CLCC REVIVAL (EXPECTATION) / PASTOR NEIL HOPPER

Everyone lives with expectation. Some expect the best while others expect the worst. Some people expect nothing at all because disappointment has robbed them of hope. Let God's Word challenge you to raise your level of expectation. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to Cedalake Christian Center Podcast. Our church exists to see lives transformed through a relationship with Jesus. We pray this message helps you continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior. You can find us online at clc.church.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Bible says in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Obviously, not for everything, but in everything. If you can by faith learn to thank him, it just changes everything. Still thank him. So why would I thank him when I'm in the middle of trials and struggles and all those things? You thank him for what he's already done. You thank him for the witness and testimony that you already have of how he's brought you through. You thank him that your sin is forgiven. You thank him that you have resurrection life. You thank him that there's victory on the way. You thank him that he endured the cross of the shame so you didn't have to. You thank him for all the things he's already done. And there's just something about when a when thanksgiving begins to bubble up in you. You know. Yeah, so we don't complain. I mean, I might have been guilty a time or two, but when you can turn that into a thanks and begin to think it, it's gonna do two things. First of all, it retrains your brain. Do you know there's some scientific evidence that shows that being in faith or being thankful, you do that by faith, right? Not always because everything's so good. But there's some scientific evidence that says if I'm if I'm thankful, I can't be thankful and be truly, I can't complain and be thankful at the same time. I ain't making that up. That's like scientific evidence. If you are thankful, you switch your brain to another level when you stay. That's the reason he said, in everything give thanks, in everything give thanks. And so what we were taught years ago was is when things were bad, we would just say, Lord, I thank you that I'm being healed by your mighty power. Instead of saying, Lord, I thank you that I'm sick, which would be crazy sounding, right? You say, Lord, I thank you that I'm being healed. I thank you that I'm being touched, I thank you that my finances are changing. I thank you, Lord, that there are divine appointments on my way. I thank you, Lord, that I will find myself in places where blessings will flow. I thank you, Lord, that as I walk by faith, you'll meet me every step of the way. I thank you that I can draw on your grace. Sometimes the problem isn't that you don't have a Thanksgiving, you don't know how to draw on his grace. So he's you ever think about this scripture? The Bible says he's full of grace and truth. That means when I if I draw some of that grace my way, he's not empty, he's not less full, he's always full. He's always full. You can be empty, but he's always full. He's full of grace and truth. Because that's definitely the two things you're gonna need to get where you're going in life, and to be successful in what God has for you. You're gonna need grace and you're gonna need truth. And some of you, if you can learn how to draw on that grace and not feel like, well, I asked him for grace yesterday. No, no, no, it's for you today, it's it's for right now. He doesn't have any less grace today because you needed some and he gave it to you. He's full. That would mean he's constantly full, all the time full. It's the same thing when you look at condemnation and so many other things. You say, Well, I'm there's therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ. Whole nother sermon, but a different story, in that is you've got to determine if you're gonna receive condemnation or not. Bible says there's no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. So you gotta figure out if you're gonna, am I gonna walk in condemnation or am I gonna draw on the grace of God, knowing that if I ask for forgiveness, I can have it. I can have it, right? Knowing that if I come to Him in faith, all I have to do is draw on what's already there for me. It's like an account, like a heavenly account, and you you just have to draw on it when you need it. Do you know you have a heavenly account? I guess you know that, don't you? I I hope you know that by now. You you have something that is accessed by faith to get you through where you are right now and get you where you're supposed to be. Can you say amen? Would we just would you amen clap your hands and give him some praise and then let's do one thing. One more time. Would you just lift up your hands if you're comfortable and just say, I just thank you, Lord. I thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus, for the blood. Thank you for the blood. Thank you for the blood. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the resurrection. Thank you for life that overcomes death. We take authority over every demonic force that would come against this body, this people. We bind it in the name of Jesus. We break strongholds in Jesus' name. We thank you, Lord, that you reverse every curse, that you took every curse for me, that I don't have to walk in any curse, any bloodline curse, anything that would come my way. I refuse it in Jesus' name. I reject it in Jesus' name, and I declare that I walk in blessings and in life. Would you thank him for life? Life, oh Lord. Thank you for life, and that more abundantly. Hallelujah. Praise God. Well, amen. Well, the Lord is good. I'm so glad you're here. I'm glad that I got to see you, and I'm glad you got to see me. Happy to be here today. I know a lot of our people are gonna be missing and whatnot, but listen. We're in a summer of revival, and that has nothing to do with stage or numbers or any such thing, but it has everything to do with the posture of our own hearts. With with my prayer has been is that God would create such a hunger in you and in me. Let it be so in Jesus' name. Sometimes when you begin to realize that there's a hunger, you know. So I started to give everybody a paper plate and a fork. Started to give you a paper plate and a fork, or maybe just an empty cup. Say, look, you get to drink all you want to drink, you get to eat all you want to eat. Belly up to the table. He's prepared a table before you in the presence of your enemies, and you get to determine if you're gonna eat or not. Amen. Amen. Let's pray together. If you haven't had an opportunity to give, uh, thank you for giving and supporting. Thank you for doing what the scripture says. Some of you sowing