Wake Up and See: Trading Spiritual Slumber for Kingdom Vision

Hey, can we thank this worship team for all they do? Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] [cheering] Even greater, can we thank the Lord Jesus for being a good, faithful God. Hallelujah. Hey, if you brought your Bible today, this is our time to get into God's word. If you brought your Bible, I would love you just to get it. Wave it in the air. Keep it there like you care because we're going to get into God's word. We want to receive from God today. I would like every person at the sound of my voice, even those watching online, wherever you are, if we could all just join in unison after the count of three, and just shout word. Here we go. One, two, three. Word. We're getting into God's word. So God's word gets into us. There are moments in life where everything you have built can become unraveled.

Where all of a sudden that what you once had is no longer there, but it's destroyed. that's in ruins. You now have a a mountain of rubble before you. You've either been there or you are there right now. And if you haven't been there, and if you're not there right now, I hate to be the bearer of bad news is coming. It will happen to all of us at some point where your marriage falls apart or you get that doctor's diagnosis and you're uncertain of the future. It could be a a mountain of financial debt where you're not even certain how you're going to pay the bills this month. It could be your dreams that you once had. You were certain to start this business. Or it could be a relationship that has just become unraveled and it's in ruins.

If there was ever a time when this happened, it was in the days of Zachchariah. Zachchariah. That's where we're going to find ourselves today in the book of Zechariah. Everyone shout Zechariah. Zachchariah. It's the second to the last book of the Old Testament. So if you find the New Testament, that's where Jesus is born. The New Testament is everything after the birth of Jesus. The Old Testament is everything before the birth of Jesus. So if you find Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, just go back a few books and you'll find the book of Zechariah. The title of today's sermon is really simple. Wake up and see. Wake up and see. This is a message for you and it's a message for the church. This is a message for everyone. Wake up and

see. Would you say it with me? Wake up and see. Today, I want you to understand that God's best is still before you. There's more to see. There's more to believe. There's more to experience. There's more to encounter. That God wants you to know who he is. We go today to the book of Zechariah chapter 4. We're going to spend some time in this a little through the summer. Are you ready to learn something this summer? I believe God's put something on our heart that we would experience God's grace. When we see mountains, it's time to speak to them grace. It's time to speak to them that they're not going to stay there any longer. We've got a great God. No matter what you're going through. In the book of Zechariah, we're going to remember that God is for us. When it it looks like that God has forgotten you, when you wonder where God is, I want you to know that the Lord remembers. You know, the name Zechariah literally means

the Lord remembers. He has not forgotten you. He has not overlooked you. Zechariah chapter 4 is where we're going. If you're able to, would you stand for the reading of God's word? We're only going to read one verse today. Zechariah 4, verse 1. And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. Since we're only reading one verse, can we all just read that out loud together? Should be on the screen. Let's join with me. Here we go. And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Can we just say it one more time? Wake up and see. Come on, tell your neighbor, "Wake up and see." There's an indication here, an implication that you can actually be

awake physically, but asleep spiritually. I'm sure we've all seen it. Maybe we've been there because at some point in your life, you might just go dull. You might forget who God is or what God can do. The implication here is that you can show up to church, hear the word of God, and actually leave the same because you're asleep spiritually. You can actually come to church, sing songs about a great, glorious, mighty God, and not actually be in wonder with who God is because you're asleep spiritually. It is actually possible to call yourself a Christian, but walk around not with the authority and the power that God has given you. If you are asleep spiritually,

God has a message for us today that he wants us to wake up and see clearly who he is and what he wants to do in our lives. It's time to wake up and see. I wonder what it would take for you to to fully surrender your life to God to to go allin for the Lord. What would it take to wake up and see? Do you need God to fit in some type of nice neat little box where you haven't figured out and then you'll do what God wants you to do? Do you need to hear the word of God audibly in your life? If he just spoke to you, then you'd go allin for God. I'm here to tell you today, God wants you to wake up and see that he's ready to give you whatever you're ready to receive. Zachchariah was a prophet and during his days, they were difficult. The temple was in ruins. These were dark days.

there's only a remnant that's happening to Israel. And God is giving Zachchariah visions. And as he's giving Zachchariah visions, we come to the fourth chapter and God has already revealed something to Zachchariah. But as we come to the fourth verse, it's as if God is saying, "Zachariah, there's more to see. I know I've shown you some. I I know you've experienced some, but I need you to know there's more." And I believe that's the cry of the Holy Spirit for the church today to say, "Wake up. There's more to see." I believe God wants you to know today there's more to believe. There's more to encounter in your life. There's more to experience. So, if you be so bold in your heart as to just pray four words today. Wake me up, Lord.

