Watch the Lamb

Oh Lord, we come tonight with such a joyful and yet sober expectation of meeting you here in this place. We delight in the joy that's in our heart and then Lord, we know that it's a gift that comes on the Holy Spirit as rulership in our lives. And we thank you for it tonight. We thank you for the one on our left and the one on our right tonight that comes alongside of us to help show us the way. In knowing Jesus Christ, amen. Turn to the one on your left and then the one on your right. You don't know how to do that. Fairly identical services, church, listen please. But we need your cooperation with parking. If you can possibly ride with someone that would help us, we'll have a shuttle operating from David Weiss. We'll have two of them going back and forth so that you won't have to wait long and all that kind of thing. We need your cooperation. The parking is gonna be really full and that's great. Unfortunately, David Weiss got the message to close on Easter. So we're gonna park inside of David Weiss. No, I'm just kidding. But we're gonna be all over it. And expect the Lord to do great things. And I feel the message that I'm gonna share with you Sunday will be an encouragement to anyone, maybe even people, listen, who at one time were walking with God and have fallen back. And they need a resurrection of faith. So you consider who you might bring this Easter Sunday. Okay, what did we have next, Paul? Okay, and I mentioned this last week. Last time, if anyone would like to help CTV, I need to hear from you tonight out at the registration table. And Ben, could I ask you to be at that registration table outside for a couple minutes afterwards? Give Ben your name and we'll contact you. If you can help them for just one night, they need you between those two dates that are up there. All right, I think that's everything. Sherry Ift, you're on the front lines. Sherry has returned with Tammy. Tammy, where are you? I know you're not gonna say anything, but I want you to stand and welcome Tammy back. Tammy, let's welcome Tammy and Sherry back to the Soviet Union. I know who was the founder of the Salvation Army, and his name was General Booth, William Booth. He said a quote that I like to frequently refer to. He said, about the Salvation Army and the great work they were doing, he said, some of my best men are women. What do you mean by that? He said, you can often count on a woman and to do things faithfully and diligently and following through with them. And here in our church, we see an awful lot of that. And Sherry and Tammy represent two folks who took a step of faith and went to the Soviet Union to share lots of different things there with our sister church in Riga. I mentioned on Sunday that the pastor of that church will be here this summer. We are arranging for him to come and spend, what is it, a week? One month. One month here in our area and with us over a mission conference, so it's gonna be a great time. Tell us what happened, Sherry. Well, I'd first like to thank the Lord. That song that we sang this morning, that my strength, or right now tonight, my strength is in the Lord, that really sums up the trip for me. I went on this trip somewhat reluctantly. I just found out right before I went that I had degenerative arthritis and I had been having tremendous pain in my jaw for several months and I did not feel like going and when I went, I just, I didn't feel well the whole time and I just didn't have any strength. And every step of the way, God gave me the strength and even the wisdom of what to do and we were carrying 200 Bibles with us, 300 cassette tapes, 1,000 Russian tracks, and it was over 200 pounds between the two of us. And I was not Amazon woman this time, Tammy was, and when we got at the border, the guard asked us more questions than I've ever been asked before. In fact, he directly asked us if we had Bibles and I've never had the lie before. And so I said, yes, we have personal Bibles, you know, and then that directed the conversation. So then he started asking, well, how many personal Bibles in that? And I could truthfully say only one, but he kept looking at all of our luggage and it was so much and he couldn't believe that two women would be carrying all this and he was ready to open it up and all of a sudden, he just left the compartment. And I said, Tammy, I think he's coming back, but he never did. And when we got to Leningrad, we were discussing what had happened and how we had prayed to the Lord for wisdom and Tammy said, I didn't know what to say, I just mimicked everything that you said. If you said we had one Bible, I said, we have one. And she said, but all of a sudden, I felt the distinct impression that I was to smile at this man. And she said, I know how you told me it was a very serious moment and a smile would have been just totally inappropriate at the time. I said, well, did you? And she said, yes, I did. I looked him straight in the eye and I just smiled at him and I said, well, what happened? And she said, he turned beet red and turned around and left the compartment. So even when we're weak and we don't know what to do, God has a way of getting around the situation and that was his wisdom. How were we to know that he would be embarrassed? So we could give testimony after testimony of little things that happened, but the Bibles all got in safely and when we got there, we were able to see them being handed and distributed to people from all over the Soviet Union. We met people from Armenia, from White Russia, the