Do You Know What Time It Is? | Rev Mark Brown

hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah the word declares that the lord saved his people with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm that means god put effort into it i think we could put effort into stretching our arms back towards him in gratitude of his redemption his his power of reconciliation lord your loving kindness it is better than life your loving kindness lord it is better than life jesus you are good and your mercy endures forever you have made effort towards my salvation and i will make effort towards praising you jesus with an outstretched arm i happily feel after you god you're not far from any one of us you're near if we would just feel after your very presence i love you jesus i love you jesus only because you first love me i'm only able to love you because you first love me i love you jesus i love you jesus i love you jesus i i love you i i love you i love you i love you jesus hallelujah hallelujah i love i love you jesus i love you jesus i love you jesus i love you jesus you may be seated hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah surely the presence of the lord is in this place thank you thank you thank you for allowing us to be a part of what it is that you are doing here in maryville my wife and i are family we do not take one ounce of credit it is you that have been praying it is you that have been fasting it is you that have been preparing it is you that have been here since the conception of this whole thing back in the 80s i'm just thankful that you'd allow me to come apart alongside this journey and see what the lord has done and what the lord is doing you have been so kind to my family you've been so generous to my children and to my wife and i say thank you don't know if you have a picture of my family i always always try to introduce them when at all possible i love them very much noah grace and eden and that's her former pet onyx and i love my wife jordan and uh i just can't say thank you enough for allowing us to travel together to be here give honor to brother zach hammond and to you the pastoral team the ministry team here brother erickson and brother carpenter it has been a joy it has been a delight and uh today i got to hang out with nolan and he was very kind to let me be a caddy i i'm not i'm not a golfer i literally just started and so he took me along for the ride but he is witness to my first birdie ever in the moment yeah i mean that in a literal sense i hit the ball and i hit a bird and i'm not doing good right now i am an animal lover it was horrific i can't finish the rest of the story but thank you for allowing me to to accompany the first birdie ever if you have your bibles we're going to turn in the word of the lord into the old testament i'm going to read a number of verses i'm going to read from isaiah from ezekiel from james and from romans i just don't happen to be one of those preachers that only uses one verses and then not use any other scripture at all the rest of the time and accidentally forget that i haven't used scripture i i believe in the word i believe in the power of the word and what i'm going to bring to you tonight it'd be most like any sermon i bring i don't know how anyone else functions and operates we're all different but anything i preach has been birthed in watertown south dakota and i was not one that would ever preach anywhere other than where i pastor i distinctly remember stepping off the platform and god spoke to me that that wasn't just for a moment but it was for the movement and that's happened a number of times along the way and so when i preach somewhere else it is something that was birthed from home and there are times that god calls causes me to resurface it and this is one of those sermons that god has caused me to resurface multiple times recently in places that i have gone i did not intend to preach this tonight in fact i don't really have any intention what to preach any time i go anywhere i don't have a plan i i try to feel after the lord leading up to the service and i thought we were going to go a different direction but this was just burning inside of me and i take us to the book of isaiah chapter 59 verse 16. this is a vantage point from heaven from the perspective of the lord the bible says that the law lord saw that there was no man and he wondered that there was no intercessor so his arm brought salvation unto him and his righteousness it sustained him in ezekiel 22 30 once more we read a vantage point from heaven the lord sought for a man among them that they should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land someone say the land the lord is passionate about the land see god does not want to destroy it but he couldn't find one james 5 7-8 the apostle admonishes us to be patient be patient unto the coming of the lord the husband waits for the precious fruit of the earth and he has long patience for it the only reason why you and i are even breathing air right now is not because god is consenting unto the activity that is going on in the globe but he has patience to see just one more person saved because this is not just about receiving the early reign god has a ladder rain a harvest that is ahead of us that's on his mind and so be patient establish your hearts for the coming of the lord draws nigh jesus is coming back very soon romans 13 11 through 14. and that knowing the time someone say no the time someone say right now right now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now our salvation is nearer than when we believed the night is far spent the day is at hand so how about we cast off the works of darkness and let's put on the armor of light let's walk honestly as in the day though others maybe we should not be in rioting in drunkenness in chambering in wantonness i think this list of the first few things is not so much the problem of the church it's the last two that is strife and envy so he says why don't you instead put on the lord jesus christ and stop feeding the flesh stop giving in to the appetite of what your nature wants to fulfill the lust thereof i want to speak to you for the next few moments just this simple question to ask you do you know what time it is do you know what time it is would you pray with me jesus i thank you i thank you for what you have done i pray there will be a great awakening today i pray you would awaken the church i pray you awaken this sleeping giant i pray there would be an alertness tonight i pray there be an awareness i pray god that the church would be on the edge of its seat god that we would be on our tiptoes i pray god that we would be more alert than we have ever been before let there be a watching let there be an alertness let there be an anticipation lord let it rise in your people i pray god stir us in the name of jesus i give you glory i give you honor i give you praise somebody say in jesus name jesus name you may be seated in the presence of the lord i don't know if someone could bring maybe another water bottle that would be most helpful do you know what time it is time is an interesting thing and we get spent time talking about it it's a subject that's rather complicated if you begin to give thought to it but we're not going to give thought to it because