WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:07.940 I am going to be continuing a topic that I started now it's going to be two 00:07.940 --> 00:13.260 Sundays ago because last Sunday pastor spoke on 27 reasons why God does not hear 00:13.260 --> 00:17.220 our prayers or why our prayers not why God doesn't hear our prayers why our 00:17.220 --> 00:22.840 prayers don't get answered which was very practical it was wonderful to listen 00:22.840 --> 00:28.260 to that I'm going to continue today's today's message is going to be 00:28.260 --> 00:33.000 It's going to be continuous of what I started again about two Sundays ago now where I titled 00:33.000 --> 00:38.920 the message of revival is. And if you weren't here for that Sunday, a lot of what I'm going 00:38.920 --> 00:43.060 to be saying today might go over your head. So I'm going to try to give you a quick overview, 00:43.580 --> 00:49.340 but I would strongly encourage you to go back and listen to that message because I'm going 00:49.340 --> 00:55.460 to be getting more into the thick of it today. But to give a quick little overview for 00:55.460 --> 01:02.260 those that maybe weren't here or maybe you forgot is that revival is something that I believe 01:02.260 --> 01:10.300 is oftentimes misunderstood in the church world. We have an idea of it and we act like 01:10.300 --> 01:15.760 we have it all figured out, but in reality I'm like, I don't think we do. And I by no 01:15.760 --> 01:19.660 means am toot my horn and saying that I have it all figured out. I can't say that 01:19.660 --> 01:25.000 I have revival fully figured out. Do I have an idea of it? Do I have a scriptural 01:25.000 --> 01:31.920 basis of what revival is? How it may come? What entails when you have revival? I do and it's 01:31.920 --> 01:37.120 all from the scriptures. Just read the book of Acts. It's the greatest revival that planet 01:37.120 --> 01:42.840 earth has ever seen and all of the revivals follow that. And we are still waiting, awaiting 01:43.640 --> 01:50.840 the greatest revival that is to actually surpass the book of Acts. So I talked a 01:50.840 --> 01:57.140 little bit about that last Sunday, but I also said that this is a prophetic message. And what 01:57.140 --> 02:01.800 I mean by that is that a lot of the times a prophetic message is something that God is 02:03.120 --> 02:07.480 speaking, because I talked about this last Sunday and I say this a lot because I really 02:07.480 --> 02:13.600 want this to stick in our church, is that the urgent hour in the kingdom of God is 02:13.600 --> 02:18.260 before the hour happens. I've said that a lot and I'm going to keep saying it because 02:18.260 --> 02:26.400 I really want that to stick with you. Because in America we seem to always react to the things 02:26.400 --> 02:34.220 that happen rather than be proactive to the things that happen, to be prepared for something 02:34.220 --> 02:41.820 that is coming. Now I'll say this, can we be fully prepared through and through for 02:41.820 --> 02:47.800 everything? I'd probably argue that and say no. Actually I had a man of God once 02:47.800 --> 02:52.720 that has been in the ministry for many many years, dear friends of mine and Tanya's. They 02:53.300 --> 02:57.980 were part of a very large, and I say part because it's past, past 10s. They were part 02:57.980 --> 03:03.140 of a very very large international ministry and they were there for like 22 plus years 03:03.800 --> 03:08.420 and something occurred in their ministry that to this day the ministry is still 03:08.420 --> 03:12.660 trying to survive. But long story short, when I sat over breakfast with him and 03:12.660 --> 03:15.840 his wife and me and Tanya sat over, it was like a brunch with them. We went 03:15.840 --> 03:21.420 and visited them, helping them as they were processing everything. And he told me 03:21.420 --> 03:25.060 this that I was like, oh my goodness. He said, you know, Igor, he said, I've 03:25.060 --> 03:30.320 preached on this stuff. I've taught this stuff. I've lived and walked this stuff. 03:30.520 --> 03:34.060 But he goes, I'm gonna be completely honest with you. He said when this 03:34.060 --> 03:38.860 stuff actually hit, he said I felt ill-prepared. And this is coming 03:38.860 --> 03:45.320 from a man that is well-seasoned in the things of God. He's not your new 03:45.320 --> 03:48.980 believer. He's well-seasoned in the scriptures. He's well-seasoned in the 03:48.980 --> 03:52.780 knowledge of God. I mean, and this is coming from somebody like that. And I say 03:52.780 --> 03:57.680 all that to say that we can do our best to prepare. And I'm not saying, well, 03:57.700 --> 04:01.700 what's the point of now preparing? We can do our best to prepare. But when it 04:01.700 --> 04:04.800 hits us, now we have to put into practice what we've prepared for. Does 04:04.800 --> 04:07.900 that make sense? Is that kind of connecting the dots there a little 04:07.900 --> 04:17.660 bit? So in the kingdom of God, the urgent hour is always before things occur. So 04:17.660 --> 04:22.300 that's why you hear people saying, well, your grandparents said Jesus is 04:22.300 --> 04:28.120 returning. But he's not back yet. And it's like, well, Jesus actually said 04:28.120 --> 04:37.880 when he was here, the kingdom of God is at hand. It's right here. It's 04:37.880 --> 04:44.880 at reach here on earth. And it's yet to come. It's got a multi-fold to it. So 04:45.820 --> 04:51.840 just because somebody is saying Jesus is coming and then they pass away and 04:51.840 --> 04:55.480 they graduate to heaven, you can't identify him as a false prophet. You 04:55.480 --> 05:00.440 just can't. It's just that somebody's sounding the alarm of prepare yourself 05:01.020 --> 05:06.900 because Jesus is coming and he's coming quickly, by the way. I said 05:06.900 --> 05:17.550 Jesus is coming and he's coming quickly, by the way. We can hear that 05:17.550 --> 05:22.610 phrase and we've been on autopilot. But I want that to sink into you this 05:22.610 --> 05:33.390 morning. Jesus is returning. He is not delaying. He is on time. And he is 05:33.390 --> 05:39.950 coming back quickly for a bride that is ravished and in love, love sick 05:39.950 --> 05:50.150 for him. So the urgent hour is God warning us saying now is the time to 05:50.150 --> 05:54.750 prepare for what is ahead. That's how the urgent hour works in the 05:54.750 --> 05:59.430 kingdom of God. I talked about also kind of going back that majority of 05:59.430 --> 06:03.010 Christians don't know what revival is. And I gave some descriptions last 06:03.010 --> 06:08.710 Sunday of what we consider revival is. And it's like, well, that just 06:08.710 --> 06:13.410 says how shallow we are as a church. And I actually pinned that more on 06:14.330 --> 06:19.770 pastors and leaders in the body of Christ, in the church, more than the 06:19.770 --> 06:23.690 congregants. That's where I pinned the responsibility more on. It's what do 06:23.690 --> 06:27.690 we as pastors preach and teach? And what do we in leaders? How do we 06:27.690 --> 06:33.550 lead? And how do we steward that which is given us from the leadership 06:33.550 --> 06:37.270 side of things that then transpires on those that are sitting as the 06:37.270 --> 06:42.930 congregation? So I'm not saying that in like, you guys, ha ha ha, it's your 06:42.930 --> 06:49.550 fault. I'm actually pinning that more on what are us pastors preaching? What 06:49.550 --> 06:53.970 are we teaching? When it comes to revival, when it comes to the 06:53.970 --> 06:56.870 importance of it, the purpose, the on and so forth, you know, you can go 06:56.870 --> 07:02.010 down the list of it. So it's unfortunate that so many Christians 07:02.010 --> 07:05.970 actually have very little knowledge of what revival is, what's the 07:05.970 --> 07:14.930 purpose of it, what actually entails when you have biblical revival. I'm gonna 07:14.930 --> 07:22.030 say that again. What it actually entails when you have biblical revival. And 07:22.030 --> 07:25.910 some of you are thinking and saying, are you saying that maybe there isn't 07:25.910 --> 07:29.170 biblical revival? There is more unbiblical revivals than there is 07:29.170 --> 07:35.230 biblical revivals, by the way. There is more unbiblical revivals than 07:35.230 --> 07:40.210 there is biblical revivals. And as I unpack some of this stuff and as we 07:40.210 --> 07:43.530 go, it's the beauty of it is that I am in no rush to go through this series. 