Desperation For The Presence Of God

" Desperation for the Presence of God "

1 Samuel 1:1-20

Billy Graham has been quoted as saying that he lives each day of his life with the knowledge that 80% of the people sitting in the church are lost yet in news polls across the nation almost 90% of the people claim to believe in God or think that they will ultimately go to heaven. If we were to apply biblical standards to the age old question of eternity, we would find that half or fifty percent of those who thought they were going to heaven would ultimately be separated from the presence of God.

1. The parable of the ten virgins as recorded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ written by Matthew bears this fact out. Read about it later in Chapter 25

2. Christ himself said that at His coming there would be two working in the fields and one would be taken and the other would be left behind, that two would be lying in a bed and one would be taken and the other left behind

As a pastor the realization of the lostness of the church and those outside the four walls of the sanctuary have become the highest priority in the ministry Almighty God has entrusted to me. My prayer is that the Most High God will send revival and renewal to this nation so that we will once again worship and serve the King of Kings by our undying devotion to him. Every night when I lay down to sleep there is a burning question in my mind if the Lord will come and if I have squandered my last oppurtunity to share the life changing message of Jesus Christ with some other lost soul in the same predicament I was in. I tell you all this to share with you that as long as there is breath in this body, I will not be silent about my Savior and I will not rest until revival and renewal sweeps across this once great nation. You need to be aware of that fact because if God calls me to pastor this church, I will not rest nor allow you to rest until we have done everything the Lord leads us to do to reach a lost and dying world.

1. When Real Revival comes we won’t be worried about the color of the man’s skin sitting next to us in the church house

2. When real revival sweeps through the house of God we won’t be so judgmental of those sitting next to us and what kind of background they were raised in or whether they’re from the right side of the tracks

Oh, friends when real revival comes into our hearts we won’t think that people deserve to go to hell because we have knocked on their door for the last time and they won’t slam it in my face again. When real revival comes from the presence of Almighty God we won’t be so busy looking at those around us but instead will be on our faces in the presence of the Holy Spirit and we will search our own hearts to see if there is any wicked way within us so that we can fellowship with God. Unless God’s people become desperate for the presence of God and seek his face, there is no hope for America nor for this little baptist church. Until God’s dear children desperately seek the face of God more than anything else out there the world has to offer, we won’t see Revival sweep across this land.

1. How sad it is for me to tell you that I pastored a church that saw revival break out and many people get saved, yet the church decided that they were too tired and too busy to continue to seek the face of God

2. I can’t begin to share with you the tears I have shed as Christians have sit back and said that we don’t need people like that in our church Brother Mike and I wish you’d just quit bringing them

Christ Jesus told the disciples to leave their fishing nets behind and come follow him so that he could make the fishers of men and there’s a strange thing about fish my friends…

I ain’t never caught a clean one yet!

All the fish I have ever caught have needed to be scaled and cleaned and filleted so that they were acceptable to the taste. It’s the same with new Christians, they also need to be taught and discipled and cared for before they can ever bear fruit suitable to the Master.

10,000 Southern Baptist Churches didn’t lead one single person to the Lord last year and if you apply the math to that it means that at least one million messages spoken from the Holy Ground I now stand upon had no power to move the lost into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. 95 out of 100 Christians never lead anyone else to a saving knowledge of Christ through their witness and unless we become desperate for the presence of God there is no hope we can offer the world outside these four walls. The world lives in the reality of no hope as evidenced by the movies Hollywood spends millions of dollars to produce. One movie right after the other with the fate of all mankind weighing in the balance with either meteors or aliens blazing across the sky. I’ve got a news flash for you, it’s a sad day when Hollywood is more faithful to the message of a final judgement than the church is. Read the book of Revelation and you’ll soon see that one day earth will in fact be bombarded by meteors but I didn’t come here this morning to not share hope with you.