Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 3/26/14

Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 3/26/14

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

Rev 1:2  Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

We are blessed to have the Word of God.  There is such a marvelous quickening, conviction, and blessing found by reading and hearing the Word of God.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ was given to His servant John.  He received this revelation when he was in his nineties.  That alone is convicting to me.  Just because we are aged doesn’t mean that we have to get lukewarm, wander, or drift. 

He was a pastor of Jerusalem for many years and then went to Ephesus in his later years.

The promise is, “Blessed are they that read and hear this prophecy.  The time is at hand.”

Rev 1:4  John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

The seven Spirits are the Holy Spirit of God in every church age.

Rev 1:5  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

It is a wonderful thing to have Jesus Christ as our prince.  He is the ruler of the people; the choice, first rank ruler.  We are so happy to know about Jesus Christ and to know that He is the Prince of the kings of the earth.

He is the ruler of evil spirits.  You and I need to acknowledge beyond a shadow of a doubt that everyone that is unsaved have been to whatever degree seduced by a seducing spirit.  They are not hopeless.  There is hope in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

He is the prince of evil spirits.  He delivered Legion.  We may have family members that have legions.  We have a prince that has the power to deliver even those that might have legions.

Jesus calmed the storm on the sea and is still calming storms today. 

Jesus called Lazarus forth when he had been dead for four days.  He is the Prince of life and gave life over death.

Jesus fed 5,000 men with the lad’s lunch and after feeding the multitude they picked up 12 baskets full.  He has the power to bless.

He has the heart of a shepherd, of a father, and He is a friend.  He is a burden bearer. 

I love the account of how Jesus treated the woman caught in the very act of adultery.  He didn’t give a long discourse of how He had remained pure.  He said, “You that are without sin cast the first stone.”  He then bent down and wrote on the ground.  When He looked up the accusers were gone and He said to the woman, “Neither do I condemn you.  Go and sin no more.” 

We have a Prince that is not to bring into bondage but to make free.

Unto Him that loved us:  he loved us when we were unlovable and needed to be loved so bad.  There are a million tonight that Jesus loves who don’t know what they are looking for and are trying to find fulfillment somewhere else.  They will only find it when they allow Him to wash them from their sins in His own blood.

He made us kings and priests knowing how to worship Him and doing our best to worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

We don’t have to run everything.  We don’t have the wisdom to run everything.  He knows how to set things in order in our personal lives and in our family.

Rev 1:6  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Rev 1:7  Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

Jesus left us His Word and promise that He is coming.  He will come with clouds.  I believe that means that He will bring those with Him.  Every eye shall see Him.  I don’t need to talk to this audience tonight of men and women being blinded by sin, self, the world, lies, and evil spirits.  That is a common thing today and has been common for a long time.

Peter wrote in his epistles that there would be scoffers in the last day. 

Those that pierced Him:  Those that placed that crown of thorns on His head were mocking him and were purposely placing the crown and it pricked his forehead and it bled. 

The cross was laid on the ground and He was placed there and the nails pierced his hands and feet.  There are people like the Roman soldiers that pierced His hands with the nails.  Time has not erased what they did.  The Word of God is as true today as that day on the Isle of Patmos.

The soldier pierced his side with a spear and the fountain opened.  All kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him:  there are three times when the word wail is mentioned in the Bible.  15 times the word wailing is mentioned.  This word in the Revelation is a different word than the other words, wail or wailing. 

It says, “All the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.”  This means they will beat their chest in grief.  We hope these precious children haven’t experienced grief.  But we all have had experiences with grief.  Sometimes it is because we lost a family member that we cared for. 

Grief is expressed in many different ways.  The scripture says, “Blessed are they that mourn because they shall be comforted.”  The most difficult grief may be the grief that “This situation will never be right.  This individual has gone into eternity.”  Sometimes it is a very untimely death. 

There is that disappointment of seeing or hearing of young or old lives that could have been so used of God, individuals that had so much going for them or had such potential. 

We have all had people tell us of individuals that were someone’s star.  God looks upon every one as having lots of potential.  They may not have graduated from a university but it is unknown what God will do with an individual that will yield themselves to Him.

This teaches us that Jesus is coming with clouds and every eye shall see him.  It is not leaving anyone out.  We have met some that say, “I have chosen not to believe so I will not see Jesus if He should come.”  That changes nothing.  Every eye shall see Him.

All the kindreds, this doesn’t leave the atheistic communist out or whoever turned immorality lose in Greenland.  It doesn’t leave out or make excuse for anyone.  We wonder sometimes in our mind, “How can God deal with that individual?”  It makes no difference with God.  He knows how to deal with everyone.  It doesn’t take away from the wailing or beating on the chest.

How can I keep this real to me? 

Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

This is the answer, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.”  We live in a society that wants to rob us from Sunday.  We make the choice, “I’m going to be in the Spirit on the Lords Day and have my life lined up with the Word and the Spirit of God. 

The most important business that we have is to be ready for Jesus’ coming.  It supersedes the garden, money, health, it supersedes everything. 

Jesus promised the Holy Spirit.

The disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray and Jesus did a marvelous job.  He then dealt with a thought of going to a friend asking for bread.  He said, “Come back later.”  He desperately said, “No my friend is here and I need bread now.” 

