Speaker 1: So you know, if you were here for the summit,
Speaker 1: you saw Todd Smith. Pastor Tom Smith was here from
Speaker 1: North Georgia Revival. Some of you saw you were here, Okay, good,
Speaker 1: So you know it was an exciting time and he
Speaker 1: had a great word. I wanted to experience a little
Speaker 1: bit of that ministry this morning with you in that
Speaker 1: His story is so it's so typical of what God
Speaker 1: wants to do, what God has done, but what most
Speaker 1: of us never see. And you know, his story was
Speaker 1: he was called to take over a church Dawsonville, Dawsonville, Georgia,
Speaker 1: fifty miles northeast of Atlanta. And so he's called to
Speaker 1: take over this church and the become the pastor. And
Speaker 1: that that was, you know, I don't know twelve fifteen,
Speaker 1: I don't even know how many years ago, but it
Speaker 1: went terrible and this is like his fourth church to pastor.
Speaker 1: It just kind of going up and going down, and
Speaker 1: they're hovering around one hundred and fifty people and it's
Speaker 1: just kind of dead. And so he tells the story
Speaker 1: and you're not going to hear this farther this roy
Speaker 1: I'm giving you a little backdrop, but he tells the
Speaker 1: story of just his exasperation discouragement. He wants to resign.
Speaker 1: So he's going to resign his wife and the elders
Speaker 1: wouldn't allow him to resign, and so they called a
Speaker 1: twenty one day fast, kind of like what we just
Speaker 1: went through, right, They called it a twenty one day fast.
Speaker 1: I think it was the water only fast though. And
Speaker 1: two weeks into the fast, he's in the auditorium of
Speaker 1: the church, praying across, walking across platform, praying back and forth,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of pacing the platform, prank and seeking God.
Speaker 1: And he has a vision and he sees the water
Speaker 1: baptismal tank and they had one of these, you know,
Speaker 1: baptismal tanks included in the podium or in the platform. Right,
Speaker 1: he sees the water baptismal tank and he sees it full.
Speaker 1: Now it's empty, but in the vision, he has about
Speaker 1: an eighteen second vision. In the vision, he sees the
Speaker 1: water baptismal tank full, and he sees fire on top
Speaker 1: of the water. So he's like, Okay, what in the world,
Speaker 1: you know, God, what he's trying to say, And so
Speaker 1: he decides to call for a baptism service. A couple
Speaker 1: weeks later, they have a baptism service and it's powerful
Speaker 1: and it's like the fire of God is in the
Speaker 1: baptismal tank and it's amazing. And so he's like, Okay, God,
Speaker 1: you want to do something with new converts. And they're
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out, right, they're trying to Okay,
Speaker 1: people that are new to the Lord. They're going to
Speaker 1: be baptized. It's going to be fiery, it's going to
Speaker 1: be beautiful. And they're trying to figure out what in
Speaker 1: the world God was saying in this vision. And so
Speaker 1: they have another baptismal service. Dead. Nothing happens. I baptize
Speaker 1: you in the name of the Father's Son Hall, you know,
Speaker 1: just dead. And so he's like, Lord, what in the world,
Speaker 1: you know, what are you trying to say? So they
Speaker 1: seek the Lord and they pray for about a year
Speaker 1: and really nothing happens except for their just pressing in
Speaker 1: and they're desperate and they're hungry, and they're they're praying.
Speaker 1: They're praying on Monday nights, they're praying on Tuesday nights,
Speaker 1: they're praying on Saturday nights. They're just pressing in, pressing
Speaker 1: and pressing in in prayer. Corporate prayer prayer at home,
Speaker 1: individual prayer. Every just got all this and they're pressing
Speaker 1: in and the Lord was doing a work in them,
Speaker 1: and the Lord was doing a work in him. And
Speaker 1: so somewhere about a year into that prayer, they just
Speaker 1: feel like the Holy Spirit wants them to again open
Speaker 1: up the baptismal tank, and they do and the fire
Speaker 1: of the Lord falls on the baptismal tank. People are healed,
Speaker 1: people are baptized in the Holy Spirit. It's a it's
Speaker 1: a it's a signs and wonders break out, right, and
Speaker 1: so he's like, okay, Lord, So they continue in this
Speaker 1: and the Lord continues to meet them. This is seven
Speaker 1: years ago, so they've been in non stop revival now
Speaker 1: for seven years. They've they've baptized forty five thousand people.
Speaker 1: Forty five thousand people, that's all of Puella. That's most
Speaker 1: of a federal way to give you kind of a
Speaker 1: you know, a kind of a sizing thing, right, that's
Speaker 1: a large portion of Tacoma. People have come from all
Speaker 1: over the world. If you haven't heard of the North
Speaker 1: Georgia Revival, you could be living in a hole summer.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure, but anyway, people, I'm kidding, but people
Speaker 1: have come from all over the world. They've chronicled multiple
Speaker 1: it's just common healings, miracle healings, lots of meerical healings,
Speaker 1: and then just lots of you know, just the touch
Speaker 1: of God on people's lives. It's it's been astounding and
Speaker 1: it's been going on. So like, like tonight they'll have
Speaker 1: water baptism. They never have, they never have less than
Speaker 1: two hundred people baptized on a Sunday night. They have
Speaker 1: three full size above ground swimming pools in the church.
Speaker 1: One of them's in the main auditorium, just a big
Speaker 1: giant above ground swimming pool in the main auditorium. Then
Speaker 1: two others, like they don't call it the fellowship Hall.
Speaker 1: They call it a pool hall. You'll get that later, okay,
Speaker 1: So they call it the pool hall. And so they've
Speaker 1: got these giant pools, you know, and and so tonight
Speaker 1: they'll have two hundred and the baptism service. It starts
Speaker 1: with a little bit of worship and a message, and
Speaker 1: usually one of the ministers from the city will come,
Speaker 1: you know, deliver the message. It doesn't always have to
Speaker 1: be him. And then it goes from four pm until
Speaker 1: one in the morning, because it's not just like a dip.
Speaker 1: It's like the Holy Spirit meets people in the water,
Speaker 1: like people are touched by the Spirit in the water
Speaker 1: powerfully right. But the central point of all of it
Speaker 1: and the central point of his message, his word, the
Speaker 1: you know, the rama on him, the glory on him,
Speaker 1: is really for prayer. It's not about any church replicating
Speaker 1: what they're doing. It's not about Okay, that was beautiful.
Speaker 1: Now we're going to start baptisms and we're gonna have
Speaker 1: that next week. And it's not it's not they're walking
Speaker 1: in an individual rayma for their church and for their ministry.
Speaker 1: This is this is like a The glory is there
Speaker 1: because of them cooperating, partnering with God in the ram
Speaker 1: of that he gave him. But the ram of that
Speaker 1: He gave to them was through prayer. It was through
Speaker 1: pressing in out of desperation. We're tired of fruitlessness. We're
Speaker 1: tired of the same old thing. We're tired of not
Speaker 1: seeing the move of God. We're tired of all this
Speaker 1: happening in our community, in our region. We're tired of
Speaker 1: dead religion. So that prayer and that press sing is
Speaker 1: what brought them to their rama, which the theme of
Speaker 1: you know that we all desire is the glory of
Speaker 1: God to come right. We all want the glory of
Speaker 1: God in our midst. We want the glory of God
Speaker 1: in our lives. We want the glory of God in
Speaker 1: our midst. And so Holy Spirit is going to lead
Speaker 1: us to the individual expression of our body, of our
Speaker 1: people what He has for us. As we press in
Speaker 1: will received the ramas that allow us to partner with God.
Speaker 1: Rama means living word. If you don't know what rama means,
Speaker 1: it's like when you hear God talk to your heart,
Speaker 1: the leading of the Lord on your heart. That's not
Speaker 1: the logos, which is the written word. That's a rama,
Speaker 1: which is a spoken word over you, right, And so
Speaker 1: that that when we when we partner with that, that's
Speaker 1: what leads to glory, that's what leads to the overflow
Speaker 1: of the spirit. And that's what we all want. Yes,
Speaker 1: So I want to I want to show you. I
Speaker 1: wanted to show you a portion of his message from
Speaker 1: the summit because it was so relevant, uh two, to
Speaker 1: what we can grasp, what we can get ahold of.
Speaker 1: So we're going to go to that for a few
Speaker 1: minutes and I'll come back.
Speaker 2: Blessed to be his only name? So how did it?
Speaker 2: How do we sustain it? Go to Matthew after twelve.
Speaker 2: I want to just spend a moment here. I got
Speaker 2: about fifteen minutes. Are you all okay?
Speaker 3: Help me?
Speaker 2: Holy ghost? Right here, Matthew twelve to twenty nine. Look
Speaker 2: at the screen. You're thinking this is kind of an
Speaker 2: awkward text, but I love it. Or again, how can
Speaker 2: anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his
Speaker 2: possessions unless he first ties up the strong man, then
Speaker 2: he will plunder his house.
Speaker 3: Now, this teaching in this scripture has you.
Speaker 2: Know, a specific application when Jesus was talking, but it
Speaker 2: can also be applied.
Speaker 3: To other things in other places as well. And I
Speaker 3: want to take a little bit of liberty here to
Speaker 3: do that.
Speaker 2: And I think it will fit contextually and theologically, and
Speaker 2: I think it would be sound communication and doctrine tonight.
