29th February 2024 - Stir up the gift

But it's not magic. Like my father right now and everybody here, just

stir up the gift. It's so easy to pray that. Come on,

I know, been ad ministry of over forty years. Like I just just

stir up the gift of God. And yes there's a part where you lay

hands on people. You can stir, but you know what you have to

activate. It's like I said, God, just stir the gift of singing

on everybody or here. But if I nervous said now let's all stand and

sing, ain't gonna happen. Right. That's why worship leaders have to do

that terrible job every Sunday. Okay, everybody stand up and let we're gonna

sing this song. Activate, activate singing. Well, I'm not very gifted,

try hum. So we have to activate. We have to give opportunity.

This is the beautiful thing again about small groups and getting together in prayer

groups. You activate and believe God, God give me something for that person.

Remember this whole idea of covet to prophesy, covet spiritual gifts. What

being a leap in supernatural bless someone else. There's no greater blessing than to

bless someone else. You actually get a blessing, it's like just a It's

just I don't know what the law of reciprocity is. You go and bless

someone else, God blesses you. And then here's the other thing. If

you get it going in this room, what about all those people out there,

all those people that could use a word of knowledge, that could use

maybe a prayer of healing. You know, people want prayer. I'm talking

about pagans, unbelievers, they'll prayer. So I'm going to give you this

prophetic word that I've been holding all this time, from thirty thousand feet in

the air till tonight. It's a challenge. This is really for all of

us. But I'm speaking to RCF right now. But whatever church you're from,

do you sincerely want unbelievers in your meetings? Do you what are you

gonna do about it? Well, God will just send them, really just

magic, right, they just show up. How do you think that would

even show up? Some people do just show up. What are you gonna

do when they come in? What are you gonna do when that first time

visitor walks in? Well, we want we want unbelievers, we want new

people. Yeah, how are you gonna treat them. What are you gonna

do when that new person walks in. You're gonna be over in your little

corner talking with your friends and go like, who's that? I don't know

before? I don't know who they are. So Saturday, we're gonna go.

It's so easy, right, If you really want unbelievers to come to

your meetings, you have to pray for it and you have to have a

plan of action or they're not going to come back. So here's the gift.

I'm going to ask you to stir up. See you think it's not

proper see Word of knowledge. We want miracles, signs and wonders. Can

I tell you there's a gift called hospitality. That's one of the gifts.

It's a gift, and yes, we all have different levels of it.

But you can create a culture of hospitality in your church. And you know

what it is. It's what people feel. It's called culture. What people

touch when they first walk into a meeting. They don't touch the great sermon

that someone's going to preach, they don't even hear the worship, yet they

feel the culture of the room. And when you have a hospitable heart,

a welcoming. That means to entertain strangers. It means to welcome strangers when

you have that spirit okay in the room. And it starts from the leaders

all the way down. And I don't know two people that are more hospitable

than Dave and Julia Food. I've stayed at their house way too many times,

but I've been saying at their house for thirty years. They are the

most hospitable people. You know that, right, But they can do it

all, but it does come from that. So this, this is a

hospitable people, and you have to just show hospitality. So that's one thing

I am going to pray for you. Stir up the gift of hospitality in

your own heart so that when you come on Sunday, you're not just come

and say, well, I sure, hope I get my needs met today.

No walk and going. I'm just here. I'm just gonna be looking

around. Who has a need? Who's God gonna draw me too? I

challenge myself because I'm not at my church very often, but when I do

go and I don't know, I don't know hardly anybody anymore. We're just

growing. And but I challenge myself, say God, leave me to somebody

new today because it's so easy. I'm on the road several weeks, I'll

come to church. I want to go talk to my friends. I want

them to talk to me. How is your ministry? Where'd you go?

And I love to talk about myself, right, it's so easy to talk

about yourself. But I say, God, take me to someone but I've

never met before, so I can meet their need. And God does.

Oh, he answers that prayer like that, and I'll just look around the

lobby and I'll just God just draw me to somebody and I'll just walk up

to him, say Hi, what's your name? People like to talk about

their name, right, Hi, what's your name. It's like they suddenly

feel important. Then I introduced myself. I'm Clem. I'm one of the

elders. Now I have another way. I said, you know the worship

leader, that's my son. I do some guy for a matter of reference,

like, so you know the worship leader, Yeah, that's our son.

