At Your Word

-Good Morning and it is an honor to speak to you all this morning and share my heart and what I feel like God has for us in this season.

-Speaking of Honor, I would like to take a moment to honor our leadership, Pastor Gary and Heatherann as they are such awesome and faithful servants to our body. We are truly blessed by you both.

-I don’t mean to offend anyone, but if you didn’t know it, You are sitting in the crazy church in town.

-How does one find themselves in a crazy church, you may ask….well its simple….Believe what God has said to you, about you and about Himself.

We are called to be both -Ambassador & alien.

-Not of the World, but in it.

-And while many of us believe that, we sure can entangle ourselves with the issues of the day.

-Our belief sure won’t help you, because controversy abounds in the 21st century church.

-Encourage you that it is not the first time

-We are in good company with controversial figures like:

-Every old testament prophet

-Every faithful martyr or witness, to include our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

-And the Pentecostal Church was birthed in controversy as well

-William Seymour

-Holiness preacher and Son of an emancipated slave

-Raised Catholic in extreme poverty of Louisiana

-A student of one of the first Pentacostal ministers, Charles Parham

-Shared the belief with Parham that speaking in tongues was still an active gift of the Holy Spirit that was a manifested testament to the infilling presence of God.

-Locked out of most Bible school classes, Seymour would simply sit outside the door of the classroom to hear the teachings in the face of Jim Crow laws

-In February of 1906 he took a position pastoring in Los Angeles which quickly fell apart after his controversial views on the gifts of the Spirit rub with theological leaders of the holiness movement.

- In April of 1906 Apostolic Faith Mission in Los Angeles began to form which became home to the Azusa Street Revivals.

-Routine prayer coupled with 10 days of fasting and the laying on of hands led to a outbreak in tongues on April 9.

-The revival would lasted for 2 years and packed over 1500 people (some probably spectators) as reports of mixed raced worship filled headlines.

-Today we know these as manifestation of the gift of tongues, and many will still call it crazy.

-Important that in Manifesting gifts we focus on the Giver.

-The Holy Spirit is controversial…even in His church….let that one settle for a moment.

-Controversy and truth are independent of each other

-Manifesting His image means aligning our image with His Word

-Manifesting God’s presence in a world that does not know Him

-Beyond boxes of denomination, theology, nationality, race or creed.

-Locking away Presence: Majesty, Reverence and Eminence as fragile

-Does my Experience set my Expectation

Bridging the gap between GENESIS 3:1 and 2 TIMOTHY 3:1-7 and understand what is my hinderances to doing what God has said.

GENESIS 3:1 – HATH GOD SAID?

-Overt message / Covert implication: Is God all that He said He is?

-Refuting the claim: I AM THAT I AM.

-Subtle inuendo that challenges God’s word / steals inheritance

-WHAT HAS GOD SAID? Do I read His Word?

2017 Lifeway Research said 87% of homes have a Bible, average home has 3 Bibles.

-11% read in once

-9% read it multiple times

-15% read half of it

-53% read relatively little

-35% never pick it up

Is it any wonder why we come to passages like Mark 16:17-18 and can’t bridge the gap between our experience and our expectations.

Without the Word, what can we expect?

Circles of Possible

-Often, we let Experience unseat Expectations and shape new ones

-Carnal Experience shaping Holy Expectations!

-God didn’t leave the garden, humankind did.

-His Garden, His Way.

-The word Revive means to restore life or consciousness

-Personal Revival isn’t reviving God, it is reviving me with God’s Word –

rivers of Living Water.

-Revival will have the person of God in the Holy Spirit, the manifestation of Holy gifts and fruits that happens in response to a heart.

-In short, it is a love story.

-We don’t look like the world; Holy = Set Apart

-It might get weird in here…

-Carnal & Fallen world experiences in Holy expectations

-Enter the box of what we expect from God

-Protecting Grandma’s Fine China

-Something Special / Something Fragile

Three Spiritual Wilderness Boxes: Immaturity, Lethargy & Atrophy

-Pitfalls and Highlights. I get the impression that the story of Israel is the story of most believers at one point our another.

-Israel’s pitfalls seem attributable to 3 main things:

Immaturity, Lethargy and Apathy.

-Immaturity will try to contain God to who we can understand / Where my Faith is limited

-Lack of belief - Hath God Said?

-Passive Consumerism

-“Moses, you talk to God for us” – Belief that someone else should speak on our behalf.

-Lethargy tries to contain God in who we are familiar with / Where my Faith stagnates

-And since many don’t read His word, they only know what has been told to them

-Comfort overrides commission – Hath God Said?

-Prayer life sounds like, God serve my needs, but don’t inconvenience me with your

desires

-“Why did you bring me out of Egypt?”

GALATIONS 5:7 – Lethargy is also where we find the spiritual hinderance of a Religious spirit

-Religion is always easier than relationship

-A.W. Tozer and the Outer Courts Lifestyle

-Atrophy tries steal God’s place of Holiness by setting Him aside idols / Where my Faith falters

- Atrophy is a wasting away of the cells. It is where the body no longer functions as it should.

- Distraction with all sorts of idols

-One Idol of focus today: “SELF”.

Ezekiel’s vision: God’s manifest presence vacating His temple which was surrounded by idols that filled the temple.

The same God who suffered through our Immaturity and even lethargy cannot share space with an idol we hold more important.

Self can be a major idol! Vanity isn’t a sin because we are looking at God’s image.

Clearing out the Idols

Think of the world today:

Self-Indulgence / Self Fulfillment

Self Reliance / Self Determination

Self Actualization / Self Truth

Self Esteem / Self Image

Yet the fruit of the Spirit we are called to is Self Control, not self-promotion.

God moves in our lives when we stop putting boxes around Him and instead box up the competing idols.

Clearing the temple of idols like Jesus flipped the money changers tables.

2TIMOTHY 3

- I want Revival, but isn’t based in denominational or religious places.

- Birthed in our personal relationship with the source of life.

- Todays message is an encouragement for us to seek personal revival above all else. I want church revival, but it starts where Jesus always starts…. With the ONE.

- As we seek a greater recognition of the Holy Spirit in this house of worship, I invite you this week to commit to asking ourselves what experiences in my life have I let influence my expectations of God inspite of or despite what His word actually says.

- I also wanted to challenge any who feel like they need an upgrade on their time in the Word of God to not wait for a New Year or another reading plan.

Closing Prayer.