Speaker 2: So just resting that.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I live in Georgia and we are a very strong
Speaker 2: Second Amendment state. I was talking to a Pakistanian and
Speaker 2: Pakistanian that came to Georgia to do some ministry and
Speaker 2: she says, man, I hear all y'all have guns down here,
Speaker 2: and she goes, how many do you have? I said,
Speaker 2: if I told you, I have to kill you because
Speaker 2: I'm an avid hunter, I'm an avid pig hunter. I
Speaker 2: don't go anywhere crazy with that. I know some of
Speaker 2: y'all thinking he's not just lost him. But the videos
Speaker 2: are real. I mean the pig hunting videos. You don't
Speaker 2: think of the other videos. Yeah, But anyway, I know
Speaker 2: here in Washington there's a lot of gun owners here.
Speaker 3: I know there are you've got you've got them. I
Speaker 3: know that's six great Second Amendment state as well.
Speaker 2: But if I broke into your house, are you okay?
Speaker 2: If someone was breaking into your house, the first person
Speaker 2: that they would look for, honestly, if they're a burglar,
Speaker 2: to identify the strongest individual in the house, okay, And
Speaker 2: what they want to do is to neutralize the strongest individual.
Speaker 3: Now, Jesus is teaching.
Speaker 2: This right here. You got it right here. So he's
Speaker 2: just using this example. If you're going to plunder a
Speaker 2: man's home and you're going to rob his house while
Speaker 2: he's there and his family and the and the strongest
Speaker 2: person comes to the door, and it's typically Now, don't
Speaker 2: get offended, ladies, is typically going to be the guy
Speaker 2: in most cases.
Speaker 3: I've told you we live in a different era. Come on,
Speaker 3: I know now, you don't want to mess with my wife.
Speaker 2: She's one hundred and six pounds, southern beale, high heels,
Speaker 2: very girlish.
Speaker 3: But you miss with her dwelling fings, claws, horns. That's
Speaker 3: all I gotta say.
Speaker 2: But anyway, as she pushes me to the front, if
Speaker 2: you were robbing our house, the burglar would want to
Speaker 2: do one thing, and that is to neutralize the strong man,
Speaker 2: because the strong man poses the biggest threat to the burglar.
Speaker 2: After neutralizing the strong man, the others.
Speaker 3: Just normally typically would fall into place.
Speaker 2: Maybe the wife and the and the children are nothing
Speaker 2: more than nuisances.
Speaker 3: Do you hear me? Can I come down there? Can
Speaker 3: y'all turn on the lights right here? I want to
Speaker 3: because I need to talk to you. So here's what
Speaker 3: I want to do.
Speaker 2: People ask all the time, how has the revival been sustained?
Speaker 3: I want to talk to you about this.
Speaker 2: The burglar wants to neutralize the strong man, the thief. Now,
Speaker 2: I went to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas,
Speaker 2: and I want you to hear this.
Speaker 3: Because it's important. I was taught by some.
Speaker 2: Of the greatest men and women on the planet. But
Speaker 2: they told me, if I did a few things right,
Speaker 2: I could grow my church. I could be well established
Speaker 2: in the community and a man of reputation and high esteem.
Speaker 2: And they taught me that the most important thing that
Speaker 2: a preacher does and identified the strong man of the
Speaker 2: local church is the preaching.
Speaker 3: Of the Word of God.
Speaker 2: Now just stay with me, so I Pastor Ivan, can
Speaker 2: you come on up here for me for just a moment.
Speaker 2: I want you just to stand right here, stand right here,
Speaker 2: hold this up and let everybody see it.
Speaker 3: Most of us.
Speaker 2: Believe that the strong man of the church is the
Speaker 2: preaching of the Word of God. Now think about that
Speaker 2: for a moment. You and I a lot of times
Speaker 2: choose our churches based upon this one thing. And we
Speaker 2: leave our churches, and one of the first things that
Speaker 2: we say is this, I gotta find a new place
Speaker 2: because I'm just not getting I'm gonna ask you guys,
Speaker 2: because they did pretty good. We leave our churches a
Speaker 2: lot of times because something's going on with the preaching,
Speaker 2: and we got to have good preaching. And we will
Speaker 2: choose a church based upon how good the preacher feeds us.
Speaker 2: We leave because we're not getting So there's a lot
Speaker 2: of money and a lot of effort that is invested
Speaker 2: in making sure that this strong man is propped up,
Speaker 2: and we parade our preacher.
Speaker 3: Our preacher is better than your preacher.
Speaker 2: My preacher said, I'm not going to your church because
Speaker 2: your preacher is awful. Now am I telling the truth
Speaker 2: that we have identified the strong man of the church,
Speaker 2: the preaching of the Word of God.
Speaker 3: Do you hear what I'm saying?
Speaker 2: Now that's probably most of us in this room, that
Speaker 2: this is the most important thing that a church does.
Speaker 2: Preach the Gospel, Preach the Word, Preach the Gospel, preach
Speaker 2: the Word. And so we've all rallied around that. We
Speaker 2: even build our buildings to highlight what. We even have
Speaker 2: a beautiful table for the pastor to stand behind. All
Speaker 2: of you are sitting angled toward the central communication piece
Speaker 2: and you're hearing I was taught in Seminari's most important thing.
