Understanding Prophetic Times and Seasons

good morning the other half of everyone there we go that's better good morning everybody i welcome everybody here i want to welcome any visitors are here especially welcome you to enter in as you're comfortable this morning as we worship if our style of worship is not what you're used to we just invite you to enter in if we stand too long feel free to sit down that's just fine there will probably be some clapping and raising of hands and things like that which are all very biblical commands as we worship but you enter in as you're comfortable i want to welcome all of you that are watching online this morning we thank you for inviting us into your homes and we encourage you too to try to just kind of set aside this time to truly focus on jesus and who he is what he's done and allow him to minister to you wherever we're at his holy spirit is always present and he's always wanting to minister so we just invite you to try to put aside the things of the week even the things of this morning and worship him i do have a few announcements i want to mention uh may 2nd we will be doing a child dedication here at the church we have a number of children that are going to be dedicated we just want to encourage any of you if you have children that have never been dedicated to the lord and that's your desire please contact me or pastor casey or cindy barnes and we would love to talk to you about that and and have you dedicate your children to the lord the nursery is open and will be staffed during the service this morning and also after our time of praise and worship with the music the children will be dismissed to the victory for kids classes along with our volunteers and i just want to again thank our volunteers who so willingly every week miss out on the service and go minister to our kids it's so appreciated that you do that for us also again on as far as giving we still are not never have for us so it's not so different passing baskets for offerings or anything like that but there is the box in the foyer if you're here and want to give your ties or offerings there otherwise you can certainly do it on your phones by texting eight four three two one and following the prompts there or online at our website there's many ways and as usual we are so blessed by the generosity that our congregation chose it allows us to do so many things especially in the area of missions and all the other ministries so you know when the lord blesses us to be a blessing so thank you so much for your consistent giving especially through the last year that's been amazing also today we will be blessed to have one of the gentlemen that was speaking at the true bridge conference this weekend by the way we had about 23 people from the church attend i am so thankful for those of you that were able to do that you know it's always hard to bring back just the information and share and for those that were able to come i hope you have a much better picture of what true bridge is what true bridge can do and just the fellowship is fabulous so hopefully we'll see it here in marshall again in the next year and we'll send even a bigger group of people so it was awesome clem ferris will be sharing here this morning clem is from chapel hill area north carolina he attends uh the kendrick menard's church kendrick whenever was our primary speaker this weekend some of you hopefully remember clem he's been here before and it's always a blessing so we're looking forward to what the lord has for us from clem this morning with that if you're able let's stand together and just prepare our hearts to worship heavenly father we come together this morning so thankful to be your children so thankful to know in a world that appears to be in chaos we have a loving heavenly father who is in control always and of all things lord we thank you for your son jesus that you loved us so much that you sent jesus to this earth and then he went to that cross for us father we pray this morning that as we sing these songs that they're more than words it's more than music but god it's thankfulness praise coming from hearts overwhelmed by the love of jesus so lord we pray this morning holy spirit you would come and have your way lead us speak to us i pray you would minister to each one of us here even as we're ministering unto the lord pray give give us ears to hear and hearts to understand our minds would be opened god give us the grace to crucify our flesh even this morning right now put aside the things of this world and just just worship you father we pray that you are blessed as your children worship you and lift up the name of your son jesus it's in his name we pray amen [Music] [Music] they bow before and all the elders cast their crowns before the land of [Music] you are worthy of it you are worthy [Music] [Applause] you [Music] i am [Music] you deserve the glory [Music] [Music] before the lamb of god [Music] you deserve the glory day and night [Music] day and night night and day let incense arise day and night night and day let incense day and night night and day let incense day and day and night you are worthy of it all for from you are all things and to you are all things and you deserve the glory [Applause] singing [Music] foreign from you [Music] you deserve the glory [Music] because you are worthy of it you are worthy of it all born from you are all things and to you are all things you deserve the glory [Music] i worship you you are here working in this place i worship you i worship [Music] light in the darkness my god that is that is you are here touching every heart you are here healing every heart [Music] is keeper light in the darkness my god that is you are here commanding every heart i worship you yeah i worship you [Music] cause you are is that is who you are [Music] [Music] when i don't feel it you're working never stop never stop working you never stop and never stop work moving when i don't work even when i don't feel it you're working you never stop never stop worrying you never stop never stop worrying even when i don't see it you're working even when i don't feel it my that is who you are that is who you are that is who you are that is who you are [Music] is you are way maker miracle work promise keep light in the darkness my god that is who you are you are we make a miracle work a promise light in the darkness my god that is who you are [Music] heavenly father god we do thank you for that this morning you are the waymaker in every season and every thing that we walk through god even when we don't feel it and if we don't see it father god we know that you are there with us it says in your word that your holy spirit is here to dwell with us father god we pray that your holy spirit would just be thick in this room and on every everybody's hearts this morning father we just pray lord that you would be ruining us this morning father god our hearts are open to you right now that every word that you would speak here in this room we would hear that we would be attentive to your holy spirit father god we take down our walls and we surrender everything to you in this moment father at the cross god we want to have room for you we don't want to have our junk in the way and our brick walls up in the way father we want to get rid of that this morning in the name of jesus we want to hear your voice this morning i just want to pray if there's anybody here that wants healing that maybe they've just been hanging on to it because of the pandemic and they've been social distancing or maybe you're even still at home watching this on live but you just know that you need healing in some area of your life whether it's emotional or physical father god i just pray for those in this room and online right now that you would heal them in the name of jesus and i just pray that you'd have the courage to even come up and get prayer and if not just even grab your your covet bubble around you and have them just lay hands on you where you're at in this room god we just pray a healing over everyone father god you know their needs you knew it before they even knew it father [Music] we just pray your holy spirit would speak to that right now jesus [Music] amen [Music] i have found i have found breathing room [Music] my soul can rest in you no longer have to [Music] you are my steady ground [Music] the fog has cleared away and i stand on cover walk in your grace cause my heart is wide open my heart is wide open as i breathe in every word that you've spoken my heart is wide open my heart as is breathe in every word that you've spoken [Music] you speak right to my have to hide anymore there's nothing i can do but stand in your presence is is i'm letting go i'm letting go