Ural Mountains, Siberia, the far north, the far east, everywhere. And they're so hungry for the word of God. And they had come for this big evangelistic crusade and at the last moment, the government refused the permit because there was a huge Latvian demonstration. Hundreds of thousands of people had come to Riga to demonstrate against the Soviet Union control of the state of Latvia. So they banned Reinhard Bonnke from coming. And I was somewhat disappointed because truthfully, I thought this was gonna be like a vacation. I was gonna kick back and get to see a professional. And all of a sudden, I had to speak at every single time and sometimes twice a day. And as I told you, I was in a lot of pain and was not really comfortable in being in front of a group. And I didn't have the foggiest idea of what to say. And every time God put a word on my heart or a scripture to say. And so I just can tell you that no matter how weak you feel or how unspiritual you feel, I really was at a low ebb in my life and God just raised up that Holy Spirit in me. And it was really neat just to be in my body and observe it happening. And I know it was the Holy Spirit and nothing in me. And Alexei and the church are so blessed that y'all pray for them. They're so looking forward to coming here. And I just want you to know that all eyes in the Christian community are turned towards Riga. And they're wondering what in the world is happening in this church. And they're calling them the children of grace, which we would think was a good term, but to them, they're very legalistic in the Soviet Union. And it's a derogatory term. And they say, you clap your hands. Every once in a while, they clap their hands. You dance at your church, you raise your arms and you even stand on your head. And these are the rumors that are going all over the place. So I calmed their fears and said that it's okay that we bang pots here, so. It is exciting to think that we're part of what God's doing around the world, isn't it? And one day, we're gonna just join together with all those people and celebrate at the footstool of the same Lord. It's gonna be a marvelous time. When you leave tonight, if you're a participating attender or a member at North Way, pick up a directory. If you're a first time visitor, you probably don't want one, one, but if you're here consistently, some folks just come Wednesday night and you'd like to get one of these, please pick one up. That's created for your benefit to keep in touch with what's happening in the body. We're going to spend the next seven or eight minutes in prayer, but just before we do that, I want to take the offering because I don't want to interrupt the end of the evening when we have our play and the drama and the ministry time. So ushers, are we ready for that right now? Folks, I want to say something very positively here tonight. I'm so blessed by your faithfulness. We can do things like send Sherry and Tammy away with the message, but we can also minister right here in our own location. And your faithfulness is providing a platform whereby people all over this part of the city and this part of the state are hearing the message, the gospel message because of your faithfulness and ties and offerings. And Wednesday night is a time when we direct our offerings to people needs. And I want you to know that there are lots of folks that we seek to minister to through your faithfulness on Wednesday night. Many of you give liberally on Sundays and you don't come Wednesday night to give. I understand that. But if the Lord puts it on your heart tonight, we're going to direct our special Wednesday night offerings to those people, families here in our church and related to our church and in the city who have needs. Let's pray together. Father, we give tonight, mindful of the grace that is on us and praising you that we have something to give. Lord, our lives are richly blessed and we acknowledge it now in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Okay. Ray is on the spot. Let's get those things going. All right. Ushers, let's come. And visitors, if you'll just put your card in the basket, it's all we'd like to receive. If you took time to fill out, if you didn't, you can do it later and put it in one of the boxes if you haven't had time to do it yet. Now, as we stand to pray in just a moment, I want this to be a personal time of prayer for your needs. How many of you know we pray every morning at six o'clock except Mondays, which is seven? Folks, I have to say to you, God's answering those prayers and it's not a lot of people. We have, what would you say, Scott? 20 times as many people here tonight than we normally have or maybe 15. We need to agree tonight on a couple of corporate things. First of all, concerning our coming fast, and I'll be giving you some slips on that before we leave tonight. The fast time that we're going to have this next 36 hours will change your personal life and our corporate future. I believe that. I want you just to pray that God will give you strength over these next 36 hours to hear his voice as you fast and pray together. I want you to remember anyone in your circle that you know that needs the Lord. Pray for them. Would you pray for your friend that doesn't know Christ, that they'd be drawn to him through this Easter season? Would you? All right. Are we ready, I think? Shall we stand together? Now, if you're a visitor, here's what we're going to do is just simply break into a group of three or four. You don't have to pray with people. You can just listen. And the rest of the folks will pray for the next six or seven minutes. Go ahead and pray now. Go ahead. Jesus, my hope. He is a mighty King. Master of everything. His name is wonderful. Jesus, my hope. He is the great Shepherd. The Lord of all nations. Almighty God. He is here. His name is wonderful. Jesus, my hope. He is the great Shepherd. He is the great Shepherd. The Lord of all nations. Almighty God. He is here. His name is wonderful. Jesus, my hope. Purified. O Lord. All shall see. God. Holy Spirit. Confidence. My soul. Make me holy. And make me whole. Let's make it a prayer once again. Purified. My heart. O Lord. For the pure in heart. Shall see. God. Holy Spirit. Confidence. My soul. Make me holy. And make me whole. Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit. Confidence. My soul. Make me holy. And make me whole. Yes, Lord. Lord, it would be our prayer tonight. To be whole. Body, soul, and spirit. Healed and well. And to be holy. Set apart for your purposes. Lord, that's my prayer. Lord, heal me even where I don't know that I'm hurting. And make me whole, God, in your purposes. Holy unto you. Father, I thank you now in Jesus' name. And each one of us thank you, Lord, for what you're here to do. And to accomplish in us. And everyone said. Amen. Would you quietly be seated, please. Just as an introduction to this evening's presentation. I'd like you to turn with me to a couple passages of Scripture. First of all, turn your Bibles. To the book of Exodus. The 12th chapter. Exodus 12. I read a quote just a couple of months ago. Which has stuck with me. Written by a man who is a student of the culture. And had written a number of rather insightful studies. About what's happening in American life. And he said this. Beware of the danger of the unexamined life. Beware of the danger of the unexamined life. If you're at all like me. You know what you're going to do tomorrow. You're going to get up. And you're going to get to work. And you're going to do your thing at work. And then you're going to come home and have responsibilities there. And then you're going to have some other thing in the evening probably to do. And how many of you know that can go on and on and on. So that life really. You're just looking for the little gaps where you break out of the routine. Just to get a breather. The danger of that that goes on and on and on in our lives is that we become unexamined. We do not allow time to take a close look at what our life is really coming to. 2 Corinthians 13.5 warns us to take opportunity to examine and test ourselves. To see where our life is headed. Dear ones, these next 36 hours are a specific opportunity. And I don't really concern myself tonight if you are a big leader in this church. Or if this is the first time you've walked in the door tonight. These next 36 hours are time set apart to examine our hearts. How many of you have ever been to the doctor and he found something that you didn't know was there? A lot of you are nodding your head yes. That's a common experience. Because he's trained to find the signs and the signals and to help you interpret them. And we're going to go to Dr. Jesus these next 36 hours and ask him to just do an examination of our hearts. I have to maybe prepare you that this may be a time when you discover some things you wish weren't there in your spirit. It may also be a time when you find incredible excitement and affirmation because God will say some things to you. We're at the end of our 30 days of commitment to listening to God. And I know people are writing to me every day virtually and saying, I'm hearing things I've never heard the Lord say before. What we're going to be doing is examining our life in light of what God's word says took place in this Easter time. You know, folks, I'm so glad that someone didn't make this religion up 10 years ago. Aren't you? I mean, I was reading an article today in Newsweek about the Moonies or maybe it was U.S. News. And, you know, Reverend Moon came on this scene, whatever it was, I don't know, 30 years ago or 20. And he had the revelation. And God appeared to him and told him that he was going to be the one that was going to usher in this. And so all these people are following this man who's been on this scene virtually for the last quarter century. I want you to know that the man, God-man that we follow, lived in this earth 2,000 years ago. And he still is around this place shaking things up. But prior to that, he also revealed himself to his chosen people. If you're reading in Deuteronomy, I read just this morning, I think it was, that God said to the people, the children of Israel, I chose you not because you deserved it. I didn't choose you because you were better than the guy next to you. I didn't choose you because you earned my love. I chose you just because I loved you. And I want you to know tonight, if you're here and you know the Son of God personally in your heart, He chose you just because He loved you. And our faith goes all the way back to those historic roots. The Old Testament and the New Testament, they are inseparable. It's what's called the unity of the Bible. There's no big conflict. In fact, Romans told us, Romans chapter 8, that the law that was in that Old Testament was necessary to show us our need for grace in the New. And here in a little while, what we're going to see portrayed on this platform and sung about has its roots back in the Old Testament tradition of the Passover. Now let's look into Exodus 12 for just a few moments, just to give you the background. Are you there? The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, This month is to be for you the first month of your year. By the way, right there, God just changed their whole calendar. You think God asked you to change some things? He said, hey, this month's now your first month. Okay, Lord. It had been, I think it was the eighth month. He made it the first month. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. And if any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor. Something very significant right there. Having taken into account the number of people there are, you are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, or defect. And you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. And then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs. And that same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire, head, legs, and inner parts. Do not leave any of it till morning. If some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it, with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. And on that same night, now listen, I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn, both men and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am Yahweh, the Lord. And the blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And no destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. And finally, this is a day you are to commemorate for the generations to come. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord, a lasting ordinance. Dear ones, the people of Israel have gotten themselves into bondage because of disobedience. Most of you know this story. For 400 years, this is about 1800 B.C., they had been slaves in Egypt. No future, no hope. And God sent who to be their deliverer? Who? Let's all say who? Moses, to come and be their deliverer. And on the night that God was to deliver them, He gave these instructions and said what I just read here for you tonight. What you are going to see in a few moments is the reenactment behind this screen of a man and his two sons going to celebrate their Passover. As God had commemorated. Why did God tell them to celebrate it every year? Because folks, we are all alike. Human nature has not changed. We are still prone to forget the good things of God. Are we not? You know, many of you here tonight are so blessed. You've had nothing but good things in your life. Success, prosperity, good fortune, happy family, good relationships. Have you remembered God in that? And some of you here tonight and you're in a bondage and you don't know which way to turn and you feel like you're a slave to a system, maybe you're a slave to a substance. And God tonight wants His Passover lamb to set you free. I just want to show you some things because what happened was, 1400 years later, God sent another lamb. John looked up and saw Jesus walking down on the road and what did he say? Behold, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. What a statement. Do you know the book of Revelation? The ending book of the Bible tells us that Jesus now is exalted as the Lamb on the throne. How many of you think you understand that? I don't. In fact, we are called the wife of the Lamb portraying the suffering, sacrificial nature of our Savior. 1 Corinthians 5.7 says that Christ is now our Passover lamb. Isn't that profound? And I just did a quick little parallel. If we can show you this on the overhead. If you're a note taker, just jot these down. If not, just listen very carefully. On the left side, the Passover lamb, number one, was slain. I'll read it to you if you can't see it. Was slain in Egypt. In other words, while they were in the world, that Passover lamb was slain. On the right hand column, Jesus, our Passover lamb, was slain outside of Jerusalem. In the world. Listen, God didn't just send you some message from heaven. He came to this earth because He loved you. You, sir. Personally, He loved you, man. Number two, the Passover lamb of the old Israelites was selected on the tenth day, as I read, and kept until the fourteenth day, examined for flaws and defects. Christ, our lamb, the Bible says, was without fault or blemish. He was a perfect sacrifice. Jesus never sinned. I don't understand it. The Bible says He never sinned. Number three, the Passover lamb was roasted. We read it. Don't cook it in water. Don't eat it raw. Roast it. Our lamb was subjected to the fire of God. Tested by fire. Number four, the Passover lamb was eaten with bitter herbs. Dear ones, that is a symbol of suffering. And we know that Isaiah 53 says that our Passover lamb was a suffering servant. He endured what we deserved, not what He deserved. Number five, and that caused, number six, the meal was eaten in haste, and finally number seven, now let's go down to that, that caused the angel to pass over that household. You see, Christ, our Passover lamb, we are sprinkled with His blood, washed clean, and He rescues us from the judgment that is coming to the world. Can I say to you, just as we conclude this little study, I want you to know tonight, church, one of the things that we are susceptible to is to forget that the Bible says that God will judge the world. That's not a popular message. I don't expect a lot of people here in the North Hills to like that message. Because we look around and we basically like everything that's around us and we like the comfort zone that we live in. But the Bible says that the world has set up other gods for