(2) And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, (3) Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. (4) And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. (5) But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. (6) And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
I. “These that have turned the world upside down”, I got to ask; what exactly is wrong with that? Think about that statement and how absurd it sounds.
A. The Bible says this world is in “perilous times”, where “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. Where “iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” A world full of people whose “heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: A world where Man [that is] born of a woman [is] of few days, and full of trouble, a world where sin abounded. Where men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:
1. A world that changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in [their] knowledge, Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. This is the world they were so upset about being “turned upside down”?
2. In scripture God’s people never won the popularity contest, they were not celebrated, you didn’t see them making any top list, you were not going to find them in the year book under any “most likely” categories, or featured in Who’s Who. Where you did find God’s people were in the pit and prison for dreaming, in the lion’s den for praying, in the fiery furnace for not bowing to a false god, rejected, mocked, put in stocks, and thrown down a well just for speaking the truth, beheaded because a lustful king made a promise to his niece if she danced for him she could have anything. God’s people would be tortured, burned, boiled, stoned, jailed, exiled and crucified.
a. Jesus said in John 15: If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before [it hated] you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
3. I know we like to always hear that we are the head and not the tail, that we are overcomers, weapons form but don’t prosper, you wept all night but your morning of joy is about to come, that God is about to call the cattle on a thousand hills to come in to your yard. Don’t worry we are going to get to that here in a few; just let me set this up for you. Don’t get depressed yet, in marketing everything I said would be the disclaimer that is written in small font and placed at the bottom in an inconspicuous place and read by a fast talking announcer while happy music is played louder than the announcer and images of people smiling and jumping out of airplanes. Nobody wants to hear this and you will be hard pressed to find anyone say any of that while they are sharing the Gospel.
B. The truth is people just don’t like real Christians. Today Christians and their religion are seen as a disease, a virus … Atheist Darrel Ray wrote a god virus has to infect populations. Richard Dawkins stated, when it comes to children, I think of religion as a dangerous virus. Jillian Becker, an author and contributor to newspapers and periodicals such as the Wall Street Journal and the Telegraph, wrote; Has anything caused as much human suffering as religion? You might say disease, but religion itself is a disease, of the human race and of individual minds. Persecution, war, torture, terror, bodily pain, mental anguish, profound misery, wasted lives are the chief products of religion.
1. Christians are looked down upon and seen as the world’s stumbling block. Any google search or a scan of comment sections and forums reveal that this is not the shared view of a few atheists and it has gained traction among millennials. The World now calls evil good, and good evil; they put darkness for light, and light for darkness; they put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
2. In the minds of those in this “right side up” world, it is take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. They are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight. They see nothing wrong with late term abortion; they say you have the right to choose when they want to give life. What I don’t get is if you take a life on the streets you are a murderer but if you take it in doctor’s office it is your right to choose.
a. Parents now want their 15 minutes of fame and celebrate their child’s choice to swap genders by having gender revel parties and photo shoots; just as those that revel the gender of their baby they are expecting. What the LGBQT community fails to tell those that transition to another sex is that among the transgender community the suicide rate is at its highest because no matter if you change your name, appearance, how you dress, what restroom you go to, forms and applications may let you choose, but your DNA will always tell on you. No amount of hormones and surgeries can change your DNA, and they struggle with that. God said, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee.
II. Paul said, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, We are the world’s disruptor. A disrupter is a person or thing that prevents something, especially a system, process, or event, from continuing as usual or as expected. We are to turn the world upside down because it has been on the wrong side for too long.
A. The past 300 years there have been great revivals and awakenings. You had The Great Awakening, The Second Great Awakening, The Businessmen's Revival sometimes called The Great Prayer Meeting Revival, The Urban Revivals, Azusa Street Revival, The Post-World War II Awakening, The Charismatic Renewal and Jesus Movement, and The Mid-1990s Revivals. These great moves we talk about in the past tense didn’t always happen in Church. They happened when people just got radical and let God be God with no restraints.
