Skip to content Open Heaven - Tommy Geyser Jun 19 · 44 min ...more
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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:17 Good morning, everyone. Good to see you this morning in the house of the Lord. Amen? You know, Christians don't go to church. How many of you know that?0:30 None of you. Christians don't go to church. You can't go to church. We are the church. We gather as the church. When you go home today, this is just an0:42 empty building. Oh, we don't like that, do you? You're the church. Why do you look at me like it as if The building is not the church.0:53 Building is a place where we come together, and so we thank God for the gathering this morning. Amen? Amen. Also, we want to welcome other locations and we know up to now you've had a great1:05 time in worship and blessing the Lord and we pray that God's blessing will fall on you today. And for those that watch online, we trust that God will speak to you and touch you wherever you1:17 are. God loves us. Amen. Amen. This morning, I wanna speak about an open heaven.1:29 I think there are so many things today in the church that we take for granted. We somehow think that we can just put things together, have great organization,1:42 and God just has to do his part. That is not really true. And so I wanna show you this morning, there is an attitude or an atmosphere1:55 that causes heaven to open up. Before I read the scripture, I will mention to you about Jesus. Jesus2:07 is God. He emptied himself and made himself of no reputation. And then he went down to the river Jordan and2:19 he was baptized by John the Baptist. And as he was baptized by John the Baptist, heaven opened up2:31 and God the Father spoke from heaven and he said, this is my son, my beloved son, in whom I am well2:43 pleased. He was making a statement that he was pleased with his son because of his son's submission to him,2:56 because of his son's humility, because his son made himself of no reputation. I am well pleased3:08 with my son. And then he pours out the Holy Spirit upon his son. Heaven has opened. The Father has declared3:20 that his hand is going to be upon his son, and he pours out his spirit upon him. And from that moment on, Jesus was different than everybody else.3:32 He was a man who was empowered by the Holy Spirit Because the walk the work that God had called him to do, he could not do in his own3:44 strength. He desperately needed power from on high. Now, if Jesus cannot do things in his own strength, how3:56 much more the church today? God's not interested in our ideas and our plans and our organizations.4:08 He's interested in those that will humble themselves. He's interested that there is humility in the house of God. It seems to me4:19 sometimes that the church is going in a different direction, and we start putting our eyes on man, and then we begin to4:31 criticize man because man cannot meet our needs. The only 1 who can meet every need you have is the Lord Jesus4:43 Christ. And heaven opened him several times and he goes forth to do the father's will. What was that? To preach the4:55 kingdom, to cast out demons, and to destroy the works of the devil. After5:08 that experience at the river Jordan, everywhere Jesus went, there was the presence of God.5:19 Everywhere Jesus went, there was the power of God. Things happened wherever he went.5:32 His main goal, his main purpose was to fulfill the will of his Father. He said that we5:44 will do the same. It says in the book of Acts Book of Acts begins like this, the things that Jesus began to do and to teach.5:56 That means he only began something. It has to continue. The teachings of Jesus has to continue, and the works of Jesus has to6:08 continue. How will it continue now when his physical body went to heaven? It will now continue through the spiritual body that he6:19 raises up, which is the church. We are the spiritual body of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are not to look for new ideas and new6:31 visions and new dreams. We are to walk in the light of God's revealed will, and when we do that,6:44 God bless us. I wanna read a passage of Scripture from Chronicles chapter 2 verse 15 or 13 to chapter6:56 5 verse 13 to 14. And it came to pass, as the trumpeters and the singers were as 1, unity,7:09 can to make 1 sound to be heard in praising and thanksgiving the Lord. And when they lifted up their voices with the trumpets and the cymbals and the7:21 instruments of music and praised the Lord saying, for he is good and his mercy endures7:33 forever. That then the house was filled with the cloud, even the house of the Lord,7:45 so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud for the glory of the Lord had7:57 filled the house. The priest could not stand. Now, I don't think these were uneducated people. I think that the priests were very