a seed, giving a gift. Because there's there's different kinds of giving, right? There's all kinds of different ways of giving. There's tithe offering, seed sowing. I believe God honors them all. You can't buy a blessing, but if you act in faith, you watch God move. You act in faith. You say, Well, are you saying if I give 10, I get a hundred, if I give a hundred, I get a thousand? No, you played the darn lottery, brother. Here's what God has promised you. He will take care of his people. He will take care of his people. You give and it shall be given to you. You give and watch God give back. You sow a seed and watch for a harvest. That's how we do it. If you have uh if you have young ones that want to go to children's church, Corinth Sarah here. Let's pray together, Father Jesus, mighty name. Thank you, Lord, for touching your feet. Thank you that the seed of your word, the powerful, life-giving seed of your word, is given to them today. And I ask you to give us all an ear to hear what you're saying, and a heart to believe. I thank you for ministering to your people today. I thank you for stirring us. And I thank you for changing us, blessing us according to your word. Jesus mighty name, and everybody say it. Amen. Amen. And I told you last week that I didn't think I was a revivalist, but the Lord corrected me. I am a revivalist, and I'm gonna tell you how I know how. Anytime someone consistently says, you need to hear the voice of God, you need to act in faith, you need to seek his face, they're a revivalist. You know how the reason I say that is because you know how you live? You live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And if you can't hear him, how are you gonna live this spiritual life that we're supposed to be living if we if we're not hearing his voice? Right? Well how how are we gonna live? Well, we live by the word. We live by the scriptures, we live by what he speaks to us in prayers. That's how you live, that's how the spiritual life functions. Now, it has to be mixed with faith. It doesn't matter what the preacher says if you don't mix it with faith. It doesn't matter what the prophet says if you don't mix it with faith. If the man and woman that came here a few weeks ago prophesied over several of you, if you don't steward that word and mix it with faith, it's not gonna profit you. I'm not making that up. That's the Bible. That's that's uh Hebrews chapter 4 talks about this. It talks about mixing, mixing the word and faith. So I am a revivalist. You just you just didn't know it, and neither did I. I'm a revivalist. You know when God begins to speak to you about something? Listen, there are people that I challenge every day here, radio, wherever I am. I'm gonna always challenge you to hear what God is saying to you, to know what he's talking to you uh from his word or or any such thing. It could be a song or anything. Whatever he's saying to you, that's what we mix faith with. That's what we do. So um I've I've always preached that every believer has a knower. You know in your knower. Every if you've been around here for more than 30 years, I've said every believer has a knower. You know some things in your knower, and there are things that he will bring to you and speak to you, and and they'll come alive in you. And when the Spirit of God highlights that, when the Spirit of God says something, that's when you know, that's when you begin to mix faith with it. Now we have movement, right? That's how that works. So um let's look at that. Uh can you get me Hebrews, uh Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 2? And let's look at this because I just think it's crucial if if if you're gonna have uh revival, I told you my my struggle a few weeks ago with or a couple weeks back with the whole term is that uh I came out of a church where a lot of where when we talk about revival, a lot of it was emotionalism. Or let me put it this way. I shouldn't say that. Maybe that's a little judgmental. A lot of what I thought was, they're just trying to stir up my emotions. I don't want to stir up your emotions. You cannot trust those bad boys. You can't your emotions, if you stir emotions, they'll settle. If if God by his word puts something in that changes you, now we're not just now we're not just stirring something up and letting it settle. I can stir chili and it'll settle. I can stir soup and it'll settle. But when God begins to put some things in that change the nature of what's in the pot, now all of a sudden things are changing. Right? Amen. That's what's beginning to happen. So um Hebrews 4 2. Did you get it? Maybe I'm gonna read it in in uh I'm gonna read it in a different a couple of uh different versions. I'm gonna go King James uh just so you're safe and you'll know that you've really had church. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them. But the word preach didn't profit them. It didn't profit them why the word preach didn't profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. They're hearing, but they're not really hearing. See what I'm saying? There's there's when when the word comes to you, it could be in a song, it could be in a sermon, it could be in a prayer time, it could be in whatever. How are you living? My question is, how are you living if it's not by the word? How are you living if it's not by getting you a word and figuring out, hey man, and and I say getting us a word, you don't always have to get a word. Sometimes you just have to open your heart and read the Bible. But it's okay if the Spirit of God wants to speak to you. That's the spiritual dynamic, that's that's the give and take of heaven. That is what God does. He will speak to us. How here's the thing, here's my question for you how are you gonna have faith and step out and do anything if you haven't heard his voice? What are you gonna base that on? What is your foundation for stepping out other than your own agenda or your own ego or your own plan? But when the word of the Lord comes, all of a sudden things begin to change. So I promise I'm gonna get to expectation in just a minute. But sometimes I just have to say, here's my greatest expectation. I expect God to be true for his word. I expect God to be true for his word. No matter what I expect, here's my greatest expectation if I have a word. It cannot fail. It can't fail. God's word is still true. So this is what he says, Ronda's was the gospel preach. As well as unto them. But the word preach did not profit them, not being mixed with faith. Faith. Not being mixed with faith. So uh if you look at this passage, this entire passage is uh is whether or not we're gonna enter in to what God has for us. Um they they the the verse if she wants to go back to one, you'll see what he's saying here. But in context, what he's saying is