I am going to be continuing a topic that I started now it's going to be two
Sundays ago because last Sunday pastor spoke on 27 reasons why God does not hear
our prayers or why our prayers not why God doesn't hear our prayers why our
prayers don't get answered which was very practical it was wonderful to listen
to that I'm going to continue today's today's message is going to be
It's going to be continuous of what I started again about two Sundays ago now where I titled
the message of revival is. And if you weren't here for that Sunday, a lot of what I'm going
to be saying today might go over your head. So I'm going to try to give you a quick overview,
but I would strongly encourage you to go back and listen to that message because I'm going
to be getting more into the thick of it today. But to give a quick little overview for
those that maybe weren't here or maybe you forgot is that revival is something that I believe
is oftentimes misunderstood in the church world. We have an idea of it and we act like
we have it all figured out, but in reality I'm like, I don't think we do. And I by no
means am toot my horn and saying that I have it all figured out. I can't say that
I have revival fully figured out. Do I have an idea of it? Do I have a scriptural
basis of what revival is? How it may come? What entails when you have revival? I do and it's
all from the scriptures. Just read the book of Acts. It's the greatest revival that planet
earth has ever seen and all of the revivals follow that. And we are still waiting, awaiting
the greatest revival that is to actually surpass the book of Acts. So I talked a
little bit about that last Sunday, but I also said that this is a prophetic message. And what
I mean by that is that a lot of the times a prophetic message is something that God is
speaking, because I talked about this last Sunday and I say this a lot because I really
want this to stick in our church, is that the urgent hour in the kingdom of God is
before the hour happens. I've said that a lot and I'm going to keep saying it because
I really want that to stick with you. Because in America we seem to always react to the things
that happen rather than be proactive to the things that happen, to be prepared for something
that is coming. Now I'll say this, can we be fully prepared through and through for
everything? I'd probably argue that and say no. Actually I had a man of God once
that has been in the ministry for many many years, dear friends of mine and Tanya's. They
were part of a very large, and I say part because it's past, past 10s. They were part
of a very very large international ministry and they were there for like 22 plus years
and something occurred in their ministry that to this day the ministry is still
trying to survive. But long story short, when I sat over breakfast with him and
his wife and me and Tanya sat over, it was like a brunch with them. We went
and visited them, helping them as they were processing everything. And he told me
this that I was like, oh my goodness. He said, you know, Igor, he said, I've
preached on this stuff. I've taught this stuff. I've lived and walked this stuff.
But he goes, I'm gonna be completely honest with you. He said when this
stuff actually hit, he said I felt ill-prepared. And this is coming
from a man that is well-seasoned in the things of God. He's not your new
believer. He's well-seasoned in the scriptures. He's well-seasoned in the
knowledge of God. I mean, and this is coming from somebody like that. And I say
all that to say that we can do our best to prepare. And I'm not saying, well,
what's the point of now preparing? We can do our best to prepare. But when it
hits us, now we have to put into practice what we've prepared for. Does
that make sense? Is that kind of connecting the dots there a little
bit? So in the kingdom of God, the urgent hour is always before things occur. So
that's why you hear people saying, well, your grandparents said Jesus is
returning. But he's not back yet. And it's like, well, Jesus actually said
when he was here, the kingdom of God is at hand. It's right here. It's
at reach here on earth. And it's yet to come. It's got a multi-fold to it. So
just because somebody is saying Jesus is coming and then they pass away and
they graduate to heaven, you can't identify him as a false prophet. You
just can't. It's just that somebody's sounding the alarm of prepare yourself
because Jesus is coming and he's coming quickly, by the way. I said
Jesus is coming and he's coming quickly, by the way. We can hear that
phrase and we've been on autopilot. But I want that to sink into you this
morning. Jesus is returning. He is not delaying. He is on time. And he is
coming back quickly for a bride that is ravished and in love, love sick
for him. So the urgent hour is God warning us saying now is the time to
prepare for what is ahead. That's how the urgent hour works in the
kingdom of God. I talked about also kind of going back that majority of
Christians don't know what revival is. And I gave some descriptions last
Sunday of what we consider revival is. And it's like, well, that just
says how shallow we are as a church. And I actually pinned that more on
pastors and leaders in the body of Christ, in the church, more than the
congregants. That's where I pinned the responsibility more on. It's what do
we as pastors preach and teach? And what do we in leaders? How do we
lead? And how do we steward that which is given us from the leadership
side of things that then transpires on those that are sitting as the
congregation? So I'm not saying that in like, you guys, ha ha ha, it's your
fault. I'm actually pinning that more on what are us pastors preaching? What
are we teaching? When it comes to revival, when it comes to the
importance of it, the purpose, the on and so forth, you know, you can go
down the list of it. So it's unfortunate that so many Christians
actually have very little knowledge of what revival is, what's the
purpose of it, what actually entails when you have biblical revival. I'm gonna
say that again. What it actually entails when you have biblical revival. And
some of you are thinking and saying, are you saying that maybe there isn't
biblical revival? There is more unbiblical revivals than there is
biblical revivals, by the way. There is more unbiblical revivals than
there is biblical revivals. And as I unpack some of this stuff and as we
go, it's the beauty of it is that I am in no rush to go through this series.