07:44.050 --> 07:48.430 I'm like, woohoo, this is great. Just park here and just talk about this for 07:48.430 --> 07:54.510 this Sunday. So it's wonderful. Let me read some of the quotes that I read 07:54.510 --> 07:56.470 from last Sunday. I'm just trying to give you a little bit of an overview. 07:56.670 --> 08:00.130 Some of the quotes that I read of the fathers of the faith, of how they 08:00.130 --> 08:03.390 described revival. And one of those are John Wesley. 08:03.970 --> 08:09.850 He viewed revival as the church's primary purpose, famously stating that 08:09.850 --> 08:14.590 believers should spend and be spent for the work of saving souls. 08:15.510 --> 08:22.010 Charles Finney would describe it as, while acknowledging God initiates it, 08:22.550 --> 08:28.290 Finney argued that revival is a human duty, suggesting it can be worked up 08:28.290 --> 08:31.910 through proper obedience, prayer, and methods. And this is where I kind of 08:31.910 --> 08:35.730 want to park for a little bit to give you a review. I'm in a 100% agreement 08:35.730 --> 08:40.330 that God has to initiate revival. God has to initiate it. 08:41.630 --> 08:45.530 If God is not initiating revival, then it's not a biblical revival. 08:45.950 --> 08:49.350 Because you can hoot and holler and you can fall over and you can 08:49.350 --> 08:54.530 scream and shout and dance and do all this stuff. But if God did initiate that, 08:54.710 --> 08:58.910 that's all flesh, my friend. And do you know how you know if it's 08:58.910 --> 09:02.730 God or if it's not God? Once you've gone through all the hooting 09:02.730 --> 09:05.190 and hollering and the emotions when you leave this place, 09:05.590 --> 09:11.590 if your life has changed, then that was God. But if you remain the same, 09:12.090 --> 09:14.410 then I'm going to question if it was even God in your life. 09:18.890 --> 09:21.250 Let me just park here because I feel the Holy Spirit on this. 09:24.400 --> 09:35.080 To me, it amazes me that we have so much watered down and belittled the things of God. 09:36.200 --> 09:42.160 And you're saying, what do you mean? We make claims that it's God 09:42.960 --> 09:47.140 that told me this or that God that moved upon my life like this. 09:47.440 --> 09:49.960 But then you look at individuals' lives and you're like, 09:50.760 --> 09:53.520 was that even God? Because we're talking about, 09:54.020 --> 10:00.900 if that was the Genesis 1 God that spoke to you, if that was the Genesis 1 God 10:00.900 --> 10:07.200 that moved upon you, friend, when I read the Scripture and I see men and women of God, 10:07.460 --> 10:11.700 that God actually spoke to them and moved on them, their lives were never the same. 10:12.540 --> 10:14.800 I said their lives were never the same. 10:16.940 --> 10:21.540 They were changed. Why were they changed? Because the creator 10:22.420 --> 10:30.940 by his finger actually touched their life. That's like if you being a potter and you're 10:30.940 --> 10:36.700 sitting at your clay table at your wheel and you've made a cup and then you touch it 10:36.700 --> 10:44.120 and you put a dent into it or vice versa, you touch it and you adjust the dent out of it. 10:44.800 --> 10:50.880 You would clearly see that that which you have created, there's an effect of you touching it. 10:52.000 --> 10:58.900 So if we're claiming that God is speaking to us, if we're claiming that God is moving upon our 10:58.900 --> 11:04.860 lives, friend, how can a potter, when he touches the clay, not see the effect of it? 11:05.460 --> 11:09.500 Are you catching my drift? Are you catching what I'm saying? 11:10.060 --> 11:18.060 But we have actually de-watered. We have watered down. We've belittled. De-watered is the foreign 11:18.060 --> 11:22.060 concept by the way. That's not even a real English word maybe. But that's all right. 11:25.440 --> 11:27.440 We've watered down the things of God. 11:29.980 --> 11:36.060 You still with me? So let me just read Finney's statement again. 11:37.180 --> 11:43.120 God initiates it, which I believe we are in an hour where God is initiating this thing like no other. 11:44.640 --> 11:46.900 And I'll explain to you more as we get into it. 11:48.260 --> 11:56.080 But Finney argued that revival is a human duty, suggesting it can be worked up through proper 11:56.080 --> 12:01.340 obedience, prayer, and methods. I said this last time that I spoke. Let me say it again. 12:01.900 --> 12:07.240 If you do a study on every true biblical revival, let's just take the book of Acts 12:07.240 --> 12:15.400 for everything that we're familiar with. Acts 2. Every true, listen to this. Just please hear me. 12:16.100 --> 12:19.320 Because you won't have revival if you don't have this principle. 12:20.320 --> 12:24.140 You won't have a move of God unless you have this principle that I'm about to give you. 12:25.220 --> 12:30.440 Every true biblical revival, if you haven't studied revivals like I have, 12:30.440 --> 12:33.720 I encourage you to do so. But again, let's just go to the book of Acts. 12:34.700 --> 12:39.940 The first thing that they did as an early church is they prayed. 12:45.720 --> 12:51.760 They prayed and they waited. And in their waiting, they prayed some more. 12:53.140 --> 12:57.920 And in the praying, they waited some more. And in the waiting, they prayed and it went back 12:57.920 --> 13:03.260 and forth. You know, people think that the upper room, that prayer, it was just a one-night 13:03.260 --> 13:08.560 thing. They think that they just got together and they prayed one time in the upper room 13:08.560 --> 13:14.840 and all of a sudden, because the Scripture says, suddenly, can I tell you the truth, 13:15.320 --> 13:19.520 the suddenly will not occur in your life unless you're praying and waiting. 13:21.760 --> 13:27.780 Every true biblical revival begins with a life devoted onto prayer. 13:28.840 --> 13:32.220 Let me say this again, because we say, well, it starts with prayer. No, no. 13:32.220 --> 13:43.060 Hear my language. Every true biblical revival begins with life devoted onto prayer. 13:43.780 --> 13:50.360 And we see it as clear as day in the book of Acts. As clear as day. 13:51.600 --> 13:56.520 The 120 gathered and they weren't like, oh, Jesus, so wonderful. 13:57.660 --> 14:04.060 No, they heard what their master said. They heard what Jesus said. 14:04.680 --> 14:10.900 They recognized that Jesus' last message, before he actually ascended on high, 14:11.220 --> 14:19.500 he addressed the church of that time. And then an angel comes and the angel says, 14:19.940 --> 14:25.400 the same way that you saw him ascend, you're going to see him actually what? Descend and 14:25.400 --> 14:35.520 come back. Every true biblical revival begins with a life devoted, given, laid down in prayer. 14:36.980 --> 14:42.900 And I have found, especially studying revivals, I have found it's very few. 14:45.770 --> 14:53.030 It's very few that actually are the ones that properly obeyed, 14:53.030 --> 14:58.450 properly prayed, and used proper methods in their prayers. 15:00.210 --> 15:06.510 It's very few. Just study revivals. I think if my memory is serving me right, I think it was 15:06.510 --> 15:11.470 either the Wales revival or one of the revivals. They said that there was two grandmas 15:11.470 --> 15:17.690 that gathered in a barn, and they prayed for years. They prayed. I think it was Wales. 15:17.930 --> 15:19.830 Don't quote me on that. Say it again. 15:21.970 --> 15:23.610 There you go. Thank you. 15:26.510 --> 15:32.570 Two grandmas. By the way, I love grandmas. Can I tell you something in our culture? 