SCATTERED

THE SCATTERED CHURCH

ME A few years ago an old friend visited our church for several weeks while working here in El Paso. One day he asked me why a church, he had been a part of, had split. I responded with what came up in my heart, “Man is in the gathering business, but God is in the scattering business!” I then went on to lists the multiple churches that had been birthed or strengthened by various members from the split, not just one, but many!

WE Right now the church is scattered. Not just our church, but virtually every church in this country is meeting virtually, not in person. Although all of us are looking forward to the time when we can worship together again, we cannot miss this opportunity to touch people’s lives in new and exciting ways.

There are two Greek words in the NT that are pertinent right now. One is ecclesia: the assembly, the congregation, the body, the gathered church. Another word is diaspora: scattered, the church in exile, the scattered church. This is the word Peter used when he wrote about suffering in his first letter.

1 Peter 1:1–2 (MSG) I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four winds. Not one is missing, not one forgotten. God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus. May everything good from God be yours!

This scattering was God’s doing. Of course, persecution was the cause, but God was the architect. In the same way, this pandemic may be the cause, but God is the architect with a master plan to touch the world!

This scattering happened in the book of Acts. Let’s read about it in Acts 8 and Acts 11.

First, a little background. The church at Jerusalem was growing by leaps and bounds, now numbering several thousand. The apostles and other leaders were preaching and teaching, healing and ministering. Stephen, one of the brand-new deacons of the church, has just been stoned to death for preaching Jesus. A man named Saul watches it all and then congratulates the killers.

Acts 8:1–4 (MSG) That set off a terrific persecution of the church in Jerusalem. The believers were all scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. All, that is, but the apostles. Good and brave men buried Stephen, giving him a solemn funeral, not many dry eyes that day! And Saul just went wild, devastating the church, entering house after house after house, dragging men and women off to jail. Forced to leave home base, the followers of Jesus all became missionaries. Wherever they were scattered, they preached the Message about Jesus.

Acts 11:19–21 (MSG) Those who had been scattered by the persecution triggered by Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, but they were still only speaking and dealing with their fellow Jews. Then some of the men from Cyprus and Cyrene who had come to Antioch started talking to Greeks, giving them the Message of the Master Jesus. God was pleased with what they were doing and put his stamp of approval on it—quite a number of the Greeks believed and turned to the Master.

In these two passages, we see the beginning of the fulfillment of Acts 1:8.

Acts 1:7–8 (MSG) And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.

God was scattering the church to take the message of Jesus across the world to people who have never heard the good news of salvation. God is doing that again today. The church has moved from inside a building to the homes and communities of believers everywhere. The message of Jesus is not inside four walls but is being broadcast on the four winds. This is a day of amazing opportunity. Let’s not miss it.

YOU When the church is scattered, things happen.

1.     People who would never have come to a building are coming to God through new means.

2.     The church finds new ways to minister to those around them.

3.     Believers grow personally by not being able to depend on someone else to do for them what they should do for themselves.

4.     Believers become missionaries and take Jesus to their family, friends, and neighbors.

Do you remember the parable is the Sower? A sower went out to sow and scattered seed. In much the same way you becomes the scattered seed in the highways and byways of the world. In fact, the word used has a agrarian connotation. New seed is being planted in new ground. Be the seed of Jesus in places where He is not known. The old expression goes: Bloom where you are planted!”

Oral Roberts was a healing evangelist from Oklahoma when God spoke to him to build a university that would take the gospel to the nations. Here is the word God gave him.

Raise up your students to hear My voice, to go where My light is dim, where My voice is heard small and where My healing power is not known. To go to the uttermost bounds of the earth. Their work will exceed yours and in this I am well pleased.

WE God is doing the same thing in churches all over the world during this time of separation. This a good time to put some things into practice in your life.

1.    Learn to hear God speak to you.

2.    Take Jesus with you as you go.

3.    Heal bodies, souls, families, communities, towns, nations.

4.    Be used right where you are.

Let me remind you: you are not forgotten. God knows right where you are and He is using you right where you are. Let’s read verses one and two for 1 Peter 1 again.

