MorningStar Fellowship Church | Sunday Service 9:00am

High higher and [Music] [Music] Glory Glory Hallelujah to the name of the Lord Gods over us andle [Music] stand [Applause] m a conference is going to be more than just teaching you how to run your business or coaching you on how to do a better business no this is about bringing the prophetic into the business realm and not just surviving in this time of economic upheaval and turmoil but showing you how to thrive and this really is going to be a revolutionary year reorienting the vision and focus of Morning Star kba we really want you to be there here at mkb believe that the father is in your business that the father cares about your business and that the business is the gos that he will set up in times of transition for you to help many people so come be about your father's business and please bring your kingdom into your business Jesus said occupy till I come I think we should preach the gospel and Advance the kingdom through missionary efforts and in all different Avenues to proclaim the good news as if we are going to take the world for Christ whatever we don't finish he will when he comes but that's the reason why even though we can bring the kingdom of God we can do all the work Greater Works that Jesus said that we can do there is another Harvest yet to come there's barley harvest in this room they're the Overcomers coming into maturity early can survive drought heat and cold there's wheat harvest in this room but listen to me the grape Harvest is out in the world waiting to hear your testimony waiting to hear your story waiting to hear you give them a word of knowledge or pray for them and demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit waiting for you to cast the demons off of them the Morning Star raffle is underway you could win Rick joiner's 2014 Harley Dav in soft tail Heritage Classic the founder of Morning Star Ministries Rick Joiner donated his personal bike to support Morning Star missions receive one chance to win by purchasing a raffle ticket for just $10 increase your chances by buying more tickets there's no limit and every donation goes to support the important work that morning star missions is doing to strengthen churches and spread the love of Jesus Christ throughout the world the winner will be chosen through random selection on September 28th 2024 the final day of morning Stars Harvest Fest conference for more information or to buy your tickets Please visit store. Morningstar ministries.org welcome home welcome to morning [Music] stor the house that God is [Music] building good morning how's everyone doing this morning welcome to Morning Star everybody watching online everybody here in the atrium we welcome you we invite you into the presence of God how many of you came ready to worship God this morning good good the Bible says in Hebrews 13:15 therefore by him by Christ let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name can you say amen amen how many of you know know that worship is always a sacrifice right worship and praise is always a sacrifice but sometimes it's more of a sacrifice than others there's um a story in the Bible about David when David's first son um this would have been Solomon's older brother was born um Nathan the prophet came to him and told him that his son was not going to live and David fasted before God and prayed and prayed and fasted um that that God would change his mind and that he would live and um he was just a little young child we don't know exactly his age but he was uh very young and uh nobody wanted to tell David that his son had died because you know you know you don't know when you tell the king but the king came and told them or asked them is my son dead and they said yes he is dead and um you know what David did the Bible says that David changed his clothes and went to the house of the Lord and worshiped and that worship changed him it changed him he went from fasting and then it says he came back and he ate and everybody was wondering how can you eat your son just died you you know and he says no he says I fasted while he was still alive but now that he's dead and and so the worship is what changed him and that changes us all the time so I invite you to join us we're going to Worship the Lord right now and whether it's a sacrifice and regardless of how much it is Father we pray in jesus' name for your sacrifice that you gave in your son and we pray right now father that you would R down on us as we lift up worship and the sacrifice of praise to you which is the fruit of our lips in Jesus name and everybody said amen amen thank [Music] you I will I will praise you I will see face in my dark you were shine you have seen you came from Heaven to set [Music] caping stre follow you [Music] [Applause] [Music] my I want [Music] [Applause] [Music] toship see pure Crystal [Music] IUS I will praise him I will I sing PR he Shin [Music] he I [Music] came heart [Music] he for he has [Music] seen Praise You Jesus [Music] [Music] you're everything [Music] everything to me you can't set me free Cal youy God I you you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] everywhere you are here [Music] [Applause] [Music] with with you forever [Applause] [Music] I love you Jesus I love [Music] you you came to me and set me free you took my hand anded me set me on high the [Music] [Applause] [Music] clsu you sent for me child washed in your blood to be Bri to worship you and praise your name [Music] [Music] you sent for me child washed in your blood to be to worship you and [Music] Praise Jesus we love you Lord Praise You Jesus so grateful Lord thank thank you for sa me foring eternal my spirit set free for et thank you [Music] foring me [Applause] you my thank you for saing me my spirit set free for Eternal thank you for [Music] when I took [Music] your toad you to my promis land forg [Applause] you set you apart remember my guing than you my Lord thank you for saveing [Music] me my spirit set free for [Music] eternity than you forus [Music] Wasing on living from the tree living water mountain in me he gave me living water drop on the river your C clear and flowing up [Music] the holy watching on me holy from the Lord Holy Spirit Joy on the world he broke his body Rel s the Spirit by the father power [Applause] [Music] theing the Tre living He gave living the [Applause] [Music] river Holy Spirit Holy Spirit Jesus for Holy Spirit holy Jesus for his [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] people Holy Spirit Holy Spirit Jesus for his faithful Holy Spirit Holy Spirit Holy Holy Holy Spirit by Jesus for his faithful [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] I came to set you free that you may live our spirit joined in eternally the words that I love [Music] camee join inity ET holy spir [Music] I'm going to worship you for you Mee that I may live our spirit joined eternally I offer you my heart Jesus [Music] I came to set you free that you may live our spirit join in unity eternally the words that I love you you came Set Me Free that I [Music] [Applause] [Music] mayin holy sply [Applause] SP Holy Spirit I'm going to worship you forever you s me free spirit join I offer you for Jesus you [Music] for Jesus you love me [Music] [Music] [Music] you are everything you you you are for [Music] everything you are so beautiful it makes me want to cry love me P I want to go and die and follow you and find my cross to die to S and live for [Music] you you you you are everything you you you are everything you are so good to me it makes me want to [Music] we I want to go and follow you and find my cross to die to s live for [Music] you I live longer but Christ lives in me I have crucified with him you you you are everything you are everything you you you are everything you are so beautiful it makes me wonder to C love for meure want to go [Music] and [Music] you my CR to and live for you you you are everything my Jesus you you you are everything you you you are everything to you my Lord I give you my all you are the master of [Music] prise you Jesus [Music] [Music] Lord I want to Worship You Forever [Music] savior Lord I Want To Worship You Forever Jesus Christ [Music] I want to make you happy take away the pain you suffered for [Music] me you want me to be Lord I'm Want To Worship You Forever father [Music] Lord I Want To Worship You Forever Holy Ghost I want to make you happy take away the pain you suffered for me let me touch your hidden person the friend that you want me to be I want to Worship You Lord I G [Music] my I want to Worship You Lord my life I give to you Lord I Want To Worship You Lord I give my all to you Lord I toship you Lord my life I give to you Lord I Want To Worship You Forever [Music] savior I want to worship you forever Jesus [Music] Christ Lord I want to make you I want to make you take away the pain you suffered for me let me tou [Music] your [Music] you I want toship you forever fall [Music] do you all notice how much um we were just talking about the Holy Spirit in these songs do you know every time we honor the Holy Spirit he manifests himself that's true uh I heard Chris Reed recently say that whatever whatever ascends to Heaven whether it be our worship our praise our pray the prayer of the Saints the Bible says this whatever ascends to Heaven descends back to the Earth so let's do that right now just in these next few minutes let's um the reign of the holy spirit let that come back down on you whatever you need from the Lord whatever you've been praying about just receive it right now while we're here in his presence thank you Martin thank you uh orchestra that was wonderful we thank you Father for hearing our prayers for hearing our worship for receiving the sacrifices of our praise and we ask that your Holy Spirit would just rain down back on us now we thank you Father for hearing the prayers of the Saints we thank you for descending back to the Earth with the answers to those prayers every prayer every sacrifice Every Praise every word worship that we send up to you we receive back now father with answers in jesus' name how many of you believe that amen amen go ahead and receive it right now Hallelujah wonderful Jesus wonderful Jesus well um do we have any firsttime visitors with us this morning any firsttime visitors all right astd is with us this morning she's all the way from Kansas City and IHOP welcome she's one of our new SP thank you we welcome you and um so she's going to be working here I believe in the bookstore is that correct so we welcome asid anybody else any other firsttime visitors um raise your hand if you did not receive a visitor's packet and we will get one to you uh also please fill out the visitor's card and place it in the offering buckets and if uh you have not uh gotten connected with our connect groups yet we invite you to go to the table in the lobby after the uh service for more information um all right so another uh way that we can offer sacrifices to God is through our offerings which we're going to do right now how many of you know that that is also a sacrifice you know sometimes the holy spirit will say I want you to give this and I'll say but Lord I just gave uh uh uh uh you know and it's like no I want you to give that and you give it but you how many of you learned you just cannot give God whatever God tells you to give that's what you give so let's do that right now father we pray in jesus' name that you would speak to the hearts of every person here and every person listening that you would tell us exactly what we need to give in Jesus name you can give um there's envelopes on the back of your chairs uh you can give by cash check credit card debit card however you want to however you prefer to give you can also give by SmartPhone by looking at the number at the screen and just typing that in your phone 3525 800 800 you only have to do that once and after that you just keep um going into that same place and uh you can do the same thing over you can even set up automatically so it does automatically gives the same amount for you uh Pastor Gary was talking about that recently that he was forgetting sometimes to give and colani just said hey why don't you just set it up automatically and then you won't you won't have to worry about it so there's all kinds of special features and ways to do that so um if the ushers would go ahead and uh pass the buckets um I have some announcements for you um while they're doing that um Kingdom arts training uh if you're an onboarding artist uh you can start September the 7th for those interested in joining the art team uh you can register at kingdomarts mm.org uh the shine ladies meeting is coming August the 18th uh in the MSU seminar room Missy Reed will be sharing uh there will also be a potluck uh last names a through L will bring an appetizer or entree and last names M through Z will bring a dessert that's going to be a lot of desserts I want to