Going back to where you are supposed to be

All over the world I'm hearing about people coming to the Lord in Muslim dominated countries, and I would normally applaude, But I've realized that- that wasn't the time for clapping-but the time to intercede. Because when we go home from the church we can live in peace for the most part,but for them who get saved from the Muslim faith it's the beginning of the battle. You could be in the middle of a battle when you came into this place today. I know you probably are disappointed that I am not doing a Mothers Day message. But I've stood up all night and some of the morning to seek the face of God concerning what he wants to say to the church today. Amen?

Luke 17:22-37

Second Coming Foretold

     22     And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

     23     “They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them.

     24     “For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day.

     25     “But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

     26     “And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:

     27     they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

     28     “It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building;

     29     but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

     30     “It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

     31     “On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back.

     32     “Remember Lot’s wife.

     33     “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

     34     “I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left.

     35     “There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left.

     36     [“Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.”]

     37     And answering they said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.”

        I believe that this is not only for that particular application but also for the body of Christ.

        Where there are true believers there will also be vultures to side track you. Here is the answer in the very next chapter
 Luke 18:1  Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,

I believe that this is the key in the end times, in the tumultuous times thst we will be entering into -we need to keep vigilant in the discipline of prayer because there are vultures out there waiting for some one to die.We need to be before the throne of God in order to make a dent on a society inundated with hellish activities. Death is constantly circling our homes, death is constantly circling our  Schools, and death is constantly circling our work places. In this verse Jesus begins to open up an option, and ultimately you must choose only one of the two options that are available for us today.-verse 1. they ought to pray and not to lose heart-we are either going to pray or lose heart, does everybody see that? There is no other option-either praying or fainting-if you are praying you are not fainting.
One cancels out the other-if you are not fainting you are praying. You can't be into one with out the other. I can't be into marriage with out being into communication. Likewise you can't be a Christian with out being into prayer.
One of the most amazing things about being a home owner is the ability and freedom to go into the back yard at any time of the day or night. We have different birds that come and visit us at times, we do crazy things like naming them-we have Mr & Mrs. Cardinal and Blue jay so on and so forth. But I've read something very interesting about birds. Each bird can only understand it's own kind of song or call as long as they are in the same family or species. The cardinal can't understand the blue jay and vice versa.What happens is because they are part of a different family they can tell that something is being said, but they don't understand what it is . That's why I get concerned when believers understand some of that secular music too well. I get nervous when I see someone worshipping on Sunday but doing questionable things during the week. How do I know? Look at face book, It seems that whatever is important to someone is on their face book page.However an individual wants to be identified by is what's going to be on that page. How do you know about that music, or that horoscope, or that damnable heresy called gossip? The day that I became born again I began to hear His song, I began to hear His voice, I began to hear His heart, I began to hear His thoughts, I began to hear His concerns. I speak a new language, God brings us into a new place, the language of a Father and Son in relationship. All of a sudden there is an interaction that I've enter into. Whenever I get into a counselling session I always start with the question "how is your prayer life".Because we do not want to get away from the Giver of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ! Church ultimately that is the biggest issue. We must recognize that certain things can not be true if you are actively part taking in a prayer life. That doesn't mean that you are not attacked spiritually because "what God backs Satan attacks." Let's face it, if you go to a hornets nest and shake it you will have a whole lot of hornets coming after you, but God knows our frame and that we are but dust. Listen to what I am saying over here> He doesn't go into how many Christians there are in your family or if you go to church. He says if you pray you'll not faint and if you faint you are not praying. I don't ever remember hearing a man that's praying an hour a day saying that he can't shake pornography. I'm not saying it's impossible but it's not common in my small sphere of influence.You never hear a man that's praying an hour a day saying that he can't shake anger or a drug issue of some sort-he says if you are praying you are not fainting. I remember hearing about a preachers son-in a park having an outing-who as soon as it was threatening to rain he immediately went in to prayer and said God hold back the rain. And it didn't rain. When his grand mother came to him being shocked and said to him good job-it didn't rain-his response was "it wasn't me it was God".
Those that pray aren't surprised when the answer comes, it's those that do not pray that are surprised when there is an answer. In all the years that I've been a Christian one thing I've discovered is that it isn't the people that know how to preach that change nations, but the people who know how to pray. The rain didn't need a preacher, the rain needed an intercessor. When I read about the lives of John Wesley and George Mueller and they weren't profound speakers, they were rather simple in their message, but they were powerful through prayer. We can preach a message and feel like we've done a wonderful thing, but that doesn't mean that we shook hell like these men did! From time to time, we can feel like we've touched the lives of those who've listened to us, but in actuality all we've done was entertain them for an hour REMEMBER EZEKIEL 33:31? But don't miss this> there are many great preachers out there in this city, If you want to move into the realm of full time ministry or serving God more effectively don't learn how to preach, learn how to pray. When you pray an authority comes to your words. I want to learn how to reach God, so that I can move in the power of the Holy Ghost and touch your lives.
Prayerlessness is being away from where you are supposed to be. If I'm praying I'm a better husband, If I'm praying I'm a better pastor, If I'm praying I'm a better neighbor, If I'm praying I'm a better person, If I'm praying I'm a better salesman. When I don't pray I'm going away from where God wants me and I get overwhelmed at the smallest thing.

