Waypoint Conference 2020 (Sunday) - Pastor Corey Russell (October 4, 2020) | Life Bible Church

Awesome, awesome. Get your coat on. I'm in Dallas,

and then I was in Phoenix yesterday. So I go

from about 110 to this. So I never know how to

pack for these kind of trips. So this is what

I got. Good. Good. I would encourage you. I don't

know if we have any recordings or anything last

night, but I was with you guys last night. The

Lord met us. It was beautiful. And for you guys

who don't know, my name is Corey Russell, and

I spent, originally from Northwest Arkansas,

got radically saved in 1997, got married to my

beautiful wife in 1998, had my first daughter

in 1999, and then we moved to Kansas City to

join the International House of Prayer, where

we spent 18 years in day and night prayer in

Kansas City. Two years ago, the Lord sovereignly

moved us to Dallas, Texas to join the Upper Room

Church. It's been a blast, and it's awesome.

I'm a man that's just eaten up with prayer and

calling the whole body of Christ across the earth

to intimacy with God, intercession, and getting

close to God. I believe that we're in an interesting

hour of human history, and I believe Jesus gave

us one. You know, in his last message, it's called

the Olivet Discourse, and he lays out about 25

verses about the end times, the Antichrist, the

abomination of desolation, all the stuff that's

going to come in the last days. And I imagine

the disciples are sitting there, and they've

got, well, how many gallons of water do we need

to store up? How many bags of rice do we need

to go ahead and get? How much gunpowder and guns

and artillery? How much prepping do we need to

do, Jesus? And he looks us right in the face,

and he makes a really simple yet profound statement.

He says, watch and pray. Watch and pray. Get

your eyes opened and get your spirit engaged.

Get your eyes open and get your spirit engaged.

They will be the greatest commodities. In the

midst of the generation of the Lord's return.

And I believe that we're living in that generation.

Nobody knows the day or the hour, but the scripture

commands us to discern the times and the seasons.

And I believe that we're in the beginning of

the birth pangs. It's what Jesus calls it. We

got some moms that have had babies out here.

Three of you. We got one mom right here. Okay.

Come on, mamas. We've had four babies. And watching

those birth pangs, watching the contractions

as they get closer and closer and closer until

the full birth, Jesus likens the generation of

his return to birth pangs and the way that a

woman gives birth to a child. And I believe that

2020 is, we are going to look back on as one

of those. Divine thresholds that we crossed over

that another contraction is leading to the generation

that is going to lead to the literal return of

Jesus Christ. I mean that. I believe that firmly.

So that changes how I live Monday through Saturday.

And that delivers me from 45 minutes and 20 bucks

once a week. I give 50, brother. Whatever. Whatever

is always my segue word. So anyway, so it's good

to be with you guys. Let me backtrack back into

greeting meat before I just talk about the end

times and watching and praying. So anyway, good.

If you have your Bibles, turn to Hosea 10. Hosea

10, it's one of the minor prophets. And we'll

just jump in. I believe that we're... And I guess

that's a good way to preface where I'm going.

I didn't mean to. I believe that we're living

in the generation of the Lord's return. Okay?

That's a pretty dramatic statement. I believe

Israel in the land, Jerusalem under Israeli control,

the signs of Matthew 24. There are 22 signs in

Matthew 24. 22 signs in the cosmos, earthquakes,

famines, pestilences. We're seeing relational

signs, betrayal, offense, hatred, cold love,

falling away. We're seeing many of those signs,

and I believe one of the verses that Jesus says

he's going to be in the middle of that generation,

that this gospel will be preached in all the

world. as a witness to all the nations, and then

the end will come. In the middle of the generation,

and as we're moving into this hour, I believe

that what God's going to release, and I believe

it firmly, we are going to see the greatest outpouring

of the Holy Spirit that has ever been released

upon the planet. The greatest outpouring of the

Holy Spirit. I'm talking about cities and regions,

even nations. coming underneath the manifest

presence of God. When I talk about revival, I'm

not talking about will you come to our revival

next month. I'm talking about when God takes

the stage and to where the crack house and the

church house are all vulnerable to the manifest

presence of God and to where there will be no

pedophile ring that can live within a 50 -mile

radius of this place. No crack house. No human

trafficking ring. Where the spirit of conviction

is resting on regions. That's what revival history

tells us is that when God shows up, it's not

about human personalities. It's not about the

gifting of a preacher or the gifting of a worship.

