Called to be a Watchman

Lord, I want more of you. I felt like the Holy Spirit whispered to my heart and said, I've given you everything I have. It's more of you that I want and all of you. Just think of that. You have all of him that you want. Everybody in this room is just as spiritual as they want to be. He is made a way. He is calling. What a message, Brian. Thank you, brother. You know, I know you're like me. You're stirred. You know, just March 13th, we welcomed our 18th grandchild. And as I saw our grandchildren before my eyes and pictures, I thought to myself, Lord, I won't be here that long, but what about them? And it's not even for their sake that these meetings should burden us so much. And your children and grandchildren's sake as it is for the Lord's sake, the one who loves you and died for you. Have you ever thought what your life would be like, your church would be like, your family would be like if the Lord Jesus had his way. Lord, I don't need more of you because I've got all of you that I've asked for and that I could, it's you want all of me. So it's a privilege to be here. And I tremble in a sense of standing up here after that last word. And I trust that you will hear what the Spirit of God is saying to your church. I love this church. Just in one short weekend, fell in love with you, you men and women and boys and girls, and know that God has a special calling right from the San Andreas Fault where everything may fall apart. God wants to do just the opposite, bring everything together right here and change the world from right here. Ask of me and I will give to you the uttermost parts of the world for possession. The nations ask of me. Well, we sang that song too. I hear you calling me higher and deeper. And I thought to myself and wider, a bigger picture. You know, there's about a thousand people that are on my email that many of them wrote, a lot of them wrote and said, we're praying for these meetings. And what they're praying is this. They're praying for revelation to hearts because it is revelation that changes us, not just information. It's when God reveals something right where we are, that more than we can stand perhaps, he loves to reduce us to putty. And we act on it. So I pray that, and after you hear this message tonight, I want to say to you, Brian and I didn't confer. We did find out what the other was sharing about when we got here. And we got even a little bit more excited because that means nobody could ever have done that, that God is up to something and we're just like a bubble on the wave. That's all we are. So I want to pray with you. And I would want you, if you would pray with me, that the Lord will have his way. And tonight I want to ask you to have paper handy. Hopefully we've got some scriptures in the second half of this portion for to throw up on the screen that you can better follow these, because what I want to do is take you on a journey of the heart through the word of God, because that is how we see his heart. I was thinking one more thing before we pray. You know, I love the way you love second chronicle 714, but have you ever really looked at verse 15 and 16 after God says, if my people will, then I will. But here's what he says in 15 and 16. Now my eyes will be open and my ears will be attended unto the prayer that's made in this place. And I've chosen and I've sanctified this house, meaning a house of prayer, that my name may be there forever. And my heart, my eyes, my ears, my heart are there perpetually. So tonight, if you say yes to his call for more in all of you, and if you dare to enter in to the, not the promised land, but the promised life that he's left you here, why did he leave you here when he saved you? I mean, to die is gain. To be with Christ is far better. I saw these young girls down here. If you got a hold of what we're going to cover tonight, you could change the world from your knees. And that's what God leaves us here for. Not just to get better, a nice job and prayer. What do you think prayer is? What, how do you see prayer? Well, tonight the Lord wants to raise our vision of what prayer really is from his point of view and to call us to something very special. The first text he read tonight. Let's pray. Father, we are before you as a needy people tonight. We hear the sound of the world raging around us. And we see them like Noah's day, going right along, marrying, giving in marriage, shopping, doing all the things, thinking that laws being changed will keep judgment away. Things will get better on one level. But Lord, you have said to us, God looketh on the heart. And as it was in the days of Noah, where every imagination of man's hearts was, were only evil continually from their youth, it begins and goes on. It's just like that today. So there's nothing new under the sun. Show us your remedy. Show us your remedy. There's a verse in Chronicles at the end said they went on and on until there was no remedy. But thank you Lord for today that there is a remedy this day. I believe there is with all the sobering and disturbing things going on. There is a remedy that God has through his people. So take these words and stitch them with the thread of your word into our heart in Jesus name. Amen. Before I go to my main text, I want to read for you what's been burning on my heart because I think this revelation is what we need. This is the most often quoted psalm, the most often quoted word in the Old Testament that is in the New Testament. It's quoted 26 times. This little psalm, verse 1 and verse 4, and one shows the kingship of Jesus and the other shows the high priesthood of Jesus. And it's quoted 26 times and 12 of them are in Hebrews that shows us in the scriptures the beauty of the risen Lord Jesus and his high priesthood. You see, he didn't just shed his blood on earth to leave it here. Just think in the Old Testament if the high priest had killed that sacrifice where everyone could see it on the day of atonement and they said now we're clean. No, atonement would be in the invisible part of that tabernacle. He would take that blood into the mystery realm and sprinkle that blood there on the mercy seat and then he would come out and say it is finished. That's what he would say. And so the design and intention of Father God in the shed blood of Jesus on the cross was not to leave it on earth but that he would take his blood as it says in Hebrews 9 and 10 and how he would take his own blood in through into the rendered veil and the heavens above and he would sprinkle that holy sacred blood on the throne of God and then after he did that he would sit down more than a conqueror absolute king of the ages and see this happened this final coronation sometimes in those 10 days while they were waiting on him they knew exactly what he wanted they'd had three and a half years of him preaching at him you know for you to have the same amount of time with in the best you wouldn't hear as good of messages you wouldn't have as good as small groups as they had you wouldn't see the miracles three and a half years 30,500 hours you'd have to go to church the next 54 years 10 hours a week to get that but at the end of all that natural stuff that they saw on this just look around he came to them and he rebuked them for their hardness of heart and slowness to believe all that the prophets have said and as he began with the Torah and then went through the prophets and the wisdom he expounded in all the scriptures the things about himself and they saw him as bigger eternal the same yesterday today and forever and their hearts began to burn within them that fire he came to kindle that awareness of his presence in his majesty that we've been singing about but it's safe far off like Sinai he wants it up close and personal and as they began to see this he says those next 10 days he must have preached it over and over again in those 10 days like he did those first two sermons he preached about who he is exposition of the scriptures showing who he is