Transcript:
phesians, chapter three, verses 20 and 21 will not be on the screen. So I just open it up now. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. We ought to come to church because the glory of God is in the church by Christ Jesus.
We ought to come to church expecting him to do something. Yes. Not just going through the motions, because the power of God is present when the church gathers. I can't believe we get to do this. This is the Lord's day when the saints get to gather.
And so I have a special treat for you today. A few years ago, I heard about two guys that had been mentored by my favorite author, Jack Deere. And I was searching, I wanted to hear Jack Teach. So I was searching on my podcast about a year and a half ago, and I came, I found Jack teaching and it was on this thing called Remnant radio. So I started listening and watching Remnant radio's podcast.
There's three co hosts, Josh and Michael and Michael. And so then we found out they were having a conference. And so some of the men of our church went last fall to Oklahoma City to the remnant radio conference. And we'd been watching some of the elders watching the podcast, listening to the teaching, and, and we were really impressed by these spiritual leaders. We went and got to know them.
Just a month ago, my youngest son, Evan and I were invited by our guest speaker to go be with him in Tucson, Arizona at a church for the weekend to see his ministry. And today we're glad to have pastor Michael Miller. He planted a church in Denver, Colorado called Reclamation Church. He's co host with remnant radio and just an extraordinary Bible teacher, but an even better friend. And so I'm, I'm thrilled that on prophetic ministry Sunday, it just kind of worked out this way.
We have Pastor Michael here. He's going to speak today and help us do some prophetic ministry at the end of our service. But he's also going to be the main speaker next week at our youth camp. And so if you still have teenagers that are wondering if they should go to youth camp, we still got a few spaces we can make it happen. After you hear Pastor Michael's ministry, you may be encouraged to do that.
So would you give a big, warm North Mississippi Great Commission welcome to Pastor Michael Miller?
You got that? Thank you so much. I made a normal speaker blunder and failed to charge my laptop before coming. I was studying so much on the plane yesterday. That's what it was.
Just wore that thing down. Honor to be with you guys. I'll give you just a brief introduction about me and my life, and then I'll dive into the message. So I came. Grew up in a somewhat confusing religious environment, had a mormon father and a jewish mother.
So, needless to say, I was rather confused.
I became a Christian when I was 15 years old, went to a church retreat because I heard there'd be good looking girls there. And I ended up hearing the gospel for the first time. Couldn't have told you all the details of the time, but I remember them giving us the offer to give our lives to Jesus. And I just thought, well, I've tried just about everything else, and I could see where the trajectory of my life was going down. And so I thought, I'll give Jesus a shot.
And so I came back and, you know, I prayed for a little bit. I prayed for things like money or a girlfriend. And when neither of those things worked, I stopped praying. And then a buddy of mine that I used to party with, he had gone on a choir trip. And the girl that I lived with down the alley, she preached the gospel to him.
Now, I knew this girl because she had a trampoline in her backyard, and I had a trampoline in my backyard. So I was jumping one day and waving down the alley to this girl. Well, she preached the gospel to a buddy of mine that I would party with. And he came back a Christian. And I remember him telling me that he become a Christian.
I'm like, yeah, yeah, I tried that out for a bit, but I never got the money and I never got the girl. And so he gave me a Bible. Now, I didn't know what a Bible was. I had never read a Bible. I honestly thought it was a book of ancient spells and secrets.
And I thought, man, this is like, you know, this has got some mystical wisdom in it, right? And so I would hide the Bible in my desk, and I would wait for my family to go to bed, and then I'd get it out, and I'd start reading it. And it was one of those bibles that just had the psalms and the proverbs and the New Testament. And so I would memorize some of the psalms thinking, well, girls will find that really attractive. It's like poetry.
And then I would read the gospel of Matthew and I thought that was a fascinating read. You know, it was about this jewish guy who went around and did miracles and preached on a kingdom that he had. And I thought, man, people like, they believe this is real. Like there's this jewish guy who did miracles. And so I used to try to find my buddies who went to church on Sunday morning.
