Stay Awhile

I believe God speaks to us through dreams and visions. The Bible actually promises this blessing in Joel chapter 2. This is excellent news because Proverbs 29:18 tells us how bad we need it, “where there is no vision the people perish.” We must have a vision for our lives, or else we will wander aimlessly until death with no direction or purpose. Thankfully, God gives us direction because He has a plan for each one of us. He has a blueprint for our lives!

As a pastor during this present season, I believe an appropriate vision strategy for our church is to refine the remnant, who will recover the wounded, and then reach the lost. God has a remnant that He would like to refine, shaping and molding us so that we can be used to go out and recover the wounded and ultimately reach the lost.

The word remnant is used in the Bible over 300 times and means a small remaining quantity of something. This significant usage of the word in Scripture reminds me of Jesus’ words:

Remain in me, and I in you. -John 15:4 (CSB)

Jesus wants to have a relationship with you. He wants you to dwell in Him. But Jesus also lets people walk away. Two places in Scripture lay this out, Luke Chapter 9 and Luke Chapter 18. This approach by Jesus may seem shocking, but it’s true, God allows people to walk away because He desires us to go all-in with Him. God gave His only Son so that He can have a relationship with you. But you can still decide to say “I’m not going to follow Jesus.”

In Luke 15, we see the following unfold. First, if, like the lost lamb, you are wounded, hurt, or broken down, Jesus will come after you, just like He did the one lamb out of 99. Second, like the lost coin, if you are in the house of the Lord, but never received salvation, Jesus will take the lamp of His Word and place a preacher in the pulpit to seek you out. But, through the parable of the lost son, Jesus also shows us that if you are going to be rebellious towards the ways of the Father, then you may have to “come to your senses” before there can be complete reconciliation and restoration. Jesus does NOT come after the rebellious.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. -John 15:7 (CSB)

Think about the depth of this promise. You can ask whatever you want in alignment with God's Word, and it will be done as long as you remain in proper standing with God. He rewards those who stay. Yet many people lack the commitment to stay or remain in anything these days; jobs, marriages, friendship, the list goes on. Everyone wants what they want and they want it right now. As one great preacher said, “We live in a microwave generation but serve a crockpot God.” So, rarely do we remain in anything that makes us uncomfortable or that becomes too challenging. We claim failure, but truthfully we just quit before God’s timing is evident.

Some heartbreaking statistics are coming out of last year, 2020. For example, one in three people walked away from practicing their Faith in Jesus Christ, and most churches in the United States of America have lost 30% - 40% of their attendance. Some of America’s largest churches have lost 50% or more. People are choosing not to remain. They are deciding not to follow Jesus, and He is letting them go.

But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. - Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)

I want you to feel encouraged by this truth: when you remain, God will renew your strength! Don’t quit. Wait. God will break every yoke the enemy tries to place on you when you remain. A remnant is that which remains. Choose to be a part of what God has left. God is looking for those who stayed, who still love Jesus with all their hearts, minds, and souls. God is examining who He has left to use.

What we are experiencing in the world of the church today is the ideology of man colliding with the theology of God. Too often, in modern Christianity, we only touch the surface of Scripture, wanting a motivational sermon with a sprinkle of God on top. Because the Word of God isn't being taught thoroughly, there isn't a proper understanding of the Word. Lacking a firm foundation and only having very shallow roots, yoked with confusion, difficulty, and attacks from the enemy, many people decided to quit their faith. They didn’t remain in Jesus. The Word of God gives you the strength to stay! NOW is the time to become firmly planted in the house of the Lord and deeply rooted in the Word of God. If you do, Psalms says you will flourish!

We are living in a world that has lost its mind. We call good evil and evil good and sin without blushing. It’s becoming increasingly evident who remains in God and who doesn’t. We’ve fallen into “I”-dolatry, making it about me, myself, and I all the time. Instead, it needs to be about God all the time! We need clean hands and pure hearts. If we're not careful, we can consume all the inappropriate content fed to us by a culture gone wild and never develop and strengthen our staying power to remain in God.

Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in the holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol… He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face. Lift up your heads, O you gates!... And the King of glory shall come in. Psalm 24:3-7 (NKJV)

Psalm 24 is all about what God has left -- the remnant -- a group of people that claim they will not do anything that puts their staying power at risk. A group of people that says I’m not going to yield to anything that draws me away from remaining in God. I will wait upon the Lord with my eyes up and hands clean. I will be available to God for such a time as this!

