Word Impact Gathering

foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign you praise the lord everybody come on worship the lord this evening give god some praise come on bless his name give him all the glory and all the honor come on bless his name this evening for our god is great our god is wonderful our god is kind come on lift up the name of jesus where you are we thank him we praise him we glorify the god of israel the god who is father son and spirit we thank god for him come on give god some praise tonight give god some glory bless his name from the rising of the sun and to the going down and the same the lord's name is worthy to be praised the psalmist said bless the lord o my soul and all that's within me bless his holy name we give god thanks for this evening we thank god for you joining in this evening and we pray that you would please do us a favor and hit that share button with somebody let them know that we're on this evening again please share as we move into this great midweek gathering move into worship continue to teach and believe god that through the teaching moment the power to heal will be present wherever you are and that all you need to have is your faith ready your request ready and watch what god can do in your life during times like this is an opportunity for the miraculous to happen when the world looks like it's going down the kingdom of god can still thrive we continue to encourage you to follow kingdom principles to follow the great king who is sovereign and ruler over everything come on let's pray father i thank you for this moment we appreciate you for this time and we come to you just as we are we come to you with all the good and the bad the ups and the downs the struggles and the victories the triumphs and the failures if we come to you this evening because we know we are accepted in the beloved we give you praise this evening that we're not accepted because of us but we're accepted because of your son thank you for that blood-stained pathway into your presence we thank you for access through jesus christ we give you praise this evening because you have given us the open door to come to you in prayer and father we take advantage of that opportunity he said to come to you with confidence to come to you with faith come to you with the attitude that we can reach you and we thank you for the privilege of conversation and father i pray now that you would begin to move on our behalf this evening i pray that you would touch us one more time we pray lord that your hand would be honest in a tangible way pray that you would teach us tonight move during the worship and move during the word save somebody tonight reclaim a backslider connect someone to this house answer prayer this evening because you are the god that is able to answer when we can call on nobody else we know we can call on you so now holy spirit we pray that you would move on each person's hearts and minds i thank you for what you're doing tonight we appreciate you for your presence we don't have to ask you to show up because you're already here shift us into a place where we are aware and recognize your presence i thank you for what you're going to do this evening it's been set up before the very foundations of the world and we're ready to receive it now by faith in jesus name amen god bless you all sister gayle's going to come we'll worship we're back with the word of god [Music] an amazing hallelujah mighty in everything jehovah is your name hallelujah jehovah is your name [Music] jehovah [Music] your name jeffrey is your name [Music] [Music] is your name [Music] mighty warrior [Music] great [Music] [Music] is [Music] is your name [Music] jehovah is your [Music] is your name you are [Music] is [Music] [Music] is your name oh [Music] your name oh my [Music] jehovah is your name yes it is your name [Music] is your name [Music] oh is your name whoa you are my teamwork [Music] is your name oh is your name [Music] and we praise you father jehovah is your name nobody like you god jehovah is your name [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] nobody like you god is your name and we bless your name lord jehovah is [Music] so great in our battles [Music] is [Music] and we bless you god jehovah is your name what a mighty god you are to hold is [Music] in [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] my [Music] is your name [Music] in our battles is your name [Music] praise the lord we're so glad you took the time to join us tonight for our midweek encounter the impact encounter here at bethany church in lindewell new jersey yeah that's nick sir i'm a little excited about this yes drive drive the car i think um we're going to answer some questions over the next four weeks three or four weeks and i think that it's something that um many christians have struggled with i think it's one of those things that is more felt than spoken uh and that is how do i get a word from the lord okay how do i actually get a word from him concerning my situation right so we got a long way to go okay let's start in jeremiah chapter one three and we'll kick it off there jeremiah chapter one go down to verse 11. and uh if you can share with someone right now tag four or five people inbox tweet text send a pigeon tell them that impact is on they need to join us right now and stay with us for the next few weeks jeremiah chapter 1 verse 11 says moreover the word of the lord came unto me saying jeremiah what sees thou and i said i see a rod of an almond tree then said the lord unto me you have seen well yeah for i will hasten my word to perform it how do i get a word from the lord you know i when i was coming up in the church past nick we heard a whole lot about uh it was spoken and sung we need a word from the lord and it was not always uh in the context of a sermon but i found that christians found themselves having to wait for someone else to initiate what god wanted to say to them not minimizing in all the importance of us getting together and congregation of us having our own prayer lives but sometimes you need an individual word for an individual situation that does not send us off independently away from the way god has assigned his church to be his voice in the earth but there are times when we are having private situations that we know what to do and over the next couple weeks we're going to talk about general revelation specific revelation um we're going to talk about uh when i am hearing god but what i'm really excited about is the the context of the three things you've got to do after this week to actually get into the place where god can speak to you and you can get not what you feel right not your opinion but actually hear what god has to say about your situation specifically right does that make sense yes sir so i kind of think in times in times we live in and with the circumstances that we have faced and are facing um there's certain questions that are raised that go along with the varying demands that we have people are being pulled in multiple situations at the same time dealing with various stresses all at the same time and um i'd like to say that that we quietly ask in the silence of our minds how do i accurately for what i think i want to do or what i'm going through right now how do i accurately get a word for the lord for my situation so in the darkness of our confusion i call it darkness because sometimes when you're confused you can't see a way out yeah uh in the darkness of the demands on our lives and darkness of our circumstances um and even you know when we are thoroughly distracted i don't know if you've ever been thoroughly distracted very much yeah um when we think about the stuff that demands