Blessings & Promises - Week 3

If you can. In Second Chronicles, chapter seven, in verse twelve,

it says, then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night

and said to him, I've heard your prayer, and if

chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.

When I shut up.

Heaven and there's no rain or command the locusts to

devour the land or send pestilence among the people.

If my people who.

Were called by my name, will humble themselves and pray

and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,

then I'll hear from heaven and forgive their sin and

heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and

my ear as attentive to the prayer maid in this place.

Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. It's

the only change agent on the face of the planet.

And I pray today that you change us.

At the very fabric of our.

Being changes or we love you and we thank you

in Jesus' name. Amen, Amen, and amen.

I mean, if you're using the Church Center app you're

we're only gonna preach a portion of this message today,

so you'll just have to sort through and find out

where the fill in the blanks are. Because I'm not

gonna put them on the screen or anything. Uh, but

you're you're smart people. You can figure it out. This

passage of scripture we uh we often quote this as

some kind of national or governmental reclamation that uh that

if we, if we pray enough, that God's gonna do

something corporately beyond us. But this is a specific promise

to a specific people. This promise is to Israel, and

this promise is not that God would deliver them from

even invading forces, but that he would stop his wrath

that was being poured out in times of correction.

This promise is to a people who.

Were drifting from God and were on a course that

they were about to find themselves far from Him. And

he said, hey, when these things happen, when I do this,

and I do that, when I shut the windows of heaven,

when I bring drought, when I bring the pestilence, when

I do those things, then if my people who were

called by my name will do these things, then I

will do that. But the promise and the pattern is

true for everybody. The promise the pattern for us to

to find Jesus in the midst of our situation and

circumstance remains true. Even though this is not written to

us as gentiles. It's not written to America. Come on, somebody.

It was written to people who were finding themselves in

a place that they weren't comfortable with because they were

not as close to God as they once had found themselves.

And he says, here's the here's the process, and the

order is important too. He says, first of all, my

people who are called by my name. So he's not

talking about the world. He's talking about us. So about

the people called by his name, he says, first of all,

if if they will humble themselves and pray, if they

will humble themselves. You know, humility is a thing that

most every person struggles with.

It is a.

And we even are prideful in our humility. Come on,

if you can you even really be a humble person,

if you recognize yourself as a humble person. But this

whole idea of humbleness, of humility is not about the

way we look or the way we talk. It's about

our heart. It's about the posture of our heart. And

the only way that we really access God is through humility. See,

we come to God in all kinds of different ways,

and all kinds of different postures. We've talked about worship

posture and some of those things before, and you know,

many times we come to we come to God in a.

Very selfish posture where our hands are clinched because we're

holding onto what's our and we refuse to give it

to him, or we come to him in a very

defiant posture where God, I just I don't even care

if this is your plan, this is what I want

to do, and bless God, You're gonna get behind me

and you're gonna bless me.

Don't look at me like that.

You've all been there before.

This is what I want, and God, I'm just letting

you be part of it.

Come on, now.

We come to him in a in a surrender posture,

we come to him in a receiving posture. We come

to him in all these different postures. But the true

posture that affects the way we communicate with God is humility.

It's the thing that unlocks the rest of it, because

in that moment when we realize that everything we are,

everything we have, everything we can be, is completely dependent

upon Him, it changes the us. See here's the thing

about all those if then promises we've been talking about,

and we think that that these are ways we purchase

these things from God, that if we do this, then

he does that. But the reality of almost every if

then promise in scripture is the if changes us, so

we can encounter the then. Let me say that again,

y'all didn't shout quite loud enough for that it changes

us the if if you do this, the doing this,

the if that introduces us there changes us and transforms us.

So when the so, when the then gets there, we

have an encounter with the then, and we can recognize

the then and we can receive the then because in

our minds, the then looks different.

In our minds.

Standing on this side of it and standing in need,

the then looks different because we think it's the answer

to our problem.

But the then may not be the answer.

To our problem because our problem is probably a physical problem,

and God works at the spirit level before it manifests

at the natural level. He'll give you the power to

go through it rather than taking you out of it.

And it's all about posture, he says, humble yourself, not behavior.

The heart condition that you come to God realizing that

I'm completely dependent on Him for everything. He says, if

you'll humble yourself and pray, listen. If you don't get

the humble right, you're not gonna get the pray right.

Prayer is performance without humility. It's the thing he criticized

the hypocrites for.

In the New ti Estament.

He said, they stand on the street corners with the

eloquent words, and they repeat themselves over and over again,

and they do that for men to hear them. They

had no humility, so their prayer was performative. But when

we reach the place where prayer impacts us, when humility

impacts our heart and shapes our heart, then our prayer

is different because the prayer is the practice that follows

the posture. When we've humbled ourselves, we have lined ourselves

up with God's will. And when we line ourselves up

with God's will and we pray according to God's will,

then our communication is effective. Our communication works because we're

already in alignment with the kingdom. So our posture leads

to our practice. Then he says, and then seek my faith.

