Oh, God is good, no? He's so good. Many of you
were here last night. For those who may not know,
Dad already said it. And Abigail, we've been
coming to the Midwest for over 30 years now.
And we just love Jesus. We really love Jesus.
That's why we come. That's why we came. That's
why we come again. But we also love you guys,
and we come, too, because we love you guys so
much. It is a joy, joy to be with family. It
is a joy. That's why I can tease Pastor Darren
from the pulpit, because he's been teasing me
since I was a wee little lass, so now I get to
sit on the front row and tease him back and enjoy
it, maybe a little too much. No, we're so, so
grateful to be here. And I just, I love the way
the Lord works, because the Lord had spoken this
word to me a few weeks ago, but I just didn't
feel, I felt like this contending in my spirit
of what is the fullness. I felt like I could
see it from afar off, but Lord, what is it you're
wanting to speak fully here? He was speaking
different scriptures to me and different things.
And this morning, as I woke up at Dennis and
Linda's, and the Lord was just speaking to me
and speaking to me, and then again. in worship,
it was just like, oh, it's just kind of like,
you know, when gears click together, it's like,
oh, this isn't me. This isn't in my head. The
Lord is speaking this. It is just, it is rich
in the atmosphere this morning. It is from the
moment you shared about worship to the exhortations
from Pastor Darren and the very song choices.
I always love watching the way the Lord coordinates
and aligns things. And he speaks. To his people.
And if you're listening, you're going to find
yourself. We go all over the world and you're
going to find, oh, the Lord's been speaking the
same thing to my brothers and sisters in Africa
than he is here. But they have a different perspective
because, you know, the body is, it's one body
but many parts. And I get to see Jesus through
the eyes of my brothers and sisters in other
cultures. But it's the same Jesus and he's speaking
the same things to his body, to his bride. So
we're going to talk about stepping into the fullness
of our priesthood, our place of priesthood with
the Lord today. I want to talk about the call
of the Lord, calling his body to stand in the
gap between porch and altar, and how we have
authority in that place because of our relationship
with Jesus Christ and our intimacy with the Father.
Amen? All right. So if you came here needing
some encouragement, buckle up. I was... My father,
many people have asked me over the years, so
how would you describe your dad? It's a running
joke in our family when people try to introduce
him to speak. And Jeff is... Jeff's... Well,
he's not a pastor, but Jeff's, and they struggle
for words, so we laugh, but if you ask anyone
who knows him closely, you'll know that first
and foremost, my father is an evangelist. So
I was born and raised in an environment of...
the go of God. We're going to go to the nations.
We are going to, you know, he came to seek and
save what is lost, and he's passed that mandate
on to us, the ministry of reconciliation. So
I am also an evangelist at heart, and you're
going to probably hear that a lot today. But
where does that come from? You can't give what
you don't have, right? And I don't want to save
people into survival. I don't want to preach
fear and fire and brimstone for them to come
into a place of sitting on a church pew, living
a life of settling and compromise. So when we
stand in that place of intercession in the gap,
when we stand in that place of and live out of
that place of evangelism, of reaching the lost,
what are we offering them? What are we inviting
them into? You can't give what you don't have.
So I want to remind you today who you are and
what Christ paid for you to walk in. Amen? Okay.
I want to start in Joel chapter, sorry. If at
any point you can't hear me well enough, just
go like this really good and I'll try and use
my big girl voice. All right, Joel chapter two,
verse 17. I'm gonna start with this mandate from
the Lord that I feel him speaking over this region.
I love this region, and I know you do too. Let
the priest, say I'm a priest. I'm a priest. Who
minister to the Lord. This is always our first
goal, is vertical. Can't go horizontal, at least
not in a healthy way before you've gone vertical.
Let the priests who minister to the Lord weep
between the porch and the altar. Let them say,
spare your people, O Lord, and do not give your
heritage to reproach, that the nations should
rule over them. Then the Lord will be zealous
for his land and pity his people. The Lord will
answer and say to his people, behold, I will
send you grain and new wine and oil, and you
will be satisfied by them. I will no longer make
you a reproach. I'm going to skip down. To verse
23. Be glad then, you children of Zion. Be glad,
O Illinois, and rejoice in the Lord your God.
For he has given you the former rain faithfully.
And he will give you the rain to come down for
you. The former rain and the latter day in the
first month. The threshing floor shall be full
of wheat. And the vats shall overflow with new
wine and oil. And hear this prophetically in
the spirit. Verse 25. So I will restore to you
the years that the swarming locust has eaten.
