Revival Tarries | 9.12.21 | The Pursuit

awesome hey we want to thank those of you who uh have camped at church the last week you know we know some of you spent more time here than you did at your old house and we appreciate all the support and prayers and just how this community has rallied this last week i've gotten messages from people in iceland indonesia thailand the philippines west africa south america western europe eastern europe literally people from around the world who for whatever reason were tuning in and watching our revival extended services miracle after miracle after miracle testimony after testimony people even watching from nations that are close to the gospel saying hey as we were watching this it was like the presence of god filled our house we're with you we're contending for revival we're halfway around the world but we're standing with you for a move of god in the northwest and uh you know sometimes as as a pastor especially in the charismatic stream sometimes people will ask you know when's the last time you've seen a miracle i just showed you a six and a half minute highlight clip of miracle after miracle after miracle that god is moving by his spirit we're really seeing some incredible things and as we've been praying as a team and and as a staff we've really felt like the lord is asking us to set aside some time just to seek him to seek his face yeah we know sunday mornings is a little chaotic by the time you find a parking spot hopefully find a seat here on sunday morning make your way in and you get in and then as soon as service is really going it's time to leave and there's another crowd that's coming we know sometimes that those environments are a little difficult to really wait on the lord and seek the lord and take as much time as we would want and so we're announcing today that for the month of september and october and november we're going to be hosting extended services on these dates [Applause] and we're going to have special guests flying in to join us and we'll announce them at a later date as you'll notice these are weekends they're friday saturday and sunday we're trying to keep the calendar as family friendly as possible but we wanted to let you know as soon as we knew as a team that that that we're going to set aside time to seek the lord something so special is happening right now in this community and it's our response to the nearness of god that helped take the moment that we've had this week and really turned it into an organizational movement and so it's not just about having good times in the presence of god and i know we've had those but it's about going god is giving us a glimpse into what is possible not just once a year not just every once in a while when we're all feeling really energetic but i think god is giving us a glimpse into what we can be and really who we are as people and so we're going to be setting aside time these three weekends and we hope that you'll join us this is going to be out on social media today so you can help share and we'll be letting you know about some special guests we're going to be flying back and joining us in the region so thanks again for your prayer and your support we are just scratching the surface guys it's just beginning it's just starting and so be encouraged stir yourself up and join us on uh those uh those weekends and this morning we're gonna be in the book of second samuel and in chapter six and i'm gonna share with you a message i've entitled how we carry revival how we carry revival it it'll be sharing with you a story from the life of king david uh as he reigns over the nation of israel for 40 years and one of the important decisions that he makes really at the beginning of his kingship and how it impacts the spiritual trajectory of that nation i want to challenge you with an analogy this morning if you were to go to the gas station next to the church and buy a water bottle you'd probably be looking to spend a dollar to two dollars max but if today you were to head to a sports stadium and buy that same water bottle you'd be looking at five to ten dollars in that range and for us as we think about the value of an environment i want you to think back to this analogy the idea that environment is what helps establish the value system for which we assign to items objects and events and so as we create an environment that honors the presence of god it takes what seemingly seems cheap and makes it super super valuable and there's value in the community of god coming together in a corporate fashion and worshiping jesus that's why we've made the decision that we're not canceling church we're not shutting down we're not going to restrict the right or the ability of people to gather and to sing into worship because there is something so valuable about what that does to the environment as we gather here on sunday morning it's not just god impacting us here in the confines of this building it's the spirit of god making waves in this community and in this region and just because they don't understand your worship doesn't mean they're not impacted by your worship right and so there might be a lot of folks in your life who go i don't understand why you'd give up a weekend and be in church or why you've made the commitments you have or why you're passionate or why you're dedicated in the ways that you are but the reality is is just by virtue of you having a stubborn commitment to worship jesus to follow through on spiritual practices and disciplines to live your