The Danger of Self-Powered Faith: Why God Doesn’t Wait on Us

• Spiritual Awakening and Revival [00:56:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the substantial moves of God in the past with the current 'dry' period, asserting that God is preparing the church for a new, sustained awakening.
• Divine Healing [00:58:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor leads a prayer for healing, emphasizes that healing is a gift of grace to be received rather than worked for, and shares testimonies to encourage persistence in prayer.
• Faith and Transition [01:03:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using the metaphor of rivers (Holy Spirit, death, difficulty), the pastor argues that believers must overcome the comfort of familiarity to cross into God's promised land and new seasons of faith.
• Comfort vs. Transition [01:05:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses how Christians often prefer the familiarity of a 'wilderness' or difficult situation over the uncertainty of moving forward, citing Jesus' question to the man at Bethesda.
• Faith and Uncertainty [01:07:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > He contrasts the human desire for daily certainty with God's call to have faith like Abraham, noting that God does not promise certainty about tomorrow but promises to bring us through.
• Following the Ark/Presence [01:11:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using Joshua 3, he explains that entering the Promised Land required following the Ark of the Covenant, symbolizing that believers must get acquainted with God's presence to know the way forward.
• The Nature of God's Presence [01:14:48 ▶️ 📄]
  > He clarifies that while the presence of the Lord involves feelings (like being loved in marriage), it is primarily a vital key for guidance and commitment, not just an emotional experience.
• The Bride of Christ [01:17:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his granddaughter's wedding, which provided him a new revelation about the 'bride of Christ' and the current time of preparation God is doing on earth.
• Benefits of Pursuing God's Presence [01:18:56 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor lists four main benefits of pursuing God's presence: fullness of joy (Psalm 116:11), supernatural rest (Exodus/Moses narrative), divine protection (Psalm 91), and boldness/power (Acts 4:13).
• Consecration and Preparation [01:26:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that God prepares hearts before changing circumstances, defining 'consecrate' as setting oneself apart for God and cleansing the spiritual 'house' or 'wine skin' to receive new wine.
• Criticism and Gratitude [01:28:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies criticism and lack of gratitude as major hindrances to spiritual growth, sharing a personal story of how God revealed that criticizing others had put a 'spiritual hook' in him, holding him back.
• Gratitude vs. Criticism [01:28:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that taking blessings for granted and criticizing others puts a 'spiritual hook' in the believer, hindering their relationship with God, whereas gratitude opens the gate for God to speak.
• Repentance and First Love [01:33:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using the church at Ephesus as an example, the pastor explains that even if one is doing 'wonderful stuff' in ministry, leaving one's 'first love' for God is a serious spiritual failure that requires repentance and restoration.
• Consecration and Surrender [01:38:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines consecration as an act of trust and deeper surrender in every new season, believing that what awaits on the other side of the 'river' is better than what is left behind.
• Old Nature vs. New Nature [01:40:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > Interpreting Joshua 3, the pastor uses the cutting off of the Jordan waters at 'Adam' as a prophetic picture of the old nature being cut off at the cross to allow the new nature of Christ to flourish.
• Faith and Action [01:42:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that faith is active ('a walk') and that God often waits for humans to take the first step before miracles occur.
• Spiritual Turbulence and Narrow Places [01:47:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using the analogy of a river hitting a narrow point, the pastor explains that life's turbulent, dangerous moments are where God is present and active.
• Stillness and Listening [01:50:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor encourages finding moments of stillness to hear God's 'still and small' voice, which is often drowned out by other noises.

• Sermon Illustration [01:01:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a story about Bishop Warren Chandler on his deathbed, who stated he did not fear crossing the river of death because his Father owns the land on both sides.
• Sermon Illustration [00:59:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > A testimony is recounted about a woman in Brazil who prayed for a blind man for five hours without immediate result, but the man woke up healed the next morning, illustrating that God's timing and methods may differ from human expectations.
• Sermon Illustration [01:06:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the biblical account of Jesus healing the man at the pool of Bethesda, using Jesus' question 'Do you want to get healed?' to illustrate how people often prefer the familiarity of their current struggles over the transition to healing.
• Sermon Illustration [01:16:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about officiating his granddaughter's wedding, describing his intense anxiety and a sudden, brief revelation he received about the 'bride of Christ' and the current time of preparation in the earth.
• Sermon Illustration [01:15:08 ▶️ 📄]
  > He uses an analogy of marriage to explain the necessity of feeling loved; just as a wife needs to hear and feel her husband's love to sustain the relationship, believers need to experience God's presence, though it is more than just a feeling.
• Sermon Illustration [01:17:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts his granddaughter's wedding, which gave him a glimpse of the 'bride of Christ' and the preparation God is doing. He also shares a story about Moses and the angel in the wilderness to illustrate the necessity of God's presence for rest. Additionally, he tells a personal story about God revealing that his criticism of two people from 40 years ago had created a 'spiritual hook' that wounded him and held him back, leading to his freedom.
• Sermon Illustration [01:31:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal story of being criticized by his wife, Becky, at a women's meeting, which led to a nuclear argument in their hotel room. The Holy Spirit intervened, convicting him of his own past wrongs and leading to repentance and healing in their marriage.
• Sermon Illustration [01:34:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the historical example of the church at Ephesus, founded by Paul with John as pastor and Mary as a member, to illustrate how a 'powerhouse' church can still fail spiritually by leaving its first love.
• Sermon Illustration [01:39:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor paints a visual picture of God the Father sitting on the throne with children crawling all over Him, illustrating God's desire for intimate family presence and why church is important.
• Sermon Illustration [01:41:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the turbulent waters of the Jordan River during the time of Joshua, illustrating the danger of the 'flood stage' and how the priests' feet stepping in the water caused the waters to stand in a heap, symbolizing the cutting off of the old nature.
• Sermon Illustration [01:41:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the biblical story of the Israelites crossing the Jordan River at flood stage, where the waters only stopped when the priests' feet touched the water, illustrating that action precedes divine intervention.
• Sermon Illustration [01:46:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his past anxiety regarding preaching and altar calls, noting that he used to worry about responses but now focuses on obedience and letting 'the chips fall where they may.'
• Sermon Illustration [01:46:48 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a 'drone view' analogy of a river, explaining that while rivers can be smooth, they become turbulent when forced through a narrow point, paralleling how life's difficulties are often narrow, turbulent passages where God is present.
• Sermon Illustration [01:43:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references a song by Andy Squires ('Love Supreme') with lyrics about a river rushing in him, using it to illustrate the internal overflow of the Holy Spirit washing away 'muddy banks' of criticism and insecurity.

• Pastoral Charge [00:57:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > Stand up or raise a hand if in need of healing; place hands on others who are standing or raising hands.
• Pastoral Charge [01:01:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > Verbally confess that healing is received by grace, not worked for, and pray to receive healing.
• Pastoral Charge [01:20:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > To verbally declare a conditional commitment to worship based on the tangible presence of God.
• Pastoral Charge [01:21:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > To stop engaging with media and mental distractions to sit quietly in God's presence.
• Pastoral Charge [01:25:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > To maintain faith and actively pray/contend for God's promises to manifest.
• Pastoral Charge [01:36:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor calls the congregation to repent, apologize to God, and stop making excuses for their spiritual state.
• Pastoral Charge [01:46:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > Stand up if feeling conviction or speaking from the Lord.
• Pastoral Charge [01:53:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > Come forward for prophetic ministry and prayer.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:00:00] That's our cry, Lord!

[00:00:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:00:02] Come on, sing Hallelujah together.
[00:34:33] I want to be near, near to your heart, and know we drive. Mountains shake before him, the demons run and flee. At the mention of your name, King of Majesty, there is no power in hell or any instead.
[00:36:35] Hallelujah. We can't help but praise your name. We can't help but say, holy, holy Lord.

[00:42:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:42:56] Holy are you. We can't help but proclaim your greatness. Thank you, Lord. And we're really thankful that there is no other God that can do all of those things that we sang about in that
[00:43:12] first song. There's nothing else. There's nothing else this world has that can come in and fix those things and do those things and be the person that the Lord is to us. Isn't that good news?