15:33.050 --> 15:38.690 Some of the most powerful praying people that I know in the church were the 80, 15:39.530 --> 15:43.130 the 70, the 80 and the 90 year old grandmas. When they got into prayer, 15:43.490 --> 15:47.970 it wasn't sweetie, do you want a candy? It was and they would go and you're 15:47.970 --> 15:54.590 like snap, man. Grandma knows how to pray. I'm telling you, love the grandmas. 15:55.570 --> 16:02.090 Love the women that have laid their lives down in prayer. I've also learned that 16:04.230 --> 16:09.490 biblical revivals, usually the ones that lay themselves down, aren't even the ones that 16:09.490 --> 16:17.450 experience it. They actually usher it in and then it's like the Lord takes them. 16:18.210 --> 16:22.270 And then it's the next generation that actually rides out the wave, if you want to call it that. 16:25.540 --> 16:40.940 I said this last Sunday that here in America, I keep picking on America because I live here 16:40.940 --> 16:47.560 or self-care thing. And what I mean by that is that when we labor for something, 16:48.160 --> 16:53.580 we want to make sure that we are rewarded for it and that we see the results for it. 16:53.780 --> 16:58.080 And if you think about it, it's like, well, yeah, that's good. And just to be honest, 16:58.320 --> 17:01.920 I can't say that I have something against it. If you worked, if you, let's say, 17:02.000 --> 17:04.360 you're a construction worker and you worked and you built a house, 17:04.780 --> 17:07.580 yeah, I would expect you to get paid for it. It's normal. 17:08.180 --> 17:12.800 But I've also learned that there is things that God will ask you to do 17:13.440 --> 17:21.360 that you may not even see in your lifetime. You may not even experience what you've labored for. 17:22.240 --> 17:26.580 That's why we have so many people that don't sign up for those things. 17:28.020 --> 17:31.340 God, you're telling me I'm not going to be a part of this thing? I ain't going to labor. 17:32.040 --> 17:35.240 I ain't going to break up the foul ground, God. I'm not going to 17:36.040 --> 17:41.880 travail and lament and be in prayer for hours so that the next generation, 17:42.400 --> 17:46.140 so that that Russian and their generation get it. I ain't doing that, Lord. 17:51.060 --> 17:55.400 See, I'm living a life. By the way, I said this last time. I'm living a life. 17:56.960 --> 18:04.200 I am laboring and I am obeying the Lord in a way anticipating that I will experience 18:04.200 --> 18:09.420 the revival that the scriptures talk about. But at the same time, but at the same time, 18:09.880 --> 18:18.560 if I don't, then I know my kids will. Still with me? 18:19.660 --> 18:25.020 Martin Lloyd-Jones, he described revival as a sovereign outpouring of the spirit 18:25.020 --> 18:35.120 that goes beyond the ordinary. You know, it's like he took Jim's words and he just said them. 18:36.020 --> 18:39.520 Because this is what I hear you saying all the time, Jim. It's the 18:40.520 --> 18:47.460 move of the spirit that is unordinary. It's different. You can't make it up. You can't 18:47.460 --> 18:54.020 fathom it. You can't work it up. It's God's sovereignly moving in such a way that it's like, 18:54.380 --> 19:00.280 wow. And then he finishes off with this. He's saying, beyond ordinary, transforming 19:00.740 --> 19:15.140 not just individuals, but whole communities. Somebody told me this. I'm trying to remember. 19:17.460 --> 19:22.960 Ah, I'm going to butcher it so I'm not going to say it. George Whitfield viewed revival as a 19:22.960 --> 19:26.600 sovereign transformative move of God. So very similar to some of the other ones. 19:28.060 --> 19:32.100 I also touched on, so revival is all these great things that we've talked about. It's 19:32.100 --> 19:37.560 the move of the spirit. It's the signs, the miracles, the wonders. But at the core and at 19:37.560 --> 19:44.400 the essence of what revival is and why God is even sending the revival. I touched on this. It's 19:44.400 --> 19:52.980 for the purpose of first love to be revived in a human being. Because he is a God that 19:53.940 --> 20:01.800 not only desires, but I will use these words. He requires first love from his people. 20:04.120 --> 20:08.040 And that's a weighty thing for us to hear. It's like, hold on a second. You're telling me God is 20:11.280 --> 20:16.940 requiring first love from his people, from his church, from his bride. But here is the beauty of 20:16.940 --> 20:22.020 it. If there's anything that I want you to take away from today's portion of the message, 20:22.340 --> 20:28.100 it's this part right here. So listen. The beauty of it is that when God requires us to walk in 20:28.100 --> 20:39.820 first love, he does not expect us to do it by ourselves. God is not expecting us to work up this 20:39.820 --> 20:49.220 love, to work up this desire for him. Because honestly, our flesh is a fallen nature. 20:51.000 --> 20:56.660 Not always do we want to love our kids. And all the moms said, amen. 20:59.720 --> 21:02.520 Not always do we want to love our husbands and our wives. 21:03.780 --> 21:08.860 Not always do we want to love our neighbors. I mean, it's all these things. It's the flesh. It's a 21:08.860 --> 21:14.420 fallen nature. So when God is saying that I desire and I need you, it's a requirement 21:14.880 --> 21:19.720 to walk in first love towards him, he's saying, I'm not expecting you to do it alone. 21:19.960 --> 21:23.480 And here's what I want you to take away. If there's anything to take away from today's 21:23.480 --> 21:33.020 message, it's this. That it takes God to love God. Hear me, hear me. I heard a man of God say 21:33.020 --> 21:42.540 that once and it was like piercing to my heart. I was like, it takes God to actually love God. 21:45.080 --> 21:52.200 The purpose, if I was to boil down the purpose of why the Holy Spirit was sent to us, 21:53.160 --> 22:00.600 it is to empower us to love God with first love and then everything else follows. 22:03.120 --> 22:09.800 I'm not excluding everything else. I'm not excluding the purpose of being delivered 22:09.800 --> 22:14.760 and set free and operating in the gifts and all the other beautiful things that the Holy Spirit 22:14.760 --> 22:24.080 brings about in my books. The primary goal of when Jesus was crucified on the cross 22:24.080 --> 22:29.880 and he said, it is finished. And then the scripture says that he breathed his last breath. 22:30.260 --> 22:36.900 I believe that was the releasing of the Holy Spirit to now not only dwell in Christ, 22:37.260 --> 22:40.400 but to dwell in everyone who believes in him. 22:42.380 --> 22:50.200 The exhale of the Lord on the cross in my books is actually a releasing of the Holy Spirit 22:50.200 --> 22:56.300 to now go and not just dwell or rest upon, but now dwell within a mankind. 22:57.930 --> 23:04.180 And the purpose of it is to empower us that we would have the ability, the capability, 23:04.880 --> 23:10.540 the skill, the desire, all the other things to now walk and live in first love towards God. 23:12.360 --> 23:19.340 It takes God to love God, so the Holy Spirit was given to a fallen people 23:21.300 --> 23:25.780 to see Jesus rightly. By the way, you can't see Jesus rightly without the Holy Spirit. 23:28.570 --> 23:33.290 You can't see Jesus rightly without the Holy Spirit. You can walk around with a whole bunch 23:33.290 --> 23:38.810 of knowledge and be puffed up, but have a lack of revelation that actually shapes you, 23:38.990 --> 23:44.850 and only the Holy Spirit can do that. That's why that's why you see atheists that will read 23:44.850 --> 23:49.830 the scriptures. I've sat with people that can quote the scripture and they know the scripture 23:49.830 --> 23:54.230 far beyond my days, but I look at them and the only thing that runs through me is, 23:54.470 --> 24:00.050 how can you read this book yet be so cold-hearted and not recognize what somebody did for you? 24:00.050 --> 24:06.750 And his name is Jesus. That's why I said it's by the Holy Spirit that the word comes alive. 