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4 Ways To Keep It Together When It Seems To Be Falling Apart | Richard Roberts | World Harvest Church | Murrieta, CA
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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message. Let's just lift our hands tonight and just give God honor and give him praise and give him glory. Lift your voice in the spirit tonight. Just lift your voice up tonight. Your voice, Father. We lift up. We lift up Jesus tonight, for it's in him that we live and move and have our being. We praise you that you're not only with us, but by the Holy Spirit. You're in us and you know what's inside of us. And we bless you and praise you because we can tap into your prayer and we can pray in tongues and then stop and pray in our own language and get understanding, get ideas, insights and concepts, and new ways of doing things. We thank you, Father, for a fresh move of the Holy Spirit and for a fresh touch of the anointing upon me tonight in Jesus name. And everybody said, amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Let's just shout unto the Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. God bless you. You can be seated. Pastor Morgan, thank you for that introduction. It is a joy to be here. And I love coming here because I feel like I'm at home, and I like coming home. And I want to thank Pastor Nancy for the invitation to come. And to you students, I'm wearing one of the ties that you got me. Thank you very much. Don't you like my tie? Well, they bought it for me, and I'm wearing one of the other ones. Tomorrow morning. I may sleep in one tonight. We'll see. But I thank God for that. And I told Lindsay about the little. Am I pronouncing it right? What? Swarovski. Swarovski. Okay, like you swore off something. No, Swarovski. The little that you got her. And I told her I was gonna wear it. She said, no, you're not. And for you, those of you who are in the Bible school, she's gonna Skype in again in the morning, and she's gonna start off. She's gonna take the first part, and then I'll finish after that. So we'll have a good time. I teaching. I really, really enjoy it. And only the past. Well, the past few years, have I really stepped into that, as the Lord has changed me and taken me to a new level, particularly in ministering to ministers. My father prophesied over me before he died that when I got into my mid to late 60s, that I would become a minister to ministers and that I would Minister on healing the Holy Spirit and Seed faith to ministers all over the world. And I am doing that. And I'm doing that here. I'll be doing it again in Cameroon, in West Africa, that's a French speaking nation. This coming July, they're going to have 2,000 pastors for three days and I'll be ministering there. And then in October, I will be back in India, in Chennai for sure, and possibly back in Hyderabad again. And there'll be at least 2,000 pastors. So I'm having an opportunity to do what the Lord told me I would be doing. And that is impacting pastors with healing the Holy Spirit and Seed faith. And so I thank God for that. And I have really enjoyed the time. You all you students, you really touched me and you forced me last night to answer some really tough questions. And I figured since you asked me tough questions, I'd give you tough answers. I just laid it out on you. I didn't hold anything back. That's just sort of the way that I am. I just. If you ask me something, I'm gonna be as bold as I know how to be answering those questions. And it was a lot of blessing last night and also it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it. And I want to thank you all for the wonderful meals. I had the most anointed enchiladas today. Tell you what, I haven't had enchiladas any more anointed than those. They were great. And I thank God for that. And I thank all the pastoral staff, the Bible school staff, thank all of you. Dean Graves, thank you. And all of you who have been so kind to me. Praise God for that. The last weekend of June in 1992, Lindsay and I and our children flew out here to Southern California. We were twofold reason. First, my mother and father had moved here and I was scheduled to preach on Sunday in Riverside. And we got a hotel room just over by the John Wayne Airport. And we were staying on the 20. Let's see, we're staying on the 17th floor, I believe, of the Marriott Hotel over there by the airport. And we were scheduled to get up early because we were gonna drive our rent a car over to Riverside to preach for my longtime friend, Pastor Ron Halvorson, who's been on our board for many, many years. And our children were with us. They were young. Jordan was about 7, Catherine, Olivia was 5 and Chloe was 3. And we had a nanny, a babysitter who traveled with us to help us with the children while we were preaching so there were six of us and we were all in. We got two adjoining rooms with a little living room in the middle. And Lindsay and I were in one room, the three girls were in the other room and the nanny was out on a couch. So you kind of get the lay of the land. And we were sleeping, sound asleep at 5 o' clock in the morning when. About 