Transcript: 2023 What You Need To Know!
Well, praise Jesus everyone. It is a blessing to be in the hands of the Lord, guided by Him. We know that in the end times there will be pestilences, famines, earthquakes. All these things are the beginnings of the birth pains, and the day of the Lord, the return of the Lord is still to come. But we also know that it will not happen immediately like some suppose. There are a lot of prophets who prophesy false things. They prophesy things will just get better, that we will "break the yoke of Babylon, that America will be great again, even without God and everyone will be able to unite and have peace. These are the things in the promises that the anti-Christ promise for the world. Peace without God, happiness without reality, a virtual reality, a reality that is pushed forward by artificial intelligence and an online presence. The whole world is so blind, they cannot tell what is happening. They cannot tell what season we’re in. They cannot tell that things are getting worse and worse. Remember that Jesus talked about the fig tree. And He said that, when you see the fruit becoming tender, you know that the time is near. We obviously can tell if we are with the Lord between good fruit and bad fruit. We can tell if the culture is good or bad. We can tell if the generation is good or bad. We can see the signs of the time. It's pretty interesting, though, how a lot of people try to predict what God is going to do, thinking that they can tell exactly what God's going to do by the signs of the time. They would be deceived, because no one knows what God is going to do, the things that He has set in His own timing. But there are a lot of people prophets, whether they are in the churches or on the Internet alone, that think they can predict the future based on prophecies and all that sort of thing. The other day, I made some polls. You can look at those on my channel. Maybe you took those polls, but it's really interesting. I did that just so, Christians those that are serious, can see kind of where people are, to see how all of us are being affected by the same things. I thought it would be insightful for other brothers and sisters to see that it's not just an internal struggle, but other parts of the body of Christ are struggling with intrusive thoughts or being accused by the devil. If you go and look at some of those statistics or those polls, they're quite interesting because it shows that we're all in this fight against evil together. But the hope is in Jesus Christ. You know, all of us are being accused by Satan if we are in the fight, because we know that Satan is the accuser of the brethren who accuses us day and night. So, if you are not being accused at all by the Devil, maybe you're not even in the fight at all, but if you are being accused regularly or every single day, you likely are in the fight. And you need to continue to draw close to Jesus. If you draw close to God, He will draw close to you. If you resist the Devil, he will flee. But the important thing is to continually stay in prayer, to continually be resisting the Devil, because if you don't continue to resist the Devil, he's going to win. Satan is very persistent, and he tries to ebb away at the Saints. That's why it's written that he tries to wear down the Saints in the end times. He continues to ebb away your desire to live if you string away from God. He heaps up heavy, heavy burdens on the children of God, making them feel so weighted down. They can't get up in the morning, they can't say a prayer, they can't help out their family, they can't do anything because they're so weighted down by the feelings of feeling inadequate, or broken, just accused. All these things, guys, we have to push through to Jesus on and make sure that we're staying close to the Lord. There's one interesting thing that I wanted to bring up. One of those first polls that I put up was in regard to the Day of the Lord, when God will restore the Kingdom. And this wasn't just something that I thought of, it's actually from Acts. And probably it looks like maybe 50% of you that took the poll already knew that, but the question that I posed there on that poll was right from Acts, and it's where the apostles ask the Lord about “at this time, are you going to restore Israel?” I want to read it for you. This is found in Acts chapter 1, I’m starting in Verse 6. “Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” So, they asked this exact question, the same question that people are asking today, when is God going to send His son to the Earth? Some Christians are just waiting for the rapture. When is going to be the time that all things are going to be restored? Lord? But what does Jesus reply? He says to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father has put in His own authority. This is interesting, guys, because so many prophets on the Internet and in churches are saying, “you can know the times in the seasons, you can be able to know exactly what God is going to do.” And they say, just read the scriptures and you know the whole playbook. That is a lie. That's not what Jesus taught. That is not what He said. You can read it for yourselves in Acts chapter 1. This is not someone s private interpretation. This is not someone's private idea. This is what Jesus told His