24:08.450 --> 24:15.970 That's why the Holy Spirit is given to empower us, to love him, to walk holy, to walk in freedom, 24:16.330 --> 24:21.310 to walk in deliverance, to walk in the power of the kingdom and of heaven. Friends, 24:22.250 --> 24:27.050 that's why the Holy Ghost was given us. It wasn't just to speak in tongues, 24:27.050 --> 24:34.810 it wasn't just to prophesy up a storm. That's just a cherry on top. The gifts are the cherry on top. 24:37.210 --> 24:43.170 It takes God to love God. I'm telling you this morning, some of you need to get some freedom 24:43.170 --> 24:52.490 in the fact that you can't love God by yourself. You need some freedom to recognize you need a 24:52.490 --> 24:59.090 little bit more and even more and even more of the Holy Spirit to actually walk in first love. 25:02.110 --> 25:08.250 Why in Revelation chapter 2, I read this last time, why in Revelation chapter 2 does Jesus say 25:08.250 --> 25:15.290 to the church, he says, return to where you have fallen and remember? Because he's turning 25:15.290 --> 25:21.730 our attention to something when the Holy Spirit made the Scriptures real to us. 25:22.350 --> 25:31.040 Yeah. He's saying go back to that. Lean on the Holy Spirit. Lean on the Comforter. The Spirit of 25:31.040 --> 25:38.760 Truth. Recognize that he's the one that's actually going to counsel you, help you, lead you. 25:39.140 --> 25:43.620 He'll put up with all of your knickknacks and pattywacks and all that stuff. He'll put up 25:43.620 --> 25:54.680 with it. He's a gentleman. But his purpose is to get a church and a people to walk 25:54.680 --> 26:02.920 in first love on to God. That's revival, by the way. What's the purpose of the great outpouring 26:02.920 --> 26:08.280 that we read in the book of Joel, that Joel prophesies? And then Peter quotes and acts, 26:08.760 --> 26:18.920 in the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your young men... What does it say? 26:18.920 --> 26:30.980 Help me out here. Your old men? Thank you, Jim. Your young men will prophesy. 26:33.600 --> 26:36.820 What is the Spirit of Prophecy? Can somebody tell me what's the Spirit of Prophecy? 26:38.260 --> 26:45.000 There you go. Thank you, Abby. The Spirit of Prophecy is not for you to fortune tell somebody's 26:45.000 --> 26:53.760 future. Hear me. Please hear me here. The Spirit of Prophecy is not to fortune tell somebody else's 26:53.760 --> 27:06.750 future. The Spirit of Prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. It is the Lamb who came, who died, 27:07.530 --> 27:13.050 who rose again, and he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he is coming back 27:13.050 --> 27:21.710 quickly. That's the Spirit of Prophecy. It's testifying about what Jesus has done on the cross 27:21.710 --> 27:27.790 of Calvary. It's the testimony that the blood of the Lamb still speaks today. 27:36.400 --> 27:45.680 It takes God to love God. You still with me? Let's get into some of what I want to talk about 27:45.680 --> 27:55.740 today. In studying revivals, I have found that actually, if you were here for in January, 27:56.120 --> 27:59.760 who was here for the intercessory prayer in January? We have it every second Friday of 27:59.760 --> 28:05.380 the month. Who was here? Just lift your hands for me. Okay. So some of you, you'll recall this. 28:05.600 --> 28:10.980 I played a video because I've studied revival and this young man made it like a 14 minute 28:10.980 --> 28:14.700 video or something like that. It's phenomenal. I'm like, this guy just said it better than I 28:14.700 --> 28:21.700 did. So I played a video for everybody at that prayer to watch. And it's interesting that in 28:21.700 --> 28:27.820 studying revivals, and then that young man says it too, that revivals specifically in America, 28:28.440 --> 28:37.920 great awakenings and revivals, happened every 50 years. Every 50 years, God would move in such a 28:37.920 --> 28:48.260 way because, because the church went so astray and the first love onto God was so far off that 28:48.260 --> 28:54.980 God had to move in such a sovereign way that he would grab the church, his bride, and say, 28:54.980 --> 29:01.980 come back. Come back to the purpose of why I even created you. And every 50 years, 29:02.820 --> 29:08.900 we would, we can find in history, if we track history, we can find a revival or a great awakening 29:08.900 --> 29:17.300 in America. By the way, it's been more than 50 years since the last great awakening and revival 29:17.300 --> 29:28.520 we had in America. According to history, we're overdue. According to history, we are actually 29:28.520 --> 29:35.580 overdue for revival. And I'm looking at the church and the state that the church is in, 29:36.780 --> 29:45.540 and I'm thinking, God, how much more further are you going to let us go? I'm serious. How much 29:45.540 --> 29:52.620 more further are you going to let a people of God go? Of where they're missing the point? 29:54.700 --> 30:00.840 Jesus has become an accessory that you wear as an Apple Watch when it's convenient for you, 30:00.940 --> 30:08.780 when you need to, your steps counted. I'll put on Jesus. When you need your Apple Watch to match 30:08.780 --> 30:13.760 your, your fit, I'll put on Jesus when it's convenient for me with the people that I hang 30:13.760 --> 30:22.500 out with. I feel like we have gone so far and I'm asking God, Lord, how much further are you 30:22.500 --> 30:27.400 going to let the church get to? And all I keep hearing is he's saying, son, it's the mercy. 30:29.660 --> 30:35.240 He's saying the reason, the reason why it's not yet is he goes, that's my mercy. That's, 30:35.240 --> 30:40.120 that's all I've gotten from God when I talk to him about it. He says, it's my mercy. 30:41.660 --> 30:47.080 I'm showing my mercy to a people. That's, friends, I'm telling you, every time I'm talking to the Lord 30:47.080 --> 30:51.380 about it, it just, I just stopped asking already. I'm like, all right, God, I got you. 30:52.460 --> 30:58.620 It's actually your mercy that you are showing us in why, according to history, it's delayed. 30:59.260 --> 31:10.100 It's not according to God. God doesn't delay. He's always on time. He's the God of the 11th 31:10.100 --> 31:18.240 50 years. Revivals have occurred in America. A pastor in New York by the name of John, 31:18.870 --> 31:25.520 yeah, John Tyson, a student of revival said this, and this will kick me off to where I left off 31:27.100 --> 31:35.560 last time. He said this. He's a student of revival. He said, God comes where he is wanted. 31:38.160 --> 31:42.520 So no, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, just hear me out here. Okay, hear me out here. 31:43.960 --> 31:51.800 God comes where he is wanted. If I was to go to every church that I visited, 31:52.800 --> 31:56.740 that Tanya and I visited in the two and a half years, and I was to come up to the 31:56.740 --> 32:01.100 pastor and I was to ask the pastor, pastor, do you want God? You know what their response 32:01.100 --> 32:10.900 would be? Well, of course we want God. God comes where he is wanted, not by lip service. 32:11.460 --> 32:21.360 Hear me, not by lip service. Jesus actually rebuked the Pharisees, quoting the prophet 32:21.360 --> 32:28.960 Isaiah, and he said, they worship me with their lips, but he said their hearts are far from me. 32:29.480 --> 32:37.420 Right. So if I was to go and I was to ask every pastor, do you want God? I guarantee you, 32:37.600 --> 32:42.240 their response would be, yeah, we want God. Do you want God to move in your church? 32:42.620 --> 32:46.860 Yeah, we want God to move. And someone would say, but we would want God to move this way. It's 32:46.860 --> 32:59.270 like, huh, so do you really want God? God comes where he is wanted, not according to our lip service. 33:01.610 --> 33:07.330 But according to where our heart is at. And when we start talking about the heart, 33:07.570 --> 33:15.530 we start talking about first love. And if we're talking about first love, I can take that quote 33:15.530 --> 33:24.690 and say, God comes where first love rests. Now you've eliminated a whole bunch of people. 