The Power Of The Holy Spirit // Jimmy Evans

[Music] pastor Brady is down in Amarillo at Trinity and so we have the privilege of having one of our overseers with us and by way of introduction many most of you probably know by now that pastor Jimmy is the longtime senior pastor has been at Trinity Fellowship there in Amarillo Texas and is the president and the founder of marriage today wonderful broadcast ministry equipping husbands and wives he's an overseer here at New Life Church a prolific author and all of that you could find out by reading a website somewhere those are important facts but what I want to highlight is something in addition to that in 1st Corinthians 4 15 the Apostle Paul says to this young church that he's so enthusiastic about you have lots of Guardians lots of people to tell you what to do but not many fathers and we have we are blessed to have a tremendous sphere of influence people who have spoken into our church over the years and into our lives and we're grateful for all of those people among them only a few become fathers and as I've observed over the last six months since pastor Brady's been with us the relationship which he has with pastor Jimmy and some of the men who have been influential in his life and in his spiritual formation I've really grown to love and honor and respect these men myself and I've watched the same happen with our church and in my mind there's no man of whom this is true or for our church than pastor Jimmy you've become more than a guardian more than one to teach us what to do and what not to do which we need and for which we're grateful but you've become a father and a voice which we not only listen to but welcome and so we're grateful you're here with us would you join me in welcoming pastor Jimmy Evans that's a wonderful job thank you good morning good morning Thank You say thank you thank you thank you so much it is so wonderful to be here and I just hear so many great things about what is happening here at new life I'm not a bit surprised I am so proud of you guys and your leadership and pastor Brady and Pam and just excited about being here this morning I am NOT going to speak on marriage this time that I'm here I'm going to speak on the Holy Spirit pastor Brady asked me to knit I'm gonna do what he says and so I'm gonna speak on the Holy Spirit but I'm gonna come back in the fall and do a big marriage seminar but let me say this I was thinking about this when I was preparing to come here this weekend my wife and I will celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary May 11th and but but we spent our honeymoon in Colorado Springs this is where we so it all started right here seeing it so you're responsible for everything but my my mom and dad two weeks ago celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in that great and they're still going strong my dad says he can't remember if he was born first or married first and I'm kind of getting in that same category but it is great to be here if you'll turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 25 the message this morning you may have noticed it in your bulletin there it is called the cost of oil and I am NOT speaking about high gas prices though it would make a very emotional topic for all of us this is on the Holy Spirit and I want to talk about the Holy Spirit in our lives living in the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit which is so essential for all of us we're gonna go to Matthew 25 now I just want to set this up and say in Matthew 24 the disciples came up to Jesus and they asked him when will we know that you're coming what what are we are going to be the signs of your arrival your second coming and Jesus told them there will be wars and rumors of wars earthquakes he also said earthquakes he also said men's hearts will be failing them for fear and the word fear there is the greek word fossa and it means fear it also means terror jesus predicted worldwide terrorism for his return all of the events that we see Jesus warning about in Matthew 24 are happening or have already happened the world that we're living in is a world literally primed for Jesus to come he said when you see these things begin to happen you look up and lift up your head your redemption is drawing there so I've got some good news this morning Jesus is coming you know that we need to remember that is that Jesus is coming and that the signs that we're seeing in the world today literally the Middle East - everything that's going on Jesus is coming but he warns us also about his coming Matthew 25 it goes right with Matthew 24 and this is one long message that Jesus is bringing but all Matthew 25 is talking about judgment and him coming and will we be ready let's begin with Matthew 25 verse 1 then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom now five of them were wise and five were foolish those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps but while the bridegroom was delayed they all slumbered and slept and at midnight a cry was heard behold the bridegroom is coming go out to meet him then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps and the foolish said to the wise give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out but the wise answered saying no unless there should not be enough for us and you but go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves and while they went to buy the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding and the door was shut afterwards the other virgins came also saying Lord Lord open to us but he answered and said assuredly I say to you I do not know you well in this story there are 10 virgins they all look