Anne Graham Lotz - Spirit Led, Bondage Broken

- Thank you, I feel so humbled. And can you all hear me? This is my, I didn't do a sound check, so you can be seated. But a thrilling worship and to be in this place and since the love of the Lord, not only His love for you, but the church's love for you. You know that when I come in here, I always feel loved and honored and just to hear the leaders of this church talking about you behind, you know, back in the green room, they love you and they're praying for you, they care about you, they want you to break through and experience the freedom that God has given us in Jesus. So I'm honored to be here. Very thankful that Pastor Tim and Cindy would consider me family, I would say I'm a New Yorker by marriage, my husband was born and raised in Flushing, his father. (audience applauding) His father was preaching small churches, his last church was on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, but he preached in there was 80s. So when my husband was in high school, they moved out to Northport, Long Island, and that's where I visited him and his family when we first started dating. So I was born and raised in the mountains of North Carolina, so I'm gonna tell you that the city is a little intimidating for me, but I love the city and I brought my two daughters with me,

they say that the city is in their DNA, they just love it, they went out and walked the streets today, they just loved the bustle and the hustle and so I'm just so glad to be here with you and that's Pastor Tim would entrust to me the privilege of sharing God's word with you. So thank you and those who are joining online, welcome, pray with me for a moment. So Lord Jesus, we come now and we thank you for your presence in this place. Thank you that you do love each one of us as though there was only one of us to love. And we love you and we want our lives to reflect all that you died and rose to give us. So we don't want to stay in the darkness, we don't want to stay in the shackles, we don't want to stay in the prison of unforgiveness or bitterness, we're praying that tonight, you would pinpoint what it is that's blocking us from the freedom that you died to give us. So I pray now that you would take this message, that you would bless it, that you would speak to us through it, that we would hear the still small whisper of the Holy Spirit telling us what we need to do in order to be free from that which is bound us. And so we give this message to you asking for the fullness of your blessing on it. If you don't bless us, we won't be blessed. So we ask for it in Jesus name, amen. So I think this is popping a little bit

but I hope that it's okay, it's it. So years ago, my husband went to the doctor and it was just for an annual physical. But as he walked out of the doctor's office, he said, you know, my chest feels tight and the doctor didn't even hesitate. He just sent my husband straight to the hospital. He called me, he said, pack him a bag and meet him at the hospital. So I went to the hospital and that night they did a heart catheterization. It's where they take a little camera. I don't know how they do it in a little something, brother. And they put it up through his artery and they go into his heart and they look around in his heart. So after the procedure, the doctor took me into the operating room and he showed me on the monitor what he had seen in my husband's heart. And it was a blockage that was about 95% blockage of what they called the widow maker. So my husband was on the verge of a major life-threatening heart attack and he didn't even know it. He just felt there was a little uncomfortable. And I found in my own life that if I'm not careful, I could have a blockage. It's a, I'm going to take my ear and I'll okay. All right, I'm going to give it to my daughter. This is Mauro. There. If this works, it's okay.

If that was my earring, I took it off, okay. Yeah, take it. Sorry about that. I knew something was popping. I didn't know what it was. But anyway, I think sometimes in our lives, we don't know what's wrong. We just feel a tightness. We feel bound. We don't feel the freedom that was being expressed on this platform tonight, but we don't know why. And so I think from time to time in my life, I need a spiritual heart catheterization because I don't know what the problem is. And that's what took place in Revelation chapters two and three. And in these churches, it's like he's shining the light of his word into the church, revealing to them a blockage they didn't know they had. So I don't know if you brought your Bible tonight, but we're going to go through three of the churches. I'll watch my time and see how many churches I can go into, Sweet Amy said I could take as much time as I wanted. So many people go through all of them to touch on all of them. But the first one I want to talk about is Ephesus. Revelation chapter two versus one to seven. And I will tell you this about these letters. Each letter has the same pattern. They all begin with Jesus identifying himself in a way that's relevant for that church. And then he goes through, so it's like he's saying,

look at me, focus on me. And then he says, learn from me. I know what you're doing right, and he commends them. I know what you're doing wrong, he convicts them. And then he says, I know what you need to do, and he corrects them. And then at the end, he says, listen to me. And he has a principle for us to learn and a promise to claim. So that's the same pattern for all seven churches. So let's take it for the first one, an Ephesus. And I will tell you this about Ephesus. It was a church that the people in the church were pretty much in their second generation of knowing Jesus. So they were raised in a Christian home. They were raised in the church. They had been under excellent leadership. And the apostle Paul had established the church. The apostle John had been a pastor. Timothy was a superintendent. So I identified with the church at Ephesus, because I was raised in a Christian home. Raised in the church, I've been under excellent leadership, not just in my home, but people whose books I've read, or videos I've watched, or people have mentored me. So I wonder if there's somebody here like that. So somebody who was raised in a Christian home. And I know if you're a member of Times Square Church, you've been under some excellent leadership. And maybe it's not just live leadership,