everything about him his beauty and majesty and they took him he took him out to a hill and he ascended through the clouds into heaven and when he got there they waited for 10 days 10 days they waited in prayer and and they needed the great communion before they could even touch the great commission the great consecration that comes from that communion and then so as he apparently took that throne and was given the name above every other name king of the ages up till then they'd asked nothing in his name he told him that in john 16 but there's coming in that day you shall ask in my name and whatsoever you ask the father in my name that will i do so that the father will be glorified in the sun and you see that's what peter stood up and he said look this saint jesus that was crucified has now ascended and he's been crowned lord and king of all and his savior of the world and you're in trouble it's not just a merciful galilean prophet that's a great teacher a miracle worker that you're to welcome as a messiah he's the judge of all the earth and he has absolute all authority in heaven and on earth and we're the ones to settle it on earth we're the ones to bring his power what he's given to the church to earth and there's only one way to do it lord make your name holy here thank you that it is holy but make it holy inside of us and let your kingdom come let your will be done on earth like it is being done in heaven it's the bridge of prayer listen to psalm 110 this is what i'm getting off on a real side track here but i tell you it's not it's not really a side track it's really what god's want me to talk about for just a minute before we get into this other it says and jesus quoted this about himself it actually says jehovah god says to my lord sit thou at my right hand until i make thine enemies thy footstool this is the verse that was quoted when he was raised from the dead and put on the throne of the universe as he came with his blood and sat down on the throne of the universe and the lord the lord will send look at verse 2 the rod capital r of your strength out of zion rule thou in the midst of thine enemies and here's this verse thy people will be willing in the day of your power and in the hebrew it says this thy people will be willing sacrifices in the day of your power it's that day that jesus spoke about in that day you shall know in that day you shall do in that day you shall see and understand because i'll be on the throne and i will be breathing in and through you my resurrection life and you will be a body joined by the grace of god this is who you are you don't have to identify with it because odds are you don't you've been identified with the world so long you need to just realize he included you and dare to believe and let him change you from the inside and be being you thy people will be willing in the day of your power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning like the resurrection and and you've had the dew of your youth and here's this verse the lord has sworn and will never change his mind you are a priest forever god the father swore this to the jesus when he took the throne you're a priest forever after the order of the kezodek and if you're a christian tonight you are in that royal priesthood as well because you're made of that order by the lord jesus himself and we co-labor together with him you see he has a ministry that's finished it is finished on earth but he has a continuing ministry today on the throne of the universe and he wants you to join him and be part of it he wants to bring you into understanding what it's all about well so let me go to that was in my introduction let's uh let's consider for a moment the rod of his strength oh what a lot the rod really means in scripture i wonder what a rod means what does it mean to your child it stands for authority delegated authority it takes the human feeling it should out of it it's it's a response from god to a situation and so you see this rod of moses in in egypt when he holds up the rod and uh to heaven and and the the heavens are changed and he smites the waters and he this rod stands for that authority of god and uh so he he he initiated in prayer the authority of god so you see them coming out to the red sea and he holds up that rod and they cross through he's holding up that rod and it stands for something so i want you to think about that for a moment and i want you to turn to exodus chapter 17 what a powerful passage tonight in exodus 17 did you know that the principle of first mention in the scripture is very very important when you first see prayer in genesis 4 26 it was only after men realized he was helpless and weak and enosh was born which meant weakness and frailty and then it was that men began to call upon the name of the lord you don't find that until you get to the end of yourself and so the first time god ever says to anybody in the word of god to write down anything is to moses here when he says write down this account for a memorial i want you to remember this for future generations so when you read this account you'll know god is teaching you see it's it's amazing when you consider that god speaks in pictures you think about it he didn't talk without a parable he spoke in the types of the tabernacle of the priesthood and the feasts and the offerings and the the robes everything was written for our learning and it's vivid in pictures you read a kid a book with just words and they'll yawn you read them with pictures and they'll enter right in because when you remember something it's dear to you in the past you usually tie it to a memory of a picture and there out of that picture comes all the truth of it just like memory experts will take a picture of a table and put objects on it and they can go out and tell you everybody's name in a room but they do it by pictures that's what god does here in this book so they've come through the red sea and exodus chapter 17 they've come out and they're murmuring against moses out in the desert out of egypt brought out with the mighty hand by the blood of the lamb and it says in verse 3 the people murmured against moses and said what is this that you've brought us out of and our children and the cattle with thirst you think they understand god and moses cried to the lord and said what will i do to this people they're almost ready to stone me and the lord said to moses go and stand before the people and take with you the elders of israel and your rod this is a teaching lesson to the people of god the rod stands for what it stood for they recognized my authority and you wherewith you smote the river you take it in your hand and go and then god says i will stand now they didn't see him but when moses smote that rock god was standing there on the rock in horrib and you will smite the rock and there will come water out of it that the people may drink see god the the picture when god took blood and water out of the side of adam was just like the last adam who died on the cross and the blood and water make the church make the bride of christ and so you see here the water coming from the smitten rock which was christ it says in the new testament and moses did this in the sight of all of israel and he called the name of that place massa and meribah because of the chiding or complaining of the children of israel because they tested the lord saying is the lord really among us or is he not is god really here after all he's done and he wants you to give all of yourself so you'll be able to see we partial commitment can't see beyond yourself and so you see as soon as they come out and they're chiding then verse eight and the lord then comes amalek and fought with israel in rephidim now the amalekites were the offspring of esau they were fierce desert people and they stand in the scripture for fleshly opposition always you're having a hard time following me because we're going slow right now but i hope you write down these scriptures we're going to go through they're