Ms. Annie led us singing “Because of the Blood”
Pastor Ray shared…
Yesterday we went through a couple things. This morning I was reading in Matthew about how Jesus the couple of disciples with Him and went to Garden of Gethsemane and went to pray. It just got me to reread that how He actually asked the Lord “Please if You could take this from Me. But not My will but Your will.” And you know, He yielded Himself to the will of the Father. He prayed with such intensity that His sweat turned into blood. I am thankful that He had the tenacity to follow what God the Father had called Him to do. He didn’t just quit. He just went for it. But the prayers that He prayed… you should reread that.
A couple of points we went through yesterday on what happens when the presence of God is manifest. One yesterday that we went through is holiness. I love that you sang that song yesterday Annie because holiness is something that happens when He comes. One of the other things is just a refocusing in on Him, His presence. And this morning there are just a couple of other points from that same article I want to read before we take communion.
The following excerpt is taken from Herald of His Coming “Divine Visitations – Man’s Great Hope” by Richard Owen Roberts:
3) Tolerance of sin. Tolerance of sin is obviously connected to holiness, but I treat it as a separate matter. Tolerance for sin is affected when there is a divine visitation. Psalm 51 is a confession and prayer of David, but in particular the words of verse 4: “Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Thy sight.” We have become tolerant of sin because we fail to keep regularly in front of us the remembrance of whom our sin is against.
One might almost argue with David and say, “David, how could you say ‘against God and against God only’ when you sinned against Bathsheba; when you sinned against your own ¬family; when you sinned against her husband by arranging his death; when you sinned against the nation over which God placed you to rule; when, because your sin was sexual in its nature, you sinned against your own body? How can you say, ‘Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Thy sight’?”
He said it because he understood something we easily forget, that the great evil of all sin consists in the fact that it is against God. When God seems far away, when it has been a long time since He visited you, we can in our carelessness forget that all sin is against Him. But when He visits, it becomes so clear that the great evil of all of our sin does consist of the fact that it is against God.
Have you ever sat down with that statement and wrote out the ways in which your sin is against God? It would be a very profitable exercise for you. Let me help with a starter point or two. All sin is against God’s sovereignty. He is the ruler, not you. All the rights are His, not yours. He is the One who has laid down the commandments. He is the One who has stated what is acceptable and what is unacceptable conduct. When you sin it is as if you shake your fist in God’s face, and say, “I do as I please. You are not the sovereign God as far as I’m concerned.”
Another point is that all sin is against God’s creation. In the passage of Romans 8:19-22, Paul makes it crystal clear that the sin of Adam affected the entire creation, so that the whole of crea¬tion is groaning and travailing together in pain, awaiting what? The sobering thought to realize is that sin on Adam’s part brought the whole of God’s creative purposes to a standstill. Oh, to join with the trees and the rocks and the rivers and the mountains in a heart-cry for restoration of righteousness, so that creation is again on track and everything in all the universe is praising the Lord. All sin is against God. Take that to heart and let it affect you. A visitation from God always affects deeply our tolerance of sin.
4) Repentance. Fourth, a visitation is absolutely guaranteed to affect our view of repentance. We are living in an age where multitudes of people will not even use the word repentance. But when God draws near, repentance becomes a very urgent issue. You do not make some excuse and push it aside. It is something you know you are going to have to do and do quickly or you’re in eternal trouble, and there is no escape. I have preached hundreds of times upon repentance and may have written the only book in modern times on the matter, without any visible impact. But one day the Sunrise from on high will visit us, and all the church of God will hasten to repent. Oh, that it might happen soon!
Pastor Ray…
We saw that maybe 15 years ago. Sandy’s father exited earth, went to heaven. He was saved but he had a rough time all throughout his life. I think he saw too many natural things, too many people doing certain things and it shut him down as far as joining and really getting in there with the church. Before he went home, he found out that he had something from World War 2, like Agent Orange, that had created cancer in his body. He was so healthy and so free from any sickness but then when that report came he turned to us. He had us come to his house. He was sweating and he wanted us to pray over and over again the prayer of salvation so that he could know where he was going. He would leave the room and then come back and want to be prayed over again. I mean he didn’t do it just once. He had already been saved.
But the last part of his life, the last two weeks, he was so on fire for God. Every time we would be at the hospital, all he wanted to do was pray. He wanted us to pray. That was his thinking before he exited. So this reminds me of that. When the presence of God or when there is a report… You know we can be absolutely quick to change things and turn things around. His presence brings that about in our lives.
That’s why we need His presence on us for others. Mandie and I were just talking about the presence of God upon us, that’s what we need and that’s what the world needs. No matter what they are doing, no matter what they have been doing, no matter what they have thought they could do, should do, the presence of God it will just change it. Every man, every woman is open and will open themselves to that manifested presence. I believe. Don’t you?
So, just one other thing, these visitations always lead to a fresh love for Him. Here’s what he said:
Continued…
6) Fresh Love. These divine visitations always lead to fresh love. A young girl once said to me, “Mr. Roberts, why is it that when revival comes to a church, the only thing that church wants to do is pray?” I said to her, “Were you ever in love?” She turned very red and then she held up her finger and showed me an engagement ring. “Ah, then,” I said, “you answered your own question. You know what happens when you are in love. You want to spend all the time you possibly can with the one you love.” No sacrifice is too great. When one of these precious visits from on high occurs, there is love, a bathing in love – love for God, for one another and for a lost world.
Pastor Ray…
Amen. We need it. Isn’t that right? We need to experience it over and over and over again. Hallelujah.
