But We See Jesus

praise the lord everybody praise the lord we're thankful for the presence of the lord in this place tonight hallelujah god is doing something and you ain't seen nothing yet the best is yet to come we're living in the best days of revival in the history of the apostolic church oh let's praise the lord together hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah praise god praise god amen thankful to my wife and family and our staff for all that you've done to make this conference a reality this is a wonderful time the 75th anniversary of the united pentecostal church international is it amazing what god is doing and what god has done it's a glorious time of celebration of course none of us expected to be celebrating like this we really want to be together in person in a mass conference worshiping together that's what we need but it's not possible right now it took us all by surprise 75 years ago our leaders could have never even imagined what we're doing but actually this is a historic conference the first completely online conference in the history of the united pentecostal church international it all caught us by surprise but

it didn't catch god by surprise god knew what's going on he has a plan he has a purpose and that's what i want to preach about tonight is god's purpose in these days i want to turn to hebrews chapter 2 read verse 6 through the first part of verse 8. i'll use the new king james version because it makes a little easier in this passage to read but we'll also project the king james the meaning is the same hebrews chapter 2 verse 6 but one testified in a certain place saying what is man that you are mindful of him or the son of man that you take care of him you have made him a little lower than the angels you have crowned him with glory and honor and set him over the works of your hands you'll put all things in subjection under his feet that's a quotation from psalms and then the writer continues for in that he put all in subjection under him he left nothing that is not put under him what an amazing promise of victory what an amazing challenge to accomplish the will of god when god created adam

and eve and placed them in the beautiful garden of eden his intention for was for them to have dominion over the earth to be fruitful to multiply to replenish or fill the earth that was god's plan for human beings god's plan for us of course sin temporarily obscured that plan god could have destroyed us and started with a different plan but he loved us so much that he gave his only begotten son to be a redeemer in other words god came himself to provide the sacrifice and the atonement and the redemption so once again god's plan for redeemed humans god's plan for the church god's plan for us for you and me is to be victorious he has put all things under our feet that's the message of the hour i don't care what's going on in the world i don't care what a virus is trying to do god is placing the virus under our feet i don't care what the devil is trying to do god is placing the devil under our feet praise god hallelujah just think about it 75 years ago when the pentecostal assemblies of jesus christ and the pentecostal

church incorporated merged to form the united pentecostal church we had those two predecessor organizations as of the beginning of 1945 had 521 churches and then the merger took place in the fall of 1945 75 years ago and today in 2020 as of august the 1st in the canada and the us our home base we have 4 83 works that's mostly churches along with some daughter works and preaching points we have 10 725 credentialed ministers look what the lord has done worldwide we now have over 42 000 works over 41 000 ministers of 210 nations of the world we are now in 198. we reached three more this year there are only 12 nations where we don't have a presence most of them are very small nations of perhaps a hundred thousand in population in addition 34 territories for a total of 232 nations and territories look what the lord has done truly we're fulfilling our mission of the whole gospel to the whole world by the whole church when coronavirus hit it shut down a lot of things in april most of our churches in latin america have their national conferences they were unable to

have them so some of our ministers got together and produced an online service in spanish there were over 100 000 views and contacts 873 people received the holy ghost 347 were renewed 122 requested water baptism and 156 claimed and gave testimonies of healing look what the lord is doing god is placing all things under our feet so i decided we needed to do the same thing for the day of pentecost for that weekend in may of this year and so i asked the strategic strategic growth committee to prepare messages online in english and spanish again about 100 000 views and this time with an emphasis on the holy ghost we had 2294 people received the holy ghost through online services on pentecost weekend 163 were renewed in the holy ghost 140 were baptized in the name of jesus christ 94 received healings look what the lord has done look what the lord is doing god is placing all things under our feet praise god however go back to my text hebrews 2 8 i didn't read the last statement let me reread the verse in its entirety you have placed all things in subjection under