We learn from Psalm 24, the best way to remain in the Lord is to exalt Him. Ascend into His presence. Keep putting Him first! In your family, your workplace, and your community. Lift Him up and magnify Him above everything else. When you live this out, you will remain. Your prayers will be powerful, and whatever you ask for will be given to you. Your strength will be renewed; you will not grow weary! Every yoke that binds you will be broken, and you will be a part of the remnant that impacts The Kingdom of Heaven by restoring the wounded and reaching the lost!

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We invite you to watch this weeks message, Stay Awhile, from Pastor Eric Gilbert, because we believe that you are a part of the remnant that will impact the The Kingdom of Heaven!

WATCH IT | DISCUSSION GUIDE | MESSAGE NOTES

Listening to the Father

Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go out or in. But the LORD said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day, you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.” Joshua 6:1-5 (NLT)

Before arriving at the text above, we can use three characteristics to define the Israelites. One, they were known to be in absolute bondage and slavery. Two, once they were free from bondage and slavery, they became known for wandering. (They wandered in the desert without clear direction due to their inability to obey God's commandments.) And three, they were displaced from their homeland and not yet in the place God had designed for them.

You may not be able to relate to the type of physical bondage that the Israelites experienced, but perhaps you are indeed experiencing a level of bondage spiritually. Maybe it’s an addiction to drugs, an unhealthy relationship, or the result of bad financial decisions. There are many different types of spiritual enslavement that we can experience. Do you need deliverance in an area of your life?

Maybe you are wandering in a spiritual desert, as you experience a season in your life where you feel lost, purposeless, or spiritually dry. Are you currently a wanderer spiritually?

Or, maybe you relate more to feeling displaced from God’s promises. Are you unsure of what your next steps should be?

Our anchor text gives us a view of the Israelites that allows us to see them in a brand new light. They are free from bondage. They have a clear direction. And their feet are positioned on the soil of God’s promised land! They have experienced breakthroughs and progress! To commemorate the event, they have constructed a memorial of stones to signify and serve as a memory, reminding them of their victory.

Whether you're in bondage, wandering, displaced -- or you’re just not sure of your current spiritual status -- I believe this message, When He Says, can help you. In it, I share some insight into the following realities: You have already won the battle! You fight against a defeated enemy! And you will have the opportunity to build your OWN memorials of victory!

No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39 (NLT)

Overwhelming victory is ours through Christ and only Christ. Our achievements of eternal significance are not based on our abilities, wisdom, or power. True success is based on obedience to God. Meaning, if we desire a position in the winner’s circle and experience overwhelming victory, we must only be obedient to God’s commands.

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God is more interested in who you are becoming than what you are doing.

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The Israelites may have started as one thing, but little by little, they became something new. The same experience can be your testimony. All you have to do is keep putting one foot in front of the other in obedience to God to see victory and success in your life. Obedience is enough because God says it’s enough! In fact, He loves your obedience more than any sacrifice you can ever give. And, in that vein, as you will learn in the message, When He Says, your disobedience doesn't mean God stops loving you, but your obedience to Him keeps you perpetually in His blessings and joy.

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! John 15:9-10 (NKJV)

Get under the spout where the glory is coming out! Allow obedience to God’s commandments to position you under the heavens already open with his overflowing blessings!

WATCH IT | DISCUSSION GUIDE |MESSAGE NOTES

Four Practical Ways You Can Live an Abundant Life Through Christ

During the message, Grave or Garden, I share an encounter our family had in Wisconsin. Enthralled with a tourist attraction that was little more than a photo-op (a giant orange moose), all around us, others -- more informed than us -- explored incredible beauty through miles and miles of trails. Our family didn’t even know the trails existed, yet we were standing within just a few feet of the entrance. This experience taught me something... Through God, we can experience incredible, abundant, overflowing life. Not just on the other side of eternity, but here and now! God can and will give you a lifestyle in the peace, joy, and love of His presence that is exceedingly above anything you could ever ask for or imagine. But… you must know how to access it.