alike they all are virgins socially akin to one another but when the bridegroom came and remember the bridegroom is Jesus Christ he's talking about his return he's going to come and the moral of this story is not everyone who looks like a Christian is a Christian not everyone who calls themself a Christian is a Christian but in this story it was the possession of oil that distinguished the true from the false and the wise from the foolish and the oil in this story represents the holy spirit the holy spirit has been given to us in our lives he is the friend of the bridegroom he is the one that Jesus sent as another helper that Jesus said that he would remind us of Jesus in other words he would put us in touch with Christ he would comfort us he would lead us into all truth he would give us the power to live in an age of darkness above the circumstances as overcomers everything that these virgins needed to successfully navigate the midnight hour to the bridegroom was given them from the possession of oil and the five foolish virgins could not make that journey because they lacked oil and again oil in this story is the Holy Spirit and I want to say we were designed by God to live under the power of the Holy Spirit and not our own power in the Garden of Eden when God created Adam and Eve and it says he breathed life into their nostrils he didn't just breathe oxygen into their nostrils he breathed him into their nostrils and he warned Adam and Eve he said you can have this land you can take the whole world and take dominion over it and multiply but don't eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for in the day that you eat it you will die well in the day that they ate of the fruit of that tree they didn't fall over dead physically in other words oxygen didn't leave their body the Spirit of God let their bodies they became spiritually dead they no longer had the power of God in their bodies and by Genesis 6 that said the entire world has become corrupt and violent God regretted that he had made man on the earth because under our own power we cannot do God's will we can't represent him we can't live victoriously and we're going to live as as helpless victims really of an evil devil that we are powerless against without the Holy Spirit but thank God that Jesus died on the cross and when Jesus died on the cross I'm gonna remind you of this Scripture of Matthew 27 50 and 51 this is what happened when Jesus died it says Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit then behold the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom when men sinned in the spirit of God departed from man God remember brought a tabernacle and ultimately a temple into the presence of Israel where he dwelt behind a curtain called the holy of Holy's it's where God's powerful precious presence dwelt in the days before Jesus Christ died for man sins but when Jesus died the instant that he yielded up his spirit the curtain of the holy of holies ripped from top to bottom and it says first Corinthians 6:19 and second Corinthians 6:16 we are the temple of the Holy Spirit God never desired for his spirit to dwell in a building or an attempt God designed from the Garden of Eden that we would be the place where his presence would well we were designed to live under the power of the Holy Spirit and we can't live successfully in any other condition and the good news I have for all of us this morning is the Holy Spirit is a gift of grace that we don't have just like Jesus just like salvation we don't have to deserve the Holy Spirit thank God in that good news we don't have to do good things to deserve him what we must do though is acknowledge our need for him and to invite him into our lives and that happens as a gift of grace and so if you're here this morning regardless of the life that you've lived regardless of the mistakes that you've made the good news is all of us can have God you know in the reason it's grace is because when we need him the most we deserving the least and when I came to God at 19 years old I got saved by the way a week before we got married so I was immense and Karen told me she wouldn't marry me and I started scurrying to make sure that she would marry me and it was not about Karen it was about God in me and when I invited God into my life I was a mess and I didn't deserve him but I needed him and thank God that he came into my life at 19 years old saved me for my sins but not just that fill me with the power of His Holy Spirit and I just want to give glory to God and say I'm not a good man I'm not a smart man I'm not I'm not a naturally godly man I am a product of the Holy Spirit of God his holy spirit has done this in my life the reason that Karen would marry me was because of my immorality I was I was very immoral in very unrighteous and when I got married I had lived very bad years of my life doing very bad things in high school in college and it was because of my moral condition that Karen told me I would not marry a man like you and when I came to the Lord what I asked him to do was to change me and he changed me I could not change myself we need the Holy Spirit in our lives but there's a cost to a relationship with the Holy Spirit now even though he comes by grace and we can all have him today what I want you to know is for the Holy Spirit to come in and make a difference in our lives there's a cost to it let me talk about Jesus for just a minute Jesus is a gift of grace and he will save us by grace but we all know if we really don't surrender to the lordship of Christ he really doesn't make a difference in our lives is that even though he comes into our lives and we may be saved if we're really