but those that you listen to their podcasts, you read their books. And so I identified with this church. And I think if you identify with it, then it may be that what God saw in the church at Ephesus is what he sees in my life and your life. And I know he's spoken to me from this letter. So he says, look at me. So he asks us to focus on him. And he says, in verse one, these are the words of him. It was the seven stars in his right hand, and walks among the seven lampstands. From the end of chapter one, we know the stars are the, we're going to just say the people of the church, or the leaders of the church. The lampstand was the church. So let me just apply it this way. Jesus says, look at me. So where are you looking? Focusing on somebody who didn't show up tonight. Somebody that did show up and you can't believe they're here, or, you know. So Jesus says, look at me. Look at Jesus. Put your focus on Jesus. And he says, I hold you in my right hand. I hold in my right hand, my comb, my brush, my pen, my fork, things I use. And I believe he's saying, I want to use you, and I'm here in your midst tonight.

He's walking among this lampstand. So do you know that Jesus is here? I believe this is a divine appointment for you. So look at Jesus. I believe he has a word for you. Then he says, learn from me. I know what you're doing right. And he commends the Ephesian church. He says, I know your deeds, your hard work, your perseverance, they were discerning, they could pick out false teachers, even in verse five I think it was. It said he hated what he hated. Interesting, I won't go down that rabbit trail, but sometimes hatred is a Christ-like emotion, especially if it's against evil. But anyway, he was just applauding them. And I think about this event and the music team, so I don't know their names, but they've led us in worship, and I don't know who put all their instruments out here, and I don't know who turned on the lights, and I don't know who opened the doors, and I don't know who's arranged the program, and, but Jesus said, I know, I know your deeds. And it may be there's somebody here, your name will never be on a program, you'll never be on a platform, maybe you're not recognized, except by those in your family,

but Jesus says, I know your deeds, I know your hard work, I know your perseverance. And if you get nothing else from this message, I want you to get this, there's no hope to this, okay? It's just heaven's applause. In a world that's apathetic, complacent, and actually becoming hostile, Jesus says, thank you for what you're doing for me, even if it's just to be kind to a stranger, smile at somebody in the store, or, you know, give a cold drink to somebody on the street, or, you know, it can be a simple, small, but Jesus says, I know what you're doing for me. Thank you. So, he commands them. And then he says, I want to convict you. So, this is the blockage in verse four, when he says, thank you for all you're doing for me, And a first love is emotional, it's affectionate. I don't know if you remember when you first fell in love with your spouse. I remember when I first fell in love with Danny Lott's and I just couldn't talk to him enough. I wanted to tell him about everything. And then I couldn't listen to him. And if I wanted him to tell me everything and we spent as much time together as we could. And I remember when I fell in love with Jesus. I just couldn't talk to him enough in prayer. I couldn't hear him enough.

I wanted to read my Bible all the time, you know? And you're just in love with him. That's a first love. And the Ephesian church had lost it. And he held that against them. So do you remember what it was like to be in love with Jesus? When you first got saved and you broke free from the guilt and you knew your sins were forgiven and you came to church and you heard the worship and it's exciting and you were in love with Jesus, you remember when you lose it, it's a long way down, isn't it? So it was quite some time ago, I taught a Bible class for 12 years, never missed a class 'cause I wanted to learn everything that the Lord had for me, it was a weekly class. Then he called me out into an itinerant ministry and before I left I was responsible for training 65 liters and I told them, just be careful, don't put the mechanics of the class before the ministry. Don't let anything rob you of your love for Jesus. So I went out into an itinerant ministry and that was what I was telling myself. And you need to make sure that you maintain your love relationship with Jesus. So the first thing I did was a pastor's conference in Fiji and I had maybe six sessions and that other speaker wanted to sit on the beach and so he dumped his sessions on me and I had 500 pastors and I was doing session

after session after session. I came back to this country, I was asked to go to Brazil to speak at a Congress on evangelism and I went down there and spoke to them and then somebody heard I was there so they asked me to go south Brazil to speak to a youth congress, which I did and I came back and I was just speaking and traveling and I knew when I went into church, I never entered into the worship and when I opened my Bible, I didn't seem to hear the spirits whispers and when I prayed, my prayers didn't seem to go past the ceiling, but I thought I was just tired. I thought it was just jet lag. And then I happened to be in this passage and I heard the spirit say and I know your deeds. I know what you did in Fiji and Brazil and all the things that you're doing and your hard work, your perseverance, thank you and I could hear heaven's applause. But and you're losing your love for me and I went to the next verse on you that wasn't me because I'd go around the world telling other people how to love Jesus, you know and you know how the spirit does when he convicts you, you just can't get away from him, you brought me back to that verse and I knew he was seeing a blockage that I didn't know was there and so I got on my knees