Wake me up, Lord. Maybe you could pray that out loud with me. Wake me up, Lord. But you've got to believe it. A preacher can't preach it into you. The person next to you can't give it to you. It is totally up to you today to say, "Wake me up, Lord." Because here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to preach all that I could preach, but you could still hear hit that spiritual snooze button and stay asleep spiritually. I could do the best job I can and be a onetrick pony and try to tell you how great God is, but you could still hit that spiritual snooze button. This is up to you to pray a prayer in your heart to say, "God, if I am asleep, I want you to wake me up." Jesus has a message for the church. In the book of Revelation, Jesus holds nothing back. By the time he gets to the third chapter,

he's speaking to a church in Sardis. And he's not just speaking to the church in Sardis. He's speaking to the church in whole. And in the third chapter of the book of Revelation, Jesus is speaking when he says, "I know your works." Jesus knows everything about you. Jesus knows the good, the bad, and the ugly. Jesus knows more about you than you know about yourself. Jesus says to the church, "I know your works. who have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. If we could just pause there for just a moment. The church can say they're alive. They can look alive, but it's not about programs. It's not about how many people are at the church. It's actually about what's in our hearts.

And Jesus says, "I I know you. I know your works. You You look alive, but I know the truth. You're dead." And here's what Jesus says in verse two. Wake up. Wake up. This is Jesus speaking to the church. Somebody shout, "Wake up. Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die. For I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God." Jesus continues and says, "Remember then what you received and heard. Keep it and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Do you hear this message? Jesus is clearly communicating to the church, wake up.

Wake up. And then he tells us the cure to spiritual sleep. Remember, remember who God is. Remember his word and keep it. It's not enough to know about God. It's not enough to know his word. You've got to keep it. You've got to abide in it. You've got to obey it. And Jesus says here, here's the the cure to spiritual sleep. Remember and repent. Repent is a posture that's really important for those who believe in Jesus. It means to turn completely to God. It's giving up your ways and going after God's ways. Repentance is a posture of putting God in his proper place. So the cure to spiritual sleep is remember and repent.

Remember and repent to see who God is. And this is our call to action today. This is your call from God to not stay the same way, to remember and repent. And this is not just for some people. This is for every person, including every pastor that's behind a pulpit. We are living in a day and age that loves to hold on to an offense. The longer I'm a pastor, the more I realize that words will offend and people will hold on to an offense and they will share it with others. This is the cancel culture today. And when someone holds on to an offense, I'll tell you how easy it is for a pastor to then walk around the pulpit on

eggshells, worried that one thing that might come out of my mouth might offend you. So, I want to be really careful not to offend you. But I'm not here today to offend, for there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I'm here as a pastor to preach the power and the authority of God's word. And if there's something that happens in your heart where you're feeling something there, may I just say it might just be the Holy Ghost trying to tell you to change. It might just be great God Almighty saying, "Wake up. I don't want you to be who you were yesterday. I want you to be who I made you today." It might just be God giving you a message saying, "Hey, I brought you here so that

you wouldn't stay the same." God wants the church to wake up and see Much like Zechariah in chapter 4 verse one, and the angel who talked with me, the word angel is used throughout the Bible. It just simply means messenger. And we see the word angel used in many different ways. Sometimes in the Old Testament, it's used for Jesus. A theological term is described a christophony, an image of Jesus before he was born revealing himself. For Jesus is eternal God. He was, is, and will forever be God. And so some people see the angel of the Lord as an image of Jesus showing up. Other time it's an image of the created being of God that just simply is a messenger and reflects the glory and the greatness of God. In the New Testament, the book of

Revelation, we see angels described as preachers, those who are messengers for God. We know not what kind of angel this is, but Peter does warn us that we ought to be hospitable and nice to everyone, for you know not when you're entertaining angels. So you you better be nice to everyone. Angels often would come in the form of man as a messenger of God. In this case, we we know not what this angel is like, but we do know that God has a message and he talked to Zachchariah. May I just encourage you today? God wants to speak to you. I want to go even further. God doesn't want to speak to you. He is speaking. The importance of God's word that when we cry out word is that this book is alive. It's living. It's active. God has a message for you. But if you're not opening it, you won't hear or see what the message is. In this case, God came and spoke to Zechariah. And his message is,

he woke me like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. The angel who talked with me came again and woke me like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. I believe God sent me here for such a time as this to call us to a spiritual awakening. This is our great awakening to wake up from our spiritual sleep, not to blame anyone else, but to simply turn to God, to remember who he is, and repent. I've got five points today. If you want to write them down, I want us to see clearly in this text what God has for each of us. Number one, God awakens his people before he reveals things. God awakens his people before he reveals things. You see, the thing about being

