Untitled Sermon

1st prayer time

Welcome. I’m so glad to be back with my church family this morning. I’m thankful for the opportunity to share a word from the Lord to our home church. I’m so glad that you all got to met and hear an encouragement from our lead pastor.

I was excited to share the message and see some of our old friends. However, as I drove past this building Sunday morning, I was hit with sadness that I wasn’t going to be here with you this morning.

I thought of many of your faces that I wouldn’t see and I missed you all!

I am so thankful for each and every one of you. And I am so glad to be back with you this morning.

Today’s service is going to look a little different. I hope you are okay with that. Some times we have to break up the routine and give space for the Lord to move and speak to us. This is not the Caleb and Brian show. This is a sanctuary of the Living God and Jesus Christ is the head. So, flexibility is the word for the day!

If this is your first time with us, I thank you for joining us! This Sunday is going to be a practical service. This Sunday is going to look different from what we normally do. But that’s okay! We are not going to box the Lord into a schedule or program.

Honestly, it was a few weeks back that Caleb and I talked about making this Sunday, a day of praise and prayer.

I don’t think that was a coincidence that there is revival breaking out right now on our college campuses. I don’t think that its an accident that the Lord would call us to break the mold of how we think church should look like and trust Him to move the way that He desires.

So, I hope you are flexible. I think that the best things that we can be this morning is obedient and flexible.

So, I think we need to start with prayer.

I read a quote this week that has stuck with me.

He was saying that one of the reasons that the 1st century Jews Christians were so powerful and effective for the Lord was because they understood better than us these two things.

They better understood the holiness of God which caused them to better understand the depth of grace needed to cover us.

Think about it. This Jews knew about requirements of the law better than us. They knew that sin required the shedding of blood better than us because they had seen it happen their whole lives. They understood the requirements to be a priest. They studied and memorized the Torah. They knew that there was a place so holy that they weren’t even allowed to get close enough to see. They knew that there was a room called the Holiest of Holies and the holy presence of the Lord God Almighty, Yahweh, the Great I AM resided. I place that was separated from the the rest of mankind by a heavy veil. They knew that the presence of the Almighty God was so holy that once a year only a man was allowed to enter and make a sacrifice on the Alter for the sins of Israel. They knew that priest would had a whole list of sacrifices, washings and rituals before He could even think about going in there. They knew that they tied a rope around His ankle and put bells on Him, so that if the bells stopped making noise they knew that the presence of the Lord was so holy and that mankind was so sinful that he was struck dead and they would pull him out by the rope.

They knew and understood better than us the absolute holiness and power that is in the presence of God! They had a reverence and fear of the presence of the Lord that we have lost of taken for granted.

But they also, met the great High Priest that tore that heavy veil! They also knew that Jesus was God and He opened they way, opened the door for mankind to stand in the presence of God declared righteous. All because of His grace. This door was opened by Jesus Christ and they knew Him. They knew His face. They knew His mannerisms. They knew His personality. They experienced the looks of love. They experienced the embrace of Jesus. They knew the sacrificial Lamb personally. They saw that He had the authority to tear down that wall of hostility.

See the first century Jews understood these two things better that we do. The better we understand the holiness of God the better we will understand the depth of the grace necessary to get us into His holy presence.

So, when we pray in a minute, will you pray with a remembrance of these truths? Will you remember that when we pray for the presence of the Almighty God to fall on this place, will you remember the vastness and absolute purity of His holiness?? Will you remember the pure raw power that is the glory of God?

Will you embrace His grace so deeply that you realize that in Christ it is not possible for the Lord to cast you out of His presence? That Jesus paid the full price for all of your sins. ALL OF THEM. COMPLETELY! During this time if you have unconfessed sins that you need to confess, do that.

The word justified means to be declared righteous. If you are in Christ, you have been declared righteous. You are either declared righteous or you are condemned. There is no in between. There is no partial. You are either standing condemned or righteous. Will you, if you are in Christ embrace the truth that is His grace declaring you righteous today?

So, would you join me and fix you mind on His holiness, fix your mind on the depth of His grace, and join me by setting our minds on the presence of the Almighty God?

