"When God Shows Up" | Pastor Steve Gaines

take your bibles and turn with me to revelation no i'm just kidding i'm just kidding oh we're through with that at least for right now okay uh turn with me to luke chapter 3 luke chapter 3 and in just a moment i'll begin reading in verse 1. for years i've had a conviction that what we really need in our churches is for the presence of god to show up now when i say that a lot of people kind of say what do you mean by that i believe in the omnipresence of god i believe god is everywhere in his universe and i understand that i don't comprehend it but i get it but i also know that jesus said in matthew 18 where two or three have gathered together in my name there i am in their midst when he said in their midst he was saying as personal as close as you can be there's something that happens when god's people gather together in his name is something unique now if you're saved the holy spirit lives within your physical body but there's something about all of us as christians gathering together and it doesn't matter if it's in a room like this or under a tree in africa i have been in africa and i've preached to hundreds of people under just a few trees and you know what god was just as much there as he was in this room it's not the building so much it's the gathering of all the saints every one of whom if jesus is your lord you're the temple of the living god and when we come together it's just like god shows up in his manifest presence and nowadays we talk about how much we need god in government and we do i pray that god will come and be in more politicians lives and in more governmental areas i pray for that daily i pray that god will be in our schools if we ever needed the headwaters of truth not to be polluted with lies of the enemy but to be refreshed with the word of god it's today our children need to be taught that there is a god that there is a bible that there is one savior jesus christ so school is important and we need more of that in our schools no doubt about it we need the presence of god in our schools but i want to say this to you we need the presence of god in our churches there's a church in revelation chapter 3 jesus is on the outside knocking on the door trying to get in his own church it's the church of laodicea he said in revelation 3 20 behold i stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door i will come into him and will sup with him and he with me i'll fellowship with him what he's talking about really the primary thing he's talking about is not coming into somebody's heart when they get saved although you can take that verse and get that out of it but i want to tell you the the immediate text he's talking about i want back in my church did you know that you can have church without the lord but it's not real church you can go through the motions you can sing some song you can get up and talk and give some money and walk out and god not be within a million miles of it and that's what's going on in a lot of churches and i'm not saying this to try to lift us up but i am saying this i want the presence of god in this place i don't believe that the main thing look we invite people to come to bellevue we invite anybody everybody come on to bellevue that's fine and we go out and we i do it every week i invite people to christ every week i invite people to bellevue every week but listen to me the main thing is not how many people are we inviting people in here the main thing is we want god in this place so that when people come they'll say there is a god among them it's not just a preacher it's not just a room with a lot of seats god is in that place and if you can't say that when you leave here we have failed i want to tell you something you are not the audience and this is not a stage and this is not a play and we are not actors and actresses you are not the audience god is the audience god is the audience we are living and breathing and worshipping a holy god so we're all on the platform at the same way worshiping god saying oh god come down in my situation oh god come down in my life come down in my marriage come down in my family come down in my job come down in my children come down and touch this place we call memphis tennessee god come down and be with us and when he shows up you don't have to wonder he's there and you know it there was a time luke's talks about it in luke chapter 3 when there had not been a bona fide genuine prophet of god for 400 years 400 years they could just read the scripture and that's fine nothing wrong with that but there was no man of god no prophet of god who said thus saith the lord for four centuries it just blacked out there was nothing there until john the baptist malachi was the last 400 years until john the baptist is raised up and i want to tell you when he came in power he only had a six month long ministry but i got news for you god did more in that six months than he did in most preachers entire lives and he was filled with the spirit of god full of the word of god and when he showed up they came from north south east west out into the desert to hear this long-haired man that was eating literally grasshoppers and he had no fancy clothes on he wasn't dressed real nice he had on a camel hair garment have you ever smelled a camel that's one of the nastiest things you'll ever smell in your life i've been to israel 15 times and our people love to get on the camels but i hate the way they smell when they get off amen camels are nasty and he had on this camel coat and he was eating grasshoppers and saying thus saith the lord but the people flocked to him because he had the fire of god on his life and they had not heard anything like that before their parents hadn't heard anything like that their grandparents their great great