How to Create a Spiritual Atmosphere

Welcome to this week's podcast by Celebration Church Ladatoga.

We believe this message will empower and equip you to live a life of breakthrough.

Thanks for joining us.

Hey Villa, we've been talking about an open heaven and uh what that means, an open heaven.

Can you say the word open heaven?

Now, for the sake of it, I'm not going to go into a detail of what that actually is, other than to say, really, between us, if you like, in the heavenly realm, the Bible talks about the heavenlies, the heavenlies, plural, you will find that there's a layer the Bible refers to it really of demonic entities or territorial spirits that reside over a uh a region.

And Daniel chapter 10 will be our best case study of that.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

And remember, he prayed from the first day that he prayed.

What happened?

His prayers were heard in heaven.

And uh, but the prince of uh Persia or modern-day Iran resisted him 21 days, and he said, When I go back, the uh the king of Greece or the Prince Tin or the Prince of Peace will begin to contend with me.

But he said, Nobody protects me other than Michael, who's the um over Israel today, is the Michael the archangel protects me, okay, or begins to contend uh against the enemy, demonic spirits.

But if you read that January Daniel chapter 10 as a case study, you'll begin to see that that's what we have.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

So over New Zealand, there are territorial spirits, there are national spirits that help mold the culture, that help bring certain ideologies and philosophies through, wanting to begin to condition and control the people.

Same with Australia, same with the United States of America.

Uh the demonic entities over San Francisco are very different from Washington State and so forth, or other areas of California.

You go into one place and you feel different things, you go to another place, you feel different things, but there are spirit powers also over Raratonga and over the Cook Islands, okay?

So we aren't without we we don't get scop-free on that one.

And uh so they sit over us, and the I the objective of the enemy has always been fashioned according to the the enemy's um uh job description is in John 10 10.

The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy.

But Jesus said, But I have come, or I by comparison have come that you might have life and life more abundantly.

Okay, so let's go back to that half the story there of the scripture, John 10 10, steal to call and destroy.

So, what the enemy wants to do is close the heavens, close it over a church.

So, in other words, the absence of joy, the absence of praise, the absence of freedom.

Some people live with a closed heaven over their homes, over their cul-de-sac, over their street, over their families, and there's strife, there's discord, there's contention, there's confusion.

Sometimes there's a feeling of uh of lack of security, but when the Lord is, where the spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty.

Okay, and the fruit of the spirit, remember, is love, joy, peace.

Where his spirit is, you will find there's embracement of you.

You feel loved and accepted by the Lord, okay?

And also there's joy.

Bible says in the fullness of God's presence, there is joy.

So when there's an absence of joy around our life, somebody has shifted.

And God remains faithful.

It means that we've shifted out.

If there's anxiety, if there's worries, and so forth, that is not where the presence of the Lord is.

The presence of the Lord will annihilate and will overwhelm the kingdom of darkness.

So the key for us is through our praise.

That was number one, and number two was through our prayer, is begin to establish the heavens to be open over our service that you might not know Jesus today, but hopefully you come in and you feel like there is something there.

Often people say to me, Look, I feel the vibe, the vibe, I know what you're saying.

You feel something, but you feel it's the love of the people, is the generous hearts, and the people just love you.

You feel welcomed, you feel like, well, what a what a great bunch of people.

You can feel that.

But outside of that, and through that, too, is the presence of the Lord, and the presence of the Lord, He's the one that changes us.

So the first principle today I want to talk about is to uh to help us with the um the open heaven of life.

The first one is the spirit of oneness, okay?

But God wants national unity, you ready around Christ, not around an ideology or a philosophy or a concept.

Please don't get offended with it, not even around cultures, but around that secondary and third down the line, around Jesus Christ, the hope of glory.

So he wants to bring us and center fix our lives around the simplicity of the gospel, okay?

We would know him and him crucified.

In fact, Paul said, I don't want to know anything amongst you other than Christ and Him crucified.

That's an incredible statement right there.

So we know one another after the spirit.

