Are you Lukewarm?

On the 6th day God turned to Archangel Gabriel and said: "Today I am going to create a land called Canada, it will be a land of outstanding natural beauty. It shall have tall majestic mountains,beautiful sparkling lakes bountiful with bass and trout, forests full of elk and moose, high cliffs over-looking sandy beaches with an abundance of sea life, and rivers stocked with salmon."

God continued, "I shall make the land rich in oil so as to make the inhabitants prosper, I shall call these inhabitants Canadians, and they shall be known as the most friendly and kindest people on the earth."

"But Lord," asked Gabriel, "don't you think you are being too generous to these Canadians?"

"Not really," replied God, "just wait untill I make their neighbours "

A man is helplessly wandering through the desert when he comes across a tie salesman.

"Water! Water!" The man cries.

"I have no water, only ties. Would you like to purchase a tie?" Replies the tie salesman.

"No!" Exclaims the man, "I need water! Tell me where there's water!"

"I know where there is water. 20 miles east, there is a village with abundance of water there."

So the man stumbles off into the distance.

A few days later, the tie salesman sees the man crawling towards him on the horizon. This time, he's barely able to croak out, "Water. Water."

As the man nears him, the tie salesman asks, "did you travel to the village that I told you about?"

He replies, "Yes. But I needed a tie to get in."

Today I would like to continue my thoughts regarding What God wants to teach us through Covid 19

It may take the rest of 2020 to get through this but it will be worth it.

I have long been professing that 2020 was going to be a year of great awakening.

That it would be the beginning of the greatest revival the world has ever seen.

but to be completely honest. 2020 did not take the form I was expecting.

I’m not sure if anyone saw this coming .

but upon further reflection, I believe events like this had to take place to prepare the world for what God is about to do!

God have me a prophetic word for 2020

Isaiah 43:18–19 NASB95

“Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. “Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB95

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Mark 2:22 NASB95

“No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

Hebrews 12:27 NASB95

This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

God is doing something New, but 1st He has to do away with the old way of thinking

As God representatives on the earth the change has to begin with us, and the focus has to be on disciple making

The things God is teaching us through Covid 19

1) Trust God over man

Proverbs 3:5–6 NASB95

Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

2) Be continually filled with Holy Spirit for the Purpose of making Disciples

Acts 13:52 NASB95

And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

3) Don’t be lukewarm

This is where I want to pick up today.

Revelation 3:14–22 NASB95

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”

To give you some background to this passage

In the first century AD, Laodicea was one of seven churches...

Specifically addressed in the opening chapters of the book of revelation,

A revelation from the resurrected Jesus, And received in a vision by the apostle John.

At the end of the first century Christianity is facing mounting opposition in the roman empire.

John is a prisoner on the island of Patmos for his faith in one God,

Which goes against a roman empire that embraces many Gods,

It is on Patmos that Jesus appears to john to send a message to the world,

A message that is today what we know as the book of revelation,

But to the first century church, letters of challenge and hope.

if you were a first-century christian and you lived in Laodicea,

You would feel blessed.

This town had a booming economy.

Planted on the major trade routes of its day, goods came from all over the world,

Made the marketplace rich and lavish.

It happened to be the banking center of this region.

Its textiles were beautiful and coveted all over the known world.

And it was the only place you could get a medical eye salve,

A medicine to treat eye problems that people came from far and wide to purchase here.

I guess if Laodicea were a modern town,

It would have posh malls and expensive car dealerships.

And the nice thing about being a christian in this town:

You probably had enough money to shop in all those places and buy whatever you needed.

The affluence was so deep that in 17 AD,

When the earthquake devastated this area, Laodicea said to Rome, "thanks, but no thanks. We don't need your help.

"we can rebuild this town ourselves."

So at the end of the day, this was a really good place to live.

And while Laodicea was a really neat place to live,

It had one big problem: there was no water here.

The town was planted here to place it at the crossroads of the trade routes.

That was an advantage, but the water was a serious disadvantage.

So what they did was bring water from a source miles away.

They constructed a long avenue of water pipes,

And it brought the water into the town.

Now, the challenge with that was that in the hot sun of asia minor,

By the time the water got here, it was tepid... It was lukewarm.