and my tears coming down my cheeks and I said, all right Lord, what is it that you see? And he saw that I was losing, I wasn't just, you know jet lag and all that over, there was a lot of that in it but it's busyness that had crowded out in our worship and my time with him. The blockage was busyness, putting the work before the worship and so I said, Lord, what do I do? How do I get the love for you back? So in verse five he told me three things. He said, one, remember the height from which you've fallen. Remember what it was like when you were in love with me and I could remember and let me ask you, can you remember when that was in your life? And if you've never been in love with Jesus can I just tell you, you're missing the pinnacle of the Christian life. So it's not just, you know, being a Christian isn't just a to do list. Being a Christian is a love relationship with the God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And when you're in love with him and you spend time with him and you want to spend more time and you hear from him and you read your Bible and you lose that, then you just become mechanical, perfunctory, you're just going through the motions in your Christian life. So it wasn't jet lag, I could remember. And then he said, and repent.

And repent means turn away from that, stop not loving me. And I said, but if I first love his emotional passion or affectionate, I can't control those things. So how do I stop not having them? So he told me the third thing. The third thing was to return to the things I did at first. And I knew exactly what he was doing. any fresh Bible study for myself since I started that itinerant ministry and I was just turning it out and so I repented. I picked up a legal pad and a pen and I opened up my Bible and began to do an in-depth study of the book of Revelation and I will just tell you this, that in-depth Bible study but the Spirit said to me through the book of Revelation I wrote down, it became the first book that I published in 1998. I won a gold medallion for excellence in its category, it was just re-released this last summer but I'll tell you that because that book, the vision of his glory, is the fruit of my repentance. That came as a result of me desperate to get my love for him back in my life. So I've returned to the first things but then he also said, and you come back to the first thing of the cross. You come back and confess your lack of love for me for the sin that it is, the greatest commandment, the love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. So could it be that the greatest sin is not stealing or murder or adultery, the greatest sin is not loving the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. So I've repented, I've returned to the first things within a week's time. When I went to church I entered into the worship, when I prayed I felt like I was connecting and when I opened my Bible I could hear the Spirit of Whispering, not every day but you know the Word comes alive to you. And I want to tell you something I never want to lose that and I'll be honest with you. I've come very close in the last six months. I've been so busy, busy, busy, busy but I make sure that I spend time every day just with him, just to hear his voice, just to speak to him. I found myself last night when I couldn't sleep in my spirit. I was singing and I can't sing but the praise courses you know how they stay with you and I could just in my spirit I was singing and praising during the night and the love is there. Tiredness, yes, the weariness, yes, but the love for Jesus is there so I want to ask you if you've lost your love for him. Remember the heights, be willing to repent, to stop just gutting it out in the Christian life, stop being perfunctory, mechanical, just going through the motions.

How returned to what you did at first? What were you doing when you were in love with Jesus that you're not doing now? Could it be different for each one of us, maybe for you it is Bible study, maybe it's Bible reading daily, maybe it has something to do with your prayer time, maybe it's when you first came to Christ you were sharing the gospel, maybe you know I don't know what it could be but I'm praying the Holy Spirit even now is bringing it to your mind. It also could be something that wasn't something that was in your life that you've allowed to drop out but something that wasn't in your life that you've allowed to creep in and I'll tell you something sin will rob you of your awareness of God's love for you and your love for him. You'll think you've lost your salvation if you live in that kind of sin. You won't once you're saved, you're saved but you can lose that sense of his presence and his love in your life and so whatever it is would you remember what it was like when you were in love with Jesus and there's the freedom in it, isn't it? Your sins are forgiven, your guilt is removed, you know heaven has been open for you, the spirit of God lives within you and somehow it gets crowded out and becomes complicated. So remember, repent and return. Listen to me the spirit says, a principle is this that love for Jesus must come first. He wants your love more than all of the service combined. He wants who you are more than what you do for him. So is there somebody putting your work before your worship? Put your worship back first and actually never cease to worship and as you worship and love the Lord and praise him from that attitude of worship, that's where your work flows. It flows from your heart of love for him. The principle, he says in verse 7, he says, I'll give you the right to eat of the tree of life, excuse me the promise, I'll give you the right to eat of the tree of life, the tree of life represent the eternal life. So if you put love for him back first, you can eat him, you'll be satisfied in that relationship with the Lord. And you'll be in the paradise of God that's living in his presence, that awareness of his presence in your life. Oh my goodness, if you lose that awareness, if you lose that love for him, the Christian life just almost becomes a burden. So somebody here needs to break free from whatever is causing you to have lost that first love, business, the work that you're doing for him, that maybe it's just your work work, your day job, but just so busy that you've allowed it to crowd him out. So those who overcome, put love for Jesus back first in your life. Do you hear what the Spirit is saying? Amy was talking about how the Spirit spoke during the Spirit speaks to me through his Word. And I'm praying he would speak to you through this passage.