So I really, the natural realm, I might know you are out, I might know you according to how good you are at playing sport.

I might know you according to your academic expertise.

I might know you according to the business that you have.

That's in the natural realm.

But I want to know you after the spirit.

You know the difference that my spirit would resonate with your spirit, and that's why you can have the Chinese, you can have the Japanese, the Koreans, and you can have the Filipinos, and you can have the Vietnamese, and you cross over, you can have the Canadians, you can have the Americans, you can have the Australians and New Zealanders, you can have the Samoans, you can have the Tongans, you can have all the Africans, you can have everybody in one melting pot, but the simplicity is Christ and Him crucified.

He is what draws the church together.

He is what draws our hearts together.

Amen.

Are you with me on that?

Okay.

Okay, so can you say this this morning?

The one thing.

I was thinking about that the other day, the one thing.

Okay, so this is interesting.

The one thing.

And the one thing is this the one thing I have desired.

Now, how many of you love administration, management, marketing, forecasting, I don't know, vision, uh, team building, all of these things are really important to build an organization or to build a business, okay?

But let me say this, when it comes to the church, they too are also important.

They are important administration factors that help the church.

Read the book of Acts and you'll see that.

But honestly, the biggest priority amongst us, you ready, is for the presence of God.

And that should sit nicely in your spirit.

The most important person here is you.

Visitor or member or otherwise, but really the most important thing, and I'm ever at hesitant to say thing, but it's the presence of God in a minute.

Because if he is not here, you know what we have?

We just have noise.

We have happy, clappy time.

Yeah, we have different programs that we run, yeah, different things, but the change agent, the Holy Spirit, he's not here.

He's the one that collapses the strongholds of pornography, or collapses the strongholds of anxiety and depression.

He's the one that does it, he's the one that prospers you.

And when I'm talking about prosperity, I'm talking about an inward spiritual state.

So you might be doing well at business, but you're struggling in your marriage.

You might be doing well in business, but your family is like falling apart.

Maybe your health is all good, but your business is a shambles.

When God talks about prosperity, and Paul says, Beloved, I wish above all things that you would prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers.

He's talking about internal well-being.

But the way we get internal well-being is to build our life upon the statue of the word of God, a build around the principles of his word.

The way that we begin to get a breakthrough is actually to embrace the person of Jesus Christ.

Now, you might have been brought up in a church like I was in a Baptist church, a great church, incredibly an awesome church.

But really, I got to know Jesus personally, if you like.

Had an encounter at the age of 18 years of age.

But outside of that, I knew about God, I knew some scriptures, I grew up in a uh a Christian family context.

There was a lot of Christian conformity there.

No problem was great.

My parents were absolutely awesome parents, not perfect, but absolutely awesome parents.

But still, it was at the age of 18 years of age where I actually decided I would fully give my heart to Jesus Christ, and then my will begin to change from that point on.

But before that time, I knew about God, but had all the trappings of the evil one, if you like, around my life.

Okay?

Full state.

And uh, and so so the what we need and who we need in the church, it's Jesus.

Now I know you're trained to say amen to that, huh?

Because we're trained to actually say amen.

But I've said this before, our maturity sits in the realm of our obedience.

So it's not about it's not about understanding or comprehension, because Jesus didn't teach the word like that.

It was always about obedience, application.

So if you want a breakthrough in your life, it's applying the word of God to your life.

It's not just understanding the principles of warfare, it's actually engaging in it.

It's not actually understanding the principles of prosperity, it's walking in it.

It's not a case of understanding that, oh, the presence of God, yeah, we know that we want the presence of God.

Amen.

Hey, what's for lunch?

No, no, it's actually you pursuing the presence of God, it's you longing for him and going thin and going low and reprioritizing your life and beginning to pursue him and putting him first because you can't take things with you when you die.

That's the thing.

Robert Jones was a um uh uh a friend of Bill Sabritsky, and Bill Sabritsky said, He said, Robert, you're a billionaire, I think, or a multimillionaire uh from lower hut there.

And uh, and he said to him, he said, thing is, Robert, he said, you can't take it when you die.

