Going Lower With God

I like the sincerity of the sharing, because the Lord looks at the heart. He doesn't look at the words. You know the man who went to the temple to pray, and he just beat his chest and said, Have mercy on me, God. And he was hurt. The other man had lots to say about all the righteous things he was doing, fasting and prayers and all these things. And he didn't go home justified. His heart was still hard. He still felt uncleansed. But the guy who didn't have confidence to look up, Jesus heard him. God heard him. You know, we talk about finding fellowship and finding communion. I was reading an act this morning how they had all things in common, and they found fellowship. And I heard while I was reading that a song that, Dan, you were singing there, find me in the river, find me on my knees. And I was thinking of where that fellowship is found. And it's found in the low place. That's where the river runs. It never runs on the top of a mountain or on a mountaintop experience. The river is always running in the very lowest places. And wherever it goes lower, that's where the river is going. If you want to find times of refreshing from the Lord, find where the river is going and go there. Go to there. Even if you start off and it's just like a stream way up higher on the mountain, you say, hey, I found the river up higher on the mountain. And you get into that stream, and maybe it's only ankle deep. Keep chasing that stream down, and you'll come to a place where it's knee deep. And if you keep going and it starts to plane out, and you'll come to a place where the river is maybe waist deep. And if you say, I feel a little bit overwhelmed. The currents are taking me here. There's strong currents here. I don't know if I can go any farther. I don't know if I'm prepared to go lower. But the Holy Spirit is beckoning us to keep going, calling us to a place where one must swim, where we just totally abandon ourselves in the faith and say, God, here, have all of me. We were up at the creek here this last week on Thursday, and we found a man who backslid at the Wagner. He went and used. And I was sitting there, and we were in the office, and I seen him from afar off walking, Jeff, walking into the meeting hall. I said, that's Jeff. I said, he's here. And I was happy he was here. He wasn't on the street using. And he didn't have confidence. He looked in a bad way. And after the meeting, he came up to me, and he said, you know, I heard what you said about being caught up in trespass, and when I was bound in sin, how the evil spirits came, and my teeth were chattering. I was so inclined to be driven to sin, he said. That happened to me, and I left the Wagner Hills farm. My teeth were chattering, and there's something that drove me to go and to use the drugs. I said, that's a demonic spirit. I said, the Lord showed me when we were at Wagner that you have evil spirits in you, and you need to get free from them. And I wasn't sure how to tell you. And he said, I feel them inside of me. And I said, well, we're going to purpose in prayer that Jesus will set you free, but you need to start to repent and return to the Lord. And I was in prayer yesterday before bed just talking to God and saying, Jesus, show me something about how these men can get free from demonic. You know, you can read all kinds of self-help books and how people can be free. You meet them all over the place. It's easy to diagnose that they have evil spirits or that they're in sin or they're unrepentant. How to see them change. It's so few and far between. And I said, Lord, is there some kind of special remedy? I've read all about them, and we've tried in prayer, you know, using the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony and all these different things and quoting scripture. And we've seen some free. We've seen some fall as dead men shaking and get free. But not enough. And I said, teach me, Jesus. Just a simple teach me, Jesus. And I woke up at four in the morning this morning and, and the words were in my mind, like a verse. Repent, renounce, and return. Repent, renounce, return. And then I went back to sleep and I couldn't remember that middle one. Renounce. Oh yes, renounce. And I kept repeating it as I'd wake up throughout the night. Renounce. I don't want to forget that. Renounce. I woke up in the morning and started to study some scriptures about repent, renounce, and return. And I was amazed at some of the scriptures that crossed over in my time with the Lord on what that looks like to renounce things. Repentance. The men in Acts. Peter stood up in Acts and chapter two, and he began to share about Jesus and how they crucified him on the tree and, and how they, they killed the Lord of glory. And they were cut to the heart and then they, what shall we do? And he told them to repent and be converted, that times of refreshing can come from the Lord. And everyone believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. And even in Acts three, when Peter and I think John, they went, were walking to the temple to go worship the Lord. That temple, I don't know, you know, that was a religious