life in a way that is geared or bent in the direction of pursuing his presence it impacts people whether or not they're even able to put words to it in second samuel 6 it records the story of david taking 30 000 young men to go take back the ark of the covenant from the philistines saul has lost the ark of the covenant in war with the philistines and it's been missing from the nation of israel at this point for about 20 years and one of the first things that david does when he assumes the throne is that he goes back with 30 000 warriors to philistine territory to take back the ark of the covenant you might be sitting here this morning going what's so important about the ark of the covenant it was just a box but remember in the old testament the presence of god the spirit of god was contained to a place this is what's so profound about the new covenant or the new testament the spirit of god no longer dwells in places it dwells in people that's why scripture says you have become a temple of the holy ghost now we just take that as ordinary but that was a revolutionary truth for people who are followers of yahweh this idea that no longer would you have to attend a special tent or a special tabernacle or a special temple no longer did you have to have a special title in order to interact with the presence of god but now the fullness of god's spirit takes residence in your life based on faith in king jesus so this was a revolutionary truth in the new testament and and and it's paralleled by this this reality in the old testament the presence of god was kept in a box now most people when they think about the ark of the covenant they have a flashback to like an indiana jones movie where people's faces are being melted and all sorts of things but in the old testament the the the the presence of god and the ark of the covenant was behind a tent and they called it the holy of holies and once a year the high priest could go and make sacrifice on behalf of the people in the holy of holies as he ministered in and interacted with the presence of god it was super valuable to the dna of a nation it was super important to the spiritual trajectory of a people and for 20 years it sat in philistine territory until king david assumed the throne now watch what happens in verse 1 of 2nd samuel 6 the bible says this david again brought together all the able young men of israel thirty thousand they set the ark of god on a new cart watch and they brought it from the house of abinadab which was on the hill the presence of god at this point has been missing for 20 years and someone somewhere decided that business as usual was not enough isn't it amazing what churches have been able to build without the presence of god friend if we gain the world and we lose our soul then we have missed the entire point for us we think about the church and its primary purpose in this context the church exists to glorify jesus are there a lot of other things that the church does absolutely we do evangelism and we do mission and we do adoption and we do backpack giveaways and we clean up the community and we have schools and day cares and preschool there's a lot of things we do but the primary thing we do is glorify god why because the church doesn't exist for you and it doesn't even exist for them it exists for him the church exists for jesus and a church is the gathering of god's people and as we bless and minister to the heart of god in return watch he blesses and ministers to the heart of us the church exists to glorify jesus and for 20 years the nation of israel founded on the idea that that god was lord that hero israel the lord our god is one this idea that the triune god oversaw the theocratic nation of israel for 20 years they had missed out on the presence of god until someone somewhere decided that business as usual was not enough can i tell you every great revival begins when someone somewhere decides that what we have done isn't going to work for where we are going every move of god is is predicated on people rediscovering a hunger for the things of god but the bible says here that david takes thirty thousand young men they're going back to take the ark of the covenant but in doing so they actually violate one of the principles of god in numbers 4 moses outlines how the ark of the covenant was supposed to be transported it was supposed to be transported only on the shoulders of the levites and the priests but watch what verse 3 says instead man built a cart or man built a program or a strategy or an initiative or an organization bounds the great 19th century methodist minister said this the church is looking for better methods but god is looking for better men friend programs don't carry revival people carry revival because revival isn't an object to be held but instead an experience to be had and programs can't take you where personal commitment and dedication will and so often in our pursuit of the holy we project our own responsibility onto somebody else's ability to build something to sustain what god is doing and can i tell you in this hour the way that revival is sustained in our community is by men and women of god recognizing that first you're a priest unto him and you've got a responsibility to put this on your shoulders which means this it's not enough for me to be revived on your behalf it's not enough for the church to be revived on your behalf it's not enough to have a weekend or a schedule or a program or an organization revival tarries when men and women of god accept