Pastor Ken…
Good to see y’all on this Wednesday morning. Good morning. It’s good to have you with us wherever you’re joining us from in the world.
God’s all in for you…
Well, it’s a good day. God is up to something good. Something good’s going to happen right here, right now in our hearts, in our circumstances. God has not changed His mind from Tuesday to Wednesday. He’s all in for you. He’s all in for us. “All in” meaning He’s behind us. He’s for us. He is working. He was working while we were sleeping. That’s a good thing to know, right? So we just get to jump back in while we’re conscious and awake, and just go with Him this morning.
Prayer is the key that unlocks…
I jotted this down last night. “Prayer is the key that unlocks the resources of heaven so they can be released on planet earth. Prayer is what pushes back the kingdom of darkness. That’s why Jesus said, ‘My house shall be a house…’ not of good preaching. He said, “My house shall be a house not of good preaching, not of good singing, not a house of great spotlights and production, not a house of great cafes… although we enjoy our cafes. Right? And lattes… Jesus said, at the end of the day, “My house better be called a house of prayer.” That begins with this house, the one you presently occupy. Your body, in other words. Your household, where you live, the address that you reside at. This church, Pastor Lynne, has made it very clear and hopefully your pastor as well, wherever you attend shall be… better be… ought to be… “a house of prayer.”
“They Saw It Happen” by Gordon Lindsay…
Let me just read a couple little random things. I was going through a really old book entitled, “They Saw It Happen” by Gordon Lindsay. There was an excerpt I was reading through the account of the outpouring at Topeka, Kansas at the beginning of the 20th century. The modern day outpouring of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. It was kind of a rare thing before then. And I won’t go into all the history and the accounts. There’s numerous miraculous occurrences, such as Agnes Osmond who was baptized in the Holy Spirit like shortly after 1 a.m. in the year 1901 and spoke out in another language. And I think for three days straight spoke out in numerous Chinese dialects. Newspapers of the day reported it, even posted some of the things she said. Evidently, there were some people that understood Chinese. But she couldn’t speak anything but Chinese for three days. She didn’t know Chinese but by the Spirit, she was speaking Chinese. In other words, it was her prayer language for those three days, which was an amazing and miraculous occurrence.
Newspapers recorded it…
And you can go back and look up on microfiche in libraries and history museums. You can look up those newspaper articles because newspaper reporters of the day came from all over to report on what was happening at this beginning of the 20th century outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
In fact, if I remember correctly, it was reported that news boys not knowing a Pentecost from a Holocaust ran wildly up and down the streets crying out. Cause it was young boys that sold newspapers back then. That’s how they were distributed on the streets of cities in America. They ran up and down the streets crying with their papers. “Pentecost, Pentecost, Pentecost, read all about Pentecost.” Isn’t that interesting? Just on the streets of America and the different regions at the time.
Charles Parham’s prayer room in a mansion in Kansas…
But I thought this was kind of fascinating in conjunction with prayer. The author was writing about this particular place. Actually, it was a mansion (I believe it was in Kansas) that they had moved to, Parham and this group of people. And it says at the top of this mansion where this group of Christians were meeting at the dawn of the 20th century was a cupola with a dome on either side. One of these was made into a prayer room where these Christians were meeting and seeking God. They were hungry for something more. They’re reaching out to God, saying, “God, there must be more. Clearly your Word talks about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in that first century occurrence and that early church. There must be something for us today.”
There must be more…
That’s how God works, right? He kind of sowed seeds of desire, seeds of kind of… “Oh, there must be more” on the inside of us, individually and collectively as a church. So that we begin to look to Him. We begin to pray. We begin to call out to Him. Because when earth calls out, heaven must respond in God’s timing. That’s kind of how He set it up. It’s really that simple. I’ve said it many times. God has designed and intends for you and me individually, for us as a church overall, wherever we might be in the world to co-labor with heaven. Jesus clearly finished the work, did the heavy lifting for us through His beautiful gift of redemption. But the access and the release in that quote earlier of what He put in store for us, occurs through us asking, seeking, knocking.
