Let's turn to Matthew, Chapter 9. We're starting this New Year and we've been looking back at the fruit of last year. The great visitation we had in the Spirit. Many of you were filled with the Holy Spirit; there were healings. We heard a lot of great testimonies. Then the Lord has just been stirring our hearts in these last couple of weeks to really just lift up our eyes and realize it's time for the sickle to be put in. Jesus is coming back, amen? You look around. This thing is winding down, praise God. I was just watching the Discovery Channel, and they were showing some of the new theories on the core of the planet. There were some bizarre and some others, but every one said it's running down. Some are saying it might have a thousand years left. As soon as this thing stops spinning, the magnetic forces that are coming and all of the different things that are holding radiation out--all of these different things. It's weary. It's running down, waiting its day of redemption. Even the earth, even the creation, is groaning waiting for that final redemption; praise God. We look around historically. For so many years, the prophets have spoken of the great king of the East rising up, and we've seen it just as a mass of people, but now we see the economic power of China. We see the dam that's being built over there that will dam up the Euphrates and the different things that will allow the prophecies to come to pass, as the king of the East comes over. We see the Euro and the United Europe that's being established. We wondered how in the world is everybody going to see these phenomena of the man of sin, but now we realize real-time cell phones. You can just watch TV on your cell phones in real-time--all over the World. Pretty soon everybody is going to have one of those stupid things. Oh, Lord! It's coming, and we're living in that day. It's obvious to us that we're living here in Sodom. We look at the church, and the love of many is waxing cold, and false prophets are arising in every area of life. You see the condition today of the professed church--no power, no purity. We just look up and say, "Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus."
There's a job to be done because He said, "Occupy until I come." Don't hide out, occupy. Be busy with trading is what that word means. Chuck was just saying, "Look what God has done here." It's exciting to look, and all of us have our testimonies of how we got here by the grace of God, amen? But somebody told us, and somebody told them and they told us. "Andrew findeth Peter and said, Come and see."...
Mighty in Prayer, Part 2
January 8, 2006 • Pastor Star R. Scott
I was talking with someone yesterday up at the gym. He asked me a very interesting question; he said, "Has your Christian life always been a steady incline? Are you always just going up?" I just laughed and shared with them the basics: Of course, our lives are always in constant flux and cycling; we have highs, and we have lows. But my lows are higher, amen, and my highs are higher, praise God, as I come to the knowledge of God. But every one of us is growing, we've all experienced those different valleys and the mountaintops: the times of God's special visitation. But the good news is: the Lord's the same, amen? He doesn't change. When you feel low, God's the same; when you're high, God's the same. Don't worry about anything; just rest. When you're too high, He'll make you low, amen? And when you're low, He'll pick you up and strengthen you, and set your feet on a rock, praise God. So we just rejoice in that, and that there is peace in the times of our valleys. I was just sharing with him: Actually, right now, I'm at a very low time in my life. I'm under a lot of spiritual warfare and I'm battling, but that doesn't change the promises of God; it doesn't change anything I expect--the great power of hope, amen? You see, what I know is: God's always brought me through. That's what I know; that's what I rest in; that's why there's no panic. You just keep doing what you know to do, and for everything there is a season; there's a time to sow and a time to reap; there's a time for weeping and a time for rejoicing. Those would be good lyrics for a song, wouldn't they? So, we just thank God for all of His great promises, and we rest in those; and I encouraged our brother that, if we're not weary in well doing, in due season we will reap if we don't faint, praise God, and that's God's promise to us (Galatians 6:9).
Let's turn to Second Kings; we want to continue talking about the necessity of an effectual prayer life. We talked about the need for prayer as it pertains to evangelism, and we want to continue to emphasize that throughout this year--the need to let our light shine, to be the salt of the earth, to stir ourselves up and know and believe that if we go forth weeping bearing precious seed, we'll doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing the sheaves with us (Psalm 126:6). It's who we are as the ambassadors of Christ; we go out and are absolutely aware that we cannot help but speak of the things we've seen and heard (Acts 4:20); what we've heard in secret, the Scripture says, we'll declare them from the housetops (Matthew 10:27)...
Mighty in Prayer, Part 3
January 8, 2006 • Pastor Star R. Scott
Amen. Let's turn to Chronicles; we want to pick up where we left off this morning.
