Pastor Gail Stathis – Main Message

I’m going to talk today, we don’t have a PowerPoint, if you don’t have a Bible, I’m not to go into a lot of Scriptures today. But you may want to have your Bible handy. We are talking about, ‘We are church’, not ‘The Church’ but we are church. So, I just wanted to share with you today, the Lord dropped this in my heart, about 2 goals for the church that we are. The age that we live in is called, ‘the age of the Spirit’s or Church’ and the nearer it is to the coming of the Lord, we are going to recognize more and more the Spirit doing things that seem strange or out of the ordinary to us.
Of course, I was with so many people, I think it was 41 different nations, that were with us this week and pastor Brian is going to show you a little video, showing you some of the outpourings of revivals of what the Holy Spirit is doing around the world, next week.
People being raised from the dead, and even in Africa they actually have a video of one man whose arm was gone, and the arm grew back. God is doing some amazing things. Giving jobs; telling people how to do a job, where there was no job. The Spirit of the Lord is at work, in the world today.
Those of us in the west, we can sometimes take it for granted what the Holy Spirit is doing. I think He does miracles every day, but because we are not being persecuted or suffering, we aren’t always aware of what He is doing. In many ways, the Holy Spirit has worked in the world, to help us have this life that we have. We live in great freedom, and I believe it’s because of the hour of the Lord in the west. But it wasn’t always like this.
For about 1500 years, there was a season of darkness, years. The moving of the Holy Spirit was hardly seen. People didn’t have Bibles; they didn’t even know how to read the Bible. People were told how you can only worship the Lord. They were put in boxes. There has been no time, that Christianity was so developed as it is today.
I read the Bible through, ever year. I think I have 20 different versions; there are so many versions; we have so much. There are missionaries are almost everywhere, not quite but almost everywhere now. I think we can truly say, this is the age of the church where the Holy Spirit is doing amazing things. And the Bible prophesied that before Jesus Christ comes again, there would be signs and wonders. You young meant would see visions and your old men and women would have dreams. These are things that would happen right before Christ comes again. So, when we understand that we are the Church, the whole Body, but each one of us, we are church, we need to understand that there are goals for His Church.
I don’t think that any of you would disagree with me, that what God began, when the world began, when through the centuries, things He prophesied, it’s very quickly being fulfilled. And it will be complete, when His Church, His beautiful bride, is presented to Him glorious. And it’s quickly coming together. You know, he didn’t just purchase you and I individually, He purchased His Church, His Body, His Bride. And, He’s waiting for her to become complete before He can return.
He purchased, He bought His Bride, with His blood; that’s why He’s coming back. Being the Church, doesn’t mean just sitting on a pew and coming to Church on Sunday morning, to fill a chair. We are not to merely just exist. But today, I wanted to say very simply, I can share 2 great things, that she’s supposed to do, and when she does these, she will be perfect, I believe it. If Christ is in you today, and I think he’s in all of us in this room, He is working in you, and maybe that’s why some of the days are a little hard, because he’s kind of working you. To get His beautiful Church ready. His Church, His Bride, has been His project, since He died and rose again, 2000 years ago. That’s a long project. But I think we can say, the end when it’s complete is in sight.
Everyone will know the first goal. We are going to read it together. Matthew 28:19-20, it’s the first book in the New Testament. I love reading the Word, I hope you do too. These verses are very familiar to you. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” So, I think we can say that one of the goals, number one is to evangelize the world. Let everyone know, that Jesus came, and, oh how He loves them. Most of the Church around the world knows this. When we talk about missionaries, it’s not just about missionaries that go, but each one of you is a missionary here. And there are missionaries today, that go into very dangerous areas. They’re sacrificing for the Bride of Christ.
Now let’s go really quickly to chapter 16 of the next book of the Bible, you may also know this one too. Mark 16:15, There’s just a little more emphasis, “He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.’” I think we can say here, the Lord is saying, ‘I want my Church, my Bride, in every country of the world. Among every peoples.’ But there is also missionary work, right outside the door here. There’s a lady that lives next door, and because we talk with her through the years, she hasn’t asked Jesus into her heart yet, but she asks us every day more and more to pray.