going to be a lot of them i warn you and moses says to joshua when these fierce desert fleshly foes come out against him they just come out been delivered by the blood you've been saved you're walking with god and all of a sudden here comes this massive onslaught of the enemy to stop you in your tracks and so moses says to joshua and joshua in this picture is the perfect leader of god's people who is yeshua jehovah and joshua put together it's the lord jesus in picture he says choose out men and go out and fight with amalek tomorrow i will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of god in my hand so you see this valley where they're fighting and in the meantime moses goes up to the top of the hill and joshua verse 10 did as moses said to him and fought with amalek and moses and aaron and her oh what those names aaron and her mean how beautiful when you see on either side of moses they went to the top of the hill and it came to pass when moses held up his hand that israel prevailed in this battle in the valley and when he let down his hand amalek prevailed now how did he know that because he was watching and it was tied to the command of god to his own heart and what god had said to him but look what happens but moses's hands were heavy this means like if you ever play basketball it's march madness now i love basketball i grew up in chapel hill north carolina i used to babysit for dean smith's kids sad commercial anyway but but but whenever we played basketball we were out of line the coach make a stand like this just stand like this for like you know 20 minutes after 15 minutes the strongest man in the group is whining you try it you think i'm like you hold your hands out like this it's hard enough to hold him up all the time you guys are taking rest and going down in here moses is holding a rod between his hands and he's lifting it to the lord holding up that rod and he's looking down at the people to see what's going on while he's doing that moses his hands were heavy so they took a stone and put it under him and he sat there on and aaron and her held up his hands plural one on the one side and one on the other side and his hands were steadied as the evening sun came down or as the evening came so here's moses he's holding this piece of wood between his hands and he his gets heavy so they put her stone behind and it kind of goes like this and he's looking up and he's looking down and aaron's on this side he's holding his hand up almost touching it or maybe touching it helping him like this and they're doing the same thing and on the other side is her i don't know which is left or right but he held up the other side so here you see three people they've all got their hands up like this and they're on the top of the hill maybe it was three o'clock in the afternoon i don't know but you saw this silhouette of what on the hill you see a silhouette and it says as long as they held up the hands that they're steady joshua laid low amalek the flesh and his people with the edge of the sword and the lord said to moses here it is write this down for a permanent memorial in a book you're reading it right now and rehearse it in the ears of the leader of god's people joshua because i'm going to put out the remembrance of amalek from under heaven and he built an altar and called it the lord is my banner jehovah nisi he's sworn that he'll have war with amalek the fleshly foes of the church forever and ever so here's these newly freed slaves coming out of egypt washed in the blood and brought out by the blood that's left over a cross shape in their door they've come out and they've got the the unleavened bread in them they're walking in the lamb they've eaten and they they're obeying god they come out there they they've crossed over uh the red sea and there they are in the wilderness and god's providing for them they're facing transition like we are in this country and god wants to manifest his victory and his power to them he wants he doesn't want just to bless them he wants heart agreement that's why he leaves you here so you can be sent like he was sent and enter into laboring with him and to long what he longs for and to see away things the way he sees them and so uh here are the people of god and the deadly conflict in the valley with the edge of the sword do you see what what is this it's the church it's the picture of god's people with the edge of the sword the sword of the spirit the sword of joshua against the fleshly foes contending with them trying to stop them in the valley and unknown to them there's a group of people on top of the hill up here you know all these hills out here you can look up and you can't see everything going on up there real easily but if you're on the top of the hill looking down you not only can see you can hear you can i mean it's amazing like you can hear you can and they can't even see you up there they don't know what's happening but on the top of the hill there are three men that are standing and as the cross is revealed there they're reminding father god of something reminding father god you see god has two-way memory you have one-way memory you you remember back but god likes for us to point things out to him and remind him of the glory of it before they happen he knows the end from the beginning you ought to look back and know but so they're reminding father god of a cross that's even greater than they knew at that time and as long as they held their hands up before god and held that position by faith you see the effectiveness of the edge of the sword in the battle depended upon the uplifted rod get this the uplifted rod the authority shared held before god based on the cross here had more to do with victory than maybe even the edge of the sword it's one thing to put a bible in a hotel room it's another thing to back it up with authority and prayer you see and so the effectiveness of the this word given out here in leona valley depends upon the uplifted rod and it's in that realm in the heavenly regions in the upper regions of the battle you might say in the heavenlies where they're not even seen or really known because you see uh it's out of sight but it's it's the reminding god of the victory of calvary the it is finished so here it is moses is there holding his hands up and he's watching he's vigilant three people 80 years old and above they might not be much with the sword but they did that rod all right standing in the gap between heaven and earth the upper regions of the battle the unseen realm affecting totally the ground level conflict you see let me ask you a question who decides when moses begins to put his hands down the people of god start losing the battle and when they hold them up the people of god prevail so let me just ask you who decides the battle outcome is it god or is it moses you can't tell because it's the mysterious power of god's sovereignty you see prayer is a greater factor than armies here and it's written for our learning you see a bridge between heaven and earth that's what they're building and they're standing between the conflict on the earth and the mightiness of god so here's a great secret here's a great secret you see it's visibly set before us that god mysteriously wraps up follow this he wrapped and wesley said something like this but it was god does nothing on earth but in answer to believing prayer that's what wesley said moody said behind every work of god you can trace it to a kneeling form and here's what someone else said that god has mysteriously wrapped up his predetermined purposes in the believing prayers of his church the real believing prayers of his church you see you can pray without believing god it's called the royal law of prayer and it means this that god deliberately does not without the agreement of a believing cooperation of his children he will not he deliberately often will not bring to pass what he wants to do because he wants his church to enter into his heart and what he's it's a mystery god has chosen