It was kind of like your tea not being iced or hot,

Just room temperature. It was not very attractive.

Worse yet, that particular water source was full of minerals,

The kind of minerals that flavored the water to make it taste awful.

When you drank it, you'd want to just spit it out of your mouth.

I grew up with well water. High mineral content, it wasn’t great to drink

If you had to you would, but it wan’t enjoyable

we drank from bottled water

So the water was a horrible problem here,

Unlike

Colossae, the neighboring town, that got its water from the mountain snow melt.

It was cool and refreshing and tasted wonderful.

In modern times, you would have been able to buy, no doubt,

Bottled water, mountain pure water from colossae. That's what it was like.

Hierapolis, the other neighboring town, had these marvelous hot springs.

But Laodicea? It was stuck with really bad water.

So now we can begin to understand what Jesus was talking about.

He's saying to these Christians,

"you know, i wish you were like the hot, healing springs of Hierapolis,

"or i wish you were like the cold, refreshing mountain water in Colossae.

"but quite frankly, you remind me of your water: tepid and disgusting to the taste."

In fact, He's kind of saying, "you know, you make me sick like your water makes you sick."

When you look at the rebukes Jesus gave the other churches of Revelation

Like idolatry and sexual immorality, And denying the uniqueness of Christ so they would be accepted by their culture

but here Jesus is saying he wants to puke them out of His mouth.

What did they do to warrant this kind of response from Jesus?

well lucky for us Jesus tells us what they did!

Revelation 3:17 NASB95

‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,

Simply put the Church of Laodicea has become so prosperous they felt they had no need of God!

That is why Jesus rejected them!

They had turned the very blessing of financial abundance into a curse that drove them away from God.

they saw no need of relying on God as they had everything they wanted and needed

When they needed something they just bought it.

Does that remind you of anything?

Not now, but it wasn’t long ago that Alberta was considered a pretty blessed place to live.

The average quality of life was higher than most places in the world.

we had access to good healthcare, high paying jobs, nice homes

our security was in our lines of credit.

If we wanted or needed something....just put it on the credit card!

That’s not the case now is it?

Albertans continue to carry the most consumer debt in Canada ...

The average consumer debt in Alberta's oilsands capital is $37,755.

www.cbc.ca › news › canada › edmonton › consumer-...Jun 28, 2018 -

that was 1 year ago.

Who knows what it is now after Covid 19?

You see I believe God was setting the stage for the biggest awakening to come

We were not ready for it, the people we are called to reach, were not ready for it

Our dependence was on our own abilities and provision, rather than trusting on Jehovah Jireh

I have shared this before, but every revival I have studied usually began in times of economic uncertainty

I believe the reason is simple.

when people are self sufficient they don’t realize their need for God

David Beckworth, a professor of economy at Texas State University, had done research showing that during each recession cycle between 1968 and 2004, the growth rate of evangelical churches jumped by 50 percent.

Its very easy to ignore God during times of abundance.

God warned the people of Israel of the same thing

Deuteronomy 6:10–12 NASB95

“Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, then watch yourself, that you do not forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Watch yourself.....

don’t forget God in your abundance.

I believe this is what Jesus meant when He warned about not being lukewarm

Its not about being on fire for God....although that’s another message

Its more to do with trusting God to provide, and when He does not forgetting about Him

Now unlike many, I believe greater economic times are in store for Alberta.

But 1st we have a harvest to gather.

We can’t squander this opportunity.

When the prosperous times return

God is warning us to watch ourselves

to rely on His provision, and not take the credit for ourselves

I want to close off today reminding ourselves that God will provide

Its actually one of His names

Jehovah Jireh The God who provides

begin soaking Music

2 Corinthians 9:8 NASB95

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;

2 Peter 1:3 NASB95

seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Hebrews 13:5 NASB95

Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”

Job 38:41 NASB95

“Who prepares for the raven its nourishment When its young cry to God And wander about without food?

Luke 12:7 NASB95

“Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Luke 12:24 NASB95

“Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!

Philippians 4:6 NASB95

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Psalm 23:1 NASB95

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

Psalm 37:25 NASB95

I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken Or his descendants begging bread.

Romans 8:32 NASB95

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

Matthew 6:31–32 NASB95

“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.