the responsibility to carry his presence on their shoulders but build us a build us a cart and we'll get the oxen to carry it build us a program we'll get somebody else to labor for it build us an organization we'll get somebody else to build it and yet god is inviting you to carry this for yourself and when you carry revival for yourself you sense the weight of its responsibility on your shoulders when you carry revival for yourself you ordain your steps in the way that you should go that you never depart from it when you carry revival for yourself and your family and your sphere of influence you operate with a fear of god that helps order your days that helps redeem the time why because you're personally connected it's not what somebody else is doing for me it's an invitation that i've responded to personally watch in verse 5 david and all israel were celebrating with their might all their might before the lord with harps and liars and timbrels and systems and symbols and when they came to the threshing floor azza reached out and he took hold of the ark of god because the oxen stumbled let me stop here for a moment watch what it says here in verse six when they came to the threshing floor friend the threshing floor was a place where the wheat and the chaff was separated a winnowing fork was used to throw the mixture into the air so that the wind could blow away the chaff leaving only the good grain on the floor ruth met boaz on the threshing floor gideon set out a fleece before the lord on on the threshing floor the prophets ministered to jehoshaphat at the threshing floor the lord sent his angel to judge israel at the threshing floor every move of god takes people to the place of separation to a place of choosing to a place of consecration with this central question is what god offers enough do you know that god in his grace removes unnecessary things from your life because he knows that where you're going can't hold that much baggage here's the bad news some stuff in your life absolutely has to die in order for you to move forward here's the good news anything you give up in the pursuit of god pales in comparison to what you gain this is the great paradox of a revival culture that god is continually inviting us to the threshing floor by which he separates the wheat from the weeds the wheat from the tares and in doing so he allows us to go through an examination of self of spiritual center of soul commitments by which he helps illuminate and illustrate the things that we think we need versus the things that we actually need you know one of the key signs that you're growing in spiritual maturity is that you're able to differentiate between what you think you need and what you actually need some of you have this experience every time you travel because you always pack 3x what you actually need you thought you needed it you lugged it around it was a total pain in the butt to bring it on the plane it didn't fit in the overhead compartment it weighs too much you had to pay extra on your ticket you're knocking everybody in the airport dragging it behind you for a 24-hour stay in california you thought you needed it but you didn't actually need it can i tell you revival does the same thing for your spirit there are things that you thought you need that you have paid a price to carry around with you and all it has been is baggage that has cost you and cost people around you sometimes for years and other times for decades and god in his grace does surgery with a scalpel to remove what you thought you needed so he could give you what you actually need [Applause] and this is what god has invited us into the the threshing floor revival takes people to that place of separation to that place of choosing that's why the easiest place for you to hide out is in a spiritually dead church because it never takes you to a place of choosing you never have to choose passion you never have to choose desire you never have to choose obedience you can just choose to sit in the back and be unmoved by spiritually dead things but when you get in revival all of a sudden you feel like man god's called me to the valley of decision choose this day whom you will serve all of a sudden god's invited me into commitment he's invited me into leadership he's invited me into giftedness now all of a sudden i sense a mandate on my life to do something and to be something see that's why when you leave after i get done preaching a lot of you end up feeling agitated because what i am doing is i am confronting lazy christianity that is plagued the church in the west [Music] no god's put a mandate on your life to do something fred and to be something and there has never been a better time for you to be a part of the harvest and i'm not trying to recruit you from where you've been but i am trying to issue you an invitation for where we're going that god by his spirit would thrust out laborers into the harvest field that you would sense there has never been a better time for me to be engaged with my faith no i'm not just gonna witness history i'm gonna be apart i'm gonna be apart watch what happens when they came to the threshing floor azza reached out and he took hold he steadied he managed he controlled the ark of god because the oxen stumbled now the lord's anger burned against azza because of his irreverent act watch therefore god struck him down and he died there beside the ark of god david was afraid of the lord that day and said how can the ark of the lord ever come to me watch as soon as