going to make progress with Jesus it means surrender we have to surrender to his lordship the cost of oil the cost of a relationship with the Holy Spirit is time you cannot enjoy the benefits that the Holy Spirit brings into your life without spending time with God and in this story of the Virgin's here the difference between the wise and the foolish virgins was not how they spent their money it was how they spent their time the foolish virgins wasted all the time they had before the bridegroom came and when the bridegroom shouted out when the shout came that here comes the bridegroom they didn't have oil they had wasted their time the wise virgins had spent their time preparing for their hour for that hour and that was the difference and again I am NOT saying that you have to work to deserve the Holy Spirit Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit their gifts of grace that all of us can have right now what I am saying is this I have been walking with God for 35 years imperfectly because I'm not a perfect man I was saved by grace and I live every day by grace but I've spent a lot of time with God and here's what I know the way we spend our time reflects two things number one if we are truly saved I've counseled a woman one time and mushy in our church in Amarillo and she had shed problems and she caused problems she was a she just had a lot of issues and in her ministry was causing trouble and she came up to me one time after I preached a message on prayer and she said to me pastor Jimmy I haven't prayed in seven years she had been in church every week but she hadn't prayed in seven years in this story the bridegroom went to the five foolish virgins that wanted to get in and he said I don't know you I don't know you I'm saying this if you don't spend time with God it's the reflection of the lack of a relationship being a Christian is not something you do because you're in church being a Christian is not something that you are because your family was Christians being a Christian means you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and if you have a relationship with him it means you spend time with him and so if you don't spend a lot of time with Jesus it doesn't mean you're not saved but it just means the relationship isn't strong the second thing that time reveals is if we're walking with the dependence on the Holy Spirit a successful life means that we wake up every morning and say I can't do this day without you I heard someone say one time that a day without prayer is a boast against God any day that we live without praying what we're saying is I don't need your wisdom I don't need your strength I don't need your forgiveness I don't need your favor I don't need your protection I don't need you that's why I'm not praying I don't need you I can do this without you and I'm sure you've heard the scripture before this is eka raya 4:6 and it says this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel not by might nor by power but by my spirit says Lord you heard that scripture before let me put it in context zubaba was a leader in Israel trying to come to a very troubled place and to change things for the better and was having a tremendous amount of trouble doing so and God says this is my word to Zerubbabel let me tell you what the names of ruble means because this is not what you would want to name your children it means born confused Babel the Tower of Babel means confusion Iraq today the spirit of confusion that's been over that part of the world for thousands of years Babel confusion 0 means sown or born into you were born confused buddy and you've been living confused ever since and now you're trying to do some good but you're not having any success and this is the word of the Lord to you who were born confused it is not by Mike it is not by power it is by my spirit says the Lord whatever you're going to get done in this life is not going to be by your ingenuity it's going to be by my ingenuity it's not going to be by your power it's going to be by my power and whatever we don't spend time with God what it reveals is is we're independent and we really believe that we can do it without him we really believe that we can live married without him now let me say this the Holy Spirit the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control that's the personality of God the more time you spend with God the better your personality gets just look at your neighbor and say that's for you that's for you you need that this morning you can apologize later but let me say this my purse the time I spend with God and the way I yield to the Holy Spirit dramatically affects my marriage after 35 years doesn't matter how long you spent after 35 years of marriage it dramatically affects my ability to deal with troubled people and difficult people it dramatically affects everything in my life and here's what I have found after living for 54 years I need him and the other thing I found out is he loves that he does not despise our weakness our weakness is an invitation for him into our lives but pride says I can do this without you that's why the Bible says in James that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble and that's where it says he earnest earnestly desires his spirit to dwell in us but he resists the proud and the proud say I don't need you I can do this without you and so the the wise virgins here knew that they needed oil and they spent their time gathering wool the foolish virgins rejected their need for oil in the midnight hour they could not do what they needed to do to get to God let me show you in the Bible a pattern of power we all need power in our lives we're living