Hunger expressed through prayer is the key that unlocks the resources of heaven…
Prayer is the key… asking that is… knocking that is … intentionality… hunger is the key that unlocks the resources of heaven and brings it from heaven to planet earth. Jesus even taught us to pray. Pray on earth as it is in heaven. God intends for you to experience heaven on earth. Don’t get it mixed up just because you feel a certain way or things don’t look so clear today, or you’re struggling maybe in this moment of your life. God is able and probably is in the process of turning it and rerouting your steps and your future. Just stay with Him. Prayer is as much as staying with God as it is anything else. Just stay with Him.
Refuse to be denied…
Refuse to be detoured or go on a detour. Refuse to be denied. Be like that proverbial bulldog. Put your teeth and your jowls around a nice, tasty bone of God’s promise. Lock down on it and make a decision, “I’m not letting go of you, Lord. I’m not letting go of my walk with you. I don’t care how many times I mess up. Miss it or fail. Your grace is always greater to flow, swell up and swallow up my mess ups and give me a fresh start each and every day.” His grace is more than enough! Let’s catch that this morning.
God’s grace is flowing toward you…
And I don’t mean to diminish what you’re going through or what you’re feeling. I know that. I get it. We’ve all been through stuff and different things, of course, but God’s grace is greater than your sin, than your mistake, than what they did or what happened or what seems to be not happening. God’s grace is flowing toward you. Just look up to your Savior today. He’s smiling over you. He’s smiling over His church. And when He looks at you and when He smiles, streams of light, streams literally of grace emanate from Him. Grace… that is divine empowerment. An infusion of a divine assistance. Oh, we don’t really quite know at all what has been assigned not only for us to do in this journey of life, but what’s been assigned to us in the way of a supply.
Angels…
Let’s just take for example, angels. Oh my goodness. We talk about the devil and his minions, his cohorts, and his rank and file that try to perpetuate an onslaught on the church. And we focus on that sometimes. And we hear about that in the news media by the accounts of all the negative things happening in our world. But do you recall the Bible says only a third of the angels rebelled and fell and were cast into the earth according to Jesus. That means there’s another two thirds and more. That means there’s a whole host of generations over thousands of years, saints of old who’ve gone before us who presently are worshiping in the hosts of heaven, who stand on the precipice, on the balconies of the eternities looking over and are cheering you and me on. That includes some of your relatives, some that have gone on before you. They’re cheering you on this morning saying, “Church, you got this! Keep going.”
Learn to receive …
God’s grace is streaming and flowing. It’s not just Netflix or the Internet that’s streaming and flowing in this day and this hour, but all the more so God’s grace, His abundant kindness, His ceaseless mercies, His all-encompassing ability to transform hearts and lives, and our very circumstances are flowing and streaming day in and day out, morning, noon, and night! It’s available to us. Receive! Don’t try to achieve. Learn to receive prayers about receiving.
It’s the throne of obtaining, the throne of receiving…
Yes, co-laboring and flowing in that river of the spirit of prayer. But we’re just conduits, receptors, receivers. Once again, the Bible invites us to come boldly to the throne of grace that we might obtain. That means that if you looked at His throne, you would see that there’s a placard on it that says, “Throne of Obtaining, Throne of Receiving.” Not throne where you come to plead and try to measure up and try to get in God’s good graces. No! You’re already standing. If you’ve professed His name, if you’ve invited Him into your life, you’re already standing in a place of acceptance, standing in a place of victory and ability and spiritual competency.
You don’t have to wave the white flag…
Can I just present that to you this morning? You are competent because of the blood of the Lamb. You are competent because the Spirit of God has taken up residence on the inside of you. You can go the distance. You don’t have to wave the white flag or give in or give up. No! You can step into even the messiness of your present circumstances today and receive grace and receive wisdom and receive empowerment. God is real and He’s speaking and streaming what you need to you and your address today. Make no mistake about it.
Let’s stop playing church…
Oh my goodness gracious. Let’s stop playing church. The work’s been finished. Let’s just get into the flow of what has already been sent to us and for us. But right before the dawn of the 20th century, let me read this excerpt. That all was just extra for you. But, sometimes, really, the spirit of prayer is the same flow of the spirit of preaching. Sometimes it just comes out in the form of declaration like that. So just take that! Receive that. Be stirred by that. The Bible says stir yourself up that you might take hold of more of God. And you stir yourself up firstly, by putting yourself, as Paul the apostle said, in remembrance. In other words, reminding and jogging your memory. Our minds tend to go south. They tend to just flow with the worldly flow unless you take hold of your mind and your soul. That’s your emotions, your will. And you steer it; you got to grab hold of the steering wheel of your soul and steer it into a new direction today and every day.