you try to control revival either you will kill it or it will kill you you can't manage revival you either let god have his way or you get in the way and do you know why revival comes with manifestations because you don't get fire without a little chaos the start of revival is similar to the birth of a baby in a few days you can begin to tell personality and mannerisms and temperament and what are the markers of this move of god i think it's baptisms i think it's salvations i think it's healings i think it's exuberant worship i think it's falling under the power of god and god sends manifestations to test the purity of a move will you get distracted will you get offended will you judge somebody else's expression hear me stumbling is part of the journey hear me some folks have traded a relentless pursuit of jesus for a nice safe sanitized manicured religious expression that never moves their heart never disrupts their schedule never requires their finances never inconveniences their life but friend that isn't this a righteous man stumbles a passionate person stumbles a revived person stumbles but they get back up [Applause] the oxen stumbled and us and all his wisdom and brilliance thought to himself god just might need my help to stabilize this thing god doesn't need your help for anything he invites you into partnership and then for whatever reason shares his glory with you it literally doesn't make any sense but god doesn't need your help in the pr department as it pertains to a move of his spirit and here's the problem we pray for revival but then it shows up and makes us uncomfortable because it takes us to the threshing floor so instead of allowing the ark to rest we try to control it and stabilize it i liked when services were 60 minutes i liked when everybody played my favorite song i why i like when the pastor didn't preach on sin ah the carpet is a little wet from the from the spontaneous baptisms it's not as clean as i liked it before and in doing so we stabilize the ark we pray for revival and then curse it with our actions [Music] you can't control this wild god he is not to be locked in a cage he is not managed by your programs he is not stabilized by your head no like a roaring lion we allow him to march in the streets of the northwest and we say your kingdom come your will be done in this place even as it's being had done in heaven god doesn't need your permission oh it's it's rocking a little bit i better stabilize this thing i like revival but i don't like any of those manifestations oh they offend me a little bit no i just i don't understand that it don't make sense in my mind and all of a sudden we allow offense to become a roadblock to the thing that god desires to do listen offense doesn't stop god it stops you i'm getting too fired up now watch verse 11 the ark of the lord remained in the house of obed edom to get tight for three months watch and the lord blessed him in his entire household now king david was told the lord has blessed the household of obed edom and everything he has because of the ark of god so david went up to bring up the ark of the god of god from the house of obedience to the city of david with rejoicing hear me god uses the blessing of your life to provoke godly jealousy in the life of somebody else that's why testimony is so important that's why the apostle john says in revelation 19 the testimony of jesus is the spirit of prophecy testimony is prophetic in nature i wish the lord would use me in a word of wisdom i wish the lord would use me in a prophetic act just tell your testimony that all may prophesy it's really easy no we've made prophecy weird it's like a psychic telling the future no it's literally a christian telling their story that's prophecy prophecy is less information and it's more confirmation about what god is already doing so when we tell the story of revival in the northwest we are prophesying to dry bones in this region it is time to wake up and get up and be revived because god sees an army that's what testimony does [Applause] david gets mad and so he goes back home but the presence of god in a box sits in the house of obed edom the get tight watch the githites were philistines the sworn enemy of israel but because god isn't a respecter of persons his house was blessed now watch this is what i love the only other time obed edom is ever mentioned is in the book of first chronicles and in the book of first chronicles the bible says that the sons of obed edom served as priests in the tabernacle watch the presence of god is so powerful that it can take philistines and turn them into priests they weren't priests by lineage they were priests by presence that's the power of raising your family in a revival culture because if you were to be honest some of you been some uncircumcised philistines some of you been some enemies of god some of you been wild living in the world and you're just hoping that maybe your kids won't have to repeat the same mistakes that you made and can i tell you friend the number one way to ensure the spiritual vitality and endurance of the next generation is to plant yourself in the river of god and refuse to be moved because the presence makes priests out of philistines oh he was a get tight so congratulations david you moved the ark of god from philistine territory to more philistine territory and just because you got offended doesn't mean somebody else won't get blessed can i tell you just because you're offended doesn't mean you're right in our world today we have