How are you guys this morning? Praise God.
You know, I want to do something before we get into the message.
I want to be very sensitive of time.
I know that every time that I come up to speak, everybody's like, oh, man,
we got to get ready. We got to get ready.
Pastor Igor is going to go afternoon.
But you guys know what I stand by. I never like to waste time,
nor do I like my time wasted.
So if you ever seriously feel like I'm wasting your time,
then come up and tell me. Won't offend me. Trust me, you won't offend me.
But I want to do something. Because I know that announcements are phenomenal,
Pastor. Thank you for all the announcements. But I want to do something.
I want us to posture our hearts towards the Lord once again.
Because sometimes our attention span is like, you know, we look at our kids,
and we're like, why can't you pay attention?
But in reality, it's like, I feel like we as adults, grown adults,
can lose our attention span on the Lord.
So I want to take just a little bit as Brian is going to be in the keys here.
I just want us to position our hearts. Just do this.
Acknowledge him. Because he has settled this morning. He really has.
You can close your eyes. You can stand. You can sit, kneel, whatever.
We're just going to take a little bit and we're going to acknowledge
that he is with us this morning, that he's leading the service.
So Holy Spirit, we thank you.
We thank you, Holy Spirit, that you lift up Jesus.
We thank you, that you are wooing us in Holy Spirit.
You are wooing us into the beauty of Jesus and who he is and what he's done.
I believe, Lord, you do want to meet us this morning and you have,
but there's facets of you that you want to show us personally, Lord.
It's as if though, Lord, you are calling us to that Mount Sinai,
to meet with us face to face this morning.
And you're wanting, you're wanting to mark our hearts.
You're wanting to mark our spirits this morning.
So we just, we turn our attention to you, Lord.
You're the reason.
Help us, Holy Spirit, this morning.
Help us this morning.
Oh, we need your help this morning, Lord.
Our helper and our counselor help us.
If you agree with me that we need the Holy Spirit to help us this morning,
can you just say amen with me?
If you have your Bibles, you can play the keys if you don't mind,
because I don't know if I'm going to be speaking long.
I really feel the Lord wanting to, to minister to people this morning.
I don't know how he's going to do it, but I just feel like he wants to.
If you have your Bibles, open up to Luke 18.
Starting at verse one.
I want to talk about something, and then I want to transition to the thing
that I believe the Lord is really, really emphasizing on.
I want us to understand this.
That what God is doing, and what God has promised to do,
I'm specifically talking about for this local body.
What we've been in, the transition, the shift, the, the,
the different things that we've been in the vein of since,
I should say even before Open Heavens, Pastor.
God bless you.
I want us to understand this.
It's not just a good idea.
It's not just, oh, that sounds like a great idea.
I want us as a body of Christ, as this local body,
as this spiritual family right here to really catch that.
I want us to really catch that.
Because it's not just a good idea.
It's not just something that...
It's not just something that Pastor Vernon, Pastor Mary,
came up with as an idea, and they're like,
hey cool, let's call this our vision.
This is something that the Lord wants.
This is something that his heart desires.
And we as a body, we need to catch that.
And when I say catch it,
you got to get past the fact that it's an idea.
When you catch something,
you begin to prioritize your life around it, you do.
Do you know when I know that people live
for the Lord as just an idea,
he's just an accessory?
Is when your life ain't changing,
and what I mean by that,
you're not prioritizing your life around the Lord.
But you're trying to fit him into your life,
and you're saying, yeah man, God is good.
But truly, when you catch that he's good.
That he bled on the cross.
Your life begins to change and shift.
You can't deny it.
So I want to talk about something today of what we...
of what we as a body have been in for a while.
And I want to explain something to you.
What God is doing in this house
is not just our house that's a part of this.
My wife and I, Tanya, we have very close friends of ours,
and they live in a different state,
and we recently spent some quality, quality time with them.
And I'm not going to share their names,
I'm not going to say maybe sometime you guys will meet them,
but so you know, these are very credible people
in the body of Christ on a national level.
Part of one of the biggest ministries that has been in the world.
And still is.
They're very dear friends of ours,
and they're one of the main people in this ministry.
They were like, they were right there.
Their ability to see things and have connections around,
I'll say America, they have more than just America.
But as we met with them and they were talking
and we were just sharing, you know,
what God is doing in our local body,
and they began to share with us what God is doing
on a bigger picture.
When I say bigger picture,
it's not that we're not important,
it's sometimes when you're stuck in a bubble,
like you're here in the rural area, thank you.