Verse 26. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied
and praise the name of the Lord your God who
has dealt wondrously with you. And my people
shall never be put to shame. Then you shall know
that I am in the midst of Israel. I am in the
midst of central Illinois. I am the Lord your
God and there is no other. My people shall never
be put to shame. I have so much here to share,
but I'm going to read this next part because
it's too good not to. Please don't hear this
numb to the fact that you've heard it 30 times.
Hear it as a now word in the spirit. And it shall
come to pass afterward, after we've stood in
the gap, after he has released his provision.
that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.
Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men
shall see visions. And also on my men servants
and on my maid servants, I will pour out my spirit
in those days. In these days, y 'all. In these
days. Look at your neighbor and say, in these
days. In these days. I don't want to take too
long, but I just want to underscore. I want to
highlight, if it were. If you could see my Bible,
you'd see a whole lot of that. But I want to
underscore some things from this passage today.
I want to highlight them for you for today and
just in the spirit. So we are priests. And we
minister to the Lord. What is the significance
of weeping between porch and altar? I love the
word, but for the sake of time, I might reference
some. But if you go back through chapters and
chapters and chapters of the Old Covenant, the
Old Testament, there is... Just line upon line,
so many instructions and details the Lord gave.
And I don't believe they're supposed to just
be relegated to the past. I think he was very
intentional. The porch was where only the priest
could go. I mean, the altar was where only the
priest could go to offer sacrifice. The porch
was where the assembly would gather. And when
we see the priest, weeping between porch and
altar. They were crying out for mercy. They had
tasted the goodness of God, the mercy seat. They
had been in the presence of the Lord, which we
now have free access to. If you are a believer
in Jesus Christ, saved by grace, you have access
to his presence 24 -7. But I want you to feel
the significance of how... revelatory this was
when the prophet Joel spoke these words. We are
now kings and priests and the altar of God, and
we're standing in the gap for those that have
yet to come in, have yet to have access to that
presence that we live by as our daily bread every
day. Is this making sense? So, if not us, who
else? Who's going to call them into that place
of presence? Who's going to weep and grieve over?
Did we forget how to grieve over the state of
our neighbor's souls? Have we forgotten what
a privilege it is to walk in this grace in which
we now stand? Never, ever, ever, ever let yourself
grow dull to the wonder of salvation. Never let
yourself grow complacent for the salvation of
others. All right, I'm going to move forward.
When it says in verse 18 that then the Lord will
be zealous for his land, it's not that he wasn't
already zealous. It is a mysterious, beautiful
co -laboring that we get to do. We have the privilege
of doing with Jesus that we get to partner with
him. He is so longing to pour out glory, salvation,
revival, to call in the lost. But what does it
say? Who will go for us? And it just takes someone
willing to say, Here am I, God. Send me. Here
am I. Use me. Use me to be a conduit. We're like
Holy Ghost lightning rods. We can see and know,
oh, we've tasted, and we get to pull it down
to earth and release it. He's just waiting for
those to stand in the gap. Now, I love that we
are in, Even Pastor Cammie had a word last night
just about the harvest being plentiful. I love
driving through the fields when I'm here. When
he says that latter rain and that former rain,
that wasn't natural. He was speaking to a people
of the land, of farmers. They know that's not
normal. He said, I have more than enough. I've
just been waiting to pour it out. Are you hearing
me? There's the latter rain and the former. There's
all, anything we've ever seen, every testimony
we've ever seen him do, that former rain, the
glory, the miracles I've seen, the miracles I've
received, I've walked in, it's all that and it's
more, and he's just waiting to pour it out. I
don't know. Maybe I have to be excited enough
for all of us today. He's waiting to pour it
out. Can you feel it in the atmosphere? I could
be blind. Thank God I'm not. I love seeing the
beauty of creation, but I could be blind and
walk outside and tell you if a thunderstorm was
coming because you can feel the humidity, the
weight in the atmosphere. You can smell the scent
of rain. As people of God, we should know how
to be like the sons of Issachar and know the
times in which we live and feel. Oh, Lord, I
feel the heavens are pregnant for what you're
wanting to birth in this region. Here am I, God.
Use me to bring it. Here am I, God. Use me to
bring it. All right. And if you're not convinced,
I'm going to take you over. into First Pier and
just remind you what the Lord says about you
today. Because I'm going to be relentless and
if there is any excuse in your mind, if you walk
out with it today, it's not my fault. I just
want to say it is not my fault and it is not
for lack of trying. Okay, I told you I get a
little feisty sometimes. 1 Peter 2. I'm going
to jump down quickly to verse 9. Let's start
in verse 9. But you are a chosen generation.