to put himself under the royal law of prayer this is why he says you have not because you ask not and you see you're not in the place if the devil can get you out of the place of consecrated prayer he didn't have to make you not want to pray because when you do pray it won't work well because you see if i regard iniquity in my heart the lord will not hear me that's what god says so you you can't go out on friday night and sow wild oats and come into church sunday morning pray for crop failure can't do it god wants fellowship in the things of his heart he wants to co-laboring with you i don't know why but he has the church in an apprenticeship right now and so we can say to him thy will be done thy kingdom come and we don't just want to objectively our hearts enter in you people here are entering into worship but i'll tell you what god wants to put fiber to it to where you're intelligently asking him to do what he's showing you in the word of god it's the word of god and prayer it's the rhema of god the spirit reveal word of god and real prayer you see now this is not the only case of this in the scriptures write down this verse and turn if you can if you're quick enough to ezekiel chapter 36 i'll just show you something here that i hope you will never forget in your whole life in this chapter chapter 36 over and over again god says i will do this but before he says i will do something he says listen to his people you profaned my name in the land and when you did this i came and i judged your land and you were sent captives everywhere but you didn't stop there you profaned my name in the land in which you went as captives and they said oh these are the people of the lord you you ruined my reputation and my name to them and so i'll tell you what i'm going to do i will sanctify my great name to these people and here's how i'll do it i will be sanctifying my great name when i'm sanctified in you before their eyes and then he goes on and he says in verse 23 i will sanctify my great name which was profaned among the nations which you profaned in the middle of them california right in there and the heathen the nations will know that i'm the lord says the lord when i will be sanctified in you before their eyes and here's how i'll do it i will take i mean over 25 times god says i will do this remember when god says i will do this it means i'm gonna do this and nobody can hold his hand back but here's the sovereignty of god saying i will verse 24 gather you out from among the nations i will bring you to your own land i will sprinkle clean water upon you i will cleanse you a new heart verse 26 i will give you a new spirit i will put within you and i will take away the stony heart the hard heart he'll take it away and i will give you a heart that can feel that's a fleshly heart and i will put my spirit within you and i will cause you to walk in my statutes he goes on and on and he says in verse 28 i will be your god i will save you from all your uncleannesses that's a lot of i wills isn't it made you yawn see so many i will she's yawning down here on the front row uh i'm not trying to embarrass you just trying to make you pay attention i know her well enough she knows i love her i will multiply you see him saying i will i will i will and he says verse 36 then all the nations that are left round about you will know that i the lord am building what's been ruined and i will plant what was desolate he says i the lord have spoken it and i will do it but look at the next verse this is the biggie this is the one i want you to see thus says the lord god what an important thing i will for this all these i wills i've just said be inquired of by the house of israel to do it for them i will do these things but the house of israel's got to pray about it because this is my conduit this is my bridge for the will of god in heaven to come to earth it's the spoken believing gathered prayers of the people of god and i will increase them like men like a flock and he says that they will know me and they'll have joy and it comes because you see they respond in prayer he says inquire of me now inquiry in the scriptures david did it over and over again in the psalms he inquired of the lord it says in saul's day what was his in the days of saul there was no inquiry at the ark of god saul stood head and shoulders above all the other men and he was very smart on many ways but he was a prayerless man and his name means like tall and big but when god got ahold of saul of tarsus he humbled him and he changed his name to paul which means small he realized but saul you see was a prayerless man david prayed when you inquire of the lord it's doing this you're coming before god and saying lord show me in the word of god your will for my family in this situation you're inquiring of him it's listed in the new testament it's sometimes translated prayer but it's a listening and a hearkening listening to what god says and saying lord this is what you're saying to me and then you pray and supplicate pouring out your heart based on what thy will that we know is your will this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us and if we know he hears us whatever we ask in his will he'll do it but he does it to those who walk by faith and honor his commandments not legally but heartwise morally all of our being nobody in this room could ever say i've kept it in every wit if thou didst mark iniquities who could stand but yet there's forgiveness with god that you might be feared oh lord you see he wants fellowship in the things of his heart to inquire means to remind me and to seek the face of god so see remind me and say thy will be done lord we know your will do your will we've seen it and we ask him you see it's heart agreement in the name of jesus based upon the cross do you see it entering into his holy purposes and his will it's what he wants for the church in our day listen there's another example that we don't have time to go into a long way but but i'm thinking of daniel in babylon did you know that chapter six of daniel when the lion's den took place and chapter nine took place in the same year the first year of diaris or darius as i've always said some people say diaris i'll say diaris i don't know how you say it around here but darius i'll say it like i do in chapter six you remember what happened he was in a government position he was the second one daniel 121 says and daniel continued i love that later you'll hear the king saying you're daniel you serve your god continually all the time no gaps and so you see daniel coming all the way to chapter six and they say he's we've got to have this man we don't like is what he's thinking about but his excellent spirit so they put him in number two position and all these deacons didn't like him i'm sorry uh all these other people were jealous of daniel and they maneuvered him by crookedness to break one of the king's laws they tricked him into signing sounds like the news and daniel it says they said anybody that worships anybody else but you mr king you're awesome you're awesome you're doing a great job and people ought to really thank you anybody that doesn't thank you and worship somebody else ought to be thrown the lines down so it says i love this daniel when he knew the decree was signed he knew it he knew they were watching him he went into his room as was his custom and he raised his window you know what he's doing he's praying toward jerusalem like second chronicles chapter six says if a day comes that the people of god are in captivity and if they remember from what that they've sinned and they they pray toward this land and toward the city and toward this house and they repent of their sins i will heal in second chronicle 7 14 is a promise right there too so daniel has his windows open he's doing it discipline three times a day he's praying and they see him and they throw him in the lion's den well daniel had a grandchild that said daniel wasn't afraid of that those lions because he knew