Preparing for Increase - Joe Sweet

amen i've been doing a series i'm going to sort of divert from that for a moment because i want to talk about some important things if you were in one of the home groups this week you would have heard or watched at least part of the video by kevin zadai on sid roth and i want to encourage everyone if you haven't heard or seen his recent testimony he had a five-hour visitation from the lord jesus christ you can go to sidroth.org and watch it if you go to his website and uh i am i was encouraged by what i heard many of the things that he was told in his face-to-face encounter with the lord are were similar to things that were told to other prophets and other people who've had encounters recently now amos 3 7 says surely the lord god does nothing unless he first reveals his secrets to his servants the prophets so when we hear two three four five different prophets they're saying similar things we should pay attention do you believe that ii chronicles 20 verse 20 says believe his prophets and you'll prosper that's what they did in acts chapter 11 verse 28 to 30 the bible says agabus a group of prophets came to minister at the church and one of them stood up agabus and he prophesied that a famine was coming on all the world and it says that did come to pass and here's the response of the believers they said so when they heard that they determined among themselves to send relief to the saints at jerusalem so here the holy spirit warned the church of what was coming and then the holy spirit led the church what to do now in god is a living god and his answers aren't always the same for every people every place all the time we need to hear his voice and do what he tells us but in their situation they were led by the spirit not to store up for themselves now we don't know maybe they did but it doesn't say that it's not wrong to store up if god tells you store up store up but in their situation they were led to give so sometimes that's the way god will lead you we've melinda and i have had this experience all through our 33 32 33 years of marriage many times the lord will put something on her heart i feel we're supposed to give and we do shall give just lavishly like that and then we'll realize after that we had a need and god met all our needs so sometimes when god sees the famine coming he may tell you give why so i can pour out on you when the famine comes see and so we're to hear where to listen to the prophetic voices then we're to listen to the holy spirit and follow his leading second corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 says thanks be to god who always everyone say always leads us in triumph so there is always always always victory in jesus if we can listen to him and follow him if he leads us in triumph so if we if we're successful in hearing and following him will go from victory to victory doesn't mean we won't have battles but when the battle when the dust settles from the battle we'll have victory amen now i want to share some of the things i don't want to redo the whole message i want to touch on some of the highlights they're very important some of them are very encouraging to me in this face-to-face encounter that sid roth you need to go hear it and i'd encourage you to hear it two or three times because you'll get more the second or third time out of it but um here's some things that will encourage you the lord said he's going to start visiting people at night in their sleep he said some of my people even right now are fearful he said and they're busy so i'm going to visit them at night in their sleep and i'm going to show them my goodness and my plans for their life and i will also assign angels to help them and they will wake up the next morning completely changed start praying for that if you want that ask him for it the squeaky wheel gets the oil that what jesus said whoever asks receives amen that's a that's a good word he said he said some of the same things that encourage me because for years the lord's been preparing me for an outpouring of the holy spirit that's coming in lancaster and when it does there's not enough room in the building for the people that are going to get saved home meetings are going to become normal christian life doesn't mean we won't meet in larger meetings too we will but probably most of the life of the spirit the miracles and the glory of god will be in home meetings one of the things the lord told gavin he said bible studies and gifts will abound in home meetings believers not just the ministers will walk in supernatural power and gifts we're living in the last of the last days he said kevin i want you to record this what i've given to you and get it out to the body of christ i want them to be prepared like the five wise virgins the lord said i did not do this virus and the writing i have nothing to do with it those things are from the enemy but later the lord said i did allow it to come to help show the church where they are then the lord instructed kevin from the book of ephesians he said right now this was encouraging to me he said right now ministers should be equipping the saints for unity so they can receive power to be my witnesses because there's a great harvest i don't know i think i've heard that theme in the last few weeks somewhere that's encouraging that's what the lord wants he kevin got this faith and he said it to him out of ephesians that's the book i've been saying and out of so sometimes we get it right [Music] come on give god the glory what is god saying god wants us to get in to grow in unity you and me all of us now there is love in this church i see it i've seen in the years people growing including myself in love i see the unity but god wants to take us deeper and farther so um he talked to him about that he said those he said kevin those who've rejected he said i'm not judging the believers right now but those who rejected me are being judged but the people of god are not if they will judge themselves he said now is the time the christians must judge themselves now he said um there's not much time everyone