go to that all right so uh MK conference is coming up this week uh August the 23rd through the 24th being about the father's business is the theme and that is actually going to be back here in the uh Grand Ballroom so I'm excited about that uh you can connect with like-minded business people and get equipped to take the kingdom into the marketplace Mark Yao here is going to be leading that we're very excited about Mark being here with us and helping us with uh the Morning Star yeah let's give Mark a hand kba yes Morning Star Kingdom Business assoc Administration Administration and uh and then finally a dream interpretation next Sunday in the missions cafe after the second service bring your journal or notes and um we have a very special guest with us this morning um I am so excited about this um um how many of you Jr token Lord of the Rings fans any okay in the original Fellowship of the Ring there's this character named Gandalf the Gray or yeah Gandalf the gry and he is a good wizard you know he's got some Supernatural Powers but at the end of that he falls into this Abyss while he's trying to slay a dragon and they're both and they just disappear and that's the end of it and you don't ever know what's go you don't know what's going to happen to him but it then it comes to the next installment and he does we we learn in the second installment he comes back and uh he did indeed slay the dragon but now he's the much more powerful Gandalf the White right and so um and he's got great great power so it is my pleasure uh when I first I'll say this when I first uh met Rick Joiner um he was Rick the gray okay and um now it is my pleasure and honor to introduce to you the much more powerful and I believe his most powerful days are yet to come and his final quest is yet to be made Rick the white thank you Jeff I didn't know who he was talking about I'm still gray but uh anyway how many of you are here today okay about half of you it's a good start and uh let me get this going and I'll have something for you I am not a visitor I'm actually the first member of this church and I remember I did a conference it was uh Dr Young Cho and myself were the only speakers right after we had started this congregation and we had six people and they introduced him as the pastor of the largest church in the world and me the pastor of the smallest but you've increased a little bit and uh I am happy to be here be back uh even though I am living back in Moravian Falls now and uh uh absolutely am having the time of my life I'm up there getting closer to the Lord every day and I know we had a competition over who was going to get the closest and I can tell you right now you're not going to catch me but uh anyway it is one of the best times I've ever ever had but this morning I want to talk about the five tests of the righteous how many of you like tests or testing you know you need to like it you need to be excited about them because you're not going to be promoted without them and we see uh over and over our quote a few scriptures here for you but uh Lord says he does test the righteous says in Jeremiah says in several places and uh I don't have time to quote all the the places where he talks about testing his people but he does it for the same reason that we took test in school you can't go further unless you pass a test on one level you can get promoted to the next level you can move on and uh as Francis Fran pan used say you never fail one of God's tests you just keep taking them until you pass and uh how many of you would like to stop taking the same test over and over would like to get promoted and his reward for passing a test is is another bigger test but guess what this whole life is but a vapor and we're here to grow and mature and become like him as much as we absolutely can and to do the works that he did and this is how he prepares us for it okay now I'm going to review five of the main tests that Israel had to pass in the wilderness to get to their promised land okay and it's a basic biblical principle that before you enter the promises of God you're going to have to go through a Wilderness that is usually the exact opposite of what you've been promised Israel was promised a land flowing with milk and honey first place he took them there wasn't even any [Music] water and uh this test is not to punish us but it's to prepare us for the promised land you know Israel got closer to God and walked closer to God in the wilderness than they did in the promised land and when they got in the promised land they got into their worst troubles so don't waste your trials don't don't waste these tests and we're going to have to make it through them we're going to have to pass them to get to the promised land okay and we're told in First Corinthians 10 you know when he starts laying out how Israel was baptized into Moses as we're baptized into Christ Moses was a type of Christ and how they had to go go through the baptism and all the trials and read it 1 Corinthians 10:11 says all of these things were written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the ages have come they weren't written for Israel they were going through them but we have in their March through the Wilderness a Biblical map that we have to follow and we're gonna go through the same things okay now I'm G to skip a lot of my notes here but it says in Jeremiah 2012 the Lord of hosts thou who does test the righteous so when we go through tests it's not because we're doing something wrong he test the righteous it's because you're doing something right he wants to give you an opportunity to go higher to go further he says it again in Psalm 11:5 now in uh the first test of Israel in the wilderness after they had crossed the Red Sea was found in Exodus 15 22- 26 it says then Moses LED Israel from the Red Sea and they went out into the Wilderness of Shure and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water now you know three days without water you're on the edge of death human beings cannot survive longer than about three days without water they're on the edge of death and you know we think we're going through some tough things right now they started out with one of the most incredible trials I can possibly imagine and they didn't have the scriptures to encourage them or anything else they knew God was powerful they didn't really know he was good yet they didn't know much about him and here they're on the edge of death but then you must can imagine