Behold In Awesome Wonder

The title of the message tonight is Behold an Awesome Wonder. Behold an Awesome Wonder. Isaiah chapter 40, we begin reading in verse 1. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. And the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Spirit of the Lord, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it, surely the people is grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God shall stand forever. O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up. Be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Behold your God. If that is not underscored in your Bible or highlighted, it should be, brothers and sisters. Behold your God. Behold your God. Look at Him. Stand in awesome wonder of Him and who He is. There was an evangelist that the Lord used mightily throughout the country of England and the U.S. that they called Gypsy Smith. Gypsy Smith was born in England in the late 1800s. He was born, of course, in a gypsy family. That's where he got his name, Gypsy Smith. And he grew up without any education. He was illiterate. He could not read or write. When he was just a young boy, his mom got very ill with smallpox and she died. And so he grew up without a mother. His dad was a severe alcoholic. But this young boy, God put His hand upon him and God called him. And when he heard the gospel for the first time as a teenage boy, he prayed a very simple prayer. He put all of his faith and trust in Jesus Christ and he prayed a simple prayer that went like this. Lord, make my heart Your home. Make my heart Your home. And when he was just a few years after that, just a teenage boy, God called this young man to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so he did, not knowing how to read, he began to preach. And as he began to preach, he learned to read by reading the Bible. And this young man, they said, couldn't ever give his testimony without tears. When he preached, God came, God moved. Hundreds and even thousands were swept into the kingdom of God. He made about 30 trips to America. One time he came to America and preached 350 times in 54 cities. He preached with passion and with fire, fresh fire, all the way to the end of his life when he died at the age of 87 years old. After one of his last sermons, just after the meeting, an old man in the congregation came forward to shake his hand and to thank him. And he said to Gypsy Smith, he said, I heard you preach nearly 50 years ago. And when you preached, my heart burned. God got a hold of me. He said, I was never the same again. Here it is nearly 50 years later, and I hear you preach. And you have the same passion, the same unction, the same fire. Gypsy Smith, what is the secret? And you know what his answer was? He paused for a minute and he says, here's the secret. I have never lost the wonder of it all. I've never lost the wonder. This wonder of God. This wonder of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. This wonder of His amazing grace that He would save a rich like me, a sinner. Have you ever, my brothers and sisters, been in awesome wonder of God? Have you ever trembled in His holy presence? Have you ever been so gripped and awestruck by the glory and the majesty of God? Have you ever seen Him through the eyes of faith? Have you ever seen Him in the pages of Scripture? Have you ever sung hymns like when I surveyed the wondrous cross and sung it through tears? Because your heart was gripped by this wonderful, wonderful Savior. Have you ever had the wonder of God? This awesome wonder of God? Well, the wonder of God is something you can have, but it's also something you can lose. You can have this wonder of God, but you can also lose it. Even real Christians can fall into a spiritual slumber. Even real Christians can have a heart that grows cold, a heart that grows hard even. Even real Christians can come to a place where they have fallen so asleep, they're no longer moved by the thought of Calvary. They're no longer gripped by the awesome, holy awareness of who God is. You can have the wonder of God and yet lose the wonder. You can be doing the work of the ministry. You can be a pastor. You can be a preacher. And you can lose the wonder of Almighty God. And when you lose the wonder, then you're prone to wander away from Him. The fire dies. The eyes grow dim. The heart grows hard. The conscience grows dull. One of the worst things that can happen to us as a believer is to lose the wonder of God Himself. To lose this awesome wonder of God Himself. Well, how do you get it back? We have this clarion call from Almighty God Himself right here in the pages of Scripture, verse 9, this clarion call for the people of God to wake up. Wake up again to the awesome wonder of who God is. Verse 9 of Isaiah 40, O Zion, He says, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice. In other words, this is no place for a whisper. This is no place for just casually reading what I'm about to read. Lift up your voice. Let me have your attention, God says. Awaken, God says. Listen to what I'm about to say. With strength, lift up your voice. Do not be afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God. Look at Him. Behold your God. Take that first word, behold, and let's just think about it for a moment. What does it mean? What does it mean to behold? Behold your God. To behold something means to look. It means to gaze intently upon something. It means to study it. This is no time for a passive glance. This is no time just for a casual look. This is a time to set aside all distractions. This is a time to put away everything