I'm like, woohoo, this is great. Just park here and just talk about this for
this Sunday. So it's wonderful. Let me read some of the quotes that I read
from last Sunday. I'm just trying to give you a little bit of an overview.
Some of the quotes that I read of the fathers of the faith, of how they
described revival. And one of those are John Wesley.
He viewed revival as the church's primary purpose, famously stating that
believers should spend and be spent for the work of saving souls.
Charles Finney would describe it as, while acknowledging God initiates it,
Finney argued that revival is a human duty, suggesting it can be worked up
through proper obedience, prayer, and methods. And this is where I kind of
want to park for a little bit to give you a review. I'm in a 100% agreement
that God has to initiate revival. God has to initiate it.
If God is not initiating revival, then it's not a biblical revival.
Because you can hoot and holler and you can fall over and you can
scream and shout and dance and do all this stuff. But if God did initiate that,
that's all flesh, my friend. And do you know how you know if it's
God or if it's not God? Once you've gone through all the hooting
and hollering and the emotions when you leave this place,
if your life has changed, then that was God. But if you remain the same,
then I'm going to question if it was even God in your life.
Let me just park here because I feel the Holy Spirit on this.
To me, it amazes me that we have so much watered down and belittled the things of God.
And you're saying, what do you mean? We make claims that it's God
that told me this or that God that moved upon my life like this.
But then you look at individuals' lives and you're like,
was that even God? Because we're talking about,
if that was the Genesis 1 God that spoke to you, if that was the Genesis 1 God
that moved upon you, friend, when I read the Scripture and I see men and women of God,
that God actually spoke to them and moved on them, their lives were never the same.
I said their lives were never the same.
They were changed. Why were they changed? Because the creator
by his finger actually touched their life. That's like if you being a potter and you're
sitting at your clay table at your wheel and you've made a cup and then you touch it
and you put a dent into it or vice versa, you touch it and you adjust the dent out of it.
You would clearly see that that which you have created, there's an effect of you touching it.
So if we're claiming that God is speaking to us, if we're claiming that God is moving upon our
lives, friend, how can a potter, when he touches the clay, not see the effect of it?
Are you catching my drift? Are you catching what I'm saying?
But we have actually de-watered. We have watered down. We've belittled. De-watered is the foreign
concept by the way. That's not even a real English word maybe. But that's all right.
We've watered down the things of God.
You still with me? So let me just read Finney's statement again.
God initiates it, which I believe we are in an hour where God is initiating this thing like no other.
And I'll explain to you more as we get into it.
But Finney argued that revival is a human duty, suggesting it can be worked up through proper
obedience, prayer, and methods. I said this last time that I spoke. Let me say it again.
If you do a study on every true biblical revival, let's just take the book of Acts
for everything that we're familiar with. Acts 2. Every true, listen to this. Just please hear me.
Because you won't have revival if you don't have this principle.
You won't have a move of God unless you have this principle that I'm about to give you.
Every true biblical revival, if you haven't studied revivals like I have,
I encourage you to do so. But again, let's just go to the book of Acts.
The first thing that they did as an early church is they prayed.
They prayed and they waited. And in their waiting, they prayed some more.
And in the praying, they waited some more. And in the waiting, they prayed and it went back
and forth. You know, people think that the upper room, that prayer, it was just a one-night
thing. They think that they just got together and they prayed one time in the upper room
and all of a sudden, because the Scripture says, suddenly, can I tell you the truth,
the suddenly will not occur in your life unless you're praying and waiting.
Every true biblical revival begins with a life devoted onto prayer.
Let me say this again, because we say, well, it starts with prayer. No, no.
Hear my language. Every true biblical revival begins with life devoted onto prayer.
And we see it as clear as day in the book of Acts. As clear as day.
The 120 gathered and they weren't like, oh, Jesus, so wonderful.
No, they heard what their master said. They heard what Jesus said.
They recognized that Jesus' last message, before he actually ascended on high,
he addressed the church of that time. And then an angel comes and the angel says,
the same way that you saw him ascend, you're going to see him actually what? Descend and
come back. Every true biblical revival begins with a life devoted, given, laid down in prayer.
And I have found, especially studying revivals, I have found it's very few.
It's very few that actually are the ones that properly obeyed,
properly prayed, and used proper methods in their prayers.
It's very few. Just study revivals. I think if my memory is serving me right, I think it was
either the Wales revival or one of the revivals. They said that there was two grandmas
that gathered in a barn, and they prayed for years. They prayed. I think it was Wales.
Don't quote me on that. Say it again.
There you go. Thank you.
Two grandmas. By the way, I love grandmas. Can I tell you something in our culture?
Some of the most powerful praying people that I know in the church were the 80,
the 70, the 80 and the 90 year old grandmas. When they got into prayer,
it wasn't sweetie, do you want a candy? It was and they would go and you're
like snap, man. Grandma knows how to pray. I'm telling you, love the grandmas.
Love the women that have laid their lives down in prayer. I've also learned that
biblical revivals, usually the ones that lay themselves down, aren't even the ones that
experience it. They actually usher it in and then it's like the Lord takes them.