spiritually asleep is just like physical sleep, you can't actually do something while you're sleeping. You can't actually do something. So, what God wants to do is he wants to wake us up before he reveals things. The angel who talked with me, Zechariah 4:1, he came again and woke me like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. God's about to reveal something very powerful to Zachchariah. In fact, we're going to look at this more carefully in the weeks to come. You don't want to miss church over the next few weeks. God's going to reveal to Zechariah a golden lampstand. Lamps are meant to produce what? Light. We'll see. Fast forward into the New Testament. Jesus says, "If we believe in him, you're meant to be like a lamp.

Not one that has a cover on top of it, but you're meant to be a lamp that shines." And so we see this imagery of the Old Testament, what is often described as a manora used in the New Testament, the book of Revelation, reflective of the church. We're meant to be a light. And in this image that Zachariah gets of this lampstand, he sees on either sides of the lamp two olive trees. The olive trees representing oil. Oil representing the power of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. But before Zachchariah can get this imagery of the power of the anointing of the Holy Spirit so that we would burn like a light, first he has to wake up. I need you to understand before God shows you who you are. Before you can see what God has planned for you, you must wake up.

God must awaken us before he reveals things. We're going to see this powerful picture of what God has designed and expected for his church. In the wisdom of Proverbs 29 verse 18, we're told, "Where there is no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law." Where there is no prophetic vision, where people can't see, they cast off their restraint. They do what they want to do. They do what is contrary to God's ways. But blessed, that word blessed means happy are those who keep the law. In the old King James version of this text says, where there is no vision, the people perish. Some have just used this as this grand idea of a vision. If our business doesn't have vision, then the business will fail. But I'll tell you that word

vision translated in the text I read today is prophetic vision. It's the Hebrew word kazone. Kazone means to reveal a vision to to see what's already there. It's an understanding. It's used in the way that when you read something and understand it, there's a revelation. So without a revelation of God's word, you will not keep God's word. And if you do not keep God's word, you'll do what you think is right. In fact, you'll do what other people are doing. In the book of Judges, we're warned in the very last chapter, in the very last verse. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Pay attention. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

If you are not awake spiritually, you will not see God's ways. In fact, you will do what's right in your eyes, not the eyes of God. Is anyone awake today? Amen. Okay, let me give you a few examples of people in the Bible who were sleeping, but God woke up. In fact, there are way more than what I'm going to give you today. The first one is Jacob. Y'all ever heard of Jacob? He was a son of Isaac. He had a twin brother named Esau. The problem is Esau was born first at a time when the firstborn male would receive the greater inheritance, the birthright. Esau came out of the womb holding on to Esau's heel and he was named heel grabber or the name Jacob to to use it in our vernacular deceiver.

He he was trying to get ahead of Esau and be born first. That was the imagery of this boy Jacob. He grew up in a dysfunctional home like many of us. His father loved his brother Esau more than him and his mother loved him more than his brother Esau. And at the right opportunity, he was given the chance to deceive his brother and take his birthright. And he took it. I don't know if you all have messed up before, but Jacob was a deceiver. He took the birthright from his brother. And I don't know if you've ever received the very thing you wanted and life didn't get better, but it got worse. Jacob grows up and he has his own kids and life doesn't get better. It seems like his life is unraveling in front of him. He fears his brother. He's got this mountain of uncertainty in front of him.

He's received the birthright, but he's not free by any means. And at one point, he's on his journey of life and he finds himself isolated and alone and he falls asleep and he has this dream in his sleep of a ladder and angels are going up and down that ladder from heaven to earth. It's a beautiful picture of what Jesus teaches us that he wants us to experience heaven here on earth. He doesn't want you to live in fear. He doesn't want you to live in uncertainty. He doesn't want you to live based on the mistakes that you've made in your life. And here's what we read in Genesis 28:16. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." When you wake up, you're able to see that God was working.

Even when you did not know it, God was there. Even when you did not know it, he was working. Even when you did not know it, but if you're spiritually asleep, you won't know it. You've got to wake up. You've got to see that God has been there the whole time. You've got to have a divine revelation. You've got to have a prophetic picture that God has always been for you. There's a prophet named Elijah, one of the greatest prophets that have ever lived before. And he lived during the days when people were worshiping false idols. And he calls out God's people. And he and he challenged them, "How long will you go on limping between worshiping the one true God and the false gods?" And he calls out the

priests of Baal and said, "Meet me on Mount Carmel." And they end up at the top of the mountain. He says, "Let's see if your God is true or my God is true." true. And he says, "You call out to your God and see if he accepts the sacrifice." And the priests of Baal call out and nothing happens. And then Elijah calls upon the one true God. And he calls upon fire from heaven. And God accepts the sacrifice. And there's victory that day on Mount Carmel. Elijah takes all of the priests of Baal and he kills them. And we see this authority over Elijah's life. Yet when word gets back to King Ahab and his wife Jezebel, Jezebel sends out an evil message to Elijah. One word from one wicked woman and it sends them on a spiral of depression.