It's just a bridge. You just bridge conversations and that hospitality what welcoming

strangers begins to come out. It's a gift. It's a grace. Gift

and grace come from the same word. It's a grace that is going to

make r CF and your That's what why people will come and come back.

You know. It's it's hard enough to get somebody first time in your church.

Getting them back, that's on you. You know what, people,

I'm just rambling from it. People make a decision to return to a church

within seven minutes. In seven minutes, they've already decided I'm coming back here.

You know that. That means for they ever hear the sermon, for

ever hear the worship, for they ever have a great cup of tea,

for any of that happens. It's how they feel when they come in.

They're going to decide. I like this place. I haven't met so many

people like, Yeah, we walked in the door and we just knew this

is where we're supposed to be. You ever heard that maybe this has happened

to you. I just feel like this is home. You know, God

has a spiritual home for everybody, and you could be a factor in welcoming

the stranger in. So I'm gonna pray. That's what I'm praying for you.

I said all this stuff to know that we have the gift of hospitality.

For other people. You start there, then you can prophesy over them,

then you can pray for their healing, and then you can make a

disciple out of them. But if they don't set foot in them, they're

still lost, right, how many of God loves the lost? God is

absolutely focused on lost people. If you ever lose something, that's all you

think about. The more valuable the more you think about it. You ever

lost a kid? Anybody never lost a kid? Our second son, he's

thirty five, no, thirty seven, Oh my gosh. We were at

a big sporting event in America at the university. My wife and I met

at Bisikon State University, eighty six thousand people, just a few people,

and we had our three oldest ones who then were like twelve ten and Mary

Jane was pregnant with Jake soon anyway. And then my brother was there because

he went to the university. He met his wife there, a great place

to meet wives and had three of their kids. So we have six little

kids and the four of us and we watched the game. Then afterwards,

I played in the marching band in that college, so I wanted to get

down to the tunnel where the band goes out and then you can wait for

him to march out and then you follow them over to their music building.

They put on an after game concert. I was like, this is the

plan. We're going to do this, like it's all about me, right,

So eighty six thousand people games over, let's go. So we're going

down. You're ever got a big event, you know, We're just a

sea of people and you're going to scrambla and get down. We get outside

and we're watching the band's coming out, and I said, okay, let's

go to the music but like, hey, let's go. We're going everybody

and all the all of a sudden, like where's Jaymen? I don't know.

I thought it was with you, wasn't he saying with you? And

suddenly it's like, where's Jamen? And suddenly I forgot about the band.

I forgot about the game. And nobody's like, hey, where are we

going to go eat? Nobody's talking about anything but one thing. Where is

Jamn? My heart was in my mouth. I was panicking. My brother

and I started running over to the tourist of music building because we thought maybe

he just followed the band by himself. And I remember I said they're running

on the campus that I went for four years to get a degree, right,

and in going, I never thought this day would come. I'm back

on the campus. I can't find my son. That's all I could think

about. Where's my son. There's eighty six thousand people. Now, one

thing we did right, I guess maybe Mary Jane did right. We did

homeschooling. Then, I guess they learned one thing. We said, if

you're ever in trouble, to somebody in authority. So well, my brother

and I run like a couple of idiots. My wife and my sister in

law have all the kids, and my sister in law says, we should

probably go report it to the police. I was. I was like,

I was running like a madman, like I'm gonna find him, see and

by way say I'm gonna find him. I was possessed with his lostness.

That's all I could think about. I didn't even think about talk going to

the police. I was like, I'm just I gotta find him. So

they went to the police, and sure enough, our son, to his

credit, at ten years old, realized he was lost. He looked around,

he couldn't find his parents, coudn't find ym butody. He just walked

right over to a policeman. Hi, my name is Jamon, and I'm

lost. She's like what he said, No, even lost people realize they're

lost. Okay, Hi, my name's jam And then I'm lost. He

goes, son, stand right here, We're gonna find your parents. And

so suddenly they're on the radio, and uh, sure enough, it's like,

yep, we got yep. Ptend what was the name of Jamie Ferris?

Yep, we've got them. We'll bring them over and it's within minutes.