the lion of judah i thought that was pretty good you can learn a lot from kids and so out he came and that was the year that was the year 68 years probably somewhere right in there that daniel had been in babylon and it says in daniel chapter 9 verse 1 write that down the first year of diaris the son of ahasuerus the seed of the meads which was king over the realm of the cow in that first year by this reign i daniel understood by the books he's reading the bible he's reading chronicles he's reading he's reading jeremiah i understood the number of the years 70 years god would accomplish in the desolation of jerusalem he's reading this bible and the will of god becomes boom to him he's reading in jeremiah 29 or chapter 25 but there's only two places in jeremiah which you were in earlier tonight uh that says that and here's what it says when they're in babylon jeremiah 29 says verse 10 thus says the lord after 70 years are accomplished in babylon i will visit you and i will perform i will i will perform my good work toward you and cause you to return to jerusalem for i know the thoughts see we misquote this verse take out of context you think god's against you your life's falling apart you think but i know the thoughts that i'm thinking toward you says the lord i'm up to something thoughts of peace not of evil to bring you to a expected end and when all this happens then you call upon me and you will go and pray to me and i will hearken to you and you will seek me and find me when you ask me for more of me doesn't say that you shall seek me and find me when you seek me and search for me with most of your heart all of your heart and his joy of this verse i will be found of you says the lord and i will turn away what's held you captive when you seek me with all your heart so daniel rather than going out and saying hallelujah i've got a word from god we're leaving now in just a little bit of time pack your bags we're leaving no it says i set my heart to seek god with prayer and fasting and mourning and i think he fasted for days and days and and in that chapter nine it's one of the greatest prayers in the bible in chapter 10 he humbles himself and he confesses the sins of the nation as if they're his very own he stands between heaven and earth and he pleads the loving kindness it's a picture in reality again of what moses did with aaron and her he reminded god then you will call upon me and i will hear and i will heal so he confessed his sin and you know there's nothing bad said about daniel in the bible not really he and joseph only two guys that don't have much bad said about them and so the angel comes to him and says daniel after some days from the first day that you set your heart to seek my face and humble yourself and chasing your heart your words were heard now i've come to manifest them says it twice in chapter nine and chapter 10 he says from the first day that you truly humbled yourself and so you see here's what i'm saying to you prayer is that great bridge that the people of god have failed to build and monitor and and we we think that prayer is necessary but we don't see it like breathing but it's essential you see when the lord jesus walked earth he says he did nothing but what he heard said and saw from his father what you saw was not the person the human perfect being of jesus what you saw was the spirit of god in the lord jesus he yielded to and let him be god and he said this is the way that you're going to go the same way and the one who's been in me is going to be in you not just with you like i've been with you and so you see here that god's looking for pipelines and bridges and channels and he wants every young person here to get a vision for the rest of your life to be available to him to spend time with him like this conference says we're going to talk about tomorrow waiting on the lord what does that mean what does it really mean god is looking for someone to stand in the gap to be a levy to hold back the floods and to be the rope that you can pull and ring a bell in heaven see every single generation rides on the wings of those people thy hidden ones it's called who prayed the people who come away and come apart gather now the early church couldn't hide it but you see them the whole first chapters the first six chapters of acts they were learning to use the name of jesus in prayer and learning how to assemble with agreement and one accord we'll talk about that sunday morning well so god is looking for those and i just want to give you this scripture in ezekiel 22 verse well in in the first part of that chapter it talks about listen you live in a land verse 24 son of man say to them you are the land that's not yet cleansed it hasn't been rained upon yet in the day of indignation that's like this land and he says there's a conspiracy of her preachers in the land and then he says the preachers aren't preaching the word then in verse 26 the priests are violating the law they're not living god's word teaching it her princes in the midst are like wolves her prophets have daubed the wall with untested mortar and it's it's unsteady and the people of the land have used robbery and oppression and in a situation like that like isaiah is going to talk about god has a remedy it's a merciful sovereign pipeline that he wants to build it's a wall that he wants to strengthen and it says in verse 30 and i sought for a man or a woman among them those people you just mentioned prophet priest pastors you name it that would make up the hedge see a hedge is what joe put around his family in prayer a hedge is what god put around israel and they breached it they broke it through sin and rebellion and let the enemy enter the protective barrier but i'm looking for a man among them that should take up the hedge and stand in that gap before me for the land so that i would not destroy it that's a search the next verse is the psalm god says i found none i found none therefore i've poured out my indignation upon them i've commanded consumed them with the fire of my wrath you see there is a way out but it's for the church the people of god rise and say in the name of jesus like moses and aaron and her like daniel and we come and we we judge ourselves and we come before him and let the the light of the holy spirit irradiate every part of our being and give him everything thy people will be willing sacrifices in the day of thy power so god is looking for someone to stand in the gap and to the eyes of the lord go back and forth across the whole earth it says in 2nd chronicles 16 9 looking for a man or woman whose heart is right so he can show his self strong through them there's so many scriptures and i need but turn to isaiah isaiah 43 and i want you just to see you know i was in south africa when 9-1-1 happened and i was marooned there for quite well it seemed to me forever but um we read through the book of isaiah on our knees a couple of us and prayed and i learned that most of isaiah is about intercession it seemed to me at that time but you see when a situation is terrible like in the day of isaiah chapter 43 uh he's he's shocked he says in verse 22 you have not called upon me jacob you are weary of me you see we want his some of him we don't want everything it means it wearies us well i'm going to come to these special meetings all but tonight because i got my favorite movie on see i'm just i'm not criticizing that but all i'm saying is this is the kind of thing that we all make excuses and we need to come together as a body together and call upon him you haven't brought me the small cattle of your burnt offerings and honored me with your sacrifices i've i've not caused you i haven't demanded of you all these things but you haven't honored me he's saying you brought me no sweet cane with money and so he says in verse 25 reminding them i even i am the one who blotted out your transgressions for my own name's sake and i will remember them no more look what he says put me in remembrance remind me do like moses