1 Peter 1:1–2 (MSG) I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four winds. Not one is missing, not one forgotten. God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus. May everything good from God be yours!

Prayer

SEEING IN THE DARK

SEEING IN THE DARK

CONNECT As Winston Churchill was working to form the United Nations after WWII, he famously said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste”.

Rahm Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago, a former Democratic congressman from Illinois and chief of staff to President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2010, borrowed the quote when he said, “The United States was careening toward a global depression when President Barack Obama named me his first chief of staff, and in those dark days, I uttered a phrase that’s followed me ever since: ‘Never allow a good crisis to go to waste. It’s an opportunity to do the things you once thought were impossible.’”

DILEMMA Years ago a popular radio preacher, Paul Bilheimer, wrote a book called Don’t Waste Your Sorrows. I have seen a rise in the number of current business and church leaders discussing similar concerns. The crisis of the past several weeks has been a challenge to all of us. Many have been asking, “Why?” Today I want us to ask, “What? What is God teaching us through this pandemic?”

SOLUTION If we look for the big picture of what God has done in the past and what He can do in tough times to prepare our future, it can give context to the pain of the present. We learn how to “see in the dark.” PRAYER

INSTRUCTION: Crises reveal.

First, crises reveal bad choices and poor preparation of the past.

Matthew 7:26–27 (NKJV) But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.

John 3:18–21 (NKJV) He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.

What do we do when we see these bad choices and decisions? Do what we can to make them right. It’s called repentance: confess and forsake.

Isaiah 55:7 (NKJV) Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

God will make a way through even the bad decisions of the past. He will abundantly pardon. I’m not just talking about sin. It can be bad choices in finances, friends, the future. He is the God of restoration!

Joel 2:25 (NKJV) So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, my great army which I sent among you.

These four types of locust would eat everything: stalk root, leaves and fruit. It may seem like the enemy has eaten everything you have, but a new crop is on the way.

2 Corinthians 9:8 (NKJV) And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

Second, crises reveal bad practices of the present.

1 John 1:5–7 (NKJV) This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

When things are going good, we usually can hide whatever character flaws we have. In times of stress, those flaws or cracks come to the surface. God turns up the heat and the slag come floating to the top.

Malachi 3:1–3 (NKJV) “Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the LORD An offering in righteousness.”

So what do we do when the slag comes up? Admit it. Name it. Accuse it, don’t excuse it. Don’t say, “I don’t know why I did that!” Realize that this thing is in you and God, in His mercy, is showing it to you. As the passage said, He is purging these things from us so we can be gifts of righteousness to Him!

Job 42:6 (NKJV) Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.

Isaiah 6:5 (NKJV) So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.”

Third, crises reveal our love for others.

1 John 2:9–11 (NKJV) He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

During tough times we discover our focus: Is it on me and mine, or is it on you and yours? Of course, it can and should be both.

Galatians 5:14 (NKJV) For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

As we care for ourselves and our families and friends, do we also see the hurting, the lonely, the hungry, the afraid…

James 2:8–9 (NKJV) If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

Matthew 25:34–40 (NKJV) Then the King will say to those on His right hand, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.”

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, “Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?” And the King will answer and say to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”

Hebrews 13:15–16 (NKJV) Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Fourth, crises reveal God’s power to change us.

INSPIRATION What do we do with the things we see; the things God shows us? Write this down: God always reveals to heal.

Hosea 6:1–3 (NKJV) Come and let us return to the LORD; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth.

Listen to these lyrics from a song recorded years ago by Debbie Kerner, I Finally Appreciate:

I finally appreciate the changes that You made. Now I finally understand the price that you paid. I fought against You for so long but now I see the price that You paid, You paid for me.

Lord, I know I’m stubborn and so hard to get through. A shell I find that has no cracks, but You seem to find a few. And though I was sad, hardened clay, You held me in Your hands and dashed the vessel to the floor and raised me up again.