that would get in the way and to rivet your eyes on something. To fix your eyes, and in this case, to fix your eyes on Christ, on God Himself. So what the Lord is wanting to do first is to wake us up. Wake us up to the wonder of who God is. So, I have five commands that I believe the Spirit of God has given to me to share with you tonight in beholding the awesome wonder of God. Five commands, I'll tell you them up front, and then we're going to look at each one of them. We are called by God to wake up. It's high time that we wake up. The Scripture says that in the New Testament, also in Romans. You've been asleep long enough. And one sure sign that we are in desperate need of personal revival is if we have lost the wonder. It's time to wake up to the wonder and behold our God. It's time to wake up. It's time to look up to behold Him. It's time to get up. It's time to clean up. And it will be time to mount up with wings as eagles. These are commands that the Lord wants us to lay hold of tonight. First of all, wake up, look up, behold your God. Behold your God. It's stopping everything else, setting everything else aside, and looking, lifting up our eyes, and looking to Him. Look, if you will, in verse 25. God says, To whom then will you liken Me? Or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high. That is, look up. Lift up your eyes on high. And behold, there the word is again. Behold, who hath created all these things that bringeth out their hosts by number? He calleth them all by names, by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power, not one faileth. God is saying, lift up your eyes to the heavens. Look at the creation. Look at what God created with one spoken word. He simply spoke into the darkness and said, Let there be light, and light was. He said, Let there be stars, and stars were. But stars, so innumerable. Nobody has ever been able to count them. Nobody ever will be able to count them. A universe so vast and so awesome. One of the things that I would do as a young man, when God first called me to preach, and I was totally overwhelmed, because I had no clue what I was doing. I knew He called me. There was a fire burning in my bones. There was a love for Jesus. There was a love for His Word. But I didn't have a clue what I was doing. And called to preach Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. And sometimes feeling, what are you going to preach next week? Just being overwhelmed. One of my favorite things to do in the middle of the night, was to walk outside my house. I could walk not quite a mile, and be out in the middle of a wide open pasture. Nobody there. Absolute darkness. Feeling my way through a pasture. Laying on my back. Looking up at the stars at night that were so bright in northeast New Mexico. This awesome, vast universe. All these stars. And just beginning to weep. At how I thought my problems were so big. And yet look at this Almighty God, who simply spoke the Word, created the universe, calls all these stars by name. And this God knows my name. Behold Him. Behold Him, the One who created the stars. He says in verse 12, Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with His span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance. Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or been His counselor, who has taught Him. God's saying, look at the stars, look at the universe, look at the ocean. Let these things preach to you. Who created all these things? Who measures them in the hollow of His hand? This awesome, vast ocean. You know, maybe when I first saw the ocean here, I was awestruck. I couldn't speak. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. We walked down the Gold Coast just yesterday, and it was the same way. And I'm seeing all these people, that it's as if they're used to it. They're familiar. This is an awesome, awesome ocean. And God says He measured into the hollow of His hand. It took us 14 hours to fly from L.A. to Brisbane over this ocean. And God simply said, let there be. And He measured in the hollow of His hands. Look up, brothers and sisters, and behold the greatness of your God. He is mighty. He is powerful. All-powerful. All-powerful. All-knowing. He says in Jeremiah 32, verse 27, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? Is there anything too difficult for me? Are you facing a big, big problem tonight? Here's the answer. Behold your God. Are you facing a giant that's standing in your way? I've been feeling and facing that giant. A giant that's standing in your way to try and defy the armies of the living God? To try and stand in the way? To blaspheme your God? Are you facing a mountain of unbelief? Here is our answer. Lifting our eyes from ourselves from the mountain and beholding the greatness of our God. He is great. He is greatly to be praised. Are you paralyzed in the grip of unbelief? Behold your God. He says, is there anything too hard for me? Is there anything too difficult for me? And he answers it in verse 17 of Jeremiah 32. O Lord God, behold thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm and there is nothing, nothing too hard for thee. And look up, not only at his great power, but behold his great love and his deep compassion. Notice what he says in verse 27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob? And speakest, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God. In other words, why are you saying? You see, many people will say, I believe God is great. I believe He's awesome. I can sing that song and believe it wholeheartedly. God is an awesome God. But you don't really