And so Sabritsky said on his desk, uh, Robert Jones, he got his fist and goes, he said, yes, and that's the thing I hate about it most.

Isn't it just the but we can't take it?

I like what um uh Anthony um Philip Anthony Mitchell was saying the other day, he's never seen you know um the furniture trucks hooked up with a hearse.

But that's true though.

We can't take it with now.

We know that, don't we?

We know that, but do we live that?

We know about the presence of God, but do we pursue that?

We know that we could have we should have King Jesus in our houses, but do we actually open up and do we welcome his spirit into our home?

That's the difference, that's the dividing line.

So, our church to get an open heaven where people come in here and are literally uh transformed things or adjusted around their life simply because we have the power of God.

Now, let me say this the Bible says it's the Holy Spirit that leads us to repentance.

So you say, I know I want to change in this area, it's the Holy Spirit that assists you.

You say, Well, I've got the stuff around my personality, I just don't seem to be able to shake it in that.

I understand that, that's okay, but it's the Holy Spirit that helps us, the enabler, the helper.

So, what we want to do is build an atmosphere, and one of the ways we build an atmosphere is by the spirit of oneness.

Now notice this two scriptures to start off real quick is um oh sorry, uh uh okay, Exodus 27, verses four.

Thank you, Tudor.

If your presence, Moses said, does not go with us, do not bring us from here or up from here.

He understood that.

Uh Psalms 27, verses 4, the one thing that I've desired, and that I'll seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all of my days to behold the beauty of the Lord and to choir of his temple.

Psalms 27:4

So both David and both uh Moses understood the elementary, that both of them pursued the presence of God.

It's possible to live a Christian life, which I think is incredibly boring.

Incredibly boring.

It is so empty.

It's like, come on, check it in.

There's better things that we could do.

We check in and we check out.

It's a boring lifestyle without King Jesus at the forefront.

Honestly, it is boring.

I grew up and I know that because I sat in at the back of uh church.

God bless you for the guys in the back.

Let's give them a hand right now.

I know you're in a different state than I am, so don't worry about it.

But for me, I was in my rebellion.

I understood about God, but I hadn't connected, I hadn't had that divine encounter with Jesus, I hadn't come to a place where I'd given my life, surrendered over to him, and so therefore, church was a thing I did out of honor and respect for God, honor and respect for my parents, but there was no life, there was no V8 engine under the bonnet, there was nothing happening for me.

Why?

Because I hadn't connected with the Father, I hadn't connected with Him.

So you could be doing church and doing life with God, so to speak, but nothing's really happening.

I want to say this.

Welcome to Boring Land.

Seriously?

That's really boring, and you know that.

You get more thrill out of watching the all blacks, not of late, I understand.

But you get more thrill out of looking at your recipes or scrolling through Facebook or having a downtime.

There's more up in that.

There's more up in going out with the girls and hanging out with the guys.

There's more up in that, there's more up in uh planning the meetings or planning the prosperity and how you're gonna break through.

There's more thrill, more exhilaration, and more excitement in that.

I tell you what, you need to be introduced to Jesus Christ.

When he steps into our life, everything changes.

The rules change, the standards change, the elevation in your life begins to change because he is center fixed in you, because you're sorry, center fixed in him.

Amen.

Many of you know what I'm talking about.

But the first one is this is we become one with each other.

You know, we lay down our pride, we lay down our staff, and we go low and we begin to honor the brethren.

We begin to honor each other, begin to love one another.

That's the first thing.

The second one, so we have praise, we have prayer, we have honoring one another.

A few scriptures in there for that.

And the next one we have is sacrifice.

Sacrifice.

If it's not costly to you, it's not costly to God.

Seriously.

If it's not costly to you, it'll never be costly to God.

You say, You're talking about money?

No, I'm talking about everything: fasting, praying, travailing, waiting.

Uh, the art of humility, humbling ourselves is costly.

It's costly to humble ourselves every single day, but we've got to take up the cross daily, not monthly.

Okay, so it becomes costly for us.

