Are you listening?
I believe, and many believe, these are certainly prophetic times in which we live.
Amen?
You don’t have to be a genius to figure that out, all you have to do is pay attention and see what’s happening. Even in our own nation, things are changing. Things are lining up with the Word of God itself, and thank God for that.
The Bible tells us, those who have ears to hear, let them hear what the Spirit of God is saying to this generation.
God has a Word for this generation. Not another generation, but this one right now.
In the Bible, God used Daniel to prophesy. As you may know, Daniel spent most of his time in captivity in Babylon. He was taken at the age of 17 and thrust into a different nation and culture. His home and nation had been destroyed and overrun. All of the sudden he’s handpicked to stand in front of the King. They wanted those who were handpicked to be educated and quick learners. They wanted them to learn the language, to be fluent in speech and writing, even to be instructors of the language.
Could you imagine how traumatic that would be?
So there Daniel is, 17 years old, handpicked to work with the government and foreign affairs. In the first few chapters of Daniel, we learn that the handpicked ones are Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
The Bible says, in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar reign, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. His spirit was so troubled, his dream left him.
I believe in the last days, God is going to trouble men of power and influence of their dreams and visions. Theyre going to go, just like Nebuchadnezzar, to the wrong side of the tracks and say;
Crystal ball gazer, give me the interpretation.
Tarot card reader, give me the interpretation.
They won’t be able to because they have no knowledge of God, but knowledge of evil. This is when the people of God have to be lead by the Spirit of God to have the interpretation of dreams, visions, and spiritual things.
Amen?
I’m not talking about the whole church getting this; Im talking about the remnant. The remnant in this situation was Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
You may have a mega church of 13,000…15,000…18,000, or more. That is a lot of people! But is every single person inside of that church of thousands on the same page?
I’d say, not likely.
What Im saying is this, we need to be the remnant. We need to tune in to hear that voice of God. I’ve made that determination myself. I’m spending more time just being quiet before the Lord. For some people, that’s a challenge. They go to God and all they do is complain and want to do all the talking. They talk about people, what’s going on, this, that, and the other thing. Then they ask, God, what are you going to do about that? God is exhausted by the time you’re done.
Praying is not just you complaining to God. It also has to do with listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
It’s the same principle of discerning spirits. A lot of times, the Lord will give you inside information. He will tug at your heart. He’ll give you an inclination. You may think, “That’s just intuition.”
Maybe. But Id rather call it the Spirit of God dealing with your heart and you’re discerning somebody’s spirit. Sometimes that discerning comes like a lightning bolt from heaven, but not often. So, where do you get it? Right down on the inside. Something happens and you wish you would have listened to that small voice.
We have GOT to live tuned into the right station. The Bible talks about the many voices in our world. It says don’t listen to all those voices; we’ve got to tune in by the Holy Ghost, to the right station, to hear the right thing.
I want to encourage you to practice listening. See how God begins dealing with your heart. He may lead you to have the interpretation of dreams and visions for this generation.
-Pastor Steve
The Sent One
Missio = “Sent One”
Some of you may know of T.L. Osborn, a great missionary. He produced a movie, years ago, when he was in Holland, called, “The Holland Wonder.” He had hundreds of thousands in an open air crusade in that north part of Europe, which is unheard of. It was a miracle. He was a true evangelist. But he said this, “There is no such word as missionary in the Bible.”
Wait a minute, Brother T.L.; you’re messing up our theology here.
He said there is a call for us all to be , “the sent one,” but you’re sent as who you are. So if you are not that here, you’re certainly not going to become that there. There is a ministry to fulfill wherever you are, whether you’re in South Bend or Timbuktu. There’s a ministry of helps, a pastor, teacher, or an evangelist. You can service in the ministry wherever you are.
I’ve heard people say, “The boat ride, or the plane ticket, is not going to make you a missionary.” It’s not like the phone booth Clark Kent used and you hop out a super missionary. No, no, no. You’re you will be the same dud there as you were at home. You cant think that when you get there, you’re going to be a super missionary, or that all of the sudden you’ll have the power of God, or assume people are going to want to hear what you have to say. Just because you go, you don’t become somebody else.
Who you are, is who you are.
You can not change that. You’ve got to be that person you want to be here, before you transport there. As many of you know, I was brought up many years, on the mission field. Up until high school, I had lived in the Philippines, twice, Hong Kong, Israel, and other parts of the world. I’ve seen people that have come from the United States that had good hearts, good intentions, but they were not prepared. They would land at the airport and say, “what do I do now?”
That is not the place to figure that out.
Those things need to be figured out at home, before you go.
Therefore, you have to go, knowing, that you are the anointed of the Lord and you are sent, not by accident, but on purpose to do a work for God. Amen?
-Pastor Steve
Faith Factor: Prayers for FTN {Video}
The Bible says, “You have not, because you ask not.” We are asking you to pray for Feeding the Nations, as we expand the ministry right here on the campus of Christ Chapel.
The steel has been delivered, but there is much more to be done. Help us, will you? Donate Today.
God Bless.
You are with Me
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. -Psalm 23
I just want to start off this entry, by focusing on the first verse that says, “The Lord is my shepherd.”
A shepherd didn’t have two, or three, or four jobs. He only had one, and that was to look out on behalf of the sheep. So whatever was going on in the life of the sheep, the shepherd knew about it. Where it slept…where it ate…where it drank water. More than that, it was the protection of the flock. You know there were wolves out there who made it their mission to mess up the life of those sheep.
Ever hear someone say, “there’s a wolf coming in sheep’s clothing?” The wolves were very strategic and even disguised themselves, but the shepherds could sniff them out. They’d get their nose in the air and know, something wasn’t quite right with one of their sheep. Why’s that? Because it was a wolf trying to act like a sheep. In that scripture, it says because the Lord is my shepherd, “I shall not want.” My body, my soul, my spirit, my material needs, my soulical needs, my mental needs, my emotional needs, my spiritual needs. Every single thing I have need of, God has already provided. Sometimes you don’t know He’s there until He hits you with that shepherds staff.
If you’re going in the right direction, He has no need to poke and prod you. You only get poked and prodded when you’re going in the wrong direction. I bet some of you are thinking, “Why is the Lord being so mean to me? Why is He directing me? Why is He hitting me? Why this chastisement from the shepherd?” Well, it’s pretty simple. You might be going in the wrong direction. You get back on que, in the direction of the Lord, then all of the sudden you’re in the perfect will, the perfect place that He wants you to be.
I know that we have our own flesh and our own desires. The little sheep go this way and that way. But the Bible says, that He leaves the 99, to go find that 1. That’s how much the Lord loves every single one of us. Thank God that He leads me beside still waters, He restores my soul, He leads me in a path of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through, I don’t have to, but sometimes you do, walk through the valley of the shadow of death, YOU are with me. Let me just reiterate that; the Bible says, “you are with me.” When the sun is out, He’s with me. When it’s dark as midnight, He’s still with me. He hasn’t departed, He isn’t abandoning you. He is there. He is there, all the time.
I pray that you will sense that presence of the Almighty God right now, and receive the provision of the Lord today.
-Pastor Steve