did do like daniel did remind me of the promises of god remind me of my covenant remind me of the things i want you to have dear to your heart and let us plead together that's joining in with the lord jesus in his priesthood pleading he's ever living to make intercession for the saints according to the will of god declare thou that you may be justified and he says over in 45 11 he says listen thus says the lord the holy one of israel isaiah 45 11 and his maker there's the trinity right there ask of me things to come concerning my sons and look at these verses people say it doesn't mean that it means exactly that the hebrew concerning the works of my hands you tell me what to do could that be possible could we command god what to do he wants us to put him in remembrance he wants us to remind him of his word because we've been in it cooperate with god get it in the practical administration of the universe for righteousness sake do you see this it's big i know you're saying this is heresy no it's not heresy it's what we've been missing believing intercession actually frees god by his own set limitations of what he will do he's waiting for someone to pray matthew henry once wrote that god wants to show his people mercy he sets their hearts to praying when you see people praying that's the sign that something is brewing when you see people at the altar here god's at work but get in on if you don't get in on what god's up if you don't get up off of what you're down on you're never going to get in on what god's up to you're not going to do it you're just going to be watching as it happens and so i get this clear i'm not telling god to do what i want him to do that's not what i'm talking about i'm not talking about the name it and claim it gab it and grab it believe it and receive it and all that group that you have plenty of out here it is true you believe and receive it is to you speak to the mountain it is true but it's not an arrogant thing it's not a demanding thing it's not what telling god to do what i want him to do we search the scriptures we make inquiry of him and he tells us what he wants to do like black of it used to say we find out what god is doing and we get in on it and he's waiting for the church to to speak it together with one heart one soul and a unified sympathetic symphony heart together he it's the honor of god to it's the glory of god to conceal a matter but it's the honor of kings and priests to search it out he wants you to search the scriptures and see if these things be so he wants you to seek his face like you would a lover that's gone away and you're waiting for them to get back from afghanistan every day you're longing you want to have fellowship you're seeking him diligently you see history always follows prayer and god is still writing church history and the end keys using his prayer right writing again the word of god on the tables of our heart you see call upon me as our brother said and i will answer you says the lord and i'll show you the great mighty things that you've been saying you're longing for but you couldn't hold or possess and be stewards of because you're not willing to walk in all that it means when you do receive it we've been so entitled to certain things that we don't really walk in it you see god is amazed with his people in a day of trouble when they don't call upon him let me read you a couple of scriptures isaiah 51 verse 6 hearken lift up your eyes oh heavens and look upon the earth beneath for the the heavens will vanish away like smoke the earth will wax all like a garment but the last part says my salvation is forever and my righteousness must never be abolished in verse 16 he says to you and me he says i have put my words in your mouth i've covered you in the shadow of my hand that i may plant the heavens that's earth coming to heaven coming to earth and lay the foundations of the earth you're calling into actual creative power not the weird stuff but you're enforcing god's word with the authority of the throne of the risen lamb in his name from the throne and you are saying you're my people you know three times in these chapters god says awake awake then he says it again awake awake and he says hearken hearken to me to these people and listen to what he says and just write these three references down because this is stunning to me isaiah 59 verse 16 listen to what he says he says and he looked the lord did he'd said it back in chapter 50 he was amazed that there was no man nobody to respond to what he was saying here he says he saw there was no man and this means god was astonished that there was no intercessor and therefore his arm wrought salvation to him and his righteousness it sustained him and so you read in those next verses an exact picture of like when he comes out of zion in the book of revelation in judgment you see the alternative to judgment is a believing church that plants the heavens and makes the visible have a frame the word of god by faith and frames the visible behind it all the reason for everything is prayer it's all behind it prayer that's biblical and heart-centered of the word of god and comes from him so prayer is his bridge and god wants to bless heaven wants to do but he waits for the church to say thy will be done does this explain why some families of church people are falling apart because they haven't prayed i could tell you dozens of missionaries whose kids were under demonic influence and i told them to go and stand over their child while they're asleep and and and claim who jesus is and all the blood means and their position in the lord and say jig is up no more after this day it's over and immediately i'm talking about famous people i'm talking about the the kid just changed supernaturally and he will do that i'm believing god for something very close to my heart in life for that to happen he says here in isaiah 59 16 god is astonished why are my people not hearkening why are they not praying in a day like today in america why is the church not going to her face and her knees and realizing that she stands in the gap and then isaiah 63 when it says in verse 5 listen to what it says i looked and there was no one to help i was astonished there was none to uphold and therefore my arm wrought salvation and my fury upheld me god's holiness has got to be answered in mercy or in judgment and if he finds no conduit of his choice for mercy which is the prayers that you and i would offer then he will bring judgment as we heard tonight it will happen nobody can hold it back it can't be done forever your word is settled in the heaven oh lord we get to settle it on the earth well that's the amazing thing about it i want to just remind you now throughout history and throughout the bible god has raised up people who do share his heart they've given everything they're willing in the day of his power and they keep their eyes on him he is their preeminence for living they keep his eye on his word and them and they see the invisible their eternity minded their their affections set on things above not on things on the earth and they choose the imperishable the things you can't see and they do the impossible and i just want to read with you now if you'll turn to isaiah 62 and you'll see what god says as he says in jeremiah what our brother read tonight this is the part that where the messages come together verse 6 isaiah 62 god says i have set watchmen on your walls oh jerusalem which will never hold their peace see in verse 1 isaiah said he will never hold his peace and he will never take rest until god establishes his people in righteousness and here god says i've set watchmen on the walls meaning like around a city and they will never be quiet they will never have peace and then he says these words they're mysterious kind of in the hebrew but it says in some of your translations it says uh you who make mention of the lord but it literally says you who are the lord's remembrances keep not silent in other words he's put a church