Ready For Tomorrow

Theme for 2019 - “Living Expectantly”

(Remind people who weren’t here last week to listen to the message that the Lord gave me for the new year. It’s not part of our series for the year, but it lent itself to it very well.)

You know every year, that I pray and ask the Lord to give me a theme for the year. The words that I heard for this year, 2019 is “Living Expectantly” In other words living in a way that enables us to experience the excitement of Who Jesus is and what He has done for us.

That we would be a church that meets expectantly

That we would be a church that prays expectantly

That we would be a church that allows our expectations of God to unite us and draw us together as one.

The theme verse that the Lord has given me for this year is found in

2 Peter 3:14 NKJV

Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;

We will be taking this verse and studying those things that we should be looking forward to as believers.

We will be talking about how that anticipation and expectancy lead us to the abundant rich life that Jesus enables us to live.

And during this year, my prayer is that God would once again excite our hearts about things that we in the American Church have become so blah about.

I believe that God is going to take His word and use it to wake us up, Rev us up and let us Go

SST

Does anyone remember the SSP Racers?

Picture of SSP Racer Car

They were a car that you would slide this ridged Tstick through a whole in it and when you would rip the Tstick out that car would fly.

I think what God is doing this year in our church is inserting the spiritual Tstick in, and he’s getting ready to pull it hard. At least, I’m praying that for all of us.

Here is what I’m praying for when I say that.

I am praying that we would begin to see the times that we are living in as God Filled Opportunities!

We are Living in God Filled Opportunities!

we read the first couple chapters of Acts and we get excited.

That’s the way that God meant the church to be

The church was exciting, it was growing

The church was alive.

And I think that we tend to compare ourselves to that and it causes us some problems in our faith.

We tend to think that time is over

We tend to think that the times are so different that couldn’t happen again

It’s as if many people in the church today, tend to think that the good times are behind us.

I want you to know today, that is a lie of satan.

Why are things so dark and evil?

I want you to know that through the history of God having a people - that every God action has had a contrasting demonic action.

We love Acts chapter 2. As I’ve said, we get excited about it.

But when you keep reading, you see that the enemy wasn’t excited about it. In fact, he hated it and strikes out at it.

In chapter 4 we see that the church is persecuted greatly

Peter and John were arrested, and warned not to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ again.

In chapter 5 - We see satan’s hand moving in corruption - Anannias and Sapphira lie about their giving

More persecution as this time the apostles aren’t just warned, but arrested and beaten

In chapter 6 he rears his ugly demon’s face of division.

The greek widows are being overlooked and now the hebrews and the greeks get ready to draw lines.

In chapter 7, Stephen will be stoned for his faith. And we know who everyone who is throwing stones leaves their coats with. The great persecutor named Saul.

Church family, we are living in much the same time as the church that we are to model after. Because it was the church that Jesus built.....and empowered.

The only difference is that that they were in a pre-christian culture. We are in a post-Christian culture.

Richard Mayhew writes - Arguably, no time in church history has more closely approximated the first-century beginning of the church than now. Our ancient brethren faced a pagan pre-christian culture. Similarly the contemporary church encounters a pagan, post-christian, and postmodern world. The essential biblical model of ministry of the first century has never been more appropriate than it is today.

Let me read that again....The essential biblical model of ministry of the first century has never been more appropriate than it is today.

That should encourage our hearts today. It should heighten our expectation in what can be accomplished in our world today.

But we focus on the negatives. We look at our world and what’s happening in it.

The way people see the church

The hatred for the church

The openess in life for everything else, but the church and Christianity

If you say something, your are old fashioned

If you stand for something, you are irrelevant and outdated

You are a hatemonger and a bigest

And so we quiet ourselves down, because nobody will listen to us anyways, and we don’t want to rock the boat.

Listen church family, wake up and get that boat shaking.

Do you know anything about the Roman Empire? Because they were in charge when the church of Acts were doing ministry.