[00:43:29] All the stuff that you're carrying, that you're trying to do, it's kind of good news to know sometimes that it's not really about you. There's only so much that you're doing. There's only so much that we can do to manage this crazy thing. But he is the great I am. He is the only one who's
[00:43:49] worthy for us to sit here and say hallelujah holy holy holy are you oh lord holy holy holy are you the great i am so i prayed this last week and i'm just going to pray it again
[00:44:12] um just about the stuff that we're trying to manage that's bigger than we are and just this just seems fitting so last week if you had those things if you weren't here and you have
[00:44:21] some stuff going on in your life that that seemed monumental like bigger than what you can handle let's just pray about it is that okay so lord we uh we take this stuff that seems overwhelming
[00:44:36] that seems too big that seems more than we can handle and we give it to you and we say thank you lord that i'm not big enough to handle this thing because i would probably just mess it up
[00:44:50] anyway instead lord i give it to you i'm trading out this yoke of burden for this thing and i'm putting on your yoke instead, where you're actually the one carrying the weight.
[00:45:03] I give over my worries.
[00:45:05] I give over my cares.
[00:45:07] And I just say, Lord, you take care of this thing.
[00:45:09] You manage this thing.
[00:45:13] Amen.
[00:45:16] I think the ushers are going to start heading this way and we're going to take up an offering.
[00:45:21] So I'm going to pray about that too.
[00:45:33] If y'all would join me.
[00:45:34] Dear Lord, we just thank you so much for the abundance that we have.
[00:45:40] Lord, we thank you so much for this church building.
[00:45:42] what a blessing it is to us, Lord.
[00:45:46] And we thank you even though the toilet stopped working right sometimes and water flows in places it shouldn't.
[00:45:54] Lord, we're just so thankful for all that you've given to this church family, both here corporately in this space and at our homes.
[00:46:00] Lord, we just are super, super grateful for our opportunity to give back, to pour back some of what you've given to us and these tithes and offerings that we give to you this morning, Lord.
[00:46:10] So do a mighty work as you further your kingdom, Lord.
[00:46:14] We just say it. Let it be. Amen. So if you are new or visiting, I want to say welcome.
[00:46:25] There are some QR codes in front of you on the chairs that if you have any questions or are looking to interact, pretty much all of our stuff is there. There's a place to tithe if you're
[00:46:36] looking to tithe. There's a place to sign up for our weekly announcements. There's a place to sign up for VBS, which you're going to hear about in a couple minutes. So there's, you know, just lots
[00:46:47] interaction oh our translation app if you're looking to engage with byron's message in a language that is not english he does not speak that language he only has english so if you're looking for something let us know and we got it going but again if you go to that little qr code
[00:47:04] it'll set up whatever you're looking for um and i've i've we've made this announcement a couple times so this is the last time i'm saying that before i i'm tracking people down in person via phone or face-to-face
[00:47:19] in a scary, scary shake in my fist.
[00:47:22] We're looking for volunteers.
[00:47:25] So if you are like, man, Corey, I really want to serve the church.
[00:47:28] Specifically, we got some spaces with the media team in the back with showing words and playing videos for people who are at home so they can stream this.
[00:47:38] And we could use a couple hands.
[00:47:41] So if you are interested, you can go to the QR code.
[00:47:46] Just scan that.
[00:47:47] It's really great.
[00:47:49] Tori, do you want to come up for a second?
[00:47:50] Oh, hey, Tori's here.
[00:47:54] She wants to tell you all something.

[00:47:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:47:56] So many things.
[00:47:57] Thank you, Cori.
[00:47:58] Cori and Tori, it's like we were meant to have a podcast, I feel like.
[00:48:02] So coming soon on the QR code.
[00:48:04] I'll let you know when that launches.
[00:48:06] But I want to let you guys know we are one week away from VBS.
[00:48:10] And right now we have 62 kids registered and 35 people that have volunteered to give up their whole week to serve these kids.
[00:48:19] So, River Life, you guys are amazing, but I just wanted to remind you guys, if you have not signed your kids up or if you have a neighbor that's been bothering you and waking you up in the morning,
[00:48:29] give this to them. Send them. We've got free child care. It's July 13th through the 17th from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. We would love to have this room filled with boys and girls who are
[00:48:40] going to come to know the character and the nature of God, how he is love, how Jesus has given us grace and he never leaves us. Amen. Amen. So also, can you guys be praying over this next
[00:48:53] week as we plan all of the details and we make the space for kids to encounter God's presence that he would move? Because it's not about the crafts. It's not about the jumping in the games.
[00:49:05] It's about encounters with God. And we are creating a space for our River kids here from River Life, but also our community to come to know him. So be praying with us over that over the next
[00:49:17] week, one week left. And if you are a volunteer, way to go. We love it. All right, that's all I got,

[00:49:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:49:25] Corey. Back to you. Awesome. The Corey and Tori story. That's what we're going. Oh, kids, that was the official dismissal. We do have programs going on from birth through fifth grade in the back hallway in the back building if you need help tracking the space down. Tori's on the way out
[00:49:48] right now and we'd love to help connect you with a place to go. As always, though, remember to collect your kids afterwards. Hey, before Robert comes up to do an announcement, can we pray for
[00:49:57] our country quick? Is that all right? I think, I don't know, I think 250 years is, I don't know, seems really big. It feels monumental. So I'm going to pray for us. Is that okay? All right.
[00:50:11] Well, dear Lord, we're just so, so thankful for this country, but it needs some of you.
[00:50:17] So in the midst of our thankfulness and our gratitude about this place that we live, as with all those areas in our life, we just say more of you, Lord.
[00:50:25] More of you in schools, more of you in Congress, more of you in places, other places that exist where we need you.
[00:50:36] And pray that the next 250 would be even better and full of you.
[00:50:41] All right.
[00:50:41] In your name we pray, Jesus.
[00:50:42] Amen.
[00:50:42] Man, Robert, you got some announcements?
[00:50:45] Sweet.

[00:50:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[00:50:48] Well, good morning.
[00:50:49] All right.
[00:50:52] Dean said he's going to text me the whole time when I'm doing these announcements to mess up my phone.
[00:50:56] Look at him.
[00:50:57] He's messing with me here.
[00:51:00] But anyway, it's good to be here.
[00:51:04] But, Tori, I'm so glad you did that announcements for BBS because I was supposed to do it.
[00:51:08] And earlier she said, I'll do it way better than you.
[00:51:11] And I said, she did.
[00:51:13] I was like, I couldn't have done a VBS announcement like that, so that was wonderful, but I do have three good announcements for you. If you're part of the Envoy Discipleship Group, this Thursday, July 9th, there's going to be a Zoom call, and you're in for a big treat. There's going to be a
[00:51:27] special speaker. His name is Mike Glover, and he's a former Green Beret veteran from United States Special Forces in the Army, so that'll be a big treat, and what his topic is going to be is going to be workplace evangelism, kind of witnessing in the workplace, so that'd be
[00:51:45] some great information, and invite a guest if you're part of that group, and probably up here behind me, there's a link for that, although you probably couldn't click on it, but you could also reach out to Sam, and like Corey said earlier, if you're not a part of the emails, you can go on our
[00:52:00] website, and you can click the connect, there's a connect thing there, and you can get all signed up for that. You can get these emails and be able to sign up for those things. All right, next
[00:52:10] announcement. One Fest, this Friday, July 10th at 6 30 in Cornelius. This is for all high school graduates or if you consider yourself a young person here in Lake Norman area. And there's going to be a taco bar. How many like tacos? Yeah. No, real authentic good tacos, right? Yeah. Not
[00:52:30] the ones you buy in the Walmart aisle with the crunchy tacos. Some of you are like, well, I eat those all the time. You need to come to my house. I will cook you some nice tortillas, right? Yeah,
[00:52:39] so anyway, I just opened that up big time, didn't I? Yeah, I just, yeah. All my text messages are going off right now. Oh, well. Yeah, it's not you. You don't like tacos? You do. All right, good deal.