at a very difficult day when a physical power mental power and emotional power spiritual power all types of power and and God has that power for us but in the Bible I want to show you a pattern that exists all throughout the scriptures and here's the pattern the time we spend with God equals the level of power in our lives it's always true Isaiah 40 and again this the end of this scripture that we're gonna read here is I'm sure something you've heard but let's put it in full rekon text Isaiah 40 verse 27 apply to you say oh Jacob and speak o Israel my way is hidden from the Lord and my just claim is passed over by my God have you not known have you not heard the everlasting God the Lord the creator of the ends of the earth neither faint snore his worry his understanding is unsearchable he gives power to the weak and to those who have no mind he increased his strength even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings like eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint and the reason that God said this to them is because they were angry at him they felt like he wasn't doing his job as God they weren't blessed enough he wasn't pouring out his goodness and favor on them like he should and God came and said this to them no no no I'm a good God there's nothing wrong with me and I give power in grace to people who need it but it's those who wait on me that get my strength they will mount up with wings like eagles they'll walk and not grow weary they'll run and not faint but but it's those who wait it's those who wait Luke 24:49 this is what Jesus said when he was about to ascend to heaven before Pentecost he said behold I send the promise of my father upon you but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high you wait there and you'll get power they waited for ten days in the white the result of waiting for ten days was the power of the Holy Spirit were still experiencing in this sanctuary this morning the pouring of the God's Spirit out upon them Jesus before his ministry began he waited on God for forty days in the wilderness as he fasted and prayed and here's what it says happened at the end of the forty days Luke 4:14 then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee and news of him went out throughout all the surrounding region Jesus had all of God's power because God had all of Jesus time Luke 5:16 so he himself Jesus himself often withdrew into the wilderness and pray now it happened on a certain day as he was teaching that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by who had come out of every town of Galilee Judea and Jerusalem and the power of the Lord was present to heal him to heal them he often went away into lonely places to pray and the power of God was present to heal this is the pattern of God throughout the Scriptures and that is to the degree that he gets us his the degree that we get him time is us and God wants a relationship with us time is the essential commodity of relationship now if you are going into business and I wanted to keep you from succeeding in business the only thing I have to do is keep the essential commodity of business out of your hands which is money if you don't have money you're never going to succeed in business it doesn't matter how smart you are if I want to keep you from succeeding in a relationship the only thing I have to do is keep the essential commodity of relationship from you which is time you have to have time to relate with people you cannot hurry it and you can't substitute it you can't microwave Christianity you can't get mature until you spend time with God there's no way and we live in a world today that some people think that you can get the zap slap method of Christianity and that means you you live your life the way you want you don't spend time with God alone and then you can come into a convention or a conference or a meeting like this and a you know a man of God from Texas can come and slap you on the head and you just walk out and your life has been transformed and people from Texas can do that you know and we think we can anyway but but you know the truth is and it's good to get prayer and there are some people that can bless you as I prayer we pray we need each other can I just tell you something there's no zap method there's no slap method it's called the SAP method it flows very slowly and you can't hurry it time with God is the only way that you will ever know him time with God is the only way you will ever get mature time with God is the only way that your personality will ever become like his time with God is the only way he will ever heal you it's the only way you will ever know him and have the secret of God revealed into your heart time is the essential commodity of relationship and I heard Dennis Jernigan the great worship leader one time say something that challenged me in my mind at the time that he said it but it's really the truth God desires to be in our presence more than we desire to be in his presence and when he said it I thought I just don't think he would want in my presence that bad I mean I messed up I mean I'm imperfect why would a holy God want to be in my presence well let me say this he sent Jesus his son to die for us so he could be in our presence remember it was when Jesus yielded up his spirit that the veil in the temple was ripped and the Holy Spirit came back to us let me say this God was willing to send His only begotten Son to get into our presence what price are we willing spend to get into his I think it's a pretty fair deal blood for time don't you that's all he asked for just wants time he wants us to take time out of our lives to spend with him and to the