place. But they were going there because there were people in that religious place that needed the Lord. And then here they found this man who was crippled there on the side of the road. And he was putting his hand up because he wanted something. You know, the people that we meet at these different places, the farm, the Creek, they want something. And quite often I get texts and they wanting money. They wanting handout. They need maybe need something for food or some gas money or something. You know what Peter and John said? They said silver and gold. Because silver and gold, you'll use it today. And tomorrow you'll need more, but such as I have give ID. And the question is, do I have. What this man needs. Do you have what the people in the world who are perishing, who are crippled in sin and they can't walk spiritually speaking. Need. In the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk. And then he came up walking and leaping and praising God. And then the people were marveling saying, was it the righteousness of Peter and John? Was it their holy life that led to this? And he said, brethren, it wasn't our righteousness or our goodness. Our holiness that led to this. It's Jesus. It's the name of Jesus. That if you believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ, this man stands before you healed because of Jesus Christ. Because he's not dead when you kill. He's risen and he's seated at the right hand of the power and he can live inside you through faith. Through the power of the Holy Spirit. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He told them. And you know what? When they are cut to the heart, when people are cut to the heart through the ministry of preaching or through songs of repentance, we get cut to the heart. Then that's a great opportunity for us to find forgiveness of sins, to be broken and to be contrite. This is what the Lord doesn't despise. This is repentance. When we come to a place of being broken, of being crushed, it says in the scriptures that in Isaiah 66 that he dwells in the high and the lofty place. And with him who is humble, who is broken, contrite. And when the reading of scriptures is read, we tremble at the word of God. Do we tremble when the word of God is preached? Or do we have a confidence in ourselves? Oh, I know that scripture. The Lord spoke to me about something in John and chapter 14. And I was reading about it last day when, before I went to the creek, I felt, no, maybe I should preach on John 14. I studied John 14. But before that, the scripture came to read from John 14. I said, oh, I know John 14. Oh, I know it. I have verses even memorized from John 14. It doesn't matter whether you know it in your head or you can quote it. What matters is if the Holy Spirit wants to speak through that to you. And it's not to take a scripture and make a message out of it. It's that your life would become a message. I think when Paul says that you are living letters, you are a living message known and read by all men. And what do people see when they see you? What's the message that they're getting from you? Well, here's a guy whose head is packed with scripture and he has absolutely no love. Here's a guy who can quote all kinds of scriptures and he has, he's as dead as a post. He's not even born again. Here's a guy who's religious as anything. And he's a Pharisee of Pharisees. Here's a guy who doesn't know much. He's an unlearned and uneducated man, but he has been with Jesus. That's what they said of Peter and John, that they were uneducated and untrained men. They hadn't gone to Bible school. They hadn't been versed in all the Torah. They hadn't known the scriptures like the Pharisees, but they had been with Jesus. They had sat at Jesus' feet and they had been taught by him personally. So we went to the creek there and here's this one brother, Moses, and he gets up and he shares from John 14. And I'm just marveled. He's sharing from John 14 and he ends right at that verse where God spoke to me on John 15. If you love me, keep my commandments and you'll be loved by my father. If you love me, you know why we don't have the love of God in us to love others? Because we're not rightly loving the Lord. We're not rightly following the spirits leading with regard to scriptures. Our heads can be packed with them, but we're just hearers of this word. We're not doers. It's not a part of us. We can have a wonderful, he brought me to his banqueting table and his banner over me is love, and I can have a feast set before me. But if I just know all these things and I've not tasted and seen the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him, who doesn't respect the prop nor such as turn aside to lies. There's two parts, those who are proud and those who love lies. There's people, a lot of people who preach, who love lies. And there's a lot of people who preach truth, who are proud. Paul says, praise God that the truth is preached. But he says, these seem to be super apostles. But he said, I don't respect them really at all. And you know what? He really called them. They're pretty much antichrist. These super apostles. He said, who