our accountability and our responsibility we need god to speak directly to us right now just to add something to this um adam and eve were originally created with five senses for the purpose of relating to god yep somewhere along the line after we fell we started using our senses for other things but we were originally created not only to hear from him but to sense him and to be blessed by the things that he was doing for us so these senses which have really gotten out of control which are now an opponent to faith were originally given to us so we could relate accurately to god and that blows my mind absolutely so god provided everything and wanted to present himself in his fullness and he gave us these senses so that we could relate to him on a heart to heart mind to mind yeah a provision level and a blessing level right so so we were created to have this heart relationship with him so even the emotions we were created with were designed for relationship with him yeah so you know who better to love first then love god right you know who better to be friends with than god himself so he created us so we could speak to him which blows my mind but even just as important we could hear from him right and comprehend what he was saying to us so you are unique in that god has created you to hear from him and speak to him and what i like to add to that is move him right and according to jeremiah 1 11 to hear him accurately to think spiritually and experience the manifestation of what he has said to us what do you think about that well i think you're right i can't wait till we get to communion because we're all up in this thing because the same senses that can be an opponent absolutely are the same thing that god uses and the taste well how we taste god taste and see the lord is good but also the communion meal yes sir it's something that reaches your senses experience absolutely and jeremiah says right there he asked them what do you see your senses what yeah what what what what are you what are you seeing what are you perceiving what are you sensing what are you discerning yep yeah he's created us to do this and this tells me that god knows how to speak to each of us individually absolutely those of us that are visual learners god oftentimes talks to us through those kinetic visual kind of styles absolutely versus auditory you know and we have to know how to how to monitor that yeah because he does speak through repetition at times he does not always speak through repetition right seeing the same numbers perhaps or having the same conversation four or five times or seeing something that would be coincidence that happened once right but three and four times okay maybe god's trying to say something to me but that's not the entirety of his relationship with us but there are times when he shows up in repetition absolutely let's go to ezekiel chapter 12. i want to see uh what we can look i want to draw some analogies here go to chapter 12 go down to verse 25 and um watch what it says for i am the lord i will speak now i got to understand the prophetic integrity of the old testament and how important it is that we not only read it but hear it right because it's god speaking to us from his heart he's speaking into relationship he's speaking to a point where he's drawing us to him but also making those who witness us get curious about this god that we serve he says here i will speak that's amazing to me and the word that i shall speak shall come to pass now the scriptures we're reading are probably going to deliver some folk before we even get to the meat of this it shall be no more prolonged lord have mercy for in your days over rebellious house will i say the word and will perform it saith the lord god again the word of the lord came to me saying so it's a personal conversation in prayer meditation there's communication going and god is repeating and we always say when god repeats himself he's trying to show us how important it is to him and how critically important it is to us watch what he says again 26 the word of the lord came to me saying son of man behold they of the house of israel say the vision that he seeth is for many days to come and he prophesied of the times that are far off therefore say unto them thus saith the lord thou shall none of my words be prolonged any more but the words what i have spoken shall be done says the lord right somebody need to hear that somebody needs to hear that i'm not going to prolong it i was just talking to a pastor friend of mine the other day and i told him i said god is not going to send you a work in progress it's going to be complete and it encouraged them that quickly uh let's go to jeremiah 39 okay and see what jeremiah has to say as we try to line up the prophetic integrity of the old testament and and god is kind of um amazing in that uh the whole book is prophetic and probably 35 40 of the prophetic utterances in the bible have already come to pass so he says not one word of it shall fail jeremiah 39 let's go down to verse 15. now the word of the lord came unto jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison oh lord so jeremiah's in a bad situation and here comes the word of the lord so do you think and this is not even what i want to talk about there are times when we don't expect to hear from him and it seems to be times when we critically need to hear from him right now in my experience okay if he's quiet during a crisis yeah he's already spoken already yes sir and then there are times where i'm in the crisis and i'm praying you know give me an answer you know now i'm not super spooky right but that's how he works for me okay sometimes i'll drop a scripture in my spirit absolutely and as i study the scripture that's where i get the answer from and and we were talking about it earlier today when there are times when we're studying scripture that we wonder why the revelation is not profound and i'm going to talk about it god does things in a mystery so we will linger in his presence sometimes yeah but you've got to have an understanding of what this book is and later on today hopefully we get to it this is not just a book of words this is a dimension in the spirit it is the kingdom it is the light that comes into the world we're going to go over all of that so jeremiah he says here in verse 16 go and speak to eat ebed melech the ethiopians saying thus say the lord of hosts the god of israel behold i will bring my words upon this city for evil and not for good and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee but i will deliver you in that day says the lord and thou shalt not be given into the hand of men of whom thou art afraid lord have mercy for i will surely deliver you and thou shalt not fall by the sword but your life shall be for pray unto thee thy life shall be for a pray unto thee because thou has put thy trust in me says the lord good god from zion so it's important to understand it's important to understand the prophetic nature of the old testament and how it links with the new testament let's take a look at first corinthians chapter 12 and then we'll be able to have a little bit of conversation first corinthians chapter 12. um i'm excited because i'm believing that people are going to actually learn over the next few weeks how to get this word from god yeah first corinthians 12 verse 8 for one is given by the spirit the word of wisdom to another the word of knowledge by the same spirit wisdom biblical wisdom kingdom knowledge a word for the moment you are living in at this time let me say that to you again now so god has a word for you in the moment that you are living in knowledge watch this and how to work that knowledge so there's no