that they're they they didn't enter into all that God had for them because they did not hear his voice and mix it with faith, right? So my expectation is that he will always be good for his word. Here's what the amplified classic says, and I want you to hear this. For indeed, we have had the glad tidings, the gospel of God proclaimed to us just as truly as they did. Who are they? The they they're talking about in this passage, if you go back and study, is the Israelites of old did uh they this that's who they're talking about. So the this is what the Amplified Classic says the Israelites of old they did it when the good news of deliverance from bondage came to them. But the message they heard didn't benefit them because it was not mixed with faith, with the leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in his power, wisdom, and goodness. So your entire personality has to begin to lean on him. And what he's saying is they didn't enter in. The word that God gave to them was, I'm gonna deliver you from bondage. But some of them said, I don't believe it. The biggest difference between the one that gets it and the one that don't is believing. And you don't believe with your head, you believe with your heart, you believe with your heart. That's the reason we say often that it's important that your heart is where it needs to be. Today, we will continue to understand there's an expectation both on your part and on God's, but I want you to raise your level of expectation. When the disciples got the promise of the Father in Acts chapter one. So follow this with me. In Acts chapter one, he tells them, You're gonna go to the upper room and you're gonna wait for the promise of the Father. So I'm waiting on something that he's promised me. What is the promise of the Father? The promise of the Father is the indwelling Holy Spirit. The promise of the Father is that you're not gonna be alone anymore. It's not gonna be something outside of you, but now there's gonna be something in you. I'm gonna take you back to John chapter 4 in just a minute, and I'm gonna show you again. The promise of the Father is the power of the Spirit, the indwelling Spirit of God that's in us that springs up unto everlasting life. True everlasting life springs up in us by the Holy Spirit when we're walking in his will and in his word. So my expectation and their expectation was we're gonna, here's how they mixed it with faith. They said, We're gonna go back to the upper room. The promise of the Father is that the Spirit is gonna come. And we're gonna go back and we're gonna wait for the promise of the Father. So you have two things to base your expectation on. I want you to raise your level of expectation. Revival should bring you to a level of expectation. And when you when you begin to raise that, I'm saying, let's get a what the old time preachers used to call a spirit of expectation. If you expect the same old thing every week, you're gonna get the same old thing. Amen. Um so uh my expectation is based on two things, and yours should be as well. First of all, what God has already said, and what Jesus has already done. What God has already said, your expectation rests on two things. You say you don't know my family, and you you well, you know, we just I've had so many disappointments. I understand that. And I'm telling you, please hear me. You can pick up a spirit of disappointment. You can function out of a spirit of disappointment. Well, I don't want to get my house. Where in the world does that come from? Your expectation should come from two things. What God has already said. You could have and what Jesus has already done. Because when he starts talking about what God has for you, here's what people do: they'll say, Well, I'm probably disqualified. I'm probably disqualified. Well, you don't understand the work of the cross if you're a believer because you're not disqualified. In fact, I would go so far as to say he's not disqualifying people through the cross of Christ, he's qualifying them. You've been the seed that would be us is qualified by the cross of Calvary. Pull up Colossians chapter 2 for me, and I want you to see this. Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2, when you start looking at all of the various and different things that He did for us, I'm going to go down to Colossians 2 and verse 14. So I want you to understand you're not disqualified from any blessing, miracle, outpouring, whatever it is. If you've been washed in the blood and you're a child of God, you qualify for what God has for you. You qualify for everything that He has for you. And here's what I want you to see. The Colossians 2 says, is something I've never seen before when I've looked at the cross and looked at what God did through Christ at Calvary. It says this, he blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. Now here's what I want you to understand about this verse. This verse is different. When we say he went to the cross and took my sin away, that would be theologically accurate. But Sonia, that's not what this says. It says he blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that were against us. He didn't blot out my sin, he blotted out the ordinances. What are the ordinances? The ordinance is the law. The ordinance is in that time, if you had a debt or if you had something that was written as law, those were handwritings of ordinances. And look, the Bible says he took those things out of the way. So here's what you need to understand. Here's why you're not disqualified from anything God has for you. You're not disqualified, and you should expect different because the handwriting of ordinances that were against you have been blotted out. So here's what I mean by that, okay? So you ever heard the term I owed a debt I could not pay? He paid a debt he did not owe. That's what he's talking about here. Anytime you owed a man a debt, there would be a handwriting of ordinances. It would be like a debt card. It would be something that they would give you, or if there was a law that you had that said, like the writing of God, there was the law of Moses. So here's the thing: if he blotted out the law, it literally, Sonia, means that he smeared it out so it couldn't be read anymore. How is God holding something against you that he's already forgiven you and blotted out the handwriting of it, and now there's no record of it? See how you respond to that when I say, you are completely forgiven by the cross. You should expect more because you are completely the handwriting, every debt that you've ever had. It's like somebody took a piece of paper and they they just smeared out the handwriting that was against you, the debt that you couldn't pay, the life that you couldn't live. The cross of Calvary has qualified you. You should