Peg led group in worship…
Pastor Ray…
Months and months ago, Pastor Maria sent me from France a text and said, “Keep your eyes, keep your focus on victory.” That’s it. That’s all. That’s all she needed to say. And so as the Church, not just this church, as the Church, we keep our eyes on victory because victory is in us. Who fights the battle? The Lord does! Hallelujah.
So this definitely has been an interesting week. Wouldn’t you say? I think it was… I just kinda went down like a summary of the week. Not what happened, but what we did and a couple of things we went through each day. The beginning of the week, I just felt to give a testimony. You know, for Sandy and me for what the Lord has done for us. Because He’s faithful. When you were singing that, I was thinking about watching over what we say so that what we say lines up with victory. Never, never, never speaking defeat. So we just started out the week not knowing what all would take place this week. Just reminding ourselves about His faithfulness. And then Tuesday, we got on the blood. We hit it with the blood all that morning. Of course, Revelations 12:10–11. “Then I heard us a strong, loud voice in heaven saying Now it has come the salvation and the power and the kingdom and the dominion and the reign of our God and the power, the sovereignty, the authority of His Christ, the Messiah for the accuser of the brethren he keeps bringing before our God charges against them day and night. He’s been cast out.” Cast out!
Verse 11, “And they have overcome or conquered him by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of our testimony.” We just keep testifying about His goodness and Word. You know, it just went on to say for they just didn’t love or cling on to their life, even when faced with death. But they just kept up their witnessing. And to me, that’s just keeping on, declaring what the Word says about us and what we can do. And then it seemed like, I guess it was Wednesday that we went over Ephesians about when we’ve done all, what did we do then? We stand! And then yesterday, the one thing that came right up in the morning yesterday was what Billye had said: “one thing will save America and it’s not the election. It’s an awakening to God.” And one thing will avail for Israel and the nations and it’s an awakening to God. And I was just reminded of… I think it was yesterday, but the things that took place over the summer, here in Minneapolis, all throughout … the nasty things that happened here in Minneapolis. And, so I just was reminded of how… I won’t say what network, but there was a reporter there and he was saying how “It’s just peaceful people in a peaceful riot.” How can you have a peaceful riot? Anyway, behind him was all hell breaking loose. I mean, fires and burning down blocks. And so I got up this morning, I turned on the TV and it said at the bottom something about Minneapolis, I was like, “What?” And I just thought, “Did something happen here last evening?” No, it was the same reporter and he was standing in Minneapolis on Lake Street and right behind him was burning and fires and riots. And he said, “It’s basically just a peaceful protest.” But then they showed him yesterday. He said, “This is all the president’s fault. It’s all him. It’s blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” It wasn’t peaceful. I mean, there’s no place for violence and we do believe and agree those that were at the front of that, there’ll be arrested. They’ll pay a price for it. But we can’t go by what the media says. We don’t go by what the media says. But we continually stand on what the Word says, and we’re not depressed and we’re not down. But we’re up and we better be staying up, but it’s not in our own strength. We’ve gone over this so many times, but in our own selves, were nothing. But in Him, we can do all things and we have the power of the blood of Jesus.
And we made a big thing about the blood this week, the blood of Jesus. And we should make a big thing about it every day. So this morning I saw this… It just kind of spoke to me and it was John 21 from the Passion. It’s real short. I’ll just read it. I know it’s very familiar to you, but there’s a couple of things that were said in John 21, and I hadn’t really seen it like this before. “Later Jesus appeared once again to a group of his disciples by Lake Galilee. And it happened one day while Peter Thomas, Nathaniel, Jacob, John, two other disciples were all together and Peter told them “I’m going fishing.” This is after Jesus was on the cross. And so Peter is so disturbed. Of course, they all are. And he just said, “I’m just going to go fishing.” And yesterday we read that. Okay. It’s time to just back off, just take a little rest and then move. Because we are the army of God. And it’s no happenstance that for however many years we’ve been here in this chapel, 20 some years, that we’ve been praying every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And before that, we were upstairs. Before that, there were like four or five of us in the back of the old sanctuary in the usher room. So prayers, the anointing, the presence of God has been a continual call for this ministry. And so we’re not quitting. If anything, we’re encouraged to do it all the more.
