Divine Urgency | Pastor William McDowell

amen family the presence of the Lord it's tangibly in this room and I'm praying that you can sense the presence of God where you are right now and I've been weeping this entire time actually I've been weeping this entire week I am aware that there are a number of things I see going on around the world right now I wanted to do something in this moment right before we jump into our time of the word because I'm been receiving emails and text messages from around the world people asking us to pray because the Lord has been doing a healing work in this house and it's in this moment that our faith shines the brightest so I want to pray for you right before we jump into our time of the word Father I pray in Jesus name that your healing power would begin to flow throughout the world throughout our nation throughout our city to everyone watching in the name of Jesus we take authority over every sickness and disease of all manner [Music] including coronavirus and all of its effects we pray in the name of Jesus that your healing power would go now to everyone who is watching and father we ask that you would heal your people we pray that you would touch your people and father those who are watching even those who have cancer right now that are watching us speak to that mount in the name of Jesus and I say be healed in Jesus name the power of the Lord is present to heal in fact there are many of you right now who are watching you're gonna begin to sense even a heat that comes over certain parts of your body because the Lord is beginning to touch you right now I'm beginning to sense the presence of the Lord moving and and he heals in the presence of faith and he heals and the purpose of skeptics so it doesn't matter and even a skeptic is watching at the moment we know because we have a history with our God we've seen him do it time and time again and we know that he will continue to do it he heals his people and so now in the name of Jesus I speak the word of the Lord you sent your word and you healed all of our diseases you knew about everything even if it's new to the earth it's not new to you and so father in Jesus name I pray that your healing power would begin to go through even right now and those who are dealing with the effects of the virus we say be healed in Jesus name those who are dealing with arthritis in your body we say be healed in Jesus name those who are dealing with cancerous tumors in your body we say be healed in Jesus name those who are dealing with chronic illness we say be healed in Jesus name those we're dealing with hereditary sickness and disease we say be healed in Jesus name those who are dealing with issues in the blood we say be healed in Jesus name be healed in Jesus name Lord heal your people we pray in the name of Jesus heal the nations of the earth we pray in the name of Jesus heal North America in South America and Africa and Asia and Australia and Europe in the Middle East we pray in the name of Jesus that your healing power would begin to flow to the nations of the earth and touch your people now we pray in Jesus name we release our faith and we believe you to touch your people now we speak to pain and we say be gone we speak to illness and we say be gone we speak to virus and we say be gone in the name of Jesus could be healed in Jesus name in Jesus name when Jesus name thank you Lord that you hear us when we pray we thank you that you hear us when we pray and not only do you hear us but you answer so we thank you for releasing answers now we thank you for releasing answers in every home we thank you for releasing answers in every home now in Jesus name thank you lord thank you lord [Music] Thank You lawyer I see the Lord actually working on in a particular situation here and I'm not going to get too heavy into it but just the presence of the Lord is in your apartment you feel the presence of the Lord here I just want to say to you receive what the Lord is doing receive what the Lord is doing right there right there right there in Jesus name in Jesus name thank you Laurie well family I'm gonna tell you right ahead of time that this is a moment in God we've been sensing the Lord all day and sensing the Lord all week and this is a moment in God I recognize it this is I think our third week streaming our services and every week we endeavor to be better and the way that it's presented to you but there are moments in time in which even in our best effort of presentation we just have to give way to the Holy Spirit and I believe that the Lord wants to do something significant in all of us today and in all of our homes today so I just want us to be open to what the Lord wants to do because he is here to meet us and do something significant deeper family you know that when we read the scripture we stand to honor the reading of the Lord's word so if you're there in your home if you are able to stand just in a moment to say Lord we were in honor your word we're not just reading a book we're reading your word so we want to honor the presence of the Lord as we read its word together I want us to read in Ezra chapter 3 as a chapter 3 verse 1 through 3 as a chapter 3 verse 1 through 3 and it should be on the screen for you but if not you can follow along with us in early autumn when the Israelites had settled in their towns all the people assembled in Jerusalem with a unified purpose then Joshua son of Jehoshaphat joined his fellow priests and zerubabbel son of shealtiel with his family in rebuilding the altar of the God of Israel they wanted to sacrifice burnt offerings on it as instructed in the law of Moses the men of God even though the people were afraid of the local residents they rebuilt the altar at its old site then they began to sacrifice burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord each morning and evening I'm gonna stop there and let's pray one more time father I thank you for the word of the Lord and the burden of the Lord that rests upon me I thank you but you are giving us a divine invitation to see something significant take place in our lives and in the earth I pray that in these next few moments as I preach your word you would anoint me to do so and at the same time I'm also praying that as I preach your word your people will feel the weight of it that your presence would literally fill their homes where they are and I pray that all of us would sense the invitation the drawing of the Lord that you are inviting us into you are inviting us into a significant place in this generation and in fact all the generations that are alive on the earth right now and so father I pray that you meet us significantly today and may all of us be changed because of your word and what I pray as always because of your goodness and mercy that those who don't know you that you would draw them to you that you would save them by revealing your son to them in this moment and as always as your son I pray that the words in my mouth and meditations that my heart would be acceptable and I sign Oh Lord my strength and my Redeemer in Jesus name Amen amen family if you're standing in your home's you can be seated if you haven't pressed the share button it would be a really good time to do so and we've just been sensing the presence of God this entire time