What a weekend. Everyone perky this morning? How many of you are up till midnight? Well, it
might have been because you were blowing stuff up, but then it might have been that everyone
else was doing that and it was loud and you couldn't sleep. So, while this morning we
are going to pray for our country and I think it's very fitting for Dale's going to be
here this morning and be able to share on some things. But I want to go ahead and
show a video as they shut the doors. This morning I just think it's both
educational and it's just something that's very inspiring. So, I'll wait till
they're ready to roll that. I kind of surprised you.
Americans the how and the why of our beloved Republic are so much better
known and understood than the who. The United States of America was born in
1776 but it was conceived 169 years before that. The earliest settlers had
watered the new world but much sweat. They had built substantial holdings for
themselves for their families and when the time came to separate themselves
from a tear in the ocean away at best it meant starting all over again after the
ravages of war. Researching what you're about to hear gave a whole new dimension
to my reverence for our nation's first citizens. All others of the world's
revolutions before and since were initiated by men who had nothing to
lose. Nothing to lose. Our founders had everything to lose and nothing to gain
except one thing.
Hello Americans, I'm Paul Harvey. You remember the cherry tree fiction a long
time after you have forgotten the more earth-shaking history making episodes
in the life of George Washington. You have misplaced in your memory the details
of Ben Franklin's statesmanship but you remember his flying a kite. Joyce
Kilmer was a great military hero but the only thing you personally recall
about him is his poetic tribute to trees. Maybe of this current decade that
which will be remembered best will not be its wars and its moon rockets or
its crumbling frontiers or the giants who lived and died. Maybe all that will
survive to linger in the day-by-day vocabulary of generations yet unborn
may be the songs of a Memphis minstrel or the reincarnation of electric
automobiles. But for any eve of the Fourth of July, I, Paul Harvey, do here
with bequeath unto you something to remember. You may not be able to
quote one line from the Declaration of Independence at this moment. Henceforth,
you'll always be able to quote at least one line. It's in the last paragraph
where you will recall when I remind you it says, we mutually pledge to each
other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. In the Pennsylvania
State House that's now called Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the
best men from each of the colonies sat down together. This was a very
fortunate hour in our nation's history. One of those rare occasions in the
lives of men when we had greatness to spare. These were men of means, well
educated, 24 were lawyers and jurists, nine were farmers, owners of large
plantations. On June 11 a committee sat down to draw up a declaration of
independence. We were going to tell the British Fatherland no more rule by
redcoats. Below the dam, a ruthless foreign rule that stream of freedom was
running shallow and muddy. And we were going to like a fuse to dynamite that
dam. This pact, as Burke later put it, was a partnership between the living and
the dead and the yet unborn. There was no bigotry. There was no demagoguery in
this group. All had shared hardships. Jefferson finished a draft of the
document in 17 days. Congress adopted it in July in so much as
familiar history. But now King George III had denounced all rebels in America as
traitors, punishment for treason was hanging. The names now so familiar to
you from the several signatures on that declaration of independence, the
names were kept secret for six months for each new, the full meaning of that
magnificent last paragraph in which his signature pledged his life, his fortune
and his sacred honor. 56 men placed their names beneath that pledge. 56 men knew
when they signed that they were risking everything. They knew if they won this
fight, the best they could expect would be years of hardship and a
struggling nation. And if they lost, they'd face a hangman's rope. But they
signed the pledge. And here is the documented fate of that gallant 56.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, wealthy planter, trader, saw his ships swept
from the seas to pay his debts. He lost his home and all of his
properties and died in rags. Thomas Lynch Jr., who signed that pledge
was a third-generation rice griller, aristocrat, large plantation owner. After
he signed, his health failed, his wife and he set out for France to regain his
failing health. Their ship never got to France, was never heard from again.
Thomas McKeen of Delaware was so harassed by the enemy that he was
forced to move his family five times in five months. He served in Congress
without pay, his family in poverty and in hiding. Vandals looted
the properties of Ellory and Clymer and Hall and Gwinnett and Walton and
Hayward and Rutledge and Middleton. Thomas Nelson Jr. of Virginia raised
it two million dollars on his own signature to provision our allies, the
French fleet. After the war, he personally paid back the loans, wiped
out his entire estate and he was never reimbursed by his government. In the
final battle for Yorktown, he Nelson urged General Washington to fire on
his Nelson's own home, which was occupied by Cornwallis. It was destroyed.