Do you hear what the Spirit is saying? Put love for Jesus back first. A church at Ephesus did not pay attention, they did not hear, and there's nothing but ruins there. You can walk through the ruins of Ephesus today. The next church, just for the time, I'm going to just do three churches. And then if I have time, I'll go back and pick up some of the other ones. But actually, I do want to touch on one. The program will skip a Smyrna. They had no blockage at all in that church. I see a tendency for blockage because he says in verse 10, "Don't be afraid." And it was because they had been persecuted. And I think if you share the gospel, Amy told some wonderful stories about when she had prayed with somebody and they wanted the prayer, or when she met with a family and they wanted to reconcile. But what if you prayed for somebody, you say, "I want to pray for you," and they jumped down your throat. Who do you think you are? Or you go in and you share the gospel with somebody and they jump down your throat and say, "We all have our own religions. We all have our own gods." And when you do that, then the next time you have opportunity, you may not take it. So Jesus told the church at Smyrna, "Don't be afraid." I wonder if they were afraid of more persecution if they were bold. So just take that word. Church at Smyrna did. There's still a Christian church in that city. It's not called Smyrna. It's Izmir. It's on the western coast of Turkey. But Pergamum, I just like to touch on, won't go into it. But Pergamum, the blockage, was, I don't know exactly what to call it. Maybe progressiveness, but it was a church that was planted in a town that had a large medical university. It had a library of 200,000 cuneiform tablets. It was up and coming.

And people were excited that church was planted there because they wanted the church to impact such a significant city. And instead, the city impacted the church. And pretty soon, you couldn't tell the difference between the church and the people outside the church. And one reason was because they allowed to come into the church people who did not God's word, diluted God's word, distorted God's word, disobeyed God's word, pulled them away from God's word. So that's just what I want to emphasize. This is God's word. From Genesis to Revelation, don't let anybody pull you away from it. So they say it holds this or it has contradictions or it has errors. It does not. This is God's word. God is the gentleman. He keeps his word. And the Bible says amen. And the Bible says that it was inspired by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. He doesn't mock us. So if you say it has errors or miss, you're slurring the integrity of the Holy Spirit. So you can believe God's word. You may not understand it all. I don't. But I believe every word of it is true. Jesus said not one. Jardah Tittle would pass away until all is fulfilled. God's word is forever settled in heaven. The Bible says. So read your Bible. Read your Bible. Read your Bible in this crazy day in which we live. Where you have truth and I have truth and they have truth and somebody else has truth. This is the truth. Jesus said I am the truth and the living word and the written word. And that's the foundation on which you can build your life. God's word works.

He keeps his word. So read your Bible. A church at Pergamum did not. There's nothing left there but ruins today. Church at Fire Tower, I'll just touch on it. Longest letter in this list, these seven churches, the longest letter was to Fire Tower. Tiny little church and a tiny little city and yet they provoked the wrath of Jesus. He looked at them with eyes of blazing fire. to the point where he says what he held against them. The blockage was sexual immorality. Compromise with the world and I'm here to tell you I don't even have to apply that go into it but you can just walk through Times Square you can just turn on your TV you can just look at the news on your computer and you're bombarded with sexual temptation and it's just an ache for those of you who are parents raising young children or teenagers because it's just everywhere it's thick so all I know is that God says be holy as he is holy he commands holiness from his people so in holding the best definition for holiness is just to be like Jesus and in Jesus there was no sinfulness at all and I think the blockage in Pergamum was just that sinfulness and maybe indulging in sin you think nobody sees you when you're on your computer and you're back in a darkened room and you're into that pornography and it's like a poison you know just ruin of the file your whole life and Jesus said if you don't remove it then it will affect you will make you spiritually think if not physically think it did the person who is leading them into it and then it affected the children and the family and so do you hear what the spirit is saying make sure there's nothing whether it's virtual sexual immorality or literal sexual immorality whatever it is cut it out and I know some of those things become addiction you get help and I know this church would have people who would help you with that but don't live your life addicted and bound about that chain okay he will break you free of it because he demands you to be holy and then he will give you the holy spirit it will help make you holy but you have to do your part and put it out of your life so the church at Thyatara did not and you know they're not even rocks in a field anymore it's just erased from the map the next church that I would like to talk about is chapter three verse one the church at Sardis and Sardis is one that God used to speak to me and so he says in verse one these are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars

so the seven spirits of God that's just another name for the holy spirit so it's a picture of Jesus holding the balance scales and so the seventh the holy spirit is on one side and the leaders or the church members are on the other side you know people say well God will weigh my good deeds against my bad deeds and my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds and he will let me into heaven and actually he will weigh us but he doesn't weigh our good deeds against our bad deeds he weighs all of our deeds our lives against the perfection of the holy spirits and he told Sardis you don't measure up the only thing he could commend them for was that they knew some people who are right with him so then he says in verse one wake up you have a reputation for being alive but you are dead wake up your deeds are not complete in my sight and the Lord spoke to me from this chapter years ago and he said and I've weighed you in the balances and I found that you've come up short and then he said you need to wake up you have a reputation for being alive and I went around the world speaking I had a reputation for being alive but he said as I said you're dying you need to wake up and strengthen that which remains and I knew exactly what he was talking about he was talking about my early morning prayer time because I'm such a sleepyhead you know I love to go to bed I love the sleep I love the sleep in the morning when I know I need to get up I just you know I just can't quite get up so I would roll over and get 10 more minutes of sleep and then I've slept through my quiet time and my prayer time and then I get up and I hit the day running and he said and that won't do your deeds are incomplete because they're not based in prayer and I had other people who prayed for me and I substituted their prayers for my prayers but that's not enough you have to pray yourself you know and so I went down to the mall up on an alarm clock that when it went off it sounded like a five-bell alarm you know just shake you in your heart was beating and you'd never go back to sleep so the first morning I said it and I and that thing went off when I wanted to get up and my poor husband he jumped up and he said and what are you doing and and so I told him and I just pulled the covers over and said he was so disgusted I should have warned him you know but but I got up and I did that every morning until I trained myself to wake up even before the alarm so I could make time to be with the Lord so you know you can do some practical things and I'll tell you maybe I'll just ask you there's somebody here who needs to wake up how's your prayer life your prayer life you know does you don't have to just have a monologue I could I could not have a monologue with God like that I'm not a prayer like that I thought Amy's

prayer was magnificent she just cut loose and and I just so admire somebody who just let it flow like that but but especially in private I can't you know so when I meet the Lord in the morning I open up his word and I read a few verses and then I'll I want to hear what he has to say and then I'll talk to him about what I've read and what it seems to say to me or maybe apply to somebody else sometimes I can hear the whisper speaking through that word for somebody and I'll text them right there for my quiet time or I'll email them and and just you know it's really sweet how the Lord has used that and then I'll read a few old devotional books and then I'll get into his word take a little paragraph of verses and just ask myself what does it say list the facts what do those facts mean find a lesson from each fact what does it mean to me and I'll put the lesson through a form of a question to ask myself and I'll listen for the spirit to whisper to me through the word he doesn't do that every morning but he does that enough so that it makes me want to jump out of bed I want to spend time with him so in order to maintain that first love and your relationship with him and not lose it you need as Pergamum did not to spend time in his word and believe his word and approach his word by face knowing that it's God's word and he speaks through his word but then it takes time doesn't it spend in prayer and just when can you carve out time I carve out time in the morning because a person who mentored me hope mentor me she said if you pray at the end of the day it's like tuning your violin when the symphony is over you know and so you want to tune your violin tune your spirit for singing the morning then you're less likely to make all those mistakes during the day so I do it in the morning but whatever is the best time for you it can be noon it can be at night but I want to get up and start my day with him and just listen to what he has to say tell him what's on my heart read his word apply it so what blessing could you be missing because you're not spending time with him like that I have a designated place in my home chair beside my fireplace and I have beside that chair my devotional Bible not this one this is the one I travel with but I have a devotional Bible that I never travel with it's always right

there a pair of glasses pen pencil notebook devotional books Kleenex and so I don't have to go running looking for them in the morning if you do that you're going to get distracted and you may not come back to your prayer time so you hear what the spirit saying think the principle is that God doesn't look on an outward appearance he's not impressed with our reputation he looks on the heart so sometimes we don't know what he sees until he reveals it to us so what would he reveal to you about your prayer life about the time you're spending with him or not spending with him and it's not something you have to do it's something you I mean you do have to do it in a sense but but you want to do it if you're in love with him the joy of your life is spending time with him hear anybody as to say telling him what's on your heart what your concerns are so the promise I loved what we sang I think that you'll be dressed in white and you give you a new name so a name that only he knows and dressed in white I think it means that he's going to make you so right with him so filled with the spirit other people they may not know exactly what it is in your life but those sense Jesus in your life they'll say something of his reflection in the purity and the beauty of your life so the blockage for me was prayerlessness so do you hear what the spirit saying would you ask him to help you remove that by putting prayer back in as a priority in your life so we can have a breakthrough but we have to do our part right the church at Sardis was not listening there's nothing there but ruins today the fifth church or excuse me it's the sixth church on this list was Philadelphia and this is another one that the Lord spoke to me these are the words of Him who is holy and true, who holds the keys of David. And I think the keys of David are keys to doors of opportunity in our lives. So who did you think holds the keys? You think it's your boss, your employer, your spouse, somebody in this church. You know, who do you think holds the keys