It's when man takes the back and God takes the

stage. And where God begins to do effortlessly.

what we have tried to do a hundred years. And

now in an environment of revival, the same phrases

now reap 500 -fold return. So I believe in divine

seasons where God openly manifests the rule and

the reign of His Son. Jesus is reigning right

now at the right hand of the Father. But the

lost many times don't know it. Revival is when

the lost knows it. Revival is when the lost and

the believer alike are aware there is a man at

the right hand of the Father and that he is glorified

and he has all authority and all power and it's

in those seasons that we see the works of Satan

destroyed. We see the powers of darkness destroyed.

We see the battering ram of the word of God destroy

all darkness and evil and wickedness and Satan

is cast down from heaven. That's seasons of revival.

I wish I could take the next hour and lay out

to you stories, but that's not my purpose this

morning. I love revival seasons. I want to say

that I believe in a billion soul harvest. That

is going to come in in this next wave. A billion

soul harvest. But I want to talk to you this

morning about how do we prepare for revival?

How do we as believers, I'm really firm about

the 2 Chronicles 7, the if my people principle.

The if my people principle, God releases mercy

into the earth through the agent of the church.

The church is his vehicle of the bringing forth

a blessing for a lost world. So how do we prepare

for revival? Why am I saying that? This morning,

the Holy Spirit, I was going to preach something

else this morning, and I felt the Holy Spirit

whispering to me, I want to move in revival here.

I want to move in this region with the spirit

of revival. I don't preach this. I honestly haven't

preached. I had to go back about a year ago.

to the last time I preached this message. And

I felt like the Holy Spirit said, chunk what

you're doing. I want you to get them positioned

and aligned for what I'm about to do. I even

believe that the fact that we haven't had church

for the last two weeks, it's almost been like

a sanctifying season. and a preparation season

because as you go to four services and as you

move into the next, I feel like there's a crossing

over season that's taking place, and the Lord

wanted just to prepare you. It's like Joshua

telling them, three days, prepare yourself. We're

about to cross over. I feel like it's been a

three -week season before we cross over, and

there's going to be a new people with a new purpose

and join together at Life Bible Church as we

move forward. Hosea 10 verse 12. In the middle

Hosea 10:12

of a mostly judgment book where Hosea is hitting

northern Israel over cycles of wickedness, evil,

and judgment. He says you guys are in the midst

of a deadly cycle. You guys are in a cycle of

sowing and reaping that's brought about a lot

of turmoil. And I believe many of us. And I felt

it at the end last night. I feel like 2020 and

COVID, many of us have gone into our homes and

we've entered into some bad sowing and reaping

cycles. Some things that we haven't dealt with

in years, we found ourselves slipping back into

in this last season. Things that we would have

never gone back to in our boredom, in our pain.

In our looking for needs to medicate the pain,

we've gone back to old places and it's brought

about bad cycles. And I believe that God is releasing

a lifeline to us today to enter into a new sowing

and reaping cycle. Hosea 10 verse 12. He says,

Hosea 10:12

sow for yourselves righteousness. Reap in mercy.

And here's the phrase. Break up your fallow ground.

Break up your fallow ground for it is time. Everybody

say it's time. He says it is time to seek the

Lord till he comes and rains down righteousness

upon you. We've been singing all morning about

rain, the cloud. Jenny brought it up last night

about... That in the same way Elijah brought

down fire and confronted all the false gods of

Israel and then birthed the cloud that ended

the drought. So that's what God was doing in

this hour. And I believe that God is ending a

drought. And that God is ending a drought, a

spiritual drought over this region. And I'm believing

that God is wanting to release the rain of the

Holy Spirit. But this issue of sowing for yourselves

righteousness. reaping in mercy in this phrase,

breaking up your fellow ground, I'm going to

give you what many in the modern church would

call a cuss word, and it's the word repentance.