5 o' clock in the morning on 28 June, the Landers earthquake hit 7.3 on the Richter scale. Many of you, I'm sure, will remember that earthquake. It shook Southern California. And I was on the 17th floor of a hotel and the floor was doing this and we were jolted out of bed and the walls were going backwards and forwards and everything that was on the wall was falling off into the floor. And I jumped out of bed as quickly as I could. And my first thought was to run to the children. And our nanny was up trying to help and the floor was going sideways and she was staggering around and the first thing she did was to fall and hit her head and knock herself unconscious on the glass table that was there. And the children didn't know what to do. They woke up and started crying immediately. And Lindsay and I are running around trying to see how, you know, you're on the 17th floor and the walls are doing this and the floor's doing this and all hell is breaking loose. And all of a sudden the devil began to say to me, you're gonna die. You're gonna die. You'll never get out of this hotel. You'll be dead. You can't get down the steps, you can't get down the elevator. You're all gonna die. When all of a sudden the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, I've called you to 40 nations and you've only been to 15. You're not going to die in an earthquake. Isn't it wonderful when in the midst of a storm the Holy Spirit can speak to you? Pretty soon it quieted down and we went ahead and got dressed and had breakfast and went down in the elevator and got the rent a car and drove over and had two wonderful services in Riverside and then spent a few days with my parents, thank God. Open your Bibles tonight to Isaiah, chapter 43. Isaiah, chapter 43. I'm not going to preach long tonight, but it is going to be powerful. So buckle up your seatbelt, get your Bible, get something to write on and let me read Isaiah, chapter 43, verses 1 and 2. But now thus saith the Lord that created thee and Formed thee. Fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by name. Thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Can you say amen Tonight? I want to give you one four ways to keep it together when it seems like everything is falling apart. Four ways to keep it together when it seems like everything is falling apart. Now, if I were to give it a second title, I would say overcoming the shake, rattle and roll of your life. Turn to your neighbor and say, you're gonna learn how to overcome the shake, rattle and roll in your life. Tell them on both sides. I got this in the hotel room this afternoon. Must have been the enchiladas. Four things. Write these things down tonight. Number one, consider the bigger picture. Write that down. Consider the bigger picture. Everybody goes through storms. You do, I do. We all do. Everybody. Everybody faces storms. It is said that in the Christian life, you're either in the middle of a storm or you're just coming out of a storm, or you're just about to go into one. Have you noticed that life is so daily. It just happens. Life happens. You never know what's going to happen next. But consider the bigger picture. Everyone faces storms. Jesus himself faced storms. The disciples faced storms. One day, Jesus said to his disciples, get into the boat and go across the lake to the other side. Go over to the other side. And when he said, go over, it meant they could not go under. And the way Jesus handled storms were. Was he got a pillow and went to the back of the boat and found a nice place to lay down and take a nap. The other men, who were sea veterans and certainly knew how to handle rough waters, were in charge of the ship when the wind began to blow a little harder and a little harder and the waves began to lap up against the boat. It wasn't long till the wind was blowing very hard and big waves were coming in. And the boat was about to capsize. And somebody remembered, hey, Jesus is in the boat. He's asleep. Let's wake him up. And they waked him and began to blame the storm on him. Have you ever blamed God for something? Now look straight ahead. Don't look to your right or left, Jesus. Don't you care? They blame the problem on God. How many times do we Christians blame the situation on God when God's not responsible? And Jesus has said, let us go Over. He didn't say, let's go under. He said, let's go over. Jesus, don't you care that we're about to drown? You know, aren't you glad, however, that Jesus will let you talk? You know, you can talk now and repent later. He lets you empty yourself of all that junk that's on the inside. He lets you talk. But Jesus went into action. The Bible says that he got up from where he was asleep. He walked to the bow of the ship. He put out his arms, said, peace, be still. And suddenly there was a great calm. You see, Jesus knew something that they didn't know. He knew there was something on the other side. There was a demoniac who was running through the tombs naked. They had chained him and they couldn't hold him down. Jesus had a mission. Jesus had a purpose. And sometimes we Christians believe that when we're in a storm, we must be out of the will of God. Well, Jesus was in