and certainly we miss seeing your faces but we are so honored to have the opportunity that you've given us this moment of attention to worship together and to gather around his word as I said earlier the county that we're in Orange County is actually has a shelter and laser mandatory lockdown type situation in order to stop or slow the spread of the virus in our County where the church is and so obviously we're not able to gather together in mass numbers just yet and we're gonna continue to be prayerful about the safety of our family so that we don't spread it among one another and so we do ask you to continue to to heed what the officials are telling us that they relate to that so that all of us stay well in this season it won't be forever there will be a glorious time of reunion together but until that time we're grateful to have this opportunity to come to you live and the reason why we've chosen to be live is because as as things begin to move throughout the earth and throughout our country and even throughout our city in our state we want to make sure that we are being prophetically relevant for the moment I do know that a lot of my friends and I don't fault them at all for this because everyone has to do what's best for their service rhythm but I know a lot of my friends have chosen to pre-record services and pre-recorded messages and I don't fault them for that but we've chosen to be live so that we could speak what is literally pressing on the heart at that exact moment and I'm so glad to be honest that we did and we entertained that idea of doing so but but we chose to prayerfully to continue to be live before you and so this is not pre-recorded to produce but this is something that that is really fresh off the presses in the heart of the Lord I have to let you know right up top I've been weeping a lot this week my kids saw me crying yesterday and they brought me a bunch of Hershey's kisses to try to cheer me up because they saw me crying it was the cutest thing ever and just want to shout out to my kids my son Joshua specifically I told him last week that I would shout him out while I was preaching but then I didn't do it because I forgot in the midst of preaching so I'm making up for it right now he is nine years old and it's desperately been asking me daddy can I go to church with you daddy can I go to church with you and so certainly missed him and all of you but this has been an interesting week I gotta tell you this has been an interesting week because prophetic awareness of what's happening doesn't make it not happen just because we have a prophetic sense or a prophetic awareness or whether the Lord has given us an awareness of what he's doing in the earth it doesn't mean that it's not happening in the earth it doesn't mean that it's not happening around us it doesn't make it stop happening just because we know that it is happening in and-and-and-and like me perhaps many of you at this point and now know someone who is dealing with the virus or you know someone who knows someone who is or or perhaps it's even closer to home for you maybe you're watching or listening right now and you you may know someone who has passed away because of the virus or even closer maybe you personally know someone who has passed away in this situation and so we recognize that that while we're preaching even while preaching prophetically we're we're also preaching at a time where where some of you may be dealing with the heartbreak of sudden transition and and we are consistently in the place of prayer concerning that and concerning you and and we want you to know that even though we've proclaiming the word of the Lord and the prophetic opportunity that MIT stands before us or what we call the divine opportunity that stands before us it does not mean that you're not dealing with the effects of that and we understand that and we are praying to that end in fact yesterday at various points in a day and it's part of the nature of being a pastor but yesterday at various points in the day I was receiving text and and emails from literally around the world people who were asking me or us to pray for a friend or a loved one who is sick and and I just mentioned to you earlier I had a moment yesterday of uncontrollable tears weeping as a pastor hearing about friends who have lost friends and family members and pastors who have lost church members in and it's very real and it's it's all around us it's undeniable and in fact to to not talk about it would would be not good because it really is all around us that this is happening all around us and to be honest both parts of my primary calling both pastoral and prophetic were awakened and aligned with the same burden which is what leads leads us so what we're going to share today and is the burden of urgency it's it's the burden of urgency I've made this statement to our church before but it bears repeating now all manifestation is connected to whatever precedes it all manifestation is connected to whatever precedes it manifestation never happens in isolation it is always connected to that which precedes it the way that Galatians chapter 6 said that particularly in the past in translation and it says this it says the harvest that you read reveals the seed that was sown the reason why I'm telling you that in this moment is what we will see come out of this moment it's connected to what we do in this moment I want to say that to you again what we see come out of this moment is directly connected or will be connected to what we do in this moment I've been prophetically proclaiming to us and our pastors have been doing so on the prayer call which we are for those of you who are participating in our prayer call and we are actively working on a fix for that and so just continue to stay persistent in that and and we're gonna work that out but I've been prophetically for claiming along with our pastors on the prophetic call our prophetic responsibility to divine opportunity um but however this opportunity comes at a price the opportunity comes at a price and that price should cause an urgency in us for the last few weeks I've been unable to get away from the account of King David buying a ruinous threshing floor and it is it is as I've been meditating over this particular scripture and and and really thinking about its implications and its real-world implications even to our generation right now and what we're going through in the earth right now it's been meditating on this over and over and over um there is a part of that story our part of that account of David buying a RunAs threshing floor that did not fully see before and that was the urgency of it I didn't fully see it before and so I just want to recap the story for you really really quickly so that we can get on the same page because I want you to see this because there is something that is stirring actually my tears are connected to urgency I can't even promise you that I'll get through all of this without crying to be honest but those of you who know me you say okay that's alright pastor week we know you but for those who may be watching for the first time listen this is this is this is an urgent moment God God wanted to deal with Israel and so because God wanted to deal with Israel but the scripture says that that he he