Thomas Nelson Jr. had pledged his life, his fortune and his sacred honor. The
Hessians seized the home of Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey. Francis Lewis
had his home and everything destroyed, his wife imprisoned. She died within a
few months. Richard Stockton, who signed that declaration, was captured
mistreated. His health broken to the extent that he died at 51. His estate
was pillaged. Thomas Hayward Jr. was captured when Charleston fell. John
Hart was driven from his wife's bedside while she was dying. Their 13
children fled in old directions for their lives. His fields and grist mill
were laid waste. For more than a year, he lived in forests and caves and
returned home after the war. To find his wife dead, his children gone, his
properties gone. And he died a few weeks later of exhaustion and a broken
heart. Lewis Morris saw his land destroyed, his family scattered. Philip
Livingston died within a few months from the hardships of the war. John
Hancock, history remembers best due to a quirk of fate rather than
anything he stood for, that great sweeping signature attesting to his
vanity. Towers over the others. One of the wealthiest men in New
England. And yet he stood outside Boston one terrible night of the war. And
he said, burn Boston, though it makes John Hancock a beggar, if the
public good requires it. So he too lived up to the pledge. Of the 56
few were long to survive. Five were captured by the British and
tortured before they died. 12 had their homes from Rhode Island to
Charleston, SACT, Looted, occupied by the enemy or burned. Two lost their
sons in the army. One had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 died in
the war from its hardships or from its more merciful bullets. I don't
know what impression you had had of the men who met that
summer in Philadelphia. But I think it's important that we remember this
about them. They were not poor men. They were not wild-eyed pirates. These
were men of means. They were rich men, most of them, and had enjoyed
much ease and luxury in their personal living. Not hungry men.
Certainly not terrorists, not irresponsible, malcontents, not
men who are prosperous men. Wealthy landowners. They were
substantially secure in their prosperity. They had everything to
lose. But they considered liberty, and this is as much as I shall
say of it. They learned that liberty is so much more important than
security. That they pledge their lives, their fortunes, their sacred
honor, and they fulfilled their pledge. They paid the price, and
freedom was born.
That was very eye-opening. That came from talking to Bill
Gertz and I know Gary Lance, if you're wanting to participate in
their prayer group, that's going to be happening once a month on
Sunday nights at TBO. It'll be the first Sunday of the month, five
o'clock. Please contact him. Remember I said, as far as
prayer, when we're intercessors, we can pray for anything, but
then God will call certain people to a specific things and
praying for our country and the elections and all that, whatever
y'all deal with over there. I think it'd be great to get a
hold of him and see if you can connect into that. So that's a
sacrificial prayer is different than, you know, shooting up a
hallelujah prayer, you know, rejoicing prayer, asking prayer
or what. Sacrificial prayer is like, I don't feel like doing
it, but yet I have an assignment and I'm going to
sacrifice that part of me to take the time out of my day to
go and do that. And there is a great reward for that. God uses
intercessors that are sacrificial. So the word
sacrifice means the act of giving up or losing something of
value for the sake of something else. So that's what
Jesus did. And have you ever seen the videos or you've
studied it yourself on what the disciples went through? It's
very similar. You know, you could go, well, this one
was beheaded and this one was, you know, crucified upside
down and they all sacrificed. Jesus did the ultimate
sacrifice and then they were just like their master. And to
get something to move ahead, somebody has to sacrifice.
That's the power of the word martyr. That's the power of
being in a spot where you're holding the line on
something, even if you spiritually are sacrificed,
even if you're physically sacrificed, you're saying,
I'm willing to go to the end. And so all these men
bought us something. Jesus bought us something. And it
is the habit of the flesh to go, yay, we have victory. We
got something. We don't have to worry about that anymore.
Well, we're in a whole different time now that
says, this is what I got out of watching that, it's like,
who's in a sacrifice now for what's ahead of us?