on the wall around a church or he's got people that are called set there by god and they're looking out to see what's happening give god no rest until he establishes until he makes jerusalem a praise in the earth these are watchmen you see visionaries did you know the prophets were first called seers says in samuel before they were ever called prophets they were people who had seen something they have a vision from god they know what's happening and therefore they preached the word of god to man and he took they took the needs of man into god that's standing in the gap take heart dear souls we're getting close 300 times in the word of god it says watch it only says to pray 295 times you have to watch you have to learn to look and listen you see to stay vigilant you see what they do is they'd set a watchman on a wall of a city they'd set a watchman in a tower at harvest habakkuk went up into the tower it's called a migdal there's a place in jerusalem or bethlehem called migdal eater it's where they would watch the flocks at night and they'd be born there migdal eater it's in micah right when jesus is born and they put a person in the watchtower and they would guard the crops they would watch they would watch city gates they were watchmen and when other peoples were sleeping they were sober they were vigilant if you if your family's life depended upon a watchman what kind of watchman would you want on your wall somebody that every now and then has hey turn the game on buddy let's let's see who's one of the masters or or hey did you hear i'm tired i'm kind of it's too serious man you got a good joke you go to a man's meeting and somebody gets up and tells his testimony and everybody starts crying and he says i'm sorry i'm sorry you got to cry if you don't weep you see we got to be willing to to be broken like that so people can understand they were set like gates and in vineyards and towers and they kept vigilance they could in the scriptures they could tell who was who that's jehu out there running over the horizon i can tell by the way he runs they learn to discern and see the way a man ran they could tell it was a good messenger this you see you have to learn to watch i had a sniper once tell me i talked about this at a military thing and he came to me afterwards he says you know i'm a sniper and they'll put us up on a mountain and we'll lay there in the mud with all this stuff we can't move and during the night the sergeant or somebody will go over and change something on that ridge and maybe put a tin can in a tree the next morning we have to find what's changed and he looked at me and he says you've got to learn to watch before you can be trusted to shoot it wowed me it got me you got to see something before you say something you see so i wonder what kind of watchman you would choose i'll just tell you this quickly in the old testament there were six watches and you'll hear him say he came to them in the second watch or the third watch and they know exactly what time it is i had an african say all you americans have watches but you don't have any time you see they knew what time it was they knew exactly they they uh they i mean this set hours the watches three in the day and three at night in the new testament this is what's confusing they changed to a roman so there's eight in the day and i mean there were four in the day and four at night so there were eight in the whole day and so you see uh in the scriptures when it says that that he was in the middle of the watch of the third watch they knew what time it was so god wants you to understand what he's saying and i'm finished with this do you do you have those scriptures able i can just throw those up did you get those or you didn't get them okay well just listen to me as i as i give you these references and i want you to hear what i'm reading what jesus said and he believe me understood everything what we're saying right here more than more than i'm able to get it across or we could even understand in matthew 24 listen to what he says in verse 42 matthew 24 verse 42 he says watch he's talking about when these things will be oh you did get it watch therefore for you know not what hour your lord is coming but know this if the good men of the house had known and what watch the thief would come he would have watched and he would have snuggled at his house to be broken up therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as you think not the son of men comes who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his lord has made ruler over all his house give him meat and do session blessed is that servant when his lord comes he finds him doing this watching well and then he he he says in uh chapter 26 he he says these words in verse 40 and 41 uh listen to this he says uh he coming to the disciples in gethsemane he found them asleep and he says to peter could you not watch with me one hour watch and pray is he saying the same thing twice watch and pray that you enter not into temptation the spirit is but the flesh is weak now a biggie mark chapter 13 write these down mark chapter 13 the reason i'm having to do this and even though it's late is because these are the words of our lord jesus mark chapter 13 and he says in verse uh 31 look heaven and earth will pass away but my words won't pass away of that day and that hour knows no man no not the angels neither the son but the father only take ye heed watch and pray for you know not when the time is for the son of man is like a man taking a far journey who left his house look at this and gave authority to his servants and to every man his work and he commanded the porter to watch watch ye therefore for you don't know when the master of the house is coming at evening or midnight of the cock crowing lest he coming suddenly find you sleeping and what i say to you i say to you all at leona in atlanta watch he's telling us to watch in this same context that we are talking about uh just write this down first thessalonians chap uh have you got that up there by are you got them in a certain order do i need to go and give them a different order you got it okay first thessalonians you brothers are not in darkness that that day should overtake you like a thief you're children of light children of the day we're not of the night we're not of darkness therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober for they that sleep sleep in the night it's what the whole world's asleep and they that are drunken are drunken in the night look at revelation 16 15 he's writing to his people he says behold i come as a thief blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments that means priestly garments and white linen lest he walk naked and the world sees his shame luke chapter 12 verse 34 to 39 for when you're where your treasure is there will your heart be also let your loins be girded about let be ready to go your lights burning be yourselves like to a man that wait for their lord that when he returns from the wedding that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately blessed are those servants with whom the lord when he comes shall find watching i'm telling you that he will gird himself and he'll he'll like wash your feet because that's you've served him see if you want to please your lord then heed these words that he said to his disciples in that upper room room and on the privacy of his own in ephesians 6 18 right after it talks about warfare right after it talks about what he says praying look at the alls always with all meaning kinds of prayer and supplication in the spirit watching in that thereto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints it's a lot of alls there aren't there spiritual alertness and attunes with god while others sleep i can see by your faces you're just about to collapse some of you and you know what it says the whole world lies in the evil one and first john he's rocking us to sleep i can't take anymore i just can't i've been blessed enough i can't i