the excitement when they see water in the distance there's we're almost there there's water we're going to get to drink can you imagine how thirsty they were with two million people kicking up dust in their face and they're in a desert I mean this was the if you've ever hopefully you have done fasting you know how tough that is not going with I mean going without liquids is far more difficult than fasting and you should never do it without a doctor's approval that's serious and here they are right on the edge of death they see water and they get there and it's bitter bitter Waters poison they can't drink if they drink the water they're going to die you can understand how they would think this God is really powerful but he's really mean he just came out here to torture us and then kill us now you know I mean this is a level of testing I don't think many Christians have endured and if we tend to look down on them why did why were they so Unfaithful why' they fall away they're probably looking down on us right now saying those wimps they don't know what child trials are but you went through a dry time if you'll look back if you can remember right after you committed yourself to walk with God you probably very quickly entered into a really dry time and many got discouraged and fell away many don't make it through that initial dry period much less the whole wilderness we have to go through but they named that place marra because marra means bitterness and what happened there you know the people grumbled at Moses say what shall we drink and he cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree and he threw the tree into the water what are the trees represent the cross the first test of Israel was how to turn bitter Waters into sweet now listen I talk to Christians all the time regularly who are controlled by bitterness who are controlled by negative experiences they had in their past more than faith in God I talk to Christians all the time say they'll never darken the door of a church again because they got wounded in the church they got hurt in the church well guess what you you're going to get hurt in business you're going to get hurt everywhere you go people hurt each other but they get bitter towards the church I'm not going back there I got hurt listen when there were just two brothers on the whole earth one of them got hurt killed you know they couldn't get along just two people and uh people are crazy that's called Pac it's a formula for understanding just about anything that happens in this world if you can't understand why did they do that why are they doing that remember Pac people are crazy and you'll understand it okay so anyway Moses throws a tree into the water and it turns the bitter Waters into sweet now listen the Lord doesn't want us to just just you know get past our experiences he wants that bitterness to become sweetness do you know God doesn't do these things to us but he allows them to be done for us so he can promote us and the foundation of all promotion in God is turning every negative thing that has happened into your life into something positive actually it becomes Spiritual Authority why was it when Paul the Apostle had his Apostolic Authority challenged he didn't point to all the churches he had planted and all the stuff had used him to do he pointed to his afflictions he said I was beaten I was stoned all Shipwrecked all this stuff he pointed at his afflictions as the basis of his authority when Moses asked to see the glory of the Lord what did the Lord show him his back with what did he see on his back remember he was crucified from the foundation of the world he saw the stripes that is the glory of God that's the greatest glory of God I believe that's why he's called the lamb even you see at the end of the book of Revelations he is still the lamb that's the highest title he will ever carry and the greatest revelation of who God is the glory of God is the stripes that he took for our healing and if anything doesn't make us trust him if that doesn't make us trust him nothing will he took those stripes on his back for us to heal us okay the same principle applies to you you know every place that you've been wounded especially when you've been wrongly unjustly wounded you can receive Authority for healing and that's why God allows it that makes you sensitive to those who need healing instead of being judgmental and oh it makes us sensitive and and that's why we need to embrace all of these trials they come our way especially injustices and turned them into healing and then what was the next verse there that the Lord said to them right at the Waters of Myra after they had turned the bitter Waters into sweet he says to them if you will give Earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight and give ear to his Commandments and keep all his statutes I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians for I the Lord am your healer why would he say that there because bitterness is one of the biggest inroads to disease and and he's saying you do this you learn not to get bitter never to get better but to forgive Christianity at its very basis is forgiveness and that means God's going to give us you know an opportunity to grow in that greatest most powerful of foundations that we have so that we will be strong in the greatest and the strongest of the foundations no one deserve less what happened to him than Jesus and yet you know often we try to forgive so that God can get them we want him to get them so we do everything we can to work up forgiveness but Jesus didn't do he said father forgive them they don't know what they're doing that's a utter and total forgiveness and sooner or later if we're going to get any further really you're going to be stuck right here until you learn to forgive from the foundation from the beginning totally father forgive them and if you're going to walk in healing where we turn the stripes we turn the unrighteous stripes the things we didn't deserve into ability to heal others okay so you want to grow in Authority work miracles do healing don't waste your trials embrace them didn't Paul say through many tribulations shall we enter the kingdom of God acts 14:22 in every trial every tribulation there's a gateway to the kingdom now the next crucial test we got that one down got that one covered we're moving on here's the next test he gives them it says then the Lord said to Moses behold I will reign bread from heaven for you