come back is is is is [Applause] everyone [Music] [Applause] my heart is open my heart is wide open [Music] my heart is wide open [Music] my heart is wide open i wanna hear your voice to speak to me [Music] my heart is wide open with every word you speak god we are listening our hearts are wide open as you just received that from the holy spirit this morning we're going to go into this final song and we just want to encourage that you can definitely sing along with us but we want to sing this song over you this morning it's a song called the blessing and it's about the the lord's blessing over you and the father's blessing over your family and your children's children and we just pray that you'll be blessed by it this morning from your holy for your heavenly father god casey yeah well i always see that we were while we were singing that song um god just reminded me of when the israelites crossed the jordan joshua asked them to take up rocks with them and then when they cross that river he asked why are we doing this and he said so so the israelites will be reminded of what god did right he he led them through that river that should have been water and he dried it up for him and i just felt in my spirit and i think it was more than who we've prayed for but for all of us that god has done great great things in our lives and he's done these things and over time the enemy can come and he can try to uh deceive us into thinking that did that really happen was i really set free was i really healed was i really redeemed by the blood of jesus christ and jesus is saying this morning look to the rocks look to the rocks look to the memorial in your life i did do those things i have done those things just look at what he's done and claim it this morning again if you've grown weary or the enemy is starting to create doubt look to the rocks like the israelis did in that memorial he has delivered us he has set us free proclaim that this morning in jesus name amen lord bless you and keep you make his face shine upon be gracious peace lord bless you and keep you make his face shine upon be gracious lord turn his face toward you and give [Music] [Music] i'm [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and your family and your children and the children and the children makes faith and the he is he is for you he is for you he is for you he is for you he is for you he is for you man oh [Music] [Applause] um [Music] [Music] um [Music] in [Music] we receive jesus we receive jesus [Music] holy spirit [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and your children and your children and your children may his presence is he is with he is is for you [Music] [Applause] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] up [Music] [Music] generations and your family and your children and their children and their children make his presence go before you and behind you and beside you all around you he is with you he is with you he is with you in the morning in the evening and you're calm and you're going and you're weeping and rejoicing he is for you he is for you he is for you he is for you he is for you he is for you he is for you he is for you he is for you [Music] i want to share a picture that i felt the lord just gave me as we were praying for some people here i think it's for all of us [Music] we need to never forget that we are a family the picture that the lord gave me was [Music] from an old old movies where they would be attacking and the enemy would launch hundreds or thousands of arrows into the skies the other army was advancing and they would hold up their shields to stop the arrows from hurting or killing them but they never stood alone they gathered together and they all held up their shields to resist the attack of the enemy you know for the last year and a half it's been a challenge to stay connected but don't let the enemy isolate you don't let the things that the enemies attacking you with remain secret in your soul we need to come together as a body of christ share with others share with people in your small group share with people you trust so that we can put our shields of faith together and resist the attacks of the enemy we have a strength and a power in each another of us individually but it's multiplied when we come together so just feel like if you're one of those people that has been kind of isolating at least isolating your issues the attacks of the enemy i'm not talking about necessarily physical isolation i'm talking about emotional soulish isolation find someone i encourage you go to a brother and sister in christ go to one of the life groups go to one of the leaders of the church let us all come together and pray for you together father i pray right now as we stand as the body of christ as we stand as the victory family here and those that are joining us online god we just declare to the enemy that we will not be defeated we do not stand alone god we are the body of christ we have been equipped individually with all the weapons that we need to be victorious of these spiritual battles but god as we come together there is even greater strength so father i pray in the name of jesus that those lying spirits that would cause any of us to isolate feel somehow we're we're not worthy god that those lies and their power would be broken in the name of jesus and that we would come together as one and resist the attack of the enemy we thank you father that the victory has been won and the battles we will be victorious we thank you in jesus name amen amen you may be seated and i want to just dismiss the children and our volunteers thank you worship team and as we're dismissing how many of you here have been here and have either met clem or heard clinton's teaching before raise your hands i'd like to get an idea all right so you know the blessing you're going to be receiving the rest of you are in for a real blessing as clem comes and shares this morning as i said clem is out of north carolina but typically before covent and he'll be getting ramped up again he goes worldwide with his ministry he's a prophetic voice the lord uses him in teaching and prophesying um we are very blessed to have him here with us so would you just welcome clem ferris with me as he comes [Applause] uh it's good to go okay all right wow there we go power okay so yeah springtime this year so good you know what springtime when minnesota hits 50 degrees and kids go water jet skiing it's like what are you thinking anyway we had a great time at the conference for those who were there you know it was just a blessing and a special blessing to have my pastor kendrick bernard sharing and i just love his heart and such a joy i've been at grace church in chapel hill for now almost 21 years before that we pastored and planted down in florida and so this is a good good season and i'm excited i booked my first international trip in june first time and it'll be 15 months being in the united states all consecutive days longest in 25 years i've been in the united states that long it's like i gotta get out of here it's like well we're here and god is with us and uh isn't it great i just love what's happening with mike and cindy coming up i know that there's some great days coming up for you as a church and so let's buckle in to see what god had to say about his uh his seasons and times we're going to look at understanding prophetic times and seasons we're going to base it out of a great text which you probably are familiar with in ecclesiastes chapter 3. so let's go there let's start there ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 1. i'm just going to read this particular verse out of the king james version to everything there is a season say everything oh good you're a talking church that's good god likes talking churches that's good uh to everything there's a season and a time to every purpose say purpose oh yeah that's the hidden gem in a time and season a time to every purpose under the heavens understanding that all that happens in the earth all times all seasons all purpose is under a greater authority superintended watched over orchestrated mandated if you will by god from heaven that's a comforting place to start everything we're doing is under the watchful eye of our god our father our creator so we have to believe that god ordains the times and seasons we don't believe in open theology he's not up there kind of watching and going i never saw that coming i would have never done it that way however god's end up there just kind of watching he ordains the times and the seasons to the point that jesus actually rebuked the pharisees in matthew 16 saying this he goes look you can look at the sky and you can predict the weather that's