[00:52:55] So there will be live worship with Jonathan Traylor that night at 8 30. If you want more information on that, contact Oliver Mead. All right, let me read this scripture here real quick on this last one here. When I was thinking about this announcement, I thought this was
[00:53:10] really fitting. It says out of Acts chapter 4, verse 32 through 34, it says, all the believers were united in heart and mind, and they felt that what they owned was not their own. So they shared
[00:53:24] everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them. It's pretty powerful, right? So that leads me into my last announcement, and that's the Father's Table.
[00:53:43] So this is an amazing ministry that we've had for a long time, and sometimes it goes under the radar, but I'm so glad we're making this announcement. And this is the kind of church that we want to be,
[00:53:52] right? That no needy people among us, but we have some needs right now, right? So we can fill those needs for sure, and I won't get into all the lists that's behind me probably, but these are all the
[00:54:04] things that are needed, and what I love about this is pretty convenient because the drop-off times are as you're headed to church, right? So there's Sunday at 10 a.m. to 12 30 p.m. You can drop off
[00:54:16] these items, and I think you drop them off in the back building, right? In the back area, okay? And then on Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 11 or 11 a.m. to 11 30 a.m. right so let's be that church that
[00:54:29] rises up and meets all those needs right that's it for the announcements Byron you ready he's ready we'll see that's right all right let's pray let's pray over Byron let's pray over our own hearts
[00:54:49] that we'd be ready to receive and we need the Holy Spirit right he's the he's the difference maker today. So, Lord Jesus, thank you for our servant Byron. And Lord, we call upon the Holy
[00:55:02] Spirit. We call upon the anointing, Lord Jesus. He's put in the time. He's put in the studying.
[00:55:08] You've given downloaded revelation to him, but now use him, Father, to be able to share with us. And may our hearts be opened. May we just take a deep breath, Father, and just come to you right now
[00:55:20] and just yield to you. May we receive what we need to receive from the Word of God this morning.
[00:55:26] Amen.

[00:55:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:55:29] All right, thank you.
[00:55:30] Everybody have a good 4th of July?
[00:55:32] Yeah.
[00:55:33] Friendly fireworks.
[00:55:35] Yeah.
[00:55:36] I appreciate Corey praying for our country.
[00:55:38] We really are blessed.
[00:55:40] I was watching these videos of people coming to the World Cup from Europe and different places, talking about how awesome this country is, how they felt so welcomed, the hospitality.
[00:55:53] People have helped them.
[00:55:55] And bringing up the fact that they've been taught something completely different about our country.
[00:56:01] But getting here, they found out it's a different place.
[00:56:04] And so that's the Lord, right?
[00:56:07] But our country does need a revival.
[00:56:10] I'll tell you that now.
[00:56:11] We need to move the Lord.
[00:56:13] We can't depend on the government.
[00:56:17] We need to ask the Holy Spirit to just pour out over America.
[00:56:21] and over the whole world, which I think that's what he wants to do.
[00:56:26] So I think God's in a time of preparing us for a real awakening in the world.
[00:56:35] Because I was sharing a few weeks ago somewhere about how in my and Becky's experience is our entire Christian life has been filled with moves of God, except for about the last 10 years or so.
[00:56:53] We've not really seen a move of the Lord, anything really substantial.
[00:56:58] It's probably one of the more drier times that I've ever, you know, long-term experienced in my life as a believer.
[00:57:08] That doesn't mean God's not working and God's not saving people and God's not healing people.
[00:57:13] But there really hasn't been like a sustained move of the Lord that we experienced through the early 70s all the way through up into the 2000s.
[00:57:22] There was something, God was doing something.
[00:57:25] But the Lord's going to, it's not done.
[00:57:28] Amen?
[00:57:29] I really believe that.
[00:57:31] And I believe, you know, you know that term bucket list?
[00:57:35] Everybody has a bucket.
[00:57:36] One of my bucket lists is to see one more move of the Lord at River Life that's ongoing for a while and to bring salvation and healing to people.
[00:57:48] And I would just love to see River Life become a place where people are healed.
[00:57:53] Amen.
[00:57:55] So if you need healing this morning, will you just stand up or just raise your hand?
[00:58:00] Because I want to pray for you.
[00:58:03] If you see somebody with their hand raised or standing up, please put your hands on them.
[00:58:07] The Bible says we can lay hands on the sick and they'll recover.
[00:58:10] that can happen whether there's a move of God or there's not a move of God because the Bible says that can happen and so we just want to ask you Heavenly Father we thank you today that you're
[00:58:23] a healing God and that was one of the things that Jesus did revealing the Father's heart that you have a heart for the sick and the hurting you have that heart for them and we're asking you
[00:58:34] right now, let the power of God come just as you said, let the power of God come on these people who were standing or got their hands raised and let there be healed in Jesus' name. Lord, we declare
[00:58:46] it. We declare that by your stripes we are healed and I just ask for the manifestation of your healing power in this room and in these bodies today, in these minds today, in these hearts
[00:58:58] today. Lord, we ask you for that in Jesus' name and any of our loved ones or people that we care about that are suffering we just extend this prayer to them and declare that you can time and space is not an issue for you that you can touch us far away
[00:59:15] and you can do miracles lord you can raise the dead lord you can raise up people who can't walk you can open blind eyes lord in jesus name and i just thank you for that now keep praying for a
[00:59:29] moment for these people. If you would, I wanted to share this testimony. Becky and I were talking about how many times we pray for people, and we don't see an instant healing, and we get discouraged,
[00:59:39] and I read this testimony this week about a woman who was down in Brazil at like a big Christian event, and she prayed for a blind man for five hours straight. I mean, that would be God, just
[00:59:54] that and and he did not get healed okay but the next morning that man woke up seeing isn't that amazing and he went to the doctor and and the doctor looked at him and had no answer
[01:00:11] for why he was healed and she kept telling it was the lord he even called uh him this person back two or three times to get his other doctors to examine to try to figure out this healing isn't
[01:00:24] that amazing so i want to encourage you don't give up praying for people just and because god can do some stuff he may not do it the way we think in the moment we think but god's a healer
[01:00:35] and we just take him at his word amen and say lord thank you yes ma'am it's quick you know we

[01:00:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:00:46] we were at chapel hill um a couple of weeks ago martha bollinger gave a testimony about her healing they had had a healing service and one thing that she said the guy said that helped her and i'm
[01:00:59] gonna say this to help us is he said you don't work for healing you just receive it so can you say that i don't work for my healing there's not a certain thing i do or say from that's working
[01:01:12] but what it is is i receive it by i just receive it let's just say lord we receive our healing today thank you lord it's it's a grace it's not a work thing so amen

[01:01:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:01:25] i hope everybody's comfortable this morning uh that you're not too hot or because i like to make you uncomfortable i'm just joking hey i'm going to read this little story to you okay i'm going
[01:01:42] to try to behave this is a cool thing i read this week that really grabbed my heart uh it's just a little short story. In the early 1930s, a Methodist Episcopal bishop, Bishop Warren Chandler, lay on
[01:01:55] his deathbed. He had spent his life preaching the gospel, but now he was facing life's final transition. Like every person before him, he stood at the edge of the unknown. As his breathing slowed, a close friend leaned over and whispered, Bishop, tell me the truth. As you look into the
[01:02:14] great unknown, do you fear crossing over the river? Because the old hymns that they sang often described death as a river we all must cross. Bishop Chandler opened his eyes, smiled, and gave a response. Every believer should anchor deep within their heart. Why should I fear? I belong
[01:02:32] to a father who owns the land on both sides of the river. Isn't that powerful? And I think that's a really powerful way of looking at, you know, life and death, that we have a father who
[01:02:46] owns the land here, but he also owns the land over there, okay, so, but I wanted to kind of bring this down beyond death, because hopefully none of you are facing death today, but if
[01:03:03] you are, you don't have anything to fear, do you, yeah, but we're all going to, and And I just, you know, I am a river person, okay?
[01:03:12] When I say river, my default is the Holy Spirit river, okay?
[01:03:18] Because that's what he's described as by Jesus in John chapter 7.
[01:03:23] He said, out of your bellies will flow rivers of living waters.
[01:03:28] And then it says, this he spoke of the Holy Spirit who had not been given yet.
[01:03:32] So Jesus called the Holy Spirit a river.