and the people shall shall go out and gather day's portion every day why the next verse he says that I may test them do you ever think about how Mana was a test and what was it a test for whether or not they will walk in my instruction how was that a test they walk in his inst instruction the simple if we're going to eat we got to go out and get the Mana he gave some very simple things about it but I'll tell you what the what the test really is who is that Mana didn't Jesus say he was the Mana that came from Heaven you know we have the same test from God and it determines it is one of the main things that determines if we're going to walk in his ways or not will we get up first thing every morning morning to gather fresh Mana from Heaven to have an encounter with him to seek him first thing every day and you'll find you'll learn if you'll do this that you have an encounter with him you seek that fresh bread from Heaven Revelation from him of him instead of wasting your days with vain imag inations your mind running everywhere you're going to be able to dwell in the presence of the Lord doesn't it say we're supposed to manifest the sweet Aroma of the knowledge of God and every place he's the bread from Heaven do you know anything that smells better than fresh baked bread I'm just saying especially when you're hungry hry that's the way our lives should put off an aroma of that fresh bread something fresh a life that is fresh daily because we have a daily encounter with life himself and life just exudes from us it's the Lord that we want to manifest and this is how you you do that you start first with him okay and he said I'm going to test you see if you walk in my ways or not I tell you if we don't do this we will drift all over the place during our days we do it there will be a sense of his presence in that fresh bread and he said again Deuteronomy 8 in the wilderness he fed you Mana which your fathers did not know that he might humble you you and test you and that he might test you to do good for you in the end how does getting Mana going out and getting our Mana every day test us how does it humble us doesn't it say God resists the pray but gives us grace to the humble do you know of any treasure on Earth more valuable than the grace of God in your life to have his grace and his favor in your life so if we were wise at all we would be seeking to Humble ourselves continually and that's something he tells us to do he says do you know anywhere where it says humble your neighbor humble your pastor humble your president or anything else you know anywhere where it says to Humble someone else no he said humble yourselves and this is a a great way for us to Humble ourselves and it is the humility while by seeking that fresh man of first thing every day we are acknowledging we cannot make it through the day without God we should be so addicted to him and his presence that if by 10:00 we have not had an encounter with God we would be like a junkie who didn't get his fix we' get the shakes got to have God where we're addicted to him and we can't miss that and it is a humility yes we need God they say well you're just using God as a crutch I need that I need that crutch I admit it I can't make it through the day without him I need his strength I need his wisdom all of the problems in the world and I underline all are in the world because of one thing mankind starting with the first man saying we can do this without him and I tell you all of the troubles in the world are the result of that and it's going to get worse and worse until the whole world realizes we need God we cannot make it without him I tell you our personal problems are the result of us trying to run our own lives without him I tell you the one phrase that is accounted to King David attributed to him more than any other phrase is he inquired of the Lord over and over over for every circumstance he stopped and he prayed King Saul it was the opposite he would just charge out and do something even when he was told by Samuel don't do this if Samuel wasn't there he charged out and did it himself that cost him the kingdom but this is still a test will we first thing every day seek fresh manner from above okay third major test where would the people or would we be willing to draw close to God ourselves or stay at a distance and let some professional do that for us that's what most of which is referred to right now as the body of Christ that's the form that it's in we hire somebody to seek God for us we expect them to hear from God we expect for them to teach us listen we're not going to make it through what's coming if we do not know Jesus himself as our Shepherd and Jesus himself as our teacher if I had time I could show you in the Book of Revelations where the church as we know it today where professionals do the seeking of God and shepherding and everything else that's not going to last now I thank God for all of those people who have sought to minister to God's people and provide food for them and and lead them as best they can and everything that's not a form that God created there's a difference between the man man-made church and the god-made church I'm just saying we're going to learn the difference the distinction but you should not accept having someone seek the Lord for you and uh it says all the P people perceived the Thunder and the lightning fleshes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking and when the people saw it they trembled and stood at a distance and I tell you most of God's people have stood at a distance from him ever since Old and New Testament followers then they said to Moses speak to us yourself and we will listen but let not God speak to us lest we die Moses said to the people do not be afraid you know that's the phrase that is quoted in scripture more than any other fear not Don't Be Afraid why because we're so prone to be led by fear instead of by faith do not be afraid for God has come in order that he to test you and in order that the fear of him May remain with you so that you may not sin so the people stood at a distance while Moses approached the thick Cloud where God was listen the church is just as guilty of that as they were so are are you going to seek his face do you think he would say that over and over in scripture to seek his face if he wasn't willing to meet with us face to face and you know that's for every believer that's not for somebody who has a theological degree or someone someone