watchman accountable for his blood see you and i can't sit in the safety of our homes and say well i'm not doing that we have an assignment we're to stand watch over the children the vulnerable the young people while immorality is being redefined and marriage is being redefined and what family looks like is being redefined we're bringing a vulnerability to those that we've been asked to watch over so i'm watching over my kids good for you i hope you are but the church has a broader assignment say well that's not easy duh we wouldn't have needed the prompt if it was easy we have to behave responsibly toward others but we cannot accept responsibility for others we're responsible for ourselves but we have a response to we are have an assignment to behave responsibly towards them there's another factor that contributes to the challenges and the vulnerability of the church this is my opinion you can disagree on this one but i believe the tremendous affluence that we have had and the freedoms that we have had have been distractions to us i believe we have struggled mightily with the love of money and the pursuit of pleasure and a rather marginal interest in the kingdom of god now you're sitting outside on a cold damp night to worship the lord so i will acknowledge i'm preaching to the choir [Applause] but even the choir needs a good message from time to time and whether this is our challenge of the moment or not it's a challenge that we wrestle with all of us because you see our way through this is to not point our fingers at other people and say they are so wrong the challenge we face is to say to the lord lord forgive me for the condition of my heart the challenges we face will be turned back this storm will be abated we'll see it turn around and go back out to sea if god's people will change their hearts in second timothy chapter three the first five verses i won't read them to you but it lists 18 aspects of human character that will deteriorate in the last days and i think they're captured it says there are three great loves that people have it says they'll be lovers of money lovers of self and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god and you can fit all of those things into the portfolio of contemporary american christianity lovers of money lovers of self and lovers of pleasure more than lovers of god before coven we thought church should be convenient we should be able to park close to the entrance where i want to come we shouldn't have to stand in lines we should be able to sit in the seats we want they should be comfortable the sermons should be done early enough that we can get to the restaurants ahead of our other friends in churches the worship needs to suit my personal style and preference in fact the worship leaders need to be the ones that i like and on and on and on the list went we would argue about translations of the bible we would argue about the goofiest things fully exposing the fact that our commitment wasn't to the lordship of jesus christ and the expansion of his kingdom our commitment was to our comfort and our personal pleasure to our self we've been exposed a bit in philippians 3 and verse 18 he says as of as i've often told you and before and i now say again even with tears many live as enemies of the cross of christ he's writing to a church you know you can sit in church and attend church and participate in church and live as an enemy of the cross of christ see the cross has only one real function it's a place of execution and to be a christ follower is to take your carnal selfish me first nature and to execute it so we were taught to pray i want to know christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings that somehow i might become like him in his death it says their destiny is destruction their god is their stomach and their glory is in their shame you know your your their mind is on earthly things your earth suit your body is intended as remarkable as it is the bible says we are fearfully and wonderfully made but as remarkable as your body is it's a reminder that you're a creature no matter how elaborate or expensive the meal or the food you consume is we all process it the same way and no matter how glorious your strength is and how remarkable your health if you'll turn that calendar enough times your body will begin to betray you it's a reminder that there is a god and it isn't you but we've flipped the script on that we've made our bodies and our appearance and who we are the thing we worship it's our greatest concern it's a point of tremendous sacrifice let me ask you a question what do you sacrifice for what is it you protect lord help us in luke 16 jesus said no servant can serve two masters he'll hate the one and love the other or he'll be devoted to the one and despise the other you cannot serve both god and money and the pharisees this is the punchline the pharisees who loved money heard all of this and they were sneering at jesus there's a lot of sneering at jesus these days there's a lot of sneering at jesus and too much of it coming from places that look like churches folks we have to guard our hearts we cannot afford to be asleep and we cannot afford to care more about affluence and comfort and convenience than we do serving our king there's one last component to this my minutes are just about gone it has to do with the season that we're in my opinion and again you can disagree with me or you could save some time and agree next session will be on humility i believe the season we're in can appropriately be described as a harvest time now biblically a harvest time is a time of increased spiritual activity both good and bad i believe god is busy gathering his people but i believe it's equally true that satan is busy expressing hatred for those who love god and then we see this happening around us in some of the most blatant ways of my lifetime i have never seen a hunger for the things of the lord like i've experienced in the last year i've never seen anything like it in my lifetime and i've been a christian for a while now on the other hand i don't know that i've ever seen greater expressions of evil or more ambivalence from people who said they were god's people all that's happening in the same mix it's harvest time we shouldn't be surprised in matthew 13 jesus tells a parable about a field that was planted many of you know the parable it's the parable of the wheat and the tares or the wheat and the weeds and the disciples ask for the explanation of the parable when they're in private and this is what jesus said the field is the world and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom the weeds are the sons of the evil one the harvest is the end of the age and the