expect more and stop disqualifying yourself from what God has for you. There's more. Would you say this with me? Would you say, I want more? I want more. I want more, Lord. Here's why that's important. I used to feel like, well, shit, I can remember preaching a sermon a number of years ago, probably 20 years ago. I said, the problem with most people is they want more and they ain't doing half with the half they got. They ain't doing nothing with the half they've got. Well, there might be a little truth to that, you know. But I think it's a wrong thought process. I mean, I used to hammer down on what would Jesus do? I don't know what he would do, but you ain't doing nothing with the half you've got. You old sorry something another, you asking for more and wouldn't get do, no, wouldn't get out of the wouldn't do this, and I would be on it, you know. But I but if you understand, it's listen, hear me today. It's always okay for you to ask for more. Especially if you're feeling, well, I don't think I'm living the life that God has for me. Now I tell Lori all the time champagne wishes and caviar dreams for me. Lifestyles of the rich and finest. Where we have champagne wishes and caveat dreams. I'm not sure I'm gonna get champagne wishes and caviar dreams, or if I even want that. But I do want all that God has for me. I want everything that he has for me, and I want everything that he has for you. And the only way for you to begin to understand and expect different is to not, is to understand, first of all, you're not disqualified. You are not, in fact, the cross says you are qualified for a miracle. You are qualified for a blessing, you are qualified to be an overcomer. You are qualified by what he's already done at the cross. It's the only thing that qualifies you. Well, but we ain't had much luck in our family. You stop all that nonsense. You got a brand new bloodline at the cross. You got a brand new blood transfusion at the cross. Now it's about his blood, it's about his power, it's about what he wants to do in your life. So stop with the nonsense and believe for more. It's okay. I went to a conference in 2018 or 2019. I went to New York for a little conference they had, a group of people had. And I had spent my whole life thinking, well, I'm not going to ask for more. I don't know that I'm using everything I have to the best of my ability. I think it's maybe, I mean, that's a little arrogant for me to ask for more, right? And that was just my thought process in life in general. I go to the conference and I get up and one of the speakers says, never be ashamed to ask God for more. Now, this speaker was saying, don't be ashamed to ask God for more of his spirit, more of his power, more of his love, all of those things. We weren't just talking material things. See, if your mind immediately goes to material things, we gotta put the brakes on right quick. Let's get you where you need to be spiritually, and the material things will follow. I'm telling you, the material things will follow. So your expectation has to has to rise. I want your expectation level to rise. And in fact, I'm, I'm, I believe expectation is a form of faith. It's a form of faith. And I believe he wants to do more based on. How about take this verse, Ephesians 3.20. Every one of you know this verse, but it clearly says that he can do exceeding abundantly more than you can ask or think. Now, unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above, he can do above what you can even think. It's hard when you start preaching this because people, I gotta raise your level of faith a little bit. I got to raise your expectation to say he wants to do exceeding abundantly above all that you can ask or think. Now, here's the verse, and here's where you need to go with this. Look at the last part of the verse, though. It says, according to the power that works in you. Now, here's the thing. I just told you you got to take what God says and mix it with faith. What's the power that works in you? Well, it's not yours, it's the power of faith. It's the power, according to the power that works in us. It works in us. There's a faith that works in you that when it begins to function, we can see the exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think. Amen. Now, um, I'll cover one more thing and then we're gonna go to John chapter 4 where we were last week. And I want to take another look at John chapter 4 very quickly. Um, sometimes we expect, I think we expect the same old same ol. We get the we expect what we've always gotten. And in order for a preacher or somebody to challenge you in that area, I have to say, you gotta raise your level of expectation um in order for you to get all that God has for you, and you're gonna do that by faith. Right? Expect some of you expect things to go bad. You you're you have wrong expectations. I'm running out of time quickly, but I want to tell you the first thing I tell people if they come to me and say they're gonna get married and they want to have counseling, the first thing I say to them is, well, exactly what is your expectation for your wife? Then I'll say, Well, what's your expectation for a husband? Because expectations are gonna be huge. And it's gonna be even bigger when you have unmet expectations. Well, I expected this. Yeah, but y'all didn't discuss all that. Y'all was in love. Y'all just wanted to breathe the air he's breathing. You was just so in love, you just don't even know. Um, I mean, she just takes my breath away. And it's just, uh, yeah, but y'all didn't talk about money and all these other things. Y'all didn't talk about kids. Y'all didn't, y'all, y'all just in love. You're so in love. Now we got to deal with expectations. So we get wrong expectations. I only bring that out to say there's sometimes when you have wrong expectations, you talk about disappointment. Yeah, you talk about big-time disappointment. So here's what I want the last thing I'll say will go to John chapter 4, and I'll begin in verse 4. Expect to go through the fire and not be burnt. Many of you have been burnt by life, you've been burnt by bad business deals, you've been burnt by family members that did you wrong, you've been burnt, and some of you, you're not burnt, you just burn out. You're burnt out on life, worn out, worn thin. Expect, the Bible says in Isaiah, that you go through the fire and you're not gonna be burned. It says you're gonna go through the water and they're not gonna overtake you. You gotta believe that word and say, you know what, I'm going through the fire. I I mean, it may be hot, but I'm going through the fire and I will not be burned. I'm gonna come out on the other side and I'm gonna I'm gonna look like gold and I'm gonna smell like a rose. I will not be burnt. My expectation is in the word.