caused David to do something that the way that first chronicles chapter 21 says is that he he that Satan incited David to take a census and so David takes the census even though he was warned against it although the Lord and in his sovereignty caused it to happen or allowed it to happen because ultimately he wanted to deal with Israel while dealing with David because he knew that David would do something we're not I've I've talked about that last week so you can go back and listen to that but I want to pick up in verse 7 of 1st chronicles chapter 21 and I pick up verse 7 in 1st chronicles chapter 21 it says this is after David did this it says but God was displeased with this thing and he struck Israel and David said to God I have sinned greatly and that I have done this thing but now please take away the iniquity of your servant before I have acted very foolishly and the Lord spoke to get David's ear saying go and say to David thus says the Lord three things I offer you choose one of them that I may do it to you so GAD came to David and said to him thus says the Lord choose what you will either three years of famine or three months of devastation by your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you or else three days of the sword of the Lord pestilence in the land with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout the all the territory of Israel now decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me then David said to GAD I am in great distress let me fall into the hand of the Lord for His mercy is very great but do not let me fall into the hand of man so the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel and 70,000 men of Israel fell and God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it but as he was about to destroy it the Lord saw and relented from the calamity and he said to the angel who was working destruction it is enough now stay your hand and the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan also known as aronia by the way of one in the Jebusite and david lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between Earth and heaven and his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem then David and the elders clothed in sackcloth fell on their faces and David said to GAD was not I who gave the command to number the people it is I who have sinned and done great evil but these sheep what have they done please let your hand o Lord my God be against me and my father's house but do not let the plague be on your people now the angel of the Lord had commanded gat to say to David that David should go up in a row and raise an altar to the Lord on a threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite so David went up at God's Word which he had spoken in the name of the Lord now Orman was threshing wheat and keep in mind Arnon is a Runa okay now Onan was threshing wheat he turned and saw the angel and his four sons who are with him hid themselves as David came to Orin and on and looked and saw David and went out from the threshing floor and paid homage to David with his face to the ground and David said to Orrin and give me the sight of the threshing floor that I may build an altar to the Lord give it to me at its war price that the plague may be averted from the people then Orrin said to David take it and let my lord the King do what seems good to him see I give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledge is for the wood and the weak for a grain offering I give it all now I'm gonna stop right there I read all of that I recognize that I could have summarized it but I want you to be able to go back and read it on your own and so I wanted to read it to you so that you begin to also look at this particular passage of Scripture now I want to say this to us typically when this passage is preached it is used to highlight David saying I will not offer to the Lord that which cost me nothing most of the time when this particular passage is preached that's the that's the portion that we highlight and it's a significant thing and it's something that all of us should remember in addition to that over the last couple of weeks as we refer to this particular passage of scripture we've seen God's heart on display we've seen his wisdom on display we've seen his sovereignty on display we see how he accepts unfair trades how he will allow the repentance of one to be applied to the nation we can even see the adherence to prophetic counsel with David and get and we see the significance of the altar all of those things are found in this passage of Scripture however there is one thing that I want to highlight to us today that we can not miss because it's vital to the account of this particular passage of Scripture that has a real-world personal application and we can't miss the emotion of it in other words there are times and we read the particular scripture and we don't actually find the emotion of it we read a historical account but we don't actually realize these are real people it's not just a story and for real people who were in this moment specifically King David and Orin and also known as Aruna what I want you to understand what I want you to draw out of this entire path of the scripture is this one word urgency I recognize that that you may be saying pastor why do you keep saying as I want you for just a moment to understand what was happening they were in the midst of a national tragedy they were in the midst of a national emergency people are dying all around them and at this moment they look up and when they see what is happening I want you to understand for the first time in my life maybe you've seen it all your life but for the first time in my life I completely understand why Aruna wanted to give his threshing floor the king baby David was not poor David was rich and he was saying I'm coming to buy your your land I'm coming to buy your threshing floor I'm coming to buy it you would say this is a blessed day for me because a rich man has come to buy my property except for the fact that Aruna is saying no no no in this exact moment right here I need to give it to you why was he saying that because it was a sense of urgency to say that if there's anything that I can do to help stop what is happening I am willing to do whatever it takes including to an urgent move I need you to see this family because because David said that I'm coming to to bill to buy your land to build an altar so that I can avert the play or the pestilence and so a rule of understanding that said if that's what you're coming to do please take it please do whatever it takes seventy thousand people the scripture says died in three days you can't tell me that Aruna didn't know some people or at least know some people who knew some people so he's saying listen if there's something happening in the earth right now that is causing people to die and we can't stop it and you are telling me that buying my land you're telling me that building an altar will stop it take it a level of urgency and it's for this reason family that as much as I want to talk to us about Dolf fear and and and wrap my arms around you in and and say let's let's hunker down for a moment and pray and everything else it is important that we don't stop preaching prophetically and the reason why it