his feet for in that he god put all in subjection under him man he left nothing that is not put under him but now we do not yet see all things put under him that's the reality in which we live even though it's the will of god the plan of god the intention of god the purpose of god to put all things under our feet it hasn't quite happened yet now in the pandemic we've had many of our churches affected we've had many miraculous recoveries some of our preachers who were at death's door the doctors didn't expect them to make it we prayed and god has brought them back we have some great miracle testimonies but we have to be honest we've also had people die of coronavirus we've had some of our preachers to pass away from coronavirus we see healing but not yet complete healing not quite everything is under our feet we see deliverance but not total deliverance we see revival but yet not everyone is saved we see god doing great things but we are still struggling we're still going through trials we're still in a pandemic we're still restricted we

still can't do everything we want to do this is the reality in 2020. not everything is under our feet we don't see it yet of course we all know what's going on there's a medical crisis a health crisis in our world that has led to an economic crisis in our world that in turn has led to a political crisis here in the united states we're facing great contention over leadership present and future momentous elections coming up and it's all been confused by the medical crisis and the economic crisis on top of that there's a social crisis we all know that in recent months there have been some real injustices and i do want to say the church always stands and must stand for truth for righteousness for holiness we do stand for justice we do stand for equal justice under the law for all we do stand against racism or any other form of evil but in the midst of this social crisis it appears that some would like to use this for a personal agenda to actually destroy the foundations of our nation to get rid of god to get rid of freedom of

religion to get rid of the idea that our rights come from god and instead put governments in its place with a socialist or marxist agenda or anarchy and so we're faced with a social crisis and then a legal crisis now we've all had restrictions because of coronavirus and we want to follow reasonable medical guidelines for health and safety we're supposed to do what we can do when i drive i trust god but i wear a seat belt because that's what i can do in coronavirus i trust god but i wear a mask when i go on the airplane like i'm supposed to when i go to a church i keep my mask on i take it off to preach like i'm doing now when i leave i put the mask back on i tell the people look i'm sorry i'm not going to i'm not going to shake your hand today i'm not going to hug you i'm not going to kiss you because we have coronavirus and even though i trust god i don't want you to get sick and the next day and you claim it's because of me because i brought it

to you so i'm going to follow good advice but we've tried to cooperate in all reasonable things but it seems that some leaders don't understand the importance of religious freedom and of the church being the church and so we've got this crazy situation where some are saying well liquor stores are essential business because of health they mental health and marijuana dispensaries are essential business because of mental health and hollywood production studios are essential business because we need them for the economy but no churches can't operate and so they're actually discriminating against churches allowing other business to operate in ways that they won't allow the church to operate that's a crisis but you know in every crisis we learn in every trial god has a plan and god has a purpose so don't just succumb to the negativity of the moment look at what god is trying to teach us i think he's teaching us at least five things reminding us number one of the importance of personal connections home ministry small groups the early church went to public worship but also from house to house we need to be going house to house we need

to be contacting the visitors the new converts those who are wavering those who are weak those who are shutting in the faithful saints we we need that one-on-one and home and small group ministry number two we see the importance of an online presence what an incredible opportunity for evangelism god has sanctified this technology and brought it to the forefront for such a time as this where literally millions of people are coming to an apostolic service for the very first time isn't that amazing and i'm getting reports of people who've gone astray and you heard it in the reports i just just gave they're people who may be embarrassed or reluctant to come back to church but they go online they're renewed in the spirit and then they're brought back into the church god is doing something great in online evangelism it cannot take the place of the church being the church and meeting together but it can extend the ministry of the church number three we see the importance of organization and unity by working together in a fellowship such as the upci we've been able to help our global missionaries our north american missionaries