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Right?

SPEAKER_01 34:33

I just think there's uh well, I know because I've pastored the congregation for a long time. I know there's people sitting in here right now that there's a lot of unmet expectations. There's a lot of people, you have been burnt. People have burnt you. God didn't do that to you. People have wronged you. And and you you have to figure out what you're gonna do with that. But my prayer is that you understand what the word has already said, and that is that you're gonna go you're gonna walk through fire. Now you're gonna be burned. Neither is the flame gonna kindle on you. That's what the Bible says. You're gonna go through deep waters. I love the analogies that God brings. Fire and water, we're gonna walk through these things, and you're gonna see that your their waters aren't gonna overtake you. Now, let's go to let's go to John chapter 4 in the last few minutes here, and I want you to see this, and I'm gonna slow down just for a minute here and just walk you through what I see here about expectation. First of all, Jesus says, it says of Jesus in John chapter 4, verse 4, he says, he must needs go through Samaria. Something is drawing him to Samaria. Now you could say he's leaving where he is in Galilee. Uh he's leaving where he is, and it's the easiest route. But Jewish people didn't go to Samaria or what's called Sikar. They didn't go there. They would easily walk around, but he says, I'm being drawn to Samaria. If you want to increase your level of expectation, I challenge you to learn how when the Holy Spirit begins to draw you to something, you go with it. You want to see your level of expectation? That's where the word comes in. That's why following the Holy Spirit is important. He says he must needs, he's drawn to go through this city. Now, I have a suspicion that he already knows he's gonna meet somebody there that needs him. I believe he already figured out she's gonna meet him there. And she's been married five times already, and the one she's living with ain't even her husband, and he says, this woman's life is about to change. She needs an encounter. So he uh so he says he goes through Samaria and he's being pulled. It's a drawing of the Holy Spirit. It's have you ever just I hope and pray you understand this. You should. There are times that the Holy Spirit just draw you to something, pull you to something, and you know the leading of the Spirit, and you don't know why He wants you to do that. You can't explain it in everyday terms. You just feel the Holy Spirit speaking to you or drawing you to do something. Maybe you say, well, he don't really speak to me, but I feel compelled, I feel drawn to, I feel pulled toward this particular thing. And I just keep, as we said in the Pentecostal circles, feeling this in my spirit. You have to learn, if you're going to walk with God, you have to learn when the draw of the Holy Spirit begins to pull you in a certain direction, you better learn to just go with it. Just go with it. You don't have to understand it. Jesus may have understood it. He probably knew he was going there. But I want you to understand how important it is that when you're drawn to something by the Holy Spirit, that you just go with it. God has appointments for you. He has places that you're supposed to go and things you're supposed to do. And in this case, Jesus is going to meet a woman. He's drawn, he must needs go through Samaria. And he then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sichar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there, therefore Jesus, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well, and it was about the sixth hour. Then cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water, and Jesus says to her, Give me something. Give me something. She comes to get water, and he says, Why don't you give me some before you get you some? Could it be that Jesus, well, we'll say it another way, could it be that God is drawn to people who are thirsty? Could it be you thought I'm thirsty and I'm dry and I don't know what's wrong with my spiritual life, and you don't understand. He's already drawn to you. You have a thirst for him. He's drawn to people who need fresh water. He's already drawn to people who know they need a fresh drink. But before they get, before he gets there, or before she gets what she's gonna get, he says, Look, why don't you give me something? You talk about faith coming in. You talk about faith coming in when he says, Before you get what you need, why don't you give me some water? Is it possible today that God is calling on you to give him something before you get your more, before you get what you're coming for, before you see what I'm saying? He sits down and says to a woman, now she's gonna say, I don't even know why you're asking me this. You don't, you, you don't, uh, uh, Jews don't even associate with us. You're not even supposed to be asking me for anything. But he's not asking her for anything that she has. What he's saying is, is you give me something before you get what you're about to get. Why don't you give me something? And my question for you this morning is, is there anything that you need to give him this morning that he would call on for you to give it, give it to him, let him deal with it, give it to him in a good way? Maybe it's something that you've been dealing with and you just have held on to it for so long. And he says, Why don't you give something to me today? Before you get a fresh drink, why don't you give this away? Why don't you sow a seed? Why don't you give me the good or the bad? I recognize that for some of you, you've got things that you've held on to, and he's just saying, give it to me. You give me something. Now, I could also say it this way, and you could understand it this way maybe better. Sometimes I just give him my praise. Sometimes I just give him my worship. Sometimes a fresh drink is just one worship service away. Sometimes a fresh outpouring is just me saying, I'm gonna, I'm just gonna lift my hands in praise. I'm gonna worship, I'm gonna walk by faith and not by sight no matter what. And he says, just just give me something.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

Just give me.