Who's going to be written down now for our children when
we're gone? Are they going to say, you know what, they
did, they said, they gave away, they went from rich to
poor just to make this happen. And I was just like,
whoa, God, that's intense. Because in America, we
have freedom and then we love to be, and in the
church, we have freedom because of Christ. And we
love to ride that wave, but there's waves of
sacrifice to maintain that and to gain more
ground. So to maintain it, we have to sacrifice
and stay in a sacrificial mode. Somebody's got to
give something up, right? Some churches will put
that on their pastor, like, we'll give something
up. And if you don't, we'll take it away from
you on top, whatever you do have. I've seen
that. I've seen preachers in the pulpit just
poor. But it's the congregation that moves
together. It's the body of Christ that moves
together, like, whatever the sacrifice, we're
going to accomplish this. So what is this that
we need to accomplish right now? See, that's
where he's going to hone us in in this year. I
just really believe this is a marking year.
This is a prophetically marking year, the
250. There's something about now. This moment is
like, yeah, this is this is great. And we need
victory. And to get victory, there has to be
sacrifice. So it's not it's not owed to us.
It's not what's the word where people think
everything's just owed to them. Entitled. We
don't get to be entitled in the church when
it comes to the gospel, you know. I didn't
have to do anything, but God owes me all
this stuff. Or the freedom of our country. I
didn't have to do anything, but this
country owes me. I was born, and that's
enough. I didn't even have one young lady I
saw in a video. She goes, I didn't even
ask to be born. So she's like, whoa, you
really have a sacrifice. You put up with
a lot just because you're here. You
know, it's like, wow. And he's going
to bring us back. You know, he's been
working on the church through the
threshing floor, through the great
shaking, through the opening of our eyes
2020 was the year of vision. So we could
see wickedness has been being unveiled
in front of us. And so before we were
comfortable. And now it's uncomfortable.
And in order to get comfortable, we
realize I don't know, I don't know if
my generation is going to get
comfortable. We're going to be the
ones that sacrifice for the
comfortability of the next generation.
And I think we need to face that. When
Bob Jones, the video that we showed,
we're going through the vision booklet
and things like that. Coming alongside of
the next generation is so important.
But guess what? That means we sacrifice
time, money, energy, prayer, whatever
it's going to take. Because if we don't
sacrifice now, then they're going to
have a greater sacrifice. And by the
time it gets to the next generation
down, that's already here, they're in
big trouble already, right? For what's
coming against them. So it's like,
yay, our country, we're free. Yay, we have
the freedom of the gospel. Then you
realize, oh, it's going to require
great sacrifice. And he will
require of us individually. He'll
require of us that certain people be
called to early morning prayer. Some,
some, you know, will be called just
regularly, two o'clock in the morning.
That's sacrificial prayer. And really,
compared to losing your whole house and
all of those things that were named
this morning, it's like, I'll do the
two o'clock in the morning prayer. I'm
good. I mean, I can, I can do that. But
to have the attitude of a martyr is
to be seen and heard at all costs. The
whole purpose the Holy Spirit came was
to empower us in a way where we have
ability, efficiency, and might. So it
says in Acts chapter one and two. It
leads up to that this is, this is why
they waited for. This was what Jesus
died for and then went home, right? Set
up, set up where we're going to go. You
know, in my father's house, there's
many mansions. For we're not so I
would not have told you. And so he's
working on the project he needs to be
working on now. And he said, it's
pertinent that I go and I send the
Holy Spirit. Why the Holy Spirit? So we
could just have nice prophecies and we
could have all those benefits. Yes, he
had to sacrifice to get that kind of
power to be left here on the earth. You
see it that way. It's like he died for
all. And then that gave the ability
for the Holy Spirit to come and come
up on us, like it says upon us, up on
us and through us, so that we can become
living sacrifices that will serve. And he'll
give us the ability, the efficiency, and
the might, which is dunamis power. Can you
see that picture is kind of missed in
the body of Christ? It's like we missed
that memo by a thousand miles. You know,
I see it when I travel and church is
like, I'm up in the pulpit and I
think, you guys don't even know. It can be
a hundred-year-old church and they don't
know the purpose that we are here. The
more we see the purpose we are here,
the more it requires us to humble
ourselves before the Lord. The more
requires us to be dead in Christ. These
men knew something was going to go down,
right? They might have had some fluffy
life. I'm sure they worked hard to
get their business to the point that it
was, otherwise they wouldn't have been, you
know, like the one guy millionaire. And
back then, that's a lot. And so, but yet
they looked at all of that and literally
sacrificed the whole thing. Their houses,
their family members, their own lives,
imprisonment, all of that type of
stuff. And that's what's, that's what
we're founded on. And isn't that
interesting that this, this piece of
paper that was signed was a covenant. And
when Jesus died on the cross, what did he
make a way for us to be in covenant
with him? He wars on our behalf and we
were on his behalf. And we do it many
times through sacrifice. That's part of
the war. It's like, I will show up, I
will take the persecution, we will do
the thing. You know, whatever it is,
you're pushing into that sacrifice and
that's the price you're paying. And he
paid the price for our sin. He did his
part and then he's empowered us to
prosper and have success down the road.