I decided this morning that we would receive the elements. Speaking about His presence, His love, what He did for us, what He is doing for us, the changes we have experienced but then the changes that we will experience. And of course we remind ourselves every time of what He did on the Cross when we receive the elements. We remind ourselves of what He did for our future, what He did through the cleansing power of His blood that was shed. And also, then too, how it is a remembrance that we are healed. We are healed, healthy, and prosperous in every area because of what He did on the Cross.
I love it, love it, love it when He said “It’s finished.” It is finished. Oh, thank You that it is finished. Thank You for the manifestation of Your great finishing power in our lives this morning today, season and seasons that we are in. Thank You, Lord, as we sang it, lifted our voices “Thank You for the Blood.”
So when we receive these elements, let’s remind ourselves again of that love that He gave unto us then on the Cross, what He did at Calvary, and that it is working. He has never changed. It’s still the same today and it is working today in us, for us, bringing about a transformation continually inside of us so that we will keep on the move, keep on the press, keep on the direction from heaven that He has created for us to walk out. Hallelujah. Thank You, Father.
Ms. Annie sang “There is Healing in Your Blood”
Pastor Ray shared…
Sometimes when we hear the word healing, we only think maybe of healing in our body parts but there is also healing given to us by those stripes in every part of our lives.
Healing in our thought life
Healing in our relationships or connections
Total complete wellness, healing in every area of our lives
Thank You for it, Lord
You did it so that’s why we receive it
We bring this to our remembrance this morning
Pastor Ray led us in receiving the communion elements:
(23) For I received from the Lord Himself that which I passed on to you [it was given to me personally], that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was treacherously delivered up and while His betrayal was in progress took bread,
(24) And when He had given thanks, He broke [it] and said, Take, eat. This is My body, which is broken for you. Do this to call Me [affectionately] to remembrance. 1 Corinthians 11:22–24 (AMPC)
Thank You for those stripes
For the changes, for the steps, for the wholeness, the strength
Abundance, peace that passes all understanding
Wisdom, direction – thank You, Father
We discern these things, remind ourselves about them
Thank You, thank You, Lord
(25) Similarly when supper was ended, He took the cup also, saying, This cup is the new covenant [ratified and established] in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink [it], to call Me [affectionately] to remembrance.
(26) For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are representing and signifying and proclaiming the fact of the Lord’s death until He comes [again]. 1 Corinthians 11:25–26 (AMPC)
Continued praying…
Thank You, Lord, for the peace that passes all understanding
Thank You for the equipment that You have placed in each one of us
So that we can navigate – our ears can hear, our eyes an see
We know in and through You and by the blood every time which way to go
Thank You for the direction
For the completion of some things
And the beginning of some other things that are brand new
Thank You for the changes
For rearranging some things that we cannot rearrange but You do!
Thank You for what You have done for us
Thank You for the power of that blood
That on that day when we said yes to You we received healing, wholeness, righteousness
Cleansed, washed, and made new through that precious holy blood
We remind ourselves – hallelujah, thank You, Father
To see, to see – to step more clearly
Not in our authority but in Your authority
Many, many, more, more – the changes
A greater illumination to walk in that way
I just have a sense that right now there is some strengthening that needs to take place, an empowerment from heaven to fulfill your purpose and your plan which is His purpose and His plan for you to walk in that supernatural power from heaven in an abundance of strength and strengthening. Strength in your feet, strength in your legs, and strength in your mind, and a strengthening in your heart, what came to me was “A fresh start.” It’s revived once again. Its fire from heaven! Again! The fullness of the Holy Spirit, baptized in Him and in the fire, a fresh fire. Just receive right now in Jesus’ name.
I pray over each and every person here in this room and also those that will read it over GPAN to receive I declare today a fresh fire from heaven above right here inside each one of us to do what we have been called unto to do. Basically not quit, not turn around, not go back or not sit down but to continually stand strong and be empowered by the power from heaven, fresh impartation – we receive it!
The following is a prayer for our nation by Pastor Lynne Hammond:
Father, in the name of Jesus, and according to your Word, we pray for those in authority in our nation. We lift up President Donald Trump, his family, his staff and cabinet members. Let Your Word cling to them and let them not depart from your plan. Strengthen them with mighty power by your Spirit to stand against wickedness, lies and deception. Guide President Trump’s decisions; let Your light shine upon his path and show him the path of reversal for every evil way. Continually surround him with godly men and women who impart wise counsel to him. Cause the way of the wicked to be set to confusion and come to nothing. Deliver us from the traps and snares the enemy has laid for us, and let the wicked be caught in their own devises and be brought to shame.
We take authority over the plots and plans of the enemy against this nation. Let prideful and lying lips be silenced in Jesus’ name. Slanderers will not be established in America. We pray for our Congress, our Supreme Court, our Military leaders and our intelligence agencies. Let the wisdom that is from above reign in this nation and be constantly speaking to our leaders. We exercise the authority you have given us to tread down all the power of the enemy. We cast down and demolish imaginations and arguments that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, and we bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. We bind spirits of strife and division, civil wars and tumults, spirits of hostility, lawlessness and blasphemy, and fires from hell that have burned in our cities.
We speak grace and peace over America. We pray and believe for the voice of truth, salvation, revival and restoration to be proclaimed and heard across our land. Grant unto your servants everywhere that with all boldness we may speak your Word. We pray for a mighty outpouring of your Spirit with signs, wonders and miracles. We expect the wisdom of this world that is earthly, sensual and devilish to depart and vanish until Your, mighty work in America becomes a beacon of hope for all people everywhere. We expect the voice of rejoicing to be heard in our nation for your goodness, mercy and prosperity, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
