======================================================================== RON BAILEY - PART 7 by Ron Bailey ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of not forsaking God and relying on self-sufficiency or man-made systems. It warns against becoming complacent in rituals and services without truly seeking God. The message calls for a return to a genuine, intimate relationship with God, walking in His light and following His word. It encourages believers to remember God's words and to be open to His guidance and correction, seeking to be a people who truly care for each other and live in obedience to God's will. Duration: 9:04 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of not forsaking God and relying on self-sufficiency or man-made systems. It warns against becoming complacent in rituals and services without truly seeking God. The message calls for a return to a genuine, intimate relationship with God, walking in His light and following His word. It encourages believers to remember God's words and to be open to His guidance and correction, seeking to be a people who truly care for each other and live in obedience to God's will. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Let me ask you a matter of a few seconds. Go ahead, if you're ready. And it's best if these people take a picture of them in the name. Verse 4. Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Petra, O house of the Lord. What injustice hath your fathers found on me, that they have gone far from me, that followed idols, and become idolaters? Neither did they say, Where is the Lord? They got to a state, in their experience, where they had become so independent of God, they didn't even miss Him. The priests aren't saying, Where is the Lord? The people aren't saying, Where is the Lord? They have become so used to this deficient, substandard relationship, it's all they've ever known, they're not asking questions anymore. But God has forgotten them. And He brings this stringent indictment against the people of Israel. He says, there's no nation anywhere that has ever behaved like this, or said a few things like this. What you've done is you've committed two evils. Here's the first one, you've forsaken me, the living God. Here's the second one, you have hewn yourself systems that can't hold water. Not only have you left me out of the equation, but you've filled the gap with your own resources. You've filled the gap with your own self- sufficiency. You've invented your own methodology for bringing water. When God is going to bring you into the land of Siddur, it won't be like Egypt. The land they're going to bring you into is a land of pilgrims. It receives its water from heaven. And they've done systems to have a reserve so that they didn't have to defend themselves. And God says, this is what you've done. Not only this is the first thing, you've rejected me, but the second thing is equal to it. You've actually filled the gap with your own technology and your methodologies, and you've put me there, and you don't even miss me anymore now. And you go through your rituals and you're having meetings and your services, and you do everything because you know how to do it. And no one says, where's the water? Where's the water? And he says, I remember where it was. And this is the word that God brings again. Remember he says. Remember. This I have against you, all these wonderful things you've done, all this business, all this personal all these signs that you're not viewing, all these signs. But I've got this against you. You've left it for yourself. And if you don't get back to that, I won't even bother asking you. Which church do you think he loved best? Do you know that the Church of the Laodicea is the only one that's actually told them that he loved them? And to the Church of the Laodicea he said, well my love, I care. And I really do care. He loved all of them equally. He loves the thriving Philadelphia church. He loves the brave Snowden church that's going through persecution. He still loves the Paganos church that has begun to be infiltrated by all kinds of other things. He loves the Church of Sardis, which has got a reputation that it once lived in the abject death. He still remembers. I believe that he still walks in the midst of the Laodicea. And if our hearts are open, you don't have to go into big syllables or big ways of doing things, but if your hearts are open, you'll hear the words of Jesus. If you'll do what he says, he can bring you back to pristine, Edenic conditions as it was in the beginning, when the tree of life was in the midst of the palimpsest world. And God warned us there. You don't think, actually, the only way a church can ever be prospered. And that's shocking, man, to make sure he was told that. You know, don't you, that the blood of Jesus Christ does not cleanse you from all sin? Are you aware of that? You know that the blood of Jesus Christ does not cleanse you from all sin. If you walk in the light, as he is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all sin. That's what the Bible says. It's only in this ongoing relationship. He's walking in the light. He's nursing the light. He's watching the movement. You must walk in the light. Your church must walk in the light. It must walk in the light of what God is saying in his time. Don't search for methodologies, God. Leave that section of the library alone. Leave it alone. And remember. Remember things that God has said in your life. Remember things that God has said in your church. Bring that forward before you. The word of his grace is able to build you and to give you the heritage. Most sanctified. We don't want to be mystical. But you are the great life priest. And you're walking in the light in your churches. And you know it's true. We never did find anything from your demons. But you love us. And you have precise words to speak in our hearts. Words of encouragement for the weary. Words of rebuke for those who have fallen away. All kinds of different words. Not one generic and ordinary thing. But a unique word for every situation. I pray that each one of the churches that we represent here, each one of the persons that you call home, I pray Lord, that you will fulfill your obligation in walking in the midst of the lampstands. Checking for light. Filling the room. Continuing to supply the world. And to enable us all to hear your word. And to do it. Lord, please above all else, that you make this a thing that we really believe in all our hearts. That when God says do it, you can do it. Though you could never do it before. Though a generation of your family would never be able to do it. At this point, the word of God comes at this point. You can do it. Lord, fulfill your mission. Fill this room with your church. Stop us from becoming our enemy. Keep our hearts open to hear your voice in the living world and the old world. Wherever you choose to speak, but speak Lord, let the word of God give you the courage and the strength to sacrifice. We want to be your people. In front of us, calling us to the Lord. Lord, don't ever laugh at God, they're a separate people. They've settled, for them the world is crucified and they're to the world. They've settled. They're only thinking of their visions, their longings, their days. It's to be obedient to this thing that will make it possible for God's house to be built and God's will, in which you have it already. Father, and encourage us to believe, to care for each other. Amen. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/cUQUcXIE8t0.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/ron-bailey/ron-bailey-part-7/ ========================================================================