He ends up alone in the wilderness. He wishes he was dead. That spirit of suicide is not new in our generation. The devil wants to take out the greatest. He wants to take out the ones that are have victory. He wants to take out the ones that are willing to stand for the truth. And here Elijah is wishing that he was dead out in the middle of the wilderness all alone. And we read in First Kings 19:5. And he laid down and slept. Everyone say slept. And slept under a broom tree. He's discouraged. He's exhausted. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, "Arise and eat." You want to know how good God is? Look at verse six. And he looked and behold, and there was at his head a cake, some believe a chocolate cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water.

And he ate and drank. And look what he did. And lay down again. Wait, wait, wait. That wasn't the message of the Lord, Elijah. The message is get up, eat some cake, and go do the work of the Lord. You've already started it. Don't go back to sleep. So the angel of the Lord came verse seven again a second time. And touched him this time with a kick and said, "Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you." I love this about our God. He doesn't rebuke Elijah for going to sleep. He says, "Get up and eat some cake." Some of you need to hear the simplicity of what God's saying to you today. Get up, eat some cake, and go do the work of God. Don't make it complicated. God loves you too much to

leave you in your little pity party sleeping underneath the broom tree. Someone today needs to hear God say, "Wake up and eat some cake." Let me go to the New Testament. Peter Peter was a man that had so many mistakes. God could have easily disqualified him and said, "You're not the right guy for the job." But how many know God will use anyone if you're willing? Peter was one that was willing. He preached a great message in Acts chapter 2 and 3000 get saved. And that the church is actually changing the world. It's turning the world upside down. And Peter finds himself in prison in a dark dungeon in chains. The church decides that they can do the only thing they know what to do, and that is to pray. When you don't know what else to do for someone who finds

themselves in chains, in a dark place, you can pray. So here Peter is in this place and Acts 12:7 tells us, "And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him and a light shone in the cell." This gets really funny here. And he struck Peter on the side and woke him. I wonder if Peter just ever upset that angel before. I'm gonna get back to you, Peter. He's He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, "Get up quickly." And the chains fell off his hands. See, there's so much just in this one verse. If Peter would have stayed asleep, he would have still been stuck in that prison cell.

But the angel did not wake him up so that he would stay in the same place. The angel didn't wake him up to say, "Put those chains back on." The angel didn't wake him up to tell him how bad it is in this dark place. And the angel brought Peter to a place of revelation by waking him up first. That before he could leave the prison, before he could see freedom, he had to wake up. And I wonder what else it's going to take for you, God's been trying to slap you to wake you up to say, "Leave those chains of addiction. Leave those chains of depression. leave your past behind and get to where God wants you to be. And you say, "But pastor, I don't know where that is." And I say, "That's called faith." And we don't walk by sight. We don't have it all figured out.

We put our trust in a God that's going to do the work for us. Some of you are here today and God's waking up your spirit. Something's stirring in your soul. You're not even sure what's happening. I want you to know someone's been praying for you. Someone's been waiting for you to wake up. get up and get out of the prison to leave your chains behind. And if you're wondering, well, who's been praying for me? I don't even know who it is. I want you to know I've been. This church has been. We gathered here early this morning before you even came to church, and we were praying for you today. We were praying that you would wake up. We were praying for for a movement of God. We were praying for someone who feels like they're lost today to come home and be found. We were praying today for the young people in this room. We were praying today for this generation for such a time as this. So you've been wondering who's been praying for you. Let me just tell you the same people that prayed for Peter the church. We're praying for a wakeup call.