And then it's the next generation that actually rides out the wave, if you want to call it that.
I said this last Sunday that here in America, I keep picking on America because I live here
or self-care thing. And what I mean by that is that when we labor for something,
we want to make sure that we are rewarded for it and that we see the results for it.
And if you think about it, it's like, well, yeah, that's good. And just to be honest,
I can't say that I have something against it. If you worked, if you, let's say,
you're a construction worker and you worked and you built a house,
yeah, I would expect you to get paid for it. It's normal.
But I've also learned that there is things that God will ask you to do
that you may not even see in your lifetime. You may not even experience what you've labored for.
That's why we have so many people that don't sign up for those things.
God, you're telling me I'm not going to be a part of this thing? I ain't going to labor.
I ain't going to break up the foul ground, God. I'm not going to
travail and lament and be in prayer for hours so that the next generation,
so that that Russian and their generation get it. I ain't doing that, Lord.
See, I'm living a life. By the way, I said this last time. I'm living a life.
I am laboring and I am obeying the Lord in a way anticipating that I will experience
the revival that the scriptures talk about. But at the same time, but at the same time,
if I don't, then I know my kids will. Still with me?
Martin Lloyd-Jones, he described revival as a sovereign outpouring of the spirit
that goes beyond the ordinary. You know, it's like he took Jim's words and he just said them.
Because this is what I hear you saying all the time, Jim. It's the
move of the spirit that is unordinary. It's different. You can't make it up. You can't
fathom it. You can't work it up. It's God's sovereignly moving in such a way that it's like,
wow. And then he finishes off with this. He's saying, beyond ordinary, transforming
not just individuals, but whole communities. Somebody told me this. I'm trying to remember.
Ah, I'm going to butcher it so I'm not going to say it. George Whitfield viewed revival as a
sovereign transformative move of God. So very similar to some of the other ones.
I also touched on, so revival is all these great things that we've talked about. It's
the move of the spirit. It's the signs, the miracles, the wonders. But at the core and at
the essence of what revival is and why God is even sending the revival. I touched on this. It's
for the purpose of first love to be revived in a human being. Because he is a God that
not only desires, but I will use these words. He requires first love from his people.
And that's a weighty thing for us to hear. It's like, hold on a second. You're telling me God is
requiring first love from his people, from his church, from his bride. But here is the beauty of
it. If there's anything that I want you to take away from today's portion of the message,
it's this part right here. So listen. The beauty of it is that when God requires us to walk in
first love, he does not expect us to do it by ourselves. God is not expecting us to work up this
love, to work up this desire for him. Because honestly, our flesh is a fallen nature.
Not always do we want to love our kids. And all the moms said, amen.
Not always do we want to love our husbands and our wives.
Not always do we want to love our neighbors. I mean, it's all these things. It's the flesh. It's a
fallen nature. So when God is saying that I desire and I need you, it's a requirement
to walk in first love towards him, he's saying, I'm not expecting you to do it alone.
And here's what I want you to take away. If there's anything to take away from today's
message, it's this. That it takes God to love God. Hear me, hear me. I heard a man of God say
that once and it was like piercing to my heart. I was like, it takes God to actually love God.
The purpose, if I was to boil down the purpose of why the Holy Spirit was sent to us,
it is to empower us to love God with first love and then everything else follows.
I'm not excluding everything else. I'm not excluding the purpose of being delivered
and set free and operating in the gifts and all the other beautiful things that the Holy Spirit
brings about in my books. The primary goal of when Jesus was crucified on the cross
and he said, it is finished. And then the scripture says that he breathed his last breath.
I believe that was the releasing of the Holy Spirit to now not only dwell in Christ,
but to dwell in everyone who believes in him.
The exhale of the Lord on the cross in my books is actually a releasing of the Holy Spirit
to now go and not just dwell or rest upon, but now dwell within a mankind.
And the purpose of it is to empower us that we would have the ability, the capability,
the skill, the desire, all the other things to now walk and live in first love towards God.
It takes God to love God, so the Holy Spirit was given to a fallen people
to see Jesus rightly. By the way, you can't see Jesus rightly without the Holy Spirit.
You can't see Jesus rightly without the Holy Spirit. You can walk around with a whole bunch
of knowledge and be puffed up, but have a lack of revelation that actually shapes you,
and only the Holy Spirit can do that. That's why that's why you see atheists that will read
the scriptures. I've sat with people that can quote the scripture and they know the scripture
far beyond my days, but I look at them and the only thing that runs through me is,
how can you read this book yet be so cold-hearted and not recognize what somebody did for you?
And his name is Jesus. That's why I said it's by the Holy Spirit that the word comes alive.
That's why the Holy Spirit is given to empower us, to love him, to walk holy, to walk in freedom,
to walk in deliverance, to walk in the power of the kingdom and of heaven. Friends,
that's why the Holy Ghost was given us. It wasn't just to speak in tongues,
it wasn't just to prophesy up a storm. That's just a cherry on top. The gifts are the cherry on top.