One of the reasons we wanted to go back and look at the life of Hezekiah--we're going to be talking about building our prayer lives in preparation for the war that's at hand, being able to effectively move in the weaponry of God. Paul tells us in Ephesians that we're to put on the whole armor of God, praying. So this armor is prayer armor; it prepares us for battle. But as I was meditating about where we were going to go in this study on prayer and what was ahead--and we were talking about praying [to] the Lord of the harvest and truly believing that God would use us and supernaturally plant seed in the hearts of those that we encounter--we realize that there are going to be many other aspects of this war that's at hand.
When you study the life of Hezekiah, it's a very interesting thing. He faces many of the trials that you and I face in our lives. We find the onslaught of Sennacherib (who's almost like the antichrist, or Satan personified) and the mocking, the threats against the covenant people of God, the imminent destruction of their lives and their way of serving God. We're going to be facing that in the days to come. Hezekiah faced a great personal sickness, and we're going to be talking about the need, really, to see the power of God: signs and wonders, the ability to believe for the healing power that's ours through the redemptive work of Jesus. And we see that in the life of Hezekiah. We see the time of prosperity that he experienced, and as many of us live in that and should the Lord tarry, there's going to be a time here when it's still available to us. How do we live successfully in the midst of our prosperity?...
Mighty in Prayer, Part 4
January 11, 2006 • Pastor Star R. Scott
Let's turn to 2 Chronicles. We'll pick back up where we were talking about Hezekiah. (I started to say let's turn to the book of Hezekiah! That's just one of those names that sticks, doesn't it?) This young man, Hezekiah, was right in the middle of a father and a son of wickedness and idolatry, and God raises up a generation for righteousness' sake. As we consider who this young man was and what was taking place in his life, there are a couple of things that we have to understand. We can't take any credit and boast in ourselves for what God is doing in our midst. Much of what happens in the life of Hezekiah, as well as in our lives, is the sovereignty of God.
Now, though God is sovereign He is no respecter of persons. God is sovereign. He's not willing that any would perish, amen? His grace is available to all, but in His sovereignty there are certain things He does that will manifest His will. He will dictate to His creation His eternal purposes. Now, in His foreknowledge He knows before who will hear. While we were formed in our mother's womb God had separated us. Can you say, "Praise God!" for that? This is something that the Lord has seen. He's given us opportunity. With all that we've done, God orchestrates our steps to get us where we are today; just so thankful for His mercy!
Now, those who have rejected Him--God knew that they were going to reject Him, but He's able to work all things together for good, Romans 8 tells us. In God's great wisdom, in His genius, in His sovereignty, at His time, He raises up and He brings down. He brings men to thrones, like He did Pharaoh, that He might harden his heart to show Himself strong and mighty. Now, did God sovereignly dictate that Pharaoh would be lost? No, he knew the stoutness of this man's heart and the stiffness of his neck so He said, "I'll use him for My glory. I'll put him in a position of power so I can bring him down." That's the God we serve...
Mighty in Prayer, Part 5
January 15, 2006 • Pastor Star R. Scott
Let's turn back to Chronicles and pick up where we were this morning. We're trying to find ourselves here in this rendering of--oh! We have some Pittsburgh Steelers fans down here. I just happened to look up and see this. We're looking at the days of Hezekiah. To identify with the period, I think, is really easy. I don't think there has ever been a time that the church has paralleled a period of history, like the times of Isaiah and Jeremiah prior to the captivity, like it does today. The people were crying not only, "Peace and safety," but were also saying to the prophets, the seers, "Prophesy to us smooth things. Tell us what we want to hear. Tell us we're alright." That is really the spirit of this age that we're in.
Isaiah, and later, Jeremiah, stood and made proclamation of the judgment of the Lord. We need to realize that the Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He will deal with this generation just like He dealt with those. This time, however, the consequences are going to be greater because this is the day that the prophets had spoken of: the final judgment is at hand. Because of that, what is at stake is the eternal condition of each of these souls. The imminent return of the Lord is upon us, and I think we need to stir ourselves up with that and be excited about it. At the same time, we need to be sobered by it. In this age, the Great Whore that is so evident to us is not evident to those around us.
We were just talking about the vexation. It's strange. One of the reasons I wasn't in here, of all things, was that I was talking to the head of a referee association about our outreach through basketball from the other night and some of the confusion that came from all of that. One of the questions was about me calling and talking to the pastor of the ministry that we played. I have known the man since 1973. Someone asked me, "Do you think they would hear what you have to say?" I said, "Possibly, but often the reason there is a vexation in the people is because there is in the leadership." I say "possible." I'm not going to speak toward where Wendell is at this particular juncture. But I do know that in 1973, they wouldn't be using that form of evangelism. We're living in this age of the normative behavior of the Great Whore. In other words, the church being no different than the world but just using Christian vernacular and religious symbols...