our metro missionaries we've been able to help our evangelists we've been able to support one another informally and and formally through various means churches that are struggling it's because we're organized because we're united because we have a structure because we have a fellowship that's a good thing number four we're learning the importance of political and social engagement we're not going to promote a political candidate or political party but we do need to pray we do need to vote we do need to let our voice be heard we need to stand up for moral values we need to stand up for religious freedom we need to stand up for the foundations that have made our nation what it is we've got to be involved and then fifth and finally but most importantly we're reminded of the importance of prayer we've got to go to god in prayer all these other things are necessary but they're not sufficient we must have the power of god the anointing of the holy spirit therefore we must pray so we are in a crisis we're in a trial not all things have been put under our feet the whole book

of job is written to ask the question why do the righteous suffer god's answer may not seem satisfying but it's the only answer his answer in job is i am god in other words you got to trust me the book of habakkuk was written in a for a similar question from a different perspective why do the wicked prosper the prophet saw evil nations in ascendance he saw evil people dominating society and he said why did the wicked prosper again the answer may not be everything you want to hear but the answer is wait on god wait in faith in fact the key verse habakkuk 2 4 the just or the righteous person shall live by his faith that statement is so important it's quoted no less than three times in the new testament romans galatians and hebrews so in summary we are going through a crisis we are going through a trial there are lots of limitations we don't like there are some tragedies we don't understand we're struggling and while we have victory reports we're also having reports of struggling i've talked to many pastors that the church's finances remain strong and in some

cases even increased i've talked to some they're struggling to survive not all things are yet put under our feet but what does the bible say trust god wait on god act in faith in fact let me go back to my text hebrews chapter 2. let me read verse 8 again and add the first part of verse 9. you have put all things in subjection under his feet for in that he hath he put all things in subject to under him he left nothing that is not put under him so that's the plan of god but now we do not yet see all things put under him that's the reality but now let's look at verse nine but we see jesus that's my text and that's the title of my message tonight i'm here to tell you in the midst of medical crisis we see jesus in the midst of social crisis we see jesus in the midst of personal and church struggle we see jesus i'm here to preach jesus christ and him crucified i'm here to tell the united pentecostal church international the apostolic movement and everyone else who may be watching today jesus

christ is still the answer for the world today jesus is the answer to every question jesus is the solution to every problem jesus is the supply for every need jesus christ is lord jesus christ is savior jesus christ is the son of god jesus christ is the almighty god manifested in the flesh i challenge you look to jesus look to jesus he is the answer whether it's in your personal life your family your church or our entire fellowship let's go back to god in prayer let's go back to god in travail of intercession let's go back to god in worship there's no time to play church it's no time to go through the motions it's no time for some kind of production it's time to get a hold of god that's what we need is jesus christ he will make the difference i'd like to share three testimonies to show you what i mean the first one last year my wife and i traveled to the middle east i'm not going to be specific because of possible security concerns but we went to a country we met a young man who had immigrated from a

muslim country and in that country we we don't have churches that meet openly because it's against the law to try to convert someone to christianity and it's against the law to convert people can be arrested some have even executed we do have believers but they have to meet in homes in secret they watch services in their language online they receive the holy ghost in their homes when they want to be baptized they contact us through a confidential means and we give them instructions take your vacation go to an every neighboring country we have churches that speak your language will baptize you in jesus name if you haven't received the holy ghost we'll lay hands on you you'll receive the holy ghost have a great vacation and so we have churches like that but this young man was in that country he did not know about any of our churches he was a college professor as he began studying islam and studying philosophy he came to the conclusion that islam was false it was full of errors and holes he didn't know anything else to believe so he became an atheist he decided there is no

god unfortunately for him at the time government authorities somehow learned of his thoughts he was arrested he was sentenced to two years of house arrest in the meantime his mother had immigrated to a neighboring country she wrote him a letter urged him to try to find a way to immigrate as well so one night he slipped away from his house rest he made it to the border he found a smuggler paid him money the smuggler took his money put him in the woods and then abandoned him it took the young man almost a month to find his own way to safely cross the border he finally did he got arrested in the new country for being an illegal immigrant he was put in jail there he finally got released because of refugee status he met his mom and his mom had entered one of our churches been converted and she said you need to come to church with me well he said i'm an atheist i don't want to go to church but it's my mom so i'll honor my mom so here was his solution he made a list of 50 reasons why there