Dear Father, up in heaven lease hurry with the day when the Lord, my God, my Jesus will wash my tears away. And I just want to thank you Lord, thank you Lord for loving me.

God has come to restore your past, rebuild your present, and refresh your future! Things do not have to stay the way they are now. He will make us new.

Colossians 1:13 (NKJV) He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

1 Thessalonians 5:5 (NKJV) You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

ACTION STEPS

1. Confront

Psalms 51:3 (NKJV) For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

2. Confess

Psalms 32:5 (NKJV) I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.

3. Change

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV) But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being changes into the same image from one degree of glory to another, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

4. Continue

2 Timothy 3:14 (NKJV) But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,

5. Create

Psalms 51:10 (NKJV) Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Crises reveal many things. We are all in different places. Some are broken, some are filled. Please remember that God is a work in you. Don’t lose sight of that. The same God who reveals to heal, encourages and creates.

Sometimes it has to be dark for us to see the full picture. For example, I love driving in the mountains at night. You can see all the stars! In the lights of the city, the fullness of the sky is hidden. In our lives, the love and grace of God can often only be seen times of darkness. Simple acts of kindness mean much more; the company of family and friends becomes more precious. What is really important in life stands in stark contrast to the trivial pursuits of wealth and fame.

Proverbs 15:17 (NLT) A bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate.

MINISTRY TIME

THE OLD VS THE NEW

The Old vs The New

When Gary asked me to preach today, I thought, "What Word can I bring today that could refresh you?"  Then Tuesday morning I woke up with this thought:  Why not show how some of the moms in the Bible would look in modern days!

So I have chosen these unique women, so unique we don’t even know their names, but we know they are moms.  The first is a well known mom in Exodus 2.

About this time, a man and woman from the tribe of Levi got married. 2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. 4 The baby’s sister then stood at a distance, watching to see what would happen to him. 5 Soon Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the river, and her attendants walked along the riverbank. When the princess saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it for her. 6 When the princess opened it, she saw the baby. The little boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This must be one of the Hebrew children,” she said. 7 Then the baby’s sister approached the princess. “Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” she asked. 8 “Yes, do!” the princess replied. So the girl went and called the baby’s mother.9 “Take this baby and nurse him for me,” the princess told the baby’s mother. “I will pay you for your help.” So the woman took her baby home and nursed him. 10 Later, when the boy was older, his mother brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her own son. The princess named him Moses, for she explained, “I lifted him out of the water.”

As I thought of Moses’s mother I immediately thought of the modern day rescuer who, like Miriam and her mother hid people to deliver them from a modern day Pharaoh.  Her name was Corrie Ten Boon.   Corrie ten Boom (15 April 1892 – 15 April 1983) was a Dutch Christian and a watchmaker. She, with her father and sister, hid Jews from the Nazis in her home during the Holocaust. She believed God would want her to. They were caught, arrested and sent to the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp.  In her biography, The Hiding Place, she recounts the story of her family's efforts to find hope in God while they were imprisoned at the concentration camp. It is a fascinating story and if you have not read it, during these days when you are in your home, read this fascinating and life-changing book.

The next mother that I thought of was Samson mom.  The story of Samson is found in Judges 13,14,15.  There was a couple who had not been able to have a child and an angel of the Lord appeared to the wife and told her that she was going to have a son and he would be set apart unto the Lord and he was to have no strong drink and eat a special diet and he would be the Lord’s all the days of his life.  So she ran and told her husband what had taken place and he said, “Lord, if this is really to be, appear once again,” and the angel appeared again, to the wife- I might add- and verified what he had spoken the first time and the husband and wife offered a burnt offering which was customary in those days.  In due time the son was born and the spirit of the Lord was upon him and they named him Samson.  Now Samson had great strength which was gained through his long hair, because it had been a specific instruction from God that no razor was to touch his head.  God’s plan was to use Samson to deliver Israel from the Philistines. Samson had some weaknesses in his life, but, as you read his story you see his mother several times, even when Samson is a grown man, trying to speak into his life and giving him good and godly advice. Later in life he reveals the source of his strength to a woman who divulges that secret, which results in his fall and capture. While the Philistines laughed at his fall, his hair began to grow, and so did his strength. They tied him to the pillars of their temple where they continued to mock him.  He looked to heaven one last time and asked God to let him die with the Philistines and pulled his hands together and brought the temple down on top of himself and the Philistines.  The last sentence about his life reads , “So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life.”