I am thankful for the missionaries we have in this church, like Cecilia, and Billy and Eva-Lena, and others. Short term we have Christin. But we have each one of you; I’m thankful for each one of you, Kitty and Ray, where you live each one of us, that’s our mission field Amen. And the Bible didn’t just say for missionaries, but said, ‘Go you.’ The number one goal is – Let’s go, let’s share the good news. I believe this local church is going to have more and more people that are going to take 2 or 3 of you go to my neighborhood, I want to have a little bible study, because people are hungry to learn more about Jesus.
The more we watch things on the news, our eyes can begin to drop down here, looking at the political situation only. We can look only at the sociological point of view. And some of those things are OK to understand. But if your eyes stay down here, and you begin to argue and discuss at that level, then you will forget, that we live in a world, where man will always strive to be number one. There will be wars and rumors of wars, because mankind wants power.
So, it’s OK to understand what’s going on. But you know what? I can’t fix the war between Ukraine and Russia. I cannot fix the situation between Israel and Gaza and Hamas and all of them. I can read about it, but every opinion I have, must fall at the feet of Jesus. Because, when I don’t understand why things are happening, and if I judge without the mind of Christ, then I bring everything down to this level. But we’re His Church, we’re His beautiful Bride. Our goal is, whatever is happening in the world, let them know, because people need the Lord. They need the Lord. The heart of man without God, will always be dark. So, our number one goal, no matter what happens in the world, let people know, in the midst of it all, there is a Savior. Amen. And I believe, the nearer it is to the return of Jesus, and it’s getting very near, there will always be a sense of urgency that will begin to grip your hearts.
For several years now, I wake up almost every night, at 3:23 AM. For a while, I’d turn on the TV, thinking, ‘Oh, it will help me go back to sleep.’ I didn’t really understand, at first, I wanted to sleep, I like to sleep. I don’t sleep very well. And finally, I realized, the Lord was calling me, to spend a little time with Him, at 3:23 in the morning, and find, my heart is breaking more and more, for all of those who don’t know Jesus. At 3:23 in the morning, most of the time I want to pray, ‘Lord, use me, somewhere today.’
There’s an urgency, and the Spirit is trying to draw us with. I don’t know about you, but I often tell the Lord, certain names, ‘Lord I don’t want to go to heaven, without that one’ and I’ll name a name. I’ll name a name, ‘Oh Lord, I want them to be there with me.’ But you know what? The Lord wants every name, He wants everyone there with Him, Amen. That urgency is gripping His Church. I believe this is a primary concern on the heart of Jesus Christ. Do you know that the Bible says, ‘That He sits at the right hand of the Father’, and He’s telling the Father what you pray. They’re important to Him. So, we must have the concerns of Christ in our lives.
This is a tremendous goal – to evangelize the world. It won’t be done cheaply. It’s going to require some sacrifice of many, because it will require finances to help people go. Our team on Kefalonia. Don’t just say, ‘Lord, bless them’ and leave it at that. Spend some time praying for them, and prayer sometimes is hard work. And it requires effort. I imagine that there are some days that Billy, down town where he’s ministering. He might not want to hear, ‘Oh Lord, I got to hear all these stories again today.’ But when we go, and I imagine this is true, pastor Billy, in the moment, suddenly when it seems tiring but suddenly when you begin to hear it, your heart begins to go, because you’ve given the effort, your heart begins to surround the need.
The second goal, is Ephesians 5:25-27. It’s in the New Testament again, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” And one more in Colossians. Are you with me? Colossians 1:27-28, “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.”
He didn’t just purchase a beautiful Bride, a Church that has form and just obeys rules, but this Church has great quality, and He’s calling her as she grows, to become purer. She is not like the world; she is opposite of the world. In 1 Peter 2:9-12 it says, ‘The Church is a holy nation a royal priesthood’. Remember the woman taken in adultery, He forgave her and said, ‘Go and sin no more.’ He’s calling us, to become purer, more like Him and less like the world. He’s the Head of this Body. There’s no sin in that Head. Sin is a cancer in the Body. It makes us weak. I feel like the Lord is calling us to have somebody that you can even confess to when you get weak, that we can begin to get rid of those things before they grow in our lives.