Look at your neighbors. Say, you are a chosen
generation. And I'm just going to come across
a real obvious one real fast, come against a
real obvious one, age. I could spend the rest
of this sermon taking you to scripture after
scripture. Don't disqualify yourself because
you're too young. God's not done with you because
you're too old. I'm in the middle. I haven't
arrived yet. I have to come into my own. I have
to go to Bible school three more years. No. Okay,
if I had like a list from Pastor Cameron, okay,
we're going to X that one off. Excuse number
one, bye. Age is not a disqualifier. Never has
been, never will be. In the kingdom, God is eternal.
We are an eternal people of God. He is the God
of three generations walking in unity. The healthiest
churches I've ever found on this earth are walking
in unity. In spiritual unity, racial unity, and
generational unity. That's the healthiest, most
book of Acts, Christ -like, form of church you'll
ever see, in my opinion, and in my reading of
the word. You are a chosen generation, a royal,
what's that word? Oh, priesthood. You are priesthood,
a holy nation, his own special people, that you
may proclaim the praise of him who called you
out of darkness into his marvelous light. Anyone
else just feel the power of God hit when Pastor
Darren started to sing about the light coming
out of darkness and exhort about coming out of
darkness into the light and remember what God
brought you out of? We can't forget. We can't
ever forget. We can't grow comfortable in the
darkness either. It is for freedom he sets you
free. Do not be enslaved again. Hear me in the
spirit. Do not be enslaved again to those works
of darkness. I feel that so in the spirit. There's
a call against compromise. Because God's nitpicky
because he's looking for an excuse to judge us?
No. Because he knows those things numb us to
our purpose and bind us from our calling. He
called you out of darkness into his marvelous
light. I love what it says back in verse 3. It
says, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord
is gracious. If there's anyone in this room today
that has not yet tasted that graciousness, you
came on a good day. Any day of the week is a
good day to taste the graciousness of God. But
today is like a buffet. We have people that will
pray for you. People that can tell you how good
this graciousness is. So I challenge you, if
anyone here has not experienced the saving grace
of Jesus Christ, we're going to have you come
forward after this service, and we're going to
pray with you, and we're going to welcome you
to the most beautiful family you'll ever be a
part of. Still working out a few dysfunctional
kinks, but beautiful family. I love the body
of Christ. I do, I do, I do. Someone thinks I'm
funny, praise the Lord. All right. I'm just going
to do one more little death blow to an excuse
here in Revelation. Revelation chapter 1. We're
going to start in the latter part of verse 4.
Grace to you. This is my heart for you today.
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who
was and who is to come. He's the God of the present
and the past and the future. But he's first and
foremost naming himself the God of the present.
who is and who was and who is to come, and from
the seven spirits who were before his throne,
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness,
the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of
the kings of the earth, to him who loved us.
Oh, how he loves us. Who loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood. May we never
forget, Lord. May we never forget that you loved
us first and you washed us with that. costly
price of your precious blood. And that nothing,
nothing can stand against or conquer that blood.
There is no greater word than the blood of Jesus.
There's no greater power than the blood of Jesus.
And there is no greater love than he who laid
down his life for us, who he now calls friends.
He has made us kings and priests to his God and
Father. To him be glory and dominion forever
and ever. Amen. We give you glory, glory. Why?
Because he loved us. Every song today, I was
like, just stirring in my spirit, because yes,
he loved us and he paid for us. Is our life reflecting
that value with how we walk it out? Are we living
a life worthy of the calling with which we were
called? All right. So, you can't tell me you're
not a priest. King and a priest. You can tell
me, but I won't listen. I'll say it that way.
I want to go to Ezekiel quickly. Ezekiel chapter
22. Because some of you have known me since I
was about eight years old, or any time between
now and then, about the last 30 years. Some of
you don't know me from Adam, so I want to make
sure you hear my heart. I am not here to, I'm
here to encourage, not to bring condemnation.
So when I get stirred up in the spirit and I
make statements and quote scriptures like, are
you living a life worthy of the calling with
which you're called? It's to point you and remind
you of the value of your calling. Not to point
out any shortcomings. Do you hear me? Please,
please, please hear my heart today. In Ezekiel
22, chapter 22, verse 30, it says, it's the Lord.
And I've gone back to the Old Testament, but
I feel like he's still crying this. He's still
seeking the same thing, still crying out. So
I sought for a man among them who would make
a wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf
of the land that I should not destroy it. At
the close of the service last night, Pastor Cammie
gave a powerful, powerful prophetic word. I wish
she were here. You're going to have to remind
me the name of those in the fields, the ditches
she was speaking about, waterways. She had seen
this prophetic picture in worship of how the
harvest is ripe, but we are called to be like
waterways. And she was repenting before the Lord
for how we have failed to stand in the gap as
waterways. to simultaneously, correct me if I'm
wrong here, what she shared, but she was saying,
we're to stand in the gap so that it's not destructive
and it doesn't destroy the crop, but it also
nourishes it and waters it. We're saying, God
have mercy, bring favor, bring your rain, but
God have mercy. And it was such a powerful picture.