we're not complicated folk here me speaking myself i'm not that complex so i'm not going to even try to engage this idea of what time is but i do know in the observation of 38 years of my time on this earth that there are those that pay much attention to it very aware of it and very passionate about it and then there's the other crowd they don't seem to really think about time at all and i happen to be one of those i have selective ocd there's some things i'm very passionate about and there's other things i don't give a rip about and time is something i do care about one of these people i don't like to show up at the moment i like to show up ahead of time it's something that just kind of gnaws at me and it causes me to prepare early and to try to be somewhere anywhere from an hour to a half hour early because i don't want to show up at that moment i want to help communicate that when we said this certain time that i'm going to honor that by being there ahead of time and create a buffer not knowing if something may try to interrupt that because i this is my opinion i'm not making a doctrine here i'm not casting stones at anybody but it just to me it communicates a respect of the other person's time or a lack thereof and i think that way about church as well being that this is god's house this is the time we give to god i try to be as early as possible i'm very passionate about it but then something happened i got to be very careful but i got married i love my wife and i've learned i've had to insert a buffer for time because i used to be able to just do things at a drop of a hat not worry about anything because it don't take much to fix this up not saying my wife spends a long time taking care of her attire but it takes a little longer than me and i respect that and after a few years we finally figured it out and we were early half hour hour whatever it may be at whatever particular location an event but then another season happened and we had these things called children adjustments had to be made and i have learned as years progress we have to keep making adjustments and it really just gets under my skin and when i happen to be late for an event or just on time for an event and it just goes against my nature that's just me and i'm not again trying to make a doctrine here but i do hate being late and i rarely travel alone ninety percent of time one of my kids is with me when i go somewhere but when it's just me there is a little bit of reprieve or relaxation because now i can operate on me time and i could i could kind of just function as i would like to function it was one of those mornings typically when i have to fly out i have to drive a hundred miles to get to the airport and i have they're not a lot of flights that go into south dakota there's not a lot of flights that go out of south dakota and so i have very few selection and i typically have to take the earliest one just in case something happens and so usually that flight's around 5 30 or 6 30 but i got to drive a hundred miles to get to the airport i got to be there an hour early so i i typically get up at three in the morning to get prepared to get on the road to get to the airport i could probably get up a little later but there is a sacred routine in the morning i love the word of the lord and i love some coffee with the word i love whatever your conviction is that's your deal mine i just i love coffee and i like it just straight plain as is and so it's just one of those times you kind of get immersed in the word and you lose track of time and all of a sudden it dawned on me what time is it and i looked at the time and cold beads of sweat began to come across my forehead because i realized that i'm not going to make it to the airport in time legally and so i scurried as fast as i could to my vehicle and i began to drive as quickly as possible to speed limit and now my heart is racing even more because i am what you would call a grandpa driver i drive the speed limit i'm sorry for those that i irritate that you squeeze your steering wheel a little tighter when i am in front of you but this thing happened when i moved out of my parents house i became responsible for my own speeding tickets and so things changed for me and so i start driving the speed limit and so i am thinking as i'm the good thing about south dakota speed limit on the interstate it's 80 miles an hour so i'm driving 80 miles an hour and i'm trying to do math on what it would take to get 100 miles away on time and i knew it took greater than a hundred miles in an hour to get there with just enough time and so i'm praying i am i'm like god i need a miracle right now i believe jesus christ the same yesterday today forevermore i could use a philip acts chapter 8 miracle right about now if you could just teleport me god to the airport i'd be much obliged i i remember hearing bruce howe global missions director and missionary to el salvador many years ago share a story of when he was driving during civil war going on in the country of el salvador and as they were on a path they saw a barricade trees knocked down across the road and he knew what that meant it meant there were people that were going to ambush whoever would come to that place and that they were going to be robbed and most likely either murdered or raped taken advantage of and it was just him and his wife and he was very nervous and scared but he felt the holy ghost speak to him to drive forward and so he put his pedal to the metal and drove forward towards this massive barricade and as he approached it he said that all of a sudden the car lifted off of the ground and begin to fly over the barricade and land on the other side now you don't have to believe that if you do not want to but i choose to believe i still believe in a god that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or even finger someone say amen so i'm praying this god i need a miracle i i can use an angel right about now and as i'm praying that all of a sudden this speeding vehicle flies past me incredibly fast and i'm like god was that an angel i'm not sure but i better go find out and i tried keeping up with them as best as i could i never could quite make it but he was always a little bit more ahead of me and i made it on time to the airport that's my story and i'm sticking to it time time i don't know how time has been for you the past couple of years but if it's like the rest of the world it's probably not been the most exciting or fun time for you to live during two years 2020 to 2022. we know about this pandemic we know about corona and coveted 19 and all that stuff and i promise i'm not going to bring a whole coven 19 sermon to you here today but i don't think if we did a survey in this room that if i asked who had a good time the past two years that there would be anyone lifting up their hand talking about how fun it has been and i have learned that we may not like the time that we are in but it is important that we understand the time that we are in you're not always going to enjoy life you're not always going to enjoy the season that you are in but it is important that you and i as christians understand the time that you and i are living in in fact if anything has been highlighted accented or underscored or at the forefront of the past two years