degree that he gets our time is to the degree that we get him and his power in his anointing and every blessing he has and I'm not saying that you have to earn salvation I'm not saying that you have to deserve him to get to heaven because it's all a gift of grace I'm saying the practical reality of a relationship with God is it takes time and there's no substitute there's no shortcut you will only know him and experience him to the degree that you have time to spend with him this was the this was the moral of the story that Jesus was telling in Matthew 25 about the ten virgins how are you gonna spend your time between now and the time that he comes how are you gonna spend your time in this age getting to know the bridegroom you're gonna spend eternity with let me go back to the scripture about Pentecost for just a minute this is Luke 24:49 Jesus said behold I send the promise of my father upon you but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high this wasn't just a one-time event this is a pattern of power in all of our lives and here's what Jesus said here first of all he told us what to do he told us to wait if you want power Terry wait on God that as you're waiting on God he's going to give you the power that you're looking for number two he told us where to do it Jerusalem and you say well Jimmy it's going to be real tough for me to make regular trips over there Jerusalem means city of peace when you find a place of peace that's your Jerusalem it could be a bedroom a living room a car a backyard a hiking trail an office walking down a street sitting on sitting in an airport wherever you are that you find a place of peace where you're not being bothered with other things and other people and you can find a peaceful time to be alone with God that's your Jerusalem but God will not people with people or busyness to crowd into our lives we've got to find a separated place where it's us in God without distractions turn the TV off get rid of the computer for for a little while put everything else away and find a Jerusalem regularly in your life Jesus often withdrew into lonely places not wildernesses because he oh he wasn't always close to a wilderness he often drew it withdrew into lonely places to spend time with God that was his Jerusalem the third thing he says is he told us how long to do it tarry in Jerusalem until you are endued in do means to sink into over a process of time it's getting the Holy Spirit into our lives remember he's oil here it's not like putting a wash rag in water and all of a sudden the water absorbs in the wash rag it's like putting leather in oil it takes a long time for leather to sink into oil and we're leather in he's oil and when oil comes into our lives it takes a little while we have to sit there for a while until he sinks into us he comes into us and you might say well you know Jimmy here you're saying that regularly you know we need to stop and pray and take time with God and you know I mean why don't we have to do it so often I've got the answer we leak we leak we leak a lot mark 5:29 it says that Jesus was walking through a crowd of people and remember this woman that had the issue of blood and she had been to doctors and no one could healer and she was wise enough to find Jesus and to aggressively pursue him and she literally doped through the crowd grabbed the edge of his garment and when she did he said in the middle of a crowd power just went out of me Jesus leaked the reason that he went often into lonely places to get along with God is because God only gives you enough for now he doesn't give you enough for six months it's called the manna principle you got to show up every day to get it remember in the in the Old Testament that that God told them in the wilderness every morning when you get up you'll have manna every morning I'm gonna be faithful in the Hult the whole principle there is I'm faithful and I want an everyday relationship with you don't try to get two days worth except today before the Sabbath don't try to hoard it up you can only have one day's worth at a time you know what they did the next morning they woke up went to Walmart and came home they got as much as they could get brought it back put it in their tents and it said it bred worms and stank you cannot gather God he is a fresh commodity and only works as such you can't go to a couple of conferences a year and gather a God that camp-meeting five years ago may have been splendid it's over you leak you leak it's like water you have to drink water all day long it's because we need water we expend it as we go along through the day it doesn't matter how good the water you had was last week it was last week's water difficult people expend the spirit from our lives problems life the devil sin all those things will we leak and because we leak we need to keep going back to God saying God thank you for all that you gave me this morning help again I need you again and he's always there ready to induce us with all the the wisdom and the power and the grace that we need to live our lives the way that we should but it doesn't work two weeks ago two weeks ago just doesn't work you're gonna hear this message this morning in church and I hope it feeds you I really do hope it encourages you and feed you and encourages you but I can tell you that this time next week you need another one and then you need another one because it's a meal and we expend it very quickly in this world that we live in Jesus told us what to do you say well how do I know that I have enough you're able to live victoriously the Bible says in Isaiah 44 we read earlier they will run and not grow weary and walk and not faint when you're