to the doors of opportunity for you? Jesus says, I hold the keys. And I cannot tell you, as a woman in ministry, what that is meant to me. Because I've had people close doors on me and it doesn't matter. 'Cause I know if Jesus wants to, He can open them, right? So I'm not trying to make a name for myself, make a ministry for myself. I'm just seeking to follow Him where He leads, and if He leads me, He's gonna open doors. And so anyway, learn from me, He says, I know what you're doing right. In verse eight, He says, I know your deeds. You have a little strength, you've kept my word, you've not denied my name. And then He says, I know what you're doing wrong. Nothing, this is another church. There was no blockage in the church at Philadelphia. And by the way, this is Philadelphia, Turkey, not Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, okay? (audience laughs) Just to be clear. But there was nothing blocking, but I see the tendency for blockage in this church because I saw it in my own life. And it's when He says, I know you have a little strength. And He spoke to me through this passage when He called me in the ministry outside of my home. And would you believe that's now 50 years ago?

He called me to do ministry outside of my home. (audience applauds) And my children were five, three, and 10 months old. And He opened the door for me to teach a Bible class. And I said, I won't go through the details, but He opened the door for me to teach a Bible class in my city. And I said, Jesus, I can't do that. And the Spirit seemed to whisper, I know Anne. And I love the fact that He didn't say, yes, you can. If you just work hard and you've just got more ability than you know, He agreed with me. I said, Lord, I can't, and He agreed, and I know you can't, but I can. And I said, Lord, I am weak, and I was. I've never been strong physically, but He said, that's okay, I know that too, but I'm strong. And I said, Lord, I'm totally inadequate. And He said, that's okay too, because I'm sufficient. Walk through the open door. So can I ask you what door is the open for you? Opportunity in your workplace. Opportunity in this church. Opportunity for a missions trip. Or, you know, I don't know to share the gospel with a neighbor. I don't know what the opportunity would be. I pray He'll bring it to your mind, but an open door. He doesn't mean to open the door so that you can peek through it just to be curious what's on the other side. He means for you to walk through it.

So finally, when I couldn't argue with him, you know, and I just had to say, yes, sir, because if I didn't walk through the open door, I could no longer call him, my Lord. And I knew that would have repercussions all through my Christian life. So he is my Lord, and he was my Lord at that point. So I just said, yes, sir. And I said, Lord, in verse 11, He says, hold on to what you have. And I said, okay, what do I have? I know what I don't have. I don't have much strength. I don't have much time. Got these three little children. I don't have much education. I don't have much money. I don't have much experience. I just have little bits. And he said, so I said, what do I have? And he whispered, and you have me, and you have my words. Walk through the open door. So I walked through that open door. 500 women showed up. I taught that class for 12 years, never missed a class. And then God called me out to go into an itinerant ministry. And when He called me, and I was getting invitations from around the world, and I said, Lord, I can't do that. And He said, I know, but I can. And I said, Lord, I'm weak. And He said, I know that too, but I'm strong. And I said, Lord, I'm completely inadequate for this.

And He said, I know that too, and but I'm sufficient. Walk through the open door. And I knew better than to keep arguing. I just said, yes, sir, holding on to what I have, which is the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word. And I've been walking through open doors ever since. And can I tell you something? It's the most exciting thing. It's like Peter in the boat, when the storm hit, and then Jesus is walking on the water, and they all think it's a ghost, and they're scared, and then Jesus said, "Peace, it's I, be not afraid." And Peter says, "Lord, if it is you, bid me come." So Jesus said, "All right, Peter, you can come." And Peter put that hairy leg with a sandal on top of the raging water and stepped out of that boat, and he walked on the water until he looked at the waves. And then he fell and he cried out in Jesus, caught him. And I have no doubt they walked back on top of the water to get into the boat. And what I want to point out is that Peter had to get out of his comfort zone, didn't he? In order to experience the power of God to enable him to do something he couldn't possibly do on his own. And that's the exciting thing. That's the adventure of the Christian life. It's getting out there and doing things. If he bid you, I mean, if you get out of the boat in something like that, and he hadn't told you to come, you're in trouble.