is important that we don't stop preaching prophetically it's because we need to preach this sense of urgency it is important that we preach this sense of urgency because I want you to see something in that particular part of Scripture David was aware of what God was doing but Aruna also saw it the Bible says that he looked up and he saw the angel of the Lord now I need you to understand why we need to continue to preach prophetically because if we don't there will never be a sense of urgency to those who can't see actually and more specifically for those who can't see that God is in it you will never find an answer to something he refused to acknowledge we are in a critical moment in the history of the generations on earth right now out of this moment there can emerge life in the midst of very real pain I recognize that some of you right now who are watching are dealing with very real pain is you have friends and loved ones and co-workers and church members and everything else who are going through this right now and out of this moment there really can emerge life or we can miss the invitation because of pain and confusion master our ability to see clearly it's important that we see that God is in this it's important that we see it now I said something to a friend yesterday I want to say it to you because this is vitally important and I don't want you to miss when I'm getting ready to say right now I want you to pay attention to me I want you to listen to me carefully our response in this moment in the eyes of history will either be celebrated or studied I'm gonna say it again our response in this moment in the eyes of history will either be celebrated or studied in the end this moment will either be a revival or a cautionary lesson to future generations on how a generation was given a divine opportunity that they ignored because they didn't pray instead they played we will either be known as a generation where revival broke out or the generation that allowed the fire on the altar to go out there will be no in-between we will be known as a generation where revival broke out and will be celebrated for it or we will be studied because it'll be known as a generation that allowed the fire on the altar to go out that's where we are that's why we can't stop preaching prophetically that's why we need to have a sense of urgency in this moment and and I want you to have this sense of urgency even in your own homes right now I want this to sit on you for just a moment because we cannot be the generation that is known for allowing the fire on the altar let's go out go with me to Leviticus chapter 6 Goldmann in Leviticus chapter 6 verse 9 Leviticus chapter 6 verse 9 this is what the scripture says give Aaron and his sons the following instructions regarding the burnt offering the burnt offering must be left on top of the altar until the next morning and the fire on the altar must be kept burning all night in the morning after the priest on duty has put on his official linen clothing and linen undergarments he must clean out the ashes of the burnt offering and put them beside the altar then he must take off his garments change back into his regular clothes and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean meanwhile the fire on the altar must be kept burning it must excuse me never go out each morning the priest will add fresh wood to the fire and arrange the burnt offering on it he will then burn the fat of the piece offerings on it remember the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times it must never go out you see that particular instruction in these verses literally over and over and over again the instruction was not to let the fire go out because of how important it was to God he said it more than once because he knew man's natural proclivity to take our eye off of what's important and allow the fire to die he knew that he knew that man has this this proclivity to allow things that are important to take his eye off of it and as a result he knew what was important and so it's important that we know that what's in stake in this instruction now just bear with me for just a moment I don't want to lose you because I want I want you to get this stay with me family God has something to say to us Leviticus chapter 1 says it this way in verse 1 the vidiq is chapter 1 verse 1 the Lord called to Moses from the tabernacle and said to him give the following instructions to the people of Israel when you present an animal as an offering to the Lord you may take it from your herd of cattle or your flock of sheep and goats if the animal you present as a burnt bring us from the herd it must be a male with no defense bring it to the entrance of the tabernacle so you may be accepted by the Lord lay your hand on the animal's head and the Lord will accept its death in your place to purify you making you right with him now this I'm just gonna stop right here at verse 4 because I want to read it again lay your hand on the animal's hand and the Lord will accept its death in your place to purify you making you right with him this was the institution of the atonement or the Brunt offering was instituted as our atonement for this purpose so that people could approach God the reason the fire had to be kept burning is because it represented your access to God if the fire went out so that your access it was to be a constant reminder in heaven and on earth of our access and so what God did was he instituted something on the earth so that we could see what the cost of worship was to let the fire go out is to say that you don't care about God because his love for us burns like fire and so this was the institution of the atonement which means reconciliation with God or ultimately reconciliation with God through Christ there are different types of atonement there was penal atonement which is the wrath of God against sin there's sacrificial atonement which is pointing to what Christ would ultimately do for us that we could not do for ourselves and it was substitutionary atonement which is transferring our sin onto something else which is foreshadowing Christ taking our place once and for all in other words in this moment he Institute's this system on the earth in order to give us a picture of what it is that Jesus Christ would ultimately do for us once and for all this is what 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 19 tells us 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 19 says for God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself no longer counting people's sins against them and he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation so we are Christ's ambassadors God is making his appeal through us we speak through Christ for Christ when we plead come back to God for God made Christ who never sinned to be the offering for our sin so that we could be made right with God through Christ this was the institution of the system of substitution God is holy and His mercy allowed at that time animals to take our place until the ultimate and once and for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ I'm going through this quickly but that's not just a whole message that's a whole series but I want you to see something family the instruction was that the fire was to never go out or