A Samaritan Revival

Thank you sir love you praise the Lord everybody praise the Lord this is a win-win situation because if I don't do good it's brother 's fault right what a joy it is to be with all of you it's a great joy to be in your district and with all the great leaders pastors preachers teachers and feeders and evangelists and Prophets and everybody else you are so blessed blessed by Apostolic Ministry in this great district and my role here is to affirm and confirm the word of the Lord that is preached by your faithful pastors and leaders every week thank you for your warm welcome but the most important man of God in your life is your pastor I hope you're a faithful church member and you love that man and woman of God that serve your congregation and lead you it's such a joy to be here and in the presence of God and haven't we been blessed by this wonderful worship team giving their all worshiping God and leading us into the presence of God would you lift up your hands right now and now very consciously and intentionally without letting somebody else just carry your weight would you lift up your praise to the Lord right now spe I worship you God Amen you may be seated in the presence of God tonight in so many ways they seem to be a Lost Generation they're perceived to be rebellious but that's just an instinctive gut level reaction against a world that has hurt them so very deeply they appear arrogant and aloof but in reality they just feel very isolated and lonely they feel very much like strangers in their own country they distrust those in charge charge because they live with the consequences of battles fought and lines drawn and sides chosen before they were even born they have lots of hard questions but no one seems to have any answers they have valid concerns they have very passionate perspectives but no one respects them enough to even try and understand them and they don't usually talk about any of this because they feel like their opinion just isn't valued anyway and so they withdraw further and further into their own little world and all that does is it continues to perpetuate all these negative stereotypes it's common knowledge everybody knows that they are less religious than previous generations but they would protest that they're actually more spiritual unfortunately that spirituality has been influenced by culture more than by scripture and so they've cobbled together their own version of God their own interpretation of his Commandments and their own take on worship they value tolerance over tradition they value actions over words they value options over rules and most of all they value authenticity over Authority they struggle with Holiness because they live in a world that is overrun with ungodliness and they would rather have the Applause of their peers than the approval of their Elders it's not their fault it's just their reality they wait for conversation and they hope for connection they are an untapped resource an unharvested field an unreached generation some would say they are too apathetic too atheistic too immoral or too impossible to reach but you see God has always wanted them to be part of his kingdom so God waits for someone in their generation but not of their generation to speak his word to their generation yes God is waiting for someone to reach not Gen X not Gen Y or gen Z not generation alpha or generation beta next year no he's waiting for someone to reach Generation S the Samaritans Acts 1 verse 8 but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be Witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and here's the catch and in Samaria and on to the uttermost part of the earth the church was promised power in Acts 1:8 but they were also given Direction not just to reach comfortable Jerusalem and familiar Judea but also to reach into Samaria and ultimately the uttermost part of the earth not just to reach into comfortable territory but to actually weighed into hostile territory and I say to you very plainly tonight Samaria was the key because if the apostolics could ever move beyond their familiar Jewish culture to reach the Hostile culture of the Samaritans than they could reach anyone anywhere however the narrative contained between Acts 1 verse 8 and acts 8 verse5 covers a period of about five years and during that time the Jerusalem Church they were blessed they had Divine visitation and miracles of healing and holy boldness and they grew despite persecution and opposition and even some internal disputes and we love their growth numbers it's impressive by anyone's standard 3,000 people in Acts 2:41 5,000 men in Acts 4:4 multitudes of men and women in Acts 5:14 and even a great company of the Jewish PR in Acts 6:7 there's only one problem it all happened inside Jerusalem they were so laser focused on one city and one region because these were people that were just like them people that shared their history and their Heritage their politics and their preferences these were people that the first century apostolics thought would make good Pentecostals people who were just like them and all that time just beyond their self-imposed boundaries was an untapped resource an unharvested field and an unreached generation thank God the church's comfort zone was shattered by the martyrdom of Stephen and then the intense persecution that followed you may see Stephen's death as a tragedy but we would not have very much after that point in the book of Acts if it had not been for that young men's martyrdom Stephen's death probably resulted in more obedience to the Great Commission than any other event in the book of Acts up until that point and it was even a major factor in the conversion of the Apostle Paul and it most certainly was the tragedy that launched the ministry of one of Stephen's friends his name was Philip he was another one of the deacons from acts 6 a young man and because of the persecution that arose after his friend was murdered he suddenly ended up in Samaria and because he didn't have a clue what else he should do Philip just began to speak the word of God he didn't know anything else to do he not one of the leaders he's not one of the pastors he's not one of the Apostles he's not one of the elders but somehow God honored that young man's testimony and God moved outside their box and God poured out a great Revival Acts 8:5 then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and he preached Christ unto them if you read the book of Acts you'll find out that the apostles those great men of God were now kind of forced to play catchup with what is happening because the Revival God is beginning to send has moved beyond what they can manage what they can organize and what they can control it has moved outside their box of politics outside their box of preference outside their box of familiarity outside their box of everybody is just like me because now God is saving people that they did not expect him to save save and using people that they did not expect God to use all because one young man decided to speak the word of God in hostile territory now Philip's approach is simple whether he's talking to a Samaritan cynic or whether he's talking to an Ethiopian eunuch he just does something and so simple here's his whole philosophy of ministry acts 8:35 then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus that's about as complicated as it got with Philip I would suggest to you that we might do worse than adapting that Ministry philosophy today it would seem to me that if everybody else else in America is opening their mouth to talk about their preference and their belief and their option and their opinion and their lifestyle my goodness it seems to me that if anybody should be opening their mouth it should be the apostolic church if they can talk about what they want to talk about if they can espouse what they want to espouse surely somewhere there's an apost in love with Jesus that can say wait just a minute I've got an opinion too wait just a minute Jesus changed my life Philip opened his mouth oh and this is important he began at the same scripture he began where the Ethiopian eunuch was reading in the scroll of the prophet Isaiah that would help us a whole lot sometimes I think we want people to begin where we are instead of us beginning where they are I'm really glad and I know there are probably several of you you've got it all figured out prophetically I'm so grateful for you know who Melchizedek is thank you we don't care I know you've got the fifth pimple on the third toenail of the fourth foot of the sixth leg of the 17th beast of the 91st chapter of Revelation all figured out thank you we don't care enjoy it all by your little old self now if your pastor just did a series on Revelation I am not quarreling with your pastor he's right I'm wrong I'm just telling you we're not impressed with all that and the world is definitely not impressed with that you're expecting them to land where you are already are before you'll even share with them the gospel don't do that you can share the gospel with someone from any lifestyle from any political stream you can share the gospel from with somebody that has no moral background whatsoever they don't have to agree with you 5% for you to share the gospel with them if they don't believe in Jesus start there if they don't believe the Bible is the word of God start there don't try to drag them Kicking and Screaming into what you've known for 30 years open your mouth start where they are and For Heaven's Sake preach Jesus I love the apostolic church but we're not preaching the Apostolic Church the apostolic church is zero without Jesus he's the reason we live he's the one that we worship he's the one who can save and deliver and heal open your mouth start where they are and preach Jesus that's what Philip did now I have a question and I'll move into the message tonight just where did a young man named Philip with no Ministry experience except Meals on Wheels for the Widow ladies where did a young man like that learn to do what he did in Samaria I think I can tell you that he just decided he was going to love people like Jesus loved them and he was going to let Jesus do the rest after all he had a pattern John 4 verse4 and Jesus must needs go through Samaria this wasn't new information God had always wanted Generation S in his kingdom in John 4 Jesus shows us just how important it is to reach everyone and anyone with the message of the gospel and we just read over that and we pass by but if we read a little bit of History we would know just how radical that was the Old Testament historical books record that both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah they both ended up in captivity the capital of the northern kingdom was Samaria and it fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC the capital of the Southern kingdom was Jerusalem and it fell to the Babylonians in 586 BC about 135 years later here's the point while the southern Kingdom eventually returned from captivity after 70 years that northern kingdom never really did return as a whole Assyria the Conqueror deported most of the people and then they settled the land with foreigners who intermarried with the surviving Israelites and by the time that southern Kingdom arrived back in the land and they looked North all they could see were Samaritans who were racial half breeds intermarried with pagans and the Jews disdained them they would sooner do just about anything than speak to a Samaritan when a Jew said the term Samaritan they spit on the ground they hated the Samaritans and then when the Jews refused to let them help rebuild the Temple well the Samaritans retaliated by just building their own temple on Mount Gerizim in 400 BC and then when the Samaritans decided you know we're going to revise the Ten Commandments a little bit then the division between them was complete the Jews considered them unclean Unholy and they would travel many miles out of their way just to avoid the territory of the Samaritans but not Jesus Jesus ends up sitting on a well in the center of town in the city of Sychar which is the center of Samaria and he sends his disciples into the city for food not because he's hungry but because his dumb disciples are such a distraction to his mission and he gets them out of the way so so he can do what he needs to do and then Jesus God manifest In the Flesh just settles himself on the side of a well and just Waits there for an anonymous Samaritan woman to show up he's on a Divine mission to reach the most unlikely person you can imagine he's a man she's a woman in that day they didn't talk to each other in public he's a Jew she's a Samaritan they didn't talk to each other either he's holy she's decidedly Unholy they didn't talk to each other in that day everything is against this woman but Jesus breaks all propriety and protocol