House of Prayer for All Nations-3
Notes
Transcript
A Prophetic Proclamation
A Prophetic Proclamation
READ TEXT: Isaiah 56:1-12
As verse 1 says:
May the righteousness of our Mighty and Holy God be revealed.
May His Wondrous salvation come.
Just as we just sang about few minutes ago, “Even so come, Lord Jesus, come!
This morning I want to preach one more time about the Bible passage behind the prophetic utterance that Dr. Adrian Thomason made over our church on July 18, 2021..
Also, think about the timing of that prophetic utterance:
It was the week before we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the founding of this church.
It was 2 weeks before this church went through a terrible covid outbreak that caused 22 people to get sick.
At least a dozen of them put in the hospital.
We still have 4 in the hospital
Robert Funderburk died.
Right now Sherel Bennett needs a miracle.
But God is still on the throne.
I pray that we are not walkin g in fear, but by faith.
Not by sight, but by faith.
That we are all still standing on the promises of God that are fulfilled in Jesus with a resounding, “Yes!”
God gave this prophetic word to us, it WILL come to pass:
Listen again to what Dr. Thomason said:
Pastor, as you were praying, I felt compelled to release this word over the house. It’s from Isaiah, chapter 56, starting at verse 7. The Lord says, “Even them I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in the house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
The Lord is saying to this house, that this place will be known as a multi-dimensional, multi-ethnic house of prayer for all nations. And you say, “Well, we’re just this little thing; we’re just this little mountain group of people.” The Lord says, “ In this house, this house will become known as a house of prayer for all nations. That every ethnicity, every ethnos, every people group will feel welcome coming into the house of prayer, because the house of prayer that God is going to build in this place will know no skin color; it will know ethnic background. It will only know the Bride of Christ and the precious blood of Jesus.
Father, we thank you for what you’re doing in this place. There’s something special about the 25th year. I don’t know what it is, but when you said that this morning that you’re celebrating that, there’s something…Father, we just pray now that the next years will be more fruitful than all the 25 years put together. Father, we speak blessing, we speak hope, we speak anointing on this house of prayer.
The Scriptural Underpinnings
The Scriptural Underpinnings
For the last 2 weeks, this is week 3, we have been looking at the verses that lead up to verse 7 that was the heart of the prophetic utterance Dr. Thomason made.
Verses 1-8 of this chapter in Isaiah describe God’s intentions, God’s ideal for those who did not go into Babylonian captivity but who instead remained in an occupied land.
2 weeks ago we started looking at the admonition God gave to these people who were to inhabit the land during Babylonian occupancy.
Their family members had been carried away captive into a foreign land.
A foreign land that rejected Yahweh as the one true God.
That rejected Mosaic covenant morality.
But the inhabitants who remained in the land faced their own trials.
The trial of living in an occupied land.
A land occupied by evil conquerors.
A land full of atrocities that beggar description.
How were the Jewish inhabitant to live amongst such monsters?
How are we, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ to live in a similar situation?
How do we live amongst the murder of innocents, the profaning of all things we hold sacred, the decline of a once great civilization?
We do what God told the Jews in verses 1 and 2...
To the degree they were able to do so, they were to preserve justice and do righteousness.
We too have a responsibility to justice and righteousness.
We stand up for those unable to stand up for themselves.
That’s why on:
Life Chain: Sunday, October 3rd, 2021, 2-3 p.m.
Location: Intersection of Highways 129 & 515.
That is just the beginning of what we are to do in the midst of evil.
Like the ancient Jews addressed in our text, we are to exert a godly influence on a wicked occupier until God’s salvation comes.
Like those Jews we are be a distinctive people until God reveals His righteous judgment.
Not only are we to be known as a people who preserve justice and did righteousness, we are also called to keep from joining in with the evil all around us. As ...
14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” 17 Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” 18 “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
We are to like those Jews — preserving justice, doing righteousness, observing a Sabbath to God.