So you want to follow his leading. But if he opens a door for you and you walk through it and just see what he can do in and through your life if you make yourself available. So what door is he open? So don't stay in your comfort zone. Those other disciples, they never experience the power of God like Peter did. And I want to experience that kind of power. I want to walk on the water. I'm not satisfied with just sitting in the boat with everybody else. So you're here with the spirit of saying, the principle, and I love this, God is attracted to weakness. Did you know that? In adequacy and weakness can result in a total dependency upon him. And he can use somebody who's dependent on him. I think you and I just have to make sure that our weakness in inadequacy doesn't translate into disobedience because we say we can't do that. After 50 years, I now know by experience that I can't do this. I know by experience I'm too weak. I know by experience I'm completely inadequate for some of these doors that I've walked through. But I've learned by experience. If I'll just make myself available, he'll do in and through me what I can't do myself.

And that's the joy. That's the discovery of the power of God in your life. So don't settle for staying in the boat. Don't settle for just warming up you. Step out and discover experience God for who he is. Amen. [APPLAUSE] So the promise-- actually, I'll give you the warning. In verse 11, he says, I'm coming soon. And that's a whole other message. But I believe he's coming very soon. The light is coming, and it may just come into the city. I pray it doesn't, but things are getting tough in the city, everywhere, actually. And time is short. He's coming soon. The night is coming when nobody can work. So experience the joy in the time that's left, what it means to serve him with all of your heart. So the promise in verse 12, he said, he would make me like a strong pillar in the temple of my God. And I think what that means is that when I depend on him and he fills me and he comes through me, people won't even know how weak in an adequate I am. I'll look like a strong pillar to him. And when you step out like that, people will see you. They'll see you as a strong pillar in the temple of your God. Right in God's presence, they'll see your strength and your authority and your confidence, your boldness,

your love for him that transcends everything, your faith in his word, the fact that you're pure, though immorality in your life, you're bold, you're not afraid. Even if you get people jumping down your throat, you go ahead and lift up the name of Jesus. So do you hear what the spirit is saying? The blockage, I think, would be timidness, just afraid to walk through that open door. Philadelphia was listening. There's still a Christian church in that city today. The last church, I'll just touch on this Laodicea. Laodicea was, church maybe could be like this, or one of the ones on Park Avenue, or, you know, it was in a great city. They were prosperous. They were leaders. They were business executives. They had it all together. And Jesus came to them. He didn't see anything to commend them. he wanted to spit them out of his mouth. They made him physically sick, and I think the lukewarmness could be just lukewarm, they didn't really care about him, they didn't care about the gospel, they didn't care about a lost and dying world, they just cared about themselves, but I think it means that they were totally useless to him, and they were useless, and this is the blockage, it was prod, prodfulness. They didn't think they needed a savior,

they didn't think they were sinners, they thought, you know, I'm better than this person, I'm not as bad as that person, I'm okay, I deserve to go to heaven, God will let me in, they had no idea they were pitiful and poor and blind and naked, Jesus said. So in verse 19, I love this because he says, those whom I love, I rebuke and chafe, Jesus loved the proud Laodiceans, and if there's somebody here, somebody watching online, and your pride has kept you from the cross, you've never humbled yourself, and confessed that you're a sinner, you've never asked him to forgive you of your sin believing Jesus died, if you have nobody else needed a savior, you did, and you've never come to the cross like that, and humbled yourself. Claim Jesus as your savior, because you don't think you need it, you know, you're good, you're kind, you're compassionate. Help other people, you come to church, call yourself a Christian, so, you know, you just, that was the Laodiceans. So in verse 20, Jesus says that famous verse that we use in evangelism training, but it really was given to the church, it was given to people who called themselves Christians who thought they were okay, and he said, behold, I stand at the door and knock,

if anybody hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into them and fellowship with him, and he with me, he was on the outside of that church, knocking to be let in. There's somebody here, he's knocking on your door tonight, and the bondage that you're under is that bondage of guilt, the bondage of sin we sang about the freedom, but if you were honest, you're not experiencing it, because you have never humbled yourself. Come to the cross, listen to me, the principle is this, listen to what the spirit is saying, Jesus said, you must be born again, there's no option. Religion is not enough, in fact, I think religion gets in the way, actually. Jesus is not offering your religion, he's offering you a personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, you invite him to come in, you have fellowship with him, you have a personal relationship with him, so you hear what the spirit is saying. Church at Laos, they say it did not, so they're just ruins there, you can walk through them. So tonight, you want to break through, and I believe God is right here wanting to help you do that, whatever the shackles are, whatever the bondage is, but you have to do your part, and I have to do my part. We have to be courageous enough to look into our hearts and see what God sees, and I know, because he's taken me through time of repentance that was so spiritually painful,