before they had weather apps they didn't have them back then but we just looked at our app and said yep it's gonna rain at two o'clock but they had to look at the sky and predict the weather yet he rebuked him and said but you don't understand the signs of the times you can't see the signs of the times and i think there's a little bit of a rebuke to the pharisees but there's an admonition to the people of god saying you know what you can know the signs of the times we can know because we have the holy spirit i mean jesus said in john 16 he says i'm going to send the comfortable or the comforter and he is going to kind of lead you in the truthful ways for he will only speak what he hears the father say and is the best part of that verse he will show you things to come we're the only people on the planet that have an inside track to the future the real future not fake news not not just you know carnal predictions not just future casting and and ideas we can know what god is up to because he said you'll have the holy spirit he will show you things to come and in that context we have to understand the times and the seasons the church cannot stay the way it is otherwise we'd be done if everything we'd be doing up to now would have gotten the job done we'd be all in heaven so there must be some things that god is yet going to change in the way we're doing church and the way we're going to reach the lost people in this particular time and season and if we go just dial back one year and just go wow i didn't see that coming and wow look what's changed in the church in 12 months online services good morning everybody online you weren't here a year ago now you're here you know what's changed in the last year massive change massive understanding of god's times and seasons and so we're going to go to another prophet to help us understand this in the old testament the prophet jeremiah one verse out of jeremiah chapter 8 verse 7 where jeremiah is going to help us understand what we call the requirement to know the signs of the times it's not just a great idea it's like well you know that's a great idea it's like it's more than a great idea we learned from jeremiah how essential and how actually vital it was to understand the times and seasons so he's going to teach us that by giving us a lesson about the birds how many think you can learn something from a bird this morning and they're good two people good how many how many never raise your hand in church okay that's the rest of you okay so we're gonna learn something from the birds in jeremiah chapter eight verse seven now watch this it says even the stork in the heavens knows her times the turtle dub the swallow the crane they keep the time of their coming the time of their coming would be better translated from one word in the hebrew of they know the time of their migration they know when to move but now he kind of contrasts birds with people and says my people don't know the rules or the requirements of the lord it's a little bit of a rebuke jeremiah says look if the birds know their time of migration when to move when god says move shouldn't my people know what god requires the time of their coming migration it's a bird principle it's actually a creation principle it's something that god built into creation the principles of migration is the idea of moving from a lower or decreasing resource to one of higher increasing resource that's what migration is for why do birds migrate why do they leave minnesota in november well i think some of you snow birds know why right we have any snow birds here nobody wants to admit it but you know who you are and we know who you are when you come back with a tan in february where did you get that tan there's two primary reasons for migration number one they're looking for nude food sources hmm because there's a burgeoning insect population somewhere down south there and there's new plants that are butting out new insects and they're looking not only for new food but they're looking for a new nesting location because they're ordained by god to be fruitful and multiply therefore they need new nesting a new breeding ground you know that god's moving the church into new breeding grounds we're finding new places to nest and breed online breeding i never thought it was possible but see we have to know what god requires what's god shifting prophetic words and prophetic ministry amongst the other ministries of christ bring change they help bring change to the body of christ and break what we call stasis the word stasis simply means a lack of movement because of a heavy weight i believe part of what we've suffered through the last 12 months is a sense of so much weight that it put the body of christ into stasis and see the word of the lord comes to break that to break that feeling like oh my gosh i can't move there's spiritual weight there's darkness and there's truly darkness but that was prophesied by isaiah gross darkness will continue to come upon the earth but the light of the glory of the gospel will continue to shine brighter when you're going down these country roads late at night with your low beams on the darker it gets click on those high beams poof gets brighter doesn't it you don't need them when sunrise you don't need those high beams the darker it gets the more light will shine so we're understanding that god is up to something in the times and the seasons there's there's something about migration that he's requiring of us as people even the stark of the heaven knows her times they know when to migrate but my people don't know the requirements of the lord you see god is the one that's legislating change of seasons he sets the times and seasons we don't when we like to you better hope not there's so many prayers that god doesn't answer and you should be saying thank you lord thank you for not answering those crazy prayers of mine the birds observe the appointed times because they know if they stay in the current season they could eventually die and so they migrate it's creation principle nobody has to tell a bird to migrate god coded them to know they don't need a bird prophet they might get a tweet from one of their friends every now and then on twitter but other than that they know it's time to go can't stay in the old season we have to go and crisis is an indicator in the body of christ whenever there's crisis something's happening in the spirit world don't forget that you can't just say this is an earthly problem it's something that god allows to come in and move us and migrate us crisis is always an accelerator i don't know about you but my life was accelerated over the last 12 months even though i was in lockdown i wasn't locked up i was moving i had to move with god god was requiring things let's look at that word my people don't know the requirements of the lord a strong hebrew word mishpat mishpat means not only just a great idea it's it's something legislated there's a judicial kind of authority behind this word a legal sentencing a divine law not just a suggestion from god my people don't know what god is legislating from heaven remember all these times and seasons are what under heaven where god sits and adjudicates all the affairs of mankind from all of history go yes god is sovereign but not this year not this week not yesterday was he so we have to willingly embrace the effort to migrate migration takes effort that's the birds it takes a little effort i got a pack right got a plan got to get their google reservations in i mean no they just have to go it's time to go go leaving sometimes things behind that's the hard part about migration sometimes things change sometimes your relationships change because of migration you might lose some friends it can be a little bit uncomfortable but you have to willingly embrace the effort that it takes to migrate into new spiritual positions so that god can fulfill his mandate in the earth god has a plan to reach bellaton and marshall and the western part of minnesota and so on and the regions and and the nations you're still going to reach nations i'm convinced we're going to reach nations like never before but to do that we must migrate we must move into our spiritual position with god so we know from the birds that if you stay in an old season too long you could die if you stay in an old message too long hello you'd die could kill you you need we need new sources of food supply and a season where god's challenging us to migrate we move away and sometimes we go from a macro level to a micro level from large things to small things all you have to say is god i need to move to the next season of my life how do i do that well part of it is the way we proclaim the gospel the frequency of our