Going Beyond Ministries with Priscilla Shirer – Let Revival Begin with Me
Priscilla Shirer (born December 31, 1974) is an American author, motivational speaker, actress, and Christian evangelist. Her father is Dallas mega-church pastor Tony Evans and her brother is Christian entertainer Anthony Evans.
The daughter of Tony Evans, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas,[1] Priscilla grew up well acquainted with the Bible. As a freshman at the University of Houston, she interned with a Christian radio station. Soon listeners were calling the station, inviting Priscilla to speak at their Bible study groups and other events. Soon she was invited to lead a weekly Bible study at the Zig Ziglar Corporation and then to join its speaker team. Priscilla has worked as an independent contractor for CBS and hosted a local television show, but recently she has focused solely on Christian ministry opportunities. She calls Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Rev. Billy Graham, her mentor in ministry.
Together the Shirers established Going Beyond Ministries, a speaking bureau featuring Priscilla. The parents of three young boys, the Shirers share ministry and family responsibilities. While Priscilla continues to minister full-time, Jerry manages his schedule and other business aspects of Going Beyond Ministries.
Priscilla speaks around the world at churches and other events, including the LifeWay Christian Resources-sponsored Going Beyond conference and Deeper Still: The Event, where she shares the stage with Beth Moore and Kay Arthur. She has also authored several books.
Shirer graduated from Duncanville High School and Dallas Theological Seminary, earning a master’s degree from the latter in Biblical Studies.
In 1993, Shirer was a freshman at the University of Houston. Shirer was married in 1999 to Jerry Shirer, former Hilton Hotels executive. The couple has three sons.
In 2013, Shirer was a speaker at the 2013 Women of Faith conference. In 2015, Shirer made her film debut in the Kendrick Brothers film War Room. In October 2016, Shirer was recognized as one of four prominent women of faith during the 10th anniversary of God’s Leading Ladies Life Enrichment Program at The Potter’s House.[1] Shirer also featured at the 47th GMA Dove Awards.
[Music]
good evening y’all it’s a privilege to
be with you and to have an opportunity
to be a part of legacy nights it was
described to me via email by your pastor
as a revival of sorts he said we want an
outpouring of the Holy Spirit I said I’m
in I’m in I’m in and so it is a
privilege to be able to be with you I
always love being with your church and
being able to share in some capacity the
Word of God to you I pray that tonight
really is an inauguration that it just
sort of kicks off what it is that God
wants to do in your heart what he wants
to do in your mind how he wants to
revolutionize your life change that he
wants to break off of your life
spiritually deliverance that he wants to
bring freedom and victory that he wants
to speak over your life there are some
trajectories that are going to be
changed some ambitions that are gonna be
refocused some dreams and visions that
are gonna be planted in your heart I
believe that’s gonna happen this week
and the fact the fact that you’ve come
out on a Monday night says y’all love
for serious about this that you didn’t
come to play games that you you braved
the traffic whatever it is you had to
brave to come out tonight because you
want to see and hear the voice of God
[Applause]
before I dive into just a short little
thought that I want to share with you
that I believe will lead us as it has
led me more closely into the presence of
God I can’t help but pause for a moment
because I want you to hear what your
pastor said to you a few moments ago he
said 35 years ago I had a vision that
the Lord gave me and tonight I’m
standing on this platform and seeing
that out working and the fruit of a
vision from 35
years ago listen listen some of us made
new year’s resolutions twenty-something
days ago and we’re already out but 35
years ago do you know what kind of
faithfulness what kind of diligence what
kind of prayer what kind of integrity
what kind of character come on and help
me celebrate Phillips and Holly Wagner
thank you thank you thank you we are the
fruit of your diligence thank you Lord
come and speak to us father we have
rolled out the red carpet for you and
our praise and in our worship and now we
step out of the way because we need a
word Lord I’m so grateful that each
other is here but we didn’t come to see
each other we came to see you so father
rend the heavens come down and speak in
jesus name amen
it was the 1940s or so when there was a
professor who was in England his name
was professor or Orr
he taught theology at a university there
he decided to take some of his theology
students this is the 1940s he decided to
take them on an excursion a field trip
so to speak and so he gathered up his
