Issachar Wisdom for a Kingdom Moment

I want to just let you know that I it wouldn't do justice for me to even give the right introduction. We have Bishop Robert Sterns in the house today. He is the founder of Eagle's Wings Ministry. He is the senior leader of the tabernacle in New York. He travels the world and he rubs shoulders with the highest of the high. We're talking ambassadors and uh we're talking the elite. I was in Washington DC just a few weeks ago with my wife and we were seeing the influence of Bishop, how he was able to get us into uh Congress and the Senate and and rub shoulders with some of the best of the best. I traveled to Israel last year with Bishop Robert Sterns and I got to see firsthand this is not just a man that loves Israel, he is a man that loves the Lord and is able to tie in all of the scriptures

together. He is really in our day a rabbi that brings to life the word and the knowledge of God. And today he doesn't just bring those things. He brings an anointing and the presence. We are so honored and so grateful to have him in this house. And uh Journey Church, I I hope you're ready for what God has for you because uh I believe this is just going to be the beginning of greater things. I hope you'll seriously consider even financially supporting Eagles Wings Ministry because they're making an impact that's going to impact the generations to come until Jesus comes. So, would you please welcome with me the one and only the great Bishop Robert Sterns. Everybody, come on. So grateful. Come on, you can stand to your feet. Let's go. Praise be to God.

You're awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much. Praise God. Amen. Let me let me just um ask us if we can just to just to stand in the presence of the Lord for a moment. Um I asked our sister to come to the keyboard. Can we just look to the Lord?

So I was very very close in the midst of the worship to just coming up onto the platform. um in the middle of the worship, but it's my first time here, so I thought I better kind of behave myself. Um but I I we're a spiritfilled church, which means we believe in the gifts of the spirit. Um, but we've got this very weird thing going on in America right now where we believe in the gifts of the spirit and

we ask God to come, but never really are sure what to do if and when he does and and we got to keep him on the timet. And um if any day of all days we should be reminded that God is an interrupter it's Pentecost Sunday because Pentecost Sunday is the is the time that twice not once twice in history God interrupted everything and came down. We know the book of Acts story. you know, they're just there in an upper room, 120 of them, and then God interrupts.

But the first time was Moses at Sinai. Moses, that's where Pentecost came from. Says when the day of Pentecost was fully, what was the day of Pentecost? That was Moses at Sinai with the children of Israel. And God interrupted and came down and and gave the word. And so, I just I know we're getting into like, who is this guy? And like, I love you, you love me. Let's just pretend we know each other. But I just feel like God wants to interrupt this service. I feel like God wants to just interrupt us right now and point our attention to something extraordinary that he wants to do. And so that's how I'm processing this prophetic uncction um that that that I feel in my spirit. So would you just lift your hands to the Lord?

Father, I thank you. Father, I thank you. Lord, I bless you. Yeah. Lord, we thank you. We thank you, Holy Spirit. Would you just begin to bless the Lord? Hallelujah. Just begin to worship him all over the room. We thank you, Lord. Father, I thank you that in this place, God, Lord, you are pouring out fresh oil and fresh wine. We bless you, Lord. We bless your name, God. We bless your name, God. We bless your name, God. Father, we thank you. I hear the Lord say that he is opening a well in this place. I hear the Lord say that he is opening a fountain in this

place. And it is going to be a fountain of righteousness and a fountain of refreshing. There is a fountain of righteousness and refreshing that will be opened in this place. And I hear the spirit of the Lord say, I hear all across Oregon. I hear that. Did you hear what's happening in Bend? Have you heard what's happening in Bend? I hear the whole state talking about what's going to happen in Bend, Oregon. I hear the Lord say, "There is a visitation set apart for this house. There is a visitation of the Holy Spirit. There is a descending of the cloud of the glory of God upon this place. So prepare your hearts for a prepare the way moment. God is about to launch into

this place. The spirit of the Lord is about to come into this place in unexpected ways. There will be dreams. There will be prophecies. There will be miraculous salvations. I see I see people you thought could never get saved getting saved and coming into the house of God. I see a Holy Spirit interruption destined for this house. Destined for this house. And God says he's going to raise up fivefold ministry gifts in this house. Apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists. This is going to be a house of training and disciplehip for the work of the

Lord. A house of growth, a house of increase. I just want you to lift your hands and say yes Lord. Do it here. Come on, just invite that presence of the spirit of God. Father, we thank you, God. I ask for a release even now. Even now, God, upon this worship team, upon these pastors, upon these elders, God, I speak forth, God, a release of the Holy Spirit in a measure that they've not known. The Lord says, "You have been faithful in little, and he is about to give you charge over much." Pastor Keith and Kara, that's for you.

