Today I want to do something...

... that I have wanted to do for a long time...I want to tell all of you where to go!  Matthew 28:18 19 (NLT) “Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  Jesus has told us to go and we must be obedient!  

1. We must go after God with all of our hearts.  The truth is: we will never go after “them” until we go after Him! Tommy Tenny, “We must go after God until we catch Him or He catches us!”

2. We must go after the lost. Ezekiel tells us there is a great and mighty army just waiting to come up out of their graves to be used for God. Ezek 37:13 (NKJV) "Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves.” 

3. We must go to the church and say it is time to wake up out of your sleep! Eph 5:14 (NKJV) “Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light." 

4. We must go after revival!!! Revival is when you are tired of the status quo and you truly want Jesus to be Lord. It is when you are tired of altars not being filled with those who need salvation, when you want Holy Spirit to lead a service instead of a man, when dry bones come to life! It is when God’s Word is believed and acted upon with signs following, when children and adults alike are in the altars pouring out their hearts to God, and revival is a blast of the breath of God coming into a church and community changing everything in its path.

5. We must go on to maturity. Hebrews 6:1 (NLT) “So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God.” 

Finally, we must go to the gates of hell and rescue those who are about to fall off the edge. Life Church, Jesus said we must go, so we must go!!

I know I shared this about a year ago...

... but I think we always need a reminder about Israel. Genesis 12:13 (NLT) “The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.  I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” Isn’t it amazing that God would say, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.” God’s heart has always been toward His chosen people Israel.

We have tried here at LIFE CHURCH Assembly of God to focus our attention on blessing and praying for Israel. Why? The simple answer is that God has told us in His Word to do so and we are trying to obedient to Him. We want the blessings of God to be upon us and upon our church so we pray for Israel every time we meet together. We believe one of the reasons God sustained us through the great recession was because of our love and prayers for the Jewish people.

So what is God’s goal or purpose for the children of Israel and for us, the Gentiles?  Ephesians 2:14 (NLT) “For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.” God’s goal is that none should perish but that all would come to repentance and find LIFE!  God wants Jews and Gentiles to Live in Freedom Every Day!

A few years ago we did a series...

... on Sunday mornings called “Fully Devoted” and just as a reminder I want to share a few things with you to stir up your heart again for the church. Whether you realize it or not we need each other. The new converts on the Day of Pentecost were transformed by the power of Holy Spirit baptism but they needed an ongoing experience that would carry them thru. Acts 2:4243 (NIV) “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.” They devoted themselves (dedicated themselves) to the Word, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

Can I be so bold to say to you today that if you are going to survive in these end times and if you are going to thrive as a believer, it will be because you are fully devoted to these things in the context of the local church. We have committed ourselves to the preaching and teaching of the Word of God because we know that is what will change your lives and give you direction. We have made it possible for you to be in fellowship with others who can encourage you but if you do not show up...we are limited on how we can help. We break bread together in the context of the Lord’s supper or communion but we also provide Connect Groups to break bread in a casual setting. When we are together we have the privilege of praying for each other and seeing God work miracles.

The verses in our text said that when we do these things many wonders and miraculous signs will be done. Again, it is in the context of being here at Life Church hearing the Word, having fellowship together, breaking bread together, and praying together. Who doesn’t want God to do miracles and wonders?  My exhortation to you is to “jump in” and be fully devoted to God and His house and watch your lives begin to change!

Pastor Rick, you have preached

... so many sermons on the baptism in the Holy Spirit in the last few months...What’s up? Let’s cut through the chase and get directly to the point. There are so many benefits to being baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire but I believe one takes precedence over all the others. Jesus said in Matthew that He came to seek and to save those who were lost. When He gave us the Great Commission He gave us a mandate to go into all the world and reach and teach the lost.

That is definitely an impossible task without some kind of supernatural intervention to enable us to accomplish what He has called us to do. He told His disciples to go and tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power.  Power to do what?  Acts 1:8 (NKJV)  “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." We have to receive this power to accomplish His will for the lost being saved. We must obey His mandate!

So what happens when we get filled with His Spirit and power? The same thing that happened to the apostles and the early church. Acts 2:47 (NKJV)  “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”  As the disciples continued to walk in the Spirit look what happened:  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.” The point is this...souls are added to the church and then multiplied!  Wow!  Ephesians 5:18 (NKJV)  “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit…” Be filled with the Spirit…it is a command so we will reach the lost!