This, our life is not our own.

It's almost like this is how I read people.

We give our lives to Jesus Christ.

Whoopee! I'm on coastland, I'm on blessing land now.

It's not about that.

You see in a minute, those things are important and they have their place, but it's everything's laying our crowns down before Him.

Okay, and so that becomes important.

So, did you know that God is a rewarder?

The one thing, the one thing in Luke 10, 52, the one thing that is needed.

So Jesus speaks about Mary and says, Hey, girl, Martha, the one thing that's needed is this that she'd be seated before me.

Humility and worship.

That was the one thing, the presence of God.

David says, Psalms 27, verse 24, uh 27 verses 4, he said, the one thing that I have asked from the Lord, the one thing.

It's basically the both Mary and David understood the one basic thing is to be pursuing Jesus Christ, the presence of God, okay?

Not just the stuff.

So we're just gonna jump into the next one.

Okay, we've got it here.

Okay, right.

So jumping into our message very quickly, and it won't be long.

Okay, to get an open heaven, so we're talking about praise, we talked about worship, we're talking about oneness, we're talking about running after his presence as a priority.

Here we go, got two of them.

We'll call it number one or number five, it should be.

An open heaven demands sacrifices that brings award, we understand that.

The reward is this.

Did you know God is a rewarder?

He is okay.

Can you turn to your neighbor and say he is a rewarder?

Okay, he's a rewarder.

Seriously, the scriptures tell us that David the psalmist, when Goliath was hanging out for the 40 days and 40 nights, the test on Israel, it says Israel was petrified.

But David was about 16 years of age, goes to the front line, and he hears it, and that hears the conversation.

He says, This did you know that the person who slays this guy who's nine feet tall, uh, this um this individual gets to marry the king's daughter?

That's pretty prestigious, and gets some stuff with it, and also family is exempt from paying tax.

Do you know what David said?

He said, Tell me that again.

It's right in there.

David understood reward.

Do you know who else understood reward?

Because we say, Oh mate, it's not about everything, it's about Jesus.

Oh yeah, did you know God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him?

Uh Paul the Apostle talked about rewards.

Five or six scriptures in there specifically talked about you being rewarded.

Peter talks about you being rewarded.

So God rewards your sacrifices, he rewards your humility, he rewards your sowing, huh?

He rewards your giving.

When nobody sees, God rewards you.

He knows how to publicly elevate you.

And people think, where did this person come from?

The years of humility, the years of prayer, the years of sacrifice, the years of giving, the years of of adjusting and being humble before the Lord and going low before him, the years of praying and travailing.

Some people say, How long does it take to do a message on a Sunday?

40 years.

Yeah?

Because you only get to see when a great ministry gets up somewhere and preaches.

You think, well, how long did where did you get that from?

It took them 30 years to get that kind of message.

It's building blocks.

You say, Oh, you know, um, that how come they're prospering?

They're prospering because of the great decisions they have made along the way that probably took 25, 30, or even 40 years to get there.

And we kind of think, well, how can they get that kind of house?

They got that house because of a thing called hard work.

They got that because they sowed and because they uh sacrificed and they made uh good kingdom decisions that are principled in the Word of God.

It didn't always fall out of heaven, but God is a rewarder.

And I want you to open up your scope to know that the sacrifice is the quiet time, the invisible stuff that nobody sees, nobody gets to hear.

The night time when you're uh praying those prayers and you've got tears on your face and on your cheek and on your pillow because your daughter's not saved.

God sees that in his rewarder then that diligently seek him.

God sees the standing up for righteousness, he knows how to reward her, really, in this earth and in the earth uh come, heaven.

Because Peter talks about it, and Jesus didn't say, Hey, Peter, adjust your attitude there or adjust your concepts.

Jesus went on to say, Hey, you'll be rewarded in this earth and also to come.

God is rewarder, and the scripture we look at is found in this scripture here.

Um uh reward without faith, it's impossible to please God, but he that comes to God must know that God is and that is reward of them that legitimate second.

Hebrews 11 6.

That's it.