You can't have God's vision if you don't wake up. In Ephesians chapter 5 verse 14, 15, and 16, Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus and says, "Therefore," it says, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Let's just pause and uh uh look at this verse for a moment. Keep this verse on the screen. Awake O sleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Uh historians traditionally think this was a line of a hymn. It was a song that they would sing and they actually believe this song would be sung when people were getting baptized. Awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. It's the image of baptism. It's beautiful. what we ought to prophesy over the city even with church in the part coming with these baptisms that people would be awake that they'd cross over from death

to life and that the light of Jesus will shine on them and then he goes on to explain don't just stay there but he says look carefully then how you live verse 15 how you walk look carefully not as the unwise but as wise making the best use of time because the days are evil Y'all know we're living in evil days. It wasn't just in Paul's day. It's on our day as well. Until we're with God in glory and he restores a new heaven and new earth, the days are evil. And Paul says, if you're going to wake up, do something with your life. When he says make the best use of your time, that word time, just to understand, is not the Greek word kronos where we get the word chronological. It doesn't mean like, hey, be efficient and effective

with your time during the day. That's not what the word means. The word is chyros, which is more like an opportunity. If I could put it this way, God has you alive for such a time as this. Okay, someone's not getting this. You are meant to wake up and use your life in the days that are evil. You're alive for a reason. And it's not just to be spiritually asleep and say, "Oh, this world is so dark and evil." No, you're meant to be the light. You're meant to wake up and see God has plans for you. And if you read earlier in this chapter 5, if you go to the beginning, it tells you what someone who's spiritually asleep is like. It's the same thing today as it was in the days of Paul. You know what a spiritually sleepy person does? They're sexually immoral.

There's no conviction that God designed sex. It is good, but it's intended for the marriage bed. So, you'll be sexually immoral if you're spiritually sleeping. Paul goes on to say, you'll be covet you'll be covetous. This is idolatry. It means you always want something that you don't have. And it's different for different people. It could be a bigger, better house. Could be more money. You think it will solve your problems. Could be a a better fill in the blank. Covetousness. He says you can tell someone who's spiritually sleepy by what comes out of their mouth. Filthy talk. You don't even care about cussing. You'll use the name of Jesus in vain and it won't even convict your heart that Jesus is the name above all names. There'll be crude joking. Filthy talk will come out of a person that's just spiritually asleep. You won't care. You'll you'll live like everyone else.

Crude joking. You won't even care about [snorts] crude jokes. You'll actually laugh at it. Finally, Paul says, you'll be deceived by empty words. You'll watch a real and actually believe it or you'll see a news clip and take that as more of a truth than the word of God. That's why Paul reminds us, "Hey, you." Ephesians 1:14, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Notice the order. You have to wake up first, then you rise just like it was with Elijah, and then you can see the light of Jesus. The Christ Christ shines. All right. Point number two. I got to go quickly. I'm going to run out of time. Spiritual awakening happens when God opens our visions. When you are awake, God is

going to show you something. In verse two, and I'm not going to go too far in the text today. We'll come back to this next week. The angel asked Zachchariah this question. What do you see? God is always concerned with what you see. Because if you do not see what he sees, you're going to believe a truth. You'll actually be deceived. So God asks Zachchariah the question, "What do you see?" Only after he is awakened. This is important for us to understand because God's been showing Zachchariah a vision, but now he's waking him up to a new vision. Well, I hope someone gets this today because God is always doing a new thing. The Bible says in Lamentations 3 that his mercies are new every morning. So, every day when you wake up, it's like God's giving you a fresh start saying, "My mercies are new for you." Don't don't be stuck in your sin of yesterday. My mercies are new for you

today. The Bible says that God wants you to sing a new song. The Bible says that God is doing a new thing. God wants you to see what he sees. Spiritual awakening happens when God opens our eyes to vision. And he's going to ask you, "What do you see?" In Numbers chapter 13, Moses sends in 12 spies into the land that God promised. They had not occupied it yet. They were getting so close. And Moses sends in 12 spies to see who's living in this region. What is the land like? And the spies go in, they check it out, and they come back and bring a report. 10 of the 12 come back, and they say there are giants in the land. There's no way we're getting in.

It's already occupied. God must have made a mistake, but we're not getting in there. Two of the 12, Joshua and Caleb, they stand up and say, "Yes, there's giants in the land, but God promised it. Let's go and get it right now. That's ours. God's going to do it. It's the same land. Do you see this? The same land, different visions. Same land, different vision. This is what happens on Sunday. One person receives the word of the Lord. Another person doesn't receive the word of the Lord. One person wakes up, another person hits the snooze button and stays asleep. I've been declaring over the land that we live in, Central Oregon, shall be saved.