has to have oil in their lamps and be ready and learn from what you just went through he was referring to the coronavirus the lockdowns the the lord said that was a test run not from the lord from our enemies what is coming after it is not a test run and i want the church to be prepared he said the enemy is going to try to reroute everything that's going to happen in this fall that has to do with the destiny of this country and the elections so the church must pray the enemy is working there is a civil war right now it's going on in the spirit and in the natural we see it manifesting and the church has the power to change the outcome he said kevin i want my people to vote on earth and in heaven and we voted just an hour ago in our in our sunday morning prayer time he said how do we vote he said pray pray especially for the justice department pray for the judges the ones that are righteous to be strong and keep doing what's right for the ones that are corrupt to bind the demons off of them so they can't have influence so the lord said now before i go farther and some things that were said these are important things for us to know and to be prepared i want to say this i am not alone in believing that the holy spirit has revealed we are living in the best time for christians to be alive in the history of the planet we're living in that best time it doesn't mean troubles aren't coming on the earth at the end of the age there's going to be darkness and light isaiah 60 verse 1 and 2 says behold darkness shall cover the earth gross darkness the people but the glory of the lord will be seen upon you a visible tangible glory arise shine if your light has come some people have said well the visible tangible glory that must be in the millennium no it's not in the millennium because there's no darkness in the millennium it's when darkness is on the earth it's when we're calling uh sick things healthy when we call bestiality and sexual perversion normal and we call monogamy and one man and one woman hates speech so we call good evil and evil good that's darkness covering the earth he said during that time is the time for the church to rise and shine for the glory of the lord will rise upon us now before i go again i want to say this god leads us in triumph when god was going to judge egypt he gave specific instructions to his people on what to do first of all when the plagues began coming god made a distinction between those who served him and those who didn't the jews who lived in a part of egypt called goshen had divine supernatural protection from the plagues so plagues came but not on goshen but they came on those who'd rejected the lord pharaoh had rejected the lord okay and then when it came to the final plague where the firstborn would be killed god gave instructions to his people on what to do they were to stay in their home they were to have a sacrificial lamb they were to put the blood on the doorpost and on the lentil and everyone who obeyed the lord was protected from the judgment god's always been like that that's what happened in the days of noah in the days of noah men were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage meaning they were going on through the normal process of life as if there's no judgment day that's how people are living today and jesus said that's how it will be at the end of the age but god had spoken to his people who feared god and loved righteousness the bible says the secret of the lord is with those who fear him and the bible says in hebrews 11 verse 7 noah moving with godly fear built an ark so we know noah feared god because he feared the lord the seeker of the lord came to him see the seeker of the lord is our treasure isaiah says wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times and the fear of the lord our treasure so when we fear god god gives us wisdom and knowledge so noah feared god that was a stability of his time and god told him noah a flood is coming that's knowledge but he needs wisdom wisdom and knowledge here's what to do build an ark this long this high this wide so god gave him knowledge and wisdom that became the stability of his times so as noah lived in the last days when a flood was coming the same flood that brought down the wicked lifted up the righteous noah wasn't taken away from the earth he went into the ark peter tells us that our baptism in christ is the type of entering into the ark of the person of jesus is being in christ where we live in psalm 91. we don't have to leave the world god knows how the bible says second peter chapter two verse nine the lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation that word in the greek means adversity trials and affliction god knows how to deliver the godly out of that and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment so noah had instruction and wisdom he obeyed god and he and his family had a time of intimacy together for months as they were lifted up above all the judgments on the earth so jesus said as it was in the days of noah it will be toward at the days of the coming of the son of man it'll be the best of times it'll be a rise shine for your light has come that is our time darkness is increasing it's time for all of us to grow up more in love grow up in christ grow up in faith and let the light of christ shine through the church i remember hearing the late prophet bob jones in one of his encounters where the lord took him in his spirit took him up to heaven bob had said most of the time when i'd go to heaven or the lord see me just talk to me give me our instructions and i was sent back but he said this time the lord said is there anyone you'd like to see he said lord i would love to beat paul the apostle the lord said you'll meet him and so bob said i saw him the distance he was walking toward me and bob said i couldn't wait to ask him lord he said to the lord i want to ask him some questions the lord said no he said that's not how it works in heaven there's seniority he said when paul comes he'll talk and you listen he sit up so afterwards i think bob was able to ask some things so