And I would lie to my mom because I didn't want her to know that I had a Bible and I didn't want her to know that I was going to go to church. But I would stay the night at my buddy's house and went to church Sunday mornings because if you stayed the night at their house Saturday night, then you had to go with them to church on Sunday morning. And so that's what I did. That's how I ended up going to church secretly for about a year as a 15 and 16 year old. And it was there that I started getting discipled and started believing.
But I remember, you know, reading the book about the miracles and I, and I was like, well, when do we get to see this stuff? And I had to go to church to find out that God wasn't doing that. And I thought, wow, that's a bummer, you know. See, I go to church to find out about all the things that God wasn't doing. Can you believe that?
It seems like it should be the opposite, don't you think? And so for the next seven years of my christian walk, that's what I believed. And that wouldn't get challenged until I was in college. My senior year, I had volunteered with an organization called Young Life and eventually became a young life leader and led a whole team of young life leaders at a high school called Bryan High School near College Station, where Texas A and M is. Okay.
I didn't get any. Nobody threw anything at me. I'm like, most of you are SEC fans, right? Okay, okay. Just making sure.
So anyway, I remember we had about 3000 kids at that high school and our goal was to win a hearing for the gospel. And so, you know, I kept thinking about how Jesus would do miracles and people come to faith and then you even see his disciples doing this, right? Like Peter and James, they go to pray, or Peter and John, they go to pray at the hour of prayer in Jerusalem, at the temple. And they see a guy there who's paralyzed. And Peter looks at the man.
Silver and gold, have I none. But when I give you, I give you the name of the Lord Jesus, rise up and walk. And the guy stands up and is completely healed of his paralysis. And 3000, or maybe 4000, I can't remember the right number. Come to believe in the Lord in one day.
I thought, well, why not that at Bryan High School? Why not one miracle? I mean, that seems to work a whole lot better than the relational ministry that I was doing. And I still believe in relational ministry. And so I started asking the Lord questions about this, like God, do you still speak now?
Remember, do you still do miracles? Do you still speak all of that? I remember I was dating a girl at the time. We were kind of like, on one day and then off the next. It's one of those, like, relationships that just like, when she liked me, I was in heaven.
When she didn't like me, I was the scum of the earth. And so on one particular day when she didn't like me so much, I was reading my Bible and I was sort of wallowing in self pity. And I asked, I read this passage about David where it says, david ministered to the Lord. And I asked the Lord, I said, God, do I minister to you? Do I even make you happy?
Can you hear the self pity in that question? You know, we ask God questions a lot of the time. We never really actually expect him to give us an answer, do we? And so here I am asking this question, and I kind of get over it. And, you know, I went to young life camp, bunch of kids came to Christ, and next couple weeks we would take them through devotionals where we would teach them, you know, how to spend time with the Lord.
Back then we used to call them quiet times. Do you guys call it that today? Yes. I was teaching kids how to have a quiet time, and I overhear these two guys at a table next to me at the coffee shop after all the kids had left, talking about prophecy. I thought, well, that's interesting.
I'm going to go find out what they mean by this. And so I walk over to the gentleman and I said, sorry, I don't mean to interrupt you, though I clearly meant to interrupt them. I said, I overheard you talking about prophecy. Now, are you talking about like, prophecies that are fulfilled in Jesus or are you talking about the gift of prophecy? And they're like, well, we're talking about the gift of prophecy.
I said, really? Can you tell me more about this? And so next thing I know, I'm eating dinner with one of the guys. I go over to his home. His wife and kids meet all of them, and he seems like a pretty normal guy.
He worked for an organization called Navigators. Now, I did the navigators topical memory system right when I became a Christian. So I memorized all these verses that the navigators would teach you to memorize. And so I immediately trusted the guy because I knew he knew the Bible, and that was the most important thing to me. And so everything about the meal seemed rather fine and normal until the very end of the meal.
Afterwards, the husband and wife said they'd like to pray for me. I said, okay, sure. So then they pray, but they don't say anything. They just close their eyes and bow their heads. I'm thinking, okay, when's the prayer going to start?
And the wife says, well, michael, I had a vision of you. And I'm thinking, ooh, a vision. She says, well, I saw a picture of you, and you were wearing the robe of the high priest, but I have no idea what it means. And I'm thinking, lady, I have no idea what it means either. You're crazy.