Setting aside time for Him.
NOT a time to promote our own selfish business interests and try to increase our wealth.
Not a time for entertainment and worldly distractions.
Not a time for family gatherings and parties.
No!
Those are all things the world does.
God is calling us to be different — distinct.
Setting aside a time to seek God.
A time to praise Him.
A time to hear His Word.
A time to cry out to Him in prayer and supplication.
These are the things to which God STILL calls us — even in the 21st century.
These are God’s ideals for a people who live in a land occupied by the devil.
Where evil, immorality, injustice and just plain stupidity that leads to the death of innocents abounds.
God is not calling us to despair or depression.
Even in such overwhelming times.
Jesus is calling us to keep our eyes on Him.
1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our lowly condition into conformity with His glorious body, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
Even in the midst of an evil occupying force, God is calling us to be a welcoming people.
May we share with and open our arms to the evil occupiers.
Most of them have been duped by the devil.
They serve him because they have not heard there is an alternative.
WE must tell them!
We must welcome them with love and compassion!
Jesus said:
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘you Shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors, do they not do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Even the Gentiles, do they not do the same? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
In a time of great evil Jesus calls us to open our doors, to open our arms, to open our hearts to those who have never known His goodness, who have never known His Gospel, who have never know His salvation.
They may be part of an evil occupying force, but these people still need the salvation that ONLY Jesus can give.
As Peter boldly told the religious counsel after the healing of the man born lame:
Acts 4:12 (NASB 2020) And there is salvation in no one else [but Jesus]; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved.”
As the Apostle Paul said:
14 How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?
Not just credentialed preachers — ALL of us are called to declare God’s salvation through Jesus Christ.
So many today were born outside of a knowledge of God.
They speak many different languages.
They have cultures that seem strange and foreign to those of the household of faith.
They have a diversity of skin colors.
But God says: “Welcome then in.”
“I am calling them out of sin’s slavery just like I called you.
“I am calling them to the same holy lifestyle to which I called you.
“To lay aside the things of the world and cling ONLY to me.
“To lift up hands, voices, hearts in praise, worship and adoration of the God who created them, the Son of God who died to save them.
“To love Me, to reverence My great Name.
“To hold fast to my commandments, including Sabbath.”
Not just the evil occupiers, but God is calling us to welcome victims of the occupation.
Especially the sexual refugees.
The ones who have been ravaged by the lies of a wicked sexual culture.
That tells broken people they are just sex objects.
Nothing more than animals in heat.
That they can choose to ignore how God created them and choose their own sexual orientation.
That tells them sexual relations outside the bonds of holy matrimony is a GOOD thing instead of something that destroys like a deadly poison.
God wants us to reach out to them in love and welcome them to the God who saves, who redeems.
God wants us to declare that those who have given themselves over to every sexual perversion can be reclaimed.
If they will be distinctive people who set aside time to worship God.
Who do what pleases Him.
Who obey the Commands of Jesus.
God is calling ALL of us to be evangelists who speak the nations.
Some, because of God’s call on their lives, may have to cross national borders to declare Jesus.
But most of us won’t even have to leave our neighborhoods, our schools, our jobs.
The lost of the nations have been sent amongst us.
We just have to be obedient:
To pray
To gather
To establish a house of prayer for all nations, all peoples.
Verses 1-8 are God’s ideal.
It is what God WANTS us to do.
But during this time of great evil we ALWAYS have a choice to make.
We can live according to verses 1 & 2
Which culminates in verse 7 & 8 and echoes what God says in Isaiah 49:6
6 He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the protected ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Or we can live according to verse 9-12
Verse 9-12 describes the Jewish leadership’s response to the evil around them.
They turned a blind eyes to evil and were consumed by it.
They were complicit in keeping everyone possible ignorant of truth.
They went along to get along — so their pockets would be lined with money.
