Recognizing a Supernatural Shift

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Luke 1:39–45 KJV 1900

39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; 40 And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. 41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: 42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.

Isaiah 43:18–19 KJV 1900

18 Remember ye not the former things, Neither consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing; Now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, And rivers in the desert.

Intro

Big Shifts

Every once in a great while, a generation will have an event or moment that absolutely shifts lives everywhere. The effects are greatly felt.

For the United States of America, 9/11 was most certainly one of those moments. We ask, “Where were you on 9/11?” Because everyone remembers.

Maybe if you have lived longer, you experienced the moment of The Fall of the Berlin Wall. Or the JFK assassination.

These things changed the way we thought and lived. They couldn’t be avoided.

But for 2020, COVID-19 had this effect for the entire world. It captured and re-captured our attention. The buzz phrases we’ll never forget: “Wear a mask, slow the spread” and “15 days to flatten the curve” and “Social distance, six feet apart”.

I don’t wish to glorify a sickness today, but I do wish to present to you that within every physical happening, there is a spiritual happening.

My friend, SOMETHING HAS TAKEN PLACE, HERE. And it must have our attention going forward.

John Leapt

The role of John the Baptist was to make way for and to prepare the people for something that was coming.

And from the beginning, he recognized the arrival of the Messiah.

Luke 1:41 KJV 1900

41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:

John the Baptist, as just a baby, leaped within the womb in the joy of the Holy Ghost (we know he was full of it already)! And why did he do that? Because he had found himself… not in the presence of a prophecy… but in the fulfillment of a prophecy!

He had come close to Jesus! And Jesus was the Messiah!

The Shift from John to Jesus

In every last book of the Old Testament, there is a foretelling of the arrival of the Messiah. They knew about it, they talked about it, it was prophesied, and they prayed toward it.

Until one day, the Messiah CAME. And then, it was no longer time to talk about what is coming. It was time to get involved with what is here. It was no longer time to long for. IT WAS TIME TO LEAP FOR!

At some point, it has to become time to finish the talk of what will be, because it has arrived!!! And we can say for absolute certain: THIS IS THAT which was prophesied!

What was it that John would preach? “The kingdom is coming! The kingdom is coming! The kingdom is coming! REPENT! The kingdom is coming!” Many, many people would hear and respond to that.

But when the Kingdom finally came and the Messiah had touched down, there were many who rejected it.

The religious elite - Pharisees and Sadducees - rejected the shift that had come. The Jews rejected the supernatural shift.

Experiencing a Shift

Examples of Supernatural Shifts

The Exodus Shift

When a supernatural shift takes place, we have to be willing to move with the Holy Ghost as that happens.

In the book of Exodus, you would recall that the Spirit of God led them through the wilderness as a “pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.” And so what would happen is: we wake up in the morning, we go to the pillar of cloud. The cloud starts moving, we start moving. Eventually that cloud turns to fire. The fire continues to move, so we continue to move. The fire stops, we stop. Time to go to bed. We wake up, visit the cloud. It starts moving, we start moving.

And it was this mindset to follow the Spirit that would cause them to be led directly into the promised land.

I am talking about a SUPERNATURAL SHIFT!

You may ask, “How do I know that there is a shift happening in the Holy Ghost?”

It will be recognizable to those who have given themselves to prayer and the Word. If you stay constant in your prayer and in your Bible, you will feel it happening in prayer. You’ll feel it happening in the congregation. You’ll feel it happening in the world you interact with!

Personal Shifts

There’s such a thing as God personally shifting you in your walk with Him.

I have personally felt God shift me in a direction multiple times.

God told me once that in the coming year I was to make myself ready to evangelize in other churches. He didn’t audibly say that, but I felt in prayer that I should head that direction, and it was confirmed with signs following. And that year, he led me to be used in several congregations. I cannot explain to you why He desired for that to happen, but He did. And I obeyed and followed the Spirit.

Over the past six months, God has been shifting me personally. One Tuesday night in prayer, I felt a specific word come to the front of my mind in prayer: RELEASE. I began to study “releasing” in scripture. Not long after, I received a prophetic word that I am about to be required to begin releasing things in the Holy Ghost. And since that day, I have been preparing myself spiritually the best that I can to do just that. And God has helped me to do it more than once already.

When these things have happened to me personally, I did not completely and wholly understand what all that they meant. And I didn’t completely understand why. That’s okay. I didn’t have to. I just had to obey what Thus Saith The Lord, and follow the Holy Ghost!!!

2018 - “Moving Forward”

In the last week of 2017, I can remember sitting in the fellowship hall of this building with several others in this room, as we were re-watching the Holiday Youth Convention we had just returned from.