And then the husband says, oh, I know what it means. And I'm thinking, of course you know what it means. He says, well, michael, the high priest is the one who would minister to God, offering the sacrifices. Michael, God wants you to know that you minister to him. Now, do you remember that prayer that I had prayed three weeks prior?
I sort of haphazardly asked the Lord.
Now, I didn't know this couple, so I was doing everything I could to not cry in front of them. I had this cold, sort of stoic face on, and I was just ready to get out of there as fast as I could. But inside, I was bursting at the seams. Now, how many of you in the room raise your hand if you knew that God would answer your prayer? You might pray more.
Anybody? Okay, how many of you in the room just show of hands? If you knew that God heard your prayer or heard even your questions, you might pray more and ask them questions.
I find that interesting. So you mean to tell me that when people prophesy, the result is those on the receiving end of it end up praying more? Now, I kind of see that as a good thing, don't you? And that's actually the topic of my message tonight. I want to talk.
Or today. I'm used to preaching at night at my church. That's actually what I want to talk about. I want to give you five reasons why God speaks today. So I'm going to give you the first one.
To convict the world of sin and bring people into faith.
First Corinthians, chapter 14, verse 24 through 25.
Paul says, if all prophesy and an unbeliever or someone uninformed about the gifts enters the room, this is talking about the believers gathering. What we're doing right now, all of chapters eleven through 14 are literally about this meeting that we're doing on Sunday mornings. It says, but if all prophesied, an unbeliever or an uninformed person enters the room, he will be convicted by all. He will be called to account by all. The secrets of his heart are disclosed, and in this way, he will fall down on his face to the ground and worship God, declaring, God is really among you.
That's what we call face plan evangelism. How many of you would like to see it? When you bring your loved ones who don't believe in Jesus, you bring them to your church on a Sunday, and someone prophesies to them, lays bare the secrets of their heart, and they fall on their face and declare, God is real. Now, see, I'd like to see that on Sunday, don't you?
We see this happen in the life of the Lord with a man named Zacchaeus. This is Luke, chapter 19, verses one through ten. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man named Zacchaeus was there. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.
He was trying to get a look at Jesus, but being a short man, he could not see over the crowd. I love the little details that these stories give. It's details like this that let you know, no, this really happened. The father was like, yeah, he was a short man, and so he couldn't see Jesus. And so what did he do?
Well, he ran up ahead and he climbed up into a sycamore tree. Now, can you imagine this? You're just walking down a road, and people are climbing up trees just to see you. It says when Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus. Now, how did the Lord know his name?
Zacchaeus? I mean, was Jesus, did he spend a lot of time in Jericho? Is that where he was from?
Zacchaeus, come down quickly, because I must stay at your house today. So he came down quickly and welcomed Jesus joyfully. And when the people saw it, they all complained. He's gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. But Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give to the poor.
And if I've cheated anyone of anything, I am paying back four times as much. Then Jesus said to him, today, salvation has come to the household because he, too, he's a son of Abraham. For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost. This man is just wanting to get a look at this guy, Jesus. He's probably heard the testimonies about him, about the miracles and the healings.
He just wants to get a look at him and the Lord knowing who he was. Zacchaeus, come down from the tree. I mean, the message that's being communicated here is, I don't just know your name. I also know everything about you, and I want to eat at your house. In one final moment, the secrets of that man's heart are disclosed to the Lord, and he gives half of his possessions away.
And then everybody he's defrauded is willing to pay back four times the amount. Now, how many of you in the room would agree that that's what repentance should look like here? All that I've done that is wrong. I'm willing to do it and make it right, even more so with interest.
Now, when I was a young man, I used to work for my mentor. I was a youth intern, and I needed to supplement the income, so I would work at a restaurant, sometimes bartending, sometimes waiting tables. And one of the bartenders had broken his toe. You know that machine that takes the mugs and makes them all cold? How do you know that?
How many bars you guys been going to?
Okay, I'm preaching at the right place then, apparently. Well, it had been making this loud sound, and so the manager told him to kick that machine, and he did, and he broke his big toe. And so he's asking me if I'd cover his shift. And I was like, man, I can't. I've got plans.
