Are You Ready For The Day Of Visitation?

Pastor Keith Hassell

Foundation Scripture:            Luke 19:28-48; Matthew 21:12-17

I.          When the King Comes

            A.        Ready or not, the King will come to visit

1.         There is coming a day that will mean peace or destruction.  It is based on how we respond to the arrival of the King.

B.         There were two crowds

1.         Seekers:  They will usher Him in with praise.  They were the participating ones.

2.         Cynics:  They are satisfied with the religious routine.  They don’t like to feel uncomfortable about their sin or lifestyle.  They feel threatened and seek to stop Him from coming.  These are the background critics.

            C.        There is an offer made with the King’s visit

                        1.         The things that make for your peace.

a.         The Hebrew word picture for “peace” (“shalom”) means “Destroy the authority that establishes chaos”

            D.        There are consequences for those who reject the King

                        1.         Spiritual blindness:  These things are now hidden from your eyes.

                        2.         Given over to the enemy

                                    a.         They will come upon you

b.         They will build an embankment to overcome your walls of security.

c.         They will surround you and close you in where there will be no escape

d.         They will level you to the ground

e.         There will not be one stone left upon the other

II.        Judgment begins at the House of God

A.        I Peter 4:17  “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

B.         The house does not belong to us.  It belongs to God.

III.       When the Lord comes to His House (Six Things That Jesus Restores)

            A.        Presence:  God’s presence comes into the house

                        1.         When God comes to His house, He is in charge and things will change.

B.         Purity:  Jesus drove out those who bought and sold in the temple and overturned the tables (ministries) and seats (positions) of those who sold

1.         Malachi 3:2-3  “But who can endure the day of His coming?  And who can stand when He appears?  For His is like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s soap.  He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;  He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord and offering of righteousness.”

C.        Purpose

1.         We have not walked in God’s purpose for His house.

            a.         “My house shall be called a house of prayer.”

2.         Instead we have imposed our own ideas upon God’s house.

            “But you have made it a den of thieves.”

            a.         House of Preaching

            b.         House of Teaching

            c.         House of Fellowship

            d.         House of Entertainment

            e.         House of Evangelism

            f.          House of Ministries

D.        Power:  When the purposes of God are restored, there will come signs and wonders of God’s presence back into His house.

E.         Praise:  Praise is perfected when the little ones begin to praise Him.

IV.       Are you ready for the visitation of the Lord?

            A.        Matthew 3:2  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

B.         Luke 3:4-5  “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.  Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth.”

C.        Those who reject His visitation will receive the full measure of the enemy’s assault.

D.        Those who receive His visitation will receive of His peace whereby He destroys the authority of darkness that has produces chaos in their lives

E.         The King is coming.  Which crowd are you in?