And success can be sacrifice. Yeah? When
you go without things to save for
something, that means you sacrifice
something else so that you would have
the finances to purchase this thing.
There had to be a sacrifice to gain the
thing you're really after. So we have
to identify in this year and in the
services and in our prayer time, what is
it that we're really after? Because
there's so many things going on all
over the place and we're like, well I
want the government to stop doing this
and we want that we want a lot of
things. But it comes down to an
umbrella of righteousness and justice. We
want the will of God, which the word
will means his precepts, his commands,
his ways of doing things. And we have to
move over to his ways of doing things
with the church. I'm talking the body of
Christ has felt they've been doing his
way of doing things this whole time. If
that was true, there'd be more fruit. If
that was true, we wouldn't have gimmicks
to try to get people to come to
church. If that was true, a lot of
different things would be taking place.
So we can just measure that. It's common sense
to look at it and go, yeah, we're not
where we're supposed to be. Amen? So we
celebrate. We celebrate last night. We
blew some stuff up. Clarify for online
fireworks, you know, in case there's
any. But he's looking for somebody who
blew up the building. It wasn't us. So,
you know, we blew some stuff up. We
celebrated. It was a, you know, you
could you could feel even, yeah,
you're blowing up fireworks, but it's
in recognition to the freedom that
someone actually sacrificed for. And
there's people sacrificing right now in
the military. But here's what's also an
immaturity. The immaturity is when I
hear people talk, it's almost like, and
that's their job. Like, you know,
Ashley's son is in the military. Well,
that's his job. That's, that's, I do
my stuff. You know, I clean at the
church and some things like that. And
then he's got to sacrifice. If there's
going to need to be a life
sacrificed. Where to take this America
back for Christ, there is going to be a
greater sacrifice required. We got to
stop looking for the people who are
willing to be sacrificed. Really,
sometimes that's how we vote. We'll have
speakers come in or whatever and we'll
look and we'll go, you know, he
could be a guy that would sacrifice
himself for us. I think he would. I think,
you know, you ever think of it that way?
It's like we're voting for someone else
to get in there and go do it. Go
sacrifice yourself. And God is looking
at the church and he's saying the body
of Christ needs to come into
sacrificial thinking. We are at war and
it isn't the leaders of the church
who are at war. The whole body is at
war. And there will be people, this is
very prophetic, there will be people in
this time that they will lose their
life or lay down their life. We think,
you know, battle like, you know, they
got shot or something like that. No,
they may go home to heaven as a
sacrifice. They may have pushed through
some things and they took on the
demonic realm. Hmm? Everything of that
way? There's people who have been at war
and they have laid down their life for
a principle, for a way of thinking to
fulfill a command. Here we are this
morning. What is it that God is
calling us to as a body? What is he
calling us to when it comes to
sacrifice and our measurement of
sacrifice? So I had a person share
with me, oh, it's been a lot. What we
sacrifice is the degree of pain that
we're used to tolerating or used to
enduring. Right? So if you fast one
day, oh, it's killer. Because you never
fasted one day before, you're just
gonna die. You know? I tell you what,
we went through the 40-day fast. It
was like about days, you know, around
the 30 market was like, what are we
doing? You know, you didn't feel
hungry, but your brain was like, what
are you doing? So there's a sacrifice.