that it was to stay there as a constant reminder here was the reminder that God has forgiven us and that we can come to him but we are to never forget what is done for us the fire is to never go out one of the reasons why the fire goes out is because we forget what God has done for us specifically through Christ Christ's love never goes out so for ours to go out doesn't say that we don't appreciate his love so God was saying tell Aaron tell the priests to keep the fire burning look at what had to happen each morning there had to be new wood which means that every day there is to be something new for for God to consume and you are to never forget what God has done for you ashes were to be placed outside of the camp to signify our sin being removed this was a daily process now the ease of our worship in our day has caused us to forget the price of worship because we're so easily able to just come in here or come into churches and maybe at this moment if you've you've appreciating the fact that we're not able to come to church and so maybe at this moment the next time the doors of the church are open you might not stay home because you're tired maybe you'll say you know what I need to get into the house of God I need to be in the presence of God with the people of God but the ease of our worship has caused us to forget the price of our worship and whenever we forget the cost of something we devalue it we live in a generation that devalues the presence of God and we seem to be happy with the presence of people instead of the presence of God we we seem to be happy with the presence of people now we show up what if you feel like it and and we sing things that we don't mean and we we worship based on if we like the song or the singer and we want our worship to look appealing to people forgetting the holy God that we worship were more concerned about our outfit in our shoes than we are our hearts we don't even care that we've sinned or repent before entering the presence of God or the house of God it's like not putting the ashes outside the camp you're just coming in any kind of way you saying pastor are you beating us up no I need us to understand the condition of where we are I need us to get this because we are expecting God to accept whatever we offer even worse not offering it to God at all instead just offering it to people instead we live in a time when people take the presence of God for granted or even worse don't even notice the lack of manifest presence and so God unwilling to allow a generation to drift into destruction in his love will send or allow things to take place in order to get our attention to say to us hey the fire is dying your love is growing cold you placed your focus on other things you've defined success apart from me your fire is dying and when that happens God does something to get our attention the challenge that has me so burdened family no this is not a happiest thing in the world but it needs to be said needs to be recorded and written in history because God's paying attention to those who are paying attention to him the challenge is what has to happen if it doesn't get our attention if what he's doing right now doesn't initially get our attention what else has to happen this is the burden of the moment at hand this is the urgency that I feel on one hand you have the divine invitation and on the other hand you have the cost of the invitation which is our attention how long will it have to go for him to get our attention how long will they have to go I hate to ask this question I like shudder to ask the question I spend time I'm waking up in the middle of the night praying family I am I am waking up in the morning the first thing I'm doing is praying I just I can't I can't even sleep through a whole night without intercession because I'm burdened with a level of urgency I am I hate to ask this question how many lives will it take before he gets our attention how many jobs have to be lost before it gets our attention how much money do we have to lose before he gets our attention how many businesses have to close before he gets our attention how many churches will end up closing before his people say God you have our attention I don't want you to think that he enjoys this it's talking with Pastor Caleb in the back and we were talking about this whole thing we've been conversing all weekend he brought up ezekiel chapter 33 verse 10 and 11 it says son of man give the people of Israel this message you are saying our sins are heavy upon us and we are wasting away how can we survive as surely as I live says the sovereign Lord I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live turn I'm sorry from your wickedness so people look there's no why should you die I am I'm so burdened because people are still playing and not praying I'm so burdened because people are watching and not building altars in David's day seventy thousand people died in three days and so there was an urgency that said god please stop this in an i day right now why do I have to preach like this because there almost seems to be a sentiment that says we can just wait it out we could catch up on some rest we could slow down our busyness watch Netflix and hang out around the house for another couple of weeks and then soon everything will be back to normal where is our urgency how close does it have to get to you before you finally cry out is it okay it's just over there somewhere we could just wait it out does they have to come to your family before before you say God let's please stop this maybe it's okay for you say pastor what you caught it is yesterday I heard of an 18 month old who went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing because of Kovac where's our urgency yesterday alone I heard of four people dead because of coffee pestilence that God doesn't even enjoy but out of his mercy he sends it to give a generation an opportunity to turn it's not time to play it's time to pray it's not time to chill it's time to build david built an altar in the middle of a national tragedy and god answered by sending fire from heaven because whenever men returned to him he returns the severity of this moment family should also be an indicator to us that this isn't a moment to play games with god by dealing with him in seasonal terms i need you to hear me from the time of David through the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple in the exile we saw temporary moments of return followed by more evil I need you to hear this because I need us to understand this the severity of this moment is saying that God is not intending on this being a seasonal change see throughout the history of the Kings this is what would happen some Kings would serve Him some Kings would be evil sometimes the evil Kings will repent and God in His mercy he would relent his judgment and he would turn it around for that generation but then another generation would emerge and that the next king would do evil in the sight of the Lord and as a result that particular generation would be under the weight of the judgment of that particular king and so we saw this yo-yo effect happening among the people of God some generations blessed some generations in judgment some generations blessed some generation and judgment and at some point God