Pastor Ken…
Good morning, everyone. Happy Wednesday. So good to see you guys.
Somebody shared a story about a woman who was an associate and close confidante to the great Amy Semple McPherson. Back in the twenties, thirties, forties, Amy pastored Angelus Temple in Los Angeles where thousands of people come to Jesus, thousands of people set free, delivered, filled with the Holy Spirit, and their lives transformed. And my grandfather’s brother actually attended her church back in the day. And I used to hear some pretty amazing stories about what transpired at their church and in her ministry.
Well, anyway, the story that I heard was a firsthand account of a pastor who actually spent some time with this associate and friend and assistant of Amy Semple McPherson. And in her later years, he sat down and had dinner with her. And I don’t remember her name, but he asked her at one point, “What do you see as missing in the church today that you had back then under Amy Semple McPherson’s ministry and was part of the move of the Spirit that you witnessed and experienced?” Without batting an eye, she quickly said simply, “I’d like to see more of the church singing in the Spirit together… just singing out in the spirit.”
Ephesians 5:15
And I was actually thinking of Ephesians 5:19. Let me read it from the New King James. I’m gonna start in verse 15. It says, “See then that you walk circumspectly.” In other words, aware, having eyes all around your head. You’re circumspect, aware, perceptive, sober minded. “See that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise redeeming the time because the days are evil.” In other words, buying it back, taking advantage of the time that we have every minute, every day. I like to say most of your best moments of your life are unscheduled. So don’t just see the time that’s scheduled as important and redeemed time, but just grab ahold of the minutes, the moments that are… even between the scheduled things in your life to just be with God, to honor Him, to worship Him, to enjoy life.
What is the will of the Lord?
“So see that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Verse 17 says, “Therefore do not be unwise.” That’s not us, right? We are wise. “But understand what the will of the Lord is.” So what is the will of the Lord? Well, He’s going to share it with us. God’s plan. God’s purpose. God’s intent for you and me each and every day is this: verse 18, “And do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation,” or you can say excess or uncontrolled living, “but be filled with the Spirit.” “How?” “Speaking!” There’s a connection between you and me speaking in our level of fullness.
So just like you go to the gas pump, you’ve gotta open up the cap so that you can fill up your car with diesel or gas or whatever. You’ve gotta open up your mouth to be filled. It seems like there’s been a bit of a theme this week about refreshing. How do we experience and take advantage of this faith-rest life? How do we experience perpetual, continual renewal?
Well, you wouldn’t think it because it’s counterintuitive to our humanness and our natural human existence, but it’s through spiritual disciplines. And those spiritual disciplines are praying in the Spirit, study of the Word, meditation, worship. Even simply just worshiping out of your heart in the spirit under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that speaking in other tongues is your empowerment or enablement to give thanks well to God. He loves it when we worship Him. Amen.
“Therefore do not be wise, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not be drunk with wine which is dissipation, but be filled with the spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.”
The Passion translation…
Now let me just read this to you from the Passion translation. “So be very careful how you live, not being like those with no understanding. But live honorably with true wisdom for we are living in evil times. Take full advantage of every day as you spend your life for His purposes and don’t live foolishly for then you will have discernment to fully understand God’s will. And don’t get drunk with wine, which is rebellion. Instead, be filled continually with the Holy Spirit. And your hearts will overflow with a joyful song to the Lord. Keep speaking to each other with words of scripture, singing the psalms and with praises and spontaneous songs given by the Spirit.” I like that: singing songs with praises and spontaneous songs given by the Spirit.
God is transmitting all the time…
How many of you know God is transmitting? He’s transmitting, not by Telegraph, but by high speed Wi-Fi or whatever you want to call it. He’s transmitting a song of deliverance. You know that God will give you a song of deliverance to cooperate with? He’ll give you something to sing … a scripture, a psalm, a new inspiration that you can sing out in the nighttime. You can sing out when you put your feet on the floor, and you can sing that day in and day out. And that song will deliver you, will set you free, will do what Ephesians five says … cause you to be filled with God. It will cause you to connect. See, there are things that God has granted us that allow us to connect. They’re connectors to heaven’s flow.
Singing in the Spirit drives the enemy back…
Remember heaven isn’t just a place. It is a flow. Jesus came to bring heaven down, to allow, to divert, to reroute the flow of grace and God’s goodness and beauty and power and healing… There is exceeding great power toward those who believe. So there’s a flow this morning and every moment of every day, there is a flow to you if you will believe. And one step of believing is singing with that new song, singing out in a psalm, singing out and an inspiration by the Spirit. And each and every moment you do that, it drives the enemy back. It causes him to reel in terror, and it causes your spirit to take strength and take flight. So always give thanks to the Father God for every person He brings into your life.
And so this morning, I want to do that. I want us to sing. I want us to worship. Let’s give God some praise this morning. We’re gonna pray, but God wants us to step over. You hear me quote this often. It’s one of my favorite verses in Luke 10:19. Jesus said, “Very well that I’ve given you authority.” It says power, but really it more aptly and accurately is translated authority. “For I’ve given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.” In other words, every device that’s been formed against you, every thought that the enemy’s trying to hurl at you, every insinuation, every harassing spirit and devil, every past failure, every regret, every false accusation that’s been slandered in your direction at the office or whatever the case… Whatever you are dealing with, God has given you the authority, the ability to tread on those things.