great great grandparents had everything like that nobody heard anything like that for four centuries and this guy lit the place up why he was preparing the way of the lord god was about to show up let's look at what happens when god shows up i want a church where god shows up amen i want a church that god comes to amen amen number one when god shows up sinners are powerless there's no we're all sinners and there's not one center that can stop the presence of god look at verses one and two now in the 15th year of the reign of tiberius caesar when pontius pilate was governor of judea herod was tetrarch of galilee his brother philip was tetrarch of the region of itaria and tracheonius and lysanias some of you are out there thinking how does he know how to pronounce all those words i don't i just say i'm fast and you don't know the difference amen it was tetrarch of abilene i'm hooked on phonics amen in the high priesthood of anas and caiaphas the word of god came to john the son of zacharias in the wilderness so here luke mentioned seven leaders five political leaders two priestly leaders and all seven were sinful and literally corrupt and yet god showed up even though the leaders were corrupt god showed up look at the first five the roman politicians verse 1. now in the 15th year of the reign of tiberius caesar who is he the second roman emperor he followed caesar augustus who was his stepfather caesar augustus was corrupt and sinful as well augustus was the roman emperor at the time of the birth of christ he's the one that decreed that there be a census taken of all the earth and that purpose was the main he didn't even know it his according to proverbs 21 1 his heart the king's heart was like channels of water in the hands lord god turned it wherever he wanted and god had to get joseph and mary mary pregnant with jesus had to get her out of nazareth 70 something miles south to bethlehem because micah chapter 5 had said that the messiah in micah chapter 5 verse 2 would be born not up in nazareth but in bethlehem and so he gave the decree to the king and the king because of that joseph and mary came down and the baby was born exactly whereby the bible said he would be born that's augustus that was the guy before tiberius caesar and now tiberius caesar who reigned most of jesus life reigned from 14 a.d to 37 a.d he shows up and he is the king during the time of jesus being on this earth and he was a wicked man in fact when they he was known as tiberius the tyrant and when he died nobody celebrated his life or his death rather they chanted to tie to the tiber with tiberius the tiber was a river now the way where i come from they say chunk his body in the river and let's move on he was a sinner four more politicians from rome verse one goes on to talk about the second one when pontius pilate was governor of judea now who is pontius pilate oh yeah he's the guy before whom jesus stood and he is the one that condemned jesus to be crucified before that we read in luke chapter 13 that he was a very corrupt cold-hearted leader he literally sent his troops into a jewish synagogue and literally not only killed the people but offered them up as a sacrifice the bible says jesus is speaking in luke 13 1 pilate mixed their blood with their sacrifice luke is speaking rather pilate mixed their blood with their sacrifices pontius pilate also had jesus crucified a very sinful leader and then verse 1 also the number three roman leader here herod was tetrarch of galilee this is not herod the great this is the stepson of herod the great the son of herod the great rather herod antipas herod antipas was known for a lot of different things he he is the one that stole his brother's wife philip was his brother he stole philip's wife herodias and he also is the one who had john the baptist arrested he's also the one who executed john the baptist we read about that in matthew 14. he's also the one who later on mocked jesus when pontius pilate sent jesus to herod because he knew that jesus was from herod's district pontius pilate sent him there herod antipas made fun of jesus when jesus wouldn't say a word to him we read in luke 23 11 then herod and his soldiers began mocking and ridiculing jesus finally they put a royal robe on him and sent him back to pilate they were not righteous john and jesus were righteous but herod was not and then number four philip the brother of herod antipas his brother philip the bible says in verse one was tetrarch leader of the fourth is what that means of the nation of the region of itaean trachonitis he was the one whose wife left him for herod antipas he ruled his region of victory and trachonitis from 4 bc to a.d 33 he built a place that we go to every time we go to israel because it's where peter said to jesus you when jesus said who does men say that i am who do you say that i am thou art the christ the son of living god where was that caesarea philippi who's that named after philip under the caesar line and like his brother philip was sinful and then there's lysanius number five we don't really know much about him he's tetrarch ruler of the fourth from abilene but we know that more than likely he was just like the rest of them corrupt and sinful now these are the five roman politicians tiberius caesar pontius pilate herod philippines lycenius they were known for their vileness for their sinfulness but it wasn't just the politicians who were corrupt at the time that john the baptist came it was also the two jewish priests that were prominent it says also verse two in the high priesthood of anas and caiaphas this does not mean that they were ruling at the same time annas was the older of the two between annas and caiaphas anas ruled we know about him from luke chapter 2 verses 1-2 he ruled back in 87 through a.d 14 when jesus