said I need to correct this altogether because I'm not gonna go back and forth with seasonal repentance not gonna just take a few you can have people like Manasseh who could rule for 55 years and do evil on the side of the Lord but yet even him when he repents God forgives his iniquity and Manasseh begins to tear down the idols that he put up and God says okay I'll accept it and then even after that the next king would do bad and then someone like Josiah would come into the come into reigning and he would hear about how proper worship was to be and again he would tear down every Idol and he would put up what needs to happen and yet the King right after him would come and do worse what this represents is the seasons and the patience of God however his love is not going to allow the fate of the nation's to be like yo-yo subjected to the whims and collective mood of a generation when the manifests presence of God becomes preferred but not required among his people that's a time and the fire on the altar is going out and I believe family and what God wants to do in this moment is historic what he wants to do in this moment is historic I'm gonna tell you why I'm almost finished we gotta get this it's one thing to be the generation that was warned of what was coming it's another thing to be the generation alive when it happens [Music] because I'm aware of a lot of the prophetic voices and maybe many of you follow some as well there's a lot of prophetic talk about timing even the timing of when things will end all of that this is important for us to grasp so many are saying that they did not see this coming into 2020 in fact for many of us with a lot of 20/20 vision a lot of prophetic words about 2020 and what it was going to be in no one really was talking about this so many were saying they did not see this coming may I suggest to you that perhaps it's because that's not when the warning came how long was he warning through his prophets that a day was coming but our lens of grace did not allow us to believe it all we heard was revival but we ignored the conditions that precede revival so we rejoiced at the announcement of revival but did not pay attention to the fact that if we had to announce that we needed to be revived it meant that we needed it so we ignored every precondition to revival and we rejoiced over the good parts because we ignored the warnings and so therefore we're saying how come we didn't see it in 2019 because the warning didn't come in 2019 God was speaking long before but it's people with the lens of grace didn't believe it was coming so sometimes we don't understand prophetic warnings sometimes people don't heed prophetic warnings the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah and Habakkuk warned about the approaching Babylonian captivity and exile but the people they didn't listen God loves his people so much that he not only sense prophetic warnings and prophetic insight and understanding but he also watches to see how we respond to it and gives us an opportunity to return him he allowed the temple and Jerusalem to be destroyed from a people who ignored his warnings but there is a silver lining in this heavy message today in order to find a generation that would make his presence a priority here's the hope here's the hope you ready here's a significant prophetic hope in all of this could it be that he allowed this to happen now and in this time because he knew there would be a remnant who would see and sense the urgency of the moment this was the question that the Lord put on my heart I know it's painful I know that it's probably going to get a little worse but could it be that he's trusting us with this moment you say pastor what do you mean you mean trusting us with this I don't like this I don't want to be going through this I know people I got family what are you talking about he's trusting us with this just like he trusted David because he knew that David were building off to an Israel Witten and so because they knew that David would build an altar when Israel Whitney he wanted to transfer the blessing he was going to give to David onto Israel what is the generations that ignored this word they're gone you're here so he said I found a generation that I can trust with this calamity I found a people within a generation that I can trust with pestilence I found a generation that when all the other prophets are saying don't worry it's gonna be alright it's gonna be over it we're going to be back in our churches on Easter don't worry there has to be somebody who says God we see what you're doing and we have an urgency and we will be the people who despite what everybody else says says you know what God if you trust us with this moment we won't fumble this moment we won't drop this moment we'll have a level of urgency for this moment a generation who while everyone else was playing they were praying a generation that had urgency a generation that will rebuild an altar a generation that knows that God accepts unfair trades a generation who says the fire on the altar will not go out as long as we are alive on the earth it won't go out not on my watch not on my watch I started when I read as a chapter three this is how you're gonna know that we're done if you were in the room I would have asked you to stand but I started in Ezra chapter three and I read as a chapter three the first three verses of Ezra chapter three and the reason why I read to you as a chapter three is because that was a generation that was alive for the fulfillment of the words that the other generations ignored that was a generation that had to go through it there were generations that heard that God said I'm going to deal with this but they lived and died all they did was hear the warnings but there was a generation that was a lie that had to actually go through it they had to actually walk through being carried off into exile they had to they had to be there when the armies surrounded the city they had to be there when the Bible said that their kings eyes were plucked out you say that's graphic they were there they had to be there when the temple was burned with fire and the things were taken out of it and carried off into another country they were there and they saw it some of them we carried off but they were kept alive and their Babylonian captors would say things like sing us one of the songs of Zion and taught them they say we can't do that we hung up our harps and our lighters and we wept and we said we can't do that how can we sing the songs of the Lord of a strange language we won't do that but there is a day that we long for it he cried out for revival they cried out for it they were alive at the time knowing that the city was destroyed and then there were some who were born in captivity they never even saw it initially all they did was hear about it and they were saying I want it and so by the time we pick up as a chapter 3 the exiles are allowed to return and they come in to this glorious Jerusalem this city that is they've dreamt about this place where they're supposed to be with God this is this place that that everything is supposed to be amazing and everything is supposed to be wonderful in which represents revival to them and when they get there it's destroyed it's in ruins it's tattered