when he sits on that wellside and he waits for her to show up could I dare to suggest to you tonight that the people who have God's attention In This Very Room might not be those of us who think we've all got it together it might be somebody that came here tonight and they say God my life is messed up and I don't know what I'm going to do but I need something could it be that Jesus came to this service tonight not for the preacher but for somebody that just has a need I wish you'd lift up your voice and pray for a moment let yes yes so Jesus he breaks all propriety and all protocol when he says to this woman give me to drink she is stunned she is shaken and she admits as much when she replies the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans she wasn't expecting Jesus to love her she was n expecting Jesus to even talk to her no wonder he got rid of his disciples she wouldn't have dared to come near if she'd have seen all those judgmental men standing by that well looking down their nose at her no wonder Jesus got them out of the way I got to tell you I don't want ever for Jesus to have to push me out of the way so he can reach a sinner I don't ever want Jesus to have to get me to the side so he can work nobody in this place is too unclean for the master to touch nobody in this place is too Unholy for the Holy One to love you oh my John 4:10 Jesus looked back at her and he said if you knew the gift of God if you knew who it is right now that's saying to you give me to drink you would have asked of him and he would have given you living water if you only knew lady what you were really thirsty for if you only knew what God could do for you if you only knew who it was that you were talking to right now oh I'm sorry I've got to pull that scripture 2,000 years into today if you only knew what you were really thirsty for it's not what you're giving all your time and your energy to it hasn't fulfilled you it will not fulfill you you've wasted far too many years pursuing your dream pursuing your pleasure and it hasn't satisfied if you only knew what you were really thirsty for you'd ask this Jesus and he'd give you living water if you only knew whose presence is in this room right now because this Jesus he can do anything he can heal anyone he can mend any destroyed family he can do any kind of miracle and he's interested in you don't have to have a pedigree in Pentecost Jesus is here to meet with you tonight whoever you are and wherever you came from from th this woman she says to him in verse 11 sir you're offering me living water but you've got nothing to draw with and the well is deep you don't even have a bucket from where do you have this living water and now like so many people when when they start to feel a little convicted she's going to try to pick a fight are you saying you're greater than our father Jacob Jacob the patriarch who gave us this well and he drank the water of this well himself and he gave water to his children and his cattle are you saying that you're greater than Jacob she's picking a fight with the Son of God not smart she doesn't get it she's like Nicodemus in John chapter 3 one chapter earlier Jesus said to Nicodemus you can be born again again and he said where's the womb he just doesn't get it now Jesus says to this woman you can have living water and she says where's the bucket she doesn't get it either and then like most people who come face to face with truth and it gets a little uncomfortable and it gets a little convicting and they know in their heart of hearts that they should make a change this woman tries to deflect the conversation to a religious argument are you saying you're greater than our father Jacob are you saying you're Superior and Jesus looks back at her and says yes I love it yes I am Superior to Jacob because a greater than Jacob is here a greater than Jonah is here a greater than Solomon is here a greater than Moses is here a greater than all the Angels is here yeah I'm superior but I'm not arrogantly Superior I'm graciously Superior in fact my superiority is your salvation oh my goodness you have thirst I've got Living Water you have hunger I am the living bread you have questions I'm the answer you have needs I'm the provider you have a past I am the restorer you have shame I'm the forgiver you have sin I'm the Savior yeah I'm superior I can help you because I'm superior I wish we could stop hiding our heads in the sand when everybody is espousing every kind of self-help this and selfhelp that and we just kind of turn tail and run Jesus is superior to all of that mess and without any arrogance or Pride or some kind of air of personal superiority we just need to talk about our savior and say he's better to me than I've been to myself he's better than anything you've ever tried he can do what nothing else and no one else can do verse 13 Jesus said whosoever drinketh of this water is going to thirst again but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life you're not going to need a bucket lady because I'm going to put the well inside of you that Anonymous Samaritan woman has no sweet clue who she is talking to and she has no idea that she just stumbled right into the midst of Prophecy because 600 years before she got to that wellside Isaiah said these words therefore with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of Salvation now you know you read your Bible and you study the Hebrew word for salvation is Yeshua which means Jehovah has become salvation and the Greek form of Yeshua well that's Jesus so quite literally the prophet Isaiah declared in Isaiah 12:3 with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of Jesus that shouldn't be strange to you draw water out of the well of Jes Jesus every day that you live and you do it with joy I'm so happy to be worshiping the only one who could ever save me the only one who could ever change me with joy shall you draw water out of the well called Jesus oh my goodness I wish you'd lift up your hands and let that water flow for just a minute let it flow up through your mouth and through your vocabulary and out through your praise yes yes yes yes yeah the Joy is here tonight anybody can have it it's not for people that have been in Pentecost for 50 years or more it's for whosoever will yes yes yes oh my goodness I'm not trying to mess with you reach over grab somebody by the hand seated or standing doesn't matter lift that hand with yours for a