was just a boy but at the time that we're reading about today when john the baptist is about to preach caiaphas was the high priest in office at that time and if anas was still the most influential priest he was the power behind the scene and we know that because it was to annis that jesus was taken when he was arrested first they brought him to annas we read about that in john chapter 18 verse 13 and he tried jesus even before caiaphas who was the reigning priest at that time both of these men corrupt so you have all seven of these sinful corrupt leaders who are in charge and yet we read in the last part of verse 2 the word of god came to john the son of zacharias in the wilderness three miracles the word of god came during a very corrupt political and religious time how many of you know that regardless of who is in politics and who is in religion god is on his throne god can do whatever god wants to do anytime god wants to do it and he doesn't ask any politician or any preacher he's god another miracle was that he came as the son of zacharias if you know the story in luke chapter 1 zacharias and his wife elizabeth were very old and she became pregnant when he was just when they were just very old and they were beyond the time when they should have been able to have children it was a miracle that's what he was saying when he said son of zacharias and it was also in the wilderness john was preaching in the wilderness the word of god came to him in the wilderness nowadays people will tell you about church growth oh one of the most and by the way most i don't say most many of the people that write church growth books have never pastored a church it's really easy to talk about it if you don't know anything about it amen and so they say oh if you're going to have a lot of attenders you've got to have location location location i've got news for you that is a lie that is a lie that is a lie i'll tell you why how many of you have ever gone to a really good restaurant that was not in a good location please raise your hand right now anybody out there listen i have driven to alleys and back fields i went to a place up in gibson county called fuchs restaurant and i literally drove out into a cow field cows on either side of me going back there and i ate catfish until i was about to pop amen and that was one of the best and pla you couldn't hardly get in the place was covered up why people don't go because of location to a restaurant they go because of the food and you listen to me people don't come to a church because of location it's because the spirit of god is there and the word of god is there and people come because of god's presence that's why they come that's why they come you don't have to have a fancy location you don't have to have 6 000 seats all you got to do is have god and let god show up and people will come the word of god came to john oh thank you lord thank you lord that when god shows up sinners are powerless no politician can send revival no politician can stop the presence of god in revival we don't lean on leaders we lean on god lean on god well there's a second thing when god shows up servants will preach when the spirit of god the presence of god shows up god's going to call somebody to share the word of god and they're going to do it john the baptist did we read in verses 3 and following that he was the first prophet like i said in 400 years and there's this spiritual drought for the word of god and when he showed up he was a preaching machine how did he preach well when god shows up his servants preach evangelistically look at verse 3 he came into the all the district around the jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins he was saying you need to repent messiah is on his way the christ the anointed one is coming and you need to repent you need to turn from your sin and to show that you've truly believed in the messiah that he's coming you need to be baptized doesn't that sound a lot like our message nowadays you need to repent you need to come to christ and once you're saved and you repent believe in jesus you need to be baptized to tell people that you belong to him oh when god shows up servants will preach evangelistically they will also when god shows up his servants will also preach scripturally look at verses four through six john's whole ministry was the fulfillment of isaiah 40 verses 3 through 5. we read here in verse 4 as it is written in the book of the words of isaiah the prophet the voice of one crying in the wilderness make ready the way of the lord make his path straight every ravine will be filled every mountain and hill will be brought low the crooked will become straight the rough road smooth and all flesh will see the salvation of god the word of the lord came to john he had already been predicted isaiah predicted john the baptist way back hundreds of years before his birth in the old testament and when he came he was preaching the word of god he was the result of prophetic scripture and when he showed up he preached a prophetic word he was the sole preacher crying in the wilderness there was no other preacher of god on the whole earth that was preaching at that time jesus was on the earth but he hadn't started preaching yet he is the only one that had the word of god he was the only one that was preaching the word of god there were people that were reading the word there were people that were priests and they were trying to do the word but they didn't have the anointing of god they didn't have the true word of god he said when he came he was preaching like nobody else prepare ye the way of the lord christ is coming straighten out every crooked road fill up every sinful valley bring low every haughty proud arrogant mountain of dead religion pave the way for christ and make sure