Sunday, Dec. 26, 2021
Pastor Troy Brewer, OpenDoor Church, Burleson, Texas
I know it’s just after Christmas, but I want to start off with an important part of Christmas we almost always leave out: TWO OLD FOLKS AT THE END OF THEIR LIFE, AT THE END OF THEIR WALK, AT THE VERY END OF ALL THEY HAVE KNOWN SEE KING JESUS AND FIND THEMSELVES IN THE CHRISTMAS STORY.
Luke 2:25-27 – And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 So he came by the Spirit into the temple.
Simeon’s a holy ghost man before the rest of the world was. Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost was gonna be offered to everybody, was not going to happen for another 33 years, but he’s walking in and living in something way before everybody was. Prophetic promises and being led by the Spirit will cause you to see things nobody else sees way before anybody else sees them.
What if you were led by the Spirit to walk in your 2022 promises while it is still 2021?
But Simeon is not the only person at the end of their calendar, who walking in AD even though it is still BC for everybody else and here is her story.
Luke 2:36-38 – And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; 37 And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but SERVED GOD WITH FASTINGS AND PRAYERS night and day. 38 And she COMING IN THAT INSTANT gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
At the very moment Jesus was dedicated in the temple, Anna, a prophetess, came into the Temple. She was right on time with the most significant thing God was involved with on Earth in her day. The reason she was in sync with and aligned with what God was doing was because she served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
Her timing–day and night–was committed to prayer and fasting.
Some people believe others are at the right place and at the right time simply because of luck. Luck is success brought by chance rather than through one’s own actions. Most of the time, what people call Luck is really the intersection where being prepared meets with God bringing an opportunity. God will provide our opportunities, but we must stay prepared through prayer like Anna, we got to be led by the Holy Spirit like Simeon.
1 Prophetic Promises, 2 being Led by the Spirit instead of our flesh in scary and trying times (both of these fall into the category of waiting on the Lord), and 3 being dedicated to prayer are the 3 keys we see here is what keeps us in supernatural perfect timing.
Romans 12:12 – “Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer.”
In Luke 19:41-46, Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem and said they knew not the time of their visitation.
They were not prepared to be a part of what God was doing in their time and in their day. They missed the visitation of the Son of God and Son of Man. Right after He said that He went into the temple and cast out those that were buying and selling which was a away people would exchange money for an animal to sacrifice. The issue wasn’t so much the buying and selling but the “busyness” to the neglect of prayer.
If you are concerned about missing God’s purpose for your life or if you do not want to be living outside of God’s present happenings in the earth, rise up and be instant in prayer.
It’s the end of the year. Are you ready for the end?
There’s a little time left. It’s not too late. There is something brand new that God wants to show you and invite you into after this?
Clocks and calendars tell us WHEN we are…
You prove you’re serious and real and intentional by paying attention to the timing of things.
There is a spiritual war over timing. The enemy is trying to “change the set times and the laws” (Daniel 7:25).
The good news is our God is able to reverse anything the enemy tries to do because He “changes the times and the seasons” (Daniel 2:21) back into order when we align with Him.
The rattling of the dry bones in the book of Ezekiel is the realignment of what has been scattered in time and space.
Todays is the 26th day of December and there are 5 days left in the year 2021. All of us have a great responsibility in finishing well in this year. We are not thinking well, I’ve got 364 days left until Christmas, we are thinking, I’ve got 5 days left to accomplish something in this year that honors God and says I finished well in the year 2021.
The calendar is a measure to man, but it is not a limit to God.
It doesn’t tell us Who we are.
It doesn’t tell us what we are. It doesn’t tell us what is possible or what can be.
It’s not too late!
Your mess in 2021 has not messed God up.
He is faithful. He is amazing. He is willing. He is accessible
Romans 10:9 – “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
God doesn’t need a human schedule to accomplish a divine purpose.
God doesn’t need to check your schedule to bless you. He’s looking for people who believe him in something I like to call defiant hope
To those who walk with Him, the Lord declares that His ear is not “dull, that it cannot hear (Isaiah 59:1)”
You don’t give up what you hoped for in February because there’s just a few days left.
GOD WANTS TO BRING YOU INTO SOMETHING MUCH BETTER.
Revelation 4:1 – “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up here, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”
Revelation chapter 4 is symbolic for where the rapture of the church takes place
While I’m waiting for the rapture, though, I’m living for Christ.
The word “wait” in the Bible often means “to look eagerly for, to hope and to expect.” The psalmist, when facing great difficulties, wrote:
Psalms 25:2–3 – “O my God, I trust in You; let me not be ashamed; let not my enemies triumph over me. Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed.”
“Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day” (vv. 4–5 NKJV).
Titus 2:11-14 – For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
Here at the end of the calendar year I want to say how happy and how blessed I am to be surrounded by people and found amongst a tribe that is both rapture ready and zealous for good works
OPENDOOR FOOD BANK 2021
83 outreaches
Pounds of food given out: 4,500,000
People Fed: 166,104
Salvations: 49
PRISON MINISTRY:
53 services for 1967 prisoners
483 salvations
RADIO MINISTRY
12,110 radio broadcasts
363,300 minutes of airtime
Response from 107 nations throughout the earth
PRAYER & COMMUNICATION CENTER – 877-413-0888
20,356 phone calls year to date
62 healings
6 salvations
OpenDoor Church Services
220 church services
831 baptisms
898 salvations
1583 prayed in the prayer tent
Our outreaches, food banks, rescue centers, homes for orphans, leprosy villages, schools, medical clinics and water wells impacted the USA, Mexico, India, Nepal, Uganda, Tanzania, Colombia, Belize, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Israel
2665 protective & preventive rescues
106 slaves rescues
1 trafficker prosecuted
15 new freedom homes
808,411 meals provided in through our food banks throughout the world
9257 people who received medical services
130 water wells
Built and gave away 8 new homes
Supported local poor families $501,970
$175,000 support to Israel
and the millions of dollars we spent doing all we’ve mentioned all over the world. And we don’t care because we are looking for the return of King Jesus and we are zealous for God for acts of service.
WORKS YOU DO BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO FAITH.
ACTS IS WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU DO HAVE FAITH.
I can tell if you are full of hope because if you then you are zealous for good works–or acts of faith. If you say you are looking for Jesus and you are not doing doing anything, you are not full of hope. You’re full of boloney.
Opendoorexperience.com