Okay, Hebrews 11 6.

So, in other words, this it's not just a case we know we're gonna pursue God, but get ready for what he has for you.

Yeah, you seriously, and you can limit God, you can limit God, you can limit the blessing with God.

I think we need to open up ourselves and expect God's kingdom reign.

Now, Abraham didn't have a problem with that, uh, Joseph didn't have a problem with that.

We have a problem with it because it's called a poverty mentality.

Uh, there's a there's a um a group of people that's uh uh Russell Johnson has just raised, well, he's raising$55 million for his building, the building program.

They've raised$40 million on Mother's Day in one Sunday,$40 million, and a few thousand people go to the church and uh counting it all out.

But he said they're gonna raise the rest of it, and they're raising the rest of it to get$55 to build this huge uh building thing in their city.

It's a great example and so forth.

But he said$55 million, and he said, People say$55 million for a church.

The Muslim church down the road, how much does it cost them?

100 million, you know what I'm saying?

So it's all relative.

We have to break the shackles of poverty.

We have it's like us four and no more, as long.

As I'm got my bowl of rice, we're happy.

No, no, no, no.

With Abraham, man, I didn't even know I'd be preaching down this road.

But Abraham, what did he do?

He became blessed so that he would be a blessing.

Hey, so it's not about us.

I mean, for me, you know, if you know Natasha and I, honestly, we could live literally out of a suitcase.

It's not a big deal.

Houses aren't a big deal, cars aren't a big deal, but God brings the stuff he knows how to bless.

Seriously, he does.

Praise God.

I know I'm talking to some people this morning.

All right, so we're gonna jump right into this.

Okay.

All right.

To get an open heaven, you ready?

The last one?

We need to avoid the danger of checking out.

Yeah?

You might be this morning, half listening, half thinking about something.

You respectfully, you've checked out.

A lot of people in church, you can be leading worship and singing a song, la la la la la, you checked out.

You could be drumming, but actually your heart's checked out.

Okay?

Wives?

Ever had a husband that's checked out of the home?

Out for dinner?

And his head is a mile away.

You ever had that?

Well, that's a fantastic moment.

Who needs a marriage seminar in this church?

That's the best response I've ever heard in the whole world.

Normally it's like, yeah, preach it, brother.

I'm hearing you.

But sometimes we go out to why uh dinner, and um, the wife said, I've been so busy all day, but we'll go out for dinner tonight, and you say, Amen, and you choose the restaurant, and then the whole night you're thinking about so many other things.

That's called check down.

What you do is if you can, you say, God grace me, here's my head, and here's the stuff, here's the burdens.

You can talk about some of those burdens at the table because she actually might have the wisdom to actually bring the solution for the burdens.

You know that?

You say, Well, no, she's not a business person at all.

No, but she's got the wisdom of God enjoined at your hip so that she could help you anyway.

It doesn't take a businesswoman to bring wisdom, it brings a relationship, and she's placed in your life to give her wisdom.

Because I know plenty of uh uh wealthy people that didn't want to listen to their wives, and the story ends right there.

Should have listened, that's what they're there for.

Wives, you need to be listening to your husbands.

Yeah, seriously, listen to their counsel, listen to their wisdom.

If they say you need to look after your health, it's for a purpose.

Yeah?

If you say you need to manage the finances a little bit better, tighten things up, it's for a purpose.

You've already got 85 dresses, it's for a non-purpose.

Size those things down, man.

Start giving them away.

Open up a market business and be a millionaire out of your dresses.

I know I'm talking to someone this morning.

Prove me wrong by wearing the same clothes every week.

I like clothes.

You like clothes.

You might do, but that's that's all good.

So I'm not pleased.

Hey, one guy that we like, one guy that we I like a lot.

I like a lot, and so does Zach and James and that really great ministry in America.

He's an African-American, and uh, he's really great.

And he just dresses in black.

He said, I lost my life.

I went to Israel and I got a heart for America.

And he said, But I just they say hey, he's been interviewed a lot of times.

He said, I just wear black.