1. Each revival or awakening left its own heat signature; in 1740 youth led the way, in 1857 businessmen and prayer took center stage, and the 1906 Azusa Street revival broke racial barriers. If studied you could narrow all these revivals to 10 common themes.
TIMING: Revivals emerge during times of spiritual and moral decline, which lead to intense prayer.
PRAYER: God puts a longing into the hearts of many to pray for revival.
FOCUS ON THE WORD: The preaching or reading of God's Word brings deep conviction and desire for Christ.
THE HOLY SPIRIT: He takes people to a spiritual depth they could not achieve on their own.
CONVICTION: Sinners find themselves weeping and repenting.
GLORY FOR GOD: Praise and Worship of God is intensified.
REFORMATION AND RENEWAL: Revival produces lasting fruit. New ministries are founded and society experiences a reform of morals as more and more people convert.
MANIFESTATIONS: The gifts of the Spirit are evident, and miracles are seen regularly.
MESSY: Things get messy as controversies swirl about miracles, abuses, excesses, suspicions, and theological disputes.
CYCLICAL: Revivals inevitably crest and decline.
2. What bothers me most about that list is that we let great moves of God get messy and end due to us shifting our focus off God and on to man giving room for the devil to slide in.
B. During this millennia we have not seen the emergence of revivals or awakening that could be classified properly. A search of the web gives you little indication that churches are actively seeking moves of God but rather just seekers, persons or bodies to fill their membership books rather than filling the Lambs book of Life. It is time for the church to start disrupting again!
1. Moves of God don’t come from the average church or church goer who are just content on just showing up. Those are your clouds [they are] without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots.
a. When we bought our house the landscaper gave our yard a little curb appeal by planting two ornamental trees. They didn’t live but a year and half. I discovered why they never took root it was because they were planted on top of rocks.
2. When you look at a tree, you never see the entire tree. You only see what grows above the earth. The most important part is unseen, growing downward into the earth. From the roots come the tree's water, its minerals, and its nourishment. Without the roots, the tree ceases to exist. And if its roots are shallow or weak, the tree and its fruits will wither away. A tree's fruitfulness can never exceed its rootfulness.
a. In God, your life is like a tree. There are two parts to your existence, the part that's visible to the world and the hidden part no one can see. It's the visible part of your life that manifests the fruit, all your good works, your acts of love and righteousness. The hidden part, these are your roots. Your inner life with God, your faith, your devotion, your love, communion, your time with Him in prayer, that which is in your heart. No one can see it, but it's the most critical part the part by which you receive spiritual life and nourishment. It is this which causes the rest of your life to grow and bear fruit. If your roots are shallow or weak, the fruits of your life in God will wither away. Your fruitfulness in God will always be directly proportionate to your rootfulness in God. The Hebrew word for root is sheresh. And it's linked to deepness, depth. So if you would become great in God, you must become deep in God.
3. God’s house for you is fertilizer, you come to get strengthened so that you can keep going deeper and bear more fruit, but for those that just come in on Sunday morning to get “they church on” church is like a club or bar they live for the weekend only and that’s it; they do nothing all week but once there day comes they are alive, they can shout, prophecy, speak in tongues on Sunday morning, but never fast, never get involved, never show up to prayer; they are like my trees; look good for a while but their lack of roots tells on them. They are like what Jesus said, fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
4. Deep Christians are the disruptors, they are the ones that can take the licks and keep on ticking, and you can stand the heat. We have a Disruptor faith that extends beyond the walls of the church. Disruptors shake up their home, job, school; it is time for the church to make a difference. You have access to power to flip this world. If the fact that Jesus said He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
C. As Pentecostal believers the foundation and core driving force has been centered on the book of Acts. Jesus gave us the great commission; when He said, ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.