when bob had thought man i can't wait to ask him what it was like in the first century when i read the book of acts how people were lined up in the streets of all the people around jerusalem and every single one was healed how they prayed and the whole place shook and miracles and how thousands came to the lord he said i can't wait to ask paul what it was like and he said he's standing there where the lord and his paw walked up of course paul knew what bob was going to ask him and he said you want to ask us what it was like he said god has saved his best wine for last he said seven times what happened in the book of acts is coming at the end of the age he said god is allowed to us the first century apostles the privilege of when this whole thing winds up and your generation all comes into heaven we get to be the ones to ask you what was it like come on somebody that's what it says it says the glory of the now there's scripture that talks about the sun shining seven times brighter and there's what god has for us so god has good for us what what we need to do is do our best to to to be in prayer to be in the word and to be sensitive to his spirit and follow and obey him he will lead us into triumph he'll lead us into protection into provision into harvest but i do want to say this one more time it was encouraging to me kevin zedaya was told face to face by the lord what the ministers should be doing right now is equipping the saints for unity so they can receive power to be witnesses because the harvest is great now i i believe that god's sovereign grace is going to get us there now he told kevin other things and uh you may or may not believe this but i've heard enough and i have a witness in my spirit that i believe it and i think i would be negligent if i didn't pass it on to you at least so that you could investigate it and make your own decision but kevin was told by the lord he said this virus that he said it'll start to subside at the end of the summer there'll be a brief respite and that he said another is coming after it that will be serious now um that's not to scare us that's to prepare us the lord gave instructions how to prepare us so that we can have victory over it okay um here's one of the things that uh i was pondering in just in the last couple weeks praying and seeking the lord our friend paul keith davis many years ago found himself in a time a season in his life where he felt like he was backsliding he said i feel like things that i had to overcome were were manifesting in me again i don't know what it was i don't mean maybe irritable or maybe having a problem with this sin or that sin he said i just felt like man i'm a mess and i'm going backwards i thought i had covered anybody ever felt like that before and he said he was he finally was going to call his friend bob jones i've spoken with bob on the phone a number of times and bob was such an amazing prophet you didn't have to tell him anything he'd pick up the phone and tell you what you called about he's done that to me before and uh so he he called bob and bob said yep i've been waiting for your call i've seen it he said seen what he said i know what you're going through he said i had a vision he said the lord has allowed the tares remember the wheat and the tares the tares that are in your soul he's allowed them to be watered and grow up big so that they can be taken out by the root now here's what happens i know i've done it is we manage sin but we don't get it out and if all the circumstances are right if everybody treats me right i can be saintly how many can identify with that statement see when the we're we love god you love god we don't want to sin do we no because the spirit of god's in us we don't want to sin and so we're we're trying to walk that way and sometimes we can manage things but they're not eradicated yet and the lord sees those seeds in us and so what happens is he'll allow even if it's demonic pressure remember he told cedar peter i've satan has asked to sift you so the pressure comes and it'll cause things that are deep in us to come out and then when it comes out we're just undone instead of trying to manage it we just fall before the lord that god take this out of me help god change me wash me and he does the cleansing i believe for many of us that could be a season that we're in right now you know there's been a swirl of accusations and that's gone through our body in the last weeks could it be that sometimes for some of us those could allow things in us to manifest that god wants to take out by the root so he can actually bring a greater love a greater humility a greater brokenness a greater tenderness a greater unity i believe so because god doesn't want god's not wanting to tear us down he's wanting to conform us to christ and the way the way there is the cross the cross is humiliation the cross is being exposed and hanging naked it is isn't it but the cross is where we get purged and cleansed so the lord said in this visitation to kevin zadai he said the church must learn from what she went through because because something more serious is coming my father and i had nothing to do with the virus and the lockdowns but it was allowed to reveal to the church where she is the covet virus was a test what's coming is not a test it's serious now i want to say this to also encourage us i'm convinced this is where the lord's taking us i think it was back in may when uh one of our worship team came when we were coming together for prayer and said i had a dream last night she said this church was packed every seat standing remotely even people were sitting all over the platform even people sitting upstairs everywhere and uh she said the service hadn't even started yet and i knew that during that time we were under lockdown see if something else is going to come they're going to lock us down again right and uh we were about to start worship practice and she said i was a little bit miffed like what are all these people doing here she said in a dream she said to one of the people why are you here you know you're not supposed to be here and