2022-01-09 One Persistent Prophetic Thought! – Pastor Chuck
Summary:
I don’t think Jesus is disappointed with His church. I think He has enough love to speak over the church and into her destiny
“I am still CONFIDENT of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Psalm 27:13
God is speaking powerful things today
One of my concerns over the years has been that we tend to pick things over – “connoisseur-ing” – we can tend to pick on each other, if we are not careful
The Prophetic – we can all prophesy – God’s thoughts over us are innumerable
When someone gives you a **word from the Lord** it washes over us, it builds us up
Ecclesiastes 5:2 – “Do not be quick with your mouth,
do not be hasty in your heart
to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven and you are on earth,
so let your words be few!”
We need to come in weakness and humility
Proverbs 10:19 – “When words are many, sin is not lacking;
so he who controls his speech is wise.”
He who restrains his lips is wise… – be sensible and keep your mouth shut
Think of all the emails you & I have never sent! (it’s good thing!)
Bob Jones once said, when we get to heaven the Lord will ask us: “Did you learn to *love*?”
The Lord says, The little things and the little ones matter to Me!!
Matt 12: 36-37
“Moreover, I tell you this: on the Day of Judgment people will have to give account for every careless word they have spoken; 37 for by your own words you will be acquitted, and by your own words you will be condemned.”
Take note: Everyone will have to give an account on the Day of Judgement
The monks got it right!! They speak/spoke very few words!
Definition: Idle Word – Not + Work – it is a Non-Working word – it is useless & unprofitable
We are now facing 2022!
At the turn of the century a prophetic voice said the Church would become unrecognizable!
(We see dimly – but they “see” in the Spirit!)
In the past I have felt guilty because we did not have a 5-year vision
But, all our vision will come to nothing – without Christ – Jesus knows the future and is in complete control
Jesus sees things differently, from the natural mind & the natural eye
John 13:34-35 – “I am giving you a new commandment, that you [a]love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.”
Love – will be the mark of His disciples!
John 15:1- “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
NOTE: in V7 “If you *remain* in Me & My Words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.”
We are being called into much higher & greater intimacy with Jesus!
He is calling us to greater fruitfulness
The fruit can ONLY COME through the remaining & abiding into & with our Mighty God!
God is NO STRANGER to “MESSES!”
v8 “This is to My Fathers glory – showing yourselves to be my disciples”
John 17: The incredible prayer of Jesus to His Heavenly Father:
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that **the world may believe** that You have sent Me. 22 I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as We are one— 23 I in them and You in Me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. **Then the world will know** that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.”
Note: v21(b)…”May they also be in Us so **that the world will believe** that You have sent Me!”
God Loves the World:
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
2 Peter 3:9(b) “Instead He is patient with you, **not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.**”
He is gathering His sheep
We’re on display – even though we’re not a perfect display!
Eg: Eph 5:25-28 Listen up husbands!
“Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church — a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives.” (The Message)
Husbands love your wives… to present her to Himself – a glorious & Radiant Church!!
There will be a *visible radiance* of the Church to the world, in Him!
How many of us have been hurt by the Church? We all have…
The Church is full of “messes” – we have all been in messes, been part of messes, and have been hurt by messes.
Eg: Chuck watched as a pastor was destroyed by the church – as result of sharing his heart with some men in prayerful confidence.
Another story about a pastor who was given the left-foot (kicked out of) his own church…
Chuck met with their board, tried to intervene & get them to receive him back & see something really beautiful – One of them said to Chuck afterward, “you *almost* convinced me…”
Because of the rumors that got magnified & embellished, this pastor was given the left-foot of fellowship…
(This is by way of coming to the “messes”/imperfections of the Church today…)
Chuck shared more stories of sad messes & people who were asked/told to leave
Even Chuck himself & Val, were once asked to leave a church, and were given the left-foot of fellowship…
On their way out, they still loved the folks, they shook hands with and said thank you to most of the folks, but one Lady couldn’t face them so she left out the back door… but Chuck still loved them
Chuck can’t believe some of the things the Church has done,… just illustrates that the even the church is not perfect, yet….