You have been faithful in little in this house and you are about you're you're moving from addition to multiplication. The the math equation is shifting. You're moving from addition to multiplication. So Lord, seal seal your work upon this house. Lord, seal your work upon this place. Let the Holy Spirit rule and reign in this house. Raise this house up, oh God, as a well, a fountain.

of righteousness and refreshing and restoration. May this state be changed by what happens in this place. We thank you for it, Lord, in Jesus name. And all God's people said, all God's people said, amen. Amen. And amen. All right. Before you're seated, y'all keep sitting down. You need more caffeine. That's what you need. I want you to find 17 people. I want you to tell them you got better looking since last week. Go ahead. Just tell them you got better looking since the last time I saw you.

Thank you, dear. Amen. Amen. Well, let me just ask us to stand. No, I'm kidding. All right, I'm kidding. Hey, it is a blessing to be with you. And I I know that was a little bit of an unusual introduction. Um, but uh we just want to follow the flow of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

So, so now we'll get to know each other a little bit. And um we do believe in the gifts of the spirit. We are called to be a people um who move in the gifts of the spirit and not just in theory but in practice. And uh I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet. I lead a nonprofit organization but um but I I feel that uh it's a joy to be here. We had a powerful day yesterday. It was great. It was an amazing, amazing day yesterday. Thank you to those of you who came out, those of you who didn't, be there next time. Those are powerful times to dig into all that God is doing in our midst.

I had the privilege of meeting your pastor um last year when we uh took him to Israel. Our ministry is best known, most well known for our work with it. We've done many things all over the world. Uh I've preached in 47 nations around the world and I'm about to add two more this year. I'll be in the Philippines uh next week or the week after. Um and then I'll be in Ghana, Africa. Uh and I've never preached in the Philippines or Ghana. So that'll bring up to 49. Um uh are we live streaming? Yeah. Okay. Then there's some things I won't say, but okay. Um uh so um it's all good. Um but uh but what we are most well known for is our work in Israel, our work in

the Holy Land. And one of our ministries, we have many many outreaches um really around the world. But one of the programs that we specialize in is finding young pastors who have never been to Israel, who've never experienced Israel, and we scholarship them and we bring them to Israel and we sew that trip into their life. Why? Because when I was in my 20s, not so long ago, uh when I was in my 20s, I I had an opportunity to take a trip to Israel. And that trip completely changed my life. it. There are not words to describe how a trip to the Holy Land changes you. My

spiritual father was a wonderful godly man by the name of Pastor Jack Hayford. Some of you remember his name. And Pastor Jack was my spiritual father. I traveled the world with him for 25 years. And he would say to me, he said, "Robert, there are four go or there are five gospels, not four." He said, "There's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John." And he said, "And there's the land of Israel." Because the land itself tells the story of Jesus. It tells the story of the Bible. And so, every believer at least once in your life needs to purpose in your heart that you're going to go and be in the land of the Bible. How many of you have been to Israel? Raise your hands if you have been to Israel. Raise them nice and high. All right. How many have not been to Israel? Raise your hand. Are we going to pray a prayer of repentance right now for all y'all?