they said back to her we're not going away we know this is the place where we can be healed i believe that dream was from god i believe because after seeking the lord much what the lord wants to do this whole thing that we talked about weeks ago about the the womb of hannah being shut up it was allowed by the lord to force her to cry out to god for what god wanted before it was what she wanted but she then got to the place where she said god i'm going to start praying for what you want god wants a whole nother level of love and unity so that his power can flow so when the next thing comes the church has power to stop it now this is not uh a criticism but i've been really praying over this what can we learn as a church there's probably many many things but this is what the holy spirit seemed to impress on my heart what can we learn from a church from what we just went through the lord said i allowed it to show the church where they're at all right across the board not just here in our nation probably other nations most of the church everywhere i haven't heard of the church has not in general had the power to stop the virus god graciously heard our prayer for all that we prayed for and they've recovered but we didn't have the power to stop it and have complete victory over it so that locates where we're at now here's what the holy spirit's been saying and by the way kevin said is not the only one i was with brother said to in march in his apartment when i was going over there supposed to record some more programs and he shared with me privately that the lord had shown him there's going to come a much worse virus after this he was caught up in the spirit and show and he gave me details about it after that or right around that time i just came across the prophecy from john paul jackson 2012 he prophesied he said a virus is coming the first one will be mostly fear the second one will be serious you can listen to what john finn said john finn had a face-to-face visitation for the lord jesus christ in december of 2019 and the lord told him in advance and he prophesied it in advance about the virus coming this year the lord told him at the end of the summer it would sort of cool down and he said we would have sort of a little lull and then the lord said the first birth pang is over. he called that the first birth pang and he said the second one will begin in the fall we've had a number of prophetic voices now the lord doesn't say it to scare us but to prepare us he said to kevin i want my people to be like the wise virgins who have oil in their lamp so they're ready for what comes okay now what can we learn we i mean the body of christ everywhere is not yet but we're on the way there we're headed that way i believe in the coming weeks we're going to see things worked out resolved and a greater love a greater understanding of greater unity we're not yet at the place where we have the unity that god wants looking at our hearts where his power can flow like a river we saw last week that in the book of acts the 120 were in one accord before the day of pentecost in the upper room they were one accord on the day of pentecost they were in one accord in one accord doesn't mean they all agreed on everything the unity of the spirit is not based on everybody agreeing on everything is based on love we can be in in unity of the spirit with people that we don't agree on the same doctrines we don't agree on the same issues we don't agree on this or that but if we love each other we have unity of the spirit the unity of the spirit is what god's after not just unity you can go to the elks club and find unity but it's unity around a project or or around beer or around something but what god's after is the unity of the spirit and that if we had to wait until we all agreed to get into unity it might be the millennium before that happens but we can all agree to choose love and when we do that there will be the unity of the spirit and that's where god commands the blessing i i want to just read the uh verses real quick acts 1 4 they were in one accord acts 2 1 they're in one accord acts 2 42 46-47 continuing daily in one accord in the temple and in the homes they were breaking their bread it says and the lord added to the church daily those who are being saved when there's that unity of the spirit god adds to the church that's what psalm 133 says how good and how pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity it's like the oil on the head of aaron the high priest that flows down all the way its garments all the way to the hymn it's like the dew on mount hermon oil covers the whole body the dew covers the whole mountain he said when the brethren are together in unity god there commands the blessing and he said what the blessing is life forevermore now the forevermore doesn't mean that we get saved we already have eternal life in us the forevermore is describing the quality of the life of god is speaking about the eternal realm of god's life god says when brethren are in unity not in not necessarily in agreement but in unity of the spirit there's harmony because there's forgiveness and love and preferring and giving grace and giving space caring for each other when that unity of the spirit god commands the blessing his life the life of the spirit he commands that that is where he wants to take us before the next virus breaks out so that the church is walking in authority and power to stop the works of the devil amen that's what the lord wants somebody say amen god will add the he will add the fish he'll add the harvest and so we saw in ephesians 4 verses 1 i therefore the priest of the lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called with all lowliness and gentleness with long suffering bearing with one another in love endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace now if we all agreed on everything and you might find two people or three that can agree on almost everything but to get 120 people into agreement on everything is it even possible if we agreed on everything and that's how unity came then you wouldn't need