the boat, so they couldn't have been out of the will of God. Consider the bigger picture. Jesus knew something was on the other side. Number two, acknowledge God is still in control. Now in this control freak society that we live in, when everyone is obsessive about being in control, we need to acknowledge the fact that God is in control. He's in the left seat, not the right. We're not the pilot. He's the pilot. Acknowledge that God is in control. Paul told them, don't sail. It's too late in the season to be out on the Mediterranean Sea. But the Roman soldiers were anxious to get home. And they wanted to deliver Paul and the 200 and something others that were on the ship. And so they set sail anyway, even though Paul had warned them not to do it. And they got out on the sea and the Bible calls it a contrary wind that came against them. Have you ever faced a contrary wind when it just seemed like everything contrary was coming at you? Look at me. Is it true? Six of you, okay? The rest of you are lying. And suddenly that contrary wind became what people in that part of the world call cyclonic. It was almost at hurricane strength in the middle of the Mediterranean at the wrong time of the year. You talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And for days, the Bible says they saw neither sun nor stars. They did everything they could do. They lashed down everything they could and then they threw it all overboard to try to lighten the load of the ship. And they had to put the sail down and let the ship just run. They didn't know what to do. But the Bible says an angel stood by the Apostle Paul and told him what was going to happen. He said, you're going to lose the ship, but no life will be lost if you stick together. United we stand, divided we fall. America, wake up. Wake up. America, come together. You notice that Jesus told the disciples at one point to come to an upper room and come into unity, come into harmony, come into one accord. And he wasn't talking about a Toyota. Come into one accord. I don't know how long it took for those men and women to come together, but if they were typical of Christians, it took a while because we are the most critical people on earth. It seemed like the devil's crowd is always walking arm in arm. But we Christians, we're too busy fighting. We're too busy worried about somebody else's doctrine. You know, that's how denominations were begun in the first place. I didn't agree with your doctrine, so I'll go start my own thing. You don't agree with my doctrine, you'll start something over here. That's how denominations came into being. And some of them are just deader than a doornail now. That's dead. Acknowledge God is in control. Paul said, God is in control of this thing. Stick together. Stay on the boat. And they had a faith landing. It wasn't pretty. They swam to shore on pieces of the ship, but they landed. And if you study the Bible, you'll find that while they were on that island, Paul was bringing healing to the sick through faith, while Luke, who was on board, was curing them medically. You had the Apostle Paul praying and you had Luke practicing medicine, and people were getting healed and cured and. And delivered. And did you know that according to statistics, the number one Christian nation per capita in the world is Malta? There are more Christians per capita in Malta than any other nation. And even today, they still have a St. Paul celebration and a St. Paul day. Because of what he did. Malta was not his destination. It was a stopping place along the way. His destination was Rome. So he couldn't die on the sea because he had to get to Rome so he could light the light of the Gospel. Even in the household of Caesar, acknowledge that God is in control. But we want to be in control of everything. We need to let it go and give it to God. Acknowledge that he is in control. Acknowledge everything is in his hands. Number three. Praise God. Right in the middle of the storm. Now, that's hard to do. When Paul and Silas were in jail, they had been Whipped, they had been beaten and chained up. And yet in the middle of jail, they praised God. Now, they didn't praise him for the whipping that they got, but in the middle of it, they praised God. You don't have to thank God for the storm, but in the midst of the storm, start praising him. Why? Because he inhabits. He lives in the praises of his people. Right in the middle of the storm, begin to praise him. The doctors told Lindsay when she was 18 years old, she'd never be able to have a child because she was diagnosed with endometriosis. And that generally means you can get pregnant, but you can't stay pregnant. And in our early marriage, she had several miscarriages. And it looked like the doctors were correct. But Kenneth Copeland prophesied over her and said, you'll have children sooner than you think. Well, it did not look like we were going to have children at all. And we wanted children. And she became pregnant again. I think it was her third or fourth pregnancy, as I recall. Her fourth, I believe. And lo and behold, she carried the child all nine months and delivered the most beautiful baby boy. We named him Richard Orrell. Perfectly