Central Oregon shall be saved. But if you are spiritually asleep, here's the question I've been getting, especially as of late, as if the enemy is just trying to discourage me. That's impossible. That's just my spiritual care and tone. Okay, that's impossible. And you know how what God stirred in my heart? If you would just get in this book, we have the God of impossible. [cheering and applause] He He's not an fit in a box kind of God. If it was easy, it would already have been done. It's not been done because people see the giants and they don't see the promises of God. And we're to see the prophetic vision. We're to see the

revelation of God. Oh, if you would just understand this. I'm not here today to yell at you because I think you're deaf. I'm here today because I'm desperate for you to join me with a sense of urgency to make the best use of our time because the days are evil. We don't got time for spiritual naps. God wants us to wake up and see. When Jesus was talking to a man named Nicodemus, Nicodemus was part probably smarter than any of us in this room. He was a religious man. He had the degrees. He had the credentials. He seemed to have it all. But every time Jesus kept giving him a revelation, Nicodemus was like, "But how?" When Jesus said, "You must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven," Nicodemus is like, "But how?

How can a man enter his mother's womb?" He's fixated on the wrong things. And if you read John chapter 3, which is where this conversation happens, Nicodemus keeps asking how, how, how. And if you keep asking how, it's going to stop you from fulfilling God's vision in your life. Because it's not how, it's who. Jesus like just brings it back and he says, "Let me just explain this. John 3:16, for God, it's God who loved the world." It's as if he's shaking Nicodemus. God loves you, Nicodemus. He He wants you to see what's ahead. Not It's not behind. It's not religion. It's something new. He loves you so much that he gave his only son. Jesus stepped into this world that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God, verse 17 says, did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. God wants us to see who did it. It's Jesus. God did not send Jesus into this world so we would try harder and say, "How are we going to do it? How are we going to save Central Oregon? How am I going to fix my family? How am I going to get out of debt? How am I going to survive this doctor's diagnosis? How?" It's not how, my friends, it's who. Elisha came after Elijah. The names are similar, but they're different. Elisha was also a prophet and he he was giving visions of God to Israel and the enemies of God were not happy because they were coming against Israel and they were asking how in the world do they know

things that they shouldn't know and word got out that there's a man named Elisha that can see things, hear things. So the Syrians come after Elisha and one day Elisha wakes up with his servants. They're surrounded by a Syrian army, just surrounded. And the servant is is upset. And he tells Elisha, "What are we going to do? We're outnumbered. What are we going to do with the opposition that's coming against us?" I don't know if you've ever felt that way, but like the opposition just seems too great. And this is Elisha's prayer, and I pray it would be yours today. Elisha prayed and said, "Oh Lord, please open his eyes that he may see." First you got to wake up to see. So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold the mountain was

full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. See the servant saw enemies. Elisha, he saw the angels. He saw the army of the Lord. The difference was not circumstance. The difference was vision. You could be going through the same thing someone else is going through, but go through it very different because you're clinging to the Lord. That's still a prayer you can pray to pray today. Lord, let me see. And if you can see, you ought to pray for others. Lord, let them see. Number three, it's time for us to see things differently. God is doing more than we realize. God is doing more than we realize. God is doing more than we realize. Does anybody know that today? It's like Jacob waking up

realizing, "Oh, God was doing more than I knew. He was already in this place." He ends up naming that place where he slept, Bethl, the the house of God. And if you believe that today, you start to understand God's doing more in my kids than I can see. God's doing more in my spouse than I can see. God's doing more in this region than we can see. God's doing more in my life than I can see. We've got to understand God is always God and never changes. I don't know why we fret sometimes and say, "Oh, God, he's faithful. He's true. He doesn't change. He's sovereign. He's completely in control. He is a great and mighty God. So therefore, when I trust in him, I've got to wake up and see that God is still God today. He's going to be God tomorrow. So in my moment of desperation, when it's hard to see because I don't feel it, because I can't

see it, I've got to realize that God is working." If you're unfamiliar with Zechariah, he was a prophet during one of the most difficult days in all of history. The Israelites uh were not in a great place. There was only a few of them left. That's called a remnant. This was 70 years after they were taken from their homeland. Jerusalem had been destroyed. 70 years go by. The Babylonian Empire has now been taken over uh by the Assyrians and then the Persians. And the Persians somehow in God's favor, God fulfilled what he promised after 70 years said, "You can go ahead and go back to your homeland." They go back, but the problem is it's in ruins. It's destroyed. The temple that was once beautiful is completely broken. It's it's a it's a mountain of rubble.

And Zachchariah is a prophet during this day. And God is going to use Zachariah. And he's going to use Haggi and he's going to use people like a priest named Joshua and a governor named Zerubabel. And he's going to show them that you you may not have all of the same stuff that Solomon had. You may not have the same power. You may not have the same people. You may not have the same opportunities. But you can know this if you would just wake up and see God is going to do a new thing. That's why the angel of the Lord came to Zachchariah and said, "Wake up like a man who is awakened out of his sleep." I'm believing this over Central Oregon for such a time as this. Church in the Park is one of our largest events that we do as a church. Have you y'all ever been to Church in the Park?