But but we're going to Israel with Journey Church in November. September. Septe Oh, I'm on that trip. I'm meeting with you. So, we're all going to be in Israel in September. You are all invited to join me there and Pastor Keith and Kara. We're going to be in Israel. And if you do, we have a slide on that. We should. Let's get a QR code for next service. What's three? Three. What? Oh, that's okay. Okay. It's like father, son, and holy spirit. What are you saying, brother? I didn't know. Um, so join us in it. You say, "What are you talking about? It's a war zone." Folks, listen to me. Uh, I do not feel safe in Chicago. I do not feel safe in Los Angeles. I was mugged a few months ago in New York City in Times Square. Mugged

and robbed in New York City. Uh, did you did you have a a moment that you felt unsafe in Israel? A complete total sense of safety and just the hand of God. Uh, we have brought over 40,000 people to Israel since 1994. Um yeah, we've we've only lost a few of them and uh so we um to join us and be a part of this amazing trip in September. But it was when we scholarship Pastor Keith and we brought him on that trip that we met for the first time. And I I told them yesterday and I'll tell you, I have to be very honest with you. For the first two days of the trip, I was like,

"Who is this guy? How did he get on this list? Like, who brought some because let's go. Everything was come on, man. And I'm like, did we get one of these guys on this trip? I'm like, who is this adrenaline gland that somebody brought on this trip? Cuz I just didn't know if he was for real. I'm like, is this for real or what is this? But by day three, we understood that this is one authentic, amazing, incredible man of God. Let's go. And the whole team here, Ben and I, it's a very special.

It is rare about these are just three of our um where we advocate um yes we stand for is standing biblically with God's plan are opposed to God's plan for the Arab peoples the pal that indeed right now are very scary at time of rising anti-semitism but we als values um the amazingness um happening through the demons that live in this little box that we carry with us. Rabbis and pastors come together to our knowledge

of rabbis and pastors in America larger. And so we're living in a generation and I don't have time to speak about this this morning. Um I spoke about of Jesus. The Jewish people are the biolog on everything. Absolutely not. No. We we don't have to agree on everything to say, "Wow." Let's start with what we do agree on and let's work together. Quick video that show you shows you a little bit of not that one. Uh Ben, you want to go home? There is something. There it is. This one. I have the other one. The one from this morning he this is a good video. We can go back to this if you don't have but do they have it

over the hungry crowd. He didn't ask where they came from. He multiplied and met the human need does love in the holy land in the middle of the is built and people are seen that have been meaningful. 22 years ago it was a complete desolation and now meaningful. 22 years ago it was a complete desolation and now we have the privilege of reviving the we have the privilege of reviving the land of Israel one year before the army we come here to volunteer to work before the army we come here to volunteer to work bringing lifesaving care and they lifesaving care and they serve every you become a part of that respect of them and when you come in September since

you're all coming care and your concern uh for hurting people for this house at this time become sacred because you are here. I pray that you would take a coal arts uncertain extraordinary time in human history. the level of change out in front of the human race right now, the advent of AI way that the planet is

actually have a moment. You know, it feels that way a lot. It felt that way when we started with no other time in human history. other time in human history just the only other time similar to this one God it's the only time in scripture God seems actually concerned and God says they're united nothing will be impossible to them why because they were united in a language Now, in my bag over there are my new iPhone Apple AirPods.

And I can put them in now and I can push a button and you can speak to me in Russian and I'll hear it in English. We are all the way back to the Tower of Babel moment where God said nothing will be impossible to humanity. The problem with those moments is humanity tries then to become God. We think we can become God. Now God says in that moment I am on a bunny trail but it's a good one. God says in that moment, we're going to have to go down to handle this. I believe we're coming

to a moment where God is about to come down again. And see, God came down on the day of Pentecost and all of human history changed. God came down on the first Pentecost at Sinai and all human history changed. I believe we are moment that God is going to come down again to this planet. We're not going to be gathering singing songs about what God did 3,000 years ago. We're going to be participating in the unfolding history of God at work in the earth right in front of us. Signs, wonders, miracles, the the glory of God coming upon a city.