students and he said we’re gonna go
visit some of the historical places here
in England that have some sort of
theological significance he took him to
many religious sites some that had been
very strategic in the building up of the
church and in the Christian faith and
one of the places that they visited was
the Epworth rectory which would have
been the home the living place the study
place of one of the great reformers of
the church his name was John Wesley
John Wesley sort of put in place much of
the theology upon which the church that
you attend that I attend a lot of that
foundational theology
was crafted by reformers like John
Wesley
so John Wesley would study he would
teach he would preach he would pray that
revival would spread out not only in
England but he prayed for it here in our
country that would revival would break
out he and others like him
assured in in prayer some of the great
revivals that swept through America in
the early 1900’s were people in mass
were coming to know Jesus Christ as Lord
where the heavens seemed to be open in
an unusual way and revival broke out in
a way that has made the history books
that we still look back on now and
recognize the fire of God’s Spirit that
spread during that time period it’s
because guys many of them like John
Wesley were on their knees praying that
God would move so these theology
students went and they visited this
rectory this house where he lived and
they went in the kitchen professor or
showed them all where John Wesley would
have eaten his lunch and his dinners
where he would have cooked where he
would have lived his life there took him
into the study where John Wesley would
have studied these theology students
were enamored because of course some of
the old books that John Wesley would
have studied from that he had written in
some of those notes they had preserved
they were still there on the desk and on
the bookshelves and so the theology
students were feeling them the spines of
those books just enjoying the richness
of this history and then professor or
walked the students up to the second
floor where the most intimate quarters
of John Wesley would have been his
bedroom walked in the bedroom and the
students began to file around the bed in
a tiny space in that bedroom and as they
all files into the room one of them
noticed as they got around the far side
of the bed that there were two small
patches well-worn patches in the carpet
fibers of the floor they were right next
to each other and they were beside the
bed and he he asked his professor about
those patches that were worn right there
beside the bed and professor or
explained that it is said that those two
patches were the actual places were
every single morning not for a minute or
two but
several hours on end John Wesley would
plant his knees right beside his bed and
he had prayed so long and so hard for
revival that his knee had knees had
actually imprinted themselves onto the
floor that the carpet fibers were were
worn as he prayed for revival so the
students stood in there for a moment and
after a few moments they left the room
they went downstairs they all got on the
bus to go to the next location professor
or stood at the front of the bus counted
the students to make sure everybody was
there and he realized one was missing he
walked back into the house went into the
kitchen to look for the student nobody
was there went into the study to look
for the student nobody was there walked
up the stairs into the bedroom and he
could just see across the other side of
the bed the head and shoulders of a
student who had planted his knees down
in those well-worn patches on the floor
and he could hear the student praying do
it again Lord
Lord would you do it again and would you
do it again with me professor or walked
around the side of the bed he put his
hand on the the shoulder of the student
and he said it’s time to go and rising
from his knees Billy Graham went and
joined the rest of the students on the
bus that day
and then God did it again
and I just wonder what would happen if
this week there were some people who
were brave enough to say the Lord would
you do it again would you not allow me
to be a Christian in name only would you
make it so that I’m so uncomfortable
with being a nominal Christian who just
comes to church you just read the verse
a day to keep the devil away who’s just
a good person but isn’t a person who is
completely sold out for the cause of
Jesus Christ Lord would you make it so
that I am different and unique and set
apart and filled by the Holy Spirit of
God Lord would you do it again
and would you let it start with me I’m
praying for revival I’m talking about
straight up old-school flat-footed
revival I’m talking about where the Holy
Spirit breaks out so clearly and so
fully that there is not one person that
walks the face of the earth that does
not know that there is a God somewhere
and that he sent His Son Jesus Christ to
redeem us from our sins that he is the