And to keep their consciences from causing them any problems, they self-medicated by getting drunk.
The results of such evil are told in Isaiah 57:1-13
The righteous person died
Sorcery flourished
Children were slaughtered
Spiritual adultery abounded
And God was forgotten
Prayer
Prayer
What makes the difference between being surrendered to the evil around us or surrendered to God?
I believe it is the prayer to which God is calling His people to in Vs.7.
If prayer to Almighty God be abandoned then any hope of salvation is lost.
Any hope of justice and righteousness is forfeit
People die both physically and spiritually.
So God is calling His people to pray.
12 ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
But pastor, isn’t there something MORE we can do?
Whatever we do, it must begin with prayer.
Anything else is folly.
John Stonestreet, Colson Worldview Center recently wrote:
I saw a tweet recently from a mom .... “Sometimes,” she said, “I’m mad at God that all he lets me do is pray about a situation that is out of my hands. I suppose that says more about me, and my frustration with prayer, than it says about God.”
Many of us ask, “other than prayer, what can I do?” But, what if prayer is doing something? What if prayer actually moves the heart of God and can alter human history?
We do have a responsibility for what’s happening in [America AND] Afghanistan. There’s a lot of things we can’t do, but there’s one thing we can do, and, what’s more, must do, both for the Christians on the ground and for other vulnerable citizens. We must [pray and] ask God for mercy and to end their suffering now.
As we pray we tap into resources not available in the natural world.
We move into the life-altering presence of God.
He fills us with His love.
We receive revelations of His glory.
Our mouths become filled with His prophetic word for all peoples.
Prayer will enable us to live godly lives in an evil world.
Prayer brings the anointing of the Holy Spirit that breaks the yoke of bondage.
So, I beg of you who call Jesus your Savior and Lord.
Every day seek God in times of personal prayer.
When given the opportunity, gather with the Body of Christ and pray.
This afternoon we will gather at 5:00 pm to worship, to be reminded of the power of the Name in which we pray, and to pray.
To pray fervently, to pray in the Spirit.
So come this afternoon at 5:00 pm.
Come Tuesdays at 10 am.
May our lives be saturated with prayer that will enable us to stand in the day when evil occupies — rather than giving in to the evil all around us.
Submission to God
Submission to God
Do you know the Lord that I have been declaring this morning?
Do you need salvation?
Redemption?
Turn to Jesus.
Call or text: 706-781-6142
Email: info@NewLifeBlairsville.org
Website: www.NewLifeBlairsville.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/NewLifeBlairsville
The Lord’s Supper
The Lord’s Supper
The Lord has called us to pray
And that we will do.
Our prayers will be effective as we pray from a right relationship with God given through Jesus.
How does that right-relationship happen?
Because Jesus gave His body and blood to give us that right relationship.
So this morning let’s remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us.
Before we do let’s ask God to prepare our hearts.
1 Corinthians 11:27–31 (NASB95)
… whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.
Prayer of Preparation
Receive the Elements:
You don’t have to be a member.
Just partake according to the Word of God.
The Bread:
In Remembrance of Me: A Manual on Observing the Lord’s Supper Chapter Five: The Presentation
I face the congregation with a large piece of unleavened bread. How large? Large enough to be seen to the back row of our large church. I hold it up high and make a comment such as this:
In Remembrance of Me: A Manual on Observing the Lord’s Supper (Chapter Five: The Presentation)
On the night in which the hinges of history turned so decisively, our Lord met with those whom He had devoted the very essence of His life and mission. They did not understand the impact of His mission nor His profound love for them. As He, only thirty-three years of age, looked into those eyes reflecting the light of the oil lamps, [Luke 22:19 tells us that] He said, “This is my body, given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
Prayer over the Bread: Jay
Partake
The Cup:
20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup, which is poured out for you, is the new covenant in My blood.
Prayer over cup: Pastor
Partake
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Hymn: We Shall See The King