The leaders of Rome were blood thirsty

They were sexual deviants

They worshipped all kinds of gods and made themselves gods as well

The christian church was dubbed as contrary to the spiritual atmosphere of the day because they refused to worship all the idols and gods of Rome.

They were despised for their stand against the Roman way of worship

They were labeled as being antisocial because they would not partake in pagan celebrations in their communities

And they were marked as dangerous because of their stand against the norm and their prayers against the wrongs of society.

They were used as torches in Nero’s courts. They were sewn up in animal skins and thrown into the coliseums with wild animals.

My brothers and sisters, we are living in a time when it is ripe for the ministry of the gospel.

And was the difference? Verse 2 of

Acts 6:2–4 NKJV

Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

Acts

In the midst of a split that threatened to be the end of the church, the church leaders, the apostles declare with boldness. That the Word of God would be supreme in their mission and leadership. That they would not allow the situations and craziness and evil around them to to hinder them in their prayer, study and ministry of the Word.

Why? Because the understood where their power and authority came from.

They knew and understood what they called to do

And they were smart enough to recognize the attack of the enemy when it came. And not fall prey to it.

They were ready for tomorrow.

And look what tomorrow held

Acts 6:8-

Acts 6:8–15 NKJV

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council. They also set up false witnesses who said, “This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law; for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel.

Acts 7:54-

Acts 7:54–60 NKJV

When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

They choose Stephen to oversee the ministry of the widows and now he is dead, stoned to death.

I think that if they had not made that statement of faith about the ministry and the Word that at this point, the church could have fallen apart.

But these few words, changed everything. We will give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word.

I’m praying for a supernatural grace

We are Living in a Time of Supernatural Grace

Grace - a divine influence which operates in humans to change us through sanctification, to inspire us to do godly things, and to impart strength to us to endure trials and resist temptations.

When God moves, satan may turn the heat up, but nothing can compare to what God is doing.

The stoning of Stephen brought an evil persecution against the church, but look back at chap 6 verse 7 and see what is happening.

Acts 6:7 NKJV

Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

If you look grace up in the dictionary, you will find something like this:

courteous goodwill

refinement of movement

My prayer is that this supernatural grace of God would refine our movements through the times that we are living.

That we would hear what God is speaking about where we are and we are involved in and that we would be obedient to his leading

That we would be able to navigate the traps and pitfalls of the enemy to keep our integrity and our upstanding and our influence in this world.

In my minds eye, I see one of those laser filled rooms that the spy has to move and twist through to get to the item that he is stealing.

Those lasers are the traps of this world, and there are many in a post-Christian society, but I believe that if we will trust in Him, God can lead us through every one of them.

I pray that this grace will inspire us to greater godlier things in a world of no thanks and no respect to authority

That we would live expectantly in the divine and powerful grace of God

That we would expect to move as I’ve shared with you

That we would expect to be lead by His Holy Spirit

That we would expect him to lead us and then follow through with what He speaks to us.

I’m Praying for a Spiritual boldness

We are Living in a Time of Spiritual Boldness

If we look at the church in Acts, they were bold.

Were they scared? Sure

Were they unsure? Without a doubt.

But they knew what they had been called to.

They had experienced a pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit power upon themselves

And they had decided that was what they were going to move out in.

One of my favorite scriptures is found in Hebrews

Hebrews 11:32–40 NKJV

And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

It speaks loudly about what we can face if we have faith.

I pray for that for our church today. I pray for that for my ministry today. And I pray that for each and everyone of you today.

If you watched the screen behind me today, you saw that I made each point, We are Living in a Time

A time of God Filled Opportunities

A time of Supernatural Grace

A time of Spiritual Boldness

I did that so I could get you to see that those things did not stop with the early Church, but that they should still be a sign of our church.....of YOU

I did that because I wanted you to see that if those things existed in a pre-Christian society, they still exist in a post-Christian Society and we should live expectantly of them in our lives.

I did that to encourage you today, my brother and sister. To encourage you to rise up with these things in your life

Expect them

Pray For theme

Move out in them.

Let’s Pray.