Sunday Outline – March 12, 2023
Pastor George ministered this past Sunday with a message that the Lord gave to him for all, but especially for those students that are watching from around the world (35-40 countries), and those who will be leaving for the spring retreat.
Pastor George said he wanted to give us the inspiration for this message. He began by sharing how precious it is to be able to deliver a Word to students. He added how both Pastor Terri and him were at the Mark Hankins Supernatural Leadership Conference this past week. Pastor George talked about the glory of the Lord at the conference.
The glory of God is here, and we are in a move of God right now.
Pastor George shared “we're seeing the outpouring of Holy Spirit, and it is exciting to because I was saved in the Jesus revolution of the 70’s and can see this happening again. Except it's not just for a certain group of people. It is a multi-purpose outpouring of Holy Spirit. Every age, every denomination, every color, every person.”
The Spirit of God is pouring out His Spirit on all flesh, everybody.
Isaiah 60 (AMP) “Arise and shine. Be radiant with the glory of God for thy light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.”
Glory means the presence of God heavy with everything good.
During the conference this past week, Lynn Hammond said, “What I have in my heart this morning is the children and the youth.”
She used the example of Joshua in Judges (chapter 2). In the New Living Translation, “After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things that He had done for Israel. The Israelites did evil in the Lord's sight and served the images of baal.” There was a whole generation after the miracles of God, after the amazing things that took place that didn't think about the things of God.
There are things today in our culture and conditions that you may not have grown up with and didn't have to struggle with.
As time goes on, the devil has done his best to distract your attention from the good news of the gospel and bring it literally to the dark side.
This is what Lynn Hammond prayed over the children and the youth.
“Lord, we pray for the youth.
This is a pivotal time in their lives.
Our children must have an encounter with you.
They must come face to face with you, Lord, make yourself known to them.
Nothing will stop this vertical aspect of their relationship with you.
We pray for elementary schools, middle schools, homeschool, high schools, university, and college campuses.
We pray for a divine hunger for the things of God.
Make the arrangements, Lord, get angels on their course.
Let there be divine interventions.
Meet them in a way that they need to be met, cause them to rise into a revolution of our youth and children coming to the Lord.
Personal encounters, Lord, call them by their name.
You know all their names. Let them have conversations with you.
We plead the blood of Jesus over all our children and youth.
Open to them the spirit of wisdom, and revelation in the knowledge of you; so that they would walk uprightly into the glory.
Especially Lord, those who are wandering, we pray strength into them, open their eyes that they might see, open their ears, that they may hear, open their hearts, that they might receive.
Lord, they need a personal face to face encounter with you.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen”
Pastor George shared after hearing this prayer that he was thinking about all of the different people in scripture who had encounters with the Lord, and their lives were completely changed.
Exodus 3:1;
Moses is having a personal face-to-face encounter with God.
“One day, Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro the priest of median. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. There, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement, though the bush was engulfed in flames. It didn't burn up. Moses said to himself, why isn't that bush burning up? I must go see it when the Lords Moses coming to take a closer look. God called to him from the middle of the bush (from the middle of that fire).”
That fire that Moses witnessed was the glory of the Lord.
That fire was the presence of God, heavy with everything good.
God called to him in the middle of the bush. Moses. Moses, He didn't say, Hey, you! He called him by his name. He knows your name!
“Here I am.” That's what your answer needs to be.
“Yes.” When the Lord calls on you.
The Lord said, don't come any closer. Take off your sandals.
God didn't want anything separating Moses from the holy ground. It's allowing the presence of the Lord to start coming up and filling you.
And then the Lord introduced Himself, I am the God of your father. I am God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Let me introduce myself to you.
And what did he do in that moment of encounter? He gave him an assignment.
v.10, Now go. I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people out of Egypt. There's your assignment. Lead them out of Egypt.
I'm expecting this week, encounters that you're going to have. The Lord will speak to you. He will be talking to you. He'll guide you. There's a clarity that comes when you're on an extended time in the presence of God under an anointing, when you're hearing the Word being preached.
Exodus 33:11, inside the tent of meeting the Lord would speak to Moses face-to-face as one speaks to a friend.
Is the Lord your friend?
Pastor George gave the story of Jesse Duplantis, who was planning to spend time on the floor prostrate before the Lord. But the Lord said, “Stand up! I want to go ride motorcycles today.”
Do you think you need to be in a religious posture to hear from the Lord, and fellowship with your friend?
Remember that Holy Spirit is our helper. He will help you pass that course. He will help you in the relationships that you have. But it comes from a deepening of that relationship, and an encounter.