proclamation must change with god hasn't that changed have we not seen that in the last year and the last year the way we've communicated our message has changed drastically much online platforms zoom meetings small groups online i did so much ministry from my basement last year international i was doing prophetic meetings in south africa prophesying to leaders in scotland from my basement and i looked nice from the stomach up nobody saw what i was wearing under the desk but anyway i was comfortable sweatpants socks but you know the frequency of our proclamation changed because we're moving into new places of declaration how will we reach them who have not heard new places of declaration new ways to communicate and you know if we're not aware of that the lack of spiritual awareness is actually a kind of a violation of god's divine system and plan for what he has for the for the end times we just say god just bring the end times but leave us alone don't make us uncomfortable with all this end time nonsense just get it over with god says do you not care those that are yet to perish so god's expectation is to know my people don't know so he expects us to know and respond not just know that's a great message mike thanks for letting us know and every pastor goes uh that's half of it let's respond whenever god talks whenever god reveals something he wants us to respond you can't hear a word from god and not change that's the whole goal of a word from god is to transform us to be more christ-like to move carnal kind of you know the carnal development of our lives and the mortality that we're trapped in to move us into a stronger position of immortality if you're looking for a prophetic word this morning and a word of your destiny i'll give it to you all at once everybody all inclusive are you ready someday you'll be immortal are you happy now you got your word where am i headed lord immortality we're all heading there different phases different times different ways but that's where we're headed and god has an expectation not just to know but how do we respond then to each and every appointed time to everything there's a season and an appointed time to every purpose under the heavens so my question first of all tonight today is what is going to be the nature of your response at the end of the day not how was the meeting it's what do i do now that the meeting's over i got a lot of response okay and no one can tell you you have to hear it from god prophets are good because they build prophetic capacity into you they challenge you to hear they challenge you to open your ears they want you to hear from god they don't want to just do all the hearing for you that's part of the equipping of a five-fold prophet is to build prophetic capacity into the saints so that you can hear from god and then you can respond and not blame somebody else how convenient that has been but all knowledge must be met with response because god's voice carries with it resource don't forget that when god talks it's full of resource full of energy and god opens his mouth he doesn't speak english isn't that good he doesn't speak hebrew or greek or chinese when god opens his mouth it's a divine resource it's energy that comes from the divine it comes out of god himself it's it kind of pulsates out in energy because it's full of love for people it targets the heart of man pulsates from heaven down into earth and then prophetic people ah they have the antenna incoming we have a pulsation coming i don't have it yet and then we begin to wrap words around that divine pulsation and deliver it into the ear of a human that's called a prophecy that's how it works that was happening this morning michael's incoming need some healing here god wants to heal god wants to touch some people what do we do we can put language around god's heart of love for you and he puts words around it and brings an invitation prophetically to you says come get prayer see that's how that works it's not rocket science it's just listening sensing god's divine energy that wants to come to us and god's oh god opens up new vistas and new ideas and he opens up things that we're called to walk in called to live in and that energy doesn't go away as long as we walk into obedience it's always there some of you have prophetic words hanging over your life for days and months and years and weeks and it's still there but you like a catcher and a baseball you've got to catch it the prophetic word is launched like a ball and then somebody has to catch it you got to have that heart we sang it about god opening our heart touch my heart was let me touch my heart so that i'm receptive give me a receptive heart not a judging heart a receptive heart that catches what god intends when he launches a word into your life everything there's a season and a time time oh if we had a christian four-letter word that we don't like it's the word time and it's sister word weight two dirty four-letter words that humans have to suffer through time and weight but let's look at them as they're described here if we look back in chapter 3 of ecclesiastes solomon begins to describe now 28 different times that humans go through that we go through in life i don't have it on the screen but if you just look or listen chapter three verse two through eight now he describes them there's a time to be born and a time to die any questions any questions on that one how we doing so far okay it's like okay book ends time to plant a time to pluck up what's planted a time to kill a time to heal what's the extremities that solomon unloads on us in one sentence one phrase a time to kill time to heal a time to break down but a time to build up a time to weep but a time to laugh in the same sentence extremities of emotion a time to mourn but a time to dance a time to cast away stones a time to gather stones together a time to embrace a time to refrain from embracing as for the youth group wednesday night anyway a time to seek a time to lose oh there you go now you've already got your list going like me you go through these things i don't like that one that's not bad i think i can get through that one i don't like that one we get our little column you know and like these are the good seasons these are the bad seasons i'll pray for these i'll rebuke these and good luck i don't want a time to lose brother what if you go on a diet that's a good time to lose see it's context every one of these have their own season and everyone has their own context you might be in a losing season because you're gonna die but somebody else might be going through a loss of a loved one or some other loss and it's context and you can't impose one upon the other so there's a time to keep and a time to cast away a time to tear and a time to sow time to keep silence a time to speak a time to love a time to hate in the same verse what can't do them simultaneously these are different seasons god moves you in and out of but even god himself hates god who is love sometimes hates says it in his word these six things the lord hates in proverbs a lying tongue a proud look hands that shed innocent blood there's things that god hates and yet he is love and then finally a time for war and a time for peace i love that finality that's called eternity a time for peace but right now it's a time for war we're in warfare we serve on a battleship everybody not a cruise line i said god give me another drink it's like what time's dinner it's like no we're not on a cruise line cruising to the finish we're on a warship battling for the souls of men and women in a time when everything's melting down so we understand time from the greek for just a minute let me this little word in the hebrew is the word eighth it's spelled eth eighth but we understand a little better from the two greek words for time one is chronos kronos time is just chronological time it's where we get the word chronological it's uh measurable it's hours and seconds and weeks and months and years it's how we measure times from start to finish the calendar it has no moral or ethical considerations on your life you can't speed it up on monday and slow it down on friday don't you wish you could can't do that empty your purpose you can't stop it can't start it it just goes but then there's kairos time different greek word kairos an appointed time a due season what we call a supreme moment in the mind of god from all of eternity where he says on that day and in that season this is going to happen he ordains the times and seasons and now time scripture says in the fullness of time god sent his son do you know god wasn't early and he wasn't late sending jesus right into the roman empire like god why don't you send him into modern day america