are the things who boast of the things of which we are. We don't want it to be like that. I was once like that. And I want to rather be someone like John or Peter. Maybe I don't have the best knowledge in my seeking and desiring to, to preach the gospel. Maybe I don't have the fancy speech. Maybe I'm not the best preacher, but I want to have a testimony of loving Jesus. And I want to have a testimony of loving people. And I want to take time to love people. We were on Friday at the Wagner Hills. And they, I've been there for about a month now. And those people, they bring in to do music. Some fantastic musicians. Some awesome talent. And singing the good songs. All the good songs. But you want to know what there's a lack of? The moving of the Holy spirit. There's a lack of the moving of the Holy spirit. Why? Because this relationship must not be right. And therefore, this isn't impacting the hearts of men. And I was going to say, you know, Dan, maybe we should cancel because, you know, Josh and Dan, they're not the best guitar players. These guys, they, I mean, they play so well on an instrument. But I said, you know what? This is carnal thinking. I have to repent of this thinking because it's not by might, nor by power. It's by spirit. So, but what we can do, it's not about how beautiful or we can measure up to a standard or whether they'll like our, our music or our singing. What matters is what Jesus is going to show up. That's what matters. You know, at first Dan was at the hospital. He said, I don't even think I can come with Josh was working. I said, I'm going to stand there with no instruments. I'm just going to sing from my heart. How's that going to work? Because it's not about me. And it's not about Dan. It's about Jesus. I said, Lord, here we are. We want to do the singing here. I'm a preacher. We're not singers, but we're going to sing and see what happens. See what God does. And you know what? The Holy spirit. I have to say this. I don't know if Dan experienced it the same, but of all the worship services I've ever been to. The presence of Jesus was the thickest there. It was the thickest there. Not because of our singing and not because of our music, but because of Jesus. I was humbled by his mercy. It was just so minister administered to me so much. I seen people wiping tears. I seen people and, and we don't really have a platform to share, but for five minutes, the Holy spirit gave me a word. It was an identical word that was spoken on Wednesday, which was confirmation to leadership that we speak what God says. And it's opening doors because God wants us there. And they said, I said, well, maybe there's an opportunity to preach there. No, if, if you're willing, you can drive men to some appointments at the doctors. Okay. Yes, we're willing. If you're willing, you could lead some singing. We have 12 ladies. If you'd like to come with your brother and Carter, if you're willing to sing. Yes, we're willing. You know what brothers, sisters, we have to be willing to do the least things. The things that in our head are insignificant. Because we don't know how God can work. And if we're not willing to do the least of these things and God, isn't going to entrust us with more. We have to be faithful in what is another mass and God will give us our own. Find me in the river. Find me on my knees. I was looking up that word, repent and then renounce. It says in second Corinthians chapter four and verse two, having renounced the hidden things of shame, a big part of repentance is turning away from, from our sin. And not just saying, Oh, forgive me on my sins and cleanse me, but really renouncing it saying I repent and I renounce uncleanness in my life. I renounced pornography. I renounced sexual morality. I renounced pride. I renounced greed. I renounced covetousness. I renounced envy and jealousy and drunkenness and drug addiction. We need to break the power of sin of our lives with our words, by renouncing these things. The scripture says, if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. It also says, I think it's in Isaiah and 28. It says that if we confess and renounce our sin, he will forgive us and have mercy on us. Confession and renouncing go together. It's important that we speak the truth to others and to God. Sometimes that happens in our hearts, but confession is a big part of getting free from sin. Admitting that we have a problem in an area is confession. And when we admit it, not just enough to say, my name is Bob and I'm an alcoholic. I renounce the power of alcohol over my life. Jesus set me free. There's another scripture. I believe it's in Matthew 16, 24. It says, unless a man forsake all that he has, he can't be my disciple. I cross references. It says, unless a man renounce all that he has. It's not enough just to say, well, I'm going to forsake it. You renounce it. You despise it. It no longer is going to drive you. It says those who have this world's goods, as though they did not possess. We cannot possess things in our hearts. I've been to Haiti. I've been different places. And I see a man who has a nice pair of shoes. And he won't go to church