SPEAKER_01 42:18

So I believe that he knew he was gonna find her there. I believe with all of my heart that he understood specifically what he was going through this city for. And he knew that he was gonna meet her and encounter her, and she was gonna have a life-altering encounter with the living Jesus because it's impossible for you to come into a place of an encounter with him and not be transformed. If if you come into his presence, it's why we lead people, we try to lead people into God's presence every day. If I can get you to the presence, he can speak. If I can get you to the presence, if the presence of God is here, and when we come together, that's when we praise and worship, we believe that the Spirit of God fills this place, and when he speaks to you, it's just important that we get you in the presence so there's an awareness of his presence here, so hopefully he can speak. That's that's so she comes into his presence, and look what happens. He begins, the first thing he says is, You give me something. I don't feel like I have anything to offer God at all. Why don't you just if you say, Well, I don't have much to offer. You know, I don't have, I don't think I have anything to offer. Oh, I I I would dare say you have plenty to offer. I would dare say you can offer him. Uh, we used to sing a song around here years ago. Uh Sandy Asandra used to sing it, and it it was along the lines of Saying, look, we just lift our hands because this is all we have to give. I don't have anything else to give that's worth anything, but I can give him my surrender. I can give him my praise. I can give him my worship. I may not have a lot financially, physically, but I don't have no whole lot, but I can offer him, I can offer him my worship, my praise, my heart, my surrender. I can offer him that. He just said, What are you gonna give me? So what is it that he's asking for this morning that he could be asking for? And are you willing to give it? Will you give him full permission to change your heart and your mind? If you're weary with the journey, the Bible says he's weary with his journey, so he sits down on the well. You could be so weary with your journey. There are people in here this morning, you are worn out with the journey. You are worn out with the process. You don't have to raise your hand, I know. You are worn out with the process, and he's about to sit down next to you and say, What are you gonna give me? So that sounds counterintuitive. It sounds like that don't make no sense. You're I'm worn out and tired, and he's gonna ask me for something? Absolutely. Absolutely. I can show you this all the way through the scriptures. Uh, you remember when and I told some people Wednesday night a few weeks ago, I said, this used to just offend the fool out of me till I understood it. It used to offend me. You know the parable in the scriptures where the servant comes in, he's worked in the field all day, and the master says, You're talking about offending you. So the master says to him, Before you clean yourself up and before you eat, I know you've worked all day, but you go fix me something. You go fix me something. Am I the only one that's offended by that? Like, hold on, bro. You've been up at the house all day, and I've been in the field working. I ain't even had time to shower, and you're gonna ask me to give you something. That's a real that's a real spiritual parable. He says, I want you to give me something. You go fix my dinner and let me eat, and then you're gonna get to eat later. Why I mean, it's it's a it's an if you understand that, but it I ain't gonna lie, it used to offend me. I'd read that parable and go, God's unreasonable. This is crazy. Okay, I guess I'm the only one. There's so so many scriptures like that. What I want to say to you is what do you what do you need to give him today? I know you're worn out and tired, but it starts with you figuring out what you're gonna give before he figures out what he's gonna give. Say it another way, because I know this is hard for you to get. So I heard Randy Clark tell a story one time, and he said, I don't even know his ministry. I don't particularly follow him, but I heard him tell this story and I thought it was great. I think he's spot on. He said, I was praying for people every night in a meeting that we were having, and he said, I realized, he said, we were seeing about 3% of the people healed. He he does a lot of praying for healing. And he said, I just figured it to be, I want you to catch me now. I'm not gonna be in a hurry because I want you to catch this. He said, I just figured that this is the sovereign will of God, and 3% is about the best I'm gonna get. He said, I followed it over several weeks. About 3% of the people I prayed for was getting healed. And he said, I literally just said in my heart and in my mind, this must be the sovereign will of God. There's some of you sitting here today that say, Well, the reason I ain't got my expectation met is it's the sovereign will of God for him to withhold on me. I want you to catch that. I want you to understand what