way the truth and the life and that no
man comes to the Father except through
him Lord do it again and you might as
well go ahead and start at oasis in LA
revival is what we’re asking him for it
is a unique outpouring of the presence
of God it is when his spirit the
immaterial in some way becomes material
tangible where we see and we hear and we
can detect traces of God’s presence it’s
where you look back over your history
and you can see footprints where God was
working stuff out in your favor where he
was putting the right people in the
right place at the right time to guide
your sets it’s when you step away from
just celebrating his omnipresence I’m
grateful for the omnipresence of God
omnipresence means that he is everywhere
at the same time omnipresence means when
I fly back to Dallas Texas tomorrow
I’m not taking all of God with me and
not leaving him here with you that he is
just as much in Los Angeles as he will
be with me in Dallas Texas because our
God is omnipresent but there should be
an huh hunger in us the people of God –
what more than just his omnipresence we
should what his manifest presence
manifest is revival
it’s his clear outpouring it is the
detecting of his fingerprints in our
lives it’s when we hear his voice by his
Spirit whispering to us and speaking to
us and this has always been the desire
of God to reveal himself that’s what
revival is it is a revelation it is a
revealing of the tangible experience
with God that’s what he’s always wanted
even in Isaiah 65 way back in the Old
Testament he said listen even when
people didn’t want me I was still trying
to reveal myself he said i permitted
myself to be sought by those who didn’t
even ask for me i permitted myself to be
found by those who did not seek me I
said Here I am Here I am – a people that
did not even call on my name I wanted to
bring revival even when people weren’t
asking for it and so all throughout the
scriptures from the Old Testament all
the way into the new we find a God who
wanted to be found by his people he
wanted to reveal himself do you know
what great lengths he went to reveal
himself to you and to me all of history
really is a chronicling of God’s desire
to be seen and experienced and felt in a
tangible real way to be in relationship
with every single one of us it started
in the garden you know Adam and Eve he
sent them down in a perfect environment
so that they could have a perfect
relationship with him but you know we
have a very real enemy that has always
worked against revival the revealing of
God and so even then he slithered into
the perfect environment and introduced
sin and they bit the Apple and sin
didn’t just enter into that perfect
environment but the DNA of sin was
passed down to all humanity for all time
and it seemed like all hope was lost but
our God never to be outdone he stepped
in and had another move because Adam and
Eve they came together again and they
had a little baby boy named Seth and
then Seth gave birth to Enoch in Genesis
chapter 4 says that when he mosh was
born everybody began to worship God
again the enemy he wanted to try to
stand against the revealing of God the
revelation of God the relationship of
God to humanity and so he made it so
that sin was introduced and perpetuated
and proliferated throughout humanity and
things got so bad that the entire human
race really needed to be wiped out and
it seemed like the enemy had the upper
hand and he was gonna win but our God
never to be outdone he went and he found
a man named Noah and he said Noah I want
you to build me an ark and Noah said Oh
what he said an ark because one day it
is going to rain Noah said Eska what he
said it’s gonna rain and so he built an
ark didn’t even know what it was for
rain he had never seen it before but in
obedience to God his ark became the
carrier through which God would preserve
all of humanity and once again our God
always he was on top but the enemy cause
sin to proliferate again the attitudes
of people to be hardened against the one
true God and things look so
Iyer that had looked as if the enemy had
won but our God never to be outdone he
went to a little obscure town and found
an obscure man named Abram he plucked
him out of a town called herb he set him
on a brand new path he changed his name
he changed the GPS coordinates on his
ambitions and the trajectory of his life
and he said through you Abraham I’m
gonna make a brand new people called the
children of Israel they will be my
people I will mark them with my presence
I will make a covenant with them so that
you can’t mess with them no matter how
hard it is that you drive so the
children of Israel were crafted as an
opportunity for God to maintain
relationship with humanity no matter
what the enemy would try but the enemy
of course wanted to do everything he
could to keep revival to keep revelation
to keep the revealing of God from
happening fully with humanity and so
Israel was enslaved for 400 years they
were enslaved down in Egypt and it
looked like all hope was lost but our