It takes God to love God. I'm telling you this morning, some of you need to get some freedom
in the fact that you can't love God by yourself. You need some freedom to recognize you need a
little bit more and even more and even more of the Holy Spirit to actually walk in first love.
Why in Revelation chapter 2, I read this last time, why in Revelation chapter 2 does Jesus say
to the church, he says, return to where you have fallen and remember? Because he's turning
our attention to something when the Holy Spirit made the Scriptures real to us.
Yeah. He's saying go back to that. Lean on the Holy Spirit. Lean on the Comforter. The Spirit of
Truth. Recognize that he's the one that's actually going to counsel you, help you, lead you.
He'll put up with all of your knickknacks and pattywacks and all that stuff. He'll put up
with it. He's a gentleman. But his purpose is to get a church and a people to walk
in first love on to God. That's revival, by the way. What's the purpose of the great outpouring
that we read in the book of Joel, that Joel prophesies? And then Peter quotes and acts,
in the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your young men... What does it say?
Help me out here. Your old men? Thank you, Jim. Your young men will prophesy.
What is the Spirit of Prophecy? Can somebody tell me what's the Spirit of Prophecy?
There you go. Thank you, Abby. The Spirit of Prophecy is not for you to fortune tell somebody's
future. Hear me. Please hear me here. The Spirit of Prophecy is not to fortune tell somebody else's
future. The Spirit of Prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. It is the Lamb who came, who died,
who rose again, and he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he is coming back
quickly. That's the Spirit of Prophecy. It's testifying about what Jesus has done on the cross
of Calvary. It's the testimony that the blood of the Lamb still speaks today.
It takes God to love God. You still with me? Let's get into some of what I want to talk about
today. In studying revivals, I have found that actually, if you were here for in January,
who was here for the intercessory prayer in January? We have it every second Friday of
the month. Who was here? Just lift your hands for me. Okay. So some of you, you'll recall this.
I played a video because I've studied revival and this young man made it like a 14 minute
video or something like that. It's phenomenal. I'm like, this guy just said it better than I
did. So I played a video for everybody at that prayer to watch. And it's interesting that in
studying revivals, and then that young man says it too, that revivals specifically in America,
great awakenings and revivals, happened every 50 years. Every 50 years, God would move in such a
way because, because the church went so astray and the first love onto God was so far off that
God had to move in such a sovereign way that he would grab the church, his bride, and say,
come back. Come back to the purpose of why I even created you. And every 50 years,
we would, we can find in history, if we track history, we can find a revival or a great awakening
in America. By the way, it's been more than 50 years since the last great awakening and revival
we had in America. According to history, we're overdue. According to history, we are actually
overdue for revival. And I'm looking at the church and the state that the church is in,
and I'm thinking, God, how much more further are you going to let us go? I'm serious. How much
more further are you going to let a people of God go? Of where they're missing the point?
Jesus has become an accessory that you wear as an Apple Watch when it's convenient for you,
when you need to, your steps counted. I'll put on Jesus. When you need your Apple Watch to match
your, your fit, I'll put on Jesus when it's convenient for me with the people that I hang
out with. I feel like we have gone so far and I'm asking God, Lord, how much further are you
going to let the church get to? And all I keep hearing is he's saying, son, it's the mercy.
He's saying the reason, the reason why it's not yet is he goes, that's my mercy. That's,
that's all I've gotten from God when I talk to him about it. He says, it's my mercy.
I'm showing my mercy to a people. That's, friends, I'm telling you, every time I'm talking to the Lord
about it, it just, I just stopped asking already. I'm like, all right, God, I got you.
It's actually your mercy that you are showing us in why, according to history, it's delayed.
It's not according to God. God doesn't delay. He's always on time. He's the God of the 11th
50 years. Revivals have occurred in America. A pastor in New York by the name of John,
yeah, John Tyson, a student of revival said this, and this will kick me off to where I left off
last time. He said this. He's a student of revival. He said, God comes where he is wanted.
So no, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, just hear me out here. Okay, hear me out here.
God comes where he is wanted. If I was to go to every church that I visited,
that Tanya and I visited in the two and a half years, and I was to come up to the
pastor and I was to ask the pastor, pastor, do you want God? You know what their response
would be? Well, of course we want God. God comes where he is wanted, not by lip service.
Hear me, not by lip service. Jesus actually rebuked the Pharisees, quoting the prophet
Isaiah, and he said, they worship me with their lips, but he said their hearts are far from me.
Right. So if I was to go and I was to ask every pastor, do you want God? I guarantee you,
their response would be, yeah, we want God. Do you want God to move in your church?
Yeah, we want God to move. And someone would say, but we would want God to move this way. It's
like, huh, so do you really want God? God comes where he is wanted, not according to our lip service.
But according to where our heart is at. And when we start talking about the heart,
we start talking about first love. And if we're talking about first love, I can take that quote
and say, God comes where first love rests. Now you've eliminated a whole bunch of people.
And I'm not trying to eliminate anybody. Trust me. I'm not trying to say,
oh, that church ain't going to make it. That's not what I'm trying to do.
I am simply stating truth. That's all I'm stating. We pray, we hoot, we holler,
our emotions are high, and we want God. This is great. But then you leave,
and your heart is actually far from him.