we could sure use him now he said nope right in the middle of a wicked empire i'll send my son to redeem so there's a time for every purpose seasons come seasons go they start they end and every season is impregnated with purpose some divine purpose that must be discerned something god wants executed in the earth for us in 2021 living through a global pandemic god has a purpose for us it's no mistake you're living on planet earth right now you were made for this if i could say it that way you were made for such a time as this and every segment is full of divine purpose and it has divine resource don't ever forget that if god tasks you to do something he will supply the resource to get it done so what is success then for us in this season here's what success is for the christian it's just an accurate prophetic march through the season you're in that's it get through it can i tell you something you are successful victory church you know why you've made it this far you've come through an incredible season and you're still here that's success and accurate watch prophetic march it means we walk with god walking by this to just walk with god sometimes in desperation sometimes clinging like a three-year-old to father's hand where are we going i don't know just trust daddy just hang on for dear life an accurate prophetic march through the season sensing those series of divine pulsations that god pulsates down to encourage us and resources and you question but yet you'll receive and you must ask the question right now what is the divine resource god is pulsating into my life right now do you know you've been resourced in the last year there's something god put in you that wasn't there before you have to go back to go and say what is it you've done in the last 12 months in my life well how did you resource me what do i have now that i didn't have before you know i've got some incredible resources in my life i didn't have a year ago because of my crazy traveling ministry i was never part of a small group in my own church because i just couldn't attend now i'm in two small groups one on monday morning and one on friday morning and i can go i can join them from wherever i'm at unless i'm too far out west and it's four o'clock in the morning sorry guys i will not be participating but you know what i'm saying i'm part of some incredible small groups now that i was never a part of before i have met men at my own church and i still to this day there's two of them i haven't met in the flesh yet i know i'm on a screen pick them out on any screen but i haven't met him person to person yet but i mean i love these guys they're my brothers we connect we pray together we share struggles it's great a new resource that god put in my life that i would never reach for until this change of seasons came so we walk out the season higher do you realize whatever season god thrusts you in you come in at one level you always come out higher you know why we are in an upward call in christ everything god calls you to do good bad ugly don't want to don't like it don't bear witness come up with all your great spiritual excuses god says nevertheless this is my divine plan he puts us in a season but you come out higher than when you went in and full of resource you never had before so let's define these terms for just a minute and then finish the text but when he says to everything there's a season then what exactly is what we call a prophetic season what makes it prophetic first of all it's got ordained and god communicated anytime heaven communicates with earth it's prophetic i can't dumb it down anymore other than that and what's the purpose of the prophetic i can't dumb it down any more than to say one purpose to make you more christ-like the only purpose of fivefold christos that flows through jesus into man is to become like him every apostle every prophet every evangelist pastor teacher has one job description to equip the saints to let christos flow through them and be distributed into the body of christ making y'all as we say in north carolina making y'all more like jesus that's the goal so when we have a prophetic season now here in western minnesota do you like do you like good news than bad news or do you like the bad news and good news which how do you what do you prefer any bad first let you down right and then lift you up that's a good i think that's a good way to do it it's like the old pastor was really he was dying he was on his deathbed and called his wife and said honey i have one dying request what what's that dear he said i i just like i'd like the elders to be my pallbearers at my funeral she goes okay any particular reason why he goes well i just want him to let me down one more time a pastor joke nobody else got that but mike and the elders okay because they love each other we just poke fun of the people we love right i'm kidding all right we'll let you down what is a prophetic season a prophetic season is an undetermined amount of time stop right there that's i just let you down like we want to know we're americans and we have google we should know exactly it's like it's an undetermined amount of time ready lift you up of limited duration that's the good news it doesn't last forever there is a time period in the time sequence an undetermined amount of time of a limited duration in which god brings an incredible challenge to us prophetically we're challenged to do something beyond our natural abilities that's called a a season i'm in a season how do you know all hell's breaking loose i've been challenged like never before i've never been this way before i don't know i don't have an answer welcome to a prophetic season in your life dialed back 12 months ago i was happening i don't know i didn't nobody prophesied it nobody told me i how do we i want to be over by may june at the latest i kept telling myself and delusion a year ago as i was in london england ministering and heading to uganda in mid-march and somebody's like get home the borders are closing get home or live the rest of the next year in africa i think i'll go home boom come home it's like well this will blow over we'll be out of here by easter you know the prophecies are starting to come passover i was like nobody saw it coming i'm thinking well by june i'll be back on the road nope maybe by the end of summer well certainly by the fall nope getting around the states thankfully you know undetermined amount of times mess up our american minds but god brings a challenge that is impossible for you to get through without him that's the whole point it's like do you need me now it's not like can you hear me and i was like do you need me now yes lord we need you a prophetic time very similar that time sequence that f that that appointed time that supreme time is also undetermined time of limited duration but this is where god is now working out a specific phase of his purpose in your life now god puts his finger on his purpose for the season in that time whether it's a time to weep or a time to laugh or a time to cast away stones or that time god says i'm bringing purpose how does god bring purpose oh he's sneaky we sometimes call him jehovah sneaky it's one of his other redemptive names that's not in the bible but it fits where god sneaks up on you and starts putting things in your life that bring purpose how does he do it very simple pressure don't say it i won't make you say pressure it's close to another four-letter word like time and weight but pressure why because the hebrew word for curve is literally behind it is an action word that literally means to bend or curve that's what the word purpose means to bend or curve something if an artist takes a lump of plain he says the ultimate purpose is for you to be a pot and so i'm going to begin to what put pressure on this piece of clay because there's great purpose behind this lump of clay using jeremiah and others analogies of the potter clay that's what god does he just puts you in the spin cycle and starts putting pressure on your life we are spinning around dizzy and all this pressure is going to go god what are you doing goes i'm making something beautiful i'm bringing purpose i'm designing you i'm making you into what i ordained you to be from before the creation of the earth just be patient hang on son so what is the purpose of these seasons what's the purpose of the current season you're in right now or what you've been through let me help you from solomon someone's going to help us here we're going to exegete just three quick verses maybe four or four verses just to help us right here in ecclesiastes chapter three beginning in verse nine so the purpose of a season first of all is to press us that's the word pressure