God never to be outdone he made it so
that there was a little boy named Moses
that was raised as the Prince of Egypt
and at just the right time he said to
Moses mo you go tell Pharaoh let my
people go and Pharaoh’s heart was
softened and he released the children of
Israel and after 40 years in the
wilderness 40 years of coming into
intimate relationship with their God
they finally came into the Promised Land
and it looked like the enemy had been
beaten forever but the enemy he had
another move up his sleeve because he
made it so that the idols of their new
land looked as appealing as the one true
God and so they began to worship idols
in the book of Judges it says and when
you get to the end of the book of the
judges the last line of the book of
Judges says everybody was doing what was
right in their own eyes kind of sounds
like America in the year 2019 doesn’t it
and it looked like the enemy was going
to have the final say but our God never
to be outdone he went and found a woman
named Ruth and Ruth married Boaz
she and Boas had a baby named Obed and
Obed gave birth to Jesse and Jesse gave
birth to a little baby boy named David
that’s King David the one who the
prophets had already prophesied through
that lineage there would be one born who
would settle this matter once and for
all the people that were on the stage of
the world in that moment did not even
know that they were already in place for
a historical move for which the enemy
would never have a response for the Old
Testament closed four hundred years of
silence passed and then the curtain
opened and Jesus Christ stepped on the
scene and that is the response that the
enemy has never ever been able to tackle
Jesus God the Father revealed himself in
the Old Testament and then Jesus came in
the New Testament Jesus was the physical
embodiment of God the Father he said if
you’ve seen me you’ve seen the father
Yahweh tried to make it so that he could
have relationship with people as boldly
as he could in the Old Testament and he
came in the New Testament in the person
of Jesus Christ in every dispensation he
tried to figure out the best way to make
it so that he could reveal himself to
humanity God the Father in the Old
Testament Jesus the son in the New
Testament and in every stage people
rejected the revelation that God gave
him gave them up himself one scholar
said it this way that the great sin of
the Old Testament that is that they did
not believe in God the Father the great
sin of the new testament is that they
did not believe in Jesus the Son and the
great sin of our generation is that we
really don’t believe in the Holy Spirit
but on every turn when Jesus our God
seeks to reveal himself that we always
question the way he seeks to reveal
himself to us Jesus came in the Old
Testament the Word made flesh and he
dwelt among them listen to John
described this beholding of Jesus he
said in John chapter 1 verse 14 the word
became flesh and dwelt among us listen
to the all in his voice as he says it
and we beheld his glory I mean John I
can’t believe it the glory of God the
Father we back we saw him with our own
eyes we got an up-close personal
front-row seat chin on our hands
salivating experience because we got a
front-row seat to see Jesus Christ to
hear the words come out of his mouth to
hear him teach to see him heal and
prophesy and tell people to repent
because the kingdom of God was at hand
we got to see him for ourselves
I love how Eugene Peterson puts that
verse in the message Bible he says Jesus
came and moved into the neighborhood of
humanity that he came to move into your
neighborhood in my neighborhood that’s
revival that he came to make himself
present to walk publicly among the
people so that they could experience
what it was like to be in the very
presence of God and so he performed
miracles and he taught so he could
authenticate that he was who he said he
was and that he could do exactly what he
said he could do and everybody didn’t
believe him they just want quite
convinced just like they weren’t in the
Old Testament they weren’t convinced
about Jesus in the New Testament they
weren’t sure about this Messiah business
but what they did know was that where
everywhere Jesus showed up blind people
could see what they did know even though
they weren’t sure about the whole
kingdom of God is at hand stuff what
they did know was that when this Jesus
showed up lame people could walk and the
Deaf could hear and the dead were being
raised everywhere Jesus showed up and
every time he spoke his words were
dripping with an awe and with an
authority that they had never ever heard
before
they’d heard the Pharisees and the
Sadducees the religious leaders that had
been nice but they ain’t never heard
nothing like this and so wherever Jesus
went it says throngs of people were
crowded around him because they wanted
to get as close as they possibly could
you know like the woman with the issue
of blood who forced her way through a