able to live your life victoriously getting through the circumstances of your life without being overwhelmed with depression and we all get discouraged at times when I'm talking about overwhelming depression overwhelming anxiety so you know burnout all those kinds of things that's when you know you don't have enough you're snapping at people you're not being godly you're not able to walk in the grace and power of God you don't have the answers for your questions it just simply means you're not you're not spending enough time with God if you were spending enough time with God you would be able to walk and not grow weary and running up Fame you'd be able to live the way that God wants you to live let me talk about time management for just a minute before I close this message we have to manage our time it's just the reality of life here are the three sins of time management that the foolish virgins committed and the first one was procrastination procrastination means that they waited until the last minute procrastination is just literally gambling with time using it the way we want to gambling for the future here's some things we need to remember about time and first of all all time belongs to God psalm 118 24 says this is the day the Lord has made your boss didn't make this day you didn't make this day your friends didn't make this day God made this day all time belongs to him and he can repossess at any time he wants we have time everybody has time we all have 24 hours the rich and the poor we all have 24 hours people today spend an average of 17 hours a week watching television and about that on computers it will be hard for any of us to stand before Jesus one day and say we didn't have time and he said what about the price is right what about American Idol what about all these other things that got your time are you telling me that you didn't have time they got your time but I didn't have any time we won't be able to say that we have time our time here is limited even if you're a very young person you're gonna die or Jesus is going to come our time is limited here on this earth I'm 54 years old I don't know how much longer I'll live but all I know is this it's going to be over one day and all face Jesus and the older you get the more you realize that but it's limited here's another thing you can't borrow time you cannot borrow somebody else's relationship with God in the story of the virgins the foolish virgins came to the wise virgins and said let us borrow your time and the wise virgin said we can't loan you our relationship with the bridegroom your time is yours you can't borrow anybody else's you can't borrow what they did with it what we do with our time now here determines our future and also our eternity this is for keeps the way you spend this day it's for keeps we all will stand before God one day and give an account of how we spend our time that's the moral of this story Psalm 90 verse 12 teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom a foolish person lives their life just not prepared for the future or eternity a wise person understands this world is temporary but eternity is forever let me give you an example of this world versus eternity if you could imagine a beach that went on forever and ever a grain of sand on that beach represents life on this earth the rest of the beach represents eternity when you've been an eternity for 14 trillion years it will have just begun but we're only going to spend 70 or 80 or 90 years here on this earth it's a foolish person that would trade the beach for a grain and that's what happens when we live our lives on this earth not understanding this is so short and temporary and that is so long it never ends the second sin of time management is presumption they presumed the bridegroom would not come that night jesus promised he would come when we don't expect him we would know the season because he gave us the signs of the times but he promised that he would come by surprise the Bible Bible says in a moment in the twinkling of an eye and by the way that's one fortieth of a second someone actually measured the twinkling of an eye it's 140th of a second it's a too short of a period of time to make a phone call to make a wrong right repent were to accept Christ into our lives and he promised he would come like that like a thief in the night and that's what this story is about let me ask you this concerning presumption if you knew Jesus were coming tonight at six o'clock would you change anything if I told you you have four or five hours before Jesus comes would you change anything and I'm not saying this to make you feel about a promise I'm not I'm just saying it to make this point if you would change something you're living in presumption he's gonna come as a thief the way you should live your life is when he comes you ready there's no one you need to call and say I love you that you haven't said it there's no relationship you need to make right that you haven't made right that you would if you knew you only had a few hours left there's not a prayer that you need to pray there's not a gift you need to give you're right with God you're ready you're up to the moment in your relationship with God is right because the midnight hour is when this bridegroom came and only those who had spent their time properly and had not presumed were ready all the others had the door shut in their face and again I'm not saying that salvation is of anything other than grace if you're saved you're saved and you're going to heaven I'm saying they live with regret from that point forward because of how they had squandered their time the third the third sin of time management is