Pastor Gail – Opening
1. Good morning. It’s a great day to be in the house of the Lord. Amen. Of course, He was already here, and He loves it when we gather together to worship Him. Praise God. Would you join with me as we read from the Scriptures to welcome the Lord. You can find it in Psalm 85, and if you don’t have a bible, we have bibles all around here. We love to read from the paper bible. Lord, we thank You for Your Word.
2. Psalm 85:7-12 “Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation.
I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants—
but let them not turn to folly. Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest.”
3. Would you join with me in prayer, to welcome the Lord this morning. He’s already here, but we want to welcome Him as we worship Him. Our eyes on Him. Our hearts open to Him. Father, we thank You for today, and we are so glad, that we can together and worship You today, oh Lord. We lift up Your name. You are Lord Almighty, and God we declare today, there is no one like You, there is no one. So, we give You glory this morning, as we worship You Lord, as we worship. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Would you stand. Hallelujah.
Pastor Gail – Main message
1. I just want to say something about the communion. I looked around and you know what? Not everybody understood the instructions, but it’s OK. It made me think of family. You know it did. You know when you go home to mom and dad’s house, whatever, you don’t always know what’s going on, and from up front here, it was just a beautiful picture of family. And how wonderful that we have one another to worship the Lord with, Amen. Praise the Lord.
2. I have a word today, and for the next 6 weeks we’re going to be talking about ‘This is the year of prayer’. We will have other sermon series, but covering it all this year, will be that the Lord is calling us to prayer. I believe God is speaking, out of a heart that misses His children.
3. We are His children if we have asked Him into our life, but often we get busy about other things. Do you know you can even read the Bible, but never pray and you’re not really going to hear from God. And I agree. I will tell you prayer and fasting especially with it is hard work.
4. When a local body, a church, doesn’t pray, we will not feel the birth pains of what God wants to bring new to us. We’ll begin to respond to the wrong things. We’ll try to guess at what God is saying. But if you’re like me and most of you are, whether you’re looking at the firs at Los Angeles, whether you’re looking at the volcano erupting in the Philippines, or the war in the Middle East and the Ukraine, we’re all over, so many things around the world, we could become anxious and worried about what is happening. Where is God?
5. But I will tell you very clearly, God tells us where He is in the Word. He let us know, thousands of years before, even in the Old and the New Testament, before He comes again, to take away His Bride, His beautiful Church, man will decide so much to go their own way, the world will head towards destruction.
6. In Luke 12: 54-56, we’re going to read a few verses. People were asking when is He coming, “Jesus said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?” I just love this passage of Scripture, and it’s not just here that the Lord let’s us know to understand the time in which you’re living. Jesus was saying here, ‘You are experts at forecasting the weather, but you’re unwilling, for many reasons, to understand the spiritual significance of the time in which you live in.’
7. Jesus was saying to us, ‘You should know when there is a change in the spiritual season’, and God wants us to know the ‘God season’ we are in right now. Amen. God moves in times and seasons, Amen. And the more we pray and come into His presence, the more we will not be afraid, we will not be worried, but we will understand, God is in control. He’s letting us know the season we’re in, and when we pray, the power of His peace, will come in and comfort us and strengthen us.
8. I believe we are being very challenged to open up our eyes to God in this season. The Lord says often in His Word, when things are difficult, ‘Look up! Lift up your eyes. Your redemption is near.’ Amen. Look to Him. He will save you. Our God is mighty to save. Can God do anything? Can God do something in the world right now? Yes, He could. God could stop it all right now. He could. He could stop the wars, the disease. He could stop it all.
9. But I think it is wonderful, that God gives us free will, choice, to decide to follow Him. Not just in the good times, but in the difficult times. Have you ever gone through a really difficult time? And when you came out on the other side, didn’t you just have such amazing joy! Amen. I made it, I made it! Hallelujah. I thought I was going to fall, but I made it. There’s such amazing joy. And we must understand, God is calling, He wants men to come and choose Him.