So, we're coming to an incredible moment in human history. It's not going to be easy. There are power clashes happening in the cosmological realm, in the spiritual realm. Principalities, powers long, dormant are at war and it's manifesting on earth. But I absolutely have faith. I have absolute faith that God is going to do it again. God is going to interrupt history again. Um I said yesterday, can I borrow your Bible dear? Thank you so much. I said

yesterday this entire book cover to cover the whole book is the story of the majority getting it wrong. Find me one place in the book that the majority was getting it right. The majority was always being led astray. The majority was always following after false gods. The majority was always missing what God had. But God said, "If I can just find a remnant people, if I can just find just a just a small group of people in Bend, Oregon,

there." See, he's he's he's he's all group of people who become utterly and completely committed to partnering with him, to listening to this word and to see dream flattering to my ego. This morning I talked to presidents. I talked to ambassador. I didn't go to I wasn't born into the right family. There is nothing in my life. I came to an altar. Is not looking for the qualified. God is qualifying the ones who say yes.

I believe that's his appointment with you. Now, I believe God is going to do great things in your midst. Say it a tiny bit straight. We're going to go to 1 Chronicles chapter But before we go there, don't put the verse up yet. I mean, you can go there, but don't put the verse up yet. Um, I just of my presence. I want my presence. I want to be your king. But Israel wanted to be like all that's a problem. God will give you your way if he if you demand it. And I'm Samuel gets to I would not qualify to be on the worship team at this church. Not not this one.

And Samuel's saying, "God, surely it's this one." It actually says in the word, he says, "God, this one's the tallest. He's the best looking. No, not this one." And he goes, "No, not this one." And he's going down the line. Now, this this is amazing. We get to the end of the line and Samuel so has the fear of God on his life. If it was me, if it was most prophets today, they would have been like, "Well, I better just choose one because I don't want to look bad.

I don't want my ministry to look bad. I better just choose one because I told him it was going to be one. Samuel is so in touch with God and has such the fear of the Lord on his life that Samuel actually says to Jesse, "Hey dude, you must have another son." That is mindblowing that he is so in touch with God. and so unwilling to manufacture a prophetic moment that he's willing to challenge that. And the dude Jesse goes, "Oh, I do have another son." The young one, the runt out in the field

now. You think you have fatherhood rejection issues? How does King David feel that David's out there? And they bring David in. And the Lord says to Samuel, "This is the one." And David is anointed king. David then goes to Saul and says, "Saul, I have been anointed king." And Saul says, "Oh, I didn't get the email. Here's the Treasury Department. Here's the army. Here's the priesthood. Here's the throne. And he just handed it all over.

That's that's how it reads in the American Bible. No. Bible says there entered a long period of battle between the house of Saul and the house of David. David is over here and David I'm sorry Saul is over here and Saul has the treasury, the priesthood, the education alliances, contracts, farmers. He's got the kingdom of Saul, baby. It's all He's Jeff Bezos. It's all operating.

David, hallelu, is in a cave with a bunch of weirdos. 300 weirdos. That's what it says in the Bible. It says 300 weirdos in it. It does. and says, "Discontent, indebted weirdos." David is in a cave with a worshshiper's heart, a prophetic word, and fresh oil. And now the children of Israel, and here's the point. The children of Israel now have to make a decision.

And you and I are going to have to make a decision. We really are. Are we going to build with that which is known and comfortable and seems safe and culturally acceptable? Or are we going to go out to the cave and recognize what God is really doing and pay the price for the anointing that's coming? And all of Israel begins to go through this process of deciding, are we going to build with the house of Saul or are we going to build with this shepherd David?

Now, if you were here yesterday, I want you to connect this to that Amos 9:11 prophecy. In that day I will restore the tabernacle of David because what is coming in this what is coming in this hour is the tabernacle of David being restored in the earth. Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. Jes Yes. Do you know who Jesus is? He is Mashiach Ben Davidid. Messiah the son of David. There's a Jew coming back. Jesus is not Norwegian. It matters. It matters that a Jewish man lives in our heart. A Jewish man sits on the right hand of God most high, the Bible says.

And so we are witnessing in front of our very eyes. Let me just go here for a moment. Let me go. Let me go. I'm going to go over here for a second. Um, in 1936, 37 38 as Hitler rose to power, as Hitler rose to power, there were 18,000 churches in Germany. That's a real number. There were 18,000 churches in Germany. What was their task? Hold back evil. That's the task of the church. Be salt. Be light. Hold back evil. Hold back infection.