When Peter said that “I’m just going to go fishing.” I’m sure he said more than that, but then the rest of them said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went and fished through the whole night. And how much did they catch? Nothing! So then at dawn, Jesus was standing there on the shore, but the disciples didn’t realize that it was Him. Don’t you always wonder about that? How could they not recognize Him? They didn’t recognize him. So He just shouted out, “Hey guys…” This is the Passion. “Hey guys, how many fish did you catch?” “Not a thing” they replied. So Jesus shouted to them, “Throw your net over the starboard side and you’ll catch some.” And so they did as He said, and they caught so many fish they couldn’t even pull in the net. What stuck out to me was He said, “Throw the net over on the other side.” And what did they do? They threw the net over on the other side and they caught so many fish, they couldn’t even pull it up into the boat. Okay, so they said, “Yes, Lord,” without even knowing who He was. They weren’t recognizing Him at that time. “Yes, Lord.” That’s what we have to continually say on these days. Yes, Lord. Listen to what He’s saying. He’s already said it in the Book. Listen to what He said and do it. He’s speaking to us. Thank you, Holy Spirit, that you’re speaking to us right now. Words of help. Words of strength. And we don’t want to be like those that did not recognize Jesus. We want to be like we’ve said this week among the 120 that stuck it out in the upper room, on Pentecost where the 370 split and we’re not there. But we want to. And we will, and we declare we’ll stay faithful and do what you’re telling us to do. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved… Of course, that’s John, speaking about himself, said to Peter, “It’s the Lord.” When Peter heard him say that he quickly wrapped his outer garment around him. And because he was athletic, he dove right into the lake to go to Jesus. That’s a good plan. The other disciples brought the boat in. So Peter waded into the water and help pull in the net to the shore. It was so full of many, many, many large fish. Exactly 153. But even with so many fish, the net was not torn. Did you ever think about that? They just laid them all out there and they counted them, 153. In the Passion translation, there’s a footnote on that which says “this speaks of the great redemption of Christ for all nations.” 153 large fish points to a mighty harvest from among the people groups of the world. Wow! This great catch of fish begins the process of inner healing for Peter and the guilt of his denial of Christ. Peter began to follow Jesus because of a great catch of fish in Luke. And now Jesus repeats that miracle in inviting Peter to begin to follow Him again. I just love it how Jesus said, “Well, come on, let’s have some breakfast.” And He had already had the fire going. Not one of the disciples needed to ask who it was because every one of them knew it was the Lord. Then Jesus came close to them and served them the bread and the fish. This was the third time Jesus appeared to them. And then in conclusion, John said, I’m a disciple who’s written these things to testify of the truth. And we know what we’ve documented is accurate. Jesus did countless things that I haven’t included here. And if every one of His works were written down and described one by one, I suppose that the world itself wouldn’t have enough room to contain the books that would have been written.
Are these days… We’re going to be lifting up our country, of course, our nation… one nation under God, indivisible, praying for unity, praying for the peace of God, praying for the protection, the blood of Jesus. This morning, we push back with that precious blood against all of the evil lies. It’s almost like… Well more evil has been exposed just in the last couple of days. It’s being exposed. And you know what that does? It sets the Church awake. It awakens the Church to actually be what the Church has been called on to be. The more evil that comes up and out and speaks lies and evil, the more the Church gets revved up. That’s how I see it. And not just the church. People that are, you know, in the middle… they’re good people. They’re great people! America! And so we believe that the enemy always oversteps and then things are exposed. So that’s where we believe we are.
Prayed…
Father, we come to you by the precious holy blood this morning. And we take these principles that when the disciples said, “Yes, Lord, we’ll move that net over to the other side,” we say, “Yes, Lord, we will not hide. We will not just go into some dark place, but we will continually contend day and day and week and month and year.” You’ve been so faithful to us over all of the years. We’ve been through so much, and we’ve seen you answer all of our prayers. We’ve seen your faithfulness. Like we started out this week, the faithfulness of God. You are faithful. You were faithful. You will be continually faithful because you don’t change. You’re still the same. So we lift up America this morning. First of all, with the blood of Jesus, we apply that blood over every state, all of the United States. We plead the blood of Jesus. Oh, it’s the blood, the blood, the blood, the blood.
Peg led group in singing about the blood…
♪ Thank you for the blood. ♪
Pastor Ray…
Thank you for the power, the healing power that is in that precious Holy blood in these hours right now that we’re in. Your blood is working. We cover every leader, every state, all the United States of America. Thank you.