it's been death death has been paraded death has been the discussion constantly consistently going on and on and even now though that we seem to be out of this stage of covert 19 it's still out there the death count and what has happened to people anyone here in the past two years lose a friend or family member to cover 19 would you raise your hand look at the number that's across this room that's that's that's a lot of people that has been impacted by death to friends or family i felt the lord has quickened me to a portion of scripture to help us in the time that we have gone through in the time that we are in ecclesiastes chapter 7 verses 2 through 4 i read the word of the lord and it says this in scripture it is better to go to the house of mourning it's better to spend your time at funerals than to go to the house of feasting it's better to go to funerals than to go to parties what how does that make any sense if somebody gave you an invitation today after church and said hey brother hey sister i i want to invite you to this party it's going to be a great time we're going to laugh we're going to have fun bean bag toss we're gonna have some great chips and salsa we're gonna have great food barbecue it's gonna be amazing and then someone else comes at the same time and says hey i got an invitation for you it's to a funeral it's gonna be a lot of crying a lot of sorrow and just like any funeral the food's gonna be bad and they're both scheduled on the same day at the same time which one would you want to go to and yet the wisdom of the writer says it's better for you to go to that funeral than you to go to that party why is that for he says that is the end of all men meaning everyone dies and so the living need to attend a funeral to lay this to heart you need to go to let your heart be worked on it says in verse 2 or verse 3 sorrow is better than laughter i don't know about you but i like laughing more than i like crying but he says that sorrow is better than laughter because by sorrow by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better there's a refining influence that takes place on your heart from a moment of sorrow and grief and crying and weeping and mourning that cannot happen a funeral is unlike any other event that you attend think of all the places you can go all the activities you can be a part of all the things you can be in attendance in there's nothing like a funeral in fact this dead body that is laying at the front that's laying in that casket all of a sudden has greater influence in that moment than they've ever had in their entire existence because in that single moment people come in mass from across country from across globe all different walks of life people that said well i'd like to come visit you but i can't i'm busy i got a lot going on i i really want to come see you grandma i love to see you dad i i love to see you cousin but i just i'm so busy i can't find the time but somehow someway in death we make the time we find the time and we make the trek to go well i don't have the money to get a plane ticket i don't have the time i can't get a hotel but in the death we find the money we find the time we make the effort and all of a sudden family members that haven't seen each other in years controversy between one another now sit in the same room for the same reason looking at the same person that's lifeless it's a power of a funeral it's the power of death i firmly believe that we have yet to see the full effect of people that were unable to attend funerals during covet 19. we have yet to see the psychological damage that took place in people my my wife's grandfather died in the nursing home and if it's much like anywhere else on this planet they wouldn't let someone married 50 years be in the same room together and keep them separated i've heard horrific story after horrific story of loved ones all of a sudden in their greatest moment of need their greatest moment of consolation where they just want to feel support and they just want to feel loved like everything's going to be all right though you know everything's not all right just the presence of a loved one around you somehow gives you a relief and they died without that and the guilt that is weighing upon people in this very room that you couldn't even be there for your father you couldn't even be there for your mother you could even be there for your grandparent who you loved and they raised you and in their greatest moment of need you feel as if you failed them and there was nothing people could do about it we've yet to see the full effect and consequences of this it's the power of a funeral where people can come together it's what you call closure you find closure though we know nothing has changed that person's dead and you're still alive but you going to that place and you being there and making some remarks brought a sense of closure there's a lot of unclosed chapters walking across our pews right now people grieving in your spirit and you feel guilty about it it's a real thing and what's so powerful without a funeral at that moment at the casket if someone begins to give a eulogy or shares a moment of memory all of a sudden across the room that person has a repressed memory open back up because this memory stirred that memory and then it serves that memory and there's like a chain reaction that takes place in the room as we all begin to recall something about that deceased one or we're like oh yeah that's right that's right that did happen he was just like that wasn't he it's an amazing thing that cannot take place at a party can't take place at a time of fun and laughing and goofing off it happens in the house of mourning and so it says in verse 4 this is what the wise do the wise are in the house of mourning but the heart of fools are in the house of mirth a wise person thinks a lot about death while a fool only thinks about having a good time i'm not here to spiritualize the past two years of covert 19 but i believe there are some principles and practical applications that we should not miss because any season that we go through it can be wasted only if we don't learn from it and there's some things that we need to learn that from this season that we have not enjoyed that we've had to endure that there was lessons to be learned from a season of death a season of love lost but our human nature our human tendency is to try to get away from sorrow and to get away from grief and try to avoid there's people that don't ever go to funerals because they don't like to engage those emotions and there's a lot of people that did not want to engage the reality of what has happened the past two years so they became distracted fixated focused on something other than what they should have been in fact if you do the study and it's interesting the average person that is on media it's three to five hours a day pre-covered but since covet it has it has went through the roof above five hours a day now people are constantly attached to a device whether it be phone whether it be tablet whether it be your laptop whatever that venue may be it has only increased i know part of it has to do with the fact that that was the only way to engage people whether it be remote work and zoom meetings in church online and i thank god i'm not anti-technology