believe deep down that He cares. God is saying, not only behold my greatness and my power and majesty, but behold how much I love you. Behold the love of God, the compassion of God. Why do you say, why do you murmur and complain as if your way is hidden from me? He says in verse 11, He shall feed His flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with His arm and carry them in His bosom that is close to His heart. He shall gently lead those that are with young. That tells us that this Almighty God of ours, who is infinitely high, is also intimately nigh. He draws near to the broken heart, as the Scripture says. He saves those who are crushed in spirit. He gathers the lambs, the flock, the lambs in His arms, holds them close to His heart. And you and I can think of a lot of ways you could carry a sheep. They wouldn't be close to your heart. A stinky sheep. You can throw them in the back of a trailer. You can put them on a cart. You can drag them along by the back of the leg. But not our Lord. Not the Good Shepherd. He gathers the lambs in His arms and He carries them close to His heart. This Almighty God of ours, who measures out the universe with the span of His hand, has our names engraved in the palms of His hands. They're nail scarred. He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He is God who is not only awesome and great in power, but He deeply, deeply loves His people and has compassion for us. He says in verse 1 of chapter 40 here, Comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. So the Lord is saying now not only behold His greatness, look up, wake up, look up, behold His greatness, but now He's saying, behold His grace. Behold His grace and get up. Notice He says, your iniquity is pardoned, you have received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Double what? Double the grace. Double the grace. In other words, the Scripture says in Romans where sin abounded, grace did what? Much more abound. Grace did much more abound. Listen to this in Romans chapter 5. Incredible news. Romans chapter 5 verse 17. For if by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. Therefore as by one offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. And God's saying in Isaiah chapter 40, I want you to comfort My people. I want you to tell them that their iniquity is pardoned. That they have received double. Double what? Double the grace. In other words, our sins were many, but His mercy was more. His grace was more. His grace is sufficient. What does that say to me? It says to me, get up! Stop wallowing in your sin and your self-pity. Stop wallowing in self-absorbed condemnation and get up! Behold in awesome wonder His amazing grace. The wonder of His grace. And what does this do, brothers and sisters, when we are gripped by the awesome wonder of the amazing grace of God? What does it do? Does it make you want to sin more? No, it makes me want to sin no more. When I see this, can you imagine the prodigal son? What happened to him when he finally came to his senses? He was in the middle of a pig pen, covered in filth, wanting to eat the same slop that the hogs were eating. Finally came to his senses and said, I'm going to get up and go back to my Father and tell Him, Father, I've sinned! I'm no longer worthy to be called Your son! And he gets up and he comes and what does he find? That his Father was waiting for him all along. Waiting for him to come home. And the moment he's coming home, the Father runs to him, the Scripture says. Throws His arms around him, kisses his neck, has compassion upon him. Rejoicing! This is my son! He was dead! He's alive! He was lost! He's found! Can you imagine that prodigal son saying, Oh, wonderful grace! Wonderful grace! I think I want to go sin more. No! He saw the wonder of the grace of his Father. It was, I don't want to sin anymore! I want to sin no more! Imagine the woman who was caught in adultery. A horrible, shameful sin. And according to the old covenant, the law of God, she deserved to die. She deserved to be stoned to death. And the Lord could have condemned her. And what does He say to her? Who has condemned you? No one. Neither do I condemn you. Amazing grace! My sins were many. His mercy was more. Now what does He say? Go and sin no more! But don't either wallow. Don't stay on the ground. Get up! Get up, my child! That's the command. Not only do we need to wake up and look up, but stand in awesome wonder of this amazing grace and get up! That's repentance, brothers and sisters. Repentance is not staying on the ground and wallowing in your filth. Wallowing in it. Saying, oh, poor pitiful me. No, you confess your sin. You bring it to Christ. But then you get up and get to Jesus. That's repentance. Don't stay on the ground. Get up! Does it make me want to sin more? No. Makes me want to sin no more. What love can remember no wrongs we have done. Omniscient, all-knowing, He counts not their sum. Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore. Our sins, they are many. His mercy is more. What riches of kindness He lavished on us. His blood was the payment. His life was the cost. We stood neath a debt we could never afford. Our sins, they are many. His mercy is more. