WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:04.100 I want to talk about, now if you could bring that other slide up, it's going to be real brief, 00:04.400 --> 00:07.320 it's going to be just a few minutes, but I want to point something out to you. 00:08.620 --> 00:14.900 It's called the cycle of growth. The first time this was shown to me was in 1981 00:14.900 --> 00:21.380 at a minister's conference. This isn't new with me, this is something that I was taught back then. 00:22.240 --> 00:29.280 And I've had 44 years to watch this happen over and over and over. Every church 00:30.160 --> 00:36.200 every family, every person that Jesus is trying to mature will go through that cycle, 00:37.160 --> 00:40.600 will go through it individually, will go through it as families, will go through it as churches. 00:41.340 --> 00:46.760 And I personally believe even in the secular world that that happens in businesses and so forth. 00:47.420 --> 00:52.780 Harvest for church setting. Harvest, that's when people get saved, that's when there's growth, 00:52.940 --> 00:57.760 there's moving in the spirit, there's there's revival kind of stuff taking place. 00:58.440 --> 01:05.780 That's harvest. Maturing, you know, it's always awesome to flow in the great, 01:06.080 --> 01:10.980 powerful, wonderful things of God, but at some point he's going to ask us to follow him and go 01:10.980 --> 01:17.000 someplace with him with these things we received. Let's take them, let's go someplace. 01:18.140 --> 01:22.400 That's the maturing thing. Will we follow him and will we become disciples? 01:24.380 --> 01:25.400 That's the question. 01:27.760 --> 01:34.540 Out of that question comes sifting. That's when God begins shaking things in our life and in our 01:34.540 --> 01:43.820 lives that he once shook out of our life or out of the church. The sifting realm. I'll come back 01:43.820 --> 01:49.820 to that. That's the one I want to talk about a bit. Then it goes to preparation. Preparation 01:49.820 --> 01:54.500 for what? Preparation for harvest. Once you've come through the maturing and the sifting to 01:54.500 --> 01:58.720 whatever, you know, and this thing just cycles in our life, goes over and over, but once you've 01:58.720 --> 02:05.300 grabbed what he wants you to grab for that cycle, he begins preparing us for the next 02:05.300 --> 02:11.400 harvest session. He starts tugging on our hearts to get moving in a specific direction. We start 02:11.400 --> 02:17.620 moving in the spirit more in certain areas. The flow, the power of the spirit starts 02:17.620 --> 02:22.520 happening more. Our purpose of what he wants us to do becomes more clear to us. 02:23.080 --> 02:25.940 Revelation knowledge begins to flow. It's all preparation 02:27.700 --> 02:36.100 without submitting and sifting to the maturing and the sifting. Without that, he can't prepare us. 02:37.100 --> 02:43.320 Prepare us for what? Prepare us to walk in and operate in the supernatural of harvest. 02:47.830 --> 02:53.170 Everything that has to do with God's harvest in the church and his people is all supernatural. 02:53.170 --> 02:58.130 You can't name one thing that's natural. Getting saved is supernatural. 02:58.930 --> 03:02.930 Baptizing the Holy Spirit is supernatural. Speaking in tongues is supernatural. 03:03.530 --> 03:06.350 Laying hands on the sick and seeing him recover is supernatural. 03:06.850 --> 03:10.310 Signs, wonders, and miracles are supernatural. The gifts of the Holy Spirit. 03:10.730 --> 03:19.190 Everything is supernatural. The preparation is to get us ready, us ready. 03:21.390 --> 03:29.210 He uses the body to get us ready to operate in harvest. 03:31.170 --> 03:33.630 Which is going to be, it's going to involve supernatural. 03:35.910 --> 03:41.050 And that cycle will go round and round in our personal lives and our family in the church. 03:41.170 --> 03:45.430 We're talking the church right now. I want to go back to sifting because that's where 03:45.430 --> 03:52.210 this church is at right now. Pastor Igor referred to it as being weighed and measured. 