It's It's so fun. We bring in inflatables and food trucks and we try to make it bigger and better every year. But then the Lord has struck me. This is not meant to be an event. This is meant to be an encounter with God. We do it right in the heart of our city on the river. And God has given me this vision that we as a church would invite the entire region and say, "Meet us at the river." That we would actually start believing for an encounter of God. That we like Zerubable wouldn't just look at our region and say, "Oh, this is so hard." There there are so many pot shops on Third Street. Have you ever opened up your eyes and seen where's all the churches on Third Street? Where where are the the believers? Where I love that just this Thursday, if you are missing Pursuit Night, you're missing out big time. They've been so

anointed lately. The last few weeks, we've heard testimonies that have been lifechanging. And this Thursday was no exception. The room was full. It was anybody here Thursday? The testimonies were great. It was so good. But you know what? I was going home. There was a concert in the park with food trucks and inflatables and a band that wasn't singing about Jesus and the city was excited about it. That's because they're spiritually asleep. We need to be praying that our neighbors, our co-workers, our family members, our friends, every witch that's in this region, every person that's stuck in addiction, depression, and fulfilling the demonic lies of the enemy. It's time for us to say, "Wake up." That like Zerubel in his day, he had a mountain of destruction in front of him.

Let me just tell you, it's not going to be easy. But we're not even the ones that are going to do it. The Lord says in Isaiah 43:1 19, "Behold, I am doing a new thing." He's not done this before, guys. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. So point number four today as we get ready to close is awakening leads to a dependence of the spirit. Awakening leads to the dependence of the spirit. I'm not sure. I have this one on the screen. So you should write this down. Tattoo it on your heart. Awakening leads to a dependence on the spirit. When I say spirit, I'm referring to the Holy Spirit. So when you wake up and you see, let me just warn you right now because I've gotten these kind of visions. It will freak you out.

And what you'll need to know is what God told Zachchariah to tell the governor of this region, Zerubabel. He says, "It's not by might. It's not by power. It's by my spirit, says the Lord." There's there's only about 50,000 Israelites living in this region. If you read how Solomon built his temple, there was over 80,000 stone cutters, masons, over 80,000 masons. Now, in the days of Zerubbabel, the governor, where Zachariah is a a prophet, there's only 50,000 people living there. How are they going to build a temple? And what does God say? You're not going to do it. It's not how, it's who. You need a dependence

on the Holy Spirit. And I speak that over your life. If God's going to do something great, it won't happen by strategy. It won't happen with your strength. It won't be your personality. It will be you fully surrendered to God and the Holy Spirit using you. God doesn't need more clever marketing. He doesn't need us as a church to try to get more people here. He's just looking for some people that want heaven here on earth. Jesus taught us to pray the prayer we could still pray. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. When you pray that, you better expect the Holy Spirit to show up. Because here's what I know. In heaven is the presence of God. So if you want the vision of God, you need the person of God to work in your life. So if we're going to wake up, if we're going to see, we better be dependent on the Holy Spirit. We better let God work in our lives and not be afraid of what

he's going to do because God's going to do it. The church needs some fresh oil. The church needs some greater anointing. The church needs to come back and keep the promises of God. This was not just the ancient promise for Zachariah. This is our promise. When Joel made a prophetic promise, little did he know that we get to cling to this today in 2026. And in the last days, it shall be. Acts 21:17 says, God declares that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Somebody shout all. All flesh. The Holy Spirit on all flesh. Why would we not say central Oregon shall be saved? And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions. And your old men shall dream dreams. I will pour out my spirit on whom? All flesh.

God's answer has always been God. God's going to do it. I used to be that young man that should see visions and God is transitioning me to old men that dream dreams. Amen. My last point today is awakening produces expectation for the impossible. The temple project in the days of Zerubable seemed impossible. In fact, it was. You see the reality is the Israelites had lived so long in a different land. There were other people living in this land. They had come and occupied the land that God gave them. So there was fierce opposition. They didn't have enough finances and resources. The people were discouraged. They've never

seen this before. And before there could ever be a rebuilding, God just first takes one person and says, "Wake up and see." And the whole point of waking up and see is not to admire the vision, not to talk about the vision, but to actually believe the vision. And so I say to you church, today, God is waking us up from complacency. God is waking us up from discouragement. God is waking you up today from spiritual slumber. God is waking you up from small little expectations. God is waking you up from what you thought who he is to who he actually is. God is waking you up so that you would receive the power of his promises today. God is waking you up to see that the harvest is plentiful. And I'm praying today that the Lord would send forth some workers. Let's go see what God's going to do. Let's wake