33:25.250 --> 33:29.370 And I'm not trying to eliminate anybody. Trust me. I'm not trying to say, 33:29.430 --> 33:31.830 oh, that church ain't going to make it. That's not what I'm trying to do. 33:32.090 --> 33:41.980 I am simply stating truth. That's all I'm stating. We pray, we hoot, we holler, 33:43.060 --> 33:50.060 our emotions are high, and we want God. This is great. But then you leave, 33:50.540 --> 33:52.940 and your heart is actually far from him. 33:56.060 --> 34:00.280 I just want to challenge you this morning, and the only reason why I'm challenging you this morning, 34:00.640 --> 34:04.600 you heard me say it that last Sunday, this is something that Tanya and I, we live this way. 34:05.260 --> 34:08.360 I constantly guard my heart and I check my heart. Where's my heart at? 34:09.040 --> 34:12.100 So that's why I'm challenging you this morning. Where is your heart at? 34:14.260 --> 34:15.620 Where is your heart at? 34:17.960 --> 34:24.000 Is your heart where first love is? Or is your lip in your heart far from one another? 34:24.760 --> 34:29.800 And you're saying something, but your heart is far from it. You're just saying it because, 34:30.760 --> 34:35.860 well, it's probably the thing to say, right? It's probably what everybody is saying, right? 34:35.980 --> 34:42.240 And we just go down this list. But I like to get real with myself. When I'm alone with the Lord, 34:42.360 --> 34:46.200 I like to get real with myself. I don't condemn myself, that's not condemnation, 34:46.480 --> 34:51.540 but I get real with myself. And I say, Lord, check my heart. I pray as David prayed. 34:52.400 --> 34:58.160 Lord, search my heart. Where am I, Lord? Is my heart growing cold in an area? 34:58.840 --> 35:06.340 If it is, Holy Spirit, help me. Counsel me. Remember, it takes God to love God. 35:07.860 --> 35:11.060 When he's asking us to do something, he wants to partner with us. 35:15.040 --> 35:20.440 Still with me? All right, Isaiah 66. This is where I want to park, and we'll see how far 35:20.440 --> 35:27.600 we get through it, because it's already 11.25. Isaiah 66, verses one and two. 35:30.690 --> 35:34.930 This, again, is a prophetic message of what I believe the Lord is emphasizing. 35:35.990 --> 35:40.110 And it's interesting, because I've felt this for some time now. I've let it sit 35:40.110 --> 35:51.790 and brew in me over quite some time. And I just heard another pastor at his church in a 35:51.790 --> 35:56.150 room from the perspective that he felt God speaking a very similar thing, just coming 35:56.150 --> 36:03.230 at it from a different angle of what I'm talking about here. But also, I felt the Lord, and I 36:03.230 --> 36:12.050 shared this last time, I felt the Lord say that there is an attention that God is giving 36:12.610 --> 36:18.650 to local bodies like never before. I'm not saying that God never paid attention to local 36:18.650 --> 36:24.110 bodies before. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying there is an emphasis that God is making 36:24.110 --> 36:33.370 on local bodies, on local churches like never before for this next move. If you actually go back 36:33.370 --> 36:40.410 to open heavens 2025, there was a message that I spoke there that was the first, it was the 36:40.410 --> 36:45.890 Sunday morning of open heavens 2025. That was before Tanya and I were even on staff. There's 36:45.890 --> 36:51.730 a message that I spoke there that really connects with what I'm talking about. And in that message, 36:51.790 --> 36:56.770 I talked about the next move of God and coming from the perspective of what the Lord showed me. 36:57.090 --> 37:00.990 Because I don't like to talk ahead. If God hasn't showed me something, I don't like to talk ahead. 37:01.050 --> 37:07.770 And all that he showed me at that time was four years. And he showed me four years and how 37:07.770 --> 37:13.530 we need to actually prepare for what's ahead and how the way that we spend ourselves in 37:13.530 --> 37:20.050 these four years, so 2025, 26, 27, 28, the way that we spend ourselves. And what I mean by 37:20.050 --> 37:25.970 spending ourselves is preparing ourselves in these four years, we'll actually see the result 37:25.970 --> 37:32.290 in the years to come. So to the measure that we prepare ourselves, we will actually see the 37:32.290 --> 37:37.650 result of it in the years to follow. So again, going back to this, I'm like going into 37:37.650 --> 37:41.830 different rabbit holes here, going back to this, I believe this is a prophetic message 37:41.830 --> 37:49.590 that God wants to sound the alarm to different local bodies, making the emphasis of 37:50.550 --> 37:58.810 I am paying attention to local bodies like never before, for the purpose of what Isaiah writes 37:59.130 --> 38:06.150 in Isaiah 66, to create a resting place for God and a dwelling place for the Almighty. 38:08.030 --> 38:14.210 So let's read it here quick. Let me actually say this one thing and then I'll read it. I said this 38:14.210 --> 38:19.450 last time and I want to just remind you of it. I do believe that the Holy Spirit is going to and 38:19.450 --> 38:28.950 fro and he is searching a resting place for the Almighty. I do believe, I am, I am convinced, 38:29.580 --> 38:38.930 I am persuaded that the Holy Spirit is going to and fro looking at local bodies of where he can 38:38.930 --> 38:46.650 find rest, of where what's done in that house is actually pleasing onto the Lord. And they are 38:46.650 --> 38:54.310 not just hooting and hollering with lip service, but they are truly gut wrenching, hearts undone, 38:54.310 --> 39:06.190 crying out to God, we want you and nothing else. And the Holy Spirit, he's going, he's moving, 39:06.690 --> 39:13.290 he's searching the land. Will I find a place of where there is a people that truly 39:13.290 --> 39:19.910 with a broken heart are actually wanting me? Because if they are, I'll be there. 39:21.150 --> 39:26.550 I will rest there. I will do a thing that their mind has never even imagined. 39:30.400 --> 39:37.400 Isaiah 66 verses 1 and 2, it says, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. 39:38.680 --> 39:44.640 Where is the house that you will build me? It's interesting. This is, this is the 39:44.640 --> 39:51.100 Genesis 1 God talking, by the way. This is the Genesis 1 God talking through the prophet 39:51.100 --> 39:59.260 Isaiah. And he's saying, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. He's describing his, 39:59.320 --> 40:06.580 his supremacy. He's describing his greatness. What we see in the world, our perspective 40:06.580 --> 40:11.020 of the world, we can go and we can travel and we're thinking, wow, this world is 40:11.820 --> 40:16.460 ginormous. Look at the seas, the Atlantic, the Pacific. Look at all this. It's giant. 40:16.460 --> 40:25.000 God says, yeah, that's my footstool. He says, yeah, that's where I rest my feet, by the way. 40:27.180 --> 40:37.500 He's actually showing us how grand he is, how great he is. His throne is so large that earth 40:37.500 --> 40:44.840 could not contain it. That's why even in Revelation we, we see that the new heaven and the new 40:44.840 --> 40:53.380 earth is actually going to be over the existing earth. Because this throne room, his, his holiness 40:53.380 --> 40:58.840 cannot even fit. I'm just trying to describe to you, this is a Genesis 1 God. It can't fit 40:58.840 --> 41:05.780 into the creation. The wholeness of God cannot fit into the creation that he made. 41:10.440 --> 41:20.020 Except in Jesus. Heaven is my throne. Earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will 41:20.020 --> 41:28.420 build me? And where is the place of my rest? For all those things my hand has made. To me, 41:28.500 --> 41:32.380 it's interesting, just again, I get these like side notes that I'm like, I should say this, 41:32.620 --> 41:40.300 so I'm saying it. To me, it's interesting that we think, it's funny, and I'm sure 41:40.300 --> 41:45.540 that God sometimes laughs, because God has a sense of humor. We think that we can actually impress God. 41:49.440 --> 41:54.020 Do you see that God? I read my Bible today. What's up? 41:56.660 --> 42:00.660 Hey Lord, do you see that? I got out