Voice of the Nazarene 7-2-23

I'm coming to you from North Central Ohio, we share with you the voice of the Nazarene, a week by week venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus, Ohio, Church of the Nazarene, we join our Pastor Ray LaSalle, and the voice of the Nazarene.

Outreach, Acts chapter four, verse 33, and I'm interrupting our series on David, and then we'll go back to it the following Sunday. Said with great power, gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, great grace was upon them all. And I want you to notice, great power was upon them, and great grace was upon them. Here in American history, I'm convinced the only hope that America has is for a spiritual awakening. And if you want to call this Americanism, I'm saying a few things about our country. That's all right. Jesus told his disciples to go down to the water's edge and catch a fish in it's mouth will be a coin. And to render to Caesar we owe a few taxes. He was saying and give to Caesar that belongs to him. In other words, honor your country. And I joined with Jesus this morning, unashamedly.

I think we ought to be encouraged that we've got a great nation. Thank God for our beginnings, thank God for where we're at. But we need a revival, certainly across our countryside. America's history, it's beginning, its birthday is 247 years as a nation, we have found our independence from the British. And from that, a group that had run the country for a number of years, and following the Civil War, are signers of the Declaration of Independence, set down on July the fourth 1776 and penned what we call the declaration. No other nation quite like America. Now I know we're sailing through very turbulent waters. These are difficult times in the life of our nation. But may I say that we have been here before, if you'll study our history, and somehow we've always gotten through, and I've still enough faith that I believe there's a God in the heaven. And I believe there's a backbone of Christians across this nation. Maybe behind the scenes, maybe they're not all serving in vocal leadership in politics, but I believe in a God fearing nation of people that still believe in God. The answer has never come from the government. Our answers never come from Wall Street. Our answers never come from the entertainment industry. Our answer has always been a spiritual awakening. The hope of America right now, even now, is for that kind of a spiritual awakening. The Declaration of Independence was written by five men, Thomas Jefferson was one of them. Ben Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. These five men sat down and penned this document, stating that the 13 colonies would break away from Britain.

And it's very amazing to me how they began the document, we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights among these is life, and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Do you ever wonder about this framework? Do you ever wonder about the wording and, and how back clear in the 1700s? They're stating that we're endowed by our Creator?

Well, you've got to understand some things that took place in the 1700s. Maybe if you missed it, you haven't caught this. But they were stating back in those times, that we were endowed by our Creator. You better understand what took place during that time was a great spiritual awakening. There was a move of God across the colonies, things began to wake up in the minds and the hearts of the churches. There's a man that arrived on the scene by the name of Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards graduated 13 years of age from high school, enrolled in Yale University, and graduated valedictorian at the age of 17 and served as a preacher. His daddy was a preacher, his mother was from a preacher's home and he felt the call of God at a very early age and became a great theologian.

He is the preacher that preached the sermon, sinners in the hands of an angry God, hundreds were saved, revival began to spread and and went into the 1000s. And it was called the stimulation of the awakening, spiritual awakening of the American colonies, another man arrived on the scene by the name of George Whitfield. Whitfield was a great speaker, he had a tremendous voice. He began His ministry over in England and came across the waters, he was a friend of the Wesley brothers, he had the ability to speak to 10,000 people without a microphone, and could be heard easily. It said that he preached more than 18,000 times, to more than 10 million people, he would go into a town and preach and 20% of the town turned to God. It said during those days, he would walk into a factory without saying a word without being introduced.

And conviction would fall in the factory and people would go to their knees and begin to seek God, George Whitfield, what a spiritual awakening he helped to bring. Then two young men by the name of the Wesley brothers, John and Charles, over in England, felt the call of God on their life. And Methodism was born in England. And that's why the country that we have was started on this foundation. That we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, and that they're endowed by their Creator. The reason we began that way is because of that first spiritual awakening of the 1700s. By the 1800s, the tide had dropped. And again, we had another spiritual awakening man by the name of Francis Asbury. He was a friend of John Wesley. And he left England and came to America, and tried to start what we call the Great Methodist Church. He rode a horse back more than 300,000 miles, burned out his life, gave up his health. He went into the rural areas and back countries and found this cabin and that cabin and little villages here and there until dotting the countryside, the great Methodist Church had early beginnings.