I got black tops, black jackets, black caps, black jeans, black socks, black underclothing, black singlet, everything is just completely black.

And he said, Because it represents my life.

And he said, because I died to Christ.

So he's a prophetic guy, so it's like he's becoming a pitcher, and then he's got two crosses.

I told you I was gonna get a cross.

He's got uh he's got two crosses in the chain.

The first one is this is um because he said that represents Jesus.

The second one represents me.

I died, so he become a prophetic guy.

The reason why I like the crosses, because you know there's attack on crosses all around the world.

So in America, I know non-Christians are wearing crosses, a great uh great conversation.

So, hey, just by the way, love the cross you're wearing.

Oh, really?

That's awesome! And uh thank you, thank you.

I bought this 10 years ago.

Well, you keep buying them, man, because you're it's a message, and uh, but wear them.

I love them, but that's a completely different message.

One day I'll bring it out because I think it's important.

Don't check out, avoid the danger of checking out, be prepared, be spiritually sharp, be aware.

Israel, right now, they're in a situation on the 27th of October, they're up on elections.

Their rival party is suggesting that Menetanyahu knew about the uh the attack from Hamas over the line there, over the border on uh October 7th.

He says, There's no way I knew that.

But what has come out independent of him is the IDF, they've done a in the Simbet, they've done a uh uh brutal investigation, and this is really telling.

They said they didn't know, they were never given dates, but they were told that something was brewing.

And the Israeli defense force they said their surveillance cameras told them that there was uh there were movements going on and they were mocking up um uh um towers and things and getting trenches and different things, and they could actually see something.

But he said, so we knew that, we knew that there was uh and uh um one of the uh the um uh Hamas uh terror agents uh said that we will attack, we're gonna do this any name so they think, but never gave dates, never gave commitments and anything.

It was all nebulous, all sort of mixed up.

Here's the problem.

The uh the defense force of Israel did not, and neither did the government, they did not take those threats seriously.

They thought it was just an empty aspiration.

They never thought that they had the capabilities to do what they did, so they never planned for it.

Very, very good picture, you ready?

Of being asleep on the job.

If you pray for those elections and pray for the nation of Israel, pray for Jerusalem, the Bible commands us to do that.

There's reasons for that.

But let me tell you this: there's a nation that was completely and absolutely asleep, and we could be here but checked out.

You could be a husband and checked out, you could be a wife, checked out on your family, your head and your heart somewhere else.

But when it comes to spiritual things, we could be completely checked out.

So we don't know what's actually happening in the spiritual, because you're a profit provider and peace and king, fathers.

We don't know what's happening in our kids' world.

We've checked out of parenting.

So it's a case of girls, you do it all, you do the disciplining, you do the affirmations, I'll bring the money in and put it on the table and so forth, and we'll take him out fishing and that sort of stuff.

But you've actually checked out relationally, totally checked out, distracted, doing something else, gone a wall.

But that's not in the promises of God.

But spiritually, we could be totally and absolutely checked out, hardly praying, not in not realizing that in our nation right now that the church could be on the cutting edge of culture, the cutting edge of the spiritual climate of our nation.

As laws and philosophies and ideologies want to creep through education and things get signed, and the ramifications are in five years' time or ten years, but we wouldn't even know the prophets were asleep, and often I think in the in the body of Christ, sometimes the generals aren't bringing the commands, and the army is actually asleep, and so God wants to awaken his people to be like prophetic watch people towers and and to know what's going on.

The sons of Issachar knew what was happening in the spiritual realm.

Don't check out what God, churches that say, Oh, we just just pray for our nation.

That's it.

Yes, but you need to be politically minded.

No, no, no, I'm talking about voting this group or voting that group, but know what's happening in politics, know what's happening in education, know what's happening, know what's happening in your children's world.

Uh, Gus and I were talking earlier this morning, and he was saying that um, you know, sometimes as older men, we can say, you know, they don't understand what it was like in our time, and uh, you know, that's not like it was in our day and all that sort of stuff.

Yeah, I know, but it's 2026.