need of knowing something and not knowing how to use it yeah so working knowledge old definition is wisdom but also divine wisdom is what i call anticipatory in that divine wisdom is not just about now divine wisdom will carry you through into the future so the bible illustrates uh and i think this is a good segue the bible illustrates the word as light now light the word is light has to be a revelation to a believer it cannot just be something that you know but it must become wisdom uh in this context if i don't see it as light it will not be liked to me so i may be saying to myself as a christian where do i need some light yeah all right let's take a look psalm 119 let's take a look 119 and we'll check out what he has to say we'll start at verse 97 we're going to read a little bit more than usual it says oh how love i thy law oh how i love your word it is my meditation all the day i'm thinking on it all day long thou through thy commandments has made me wiser than my enemies for they are ever with me lord have mercy i have more understanding than all my teachers for thy testimonies your testimonies are my meditation i understand more than the ancients because i keep your precepts i have refrained my feet from every evil way that i might keep your word you see how word centered this is i have not departed from your judgment for thou hast taught me how sweet are your words unto my taste yea sweeter than honey to the mouth through thy precepts i get understanding therefore i hate every false way thy word here it is is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my pathway so david based upon his experience obeying the word of god has had this revelation that this word not only shows me rights right in front of me but it also shows me what's far ahead of me yeah land for to my feet yes sir right into my pants yes sir present future yes sir yes sir yeah and and in that he's saying that word can be extremely relevant if i become accustomed to obeying it right if it's not a holy habit and i'm obeying some time and not other times i will have a problem being led by the spirit through the word of god so is this revelation of the word is light that you and i must have and that word as jesus testified is spirit that will shift your kingdom life from one of power answered prayer to power answered prayer and wisdom which will produce the victories we all want to achieve but also breakthrough is attached to this light so what do i do um what does light do can i can i pose this yes sir i love david's attitude in verse 97 his attitude about the word and i think something many christians miss is meditation on the word yes sir usually when scripture talks about light it talks about light breaking forth i wonder sometimes we don't get the revelation or light doesn't break forth because we don't meditate we don't think about it we don't brew over it yeah yeah to give it time to germinate if i can say it like that so the clouds can part and all of a sudden it's like i agree with you okay we don't fellowship with it enough to build a relationship with it yeah and we don't try it enough yeah you know so uh it's unfortunately faith and obedience or activity measured right yeah jesus says if you love me you'll do what i tell you to do yeah and david starts out talking about his relationship with god because i can't love him and hate his word i can't love his word and hate him yeah so so this relationship that we have with the word is contiguous and engraved and entwined with the relationship we have with god yeah so light will guide us right light will show us things that have been hidden to us yes so if we go to proverbs 25 we're going to see why it is so important for you and i as believers and those watching us tonight to see why it's so important that we get this revelation of light right now proverbs 25 2 says something i love this verse it is the glory of god to conceal a thing but the honor of kings and your king now lord have mercy is to search out a matter yeah so it's the glory of god to conceal it but it's the glory or the honor of kings to search it out to study to show yourself approve to meditate on it like david just said now to back that up we need to go to deuteronomy 29 sure and i hadn't i was studying this stuff um and i hadn't seen this one it got by me but i'm glad the holy spirit led me to it that's right to add to add this to our understanding deuteronomy 29 and go down to verse 29 lord have mercy the secret things belong unto the lord our god but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law so i'm not just getting a revelation from me yeah i'm getting a revelation that i can pass on to those that are coming after me yes so it is imperative that in who we are right now we have this revelation of the word being light in such a way that we understand that god does speak in mysteries but he reveals his mysteries to us yes now why in a mystery not that he's trying to keep unbelievers out because if he keeps unbelievers out that's contrary to his mission for coming to earth so he puts it in a mystery so unbelievers become curious but he also puts it in a mystery so believers linger in his presence yes now we've said this twice because there's something buried in what we're just saying when i'm studying his word i'm in his presence yes yep yep yep and being able to have the patience yes a lot of people have struggled to have yeah if he's not talking quickly yeah we get up and move on but he he lingers so we can linger right it means have that patience yes sir the bereans in the book of acts they would hear the word go home and study and their faith was built by their lingering yes sir yes sir and and i i think that that and the challenge for us is we live in this hurry up kind of culture but we do slow down to eat yeah that's true that's true we do slow down to sleep yep we do slow down to watch our favorite program so all god is asking us to do is spend time with him slow it down yep so i can watch this we tell you we want revelation but a revelation is an uncovering yeah it's not a a sheep being pulled off a bed it is a slow progression of that which is hidden being revealed to you and it happens in stages maybe our problem is human beings are result focused process focus you god is process focused yeah yeah so we're so focused on outcome that we underrate the importance of the process right god is not concerned about the outcome because he's already decided that yeah but he is concerned as to whether we will walk in his purpose yes yes to get to the all things that are better right but what do we do like you said we become impatient in process because we negatively compete with the testimonies of other christians when most testimony honestly most christians don't tell the whole test of how long it took for them to labor and wade into they gave you the impression that it had they started praying on monday and tuesday it happened no it took some time no it took a lot of time for a lot of people you know it's just it's like ministry when um people need to understand this is tangential but i think it'll make sense that god does honor hard work because he does if he did not honor hard work he would not have honored the life of jesus christ especially that trip to calvary right we need to understand that in in the kingdom god does recognize when you are committed diligent courageous all those words that tend themselves towards longevity purpose and process but we tend to become impatient in the process and wonder why the manifestation never comes right i think because we really be not weary well doing we don't do season we jump to the due season and forget about the whole don't don't wear it in the