1 Samuel 3
You can hear the voice of the Lord. You can be led by Holy Spirit. You don't have to wait until you're 20, 30, 40 or older. You can start now.
Samuel is a child, and Hannah turned him over to the temple to serve Eli. She returned him to the Lord.
3:1 (NLT)
“Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli. Now, in those days, messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon. One night, Eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed. The lamp of God had not yet gone out. And Samuel was sleeping in the tabernacle near the ark of God.”
Amazing as the ark of God contained the glory of the Lord.
When you go to bed at night, the Spirit of God is right there with you.
Suddenly the Lord called out. “Hey, you!” No. He said, “Samuel?” He called him by name. He knows you. He knows who you are. He knows the struggles. He knows your gifts. He knows your abilities. He knows what you're good at. He knows you!
Samuel hears the Lord speak, but doesn’t recognize it as the Lord. Eli shared to Samuel, this is the Lord. The fourth time Samuel replied, “Speak. Your servant is listening.”
That should be on the tip of our tongue. You wake up in the morning, “Lord speak. Your servant is listening.” He will talk to you.
Then the Lord said to Samuel an assignment.
In John (16:13), Holy Spirit within will show you things to come. And you begin to sharpen your spiritual senses as you become more skillful in the Word.
Spiritual growth does not depend upon age. It depends upon hunger and desire for the Word of God.
Pastor George shared about several personal encounters he had with the Lord between the age of 12 and when he left for Oral Roberts University.
If you walk on the campus of ORU today, there a tree beside “Lake Evelyn.” Pastor George shared this is where he had an encounter with the Lord in August 1975. The Lord said change your major. You’re called to Pastor.
Pastor George shared so much is going on. “And the encounters have not stopped. They've continued. He said, I have these personal face-to-face encounters with Jesus. And the reason I'm saying this to you is I don't know where you're at with your walk with God.”
It’s God’s passion to have personal face to face encounters with you.
He's hungry to spend time with you. Adam and Eve in the garden when they had sinned and they were hiding from God; God comes into the garden and He said, “Where are you?”
Sometimes God says that about us when we get so busy, we don't spend time with Him. He's like, where are you? I wanna spend time with you. I want to talk to you. I want to help you with this situation. We carry a lot of stuff. We carry things on our backs. Not realizing that He's telling us to lay aside every weight and sin.
We need to focus on Him so that we can run the race that's set before us.
Revelation 3:20;
“Look, I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will share a meal together as friends.”
Psalm 8:1-4;
“O Lord , our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou has ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?"
Job 7:17;
“What is man that you should magnify and set your heart upon him and visit him every morning?”
The Lord wants these face-to-face encounters.
Pastor John Jester prayed:
Thank You. Father, I thank you for your precious Holy Spirit.
God, I thank you that these young people have been separated out, that this is an appointment for an encounter with their creator.
Thank you, an appointment for an encounter with the one who knit them in their mother's womb.
God, it's an appointment for an encounter with the God of the universe who knows them by name.
Father, I thank you that as they are separated during this time, that you would speak to them in the innermost parts of their being.
Father, that they would become what you say.
Thank you that they would begin to take on the identity of what you call them.
Father, I thank you that what you call them is higher than anything that has ever been spoken over them in the past.
God, I thank you that what you say about them is the truth and that everything else that is contrary to what You say is wrong.
God, I thank you that your Word this week is going to cancel something that has been spoken over them in the past.
God, I thank you that your words spoken over them is going to be higher in their thinking, higher in their meditation, higher in their eyes, higher in their ears, much higher than the opinion of the world.
Father, I thank you for a ground shaking in every heart.
Father, I thank you that Holy Ghost is going to shake them this week.
And Father, I thank you that the level of encounter will be so magnificent, sir, that they'll take it back to their church, they'll take it back to their school. They'll take it back to their families.
God, I thank you that destinies are going to be set this week.
Thank you, Father.
And God, that they would take you back, hold fast to You and be moved by You in the mighty Name of Jesus.
Father, I thank you that you're healing family relationships.
I thank you that you are doing a work in their family.
Whatever's going on, whatever is happening. I thank you that Holy Spirit is in the midst of this with them. And they'll receive answers for that too.
I thank you, Lord, that their future in You is secure.
You've called them, You've anointed them, You've appointed them.
Lord, I'm thinking right now about another encounter, Jeremiah.
Jeremiah didn't think he was able to be the prophet that you called him to be. But Father, I thank you that he was encouraged by you and did what he was called to do.
Joshua didn't think he could take the children of Israel into the promised land, but you said over and over again, fear not.
Fear not wherever your foot is; “Yes is the land. Yes.”
And so, Lord, I thank you that you are doing a work in all of us.
Thank you, Lord.
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