laid hands on and called them a pastor or Prophet or something like that doesn't that's it's not how you get there you've got to want to know him for yourself you've got to not be content you got to be like the shulamite made in the Song of Solomon who said to him Lord where do you Pastor your flock for why should I Veil myself in the flocks of your companions and these are God's companions that do know him but if we only relate to God through somebody else we are being veiled that's a major Veil over our face we've got to know him for oursel we've got to resolve you should want to know him better than anyone you know now I'm just saying a couple of things because the time is upon us now things are going to change they are changing I mean almost every institution is melting down in our time it's a fulfillment of Daniel 2 which when that statue that represent all the empires of men you know collapse because that Little Rock struck its feet and that little rock is the king of kings and that Little Rock grew into a mountain which in scripture is the government and it kept growing to it filled the whole earth you know his government is growing in the Earth right now very few of his people see it and know it and I don't care how great the governments of this world are and there's some there are some pretty good ones there are some really bad ones if it whatever is not built on the kingdom of God which is following the king they're not going to make it through what's coming but his kingdom is going to keep growing I think we're going to get a major shaking this Autumn it's going to be an awesome Autumn but didn't like we quoted earlier Paul say through many tribulations we shall enter the kingdom of God listen some major tribulations are coming upon the Earth are coming upon America this fall that means there is a major door opening through which we can enter the kingdom depending on how we respond to those things and a lot of that's going to depend upon our relationship to the Lord how obedient we are we're obeying his voice you know throughout the Old Testament in just about every place he spoke of keeping his Commandments and we know the law was filled with Commandments and they were required to keep all of them but see if he didn't say almost every time when he said that keep his statutes keep his Commandments he also said and heed my voice even under the old Covenant they required to know the voice of the Lord John 10 he said his sheep know his voice not just pastors not just Shepherds his sheep his people know his voice every one of us must know his voice for ourself we're also told in Daniel 11 many even who have understanding are going to to fall why it said to test the rest it is a test every time a major christian leader Falls many fall away why because they were building their foundation on Hope in a man in a person no one can bear that there's no person born we all fall short okay now many fall away just because of accusations against leader you can't really be a leader and really follow the lord without having all kinds of false accusations you're going to go through persecution and things like that and many will fall away just because of those but it's all meant to test to test his people but don't build your Hope on people on any person build it on the only one who will never leave us never forsake us never fail us okay okay fourth major test War conflict how many of you love war you know I know some of the some who I think have been some of the maybe the greatest warriors of our time and you guys know some of them they they come here but uh they they hate War more than anyone else because they're the ones who have to fight it and they're out there fighting it right now it's a terrible business but you know in this life you have tribulations in the world you have tribulation if you want to come to a place where there's no trials no tribulation get in a car accident or something just go die because it's not going to happen in this life we may have times of you know where there's not as much coming at us and little but this we're we've been dropped Behind Enemy Lines you know the whole world lies in the power of the evil one in every direction there's the enemy but we got to be like that great General who when he was told his troops were surrounded he said great attack in every direction they won't get away this time we need to have that mentality when the the en enemy attacks us great we know where he is now you know if we resist Satan he'll start fleeing instead of us all right but anyway that's part of we've got to learn to be Warriors he said he was a warrior and he says as you know that we're called to be like him several times he calls himself a warrior and every time you read the words Lord of hosts that's Lord of armies that's how that would literally be translated he was the Lord of armies we need to get that part we should you know true Warriors run to the sound of battle not away from it they don't run from conflict they run towards it they may not like it but they do it it's their calling they Thrive they come alive in that place of warfare and listen the greatest worshipper I think in scripture King David was also one of the greatest warriors those two go together as we see in the Psalms okay and uh then oh somehow I'm hitting the going backwards I'm moving fast I want to get to the last one okay the fifth one we're going to cover by the way there are more than these five tests in the wilderness I usually teach seven but I know it didn't have time today so we're just covering five but these are really important and we really need to get them right now and walk in these but the next major test for Israel was if they would keep the Lord's Sabbath rest now that's something every one of us is supposed to abide in every day he is our rest but as for you he says in Exodus 31 as for you speak to the sons of Israel saying you shall surely observe my sabbaths for this is a sign between me and you throughout your Generations that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you now a lot of people think that many things were old Covenant the law we don't have to do that anymore no those were a type or model of exactly what we're supposed to be walking in the fullness of but observing a day is not necessarily observing his Sabbath I do that because it helps me we observe a Sabbath month the seventh month we take the whole month off why to seek the Lord and he's our rest okay it's