crowd because she wanted to get as close
as she could so she could reach out and
touch the hem of his arm garment because
she knew if she could just touch him
that power would leave him and come to
her and heal her of all her diseases
they weren’t sure about whether or not
he was the Messiah but they knew he was
something and God tried to reveal
himself once again Jesus walking amongst
the people which is why one of the
scariest one of the most troubling
one-liners in all of Scripture is John
chapter 11 verse 54 I said all of that
to get us to John chapter 11 verse 54 it
says therefore Jesus no longer walked
publicly among the Jews he went away one
of the most troubling portions of all of
Scripture is that Jesus no longer went
public he was present he was there he
just went in public he was around but he
just chose to stave off into more quiet
corners instead of walking publicly
among the people no more miracles no
more teaching out in public people
wouldn’t be privy to the revival to the
revelation of himself as he had come to
give no he no longer walked publicly
amongst the people are we living in a
time where he is no longer walking
publicly among us
he’s present he just ain’t public
because the people of God have gotten so
private and so quiet that we are
Christians we’re just not public with
our Christianity that the Jesus that
people are supposed to see in you the
Jesus that they’re supposed to see in me
they are looking but they just can’t
find him he’s present he’s just not
public this little portion of Scripture
bothered me so much because I wanted to
figure out what is it that keeps Jesus
from being revealed that keeps the
revival from happening why is it that
Jesus would be a present amongst the
people but that he wouldn’t walk
publicly among them I was really
bothered by this
especially since verse 55 says and I’ll
just read it to you from John chapter 11
it says that the Passover of the Jews
was at hand and many went up to
Jerusalem that’s into the city out of
the country where they lived they went
out of the country into the city for
this religious festival called Passover
and they were seeking for Jesus they
were saying to each other as they stood
in the temple do you think Jesus is
going to come this year listen they went
out of the country into the city to
Jerusalem for a religious event they are
standing in the temple looking for Jesus
and he’s nowhere to be found they are in
the place where if there’s any place
Jesus is gonna be is gonna be in the
temple and they are looking for him and
they cannot find him what an indictment
against the Church of Jesus Christ if
when people come through these doors if
they come into this place they can find
programs and they can find our plans and
they can find great teaching they can
find great singing they can find lights
and cameras and beautiful stages they
can find everything except the one who
will actually change their lives
and there are people who are coming into
our churches y’all and they’re looking
for Jesus they might not even really
know how to verbalize what they’re after
they just know that there is a void in
their lives that needs to be filled they
need something that can quench them at
the core of them and they come in
looking not for our plans enough for our
programs they are looking for the
presence of God the presence of God is
what people are seeking it’s what we all
need and these people are looking for
Jesus but Jesus is no longer walking
publicly among them the presence of God
revival is what people have always been
after since the beginning of time one of
my favorite Bible study teachers leaders
in my life her name was Elizabeth Eliot
she died a while back now but years and
years of just faithful service to God I
would read all her books and listen to
her on the radio every now and then she
was the kind of speaker or teacher that
she was fairly bland like there were no
jokes she wasn’t gonna crack a smile you
know she was gonna try to entertain you
she didn’t really care if you liked what
she was saying or not she would just
stand up there and literally y’all she
would just talk just like this for a
solid hour and one time I was in a
smaller group with her and she was
taking questions and someone asked her
why is it that in your teaching style
I’ve noticed that you don’t feel the
need for a whole lot of antidotes or
jokes or something like that you don’t
seem to need to warm up the crowd and I
remember Miss Elizabeth she was probably
in her late 70s by then she looked back
at the woman who asked the question with
a little smile on her face
and she said well why would I do that
the people didn’t come to see me they
came to see Jesus
I said wealth in the reality is they
don’t need to see you they need to see
Jesus they don’t need to see me they
need Jesus he’s the one that changes
lives y’all he literally sets people
free he gives people victory he breaks
chains on people’s lives he opens up
blinded eyes he opens up deaf ears he