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Stronger than darkness new ever morn. Our sins, they are many. His mercy is more. What I want to say to you tonight if you've ever maybe you've lost the wonder of this amazing grace of God. This mercy that endures forever. Maybe you've lost the wonder of it. Maybe you think I've out sinned my day of grace. You know I can know that you have not out sinned your day of grace? You're here tonight. And if there would be any desire whatsoever to come to the Lord to get up off that ground and to come to Jesus then that is sure proof that the Holy Spirit is not finished with you and He's calling you to come back to Himself wholeheartedly. Is there enough grace for you? His grace is sufficient. There is an ocean of God's grace because where sin abounded grace did much more abound. Stand in awe of it! Stand in awesome wonder of it! Spurgeon talked about it. He said, he talked about the little mouse that came to Joseph after those seven years of plenty and all the granaries were full of grain and the little mouse comes before Joseph and says, can you spare a little bit of grain? Can you spare me a grain of wheat? And Joseph says to the little mouse cheer up little mouse my granaries are sufficient for you. My granaries are sufficient for you. What about the little fish in the ocean? Oh, I wonder if I'm going to run out of room. I wonder if I'm going to run out of water to swim in. And the ocean says, cheer up little mouse my waters are sufficient for you. What about the little bird that's flying in the sky? Oh, I wonder if I'm going to run out of sky to fly in. Cheer up little bird my skies are sufficient for you. Now what about the Christian or the sinner that has sinned grievously you've sinned against God and the devil is kicking you while you're down and he's smashing you and he wants you to stay down and he doesn't want you to preach again and he doesn't want you to witness again he wants you to stay down what is God's word to you tonight? Get up my child get up my grace is sufficient for you my grace is sufficient for you your sins they are many his mercy is more my mercy is more now what? Get up, come to Jesus but not only must we wake up to the wonder, look up and see how great and awesome and majestic our God is stand in awe of his grace and get up but we also must clean up it's time to clean up and so what does Zacchaeus do when he meets the Lord Jesus? Overwhelmed again by this awesome wonder of his grace Jesus says to this little man up in the tree Zacchaeus I'm coming to your house today I'm coming to eat with you eat with me this chief tax collector who was despised by man and others couldn't stand the thought of it, the religious crowd was so they would despise that, how can he take this man and go eat with him but overwhelmed by this awesome wonder of grace what does Zacchaeus do? After we eat oh I want to go sin more I want to sin no more and Lord if I've cheated anybody I want to give them I want to pay back four times what I owe and look all that I have, half of it I give to the poor look at that sinful woman she was known as a very sinful woman probably she was a prostitute she had an alabaster box at home full of perfume that was worth as much as a years wages she met the Savior she met the Lord Jesus she was in awesome wonder now of grace, of forgiveness of her Lord and what does she do? I want to go sin more? I want to sin no more where is he? oh he's at the house of Simon the Pharisee, she goes to the house knowing she would have been ridiculed, condemned by the Pharisee, but she can't see anybody but Jesus, that's how you know you're in awesome wonder of God you're not aware of those who are around you you're so consumed and riveted upon him, your eyes are fixed upon him, what are others going to think about me, the way I worship not somebody who's in awesome wonder and what does she do? what do most do? how much of the alabaster box should we give? ten percent? half? she is in awesome wonder she breaks it open and she pours it all out upon the Lord why? Jesus says she loved much because she was forgiven much she was in awesome wonder of the grace and the forgiveness of Christ, this grace she received get up, clean up in other words give all, there is a time to make restitution there is a time to make restitution that's true repentance and that's part of cleaning up you're in awesome wonder of how much the Lord has done for you now you go make wrongs right you go get things right you go ask forgiveness to the one that you wronged, you go pay back the debt you owe this is the way brothers and sisters make restitution but you still haven't completely cleaned up the only way to completely clean up is that this stain of sin has to be washed away so what do we do? we go to the fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunge beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains, there is only one way to be completely clean, what shall wash away my sins? nothing but the blood of Jesus what shall make me whole again? nothing but the blood of Jesus oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow, hallelujah whiter than snow and that's what God says, though your sins be as crimson, they shall be white as snow, white like wool you can be clean no matter what you've done you can be clean, you can be forgiven if you are willing to repent get up, get to Jesus, you're walking away you're walking away from your sin and you're walking toward Him now clean up, clean up and the Bible says if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanses us from all sin, so what do we do? we behold now not only God the awesome creator who created the stars and the ocean, not only God, this awesome awesome God who created the universe but also He is calling us to behold the Lamb of God, that's where we're clean, behold that's what John the Baptist said, isn't it? Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, in other words look at Him, fix your gaze upon Him, look at Him, and when He said behold the Lamb, were they thinking about this peaceful Lamb just grazing along the side of the green hillside? No when He said behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world they saw a Lamb that was being led to the slaughter, they knew what it meant, the Lamb had its throat cut, the blood was shed, it's graphic it's severe this is the Lamb and it reminds me of a man named Ronnie Reagan, maybe you've heard of him, he's in America, he's a pastor in America Ronnie Reagan was a little boy who grew up with an alcoholic father who was a very violent, wicked man and Ronnie Reagan because of living in this home he was an out of control child they couldn't control him at school he was full of hate, he was full of anger, and he said the only friend he had on earth was a little lamb a little sheep that the neighbor had given him, and that little sheep that little lamb, when Ronnie got home off the school bus, it was right there waiting for him, they would walk home through the country, down the country road, he would walk home with that lamb, he played with the lamb he did everything with the lamb that was he said the only friend he had, but one day he got off the school bus and the lamb wasn't there and he wondered where's the lamb where's my lamb and he took off walking toward the house and he got about half way between the school bus and the house, and there his dad was changing a flat tire on the old truck, and he walked around, his dad cursing and swearing in a drunken rage, he walked around and he saw the lamb laying on it's side, covered in blood with a tire tool stuck right through it the lamb had come up to his dad just being curious and Ronnie's dad in a drunken rage beats the lamb and kills him with the tire tool he said I ran off screaming through the pasture, he's killed my lamb he's killed my lamb he's killed my lamb and from that moment on he became even more out of control and then he became a teenager and then he became a young man who got on drugs and alcohol, and he ended up in prison for a while got out of prison for attempted murder absolutely out of control he was married he was on the brink of divorce his wife had met Jesus, she decided to follow Jesus, and one day at the end of his rope, he decided to go to an evening meeting with her and he sat down in the back and he said that preacher could have said anything in the world and I probably wouldn't have got it but he said this, and he said God gripped my heart got a hold of me, the preacher stood up in the pulpit and said behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and he said to the folks, he says Jesus is God's lamb and Ronnie immediately understood he's killed the lamb he's killed the lamb the blood of Christ was shed for him Ronnie said he didn't even remember how, but he got out of his chair came to the altar gave his heart to Jesus Christ put all of his faith and trust in him was born again, followed the Lord from that day forward, and is preaching the gospel today he got up, he cleaned up he cleaned up at this fountain this fountain that's available to all, God so loved the world that he gave his only son Jesus so loved us in that while we were yet enemies he died for us he died for us, behold the awesome wonder of it all I think of that brothers and sisters I stand in awesome wonder to think of where I could be today, where would we be today, think about that where would you be today where would you be today were it not for the grace of God were it not for the awesome wonder of his grace, the awesome sacrifice that was made for us, behold the lamb, hallelujah get up clean up, Revelation 1 5, look unto him, behold him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood Jesus paid it all all to him I owe sin had left a crimson stain he washed me white as snow hallelujah hallelujah, behold your God Isaiah 40 again not only beloved must we wake up must we look up must we get up must we clean up, but now we must do something else, we must behold as we're beholding God behold something else and they are called the great and precious promises of God, God has great and precious promises for us and we need to behold them, we need to fix our eyes on them, when you read this book you need to be asking Lord is there a promise for me to believe is there a command for me to obey is there a truth here that's going to set me free, is there a promise for me to believe, and there are promises right here in Isaiah chapter 40 for us to believe, here they are Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 29 he gives power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall, you hear that even the young men can utterly fall how by going in your own strength by trying your own way but he says they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint behold our faithful God who will be faithful to this promise he gives power to the faint and them that have no strength he gives strength them that have no might to the weak he gives strength to those who wait upon him he renews your strength he gives you strength and you will mount up with wings as eagles when you mount up you know I think of when I was a kid or even later working on a ranch you would get up early in the morning and everybody saddles their horse and then you wait around to get daylight and right as the sun is just about to come up and it's starting to get daylight the boss says to all the cowboys mount up mount up, what does that mean? get on your horse get on your horse and when you mount up you're being carried by