to pressure us if you will to birth something new to bring forth something new that equates to purpose in your life notice verse nine and ten ecclesiastes three verse nine and ten solomon says well what prophet is there to the worker from that in which he toils do you ever feel like that almost like what's so futile what's the prophet mike why do we have to have keep having prayer meetings what's what's the point it hasn't done any good the scope and things still hanging around what profit is there to the worker the spiritual worker in that in which he toils i've seen the task where i love the king james i've seen the travail ah that's a birthing word solomon says oh i've seen the travail that god has given to the sons of men haha to occupy themselves with what work has god called you to do in this season i'll tell you what number one is pray how about you my prayer life is a whole lot different than it was a year ago a whole lot different refocused different context why god's god birthed a bunch of things in me last year i actually wrote a book last year what do you do when you're in lockdown and can't travel i guess you write a book you do something god birthed a book in me i'm doing online stuff doing videos doing stuff i would have never done it was not my to-do list until a year ago i've seen the travail that god has given it's a gift prayer pressure travailing to occupy themselves now i admit when i got home from the uk after kind of really years of non-stop travel almost what did you do i self quarantined and binged on netflix and ate junk food i'm just telling you i'm human i was not depressed but kind of like well okay a few more months this will be over soon and so i just like that was the work i occupied myself was like after i was like this is futile all right god what what's going on here and then suddenly the birthing and the prayer and it presses us to pray to bring forth purpose in verse 11 we're going to take apart three parts to verse 11 number one the purpose of a prophetic season is the process in which god is actually making something beautiful what i don't see any beauty in the last what what's so pretty about it let me help you with the language there it's not just outward beauty it's not cosmetics it's not your physical appearance what solomon was getting at when he said he has made everything beautiful in its time in its earth in its kairos time there's something god is making beautiful which means for us spiritually simply more christ-like the most beautiful part of your life is not on the outside it's what's on the inside it's christ in you that's what keeps a marriage together that's what keeps things together in our relationships it's the beauty of christ in you not our ugly flesh i got real quiet talking church can i have one amen from how about the guy that we pay say amen he gets paid to say amen well anyway yeah god's making something you know what else it means god's making something what full of resource the idea of god making something beautiful in you it means he's putting something in you that's a resource not just for you to get through the season but for somebody else that will go through a similar season we all know people have gone through a tragic season a season of loss and there's jobs counselors always ready to go but there's those people that walk up and put their arm around and said i know exactly what you're going through not to be trite not to be it's kind of like had the same loss they go you can relate i can relate resource the resource of empathy and sympathy the resource of i know where you're at i'm here for you not trying to preach to you not trying to magically lift you out of the season you're in but i'm here with you that's a resource to resource somebody that's going through a tough time you're there as a resource god makes something beautiful in its time secondly in verse 11 he says also he's put eternity into man's heart in those seasons there's something more of eternity that comes into our mortality in these times and seasons it's a time when god enlarges your heart for the lost and their eternal destiny time where you do have more empathy for those that are hurting and need healing and my goodness folks we don't have to look very far to find a hurting world like never before and god says i've allowed you to be in this to be a resource to them i'm putting eternity in your hearts do we care about the eternal state of someone's soul as we walk around the streets of belgium or marshall we walk around doing our thing going shopping at walmart do we walk around those aisles of walmart so focused on ourselves and our needs that we don't have eternity in our hearts for someone else i want that i'm getting better but i'm not there but i want more god put more eternity in my heart he finishes up verse 11 and says yet so that he cannot find out here's a tough pill to swallow he cannot find out what god has done from the beginning to the end now this will either kind of make you bitter or better but you never fully discern the purpose of a season while you're in it you don't fully know what god's up to while you're in the season you can't find out what god is up to from the beginning to the end you don't know until you come out of the season and that's where you turn around and go ah now i understand and that's why i have no hair up here because i'm constantly slapping my forehead going i see now i get it fairest now i see what god was doing but we look back and go god i can't believe i prayed those prayers he goes i ignored him that's why i got to pray in tongues this is just a quick tip for all you pentecostals you need to pray in tongues because you've got to give the holy spirit time to edit your prayers in english god i need this and god i want you to do this and god please do this and because oh sure go wrong the holy spirit goes that doesn't need that don't do that make sure you don't do that but do this and this and this oh thank you i just got the release yeah because the holy spirit made intercession for you according to the will of god not your will that's a little tip for everybody's prayer life now you'll have a better prayer life anyway you never fully find out what god is doing while you're in the season so get over it relax pray press allow him to put the pressure in the right spots to bring purpose into your life one more verse verse 14. solomon gets prophetic now he uses prophetic language he says ah i perceive now that ah whatever god does endures forever we've got to think about forever a little more forever you know what worship is i love this definition of worship you know what worship is well something we do 20 minutes in the morning before the ser worship is our forever behavior do you know that you'll be a worshiper forever you won't be able to help it when you get to heaven you'll just be a worshiper you'll constantly be amazed and dazzled by god's worth the word worship comes from worthiness his worth our forever behavior i perceive that whatever god does will endure forever god's seasons are for eternal purposes god uses them to refocus our vision on what he's doing on eternal things i don't know about you but this past year i'm just a little more sensitive to eternity and what i do and what i think and how i interact with people lost and saved the next part solomon says here's another here's the last last tough pill to swallow it's the last let you down but brings you up where he says look nothing can be added to it nothing can be taken away you go wait a minute what about my authority in christ what about confession about the word of faith movement i grew up in i don't know what about all that when solomon says nothing can be added to that season and nothing can be taken from it you can't alter you can't change what god is doing while you're in the season you can't i'm just giving your prayer life a real breather today some of you need to relax i didn't say stop praying refocus your praying going back to romans 8. what's the holy spirit praying do you realize when romans 8 says in our weakness we don't know what to pray but the holy spirit prays according to the will of god he makes intercession for the saints right now the holy spirit's praying for you and a few verses later in verse 32 it says and jesus ever lives to make intercession for us do you realize you have two-thirds of the godhead right now praying for you two people said amen the other's going really that's in the bible i stole it out of the bible and here's the other thing i got a question are you at least interested in what they're praying if the holy spirit's praying right now and interceding for you and jesus is joining him that's a dynamite prayer meeting are you