[01:03:33] And actually in the end of the Bible, in Revelations 22, it talks about a river that flows from the throne of God and is of Christ.
[01:03:45] That river literally came on the earth out of Christ's side when he was punctured by that Roman spear that day.
[01:03:53] That released the river, that released the Holy Spirit to live in the earth with us as Jesus would soon be taken to heaven.
[01:04:02] And he left the Holy Spirit with us.
[01:04:05] Isn't the Holy Spirit wonderful?
[01:04:07] But there's other kinds of rivers that we face, like the river of death, like this person was talking about.
[01:04:16] And there's rivers of difficulty that we face.
[01:04:19] These are things that we had to get through.
[01:04:21] That's kind of the imagery that this friend was saying because of the hymns that they sang called Death a River That Has to be Crossed.
[01:04:32] And, you know, you can kind of get that.
[01:04:33] And it kind of comes from the Bible, you know, when they crossed the Jordan River.
[01:04:39] You know, and a lot of people will look at that like the promised land being heaven.
[01:04:44] We don't necessarily, well, we do believe that, that the promised land, that's the ultimate promised land.
[01:04:49] But we believe in a promised land that's here also.
[01:04:52] Amen.
[01:04:54] We believe that we want to bring heaven to earth.
[01:04:56] We want to bring that promised land into our everyday life.
[01:05:00] And as long as we're alive, that's what we're going to be doing.
[01:05:03] And that's what we carry.
[01:05:04] We carry that.
[01:05:05] But we all face different situations in life.
[01:05:08] Some of it's really sorrowful, like the river of death or some kind of breaking that goes in your life, some kind of catastrophe or just kind of anything that we're facing that we had to go through.
[01:05:23] Or maybe a major decision.
[01:05:25] It could be an unexpected opportunity that comes your way And that you're looking at, you know, getting from where you are to where you need to go.
[01:05:34] Am I talking to anybody in the room besides me?
[01:05:38] You know, and often we get comfortable as Christians.
[01:05:42] We get comfortable with where we're at.
[01:05:44] We get comfortable with the way things are.
[01:05:47] And even if our life is a wilderness in a sense, because we're familiar with it, the familiarity keeps us in a comfort.
[01:05:57] And we would rather hang with the familiarity, even if it's a wilderness, even if it's a difficult place, than cross over.
[01:06:06] That kind of reflects what Jesus said when he, in the Gospel of John, where he healed the guy who was at the pool of Bethesda.
[01:06:14] He said, do you want to get healed?
[01:06:16] You know, because Jesus understood that a lot of times we want to stay where we're at.
[01:06:22] Okay, for whatever reason.
[01:06:23] We're not necessarily willing to make that transition because sometimes it's difficult to transition from where we're at to where God wants to take us.
[01:06:34] Or maybe a new job, or if you're a graduate, you're going to face things, or if you've lost a spouse.
[01:06:42] I mean, those are all rivers that we have to cross in life.
[01:06:46] uh and and god and that and god really wants us that we have to he's he's really calling us as a people to have the faith like abraham had where the bible says abraham left his home left all he
[01:07:00] knew and went out not knowing where he was going are you hearing what i'm saying to you not knowing see we want certainty okay in our life we want certainty from god and god does not promise
[01:07:13] certainty on that level. He promises certainty on some bigger level, but some daily certainty we don't have. None of us have a certainty about this afternoon. None of us have a certainty about tomorrow. Am I talking to anybody this morning? All of us? Yeah. Yeah. But God didn't bring us.
[01:07:34] He didn't bring us wherever you are. He didn't bring you this far in your life to leave you where you're at he didn't bring you just like he brought the children of israel to the jordan river
[01:07:45] and they were facing this jordan he didn't bring them there to leave them there and for us to stay in a place whether it's a good place or a difficult place and god's calling us across something to
[01:07:58] move forward for us to stay there is really going to ruin our lives it will ruin where it'll ruin you. It'll ruin. And many times we want to hang on because we think that's the safe thing. That's
[01:08:11] the thing that's going to take care of everything. But really what you're doing is you're destroying things. You're hurting things. And so God really has a call on the church. I believe. I believe he has a call on us really to cross a river and to move across into an unknown that we've never
[01:08:33] been before and not just not to continue in this place where we've been and see that's the thing like even with the children of israel they were crossed into a land they really didn't know much
[01:08:44] about you know what they knew about it they knew there were giants in there they knew it was a fruitful place but they knew there were difficulties in there and they knew at some point there was
[01:08:53] going to be warfare that they were going to have to face and they knew things were going to change for them and even two of the tribes didn't didn't actually did not cross they stayed on the other
[01:09:07] side they chose because they liked the land over there and so and that's a that's a tragedy really so i wanted to read speaking of joshua i wanted to read this to you because this is something
[01:09:19] that really can be helpful to us it's in joshua chapter 3 verse 1 through 4 it says then joshua got up early in the morning and he and all the sons of israel set out from shittim and came to
[01:09:31] the Jordan. That's the Jordan River. And they spent the night there before they crossed. Now, sometimes what we had to see, there is a darkness before. Did you catch that? They spent the night.
[01:09:41] Everybody say, spent the night. Sometimes before you cross into the promises of God, there's going to be a darkness in your life. Not an evil darkness, but it's just going to be a night time.
[01:09:51] There's going to be a season of darkness. Maybe it's a season of rest for you even. It could be a positive night or it could be a season a dark night of the soul that you're in okay before you
[01:10:02] before you cross into what god has for you i think that's pretty good then at the end of three days see all this is so prophetic y'all about christ i'm just going to go into the big secret this
[01:10:14] every bit of this is speaking about something that happened two thousand years down the road every bit of every bit of it is talking about uh you know the three days the two thousand the
[01:10:25] 2,000 cubits, 2,000 years.
[01:10:26] All of it's really projecting us somewhere.
[01:10:30] And nobody was declaring it.
[01:10:32] It was just the reality of how God operates.
[01:10:36] Isn't it funny how the Lord speaks?
[01:10:38] Don't you love how God speaks?
[01:10:40] I say this, not always.
[01:10:43] Like, sometimes, like, I wish you'd just be really clear with me and just kind of give me .1, .2, .3 equals ., you know, your answer.
[01:10:53] It just don't seem like he does.
[01:10:54] he doesn't do that with me he kind of leaves me in the lurch a lot like trying to figure out things so when i hear people that are super certain about god in certain ways i have i have like concerns
[01:11:07] like uh i'm not a man that don't seem the way god operates okay and they commanded the people saying when you see the ark of the covenant of the lord which was represented the presence of
[01:11:20] God. That's where God was at. With the Levitical priest carrying it, then you shall set out from the place and go after it. That's important. However, there shall be the distance between you and about 2,000 cubits by measurement. Do not come near it, so that you may know the way by which
[01:11:41] you shall go, for you have not passed this way before. It's pretty powerful. You have not passed this way before. So he was telling them, okay, listen, this is how we're going to do this. This
[01:11:55] is how things are going to begin to work for us. Things are going to work different. So you have to get something. There's going to be some differences that are coming towards us, okay? Because up until
[01:12:06] that point, they were not following the ark of the Lord, okay? The ark was not the thing that they would get. In fact, the ark was packed up. When they were moving, the ark was packed up,
[01:12:18] like packed up in luggage and carried it was not out in the open for anybody to see they had a cloud in the daytime and they had fire at night that's how they were led then but now here here right
[01:12:31] away josh was telling like hey guys we're fixing to do something different here things are going to be different going as we begin to cross over so we need to learn something new god's going to
[01:12:43] treat us differently than he's treated us before. Don't you love that? You know, they say this, this is really the truth when you talk about revivals, is the people who persecute revivals the most, and they've proven this historically, is the people from the old revival. The new revival
[01:13:04] comes, the people from the old revival, this ain't the way God did it with us. And so they resist it.
[01:13:10] isn't that tragic it's tragic and that's just human nature that's how we are we get comfortable with the ways of God and the way God moves in our life I wish I was talking to somebody in this room
[01:13:22] so so because and Joshua saying you haven't passed this way before this is a new thing so you're going to need to put your eyes on this ark in other words you're going to have to get acquainted
[01:13:35] with the presence of the Lord.