will don't you the whole premise is if you keep doing well yeah you'll run into your due season we don't want to deal with what makes you weary right but i love the lord's word and that he tells you that while you're doing well you will get weary he tells us that so when we start feeling weary doing the right thing that we don't give up or abort our process yep you know and i think a lot of people miss god yeah because they're too outcome outcome-oriented and don't steward the purpose right or the process right well enough absolutely absolutely okay i think that was that was jesus issue with the disciples absolutely because he is the walking word himself absolutely they're walking with him but don't have the patience to learn the whole process of him he's showing them things over and over again they keep missing it and missing it and missing it yeah yeah they're like the people in the crowd yeah many are contacting him but only one touchdown yes it's how you touch how you touch them i this may make some sense to some people we're so process oriented that we miss the revelation when jesus tells the disciples let's cross over on the other side to the other side so the other side in the text is the unknown i believe the storm combined with the unseen is what caused the disciples to panic yeah yeah not realizing that instead of us striving to get to the other side we ought to strive to have a boat yeah that will carry us across our lakes what is that boat faith faith is the thing god has given us to carry us across our personal lakes into the place that he has promised even though we can't see it now right substance of things hoped for evidence of things not seen so i've got faith and i've got a word coming from jesus when the storm comes up it can get dark as it wants to the unseen is still unseen but the word says i'm going to make it to the other side so we have to become more faith-oriented and think of it as faith is my book that gets me across my private lakes yeah in stormy times and good times because god is god speaks to faith so we can go a little further was he really talking to the disciples in the moment of the uh when he said let us pass over let's pass over he talking to everything the boat the decision we all gonna get over there i think the main message was too bad we all don't get over this good because because he speaks to faith yeah and the boat had more faith than the disciples did at that moment there's no record of the boat sinking nothing happened nothing the boat was the boat was fine the boat was fine it was the human beings that had the problem yeah let's go to hebrews chapter nine let's see what happens here okay hebrews chapter nine let's go up to verse four and see well let's talk at verse one because i need to draw an analogy here that may be a stretch but i think it'll make sense then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary okay ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary just recently we had a conversation about how certain principles in the old testament made it unchanged to the new testament one of those was worship what happened was in god's eyes worship never changed the same principles in the old testament absolutely made it through calvary are present right now but i think our position in worship may have morphed into an error over time and what i mean by that is this i can't find too many references if any in the bible where worship is not seen as ministering to god in his sanctuary i'm wondering how much of worship now is about us when the whole point of worship is me going in and ministering to him take a little further go ahead because if ministering and sacrifice are all in the same boat yes sir in the very first time we see the word worship in scripture it's tied to a sacrifice absolutely when government abraham took isaac with mountain he said we're going to go up and worship i'm going to make this sacrifice as an act of worship because it's a part of words because it's a part of worship so worship is communal in its nature i get you can worship on your own in the car but it's more powerful and it's meant to be a community why do you think god's called so many feasts congregations yeah yeah you know and and and the bible calls it the sacrifice of praise now we say that kind of cliche but a sacrifice means you're inconvenienced or you're giving god something you rather keep for yourself so the fruit of our lips yeah we're giving him that yeah but but the foundational piece of that is that we find ourselves giving him praise but is it sacrificial so it seems like you're implying i'll use one of your fragrances that worship is more about how i feel in the moment there you go rather than how i'm making god we can use this phrase how i mean how am i making god feel in the moment because we make praise and worship about our comfort when's my song when he gonna sing my songs him making me feel good versus me making him feel good which in turn makes him make me feel good yes sir and and in reality is is that we are prone to praise and worship based on how we feel i just don't feel like it today so i'll sit up in church with my hands folded or i'm in a bad mood not knowing that he has given us the gift of worship and praise yeah to lift that mood off of us you know like james christmas says um after worship yeah in the spirit there ought to be some ashes behind you yeah something there would be some ashes where you standing in church or where you're where where you're sitting in church there ought to be some ashes there because something got burned off yeah when you offered yourself as a sacrifice of praise absolutely absolutely all right let's keep going all right and they're talking about divine service and a worldly sanctuary where there was a tabernacle made the first wherein was the candlestick and the table and the shoe bread which is called the sanctuary after the second veil the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all and here comes which had the golden sensor here it is and the ark of the covenant overlaid roundabout with gold wherein was a golden pot that had manna and aaron's rod that budded and the tables or the words of the covenant okay so the ark represented the humanity and the divinity of jesus it also represented based on the contents god's promise of provision and it also represented based on the contents the fulfilled promises of god and it had the covenant so speaking of the covenant relationship explained to mankind right this is the ten commandments this is our covenant relationship this is how we're going to relate to one another the priests carry the ark like we should carry our bibles yes because the bible also contains reminds us of the immediate presence of god of his unfailing promise and a word he magnified yes so this is my ark yes because it reminds me of who he is it's the carrier of resurrection yes yes sir yeah it's the thing that when i open it when i approach it if i approach it in the right spirit i'm entering a dimension that takes me or transforms my worldly sanctuary into a divine service yep yep because you can't have a relationship with god without the word there you go there you go let's go to john chapter 3 verse 20. as we start to tie these together how much time we got we're doing good got about 16 minutes john chapter 3 verse 20. all right now just to lift something up let's see what you have to say about this for everyone that doeth evil hates light neither comes to the light lester's deeds should be reproved or become convicted but he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in god so light has no problem with darkness jesus is saying to us we need to expose our inner darkness