Hold back bacteria. Hold back darkness. Be salt and light. 18,000 churches. They wrote a Nazi Bible. They wrote Nazi hymns and they had Nazi Sunday services. 3,000 churches. 3,000 churches rallied around a saint named 12,000 churches said, "Well, we better not become political. That's that's too controversial." 12,000 churches stayed neutral. And Dietrich Bonhoffer said this. He said silence in the face of evil is evil itself.

So 60 million people died in World War II. 60 million people died globally in World War II because 12,000 churches couldn't unify and hold back evil over their nation because they wanted to play it safe. Have we learned anything? No. So, we're going to go back now to Israel, house of Saul, house of David, and I'm going to bring this home right here to Journey Church in Bend, Oregon. So each tribe of Israel, would you say tribe? Each tribe of Israel has to begin making a decision. Where are we going to build?

Are we going to build with Saul or David? Because the lines the the lines of demarcation became more and more clear. And so in now we're going to enter the scripture. So now 1st Chronicles 32, they begin to go tribe by tribe and make their decisions. They list out the tribes and you can review that later. But then we come to this one particular tribe. Before we close in a few minutes, I'm going to pray over you. And my prayer is going to be that the Lord would release the anointing of Issachar upon this house. That you would be an Issachar people.

Sure you didn't think that when you woke up this morning, but that's where we're going to go. First Chronicles uh 12 or whatever the verse is. 12:32. And then the sons of Issachar, look at it here. who understood the times, knew what Israel should do, their chiefs were 200, and all their brethren at their command. Three things that I want to give Journey Church. Why do I want to give you this Journey Church? Because I believe you've said yes to God. And that means I love you that it's probably going to get harder. You're probably going to face tests and challenges and difficulties and things, stuff.

Why? Because God gave David the lion and God gave David the bear because God was preparing David for Goliath. And so God allows us to fight through. There are people in this room this morning and you're here by faith. You don't feel like being here. You're you're you're you're you're Pastor Keith, you gave such a hearty amen. We're we know you feel like being here, Pastor Keith. We know that. Let's go. But there's people here this morning. You're going through financial challenges. Your your your your teenagers are driving you nuts. You've got a you've got a a medical diagnosis.

You've got challenges. And you you are here by faith. And God sent me here this morning from Buffalo, New York to tell you, don't you dare give up. Don't you dare give up. There's a breakthrough coming for you. This is just a test that is getting you through to the other side because God has a call and an anointing on your life. And so just leave that verse up there if you will. This the sons of Issachar want to give us these three things. Number one, it says they understood the times. Does that mean they knew that it was Shabowot or Memorial Day or whatever. No, that's not dealing with chronological time. What does it mean?

It means they understood the chyros moment of God they were in. They understood the prophetic moment they were in. We want this house to have a hearing ear. We have a lot of churches who tell us what God said. I want to know what God said. I also want to know what God is saying. And so we want to walk in that reality. We want to know what God is. We want to understand the times. We want to understand the times. What is what is the season that God has us in? You can you can you can see something completely correct in your life, but you can be out of timing.

And what you see is accurate, but the timing is wrong. You have to the timing is as important as any other detail. So number one, as a Issachar church, as an Issachar tribe, I want you to understand the times. What is it? I want you to be prophetic. I want you to be a prophetic people. Number two, it says they knew what Israel should do. Look at you guys. This is an amazing crew in the back. Give the crew in the back a hand. They are incredible. It says they knew what Israel should do. Would you say the word apostolic? Now, we don't have to be scared of that word, okay? People get scared of that word and etc., etc. And if you've got, you know, a business card telling people

that you're an apostle, then you probably aren't. Okay? So, it's like, but the point is that God does call us to build. God calls us to build. God calls us to structure. God calls us to understand there's order in his house. There's government in his house. That's a whole other word. But they knew what to do. They moved in apostolic wisdom. So we want to hear what God is saying, but then we want to know, okay, how do I apply what God is saying? I can have all that revelation. How do I apply that? How do I walk that out? Number three, we're almost done. I need five minutes. Can I have five minutes?