not a day or it's not a state of mind or anything else it's a person but he said again in Exodus 31 so the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their Generations as a Perpetual Covenant you know if you're in Christ you're one of the sons of Israel you're one of the Seed of Abraham you're of the spiritual seed Leviticus 16:31 he said it is to be a Sabbath of solemn rust for you that you may humble your souls it is a permanent stat I can't imagine how great a test that was for some of them and I mean they knew if they didn't get out there and work the fields and all this they weren't going to eat especially in times of famine and Times of dryness and everything else they had to be under incredible pressure you to to just go out and do something to get food think about the Sabbath year when they're going to now say we're going to take a whole year off every seventh year they were to let the land rest think of that they're thinking we are not going to eat for a long time and that's why they never observed it in their history Israel never never really observed a Sabbath year so what happened to him remember when they went into captivity what did the Lord say through Jeremiah through Daniel and through others they were going to be in captivity for 70 years because that's how many Sabbath years Israel had missed in its history and he said and the land is g to receive their sabbaths and you're going to be in captivity for every year that you missed observing the rest of the Lord and he promised them if you would do this thing I'll make you the sixth year when you are working I'm going to have so much fruit come forth you're G to have enough for the next year he said I'll take care of you it's basically a establish trust in him but I think we're talking more than just literal food here even though we are talking that but in everything uh he promised that he would take care of them but he also he said if you don't do this I will scatter you among the Nations and will draw out the sword out after you and your land will become desolate and your cities become a waste then your land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the Desolation I'm just saying if we don't learn to rest in the Lord we will go into bondage that's the result of not taking this seriously and obeying him throughout our Generations your enemies will chase you all these other things how many how many of us are not being chased right now and we're rebuking the devil but it didn't the devil he may be using the devil turn him loose on us because we were not obedient okay and then he said in 2 Chronicles 36 and those who had escaped from The Sword he carried away to Babylon and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths all the days of its desolation it kept Sabbath until 70 years were complete now I'm just going I'm I can only cover this very superficially but in Hebrews from Hebrews 38 through CH 4: 11 11 he repeatedly refers to his Promised Land as entering his rest there something we should abide in every day okay major contrast between Egypt and the promised land was in Egypt Israel was subjected to bondage and hard labor and in the promised land God gave them rest he gave them sists they didn't dig Vineyards they didn't plant he gave I mean he provided for him so much they were able to rest in him and that's what our life is supposed to be you know as uh I think Carl Young uh the psychiatrist once said one thing that was certainly true he said hurry is not of the devil hurry is the devil I share with you how the Lord showed me my greatest flaw the greatest mistake i' made in my life was being so impatient how many Divine encounters I missed because I was impatient how many miracles I could have seen if I had not been so impatient how many times I missed him that's why when I had my stroke and I was paralyzed laying in bed couldn't move you know I I started seeing the Lord like I'd never seen him and I started right away Lord thank you for this this is the best thing that's ever happened to me one of the best things for sure slowing me down so I could see him and hear him in a new way that's why I've been recommending Strokes to all my friends okay but didn't it say in Psalm 46 cease striving and know that I am God what would a life look like where there's no striving the peace and the joy isn't his kingdom righteousness peace and joy I tell you when you see that someone with a true peace of God and the true Joy Of God there's almost nothing more contagious than that in the world everyone's going to want to be close to those people that's way we should all be now toil is a curse not labor the Lord created man to labor in the garden to cultivate the garden but the curse was toil not labor toil is to accomplish with great and painful effort but in Christ The Curse is removed that's it's not what the way we're supposed to be walking you know we should have peace in the midst of battle peace and joy the joy of the Lord is your strength and you know it says in his presence is fullness of joy every one of us are called to walk in the fullness of his Joy because we're called to walk in his presence so if we're getting discouraged or depressed you know God never leaves us or forsakes US he didn't move we're the ones who moved so return to him no Christian should have that depression that discouragement that Darkness that's why you know you see in the times and it's manifesting like Nehemiah and all when the king saw that in the king's presence he was discouraged Nehemiah got fearful he was terrified that the king saw that you know in biblical times to show any kind of discouragement or depression or anything like that in the king's presence you could be executed you could be executed for it check it out now that's right but how much more are we out of whack somehow if we are abiding in the presence of almighty God and we are depressed or have a darken Spirit or any of these things how can we do that that's to belittle who he is says seee striving and know that he is God if we know him as God know who he really is we will not strive we will not have that fearfulness in us that would cause us to do that I'm just saying and then he says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart you know the more humble you are the more you will be at rest if you're not trying to compete with others and outdo others or keep up with them or or have this image you want to inflate and make everybody believe as you