03:52.570 --> 03:55.390 Same thing, same thing, just saying it a different way. 03:56.030 --> 04:00.970 Luke chapter 3, John answered, verse 16. John answered saying to all, 04:01.190 --> 04:04.110 I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I is coming, 04:04.270 --> 04:08.590 whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy 04:08.590 --> 04:13.930 Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly clean out 04:13.930 --> 04:20.730 his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. 04:23.070 --> 04:27.850 When scripturally speaking, you know, I was raised in church all my life, 04:27.950 --> 04:32.250 and you'd hear this phrase from once in a while, they'd say, man, that person's on fire. 04:33.690 --> 04:40.450 What they were saying is that person is really hot after God. I mean, 04:40.450 --> 04:45.070 they're emotional. They're engaged. They're involved. They're doing things. They're just on fire. 04:46.830 --> 04:49.550 It's hard to support that one in Scripture. 04:51.290 --> 04:57.530 Being on fire, could you bring up verse 17 of Luke chapter 3? 04:58.110 --> 05:00.230 And then we might go back to that PowerPoint. 05:02.190 --> 05:05.590 Verse 16, he said, I'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire, 05:05.590 --> 05:11.190 and then he's going to clear his threshing floor, winnowing forks in his hand. He's going to gather 05:11.190 --> 05:18.050 the wheat to the barn and the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. When the Holy Spirit sets 05:18.050 --> 05:25.310 you on fire, he's sanctifying you. He's burning the stuff out that shouldn't be in there. 05:25.930 --> 05:30.130 That's the true fire of the Holy Spirit, and it is the first work of the Holy Spirit. 05:31.150 --> 05:35.130 It's the first thing that was announced about the Holy Spirit. 05:36.010 --> 05:41.710 The power was not announced, the gifts were not announced, none of that was announced. You know 05:41.710 --> 05:46.670 the first thing was announced? When the Holy Spirit comes, he is going to clean you up. 05:47.950 --> 05:54.370 That's that process. It's the old harvest process. And we've described it before, so I 05:54.370 --> 06:04.090 won't go back into it. We usually think, well, that's talking about sin, not necessarily. It 06:04.090 --> 06:11.970 can be talking about religion. We've got too much religion in our life. And he's going to get it out 06:11.970 --> 06:16.910 and he's going to burn it up and get rid of it. We have too many bad habits, which technically are 06:16.910 --> 06:23.510 sin, but we usually don't look at them that way. Or too many erroneous beliefs, unhealthy 06:25.530 --> 06:30.730 relationships, too many areas, we have wrong motives, wrong priorities, and not necessarily 06:30.730 --> 06:39.430 blatant sin. Now, refusal to die to the flesh would be one thing, but there is a sifting that God 06:39.430 --> 06:43.250 does. And if you want to bring the PowerPoint back up, that'd be great. There's a sifting God does 06:43.250 --> 06:50.730 in our lives. And it's a cyclical thing. We do not live in the harvest area all the time. 06:52.670 --> 07:03.630 That turns a church and a person weird. We have to grow. Because as the wine skin stretches, 07:04.650 --> 07:14.410 as the cloth is made new, we're able to contain more. And that's the goal. God wants you 07:14.410 --> 07:21.590 operating in more this year than last. And guess what? He's going to want you operating in more 07:21.590 --> 07:30.030 next year than this year. It's the goal. But if we haven't been through the 07:30.030 --> 07:34.170 massuring and sifting process, we have no right to be operating in the gifts, 07:34.510 --> 07:39.570 no right to be operating in the supernatural. Because we will twist it, corrupt it, and 07:39.570 --> 07:45.830 taint it to something that's not God. That's why I believe he announced in Luke the first thing 07:45.830 --> 07:51.970 is when the Holy Spirit comes, it gets on you. Oh yeah, it's going to be fire. Jesus is the one 07:51.970 --> 07:57.390 with the winterwing fork. And for those of you that know that old harvest technique, 07:58.510 --> 08:02.610 you take the grain, you put it on the ground, and you either beat it by hand or you walk 08:02.610 --> 08:08.530 across it with