Psychologists and sociologists like to say this person did this to you and that person did that and that's why you are messed up today. Oh you got bumped in the womb. If you need help don't find a preacher, find an intercessor. If you can't seem to get over the issue you are struggling with in your life don't look for a preacher, look for an intercessor. Emmit Smith one of the greatest running backs in football. Ran for thousands of yards. And the interesting thing is if you were to add up all the yards you would get a total of 9 miles-but here's the thing, can you imagine going for a 9 mile run and getting knocked over every 4.5 yards? How would you like to get knocked over and tackled every 4.5 yards in the supermarket or going to do the laundry? Do you want to know the most phenomenal thing about this? In the huddle after getting hit and tackled by 300lb guys trying to knock his head off, he's saying OK give me the ball-he gets hit again and again and again and he'll go into the huddle and ask for it again. The christian should be saying after getting tackled by Satan OK give me my bible again-Bam!, OK let me speak to that person again -BAM! knocked down, OK let me get into that prayer closet again-BAM! knocked down, OK let me get to that fellowship again BAM.Because no matter what I'm going to glorify him, no matter what I'm going to give him all the honor, no matter what I'm going to give him all the praise and worship. Some of you need to get off the sideline and ask for the ball to give God glory because you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus, although the game is not over and you are in the midst of battle today church we already know the outcome of the game hallelujah! I've been knocked down from time to time, but some of you have been knocked down more than 4000 times-today let's make a determination according to the power and grace of God that I'm finishing this race. I'm not going anywhere-I'm finishing this race1 I want to hear well done good and faithful servant.1 Corinthians 9:24 says,     "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win".

Church we are in a race that all who are in Christ Jesus wins.
Hebrews 12:1 says    "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,"
I don't want to get all the way to the finish line and fail. I know of a young man that had a dream his whole life to be a firefighter. He was consumed with everything to do with firefighting while he was  growing up. Finally the test came out and he aced it. The mental test came out and he aced it, finally the physical exam came out and he was the best in his class, and then he sat down and fainted from exhaustion! Subsequently he was disqualified from entering the department! I don't want to be disqualified at the very end of the race! I know that we are going to fall from time to time, Proverbs 24:16 says  "For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, But the wicked stumble in time of calamity.
Church listen to me! with this we will be closing> when you are knocked down there is a danger of staying down. Your body can take but so much, your mind can take but so much, your emotions can take but so much >I've heard it said that when you are hungry in the physical- you get more hungry as time goes on, but it's not the same with the spiritual. In the spiritual realm, the further away you get from Jesus and the battle that you must engage in, the less hungry you are, and less likely to get back in. If you have been down for some time and you've walked into this place today I know every other church in America has a Mother's Day message going on. But you are not here by accident. I believe that the Holy Ghost is wanting to do a work in your lives today. Will you stand please.