healthy, he developed a breathing problem and a staph infection in the hospital. And within 36 hours, he died in my arms. Now, it's pretty hard to praise God when you're holding a dead baby in your arms. It seemed like our whole world had come to an end. But as I held that child in my arms in the intensive care, the neonatal intensive care unit, my wife and I began to O kilamakasiti ata naka sombra kasa. We began to praise God. God, we worship you and praise you. You know something, God? You know something that we don't know. And at the memorial service, I stood up and said, even if you slay me, yet will I trust you? And I will praise you. In the midst of that storm, even though our hearts were broken, we decided we would praise God. That's when you find out what you're really made of. That's when you find out if you're really made of a Christian. That's when you find out if you really believe God. And one man walked up to Lindsay at the memorial service and said, I prayed that that baby would die because I had been remarried to her. Some people can be so cruel. The devil can gets into people, and they say cruel things. And it broke our hearts that someone could actually say that in our face. And we put the little body of that boy in the ground and sang and Worshiped and praised God even as the tears flowed. Two weeks later, I was scheduled for a crusade in Africa. And I had planned to go alone because Lindsay was to be home with a new baby. And I came to her and I said, honey, I'm not gonna go. I'm gonna stay here with you. She said, oh, no, you're going. And she said, besides that, I'm going with you. I said, honey, you've just had a baby. We just had a funeral. She said, I'm going. I'm going with you. She said, our healing is in Nigeria. And we began to sing and worship and praise God in the midst of the loss. And we got to Nigeria not having any idea that Nigeria has the largest infant mortality rate in the world. And we ministered to so many couples who had lost children like we had. We had great crowds, and we had miracles, and we had thousands of thousands and thousands of salvations in three different cities, three nights each. And she had put her finger in my face before we left the United States and said, don't you ever ask me to get pregnant again. And who could blame her? Three miscarriages and a dead child. Who could blame her? But after Nigeria, she said, let's try one more time. Jordan is 35. Catherine Olivia is 33. Chloe is 30. They might not appreciate me telling their age, but it emphasizes the point. Right in the middle of all of that, we praised him, we worshiped him, and God turned the tables on the devil right in the midst of the storm. And number four, if you missed one, if you missed two, if you missed three, don't miss this. The best is yet to come. Turn to your neighbor and tell him, the best is yet to come. The city of Samaria had been shut up. The Syrian army encamped outside its gates. You couldn't get in, you couldn't get out. For days, for weeks, for months. There was no food, there was no water. The people in the city had taken to boiling the flesh of their own children to survive. Elisha, the prophet was in the city. He was in the midst of it as well. They were besieged by the Syrian army, a much more powerful force than they could ever mount. It looked like it was over, and Elisha strolled down the main street one day and said, what cost you $100 today will cost you a penny tomorrow. And one of the leaders said, it'll never happen. Elisha, quick as a flash, looked at him and said, oh, yeah, it'll happen, and you'll even see it, but you won't eat any of it. There's always the skeptic. The world is full of skeptics. The skeptics say that it's impossible for the bumblebee to fly. Its wingspan is too short for its body. But they forgot to tell the bumblebee. And the bumblebee flies and makes a little honey on the way. Always have the skeptics. You always have those people who say, it can't be done. There's always those who will say, and you can't do it. And you're not supposed to do it. And you never will be able to do it. You always have that crowd. They're always out there. And if you're doing something from God, I guarantee you the devil is going to send those kind of people around you. Well, don't hate them, kick them, don't shoot them. Forgive them, and give them to God. But you have those people always. There were four men who were sitting at the gate. They were lepers, aides of the day. And they looked at each other and said, if we. If we sit here, we're gonna die. If we go into the city, we're gonna starve. Why don't we strike a blow for our own deliverance? And they got up. The Bible says it was at dusk. And dusk is a time when it's hard to see clear. It's neither day, it's neither night. At dusk. And they started marching toward the enemy army. Now, you talk about a crazy sight. Here are four lepers. The city has been besieged. All the people inside are starving to death. And these four lepers get up and start walking toward the enemy. And there's a time in your life when you gotta step out in faith and believe that somehow, someway, God is gonna make a way where there seems to be no way that