We've got to transition on and understand the trends of culture and society and what's incoming, the incoming.

The incoming stuff against our family, the incoming stuff in TikTok, the philosophies that are coming, the ins uh incoming stuff that's happening through our educational system as we talk and speak.

The United Nations influence, which is anti-Christ by nature.

Oh, just in case you didn't hear my lips, it's anti-Christ by nature, but it wants to come in and mold our young people.

And yet we're, you know, we're into sport, we're into that, it's just like checked out of parenting.

No, we want to be right in there.

We want to be on the we listen, we want to be on all the boards of our country.

Seriously, all the educational boards.

If you've got a child going to school, work hard to be a board member, and then just not you, but somebody else from the church and somebody else from another church that's born again, so you become an influence of the majority.

I thought I'd just throw that out, eh?

Otherwise, listen, otherwise, the church becomes irrelevant.

And we say, Well, we should have done this, and we should have back in the that was our opportunity, those were our years, those were our years, but we were asleep at the wheel, we were asleep when we shouldn't be awakened.

Uh, Song of Solomon said, I was asleep naturally, you see, but my heart awakened.

We've got to have an awakened heart.

Okay, closing up on this, let's jump into Judges.

Delilah lulled the strongman, Samson, into a sleep, had his hair taken off, the secret was out.

They finally he ends up being killed and killed a whole lot of people.

Supposed to be the deliverer of Israel, Judges 16, but he was asleep, lulled into a sleep, lulled into a stupor, punched drunk.

The disciples in Ghessene and Matthew 26, 40.

Jesus says to Peter, What?

Could you not even watch with me for one hour?

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

Do you know what praying does?

The Bible says, if you're anxious, you should pray with thanksgiving.

This month, how many times were you anxious?

The answer is the prescribed method is prayer.

James, I think it's uh James in there.

What does it say?

James 5, 13.

If any amongst you is suffering, have you suffered this week?

I've suffered my whole life suffering.

You've been oppressed, you're suffering?

Well, the Bible says you should pray.

So already for those who are anxious and those who are suffering under hardship and difficulties, the Bible says your prescribed method is to pray.

Not to argue, not to contend, but to pray.

Then, what else does it say?

Those who fall into temptation, pray.

How about that?

I feel that sometimes the enemy comes closer and closer and closer because we don't pray.

But when you start praying, he goes further and further out from us.

Peter, Jesus is setting him up for breakthrough.

He says, Guys, you need to pray.

So he succumbed to temptation.

What had Jesus said moments beforehand?

Peter, if you pray, you won't fall into temptation.

Peter was asleep.

Jesus was speaking to him.

We can't afford it, and I won't allow it, and our leaders won't allow it, and God won't allow it.

We are not going to be asleep.

We're going to prod you, we're going to inspire you, we're going to empower you, we're going to love you, we're going to serve you, we're going to sacrifice our in our lives around us.

We're not perfect.

When I'm not perfect, you're not perfect together.

We're in the imperfect bucket, if you like, but we've got a ton of God's grace and God's mercy, and we want to be awakened people to say, God help us.

Our nation needs help.

America needs help.

New Zealand, the Pacific, we uh need help.

So the disciples were asleep.

The ten virgins in Matthew 25.

Five.

But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and they slept.

Now it's nothing, they were all slept, so the good, the virgins, ten of them, some that had oil, some that didn't have oil, they all were asleep.

Generic, okay?

But it's a picture of when it was their time to come forward.

The five were able to step forward because they prepared themselves, they were ready.

If Jesus came tomorrow, would you be ready?

If your parents rolled over and passed away, is there something about your life that would be ready?

Did you say, like the last time my mother says to me, she says, you know, you never know when you're gonna see the people again.

You never know.

That's why you keep short accounts.

You keep short accounts of people constantly all the time, because you never know what tomorrow holds.

She used to say this, you're not promised another five minutes, Jonathan.

You don't know.

So you live life radically on the edge in God, but you live life always in that place where you're ready.

That if He was to come, and for those who believe in the rapture, the rapture could come.