animals and stuff to separate the grain from the chaff. Jesus is the one 08:08.530 --> 08:15.470 who will beat the chaff loose from your grain. Then you take that and you throw it up in the air, 08:15.610 --> 08:19.070 and there's a breeze, a breeze of the Holy Spirit. He separates the chaff, falls over here, 08:19.110 --> 08:24.750 and the grain falls straight down. Those times in our life, when we're in the air, 08:24.810 --> 08:32.170 totally out of control, it's like, what in the world is going on? It just feels like my life 08:32.170 --> 08:39.190 is totally out of control. You're being sifted. He's trying to separate you from the garbage 08:39.190 --> 08:44.390 in your life. So the true grain comes down and he can use that. He can store that. 08:45.730 --> 08:50.750 This church is in the sifting spot right now. Now there is a demonic sifting also. 08:52.390 --> 08:56.970 Anything God does, Satan imitates. Remember Jesus told Peter, 08:57.850 --> 09:06.730 Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. Same process, but I'm praying your faith won't fail. 09:07.990 --> 09:14.270 When Satan sifts us, he's after our faith. What does that mean? Well, Hebrews 11, 09:14.390 --> 09:20.730 faith is being sure of what we hope for, our joyful, confident expectation good is coming. 09:21.810 --> 09:28.230 So if you're being attacked in the area of, I am not sure about much anymore, 09:28.910 --> 09:34.830 and I have no hope, this is not God sifting. This is Satan after your faith. 09:36.370 --> 09:39.670 Now the question you have to ask, what gave him the right 09:40.670 --> 09:50.280 into your life to do that? What gave him the right? It could be 09:51.240 --> 09:57.880 the very thing God is sifting you in, trying to get out while that process is going on. 09:58.840 --> 10:03.960 Maybe you have childhood wounds, maybe you have beliefs that were given to you from religion or 10:03.960 --> 10:09.720 whatever, and God is in the process of trying to burn that out of you, and the demonic sees 10:09.720 --> 10:17.460 an opportunity to come in and smack you around. So separate those two. Anything that's 10:17.460 --> 10:21.420 after your faith or your hope, because hope is the foundation of faith. 10:22.400 --> 10:27.960 Recognize that's demonic, but back up and say, what's giving them the right? You say, how will 10:27.960 --> 10:35.380 I find it? Well, what are they playing with? Are they playing with memories? Are they playing 10:35.380 --> 10:42.000 with emotions? Are they playing with something that you are supposed to have gotten out of your 10:42.000 --> 10:51.260 life sin or gotten into your life that you haven't sin? Sin of omission? What are they playing with? 10:52.760 --> 10:55.480 It will be in your head. It will be in your emotions. 10:58.420 --> 11:03.620 That's very likely the same thing God's trying to get out. They're grabbing it, 11:03.700 --> 11:06.840 messing it, trying to defeat you with it before God gets it out. 11:13.180 --> 11:20.800 It can be as simple as, you have a belief about yourself that's not true. 11:23.610 --> 11:29.350 Oh, God can never use me because I... God says, okay, let's get rid of that belief. 11:30.230 --> 11:35.250 We're going to sift that out of you, because that's not right. And the demonic sees it and says, 11:35.350 --> 11:40.070 oh, no, we're going to hang on to that belief. That has worked really good in this person's life. 11:40.610 --> 11:48.580 And they might both go at it at the same time. You say, how will I recognize it? 11:49.240 --> 11:55.080 You're going to be plagued with, why am I not good enough for God? Why can't He use me? 11:58.020 --> 12:02.100 Why am I sick all the time? Maybe it's something God's saying, I want to sift 12:02.100 --> 12:09.660 out sickness and get that gone. A little buddy wants to come play with me. And it's not time. 12:09.660 --> 12:18.640 I want it gone. And the demonic says, I don't want it gone. So when you recognize, man, 12:18.780 --> 12:23.280 there's stuff coming going on in my life. It just seems like for the last month, 12:23.480 --> 12:31.180 I've been struggling with sickness. Why is it there? Or is there a legitimate reason for it