long-suffering lowliness gentleness bearing with one another in love because we all every one of us is like the patient in the hospital when they give you those gowns but they don't cover the back [Music] and every one of us when we look in the mirror we're like man i'm looking good and then we walk away and everyone sees our faults you can see my faults better than i can and i can see yours better than you can right so if it was based on we're all in agreement no then you won't need long suffering you don't need gentleness don't need patience don't need to bear with each other because we're just all in agreement but the unity of the spirit says i know you're in process and i'm in process too i know you have warts and pimples and i have probably more than you why don't we love each other and get through this together that's what god's looking for now another thing the lord told kevin he said i'm right now i'm not judging the church but those who've rejected me are being judged and i think now this is just my own thoughts i think that's happening through sowing and reaping in other words people are reaping pain and sorrow because of rejecting the lord i don't i think sometimes the lord doesn't have to actively judge us but he can passively let things happen and we reap what we sowed and but he said also he said now the christians must judge themselves lest they be judged now that is a scripture in first corinthians chapter 11 verse 31 and 32 it says if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged by god now if you we're not going to look in the whole chapter but in 1st corinthians 11 verse 17 to 34 paul's re talking to the corinthians corinth was a port city there were people from there were jews greeks and romans that all lived there there were different uh levels of society there were people that were wealthy that were ship owners and then there were people that were not wealthy they worked on the ships you had the the jews the the romans that were over the jews so they looked down on the jews where the greeks felt they were better than the romans so you have different cultures different socioeconomic layers in the society and you have people from all of those groups getting saved and meeting in church so some of the prejudices and even racism the greeks feeling better no the romans are better now the jews are better so there was a people that feeling i i'm a wealthy businessman these guys are just peons at work in the ship so you have those dynamics people are coming together for church and it seems for when you read the chapter some of the people that had more maybe they were more well to do it seemed like they were meeting earlier or separate from the people that were poor and they when they had the lord's supper they would have a meal and the lord's supper so they were coming early eating and drinking to excess even to the point of getting drunk the poor people came after there's no food he said what paul said what he said you're eating and drinking and others are going hungry he said shall i commend you for this no he was rebuking them for their divisions there was division among them and then paul said for this reason many are sick and weak and some have slept mean died early then he said if you would judge yourself you'd not be judged by god now could it be i don't know could it be that it wasn't god just judging individuals but there was a passive judgment in the sense that when there's division and we're not loving each other that we forfeit the presence of god to the degree that that presence is heavy enough to heal the sick could that be he said if you would judge yourself this is a time i believe this i believe that kevin's and i heard from god i don't believe he's a liar you can see the glory on his face when he talks see the light of christ tell me know what i'm talking about you can see even the way he carries himself is with the fruit of the spirit jesus told him this is the time right now for us to judge ourselves i want to ask i want to appeal that's what i said last week i personally don't want to focus on anybody else i don't want to point fingers at anybody i don't i want this time right now for god to judge me i want him to deal with me i want him to get things out of me things that i may have been able to manage but the roots aren't out i want god to take it out of me i want to be a person that has pure love amen not fearful not defensive not accusing not judgmental not devious i don't want how many know what i'm talking about i believe this is a time as we as i go further in this message my prayer my appeal is if each one of us will say lord this week next week the week after lord will you please now when i say judge me it doesn't mean god's going to condemn us it means he's going to reveal things to us that are not pleasing to him and he's going to help us walk out of it that's what it means to judge yourself here's what jesus said in luke 6 41 why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye but don't perceive the plank in your own eye how can you say to your brother brother let me me remove the speck that's in your eye when you yourself don't see the plank that's in your own eye hypocrite first remove the plank from your own eye then you will see clarity to remove the speck that's in your brother's eye this is a time of this is a time of god's love and god's grace for us to let us all grow in love so we can be prepared i'm telling you the it's time for the glory to shine it's time i believe the dream i believe it kevin said i said other things that were very very encouraging for me to hear in 2011 i had a powerful visitation the holy spirit in the night and the holy spirit began speaking to me you know in a dream about what was coming and i saw the mightiest mightiest revival not even beyond revival reformation the outpouring of the holy spirit come into earth like none of us even read about in books and i was told this is coming i was also told and i believe what was for me is for you i was told in this encounter in the night that everything in my life everything that i'd gone through