educated8:08 people. And when they come in as unity, something supernatural happens. The glory of the Lord fills the house8:20 that it is so powerful they cannot even stand. Now I want you to notice, it says they sang,8:33 the Lord he is good and his mercy endures forever. You you see that's a simple song. And there are people today8:44 that don't like simple songs. I I spoke to a worship leader 1 time about a certain song, and what she said to me shocked me.8:58 She she said that song doesn't it doesn't what was the word that she used? I can't even think of it. It doesn't stir me. It doesn't stir me because9:10 that's just a a little song. But what she never understood is what the church needs to understand today, that although it may9:22 sound like a simple song, but it was focused not on man, but on God. And because it was focused on God, irrespective of the amount of words or9:34 the depth of the song, they were bringing honor and glory to the God that they served. And when God saw that, he was pleased with those priests that his glory filled the house that they could not stand.9:48 I've been in meetings like that. I've been in many meetings over many years in meetings where the glory of the Lord comes down, but somehow we don't expect that anymore.10:02 It was a simple song that brought down God's presence and God's power, and that's what we want10:14 when we come together. We want the glory of the Lord to fill the house. I don't wanna leave this place this morning and say it was a nice preacher or a great singer or10:26 something like that. I want people to leave and say, God is good and his mercy endures forever. It's about him and not about us.10:39 She said, That doesn't stimulate me. I never knew that's what it's supposed to do. Hey, we come to get stimulated. No. We come10:51 to praise him, to focus on him in worship. Sometimes we let circumstances dictate our11:03 mood. Not everybody came in here friendly this morning. And in our other churches, some people came in very11:14 moody, upset about some experience they had or something, and they are not ready to worship because 1 of the principles we see in Scripture, before the11:26 priest went into the house of the Lord, they prepared themselves. Now, if you're an unbeliever this morning, it doesn't matter if you came here mad. You're welcome. But,11:38 sir, if you're a Christian, you need to hear what I have to say today. We let it affect our worship. We allow the problems and the issues we're dealing11:50 with to hinder our spirit, and we don't experience an open heaven or the blessing of God. We need to come together12:02 with 1 thing in our mind, 1 thing in our mind, and that is to worship the God of the Bible. Worship12:13 through serving, worship through giving, Worship through singing. Worship through surrender. Worship through the word. It's all to do with12:25 worship. So many of you today think that 20 minutes of singing is worship. Everything we do in his honor and give him glory12:37 is worship. And that's why it's important we don't just come to do jobs. There are far too many people in our churches today who are just doing a12:48 job. And their focus is not on God, and their focus is not on the plan and the purposes of God. And then you wonder 6 months, 7 months, 8 months down the road, they say,13:00 I'm burnt out. You're burnt out because you came for the wrong reason. How many people on a Sunday morning wandered around in our13:12 churches, they don't even sit in a meeting ever? How can God bless you? How can you experience the presence and the power of God if you're not willing sometimes13:24 just to sit down and submit yourself to him. There are spiritual hindrances that13:35 prevent an open heaven. Now I wanna mention a few. The first 1 is sin. Look what the Psalm look what John says in 9 in chapter 9. He13:47 says, we know that God does not listen to sinners. Did you know that? He listens to the godly person who does his will. Psalm 6613:58 verse 8, he says, if we regard iniquity in our heart, the Lord will not hear us. Now, that doesn't bring condemnation on us as Christians. What it means is14:10 prepare yourself for the presence of the Lord. How do I prepare myself if I've sinned? What if I'd done something terrible last night, but I know this morning I need to be in because I'm a Christian?14:23 So I just go like that because nobody knows, but what I don't realize, I'm part of those who are shutting heaven. The very simple, I confess.14:38 The Bible says, if we say we have no sin, the truth is not in us and we make him a liar. So we all sin, but we no longer habitually sin, but we do sin.14:50 I sin. And when I sin, I come to God and I say, I'm sorry, and I confess. I don't only confess, I repent. I turn around and walk away from what that that thing that I did. And15:02 that's all you have to do. Right at the very beginning, before you