I just want to challenge you this morning, and the only reason why I'm challenging you this morning,
you heard me say it that last Sunday, this is something that Tanya and I, we live this way.
I constantly guard my heart and I check my heart. Where's my heart at?
So that's why I'm challenging you this morning. Where is your heart at?
Where is your heart at?
Is your heart where first love is? Or is your lip in your heart far from one another?
And you're saying something, but your heart is far from it. You're just saying it because,
well, it's probably the thing to say, right? It's probably what everybody is saying, right?
And we just go down this list. But I like to get real with myself. When I'm alone with the Lord,
I like to get real with myself. I don't condemn myself, that's not condemnation,
but I get real with myself. And I say, Lord, check my heart. I pray as David prayed.
Lord, search my heart. Where am I, Lord? Is my heart growing cold in an area?
If it is, Holy Spirit, help me. Counsel me. Remember, it takes God to love God.
When he's asking us to do something, he wants to partner with us.
Still with me? All right, Isaiah 66. This is where I want to park, and we'll see how far
we get through it, because it's already 11.25. Isaiah 66, verses one and two.
This, again, is a prophetic message of what I believe the Lord is emphasizing.
And it's interesting, because I've felt this for some time now. I've let it sit
and brew in me over quite some time. And I just heard another pastor at his church in a
room from the perspective that he felt God speaking a very similar thing, just coming
at it from a different angle of what I'm talking about here. But also, I felt the Lord, and I
shared this last time, I felt the Lord say that there is an attention that God is giving
to local bodies like never before. I'm not saying that God never paid attention to local
bodies before. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying there is an emphasis that God is making
on local bodies, on local churches like never before for this next move. If you actually go back
to open heavens 2025, there was a message that I spoke there that was the first, it was the
Sunday morning of open heavens 2025. That was before Tanya and I were even on staff. There's
a message that I spoke there that really connects with what I'm talking about. And in that message,
I talked about the next move of God and coming from the perspective of what the Lord showed me.
Because I don't like to talk ahead. If God hasn't showed me something, I don't like to talk ahead.
And all that he showed me at that time was four years. And he showed me four years and how
we need to actually prepare for what's ahead and how the way that we spend ourselves in
these four years, so 2025, 26, 27, 28, the way that we spend ourselves. And what I mean by
spending ourselves is preparing ourselves in these four years, we'll actually see the result
in the years to come. So to the measure that we prepare ourselves, we will actually see the
result of it in the years to follow. So again, going back to this, I'm like going into
different rabbit holes here, going back to this, I believe this is a prophetic message
that God wants to sound the alarm to different local bodies, making the emphasis of
I am paying attention to local bodies like never before, for the purpose of what Isaiah writes
in Isaiah 66, to create a resting place for God and a dwelling place for the Almighty.
So let's read it here quick. Let me actually say this one thing and then I'll read it. I said this
last time and I want to just remind you of it. I do believe that the Holy Spirit is going to and
fro and he is searching a resting place for the Almighty. I do believe, I am, I am convinced,
I am persuaded that the Holy Spirit is going to and fro looking at local bodies of where he can
find rest, of where what's done in that house is actually pleasing onto the Lord. And they are
not just hooting and hollering with lip service, but they are truly gut wrenching, hearts undone,
crying out to God, we want you and nothing else. And the Holy Spirit, he's going, he's moving,
he's searching the land. Will I find a place of where there is a people that truly
with a broken heart are actually wanting me? Because if they are, I'll be there.
I will rest there. I will do a thing that their mind has never even imagined.
Isaiah 66 verses 1 and 2, it says, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool.
Where is the house that you will build me? It's interesting. This is, this is the
Genesis 1 God talking, by the way. This is the Genesis 1 God talking through the prophet
Isaiah. And he's saying, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. He's describing his,
his supremacy. He's describing his greatness. What we see in the world, our perspective
of the world, we can go and we can travel and we're thinking, wow, this world is
ginormous. Look at the seas, the Atlantic, the Pacific. Look at all this. It's giant.
God says, yeah, that's my footstool. He says, yeah, that's where I rest my feet, by the way.
He's actually showing us how grand he is, how great he is. His throne is so large that earth
could not contain it. That's why even in Revelation we, we see that the new heaven and the new
earth is actually going to be over the existing earth. Because this throne room, his, his holiness
cannot even fit. I'm just trying to describe to you, this is a Genesis 1 God. It can't fit
into the creation. The wholeness of God cannot fit into the creation that he made.
Except in Jesus. Heaven is my throne. Earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will
build me? And where is the place of my rest? For all those things my hand has made. To me,
it's interesting, just again, I get these like side notes that I'm like, I should say this,
so I'm saying it. To me, it's interesting that we think, it's funny, and I'm sure
that God sometimes laughs, because God has a sense of humor. We think that we can actually impress God.
Do you see that God? I read my Bible today. What's up?