God can take the situation and turn it around for his glory and for his goodness and mercy. And they started a faith march toward that Syrian army camp. And somehow, I don't know, by some supernatural miracle, God began to multiply the sound of their footsteps. So much so that the Syrian army began to scream and cry out in the night. They've hired a mercenary army. The Hittites have come against us. We gotta run for our lives. And the whole Syrian army began to run. And they left behind all their food stores. They left behind all their riches. They left behind all their tents. They left behind all their weapons. They left behind everything that they had. And when the four lepers came into the little camp, everybody was gone. And they looked and saw the enchiladas and they saw the pizza, and they saw the filet mignon, and they saw the Kentucky Fried Chicken and the mashed potatoes and gravy. They saw it and they began to gorge themselves. When one of them said, this isn't right. We need to let the people in the city know. And soon the people were coming. And in their exuberance to get out there, they trampled that man who had said, it'll never happen. And he died. Don't mess with God's plan. Don't mess with what God's trying to do. Don't tell somebody it'll never happen, because I've got news. You're not God, and you don't know the end from the beginning, but he does. Don't discourage anyone, encourage them. Bothers me so much when I see somebody praying for the sick and it looks like nothing happens. And they say, well, I guess you must not have had any faith. I just want to slap them what it looks like when I pray for somebody, it looks like nothing happens. I say, now look, I'm standing with you in faith. I'm not quitting. I'm not giving up. I'm holding on until the manifestation comes, until the miracle happens. The city was set free. Elisha's prophecy came to pass. What cost a dollar one day, cost a penny the next day. Suddenly, they had all the food, they had all the water. They had all the armaments. They had the tents. They had all the riches. They had everything. I got news, friends. The best is yet to come. The best. Turn to your neighbor and say, the best is yet to come. Tell them it's not over. It's not the ninth inning yet. The best is yet to come. God is not finished with you. He's not finished with you. He's not finished with you. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And if he'll do that for the people in Samaria, if he'll do that for Lindsay and me, if he'll do that for Paul and the apostle and Luke and the others on that ship, if he'll do that for disciples in the boat, if he'll do that for them, he'll do that for you. And I declare to you that the best is yet to come. Well, how do we get the best? We use our faith. God hath given to every man, every woman, the measure of faith. And faith is what you hold onto until you receive what you're believing for. What are you believing for tonight? Health, finances, family, children, relationships. What are you believing for? What is it that God has put in your heart and something has come against you and there's a storm that's raging. Are you saying, don't you care about to drown? Or are you saying, an angel has stood beside me and we're gonna make it through? Cause we're gonna stand in faith together. I stood there in that room on the 17th floor after the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, I've called you to 40 nations and you've only been to 15. When he said that to me, there was such a peace that came. I knew it, but I'd forgotten it because of the storm. Cause the storm jostles your memory. It messes with your insides. When the storm comes, that's when you start praying in tongues. And God begins to give you revelation. And he speaks to you. You haven't been what I've told you to do. You're not gonna die in this. I'm gonna keep you overcoming the shake, rattle and roll. Cause we all face it, all of us. Every one of us faces it. Life's storms happen. Things happen. Sometimes we fall. It's not important about the fall. What's important is that we get back up. I was in a shopping mall, which is something that I rarely do. And there was a man who came walking by. He was in a white suit, a white shirt with a white tie. He had on white shoes, a white hat and a white cane. And he was coming down the aisle, way between the stores, dancing, walking, strutting. And I saw that he was going to take the escalator down. And so I followed him. And he strutted all the way down, about halfway on the escalator, when suddenly he slipped and he fell. And because he was going down, he began to turn somersaults. And he somersaulted his way all the way to the floor, down. I'm not sure if anybody else saw him, but I saw it. And I wondered what he would do when he hit the bottom. You know what he did? He got up, put his hat back on, picked up his cane and said, well, all right. Well, all right. Now that's. That's the right attitude. Everybody say, well, all right. He's not letting the storm get you down. That's you taking control. That's you using your faith that you believing God, that you saying, devil, you can't have me. Devil, you can't have my family. Devil, you