Let’s just put our hand over our hearts and I’ll just recite this.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands
one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
Prayer continued…
Thank you, Lord. Thank you for this country. Thank you for this United States. Thank you for this nation, Lord. Thank you for the move of your precious Holy Spirit. Thank you for that for a great awakening in America. We know you did it before. I’m just reminded of how it started in New York city. One prayer meeting turned into many and that movement of prayer went across this whole nation. Thank you. You’ve done it before. You’ll do it again. We know that you said there’d be the former rain and the latter rain together. A great awakening and we believe for it. We are expecting to see it all. We expect to see that great outpouring. And as we read this morning, all of the nations of the earth through glory, your manifested glory all over the earth.
Group sings about the glory…
Pastor Ray continued…
We declare this morning that things are brightening up. The Church is rising up. The move will continue. The changes shall continually come forth. Hidden things will continue to be revealed. Lies of the enemy shall be revealed and uncovered. And the blood of the Lamb will and is and will continue to do what the power of the blood has been given to us to do. We thank you for the power of that blood today. We know we’ve been washed by that blood. We know we’ve been cleansed by that blood. We know that this nation has been founded on your precious Word. When that cross was stuck on the ground way back then, and then way up here, we still overcome through that precious blood and the name that is above every other name.
We pray this morning for eyes to be opened up, for hearts to be softened, for more and more and more lives coming to the light. That when things look so dark, your brightness, your light has more and more will come to your presence. Lives will be changed. Families will be changed. Situations, some will be stopped that needed to be, but others will be opened up. Hallelujah. Doors, opportunities. We declare we’ll keep… (tongues) we’ll finish what was started. We will continually contend, calling the things that are not as though they were… seeing them… receiving them… walking in the fullness of them. (tongues) We pray over pastors, not just in the United States, but all over the earth. Pastors that’ll rise up, rise up, rise up, stand up and contend. Stand up and call an awakening. We’ll continually move for the glory of the Lord, for the presence.
Barb…
Open up this nation… Lord, open up this nation to the Gospel… open up this nation to the Gospel… let your glory be seen in this nation… Let your glory be seen in your church… we call for laborers… laborers to move out… laborers to go out into the harvest now… we call for you to move out… step out, move out… shake this nation with the Gospel… take your place, run your race, don’t hold back… It’s time to go out… there’s a station for you… there’s a place that you’ve been called to… you’ve been anointed and appointed to that station in this nation… blessing, blessing is in that place… provision is there in that place. It’s time to cooperate with the anointing… it’s time to cooperate with the voice of the Holy Ghost… Shine down… Lord, shine down… Let your glory be seen on your people now… show yourself strong… show yourself strong… Thank you, Lord. You are so faithful. We call you faithful. Thank you, Father… because you’re faithful, Lord, glory to God, we call this generation faithful to you… We declare that this will be a faithful generation dedicated to you, dedicated to your work, dedicated to the gospel, dedicated to your Word, Father… eyes wide open… perceiving… hearing, hearing, and being led by your Spirit… not being moved by the flesh, but being moved by your Spirit… it’s time to turn away from the ways of the world… it’s time to turn away and turn to the Spirit of God… it’s time to tune in, tune into Him… you’ve been called to that station… tune into His frequency now in the name of Jesus… we call you out of the world… we call you out of those worldly ways today in Jesus’ name… come out, come out from among them… we call you out and we call you into your place… Holy Ghost, separate them today… separate them for the work… separate them for the work in Jesus’ name… we discern the times, Father… we discern the times… and this is the time of the move of God… this is a time of the move, not only in this nation, but in all nations of the earth… this is the time, Father God glory to God… this is the time for pastors to rise up… this is the time for pastors to step up and step out… in Jesus’ name… it’s not the unknown… it is not the unknown… it’s just unknown to you… it’s time to become familiar with the ways of the Spirit… it’s time to become familiar with the move of the Spirit… it’s time to move out into the deep and to cast out that net and prepare for a harvest that you will need help to bring in… you call for the helpers… you call for your helpers to come and assist you in the harvest in Jesus’ name… for each one will be counted… each one will be counted and they will be accounted unto you… Glory to God… there will be an accounting… Hallelujah… but it’s not by your might… Hallelujah… it’s not by your power… glory to God… but it’s in Him and through Him and by Him… glory