to the light of his word it seems to imply that when i'm reading god's word i'm letting light into the dark places in my life now we're talking about this because there has to be this understanding that i've had a full revelation of his word if i want to get a word from the lord yeah i've got to see it as light i've got to see it as promise i've got to see it as provision i've got to see this covenant relationship i've got to see it as all the things that god has saying his word is i've got to see the salvation as deliverance restoration healing breakthrough this is what this salvation is all about so jesus is saying here that my life will have no problem with your darkness and it is up to me to expose myself my inner darkness to the light of god's word so that i if you will will not become a black hole for light right jesus along with what you're saying is saying y'all know y'all wrong yes she said that's why you avoid it you stay away from you stay away from it because in order to get to those breakthroughs this place yeah the light has to shine on your door let's let's go to luke because we about to see it it won't be implied when we get over here luke chapter 11 verse 33 no man when he has lighted a candle put it in a secret place neither under a bushel a bucket but on a candlestick that they which come in may see the light here comes the light of the body is the eye therefore when your eye is single when it's focused your whole body also is full of light but when your eye is evil thy body also is full of darkness oh boy so when we read this word jesus is saying we're letting light in so when i don't read it i'm either comfortable with my darkness or i don't think i need it at all and self-righteousness to the context that you don't want to read the word of god only when it preached to you but don't want to read it yourself is almost the beginning of a stronghold absolutely okay because if james says if the word is a mirror and a light it's exposure which explains why some people will skip certain sundays because a certain series is being preached oh yeah because it's exposing oh yeah oh yeah we we call that um condemning preaching you know that when you're really telling talking to people about the things they're struggling with many christians love that you know because they want to get better when they get stronger but some people are shy away absolutely you doing you're doing certain i know when i've done certain series i haven't seen folk for three or four weeks because your job is to make me happy make me feel good yeah yeah which means they're using the word like a narcotic rather than a transformation yep yep they're gonna get lifted they won't get high get high but not be transformed so so jesus let us know the bible will dispel the darkness that's in us because the word is consistent with his son jesus it is a light in a dark world it's light to a dark mind and we know the devil's purpose is to keep our minds darkened he doesn't want the light to get in because he realizes once light gets in there yeah the game's over right yeah so this word will dispel darkness now this is important not only will it dispel inner darkness but if you declare it by faith it will dis it will dispel outer darkness also so so this this word this light kind of recovers lost things this is what blows my mind so once i start getting this light i start to recover things that i've lost over time okay go to luke chapter 15. okay we get almost getting there luke chapter 15. something we've seen before we're going to look at a little differently go down to verse 8. either what woman having 10 pieces of silver if she lost one piece doth not light a candle sweep the house and seek diligently till she find it and when she had found it she called her friends and her neighbors together saying rejoice with me for i have found the peace which i had lost so the purpose of this inner darkness is to hide something valuable the devil does not want you to rediscover so it's in there yeah but he knows if he can keep it dark right you won't find it absolutely but we've got to be intentional yeah about reading this word so what was lost that joy that was lost at one time that strength that was lost at one time that peace that was lost at one time is rediscovered absolutely the bible is such that um the bible god wants the word to be a light to your soul wants it to be a light to your mind but also i think he wants to be a light to emotion because the bible has a tendency to divide things um soul in the spirit marrow from the bone um what the word will do is help us get past what we think yeah and discover what is right and that's a major issue for us yes to get us past what we think now the problem is i'm not sure we understand the flow of the word and what i mean by that is this the word flows from god by way of the holy ghost so it flows from the holy ghost to our spirit and then it's supposed to come out of our mouth because what we have received from the spirit was supposed to declare not for the world you know a lot for us and perhaps someone that god is assigned to hear what we have to say right so our union with christ is a key principle for hearing accurately yeah from the lord right the closer i am to him the more familiar his voice will be yes you know i don't want to be like mary in the garden when she was so stressed out he was talking to her and he didn't know it was her she didn't know it was him until he said her name yeah it's me it's like yo you know mary so the importance of relationship with jesus i think is is where we're going okay uh this this his commands our love for him and his and what he says and our obedience so when we look at john 15 we don't have to go there there's this relationship between the vine and the branch now what i discovered it it is a great great illustration of the union between jesus and a believer and that when the vine and the branch are maturing they get to a point where you can't tell them apart yeah they are thoroughly integrated if you will thoroughly grafted in they appear to be inseparable right they almost appear to be infused they appear if you will they appear to be incarnate with one another right yeah so you can't really tell the difference one from the another there there's an a common experience okay so when i have this union i believe it begins to set me up to get a word in season right absolutely all right let's go to proverbs 15. right people always ask how can i how can i hear from god yeah relationship first yeah it we want to start with him speaking to us but we got we have to begin with the union that we have with us knowing him and how familiar his voices does it's like um who is that i think it's elijah sitting in the storm oh yeah yeah and it says it's still small voice in all that confusion he recognized when the divine voice was talking to him proverbs 15 verse 23 says a man hath joy by the answer of his mouth and a word spoken in due season how good is it yeah lord have mercy a word in season a word here we go for the moment that we're in right now in the bible a moment is not what we're thinking 60 seconds a moment in the bible has no real beginning and has no end so you could be in a week where you are you could be in a month where you are you could in a situation you could be in a year where you are but god is saying i've got a word for that season right but it doesn't come necessarily because the season is inconvenient it comes because i'm in union right with him and here's the deal jeremiah was asked basically tell me what you see so i can tell you heard what i said yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah that's what everybody said yeah that's