[01:13:37] This is going to be your key moving into the promised land.
[01:13:41] If you're going to walk in the fullness of God, this is what he's, this is saying to us, if we're going to walk in the fullness of God, we need to get real acquainted with the Lord's presence.
[01:13:50] And we need to learn how to follow that presence.
[01:13:54] Okay?
[01:13:54] Because that presence is the thing that's going to lead us to what God has for us.
[01:14:00] That's really cool, isn't it?
[01:14:02] So when your future feels uncertain, And when you're facing something that don't feel certain to you, okay, and there's questions in your life about tomorrow and about how things are going to work or a decision you need to make, this is the key.
[01:14:16] This is the number one key that we have to really bring in the fact.
[01:14:20] Most of us are focused on our problems or what's going on right now behind us and not looking at the answer, which is in front of us.
[01:14:30] Yeah, it really is.
[01:14:32] Now, I'm thinking as a church person and somebody that we have really went after the presence of the Lord.
[01:14:38] In fact, if you look on our website, one of our greatest values is the presence of the Lord.
[01:14:44] That's what we want, right?
[01:14:47] But here's the problem.
[01:14:48] The presence of the Lord is not just a feeling, okay?
[01:14:52] It is a feeling.
[01:14:54] I enjoy that feeling.
[01:14:55] I think the feeling is important for us because we're human, and we need to feel loved.
[01:15:04] It's going to be hard to be in a marriage and not feel loved.
[01:15:08] If I didn't feel loved by Becky, it would be a difficulty for me to be in that relationship and continue in that relationship.
[01:15:17] Okay?
[01:15:18] I need to feel it.
[01:15:19] I don't need her to say to me, well, I love you.
[01:15:22] you know that old saying the wife was the wife was saying you don't never tell me i love you like baby i told you that one time you can just believe it forever you know but that ain't the
[01:15:33] way it works you got to tell wives especially that you love them and you know all that a lot but you know all of us need to know we have we need to have that feeling that we're loved we're
[01:15:44] accepted we need to know that in our worst moments our most devastating moments that that person can see us and still love us and still care about us even when we're we're in a train wreck that's what
[01:15:59] marriage is a lot of marriages is is that is is having that and if you don't have that in marriage it's going to be hard well so with the lord we want to feel the lord i do i'm i don't want to
[01:16:10] not feel the lord if i'm coming to church and not feeling the lord i'm saying i'm not doing it like we're not having church without we're without having an experience with the lord Okay?
[01:16:21] But for us, but I want to make sure we get this.
[01:16:25] The presence of the Lord is vital and key, not just for a feeling, though.
[01:16:30] Right?
[01:16:31] It's vital and key.
[01:16:32] In other words, a marriage is vital and key, but not just for a feeling.
[01:16:36] There's a lot that a marriage brings to the world.
[01:16:39] It brings a beauty to the world.
[01:16:41] It brings commitment.
[01:16:43] It brings a reflection of the body of Christ to the world.
[01:16:46] Hey, did I tell you all this?
[01:16:49] You know, when we did the wedding, my granddaughter's wedding, which was like the most anxious, anxiety-filled wedding I have ever done in my life.
[01:16:58] I've done more weddings than I can count on my toes and fingers combined.
[01:17:06] But that wedding had me just like churning on the inside because it was my granddaughter, you know, and I don't know why I was churning.
[01:17:15] But right in the middle of the way, just a little glimpse that God gave me that, honestly, I have never had about the bride of Christ.
[01:17:25] And, you know, mentally, we could all read Bible verses about the bride, and that's part of what we're supposed to be, the bride this, the bride that, you know.
[01:17:34] And I've never had a zero, I've had zero revelation on it.
[01:17:39] I mean, in fact, I think I've had negative revelation about the bride of Christ.
[01:17:42] It was so bad that even it was just a negative.
[01:17:47] You know what I'm saying?
[01:17:47] But just for a moment, it was like this little beam of light I saw in a moment about the bride of Jesus Christ and about the preparation that God is doing in the earth today to prepare a bride,
[01:18:04] that we're in a time of preparation.
[01:18:07] Because we will see, just like we've experienced this revelation of God as a Father and that we are his sons and daughters and that we're learning how to live that out, walk that out, and there's going to come a time
[01:18:20] when that revelation of the bride of Christ is going to flood the earth and it's going to affect the earth.
[01:18:28] That's why the Lord shows up at weddings because he does show up at weddings.
[01:18:33] He shows up because he's trying to tell us something.
[01:18:36] He's trying to tell us something important.
[01:18:38] So I'm in.
[01:18:38] But I just wanted to tell you this about pursuing the presence of the Lord is there are actual benefits that will literally flood your life if you will pursue the presence of the Lord.
[01:18:51] And the Bible really says it.
[01:18:53] I'm just going to read them to you, Rock.
[01:18:54] There's four main ones.
[01:18:56] Are y'all with me?
[01:18:58] One is fullness of joy.
[01:18:59] Psalm 116, verse 11.
[01:19:01] And his presence is fullness of joy.
[01:19:04] That's a relational statement that when we begin to pursue his presence, That's what Joshua was really pointing at, that you're going to have to learn how to have a relationship with this presence.
[01:19:16] And if you'll learn it, despite your bad circumstances, despite your feelings, there can be a joy in your life that's beyond all of that.
[01:19:25] Okay?
[01:19:26] It's not circumstantial joy.
[01:19:28] It's an inward joy because of the closeness of the Lord in your life.
[01:19:33] And the Bible also says the joy of the Lord is your strength.
[01:19:36] We actually gain strength through pursuing the Lord.
[01:19:39] We actually gain strength, inward strength within us to be able to do what God's called us to do, whether it be something in the natural or spiritual.
[01:19:47] There's a reinforcement inside of our spirits, in our souls, because of the presence of the Lord.
[01:19:54] Isn't that beautiful?
[01:19:55] So that's an amazing benefit.
[01:19:56] Another one is a supernatural rest.
[01:20:01] Okay, Jesus, the Lord promised Moses when they were going to go into the wilderness to go to the promised land, and the Lord said, I'm going to send my angel.
[01:20:14] I love that story.
[01:20:15] Don't y'all love that?
[01:20:16] The Lord said, I'm sending this angel with y'all.
[01:20:18] And Moses says, if you don't go, we ain't going.
[01:20:21] That's the heart God's looking for in us.
[01:20:24] That's what I said about church.
[01:20:26] If God ain't showing up, we ain't showing up.
[01:20:28] We need to say that.
[01:20:29] Lord, if you ain't showing up, then we're not showing up.
[01:20:32] We can say all day, well, we know by faith the Lord is here.
[01:20:35] But at some point, we need to know it.
[01:20:38] We need to see the manifestation of the Lord.
[01:20:40] And we need to be that with Him.
[01:20:41] He's looking for that.
[01:20:42] He's desiring that from us.
[01:20:44] That's not religion.
[01:20:46] That ain't charismania.
[01:20:47] That's the reality that God laid out all the way back to Moses.
[01:20:52] But you know what?
[01:20:53] The Lord said to Moses, my presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.
[01:20:59] That's a rest down in your soul, okay?
[01:21:03] That's a rest in your soul where your soul comes to rest.
[01:21:07] And any time in the world we ever needed rest in our soul, it's right now because the world's full of anxiety.
[01:21:13] It's full of anxiety.
[01:21:14] It's full of division.
[01:21:16] It's full of, you know, worry and fear.
[01:21:20] And the Lord's promised us His presence would address those things with us, that He would cause us to come to a place of rest.
[01:21:29] And we had to give the Lord a chance to do that, though I found in my life I had to give the Lord a chance to bring me into that rest.
[01:21:38] I can't just go through my system of life, what I think.
[01:21:44] I had to stop.
[01:21:47] I had to stop and hit the pause button.
[01:21:52] Hit the pause button of my mind.
[01:21:55] Hit the pause button of devices.
[01:21:58] Hit the pause button of the latest 24-hour news cycle, whatever it might be, and just get before the Lord and just be quiet before the Lord.
[01:22:09] And just be quiet and let Him do what He wants to do.