Then Timothy White came on the scene. He became the president of Yale University, and under his leadership, Yale, turned back to God, then another preacher came on the scene. He was an attorney, a lawyer, but he became converted and felt the call of God to preach. His name was Charles Finney. They said that people in advance would line up two hours early, to hear the man speak. And when he spoke, conviction would literally fall upon the crowd and they would cry out uncontrollably for God to have mercy on their soul. The baptist church at that time, had 150 congregations under his leadership and under the impact of that great awakening. 12,000 congregations came into being right after that was the abolition of slavery, because these men preached the Bible that all men are created equal.

People the answer to every social ill and ever social problem is a spiritual awakening. Because it's not a social problem. It's a spiritual problem. The answer for every problem we have I think the Bible shares the answer in Second Chronicles, chapter seven, verse 14, If my people, not the White House, but the church house, If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray. It didn't say the Republican Party.

It didn't say the Democratic Party. It said my party my people, if they will humble themselves didn't pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I'll hear from heaven and I'll forgive their sins, I'll heal their land. And the reason why our churches are cold, didn't start that way. God gave a call and to his chosen, we've become pretty well frozen.

Icicle in the pulpit and frost in the pew. If we ever needed a move of God, we need a spiritual awakening. Now I read about the early church this week, I set in my little office and begin to read down through the book of Acts about the church's early beginnings. Now I'm laying the groundwork for what I'd like to preach about for a few moments.

They had a great spiritual awakening, they were under the dictatorship of Rome. Nero the leader over Rome, levied a heavy tax on the people. It was around 30% on the common man, the Romans were cruel. They're the ones that invented the crucifixion death. It was the Roman Emperor Nero that was tarring Christians and setting them on fire for lanterns so that people could see. And I want you to know something.

There is no account, Jesus ever addressed that or spoke out about it. There's no account that Apostle Paul ever spoke out about what was going on. Let me tell you why. They knew the only hope was Christ. It's easy to get off on political items, but the only a hope for the pollution is Christ and Him crucified. It's called a spiritual awakening. And the early church literally turned the world upside down. By the time those men left that upstairs room, within six months, more than 50% of Jerusalem had come to God, because they had a spiritual awakening. And I want you to see six components of the early church. The early church, the Scripture tells us had great power. You'll find that there in my verse my text, verse 33, and with great power, gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and they had great power. You say, Well, Pastor, where did that great power come from?

Great question. Today, we say the church just needs a greater political influence. The early church did not have any political clout. They couldn't even keep Simon Peter out of jail, but they had a clout with God when they begin to pray, God emptied out the entire jailhouse. They prayed him out.

And what's interesting where their power came from is found back here in Acts chapter two, the first four verses, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it fill all of the house where they were sitting. Suddenly, when they prayed, the Holy Spirit came, he came to Jerusalem, the Holy Ghost showed up to those 120 some people and so anointed them, they ran out of that upstairs room and out onto the streets. 17 different nations from all across the then known world had gathered in Jerusalem.

They climbed up on stones and wherever they could find an elevation and they begin to preach. Spirit filled and God began to annoint their lips. And the people the Bible said a miracle happened. They heard it in their own language. They heard the gospel in their own native tongue. Why? Because these men were filled with the Holy Spirit and in verse 12, the people said, What meanest this?

What in the world was going on?