1. For years it was the thing to say “dunamis-power” when we made reference to the Holy Spirit with no real explanation. Yes dunamis is the real Greek word for “power”. It comes from the root word dunamahee. Dunamahee means to be able. When Jesus spoke this He gave no condition, no qualifier, no modifier, and no limitation concerning the power that was to be given. It is power to become able to do that which you could never do before; the power to do that which is above your ability to do.
a. Dunamahee means to make possible. So if you live by the Spirit, you will have the power to make possible that which was not possible, and it also means “can”, as in I can. The power of the Spirit is the power of I can. It has no qualification. It is the power of I can do anything. It's the power to do all things, the power to do whatever you need to do to fulfill the will and calling of God. There's no limitation. It's the power of powers, the power to do whatever it is that you need to do. It's the power from on high to nullify and overcome every I can't in your life. It is the driven power behind Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
2. God’s power is still for today and His children still have access to it Luke 24:50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. (51) And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. Did you catch what that verse said, it says that He lifted up His hands and blessed them, and while He blessed them, He was parted from them. What that verse says is that Jesus never ended the blessing ...not on earth ... He went to Heaven and took His place on the throne where He is still making intercession for us. His blessing never ended, they have no end, no limitation, no expiration, and no ceasing.
a. It's an unending blessing. It's not limited to the first century, or to Jerusalem, or to the disciples, or even to the Book of Acts. He doesn't only bless them. He blesses you, and the blessing He gives you has no end. It doesn't stop because of your failures, your falling, and your sins. It has no end. There's just as much of it now as there was when He blessed them as He left. The blessing never runs out, never ages, and never fails. We are to receive it now, as new and as powerful as it was on the day He gave it. And as the blessing keeps going, you do the same. All things of this world must end ...except this ...the blessing ...it has no end.
III. It is time for another awakening but not where the end result is another slumber. Jesus said Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
A. God spoke to me and said that too many churches have sowed thorns and poisoned the harvest they had been sent too, they have a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; by removing the blood, the Gospel, and the power of the Holy Ghost leaving behind a “spiritual by product” that has corrupted and destroyed their harvest. The book of Joel is speaking loudly to this church age. In chapter 1 it says, The field is wasted, the land mourneth; Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
1. We got a generation that is raised in churches with all the modern amenities, they have come to expect their pastors to preach from tablets, they expect their church to have 4K and 8K video screens, walls, and environmental protectors displaying songs, notes, and graphics, they expect their church to have more programs than the YMCA.
2. Churches are appealing to the senses and giving this generation what they are accustomed to but are sacrificing the power and presents of God. We got pastors that are now psychologist and sit on the stage diagnosing people and writing out weak scriptural prescriptions while trying not to offend or label anyone a sinner.
3. We now have formulas and models on how to have relevant church. Churches are encouraged to select who their target audience is (ex. rich, poor, color of skin, location). What happened to; For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost, for God so loved the world…, Jesus said ye shall be witnesses …unto the uttermost part of the earth.
a. There is a pastor of a mega church here in the US that has a think tank session with a creative team that helps him craft his message and they will organize flyers, banners and other promotional swag for that message, the music is tied to the sermon, the lighting is tied to the sermon everything is scripted out so that on Sunday it all gets done in one hour and he suggests that all churches follow the same formula so as to respect the people and their time.
b. We may have to change the packaging but you don’t sacrifice the formula; in the 80’s and 90’s Coke and Pepsi messed with the formula by introducing New Coke and Crystal Pepsi and both were rejected. You can’t replace and beat the original formula; forgiveness in the Blood, healing in the Blood, deliverance in the Blood, and salvation in the Blood cannot be replaced with cheap gospel gimmicks.
4. Could you imagine Jesus following that model at the sermon at the mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit:, for they are born this way and suffer from a past regression that was brought on by a poor family environment, Blessed are the meek: for they are this way due to a lack of a strong parental influence, well that’s all I got time for today, join me again tomorrow here on this mount where we will dive deeper into your psyche to help you understand that as Lady Gaga says you are born this way. “Don’t forget your “I-Be-tude” tote bag.
a. The old saying is you get what you fish for. By removing the Power of God, The Word of God, and Moves of God all you get is weak malnourished believers that are previously churched people who had left their more traditional church because of better music, lower expectations and shorter services. This model is less of a front door and more of a backdoor. It is a soft landing for nominal Christians on their way out of the church.