Raise your hand if I can have five minutes. 5 10 15 20 25. Okay, we're good. Number three, it says 200 chiefs and brethren at their command. In other words, 200 chiefs with all their relatives at their command. Baby, if you get your relatives to cooperate with what's going on, you got revival on your hands right there. Hello. Hello. God bless family. Thanksgiving dinner. It's never easy. What is the third point? The third point is this. Unity. Unity.

Unity. So number one, they were prophetic. They had a hearing ear. Number two, they were apostolic. They had the plan. God, how are we going to build? Number three, they were committed to covenantal unity. Covenantal unity. Now, you're going to have to make a decision if you're here at Journey Church. And the decision that you're going to have to make is this. Am I going to become unoffendable? Am I going to become unoffendable? Who's Who's the Who's the administrator here? Who administer? Who's in who runs the pastor?

Did you know that there's a few administrators? We'll choose one. I don't want to put it on Pastor Carrie. I want to put it on somebody else. Who? Callie. Is she here? She's in the back. All right. So, if you have been here more than six months and you have not had an opportunity to be offended yet, I'd like you to call Calie on Monday morning cuz somehow you slipped through the cracks and we need to schedule your offense appointment with you. Okay. I was Pastor Kara walked right by me and she didn't say hello.

Oh my goodness, those drums are too loud. Oh my goodness. Why do they have those drums in a cage? They should be louder than the Holy Spirit would move. There we go. We got them both. Do you know how easily we are divided over stupid things and you have to make a decision now. Listen to me. God God is going to orchestrate opportunities for you to be offended so you and people around you can figure out if you are still alive.

Because dead people don't get offended. It is no longer I who live, but the life I now live, I live through the power of the son of God. Do you know how many people who I have seen with unbelievable talent, but they just walked around able to get offended at the littlest thing? And it takes them out of the destiny of God for their life. I believe that this house has huge potential in God.

There is something powerful happening here. And my prayer for you is that you would be like the tribe of Issachar. And that as Saul's system Saul's system was still in operation, systems can continue when the anointing is gone. Systems can continue when the anointing has lifted. But the children of Israel, they said, "No, we're going to choose David." And the tribe of Issachar came and they understood the times. They said, "Okay, God, we see what you're doing." They waited for the apostolic structure.

God, what is the what what what are the bones, God? What's the structure? How does this look? And then they made a decision to stay in covenantal unity. So when you and I have a problem, because problems will arise. Everybody say problems will arise. Problems will arise. Problems gonna arise, baby. That's life. But when the problem comes, we've already decided the problem isn't going to divide us. So the discussion about the problem does not hang under the threat of it dividing us because we've already settled that issue. We're united in Christ and nothing is going to divide this house.

Would you stand to your feet with me this morning? I'm going to pray for you in just a moment. Uh before I do, can they throw up the social media slide really quickly? I want to invite you if you want to pray for Jerusalem. If you want to connect with what God is doing in Israel, if you want a firsthand account, I'm there constantly. Am I there next week? Ben, I'm there in two weeks. In two before I go to the Philippines and then Israel. So I the Philippines next week and then Israel from the Philippines and then Brazil and then London. Um but this morning it is a delight to be here in Orlando with you. Um but um I would love you to pray for me. I would love you to join along on this

journey. Take your phone out really quick and just join on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook. Follow along uh and and become a part of this movement towards Jerusalem as we prepare the way for the king. I would love you to connect more with us. I want to pray for you this morning and uh the worship team can come and I'm going to hand it back to pastor in just a moment. Would you lift your hands? Thank you father for these special people. God, I thank you for Pastor Keith and Pastor Kara.

I honor them. God, I honor 10,000 hidden acts of obedience that no one knows about but you and them that they have made that have brought us to this day. Lord, I pray over this house a release of an Issachar anointing that this would be a house that hears the voice of the Lord that discerns the structure, the architectural plans that God is

building and that walks firmly in covenantal unity. Lord, I bless them out of Jerusalem. I prepare to welcome them to Jerusalem in September. And I pray that this would be a place where the fountain of your presence pours forth in Jesus mighty name. Amen. Journey, it's been a privilege to be with you. Come on, let's let's thank Bishop Robert Cerns today. Praise be to God.