In Ephesians 4 it says that, ‘We must warn every man, that they can be presented perfect, when Jesus Christ comes.’ This beautiful Church, this beautiful Bride, is going to be wearing clothes that are spotless, pure and white, Hallelujah. It represents the righteousness, because we live righteous in Jesus Christ. That’s why we need the Holy Spirit, we need to let Him work in our lives like never before. Because the more we live in the Spirit, the less we will sin. The more we live in the Spirit, the more we will sense Him convicting us troubling us with something we’re doing that’s not right. A very serious message. Without holiness, no man will see God.
Two things, our responsibility, preach the salvation, share the salvation, share the forgiveness, share the love of God, of Jesus, to the whole world. If you’re embarrassed to share with your neighbors, begin to repent that. Confess to the Lord, and say, ‘God, help me to share into my street, into my apartment building’.
But that is not enough. We’ve got to pray and believe and live holy. Holy! How are you today? I’m not perfect yet. God’s is still at work on me. I sometimes get too mad in traffic. Yesterday, at Alpha Beta, I just got back yesterday and I needed something from the grocery store. I’m standing in the line at the cashier, and this person just pushes me out of the way. Excuse me? I didn’t say anything but I wanted to. I haven’t done anything towards the man. I just shared a little thing. But it is time for us to live so much in the Spirit. How are you? Are you sharing the salvation message? Are you living holy?
We shared a passage of Scripture in the beginning of the service today, from 2 Chronicles 29:5, you might want to read it when you go home. Hezekiah was king. His father was extremely wicked. The spiritual condition of the country, oh it was terrible. People were even sacrificing their children in the fire, just putting their children in the fire. It was awful. They were worshipping pagans, idols, The doors of the temple had been closed. The light in the temple had gone out. They were not worshipping; they were not the people of God.
But Hezekiah, was a great king. In his very first month as king, he opened the doors to the temple. And we read this early this morning, 2 Chronicles 29:5. He called all the people, and he said, in verse 5, “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary.” I’m the house of God, we’ve got to get rid of this filthiness from our lives. And the n 1 Chronicles 29:11, “My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense.” When we come before Him and we give Him glory, we minister to Him, and then He wants us to take that out.
In eight days, the temple that was filthy, everything that had been covered over, had been cleaned and shined up and was bright again. And Hezekiah, he was so excited about what happened that night. It says that he got up early and he gathered the elders, he went to the temple, ‘It’s ready!’ And they begin to worship all of the day. And then he had the musicians play music, music to the Lord. The people had stopped singing to the Lord. They were singing to idols; they were praising idols with their instruments. But that day, praise arose, in the temple of God, and everyone together, became worshippers. In that same chapter verse 31 it says, “Then Hezekiah said, “You have now dedicated yourselves to the Lord. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the temple of the Lord.” So, the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings.”
I do not know you and your personal holiness; I have to just check mine. Maybe you and I need an experience like Hezekiah. I ask the Lord all the time, why we don’t see more people being saved, in Greece. I often just say it’s just not God’s timing. And it’s OK to say it. That might be partially right. But now we are called, even when we don’t see great revival, to share every day, who He is, Amen? We need to listen to the Spirit of God. God wants to bring a great revival to Greece. But it starts with each one of us, to humble ourselves before God. When He brings something to your mind, don’t just leave it there. Begin to act on it. Oh Lord, I repent, I confess this thing, remove from me, that I can be like Jesus.
The Church belongs to Jesus, it’s His Body. And He’s waiting for it to be complete. First in numbers, He’s going to bring in billions, millions, but also in purity. We need to be people that constantly understand, what repentance is, what confession is, what forgiveness is. Hezekiah said, “Consecrate yourselves. Remove all the uncleanness. Because this is God’s house, this is God’s house”, Amen?

Would you stand with me. We’re going to sing, ‘What a beautiful name it is.’ If you have something that you want to give to the Lord, whatever is not like Jesus. Wash us Lord, cleanse us, Lord. We give you all the glory Lord. You are the Word alive. Lord, we’re not 100% like You yet, but your Spirit is here working with us. Oh Lord, those things more and more each day, help us, help us to confess them, because, oh Lord, You are so wonderful, You’ll remove them, You’re so powerful. Oh Lord, You can change us and make us more like You and You’re so beautiful, nothing in this world compares with You. Lord, we may not be able to fix other people, oh Lord, help each one of us, to say to Him today, I’m Yours, I’m Yours. Make me like You Jesus. Make me like You Jesus. I surrender all. In the name of Jesus. Amen, Hallelujah, God bless you.