can change the trajectory of your entire
family line listen to me I’m in a family
line that has been completely changed
the trajectory of our lives completely
transformed because Jesus stepped in and
saved my grandfather saved my father
saved us change the trajectory of our
lives there’s no telling where I’d be if
it were not for the king of kings and
the Lord of lords so I stand on this
platform today not because I’m a
preacher it’s because I’m a satisfied
customer of the Grace and the goodness
of God he’s changed my life he’s changed
my life
so the people were looking for Jesus and
they couldn’t find him and I wanted to
know why wasn’t he there why wasn’t he
there turns out this happens in John
chapter 11 right on the heels of him
raising Lazarus from the dead you know
the story he walks in four days after
Lazarus has already been dead Mary and
Martha are like where have you been
seriously and Jesus says don’t worry
about it I am the resurrection and the
life I’ll take care of this and he calls
Lazarus out of the tomb and he says
loose that man and let him go Lazarus
comes forth in the siting of many many
people who were gathered that day some
believe in him some are a little
critical of him because you know people
always are when Jesus reveals himself
and so they go to the Pharisees and the
Sadducees and they have a little word to
say about what Jesus is doing out here
performing miracles and stuff and it
says that the Sadducees and the
Pharisees they convene a council to
scrutinize the work of Jesus theologian
aw Tozier says that when Jesus moves
when God moves when he does stuff that’s
outside of the box of our comfort zone
there is always one of two responses the
unbelieving person will squat down to
their knees only to get a better look so
that they can be critical of and
scrutinized that which God has done
but the believing person might also drop
to their knees but they will do so only
so that they can turn their attention
upward with their hands raised and say
thank you the Pharisees and the
Sadducees they drop to their knees to
get a closer look to scrutinise and in
their pride and in their arrogance they
say Jesus is doing too much we can’t let
him as if they could control him we
can’t let him go on this way because if
we do he will ruin our plans and so they
set out it says in John 11 53 it says
that they make a decision to kill him
they decide he needs to be silenced he
needs to be muted he needs to be
squelched his moves need to be
suffocated ex-fix eiated so that they
can get a handle on him and make them
less
and diminish they want to do whatever it
is they can to kill the work of God and
so they silenced him any way they can
and it says that as a result of their
decision
Jesus no longer walked publicly among
them so I want to ask you is there any
way any part of your life where you know
you are silencing diminishing minimizing
extinguishing the moves of God in your
own personal experience I’m talking
about where you’ve heard the voice of
God you know it’s the conviction of the
holy spirit saying apologize to that
person or give to that person or go
there or don’t go here participate in
that don’t participate in this and you
just keep silence and yet walking away
from it ignoring it going the other
direction from it doing everything you
can to minimize what you know is the
work of God around you when we decide
and choose individually to kill his work
to smother his work in our life the
scripture says his response is to no
longer walk publicly among you he’s
present he’s just not public he will
never leave you nor forsake you you
can’t be unsaved once you’ve already
placed faith in Jesus Christ
you are eternally secure for heaven
you’ll have to worry about that but just
because he’s present doesn’t mean he’s
public and he came to be more than just
some of the king of kings and Lord of
lords that lives in you he wants you to
experience him on the outside of you
into the way you think and the choices
that you make in the decisions that you
choose in the paths of your life he
wants you to see him working publicly
around you in need of different
experiences of your life if you like me
what to experience more than just his
omnipresence if you want his manifest
presence the thing that he came for then
we have to be careful that were not
squelching diminishing the moves of God
in our life because in any place in our
life where we have determined to kill
him we will see that he no longer walks
publicly among us and so Jesus no longer
walks publicly among them
because there are leaders and by the way
if I can just open up our parentheses
here we have to be on our knees praying
for the leadership of our churches every
single Church the place where they are
entrusted with this responsibility of
shepherding our souls we have to ask the
Lord to give them wisdom to make margin
for the Holy Spirit like these leaders
have in this church for this week this
whole week y’all is just devoted to
letting Jesus do what Jesus wants to do