but i think that we do need to be aware of the effects of technology and i give honor to this church that you're able to be here during this time where mandates have been lifted restrictions have been lifted and if you're at home right now and you have the ability to be in the house of god i'm not here to slam damn or condemn you but i want you to know that i hope you treat the church the same way you treat walmart i i hope that you don't take a greater risk at walmart or at your job than you do at the church i still believe the church is essential look i i thank god for high death i thank god for quality sound that you have streaming through online for you to watch in the confines of your home i pray i hope it has blessed you but this is the way i see it it's kind of like you can watch a fire on 4k high definition and you can be with dolby surround sound listening to the crackling of the flame and watching the definition of the flame but it's not the same as standing next to the hearth of a fire and feeling the warmth coming off of that fire i pray tonight blesses you at home but it's not the same at being at the very fire that is at this altar i know god is not confined to a building but there's something about the atmosphere that is in this room that's unlike any other room that human nature if we're not careful it gets the best of us not intentionally not that we premeditate saying you know what i don't want to learn a lesson i don't want any wisdom i want to be a fool i want to i want to you know i want to go to hell nobody's premeditating this we all our spirit is willing but our flesh it is weak and so what i believe that we have missed an opportunity and all of a sudden through our year our years of quarantine our years of socially distancing ourselves we found ours our times not enjoyable so we try to see what we can fill the time with and instead of filling it with thought provoking self analyzing and looking at the season of death we would just basically binge on what can i watch and what's going on in the social media sphere and who's doing this and who's doing that and basically just mindlessly scrolling through an endless stream and mindlessly just watching episode after episode after episode and we do not even realize that we are losing time instead of redeeming time because these days they are evil they're we are so close to the return of jesus christ and if we are not careful we are going to miss a valuable time where god can do a work in you individually god can do a work in you spiritually because you are at a season of a funeral and we need to lay it to heart my time is short i'm not here forever i had a beginning and i got an end and there's an afterlife i went to indiana bible college for four years and i cherish those years i tried to make the most of them that i possibly could and it was an amazing season to be there in 2002 to 2006. pastor paul mooney was in his prime you're getting flaming yawns every single service every single class you're going to school five days a week to learn about god and you're listening from amazing elders and then you're going to church literally six to seven times a week chapel on tuesday chapel on wednesday then you got midweek service bible study and then you if you go on a trip somewhere to minister at a church you got friday and saturday then calvary tabernacle sunday morning and sunday evening then if you do a nursing home service in the afternoon i mean you could be going to church eight times a week every week then you're going to service and you're surrounded by a 200 voice choir and ibc praise the elite and it's just amazing atmosphere being in a bible college of over 200 people your age i want to take over the world for jesus man it's it's a holy ghost party but all of a sudden god did something and he he called me and he pulled me out of that party and he took me to south dakota and put me in watertown and before quarantine was popular and famous look i went through cove at 19 before you all did i lived in isolation quarantine and depression social distancing your nearest fellowship's 100 miles away only seven churches in the entire state a youth camp ages 13 to 18 is 40 on a good one going to family camp 200 showing up is a good attendance it was a whole other world i've never been anything i like it and all of a sudden i'm in a remote place i'm by myself and i'm excited to do something for god but it didn't take long to realize this is work and this is hard and i never realized how much i was leaning on others and god began to deal with my heart and begin to expose my vulnerabilities and begin to expose my weaknesses and he taught me mark you've been living off the fringe benefits of other people's consecration you have been enjoying the abundance of other people's sacrifice look it's easy to feel like you're doing good when you're around an atmosphere that is good it's easy to feel like i'm spiritual and i'm doing great because you're having great church and you're around great people and there's great music and there's great preaching and there's great altar calls but all of a sudden something happens the preaching is stripped away and the music is stripped away and the atmosphere is stripped away and you're left to yourself and you're attending a funeral that's quite uncomfortable it's a personal funeral and you are now vulnerable you're susceptible you're exposed you're isolated and we don't know how to handle it so our flesh works for us and finds a distraction entertainment anything but being alone anything but being isolated look this is why jesus taught us the closet prayer the importance of personal devotion in your own home hear me praise i thank god for praise that took place here last night but praise has to be more than an event or you will eventually burn out you got to take praise into your home i know you could dance here but when's the last time you danced in your home when's the last time you jumped in your home you might pray in your home and i thank god for it but praise are not to be an event or you'll eventually burn out praise needs to happen continually let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually the fruit of our lips when you praise at home you bring the fire here to the fire in your living room god wants this to be a praising church in a praising home someone say hallelujah hallelujah but we need to pray at home but we don't we don't like dealing with the funeral and i'm telling you it's it it doesn't take long it doesn't take long to backslide ask the children of israel when they were socially distanced from their spiritual leader it only took 40 days for them to backslide it doesn't take long at all and so we need to get into the presence of god consistently and frequently and god began to work me over and begin to expose i'm not as strong as i thought i was i'm not as deep as i thought i was i'm not as spiritual as i thought i was and i had to start serving god for myself because we run the risk of being a potluck church you all know what a potluck is i don't know if you do potlucks anymore a potluck church it's pretty simple it's a 90 10 principle 10 percent do all the work and all of a sudden 90 show up call for a potluck and 10 come early to church and they have the food and they prepare it and all that