And by verse 37, they asked a second question. They said, What shall we do? And Peter said, the best thing I can think of you need to repent. Don't hear much about that do we? But he said, You need to repent and admit you're wrong and that God's right and you better turn your life around and preach the great sermon about getting right with God. And I believe the church needs to get to the point that we're so filled with a Holy Spirit, that people will look at my life and they'll look at your life and they'll want to know, What makes the difference with them? What in the world is going on? Why would they go to church on the Lord's Day? What happened to all of their curse words? And why don't they think the evil thoughts they used to? Why don't they run with a crowd they used to? Something has made a difference. And then they'll ask that second question. And when they start to ask the question, What must I do? How do I get my life right? Now I believe the problem is we're trying to get folk to ask the second question without asking the first question. And they can't ask the first question until they see a difference in my life and in your life, that the church is a different crowd. Pastor, how does that happen? Well, I believe it happens, according to First Corinthians chapter 15, verse 31. And there's a whole verse there, but I want to give you those final words that we die, we die daily. Dying out to our agendas, dying out to our dreams. We come to church, and we're fussing about the decor and we fuss about the music, and we fuss about what books we're going to use, and we're fess about this. Hey, it's when we die out to our agendas and what our dreams are and where we're wanting to go with this thing.

1 Corinthians 15:31

And we begin to come alive to God's dreams, and God's goals and God's agenda. That's what really makes the difference. We die out to ourselves, and then we experience more of the presence of God in our life. I'm simply trying to say the early church had great power, but something else. It said there was great grace upon them all.

What is grace? That's unmerited favor. They got what they didn't deserve. Somebody asked me the other day, he said, What do you think you ought to be paid if you'd come to us for revival? I said, Well, don't ask me what I would want. If I got what I deserved I couldn't live on it.

And some of us if we got what we deserve we wouldn't find any mercy whatsoever. Our lives have been fluctuating and up and down and in and out. And I'm simply saying grace is unmerited favor, and the early church expressed unconditional love to others.

That's what grace is all about.

They gave unconditional favor and love. Now I grew up in a church that they called the clothesline religion. I'm not fighting any of them. I'm not throwing stones at the yesterdays. But it seemed like a lot of do's and don'ts and it all had to do with outward appearance. And it seemed like they were very quick to judge and the lady folk were never allowed to be very pretty. But that's not grace. It's not grace. I was an evangelist in the south a few years ago. It was in the state of Alabama. I'd stepped out the front door and one of our churches. Great Church, as far as attendance was concerned, and the main board member was probably a multimillionaire and his wife had stepped out and she was standing there and on and up the street came up black man strolling towards the church.

And she muttered under a breath that "D" "N" better not step foot inside these doors or we'll kill him. That's not grace.

Jesus just saw people. It wasn't about the color. It wasn't about status. He loved people.

Why in the world, would we go all the way across the globe to the countries of Africa as missionaries to reach those people and we wouldn't think about going across town to reach somebody with another color. You say, Well, Pastor, if I really got honest with you, I'm a racist. Well, if I'd really be honest with you, probably this is not the church for you. For everybody is welcome. The day they're not welcome is the day that I'm looking for another place, even if it's a street corner, Jesus showed great grace and great grace was up on that crowd. And not only power, but great fear. Look at verse eleven

and great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things. Great fear. Let me explain. It's the fifth chapter of Acts now. And they didn't have enough buildings to accommodate the crowd and they're struggling financially and people were selling what they had and they were giving a property and getting money for the property and bringing it in and putting it into the apostles feet and they're building as quickly as they can and they're gathering. By this time they're running over 8000 converts there in the city of Jerusalem, and any place they can meet and among all of the crowd was a couple by the name of Aninias and Sapphira, it's the first 11 verses of that chapter. And they wanted to get in on the momentum, everybody's selling property and giving to the church. And they said, why don't we just sell this land and we'll give to the church we'll tell them, this is what we got for the land. And here you can have it but we'll hold back some, but we'll tell them that this is what we got for the property.

And you remember what happened?

Incidentally, if you're going to do something, do it and don't say you're going to and then don't do it. I'm just saying, and they didn't. And God smold them dead. Now, I'm telling you this much. If I was attending there, I'd have been afraid to go back to church next Sunday.

In fact, of the matter, I think I'd be looking around for someplace else. But the amazing thing, I suppose probably next Sunday the offerings really went up, Wouldn't you think so? But I would have thought the attendance would have went down.