[01:22:13] And when my mind tries to race, I'm just like, okay, I'm going to think about Jesus on the cross.
[01:22:20] That's what I'm going to think about.
[01:22:21] When my mind wants to race about all my problems or all my issues or just my brain running 90 miles an hour all the time.
[01:22:28] And when we begin to do that, the Holy Spirit begins to do something to us.
[01:22:33] He begins to do something in your soul that you may not perceive at that moment.
[01:22:38] Many times I don't perceive it, but later I do.
[01:22:41] Later I begin to see the fruit of it in my life.
[01:22:45] You see, and one thing that God wants to do is get you back into the spiritual space that he's given you.
[01:22:50] Because lots of times we're operating outside of our spiritual space.
[01:22:54] And when we do that, it wears us out.
[01:22:57] we get into strife we get into all this stuff okay but if we can get into our spiritual space is assigned to us that's a place of rest that's a place of beauty for us that's a place where we
[01:23:08] begin to connect with the voice of the lord a lot better than than the other thing am i talking to anybody that's a benefit of the presence of the lord that's why he wants that's why joshua's saying
[01:23:20] you got to keep your eyes on that presence you got to go after that presence you cannot be like the you know the pharisees another one is the the divine protection it you know where it's in psalm
[01:23:33] 91 it says he who dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of his wings in other words that's a protection that's a place where the fears of the world the anxiety
[01:23:45] all that stuff that's trying to come at you the worries that's a place where that we can get into that spot with the lord where he literally protects us from that stuff and it can't really
[01:23:56] get to us it can't really get grab a hold of us and begin to rule our thinking and rule our decisions well i hope i'm talking to somebody and the other one's boldness and power how about that
[01:24:08] that's in the book of acts in acts 4 13 they were talking about the disciples okay it says they were uneducated like that's a big deal untrained like that's a big deal but they did say this they had
[01:24:21] been with Jesus. Okay, so it doesn't, it doesn't, I like education. I'm constantly educating myself.
[01:24:28] I like training, training for raining, right? Does anybody do training for raining in here?
[01:24:34] We should all be doing training for rain. We should all be allowing God to train us, okay?
[01:24:39] But these men, nothing, they didn't have what people thought they should have to be doing what they were doing. In other words, they were doing powerful things. They were declaring the powerful of things and why were they because they had been with the lord they had been in his presence you
[01:24:54] want to get god to use you you want to affect your family you want to get your kids out of the messes they may be trying to get into get into the presence of the lord and there's some power that
[01:25:03] can come on you becky gave me this she read something to me a friend of ours gave us years ago when one of our children were in a bad bad place in their life and the word was the lord
[01:25:18] has authorized me to say that he was going to rescue, okay, rescue, and you know what, it didn't happen that day, but it happened, you hear, you hear me, some of you, if the Lord don't show up
[01:25:34] the minute you get the word, you've done kicked it to the curb, you're making a mistake, God has a timetable, God's doing other stuff that we don't see, and so when we get a word like that, you
[01:25:47] stand on it you believe it you keep contending before the lord for that word to come true because there's there's devils there's people they affect this they affect what's going on so anyways okay y'all y'all not getting no help this morning y'all are doing badly all right i'm
[01:26:07] going to read verse five now those were some things i just wanted to encourage us and say to us listen we're not talking about the presence lord just so we can come to church and have a
[01:26:16] jolly good time it's everything y'all it's everything the presence of the lord is everything you know it really is if we don't have that we have zero all right here's the other thing in joshua verse five then joshua said to the people consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the lord will
[01:26:34] do miracles among you so before the lord changed israel's circumstances he prepared their hearts what i was mentioning there's a preparation going on right now i believe and lots of time concentration is about preparation. It's about God preparing you for something. In other words,
[01:26:52] God wants to do something in us before he does something through us. Now, I'm telling you this right now because I want to say this. We're in a time of serious preparation. I don't know if
[01:27:04] anybody else in this room feels like that God's been dealing with them, okay? I'm talking about inward things in your heart where God is going after stuff. Now, that's good news and bad news It's bad news if you're not paying attention to what the Lord's doing.
[01:27:21] The word concentration actually means to set yourself apart for God.
[01:27:26] It's an invitation for your house to be cleansed spiritually.
[01:27:31] That's what it is.
[01:27:32] It's an invitation by the Holy Spirit.
[01:27:35] He's saying, I want to cleanse your house spiritually.
[01:27:38] Okay?
[01:27:39] And I believe that's a lot.
[01:27:41] I think there's a lot of people going.
[01:27:42] I hope you're going through it, that.
[01:27:45] If you're not, you should say, Lord, I didn't get the invitation or I rejected it.
[01:27:49] I'm sorry.
[01:27:50] I need the invitation.
[01:27:51] But don't be surprised because God really does want us to lay aside the wilderness thinking that we've had, the thinking that we got in the church in the last 10 or so years or even before that.
[01:28:03] There's some things that God just wants us to get rid of, okay, because God wants to do something fresh and new in us.
[01:28:10] and you know that old thing called you can't put a new wine into old wine skin well that kind of is an important thing right now many of us are carrying an old wine skin with us and god is
[01:28:20] saying that i have a new wine and i want to put that new wine in you but your wine skin needs some work you know so the complaining that's a big deal okay this this thing of lack of gratitude
[01:28:32] we're ate up with it y'all we don't just in the natural we don't know how blessed we are as people okay we don't we take things for granted that we shouldn't take for granted we take our spouses
[01:28:48] for granted many times you hear me we take them for granted and we don't have a gratitude about who the person god's given us okay we have to be careful about all this uh criticism you know this
[01:29:01] is what started happening with me is the lord began to speak to me he began to speak to me about two people that I had criticized 40-something years ago, and he said to me, that put a spiritual
[01:29:16] hook in you. It's put a spiritual hook in you because you criticize them and judge them, and it's hurting you, it's wounded you, and it's holding you back, and I'm gonna be honest, I was really, really broke. It broke me. I knew I did it, and even if those people came to my mind,
[01:29:42] I would still have that same criticism to them but I never really thought how the Lord felt about it until he said that to me and when he said that to me it broke my heart
[01:29:56] okay it broke my heart but I was blessed at the same time because I got free from it and it opened the gate in my life honestly for the Lord to begin to speak to me about a lot of things
[01:30:08] in my life that he wasn't pleased with that I couldn't see about myself and a lot of it had to do with the way I treated people or thought about people a lot of it did because I realized I had I had things where I'd be critical towards people and I would judge
[01:30:27] people harshly and and like with even those two particular people they did some really bad stuff there's no doubt about it but God didn't cause me to be called me to be a critic nor did he call me
[01:30:40] to judge them now I could judge what they did was wrong but not judge them and see I crossed the line from judging what they did to judging them as human beings and see when we do that we put
[01:30:55] ourselves in the place of the judge and i don't think that's something he wants you to do i know he didn't are y'all with me on this i'm sorry no i'm not i'm not sorry i think another thing is is
[01:31:08] letting go of past disappointments and failures letting go of that stuff whether it's a relational thing or a ministry thing or a business thing we had to be able to let go of those things that God
[01:31:23] didn't show up or my spouse didn't do right back there Becky one time gosh you know what she did to me she went to a women's meeting and she told them all this bad stuff on me and it was rough
[01:31:39] because she'd already beat the fire out of me I mean just bloodied me about stuff I did when we first got married it was it was let me tell you this is a visual picture i have in mind becky and
[01:31:51] i we're going down to visit family at christmas time okay now so we're driving in the car and i don't know why we got in arguing about something i mean we it was a it was a knock down drag out
[01:32:03] argument so much i'm stopping the car like i'm not going i'm turning around i literally turned around and started going back home and we argued more finally i gave in because i told my sister
[01:32:14] I would come see her and then we even had to stop another time to fight some more to kind of get calmed down so we could go to my sister and act nice put on pleasant faces even though we were
[01:32:27] hating each other on the inside so we could get through the moment and we did it was nice and then we went to the hotel room and that's when like it went nuclear and so Becky was unloading on me
[01:32:41] I mean serious unloading on me And I'm sitting there thinking Okay Becky You get in your turn But tomorrow I'm getting mine And I'm going to get you good That was what I was thinking
[01:32:55] As she was just Just taking me to task man But somewhere in the middle of it I'm starting to hear the Holy Spirit speak to me Like number one You're not going to do that tomorrow
[01:33:06] Number two You're going to take this Because she's right in what she's saying and you were wrong to things you did to her back then and you need to make it right.