all that causes striving but if we will embrace the humility that God will give his grace to all that goes away says learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you shall find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my load is light how many do you think how many put a yoke on to go to bed at night to get rest to sleep no you put a yoke on to do work but he's saying if we'll be yolked with him look if a little baby Ox is yolked with a great big Ox who's going to do all the work the little Ox just getting a free ride if we're yolked with him we're getting a free ride we get to watch all this stuff we get to watch what he does we get to abide in his strength and what he's doing it's when we try to pull it that we get burned out you know that's one of the main major flaws in the way the church tries to do leadership and min Ministry and all today where the pastors everything there's no model for that in scripture definitely not in the New Testament it was a team of Ministries he gave to lead his church and to equip it and to build it what when one person tries to do it do it alone and the model that we have for doing the work of God it'll burn anybody out nobody can do all that I know if you've been to Insurance School they'll tell you a 30y old Pastor often has a 60y old heart they're one of the highest risk for insurance is a pastor but to know God's R we ceased from our own works and entered into his now a lot more I could say about that but I've already taken up all the time I'm just going to ask you to consider I hope you remember these five things any one of them can radically impact your life you start doing all five you can enter into the best time you've ever had regardless of what kind of Trials and all go on in your life you're going to enjoy it why don't we enjoy trials anyway he promises us everything's going to work for good doesn't he say that so we if we really believe him we should every trial that comes along Peter says you're testing of your faith is more valuable than gold it really should be like we just found a big bag of gold ah another trial I get to do another trial people you know what people are going to think of you they're going to think now there's a crazy one there's someone totally out of touch you know what I want to be out of touch with this world to be in touch with him I don't care what the world's going to say they're not going to understand till they've tasted it themselves experienced it themselves and we're here to help them do that but we can't give something we're not walking in I'm just saying thank you for your attention Lord I pray for all these hungry ones that came out to a meeting like this to learn something of you and walk closer to you and Lord I ask you to do that for them Lord I ask you for encounters with you Lord I ask you to be our Shepherd where we know you we're following the lamb we're not following another person we're not not just following a book we're following the one the book is about that we get to follow you and walk with you and Lord I pray for that you would be our teacher you would be our Shepherd in Jesus name amen wow what an awesome service yeah good morning everybody Welcome online family wasn't Rick great Rick was great as you can see we're in our new studios here we're in a new location what do you guys think pretty amazing right and you're right for me this morning getting up early hearing Rick our founder of Morning Star Ministries great job as always Rick thank you so fabulous to have the review of the five tests of the Israelites and I saw you taking notes yeah you and I were just talking about that first one the the test of forgiveness and getting over bit bitterness so crucial right yeah I think that's real important I I had a test this week and you know to rise above it and to be I guess not only forgiveness to but but for me to look forward what the Lord really has in store that's even greater exactly and just just tying it all in with the cross and and what Jesus did on the cross that no one came up to him and apologized but he took on the sin of the world that was that was just such a great reminder so love having seeing Rick again it's such an honor to have our founder in the house absolutely Rick thank you we've got a couple conferences coming up we've got the M kba conference Mar Yao in charge love that guy that's this coming weekend it's the 23rd and 4th of August yeah you'll see it on your prompts on theen scen there which is really cool what else do we have coming up and in September the 26th to the 28th is the one of our Flagship conferences the Harvest conference big conference I love the Harvest conference so many people come we get to reconnect with old friends and new and new people to the to Morning Star um and this one caps off with a raffle right oh is that the the motorcycle yeah it's funny I thought about that this morning we didn't have this conversation I thought about the raffle of a motorcycle of all things I don't know why I was thinking that but hey it's a good fundraiser put your money in if you win the motorcycle you like it you ride it if not you sell it that's for good cause right but it's Rick's Harley yeah so I mean amazing I would I don't drive a Harley ride one but no whoever wins can take me for a ride you know there you go there you go what else we got coming oh couple books here right so we've got a few books here you you can introduce this one Rick's got a couple books um tyranny right what else we have here the Kingdom of Heaven Tom hardman's going to be preaching at 11 Tom's got have you read this I have not she's the introducing this but Tom is going to be speaking in the 11 o' service and Tom is so wise there's just such meat in his in his sermon so just encouraging everyone to to come back at 11: and join us in the service yeah you know this is my favorite day of the week maybe I'll tell you why has nothing to do with church I'll tell you why but hey a little a little tidbit about Tom Tom's a former Olympic champion yeah handball champion very very athletic guy I mean um so I'm looking forward to it I think that's it right what else do we have so I just want to bless you for the rest of the week uh come back next week come back at 11: and be part of the service so um just pray for y'all yes Lord um have a fantastic week may you prosper this week and bless someone with the word of the Lord yeah good to see everybody thank you thank you [Music] [Music]