10. So, it’s kind of like, He’s standing back a little, and allowing all the desires of men to come to the fullness of their evil desires. For them to understand, when He comes again, how far they are from it and the Word says that, ‘They won’t even want Him, no matter how bad it gets.’ There will be some people that will choose not to want Him.
11. I personally think, a lot of the storms we’re seeing, is creation groaning, for it’s Creator to come back. The Lord is calling us, for the groans that we often have as man, to be exchanged for the groans of the Spirit of God. When that happens, we will become eternity focused. I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan to live here forever. This is not my home. I’m going to a place where the streets are gold, yeah, and there’s never night again.
12. But I need to press in with prayer and groaning, for, ‘Oh Lord, hear me. I need You. What do You want?’ I think we need to hear what heaven is saying at this point. C.S. Lewis said this once, ‘Our heavenly Father has provided many inns and hotels, for us along our journey. But He takes great care, to see that we do not mistake for any of them as home.’ Do you understand? Let me say that quickly in English one more time and then you can say it in Greek. I think this is so powerful, ‘Our heavenly Father has provided many inns and hotels, for us along our journey. But He takes great care, to see that we do not mistake for any of them as home.’
13. I don’t plan to live in a hotel. When I have a home in heaven. So, I don’t want to overdecorate down here. I’d rather overdecorate for up there. Amen. This is a wake-up call to us. Jesus stands at the door and knocks. He says to the church, “If any man open the door…’ (Revelation 3:20) He’s speaking to the Church, He wants to come in and be with us. God is calling us to become a praying people.
14. Psalm 46:1-6, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her; she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.”
15. The sons of Korah prayed this, when they saw the world around them changing. They were recalling a miracle of deliverance. Now let’s look at the end of this, Psalm 46: 7-11, “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’ The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”
16. Unless we pray, our eyes will be on the troubles around us. But when we pray, in the middle of a difficulty, we will know how to be still, and know that He is God and that He is in control. Whether like this passage that was written 3000 years ago or something that happened two minutes ago, God is in charge. How did God make these wars to cease. The people prayed. I told everybody last Sunday, there are more prayers in the New Testament than there are sermons. He is calling us to pray.
17. I’m going to quickly tell you a short story. 2 Kings 19. The enemies were at the gates of Israel. Almost 200,000 people were attacking the nation of Israel. And they begin to pray. And 2 Kings 19:20 says, “Then Isaiah, son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria.”
18. Hezekiah asked Isaiah to pray, ‘What does God say?’ ‘Pray! I have heard your prayer.’ Almost 200,000 people were at the gates of the city. And 2 Kings 19:35, “That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!”
19. We are in a battle as long as we live here. But our weapons are not worry, but God has given us weapons and they are different from the world. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
20. We need heaven to come alongside as we groan for Him. God, what are You saying? Psalm 37:1 says “Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong.” We are brought together by the cross. Not our DNA. I don’t think any of us have the same DNA, none of you are related to me by blood on the earth. But If there was a DNA from heaven, we would all have the same DNA. And the Lord is calling us together, to pray for one another, to pray that He will come down and be our strength, be our mighty God.
21. People look to other leaders. I understand that. People look at the politicians. Sure, we listen to them. But at the end of the day, they change. They come to power and they leave. Even wicked generals come to power, then they die or get killed. But God reigns always. He is there. And He wants us to press into His throne room. Let us look higher than our governments. Let’s follow like the Word says, “Some trust in chariots, but we will trust in the name of the Lord.” (Psalm 20:7).
22. Often, we don’t even call on the Lord until there is a crisis. But the Lord is calling us today, before the crisis comes. He wants us to be so close to Him, that we know His strength, His presence. I think it was yesterday, when Rebecca was here at prayer time, one of the things I heard her pray, ‘Oh Lord, the fragrance of Your presence in this room is so beautiful.’