But when you read it here, that's not exactly what happened. Instead, it was a little different than that. It said the believers, verse 14, where the more added to the Lord multitudes, both of men and women, you know why? Suddenly, they had a healthy fear of God.

I got called to a little church.

It seems like 100 years ago, but it wasn't quite that long ago.

So don't write that down. And it was called friendship. And I don't know what kind of church it had been. But now there's a hole in his church. And I'm invited to come in as a kid of Evangelist and preach, and it was set way off of the road. And to get back to it, you had to go down this little gravel driveway between fences, cows on both sides mooing. And all the way back was the church, behind the church was a large cemetery. The Church on the inside was kind of rounded. And so I would stand on the pulpit, it was rounded. And then the pews went like that all the way to the back. First night, two boys sitting in the front seat, and they had a better time than I did. They had cars, and they would slide their car to the other end, it would go all the way around this curved pew to the other kid, and they are sliding the cars and having a great time. And I wanted to say stop, but I didn't. Because I knew the parents would stop me. And so it was a tough meeting. Nothing's happening, there's no break, no altar response. So I drove in early one night, just the kid preacher. It was getting dark and the sun was backing down and backing into the garage and shutting its doors and cutting off its shaft rays. And I went in behind the church out to the cemetery and among the headstones, and I'm out there praying, God, give us a break.

Would you anoint me tonight?

Would you help me tonight, don't let me die in the pulpit. But please come on the surface. It wasn't a large crowd that seat about 100 people and we were at probably about 90% capacity. I'm out there praying and pretty soon it was really dark. And cars, you can see their headlights coming up this long, long drive between the cows and the fences. People you could hear their voices. And the light came on at the front of the church but none in the back where the cemetery was. And suddenly I was aware there were two little boys that had come around where the cemetery was.

They said Do you think there's anybody in here? I got real quiet. There was a big headstone. I went over and got behind it. They said, Do you think maybe that preacher might be out here? He's not inside the building. Said do you wanna scare him. I thought remember, I'm a teenager, at that time. I didn't mean to say it was 100 years ago, probably 20 years ago or more. And one of them said you know what we ought to try to push some of these headstones over. By this time they're coming right over to the biggest one and I'm on the other side and I'm hope they don't push it over. On Resurrection morning., it'd be their own name. And one of them said to the other I don't think we can do it. They said, Why not on the count of three? And then we'll push he said one I'm on the other side.

And he said two more cars are coming. Lights are coming down the drive. And when he said three push. I hollered OH, I never saw two boys so frozen in my life. They turned around and I think they literally were jumping headstones getting out of that cemetery. Then I thought what am I going to do? How am I going to show up inside?

Probably they told their parents. I wonder if the pastor's gonna come out looking for me. I heard the music. I thought I gotta go in. So I make my way in and started down the aisle. It's packed. It's Friday night and it's packed. On the front seat two boys are sitting really close together. They're not on one end of the pew and on the other end of the pew. I mean, they're hugging each other. When I went by I shivered. I got up to the pulpit and sat down. And when I did about that time, two boys jumped up hit the altar. Dad used to try to beat the devil out of us.

I thought maybe I'd scare the devil out of those two. But when they hit the altar, suddenly we had a break and people begin to come down the aisle begin to seek God. A healthy fear of God would help us. I'm not talking about quaking and all that. I'm talking about our respect for God. Now this is a Bible. And if America respected this Bible, they wouldn't be trying to redefine marriage. If denominational leaders believed in this Bible and feared God, they wouldn't be trying to put perverts literally into the pulpit, to be preaching. Fact of the matter if we feared God, those things wouldn't even be an issue. Dad had taken a church at Mount Nebo Indiana, close to Martinsville out in the country along the highway, up on a hill.

It evidently had been a Methodist church, they had two doors and I guess one for the women the other for the men. One was wider, no it wasn't. And dad was trying to pastor that thing I was in, in college studying for the ministry and I'd come home sometimes on the weekend if I wasn't speaking somewhere.

Next door across the gravel road not on the highway. But the across the gravel road was a house setting back in the woods.