was simply training i believe the last two or three months is just more training the lord said it's training for this time when this anointing and outpouring is released upon the body and then and i'm a harvest like we've never seen before is coming in glory on the church like we've never seen and then uh there's more to it i'm not going to say all i was showing this it was going to be many many people in the body mightily anointed and it would start happening all at the same time around the world i was made to know that like this like popcorn it won't be like in 94 when we just heard about an outpouring in toronto or only one in florida that won't be like that it'll be like this like you hear popcorn popping first it goes pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop it's going to be like that we're going to hear like wow god's broke out in glory over there over here here there he's there and pretty soon all over the world glory spots are going to be breaking out and i was showing that many many many people in the body christ are going to walk in an anointing that will blow your mind your mind but sadly it wasn't the majority of christians i don't know what the percentage was i know it wasn't the majority but i knew it was everyone that was hungry and going after god there are those that are just already content so this is a time for us to allow the lord to judge our hearts and move all of us farther along in love and in purity before the lord now i want to share a few scriptures how many how many will let the lord judge their own heart i'll tell you i think it's one of the smartest things we can do and uh just say lord please deal with me and here's my prayer also when i pray and i said lord and give me the grace to respond appropriately because it's not always pleasant sometimes it's painful sometimes it hurts our pride and uh if i find my pride reacting i just want to go home on my face and say god help me to get over this i want to be conformed to christ now i'm going to i want to share something that i've i've shared it before but allow me to share it again briefly because i think it's important for all of us years ago when i made up my mind i'm going to pursue love i think it was back in 2002 i remember writing down all these scriptures on love i wrote down first corinthians 13 i got it in two or three different translations i'd memorize it meditate on it because the bible says thy word have i hidden in my heart that i might not sin against you and the word sanctifies us and that word brings light so i was doing that but i had the wrong concept and i want to share this for other people how love comes i thought i don't know that i ever thought this out loud but i thought it subconsciously i thought okay i read it love is patient love is kind love keeps no record of wrongs love hopes all things but let me just read it it says love suffers long it's kind it doesn't envy doesn't parade itself it's not puffed up it's not rude it doesn't seek its own way it's not provoked it doesn't keep a record of wrongs does it rejoice in iniquity it rejoices in truth it bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things i typed those out i'd meditate on them i'd pray them i said god i want to i want to be a man that walks in this so i would i would think that if i was patient kind then i would be walking in love and one day i don't remember how but the holy spirit made it known to me he said you got it all backwards he said it's not if you're patient and kind then you're loving he said when you have love flowing out of your heart then you're patient he said don't try to do those things seek me to fill your heart with love he said when love comes out of you you'll be patient you'll be kind you'll believe all things and one of the ways he made me as i was getting this from the lord was he made me think of one of my children he said look at if one of your children behaves badly or poorly what do you think about him i don't can i'm thinking like we always think the best well they're just having a bad day they're going to do better tomorrow they're probably under a lot of pressure my kid's not a bad kid because love believes all hopes all endures all right because you love them but if the neighbor kid does the same thing that you don't love you think what a rat what kind of lousy parents does he have i'm exaggerating to make a point so that was a big thing for me so whenever i find myself short of patience or being judgment or that i don't i don't say okay i'm not going to be patient i just go back to the lord and say lord change me fill me with more love because love is the answer love is the answer let me finish this i want to read some scriptures i i was uh pondering i know that in the days ahead i don't know exactly how the administration's going to go to get there but i believe god will get us there in the days ahead when the holy spirit is poured out there's going to be so many awesome meetings in the homes and i was thinking lord what should we be doing in the home meetings and i and i'm sure there'll be the word and prayer and meals and fellowship and ministry but i felt the holy spirit say loving one another if all our instructions are only this love each other will do well let me read this the phrase one and others derived from the greek word allelon which means one another each other or mutually it occurs 100 times in the new testament approximately 99 of these occurrences are specific commands teaching us how and how not to relate to one another obedience to these commands is imperative it forms the basis of all true christian community and has a direct impact on our witness to the world i want to just read some of these can i i'm almost done love one another that command occurs at least 16 times be devoted to one another romans 12 10 honor one another above yourselves romans 12 live in harmony with one another romans 12 16 build up one another first thessalonians 5 11. be like minded that that means compassionate to one another romans 15 5 accept one another one translation says receive one another as god in