everyone is ready for the message of salvation in jesus that's what he preached and people came from the north south east and west oh he preached scripturally he also preached prophetically oh he got in their business he he started really preaching to them verse seven so he began saying to the crowds you who were going out to be baptized by him now listen you brood of vipers literally you barrel of snakes who warned you to flee from the wrath of come now i'm going to say i've been preaching for 40 years but i have never gone up to the baptismal candidates and said hello brood of vipers i have never gotten up in the pulpit and said brutal vipers at least i didn't say it out loud john was bold he was a prophetic preacher he was like elijah it was like isaiah jeremiah micah haggai we think we would love to have these guys in church i want to tell you i don't know if we could handle a week of john the baptist or not they were bold listen to what he said verse 8 therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance don't begin to say to yourselves we have abraham as our father the jews thought they were on their they were okay because they were kin biologically they were related to abraham look at me biological relatives don't get you into god's presence or god's heaven all right you don't get biologically born in the kingdom of god you got to be born again by the spirit we have abraham for our fathers for i say to you that from these very rocks these stones god is able to raise up children to abraham you need more than you need to be more than children of abraham you need to be children of the kingdom of god you need to come to the messiah and his name is jesus he said if you don't you're going to spend eternity in hell look at verse 9. indeed the axe is already laid at the roots of the trees it is time it is decision time so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire that's a reference to hell that's what our world needs today we need preachers that will preach prophetically oh america needs some prophets of god to preach prophetically not tickle ears but say thus saith the lord let the chips fall where they may his servants will preach prophetically when god shows up and when god shows up also his servants will preach applicably look at verse 10 and the crowds were questioning him saying then what shall we do and he would answer and say to them here's what you should do here's the application the man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none he who has food is to do likewise some tax collectors also came to be baptized they said to him teacher what shall we do he said to them collect no more than what you have been ordered to some soldiers were questioning them saying and what about us what shall we do now i want to tell you something that's every preacher's dream for people to walk in the room say preacher what should we do what should we do what should we do three times what shall we do and if a preacher only explains the text and illustrates the text he has missed the preaching he must also apply the text and tell people what the bible says we need to do that's what preachers should do john the baptist preached and made specific application if somebody's hungry don't just stare at them if you've got some food give them some food if somebody doesn't have enough clothing and you've got more than one pair of print pants i grew up it was britches i mean how many of you know what a britches is anybody know what that yeah we wore britches in dyersburg if you had more than one pair of britches you give them to you give a pair to them that's what he said give your clothes away if you've got more than one pair and they don't have any don't be greedy with your money be content with what you have and don't tell a lie don't bear false witness against your neighbor and he said you need to do this nowadays everybody wants you to say well when you apply the scripture just say we need to do this i got news for you i don't like to do that that much because i know that i need it i'm not saying i've got all together but i want to tell you something i learned a long time ago that when i say we need to pray i want to tell you what you're thinking out there he's talking to that guy over there but when i say you need to pray you say he's talking to me and look at me i'm not just talking to the guy behind you i'm talking to you right now god wants you to apply the scripture the prophetic you you need to read your bible you need to pray you need to tithe you need to be faithful to your family and your spouse you need to not tell a lie you need to tell the truth you don't need to be gluttonous and you don't need to be a drunkard you need to be disciplined in your food intake and in your drink intake you need to make sure that you are telling people about jesus christ you need to walk with god and you need to trust in him even in crazy times like 2020 you need to walk with god almighty that's the kind of application people have to have if they're going to make it through hey let me give you one more you need to be encouraged you need to have god putting courage in you all the time we all need that so he preached applicably he also when god shows up his servants will preach christ look at verse 15 and following now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about john as to whether he was the christ john answered and said to them all as for me i baptize you with water the one is coming oh there's the one one is coming he's talking about jesus one is coming who is mightier than i i'm not fit to untie the thong of his sandals he will baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire notice the comparison i baptize you with water he's going to baptize you with living water the holy spirit and with fire his