Hey Lord, do you see that? I got out of my comfort zone, and I prayed for somebody at
McDonald's. Do you see that Lord? That's right Lord. Hey God, do you see that? I just
raised my hands during worship. I'm breaking out of my box here Lord. And I think all those
things are great, by the way. I am by no means trying to be a little anybody. But I'm looking
at this from God's perspective, and God's like, finally you're getting it. Finally, you're
getting it. Look how grand He is. Heaven is my throne, and we think we can impress a God
whose throne is far beyond our imagination. Do you see that Lord? I just prophesied,
and I was accurate. God says, finally you've grown in that gift. I've been waiting for it.
Do you see that Lord? Somebody got healed when I prayed for them. Finally you recognize the
authority that I've given you. Verse two, for all those things my hand has made,
and on all these, and all these things exist, says the Lord. And here's where I believe,
here's where I believe, where I want to kind of emphasize on something, is that second part
of verse two. But on this one, will I look, on Him who is poor, and of a contrite spirit,
and who trembles at my word. I want to, time again is against me today, so I might just park on one of
those three. But I want to say this, that God sees all things. The Scripture says that everything
lays bare and naked before God. You can't hide from Him. David says, if I go to the east,
you're there. If I go to the west, you're there. If I go up to the highest of heights,
he says, you're there. He says, if I go make a bed in hell, which by the way David was prophesying
about Jesus dying and going into Hades, for those that didn't know. David was prophesying in Psalm 139
about a God coming in the flesh, walking amongst us, dying on the cross, going to the pit
of hell, taking the keys from Satan and rising from the dead. That's Psalm 139 that David
actually prophesized that, talking about Jesus. See, you can't hide from God. Again, here's a thought.
We think that when we sin, God didn't see it. You see, sometimes I feel like when we come into
the sanctuary, we recognize the holiness of God. And that's great, because there is a holiness.
But then we leave the church building, and all of a sudden, the reverence and holiness that
we have onto God, it's like it vanishes. And we feel like God only sees sin when we step into this room.
God only sees sin when my pastor sees me. Then God saw my sin. Friend, God sees your sin no
matter where you're at. That's why we need the Holy Spirit. Just want to go back to that.
There's something I want you to remember today. It's you need the God to love God. We need
the Holy Spirit like never before. Let me say that again. We need the Holy Spirit like never before.
If the Holy Spirit is not moving, if the Holy Spirit is not leading, we are just a social club,
by the way. We are here wasting our time. If the Holy Spirit is not coming, and he is not
pleased with what we do here. I don't know how churches do it. I don't know how pastors
keep doing ministry, Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, all in the flesh. How do you do it? Do you do it
for the paycheck? Because I'm not. Because last time I checked, pastors are underpaid. So either
you're part of a church that you're making bucks, man? Or I don't know. But how do you do it
if the Holy Spirit is not coming? I would get tired of this within the first probably three
to six months. But because the Holy Spirit comes, because the Holy Spirit strengthens,
because the Holy Spirit encourages and exhorts, because the Holy Spirit leads,
because the Holy Spirit moves, because the Holy Spirit gives revelation, knowledge,
it gives me the ability to keep loving him. It's no credit onto any of us. It's all credit
onto him. The only credit that we can take is the small little obedience. And even then,
it's like, I can't even take that Lord, because I only obeyed because you first spoke to me.
Where was I at? On this one I will look, and he who is poor
contrite and trembles at my word. There is, here's my thought, God sees all things,
but not on everybody will God look. And what I mean by that is he will,
he will focus in on, he will be captivated with. That's just the truth.
Jacob, I loved. Esau, I what? That's a whole other story that I'm not going to get into,
because time is against me. But what I'm trying to emphasize is that you could go to a church,
and they could be preaching Christ there. And that's great, because Paul writes that in Philippians,
he says that's great that they're preaching Christ. Some preach Christ out of envy,
some preach Christ out of self-ambition, some preach Christ out of self-gain, whatever.
But he goes, who cares as long as they're preaching Christ? But here's my point,
just because they're preaching Christ, does not mean that the attention of God has been caught
by that church. The three things that actually catch the attention of God are these three
things right here. Poor, contrite, and we tremble at his word. What does it mean to be poor?
To be poor is more than just humility, by the way. It is humility, but it's more than that.
To be poor is to have lowliness of mind. Huh, felt like we just went through a series
at our church there. To be poor in spirit is to be completely, is to have, I'm sorry,
is to have complete dependency on God. To be poor in spirit, to be a man or a woman that's poor,
is to have complete dependency on God. Now how many Americans can say that?
Just think about it. Just think about it. How many American people can say that I have
complete dependency on God? We always ask, why is God moving in Africa and Nigeria and
in these third world countries? Why is God moving in such a way that he's not moving in America?
Friends, because they've caught the attention of God. They are poor.
They know that if I don't pray today, God give me today daily bread I'm not going to eat.
Where for us, we pray and then we go to cup foods. God gave me daily bread.
We live in a blessed nation and I by no means I'm trying to degrade that,
but I'm trying to show you something here of how we catch the attention of God.
Of how God actually gets to be captivated with us. You're saying God can do that? Most
definitely he can do that. God can actually be moved by his people and we see that in Luke 7.