weaponized offense and made it the most mortal sin in culture god forbid somebody be offended and yet as a culture we offend god all the time we have made offending people the yoke of slavery that we live under and we've made offending god just our afternoon activity david got offended and went back home and for 90 days the blessing of god overtook obed edom i want you to see what this verse says it doesn't say the ark of god visited the house of obed edom it says the ark of god rested in the house of obed edom hear me revival is not a visitation it's an inhabitation of god's presence among god's people we are not living for a nice weekend or even a great month but a spirit-filled life that doesn't just transform you but transforms the region you're in that's what we're going after i wonder when this revival moment will be over never never because what you've been adopted into is a relentless pursuit of everything god is and everything god has we're not looking for the presence to visit we're looking for the presents to rest watch when those who were carrying the ark of the lord verse 13 had taken six steps david sacrificed a bull in a fatted calf now wearing a linen ephod david was dancing before the lord with all his might while he and all israel were bringing up the ark of the lord with shouts and the sounds of trumpets hear me it was 7.5 miles from the house of obed edom to jerusalem on average there's two thousand steps in a mile meaning there was fifteen thousand steps for david to take and every six steps for seven and a half miles straight david stop to sacrifice a bull and a calf friend without reverence you can't sustain revival for seven and a half miles every six steps david ordered 30 000 men to stop moving so they could sacrifice unto god can i tell you what fuels revival sacrifice sacrifice and there's not a special offering at the end of today's service don't worry but god is interested in so much more than your money friend he's interested in everything that you are and sometimes what we want is we want low sacrifice and high impact but can i tell you that's just not how it works that's why paul in the book of romans says this offer yourself as a living sacrifice do you know the first time the word worship is ever mentioned in all of scripture is in the book of genesis when abraham is taking isaac up to the mountain to be sacrificed the first time worship is ever mentioned is when abraham is taking isaac he says let us go to the mountain of the lord and worship and isaac says where's the sacrifice abraham says you're it it for us as we think about what it looks like to give our lives to a move of god's spirit in our region we recognize that it won't come without cost but what we're invited to pay is well worth it in regards to what he returns verse 16 on the end in this this passage here is the ark of the lord was entering the city of david michael the daughter of saul which was the wife of david watched from a window when she saw king david leaping and dancing before the lord watched she despised him in her heart now when david returned home to bless his household michael the daughter of saul the wife of david came outside to meet him she said how the king of israel has distinguished himself today going around half naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would david said to his wife it was before the lord who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the lord's people israel i will celebrate before the lord i will become even more undignified than this and i will be humiliated in my own eyes but by these slave girls you spoke of i will be held in honor watch and michael the daughter of saul had no children to the day of her death you can have dignity or you can have desire but you can't have both hear me you can have control or you can have revival but you can't have both i don't know why people fall but it's not unto you it's unto him i don't know why people jump but it's not unto you it's unto him i don't know why people shake but it's not unto you it's unto him i don't know why people cry or laugh or dance or run or shout but it wasn't done before you it was done before the lord and the only thing that judgment of someone else's manifestation will create is barrenness in your own life well pastor that looked fake to me yeah but you have no idea what they've been through you have no idea they're testing you have no idea what god saved them out of oh i know you was raised in a christian home i know you've been saved since you was two years old but that person should have been dead that person should have been disqualified but god in the fullness of time sent jesus and rescued them from the pit of hell so if they dance shake shout or cry it ain't none of your business it was done before god [Applause] it was done before god see sometimes people self-appoint themselves as everybody else's manifestation inspector as it comes to revival but jesus says if you've been forgiven a little you love a little but if you've been forgiven much you love much remember when the woman broke the costly pound of perfume at the feet of jesus and judas said oh come on that's ridiculous look how stupid she looks that was a waste and jesus says no this woman's worship will be a memorial to me in every generation it's not a waste watch when it's done before him and i think for us in order to protect the purity of what god is doing here you have to remove yourself from being everybody else's personal judge about the manifestations