God has given us the ability to “step over” …
Well, more accurately, that word tread means to “step over”… to step over the enemy. There are some things that God has not called you to be captivated by your loss or your failure or your insufficiency, or what happened in your family, or what’s going on in the world? No, He has called us to keep moving. Just keep stepping. Sometimes that’s the word of the moment. Every day, just moving. Just keep stepping. Jesus said, I’ve given you authority to step over, not be infatuated with stuff, captivated by stuff, paralyzed by stuff of the enemy, but to step over it.
Worship allows us to step over some things and to keep moving…
And so here’s the point for me: worship allows us to step over some things, to keep moving. When it comes to sin, when it comes to failure, when it comes to whatever symptoms, when it comes to insufficiency, He doesn’t want us to see it as an enemy. He just wants us to simply step over and keep moving and going with God. Because He’s already got a plan. He’s already made provision. He already has prearranged moments of favor in store for you today. Prearranged moments where you’re gonna connect with the divine strategies of heaven that will lead you from where you are to what could be and should be in regard to the plan of God, the promise of God, the dream He’s dropped into your heart.
Worship is transportation…
And worship is transportation to help you to step over some things, not get stuck at the foot of some things, but to step over. God’s plan for the children of Israel was not for them to get stuck in the wilderness and a whole generation to die out there. His plan was for them to simply journey through the wilderness. It should have only taken maybe 10 days to two weeks to go through that wilderness place. And then they would’ve been at the precipice of the Promised Land. But instead they got stuck. They dialed in and focused on what they didn’t have, what was going wrong, their insufficiency. The fact they were in a desert. The leadership that they didn’t think was so great in Moses. When all God wanted them to do was focus on His goodness and on His promise, to sing His praises and keep taking steps.
And so that’s what we’re gonna do today. I want us to worship this morning. And as you do so, just see yourself stepping over some things today.
Group began to worship…
Barb prayed…
Oh glory to your name… there’s no circumstance that you will not deliver us from … Yeah, yeah, yeah… there’s no giant that cannot be taken down … but it’s time to change that expression on your face from a frown… to a happy, happy smile. It’s time to turn it around … we need to see it on your face… that you’re happy in this place… because of His mercy and grace … Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah…
Cuz change is coming. Change is coming. Change is on the way … change is coming to this place today in Jesus’ name … there is a turnaround. There is a turnaround in this nation… in this company of believers… there is a change coming to your company… a good thing, a good thing in Jesus’ name… stepping up into the places we’ve desired to see and walking in this place, the vision, the vision that’s been placed before us in Jesus’ name. Thank you, Father.
Today, we lean into that now in Jesus’ name, we lean into that place. We lean into that place in the Spirit … we enter into that place of rest where we see that supernatural provision, where we see that increase … We no longer have to pine about the days of old … glory to God, for we will experience and see now in this day, in this hour, greater things, greater miracles, and
Increase… an increase and flow…
Words, words that deliver, words that set free… Songs, song, songs, songs flowing forth … that change the flow … of a service … songs coming forth that deliver the people …
Change, change, change… You’ve given us a victory… You’ve given us a victory in the church. You’ve given us a victory in this nation. You’ve given us a victory in this earth…
Word came forth…
And it’s about time. It’s about time for change. You know, some of you, your wood is wet. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that before, but that means that you’re not on fire. So jump in! Jump. Jump in. It’s not too late. Just jump in right here. Get over yourself. That’s what I heard God say. Get over yourself and just jump in. You have nothing to lose. He wants to show you with blessings.
Right now receive in Jesus’ name … by the Holy Spirit, receive an impartation… Let that fire burn… Let it be increased now in the name of Jesus that the Holy Ghost on the inside of you would turn it up. Turn it up right now… that you would burn with a passion … for the things of God… for the lost … for His Word … for the move of His Spirit, that it would burn on the inside of you and that fire and that flame would flow out in Jesus’ name… touching everyone around you … burning ones, burning ones, burning ones… There’s no time to waste. It’s time for you to take a taste of the holy one of His goodness of His grace… it’s time to come out of that place… no more resistance. It’s time to come out of that place of containment in Jesus name… It’s time to come out of that small place and it’s time to enter in to that great big wide place of His glory.
Shaking is going on today…
There’s a whole lot of shaking going on today. Shaking it up… shaking up the church… He’s shaking up your bank account. There’s gonna be a whole lot of change in your bank account… signs and wonders … signs and wonders like never before … shake it, Lord, shake it loose … just like Lazarus was loosed from the grave clothes, today your body loosed from wrong thinking, wrong ideas, loosed from darkness and wrong ideas, loosed from all kinds of bondage, from every kind of oppression in Jesus’ name …
Every chain is coming off and we are free…
Every chain should coming off in Jesus’ name … the body free … your body free to flow and free to move and free to go and free to choose… free to minister … free from shame … free from a guilty conscience… free from the past… yes, totally free from the past … free, free, free, free, free from the past… free from past mistakes… All of it… all those memories … All of those bad relationships completely free… every scar, every wound… every wound healed … every wound in the mind, in the body, in the soul today, healing … a healing flow for your people.
Sister Peg…
Barb, there’s more about that money thing. Because I just saw myself, like when you said things are shaking loose, I just saw money dropping off of my body and going into other countries and just giving money to everybody. Because I have so much money. So I just see that and there’s so much money. There’s so much abundance. We just thank you, Lord, for that abundance.