I talked about that. God can actually be moved by his people. His heart can be moved and he
begins to be caught up and he's looking at us and we're looking at him and he's looking at
us and we're looking at him and we are poor. Everything that I have God depends on you.
That's why I like to say we are all maturing. I don't care if you're a pastor,
an apostle, a prophet. If you just got saved, we're all maturing. There's things in my life
that I need to actually mature in. And being poor is one of them. Be completely honest with you.
I need to understand how much more, even more, I have to be dependent on God.
When Tanya and I, I'll share with you a story. When Tanya and I, when we
sold everything and we moved up here, I had to learn a whole another level
of depending on God. And I really appreciate what pastor said. I said pastor, I'm glad it came from
your mouth and not from my mouth, but he shared the difference of finances. And I'm not saying
that in a negative light. I'm simply sharing that as we feel called. That's why we went and I
didn't care about the finances. But in that, I actually had to grow in what it means to be poor.
Poor and spirit. God, I got to be dependent on you more. I now realize, God, that it's not my hands
that are actually going to create finances. It's not my business that's going to bring in finances.
But it's actually you, God, that's going to bring in the finances. You're going to provide
for us. I don't know how you're going to do it, but he's been doing it so well.
Friends, I don't know how, but he's been doing it so well.
He gives an opportunity. I say, yes, Lord. You know, when we think of finances, we think all of a
sudden money opens and then there's like a million bucks that falls. I learned that the way God
blesses us with finances, he gives us opportunities. He says, create an avenue for me and let me work
through that avenue so that I can bless you. Is there times where he performs a miracle
and somebody just comes and blesses you? Most definitely he does. But I found those to be
less occurring than the ones where God is actually trying to mature me in being poor.
He's trying to mature me. He's saying, son, just give me an avenue. Give me an opportunity.
Create a space for me so that my blessings can come. We have to mature in the things of God
and being poor is something. I'll even say it for our church. We as a church have to mature in that.
I'm talking as a pastor in this church. We need to mature in what it means to be poor in spirit.
We as a church going forward now and even going forward need to understand
how much more dependent we got to be on God to build that building.
Amen. Still with me? Yes. I'm not even going to finish this one, but that's all right.
You guys still love me, right? Yes. Thank you, Jim. Thank you, Jim. Somebody, I was like,
somebody say something. Thank you, Jim. I appreciate that. I know a pastor
was here. He would have backed me up, but I appreciate that.
To be poor in spirit is recognizing your spiritual bankruptcy before God.
Let me just say that again and we'll probably end on that one.
To be poor in spirit is to recognize that without God, without the sacrifice of Jesus,
without the sending of the Holy Spirit, I am bankrupt spiritually.
There is absolutely nothing of myself that can be of any good deed to my spirituality,
unless, unless the Holy Spirit lives in me. So to be poor is to recognize all of my spirituality
is now accredited onto God. All of the things I have in my spirit man, my salvation, the
empowering, the gifts, the fruit of the spirit, all of it is actually accredited back
onto him. That's being poor in spirit. It's recognizing that. It's posturing ourselves in
that way. It's walking in that way. And God says, if you do that and you live that way,
you got my attention. That's what the scriptures say.
He says, on this one, I will look on who? He who is poor in spirit.
He who is poor? God says, you have my attention. Not only are you walking in humility,
not only do you carry lowliness of mind, not only are you dependent on me,
but you actually are recognizing that you are bankrupt spiritually unless my
life-giving spirit comes and dwells in you. God says, on that one, I will look.
I'll look at that one. He or she has my attention if they can do that.
I will hear their prayer. I will answer their prayer. I will move on their life.
Okay, maybe we got time for one more. To be poor... Let me find one here.
To be poor is understanding what sin is and what it has done.
That's Romans 623. Can you put that on the screen for me? Romans 623.
To be poor in spirit is to recognize what sin is and what sin does.
But more than that, because we can sit there. See, let me just throw this into the mix.
When we talk about being poor, at least in my culture, some of the churches that are
more conservative, it's like their thought of being poor is like, oh, I'm a sinner. Well, that's great.
Yeah, God loves me, though. And that's our idea of being poor.
Like, literally. I feel like when people talk about being poor, that's their mind. Said,
okay, I got to change my attitude. I got to recognize that I'm a sinner.
Okay, being poor is recognizing or I should say understanding what sin is and what it does,
but more than that, seeing the price that Jesus paid.
Let me say this. Some of the most poor in spirit people are some of the most thankful people that
I've ever met. Let me say it to you guys over here because they didn't respond so well.
Some of the most, thank you. Some of the most poor in spirit people are some of the most thankful
and people that are filled with gratitude that I've ever met.
They did a little better. They did a little better. Do you guys see that? Second chance.
Let me give you another one. I'm glad that we could do this. I'm glad we can do this.
So again, being poor is understanding what sin is and what sin does. Now, we get stuck on the
fact that, well, sin just sends you to hell. Sin does more than just send you to hell.
Yes, that's what it does. But friends, I've said this before. I'll say it again.
Sin separates you from the presence of God. I'm telling you, we got people that live in
this world that are unbelievers. And the reason why it hasn't hit them yet of what sin is,
like a brick wall, because the presence of God is actually still amongst the earth.