But if you'd like, I'd love to pray for you. Maybe God would heal you. And he's looking at me going, nah, that's all right. You know, pretty much like, thanks for nothing. And I'm thinking, well, what do you got to lose?
I pray for you. Nothing happens. Cool. We move on. Or I could pray for you, and maybe all the pain could go away.
Now, here's the thing. When you're trying to minister to somebody who's not a believer, especially in a bar, most of the time, they think you're the problem.
That's why I kept asking him, I said, wouldn't you like the pain to go away? Because I wasn't the problem. His problem was the pain. And so I said, what do you got to lose? He's like, all right, cool, what do I do?
And so I said, well, just put your foot up on a chair and I'll just put my hand on it and pray. And so nothing super dramatic or spiritual. I just put my hand on his foot and said, in Jesus name, let everything, this toe be refastened and made new and be healed. I said, well, how does it feel? And he goes, not gonna lie, dude, it's feeling better, and you're really freaking me out.
I said, yeah, I do that. And so we leave. And for the next two weeks, every time I would show up at the restaurant, I'd see Josh and he would just walk the other way. It's like he was avoiding me. And about three weeks goes by, and I'm talking to this man and he breaks his hand and he has to come to take off work and get people to cover his shifts.
And so I'm asking him, like, hey, man, you should let me pray for you. Wouldn't you like the pain to go away? Like my normal question. And he's like, no, man, I don't believe in that stuff. Well, then Josh peeks his head around the corner.
He goes, no, seriously, dude, you should let him pray for you.
My toe was totally broken. It was all black and blue. And he prayed for me and it was totally fine. Now, here's the thing. Josh doesn't believe.
He told me when I asked to pray for him, he's like, no, I'm agnostic today, Josh. Or after that, Josh would say, I'm still agnostic, but I believe in divine healing. And, you know, here's the thing, though. When you do these things, it's not a guarantee that people are going to come to faith. You're just simply planting seeds of the gospel.
One day Josh is going to might find himself in a real dire situation and he's going to remember the name Jesus because it was that name by which he was healed. Now, fast forward. I had quit that job. I had started teaching mathematics full time, and I'm back in the restaurant six months later, just eating some food with some friends. And it was customary for me and my buddies to talk about God speaking.
And so when the waitress walks up, she was a brand new employee. The Lord speaks to me. Wasn't a big booming voice from heaven. The clouds didn't part. Just simple thought.
That popped in my head. She's a school teacher. God wants her to know she's in school to be a teacher. And I want her to know she's going to be a great teacher. I was like, okay, lord, yes, sir.
I said, are you in school right now to be a teacher? She goes, yeah. How do you know that? I said, well, God told me he wants you to know you're going to be an incredible teacher. She goes, are you serious?
I said, yes. And she goes, you're going to make me cry. I said, well, this is God. He just wants you to know you're going to be great at this. Well, she walks away from me, doesn't know what to do.
She's starting to tear up and trying to collect herself. And she walks around to the back, and I see her talking to a guy at the bar. And the guy kind of peeks his head out the corner, and he looks over and I realize that's Josh. And so this girl and Josh are talking, and he's like, oh, yeah, yeah. You know, like, that's Michael.
He healed my toe. And so she comes back and I find out that she had actually transferred schools and found out that a lot of her credits wouldn't transfer. She was gonna have to start all over again. And here she is wondering, like, maybe, maybe I shouldn't do this. Maybe I just shouldn't be a teacher.
And so here's some random guy who comes into who used to work at that restaurant and tells her the very secret of her heart that God wants her to know she's going to be a teacher. Now, how many of you think that that might help when it comes to coming to Christ? I'll tell you one more quick story, and I'm already running way over time, and I'm only on my first point. I was with my mentor at a conference years ago back in 2019, and I'm about to get up and demonstrate prophecy to a whole group of people, mostly pastors, about 1500. Now, talk about pressure.
Pastors are the most critical people in the world to have to minister in front of. And so I get this name, I can't remember what the name was. Like Mark or something. I said, you've suffered a stroke. The whole left side of your body is paralyzed.