winnowing fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire people start hearing john all these people coming they hadn't heard a prophetic word for centuries they said maybe he's the messiah he said no i'm not the messiah i'm not the messiah but one is coming one is coming you know what he was the forerunner he was the one blocking so the other one would get the touchdown now this illustration is going to break down because jesus is really the one who blocks he blocks through some he's he's he's working through john but when i was playing football i want to tell you something i was an offensive lineman and i i don't know how many times i would pull around and i would run over somebody that weighed 200 something pounds and this little back behind me this little guy would go in and dance and make a round you know and like he made the touchdown but if i hadn't hit that guy you know what hello that guy that i hit would have demolished that little bitty running back all right what was i doing paving the way now here's where it breaks down john paved the way for jesus jesus could have paved his own way but john paved the way for jesus so that when jesus showed up people were already listening to the spirit of god and the word of god there had been a desert a spiritual desert all across israel for 400 years and he was preparing the way he said look i'm not the one i'm not the one don't you like it when we preach and we teach and we say look don't it's not me it's the lord it's the lord we're pointing to jesus we're not trying to impress somebody with our intellect we're not trying to impress somebody with our spiritual lives we just say oh it's all about him i'm not worth i baptize with water oh but that's the one jesus is the one who baptizes with the holy spirit i i can only barely just i'm not even worthy to tie his sandals he's such a great god and i want to tell you he's going to gather up all the wheat and put it into his barn in heaven and he's going to burn up all the chaff in hell it's not me it's jesus if you leave here talking about bellevue then we have failed in this worship service if you leave here talking about how good the music was we have failed in this worship service if you leave here talking about how good the preaching is we have failed in this worship service but if you leave here talking about how good and great jesus is bless the lord we have succeeded it is not about bellevue it is not about me and you know what it's not about you it's about jesus christ that's what it's about that's what all we do when god shows up when god shows up and then when he shows up his servants will preach frequently look at verse 18. so with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people that is many other times john preached all the time he probably preached three or four times maybe five times a day he was like the guys like wesley and whitfield back in the 1700s in england when they went and they would go on their horses and they would ride john wesley rode 250 000 miles all over england preaching the gospel they'd get up in the morning at four o'clock because the sun rose at four o'clock and they would get out and they would pray with the lord until about five but by 5 30 they were in the field somewhere preaching and they would be preaching to many times ten thousand people out here when george whitefield came to america in the 1700s he came to georgia and he starts preaching up north he gets up into philadelphia he meets a man do you know who it was anybody know his name benjamin franklin and benjamin franklin was a publisher and benjamin franklin started publishing his sermons and benjamin franklin made a ton of money off of him benjamin franklin was not a christian benjamin franklin was a deist he didn't love the lord jesus christ his parents did they were puritans but benjamin franklin did not he was not anti-jesus but he was not pro-jesus he was just pro-god and he never went to church and very immoral but he followed this preacher around george whitefield and he saw him preach to 30 000 people at one time in philadelphia and people got saved left and right god was moving in revival and benjamin franklin said i stood all the way at the back and i heard every word that that man said because god was on him he didn't know god but he knew when a preacher was anointed by god even the lost people know the difference between somebody that's real and somebody's not john preached frequently i want to tell you i i about had to come apart one time i heard this preacher complaining because he had to preach 30 times a year bless his little heart good gracious oh when revival shows up and god shows up we're going to preach frequently when god shows up servants will preach now let me just give you the last two very quickly you're not gonna like number three probably it's not something that we should just desire but it is factual it always happens when god shows up saints are persecuted look at verses 19 and 20. but when herod the tetrarch the ruler of the fourth ruler over judea was reprimanded by him by john the baptist because of herodias his brother's wife that was philip's wife that herod stole because of all the wicked things which herod had done herod also added this to them all he locked john up in prison i don't know what it was like but i have a sanctified imagination i do know exactly what john the baptist said to herod that made herod lock him up i'll share that with you in just a moment it's from mark chapter 6 verse 18. i believe with all my heart john didn't ask anybody he just walked in to the room one day and there's herod on his throne and there's herodias at his right hand i believe with all my heart if it didn't take place like this it was something very near this because it got him arrested he walked