to 12:31.180 --> 12:38.000 be there? Is it attack? If it is attack, what do you believe the promises? Do you have 12:38.000 --> 12:42.940 the revelation on healing health? What's coming out of your mouth? What are you saying about your 12:42.940 --> 12:48.320 sickness? What are you believing in your heart about what the sickness thing is that's coming 12:48.320 --> 12:54.300 against you? You're going to have to do some inventory because God's going to try to get 12:54.300 --> 13:01.440 the chaff out of you and bring health in. The devil's going to try to keep the chaff 13:01.440 --> 13:06.960 in you and make you lose your face. I'll probably be sick the rest of my life. 13:07.660 --> 13:16.860 That is demonic sifting. He's trying to sift your face out where God is trying to sift the thing that 13:16.860 --> 13:20.860 shouldn't even be there, the thing that he died and paid to get rid of. He's trying to sift 13:20.860 --> 13:26.020 that out. And they can be going on at the same time. Now in the middle of this shift that 13:26.020 --> 13:31.380 we're in, it seems that sifting this time around is more intense. Just so you know. 13:32.140 --> 13:38.480 What's happening now in the body in individuals, in families, in that sifting thing is very intense 13:38.480 --> 13:52.970 right now. It's stronger than it normally has been. See, you should have seen it coming if 13:52.970 --> 13:56.730 you know this pattern because what did we talk about November, December of last fall? 13:59.430 --> 14:07.510 Creating a balanced Christian and we have to be able to grow from being a believer to a follower 14:07.510 --> 14:13.290 or a disciple, which means we have to die to some things in our life. That was maturing. 14:14.770 --> 14:22.610 What's next in line? God says, okay, let's do it. And he goes to sifting. We're in that right now. 14:25.050 --> 14:29.390 To be sifted is going to change your life. 14:31.450 --> 14:35.370 You know, I said it right from the beginning. We're talking about the shift in January. 14:35.850 --> 14:43.330 I said, shift, whoo, shift is going to be awesome. I said, this will change us. 14:44.510 --> 14:49.230 You cannot be shifted and stay the same. This will change who we are. This will change our 14:49.230 --> 14:54.350 priorities. This will change our motives. This will put light on areas that we haven't 14:54.350 --> 14:59.190 conquered yet and get rid of them. This will change us. Well, here we are right now. 15:00.550 --> 15:07.250 He's got his finger on things and he's saying, I want that chaff out. And the Holy Spirit's 15:07.250 --> 15:13.570 real hot on you. I don't understand where God's at. He's right all over you. 15:15.510 --> 15:22.810 But I like harvest, I do too. I like when God's moving and miracles are happening and signs 15:22.810 --> 15:28.350 and wonders and I just have to think of prayer and I get the answer. Oh, I love that. I love that part. 15:30.030 --> 15:32.750 But if you just stay there, you raise nothing but big babies. 15:38.090 --> 15:43.250 Growth doesn't come on the mountaintop. Growth comes in the valley. 15:45.590 --> 15:52.290 Sifting is down. And that's where we're at. And I just wanted you aware this is where we're at right 15:52.290 --> 16:00.150 now. We must succeed in what God's doing in our personal lives. And then what does he do in 16:00.150 --> 16:09.880 the sifting time? He throws in tithing on top of that. It's like, boy, let's just go for it. 16:11.540 --> 16:19.700 If we will come through this and let him get the chaff out, the preparation for harvest will begin. 16:21.100 --> 16:28.020 And that's the goal. God loves harvest. I love harvest. You love harvest. 16:29.140 --> 16:33.960 But you're worthless in harvest if you haven't matured and been sifted, 16:34.520 --> 16:38.640 because he can't prepare you. We'll try to do it the same old way. We'll go 16:38.640 --> 16:42.900 into the same old attitudes. Something will happen. The same old depression will get on us. 16:43.560 --> 16:50.360 He's got to get us stronger than we've ever been before, so the power can flow 16:50.360 --> 16:56.060 stronger than it ever has before. Just wanted you to make aware of that cycle.