of my comfort zone, and I prayed for somebody at 42:00.660 --> 42:06.820 McDonald's. Do you see that Lord? That's right Lord. Hey God, do you see that? I just 42:06.820 --> 42:13.960 raised my hands during worship. I'm breaking out of my box here Lord. And I think all those 42:13.960 --> 42:18.020 things are great, by the way. I am by no means trying to be a little anybody. But I'm looking 42:18.020 --> 42:24.580 at this from God's perspective, and God's like, finally you're getting it. Finally, you're 42:24.580 --> 42:33.310 getting it. Look how grand He is. Heaven is my throne, and we think we can impress a God 42:33.870 --> 42:39.310 whose throne is far beyond our imagination. Do you see that Lord? I just prophesied, 42:39.330 --> 42:44.610 and I was accurate. God says, finally you've grown in that gift. I've been waiting for it. 42:46.270 --> 42:50.970 Do you see that Lord? Somebody got healed when I prayed for them. Finally you recognize the 42:50.970 --> 43:00.040 authority that I've given you. Verse two, for all those things my hand has made, 43:00.680 --> 43:06.900 and on all these, and all these things exist, says the Lord. And here's where I believe, 43:10.020 --> 43:14.160 here's where I believe, where I want to kind of emphasize on something, is that second part 43:14.160 --> 43:24.240 of verse two. But on this one, will I look, on Him who is poor, and of a contrite spirit, 43:26.040 --> 43:33.440 and who trembles at my word. I want to, time again is against me today, so I might just park on one of 43:33.440 --> 43:40.860 those three. But I want to say this, that God sees all things. The Scripture says that everything 43:40.860 --> 43:49.140 lays bare and naked before God. You can't hide from Him. David says, if I go to the east, 43:49.400 --> 43:53.560 you're there. If I go to the west, you're there. If I go up to the highest of heights, 43:53.560 --> 43:58.840 he says, you're there. He says, if I go make a bed in hell, which by the way David was prophesying 43:58.840 --> 44:05.580 about Jesus dying and going into Hades, for those that didn't know. David was prophesying in Psalm 139 44:06.280 --> 44:15.260 about a God coming in the flesh, walking amongst us, dying on the cross, going to the pit 44:15.260 --> 44:22.860 of hell, taking the keys from Satan and rising from the dead. That's Psalm 139 that David 44:22.860 --> 44:31.660 actually prophesized that, talking about Jesus. See, you can't hide from God. Again, here's a thought. 44:32.080 --> 44:39.960 We think that when we sin, God didn't see it. You see, sometimes I feel like when we come into 44:39.960 --> 44:44.840 the sanctuary, we recognize the holiness of God. And that's great, because there is a holiness. 44:45.300 --> 44:50.300 But then we leave the church building, and all of a sudden, the reverence and holiness that 44:50.300 --> 44:58.580 we have onto God, it's like it vanishes. And we feel like God only sees sin when we step into this room. 44:59.820 --> 45:06.680 God only sees sin when my pastor sees me. Then God saw my sin. Friend, God sees your sin no 45:06.680 --> 45:14.830 matter where you're at. That's why we need the Holy Spirit. Just want to go back to that. 45:15.410 --> 45:20.590 There's something I want you to remember today. It's you need the God to love God. We need 45:20.590 --> 45:27.410 the Holy Spirit like never before. Let me say that again. We need the Holy Spirit like never before. 45:28.170 --> 45:33.710 If the Holy Spirit is not moving, if the Holy Spirit is not leading, we are just a social club, 45:33.770 --> 45:41.570 by the way. We are here wasting our time. If the Holy Spirit is not coming, and he is not 45:41.570 --> 45:47.750 pleased with what we do here. I don't know how churches do it. I don't know how pastors 45:48.810 --> 45:56.030 keep doing ministry, Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, all in the flesh. How do you do it? Do you do it 45:56.030 --> 46:02.910 for the paycheck? Because I'm not. Because last time I checked, pastors are underpaid. So either 46:02.910 --> 46:06.850 you're part of a church that you're making bucks, man? Or I don't know. But how do you do it 46:06.850 --> 46:14.850 if the Holy Spirit is not coming? I would get tired of this within the first probably three 46:14.850 --> 46:23.410 to six months. But because the Holy Spirit comes, because the Holy Spirit strengthens, 46:23.550 --> 46:28.890 because the Holy Spirit encourages and exhorts, because the Holy Spirit leads, 46:29.350 --> 46:34.830 because the Holy Spirit moves, because the Holy Spirit gives revelation, knowledge, 46:35.030 --> 46:43.760 it gives me the ability to keep loving him. It's no credit onto any of us. It's all credit 46:43.760 --> 46:49.440 onto him. The only credit that we can take is the small little obedience. And even then, 46:49.740 --> 46:53.940 it's like, I can't even take that Lord, because I only obeyed because you first spoke to me. 46:59.740 --> 47:05.960 Where was I at? On this one I will look, and he who is poor 47:08.560 --> 47:17.100 contrite and trembles at my word. There is, here's my thought, God sees all things, 47:17.460 --> 47:21.720 but not on everybody will God look. And what I mean by that is he will, 47:22.640 --> 47:31.520 he will focus in on, he will be captivated with. That's just the truth. 47:33.240 --> 47:41.170 Jacob, I loved. Esau, I what? That's a whole other story that I'm not going to get into, 47:41.250 --> 47:46.750 because time is against me. But what I'm trying to emphasize is that you could go to a church, 47:46.950 --> 47:51.110 and they could be preaching Christ there. And that's great, because Paul writes that in Philippians, 47:51.590 --> 47:55.050 he says that's great that they're preaching Christ. Some preach Christ out of envy, 47:55.510 --> 47:59.850 some preach Christ out of self-ambition, some preach Christ out of self-gain, whatever. 47:59.850 --> 48:04.250 But he goes, who cares as long as they're preaching Christ? But here's my point, 48:04.670 --> 48:09.550 just because they're preaching Christ, does not mean that the attention of God has been caught 48:09.550 --> 48:16.550 by that church. The three things that actually catch the attention of God are these three 48:16.550 --> 48:23.170 things right here. Poor, contrite, and we tremble at his word. What does it mean to be poor? 48:24.430 --> 48:30.650 To be poor is more than just humility, by the way. It is humility, but it's more than that. 48:31.610 --> 48:39.250 To be poor is to have lowliness of mind. Huh, felt like we just went through a series 48:39.250 --> 48:48.450 at our church there. To be poor in spirit is to be completely, is to have, I'm sorry, 48:48.450 --> 49:01.070 is to have complete dependency on God. To be poor in spirit, to be a man or a woman that's poor, 49:01.610 --> 49:09.510 is to have complete dependency on God. Now how many Americans can say that? 49:10.690 --> 49:18.430 Just think about it. Just think about it. How many American people can say that I have 49:18.430 --> 49:29.860 complete dependency on God? We always ask, why is God moving in Africa and Nigeria and 49:29.860 --> 49:35.680 in these third world countries? Why is God moving in such a way that he's not moving in America? 49:36.140 --> 49:40.260 Friends, because they've caught the attention of God. They are poor. 49:42.880 --> 49:50.860 They know that if I don't pray today, God give me today daily bread I'm not going to eat. 49:54.500 --> 50:02.360 Where for us, we pray and then we go to cup foods. God gave me daily bread. 50:06.420 --> 50:09.880 We live in a blessed nation and I by no means I'm trying to degrade that, 50:10.160 --> 50:13.660 but I'm trying to show you something here of how we catch the attention of God. 50:14.920 --> 50:20.960 Of how God actually gets to be captivated with us. You're saying God can do that? Most 50:20.960 --> 50:30.040 definitely he can do that. God can actually be moved by his people and we see that in Luke 7. 