they have in the presence of god some people laugh okay maybe they need the joy of the lord some people cry but maybe they're in a real season of reverence some people jump maybe they've been in pain 20 years and this is the first time they can move some people shake maybe god's shaking something out of them some people fall maybe they're overwhelmed by the glory of god do you remember the first time that your heart was really moved you remember the first time that you had a first love experience with god you remember that time when you was young at a youth camp somewhere somehow you had a little passion in your life you remember what it was like when you poured out your perfume on his feet it's not a waste when it's done before him so i'm going to create an atmosphere where people from every color creed background origin culture and family system can interact with the presence of god as they see fit because it's not done unto you it's done unto him [Applause] and michael the daughter of saul david's father-in-law that's a bad situation looks out the window and sees david coming back can you imagine the commotion thirty thousand celebrating every six steps the entire assembly goes quiet as the priests offer burnt sacrifice to the lord and the daughter of saul hears this commotion and sticks her head out the window and watches here's what i've found you're a lot less likely to judge when you're a part of a movement than when you're set standing at a window watching a movement and we got all the critics online you know what i mean uh they're just watching but what i found is this in the heart of every critic is a person who is disappointed with what they've missed [Music] oh man i wish i was a part of that but instead of being honest about my own disappointment i'm gonna weaponize it as critique for stuff i'm not involved with and saul's daughter michael the wife of david watches from the window and as david gets back she says you look so foolish dancing like this half naked and david says i'll i'll be even more undignified than this essentially this you haven't seen anything yet listen friend if you're offended by people getting baptized mid-service let me give you a word of wisdom you haven't seen anything yet [Applause] if you're offended by people falling down and crying at the altar you haven't seen anything yet we are barely scratching the surface of what god is about to do in this community and here's what i hear the lord saying exceedingly abundantly more than you could ever ask think or imagine that's what god desires to do in this moment and what he's looking for is people who will say yes because the king of glory is coming the king of glory is here there are ancient gates that are opening there are ancient doors that are swinging wide and god is just looking for people men and women who will say god i'll be even a little undignified if it means that your glory rests on this house we are not living for a good weekend we are not living for an excited service or the round of applause for a special guest who flies in on a plane we are living for an unmitigated unmeasured outpouring of god's spirit in this hour that will rest on this house in this community and here's what we're going to see we're going to see other cities come into the harvest we're going to see other churches come into the fold we're going to see other campuses sprout out i can't tell you when i can't tell you how i can't tell you where but i can tell you this what i sense in my spirit is god saying i'm placing something unusual and unique on this house and what it will be is like a lighthouse to other people who have been in dry and thirsty places who have just been praying and believing that god by his spirit one more time would pour out on his people you are sitting in what other people have prayed for you are sitting in what other people have contended for and we haven't seen anything yet it's just beginning it's just beginning and the bible says this of david that he danced with all his might so much so that his outer garment fell off and he was down to just his linen ephod the linen ephod was the clothing of the priests hear me david was a king on the outside watch but a priest on the inside i want you to know today that whether you're the ceo of a company a stay-at-home mom a college student trying to figure out what's next working at a drive-through coffee stand working in tech working in healthcare working at amazon what you are on the outside hear me pales in comparison to what you are on the inside friend we are priests unto god and sometimes you don't reveal what you really are on the inside until you're willing to get a little undignified on the outside david danced with all his might and his wife saw him and she mocked him she said you're supposed to be a king no david says i've always been a priest when i was watching my father's sheep in the green pastures i was a priest when i was taking on goliath in front of the armies of israel i was a priest when i was running from saul when he wanted to kill me because i was anointed by samuel i was a priest i have always been a priest and that's who you and i are in this hour and the responsibility we have is to carry his presence on our shoulders until god sees fit to rest in this place come on would you stand with me as we close

Channel: The Pursuit NW

Views: 624

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 9YYiSY9KY0E

Length: 38min 42sec (2322 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 20 2021