minute and pray in the spirit for a moment just pray in the spirit I don't care where you've come from or what issues you've got God you're surrounded by Wells of Living Water Jesus is in this room tonight he can do anything for you come on Pentecostal come on Apostolic let the water flow let the well spr spring up spring up oh well spring up oh well while you're praying with that person that you've got by the hand healing can flow like a river of Living Water through this room Deliverance can flow like a river of Living Water through this room spe there is such a sweet hunger for the power and the presence of God in this room right now could I ask this great congregation if you would stand to your feet right now I think we're going to continue with the sermon but I really don't care at this point while you're standing would you lift up every hand that can be lifted in this building would you lift up every voice higher than your hands and would you begin to pray right now there's a river let loose in this room there's a well springing up in this room Supernatural water Living Water if you need a miracle this is your night if you need Deliverance this is your night if you need the Holy Ghost This Is Your Night the water's flowing in this room tonight for yeah yes yes yes yes if you would remain standing I want to read one scripture to the apostolics the sermon not done but the sermon is over John chapter 7 this is not the only time Jesus ever talks about living water in the last day that great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried saying if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink he that believeth on me as the scripture has said so this isn't just believing in your little version of Jesus or your pet idea of Jesus this is if you believe on him as the scripture said or in other words if you believe on him like he said to believe on him then out of his belly shall flow rivers of Living Water you don't have to wonder what that means the very next verse says Jesus was speaking of the spirit the Holy Ghost which would be given when he ascended aren't you glad he's already ascended and so the Holy Ghost has already been poured out the Greek word there is koilia that is not out of your belly belly as in stomach as in food no that's belly as in womb as in birth Jesus just said a mouthful there when you get this living water inside of you I'm going to put such a spirit in you that when you go to prayer you can birth things in the Supernatural if you'll Shake Yourself and pray if you'll let the river flow out of your belly out of that spiritual womb will flow rivers of Living Water Everywhere the river goes there'll be healing everywhere the river goes there'll be Miracles everywhere the river goes there'll be Deliverance out of your belly shall flow rivers of Living Water lift up your hands one more time we're preparing to come to the Altar and pray God's going to do some marvelous things for some people here tonight if you would like to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost I want you to start making your way to this altar doesn't matter how old you are or how young you are start making your way to this altar if you need a miracle of healing in your body I want you to start making your way to this altar if you have some kind of situation in your family at home and you need desperately the touch of God on that situation I'm going to ask you to start making your way to this altar I just want you to be able to get here because in a moment moment the saints of God are going to pack into this front and we are going to pray together and as we pray together people around you are going to be praying in the spirit and that river is going to flow as you come would you come as close as you can and just feel clear across this front make as much room for as many people as you can just keep coming that's powerful and wonderful thank you Western District what a great people you are pastors if you're in this altar area I just want you to do your thing you can pray for whoever you see lay hands on everybody you can reach saints of God if you would like to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost tonight I'd like you to lift up your hand all across this altar if you'd like to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost I see some hands over there some hands here over here now saints of God and pastors look around because that river is going to begin to flow in just a moment and as it does these people are going to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost as you pray with them so here's how this works if you've never repented of your sins God cannot put his living water into a polluted vessel so right now I'd like everybody in this room just lift up your voice in prayer everybody's going to be praying around you and you tell Jesus I'm sorry for my sins I'm sorry for living in opposition to your word I ask you to forgive me I ask you to clean me repentance is not a feeling repentance is not tears repentance is a decision to turn around and walk away from sin that's what repentance is and if you repent right now you can receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost you can receive that living water inside of your life and it will change everything for you that's okay keep praying that's beautiful if you feel like crying cry if you feel like lifting your hands lift your hands but the biggest thing we're doing right now is turning to God and turning away from sin and the world and the Flesh and everything else because we want Jesus more than any of that it's beautiful people that's beautiful CH children of God right now I want every child of God I want you to connect with somebody on either side of you grab them by the hand lift their hand with yours right now we're going to pray together if you're standing near somebody that wanted to receive the Holy Ghost lay your hand on them right now and pray in jesus' name and they shall receive the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues if you need a healing let the river flow if you need Deliverance let the river flow if you need a miracle let the river flow the river of Living Water is in this room right now yes yes God's pouring out his spirit in this altar God's pouring out the Holy Ghost in this room right now would you find at least one more person to pray for lay your hand on them and pray in Jesus name all across this room