You don't always see, see my wife comes in
and she corrects me right away.
When you're stuck in a bubble
and you're believing God, you're knowing this is God,
but not actually realizing that God,
you're doing this more than just here.
You're doing this across the nation.
And it's so encouraging.
It's so encouraging when you sit with other believers
that are hot after God,
that have seen some things
and they begin to share with you
and they say, hey, listen,
what you guys are going through
is actually not just something
that you guys are going through.
God is, it's like he's handpicking churches.
And what I mean by handpicking is that churches
that have stood on the word of God
in despite of the adversary and the enemy,
they've just stood, they've just remained.
And these are the churches that God
is finding trust and faith in.
Churches that have not just countered their vision
as a good idea,
but churches that have caught the vision
that God has birthed.
Why? Because it's something that's dear to him.
This is happening across the body of Christ.
And as we were sitting and we were talking
with our friends, he said something
that was both alarming and encouraging.
He said, you know, right now
in the non-denominational churches,
our circle of churches,
spirit-filled churches, full gospel churches,
he said, right now, those churches across the world,
let me just keep it on a national level,
on just America.
Not a national, the American level.
He said,
he said, they are experiencing a great crisis.
And I said, what do you mean by that?
He goes, the older generation
has nobody to replace them.
He said, we have
in non-denominational churches right now
that are experiencing a great crisis
because the younger generation,
specifically the millennials,
he said, the older generation
doesn't have anybody to pass the baton down to.
It's a great crisis
that the non-denominational churches
are experiencing right now.
Literally as I'm speaking,
I'm sure there is pastors of your generation
that are crying out to the Lord to raise up young people,
that they can trust
to pass the baton on.
Can I share a story that me and you had?
Personally, it's nothing like super crazy, but...
But no, no, no, I'm trying to,
I'm trying to draw you something here
of why I understand that generation.
And it's not just me, there's other people that do.
But when me and Pastor Verne and Pastor Mayor Antonia,
when we talked
and we were talking about some really good things,
this is before we were even on staff,
I remember the words you told me.
You said, this is my baby right here.
This is the vision that God has given me.
I put myself in their place.
I'm sorry, I'm just, I really feel the Lord.
I'm not emotional just because I'm really,
not really an emotional guy.
I just feel the Lord this morning.
There's this tenderness of him this morning.
And I remember when Pastor told me, he said,
this is my, this vision, it's not just the church,
though the church is the manifestation of the vision.
But he said, this is my baby.
He said, I've raised it.
He said, I've raised it.
So I look at it from their perspective
of the older generation, when God calls them
to carry a vision.
And when your time comes to hand it off,
you're not just going to hand it off
to some average Joe that walks in
and just because he operates in the giftings,
you're going to give it to him.
You're not going to do that.
So there's this great crisis
that's going across the body of Christ right now
where there's no replacements.
This is both scary and encouraging at the same time,
because you know what that tells me?
That tells me that the shift is going on,
not just here, but across the body of Christ.
Young people listen to me.
Listen to me, young people.
What is about to be handed down to us
is not something we should take lightly.
Listen to me, please, young people.
What's about to be handed down to us
is not something that we should take lightly.
But treat it as if though you are a father
that is... I'm sorry, put it this way.
As if though you were a man
that is about to receive a woman
and the father is giving her away.
You understanding my analogy?
It's hard for a father to give away his daughter
into another man's hands.
I sought with my dad for some reason.
He didn't cry at my wedding or any of my brother's weddings,
but all six of my sisters that got married,
my father was weeping.
I'm like, dad!
Thank God I got boys.
But we are in a literally across the body.
There is a shift that's taken place,
and we are a part of it.
That's encouraging for me.
That's really encouraging for me.
And it's not a man's doing,
but it's God doing it.
He also told me something that blew my socks off
and it put a fear of the Lord on me.
He said, you know, he said about 20 years ago
he said that denominational churches
experience the exact same thing.
The Catholics, the Lutherans, the Baptist,
all these churches that put a denomination on them.
And he goes, you know what happened to a lot of these churches
across the nation?
He said their doors are closed,
because 20 years ago they had nobody to replace them.
That puts the fear of the Lord on me.
You know why?
Me and my wife were just talking about this yesterday.
If we don't do this thing right,
if we don't follow the Lord in this shift,
in this transition,
not only will our doors be closed,
but more than that,
my wife said it, she said,
we're gonna shame the Lord.
Think about that.
This is far more than just doors being closed.