right up in there knew that god had told him to go there it was not self-righteousness spirit-filled man with the word of god in his heart camel clothing he walked in there probably barefoot he walked right up to herod and i believe with all my heart john the baptist stuck his finger right in the face of the most powerful man in judea and then i think he pointed his other hand to his adulterous wife who had left his brother her husband to be with this man he can't make this stuff up and i believe here's here's how it went put the verse of mark up on the screen john had been saying to herod it is not lawful i think he put his finger right and said it is not lawful for you to have and then i think he looked at herodias your brother's wife it's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife it's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife and he got imprisoned you know what happened herodias was immoral do you know why you don't need to be immoral because it sets your children up for the same thing that's one reason one good reason not to be immoral because herodia's daughter did a lewd dance in front of herod antipas and just like nowadays when women do that it drives men nuts i want to say this to you lust will make a man do things that he never thought he would do you don't have to say amen i know don't how many of you believe that i did another servant look here's how he did herod said i will give you half of my kingdom a lot like the people who dance like that today in these places men go nuts she said to her mother what should i ask for and that hateful woman said ask for the head of john the baptist she went asked and herod had to do it because he was so he would have been embarrassed in front of all his guests and even though he liked to hear john preach he had him executed i don't know what's going to happen in america and you don't either but i want to tell you something for decades and decades and decades america has been turning away from god there has really never been a time when america was all in for god there have been a few times when there were great revivals in this country but i want to tell you something i love this country but there is so much sinfulness and wickedness in this country billy graham said if god doesn't discipline and punish america he's going to have to apologize to sodom and gomorrah billy graham said that there's going to come persecution you say how do you know jesus said so john chapter 15 verse 20. remember the word that i said to you a slave is not greater than his master if they persecuted me read these next words with me out loud here we go they will also persecute you if they keep my kept my word they will keep yours also now listen to what he said in acts 14 22 he just led a bunch of people lord paul did strengthening the souls of the disciples encouraging them to continue the faith and saying paul said through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of god it's not going to be easy we're going to be persecuted and john said it mark or paul said it so clearly in second timothy chapter two the last book the last letter that he wrote before he died before rome and caesar nero had his head cut off he said this to timothy his favorite preacher boy second timothy 3 12 indeed all who desire to live godly in christ will be persecuted saints will be persecuted when god shows up so what happens when god shows up well sinners are powerless you can't stop the will in the word of god servants will preach you can't help but preach you've got fire in your bones nobody can shut you up even if they throw you in jail you're going to preach in the jail start a jail ministry and saints will be persecuted but the best part of it all is this last point when god shows up god's son jesus will be praised amen oh look at these last two verses 21 and 22 now when all the people were baptized jesus also was baptized why in the world would he be baptized he didn't have anything to repent about no he was not repenting of sin he was sinless but he was giving us an example jesus was showing us what we should do to be one of his followers sin baptism doesn't save you but it does show that you are saved it's like putting on a wedding ring wedding rings don't make you married but they show that you are that's what baptism is and then the bible says in verse 21 and while he was praying heaven was opened i loved that while he was praying heaven was open do you want to live under an open heaven then start praying god doesn't open the heavens for prayerless people prayerless churches prayerless families prayerless wives and husbands prayerless preachers prayerless denominations god's heaven doesn't open up for them but when we start praying heaven opens up and we start seeing what god can do rather than what man can do and then not only did heaven open but the holy spirit descended upon jesus in bodily form like a dove the holy spirit only comes on people that pray the holy spirit only comes on churches that pray the holy spirit only comes on nations that pray we need the holy spirit we need god to open the windows of heaven above us and then the voice came out of heaven you are my beloved son and you i am well pleased people hear the word of god because they pray when you talk to god he talks to you and when jesus prayed the heavens were opened the spirit of god came down and anointed him in bodily form and then the bible says god spoke to jesus these encouraging words you're my son son i'm so proud of you no child in the world would not want to hear that from their father and just before jesus steps into the wilderness for 40 days to fast just before he is to be tempted by the devil god the father opens the windows of heaven because his boy is down there praying and obeying him he opens