OPEN UP THE HEAVENS! (Deut. 11:1-3, 7, 8-14)
Just 50 days after Passover, Pentecost is a day of VISITATION—when God came down and visited Moses on the Mount, delivering to His people the Words of the Law written with His one hand.
Pentecost is a celebration of HARVEST—a time of thanksgiving and praise. Pentecost marks the moment when the Heavens opened—and the rain was God is ready to release His glory upon the earth so that the HARVEST of the ages can be reaped.
It takes a WORD to initiate progress.
The process of advancement and progress must begin with a word.God has always used a word to move His people from one season to another.
Many seasons can be prolonged if the word God sends is not acknowledged as HIS WORD.
If we fail to acknowledge God’s word—we risk getting locked in the HALLWAY. The hallway is supposed to be a place between doors (you’ve come out of one, but not into another). BUT, you’re not supposed to LIVE in the hallway.
~Israel turned what was supposed to be a 4 day journey into a 40 year trip—all because they failed to respond to THE VOICE OF GOD. They were locked in the hallway.
God’s Word CHANGES SEASONS!
(Luke 24:49) Jesus declared to His Disciples “Go and tarry in Jerusalem, until you are endued with POWER!”
They had no idea what was about to happen in their lives….they had no idea that they were about to step into the RAIN in a new dimension.
Their RESPONSE to this Word would POSITION them to receive.When God OPENS UP THE HEAVENS—you don’t want to be out of position.
There were hundreds that were given the SAME INFORMATION—but only 120 allowed it to SHIFT them into a season where the heavens were open in their lives.
God is about to give His people a season changing word.
(Deut 11: 1)—We begin where you must begin—with LOVE.
Love is where it all starts—you can’t progress beyond the LOVE question.
”Do you love Him?” You better think before you answer. Do you love Him? Is He the one you want? Is He the ONE your heart desires? (I know what you SAY—but…)
Love Him FIRST—He must be your 1st love. You have to love Him BEFORE everything else.We may love Him—but He has fallen quite a ways down the list.
When He is FIRST He doesn’t contend with anything else—there is NOTHING before Him.
We have somehow raised a Spiritual generation that tries to “fit God in” to their schedule when they can…..But you have to remember that He is a “jealous” God! He wants to be FIRST!
Love Him MOST—you have to love Him MORE than everything else. (Preferred) God warns us—“Love not the world, neither the things in the world.”
We have a habit of loving things that can’t love us backGod works according to the principle of desire. (Ps. 145:16) “He satisfies the desire of all living things.”
~In other words—You get what you want. What do you want?
~We’ve got to go back to our 1st LOVE.
- (VS. 2) God is not talking to people who don’t know who He is.
~He said—“I’m not talking to people who have not seen me.”
~I’m not talking to those who are not familiar with my MIRACLES.
~I’m talking to people who have SEEN MY ARM OF STRENGTH, WHO HAVE WATCHED ME ROLL BACK THE RED SEA, AND DROWNED THE ARMIES OF YOUR ENEMIES.
~I’m talking to people who have seen me heal their bodies, who have watched me pay their bills and experienced my deliverance.
~GOD IS TALKING TO SOMEONE WITH A TESTIMONY!!!
~(Dad) 2008, bacterial spinal meningitis.
(VS. 7) “Your eyes have seen the great acts of the Lord!”
~There are still some who have seen the MIGHTY ACTS!
(World Harvest—8 year old boy)—blind since birth. (RW Shambock)
- The problem occurs when there are no first hand witnesses.
~In the Church age we are living in Jesus has become a simple LESSON that we teach on Sundays.
~But He is much more than a lesson….He is the same God that stood on nothing and by the power of His own omnipotence spoke the worlds into the existence. He is the same God that healed leapers and wiped the blindness out of eyes and made lame men walk….and on the cross He conquered death, hell, and the grave!!!
~There is no chain He cannot break! There is nothing He cannot do!
- (VS. 8) “Keep my commandments that you may be strong.”
~There has always been a direct correlation between OBEDIENCE and BLESSING.
- You will only be as strong as you are obedient. (Samson—Nazarite)
- There can be no expectation—without obedience. (We can’t expect God to do His part when we refuse to do ours)
~God has always said “If you will….I will!”
- “Go in and Posses the land”—God’s expectation is that we posses the land.
(Posses)—to seize, occupy, to impoverish.
~NOTICE: God does not go about teaching them the art of war, how to draw a bow, use a sword, or march in rank. He said “love me and keep my commandments and I will squash your enemies and insure your success.”
- (VS. 10) You will possess “The land”
~The land of the old covenant—has become a Kingdom in the new.
~He describes this new land: “The land (Kingdom) you are going to posses is not like the kingdom you came out of where you sowed your seed and watered it by digging furrows in the soil with the heel of your foot—to MECHANICALLY IRREGATE your crops.”
- We have become masters of mechanical irrigation.
~We have learned how to route the water from the holding tanks of PAST MOVES OF GOD.
~We have learned how to live on what God “DID.”
~We have become HISTORIANS of revivals of the past.
~I am thankful for Jonathan Edwards and the First Great awakening. I’m thankful for the Quaker revival and the Whales revival. I’m thankful for those Methodists turned wild Pentecostals John and Charles Wesley….I thank God for Charles Finney. I am thankful for William Seymour and the Azusa street revival….BUT none of that can water my life TODAY….I NEED the heavens to open!!!
~What has happened is we got busy building “Monuments” called churches instead of becoming a “Movement.”
~We’ve gotten so good at having church that we can do it with or without Him—with our mechanical irrigation—we feel as if we can turn it on and off. (Oh God—Open up the Heavens!)
- (VS. 11) “This is a land of hills and valleys.
~Ups and down (seasons) are to be expected. Your faith will be tried.
~It is the DOWN’S that will give you Faith for the UPS.
~Your faith will grow more in the valley than it ever will on the mountain.
~BOTH experiences are necessary…..both are valuable!
- “Drinks water from the rain of Heaven.”
~It is a land that DEPENDS on RAIN.
~What we need at this moment is a Heavenly rain!
- You can’t control the rain—you can’t turn it on or off, or relegate how much falls.
~The rain comes when it wants, the way it wants, and pours out as much as it wants.
(Mom)—13 inches of rain in the last two weeks, and expecting 4 more today. We aren’t used to this much rain.” (Spirit—you better get used to it!)
- (VS. 12) “It’s a land that God himself cares for.”
~He doesn’t leave it to someone else, or to chance.
(Careth)—to frequent, to tread a path—he is PRESENT!
~”His eyes are always on it.” He is always watching
- (VS. 13) “It shall come to pass…..IF!”
~”If” is always the question. IT WILL COME TO PASS….”IF.”
~God’s promises are contingent upon our response to His Word.
~But “IF” we do our part…IT SHALL COME TO PASS! There is nothing your adversaries can do to stop it.
- (VS. 14) “I will give you the RAIN!” (2 Rains at the same time—sowing and reaping)
It will produce:
- Corn—the word
- Wine—the spirit
- Oil—healing
~There will be an abundant harvest of the Word, the Spirit, and divine healing.
WE WILL LOVE YOU!!!
WE WILL OBEY!!!
Open up the Heavens and send the rain!
~There will be no Harvest unless you send the rain.
~We are desperate for LIVING WATERS—Send the rain!!!
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Ronnie Harrison
Pastor, The Kingdom Center
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