May God teach us how to desperately pray for the Holy Ghost in our life.  it is absolutely necessary that you and I realize, “I am going to have to have a fresh anointing, a fresh visitation, a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God in my life or everything of the world will crowd in.”

When you reach the place where your mind is consumed with your health, it is the same as your mind being consumed with finances or your family.  The effect is the same.  It crowds out the Holy Spirit of God.  We must have the Holy Spirit real and working in our life. 

Luk 11:5  And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

Luk 11:6  For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?

Luk 11:7  And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

Luk 11:8  I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

Luk 11:9  And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

Luk 11:10  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

If this account for literal bread is in the scripture, how much more do we need to have the Holy Spirit of God in our life? 

Luk 11:11  If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

Luk 11:12  Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

Luk 11:13  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

It wouldn’t even have to be a son, if one of you shows up with a need or our neighbor shows up that isn’t saved, we are going to work to supply that need.  This is in the natural; let us go to the spiritual.  May God help me to realize, we need the Holy Spirit active in our life every day. 

Joh 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

Joh 16:8  And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

The Holy Spirit will reprove the world of sin.  It is the convicting force that reproves men and women of sin.  You and I everyday are targeted to not keep sin exceedingly sinful.  Someone wants to look at sin in someone’s life as the exception.  It is not. 

The Holy Spirit keeps sin exceedingly sinful.  When it comes to this thought of the Holy Spirit reproving or convicting the world of sin, our part is having the Holy Spirit in us and that consecration “Sin is sin.  I don’t want to be obnoxious; I want the Holy Spirit to work with everyone that I come in contact with.” 

I would rather have someone say that they hate me because of the conviction than have them think good otherwise.  The Holy Spirit is the third person that will warn us of the sin of drifting.  I have been saved for a while but I don’t want to drift. 

Drifting is easy.  There is a song, “I was rescued just in time from drifting.”  The man that wrote the song, “I will follow Jesus.”  Drifted away from truth and got caught up in heresy and God in His mercy broke through on his drifting and he came to the realization of it and went to the brethren and said “I am wrong and whatever I need to do, I want to do to get right.”  He got right.  He came back and said, “I have to redeem the time.” 

It will be the Holy Spirit that will keep us on track.  We cannot afford to drift or wander.  Wanderers get lost.  “I’ve wandered far away from God.”  Lukewarmness is real.  It is the onslaught against the church today.  The Holy Spirit will reprove men and women of sin, of lukewarmness, and of righteousness. 

Whoever you are burdened for, this is a burdened congregation.  We have a right to be burdened.  We have children, grandchildren, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters… 

The Holy Spirit will cause self righteousness to be as filthy rags. 

The Holy Spirit of God convicts the Saints of the necessity of walking in the Spirit.  We have heard and been taught that message.  The message is right.  The practicality is that we must have the Holy Spirit alive and real in our life or we will not walk in the Spirit. 

If we are to walk and live in the Spirit then we must keep a fresh infilling of the Spirit coming in.  Life is draining and our times are draining.  There are things going on in America if you let it will draw the Spirit of God out of your life and mind and you will be focused on the times we live in.

The Holy Spirit places judgment on the princes of the world.  The devil cannot satisfy.  Individuals that fill their lives with worldliness and self, it will not work.  We live in a world that is selfish.  Children are selfish, men and women are selfish.  Men and women get married and there is a tug o war. It is because of selfishness.

Carnality:  We need to pray that the Holy Spirit take the magnifying glass and show us carnality in our self.  Any of our ways that displease God we want to know about.  We want to be so well prepared that our life is filled with the Holy Spirit of God and the difference in our life and theirs is the Spirit of God in our life convicting men and women. 

We want more than an outward standard.  We want the Holy Spirit alive and active in our life.

The Holy Spirit makes it real to me.  This word of God is opened on one side of the balance.  The balance is in God’s hand and the Holy Spirit of God dealing with you and me.  Not someone saying, “I think you can get by, if you can handle it ok.”  If you spend much time thinking about it then you need to get the snippers out and let the Holy Spirit of God deal with it.

Unbelief says, “Where is the promise of His coming?”  People get all twittered in their mind. 

I’d take Jesus any day and the Holy Spirit any day.  We worship a lot but never too much.  Yes a lot is required, but never too much.  Look at what the world requires of people.  Look what people are trying to do to make a living.  My heart goes out to those in Eastern Montana and Dakotas.  Sleeping in a sleeping bag and eating out of a can.

Unbelief says, “Where is the promise of His coming?  The Holy Spirit says, “The books will be opened and we will be judged out of those books.”

May we be challenged to have the Holy Spirit in our lives. 

God wants you to meet with Him just like He wants me to meet with Him.  He comes with a real serious note.  He is really good to us but He comes with a serious note and says, “Son or daughter.”  He talks to me as a son, “You preached of patience recently.  You have need of patience.”  He says, “Come on up a little higher.  You need more of the Holy Spirit of God in your life, Gary.”  You are right.

We have this wonderful privilege of being ready when He comes.  Let us walk in the Spirit and let us live in the Spirit.  Let us ask for the Holy Spirit to keep the final judgment real to us.  There is the final judgment.  There is judgment all along the line, but all nations will be gathered together and there is the final judgment.