We have people that call themselves Christians,
that call themselves following the Lord,
but then they did not steward the shift correctly
20 years ago,
and now they're at a place where their doors are closed,
but more than that, the world looks at them
and the Lord is shamed in it.
There is a shame that we would put on the Lord
if we don't do this thing right.
And there's a fear of the Lord on it,
because this is not just the emphasis
on just the younger, just the younger.
The older is just as important.
Please get that through your heads.
Please get that through your heads.
That the older generation is as important as the younger,
because it's a dual-generational shift
that's taking place.
It's simply a repositioning.
I don't know how else to say it.
John the Baptist sees Jesus.
And he says it's time for me to decrease
so that he can increase.
It's not that John's like,
okay, you know, cool, I'm out of the picture.
It wasn't long after that he got beheaded,
but that's not the point.
The point is that there is a transitional shift.
Hey, I don't know, man. He's laughing.
There's this transitional shift
of simply one stepping in front of the other.
Not better. One's not better. One's not worse.
It's simply the way that God is wanting to lead this next thing.
And who knows?
In 20, 30 years, I could find myself
and my generation being the generation
that's handing the baton off to my children.
That's the way that I'm thinking.
People ask, how do you and Passover relate so well?
Because I can see a lot of things from his side.
I choose. Let me say it this way.
I choose to see a lot of things from his side.
I choose it.
Because I'm imagining, when I'm his age,
when I'm his and Pastor Mary's age, me and my wife,
and we have to hand what God has asked us to do
for multiple, for decades,
I think a bit about it from that side.
So younger generation, would you have that in mind?
Would you have that in mind
what you are about to receive
looking at it from a perspective of an older generation
how would I respond? How would I act?
An older generation, you gotta get supportive.
You gotta get behind some of this stuff
because things will change, things will shift,
not because man wants to do it
because God is leading it this way.
So this is happening across the body of Christ.
The shift.
This great shift that's taking place.
It's happening. It's been happening.
It's what my friend told me when we were sitting with him.
We talked about so many other things.
We sat for what? Over three hours with him.
I'm not gonna share all of it,
but this is where I wanna make the emphasis.
In Luke 18,
this is something the Lord has been burning
on my heart for a while, and
last weekend,
it's like...
I need you to talk about this.
Because technically today, I was supposed to be talking
about betrayal or accusation and betrayal.
But as pastor, I said,
I think I need to take a little bit of a detour
because the Lord needs to talk about this.
This is his heart for right now.
Luke 18.1.
Jesus is speaking a parable
about a persistent widow.
Then he spoke a parable to them
that men always ought to pray
and not lose heart, saying
there was a certain city
there was in a certain city
a judge who did not fear God
nor regard man.
Remember that.
Now there was a widow in that city
and she came to him saying,
get justice for me,
for my adversary.
And he would not for a while.
But afterward, he said within himself,
though I do not fear God
nor regard man,
yet because
this widow troubles me,
I will avenge her,
lest by her continual coming
she will weary me.
Yet by her continual coming
she will weary me.
How many of us
As soon as we don't see our faith
manifest to the physical realm,
we stop
and we begin to doubt ourselves
was that really even God?
Maybe that wasn't God, I don't know.
But this widow is dealing with
an unjust judge.
He's unjust, doesn't regard
God nor regard man.
And she continues to be persistent
and continues to go to him.
And because of her persistency,
because she continually is coming,
you'll give her the justice.
But now listen to this.
Then the Lord said, this is Jesus talking.
He says, hear what the unjust judge said.
And shall not God
and shall God not avenge
his own elect who cry out
day and night to him.
Though he bears long with them,
I tell you
that he will avenge them speedily.
And this is where the Lord
really directed my heart.
He says, nevertheless,
when the Son of Man comes,
will he really find faith on the earth?
He says, nevertheless,
when the Son of Man comes,
will he find faith on the earth?
You know, the Bible says that without faith,
you actually can't even please God.
Literally, the author in Hebrews writes that.
He says, without faith, you can't please him.
You know, it's so easy.
I'm getting someone here, follow me.
It's so easy to believe for things
that aren't really that big.
It's so easy to believe things
when we may have seen a hint of it.
But I believe God is looking for faith,
and I'm specifically now talking to this house.
I believe God is looking for faith in this house
that is so stretched.
A faith that is so great
that we would look at that building
that we're still looking to build and we're saying,
God, I don't know how you're going to do it,
but I know you need it.
And I'm going to be that persistent widow
that's going to keep coming to you
and reminding you, God, it's not that I need it,
it's not that you need it.