harvesters are the angels so jesus told us that at the culmination of this age there's going to be a harvest that's unprecedented and included in the harvest are both are going to be both the sons of light and the children of darkness and the angels are going to be busy in that a great deal of spiritual activity and we're watching that we've been baptizing people every week week after week after week we baptized more people last year than any year in the history of our church [Applause] and in case you missed it there was a pandemic [Applause] we were outside and it was hot and it was cold we were baptized people it was so cold we had to put towels in a warmer you act like that's normal [Laughter] people are coming from other states on a weekly basis saying i want to be baptized that's not typical the spirit of god is moving don't give your heart to the expressions of darkness don't give your emotions away to the ungodly things that are happen happening recognize what god is doing give your time and energy and invest it in those things and celebrate what the spirit of the lord is doing in the earth revelation 14 tells us about this harvest that takes place at the end of the age it says there'll be two harvest there'll be a harvest of mercy and a harvest of judgment and they're going to happen in very close proximity to one another and both of them are initiated from heaven they'll involve those of us in the earth but the initiative for the harvest comes from heaven and god willing i'm going to unpack the characteristics of that harvest in our next session what i want to invite you to do with me tonight is make a commitment to say to the lord that i will live with an awareness of the storm i will not give in to my desire to ignore it i won't be silent i won't turn my back on it i won't decide to have a party until it passes i'll take my place in the kingdom now here's what i know from experience we'll all miss some opportunities i do you will when we recognize that that happens in the same way the disciples missed some of the opportunities that were put before them sometimes when jesus had said would beware of the yeast of the pharisees they would argue about lunch i think jesus was pretty much on the record he could feed a lot of people with just a little bread but the disciples had trouble keeping perspective so do we storms are disorienting and if you've lost your balance in these over these last few months with the storm or you grew weary or you missed an opportunity tonight's a great night to say to the lord lord i'm sorry i'll begin again i want to stand for your people i want to be salt and light i'll take the place you created me to take i want to participate in this great harvest at the end of the age folks the king is coming and we've got something to do other than play church between here and there we've got something to do other than be angry at the wicked we've got to hold up the truth it's going to take an effort on our part a greater effort than we've ever known but we have more help than we've ever had amen i want you to stand with me if you will [Music] didn't god give us a beautiful sanctuary they really did [Applause] i spent the last the better part of the last 25 years in one stage or another of planning sanctuaries and places for god's people to worship and in a three-week period of time god gave us one that was more beautiful than any i ever worked on i want to pray for you i want to pray that the god will give us a new anointing an anointing to see remember when jesus said to the disciples the fields are white with harvest don't say in three months or six months the fields are white with harvest and they're making their way to jerusalem and they come to a samaritan village and the disciples go into the village to buy bread and they come back with dinner but while they were gone jesus ministered to a woman and she comes back with the whole village all the disciples could see was they were hungry and there was dinner jesus could see that the fields were white with harvest we need god's help without his help our selfish desires our carnal desires will dominate how we interact with our world and we will forfeit much of what we were created for so i want to pray that god will give you eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to understand are you ready let's pray father thank you thank you for your word and its truth and authority and power in our lives i thank you that you care about us that you've called us out of darkness and through the blood of jesus we have been redeemed from an empty way of life lord i thank you that you have chosen us for this very unique season in human history when we see the culmination of the ages beginning to unfold lord the news reports seem as if they're taken from the pages of our bibles and the challenges are not only great they're threatening and often intimidating we present ourselves to you tonight as living sacrifices and we ask that you would use us but you said you chose the weak and the foolish and those who weren't a particularly noble birth the lord i thank you that in your great love and mercy and compassion you've called us forgive us when we have failed we've missed those windows or failed to recognize the opportunities we were more focused on dinner than the people but i pray now there would be a new anointing upon our lives a new discernment a new insight a new understanding a new desire to see the kingdom of god extended a new boldness to stand for the truth awaken us from our slumber may the grogginess father go may our hair may our our awareness clear i thank you for what you're doing i praise you for it i thank you for a church that is being awakened to this season that we're gaining new strength a new anointing a new calling upon our lives may you be pleased with us and may we accomplish the purposes for which we were created in jesus name and let all god's people say amen hallelujah give the lord a hand [Music] hey this is pastor alan thank you for watching this video if you enjoyed it like it and most importantly share it with your friends if you want to be notified when there's new content we post new material if you'll just subscribe to my channel and hit the bell you'll get the notification most of all i pray god blesses you as you continue on your spiritual journey and open your heart to the lord god [Music] bless you

Channel: Allen Jackson Ministries

Views: 19,027

Keywords: Pastor Allen Jackson, allen jackson ministries, world outreach church, alan jackson, sermons, preachers, how to be saved, Finding Jesus, pastor allen jackson sermons

Id: _u11u_dIYro

Length: 44min 57sec (2697 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 05 2021