the strength of another in this case a horse here in this case an eagle mounting up on the wind the wind beneath its wings is its strength he's mounting up and God is saying those who wait upon me those who stand in awesome wonder of me and wait upon me then I'm going to be like the wind beneath the eagle's wings I will be your strength I will carry you I will take you where you can never go I will make you what you can never become I will do with you what is impossible for you to do because it's not about you it's all about Him it's about His strength being made perfect in our weakness they shall mount up they shall mount up. Have you ever seen an eagle on the wing? Have you ever seen an eagle soaring in the sky? I shared this at prayer meeting last night I remember one time being on top of a mountain on the ranch and this was the context of it. I had no expectation of what I was about to see, but I was on this mountain and I was praying and I was crying out to God and I was meditating upon this very verse Lord you said that if we wait upon you, you would renew our strength. We'll mount up as wings as eagles, but I'm not soaring as an eagle in this Christian life. I'm not at all I'm trying I'm striving I'm trying harder, I'm trying to do better I do nothing but fail My sermons are boring How do I be a husband? How do I be a dad? All of this and I sing more like a chicken the chicken of all chickens trying to get off the ground, beating the air a clumsy chicken or a clumsy duck or turkey not an eagle and God says you'll mount up with wings as eagles What does that mean? I'm praying and I was in tears I was in desperation and I come over this knoll and God is my witness sitting on the edge of the cliff is this huge majestic bald eagle beautiful bald eagle and I was in wonder. I stopped in awesome wonder as this eagle stepped off the ledge, opened up his wings. He may have did this once or twice but he caught the draft the draft would come off the cliff they'd catch that draft and then they would take the circle and he began to soar in a big circle and he went higher and higher and higher effortlessly and the Lord said to me that's what it is to depend, that's what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit that's what it is when the breath of God the spirit of the living God comes up underneath you and he takes you where you can never go and you're not growing weary and you're not stumbling fall. Why do young men stumble and fall? Because they're not riding they're not mounted up they're not depending on the power of the Holy Spirit and God has given us promises beloved. He's given promises in the scripture. He says this He says if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children in other words if one of your children came to you and said Dad give me a piece of bread I'm hungry who's going to give him a rock give me an egg who will give him a serpent none of us would do that and Jesus says if you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him and I saw I need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit but you can be baptized in the Holy Spirit and then even later as a Christian lose the wonder and then you're prone to wander and what does he say be ye being filled with the Spirit. We need the wind beneath our wings we need God I am so aware of that tonight I don't know why there are sometimes I don't know if it's all of hell comes against you I don't know all the variables I just know sometimes it seems like you face this wall. It's not because I'm not in a praying church it's not because people here aren't hungry and desperate for God it's most likely something in me something in me that's battling in me and sometimes I don't understand it but here's what it does to me. It brings me to my knees and says God I can't but you can I am weak but you are strong and behold the wonder this all consuming fire who is also your father a good father says to us wait upon me and when you wait upon the Lord He works He works for those who wait wait. Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. What did Jesus say after He rose from the dead and He was about to ascend to His Father what did He say to His disciples tarry in Jerusalem. Wait in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high wait. And how did they wait? Did they go lay down on the couch and get their phones play video games eat potato chips and watch TV. That's not waiting. Waiting is not being idle beloved. Waiting what do we do when we wait what did they do in the upper room while they waited? We worship. Yes you expect you expect Him because He promised wait till you receive the promise of the Father. So God promised. God cannot lie God who says He will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. He will do what He says He will do so we wait. How do you wait? You worship while you wait. You worship while you wait. You pray while you wait. You have your eyes on the Lord as you wait just like a waiter or a waitress waits upon those they're serving and they don't move. They don't waiter doesn't come to a table and says I know what you want. Now I'm gonna go get it. He waits what would you like ma'am? What would you like sir? And they listen and they wait and then when they're given orders or instruction then they go and God's saying wait upon me don't try and go out in your own strength. Don't try to do this in your own. If you do you will utterly fall and you'll fall over and over and over again wait upon the Lord those who wait upon the Lord those who stand in awesome wonder of Him and simply worship while they