All of a sudden, like a rushing mighty wind, the Holy Ghost took over in that fellowship hall, and we were swept away in His glory! And God Almighty began to give instruction to our Pastor and this church about the coming year (2018).

And 2018 would be the year of “Moving Forward”. My, what a shift that definitely was for this church!

What Happened in 2020

As for this past year, there are some that are 100% positive about why 2020 happened the way that it did.

Some have said that they believe that God was trying to get the Church’s attention. Some have said that the reason for this was that God was driving the church out of its four walls.

I’m on board with those things. I’m not sure that one is more true than the other. And I’m also not going to say that I know 100% the reason for it all. I’m not for absolute sure.

But I think that there is one thing that we can certainly know. And it’s that we have to acknowledge that our God is for sure doing something here! THERE IS NO DOUBT!

John, as a baby, could not possibly understand everything about what he was leaping for! He was a baby. But he leapt and acknowledged this moment, nonetheless! He acknowledged that it was the time of a supernatural shift!

And we may not understand everything from the year 2020, but we can still acknowledge the mighty move of God!

NOTICE: This is a Shift!

And here we are, on the first Sunday of 2021! And I am standing here under the authority of the Holy Ghost to inform you that WE ARE RIGHT NOW EXPERIENCING A SUPERNATURAL SHIFT!

SOMETHING IS HAPPENING.

We don’t see the whole picture taking form yet, we’re just a baby in the womb like John. But I’m telling you - you can either lay around in wait and opposition like a Pharisee, or you can GET TO YOUR FEET AND LEAP LIKE JOHN!

But somehow, you’ve got to recognize the spiritual shift that is happening RIGHT HERE AND NOW!

When God Says “Move!”

No More Normal

I’ve heard many say in the last several months, and even still to this day, “I just can’t wait to get back to normal.” And, “I’m ready for things to just go back to the way they were.”

Oh, God have mercy on us, friend! I am going to tell you for absolute sure: WE CAN NEVER GO BACK TO THE WAY THINGS WERE.

You need to find yourself in the Spirit for THIS MOMENT! There is a new thing that God is doing in His church!

They had people who were stuck in living the old Law, when Jesus had come, lived, died, resurrected, and already been received up into glory!

Hear me right now: You’d better not find yourself looking for the last spiritual shift when God has already navigated His church to the next one! That’s exactly how people ended up crucifying Him when they should’ve been worshipping Him!

Hear this: If you’re following the pillar of cloud by day, and then when it gets dark, you’re still trying to follow the pillar of cloud, YOU’RE NEVER GOING TO GET WHERE GOD’S TRYING TO TAKE YOU!!!

Addicted to Prophetic Word, Detached from Prophetic Fulfillment

I heard Bishop Mark Morgan say one time that people kept coming up to him saying, “Bro. Morgan! I need a word from God! I need a word from God! I can’t wait for church because I need God to give me a word!” And then the same people would show up down in the dumps, still saying, “OOOOOH, I just need a word right now!” And Bro. Morgan finally sat one young man down and told him pointedly: “The reason that you feel nothing is going right in your life right now is because God gave you a word in the message I preached a month ago, and you still haven’t obeyed it. Why in the world do you think that God is going to give you another word when you still haven’t done what He said in the last one???”

I want you to understand something today. I do not speak against prophecy or spiritual gifts at all. I believe in them. They are Apostolic and biblical. We need to have that today.

But I’m afraid that in the Pentecostal movement, we have become addicted to the prophetic telling of the future such that when it comes time for the fulfillment, we cannot let go of the former and step into the fulfillment!

I want to read something to you real quick. Directly after John leaped in the womb because Jesus was near, his mother (Elisabeth) said this to Mary:

Luke 1:44–45 NKJV

44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

Now I’m going to read that last verse to you again, this time in KJV because the way it says it just speaks to me...

Luke 1:45 KJV 1900

45 And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.

You can rest assured, if there has been a prophecy, THERE IS GOING TO BE A PERFORMANCE!

IF THERE HAS BEEN A PROPHECY FROM GOD, THERE IS GOING TO BE A PERFORMANCE FROM GOD!!!

We’ve got to find this place: I’m no longer just looking for the signs of the times - I’m listening for the sounding of a trumpet!!!

Idleness is Not an Option

Idle in 2020

Now, there is no doubt a time to be still. (“Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.”) HOWEVER, when God says move, we got to move.

In the past year, many have made it their position to spiritually shut themselves down. Shivering at even the mention of the word coronavirus, some have made it their decision over the past 10 months, “I’m shutting myself off. I’m battening not just the physical hatches, but the spiritual hatches, too!”

And I will tell you this: the people in our world who have made it their mission to dissolve worship in churches are going to answer for their actions.