what he said he saw it so now i'll make sure because i'm gonna give you a word for the moment you're living yeah wow for the space of time you're living let's go to isaiah i want to show you something that i found isaiah um chapter 50. isaiah 50. just to add a little support to this word as we get ready to go forward laying a foundation today um for how to find how to get a word from the lord isaiah 50 go down to verse four it says the lord has given me the tongue of the learning that i should know these are real important words how to speak a word in season to him that is weary wait a minute is part of the reason we can't get a word is because we personalize it now understanding when i get a word it fortifies me to encourage somebody else it's like favor perhaps we don't have that uncommon faith because we want it for ourselves when favor is actually given to a human being to impact the lives of other people around you yeah so i we look at favor almost like as a personal gift from god my promotion my grades watch what happens now so his word well this is amazing to me a word in season to him that is weary yep he awakeneth morning by morning he awakeneth my ear to hear as the learning so so so the more i hear from him the more schooled i am at hearing from him the lord god hath opened my ear my mind watch this and i was not rebellious neither turned away yeah it's interesting because usually when i need to hear from god this is just me okay i go to sleep yes sir and when i wake up it's like i got it it always that that opening always of your flesh not being able to fight oh you first wake up always when they say sleep on it you sleep on it i i'm encouraged yeah me too i'm encouraged the other time i hear from him is when i'm walking yeah yep you know i can recall being away and and walking like 10 miles a day i had to start carrying a tape recorder with me because it was dropping so fast but he opened my ear during that time that i was spending with him yep because i'm out walking like an hour hour and a half yeah you know five miles another hour and a half two months another another five miles and during that time it's just me and him and i'm and what's weird is i'm waiting for the download yeah because you used to you know i start walking this like yeah boom boom boom boom boom okay here it comes yeah and sometimes i miss my marks to turn okay because i'm so thoroughly engrossed in what he's saying right yeah and that's good to hear for people who because people ask questions for those who can't just sit and relax their brains some people activity relaxes your brain while you're washing the dishes uh practicing the presence of god while you're vacuuming the floor just yeah you're spending time with god in that moment because in that moment you're not overly distracted surrounded but not distracted and sometimes the environment that you're in becomes the cushion between you and the stresses and the circumstances that you're going through so so his word his light shows us the way we got one minute so there's two kinds of revelation general revelation and specific now this is going to be important revelation tells you how specific revelation tells you who or what okay so general revelation will tell me how to be a friend specific revelation will tell me who to be a friend with general revelation will tell me how to love right specific revelation will tell me who to love general revelation will tell me how to get a job specific revelation will tell me which job to take yes general revelation will tell you how to be married specific revelation will tell you who to marry yeah yeah so we said all of that the later foundation on how do i get a word from the lord and these are the things we're going to discuss over the next three weeks okay praise be entering his presence right prayer pray about what you're going to pray about and proclamation study the word thoroughly read the word search it for specific guidance concerning what you need god to say to you yeah now the last thing i want to say is this bible is more than words go to revelation chapter 4. it's more than words revelation chapter four let's take a look at verse one and two after this i looked and behold a door was opened in heaven look at that discernment and the first voice which i heard was as it were a trumpet talking to me yeah which said come up either shift and i will show you things which must be hereafter and immediately i was in the spirit and behold a throne was set in heaven and one sat on the throne so there's this shift that has to occur and we're going to begin to teach on what that shift is and how that shift is experienced i think we're going to take people on a journey and praise next week that perhaps has not been seen by many before and we're going to actually get to the point where we have to understand that i have to minister to god to hear from god yeah and that that praise is not about me yeah but it's about being in his presence so i can hear his voice so it sounds like a trumpet directed at me yeah in other words there's no mistaking it it's clarion it's clear and it's calling me yeah that's elijah yeah i need a word send the mystery yes sir and as he played yes sir the word just he was upset when he said that yep you know and they and that's one of the reasons that they that david used to play for saul because all of his minds all jacked up his emotions all crazy they would come in here and play something for me yeah because worship will soothe the bible the old folks say the sin sick soul yeah yep it's amazing how i'm believing god for the people the next couple weeks that getting a word from the lord will not be a mystery anymore but what i'm sure of this i want to challenge the folks that are going to be going with us on this journey that the hard part is the process of getting that word yeah the praise part i believe everyone will fall into the prayer part i think we've been teaching on prayer for the last year but that searching that word consistently concerning what you're praying about and then not turning your ear away or turning your back when you see it discovering not what we think but what is as it relates yeah to god's will for us even if you don't like the word yeah you may want the outcome but he may show you a process that you may not want to go through absolutely but it's going to get you to the destination and the other thing is that if god is going to speak to you through some repetitive things the word will support that and you will see it vividly absolutely and he'll ask you a question just like you asked jeremiah what do you see based on what i've said to you what do you see because words produce vision yeah in the heart and mind of a believer yeah it's going to be cool yeah go ahead man all right so um i'm excited about this it's gonna be cool so those of you who are so glad you joined us today um especially specifically those of you who don't know jesus for yourself um really what we've been talking a lot about is relationship this journey this walk of salvation is about relationship uh it's about coming to know the god of your salvation it's not just not just knowing the scriptures it's not the god of the scriptures i remember taking a class in college my bible teacher at a university wasn't even saved he knew the letter of the text but didn't know the god of the text wow so we're not just teaching you so you know the written part the written part is great but if you know that with absence of knowing the god behind the word and he wrote it so we would know him wrote it for us to know him yeah this is how he chose to reveal himself yeah and we're not teaching you a spooky way where you get it through osmosis