stuff and they come early enough to prepare the food and then to be early enough to pray and also practice some music and then they practice some music and and all of a sudden people come out of the woodworks you give an advertiser advertiser's a potluck and a stranger danger everyone just comes and then the altar call comes and the ten percent in the altar praying while that ninety percent sit back and just kind of observe the ten percent doing their thing and awesome pastor prays for the meal and the 10 scurry on downstairs to get the food ready and the 90 man they charge the line they didn't charge the altar but they charge the buffet line and they couldn't move they couldn't lift their arms but man all of a sudden they're lifting it's a miracle i don't know something's happening the 10 served the 90 the ninety sit down ten percent like it's time for us to minister to them but let's get some food so we can fellowship and only the salads left so they give the salad they don't complain they go to sit down with the 90 and the 90 are gone they eat their salad and then they clean up everything that's potluck church 90 enjoying the benefit of the 10 look church is not designed for us to be spectators it's designed for you to be a participator i don't want to just to inherit i want to contribute what can i contribute to first apostolic church god look there's a season you need to be the 90 there's a season you need to come because you're worn out you're weary you don't know anything about anything you just want to come because you're hungry and you're desperate i thank god that you came and that you prayed and you reap the benefits of people that prayed and people that fasted i rejoice with you but god is calling some more people to the core of this church god wants you to step from the fringe to the core thank god you've enjoyed some french benefits but god called this revival to expand the core of this church god wants to expand the strength of this church would you lift your voices would you lift your hands would you say yes come on would you agree in the holy ghost right now i don't know who made up this statement but i've heard it a number of times and i love it if everyone in the church was just like me what kind of church would this just church be oh god wants you to participate god wants you involved god wants you involved god wants you involved and look just like pastor said that was revelation look when we get to heaven there will be no superintendents there will be no pastors there will be no marriage there's only going to be worshipers so let's just be worshippers here let's participate in worship now let's participate in praise here let's participate in praise now let us be one mind one accord one place worshiping one lord in this one faith we've been baptized into one body there's a story in your bible it's found in first samuel and you can read it on your own time to fact check me but it's found in chapter 25. i want to share this story with you i'm trying to be mindful the time but i don't even know what time i started so let's just say i started at 8 40. there's three main characters in this story that i want to highlight in first samuel 25. david nabal and abigail david is the anointed king his name means loving nabal is a very wealthy man who doesn't serve the lord and the his name simply means fool the other character is abigail nabel's wife and her name means source of joy and how the story goes is david he's out fighting wars with his men his ragtag team and they're on the fringe the outskirts of the property that belongs to nabel this wealthy man and they've been guarding it for some time without naval even knowing they've been protecting his property the bible says they hear a party going on nabel is throwing a party it's called the shearing of the sheep it's a time of celebration of abundance and wealth they basically give all the sheep a haircut man and they pick up that wool and it's just like counting money man we're rich they're just celebrating how wealthy they are so let's spend money and just have a party so this is going on and david is with his servants and he gets two of them he says i want you you two messengers to go i want you to talk to nabel and see if if he would let us enjoy some of that feast being that we protected his property so the two messengers go to nabel and they say hey nabel we're two messengers of the anointed king and uh you guys are having a great party this is beautiful just wondering if we get a just a little bit like maybe some hot chicken some sweet tea um not too much just just be a few capri suns just some mods fruit snacks just just a little something and nabel flips out he says get out of here i don't know who this guy is a lot of people claiming to be something get out of here this is my food this is my land this is my property it's my home and they go back to david they tell david what happened and david flips out the one whose name means loving and he says all of you get your swords now get your swords get on your horses we're gonna wipe that town out and while david says that and they begin to get their weaponry ready there's another character there named abigail source of joy and she is informed by one of the servants what happened when that servant tells her she says now hurry up get some food get some drinks get some beverages bring some goods come on we gotta we need some offense come on we gotta we gotta bring us them go now now now we don't get time to waste and she gets on her horse and she charges towards david and she rushes towards david david is rushing towards her and these two parties are about to intersect and as they're coming face to face abigail falls off of her animal and she begins to plead and ask david for mercy please do not wipe out these people please show mercy here's here's some gifts here's some here's some beverages here's some food and david the anointed king has moved and he's stirred and he he thanks her and he doesn't wipe off that bill wipe out that village and he goes back home i believe the scripture wants you to see something here tonight that these three characters represent three things david represents jesus nabel represents the world and abigail represents the church look there's an anointed king that's been on the outskirts of this world and this world has been enjoying blessings and abundance and a long extended party namely north america definitely has extoined and enjoyed in the benefits of all riches and abundance and they do not even know that every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above it's because there's someone that's on the outskirts that's allowing this party to go on but that anointed king is not just interested in you having a good time that anointed kings dispatches messengers to those that are trying to live in a pleasure of sin for a season and those messengers come to the world they come to nabel they come to this fool and say hey hi this is a great party you're definitely blessed you got a lot but you know there's an anointed king over there and he just wants a little thanks he just wants a little appreciation would you give him that which is due right now and the world flips out he says no who is this anointed king i don't know who jesus is this is my food this is my house this