And I think the Lord wants to heal you. Well, of course, nobody in the room responds. And so I'm up there looking like an idiot, and all these pastors are going, see, I knew this stuff wasn't real. And so, you know, I get done and I get down from the stage and just kind of move on. And this guy comes up to me and says, hey, my dad, his name is Mark, and he's actually in a hospital right now because he suffered a stroke and the whole left side of his body is paralyzed.
Do you think you could pray for him over the phone? I said, well, absolutely. So we get him on the phone and we pray for him, and the Lord begins to heal him. I find out afterwards that his son went back to Denton, Texas, where his dad was in the hospital and his dad was completely healed. And he got to pray with his dad to give his life to Jesus.
Now here's the crazy part. Publicly, I look like an idiot. But a man was healed and saved, and God spoke. Now, how many of you? This is the hardest thing about embracing gifts like this is you may look foolish a lot.
God is not so interested in you looking good. He is interested in his kingdom being advanced. And so part of this is letting your reputation die. But let me just say something. You on your own isn't that much to brag about anyway, right?
It's far better to be crucified with Christ. Another reason why God speaks, to build faith and encourage and comfort. That's what it says in one corinthians 1213. It says, the one who prophesies speaks to men for the edification, encouragement and consolation.
I'll give you another quick passage. I'm going to skip right down to this. I was in Wisconsin about, oh, gosh, back in October, and I'm praying and saying, lord, is there anybody you want to speak to? And see a woman in the back of the church? And I felt like the Lord tells me that she's got stenosis of the spine.
Now, again, when I say I feel like the Lord told me, it's because I wasn't entirely certain. Sometimes when he speaks, he speaks in very faint ways, impressions, things. You're kind of going, ah, I don't know if that's God or that's just me making this up. So I said, lord, what else is going on there? And then I feel like he shows me that she had a sister who died from dementia or some sort of short term memory issue and that she's terrified that she's going to get it as well.
So I said, well, that's a lot. Now, you're either right or you're wrong, don't you think? And so I just stepped up and said, all right, ma'am, in the back, what's your name? The Lord didn't tell me that part. And she tells me her name.
And I said, well, I felt like the Lord showed me that you've had a sister who died from a short term memory issue and that you've been terrified that you're going to get it as well. And Lord wants you to know that that's not going to happen to you and that you've also got a stenosis of the spine. Is that true? The woman stands up. Now, that's about 500 people.
She starts crying and saying, that is absolutely true, every detail. My sister died and I've been terrified I'm going to have the same problem. And I've had four surgeries on my spine for stenosis. And so I hand the mic to my buddy who is prophesying next, and get down and go and pray for this woman. Now, how many of you would agree that would encourage, build faith and comfort and see, one of the greatest places to build faith is right here.
When we gather. When you have prophecy that gets demonstrated, what does it do for the room? Well, it builds the faith of everybody in there. And what's the ending result? What are you guys thinking you might do?
How many other people do you think had stenosis of the spine sitting in that church that day? Now, what do you think they did after that woman got prayer? They all came up to get prayer themselves, because now it's like, well, if God is healing this person, then maybe he'll heal me, too. And that is the nature of what happens when you allow prophecy to function in a community. Third reason, to prepare his body for suffering and hardship.
How many of you like the promises of God? Yeah, got any fans of the promises of God? How many of you been claiming those promises of God? Yeah, you know, one of the promises pastors always fail to mention in this life, you will have troubles. It's a promise of God.
You can take that, take that to the bank and cash it. And the tough thing is, without prophecy, it's really hard to be encouraged and endure. And so God gives prophetic words to help people endure a great difficulty. This is acts, chapter eleven, verse 27 through 30. It says, at that time, some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
One of them, named Agabus, got up and predicted by the spirit that a severe famine was about to cover the whole inhabited world. This took place during the reign of Claudius. So the disciples, each in accordance with his financial ability, decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. They did so sending their financial aid to the elders by Barnabas and Saul. How did God prepare the world for a salmon.
A salmon? Oh, that would have been nice. He did multiply fish. How did he prepare the world for a famine? I must be hungry by sending a prophet to announce it beforehand so that the people of God could be prepared for it.
In acts chapter 21, we see another situation with prophecy. Verse ten through 14, it says, when we remain there, we is Paul and Luke. I love how in acts you see a shift happen where suddenly the words we gets employed. Prior to that, it was Luke just telling stories. But now he's actually traveling with Paul.