I'm going to say again what Pastor Vern said,
because some of you need to hear this.
We're not building that building for ourselves
because Pastor Vern even said this.
He said, I'm sorry, I'm at that age
where I don't want to go through another building project.
Didn't you say that, Pastor?
I'm saying that to tell you
that this is more than just an idea
or a desire, it's something that God needs.
And the Lord is searching for faith.
I believe the Spirit of God is going to and fro in America.
He's going to and fro from the east to the west
to the north to the south.
He's going to and fro and he's asking this question
for churches, will you believe him for greater things?
Will your faith be stretched to such a measure
that he would do the unthinkable?
Is he not worthy of that type of faith?
Is not Jesus worthy of his bride, of his church
to have a faith that's like that,
that people are calling you crazy?
Can I tell you where we are at as a local body?
I talked to pastors about this and they agreed with me.
And I believe this is not just happening here,
but after talking to our friends,
this is happening across the body of Christ.
I'll tell you where we are currently at as a body right now.
I've said this before, but I want to elaborate a little bit on it.
We're in a place of testing and of waiting
to see if we can be approved.
See, in the testing,
in the testing, God actually stretches our faith.
That's part of the testing.
This is the way I look at it.
If I don't have faith to a certain measure,
how can God actually trust me with that?
Does that make sense?
So I believe that we as a body are in a place of testing.
We are literally...
And I don't know how long this is going to go for.
I don't know.
But this is happening both individually
and this is happening corporately.
This is the way that literally I see it.
God is stretching our faith personally as individuals,
as we're alone at home with our families.
Yet at the same time, if you are a part of this body,
God is stretching us and testing us corporately.
To the point of where we can walk through a dry
and weary land and still believe God.
To the point where we've been praying
and crying out for year after year,
decade after decade, but knowing God,
what I am praying for is not what I want,
but what you want.
God is looking for faith in this house.
And we are literally in a position
of where we can either fail this thing
or we can successfully walk through this thing
with the Holy Spirit.
That's where we're at.
It's like sitting on trial.
I've gave this analogy before.
It's like sitting in a courtroom on trial
waiting for the judge to make,
to have the gallant go down,
or what is that thing called?
Am I saying it right?
There you go. Thank you.
To have the hammer go down
and have him say guilty or innocent.
That's where we are at right now.
And I want to point something out to you here.
Because I believe many of our hearts,
and not just this body, but even more,
many of our hearts have grown cold and callous.
Why? Why?
Because we have heard this message
so long, for so long.
How many of you know the 2009 prophecy
that was spoken in this house?
I know there was probably a lot of prophecies in 2009.
How many of you know the prophecy
about the babes coming to the house?
Lift your hand if you know that prophecy
back in 2009.
You guys have known that prophecy for a while.
Anybody else?
You've known that prophecy for a while.
That prophecy hasn't come to a fulfillment yet.
Am I right, pastor?
And there's other prophecies when I read the vision book.
There's other things that God is wanting
have not come to pass yet.
And some of our hearts have grown so callous
and so cold, not even realizing that they have,
but because as a person,
when you hear the same thing
over and over and over,
over and over and over,
it becomes autopilot to you
and oftentimes it goes over your head.
But I want to point something out to you here.
Because oftentimes people will come to me
and they'll say this,
Igor, how can you say that we're living in the last days?
Because your grandparents have been saying the same thing.
And I said, yeah, they have and they weren't wrong.
So people have this trouble of understanding
what do you mean of the end times?
What do you mean with this prophecy
and all this stuff?
I want to show you an example.
Jesus said that the last days would be as the days of Noah.
That's what the Lord said.
That's what he said. People are going to get married.
People are going to be given into marriage.
They're going to drink. They're going to be married.
They're going to do all these things.
They're going to live life.
Think of it this way.
They're going to do the mundane life.
They're just going to do it.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
He said the last days,
the Lord said this, not Igor, not Pastor Igor.
Jesus said this.
He said the last days will be as the days of Noah.
Bible scholars say that Noah
waited anywhere between 75 to 120 years.
In our day and age, that's more than somebody's lifetime.
Noah had faith
and he held on to what God was saying
for over 75 years.
He had faith for it. Why?
Because God needed that ark.
You think Noah really wanted to build an ark
with him and his sons that was that huge?
I don't think so.
I think Noah probably had better things to do.
He probably wanted to sit on his iPhone and hang out.
But as the days of Noah, so shall be the end times.