can't take anymore stick with it a little bit more just a little bit more just a little bit more because because you see i believe i mean hey i hadn't had any sleep we had a baby on thursday was it i don't remember the day even but i drove to chattanooga stayed up all night packing been praying for you guys so if i can if if i can stay awake so can you so can you adam was made a watchman he put adam in the garden to keep it the word means watch it's the same word that's used for the cherubim that the seraphim that that are in the garden that he puts to guard the tree of life to watch it and to guard it and adam wasn't watching and the devil came in and took his house away you see it was shepherds that were watching in their fields by night that the lord first announced the birth unto you is born this day in the city of david a savior whose name is christ the lord and he he's going to be a forgiven one who forgives of sins you see keeping watch that's who he always speaks to simeon the old man who was watching for the consolation of israel in the temple and they brought jesus to be presented in the temple and anna the old lady who'd been there praying for years and decades and they knew who he was because they'd been watching and listening and my favorite one is mary magdalene you know what her name means mary migdale lee mary of the tower it means she was a woman she might have been the one that sat down she was always at his feet might have been that mary i don't know if it was but but this mary here she was one that was watching isn't it something unto those who look for him shall he appear without sin the second time and it was mary magdalene mary of the tower who was chosen to announce to unbelieving disciples he's risen just like he said and her words seemed like idle tales and they laughed at her so the lord rebuked him it was to habakkuk who went in chapter two of his book up to the top of the tower and there as he was in that tower in chapter two it says that that he was praying and the lord came to him and said the just shall live by his faithfulness and he wrote that down and it was quoted in hebrews and james and romans and martin luther was saved when he heard it john wesley was heard when he heard it that habakkuk got on a watchtower and it was quoted in the new testament well i need to quit look at these verses first corinthians chapter 16 verse 13 at the end of the carnal church's troubles he says watch ye stand fast in the faith be strong or quit you like men but be strong and and stop all the other stuff and let your things be done with love the first thing he says is to watch look at what he says to in second timothy to timothy his last words paul wrote verse uh second timothy chapter four verse five he says but watch thou he's handing the baton of the church to timothy watch thou in all things endure afflictions do the work of an evangelist make full proof of your ministry i don't have time to take you there but in second corinthians chapter 6 and 11 it says look here's how you prove that you're a real ministry says in watchings often both of them in hebrews it says look pastors obey those chapter 13 that are over you in the lord because they give an account as those that watch for you and they got to give an account for you yes sweet and so how do we end tonight be sober be vigilant for the purpose of prayer first peter 4 7 for the end of all things is at hand you look around you see epic things happening things you don't know about in israel secret agreements that are fulfilling scriptures they're going on big time big time right now they're people talking about the deal of the century making a new temple it's going on right now they found the ark of the covenant a friend of mine a pastor i trust and no he's not lying he told me that at the temple institute they said we have found the ark nothing could be a greater thing for the jewish nation than come together and nothing could propel the earth into major trouble there's so much going on i'm saying with all these things the lord looks and he's looking for an intercessor there's plenty of interrupters there's plenty of interpreters there's plenty of interlopers there's plenty of intramurals there's not much intercession that's what he's looking for you say how rude can he get well i've been very held back be sober be vigilant god has chosen not to take action on earth to bring his will which is merciful and gracious to pass without the cooperation and the agreement of the church so that means that as you could say teach us us to pray spend time here and don't and and do more do more than worship for individually learn to pray together learn to pray one grabbing a petition and everybody else holding on to that with and raising it like in acts chapter four we'll talk about it sunday morning but i just want to exhort you tonight to say lord not more of you i've got all of you that i've asked for and meant the lord is near to all those that call upon him that call upon him in truth but i haven't diligently sought you and i've been holding back like peter held back that boat went fishing in he had it where'd he get that boat anyway just in case this jesus thing doesn't work out a boat in the docks it's easy we all do it but wouldn't it be just great to fall before him and say lord i'm your people abraham might not know me but you know me i mean you're my father and you've sent the spirit of your son the risen son into my heart and that's crying out abba father and i want you to teach me to pray and teach me to pray with my brothers and my sisters and i even if it means when it says in ephesians be being sleepless unto prayer that's what it wants unto prayer it says be sleepless unto prayer there's some things better than sleep and prayer is one of them and you may be tired but it's you see you're like launching missiles from your knees and they never miss and they always go undetected and they can be time activated for your children generations down the road so you learn to pray so i what our brother said about jeremiah and the certainty of what's happening in our nation and the alarm that should be going off in your heart with the spirit of god hear what he's saying to the churches and in the light of god's call for someone to do what what we should be doing now and that is to learn to pray i'm gonna open up the altar again tonight and say i want to go home go ahead go ahead i mean god never he's not a task master i wonder there were 500 people invited to the upper room at least about 120 showed up i wonder what happened to the other 380 you know i like to think they were in that 3 000 on the day of pentecost that came to the lord i like to think they came in but the one thing for sure is they missed being in the day of pentecost that day they didn't show up and i'm just saying to you don't miss this look god's not grading on a curve there's absolutes with him he says come to me all of you i want all of you no other gods before me and when you do that you won't have to ask him to reveal more of himself to you you'll have to say lord stay your hand i don't think i can take anymore so i'm going to open up this altar brother would you come here and if you need to excuse yourself go do that this is freedom here but i would urge you to listen to what he says that that that sense of excitement that sense of amazement that sense of perhaps holy fear i can't reach your heart to do that that's somebody else telling you that and i would say put your pride aside maybe confess prayerlessness say i've done everything but learn to pray with god's people teach us to pray it's hard deal i mean in that upper room there in pentecost the brothers that didn't even believe on him in the gospel they were in that room there were young men there were old men there were women there were there were uh all kinds of people there and they were there for one reason because they'd seen him revelation so tonight if you've seen this and if you can stay awake you come