Ms. Annie led us singing Jesus, Lover of My Soul
Pastor Ray…
Hallelujah. I like that. He is never going to let us go.
Do you remember the Revival Study Bible? A lot of us got one around five years ago. The cool thing about this Bible is ever so often they’ll take a scripture and expound on it.
The Following excerpt was taken from the Revival Study Bible:
Going After God
(1) Now there was a certain man among the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler (a leader, an authority) among the Jews, (2) Who came to Jesus at night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know and are certain that You have come from God [as] a Teacher; for no one can do these signs (these wonderworks, these miracles—and produce the proofs) that You do unless God is with him. (3) Jesus answered him, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that unless a person is born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever see (know, be acquainted with, and experience) the kingdom of God. (4) Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother’s womb again and be born? (5) Jesus answered, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, unless a man is born of water and [[a]even] the Spirit, he cannot [ever] enter the kingdom of God. (6) What is born of [from] the flesh is flesh [of the physical is physical]; and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. (7) Marvel not [do not be surprised, astonished] at My telling you, You must all be born anew (from above). (8) The wind blows (breathes) where it wills; and though you hear its sound, yet you neither know where it comes from nor where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. John 3:1–8 (AMPC)
Just like Nicodemus we can all receive a personal life-changing word from Jesus every day if we are open and yielded.
1. Be honest about your troubled heart.
Nicodemus came to Jesus with a troubled heart. Deep down he had not received the answers to life’s most important questions. Something was missing in his life but he did not let the Devil sidetrack the issue. If you desire to go after God, be honest about the questions lurking deep inside your head when you think about death, your family, about heaven, and about hell. These are the questions about life.2. Make time for the Lord.
Some people might look at Nicodemus as a cowardly sneak, scared to be seen with Jesus. There probably was an element of fear but the bottom line is he wanted to spend quality time with the Lord. We must within our busy schedules break away and find time to be with Him. If you go after God, God will go after you. If you get serious with God, He’ll get serious with you. Like Nicodemus, if you make time for Jesus, He will make time for you. Slip away from the crowd, get up, maybe in the still of the night and go to Him. Remember, Jesus took time to explain things to Nicodemus. He will take time with you.
Pastor Ray…
Somehow, last night, my heart’s call was “Come Holy Spirit.” It kept coming up in me. I would wake up and go to sleep. Just like the song “Welcome Holy Spirit” and other calls for more of the Holy Spirit. That’s just what was happening last night.
Nicodemus was a teacher’s dream. He came empty, he came humble, non-assuming, and he asked questions. He pondered. He had ears to hear. If you desire to go after God, shake the pride, lose the intellect, and get rid of the attitude. Come to Jesus empty enough for Him to fill you up.
Nicodemus had a relationship with Jesus and was therefore not swayed by the opinion of the religious leaders. The last mention of him is after the crucifixion when only he and Joseph brought myrrh and aloe with which to embalm the body of Jesus.
Pastor Ray…
Then based on the 8th verse where it talks about the wind…
It was natural for Jesus to compare the move of God’s Spirit to the wind. Here in John 3:8, Jesus was with a man named Nicodemus on the Mount of Olives. It was night and the moon was high above Jerusalem. I can imagine the wind was blowing up from the valley stirring the branches and the leaves in the olive trees. Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus about the work of God in the heart of man. He was explaining how God could take a life that was conscious of failure, emptiness, and distraction, a life filled with sin and by the powerful wind of Holy Spirit touches it, transforms it, makes it full, strong, and victorious.
Never is this more so than when God invades the world with the powerful tornado force of revival. In revival, God initiates, in fuels all spiritual activity. He raises the spiritual temperature in the Church or community. He causes the atmosphere to become heavy with spiritual moisture and charges it with the electricity of His presence. Then without warning comes the mark of suddenness like the appearance of a tornado. Revival overtakes men. It comes upon them striking them so swiftly that they are pierced with conviction before they know what has happened to them.
When men fear that God is about to corner them and confront them with His claims of righteousness and holiness, a lot of times they tend to take some kind of avoiding action. But just as a tornado advances across the sky touching down on land here and there, a genuine revival moves through the spiritual world uprooting opposition and leveling obstacles of hardness and indifference in the hearts of men.
The mission of these powerful winds of revival is to accomplish His will quickly. Men have no power to direct it. They can only respond to it. Just as Jesus explained the operation of the wind to Nicodemus, so it is the wind of a tornado. You cannot tell from where it comes and what particular place it’s going to halt nor the path it will take. It does as it pleases, free as the wind. We like to say “so is the mighty working of God.” Amen.
Pastor Ray…
I am sure you are aware of what is happening with some of the services Kanye West is having. I want to say this sort of reminds me of that.
The Church, the body has been praying for an absolute (I am just getting goose bumps right now) outpouring, a revival that would begin to move across this nation. And when the Spirit of God chooses a man or a woman or a group or some people that we’ve never seen rise up before, we as believers need to lift them up and plead the blood and cover all of that activity or the wind that’s beginning to blow.
I read this yesterday about the last meeting that he had in Baton Rouge, LA. It was on a Friday evening and a lot of it was worship and praise music. Maybe it’s a different kind of music but so what. We are open. We want the new. We want to be changed. We want to be awakened.
A report from a local pastor in Baton Rouge who was there said that 6,000 people showed up and 1,000 people were born again. That’s a suddenly but it’s not just a suddenly. There are things before that had to be prepared in the Spirit. This is what we are doing.