The heir to the Kingdom Company, a wealthy wealthy firm backup in Indianapolis. The heir to that would come down and spend the weekend sometimes they'd have a big drunken bender and bring a woman or two with them and some of those guys that he associated with. Mom and dad had finally moved a mobile home and next door to the church so they could stay there on the weekends. We came down one weekend and found the side of that mobile home had been shot with a rifle and had skidded it along the metal.

Found he didn't like preachers and he had bragged that he was going to run that preacher out of the country.

I came home from college and Dad said sit down I want to tell you just what happened. He said last week, the neighbor across the road and he had a big salvage yard of cars. His wife, their names was Crouch, his wife had come over and found Jesus Christ, it so saved their marriage that he respected the church although he didn't want any God in his life. It was around three o'clock in the morning, moonlight and, he thought he saw something he had gotten up for something and looked out the window and thought he saw some movement up there against the white background of the church. He picked up a 357 Magnum and slipped out of his house and across the road highway 252. And a man was pouring gas along the base of the church. Mr. Crouch stepped up to him and said, Sir, what are you going to do? And he was about half drunk. He said, I tried to run the preacher out by shooting at the mobile home that didn't get him out of here. I'm gonna burn the building down.

Crouch pulled back the hammer on that 357 and pointed at him and said, Sir, I'm gonna send you where you're going to spend your eternity. I guess he believed in more than I thought he did. He said don't try to strike a match. The man quietly got up and made his way back across the highway and Dad told me about it. The following weekend that man committed suicide over there in that house, down there at the Morgan Town Martinsville area.

I'm simply saying we need to have a fear of God. We we've lost our fear of the ministry and lost our fear of preaching.

But I'll tell you this much. God is still on the throne. And you'd better have a sense of respect for God. But another thing the early church not only had great power and great grace and great fear, but great persecution came. Chapter eight verse one, and at that time, there was a great persecution against the church. Have you ever been persecuted for your faith? Count it a compliment.

Now, I'm not going to be an alarmist. But I want to tell you something persecutions coming.

It's coming. I'm just telling you. Down in Florida, maybe you saw it on the news some time ago. Maybe about three years ago, they were going to have a function, a school function off the premises of the school and in the preliminaries it said they were going to have prayer.

Well, some of that crowd found out about it. And they immediately threw a lawsuit against the athletic director and against the principal. It was a $5,000 fine and six months in jail. And so they backed off, and they pulled prayer off the agenda. But the amazing thing, unbeknownst to them, when graduation service came, suddenly 400 Seniors stood at their feet and begin to recite the Lord's Prayer. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thee name, nothing that crowd could do. But I'm simply saying, it will come persecution will come. And then here's another great joy, happiness depends on what happens to you. But joy depends on what Jesus Christ has done in you. And you can have joy despite circumstances. And Acts 8:8, it said, and there was great joy in that city. Last of all, great numbers converted, verse 21, in the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord. Now, this is all I'm gonna say. Seven churches in America every day, are closing their doors. Seven a day. 1700 preachers a month, are walking away from the ministry.

Acts 8:8

Something's wrong. I'm telling you, we need a spiritual awakening, we need the presence of God. Nothing else is working.

So we'd better try maybe to have a revival. What if next Sunday we came and don't do this, but what if next Sunday we came and after the service the ushers came to me and they said, Pastor, those buckets that we put in the back for people's tithes and their offerings to support ministry? Yeah. There's not a dime in them and I said, Well, hunt down Bob Markham, he took it. I said what about the second service? There's no money. Nobody gave me anything.

I said, You mean, there's no money. And we come a week later and and the ushers come and they say there's no income, nobody gave anything I said what about our other campuses? West Campus, The Ridge, neither one there's no offering. And the third Sunday, the fourth Sunday, the fifth. By about the seventh Sunday, you're going to walk into WalMart, because this will be closed. And I'll be saying welcome to Walmart. And there's Bev over there working one of the cash registers. And Randy, he's stocking the shelves. Well, at least he will with his wife helping him. And Michael, he's just running around happy. He don't even know there's a problem. And then there's Keith, he's out in the parking lot, collecting shopping carts and pushing them. You know what we'd be alarmed. No offerings. But we come to church year end year out across the nation. And not a soul comes to the altar in many of our churches. Week in, week out and nobody's alarmed. But wait? If there's no income coming in, we get alarmed.