in giving him margin to move freely
among us to be public among us we need
to be praying for integrity and
character in our leadership we need to
be praying that there are people who are
leading us who are watching over us who
are faithful to do it the way that would
most honor a great move and revival of
God in the house of God and so in the
Old Testament he came as God the Father
in the New Testament Jesus the Son and
just like he wanted to move publicly in
the Old Testament and move publicly in
the New Testament through Jesus Christ
when Jesus finally ascended into heaven
he said to the disciples it is to your
advantage that I go because when I go
I’m going to leave with you another
helper in the original language another
helper is a word that actually means
another of the exact same kind meaning I
am NOT leaving with you a lesser version
of myself everything you had in me all
of the authority and all of the grandeur
and all of the greatness of God the
Father that is in me is now in the
person of the Holy Spirit and I am
leaving the Holy Spirit of God with you
in 2019 so that just as God wanted to
reveal himself in the Old Testament and
just as Jesus the son wanted to walk
publicly in the New Testament you now
have every right and privilege as a
daughter or son in this dispensation in
which he has left the Holy Spirit to
experience the full presence of God
among you in the person of the Holy
Spirit did you know that when you place
faith in Jesus Christ you were speedily
received the Holy Spirit of God I’m
asking you did you know it listen the
Holy Spirit is not a ghost or a wind or
a fire or a dove he’s often symbolized
by those things but y’all Denny who he
is
the Holy Spirit is the third person of
the Trinity not third because he is
least in value just third because he’s
the last to be revealed to us in the
pages of Scripture but all of the
fullness all of the power all of the
glory all of the grandeur of God the
Father is in the person of the Holy
Spirit that means when you place faith
in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit
takes up residence in you that means
that all of the grandeur all of the
goodness all of the authority of God the
Father now lives on the inside of you
and he doesn’t just want to be present
he wants to be public that’s why you get
his fruit because that means that when
your patience has run out with that
person you ain’t got no more patient he
gives you the fruit of the Spirit so
that you can have patience that goes
beyond your natural capacity to have
patience it means when you do not have
any self discipline it the Holy Spirit
the fruit of God’s Spirit means that you
are able to restrain yourself within
your flesh you know you are not able to
restrain yourself not only do you have
the fruit of the Spirit that’s public
you also have the gifts of the Spirit so
that you can operate in a way that
publicly analyze the body of Christ and
builds people up and encourages them and
stirs them on it’s God’s public activity
in your life it’s called the manifest
presence of God the person of the Holy
Spirit enables us as the body of Christ
to walk in a manner worthy of the
calling by which we have been called
it’s the presence of God on our life it
marks us
he is the one that makes it so that God
is not just in US he is on us where
people can see a public demonstration of
the power of God just because we walked
into the room on our jobs and in your
university and walking down the corridor
of your high school campus and in that
organization you’re in which you’re
involved and in that endeavor in which
you are sewing all of your gifts and
your talents and your creative abilities
you’ve given it everything that you have
the Holy Spirit is the one that when his
presence is upon your life makes it so
that when you walk into the room people
get a public demonstration of Jesus
Christ because of the words you say
because of the choices that you make
because of the integrity with which you
stand because of the character with
which you walk because of the way that
you were able to bring Christ’s love to
bear with every person even the
difficult person that you are able to
love and give generously and so yourself
into every good deed to which God calls
you not by your own power and not by
your own light but by the Spirit of God
who operates not only in your life but
upon your life
it’s called favor
favor is God’s presence on your life
favor is what opens up doors that no man
can shake favor is what puts you in
positions that that nobody really thinks
you’re qualified for favor is what he
enables you to do things that you know
are beyond your capacity but God has
positioned you and placed you and
prepared a way for you that’s favored on
your life and if you have the Holy
Spirit of God you have faith
[Music]
I want to tell you this before I close
[Music]
if there is one thing that invites the
favor of God on your life of course if
you’ve received Christ as Savior he is