is my car this is a my wealth i got it with my work my education my intellect has my family my children my wife none of it i'm giving to you and those messengers leave trembling and though the anointed king that name means loving though jesus is the lamb of god he is the lion of the tribe of judah as a lamb he is approachable as a lion he is a force to be reckoned with and all of a sudden he calls for his mighty men he calls those angels those minister and flame a sword of fire and he says gabriel michael get your swords give me my white stallion and the bible says one day the king of kings and the lord of lords is going to start charging towards this planet and a sharp two-edged sword is going to come out of his mouth and it's going to be the day of the lord it's going to be a day of vengeance unlike we have ever seen but there's another character abigail the church god's source of joy is there she hears the news and something comes over abigail and abigail says we don't got time to waste now come on now get some offerings get some gifts get some sacrifice come on we got to bring something to the anointed king i know in the manner in which he is coming right now and he's not pleased come on now now now and she begins to charge towards the anointed king and david and abigail start approaching the church and the anointed king start coming to this intersection and the bible says that abigail falls to that floor he says no no please i know we're worthy of judgment i know we're deserving of what comes our way but please would you receive these gifts would you receive these supplications would you receive these offerings would you receive this sweet smelling incense because there's some people back there and they're not ready they're not ready my co-worker's not ready my family member's not ready i know we've done you wrong i know we're deserving of it but please would you give us a space of grace please would you hold back to wrath mercifully that lion the tribe of judah king with a sharp two-edged sword steps off that stallion and says thank you of course thank you and judgment is held back here's what's so interesting to me had abigail done nothing she would have lived the bible said david only intended to slaughter all the men and to spare the women abigail could have enjoyed the party enjoyed all the abundance and blessing in church there's never been a segment in the apostolic movement where we've had abundance and blessing there's never been a season like the season the north american apostolic church is living in right now you start interviewing some elders in this room and their parents and their grandparents of what it was like to be apostolic in their day the persecution and the setting they had to have services in and here we are today in 2022 at a party called the church and i thank god for the abundance i thank god for all the war i thank god for this led screen i thank god for this wireless technology i thank god for these two screens you have i thank god for this eighty thousand plus square foot facility and property that you have you are a blessed people and it's time and it's right that we celebrate the goodness of god we need to be thankful and we need to celebrate and we need to let jesus know every now and again god thank you everything we got comes from above everything that we've been blessed with these padded pews it comes from you this beautiful stage it comes from you these wonderful church bands it comes from you that beautiful name on that but logo outside it comes from you every good gift every perfect we are in danger of just partying just enjoying the party just coming to church and praising god thank you for salvation thank you for salvation thank you for truth thank you for doctrine thank you for revelation i want to party with you i want to celebrate with you and if you do nothing different king that's coming you can make it but there's going to be others that don't and that's why we gotta stop living in the house of feasting and start visiting the house of mourning god something happened to abigail it wasn't about her it was about everyone else i can sit here in church enjoy service after see when we start getting abundance and blessed we start coming to church with a different mentality we start getting picky and selective well how come how come my boy's on the drums they always stick him with a tambourine over there how come how come my girl's not singing the solo how how come how can my boy's not preaching how come i i don't really like that song and all of a sudden we start coming to church with a different mentality when it's all about just the party it's all just about a good time well how come i'm not the sunday school superintendent how come this isn't going that way how come i would am i talking to the church right now hear me in the holy ghost stop getting so see when you start complaining that means you have the wrong focus i'm not here to attack you i'm here with the help of the holy ghost to adjust you i'm trying to get something adjusted in your spirit when you start nitpicking the church that means you're just fixated on the party stop thinking about all the party favors and start thinking about the funerals that are going on around you outside the walls of this church there is a world that is lost dying and going to hell she wasn't worried about the temperature of the beverages anymore she wasn't worried whether the meat was medium well or well done she wasn't worried about all they'll see when you get fancy you start working on all those worrying about those nuances but she stopped everything that seemed to matter no longer mattered i hear me again everything that seemed to matter no longer mattered you were so worked up about something going on in your home but when you got that phone call and grandpa died nothing else seemed to matter you were just thinking about grandpa you know when you were all worried about the color of the living room and it being all spoiled but your kid got hurt also everything changes when there is a sense of urgency in your spirit there's got to be a shift that takes place in this congregation that we are no longer focused on the party we're focused on the funeral we're focused on the law on that day on that day abigail became an intercessor the only thing that stopped the anointed king was an intercessor jesus he is coming back and the only thing that can hold him back is an inner sister saying jesus just give me another day i'm working on my boy god give me another day my best friend's not ready give me another day give me another day give me another day look god gave you breath today because there's another soul today that needs to hear the truth and needs to hear the gospel don't get distracted with entertainment today don't get distracted with entertainment tomorrow get back to the funeral somebody is not ready and you have the message that they need jesus jesus is returning and we must return our attention to righteous living and reaching the lost jesus is returning we must return our attention to righteous living and reaching the loss i'm talking to a segment in this room that you are riding the fence on the pleasures of this world but god is here to remind you he's coming back he's coming back he's coming back so why don't you get your