disciples. He said to them, this is verse 7, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the father has put in His own authority.” So, what did Jesus want them to have? What did He know they needed in this time? He says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the Earth.” This is the important thing that the whole church is missing, while the whole church is wondering, “Lord, are you going to rapture me tomorrow? Lord, when is the end of the world going to be? Lord, When are you returning on the clouds with the angels of heaven?” You have all the Christians having a huge debate about the rapture, the return of the Lord of His pre-trib or post-trib, and giving all these apocalyptic updates, thinking that they can predict by the scriptures. And Jesus Himself has said, you will not know the times or the seasons, but you need to wait for the Holy Spirit. That is what the whole church is missing. While they're looking to the left at all the things that they think they can predict that only God knows, they are rejecting the Holy Spirit, the more important thing. If you reject to receive the Holy Spirit, you're not going to make it into God's kingdom anyway. You're not going to hear Him. You're not going to receive His baptism or His approval. You're not going to receive His blessing. So if you do want to hear from God in 2023, in the day that we're living, stop focusing on what all of these prophets and people are saying and receive the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised from the beginning. Now, I know there are some Christians, not all of you, but some, that say the gift of the Holy Spirit was only for the original apostles, and the signs and the wonders and all of those things were only for the twelve and for the select few. Well, obviously that's not true, because if you continue to read in Acts, and you get to this famous verse that most of the Pentecostals know, Acts Chapter 2, Peter gives this sermon, and then the people say when they heard this, they were cut to the heart. And they said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do? They realized they were the ones that put Jesus on the cross. They had sin in their life, they needed to repent. And so, they're asking the apostles, what in the world do we need to do to be saved and to get right with God? How do we hear Him? How do we receive His blessing? How do we come out of the condemnation that leads to our damnation? And so, Peter said to them, “Repent and let every one of you be baptized.” Did he say, only Let Jews be baptized? Did he say gentiles are excluded? Did he say it was only the twelve? None of that is in the scripture, but “Every single one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all of those who are afar off as many as the Lord God will call”. So, this gift of the Holy Spirit, or the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, is not just for the twelve. It's not just for the Church of the first century. But it is for all of those to the end of time, to all nations, tongues, whether they are Jews or Gentiles, whether they were Pagans or whatever religion you were, the Holy Spirit is for you, if you desire to repent. If you want to hear from God, you need to receive the Holy Spirit. You need to pray and say, “Lord Jesus, I know all power and all authority has been given to you. I know you died on the cross and you resurrected. I know you are the high priest. I come to you Lord in humility, and I ask you to please speak to me. Please let me receive the baptism that your father promised. Let me receive your Holy Spirit.” And you need to wait for the Holy Spirit. Jesus showed us the way to be baptized in water. There are a lot of very rebellious children of God. They don't want to be baptized in water. And they say, “the thief on the Cross wasn't baptized, brother, the thief on the Cross made it to Paradise, and he wasn't baptized, so I don't have to either.” But, but none of us are hanging up on a Roman cross. We can find water. We can obey Jesus if we want to. So, I want to encourage you that if you are wanting to get right with God, find someone who can baptize you in water. Find a brother or sister. Find someone with faith. Maybe your dad, your own mom, your own brother and your family. Finds someone willing to baptize you. Be baptized in the name of Jesus. And then pray and ask Jesus for the gift of the Holy Spirit. People will say, “well, who will baptize me?” They have faith that Jesus Christ can do all things, but they don't have faith that God could even find them some water or someone to baptize them. How does that work? If we have any faith at all, then we ought to pray and say, “Lord, please, make the way for me to be baptized. Make the way for me to be set free from the bonds of sin. Make the way for me to be born again that I may be a new creation, having a new heart in a new mind. And let me receive your Holy Spirit.” And if you wait on Him, He will give you the better gift of the Holy Spirit, to lead you, to guide you, to tell you of things to come, to bring to your memory things that you already know, things that you have known from your childhood about the faith. He will do that for you because He loves you. He doesn't want to condemn you. God did not send His son to just shame you and say “You're going to