Can I talk about a cuss word today? Repentance.

It's not fancy. It's not fashionable. It's not

sexy. But I want to tell you, it's the age -old

way of growing in favor with God. Are those seasons

where you break agreement and you realign your

mindset, your life, and you deal the death blow

to anything, any person, any substance that is

standing in between you and fresh connection

with God. And you never graduate from repentance.

There are always seasons of fresh repentance,

fresh changing. A matter of fact, the Lord told

me there has to be a fresh turning to move into

a fresh season. And that we want to live in last

season's revelation based on the last season's

turning. And so whenever you want to move into

a new season of grace, it requires a fresh repentance,

a fresh turning, a fresh realigning to your original

vows, your original calls, your original consecration.

We must realign ourselves. That's called repentance.

And God calls that beautiful. Whenever you want

to move into something new, it's going to require

a fresh turning. Which means God's going to get

up into your Netflix account. I mean, we just

say a phrase like, I know, brother. No, no. It's

God showing up in your Netflix account. It's

God showing up in your social media interaction.

It's God showing up to how many beers are in

your fridge. And how much you've been drinking

in this last season compared to other seasons.

Can we get practical? It looks like what you

do before you go to sleep. It's really practical

and the Lord says you would have never, it's

not about this or that, but there are things

that you have let go in this last season. And

I want to put my finger on it and call you gently

back to me because I'm wanting to break in with

fresh encounter in your life. I want to break

in in fresh places in your life. And I'm inviting

you to bring one weak reach to me. If you give

me one reach, I'll make 99 to you. He goes, don't

you miss that tenderness in the Bible? Don't

you miss that tenderness in prayer where you

used to cry? Where you used to carry my heart

in speaking my word to others? I want to get

back to what we used to have with each other.

God is so nostalgic. And he really loves to reminisce.

And he calls us back to early seasons of love.

He says, sow for yourselves righteousness, reap

in mercy. He says the phrase, break up your fallow

ground. He's going to liken our hearts to the

way that ground is for a farmer. And the fallow

ground is the ground that was useful in the previous

season, but in time it became hard, it became

weedy. Seedy, hard ground. And the only way to

make it useful again is it needs a tiller to

till up the ground below and to make it moldable

and soft again so it can receive this seed's

word. And it can receive this season's seed and

so that it can bring forth a new season. And

what I love about God is he says, I'm not going

to do it for you. See, God has a part and you

have a part. God won't do your part and you can't

do his part. I like to say it this way. God doesn't

dance with mannequins. First off, that's weird.

That's what everybody wants God to do. God, I

want you to do it all. And he goes, no, I don't

dance with mannequins. You make decisions. You

make choices in your secret place. You distance

yourself from things and watch me move because

I don't dance with mannequins. I believe that

God wants to release a breaking up of the fallow

ground of our heart. Well, Corey, how do you

know if you've got fallow ground? I have my litmus

test. It's when's the last time did I cry when

reading the Bible? When's the last time the spirit

of prayer touched me and I felt groanings and

grippings and the spirit of prayer coming out

of me? When's the last time wave after wave of

intimacy washed over me and I just felt embraced

in Abba and I felt enjoyed by Abba? When's the

last time the fire of God was on me? And if I'm

doing the math and I've got to think about it

too long, I need to break up my fallow ground.

I believe that God wants to release three gifts

to you today. There are three gifts. I call it

revival praying. And revival always begins in

here. Revival praying always begins in here.

I believe that God wants to release tears, the

gift of tears, to tenderize the soil of our hearts.

The gift of tears is the revelation of your inability

to change anything of yourself. Tears tenderize

the soil of your heart. I believe that God wants

to release the gift of tongues to till up the

soil of your heart. Tongues till up the soil.