he was seeing things I didn't see in myself until he revealed them to me through the light of his word. So let him search your heart, that's what King David prayed, and so on 139, he prayed, "Search me, O God, and try my heart." Look into, I'd see if there's any wicked way in me, and if there is, leave me in the way of our lasting. So ask God to search your heart. So maybe it's one of these blockages that were in these churches. The church's emphasis, just a business, your work is crowded out, your worship, you've lost your first love, or would you tell him that tonight? You want it back, seeking with all of your heart. The church at Samarna, just fearfulness, afraid of sharing with God's book, 'cause the last time you did, they jumped down your throat. Church at Pergamum, thinking they had outgrown God's word, they no longer needed to come to it as a simple child by faith. Put God's word back in your life. Oh, he loves you and he'll speak to you through it. Church at Thyatara, the sinfulness in particular immorality, unless this be the light, you say no. You no longer indulge in that, quit it, cut it out. Jesus said it'd be better if you cut your hand off and it would lead you into sin or gouge your eyes and he didn't mean that physically, but just you just got to cut it out.

Get help if you need it. And the church at Sardis, how is your prayer life? Spend time with him. I loved what the worship leader was saying when his little boys came at night and he came in and they would run up and say, oh, daddy, you're home, you know? That's what prayer is. It's just spending time with an abba father who loves you and wants to hold you tight, draw you close to his heart. The church at Philadelphia, has he opened a door for you? Move the blockage of timidness and just walk through that open door. I can testify what's on the other side, as Amy shared, will be the breakthrough, change your life. Church it later to say, a proudfulness. Do not let pride keep you from the cross. So when we can go on, can't we? Selfishness mean this, unforgiveness, bitterness. I'll just pray the spirit will whisper to your heart with the blockages that tonight you'll confess it, name it for what it is, ask God to cleanse you of it, fill you with his spirit, send you out as somebody who is free to live your life for him without reservation. Pray with me, please. So just in the quietness of this moment, if there is somebody here or watching on the live stream and you have never been to the cross, please don't leave this beautiful sanctuary, this theater. Don't turn off your computer or whatever it is that you're watching, but until you make sure that you're safe, that you've been born again,

this is your night, the day is the day of salvation. Don't put it off, you may not have another chance, and if the spirit is moving in your heart, don't resist him because if you do, your heart will harden and you may not ever be at this point again. So tonight, you just pray a simple prayer, something like this, dear God, I confess that the blockage in my heart is proudfulness. I just didn't think I needed to be born again. Unbelief, I didn't believe you really died for me. Ignorance, whatever it is, God, I just confessed you I'm a sinner, and I am so sorry. And I'm willing to turn away from my sin. I need your help, but tonight I want to say and acknowledge, I confess that I believe Jesus died on the cross for me. That he was your sacrifice to make atonement for my sin. So I ask you right now, would you wash me clean in his blood, cleanse me, Lord, forgive me of all of my sin, past, present, future, or how I want to be free from this load of guilt. Memories of sin, abuse, what people did to me, what I've done to them, oh God, I confess it, and I'm sorry, cleanse me right now. And I believe Jesus rose from the dead to give me eternal life. And right now, I receive the eternal life he offers, which I know is not only heaven when I die, but it's that personal, intimate, love relationship with you right here, right now. So open up my heart and I invite Jesus to come live inside of me

in the person of the Holy Spirit, a surrender to him. From this day forward, I choose to follow him, every step, every day of my life, all the way to heaven. Oh, listen to him, if you pray your prayer or something like that, he has heard the angels in heaven are rejoicing, welcome to God's family. Tell somebody on this staff what you've done. Let somebody know, let somebody know the decision you made, that will help seal it in your heart. So for the rest of us, Lord Jesus, oh, how I pray that you will do business with us tonight, that we won't put it off, that either in this theater, or when we go home and can kneel down beside our beds, we'll ask you to search our hearts. What is the blockage? What's keeping us from experiencing the freedom that you died and rose to give us? We want a breakthrough. We don't want to live a mechanical, perfunctory life. We want to live the adventure of living fully for you. So I pray this for this church, Lord. I know that you've set them as a lighthouse in this dark, dark city. So I thank you for them. And Lord, the thing that's going to impact the city walking through those open doors, carrying the message of the gospel to the world between their own two feet. So Lord, we we want to serve you and live for you and bring you glory in the short time that we have left. So we pray this that you'd seal this in our hearts. Use it, Lord, to help us experience the

freedom that you want for us. Give us a breakthroughs tonight, we pray. And I ask this in the name of the one who is my Lord and my Savior, even in the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.