So he says, we. While we remained there for a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He came to us, took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it, and said, the Holy Spirit says this. This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is and will hand him over to the Gentiles. When we heard this, both we and the local people begged him not to go to Jerusalem.
Then Paul replied, what are you doing? Weeping and breaking my heart. For I am ready not only to be tied up, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. Because he could not be persuaded, we said, no more except the Lord's will be done. Paul is about to offer his life, to be tortured, to be killed.
He knows already because the Lord has spoken to him beforehand. And now a prophet comes and gives him another warning about it. But you notice that Agabus is the only prophet. There's two other prophets that come to Paul telling him, don't go. But Agabus doesn't do that.
He says, no, this is going to happen to you, Paul. Now, why would God tell Paul beforehand, what's the purpose of that if it's not to warn him to not go? Because sometimes it is God's will that we suffer. Sometimes it is God's will that we be martyred and imprisoned for our faith, for his kingdom and his gospel. And Paul gets the little kiss from God to comfort him before he goes into this by a prophet.
This happened to me similarly. Not that I was in prison, but I went through one of the most difficult times in my life. Back in 2018 and 2019, I went through the greatest betrayal I had ever experienced before it happened. My wife. I was working for a church.
I had been with the church, and I was satisfied to be with that church the rest of my life. And I remember driving down the road one day, and I hear the Lord say to me, Michael, if I asked you to leave this ministry, would you do it? I said, well, of course, Lord. Everything I have is yours. You're my lord.
And then I heard nothing after that. And I go home and I talked to my wife, and I didn't tell her what I felt like. The Lord said, I just simply asked her. I said, hey, if God asked us to leave this church, how would you feel about that? She goes, well, why would we ever do that?
And I kind of knew at that moment, like, okay, lord, you'll have to speak to her in December of 2018. She has a dream. And in the dream, she sees that were invited to this meeting with all these brand new elders of a church. And in that meeting, they fired me from my job. And she was so angry and so betrayed, she couldn't believe what they were doing.
And so she tells me this dream, and she goes, what do you think this means? I said, well, sweetheart, it means I'm about to get fired by the new elders.
I said, the Lord has told you beforehand so that your heart wouldn't get bitter and cold. And even then, she didn't believe it. Now, I had been confronting the main leader about what I thought were sin. I thought he was abusing people. And he calls me up and says, in January of 2019, hey, I'd like to bring the other new elders into our conflict.
Now, the new elders were handpicked by him that month. All the other elder board had been removed. And I said, okay, great. Bring them into the conflict. Let's talk.
So I show up to a meeting, and that man's not there. And these elders say they want to launch me into ministry. And I thought, well, hold on a second. Aren't I in ministry? I'm ordained as a pastor.
And they said, well, we really think that you're called to itinerant ministry. And I thought, where is that in scripture? And they said. I said, guys, in the real world, they call this getting fired, getting a three month severance, and you wanting to contract me afterwards to have me come in and speak on occasion. I said, oh, no, no, that's not what this is.
And I was like, no, that's what this is. And my wife says, am I fired, too? And they said, what do you mean? She goes, I'm the administrator for the church. They said, oh, we didn't know that.
And I said, no, guys, you don't know anything. You have no idea why you're even in this room. So I ended up leaving that church. And for the next year, just one of the most painful seasons of my life. Because when you stop working for a church under duress like this, you don't just lose your job, you lose your community.
Three months later, I find out my wife has melanoma.
She doesn't have that today. The Lord has taken that away through the doctors, not through miraculous healing. It was one of the hardest seasons I've ever gone through. I learned in that season that sometimes pleasing God just means getting 1ft in front of the next. I had a two year old son and a six month old baby girl, and every day I just was in pain.
And all I could do was just take care of my family. As my wife recovered and the Lord prepared us beforehand by telling us what was going to happen over the next year, I had seven different prophets come to me with prophetic words saying, michael, God is kicking you out of the nest. And here's the crazy thing, when they told the church why I was fired, they said, oh, we kicked the bird out of the nest. You know, he was just, he was upset and bitter and just left the church. That's the narrative they gave.