mis prioritizing the highest priority which is God the bridegroom when you're a virgin waiting for a wedding knowing the bridegroom is the most important thing preparing for the wedding is the most important thing they were completely unprepared and did not know the bridegroom Exodus 23 23 you shall have no other gods before me it's never changed Matthew 6 Jesus turns it and puts it in a positive seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you you know that's the most powerful promise in the Bible you know you've heard someone say you can't have it all you actually can't have it all you can have God an intimate relationship with God a wonderful family and every blessing in the world jesus said it right here if you seek God first I'll give you all these things everything you're wanting in life you can have God and you can have it too and it takes time though it takes giving him the first of our day and the first of our week in giving him time and some people say well I'm too busy to pray and I understand that I mean I really do you may be so busy and have so much going on I'm too busy for prayer but here's the saying that I heard once prayer takes time but prayer makes time in prayer breaks time and here's what that means the tyranny of time comes into our lives and it says to us you don't have the time to do the right thing you don't have time to pray but can I tell you something an hour of prayer will make four or five hours in your life because it will give you the wisdom of God to do in one hour what it would have taken you four or five to do before and not succeed at it gives you favor with men that you couldn't get in three or four weeks of working on your own that's why the Bible says they'll men on up with those who wait on the Lord will mount up with wings like eagles everyone else is trudging down here trying to make it out of their own power and they started off the the gun started and the race began and they started running running running running and everybody's trying to run and they're all falling and they're weary and they're confused and everything and you were here waiting on God and what happens is they're down here and they're not doing very well and all of a sudden you didn't start when they started because you waited on God but all of a sudden you saw right over their heads and you get there before they do and you didn't burn out in the meantime prayer makes time in prayer breaks time prayer breaks the tyranny of time over our lives and it's just this constant stress it's that song and I'm not gonna sing it's that country song you know I'm in a hurry to get things done I work and work until life's no fun all I want to do is live and die so I can work and I don't know why I would sing it but I'd lose the anointing of this message but in that the truth I'm in a hurry to get things done not working working till life's no fun we're fighting we're not getting along we have money problems and did we get this way waiting on God oh no no no no no no the Bible says it's the blessing of the Lord that makes a man rich and he adds no sorrow to it won't cost you your reputation won't cost you your marriage won't cost you your health you can have it all but you have to make God first let me end with this scripture this is Luke 14 Jesus is telling this parable he said to him a certain man gave a great supper and invited many and sent his servant as supper time to say to those who are invited to come for all things are ready but they all with one Accord began to make excuses the first said to him I bought a piece of ground and I must go and see it I ask you to have me excused another said I had bought five yoke of oxen and I'm going to test them I ask you to have me excused still another said I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come so that servant came and reported these things to his master then the master of the house being angry said to his servant go out quickly into the streets the lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind and the servant said master it has done as you command it and still there is room then the master said to the servant go out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled for I say that none of those men who are invited shall taste of my supper this gives you God's attitude to our excuses and in this story every excuse was a good excuse these were all very good excuses but the master didn't accept any of the excuses because when it comes to God nothing in our lives is important to him and he respects our marriages and our families and our jobs and all the other things here but there comes a time to spend time with God and no excuse can do but the devil wants to get there into our lives and control us through the tyranny of time here's here's something I heard once if the devil can't get in front of you and stop you he'll get behind you and push you too fast but his only goal is to rob you of the essential commodity of a successful relationship with God which is time God loves you very very very very much just in the condition that you're in right now he desires to be a part of your life he knows that you can't get your act together with him it's only him that can help you get tracked together so where you are right now he'll come and be a part of your life by grace that's his end of the deal our end of the deal is we have to give him time we just simply have to stop and find a Jerusalem and sit there with him until we're in dude it's not difficult it's delightful but sometimes it threatens our sense of well-being because of all these things we think we have to do there's only one thing that we have to do and that's to know him