SEND THE RAIN
Living With Integrity James 5:17-18
Introduction
* Boy on the prairies - in the heat of the summer - we’d watch the sky for rain - soil cracked - crops parched, etc.
- Remember the thrill as we watched the black clouds move toward us like a sheet of water - we’d get giddy in anticipation
- sometimes see the rain in the distance but never reached us
And we longed for the refreshing rains to come
- WITHOUT THE RAIN – THERE WAS ONLY DROUGHT AND DRYNESS AND IF PROLONGED - DEATH.
** As I grew older - and I moved from boyhood to manhood, God gripped my heart more and more and I looked for and longed for another kind of rain.
RAIN OF GOD’S BLESSING - RAIN OF A STIRRING OF GOD TO RESTORE AND REFRESH HIS PEOPLE AND BRING NEW LIFE IN THE SOIL OF HUMANITY.
- Rain that would bring a refreshing of our dry and parched spirits
- Rain of God’s Holy Presence as He uniquely visited His people to lift their heavy hearts and quench the thirsting of the deep recesses of our souls.
- Rain that would impregnate our lives with the Reality, Power, Vitality of abundant living that was rooted deep in the Grandeur and Glory of our God.
* As Your Pastor, I cannot be satisfied with business as usual, I must not be. The heart of our church is dry, and the soul of our City and Nation is parched and near death.
I LOOK FOR, I LONG FOR A SPIRITUAL RAIN THAT, LIKE THE PRAIRIE RAIN, WOULD FALL ON OUR CHURCH AND SEEP ACROSS OUR CITY AND COUNTRY BRINGING REFRESHMENT AND LIFE.
MY EYE IS ON THE HORIZON WATCHING FOR THE GATHERING CLOUDS THAT WOULD BRING THE RAIN OF THE SPIRIT, THE RAIN OF REVIVAL AND RENEWAL TO PARKWAY BIBLE CHURCH. AND MY HEART CRIES OUT "LORD, SEND THE RAIN!"
DOES THAT STRIKE A CHORD WITH YOUR HEART?
I. The Heart Of The Rain Maker
* HISTORY = REDEMPTION AND RECONCILIATION
1. God Loves Us and Wants To Bless Us
Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
(Gen. 1:31)
Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. Then the earth shall yield her increase; God, our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him. (Ps. 67:5-7)
I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)
** GOD IS PASSIONATE ABOUT HIS REDEMPTIVE PLAN
- Wants to SEND THE RAIN and pour out His Spirit so that people will be embraced by His Redemptive Love, and Experience His Refreshing Presence.
2. God Wants Us To Love Him
"Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between prosperity and disaster, between life and death. I have commanded you today to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, laws, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and become a great nation, and the LORD your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy. But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy."
"Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live! Choose to love the LORD your God and to obey him and commit yourself to him, for he is your life. Then you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." (Deut. 30:15-20 NLT)
But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"
Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
(Matt. 22:34-40)
3. God Wants Us To Love People
* GOD HAS A PASSION FOR PEOPLE
- When we have a passion for God we will have a passion for people.
* Luke 15 - Prodigal Son
- Join Him in Great Commission
** GOD’S PASSION IS THE REDEMPTION AND RECONCILIATION OF THE WORLD. - your family, friends, neighbours etc.
GREAT COMMANDMENT
LOVE GOD ---- LOVE PEOPLE
** OUT OF THE GREAT COMMANDMENT IS BORN THE GREAT COMMISSION
- WHEN WE LOVE GOD WITH ALL OUR HEARTS, IT WILL RESULT IN A WHOLEHEARTED COMMITMENT TO THE GREAT COMMISSION AGENDA.
**** One of the primary ways we demonstrate our love for God and our love for people is through our involvement in the Great Commission Agenda.
THE HEART OF THE RAINMAKER IS IN THE REDEMPTION OF LOST HUMANITY.
* His Blessings Are For Those Whose Hearts Beat With His Heart
II. Who Stopped The Rain
James 5:17; 1 Kings 16:29-31; 17:1
** STORY OF ELIJAH AND AHAB.
* Ahab and Jezebel Led Israel Away From Worshipping God
- His ways, his priorities etc.
- BECAUSE THEY DID NOT FOLLOW GOD – GOD WITHHELD THE RAIN
1. Disobedience To God Will Always Stop The Rain
16:29-34 17:1; 17:7 18:2; 5
* WHAT STOPS THE RAIN
1. Not Wholeheartedly Loving God
2. Not Loving People
3. Not Prioritizing God’s Mission In Your Life.
** If you do not love God wholeheartedly, you will not love people the way God loves people and therefore you will only dabble and give lip service to the Great Commission.
In other words:
"If you do not live in obedience to the Great Commandment to LOVE GOD AND LOVE PEOPLE - you will never be fully motivated to fulfill the Great Commission."
* Error to try to persuade people to do evangelism (Great Commission) if they are not passionately in love with God and people.
2. Making Substitutes For God Stops the Rain
pg 19
3. Setting Up Idols In Our Heart Stops The Rain
* When we have substitutes for God or set up idols in our heart – we have already stopped loving Him with our whole heart and the rain stops.
** WHAT IS THE CONDITION OF YOUR HEART?
MERCY-DROPS ROUND US ARE FALLING – BUT FOR THE SHOWERS WE PLEAD.
— Dry and Parched — Church is Lukewarm
CUBA HAD 45 YRS. OF DROUGHT BEFORE THE RAIN CAME.
III. Send The Rain
James 5:18; 1 Kings 18:1
AHAB AND ELIJAH
1 Kings 18:20-39 Vs 36-37; 39
The Drought Ends:
18:41-47
1. Pastor Raymon - — vision - growth 120-1000 - 3 yrs
I ASK, "LORD– IF IN CUBA - WHY NOT PARKWAY?"
2. Missionary Michael - 2 people saved
3. Pastor Josway - 14 people saved
4. Pastor Alfonee - - 16 people saved
32 People Saved.
I ASK, "LORD - IF IN CUBA – WHY NOT PARKWAY?"
*** ASK GOD TO SEND THE RAIN
- Spiritual Renewal
- 100 People in 3 years.
Conclusion
** TRUE HAPPINESS AND BLESSING ARE FOUND ONLY WITHIN THE WILL OF GOD , PASSIONATELY LOVING HIM, LOVING PEOPLE AND ENGAGING IN HIS GREAT COMMISSION AGENDA.
- many people want to have abundant blessing on their own terms - their way for their own purposes
- God Will Not So Fritter Away His Blessing.
WHAT ARE THE PREREQUISITES OF GOD’S BLESSING? IF WE ARE TO ASK HIM TO SEND THE RAIN, WHAT WILL IT TAKE?
1. PRAYER
2. LOVE - God and People
3. CONFESSION
4. REPENTANCE
5. SURRENDER
- to God as instruments of His grace
6. OBEDIENCE
- Holiness
- Service
- God’s Agenda
DO YOU LONG FOR THE RAIN? DOES YOUR HEART CRY OUT, "LORD, SEND THE RAIN"?