in you but I’m talking about where he’s
on you
visible public people can sense the
presence of God because you have peace
that passes understanding
like cuz they know what you’re going
through in your life and they can’t
figure out how you still got sanity with
what you got going on in your life it’s
about like that there is one thing that
invites the presence of God on you like
that
you ready here it is holiness
[Music]
you gotta live Laurie
[Music]
you got to decide to lay aside every sin
and the weight which so easily entangles
you so that you can run with endurance
the race that has been set before you
you can be in your war room praying
against the schemes of the devil tell
you our blue in the face but if you
leave your prayer closet and still live
a raggedy wayward lifestyle then the
enemy you just prayed against will still
make himself at home in your life
you gotta live Polly I’m talking about
integrity all I’m talking about being
the same in the dark as you are in the
light I’m talking about character where
we don’t just come in here on a Monday
night and then Tuesday and Wednesday and
Thursday and Friday night and have such
a great time hearing about the promises
of God and the truths of God and then we
walk out of these doors and nobody
aligns their life in a way that is
actually congruent with everything that
you listen you’re getting ready to get
it this week every single night this
week God is gonna pour something into
your life he’s gonna give you clear and
direction you’re gonna sense a pain a
conviction of the Holy Spirit in regards
to something that one of these teachers
that the Lord has entrusted to you and
you to them this week there’s gonna be
something that the Lord it’s gonna give
to your life and you’re gonna have to
decide up front whether or not you are
willing whether or not I’m willing to
align my life with the truth that God
gives us this week and to the extent
that we’re willing to say yes and bring
ourselves into alignment that’s holiness
that’s the extent to which we will see
him go public in our lives and I don’t
know about you but I’m tired of just
having private Jesus I mean I’m so
grateful that he’s present but I want in
public I want what I get on the Pew to
come to the pavement of my experience
that when I walk down the road of life I
I walk with him I see him move I
experience him I want that holy
anticipation that comes because I’m
eager to see what God’s gonna do today I
want to wake up with holy expectation
that today I’m gonna see a move of God
today I have expectation that he is
coming to do something that is far
beyond anything that I can ask for
things now unto Him who is able to do
exceedingly abundantly above and beyond
to him be the glory in this church now
and forevermore in Jesus name everybody
said amen amen amen
[Applause]
[Music]
as you’re standing to your feet I want
to pray for you if you are in a stage in
your life where you know Jesus is
present with you he’s just not been
public there might be some reason in
your old life where you recognize man
I’ve been in some way diminishing his
voice or ignoring him or trying to kill
his work in my life and because of my
own disobedience or my own pride or
arrogance man he’s not been as public as
I want him to be I want him to walk
publicly among me I want that to change
tonight if you’d bow your heads with me
and close your eyes if anybody knows
he’s present but he has not been public
and you just want prayer in regards to
that tonight would you just raise your
hand and let me pray for you
[Music]
so lord I pray for every hand that has
raised every woman every man who is
asking father that you would make
yourself apparent in their lives Lord I
pray right now in Jesus name that you
would do something this week that would
let them know you saw their hand tonight
father would you show up in some
tangible public way that reminds them
that you will never leave them nor
forsake them father I pray for a little
wink from heaven God a little nod from
heaven that demonstrates to them that
you are with them father and that you
will never leave them and lord I pray
that whatever it is that might be in
their life for mine father that is
keeping you from moving as freely in as
fully as you would like to among us
father I pray in Jesus name father that
you would show us what it is thank you
that your word says that when you do we
can bring it to you in all confidence
because you are faithful and just to
forgive us from all sin and to remove it
from us and so father I pray grace and
peace to those who have raised their
hands I thank you for how you’re getting
ready to move publicly and so remarkably
I pray and thank you Father for how
revival is on the way and when you
reveal yourself father we will be
careful to give you all the praise and
all the glory and all the honor in Jesus
name everybody agreed and said amen
Amen
Tony Evans preached one of the best sermons that I have ever heard at pastor’s promise keepers in Alanta.