It's a waiting. It's a testing.
I kid you not.
I feel as though the Lord is looking at us with a microscope.
Are you really ones that I can find faith in?
If the Son of Man returns to earth, will he find faith?
Faith is the substance.
I'm going to tell you something even more crazier here.
Noah's great, great, great grandfather, Enoch,
had the word from the Lord that a flood is coming
and that an ark is needed to be built.
If you don't believe me, read Jude verse 15 and 16.
Read it.
Enoch,
Methuselah,
Lamech.
I think I'm saying Lamech is his name and the Noah.
That was the order.
Noah's father, Lamech, Lamech's father, Methuselah.
Methuselah, Methuselah, Methuselah's father, Enoch,
received the word.
Four generations.
Four generations, God was speaking about a flood.
Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years,
the Lord was saying, I am in need of an ark
because I'm sending a flood.
You talk about waiting on the Lord.
Some of us can barely sit for 30 minutes waiting on Him.
So the Lord has us in this place of where we're waiting,
but more than just waiting, the Lord is looking
and seeing, will I actually find faith in this house?
Will I really see people's lives?
Because remember, when you have faith for something,
your life begins to be re-prioritized.
I had an awesome conversation with a young guy yesterday
after men's breakfast.
Phenomenal conversation.
He shared some things that I was like, oh, that blessed me.
And as him and I were talking, he's of my generation,
as him and I were talking, I told him something
that I said our generation needs to catch this.
Because our generation, the millennials,
tend to get so busy with life.
We have sports, we have this meeting, we have that meeting,
we have all these things.
And I told him something.
I said, you know, the younger generation needs to realize this.
If they are really believing God
for what God said he needs and what he's going to do,
they have to re-prioritize their life.
You have to.
I'm not saying you stop living.
No, you live.
But there has to be those things
that are of more value to you than other things.
And will it affect your family?
Most definitely it will.
It affected my family, what we have gone through
and are going through.
It affected many other lives of people
that when they follow the Lord,
it affects their family.
Really.
I'm going to get real vulnerable and transparent with you.
More so transparent than anything.
My following of the Lord affected my relationship
with my parents and my brothers and sisters.
And my wife says something.
I'm like, how can you say that?
She says, she goes, you know, she goes,
I know you're saying that we've been sacrificing a lot.
But she goes, I feel like we're not sacrificing enough.
And I'm like, are you kidding me?
I said, are you kidding me?
She's like, yeah, she goes, this is just like,
she goes, I look at this.
And she's like, there's far more that we can give up for him.
I'm like, my God, thank you, Lord, for my wife
that she has faith to that measure.
Because I feel like I'm doing a lot. I really do.
Not because it's on my own account,
but because I'm following him.
So to young people, our lives have to be reprioritized.
And I'll even say it to the older generation.
You know why I'm saying it to the older generation?
Because your life has to be reprioritized
and you have to understand,
maybe God is actually asking me now
to spend more time in prayer than I did before.
For the sake of what he wants to do.
Maybe the way that the Lord wants the older generation
to really support is to come up
and say, hey, I'm praying for you.
And not just, hey, I'm praying for you
because I have so many people that come up
and they're like, hey, I pray for you.
I'm like, hey, that's great.
But when somebody I genuinely can feel,
they are in intercession for me.
There is something that radiates off of them.
And they say, hey, I pray for you.
And that to me means a lot.
That to me means a lot.
I told you how much I value intercessors.
I value people that are devote intercessors
that get before the Lord and they cry out day and night.
It doesn't matter.
They're not seen.
They're not after the people.
They're not after the notoriety.
They're not after the popularity.
They just want to be before the Lord
and see the things of God come to pass.
I honor those people.
I esteem those people.
And I think those people are one of the most
important people in the body of Christ.
Though everybody is,
but I'm just talking about from my perspective.
Are you catching what I'm saying this morning?
There is a test thing that God has us in.
In a place of seeing,
will you have faith
for what I'm trying to accomplish?
You know, the Bible says that we walk by faith
and not by sight.
That's what the Bible says.
What if I told you
that's not going to happen in the next 10 years?
Are you still going to remain in faith?
What if I told you
that in your lifetime
you wouldn't see
the fullness of the move of God?
Would you still have faith for it?
You see, we have faith for things
that involves us.
Did you catch what I said?
We have faith for things
that involve us because we're a part of it.
So I'll have faith for it.
What if God is looking for such radical faith
that just like the forefathers
in Hebrews 11, the patriarchs,
they sought, yet they did not see.