it's getting the bible and god will show you he's already said what he wants to say to you all you have to do is read this it's searching yeah so come into a relationship with god i love jesus he finds people where they are he called his disciples and said follow me and you'll become join me on this journey walk with me i am the word and watch your life turn around watch it change the change begins this evening if you need to come into a relationship with jesus christ we invite you to do so put your name in the comment section someone from our team will connect with you they should be posting a link in there now and reaching out to you if you want to be saved for the first time this particular message really connected with you yeah it hit home in this season you need to know how to live how to operate your life the psalmist says teach us to number our days so we can apply our hearts to wisdom and show me that this life is not forever so every decision i make is actually important it's critical it's critical yeah teaching me the number of my day so i can apply my hearts to wisdom critical decisions are being faced with face critical decisions every day right now you're faced with one and that's the relationship with jesus christ come on make that connection uh he would love to have you and he welcomes you with open arms and you know what it's redundant but it's so powerful the whosoever nature of his call the fact that he knows all about you and still loves you and still wants you that has always been such a reassuring part of salvation that he's not calling a stranger you you might be he might be strange to you but you're not strange to him yeah and he he loves you with the kind of love that we're not used to and he he desires a relationship not just you having knowledge of him but to know him and that knowledge impacting the way you live your life and it's really just time to tear up your own management contract of your life yeah and just turn it over to him yeah yeah and watch the difference begin to be made absolutely absolutely your change doesn't begin with your own strength it begins with god through the word of god that's really what happens uh for those of you who need to rededicate your life you got saved at one point in time and for some reason you disconnected you've gotten to a crisis possibly and just went off and decided to leave god or you know you got caught up in sin which all of us happens to all of us every now and then you start something and all of a sudden it starts at one time and you on and on you keep feeding it and it grows sheep beat with their heads down they're more concerned with feeding their desires than paying attention to where they're going yeah we don't usually backslide all at once it's a slow walk away feeding our desires while not paying attention to the shepherd and then one day the sheep looks up and recognizes they're away from the shed away from the flock and here's the wonderful thing about god luke 15 he leaves the 90-9 to go find the yes sir because when the sheep do not know how to come back the shepherd knows how to find them they're coming to get you he knows where you are and tonight he has come to get you and what's amazing is the sheep not only is lost but does not know the way back so the shepherd has to lift him up and carry him back to the place and uh tradition says that the shepherd would keep the sheep in the house with him now there's a rough part of this because the shepherd would break the legs of the sheep which required him to carry the sheep back home and would keep the sheep in the house with him while his legs or her legs heal and that relationship would be formed after the brokenness was healed yeah and then the sheep no longer wandered away because of that connection yes sir yeah but it doesn't happen without some brokenness yeah and you come in and you make life may have broken you um david says in uh psalm 51 make the bones that you have broken rejoice again after he failed and made a big mistake the lord is going to use that that's what i love about the prodigal son story along with that he didn't chastise him when he came home he just said come on back yeah you know you look beat up already he was broke he looked bad enough just come on back in here it's a bad shape right we can't help why it happened we just know that you can come back yeah make that reconnection to god start walking with them again yeah um we can't promise you a perfect life but we can promise you that we serve the perfect one uh so please put your name in the comments section someone from our team will connect with you you need to be safe for the first time recommit your life to the lord put your name in the comments section for those of you who want to connect to this church in a more intimate way you've been watching us for a while since the pandemic or even before the pandemic you want to become a member of bethany church whether you're distant or you're local you can connect with us if you're local continue watching online connect with us virtually when we open up uh you'll be back driving service you can pull on up sure we're working on that now uh if you're distant we have a virtual church for you not just you watch on sunday and wednesday and that's it involved you're involved and you're connected you're involved and you're connected and if that's you you want to make a connection to uh bethany church we would love for you to connect with us it really does matter where you go to church especially now during this season it matters who's feeding you who you're connected to and we can't believe that lie where i can do this individually i don't need a church i got it's me and god there's nowhere in scripture where it says it's just me and god this walk is a communal wall god is calling a community of people he calls individuals to create communities that's all throughout scripture and he's not he's not this season that we're in if we're if we feel ourselves moving away or if you've gone through a rough season in life and all of a sudden now you feel like well you know i don't have to go to church the rest of that text after forsaking out the assembling of ourselves together addresses the fact that during these types of times ought to want you to con congregate more be more communal not less yeah so this is not a step back season this is a step up season yeah so even those of you that are far away from us we have our virtual church with our connections church get involved step up step in yeah at connections church will feed you people all over the nation are having a great time in our connection shirts our monday night classes our tuesday morning saturday classes bible studies lifestyle ministries you can't get you can get it better just come on and be a part of what we're doing you'll enjoy it so put your name in the comments section some someone from our team will connect with you and while they're doing that we always give doing this uh yeah all right we're going to pray we're going to pray prayer so why don't we go to the icon right now take out that significant seed something that's a sacrifice something that inconveniences you something i always say that i would rather keep for myself give that to god right now go to the icon on the screen however you're comfortable with whichever one with your text to give give the five whichever one appeals to you but right now is the time for you to sow into this word faith and obedience are activity measured faith without works is dead obedience the lack of god sees as a lack of love for him so why don't you right now go to the icon sow that seed somebody's saying what should i sow what's the sacrifice to you what here it