Samson’s modern-day mom’s name was Peggy Jackson Beamer and she was a muralist. She painted murals.  She had other children, but also only one son.  She too, had felt that her son was a gift from God and had a special call on his life.  He had attended Christian school from elementary to high school and attended Wheaton College where he met Lisa Brosious who would become his wife.  I’m sure he had some weaknesses, although we don’t know what they were.  He worked for the Sony Corporation and on one fateful day September 11, 2001, he got on a plane from Newark to San Francisco.  United Flight 93 was scheduled to depart at 8:00am, but the Boeing 757 did not depart until 42 minutes later due to runway traffic delays. 4 minutes later, AA Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower. 17 minutes later, at 9:03 am, as UNITED Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower, United 93 was climbing to cruising altitude, heading west over New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. At 9:25 am, Flight 93 was above eastern Ohio, and its pilot radioed Cleveland controllers to inquire about an alert that had been flashed on his cockpit computer screen to "beware of cockpit intrusion." Three minutes later, Cleveland controllers could hear screams over the cockpit's open microphone. Moments later, hijackers took over the plane's controls, disengaged the autopilot, and told passengers, "Keep seated, we have a bomb on board." Peggy Jackson Beamer’s only son, Todd, and the other passengers were herded into the back of the plane. Within six minutes, the plane changed course and was heading for Washington, D.C. Several of the passengers made phone calls to loved ones, who informed them of the two planes that had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and the third into Pentagon in Arlington, Va.  Beamer tried to place a credit card call through a phone located on the back of a plane seat, but was routed to a customer-service representative, who passed him on to GTE air-phone supervisor Lisa Jefferson. With FBI agents listening in on their call, Beamer informed Jefferson that hijackers had taken over United 93 and that one passenger had been killed. He also stated that two of the hijackers had knives, and that one appeared to have a bomb strapped around his waist. When the hijackers veered the plane sharply south, Beamer exclaimed, "We're going down! We're going down right now. Beamer told Jefferson that the group was planning to "jump on" the hijackers and fly the plane into the ground before the hijackers' plan could be followed through. Beamer recited the Lord’s Prayer and the Psalm 23 with Jefferson, prompting others to join in. Beamer requested of Jefferson, "If I don't make it, please call my family and let them know how much I love them.  And in his dying, this man whom this mother had believed God for, touched more lives than in all his living.

Have you noticed how great mothers and desperate mothers seem to look a lot alike?

The next Biblical mother is found in 1 King 17. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.” 11 As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” 12 But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.” 13 Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. 14 For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.’” 15 So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.

This incredible mother believed God with her last cake.  The widow was willing to trust God with her last bit and say, “You know what? It’s all God’s anyway!” Like Job said when he lost everything, “THE LORD GIVES, THE LORD TAKES AWAY, BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD.”  The widow was determined to trust God to the end. 

So you want to know who this modern incredible mom is?  It’s you!  But you have to write the ending to the story. Maybe your last cake is a your recent diagnosis, your husband who has cancer, your child who is sick, the job that you lost, your last $50, your marriage that’s falling apart, a failed relationship, your———,  fill in the blank, what is your last cake?

 The thing is that YOU are the widow, YOU are the ONE in need, YOU are the one who has to risk it ALL in order to find EVERYTHING. In reality, we risk very little to find His EVERYTHING.