Speaker 2: Now just stand right there. You want to come help me,
Speaker 2: And if that's not the case, it's this right here.
Speaker 2: Hold that up so everybody can sit stand with him.
Speaker 2: Hold that up so everybody can sit. Everybody say worship. Now,
Speaker 2: think about this for a moment. Preaching and worship are
Speaker 2: the two items and the two things that we do
Speaker 2: and put most of our money in. Perhaps this building
Speaker 2: again is designed for two things, for you to come
Speaker 2: and hear the.
Speaker 3: Word and worship.
Speaker 2: How much money is on that stage right there, that keyboard,
Speaker 2: those guitars, that drum kit, the screens.
Speaker 3: I love it. It's excellent in here.
Speaker 2: But it just validates the point that we in the
Speaker 2: Western Church have elevated these two things as the strong man.
Speaker 2: If you have good preaching and good worship, you're gonna
Speaker 2: reach your community. People are gonna gonna they're gonna come,
Speaker 2: and they're gonna love it, and they're gonna stay.
Speaker 3: We're gonna build our church on these two things.
Speaker 2: Now, if it's not these two, somebody in this house, angela,
Speaker 2: can you come on it.
Speaker 3: Let's stand right there. We've propped up discipleship.
Speaker 2: As a strong man of the church, the great commission
Speaker 2: going all the world.
Speaker 3: Do what priests the gospels make disciples of all nations baptized.
Speaker 3: You know, the great commission. It is the great commission.
Speaker 3: And yet listen to this. We have elevated this.
Speaker 2: Hold it up that everything we do now is about discipleship.
Speaker 3: Small groups, community.
Speaker 2: Groups, Bible studies. We're pouring into one another, all necessary.
Speaker 2: But can you see what's happening that we are identifying
Speaker 2: the strong man of the church now one more. And
Speaker 2: if it's not that, come on up here. It's winning, Sauls.
Speaker 2: We gotta win the loss. Jesus came to seeking to
Speaker 2: save the loss. We gotta win the loss. So we
Speaker 2: gotta have social ministries, we gotta have homeless ministries, we
Speaker 2: gotta have street evangeliums, we gotta have missionaries, we gotta
Speaker 2: have all these things. And so those are important. But
Speaker 2: the modern New Testament Church, these are the four foundational.
Speaker 3: Pillars that we believe. If we do these right, then
Speaker 3: we're gonna have revival.
Speaker 2: I mistakekenly put all my eggs in the preaching basket.
Speaker 2: I would spend twenty thirty hours a week perfecting a talk.
Speaker 3: That within seventy two hours you're.
Speaker 2: Going to forget ninety five percent of what I had
Speaker 2: to say.
Speaker 3: Now, don't feel bad.
Speaker 2: I went out to eat after one of my sermons,
Speaker 2: and there's another preacher in the lobby whos we're waiting
Speaker 2: on our table. He goes, man, what'd you preach on
Speaker 2: this morning?
Speaker 4: I said, bro, I have no idea, so give me
Speaker 4: a moment.
Speaker 3: And I did it.
Speaker 2: I'm the one that spoke. And I can't even remember
Speaker 2: what I said, but about thirty hours a week pouring
Speaker 2: over texts and cross referencing it. And I'm not saying
Speaker 2: that's bad. But the reason I did it because they
Speaker 2: told me. If I'm a good reacher and I exegeate
Speaker 2: isageen of texts, and I do all the right things,
Speaker 2: and I put it, you know, three points and a
Speaker 2: poem and a great illustration and make people laugh, that
Speaker 2: my church would grow.
Speaker 3: And people's needs would be met, and they'll keep coming.
Speaker 3: And you have to go to two services and eventually
Speaker 3: three services.
Speaker 2: Oh, build a new building, have extension campuses and all
Speaker 2: these type of things. And so I gave my life
Speaker 2: to this as if this was the most.
Speaker 3: Important thing that I did. But watch me. What you
Speaker 3: think is the strong man.
Speaker 2: And what the burglar and the thief thinks is a
Speaker 2: strong man are entirely two different things.
Speaker 3: So when the devil comes into.
Speaker 2: This church, and he's walking into the building and he
Speaker 2: comes through the door.
Speaker 3: He's looking for one thing, trying to find out where
Speaker 3: the strong man is.
Speaker 2: And while our faces and noses are pointed towards the stage,
Speaker 2: he's not looking there. As we're being mesmerized and encouraged
Speaker 2: and strengthened by the worship and the praise, and how
Speaker 2: talented they are and wonderful they are, which.
Speaker 3: They need to be. While we're looking that way with
Speaker 3: our hands up and we are.
Speaker 2: Experiencing somewhat of a move of the Holy Spirit, the
Speaker 2: one who's come to still killed and destroy is looking
Speaker 2: for the strong man. And he's not looking on the stage.