is what do you need to sacrifice to show god you trust him because if i give him something that means nothing to me i'm not trusting him with that seed what would you give god right now that you have to trust god to help you something you rather keep for yourself so that's it that could be 50 could be a hundred for some of you it could be 200 whatever that is make sure it's something you would rather keep something that you feel when it leaves you something that shows god i am sacrificed i'm not just giving this i'm sacrificing this something that you have planned for something else watch god move on in yeah and while you're doing that we have some quick announcements don't forget bishop's parables class starts on may the 13th okay go to our website go to bethany.com go to bethany.com you can register there again that starts on may the 13th now this sunday is women's day praise the lord um our guest preachers reverend shalita okay uh will be with us this uh this sunday ladies don't forget your assessment seventy-five dollars and we invite the men to participate too absolutely um they can't do it without us yeah they can do yeah um so it won't be a women's day without the men so we just complete completely understand that appraisal we come to support and help that's this sunday may the second um we're off the discussion this sunday the women are taking over okay um the ladies are doing a discussion in between led by reverend prescott and uh mobility others okay um so we're gonna be in the back just watching and okay yeah we're sitting back and watching yes and laughing to ourselves and you know then we'll come back next week show them how to do it you know yeah you know yeah let them do it this sunday so we're getting a head shake right now yeah yeah so so they got it um also it is con first sunday we're doing communion at six o'clock wow make sure you tune in and this month going forward we're just going to keep giving out the uh random elements to bread and wine all right okay on this saturday from 12 to 5 this saturday from 12 to 5 you can pull up to the church around this side the non-security side they'll pass i believe so they'll pass them out also on sunday from 12 to 3. especially a lot of our seniors love you so we'll keep it going sure come to the church saturday 12-5 sunday 12-3 pick them up for communion on uh this sunday and i think maybe in another month we'll be ready to do our virtual baptism yes working on that now yeah yeah yeah virtual baptism you'll like it yeah we're doing a virtual uh baby dedication this saturday so all of our connections members we're getting the baby is down we're getting the baptisms down you're going to love it yeah it's going to be cool we have two security positions open here at the church um if you're interested and have experience call six seven 856-782-6770 six again eight five six seven eight two six seven seven six one more time one more time slow down eight five six seven eight two six seven seven six eight five six seven eight two six seven seven six for the security position okay of course we're doing a copy vaccine shots on the 14th right the link is on our sites moderna moderna shots on the sites you can get it there um talk to the person that's run it today again that's the 14th of may sign up on our sites now embrace classes uh because of the pandemic people have cycled through in less than a year because they're taking monday tuesday and saturday sure so we're working on a virtual graduation for our embrace class okay uh yeah we literally hit back um well so if you finish all your classes email pastoral care pastoral care p-a-s-t-o-r-a-l pastoral care at go to bethany.com we've been talking about for a few months of virtual graduation so we're going to create it make it real nice make it real cool we usually have dinner you can eat at home make it look real cool and for those those of you our members that have been here for a long time that have not done embrace class no excuse now no excuses it's all on zoom no excuse or you started and you didn't finish some of y'all y'all admitted to us they said yeah nah i never finished it yeah yeah you know i get home at six o'clock from work up you all right you all right just get right go on your computer go in your seven o'clock come online come on i don't know so to get that link call pastor prescott to church extension 107. okay now last announcement we'll pray mother's day is coming up we need video submissions tributes to your mother shout outs um how much you appreciate her we're doing some um tribute videos also for those whose mothers went on to be with the lord if you want to participate in that send us a video shout out a picture email us at social go to bethany.com social go to bethany.com last year all after 11 o'clock service we did a whole bunch of tribute videos we're gonna have a panel a month mother's day at six o'clock yeah um with mothers and grandmothers and the whole gamut yeah and it's gonna be pretty cool so we're getting ready for that now please send the information there cool even in the pandemic we are still busy churches never sleeps right and that was me cutting some announcements out lord have mercy you don't pray you want me well i do pray last time i pray for you you should be out of breath so there are several requests there's bridget there's phil there's ada so many more that i received this week yeah shirley and catania and brenda so many others yeah father thank you right now for this amazing opportunity to speak to you to call on you to give your glory just for who you are thank you that your father a good father great father thank you that you have given us a savior you that you shared your spirit with us [Music] thank you for being the keeper of our souls now god i pray for those that have sent their requests in and those who are watching right now who said to themselves oh i wish i had sent mine in include them now because of their intention in the name of jesus i give you praise i give you honor and i give you glory because you cannot lie you do all things well and lord i am speaking that word tonight you said those things that have been prolonged will be prolonged no more that healing is coming right now as we speak that job situation corrected in the name of jesus family situation corrected lord in jesus name the weight of responsibility lord where strength is needed you supply the strength right now people that we're concerned about their emotional state their mental state lord send your spirit to give peace send your love release your love on them that they would get the comfort that they need clear their minds from that confusion well those who have suffered from covenant and are still dealing with the after effects lord we speak regeneration restoration strength brand new and healing in jesus name complete healing and delivery from that disease god clear that mind so they can function again pray for those that we know and those who are not aware of but we know you lord so we know you can do it now we declare by faith we agree by faith and we agree with your word you're a healer and a deliverer the breakthrough that you promised is the breakthrough we're declaring now in jesus name your hand on them so there'll be no mistake no confusion that it was you in this moment that changed their lives that answered their prayer stop the weight and now the breakthrough has come and i thank you in jesus name amen god bless you now see you next time tell somebody about us how to get a word from the lord you

Channel: Bishop David G. Evans

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Length: 92min 43sec (5563 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 28 2021