the windows of heaven and god almighty anoints his son with the holy spirit of fresh and then he says boy i am proud of you jesus was being praised by his father and when we preach and when god shows up the only one's going to be exalted and praised is jesus christ i just pray that god will show up don't you i'm not saying that god's not here i'm not but how many of you think we can always have more of the presence of god than we have amen i mean i really want it to where people come in and they say you know what the lord's in here did you ever see that uh movie called war room remember at the end of the movie when that guy comes in to buy that little lady's house that precious saint she had prayed in this closet this room this little bitty room for years and years and years and this guy that was buying their house looking at their house he was a preacher he walked in that room he took around his whoa totally empty room as far as man could see but god was all in it because her prayers had been there he walks out of that room he walks back into that room he comes out and he said we'll take this house we'll take this house i don't care what the price is we'll take it because god's here don't you want people when they leave here and say you know what god's in that place don't you want god to show up i don't know if there's ever been a more divided time in my lifetime than we are right now in america when i was a boy in the 60s oh there was rioting and looting and burning in the street it was terrible because the vietnam war and many other things but there was a time in this nation when i believe was even worse than it is now people divided it was in the 1850s and the 1860s right at the time of the civil war and right in the midst of that there was a senator who said we need to have a day of prayer and fasting in america so he sent the idea to the president abraham lincoln and abraham lincoln made the decree that there would be a day of prayer and fasting it would be in may he wrote this in april of 19 or 1863 abraham lincoln wrote this it is the duty of nations why don't you read it with me let's read it together we'll read it slow it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of god to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the holy scriptures and proven by all history that those nations only are blessed whose god is the lord we have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity we have grown in numbers wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown but we have forgotten god we have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own in toxic i love this phrase intoxicated with broke unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace too proud to pray to the god that made us it behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended power to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness all this being done in sincerity and truth let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the divine teachings that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace abraham lincoln put that back up very quickly march chapter 30 or march 30. i'm in the bible okay march 30 1863 right as my daddy would say smack dab in the middle of the civil war i don't want another civil war do you i want god to show up don't you we need to be praying for our nation but we need to be praying for our church god will show up in the church and it will spill out into the nation it will spill out into the nation and i'm praying that he'll show up amen father i pray in the name of jesus that you would bless our church with your presence and i pray that you will bless us with the fact that we know that when you show up sinners are powerless but there will be servants preaching the gospel saints will be persecuted but god's son jesus will be praised oh god come in your manifest presence we pray in jesus name if that's your prayer say amen let's all stand up we're going to sing one final worship song and then we'll be dismissed if today you don't know the lord jesus christ as your savior he loves you but you're a sinner you've broken god's laws and the wages of your sin is spiritual death which means separation from god but god gave a cure from separation from him when he sent jesus to us he died on the cross he bore the penalty of our sin he was buried but god raised him from the dead and the bible says he's alive and he'll give you salvation you have to repent it's like john said you've got to turn from your sin you've got to turn toward the lord and then you've got to believe that jesus died and paid your sin debt on the cross and believe that he rose to the dead to give you eternal life and then you've got to receive him into your life and the moment you do that you'll be saved would you be saved someone in the balcony would you be saved today on this main floor up here in the front or in the back would you be saved today would you come to the lord what i want to ask you to do we're going to have pastors here in the front and they'll be glad to lead you to faith in i'd like to lead you in a prayer right now and if you'd like to do that just close your eyes just for a moment if you'd like to pray and receive christ do it right now just say dear lord jesus thank you that you love me i am a sinner i cannot save myself you're the only savior i repent of my sin i turn from my sin i turn to you i believe you died on the cross for me i believe you rose from the dead i call on your name i receive you save me right now jesus christ come into my life and by faith i thank you that you have in jesus name amen

Channel: Bellevue Baptist Church

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Id: jdBorxAmEVs

Length: 52min 47sec (3167 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 10 2020