Speaker 2: He's not looking in the offices. He's not looking at
Speaker 2: your mission budget. He's not looking at your outreach budget.
Speaker 2: He's looking for one strong man.
Speaker 3: And I want to share this with you. Can you
Speaker 3: come up here and stand with me.
Speaker 2: As important as these are, they're not the strong man.
Speaker 2: If preaching could bring revival, we would already be in revival.
Speaker 2: Sunday morning, four hundred thousand churches gathered together in North America,
Speaker 2: with the average attendance between seventy five and one hundred people.
Speaker 2: Let's just say one hundred forty million people in North
Speaker 2: America came together to hear the word.
Speaker 3: And I'm not being ugly when I say this, and
Speaker 3: don't read into it.
Speaker 2: I'm nice, I really am. But we're no closer to
Speaker 2: revival on Monday than we were on Sunday, after four
Speaker 2: hundred thousand sermons that have echoed through the airways, into
Speaker 2: the ears and out of the ears, and inside the
Speaker 2: brains and inside the hearts of people all across this nation.
Speaker 2: I'm not talking about the world. I'm just talking about here.
Speaker 2: America is no closer to revival, and we had four
Speaker 2: hundred thousand sermons. Now, don't get mad at me. I'm
Speaker 2: just telling you the truth. Not only that, but we
Speaker 2: had four hundred thousand worship teams. Seven per worship team
Speaker 2: two point eight million worshipers. They're no closer to revival today,
Speaker 2: even though we sang all the right songs, hit all
Speaker 2: the right notes. If worship listen to me and preaching
Speaker 2: could bring revival, it would have already happened.
Speaker 3: Now, don't think that I'm saying that it's not important.
Speaker 2: I'm just telling you they're not the strong man that
Speaker 2: we think they are, and so we're putting every ounce
Speaker 2: of strength and resource in the preaching and the worship,
Speaker 2: thinking that if we just sang a little longer, preach
Speaker 2: a little harder, be a little bit more relevant, then we're.
Speaker 3: Gonna be birthing revival.
Speaker 2: You cannot name one single sustained move of God in
Speaker 2: the history of humanity that began with the preaching.
Speaker 3: Are with worship. It may a surface there, but it
Speaker 3: didn't begin there.
Speaker 2: It may have manifested publicly, but it did not begin there.
Speaker 2: So as he walks in, as we're looking toward the
Speaker 2: pulpit on the platform, he's looking elsewhere.
Speaker 3: And the strongman of the church is this right here, stand.
Speaker 4: Right there, hold it up high and let everybody set.
Speaker 2: Let these folks over here see it way over here
Speaker 2: in the crowd. Now, I'm gonna help you right here,
Speaker 2: come on, keep.
Speaker 3: I know you're clapping now, but you're.
Speaker 2: Not gonna clap in a moment, I promise you. So
Speaker 2: here's what the devil does. He walks into your church,
Speaker 2: and he don't mind if John three sixteen's preached.
Speaker 3: He doesn't mind if the Romans Road is preached.
Speaker 2: He doesn't mind if there is a ministry, a prophetic ministry,
Speaker 2: deliverance ministry, so winning ministry, homeless ministry. He says, let
Speaker 2: them have their way, let them continue to do it.
Speaker 2: They may have success, but their success is going to
Speaker 2: be limited. He looks for one ministry that he wants
Speaker 2: to tie up.
Speaker 3: Have you ar He says, if I can bind hold
Speaker 3: this pie.
Speaker 2: If I can bind this one guy right here, I'll
Speaker 2: let them continue to do what they do.
Speaker 3: He says, I'm going to bind them.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna time up, I'm gonna make him useless, and
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna render this ministry right here. This is
Speaker 2: all I'm concerned about right here. This is all I
Speaker 2: need to have focus on.
Speaker 3: Is this right here?
Speaker 2: This is where he calls his churches to have a
Speaker 2: form of godliness but no power. I want to say
Speaker 2: it this way, pastor, this is the most important ministry
Speaker 2: of our church and your church is supersedes the preaching
Speaker 2: of the gospel.
Speaker 3: It is greater than the worship ministry.
Speaker 2: It's greater than soul winning, it's greater than discipleship, it's
Speaker 2: greater than any other type of ministry. I'm not saying
Speaker 2: they're not important, but the most important ministry of the
Speaker 2: church is the prayer ministry.
Speaker 3: Now here's the question I have for you. We're all
Speaker 3: all excited about this and.
Speaker 2: Say yes and amen, But when's the last time you
Speaker 2: attended a corporate prayer meeting. Oh, we know it's important,
Speaker 2: but it's not more important than the word.
Speaker 3: It's not more important than worship. I gotta get my
Speaker 3: worship on. I got to have that worship team sing.
Speaker 3: That's saw that's gonna give me my breakthrough.