23. The Lord wants to fill us with the beauty and the wonder of who He is. Some of you may struggle to pray. I understand that. People often tell me they don’t know what to pray for, and I always tell you, come see me, I’ll give you a list. I have one with plenty, plenty things to pray for. And God doesn’t want us to care how you pray. It doesn’t have to be, ‘Oh most holy righteous God, we exalt You above all the earth. Who is like You. You are magnificent. Da, da, da…’
24. Sometimes, when I just kneel, and lots of times I like to kneel, and we’re going to leave the prayer benches out here for a while, if there are times when you want to just come kneel, especially through the week. It’s a wonderful feeling to feel like you’ve put your head on the knees of Jesus, and in His lap. The Lord wants to fill us with His Word, with His power, His holiness. He is holy, and He said ‘You should be too’.
25. When you see a king in the world, when you go before a king, you come dressed a certain way, and you wait for an audience, and you are very respectful of that, for him to speak to you. But the amazing thing about our King is that He is our Father. Everyone of us is related to royalty. And we should quit living like ordinary plebs, populace. I am rich, you are rich, I am the daughter of the King. Amen. I am a friend of God, the King, the Lord of the universe, the creator, wow! I’m His kid! That’s pretty amazing. And He even says, ‘Just come before Me. Come and worship Me. Bring it all. Bring your burdens. Tell Me everything. Cry to me. Shout to Me, Jump before Me. Dance before Me. Dance with Me’. Amen. He even says we can tell Him when we’re kind of upset with Him, with honor, because He is the King.
26. But we need to come into His presence and pray. The world has changed. But the King on the throne has not. He is speaking to us, church. This is not an American church, not a Filipino church, it’s not a Greek church. This is the church of the living God. And I believe God is getting us ready for a great awakening, a revival that’s going to come to this land. I believe it.
27. I remembered this early this morning, I was a little tired, so, I hope I can remember it well. If I don’t maybe some of you can help me. There is a painting and it’s called the ‘checkmate’. Lucifer is sitting on one side and a young man is sitting on the other side, of the chessboard. And the devil is looking at the chessboard and the young man, and the devil is gloating, like, ‘Ha, ha, ha, I have won’. The young man is looking very defeated in the painting, because he thinks satan has won. In fact, in the painting, the young man was winning and he did not realize it.
28. There was a gentleman called Paul Morphy, he actually set up a chessboard exactly as it was in the painting and he moved the pieces as they were in the painting. He said, ‘No the game wasn’t over’. The king had another move. And we need to remember that. The King, the King always has another move, Amen. The King has the final word. We believe it, and we need to believe this today. But unless we press in and hear His voice, we will be like that young man, because satan will be screaming at us or gloating, ‘I’m winning, I’m winning’. And we’ll hear the voice of satan, Lucifer, and we’ll believe we’re losing. We’ll lose our hope; we’ll lose our faith. But when we pray, the more we become a people of prayer, the more we’ll know whatever is happening in our life, the King has one more move.
29. If you’re here today, and you do not know Jesus, today, He wants to become the King of your life. All you have to do is invite Him in. ‘Lord, I give You, my life. Lord, forgive me, I tried to live it my own way, but I need You’. If you’re here today and you want more of the Lord, I think most of you here today, know the Lord. As we end today, we’re going to sing a little bit, and these alter benches are up here, or just where you’re at. But I think it would be good to say today to the Lord, and I will tell you, I did this on Wednesday morning at 10:00 AM in this church when I came to pray; I do pray daily, but in many ways it had become routine, it had just become a bit dry, so, as many of you know, I’m not proud about it, I’m just sharing with you, I am fasting till Wednesday too, because I could hear the Lord say, ‘I miss you, I miss you, where are you?’
30. And on Wednesday morning, I repented. Sometimes, there are times in our lives that we need to repent. ‘Lord, I made You too small. Lord, I forgot You. Other things became more important. Forgive me Lord. Forgive me Lord. I repent.’ And Wednesday morning, I felt such a release of the love of the Lord. He just wants to be near us. And He will make a way where there seems to be none.
31. So, Father, I pray for us now, Lord, I pray oh Lord, that we will make You first in our life, I pry oh Lord, when we are tempted dear Lord, to think that other things are worth more of our attention, to remember to that if we don’t keep You first, our life can go into detour. But Lord, we want to follow the straight way. We want to keep our eyes on You. So, Lord, thank You in the name of Jesus. The King always has another move.