even leave your home, you confess so that when you gather with the people of God, you are part of those who will bring down the15:14 glory of the Lord. We can't be satisfied with the status quo. We can't be satisfied with the smooth way and a nice way and the wonderful way that we do church. We want15:26 something more. We want the presence of God that we're real and there's no doubt in our hearts and our minds that God is with us and that God is here not just with us, but he's here15:38 in power. He's here to transform. He's here to heal. He's here to destroy the works of the the devil and set people free. Sin.15:51 Priests prepared themselves. And if they went into the presence place where God's presence was and they weren't prepared right, they were struck down. We're priests. The Bible says in book of16:03 Peter, we are New Testament priests. I don't fly out of bed on a Sunday morning and fly to church and just think things are gonna happen. I prepare16:15 myself because I know I'm a believer priest. That's what the Scripture says so that when I'm together with God's people, an attitude, not16:27 focused on worship, but focused on other things. Every thought needs to be taken captive to the obedience of Christ when we come together so we can experience an open16:39 heaven. And I wanna tell you, unbelievers, people who've never put their faith and trust in Christ need to experience an open heaven. There's something more than just our testimony.16:52 There's something more than just our great singing and our great preaching. There's the awesome presence of almighty God, the 1 who spoke the world into existence and keeps it together by the power of17:04 his word. Much more for all of us, than attitude. Some people don't I I I go to church and and some people, every single Sunday, they got the same17:16 attitude, and it's a bad 1, and I can't understand it. Man, sometimes you gotta let go. And you know what?17:27 Immediately, it saddens your spirit, and then it doesn't take long, and then you're in a you're also in another condition. We mustn't allow that to happen. Listen. We have17:39 responsibility as God's people. You you can't say, oh, that that's for other people, not for me. All of us need to hear it. Some people are indifferent. Some people are so indifferent, the17:51 roof can blow away and they wouldn't even know it. They don't care. Come on now. You know what I'm saying? They don't care. We gotta care. We gotta18:03 care for 1 another. We gotta love 1 another. We gotta be concerned about 1 another. We have to have the right attitude. I'm not saying you come in here, you know, just18:14 sloppy like that and note, I'm I'm such a nice but no. There there are issues. There are pro do you think I have a good problems? But I made up my mind long a time. I will not go into the house of the Lord18:26 with the wrong attitude. Now, I'm gonna tell you many times I've I I could say I had the right to have a bad attitude. No, we mustn't do that. It's hindrances,18:38 condemnation, condemnation. You condemn yourself. And I and I know today we we got massive amount of18:49 motivational speakers. Because some of us don't know the difference between good biblical preaching and motivational speaking. And we have these motivational speaking telling us just how great we19:01 are when deep down in our hearts we know that we know that we are not walking right before God. But you condemn19:13 yourself. I'm I I I can't I'm not like that person. I wish I was like no. No. You are who God created you to be. Some people are condemned by19:24 others. Even in the church. Even in the church, some some of us think there are levels, level levels of people,19:36 the main boy up there. Others who have positions in a church over there, others who are full time19:48 staff there, platform people over there, and the rest down there. That's heresy. We all stand20:00 on equal ground before a loving God. And I wanna tell you something this morning. You can hear majority preachers, they will tell you the apostle Paul. Nowhere,20:11 nowhere does it say the apostle Paul. It says Paul the apostle because God has not given him a title.20:24 God has given him a function. That's why I don't I I at our church, I say, Tommy Geiser, pastor of Waters Church. It's a function. It's not pastor.20:36 But you can't get people to stop saying it. That's okay. But really, you get condemned by others. Don't don't worry what others20:48 say. They're jealous. People will always down you no matter who you are. They down Jesus. They said Jesus was a drunkard and he was a a a a glutton, and there21:00 was no evidence whatsoever that he was ever a glutton or a drunkard. And it was the self righteous people that condemned him. You say you see,21:12 normally, the church does not have problems with the world. We have problems with the world in the sense that the world violates