Reaching people and making them devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
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Reaching people and making them devoted followers of Jesus Christ. |
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TEACH ME THE POWER OF A MOMENT
IN A PLACE |
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We’ve begun a series titled TEACH ME THE POWER OF A MOMENT! You determine your life by how you respond to moments. The author, Leo Buscaglia said, “Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time.” In a moment, a life will change. 1 Corinthians 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and WE SHALL BE CHANGED. I know that verse is talking about the resurrection, but my point is HOW QUICKLY GOD CAN CHANGE OUR LIVES! In a moment, God can raise you from a dead place in life to a resurrected place in life! THERE IS POWER IN A MOMENT AND IT IS WHAT WE DO WITH MOMENTS THAT MAKE OUR LIVES MATTER. We are asking God to help us understand the power of a moment. Last time we talked about Teach me the power of a moment with people. When God is ready for our lives to go up, he will nearly always bring a person/people into our lives. Today, we want to look at TEACH ME THE POWER OF A MOMENT IN A PLACE! When God wants to bless us, he not only brings people into our lives, we must also be at the right PLACE! Your life is a series of PLACES! We say, “I remember when I was there” or, “I was at that place…” Oprah Winfrey said, “My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best PLACE for the next moment.” In other words, YOUR LIFE IS A SERIES OF PLACES! The Bible tells us about the prophet Elijah. 1 Kings 17:1-6 Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, "As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives - the God whom I worship and serve - there will be no dew or rain during the next few years unless I give the word!" THEN THE LORD SAID TO ELIJAH, "Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook AT A PLACE east of where it enters the Jordan River. Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, FOR I HAVE COMMANDED them to bring you food." So Elijah did as the LORD had told him and camped beside Kerith Brook. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. Elijah had it tough, did he not? The remainder of Elijah’s world was going through a famine, but Elijah was laying in the shade as God blessed him supernaturally. Notice the specifics… go to the east… east at Kerith Brook where it enters the Jordan River. The Lord wants to give us specific instructions, but we must learn to hear the voice of the Lord. Jesus said, John 10:27 My sheep HEAR MY VOICE, and I know them, and they follow me Elijah heard his voice and at that specific PLACE, God COMMANDED a blessing. That is why you need to pray every day that God will speak to you, bring the correct people into your life and lead you to the right PLACE. When we are in the PLACE where God tells us to be, God will supernaturally bless us. God will COMMAND a blessing. God can bless us though crazy things are happening to everyone else, but we must be in the PLACE. HOW MANY BLESSINGS HAVE WE MISSED BECAUSE WE WERE AT THE WRONG PLACE? THERE IS POWER IN A MOMENT IN A PLACE! God told Elijah to move on to another PLACE. 1KI 17:7-9 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him: "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I HAVE COMMANDED a widow in that PLACE to supply you with food." Again, the right PLACE resulted in the COMMANDED supernatural blessing. We must be sensitive to God’s voice concerning the PLACE. Here is what I want to say to you today. GOD’S COMMANDED BLESSING FOR YOUR LIFE IS CONNECTED TO A PLACE! We must constantly listen to God’s direction to make certain that we are in the PLACE where he COMMANDED the blessing. Elijah went to Zarephath and found the widow who was about to eat her last little flour cake and die. Elijah told her to give it to him and she would have plenty more. She did what he said and God supernaturally blessed her through Elijah. I want us to see that not only is there a PLACE COMMANDED to bless us, but we become a PLACE for others. Elijah found his PLACE and became a PLACE. God wants us to bless others and we can in the PLACE. There is a PLACE waiting for each of us where God has already COMMANDED a blessing! Deuteronomy 28:8 The LORD shall COMMAND THE BLESSING UPON THEE in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and HE SHALL BLESS THEE IN THE LAND [PLACE] WHICH THE LORD THY GOD GIVETH THEE. GOD CONNECTS YOUR BLESSING TO A PLACE. That is one reason you cannot take church lightly. More times than not, when God is about to make a change in your life, he will begin that change in a service like this. One of the most important places you can ever be is a church where God will speak to you. God will stir you up, make you think, give you a word through a song, through a prayer, or through a teaching. You be careful when you “don’t feel like going to church” because it is at church, many times, where God will speak to your heart. That is not saying he will not speak to you in your car, or house, or at work, but he will stir you up at church so that he can speak to you in your car, at your house, or at work. You be careful about missing church. The day you “don’t feel like going to church” and miss, might be the very day that God wanted to speak to you in a powerful way about your PLACE. The most important PLACE you can be is a good church. Let’s think about that just a minute. Let’s reason together. If God connects your blessing with a PLACE, what will the devil do to stop your blessing? He will get you in the WRONG PLACE. The serpent flicks out his tongue to analyze what is happening. When he senses things, he will do all he can to get you in the wrong place. In a MOMENT the devil will have you in a wrong place. Luke 4:5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a MOMENT of time. Just as the devil will bring you the wrong people to destroy you, he will get you in the wrong place. Let me say it a little more clearly. You need to be at a church where God stirs you, makes you think, and challenges you to move upward to the PLACE of COMMANDED blessing. You need to be at a church where God challenges you to hear him speak to you. TEACH ME LORD THE POWER OF A MOMENT IN A PLACE! The Bible tells us about Elijah training his successor. 