She had no idea what I was planning to share
this morning, but the Lord is calling. for intercessors
and evangelists to stand in the gap, for breakthrough
in the heavens and on the earth here in Illinois,
here in this nation. He's looking for people
to stand in their identity, confident in their
calling, only by grace. I can't emphasize that
enough. Insecurity is no substitute for humility,
but confidence is no substitute for anointing.
I'm going to say that again. Insecurity is no
substitute for humility. We have to walk humbly
before our God. It's only in humility that we
can become confident. Any confidence of our own
strength, no comparison for his anointing. Moses.
led a nation. He talked with a stutter. How many
prophets, people, apostles we've seen battle
insecurity in the word. But when they chose to,
even in the midst of their fears, walk in obedience,
nations were delivered. Are you hearing me? I'll
use myself as an example. You can see me up here
preaching and loving it now. Less than an hour
away. Oh, I can't believe I'm going to say this
out loud and it's being recorded. Oh, my Lord.
All right. I'm going to get real with y 'all,
okay? I was the little girl who spoke with a
lisp, who was terrified of strangers. And when
you live as a traveling evangelist family, a
new place each week, pretty much everyone's a
stranger. I was the one, you know, the little
kid holding mommy, clinging to daddy's hand.
I was the one that, can you say that again, honey?
Because I was so nervous. Or so excited. I was
the one. Oh, I keep going to be saying it, and
I'm like, oh, God, help me. I'm going to say
this on the microphone. Dad, we need a little
laughter break. Dad called us all up as a family.
I'm one of four children, and we were at the
church over in Groveland, and he wanted to introduce
his family to the congregation. So sweet. That
meant I had to get up in front of people. I was
about seven years old. I was so nervous. Let's
just say mom had to do laundry later that night.
So I was so nervous. I was so nervous. I had
to run out the back doors to the restroom because
I was just terrified. I was so terrified. Okay?
Now that was supposed to be a laugh break, I
guess. That was probably TMI. Uh -oh. All right,
come back, come back, Holy Spirit. Why am I sharing
that? Why would I say that? It's not because
it's something I just thought, oh, this is something
they need to know. I want to tell you how God
can take someone terrified and trembling, never
wanting the microphone. My sweet Papa, he took
years, decades of my life. And before I preach,
I'm going to have my daughter, Abigail, come
pray for me. Jesus, bless Daddy. Help him share
a good work. In Jesus' name, amen. To get me
used to speaking from the microphone, because
he and my mom, they saw my calling. They knew
my heart, that I wanted to serve the Lord. They
also saw their nervous, sweet little girl. But
they wouldn't let me shrink back. So if I sound
a little, any way, I don't know, not aggressive,
but if I seem impassioned and just like, come
on, step into your calling today. I want to encourage
you the same way I was encouraged. Did that help
anyone? Because I'm feeling a little like, oh
my goodness, I just shared that. Is anyone hearing
me? I told you. I told you. If you walk out of
here with a single excuse in your mind, it is
not my fault. If that does not purge me, I do
not know what will. I tried my hardest, y 'all.
This is bigger than us. This is more important
than my fear, than my doubts, than my compromise,
than my thinking, my choice of, well, God's going
to move. He'll do it. He's sovereign. I'll just
stay in the shadows. Can I tell you like Mordecai
told Esther today? Surely, he's going to have
his way. He will work deliverance. But what a
privilege. Who would want to miss out on the
privilege of partnering with him? That he's for
such a time as this called us. For such a time
as this, he's called us. Are you hungry to be
used by God today? Because there is no doubt
that he's moving. There is no doubt that he wants
to pour things out. So, Lord, we pray that you
would find a company of volunteers. It says your
people will be volunteers. We don't have to be
voluntold. That we would be volunteers in the
day of his power. Lord, when you look across
Illinois, would you find a company of willing
volunteers? Willing volunteers. I'm going to
close out in Isaiah 61. And I want you to put
yourself, as you hear this, put yourself in the
me. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because
the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings
to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening
of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord. It's been a
rough few years, y 'all. But I just proclaim
this is the acceptable year of the Lord. The
day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who
mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to
give them beauty for ashes and the oil of joy
for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit
of heaviness. that they may be called trees of
righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that
he may be glorified. There are people in the
room that are mourning today, and there's joy
on offer for you. to close with this and if you
were here last night this dies into the word
there also but they shall rebuild the old ruins
and they shall raise up the former desolations
and they shall repair the ruined cities the desolations
of many generations verse 6 but you shall be
named the priest of the Lord and they shall call
you the servants of our God When we partner with
him, there's transformation for us as well. As
we pour out his vessels, we are ourselves filled
in the process. I just, I want to give a call.