the word of God, has no respect for God, but really, very seldom does the world come in21:23 here and fight with us. Our problem is with half baked Christians in the church. They're half baked. They they're on either side.21:38 And it's always causing the work to stop instead of the work of God being a place where the glory of the Lord fills the house and where people experience the wonderful presence of a loving God who21:50 cares for us, who who has a plan and purpose for every 1 of our lives. Most of our time is messed up with people who want to mess up.22:02 Satan also condemns us all the time. When I'm finished preaching this morning, he's gonna tell me I made a mess, but I'm ready for him.22:15 You see, the Bible says resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Satan goes before the throne of God. The Bible says he goes before the throne of God, and he makes accusations against us.22:27 But I wanna tell you what he doesn't see on the right hand side of God the Father, the mediator, and his name is Jesus. And he mediates when he says to the Father, yes, I know Tommy. Tommy was a bad22:39 boy. Tommy did something wrong again, but that's my son. I have washed him in my blood, and I've cleansed him, and I've thrown him the robes of righteousness. Father, just wait for a22:51 little while. He knows he must confess, and he's going to confess. That's my son. Hallelujah. Amen? And now let me read you quickly what the scripture speaks23:03 about condemnation, whether it's you condemning yourself or other people condemn you or the or the devil. Romans 8 1, there is therefore no condemnation23:15 to them which are in Christ, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. What shall separate us from the love of Christ?23:27 Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or peril or sword as it is written for thy sake, we are killed all day long?23:39 We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in these things, what things, the things I've just said, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Hallelujah.23:52 And I'm persuaded that neither life nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nothing present, nor things to come, nor height,24:04 depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. What a passage of scripture.24:16 Amen? Nothing. We need to know that the Lord cares for us. We'll need to let him fight our battles, and if we let him24:28 fight our battles, we can shout in the middle of the night, hallelujah. We should not allow things to hinder our24:39 worship and our thanksgiving. We're free. He whom the son says free is free indeed. We are free people.24:52 We live in a country up to now that they've allowed us to preach the gospel freely. 1 of the greatest countries in the world that sent missionaries all around the world. When I was25:04 a 11 year old boy, I used sit under the preaching of American missionaries that were in South Africa. All over the world, you would find American pastors and American missionaries as America25:15 reached out to the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. All around the world, millions of people have been touched by the Word of God through men and women that God has raised up in this25:27 country or that live in this country. It's a great country, we thank God for that. And we need to be25:39 thankful. He didn't promise us a bed of roses. He didn't say when you get saved, everything in your life is gonna come together, nothing will ever go wrong25:50 again. He didn't. See, but I can assure you this, whenever you go through something, when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you will fear no evil because my rod and my staff, they26:02 will comfort you. He said to you and I, surely goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives. If we look behind us, we'll always see goodness and mercy is there. God is26:14 good, and those priests in the midst of what they were going through, they sang that simple song, the Lord is good, and his mercy endures forever, and the glory of the Lord came26:26 down. Amen? No business as usual services. Years ago, we used to speak about people who26:38 were religious and ritualistic. We need to be careful that we don't land up in the same boat and get ritualistic. We go through all all26:50 the ropes and things, but we don't understand why. We're not expecting something great from God. We need to forget about a meeting, an itinerary, a27:02 program. We should look be looking forward to the Holy Spirit taking charge of each and every service when we come together. Because where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom and there's27:13 liberty. And by the way, the way of the Holy Spirit is to exalt and glorify him who is the way. I wanna just mention a few27:25 things. First of all, we need an atmosphere of unified expectancy. It says, as