christ has received you that's romans 15 7 admonish one another romans 15 14 greet one another with a holy kiss i'm told by the experts that the holy kiss back in that day was a sign of covenant so when there was a holy kiss they're saying we're connected by the covenant means i'm not going to betray you that's what it means that's why judas betrayed jesus he came up and kissed him but in church a holy kiss is supposed to mean work covenant together remembers of one another i will not betray you it says greet one another the holy kiss care for one another first corinthians 12 25 serve one another galatians 5 13 bear one another's burdens galatians 6 2 forgive one another forgive each other be patient with one another ephesians 4 2 speak the truth in love to one another ephesians 4 15 be kind to one another ephesians 4 32 speak to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs ephesians 5 19 submit to one another ephesians 5 21 consider one another others better than yourself philippians 2 3. look out for the interests of others philippians 2 4 bear with one another colossians 3 13 teach one another colossians 3 16 comfort one another first thessalonians 4 18 encourage one another we need each other we need each other's love we need each other's help we need each other's prayers we need each other's encouragement exhort one another there's people that have that gift stir up one another to love and good works hebrews 10 24 show hospitality to one another first peter 4 9. use the gifts god has given you for the benefit of one another first peter 4 10. clothe yourself with humility toward one another first peter 5 5 pray for one another james 5 16 admit your faults to each other james 5 16. i'm not saying this please don't misunderstand me it's not me saying this to you it's god saying this to us as i'm reading this i'm saying i'm not saying it i'm reading this and say god change me god make me better at this i have room for a lot of improvement then there's some negative commandments how not to treat one another do not lie to one another colossians 3 9 stop passing judgment on one another romans 14 13 if you keep biting and devouring each other you'll be destroyed by each other galatians 5 15. do not become conceited and provoke and envy each other galatians 5 26 do not slander one another james 4 11 do not grumble against each other james 5 9. we do all of this because we are in a real sense members of each other this is our assignment in the next weeks and months is lord deal with my heart not the other guy no matter what anybody else does i want to become better at this cs lewis had profound insight into how unity comes he said if you take all the spokes in a wheel and you're going to try to put that wheel together you have the rim of the wheel you have the hub and you have the spokes he said if the spokes are all the time trying to get into right relationship with each other it'll be an endless process he said but if each spoke will just make sure that they are in right relationship with the hub he said that's christ he said we'll automatically be in right relationship with each other that's the wisdom of god so first corinthians 4 1 says go after love i want to encourage us that love is already given to us in christ jesus everything that pertains second peter chapter one everything that pertains to life and godliness has already been given to us through the knowledge of him who loved us meaning christ is in us so when god says pursue love he's saying go after what i've already given you come on somebody see we're new creations in christ you and i at times if we get our eyes off jesus we get in the heat of battle we get in the flesh we can walk exactly like an old creation man we can walk like nasty goats but it still doesn't mean we're not a new creation this means we're not doing a good job right then and we need to snap out of it get our mind back on jesus repent of the flesh and abide by faith in christ in us the hope of glory here's what second peter 1 says grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of god and to jesus our lord as his divine power has given to us all the thing given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to glory and virtue i want everyone to hear this you are a new creation in christ your old sins are washed away somebody smile your sins are washed away if you repented them they're gone you are not who your past mistakes were that's not who you are you're a new creature in christ god has given us us every believer everything that pertains to life and godliness philippians 4 13 we can do all things through christ jesus now how do we access this everything that god's given us he said whereby have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these promises we may be partakers of the divine nature now the divine nature is love so when it says god has given you everything but now we partake of it through the promises so first corinthians 14 1 says pursue love in other words go after what god's given us it's in our account it's in christ it's freely given it's not withheld so how do we do it he said through the exceedingly precious promises i'll give you three of them jesus said ask and you'll receive that's a precious promise seek and you'll find knock and the door will be opened to you so when god says pursue love he said ask me for love read the bible seek love and you'll find it knock on the door and say god fill me with more love god change my mind get stubbornness out of me wash me change me god said we become partakers of that divine nature by accessing the promises of god that's what it means as we during this time let's let god deal with each one of us let's all press in to the fullness of what god has for us i believe god can fill us with his love and change us i believe god wants all of our relationships to grow in love doesn't mean we haven't been seeking that but we really need to pay attention right now because we need to get ready for what's coming we need to by this fall we need to walk in here and all of our eyes look like pilot lights and we're all glowing