[01:33:18] Remember that?
[01:33:18] Well, the bad thing was that she told all these women about it.
[01:33:24] Suddenly, I'm going down the tubes.
[01:33:27] It was a good time.
[01:33:27] It helped our marriage.
[01:33:29] You know, sometimes you just have to go through something.
[01:33:31] Well, let me read this scripture to you.
[01:33:34] I love this scripture.
[01:33:35] I've got to get finished here.
[01:33:36] I'm hoping something good is coming out of this.
[01:33:39] But this is what the Lord showed me, this verse.
[01:33:41] He gave me this verse and this is what he said to me.
[01:33:44] As he's been dealing with my heart.
[01:33:46] But I have this against you.
[01:33:50] You left your first love.
[01:33:52] That's what he said to me.
[01:33:54] He said, you've drifted from this, Byron.
[01:33:56] And I've got this against you.
[01:33:59] That was a harsh moment for me.
[01:34:01] I realized that my relationship with the Lord had not been where God had called me to be.
[01:34:09] And a lot of it had to do with these things in me that were hindering me.
[01:34:14] And what they did, it began to shut me down little by little spiritually.
[01:34:18] and little by little not pursuing the Lord and not creating a space in my life for God to speak to me and have his way with me.
[01:34:28] And as I really began to come to this place of repentance and like, Lord, just restore me to a first love.
[01:34:35] Because if I don't have that, I don't have anything.
[01:34:37] Because if you read the rest of this, this is what he wrote to the church at Ephesus.
[01:34:44] And as you should well, or maybe you don't know this just in case you don't.
[01:34:47] The church at Ephesus was the greatest church in the Bible in terms of churches.
[01:34:53] It was founded, I'd love to say this, the Apostle Paul founded the church.
[01:34:58] John the Beloved was a pastor, and he became a member when he became too old to be a pastor.
[01:35:06] Mary, the mother of Jesus, was one of their esteemed members.
[01:35:11] Timothy became the pastor of that church.
[01:35:14] That was a powerhouse church.
[01:35:16] And Jesus lists all these things that they did, the wonderful stuff they were doing.
[01:35:21] I mean, they were kicking people to the curb that were claiming to be apostles who weren't.
[01:35:25] I mean, they were cleaning house in the church, so to speak.
[01:35:28] But the problem was their hearts needed to be cleansed out because they had left their first love.
[01:35:36] And so we have to ask ourselves about our lives sometimes, that we can be doing a lot of wonderful stuff, but where's our love relationship with the Lord at?
[01:35:50] Are y'all with me?
[01:35:52] And because that's a difficult thing to hear there.
[01:35:56] And the Lord was basically saying, if you don't get this right, you can't really be a church.
[01:36:03] That's what he said.
[01:36:04] I'll remove the candlestick from you.
[01:36:05] I'll take it away from you.
[01:36:07] Oh, you can go on in church in name, but as far as having a real true light, he was saying that's not going to happen apart from first love.
[01:36:17] That's a pretty serious statement.
[01:36:20] You know, the Lord says some serious things to people.
[01:36:23] You know, we talk about prophetic being encouragement, exhortation, comfort.
[01:36:27] It really is that foundationally.
[01:36:29] But sometimes Jesus says some things that don't feel that way.
[01:36:32] That would not feel very encouraging.
[01:36:35] But I'm going to tell you, when the Lord spoke that to me, it helped me.
[01:36:39] It helped me to look at myself and see where I was really at.
[01:36:44] Okay?
[01:36:45] And repent.
[01:36:48] And tell the Lord, Lord, I'm really sorry about this.
[01:36:51] I'm sorry.
[01:36:52] And I'm sorry for making excuses for where I'm at because of how somebody treated me or something that happened to me in my childhood or Becky slapped me around that day and exposed me to all those women.
[01:37:06] I'm just joking.
[01:37:07] That didn't bother me.
[01:37:10] Well, it did at the time.
[01:37:11] Like, dang on, Becky.
[01:37:12] Why did you tell them that?
[01:37:15] You know, it's hard when somebody strips your clothes off in front of everybody.
[01:37:19] It's no fun.
[01:37:20] well but there's something sweet about the lord's rebuke if you can receive it there's something sweet about it when you get yourself into a place where he can speak to you like that and it begins to turn your heart it helps you really get back into that place of consecration
[01:37:41] in that place of allowing you get into your spiritual space and the things that god's called you to do and the person he's called you to be can begin to really flourish again. So that's
[01:37:55] really important. And I want to say again, the gratitude thing's important. It really is. It's important to have a heart of gratitude because that's, gratitude creates an atmosphere for faith to work. And if you don't have gratitude, your faith is going to be hindered. It's not going
[01:38:11] to work that well. And everything in the Christian life takes faith. So consecration is an act of trust. It's saying, Lord, I believe what awaits me on the other side of this river is better than
[01:38:23] what I'm leaving behind. Every new season requires a deeper surrender because it reveals more of who God is. That's where we're at. Every new season, every new thing you're in, there's a deeper surrender God's calling you to because God wants to reveal himself deeper to you. Can I read just
[01:38:40] one more verse and then stop? You want to slap me? Tell me to stop. I'm mad at you today.
[01:38:45] Joshua 3.13 don't y'all love hearing babies in church I love that I go back and listen to the I don't listen to myself I listen to myself preach when I want to punish myself like I'm mad at me
[01:39:01] I messed that message up I'm going to go listen to me preach that message and squirm the whole time it's so hard to listen to yourself but listen to the service and hear babies oh that's just so
[01:39:15] heavenly yeah because in heaven there's babies up there right and they're squealing and carrying on and can i just tell you one more thing i just love this picture about god the father sitting on the
[01:39:27] throne and children crawling all over him okay i just see that over and over in my life their basketball got and bounced into god's lap and some child crawls up there and this angel like
[01:39:40] trying to push mom and he's like no this is this is everything that's how god feels about us he wants us to crawl all over him because that's a father and he loves when his family's around him
[01:39:52] that's why church is important because it's a it's a picture of us crawling around the throne of god okay and angels like y'all need to get in order and like him said no i just love that i believe
[01:40:05] that's really happening i believe it's all my heart anyways back to this bible verse and it will come about when the souls of the feet of the priest who carry the ark of the lord this is verse
[01:40:15] 13 that the lord of all the earth remember the lord of all the earth the lord owns where you're standing right now okay and he owns where you're going okay rest in the waters of the jordan the
[01:40:31] lord of all the earth is in those waters okay the waters of jordan will be cut off that is the waters which are flowing down from above and they will stand in one heap do you know they cut were
[01:40:42] cut off in a place called Adam. That's another prophetic picture. That's what it said. There was a town called Adam, which they really never figured that one out yet, geographically.
[01:40:50] But literally, it says there was a town called Adam where the waters were cut off.
[01:40:55] You know what that says? Y'all know what it says, right? The Adam, the old nature was cut off at the cross. That's what it was saying. That's what the Bible was telling us, all this beautiful information.
[01:41:08] God said, I'm going to give you a picture of what's going to happen in your spirit i'm cutting that old nature off i'm killing it back all the way to adam so you can get the new
[01:41:18] nature of christ you know that that's that's to me it's just amazing that's why i love the book of joshua so much and so it was a dangerous time because the waters were overflowing the rivers
[01:41:33] were turbulent there was too much water it was too much to cross if you've ever been to been to israel and seen the jordan there's places where you could just walk across it right easy
[01:41:42] like what's big deal crop you know but when at flood stage it's not a big deal it was turbulent it was a turbulent time and so that and you can imagine the people standing there he's saying
[01:41:53] you got to cross it and they're looking at how we're going to get across there's no bridge and he and Joshua saying when those priests feet step in that water that's when things are going
[01:42:02] to start happening and see here's the thing in our life a lot of people are waiting on God to do something you're just waiting around on God and God's saying you got to take a step
[01:42:12] You've got to step, because that's how faith works.