This is one that that in my opinion, the American

Church we've lost hold of.

This one.

We've we've lost contact.

With with seeking because it's about pursuit.

Seeking is not about lifted hands or the condition of

the music being just right. It's about pursuit. It's about

so many things. It's about the little things, it's about

the big things, it's about all the things in between.

It's about building a life that pursues God from the fabric,

from from deep down in here, so that everything in

our life is in pursuit of Him. When he says

seek my face, he says, listen, don't just seek my miracles.

But it's more than that.

It's building our lives so that everything is built to entice.

God into our moments, into those.

Vacant pauses that lie so microscopically between each second that

we miss them because our lives are moving. But every

one of those brief pauses at the top of our heartbeat,

in the bottom of our heartbeat, that little pause is

meant to entice Jesus into our life. It's like when

you first were chasing the person that you're married to,

and everything come on.

Now, I know for.

Me, I put my hat on this way, put my

hat on that way. I put it on sideway just

to check make sure my shirt was okay. I'm make

sure my pants were okay. I had a friend who

would go through these elaborate scripting processes that he married

the girl. I don't know how that happened, but he did.

He'd go through these elaborate scripting processes and he would

say something and it was branched off as she said this,

and the conversation went here. If she said this, then

the conversation went there. And he would talk to her

and then he would say something, and I would watch

this happened.

I would watch this transpire.

He's talking to her on the phone, and she would

say something that was that. She would give a response

that wasn't on the script.

He'd hang up.

I mean he hang up. He hung up on her

so many times because it's like, well, I don't know

what to do now. And then he would he'd regather himself.

He would get out on other piece of paper, he

would script some stuff that he'd bring it back to

the script that he already had written.

He come, he said, I don't know what happened. Did

you hang up on me?

She'd say, no, I didn't hang up on you.

I didn't up on you.

But he went through the process of making sure that

everything was enticing, and that everything was right, and he

was presenting himself in an attractive way because that was

the object of his heart.

Is Jesus the object of your heart?

If he spoke to you right now like he did

the rich young ruler, so we'd like to read those stories, right,

but we don't want to be those stories.

Amen.

If he looked at you like the rich young ruler

and said, sell everything you have and give it away,

is he.

Still the heartbeat of your life?

If he told you to live in a tent? Is

he still the heartbeat of your life? Are those pauses

still built to entice him into your life?

Because it's not just the posture and the practice. Those

things lead to the pursuit.

If we can ever really find ourselves saying Jesus, I

have to have you and nothing else, and then we

begin to communicate and we practice that humility in our

conversations with God, it leads.

Us to the pursuit.

Those pauses begin to be more real, and suddenly we

find ourselves and we wake up with a hunger for God.

Did you know that.

Every major move of God starts with a reckless hunger

for Jesus.

All throughout scripture.

There were a few people that gathered together, hungry for

more of God, nothing else. Dinner didn't matter, whatever's on TV.

I was gonna name something on TV, but we literally

turned our television off.

But now I still have Netflix. I'm not that holy.

Come on, somebody, I mean, you still gotta watch Chicago PD.

All of these things get in front of Jesus. Those

things are not wrong. They're wrong if they're filling the

space that is designed to seek him. Then he says, listen,

if those people that are called by my name, they'll

humble themselves, if they'll pray, if they'll if they'll seek

my face and turn from their wicked ways, if.

They'll if they'll pivot, if they'll pivot their lives.

You know, when we when we're in pursuit of Jesus,

everything is about him. You can't run towards Jesus if

you're running towards the things he hates.

You have to pivot.

In those moments where that pursuit leads to encounter and

he shows the wickedness of our hearts, we pivot.

It's what repentants means.

It doesn't mean, and somehow we've confused it because it's easier.

Somehow we think repentance is to come to the altar

and say I'm sorry. But that's not repentance. That's not

scriptural repentance. It's not any kind of repentance. Repentance requires

a change of direction. Repentance is say, Lord, I recognize

that I've broken your heart. But then it's putting the

things in place that I turn and move away from

that thing that had my heart. It's cutting the internet

off your phone, it's moving it into the living room

so everybody can see what you're looking at. It's transparency

in all of your interactions. It's being honest and not

having somebody that you've become emotionally dependent upon at work

instead of the person that's at home waiting for you.

It's all of those things that's pivoting and turning from

those things and moving back in the.

Direction that Jesus is.

And when we do those things, he says, and then

I will hear from heaven and I will heal their land.