They kicked me out of the nest. How many of you think that's a kind way of talking about me? It ends up making me look like the bad guy for what they just did to me. And so the words they used, though, where we kicked the bird out of the nest, seven different prophets come to me and say, michael, God is kicking you out of the nest.
And in that wild, you see, when they kicked me out of the nest, they didn't care if I ever flew or not. But when God is a part of it, he guarantees that you will, doesn't he? The Lord has picked me back up and set me back on my feet and sent me back to the land that I love, which is Colorado, near the mountains. And now I have a church and a thriving podcast, and I've had a lot of people come to me and apologize for what's happened to me, but it was all of these things that the Lord did to restore me and comfort me in the midst of great hardship. And it's the same thing he promises to do to all of his kids because he loves us.
I'll give you two more quick reasons, and then we'll pray and maybe do some prophetic ministry. He'll give direction when you don't know what to do next. We see this in acts, chapter 16, verses six through ten. He says it went through the region of Pirga and Galatia, having been prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in the province of Asia. Well, how?
How were they hindered from going to Asia? By the Holy Spirit. It says when they came to Mijah, they attempted to go to Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do this. So they passed on and went down through Maesia and went to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul during the night, a macedonian man who was standing there urging him, come over to Macedonia and help us.
After Paul saw the vision, we attempted immediately to go over to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. How did they know where to go? The Lord told him. Now, how do you guys know where to go in your lives? Well, hopefully, you're being led by the spirit who speaks to us.
You notice here it says the spirit, the Holy Spirit. Then it says, the spirit of Jesus. And then you hear the Lord speaking to them, which is also showing us that Jesus and the spirit are the same being. James, one says this. Any of you lack wisdom, ask of God, who gives to all generously, without fault finding, and it will be given to him.
In other words. So when you ask God for wisdom, when you're at a crossroads, you don't know whether to go left or go right, not sure what to do. And you pray and you ask God, it says, he's not going to go through a list of your sins before deciding whether or not he's going to give it to you, is he? He's not like Santa Claus trying to find out who's naughty or nice, is he? No.
Without fault finding. He'll give you wisdom when you ask it. And then he says, but hey, you must ask in faith, without any doubting. For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed about by the wind. That man is a double minded man and should expect to receive nothing from the Lord.
Now, most people think that when it's talking about faith there, it means like psychological certainty. Like, you have to know that you're going to hear from God. That is not what it means. It means that when God speaks to you, do what he says. Don't be double minded about what he tells you.
Follow him. That's such a comforting thing to me because I found myself at a crossroads many times in life, not knowing whether to go left or right. And it's in those places that God promises he'll give us wisdom. He'll tell you whether to go left or go right. Fifth and last reason that God speaks to us.
I don't have a verse of scripture for this. So just take it with a grain of salt. Here it is. I know it's going to be hard to digest. He speaks to us because he loves us.
We give a lot of homage in the evangelical world about having a relationship with God, but our relationship is often confined to reading a book. And while I think that book is the primary way that God speaks to us, I also think he'll speak to us in our specific circumstances, even about things that don't matter that much. I can remember one time I used to live in Texas, and I always hated the heat. And there had been this long drought and series of like 30 days above 100 degrees. And I remember waking up one morning going, man, I don't want to wear shorts.
I want to wear pants. And right then the Lord speaks to me, says, put on your pants today. It will rain. Now, there was no rain in the forecast. And I think, well, God, it's going to be hot out.
You know how you hear God speak and then it's like you say something to kind of rebut what he says. And then he didn't say anything after that. You just kind of go, yes, sir. And so I wore pants that day, and sure enough, it rained. A lot of people would balk at that.
Go, well, why would God speak to you about something so insignificant like that? And I think because I have a real friendship with him. See, when you have a friendship with God, you spend time with him and he speaks to you and you speak to him just like you would with your friends because of the mere pleasure it gives you to be around them. You see, friendship is the only relationship you don't actually need, but you have it because of the joy it gives you. And that's what God has chosen to do with us.
He says, no longer do I call you slaves, for a slave doesn't know what his master is doing. But I've called you friends. For everything I hear from my father, I make known to you. Who does Jesus speak to? Who does he share his secrets with?