[01:42:14] Faith is a walk.
[01:42:16] And so we have to take a step of faith, okay, towards what we feel like God's saying.
[01:42:21] Because we're waiting on God to do something.
[01:42:23] And most of the time, God's sitting around like, duh.
[01:42:26] You know, you're not doing what I asked you to do.
[01:42:28] Take the step.
[01:42:29] If you'll take the step, the waters will open.
[01:42:32] But if you don't take the step, the waters are not going to open.
[01:42:34] They could have stood there forever, and the waters would not have opened.
[01:42:39] But once they took that step, as one famous preacher said, most miracles happen because there's motion.
[01:42:46] There's something in motion.
[01:42:48] Most of the people that Jesus called were busy people doing stuff.
[01:42:51] He didn't call bums laying around and, you know, sleeping at noon every day and playing video games.
[01:42:58] Right?
[01:42:59] Or living down in the basement of their grandma's house watching YouTubes.
[01:43:04] You know, he called people that were doing stuff.
[01:43:06] You know, because God's a God of motion.
[01:43:08] and he's a spirit of newness.
[01:43:10] He's on the move.
[01:43:11] I'm not putting people down who do that because I like watching YouTubes, but not games.
[01:43:20] Yeah, all in, not just the toes.
[01:43:25] You got to step all in, yeah.
[01:43:28] So, yeah, I wanted to finish bringing, I'm going to stop.
[01:43:31] I could say more, but I'm going to stop.
[01:43:33] I love that song that Andy wrote, Andy Squires.
[01:43:37] Remember we sang it last week, Love Supreme?
[01:43:40] uh you know andy writes some great songs these were church songs out of his experience that he was writing uh now he you know his ministry is more to unchurched people so his songs are different now because a lot of them are the people are out there who don't know
[01:43:58] the lord or who's struggling with with their faith or whatever so he's he's trying to he's trying to talk to those people but this is man i just love this and nobody can do that song like
[01:44:09] Andy can do it he can do it amazing I'm just giving a good if you want some negatives on Andy I can tell you some of those too but let's just figure it out I know stuff on it says this
[01:44:21] I feel a river rushing in me don't y'all love that that just grabs it I feel a river rushing in me like a mighty chariot and I cannot keep it from bursting over the muddy banks of my heart
[01:44:36] That's powerful.
[01:44:37] I can't keep it.
[01:44:38] And see, that's the kind of life that God's called us to live.
[01:44:43] When we begin to cross over these rivers, these situations, and go after him, that's what happens on the inside of us.
[01:44:51] And I love the muddy bank thing.
[01:44:54] Don't you love them?
[01:44:55] Because we all got those muddy banks of criticism, jealousy, insecurity, whatever it is that's created a muddy bank in your life.
[01:45:04] That river, the Holy Spirit wants to come and wash that stuff away.
[01:45:08] That's what he wants to do.
[01:45:10] He wants to wash it away.
[01:45:12] He wants to wash that stuff out of your life and get you back into a place, the place that you belong, your rightful place as a son or daughter before him.
[01:45:21] Not what you did or any of that is what he's trying to initiate in your life.
[01:45:27] So I want to just tell you, God's trying to prepare a people.
[01:45:29] Now, the question is, will you let him prepare you?
[01:45:32] The question is, what river's in front of you?
[01:45:35] That you need to cross.
[01:45:40] That's the question.
[01:45:41] And do you see God as the person on the other side, not worried about you going to get across, but the person who owns that side and who's going to get you across it?
[01:45:50] And are you willing to step into that river?
[01:45:53] Did any of this make sense to anybody?
[01:45:55] Okay, why don't you do this, okay, if you can.
[01:45:59] Or you will.
[01:46:01] It's okay if you don't either, too.
[01:46:04] Lord, help.
[01:46:05] I used to just be so full of anxiety about this situation.
[01:46:10] Okay, I was like, oh, if I preach, nobody's going to get anything out of it, and I'm not doing an altar call because nobody's going to respond.
[01:46:18] That was the worst feeling in the world, but I don't care now.
[01:46:22] I'm just going to do what you're supposed to do and let the chips fall to where.
[01:46:26] But anybody feel like the Lord's speaking to them this morning, I'd like you to stand up because I want to pray for you.
[01:46:30] I think it's really important for you.
[01:46:32] I want you to envision that river.
[01:46:37] You know in the natural about rivers?
[01:46:39] I've been studying rivers, y'all.
[01:46:40] I'm sorry.
[01:46:41] I've been studying natural rivers.
[01:46:44] And like a drone view of a river.
[01:46:48] Now we're talking drone view, not bird's eye views.
[01:46:52] Because drones are the thing now.
[01:46:56] Rivers can be real wide and smooth, flowing, gentle.
[01:47:03] Lazy river, maybe.
[01:47:05] But then something happens in the natural is they hit a narrow point, okay?
[01:47:11] In the narrow point, the river gets turbulent because that same volume of water has to go, is going.
[01:47:18] And so it's got to go through that more narrow point.
[01:47:22] And see, lots of times in our life, we get to these narrow places, okay?
[01:47:27] That's the way it feels to us.
[01:47:28] It feels narrow, and it feels dangerous.
[01:47:31] There's difficulty there for us.
[01:47:33] and it's like this life has this turbulence to it you're just in that narrow place of that river and if you just go ahead and cross over that you'll find that God's in that river with you
[01:47:47] he's not just in the smooth and nice places he's in them rough places it's just as much as he's in those smooth and he will get you he'll get you through that but you have to let him you have to say yes to him and if he starts dealing with you about
[01:48:03] like you did with me being critical of people 45 years ago and, you know, that kind of stuff.
[01:48:12] Let him.
[01:48:13] If you feel like you've left your first love, you feel like you've drifted from a relationship, just let the Lord have his way in you.
[01:48:26] I'll say, Lord, how do I get back to where I'm supposed to be?
[01:48:29] He said, the same way you got there, it's the grace of God that got you there.
[01:48:34] He'll get you there.
[01:48:36] He'll get you across.
[01:48:37] He promises that for you.
[01:48:39] So I just want to pray for you right now.
[01:48:41] I want us to take a minute and let the stillness of the Lord come on you and let Him begin to break stuff off in you, the hurt and disappointment that you might have in your life.
[01:50:26] I do want to encourage you just in your daily life is to find moments to be, you know, that scripture, be still and know that I'm the Lord.
[01:50:36] It's to find some time in your life for stillness.
[01:50:41] if it's five minutes if that's all you can do if you're so busy but if you can take five minutes and just be still before the Lord and let him do what only he can do
[01:50:55] I believe God, you'll see God begin to move in your life more and you'll begin to hear the voice of the Lord again like you've not heard in a long time because God really is
[01:51:11] talking a lot, it's just other things are drowning his voice out because mostly his voice is still and small, a gentle blowing.
[01:51:25] So, Lord, we just want to give you that opportunity in our life.
[01:51:29] I just pray that for River Life as a family, Lord, that we would love you, Lord, and not that you really would be our first love, Lord.
[01:51:45] Lord, we just want to say yes to your presence and that we're going to pursue your presence.
[01:51:52] So we're going to do this prophetic ministry today.
[01:51:56] so jim and jamie can y'all thank you jim and jamie for doing such an amazing amazing amazing job of ministering to people i always tell people i'm not going to tell you who it is but there's
[01:52:14] somebody in this church if you need your dreams interpreted they can interpret them like nobody's business but i'm not telling you who because they might get mad at me but i just feel like i want
[01:52:25] encourage you today just to they got a team of people y'all want to come on to take a minute and let somebody pray over you and see see what the lord may have to say to you this morning and
[01:52:37] it's all built on encouragement comfort and exhortation they're not going to tell you anything weird maybe not too weird so holy spirit we just thank you for today lord bring your power into this room. Anoint them, Lord. Anoint them to be your mouthpiece right now and to encourage
[01:53:02] your people and help your people, Lord. So if you want to come up and get ministry, it would be a good time to do it right now. Otherwise, we're going to just play a little
[01:53:18] bit of music.