their homes are messed up the temple has been burned to the ground everything around them is destruction what does this generation do in the midst of all of that destruction in the midst of all this chaos and the midst of everything around them that looks like a mess everything shut down nothing's open houses are and ruin everything is in ruin and the first thing they do the first thing they do is they say we're gonna do anything first we're gonna rebuild the altar which has been torn down where we're gonna create a place to let the fire burn we're gonna create a place that's a constant reminder of our access to God we're gonna create a place that's a constant reminder of our relationship if God were gonna create a place of theophany we're gonna create a place of encounter we're gonna create a place for God because what good is having anything else what's the point of having any thing else so they rebuild the altar on its old site which is to say that it was the same altar that David built so they built it on its old site which is to say a few things what was the altar of repentance became the altar of revival to build it on its own side is to say we don't have a new method to get revival there's no new way to get it if you're gonna get it it's gonna come to the vehicle of repentance what if God has trusted this generation with this moment what if God is trusting this generation with coffee and it seems like a far out thought it's not a far out thought it just so happens to be that I believe that God has looked into this generation and seen some people he's looked into this generation and seen some people who won't miss it we will either be the generation where revival broke out or the generation that let the fire go out I believe that we are the generation or revival will break out but it will not happen without a level of urgency it won't happen family I don't know where your situation is right now I don't know where it's going in the next couple of days and weeks or maybe months I don't know but I do know this that in the midst of chaos you can still make its presence your priority in the midst of ruin you can still make his presence your priority now I'm going to ask you to do something in your homes right here ask you to do something don't just listen to me passively there needs to be a level of urgency because if he doesn't get our attention this will continue but because we know that we serve a God who accepts unfair trades would you do something in your home right now would you get up would you get on your knees would you posture yourself in this moment to begin to cry out to God because I believe he's trusted us with this how will we respond how will we respond how will we respond parents don't be afraid to let your children hear you cry out don't be afraid don't be afraid don't be afraid say God I just want you nothing else will do let's respond let's respond [Music] father we come to you we're putting everything else on pause for your presence God we're not gonna try to rebuild our businesses we build our financial situations we're not going to come to him in a city that isn't ruined is a life that is in ruins a nation that is in ruins and decide that there's something else worthy of our time the God were putting everything else on pause for your presence Lord crying out to you this morning we're saying Lord would you have mercy but you have mercy upon us by coming to you and saying Lord if you're looking for people who recognize what you're doing if you're looking for a people whose attention you have Lord we are the people you have our attention you don't have to do anything else now what else has to perish for you to get our attention it doesn't have to spread to any other nation for you to have our attention Lord you have our attention please show mercy Lord you have our attention Lord you have our attention God we will be the generation where the fire never goes out because we'll lay ourselves upon the altar as living sacrifices Lord we will be the fire that you can sue we're offering everything to you we're placing ourselves before you we're saying Lord consume us may your fire consume us may your fire refine us maybe in purifiers Lord we repent we repent we turn we turn we turn we turn from our wicked ways we turn from our selfish desires we turn from our complacency we turn we turn we turn from our greed we turn from our greed we turn from our greed we turn from our greed and we turn to you'd say lord have mercy upon us have mercy upon us have mercy upon us have mercy upon us please family don't stay quiet in this moment please family don't stay quiet in this moment the Lord is beckoning a generation to make his presence a priority and what we are saying as a community as what we are saying as a family as we are saying Lord nothing else matters nothing else matters your presence is all we want your presence is all we need we're rebuilding the altar of your presence we're rebuilding an altar of encounter and we're saying nothing else will do nothing else will do we just want you we just want you [Music] [Music] nothing else will do I just wore you nothing else nothing else nothing else will do I just warned you nothing [Applause] nothing nothing else will do nothing nothing nothing else with you [Music] nothing yeah but nothing [Music] Oh nothing nothing yeah nothing else will do hi Jess oh nothing nothing else [Applause] crowd we cried [Music] we're between the party I'll go come come on we [Music] Jesus [Music] [Music] yeah yeah nothing Oh nothing else no no no nothing else nothing nothing else will do we just was fingerling else will do [Music] I believe the Lord will find a generation on the earth that he can trust with this moment he will find a people who will say God we won't take you for granted we won't take your presence for granted what a see your kingdom come in the earth I want to encourage you if you haven't already I have a harsh question to ask you this question what are you waiting for to make your house a house of prayer to make a house a house that hosts his presence this week and for the rest of our lives let us put everything else on pause for his presence the urgency of this moment demands it it demands that we put everything else on pause I know you may have a number of things that you feel like can happen and would be helpful to happen for you and your family in this week and in this season and in this moment the greatest thing and most important thing you and I could do is put everything else on pause and say Lord nothing else will do we just want you if you're watching this morning you have yet to surrender your life to Jesus dare I say that all of this is taking place simply so that Lord could get your attention and while he is getting the attention of the earth he is getting attended the attention of individuals in the earth and if you've yet to give your life to Jesus or maybe you've been living for the Lord for a time but you've walked away from him maybe this moment is for you so that you would return to the Lord it's not in his will that any should perish but it's his will that it all should come to repentance and have everlasting life and if you're watching this dare I say that the Lord has kept you alive for this moment if you think back even to the previous