up to revival because it's already here and his name is Jesus. The church will be awakened when we see that God is who he claims to be. And today I want to give you a great invitation. If you came here today and you're not certain you've ever believed in Jesus, trusted in Jesus, today is your day of salvation. God brought you here for just the right time to wake up your spirit. It wasn't just to go to church. It was to give your life fully to Jesus. He brought you here to believe. Here's the great good news of Jesus. I love this about Jesus. He doesn't say, "Go get your life right first, then believe in me and follow me." So, my friend, if you're if you're a single dad, if you're a divorced mom, if you're a young person trying to figure

out your life, if you wonder, "God, did I I miss the dreams that you wanted for my life?" Maybe you've wandered from church for a long time. Wherever you are right now, this is your invitation to believe in Jesus. He loves you so much today. I wonder if you just close your eyes and take him so seriously. If you're willing to wake up from the stuper of your spiritual sleep and say completely yes to Jesus. Believe in him. Let me just tell you, you can't stay the same. It's the greatest decision you'll ever make. But from this day forward, you got to know that it changes everything. I want to ask if that's you today and you want to believe in Jesus, would you be so unashamed and say, "From this day forward, my life won't be the same." Just raise your hand nice and high. Just raise your hand high and I want to see you today. Praise be to God.

Just keep your hand up. We'll give you a little booklet that gives you some next steps decisions. Praise God. You're never too young to do great things for God. You're never too old. You've never sinned so greatly. Praise God. All over the place. If you've not yet raised your hand and you know you want to be changed. You know you need Jesus. Don't miss [music] this moment. You do not know if you have tomorrow, but you can know you have Jesus. I'm inviting you to believe in him to be forgiven of all your sins. The Bible doesn't say you're forgiven of some sins. Today, my friend, you could be forgiven. This is the beginning of a journey of healing. It's a journey of restoration. The Bible says the kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. See what happens today by you saying yes. You've received the Holy Spirit.

God is never going to leave you. He's never going to forsake you. You may not always know how, but you can know who. Is there anybody else? We had so many hands today go up. I just don't want to miss this moment. For those of you who raise your hands, I want to pray with you. I want to ask that the church would pray as well. Praise God. Amen. Praise God. Praise God. Amen. Prayer is talking to God. It's listening to God. The Bible says, "Pray without ceasing." Meaning, pray everywhere, all the time, in your heart, out loud. Even when you don't know what to pray, still still go before God because Romans 8 says God will grown with you. Today, I want to just lead you in a short prayer

and you can just repeat after me. And there's nothing magic about the words I'm going to say. It's just the belief in your heart that you know you need Jesus. And if you do, God will give you the greatest gift of all himself, the Holy Spirit. So out loud, all Christians, would you join with me? Lord Jesus, I believe in you. I believe in you. Forgive me of my sins. Today I receive your promise. I am a child of God. You are a good God. You always have been. And you always will be. Help me to follow you. I've received the Holy Spirit. Use my life for your glory in Jesus name. Somebody shout amen today. Praise be to God.

Amen. And what an incredible day for all of you who said yes to Jesus. We celebrate with you. We celebrate the fact that your life has been transformed even this day. And in fact, seven years ago on Father's Day, my husband and I sat at Journey Church. We had only been there four times just like you. We sat in the audience. Pastor Keith gave a message and then he invited people up to be baptized. And it just so happened that our daughter was sitting next to us. Before we could even turn around to see, she was up the aisle getting ready to make her decision for Jesus on Father's Day 7 years ago. And I was praying for her and I was praying for this church. And I realized [music] that it was only because people

who had gone people had gone before me to invest in Journey Church. People had gone before me to give financially to Journey Church so that on that day my daughter might commit her life to Jesus. People were serving that day. People greeted us at the door that day. People came and worshiped our and led us in worship that day. Heath prepared a message. The stage was [music] set because people were investing for that one for the one to come to commit her life to Jesus. So for that I say thank you. And I say, "Wake up, church. It's time to invest in what God is doing here at Journey Church because lives are changed every single weekend." And in fact, last night, Saturday night at Deer

Reach Prison, 15 inmates gave their lives to Jesus Christ because people are investing in this church. Thank you. If you are giving to Journey Church, thank you. If you are not giving to Journey Church, we've got multiple ways for you to give. We've got a QR code. Um, you can give online. You can give in the boxes in the back. Um, thank you for investing in this house. Dads, happy Father's Day. We are so blessed because of you and how you lead in this church. We've got meat sticks for you on the way out and we've got hot dogs for you in the parking lot. Have a blessed day and thanks for spending your Father's Day with