His closest friends. And the beauty of Jesus is he's got enough room in his heart to have a whole lot of friends. So that's God's invitation to you. Do you want to experience these things? Well, set your heart to have a friendship with God, and maybe he'll do these things with you as well.
All right, I'm going to pray and then Trevor, you want to come up? I know I'm running late, so forgive me for bleeding into the prophetic ministry time, but hopefully we'll see some other stuff happen. Lord Jesus, I ask that you would pour out your spirit. I pray in the same way that Paul prayed. Would you pour it out?
A spirit of wisdom and revelation. You said this over the ephesian church. Would you do that now? Over this church in.
Notes:
- Convict of sin and bring people into the faith
- The Woman at the Well John 4:4-25 "4 But he had to pass through Samaria. 5 Now he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside the well. It was about noon. 7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies.) 9 So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you—a Jew—ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you had known the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said to him, “you have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do you get this living water? 12 Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus replied, “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” 16 He said to her, “Go call your husband and come back here.” 17 The woman replied, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “Right you are when you said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You people worship what you do not know. We worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But a time is coming—and now is here—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers. 24 God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ); “whenever he comes, he will tell us everything.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”
- 1 Cor 14:24-25 “24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or uninformed person enters, he will be convicted by all, he will be called to account by all. 25 The secrets of his heart are disclosed, and in this way he will fall down with his face to the ground and worship God, declaring, “God is really among you.”
- Luke 19:1-10 “Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 Now a man named Zacchaeus was there; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to get a look at Jesus, but being a short man he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him because Jesus was going to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly because I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down quickly and welcomed Jesus joyfully. 7 And when the people saw it, they all complained, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 But Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone of anything, I am paying back four times as much!” 9 Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this household because he too is a son of Abraham! 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
- Story of Josh, the bartender, and the girl at Snuffers.
- Story of the guy lying in bed at a hospital because of a stroke.
- Build faith, Encourage, and Comfort
- Peter’s Denial
- Luke 22:31-34 “31 “Simon, Simon, pay attention! Satan has demanded to have you all, to sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” 33 But Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!” 34 Jesus replied, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know me.””
- Luke 22:55-62 “54 Then they arrested Jesus, led him away, and brought him into the high priest’s house. But Peter was following at a distance. 55 When they had made a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. 56 Then a slave girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight, stared at him and said, “This man was with him too!” 57 But Peter denied it: “Woman, I don’t know him!” 58 Then a little later someone else saw him and said, “You are one of them too.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” 59 And after about an hour still another insisted, “Certainly this man was with him because he too is a Galilean.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” At that moment, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 Then the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.”
- John 21:15-18 “15 Then when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these do?” He replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus told him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 Jesus said a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd my sheep.” 17 Jesus said a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that Jesus asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” and said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus replied, “Feed my sheep. 18 I tell you the solemn truth, when you were young, you tied your clothes around you and went wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will tie you up and bring you where you do not want to go.””
- Story of Wisconsin Woman - Sister die from Short-term memory issue, she feared the same issue, Stenosis of the spine, she had 4 surgeries.
- Peter’s Denial
- To prepare his body for suffering and hardship.
- Acts 11:27-30 “27 At that time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, got up and predicted by the Spirit that a severe famine was about to come over the whole inhabited world. (This took place during the reign of Claudius.) 29 So the disciples, each in accordance with his financial ability, decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30 They did so, sending their financial aid to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.”
- Acts 21:10-14 "10 While we remained there for a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it, and said, “The Holy Spirit says this: ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’” 12 When we heard this, both we and the local people begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be tied up, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 Because he could not be persuaded, we said no more except, “The Lord’s will be done.”
- My Wife’s Dream of me being fired from my job and the betrayal.
- The subsequent prophetic words of Restoration.
- To give direction when we don’t know what to do next.
- Acts 16:6-10 “6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do this, 8 so they passed through Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 A vision appeared to Paul during the night: A Macedonian man was standing there urging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” 10 After Paul saw the vision, we attempted immediately to go over to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.”
- James 1
- Story of being a poor youth intern and needing a place to stay.
- Because He love us.
- Story of praying something word for word.
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