5. I believe churches need to be modern and use technology to bring the lost in. If we got to give them doughnuts, if we got to have the words to the song on a big screen, if we got to have a nice website and stream our services, if the building no longer looks like a church that’s ok cause the shadow of doughnut will not heal them, but an encounter with Christ will, big screens want heal the blinded, but Jesus can, typing on a keyboard will not replace the laying on of hands and the prayer of faith, a church building does not house the power of Holy Spirit we as the ambassadors the disruptors of Christ and the temple of the Holy Ghost, we are the light that is to shine in their darkness it is through the anointing that we can break the yokes of bondage..
B. As disruptors to this broken seeker sensitive, targeted, “not your grandparents” church model; God said that He is going to strip them of their harvest and assign it to those that don’t mind getting dirty. Just as He did in the parable of the talents. You know the story each person received a portion of talent, the one that received 10 flipped it 1000%, the one that received 5 flipped it 500%, and the one that got 1 did nothing and it was given to the one that made the 1000% increase. The Bible says, I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
1. The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; I am not worried about a having a few because through the power of the Holy Ghost 120 men and woman changed the course of nations, and the Church grew by leaps and bounds from 120, 3,120, 8,120. Little is much when God is it in, one can whip a thousand and two can take on ten thousand.
a. John 6 the story of Jesus feeding the 5 thousand, sought him because of miracle, He set them up and said He was the bread of Life, they didn’t like what they heard and said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?, he asked His disciples if they planned to leave as well.
2. It is time for us to break up the fallow ground, to usher in 2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. From that scripture I can’t help but see an outbreak model where one church is “patient zero”. As we pray and seek His face this land is healed but then it spreads to the next property and the next; until neighborhoods are healed, towns and cities are healed, counties, states, countries, continents are healed. Maybe they had it right by calling us a virus, since good is seen as evil now. The Gospel, anointing, miracles, needs to spread out; we need to be infectious.
a. You can be the catalyst that ushers in the next great awakening, why wait on revival, when you can start it. When you are cold do you wait on someone else to turn up the heat? No, you go turn it in on, this word is cold and needs the flames of revival to get turned up.
C. There is an awesome phenomenon called super bloom and I believe we are on the verge of those fields that are poisoned coming in to a supernatural super bloom. A natural super bloom is when seeds that were long forgotten and thought dead will spring forth. A once dry and baron place will become an oasis. The blossoming occurs when unusual levels of rainfall reach the seeds and bulbs that have been in a latent or dormant state and causes them to germinate and flower in early spring. Those seeds have a coating on them that prevents them from blooming it is only when enough water is applied that the coating is removed.
1. Where ever the water is there is life. Water is essential to life. You can live 3 weeks without food but you can only live 3 to 4 without water. In Jerimiah God said He was the fountain of living water, Jesus told the woman at the well He had Living Water; did not He say: He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water; out of your innermost being, out of your spiritual womb would flow rivers of living water. It’s time for the neglected harvest to be consumed by a flood of the Power of the Holy Ghost!!! And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: In Amos God said that there would be a famine of the word of God; it’s time to declare an end to that famine.
2. It starts with rain and I hear a sound of abundance of rain, this isn’t just any old rain it is what Joel said would be the former rain, and the latter rain, that will sweep across these long forgotten harvest fields, and wash away every lie from hell, every seed that is being held back from deceit, held back from legalism, racism, denominationalism, sexism, etc.. you are clouds with water and it’s time for a deluge of Holy Ghost rain.
3. Jesus said, Greater works shall you do, within you is the power for the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the bound to be freed. We are on the threshold of a Spiritual Super Bloom where they were dead, yet shall they live: We just got to get the water out in to the fields.