can't have my finances. Devil, you can't have my body. No, you can't have me. In the name of Jesus, Devil, get the hell out of my life. Don't tell me I can't say it. I just did. Praise God. Hallelujah. Consider. Consider the bigger picture. Acknowledge God, your life. Praise him in the midst of the storm. And don't forget, the best is yet to come. And you know, the cream always rises to the top. When I was a boy, we lived on a farm and we had two milk cows. I may have told this story here before, but my mother and I would go down and she let me. When I got old enough, she let me milk the cow. And I loved doing it. Sitting under with a little stool, milking the cow. And we'd take that jug of milk and put it in the barn refrigerator. And the next morning we'd come down, I'd bring my little red wagon. Any of you remember little red wagons? Used to have a little red wagon. And I'd pull the red wagon behind me, and she'd get the milk and I'd put it in my wagon and we'd take it back to the house, which is about a quarter of a mile. And she'd put that milk in there. And she'd look at me and say, son, look, look. The cream has risen to the top. I'll never forget it. She let me taste it. And she would say, son, that's the best part. The best is yet to come. Stand with me for prayer, please. Do you receive that tonight? The Lord gave me that in the hotel room this afternoon. Thank God for the Renaissance. End Father, it's not by might and it's certainly not by power, but it's by the Holy Ghost, the spirit of the living God, that I pray this prayer tonight. Lord, each one of us face battles. Each one of us face struggles. Each one of us face storms. But we have a name which is above every name named in heaven and earth. We have the name of Jesus. God has given him a name which is above every name named in heaven and earth. His name is higher than cancer. His name is higher than heart problems and blood pressure and blood sugar problems. His name is higher than breathing problems and hearing and sight problems. His name is higher than arthritis and other pains and problems. He. His name is higher. His name is higher than financial distraught and loss. His name is higher. His name is higher than family problems and relationship problems and marriage problems and business problems. His name is higher. For God has given him a name. A name which is above every name named in heaven and earth. And the Bible says at that name every knee should bow and every tongue confess. And he Is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Thank you, Father. I praise you tonight. I thank you that even though storms come, we have a name and we have the right to speak in that name with authority and with power and with confidence. Because you're the same yesterday, today and forever. And what you did in Bible days, you're still doing these. And I pray now over every man, every woman here tonight. I rebuke that which has come against you. And I say to the devil, you stop it. That's enough. And that's what the word rebuke literally means. It means, stop it. That's enough. I rebuke it. I command the devil to take his dirty, rotten, stinking, filthy hands off of you. I pray over your health. I pray over every organ in your body. Pray over every vein, every artery, every muscle, every tissue, every bone. I pray over every organ in your body. I pray for healing from the crown of your head, even unto the soles of your feet. Be healed tonight, right where you stand. In the name of Jesus, be healed in your emotions. I rebuke every discouragement, every. Every depression, every fear, every doubt. I bind it in the name of Jesus. And I pray for God's healing touch in your emotions, your inner self to be healed. I pray over your finances tonight. And I remind you that as you sowed your seed, as I did as well, that we have a Bible right for God to do what he said he would do. And that's to open us our windows of heaven and to pour us out a blessing, so much so there's not enough room to receive it. I pray over you, spirit, mind, body, family, finances, in every area of your life, from the crown of your head, even unto the soles of your feet. In Jesus mighty name. And I believe God. That's what Paul said that night. He said, I believe God. Everybody say it with me. I believe God. Say it out loud. I believe God. Say it like you mean it. I believe God. Praise God. You can overcome the shake, rattle and roll. Looks like all things are falling apart. You can overcome it. You can do it by faith. And you got the right to tell the devil to get out. And the Bible says when you resist him, he must flee. Praise God. You receive that tonight. Did you get something from that tonight? Did you receive something? Well, I'm praying that after this message, you will not be the same again. In Jesus name. Somebody give praise to the Lord tonight. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise God. Hallelujah. We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us at dufresneministries.org to learn of our upcoming meetings, share your testimony, become a partner or visit our online store. This program has been made possible by the friends and partners of Dufresne Ministries.