I care less about your theological badge of whether

or not you believe in it. My question is, do

you live in that reality? Do you cultivate periods

of praying in the Holy Spirit? When you begin

to give yourself to a life of tongues, it tills

up the soil and it brings your soul life and

puts it in the back seat and it puts your spirit

man in the front seat. Tongues till up the soil.

And I believe that God wants to release the gift

of travail. The gift of travail tears the soil.

Tears, tongues, and travail. Note that none of

them have to do with words. I couldn't tell if

it was a creek in the stage. We had a duck caller

over here. Saw somebody hunting over here or

something. I said, we're in the middle of a hunt

here. I want to talk to you about the gift of

tears a little bit this afternoon or morning

or wherever we're at. Everybody say four days

late. That's how late Jesus was to Lazarus. Some

dear friends of his, Mary and Martha sent a letter

to Jesus in John 11, saying, hey, he whom you

love is sick. Jesus gets the letter, and from

the very beginning in John 11, he looks at his

disciples and he says, this is not going to end

in death. This is not going to end in death,

but it's so that the Son of God would be glorified

through it. Jesus knows what he's going to do

from the very beginning, and he tells him it

won't end in death. He didn't say he wouldn't

die. And Jesus, from the very beginning, knows

what he's going to do. He knows the end of the

story, but he refuses to fast forward to the

end of the story. He's going to let a storyline

unfold to bring forth something in the heart

of his beloved ones to partner with him into

moving into the resurrection season. This is

important. It says that he loved them. He loved

them. He loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He

loved them, so he did this. So he stayed where

he was two more days. That doesn't sound like

he loves them. If God loved me, he would have

intervened when it was still on life support,

when the marriage was still on life support,

when the kids were still somewhat coming to church,

when the finances were still barely making it.

He would have broken in time if he loved me.

I feel like the last decade, and I feel like

2020 is bringing a threshold crossing over, but

for many of us, it's been a lot of time of delayed

promises, deep things that have died, and our

hearts are continuing on because it's what we

do, but many of us have suffered deep blows to

our faith. Jesus gets the letter and he stays

where he's at two more days. And Jesus knowing

that he's going to stay two more days is going

to mean Lazarus dies. Why doesn't Jesus just

translate to Bethany, lay his hands on Lazarus,

he gets healed, and they have a party? Why does

the ones that he loves the most, does he take

through the most intense, painful, delays in

their faith to bring forth something glorious.

Why didn't Jesus do this to a Pharisee? Why didn't

he do it to a stranger or to a disciple or some

other person? Why does he do it to someone that

he loves? He stays where he's at. And friend,

I want to tell you, there have been many of you

that have been in those seasons. Jesus, break

in, break in, break in. And in some ways, the

thing you've cried out from the depths has died

in the meantime. And he didn't break in on your

timetable. It didn't look like what you thought

it was going to look like. No matter how much

you prayed and fasted, it didn't look like it.

And I found in my journey that in those kinds

of seasons, two types of responses emerge. There's

really three. There's one that just checks out

and you head to Harry's bar and you drown yourself

for the next 40 years. But what you see in John

11 are two different responses. And I believe

that they're connected to Mary and Martha's first

story in Luke 10. Because in Luke 10, Jesus came

into Bethany their first time. And Martha swirled

up running around and Mary was sitting and hearing

the words of Jesus. Which means Mary refused

to get caught up in the swirl around Jesus, but

she learned how to wait and connect with God

in the midst of all the busyness. Which means

she came out of the God of the swirl and busyness

and distraction. So fast forward to the death

of Lazarus. Jesus is now four days late, shows

up into Bethany. Martha, I love it, she's pacing.

Where's he at? I know he got the letter. Why

didn't he get here? Why didn't he get here? I

know he got the letter. Why didn't he break in?

What happens to the human heart in that season?

I don't know if I'm talking to people. Have you

been there? Do you know what I'm talking about?

If you haven't, keep seeking him. It'll come.