Steve Brown – a wonderful theologian – has multivolume sets on church History
– once, a friend of his gave him a very small book – “contained all the Manure was in one place”
Adrian Plass – comedian & theologian, still says even though we all go through hard times, and make sometimes very serious mistakes, that “Nothing is ever wasted in the Kingdom of God” – all things work together (Rom 8:28)
(More examples of “Messes”)
Ted Haggard – pastored a huge church (14K people), had a rendezvous with a male prostitute, was caught & it went viral
Chuck started to pray for him, & then emailed with him & ministered to him, – he was terribly mistreated by Christians
His wife wrote a book – “Why I stayed”
Years later he started a little church after the Lord restored him
One of the greatest men who ever lived – who’s in heaven now – many years ago fell into sin
– Chuck thought “I guess that’s the last we’ll hear of him…”
But some years later, thank God for Rick Joyner who God called to work to restore this man, he was able to reenter ministry…
We are all cracked pots – full of regrets, mistakes – none of us are perfect – pastors and leaders included.
Thank God for people who are willing to step into messes & minister by the Grace of God!
re: Joel Olsteen – someone once said: “Get used to it, Joel is your brother!”
One guy responded, “well, maybe he’s a distant relative!”
David Wilkerson – was difficult to hear sometimes, but who God used as a powerful prophetic voice, in our generation.
Once Chuck looked online for: “In Defense of Joel Olsteen” and he found an article that was very insightful and helpful to him.
God knows the “messes” waaaay better that any one of us, & **He still passionately LOVES US**
Is it not wonderful to be able to say, “I messed up back then – but God has cleansed me & now I’m walking in victory!!”
Steve Brown – was once introduced as “One who was sick of ‘religion’!”
There is a music group called: “August Burns Red” (Marco (Chuck’s Son-in-law) has their T-Shirt)
Chuck feels & loves a lot of music
But this group’s type of music is not on Chuck’s list!
About them, Steve Brown recently interviewed and introduced them with “Today lets have a quiet time with the lead screamer of ‘August Burns Red’!”
This music group started an online support group called – “Heart Support”
“Heart Support” has 150 volunteers, and reaches 90K people a month!
This group also has books on Self-Harm & Depression, and God mightily uses them to minister to 1000’s of people!
Conclusion
———–
Several years ago Chuck & Val were at Pastoral Couples weekend retreat, led by Rick & Pam Wright, a pastoral couple
They ministered to every pastoral couple over the 3 days,
but Chuck & Val were the very last couple to be ministered to.
As they started, Pam asked Rick, “Do we have enough love to do this?”
God gave them Holy Spirit’s love and power and Chuck & Val were ministered to, powerfully!
I don’t think that Jesus is surprised & disappointed with His church – HE LOVES us! Wow!
Jesus does not like it when people speak badly about His bride! (What husband or betrothed man would?)
We don’t have to be connoisseurs – we are warned, do not judge (Matthew 7:1-5)
We all need a word for 2022 –
– DON’T FEAR
– Be concerned about the real concerns
– Don’t be concerned about a virus
– Be COURAGEOUS
– Face 2022 SQUARELY in the FACE & NOW LOOK UP!
Song: I Will See The Lord (in the Land Of The Living)
(From Psalms 27:13)
Our anticipation in 2022 is the GOODNESS of GOD – the goodness of the Lord!
Philippians 1:6 – BEING CONFIDENT OF THIS: That He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus!! (NIV)
Throughout Church history & even in our own history – there are piles of ‘messes’ and manure in our lives
But NONE of this takes Jesus by surprise – HE LOVES US STILL & WILL CONTINUE HIS WORK IN US.
He has more than enough love to see us to His Destiny!
We can look forward to seeing the “future us” by HIS LOVE & POWER!