to God… by His Spirit… Thank you, Jesus… there are so much more… Oh my, they’re so much more. They’re so much more. They’re so much more… this is for My house… This is for My house… take it! take it! take the more… embrace the more… Now! ha ha ha ha… we drive out that cold… we drive out that cold and we turn up the heat today in Jesus’ name… that there would be no one, Father God, that would be cold, but they would be burning hot in the Holy Ghost… there would be no one in the middle… there would be no one in that mediocre place, Father… but the heat of your Spirit, the fire of heaven would consume them in Jesus name… their bones would be filled with the fire of God and they would burn with passion for you… and this generation that the enemy has tried to stop from taking their place, Lord God, we hold the blood of Jesus over that generation… those millennials, Father, we call them in Jesus’ name… we call them in for this harvest in the name of Jesus… eyes opened now in Jesus’ name… mouths full of the power of God… mouths full of the Word and power, Father… demonstration following, following the preaching of the Word… demonstration, demonstration, demonstration… you said there would be demonstrations… you confirm your Word, you confirm your word, and you demonstrate yourself now… to that entire generation, we will not allow them to be lost… we will not allow them to miss their window of opportunity… I thank you, Father God, by the power of the Holy Ghost, we reign them in today… we reign them in, in Jesus’ name and we pull them in… We pull them into the kingdom today in the name of Jesus Christ… not one, no one will be lost… not one will be lost… we cast out that net… we cast out that net by the power of the Holy Ghost, and we pull them in to the boat today in Jesus’ name.
I thank you, Father God, for every single one… Every single one… they will not bend and they will not bow… they will not bend and they will not bow… glory to God… to the enemy and his ways… Hallelujah. Glory to God. I see the fire of God on them. Whoo! I see the fire of God on them…
♪ it’s your anointing… you remove every burden… you destroyed, Lord, that yoke of bondage… you destroy every yoke… you remove, you remove, you remove every burden… nothing… none can stay… you’re the burden remover… you’re the stain remover! the blood of Jesus removes every stain, every, every stain even in your soul… glory to God… so that you prosper even as your soul prospers… oh He removes every stain… He removes all the shame… Oh, all that condemnation from the enemy… it’s removed… it’s removed from you, glory to God, every single one… the anointing… the anointed one… it’s Him. it’s all Him. it’s all Him… We worship you, Lord… you are so worthy… thank you for showing yourself to us… you’re so good.♪
Thank you, Jesus… you are the rock… we can count on you… You’re a firm foundation… Hallelujah. Glory to God, we can trust in you… we can trust in you… You’re faithful… higher and higher and higher… He lifts our sights… glory to God, so we see the way He sees… we view things the way He views things… we operate the way He operates… He shows us things to come… He prepares our way… He removes obstacles from our path… He’s good… He does things we’re never even aware of… if we even knew how much He does for us every single day… glory to God… thank you, Father… You are faithful and we thank you that you will continue in that faithfulness for this nation, our government, our families, our church, our children, Lord… in Jesus’ name… thank you, Lord… we are a habitation for you…
just lift your voice and praise… thank you, Jesus… I thank you, Father, that you first loved us glory to God. There was no goodness in us, but you loved us anyway enough to send Jesus glory to God. We’re so grateful. Thank you, Father.
Peg led group in worship…
Barb shared…
I was sitting here early this morning reminiscing with the Lord, all through my life where I’ve seen Him do things for me and it’s just a good thing to remember. Because He’s done so much. And there’s so much we don’t even know. I was driving here this morning, and I would have been on time, but one thing happened and then I forgot something had to go back in the house. Forgot something. That’s not me. I’m usually really organized. And, then as I’m driving, I just said, “Lord, I know I’m going to be a few minutes late, but I know that you have a plan and for whatever reason, it’s fine with me.” And as I’m driving right down the road… an accident just happened right where I would have been. And, I actually got to see that one. It just happened right before I got there. And so we don’t even know how many times He does things and we get mad because, “Oh, I’m late. I’m five minutes late.” And He’s like, you don’t know what you were saved from. Let me tell you… Even if it was just a tiny fender bender. All the stuff you have to go through. But then He was just taking me through when I was just as a little kid, just remembering. I said, “Lord Jesus, I remember when you did this for me. Do you remember that, Lord?” Yeah. “Well, I thank you for doing that.” “And I remember when you did this for me… you remember that Lord?” So remember take time today to remember all the good things He’s done for you.
Thank you so much for joining us today. I could go another hour. I’d love that. I think we have a cutoff here, so anyway, thank you. We’ll see you Monday.