Somebody said that we are the only business that I know that's in business and we stay in business even when we're out of business. Nobody got saved.

Another year nobody got saved.

Still in business, out of business, but continuing business as usual. I'll tell you what if we came and nobody gave a dime, we'd be so alarmed. And it'd be an indictment against us when nobody gets saved either it's an indictiment against the church, because the whole goal of the church is to reach people for Jesus Christ. You see, we're not a social club. And we're not a sacred sorority for snubbing sinners. We're a place where people can come and they can come to Jesus Christ. I'm closing, I've got a concern for our nation. I've got a concern for the churches. I'm concerned, even for our families. And in my office this week, I've been praying and I've been saying, Lord, would you just empty me of me? I'm just kind of tired of me. Now I can't pray for anybody else. I can't determine what anybody else was going to do.

But I can determine what I'm gonna do. Now I'm saying, God, empty me of me and fill me with your Spirit. Because if we need anything, we need the Holy Spirit. It's not just two and then we're through. We go two trips to the altar and do our watusi, two step. It's more than that. Is being Spirit filled.

It's not just having a name on the door and saying, I belong to this particular religious sect.

It's being filled with the Spirit. I don't know about you, I don't have all the answers. I did at one time, that's before I realized I didn't know anything.

And dads, some of you think you're a macho, macho man. I will tell you something. In yourself, you don't have enough wisdom to know how to guide your family without the leadership of the Holy Spirit. That's why our kids are getting in trouble or marriages are falling apart.

I've pastored long enough to know that I really don't know how to led a church. At the end of the day, I'm just an old preacher, boy. That's all I am.

And I'm saying God without you, we can do this thing. We can't pull off a ministry. I don't know how to take it to another step. I don't know how to get folks so concerned the altars fill up with people seeking you. I'm not sure I have the answers. But I know this much we need the Holy Spirit. God, where are you at? He's up in heaven.

Jesus, where are you at? He's up in heaven. So who's with us the Holy Spirit. And if we don't invite him in and allow him to work with us, and lead us and to guide us, and annoint us we're operating in the human, we're going in circles, we're grinding at the meal like Sampson, our strength is gone. And the power is gone. We need the Holy Spirit. Then I saw this verse I was in my office. And it's Luke chapter three, verse 21. Luke, you know, wrote the book of Acts and its history. And this is just him writing a little early on. And he's writing about the baptism. He said that when all the people were baptized, it came to pass when Jesus was baptized, and Jesus praying and look what happened. The heavens opened. What was he doing? He was praying. And the heavens opened. And we can start praying and guess what's going to happen? God is going to open up the windows of heaven.

And it said the Holy Ghost descended on them. That's all we've got to do. God, I need you.

I'm going to invite you to come open the front door of heaven.

Would you allow the Holy Spirit to come on our services? We can't determine what any other church does, but we can determine what happens here. I cannot determine what's going to happen to me, but I can determine to allow Jesus to do something in me. And I'm saying this much. If we're filled with a spirit, listen, if the world is falling apart, it doesn't matter. Because I'm filled with God's presence and it's going to be okay. The only hope for America is a spiritual awakening. Now I really wanted to preach this message bad and I just did.

Wasn't very smooth, it's hard to preach this morning. But I want you to know, as we're at the birth date, the anniversary of to me the greatest nation ever born in the history of man.

Started in revival fires, her colleges were church colleges, churches begin to spring up across the country. Every where you went in some little ville or some little burg of our big cities, churches, churches on fire for God. A church where you go come and find Jesus Christ, you can pray and be born again.

We've still got churches, but we need the Holy Spirit like we've never needed him before. Not just to meet together we need God to meet with us through His Spirit.

Thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with BNC's pastor Ray LaSalle. For more information regarding BNC, visit Bucyrus nazarene.org.