moments of your life where you have gone through sickness or calamity or adversity you've overcome accidents and trauma and tragedy and things happening in your family you should have just been another statistic but you're watching this right now and can I suggest to you and present to you that the Lord has you alive in this moment because he is still extending mercy here's the thing about mercy his mercy endures forever but time does not and the urgency of this hour demands that you accept the mercy of the Lord while you still have the time it's what we're saying is that while we have the time to return while we have the time to repent and to pray and to cry out to God we must take it we must use it because the hour is urgent and the question must be asked what else does God have to do in your life to get your attention what our other thing does he have to take away what are the tragedy what other calamity does he have to send he is so merciful that he comes to you in these moments to say I am trying to get your attention so if you're watching and you've not yet surrendered your life to Jesus I want to appeal to you like Paul and appeal to you like Peter and appeal to you like the Apostles of old to say come to Christ and to some of you come back to Christ return to him the reason why you can return is because he hasn't gone anywhere he's still standing waiting for you to come back to him come to Christ be forgiven of your sin receive the forgiveness of your sin mercy and grace and receive eternal life through Christ Jesus in Leviticus 1 God instructed the priest to bring a ram that they would lay their hand upon the head and as they slay the RAM the Lord would offer forgiveness for the sin of the people the sin that was on upon the individual and the punishment that the individual words deserved would be put upon the animal the 2000 years ago animal sacrifices stopped because there was one perfect sacrifice that came to the earth Jesus Christ and God smote his son and rendered him as a sacrifice for you and all so that all of the sin that you and I were carrying he who knew no sin became sin so that through Christ we would become the righteousness of God you and I could receive righteousness of God because all the sin that was on you and I was transferred on to the spotless lamb of Christ's Christ Jesus slain for the sins of the world and you and I had the opportunity to receive eternal life by placing our faith in Jesus Christ this is true for every one who believes you might be saying that's to Caleb you don't know what I've done you don't know the thoughts I've had you don't know the experiences I've had you don't know the things that I've done that really disqualify me from this moment well you're in good company because all of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glorious standard and I know that your natural inclination this morning is I want to get some things right I don't want to clean myself up I want to do some things better before I come to Christ if you could clean yourself up you wouldn't need a savior if you could get it right on your own you wouldn't meet Jesus here's the beautiful thing about coming to Christ is that you can come as you are you don't have to get good to get God you get God and he makes you good the beautiful promise about coming to Christ is that when you come to him as you are you will not stay as you are he will change you from the inside out salvation is not an outside-in work while I start acting better and then I'm saved no it's an inside out worker I come to him he changes me and I begin to live for him saves through faith in Christ so right where you are you might be with your family you might be by yourself I'm on count of three I want to give you the opportunity to place your faith in Jesus decision it's a commitment to lay down your life and to follow him for the rest of yours to say I just want you nothing else will do he will forgive you of your sin he will give you eternal life and today when you hit the end button of that live stream you will know your shape you'll have a full confidence you will not be confused you will not be unsure you will know you are saved because you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ in the count of three that's you right wherever you are I want you to say these words Jesus I believe in on the count of three I want you to say that father I pray for all those contemplating this decision I pray that now would be the moment where you draw them they'd not be afraid to make this decision to follow you you aren't beckoning them you have their attention now father I pray that they would respond on the count of three I want you to say I believe in Jesus 1 2 3 I believe in Jesus now if you made that declaration you Manik made it in faith and you believe it I want to congratulate you because today you are safe for all that call upon the name of the Lord shall be said I want to congratulate you because now you belong to Jesus I want you to do something with me you can pray this whether you've given your life to Jesus or if this is your first time but especially if this is your first time if you're coming back to the Lord I want you to repeat this prayer after me say father in the name of Jesus I come to you just as I am thank you for loving me thank you for saving me thank you for getting my attention today I come to you just as I am I receive your forgiveness for my sin I repent and from this day forward I will follow you for the rest of my life I believe that you are the son of God and today I give you my life in Jesus name amen we want to rejoice with you because today you are saved Jesus has come into your heart his spirit has filled your life and we declared to you he will never be the same now this is what we want to do so that we can interact with you help you as you walk out your faith if you made this decision today if you decided to follow Jesus lay down your life and give everything to him if you made that decision or you came back to him I want you to comment right where you are on Facebook on YouTube just put hashtag I met Jesus hashtag I met Jesus I want you to put that and we're gonna have our moderators connect with you congratulate you we want to congratulate you on this incredible day as we always say here at deeper today is your new birthday you've been born again by the Spirit of God listen family thank you so much for joining us we are so amazed by God's goodness to us to speak to us in this way again it would be a shame if we heard a word like this and we went back to normal let's make our lives our houses our homes our families altars for the Lord his fire to fall upon let's not let the fire go out let's not be the generation that was studied because of our failure in our inaction our failure to act but let's be the generation that is remembered for our response to heavens in family we love you we're praying for you thank you for joining us this Sunday god bless you [Music]

Channel: Deeper Fellowship Church

Views: 16,414

Rating: 4.9640288 out of 5

Keywords: deeper fellowship church, william mcdowell, orlando, flordia, trinity anderson, worship, praise, christian, caleb grant

Id: mJP8LxMqp2I

Length: 82min 52sec (4972 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 29 2020