Anytime, if you believe that, man, we need to be totally and absolutely ready.

And if you don't believe that, you believe what we go through, mate.

You need to be ready, you need to prepare your heart for what's coming.

Amen.

So, either way, Jesus talks about us, and you know what?

When these things are gonna come on the earth and stuff, and I'm not a doomsday preacher, you so know that, but these scriptures are gonna come alive.

I saw it, didn't we not see it?

Yeah, you saw it, all right.

We just need to make sure that we're uh embracing that.

Jonah was asleep, supposed to be going one way, he goes another way in Jonah 1, 5, and 6.

And the Bible says, While the ship was being battered by the storm, Jonah was down under the lowest area, away from it all, he was falling asleep.

Sometimes we run from conflict fathers, we run from conflict mothers.

You've got to be in the game, you've got to be right in there, embrace conflict, enjoy it.

It's part of it's part of our children's bread.

You have to confront the issues, you have to have those honest conversations.

You can't live an apathetic, a lethargy type lifestyle and just hands off whether hell, if you like, take space.

We've got to get involved and make a difference.

Jonah was asleep.

But here's the funny thing: here's the non-Christian guys in the boat.

So there's the prophet.

The prophet is supposed to be carrying the warning and the word of the Lord, and he's asleep, wanting to God please.

But what does the guy go?

One of the helmsmen, so forth.

He says to the guy, to Jonah, the captain woke him up and he says, What do you mean, sleeper?

That's what he says to him.

Calls it out, goes down the stairs, wakes up Job, uh, Jonah, and he says, What do you mean, sleeper?

Arise, call on your God.

Call on your God.

And this morning, amongst all this, is my question to you is how awakened are you?

Are you bored in your internal factory?

Are you asleep on the inside?

Are you awakened and sharp like an instrument with freshing teeth?

Are you ready for service?

Are you on the game with the harvest?

Are you ready with your testimony?

Are you ready to lay hands on people?

You're ready to jump into those opportunities.

Are you actually proud?

Well, I'm open.

A lot of Christians say, well, I'm open.

Well, we're all open.

If God wants me, He can come, I'm open.

No, no, it's not about being open, it's about pursuing, it's about stepping out, it's about being proactive, it's about pushing through right now, it's about making a difference.

Some of us, and I said last week, we have to make habit changes.

We have to have a war on food, have to have a war on lack of exercise, have to have a war on our minds, our thinking, how we think about ourselves, have to have a war on how we're judging others and critical of others.

We have to have a war on that.

Pull those strongholds down, those mindsets that exalt themselves above the knowledge of God, bring it captive, bring it captive into the obedience of Christ.

We need a war on our family.

We need to bring our families into order, some of us, by the love and the grace, by serving and so forth, honest conversations, but war in the spirit.

Don't go home and we're on a war, family, and this is it.

No, no, no, no.

You take it in the spirit through praying and fasting and on your knees and watch things shift.

Win them without a word sometimes.

Amen.

This morning I know I've been talking to some people if you're visiting this morning, and uh really great to have you, but I just I just really feel for us.

The Bible talks in Romans, uh, I think it's 13 verses 11, maybe.

I think it's there.

It talks about, and we'll finish off on the scripture here.

Um uh what is it?

There's the church of Sadius to completely asleep.

Completely asleep.

What is that scripture?

Here it is here.

It's um too comfortable to respond.

We are it's Romans 13, 1.

I close on this, and do this, and the musicians can come, knowing that the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

There's an urgency I feel in the spirit.

Now, this is just not what I'm saying, it's universal.

All the continents of the world, you've got prophetic ministries, pastors, apostolic ministries, and all sorts that are sounding it out.

I don't know when Jesus Christ is going to come.

It could be a hundred years, it could be more, it could be ten years, it could be, I don't know, I don't know.

But I want to be, I know that I'm a certain age, I've got certain years to live left, and so have you.

And we're gonna give our lives to an account, and I'll teach you on that property what that actually means.

We want to be in through ourselves all into the purposes of God.

Amen.

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