wait will renew their strength and they'll mount up with wings as eagles. And what did we see in the early church? Those who took the Lord's word and obeyed Him only 120 out of probably 500 listened and obeyed and what happened? They mounted up on the day of Pentecost they mounted up and Peter preached like he had never preached before and we see now the awesome wonder of God displayed through His people demonstrated through His church and the rest of the book of Acts is us watching this awesome God do wondrous things through His people in the power of the Holy Ghost and He's wanting to do it again today and He will do it again if we are willing to wait to lift our eyes and behold Him I often one of my favorite sermons in the whole world to listen to and I've listened to it probably hundreds of times as I go to sleep at night often times I put it on and I listen to it it's A.W. Tozer The Holiness of God and I listen to that just to again reflect upon who He is but A.W. Tozer begins that sermon by saying Leonardo da Vinci when he painted that famous painting of the Last Supper he said he painted all the faces without any trouble except for one he could not paint the face of Jesus and day after day went by and finally he was just in despair and he just painted he said it's no use I can't paint Him and I feel that tonight this is Tozer said I feel the same thing tonight I can't paint Him I cannot no matter how lofty our words they're going to fall short of this awesome glorious God of ours but I'll tell you this my brother and sister even tonight if you will set your heart to seek the face of God and you will wait upon Him He will reveal Himself to those who wait upon Him and He will pull back the veil and allow us to behold Him once again in awesome wonder and that's what He wants from all of us to behold Him in awesome wonder awaken to the wonder of God look at Him get up if you're on the ground get up maybe there's somebody here I can certainly relate with in that you've fallen down I want you to listen to the word of God from Micah this may be just for you Micah 7 verse 7 therefore I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my salvation my God will hear me rejoice not against me O my enemy when I fall I shall arise when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him until He plead my cause and execute judgment for me He will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold His righteousness rejoice not against me O my enemy though I have fallen I will arise I will get up by the grace of God I will get up and I'm telling you my dear friend if you're one who feels you can't get up if you're one who's being kicked while you're down I'm telling you today get up, that's the command of the Lord get up and get to Jesus His grace is sufficient for you clean up be washed in the blood if there are wrongs you need to make right even tonight you might need to make a phone call even tonight you might need to write a letter even tonight or tomorrow when you get home you might need to throw something away and destroy it and you know what happened in Ephesus when the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached there and sinners were born again and came to Christ they took out all their magic books and all this junk and everything that was abomination to God and they put it in a big pile and they burned it they cleaned house it's time to clean up time to clean up and get rid of that stuff and then it's time to mount up God wants to do something with you church that's far beyond you utterly disproportionate to who we are in and of ourselves God wants to do but we need the Holy Spirit we can't do it without Him now Father we come before you in Jesus mighty mighty name and Lord in this feeble attempt I pray that your words, your words are spirit and they are life and I'm asking you Lord to grip our hearts once again with your promises with your truth oh Lord we're asking you to grip our hearts once again to show us what no man can show us that only the Holy Spirit can show us to open our eyes to see you Jesus only I think about you when you were on that mount of transfiguration Lord Jesus Moses and Elijah was there but Lord when you revealed yourself and got a hold of Peter, James and John they came to a place of seeing no man save Jesus only and we want to see no man save Jesus only we want to see you high and lifted up we want to behold you in all of your glory and majesty and power and authority oh God we want to be gripped by your grace again and Lord we need you to come and fill us with your Holy Spirit those of us who are empty, those of us who are dry, those of us who see our need Lord, you made a promise oh God and you cannot lie and we lay hold of you and your promise oh Lord and we're praying for a fresh filling tonight of the Holy Ghost we're praying for a fresh filling tonight of your Holy Spirit oh God to strengthen us and empower us oh God with power from on high not to do our own will, God forbid, but to do your will Lord God, to do what you've called us to do, to serve you wholeheartedly to follow you Lord wholeheartedly, would you do it Lord, would you do it in and through us we pray in Jesus mighty name raise up a church here Lord that's mounting up with wings as eagles, oh Lord take us and take them Lord, where we can never even imagine, you're a God who says you're willing and able to do exceeding abundantly above all we could ask or imagine, but we need your grace, we need your power to do it Lord, so come Lord come Lord Jesus and strengthen your people, we pray in Jesus name, Amen Amen