trying to get jesus in the holy spirit to join your prayer meeting or are you going to go join theirs now we've got four million men come on we're getting there mike we're getting there they're they're getting on board get on the train yeah you can't enter if the holy spirit's praying one way and you're countering him guess who's gonna win even jesus had to deal with that in the garden father is any way out of this nevertheless not my will your will be done we have four children we have three sons and the rest are daughters to see if you're awake and so our second son uh went through a very difficult health issue crisis really several years ago he got he started out with mononucleosis and that all these other viruses came in and baffled every doctor he went to he was fatigued he had about two hours of energy a day and he was trying to build a business they had their first child it was just total meltdown total crisis and did we pray i mean it thrust us right into pressure to pray but how do we pray well number one we never stop praying for his healing why because i know god heals now comes into those four those four letter dirty words time and waiting yeah i didn't know the time sequence and i don't know the waiting and i didn't really fully understand the purpose to every time and season but i knew god had a purpose i didn't like the package it came in but i trusted god we trusted god our family prayed like never before we started a family group prayer text oh we'd pray for each other here and there but suddenly now we come together in unity and we're praying and all it took was one quick text from him and said having a bad morning please pray boom we're on it praying just praying didn't know the answer did we want to speed it up absolutely he wanted to be over quickly absolutely went on for four years he went everywhere he came to mayo clinic went to cleveland clinic if there was a clinic he went there he went to every he went everywhere and nobody could give him the remedy he needed but in that process god was making something beautiful i didn't see it at first didn't like it at first but man there was times one time they lived in fort myers florida near naples and on the other coast he was going to a clinic over in fort lauderdale and he'd drive back and forth alligator alley and one time he called me and he's driving across he was dad what he goes i see it i go what an alligator i was like what i see it why he goes i see the kingdom i said tell me more tell me we had this like 45 minutes where he's describing things that god was showing him about his own crisis in his own formation and god's purpose and what god was opening his eyes to i perceived what god was suddenly he's talking to me about the kingdom and his call to business and why god was doing this and what he had to let go of and what god was taken out of his life and what god was putting in and i just sat there mesmerized and dumbfounded and energized and excited all at once going god you are doing something i could have never done even this dad god was taking him somewhere i i just like take me with you i was like i want i'm gonna come son take me into this thing that god's showing you i couldn't add to that i couldn't subtract from it i couldn't make it stop sooner because god was doing a work in him god was bringing purpose into his life oh he's on fire for god now he's got businesses going he's just he's at a level i could have never taken him to even as his earthly father even as a prophetic minister a professional i just like wow god come on some of you adult parents god will take your kids where you could never take them stop sweating about it keep praying but pray god prayers pray what god wants fine we've all been there some of you are struggling right now with an adult child there's an old sage said to me and my wife one time says well when your kids become adults you do all your parenting on your knees ain't that the truth i thought i'd get at least one amen come on some of you gray heads out there come on join me amen we parent on our knees we don't give up we say god thy will be done and finally solomon finishes in verse 14 by saying this a statement of sovereignty in case you're wondering how does this all play out well here's the here's the equalizer solomon says god has done it in case there's any questions what's going on here god where's the devil and all this you know solomon never mentions the devil not once god has done it why it must be a purpose oh there's a great purpose behind acknowledging god's sovereignty where he started it's all under heaven every season god has done it why so that purpose people will fear before him i'm not scared of what god's going to do over the next weeks and months i'm not scared but i fear trying to navigate the days ahead without him we must have that same fear i fear not knowing that god is with me but god has promises do you know what you need when you're thrust into a season that you didn't expect that you didn't pray for and suddenly boom here comes a global pandemic or whatever you want to call it or maybe a personal crisis or a health crisis or something funny something comes into your life a change of seasons and our minds go z god you realize what do i need right now wisdom to get through this new season you need wisdom and there's a promise from solomon in proverbs chapter 9 verse 10 he says this the fear of the lord come on finish it it's the beginning of wisdom where do we start when there's change of season in our lives you start with the fear of the lord god i have no idea what to do i can't do this without you but it's not a scary thing it's a confidence builder oh the fear of the lord you know what the promise comes from psalm 31 verse 19 i don't have it up here but psalm 31 19 it says oh what good things you have stored up for those who fear you god has incredible treasure stored up for those who fear him and for those who take refuge in him what a promise is the is is the goodness of god for everybody nope sorry there's a qualifier here we can sing it all day god is so good we forget the other part of what first peter talked about you know there's a scripture that says behold the goodness and the severity of god all in the same verse i mean we i mean i love god is so good everybody oh we like that okay second verse ready god so severe sometimes he's not near god so severe but as we say his goodness it's his calling his severity his training he's not mean but he's intentional he's severe about bringing christ into you so the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom and oh what goodness you have laid up for those who fear you and take refuge in you i pray in this season you're taking refuge in god and he has incredible goodness stored up for you that you can take to the bank that's how we go forward and know what times and seasons mean to us confidence treasure resource the fear of the lord a healthy fear of the lord we will walk in confidence into the days of darkness ahead not knowing but trusting and we can truly say with solomon we will trust in the lord with all of our hearts we not on our own understanding but in all of our ways we will acknowledge him guess what folks he will say he will he will direct our paths in jesus name let me pray for you you're here this morning and out of those 28 seasons i don't even have to prophesy it i'll just say it i know every one of you are in one of those seasons good bad or ugly you're in one of those seasons today we have to just receive the grace of god into our lives for his word we sang it this morning about his word changing us his word touching us we sang it this morning if you were singing waymaker with your actually with your brain engaged like sometimes i'm thinking about what i'm going to do so come on let's be honest we're worshiping our mouths are moving but our brother's like one of them for dinner it's like no wait okay even when i don't see it he's working even when i don't feel it he's working he never stops he never stops working to put eternity in our hearts he never stops working to bring us into a place of travail and prayer and birthing he never stops working for our good as long as we fear him church listen he never stops working he has a plan to reach the lost and balatin and you are a huge part of it you're not the only part but you're a big part of it so get ready get ready for god to rearrange the furniture i'm going to get a little prophetic so mike and cindy the lord's just got some things churning in your wheelhouse yes you're going on a nice break okay but got get ready for god to download into you new purpose new plans new architecture and here's the thing you're going to see things that need to be