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!

Today I want us to see...

... what we can learn from Daniel going to the upper room to pray. Daniel 6:10 (NLT) ^“But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.” He didn’t just pray when he had a bad day; he prayed every day. He didn’t just pray 911 prayers when he was facing the lion’s den, prayer was a vital part of the rhythm and routine of his life. 

Prayer was his life and his life was prayer. What about us? Are we just crisis Christians who only pray when opposition comes our way or do we pray today “just as we have always done”?  

I would be very unfair to leave out here that Daniel knew there was the potential for him to die if he continued to pray during this 30-day period. Remember the three Hebrew young men…Our God can deliver us but even if He doesn’t, we won’t bow down. When Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upper room. If we are going to be world changers, we have to make the upper room a priority…Daniel made it to his upper room three times a day. Daniel impacted his world by making it to the upper room. The twelve disciples changed the world by making it to the upper room and being there on the day of Pentecost. Holy Spirit fell and they turned their world upside down for Jesus. Elijah saw the resurrection power of God in the upper room when the widow’s son was raised from the dead. Tabitha was raised from the dead in the upper room when Peter prayed for her.

Maybe the reason we are not seeing revival or seeing the healings we want to see is because we are not making it to the upper room enough. The upper room is where we experience Holy Spirit power! Listen to me today…if you want Holy Spirit power, you don’t need people pulling on you or pushing on you or spitting on you or telling you to hang on or turn lose…get to the upper room…Jesus will fill you! Daniel’s upper room experience was just a foreshadowing of Holy Spirit power coming to the church. The dead are raised, the sick are healed, and the mouths of lions are shut…Get to the upper room!

Habakkuk 2:1 3 (NKJV) “I will stand my watch...

... And set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me, And what I will answer when I am corrected. Then the LORD answered me and said: "Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.  For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.”  Today I want to continue to challenge you to pray with me about our church growing initially to one thousand. I have two important questions that I think we need to answer.

1. Did Jesus want to win the lost and see His Kingdom grow?  

Well, let’s look a Scripture and see what Jesus had to say about that. It is interesting to me to realize that what we are dreaming now is what Jesus was dreaming then. Luke 19:10 (NLT)  “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”  Obviously, Jesus wanted His Kingdom to grow and that is why He was seeking the lost.

2. What price was Jesus willing to pay to see His Kingdom (church) grow?  

Life Church will not grow without us being willing to do what Jesus did...deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.  Can I say that we have become very comfortable being saved and being safe in our little church on Picciola Road in Fruitland Park.  John 12:23 24 (NLT) Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.”  Wow, Pastor, growing to 1000 plus sounds serious...sounds sacrificial...sounds like being a servant for God instead of being served all the time. The days we live in demand us to be serious and sober about reaching the lost and building God’s Kingdom.

Jesus says in Matthew 10:37 39 (NKJV) ...

... “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.  He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”  It has been amazing to me as we have preached the portion of the New Testament that is in red (Jesus’ Words) that some have thought possibly we were a bit extreme.  Have we become so comfortable in the American church chasing after the American dream that we feel that Jesus’ words make us so uneasy.

Could it be possible that God would require everything of me?  Would Jesus really ask anyone to give up everything to follow Him?  Would He really expect me to love Him more than father, mother, son, or daughter?  Maybe the question is not whether He might require all of this of us but do we love Him enough to abandon it all if He asked us to do so?  Matthew Henry's Commentary: “A man cannot be Christ's disciple unless he loves Him more than father, and mother, and his own life.”  But, Lord, I have plans laid out and giving up everything does not fit into my future. Our lives have to be swallowed up in His...He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for Christ’s sake will find it!

We find it so strange that in 2014 we could be preaching a message to materialist Americans who are pursuing the American dream to accept Jesus’ offer to lay down our lives.  Maybe we should ask the disciples who (all but one) died a martyr’s death.  Pentecostals love this verse but really do not know what it means:  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." The word there “witnesses” is interpreted “martyrs”.  Bonhoeffer: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him to come and die.”  Come on, Life Church, it is time to die!