They had faith for things,
yet they did not see the fullness.
Friends, they saw what we're living in.
Yet they're in heaven as a cloud of witnesses,
ushering us.
What if that's the kind of faith
that God is looking for?
What if God is looking for faith?
And I'm saying what if
because I'm being very gracious
to what I say the way that I'm saying it.
But what if God is asking
such faith from you
that it's going to cause you to feel uncomfortable?
Because what God is trying to accomplish
is he's trying to accomplish
full dependency on him.
That's faith.
Do you know what biblical faith is?
Biblical faith is when I've walked out on a plank
over a sea, and I don't know,
but I'm depending on God that he's going to save me.
I don't know, there's sharks, there's different things,
but Lord, that's biblical faith.
It's not that we can do things ourselves
and we can, you know, I'll give this to you God,
but I'll still have some control here.
You have a measure of faith,
but biblical faith, according to Hebrews 11,
is walking out in such a measure
where you're fully dependent on God.
Abraham, call to a place.
And God told him from here,
descendants as numerous as the stars.
As numerous as the stars.
And Abraham's probably scratching his head and thinking,
what are you talking about God?
And then the very thing that God gives him,
saying that Isaac shall be,
he's your promise.
From him shall the descendants come.
And then God asks him to sacrifice Isaac.
Friends, I'm stirring you to something here
because I feel the Lord is wanting to do something
in us as a body of Christ.
A marking.
You know, I believe the Lord really wants to meet us.
And some of you are saying,
well Igor, I already met Jesus.
Can I tell you the truth?
There's facets of Jesus we've never met.
The scriptures actually say,
the scriptures actually say that in eternity,
this is an Ephesians, in eternity,
we will continue to grow in the knowledge
of his grace and of his love.
And if you know God, it's not something that God does,
that's who he is.
God is love, God is grace.
So what the Apostle Paul is writing is he says,
listen, even in eternity, when you get to heaven,
when you're going to walk the streets of gold,
you're going to be walking it,
you're still going to be learning who God is,
growing in the knowledge of who he is,
meeting him in new ways,
seeing facets of God you've never sought before,
nor seen before.
And do you know why I believe that God wants to meet us
in that way?
Because we need an encounter with God
to have faith like that.
We need to meet God I've noticed in my life.
My faith God is stretching, it's stretching,
it's hard for me.
But then God meets me, and all of a sudden,
wow, Lord, that really is you.
He'll stretch you, he'll stretch you,
and then he'll meet you
to put the print of his approval for what he's doing.
And I believe God wants to meet us
in new facets.
He wants to show facets of himself
so that we would be a people found in faith.
I'm going to tell you something else
and then we're going to pray.
I've learned this in my life.
Sometimes God will have us wait
and the testing period can be longer.
The stretching of our faith can be longer.
We may not see things manifest
as God has said they would manifest,
and there is a reason why.
And I'm going to tell you,
this is just top of the list, why?
When you wait for something,
for a longer time,
we as humans seem to have
far greater value for it.
I don't know how long this testing is going to go.
I don't know how long God is going to be stretching
our faith.
I don't know, as you as individuals and as a body,
I don't know.
I'm not going to speak, oh God,
I don't know.
All I know is that God is seeking for faith
and it's going to be a time
because that which God is giving us
has to be of great value to us.
It has to be.
Because if it's not going to be of great value,
we will mishandle it.
We will misuse it for our own purposes.
We will misinterpret God in these things.
But the longer you wait for things,
the longer you wait for things,
it seems as though you have a greater value for it.
People that have sought breakthrough for decades,
when that breakthrough comes,
I look at those people and I say,
my God, you are valuing that breakthrough
far more than that person
that's only been struggling for three months.
And I'm not saying that God always has us
go through a long period of time,
but there is a reason of why the suffering
is important.
Because when you've suffered
the true sufferings of Christ,
you value it.
Now look at Christ.
Look at Jesus.
He looked at the reward,
but he had to suffer much.
And he values us.
And is he not worthy of us to value him?
Is he not worthy to have faith
that's radical?
To have faith that everybody else is saying
you're crazy?
How are you going to pay for it?
This is more, friends.
This is more than just a building.
These are things that God has for the state.
I was just talking to somebody yesterday
that's pretty well versed
in the establishment of Minnesota
and all the things of Minnesota.
And him and I were talking
and he said there's multiple prophecies
that have not yet come to fruition
regarding Minnesota,
how Minnesota is to be that catapult state
of the end time revival.
