Going Deep
I give honor to Apostle Frazier the bishop of this house and overseer of the churches. Also to First Lady Frazier who stands behind this man of God. I give honor to Sis. Johnnie Tisdale who has tirelessly put this conference together and to all the ministers and workers of the house. Most of all I give honor to the Lord who saved me and anointed me to preach the Word. To the Lord Jesus who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, this may be a good time to stop and give an ovation to the Lord. No matter who is in the house tonight most importantly he is here.
I dropped by tonight to share with you a word which the Lord has been giving me about this year. As the theme goes for these services it is a them of New Beginnings. God has been showing me that this is that year where there are New Beginnings coming.
He took me to Ezekiel 47 which shows a vision of what the Lord wants to do this year.
Ezekiel 47:3 And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. 4 Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. 5 Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.
This vision is simply explained but the Lord was setting the church up for something great. He was telling His people first Israel and now also the church that there is more out there and the only way to see what the Lord has it to go deep with him.
Now it is okay to sit on the edge of the water and get your feet wet, that is if you like staying on the outside. Like playing in the kiddie pool. If you like watching others getting their blessing. But the action is happening in the deep. Tonight you might be experimenting with him, or as one minster said, playing patty cake, if you are it is time to go deeper.
You may be one of those who have just been knee deep. Here you still have control. You can move and you feet are planted. This is okay for a season but it is time to go deep. You may be up to your waist. Now you are losing control but you still got your feet planted. You wanted to go deeper but your favorite song still, “I shall not be, I shall not be moved.” Maybe that is your problem you need to be moving.
God wants you to got deep, the Lord has awesome revelations and blessings in store for you this year but you have got to go deep to get it.
1 Corinthians_2:9 NKJV But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
MSG No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this, Never so much as imagined anything quite like it-- What God has arranged for those who love him.
Preparation
Quickly let me just show you that the Lord says there are few areas of preparation that we must to if we are going to Go Deep.
Change
The first area is change. Here the Lord took me to Mark 2:18. At the beginning of Jesus ministry he showed us the importance of change and preparation. If we don’t change then that which the Lord wants to pour into us will not fit.
Mark 2:18 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"
19 And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins."
God wants to change some wine skins. It is time that we started looking around and saying what I did yesterday is not going to work for today.
Wine skin attitudes: bitterness, forgiveness (how long will I live in their world, or let them live in my head), resentment (how long will I stay mad), failure (can only live in this for so long), victory (can only maintain me for so long)
Insanity: Albert Einstein “ Doing the Same thing over and over again and expecting different results”
New Things
Isaiah 43:18 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
I don’t know about you but I have seen some desert places and some wastelands. God wants to change that. God wants to do a new thing but some old things have got to change.
Mercies Renewed Every Morning
God is a God of renewal.
Lam 3:22-23 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. (23) They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
MSG Lam 3:21-23 But there’s one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: (22) GOD’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. (23) They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness!
What this tells me: 1) God’s mercies and favor never runs out 2) today’s favor is better than yesterdays 3) I got to let go of old stuff to get new.
New Bodies
Rom 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (2) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Rom 12:1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. (2) Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Insanity: Albert Einstein “ Doing the Same thing over and over again and expecting different results”
Mercies: favor, kindness,
The Heart - Mark 4:1-9 Good Ground
Another area that needs to be prepared is my heart. It must get ready to receive. Read Mark 4:1-20. You will see God’s preparation for the heart. We see this as a message of receiving the gospel but what if it was also a message to us about receiving his word, receiving a Word from God, a revelation from God.
The Wayside – Satan takes
Stony Ground – no depth, tribulation and persecution comes they stumble
Thorny Ground – distractions drown the word, deceitfulness of riches, desire for other things.
Good ground –
We need to get our heart ready so we can hear and receive the word.
Sacrifice
This last part I want to share with you is something I have not even shared with the church. It is another hard word but there are many blessings on the other side. This is the word sacrifice. It brings a summary to all we have said. It is hard for change but the Lord wants us to sacrifice some things so he can bless us.
Here Abraham was told to sacrifice his son. This was shocking but the Lord had to know that he was still the source of Abraham’s need and blessing. But don’t be afraid of this passage. We all have a mountain to climb to get to the blessing.
Just before get there let me share with you Abraham’s faith.
I’m Coming Back
So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. (Gen 22:3) Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. (Gen 22:4) And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you." (Gen 22:5)
If we could only get this kind of faith in our spirit. The kind of faith that trust God no matter the circumstances. The kind of faith that says I may be down but I won’t be down forever. The kind of faith that says I may be going through something but that is the good news I don’t have to reside here, I don’t have to stay here it is just a blip on the map it is just a stopping off point.
We need to be ready to climb to the mountain top – Genesis 22 Abraham & Isaac
So why do we need this kind of faith, this mountain climbing faith? Because the Lord had the solution to Abraham’s problem coming. Or as one person put it:
“Abraham’s problem and God’s solution were coming up the same mountain, but the problem couldn’t see the solution until it paid the price to reach the top.” – Tommy Tenny
The solution to all your problems is already on the way. God sees you he knows you, he created you but you got to be willing to climb the mountain to get there. Whatever that mountain may be.
Matthew_17:20 So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ’Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
It don’t take much faith. Just a mustard seed.