My brother and I still run around like idiots, and I'm crying and

my and so we circle back and come back and there's Jamon with my wife

and there's a standing by the police car. And I was like, what

a relief. God is obsessed with the lost? Are you? You have

that same drive in your heart. Can't have it for everybody, But you

know what, when you start thinking about the loss and how God thinks about

the lost, you become focused. And man, when a lost sheep walks

in and any given Sunday or maybe in your small group or maybe you're gonna

bump into him, let the Holy Spirit say, I want the lost found

let's stir that up. Man, Father, I thank you for this night.

I thank you for your word. I thank you that we're here to

stir ourselves up, stir the fire of God in us, and the wind

of God has to stir fire, just like when you're a campfire is going

out, you blow on It's actually the picture in the Greek is to blow

on the embers of the fire when it's going out, and we all the

world is trying to smother the fire of God in us. So God,

we fan into flame. The gifts within us help us going into Sunday.

Let's not wait till Sunday at ten forty five. Lord, Saturday night,

fan into flame a heart for the lost. Help us to fan into flame.

Spiritual gifts. Help us to speak in tongues and fan into flame for

the Sunday morning experience. Father, help us to call somebody, say I'll

pick you up, I'll bring you to church. Whatever we can do to

reach the lost, because that's what you care about the most part. So

we thank you for that. I thank you for everybody here, and I

just repeat your very command that Paul gave to Timothy. Stir up the gift

of God that's in you. Stir it up, stir it rouse yourself.

Let the Holy Spirit wind rouse you with spirit, language and worship. And

then the word did not our hearts burn when we opened up the scriptures,

when Jesus began to show himself to us in the scripture that he's the shepherd,

he loves the sheep he laid on his life. When we see the

heart of Jesus in the scripture, may it burn in our hearts and maybe

go and tell the world the greatest news. Father. I pray that you

would release people. I want to say, release spiritual gifts. He goes,

No, they have to release them. I would love to say,

Father, just release the gifts of the spirit, and you know what you

release them. Desire to prophesy, desire to speak by the spirit, be

sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Learn his language in the book, and then

let the Holy Spirit refine it in tongues and we can change the world together.

Do you believe that? Hey man, God bless you, thanks for

him. It out for so long. Shoot, h we've learned something this

evening. Who's going to do something with it? Anybody have a life coach,

anybody have a sports coach. You know you have someone who's trying to

help you to get fitter. You know you don't pay for that and then

go home and do nothing. You haven't come this evening just to sit and

listen to an American who's jet lagged for an hour and a half. You

haven't come to do that. You come to learn something. You come to

have something imparted, and it's now our choice what we do with that.

It's not our choice whether we do something with it. We're not. And

so I want to say to you, I'm giving you permission now if you

want to pray for someone as we kind of close and as we go,

feel free to do so. It's a safe place. It said that right

at the beginning. It's a safe place. So you know, we'll have

tea in coffee as we're clearing up. If you want to stay for teen

coffee, I you've got to rush home, that's fine too, but please

do something with something that you've learned. Otherwise we just wasted now in half.

We don't do anything with what God's imparted to us, what God's shown

us, what God's revealed to us. And so we're going to have one

song to close. Jonathan is that okay? Just to set a seal on

everything that's done, I'm not going to do anything more and just going We're

just going to sing one song, and I'm going to release everybody now and

just say as we close, we're going to sing one song. Father,

thank you for the gifts that you've revealed to us, thank you for the

reveltion that you've brought to us today. O god Father. I pray that

Lord, we grasp hold of the nettle. Lord, we get hold of

the things that you want us to stir ourselves up with, and Father,

that we would do something. We would do something. Even as I'm praying,

I see one or two people sitting on the six thirty train tomorrow morning

and you are itching in your seat, You've got ants in your pants.

You want to turn to the person to do it. Just don't, as

exactly as kem illustrated, don't turn them and say us, so there's the

Lord, I have this for you. Just say hey, my name's Dave

or whatever your name is, and just start talking to them and just see

what comes. Honestly, believe the sick something is going to be a blessed

train tomorrow morning. There's going to be some other conversations that happen as people

walk to work, as people meet at their desks for the first time tomorrow.

Because God sold some seeds today and those seeds are taking route, and

as they're taking route, stuff's going to be imparted, be a blessing,

be a gift to others, as the gift in you has been released.

Let's sing one song together as we close out our service and I gathering today.

Thank you for joining us.