I believe, listen to me,
any pastor can say this.
Any pastor can say this about his church.
I believe, and I'll explain why I believe this,
this house, this house
is going to be a key role player
for what God has in store for Minnesota.
Now, any pastor can say that.
Anybody can say that.
This is why I believe it.
Because the things that I have walked with,
my wife and I have walked with,
the things that we have held on to,
now I'm not just reverting this to myself
because I'm sure there's many of you
that have these as well,
but there's things that God has spoken to us personally
that pertain to being...
What's the word I'd say?
The kicker to what God wants to do in the end times.
If I didn't think,
or if I didn't have revelation
that this house was not a part of that,
friends, I would have never became on staff
or a pastor on this house.
I wouldn't.
But because the Lord has made it clear
in certain areas.
Now, to what measure
we're going to be key role players?
I don't know.
What I do know is that we as a church
are going to be a key role player
in what God is doing in Minnesota.
I believe that.
Would you stand on your feet with me this morning?
Pastor, anything you want to say?
You can come up and join me here.
Can we just stand on our feet?
Can you guys turn on his mic, too?
You feel the leadership of the Lord
to pray for people.
Okay.
Please do.
You know this is going to take me
five, six, seven minutes.
Tell you what, be seated.
Sorry guys, I apologize.
We'll get you back up.
No, it's all right.
There's something that has been bothering me deeply.
And it's a way bigger picture
than what Pastor Igor is.
He's focused on some things this morning
which are absolutely vital.
But this is way bigger.
This pans out.
It's before the revelation of the Antichrist
there's going to be a great falling away.
Scripture says that.
We believe there's going to be a great harvest
because of the many prophecies that have been said.
And that we're on, you know,
that that is in our near future.
Well, if a billion come in to the kingdom
before the Antichrist shows up,
how many of that billion are going to fall away?
Because there's going to be a great...
Is this going to become a huge revival?
Move of the spirit and the Antichrist comes on the scene.
And a lot of what came in falls away.
Going with, when I return, will I find faith?
And that's been bothering me hugely.
And I've been asking the Holy Spirit, Jesus,
what is this?
What am I not seeing here?
And there's something that's stirring in my heart.
It's in its inception form, but I believe it's God.
You can test it with me this morning.
Are you...
And I'm just going to ask some question
that probably talking to the choir
should be obvious answers, but I'm going someplace.
So humor me.
Do you think the fullness of the Holy Spirit is a waste?
Do you think your speaking in tongues
and being able to flow in that world is a waste?
Do you think the Holy Spirit speaking to us
and leading us and guiding us is a waste?
You say, why would you even bring that up?
Well, let me see if I can screen mirror something here for you.
That might make sense with where this is going.
The Holy Spirit was very specifically given
for the last days, right?
Acts 1 and 2.
Very specifically given for the last days.
And the way he was given with what Peter quoted out of Joel to,
this is what you're seeing happening now,
the people drunk in the Spirit,
people praying in their tongue,
praying in their Spirit language in other tongues.
This is for the last days.
And I don't really care what the vultures say,
because they always sit on the outside and pick at things.
There is no place in the Bible that says this has passed away.
There is no place that says that was for a time and now it's over.
You can't show me one.
There's none in there.
You say, why is this important?
How the demographic segments perceive the Trinity.
I'm not so much interested in the Trinity right now.
I'm interested in the fourth line down, the Holy Spirit.
Percentage who believe in the existence and the human influence of each person of the Trinity.
In Gen Z, 17% of that generation believes,
let's just capital, you know, a capsule, it believes in the Holy Spirit.
That he's doing anything with the human race.
Millennials, 27, Generation X, 29% and Boomers, 33.
The younger they get, the less they believe the Holy Spirit exists
and has any influence on human beings.
That's what it says right there at the top.
Going into what we're going into, that's a problem.
Four out of ten Christians strongly agree that Satan is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.
Third line down, four out of ten Christians think Satan is not a living entity.
He's a symbol of evil.
Additionally, two out of ten Christians, 20%, 19, said they agree somewhat with that perspective.
So literally, 60% of people who claim they're Christians in America, 40% are sure of it,
20 are like, yeah, I'm leaning that way.
Do not think Satan is even a living being, he's just a symbol.
That's all he is.
A minority of Christians indicate that they believe Satan is real by disagreeing with the statement,
one fourth disagreed strongly, blah, blah, blah.
You'll have to go down, it's the third paragraph that starts with much.
Much like their perceptions of Satan, most Christians do not believe that the Holy Spirit is a living force, either.