If you want to say, Lord, here am I, send me.
Put me in whatever gap. You want filled. If you
want to come and say, God, speak to me. Tell
me how you see me. Tell me who I am in you. If
you need to hear fresh words of calling and promise,
the altar is open. The Lord is ready. releasing
identity on his people today. And there's commissions,
there's holy commissions like mantles hovering
in the atmosphere waiting to be picked up and
run with. If you want to say, Lord, here am I.
Use me. We're going to invite you to come down.
Lord, right now, we just want to follow up with
this. He's the God that sees you. He's the God
that knows you. He's the God that loves you.
Here's the faintest cry. You were born to release
the kingdom of God. You were made, crafted by
the hand of the Father to give yourself to love
and good. works but right now we ask you for
sons and daughters to come back home Missions,
mandates, and movements that are awaiting for
someone to say, I don't want to just live like
this where I am. I want to get up. I want to
see. I want to have a break. however you want
to do it you want to stretch your hands you Holy
Spirit, just get on you, get near you, get over
you. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. God
of breakthroughs, we pray for greater breakthroughs,
God. Open up the gates. kingdom of God. Can we
just begin to pray out as you would? If you want
to come, you can come. Here's my life, Lord.
Here's my heart, Lord. Any of those things that
naysayers have spoken against you, let that thing
be broken. This afternoon, thank you, Father.
We thank you, Lord. We thank you for this church.
Lord, just say, here I am, Lord. Take me, here
I am. Go ahead. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.
The Lord's been showing me some pictures, and
I just want to release some prophetic words,
if that's okay. And I don't want to embarrass
you, but right here in the front row of the pond,
I kept looking at you in worship because I kept
seeing a vision over you. But I feel like there's
more in the room. I'm going to share this with
her. But if you feel this in your spirit, grab
hold of it, okay? I saw you like standing against
a wall in the shadows, right on the edge. And
you were so, it was like you could see the Lord
and his beauty and everything. And you were so
drawn to it. It wasn't that you wanted to be
in the darkness just for the darkness sake, but
you were just. It's like I saw the Lord reach
out and just pull you out of the shadows. And
there's a calling on your life. And the Lord
is calling you out of the shadows today. He's
not going to let you hide in any, I don't know
what, any insecurity, any lie, any thought that
hinders you from stepping fully into who he's
called you to be. He is calling you out today.
He knows you by name and he is calling you. And
I feel that there are nations in you. There's
a calling to nations in you. You may not know
it. But there's a call in your life bigger than
what you understand or know yet. And it's because
you love him. And it's because he loves you.
As we were singing about light and darkness.
and the Lord was speaking to me in worship, I
saw this picture. And it's like so many people,
they have, as believers particularly, we have
this thought in mind of what darkness is. We
think of the drug addict, of, you know, the drunk,
abusive father, the crackhead. Darkness. Darkness
can be fear. Darkness can be insecurity. Darkness
can be anything that hinders you from stepping
fully out. We are children of the light. I worked
social work for a while, and do you know the
percentage of criminals imprisoned and drug addicts?
Do you know what the percentage is that they
grew up without a father? See, we can look at
things and label them darkness, but God wants
to get to the root. And I feel there's people
in the room today that the Lord is breaking an
orphan spirit off of. That feeling of insignificance
of I'm not worthy of, I don't belong. There's
no place for me at the table. You are accepted
in the beloved. You are accepted in the beloved.
You are welcome at the king's table. He is the
father like no other father. The lover like no
other lover. If you, again, I'm not trying to
put people on the spot, but if you have battled
feelings of insignificance and unworthiness,
I don't care what you've done. I don't care what
has been done to you. I don't care. Because I
know my God and he's bigger than anything. And
the Lord wants to break that off of you today.
So I encourage you, step out in boldness, come
get prayer because there's freedom in the house
today. Freedom isn't just raising our hands and
singing. It's walking out changed. And there
is... There is transformation available today.
Don't let it pass you by. Don't be like a duck
that's just like water off a duck's back. Don't
come and sit in the presence of God, but have
this thing on you that says, oh, God is good,
but not for me. Come receive. Hallelujah, hallelujah.