and we know him everything else in life works the Holy Spirit will fill you with the power to overcome and to be everything that God wants you to be but the cost of oil is time bow your heads with me if you would where we come to you this morning and we just simply say first of all we need you we need you we're human beings were imperfect and we leak and you designed us to live with a complete and total dependence on you we we were never intended or designed to live apart from you and we come to you this morning Lord and we say thank you for dying on the cross and paying for our sins so that doesn't keep you out of our lives this morning and we don't have to deserve you this morning Jesus we want to know you we want to live for you and fulfill your purpose in our lives we want to be able to overcome the devil when he comes to tempt us and deceive us we want to be able to finish the race Lord to run and not grow weary walk and not faint but we need you this morning and you want our time and this morning God we come in time to you that time that you own and gave to us that we don't know how much longer we have but we know we have right now help us to stop and slow down and to recognize our need for you and the fact that there is nothing that will substitute for time spent with you as you have your head bowed there this morning just very quickly if you would like to invite the Holy Spirit into your life I don't want anybody looking around just close your eyes bow your head that's just a private moment if you'd like to invite the Holy Spirit into your life I just want you to lift your hands if you would just right there where you're sitting no one looks around but just lift your hands and let me pray for you this morning just lift your hands if you just say Lord I I feel frustrated and maybe weak and tired and I just need you to come and fill me up Holy Spirit come this morning we're lifting our hands as an act of surrender and an act of humility and we're just saying God we need you again fill us up give us the power to live for you we pray that in Jesus name Amen god bless you thanks for letting me be with you this morning [Applause] first corinthians 4:15 in the message says there are a lot of people around who can't wait to tell you what you've done wrong but there aren't many fathers willing to take the time and effort to help you grow up and pastor jimmy on behalf of our church family we're so grateful that you took the time and the effort to come here to Colorado Springs to make room in your heart for new Life Church and to help us grow this words that you share this morning did that for me and for us and I don't know about you but I find myself thinking I'd love to spend some time some more time in pastor Jimmy's presence take him out to coffee buy him a latte or or sit in his couch and and catch the pearls of wisdom and that's why he writes books so that he can spend some more time with us and for the hour that he spent with us this morning he spent hundreds of hours writing those books out there we've got a number of them in the bookstore I invite you to pop by on your way out and check them them out and pick up a couple and and spend a little more time with pastor Jimmy and letting him coach and encourage us would you stand with me please as we prepare to close I'd like to invite our altar ministry team if you would to come forward to the front and prepare to pray for people and everybody who would like to receive prayer for anything at all going on you going on in your life please don't leave here this morning without letting us have the opportunity to pray for you if you're sick in your body or you're confused in your mind or you need to direction or clarity or wisdom or your hearts broken from a relationship and your trust in God to heal you or you'd like more of the power of the Holy Spirit stirring in your life for anything else at all let our team pray with you and agree for God to touch you Jesus reaches out to us through the body of Christ these are the hands of Jesus and the Heart of Jesus extended to minister to us so please come and let somebody pray with you if you would like and also over here between sections 8 and 9 is guest central right after the service a team of our staff will be out there and for all of you who are new to the new life family are looking to get plugged in and want to take the next step we'd love to greet you and help direct you and get to know you a little bit more and answer your questions we have a gift for you and that happens right through those doors there between 8:00 and 9:00 and the Northwest foyer let me pray for you as we prepare to go father in Jesus name I pray for my friends help us Lord God to honor you with everything we do as we go through this week lord help us to run and grow weary to walk and not be faint to wait on you and to soar with wings like eagles to do as you've encouraged us to do in your word father we pray that you would take every care every anxiety and every concern we cast them on to you we trust you knowing that you care deeply for us Lord God direct our steps this week caused us to hear your voice behind us saying this is the way and walk in it and let your love and fold us and let us demonstrate your love to a lost and dying world with everything we do help us to worship you this week in Jesus name we pray amen amen god bless you all have a fantastic week hear dismissed

Channel: Revived Life

Views: 137,595

Rating: 4.821682 out of 5

Keywords: jimmy, evans, trinity, oil, holy spirit, marriage, sermon, jesus, god, help, battle

Id: SioW0M7eS40

Length: 48min 5sec (2885 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 24 2017