unless he has a nice pair of shoes. And so we brought some shoes. We gave him some shoes. And he walks with his nose high in the air that he has this pair of shoes. You can be proud of having the nicest pair of shoes in your village. You say, why would a guy be proud about that? Because it's about the heart. It's not about the thing. These things, it says they set up idols in their hearts. It can be anything. If we confess and we renounce these idols, and we confess the Lord Jesus with our mouth, and we believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we shall be saved. And then there's also scriptures about return. We need to return to the Lord. It says in Hosea, chapter six, verse one, return to the Lord for he has torn us, but he will bandage us. He has torn us, but he'll heal us. It says, and he'll come to us like spring rain. Do that comes from heaven. Repentance has everything to do with his brother. Daniel shared a 180 degrees and returning to the Lord, seeking the Lord while he may be found calling upon him while he's near. He says, if you return to me, I'll return to you, declares the Lord. He also says in Psalm 51 about a prayer of repentance. About after the man repents, he says, then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you. We want to see people return to the Lord. It's after God does a work in us that we become effective witnesses to see others return to the Lord. To be one of those who is a restorer of the breach, a restorer of the fence, a restorer of broken down walls. What happens is, is a brother Daniel shared a little sleep, spiritually speaking, a little slumber, a little taking some days off, a little folding of the hands to rest and spiritual poverty will come to you. Spiritual lukewarmness will come. Dryness will come into your life and the enemy will come like a prowler in your need, like an armed man, and you'll find that you'll be in watch. I've talked to brothers different times. I said, how are you doing with the Lord? Some of them despise me for asking. How are you doing with Jesus? Don't ask me that anymore. I don't want to hear that anymore. Get angry when you see that. Okay. There's a dryness in me. Why keep asking? Why is there a dryness? Why is there a deadness? Because in our walk with Christ, something has come up that we didn't understand that we didn't. We didn't like. It was too difficult to keep going with God. And we sat on the road like blind Bartimaeus. And we, and we stopped moving. We took, we took some time off. We stopped running in the race. And there we are sitting there. And sometimes we can even find a place of religion, a place like this where we sit in our chairs and we come and we present ourselves as being right before the Lord, but inwardly we're dry. And the statement is has completely robbed from us. And we're wretched, miserable, spiritually poor, blind to the ways of Jesus and naked, not clothed with the righteousness of Christ. But you know what? There was hope for blind Bartimaeus. As Jesus was passing by. He began to cry out. And this is repentance. We see blind Bartimaeus is a picture of a man who repented. He acknowledged his condition. He recognized where he was. He knew that he had a need. And he looked to the one being blind, who could save him from his state. Jesus, son of David have mercy on me. A sinner have mercy on me. And while he was passing by and the crowds with him, Jesus's ear is tuned to those who are humble and contrite and who tremble at the word. And Jesus turned and looked at him and said, what do you want me to do for you? He said that I might receive my sight. And Jesus healed him. Some of us become delusioned along the way and we've lost spiritual guidance. We've lost the vision. We're, we're just going through the motions. Where's Jesus in it all. Just an abundance of religious activity, but no life. Then the son shows up. And they just have to lay hold of Jesus. He has the son has the life. The one who has not the son half no life, just the hells on them. The wrath of God abides on them. But we have a better hope than that brothers. We have a better hope than that. Finished with a few scriptures. Joel and chapter two in verse 13, starting in verse 12. Now, therefore, it says the Lord turned to me with all your heart. With fastings. With weeping. And with morning. Turn to me with all your heart. To love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. If you love me, you'll keep my word. Turn to me with fastings, with weeping, and with morning. If you really want to get serious, and you need a touch from the Lord again, then draw near to God, as it says in James. And he will draw near to you. Return to the Lord. And he will return to you. Just like the prodigal. He came to himself. He came to his senses. And he said, I'm going to return to my father's house. Because that's where it was good. There was a point in my life where I, I wanted to get away from my father's house. Because I felt like I was hemmed in. And I wanted some freedom. But now, I can't wait to get back there. Because there was abundant food in my father's house. And here, I am wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. They were starving out there. There was a famine in the land. You know, today, even in the churches, there's a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. A lot of the churches, I went to a meeting. And I listened an hour to a meeting. With one scripture quoted from a wrong position. And Jesus not mentioned once. God mentioned twice. There's a famine in the land. Not of bread, nor of water, but of hearing the true word of the Lord. And who will be the one humble enough to break that bread, and give it to the people? Two times, or three times, maybe, it speaks of the word Christian. 