attention back on righteous living and reaching the lost there's some people in this room god is talking to you're living righteous but you need to go back to reaching where you came from the lost the lost the lost somebody get a burden for lift your hands lift your voices the holy ghost spoke to me he said we are so in love with the earth that we've become afraid of heaven we don't think about heaven we think about things we think about material the holy ghost spoke to me this afternoon and he said appearance he said tell the church you are consumed with the wrong appearance you're more focused on your appearance rather than his appearing i'm telling you as clear as i heard the holy ghost you're so consumed with your appearance that you stop looking for his appearing jesus is coming back don't worry about how you're gonna age don't worry about looking so proper and pretty god is looking for someone that sets their affection on things above and not on things on this earth look don't get so obsessed with those shoes you want to get don't get so fixated on that car you want to get nothing wrong with the shoes nothing wrong with the car but there's something out there that's more important and more invaluable there's something called true riches there's true riches there's true writ would you lift your voice would you lift your voice i want you to capture this verse i want you to write it down i want you to make note of it if you can for just a moment whether you got to make a quick note on your phone to look at later but i want your spirit to adhere to the spirit of this scripture hosea chapter 2 verse 6 and 7 says i will hedge up thy way with thorns and make a wall that she shall not find her paths the bible helps us to understand something about the power of a praying mama a praying daddy a praying brother a praying sister i'm here to encourage someone today that you think your prayers haven't done much you need to add that e-t-h that bishop said last night you got to add that continual to your prayer for that i i feel so strong in the holy ghost for a revival of back you've heard this before but you need to hear it again i am not just sitting there fly by night coming here i'm here to confirm what you've already heard in the spirit there is a harvest of backsliders that you cannot contain in this building and you have not into the lie that your prayers have failed your prayers are not in vain they are invested they are memorial prayers that ascend up to the heavenlies god is capturing everyone when you pray for a lost soul you don't have to question whether you pray the will of god god is not willing that and he should perish but all come true but look at this verse when you begin to pray and your boy that's going the complete opposite direction pursuing their lovers pursuing their pleasures the bible says god will begin to let a thorn bush a hedge grow up in front of them like a barb wire fence around them and they go to reach for what they are pursuing but they can't they keep getting a prick in their spirit they keep getting a prick in their bosom every time they reach something starts pricking at them it's what happens when you got that seed prayer going out watering it with tears there's a sprouting that's coming up that keeps a barrier around your boy a barrier around your daughter as she's reaching but there's a conviction you think they're far gone but that conviction's still there as long as your prayers still there look at this verse seven she's still gonna try she's gonna make a valiant effort to follow after her lovers but she will not be able to overtake them she's gonna seek them but she won't find what she's looking for then she says i'm gonna go back i'm gonna return for it was better with me back home than it is now and the pursuit stops and the turn happens and she goes back there's gonna come people stumbling your boy your girl's not even gonna tell you that they plan to come to church you're gonna be sitting in your pew and as you're worshiping god and you look to your left you're going to look to your left and you're just going to shake you're not going to have the strength to even go to them because you are so in awe of seeing a prayer manifest in an answer form your prayer is not in vain the lord showed me he helped me to understand a powerful principle in prayer the bible says ezekiel was in into the lord's temple and god wanted him to observe what happened at that altar there was a little trickle a little stream coming out from underneath that halter it was just like a little puddle and he said keep following it and so he followed it and the further he went out he went to his ankles the further he went out it went to his waist the further it went out it got to the point where he could no longer walk he was waters to swim in he went the lord helped me to understand and you've probably seen this before but i did not the lord showed me when you're at your altar praying sometimes you've been praying the same prayer so long it doesn't feel like much and you don't see much it's just a little trickle but if you follow the trail of tears if you follow where your prayers go the further your backslidden family member is in the distance the deeper your prayer is you may feel shallow waking up monday morning praying for the prodigal but i promise you the further they are the deeper your prayer really is and they're going to try to walk away but that prayer is going to catch them up that stream's going to lift them up and it's going to be something oh mama you got to keep praying my brother has been backslid for 20 years and just this january at a building dedication my little brother walked in that door with his family and he prayed through he just bought his own bible for the first time he bought his own suit for the first time i'm telling you the further they are the deeper your prayer is abigail wake up where are the intercessors god is just looking for an intercessor god are you ready church listen listen the bible says we're gonna loose you in the holy ghost just one second the bible says that david received that intercession and turned back and went home and the party kept going but the the party came to an end everybody in the entire house knew what happened except for one nable when the wine went out from him someone shared the news with him and his heart became his stone and he died the bible says when this gospel goes to the whole world and when the final person is witness to then comes the return of the son of man nabel dies and the anointed king returns for a bride abigail his source of joy jesus is coming back you are about to release prayers in this room that are going to allow backsliders to be part of that bride and some in this room are going to pray prayers that will allow you to be part of that bride but when you begin to pray right now you need to open your mouth intercession is one of the ugliest nastiest things it's effort it's intensity it's desperation but i believe this church found its voice last night and god gave you that voice for this moment right now and god is calling to activate intercessors in this room right now i pray in the name of the lord jesus christ that you release your voice with an authority and revelation that you're about to put some hedges up and people are