Martha runs out to Jesus. As soon as she heard

it was Jesus, she ran out to him, and this is

what she said, Lord, if you'd have been here,

my brother wouldn't have died. If you'd have

gotten here in time, we would have never been

in this situation if you'd have gotten here two

days earlier. But then she quickly made the statement,

I believe it's more of an accusation, but then

she's going to shift back into her nice, what

I call bumper sticker Christianity. Her t -shirts

and good confessions and hallelujahs. But I believe

you can ask God anything and he'll give it to

you. Jesus looks at her stone cold right in the

face and says, your brother will rise again.

She says, I know. Whenever anybody says I know,

they don't know. I know. He will rise again at

the resurrection at the last day. That's good

theology. She has revelation of a resurrection.

I know, hallelujah, he's going to break in. Someday,

on the last day, it's coming one of these days,

and I'm just hoping, and I'm guarding my heart

with all my theological walls to protect me from

leaving God. It sounds nice. It sounds faith

-filled. It sounds noteworthy. But Jesus says,

honey, resurrection isn't just coming someday.

Resurrection is today. I am the resurrection

and the life. No, no. It's really good when resurrection

shows up at your house. When resurrection shows

up to your marriage. When resurrection shows

up to your kid that's strung out on drugs. When

resurrection shows up to dead finances, when

resurrection shows up to dead bodies, when resurrection

shows up, he says, I am the resurrection and

the life. He who believes in me, though never

die. He goes, do you believe this? Yes, Lord.

You are the Christ, the son of God. Lots of good

confessions did get nowhere with Jesus. See,

I found that there's two types of responses.

There's ones that hide behind their theologies

and don't let the moment cut them. It doesn't

actually cut them over the pain, over what didn't

happen. And they refuse to get out of the tension.

And they're not going to hide behind their buzzwords,

but they're going to get caught into the vortex

of intercession. which is, I know who you are,

but I don't understand. Your ability to move

God is directly connected with you letting the

moment move you. She hits the wall. And she runs

back into the city, and I love this. She looks

at Mary and she goes, the teacher's come and

he's calling for you. We don't see Jesus ask

for Mary. I think Martha looked him in his eyes

saying, all of my theological bantering isn't

getting us anywhere. She learned something back

there in that earlier season. I've got to pull

on my ace card. Mary was sitting and she ran

out to Jesus. Look at this. In John 11, verse

about 31, Mary is going to run out to Jesus,

she's going to fall to his feet, and with tears

in her eyes, she's going to say the exact same

phrase as Martha. But she's going to pray it

from here, with tears in her eyes, and how you

can say the same thing, but from two different

approaches, two different spirits, and two different

realities, and it will provoke two different

responses. Martha goes, if you'd have been here,

my brother wouldn't have died. But I know. Mary

goes, if you'd have been here, my brother wouldn't

have died, which I don't understand. But I'm

refusing to get out of the tension. I'm refusing

to check out on the golf course or check out

on ESPN or check out at the bar or check out

with another relationship or check out to other

places to medicate the pain of what it didn't

look like what I thought it was supposed to look

like. What happens when it doesn't look like

what you dreamed about and you realize it was

your dream? And he said, he came, she cries,

and she said, Lord, if you'd have been here,

my brother wouldn't have died. If you'd have

gotten here in time. It says that when Jesus

saw her weeping and the Jews who were with her

weeping, the Bible says, He groaned in the spirit.

The kind of prayers that provoke a groan in God.

I don't know about you, but I'll tell you what

I believe happens right here. I believe Mary

and Luke 10 learned to let his words go to her

deep. That in the hour of her crisis, her deep

called out to his deep. And she pulled a resurrection

out of him. He groaned in the spirit. He says,

where have you laid him? Now he's acting. And

they go, come and see. And then we see the longest

verse in the Bible. I mean it. I think Jesus

wept is around 30 minutes. What does it tell

you about God? We know what he's going to do,

but yet he will not get by the process of getting

into the valley with his friends. And in the

valley of weeping, the Son of God, surrounded

by... Pharisees and Sadducees and critics and

skeptics, strangers and disciples and friends,

surrounded by all of them, a storm comes out

of the Son of God's eyes. He wept. God weeps.