and you know another thing that love does the more full of love we get it casts out fear i heard an awesome testimony well the more we grow in love the more fearless we'll be because i heard an awesome testimony of a pastor who had a face-to-face visitation with the lord jesus the lord said he was through this hit taught him about holiness this pastor's in his i think he's around his 60s now when he was 12 years old his father left it he grew up with a single mom he said in this visitation the lord stood in front of him and he said two li two beams of light came out of the lord's eyes when i heard this it's very similar to what happened to heidi baker because when the lord visited her he said heidi look into my eyes she said when he did he imparted love and it went into her and transformed her god doesn't have favorites the bible says four times he's not a respecter of persons if we'll say lord fill me with love ask we we can become partakers of the divine nature through those promises he said the lord stood before him and he said beams of light went from the lord's eyes into my eyes and as they went in he said love started filling me he said i felt from the bottom up it started filling me i watched us not only love but light and truth and transparency love he said as the love of god was filling me the lies that were in my heart were being forced out listen to this he said the first lie that came up out of my heart and left me was this god you can't love me because my father left me when i was 12 see a judgment entered into his heart he judged himself i am not worthy of love i can't be loved because my father didn't love me he he left me when i was 12 years old he said the light of christ just kept filling him filling him filling him and the lies started going so the bible says walk in the spirit and you'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh again i would try to do it backwards i say okay i'm not going to walk in the flesh but the lord said that's not what it says it says do whatever it takes to get in the spirit and as we get more full of the spirit it displaces the flesh it's not like just keep ever keep the flesh down and now you're in the spirit that's not how it works as you are come to christ by faith get in the spirit and the spirit will put the flesh down everybody can do that we're not strong enough to overcome our flesh it says if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh you'll live so that's what love is it's first thessalonians that's what holiness is first thessalonians 3 12 and 13 may the lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all just as we do that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness so holiness is where god's love keeps filling us and it drives out the lies the fears the wounds the judgments until there's it's clear that's what we're going after he said in this encounter where the lord filled him he said then he was taken to a place i can't remember his before or after taken to a place he says i saw every like millions of people and i was with the lord in the spirit he said i was able to see into everybody's heart and he said i could see that every human being had wounds judgments issues inside that made us in different ways put forth a face that we weren't or hide behind something or uh not be all the way honest or be fearful he said i saw it in i was able by the spirit to see it in every human being then he said i saw jesus in the father and he said there was none of that he said there was absolute pure light transparency and love he said i know that in god there's not one motive other than love and the lord made him know he said this is what i want my people to become and god's promised it to us first thessalonians 5 23 24 it says now may the god of grace the god of peace himself sanctify you completely your whole body soul and spirit be preserved blameless unto the coming of the lord faithful is he that calls you he'll do it so as we pursue love over the next weeks and the rest of our life here's two two prayers second thessalonians 3 5. it's a prayer that i've been praying it says now may the lord direct your hearts into the love of god and into the patience of christ it's a work of god's grace i can't get there if i could sanctify myself it would have been done by now i've tried hard enough we have to put all our faith in jesus he's our sanctifier now watch this i want to encourage you i want to encourage as i'm closing i want to encourage everybody you're redeemed by the blood of jesus you're a new creature your sins are not being held against you they're gone they're gone god is now determined to conform us to the image of christ and that's love that's purity purity of heart and love if we will ask him he'll do it we'll become a partaker of the divine nature by believing his promises ask your receive seek you'll find knock it'll be open we ask the lord lord will you direct my heart into the love of god he'll do it lord will you direct my heart into the patience of christ he'll be faithful to do it if we pray first thessalonians 3 12 and 13 may the lord make you increase in abound in love i don't know about you but that phrase encourages me how many would like the lord to make you be full of love come on lord amen amen as we increase in love our relationship as a spoke to the hub becomes true and right our relationship with each other will be right we'll find ourself living in the unity of the spirit we may have disagreements until jesus comes back but we can walk in the love of god in the unity of the holy spirit that's where god commands the blessing that's where he wants to take us i want to be ready for that vision where the glory of god is among us and the sick can find healing in jesus name that's what we're made for we're in the last days where darkness is on the earth it's our time to rise and shine [Music] [Music]

Channel: ShekinahWorshipTV

Views: 8,109

Rating: 4.847909 out of 5

Keywords: Joe Sweet, Shekinah Worship Center

Id: f9eIjNcsV_U

Length: 65min 20sec (3920 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 16 2020