is no god he said i'll come to church with you but i want to talk to your pastor after service and if he can answer 50 questions to my satisfaction then i'll keep coming to church but if he can't well then i'm not coming back so he put the 50 questions in his pocket and came to church and this is what he told my wife and me he said pastor bernard when i walked in the church i felt something i never felt before he said tears began flowing down my cheeks and he said what's going on why am i crying and then he said it dawned on me for the first time in my life i was feeling the presence of god he said pastor bernard right there god answered all 50 questions i didn't need to talk to the pastor because i knew without a doubt god is real he loves me he's reaching for me i'm in the presence of god needless to say he was soon baptized in the name of jesus christ god filled him with the holy spirit with the initial sign of speaking in tongues just like the book

of acts just like it's supposed to happen today that's what we have church is our secret weapon we have something other philosophies and religions don't have we have something many churches don't understand but we preach jesus christ in the power of the holy spirit we believe in signs and wonders and miracles god will convert sinners god will change the hardened heart god will lead us into holiness god will do these things it will turn to jesus we can see miracles just like that second testimony when corona virus really hit the u.s in march i was in canada and as the story started coming in and shutdown started taking place i began to get a little worried that i might not make it out i decided to keep my engagement but i was so eager to get to the airport and sure enough the next day they closed down that airport to international travel so i made it back to st louis just in time and i started having meetings to discuss with our executives our senior leadership team and all of our employees what should we do how should we handle this and what's our

plan for headquarters during this anticipated shutdown my wife was in houston with our our newborn granddaughter and so we decided let's get to austin we have our permanent home there so if we're going to be shut down for a month or two let's let's be shut down together in austin so i was wanting to get there but that night in st louis i began to feel sick i don't know if it's allergy stress worry fear maybe all of that but i wasn't feeling good i was feeling like i was getting sick so naturally this is probably covid19 who knows so i kneeled down in my bedroom began to pray the power of god hit me in a powerful way i fell flat on my face and began just stretched out i began speaking in tongues groaning it's it was it was romans 8 26 when we don't know what to pray for as we are the spirit makes intercession with groanings that cannot be uttered and i began to say that the weight was heavy because i was thinking what's going to happen to our churches they could be devastated financially what's going to happen

to the upci all of our plans could be just thrown away overnight what's going to happen to our bible colleges ursula in college everything would just be turned upside down and i'm responsible i've got to come up with solutions i've got to have answers but i don't know what to do god i need wisdom that i don't have i need guidance i need assurance i need protection i need healing i felt like it was my responsibility to intercede not only for myself but for the upci and in that time of prayer god began to deal with me in such a powerful way and i just told god i'll pray as long as i need to to get the answer i'll pray all night it doesn't matter i'm going to pray until and i don't know how long i prayed 45 minutes hour i wasn't even looking at the time i was just prepared to keep praying but then suddenly the burden lifted and god said i'm in control i have a plan everything's okay don't worry and so for that time to this i've just been moving forward in faith because i finally saw jesus

if you never had that encounter you need to pray repent of your sins be baptized in jesus name receive the holy ghost you needed a personal encounter with jesus and if you're responsible for a family or church maybe you're walking in the spirit but if you're going through a trial or a crisis you got to go back to that place where you see jesus for yourself one more testimony one year ago i received a letter it's dated august the 22nd 2019 from dan scott one of our senior ministers he was 87 years old he's now here today 88 years old he's been involved in global missions north american missions multicultural ministries spanish evangelism ministries one of our respected elders now i get lots of letters some are kind of crazy some you know they're cranks some i've got a letter in my files that tells me who the antichrist is i've got a letter in my files that tell me the date the lord's coming back i don't know if i still kept those letters but i did get them but this letter i knew was real it wasn't fake it was serious and so