And you've got to watch him weep. I want to tell

you something that I believe is coming to the

church. It's the vulnerability of God. I believe

vulnerability with God and vulnerability with

one another is going to come to the church or

we're not going to move into the next season.

There's a breaking point. People ask, what do

you think he was crying over, Corey? Well, first

off, the fact that God weeps. Only a weeping

God can wipe away tears from your eyes. I believe

he's weeping tears of pain. Tears of deep compassion

and love for his friends. Tears of anger. Do

you know that the resurrection of Lazarus is

going to be the final nail in the coffin for

Jesus' death? Jesus understands that what's about

to happen is going to kick start a series of

events that will result in his own death. His

tears of hatred. You ever been so angry you cry?

Jesus hates death. He hates death. He kills it.

He killed it and he's going to kill it. And he

wept and he wept and he wept and he wept and

he wept and he wept and we watch him and we watch

him and we watch him. Let's get to the resurrection

of Lazarus. No, behold him a little longer. Let

him weep in front of you. Let the God -man cry

in front of you and feel the bowels of heaven

getting stirred deep. Wells of compassion. Deep

wells of righteous power. And righteous anger.

And righteous zeal. Getting stirred up within

the son of God. Be with him in that weeping room.

Or keep your plastic high fives and claps. And

disengaging your heart. Living at a distance.

He's the God that comes close to us. He wept

and he wept and he wept. And then everybody gives

their commentary about why he's weeping. Some

of them said, look at how much he loves Lazarus.

The other said, why didn't he get here earlier?

He dries his eyes. He washes away the tears.

And then he starts moving towards the tomb. Starts

moving towards the tomb. Tears are the seedbed

for resurrection. Tears are the seedbed for resurrection.

He goes to the tomb and he told them, move the

stone away. And now we get to see faith -filled

Martha in action. Lord, he stinks. Which means

she's not as awesome as she was claiming earlier.

Let's get practical, Jesus. That thing's dead.

He says, didn't I tell you that if you would

believe, you would see the glory of God? He says,

Father, I thank you that you hear me. You always

hear me. And when he had said this, he said,

Lazarus, come forth. Lazarus, come forth. Lazarus,

come forth. And a man who had been dead for four

days walks out of a grave clothed in the linen,

and they have to unwrap him. I believe with all

my heart that there is a breaking point that

is coming to the church in this hour. There's

a breaking point in our personal lives. Personal

things touch us at deeper levels and get into

places that are hard that other things don't,

so he makes it personal. It touches us in a way

that nothing else could touch us. It gets into

places that religion won't touch, that big things

won't touch. It touches you, and God uses that

to pull you into his heart. I believe with all

my heart there's coming a breaking point in prayer

for the people of God. Tears, tongues, travail,

a deep groan, shifting out of religious praying

and praying from a different place and praying

from a deeper place of God, you're all I got.

There's a breaking point that's coming to the

church. It's called revival praying. It's called

revival praying. The breaking point, God's usually,

I always think of Genesis 24, 32. No, no, it's

32, 24. It says, now Jacob was left alone. And

a man laid hold of him and wrestled with him

all night. There's something about God getting

you all alone. And then Jesus, the WWE wrestler,

lays hold of you. The greatest UFC fighter you've

ever seen lays hold of you. And you enter into

the wrestle. And in the wrestle, you get transformed.

You get your name changed. You get a limp. And

God allows you to stay in the wrestle. It's his

grace to stay in there. That's where people get

changed. Some of you, this may not even make

that much sense. It's okay. I believe that the

breaking point coming to the church is the necessary

breakthrough to seeing what we want God to do

in our families, in our marriages, in our children.

In our communities, in our cities, in our nation.