Let’s fix our hearts and set our bodies in posture of worship towards the Holiest of Holies. And let’s ask Him to have His way in our community, in our church, in our homes and in our lives.

Psalm 99 (ESV)

The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble!

He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!

The Lord is great in Zion;

he is exalted over all the peoples.

Let them praise your great and awesome name!

Holy is he!

The King in his might loves justice.

You have established equity;

you have executed justice

and righteousness in Jacob.

Exalt the Lord our God;

worship at his footstool!

Holy is he!

Moses and Aaron were among his priests,

Samuel also was among those who called upon his name.

They called to the Lord, and he answered them.

In the pillar of the cloud he spoke to them;

they kept his testimonies

and the statute that he gave them.

O Lord our God, you answered them;

you were a forgiving God to them,

but an avenger of their wrongdoings.

Exalt the Lord our God,

and worship at his holy mountain;

for the Lord our God is holy!

Hebrews 4:14–16 ESV

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

During Closing prayer, pray about praying these kind of prayers daily over our lives and homes. This is not just a Sunday prayer. Revival is not about a location but about breathing new life into someone. And you can do that Monday through Saturday. Challenge us to pray these kinds of prayers the rest of the week. Church is not the only place that your presence can be strongly experienced.

2nd Prayer time

I want to open this second time up for prayer but prayer for each other. This is practical prayer.

James 5:13–16 ESV

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

John 16:33 ESV

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

We are in this world but not of this world. We are all struggling. We all have things that need prayer. We all have pain. We all experience weakness. We have to tear down the wall of acting like we all have it perfectly together!

We have to allow each other to share in each others burdens. We have to allow someone else to bring it to Jesus with you and for you.

I’m going to ask if you are here today and you need prayer, remember, we should all say yes to that, if you want someone to pray for you, I want you to let us know this morning and then we are going to do it!

This is not to call you out, this is a way of saying, I would really appreciate my spiritual family coming around and praying for me. There is no shame in this. Trust me, you are going to be glad that you did.

Do you have a situation you want others to join the fight with you? Do you have a hurt that you need healing for? Do you have a physical ailment that you want me or someone else to pray over for healing?

I suggest this, those around you, join in with them. If you want to come to the alter and pray do that. If you want to stay there, do that.

If in the middle of this time or after you pray for someone else and you want prayer too, say something. Raise your hand! haha I don’t care. This is a time for the body of Christ to minister to each other! To build each other up!

Those of you that pray over someone,

So raise your hand or come down front here now. There is no shame or anything to be embarrassed about. We all have something that we could be prayed for.

This takes as long as it takes.

3rd Prayer time

This past Sunday, I got to share with Wayne st that we as CCR are fighting to take back territory. That we are advancing the Kingdom of God into Giles County. That we are pushing back the enemy from a stronghold that he has long held. I told them that we are singing praises to the name of Jesus here. That the gospel is being presented here. That God’s word is being proclaimed here every week.

We are declaring that this place, this build IS the house of the Almighty God. This place is His temple. His presence is here and He is taking this place back.

Evil has ruled here for too long.

Pastor Eric talked last week about the command to Joshua that everywhere your foot treads, I will give to you. And how that was a word spoken to him and how that extends to us.

We are walking temples of God! We carry the Holy Spirit with us everywhere that we go!

Would you join me in praying for this school and this property?

Would you be willing to go advance His kingdom over these hallways and classrooms?

Let me say two rules though. Do not enter into the classrooms and do not enter the kids spaces. Security is aware and we want to respect the classrooms and the things in them.

Pray these things.

Pray that the presence of the Lord would rule these hallways and classrooms.

Pray that His peace would rule.

Pray against evil and influence of the enemy.

Pray for the teachers and administrators.

Pray that the students and teachers would see a tangible difference in this school this week!

I’m going to ask Mrs Mary and Sharron to stay here and pray over this room.

I’m going to ask that a couple of you be willing to go up front to the offices and pray over them.

Spread out well. This is not hang out time. Take this seriously. We are pushing back the enemy and advancing His kingdom!

In about 10 minutes, you will hear music start playing. Head back this way to close out the service.