--PRE-SERVICE PRAYER--

Focus: Doors

Foundation Scripture: John 20:25-26 BSB

Prayer Points:
1. We don’t lock any doors that shouldn’t be locked
2. Jesus opens doors that may be hindering us
3. Made aware that God is with us, and we have Peace in the waiting season

There were about about major 26 World Empires that ruled major land mass, population, resources, and trade. However, each one fell due to reasons including: sickness/disease, poverty, financial collapse & crime, and war. But the collapse of an Empire didn’t just happen in a year or even a couple of years, there’s a pattern of behavior that gave destruction access. The pattern is as follows:

9 stages of rise & fall of an empire:

1. Bondage to spiritual faith
2. Spiritual faith to great courage
3. Great courage to liberty
4. Liberty to abundance
5. Abundance to selfishness
6. Selfishness to complacency
7. Complacency to apathy
8. Apathy to dependence
9. Dependable to bondage.

Sir Alex Fraser Tyler (1742-1813), Scottish jurist & historian

What happens to an empire first happens in the hearts of individuals, then families, then communities, and explodes from there because people act out of their current state.

God’s very own people, who He has delivered again, and again, and now, again, have fallen into sin by living by the practices of the ungodly people around them, sin, in all its forms (oppression, poverty, violence, sickness & disease) have taken over. The people cry out to God but still want Him to respond the way THEY want Him to respond. God will only do things His way.

Great faith, courage, liberty, & abundance is what Adam & Eve were born into.

Then, over time, the enemy convinced them of an insufficiency and that they needed to be like God. That God was being selfish by withholding some power away from them.

In their selfishness and apathy, they disobeyed.

Then came dependence which led to bondage.

To stay in the “blessing” is stay in gratitude, love, and servitude towards God and man. God’s greatest expression of this is living this out and sharing with others.

How many of you believe that you love God?

If you love someone, you’re not trying to keep in a secret. You put that love on full display.

When Jesus asked Peter if he loved him, Jesus’ command after Peter’s answer was, “feed my sheep then lambs twice”.

Lifeway Research

58% feel comfortable sharing their faith

78% seldom do share their faith

59% never invited anyone to church

Our role today:

1. Know your spiritual identity.

KJV:
Sanctified = separate, made Holy, sacred, and pure
Preserved = protected, guard against, watched over, and to have escaped (as in sin).

Because of who we ARE, not who we were, do we now have the responsibility to receive God’s love, love God, ourselves, and others enough to be SALT & LIGHT to a dying and dark world.

2. Fight!

The believer will be judged on how well they walked in their salvation…

3. Pray! You are a product of prayers for you and from you

He’ll even take the burden if we’re willing to take on HIS burden which He said is light….

4. Pay Attention: Warning Signs

The rise and fall of a couple different nations: Egypt & Sodom & Gomorrah. Their destruction was unavoidable because of the sin that crept in because of apathy.

HE saved but some rejected Him and were destroyed
HE called but some rebelled
HE created but some abused
HE has always preserved a remnant because God and you are the majority!

5. Evangelize and disciple

6. Stay blessed

When you become an unashamed believer of Jesus Christ, you are marked for a good life!

Of the millionaires & billionaires of the world:

56.2% identify as Christian
6.5% Muslim
3.9% Hindu
1.7% Jew
Fortune.com/2022

Religious people who are active worshippers are 55% less likely to die than their secular counterparts.Time.com

Christian marriages:
Christians are 27-50% less likely to divorce.

There are tangible benefits for the committed Christian that even the secular world has to recognize.

And the way God secured us in His love is by giving us His ongoing presence named Holy Spirit…

CREED

I am a part of the fellowship of the unashamed.
I am saved and dangerous.
I am radically committed.
The I have Holy Spirit power.
The die is cast. I’ve stepped over the line.
The decision has been made.
I am now a disciple of HIS.
I won’t look back, slow down, slack up, back away, or be still.
My past is redeemed.
My presence makes sense.
And my future is secure.
I am finished and done with low living, side walking, small planning, smooth mere colorless dreams, tainted visions, mundane talking, chinchy giving, and dwarf goals.
I no longer need man’s preeminence position, promotion, applause, or popularity.
Jesus has made my life right, first, tops, and victorious.
He is the one to be recognized, praised, regarded, and rewarded.
I now live by His presence
Learn by faith
Love by patience
Lean in by prayer
Labor by power
I have no doubts, No borders, no limits, no fear.
My face is set, my gate is fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow.
My way is plain, my companions are few, my God is reliable, my mission is clear.
I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, diluted or delayed.
I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice.
Hesitate in the presence of adversity.
Negotiate at the table of the enemy.
Ponder at the pool of popularity.
Meander and a maze at mediocrity.
I won’t give up, shut up, let up, slow up, until I’m preached up, prayed up, stored up, stayed up for the cause of Christ.
My destiny is irrevocable. My call is unchangeable. My boldness is unstoppable. My passion is undeniable.
For I am a disciple of Jesus.
I must go until He comes.
Give until I am on top.
Preach until all know.
And work until He stops.
And when He comes to get his own, He’ll have no problem recognizing

Linked UP Church, My community, My family, and Me.