you're saying. If that's your theological position, please hear me this morning. He wants to give you more. But he may ask you for something more. Well, I don't think I could give any more. Stop with the nonsense. He's saying, if you will fix my dinner and let me eat before you eat, I've got something for you that you can't understand. He's saying, you give me some water before I give you something. You understand the process? And so we call it, well, it's the sovereign will of God. So what Brother Clark said was, is he said, I was, after weeks of doing this, because he travels and preaches conferences and all this, prays for hundreds of people to get healed. He said, I'm at 3%. And he said, I walked in one night and I heard the Holy Spirit say, Ask me for more. And he said, I knew right well what he was saying. I knew he was saying, I need to ask for more healings. Because he said, I've been praying about it. Just said, Well, it's the sovereign will of God. Some of you, I hate to ask you to don't raise your hand, but just hear me. Some of you have said theologically, I just believe it's the sovereign will of God for me to stay sick, broke, whatever your thing is. Anybody thought, well, but when the time comes, my suddenly's gonna happen. I can go with that. I can roll with that. But I can also say, what if he says, if you'll give me to drink, if you'll fix me a plate before you get to sit down, watch what I'll do. And so Clark said, what what Randy Clark said was, he said, I I said, okay, Lord, I'm at 3%. Could you, I think he said, he said, could you give us 15%? And he said, So we prayed again. He said, so I'm praying, the people are praying, Lord, give us more, more healings, more healings. And he said, so we prayed again. And I think he said he started at 15%. Then he said, I thought, well, could you give us 50%? So he said, I just kept praying for more. He said, we finally got to the place that 75% of the people we were praying for was getting healed in those meetings. He said, God wanted to do more all along than I was willing to ask. I was willing to accept a little 3% breakthrough, but he said, God wants to give me more. And he said, I walked up on the platform that night and the Holy Spirit said, Ask me for more. Just ask me for more. All I'm asking you to do is get your expectation up and ask him for more. Now, for you, that may not have anything to do with money. It may be more in a way that I can't even describe this morning. But I can promise you this, I believe God wants to give you more than what you're experiencing. And I know this of a certainty. He wants to pour his spirit out in a way that we receive more than what we're walking in right now. I can promise you that. I can guarantee you God wants to do more. I can guarantee you that there needs to be a revival and a refreshing and a renewal, and our expectation rises. And when that begins to rise and our level of faith rises, it's going to be amazing what God does. But you're going to have to settle into that. Settle into that place of expectation and change the way you see things. The way you begin to experience God, begin to open up the word and see what he has for you on a daily basis. So he comes and he's weary from his journey. I promise I'm I'm closing. He's weary from his journey, and he's gonna give us this key. And he's here's what I take away from that. Every time, every time you're weary, you gotta open up that well. Say it like a good Pentecostal. Every time you're weary, open up a well. Instead of focusing on how weary you are, open up a well. Begin to drink from the well that never runs dry. Begin to pray in the Holy Ghost, begin to get in his presence. He's giving you a clue. Now look, I believe he's literally, Jesus is literally weary from the journey. He's weary, he's physically tired. If you look at how far it is from where he's going to go through Samaria to where he has to get, no wonder he's physically drained. But he comes to this well and he sits down on this well. And if you will open up a well every time you get weary, God will give you a word. He will give you fresh water, he will give you a fresh outpouring. How do I know? Because I've experienced it too many times. When I didn't know what else to do or where else to go, I went to the rock. When I had nowhere else to go, I go to the rock. I go to the rock that's still able. I go to the rock that pours out water, I go to the rock, and you should too. Always be ready for what he has for you. There are always wells in our journey. Isaiah 12 and 3 says, Therefore, with joy shall we draw water out of the wells of salvation. There's a well of salvation, and he says, You can draw water from that. Joyfully will we pick up buckets of water from the wells of salvation, the message Bible says. Joyfully shall we pull up buckets of water from the wells of salvation. And as you do it, you'll say, Give God thanks, call out his name, ask him anything, shout to the nations, tell them what he has done, spread the news of this great reputation of God. That's the message Bible for Isaiah twelve and three.