Speaker 2: I hope the preacher brings it today because I've had
Speaker 2: a rough whek.
Speaker 3: I got bills that need to be paid.
Speaker 2: I'm discouraging down tried that preacher better bring it.
Speaker 3: Of course, if you don't bring it today.
Speaker 2: I got to listen to a podcast that somebody.
Speaker 3: Can feed my weary sault.
Speaker 2: The least attended meeting ministry of the church.
Speaker 3: Is this right here. You call a prayer meeting.
Speaker 2: Everybody gets busy, everybody's tired, everybody's got something else to do.
Speaker 3: You call a healing conference.
Speaker 2: Everybody comes, a worship night, we packed the building out,
Speaker 2: a prophetic everybody comes, deliverance everybody, and they're all necessary.
Speaker 2: But you call a prayer meeting, Well, it's just not
Speaker 2: that important. And we wonder why there's no miracles. We
Speaker 2: wonder why there's no power. We wonder why people come
Speaker 2: in broken and disgusted and they leave the same way
Speaker 2: we wonder why people come in demonize and they leave demonized.
Speaker 2: It's not because we're not preaching and saying the right
Speaker 2: things and doing discipleship and doing classes.
Speaker 3: It's simply because of this right here. Now, do you
Speaker 3: hear what I'm saying? Pastor, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: The prayer has got to be the priority of every church,
Speaker 2: above the preaching, above worship, above all the ministries, above
Speaker 2: the children, above the youth ministry. They're important, but the
Speaker 2: most important is this right here? Why now, just kneel down,
Speaker 2: Just kneel down, because then when this is in place,
Speaker 2: the soul winning goes to the next level. Discipleship goes
Speaker 2: to the next level, the preaching goes to the next level,
Speaker 2: and worship goes to the next level. People say, how
Speaker 2: did the North Jordia revival begin?
Speaker 3: And how is it sustained? Take a look at these pictures,
Speaker 3: Well up that next.
Speaker 2: Picture if you will, this right here, just stay right there,
Speaker 2: This right here.
Speaker 3: Is revival.
Speaker 2: It's not falling on your back, it's not shaking, rattling
Speaker 2: and rolling, it's not laughing and I love joy, I
Speaker 2: love falling out in the holy ghosts. I love all
Speaker 2: the manifestations. But this right here, when you come to Dawsonville.
Speaker 2: This happens seven times throughout our week. It wasn't that
Speaker 2: way in the beginning, seven different times.
Speaker 3: Next picture. Next picture, that's the face of revival.
Speaker 2: Hard working men, dirt, grease under their fingernails.
Speaker 3: At six o'clock on Monday night, they gather for prayer.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, they'll come stinking, they'll come sweaty. They'll come,
Speaker 2: they'll fight traffic, they'll get there late if they have to,
Speaker 2: but they'll get on their face and they'll begin to
Speaker 2: cry out to God.
Speaker 3: Next picture. This is revival.
Speaker 2: This is moms and children coming together. We do not
Speaker 2: minimize our children's prayer effort. We tell them, bring your kids.
Speaker 2: The most important responsibility of a parent is to teach
Speaker 2: your child how to pray, how to connect with God,
Speaker 2: how to pull down the glory of the Kingdom of God.
Speaker 2: Next picture, right here on their face. Next picture, finding
Speaker 2: a hole, a corner. Next picture, finding a cute somewhere
Speaker 2: where they can cry out to God.
Speaker 3: God.
Speaker 2: I need nothing from you. I'm not asking for my
Speaker 2: mental health. I'm not asking for financial health, but God,
Speaker 2: we need your glory to fall in this place. Next picture,
Speaker 2: next picture. Here they are on their face before God. Oh,
Speaker 2: next picture, I gotta finish. Here they are putting their
Speaker 2: hands on the baptismal pool. Next picture, next picture, next picture,
Speaker 2: next picture.
Speaker 1: Come on, somebody, how many you believe it's true? How
Speaker 1: many of you believe it's true? So let's go back
Speaker 1: to the passage real quick, Matthew twelve eight through twenty nine.
Speaker 1: But if it is by the fear of God that
Speaker 1: I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has
Speaker 1: come upon you. Or again, how can anyone enter a
Speaker 1: strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he
Speaker 1: first ties up the strong man, then he can plunder
Speaker 1: his house. Listen, let me say it again. Then he
Speaker 1: can plunder his house. I want to go somewhere with
Speaker 1: this quickly, and we need to wind up things. I
Speaker 1: know that, but just quickly, I want to go somewhere
Speaker 1: with this. Is that that scripture Pastor Todd made an
Speaker 1: application to this house like the temple, like the Congregational house.
Speaker 1: And how many of you know there's relevance to that?
Speaker 1: So if we aren't coming together and praying. If we aren't,
Speaker 1: if we aren't congregationally gathering, if we aren't, if we
Speaker 1: don't have prayer meetings, if our prayer meetings are poorly attended.