those priests were standing there, there was 1 accord.27:37 Tell me something. Be honest to yourself this morning. What did you expect coming here this morning? Maybe you expect good music, good worship, good preaching. You thought27:49 pastor Tim will be here. Good preaching. That's what we think, but we don't really come expecting something supernatural to happen.28:01 Our God is a supernatural God. If we bring him down to our level, we're just as bad as all the other religions of the world. Their gods are dead. They cannot hear. They cannot see. They cannot do anything. But our28:13 God is a living God. Expect. I've been I've been preaching for a long time. I've been a Christian for a long time, and I28:25 still get excited when I come together with God's people. And I get so upset sometimes when we get into so much form and ritual.28:37 Sometimes we just need to sit in the presence of God and allow the Holy Spirit just to come upon us, that God's glory can fill the house, that we can feel what it28:48 is, what heaven will be like 1 day. Something's going to happen. Something good going to happen today. You29:00 see, a lot of good things happen. We don't see them, but we must expect those things to happen. An atmosphere of no limitations on anyone.29:16 I may be getting into trouble, but you know what? My middle name is Trouble, Tommy Trouble Geyser. Somehow,29:28 we thought we'd come to that place where we think there are only a few special people in our gatherings, and we put them on a pedestal,29:40 gifted people or whatever they may be. And the rest of us are just ordinary people, but that's not how God works. God is not looking for the best.29:54 The Bible says God uses the weak and broken things, the things that are not, to bring to naught the things that are. You got right from the scriptures, right from the beginning, right through. And every time God uses30:06 something for his glory, it is something that is broken. Used a broken body on the cross to30:18 rescue us. Brokenness, why does he do it? Why does God choose people like us, ordinary people? So that no30:29 flesh may glory in his presence. Read it, Corinthians. There's too much flesh. There's too much people living. It's all about30:41 them. And, oh, they're gifted. Yes, they're gifted. So what? God can work through any person. There aren't 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 people in this church who God30:53 has chosen to work through. He works through anyone. Many ways31:05 People are important to God, all people. Not only the talented and the gifted, but every person. Every person who's had the31:17 guts to turn their back on darkness and walk into the light of the son of God is important to God. Now hold the fourth philosophy.31:31 Now, let me explain it. When I was a young Christian, used to sing hymns, great hymns. And, of course, that generation used to I'm not really part of that, but that generation.31:43 They used to boast about the theology of the hymns, and and certainly, they were great hymns and great theology. But sometimes there was a mistake. And this31:55 particular hymn that they used to sing is hold Jesus says, hold the fort for I'm coming. It's the most amazing thing to me. Although that was an old hymn, most people are doing that today.32:08 All our time, all our energy, all our money goes many times to keep the fort, to hold the fort.32:20 Everything goes to the fort. We say, come. Jesus says, go. Who's right?32:33 You. Are we right because we say come? No. Go. Go into all the world. You're gonna receive the power of the Holy Spirit upon your life, and you come to32:45 church for the reason to worship him and to be filled with his spirit and to be corrected and disciplined and encouraged and to experience the power of God so that you can go,32:58 not just come. The gathering that like this morning should inspire us and challenge us33:10 to go and to preach the gospel wherever we are so that we can make a difference in a work in a world filled with darkness. An atmosphere of33:21 victorious living. God is able to deliver anyone from anything at any time.33:35 If I get an amen and I know someone agrees with me. Amen. God is able. Listen, we a lot of us, we've got problems, you know. If we got family members that33:46 are really in deep problem and and and somehow sometimes we we get so discouraged, we wanna throw in the towel, but God is able. We gotta trust33:58 him with his time. It says in Psalm 72, for he will deliver the needy when he crieth the poor also, and him that have no helper.34:10 Let me tell you this morning, he still heals the broken heart. He still sets the captive free. He still opens the prison door. He still opens the34:22 blind eyes, and he still causes the lame to walk because Jesus Christ is saved yesterday, today, and forever. Hallelujah.34:34 Atmosphere, financial blessing. It said