But what Jesus is saying to us today is that

when you do those things, I will hear when your

posture is right and the practice is happening when those

things are in alignment and I reach the place of

pursuit where my life is about him. And listen, I

know some of you are sitting there thinking right now,

that's easy for you, pastor, because you get paid to

be at church.

Oh, if all I.

Had to do was preach for an hour and pray,

I could do that too. I want to do a

reality series one day, one week. It'll be like twenty episodes,

and just let you see that. I experience the same

things you do every single week. And I don't just

experience the same things you do every single week. I

experience the things you experience every single week too. I

deal with my junk and your junk. I go home

every Sunday feeling like a failure. I wake up every

Monday morning and I resign. Y'all are laughing, Clay, is

it not truth? I hadn't turned the letter in yet,

but in my heart I resigned. Usually by lunch, things

have worked themselves out and I'm.

Back on the path.

Some days it takes till two, but usually those things

work out that way.

But here's the thing.

My job probably does position me a little bit differently

than yours. Because if if he doesn't show up. Things

just don't work. If he doesn't show up when I

stand up here to speak, nothing works. If he doesn't

show up when the band sings, nothing works.

If he doesn't show up.

At offering time, we don't pay the power bill. If

he doesn't show up in the altars, then people go

somewhere where he does show up in the altars, and

we become dependent on him because the output is designed

for our dependency. But I want you to understand that

no matter what your job is, it is dependent on

the output of the kingdom. That if you're working on

an assembly line, every part you assemble is dependent on him,

because your job security rests in him, your raise rests

in him, Everything that you are rests in him. So

if we align ourselves with the right posture dependent on him,

that our lives become an explosion of the miraculous band.

Come and get ready and at the moment, but look

at me, don't watch the band, look at me. I mean,

we're gonna have to get him to come straight up

out of the floor. As soon as they start walking

up here, y'all all just watch them, because when you

are in alignment the moment, those troubling things happen. The

pivot is automatic, that we so live in communion.

With God.

That the presence of evil feels wrong.

We feel often.

Out of batalance, and our prayers no longer. Don't let

anybody find out our prayer is now, Oh my gosh,

why is that in my brain? And I turn immediately

and I'm back in pursuit.

That leads to prayer.

That leads to humility, and then I turn in my

humility that.

Leads to prayer that leads to pursuit. It's a cycle

we find ourselves in because we're not the important part

of the story is. And maybe you're here today and

you just feel off.

You feel like there's a tire out of balance.

It's just not smooth. Things are just not flowing in

the peace of God.

Right now, ask yourself, have I embraced humility? Is everything

depended on Jesus? Do I come to him out of

that dependence? Listen, if you're drowning, it doesn't matter what

the boat looks like.

I depended on him.

My life built to entice him. Or do I say, Jesus,

you stay in the truck. I got to go in

here and do something. Maybe you're here and you've got

something going on, feel a little bit of a separation.

Because there's sin in your life. You begin to think things,

do things. You're hiding things you don't need to hide

because there's something underneath that has to be hidden. Every

head bowed in, every eye closed.

It's a hard altar call right now.

If you're here, they just say, Pastor, I got some

things in my life that I need to work pet off,

I have sin in my life and I need.

To get free from it.

The fact you just slip up your hand and say,

that's the pastor, I got some things I need to

be set free from its. Nobody else open your eyes. Everybody,

keep your eyes closed. Everybody, keep your eyes closed. It's

not your businesses.

Put your hand up, put it right back down, and

that's me, bastard. Amen.

Amen, somebody else, put your hand up, put it right

back down.

Come on, do the hard thing this morning, Do the

hard work this morning.

Hand up, right back down. I want to go ahead

and tell you I'm not calling you to the front.

If that helps you, put your hand up, put it

right back down.

Amen.

Every eye open, every head looking around, pray this prayer

will be saying gee.

Jesus, Jesus, my King, my Savior. I'm sorry I have

fallen short.

Meet me here.

At my point of need. Wash me clean and give

me the strength to pivot.

And run away.

From the thing that has me bound, because that's the

direction you are.

And that's what I desire.

I love you, Lord. I'm gonna make room for you.

I invite you in Fill my life. Fill my life, Yeah,

fill my life, and Jesus, Amen, amen and amen.

Listen.

This is baptism Sunday. We didn't have anybody that signed up,

but the band's gonna sing. We're gonna worship together. If

you feel like you need to be baptized today, I'm

gonna stand down here about the pool.

You come on a past.

Clay's gonna come help me, just in case, you know,

somebody's big as me and I can't get y'all down

and back up by myself. Aasha, Clay's gonna come down

and he's gonna stay with me, and we'll baptize you today.

No questions asked except are you saved? Because I believe

Jesus got a special plan for you. Everybody's staying with

me all over the building