Most Christians do not believe that the Holy Spirit is a living force.
38% strongly agreed and 20% agreed somewhat.
So now we're at 58%, almost the same number as what was dealing with Satan,
that the Holy Spirit is just a symbol of God's power or presence, but is not a living entity.
Almost 60% of Christians believe that.
62% of self-identified born-again Christians contend that the Holy Spirit is not a real living being.
Born-again Christians, 6 out of 10, do not believe the Holy Spirit is a real living being.
And the statistics go on.
I've got more, but I think that's enough.
In our vision book, one of the main points that we talked about is we believe God has asked this body to contend for the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
He is a third of the Trinity. He's not a living force. He's not a entity.
He's got the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, three living entities, three in one.
The Holy Spirit is vital to Christians making it in the last days.
Vital. Or Jesus wouldn't have said it the way He said it.
And it wouldn't have laid out that, hey, He poured out His Spirit for the last days.
In the last days, beginning of last days, for the last days.
So I want to summarize it and say this, tying into His point of, will I find faith?
We are contending for more than a physical location where we can gather the newborn babies and teach them and minister to them and grow them.
We are contending for a generation to come into what we live in.
Dreams, visions, signs, wonders, healings. This is all by the Spirit.
Prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues and on and on and on and on.
All these things by the Spirit. We are asking for a generation to come in and be part of this.
That Satan has already successfully deceived to believe it's not even real.
Do you see what we are contending for?
This is contending for a future generation, whether your age or your children's age.
I don't know. The Lord hasn't shown me yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to die a natural death.
The rapture isn't going to be in my lifetime and I plan to get older than most.
But your children, I mean your children and or you, my children's age, that's the group.
Maybe it goes on further than that, but that's one of those two groups is very likely the group.
He's saying, will you guys even believe when I come back?
Will I even find faith? Will you even believe?
We'll look at the statistics.
We're already, when it comes to the Holy Spirit and unbelief, get the slickness of this.
The very one who's causing the deception. Oh, he's not real.
He's just a picture of evil, not a real being.
And the very one who was sent to take us through to the end, victoriously.
Oh, he's not real either.
Can you see why now I'm going, is this actually going to be a...
God doesn't want it to be that.
Why would it be that?
Because the Church of Jesus Christ has turned their back on the Holy Spirit.
Overall, 25% of Christians believe the Holy Spirit is a living entity. This is overall.
75% do not believe it anymore.
Without the Holy Spirit doing what he does in our life,
in the things that are coming,
I'm not convinced they're going to make it, spiritually.
All these millions who are going to get saved need the fullness of what Jesus said.
Don't you dare go anywhere.
Don't you dare go anywhere. How much stronger could he say the need?
We have to have the Holy Spirit in his fullness.
How much stronger could he say it?
Don't you do a thing until the promise of the Father is given to you?
How much stronger could he make it?
And what has the Church done?
We do everything without him. We don't even believe he exists by and large.
Do you know what we're contending for?
We're contending for whatever little segment.
None can come to... Jesus said none can be given to me except the Father gives them.
The ones that are going to become part of this body he is going to specifically give to us.
Do you know what we're contending for?
That they come into the fullness of the Spirit.
Which is against all of culture around us now.
All of culture is saying,
Yeah, this Holy Spirit thing, this isn't even real.
And by the way, Satan's not real either.
I mean the percentage just keeps growing and the younger they get the more of them are saying that.
We are contending that when whatever, how many hundreds or thousands are given to you.
Or your children.
When they come in, this does not happen.
But they stay solid and walk it out.
And when Jesus returns he can look and say,
There's a group that has faith.
We're contending for more than physical things.
We're contending for long term spiritual engagement and change.
And the ability to stand in the face of Satan,
stand in the face of the Antichrist,
stand in the face of evil and be unmoved.
That's what we're praying for.
That's what's rattling around us out of me.
Because it doesn't make a lot of sense to have a big influx and a big outgo.
That's not God's heart.
God's heart is a big influx and now my spirit, the friend of the bridegroom, will walk you out.
These are my grandchildren. I'm talking about.
These could be my great-grandchildren.
If they don't have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, that supersedes mind.
I'm not convinced they'll make it.
In my heart, that's what we're praying for.
And that's the faith Jesus is talking about.
Because he's not talking about just born again.
He's talking about walking in the spirit, or he wouldn't have said,
Don't you dare do a thing until you get the promise.
Because they were already saved.
They were already saved when he told them that.