There may be some of you that are very new to your walk with God, or maybe for others, you’re walking in a season of rededication to the Lord, and you want to make sure you're taking the right next steps. Yet others, after many years of professing salvation, are finally ready to pursue more than just a Sunday experience with God. You want to become a genuinely faithful follower of Jesus. A true disciple! With these realities of different journeys in mind, I would like to give you a handful of applications you can use to take your walk with God to the next level of abundant living and better explore everything His presence has to offer.

Throughout Grave or Garden, we evaluated the first section of the Lord’s Prayer:

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” 2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Luke 11:1-2 NKJV)

Notice, Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say...”

There is an expectation within this verse that you and I will pray. Anyone who’s a follower or a disciple of Jesus must be someone who prays. To truly live a life that is full of abundance, we must live a life full of prayer. For in sin, a man declares his independence from God, but humanity expresses dependence on God in prayer. As S. M. Lockridge once so eloquently proclaimed, this truth is why God did not say, “Men ought always to work or men ought always to preach, or that men out to always play. God said men ought always to PRAY!

God’s declaration about prayer It’s not a suggestion; it’s a command. We must have lives that are FULL of prayer. On the good days and the bad days, in every situation! The disciples wisely understood this concept. They grasped that Jesus’ life was full of power because of His prayer life. In the Gospels, we do not find their focus on asking Jesus how to preach or perform miracles. Instead, they pleaded, “Lord, TEACH US how to pray!” The disciples saw how Jesus valued and placed importance on prayer, and they desired to mimic this model in their own lives.

Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.”

He teaches his first disciples and now us to pray by starting with praise. If you are going to live a life of abundance through God, you need to live a life full of praise. If you haven’t already, then start praising God because praise has the power to draw the presence of God near to you. (We see this truth declared many times throughout scripture.)

I encourage you to stop lamenting what you’ve lost and start praising God for what you have left! After all, the miracle is always made manifest in what you have left! If you want to live a life of abundance and walk-in resurrection power, you have to bring praise into your life!

Rather than pointing out your bruises, start thanking God that the weapon formed against you will not prosper! Quit detailing your pain, and start thanking God for the breath still in your lungs. Be encouraged that you have the resurrection power of Jesus Christ within you, and you will prosper! Start praising God! (Ref. Ps. 150:6)

Life is just like a vapor; it’s just a mere breath when compared to eternity. As I once gleaned from Myles Munroe’s preaching, don’t worry if you’re going to die young or die old; just die finished. Jesus died at 33 years of age, but He was able to say it is finished! Everything that was in Him had been released through Him. Live your life full of prayer. Live your life full of praise. BUT also live your life on purpose.

Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven... Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

I hear so many people allude to the reality that they feel as though they have potential but can’t identify it. I think they are trying to say is, “I know I have a purpose, but I can’t define it.” Only when we submit your own will to God’s will for your life can you begin to walk in the true purpose He has for you. Pray for God’s will to be done in your life, and start living your life on purpose. We must be totally and utterly dependent on God if we shall walk in actual power and purpose in our lives, just like Jesus did.

Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven... Your kingdom come.

We serve a King for whom the grave could not hold. A King who resurrected fully, and this truth is why His kingdom can be with us wherever we go is that He has conquered death, Hell, and the grave. Live a life full of prayer. Live a life full of praise. Live life on purpose. But also live a life full of power -- Jesus’ resurrection power!

In the message, Finding Jesus, we get to recognize through John’s Gospel that Mary Magdalene struggled to stop looking in the grave for Jesus (Ref. John 20). She couldn’t fully process that He was no longer there. It wasn’t until she turned around and looked in the garden that she saw the resurrected Jesus. With her experience assisting our perspective, I want to encourage you: stop looking in the grave, turn around, and start looking in the garden.

Think about it, graves house death but gardens house life. Mary’s encounter teaches you to stop looking for God where the dead things in your life were laid and start looking for Him where things are alive! Start seeing the abundant life God has for you, and start walking in the resurrection power! There is power through Jesus Christ in your life.

LIVE A LIFE FULL OF PRAYER.

LIVE A LIFE FULL OF PRAISE.

LIVE LIFE ON PURPOSE.

LIVE LIFE WITH POWER.

Check out this message by Pastor Eric as he walks us through Luke 11:1-2 and gives us some compelling practical applications to start applying to our own lives!

WATCH IT | DISCUSSION GUIDE | MESSAGE NOTES

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