built but you're not going to put your hands on them you're going to raise up a generation that's going to build like david did with solomon there's going to be some things in your heart that you're going to say you need to build this path i can't build it i see it but i can't build it god says you're going to release the builder in you that built this church up to this point but this is a place of time and a release into another generation another system to do things to migrate into new positions new food sources because there's new nesting coming up on victory where there's going to be a birthing of new souls and you're going to have to get ready for growth i love this room today but i'm going to say it by the spirit it's too small now there's a lot of ways to to deal with that okay going to two services now their strategy comes in but god is going to give you insight to strategy because there's an architecture of the spirit that god wants to download to mike the elders and other leaders and even your oversight team is going to help birth what god wants to birth we have one mission build what god wants to build period you're going to hear it by the spirit as mike and cindy go away and be refreshed and what god's going to give them some new chapters get some fresh journals i just see fresh journals and fresh things cindy god's going to explode your ministry to women you better come back with vitamins in a good way spiritual vitamins you are going to pass out spiritual nuggets to another generation you've got that in you you've got another generation in you proverbs 31 woman you are good thing you married a proverbs 31 man you know cindy there's something that god has yet to release in you and you need the sabbatical as much as this guy does you need to go away and say god what is it you what's my message it's like god's fine-tuning a message in you of hope and rebuilding a broken generation you guys are going to rebuild broken walls wall builders i like that that's called yet to be wall builders but there's also a powerful release coming over you as it flows down upon you and releases you you will release ministry like you've never seen before not a bad thing but you've come to a point of confluence there's got to be this breaking through and it's going to happen because there's going to be a real surrender can i just say that in love this is going to be not only it's going to be the sabbatical of surrender not i surrender all i've done no you have successfully walked through every season brother and sister but there's a new season coming and god's given you this time you can't you can't flip the switch on a weekend you can't flip the switch in a week you need this time so that god can reform you beautiful word only appears one time in the new testament hebrews chapter nine talks about the times of reformation that's the word kairos kairos times of reform diorthosis making internal adjustments that bring external change massive internal adjustments in you you guys don't play fair for your age there's a youthful inside to you god has just said you're still flexible enough son and daughter that i can reconfigure your internal structures and bring external change to those that you love and have raised up you're not going to lose anything god hear god's sake you're not going to lose anything it's only gain but the only way you do it is in the kingdom paradox that if you lose your life will you pray for them in the next coming weeks and months they need your prayers to birth what god wants to birth in them because it's going to affect you you intercessors get into the god's birthing chamber allow travail to come it's just a form of supplication which is going to god and emptying yourself and getting ready for god to put something in you you didn't have before supplication the lost art of supplication is powerful in the season yes intercession but we must come and pour out ourselves as matthew 9 37 38 pray the lord of the harvest it'll send forth laborers that's supplication that's not like for sure i got it it's like god we're pouring ourselves out we're supplicating beseeching that god you would send forth laborers this room is full of laborers get ready god's going to send you forth maybe down the street maybe about maybe marshall maybe this region who knows to the uttermost parts of the world that's the great commission we all yearn for and you're poised for it oh i'm so excited i am so excited for you i see the future and you will too so father we thank you by divine design you've brought this church this group of called out ones to a point of confluence where something's going to break open and break upon them let me just say this last quote out of micah chapter 2 verse 13 where micah the prophet talks about the breaker and we use we overuse maybe the word breakthrough but he says this the breaker goes out before them the lord at their head in church you need to know god is your breaker the king goes out before you follow your king he will be the king that brings breakthrough it says he breaks through and we follow the king the king of breakthrough just keep following your leaders follow jesus be men and women of the word and allow god to bring you through this season accurately prophetically and you'll have great success for him can you say amen god bless you amen well enough said except for i want to give you an opportunity to bless clem one thing that in the natural you know itinerant ministries earn their support as they travel and much likely in the case of ben goodman who we have here regularly clem travels the world and hasn't been able to do much of that at all so we want to be a blessing to him so there's a basket back in the foyer and in the back of the church we just want to encourage you to if you're going to write a check write it out to vcc and if some of you were caught by surprise you say i really want to bless clem and you don't have your checkbook with you or money with you you got a slip of paper just put that in the basket with what you feel the lord's wanting you to give and we'll make sure that all of that gets to clinton so with that looks like something's going to happen up here right okay well brian heard from the lord then we'll go with that so i'm gonna do something before i close right sure we're gonna sing waymaker again all right everybody let's stand together if you're able and invite you to enter in as clem was suggesting [Music] you are here moving in our minds i worship you i worship you you are here working in this place i worship you i worship you cause you are we make a miracle word the promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are and you are here touching every heart i worship you i worship you [Music] you are here healing every heart i worship you i worship you you are here turning lives around i worship you [Music] i worship you you are here mending every heart i worship you i worship you cause you are we make a miracle worker promise keeper line in the darkness that is who you are that is who you are that even when is don't see it you're working even when i don't feel it you're working but stop you never stop working never stop you never stop working even [Applause] make a miracle the promised keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are [Music] amen i hope you're truly encouraged just by that chorus sometimes it's easy to get in that place you wonder if anything's going on if the lord's hearing you he's hearing you he's working and sometimes we don't see it sometimes we don't like it but he's working father i pray this morning as we leave from this place the things that were downloaded to us through clan by your holy spirit god that it really takes root in our lives and we're encouraged by it we're strengthened by it father we're comforted by it but we're challenged by it so lord i thank you and pray that the reality is your word will now return void i pray that that word will get feet get legs in each one of our lives that we will be encouraged in the times that we are going through that our trust in you will grow our faith will grow our confidence in you will grow and i pray lord that you would give us greater grace this week as we go about our daily lives to share that hope share that encouragement share with jesus and his love with others we pray to continue to watch over us and keep us safe in these days that we're living in we ask all this in jesus name amen amen but just a reminder i encourage you to give as you feel led to clem thank you have a wonderful week you

Channel: Victory Christian Church

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Length: 104min 5sec (6245 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 18 2021