261 times, it speaks about being a disciple. Are you prepared to be a disciple? If a man does not forsake all that he has, if he does not renounce all that he has, he can't be my disciple. If you're not willing to pick up your cross, and follow after him, and deny self. That word deny also crosses over as renounce self. Renounce self. And follow after Jesus. You can't be my disciple. He goes on here. So he says, Rend your heart, and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and he relents from doing harm. And who knows, if he will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind. A grain offering, food, a drink offering, spiritual drink. Jesus said to those who were there, longing to eat the loaves and the fishes. They followed him, and they made a journey across the sea to find him. And he said, Eat of my flesh, and drink of my blood, so that you have life in you. A lot of us are eating and drinking of all kinds of stuff. We're sitting on our phones. We're gorging ourselves, on all kinds of things, that we can find there that fascinate us, and intrigue us. We get on the computer, and we search on our search engines. We can spend so much time there, feeding on all of that knowledge, and good things, and good ideas, and self-help, and health ideas, and get-rich-quick things, and all kinds of other things, that attract us. But brothers and sisters, not everything that glitters is gold. There's fool's gold. Let us not become distracted from the true riches that are found in Jesus. And let us seek his kingdom first, and his righteousness. All the other things he's going to sort out. To love God with all your being. To deny self, and renounce the self-life, and repent, and return to the Lord. And perhaps he'll leave a blessing behind. Blindfolded, Son of David! Are you desperate for that? Not really. As soon as the meeting's over, we're desperate to get back onto our devices. To see if we got any texts, or any hits on our Facebook page, or any emails, or any likes. We need to have a change of heart. Otherwise spiritual famine, spiritual desert, spiritual dryness, will never leave your life. Just religion will remain. And I'm telling you, the religious will not inherit the kingdom of God. True and undefined religion, is to take care of widows and orphans in their distress. But dead religion will not produce eternal life. If you really have a burden for the lost, then you'll find yourself as a worker. Serving, helping, ministering, and meeting people where they're at. And giving of your life. Giving of your resources, and giving of your time. Because we've been bought with a price. We're not our own. Let's allow Jesus to be glorified, through these hands, and these feet, and through our tongues. Through our ears. Offering ourselves a living sacrifice to God, which is our reasonable act of worship. To say, Lord, I'm willing to die to all these things that I once held dear. Built my life upon. And now, I'm exchanging that, for the glory of Jesus. I'm exchanging it for the glory of Jesus. Will you exchange these things that are, set up in your heart, that are so dear to your heart? Will you exchange them, for Jesus himself? Do you behold, him, the beauty of the Lord? If we look in the natural, we say, well there's no beauty that we should desire him. But can you have spiritual eyes, and see the beauty of the Lord? Come Lord Jesus. Come Lord Jesus. There's more scriptures, but, I think we'll leave it there. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this day. Today is a day that you've made Lord. May you be glorified, and may you be exalted, in it. That the words of our mouth, and the testimony of, our lips, and the meditations of our heart, would be pleasing and acceptable, and in line with the way of your spirit. We might come to know Jesus, the fullness of God manifested, manifested in our hearts through faith. That the indwelling presence of your spirit, would sanctify a spirit, soul, and body. That we might be an exact image of the invisible God on the earth. That we might become the hands and feet of Jesus. That people would see Jesus, when they meet us. That they would know love. They would know what is love. And they would see Jesus in us. I pray Father, that we would repent. As Brother David shared, there's areas and rooms in our life, that we've not yet yielded, and we've not yet surrendered, to your Lordship. That we might be full disciples, and we would renounce, and we would repent, and we would return. In Jesus name. Amen.