We're like, God, fix it, fix it, fix it. And

he's like, feel it, feel it, feel it. God, just

fix this issue so we can move on. And he says,

when's it going to cut you? When are you going

to quit throwing money at it? When's it going

to get up into your golf schedule? And you're

ESPN watching. When's it going to get up in the

middle of your life and let it cut you and provoke

something deeper out of you than living at a

distance? I'm not a check off your box. I want

to cut you and bring you in close to me. And

I want to release resurrection life and power

in your family. I want to speak to dead marriages

and they come forth. You know what I love that

he's four days late? Because Jesus isn't intimidated

by four days dead. Some of y 'all, it's been

four years. Some of you, it's been 40 years.

He ain't intimidated because he's outside of

time. And he can speak to time from outside of

time and redeem it in a moment. Resurrection

power's coming. Break up your fallow ground.

It is time to seek the Lord till he comes and

rains righteousness upon you. It's time to seek

him till you feel him again. It's time to say,

God, cut me. Seek me like you never have. I prayed

it over a guy last night, but I feel like there's

a new season of seeking God that is coming upon

this place. There's a grace. I feel like we're

in a window to seek him. Isaiah 55 says, seek

the Lord while he may be found. What does that

look like? Get practical with me, Corey. All

right. Last time was a little too practical.

Let's get a little less practical. You wake up

tomorrow morning at 530. You take an hour with

God in the morning. And you show up to that same

boring spot for the next month. Until. And you

go on the journey of your boredom with God. And

it's in that place that he comes. Jesus, come

on up here, guys. I'm not normally this intense,

but whatever. If I'm at a 9, I'm normally at

an 8 .5. Anyway, I didn't want to preach this

word. I don't like preaching this message. It's

kind of hard. But I only preach it to a place

that I feel like God's bringing you to a precipice.

He's bringing you to a threshold. He's bringing

you to a place of breaking. God, I thank you,

Lord. I thank you, God, that you're going to

release tears back into the eyes of the church.

William, who's the founder of the Salvation Army?

Booth, William Booth. They had done, he had sent

a team of people to a city. They labored for

three weeks, got nothing. They write a letter

saying, William, we're out of options. We don't

know what to do. We're not seeing anybody saved.

Anything happened. And he wrote back a two -word

letter. Try tears. Try tears. I'm not talking

about emotionalism. I'm talking about you coming

to the stark truth. And the awareness of your

inability to change anything. In and of yourself.

Tears are born when you run out of options. Amen.

Let's stand. I believe rain is coming. Now that's

not too prophetic out here in Oregon. But I believe

that the rain above is connected to the rain

in our hearts and our eyes. I just want you to

lift your hands. I'm going to just pray that

God would consecrate you and set you apart for

a season of revival praying. Some of you, you

have personal things that are touching your life

and you're drawn into this in a personal way.

Some of you are going to get brought to the Lord's

heart for our nation. For our cities, our state.

God, I just pray right now that you would take

us into your holy heart. What I love about this

song, this cloud, there's a cloud. It's out of

1 Kings 18. Where Elijah goes to Mount Carmel.

He tells his servant, go down there for there

is the sound of abundance of rain. And the servant

came back seven times. And what did he say? There's

nothing. So Elijah said, go again. Go again.

Which means I believe God is calling that Hosea

10, 12. Seek him, till. Seek until he comes and

rains righteousness upon you. God, I pray right

now that you would release prayer until. God,

I pray that you would release the gift of tears.

God, I pray for the gift of tongues and the gift

of travail. God, I pray that we would break up

our fallow ground. That you would release a season

of repentance. A season of seeking you in a way

we never have before, God. Not just for our president,

the president we want to get into office, or

this person to get into office, but because,

God, we want to get closer to you. Release the

gift of tears. I want to ask across this place

right now, many of you are in one of those seasons

where the deepest thing you've cried out for,

in many ways it feels it's dead. And you feel

like Mary and Martha. And you don't know how

to reconcile what you know about God and what's

happened. And you would say, I'm in a place like

that. I want you to raise your hand. God, I ask

you to visit us right now. You're the God that

gets into the valley with us. Come, Holy Spirit.

Just wait another minute. If you have your prayer

language, just begin to pray in the Spirit. Or

call us at 541 -995 -8282.