itself. And if you listen to me carefully as I was reading in Exodus, God said, I will not have other gods before me and I will judge the gods of the Egyptians. And really what God was doing when He slew those firstborn was judging other gods. And I want you to know that not only in the pagan countries of the world, but right here in America, Jesus is going to return, number six, and He's going to judge that which is not of Him. Other gods that our nation has set up, the people that we know and care about have set up. Why? Because God is jealous and demands our obedience. Christ, our Passover lamb, has been slain. Now when this presentation concludes, we're going to wait on the Lord for a little while. But following that time when we dismiss, and I'm going to ask you to dismiss in a quiet spirit. I'm not going to say you can't talk, but I don't really want us to bounce around and celebrate. I want us to leave tonight with a sense of, Lord, I need to hear what you're saying to my heart. I want to be examined over the next 36 hours. And I'm going to ask the ushers right now if you quickly find those fasting outlines for the people who need them, because at the end of the service, I want to be able to dismiss without a lot of extra things taking place. Can we get a couple extra hands to help these men right away, please? Thank you, brothers. If you've never been in a fast before, I know that some of you have never done this. I have a gold sheet down there under that chair. Scott, would you please hand it to me? Folks, I'm going to give you one of these to help you with that. There's two reasons to fast. You can read about that. I just want to say something to the people who physically have never done it. How many of you have never fasted for something spiritually? Go ahead, just wave your hand. All right. Thank you. There's probably maybe a hundred of you here tonight. All right. What you're going to do, if you decide to participate, is to abstain from solid foods and most liquid foods for the next 36 hours. Now, it's not to say you can't have anything. If you determine that you're not to, then don't. But if you determine that you need some kind of nourishment, then you can adapt that according to what you feel the Lord's telling you. Definitely drink a lot of water. Lots of water. Eight ounces every few hours wouldn't hurt you. Number three, use mealtimes as a season of prayer. Get away from your... Don't sit at the lunch counter and just salivate. Get away and pray. Tell the people you normally lunch with, hey, I need some personal time. I'm going to be away for a bit. Number four, if this has happened to you, I want you to just say amen. Expect to feel uncomfortable symptoms. You will think you're going to die about this time tomorrow. You're going to say, I'm going to die. You won't die. I do want to... I notice some of our physicians here in the congregation, if you have any reason to believe that this is not a good thing for you to do physically, please don't do it unless you've consulted a physician. Okay? I want you to hear that. If you're on some kind of controlled diet or medication, I would not advise you to do it. You can do number five, but I don't have it on there. Go in the spirit of the fast. Fast television and radio. That'd free up about 15 hours, wouldn't it? I'm serious about that. Fast in the spirit of what we're doing and you can be part of what's happening. I want you to meditate on what you're going to hear and see tonight and on the things I've mentioned there for you to be praying about with us. Dear ones, our Bibles tell us that the Passover lamb that was slain 3,400 years ago was the first expression of God to deliver His people from bondage and it was a sign or a type of Christ who is now our Passover lamb. And if we'll prepare ourselves now for the presentation, I'm going to ask you to remain quiet and still. If you have children, you please be sure that they're still. And if you can't see, it'd be a good time for you to get up and stand in the back if you want to do that right now. I believe the Lord's going to just touch our hearts as we're ministered to tonight. Remember, Good Friday, 6 a.m. You'll want to be here. It has become a very special service. If you're new to North Way, don't miss Good Friday morning, 6 a.m. for one hour. If you work, you can still get to work in time. If you're off that day, it will be worth it to you to be part of what we're doing here. Now tonight, it's not a long presentation, so listen carefully and give attention to the Spirit as we hear a couple of very important songs and what's called a shadow screen presentation where you won't see the characters in the flesh, but you'll see them in shadows. I believe it's going to really message you. So are we ready? Amen. He gave His life for us. If you come tonight and you just have to share with someone, you have to have someone pray with you. If already God's touched something and you want to make it right tonight, just as soon as we quietly dismiss, we're going to ask all of our elders who are here tonight and some of our home group leaders will be on that side of the platform over against the wall there. You can just walk right over there and just say, I'd like you to pray with me. Just say, I have a question I have to get off my mind. And people will be here to pray with you tonight. We'll assemble again on Friday morning at 6 a.m. to eat the Passover lamb and then celebrate His resurrection this Sunday morning. God bless you. Love one another. Jesus Christ.