Speaker 1: Like the glory that we have, the glory that we have,
Speaker 1: we are responsible to activate the glory that we have
Speaker 1: if we pray Glacial sixty seventh. And I said it
Speaker 1: this way, so much to the spirit reap much from
Speaker 1: the spirit, so to the flesh reap only from the flesh.
Speaker 1: There's a continuum here. If we're pressing in a little bit,
Speaker 1: we get a little bit of glory, We get a
Speaker 1: little bit of revival. If we're pressing in a little
Speaker 1: bit more. Remember Ezekiel forty seven. The deeper they went
Speaker 1: in the river, the more the life of the river
Speaker 1: that they partnered with. And so there's a call to
Speaker 1: go deeper into the river. Ezequiel forty seven. There's a
Speaker 1: call to go deeper. And it's as we go deeper
Speaker 1: than we begin to enter in to the glories. Angela's
Speaker 1: vision that she had and she shared it this morning
Speaker 1: first service. I didn't know she was going to share that,
Speaker 1: but it's the word she told me last week, I
Speaker 1: think I had a word for the body. I think
Speaker 1: I had this word for the body, this vision over
Speaker 1: the body. It is a vision over the body. The
Speaker 1: Lord's giving us a rock, He's giving us a burden,
Speaker 1: and we don't want it. We drop it. I don't
Speaker 1: want that. That looks like I can't carry that. That's
Speaker 1: too hard for me. And I don't have time for prayer.
Speaker 1: What in the world. I got a big life to
Speaker 1: live here. What's going on? We dropped the burden. We
Speaker 1: dropped the burden of the Lord. Prayer is taking up
Speaker 1: the burden of the Lord. We've become a kingdom of priests.
Speaker 1: We're a kingdom of priests. You know what a priest is,
Speaker 1: an intercessor somebody who stands between who were stand in between.
Speaker 1: We're standing between the nations and the Lord. Matthew twenty one.
Speaker 1: Jesus references this, you know, Matthew references this situation where
Speaker 1: Jesus comes into the temple, comes into the temple, comes
Speaker 1: into the temple, but they've made it a den of robbers,
Speaker 1: and they are extorting their brothers who are coming to
Speaker 1: offer sacrifice. And so of course he cleanses the temple.
Speaker 1: But he declares something right. He says, my house will
Speaker 1: be a house of pardon. This is the identity of
Speaker 1: his house. He said, what in the world are you
Speaker 1: doing to my house? But then he says even something deeper.
Speaker 1: He quotes Isaiah fifty six, and it's Isaiah looking forward
Speaker 1: to the time of Christ. And it's Isaiah looking forward
Speaker 1: to actually a new house, a different house, a house
Speaker 1: that wouldn't be just a Hebrew house. Isaiah sees the
Speaker 1: foreigners coming, and the aliens, and the strangers, and the
Speaker 1: non Hebrews and the non circumcised, and he says, my
Speaker 1: house will be a house of prayer for all the nations.
Speaker 1: And when the Lord sees the robbery in the house,
Speaker 1: it's Matthew twenty one. Let me read it to you
Speaker 1: real quick. I'm trying to go fast. Don't you love
Speaker 1: me anyway? Verse twelve. Jesus entered the temple courts and
Speaker 1: drove out all who were buying and selling. There. He
Speaker 1: overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches
Speaker 1: of those selling doves, and he said this to them.
Speaker 1: It is written, my house will be called a house
Speaker 1: of prayer, but you are making it a den of Roberts.
Speaker 1: He's quoting out of Isaiah. I think Mark included of
Speaker 1: the nations. Luke might have included of the nations, all three, Mark,
Speaker 1: Matthew Luke. They all wrote about this situation happening, and
Speaker 1: Jesus was looking forward to And I'm not a good artist.
Speaker 1: I want to make you as handsome as possible. I'm struggling.
Speaker 1: This is better than first service. This is so much better. Wow,
Speaker 1: look at that. I took some art lessons in between
Speaker 1: service or something. And there's your heart. You like the heart.
Speaker 1: This house, this house, though it has relevance, this house
Speaker 1: is closed. This house kind of closed. Remember timeline, mosaic system,
Speaker 1: Priesthood of Aaron, eighty seventy. It's destroyed eighty seventy. The
Speaker 1: temple's torn down, no more sacrifices. There was a new
Speaker 1: temple that was raised up. This temple had to close
Speaker 1: so that this temple could be raised up. This is
Speaker 1: what Hebrews is all about. Who's the new temple? Huh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're the new house of God. And he says this,
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you an identity. I'm going to
Speaker 1: give you an identity. Here's your identity. You are a
Speaker 1: house of prayer? What have you made your house? Is
Speaker 1: your house? A house of entertainment is your house? A
Speaker 1: house of fun is your house? A house of business?