2 Kings 2:9-10 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?" "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied. "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "yet IF YOU SEE ME WHEN I AM TAKEN FROM YOU, IT WILL BE YOURS - OTHERWISE NOT." Elisha wanted a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. Jesus told the Pharisees, Matthew 23:15 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, YOU MAKE HIM TWICE AS MUCH A SON OF HELL AS YOU ARE. We catch the spirit of those who teach us. The devil wants us in a place to make us twice the sons of hell as our teachers. God wants us in a PLACE where we can hear his voice and catch the COMMANDED blessings. Elijah told Elisha, if at the right PLACE, Elisha’s double blessing would be his, OTHERWISE NOT. It all depended upon Elisha being at the right PLACE. The blessing was connected with a place. Interestingly, Elijah tested Elisha to see how badly he wanted it. How badly do you want God’s COMMANDED blessings? Do you know the first place that Elijah tested Elisha? 2KI 2:2 Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; the LORD has sent me to Bethel." But Elisha said, "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel. What is the hidden message here about Bethel? Bethel means house of God (Strong’s #1008 Beyth 'El). How many remember the story of Jacob’s ladder? Genesis 28:12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold THE ANGELS OF GOD ASCENDING AND DESCENDING ON IT. Angels were going up the ladder with the requests and prayers of the saints and coming back down with the blessings. He named the PLACE Bethel – the house of God! Elijah tested Elisha by saying, “Just stay here Elisha. I am just going to the house of God. I know you are tired and you didn’t sleep well. It’s ok for you to miss going to the house of God today.” Elisha said, “No Way! As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you. I want my commanded blessing.” You will miss your blessing if you miss the house of God. TEACH ME THE POWER OF A MOMENT IN A PLACE! Elijah took Elisha through many PLACES during their time together. God will take you many places. One place was Jericho. Jericho means fragrant (Strong’s #3405 Yeriychow). Many PLACES where COMMANDED blessings await us are fragrant places – sweet places, enjoyable places. Another PLACE that Elisha traveled with Elijah was Gilgal. Gilgal was the place of memorial stones. A memorial is something huge to remember. It is an important place. Amazingly, Gilgal was also the place of circumcision. When the children of Israel crossed the Jordan, it was at Gilgal that God stopped everything until his people experienced the circumcision. Some of the most important PLACES to remember are the most painful places, because often these are the most meaningful places. They are necessary to get us to the PLACE OF COMMANDED BLESSINGS. Do you remember Walt Disney, the creator of Disney Land and Disney World? Disney’s motto was, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” I love that, but he had many Gilgal experiences. Disney began as a cartoonist. He then began a company called Laugh-O-Grams, which went bankrupt. Several times during his life, Disney risked everything following his dream. Once he created a cartoon character named “Oswald the Rabbit.” Disney needed some money, but the “money people” pulled the plug on Oswald the Rabbit and once again, Disney was at Gilgal. However, immediately, in a moment, after that painful PLACE in Disney’s life, on a train ride back home, Disney created Mickey Mouse. It was Mickey Mouse that thrust Disney into his empire of blessings. The secret is to find the PLACE. Moses loved God and asked God to let him get close enough to see him. Exodus 33:21-22 And the LORD said, BEHOLD, THERE IS A PLACE BY ME, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by THERE IS A PLACE BY GOD FOR YOU! There is a secret PLACE. Psalm 91:1-8 He that dwelleth IN THE SECRET PLACE of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence… A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. You have to stay close to someone to walk in his shadow. For us, the safest PLACE, is to be positioned in the shadow of God. You will “only with thine eyes behold” as God takes care of your needs. Think about people that positioned themselves into the right place. Think of the woman at the well, the leper that Jesus made whole, and the paralytic let down through the roof. Think about the woman with the issue of blood for twelve years who said if I can just get to a PLACE to touch the hem of his garment. Matthew 9:22 Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was HEALED FROM THAT MOMENT. Think about the father with the son who had a demon who said if I can just get my son to the PLACE beside the Lord, God will heal him in a moment! Matthew 17:18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was HEALED FROM THAT MOMENT. Think about the Syrophoenician woman with the demonized daughter, the man at the pool of Bethesda, the man born blind, Naaman the leper, etc. What do you need from God today? You must find the secret PLACE where God has already COMMANDED your blessing. Can you hear God’s voice today telling you where your PLACE is? Let’s stand to our feet. Some of you need to come down here right now and pray. Ask God where that place is for your child’s deliverance, your healing, for your ravens, for your double portion, etc. If you are hungry today for God’s SECRET PLACE and your COMMANDED BLESSINGS, I want you to come and kneel at these altars. Listen for the voice of the Lord. He will give you specific instructions. Maybe you are here and need to get back to a PLACE by him. You slipped away. The devil tricked you, took you up on a mount, and promised you the world. It was a lie. It is time to get back into the shadow of God. You come down and pray.
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