But it is my responsibility this morning to make it abundantly clear that when God is on the move, we can’t afford to be still!

If you feel the pressing weight of fear and worry about letting loose in worship because of COVID, and you haven’t had a breaking in a long time, IT IS TIME TO LET LOOSE AND MOVE WITH GOD!

Now, I’m not telling you that you need to go around and just breathe on everybody around you and say, like Jesus, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost!” But you can still have freedom of worship in the Spirit!

COVID-19 is not our pass to get out of what God is doing. If anything, our spiritual feelers ought to be out!

When God says move, we can’t be idle.

God Does Not Approve of Idleness

I’m going to ask the question today: What was it that brought the destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah? What was it?

We are so quick to go straight to saying sexual immorality. But what was it that the Bible named as the sins that brought God’s wrath???

The Bible lists them. And in the middle of them all: IDLENESS.

Ezekiel 16:49–50 NKJV

49 Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.

IDLENESS.

To be IDLE when God wants MOVEMENT is DANGEROUS!

And when God delivered Lot’s family from the destruction coming down from above, what did Lot’s wife do???

SHE STOPPED. And looked back. She came back to the IDLENESS.

And when Jesus (the fulfillment) had arrived, who was it that wanted to remain idle in spite of a shift? Pharisees and sadducees. They refused to step into the shift.

They all let things happening in this world hold them back from what God was doing in the now!

We’ve got more people afraid of COVID than we’ve got people who are afraid of hell.

I am tired and exhausted by this mess of a message in our world and some in the church that says “We’ve got to tone down any move of the Holy Ghost - don’t get carried away! COVID is here!”

I’M DONE WITH THAT! I’m not going to be careless and get all over everybody and not wear a mask when I’m out and about, but I’M GOING TO WORSHIP IN THE FREEDOM OF THE HOLY GHOST!!!!!

The Rejection of John

John the Baptist grew up and preached repentance. “Repent, for the Kingdom is at hand!”

But at some point, the voice of repentance (John) was not enough by itself. Jesus was bringing something bigger!

You know, I’ve always sort of felt bad for John the Baptist. He fulfilled his purpose so greatly and was loyal to God. And then, one day he was jailed. They came and locked him up.

Word got out to everybody about it. And Jesus could’ve showed up and performed a miracle or gotten him out. But he didn’t come to John’s aid. After all that he did. I used to just not think that was fair.

But I got to digging in and reading it... thinking about this: not just seeking prophecy, but being ready for a fulfillment…

And I read of Jesus speaking of John to his followers at the time:

Matthew 11:7–10 NKJV

7 As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. 10 For this is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’

John was a prophet, who was to prepare a “way” for someone coming...

But what’s interesting is that John sent his disciples to talk to Jesus, and we read:

Matthew 11:2–6 NKJV

2 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” 4 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

Really, John was asking, “Are you the fulfillment of the prophesied Messiah?” And Jesus began to list the proof.

John didn’t need to be bailed out. He just wanted to be sure that he was in line with the supernatural shift.

Jesus was not supposed to bail out John. Because the supernatural shift that came with Jesus’s arrival required the end of John’s ministry.

John’s time was over. Jesus had the stage now.

If we keep trying to do things in line with John’s moment, we’re going to miss Jesus! We have to give up the ministry of John so that we can be in the middle of the ministry of Jesus.

STEP IN

Listen to me right now… we have to give up the fear of 2020. We have to give up the idea that we are in the same spiritual moment of yesteryear… because going back to a “normal” is not an option!

God is shifting us into something NEW right now!

Isaiah 43:18–19 NKJV

18 “Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.

Listen to that! Who was John the Baptist? He was “a voice crying out in the wilderness” and he was “making clear a way {or road} for the Lord!”

God puts us on the road toward the new thing, but when we reach the new thing, we have to STEP INTO IT!

2021 is going to be the year of fulfillment! And if we will deepen, God will broaden!!!

Standing in a prayer meeting just a few weeks ago, God showed me an average of 75 people!!!

What am I going to do with that? I’m no longer going to expect to see any number but that when I walk in these doors!

And not only that, I’m going to do all I can to be a part of making that happen!

THE RELEASE OF FULFILLMENT IS HERE.

THE RELEASE OF FULFILLMENT IS HERE.

THE RELEASE OF FULFILLMENT IS HERE.

Conclusion

Over the next several weeks, you’re going to hear from Pastor, Bro. March, and myself. You’re going to hear vision-casting.

And you’re going to start seeing change take place. God is leading us into something NEW.

SHALL WE KNOW IT?

It’s time to break out of your box!

Be released in the Holy Ghost!!!

“God, I am open to your move!”