The Last Days Wilderness Church

A Vision for the Last Days Church I want to speak to you this morning from the Song of Solomon. I'm going to begin in Song of Solomon 8:5, about the last days wilderness church. I happen to believe with all of my heart that in the last days before Christ returns — in the last days before judgment starts to fall on this nation and other nations like it that have vacated truth and embraced perversion and lies — mercy still triumphs over judgment. It doesn't mean judgment doesn't come. It means mercy still triumphs. In essence, anybody who wants to come to Christ is able to do so. Anybody who desires to be free can be free. I personally believe that there's going to be a church in this last day that's going to be a victorious church, a God-filled people, a people with a mind that is similar to that which Christ would have them to have, a people on a mission to bring redemption — which is the only mission of Christ in the earth — the redemption of the lost, the saving of the lost, and the discipling of those who are new to Christ. That is the mission of the church. The mission of the church is not to be personally comfortable. It's not to gather wealth to ourselves. It's not to dig some bunker somewhere and fill it with cans of beans so we can survive the coming days. The church's mission is to be empowered by the Spirit of God and to go into this world and make a difference. And by the grace of God, this last day will have a church. Coming Out of the Wilderness In the Song of Solomon, the writer records these words in Song of Solomon 8:5: Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? The writer saw something. He saw a bride coming out of a dry place, a wilderness place, leaning on the bridegroom. And this is a pictorial type of what we're going to see in these last days. We're going to see a church coming out of dry places, coming out of a wilderness place, leaning on Jesus Christ — a victorious church, a worshiping church, a church with life and joy, a church with a message, a church with an empowerment of the Holy Spirit to do things that can only be done by the Spirit of God. I am speaking prophetically today. I know when the Holy Spirit is upon me. I know when God's Spirit is flowing through me and speaking a message to His people. Now, not everyone who goes to church is going to be part of the awakening that we're about to experience. But those who belong to Christ will see it and know it. What the Wilderness Is The wilderness is a place in between where we used to be and where we're called to be. That's where Israel was for a season — a long season they weren't supposed to be in, but ended up in. They were set free by the sovereign power of God from that which was determined to hold them captive and make them slaves to its power. And that's where many of you were. I was a slave to alcohol. I was a slave to lust. I was a slave to fear — whatever it was in your life. But God sovereignly came and touched your life and set you free. And it was because of the blood of Jesus Christ. It wasn't by any work of righteousness that you or I have done. It's the blood and the mercy of God that brought us out of where we used to be. What was supposed to be a short season ended up being 40 years for a whole generation because they would not go into the place that was promised them. Now, you and I are promised life. We're promised eternal life. We're promised an abundant life. We're promised a reason to live. We're promised that our lives are supposed to bring glory to God — how? By God indwelling us by His Holy Spirit, giving us His Word, taking us where we can't go, making us into what we could never be, and giving us what we could never naturally possess. That people look at us and they see the reality of God — not an argument about God, but the actual reality of God's willingness to show mercy in every generation. The wilderness is that place between our past and our promised future. One time somebody gave me a picture of what I used to look like before I got saved. I had lost all of those pictures when our house burned down, but somebody had one and they were just kind enough to hand it to me. I looked into the eyes of that man and the first thing out of my mouth was, "God, thank you that that man died and another man was born." I don't like what I saw in those eyes. But I was given a promised future. I had no ability to achieve it, no ability to attain it — only a heart to desire it. God, whatever you have for me, that's what I want for my future. The wilderness is the place in between self-focus and an others-focus. We all come to Christ focused on ourselves, and for a short season we're still self-focused after salvation. But that's a point of immaturity. When we come to maturity in Christ, everything inside shifts and we move into that place of promise, which is about others. The whole reason we live is about other people. It's that place in between poverty and provision — when we lived in spiritual poverty and had no ability to do anything, but God brings us out and gives us the provision to become all that He's called us to be. The wilderness is the place we live in between fear and faith, between things old and things new, between human effort and divine enablement. I don't know about you, but I am hungrier for God than I have been in a long, long time. I want everything that God has for my life. I want the full pathway that He has set for my feet, and I don't care what I have to give up to get there. I prayed even this morning: "God, you can have anything you want. I just want you. I want your will. I want your way. I want your pathway. I want your power. I want power in my speech. I don't want to just be an argument about your existence. I want you to be able to prove your existence — in spite of age, in spite of the fact that my own abilities are limited, but yours are not." Those Who Died in the Wilderness Unfortunately, many people choose to die in the wilderness. They come out of captivity and end up in this in-between place, which can become very dry after a while. You start coming to church — and it's a great thing to come to church — you sing the songs and you get momentarily stirred, but there's a dryness that has become part of your life, especially for those who have been saved for some time and haven't moved from the wilderness into the fullness of what God has for them. In Joshua 5:4 it says: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. I'm going to be bold in saying this: I think the majority — not all, thank God — but the majority of people in America in the last two or three decades in some measure died in the wilderness. Started coming to church, stayed there in church, and never really moved into what God had for them. And because of that, the evidence is all around us. Because of that, immorality abounds. Because of that, confusion is in society at almost every level. We abdicated the role that God had given to us as the body of Christ — to be that voice, to be that living testimony in the marketplace, in the workplace, on the job. Everywhere we go, we were supposed to be salt and light in this world. But many chose to die in the wilderness. They lived there and they died there. God Is Raising Another Generation But God found another generation. This is my hope now. This is what He showed me 44 years ago. Many of you weren't even born when the Lord spoke to me about you and about what God was going to do in this time that we're now living in. This is another Joshua moment. This is another moment where people are going to come out of the wilderness and go into the place of promise, but they have to be prepared. There's got to be a mark on you — that separates you and me from the people of this world, separates us from the purs...