50:30.380 --> 50:39.020 I talked about that. God can actually be moved by his people. His heart can be moved and he 50:39.020 --> 50:43.360 begins to be caught up and he's looking at us and we're looking at him and he's looking at 50:43.360 --> 50:54.640 us and we're looking at him and we are poor. Everything that I have God depends on you. 50:58.280 --> 51:02.220 That's why I like to say we are all maturing. I don't care if you're a pastor, 51:02.780 --> 51:10.060 an apostle, a prophet. If you just got saved, we're all maturing. There's things in my life 51:10.060 --> 51:18.020 that I need to actually mature in. And being poor is one of them. Be completely honest with you. 51:18.420 --> 51:24.280 I need to understand how much more, even more, I have to be dependent on God. 51:27.120 --> 51:30.020 When Tanya and I, I'll share with you a story. When Tanya and I, when we 51:30.680 --> 51:36.700 sold everything and we moved up here, I had to learn a whole another level 51:36.700 --> 51:45.070 of depending on God. And I really appreciate what pastor said. I said pastor, I'm glad it came from 51:45.070 --> 51:50.750 your mouth and not from my mouth, but he shared the difference of finances. And I'm not saying 51:50.750 --> 51:56.570 that in a negative light. I'm simply sharing that as we feel called. That's why we went and I 51:56.570 --> 52:02.890 didn't care about the finances. But in that, I actually had to grow in what it means to be poor. 52:05.230 --> 52:12.150 Poor and spirit. God, I got to be dependent on you more. I now realize, God, that it's not my hands 52:12.150 --> 52:17.590 that are actually going to create finances. It's not my business that's going to bring in finances. 52:17.830 --> 52:22.350 But it's actually you, God, that's going to bring in the finances. You're going to provide 52:22.350 --> 52:25.530 for us. I don't know how you're going to do it, but he's been doing it so well. 52:26.730 --> 52:29.990 Friends, I don't know how, but he's been doing it so well. 52:31.530 --> 52:38.370 He gives an opportunity. I say, yes, Lord. You know, when we think of finances, we think all of a 52:38.370 --> 52:43.830 sudden money opens and then there's like a million bucks that falls. I learned that the way God 52:43.830 --> 52:51.310 blesses us with finances, he gives us opportunities. He says, create an avenue for me and let me work 52:51.310 --> 52:56.810 through that avenue so that I can bless you. Is there times where he performs a miracle 52:56.810 --> 53:02.730 and somebody just comes and blesses you? Most definitely he does. But I found those to be 53:02.730 --> 53:08.330 less occurring than the ones where God is actually trying to mature me in being poor. 53:08.990 --> 53:14.430 He's trying to mature me. He's saying, son, just give me an avenue. Give me an opportunity. 53:14.770 --> 53:24.110 Create a space for me so that my blessings can come. We have to mature in the things of God 53:24.110 --> 53:29.370 and being poor is something. I'll even say it for our church. We as a church have to mature in that. 53:31.610 --> 53:36.770 I'm talking as a pastor in this church. We need to mature in what it means to be poor in spirit. 53:37.690 --> 53:43.470 We as a church going forward now and even going forward need to understand 53:44.030 --> 53:49.310 how much more dependent we got to be on God to build that building. 53:49.700 --> 53:58.110 Amen. Still with me? Yes. I'm not even going to finish this one, but that's all right. 53:58.750 --> 54:04.410 You guys still love me, right? Yes. Thank you, Jim. Thank you, Jim. Somebody, I was like, 54:04.430 --> 54:09.770 somebody say something. Thank you, Jim. I appreciate that. I know a pastor 54:09.770 --> 54:12.050 was here. He would have backed me up, but I appreciate that. 54:14.390 --> 54:21.250 To be poor in spirit is recognizing your spiritual bankruptcy before God. 54:24.190 --> 54:26.800 Let me just say that again and we'll probably end on that one. 54:27.990 --> 54:36.580 To be poor in spirit is to recognize that without God, without the sacrifice of Jesus, 54:37.000 --> 54:41.760 without the sending of the Holy Spirit, I am bankrupt spiritually. 54:44.900 --> 54:53.220 There is absolutely nothing of myself that can be of any good deed to my spirituality, 54:53.220 --> 55:05.720 unless, unless the Holy Spirit lives in me. So to be poor is to recognize all of my spirituality 55:06.290 --> 55:15.540 is now accredited onto God. All of the things I have in my spirit man, my salvation, the 55:15.540 --> 55:21.380 empowering, the gifts, the fruit of the spirit, all of it is actually accredited back 55:21.380 --> 55:28.660 onto him. That's being poor in spirit. It's recognizing that. It's posturing ourselves in 55:28.660 --> 55:33.940 that way. It's walking in that way. And God says, if you do that and you live that way, 55:34.300 --> 55:37.660 you got my attention. That's what the scriptures say. 55:40.320 --> 55:44.100 He says, on this one, I will look on who? He who is poor in spirit. 55:44.680 --> 55:50.100 He who is poor? God says, you have my attention. Not only are you walking in humility, 55:50.860 --> 55:58.740 not only do you carry lowliness of mind, not only are you dependent on me, 56:00.200 --> 56:07.340 but you actually are recognizing that you are bankrupt spiritually unless my 56:07.340 --> 56:13.100 life-giving spirit comes and dwells in you. God says, on that one, I will look. 56:14.680 --> 56:19.300 I'll look at that one. He or she has my attention if they can do that. 56:20.720 --> 56:26.140 I will hear their prayer. I will answer their prayer. I will move on their life. 56:29.140 --> 56:41.370 Okay, maybe we got time for one more. To be poor... Let me find one here. 56:47.590 --> 56:52.670 To be poor is understanding what sin is and what it has done. 56:54.370 --> 56:59.170 That's Romans 623. Can you put that on the screen for me? Romans 623. 57:00.610 --> 57:06.630 To be poor in spirit is to recognize what sin is and what sin does. 57:10.430 --> 57:15.090 But more than that, because we can sit there. See, let me just throw this into the mix. 57:15.690 --> 57:22.470 When we talk about being poor, at least in my culture, some of the churches that are 57:22.470 --> 57:31.170 more conservative, it's like their thought of being poor is like, oh, I'm a sinner. Well, that's great. 57:32.350 --> 57:35.610 Yeah, God loves me, though. And that's our idea of being poor. 57:38.090 --> 57:42.530 Like, literally. I feel like when people talk about being poor, that's their mind. Said, 57:42.530 --> 57:46.430 okay, I got to change my attitude. I got to recognize that I'm a sinner. 57:46.430 --> 57:53.870 Okay, being poor is recognizing or I should say understanding what sin is and what it does, 57:54.110 --> 57:58.870 but more than that, seeing the price that Jesus paid. 58:01.650 --> 58:08.330 Let me say this. Some of the most poor in spirit people are some of the most thankful people that 58:08.330 --> 58:13.530 I've ever met. Let me say it to you guys over here because they didn't respond so well. 58:13.990 --> 58:20.090 Some of the most, thank you. Some of the most poor in spirit people are some of the most thankful 58:20.090 --> 58:23.590 and people that are filled with gratitude that I've ever met. 58:26.170 --> 58:31.750 They did a little better. They did a little better. Do you guys see that? Second chance. 58:32.330 --> 58:38.670 Let me give you another one. I'm glad that we could do this. I'm glad we can do this. 58:38.670 --> 58:46.110 So again, being poor is understanding what sin is and what sin does. Now, we get stuck on the 58:46.110 --> 58:50.370 fact that, well, sin just sends you to hell. Sin does more than just send you to hell. 58:51.370 --> 58:56.390 Yes, that's what it does. But friends, I've said this before. I'll say it again. 58:57.830 --> 59:07.650 Sin separates you from the presence of God. I'm telling you, we got people that live in 59:07.650 --> 59:13.530 this world that are unbelievers. And the reason why it hasn't hit them yet of what sin is, 59:13.810 --> 59:18.450 like a brick wall, because the presence of God is actually still amongst the earth. 59:19.250 --> 59:25.510 There's two types of presence of God, by the way. There's a manifest presence and there's an omnipresence. 