You’ve got to steer your will…
That’s why the Bible doesn’t say there’s a point where you stop renewing your mind or you stop adopting a new attitude. You have to adopt a new attitude of mind, a new attitude of heart. You’ve got to steer your will. Sometimes you got to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. You have to do that daily. Sometimes multiple times. Sometimes there are days you got to do it every other minute it seems like. But still, grace is flowing when you do that. Steer your will in the right direction. Don’t just go with the flow. Go with God. Amen. Put your spiritual antennas up. He’s speaking. Come on now!
Like I shared on Monday before I went into that surgery about a week and a half ago. I’m just sitting there just processing some things, and there on the page was God speaking to me personally, clearly comforting me, encouraging me, and very clear language that pertained to my situation. I’m like, whoa! And I’ve walked with Him my whole life and seen some pretty amazing and miraculous things. And still that doesn’t get old when you recognize, “Wow.” God is transmitting high speed Wi-Fi from heaven… transmitting wisdom, direction, protection, provision, whatever it is you need.
Are you willing to be a receiver of what God’s sending…
But at the beginning of the 20th century, the account is at the top of this cupola with a dome on this mansion where this ragtag group of hungry believers were meeting and praying. One of these rooms in this mansion was a prayer room. On the day the building was dedicated for the school, one of the men who prayed in the prayer room saw a vision. So here God was transmitting at the beginning of the 20th century. Oh, there’s so much right now He’s sending. Are you willing to be a receiver of what He’s sending? Just even in prayer, like just yield, like if you just yield, words will just start coming up in your prayer language… in your known language and in your prayer language. Those are intentional, Spirit inspired, God-granted prayers and words that He meant for you to say, declare, pray, offer up because He uses those words to create a pathway for heaven to come to earth in your life, in our world. He’s working with us. He wants to work through us. It’s all about giving yourself to Him once again.
A lake of water about to overflow, enough to satisfy every thirsty soul…
Once again, this man saw a vision above the building, “a vast lake of freshwater about to overflow, containing enough to satisfy every thirsty soul.” Ooh, I like that! Those who had come to the school took it to be the token of something very special that God was about to do. The prayer room became a vital link in the enterprise. That would be the enterprise of God, I would assume. Volunteers among students took their turn of three hours watch. In other words, praying. So day and night, prayer ascended unto God. Sometimes a student would volunteer to stay all night in prayer. I just thought that was interesting. This is what they were doing at the outset of the 20th century. Before the modern day outpouring of God the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, signs, wonders, many miracles too numerous that aren’t even recorded… that would go on to become the Asuza Street Revival that would birth the Foursquares denomination, the Assemblies of God denomination, and then would branch out into many other great moves and churches of God in the 20th century and now into the 21st century.
And I just sense the anointing all over that this morning. That these people were in a simple mansion. I think it’s interesting, God just didn’t give them a little tar papered house in 1900. He gave them a mansion, which by the way, interesting fact, they would move on somewhere else to get something bigger because they couldn’t hold the crowds after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And this mansion was sold to some person who used it for nefarious and very worldly purposes. And the man, I think it was Charles Perham maybe, went on to tell the man who bought it, “I wouldn’t use it for anything negative or worldly or self-debauchery kind of things, because it’s not going to last.” And sure enough, within a matter of weeks, the thing burned down. Because it was a holy place. Anyway, that was just a side note.
Wave after wave after wave…
But I just think that’s fascinating. And I think instructive to us and why God has us praying right now because He intends to do something on a whole another dimension to a whole other dimensionality in this generation. And it’s already begun. And it’s going to happen in about seven waves. And some of the first waves that God is doing has already occurred at least the first one anyway. And I won’t get into that right now. But there’ll be wave after wave after wave of invitation. And God’s glory, His purpose, repentance, consecration, many things that are in motion right now in the earth for the church. As He prepares and ramps us up for His return because He’s already starting to stand up.