SPEAKER_02 54:22

You draw up buckets and you drink from that well. Revival will start when you say, I want more.

SPEAKER_01 54:49

I want more than what I'm seeing. I want more. More for my family, more for my church, more for this nation. Give us more, O Lord. Give us more. Not to indulge it necessarily just on myself, but give me more so I can give it away. Overflow me, O Lord, and see what can be done in and through a fully submitted life.

SPEAKER_02 55:21

Give me to drink.

SPEAKER_01 55:25

And let me drink freely of all that you have. That's what I'm expecting. That's what I'm believing. That's why I've said, let's have a summer of revival. I'm always going to point you back to him. I'm always going to say, This is what God has for you. This is how we live our spiritual life. Will you give him to drink? Will you fix his meal before you get one? And not be offended by it. Amen. I was honest about my offense. You can be honest about yours. You know, sometimes God, I'm gonna close right there. Sometimes you can stand on your feet. Sometimes God doesn't act the way I want him to act. He's asking me for something, and I've been in the field working all day. The audacity. You do know that he's God Almighty. The audacity that you would come in tired and weary and worn out, and he'd say, No, no, no, you go fix my plate before you get your plate. That she would come looking for water, and he would say, No, you give me a drink before you get what you gotta get. I know that flies in the face of everything you learned and everything you believe. Break away from that sovereign will thing. Well, it's just God's sovereign will that I struggle my whole life. Find me that Bible verse. Find me that Bible verse. You can be broke and not struggling. You can be at the lowest point of life and not struggling. Don't you dare pick up a spirit of struggle. You give him what you have, you give him to drink, you fix his plate. What am I saying? You serve. You serve right where God has you, and you do it with the right attitude and the right spirit. You just keep serving him, keep blessing him. Isn't that interesting? That I would be offended. Y'all ain't never read. Y'all don't read the Bible like I do, I guess. I read the Bible and question things. Amen. You ever read the Bible and go, what in the world does that say? That's a sermon for another day, right? If you'll I'll tell you what, for those of you who want a Bible study all the time, question not the validity of the word or the power of the word. But here's the thing: when you read a verse and you don't understand it, I saw it this morning. He blotted out the handwriting of ordinances against me. And I thought to myself, I've read that for 30 years. What in the heck does that mean? You want to know? Start questioning what you're reading and do a Bible study. That's that's easy enough. What does that mean? Means every debt you've ever had, even the law that created us and told us what sin was, he smeared it out right there. You can't find it? Hand me that piece of paper. This don't say nothing about Neil owing the debt right here. It looks like there's ink all over it. He's just smeared his slap out. You can't take this to court and prove Neil owes you anything. Amen. Amen. Well, raise your level of expectation and give God some praise. Hallelujah! Hallelujah. You're waiting on him to move, and he said, You give me something, give me your praise, give me your worship, give me your prayers, see the heavens, and watch what I'll do when you raise your level of expectation, exceeding abundantly above all that you can ask or think, according to the power that's working in us. Can you say amen? Hallelujah! Be blessed, and have a great Sunday. If you need prayer, I'll be around.

SPEAKER_00 59:20

We pray this podcast has been a blessing. For more information about Cedar Lake Christian Center, you can find us online at clc.church. Our Sunday service begins at 1030 a.m. and our Wednesday evening Bible study begins at 7 p.m. If you'd like to contact us, our telephone number is 770 748 5750.