Speaker 1: Is your house? He saw one thing that they had
Speaker 1: made his house.
Speaker 3: See here's the deal.
Speaker 1: We don't come to corporate prayer meetings because this house
Speaker 1: is not a house of prayer. So we don't make
Speaker 1: this a house of prayer. See the lively stones that
Speaker 1: make up this house. If the lively stones a holy priesthood,
Speaker 1: Peter writes about the lively stones of the holy priesthood.
Speaker 1: If the lively stones are not lively, if they're only
Speaker 1: half lively, partial lively, quarter lively, if they're deadly, then
Speaker 1: even if we came to a meeting, we wouldn't bring
Speaker 1: life to it. So we're bored to death at that.
Speaker 1: That's why it's such a heavy burden. He hands us
Speaker 1: this burden, and he says, here, carry this, and if
Speaker 1: we'll take it up, it'll become a gemstone. It'll become
Speaker 1: glory if we will embrace the burden of the Lord,
Speaker 1: the burden he wants us to carry. If we'll embrace
Speaker 1: the burden of the Lord, it'll become a gymstone. It'll
Speaker 1: turn into glory. Glory will come if we'll embrace the
Speaker 1: burden of the Lord sand with me. I know, I've
Speaker 1: got to get shout of here. You and I we
Speaker 1: are the house of the Lord. And he said, as
Speaker 1: my house will be known as a house of prayer.
Speaker 1: It's our identity. It's it's it's like a crazy identity.
Speaker 1: I mean, and it's it's interesting. We're also teaching in
Speaker 1: classes and we're known for that. And we're also busting
Speaker 1: people in we're known for that, and we're we are
Speaker 1: the lively stones that make up the four things that
Speaker 1: he talked about, the quadrant that he talked about. We
Speaker 1: got discipleship, we got worship, we got we got all
Speaker 1: of this. But first of all, not just a macrocosm
Speaker 1: of congregation. On a microclism, am I a house of prayer.
Speaker 1: Am I devoted to prayer. Am I known for prayer?
Speaker 1: Do people do people know me as a prayer warrior?
Speaker 1: Am I devoted to prayer? Am I getting up in praying?
Speaker 1: Am I dependent upon the Lord? Am I having an
Speaker 1: intimate time with the Lord in prayer? Am I seeking
Speaker 1: the Lord in prayer? Am I a house a prayer
Speaker 1: for the nations, Or am I just a prayer house
Speaker 1: for me and for my family and for my kids
Speaker 1: and my stuff and mine, mine, mine, mine, Or am
Speaker 1: I a house of prayer for the nations?
Speaker 3: He's called us to be a.
Speaker 1: House of prayer for that. We are the voice of
Speaker 1: Psalm to ask of me, and I will give you
Speaker 1: the nations as your inheritance and the ends of the
Speaker 1: earth as your possession. We are the intercessors, We are
Speaker 1: the priests, We are the representatives. We are the mouthpiece
Speaker 1: of the Lord in the earth. Today. Hands up everywhere
Speaker 1: across the room. Just Holy Spirit, we just welcome you
Speaker 1: right now. I'm gonna ask the prayer team to come
Speaker 1: and as we close this morning, if you're here coming
Speaker 1: back to the Lord, giving your lifetime to the Lord,
Speaker 1: even this morning, if there's relevance to what Angela spoke of,
Speaker 1: if you're watching online, you watching online, if there's relevance,
Speaker 1: the Lord's handing us his burden, his burden of prayer,
Speaker 1: doesn't he? Oh my goodness. If you're here online or
Speaker 1: with us today and you just say I need a
Speaker 1: touch from Holy Spirit. Maybe you didn't come forward earlier
Speaker 1: and you're wishing you would have come forward. Would you
Speaker 1: respond as we close this morning. I know we've got
Speaker 1: the newcomers gathering here this morning, stuff going on. I
Speaker 1: know we get to run and get home and whatever.
Speaker 1: But I'm asking that you would respond to the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit right now and with hands up, just would you
Speaker 1: devote your house, this temple house, from the top of
Speaker 1: your head to the soles of your feet. Would you
Speaker 1: devote your house to prayer again? Would you devote your
Speaker 1: house to prayer again? Holy Spirit? We present ourselves to
Speaker 1: you as your ambassadors of prayer, as your priests of prayer,
Speaker 1: as your intercessors of prayer. We even present to you
Speaker 1: our partnership in the prayer ministry. Over this house, over
Speaker 1: this congregation, Holy Spirit, we devote ourselves to you. We
Speaker 1: want to be known corporately as a house of prayer,
Speaker 1: and we want to be known individually as a house
Speaker 1: of prayer. Move upon us, Move upon us. We believe
Speaker 1: that as we embrace this burden and we take it up,
Speaker 1: the glory will come in Jesus' name. And everybody said,
Speaker 1: God bless you. Let's worship as we go this morning,
Speaker 1: Church