i read it i want to read you an excerpt of brother scott remember this is before coronavirus august of 2019. excerpt from this letter this morning in my usual five to six devotions five to six devotion god again spoke with me to send this to you please allow me to be candid i feel that in light of what god has spoken that we should prepare with a stark faith to ensure the soon-to-come harvest i believe this with my entire being i've listened carefully to your messages of late and feel that god has you in place to facilitate the future direction of the church and to care for the harvest to come then he enclosed a separate statement of the actual prophecy here it is i believe it's of god my son i will send devastation on the united states the like of which has never been experienced the devastation will come with destruction multiplied times over and the people will tremble i will do this to bring the nation to its knees even the kings of the earth shall be clothed in fear the entire population of the united states will then know the paths

of treachery their leaders have traveled to destroy the faith of so many my people who are called by my name will be tried severely but my purpose will be to show myself to be their god even before i come to gather them to me but the end is not yet this will take place just prior to my return and i will use this devastation to cause many spiritual prodigals who have turned away from me to return and reconsecrate their lives to me and many who have left the love of righteousness and the gospel to realign their principles also i will bring multitudes to know me because at that time there will be a revelation that all men every will know will know that i am the only lord god that was august 2019. what was i supposed to do with that i prayed about it but how could i act i put it in my briefcase and i've carried that prophecy in my briefcase everywhere i've traveled in the u.s and canada for the past year until i prepared this message pondering it but as the events unfolded you can see how those prophecies have

come to pass people are going to their knees the motives of leaders are being exposed prodigals are returning and there's the opportunity for the greatest revival in the history of the church so here is my conclusion today last year at general conference 2019 i preached the message from fear to faith telling us we need to prepare for the greatest revival in the history of the church but to do that we cannot live in fear we cannot be afraid of the limitations of the past we've got to move forward in the future i didn't know about coronavirus but i believe that message is relevant today we've been working for the past few years for a strategic plan for every district in north america for every nation around the world i believe in the strategic plan we need it for growth and retention but we need more than a strategic plan many of us announced a vision for 2020 a 20 20 vision but god has superseded all of our plans with the most important vision of all so i'm preaching today to the upci and to all they will hear my voice a 20 20 vision

for 2020 and that vision is turn your eyes upon jesus it's time to look to jesus and we will experience the greatest revival in the history of the church unto the coming of the lord this is our day look to jesus i don't care what you're going through but we see jesus let's worship him let's pray let's seek the lord but we see jesus thank you for joining our service tonight as i preached i felt a powerful anointing of the holy spirit and i believe that if we will pray together right now god will confirm his word the bible tells us that our prayers ascend to the throne of grace i believe that throne transcends the physical universe trillions and trillions of light years away and so if god can reach down in response to our prayers from heaven then i'm sure that you and i can connect over how many miles or kilometers there may be between us we can join together and the bible says where two or three gather in my name and where two or three agree in prayer god will answer so let us pray right now for god to

do amazing things tonight our heavenly father i ask that you would visit with us right now in every home in every church and every facility where people have been part of this service lord you see the chaos in our world today you see the confusion brought about by all the many things that have happened you see the urgent needs and i'm praying right now as we look to you our one true god the one who came in flesh to be among us the one who as a human being laid down his human life for our sins and rose again to give us victory so we come to you o lord in the name of jesus christ asking that you would reach down right now with deliverance with healing with salvation with an outpouring of the holy ghost lord we ask that you would protect our churches that you would supply the needs of our families and right now minister peace encouragement and victory to every person that is participating lord there some who need to receive the holy ghost i ask right now that you would pour out your spirit as we open our hearts

to you in repentance and faith as we call upon you together as we speak aloud your praises lord i ask that you would take over and i ask that you would pour out your spirit in a very powerful and real and personal way lord there's some who've drifted away from you and i ask that you would renew them and restore them encourage them and confirm your word once again in their lives lord there are many different needs represented each one i ask as they call out those needs as they surrender to you i ask that you would move in a very real personal tangible way lord confirm your word let them know that you love them that you care that you're moving by your spirit