Years ago there was a gospel song that said,

I lost it all to find everything

I died a pauper to be born a king

When I learned how to lose

I found out how to win

Oh I lost it all, to find everything

But look at what this amazing mother did:

1. She trusted God:  v. 13 Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear”

2. She obeyed God: v. 15 So she went and did

3. She walked it out: v. 15 she and he and her household ate for many days.

God never said, it would be easy, but He did say it would be blessed.

So, for this mother’s day, what amazing ending do you want to write to your story? You want to know what?  All the stories of all the amazing Christians that I know have several things in common:

(I changed pronouns from female to neutral, on purpose!)

1. A desperate Christian

2. A great Trial

3. A Faithful God

4. A tenacious Faith!

5. An unconquerable Saint!

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

RF Online May 3, 2020

ME Sandia cave story…

WE We have all had experiences with the dark. Many of us grew up being afraid of the dark. Hold up your phones and turn the flashlight on. Why do phones have flashlights? People can’t see in the dark!

Ruidoso story…

GOD The past several weeks have been a time of darkness for many. The good news is that God always operates in the dark times of our lives. He gives light in the darkness.

Psalms 139:11–12 (NKJV) If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not an oncoming train!

Imagine the beginning of time…

Genesis 1:2–4 (NKJV) The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

Just as God created light in the beginning of time, God speaks light into your darkness today! Let’s look at some encouraging words from 2 Corinthians 4.

2 Corinthians 4:6-7 (NKJV) For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

Gideon: torches, pitchers, trumpets, and shouts: The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon!

Broken vessels of light… SPECIAL SONG

2 Corinthians 4:8–10 (NKJV) We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

The walls may feel like they’re moving in on us, but they cannot crush us. We do not know what’s going on, but we know the One who holds everything in His hands. People may make fun of our trust in God and walk away, but He will never leave us. We may get knocked down, but we are not knocked out! We are the gettin’ up people! When we are weak, He is strong!

2 Corinthians 4:16-17 (NKJV) Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,

Now, Paul is not saying that what you are going through in your life is trivial. On the contrary, all darkness is debilitating. We all struggle in darkness: things that are easy in the light become hard in the darkness; things we take for granted in the light become essential in the darkness; what you can see in the light become hidden in the darkness. God is working, but when you are in darkness, you can’t see it. That’s when we have to see what we can’t see.

2 Corinthians 4:18 (NKJV) while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Oral Roberts: If you can see the invisible, you can do the impossible!

How do we do that? It’s hard; it’s difficult. But it is possible! Hebrews 11 tells many stories of people who did it. Let me pick a couple to illustrate.

Hebrews 11:27 (NKJV) By faith he (Moses) forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.

How? by faith! 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV) For we walk by faith, not by sight.

What is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) Now faith is the substance (assurance) of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Romans 4:18 (NKJV) (Abraham) who, contrary to hope (against all hope), in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”

Abraham was 100 and his wife was 90. Yet he believed God’s promise that he would become the father of many nations.

Romans 8:24–25 (NKJV) For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

Illustration: Back in 2001, God told me I had to plant a church. I didn’t want to plant a church. God said it was necessary because I had never done anything by faith, and He could not use me unless I learned to do things by faith!

Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Romans 1:17 (NKJV) For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

How do we build our faith and our hope? If we build our faith, our hope will naturally grow. Let’s go to the book of Romans, starting where we left off in chapter 8.

1. Pray in the Spirit.

Romans 8:26–27 (NKJV) Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

2. Listen to faith building preaching.

Romans 10:8 (NKJV) But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):

3. Read and listen to the Word of God.

Romans 10:17 (NKJV) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (rhema) of God.

Now a word of inspiration…

I know some of you are tired of the fight. I can’t even begin to understand all you are going through. The enemy of teams attacks us on multiple fronts all at the same time. Hang in there. It is not in vain. God is coming to you and He will it tarry. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not an oncoming train!

Hebrews 10:36–37 (NKJV) For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.

In the same way that God spoke and created light in the middle nor darkness, He can speak a Word and bring light into the darkness of your life. Don’t despair, God is on the way!

MINISTRY PRAYER