coming back home that said i loose you in the holy ghost right now release the intercession release your voice let there be an intensity let there be a passion let there be a desire to see a great return that's it let it out mom let it out son let it out daughter come on your prayer is gonna bring mom back your prayer is gonna bring your uncle back your prayer is gonna win your co-worker your prayer is gonna bring them home yes go go go go come on press your way into the kingdom press your way into the kingdom press your way in fight back what's been fighting you push back what's been pushing you you're not a victim you're not a victim you're a child of god you are powerful let's say come on george go after it go after it foreign so go ahead come on shatter that ceiling of doubt shatter that ceiling of doubt come on release that prayer god is dispatching his mighty warring angels come on those angels are messengers they're a flame of fire for the heirs of salvation you are a child of god and your prayer can give angels charge concerning them in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus come on push push push oh that's it abigail come on wake up wake up wake up your redemption draweth nigh wake up now is high time salvation is near then it's ever been the return of the lord draws nigh the return of the lord draws night me oh oh oh ah school yeah you know oh foreign i'm going to give some instruction if i can have your attention give some instruction here revival there's some simplistic things to it but there's some more complicated things to it that we'll never fully grasp or understand because we can't see all the dimensions in which god works but i think there is an unspoken element of revival that i don't really hear about and that is the sovereign side of it there is a sovereign god that can do whatever he wants the bible says in the days of sodom and gomorrah there's a little intercession going on god and man a man named abraham having discussion over the twin cities and because of abraham's prayer because of his input god was willing to change things did the cities get overthrown yes but was it total loss no one provision was made for salvation but two there were some that got pulled out in the most sovereign fashion because the bible says lot was still lingering you read it the angels that were dispatched says we cannot burn this place up till we pull you out and they pulled lot out of there it sounds crazy but i'm telling you there is a prayer that can be dispatched that plucks them out of the pit of hell the bible says here's the power of a praying spouse though they may not be equally yoked that one can sanctify the other and one can sanctify the children i mean your kids that may be lost are unlike any other lost child out there because there's a praying mama and there's a praying daddy it's the power of a parent that won't quit praying this is the instruction i want to give because i believe there is an element of intercession that has been opened that's going to be acted upon more frequently not just tonight this is what i've learned in the process of time in intercession it's a very draining thing it is a very intense thing and you pour yourself out and intercession is closely linked almost like depression because you're being touched with the feelings of someone's infirmities and it's intense it's real i'll never forget when i was working on a reservation in south dakota i was part of a 12-step program i was the fifth step in this detox center on the native american reservation and the fifth step they had to bring it was the point in which they finally got purged of the chemical dependency and they finally got in the right frame of mind and then they could write about their life story and talk to someone about it and basically have repentance and i was part of that fifth step where they would share their life story it was the most horrific stories i've ever heard in my life there's just the atrocities and the the abuse that takes place on the reservation is it's unfathomable but they warned me and prepared me saying mark there's something called second-hand trauma that's much like second-hand smoke you're not the one smoking but being with that person the smoke gets on you and affects you and i would sit in that room i wasn't the one that was abused i wasn't the one that was molested i wasn't the one that was beat i was the one addicted but their story being poured out got on me as if i went through it and i would drive that 60 miles back home shaking and weeping as i begin to replay those images in that story in my mind and it's something like that when it comes to intercession and you begin to passionately pursue god all of a sudden you're being touched with the feelings of their infirmities and you weep and you cry and you wail and when you when you even feel that release let off of you when you're done you're weary you're drained and you're still somewhat almost discouraged because you feel all of what they're feeling and what's going on and this is what you need to train yourself to do that you're not typically doing and that is to pick yourself up off the floor and lift your hands and lift your head and to begin to praise god because the bible says god inhabits the praise of his people and when god is in that midst the bible says in his presence is fullness of joy psalm 16 11. and the revelation is nehemiah 18 the joy of the lord is your strength after you intercede for that person whether god makes it known what you're interceding for or it is unknown you need to discipline yourself after sowing tears you need to pick up and reap enjoy and begin to magnify god and praise him by faith that salvation is nearer than it's ever been then virtue flows back into you and there's a joy i wonder right now if by faith you can rejoice in the god of your salvation rejoice in the lord and again i say rejoice you have weeped for a season you have planted in tears church will you lift your voice and by faith will you praise god and let the joy of the lord be your strength some of you are struggling to rejoice come on by faith some of you are still struggling to rejoice by faith don't feel it faith faith faith faith is not a feeling faith is stepping out would you begin to rejoice by faith god i rejoice lord i will not leave here discouraged i leave you with virtue i leave here with strength i leave here with courage i leave him with confidence i leave here with boldness i leave here with intention come on that's it come on dance before the lord with all your might dance before the lord with all your might this is the rest where god causes the weary to rest and this is the refreshing that's it tracy praise it right now hallelujah yes in jesus name hallelujah right now in the name of jesus yes jesus come on shout out to god with a voice of triumph come on triumph there's triumph in the house there's victory in the house come on that's an answer to prayer that's an answer to prayer that's someone's been praying a while someone's been interceding a while someone's been fasting come on in the name of jesus in the name of jesus yes yes come on someone get after it stop worrying about your appearance concern yourself with the appearing of the lord come on the lord is appearing the lord draws night of the lord