And that's such a small sacrifice to
the person who's being persecuted right
now in Nigeria. Our measurements of
sacrifice are off. And God is wanting
us to come to a place where we're
seeing it so real. Because you can
talk to the average person on the
street, and it's so far over their
head. They don't understand sacrifice.
They don't understand covenant. They
don't understand I can receive
everything he is, and he needs to
receive everything I am. That's
covenant. That's coming together. It
isn't just like, thanks God. And then
we move on with our little life and
see if he's proud of us. And that's
not covenant. That's religion. Covenant
is whatever you ask me to do, I will
be seen and heard at all costs. I will
be, I will go without if I have to. Now
he's made provisions so I don't have
to, but there are times I have. Right? And
so when I look at that, it's like
whatever I went without is so lame. I
just saw another video of a thousand
Nigerians. They just, they're going
through and finding out who's
Christians. They dig a big hole and
they shoot them, or they bury them
alive. But they will not back down on
the gospel. That is a martyr's
sacrifice. We know not how that works.
This is, and how you know it, if it
touches every area, like for instance,
if, I don't know, if we had to
purchase a new drum set. And we're
like, I gave 50 bucks toward that. It
might feel to some people like,
that was a big sacrifice. And then
you lay your life next to the real
martyrs, and you're like, never mind.
That's what he's going to do this
year. All the way through open
heaven. He's going to show us what
does it mean to truly lay it down
our lives. So let's stand this
morning to obey is better than
sacrifice. But when we obey many
times, that's a sacrifice. Isn't
that interesting? How that works,
it's, let me get, I just want to
read a couple more. Here's my, my
phone's freaking out. It's just,
offer your bodies as a living
sacrifice. Holy and pleasing to God.
This is your true and proper
worship. If we just took that one
scripture and put it as a
measurement stick on the body of
Christ, there's not a whole lot of
that going on. And then a trick that
we will do is we will find the
people who are doing that and
they're our heroes. We lift them up
as, those are our heroes. Those are
the, you know, the lieutenants, the,
the ones. See, we put them in that
spot. We did it whatever and God's
just like, oh my goodness.
I want the whole body, the whole
body in moving. Offer your bodies
as a living sacrifice. Holy and
pleasing to God. This is your true
and proper worship. Do not forget
Hebrews 13-16 to do good and share
with others for with such sacrifice
God is pleased. So even to do good
can take a sacrifice. It pleases
God. So let's begin to just worship
him now and move into a simple
request prayer. See sometimes we can
pray for an hour and sometimes it's
just a specifically saying God
reveal something to me. And that's
what's important here today,
revelation. A great revealing of our
own hearts and what it is like. So
Father, we just come before you and
we worship you. You are the all
and all. You are the great I am.
I am means you are complete and we
are complete in you. There is nothing
lacking in you. We cannot add to you
nor can we subtract away from you.
You are the I am. We honor you, your
will and your ways. In Jesus we honor
what you did as a sacrifice for us.
You paid for it all. Now you're
asking us to step forth in
sacrificial giving and sacrificial
thinking and sacrifice with our bodies,
our life, whatever you would ask us to
do Lord God. Our request here this
morning is that you would give us
revelation on the word sacrifice.
We don't hide here in this church
in America while others are laying
their lives down. They're being
Lord God give us the true picture of
what sacrificial life is.
Hallelujah. We don't hide here from this
thinking oh America is a sanctuary
away from all of this stuff. It is here
now. It's requiring sacrifice.
There are people losing their lives.
There's children losing their lives.
There is so much going on behind the
seeds here in our America.
Show us Lord God how to finish strong.
Show us how to leave a deposit on this
earth. A martyr's deposit. Whether we
physically die or not, our attitude is
a martyr's heart. We will be seen and
heard at all costs. Righteousness
and justice come upon us. Come upon
this place and help us to bring it to
this nation. Help us to prophesy it
into this nation in the mighty name of
Jesus. In the mighty name of Jesus. So
we honor you Lord God as we go into
worship.
We honor you as the greatest sacrifice
of what you did. We've received the
benefits
and now we want to leave benefits for
those coming behind us.