59:26.650 --> 59:30.990 And you have people in the world that are living in the omnipresence of God. 59:31.310 --> 59:34.310 You don't have to believe in him, but you're still living in his presence. 59:34.310 --> 59:41.210 And if they don't acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and Savior, I guarantee you that when that day comes, 59:41.470 --> 59:46.410 where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, they will be hit with a brick wall because there 59:46.410 --> 59:52.490 is going to be no more presence of God. The scariest part of hell is not the fact that 59:52.490 --> 59:58.510 you are being tormented. The scariest part of hell is the absence of the presence of the 59:58.510 --> 01:00:08.880 living God, period. Being poor is understanding that and walking in a revelation of it. 01:00:09.260 --> 01:00:14.160 And more than that, more than just, well, I know what sin is, I know what it does, 01:00:14.940 --> 01:00:21.040 it's understanding the price that was paid for you. The Scripture says you were not bought 01:00:21.040 --> 01:00:26.920 with silver or gold. It says you were bought by the precious blood of Jesus. 01:00:28.400 --> 01:00:34.560 Do you know what God had to go through to buy you back, rightly? 01:00:38.180 --> 01:00:41.500 Friend, one day, one day I'll go through a series, I shared this with Pastor, 01:00:41.640 --> 01:00:45.440 I'll give you a little sneak peek. I shared this with Pastor. I said, Pastor, I said, 01:00:45.480 --> 01:00:49.100 I want to get into a series after we are done building our house and we're moved in, 01:00:49.260 --> 01:00:55.340 and I want to name that series The Seed. And I want us to walk through as a church 01:00:55.340 --> 01:01:01.500 to simply show you what God the Father had to do to actually save you. 01:01:02.660 --> 01:01:10.040 From the time of Adam, following, there's 14 generations, 14 generations, 14 generations. 01:01:10.480 --> 01:01:17.880 God had to watch the seed in Genesis 3 all the way through that the seed would remain pure, 01:01:18.220 --> 01:01:24.580 holy, without blemish. He had to watch that seed until it was due time for his son 01:01:24.580 --> 01:01:32.140 to be born of a virgin. Friend, the price that God has paid for you and I 01:01:32.140 --> 01:01:37.680 to have life and life in abundance will take us eternity to fathom. 01:01:40.790 --> 01:01:47.490 And to be poor is to recognize that. You were willing to pay a price for me? 01:01:48.550 --> 01:01:54.690 You went through all that trouble just so that I could be with you, your eternal companion 01:01:54.690 --> 01:02:01.810 in heaven. You see, we don't see that side when it comes to God. We just say, 01:02:02.410 --> 01:02:07.670 we're saved. But now look at it from God's side. Read your scriptures and look at it from 01:02:07.670 --> 01:02:14.550 God's side. What he had to actually do. We're talking about the Genesis 1 God 01:02:14.550 --> 01:02:21.390 that now is incarnated. He had to watch that seed. He had to make sure that it 01:02:21.390 --> 01:02:26.050 would not be corrupted because if that seed got corrupted, then that means that's it. 01:02:26.210 --> 01:02:32.790 Caput, Jesus ain't coming. But the Father watched it through the time of Noah, 01:02:33.350 --> 01:02:39.010 through all the prophets. He watched it even during John the Baptist. He watched it and boom. 01:02:41.470 --> 01:02:47.310 The Word became flesh and it dwelt among us and we beheld his beauty. 01:02:48.070 --> 01:02:58.630 The price that God had to pay, the price that God had to pay is far more than what we think. 01:02:58.750 --> 01:03:04.070 It's not silver. It's not gold. It's the precious blood of the Genesis 1 God. 01:03:04.370 --> 01:03:09.910 That's the price that he paid. It's the precious blood of the Lamb, the Holy Lamb of God. 01:03:10.570 --> 01:03:15.890 Let me share with you this last revelation. My wife said this. It blew my mind. I was like, 01:03:16.490 --> 01:03:22.570 Sonushka, you just wrecked me with that revelation. She says, she says, you know, 01:03:23.350 --> 01:03:26.770 and I'm probably butchering it. Maybe sometime she can share it. She says, you know, she goes, 01:03:26.870 --> 01:03:31.650 I don't think we fully understand the sacrifice that Jesus actually paid. I said, you're right there. 01:03:32.550 --> 01:03:36.470 She says, do you know? She goes, I think, and she's, by the way, scripturally, she's correct. 01:03:36.970 --> 01:03:44.490 She says, I think that Jesus, after he came as a man and he died, this is a sacrifice. 01:03:44.490 --> 01:03:52.310 Listen, he now can never go back to how he was since Genesis. Listen, listen, listen, listen. 01:03:52.470 --> 01:03:56.550 It's not, it's not, it's, you guys aren't catching this for a second. In the Old Testament, 01:03:56.770 --> 01:04:04.110 the Scripture talks about Melchizedek. That is a representation of Jesus. Abraham paid tides 01:04:04.110 --> 01:04:10.550 to Melchizedek. We read that in Hebrews. That is the Lord. The God that met with 01:04:10.550 --> 01:04:19.090 Moses at the burning bush was the pre-incarnated Christ. Now, after Jesus came in the flesh and he 01:04:19.090 --> 01:04:26.910 died, he can, and rose again, he can now never go back to what he was. Do you see the sacrifice 01:04:26.910 --> 01:04:34.510 that Jesus actually paid? Jesus can actually not go back to being the pre-incarnated God. 01:04:34.510 --> 01:04:41.290 He is now forever a man, a God in the flesh that sits at the throne interceding before the 01:04:41.290 --> 01:04:50.000 Father. Do you see the price that Jesus actually paid? He can't go back. 01:04:52.200 --> 01:04:59.040 He can't reverse it and now be an uncart, he is now incarnated. And it's a sacrifice 01:04:59.040 --> 01:05:08.200 that he paid for eternity for his bride. He can't go back and be Melchizedek. 01:05:08.200 --> 01:05:13.700 He can't go back and be that God that met with Moses at the burning bush. He can't. No, he is now 01:05:13.700 --> 01:05:20.920 the crucified Lamb of God who sits as a God and as a man seated in heaven by the Father. 01:05:22.620 --> 01:05:30.480 That's the price. That's the price that he paid. And being poor in spirit is recognizing that 01:05:30.480 --> 01:05:38.190 and humbly receiving it and walking in it. Stand to your feet with me. 01:05:46.410 --> 01:06:16.000 Father, we thank You. Father, we thank You. We are thankful, Lord, 01:06:18.500 --> 01:06:31.520 that You have given us Your Word that is a lamp unto our feet. We thank You 01:06:33.020 --> 01:06:35.680 that You have not left us as orphans. 01:06:38.340 --> 01:06:47.620 But we have been grafted in. We have been adopted. We have been brought in by the precious blood of 01:06:47.620 --> 01:07:05.230 Your Son, Jesus. We have been brought in into Your family, into Your kingdom. We recognize that 01:07:05.230 --> 01:07:12.750 You are the Genesis One God far beyond what our mind can even fathom, nor even try to explain. 01:07:18.020 --> 01:07:28.380 We thank You that You love us. We thank You that You have given us Your Spirit so that we could love You. 01:07:30.980 --> 01:07:41.120 Holy Spirit, I ask You that You would help us, weak and broken people, that are in need of a Savior, 01:07:42.170 --> 01:07:49.840 that are in need of the Spirit of God to empower us to walk in first love, to walk in holiness, 01:07:50.620 --> 01:08:00.700 to walk in authority. Holy Spirit, as I ask for myself, I ask for everyone that is here and even 01:08:00.700 --> 01:08:12.280 those watching online, help us, counsel us, lead us to be a people and a church that walks 01:08:12.280 --> 01:08:21.100 in first love unto You. We recognize that it takes God to love God. This is not of our 01:08:21.100 --> 01:08:27.260 doing, but this is by You enabling us, empowering us, and helping us in our weaknesses. 01:08:29.220 --> 01:08:36.380 So as we leave this place, stir in our hearts, stir in our hearts, 01:08:39.120 --> 01:08:47.850 stir in our hearts, that we would behold Jesus and His beauty. 01:08:48.990 --> 01:08:52.090 And the church says amen.