hell.” Jesus came into this world so that we could see the light and come into the light. All of us were on our way to hell, because all of us have fallen short of the glory of God. But there is a glorious light through the son of God He was prophesied about. Isaiah chapter 53 talks about the suffering servant. The suffering servant is not the nation of Israel. Israel itself can never atone for anybody’s sins. Jesus is the perfect servant. And He showed us how to be servants, how to wash other people s feet, how to lay down our life. And Jesus is the perfect lamb of God. He is the one who takes away the sins of the world. We heap our burdens upon Him, and when we call on Him, He cleanses us from unrighteousness. We are washed and made new. We come into the new covenant that He set for all of those who would believe in the new covenant. We have to be in communion with Jesus. Coming into that new covenant, we eat Jesus' flesh, we drink His blood, and we have life in His name. This gift, the gift of life, is not just for Jews. It is not just for priests or pastors or someone that is holier than us. The gift of the Holy Spirit is for everyone that will just call on the name of Jesus Christ and say, “Lord, save me. I need to be saved from death.” And if we call on the name of the Lord, He helps us. No longer will death have its sting. We don't need to fear death or hell, but we can know that Jesus Christ is our salvation. We can know and have assurance in Him if we walk with Him. The Holy Spirit is given for each of us as our comforter. And if we come into right relationship with God, He comforts us. He lets us know that we are doing what is good in His eyes. He gives us many confirmations. It is truly a blessing to be in the Lord’s good will. Often you know, the devil accuses us. There's been times in my life where the devil would just accuse me, day after day after day, and people as well would bring their accusations, heaping them up, and I'd just pray, and I'd say, “Lord, if any of this is true, if I have sinned against you, if I do what is wrong, let it be known to me. But if I am doing what is right before you, send me a sign.” One time, I prayed that prayer, and it was at evening, and I said in my in my heart, “Lord, you can show me any sign of confirmation. It would be really a blessing if I just saw a shooting star right now, but obviously you don't have to do that.” And as soon as I was finished praying with that prayer, I saw a big shooting star going across the sky right over my head, and I knew the Lord had His blessing on my head and on my family. That has not been an exception in my life as I have followed the Lord. He has shown me His rainbow multiple times. He has shown me that He has His blessing on me, even though Satan continues to heap up His accusations. So, the Lord is my comforter. He comforts me, He blesses me, He protects me. And I am no exception. He blesses and He protects, and He gives His Holy Spirit to everyone that is a part of His true body. If you call on the name of the Lord, if you ask Him for the comforter, He will comfort you. He will bless you. He will pull you into His fold. Remember that Jesus describes Himself as a chicken. Of all the things God could describe Himself as, that seems pretty interesting that He'd describe Himself as a mother hen, a chicken. But He says, as a chicken, as the mother hen gathers her chicklets, those little chicks under her wing, He wants to gather His people. And that is what Jesus wants to do for you and for me. He wants to gather us under His wing of protection to comfort us. But if we refuse His comfort, He's never going to comfort us in sin. He's never going to comfort us when we are in bondage, in the grips of Satan and choosing to rebel against Him. That is why many Christians pray, and they don't hear from God. They feel no comfort. All they feel is condemnation, because they never receive the Holy Spirit of comfort. They don't receive the comforter. And obviously He's not going to comfort you in your sins and in your perversion. So, if you do want the approval from God in His comfort and to not fear death, if you want life to be bubbling up in you, then you need to truly repent, put on righteousness, be baptized in water, just as Peter said in his Great sermon there in Acts. And we can know that if we do repent, if we're baptized in water, and we ask for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, that He will give us the Holy Spirit, because He loves us and He wants to give us the better gift of the Holy Spirit, to lead us and guide us. He won't give us a serpent or a devil or a snake or a rock. He will give us the bread of life. If even evil fathers in this world know how to give their sons and daughters good gifts, then how much more does our father in heaven know how to give us the good gift of the Holy Spirit? So, I want to encourage you, if you are someone wanting to hear God, if you're wanting direction in this year of 2023, what you need is the comforter. You need the Holy Spirit. You need Him in your life. You need to know Him, and you need to obey Him. So, I encourage you to pray, say, “Lord, please open my ears to hear you, open in my eyes to see you. May I receive your Holy Spirit, and may I have your blessing in my life.” May the grace of Jesus be with you.