about 25 percent of the body of Christ support the church in money, in talents, and in service.34:47 But all of us need to give back to God what he has given to us. God has blessed us. I said, God has blessed us. Our coming in and our going34:58 out has been blessed with the Lord, and many of us just stands in this morning and say, My basket has been full. An35:10 atmosphere where the voice of God can be heard clearly. It's an amazing thing over the many years that I've been in the ministry, someone would testify how God spoke to them, and God does35:22 speak to us, speaks to us in our spirits. God speaks to us, and they would give a wonderful testimony, and somebody would come to me and say, God never speaks to me. Say, How long have you been coming to this church?35:34 Oh, 5 years. 5 years and God has never spoken to you. I'll have to go and repent because the preacher, when he preaches from the35:45 word, he's the voice of God, And you say you never hear the voice of God. You see? That's why we must be clear. Pastors must be clear in what we35:57 believe. I can't play games with you. I can't come here and put on another coat just to make this is a different kind of congregation, and people are here to keep you happy. I have to put on another coat.36:09 No. I am what God made me, and that's it. But I've gotta be truthful to you about the word of God. I'm not asking you to give me a check. I'm not asking you to pat me in the back. I'm not asking you to36:21 be friends with me. I'm here to give you the word of God, and our churches should have that attitude all the time, and I think most of our people do. The word of God must be heard clearly. People need to hear God's36:33 voice today, clearly. There are so many voices in the world that are not without significance. Voices on television, voices from all over, people are going in all directions. And36:45 we listen to these voices, and when we come together, we fight with 1 another. You know why? Because we don't agree because we're not listening to the voice of God. We have a36:57 we have a spirit this this time. It's coming to the church where people say, you know, I'm a born again Christian. I love God, and and I'm I do I do my part and all that, but, you know, I have my own opinion.37:09 God is okay about my opinion. I know many times that I preach, I voice my own opinion, and I think God just wipes that away. But you need to hear God's word because37:21 God's word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, and the entrance of God's word gives us understanding. Let me tell you this morning, heaven and earth shall pass away, but the Word of the Lord will endure37:33 forever. Let me tell you something else. Innumerable God haters like Herod, Stalin, and Pharaoh rise and fall, but God's Word endures forever.37:45 Lastly, an atmosphere of pessimism about the future. The Lord reigneth. He's clothed in37:57 majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength where with heavy girded himself, the will the world also is established that it cannot be moved. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is38:08 the governor among the nations. Folk, there are things that can pull you down, destroy your hope, but God is38:20 in control. Nobody is going to fire him. Nobody. Nobody's going to remove38:32 him. Nobody's going to talk him away. He is the everlasting everlasting God, the eternal God38:44 who created the universe, who has a great plan and a purpose for those that he has created, an everlasting kingdom where peace and righteousness will reign and rule for38:56 all eternity. There's coming a day that all the sin will be removed and all the wickedness of the world will be taken away. There's a new heaven and a new earth coming, and39:08 it's coming through the God that we love and that we serve. And let me close with this, an atmosphere of worship. I will. You39:19 see, let me let me close with this this morning. I When I got saved, I went to church, and my expectation always was that whatever happens there must be stirred from39:31 here. So if the if the music was flat, the meeting was flat. The preacher wasn't so hot, it was dead.39:43 That was my attitude. But that's a wrong attitude. You see, you can't come here and wait for them to stir you.39:55 I will. It's my will. I've made up my mind as a New Testament believer that I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart. I will start with40:07 thanksgiving. Even though there may be shortage in the money, there might be problems and issues and troubles that I'm facing. God has been good to me. He's taken away all my sin. He's cleansed me from all40:17 unrighteousness. He's promised me a mansion in heaven. I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart. I will enter his courts with praise, hallelujah. I willShow more
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