There's two types of presence of God, by the way. There's a manifest presence and there's an omnipresence.
And you have people in the world that are living in the omnipresence of God.
You don't have to believe in him, but you're still living in his presence.
And if they don't acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and Savior, I guarantee you that when that day comes,
where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, they will be hit with a brick wall because there
is going to be no more presence of God. The scariest part of hell is not the fact that
you are being tormented. The scariest part of hell is the absence of the presence of the
living God, period. Being poor is understanding that and walking in a revelation of it.
And more than that, more than just, well, I know what sin is, I know what it does,
it's understanding the price that was paid for you. The Scripture says you were not bought
with silver or gold. It says you were bought by the precious blood of Jesus.
Do you know what God had to go through to buy you back, rightly?
Friend, one day, one day I'll go through a series, I shared this with Pastor,
I'll give you a little sneak peek. I shared this with Pastor. I said, Pastor, I said,
I want to get into a series after we are done building our house and we're moved in,
and I want to name that series The Seed. And I want us to walk through as a church
to simply show you what God the Father had to do to actually save you.
From the time of Adam, following, there's 14 generations, 14 generations, 14 generations.
God had to watch the seed in Genesis 3 all the way through that the seed would remain pure,
holy, without blemish. He had to watch that seed until it was due time for his son
to be born of a virgin. Friend, the price that God has paid for you and I
to have life and life in abundance will take us eternity to fathom.
And to be poor is to recognize that. You were willing to pay a price for me?
You went through all that trouble just so that I could be with you, your eternal companion
in heaven. You see, we don't see that side when it comes to God. We just say,
we're saved. But now look at it from God's side. Read your scriptures and look at it from
God's side. What he had to actually do. We're talking about the Genesis 1 God
that now is incarnated. He had to watch that seed. He had to make sure that it
would not be corrupted because if that seed got corrupted, then that means that's it.
Caput, Jesus ain't coming. But the Father watched it through the time of Noah,
through all the prophets. He watched it even during John the Baptist. He watched it and boom.
The Word became flesh and it dwelt among us and we beheld his beauty.
The price that God had to pay, the price that God had to pay is far more than what we think.
It's not silver. It's not gold. It's the precious blood of the Genesis 1 God.
That's the price that he paid. It's the precious blood of the Lamb, the Holy Lamb of God.
Let me share with you this last revelation. My wife said this. It blew my mind. I was like,
Sonushka, you just wrecked me with that revelation. She says, she says, you know,
and I'm probably butchering it. Maybe sometime she can share it. She says, you know, she goes,
I don't think we fully understand the sacrifice that Jesus actually paid. I said, you're right there.
She says, do you know? She goes, I think, and she's, by the way, scripturally, she's correct.
She says, I think that Jesus, after he came as a man and he died, this is a sacrifice.
Listen, he now can never go back to how he was since Genesis. Listen, listen, listen, listen.
It's not, it's not, it's, you guys aren't catching this for a second. In the Old Testament,
the Scripture talks about Melchizedek. That is a representation of Jesus. Abraham paid tides
to Melchizedek. We read that in Hebrews. That is the Lord. The God that met with
Moses at the burning bush was the pre-incarnated Christ. Now, after Jesus came in the flesh and he
died, he can, and rose again, he can now never go back to what he was. Do you see the sacrifice
that Jesus actually paid? Jesus can actually not go back to being the pre-incarnated God.
He is now forever a man, a God in the flesh that sits at the throne interceding before the
Father. Do you see the price that Jesus actually paid? He can't go back.
He can't reverse it and now be an uncart, he is now incarnated. And it's a sacrifice
that he paid for eternity for his bride. He can't go back and be Melchizedek.
He can't go back and be that God that met with Moses at the burning bush. He can't. No, he is now
the crucified Lamb of God who sits as a God and as a man seated in heaven by the Father.
That's the price. That's the price that he paid. And being poor in spirit is recognizing that
and humbly receiving it and walking in it. Stand to your feet with me.
Father, we thank You. Father, we thank You. We are thankful, Lord,
that You have given us Your Word that is a lamp unto our feet. We thank You
that You have not left us as orphans.
But we have been grafted in. We have been adopted. We have been brought in by the precious blood of
Your Son, Jesus. We have been brought in into Your family, into Your kingdom. We recognize that
You are the Genesis One God far beyond what our mind can even fathom, nor even try to explain.
We thank You that You love us. We thank You that You have given us Your Spirit so that we could love You.
Holy Spirit, I ask You that You would help us, weak and broken people, that are in need of a Savior,
that are in need of the Spirit of God to empower us to walk in first love, to walk in holiness,
to walk in authority. Holy Spirit, as I ask for myself, I ask for everyone that is here and even
those watching online, help us, counsel us, lead us to be a people and a church that walks
in first love unto You. We recognize that it takes God to love God. This is not of our
doing, but this is by You enabling us, empowering us, and helping us in our weaknesses.
So as we leave this place, stir in our hearts, stir in our hearts,
stir in our hearts, that we would behold Jesus and His beauty.
And the church says amen.