This can happen right now. I want it to happen right now. I am just… We want it. We are so hungry. We are so thirsty for that wind to blow again.
Many of us or all of us have experience it time and time again where the wind began to blow and suddenly deep within we were changed and moved. And for many of us it was dramatic and it’s never to be forgotten. But it’s not to go back. It’s to go ahead so the outpouring can move.
When I turned part of that on yesterday, they just by the Spirit began singing “Jesus is Lord.” We had just exited out of the Chapel singing “Jesus is Lord.”
The presence of God… If we’re not moved enough, we better get moved. If we’re not calling enough, we better start calling. If we’re not lifting Him up enough; keeping our eyes up, we need to be lifting Him up more and more and more and more that men that have never moved over, had never moved into that presence and became born again…
You know John 3:16 is being magnified and being preached in these meetings and there is a call for those who have never accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior to accept Him, step out of the darkness and step into the light.
But there’s even within us a progression to move further and call greater and require more, as a necessity. W e need a revival. And not just a little revival here or a little revival over there but like Azusa that moved across the U.S. and moved out over the earth and the presence of God came… Ohhhhh! We want it, Lord. We’re hungry for more. We want more.
We want more, we want more, we want more. We don’t deserve it but we need it. We’re hungry for it, Lord. Ohhhhh we’re hungry. We’re thirsty for more. Ooooohhh Holy God, precious Father, power of Holy Spirit fall in the Church, awaken the Church, awaken the Church.
To be truthful, I don’t know what to do except to expect Him, just to yearn so much that He just comes. And it can be a sound. It could be a wind. It could be just a touch in the night, a touch in the day. It could be somebody else that would be so moved on they’d not be able to stand it but they’d lift up their voices and call for more!
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, You came out of that tomb, raised from the dead. You walk through walls. You appeared. You showed up King of kings, Lord of lords. We need You. We need Your presence, Lord. We need the touch. We need to be awakened, to be alert, to be calling, to be expecting. Oh come…. We open our hearts. We open ourselves, Jesus.
Ms. Annie led us singing Holy Spirit, How We Need You
Pastor Ray…
Maybe we repent for not doing that, just needing You more. Holy Spirit, how we welcome Your presence. Come and fill these jars of clay. We’re hungry.
Ms. Jeani…
We are the beloved saints and to be beloved means that we learn to be loved. To be the beloved means that we learn to be loved and we learn by being in His love and out of that comes the Kingdom here on earth.
They will know we belong to Him by our love and we love from being loved out of His love; no striving, no effort. We watch Him do it while we do it with Him.
And, Father, I thank You for Kingdom reign. I thank You that the Church rises up and reigns, that she rises up and she shines. Shine! Be shiny for your light has come and it’s His glory upon you. There is no effort. Just stay and be loved. And if you don’t feel loved, just let Him remind you and keep moving.
Father, we just thank You for the constant reminder of Who You are. Even now (just go with me here with what I am about to say) let the Holy Spirit show you a lie you’ve been believing like forever, a lie that seems true because it’s so flipping familiar. Just let Him show you right now.
Holy Spirit, bring it to anyone. Okay, do you have it? The opposite is true. The absolute opposite is true because that lie has nothing but a lie. So, if he is lying to you it’s because he is afraid you’re going to believe the truth.
Right now I thank You, Father, that truth rushes in and it’s a person, it’s Jesus the King of kings, the Lord of Hosts, and that’s His name! And the King of Kings rushes in and the Holy Spirit convinces you that you are the King of king’s righteousness and out of being convinced that you are His righteousness, you rise up and reign!
Church, rise up and reign! Just do it every day; just do it every moment.
Pastor Ray…
While Ms. Annie plays, personally we take that place of rest in Him.
Ms. Annie led us singing Send Your Fire, Send Your Oil, the Wind, and Rain
Pastor Ray…
Hallelujah. One thing I heard when Ms. Jeani brought up lies. I heard every lie has an opposite to it and that’s called the Truth. And the lie that is being spread across the United States of America is that there are more of them than there are of us. But that’s a lie. There are more of us than there are of them! Hallelujah!
And when we declare that Jesus is Lord over the United States, that means that “Jesus is LORD over the United States!”
And Minnesota, let’s speak to you right now: “You are continually going to move in God’s way. You are not going in any other way! The truth is you are moving more and more in God’s right way!” Hallelujah! What was declared here in Minnesota, prophesied – it shall come to pass in Jesus’ name. We believe it! When would be a good time? Now! (ha, ha, ha) Hallelujah. Thank You, Lord!
Thank You, Father, so much for what You are doing. Holy Spirit, thank You for how You are moving and You are just doing things that are out of the box of men’s minds. It’s out of the box! And it’s all You!
Move however You need to move! Do whatever You need to do! We say “YES, LORD!” Hallelujah! We’re armed and we’re dangerous – armed with the Word!
Ms. Jeani…
Here is the deal. Jesus refused to be held back by religion and He lives in us. Get it? Don’t be held back.
Ms. Cindy…
I was thinking that we could all just live out of our hearts. Like you said Pastor Ray, out of the box of our minds and live out of our hearts. Because if we give Jesus the power of attorney over our hearts, we can always trust our hearts. So, stop thinking so much (ha, ha, ha).
Pastor Ray…
Leave your heads in the Chapel and be dismissed (ha, ha, ha). Hallelujah, thank you.
